perm filename MSGALS.OLD[WEB,ALS]5 blob
sn#752573 filedate 1984-05-09 generic text, type C, neo UTF8
COMMENT ⊗ VALID 00127 PAGES
C REC PAGE DESCRIPTION
C00001 00001
C00017 00002 VALID 00150 PAGES
C00037 00003 ∂05-Aug-83 2146 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #49
C00054 00004 ∂08-Aug-83 2113 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #50
C00068 00005 ∂10-Aug-83 2222 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #51
C00079 00006 ∂12-Aug-83 2144 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #52
C00100 00007 ∂14-Aug-83 2109 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #53
C00115 00008 ∂17-Aug-83 2005 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #54
C00128 00009 ∂18-Aug-83 1956 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #55
C00147 00010 ∂22-Aug-83 0206 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #56
C00158 00011 ∂25-Aug-83 2147 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #57
C00174 00012 ∂28-Aug-83 1557 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #58
C00189 00013 ∂30-Aug-83 2008 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #59
C00201 00014 ∂31-Aug-83 2015 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #60
C00229 00015 ∂02-Sep-83 1909 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #61
C00242 00016 ∂05-Sep-83 2151 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #62
C00257 00017 ∂08-Sep-83 1424 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #63
C00275 00018 ∂13-Sep-83 1448 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #64
C00294 00019 ∂16-Sep-83 2000 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #65
C00314 00020 ∂19-Sep-83 1921 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #66
C00330 00021 ∂24-Sep-83 1135 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #67
C00349 00022 ∂26-Sep-83 2207 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #68
C00366 00023 ∂29-Sep-83 0144 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #69
C00382 00024 ∂30-Sep-83 1652 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #70
C00400 00025 ∂02-Oct-83 1413 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #71
C00418 00026 ∂05-Oct-83 1316 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #72
C00433 00027 ∂08-Oct-83 1544 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #73
C00451 00028 ∂11-Oct-83 1918 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #74
C00479 00029 ∂12-Oct-83 1950 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #75
C00510 00030 ∂14-Oct-83 1423 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #76
C00523 00031 ∂19-Oct-83 1709 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #77
C00536 00032 ∂22-Oct-83 0951 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #78
C00555 00033 ∂24-Oct-83 1340 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #79
C00591 00034 ∂24-Oct-83 1816 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #79
C00627 00035 ∂30-Oct-83 1732 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #80
C00643 00036 ∂28-Oct-83 1308 WYNN@SU-SIERRA.ARPA kermit USER manual!
C00645 00037 ∂01-Nov-83 1618 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #81
C00658 00038 ∂02-Nov-83 1533 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #82
C00681 00039 ∂04-Nov-83 2016 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #83
C00731 00040 ∂07-Nov-83 1922 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #84
C00762 00041 ∂10-Nov-83 1235 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #85
C00787 00042 ∂12-Nov-83 1857 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #86
C00815 00043 ∂15-Nov-83 1353 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #87
C00852 00044 ∂16-Nov-83 2144 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #88
C00865 00045 ∂19-Nov-83 2111 BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest v2 #89
C00882 00046 ∂18-Nov-83 2311 K.KENG%LOTS-A.#Pup@SU-SIERRA.ARPA New release of KERMIT-20
C00889 00047 ∂22-Nov-83 1734 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #90
C00926 00048 ∂24-Nov-83 0000 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #91
C00944 00049 ∂26-Nov-83 1603 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #92
C00968 00050
C00975 00051 ∂30-Nov-83 1527 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #93
C00998 00052 ∂03-Dec-83 1849 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #94
C01067 00053 ∂06-Dec-83 1340 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB INFO-IBMPC Digest V2 #95
C01094 00054 ∂07-Dec-83 1329 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB INFO-IBMPC Digest V2 #96
C01107 00055 ∂08-Dec-83 1827 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #97
C01130 00056 ∂10-Dec-83 1805 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #98
C01140 00057 ∂13-Dec-83 1339 DRF@SU-SCORE.ARPA Outline for TeX
C01148 00058 ∂14-Dec-83 0232 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #99
C01172 00059 ∂15-Dec-83 0010 @SU-SIERRA.ARPA:CC.KEN@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA New KERMIT-20 available
C01182 00060 ∂16-Dec-83 1121 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:P.CRAMTON@WHY TeX on IBM PC
C01183 00061 ∂15-Dec-83 @SU-SIERRA.ARPA:CC.KEN@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA 15-Dec-83 RDG New KERMIT-20 available
C01193 00062 ∂16-Dec-83 2226 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #100
C01229 00063 ∂18-Dec-83 1536 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #101
C01250 00064 ∂20-Dec-83 0204 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #102
C01312 00065 ∂18-Dec-83 2041 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:CC.KEN@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA New IBM PC Kermit available
C01313 00066 ∂21-Dec-83 1943 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #103
C01340 00067 ∂22-Dec-83 0420 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:ARK@SU-AI TeX/TUG Meeting Suggestions Solicited
C01344 00068 ∂21-Dec-83 1929 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:CC.KEN@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA Kermit announcements
C01346 00069 ∂25-Dec-83 1600 DRF@SU-SCORE.ARPA TeX on XT/370
C01349 00070 ∂26-Dec-83 1648 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #104
C01370 00071 ∂28-Dec-83 1757 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:ARK@SU-AI Draft course outline for week-long TeX course at TUG 84 meeting (comments solicited)
C01374 00072 ∂01-Jan-84 1235 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #1
C01389 00073 ∂02-Jan-84 0718 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:jacobson@LBL-CSAM TeX on a QMS Laser Printer
C01401 00074 ∂03-Jan-84 0944 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:Nemnich.PDO@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Re: TeX on a QMS Laser Printer
C01404 00075 ∂03-Jan-84 1726 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #2
C01450 00076 ∂05-Jan-84 2051 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #3
C01474 00077 ∂05-Jan-84 2143 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:OGAWA%SLACVM.BITNET@Berkeley BITNET mail follows
C01482 00078 ∂05-Jan-84 2202 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:ARK@SU-AI Re: Problem with \write and @(at-sign)
C01484 00079 ∂05-Jan-84 2300 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:Allen@YALE Re: Problem with \write and @(at-sign)
C01489 00080 ∂05-Jan-84 2315 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:OGAWA%SLACVM.BITNET@Berkeley BITNET mail follows
C01496 00081 ∂06-Jan-84 0608 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:Allen@YALE Re: problem with @ and \write
C01499 00082 ∂06-Jan-84 1429 ELYSE@SU-SCORE.ARPA Forsythe Lectures
C01501 00083 ∂06-Jan-84 1524 GOLUB@SU-SCORE.ARPA AGENDA
C01503 00084 ∂06-Jan-84 2017 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:kay@UCLA-CS Typesetting programs with TeX
C01505 00085 ∂07-Jan-84 1457 TEXGUESTS@SU-SCORE.ARPA Re: BITNET mail follows
C01508 00086 ∂07-Jan-84 1726 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #4
C01520 00087 ∂10-Jan-84 1739 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #5
C01539 00088 ∂10-Jan-84 2052 @WASHINGTON.ARPA:mark%umcp-cs@CSNet-Relay Which is faster: Tex, Scribe, Troff.
C01541 00089 ∂10-Jan-84 2228 M.JOHN@SU-SIERRA.ARPA
C01544 00090 ∂11-Jan-84 1708 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #6 (Special Issue)
C01565 00091 ∂12-Jan-84 1905 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #7
C01592 00092 ∂14-Jan-84 1807 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #8
C01632 00093 ∂16-Jan-84 2229 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #9
C01649 00094 ∂18-Jan-84 1930 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #10
C01665 00095 ∂22-Jan-84 2032 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #11
C01686 00096 ∂24-Jan-84 0059 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #12
C01725 00097 ∂25-Jan-84 1558 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #13
C01756 00098 ∂28-Jan-84 1625 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #14
C01772 00099 ∂01-Feb-84 1411 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #15
C01811 00100 ∂03-Feb-84 2137 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #16
C01824 00101 ∂07-Feb-84 2127 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #17
C01837 00102 ∂11-Feb-84 2104 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #18
C01871 00103 ∂15-Feb-84 0328 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #19
C01887 00104 ∂17-Feb-84 1051 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #20
C01909 00105 ∂21-Feb-84 1838 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #21
C01929 00106 ∂22-Feb-84 1941 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #22
C01954 00107 ∂24-Feb-84 2156 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #23
C01989 00108 ∂03-Mar-84 1740 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #25
C02040 00109 ∂06-Mar-84 1457 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #26
C02099 00110 ∂08-Mar-84 0114 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #27
C02120 00111 ∂10-Mar-84 1917 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #28
C02198 00112 ∂17-Mar-84 1412 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #30
C02227 00113 ∂20-Mar-84 1024 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #31
C02265 00114 ∂23-Mar-84 1429 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #33
C02317 00115 ∂30-Mar-84 0001 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #35
C02338 00116 ∂01-Apr-84 1555 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #36
C02371 00117 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP 3 Apr 84 20:14:19 PST
C02396 00118 ∂04-Apr-84 1252 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #38
C02442 00119 ∂06-Apr-84 1641 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #39
C02467 00120 ∂09-Apr-84 1818 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #40
C02577 00121 ∂17-Apr-84 0509 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #43
C02590 00122 ∂18-Apr-84 2034 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #44
C02722 00123 Info-IBMPC Digest Monday, 23 April 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 47
C02752 00124 ∂26-Apr-84 1835 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #48
C02781 00125 ∂03-May-84 0459 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #49
C02816 00126 ∂05-May-84 1649 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #50
C02857 00127 ∂09-May-84 0202 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #51
C02902 ENDMK
C⊗;
COMMENT ⊗ VALID 00150 PAGES
C REC PAGE DESCRIPTION
C00001 00001
C00021 00002 ∂05-Aug-83 2133 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:KDO@SRI-KL.ARPA TeX can't sort?
C00023 00003 ∂05-Aug-83 2146 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #49
C00040 00004 ∂06-Aug-83 0757 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:harrison%UCBARPA@Berkeley Re: TeX can't sort?
C00042 00005 ∂06-Aug-83 1327 @WASHINGTON.ARPA:harrison%UCBARPA@Berkeley TeX mode for emacs
C00044 00006 ∂06-Aug-83 1508 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:TEX82@SRI-AI.ARPA Programming in TeX
C00045 00007 ∂06-Aug-83 1606 REG E error logging
C00046 00008 ∂06-Aug-83 1731 ME E error logging
C00047 00009 ∂07-Aug-83 1958 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:RIM@SU-AI requests for help
C00049 00010 ∂07-Aug-83 2010 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:RIM@SU-AI requests for help
C00051 00011 ∂08-Aug-83 1942 @WASHINGTON.ARPA:ihnp4!ihuxq!grg@uw-beaver address change
C00053 00012 ∂08-Aug-83 2113 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #50
C00067 00013 ∂09-Aug-83 0026 RESTIVO@SU-SCORE.ARPA PROLOG Digest V1 #17
C00078 00014 ∂09-Aug-83 1255 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:DRF@SU-AI TeX 1.0-\epsilon
C00082 00015 ∂09-Aug-83 2025 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:rwells@bbn-unix Low resolution PXL files?
C00085 00016 ∂10-Aug-83 2222 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #51
C00096 00017 ∂11-Aug-83 0051 FURUTA@WASHINGTON.ARPA Version 0.9999 of TeX82
C00101 00018 ∂12-Aug-83 2144 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #52
C00122 00019 ∂13-Aug-83 1620 JBR@S1-A Definition of RETS
C00123 00020 ∂14-Aug-83 2109 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #53
C00138 00021 ∂16-Aug-83 0019 RESTIVO@SU-SCORE.ARPA PROLOG Digest V1 #19
C00148 00022 ∂17-Aug-83 2005 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #54
C00161 00023 ∂18-Aug-83 1956 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #55
C00180 00024 ∂18-Aug-83 2126 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:FURUTA@WASHINGTON.ARPA CDC TeX82 anyone?
C00181 00025 ∂18-Aug-83 2138 RESTIVO@SU-SCORE.ARPA PROLOG Digest V1 #20
C00199 00026 ∂19-Aug-83 0741 RESTIVO@SU-SCORE.ARPA PROLOG Digest V1 #21
C00223 00027 ∂21-Aug-83 0014 RESTIVO@SU-SCORE.ARPA PROLOG Digest V1 #22
C00229 00028 ∂22-Aug-83 0206 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #56
C00240 00029 ∂22-Aug-83 1632 ELYSE@SU-SCORE.ARPA Your current address, Visitors
C00242 00030 ∂22-Aug-83 1650 ELYSE@SU-SCORE.ARPA Chairman at North Carolina University
C00243 00031 ∂22-Aug-83 2349 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:FIGMO@KESTREL Versatec driver for TeX82
C00245 00032 ∂23-Aug-83 2250 @WASHINGTON.ARPA:furuta@uw-june bug fixes for the Imagen and Symbolics drivers
C00252 00033 ∂23-Aug-83 2258 @WASHINGTON.ARPA:furuta@uw-june bug fixes for the Imagen and Symbolics drivers
C00259 00034 ∂24-Aug-83 0852 TAJNAI@SU-SCORE.ARPA My talk for Japan
C00261 00035 ∂24-Aug-83 1130 JF@SU-SCORE.ARPA student support
C00267 00036 ∂24-Aug-83 1321 BSCOTT@SU-SCORE.ARPA Re: student support
C00269 00037 ∂25-Aug-83 2147 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #57
C00285 00038 ∂26-Aug-83 1339 GOLUB@SU-SCORE.ARPA acting chairman
C00286 00039 ∂28-Aug-83 1557 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #58
C00301 00040 ∂29-Aug-83 1458 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:RFN@SU-AI
C00305 00041 ∂30-Aug-83 2008 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #59
C00317 00042 ∂31-Aug-83 2015 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #60
C00345 00043 ∂02-Sep-83 1909 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #61
C00358 00044 ∂03-Sep-83 0016 RESTIVO@SU-SCORE.ARPA PROLOG Digest V1 #23
C00365 00045 ∂04-Sep-83 2246 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:reid@Glacier public picking on fellow faculty members
C00369 00046 ∂05-Sep-83 2151 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #62
C00384 00047 ∂06-Sep-83 0020 RESTIVO@SU-SCORE.ARPA PROLOG Digest V1 #24
C00394 00048 ∂07-Sep-83 0013 RESTIVO@SU-SCORE.ARPA PROLOG Digest V1 #25
C00401 00049 ∂08-Sep-83 1424 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #63
C00419 00050 ∂08-Sep-83 1743 @WASHINGTON.ARPA:furuta@uw-june fixes for the Versatec printers
C00436 00051 ∂10-Sep-83 0017 RESTIVO@SU-SCORE.ARPA PROLOG Digest V1 #26
C00450 00052 ∂11-Sep-83 1933 @WASHINGTON.ARPA:furuta@uw-june fix to the imagen spooler
C00456 00053 ∂13-Sep-83 1349 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:CAB@SU-AI hives, smoke, etc.
C00458 00054 ∂13-Sep-83 1448 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #64
C00477 00055 ∂14-Sep-83 2203 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:ROD@SU-AI Departmental Lecture Series
C00479 00056 ∂15-Sep-83 1314 ELYSE@SU-SCORE.ARPA Updating of Faculty Interests for 83-84
C00481 00057 ∂15-Sep-83 1320 LENAT@SU-SCORE.ARPA Colloquium
C00483 00058 ∂15-Sep-83 1354 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:TW@SU-AI
C00484 00059 ∂15-Sep-83 1511 cheriton%SU-HNV.ARPA@SU-SCORE.ARPA Re: Colloquium
C00486 00060 ∂16-Sep-83 1326 RESTIVO@SU-SCORE.ARPA PROLOG Digest V1 #27
C00495 00061 ∂16-Sep-83 2000 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #65
C00515 00062 ∂17-Sep-83 1931 MTH IBM PC and Sail
C00519 00063 ∂19-Sep-83 0929 MTH message from John Freeman
C00520 00064 ∂19-Sep-83 0959 ELYSE@SU-SCORE.ARPA Updating Affiliate Interests
C00523 00065 ∂19-Sep-83 1053 ELYSE@SU-SCORE.ARPA research int.
C00524 00066 ∂19-Sep-83 1143 REGES@SU-SCORE.ARPA Research support for new PhD students
C00529 00067 ∂19-Sep-83 1921 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #66
C00545 00068 ∂21-Sep-83 0837 RESTIVO@SU-SCORE.ARPA PROLOG Digest V1 #28
C00552 00069 ∂23-Sep-83 2010 RESTIVO@SU-SCORE.ARPA PROLOG Digest V1 #29
C00571 00070 ∂24-Sep-83 1135 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #67
C00590 00071 ∂26-Sep-83 0605 RESTIVO@SU-SCORE.ARPA PROLOG Digest V1 #30
C00603 00072 ∂26-Sep-83 2207 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #68
C00620 00073 ∂27-Sep-83 0008 @WASHINGTON.ARPA:Morgan%UCI.UCI@Rand-Relay TeX output on daisywheel printers
C00622 00074 ∂28-Sep-83 1113 @WASHINGTON.ARPA:rej@Cornell LaTeX ??
C00623 00075 ∂28-Sep-83 1805 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:Morgan%UCI.UCI@Rand-Relay TeX output on daisywheel printers (2nd attempt)
C00625 00076 ∂28-Sep-83 1845 FURUTA@WASHINGTON.ARPA What *is* a diablo-class TeX driver, anyway
C00629 00077 ∂28-Sep-83 1907 @SU-SCORE.ARPA,@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:Nemnich@MIT-MULTICS LN01 v. QMS 1200
C00633 00078 ∂28-Sep-83 1926 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:sjc@s1-c One use for a Diablo-class driver
C00636 00079 ∂28-Sep-83 2132 @SU-SCORE.ARPA,@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA:OC.DBD@CU20B Re: LN01 v. QMS 1200
C00642 00080 ∂28-Sep-83 2322 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:Morgan%UCI.UCI@Rand-Relay Re: What *is* a diablo-class TeX driver, anyway
C00647 00081 ∂28-Sep-83 2332 @WASHINGTON.ARPA:Morgan%UCI.UCI@Rand-Relay Re: What *is* a diablo-class TeX driver, anyway
C00652 00082 ∂29-Sep-83 0144 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #69
C00668 00083 ∂29-Sep-83 1122 @WASHINGTON.ARPA:hal@Cornell Re: What *is* a diablo-class TeX driver, anyway
C00677 00084 ∂30-Sep-83 1554 TEXGUESTS@SU-SCORE.ARPA Re: What *is* a diablo-class TeX driver, anyway
C00680 00085 ∂30-Sep-83 1602 @WASHINGTON.ARPA:TEXGUESTS@SU-SCORE.ARPA Re: What *is* a diablo-class TeX driver, anyway
C00683 00086 ∂30-Sep-83 1646 ELYSE@SU-SCORE.ARPA Niklaus Wirth Visit on Tuesday
C00684 00087 ∂30-Sep-83 1652 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #70
C00702 00088 ∂30-Sep-83 2146 LENAT@SU-SCORE.ARPA Attendance at Colloquium
C00705 00089 ∂01-Oct-83 0822 RESTIVO@SU-SCORE.ARPA PROLOG Digest V1 #31
C00712 00090 ∂01-Oct-83 1604 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:reid@Glacier test message please ignore
C00713 00091 ∂01-Oct-83 1801 GOLUB@SU-SCORE.ARPA reception
C00714 00092 ∂01-Oct-83 1808 GOLUB@SU-SCORE.ARPA Dinner for Wirth
C00715 00093 ∂02-Oct-83 1413 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #71
C00733 00094 ∂03-Oct-83 1558 GOLUB@SU-SCORE.ARPA lunch
C00734 00095 ∂03-Oct-83 1727 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:Nemnich.PDO@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Message of 3-Oct-83 13:52:59
C00738 00096 ∂05-Oct-83 1316 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #72
C00753 00097 ∂06-Oct-83 0025 RESTIVO@SU-SCORE.ARPA PROLOG Digest V1 #32
C00773 00098 ∂06-Oct-83 1648 PB SAIL TeX80 --> Unix TeX80, TeX80 --> Tex82
C00775 00099 ∂06-Oct-83 2023 LENAT@SU-SCORE.ARPA Fuzzy Lunch
C00776 00100 ∂08-Oct-83 1544 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #73
C00794 00101 ∂11-Oct-83 1918 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #74
C00822 00102 ∂12-Oct-83 1950 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #75
C00853 00103 ∂14-Oct-83 1423 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #76
C00866 00104 ∂15-Oct-83 2123 ARK Glosses and Margin notes
C00876 00105 ∂17-Oct-83 0327 ARK Re: marginal notes
C00882 00106 ∂19-Oct-83 1709 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #77
C00895 00107 ∂22-Oct-83 0951 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #78
C00914 00108 ∂24-Oct-83 1340 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #79
C00950 00109 ∂24-Oct-83 1816 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #79
C00986 00110 ∂28-Oct-83 1031 DRF@SU-SCORE.ARPA TeXbook ISBN
C00987 00111 ∂30-Oct-83 1732 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #80
C01003 00112 ∂28-Oct-83 1308 WYNN@SU-SIERRA.ARPA kermit USER manual!
C01005 00113 ∂01-Nov-83 1618 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #81
C01018 00114 ∂02-Nov-83 1533 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #82
C01041 00115 JJW - These files are now FTPed from Score to SAIL daily and given E direc-
C01042 00116 ∂04-Nov-83 2016 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #83
C01092 00117 ∂07-Nov-83 1922 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #84
C01123 00118 ∂09-Nov-83 0937 DRF
C01124 00119 ∂10-Nov-83 1235 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #85
C01149 00120 ∂12-Nov-83 1857 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #86
C01177 00121 ∂15-Nov-83 1353 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #87
C01214 00122 The corrections have been made.
C01217 00123 ∂16-Nov-83 1734 PATASHNIK@SU-SCORE.ARPA towards a more perfect department
C01219 00124 ∂16-Nov-83 2144 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #88
C01232 00125 ∂16-Nov-83 2147 GOLUB@SU-SCORE.ARPA Search for Chairman
C01233 00126 ∂17-Nov-83 1047 TAJNAI@SU-SCORE.ARPA IBM Wine and Cheese Party for Everyone
C01234 00127 I have finally gotten around to answering the letter from Argentina and I
C01240 00128 ∂19-Nov-83 2111 BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest v2 #89
C01257 00129 ∂20-Nov-83 1422 @WASHINGTON.ARPA:trickey@diablo Optimizer bug
C01260 00130 ∂21-Nov-83 0222 RESTIVO@SU-SCORE.ARPA PROLOG Digest V1 #53
C01277 00131 ∂21-Nov-83 1011 @WASHINGTON.ARPA:harrison%ucbarpa@Berkeley -O bug
C01281 00132 ∂21-Nov-83 1731 HOLTZMAN@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA
C01283 00133 ∂21-Nov-83 1856 GOLUB@SU-SCORE.ARPA CSD Chairperson Extraordinaire Required
C01285 00134 ∂21-Nov-83 2002 GOLUB@SU-SCORE.ARPA [Robert L. White <WHITE@SU-SIERRA.ARPA>: Space]
C01287 00135 ∂21-Nov-83 2016 GOLUB@SU-SCORE.ARPA lunch
C01288 00136 ∂22-Nov-83 0742 PATASHNIK@SU-SCORE.ARPA informal departmental lunch
C01290 00137 ∂22-Nov-83 1009 GOLUB@SU-SCORE.ARPA [Jeffrey D. Ullman <ULLMAN@SU-SCORE.ARPA>: Re: lunch]
C01292 00138 ∂18-Nov-83 2311 K.KENG%LOTS-A.#Pup@SU-SIERRA.ARPA New release of KERMIT-20
C01299 00139 ∂22-Nov-83 1734 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #90
C01336 00140 ∂24-Nov-83 0000 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #91
C01354 00141 ∂26-Nov-83 1114 GOLUB@SU-SCORE.ARPA Faculty lunch
C01367 00142 ∂26-Nov-83 1603 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #92
C01391 00143
C01398 00144 ∂28-Nov-83 1356 ELYSE@SU-SCORE.ARPA Faculty Meeting
C01399 00145 ∂30-Nov-83 1033 DEK celebration!
C01402 00146 ∂30-Nov-83 1527 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #93
C01427 00147 ∂01-Dec-83 0224 RESTIVO@SU-SCORE.ARPA PROLOG Digest V1 #56
C01441 00148 ∂01-Dec-83 1555 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:reid@Glacier official rumor
C01443 00149 ∂01-Dec-83 1656 GOLUB@SU-SCORE.ARPA course scheduling
C01445 00150 ∂01-Dec-83 1803 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:lantz@diablo Re: course scheduling
C01447 00151 ∂02-Dec-83 1115 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:ullman@diablo Computer Use Committee
C01451 ENDMK
C⊗;
∂05-Aug-83 2146 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #49
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 5 Aug 83 21:45:33 PDT
Date: 5 Aug 1983 2031-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #49
From: Dick Gillmann <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 5 August 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 49
Today's Topics:
Six UNIX Clones
Faraday Motherboard
Lotus 1-2-3 Memory Requirements
Word Processing Query
Hard Disk
8 Inch Drives (2 msgs)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2 Aug 83 21:40:28-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!hocda!spanky!burl!duke!lsn @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Six Unices for the PC
I just ran across a copy of an article printed in Unix review
June/July 83 called Unix on the IBM personal computer. It is a very
interesting article comparing all of the unices available for the PC.
They chose not to recommend any one of them as better than the others,
since they all had strong and weak points. I suggest that anyone who
is interested in getting some sort of Unix for the PC should grab a
look at the article.
Here is a summary table at the end of the article.
Company Product Price Unix MS-DOS Multi- Hard disk Applic
support user support Features
------- ------- ----- ---- ------- ------ --------- --------
Mark Williams Coherent $500 V7 None +$300 XT Ethernet
1430 W Wrightwood corvus support
Chicago IL 60616 Davong
312 472-6656 Tecmar
Whitesmiths Idris $1100 V6 File xfr yes XT Screen
97 Lowell Rd edit
Concord MA 01742 DBMS
617-369-8499 8087 sup
Sritek micro- $2695 sys 3 file acc $300 Any Multi
3637 S Green Rd card 512K [nt]roff plan
Cleve OH 44122
216 526-9433
Quantum Softw Sys QNX $650 V7 file xfr 16 usr Davong Comm
7219 Shea Ct Genie Word Pr
San Jose CA 95139 Tecmar 8087 sup
408 629-0402 XT
Lantech Sys Inc uNETix $298 V7 emulation fall 83 none 8087 sup
9861 Chartwell Dr
Dallas TX 75243
214 340-3904
VenturCom Venix $400 sys 3 file xfr Yes Davong Sunburst
139 Main St XT RM/Cobol
Cambridge MA 02142 8087 sup
617 661-1230
COHERENT is the oldest and has ethernet support. It also includes
lex and yacc.
IDRIS runs on lots of machines (vax >> 8080) and is very portable.
System call compatible with Version 6, and is much smaller.
nroff/troff are $200 extra each.
MICRO-CARD is a 68000 with 512K of memory. Expensive, but fast.
QNX (alias QUNIX) supports full 1M of memory. V7 compatible.
$650 for cc, screen editor, word processor, RAM disk support.
Designed for the PC, support for windowing promised.
UNETIX has full MS-DOS emulation. Up to 10 windows can be defined
each running a separate process. (In the body of the article, they
say it is only $99, but the above table says $299 (?)). Claims to run
MS-DOS programs faster than MS-DOS due to the Unix buffering system
(reducing disk access). No hard disks, though (aargh!) and only
single user. Real winner when hard disks/multiuser happens.
VENIX is based on original Bell Labs Code. Optimized for size, speed,
and reliability. Version on the PDP11 kernel is only 45K, about half
of normal. It has DBMS system, graphics post-processor, and
FinalWord. MS-DOS emulation underway. Not currently available except
to *qualified* users -- software development types. IBM is teaching
UNIX on the PCs to its employees using Venix.
Lars Nyland
...{duke|mcnc}!lsn
------------------------------
Date: 4 Aug 1983 1627-PDT
To: INFO-IBMPC
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Faraday PC Motherboard
We just took delivery of a Faraday Electronics IBM-PC compatible
motherboard. Single quantity price is $500. Quantity discounts can
bring the price down to $250, but Faraday's idea of quantity is 10K
boards per month.
The board is a superset of IBM-PC motherboard in that it contains two
asynchronous ports and a printer port. The board is about the same
size as the IBM board but gains a lot of space by using 16K EPROMS and
getting rid of the cassette port. It comes with 64K RAM installed but
is expandable to 256K. There are 5 expansion slots compatible with
the IBM-PC.
There is no BASIC in the ROM but the BIOS supports the Async port if
the switches are set to no display. There is also a provision for a
reset button, a feature sorely lacking in the PC.
For anyone out there who is into roll-your-own PCs this looks like a
pretty cheap way to get started. Faraday Electronics operates on a
cash in advance basis and took about two weeks to deliver. The profit
margins on this sort of product can't be much.
Faraday Electronics
1029 Corporation Way
Palo Alto, CA 94303
(415) 961-0600
------------------------------
Date: 4 Aug 1983 1803-PDT
To: INFO-IBMPC
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Lotus 1-2-3 Memory Requirements
One of the primary uses of the microcomputers has been for spreadsheet
programs. The large memory space has made these programs more useful.
I have never seen published just how big a spreadsheet can be handled
in an IBM-PC fully stuffed with memory. An accountant friend of mine
needed this information so he could plan ahead and not run out of
memory on April 13th. The following tables are officially
unofficially from Lotus and apply to the 1-2-3 spreadsheet program.
If you have 320K memory and a cell width of 10:
Fill all cells with:
Characters (10) = 14,160 Cells
Numbers (9) = 18,400 Cells
Formulas (simple) = 6,150 Cells
If you have 544K memory and a cell width of 10:
Fill all cells with:
Characters (10) = 28,500 Cells
Numbers (9) = 37,600 Cells
Formulas (simple) = 12,480 Cells
------------------------------
Date: 4 Aug 83 21:46:57-PDT (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!gummo!whuxlb!mkg @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Word Processing Query
My wife is using WordStar in her business and has come to despise it.
Having looked at the manuals and played with it a little, I can see
why she dislikes it. Yes, it's no nroff, but it does have a habit of
going out of its way to make simple tasks time consuming and tedious.
Does anybody have experience with other word processing packages for
the PC? I'd like to hear what you think about it and why you'd choose
it over WordStar. Please respond to me by mail and in a week or so,
I'll post a summary of all the comments I get.
Thanks in advance.
Marsh Gosnell BTL Whippany (201) 386-7095 whuxlb!mkg
------------------------------
Date: 5 Aug 1983 1807-PDT
To: Gene Autrey-Hunley at SRI-KL
cc: info-ibmpc at ISIB
From: HFISCHER@USC-ECLB
Subject: Re: Hard Disk
I've been very pleased with the hard disk on my XT. Having worked
with Caelus and Diablo's on last generations mini's, it's hard to
imagine that this size package is so quiet and fast, and that there is
no way to have to open it up for "spring cleaning" and alignment! Its
performance for disk-intensive work seems much better than what I
expected based on mini performance of the past. Of course, It's not
an IBM 3038, but did you want everything?
Herm Fischer
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 5 Aug 83 17:47:39 PDT
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: Scott Burris <v.burris@UCLA-LOCUS>
Subject: 8 Inch Drives
Has anyone had any experience with 8 inch drives for the PC? I have a
friend who is going to buy 3 of them (PC's that is), and he wants 8
inch floppy disks that can hold 1 meg. (i.e. double sided, double
density). Any suggestions, experiences, etc. would be appreciated.
Scott... v.burris@UCLA-CS (ARPA)
or
v.burris@UCLA-LOCUS
or
...ucbvax!ucla-vax!burris (UUCP)
------------------------------
Date: 5 Aug 1983 1921-PDT
To: Scott Burris <v.burris@UCLA-LOCUS>
cc: info-ibmpc
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Re: 8 Inch Drives
At ISI and the ARPA office we have 8" drives from Flagstaff
Engineering. Flagstaff's strong point is that they make software and
hardware that allow you to read just about any format of disk. Our
primary goal is to be able to read Displaywriter files. (A
Displaywriter is an IBM stand-alone word processor). The Flagstaff
software will read display writer files and turn them into Easywriter,
Wordstar, or ASCII text files. In addition, we can read just about
any format of CP/M, EBCDIC, or whatever disks. These programs are
utilities which convert files from the foreign format to normal DOS
files.
The Flagstaff board is a modified disk controller card. The drive is
in an outboard box and uses its own power supply. A ribbon cable
connects this box to the modified IBM controller card in the PC. I
believe the modifications are exclusively to read and write single
density disks so this might not be the route for you. If you are into
maximum 8" capacity in DOS format, the Tall Tree JFORMAT program may
be the answer. This program will format any 8" drive at various
densities. I believe the max is 1.2 MByte. Tall Tree gave us a list
of manufacturers but Flagstaff was the only one we contacted due to
the Displaywriter capability.
As I explained in an earlier INFO-IBMPC, beware of controllers that
use digital data separaters! If you are going for double density on
8" disks, the controllers that use digital data separaters may get you
into trouble. This is why Flagstaff uses modified IBM controllers.
IBM has a custom chip set that does this function in analog logic
(analog phase lock loop vs digital phase lock loop).
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂08-Aug-83 2113 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #50
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 8 Aug 83 21:12:58 PDT
Date: 8 Aug 1983 2009-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #50
From: Dick Gillmann <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Monday, 8 August 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 50
Today's Topics:
Modula-2
Microsoft C Query
Hard Disk Query
Hi-Res Characters and Graphics (2 msgs)
Visi-On (2 msgs)
8 Inch Drives
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 6 Aug 83 2:25:29-PDT (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: utcsrgv!peterr@UW-BEAVER
Subject: Modula-2
Has anyone used a Modula-2 system for the IBM PC? Included with a
copy of "Programming in Modula-2" (N. Wirth, Springer-Verlag, NY,
1983) is an order form whereby S-V will sell one a compiler, linker,
symbolic debugger, command interpreter, and utilities, to run with
MS-DOS or CP/M-86 on the PC, for US$495, qty 1, with quantity
discounts available. A version for the Apple Lisa is available for
$595. Both are said to be by Logitech. I'd be very interested in
comments on this system and in pointers to reviews of it or other
Modula-2 systems for the IBM. I'll summarize in a couple of weeks
given sufficient response.
peter rowley, U. Toronto CSRG, utcsrgv!peterr@UW-BEAVER (ARPANet)
or {cornell,watmath,ihnp4,floyd,allegra,utzoo,uw-beaver}!utcsrgv!peterr
or {cwruecmp,duke,linus,decvax,research}!utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr (UUCP)
------------------------------
Date: 5 Aug 83 18:41:34-PDT (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!hocda!spanky!burl!duke!unc!tucc!chuck @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Microsoft C Query
Is there anyone out there using the Microsoft MS-DOS version of C?
How complete of an implementation is it? What are the licensing fees?
Any feel for speed?
Chuck
------------------------------
Date: 6 Aug 83 23:12:40-EDT (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!watmath!bstempleton @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Hard Disk Query
Has anybody done any comparison shopping on winnies for the IBM-PC,
i.e. comparison of specs such as transfer rate and seek times? DMA
vs. busy wait? What are the specs for the XT? For the new 10 meg
Shugart that is going for $995 US from a firm out of Chicago?
Brad Templeton - Waterloo, Ont.
------------------------------
Date: 7 Aug 1983 11:22:12 EDT (Sunday)
From: Dick Kalagher <kalagher at mitre>
Subject: Hi-Res Characters and Graphics Query
To: info-ibmpc at isib
The Compaq, TI Professional, and Corona all have a high resolution
character mode that does graphics on the same screen. As far as I can
tell, you can not get this on an IBM-PC. Does anyone know of a
hardware board/monitor combination that will allow this on the PC?
I am referring to a monochrome mode only.
Thanks,
Dick
------------------------------
Date: 7 Aug 1983 1233-PDT
Subject: Re: Hi-Res Characters and Graphics Query
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: Dick Kalagher <kalagher@MITRE>
cc: info-ibmpc
There are several boards available that add graphics to the monochrome
display. The Hercules board is the most popular. Tecmar has an ad
for another one on the back cover of the latest issue of PC Magazine.
You're probably better off with the Hercules because a lot of
commercial software has been adapted to it already.
------------------------------
Date: 7 Aug 1983 15:00-PDT
Subject: Visi-On
From: William "Chops" Westfield <BillW @ SRI-KL>
To: brackenridge@ISIB
Remailed-To: info-ibmpc
Just how much of a "virtual machine" is provided by Visi-On?
Normally, when someone mentions a virtual machine, I envision
something like Smalltalk, where object code is trasnportable from
machine to machine, and the underlying "engine" ends up interpreting
byte codes or some such. However, from the general tone of your
message, I got the impression that Visi-On provides more of an
operating system type environment - You have a set of system calls
that are callable from many languages, and are present on all
machines. Sort of like Unix, which is the only major operating system
that I can think of that runs on a bunch of different hardware.
Bill W
------------------------------
Date: 7 Aug 1983 2103-PDT
Subject: Re: Visi-On
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: William "Chops" Westfield <BillW@SRI-KL>
cc: info-ibmpc
I suppose "virtual machine" is a misnomer as it has come to mean so
many things as to be "virtually meaningless". I believe the preferred
terms are Visi Host for the low level stuff and Visi Machine for the
higher level code.
The system calls are not callable from many languages -- Visi C is the
only language. Visi C is a fairly restricted subset of C designed for
maximum portability and to be independent of word size while currently
optimized for 16 bit words.
I think in the Visi On system we see something fundamentally different
from any portable operating system like Unix or CP/M. The Visi On
system incorporates a model of a machine with a large virtual address
space, a bit map display, and a mouse. Currently a hardware
implementation of such a machine is not competitive in the office
marketplace. The best compromise was to take a cost effective machine
like the PC and write a lot of assembly language code to do raster-ops
and memory management in software.
Some of the UCSD Pascal people were at the Visi seminar. Their intent
is to write Pascal to C translators that could port the UCSD base of
programs into various C environments. I haven't looked in to the
details, but I suspect some built in Pascal functions could be
directly mapped to Visi On machine calls.
Many of the low levels of the Visi On system may be made available in
silicon. I expect many of the PC compatible companies will make super
set PC machines to exploit the Visi On model. Currently, for example,
the Compaq has a high resolution screen mode that is a superset of the
IBM-PC graphics capability.
Some of the people from the Intel display processor chip design team
were at the seminar. The current Intel display processor (and the NEC
equivalent) are selling about as well as stand alone word processors
or dumb video terminals. Texas Instruments has already announced
their chip entries in the raster-op race. They have a dual ported RAM
that has a built in shift register and a raster-op engine based on the
TMS320 architecture (fast multiply, built in barrel shifter, etc.)
The Intel 286 processor is code compatible with the current 8086 but
some dozen times faster. An upgrade to this chip would speed up
memory management and provide memory protection while requiring no
changes in user or Visi Machine level code. I don't think MS-DOS or
applications that run directly under MS-DOS will be able to utilize
the 286 without extensive recoding and a basic change in memory
management and process structure.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Aug 83 13:50:59 CDT
From: Stan.Hanks <stan.rice@Rand-Relay>
Subject: Re: 8 Inch Drives
To: Scott Burris <v.burris@ucla-cs>
Cc: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
I have been using the Maynard Electronics controller with a pair of
Qume DT8 drives for about 7 months now. After initial configuration
problems (and a bad board) were solved, I haven't had any trouble at
all. The engineering staff at Maynard is very helpful and is usually
very concerned when you call with a problem; apparently they don't see
too many of them and worry a bit when they do pop up.
There is no software support from Maynard, so you either have to roll
your own, or use the stuff from Tall Tree. I have been using the Tall
Tree stuff, and working on writing code to read/write standard CP/M
format disks invisibly. The Maynard controller and Tall Tree software
also make it possible to use 96 tpi 5.25 inch drives also. I have
been using one of these also with great success.
Stan Hanks
Department of Computer Science
Rice University
Houston TX
stan.rice@rand-relay <arpa>
stan@rice <csnet>
...!lbl-csam!rice!stan <uucp>
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂10-Aug-83 2222 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #51
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 10 Aug 83 22:21:45 PDT
Date: 10 Aug 1983 2127-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #51
From: Dick Gillmann <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 10 August 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 51
Today's Topics:
XT Disk (2 msgs)
DOS 2.0
MULTIBUS Interface Query
Microsoft C (2 msgs)
Hi-Res Characters and Graphics
Diskette Format Conversion Query
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 8 Aug 1983 2221-PDT
To: info-ibmpc at ISIB
cc: decvax!watmath!bstempleton at UCB-VAX
From: HFISCHER@USC-ECLB
Subject: XT Disk Specs
XT DISK SPECIFICATIONS
Controller: 11 bit burst error correction via 32 bit ECC
Memory access: DMA
Surfaces: 2 disks x 2 surfaces
Capacity: 17 sect/trk x 512 bytes/sect x 1224 tracks
Density: 345 tracks/inch
Dimensions: 3.25 x 5.75 x 8.0, 4.6 pounds
Temp, operating: 40F to 122F
" nonoperating: -40F to 140F
Humid operating: 8% to 80% noncondensing
Max wet bulb: 78 deg F
Shock operating: 10 Gs
" nonoperating: 20 Gs
Access time: 3 ms track-to-track
Average latency: 8.33 ms
Error rates-soft: 1 per 10**10 bits read
" " -hard: 1 per 10**12 " "
" " -seek: 1 per 10**6 seeks
Design life: 5 years (8000 hours MTBF, not field repairable)
Disk speed: 3600 rpm
Transfer rate: 5 M bits/sec
Recording method: MFM
Power: +12v, 1.8A (4.5A max); +5 0.7A (1.0A max)
Ripple: 1% max with resistive load
------------------------------
Date: 9 Aug 83 18:36:40-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!cca!ima!johnl @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: IBM Hard Disk
When the disk on the XT works, it's quiet and reliable, if a bit slow.
The problem is that a distressing number are DOA, either because of
bad disks or, in some cases, power supplies that can handle one disk
but not two which is a problem if you have an XT with an expansion
unit.
IBM is perfectly decent about fixing them, but since the demand for
XTs is so huge it can take a while to get spares.
I also notice that there are at least three different disks showing up
in XTs: the MiniScribe, the CDC, and a Seagate. (I've seen all
three.) Perhaps with more manufacturers in competition, they can be
more sticky about quality control.
John Levine, ima!johnl
------------------------------
Date: 3 Aug 83 15:09:16-PDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc@isib
From: sri-unix!decvax!linus!vaxine!wjh12!foxvax1!dbn@brunix.UUCP@CCA
Subject: DOS 2.0
Having worked with PC-DOS 2.0 for quite some time now, I have
encountered LOTS of problems. I am not sure, however, if some of the
lower-level problems are due to my coding and misinterpretation of the
Manual, or DOS.
I have had problems with the low-level seek interrupt, and have
discovered that all files written with the new 'handle' system are
terminated by a number of 0x0s. Does anyone have a list of known
problems with DOS 2.0? I have read the PC article, but it doesn't
really go into specifics.
Thanks in advance!
Dave Nanian
...decvax!brunix!dbn
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 9 Aug 83 09:10:15 EDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: "Martin H. Schultz" <Schultz@YALE.ARPA>
Subject: MULTIBUS Interface Query
Does anyone have experience with a MULTIBUS interface for the IBM PC?
I am interested in interfacing the PC to an array processor.
------------------------------
Date: 9 Aug 1983 1010-PDT
From: Randy Cole <COLE@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
Subject: Re: Microsoft C
Microsoft C is exactly the same as Lattice C, and was licensed by
Microsoft from Lattice/Lifeboat. Perhaps Microsoft made some minor
changes to guarantee portability from one MS-DOS system to another,
but the language itself is straight Lattice (which was reviewed within
the last 3 months in PC or PC World, I forget which). Microsoft
didn't even reformat the manual on the version I saw, other than put
their name everywhere. The package includes C, the latest MSDOS
linker, and a MS-DOS Librarian (a nice thing to have).
Lattice C has been the fastest or near to it in any benchmarks I have
seen. I don't believe either Microsoft or Lattice C supports the 8087
yet. It is fairly easy to substitute your own floating point
arithmetic operations for the Lattice operations. This gives a nice
speedup (a factor of 10 for a Fast Fourier Transform).
I don't know about Microsoft's licensing policy, but Lattice doesn't
require any royalties (Mince, Scribble, and The Final Word are written
largely in Lattice C).
Randy Cole
------------------------------
Date: 9 Aug 1983 16:42:49-PDT (Tuesday)
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
From: Dion Johnson <JOHNSOND.IBM-SJ@Rand-Relay>
Subject: Microsoft C
Microsoft's C is really the Lattice C compiler, repackaged and with a
librarian added. They are happy to tell you so if you are a dealer
(or whatever) and call them.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 9 Aug 83 22:15:19 EDT
To: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN%usc-isib.arpa@udel-ee>
Cc: Dick Kalagher <kalagher%mitre.arpa@udel-ee>,
info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@udel-ee
From: Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee>
Subject: Re: Hi-Res Characters and Graphics Query
My personal feelings of the Hercules card is not printable. I have
found it rather incompatible with use as a straight mono card. While
it works there are incompatibilities (like even with the IBM
diagnostics).
I don't recommend it without care.
Dave
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 9 Aug 83 12:50 PDT
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Ciccarelli.PA@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: Diskette Format Conversion Query
Are there any software products for the PC that will let it read files
from Apple-II CP/M formatted (5.25") diskettes? I have quite a bit of
8080 assembler code that I developed on an Apple II+ system with the
Microsoft SoftCard (Z-80 board) installed, and I'd like to bring the
source files over onto my PC -- preferably without having to buy a
serial port for the Apple and comm software for both machines.
/John Ciccarelli
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂12-Aug-83 2144 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #52
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 12 Aug 83 21:44:43 PDT
Date: 12 Aug 1983 2017-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #52
From: Dick Gillmann <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 12 August 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 52
Today's Topics:
EasyWriter II Review
MS-DOS 1.25a & 2.0 vs. PC-DOS 2.0
Assembly Language Graphics
C86 Update
MULTIBUS Interface
Coherent Unix-like System
Hi-Res Characters and Graphics
CodeSmith-86
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 9 Aug 83 15:16:35-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: Martin.GATech @ UDel-Relay
Subject: EasyWriter II Review
This review applies to Easywriter II, by Basic Software Corp, of
Vancouver.
I bought my PC about 2 weeks ago, for the express purpose of using it
for editing technical papers and the like. Upon unpacking this
marvel, I set about learning to use Easywriter. I have used it now
for 2 weeks, about 3 hours a day on average. For the record, I have
probably used 20 different text editors in my time, although I have
not used a word processor before.
The basic mode of operation of ew (Easywriter) is that you enter text,
and it is automatically justified, etc, according to the settings at
the place you enter the text. To change the settings for margins, you
edit a thing called a ruler. The ruler lets you set the left margin,
the tabs, and the right margin. The right margin can be set to
`ragged' (as made famous by CACM), justified, or no-fill. Once you
set a ruler, it applies until you set another ruler.
Miscellaneous points include: the package does do spooling if you have
96K of memory (I have).
Easywriter is 'page oriented'. This means that as you enter text, it
will ring your bell when the current page is full. You can then move
on to the next page, or you can just let the page overflow, then
paginate it later. If you paginate later, you can set the 'adjust'
parameter, and all text will be adjusted according to the rulers.
Otherwise, it will not necessarily be adjusted. You can adjust
periodically (say, after inserting a few words, each of which will be
given a full line in the current sentence), by using an adjust
paragraph button. I use this a lot.
There is notion of the 'mode' you are in. Possible modes are page,
paragraph, character, word, block, and sentence. Things like `next',
insert, underline, and so on work with respect to the mode you are in.
You must hit function keys to change modes.
Enough preliminaries. Now for the review.
Easywriter is a pain to use. It works, sort of, but there are so many
amateurish characteristics, it drives you nuts. Not to mention the
number of keystrokes to do some things. Consider the following pet
peeves:
* In word mode, a word seems to be from here to the next blank or end of
line. So if I want to underline the word comma, right back there in
the sentence, I put the cursor on the 'c', then hit 'alt underline',
which underlines the word comma and the ','. Now, I have to hit
backspace and 'alt n' to set the last character (the ',') back to
normal. This is just as bad with delete and so on.
* Centered has an immediate effect, but it does not survive pagination.
That is, centered is not an attribute of a line. So if you want your
centering to stay centered, you center your line, put a no-fill ruler
on that line, then put another ruler on the next line to return to.
* You cannot do a 'return to previous ruler', nor can you do temporary
indents. The number of keystrokes gets very high.
* You cannot do a 'need x', to mean that you need x lines on a single
page.
* Once when I opened a new document and closed it without putting any
text on it, the program blew.
* When you do a delete in block mode, you first position the first
character you want deleted, put the thing in block mode, and hit
'delete'. It asks you to move to the last character you want deleted,
then hit 'block' again. So far so good. You hit block. Now, so you
won't screw yourself, it carefully asks you if you really want to
delete that stuff. Hit return if you do. It sure would help if they
would show you what you are about to delete. Like an underline or
reverse video.
* So you deleted the wrong stuff. Can you recover? Well, you can, but
only if you set the whole page (whatever logical unit that is) back to
the way it was when you started editing it. That is, when you last
moved to this page. You must undo all or nothing. This one's a real
gotcha.
I could go on. Overall, it's not too bad until you start changing
your text. Then it seems as though the authors had some good ideas,
but they had never actually used these features, and they didn't get
beta testing from anyone who had. I have spent some time (under 20
hours) using a Xerox Star, and while ew is many times faster, it is
nowhere so easy to use. Many of the operational paradigms are the
same though.
It's nicer than vi or some of the edit-then-format systems I have
used. I have not used any other PC editors. The mere description of
Wordstar put me off that, so I got this. I would be interested in
hearing other people's experiences with other word processors. I
would buy another one if I thought it would be markedly better. But I
suspect that this particular industry is still in its infancy, and
maybe it would be better to wait until someone comes out with a
word processor that is well-tested, designed with the human interface
in mind, and makes good use of the 320K of memory I have.
Martin McKendry
ARPANET: Martin.GATech @ UDel-Relay
CSNet: Martin @ GATech
uucp: ...!{sb1,allegra}!gatech!martin
...!duke!mcnc!msdc!gatech!martin
------------------------------
Date: 10 Aug 83 7:22:14-PDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!rlgvax!michael @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: MS-DOS 1.25a & 2.0 vs. PC-DOS 2.0
I have had a Victor 9000 with a 10 meg hard disk for many months
operating with MS-DOS 1.25a. This is a version of 1.0 designed to
support a hard disk environment. The additional features added to the
standard 1.0 version consist of a series of utilities allowing
formatting and partitioning of the hard disk into 1-n MS-DOS volumes
and a configuration utility with a series of default partitioning
schemes. The hard disk can be configured as the boot device.
This week I received an alpha copy of MS-DOS 2.0 for the Victor.
Having read all the articles on PC-DOS 2.0 I was prepared to start
getting used to using "\" in path definitions. Wrong!!! MS-DOS 2.0
as it comes from Microsoft uses the "/" character in path definitions.
The Victor documentation also indicates that all bugs that were
identified in PC-DOS 2.0, except for some problems with SORT, have
been corrected.
Since I just received MS-DOS 2.0 two days ago, I have not had time to
gain much experience with it. A quick reading of the manual suggests
to me that there may be some other differences between MS-DOS 2.0 and
PC-DOS 2.0 other the "\" and "/" usage. If there is any interest on
the net, I will post these differences as I discover them. I haven't
even had a chance to review the "Programmer's Reference Manual"
(delivered, interestingly enough, on a floppy).
{seismo,mcnc,we13,brl-bmd,allegra}!rlgvax!michael
------------------------------
Date: 11 Aug 83 11:46:14-EDT (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc@isib
From: Mfarber@UDel-Relay
Subject: Assembly Language Graphics
In The september 1981 BYTE, there is a line drawing technique called
DDA that draws any kind of line perfectly unbroken, without using real
numbers, which makes it very easy to translate into assembly language.
I did this, and it draws lines exactly like in BASIC, not noticeably
faster either. If anyone wants the source code for this, drop me a
line.
-Manny
------------------------------
Date: 12 Aug 1983 1206-EDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
From: Willie Lim <WLIM@MIT-XX>
Subject: C86 Update
I talked to George Eberhard last night. The optimized version of the
C86 compiler is undergoing beta testing. He hopes to release it by
end of September or early October. If you have a real need for it and
have already paid for it, you might be able to convince him to let you
use it.
Willie
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 83 10:43 PDT
To: "Martin H. Schultz" <Schultz@YALE.ARPA>
cc: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
From: Ciccarelli.PA@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: Re: MULTIBUS Interface
On page 32 of the August 11, 1983 issue of Electronics, there is an
advertisement from "Bit 3" with the headline "Plug The IBM PC Into
Your MULTIBUS Chassis". It says:
"Directly access MULTIBUS memory as though it were PC memory.
Directly access MULTIBUS I/O cards as though they were PC I/O cards.
An 8K dual port concurrent access static RAM serves as a DMA buffer or
as additional PC or MULTIBUS memory."
BIT 3
8120 Penn Avenue South
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55431
(612) 881-6955
/John
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 83 12:20:06 EDT
To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@udel-ee
From: Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee>
Subject: Coherent Unix-like System
I have installed it on my XT and it works very well. It is indeed V7
Unix. I split my disk 5 megs for Coherent and 5 for DOS. Anyone who
wants to do this should FIRST format the XT disk with the format in
the advanced diagnostics, then run Coherent build; then run DOS fdisk;
then reboot; then run format c: /s/v.
Don't expect to see the existence of any other system in the fdisk
report. By the way, I set 150 cylinders starting at 155.
Dave
------------------------------
Date: 12 Aug 1983 1452-PDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
From: Rob-Kling <Kling.UCI-20B@Rand-Relay>
Subject: Re: Hi-Res Characters and Graphics
Like many others I've been searching for a board which will drive
hi-res graphics and sharp characters jointly. There are offerings in
the market by Hercules, USI, Amdek and Tecmar all of which differ in
alleged capabilities. The Hercules board and the Tecmar board are the
only two which are supposed to drive the IBM Monochrome Monitor with
hi-res graphics and characters. Dave Farber won't print his comments
re the Hercules board in this BB. The Newport Beach Computerland
manager refuses to sell it, but will order it at buyers risk if they
absolutely insist. The people at Hercules say (by phone) that they
know of no problems with their board. Which may mean that currently
known problems will not be rapidly fixed. However, currently Lotus
1-2-3 is organized to work only with the Hercules board, not the
Tecmar board, as alternatives to the standard separate mono or
graphics board. I called Lotus this week and a spokesman says they
have announced no plans to support other boards as of this time.
The Tecmar board board has been advertised for several months with
nice full page color ads on the back outside cover of PC magazine.
Hard to miss. The specs claim hi-res graphics. The August issue
advertises a "new, improved!!!" board. I can't find anyone who has
used the old, unimproved board. Tecmar treats Photo and Sound in San
Francisco and Costa Mesa as their California dealers. (These are
basically video shops with an add-on computer section). They have not
seen the board. The Newport Beach Computerland is back ordered about
6 weeks on the Tecmar graphics board.
Rob Kling
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 83 22:34:13 EDT
To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa%udel-eecis3.arpa@udel-ee
From: Manny Farber <manny%udel-eecis3.udeecis%udel-eecis3.arpa@udel-ee>
Subject: CodeSmith-86
I just got a copy of CodeSmith-86 and it is great. The people at
Visual Age were very competent and cooperative with my questions.
We got a new release (you get 1 free update when you buy CodeSmith-86)
that supports the DOS 2 linker, and has a very useful AUTODUMP feature
added. AUTODUMP automatically dumps any memory that is referenced in
your program on the screen. In addition, there is a feature to skip
over INTs, REPs, and CALLs during single step debugging so you don't
end up following DOS and the ROM BIOS through hundreds of statements.
Manny
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂14-Aug-83 2109 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #53
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 14 Aug 83 21:09:20 PDT
Date: 14 Aug 1983 1944-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #53
From: Dick Gillmann <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Sunday, 14 August 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 53
Today's Topics:
$995 Hard Disk
Hi-Res Characters and Graphics
IQLISP
Peanut (3 msgs)
DS Diskette Drive Query
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 12 Aug 83 12:09:17-PDT (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!watmath!bstempleton @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: $995 Hard Disk
I have seen the recent ads for the Shugart 612 10 meg HD from Great
Lakes Peripherals for $995. This seems like a good deal. $995 is my
kind of price for a 10 meg disk. I called them, and they sent me
their spec sheet. The disk seems standard, but a little slow with a
90 msec average seek time but a 16 ms single track step time. How
does the XT compare with this? Has anybody ordered one of these? Got
it yet? Any comments to give? I am thinking of ordering one next
week.
I have seen the same disk advertised for $1595 by another firm called
Phoenix. They say you can get it from dealers.
Brad Templeton - Waterloo, Ont. (519) 886-7304
------------------------------
Date: 12 Aug 83 23:14:49-PDT (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!tektronix!stever @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Hi-Res Characters and Graphics
I have always been puzzled by what "Hi-Res" means until I know pixel
specs, scanning frequency, and interlace mode, for a particular
display board. Here are the boards I know about:
*--------*
Control Systems, 2855 Anthony Lane, Minneapolis, Minnesota,
55418 (612) 789-2421:
Artist 1 for $3195
-1024 x 1024 Industrial graphics
-170 x 96 Character display
-512k Memory
Artist 2 for $1595
-640 x 410 Business graphics
-80 x 50 Character display
-128k Memory
COMMON FEATURES include:
16 colors
16:1 display zoom
16:1 character zoom
pan, scroll, paging
light pen
DMA
Mixed text and graphics
selectable character sets
solid and dotted lines
11 shading patterns
RS343 output
external genlock
NEC 7220 processor
single expansion slot
accessible graphics library from any PC-DOS language
supports CP/M-GSX
and lots more features popular including Tektronix 40XX
emulation
*-------*
Hercules Computer Technology, 3200 Adeline Street, Berkeley, CA
94703 (415) 654-2476
Hercules Graphics Card for $499
-720 x 348 monochrome display only.
-HBASIC software provided by Hercules,
-1-2-3, Energraphics, Autocad & others support this hardware.
-incompatible with color graphics board (unless you want to
break a trace on the Hercules board!)
*--------*
Tecmar, 6225 Cochran Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44139 (216) 349-0600
Graphics Master for $695
-full emulation of existing IBM PC display adaptors
-720 x 700 bit map graphics on monochrome
-only one monitor can be physically connected at a time
-no application software support or BASIC for 720x700 mode
-no parallel printer port on board
-30 different display modes altogether
-128k on-board display buffer memory
-compatible with either IBM PC display adaptor
*--------*
Orchid Technology, 487 Sinclair Frontage Road, Milpitas, CA 95035
(408) 942-8600
Monochrome Graphics Adaptor
-720 x 350 screen resolution
-functions as a companion card to the monochrome adaptor
-enables graphics and/or monochrome characters
-game adaptor included on card
-64k on-board RAM
-complete software support (they claim)
Without an existing IBM standard for "higher" resolution graphics it
is risky to get any of these boards unless you can afford to throw
them away later on or can get a quick ROI. My feeling is that if you
really don't need graphics right now, you might save some money if you
wait for IBM to produce their new graphic board. I am assuming that
they are working on one-- if they are not, they are crazy!
Some rule of thumbs might be:
If you are just buying your PC and need excellent character resolution
for text processing, but would like to have graphics for popular
application software, consider the Hercules card.
If you already have a monochrome adaptor, don't want to waste it, and
don't have a need for popular application software graphics on your
monochrome screen, consider Orchid. You can add a standard graphics
card later.
If you want flexibility without much software support, but want to be
able to run all the standard stuff, consider the Graphics Master.
(Tecmar may provide software support later on--their software that I
have used has been very good.)
If you want to run Tektronix graphics consider the Artist I or II.
If you want a dedicated CAD super system consider the Artist II.
Another option is to get both monochrome and color/graphics adaptors,
the monochrome screen, a very high quality color graphics monitor,
then upgrade the adaptor cards when "higher" resolution standards are
more settled.
If Tecmar will put two connectors on the Graphics Master so that I can
switch back and forth between color and B/W displays I will seriously
consider buying that board. Otherwise I will wait for awhile to see
if IBM moves.
Another issue that needs to be addressed is that the monitors that can
display the "higher" resolution color graphics are not very
affordable.
Steven D. Rogers
------------------------------
Date: 11 Aug 83 11:20:38-PDT (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!cbosgd!mddc!jordan @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: IQLISP
I just received a copy of IQLISP yesterday, and have been playing with
that. My overall impression so far is that it's pretty excellent!
But, I definitely need more memory; I have 128K, and need about 128K
more.
I have two questions: Has anyone out there done any serious hacking
with IQLISP? And are there any other LISP interpreters/compilers for
the PC, and if so, how do they compare with IQLISP?
Thanks,
Jordan Bortz
ARPA : ihnp4!cbosgd!mddc!jordan@Berkeley
UUCP : ..decvax!cbosgd!mddc!jordan
------------------------------
Date: 13 Aug 1983 1548-PDT
To: info-ibmpc
From: Bill Rizzi <RIZZI@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Peanut Query
So where are all the Peanut rumors? Has anything more been published
about it than in the Wall Street Journal? (Didn't see it myself, but
heard it basically was a minimal announcement with no real technical
news other than "some" capacity for compatibility with the PC. It may
not have even been an official IBM announcement.)
Bill (RIZZI@ISIB)
------------------------------
Date: 14 Aug 1983 1149-PDT
To: Bill Rizzi <RIZZI@USC-ISIB>
cc: Info-IBMPC
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Re: Peanut
The August PC World speculates the Peanut will come standard with 64K
memory, built in color graphics, two standard expansion slots, single
disk drive (expandable to two), and operating system and Basic in ROM.
At the same time IBM will announce Digital Research's DR Logo, several
programming languages and other IBM supported programs.
David Bunell (editor of PC World) expects Apple will respond with a
version of the Apple ][ price competitive with the IBM offering.
------------------------------
Date: 14 Aug 1983 1925-PDT
To: Bill Rizzi <RIZZI@USC-ISIB>
cc: info-ibmpc
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Re: Peanut
According to a report on Cable News Network, the Peanut will debut
September 1st, will have 64K of memory, hi-res color graphics and cost
$600-$700. Other machines from IBM, code named Crackerjack and
Popcorn, are expected in 1984.
------------------------------
Date: Sun 14 Aug 83 12:32:21-PDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: WILSON@SRI-KL.ARPA
Subject: DS Diskette Drive Query
Help! The PC Faire is coming less than two weeks, and I need to
upgrade my single-sided drives to double-sided ones. What should I
buy?
Choices include:
Tandon 100-2 (normal height)?
Tandon 50-2 (half-height)?
Control Data?
Mitsubishi?
Teac?
Panasonic?
etc.
Questions include:
Reliability (my Tandons have been perfect)
Compatibility (It makes me nervous to have to do mods)
Noise (Tandons are noisy (audibly, not electrically), the ?? in my
Compaq loaner are very quiet)
Has anyone had particularly good or bad experiences with particular
models? You can send data to me and I'll summarize, or cc the net.
Thanks in advance for whatever help you send.
Dave Wilson
WILSON@SRI-KL
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂17-Aug-83 2005 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #54
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 17 Aug 83 20:04:25 PDT
Date: 17 Aug 1983 1912-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #54
From: Dick Gillmann <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 17 August 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 54
Today's Topics:
DOS 2.00 (4 msgs)
Assembly Language Line Drawing Package
Control-Break Interrupt
CDC Batch Terminal Emulator Query
"New, Improved" Tecmar Graphics Master
SmarTerm VT100 Terminal Emulator
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 14 Aug 83 21:00:28-EDT (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!gummo!whuxlb!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: DOS 2.0
I have been following all the discussions about DOS 2.0 on net news
and keep wondering if I am using the same awful piece of software. I
have been using DOS 2.0 (from IBM) for the last 5 months and have not
had any problems with it. I have used several software packages
(VisiCalc, KnowledgeMan, Async Comm Support,...) and they all work
just as well (if not better) than with DOS 1.1.
I have written several assembly language routines to allow C system
calls (read, write, lseek, open, close) to be done from PASCAL so I
can make use of the tree structured directories and they work just
fine. Now I am sure you can find problems with it (and I have), but
what is the big deal?
A Satisfied DOS 2.0 User
Jim Holtman
...!harpo!whuxlb!jph
------------------------------
Date: 15 Aug 83 21:03:58-EDT (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc@isib
From: Mfarber@UDel-Relay
Subject: DOS 2.0 Function 4B Query
Has anyone gotten DOS 2.0 service 4BH (INT 21H) to execute a program?
I can't make any sense out of the DOS manual. If anyone has executed
COMMAND.COM with this, does it preserve the contents of the DS when
control is returned to your program?
Thank you in advance.
-Manny
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Aug 83 21:28:03 EDT
To: info-pc%usc-isib.arpa%udel-eecis3.arpa@udel-ee
From: Manny Farber <manny%udel-eecis3.udeecis%udel-eecis3.arpa@udel-ee>
Subject: Alias in DOS 2.00
Does anyone know how to do Aliasing in DOS 2.00 (not batch files?)
-DJ Farber
------------------------------
Date: 15 Aug 83 22:58:32-PDT (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: teklabs!davids @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: DOS 2.0 "termcap" for Unix
I have been using this termcap with my homebrew terminal program, and
DOS 2.0. In order to make effective use of it you have to specify
DEVICE=ANSI.SYS in your CONFIG.SYS file. You will find that BASIC
does not do I/O through standard DOS calls so this will not be of much
use to you if your terminal program is written in BASIC (e.g. COMM.BAS
or PC-TALK). However I am delighted to find that my formerly dumb
terminal program has now become smart because of this new feature in
DOS. I can now use vi and rogue and get highlighted text when I run
man.
pc2:\
:co#80:li#25:am:cl=50\E[;H\E[2J:bs:\
:cm=5\E[%i%2;%2H:nd=\E[C:up=\E[A:\
:so=\E[7m:se=\E[m:us=\E[1m:ue=\E[m:\
:is=\E[=2h\E[=7l:
# This is an attempt to write a termcap to match the DOS 2.0
# ANSI.SYS extended screen and keyboard control. It is also
# necessary to set up your terminal program to ignore nul's
# since unix wants to use these as pad characters and the
# terminal driver prints them (they display as blanks).
# This termcap is for the color/graphics board and displays
# underlined as bold. If you have the monochrome display you
# can get true underlined by specifying us=\E[4m. In either case
# ue or se resets full normal attributes, so it won't handle an
# underlined bold word properly.
# I had some problems with this when I specified :pt: ( terminal
# has hardware tabs). ---David H. Smith Tektronix, Inc. 8/15/83.
------------------------------
Date: 15 Aug 1983 2114-PDT
To: Info-IBMPC
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Assembly Language Line Drawing Package
Manny Farber (MFarber@UDel-Relay) has kindly contributed his assembly
language line drawing package to the Info-IBMPC free program library.
It is in [ISIB]<INFO-IBMPC>PLOT.ASM and can be retrieved with
anonymous FTP.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 83 17:56 PDT
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
From: "Glasser Alan"@LLL-MFE.ARPA
Subject: Control-Break Interrupt
Can anyone offer me advice about a problem I'm having with BIOS and
DOS interrupts? I've written a Tektronix emulation program in assembly
language. It works fine except for one minor problem. If a plot is
cut off with a CTRL-BREAK, the program remains in graphics mode and
doesn't return to alpha.
I thought I could overcome this by replacing BIOS interrupt 1B by my
own interrupt routine, which would reset to alpha mode and then exit
to the original interrupt. In fact, this is what I did with BIOS
interrupt 10 and DOS interrupt 21 function 9 to get the Tektronix
emulation working. For some reason, it doesn't work with 1B and 23.
Any ideas why? Also, how can I enable a CTRL-BREAK in an arbitrary
program?
Alan Glasser (glasser@lll-mfe)
------------------------------
Date: 17 Aug 1983 10:06:05-EDT
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: reece at NADC
Subject: CDC Batch Terminal Emulator Query
Does anyone know of an emulation of the CDC CYBER RJE Batch Terminal
(CDC-1820) which has been done on the PC? I think the generic name of
the protocol is UT200.
Jim Reece
REECE@NADC
------------------------------
Date: 22 Aug 83 0:00:03-EDT (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!tektronix!stever @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: "New, Improved" Tecmar Graphics Master
When I asked a Tecmar representative at a recent demo of the "new,
improved" Graphics Master whether or not the "un-improved" board had
ever been shipped, he said, "No." That is why Rob Kling could not
find any owners!
The "new, improved" version was demonstrated in many of its modes, and
it looked real nice. However, language and application software
support does not seem to be available at this time for the hi-res
graphics modes.
------------------------------
Date: 16 Aug 83 9:40:56-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!ben @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: SmarTerm VT100 Terminal Emulator
For over a week now, I have been using the SmarTerm package from
Persoft to make an IBM PC emulate a VT100 (actually the VT102 which
has additional editing functions). It seems to work quite well. I
have made use of it as follows:
- full VT102 emulation (including editing extensions and 10 soft keys).
- with VI and INed (Rand editor derivative) on UNIX (tm of Bell Labs).
- with XEDIT, FLIST, etc. on IBM VM/CMS on a 4341 frontended with the
Yale package on a Series One.
- simple up and download feature with UNIX and with CMS through 3705.
(The full error free protocol looks straightforward but I haven't
implemented it yet).
- speeds from 300 to 9600 Baud.
- on a vanilla IBM PC and Corona look alike.
SmarTerm costs $150, $125 each for 2-3, ..., $72 each for 20 or more.
(Refunded if you return the package unsatisfied within 30 days.) To
speed up loading from disk, the package is being recoded into C, and
both a VT125 graphics version and a scrolling 132 column version are
scheduled for release late this year according to Persoft.
We have not been as successful with the YTERM package from Yale. If
any of you have had experiences with other terminal emulation packages
for the PC, please let me know about it. Of course, we'd be
especially interested in anything in the public domain.
For the record, my only affiliation with Persoft is as a satisfied
customer. For more information on SmarTerm, contact:
Persoft Inc.
2740 Ski Lane
Madison, WI 53713
608/233-1000
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂18-Aug-83 1956 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #55
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 18 Aug 83 19:54:12 PDT
Date: 18 Aug 1983 1841-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #55
From: Dick Gillmann <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, 18 August 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 55
Today's Topics:
DOS 2.0 Function Call 4BH (2 msgs)
Monster Disk Controller
Graphics with Colour Table Query
Graphics Boards
Logo Query
Control-Break
Omninet
Microsoft's MultiTool Word
Microsoft Mouse
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 17 Aug 83 22:40:51 MDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc@isib
From: b-davis@utah-cs (Brad Davis)
Subject: Re: DOS 2.0 Function Call 4BH
This little tidbit works. If a longer explanation is needed I will
be glad to write one up. Appendix F and Chapter 10 are helpful
(somewhat). Remember to use the /C option of COMMAND.COM.
Brad Davis
b-davis@utah-cs
PSP STRUC
INTVECT DW ?
TOM DW ?
RES1 DB ?
DOSLONG DB 5 DUP (?)
TERMINA DD ?
CTRLBRK DD ?
CRITERR DD ?
DOS1 DB 22 DUP (?)
ENVIRO DW ?
DOS2 DB 46 DUP (?)
FPA1 DB 16 DUP (?)
FPA2 DB 20 DUP (?)
UPA DB 128 DUP (?)
PSP ENDS
EXECDEF STRUC
NENVIRO DW
COMMND DW 2 DUP (0)
FCB5CH DW 2 DUP (0)
FCB6CH DW 2 DUP (0)
EXECDEF ENDS
MEXECOMM MACRO
LOCAL EXECBLK,ERR1,SPSAVE,SSSAVE
; point DS:DX at command.com parameter list
EXECOMM:
PUSH AX
PUSH BX
PUSH CX
PUSH DX
PUSH SI
PUSH DI
PUSH BP
PUSH DS
PUSH ES
MOV SPSAVE,SP
MOV SSSAVE,SS
; set up the parameter block
MOV EXECBLK.NENVIRO,0
MOV EXECBLK.COMMND[0],DX
MOV EXECBLK.COMMND[2],DS
MOV AX,CS
MOV ES,AX
MOV BX,OFFSET EXECBLK
XOR BP,BP
; point DS:DX at the COMSPEC parameter (assume it is first)
MOV AX,[BP].ENVIRO
MOV DS,AX
MOV DX,8
MOV AH,4BH
MOV AL,0
INT 21H
MOV SS,CS:SSSAVE
MOV SP,CS:SPSAVE
POP ES
POP DS
POP BP
POP DI
POP SI
POP DX
POP CX
POP BX
POP AX
JC ERR1
RET
ERR1: JMP ERROR
EVEN
EXECBLK EXECDEF <>
SPSAVE DW
SSSAVE DW
ENDM
------------------------------
Date: 18 Aug 1983 1003-PDT
To: info-ibmpc at USC-ISIB
From: SHOSTAK at SRI-CSL
Subject: Re: DOS 2.0 Function Call 4BH
I have heard that, in fact, this function does not work properly, and
requires a patch to command.com to make it work. I have also heard
that Microsoft is aware of the problem and has developed a fix.
Perhaps the Microsoft people who log in on this net could give details
about this (and fixes they have developed for other DOS 2.0 bugs).
------------------------------
Date: 16 Aug 83 19:58:27-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!malcolm @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Monster Disk Controller
In the current issue of Electronics, a company called Interphase has
an announcement about a SMD hard disk controller for the IBM PC! Has
anyone heard of these people? Has anyone used this card with DOS 2.0?
How about the UNIX guys, like Venix and Coherent, are they planning on
supporting this controller? I can see it now, 480Mbytes on the PC! I
never did like being limited to only 10 Mbytes.
toodles--GSP
------------------------------
Date: 16 Aug 83 21:48:16-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: utcsrgv!peterr@UW-BEAVER
Subject: Graphics with Colour Table Query
I'm looking for a hi-res colour graphics board (320x200 ok; 640x400
great) for the PC that has at least 4 bit pixels AND A COLOUR TABLE;
i.e. any of the 16 pixel values can be mapped to any of the output
colours (16 in the case of the IBM colour display) and the mapping can
be changed very quickly.
The Plantronics COLORPLUS, new Tecmar Graphics Master, and the QuadRam
Quadcolor III all satisfy the resolution and pixel depth requirements,
but I've never heard a colour table mentioned. The IBM graphics card
has a table of sorts, in that one is allowed to choose the palette for
320x200 mode, but it would be better if instead of choosing one of two
fixed palettes, one could choose a colour to be assigned to each of
the 4 possible pixel values.
peter rowley, U. Toronto CSRG, utcsrgv!peterr@UW-BEAVER (ARPANet)
or {cornell,watmath,ihnp4,floyd,allegra,utzoo,uw-beaver}!utcsrgv!peterr
or {cwruecmp,duke,linus,decvax,research}!utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr (UUCP)
------------------------------
Date: Thu 18 Aug 83 07:17:51-PDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: William Pearson <PEARSON@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA>
Subject: Graphics Boards
I want to purchase an IBM-PC for home with the graphics adapter to
save $. But the screen flashes while scrolling; the monochrome
display does not. Since they both use a 6845 chip, is there a
software patch to solve this problem?
Alternatively, the USI graphics board advertises no flashing (and
monochrome display emulation.) Is this board completely compatible
with the IBM boards in some mode?
Bill Pearson
Pearson@sumex-aim.arpa
------------------------------
Date: 18-Aug-83 09:23:06-EDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
From: focus@LL.ARPA
Subject: Logo Query
Recently someone mentioned here that Dr. Logo would probably be
marketed soon by IBM. Does anyone know how Dr. Logo relates to the
IBM Logo currently on IBM's shelves locally? In addition, does anyone
have any extensive experience with either variation?
Roger King
<focus@LL>
------------------------------
Date: 18 Aug 1983 1017-PDT
To: info-ibmpc at USC-ISIB
From: SHOSTAK at SRI-CSL
Subject: Re: Control-Break
When a control-break is entered, the keyboard interrupt handler in the
bios clears the keyboard queue, then enters scan code 0 and character
code 0 into the queue; if the keyboard input bios call to inquire as
to whether the queue is empty is then called, it will report that the
queue is nonempty. Moreover, if the call that does keyboard input is
issued, it will return 0 in both halves of the AX. Control-break may
thus be viewed as extended code 0. All of this is quite independent
of DOS, and occurs whether or not DOS notices the control-break.
If it is desired to detect control-break through the DOS interrupt
rather than by checking the keyboard queue, you can indeed place the
address of your interrupt service routine into location 1b. Be
careful, however, to save all the registers in your routine and to end
it with an IRET rather than an ordinary return.
------------------------------
Date: Wed 27 Jul 83 10:17:39-PDT
To: local-nets@MIT-MC.ARPA
Forwarded-By: Frank da Cruz <G.DACRUZ@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
From: Chris Ryland <g.Ryland@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: Omninet
Omninet seems to be the dominant "cheapo" LAN for the micro world
right now (they claim over 20,000 networks, of average size 4
stations). It's a 1MB twisted-pair RS422 network, using two
proprietary chips (they sell) and a Motorola 6801 (with their custom
code burned in) to accomplish the link-level, and little of the
transport level. Thus, for the IBM PC, their board is very simple,
and low-cost (about $300, I believe), as well as reasonably efficient,
as they DMA from the network to waiting buffers in the CPU.
It's really a wonderful network from the point of view of cabling: the
"transceivers" cost $10, and can be wired by anyone with a
screwdriver.
1MB isn't bad for a small cluster of workstations. There are some
limitations on the number and type of connections a given workstation
can have open: only one "remote disk" connection at a time is allowed,
and only three more other connections of non-remote-disk type are
allowed simultaneously.
I've been looking into Omninet lately for other reasons, and, as far
as I can tell, there isn't much activity with interconnection to
VAXes, or, for that matter, with other networks. Omninet DOES have an
XNS packet encapsulation protocol, which they and Xerox agreed to
(it's published in the Omninet protocol handbook). There is, I
believe, a Unibus Omninet board just announced or to be announced,
though I can't find the information right now. With that, I suppose
you could write a VMS driver for Omninet.
/Chris Ryland
------------------------------
Date: 18 Aug 1983 1748-PDT
To: Info-IBMPC
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Microsoft's MultiTool Word
I just got a brochure from Microsoft on their new word processor
"MultiTool Word". It is part of a new series or package of integrated
VisiOn-like programs.
MTW is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor, with multiple typefaces
(normal, bold, underline, double underline, italic, strike through and
small caps). No formatting commands or characters appear in the text.
If you insert a word in a paragraph, it is automatically reformatted.
MTW supports footnotes, multiple columns, super- and sub-scripts,
"UNDO", etc. MTW is best run with a graphics display. It will run on
a monochrome, but can only display on the screen within the monochrome
display's limitations.
MTW supports the Microsoft mouse for cursor positioning and menu
selection. I don't know if the mouse is polled or interrupt driven.
You can have multiple windows (8 max) that can be scrolled both
vertically and horizontally (up to 132 columns wide). There is a
general purpose cut-and-paste facility between windows or within a
single window.
The list price for all this is $475 including the mouse (which uses a
serial port). Mail order dealers are listing the package for about
$350. I called one of them and found out that MTW isn't really
available yet. They expect to receive their shipment sometime in
September.
MTW looks like a reasonable version of the poor man's VisiOn or Star.
If anyone's gotten a copy delivered, I'd be eager to hear of some
first hand experience.
/Dick
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 83 21:03:04 EDT
To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@udel-ee
From: Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee>
Subject: Microsoft Mouse
I just got a Microsoft Mouse at 47th St Camera in NYC for $139.00.
The text editor that came with it looks fine. Nice and cheap.
However, when I installed MOUSE.SYS in the CONFIG.SYS file on my
Winnie and rebooted, it tried to read drive A: and hung the system.
Could it be that Microsoft never tested their DOS 2.0 software on a
Winnie???!!!
Also, anyone know about a rumor that it is trivial to interface that
mouse to the IBM Personal Editor?
Dave
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂22-Aug-83 0206 @USC-ISIB,INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #56
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 22 Aug 83 02:06:21 PDT
Date: 22 Aug 1983 0124-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #56
From: Dick Gillmann <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Monday, 22 August 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 56
Today's Topics:
Info-Kermit
Multi-Tool Word and Microsoft Mouse
3270 Emulation Query
DOS 2.0 COMMAND.COM Loading
UNSQUEEZER
CHMOD for DOS 2.0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri 19 Aug 83 20:11:58-EDT
To: Info-IBMPC@ISIB, Info-Micro@BRL, Info-CPM@BRL, TOPS-20@SU-SCORE
cc: Info-Kermit@COLUMBIA-20
From: Frank da Cruz <cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20>
Subject: Info-Kermit
About 6 weeks ago I announced the availability of the KERMIT package
on the ARPAnet at COLUMBIA-20. In case you missed it, KERMIT is a
file transfer protocol for use primarily between micros and mainframes
over TTY lines, and is implemented on a wide variety of both. At that
time, I said that if there were sufficient interest in it, I'd start a
mailing list. Well, there is, and I have. The list is intended for
people who maintain or install KERMIT at their sites, or who are
(thinking about) working on a new implementation, or who have bugs
and/or fixes to report, or are interested in discussing the protocol.
Here's how to use the list. From ARPANET:
Mail requests to be added/deleted to/from the list to
INFO-KERMIT-REQUEST@COLUMBIA-20
Mail messages to be seen by all the participants to
INFO-KERMIT@COLUMBIA-20
From CCNET (A DECnet network comprising Columbia, CMU, and CWRU), use
the same procedure, but mail to host CUCS20. The same facility is
also available from BITnet (a network based on IBM RSCS communication
comprising many universities with IBM systems or VAXes), again using
host CUCS20.
An archive of all the messages will be available in the file
<KERMIT>MAIL.TXT, available via anonymous FTP from COLUMBIA-20
(ARPANET) or anonymous NFT from CUCS20 (CCNET).
Any message sent to INFO-KERMIT from any host will reach all
participants, no matter which network they're on. We'll try running
the list without condensing it into a digest, and see how the traffic
goes.
- Frank da Cruz, Columbia University
------------------------------
Date: 21 Aug 83 12:26:29-PDT (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: utcsrgv!peterr@UW-BEAVER
Subject: Multi-Tool Word and Microsoft Mouse
I've called two mail-order houses about Multi-Tool Word; one said it
would be available in early September and the other said a definite
"October 15th". The mouse seems generally available though, but
perhaps in only one version. There are two versions: one that comes
with an IBM PC interface card and one that attaches to a serial port.
The former interrupts the machine 30 times a sec., the latter sends
1200 baud packets to the port when the mouse is moved, putting a
higher peak load on the CPU, but a lower quiescent load. The drivers
hide the differences between the two versions. I've only heard of the
adapter card version being offered for sale, however. See the July
issue of BYTE, p. 130, for an article on the mouse, written by a
Microsoft employee.
I agree that MTW is very impressive, judging by the brochure. They
even claim hooks to allow interfacing to hi-res output devices such as
laser printers supporting a variety of fonts. It certainly looks
worth waiting for.
peter rowley
University of Toronto Department of C.S., Ontario Canada M5S 1A4
ARPA: utcsrgv!peterr@UW-BEAVER
UUCP: {cornell,watmath,ihnp4,floyd,allegra,ubc-vision}!utcsrgv!peterr
{cwruecmp,duke,linus,decvax,research}!utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr
------------------------------
Date: 19 August 1983 17:31 edt
To: Info-IBMPC at USC-ISIB
From: Schauble.HIS←Guest at MIT-MULTICS
Subject: 3270 Emulation Query
I need to select a 3270 emulator package, hardware and software, for
the PC. I would appreciate any comments or reports of experiences
that anyone has. I am particularly interested in comments on the AST
package.
Paul
------------------------------
Date: 19 Aug 1983 23:38:40-PDT
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: John L. Romkey <romkey@MIT-CSR>
Subject: DOS 2.0 COMMAND.COM Loading
Is there any way I can convince DOS 2.0 to load COMMAND.COM off some
other drive than A:? I've tried setting COMSPEC and DOS ignored it; I
assume that the value didn't get exported (to borrow a phrase) to DOS
or something like that. I tried the SHELL configuration parameter and
it did all the wrong things; it fetched COMMAND.COM from the right
disk but then it didn't execute AUTOEXEC.BAT and COMSPEC still had the
same old A:\COMMAND.COM as its value.
Thanks.
- John Romkey
romkey@mit-csr
------------------------------
Date: 20 August 1983 21:11 EDT
To: Info-CPM @ BRL, Info-IBMPC @ USC-ISIB
From: Keith Petersen <W8SDZ @ MIT-MC>
Subject: UNSQUEEZER
Anyone who has an IBM-PC who uses a modem to transfer files from CP/M
systems will want to get AR46:CPM;USQPC 11EXE (stored in binary format
according to the ITS "COMfile" format). This is a ready-to-execute
UNSQUEEZER for files which has been SQueezed with Richard Greenlaw's
SQ.COM under CP/M. If you cannot FTP binary files or cannot correct
for the 4-byte COMfile header that begins the file on MIT-MC, you can
download it from my RCPM system (313)-759-6569 (callback) if you have
a Ward Christensen-compatible MODEM program.
--Keith
------------------------------
Date: 22 Aug 83 0:11:03-EDT (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!floyd!whuxlb!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: CHMOD for DOS 2.0
This is a BASIC program that creates a file CHMOD.COM on the default
drive. CHMOD is a 'change file mode' command for DOS 2.0. It expects
two parameters (file name and attribute in HEX). The allowable
attributes are:
1 - read only (cannot be DELeted)
2 - hidden
4 - System file
20 - set archive bit
Add up appropriate values.
Example
chmod file 1 #make read only
chmod file 3 #make hidden and read only
(Latest copy of CHMOD with error messages)
[CHMOD.BAS has been added to the Info-IBMPC free program library. -Ed.]
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂25-Aug-83 2147 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #57
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 25 Aug 83 21:46:54 PDT
Date: 25 Aug 1983 1838-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #57
From: Dick Gillmann <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, 25 August 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 57
Today's Topics:
Microsoft Multi-Tool Word
DOS 2.0 COMMAND.COM Loading
DOS 2.0 Tidbits
Screen Design Package (2 msgs)
Clear Screen (2 msgs)
Tallgrass Hard Disk Query
XT Boot Problem
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu 25 Aug 83 17:44:51-PDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Hellmut Golde <GOLDE@WASHINGTON.ARPA>
Subject: Microsoft Multi-Tool Word
I have been beta-testing this software during the last few weeks,
without a mouse or the graphics (I have a 192k system with monochrome
adapter, running DOS 1.1).
Having used and still using WORDSTAR makes learning MW a bit
difficult, but knowing MULTIPLAN helps, since the menu arrangement is
the same. My biggest concern for now is the lack of a hyphenation
facility; I have really learned to appreciate it in WORDSTAR --
however, other users may disagree about the desirability of the
automatic hyphen-help.
The early versions of MW were full of bugs, but the more recent ones
seem to work much better. I received a version 2 weeks ago and it
does not yet appear ready for customer shipment. I expect another
version this week.
As for documentation, there is an on-line HELP facility which is ok.
I have seen the printed documentation only in draft form without the
benefit of any pictures; however, it appears to be well-written. The
real quality of the documentation should, of course, be judged by a
word processing novice.
One other comment: the most recent version of MW is still a bit slow;
however I understand that Microsoft is working on that problem.
--Hellmut Golde
------------------------------
Date: Monday, 22-Aug-83 23:20:04-PDT
To: romkey@mit-csr
Cc: info-ibmpc@isib
From: Pete Carah <vortex!pete@LBL-CSAM>
Subject: Re: DOS 2.0 COMMAND.COM Loading
Yes, you can convince DOS 2.0 to load COMMAND.COM from somewhere other
than A:. Say for example that COMMAND.COM is on G:\BIN (my case).
The SHELL config command to use COMMAND from there is:
SHELL=G:\BIN\COMMAND.COM G:\BIN /P
The second G:\BIN is the path in COMSPEC, the P switch means
permanent, and causes the AUTOEXEC to be used.
------------------------------
Date: 22 Aug 83 16:49:36-PDT (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!seismo!rlgvax!cvl!jcw @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: DOS 2.0 Tidbits
Here are a few items that DOS 2.0 users should be interested in,
some are bad and some are good.
1) The DOS 1.1 system calls for reading from and writing to the
console were changed in 2.0 to be reading from stdin and writing to
stdout. This is nice in that DOS 1.1 programs can have their i/o
redirected, but there are some problems. When writing to stdout
all tabs are expanded; I found this out when trying to get my
"unexpand" program to work with writing to stdout. Also, the system
calls to read are of two types; echo character read and no echo
character read. The problem is, a user program doesn't know
which to do -- if you are typing it should be echo, redirected from
a file it should be noecho. In addition, I have had some programs
that don't see EOF on redirected input, hanging and not being
CTRL-BREAKable.
2) 2.0 interprets [<>|] as file redirection characters, but if you
enclose them in double quotes (") they are sent to the program
literally (so are the quotes). Single quotes do not do the same
thing. As far as I can tell, there is no way to escape the quotes.
3) In interactive command mode, the % sign has no special function.
In batch mode, it is used for argument substitution. However, when
the following character is not a digit in batch mode this is what
it does:
echo %t ==> t
echo %%t ==> %t
echo %%%t ==> %t
echo "%t" ==> "t"
Jay Weber
{..!seismo!rlgvax!cvl!jcw} and soon to be
{..!seismo!rochester!????}
------------------------------
Date: 23 Aug 83 11:54:24-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxi!mhuxa!ulysses!princeton!eosp1!hakkinen@Ucb-Vax
Subject: Screen Design Package Query
Does anyone out there know about the availability of screen design
packages for the PC? Our need is for a package that would let us
explore various screen formats for form filling tasks, menus, etc.
The package should support color and other screen attributes. Ideally
it should be capable of providing input checking. The package would
not have to interface with an actual application, though if it were
possible to attach to one, I wouldn't mind.
Some time ago, probably in PC Magazine, I saw an ad for a graphics
editing system for the PC which utilized both the graphics display and
the monochrome display/adapter (i.e. the mono display presented either
a menu, form, or command entry line to control the display of objects
on the graphics screen). Does anyone know of this package and/or have
any experience with it?
Thanks. Markku Hakkinen/Ergonomics Dept.
Exxon Office Systems, Princeton, NJ
------------------------------
Date: 23 Aug 83 23:00:22-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!floyd!whuxlb!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Screen Design Package
There is a very nice package put out by Micro Data Base Systems called
KnowledgeMan. It is a data base manager similar to dBase II with some
very nice screen management functions. It has some basic validity
functions built in (character, digit) and has a language which will
allow more extensive checking. It will handle the creation of forms
using all the attributes of the color and/or mono displays.
------------------------------
Date: 25 Aug 1983 1:03:57 EDT (Thursday)
To: info-ibmpc @ isib
Cc: info-micro @ brl
From: Martin Schoffstall <schoff@BBN-UNIX>
Subject: Clear Screen Query
Does anyone have an assembly language program that will erase the
screen in alpha mode on the IBMPC? I looked at scrolling, but that
is ugly on the graphics board. I was hoping for a a DOS 2.0 call from
the assembler of CLS but it doesn't look like I can do it.
thanks
marty
------------------------------
Date: 25 Aug 83 17:06:37-EDT (Thu)
To: schoff@bbn-unix, info-ibmpc@isib, info-micro@brl
From: Mfarber@UDel-Relay
Subject: CLS
This program clears the screen from DOS. It will do it from any
graphics or alpha mode. In the graphics modes, the DOS 2.00 CLS will
fill the screen with bars; this doesn't.
-Manny
; This program clears the screen from DOS. To clear the screen,
; it defines a window the size of the whole screen and then
; scrolls that window to clear its contents.
; After linking, use EXE2BIN CLEAR.EXE CLEAR.COM
; to convert it to a .COM file.
clear segment
assume cs:clear
mov ah,15 ; get current video state data
int 10h
mov bl,bh ; save video page
xor cx,cx ; set upper-left-corner
mov dl,ah ; set lower-left-corner
dec dl ; (adjust)
mov dh,24
mov bh,7 ; normal attr
cmp al,4 ; graphics screen?
jb c1 ; no
cmp al,7
je c1 ; no
mov bh,cl ; yes-use attr 0
c1: mov al,cl ; scroll length 0-clear window
mov ah,6 ; scroll page to clear the screen
int 10h
mov ah,2 ; reposition cursor
mov bh,bl ; (restore video page)
mov dx,cx ; upper-left-corner (CX=0 from scroll)
int 10h
int 20h ; return to DOS
clear ends
end
[CLEAR.ASM has been added to the Info-IBMPC library. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 25 Aug 83 16:22:55 PDT
To: info-ibmpc@isi
From: David Butterfield <ica.dave@UCLA-LOCUS>
Subject: Tallgrass Hard Disk Query
I need to add 10 to 20 Mb of storage and some reasonable form of
backup to my XT. I consider tape and winnie cartridges reasonable,
floppies not.
I am considering buying a 20Mb Tallgrass disk with tape backup. I
would greatly appreciate hearing from anyone who has one, or has heard
comments about them, good or bad. I would also like to hear from
anyone who has other possible configurations in the $3000 to $4000
range. Most important to me is that it work reliably soon.
I will probably order the Tallgrass tomorrow, unless I hear why not,
so I need to hear soon. Please send replies directly to me. Thanks
much.
Dave (dave@ucla-locus)
------------------------------
Date: 25 Aug 1983 2025-EDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
From: Willie Lim <WLIM@MIT-XX>
Subject: XT Boot Problem
I occasionally run into problems with booting the XT. After the power
up sequence, the XT will come up asking for the date. But it doesn't
seem to take what I type in and instead generates a string of some
character (usually the "-" character). I have to type ctrl-alt-del to
get it to reboot and the problem disappears. It has happened about
half a dozen times since I got the XT (i.e. about 4 months).
Has anyone out there experienced the same problem?
By the way, I was running DOS 2.0 on a standard XT with a Racal Vadic
VA3455 modem connected to its RS232 port.
Willie
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂28-Aug-83 1557 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #58
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 28 Aug 83 15:57:15 PDT
Date: 28 Aug 1983 1451-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #58
From: Dick Gillmann <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Sunday, 28 August 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 58
Today's Topics:
SWITCHAR
USA vs. Europe (3 msgs)
Cursor Positioning in C (2 msgs)
3270 Emulation
IBM Logo and DR Logo
Peanut Rumors at the PC Fair
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 26 Aug 83 1:19:43-EDT (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc@isib
From: Mfarber@UDel-Relay
Subject: SWITCHAR
In a previous message to Info-IBMPC, someone mentioned putting
"SWITCHAR = -" in the CONFIG.SYS file (in DOS 2.00). I have written a
program that will either report or set the SWITCHAR from the DOS
command level.
By the way, does anyone know how to set a DOS 2.00 PATH from Assembly
Language? Or how to read the directory character (\ normally, changes
to / if SWITCHAR is changed to -).
-Manny
I found out the data under "explanation" by disassembling some DOS 2.00
utilities.
***** Requires DOS 2.00
; ---------- Explanation
; This program uses the SWITCHAR function of the DOS function request
; interrupt.
; This DOS function, 37H is listed by IBM as "used internally by DOS".
; It is passed either 1 or 2 parameters, depending on usage.
; To get the current SWITCHAR, put 37H in the AH register, 00H in the
; AL register, and generate an INT 21H. The current SWITCHAR will be
; returned in the DL register.
; To change the current SWITCHAR, put 37H in the AH register, 01H in
; the AL register, the new SWITCHAR in the DL register and generate an
; INT 21H.
; ---------- Program Usage
; Syntax is SWITCHAR [n[n]] where "n" is a hex digit. If one
; if n[n] is supplied, the SWITCHAR is changed to the ASCII character
; that n[n] represents. For example, the command "SWITCHAR 21" would
; change the SWITCHAR to "!".
; Remember: EXE2BIN SWITCHAR.EXE SWITCHAR.COM after linking
sc segment
assume cs:sc,ds:sc
mov bx,5dh ; point to parameter 1
cmp byte ptr [bx],20h ; no parameters passed?
jne set ; no-set SWITCHAR
mov ax,3700h ; (yes)-read SWITCHAR
int 21h
mov byte ptr report+100h+12,dl ; prepare report string
mov ah,9 ; print report string
mov dx,offset report+100h
int 21h
int 20h ; return to DOS
set: cmp byte ptr [bx+2],20h ; parameter too long?
jne error ; yes
mov ax,[bx] ; (no)-get parameter
cmp ah,20h ; is it a 1-digit hex number?
jne s←1 ; no
mov ah,30h ; (yes)-make that digit a '0'
s←1: xchg al,ah ; order L/H order bytes correctly
sub ax,3030h ; convert AL & AH
cmp al,22 ; error?
ja error ; yes
cmp ah,22 ; error?
ja error ; yes
mov bx,offset hex+100h ; table
xlat ; translate AL
cmp al,'E' ; error?
je error ; yes
mov dl,al ; (no)
mov al,ah ; prepare H order digit for XLAT
xlat ; translate it
cmp al,'E' ; error?
je error ; yes
shl al,1 ; (no)-store this nibble in the DL reg
shl al,1
shl al,1
shl al,1
add dl,al
mov ax,3701h ; change the SWITCHAR
int 21h
int 20h ; return to DOS
error: mov ah,9 ; print ERRMSG
mov dx,offset errmsg+100h
int 21h
int 20h ; return to DOS
report db 'SWITCHAR is ←',13,10,'$'
errmsg db 'SWITCHAR must be a 1- or 2-digit hexadecimal number',13,10,'$'
hex db 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,7 dup('E'),0ah,0bh,0ch,0dh,0eh,0fh
sc ends
end
[SWITCHAR.ASM has been added to the Info-IBMPC library. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: 23 Aug 83 16:20:10-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!presby!frank @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: USA vs. Europe
Does anyone out there in net-land know of a vendor who sells a
conversion kit to allow a US-made IBM PC built for 60Hz to run on
50Hz? What happens if you try to run a 60Hz machine on 50Hz power
without modification? My guess is that the screen would flicker, but
would the buss timing be messed up also?
I would also be interested in other 16 bit machines which are 60/50Hz
switch selectable and which are also capable of running a spreadsheet
program and word processing (e.g. Wordstar).
------------------------------
Date: 27 Aug 1983 1218-PDT
To: hplabs!hao!seismo!presby!frank@UCB-VAX
cc: info-ibmpc
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Re: USA vs. Europe
Doxiver Microsystems in England converted a great many 60Hz PCs to
50Hz until IBM officially released the PC in Europe. I imagine they
still have some conversion kits left.
Doxiver Microsystems
Unit 16
Wroslyn Road Industrial Estate
Freeland, Oxon OX7 2HH England
Tel. 44-993-883166
------------------------------
Date: 27 Aug 83 18:05:22-PDT (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!eagle!allegra!rabbit!ark @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: USA vs. Europe
Page 1-22 of the IBM PC-XT Technical Reference states the power
requirements of the PC-XT as 90-137 volts, 50 or 60 Hz.
------------------------------
Date: 24 Aug 83 13:51:07-PDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!gummo!whuxlb!pyuxll!eisx!npoiv!jhg @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Cursor Positioning in C
Does anyone know how to position the cursor on an IBM PC using the C
language? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Jan Gryck
npoiv!jhg
AT&T Information Systems
Neptune, N. J.
------------------------------
Date: 25 Aug 83 21:02:43-PDT (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!rlgvax!cvl!jcw @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Cursor Positioning in C
The C language does not have any i/o features built into the language;
i/o is totally handled by the library routines. I have seen at least
one compiler advertised that comes with screen manipulation routines,
but I know that many don't. I depends on your C compiler.
However, if you are using DOS 2.0 and include the loading of the ANSI
screen device driver in your CONFIG.SYS file, simple "prints" (printf,
puts, etc.) to the console can be used to position the cursor. See
section 13 of the DOS 2.0 manual.
If you need to write a library routine from scratch, it will need to
perform INT 10 (video i/o in BIOS) with ah=3 to read the current
cursor position and then with ah=2 to set it to the new position. See
page A-43 in the technical reference manual for more.
-Jay Weber {..!seismo!rlgvax!cvl!jcw}
------------------------------
Date: 27 Aug 83 9:24:56-PDT (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!eagle!hou5h!hou5g!hou5f!ariel!vax135!floyd!whuxlb!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: 3270 Emulation
We have looked at the IRMA board from TAC in Atlanta, GA and this
seems like a nice package. People that I have talked to that are
using this board say it is real nice. It does require that you have a
3271 controller since it is a coax attachment device.
------------------------------
Date: 28 Aug 1983 0908-PDT
To: focus at LL
cc: Brackenridge at ISIB, gillmann at ISIB
Remailed-To: info-IBMPC
From: HFISCHER@USC-ECLB
Subject: IBM Logo and DR Logo
IBM's Product Center division says (officially to those at the PC
fair) that DR Logo will be soon available for the PC's thru them. IBM
Boca, the folks doing the Logo, say "those guys are fully wrong". To
prove it, they let me play with the Logo at the PC fair, and gave me
the manual proofs which went to the printers. (The manual is now at
the printers. WHERE DID YOU SAY IT IS AVAILABLE "LOCALLY". I would
like to buy a copy now! Which store do I contact?)
The manual is enormous. Seemed to be the size of the technical
reference. All for a language for four year olds and list hackers!
Reading along in the IBM Logo manual (the Logo produced by Logo
Systems Limited of Canada, the Apple Logo writers), I was interested
in how they handle colors and palates (same as Basic). I was also
interested, for list hacking, about memory restrictions. I was very
puzzled, because the manual seemed to imply that you asked for
specific load areas, a default, 128 and 256 stuck in my head, and that
there was no limitation on individual list sizes (as with the 32K
"object" limitation in APL).
Herm Fischer (HFischer @ eclb)
------------------------------
Date: 28 Aug 1983 0917-PDT
From: HFISCHER@USC-ECLB
Subject: Peanut Rumors at the PC Fair
To: gillmann at ISIB, brackenridge at ISIB
Remailed-To: info-IBMPC
The only comment about the Peanut at the PC fair was by Don Estridge,
Pres entry sys div, who said something like he'd be ashamed to pull
into his driveway and have to tell his neighbor that his old software
would no longer run on a new IBM product. IBM is committed to product
compatibility. Also noted that 2.5 million PCs have been produced.
His comment about computer widows was serious - IBM intends to sell
them a second computer for each home.
Asked about the LSLC Logo and the Peanut (or whether the DR Logo was
implying a switch to CP/M-86 there) I got a bunch or stares like "whom
are you kidding".
Herm Fischer (HFischer @ eclb)
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂30-Aug-83 2008 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #59
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 30 Aug 83 20:08:38 PDT
Date: 30 Aug 1983 1848-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #59
From: Dick Gillmann <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 30 August 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 59
Today's Topics:
DOS 2.0 Device Driver Quirks
USA vs. Europe
Parity Check 2 Query
LAN Query
Pascal <--> Assembly Query
MODEM7 Query
Quadram Serial Ports Problem (2 msgs)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 29 Aug 1983 16:15:38-PDT
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: John L. Romkey <romkey@MIT-CSR>
Subject: DOS 2.0 Device Driver Quirks
I've been working on a block device driver for DOS 2.0 for a while
now, and I thought people might be interested in some of the things
I've run up against.
One has already been mentioned: system calls on 2.0 are NOT reentrant.
It's a real disaster to do a DOS call from a device driver because it
blows away the stack of the original system call which caused the
device to be called in the first place. On the other hand, it appears
that a device can call DOS when DOS tells it to initialize itself. I
haven't really checked this out too much, but it appears to work.
Ioctls are real fun. The first problem is with BPB's. These are
descriptions of the disk: how many sectors it has, the size of the
FAT, etc. When DOS thinks that the disk has been changed, it tells
the driver to make a new BPB for it. It does this before issuing read
or write requests to the driver. It also does it before doing
ioctl's. This might seem quite innocent at first, but I was using the
ioctl call before there was even any disk there, so no BPB could be
made. The solution was to construct a valid-looking, phony BPB.
The real nastiness with ioctl's is that the unit number that the
driver gets passed is always 0. MS-DOS figures out what device driver
to call and then tells it that the ioctl was done on unit 0 of that
device, no matter what unit you really said it was done on. I would
claim that this is really a BUG.
The last problem that I've really hit is that there is no DOS utility
to construct an empty MS-DOS file structure on a disk. Format only
seems to understand floppies. It seems to bypass the device drivers
and call BIOS. This is useful for laying out the actual tracks on the
disk, but they really should have provided something with the
functionality of the Unix mkfs.
Flaming about MS-DOS is fun. Writing device drivers for it isn't
always.
- John Romkey
romkey@mit-csr
------------------------------
Date: 29 Aug 1983 0259-EDT
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
From: JERRYB@MIT-OZ
Subject: Re: USA vs. Europe
I have been using a PC with the monochrome monitor here in Paris for
the last year with no problems at all. The only change I made was to
add a 220:110 transformer (which is available in any large department
store). Before the PC was officially announced here many 3rd party
vendors sold USA versions with transformers. I can't say what
conversion problems you would have with a graphics board and monitor.
------------------------------
Date: 29 Aug 1983 11:50:35-PDT
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: Harvey A Iwamoto <CCVAX.iwamoto@Nosc>
Subject: Parity Check 2 Query
Anyone know what causes the "Parity Check 2" diagnostic message? A
Tecmar and Persyst combination board both show the error.
Harvey Iwamoto
iwamoto@nosc-cc
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Aug 83 19:09:22 EDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: "John B. Black" <Black@YALE.ARPA>
Subject: LAN Query
I'm helping design an administrative computer system that will be
composed (initially) of 4-6 IBM PCs as workstations linked by a Local
Area Network with a hard disk, printer and port via a PAXC line to an
IBM 4341. However, I need advice about what is an inexpensive Local
Area Network that I can use to link IBM PCs. Anybody out there got a
LAN linking PCs? I also need advice about what to use as a hard disk.
------------------------------
Date: 26 Aug 83 22:27:38-PDT (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!uiucdcs!challou @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Pascal <--> Assembly Query
Does anyone have information on how to interface IBM DOS Pascal to IBM
Macro Assembler code? More specifically what I need to know is which
registers I should save or initialize once I am in the assembly
routine. I have gotten as far as entering the assembly routine and
getting it to execute properly, however the program gets hung up when
I "ret" to the Pascal main program.
Any info anyone can offer will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in
advance,
DC
------------------------------
Date: 30 Aug 1983 18:43:42 EDT (Tuesday)
To: info-ibmpc at isib
Cc: info-micro at brl
From: Martin Schoffstall <schoff@BBN-UNIX>
Subject: MODEM7 Query
Does anyone have a MODEM7 implementation for the IBM PC that is
written either in *.asm or *.c? I want to talk to umodem, currently I
am doing this through InterComm, but I would like a stand alone
program that did it. Something where I could say XFER filename and if
I was logged in would transfer the file to an 11/44 where it could be
printed.
thanks
marty
------------------------------
Date: 30 Aug 1983 19:02:46 EDT (Tuesday)
To: info-ibmpc at isib
Cc: info-micro at brl
From: Martin Schoffstall <schoff@BBN-UNIX>
Subject: Quadram Serial Ports Problem
I bought a Quadram board with 2 RS232 ports on it, why can't I use
both ports? Even worse, I have two Quadram boards if I enable COM1 on
one and COM2 on the other it doesn't seem to work on either. Any
suggestions?
schoff at bbnu
------------------------------
Date: 30 Aug 1983 1657-PDT
To: Martin Schoffstall <schoff@BBN-UNIX>
cc: Info-IBMPC
Subject: Re: Quadram Serial Ports Problem
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
The problem is that the two ports must be on different interrupt
levels. When the PC was released there wasn't a definition of COM2:
included. AST took the route of leaving jumpers that could put COM2:
on any of several interrupt levels. Quadram (at least my early
board) puts all serial ports on level 4, which is COM1:. The latest
serial ports from IBM can be switched from COM1: to COM2: by flipping
a little jumper plug. In COM2: mode they are on level 3 (level 5 is
used by the XT's hard disc). So I suppose this is official: COM1: is
on IRQ4 and COM2: is on IRQ3.
If you have two ports on the same level, they fight, i.e. one tries to
raise an interrupt while the other tries not to. This leads to some
strange behavior. Generally you'll get one character through and then
hang.
This problem only arises when doing interrupt driven I/O on the serial
ports. The BIOS code uses busy waits and is not affected.
/Dick Gillmann
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂31-Aug-83 2015 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #60
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 31 Aug 83 20:15:10 PDT
Date: 31 Aug 1983 1859-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #60
From: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA (Dick Gillmann)
To: Info-IBMPC:
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 31 August 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 60
Today's Topics:
Quadram Serial Ports Problem (2 msgs)
Parity Check 2
WATCOM APL
Trip Report On IBM PC Faire
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 30 Aug 1983 18:56-PDT
To: schoff@BBN-UNIX
Cc: info-ibmpc@ISIB, info-micro@BRL
Subject: Re: Quadram Serial Ports Problem
From: BILLW@SRI-KL
Some boards do not enable interrupts for the second RS-232 port. I
tried this out as I was developing a (commercial) communications
package for the IBM PC, and found that the interrupt pin on the second
8250 on a (argh! can't remember the company name. It was a 256K
memory + 2 serial port board) wasn't connected to ANYTHING!
The reasoning behind this (I assume) is that if you have multiple
chips generating a single interrupt, then you can't trivially figure
out which port the interrupt was actually for. In particular,
interrupt driven software that assumes only one active port is likely
to break.
Bill Westfield
------------------------------
Date: 31-Aug-83 09:24:55-EDT (Wed)
To: schoff@BBN-UNIX
Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: sigurd@udel-relay (ANDERSEN)
Subject: Re: Quadram Serial Ports Problem
You may be having some problem due to the fact that the Quadram II
(the board with two RS-232 ports) does NOT work identically to the IBM
asynch. boards. Someone here bought about 20 of the boards, only to
find that they wouldn't work with one of their printers. Even with
one serial port enabled and configured just like the IBM port had
been, the system would hang when trying to print. Disabling both
Quadram ports and using the IBM board would work OK.
After much back and forth, Quadram admitted that the above is true. I
haven't heard yet what, if anything, Quadram plans to do on this.
- Sigurd Andersen (sigurd@udel-relay)
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 83 14:38:32 EDT
To: CCVAX.iwamoto%nosc-cc.arpa@udel-ee
Cc: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@udel-ee
From: Gary Delp <delp%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee>
Subject: Re: Parity Check 2
The only time we have run into Parity Check 2 have been when two sets
of software/hardware have both tried to use the same DMA channel.
-Gary Delp <delp at udel>
------------------------------
Date: 29 Aug 83 21:45:23-PDT (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!watmath!ljdickey @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: WATCOM APL
Rehash of article submitted to I.P.Sharp Network.
I had a chance to work with WATCOM APL Version 2.0 on the IBMPC today.
It was a delight. The machine I was working on did not have the 8087
processor, so it was not as lightning fast as it might have been. It
has all of the standard APL chars, as well as the six newer ASCII APL
characters $, {, }, left and right tack, and diamond. The diamond is
a statement separator. The character "←" is allowed in names. It has
(as did earlier versions) full screen editing. This means that you do
not have to use [N#M] anymore.
You can have large workspaces. For instance, the machine I was
running on had 256K memory, and #WA showed 101203 with a clear
workspace. By buying more memory, you can have a workspace of up to
about 600K. APL objects can have up to 32K elements. There is a
nice, Sharp-like, file system, and there is also the ability to work
with "native" DOS files. It has #EA (execute alternate) like APL2 has
that is very nice for event handling. And I love the transfer file
form. This is not the first APL with this feature; at least two other
APL's have something like it. You give the command ")OUT blat" and it
creates a file called "blat" with all the stuff you need to transfer
funs and vars to another system. There is a corresponding command
")IN blat" that reverses the process.
There are some great color graphic features, with scads of primitives
for making lines, boxes, circles, arcs, etc. The text formatting
function proposed by Aiden Falkoff (see APL 79 ?) has been
implemented. Very nice. Do you wanna alphabetize? The Gradeup
primitive has been extended to work on character matrices. The first
element of #TS is still less than 100 though. Hot news on string
handling: There is new string occurrences and replacement feature:
Wanna find the word 'is' in the string 'This is a test' ? Just say
S "gets 'This is a test'
S['is']
3 6
S['is is'] "gets 'at was'
S
That was a test.
There is also a #MATRIX primitive (similar to #BOX on APL.68000) that
turns a character vector into a matrix with one word per row, and you
can change the delimiter from the default ' ' to whatever you like.
It also has #VI and #FI (a la Sharp).
I was not able to crash it, and did not experience any of the earlier
problems experienced with large workspaces and ")COPY". Now all I
need is the big bucks for the PC!
Lee ("kid in a toyshop") Dickey (ljdickey@watmath.UUCP)
...!allegra!watmath!ljdickey
...!ucbvax/decvax!watmath!ljdickey
University of Waterloo
------------------------------
Date: 31 Aug 1983 1814-PDT
To: info-ibmpc at ISIB
From: HFISCHER@USC-ECLB
Subject: Trip Report On IBM PC Faire
The (First) IBM PC Faire took place on August 26-28, 1983 at the Civic
Auditorium and Brooks Hall, San Francisco. The opening Friday was a
mob scene with mostly business types while Sunday had a younger,
non-professional crowd.
The quantity of products was incredible. The Faire emphasis clearly
highlighted software over hardware, although some "hot" new hardware
items were both displayed and marketed. A number of discounters had
long lines of eager buyers for heavily discounted software items and
PC add-on hardware items. Typical sales prices seemed to be as low as
half of retail, particularly for multifunction boards, and DBASE/LOTUS
sales.
An event that most of the Friday professional crowd attended was the
plenary session "Trends in Personal Computing" by Don Estridge, now
the President of the Boca Raton, FL, IBM division that designed and
produces the PC. The most important items which he presented were, to
the best of the authors' memory:
- There have already been over 2.2M IBM PCs sold. [This corrects the
second author's earlier incorrect statement.] The closest competitor
is Tandy with about 800K and Apple only has 600K.
- A number of hints concerning the new "Peanut" product were dropped.
This product is to take its place along side every home's TV set.
For the families with computer widows, the Peanut will, as the home's
second machine, be IBM's solution to that problem. Estridge implied
that new IBM products (e.g., this machine) will be "compatible"
across IBM's product line.
The variety of software at the conference was mind boggling. The
following sample classes of programs were available with the indicated
volume ranking:
1. Copy programs: Booths selling products to copy "protected" disks
seemed to be doing gold-rush business.
2. Word processors and editors: Editors were abundant in every isle
and cranny. Their capability was as varied as the prices. One
editor (Quicksoft) was priced for only $10 with an on-disk 98 page
reference manual -- and the disk label encourages copying the
program and disseminating it to others. Most other editing packages
were protected by elaborate licensing agreements and legal language.
3. Business support software: A large number of database support
programs, command shells for business, database/spreadsheet
integrators, and the like were evidenced.
4. Networking software and products: Products for local area
networking and support were abundant. While a large number of
non-local networking interconnect protocols were available (inter-PC
and PC-to-host communications), there was no presence of KERMIT at
the fair.
Some interesting software items included:
- Spelling checkers: some for under $30 and some quite expensive.
- Products for specific professions: Applications packages configured
for doctors, lawyers, and accountants were seen (even Price
Waterhouse was there).
- Publishers: Book sellers seem to be doing well in the computer
marketplace.
It is interesting to note that a number of successful products were
derivations of programs that were ported from larger machines. One
editing system, Word Perfect by Satellite Business Systems, was a port
from a DG machine. The price range for products varied from $10 for
the small editor that a one man company was trying to boost to
thousands of dollars for profession-specific products such as the
doctor's records system. Since the specific-profession software does
not have a very large market, only authoring firms were marketing
them. However, for the more generic word processing and spread
sheets, there were a number of discounters selling the programs. They
were also selling accessories such as memory boards, diskette storage
containers, and so on. These re-sale booths were literally one-stop
suppliers of all the fundamental components for the PC.
4 HARDWARE
Hardware displayed included:
- PC clone computers: Eagle had a big booth with many machines
available for people to play with and try out.
- Portable PCs: a number of manufacturers had portable PCs that were
running apparently-standard IBM software. These varied from
Osborne-style packaged clones, and an outfit repackaging IBM's
boards, to the Compass Grid briefcase computer.
- Back end data base hardware: used to speed up large scale data base
work especially when there are multiple users sharing local area
network workstations.
- Mice: There were at least 3 different mice being demonstrated, two
of which simulated commands typed in from the keyboard. These units
have an active Tee connector (black box) between the keyboard,
computer, and mouse. These active Tee connectors generate
programmer-defined character sequences so that these devices may be
used with all cursor-directed full-screen interactive programs on the
market. One company, Trillion, showed a PC-DOS "shell" package used
with a mouse, which has menus in the style of the Apple Lisa and
Xerox Star, thus making the mouse more than just an
applications-specific device. New users will find the mouse and the
Trillion software a very pleasant method to interact with a PC. As
with most specialized products, some tailoring is required with
standard products for use with mouse-driven menus, making the
consumer dependent on a single source supplier of software. The
other style of mouse prevalent uses an asynchronous port or special
card for mouse interfacing. These styles of mice appear to be not as
general as the style using the active Tee keyboard interface.
The authors' purpose in attending the fair was to review products.
Certain products deserved additional examination (as evident by the
authors' infatuation) and caused impulse buys:
1. A Logitech mouse (not the newest version that they still have not
yet released). This one has a round top and an active Tee keyboard
connection as described above. The authors paid $268. Upon
returning to Los Angeles the device was D.O.A. Removing the cover
from the active Tee connector, we found that the ROM type device was
plugged in backwards. We telephoned Logitech and with great
embarrassment they Federal Expressed a replacement which was
received one day later. The firm seemed very responsive to this
problem, although they certainly lack QC. (The mouse successfully
works with every full-screen program tried so far: BLUE,
Professional Editor, Perfect Writer, Lotus, IBM's APL, and
unfortunately, the Microsoft Flight Simulator. It was difficult to
recover the PC upon returning from lunch.)
2. The editor, BLUE. This $150 product from Symmetric Software, Newport
Beach (moving to Anaheim), was exhibited with fancy, multi-colored
windows and command selection by several different mice. The
program was produced by a five man company which obviously know a
lot about user-friendly editing systems. The system very nicely
hides windows that are not currently being worked on and lets you
easily switch between any of the eight possible file buffers. We
ran into a bit of difficulty however again when we got back to Los
Angeles, since the version that we had carried back turned out to
not be the same as that demonstrated and was not mouse compatible.
Again, we contacted the firm and under pressure they Federal
Expressed the version we thought we bought the next day.
3. A $10 editor called PC Write that has a 98 page manual. It was
written by Bob Wallace of Quicksoft, which he founded after leaving
Microsoft. We were shown a color version of the editor, but arrived
home to find our disk only containing the black and white version.
A follow-up call to the author solved the color problem; changes to
the editor (since its document was written) eliminated the need to
distribute two separate versions. This editor seems impressively
fast. When the author of the editor was asked why he sells it so
inexpensively, he responds "to gain market share". Having sold over
300 copies at the show, he claims to have covered his expenses.
4. Spell-it by Berzerk Systems, Berkeley is a spelling checker that
cost $29 and has a 41,000 word dictionary. The program is well
documented. It can be configured to run with a variety of different
word processors. This report was checked by this speller. Behaving
like the EMACS correct spelling command, the program will give the
user ten choices for each of his misspelled words, or the option to
retype a word, add to a selected dictionary, and so forth. Unlike
EMACS on a DEC 20, the program is very slow but it more user
friendly than the EMACS spelling correction feature. Users should
be able to tolerate its slowness if they are as bad at spelling as
the second author, and too lazy to use a real dictionary.
A caveat then from the above experience:
Try out any product you buy at a faire. Be triply sure it is the
product that is being exhibited and not an earlier version or
demonstration prototype.
IBM was exhibiting the Logo Systems Limited (Canada) Logo which they
will market "soon". This is not the DR Logo product. The printer's
proof of the manual was reviewed. This Logo seems to support large
workspaces, up to 256 K bytes, and should be well received by "list
hackers". A quick scan of the document could find no restriction on
"object" or list size, such as the 32 K byte limitations on objects in
IBM's APL and other PC products. The manual was thick and robust, in
the normal IBM PC manual tradition.
STSC had a large booth exhibiting their APL. Since their product, at
about $500, is significantly more expensive than the IBM APL (at about
$160, discounted), it was examined. The product seems to have about
the same features as IBM's, with perhaps more library routines
furnished or available. (It is annoyingly difficult to be unable to
get IBM's help with difficulties in their APL. Perhaps dealing with a
private company is worth all that extra money.)
Relative performance statistics (in seconds) are interesting:
IBM STSC 3032
PC PC VS
Function APL APL APL
Looping (100) 1.5 1.72 .010
Primes (10) .22 .21 .003
Primes (100) 17.5 5.8 .094
Eratosthenes(10) .17 .16 .004
Eratosthenes(1000) 6.1 4.0 .062
STSC does not appear to support the shared variable concept as
enthusiastically as IBM (or as the Japanese 5th Generation Prolog
versions), though that is probably of little consequence to
businessmen.
The faire had such enthusiasm, that there is already another one
planned for next year: October 26-28, 1984, also at the Civic
Auditorium and Brooks Hall, San Francisco. Almost all of the
exhibitor space is already sold out at $18 per square foot.
Daniel H. Miller and Herman Fischer
Litton Data Systems
Van Nuys, CA 91409
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂02-Sep-83 1909 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #61
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 2 Sep 83 19:08:42 PDT
Date: 2 Sep 1983 1826-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #61
From: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA (Dick Gillmann)
To: Info-IBMPC:
Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 2 September 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 61
Today's Topics:
Parity Check 2 (2 msgs)
Bigger Type-Ahead Buffer Wanted
Communication with UMODEM
Terminal Emulation (2 msgs)
Cursor Positioning from Lattice C
Rumors
Seequa Chameleon Query
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thursday, 1 September 1983 02:06:51 EDT
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: John.Zsarnay@CMU-CS-VLSI
Subject: Re: Parity Check 2
The "Parity Check 2" means that a parity error occurred on the I/O
channel (i.e. expansion bus). A parity error on the system board will
cause a "Parity Check 1" error.
You are probably accessing uninitialized RAM on the expansion boards,
in which case the data could very well have incorrect parity. The
system startup contained in the BIOS ROMs initializes and tests system
memory before booting from disk (or running ROM Basic). However, if
you have any memory above that configured by the switches on the
system board, it will not be initialized. The software using the
extended memory should do the initialization itself.
If that isn't your problem, you may have a problem in the I/O channel
parity circuit on your system board. Parity can be disabled by
setting some control register bit. I don't have my Technical
Reference Manual here, so I can't give you details.
As for the parity check caused by two programs using the same DMA
channel: You probably confused the DMA controller so much that it
stopped performing memory refresh cycles. Without refresh, the data
in RAM will change and could cause parity errors.
John
------------------------------
Date: Friday, 2 Sep 1983 10:00-PDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
From: jim@rand-unix
Subject: Re: Parity Check 2
I was told that Parity Check 1 refers to an unspecified problem on the
motherboard (usually bad memory), and Parity Check 2 is any unspecified
problem on an add-on card. I got it a few times on very hot days, but
it went away by evening. I suggest using the diagnostics for your add-on
cards.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 Sep 83 15:39:26 EDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Craig Douglas <Douglas@YALE.ARPA>
Subject: Bigger Type-Ahead Buffer Wanted
I am tired of dealing with just 15 characters of type-ahead buffer.
Does somebody have a working program that will give me a bigger buffer
(say >= 128 characters) that works with DOS 2.0?
Thanks,
Craig Douglas
ARPAnet DOUGLAS-CRAIG@YALE
Usenet ...!decvax!yale-comix!douglas-craig
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 Sep 83 18:33:42 EDT
To: info-micro@brl
cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: Rick Conn <rconn@brl>
Subject: Communication with UMODEM
UMODEM supports three protocols, but the one of most general interest
is the Christensen protocol (FTP 3). Very good doc is in the CPM ARs
on MIT-MC on it. M2PROTO.DOC or some such (M2PROTO is too long) is
what to look for, and it is either in CPM, the MODEM2 AR, or the
MODEM7 AR.
Rick
------------------------------
Date: Wednesday, 31-Aug-83 03:24:43-PDT
To: INFO-IBMPC@ISIB
From: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@LBL-CSAM>
Subject: Terminal Emulation Query
Can anyone point me at some decent (ideally free, but whatever...)
terminal emulators for the IBM-PC running MS-DOS 1 and 2? I've seen
various Unix termcap entries for the PC; which emulators are people
using for which these entries were written? How about emulators with
embedded code to handle the MODEM or KERMIT file transfer protocols?
Any information on these topics would be appreciated.
Thanks much, all.
--Lauren--
------------------------------
Date: 1 Sep 1983 1500-PDT
To: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@LBL-CSAM>
cc: info-ibmpc
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Re: Terminal Emulation
The embedded terminal emulator in KERMIT is about as good as you are
going to get for free. As source code is available (IBM Macro) you
can modify it to fit your needs.
I suppose you would rather have a terminal emulator written in C. I
know Mark of the Unicorn wrote a respectable VT100 emulator in C with
very extensive menu selection. It is a great improvement over a real
VT100. I don't know of any C based terminal emulators in the public
domain. I am surprised that there aren't some down loadable programs
that work closely with Unix to provide for example a window package or
screen oriented editor.
At ISI we require the capability of 9600 baud operation, ASCII file
transfer, and TAC flow control support. We are also used to scroll
back memory and local screen editing. There aren't any public domain
programs which meet these specs. At ISI we are using VDTE a
commercial product written by Dick Gillmann our INFO-IBMPC moderator.
I believe Bill Westfield at SRI also has a commercial product. Both
Bill and Dick donated earlier versions of their products to
INFO-IBMPC. As we try to keep INFO-IBMPC commercial free there hasn't
been much mention of these products.
Communications software seems to be the most hotly contested part of
the IBM market. The range in quality is wide and quality is not
necessarily a function of price.
------------------------------
Date: Friday, 2 Sep 1983 10:10-PDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
From: jim@rand-unix
Subject: Cursor Positioning from Lattice C
Here's a more explicit answer to the question of how to position the
cursor on a PC (assuming you don't have DOS 2.00, which has been covered
already). You need to assemble a routine like this, then link it with
your program. I use Lattice C; if you don't, check your manual for
the subroutine linkage conventions.
; curpos: move the cursor to specified location (depends on mode)
; J. J. Gillogly
;
PGROUP GROUP PROG
PROG SEGMENT BYTE PUBLIC 'PROG'
PUBLIC CURPOS
ASSUME CS:PGROUP
;
; name curpos -- set cursor location
;
; synopsis curpos(x, y)
; int x,y; x and y coordinates of destination
;
; description use video interrupt to go to (x,y) on screen
;
CURPOS PROC NEAR
PUSH BP ; LATTICE return conventions
;
MOV AH,2 ; BIOS FUNCTION: SET CURSOR POSITION
MOV BH,0 ; DISPLAY PAGE, 0 FOR GRAPHICS MODE
MOV BP,SP ; LOOK FOR ARGS
MOV DL,[BP+4] ; FIRST ARG INTO DL, NEW ROW (Y)
MOV DH,[BP+6] ; 2ND ARG INTO DH, NEW COLUMN (X)
INT INT 10H ; EXECUTE THE VIDEO INTERRUPT
;
POP BP ; RESTORE LATTICE INFO
RET
CURPOS ENDP
;
PROG ENDS
END
[CURPOS.ASM has been added to the Info-IBMPC library. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: 2 Sep 83 17:55:33-EDT (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc@isib
From: Mfarber@UDel-Relay
Subject: Rumors
* The New York Times reported in the September 2 edition that
there were rumors that IBM would wait until 1984 to announce
the Peanut.
* The September-October PC Tech Journal reported rumors that IBM
was working on an OS upwardly compatible with some of their
mainframe OS's. PCTJ also reported rumors that Tandy (TRS-80)
is going to make an IBM-compatible priced under the other
IBM-compatibles.
-Manny
------------------------------
Date: Fri 2 Sep 83 18:09:36-CDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: ICS.DEKEN@UTEXAS-20.ARPA
Subject: Seequa Chameleon Query
Does anyone with firsthand experience care to comment on this or
"superior" PC-clone portables. (Chameleon ~$2000, has both Z80 and
8088 processors.)
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂05-Sep-83 2151 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #62
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 5 Sep 83 21:51:25 PDT
Date: 5 Sep 1983 2102-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #62
From: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA (Dick Gillmann)
To: Info-IBMPC:
Info-IBMPC Digest Monday, 5 September 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 62
Today's Topics:
SRITEK 68000 Microcard
COMMAND.COM Loading
SWITCHAR
Low Resolution Graphics Query
$995 Hard Disk Review
Hazeltine TICCIT Query
Fortran, Wordstar, DMA Channel 1, Streamer Tape Queries
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 2 Sep 83 18:54:20 PDT
To: info-ibmpc@isib
From: David Butterfield <ica.dave@UCLA-LOCUS>
Subject: SRITEK 68000 Microcard
Does anyone out there have any of the SRITEK products that plug into
the PC (or XT)? We have a 68000 Microcard (running XENIX) and would
be interested in sharing information and advice with other users of
this product.
Dave
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by SRI-Unix.uucp with rs232; 3 Sep 83 2:01-PDT
Date: 30 Aug 83 16:55:53-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!tektronix!uw-beaver!microsoft!markz @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: COMMAND.COM Loading
COMMAND.COM has an internal name from which it reloads itself. The
presence of COMSPEC is for subsequent invocations of COMMAND (i.e. a
shell escape). I suspect that you are attempting to load up a RAMDisk
or a hard disk (either being an installed device) with COMMAND and
then have the transient portion reloaded from there. Unfortunately,
allowing a user to change COMSPEC may result in a system hanging
itself: if you point COMSPEC at just any ol' file and clobber the
transient, the resident portion does not contain enough smarts to be
able to prompt the user to change COMSPEC "back".
The simplest solution for your problems is to have the following in
your AUTOEXEC on your boot disk:
COPY COMMAND.COM Z:\ (or whatever drive you want it on)
Z:
COMMAND Z:\ /P
The second COMMAND will eat about 2K of memory, but it allows itself
to be read off the supposedly faster media.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by SRI-Unix.uucp with rs232; 3 Sep 83 2:00-PDT
Date: 30 Aug 83 17:06:31-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!microsoft!markz @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: SWITCHAR
Amazing. Using undocumented features that may (and probably will)
change in future releases is NOT the way to generate portable
software. Using SWITCHAR itself is a great way to jump into
non-portability. Shell scripts (oops, I mean BAT files) are no longer
portable without porting the CONFIG.SYS file also. Somehow, the
thought of rebooting between applications does not appeal to me.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by SRI-Unix.uucp with rs232; 3 Sep 83 3:44-PDT
Date: 29 Aug 83 19:00:45-PDT (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!linus!philabs!seismo!hao!cires!nbires!opus!ashe @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Low Resolution Graphics Query
Does anyone know how to get the PC into low-resolution graphics mode?
The technical manual (page 2-52) says "requires special memory map and
set up to be defined later" and (you guessed it) never mentions the
subject again. Thanks in advance.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by SRI-Unix.uucp with rs232; 3 Sep 83 8:39-PDT
Date: 31 Aug 83 22:36:23-PDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!watmath!bstempleton @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: $995 Hard Disk Review
How many of you have seen the ads in recent magazines for a 10 meg
Shugart SA-612 for $995 US? Sounds pretty good, so while I was in
Chicago last week, I went to check it out.
First things first. The disk is advertised for $995 mail order from
"Great Lakes Peripherals" near Chicago. Similar ads offer the disk
for $1595 through dealers from "Phoenix". They are the same company.
The address I went to to pick up the disk was the same one in the
$1595 ads. They are essentially screwing their dealers by
undercutting them.
Business practices aside, I saw the disk work and the company was not
a garage, so I gave them my $995 US funds and took mine with me. The
people with me were in a hurry so I didn't check it then and there.
The technical manual didn't come with it. They are sending it. They
are using both DTC controllers and ANADEK (or whatever) and I got a
DTC since it is very similar to the one in the XT and I want to write
a Coherent device driver for this.
I put in in a PC when I got home, and it would not format. It just
hung. A friend and I made a careful examination of the interface
board that plugs into the PC (This is the only thing these guys make,
mostly they are OEMs) and I noticed that there were 4 sets of holes to
wire jumpers onto. Examination of the pinout for the PC's bus revealed
the first two were send and ack for DMA ch. 1 and the second two for
DMA ch 3. The manual said it used #3, but my board had the middle two
jumpers wired! That meant it sent out request on ch #3 but was
waiting for acks on ch. #1. Pretty dumb, so we fixed it. I then
formatted the disk and got 39 bad tracks the first time, 37 the next
time, with only 3 in common.
When I got their return call, they said, "we know what is wrong with
your disk". I told them I found that hard to believe, and explained
the jumpers. They admitted they did not know how that got by them,
but that the reason for the bad tracks was that DTC had started
shipping them new controller cards that had different timing specs
without telling them. This meant a few problems on older PC units.
They said they are shipping me a new controller board right away.
That's the bad news. Now the good news.
The thing does work, and it is about 20% slower than an XT. Since DOS
seems to make things CPU bound, though, I suspect the fault is their
driver. I hope my own driver will make it just as fast. After all,
the thing is supposed to DMA 5 megabits per second, but data from even
the fastest hard disks seems to come in at only 20 k bytes/second.
Otherwise things seem good. Slightly slower seek times for short
seeks than a Davong, same average time (90 ms). Quite quiet, and the
chassis looks very solid and well put together. There is room and
power for another disk, tape backup or floppy. It is reasonably
quiet, and the ribbon cable you get is quite long so you can shove the
thing out of the way where you never have to touch it again if you use
a power strip.
I guess the best news of all is the $995 price tag. Nothing around
seems to beat it. Even if you think it is slow, with the money you
save you could buy another spindle (20 megs for $1495 probably less if
second disk unit, this one made by Ampex), or buy a whole bunch of ram
and make heavy use of ramdisk for all your compiles. In all, I am
fairly pleased assuming the new controller is good and my driver is
faster. More news when I get the new board. The thing is warranted
for a year. It works with DOS 1.1 and 2.0, slightly faster under 2.0
Brad Templeton - Waterloo, Ont. (519) 886-7304
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by SRI-Unix.uucp with rs232; 4 Sep 83 10:27-PDT
Date: 30 Aug 83 13:33:49-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!philabs!sdcsvax!taylor @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Hazeltine TICCIT Query
I am about to embark upon a project where we will be networking about
500 IBM PCs to the Hazeltine TICCIT CAI system and am interested if
anyone out there has any experience with the system that would be
relevant. (This is not through UCSD.)
Thanks!
-- Dave Taylor
UCSD Computer Science Dept.
------------------------------
Date: 5 Sep 83 14:33:45 PDT (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: ucscc!ucscc!psych36@Berkeley (21045000)
Subject: Fortran, Wordstar, DMA Channel 1, Streamer Tape Queries
Does anyone have a comment on the following problems?
1) Our IBM Fortran compiler doesn't work under DOS 2.0 on our hard
disk - we get a message from the compiler complaining of
insufficient memory (we have 512KB). However, the compiler
does work under 2.0 on our floppy.
2) Wordstar won't run on the hard disk unless we have a copy of the
two overlay files on the floppy disk a:. If I assign A: to C: then
ws will work, but only if the two overlays are in the current
subdirectory. Does anyone have a patch so that ws looks for the
overlays at the top of the hard disk tree?
3) We want to add a second SASI disk controller to our PC. Right now,
C: and D: use DMA channel 3. I've been told that we can't use DMA
ch 1 for a second controller because there is a design flaw in ch1's
segment register control - with transfers over 64KB it gets parity
errors or something (?). Any comment?
4) Does anyone have any info on the Wangtek streamer cartridge drive
(for backing up winnies)?
Michael M. Cohen
UC-Santa Cruz
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂08-Sep-83 1424 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #63
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 8 Sep 83 14:22:56 PDT
Date: 8 Sep 1983 1329-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #63
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, 8 September 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 63
Today's Topics:
99 File Descriptors in DOS 2.0
Fortran/DOS 2.0
Pascal/Assembler Query
Comm. Port Subroutines Wanted
Interrupting PC DOS 1.1
UNIX <--> PC Kermit
New IBM PC Kermit Available
Pascal <--> Assembly
Free Terminal Emulator Offer
APL Query
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 6 Sep 83 15:26:11 MDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc@isib
From: b-davis@utah-cs (Brad Davis)
Subject: 99 File Descriptors in DOS 2.0
Does any one know how to fix the slight problem with MS-DOS 2.0 that
allows you to only have 20 file descriptors, not the 99 the
documentation mentions? I need about 35. The funny thing is is that
the system will allocate memory for all 99.
If there is interest, I volunteer to keep a bug list of MS-DOS system
software bugs and fixes. I would only be interested in system
software not in applications software. Respond to me if you think
this would be of some help. I could do some verification of problems.
Thanks for any help,
Brad Davis
UUCP: ...!decvax!harpo!utah-cs!b-davis
ARPA: b-davis@utah-cs
------------------------------
Date: 6 Sep 83 15:26:11 MDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc@isib
From: b-davis@utah-cs (Brad Davis)
Subject: Re: Fortran/DOS 2.0
In regards to:
"Our IBM Fortran compiler doesn't work under DOS 2.0 on our hard
disk - we get a message from the compiler complaining of
insufficient memory (we have 512KB). However, the compiler
does work under 2.0 on our floppy.
Michael M. Cohen
UC-Santa Cruz"
The problem is probably with the amount of memory rather than the XT.
We found this problem in the Pascal compiler, the Macro assembler, and
the Pascal library. The fix is
rename <filename> foo.bar ; <filename> is the name of the program to fix
debug foo.bar
s 0 fff0 3b d5 7e 02 8b d5 ; should be only one occurrence/program
<VALUE> ; <VALUE> is the position of the find
e <VALUE+3> 76 ; this changes the 7e (JLE) to 76 (JBE)
w
q
rename foo.bar <filename>
Since Microsoft seems to use Pascal in all their language development
you should try this.
Brad Davis
UUCP: ...!decvax!harpo!utah-cs!b-davis
ARPA: b-davis@utah-cs
------------------------------
Date: 6 Sep 83 15:26:11 MDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc@isib
From: b-davis@utah-cs (Brad Davis)
Subject: Pascal/Assembler Query
Has anyone had success with accessing Pascal globals inside assembler
routines? I have tried to access variables in the ENTX6S unit (the
one with BEGXQQ and ENDXQQ in it) in an assembler routine with the
EXTERN BEGHQQ:WORD directive. Everybody is happy except that the
linker puts in an invalid address for the variable.
Thanks for any help,
Brad Davis
UUCP: ...!decvax!harpo!utah-cs!b-davis
ARPA: b-davis@utah-cs
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by SRI-Unix.uucp with rs232; 7 Sep 83 6:28-PDT
Date: 5 Sep 83 12:42:01-PDT (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!eagle!allegra!alice!rabbit!ark @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Comm. Port Subroutines Wanted
Can anyone point me at some good assembler language subroutines,
callable from Pascal (or whatever), that will do a better job of
manipulating the serial port than BIOS? BIOS seems to toggle DTR for
every character, which seems to confuse modems a bit.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by SRI-Unix.uucp with rs232; 8 Sep 83 2:55-PDT
Date: 6 Sep 83 10:01:14-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!gummo!whuxlb!floyd!vax135!ariel!hou5f!hou5g!hou5h!hou5a!hou5d!hogpc!hogpd!vu @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Interrupting PC DOS 1.1
I want to write a routine which would interrupt DOS 1.1 whenever a
character is received at the RS232 board. I would appreciate any
advice on how to do this. I already know about replacing the BIOS
routine (INT 14H), but this is too slow.
Chuong Vu ATTIS LZ 3B-326 576-3155 hogpd!vu
------------------------------
Date: Wed 7 Sep 83 11:51:58-EDT
To: WMT@MIT-XX.ARPA, info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
cc: info-vax-request@SRI-CSL.ARPA
From: Frank da Cruz <cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: UNIX <--> PC Kermit
In response to several messages about Kermit between the IBM PC and
UNIX...
First, there are several bugs in UNIX Kermit that have been identified
and fixed, notably the wildcard send business. The new UNIX Kermit
(which also has support added for various non-Berkeley UNIX systems
and some performance improvements) is being tested and will be
announced shortly. It will not be, however, the last version we'll
see. Several improvements still have to be made in the short term --
standardization of file specifications in the file header packet (case
conversion, removal of directory path, etc), addition of error packet
processing, etc. In the longer term, UNIX Kermit will also have
server mode added.
Somebody suggested that UNIX Kermit should let you say "kermit r
foo.bar" to let the incoming file be stored under a different name
than it was sent with. This is, in fact, a major source of confusion
since many Kermits have this feature. The confusion arises because
different Kermits interpret this command differently: Kermits that
talk to servers (e.g. the IBM PC and CP/M Kermits) pass the given
filespec to the server in a request for the server to send it, whereas
some other Kermits (like IBM VM/CMS and DEC-20 Kermits) use the given
filespec to override the one that comes in a file header packet.
Could it be that people who are having trouble transferring files from
UNIX to the PC are giving the command "receive filespec" to the PC,
rather than just "receive"? That would certainly explain the problem,
since the former causes the PC to send a server-mode command to UNIX
Kermit, which UNIX Kermit doesn't understand.
The whole "receive filespec" business was probably a mistake to begin
with. When it's being used to override filenames from incoming file
header packets, it's only effective for a single file (not an entire
wildcard batch transfer), so its usefulness for that purpose is
limited. Since it can also be used to ask a server to send the
specified file, the meaning may not be clear. For consistency it
would be better to have all versions of Kermit use the following
conventions:
send filespec send the specified local file
receive receive remote files, storing them under the name
from the file header.
receive filespec receive a single remote file, storing it under the
specified local name.
get filespec Ask the server to send the specified remote file.
Comments? - Frank
------------------------------
Date: Wed 7 Sep 83 14:36:24-EDT
To: info-kermit@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA, info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Daphne Tzoar <CC.DAPHNE@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: New IBM PC Kermit Available
A new version of Kermit for the IBM PC is now available for testing.
The pertinent files are PCKERMIT.TST (source) and PCKERMFIX.TST (the
"FIX" file) on Columbia-20 in the KERMIT directory. Please try it
out and let me know about any problems you encountered. Here's a
list of changes for version 1.19:
[19] (a) Change NOUT to print numbers in decimal instead of hex.
Routine is based on the one used in Generic Kermit. Make a
cosmetic change where print filenames & remove extraneous screen
output. (b) Change INCHR to allow timeouts when receiving data.
In SERINT, change the TEST to a CMP - flag not set as needed.
Add Set timeout and fix SPAR to get timeout value from init packet.
Add "nop" in NAK because the jump to ABORT is only 2 bytes.
[18] A NAK for the next packet is not the same as an ACK for the
current packet if we're in Send-Init. Also, account for
wraparound when comparing packet numbers that are off by one.
/daphne
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by SRI-Unix.uucp with rs232; 8 Sep 83 1:12-PDT
Date: 6 Sep 83 8:15:56-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!floyd!whuxlb!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Pascal <--> Assembly
There is a section in the IBM PASCAL manual detailing the interface
between PASCAL and MACRO. Basically only the segment registers and BP
have to be saved if they are fiddled with. AX is the return value
from a function. On the RET, you must account for the number of
parameter addresses/values on the stack; e.g. if 2 parameters are
passed, the statement should be
RET 4
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by SRI-Unix.uucp with rs232; 8 Sep 83 1:26-PDT
Date: 6 Sep 83 8:16:38-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!floyd!whuxlb!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Free Terminal Emulator Offer
I have a terminal simulator written in PASCAL and MACRO that is
designed to work with UNIX(tm) and 'curses' to provide full cursor
control and hp-26xx like capabilities. On 192K I have 17 'pages' that
I can scroll back thru and the software supports ASCII file transfers
to/from UNIX and other services such as BBSs. If you want a copy,
send me a floppy disk and a self addressed ***STAMPED*** return
envelope to:
Jim Holtman
35 Dogwood Trail
Randolph, NJ. 07869
------------------------------
Date: 8 September 1983 06:18 EDT
To: info-ibmpc @ USC-ISIB
From: Charles L. Jackson <CLJ @ MIT-MC>
Subject: APL Query
Does anyone know which is the best APL to purchase for the PC? Is
anyone aware of systematic reviews of APLs for the PC?
Observations: The IBM APL requires (as far as I can tell from the
manual) the 8087 co-processor chip in the PC. The STSC APL requires a
special character rom be installed in the PC to get APL characters.
Both of these features limit portability. I'd like to be able to use
APL on a backup machine -- even if the machine ran slower due to a
lack of 8087 processor.
regards
chuck (clj at mit-mc)
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂13-Sep-83 1448 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #64
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 13 Sep 83 14:48:18 PDT
Date: 13 Sep 1983 1334-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #64
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, 13 August 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 64
Today's Topics:
Compiled BASIC Overlays (2 msgs)
Ada (2 msgs)
CTTY and ANSI Terminals
Peanut
Kermit (2 msgs)
Interrupting PC DOS 1.1
DOS 1.1/2.0 Basic Incompatibilities
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 8 Sep 83 17:49 PDT
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
From: "Glasser Alan"@LLL-MFE.ARPA
Subject: Compiled BASIC Overlays
I would like some advice on overlays in compiled BASIC. (Please, no
comments about the virtues of BASIC vs. any other language, the deed
is done.) My wife has been writing a long graphics program for
children. She chose BASIC because it was simple, available, and
compilable. When it got too big for 64K, she solved the problem with
overlays, using BASRUN.EXE. When she found out that Microsoft
requires royalties for the use of BASRUN, she tried doing without it
and discovered a problem. With BASRUN it is possible to do true
overlays, including passing variables to the overlay. Without BASRUN
everything gets wiped out, even the screen. If the screen could be
saved, that would be sufficient. Saving data on disk is too
time-consuming. So far all attempts to understand and overcome this
problem, including cleverness with DEBUG, have failed. Any
suggestions?
------------------------------
Date: 10 Sep 1983 1132-PDT
To: "Glasser Alan"@LLL-MFE
cc: info-ibmpc
Subject: Re: Compiled BASIC Overlays
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
I refer you to the article "The Missing Linker" in the current issue of PC
magazine. The article describes Plink-86 by Phoenix Software Associates. It
looks like it ought to solve your immediate problem.
This linker will run under CP/M-86 or MS-DOS, will link together object files
from both systems, supports overlays, and includes a librarian and cross
reference facilities. In addition it is reputed to run faster than the standard
linker.
I haven't seen it in action, but Eric Osborne the author of Codesmith-86
reports that he is working with Phoenix in order to include symbol table
references for his debugger.
If anyone has any experience with this product, I would like to hear about it.
Plink-86 (available to run under PC-DOS or CPM-86)
Phoenix Software Associates
P.O. Box 207
North Easton, MA (PC includes no Zip code)
(617) 238-0168
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 9 Sep 83 07:43:12 EDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Gavin←Eadie%UMich-MTS@MIT-MULTICS
Subject: Ada Query
I've been asked by the 'languages boss' here at the University of
Michigan Computing Center to ask about ADA compilers that run on the
IBMPC.
We know of Telesoft's product (many kilobucks, but probably good) and
we've heard of JANUS (much less expensive, but ...).
Does anyone out there have experience of either of these ADA
compilers/systems? Are there others we should consider?
Replies to the digest or personally to
me (micros): Gavin←Eadie%UMICH-MTS@MIT-MULTICS
or (languages): Fred←Swartz%UMICH-MTS@MIT-MULTICS
------------------------------
Date: 12 Sep 1983 1645-PDT
To: Gavin←Eadie%UMich-MTS@MIT-MULTICS
cc: info-ibmpc
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Re: Ada
There are four Ada-like compilers that I know of available for
the PC: Telesoft, Janus, Supersoft and Augusta. Note that I say
Ada-like; none of these are full Ada compilers or environments.
Telesoft: The version for the IBM PC generates P-code that must be
interpreted. It lives in its own world (ROS) with special file
system, editors, etc. It is due to be upgraded in a few months.
Compiler supports partial tasking, no fixed point, no representation
specs, etc. Will syntax check the full language. They hope for
certification in early 1984.
Janus: A Pascal in Ada clothing. No tasks, generics, overloading,
etc. Supports separate compilation. Generates decent native code,
but in a non-standard object format, so you can't link in other code.
From RR Software in Wisconsin. Costs $400.
SuperSoft: A small subset. Costs $350. They plan 1984 validation, but
have a long way to go.
Augusta: A compiler for this ugly subset/variant was published by Dr.
Dobbs' Journal.
Contact Info-Ada@MIT-MC for information about Ada on computers other
than the IBM PC.
/Dick
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by SRI-Unix.uucp with rs232; 9 Sep 83 23:54-PDT
Date: 7 Sep 83 23:44:41-PDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!watmath!bstempleton @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: CTTY and ANSI Terminals
I just purchased a PC, and since there are all kinds of display cards
out there, decided to hold off on getting one until the PC show in
Toronto this weekend. I got an AST mega-plus, so I decided to hook up
my ANSI compatible terminal to it and use the CTTY command of 2.0 to
run the machine.
It seems to work, but only so much. A lot of things just cause the
whole system to die, and flow control with ctrl-s is one of them
(the ctrl-q doesn't get seen). It may be trying to use EIA control at
the same time, and I will check on this.
One thing I know, Basic sure doesn't work and breaks cause it to screw
up too. This type of stuff is almost totally undocumented, but it is
possible you can do some of the special key stuff with control keys.
All in all, I don't suggest anybody do this full time. Has anybody
else done this? Mail me your experiences and suggestions.
Brad Templeton - Waterloo, Ont. (519) 886-7304
------------------------------
Date: 10 Sep 1983 11:10:38 EDT (Saturday)
To: info-ibmpc at isib
From: Dick Kalagher <kalagher at mitre>
Subject: Peanut
This morning's Washington Post has a story about Peanut which quotes
"sources close to the company". The basic story is that IBM is having
trouble getting chips. Since they are selling all the PCs and more
that they can make, they can't see diverting the chips to the Peanut
at the present time. They make a large profit on the PC and they are
not sure how the Peanut will sell.
Also, sources "closely involved with its production" report that at
least one model operates with an infrared cordless keyboard. Also it
uses an Intel 80188 which is said to be "faster and better packaged
than the 8088". Finally, the name "Peanut" was chosen because Charlie
Brown, Snoopy and his friends will advertise it.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 83 08:59 EDT
To: Frank da Cruz <cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
cc: WMT@MIT-XX.ARPA, info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA, info-vax-request@SRI-CSL.ARPA
From: clark.wbst@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: Re: UNIX Kermit vs IBM PC Kermit
I gather that Kermit is some sort of (souped up?) modem program that runs on
an IBM PC with a server on UNIX. How is it different from modemxx ?
--Ray
------------------------------
Date: Mon 12 Sep 83 11:02:41-EDT
To: clark.wbst@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
cc: WMT@MIT-XX.ARPA, info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA, info-vax-request@SRI-CSL.ARPA
From: Frank da Cruz <cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: Re: UNIX Kermit vs IBM PC Kermit
KERMIT is a lot like MODEM, but it has variable length packets rather than
fixed blocks, encodes nonprintable data printably to let it get past various
kinds of unfriendly front ends and into hosts that swallow control characters
or strip parity (notably IBM mainframes), runs (I believe) on a wider variety
of systems, has more thorough documentation, etc. Where MODEM is designed more
for micro-to-micro communication, KERMIT is most at home in micro-to-mainframe
environments, although it will also work micro-to-micro and mainframe-to-
mainframe; it was initially designed & written by people with mainframe rather
than microcomputer backgrounds, and (unfortunately) in total ignorance of
MODEM. We were fortunate, however, in starting with the requirement for a
protocol that worked among DEC-20s, IBM mainframes (VM/CMS), and CP/M micros.
Among those three very different types of systems, all the bases were
covered, and any system that has come along since then has fit easily into the
scheme.
KERMIT is not really 'souped up' with respect to MODEM; in some cases it may be
less efficient, but on the other hand it will work on systems that MODEM
couldn't work on, namely systems that can't accept blocks of 128 arbitrary
8-bit bytes, or over networks (like TELENET) or through front ends (like IBM
3705s) that will not transmit them unmolested.
For further information, take a look at the file KER:00README.TXT at host
COLUMBIA-20 via anonymous FTP, which will point you at thorough documentation,
source files for various implementations, etc.
- Frank
------------------------------
Date: Mon 12 Sep 83 14:50:36-EDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Daphne Tzoar <Sy.Daphne@CU20B>
Subject: Re: Interrupting PC DOS 1.1
Kermit uses an interrupt routine donated by Bill Westfield. Take a
look at the Kermit code - it should be what you're looking for.
Daphne Tzoar
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 83 14:38:02 EDT
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: Steve Segletes (TBD) <steven@brl-bmd>
Subject: DOS 1.1/2.0 Basic Incompatibilities
Quite by accident, I ran across what I feel is a bug in the DOS 2.0
Basic and Basica programs. I'd appreciate knowing more on the topic. For a
specific application, I attempted to execute these two Basic statements:
10 OPEN "CON" FOR APPEND AS #1
20 OPEN "CON" FOR APPEND AS #2
I had hoped that PRINT #1 and PRINT #2 statements would result in output
going to the screen. This, in fact, was exactly what happened. I was using
DOS 1.1 Basics and DOS 2.0 at the time. One afternoon, I ran the program, and
the machine hung. A ↑C got me to DOS, but had thoroughly honked up the
resident DOS, because the machine acted very strangely until I did a reboot.
I then realized that I had run Basic off of a different disk which had the
2.0 Basics on them. So I proceeded to do a parametric study on what
combination of DOS and Basic did what. Here are the stats:
! DOS 1.1 ! DOS 2.0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
! !
DOS 1.1 ! 'File Already Open' Message ! Everything works just
Basics ! when statement 20 executes ! dandy
! !
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
! !
DOS 2.0 ! 'Incorrect DOS' Message pre- ! Machine hangs at state-
Basics ! cludes Basic(a) from loading ! ment #20
! !
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Any comments are appreciated. Thanks.
Steve Segletes
US Army Ballistic Research Laboratory
steven@brl
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂16-Sep-83 2000 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #65
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 16 Sep 83 19:59:29 PDT
Date: 16 Sep 1983 1857-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #65
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 16 September 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 65
Today's Topics:
IBM FORTRAN Product Comment Form
BIOS Comm. Interrupt Problem (2 msgs)
Peanut & New Display Card Rumors
Speaker Routines in C
Rogue Review
Async. Interrupt Handling Tips
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 13 Sep 1983 1257-PDT
To: info-ibmpc
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
Subject: IBM FORTRAN Product Comment Form
A year ago June or 14 months ago I filled out the Product Comment Form
in the back of my Fortran manual to complain about FORTRAN's inability
to execute a RETURN statement.
In the meantime I have bought a real Fortran compiler from Microsoft
and it works fine.
Imagine my surprise today when I opened a letter from IBM Boca Raton
informing me that they are currently trying to solve the problem and
"In the meantime, leave out the RETURN statement".
I was also informed that IBM has released an updated version of the
FORTRAN compiler and that my authorized dealer will be glad to update
my compiler. I am further informed that on the "FOR2" diskette is a
list of circumventions that can be used to avoid some common FORTRAN
compiler problems.
I was also informed that my authorized dealer can answer my technical
questions quickly. I suppose by some definition of quickly that might
be true...
------------------------------
Date: 13 Sep 83 08:32:47 PDT (Tue)
To: info-kermit.UCI@Rand-Relay, info-ibmpc@Usc-Isib
Cc: grich.UCI@Rand-Relay, sir2!mike%uucp.UCI@Rand-Relay
From: Mike Iglesias <iglesias.uci@Rand-Relay>
Subject: BIOS Comm. Interrupt Problem
I had problems running KERMIT on an XT with DOS 2.0. It appears that
KERMIT is sending the first character (↑A) repeatedly. I traced the
problem to the following code (the dashed lines are mine):
outchr: mov al,ah ; Char must be in al.
mov cx,0
call dopar ; Set parity appropriately. [10]
outch1: mov ah,1 ; Output it.
mov dx,0
int comm
;-------------------------------------------------
cmp ah,00H
je outch3
loop outch1
jmp r
;-------------------------------------------------
outch3: jmp rskp
I ran KERMIT with the debugger and found that after the 'int comm',
ah was non-zero. Looking at the BIOS listing for the XT, ah has the
status of the line unless the character couldn't be sent, in which case
bit 7 is set in ah. If I remove the code between the dashed lines,
it seems to work. To all you XT wizards out there: what code should
be between the dashed lines to make it run properly on an XT?
Thanks for any help you can provide.
------------------------------
Date: Wed 14 Sep 83 12:06:19-EDT
To: iglesias.uci@RAND-RELAY.ARPA
cc: info-kermit.UCI@RAND-RELAY.ARPA, info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA,
grich.UCI@RAND-RELAY.ARPA, sir2!mike%uucp.UCI@RAND-RELAY.ARPA
From: Daphne Tzoar <CC.DAPHNE@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: Re: BIOS Comm. Interrupt Problem
The problem you mentioned is due to a ROM BIOS error. The way we got
around it was to not use the INT routine and just write the character
out to the port directly. The code was modified by the folks at CMU
since the older versions of Kermit were not able to transfer files
with the IBM PC/XT. All newer versions of the Kermit code have the
correction so maybe you should just get the newer files.
/daphne
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by SRI-Unix.uucp with rs232; 15 Sep 83 0:54-PDT
Date: 10 Sep 83 13:17:01-PDT (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!philabs!linus!utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Peanut & New Display Card Rumors
A rumour with some plausibility and a slight amount of confirmation:
IBM will announce the Peanut in about 3 weeks (beginning of October)
and will likely announce a new display card for the PC at the same
time. Another rumour is that the Peanut will have a 3" microfloppy.
Yet another is that it will sell in the $700-$800 range (up from an
earlier rumour of around $600). Take these as you will, but they have
influenced my feeling about buying a higher-res display card.
A very-likely-true statement: A Microsoft rep., speaking in Toronto
this past week, said about 50-65% of PC's have graphics capability.
This is much higher than early figures, which put text-only systems at
around 80%.
More on display cards: Also in Toronto, I saw the "new, improved"
Tecmar Graphics Master, running on a medium res. monitor which it was
not suited for. Thus, it's hard to tell how well it works. Further,
a dealer thought that the product might not really be ready yet, due
to some software problems, though they are being sold at around
$800-$900 here. Word is that the Plantronics Colorplus board is in
very short supply, at least in Canada, and that the Amdek card
(apparently similar to the Tecmar) is available and works; I've seen
it listed for US$475 in mail-order ads.
peter rowley, U. Toronto, utcsrgv!peterr
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by SRI-Unix.uucp with rs232; 15 Sep 83 1:43-PDT
Date: 10 Sep 83 11:37:45-PDT (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!hocda!spanky!ka @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Speaker Routines in C
Here are some routines for using the speaker. They are written in C
but should be easy to convert to assembly language. (Inportb reads a
port and outportb writes to a port.) Typical usage is:
setfreq(800); /* generate an 800 hertz tone */
speaker(ON) ; /* turn speaker on */
for (i=0 ; i<2000 ; i++) ; /* delay for a while */
speaker(OFF) ; /* turn speaker back off */
In order to produce sound you have to call setfreq to get the
oscillator running at an audible frequency and speaker(ON) to connect
the output of the oscillator to the speaker.
Kenneth Almquist
#define ON 1
#define OFF 0
/*
* Set frequency of oscillator feeding speaker.
*/
setfreq(hertz) {
unsigned divisor = 1193180L/hertz ;
outportb(0x43, 0xB6) ;
outportb(0x42, divisor & 0377) ;
outportb(0x42, divisor >> 8) ;
}
/*
* Turn speaker on or off.
*/
speaker(on) {
int portval ;
portval = inportb(0x61) ;
if (on) portval |= 03 ;
else portval &=~ 03 ;
outportb(0x61, portval) ;
}
[SPEAKER.C has been added to the Info-IBMPC library. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by SRI-Unix.uucp with rs232; 15 Sep 83 5:40-PDT
Date: 12 Sep 83 23:59:55-PDT (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!linus!utzoo!watmath!bstempleton @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Rogue Review
As a long time fan of Rogue, I had to order the version for my IBM-PC
as soon as I saw the ad. Here are my impressions (I got it today).
First, the disk is copy protected. This is reasonable (although there
is a strong faction that thinks Rogue is public domain since it was
done at UCB) but I don't like some of the results. I would prefer
that the copy protection simply insisted the Rogue disk was in one of
the drives. Then I could copy the .exe file (yes a .exe not a .com)
to my hard disk or ramdisk and loading would be a lot easier. This is
a problem because loading does take a bit of time, so it is a bit of a
pain to restart a game after you are killed. You have to type in your
player name each time too, which is a pain. I would really like it if
there were an option that allowed you to play another game at the end
instead of terminating. This would remove the need for the ramdisk
idea and reduce the wear on the disk. The score file is on the floppy
too, so you can't write protect it.
The game will NOT work on a system with a Davong hard disk under Dos
1.1. The strangest bugs appear, including all sorts of things not
being initialized. (This includes monsters, who usually kill you with
one blow). A real strange bug, which went away when I booted vanilla
DOS 2.0 to run Rogue. You need the display cards, you can't run it
off an ANSI terminal.
The display is OK. It is character based, but uses all kinds of
strange IBM-PC text characters. The box drawing ones do the rooms.
The player is the smiling face and not the @. Other items have more
graphic representations. Monsters are still letters.
In order to avoid lawsuits from the folks at TSR, all D&D references
are out of the game. This means many monsters are re-named and the
letters are permuted. A bit of new fun while figuring out which old
friend each letter really stands for. (a "R"attlesnake does what a
Giant Ant does. An "I"ce monster does what a floating eye did, etc.)
Armour class goes in the reverse direction. (Plate is 8, Leather is 3)
Otherwise is plays like real Rogue, which is to be expected. No
options, you are always in passgo mode, you are always asked what to
call things. I have not run into fruit yet. You can't name your
fruit. (I used to call mine, "12 year old virgin". Think of all the
strings with this in it!) In fact the "o" key says "I don't have any
options".
All other keys perform very much like an old-time Rogue player would
expect, but they have put all movement on the IBM arrow pad as well,
and several popular functions on the function keys. You even get a
little square to put over the keys to label them.
The company is called "AI Design". Look up their ad in PC magazine if
you want to order it.
Brad Templeton - Waterloo, Ont. (519) 886-7304
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by SRI-Unix.uucp with rs232; 16 Sep 83 4:11-PDT
Date: 18 Sep 83 0:54:04-EDT (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!spanky!ka @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Async. Interrupt Handling Tips
Attempting to catch interrupts from the asynchronous adapter reveals a
lot of gaps in the IBM documentation. I figured out the following
after working on the problem a while:
1. The 8088 microprocessor has a very simple interrupt scheme
(interrupts are either enabled or disabled). Therefore the IBM PC
uses a very kludgy system in which a separate chip prioritizes
interrupts. When an interrupt routine gets control, it should
immediately enable interrupts within the processor by executing an sti
instruction. When the routine is completed, it should output the
value 20H to port 20H in order to allow another interrupt of the
same type to be processed.
2. The asynchronous adapter generates an interrupt 12. Place the
address of the segment containing the interrupt routine to (absolute)
address 12*4+2. Write the offset of the interrupt routine to address
12*4.
3. The asynchronous adapter generates a level 4 interrupt. To enable
this interrupt, clear bit 4 in the port at address 21H.
4. You can enable the various types of interrupts by writing into the
Interrupt Enable register; see page 1-243 of the IBM PC Technical
Reference Manual.
5. Apparently IBM didn't think that two ways to inhibit interrupts
were enough. You also have to set bit 3 (named OUT2) of the Mode
Control register.
6. It appears that you have to read the Interrupt Identification
register at the beginning of your interrupt routine. The information
contained in this register is supposed to be useful, but it's probably
easier to ignore it.
Kenneth Almquist
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂19-Sep-83 1921 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #66
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 19 Sep 83 19:20:45 PDT
Date: 19 Sep 1983 1831-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #66
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Monday, 19 September 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 66
Today's Topics:
MKFS for MS-DOS
New Assembler Wanted
BASRUN.EXE Fees Dropped
Parity Check 2
Single Dot Characters
Program to Set CRT Mode Explicitly
IQLISP (2 msgs)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by SRI-Unix.uucp with rs232; 17 Sep 83 8:45-PDT
Date: 14 Sep 83 15:26:52-PDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!floyd!cmcl2!rocky2!datagen!boykin @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: MKFS for MS-DOS
Re: Not having a 'mkfs' type of capability under MS-DOS (romkey@mit-csr):
On a generic MS-DOS system there is a /c option to format (i.e.
format /c or format -c) which "C"lears the disk structure. This
rebuilds the root directory and clears the file allocation table(s).
I think it is exactly what you were looking for. Unfortunately,
this doesn't work with the format program distributed by IBM with
PC-DOS.
Joe Boykin
Data General
...(decvax!ittvax, allegra, rocky2)!datagen!boykin
------------------------------
Date: 17 Sep 1983 1142-PDT
To: info-ibmpc
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
Subject: New Assembler Wanted
Does anyone know of an alternative to the IBM Microsoft Assembler
Version 1.00?
My immediate concern is that I now have a hard disk with structured
directories and I would like my include statements to take path names.
It would also be nice to have 8087 support.
The assembler never has been my favorite piece of software from
Microsoft. It is much slower than it ought to be and is full of well
known errors, all except the notorious "OFFSET" problem can be
circumvented by careful construction of macro programs.
While IBM has never been known to rush in to correct software
problems, Microsoft usually has an updated version of the IBM product
on the market for generic MS-DOS. I haven't seen such a product for
the assembler. Do the Compaq and other 8086/8 based machines just use
the IBM assembler?
------------------------------
Date: 17 Sep 83 23:01:13 MDT (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: b-davis@utah-cs (Brad Davis)
Subject: BASRUN.EXE Fees Dropped
Quote from September 12, 1983 Computer Systems News, page 20:
"Microsoft Drops Some Compiler Fees"
"Microsoft Corp. has dropped completely all fees for run-time support
versions of its language compilers that third-party software vendors
are required to include with their applications packages. Until now,
software developers using Microsoft's BASIC, Business BASIC, and COBOL
compilers were required to pay $40 per copy or $2000 per year to
include the run-time support package when they sold their
applications."
"Microsoft changed the requirement in order to enhance its competitive
position in the compiler market and to yield a standard pricing policy
for all languages, ... No runtime support fees have been required for
Microsoft's Pascal, C, and FORTRAN compilers."
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by SRI-Unix.uucp with rs232; 18 Sep 83 1:12-PDT
Date: 15 Sep 83 13:55:51-PDT (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!duke!unc!mcnc!ecsvax!john @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Parity Check 2
There have recently been some questions and answers in the Info-IBMPC
Digests (V2#59, V2#61) about the PARITY CHECK 2 message that IBM PCs
display if some problem is detected in the memory check the PC runs
when you turn it on.
I have been receiving this message to on my PC, which has the
old-style motherboard (with 64K RAM) and a TECMAR quad-function board
with 256K RAM, but the problem is intermittent. Before the PARITY
CHECK 2 message is displayed, however, a code number 201 and a
hexadecimal address show up and then disappear. The address is not
the same each time, but it is always for memory between 64K and 320K,
so I take it I have a couple of marginal chips (I have ordered
replacements).
In the meantime, however, I can force the machine to behave by making
sure the TECMAR board is seated properly and pressing motherboard
memory back into its sockets (I had thought this sort of thing died
with the Apple II+). Sometimes the memory check will not report any
problems, but chkdsk will either make the system hang or display the
PARITY CHECK 2 message.
Have others had similar experiences with memory expansion boards other
than TECMAR? (I had a 192K Memory Technologies board for a while and
never had a problem with it.)
john hogan
n.c.educational computing service
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
(919) 549 0671
(decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!john)
------------------------------
Date: 18 Sep 1983 9:46:34 EDT (Sunday)
To: info-ibmpc at isib
Cc: kalagher at mitre
From: Jim Morrell <morrell at mitre>
Subject: Single Dot Characters
I sure like the sharp, crisp character set given on my IBM RGB monitor
with the IBM color graphics board P3 jumper in place. The effect
should be the same on any RGB (AMDEK II, NEC, PG, and others). This
simple strap gives a single-dot horizontal font which I think looks
much better than the standard double dot. Matter of fact, a VERY
close reading of IBM's Tech Ref manual seems to have IBM recommending
single dot font for "Color Monitors with direct drive input" (See
p.2-48,50). The manual does not, however, tell you how to get it.
For those with an adventuresome spirit, simply solder a quarter inch
hunk of wire across the metal PC points enclosed within the P3 box on
the CG card. P3 is at the center of the IBM CG card right below the
MC6845 chip. Try it. You will like it!
------------------------------
Date: 18 Sep 1983 2145-PDT
To: Info-IBMPC
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Program to Set CRT Mode Explicitly
Here's a little program to set the display to any mode, including the
graphics modes not settable with the DOS MODE command.
TITLE MOWED -- Set CRT Mode Explicitly
; MOWED: Set CRT Mode
; Richard Gillmann, 1983
; MOWED 0 = 40x25 BW
; 1 = 40x25 Color
; 2 = 80x25 BW
; 3 = 80x25 Color
; 4 = 320x200 Color
; 5 = 320x200 BW
; 6 = 640x200 BW
; 7 = 80x25 Monochrome Adapter
; MASM MOWED;
; LINK MOWED;
; EXE2BIN MOWED.EXE MOWED.COM
CSEG SEGMENT
ASSUME CS:CSEG,DS:CSEG
ORG 80H
CMD←LIN LABEL BYTE ; UNFORMATTED PARAMETER AREA
ORG 100H
MOWED PROC FAR
MOV AL,CMD←LIN+2 ; GET ARG
SUB AL,'0' ; CONVERT TO BINARY
CMP AL,7 ; WITHIN RANGE?
JA OUT ; EXIT IF NOT
XOR AH,AH ; SET MODE
INT 10H ; BIOS VIDEO CALL
OUT: INT 20H ; RETURN TO EXEC
MOWED ENDP
CSEG ENDS
END MOWED
[MOWED.ASM has been added to the Info-IBMPC library.]
------------------------------
Date: 19 Sep 1983 1119-PDT
To: Brackenridge, balzer, fahlman@CMU-CS-A
cc: ECohen@AEROSPACE
Remailed-to: Info-IBMPC
From: Don.Cohen <DONC@USC-ISIF>
Subject: IQLISP
My experimentation with IQLISP (about 15 hrs of familiarization and
mostly importing a system from CMULisp) and subsequent conversation
with its author and vendor, Bob Rorschach indicate that the system is
(will be) quite useful to real lispers. In general I was pleased by
its performance. My only real worry was reliability: the system
seemed prone to occasional catastrophic errors. Bob tells me that the
version I was using (1.1) had some GC bugs that have been fixed, and
could destroy random pointers, thereby causing arbitrary problems. He
says the current version is much more reliable. On this score I
simply have to take his word.
My other complaints (which he was interested in correcting) were:
No GC messages (easy to fix)
No SORT function (easy to fix)
Relatively primitive editor (can be gotten around since it's interpreted;
an EVAL and macro facility would go a long way)
Relatively primitive error handler (also interpreted code)
Relatively primitive top-level (easy to put in your own)
"Relatively" means compared to the big lisps that we're used to. I'd
say it's not surprising that IQLISP is less sophisticated. With just
a little work, though, most of the useful functionality could be
provided.
The current system is $175, no longer $125 (still a bargain, I'd say).
The next major release is expected in a few months. The big addition
is a compiler. Also, this one will have case folding.
My summary of IQLISP would be:
1. It's big enough (address space) and fast enough to get real work done.
2. It has enough of an environment to be quite livable.
3. It's a bargain - an IBM PC is worth getting in order to use it.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 1983 15:08 EDT
To: Don.Cohen <DONC@USC-ISIF.ARPA>
Cc: balzer@USC-ISIF.ARPA, Brackenridge@USC-ISIF.ARPA, ECohen@AEROSPACE.ARPA
Remailed-To: Info-ibmpc
From: Scott E. Fahlman <Fahlman@CMU-CS-C.ARPA>
Subject: IQLISP
Dan Weinreb of Symbolics also has played with this Lisp and thinks
highly of it, given the obvious limitations of the machine and present
lack of a compiler. Rorshcach has expressed some interest in making
IQLIsp more compatible with Common Lisp (perhaps a proper subset) and
we are eager to cooperate with that effort. It would mean that people
could take their IQLisp programs to a Vax or 3600 when more cycles and
storage are needed. It's all in the early talking stages, however.
-- Scott
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂24-Sep-83 1135 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #67
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 24 Sep 83 11:34:46 PDT
Date: 24 Sep 1983 1056-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #67
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 24 September 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 67
Today's Topics:
Disk Emulator (2 msgs)
BIOS Comm. Interrupt Problem
Text Formatter Query
Interfacing 8" Disks (2 msgs)
Expansion Chassis
CP/M-86 & Final Word Query
Coherent vs. Venix Unix-like Systems
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 20 Sep 83 11:30:58 EDT (Tue)
To: alr%duke@UDel-Relay, info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: alr%duke@UDel-Relay
Subject: Disk Emulator Query
Does anyone know about the availability of disk emulator programs for
the PC? I have 256K and I would like Mince to be able to take
advantage of it. I have been told that the only way to accomplish this
is to have Mince use RAM for its swap file. Since my memory is all-IBM,
I don't have access to, say, Quadram's simulator. Is there a disk
emulator available either in public domain or from a vendor?
Arny Rosenberg (alr at duke)
------------------------------
Date: 21 Sep 1983 1053-PDT
To: alr%duke@UDEL-RELAY
cc: info-ibmpc
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Re: Disk Emulator
The only free disk emulator I know of is the VDSK.ASM program printed
in the DOS 2.0 manual. A copy of it has been typed in and can be
copied from the Info-IBMPC library. However, it's rather limited.
The best commercial one seems to be the JRAM software from Tall Tree.
It's flexible and easy to use and will work with any kind of memory.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by SRI-Unix.uucp with rs232; 21 Sep 83 3:58-PDT
Date: 18 Sep 83 22:13:32-PDT (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!gummo!whuxlb!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: BIOS Comm. Interrupt Problem
I would assume if the real status that they want to check is just bit
7 of AH on return, then the following code should be substituted for
the CMP:
test ah,10000000B
This should produce the desired results. The problem is that the line
status is non-zero when the character is transmitted correctly, and
that is the reason it fails.
------------------------------
Date: 21 Sep 1983 2009-EDT
To: info-ibmpc at USC-ISIB
From: CL at MIT-EECS at MIT-MC
Subject: Text Formatter Query
I would like info on any reasonably high quality text formatters for
the IBM-PC (or compatibles) running DOS. Thanks.
Chuck
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by SRI-Unix.uucp with rs232; 22 Sep 83 3:27-PDT
Date: 19 Sep 83 9:05:14-PDT (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!ihuxm!sacko @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Interfacing 8" Disks
Does anyone know how to interface an 8" diskette drive to the IBM
diskette drive adapter's external connector on the back of the PC?
The proper signals appear to be present on this connector for
interfacing an 8" drive, and the NEC PD765 is capable of handling such
drives. I would like to know if anyone has interfaced an 8" drive in
this manner and if there is any software available for controlling the
drive once interfaced. Since I want to be able to read 8" diskettes
which use a different directory scheme than the PC, I need to be able
to specify the sector and track to be read. The diskettes will be
formatted so I do not need software to format the 8" diskettes. In
addition, I would be interested in any other ways of interfacing 8"
drives to the PC.
------------------------------
Date: 22 Sep 1983 1319-PDT
To: ihnp4!ihuxm!sacko@UCB-VAX
cc: info-ibmpc
Subject: Re: Interfacing 8" Disks
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
As I have mentioned in several articles in INFO-IBMPC at ISI we have a
modified disk adaptor card from Flagstaff Engineering, and an 8" drive
in a separate cabinet with it's own power supply. The hardware for
all this is very good. The hardware modifications to the standard
board are necessary in order to use single density only.
Vista and Maynard electronics also make boards to drive 8" drives as
well as the standard drives, but I assume your question involved using
using the standard board. Flagstaff will give you a refund when you
send your board back to them as they must buy their boards from IBM
for the same price as you and I.
The software is another matter. They have conversion utilities for
just about every form of 8" system imaginable. I suppose if you are a
real CPM hacker you might know what track your directories are on and
what a skew factor is. All this is a bit beyond me and I find the
utilities a bit hard to use. We have been waiting nearly 6 months for
a Displaywriter utility.
The Tall Tree JFORMAT program supports everybody's 8" drive system but
only allows DOS format files. Vista also has software similar to Tall
Tree and probably works better with their board.
------------------------------
Date: 23 Sep 1983 1050-PDT
To: info-ibmpc
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Expansion Chassis
We recently took delivery of a pair of expansion cabinets for the
IBM-PC. Installation was easy. 10 Megabytes of disk is wonderful and
lots of slots is even better. For all of Dos 2.0's many faults it is
a great improvement over stretching DOS 1.1 to a large disk.
I was surprised to find that the diagnostics were able to survey the
system and find all of my devices. It was also able to tell whether
the device was in the expansion cabinet or in the main chassis.
Does anybody know how the PC can tell where a device is? We have no
equivalent of the blue technical reference manual for the expansion
chassis. Can the Tecmar or other expansion units duplicate this
feature?
------------------------------
Date: 23 Sep 1983 1754-EDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
From: Thomas S. Wanuga <WANUGA@MIT-XX>
Subject: CP/M-86 & Final Word Query
I am interested in anyone's experiences with CP/M-86 and Final Word.
Has anyone used Final Word with CP/M-86 on their IBMPC? Does anyone
know why the price of CP/M-86 has dropped from $240 to $60
(Computerland and Sears are selling it for $60, IBM Product Center is
still charging $240)?
Tom
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 24 Sep 83 0:59-PDT
Date: 21 Sep 83 7:49:16-PDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!kpno!hsi!stevens @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Coherent vs. Venix Unix-like Systems
The following comments are from my use of Mark Williams Coherent and
Venturcom's Venix on an IBM PC XT. I was bringing up a medical
records information system consisting of around 8,000 lines of C that
had been running on an 11/23 (running Venix) and an IBM Series/1
(running IBM's Unix - cpix). The hardware was a vanilla PC XT with
256Kb and a monochrome monitor.
In summary, we used Coherent for one week then gave up on it
completely. The use of Coherent was a last ditch effort as we kept
getting the run around from Venturcom as to when we'd get Venix for
the PC (next week, ...). Fortunately, after the week's effort with
Coherent we finally got a Venix system out of Venturcom.
Coherent is a Unix look-alike that was written from scratch by Mark
Williams Co. - they pay no royalty to AT&T. They developed all of the
system (including yacc, lex, make, etc) from scratch. Venix is a port
of AT&T Unix that is supposedly optimized for small systems. We don't
use any of the Venix special features (real-time process control,
asynchronous i/o, semaphores) as we require portability to many Unix
systems.
Both systems need better documentation. In all fairness to Venturcom,
their manuals were labelled "Preliminary", so more complete versions
may be in the making.
Since all of our source code existed on a Unix system, our first job
was to get the code onto the PC, with the least amount of work. We
used the async port on the PC connected to an RS232 line on the
Series/1 and wrote a small program to transfer the files, one "block"
at a time with a checksum, and retransmit as necessary. This little
task showed a difference between the two systems. With Coherent we
could run no faster than 4800 baud with a block size of 64 bytes.
Even then there was a perpetual loss of characters on the PC forcing
timeouts and retransmissions. The same code under Venix ran at 9600
baud and a buffer size of 128 with not a single lost character.
Obviously Coherent does not handle the async port correctly or there
are other kernel problems.
Problems with Coherent:
1) Their version of ld considers multiple occurrences of an external
(such as "int x;" outside of any function) as a multiply defined symbol!
They then allocate storage for each occurrence too! This is not standard
Unix and is a major flaw in their system.
2) Their ld only supports 407 files. The "-i" and "-n" flags to the loader
are ignored.
3) Their C compiler did not work when executed from a Makefile, generating
an error "can't allocate tree nodes". When the compiler was executed
by hand from the terminal it worked. This prevented the use of make.
4) There appear to be memory problems with their system that show up as
system call errors when a program grows too large. This occurred with a
407 file that was malloc'ing (and checking for a NULL return) with no
other processes active, except the init process, the shell and the
kernel - on a 256Kb system!
5) They are missing tar, although they do plan to add it later. I use
tar for moving directories, not just for tape backup.
6) On the PC XT they have a problem getting the XT disk going, sometimes.
Their customer support acknowledged the problem and trying the same
operation a few times got things going.
7) They don't write a bootstrap on the XT disk, forcing you to always
have the system diskette around when the system is booted.
Problems with Venix:
1) vi and ex appeared in the documentation but not on the distribution.
At least they plan to support vi on the PC. Also, they did include
libtermlib.a and termcap. They did not document all of the console
functions (reverse video, underlining, etc) but a little experimentation
showed that all of these functions are accessible easily.
2) Their ranlib has a problem - after about 30 objects are inserted it
runs out of memory.
3) They have set up tar to handle diskettes very nicely (automatically
goes to next diskette when current one is full, ...). However, that
screws up things like moving directories with tar since there is no
way to say you are not using a diskette (you'd think "tar xf -" would
get around it).
4) Having a large array as an automatic variable (~32K bytes) sometimes
bombs the entire system.
ALL IN ALL: Venix worked out much better than Coherent. My gut
feeling all along to avoid the look-alikes (Coherent, Idris, etc.) has
been reinforced. Given the miniscule price difference between Venix
and Coherent there is no reason to avoid the "AT&T" system.
Richard Stevens
Health Systems International
{decvax | ihnp4} ! kpno ! hsi ! stevens
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂26-Sep-83 2207 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #68
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 26 Sep 83 22:06:53 PDT
Date: 26 Sep 1983 2058-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #68
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Monday, 26 September 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 68
Today's Topics:
Logo
Programming Editors (4 msgs)
Lattice C setjmp/longjmp Wanted
New Assembler
Flickering Scroll
Disk Handlers, etc.
Key Tronics Keyboard
VDSK vs. JFORMAT (2 msgs)
CLOCK$ Driver Wanted
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 24 Sep 83 21:57-PDT
Date: 21 Sep 83 20:03:45-PDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!duke!unc!mcnc!ecsvax!jko @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Logo
Within the next couple of weeks a test version of "Ladybug", a
freeware Logo for the IBM-PC will be available for trying out as long
as samples last. If you're interested, write
D. Smith
44 Ole Musket Ln.
Danbury, CT 06810
He can also be reached by leaving a message on Compuserve's IBM-PC
SIG.
Apparently Digital Research is also just about ready to ship their
Logo. DR's customer service assured me that it would be available
within two weeks. You must buy CP/M-86 with it.
Jonathan Ocko
919 876-1557 (home)
History, North Carolina St. Univ
decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!jko
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 24 Sep 83 23:34-PDT
Date: 22 Sep 83 14:41:50-PDT (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!duke!bcw @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Programming Editors Query
I am looking for reasonable PROGRAMMING editors for the IBM-PC and
lookalikes (i.e., no word processors). The supplied edlin is rather
weak as an editor. My preferences would be for something along the
lines of the Unix "vi" or (in the DEC world) EDT or TECO. (Note that
all of these editors are rather different from each other, the point
is that each is rather powerful in its way, which the edlin editor is
not).
I have heard good things about VEDIT and bad things about the IBM
Personal Editor and Professional Editor. Are there any disagreements
to this (probably, but what are your reasons), and are there any other
really good editors out there I should investigate?
Please reply to me as I am not on this list.
Thank you -
Bruce C. Wright @ Duke University
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 25 Sep 83 4:43-PDT
Date: 22 Sep 83 22:17:52-PDT (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!duke!unc!mcnc!ecsvax!jko @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Programming Editors
You might want to take a look at edix from Emerging Technologies
Consultants in Boulder. I work primarily with word processors, but my
son uses edix for his programming. It has multiple screens, 12
separate buffers, and most of the editing commands one would want with
the exception that block moves have to be made by lines. Each of the
screens can be set with its own tabs, colors, and margins.
jon ocko @ ncsu
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 25 Sep 83 23:56-PDT
Date: 23 Sep 83 14:57:47-PDT (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!drux3!bees @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: PC editors
I have not used it personally, but you might take a look at EDIX from
Emerging Technology. I think it is similar to vi, and it isn't a word
processor (WORDIX is their word processor). Their software is
available at most Computerland outlets. It was written by some fine
people here in Boulder, CO.
Ray Davis AT&T Information Systems Labs @ Denver (303)538-3991
{ihnp4|hogpc}!druxy!bees
------------------------------
Date: 26 Sep 1983 1108-PDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
From: Jeffrey@OFFICE-6
Subject: Xedit-like Editor Query
I understand that there is an editor for the IBM PC which has user
interface quite similar to Xedit.
Does anyone know of such an editor. I've heard that IBM's (possibly
withdrawn) Professional editor may be such. A group in the East is
apparently working on a new product like this. All information will
be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jeffrey Stone,
Menlo Park, CA
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 25 Sep 83 0:18-PDT
Date: 22 Sep 83 12:49:48-PDT (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!kpno!hsi!stevens @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Lattice C setjmp/longjmp Wanted
Has anyone written a setjmp/longjmp for Lattice C for the PC? Also,
does Microsoft's version of Lattice C fill in some of the missing
holes in the Lattice library and the Lattice compiler?
Richard Stevens
Health Systems International
{ ihnp4 | decvax | hao | seismo } ! kpno ! hsi ! stevens
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 25 Sep 83 8:27-PDT
Date: 23 Sep 83 7:52:36-PDT (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!rlgvax!michael @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: New Assembler
The Victor 9000 offers the latest version of the Microsoft assembler.
I have an alpha version of the latest MS-DOS 2.0, which is quite
different from PC-DOS 2.0. The programmers reference manual for this
version of MS-DOS 2.0 was delivered on a floppy and contains many
assembler macros, including macros for accessing paths.
This version of MS-DOS 2.0 has functions for maintaining compatibility
with both MS-DOS 1.0 and XENIX, along with some discussion on how to
write code for XENIX compatibility. Does PC-DOS 2.0 have such XENIX
compatible functions?
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 25 Sep 83 20:40-PDT
Date: 23 Sep 83 20:48:37-PDT (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!dartvax!davidk @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Flickering Scroll
Why does the IBM with the IBM Color monitor flicker when it scrolls?
This is really painful after awhile, particularly when reading long
listings. Is there any hardware for it that provides smooth scrolling?
Thanks.
-David Kovar
Dartmouth College
...decvax!dartvax!davidk
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 25 Sep 83 20:58-PDT
Date: 22 Sep 83 21:16:23-PDT (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!linus!philabs!sbcs!rick @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Disk Handlers, etc.
1. Has anyone out there in net.land written a SASI disk handler for
DOS 2.0? I am in the process of interfacing a Micropolis 1304 50
mByte disk/Xebec S1410 SASI controller to my PC. Any caveats/pointers
on writing block device handlers would be appreciated (of course, if
you have sources available for free, I would be forever in your debt
if you made them available to me).
p.s. - please, those of you who work for PC related companies, don't
send me mail asking for $$ in exchange for sources!! I will send a
nasty reply, write my own driver, and then make it available for free.
2. The next item probably been thrashed out long ago, but here it is
anyways: Does anyone know of (or can recommend from personal
experience) a C compiler which uses a 32 bit machine model for
pointers, and has a UNIX like i/o library?
3. I would also like to hear from anyone who has personal experience
with one of the Sritek coprocessor boards (esp. the 16032 card).
4. Has anyone attempted to interface the Cipher 525CT floppy tape
(~$500 21 mByte cartridge tape drive with SA450 floppy interface)
drive to the pc?
5. I am also looking for a low cost disk drive expansion cabinet to
house 5.25" drives. The cheapest I could locate was ~$2k.
As you may have guessed, I am hacking up a home UNIX system..
Rick Spanbauer
SUNY/Stony Brook
------------------------------
Date: Mon 26 Sep 83 12:33:56-EDT
From: Frank da Cruz <cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: Key Tronics Keyboard
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
A while back, there were a few messages on this list about the Key
Tronics keyboard for the PC. Does anyone know for sure if the same
keyboard (KB5150) works on both the PC and the XT? I called the
company and got conflicting reports ("yes", "no", "don't know"), which
surprised me, since they are advertising rather heavily and seem to be
successful. - Frank
------------------------------
Date: 26 Sep 1983 0705-EDT
From: Thomas S. Wanuga <WANUGA@MIT-XX>
Subject: VDSK.ASM
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
Why is the VDSK.ASM disk emulator not very flexible (i.e. what won't
it do that better ones such as Tall Tree's will do)?
Tom
------------------------------
Date: 26 Sep 1983 2038-PDT
To: Thomas S. Wanuga <WANUGA@MIT-XX>
cc: Info-IBMPC
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Re: VDSK.ASM
The VDSK program generates a single fixed size electronic disk that
eats up part of your 640K address space. If you do a ctl-alt-del, the
disk contents are lost.
The Tall Tree JFORMAT program can generate multiple electronic disks
(C:, D:, whatever) of arbitrary sizes. It can use any kind of add-on
memory, but if you use the Tall Tree memory board, JFORMAT can make
electronic disks out of memory that doesn't count towards your 640K,
so for example you can have 640K of program memory and a 1 megabyte
electronic disk at the same. The size and number of electronic disks
can be changed without rebooting and the contents of electronic disks
are not lost over a ctl-alt-del.
------------------------------
Date: 26 Sep 1983 0706-EDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
From: Thomas S. Wanuga <WANUGA@MIT-XX>
Subject: CLOCK$ Driver Wanted
Has anyone tried to do anything with the CLOCK$ Device Driver in DOS 2.00?
I would like to get my AST MegaPlus clock talking to DOS 2.00 when I boot.
Tom
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂29-Sep-83 0144 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #69
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 29 Sep 83 01:44:02 PDT
Date: 29 Sep 1983 0046-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #69
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, 29 September 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 69
Today's Topics:
Programming Editors
Quad Density Diskette Drives (2 msgs)
Expansion Chassis
Networking Query
Microsoft C
Lattice C V1.04 and C-food
Mylex Graphics Board
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 27 Sep 83 0:08-PDT
Date: 25 Sep 83 19:15:31-PDT (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!linus!philabs!seismo!rlgvax!cvl!umcp-cs!speaker @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Programming Editors
Edix and Wordix were written by some former Bell Labs people, so it's
no wonder that Wordix (a word processor) looks a lot like nroff and
Edix has all of those fancy window functions. Well priced, too.
VEDIT is supposed to be quite good. It's like a full-screen TECO.
The PE (Personal Editor) is probably the better of the two IBM
full-screen editors for a hacker. It's not bad. It has a profile so
that you can define functions for each of the keys and it is
full-screen. Not the most powerful editor in the world (far below vi)
though.
- Speaker
speaker@umcp-cs
speaker.umcp-cs@UDel-Relay
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 27 Sep 83 6:56-PDT
Date: 25 Sep 83 21:31:31-PDT (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!duke!unc!mcnc!ecsvax!ctk @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Quad Density Diskette Drive Query
Does there exist a patch to PC DOS 2.0 that allows one to use quad
density drives? I hear that the Tall Tree stuff has some bugs and at
any rate will not allow an all quad system. Is this true? Are there
any public domain programs around that can help me? Send answers by
mail and I will summarize.
640k or bust, T. Kelley
------------------------------
Date: 27 Sep 1983 1328-PDT
To: decvax!duke!unc!mcnc!ecsvax!ctk@UCB-VAX
cc: info-ibmpc
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Re: Quad Density Diskette Drives
You are correct: Tall Tree won't allow an all quad system. There have
been several updates since the first release, so I can't say if the
bugs you are worried about are still outstanding.
John Henderson (of Tall Tree) decided modifying DOS was necessary in
DOS 1.1 but not worth the trouble in Dos 2.0. He wanted the quad
drives to be accessed from loadable device drivers. As Microsoft
built the floppy drivers into the system, he would have had to modify
the drivers ala Dos 1.0 to support a quad A drive. Modification of
the operating system wreaked havoc with various protection schemes,
and I imagine generated lots of angry phone calls. This might also
explain why Henderson removed copy protection from all his programs
and why he now publishes sources.
A system can be run with quad drives as long as at least one of the
drives is a standard drive. The switches must be set for a single
drive system. The single drive will alternate between A and B. As
XTs work this way life can't be all that bad.
I think it is wrong to use all quad drives. If you have any quad
drives you ought to get the Tall Tree software so you can run them at
880K density rather than 640K. As long as you are incompatible you
might as well get radical. Also I think you are losing by wasting
your time with public domain software. I think Tall Tree is charging
$60 vs Freeware's $35.
------------------------------
Date: 26 Sep 1983 0753-PDT
To: BRACKENRIDGE at USC-ISIB
Remailed-To: Info-IBMPC
From: HFISCHER@USC-ECLB
Subject: Re: Expansion Chassis
If I were using the expansion chassis, the way I would check for where
a device is located would be to write a 00 to port 213 which disables
the expansion access on the extender card, check to see what I can
poke about for, and then write an 01 to port 213 to re-enable the
extender card access of the expansion box, and see which devices I can
then poke about for. But IBM may be more sophisticated.
The extender card registers are:
Memory Fxxxx to write to memory to latch address bits
port 210 to write to latch expans bus data (ed0-ed7)
210 read to verify expans bus data ( " )
211 write to clear wait test latch
211 read to get hi order addr bits (a8-a15)
212 read lo order addr bits a0-a7
213 as above in text
213 reading to get status of exp unit, d0-enable/disable, di-wait req flag,
d2-3 not used, d4-7 switch positions (dip on ext card for max memory
which are used to know how to insert extra wait states for bus delay)
Herm Fischer
------------------------------
Date: 27 September 1983 21:22 mdt
To: info-micro at BRL-VGR, unix-wizards at BRL-VGR,
tcp-ip at BRL, info-pc at USC-ISIB
From: RSanders.Pascalx at DENVER
Subject: Networking Query
Is anyone selling/implementing/planning to implement TCP/IP on
Ethernet for the IBM-PC - besides MIT? I believe the 3Com stuff uses
XNS. Is there a commercially available Unix microsystem running
TCP/IP on Ethernet, or can one be *easily* (no kernel hacking) put
together?
Thanks for any advice or pointers.
-- Rex RSanders.Pascalx@Denver (Arpanet) ucbvax!menlo70!sanders (uucp)
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 28 Sep 83 3:29-PDT
Date: 26 Sep 83 13:50:36-PDT (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!tektronix!tekecs!brucec @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Microsoft C
The Microsoft C compiler is Lattice C. They also give you the
librarian, the linker, and an object module disassembler, along with
the usual libraries. I am a reliable source of this information
because I just bought a copy. If you are intimidated by the $500
price tag, I can assure you that there at least two sources which
charge $375, one of which is Hollywood Computer in Portland, OR.
Bruce Cohen
UUCP: ...!teklabs!tekecs!brucec
CSNET: tekecs!brucec@tektronix
ARPA: tekecs!brucec.tektronix@rand-relay
------------------------------
Date: 28 Sep 1983 10:12:20 EDT (Wednesday)
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Cc: mharris@BBN-UNIX, drockwell@BBN-UNIX, haines@BBN-UNIX
From: Martin Schoffstall <schoff@BBN-UNIX>
Subject: Lattice C V1.04 and C-food
I just got a copy of the "new" Lattice C compiler (v1.04), (was the
article in Byte reviewing v1.24 a typo?). Over all it looks much
better than v1.01 with a real debugging switch and a disassembler to
work with it. C-food makes me want to cry! All those .asm programs
that I massaged to interface with Lattice ALL IN A LIBRARY. (IBM why
don't you supply us with a LIBRARIAN!!!) C-food contains code to
handle graphics, the asynch port(s), directories getting the time in a
usable form etc. The only think still lacking is floating point, and a
larger model for the compiler (>64K text would be great, but >64k of
text and >64k of data would be worth sacrificing a bullock about, you
can even make structures larger than 32K illegal)
Those two I can wait for and I certainly am not flaming, however, I do
have three flames so far, one for IBM, and the others for Lattice.
1) the IBM linker (2.0) declares it can't find "bdos" in library lcx
when given in this order Libraries: [.LIB] lc lcx
but it can for Libraries: [.LIB] lcx lc
How can the linker be that stupid, (don't answer that)?
2) the IBM linker declares that cscanf and something else are defined twice
when in your program you declare
#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
but
#include <conio.h>
#include <stdio.h>
is fine.
I understand why but it still is pretty foolish.
3) C-food has very few examples, take handling the async port:
do you do
ainit();
pcasm();
.
.
aterm();
or
pcasm();
ainit();
.
.
aterm();
As it turns out the latter seems to work.
The cost is very high, $500 list for the C compiler, and $150 list for
C-food, of course you can get it for less. If you are going to get
the compiler I strongly suggest you get C-food, it will be very
useful. It doesn't irk me too badly since what I hate is paying a
premium price for junk!
schoff at bbnu
------------------------------
Date: 28 Sep 1983 12:24:15 EDT (Wednesday)
To: info-ibmpc at isib
From: Dick Kalagher <kalagher at mitre>
Subject: Mylex Graphics Board
The latest PC magazine has an ad for a graphics board called the Mylex
Chairman. It supposedly allows graphics on the IBM monochrome
monitor, supports both mono and color monitors, is compatible with all
graphics modes, and requires no special hardware or software other
than the board. This sounds like what I h;ave been looking for. Does
anyone have any experience with this board? Does it have the flicker
bug that the IBM board has? Can you get a high resolution character
set on a standard mono monitor (at least higher than IBM's?
Thanks in advance for any info. I would be glad to summarize for the
net.
Dick Kalagher
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂30-Sep-83 1652 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #70
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 30 Sep 83 16:52:33 PDT
Date: 30 Sep 1983 1600-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #70
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 30 September 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 70
Today's Topics:
Wordstar Overlays
99 Files
CP/M-86 Pricing
Concurrent CP/M vs. MS-DOS
TCP-IP
Custom Character Sets
CTTY (2 msgs)
Microsoft C
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 29 Sep 83 2:33-PDT
Date: 27 Sep 83 19:15:26-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!microsoft!markz @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Wordstar Overlays
The reason WORDSTAR looks only in the current directory for its
overlays is that it is using the old-style (and extremely limited)
FCBs for all I/O. The FCBs have only enough room in them for a file
name and not a directory specification; restricting them to work in
the current directory only is a reasonable extension of their function
for hierarchical file systems.
Using ASSIGN is a dangerous proposition; it's behavior is sometimes
not as expected.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 29 Sep 83 2:33-PDT
Date: 27 Sep 83 19:13:09-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!microsoft!markz @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Opening 99 Files
MS-DOS 2.0 maintains a set of FCBs for the system that are in the
system-space rather than in the user space. The number of such FCBs
is governed by the FILES= statement in CONFIG.SYS. The main advantage
to having such FCBs and other such structures in system space (and
undocumented) is that system space is controlled by the DOS; these
structures may change for the benefit of the DOS/applications without
impacting those applications.
Now, as to why FILES=99 does not allow a process to open > 20 files is
simple. This is a fixed limit imposed on each process (created by
EXEC system call). The total number of files open may not exceed the
FILES= number. Consider:
process A opens 20 files
process A EXECs process B
process B closes all 20 files
process B opens another 20 files
At this point, there are 40 files open although each process does not
have more than 20 files open at the same time. The 20 number is
fairly reasonable: it comes from the default number of handles
available under XENIX.
I wonder about applications the 'require' > 20 files open at a
particular time.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 29 Sep 83 3:24-PDT
Date: 28 Sep 83 1:45:45-PDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!cwruecmp!diamant @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: CP/M-86
As to why the price of CP/M-86 was dropped to $60, it was to make it
competitive with MS-DOS. I don't have the statistics available, but I
believe MS-DOS was significantly outselling CP/M-86, and this is an
attempt to gain some more of the market share. Considering the
flexibility of DOS 2.0 (also $60) and the original price of CP/M,
Digital Research was pricing themselves out of the market.
John Diamant
Usenet: ...decvax!cwruecmp!diamant
CSNet: diamant@Case
ARPA: diamant.Case@Udel-Relay
------------------------------
Date: 29 Sep 1983 1741-PDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
From: Jeffrey@OFFICE
Subject: Concurrent CP/M versus MS-DOS
I would like to understand the relative advantages and disadvantages
of Concurrent CP/M and MSDOS (version 2.0 or later). I am willing to
assume that MSDOS version 3 will support multi-tasking; in what form I
know not.
The questions I'd like to ask are:
1) How will the multi-tasking of MSDOS v3 and later
compare to that of CCP/M?
2) What sort of interesting application interface
(if any) will MSDOS grow? For example, will
Microsoft offer a Visi-on feature embedded in
MSDOS?
3) What are the technical advantages/disadvantages
of CCP/M versus MSDOS?
4) How many CCP/M installations are there? How many
MSDOS (I presume that there are approximately
3/4 million copies of MSDOS out there)?
5) How many application packages are available for
CCP/M? How many for MSDOS?
6) Is there any forthcoming event which may enhance
CCP/M's chances of catching up to MSDOS in the
16-bit market? For example, it would certainly
help if IBM chose a DRI OS for Peanut.
If so, I would imagine that this new OS would
be somewhat compatible with both MSDOS and
CP/M. This would probably help CCP/M.
Unfortunately for DRI, I fear this is just
a weak rumor; one of the many that will not
bear fruit.
In my opinion, it doesn't really matter much about the
technological stuff. MSDOS has captured the eye of software
developers and has jumped way out in front in terms of number of
packages available. And like the man said "a PC without software
is like a car without gas" - so true. Thus, to me, CCP/M hasn't
got a very large chance.
I'd enjoy hearing the way others see it. anyone have guess as
to how many CCP/M installations are about? Any pointers to
relevant articles or people?
Thanks,
Jeffrey Stone
Menlo Park, CA
------------------------------
Date: 29 Sep 1983 0545-PDT (Thursday)
To: RSanders.Pascalx@denver
Cc: info-micro@brl-vgr, unix-wizards@brl-vgr, tcp-ip@brl, info-pc@usc-isib
From: mo@LBL-CSAM
Subject: TCP-IP
Unisoft has announced TCP-IP support based on Berkeley Unix code. I
don't have a phone number, but you can get it from information.
Unisoft is in Berkeley.
-Mike O'Dell
------------------------------
Date: 29 Sep 1983 0850-PDT
To: info-ibmpc-request at ISIB
From: HFISCHER@USC-ECLB
Subject: Custom Character Sets
I have been using APL to generate medium res-mode graphics, and
artificially creating characters, graphically, to get up to eighty
(proportionally spaced) characters in the medium res mode (which with
IBM's APL gives one red-cyan-white 80x24 screens). A few characters
are wider, such as M and W, and I didn't make any lower case (but did
make some mapping symbols). It's fine for prototyping map graphics,
but not as pretty as real honest 8x8 bit characters. (The squishy
characters are average of 3x7 pixels, but readable.)
In the hires mode one should be able to make a font with nice looking
proportional characters a little wider on the average, and easily fit
132 on a screen line, using the same program, but I have not tried it
yet. In the hi res mode I doubt that you will be readable easily with
the 43 mil dot pitch of IBM's RGB monitor, but should have no problems
with the Princeton, or with a monochrome monitor emulating graphics
with a non-IBM board.
The font editor is 16 APL lines long, and quite similar to how Fancy
Font characters appear while editing them (but, no attempt at
compatibility). (It should not be hard to take Fancy Font's Hershey
editor and do some neat stuff in this department for on-screen
characters.)
The incredible part is that the write routine to take a character
string and pixel-ize it and write it anywhere on the screen has only
eight executable APL statements. That's enough to turn die-hard C
hackers looking inquisitively at APL. Of course, APL is slow hacking
at bits, but maybe some pressure on IBM could spiff up their
implementation, or I could give up and write the routine as an
assembler language shared variable handler (which seems not too hard,
but it already works as is).
That's a long winded answer to the query about writing more than
eighty characters across unaltered hardware, or alternatively how to
write eighty characters on a graphics mode (pixel formatted) screen in
living colors!
Herm Fischer
------------------------------
Date: 29 September 1983 1341-PDT (Thursday)
To: Info-IBMPC at USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: helly at AEROSPACE (John Helly)
Subject: CTTY Problems
I have fiddled with the CTTY command of DOS 2.0 with some strange
results. While I have been able to use other ASCII terminals as the
console to DOS, whenever I invoke an application program (VDTE,
Wordstar, LOTUS, etc.) display reverts to the system console and the
system accepts commands from neither keyboard.
The command sequence I use to set up the initial reconfiguration is:
mode com1:1200,e,7,1
ctty com1
This works fine as long as you converse only with DOS. I suspect that
applications are somehow resetting the mode to use the system display.
Does anyone know how to overcome this or better understand what's
happening?
--john helly
------------------------------
Date: 29 Sep 1983 2215-PDT
Subject: Re: CTTY Problems
To: helly@AEROSPACE (John Helly)
cc: info-ibmpc
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
Programs can use DOS calls or IBMPC BIOS calls or directly write
to the screen using the MOV instruction. DOS calls are the slowest.
In order to make a competitive product most software developers use
the BIOS calls or write directly to the screen. VDTE as a case in point
could not keep up with 9600 baud terminal lines if it were using the DOS
calls.
Only the DOS calls can be diverted to the ANSI standard terminal supported
by DOS 2.0. This is part of the reason for the slowness of the calls.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 30 Sep 83 2:42-PDT
Date: 27 Sep 83 2:30:59-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!genrad!security!linus!utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Microsoft C
I've seen the (rather large) documentation for the Microsoft C
Compiler at a local computer store. It is indeed the Lattice
Compiler, with the addition of the MS-DOS librarian and, I believe,
the MS-DOS linker. It also seems to be discounted more than the
Lifeboat Assoc. version. Both list for US$500 but I've seen the
Microsoft version for as low as US$360 mail-order in the US, Cdn$500
in Canada. The Canadian list price is a scandalous Cdn$730, which is
ridiculous considering the lack of duty or FST on imported software.
I have not used the compiler, but understand that it is a solid
product.
peter rowley, U. Toronto
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂02-Oct-83 1413 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #71
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 2 Oct 83 14:13:06 PDT
Date: 2 Oct 1983 1306-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #71
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Sunday, 2 October 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 71
Today's Topics:
Mouse Systems Mice
Microsoft Fortran V3.10 Bug
PC to Godbout Conversion (2 msgs)
Compaq Review
Modula-2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 30 Sep 1983 1721-PDT
To: info-ibmpc
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Mouse Systems Mice
We just received our first shipment of Mouse Systems Mice for the
IBM-PC. These are optical three button mice which use a RS232 port.
Mouse Systems has covered all the bases as far as software is
concerned as the mouse can be used in a variety of modes.
Raster Graphics Mode:
Mouse Systems sells for a modest $40.00 a complete Raster Graphics
package for the IBM-PC. It is geared to be Pascal callable but could
be easily used with C or IQLisp or whatever. This package needs a bit
mapped display and currently has files set up for the IBM Graphics
adaptor card and the Hercules card. It looks pretty simple to modify
it to operate under any of the newer bit mapped display cards we may
be seeing in the future.
"ProKey" Mode:
Mouse Systems currently supports several popular programs in what I
call ProKey mode. (ProKey is a program that allows an arbitrary
mapping of the keyboard to arbitrary strings of characters. Rumor has
it ProKey can make even Wordstar appear to be a civilized program.)
Left and right and up and down arrow key commands get inserted in the
BIOS input character stream in response to mouse movement. Various
keys bring up a tree structure of pop up menus. Selecting a menu item
puts the appropriate command in the input character stream.
I have used this with Lotus 123 and the IBM Personal Editor. 123 was
designed from the start to be used with a mouse. The Prokey style
interface is sort of a crock in that Mouse ahead (like type ahead)
tends to make one overshoot the mark when aiming for a particular
cell. The 123 Help menus are really nice with the mouse. I am sure
that with practice one could operate a spread sheet really quickly
with this arrangement. A little closer coupling of the mouse to the
program rather than using the character interface would make this an
outstanding combination.
The Personal Editor is a good choice of word processor in that it can
be customized easily. Mouse Systems replaces the help file with a
mouse help file. All the commands are explained in terms of which
mouse button to push. Again I still would rather wait for an editor
like the Microsoft Bravo clone Multi Word Tool that was designed from
the beginning with the mouse in mind.
Currently there is no way to write your own menu package for a given
program, but on calling Mouse Systems I found out they expect to be
releasing such a package soon.
Microsoft Mode:
Of course Microsoft is the Other Mouse company. I understand Mouse
Systems has a Microsoft compatibility package. I don't know the
differences between the two Mice but Mouse Systems claims there need
be no compatibility problems.
The documentation is first class. Installation is simple. They
suggest "if you are familiar with computers, a glance at Figure 1
below is perhaps enough to get you started". I can't say I bothered
to look at the rest of the chapter as the picture was sufficient.
------------------------------
Date: 30 Sep 1983 1733-PDT
To: info-ibmPC
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Microsoft Fortran V3.10 Bug
I have a copy of Microsoft FORTRAN V3.10 05/03/83. The following
FORTRAN program crashes the system such that a Ctl Alt Del reboot is
necessary.
D=1.0E+25
END
The FOR1 pass of FORTRAN will crash the system only on systems that
have the 8087 installed. It runs OK on systems with no 8087. I know
I have the later version of the 8088 that is supposed to work with
with the 8087. This version of the chip masks interrupts when pushing
or popping the stack segment.
Has anybody had similar experiences?
------------------------------
Date: 30 September 1983 20:33 EDT
To: info-cpm @ BRL, info-ibmpc @ USC-ISIB
From: Herb Lin <LIN @ MIT-ML>
Subject: PC to Godbout Conversion Query
There is a program for the IBM-PC that I would like to convert for use
on my Godbout 8085/8088 running MP/M. Apparently, it writes to the
screen in a way that is incompatible with standard BDOS calls. How
can I go about converting this program for use on my system (assuming
I have access to the appropriate 5 inch floppies).
------------------------------
Date: 2 Oct 1983 1255-PDT
To: Herb Lin <LIN@MIT-ML>
cc: Info-IBMPC
From: Dick Gillmann <Gillmann@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Re: PC to Godbout Conversion
BDOS is a CP/M term. On the PC under MS-DOS, there are three ways to
write to the screen: MS-DOS calls, ROM BIOS calls, and direct MOVs to
the regen buffers. Also, a program may work only with the monochrome
display or only with the color/graphics display.
If you have the source code, converting to the Godbout MP/M system
would require changing the program's video I/O to conform with
whatever that system requires. If you don't have source code, the
only hope is to make the target system look like a PC, perhaps by
installing an IBM display driver card and providing DOS and BIOS calls
functionally compatible with the PC.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 1 Oct 83 4:43-PDT
Date: 23 Jun 83 9:36:07-PDT (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!presby!burdvax!psuvax!psuvm%cjs@Ucb-Vax
Subject: Compaq Review
A friend of mine has a Compaq and is very pleased with it. I've used
it a couple of times. The BIOS is a little different than the IBM PC,
and I don't think there is any BASIC in ROM.
Almost all software works. I have a BASIC program that looks for both
monochrome and color adapter boards, and switches between them if you
have both. It crashes the Compaq, which has one board for both high-
resolution text and graphics. That's what you get for poking your
bytes where they don't belong.
Another program I have sets the size of the cursor by doing some BIOS
interrupt calls. It works sporadically on the Compaq. They don't
have a manual with their BIOS listing yet, but one is supposed to be
available soon.
Other programs with graphics, sound, etc., work fine. We've put an
IBM async board in it and have run some communications programs
without any problems.
Interestingly, the Compaq boards are quite a bit taller than IBM
boards. Since their video board does text equivalent to IBM's
monochrome AND graphics equivalent to IBM's color adapter, I wanted to
try it in a PC, but you would never get the cover back on the PC. By
the way, the video board has RGB and composite video outs, and we find
the Compaq handier for connecting to extra monitors at meetings than
the PC.
It seems constructed well. The 7 inch screen is quite usable -- as
good as IBM's monochrome, but smaller. If I needed a transportable
PC, I wouldn't hesitate getting the Compaq. We are hoping a local
vendor will get some to sell at discount prices.
The only negative points are: 1) it is not EXACTLY a PC, and there are
a few things that don't work the same; and 2) Compaq seems a little
slow to deliver some things, like a technical reference manual and DOS
2.0. (I booted PC-DOS 2.0 on it, and it seems to work fine.)
My friend is running mostly CP/M-86 on it, but then there is no
accounting for taste.
-- CJS@PSUVM on BITNET
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 1 Oct 83 5:26-PDT
Date: 29 Sep 83 0:19:51-PDT (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!wivax!linus!utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Modula-2
Some time ago, I asked about Modula-2 systems for the IBM PC and got a
few replies, esp. from one kind person, who sent the following:
* * * * * * *
About a month ago, I visited Logitech here in Palo Alto. They said
that the initial release of the MS-DOS and CP/M-86 compilers would
include all language features *except REALs*. This initial release
includes a post-mortem source-language debugger (!), however. It's
post-mortem because the program can't be restarted after a breakpoint.
The second major release, scheduled for around October, will add REALs
and 8087 support. They are planning to add a dynamic (restartable)
source-language debugger -- the reason for the first debugger being
post-mortem is that they felt it would be useful for real-time
applications, where the system can't really be "resumed" anyway.
The only other Modula-2 system for the PC that I am aware of is a
P-code compiler from Volition Systems in Del Mar, CA., which runs
under the UCSD P-system. This is, of course, not a native-code
compiler -- however they have a version for the Apple-II.
Logitech's address is:
Logitech
165 University Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Tel. 415 326-3885
The Modula-2 compiler architect at Logitech is Tony Gorrengourt (sp?).
* * * * * * *
Other information on the Logitech system appeared in recent net.micro
or net.micro.pc articles (they're no longer around on our system).
They indicated that the MS-DOS system has not been released yet.
Still more info. is in a Logitech ad in the Vol 5 #35 issue of
Infoworld (Microsoft cover story) which says the system "is a full,
standard implementation of Modula-2, compiles very large programs,
produces efficient native code, includes a library of standard
modules, gives access to the underlying hardware and software, can
generate ROMable stand-alone programs, includes symbolic debugging
support, and runs under PC-DOS 1.1 or CP/M-86"
The Programmer's Shop, Maynard Mass., 800 421-8006 / 800 442-8070 in
MA sells what appears to be the Logitech system for $475. As has been
mentioned, Springer-Verlag also sells it, for somewhat more, and has
versions for the Victor and Apple Lisa.
A lot more on the Volition Systems Modula-2 system can be found in an
article on it in the July 83 issue of "Softalk for the IBM PC".
Volition Systems, Box 1236, Del Mar CA 92014 619 481-2286. Their
system costs $595.
* * * * * * *
As for me, I'm waiting until I can see the PC-DOS Logitech system in
operation somewhere. Thanks again for the replies.
p. rowley, U. Toronto Computer Systems Research Group
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂05-Oct-83 1316 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #72
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 5 Oct 83 13:16:22 PDT
Date: 5 Oct 1983 1159-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #72
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 5 October 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 72
Today's Topics:
8086/8 Disassembler & S-100/IBMPC Display Card Wanted
Compupro 8088/85 S-100 Board
More on Screen I/O
RF Problem in Keyboard
AF & Navy Select Z-100
FORTRAN Comparisons and FFTs Query
Business Week Article
Home-Brew COMMAND.COM Query
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2 October 1983 19:41 EDT
To: Info-IBMPC @ USC-ISIB
From: Herb Lin <LIN @ MIT-ML>
Subject: 8086/8 Disassembler & S-100/IBMPC Display Card Wanted
Are there any 8088/6 disassemblers in the public domain? Looking for
one which will run under some flavor of CP/M. Also, are there any
S-100 driver cards to accomplish the S-100 => IBMPC conversion?
thanks. will post summary.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 83 10:27 PDT
To: info-cpm@brl.ARPA, info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
From: MMOON.ES@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: Compupro 8088/85 S-100 Board
I am considering taking the plunge into the "16" bit world by trading
in my old reliable Cromemco ZPU for the 8088/85 board from Compupro.
I sprung for the manual at Priority 1 & found out the initial
conversion will cause no real shock waves from the hardware
standpoint.
The 8085 will become the main processor in the short run, meaning I
have to give up my ZCPR2 implementation. For long term, am I tied to
the Compupro and/or G&G CP/M-86 or MP/M-816 software? My disk
controller is a Morrow DJ2DIO which is out of production, I believe,
but has been quite reliable. I don't want to spring for a Disk-1
while I have a perfectly good floppy controller, but this poses some
obvious problems with a roll-your-own BIOS for either of the above
OS's. Anybody been through this before I re-invent the wheel?
Thanks in advance for *any* info.
-- MMoon.es
------------------------------
Date: Mon 3 Oct 83 19:07:46-PDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: William "Chops" Westfield <BILLW@SRI-KL.ARPA>
Subject: More on Screen I/O
It should also be pointed out that, in addition to being faster than
DOS I/O calls, ROM BIOS calls or direct manipulation of the display
memory was the only way to do anything like cursor positioning and the
like in DOS 1.X, the ANSI-like terminal controls are new for DOS 2.0,
and still offer much less capability than is present in the ROM.
BillW
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 4 Oct 83 4:26-PDT
Date: 2 Oct 83 18:44:29-PDT (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!tektronix!reed!cdi!caf @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: RF Problem in Keyboard
The Keyboard on the IBM Personal Computer is very sensitive to RF
fields. The problem is about the same on an old keyboard as well as on
one recently manufactured.
Surely this problem has come up before as a 1KW transmitter would
tickle PC's for several blocks.
Does anybody (especially IBM) know of a fix? The PC is fairly quiet
on the ham bands (provided the cables are shielded and/or filtered)
but the KB is about 20 db too sensitive.
Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX CDI Portland OR (503)-646-1599 cdi!caf
------------------------------
Date: 3 Oct 1983 1551-CDT
To: Info-CPM@BRL.ARPA
cc: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Doug <HUNEYCUTT@GUNTER-ADAM.ARPA>
Subject: AF & Navy Select Z-100
Late this afternoon, a contract was signed in Washington to provide a
standard microcomputer configuration for the US Air Force and US Navy.
The standard system has to provide 8-bit CP/M and some sort of
extended 16-bit hardware/software.
The vendor chosen to provide this machine was Zenith. Our standard
machine is the Z-100 all-in-one with 192K of RAM, 2 minifloppies, and
monochrome screen. Options abound, with 8-inch and/or >11 Mbyte
Winchester at the top of the list. Tons of software are available.
Doug
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 5 Oct 83 1:29-PDT
Date: 3 Oct 83 17:02:21-PDT (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!CSvax.Pucc-H.Physics.crl @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: FORTRAN Comparisons and FFTs Query
My lab is contemplating buying a Zenith Z-100 (similar to a PC). We
will require FORTRAN to do FFT's (Fast Fourier Transforms). One
requirement of an FFT is that it uses complex numbers, lots of them.
We have learned that the Microsoft FORTRAN compiler (an F77 subset
implementation), does not support complex numbers, while the Supersoft
FORTRAN does. What I would like to know is the experience of users
with both. How fast is one compared to the other, both in compilation
and execution? How good is the documentation? Does anyone know if
Microsoft plans to add a complex variable type?
Charles LaBrec
UUCP: pur-ee!Physics:crl, purdue!Physics:crl
INTERNET: crl @ pur-phy.UUCP
------------------------------
Date: 5 Oct 1983 1005-PDT
To: Info-IBMPC
From: Randy Cole <COLE@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Re: Fortran Comparisons and FFTs
In the current issue of Personal Computer Age there is an excellent
article comparing the new Microsoft Fortran (v. 3.10) and the latest
Supersoft Fortran. The issue is Volume 2.9 (they don't believe in
months). It does a good job of pointing out the real advantages and
disadvantages of each and doesn't get too hung up about benchmarks.
Although Fast Fourier Transforms transform a complex vector in some
domain into a complex vector in the frequency domain, Fortran FFTs
need not use the COMPLEX type, and there are lots of FFTs around that
don't. One example is the package called FAST, from the book IEEE
Programs for Digital Signal Processing, which is also available on mag
tape. It is a radix 2-4-8 FFT with special provisions for real input
vectors, etc.
Randy Cole
Cole@ISIB
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 5 Oct 83 1:28-PDT
Date: 28 Sep 83 15:03:59-PDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!duke!unc!mcnc!ecsvax!dgary @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Business Week Article
The October 3 issue of Business Week contains a cover story on how IBM
has come to dominate the micro market, especially in business. Some
of the figures seem to differ from what I have seen before.
They claim IBM will produce less than a half million PCs in '83,
slightly fewer than Apple. But they also say IBM will manufacture as
many as 2 million next year, which is the about the number of micros
of ALL brands sold in 1983! If IBM's supply ever catches up with
demand, they may well cut prices again and further dominate the
market. IBM makes a PC every 45 seconds.
MicroPro (WordStar) says it won't even consider writing anything that
doesn't run on the PC (other machines, too, presumably, but the PC for
sure). Softsel (one of the top 50 software distributors, counting
micro and mainframe sources) says 85% of the software offered to it
was Apple last year and only 3% IBMPC. Today it's 36% PC and 35%
Apple. The trend is clear.
The only threat to IBM, and it's a weak one at the moment, is cheap PC
clones from Japan. Since Boca is already run largely by robots,
though, it's hard to see how Japan could win a price war. Might be
nice for the consumer, however.
Aside from the Peanut and a portable, Business Week predicts a
multi-user system in the $10-20K range from IBM in the future. Also
on the way: a local area net Apple admits is likely to become a
standard, no matter how good or bad it is.
Also profiled is HP's entry with the limited IBM similarities and the
touch-sensitive screen. Opinion seems very divided on whether it will
fly. DEC is conspicuous by its absence from everything but the
charts.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 5 Oct 83 5:46-PDT
Date: 4 Oct 83 4:25:13-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!zehntel!berry @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Home-Brew COMMAND.COM Query
I am thinking about writing my own shell for the PC and there are some
questions I have about the environment COMMAND.COM lives in. Anybody
out there know ...
How does COMMAND.COM tell DOS where the handler for the EXEC function
is?
How is it possible that the word at offset 6 in the program segment
prefix is both part of a long jump call and the size of a the segment?
Michael Toy
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂08-Oct-83 1544 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #73
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 8 Oct 83 15:43:16 PDT
Date: 8 Oct 1983 1439-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #73
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 8 October 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 73
Today's Topics:
MS-DOS 3.0 Query
Microsoft Notepad Editor
Tall Tree JRAM (2 msgs)
Keytronics Keyboard
Lattice C V1.04 and C-Food Problems
Computer Innovations C
SoftCraft Btrieve Package
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Oct 83 19:45:12 EDT
To: info-pc%usc-isib.arpa@udel-ee
From: Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis%udel-eecis1@UDel-Relay>
Subject: MS-DOS 3.0 Query
Anyone have any notions of when one could expect MS-DOS 3.0 to show
its face?
Dave
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 6 Oct 83 1:30-PDT
Date: 30 Sep 83 20:25:17-PDT (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: utcsrgv!peterr@UW-BEAVER
Subject: Microsoft Notepad Editor
After spending about an hour typing in some text with the Notepad(tm)
editor that accompanies the Microsoft mouse, I saved it using the
editor's Transfer Save command, left the editor, and TYPEd the file,
finding just odd rearrangements of the last half dozen or so lines of
the file. So beware -- it's a nice editor to use once one gets used
to using the mouse, but I'm not sure I'll trust it anymore. I'm quite
sure I didn't do anything untoward, though I do have a mixed 160K/320K
drive system. It was Notepad Ver. 1.00. I have yet to contact
Microsoft about this -- I thought I'd try the net for hints first.
On the bright side, the second time I typed in the material, this time
using IBM's Personal Editor (a perfectly reasonable simple editor), it
came out better, so Fred Brooks' "plan to throw one away" rule seemed
to apply.
peter rowley, University of Toronto Department of C.S., Ontario Canada M5S 1A4
UUCP: {cornell,watmath,ihnp4,floyd,allegra,ubc-vision-beaver}!utcsrgv!peterr
{cwruecmp,duke,linus,decvax,research}!utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr
ARPA: utcsrgv!peterr@UW-BEAVER
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 6 Oct 83 2:02-PDT
Date: 1 Oct 83 18:20:52-PDT (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!duke!unc!mcnc!ecsvax!ctk @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Tall Tree JRAM Query
If you hang 512k worth of Tall Tree board and have 640k or official
memory, will the power supply be upset? What about heat problems?
Just curious-- T.Kelley
!decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!ctk
------------------------------
Date: 6 Oct 1983 1303-PDT
To: decvax!duke!unc!mcnc!ecsvax!ctk@UCB-VAX
cc: info-ibmpc
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Re: Tall Tree JRAM
The Tall Tree board uses very little power. It is barely warm to the
hand when powered up. The only place you are likely to get into power
consumption problems is by adding a hard disk to a regular PC without
an upgraded power supply. Dynamic RAM chips and associated circuitry
just don't use much power; so this should be true for anybody's memory
board.
The problem you have posed is that you have eaten up all the address
space in the IBM-PC. As we have built several hardware devices for
the PC here at ISI, we have run into the problems of trying to live
with the Tall Tree boards and their appetite for address space.
The following is a table of memory usage in a system with a JRAM card.
Pages are 64K segments, so there are sixteen pages or segments in the
IBM-PC address space.
0-9 Official Memory
A-B Reserved for display address space
C Partially used for hard disk boot ROM
D JRAM Swap area
E JRAM Page map table
F BIOS-BASIC ROM
Official memory can be either fixed memory such as an AST or Microsoft
card, or it can be a segment of JRAM memory permanently mapped into
one of these pages.
At cold boot time the IBM ROM diagnostics will search these ten pages
of memory to run a memory check dependent on sense switch setting.
This is why a large memory system takes so long to boot. When the
JBOOT program runs it will permanently map in as many pages of JRAM as
are necessary to give DOS 2.0 a specified amount of memory. If there
is more non JRAM memory than was specified to JBOOT, JDRIVE will use
this memory for an electronic disk.
If the amount of non JRAM memory matches the switch settings, only
JRAM memory will be used for electronic disk. The electronic disk
contents will then be preserved over warm boots as the pages will not
be accessible to the ROM memory diagnostics.
The D page of memory is JDRIVE's swap area. JDRIVE will map the
appropriate page into this address to accomplish the disk transfer
simulation. A measure of memory protection is provided as pages of
the electronic disk not mapped to the D page are inaccessible to any
wandering program.
Unfortunately the JRAM card uses the entire E page of address space
for its page map registers. Tall Tree just didn't put the extra
circuitry to completely decode the address lines, and thus they wasted
this entire page of address space.
Your configuration of 640K official memory plus (up to four) JRAM
cards would completely fill up the PC address space. Currently our
hardware boards are using space in the C segment avoiding the hard
disk ROM. I know the Tecmar speech I/O board uses the entire E
address page. This makes the Tecmar board incompatible with Tall
Tree. Tecmar likes to advertise that their products have no address
conflicts so long as you stay exclusively with Tecmar products, and as
they make almost anything you might want in a PC this is one way to
avoid the problem of address conflict.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 6 Oct 83 6:56-PDT
Date: 5 Oct 83 1:22:34-PDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hp-pcd!orstcs!nathan @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Keytronics Keyboard
There is no reason to expect that the keyboards of the IBM PC and the
XT are in any way different; at worst one would be upward-compatible
with the other.
In any case, why do you want to use the Keytronics keyboard? The
reason I ask is that the feel of the Keytronics unit can only be
described as miserable. Some people don't care what their keyboard
feels like, but if it makes any difference to you, avoid anything by
Keytronics.
A better choice would be to use one of the ProKey-like programs to fix
up your present keyboard.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 7 Oct 83 4:13-PDT
Date: 4 Oct 83 18:05:06-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!gummo!whuxlb!pyuxll!eisx!dad @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Lattice C V1.04 and C-Food Problems
Some problems noted with Lattice C v1.04 & C-food:
* fread() and fwrite() don't work right. First of all you can't
open a file for read/write, only read, write, or append (write
with file positioned at end). Secondly, to do binary I/O you've
got to set an external variable before calling fopen(). Finally,
doing an fread() when at the end of a file does not return 0 bytes,
and the feof() function only indicates EOF after you've tried to
read one record beyond the end of the file. All in all, code that
I tried to port that used the "portable" I/O library (fread/fwrite)
needed extensive kludging to get working.
* scanf() goes nuts if you try typing something in, make a mistake,
and try to use the backspace key. This bug really irks me.
* The date() function insists on returning the date in the string
form YY/MM/DD and not MM/DD/YY or MM-DD-YY as described in the
manual.
* The lack of a librarian program in the Lattice package makes life
a lot more difficult. Why isn't one provided?
* NO MATH or TRIG routines!! If you need 'em, scrounge around and
type 'em in (as I had to do).
* No support for full path file names (e.g., /usr/bin/ls.c ). If you
try port or write programs like Unix "diff" you just gotta have
full path file names.
After reading all the praises of Lattice C on the net, I must say that
in all fairness that it has some problems. Luckily I haven't caught
it generating bad code except in one case (which is a documented
bug... using char values in a float expression). Lack of any source
code to the library functions makes it impossible to deal with library
problems. This is one area where I must say my Aztec C was much
better (full library source, full math/trig library source too).
- Don deCourcelle
Highland Park, NJ
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 8 Oct 83 0:00-PDT
Date: 4 Oct 83 18:56:52-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: tim@cit-vax
Subject: Computer Innovations C
There has been a lot of talk about the Lattice C compiler, and I
thought that I would mention that the Computer Innovations C compiler
seems to be just about as sturdy a compiler. Furthermore, the
compiler costs $100 less, and it comes with the full source library.
Computer Innovations is just about to release their next version of
the compiler which will include an object code optimizer, full DOS 2.0
support, and an option to use the full megabyte of memory available to
the 8088 (640K on the PC).
The compiler also supports floating point, and it comes with lots of
trig functions in the library. The floating point is currently
accomplished by function call, but the next release should put this
code in line.
The only problem with the compiler is that it does not use the DOS 2.0
linker, but that will also change with the next release.
In summary, hold off buying a C compiler until you have investigated
the one from Computer Innovations.
Timothy L. Kay
CalTech
Pasadena, CA 91125
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 8 Oct 83 0:08-PDT
Date: 4 Oct 83 19:00:48-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: tim@cit-vax
Subject: SoftCraft Btrieve Package
If anybody is interested, the Btrieve package from SoftCraft is a very
good program for constructing a database. It allows for an unlimited
number of records per file, and up to eight keys per record. It is
very fast and very flexible.
I have used Btrieve with Computer Innovations C, and I also use it in
conjunction with a product called Multilink. The latter product
allows for multitasking (and even multiuser) from a single PC. I was
able to combine these two products so that I had multiuser access to
the same database.
If anyone has further experience or questions, I would like to hear
from you.
Timothy L. Kay
CalTech
Pasadena, CA 91125
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂11-Oct-83 1918 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #74
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 11 Oct 83 19:18:19 PDT
Date: 11 Oct 1983 1733-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #74
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 11 October 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 74
Today's Topics:
Lattice C, CI-C86, Mark Williams C and El Paso C (4 msgs)
DOS 2.0 File Redirection Problems (2 msgs)
Resident COMMAND.COM
.BAT Bug
Crosstalk-16 Problem
SASI Interface Wanted
DR Fortran
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 8 Oct 83 22:12-PDT
Date: 4 Oct 83 16:48:56-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!kpno!ut-sally!cyb-eng!shell!starr @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: CI-C86 vs. Lattice C
Microsoft has just released their C compiler, which is from Lattice.
I have both CiC86 (from Computer Innovations) and the Lattice C.
CiC86 is a very good compiler, and you get loads of support from
Computer Innovations.
CiC86 creates their own object file format, whereas Lattice C does
not (they create standard .OBJ format). It seems as though Lattice
C compiles faster. Part of this is due to the fact that CiC86 uses
3 passes, whereas Lattice uses only 2.
Lattice C seems to have more "lint" in it... it tells you more of
what is wrong with your code.
CiC86 supplies source code for EVERYTHING. Lattice C supplies source
code for NOTHING. How proprietary can the standard C functions be?
CiC86 gives you a sysint function, which can invoke a system interrupt,
and where you can preset and check all of the registers. Lattice C does
not. CiC86 also gives code to point an interrupt vector to your C code.
CiC86 claims to have a 1Mb addressing optimizing compiler in beta test.
Maybe Lattice does too. I am hanging on to CiC86 for this reason. I am
a little skeptical, though, since the CiC86 optimizing compiler has been
a "month off" since Feb.
RF Starr
------------------------------
Date: 10 October 1983 15:08 edt
To: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC at USC-ISIB>
From: Hess.Unicorn at MIT-MULTICS
Subject: CI-C86, Lattice C and El Paso C
Regarding Computer Innovations C-86: I have been hearing about the
"object code optimizer" for more than a year now. Don't hold your
breath waiting for the next version "about to come out". Their
library is nice, though.
The reason that Lattice C doesn't come with a librarian is because
you're supposed to get the Microsoft one. And you do, if you don't
get PC-DOS. It hardly seems reasonable for Lattice to go and buy
something you're supposed to get free anyway. Well, then again, maybe
it does -- some folks license MS-DOS in order to have their disks be
self-booting, just to eliminate that ONE installation step.
Just saw a copy of something called "The El Paso C Compiler". Not too
bad if you use register variables, and only a little worse than
Lattice if you don't. No more info yet; has anybody else used it?
Brian
------------------------------
Date: 11 Oct 1983 1527-EDT
To: Tim Gonsalves <Fat.Tag at SU-SIERRA>, Gonsalves at SU-SIERRA,
info-micro at BRL-VGR, info-ibmpc at USC-ISIB
From: Larry Campbell <LCAMPBELL at DEC-MARLBORO>
Subject: Mark Williams C vs. CI-C86
I have a copy of Mark William's C for CP/M-86, and since they claim to
soon be shipping the same thing for MS-DOS, I think my experience will
be helpful. I also have Computer Innovation's compiler, but I don't
use it, for reasons detailed below. First, MWC-86:
1) Very professionally done product (in my opinion). The compiler and linker
are rather slow, but they WORK WELL. I have a program whose source
code runs to about 180K bytes of source, in about 25 modules. Compiling
and linking the whole thing takes about 40 minutes on a DEC Rainbow
with 256K and 4 floppies.
2) You have to use their linker (won't someone PLEASE standardize object
file formats so I can mix languages from different vendors??) and
assembler, but they're both pretty featureful and bug-free.
3) The error messages are wonderful! The compiler recovers gracefully
from syntax errors and always points me right to my mistake.
Drawbacks:
1) You don't get sources to the libraries.
2) No source level debugger.
3) No large memory model support (today).
CI-C86:
1) Not nearly as professionally done. You have to type a lot to compile
and link a C program. Where MWC will compile and link FOO.C with
the following command:
CC FOO.C
CI-C86 requires that you type
CC1 FOO
CC2 FOO
CC3 FOO
CL FOO CLIB.ARC
2) It won't compile some of my modules. One thing that's particularly
annoying is that the following construct (paraphrased from an
example in K&R, so I KNOW it's legal) won't compile:
double routine1 (foo)
double foo;
{
double
bar ();
return (bar (foo));
}
double bar (x)
double x;
{
return (x*x);
}
MWC-86 compiles this just fine. One other of my modules, which
MWC-86 compiles OK, causes CI-C86 to fatal ignominiously.
Advantages:
1) You get source code for the runtime library. Big win.
2) They claim to have a large memory model compiler available today
(although I've not yet seen it).
I've heard good things about the Lattice compiler, but I've not yet
been able to try it. The August (?) issue of Byte (special issue on
C) seemed to conclude that Mark Williams, CI, and Lattice were the
only serious contenders. Based on my sample of 2, I'd recommend Mark
Williams.
I'd love to hear from anyone who has had experience with a C compiler
that supports the large memory model; I need one badly. Preferably
one that exists for both CP/M-86 and MS-DOS.
- Larry Campbell
------------------------------
Date: 9 Oct 83 11:08:44 EDT (Sun)
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Joel Seiferas <joel@Rochester.ARPA>
Subject: CI-C86 and DOS 2.0
The old, unimproved version of CI C86 included satisfactory I/O
redirection before PC-DOS 2.0 ever arrived. Under the new DOS,
however, redirection specifications get intercepted before they reach
a C86 program. A stop-gap solution is easy: In the provided source
for ←main, change the redirection characters from < and > to { and }
everywhere. These will get by DOS, and you will be able to choose
whose redirection you want. It sure is nice to have source provided!
Batch (.BAT) files CAN be nested in PC-DOS 2.0. The secret is
"Invoking a Secondary Command Processor", page 10-9 of the manual. An
example is shown below. ("ECHOBYTS" is a simple but handy program
which echoes to standard output the ASCII characters specified by the
decimal integers on its command line.)
STDHEAD.BAT
echobyts >prn: 15 27 81 137 27 87 1
echobyts 13 |date >prn:
echobyts 13 |time >prn:
dir %1 >prn:
echobyts >prn: 13 10 27 87 0
exit
STDPRINT.BAT
echobyts >prn: 27 78 5
type >prn: %1
echobyts >prn: 140
exit
STDBOTH.BAT
command/c stdhead %1
command/c stdprint %1
exit
Joel Seiferas
University of Rochester
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 8 Oct 83 22:11-PDT
Date: 4 Oct 83 16:26:34-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!kpno!ut-sally!cyb-eng!shell!starr @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: DOS 2.0 File Redirection Problems
I wanted to use the environment area to stuff printer configuration
info. It didn't take long to discover that the environment CANNOT be
expanded beyond 128 bytes.
I removed everything from my AUTOEXEC file which terminated and
remained resident (the DOS manual tells you this will prevent
environment expansion). Well, according to the DOS documentation, the
IBMDOS and IBMBIO files load device drivers, which MUST terminate and
remain resident. Thus, your environment can NEVER grow beyond 128
bytes.
Besides, everyone wants to install device drivers, print spoolers,
etc., all of which terminate and remain resident. How is one supposed
to allocate sufficient space in the environment to anticipate what the
user (or programs the user runs) will require? I would like to be able
to boot and allocate 5K for environment space.
Most of you have probably heard of the bug in the key redefinition
routine, wherein you can only redefine (around) 128 bytes. After that,
you begin writing into some area of memory where you shouldn't ought
to write... no error messages. There is a fix that works in the Sept.
PC, pp586-7. It involves using DEBUG to modify the ANSI.SYS file.
Has anyone been able to get piping or redirection (of input) to work
with a user written program (e.g. myprog < some.file, where myprog is
reading from stdin)? My programs just HANG at the end of the file...
a ↑Z appears as the last line. (p.s. I use the CiC86 compiler).
Batch (.BAT) files cannot be nested. I don't recall if they could be
in earlier DOS versions either. They are also HORRIBLY SLOW. It seems
as thought COMMAND.COM is loaded to interpret EVERY line of your .BAT
file. Recall that this is the Microsoft idea of a shell!
When supplying a 10Mb hard disk, why can't we have a cleanup routine,
which will make the files reside in contiguous disk space? When I
first got my XT, it was pretty fast. Now, with 48 subdirectories, 685
files, and 8 months of use, floppies are faster in many cases! I
wouldn't care if the routine took 3 hours. I'd do it once a month
anyway!
With subdirectories, it seems like a link capability would be useful.
I currently have 30 COPIES of stdio.h and 45 COPIES of pe.pro (the key
definition profiler for the Personal Editor). What a waste of disk
space!
The date does not always (usually) change at midnight. Whatever routine
they use to update the date really stinks. I have left the PC I have at
work on over the weekend, only to come in Monday and find that the date
still says Friday. This may seem like a trivial complaint, but it really
makes bookkeeping difficult.
RF Starr
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 10 Oct 83 2:14-PDT
Date: 7 Oct 83 17:24:23-PDT (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!rochester!jay @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: DOS 2.0 File Redirection Problems
In reference to the complaint about CiC86 programs hanging when
you redirect the input: That is due to the C library interacting
with DOS 2.0. The function call used in ascii mode is "buffered
keyboard input with echo". The echo part is why you see the file
printing on the screen whether you printed it or not. The system
call gets the redirected character from the file, thinking it is
from the keyboard, and through ignorance, echoes it. Aha! You say,
why not use the "no echo" call(s)? Well, then it won't work
correctly when typing from the keyboard. You could do an ioctl
function call to find if the input is the console and act accordingly,
but it is probably better and possibly easier to just rewrite
the library routines to do the new 2.0 calls. I have done some of
this. When I come up with a universally usable set of new routines,
I'll post them.
The reason why it hangs is because the keyboard input system call
reads until a newline character is fetched; when you redirect the
input, the last character sent is a ↑Z -- what you see on the
screen is the ↑Z echoed, and it is waiting for a newline that
you cannot give. Frustrating, since it is inside a system call
"never to return", so you cannot BREAK it. Rebooting is the only
thing to do. A quick fix might be to change the library routines to
not use the buffered system calls.
By the way, I wrote a very tiny but handy c routine, called safe().
All it does is check to see if there is a character on the input,
discard the result, and return. What it does is allow you to
BREAK out of infinite loops if a call to safe() is inside the
loop. Helps out a lot in debugging, because I hate rebooting
when. I screw something up.
-Jay Weber
{jay@rochester, ..!seismo!rochester!jay}
------------------------------
Date: 9 Oct 83 10:57:55 EDT (Sun)
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Joel Seiferas <joel@Rochester.ARPA>
Subject: Resident COMMAND.COM
Below is a typical way to avoid repeatedly having to reinsert your
COMMAND.COM diskette in drive A: for restoration. This method
requires PC-DOS 2.0 and a driver for disk C: in RAM. It incidentally
uses a simple program to put a volume label on C: and a simple program
to write-protect COMMAND.COM so that it will STAY on C:.
:Excerpts from AUTOEXEC.BAT;
: initially, FILE1 should exist, but FILE2 should not.
if exist file2 goto second
:first
rename file1 file2
label c: pseudodisk
mkdir c:\booted
copy command.com c:\booted >nul:
chmod -ra c:\booted\command.com
set comspec=C:\BOOTED\COMMAND.COM
command/p
:second
rename file2 file1
(The second time through the batch occurs when COMMAND.COM is
reinvoked. For some reason, there is no second time through if the /P
switch is omitted.)
Joel Seiferas
University of Rochester
------------------------------
Date: 9 Oct 83 13:10:13 EDT (Sun)
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Joel Seiferas <joel@Rochester.ARPA>
Subject: .BAT Bug
FOR seems to be another ("sub")command with bugs. I tried to use a
batch file MULTI.BAT with a single command in it:
for %%x in (%2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9) do %1 %%x
On invocations like
B>multi copy a:xxx a:yyy a:zzz ...
the FOR seems always to malfunction at column 51 of the command line.
Of course the particular application above could be handled more
generally if there were settable variables for batch files. Is there
some easy way to use the environment for this? Is there some way to
get at and change the values of the parameters %0,...,%9?
Another wish: a way to pass spaces within arguments to batch files.
(By the way, a simple modification to the source for CI C86's ←main
makes this possible in that language--for example, it can be made to
respect double quotes when parsing command lines.)
Yet another wish: redirectable I/O for entire batch files. Right now,
redirection fails, and the argument is not even passed into the batch.
Joel Seiferas
University of Rochester
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 9 Oct 83 3:46-PDT
Date: 5 Oct 83 13:52:56-PDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!duke!unc!mcnc!ecsvax!john @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Crosstalk-16 Problem
I have been using the popular and very good Crosstalk-16
communications program on a Victor 9000 and an IBM PC for a while now,
and in general it is an excellent package, but I do find that it will
not keep up at 9600 bps on either machine when I use it to communicate
with a DEC VAX 11/750 with Unix. The first clue I had that there
might be a problem was when I listed a file and found that a <BREAK> I
entered was not acted upon immediately. The further I was into the
listing of the file, the longer it took for the <BREAK> to generate a
response. Similarly with <CTRL-S>, output was not immediately
suspended.
This would not be a serious problem at all if the screen did not
become garbled during a long listing. The same problems, including
the garbling of characters, occur when I am trying to capture the file
to memory or to disk.
john hogan
north carolina educational computing service
research triangle park, nc 27709
(919) 549 0671
...!decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!john
------------------------------
Date: Mon 10 Oct 83 08:03:22-PDT
To: info-ibmpc-request@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: William Pearson <PEARSON@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA>
Subject: SASI Interface Wanted
Having just purchased an IBM-PC, I am interested in getting a hard disk
cheap. It seems to be possible to get a hard disk drive from $350 - $800,
and a controller for $150 - $300, but I am not certain how to connect
these to the IBM-PC. I notice that some manufacturers advertise that their
multifunction board parallel port can be used as a hard disk interface (SASI)
and wonder if this is a general property of IBM-compatible parallel ports
(I would think not) or if they can be modified.
I am also curious whether the Tall Tree JFORMAT programs can help me
put a homebrew hard disk on my machine.
Bill Pearson
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 9 Oct 83 3:27-PDT
Date: 6 Oct 83 12:13:09-PDT (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!rlgvax!plunkett @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: DR Fortran
Anyone considering SuperSoft or Microsoft FORTRAN might like to await
the upcoming FORTRAN-77 from Digital Research, Inc. It will be seen
to blow the others out of the water.
Scott Plunkett
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂12-Oct-83 1950 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #75
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 12 Oct 83 19:50:23 PDT
Date: 12 Oct 1983 1749-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #75
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 12 October 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 75
Today's Topics:
Large Model C Compilers (4 msgs)
Network Virtual Disk Query
Apparat Memory Board
IBM Unix Rumor
MS-DOS 2.0 Problems (5 msgs)
Reply to MS-DOS 2.0 Problems
TK! Solver Review
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 11 Oct 1983 2103-CDT
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Doug <HUNEYCUTT@GUNTER-ADAM.ARPA>
Subject: Large Model CI-C86
CI C86 is very (as in VERY) close to release of the honest-to-
goodness, optimizing, 1Mbyte version of the C86 compiler. The new
version goes directly to Microsoft OBJ format, rather than the current
(Beta) method of going to .ASM and having to be assembled.
I've been working with various Beta versions of C86 for about 3 months
now. The big memory model does indeed address high memory. I've used
it for directly modifying screen memory contents on my Z-100.
For those of you 'waffling' about Lattice or CI, even if the two were
equal the support offered by CI makes it the only logical choice.
Lifeboat is about as helpful as Ashton-Tate!
Doug
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 12 Oct 83 0:13-PDT
Date: 8 Oct 83 14:13:57-PDT (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: tim@cit-vax
Subject: Large Model CI-C86
There has been a lot of comment about Computer Innovations C compiler,
and the fact that the latest update has been one month away for the
last eight months. The latest word from the company is that anybody
who need more than the medium-memory-model compiler (64K code/64K
data) is welcome to a copy of the program that they now have in beta
test. Just give them a call, and they will be happy to accommodate.
Nobody should waste the time to modify their library to be compatible
with DOS 2.0 because this next release claims full compatibility.
This should solve the redirection input problems, offer the ability to
put filenames WITH the full path on the command line (as a parameter),
and allow the user to have only one copy of libraries such as stdio.h.
Since they have a version in beta test, I think we can hope that this
version will soon be available.
Tim@cit-vax
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 12 Oct 83 3:15-PDT
Date: 8 Oct 83 21:02:47-PDT (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!kpno!ut-sally!utastro!gj @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Large Model Lattice C
The LATTICE C compiler that supports the large memory model is
currently being beta-tested. The executable it produces is about 25%
larger due to 32 bit pointers. I don't know when it will be released.
------------------------------
Date: 12 Oct 1983 1259-PDT
To: Info-IBMPC
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Large Model Lattice C
We have a beta test site Lattice large model C. As it appears to work
OK I expect it should be announced pretty soon.
The Lattice system allows various combinations of large and small
address spaces. It is possible to limit code to 64K and use short
calls while allowing data to exceed 64K using long pointers.
They haven't yet figured out a way to have large program space and
small data space as data pointers would be 16 bits and procedure
pointers 20 bits. If you need a large program space you must also use
large data space. One restriction is that offsets to pointers must be
16 bits or less.
One thing I would like to do in C is upgrade Mince to take path names.
Has anyone done this?
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 83 21:49:51 EST
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
From: Paul McNabb <pam@Purdue.ARPA>
Subject: Network Virtual Disk Query
I have been given $20K to purchase 3 IBM PCs. This money must cover
all equipment, software, maintenance, etc. After talking around I
have found that people wouldn't really mind having shared resources
(e.g. hard disk) so I have been mulling over the idea of some sort of
network where I don't have to buy 3 hard disks (large databases are
part of the project).
My questions are:
1) Are there any reliable networking boards available now for the PC
and what are their costs? Are they easy to install? Do they require
a lot of modifications to the OS (I get to pick that too).
2) If we buy canned software are there any legal problems with running
on three different machines or making copies of the software for
internal use?
3) Many of the uses may be intelligent non-hackers. Is this going to
be a pain for them to use or do these networks take a long time and
lots of practice to learn how to use?
Thanks.
Paul McNabb (pam@purdue)
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 12 Oct 83 0:12-PDT
Date: 8 Oct 83 14:23:38-PDT (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: tim@cit-vax
Subject: Apparat Memory Board
A company called Apparat in Denver, CO has two boards for the IBM PC
called the COMBO II card and the RAM II card. I am now running the
COMBO II card which boasts a clock/calendar, parallel port, serial
port, game adapter (which they should rename "mouse adapter"), and a
reset button. As a matter of fact, I got the first board that they
ever manufactured, and it seems to be running beautifully.
I mention my experience with the COMBO II, because I would expect that
the RAM II card is just as good. The card will hold 512K, and is
capable of using 256K RAM chips when they become available. It comes
with RAM disk software, but they do not yet have print spooler
software.
The good part is that either card alone is only $189. I have compared
to ANY board advertised in PC, PC World, and Byte, and I have found
that there isn't a card to compete with this one. (The RAM card comes
populated to 64K for the $189.)
Now, get this. If you buy both cards, it only costs you (I think)
$258, and they can piggyback so that they take only one slot in the
PC. I think they are a great buy.
Tim@cit-vax
------------------------------
Date: 12 Oct 1983 1332-PDT
To: info-ibmpc
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
Subject: IBM Unix Rumor
IBM is scheduled to make a major announcement on Tuesday Oct. 18.
The USC IBM salesman isn't sure that it will be PC related, but
suspects so. This source was very reliable about telling us when
the XT was to arrive.
InfoWorld reports IBM hasn't reserved extra Christmas advertising
space so we doubt this will be a home computer.
I believe the announcement will detail long term support of Unix by IBM
starting with Unix for the PC and continuing through to main frames.
------------------------------
Date: 12 Oct 1983 0025-EDT (Wednesday)
To: hplabs!hao!kpno!ut-sally!cyb-eng!shell!starr@ucb-vax
CC: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: romkey@MIT-CSR
Subject: Device Drivers and the Environment
The statement that you cannot have more than 128 bytes of environment
variables is patently untrue! IBMDOS and IBMBIO load in device drivers before
they load COMMAND.COM. COMMAND.COM is the last thing loaded, so "real" 2.0
device drivers just won't interfere with the environment. If you load in old
style drivers in your autoexec.bat this will limit your environment.
One thing you could try there is to make up a bunch of garbage
environment variables before you load programs which will remain
resident. Then deallocate these variables; the space should remain
useable later. And many old device drivers which made themselves
remain resident should probably be rewritten to work properly under
2.0.
I don't know what happens to the environment if you load a second
COMMAND.COM, though. I imagine that you get a whole new environment.
John Romkey
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 12 Oct 83 0:16-PDT
Date: 8 Oct 83 14:38:26-PDT (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!tim @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: COMMAND.COM Problem
Has anybody figured out how to get COMMAND.COM to work with both the
-c and the -p options? It seems that if I supply them both, then the
-p option is ignored. I wanted to put the following line in my
autoexec.bat, (and thereby cause the newly booted system to read both
COMMAND.COM and AUTOEXEC.BAT from my alternate vendor hard disk)
shell=C:\bin\command.com \bin -p -c C:\bin\autoexec.bat
This won't work if I can't get both options to work together. If I
try this, it runs autoexec correctly, but the shell does not stay
resident, and the system hangs.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 12 Oct 83 0:15-PDT
Date: 8 Oct 83 14:34:28-PDT (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: tim@cit-vax
Subject: Device Drivers and the Environment
The manual says that installable device drivers act as though they do
a "terminate and stay resident". Actually, they simple return to
their caller after informing it as to how much space they need. They
do not actually do a "terminate and stay resident" call.
I believe that there is a system call to change the location of the
environment.
Tim@cit-vax
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 12 Oct 83 0:14-PDT
Date: 8 Oct 83 14:30:50-PDT (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!tim @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: File Redirection and .BAT Bugs
If I do a lot of applications in which I redirect standard output to
the printer, then I start getting the message "EXEC failure" or "file
creation error" and I can do nothing else until I reboot. I have had
to avoid using the redirection.
The batch command
if AB == A dir
will cause an error. For that matter, any time that the second
argument argument is an initial segment of the first argument, you
will get this error. I believe that what is happening is that
COMMAND.COM is doing a string comparison, and the "AB" is getting
compared with the string "A dir". In other words, it assumes that the
length of the second argument is always at least as long as the first
argument. Then, of course, it does not find any command, and this is
an error. One is lead to wonder why they check for a command in the
first place if the condition is not met.
A solution to the above problem is to add many spaces before the command.
if AB == A dir
will cause "AB" to be compared to "A " and the command will still be
parsed correctly.
------------------------------
Date: 12 Oct 83 16:20:46-EDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc@isib
From: Mfarber@UDel-Relay
Subject: DOS Date Updating
The reason the date remains unchanged is that the date is only updated
whenever the time check routine is called. If the time check routine
isn't called for 24 hours, the date lags behind.
The reason the time has to be "updated" is that it uses a number
changed 18.21 times a second by the internal clock and converts it
into a new time.
Manny Farber
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 12 Oct 83 4:11-PDT
Date: 9 Oct 83 16:23:11-PDT (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: microsoft!markz@UW-Beaver
Subject: Reply to MS-DOS 2.0 Problems
I believe that there is a system call to change the
location of the environment
There is no such system call documented or otherwise. The environment
is a per-process block of information that gets copied to all
children.
It didn't take long to discover that the environment CANNOT be
expanded beyond 128 bytes.
False. You cannot extend the environment beyond 128 bytes in a BAT file.
This is because during the processing of BAT files, COMMAND uses the system
call ALLOC to get some space to work with. DEALLOC and ALLOCing a larger
block when the environment grows, fragmenting memory, causes quite some
confusion in naive users (which outnumber the readers of this by > 1000 to 1).
You can expand the environment to your hearts content OUTSIDE of BAT files.
If you wish to execute a program in a different subdirectory than the
on you are currently in, you'd better have a PATH telling DOS how to
get there.
Fact. Unfortunately, there are quite a few people who created BAT files
that relied on a bug with the 1.0 command parsing, e.g. chkdsk.fixmydisk a:
These BAT files were put into little packages and sold along with other
applications. If COMMAND changed for 2.0 to do proper (ala sh) command
parsing, there would be lots of unhappy naive users. Thus, the parsing
scheme was left alone. COMMAND parses only one 8 character name off the
command line.
My programs just HANG at the end of the file...
Do your programs correctly check for end-of-file on input? How does one
define "end-of-file" on a system call that is documented as "read 1 byte from
the console"? I suspect that your run-time support is lacking the smarts
to use 2.0 system calls. Rewriting them to use handles should be trivial.
Batch (.BAT) files cannot be nested. I don't recall if they could
be in earlier DOS versions either.
The documentation for 1.0 says that BAT file cannot be nested and cause
chaining if such nesting is attempted. Changing this to do nesting would
make lots of naive users unhappy with their packaged programs.
Microsoft wants us to use DOS for everything. Has anyone timed the
speed with which DOS writes to the screen? Is it 300 or 400 baud?
Programs that output characters to the screen 1 at a time and check for ↑C
in between each character must certainly seem slow. Have you ever wrote a
program that outputs 1 character at a crack on UNIX? If you want speed,
buffer your writes and put the handle in raw mode.
I currently have 30 COPIES of stdio.h and 45 COPIES of pe.pro (the
key definition profiler for the Personal Editor).
Too bad the software you purchased did not make full use of the OS. To make
links work, you need to be able to centralize the allocation information
for files. UNIX has inodes. MSDOS has the directory entries themselves.
Snooping around for other directory entries that refer to the same file
when performing writes is not a trivial task.
The date does not always (usually) change at midnight.
The IBM ROM for maintaining time presents a tick-count interface to the world.
Among the information returned is a flag (not a count!) that the time
overflowed the 16-bit counter. If you don't read the clock for 10 days, the
ROM will say that an overflow occurred rather than how many. Having the
DOS hook into the timer interrupt doesn't work either as there are many
applications that steal (not link into) the timer interrupt.
How does COMMAND.COM tell DOS where the handler for the
EXEC function is?
On non-IBM systems, the EXEC system call is part of the kernel. On IBM
systems COMMAND.COM installs a handler for INT 21h and filters those
calls with AH == 4Bh.
How is it possible that the word at offset 6 in the program
segment prefix is both part of a long call and the size
of a the segment?
Clever manipulation: any CS:IP that refers to a particular location
has 12 bits of redundant information on the 8088/6. Shuffling this
information around gives the desired result.
Has anybody figured out how to get COMMAND.COM to work with both the
-c and the -p options.
You mean the /p and /c options? Hmmm: /p means be permanent and don't exit
while /c says do one command and exit. It is a bug that there is not a
message informing you that these two switches are incompatible but not
a bug that they don't work together.
------------------------------
Date: 12 Oct 1983 1622-PDT
To: Info-IBMPC
From: Randy Cole <COLE@USC-ISIB>
Subject: TK! Solver Review
I recently spent some time with the TK! Solver program from Software
Arts (the people who originally developed Visicalc), and thought I'd
pass along my impressions.
TK! Solver is a program which solves equations or sets of equations.
For example, given a+b=c*d, it can solve for any one of the variables
given the other three. It also has an iterative capability, to find
things like the zeros of polynomials. It is supposed to be for people
like engineers, who want to deal with problems in their own terms and
not worry about array indices and loops and other nasty computerish
things.
The program does what it claims to do. If you can set up the
equations that describe what you know it will solve them if you have
given it enough information. It does, however, solve them VERRRRRRY
SLOOOOOWLY (more about that later).
The commands are Visicalc-like (/this and /that), and so is the way
commands are typed in and edited and shown at the top of the screen.
When a list of available commands is shown, one-letter abbreviations
are uses, like "/A S L F", and you have to remember what each is,
unlike 123, which spells them out for you.
The documentation is very nice. It starts out with a short
introduction that leads you through a sample problem. After that
there is a tutorial manual and a reference manual. The manual assumes
no knowledge of the machine.
The program is copy protected. A duplicate disk is supplied. Some of
the supporting programs can be copied to a hard disk, but you're still
going to have to put the original disk in the drive every time you run
the program.
There does seem to be one major problem with this program -- FOR THE
LIFE OF ME, I CAN'T FIGURE OUT WHAT THE HECK IT IS GOOD FOR. The hard
part of solving any engineering problem is figuring out how to
describe the problem mathematically. Once you have that done the rest
is generally pretty simple. Most people who solve large sets of
simultaneous equations probably are using computers to do that
already.
As for speed, I used TK! Solver to solve the equation x↑3 - 6*x↑2 = 0
(yes, I know you can figure that one out in your head in about 2
seconds). TK! Solver took 32 seconds to get answer, which was
correct. I pulled out my HP calculator and asked it to solve the same
equation. It took 17 seconds to get the same answer.
TK! Solver must be a beautifully written program. I'm not an AI type,
so I couldn't even start to write a program which does what it does,
and I have a lot of respect for whoever wrote it. But it sure leaves
me asking why they bothered.
Randy Cole
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂14-Oct-83 1423 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #76
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 14 Oct 83 14:23:07 PDT
Date: 14 Oct 1983 1315-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #76
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 14 October 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 76
Today's Topics:
DOS 2.0 (2 msgs)
Job Offer
Another Peanut Rumor
Quadboard Parallel Port Problem
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 12 Oct 83 23:56-PDT
Date: 10 Oct 83 8:11:51-PDT (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!eagle!allegra!alice!rabbit!ark @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PC-DOS Queries
I'm using an IBM PC-XT with DOS 2.0, and I've got some questions:
1. It appears that none of the routines in DOS or BIOS will let me
do interrupt-driven I/O to the RS-232 serial port. Instead, I
must grab the interrupt vector and do it all myself. I can see no
other way of writing a program that does even something as simple
as copying characters from the serial port to the screen, because
sending out a character that causes a scroll can take more than one
character time at 1200 baud so I lose data. Suggestions?
2. There's a lot of software out there that doesn't know about directories,
and won't because it has to stay compatible with older operating systems.
These programs include the Pascal compiler, the macro assembler,
various editors, and so on. Life would be much easier if I could say:
MODE Q=C:\SYS
thus inventing a fictional drive Q that the system would map to c:\sys
for me. A bit of a kludge, but so are most compatibility hacks.
3. How do I change a volume label without reformatting the volume?
4. Some programs, such as diskcopy, format, compare, automatically
recycle when they are done. Format, for example, asks if I want to
format something else. I can understand why this would be important
on a machine with only one floppy drive and no hard disk. HOWEVER,
I find it a nuisance on the XT. A program should do exactly what I
asked it to and then shut up.
5. Several DOS programs seem to insist on a single file name only,
even though that name can have wildcard characters. For instance,
I do not think I can say "ERASE X Y Z" and have three files vanish.
Similarly, I would like to say 'FIND "FOO" A B C'
6. Finally, the linker appears to be able to break open a structure
called a "library". How do I create such a thing myself? How can
I find out what's in one?
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 13 Oct 83 2:20-PDT
Date: 10 Oct 83 19:53:32-PDT (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!gummo!whuxle!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: PC-DOS
I will try to answer a couple of your questions.
1. For a good example of an INTERRUPT driven routine for the RS232
port look at the software that comes with the IBM Async Comm Support
package. In Version 1 it is called RS232INT.BAS and in Version 2 it is
RS232INT.EXE. These are essentially the same driver routines. They
setup the comm port for I/O and then handle all I/O on an interrupt
basis with a receive buffer of 2000 bytes and an transmit buffer of
256 bytes. System calls are provided to handle parity, word length,
speed, send/recv, buffer usage, etc.
I have been using them on a terminal simulator with lines running up to
4800 baud and have not dropped a character yet. When the buffer gets
about 200 characters, I send a ↑S and when it get down to 50
characters, I send a ↑Q. The programs were originally written to
interface with BASIC programs but are not dependent upon that
environment. I have interfaced them to PASCAL.
By disassembling the program, you will find all the 'tricks of the
trade' that actually make it work. I would recommend this software if
you are going to interface with the RS232 port since it will save a
lot of grief if you try to write your own. Make sure you get a
Version 1 copy, since for some reason they left out the documentation
on the system calls in the second version.
3. There are several ways to change the disk volume label once it is
created. I got a copy of a program from a BBS that did the function.
The other way is to use DEBUG (a very good general purpose program)
and read in the directory (usually starting at sector 5), change the
name, and then write it back. Not exactly kosher, but it get the job
done without having to write a program.
------------------------------
Date: Thu 13 Oct 83 11:59:54-EDT
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Frank da Cruz <cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: Job Offer
Columbia University's School of Engineering is setting up a graphics
laboratory based upon IBM PC's and XT's, under a grant from IBM, and a
full time systems programmer is needed, primarily to develop graphics
and communications tools. A degree in science or engineering is
preferred, plus experience in programming the PC in assembly language,
and a good background in graphics. And knowledge of the PC marketplace.
And familiarity with mainframes, particularly DEC-20s or IBM VM/CMS
systems. The job is in Manhattan, the pay is on a par with Manhattan
programming salaries. Benefits include tuition exemption at Columbia.
If you're interested, call Professor Leon J. Lidofsky, 212-280-4460.
------------------------------
Date: Thu 13 Oct 83 09:38:21-PDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Ed Pattermann <PATTERMANN@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA>
Subject: Another Peanut Rumor
In the Oakland Tribune on Wednesday, October 12, front page, lower
left corner, the headline read "IBM's new computer revealed". The
article was from sources (including dealers) who have been given
advance information on the secret IBM "PEANUT" project.
"The TRIBUNE has learned that IBM recently told some Bay Area dealers
that its long-awaited "PEANUT" computer will go on sale Nov 1. Two
versions will be offered, both featuring a cordless keyboard, and sold
at suggested retail prices of $695 and $1,295, the sources were told.
Moreover, the code name of PEANUT will be dropped for the formal title
of PC Junior"
The article goes on to give a couple more technical details, such as
the $695 model will have two cartridge slots and 64K of memory. The
$1,295 model will have 128K of memory, the two cartridge slots, and a
single-disk drive.
-- Ed
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 14 Oct 83 6:01-PDT
Date: 10 Oct 83 18:17:48-PDT (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: utcsrgv!peterr@UW-BEAVER
Subject: Quadboard Parallel Port Problem
I've recently switched from a first-generation IBM parallel adapter
card to a Quadboard. It works fine, except for one apparent bug: if
the printer (an Epson MX-80) is off, the Quadboard seems to indicate
to BASIC that it is both on and selected. If the printer is on, the
select status is correctly reported to BASIC. I believe the IBM card
properly reports the printer as off when it is. Have other people had
this problem? Is there any sure fire method a program can use to
determine whether or not the printer is on when using a Quadboard? A
mistakenly-off printer has caused me to lose some output to the
bit-bucket.
peter rowley, U. of Toronto Department of C.S., Ontario Canada M5S 1A4
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂19-Oct-83 1709 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #77
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 19 Oct 83 17:09:07 PDT
Date: 19 Oct 1983 1448-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #77
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 19 October 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 77
Today's Topics:
IBM Announces 3270 PC and XT/370
Too Large DOS 2.00 Manual
Changing the Volume Label
Cheaper Expansion Chassis Wanted
Typeahead Buffer Query
Hi-Speed Lineprinter Query
SAT Test Software Wanted
Microscribe Hard Disk
WWV Clock
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 19 Oct 1983 1321-PDT
To: Info-IBMPC
cc: Cole, Brackenridge
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
Subject: IBM Announces 3270 PC and XT/370
According to today's Wall Street Journal, IBM has announced two new
personal computers. Not much technical detail in the article; here's
a summary:
The 3270 Personal Computer comes with a windowing package that divides
the screen into as many as seven windows. The windows can be moved,
grown or shrunk. The 3270 PC costs $4,290 to $7,180 depending on
features. A color display monitor is priced separately at $995.
Deliveries will begin the first quarter of 1984.
The XT/370 is especially slanted towards communication with mainframe
(IBM) computers. The XT/370 "will allow programmers and engineers to
run, unchanged, most programs available for the 370 mainframe
computers at the desk-top." It's not clear whether this means it can
actually execute 370 code directly or just cause a remote host to
execute programs. The XT/370 costs from $8,995 to $11,690 depending
on memory size. A regular XT can be upgraded to an XT/370 for $3,790.
Deliveries will begin the second quarter of 1984.
These computers will also be leasable from IBM. IBM also announced
a new communications card for the PC.
If anyone has more details, we'd sure appreciate seeing them.
/Dick
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 83 16:45:04 EDT
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
From: Manny Farber (Farber CC) <mfarber@udel-relay.arpa>
Subject: Too Large DOS 2.00 Manual
I have a non-technical hint for people that got DOS 2.00 to replace
DOS 1.1; what I did was to peel the "1.1" label off the old 1.1
manual's binder, and in it, replace the 1.1 documentation with the
Appendixes, diskettes, and quick reference from the DOS 2.00 manual.
This makes both parts easier to use.
-Manny
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 83 20:07:02 EDT
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
From: Manny Farber (Farber CC) <mfarber@udel-relay.arpa>
Subject: Changing the Volume Label
To change a volume label, what has to be done is to:
(all of this stuff is done using the Assembly Language
functions listed in the appendix of the DOS 2.00 manual)
1. Change the attribute of the volume label to 0.
2. Once it is changed, it can be deleted, so delete the file.
3. Then, if you want a new volume label, create (there's a
function to do this) a file with attribute 8 and having
the name of what you want the volume label to be.
The way the volume labels work is:
1. The volume label is actually a file stored with attribute 8.
2. The file's name is the volume label, so that's why it is
limited to 11 characters.
3. You can only have one, of course.
To get a volume label:
1. Use the function to search for a file, using file attr 8.
I am going to write an assembly language program to do
this sometime; when I do, I will send it into Info-IBMPC.
-Manny
* I believe that there is a utility in the Norton
Utilities called "LABEL" or something that does this.
[Yes, there is such a utility in the Norton package. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Oct 1983 11:56 EDT
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: SJOBRG@MIT-OZ
Subject: Cheaper Expansion Chassis Wanted
I have a COMPAQ that is out of slots. I'd like to buy an expansion
chassis for it, but Tecmar wants $945 and IBM wants more for an 8-slot
version with power supply. If I want two empty bays (for my hard disk
and tape backup from non-IBM vendors), I get fewer slots, a long wait
for the special order, and it costs a lot more.
$945 seems a bit steep for eight slots and a power supply, since the
total hardware and assembly costs (using my company's approximate
rates for both) is about $250, including the enclosure. Can someone
point me to an alternate source, or am I stuck with Tecmar/IBM?
Thanks.
------------------------------
Date: 15 Oct 1983 0457-EDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
From: Thomas S. Wanuga <WANUGA@MIT-XX>
Subject: Typeahead Buffer Query
Is there any way to increase the size of the type ahead buffer on the IBMPC?
Tom
------------------------------
Date: 15 Oct 83 1:41:11-EDT (Sat)
To: PC Interest Group <info-ibmpc@usc-isib>
From: "Peter N. Wan" <wan.gatech@Rand-Relay>
Subject: Hi-Speed Lineprinter Query
I am posting this for a friend who is thinking of buying IBM PC
machines to perform administrative functions for a high school.
The matrix printers and daisy-wheel/thimble printers that he has seen
for the PC are much too slow for his purposes; I guess what he is
looking for is a line printer, probably in the 300-600 LPM range. If
anyone has information/pointers to manufacturers who provide line
printers in this speed range and which interface to a PC (not XT for
now), I would appreciate hearing about them. I think that the
intended use is for printing out student/classroom schedules, so that
letter-quality is not a requirement at all. I think that speed is the
main concern. Thanks for any help you can provide. Please send
replies via mail, and I will summarize to the net if necessary.
UUCP : ...!{allegra,sb1,ut-ngp}!gatech!wan or ...!duke!mcnc!msdc!gatech!wan
ARPA : wan.gatech@Udel-Relay CSNET : wan@gatech
------------------------------
Date: 17 Oct 1983 21:53:12 EDT (Monday)
To: INFO-IBMPC at USC-ISIB
From: Jim Morrell <morrell at mitre>
Subject: SAT Test Software Wanted
I have a high school junior that will be taking the SAT exams shortly.
I have heard that there are package(s) for APPLE, ATARI, and others
that includes SAT instructions, drill, and a practice test for about
$80. Has anyone had any experience with these packages? Are they
worth $80? Has anyone seen anything for the IBM-PC in this same
price range? (The only thing I can find is CBS Software's package
that COMPUTERLAND wants $180 for -- see CBS's ad in the October
Softalk magazine, p.39). All responses welcome -- here or voice
to (703) 938-8259 (Vienna, Va.).
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 83 9:51:17 EDT
To: gillmann@usc-isib.arpa
Remailed-To: info-iBMPC
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.arpa>
Subject: Microscribe Hard Disk
I just purchased a Microscribe 10 mb drive which is like the XT drive.
In fact it seems the very same, formats and runs well. Cost $670
quantity one.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 83 16:46:02 EDT
To: Info-IBMPC@ISIB
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.arpa>
Subject: WWV Clock
Heathkit has a clock which synchs itself off of the WWV digital time
signal. All this and an RS-232 interface for $389.95. You too can
have the world's most accurate PC clock.
Dave
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂22-Oct-83 0951 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #78
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 22 Oct 83 09:48:56 PDT
Date: 21 Oct 1983 1821-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #78
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 21 October 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 78
Today's Topics:
XT/370
Tandon Slim-Line TM55-2 (2 msgs)
CI-C86, Animation, 80186 Queries
68000 Board Query
Cheaper Expansion Chassis (2 msgs)
DR Large Model C Compiler
WWV Clocks (2 msgs)
Sanyo PC-Compatible Query
Xebec/Starlogic Diskcopy Wanted
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 83 20:33:06 EDT
To: gillmann@usc-isib.arpa, brackenridge@usc-isib.arpa
Remailed-To: info-IBMPC
From: (anonymous)
Subject: XT/370
The XT/370 has two 68000s and a special 8087 chip that does IBM
floating point. It emulates the 370 via re-microprogrammed 68000s.
------------------------------
Date: 19 Oct 1983 2141-EDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
From: Willie Lim <WLIM@MIT-XX>
Subject: Tandon Slim-Line TM55-2
I am trying to replace one of my Tandon TM100-1's on my PC with two
new "slim-line" Tandon TM55-2's (aka TL55-2 ???). However there are
two problems. I don't have the accessories for mounting them one on
top of the other. There seems to be enough clearance to mount them
that way (height of TM55-2 is 1 9/16 in. and that of the TM100-1 is 3
9/16in.). However I have to be careful to leave enough clearance
between them to accommodate the microprocessor that is on the top of
each drive. The other problem is that the power surge of the TM55-2
might be too much for the PC power supply.
Tandon suggested that I use the TM50-2 instead since it is directly
compatible with the TM100-2 in functionality and power supply
requirement.
Has anyone out there installed the TM55-2's on their PC/XT? I'll be
interested in your solutions. Replies will be posted.
Willie
------------------------------
Date: 21 Oct 1983 1224-EDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
From: Willie Lim <WLIM@MIT-XX>
Subject: Re: Tandon Slim-Line TM55-2
Here is what I got from the local Tandon sales office.
The TM55-2 (which uses a Hall effect motor) has a current surge of 1.4
A for 50msec. The person I talked to said that it can be as high as 2
A. For the TM50-2, the current surge is 1.3 A. and he said that it is
probably less (around 1 A). The steady state current for the TM55-2
is 900 mA and for the TM50-2 it is 800 mA. I got these numbers over
the phone, the data sheet is being sent to me. He made a claim that
two TM55-2's draw as much current (not sure if it is surge or steady
state) as a Winchester. So his advice is: if your power supply can
handle a Winchester then it can handle two TM55-2's. I don't have the
numbers for the power supply of the PC and hence cannot say if he is
right.
Regarding mounting the TM55-2 one on top of the other, his advice is
to use two side screws on one side only instead of on both sides of
the disk drives. Brackets (costing about $3.00 a pair) are available
from mail order places for mounting them. There is enough clearance
in the PC for mounting them with a small (guess: 1/4 in. to 1/2 in.)
gap separating them. This is important if you have the TM55-2 since
the microprocessor on top of it prevents two of them to be stacked
directly on top of one another.
Rumor: He also said that the trim-lines will be used in the Peanut.
It'll probably be the TM50D (or was it TM55D?) a direct drive version
of half-height disk drives. The TM50's and TM55's are currently belt
driven.
Willie
------------------------------
Date: Wed 19 Oct 83 23:31:50-EDT
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Seth Haberman <SETH@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: CI-C86, Animation, 80186 Queries
1) I've recently been using the CI-C86 compiler. I have played with
redirecting input to COM1:. I have noticed however that I cannot by
using the '<' take input from COM1: I can however using '>' send
output out to COM1:.
2) Has any one seen a sprite board or nice graphics system for the PC
capable of doing real-time animation?
3) Has any one played with the 80186 card from Sritek? I have been
evaluating the 68000 card and I would be interested in trading notes.
Seth@cs
------------------------------
Date: Thu 20 Oct 83 12:45:02-PDT
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Chuck Restivo <RESTIVO@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: 68000 Board Query
I am trying to identify any company that manufactures a 68000 board
for the IBM-PC. I would be appreciative to those who might help me
with some pointers. Thank you.
-- Chuck Restivo
------------------------------
Date: Thu 20 Oct 83 13:08:34-PDT
To: sjobrg%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA
cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: RAMSEY@SRI-KL.ARPA
Subject: Re: Cheaper Expansion Chassis
I have found two expansion chassis that are considerably cheaper than
Tecmar and IBM, but I have not evaluated either of them. The first is
made by P.C. Horizons, is called the PC-XTRA, and has 6 slots and a
power supply. One slot must be used for bus extension to the PC.
The only limitation seems to be that no cards using the 14.3 MHz
oscillator may be used. At one of the fairs they were advertising it
for $549. Its styling is almost identical to the PC.
The other unit is made by Anrok Computer Products and also has six
slots, a power supply and a fan, and is called the PCX-6. They
suggest a price of $495. Their data sheet is rather sparse on other
information.
Addresses: P.C. Horizons, Inc. Anrok Computer Products
200 North Tustin Ave. 2405 de la Cruz Blvd.
Santa Ana, CA Santa Clara, CA
714-953-5396 408-727-7622
I would be interested if anyone has used either of these units or
similar ones since I am in need of an expansion unit for my XT.
- Dave Ramsey -
------------------------------
Date: Thursday, 20 Oct 1983 20:22-PDT
To: randvax!SJOBRG@MIT-OZ
Cc: randvax!Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: uno@RAND-UNIX
Subject: Re: Cheaper Expansion Chassis
I was perusing INFOWORLD volume 5 number 37 (9/12/83) and came across
an Advanced Computer Products advertisement on page 80 for an M&R
"SUP'R EXTENDER" for $439. It supposedly is an IBM PC and XT
expansion chassis with 6 slots, power supply and fan.
------------------------------
Date: 20 Oct 83 19:11:07 EDT (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
From: Mike Ciaraldi <ciaraldi@Rochester.ARPA>
Subject: DR Large Model C Compiler
For the past several months I have been using the Digital Research C
compiler. After some problems with the original release, it looks
pretty good.
This compiler only runs under CP/M-86 (DRI's version only, not the
older one distributed by IBM) or Concurrent CP/M-86, but a PC-DOS
version is coming.
You can compile in one of 4 memory models:
Small allows 64K of code, and 64K of combined static data (globals),
stack (local variables), and heap (alloc variables).
Compact allows 64K of code, 64K of stack, 64K static, and unlimited
heap. It uses 32-bit pointers for all data.
Medium allows unlimited code, and 64K total combined stack, static,
and heap. It uses 16-bit pointers for data, 32-bit subroutine calls.
Big allows unlimited code, unlimited heap, and 64K combined stack and
static (I think). It uses 32-bit pointers for both code and data.
Of course, these 32-bit pointers really turn into 20-bit addresses.
When you buy the C compiler (about $500), I believe the price includes
the Programmer's Utilities, which are the link editor, relocatable
assembler, and object-file librarian.
The compiler produces an extended version of Intel object files (not
the older HEX files). You specify the memory model at compile-time,
and something gets written into the .OBJ file to tell the linker which
library to use. You get four libraries, one for each model.
One idiosyncrasy is that the .CMD file produced has undocumented
extensions that allow the segment fixup upon loading at runtime. The
result is that, when you run a program that was compiled in the
compact, medium, or big mode, you cannot do it the regular way. e.g.
if it is FOO.CMD, you have to say
R FOO
This runs R.CMD, which loads in FOO.CMD and does the fixup. Small
model does not need this. If you are running Concurrent (newest
version), you don't have to use the R.
I hope this is of help to people.
Mike Ciaraldi
ciaraldi@rochester
------------------------------
Date: Thursday, 20-Oct-83 14:18:09-PDT
To: INFO-IBMPC@ISIB
From: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@RAND-UNIX>
Subject: Cheaper WWV Timebase
If you're interested in a WWV-sync'd clock, please note that the
Heathkit unit is extremely overpriced. WWVB (longwave) receivers are
available for around $100, and their digital output can be easily
interfaced to most micros.
--Lauren--
------------------------------
Date: 21 Oct 1983 1712-PDT
To: Info-IBMPC
cc: Vortex!Lauren@RAND-UNIX
From: Randy Cole <COLE@USC-ISIB>
Subject: What time is it?
I respectively beg to differ about the possibility of buying a $100
WWVB receiver and trying to extract the time codes from it.
We at ISI bought 4 WWVB clocks (receiver, 8085 micro, and antenna)
from an outfit called Spectracomm for about $2500 apiece. You can now
buy cheaper ones, maybe $2000 or so. The Spectracomm clocks have the
reputation for being the best around. We use them for absolute time
measurements for network transit times, etc.
The problem is that there is an incredible amount of noise at the 60
KHz frequency of WWVB, from things like switching power supplies, etc.
The places where you want the time are generally around computer
rooms, which are the noisest places on earth.
We have an outdoor active antenna on top of ISI (200 feet up), so I
don't know how you could do much better than that. You can watch the
clocks synch up and on some days it takes 5 minutes or so, because
about every 3rd or 4th bit is noisy.
I'm not saying you can't do it, but if you were doing it for a
research project where people time is costly, it would be false
economy, because it would take a fair amount of experimentation.
Also the electronics in LF receivers exhibits a built-in delay, often
on the order of 20-30 microseconds. Therefore you need some
calibration with an absolute, like an atomic clock. We even got the
Naval Observatory people to bring the official USA portable atomic
clock around, which was really neat.
We spent a lot of time getting accurate time, and it was kinda fun,
but it wasn't easy.
Randy Cole
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 83 9:57:41 EDT
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
From: Ron Minnich <rminnich%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.arpa>
Subject: Sanyo PC-Compatible Query
The Sanyo PC sells for $1000 for the most basic model. Does anyone
know anything about it? How compatible is it?
ron minnich
------------------------------
Date: 20 Oct 1983 21:58:02-PDT
To: info-ibmpc@isib
From: mmcohen.ucsc@Rand-Relay
Subject: Xebec/Starlogic Diskcopy Wanted
We have 2 15MB disks on a Xebec controller from Starlogic. Is there a
program out there in PC land which will copy one disk to the other
byte for byte (under DOS 2.0)?
We now have VENIX up on an XT and it seems to be OK. Runs VI and CSH
and knows about the 8087. We are now working on getting up UUCP.
Michael M. Cohen
Univ. of California - Santa Cruz
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂24-Oct-83 1340 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #79
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 24 Oct 83 13:40:32 PDT
Date: 24 Oct 1983 1113-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #79
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Monday, 24 October 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 79
Today's Topics:
3270-PC and XT/370 (3 msgs)
Improvements to VDISK
WWV
SRITEK 68000 Xenix Card
ANROK Expansion Chassis
SAT Test Software
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri 21 Oct 83 19:00:39-PDT
From: Ed Pattermann <PATTERMANN@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA>
Subject: 3270-PC and XT/370
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
[Adapted from Oct. 18 announcement by IBM]
The IBM 3270 Personal Computer (3270-PC) combines the interactive
functions of the 3270 display and the compute power of the IBM
personal computer. The 3270-PC can display 7 separate windows
simultaneously -- 4 with data from host computer applications, 2
electronic note pads, 1 window running IBM PC DOS 2.0. The unit
connects by coax cable to a 3274 controller at the host mainframe.
Three models are scheduled for 1Q/84: Prices do not include control
software ($300) or monitor ($995)
MODEL 2 -- 256K RAM, 1 floppy, PC controller, 3270 system adaptor and
BASIC 2.0 , keyboard $4,290
MODEL 4 -- All of the above but with 320 K RAM, 2 floppies, printer
adaptor for graphics printer - $5,319
MODEL 6 -- All of the above but with 320 K RAM, 1 floppy, 10- MB rigid
disk, printer adaptor for graphics printer -
$7,180.
The color monitor is 14-inch Matsushita, displaying up to 8 colors;
resolution 350 by 720. Will only display 2K characters per screen,
regardless of window sizes. Uses a different interface from other PC
monitors. A black and white monitor is available, which is the same
as the PC, but with a different controller.
Keyboard is a 3278 and PC layout combination, different serial
interface. No mouse, not even light pen. Cursor control is through
the standard 4 key compass arrangement.
The 3270-PC can emulate a 3178, 3278, 3279 terminal
Screen management includes:
o-User defined windows up to 2,000 characters per screen
o-Move windows to any location on the display
o-Alter size of windows
o-Define foreground and background color for host sessions
Data can be copied from any window to another *except* the PC DOS
window. One or two local notepad windows can copy or save data from
other sessions, notes, etc
An expansion module allows up a 20 MB disk to be attached plus
additional expansion slots.
The PC 3270 is a strong candidate to replace the aged (8-years) 3270
workstation family. This gives IBM the advantage of enormous
economies of scale, with state-of-the-art hardware and maintenance
procedures.
**********
IBM PC XT 370 adds hardware and software to give the IBM PC XT the
ability to function as a System/370 workstations which can also
download and run many System/370 programs. This is accomplished by
adding:
o-A Processor card with 3 micro processors, and a page table. The
first micro executes most fixed point System/370 instructions; the
second emulates the remaining non-floating point System/370
instructions and general housekeeping; the third micro executes
floating point instructions
o-512 Kbytes of RAM. This memory is separate from the PC memory in the
base system. The PC.370 only uses this add-on memory; the PC can
access both memory systems.
o-3277 Mod 2 device emulation card handles communications via coax cable
to a local or remote 3274 control unit.
The unit can also function as a remote 3101 terminal. Many other VM/CMS
functions are supported including virtual memory up to 4-Mbytes.
Base price is $8995 with 10 MB disk includes monitor.
The package can be considered a combination personal computer and
desktop 370 with some limitations This is a complex announcement with
many fine points, but the product clearly brings enormous power to the
desktop user with its local processor and links to the IBM data
processing hardware. This is a combination that IBM clone vendors may
find impossible to match.
**********
Other announcements include the ability to use the PC as a workstation
on the Systems 34/36/38 and 8100 products.
IBM also is filling in the gaps in its overall office integration
strategy with the following:
o-New programs exchange memos, letters docs between 8100 and 5520 and
Displaywriter,
o-Document distribution and related functions between host and for
3270 terminals.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 83 21:24:02 EDT
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: Manny Farber (Farber CC) <mfarber@udel-relay.arpa>
Subject: 3270-PC and XT/370
At the IEEE personal computer conference, I saw an IBM 3270-PC.
The IBM 3270 was good. Originally, the IBM person there booted the
system without a diskette in the drive, so it started up in cassette
BASIC. The screen quality was at least as good as that of the
monochrome display, but in color. From BASIC, however, it doesn't do
graphics. It acts like a monochrome, except, that instead of
underlining, etc. it has the colors used on the color card.
The keyboard was a superset of the IBM PC keyboard. Even so, the
layout was a world better. There were nice big return and shift
keys, and the keys were easier to press. There are legends all
over the place on the keys; blue legends are for IBM PC specific
usages. There are twenty extra function keys in two rows across
the top. IBM sells this keyboard separately for $295. However,
I looked in the back, and the keyboard was plugged into a
card in a feature slot; a cable came from the card and plugged
into the normal place for the keyboard.
The 3270 can have 7 windows; 4 for terminals, 2 for local scratchpads,
and 1 for an IBM PC. The one for the IBM PC only works with programs
that only use the ROM-BIOS and PC-DOS for screen addressing.
This is necessary, but severely limits the usage.
According to IBM literature, the 3270 has "advanced screen management"
which allows the user to move windows, change the sizes of windows,
select background colors, define combinations of windows in up to
ten logical screens, define user-controlled display area to
view a presentation space (which logically represents a host [up to
3440 characters] or a local session [2000 characters]). Copy between
presentation spaces, transfer binary, EBCDIC, ASCII files, etc. If
anyone has any questions, I have the product announcement; address
mail to MFARBER@UDEL-RELAY.
IBM has several models from $4290 through $7180. The IBM person
said that a PC can NOT be upgraded to a 3270.
They didn't have it there an XT/370 there, but they had the product
announcement for it. (Delivery is 1Q '84). I will quote from the
beginning of the product announcement: "IBM announces the IBM Personal
Computer XT/370, an extended version of the IBM XT. The IBM PC is a
System/370 workstation which can interact with a System/370 host.
When the new IBM Virtual Machine/Personal Computer licensed program
is installed, many unaltered CMS Sys/370 programs can run on the
workstation. System/370 functions have been achieved while maintaining
IBM PC compatibility." An XT can be upgraded to an XT/370. IBM
has a special Expansion Unit for the XT/370. I have the product
announcement for that, too if anyone has any questions.
-Manny
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 24 Oct 83 2:55-PDT
Date: 21 Oct 83 7:57:57-PDT (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!eagle!allegra!alice!rabbit!ark @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: IBM PC/XT 370
This machine is, in effect, an IBM PC with an extra board (actually
three boards) that executes 370 problem-state instructions. It has
memory management, and presumably has virtual memory, because while
there's only 512K for the 370 part, it can address up to 4MB of
virtual memory. There's an additional 256K for the 8088 part,
bringing the total memory up to 768K. Floating-point is included.
Except for the 370 cards, the machine is a normal PC/XT. There is, in
fact, an upgrade kit that converts a 256K PC/XT to a PC/XT 370. The
kit contains three boards, an instruction book, and a new nameplate (!).
Their first software offering for this machine is called VM/PC.
Apparently, it's a slightly modified version of CMS to run in the 370
part, and a simulation of the CMS interface of VM/370 to run in the
8088 part. One can apparently run normal CMS load modules on the
machine.
Prices can be inferred from the fact that the upgrade kit costs
slightly more than $3700. Upgrading a PC/XT is not significantly more
expensive than buying an XT 370 to start.
------------------------------
Date: 20 Oct 83 23:13:16 EDT (Thu)
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Joel Seiferas <joel@Rochester.ARPA>
Subject: Improvements to VDISK
There have been complaints about the inflexibility of the memory-disk
device driver listed in Chapter 14 of the PC-DOS 2.0 manual. A few
local patches to the provided source, however, can add a lot of
flexibility. I use a version with variable capacity, for example.
Its capacity, in kilobytes, is initialized according to the last two
bytes of the very last (256-th) interrupt slot (absolute memory
locations 3FEH and 3FFH). In my AUTOEXEC.BAT file, a simple BASIC
program, SETVDISK.BAS, sets these locations with a value found in the
ASCII file A:VDISK.SIZ. To reinstall the driver with the newly
designated capacity, the AUTOEXEC.BAT file invokes a program
REBOOT.COM which invokes the bootstrap loader in ROM BIOS
(interruption number 19H). (The date does not survive the subsequent
reboot, but the time and most other memory contents do.)
Actually, REBOOT.COM has to do a little more than just request the
bootstrap interruption. If diskette parameters have been changed from
their original ROM settings, for example, the bootstrap process can
fail. To be safe, my version of REBOOT.COM first reloads all of the
first 32 interrupt slots with their original pointers into ROM. Such
code is not necessarily portable among ROM versions, but it is easy to
write.
Incidentally, another use for REBOOT.COM is to convince DOS that your
early-model PC really has more than 544 kilobytes of main memory. The
bootstrap process does not reread the PC's hardware switches; so if
you change the soft memos on this in low memory to indicate that you
have a total of, say, 576 kilobytes ("MEMORY←SIZE" 576 and
"IO←RAM←SIZE" 512), then the second invocation of DOS will believe
you.
SETMEM.BAS is how I prompt myself for a change in VDISK.SIZ. Any text
editor actually suffices, however, provided you don't choose a size
which is too small or too large.
Anyway, to use the variable version VARVDISK of VDISK, you could
include appropriate files BASIC.COM, SETVDISK.BAS, VDISK.SIZ,
REBOOT.COM, VARVDISK.COM, and CONFIG.SYS (including the line "DEVICE =
VARVDISK.COM") on your boot disk, and the following commands in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
IF NOT EXIST VDISK.SIZ GOTO SECOND
:FIRST
BASIC SETVDISK
RENAME VDISK.SIZ VDISK.TMP
REBOOT
:SECOND
RENAME VDISK.TMP VDISK.SIZ
Easier changes make it possible for VDISK to handle up to 112 files,
like a double-sided floppy. There seems not to be any need to change
the medium-description byte, but one must take care to zero out 7
sectors for the directory, rather than just the usual 4.
Following are all the sections I have changed to obtain my current
version of VARVDISK.ASM from VDISK.ASM:
.
.
.
; BIOS PARAMETER BLOCK
BPB EQU $
DW 512 ;SECTOR SIZE
DB 2;(JS change) ;SECTOR/ALLOCATION UNIT
DW 1 ;NUMBER OF RESERVED SECTORS
DB 2 ;NUMBER OF FATS
DW 112;(JS change) ;NUMBER OF DIRECTORY ENTRIES
SECTCT1 DW ?;(JS change) ;TOTAL NUMBER OF SECTORS
.
.
.
BOOT←REC EQU $ ;DUMMY DOS BOOT RECORD
DB 3 DUP (0) ;3 BYTE JMP TO BOOT CODE (NOT BOOTABLE)
DB 'IBM 2.0' ;VENDOR IDENTIFICATION
DW 512 ;NUMBER OF BYTES IN A SECTOR
DB 2;(JS change) ;1 SECTOR PER ALLOCATION UNIT
DW 1 ;1 RESERVED SECTOR
DB 2 ;2 FATS
DW 112;(JS change) ;NUMBER OF DIRECTORY ENTRIES
SECTCT2 DW ?;(JS change) ;TOTAL SECTORS IN IMAGE
DB 0FCH; ;TELLS DOS: SINGLE SIDED 9 SECTOR
DW 2 ;NUMBER OF SECTORS IN FAT
.
.
.
;
; DO THE BRANCH ACCORDING TO THE FUNCTION PASSED
;
MOV AL,ES:[BX]+2 ;GET FUNCTION BYTE
ROL AL,1 ;GET OFFSET INTO TABLE
LEA DI,FUNTAB ;GET ADDRESS OF FUNCTION TABLE
XOR AH,AH
ADD DI,AX
MOV BX,CS:RH←OFF ;See PC Age 2.6,
MOV ES,CS:RH←SEG ; p. 65. (JS)
JMP WORD PTR[DI]
;
; INIT
;
INIT:
PUSH CS
POP DX ;CURRENT CS TO DX
;
PUSH ES ;JS modification:
MOV AX,0 ; Load number of kilobytes
MOV ES,AX ; from last half of last
MOV AX,ES:3FEH ; "interrupt" slot, convert
SAL AX,1 ; to number of sectors,
MOV CS:SECTCT1,AX ; and store result.
MOV CS:SECTCT2,AX
POP ES
;
LEA AX,CS:VDISK ;GET ADDRESS OF VIRTUAL DISK
.
.
.
REP MOVSB ;COPY FIRST FAT TO SECOND FAT
MOV CS:WORD PTR START←SEC,5
MOV CS:WORD PTR TOTAL,7;(JS change)
Joel Seiferas
University of Rochester
[VARVDISK.ASM, REBOOT.ASM, SETVDISK.BAS and SETMEM.BAS have been
added to the Info-IBMPC free program library. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: Friday, 21-Oct-83 22:20:10-PDT
To: INFO-IBMPC@ISIB
From: vortex!lauren at RAND-UNIX
Subject: Re: WWVB
Well, my own experiences with WWVB have not included such problems.
Some years ago, I tested one of the $100 receivers (and I can dig
up the name if anyone really needs it) via interfacing it to
a noisy 8080/Z80 system in West L.A. An indoor antenna was used,
and while it took a few minutes of moving it around to find the best
spot, after that it worked fine and the data was stable.
I haven't worked with such units since then, mainly since (as you
pointed out) they are not really all *that* accurate by themselves
(given internal delays) and true WWV accuracy was not really required
for most applications.
--Lauren--
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 83 05:52:30 PDT
To: unix-wizards@brl, info-ibmpc@isib
From: David Butterfield <ica.dave@UCLA-LOCUS>
Subject: SRITEK 68000 Xenix Card
We have had the card for about two months, and use it heavily, about 16
hours every day. It is running XENIX. We are using the system single
user for program development. It is plugged into an IBM XT with two XT
disks (10MB each), a floppy disk, a COM1 card, and the card with the
video/printer interface.
The board is actually two boards screwed together, which take 1.5 slots
worth of space. We put it into slot 6, so that it "wastes" slot 7,
which is unusably short anyway. (Actually, it is possible to use the
slot next to the card, if you like to put cardboard between your
boards.)
Xenix runs on the 68000, and DOS on the PC. Since the only peripheral
on the 68000 is the PC, all I/O goes through it, and it is called the
I/O processor (IOP). The IOP runs a SRITEK supplied program to
implement the I/O functions which runs under DOS and uses its device
drivers.
It also has an interrupt driven driver of its own for the first XT hard
disk on the system, upon which you create a non-DOS partition for it to
use. For disk devices other than the first XT drive (if you have one)
it implements the XENIX devices inside DOS files. Accesses using these
DOS files seem to be about 1.5 times slower than accesses using the
interrupt driven "devices" in the XENIX partition.
There is one disadvantage to using the XENIX partition, however.
Neither XENIX nor the IOP software handle bad blocks, whereas DOS does.
So if you have a drive with bad spots in the place where the XENIX
partition goes, you're out of luck. (We have 5 XT's: 2 with zero bad
cylinders, 2 with 1 bad cylinder each, and 1 with 3 bad cylinders; the
numbers are on a label atop the drives.)
I partitioned my first XT drive into an 8MB XENIX partition and a 2MB
DOS partition. The minimum XENIX partition size recommended is 7MB.
When the system was first brought up, there were 3715 free blocks. (I
guess a 7MB partition would leave you 1667, a 9MB partition would leave
you 5763, and a 10MB (you boot off floppies) 7811.) Of course you can
get yourself more free space if you don't use learn (1224 blocks) or
spell (700 blocks) or games (450 blocks). There are no online manuals
or sources (sigh).
Basically, the system runs, and is fairly usable, for a single user.
Its major failing is that with regard to disk I/O it is slow. I am not
sure if this is inherent in the drives, or the IOP software, but I
suspect the former. The IOP takes advantage of whatever PC memory you
have to implement a write through cache of disk pages. For instance, if
you type "ls -ls" twice in a row, there is no disk activity the second
time. (This probably means that one should structure makefiles to do
similar things all in a row on this machine.)
The system is your basic V7 Unix, with such goodies as more, fsck, csh,
and (yes) vi. The console emulates three tvi925 terminals. You type a
special character and the IOP switches you among three screens -- they
look like three terminals to XENIX. If you have something going on the
first screen that you forgot to run in the background (because you are
used to typing ↑Z to your VAX), you just switch to another screen and
resume working.
The compiler seems to be pretty good. It compiled (and the loader
loaded) several long complicated programs. We have had three problems
with it. It does not do structure passing correctly (it generates bad
code). (It does, however, do structure assignment right.) The printf
library routine recognizes the "%04x" convention, and not the "%.4x"
one, causing incompatibility with some systems. The last thing is that
it does NOT have a bug that the VAX compiler has. The vax compiler
fails to sign extend when casting a short to an unsigned. (Yes, K&R
requires to lengthen first, then unsignify -- thus sign extension should
occur. It automatically works on any machine where sizeof int == sizeof
short.) The XENIX compiler does it right, resulting in nonportability.
(The chksum routine in uucp depends on this bug to run on the VAX, by
the way.)
The board comes with 22 floppies (with XENIX and the IOP software and a
diagnostic program) and 6 notebooks. 5 of them are XENIX documentation
and one is for the board itself. The documentation is not the best,
however, and I had to make a few phone calls (though mostly for stuff no
one else is interested in, I admit.)
The hardware seems to be very solid.
There are a few problems with the system. About once a week, it trashes
a block of inodes, and we have to patch or restore the root.
We run UUCP every hour to a VAX. Once in a while when the system is
busy, UUCP gets one of its alarm signals while it is opening the tty it
uses. It sometimes leaves the inode for the tty locked, which allows no
one to open it, and makes ps hang (because he likes to look at ttys).
The system loses characters when UUCP runs at faster than 1200 baud.
The debugger adb gives an "I/O error" when you try to run with a
breakpoint set, but seems to work anyway. Sometimes setting a
breakpoint seems to trash location 0xFFE, but maybe adb just makes it
look like it was trashed. (Adb does a good job of disassembling 68000
code, though!)
For some reason /etc/dmesg does not work.
These problems are annoying, but I have run on PDP-11 V7 systems that
were more flakey than this one, and it gets the job done.
I would appreciate hearing comments from anyone else using this board,
anyone else using another plug-in processor for the PC and, anyone
running a Unix derivative on the PC or one of its plug-in boards.
Dave
Dave@ucla-locus
------------------------------
Date: 22 Oct 83 21:34:52 PDT (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: ucscc!ucscd.psych36@Berkeley (21045000)
Subject: ANROK Expansion Chassis
We have a full ANROK expansion chassis on one of our PCs and it works
fine, although the fan is a little noisy when first turned on.
M.M. Cohen, UC-Santa Cruz
------------------------------
Date: Sunday, 23 Oct 1983 23:25-PDT
To: INFO-IBMPC at USC-ISIB
From: Avi Weinreb <avi at SU-STAR@ISL at Sumex-Aim>
Subject: SAT Test Software
A package named Computer SAT, by Harcourt-Brace-Jovanovitch, is
described in the Fall 83 issue of The Home Software Guild Buyer's
Guide. The list price is $80.00 ,and they offer it for $72.00. It
runs on the IBMPC. The Buyer's Guide includes a short review, which
mentions an extensive manual (460 pages).
The Home Software Guild
P.O.Box 2031
Nasha, New Hampshire 03061-2031
800-227-1929
Avi
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂24-Oct-83 1816 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #79
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 24 Oct 83 18:16:07 PDT
Date: 24 Oct 1983 1113-PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #79
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Monday, 24 October 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 79
Today's Topics:
3270-PC and XT/370 (3 msgs)
Improvements to VDISK
WWV
SRITEK 68000 Xenix Card
ANROK Expansion Chassis
SAT Test Software
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri 21 Oct 83 19:00:39-PDT
From: Ed Pattermann <PATTERMANN@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA>
Subject: 3270-PC and XT/370
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
[Adapted from Oct. 18 announcement by IBM]
The IBM 3270 Personal Computer (3270-PC) combines the interactive
functions of the 3270 display and the compute power of the IBM
personal computer. The 3270-PC can display 7 separate windows
simultaneously -- 4 with data from host computer applications, 2
electronic note pads, 1 window running IBM PC DOS 2.0. The unit
connects by coax cable to a 3274 controller at the host mainframe.
Three models are scheduled for 1Q/84: Prices do not include control
software ($300) or monitor ($995)
MODEL 2 -- 256K RAM, 1 floppy, PC controller, 3270 system adaptor and
BASIC 2.0 , keyboard $4,290
MODEL 4 -- All of the above but with 320 K RAM, 2 floppies, printer
adaptor for graphics printer - $5,319
MODEL 6 -- All of the above but with 320 K RAM, 1 floppy, 10- MB rigid
disk, printer adaptor for graphics printer -
$7,180.
The color monitor is 14-inch Matsushita, displaying up to 8 colors;
resolution 350 by 720. Will only display 2K characters per screen,
regardless of window sizes. Uses a different interface from other PC
monitors. A black and white monitor is available, which is the same
as the PC, but with a different controller.
Keyboard is a 3278 and PC layout combination, different serial
interface. No mouse, not even light pen. Cursor control is through
the standard 4 key compass arrangement.
The 3270-PC can emulate a 3178, 3278, 3279 terminal
Screen management includes:
o-User defined windows up to 2,000 characters per screen
o-Move windows to any location on the display
o-Alter size of windows
o-Define foreground and background color for host sessions
Data can be copied from any window to another *except* the PC DOS
window. One or two local notepad windows can copy or save data from
other sessions, notes, etc
An expansion module allows up a 20 MB disk to be attached plus
additional expansion slots.
The PC 3270 is a strong candidate to replace the aged (8-years) 3270
workstation family. This gives IBM the advantage of enormous
economies of scale, with state-of-the-art hardware and maintenance
procedures.
**********
IBM PC XT 370 adds hardware and software to give the IBM PC XT the
ability to function as a System/370 workstations which can also
download and run many System/370 programs. This is accomplished by
adding:
o-A Processor card with 3 micro processors, and a page table. The
first micro executes most fixed point System/370 instructions; the
second emulates the remaining non-floating point System/370
instructions and general housekeeping; the third micro executes
floating point instructions
o-512 Kbytes of RAM. This memory is separate from the PC memory in the
base system. The PC.370 only uses this add-on memory; the PC can
access both memory systems.
o-3277 Mod 2 device emulation card handles communications via coax cable
to a local or remote 3274 control unit.
The unit can also function as a remote 3101 terminal. Many other VM/CMS
functions are supported including virtual memory up to 4-Mbytes.
Base price is $8995 with 10 MB disk includes monitor.
The package can be considered a combination personal computer and
desktop 370 with some limitations This is a complex announcement with
many fine points, but the product clearly brings enormous power to the
desktop user with its local processor and links to the IBM data
processing hardware. This is a combination that IBM clone vendors may
find impossible to match.
**********
Other announcements include the ability to use the PC as a workstation
on the Systems 34/36/38 and 8100 products.
IBM also is filling in the gaps in its overall office integration
strategy with the following:
o-New programs exchange memos, letters docs between 8100 and 5520 and
Displaywriter,
o-Document distribution and related functions between host and for
3270 terminals.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 83 21:24:02 EDT
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: Manny Farber (Farber CC) <mfarber@udel-relay.arpa>
Subject: 3270-PC and XT/370
At the IEEE personal computer conference, I saw an IBM 3270-PC.
The IBM 3270 was good. Originally, the IBM person there booted the
system without a diskette in the drive, so it started up in cassette
BASIC. The screen quality was at least as good as that of the
monochrome display, but in color. From BASIC, however, it doesn't do
graphics. It acts like a monochrome, except, that instead of
underlining, etc. it has the colors used on the color card.
The keyboard was a superset of the IBM PC keyboard. Even so, the
layout was a world better. There were nice big return and shift
keys, and the keys were easier to press. There are legends all
over the place on the keys; blue legends are for IBM PC specific
usages. There are twenty extra function keys in two rows across
the top. IBM sells this keyboard separately for $295. However,
I looked in the back, and the keyboard was plugged into a
card in a feature slot; a cable came from the card and plugged
into the normal place for the keyboard.
The 3270 can have 7 windows; 4 for terminals, 2 for local scratchpads,
and 1 for an IBM PC. The one for the IBM PC only works with programs
that only use the ROM-BIOS and PC-DOS for screen addressing.
This is necessary, but severely limits the usage.
According to IBM literature, the 3270 has "advanced screen management"
which allows the user to move windows, change the sizes of windows,
select background colors, define combinations of windows in up to
ten logical screens, define user-controlled display area to
view a presentation space (which logically represents a host [up to
3440 characters] or a local session [2000 characters]). Copy between
presentation spaces, transfer binary, EBCDIC, ASCII files, etc. If
anyone has any questions, I have the product announcement; address
mail to MFARBER@UDEL-RELAY.
IBM has several models from $4290 through $7180. The IBM person
said that a PC can NOT be upgraded to a 3270.
They didn't have it there an XT/370 there, but they had the product
announcement for it. (Delivery is 1Q '84). I will quote from the
beginning of the product announcement: "IBM announces the IBM Personal
Computer XT/370, an extended version of the IBM XT. The IBM PC is a
System/370 workstation which can interact with a System/370 host.
When the new IBM Virtual Machine/Personal Computer licensed program
is installed, many unaltered CMS Sys/370 programs can run on the
workstation. System/370 functions have been achieved while maintaining
IBM PC compatibility." An XT can be upgraded to an XT/370. IBM
has a special Expansion Unit for the XT/370. I have the product
announcement for that, too if anyone has any questions.
-Manny
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 24 Oct 83 2:55-PDT
Date: 21 Oct 83 7:57:57-PDT (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!eagle!allegra!alice!rabbit!ark @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: IBM PC/XT 370
This machine is, in effect, an IBM PC with an extra board (actually
three boards) that executes 370 problem-state instructions. It has
memory management, and presumably has virtual memory, because while
there's only 512K for the 370 part, it can address up to 4MB of
virtual memory. There's an additional 256K for the 8088 part,
bringing the total memory up to 768K. Floating-point is included.
Except for the 370 cards, the machine is a normal PC/XT. There is, in
fact, an upgrade kit that converts a 256K PC/XT to a PC/XT 370. The
kit contains three boards, an instruction book, and a new nameplate (!).
Their first software offering for this machine is called VM/PC.
Apparently, it's a slightly modified version of CMS to run in the 370
part, and a simulation of the CMS interface of VM/370 to run in the
8088 part. One can apparently run normal CMS load modules on the
machine.
Prices can be inferred from the fact that the upgrade kit costs
slightly more than $3700. Upgrading a PC/XT is not significantly more
expensive than buying an XT 370 to start.
------------------------------
Date: 20 Oct 83 23:13:16 EDT (Thu)
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Joel Seiferas <joel@Rochester.ARPA>
Subject: Improvements to VDISK
There have been complaints about the inflexibility of the memory-disk
device driver listed in Chapter 14 of the PC-DOS 2.0 manual. A few
local patches to the provided source, however, can add a lot of
flexibility. I use a version with variable capacity, for example.
Its capacity, in kilobytes, is initialized according to the last two
bytes of the very last (256-th) interrupt slot (absolute memory
locations 3FEH and 3FFH). In my AUTOEXEC.BAT file, a simple BASIC
program, SETVDISK.BAS, sets these locations with a value found in the
ASCII file A:VDISK.SIZ. To reinstall the driver with the newly
designated capacity, the AUTOEXEC.BAT file invokes a program
REBOOT.COM which invokes the bootstrap loader in ROM BIOS
(interruption number 19H). (The date does not survive the subsequent
reboot, but the time and most other memory contents do.)
Actually, REBOOT.COM has to do a little more than just request the
bootstrap interruption. If diskette parameters have been changed from
their original ROM settings, for example, the bootstrap process can
fail. To be safe, my version of REBOOT.COM first reloads all of the
first 32 interrupt slots with their original pointers into ROM. Such
code is not necessarily portable among ROM versions, but it is easy to
write.
Incidentally, another use for REBOOT.COM is to convince DOS that your
early-model PC really has more than 544 kilobytes of main memory. The
bootstrap process does not reread the PC's hardware switches; so if
you change the soft memos on this in low memory to indicate that you
have a total of, say, 576 kilobytes ("MEMORY←SIZE" 576 and
"IO←RAM←SIZE" 512), then the second invocation of DOS will believe
you.
SETMEM.BAS is how I prompt myself for a change in VDISK.SIZ. Any text
editor actually suffices, however, provided you don't choose a size
which is too small or too large.
Anyway, to use the variable version VARVDISK of VDISK, you could
include appropriate files BASIC.COM, SETVDISK.BAS, VDISK.SIZ,
REBOOT.COM, VARVDISK.COM, and CONFIG.SYS (including the line "DEVICE =
VARVDISK.COM") on your boot disk, and the following commands in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
IF NOT EXIST VDISK.SIZ GOTO SECOND
:FIRST
BASIC SETVDISK
RENAME VDISK.SIZ VDISK.TMP
REBOOT
:SECOND
RENAME VDISK.TMP VDISK.SIZ
Easier changes make it possible for VDISK to handle up to 112 files,
like a double-sided floppy. There seems not to be any need to change
the medium-description byte, but one must take care to zero out 7
sectors for the directory, rather than just the usual 4.
Following are all the sections I have changed to obtain my current
version of VARVDISK.ASM from VDISK.ASM:
.
.
.
; BIOS PARAMETER BLOCK
BPB EQU $
DW 512 ;SECTOR SIZE
DB 2;(JS change) ;SECTOR/ALLOCATION UNIT
DW 1 ;NUMBER OF RESERVED SECTORS
DB 2 ;NUMBER OF FATS
DW 112;(JS change) ;NUMBER OF DIRECTORY ENTRIES
SECTCT1 DW ?;(JS change) ;TOTAL NUMBER OF SECTORS
.
.
.
BOOT←REC EQU $ ;DUMMY DOS BOOT RECORD
DB 3 DUP (0) ;3 BYTE JMP TO BOOT CODE (NOT BOOTABLE)
DB 'IBM 2.0' ;VENDOR IDENTIFICATION
DW 512 ;NUMBER OF BYTES IN A SECTOR
DB 2;(JS change) ;1 SECTOR PER ALLOCATION UNIT
DW 1 ;1 RESERVED SECTOR
DB 2 ;2 FATS
DW 112;(JS change) ;NUMBER OF DIRECTORY ENTRIES
SECTCT2 DW ?;(JS change) ;TOTAL SECTORS IN IMAGE
DB 0FCH; ;TELLS DOS: SINGLE SIDED 9 SECTOR
DW 2 ;NUMBER OF SECTORS IN FAT
.
.
.
;
; DO THE BRANCH ACCORDING TO THE FUNCTION PASSED
;
MOV AL,ES:[BX]+2 ;GET FUNCTION BYTE
ROL AL,1 ;GET OFFSET INTO TABLE
LEA DI,FUNTAB ;GET ADDRESS OF FUNCTION TABLE
XOR AH,AH
ADD DI,AX
MOV BX,CS:RH←OFF ;See PC Age 2.6,
MOV ES,CS:RH←SEG ; p. 65. (JS)
JMP WORD PTR[DI]
;
; INIT
;
INIT:
PUSH CS
POP DX ;CURRENT CS TO DX
;
PUSH ES ;JS modification:
MOV AX,0 ; Load number of kilobytes
MOV ES,AX ; from last half of last
MOV AX,ES:3FEH ; "interrupt" slot, convert
SAL AX,1 ; to number of sectors,
MOV CS:SECTCT1,AX ; and store result.
MOV CS:SECTCT2,AX
POP ES
;
LEA AX,CS:VDISK ;GET ADDRESS OF VIRTUAL DISK
.
.
.
REP MOVSB ;COPY FIRST FAT TO SECOND FAT
MOV CS:WORD PTR START←SEC,5
MOV CS:WORD PTR TOTAL,7;(JS change)
Joel Seiferas
University of Rochester
[VARVDISK.ASM, REBOOT.ASM, SETVDISK.BAS and SETMEM.BAS have been
added to the Info-IBMPC free program library. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: Friday, 21-Oct-83 22:20:10-PDT
To: INFO-IBMPC@ISIB
From: vortex!lauren at RAND-UNIX
Subject: Re: WWVB
Well, my own experiences with WWVB have not included such problems.
Some years ago, I tested one of the $100 receivers (and I can dig
up the name if anyone really needs it) via interfacing it to
a noisy 8080/Z80 system in West L.A. An indoor antenna was used,
and while it took a few minutes of moving it around to find the best
spot, after that it worked fine and the data was stable.
I haven't worked with such units since then, mainly since (as you
pointed out) they are not really all *that* accurate by themselves
(given internal delays) and true WWV accuracy was not really required
for most applications.
--Lauren--
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 83 05:52:30 PDT
To: unix-wizards@brl, info-ibmpc@isib
From: David Butterfield <ica.dave@UCLA-LOCUS>
Subject: SRITEK 68000 Xenix Card
We have had the card for about two months, and use it heavily, about 16
hours every day. It is running XENIX. We are using the system single
user for program development. It is plugged into an IBM XT with two XT
disks (10MB each), a floppy disk, a COM1 card, and the card with the
video/printer interface.
The board is actually two boards screwed together, which take 1.5 slots
worth of space. We put it into slot 6, so that it "wastes" slot 7,
which is unusably short anyway. (Actually, it is possible to use the
slot next to the card, if you like to put cardboard between your
boards.)
Xenix runs on the 68000, and DOS on the PC. Since the only peripheral
on the 68000 is the PC, all I/O goes through it, and it is called the
I/O processor (IOP). The IOP runs a SRITEK supplied program to
implement the I/O functions which runs under DOS and uses its device
drivers.
It also has an interrupt driven driver of its own for the first XT hard
disk on the system, upon which you create a non-DOS partition for it to
use. For disk devices other than the first XT drive (if you have one)
it implements the XENIX devices inside DOS files. Accesses using these
DOS files seem to be about 1.5 times slower than accesses using the
interrupt driven "devices" in the XENIX partition.
There is one disadvantage to using the XENIX partition, however.
Neither XENIX nor the IOP software handle bad blocks, whereas DOS does.
So if you have a drive with bad spots in the place where the XENIX
partition goes, you're out of luck. (We have 5 XT's: 2 with zero bad
cylinders, 2 with 1 bad cylinder each, and 1 with 3 bad cylinders; the
numbers are on a label atop the drives.)
I partitioned my first XT drive into an 8MB XENIX partition and a 2MB
DOS partition. The minimum XENIX partition size recommended is 7MB.
When the system was first brought up, there were 3715 free blocks. (I
guess a 7MB partition would leave you 1667, a 9MB partition would leave
you 5763, and a 10MB (you boot off floppies) 7811.) Of course you can
get yourself more free space if you don't use learn (1224 blocks) or
spell (700 blocks) or games (450 blocks). There are no online manuals
or sources (sigh).
Basically, the system runs, and is fairly usable, for a single user.
Its major failing is that with regard to disk I/O it is slow. I am not
sure if this is inherent in the drives, or the IOP software, but I
suspect the former. The IOP takes advantage of whatever PC memory you
have to implement a write through cache of disk pages. For instance, if
you type "ls -ls" twice in a row, there is no disk activity the second
time. (This probably means that one should structure makefiles to do
similar things all in a row on this machine.)
The system is your basic V7 Unix, with such goodies as more, fsck, csh,
and (yes) vi. The console emulates three tvi925 terminals. You type a
special character and the IOP switches you among three screens -- they
look like three terminals to XENIX. If you have something going on the
first screen that you forgot to run in the background (because you are
used to typing ↑Z to your VAX), you just switch to another screen and
resume working.
The compiler seems to be pretty good. It compiled (and the loader
loaded) several long complicated programs. We have had three problems
with it. It does not do structure passing correctly (it generates bad
code). (It does, however, do structure assignment right.) The printf
library routine recognizes the "%04x" convention, and not the "%.4x"
one, causing incompatibility with some systems. The last thing is that
it does NOT have a bug that the VAX compiler has. The vax compiler
fails to sign extend when casting a short to an unsigned. (Yes, K&R
requires to lengthen first, then unsignify -- thus sign extension should
occur. It automatically works on any machine where sizeof int == sizeof
short.) The XENIX compiler does it right, resulting in nonportability.
(The chksum routine in uucp depends on this bug to run on the VAX, by
the way.)
The board comes with 22 floppies (with XENIX and the IOP software and a
diagnostic program) and 6 notebooks. 5 of them are XENIX documentation
and one is for the board itself. The documentation is not the best,
however, and I had to make a few phone calls (though mostly for stuff no
one else is interested in, I admit.)
The hardware seems to be very solid.
There are a few problems with the system. About once a week, it trashes
a block of inodes, and we have to patch or restore the root.
We run UUCP every hour to a VAX. Once in a while when the system is
busy, UUCP gets one of its alarm signals while it is opening the tty it
uses. It sometimes leaves the inode for the tty locked, which allows no
one to open it, and makes ps hang (because he likes to look at ttys).
The system loses characters when UUCP runs at faster than 1200 baud.
The debugger adb gives an "I/O error" when you try to run with a
breakpoint set, but seems to work anyway. Sometimes setting a
breakpoint seems to trash location 0xFFE, but maybe adb just makes it
look like it was trashed. (Adb does a good job of disassembling 68000
code, though!)
For some reason /etc/dmesg does not work.
These problems are annoying, but I have run on PDP-11 V7 systems that
were more flakey than this one, and it gets the job done.
I would appreciate hearing comments from anyone else using this board,
anyone else using another plug-in processor for the PC and, anyone
running a Unix derivative on the PC or one of its plug-in boards.
Dave
Dave@ucla-locus
------------------------------
Date: 22 Oct 83 21:34:52 PDT (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: ucscc!ucscd.psych36@Berkeley (21045000)
Subject: ANROK Expansion Chassis
We have a full ANROK expansion chassis on one of our PCs and it works
fine, although the fan is a little noisy when first turned on.
M.M. Cohen, UC-Santa Cruz
------------------------------
Date: Sunday, 23 Oct 1983 23:25-PDT
To: INFO-IBMPC at USC-ISIB
From: Avi Weinreb <avi at SU-STAR@ISL at Sumex-Aim>
Subject: SAT Test Software
A package named Computer SAT, by Harcourt-Brace-Jovanovitch, is
described in the Fall 83 issue of The Home Software Guild Buyer's
Guide. The list price is $80.00 ,and they offer it for $72.00. It
runs on the IBMPC. The Buyer's Guide includes a short review, which
mentions an extensive manual (460 pages).
The Home Software Guild
P.O.Box 2031
Nasha, New Hampshire 03061-2031
800-227-1929
Avi
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂30-Oct-83 1732 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #80
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 30 Oct 83 17:32:09 PST
Date: 30 Oct 1983 1616-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #80
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Sunday, 30 October 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 80
Today's Topics:
XT/370 in Canada
Compatibles Query
Typeahead Buffer (2 msgs)
Quicksoft Word Processor (2 msgs)
Lint Query
Fast Macro Assembler Wanted
FinalWord, Mince, Scribble, PerfectWriter (3 msgs)
Homebrew XT Query
SriTek CPU Boards
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 29 Oct 83 21:55-PDT
Date: 26 Oct 83 7:55:07-PDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!genrad!security!linus!utzoo!utcsstat!wagner @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: XT/370 in Canada
It is interesting to note that the Canadian price of the PC XT/370 is
significantly higher ($15,000), and they will not sell a board upgrade
kit, at least not according to my local marketing people. Wonder if
they just slipped on a detail, or if this is a major marketing
difference in Canada (only in Canada, you say!).
Michael Wagner, UTCS (utzoo!utcsstat!wagner)
------------------------------
Date: 24 Oct 83 18:09:55 EDT (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: David B. Leonard <dbl.duke@Rand-Relay>
Subject: Compatibles Query
I would like info on what people think of the IBM-PC look-alikes on
the marketplace such as the ones from Columbia and Corona. Especially
important would be any real serious incompatibility problems or
limitations, either with the hardware or software (PC-DOS vs. MS-DOS).
Also, any problems with service, support, etc. with the vendors.
David B. Leonard
Duke University
ARPA or CSNET: dbl.duke@rand-relay
Usenet: decvax!duke!dbl
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 29 Oct 83 21:12-PDT
Date: 25 Oct 83 19:57:33-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!clyde!floyd!whuxle!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Typeahead Buffer
It is possible to change the type ahead buffer if you are willing to
write a driver for the keyboard. With DOS 2.0 is is possible to have
your own driver installed. You can copy most of it from the Tech
Manual section on the ROM code and then change the size of the buffer.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 83 11:00:14 EDT
To: wanuga@MIT-XX.ARPA
Cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Craig Douglas <Douglas@YALE.ARPA>
Subject: Re: Typeahead Buffer
I, too, was irritated by the small typeahead buffer. I now use a
program from C Ware Corp. (1607 New Brunswick Ave., Sunnyvale, CA
94087, 415/736-6905) called BUF128 which increases the buffer to 128
characters. It came as part of the Mark DeSmet C compiler system
($109). You might be able to get just the typeahead buffer program
out of them by calling between 9AM-noon Pacific time, weekdays.
------------------------------
Date: 26 Oct 83 11:12:32-EDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc@Usc-Isib
Cc: jrl%Nsf-Cs@CSNet-Relay
From: Lehmann%NSF-CS@CSNet-Relay
Subject: Quicksoft Word Processor Query
A note dated Aug 31 from hfischer@usc-eclb mentioned a $10 word
processor named Quicksoft (Info-IBMPC Digest v 2: no 60). Can anyone
provide information on the source?
John Lehmann
------------------------------
Date: 29 Oct 1983 1330-PDT
From: HFISCHER%USC-ECLB@SRI-NIC
Subject: Re: Quicksoft Word Processor
To: Info-IBMPC@ISIB
cc: Lehmann%NSF-CS at CSNET-RELAY
The Quicksoft word processor which was sold at the PC Faire for $10
comes with the following wording on its distribution disk:
"We give permission (and you are encouraged) to copy and
share this diskette."
To live up to that request, if anybody wants a copy of the product,
please send me a diskette with something on it which is useful to me
and in return I will send back a copy of Quicksoft's PC-Write.
Herman Fischer, Litton Data Systems, 8000 Woodley Ave, M/S 44-30,
Van Nuys, CA 91409
If you want to buy a copy directly from Quicksoft, their address is
219 First N. #224, Seattle, WA 98109, (206) 282-0452.
------------------------------
Date: 26 October 1983 20:07 edt
To: info-micro at MIT-ML
cc: info-ibmpc at USC-ISIB, info-cpm at MIT-ML
From: Hess.Unicorn at MIT-MULTICS
Subject: Lint Query
Anybody seen a lint program which runs on MS-DOS, CP/M, or CP/M-86
machines? Tnx, Brian
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 83 17:36:28 PDT
From: Computer Club SDC <v.cc2@UCLA-LOCUS>
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: Fast Macro Assembler Wanted
Anybody out there know of a good macro assembler (fast) for the PC? I
have used the MASM 1.0 and 2.04 (from microsoft but not yet released)
and they are both SLOW and BUGGY! I have an 8 bit machine that runs a
much better macro assembler at not less than 30 times faster with no
errors. Someone has got to know of a decent macro assembler for a PC
which isn't so slow.
Howard
v.cc2@ucla-locus
------------------------------
Date: Wed 26 Oct 83 19:19:37-PDT
To: info-micro@BRL-VGR.ARPA, info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Tim Gonsalves <Gonsalves@SU-SIERRA.ARPA>
Subject: PerfectWriter and FinalWord Query
I would like to hear from users of PerfectWriter and FinalWord about
their experiences with these products. (I am familiar with Emacs and
Scribe). How close to Emacs is PW? What is its formatter like? Is
it extensible? Does it have the forward/reverse modes of the FW?
Anything else.
If there is enough interest, I will summarize the replies.
Thanks,
Tim
Gonsalves@SU-Sierra.Arpa
------------------------------
Date: 28 Oct 1983 0023-PDT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
From: Rob-Kling <Kling.UCI-20B@Rand-Relay>
Subject: FinalWord Query
I want a text editor/formatter for the IBM-PC which is compatible with
some editor/formatter combination on the DEC20. I understand that The
Final Word is derived from EMACS and SCRIBE but have not been able to
learn whether they are perfectly compatible. Of the SCRIBE-FinalWord
formatter match is more important than the EMACS-FinalWord Editor
match.
I would appreciate any advice/experience re this pair or a good
alternative combination.
Thanks
Rob Kling
------------------------------
Date: 28 Oct 1983 09:38:38 PDT
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
From: COLE@USC-ISIB
Subject: FinalWord, Mince and Scribble
I have helped a friend who is a writer get an IBM PC system set up and
I suggested the Final Word for him. He is quite pleased with it, and
has had minimal problems with it, The Final Word is a product of Mark
of The Unicorn, a small outfit in the Boston area whose implementation
skills exceed their marketing skills by about 1000%. MoU sells Mince,
an EMACS clone, Scribble, a Scribe clone, and The Final Word.
Mince is very close to EMACS and almost all the commands are the same.
It (and the others) are written in C and it is therefore not
extensible like EMACS. Scribble is very much like Scribe, but I
haven't used it and my impression is that they would prefer people use
the Final Word.
The Final Word is menu-oriented. For example, to exit you type
Ctrl-X, which gets you the main menu, then M, which gets you the
Miscellaneous menu, and then E to exit. If you hit the sequence fast
enough the menus don't actually get shown. Although TFW is
configurable, you can't get rid of the menus (as far as I know). You
could configure the editor part to be pretty much like EMACS, but not
exactly.
The formatting part of TFW is very much like Scribe, and I have no trouble
switching back and forth. The formatter is very well supported, with
new printers added regularly, although you can configure the printer
part and get most all the capabilities of a new printer without waiting
for MoU to put out a driver for it. Proportional spacing and micro-
justification is implemented for printers which can make use of it.
Personally I use Mince for editing and TFW for formatting. I am very
happy with both, and I wish MoU would learn how to market their
excellent products so that people wouldn't have to deal with some of
the kludges that are so popular today.
Randy Cole
------------------------------
Date: 28 Oct 1983 0756-PDT
To: info-ibmpc at usc-isib
From: John McCluskey <MCCLUSKEY at JPL-VAX>
Subject: Homebrew XT Query
I have been a CP/M hacker for the last year, but a friend brought a
Compaq portable to my house, and I have seen the light! I have built
2 Z-80 machines (Big Board I, and Big Board II) and now I want to
build an 8088 machine. A place in Santa Ana is advertising XT
compatible bare boards, does anyone know about them or has anyone
built their own?
John McCluskey (MCCLUSKEY@JPL-VAX)
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 29 Oct 83 19:38-PDT
Date: 25 Oct 83 18:57:38-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!dartvax!davidk @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: SriTek CPU Boards
SriTek makes 68000, 16032, 80286, Z80, and 8086 boards for the PC/XT.
I believe that CMU is using the 68000 SriTek board in all their
student systems so it is getting a good work out down there. Their
address is:
SRITEK
3637 S. Green Rd.
Cleveland Ohio
44122
(216) 292-0011
-David Kovar
...decvax!dartvax!davidk
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂28-Oct-83 1308 WYNN@SU-SIERRA.ARPA kermit USER manual!
Received: from SU-SIERRA by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 28 Oct 83 13:03:37 PDT
Date: Fri 28 Oct 83 13:03:09-PDT
From: WYNN@SU-SIERRA.ARPA
Subject: kermit USER manual!
To: su-bboards@SU-SIERRA.ARPA
Since I couldn't find a copy of the KERMIT user manual, I printed
out a copy on the laser printer.
Anyone who would like a xerox of the manual (about 75 pages) can
mail me a note. I'll keep the original for making copies, which
should cost about $4.00.
I recommend copying the manual since it takes so long to print; besides,
it has all those nice "typeset" fonts that make the examples so much
more readable.
Pardner Wynn
wynn at sierra
p.pardner at lotsa or lotsb
-------
∂29-Oct-83 1224 WYNN@SU-SIERRA.ARPA IBM PC Kermit
Received: from SU-SIERRA by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 29 Oct 83 12:24:08 PDT
Date: Sat 29 Oct 83 12:23:39-PDT
From: Pardner Wynn <WYNN@SU-SIERRA.ARPA>
Subject: IBM PC Kermit
To: su-bboard@SU-SIERRA.ARPA
I have the assembled version of Kermit for IBM PC's/XT's.
Contact me if you want a copy of the disk.
Pardner Wynn
P.PARDNER at lotsa,b
WYNN at sierra
-------
∂01-Nov-83 1618 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #81
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 1 Nov 83 16:17:21 PST
Date: 1 Nov 1983 1459-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #81
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 1 November 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 81
Today's Topics:
PCjr: Software Compatibility List, DOS 2.10
Sritek Boards and CMU
Source Compare Tool Wanted
Mice
PC to PC Mail Query
Line Printers
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 1 Nov 1983 1108-PST
To: Gillmann at ISIB, brackenridge at ISIB
Remailed-To: info-IBMPC
From: HFISCHER@USC-ECLB
Subject: PCjr: Software Compatibility List, DOS 2.10
From a five page IBM document today:
you can buy a bare bones PCjr from IBM and then add the memory chips
and diskette later. I expect the resellers to do brisk business in
aftermarket add-on memory and accessories. There is a new IBM printer
for $175, and a color ribbon printer. No new color boards for the PC
and XT yet, but more colors per mode in jr than others.
Compatibility of software between PCjr, regular PC, and XT:
Spreadsheets compatible:
Multiplan 1.1, Visicalc 1.2
Spreadsheets incompatible:
Lotus 1A, Business Forecasting Model, Visicorp Stretchcalc
Finance compatible:
DJ Reporter, Home accountant plus, Home Budget jr, Tax mgr.
Finance incompatible:
DJ Market Analyzer and Manager, Home Budget, Personal Investor,
Real Estate Property Management
Word processing compatible:
Easywriter 1.15, Peachtext (with reservations), Word proof 1.0,
Personal Editor, Professional Editor
Word processing incompatible:
Easyspeller, Homeword, Mail list mgr, Mailmerge, Spellstar,
Starindex, Visispell, Visiword, Wordstar
Data Base Management Compatible:
PFS: File-1.05 and Report-1.05
Data Base Management Incompatible:
dBase II
Languages compatible:
Basic pro dev sys 1.05, Basic compiler, Macro assem, Logo (new one)
Languages incompatible:
APL (IBM's), Cobol, Fortran, Pascal, UCSD compilers, Fortran-77
The only communications package which is in the PCjr list is
the Personal Communications Manager. There is no note of
KERMIT compatibility or lack thereof.
A good number of the home entertainment software items, such as
Spinnaker's stuff which is Forth-based, is incompatible.
OS-wise,
PC DOS 2.10 works across the entire line. It is said to be
the same functionality as 2.00 with some bugs fixed and jr
compatible drivers. To get 2.10 for your PC or XT you will
have to pay the full price; there is currently no trade in
mechanism to upgrade.
PC DOS < 2.10 does not work on the jr.
Neither CPM/86 or UCSD P-System work on the jr.
------------------------------
Date: Monday, 31 October 1983 01:33:04 EST
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: John.Zsarnay@CMU-CS-VLSI
Subject: Sritek Boards and CMU
The Sritek boards are not in use by CMU students. The systems
available for students are standard configuration IBM-PCs (with
monochrome display and dual double-sided floppy disk drives). The ITC
(Information Technology Center, the group working with IBM to build
the campus-wide network) bought a few of the Sritek 68000 boards about
6 months ago for evaluation. I don't believe they are in regular use.
Perhaps someone from the ITC can give more definitive information.
John
------------------------------
Date: 28-Oct-83 18:21 PDT
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: JDS5.TYM@OFFICE-2
Subject: Source Compare Tool Wanted
Does anyone know of a public domain or other source compare program?
I am looking for a source compare tool which will resychronize after
blocks of different text in two compared files.
Thanks, Jeffrey
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 31 Oct 83 14:17:56 EST
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.arpa>
Subject: Mice
I just got a Mouse Systems mouse and I am impressed. 47th Street
Camera has them in stock. The software came up very easily. The
support for the PE, VW and Lotus are very nice. We tried to use the
Mouse Systems stuff with the Visi-on mouse. No deal. If anyone has
any other support I would be interested in hearing.
Does anyone have the Microsoft mouse interfaced to any software (in
particular to PE or VW, like Mouse Systems did with their mouse)? I
am getting to the point of not believing Microsoft really has a word
processor for that mouse.
Dave
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 31 Oct 83 17:25:53 EST
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.arpa>
Subject: PC to PC Mail Query
There are many ads for systems that will interchange mail PC to PC
late at night. Does anyone have any experiences or recommendations?
Dave
------------------------------
Date: 31 Oct 83 15:20:39-EST (Mon)
To: IBM Personal Computer List <info-ibmpc@usc-isib>
From: Peter N Wan <wan.gatech@Rand-Relay>
Subject: Re: Line Printers
Many thanks to the people who responded to my query. To refresh your
memory, I had posted an article some time ago asking about information
concerning line printers for the IBM PC. The graphics printer and
other matrix printers available are simply not fast enough for the
application that a friend of mine was thinking of (printing class and
room schedules for a pretty large high school). Letter quality is not
a concern at all here, just throughput and speed.
Recommendations for printers included the Printronix P300 and P600
(300- and 600-LPM, respectively), the TTY 40 printer, the Datasouth
printer, the Dataproducts printer (running at 600-LPM), the DEC LA
series (120 and 180) printers, and the Centronics series printers.
Although the Printronix printers were described as reliable and of
good quality, one respondent felt that they were a little overpriced;
I will address this point later. Although the TTY 40 comes with a
serial interface, a parallel interface can be purchased for it. The
respondent using the TTY 40 reports only one service call in seven
years, but I am not sure what kind of duty cycle he was talking about.
The Dataproducts printer runs over an RS-232 interface. The
respondent who suggested Centronics and Centronics-type printers had
one caveat to pass on: some printers which use the Centronics
interface put strange voltages on the "unused" pins in the connector,
so it would be wise to check that out before plugging the printer in
(otherwise, you could burn out your printer and/or computer).
One suggestion that I got was to find the issue of the "Mini-Micro
Systems" magazine which had the printer review in it; I found the most
recent "Peripherals Digest" (Spring, 1983). In the section that talks
about printers, they have a breakdown of serial, matrix, and line
printers (the latter is the one that I am mainly interested in). In
addition to listing the manufacturers, etc., they also provide a
tutorial section on how to buy printers; i.e., what to look for, how
to calculate the cost of ownership, etc. Part of the manufacturer's
listings include price; the price for the Printronix line of printers
didn't seem to be out of line at all with respect to some of other
ones.
Peter N Wan
MAIL : School of ICS, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia 30332
BELL : (404) 894-3658 [office] / (404) 894-3152 [messages]
UUCP : ...!{akgua,allegra,emory,rlgvax,sb1,ut-ngp,ut-sally}!gatech!wan
ARPA : wan.gatech@CSNet-Relay CSNET : wan@gatech
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂02-Nov-83 1533 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #82
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 2 Nov 83 15:32:41 PST
Date: 2 Nov 1983 1351-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #82
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 2 November 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 82
Today's Topics:
IBM Announces PCjr
PCjr Keyboard
PCjr, MS-DOS and 80188 Interrupt Vectors
Microsoft/Intel/IBM Rumors Debunked
Microsoft Word Demo Diskette
Sritek Boards at CMU
BIOS Keyboard Query
Source Text Compare Utility and Another FREE Editor
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2 Nov 1983 1311-PST
Subject: IBM Announces PCjr
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
When I heard that IBM had announced the PCjr I rushed down to the
local IBM Product Center to order one, since I need to get all the
Inner Loop software to run on it. Sure enough, they had big PCjr
posters up, videotapes and sales literature, but precious little hard
technical data, and no demonstration models. They were taking orders
(no money down required) and time stamping them. Delivery is not
promised until 1Q84, which they said was likely mid-January.
Here is what I have been able to gather about the new PCjr:
CPU: 8088 (not 80188 apparently)
Memory: 64K or 128K bytes
Operating System: PC-DOS 2.10
Display: Either RGB or TV. The Monochrome display is not
supported. I was not able to find out if a composite
monitor is supported.
Keyboard: Cheap looking, almost chicklet, keys, with the labels printed
above the keys, not on them. Completely separate from
the PCjr using infrared link like a remote TV controller.
A cable is also available so you don't have to worry about
batteries and staying in line-of-sight. The keys are
arranged differently than on a regular PC and there are less
of them (62, counting from a picture). The function
keys are at the top and there is no numeric keypad.
Expansion: There are expansion slots, but I haven't been able to find
out how many or if they are compatible with the PC.
Mass storage: A single diskette drive (half height 5 1/4") is available
and is compatible with the regular PC. The cassette port
is back.
Cartridges: There are two cartridge slots and a few games are listed
in this format.
Communication: An internal 300 baud modem is available. They will also
sell you Hayes modems either 300 or 1200 baud. Apparently
the serial port is built-in; it's not on the option list.
ROM: BIOS, Basic and "Keyboard Adventure" are in ROM.
Printers: There is a new thermal printer for $175.
System Software:In addition to DOS 2.10, there is a Basic compiler,
Macro assembler and LOGO.
Prices:
$669 64K PCjr
$1269 128K PCjr with diskette drive
$140 64K memory and display option
$480 Diskette drive
$680 IBM RGB display
$175 Thermal printer
$199 300-baud internal modem
$65 DOS 2.10
$300 Basic compiler
$100 Macro assembler
$175 Logo v1
and plenty of unbundled adapter cables at $30 or so a pop.
And now for something completely different...
We've been getting a lot of rumor-type msgs lately about IBM,
Microsoft and Intel. I've been reluctant to run them since the digest
is supposed to run technical information only and I don't want this to
turn into HumanNets. Nevertheless, since they seem to have some
bearing on the PCjr, I've decided to run them. Feel free to reply if
you have technical comments. I couldn't resist tossing in a few
myself.
------------------------------
Date: 2 Nov 1983 1607-EST
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
From: Thomas S. Wanuga <WANUGA@MIT-XX>
Subject: PCjr Keyboard
Does anyone know why IBM put such a stupid keyboard on the PCjr? I
have only seen a picture of the keyboard, and have not actually used
it. Has anyone out there had a chance to try out the keyboard? Are
those crazy "chicklet" keys necessary for the infrared transmission?
An article in the NY Times seemed to imply that it was a marketing
decision to get people who wanted to do a lot of typing (e.g.. word
processing) to buy a PC instead.
Tom Wanuga
------------------------------
Date: 2 November 1983 03:15 est
To: Info-IBMPC at USC-ISIB
From: Schauble.HIS←Guest at MIT-MULTICS
Subject: PCjr, MS-DOS and 80188 Interrupt Vectors
[From DTACK GROUNDED, The Journal of Simple 68000 systems. Subscriptions
$15 for 10 issues to 1415 E McFadden, Ste F, Santa Ana, CA 92705.
Reproduced with permission.]
There are a few chip designers and sellers at Intel (the rumor goes) who
would like to shoot Bill Gates right now. It seems the Microsoft folks
can't read, and as a result Intel has a large pile of 80188s it can't
ship. And Intel is redesigning the 80188 chip. Again.
It's like this: the 8088 spec sheet reserves two of the 256 jump vector
addresses for future Intel use. Microsoft went ahead and used them in
the MS-DOS operating system anyway. The large pile of 80188s that Intel
can't ship use those two reserved vectors for a hardware purpose.
Understand, now, Intel was right and Microsoft was wrong. And: true,
Microsoft *could* modify MS-DOS to comply, retroactively, with Intel's
entirely correct documentation.
Unfortunately, there are about 12,000 application programs sitting on
computer retailer's shelves all over the country which call those
vectors... It would seem that in this case Intel's substantial software
support backfired.
Since Intel's documentation scrupulously documented that those two
vectors are reserved, they are (the rumor goes) refusing to take back
the 80188s it has sold, unless (the rumor continues) the customer uses a
blue logo with three alphabetic characters.
And now you know why peanut has not been shipped yet, and what CPU
Peanut uses. We wonder how long it will take Intel to change the mask --
again -- and get the chip back into production -- again? (Do you realize
that most folks don't know why Peanut hasn't been released but YOU do?)
And you also know why the Intel folks would like to shoot Bill Gates.
(If the rumor is correct.)
HERE ARE THE FACTS
The following information was gathered from the Intel iAPX86/88, 186/188
User's Manual, Intel 210912-001, pages 4-10 and 5-5; and from the IBM PC
XT Technical Reference Manual, page 2-4. Page 4-10 shows that the 8088
has 5 (five) dedicated interrupt pointers 0-4), 27 reserved interrupt
pointers 5-31), and 224 (user) available interrupt pointers 32-255).
Page 2-4 of the I'M manual reveals that MS-DOS uses 25 of those 27
reserved interrupt vectors. Specifically, MS-DOS uses 5 and 8 through 31
inclusive.
Now turn to page 5-6 of the Intel manual. Table 5-2 reveals that the
80186/88; uses 5 as a vector for the array bounds exception, and also
vectors 6 thru 15 and 18 and 19. Which means that MS-DOS programs will
*NOT*, in general, run on the 80186/8. We are told that the better the
program, the more likely that those MS-DOS vectors are being used at the
application level.
The fact is that the 80186/8 is a very cost-effective chip at the
hardware system level, as we have reported before. It is highly logical
that IBM would, given enough lead time, use the 80188 in a highly
cost-sensitive device such as a home computer. Let us assume that this
tiny, trifling conflict was discovered very late in the design cycle for
Peanut (in large companies, the hardware and software types sometimes
don't communicate well). We can think of four ways out of the dilemma:
1) Cancel Peanut.
2) Go to market with a product that won't run all those MS-DOS based
PC programs out there.
3) Re-design Peanut to use the 8088 - an expensive and
time-consuming alternative involving a complete re-layout of
the main circuit board.
4) Get the company which you own a large piece of to take back all
those 188 chips IBM (may) have bought and *re-design the 188 to
conform to MS-DOS*. This is *also* time consuming but the expense
is placed elsewhere.
We would like to thank Otherwise Intelligent for the rumor and Harry S,
who is affiliated with a networking firm, for his help in piecing the
facts together.
[This can be reversed, of course, viz. MS/IBM also documented their
use of these interrupt vectors and Intel went ahead anyway and used
them. Didn't the Mad Queen say to Alice that it's not a matter of
right and wrong but who is to be boss? -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: 24 Oct 83 13:12:48-PDT (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!microsoft!markz @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Microsoft/Intel/IBM Rumors Debunked
Recent rumors suggest that Microsoft made use of Intel reserved
vectors in PC-DOS and the new 80188 makes use of these vectors.
Thus old software using these vectors will bomb out. Some suggest
this is the reason for the delay in the IBM PC Junior (Peanut) which
is probably based on the 80188.
[Billy tells me this was in Info-World. -Ed.]
I am amazed that people submit articles with 'rumors' without even bothering
to read *any* of the relevant documentation. In the IBM technical reference
on page 2-4 IBM lists all of the interrupt vectors that THEY use and/or
reserve. These are in the range 0-1F.
On page 2-7 of the same document, IBM lists the DOS vector assignments as
being in the range 20-3F.
In *any* reference on the Intel 186/8 they list the vectors in the range 0-1F
as being in the Intel reserved range.
The other 'rumors' are mere corollaries of this misapprehension.
[Am I missing something? IBM uses interrupts in the range 0-1F and
Intel reserves these. This seems like a problem to me. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: 2 November 1983 08:05 est
From: Hess.Unicorn at MIT-MULTICS
Subject: Microsoft Word Demo Diskette
To: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC at USC-ISIB>
Now that Microsoft has published their Multi-Tool Word demonstration
program in PC World, (1) Has anybody tried using a mouse with it? (2)
Has anybody written a program which turns it into a full-function word
processor (i.e. added file write and printer) yet? That would make
whoever did it 100,000 times the price they charged for it, if it were
low enough!
------------------------------
Date: Wed 2 Nov 83 06:53:13-EST
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: SHOLAR@CMU-CS-C.ARPA
Subject: Re: Sritek Boards at CMU
A small number of the Sritek boards are in use by CMU people. The
reason more aren't installed is delayed delivery of XT's from IBM last
spring and summer (but plenty are here now) as well as a long response
time from Sritek when new boards are ordered. CMU has standardized on
three configurations of IBM-based personal computers for the short
term: (1) Standard PC with 192k RAM, 2 DD/DS drives, mono board,
asynch board, MINCE, Scribble, and DOS 2.0; (2) Standard XT with 256k
RAM, Hercules graphics board, plus above software; (3) XT with above
plus Sritek coprocessor (with its own 512k RAM) and Xenix.
The existing Sritek boards on campus are being used by people who are
developing applications on the XT; there is not today significant use
of the Sritek hardware and software by others on campus, largely due
to lack of suitable "canned" applications.
I expect 100 boards will be in use here by Christmas, and maybe 1000
by summer. (With Sritek shipping the 16032 board and Berkeley Unix
this month, I don't expect us to have only the 68000 flavor of
coprocessor.)
------------------------------
Date: 1 Nov 1983 2101-EST
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
From: Thomas S. Wanuga <WANUGA@MIT-XX>
Subject: BIOS Keyboard Query
I have been looking into changing the driver for the IBMPC keyboard
under DOS 2.00. Specifically I am interested in changing the size of
the type-ahead buffer and turning off the auto-repeat feature. I have
looked at the keyboard section in the Technical Reference manual,
including the ROM code for the keyboard driver. There are a few
things that I can't figure out, and I was wondering if some kind soul
could explain them to me.
1) How or why do autorepeat keys work?
2) How does the driver note the state of the shift key? In
particular, how does it distinguish between holding down SHIFT and
another key at the same time, and pressing and releasing the
SHIFT key and then hitting another key?
3) What causes the keyboard (not the keyboard driver) to send an
overrun code (scan code = 0FFh)? Is it sent whenever the keyboard
buffer (not the type-ahead buffer) overflows? If so, does it send
just one overrun code after the 20 scan codes, even if it
overflowed by more than one key?
Thanks.
Tom Wanuga
------------------------------
Date: 1 Nov 1983 2247-PST
To: gillmann at ISIB
Remailed-To: info-IBMPC
From: HFISCHER@USC-ECLB
Subject: Source Text Compare Utility and Another FREE Editor
A source text compare tool is available from Robert Dewar (DEWAR@NYU).
I believe that the tool is part of a utility set sold for $40.
Robert's mailing address is 73 5th Ave., NYC NY 10003.
This is the same Robert Dewar as of Ada fame. An accomplished
musician, he distributes an editor called the "Dewar Visual Screen
Editor" (DVED) which handles the color screen like a musical
instrument -- flickerless and smooth as silk. Better yet, this
editor, like the PC-Write, contains a note that it can be
redistributed if no charge is made! The editor has multiple buffers
(like Emacs) but as far as I can tell only one window. It works
incredibly smoothly with my Logitech mouse, and I believe it is also
compatible with the Mouse Systems mouse.
If the free editor is any indication, I suspect that the utility tools
will be superb. (I do not have them yet.)
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂04-Nov-83 2016 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #83
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 4 Nov 83 20:15:35 PST
Date: 4 Nov 1983 1811-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #83
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 4 November 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 83
Today's Topics:
XT/370 and 3270-PC
Statistics Packages Wanted
80188 Interrupt Vector Controversy (2 msgs)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 4-Nov-83 08:12 PST
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Cc: info-micro@brl
From: JDS5.TYM@OFFICE-2
Subject: XT/370 and 3270-PC
The XT/370 Professional Workstation
The XT/370 is a PC/XT to which a 370 processor on three boards has
been added. These boards provide an emulated 370 processor, 512k of
RAM, an emulation of IBM's 3277 model 2 display, and a connection to
an IBM S/370 mainframe. To complement these hardware enhancements,
IBM also announced VM/PC (Virtual Machine/Personal Computer), which in
conjunction with PC-DOS 2.0, functions as the control program for the
XT/370 when it is running in 370 mode.
Under VM/PC, the XT/370 supports one of three sessions selected by a
"hot key":
- a local CMS session (i.e., a CMS session running on the XT/370),
- a remote 3277 model 2 emulation session (a session displayed on
the XT/370's display but run on a remote S/370), or
- a remote 3101 emulation session via an optional asynchronous
connection.
When running in PC/XT mode, the XT/370 is compatible with current
PC/XT capabilities including use of "foreign" expansion boards.
The Hardware
The XT/370 consists of a standard PC/XT chassis with eight expansion
slots. Three of these slots are populated with special S/370
emulation cards.
PC/370-P card The P card implements an emulation of the 370
instruction set. The card contains three
microprocessors.
1. One of the processors is a heavily modified
Motorola 68000 produced by Motorola under
license to IBM. This chip implements the
general purpose registers, the PSW,
instruction fetch and decode logic, and 72
commonly used S/370 instructions. Since the
chip is manufactured under license to IBM, it
is doubtful that it will appear as a Motorola
product.
2. A second processor is a slightly modified
Motorola 68000 which will be listed in
Motorola's catalog. This chip emulates the
remaining non-floating point instructions,
manipulates the page table, handles exception
conditions, and performs hardware
housekeeping.
3. The third microprocessor is a modified Intel
8087 which executes S/370 floating point
instructions. This chip is interfaced as a
peripheral rather than via the normal 8087
co-processor linkage.
PC370-M card The M card contains 512KB of parity checked RAM.
This memory may be accessed from the P card or from
the XT's native 8088 processor. Concurrent requests
are arbitrated in favor of the 8088. While the M
card does live in an XT expansion slot, it is also
connected to the P card via a special edge
connector. 16-bit wide transfers between M card
memory and the P card are effected through this
connector (normal XT memory transfers operate in
8-bit wide chunks).
When operating in native PC mode, the M card's
memory is addressed as contiguous memory beginning
at the end of the 256KB memory of the system's
motherboard. In native PC mode, the XT/370 has
640KB of usable RAM - some of the M card's memory is
not used.
When operating in 370 mode, only the 512KB RAM of
the M card is usable (i.e., the 256KB on the
system's motherboard is not available for the VM/CMS
system). The first 480KB of this memory implements
480KB of real S/370 space. The remaining 32KB on
the M card functions as a microcode control storage
area for the second P card microprocessor.
Of the 480KB of S/370 memory, the first 64KB are
consumed by VM/PC leaving 416KB of real memory for
user programs. User programs larger than this are
handled via paging.
PC/3277-EM card This card attaches the XT/370 to a S/370 mainframe
via a local or remote 3274 control unit (connection
via coaxial cable). When VM/PC is running, the EM
card enables the XT/370 to emulate a 3277 model 2
using the IBM monochrome or color display (since the
3277 does not support color, if a color display is
used, then default colors are utilized). Under
VM/PC, the EM card is also used in uploading and
downloading of data between a host VM system and the
XT/370. A 3274 coaxial connection can transfer data
about as fast as today's small winchester disks
(over 600,000 bytes/second).
Software
The XT/370 can run in native PC/XT mode or in S/370 mode under VM/PC.
Under VM/PC, the user can alternate via a "hot key" between a local
CMS session and a remote 3277 session (or optionally, a 3101
emulation session). VM/PC on the XT/370 will support all VM/CMS
software conforming to the following requirements.
- Uses no more than one virtual address space.
- Runs in a virtual machine of up to 4 MB.
- Supports 3277 model 2.
- Does not rely on protection exceptions.
- Does not depend on S/370 DOS emulation.
- Does not exceed fixed disk capacity.
- Does not require more than 416KB of real memory.
- Does not rely on internal VM/SP and/or HPQ structure and
formats.
- Does not rely on time dependent operations.
In effect, this means that most S/370 CMS software will run on the
XT/370. Some notable exceptions:
- PROFS does not run because it utilizes multiple virtual
machines,
- ISPF does not run because it depends on CP internals,
- any program using VSAM will not operate properly because VSAM
uses non-standard disk formats (S/370 DOS emulation); this means
that PL/I software using indexed files will not run on the
XT/370.
VM/PC does not offer a true VM-like environment. Rather, it provides
an environment in which CMS applications can run. Non-CMS VM
applications will not run on the XT/370.
Within the supported CMS environment, each CMS minidisk (simulated
disk-pack on which a CMS user stores many files) is implemented as a
PC-DOS file. This is very nice since it enables the use of PC-DOS
commands to backup CMS data and to move this data between XT/370
workstations.
IBM will license IBM S/370 software for use on the XT/370. Licensing
agreements are made in conjunction with the original mainframe S/370
license (i.e., for now, you must be a S/370 licensee to license IBM
S/370 software for the XT/370) and the corresponding software must be
downloaded from a S/370. License fees run a few dollars per month per
XT/370 workstation for each licensed software unit. IBM has announced
the following software to be available for licensing.
Product Monthly Charge
---------------------- ----------------
OS/VS COBOL Compiler and Library $19
OS/VS COBOL Library 6
COBOL Interactive Debug 21
VS FORTRAN Compiler and Library 17
VS FORTRAN Library 4
IBM BASIC Processor and Library 21
PL/I Optimizing Compiler and Library 21
PL/I Transient Library 4
PL/I Resident Library 4
Pascal/VS 11
Assembler H 9
Document Composition Facility (SCRIPT/VS) 18
License fees for IBM CMS software are charged to the mainframe
licensee rather than to the XT/370 proprietor. But how can IBM
enforce these fees? When this question was posed at a recent
professional meeting, IBM representatives responded that IBM would
continue to trust its customers. In corporate environments, where the
XT/370 will be sold, this is probably quite reasonable.
The VM/PC system must also be licensed. It is provided on six floppy
diskettes and includes the VM/PC Control Program, CMS, XEDIT, EXEC2,
local and remote file transfer utilities, and the 370 Processor
Control package.
370 Processor Control is a general purpose debug facility similar to
the debug facilities found on the operator consoles of S/370
processors. It runs on the XT/370 under VM/PC as one of several
concurrent sessions (including a local and a remote CMS session). It
can be entered from any other session and can exit to any session.
370 Processor Control enables the user to:
- stop and start the processor,
- stop the processor by real instruction compare,
- generate an external interrupt to the processor,
- edit (full screen mode) the following:
* 370 general purpose registers,
* 370 floating point registers,
* 370 control registers,
* 370 PSW,
* 370 storage, both real and virtual,
* 370 page address table.
The user interface to the 370 Processor Control session relies heavily
on function keys whose usage is displayed on the screen.
XT/370 VM/PC CMS and CP commands are similar to S/370 VM/SP release 2
commands. From the looks of the list given in the VM/PC announcement
notice, most CMS and CP commands are supported. VM/PC XEDIT and EXEC2
are compatible with the corresponding software of VM/SP release 2.
Included on the distribution diskettes with VM/PC is a remote server
program which may be used on a S/370 host to support communications
between the host and the XT/370. This program affords the following
functions:
- Spool, disk, and file services,
- VM/PC service request processing,
- Logical and physical communications management.
We aren't quite sure how you would upload this program to a host
without the services of the program itself.
Performance
The XT/370 has been in the field at a number of locations for several
months. First rumors on performance of the XT/370 CPU indicate that
it is approximately half of a 4331 when running a commercial
instruction mix. When running scientific codes, twice the performance
of the 4331 is expected. In general, the CPU is categorized as a .1
MIPS processor. This may not sound terribly impressive in times when
we are used to multi-MIPS single chip micros. Remember however, that
.1 million S/370 instructions are likely to produce substantially more
computing than .1 million instructions of your standard micro chip.
The XT/370 running in S/370 mode can access the 512KB on the M-card.
Of this 512KB, 32KB are reserved for microcode control storage; 64KB
is used up by the VM/PC Control Program. This leaves 416KB for user
programs. Should a user program require more memory than this, then
VM/PC will use a paging area on the XT/370's hard disk swap pieces of
the program in and out of memory according to usage.
Swapping on the little 10MB hard disks is going to be considerably
slower than on the large disks used with mainframes. Thus, programs
larger than 416KB will probably run very slowly. Field test users
report long delays in loading large programs into memory even when
these programs are well under the maximum for non-paged operation
(e.g. XEDIT). Again, this is directly attributable to the relatively
slow operation of the XT/370 hard disks.
While 10MB sounds like a great deal of disk space to those of us who
have been using floppies, in the mainframe world 10MB is just a drop
in the bucket. In its XT/370 product announcement, IBM cites the
following example of disk utilization.
bytes(MB)
System storage (VM/PC, DOS) 1.6
OS/VS COBOL Compiler and Libraries 1.0
Document Composition Facility 0.6
Page file (1 MB virtual) 1.0
User A disk for CMS data/programs 3.0
Spooling for printing 0.5
User area for PC data/programs 2.3
-------
total 10.0
Here we have but 1MB as a paging area (reduces the maximum VM/CP
virtual job size from 4MB to 1MB) and .5MB for spooling. The 20MB
XT/370 option (see below) will undoubtedly be quite popular.
Configurations and Prices
XT/370 (IBM machine number 5160) is announced in two configurations:
model 588 and model 568.
[5160 is also the model number of regular XTs. -Ed.]
The 5160 Model 588 is the XT-like system we have been describing. It
includes one floppy and one 10MB hard disk drive (or as IBM calls it,
a "fixed" disk drive). The price for this configuration is $8995.
VM/PC is available for an additional one time license fee of $1000.
Model 568 is the same as the 588 but without the hard disk and the
hard disk controller board. To augment this configuration, you may
purchase a new IBM PC option, the 5161 expansion unit model 3. This
unit comes with two 10MB hard disk units, a hard disk controller, and
eight system expansion slots (six full-feature and two short slots).
The XT/370 model 568 is priced at $6720 and the expansion unit price
is $4970. Thus a 20MB XT/370 costs $11690. Add $1000 for VM/PC and
you're all set to go for about $13K (tax included).
The three XT/370 boards are available as an upgrade for the IBM PC/XT.
The upgrade kit contains the boards, installation instructions, and a
logo kit to change the name plate to read "IBM XT/370". Thank heaven
for IBM! The price of the XT upgrade is $3790.
The 3270-PC
The 3270-PC combines the functions of IBM's 3270 display system with
those of the IBM PC and can support up to seven concurrent activities:
one local PC-DOS 2.0 session, four remote mainframe sessions, and two
local electronic notepads. Users can associate activities with
windows and can designate which windows appear on the system's
display, the size of those windows, and their positions. With the
assistance of the 3270-PC Control Program, information can be copied
between windows with the exception that a PC-DOS window may not
receive information.
An important limitation of the 3270-PC is that it does not support
PC-DOS applications which make use of "APA" graphics (APA stands for
"all points addressable", IBM's jargon for bit-mapped). This
eliminates all PC software which operates in non-text mode. Only
programs which can run on a PC equipped with IBM's monochrome display
adaptor (non-APA display) will be able to run on the 3270-PC.
The Hardware
In appearance, the 3270-PC closely resembles the original PC. Unlike
the XT/370, however, the 3270-PC is not essentially an upgrade of the
the PC - nor is an upgrade kit for the PC available.
The differences stem largely from the display section of the hardware
which has been substantially altered. Hardware window management
functions have been added and are implemented on a new board, the
5151/5272 display adapter. This adapter is used in place of the PC's
monochrome or color/graphics display adapter and provides text-only
displays in eight colors. While the extended character graphics of
the PC are available, no bit-mapped graphic capabilities are
supported.
The 3270-PC can be configured with the PC's monochrome display for
black and green text-only operation or can be fitted with a new
product, the 5272 color display. The new display is a 14-inch color
monitor from Matsushita. Initial reports indicate that the display
produces superb text images. Color text images displayed by the 5272
are said to be of the same general quality as those displayed by the
PC's monochrome display.
The 3270-PC includes a new keyboard which addresses some of the
complaints about the PC's keyboard. Even though the keyboard contains
more keys, the layout is apparently improved. The return and shift
keys have been enlarged. The cursor keys have been pulled out of the
numeric keypad to form their own little group between the main set of
alphanumeric keys and the numeric keypad. Twenty function keys
arranged in two rows of ten have been added at the top of the
keyboard. To help clarify keystroke operations, the new keyboard is
annotated. Blue legends are used to designate PC specific functions;
black legends indicate 3270 functions.
The 3270-PC includes two expansion boards not found in the PC.
3270 System adapter
Supports communication between the 3270-PC and the
remote 3274 controller through which mainframe hosts
are accessed; connects to a 3274 via coaxial cable;
one physical 3274 connection can support four
logical connections; can optionally be attached to
43xx display/printer adapter.
Keyboard adapter
Interfaces the new keyboard to the system unit; the
key keyboard connects directly to this board rather
than to the mother board as it does for the PC.
The system unit provides eight "expansion" slots of which six will
normally be filled upon delivery with the 3270 system adapter, a
memory expansion board, the display adapter, the diskette drive
adapter, the printer adapter, and the keyboard adapter. If a hard
disk is added, then the seventh slot will be used for the hard disk
adapter. Certainly, the memory expansion and printer adapter
functions could be coalesced onto a single foreign board, but this
would only slightly relieve slot paucity.
Software
The 3270-PC runs under control of the 3270-PC Control Program in
conjunction with PC-DOS 2.0 and supports concurrent operation of up to
four remote host interactive sessions, up to two local notepad
sessions, and one PC-DOS session.
The Control Program enables users to associate sessions with display
screen windows and to manage those windows via a set of functions that
IBM calls advanced screen management.
Window Definition
Users can define windows that permit viewing of all
(up to 2,000 characters) or part of a presentation
space. In IBM's parlance, a presentation space is a
logical display area presented by a single host.
PC-DOS presentation spaces are 2,000 characters
(i.e., 25 lines by 80 characters), remote host
spaces are up to 3,440 characters, and notepad
presentation spaces are 1,920 characters.
Window View within a Presentation Space
Up to seven windows may appear on the screen at
once. Each window is associated with a distinct
presentation space. Windows may be as large as the
screen or as small as one character and may be
positioned at any point within their presentation
space. Thus, a window which is 20 characters wide
by 4 lines long might show the first 20 characters
of the last 4 lines of an emulated 3270 remote host
session display. Window size and position within
the presentation space may be changed at any time
without effecting the content of the presentation
space.
Window Positioning on the Screen
Each window may be positioned to appear at any
position on the 3270-PC's physical display screen.
A window may partially or completely cover one or
more other windows. Windows may be repositioned at
any time without effecting the content of the
associated presentation spaces.
The Active Window
At any given moment, one window on the 3270-PC
screen is the active window. When users enter
information from the keyboard, it is directed to the
session associated with the currently active
window. Users can switch between active windows
through keystroke commands.
Background/Foreground Color
Users may define the foreground and background
colors of host session windows not using extended
data stream attributes. Users may also define the
background color for the 5272 screen (i.e., the
color to be displayed in areas not occupied by
windows).
In addition to the advanced screen management functions, the control
program offers a number of related facilities which help users to
further manipulate and utilize the 3270-PC environment.
Copy Data Between Windows
Data may be copied within or between any
presentation space except into the PC-DOS space.
MS-DOS screen management is simply not prepared to
handle block data inserts as is the 3270 world.
Notepads
The notepad activities may be thought of as local
electronic scratch pads which users may use at their
convenience. The contents of a notepad may be saved
and restored at any time using PC-DOS files as the
storage medium.
User Defined Keystroke Sequences
Keystroke sequences may be captured and recorded (in
PC-DOS files) for future playback.
Screen Configuration Memory/Recall
Users can define up to ten screen configurations
each of which describes a set of windows configured
in any way, and can cause any one configuration to
be displayed upon command. PC-DOS files are used to
store the configuration information.
Screen/PC-DOS Session Window Print
A full copy of the display screen may be printed on
a local printer. Similarly, a full copy of a PC-DOS
presentation space may be printed on a local
printer.
Host Session Window Print
A full copy of any host presentation space may be
printed on a local printer or on a 3274 attached
printer (or a 43xx display/printer attached terminal
printer).
System Status Line
The Control Program maintains a status line at the
bottom of the screen which displays current
configuration information including the name of the
active window.
Help + Tutorial
The Control Program includes a Help function which
displays active workstation functions and sessions
and an online tutorial that explains and simulates
system functions. The tutorial is a standard PC-DOS
program which can be run on any IBM PC.
Host File Transfers
The Control Program with the assistance of a
host-based IBM 3270-PC File Transfer Program can
initiate transfers of ASCII, binary, and EBCDIC
files to and from remote hosts. The host-based file
transfer program is host licensed and is available
for VM/SP 2.1 and MVS/TSO.
Configurations and Prices
The 3270-PC (IBM machine number 5271) is announced in three
configurations.
The 5271 model 2 is a single dual-sided floppy system which includes a
system unit with 256KB RAM (expandable to 640KB) and keyboard. The
price for this configuration is $4,290. To this will normally be added
a PC monochrome display at $345 or more likely, the new 5272 color
display at $995. The 3270-PC Control Program will be available for a
one time license fee of $300. All told, getting into a 3270-PC, even
one with only a single floppy, will cost at least $4935. If you want
the nice color display the price is $5585. This model does not
include a printer adapter as standard equipment.
The 5271 model 4 adds a 64/256KB memory expansion board with 64KB RAM
installed, a printer adapter and printer cable, and a second
dual-sided floppy disk drive to the features of the model 2. The base
price for the model 4 hardware is $5319. Adding the Control Program
and a monitor, the dual diskette system is priced at $5964 for a
monochrome version and $6614 for the color version.
The 5171 model 6 is like the model 4 except that a 10MB hard disk is
added instead of the second floppy. The base price of the model 6 is
$7180. Adding a monitor and the Control Program brings the total to
$7825 for a monochrome system and $8475 for the color version.
The following table summarizes 3270-PC pricing information.
single dual diskette +
diskette diskettes hard disk
(model 2) (model 4) (model 6)
------------------------------------
| |
monochrome | $4935 $5964 $7825 |
display | |
| |
color | $5585 $6614 $8475 |
display | |
------------------------------------
3270-PC PRICES INCLUDING DISPLAY AND VM/CP
S/370 installations supporting attachment of 3270-PC systems will want
to license IBM's host-based 3270-PC File Transfer Program. The charge
is a one time license fee of $600 for each VM/SP or MVS/TSO operating
system environment within which the file transfer functions will be
used.
Jeffrey Stone
Menlo Park, CA
October 21, 1983
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 3 Nov 83 6:55-PST
Date: 2 Nov 83 13:11:26-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!dartvax!betsy @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Statistics Packages Wanted
The Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College is looking for
well-known statistical packages which can run on the IBM PC. We are
especially interested in SAS or SPSS; rumor says that both of these
have been implemented on the PC. If you have any information about
these programs, who sells them, or their hardware requirements, please
send a note to me; I'll send summaries to the net.
Thank you!
Betsy Perry
decvax!dartvax!betsy
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 3 Nov 1983 20:51 EST
From: SLOAN%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA
To: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
Subject: Interrupt Vectors
Well, I have the first edition (August 1981) of the Tech. Ref.
Manual, so I had a bit of a problem following your page references,
but I found similar information on pages 3-21 and 3-22. Here follows
my opinion:
1) A typical implementor's defense of IBM's use of interrupts in the
0-1f range might be: "WE used them, but you aren't supposed to. If
you do, you do so at your own risk. YOU are supposed to use DOS. If
WE want to use 80188's, then we will change our code - which you will
buy, because the code you already have (from us) is only licensed for
use on the PC you bought it for, and no other machine! Just buy the
new, improved DOS version 4.2 (oops, sorry!) and all will be well."
2) The rest of the world might say: "But, you did such a bad job of
implementing such things as RS232 support, and such a good job of
documenting it, that we replaced your code with ours, and embedded it
in products, which we magnanimously sold for unlimited use on any
processor. Looks like we have a serious customer support problem!"
And, they are both right: folks who read ONLY the IBM Tech. Ref.
Manual and bravely used the BIOS calls, and replaced the thinly
documented RS232 interrupt slot have some right to complain, but not
all that much. The whole point of DOS is to provide standard, rarely
changing interfaces to an abstract machine. If you want to hack the
hardware, or the BIOS - you were happy to see the source listings, but
should have been a bit more careful. So it goes...
Ken Sloan
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 29 Oct 83 0:10-PDT
Date: 24 Oct 83 20:17:41-PDT (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: microsoft!gordonl @ UW-Beaver
Subject: The True Poop on IBM/Microsoft/Intel
Well, the word is out, I guess we can't hide it anymore. The true
details are as follows:
1) Intel produced 2 million 80188s before trying any of them.
2) IBM produced over 400,000 peanuts before powering one up. They
powered one up the day before dealer shipments were to commence and
discovered that none of them worked.
3) IBM has, indeed, taken over Microsoft. The mahogany row cadre has
been taken out and shot; department and development group leads have
had their left hands chopped off. The rest of the programmers are in
chains... but they might get off in 20 years for good behavior.
We had hoped to keep this a secret (my artificial hand is really
nice... if I keep it out of strong light) but I can see that the word
sneaked out. Maybe it was the sound of the automatic weapons fire
when the IBM swat team hit the ground...
Gordon Letwin
Recently of Microsoft, now residing in a nameless IBM dungeon...
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂07-Nov-83 1922 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #84
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 7 Nov 83 19:22:05 PST
Date: 7 Nov 1983 1748-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #84
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Monday, 7 November 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 84
Today's Topics:
PCjr
DOS 2.10
80188 Interrupt Vectors (3 msgs)
Discount Mail-Order Retailers (3 msgs)
BUF128 Typeahead Buffer Expander (2 msgs)
Graphics on the Monochrome
Venix Query
Persoft VT100 Terminal Emulator (3 msgs)
Scribble with FX-80
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 6 Nov 83 7:11-PST
Date: 3 Nov 83 19:50:33-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!uiucdcs!uicsl!preece @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PCjr
Does anybody know if they're going to be offering a board for the PC
and XT to accept cartridge software? At first glance this seems like
the way the software companies will want to go - no copying, no backup
needs, no problem with hard disks, no loading delays. I can imagine
future systems with the ability to plug in dozens of cartridges and
search them by name as part of the command search.
Also missing from general press coverage were details of the display
capabilities of the PCjr. Does it have graphics built in or is there
an add on board for that? Color? Sound?
Is there anything new for the rest of us in DOS 2.1?
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 6 Nov 83 4:08-PST
Date: 3 Nov 83 11:17:11-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!fortune!phipps @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: DOS 2.10
DOS 2.1 ("oh ... you mean the one just announced ?", asked the person
with whom I just spoke at the IBM Product Center in Sunnyvale (Cal.))
will be available in January 1984 at a cost of $65.
She informed me that if I were a programmer, I would also want to
order the DOS Technical Reference, which costs an additional $30.
While I'm not enthused about paying almost $100 for the DOS and its
complete manual set, I have some hunches about this new approach to
DOS manuals:
o The audience for the PCjr is certainly less technically sophisticated
(on the average) than that for the PC or XT.
o These new masses of computer novices will need even more tutorial
text in the DOS manuals than was previously the case,
so the manual grows thicker. Maybe the new manual with the really
technical stuff removed is as thick as the DOS 2.0 manual is now.
I heard complaints that the DOS 2.0 manual already had too many pages
for its binder.
o Many PCjr prospective customers might be scared or otherwise turned off
by the diagrams of file descriptors and lists of interrupts,
so IBM may have chosen to avoid their negative effects (i.e., lost sales)
by hiding the intimidating stuff in a separate manual.
In less cynical terms, why put stuff in a manual that its average owner
can't use or even understand ?
o With more pages, IBM's costs may genuinely have increased,
but in any event, I'm sure they will cheerfully accept this chance
to make some extra bucks.
-- Clay Phipps
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 6 Nov 83 5:39-PST
Date: 3 Nov 83 20:54:27-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!microsoft!markz @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: 80188 Interrupt Vectors
A quote from a recent issue of Info-IBMPC
"... [Am I missing something? IBM uses interrupts in
the range 0-1F and Intel reserves these. This seems
like a problem to me. -Ed.]..."
Yes, something is being missed, but the problem seen is only a problem
for IBM and for the ISV's who happened to use the direct calls to the
IBM ROM BIOS rather than use the DOS interface. The much-publicized
issue was NOT whether or not IBM had used the interrupt vectors but
rather that MSDOS/PC-DOS had usurped them. To quote from the previous
article in Info-IBMPC:
"... Page 2-4 of the IBM manual reveals that MS-DOS
uses 25 of those 27 reserved interrupt vectors.
Specifically, MS-DOS uses 5 and 8 through 31
inclusive...."
This is not the case. The cited documentation says NOTHING about
MSDOS/PC-DOS using these vectors. Rather, on the previous two pages,
the document describes these interrupts as the interface to the IBM
ROM BIOS.
On page 2-7, under the heading of 'other R/W memory usage' are
described the ONLY vectors in use by MSDOS/PC-DOS.
FYI: MSDOS/PC-DOS has been running on several 80188's and 80186's for
quite some time without modification. Only the device drivers were
changed.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 6 Nov 83 23:40-PST
Date: 5 Nov 83 20:28:45-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!genrad!security!linus!utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: 80188 Interrupt Vectors
From the information I have (PC Tech. Ref. Man., Intel 8086/88 Family
Man., DOS 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0 manuals) it would appear that it is not
the writer of MS-DOS that goofed with respect to the interrupt vectors
(MS-DOS itself uses only the user, non-reserved, vectors), but rather
the writer of the ROM BIOS routines that made the mistake. No
specific authorship of those routines is given in the Tech. Ref. Man.,
but they clearly do violate the reserved-vector restrictions given in
the Intel manual.
A related point that I've never been clear on: the DOS manual mentions
something to the effect that hidden files called IBMBIO.COM and
IBMDOS.COM are loaded into memory at boot time and, among other
things, the code in IBMBIO sets some of the interrupt vectors,
implying that it is a device driver that takes over from the ROM
routines (page B-2, DOS 1.0 manual). Does anyone know what is
happening here?
------------------------------
Date: 7 Nov 1983 1712-PST
To: Info-IBMPC
Subject: 80188 Interrupt Vectors
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
OK, now I get it. There IS a problem but it's not the fault of
Microsoft.
One thing I'd like to know: Where are the extra 80188 interrupts going
to be on the new IBM-PC compatible 80188s?
Also, Randy Cole tells me that the reason the PCjr has the funny keyboard
is so overlays can be put on it, for educational environments etc.
------------------------------
Date: Sat 5 Nov 83 11:32:05-PST
To: info-micro@BRL-VGR.ARPA, info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Tim Gonsalves <Fat.Tag@SU-SIERRA.ARPA>
Subject: Problems with a Discount Retailer
I am going through a rather unpleasant experience dealing with a
discount/mail-order software retailer, Software-To-Go (aka Programmers
International) of Palo Alto, CA. This message has two purposes: to
warn others who are considering dealing with this firm what they may
be subjected to, and to learn from others if there are honest,
reputable, well-run discount/mail-order retailers in the PC field.
On to the details. On Aug. 20, I ordered a version of The Final Word
(a wordprocessor) from Software-To-Go. They told me that they did not
have it in stock but would be able to get it in 2 weeks, and they
wanted full payment in advance. Sounded good, so I paid the $225 +
tax (list $300, advertised prices in Byte range from $200 - $300).
After the 2 weeks had passed and I had heard nothing from them, I
called and was told that it was expected in in a few days. A few days
later, I called again and it was due the next day. This went on for
the next 7-8 weeks. Every time I called I was assured that it would be
in "tomorrow", or "soon", or "early next week" and so on. At one
point the manager gave me a specific date on which it had been shipped
from "a distributor in the East" via UPS. A few days later, when it
became obvious that nothing had been shipped, they dropped that story.
About 10 weeks after I had placed the order, my patience was wearing
thin. I asked them for a specific deadline by which they would be
able to deliver the goods without further resort to their usual
dilatory tactics. After some time they came back with the answer -
"in 2 weeks"! I cancelled my order and was assured that my refund
would be mailed to me.
It normally takes the USPS 1-2 days to deliver a letter from Palo Alto
to Stanford, a distance of 2-3 miles. Nine days later, yesterday, the
refund had not yet appeared. Wearily, I picked up the phone and
dialed the familiar number... This time I was told that not only
could they not tell me why I had not got a refund or when I would get
it, but that it could be several days before they even deigned to look
into the matter.
Several things about this outfit irritate me. Firstly, they make
commitments that they cannot honor. If it does take 2 months or more
to deliver a product at a discount, fine - if they tell me, so that I
can decide whether the wait is worth the money to me. I also have a
strong aversion to dealing with people to whom truth is apparently a
complete stranger. There is a limit to the lies I can stomach before
I get indigestion. Next, whilst I do not normally expect much in the
way of service from a discount retailer, I do expect some when they
are nearly two months behind their schedule. Besides the glib talk
outlined above, on at least half a dozen occasions they promised to
call me later in the day or the next day. (A local call; they
volunteered, I did not ask them to call me, I was quite ready to call
them). Only once, the time I cancelled the order, did they have the
courtesy to actually call me.
Comments are invited, especially recommendations for good, cheap
retailers (not, I hope, a contradiction in terms).
Tim Gonsalves
Gonsalves@SU-Sierra.Arpa
------------------------------
Date: 5 November 1983 16:56 EST
To: Gonsalves @ SU-SIERRA
cc: info-ibmpc @ USC-ISIB, info-micro @ BRL-VGR
From: Herb Lin <LIN @ MIT-ML>
Subject: Re: Problems with Discount Retailer
My experience is that I never pay by check, always by credit card. In
those cases, I can then withhold payment if/when I don't get the
merchandise. It might also be worth noting some legal provisions:
1. If you don't get the merchandise, you can usually withhold payment
on your credit card; most banks in my experience are pretty good about
this.
2. The merchant is local (100 miles of your mailing address), you have
the legal right to withhold payment if the merchandise proves
defective.
3. If you do mail order business, and you submit your order by mail
(NOT by phone), there are legal guidelines concerning refunds which
must be followed if your merchandise is not available in a timely
manner. For example, you are entitled to a refund if the goods aren't
shipped in 60 days, they must notify you if they take more than 10
days.
More precise details from the FTC office (on #2) or the Post Office
(on mail order)
------------------------------
Date: 7 Nov 1983 1541-EST
To: Tim Gonsalves <Fat.Tag at SU-SIERRA>, Gonsalves at SU-SIERRA,
info-micro at BRL-VGR, info-ibmpc at USC-ISIB
From: Larry Campbell <LCAMPBELL at DEC-MARLBORO>
Subject: Good Discount Retailer
I have a much happier experience to relate. I've been dealing with a
local mail order house known as The Programmer's Shop (they specialize
in software for programmers, rather than games, recipe files, etc.)
Since they're located only a mile from my house I've actually dealt
with them in person, although their not a "retail" outlet and are
really basically mail-order.
I've found them to be prompt, cheerful, knowledgeable, and
trustworthy; refreshingly pleasant to deal with. They offer a
moneyback guarantee on their products that I can vouch for. (I bought
a product which, it turned out, would not run on my PC due to a
misunderstanding on my part. They cheerfully refunded my money, even
though I presumably could already have copied the program.)
Coincidentally, my one major purchase from them was also The Final
Word. (Same price - $225). It took them two days to get it for me.
Not bad.
They are also very knowledgeable and have given me very good
recommendations on products I've asked about. They're busy, so they
don't want to yak all day, but if you have a specific technical
product-related question they will give you a concise (and accurate)
answer.
These people are located in Maynard, Mass. (home of you-know-who,
remember?) They have an 800 number but I don't have it handy; since
they're a local call for me I call their regular number, (617)
897-4750.
Sorry for the length of this, but I really can't say enough good
things about these folks (and no, I'm not them, and I don't own stock
in them, etc. etc.)
Larry Campbell
------------------------------
Date: Sat 5 Nov 83 14:00:31-PST
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Jim Celoni S.J. <Celoni@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: BUF128 Typeahead Buffer Expander
I am submitting BUF128.HEX to the Info-IBMPC program library.
BUF128.HEX is the CONVERTed (from the Info-IBMPC program library)
version of BUF128.EXE, a program when run once after bootup makes the
keyboard typeahead buffer 128 (not the standard fifteen) characters
long. I don't have the source yet but can send it when I do. It
takes some 800 bytes, works with or without SCROLLK and/or ProKey
2.20, if you install Prokey last. It's in my AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
Enjoy... +j
------------------------------
Date: 7 Nov 1983 1730-PST
To: Info-IBMPC
Subject: BUF128.HEX
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
I looked at the code for BUF128 with DEBUG. It looks more like a
.COM program than an .EXE program. It calls an absolute location
in the BIOS (the KB←INT entry point). It replaces the keyboard
interrupt vectors without daisy chaining them.
We'd sure like to see the source code. Darrell Plank sent a msg
saying there is a program like this in a recent issue of Byte or the
PC Tech Journal.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 5 Nov 83 7:11-PST
Date: 2 Nov 83 14:12:52-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!mhuxl!ulysses!princeton!eosp1!robison @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Graphics on the Monochrome?
The Nov. 83 PC magazine has no less than 3 new ads for controllers
that do what you want. Does anybody know anything about them? One of
the new boards is a Toronto company, MDS, making the "real color
board". The other two are:
The BIGraphics board (see the ad by Applied computer products).
The MYLEX graphics card (1-800-446-9539).
Both may be available in December, at list prices of $595 and up.
They appear to allow you to run IBM standard color graphics and see
the results on a mono CRT. The BIGraphics board might also be
Hercules compatible.
Meanwhile, although some people say that you will burn out a mono CRT
if you connect it to a color adapter, others claim that there is some
way (unknown to me) to do it.
The USI board, which gives you both color with graphics, and mono
without, (but on two separate CRTs) is still being advertised as low
as $299.
Does anybody have more info on how to do color PC graphics on a mono
CRT?
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 6 Nov 83 2:41-PST
Date: 3 Nov 83 6:29:23-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!duke!phs!mlh @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Venix Query
In the process of deciding whether or not to buy VENIX, I logged in as
guest to their machine by phone over a 1200 baud line. The vi editor
was so slow as to be essentially unusable. Is that just an artifact
of the baud rate? I am interested in hearing from users of VENIX also
about how easy it is to add extra device handlers and whether one can
really do real time stuff. Thanks.
Mike Hines !duke!phy!mlh
------------------------------
Date: 13 Oct 1983 1841-PDT
To: info-micro%BRL@MINET-NAP-EM, info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
From: Bradley S. Brahms <Brahms@USC-ECLC>
Subject: VT100 Terminal Emulator Wanted
I'm sure this has been brought up before but here goes...
My wife is looking for a VT100 emulation program for the IBM-PC. Any help
in locating one would be appreciated. Thank You.
Brad Brahms
Arpa: Brahms@Usc-Eclc
Usenet: ..{decvax,ucbvax}!trw-unix!trwspp!brahms
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 6 Nov 83 2:56-PST
Date: 3 Nov 83 9:31:13-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!houxf!wbux5!rdg @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Persoft VT100 Terminal Emulator
Article-I.D.: wbux5.138
I'm using one right now, and have been for several weeks, with great
success. It's called:
SmarTerm(tm)/PC
TE100-FT
VT100 Series Terminal Emulator
with
ASCII and Binary File Transfer
Available from: Persoft, Inc., 2740 Ski Lane Madison, WI 53713,
608-233-1000.
Though I have yet to use the file transfer features, I was able to
configure the program to run with our VAX-11/780 (Berkeley 4.1) in
about 5 minutes. I'm still having a small problem with vi(1), I
suspect the problem is with vi(1) and will be remedied with a new
version.
Roger Gough
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 6 Nov 83 9:26-PST
Date: 5 Nov 83 4:41:12-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!floyd!clyde!akgua!sb1!mb2c!arl @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Persoft VT100 Terminal Emulator
TE-100FT by Persoft is an excellent VT102 emulator than I can highly
recommend. While there are other emulators around, Persoft's is a
truly "full" emulation and the inclusion of the insert and delete line
function (the difference between a vanilla VT100 and a VT102) is
valuable if you have any full screen applications such as VI. Also
included is a File transfer utility that will do a protocoled transfer
between the host and your PC with a minimal amount of programming on
the host end.
Single copy price of the package is $150. Requires 128K, two double
sided drives and DOS 2.00. Also supports local printer, and baud rates
up to 9600 bps. They offer a 30 day money back guarantee if not
satisfied, and their support is very good.
Persoft
2740 Ski Lane
Madison WI 53713
608-233-1000
------------------------------
Date: 7 Nov 1983 11:03:31-EST
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: Greg.Glass@CMU-CS-CAD
Subject: Scribble with FX-80
Has anyone gotten proportional spacing to work well in scribble/crayon
printing on a FX-80. I set up the fontsize table and got it working
but it screws up doing underlining. It seems that there is not a way
to tell the program how to do small spaces. They tell me that I could
rewrite the driver to do this but my C compiler is on back order. Any
ideas?
Greg
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂10-Nov-83 1235 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #85
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 10 Nov 83 12:34:54 PST
Date: 10 Nov 1983 1054-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #85
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, 10 November 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 85
Today's Topics:
Op-Scan Reader Wanted
More on VT100 Terminal Emulation
More on Interrupts
PCjr Graphics
DOS 2.10
Microsoft Mouse
Programming International & Scribble Driver
Amethyst Users & MOTU Support
Seequa Chameleon User Comments Wanted
Stack Usage Query
Compuserve Executive Information System
DOS 2.0
PC Lookalikes Query
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, Sept 28 1983
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
From: TIM%VPIVM2.BITNET@Berkeley (Ron Jarrell)
Subject: Op-Scan Reader Wanted
Does anyone know of a relativley inexpensive, i.e. private person
affordable, op-scan reader? Op-scans being those "fill-in-the-dot"
computer read surveys that can interface to a PC? Or of any companies
that make said hardware?
Thanks,
Ron Jarrell
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 8 Nov 83 4:10-PST
Date: 5 Nov 83 14:29:20-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!tektronix!tekig!jimla @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: More on VT100 Terminal Emulation
Thanks to all who responded to my request for info on VT100 emulation
using the IBM PC. Following are more edited replies:
For over a week now, I have been using the SmarTerm package from
Persoft to make an IBM PC emulate a VT100 (actually the VT102
which has additional editing functions). It seems to work quite
well. I have made use of it as follows:
- full VT102 emulation (including editing extensions and 10 soft keys).
- with VI and INed (Rand editor derivitive) on UNIX (tm of Bell Labs).
- with XEDIT, FLIST, etc. on IBM VM/CMS on a 4341 frontended with the
Yale package on a Series One.
- simple up and download feature with UNIX and with CMS through 3705.
(The full errror free protocol looks straightforward but I haven't
implemented it yet).
- speeds from 300 to 9600 Baud.
- on a vanilla IBM PC and Corona look alike.
SmarTerm costs $150, $125 each for 2-3, ..., $72 each for 20 or more.
(Refunded if you return the package unsatisfied within 30 days.)
To speed up loading from disk, the package is being recoded into C, and
both a VT125 graphics version and a scrolling 132 column version are
scheduled for release late this year according to Persoft.
We have not been as successful with the YTERM package from Yale.
For the record, my only affiliation with Persoft is as a satisfied customer.
For more information on SmarTerm, contact:
Persoft Inc.; 2740 Ski Lane; Madison, WI 53713; 608/233-1000
Mark of the Unicorn sells a vt100 emulator package called PC/InterComm.
I have used it with the VAX and it works fine. It allows uploading
and downloading, also.
I know of two: PC/Intercomm by Mark of the Unicorn, and Crosstalk XVI
by Microstuf. PCI lists for $100. XTALK16 lists for about $180.
PCI is adequate, has some shortcomings, and is relatively cheap ($85
at discount).
The Crosstalk communication package has TV 920, IBM 3101, VT100, and
one other terminal emulators built into it.
PC/InterComm by Mark of the Unicorn is VERY nice. I have had no
problems with it whatsoever.
Crosstalk XVI (I think that's the right version) has a VT100
emulator mode that really is inadequate.
I know there are others, but PC/InterComm is the best my friends
or I have seen.
There is a program from General Micro Systems (GMS) 'priced from $89'
which claims to emulate a VT100 terminal. I saw their advertisement on
page 632 of the October 1983 issue of Byte. GMS's address is
7525 Mitchell RD, Mpls MN 55344, tel (612) 937-9194.
Happy Emulating,
Jim Larsen
------------------------------
Date: 8 Nov 1983 0621-CST
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
From: Doug <HUNEYCUTT@GUNTER-ADAM>
Subject: More on Interrupts
Please don't use the phrase "MS-DOS/PCDOS" in any context concerning
interrupts.....the slight perversion of the Microsoft-defined
interrupt structure by Big Blue has caused me no end of headaches.
Under standard (pre 2.0) MS-DOS, interrupts 0-4 are hardware defined.
Microsoft scarfed up interrupts 20H-27H for the DOS interface under
1.0, with some higher ones used for 2.0 up. Software that uses only
the Microsoft defined entry points (like code generated by C86) has no
problem being transfered between the IBM-PC, the Z-100, TI-PC, ...ad
nauseum.
The real rub (and above mentioned headaches) come when someone has
written code that uses the blasted BIOS direct entries (most commonly
INT 10H for screen manipulation). This code generates the phrase
'WILD INTERRUPT' under Z-DOS, and has been known to totally crump
machines other than the PC and clones. This has caused such logical
trains of thought in the military management as "If it doesn't run on
the Z-100 just like it does on the PC, the Z-100 must not be a good
machine." Convincing managers that machine-dependent code is
generally avoidable insanity is hard to do.
While most useful programs available must use cursor positioning, but
this doesn't necessarily mean that they have to do BIOS calls to
accomplish this. Most of my experience is in the CP/M world, where
most packages are either patchable or can be configured thru a
separate program. The Z-100 contains in ROM the code that the MS-DOS
BIOS calls to display characters, position cursor, change colors, etc.
However, these functions are invoked the same way as with an
H-19...through escape sequences in a print string or sequence of
characters sent one at a time. This allows a program to use standard
DOS calls to manipulate the screen any way that is desired. You CAN
do screen manipulation through BIOS calls or direct memory access, but
this results in loss of portability.
If the only way available on the PC to position the cursor is to do an
INT 10, is sounds like a (successful) attempt to assure that code for
the PC can't run on the others. I've written several 'intercept'
routines to get stuff running, but the results have been slow.
Again, Zenith is still running DOS 1.25, so I don't know anything
about 2.0 or later. If the device drivers I've been hearing so much
about are similar enough to Unix drivers, maybe we can avoid this mess
entirely.
Please don't take this as a total condemnation of PC-DOS. There are
obviously times when direct BIOS access is essential....but I refuse
to believe that standard DOS calls can't meet the vast majority of
code requirements.
Doug
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 8 Nov 83 4:24-PST
Date: 5 Nov 83 13:43:24-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!tektronix!tekig!jimla @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PCjr Graphics
The PCjr has built-in color graphics compatible with the PC.
Resolution for the 128K enhanced PCjr is:
640 X 200 in 4 colors
320 X 200 in 8 colors (?)
160 X 200 in 16 colors
Note that twice as many colors are available in each format as the
standard PC. This may imply that IBM will release a new color adapter
for the PC soon for compatibility. The PCjr has "three-voice" sound
synthesis built-in, but I think the speaker/amplifier is outboard.
See your nearest IBM Product Center for more info.
Jim Larsen
------------------------------
Date: Tuesday, 8 Nov 1983 09:35-PST
To: info-ibmpc @ USC-ISIB
Subject: DOS 2.10
From: jim@rand-unix
I asked the salesman at the IBM Product Center in Beverly Hills what
the difference was with DOS 2.10. He responded that the drive on the
PC Jr needs extra delays, and that the previous versions of DOS won't
accomodate them.
This is kind of interesting ... one wonders whether the controller is
brain-damaged, or whether they're using a totally different kind of
disk drive. The list price on their drive is $480!! (Ask if you want
other list prices. They couldn't say much about what the machine is
going to be, but the prices are laid out in gory detail.)
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Nov 83 18:48:22 EST
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.arpa>
Subject: Microsoft Mouse
I have a PC xt with an expansion cabinet, two 10 mb Winnies, a 3Com
Ethernet all in the expansion box.
I have a Microsoft mouse. It works fine EXCEPT when I try to
reboot from the keyboard, the system burps and the light on
the C Winnie comes on and will not go off. Take the Mouse out
and all is fine!!!!
At home I have same system except 1 10 mb Winnie and no Ethernet
and no problems.
Any ideas. Microsoft has no such configerations and no ideas
to date. By the way, I waited 25 minutes on their customer
service line with this obnoxious voice telling me it would
only be a few minutes. Seems they are a bit understaffed.
Dave
------------------------------
Date: 8 November 1983 21:00 est
From: Hess.Unicorn at MIT-MULTICS
Subject: Programming International & Scribble Driver
To: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC at USC-ISIB>
I, too, have trouble getting things out of Programming International.
Looks to me like they're spending a lot of cash on advertising and
putting off both their suppliers and customers to finance that.
Likewise I've talked to the guy at the programmers shop and like him.
However, I doubt that he can stay the same size (his ads are already
getting larger) and doubt that if he gets larger that he can support
hackers the same way he does now. Hope he surprises me...
Regarding the Scribble stuff, I suggest asking Amethyst-Users@SIMTEL20
to see if anybody has a driver. Mark of the Unicorn is putting drivers
for new printers into their FinalWord product precisely because they
don't have to worry about Scribble people, who can fend for themselves.
------------------------------
Date: 8 Nov 1983 2017-PST
To: Hess.Unicorn@MIT-MULTICS
cc: info-ibmpc, RMS%mit-oz@MIT-MC
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Amethyst Users & MOTU Support
I have been terribly dissapointed with the Amethyst users group. I had
hoped that Mince would have been a living extendable entity similar to
EMACS.
We have made a few modifications to Mince here but nothing major.
Nobody has offered any changes as I suspect they are loath to send
MOTU copyright source code through the net. It would be really neat to
see a major extention such as mouse support or a mail reading package
that we could offer in the INFO-IBMPC lending library.
Would MOTU like to donate a set of Mince and Scribble sources to the
public domain? Then perhaps we could actively trade improvements. It
seems to me that either you support a product or you let hackers "fend
for themselves". As MOTU hasn't even added DOS 2.0 pathname support
yet, it seems like we are fending for ourselves, but only on a site by
site basis.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 9 Nov 83 3:15-PST
Date: 7 Nov 83 13:19:05-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: teltone!ira @ uw-beaver
Subject: Seequa Chameleon User Comments Wanted
We are considering the purchase of personal computers for field
support and remote development. The Seequa Chameleon's specifications
are rather attractive, but we would appreciate any comments from
users. Please reply to:
Ira Chayut
...uw-beaver!teltone!ira
10801 120th Avenue NE
Kirkland, WA 98033
(206) 827-9626 extension 514
------------------------------
Date: Wed 9 Nov 83 11:55:50-EST
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Thomas S. Wanuga <WANUGA@MIT-XX.ARPA>
Subject: Stack Usage Query
I have written an assembly language routine that uses the stack. If I
don't redefine the stack segment at all in my routine, how much space
will there be when my routine gets called from DOS. Is there any way
to check how much space is still available in the stack segment, and
is there any way to define a new stack segment that my routine can
use? Thanks.
Tom
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 83 17:48:59 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-micro@brl.arpa
cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Compuserve Executive Information System
I called CompuServe for information on their Executive Information
System. Real nice ad saying how it was set up for the busy executive.
1. The 800 number was always busy (most likely they leave it off
hook)
2. I called their Ohio number. The person who answered seemed to have
a real problem understanding what she was there for and seemed to
be annoyed I dared ask for information.
3. Finally I got some very sketchy information. When I asked if I
could get more before I sent money she said fine. The information
would arrive in two weeks. They bulk mail. Apparently I am expected
to shell out real money but they save pennies.
If that is Executive Service, I must be in another world.
Dave
------------------------------
Date: 9 Nov 83 22:44:19 EST (Wed)
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Joel Seiferas <joel@Rochester.ARPA>
Subject: DOS 2.0
1. Does anyone know a way to install or remove device drivers without
rebooting?
2. Just when can you actually count on F3 to recall the last line
entered? (If the loss of this buffer coincides with loss of the
transient portion of COMMAND.COM, then I am surprised that I lose it
so often--I have plenty of main memory.)
3. Output redirection can have some very strange side effects. To
suppress the advertisement, I like to install ProKey from my
AUTOEXEC.BAT file as follows:
PROKEY/R VEDIT.PKY >NUL:
(The special device NUL: is not the issue here; I would settle for an
ordinary temporary file instead.) But when I include this, my PC
World demo of Microsoft's WORD cannot find its glossary; if I omit the
redirection, the demo works fine! (Besides ProKey, I also have a
print spooler with the same strange property.)
Joel Seiferas
University of Rochester
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 10 Nov 83 3:11-PST
Date: 7 Nov 83 22:56:45-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!uiucdcs!uiuccsb!faiman @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PC Lookalikes Query
If there are any readers of this notes file who have experience with
any of the IBM lookalikes, I would be interested in reading their
comments and summarizing for the net. I'm thinking particularly of
machines like the Columbia, Corona and Seequa, although there seem to
be many others that also claim compatibility. The November BYTE has
an article on compatibility, but it is written by people from
Columbia, and it is consequently not hard to predict their
conclusions. I would particularly like to see your comments on OS
compatibility, hardware compatibility, quality of monitor, keyboard
arrangement and feel, documentation, bundled software, as well as
general comments on how well the system is put together.
uiucdcs!faiman
Mike Faiman 217-333-6952
Dept of CS - Univ of Illinois
1304 W Springfield Ave
Urbana IL 61801
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂12-Nov-83 1857 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #86
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 12 Nov 83 18:57:05 PST
Date: 12 Nov 1983 1709-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #86
From: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 12 November 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 86
Today's Topics:
DOS Filenames (2 msgs)
DOS 2.0 (2 msgs)
DOS 2.1
Discount Software Retailers (3 msgs)
Word Demo Bugs
Corona/Gemini Star 15 Problem
Hyperion (Passport) Lookalike Query
FinalWord, PerfectWriter, Mince & Scribble
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu 10 Nov 83 17:02:54-EST
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA, info-kermit@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA
From: Daphne Tzoar <CC.DAPHNE@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: DOS Filename Problem
I just came across a strange problem. I had a file on our DEC-20,
LOGIN&.CMD, which is stored as LOGIN↑V&.CMD -- that is, with a
Control-V before the special character. I tried to send it to the IBM
PC using Kermit, which uses the DOS function call (int 21H) to create
a file. DOS complained with the error DISK FULL. When I renamed the
file to LOGIN.CMD it worked OK. It seems, therefore, that the disk
was not full but rather there is a bug in DOS if there is a
non-standard character in the filename. Has anyone seen this before?
------------------------------
Date: 10 Nov 1983 1443-PST
To: Daphne Tzoar <CC.DAPHNE@COLUMBIA-20>, info-ibmpc
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Re: DOS Filename Problem
DOS filenames are only allowed to use the characters
A-Z 0-9 $ & # @ ! % ' ` ( ) - ← ↑ ~
DISK FULL sure is a crummy error msg for using a bad character in
a filename, though.
------------------------------
Date: 10 Nov 1983 17:13:35-PST
To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib@mit-xx
CC: joel@Rochester
From: romkey@MIT-BORAX
Subject: Re: DOS 2.0
1. I don't believe that you can install or remove device drivers
without rebooting. They're loaded into an area of memory between DOS
and COMMAND.COM, and I think the part of DOS that loads them is
probably overwritten by other parts of DOS later.
2. The line buffer is in the transient part of COMMAND.COM. When
COMMAND.COM is going to run a program, it checksums the transient part
before it loads the program. When the program terminates, it sees if
the checksum is the same. If it is, it assumes that nothing was
touched; otherwise it reloads that part. If you have a stack or
something in high memory (or maybe a .EXE program? I'm not sure about
them - I always generate .COM files), it might step on this part of
COMMAND.COM. Let's try sorting high memory - the checksum won't
change, but it should be interesting when COMMAND.COM tries to execute
part of its transient portion!
John Romkey
romkey@mit-borax
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 83 19:10 PST
To: joel@Rochester.ARPA
cc: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA, PCarah.ES@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
From: PCarah.ES@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: Re: DOS 2.0
In answer to your message in Info-IBMPC # 85..
1. No, you can't install or remove device drivers within the design of
the operating system without rebooting. The system does maintain links
and if you know where the list head is, you can add or remove character
device drivers. This would result in memory getting badly disorganized,
however. The same for block device drivers would be very difficult,
since at INIT time the DOS allocates several tables that are not part of
the driver for each block device, and it uses these tables rather than
the device driver headers to find out what devices exist and which
driver to use, etc.
2. You may be losing COMMAND.COM because of the bug in the PASCAL
library routine ENTX6S (which has been referred to before in this list).
The JLE finding out whether there is 64K available should be a JBE.
This applies to PAS1, PAS2, FOR1, FOR2, the PASCAL library, and any
program written using that library. The FORTRAN library ENTX6S has that
bug fixed a different way. There are two general symptoms from this -
the compilers will often not work at all on a machine with more than
512K of memory, and they always cover up COMMAND.COM. Fixes for this
have been detailed before on this list, if you need help send me a
message, since I have found a much easier way to fix it than IBM
documents (which will also work in general for patching .EXE files from
DEBUG).
3. I can't help you - I have never tried a redirection on a program that
terminates and stays resident, but I am sure the problem comes from
that.
-- Pete Carah
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 11 Nov 83 23:12-PST
Date: 9 Nov 83 12:35:48-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!cbosgd!osu-dbs!mwf @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: DOS 2.1
The reason for the PCjr using only version 2.1 > of DOS is the type of
disk drive used by IBM. Apparently the stepping rate of the drive is
slower than the tandon rate, maybe they are TEAC slimlines? The
manual that I have seen for DOS 2.1 is VERY thick and includes a
separate little tutorial book (I don't have ANY version of DOS yet, so
I don't know if this is new or not). IBM expects one to pay an
additional $28 for the DOS TECHNICAL REF. book, it is nowhere near the
2.1 book in thickness. I have no idea if there are any new features
in 2.1 except that the rep. I talked to said there were. He also said
it was available (I did see the Manual + disks + tech ref.) but I have
been unable to purchase one as yet.
Mark Froelich
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 11 Nov 83 6:41-PST
Date: 10 Nov 83 17:16:20-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!cca!rmc (Mark Chilenskas) @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Discount Software Retailers
I think you might want to look into The Programmer's Shop in Dedham,
Ma. I have worked with them looking for software for the NEC APC, a
machine most companies have not even heard of. Worse, i was looking
for things like Prolog, Modula II, Lisp, ... (and also Final Word).
They have been VERY courteous, found dealers and companies for me
that I had never heard of, initiated an order before receiving my
check (but in indicated that they don't like doing so). Their stated
policy is that any piece of software they can find will be sold at a
discount, even if you are the only person ever to order it from them.
And their on-hand stock seems rather large, especially in C compilers.
Unfortunately they mostly don't handle hardware (a few of the most
popular IBM extension cards and that's about it). For current prices,
call them up and/or look in any recent copy of Info World.
Within Massachusetts, their number is (800) 442-8070. Out of state
try (800) 421-8006. I don't have the address on me right now.
R Mark Chilenskas
Chilenskas@CCA-VMS
------------------------------
Date: 10 Nov 1983 1456-PST
Subject: Discount Software Retailers
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
Based on the good things said about The Programmer's Shop in the
digest, I tried to order a copy of Microsoft Word through them. The
person who answered the phone had never heard of Microsoft. It took
her several passes to get my name and address. She then tried to
transfer me to someone else and dropped the line. I called back and
she dropped the line again. Ditto for try #3. I gave up after that.
Seems like they're not handling success very well.
So I went back to Conroy-LaPoint, who are a lot better organized.
They know their software and the PC. I have always found them to be
competent and frank about whether they have items in stock. Unlike
many of these mail-order places they actually seem to keep an
inventory. They had Word in stock with Mouse for $339, delivery in
6-7 working days including shipping time.
Conroy-LaPoint
800-547-1289
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 12 Nov 83 7:12-PST
Date: 11 Nov 83 0:01:53-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!wivax!linus!utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Good Discount Retailer
I'll put in a good word for Diamond Software Supply. They don't seem
to know how to handle customs declarations (next time, I'll be
painfully explicit), but they have good prices, never charge one's
credit card until they ship, ship from stock the next day, and, best
of all, are genuinely friendly and helpful. They have an 800 number
(tho' that's no good from Canada of course) which can be found in most
any PC or PC World.
p. rowley, U. Toronto
------------------------------
Date: 10 November 1983 22:35 est
From: Hess.Unicorn at MIT-MULTICS
Subject: Word Demo Bugs
To: Dick Gillmann <Info-IBMPC at USC-ISIB>
Don't blame ProKey or output redirection for the PC World demo's
inability to find its glossary. That demo has some bugs in it. E.g.
On my machine (XT, 256K, mono AND color), it crashes the machine if it
is run from the color display, sometimes. If it's the first thing run
since you last booted the machine, though, it's OK always. The same
thing was true for the version of notepad, the editor that comes with
the mouse for free, but only sometimes...
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 11 Nov 1983 19:30 MST
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: Despain@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: Corona/Gemini Star 15 Problem
I have been trying to help get an Corona look-alike communicating with
a Gemini Star printer. But, it does not always work, i.e. the buffer
handshaking seems to be getting confused. For example, Basic can talk
directly to the Gemini, but Multi-mate gets everything fouled up. The
vendor gave us a Microfazer, saying that solves the buffer hand-shake
problem. It does in fact for Multi-mate. But then Basic gets all
fouled up. Does anyone else have experience with the Gemini?
------------------------------
Date: 11 Nov 1983 2220-PST
Subject: Hyperion (Passport) Lookalike Query
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
I have been trying to get an interrupt driven communication program
working on a Hyperion (Passport) PC-lookalike. I haven't had much
luck as it appears the RS232 stuff is totally different from a PC.
Does anyone have any experience programming on this machine? There
doesn't seem to be much documentation for programmers. I'd sure like
to hear from anyone who has worked with one.
Dick
------------------------------
Date: Sat 12 Nov 83 11:06:48-PST
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA, info-micro@BRL-VGR.ARPA
From: Tim Gonsalves <Fat.Tag@SU-SIERRA.ARPA>
Subject: FinalWord, PerfectWriter, Mince & Scribble
Thanks to all who replied to my recent request for info on The Final Word
and Perfect Writer. Appended are summaries of the replies I received. My
apologies if my editing has inadvertently changed the import of any
message.
Tim Gonsalves
Gonsalves@Su-Sierra.Arpa
I've tried PW and own Mince (Mince Is Not Complete Emacs) and FW for
the IBM PC. Perfect Software negotiated w/ Mark of the Unicorn (Mince
& FW people) to sell their Mince clone, but since I prefer Mince to PW
I'll talk about it instead.
How close to Emacs is Mince?
Almost the same key bindings but no fancy stuff (e.g. query replace
yes w/o recursive edits, but pascal mode no). 7 files/buffers, 2
windows max. Uses swap file for virtual memory, 256k max; I keep it
on a ramdisk.
Is it extensible?
Comes with lots of C source in case you want to add modes, change
bindings etc. and have a C compiler (they used Lattice [Microsoft]).
It does enough for me so I don't bother.
What is its formatter like?
Mince has a matching formatter Scribble, a tiny Scribe clone. (List$:
Mince or Scribble $175, both $275) Chapters, sections, footnotes,
headers, index & ToC, refs, supports many printers well at once; no
bibliography, device dover,... FW's formatter is the same.
FW is a newer product, has a faster CRT driver, allows 12 buffers, has
DIRED, allows print spooling, lets you continue after exiting
(remembers buffers etc from swap file), but has key bindings
incompatible w/ mince. However, ProKey will make 'em very close, and
I have a hacked-up FW that looks like mince too. Note Scribble does
come w/ C source but not FW.
I haven't used either of these, but I have used Mince (which is fully
customizable) and these other two are clones. I am very pleased with
Mince, and it seems to be an accurate subset of Emacs (as per the
name). One person I know has decided to go to VEDIT (PC) which he
claims is different from Emacs but contains more of the spirit than
the Mince clones. I have completely switched over from the losing WS
editor (although any reasonable screen editor would have supplanted
that monster) to Mince, and would suspect that the same would have
been true for the clones. Only problem with the clones is that FW is
not customizable yet and PW won't be. The text processor is a Scribe
clone and, although more complete than the nroff type of beastie which
is public domain from CUG, i don't really care for it. My main
problem with it is that it really requires a proportional spacing word
quality printer to use it to the fullest, and I only have an FX-80
(which, by the way, is a truly incredible printer).
I've worked with EMACS, and both MINCE and the Final Word from Mark
of the Unicorn. MINCE is quite close to EMACS. The Final Word is
based on the EMACS style of editing but uses a completely different
user interface based on an orthogonal command set. That is, you
specify the direction in which you want to go (FORWARD/REVERSE), the
kind of object you want to affect (CHARACTER/WORD/...) and the
operation. Although better for naive users, the Final Word tended
to require too many keystrokes for ex-EMACS users. The key/command
rebinding feature was nice, but since not all of the original EMACS
commands were provided, it was impossible to make the Final Word
look exactly right.
The integration of formatting with editing in the Final Word was a
bit hokey, but worked well. Bottom line: I no longer use the Final
Word, but now stick to EMACS and MINCE and an external formatter.
I use PW on an IBM PC. PW is quite close in the commands that exist to the
emacs commands, but it has no M-X commands, or C-C commands. It also has no
keyboard macros (the biggest complaint). Finally, the alt key is not
implemented in the current version as a meta key (version 1.00). You have
to use escape. Mince, which is another emacs look-alike, does use the
alt key, but is much slower.
On the positive side, PW has a scribe-like formatter, which while it has some
bugs in it, is still pretty good.
I've been using PW for about 10 mos. now, first on a Kaypro and now on a
Columbia MPC. PW seems to be an implementation of most of the standard
EMACS commands, with a few extras thrown in for convenience (and a few left
out for inconvenience). It is not extensible. In the stock version and in
Final Word there is a program that will let you rebind the keys after a
fairly hairy editing session on a messy bindings definition file. All in
all, I feel satisfied with PW -- there have only been one or two times that
I've really wanted to write a mock-lisp command.
The Perfect Formatter on the other hand is almost useless. It tries to do
too much for the user. Instead of letting you define a format with a set
of primitives, it provides a (incomplete) set of predefined environments.
These are adequate for simple business documents or papers, but not for
technical reports or dissertations. Perhaps the most annoying thing about
it is that it makes you specify several major style parameters at the start
of a document and won't let you change them at any later point (margins,
for example). Nor does it support printing parts of a document separately
so that you can change style -- you can't chain documents with different
styles and it won't let you adjust page numbers (to fake it) if you print
them separately. It also goes out of its way to use obscure printer
features. Other complaints include: Won't let you keep a long
bibliography, won't create a table of contents unless you number chapters
its way, etc., etc., etc. All in all, I've decided to scrap it in favor of
another stand alone formatter if I can find one (Microscript by Microtype
looks pretty good....)
The rest of the perfect package is pretty nice. I especially like the
fact that it integrates well (all of the file formats are compatible
and the menu system works pretty well -- though it sometimes forgets
what file you were working on, and isn't smart enough to apply the
proper suffix all of the time). The speller is adequate although I
really prefer The Word Plus.
In summary, I think I would recommend the editor (or Mince) but not
the formatter. The formatter is good at formatting letters.
The FW formatter does not handle bibliographies automatically -- a drawback
for technical articles. Otherwise, seems an adequate subset of Scribe.
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂15-Nov-83 1353 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #87
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 15 Nov 83 13:46:51 PST
Date: 15 Nov 1983 1134-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #87
From: Gillmann & Brackenridge <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 15 November 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 87
Today's Topics:
New Co-Editor of the Info-IBMPC Digest
Free PC Utility Offer
Macro/Linker Bug
PLAY Command
Good Discount Retailer (2 Msgs)
LOTUS/GEMINI Hope at Last!
Memory Allocation in DOS 2.0
Multi-Tool Word on a laser printer (2 Msgs)
PC lookalikes
Texas Instruments PC (Pegasus) Technical questions
New Sharp Portable -- Microsoft Windows OS
Codesmith-86 and new ASM - (2 Msgs)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 13 Nov 1983 1548-PST
Subject: New Co-Editor of the Info-IBMPC Digest
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
I want to take this opportunity to welcome Bill Brackenridge as new
co-editor of the Info-IBMPC Digest. The volume of messages has become
too great for one person to handle and Bill has graciously offered to
share the burden. From now on, we will alternate weeks editing the
digest.
Dick Gillmann
-------
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 12 Nov 83 0:41-PST
Date: 16 Nov 83 21:54:00-EST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!ut-sally!cyb-eng!shell!starr @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Free PC Utility Offer
I have written a program called UTIL for the IBM PC. It only runs
under DOS 2.0 on a system with 128K (maybe 96) or better. It will
not run under lower DOS levels due to the fact that it uses interrupts
only available under DOS 2.0.
It is being distributed under the "user supported software" concept.
I wrote the program for 2 reasons:
1) I really needed something like it, and it wasn't available
2) I saw ads for so many useless utilities selling for outrageous
amounts of money, and figured the world was ready for a program
like this one, distributed in this fashion.
The program was written in C using the CiC86 compiler from Computer
Innovations. The .EXE file size is larger than I care for, but this
is due to the lack of DOS 2.0 path support in the CiC86 routines. It
will be corrected with the release of the new optimizing compiler
(soon, I hope). At any rate, it is smaller than many of the single
function Norton Utilities.
Rather than create many .COM or .EXE utility routines to do what needed
to be done, I wrote a single program wherein many different options were
available, and could be invoked either from the command line or from
a menu. This gets around the problem I found with writing utilities in
ANY high level language, wherein even a very simple program generates
a 6K .EXE file.
The most powerful feature of the program is the "SD" option (sorted
directory). It provides the user with a full screen list of the files
contained in a specified directory. The arrow keys allow you to place
a "cursor" over any file name in the list.
While viewing the directory listing, you can hit "A", "D" or "X" to
resort the directory alphabetically, by date, or by extension
(respectively). Alphabetic is the default sort order.
With the cursor over a particular file name, you can
a) delete the file
b) copy the file
c) run any program on the file *
d) invoke your favorite editor on the file *
e) invoke your favorite word processor on the file *
f) print the file
g) browse the file
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b⊃β'9ε3K?;"β?→β&C↔'Iεsπ7↔~qα#''#';≤hSS#∃βb⊗:R-⊃yβ//Iβ←'&AβS#*β∂WK≡{Iβ?6+Iβ¬π≠W ∪N+∂S?↔Iβ;πn)βCW'→βg?*β';Sxh+S#∂!βOW⊗#'K↔∨#?Kebβ['↔>K;≥βO#Mβ∂}sS↔;'→84(hR#'S&K;≥β
↓ 9 π∪↔[↔↔#Mβg␈)β?;*β3↔[.aβ π≡Yβ'9π##∃β&KK↔∂&{KeβFK↔Kπ⊗≠#e8hRπ9↓∃⊃ β7␈3↔MβN{UβSzβS#∃π∪??Qε#'K↔∨#?Kerα¬↓
2⊃βπ3f{←MβN{UβSzβ['↔:βπ;dhS∪K'6)9απr↓
% ε 33??→βg?*βS=βNk7↔∪N S↔3JβO↔3.≠Qβ¬ε#K'[+SCπSBβS=β6K↔]8hP4*SF)↓ ⊗{←O∃∩β?CSN{9βπfc?←Mε3W31π≠∂K↔.qβ∪'∨β3πeε{→β¬π#↔cQε3'3∃bβ←#↔⊗(4+C∞;';≥εKMβ∪}s∃β∪O∪↔∂SgIβ≠K}iβ∪'≡Y1βW≡K;≥βN{WIαε:WAβ∞s⊃αC<#9β//KM9α&C↔K∀hS'Mβ/3↔9β
↓ K␈;O∃ εk?∪∃ε3?Iα>{K∪O& Iβ≠Nc↔M1π;#↔K*βS#∃βCS!7⊗KQβC⊗{ 3↔hh+'Mπ#π/↔rβ∂πK*β?→1ε ;⊃β
α←?K'≠SπIε3'3∃εKMβπ∨#Wπ3gIβK↔∞#π 3*p4(4T ;?SF+Iβ≠. SWK*β?→β&C∃β ⊗{←O∃ε{CS'}qβ'Mπ##∃β∞∪'3''IβS=εkπK-ε ;eβ';=βC}K;SLhS'9β&C∃β≠Nc∃βπv!βO↔v!βS#*β7πK↑+⊃βS/CQβSzβg?W∩βCK'w#↔I8hP4*?&C↔Iβ␈βS'?w→βπ[∞K3π f)β'9¬*R&1ε K∃hhP4)↓α↓β¬%¬∪↔∪↔6K;∃β↑+gMβ}qβg?/⊃β/↔N∪?πK"q99β/≠↔Mα$zM↓Is↓β≠↔∂#WK∀hQ↓↓↓ε⊃%α∂↔+∪∃β& Sπ ∂≠∃βπ⊗K3'SJq99β>{?⊃β6{IβCF{;∃↓~;Mβπv!βπ∪'∪↔OO/_4)↓α↓β
%¬≠←'S≡Aβ ↔';↔↔9εk?;=ε ;⊃β≡{3?Iπ≠∂K↔.p4)↓α↓β⊃%∧#'K↔∨#3eβ↔∪?←O*β¬β≠Nc∃↓#>KS#?/!β#π6K;≥β&yβ∪=ε 9αN"H4)↓α↓β∃%¬≠↔;⊃ε βS?αk?→76{K5β&yβg?/⊃βCKNsS↔HhQ↓↓↓ε1%αSOβ∃β∪O∪↔∂SgIβS=πK?WIπβK';&+H4(hR?CSN{;Mβ∂∪∃β .K;≥β∞#∪↔⊃π#=βSFKMβC⊗{∨KπjβπMβ&C↔eβ∂∪∃βO.;∨↔O&+⊃9α>CπQβO_4+C⊗{['∪.!βSπ↑+Mβ∂∂∪∃β?2βπ3?"β?→β&C∃β∪↔+∪∨↔↔Iβπ;"β∨KWw!7←?⊗Yβ';6{3[↔"β←'S@h+∪πJkS=7& eαB~β∪↔πfK;∨MrαS#∃εs↔cQ∧jε*>∩β?CSN{9α%ε 5β∨}K;≥β&yβπ∪"β'Mβ
β≠W3`h+≠Wv≠S'?rβO∂'.sS'≠N→β∂πf≠W3π&{I9α&C∃β∂}#∃β≠␈⊃βS#O→β#π~β ↔↔rβ←K''#↔9β∞s⊂4+&+OS↔"aβ W"α%β≠.+1βSF QβSFKMβ←␈+3⊃β≡ WO∃π##∃↓t*b∃β6K3∃β6{IαV$J1βSzβ ↔∂}k∀4+&{=β3∂∪∨∃1ε ;⊃β>K31β> 'Qβ6{IβSF)α∂&≠AYβ?π#'7'VK;≥β≡{7C'f+IβSzβπ∪⊃εKQ84Ph*'→πK?Uβ6+↔1β&CπQβ&C'Mβπ∪?∨K∞iβ∂?.c⊃β *β?→β/≠∃βSzβg?UbβC3↔∂≠∃β7∞K1β7*↓#['λh*VN,r⊗Q1ε{→β∂␈+KO∃Jβg?W∩β7π'fK;≥β∞#∪K↔∨→9α%π;'31εkπ'1πK?Uβ
α~J⊗*β∂?CJβ?_4W##∃βπ∪?∨K∞i1β←O#!βSF)β∪?∨+7↔;& S'?rβ?9β&C∃β∪O≠/↔S&)9αSF Qβ'~β#?]ε≠?;≠N#↔;PhR%βπjβS#π"βg?Uπ;'31αβ3'/*βS#∃πβK?∨⊗ 59α∞c1α%ε O-βO→βS#∂!αB
ε{←;↔↔→β←'&C'84W##∃β≡ 7∃β≡{7CπwIβ∨↔"βS?∨/##↔Iε ;⊃β.c↔∂Qε{;∃βε+KO?rβS=β≡+;⊃β&C∃βK/ W↔O"qαS#(h+CK};Kπ5∧JMα:⎇!β∂?πIβCK␈#↔∂S.!1βOzβ?;∃π+O↔Iε≠π9βn /∃β≡{C'↔~β≠?Iε+[↔KN{;∀4V+3O∃rαS#'~β?≠≠/⊃β'Mε+cS↔v#↔⊃α|r2eβ&yβS#␈≠∃β?rβS#∃εs↔Q1εs?Qβ&yβS#*βCW fK
84TIβ#π6)β¬β≡+3→7NkC?O.!β3'nKQβ?2↓EAAε#'O//#S↔M∧Iβπ5π;'33Ns≥βSzβ∨'[*β?WQε3?H4Vs?S#Ns≥9α∞3S↔Iπ##πQbβ'Qβ>K31β⊗)βS?zβ↔cC.sO'[*aβπ;"β7eβ>K≠∃β∞s⊃β/N#Mβ←Nc04+⊗+∨'9π≠W≠≠/∪';≥ph(4*N{WKMε ∨π'w≠QβKO↓7?≠2βO?≠';πK∃ε ;⊃β≡{Ceβπ∪?S↔∨#'?9`h(4*∀1αOS∂∪H4(hQ)))RQ)))RQ)))RQ)))RQ)))RQ)))T"&N∞d
&6⊗∩Q)))RQ)))RQ)))RQ)))RQ)))RQ)))RQ)))RP4*SF)β←?⊗Yβ∪?v)β?9¬*R&1π;πMβ&{;∃β∂!β#?n)1β?rβ7eβε+KO?v 1αb"qαS#O→βCK};Kπ5εCπL4Vs=βK.cπS'}sO#'αβ←#π'≠?↔[/⊃βS=¬≠#↔3bα?'1∧≠=9↓Fkeβ↔oβ3?g/⊃%84Ph*'Qπ;πMβ?∪'SS.qβCW⊗+3eβ6{IβC/∪O?;∞aβK↔∂≠?;Mbβ;?Qε QβSF)βOπv≠S'?rβ?→βoIβ∂?oβπ;eph*'QεKMβ .K;≥β&KOSKN∪WS↔"β?9β
βC↔K≡{;π1ε∪πO'~aβ←'&Aβπ3bβ∂?O'→β ↔Ns≥βCN≠/↔⊃αβW@4V∪eβ7*qαO#.c1α?Naα∂=rβ#πMεs?S#Ns≥βSzβ∪=β>KS!β&C'Mβ≡{≠S←∂∪∃β∪/3↔3?εk↔;Qε{H4+}3≠↔KNs≥84RQ)))RQ)))RQ)))RQ)))RQ)))RQ)))RQ)))RQ)))RQ)))RQ)))RQ)))RQ)))RQ)))RQ)))RQ)))Ph*n'2β←∃β⊗+∂↔'6)β¬β≡{Ceβ}1βS#O→βCK};Kπ5π;∃β←Nc1β *β∨3π"βS=β&KOSKN∪WS∃εKQβ'ph+S#*α&:~zj&
6∧→αCK};Kπ5εc' K∂∪e9↓jj↔⊃:hh(4)ji555ji555ji555ji555ji555ji554hQEI6v{Y5a~↓Eei≠)iM]mαNQ1 ↓QEmβ↓AAAβ↓AAAβλ4*K/#WK9mβπS!R↓r↑εu*≡εαlJQ6bBrεJB p4*K.≠↔'[.!iα~∀z5α6M!6ba∧∩eαV≤→6&NL⊃:εJ∧ α↑&$AαR∞α↓m↓E∩α;?YβAM↓EKQMUi∪IαBN h*∪π&)iαO∂!↓EI∧s?Y↓C→↓IIS→EiQ
j⊗NPhR≠K?kQαS#}kπMα~qα←πw+∨¬↓e:ε:V<
α6&"jba:
∩B¬xhROW V+∂Qi∧kπ∂Kzz3';↑+Iα .84*S{Qβ';6y7' oβ∞αV≤→6&NL⊃:εJ∧λ4+∂≠Qβ←πw+∨εαlJQ6bBrεJBλh(4*D*2A¬αα%β∂∞k∃βπ∨∪?OMε β W:β'9β.KS#↔∩βS#∃∧kπ∂KzαπOO.k 3↔∩β?Iβ&C∀4*fK;/↔∩q↓α7JβπOO.k 3eεcπ;∨. ∨∃β⊗{WS'v)βπO≡+7 3/→βW;&+Iα6
~5β[/⊃↓E9αβπ;⊂hS∨'[/→↓Aα> K;'v;Mβπv!↓Aα/∪K?K~q↓αSF+91β>C↔9αJβSKeεc';/Ns≥βSF)βK↔∨+3S'v84):|∩)β≠Nc∃1αJβ∨↔Qπ##∃β6{33?>K;≥β/∪K?Iεk↔OO∞;∃βπv!β;=αr⊗b∃ε3'3∃ph(4*$zM↓Es α2&tYβ7↔∨≠π∨∃Ph(4*6 Sπ1∧+KK?∪P4*πrβ';S/∪;π1ε3π'3/∪∃β#∂→β?∂∨+KK↔"p4*'wβWQα6K3∃i¬"⊗J5tz
)"
IβC?≠Q↓AA#↓YαK.≠?K⊃¬#gC∃Rα¬@4Ph*∩>~↓I9A∧b&:-εk↔OO∞;∃h4Ph*';6 3'⊃ε{ +↔∨!β7?'+3∀4TK;CW"α≠'3+QαR⊗∀i:>
RB¬%βε{Mi↓β↓QAQ¬∪↔∂?⊗!αSgε)iα¬h(4*&{↔Mβ∞sg?;*β/;?:β←#π"βS#∃πβK? f+5β7N;#Qβ⊗)β#↔⊗)⎇↓α>CπQβ&{↔Mβ&C∃↓ ε{Mλ4VsW7 /⊃β'9π##∃β/∪K?Iεk↔OO∞;∃β7. 99↓∧#?↔MεKQβ7. 9βSF QβSF)βCK}∪3↔5εKL4+v+πIβ&CπQβ↔KS∃βNqβS#*↓:>
Rβ≠'3+y↓α←F+K∃β≡ 9α%ε3';⊃ε{WQβ>CπQβ&C∀4+≡{KK↔∨!β≠?⊗kπQβ}1β¬↓tz
)β6K3∃βO→⎇↓α&Cπ;/~p4(4U#?44Ri555ji44(hQ555ji555ji555ji555ji555ji555jh4)E~j;?YkAM↓ACQEIi≠A6BN"aYAQ[↓AAAβ↓AAAβ↓D4*⊗+SWKrjCπSCQ↓rOf ∪⊗αL
2∃xhRK↔∂.K[↔⊃Rα~J>jαfε2*α
eα-~
6&≤J :ε∃α¬α↑M"!αR≥↓↓m↓ →α;?2↓aM↓βAiEES!MαB≥ 4*K.≠↔'[.!iβ Jαfε2*j
V2d">≥β6K¬α∞D
>Mm¬≠W91β Mα;␈1↓aMβ EiA∪QMeα-~P4*& S∃iα↓↓αO.q1↓E~α;?YβAM↓E QAUiβAα⊗N h*≠K}ii↓↓ααOS↔εC↔9α≡cπ∪∃βbO3π&*αfεd):εJ∧ x4*∨+ +↔∨!iαBd
eα∂}k7π; h*S=R↓↓↓↓αα∪'∂Zα∨'3fkπ;9βb';≠zj&
6∧~αVN~j&N&∩rεJB p4(4TIβπ5εc??/Ns≥β≠␈⊃β¬α~k∂?7ε S' f)β[↔↔≠'?9ε{→βSF)αB
l∩εN&~αB2εJβ∂?7n ;⊃β6{H4+o+O'
r↓αS#∂!β'Mbβ¬β∂}k7π;"βS#π"β∂?;6+KSMε βC'&≠!βπv!βK#O##5β∨β↔∂'6K∂πSN{84+&yβ¬βv{S∃βεcπg↔"β?9β&C∃αB~;MβOε+π/↔∩q↓α%>!βπCπ∪↔∂'∂#∃βπwIβ';6{K7π&K?84W∪↔3π&K;≥β&yβC3∂K';≥εkWO'~β'9α~p4(4Ri6OS/β#↔9¬≠3π∪(h(4)ji555jh4(4Ri555ji555ji555ji555ji555ji555hh)EMls?Y5C→↓EeS)IiEαjBNQcAAMmβ↓AAAβ↓AAAβλ4*K/#WK9mβπS!R↓s/;/#O↔:π≠K%7.s'axhRK↔∂.K[↔⊃Rα~J>jαNJ%m*:&a∧∩eαV≤→6&NL⊃:εJ∧ α↑&$AαR∞α↓m↓E~α;?YβAM↓EKQUIiβ!αBN h*K↔≡+'[↔#Qβ≠K}iαWO.s↔Q;/+∂Aβ↔IβOKJkW;'BsWW∂αβ←'SBβKMI≠⊃m↓E~α;?YβAM↓EKQQI6¬~P4*& S∃iβ Iα;␈1↓aMβ aiQ∪QIA6¬~Q↓"≡ Q$4U#=iβNs≠=7N∪7C
∧↓αWO~j'O'⊂h*≠K}iiβ#εcπ M∞K;S↔f≠¬π/'→α↓α.≠ 6[∂@4*O.∪+↔∂#Qα∨?}!α∪'≡≠?W;"αK↔S∞K3↔HhRπKSN≠3∃6Jr⊃9iεK;S↔f≠¬9E≠(4*'rjK↔CgI6S=RαπKSN≠3∃↓c⊃Yebtcsrgv.UUCP>
I have heard of, and had a good personal experience with Qubie distributing
in Camarillo, Ca (down by Santa Barbara)--they seem to have very good
prices (at least on AST boards) and ship the next day...I don't know if
they sell software, tho...
--
Ken Shoemaker
Intel Corp, Microprocessor Applications
Santa Clara, Ca. (408)987-7206
pur-ee!intelca!kds
hplabs!intelca!kds
ogcvax!omsvax!intelca!kds
------------------------------
Return-Path: <Hess.Unicorn@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA>
Received: FROM MIT-MULTICS BY USC-ISIB.ARPA WITH TCP ; 14 Nov 83 16:58:00 PST
Date: 13 November 1983 18:22 est
Subject: Microsoft Word Unavailability
To: Gillmann at USC-ISIB
Please insert a statement into the Info-PC Digest when you receive your
software (Microsoft Word) to follow up on "6-7 days". Our local dealers
don't even have it yet, so I'm leery of what C-lP can do to fulfill its
promise.
[It hasn't arrived yet but we will let you know --Ed.]
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 14 Nov 83 2:59-PST
Date: 13 Nov 83 14:37:30-PST (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!floyd!whuxle!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: BUF128 Typeahead Buffer Expander - (nf)
The following BASIC program creates the file KBBUFF.COM
which will expand the type ahead buffer to 160 characters.
Put the command 'kbbuff' in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that
it is setup when the system is booted.
=================================
10 CLS:PRINT"This basic program was created by CONVERT.BAS":KEY OFF:DEFINT A-Z:FALSE=0:TRUE=NOT FALSE
20 PRINT"Copyright 1983 ,Rich Schinnell Rockville,MD. Not for Sale."
30 PRINT "This program will create you a program named KBBUFF.COM":PRINT
40 ON ERROR GOTO 5000
50 INPUT "PLACE the disk to write the file TO in the DEFAULT Drive. Press <ENTER> "; CAPITAL$
90 CLS:LOCATE 12,5:PRINT "Now writing file named KBBUFF.COM standby please "
100 RESTORE
110 OPEN "R", #1,"KBBUFF.COM",1
120 FIELD #1, 1 AS N$
130 READ N:LL=(N/28)+1
140 FOR I = 1 TO N
150 READ X$,CHECK:FOR C=1 TO LEN(X$) STEP 2:CC$="&H"+MID$(X$,C,2):IF CHECK=9999 THEN 170
155 LSET N$=CHR$(VAL(CC$)):PUT #1:CHECK=CHECK-VAL(CC$):NEXT C:IF CHECK<>0 THEN 5000
160 LOCATE 14,5:PRINT TIME$;" Reading data line #";(1000+I);" lines left=";LL-I;:NEXT I:CLOSE
170 LOCATE 16,5:PRINT "KBBUFF.COM CREATED * *":GOTO 5010
1000 DATA 696
1001 DATA E95B0200000000000000000F010F0100000000000000000000000000,358
1002 DATA 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000,0
1003 DATA 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000,0
1004 DATA 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000,0
1005 DATA 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000,0
1006 DATA 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000,0
1007 DATA 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000,0
1008 DATA 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000,0
1009 DATA 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000,0
1010 DATA 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000,0
1011 DATA 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000,0
1012 DATA 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000050,80
1013 DATA 53519CFABB1E00E4615024FCE661B93C00E2FE0C02E661B93C00E2FE,3598
1014 DATA 4B75EB58E6619D595B58C3BB40008EDBFA8B1E1A003B1E1C00751DBB,2969
1015 DATA 1E00891E1A0083C302891E1C008CCB8EDBBB0F01891E0B01891E0D01,2013
1016 DATA FBC31E565350E8CAFF9C2EFF1E0301BB40008EDB2E8B360D018B1E1A,2965
1017 DATA 0083C30283FB3E7203BB1E003B1E1C0074268B072E890483C60281FE,2424
1018 DATA 4F027203BE0F012E3B360B017505E862FFEB052E89360D01891E1A00,1966
1019 DATA A01700240C3C0C75082EA10D012EA30B01585B5E1FCFFB1E53E863FF,2331
1020 DATA 8CCB8EDB0AE4740BFECC7429FECC74365B1FCFFB90FA8B1E0B013B1E,3556
1021 DATA 0D0174F38B0783C30281FB4F027503BB0F01891E0B015B1FCFFA8B1E,2558
1022 DATA 0B013B1E0D018B07FB5B1FCA0200FF2E07011EB800008ED8FAA12400,2166
1023 DATA 2EA30301A126002EA30501C7062400A6028C0E2600FBA158002EA307,1944
1024 DATA 01A15A002EA30901C70658000E038C0E5A00B840008ED8FABB1E0089,2235
1025 DATA 1E1A00C707000083C302891E1C00FBBA5E03CD2700000000,1563
1026 DATA 000000,9999
5000 PRINT "* * ERROR VERIFY FOLLOWING DATA * * * "
5005 PRINT X$;",";CHECK
5010 KEY ON:CLOSE:END
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 15 Nov 83 0:14-PST
Date: 14 Nov 83 12:58:48-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!ihuxm!berman @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: LOTUS/GEMINI Hope at Last!
To those who have followed my LOTUS/GEMINI interface problem,
some news: I called Gemini (Star Micronics) today, and they
said they are aware of the problem, have a patch and will send
it pronto.
Andy Berman
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 15 Nov 83 2:53-PST
Date: 14 Nov 83 8:28:56-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!ihlpf!dap1 @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Mem. Alloc. in DOS????? - (nf)
I have been trying to get the DOS 4bh interrupt (exec) to work from Lattice
C. The return code said there was insufficient memory. I assumed this was
due to not doing a 4ah interrupt first (SETBLOCK). Unfortunately, this
interrupt is not explained very well. It talks about "blocks" which I assume
are the blocks assigned by interrupt 48h (Allocate Memory). Does this mean
that I have to "allocate" memory just so I can turn around and "free" it?
If so, where is this memory allocated from? Lattice C sets up the data and
stack segment just behind the code segment. How does DOS know that Lattice
is using this 64K? If it doesn't know, does it wipe out my stack and data
segment? Or does it allocate memory from the top of memory down, in which
case I'll have to determine just the right size to ask for. Alternatively,
could I ask for 256K and get the size of the "largest block of memory
available" in BX, subtract 64K from it and request that size block?
Of course this all seems rather silly, since I only WANT it so I can
immediately DELETE it. Does anybody have a clue as to what these routines
REALLY do??????
Thanks in advance,
Darrell Plank
BTL-IH
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 13 Nov 83 7:38-PST
Date: 11 Nov 83 20:19:35-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!genrad!security!linus!utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Multi-Tool Word on a laser printer
Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.2703
I've just seen a Multi-Tool Word manual. Quite impressive. One of the
more interesting possibilities is the preparation of a manuscript using
it on an IBM PC, transferring the document to a VAX with a laser printer,
and printing it on that printer. This is made possible by Microsoft's use of
a press file, of documented format, somewhat in the spirit of device-
independent troff.
------------------------------
14-Nov-83 17:44:38-PST,393;000000000001
Return-Path: <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.arpa>
Received: FROM UDEL-EE BY USC-ISIB.ARPA WITH TCP ; 14 Nov 83 17:42:06 PST
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 83 20:43:36 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Microsoft Print File Format
Does anyone know of any implementations of the MSPRINT format
used in MS Word?
15-Nov-83 00:33:55-PST,1433;000000000001
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 15 Nov 83 0:28-PST
Date: 13 Nov 83 12:48:04-PST (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!seismo!rochester!ritcv!tropix!rcm @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PC lookalikes
On the compatibility of "lookalikes," I have some simple
experiences to share. The COMPAQ is available here, but not the PC (at
least not within 4 months.) So, desiring to get SCALD (a schematic
design and logic simulation program from Case Tech. Inc) up quickly, I
examined the Compaq. It is *identical* (except for weight) to the PC,
the man told me. Run some IBM demos on it, I asked. He tried and
couldn't. Run COMPAQ demos on the PC, I asked. No soap. He then
admitted Basic had some incompatibilities also (ie wouldn't run, due to
ROM differences.)
*Identical* hardware interface, I was told. Except the
hardware graphics boards required to support CAD don't work (the
Hercules, in particular.) SCALD comes with its own hardware graphics
board to provide a measure of software protection, so that settled it
for me. But I now understand that compatibility has been stretched
beyond reasonable limits of accuracy regarding PC lookalikes.
This is one of the systems which Columbia, in their Nov BYTE
article said was of the highest level of compatibility!
Conclusion -- wait for IBM to deliver the real thing.
Bob Moore
seismo!rochester!ritcv!tropix!rcm
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 15 Nov 83 3:15-PST
Date: 14 Nov 83 5:21:57-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!uiucdcs!smu!leff @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Texas Instruments PC (Pegasus) Technical questions
Some technical questions on the TI - PC
1) does anybody know of a utility, mechanism, consultant or person
who will recover at TIPC Winchester disk that lost its VTOC.
Somebody lost a VTOC from some weird EASYWRITER bug here and they
have a lot of programs and files on it and of course they don't have
any backup.
2) does anybody know how to get documentation on how to program the
graphics board from MS-FORTRAN or MS-PASCAL. (We have three plane
graphics boards here.)
3) is there any documentation available on the modem card.
We have ttycom but we wish to be able to access it from our
programs.
4) THe installation guide for the serial card says the thing supports
SDLC type protocols. There is no documentation on this feature.
Does anybody know anything about it.
We have installed about 88 TI PC's here at SMU (some of which were bought
for personal use in a mass deal.) These are outstanding questions
which we have not yet found an answer.
------------------------------
Date: 12 Nov 83 6:04:32-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!genrad!security!linus!utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: New Sharp Portable -- Microsoft Windows OS
According to a report in the Toronto Globe & Mail, Nov. 11, Technology section,
Sharp Electronics has just introduced the PC-5000, a PC compatible running
MS-DOS that weighs <10 lbs and has an 80ch. x 8 line LCD display. It has from
128-256K memory, removable bubble memory cart. (no size figure given), and a
"dot matrix printer with thermal and carbon-ribbon printing" (not clear whether
this is standard or not).
>From the same paper, one sees that the maker of the Hyperion PC compatible
portable "intends to endorse Microsoft Windows, an operating system for
personal computers made by Microsoft Inc. of Bellevue, Wash."
"When run on the Hyperion, MS-Windows will extend the function of the MS-DOS
operating system to include management of bit-mapped screen graphics and a
mouse cursor control device. MS-Windows will enable the user to view unrelated
applications programs simultaneously, allowing data transfer from one
application program to another."
This is the first I've heard of this, which appears to be Microsoft's answer
to Lisa(tm Apple) and VisiON (tm Visicorp). (MS-* are tm's of Microsoft)
Have more details on the system been made available? It appears, from this
description, that it does not embrace the fairly complicated attempts to make
user interfaces automatically consistent adopted by VisiON (Basic Interaction
Techniques, etc.), but rather just extends MS-DOS into a multi-window system.
This allows some use of the existing sw base, I would guess. Also a nice
way for Microsoft to reward those who have played by MS-DOS' rules and haven't
accessed the screen directly.
Lots of other information in this section. It's part of the paper every
Friday.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 15 Nov 83 2:42-PST
Date: 14 Nov 83 8:28:35-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!ihlpf!dap1 @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Codesmith-86 and new ASM - (nf)
Article-I.D.: ihlpf.213
#N:ihlpf:17100015:000:802
ihlpf!dap1 Nov 11 19:14:00 1983
Has anyone tried out Codesmith-86 yet? It looks like a real nice package which
toggles back and forth between the screen (graphic or otherwise) and the
code being traced. It also allows up to 8 windows into different parts of
memory. All in all, it looks really nice. I just talked with the author
who just quit as a consultant to Mattel Electronics and he is sending me a
version to check out. Is this a worthwhile product?
Darrell Plank
ihlpf!dap1
BTL-IH
P.S. He said he is coming out with an assembler which will assemble 6000
lines/min. with "about 3/4 of the macro facilities of the IBM assembler".
Anything has to be better than the IBM assembler.
------------------------------
Date: 15 Nov 1983 1030-PST
Subject: Re: Codesmith-86 and new ASM - (nf)
From: Brackenridge <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: ihnp4!ihlpf!dap1@UCB-VAX
cc: info-ibmpc
In-Reply-To: Your message of 14 Nov 83 8:28:35-PST (Mon)
I reviewed Codesmith-86 in issue #40 of Info-IBMPC. Since that time there
have been many updates and the bugs I mentioned have long since been fixed.
I am very pleased with it and use it every day.
The only objection is that it takes about 100K so you need lots of memory.
It also takes a while to load so Debug is sometimes more useful for a
quick patch. It also loads an init file which must be in the directory
you are running from.
The assembler is exciting news I will watch for it and announce it here as soon
as it is available.
-------
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂16-Nov-83 2144 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #88
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 16 Nov 83 21:43:14 PST
Date: 16 Nov 1983 2027-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #88
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 11 November 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 88
Today's Topics:
Compatibility of Compaq
Bug warning on PCnet
Mem. Alloc. in DOS????
TI PC tech ?'s
Op-Scan Reader Wanted
Netting PC's to a Wang
Query re Venix
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Received: FROM MIT-MC BY USC-ISIB.ARPA WITH TCP ; 15 Nov 83 18:09:20 PST
Date: 15 November 1983 21:14 EST
From: Charles L. Jackson <CLJ @ MIT-MC>
Subject: Compatibility of Compaq
To: INFO-IBMPC @ USC-ISIB
Compaq compatibility was seriously misrepresented in
the most recent digest. We have a compaq and several
PCs. Many applications (eg. Word star, Lotus 123, Visi-trend) are completely
interchangeable. Interpreted basic programs sometimes have problems.
Due to no rom, the compaq ms-basic interpreter is 56K! If you have
only a 64 K machine you can't run many basic programs.
All our compaq demo programs (which came with compaq dos) run
fine on a PC with a color graphics board. All in all, the
compaq has given us the combination of portability and PC
compatibility we needed. If you get one I suggest you immediately
load it with 256 K of ram.
regards
Chuck
------------------------------
Received: FROM MIT-MC BY USC-ISIB.ARPA WITH TCP ; 15 Nov 83 18:14:27 PST
Date: 15 November 1983 21:17 EST
From: Charles L. Jackson <CLJ @ MIT-MC>
Subject: bug warning on pcnet
To: info-ibmpc @ USC-ISIB
We have a two station configuration of the orchid technology pcnet
lan. (one xt and one pc). It works fine and the xt allows shared
access to the hard disk. But, this week we discovered that
we could not run Mailmerge while the pcnet software (bios) was loaded.
Somehow the pcnet software interacts with mailmerge to make mailmerge
flaky. It was a hard bug to find because pcnet had run like a rock for
months and we didn't suspect it.
regards
chuck
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 16 Nov 83 3:41-PST
Date: 15 Nov 83 3:00:40-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!ihlpf!dap1 @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: "Re: Mem. Alloc. in DOS????? - (nf)"
Well, I have figured out some stuff since last night when I
posted the original note. I got my exec() system call for
Lattice C working, but only on .com files (generated under
Lattice by linking with cc.obj rather than c.obj). I could
not get function 4a to work in a .EXE file. In a .com file
you just pass the value of the ES register upon entry and the
size in paragraphs in the BX register. I haven't the
foggiest what goes in the ES register for .exe files. I
tried sending the segment with the PSP, the CS segment and
finally, the segment just beyond all the memory I was using
(although I don't see how DOS could distinguish that, so it
didn't surprise me that it didn't work). None of them
worked. I always got an error code 7 back which means
"Memory control blocks destroyed". It seems as though the
note on P. D-47 of the DOS Manual which says "When your
program received control, all of available memory was
allocated to it" only applies to .com files. The only hint
that the manual makes of this distinction is on PPs. E-6 and
E-7 where the fact that all the memory is allocated to the
program seems to apply only to .com files.
What is going on here? If there is a distinction,
why didn't they mention it in the function calls??? Why does
such a distinction exist? Is it totally impossible to
deallocate memory from a .exe file and hence to exec from
it??? Whatever the case, I think they did a lousy job of
documenting this feature.
Darrell Plank
BTL-IH
P.S. I got a request to post the "exec" function which is
modified from a macro put up by Brad Davis a while back.
I'll do this shortly so maybe I can save other people the
headache of trying to figure out the difference between the
DOS documentation and DOS itself.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 16 Nov 83 3:56-PST
Date: 15 Nov 83 8:18:30-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!bbncca!schoff @ Ucb-Vax
What do people think about the sanyo PC? I want to buy a computer
for someone that has some IBMPC compatibility. Does anyone know
if an IBMPC diskette can be read/written by the Sanyo, or
any standard packages mince/wordstar/Lattice-C will run on it?
the price certainly seems right (995)
thanks
decvax!bbncca!schoff
schoff at bbnu (arpa)
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 16 Nov 83 5:46-PST
Date: 15 Nov 83 10:46:24-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!ihuxx!hersee @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Mem. Alloc. in DOS????? - (nf)
The DOS 2.0 COMMAND.COM has a bug in it that makes
the exec call fail. There is a patch available but
if you have a program that uses the patched COMMAND.COM
and then it gets moved to a new disk it will no longer work.
Most people write the name of the next program to the keyboard
typeahead buffer and then exit to DOS. This has the
advantage of working for both DOS 1.1 and 2.0.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 16 Nov 83 6:00-PST
Date: 15 Nov 83 13:55:49-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!floyd!whuxle!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: TI PC tech ?'s - (nf)
In answer to your question 3 on the modem, you can access
the modem from your program if you use the Async Comm
Support software from IBM. The driver routine (RS232INT.BAS
or RS232INT.EXE) is an interrupt driven routine with 2000
bytes of receive buffer. I have routines that will interface
this with PASCAL and this works out as a very nice way of
using the interface.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 16 Nov 83 5:57-PST
Date: 15 Nov 83 13:55:36-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!floyd!whuxle!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Op-Scan Reader Wanted - (nf)
The OMR-1000 (hand-fed optical card reader) is available
from Chatsworth Data Corp, 20710 Lassen St., Chatsworth, Ca.
(213) 341-9200 for $1095.
------------------------------
Received: FROM CSNET-CIC BY USC-ISIB.ARPA WITH TCP ; 16 Nov 83 13:51:05 PST
Date: 16 Nov 83 10:10:18-EDT (Wed)
From: Lehmann%NSF-CS@CSNet-Relay
Return-Path: <Lehmann%NSF-CS%NSF-CS@CSNet-Relay>
Subject: Netting PC's to a Wang
To: info-ibmpc@Usc-Isib
Cc: jrl%Nsf-Cs@CSNet-Relay
Does anyone have experience netting PC's (IBM or others) to a Wang
VS-100? Wangnet is not adequate. Please reply directly to:
lehmann.nsf@csnet-relay
Thanks John Lehmann
------------------------------
Received: FROM UDEL-EE BY USC-ISIB.ARPA WITH TCP ; 16 Nov 83 13:59:55 PST
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 83 17:01:15 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Query re Venix
I just got Venix. I have two xt 10 mb disks and would like to
run venix on one and dos on the other. Any one have a solution?
Dave
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂19-Nov-83 2111 BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest v2 #89
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 19 Nov 83 21:11:10 PST
Date: 19 Nov 1983 2002-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest v2 #89
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 19 November 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 89
Today's Topics:
VisiON vs Microsoft Windows
PC disk upgrades
Compaq Compatibility
CADD software for IBM PC
Venix/DOS (2 Messages)
A good store
Tie your PC down
Non-reentrant DOS Interrupts
PC Clock Card Query/Survey
Reading Protected BASIC Files (2 Messages)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 16 November 1983 23:52 EST
From: Steven T. Kirsch <SK @ MIT-MC>
Subject: VisiON vs Microsoft Windows
To: info-ibmpc @ USC-ISIB
We have both products here. Windows has a terribly confusing user
interface and right now you can't do ANYTHING.
VisiON is a complete product, well documented, well debugged,
fast, well thought out, consistent, and very functional. They
did not just repackage their existing products, e.g., Visi on
Calc is more powerful than Lotus 123! It only takes about 20
minutes to master (well, that's how long it took me and I didn't
bother to read the documentation). All in all, it looks like
VisiCorp is at least a year ahead of Microsoft. My impression of
the software is that it's going to be VERY hard for anyone to do
much better than VisiOn as far as performance and functionality.
------------------------------
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!uiucdcs!smu!leff @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PC disk upgrades - (nf)
Has anybody out there had experience (good, bad, indifferent) with the
cheap hard disk upgrades for the IBM PC:
Pegasus, XCOMP or SUNOL systems or any others.
------------------------------
Date: Thu 17 Nov 83 11:19:33-EST
From: Paul G. Weiss <PGW@MIT-XX.ARPA>
Subject: Compaq Compatibility
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
While I can't speak for Wordstar or Visitrend, it is not quite true
that Lotus 1-2-3 is "completely interchangeable" between the IBM-PC and the
Compaq. Even though the product says "for the IBM Personal Computer and
Compaq Personal Computer" on the box, different video drivers are used for
each machine. The user must set up his disks for the machine he is using
by executing a batch file.
-------
------------------------------
Date: 17 Nov 1983 12:06:16-PST
From: B H Kishimoto <CCVAX.kishimot@Nosc>
Reply-to: CCVAX.kishimot@Nosc
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: CADD software for IBM PC
-------
Has anybody had any experience with any of the commercially
available CADD software packages? I am looking for good high quality
stuff that will give me the capability to do interactive architectual
type scaled-drawings. I want to also be able to latter interact
via software with the digitized files created by the package. Has anybody
had any experience with using graphics with any of the available Lisp
software packages?
I've seen the article in October's issue of PC World. The two
systems that interested me in that article was AutoCAD, by
Autodesk, Inc. and The Drawing Processor, by BG Graphics. Are
there any more out there that are just as good or better?
Barry Kishimoto
-------
------------------------------
Date: 17 November 1983 23:04 est
From: Hess.Unicorn at MIT-MULTICS
Subject: Venix/DOS
To: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC at USC-ISIB>
In-Reply-To: Message of 16 November 1983 23:27 est from Info-IBMPC Digest
I've heard that DOS can be told to start at some disk block which is not
zero for its partition. I've seen that Venix-86 can't (yet). Tell
Venix you have an ordinary XT, tell DOS that you want to start on some
high-numbered block, either on the main drive (or on a different drive,
if it lets you, but I don't remember seeing anything that said so). If
all else fails, write a Venix command which reads DOS off the second
disk and does a boot sequence for you. It should be much easier than
doing it vice versa. Sorry that this is so general, but it's
directionally accurate, I feel...
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 83 17:03:20 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Venix/DOS
I have been advised by Venturecom that there is a 99%
probability that if I bring up Venix on the C hard
disk it will let msdos on the D disk alone.
There is a release that will obey the disk partitioning
that will be out by 1 Jan.
Dave
one wonders why it did not start out that way!!
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 83 13:56:28 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: A good store
Since there is a flock of reports, here is another of interest
to the DC crowd.
Software Specialist
1625 K St
Washington DC 20036
202-467-5727
They have an excellent stock of pc software and sell for
20% off list. I have found them responsible and pleasant
for at least instore service.
Dave
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 83 12:38:15 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
cc: news%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.arpa
Subject: Tie your PC down
With the rate of rip offs of IBM PCs, the following is worth looking at.
Anchor Pad Security Services of Silver Springs MD (301-589-7474) sells
a anchor system for the pc that ties down the system unit and the monitor
with quick key removal, no drilling in desks or PC, correct ventilation
and you cannot get inside without the key.
I talked with them and it sounds very good. Educational price
~270. quantity 1, $260 2-9 and $250 > 9.
They claim IBM and many in the Federal government use them.
Dave
------------------------------
Date: 17 Nov 83 17:00:52-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!ihlpf!dap1 @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Non-reentrant DOS Interrupts
Does anyone know how to set up an asynchronous interrupt (i.e., timer) which
uses the DOS interrupts internally? The problem comes about since the DOS
interrupts are not reentrant due to the fact that they use their own internal
stack. If I knew where the DOS stack was, I might be able to save it in my
own area and then restore it before I return. There are other problems here
too. If I interrupt a DOS routine and don't change the SS register, then if
I request a DOS interrupt, that DOS interrupt could change it's own return
address. It looks like I have to set up MY own internal stack. The problem
is, if I try to use a high level language as the interrupt routine, I can't
tell it to use a separate stack. Does anybody have any suggestions???
Darrell Plank
BTL-IH
------------------------------
Date: 17 Nov 83 9:55:53-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!sdccs6!ix454 @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PC Clock Card Query/Survey
The Great PC Clock Card Survey!
Which multifunction card with what options do you have/have you looked at?
Are you happy with it? How hard is it to get/set time (We will be writing
our own routines in UCSD Pascal/Assembly)? What do you not like about it?
Specifically,
We are looking for a clock card that, in addition to having the time, date,
etc. also has the capability to generate interrupts at a specific time (e.g.
we'd like to be able to say 'Generate an interrupt at 10:00 pm this evening').
Can anyone point me to a card with such a feature?
Thanks, and of course I'll post results if there is enough interest...
--
Allyn Fratkin
U.C. San Diego
------------------------------
Date: 18 Nov 83 3:01:03-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!ihlpf!dap1 @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Unprotection
I am getting parity errors whenever I run programs which require large amounts
of memory. I have a "ramtest" program which fairly thoroughly tests any
section of memory but there is an error in it and it is PROTECTED so I can't
use it. A while back somebody put up the way to unprotect a BASIC program
and I really need to know in a desparate way. Could someone please, please
repost this? Thanks a lot.
Darrell Plank
BTL-IH
------------------------------
Date: 19 Nov 1983 1935-PST
Subject: Unprotection
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: ihnp4!ihlpf!dap1@UCB-VAX
In-Reply-To: Your message of 18 Nov 83 3:01:03-PST (Fri)
Here is the original message on unprotecting a Basic program:
Date: 16 Dec 1982 1842-PST
Subject: Reading Protected BASIC Files
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: info-pc
IBM PC basic has a form of protecting BASIC files. If you use the P
option to the save command files will be saved in an encrypted form.
When such a program is loaded such commands as Peek, Poke and List are
disabled. Of course Basic can be run under DEBUG and all bets on
security are off, but it is hardly worth the effort for some silly
game program.
Someone in the Toronto user's group found a much simpler way of
breaking this protection scheme. Peter Norton further refined it, and
here it is:
Run Basic or Basica and enter:
BSAVE "TROJAN.HRS",1124,1
You need do this only once to create this file and can use the file
later as often as you want. Now load in your protected program with
the LOAD command. You will not be able to list this file. Enter:
BLOAD "TROJAN.HRS"
Your file is now unprotected and can be listed or modified and saved in
ASCII form.
**** End of Original Message ****
I assume this location has moved since Basic 2.0 came out. Perhaps the Bload
trap has even been plugged. Perhaps someone can update us on this protection
scheme. I haven't used any Basic programs since I first got my PC.
-------
-------
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂18-Nov-83 2311 K.KENG%LOTS-A.#Pup@SU-SIERRA.ARPA New release of KERMIT-20
Received: from SU-SIERRA by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 18 Nov 83 23:11:15 PST
Received: from LOTS-A by Sierra with Pup; Fri 18 Nov 83 23:11:21-PST
Date: Fri 18 Nov 83 23:07:50-PST
From: Ken Rossman <K.Keng@LOTS-A>
Subject: New release of KERMIT-20
To: SU-Bboards@Sierra, Bboard@LOTS-A
Address: 716 Watson Labs, 612 W.115th St, NY NY 10025
Phone: (212) 280-3703
The new version of Kermit-20 mentioned below can be found in SRA:<KERMIT>
on Sierra and in PS:<KERMIT> on the LOTS systems. New files are:
20KERMIT.DOC
20KERMIT.EXE
20KERMIT.MAC
KERMIT.EXE
(KERMIT.EXE and 20KERMIT.EXE are one in the same). As usual, questions,
suggestions, complaints to Action@Sierra or Bug-Kermit@LOTSA. /Ken
---------------
Date: Thu 17 Nov 83 10:24:01-EST
From: Frank da Cruz <cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: New release of KERMIT-20
To: Info-Kermit@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA
It's not all you'd ever want, but it's better than before...
KERMIT-20 Version 3B(122), differences from version 3A(66)
----------------------------------------------------------
MAJOR DIFFERENCES:
1. File i/o completely rewritten to prepare for future addition of new
server commands.
2. DEFINE command added for definition of SET macros, for instance:
DEFINE IBM (to be) PARITY MARK, DUPLEX HALF, HANDSHAKE XON
SHOW MACROS shows the current macro definitions.
3. TAKE command to allow commands to be taken from a file, with nesting.
4. Automatic TAKE of KERMIT.INI upon startup. KERMIT.INI can contain
DEFINE commands for the various systems you would be communicating with.
5. Interruption of file transfer in both local and remote mode (KRFC #1)
In local mode, typing ↑X interrupts the current file and skips to the next,
typing ↑Y skips the rest of the batch. These always work when sending
files (except that the receiver may still keep the partial transmitted
file, and work for receiving files only if the sender understands the
interrupt request.
In remote mode, KERMIT-20 responds to interrupt requests.
6. Separate remote and local mode top-level command tables. Since most users
of KERMIT-20 use it only in remote mode, they will no longer be confused by
commands like "FINISH" and "BYE".
7. ITS binary files are now handled (KRFC #3).
8. Help text for SET command broken up, so you can say "help set escape", etc.
MINOR IMPROVEMENTS AND CHANGES:
In local mode, ↑A may be typed for a report on the file transfer in progress.
. Server operations may now be recorded in the debugging log.
. Don't parse for initial filespec in SEND if source file not wild.
. SET ABORTED-FILE renamed to SET INCOMPLETE.
. Minor improvements to statistics display.
. Allow ↑C to interrupt a stuck BYE or FINISH command.
. Server accepts "I" packets (KRFC #1).
. SET HANDSHAKE allows specification of line turnaround character.
BUG FIXES:
Mod 64 packet number compares fixed.
. NAK bad packet immediately, don't wait for timeout.
. Various bugs fixed relating to ↑C trap, exiting and continuing, etc.
. Proceed gracefully after file i/o errors.
. Correctly assess the file byte size when sending in server mode.
. Release TTY and file JFNs in some places where they weren't before.
. Don't truncate error message in error packet prematurely.
WHAT'S NEXT:
Future releases of KERMIT-20, which should be coming along within a month
or two, will have the following features:
Transaction logging.
Support for 8th-bit prefixing, to allow passing 8-bit binary data through
a 7-bit communications link.
Repeat count processing to allow compression of repeated characters.
Support for 2-character checksums and 16-bit CRCs.
Additional server functions, particularly for file and job management.
Some file attribute support.
ARPANET TAC binary mode negotiation.
The new release is available via anonymous FTP from host COLUMBIA-20 in the
files KER:20KERMIT.EXE and KER:20KERMIT.MAC. It has been tested in a variety
of environments with files of various types and sizes, but our quality control
department is not infallible. If you discover any bugs, or have any comments,
please report them to me.
- Frank
-------
-------
∂22-Nov-83 1734 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #90
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 22 Nov 83 17:34:03 PST
Date: 22 Nov 1983 1602-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #90
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 22 November 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 90
This Week's Editor: Dick Gillmann
Today's Topics:
"Free" Software (2 msgs)
micro-TSP Statistical Package
Microsoft Assembler V2.04
Undocumented BASIC 2.0 Features (2 msgs)
Graphics Screen Print Query
Timer Interrupts
Pegasus/Great Lakes 10MB Hard Disk
Softalk Typeahead Buffer Expander
Plotting Query
Remex Disk Drive For Sale
Microsoft Mouse
Kermit/UMODEM Tape Wanted
How To Put Together A Cheap PC (2 msgs)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 22 Nov 1983 1526-PST
Subject: "Free" Software
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
We just got our copy of RF Starr's "free" utility program. A few
points:
1. It is not "free", but rather "freeware" -- he asks for a contribution.
2. It does not come with source code.
3. It's not very good anyway. Basically it provides a sorted DIR
listing, which you can get in DOS 2 with the command DIR | SORT
anyway. It is in no way comparable to the Norton Utilities, for
example.
I'm not putting this in the Info-IBMPC free program library. While
the freeware concept seems like friendly way to market software, it is
still a method of merchandising software for profit. It is certainly
wrong to use the Arpanet as an advertising medium and I apologize for
letting this one slip through.
Our policy for accepting programs for the library are:
1. The program must be truly free, with no fee or contribution of
any kind required or requested.
2. The program must be in source code form.
3. There must be no restrictions on its use, i.e. it must be
in the public domain.
There are some very exciting packages that will be placed in the
library soon, tho we don't to publicize them until they are actually
available. The following message contained a list of freeware that
has been edited down to the one package that claimed to be truly free.
I don't know if that is so or simply an oversight; if anyone gets a
copy, let us know.
Dick Gillmann
------------------------------
Date: 21 Nov 1983 0947-PST
From: VERNE%USC-ECL@SRI-NIC
To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
Subject: Free Utilities
The following information was obtained from COMPUSERVE's IBMPC SIG,
11/2/83:
PROGRAM...............: ULTRA-ZAP
ULTRA-FORMAT
ULTRA-FILE
CONTACT...............: FreeSoft Ultra-Utilities
P.O. Box 27608
St. Louis, MO 63146
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS...: To use them, you'll need an IBM-PC with at least
64K RAM and one single or double-sided disk drive
and an 80 column monitor.
Free programs if you send diskette.
DESCRIPTION:
There is now available a three volume set of IBM-PC
utilities that do everything the NORTON UTILITIES do and
much, much more. To get them, send one formatted
double-sided diskette or 2 formatted single-sided diskettes,
and a self-addressed, POSTAGE-PAID return mailer to the
address above.
The package includes:
* Ultra-Zap: Program for displaying/modifying disk sectors
and file sectors, copying disk sectors, searching for byte
or character sequences in disk or file sectors, filling or
zeroing disk sectors, and interrogating diskettes to display
their protection techniques. This program can work on any
disk sector, regardless of protection, etc.
* Ultra-Format: Can format standard or copy-protected disk
tracks, also can repair files containing "flaky" sectors by
placing a fresh format on a track without erasing prior
data.
* Ultra-File: Program for displaying all directory
information about a disk file, assigning or removing SYSTEM
or HIDDEN status to a file, building files from scratch,
resurrecting accidentally erased files, and selectively
killing files from a menu (FAST!).
All in all, it is an extremely powerful package that make
life much easier for you and your IBM-PC.
------------------------------
Date: 20 November 1983 16:25 EST
From: Charles L. Jackson <CLJ @ MIT-MC>
Subject: micro-TSP Statistical Package
To: info-ibmpc @ USC-ISIB
There was a recent inquiry on info-ibmpc about statistical programs
for the PC. I did a search for statistical programs about 8 months
ago. Based upon descriptions of various programs we purchased a copy
of micro-TSP. (Note, TSP (Time Series Processor) is a well known and
widely used mainframe statistical package).
We have been extremely pleased with micro-TSP. It is designed for
time series analysis (regression) and works well. micro-TSP has
several features which are superior to many mainframe statistical
packages. These include:
1) built in graphics capability (if you have a graphics
monitor.
2) the ability to print a graph on a ibm matrix printer (or
epson).
3) ability to read and write visicalc dif files.
micro-TSP comes in two versions. "earlier" and Version 4.0 Our
experience is with "earlier" but yesterday we received our copy of
version 4.0, and we have verified that 4.0 runs on both a PC and
Compaq and seems to work. "earlier" is an interpreted basic program.
It has least squares, two stage least squares, and correction for
serial correlation in the errors (VERY important but not in most
packages!)
Version 4.0 is compiled basic and thus does regressions much faster
(although speed wasn't a problem for us anyway -- still faster is
nicer)!
The following text is from the microTSP documentation:
Summary of Changes in microTSP Version 4.0
Version 4 of microTSP is upward compatible with earlier versions
(except for batch programs and disk storage of estimated equations),
but contains significant improvements in speed,estimation and
forecasting capabilities, graphics, and ease of operation.
In addition to the statistical procedures available in earlier
versions, microTSP has added Box-Jenkins identification, estimation,
and forecasting capabilities. Micro TSP can also estimate structural
equations by either ordinary or two-stage least squares with ARMA
error structures. Few of the major mainframe software packages
currently have this capability.
Among the other new statistical features of microTSP is the capability
of working with polynomial distributed lags for time series analysis,
and a new missing data type for use in cross section analysis.
Unlike earlier versions, microTSP is now completely memory resident
during operation, allowing all disk drives (including RAM disk
emulators on systems with more than 256K) to be used for data storage.
This, however, requires a system with minimum of 256K of memory.
Further, microTSP is now compiled yielding speed improvements on the
order of a factor of 5 to 10.
Graphics have been expanded to allow both automatic and manual scaling
of PLOTs, automatic labeling of axis, and improved borders with
differentiated tick marks for quarter or month, year and five year
periods. A new printing feature allows the user to dump graphic screen
images to Epson or IBM printers without leaving MicroTSP.
The basic command structure of microTSP has been extended to allow
users greater flexibility and the capability of writing microTSP batch
programs with any conventional text editor, such as the DOS EDLIN
editor or Wordstar.
Statistical Commands:
The OLSQ,CORC and TSCORC commands, while maintained for compatibility,
have been superseded by a new LS command, for least squares, and the
ability to specify general ARMA error structures in the LS and TSLS
procedures. Procedures that correct for serial correlation (or moving
average errors) now give asymptotically consistent standard errors,
even when lagged endogenous variables are included in the list of
regressors. The LS command may be used with only a single time series
to give full Box-Jenkins estimation capabilities, and a new IDENT
procedure creates correlograms and partial correlograms for
identifying time series processes.
microTSP can be obtained from
microTSP Associates
12214 Charnock Rd.
Los Angeles Ca 90066
(213) 397-0314
I believe the price is $400 for "earlier" and $600 for Version 4.0
Hope this info helps
Regards
Chuck
------------------------------
Date: 20 Nov 1983 1452-PST
To: Cole, Gillmann, Brackenridge
Remailed-To: info-IBMPC
From: Craig Milo Rogers <ROGERS@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Microsoft Assembler V2.04
Version 2.04 of the Microsoft Assembler mangles its listings. Some
lines are in the right columns, while others are shifted to the left
eight spaces, starting with the opcode column. IE, the line number,
IP, and object code columns always look OK, but sometimes the opcodes
appear where the labels should be. I haven't recognized any pattern
which determines which lines in a listing will be misaligned. I have
retreated to the prior version of the assembler.
Craig Milo Rogers
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 21 Nov 83 0:54-PST
Date: 19 Nov 83 1:32:17-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!notes @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Undocumented BASIC 2.0 Features
I flipped through the IBM BASIC (Microsoft Basic) release 2.0 manual, and came
across the following "reserved words" which are not mentioned anywhere but
in the list of reserved words:
ENVIRON and ENVIRON$
ERDEV and ERDEV$
INTER$, IOCTL, IOCTL$
KEY$
SHELL ***
(these are not even in the Index...) I tried SHELL, and ZAP! I had
forked a shell! I could execute commands or whatever. I typed EXIT
because that gets out of a DOS subshell, and it returned to BASIC!
Problem: my program vanished. No real useful, except to save the time
it takes to load BASIC from disk. Does anybody know what all this is
about? I couldn't PRINT or assign ENVIRON or ENVIRON$ without a
SYNTAX ERROR, and I really haven't tried the rest.
Any help out there?
Allan Pratt
...decvax!pur-ee!iuvax!isrnix!akp
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 21 Nov 83 1:56-PST
Date: 19 Nov 83 11:20:29-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!floyd!whuxle!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Undocumented BASIC 2.0 Features
ENVIRON "name=(parameter)"
This command apparently functions the same as the SET command used at
the DOS level. See page 10-21 of your DOS 2.0 guide
SHELL "dos command"
The command apparently executes the DOS command contained within the
quotes, keeping BASIC resident. The cursor is returned to the position
where it was prior to executing the command. If used by itself (no
arguments) will take you to the DOS shell. To return from the DOS
shell, you only have to type EXIT.
IOCTL channel#,"argument"
This function is used to communicate with device drivers that use the
IOCTL function. The only reference to IOCTL is on page 14-6 of the DOS
2.0 guide.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 21 Nov 83 2:12-PST
Date: 17 Nov 83 12:13:29-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!duke!unc!mcnc!idis!tom @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Graphics Screen Print Query
Has anyone managed to mung the 2.0 PCDOS graphics print-screen command
to work with non-IBM/Epson printers (specifically the C-ITOH
Prowriter). Alternately, does anyone know of any available programs
that would perform the same function (i.e. allow one to print a
graphics screen from within another program) with the Prowriter.
Thanks in advance for any info. I will post a summary of any positive
results, as I am sure I am not the only one looking for something like
this.
regards,
Tom Neuendorffer
decvax!idis!tom
mcnc!idis!tom
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 21 Nov 83 4:55-PST
Date: 20 Nov 83 0:00:44-PST (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!ihlpf!ix454 @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Timer Interrupts
It seems to me that you could set up a timer interrupt routine which
would look at the clock each time it wakes up and if it was 10:00 pm
then have it generate a software interrupt. The only problem is, if
your int. handler uses any DOS interrupts, you're in trouble if you are
in the middle of a DOS interrupt when the 10:00 pm interrupt fires.
This, however, is a problem whether the interrupt is generated by
software OR hardware.
------------------------------
Date: Monday, 21 Nov 1983 09:05-PST
To: info-ibmpc@ USC-ISIB
Subject: Pegasus/Great Lakes 10MB Hard Disk
From: anderson@rand-unix
In response to the recent query about information on the Pegasus 10MB
disk: I've now had one for 4 months. The first two units they
airshipped me didn't format correctly upon arrival, and they paid full
air freight round trip for their return and replacement. The third unit
worked fine, and has given good performance. However, there's one
minor but irritating problem: the fan in my unit develops a periodic
resonance like a dry rattle. I'm in the process of contacting Great
Lakes' customer service to get a replacement fan as part of my 1-year
warranty.
My unit is based on the Shugart 612 hard disk; in talking to their
customer service, I get the impression that they've had reliability
troubles with the Shugart unit, and have switched to another brand. So
new shipments might not suffer the same DOA problems I had.
In general, Great Lakes seems to be genuinely trying to please their
customers and honor all commitments. But they are a small, startup
company whose customer service line is often busy, etc. As usual, you
get what you pay for. So far, I believe I'm getting my $995 worth.
Bob Anderson
anderson at rand-unix
------------------------------
Date: 21 Nov 1983 1040-PST
Subject: Softalk Typeahead Buffer Expander
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
Bill Brackenridge typed in the typeahead buffer expander in the last
issue of Softalk for the IBM PC. Unfortunately, we lost our copy of
the magazine and so all we have left is an undebugged version of the
source code. It's in the files <INFO-IBMPC>BUF160.ASM and TSTKBD.ASM
if someone can debug it.
------------------------------
Date: Monday, 21 Nov 1983 10:48-PST
To: info-ibmpc at USC-ISIB
From: avi@ISL at Sumex-Aim
Subject: Plotting Query
I'm looking for a plotting routine/procedure/program that can be
invoked from (and linked to) an MS-Fortran 3.10 and/or MS-Pascal 3.11
program. Any clue?
I'd like to use the IBM Basic Compiler to produce programs which can
be called from inside a MS-Fortran 3.10 (and/or MS-Pascal 3.11)
program. Specifically, I am interested in plotting routines. Does
anybody know how this can be done?
Thanks in advance,
Avi Weinreb
ISL, Stanford University
------------------------------
Date: 21 Nov 1983 08:29-PST
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
From: ABN.COSCOM-CE@USC-ISID
Subject: Remex Disk Drive For Sale
I have a Remex double density/double sided disk drive I would like to
sell. It is plug compatible with the IBM PC or lookalikes that use
the same drive as the IBM PC. I originally bought it cheap for
$250.00 expecting to purchase an IBM. I never got my IBM so now I am
selling it. It is still in the foam packing and has never been used.
I have directions so that anybody could install it. It is without a
case so suitable only for internal mounting. I would like to get
$200.00 for and count it a lesson learned but I'm negotiable.
Please send replies directly to me at ABN.COSCOM-CE@USC-ISID
OR
write me at : 1LT Kevin Rappold
606 Welsh Place
Fayetteville, NC 28303
or
Call me at (919) 867-8597 -- call anytime because I have an answering
device and will gladly call you back. I am usually home evenings.
Thanks
Kevin Rappold
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 83 22:26:09 pst
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: dag%ucbarpa@Berkeley (David Allen Gewirtz)
Subject: Microsoft Mouse
I have encountered similar problems with the Microsoft Mouse and
Microsoft Word. I have a vanilla IBM PC XT with the Microsoft Mouse
card.
I have found that I am unable to perform a warm boot after loading the
mouse driver from Microsoft. Steve Kirsch's Mouse Systems PC/MOUSE
software and mouse driver do not exhibit the warm boot problem and
work quite well.
I would have expected that the folks who wrote the operating system
would have been able to make their mouse work with their own device
driver facilities, but... And what happened to quality control?
David Gewirtz
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 83 22:01:23 pst
From: dag%ucbarpa@Berkeley (David Allen Gewirtz)
To: info-cpm@brl, info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: Kermit/UMODEM Tape Wanted
I am looking for an IBM PC to UNIX file transfer facility. It is my
understanding that KERMIT and possible UMODEM will accomplish text and
binary transfers in both environments. The problem is not what is
available, but how to get it on my machines.
I would greatly appreciate it if someone would be kind enough to make
me a disk with source and object of KERMIT (or UMODEM) for the PC and
a VAX tar tape with source and object for UNIX (system V or 4.1) and
get them to me. I would be more than happy to reimburse you for the
cost of mailing and media.
If anyone can do this, please call me at 415-653-6957 after 8pm PST or
415-965-7200 during working hours. If you are going to be at COMDEX,
please stop by the Pyramid Technology booth and ask for me.
I thank you in advance for your help.
David Gewirtz
------------------------------
Date: Tue 22 Nov 83 07:41:20-PST
From: William Pearson <PEARSON@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA>
Subject: How To Put Together A Cheap PC
To: info-micro@BRL.ARPA, info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
There seems to be a pretty general impression out there that although
the IBM-PC is good machine, it is overpriced. If you are willing to
treat the PC as a kit, prices are quite competitive. To buy a cheap
PC do the following:
Buy an IBM-PC with floppy disk controller but no drives.
List: $1575 (many stores will sell this because
IBM drives have been in short supply
and they can sell the drive)
Get the color graphics adapter : $244.
Buy two Tandon TM100-2 drives from a mail order house.
Prices range from $240 - $260. A small mail order place
that doesn't take out full page ads in Byte may be a little
cheaper.
Buy 2 - 3 sets of 9 4164 64K RAM chips ($55 from PC mail order
houses, sometimes less from chip mail order houses).
Buy a B/W monitor $130-150.
You now have a 192K, 2 - 320K floppy system for: $2569. Add $135 for
serial port and clock/calendar (AST I/O Plus). Add DOS for $40.
There is no cheaper machine with similar capabilities (memory,
graphics, communications, software support). In addition, some store
will discount the IBM prices, especially if you work for a company or
school that is getting an IBM discount (which range past 25%, but
discount the list price of disk drives.) If you wand a cheaper
machine, try the Heath Z-100 kit, (All in one) for $2000 + $250 for
the second drive, or $1900 + $250 +$150 for the low profile (requires
the $150 monitor). The graphics on the Z-100 are better, (higher
resolution, no flashing), but not IBM compatible when I last looked.
Z-100's wired are selling for around $2500 at discount, which includes
CPM85 (standard 8 bit CP/M), MS-DOS, some BASICs, and for a short time
Lotus 1-2-3. The Z-100 also includes a parallel and two serial ports.
The only problem with it is it's not an IBM-PC, and Heath/Zenith are
very slow releasing software. It has 192K max on the board,
additional 256K for $600. (You can get 512K for an IBM at that price).
One last comment - putting an IBM-PC together yourself is very easy.
I have told several non-computer/hacker/EE types to try it, and they
have had no trouble. The PC comes with a diagnostics disk, which you
can run for several hours to test the disk drives, the only thing that
might be flakey.
I have been very surprised that the IBM-PC is both an IBM product, the
most popular computer on the market, and very price competitive. Why
buy and Eagle or Corona or Columbia when you can build an IBM for the
same price.
Bill Pearson
------------------------------
Date: 22 Nov 1983 1411-PST
To: William Pearson <PEARSON@SUMEX-AIM>
cc: info-ibmpc
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Re: How To Put Together A Cheap PC
I'd like to add to your message that USC/ISI has been doing exactly as
you have suggested on an institutional scale.
The key to this is to get IBM or your friendly Computerland to ship an
unassembled untested system. In order to do this legally someone on
site must have taken the IBM service course. I have never met the
man, but there is rumored to be such a graduate somewhere on campus so
we qualify. We have found a 10% mortality rate on these untested
systems. This is no problem as the systems are on warantee and we
just pile all the bad components in one system and ship it back to
IBM.
This allows a slight discount on top of the standard educational
discount. We then buy disk drives 50 at a time and can beat the
discount houses here. The one thing we can't seem to beat is AST I/O+
cards. Buying them 15-25 at a time direct from AST still can't match
the singles prices from the discount suppliers.
Direct sales from IBM just haven't been worth the effort for orders
less than 50 machines. After we have cleared the majority of the
campus paperwork we call up a list of retailers and ask them to bid
delivery time and price. We can usually get same week delivery and
greater than 20% discount for up to 15 systems this way. We have
never been able to get a system with no disk drives.
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂24-Nov-83 0000 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #91
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 23 Nov 83 23:59:52 PST
Date: 23 Nov 1983 2257-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #91
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 23 November 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 91
This Week's Editor: Dick Gillmann
Today's Topics:
Free Program Library Policy
Ultra Utilities
Softalk Keyboard Buffer
VT52.BAS
.OBJ File Format (2 msgs)
Microsoft Word
Compaq Compatibility
Millisecond Timing Query
Cheap PC
Loadable Device Drivers
Personal Communications Manager
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 23 Nov 1983 2232-PST
Subject: Free Program Library Policy
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
cc: Brackenridge, BillW@SRI-KL
After some input from Bill Brackenridge and Bill Westfield, I have
been convinced to back off a little on the sources/public domain only
policy. The new guidelines for the free program library are as
follows:
1. The program must be truly free, with no fee or contribution
of any kind required or requested.
2. We favor programs in source code form, but object code is
acceptable if the program is useful and there is no
commercial connection.
3. The program does not necessarily have to be in the public domain,
but INFO-IBMPC and USC-ISI take no responsibility to enforce
any restrictions on the use or redistribution of the program.
Dick Gillmann
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 83 16:51 PST
To: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
From: "Borchers Bob"@LLL-MFE.ARPA
Subject: Ultra Utilities
I picked up a copy of the Ultra Utilities mentioned in the last digest
from one of the local bulletin boards. They look quite useful and
seem to work in a short test. I am not familiar with the Norton
utilities so I cannot compare.
Unfortunately they are not free, but are distributed under that
variant of the freeware concept which asks you to register for $40,
after which they send you a copy (along with other "goodies") that has
your own personal serial number. Every time a copy of yours is
registered you get $10. This has some of the attributes of a classic
pyramid scheme. This is not to say that the package might be worth
the money, PC-TALK certainly is, but it is certainly not free
software!
Bob <BORCHERS@LLL-MFE>
------------------------------
Date: Tuesday, 22 Nov 1983 17:57-PST
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
From: jim@rand-unix
Subject: Softalk Keyboard Buffer
I have the Softalk around here somewhere. I'd rather not debug the
.ASM code, though. I went the safer route of typing in their BASIC
program, which has checksums associated with the data. LOAD this
BASIC program with the normal IBM BASIC, run it, and it produces
KB←FIX.COM. It has the same restrictions on running as the one
reported earlier. I have used it with no trouble under both DOS 1.10
and DOS 2.00 under normal operations, but was able to break it by
typing lots of characters really fast (i.e. by plopping all 10 digits
at a time in several times in a row as fast as I could, knowing that
the keyboard is going to send them all when it gets around to it). I
was able to put it into a state where I had to power down to reboot.
Again, though, under normal operation it works just fine.
Credit where credit is due: this wonderful hack was written by John
Socha for the Socha's Toolbox column in Softalk for the IBM PC, Nov
83, and we're all grateful.
Jim Gillogly
[KB←FIX.BAS has been added to the Info-IBMPC free program library. If
anyone's game to fix the BUF160.ASM version, it can also be FTPed from
[ISIB]<INFO-IBMPC>. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: Tue 22 Nov 83 12:35:31-PST
To: Gillmann@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Remailed-To: info-IBMPC
From: Willis Dair <G.Dair@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: VT52.BAS
I have modified VT52.BAS to work with Version 2 of the IBM Async. Pkg.
Here is the stuff to add and supersede: Line 42-48 checks to see if
the appropriate RS232INT program is loaded. Lines 115-120 is the
segment description.
42 DEF SEG = 0 : IF PEEK(&H4F4) = &HAA THEN 50
45 PRINT "Interrupt routine is not loaded. Run RS232INT.EXE first"
48 STOP
115 SEG = PEEK(&H4F0) + 256 * PEEK(&H4F1)
120 DEF SEG = SEG
Also delete the BLOAD in line 130.
-* Willis
[In the Info-IBMPC free program library, VT52.BAS has been split into
VT52-1.BAS and VT52-2.BAS corresponding to Version 1 and 2 of the IBM
Async. Pkg., respectively. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 22 Nov 83 12:08:38 EST
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Cc: jpool@BBN-UNIX
From: Jeremy Pool <jpool@BBN-UNIX>
Subject: .OBJ File Format Query
I am looking for documentation of the internal format of MS-DOS .OBJ
files. Microsoft tells me to ask IBM and IBM tells me to ask
Microsoft. Clearly this information must be available since third
party vendors have developed compilers which generate and linkers
which process these files.
Thanks in advance. Jeremy Pool (jpool@bbn-unix)
------------------------------
Date: 22 Nov 1983 1805-PST
To: Jeremy Pool <jpool@BBN-UNIX>
cc: info-ibmpc
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Re: .OBJ File Format Query
The format of .OBJ files is documented in "8086 Relocatable Object
Module Formats", Intel Order Number 121748-001. This is available
from the Intel Literature Dept.
------------------------------
Date: 22 Nov 1983 1635-PST
To: Info-IBMPC
cc: Brackenridge, Hess.Unicorn@MIT-Multics
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Microsoft Word
As requested, I'm reporting on the delivery time for Microsoft Word
from the Conroy-LaPoint mail order place. They promised delivery in
6-7 working days. It arrived Tuesday just after I sent out the last
digest, which was 7 working days, counting Veterans Day as a holiday,
since I ordered it.
Word is definitely nifty, but very complicated. I'm trying to devise
a "style" package that would make it usable as a program editor.
Interfacing this beast to a laser printer would be a real
breakthrough.
The Microsoft mouse that came with it doesn't seem so bad. It is a
mechanical mouse. The ball can be removed and cleaned like the Apple
Lisa mouse, although the Microsoft ball is metal instead of rubber. I
was able to warm boot it with no problem, with the mouse driver in my
CONFIG.SYS file.
This setup seems very XT oriented. The mouse card fits nicely in the
unused short slot on the XT. All the programs are kept in a directory
named /MSTOOLS and there are quite a few kilobytes involved. Word can
be installed on the XT hard disk and no floppy is required to start
it. It wouldn't be nearly as nice on a floppy based system.
------------------------------
Date: 22 Nov 83 19:02:53 PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc@Usc-Isib
From: Jeffg.uci-750a.UCI@Rand-Relay
Subject: Compaq Compatibility
The question of Compaq software compatibility has been addressed, but what
about hardware. Does anyone have any experiences to relate regarding
Compaqs and the various expansion boards, both IBM and third party?
Thanks,
Jeff
------------------------------
Date: 23 NOV 83 08:54 PST (WEDNESDAY)
To: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
From: Marilyn Ford <FORD.PA@PARC-MAXC.ARPA>
Subject: Millisecond Timing Query
I'm hoping to use the IBM PC or XT to run experiments which will
require gathering reaction times to stimuli presented on the screen.
The response to the stimuli would be the pressing of one of two keys.
I need the timing to be accurate to a millisecond. Does anyone have
experience with doing such things? Can anyone recommend a good clock?
Also, can anyone recommend a good consulting firm for getting such
things working?
Marilyn Ford
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 83 14:34:31 EST
To: William Pearson <PEARSON@sumex-aim.arpa>
cc: info-micro@brl.arpa, info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
From: David Towson (CSD) <towson@amsaa>
Subject: Re: Cheap PC
Right on! I put together an IBM-PC with 256K memory, a pair of 360K
drives, the color graphics adapter and a surplus 19" Conrac color
monitor for $3000 including DOS 2.0 and the Technical Reference
Manual.
The only problem I had was that in addition to the R, G and B color
signals I also had to use the intensity signal from the color graphics
adapter if I wanted to have the full "sixteen colors" (actually two
intensities of each color). The standard color monitor didn't have an
intensity input, so I had to make one using three resistive summing
networks - simple, but effective. I also needed a composite sync
signal, which is generated on the color graphics board, but is not
brought out on the rear connector. I brought it out on pin 7, which
was unused.
It works fine, and I could not possibly have gotten this much PC any
other way. I decided to go with a "real PC" because I didn't want to
make a career out of doing compatibility analyses on the various PC
clones.
Dave
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 83 17:15:15 mst
To: info-ibmpc@isib
From: b-davis@utah-cs (Brad Davis)
Subject: Loadable Device Drivers
I have been working on a device driver for a char device (a serial
port plotter) in such a way that the driver knows the format of the
plotter commands but the application program doesn't. I set up a char
device and sent 20 bytes to it in one buffer with the int 21h ah = 40h
function call. In poking around in the driver I found that DOS was
calling my routine once for every byte I was sending. Since I send
down one buffer of 20 bytes is there some way to make DOS do one call
to my driver and write all 20 bytes at the same time? I think I could
make the driver a blocked device but that sort of defeats the idea of
having char devices. I would also be interested in hearing from any
others who have written device drivers.
By the way, the reason that the NUL device can't be replaced is that
DOS points at it first and loads the other drivers after it. If you
load two drivers with the same name then the last one loaded is first
in the list and will get invoked. The hard and floppy disk are under
the same driver.
Brad Davis
b-davis@utah-cs
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 83 19:42:12 EST
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.arpa>
Subject: Personal Communications Manager
Just got hold of a demo copy. It is a "electronic mail and
intelligent terminal system" made by Microcom Inc and marketed by IBM.
Cost is $100 and it MUST run under 2.1 if it lives on a Winnie. Looks
very nice; features automatic clock controlled deferred call and
deliver mail service. It uses the MNP (Microcom Networking protocol
(any one have a real definition of that). Certainly interesting.
More as I use it.
Dave
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂26-Nov-83 1603 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #92
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 26 Nov 83 16:01:28 PST
Date: 26 Nov 1983 1407-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #92
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 26 November 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 92
This Week's Editor: Dick Gillmann
Today's Topics:
Microsoft Mouse (4 msgs)
DOS 2.0 for Corona Hard Disk Wanted
Compaq Hardware Compatibility
Compiler with Source Code Wanted
New Public Domain FORTH-83 Implementation
.LIB File Format (2 msgs)
Microsoft Education Discount
PCJr.
3 Monochromes on 1 PC Query
Freesoft Utilities, Graphics Dump, and IBM "Kit"
Qualifying a PC for IBM Warranty
MODEM7 for the 8086
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 83 22:26:09 pst
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
From: dag%ucbarpa@Berkeley (David Allen Gewirtz)
Subject: Microsoft Mouse
I have encountered similar problems with the Microsoft Mouse and
Microsoft Word. I have a vanilla IBM PC XT with the Microsoft Mouse
card.
I have found that I am unable to perform a warm boot after loading the
mouse driver from Microsoft. Steve Kirsch's Mouse Systems PC/MOUSE
software and mouse driver do not exhibit the warm boot problem and
work quite well.
I would have expected that the folks who wrote the operating system
would have been able to make their mouse work with their own device
driver facilities, but... And what happened to quality control?
David Gewirtz
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 24 Nov 83 9:54:56 EST
To: David Allen Gewirtz <dag%ucbarpa@ucb-vax.arpa>
cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.arpa>
Subject: Re: Microsoft Mouse
It's an interrupt problem. Switch the jumper on the mouse card from 5
to 2 and all works
Well, most of the time
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 24 Nov 83 11:13:34 pst
To: dag%ucbarpa@Berkeley, farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.ARPA
Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
From: dag%ucbarpa@Berkeley (David Allen Gewirtz)
Subject: Re: Microsoft Mouse
According to the Microsoft Mouse documentation, the board is plug and
go...just stick it in and it works.
In looking at the Microsoft Mouse card, Rev C, there are two jumper
locations. The first, called J3 is a soldered jumper with labels of
15, 30, 60, and 120, with the jumper for 30 closed. This is probably
for the communications rate and corresponding to 150, 300, 600, and
1200 baud respectively. The board has another jumper with a berg
connector on 5. The jumper block is labelled 2,3,4,5. Of course, the
Microsoft documentation does not mention the connector or the jumpers
at any time in the documentation.
I have not yet moved the jumper over. It seems safer to make an
attempt to find out from Microsoft what the purpose of the jumpers
are. If that doesn't work, then I'll play.
-- David Gewirtz
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 24 Nov 83 14:35:15 EST
To: David Allen Gewirtz <dag%ucbarpa@ucb-vax.arpa>
cc: farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.arpa, info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.arpa>
Subject: Re: Microsoft Mouse
The switch of the jumper from 5 to 2 is as a result of talking with
Microsoft.
Dave
------------------------------
Date: Thu 24 Nov 83 11:15:36-PST
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: CRESWELL@SRI-KL.ARPA
Subject: DOS 2.0 for Corona Hard Disk Wanted
Anyone out there have info on DOS 2.0 for Corona hard disk? Several
contacts with them have been fruitless...."working on it....", etc.
Sure would like to be able to use it!
------------------------------
Date: 24 November 1983 14:47 est
To: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC at USC-ISIB>
From: Hess.Unicorn at MIT-MULTICS
Subject: Re: Compaq Hardware Compatibility
I am using a Corvus hard disk board in the Compaq. It's worked fine
so far, as have our various AST I/O and Combo cards.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 25 Nov 83 2:28-PST
Date: 22 Nov 83 11:08:17-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: Martin.GATech @ CSNet-Relay
Subject: Compiler with Source Code Wanted
I am teaching operating systems and using P.C.s for research. I want
to replace the basic operating system so I can do some different
stuff. I can rewrite the kernel in assembler, but then I want to be
able to run some higher level language for applications, such as
editors etc. Problems include the interface to the operating system,
load formats, and expectations of program location. The easiest way
to deal with this is to have control over the code the compiler is
putting out.
So, does anyone have a compiler for a higher level language (e.g., C,
Pascal, PL/1) for which the compiler source is freely available? The
compiler doesn't have to be rock solid, just to work in general. It
would be nice if it ran on VAX Unix, but that is not essential.
Naturally, we have the usual university constraints on payment etc. --
not much, but some.
Martin McKendry
School of ICS, Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332
CSNet: Martin @ GATech ARPA: Martin.GATech @ CSNet-Relay
uucp: ...!{akgua,allegra,rlgvax,sb1,unmvax,ulysses,ut-sally}!gatech!martin
------------------------------
Date: 25 Nov 1983 1549-PST
From: Ted Shapin <BEC.SHAPIN@USC-ECL>
Subject: New Public Domain FORTH-83 Implementation
To: Info-cpm%BRL@SRI-NIC, forth@SRI-CSL
cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
Announcing a public domain implementation of FORTH-83.
A very fine public domain implementation of FORTH 83 is now available
on the Arpanet SIMTEL20 system in the directory MICRO:<CPM.FORTH-83>.
Get the file F83-READ.ME for a list of the files and what each
contains.
This directory contains two implementations, one for the 8080 running
CP/M-80 and one for the 8086 (or 8088) running CP/M-86. I have also
submitted the 8080 version to the SIG/M users group.
This implementation has a CP/M file interface for FORTH screens, a
metacompiler, multi-tasking, debugging utilities, and many other
features.
This implementation is largely due to Henry Laxen and Mike Perry with
assistance from some other members of the FORTH Interest Group.
F83-READ.ME This lists all of the files and some hints on getting
started.
(These files are for the 8080 system)
F83.HEX A loadable, ready to use 8080 FORTH system including an
editor, assembler, and many FORTH utilities.
F83.DOC A message from the primary implementors including instructions
on how to use F83 to compile itself.
META80.BLK The meta source and F83 screens as an ASCII CP/M file.
EXTEND80.BLK The extension screens as an ASCII CP/M file.
CPU8080.BLK Assembler, debugging and multitasking source as an ASCII CP/M
file.
(UTILITY.BLK is the same in both 8080 and 8086 systems)
UTILITY.BLK The CP/M interface, editor, and high level multitasking
support as an ASCII CP/M file.
(Now the 8086 system files)
F83.CMD A binary, ready-to-use 8086 FORTH CP/M system including an
editor, assembler, and many FORTH utilities.
F83-86.DOC A message from the primary implementors including instructions
on how to use F83 to compile itself.
META86.BLK The meta source and F83 screens as an ASCII CP/M file.
EXTEND86.BLK The extension screens as an ASCII CP/M file.
CPU8086.BLK Assembler, debugging and multitasking source as an ASCII CP/M
file.
(UTILITY.BLK is the same in both 8080 and 8086 systems)
UTILITY.BLK The CP/M interface, editor, and high level multitasking
support as an ASCII CP/M file.
Ted Shapin.
------------------------------
Date: Friday, 25 November 1983 11:57 est
To: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
From: Bruce Nemnich <Nemnich@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA>
Subject: .LIB file format
Thanks for the citation of the .OBJ reference. Where is the .LIB format
documented? I looked at one for about 5 minutes, and it looked very
similar to (if not identical to) catenated .OBJ files.
------------------------------
Date: 25 Nov 1983 1104-PST
To: Bruce Nemnich <Nemnich@MIT-MULTICS>
cc: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
Subject: Re: .LIB file format
I believe that the OBJ, LIB and EXE files are all in the format
defined by Intel, although it's so complicated I can't really be sure,
but they are at least compatible.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 25 Nov 83 16:46:46 EST
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.arpa>
Subject: Microsoft Education Discount
Is everyone aware of the Microsoft Educational discount system which
seems to give 50% discount on software ordered through an educational
institution?
Dave
------------------------------
Date: 25 Nov 1983 1707-PST
To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
From: LTN@USC-ECL
Subject: PCJr.
I am trying to compile a picture of what the PEANUT (PC-jr) will look
like. In looking through the newspaper type trade rags I find that
for $700 you get:
- An 8088 processor with 64K RAM (sockets for up to 128K RAM)
- 2 cartridge sockets for PROMs (Anyone know amount of memory/prom?)
- interface for 2 joysticks (joysticks themselves $40 extra)
- cordless 62 key ASCII keyboard (with reports of a lousy feel)
- light pen interface
- rs-232 port
- connectors for standard TV and color monitor
(Confusion here. Some sources indicated there was an RGB
output for color monitor and a composite video output
which requires external RF modulater. Other sources said
there was connection for TV, which implies internal RF
modulator. anyone know? )
- disk controller with non-standard controller to disk interface
(i.e. you have to buy IBM disks, 5 1/4 dual sided 360KB)
- 1 slot for expansion - IBM will have a 300 baud direct connect modem
later, which would fill this slot.
Questions:
Is there any PROM in the box, some articles imply that you need a
cartridge to run BASIC.
What kind of graphics? articles say a 40 column alpha display on
home TV is standard. Color? What pixel resolution?
How much memory per cartridge?
I'd appreciate any answers.
Tom Campbell
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 26 Nov 83 0:41-PST
Date: 23 Nov 83 12:05:35-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: judd.umcp-cs@CSNet-relay
Subject: 3 Monochromes on 1 PC Query
I want to run 3 monochrome monitors off one pc and be able to work
with all three at once.
Has anyone out there done this? Does anyone know how to change the
memory map of the monochrome board?
Much thanks in advance.
Judd Rogers
------------------------------
Date: Saturday, 26 November 1983 04:12 est
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: LBrenkus.ADL@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: Freesoft Utilities, Graphics Dump, and IBM "Kit"
(1) The Freesoft utilities are freeware, not free. They do not include
source code, and the first screen of each utility is a chain-letter
come-on: you can make MONEY (word flashes) by "registering" your copy
($40 fee), getting back a copy with your number, and getting others to
copy your disk and register it -- $10 kickback. The philosophy is
emphatically not public-domain freely available code, just a new way
to add greed to freeware. They're also not that great.
(2) A graphics dump does exist for printers other than IBM/Epson: The
most recent issue of PC-World has the listing for "GRUMP", a graphics
dump written in BASIC using a machine language subroutine. It can be
customized for almost any printer-- the article gives details.
(3) I agree that the IBM "kit" is cheaper. In fact, it has become
easier to get PC's without disk drives--our local IBM product center
was even willing to supply them that way, but we got a 10% company
discount from another retailer (again, without drives). Half-height
drives are only $200 each mail-order.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 26 Nov 83 3:10-PST
Date: 23 Nov 83 10:05:14-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!eagle!mhuxl!ulysses!princeton!eosp1!robison @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Qualifying a PC for IBM Warranty
If you buy an IBM PC from a non-authorized IBM dealer, you can arrange
to place it under official IBM warranty, should you desire to do so.
Here's how it works in New Jersey, other places may be similar in
their approach:
- Make an appointment with the IBM inspection center on route 17,
Paramus, opposite "Syms". Phone number 201-262-1035 (and also, I
think, 800-428-2569). They are open 8:30 to 5 weekdays.
- Bring them ONLY your IBM hardware. Remove non-IBM hardware before
you come in. NB: as a result you may be bringing them a system that
is incomplete and cannot be made to operate without the addition of
other hardware. This is NO PROBLEM.
- The basic inspection charge is about $68. They will keep your
machine a few days.
- IBM may determine that certain repairs/changes must be made to
qualify for warranty. You can pay them to do this (I believe), or
you can go back to your dealer for warrantee repairs and then start
over with IBM.
- The end result: a warranty just as if you had purchased from an IBM
dealer.
Obviously this approach will not always pay for itself, but it will be
a cost/effective thing to do in some cases.
- Keremath, care of:
Robison
decvax!ittvax!eosp1
or: allegra!eosp1
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 26 Nov 83 4:57-PST
Date: 23 Nov 83 8:47:42-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!philabs!cmcl2!rocky2!datagen!boykin @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: MODEM7 for the 8086
Sometime back there were a number of requests in this group for an
8086/8088 version of MODEM7. A reworked version of modem765 has just
been made available through the national MS-DOS users group SIG/86.
Since the program has just been released I'm not sure which disk it is
on, but that information should be available shortly.
Anyone interested should contact:
SIG/86
47-4 Sheridan Drive
Shrewsbury, MA 01545
617-845-1074
Bulletin board:
617-842-1435 - 300 baud
617-842-1712 - 1200 baud
The only times the system is not up is 6PM to 11PM
daily plus some misc. times on weekends.
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂18-Nov-83 2311 K.KENG%LOTS-A.#Pup@SU-SIERRA.ARPA New release of KERMIT-20
Received: from SU-SIERRA by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 18 Nov 83 23:11:15 PST
Received: from LOTS-A by Sierra with Pup; Fri 18 Nov 83 23:11:21-PST
Date: Fri 18 Nov 83 23:07:50-PST
From: Ken Rossman <K.Keng@LOTS-A>
Subject: New release of KERMIT-20
To: SU-Bboards@Sierra, Bboard@LOTS-A
Address: 716 Watson Labs, 612 W.115th St, NY NY 10025
Phone: (212) 280-3703
The new version of Kermit-20 mentioned below can be found in SRA:<KERMIT>
on Sierra and in PS:<KERMIT> on the LOTS systems. New files are:
20KERMIT.DOC
20KERMIT.EXE
20KERMIT.MAC
KERMIT.EXE
(KERMIT.EXE and 20KERMIT.EXE are one in the same). As usual, questions,
suggestions, complaints to Action@Sierra or Bug-Kermit@LOTSA. /Ken
---------------
Date: Thu 17 Nov 83 10:24:01-EST
From: Frank da Cruz <cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: New release of KERMIT-20
To: Info-Kermit@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA
It's not all you'd ever want, but it's better than before...
KERMIT-20 Version 3B(122), differences from version 3A(66)
----------------------------------------------------------
MAJOR DIFFERENCES:
1. File i/o completely rewritten to prepare for future addition of new
server commands.
2. DEFINE command added for definition of SET macros, for instance:
DEFINE IBM (to be) PARITY MARK, DUPLEX HALF, HANDSHAKE XON
SHOW MACROS shows the current macro definitions.
3. TAKE command to allow commands to be taken from a file, with nesting.
4. Automatic TAKE of KERMIT.INI upon startup. KERMIT.INI can contain
DEFINE commands for the various systems you would be communicating with.
5. Interruption of file transfer in both local and remote mode (KRFC #1)
In local mode, typing ↑X interrupts the current file and skips to the next,
typing ↑Y skips the rest of the batch. These always work when sending
files (except that the receiver may still keep the partial transmitted
file, and work for receiving files only if the sender understands the
interrupt request.
In remote mode, KERMIT-20 responds to interrupt requests.
6. Separate remote and local mode top-level command tables. Since most users
of KERMIT-20 use it only in remote mode, they will no longer be confused by
commands like "FINISH" and "BYE".
7. ITS binary files are now handled (KRFC #3).
8. Help text for SET command broken up, so you can say "help set escape", etc.
MINOR IMPROVEMENTS AND CHANGES:
In local mode, ↑A may be typed for a report on the file transfer in progress.
. Server operations may now be recorded in the debugging log.
. Don't parse for initial filespec in SEND if source file not wild.
. SET ABORTED-FILE renamed to SET INCOMPLETE.
. Minor improvements to statistics display.
. Allow ↑C to interrupt a stuck BYE or FINISH command.
. Server accepts "I" packets (KRFC #1).
. SET HANDSHAKE allows specification of line turnaround character.
BUG FIXES:
Mod 64 packet number compares fixed.
. NAK bad packet immediately, don't wait for timeout.
. Various bugs fixed relating to ↑C trap, exiting and continuing, etc.
. Proceed gracefully after file i/o errors.
. Correctly assess the file byte size when sending in server mode.
. Release TTY and file JFNs in some places where they weren't before.
. Don't truncate error message in error packet prematurely.
WHAT'S NEXT:
Future releases of KERMIT-20, which should be coming along within a month
or two, will have the following features:
Transaction logging.
Support for 8th-bit prefixing, to allow passing 8-bit binary data through
a 7-bit communications link.
Repeat count processing to allow compression of repeated characters.
Support for 2-character checksums and 16-bit CRCs.
Additional server functions, particularly for file and job management.
Some file attribute support.
ARPANET TAC binary mode negotiation.
The new release is available via anonymous FTP from host COLUMBIA-20 in the
files KER:20KERMIT.EXE and KER:20KERMIT.MAC. It has been tested in a variety
of environments with files of various types and sizes, but our quality control
department is not infallible. If you discover any bugs, or have any comments,
please report them to me.
- Frank
-------
-------
∂30-Nov-83 1527 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #93
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 30 Nov 83 15:26:50 PST
Date: 30 Nov 1983 1347-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #93
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, 30 November 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 93
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
Editorial Policy
Lattice C
A new IBM-compatible from Apple?
The Util Program
MS Link Bug
Mousey problems
Driving multiple monochrome displays
Accessing DOS from ci-c86,
Millisecond Timing Query
Compaq Compatibility
Bugs, Comments re Microsoft Word
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 25 Nov 1983 1634-PST
Subject: Editorial Policy
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: info-iBMPC
I don't want the restrictions Dick outlined on our
program library policy to disuade people with commercial
interests from submitting material to INFO-IBMPC.
We will publish press releases if they contain technical
information of interest to the internet community. We
want to hear about new products and will publish prices
and addresses and telephone numbers. Of course we will
edit out obvious sales puffery.
Our main criterion for publishing information on a
commercial product is its perceived utility to our
university and DOD audience.
It isn't obvious where we should draw the line. I
agree with Dick Gillmann that the freeware concept is
more appropriate to the privately owned bulliten board
services, however, if the quality and utility of a
program were overwhelming I would be tempted to make an
exception to our stated policy.
Specificaly I am upset that we haven't had any solid
information on DOS 2.1. Microsoft and their OEMs who
regularly receive this digest but have added nothing to
the discussion. I'd like to know what the changes and
bug fixes really were. I think this is carrying the non
commercial messages on the net a bit far.
-------
------------------------------
Date: 23 Nov 83 17:29:56-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!ihuxx!hersee @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Lattice C Version 2.0
I got a copy of this news release from lifeboat and thought
it might be of interest.
press release November 21, 1983
Lattice announces new version of 8086 C compiler.
Lattice, Incorportated has announced Version 2 of its
popular C compiler for the IBM Personal Computer and other
computers using Microsoft's MS-DOS operation system.
The new compiler enables C programs to access the complete
one megabyte program and data space that can be addressed by
8086 and 8088 microprocessors. Four distinct "memory
models" are supported, allowing the C programmer to choose
the best combination of efficiency and addressability. The
S and P models produce compact code that can address up to
64K bytes of data, while the D and L models allow access to
as much as 1 megabyte of data. Program size is limited to
64K bytes in the S and D models but can be as large as 1
megabyte in the P and L models.
Lattice's new release also provides complete support for
MS-DOS and PC-DOS Version 2, the standard operating system
for the IBM-XT. The Lattice C function library has been
extensively improved to handle the new MS-DOS multi-level
file directories and to be more compatible with the latest
versions of UNIX.
The new compiler is available for $500.00 from Lattice,
Lifeboat Associates, or Microsoft. Users of the current
compiler can receive a low-cost update by contaction the
point of original purchase. Lattice can be reached at
Box 3072, Glen Ellyn IL 60138 (312) 858-7950.
-------
------------------------------
Date: 24 Nov 83 16:04:36-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!denelcor!lmc @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: New IBM-Compatible from Apple?
A word from my friendly local Apple dealer:
"The MACINTOSH has been the works for at least two years and there is
still some debate on its ultimate configuration. Apple is expected to
introduce its new contender early in 1984 and will pose a challenge to
IBM's Peanut.
Unlike the Peanut, a standard MacIntosh will include a monitor,
professional keyboard, and a disk drive. It is expected to sell for
about $2000, only 25% more than a fully loaded Peanut. The MacIntosh
is a derivative of the Lisa. The MacIntosh is based on a 68000....it
uses a newer, perhaps more sophisticated operating system than IBM's
PC-DOS [???!!???!?].
Apple, however, is hedging its bets and plans to broaden the base of
the software that will run on the MacIntosh. John Scully, Chief exec
officer of Apple, has reportedly ordered the MacIntosh to be
compatible with the PC. Just how Apple plans to achieve this
compatibility remains to be seen [you ain't whistlin' Dixie there].
The MacIntosh is unlikely to have internal expansion slots, but Apple
may be able to perform a little magic on the 68000 to allow it to use
programs written for the other microprocessors.
Several features may indeed make the MacIntosh more marketable.
First, the MacIntosh is designed primarily for business applications;
its larger memory capacity and high resolution monitor support that
claim. Secondly, it will be promoted for use in education. (A
university out East contracted for 3000, sight unseen [anyone know
who?].) And third, several independent software developers have had
the MacIntosh for the past 18 months, and when it is finally unveiled,
buyers should find ample software support."
Lyle McElhaney
------------------------------
Date: 28 Nov 83 17:17:56-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!duke!unc!mcnc!ecsvax!jhb @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: A new IBM-compat from Apple?
Since I like my job, I can't comment on the speculations regarding
MacIntosh's features or prices. I thought I'd clarify how Apple is
making its machines IBM PC compatible.
To achieve compatiblility the Apple needs:
- Disk drives that work
- A new microprocessor
- A different memory configuration
All this is provided on something like the CP/M cards out there by
telling the 6502 to go to sleep and substituting a new processor. The
hardware still knows enough to call on the 6502 for I/O.
Emulating a PC is a little tougher, though, because one wants PC disks
to run on the system. Well, the PC uses the index holes on diskettes
(it's hard sectored). Apple diskettes are completely soft-sectored,
so Apple doesn't bother to install the extra hardware necessary for
hard-sectoring. This makes reading PC disks a bit tough.
The solution is to plug in a box that has the appropriate disk drives
in it. Apple has announced that Rana will be building these boxes.
The drives will be able to read either Apple or PC disks. The box
will also contain the new processor, etc.
Now, that's how it will work in the Apple II and III. I leave it as
an excercise for the student to guess how it will work for Macintosh.
- Joe Budge
Apple Computer
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 83 17:10:20 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.udeecis@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: The Util Program
I just got it and indeed it is a nice job. I would recommend it as a
very handy addition.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 27 Nov 83 8:59:48 EST
From: Manny Farber <mfarber@udel-relay.arpa>
To: info-pc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: MS Link Bug
After removing some code from a program of mine, it still assembled
correctly; when I tried to link it, the linker reported an invalid
object module and stopped.
Someone else reported this error very recently -- anyone have a
solution yet?
------------------------------
Date: 28 Nov 1983 1050-PST
From: HFischer at USC-ECLB
Subject: Mousey problems
To: Gillmann at ISIB
Dick, You seem to be getting lots'a problems with the Microsoft Mouse
being reported.
So, I'd like to point out that, with the Logimate brand mouse I have,
there have been absolutely no problems (since getting one which was
not D.O.A.). It continues to amaze me that you can use the mouse
with all software. It's even more amazing to set it up for TOPS-20
EMACS or IBM TSO and use the mouse with EMACS or TSO SPF (via
terminal emulator, of course), since it can be programmed to simulate
any keyboard codes for each roll direction or switch.
Herm Fischer
-------
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 28 Nov 83 23:57:48 PST
From: Computer Club SDC <v.cc2@UCLA-LOCUS>
To: judd.umcp-cs@csnet-relay
CC: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: Driving multiple monochrome displays
The output from the IBM Monochrome display card is capable
of driving up to 10 displays (I have personally done 7 with no
problem). All you need to do is get 1 db-9 male connector and
as many db-9 female connectors as you need and wire them in parallel.
It works just great for board room situations or whatever. The composite
drive from the color board is a totally different story. It can drive
about 3 monitors (depending on the load of each specific monitor) before
it looses enough current so that there is no sync. The solution to this
is to get a $12 video distribution amplifer from Radio Shack and put it
between the monitors and the color card. It just boosts the current
enough to drive at least 10 monitors, probably more.
- Howard
------------------------------
Date: 29 Nov 83 15:33:53 EST (Tue)
From: Judd Rogers <judd%umcp-cs@CSNet-Relay>
Subject: Driving multiple monochrome displays
To: Computer Club SDC <v.cc2@UCLA-LOCUS>
Cc: info-ibmpc@isib
Thanks! Your note got mangled slightly but I get the thrust of it. We
want each monitor to display *different* things though.
------------------------------
Date: 29 Nov 1983 11:49:20 EST (Tuesday)
From: Andy Adler <andya@BBN-UNIX>
Subject: accessing dos from ci-c86,
To: info-ibmpc at usc-isib
I have been trying some things out with the CI-C86 C compilier.
I have had reasonable success with all the non-system dependant
stuff -- works just like UNIX. However, I was stumped when I
tried to access some DOS services (such as cursor positioning)
with the sysint() function. I would appreciate it if someone
could show me a code fragment that works and does some call to
DOS. This is probably real elementary but none of my UNIX
instincts have been of any help to me.
Thanks in advance,
Andy Adler.
------------------------------
Date: 28 Nov 83 19:00:54-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!ihlpf!ARPA @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Millisecond Timing Query
There is a register in the INTEL timing chip which is decremented every clock
cycle (I think) and when it reaches zero it generates an interrupt and wraps
around. This register is loaded with 65535 resulting in the 18.2 ints/sec
that are generated. You can reload this register with a smaller number to
get shorter interrupts but you're clock will start running fast and you might
have some problems with the disk timing, but I don't think so. This could
probably be compensated for by rewriting the clock interrupt, but that starts
getting a little dangerous. I'm not sure of the procedure but all the info
you need is in the standard INTEL manuals.
Darrell Plank
BTL-IH
------------------------------
Date: 26 Nov 83 21:44:00-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From:
decvax!genrad!security!linus!philabs!seismo!rochester!ritcv!tropix!rcm@Ucb-Vax
Subject: Compaq Compatibility
The COMPAQ video circuitry is on the main board, with a dedicated
interface to the tube. Therefore substituting a Hercules graphics board
(to get 640x480 instead of 640x200 resolution) doesn't work. The Basic
runs in RAM, not ROM, also, although I don't know what effect that has.
This is why CAD and graphics applications need a "more compatible"
PC than the COMPAQ, although 99% of the usage will be unaffected. These
applications invariably require more resolution than the standard PC. I
am told that the Columbia works with the high res graphics boards.
Bob Moore
seismo!rochester!ritcv!tropix!rcm
------------------------------
Date: 28 Nov 83 20:45:49-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!genrad!security!linus!utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Bugs, Comments re Microsoft Word
A couple of bugs appear to be in Microsoft Word, tho' they are not severe:
1. If you delete a selected area with the DEL key and then start typing
right away, the selected area block winds up a dozen or so characters
to the right of where it should be. Doing almost anything puts it
back where it belongs.
2. When printing on an MX-80 retrofitted with Graftrax Plus (and, I
assume, a new MX-80 or -100 with the built-in Graftrax Plus),
printing something sub/super-scripted puts the printer in double-strike
mode and leaves it there (they used an ESC T to end the mode, they
should have used an ESC H, I think). Adding the ESC H in the text,
after the sub/super-scripted text works fine (hold ALT down while
pressing 2 7 on the keypad, release ALT, type H).
Some comments on the program:
I like it. There's a lot to go at, and the manual is a bit confusing on
the advanced features, but the stuff I've used so far works well and
cleanly. The mouse interface works well indeed. On the wishlist
already, though, are: use of pop-up menus with the mouse, a command to
give a word count, and better documentation of how the capabilities
of the various supported printers are used.
peter rowley, University of Toronto Department of C.S., Ontario Canada M5S 1A4
{cornell,watmath,ihnp4,floyd,allegra,ubc-vision,uw-beaver}!utcsrgv!peterr
{cwruecmp,duke,linus,decvax,research}!utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂03-Dec-83 1849 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #94
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 3 Dec 83 18:47:05 PST
Date: 3 Dec 1983 1516-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #94
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 3 December 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 94
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
RF Propagation Model Request
Donate computer for tax credit
More on Microsoft Word
Corona 5 Mb Disk Driver Request
Shugart half-height Quad drives
Mice
Pascal & C subroutines available
Lattice C 2.0
LAN info wanted
Hard Disk Backup Query
Serial Ports
Changing the underline cursor
Datamac HELP ??
FORTH for those with no net access
PCjr.
IBM kit-bashing
Bubble Memory Devices
Fix for MS-Mouse/XT Problem
Modula-2 for the IBM?
What Commodore & Atari might think of IBM
Expansion Chassis for PC and PC Compatibles
Compaq cursor control
3000 Macintoshes for a "univ. back east"
Apple PC Compatibility Stories, Controversy and Concern
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I apologise that this issue is so huge. I let it go for three days and
look what happened! The load average around ISI has been pretty terrible
this week and I guess I have just gotten used to editing on my PC. So
anyway I have waited till today (Saturday) so that EMACS response is
tolerable enough to edit a message of this size.
If this breaks anyones mail system. Things are only going to get worse.
This digest has been edited down considerably from the messages submitted,
yet INFO-IBMPC still grows daily. The next issue will be edited by our third
editor Randy Cole. This should give Dick and I time to work a bit on
collecting the program library and preparing a few files for the first
hundred most commonly asked questions.
Billy Brackenridge
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 30 Nov 1983 20:38:27 EST (Wednesday)
From: Dick Kalagher <kalagher@mitre>
Subject: RF Propagation Model Request
To: info-ibmpc at isib
This may be a somewhat specialized request, but I'll try
anyway. Does anyone have a High Frequency radio propagation
prediction model running on a PC or XT. Something like the
CCIR-252 model would be ideal.
Dick Kalagher
[ The Hams around here would also like such a program -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: 30 Nov 1983 22:02:26 EST (Wednesday)
From: Marshall Abrams <abrams@mitre>
Subject: Donate computer for tax credit
To: microgroups:@mitre
A charitable organization in the Washington, DC area would like to receive a
donation of a computer. The donor would get a tax credit based on his/her
valuation of the hardware and software.
This would be an excellent opportunity to do a good deed and recover one's
investment so that a newer configuration could be purchased.
Please contact me to discuss this further. My telephone at work is 703/827-6938
and at home is 301/588-1005.
Marshall Abrams
------------------------------
Date: 29 Nov 83 1:12:48-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!linus!utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: More on Microsoft Word
Re Dick Gillman's comments about Microsoft Word on a floppy: I'm
running it on a floppy and find no real trouble at all, though the
occasional unexpected disk access, with the associated noise, can be
a bit off-putting in a quiet environment. It'd be nice to put the
set of files that are so accessed on a RAMdisk, which I believe is
possible with DOS 2.0, even using floppies, though my current
situation is not annoying enough that I've tried it.
Expanding on my previous comments on Word as a whole, I should have
said I *really* like it. It has a sophisticated ease-of-use and
comprehensive- ness I don't usually associate with software, micro or
otherwise. I'll be able to say more once I've used it for a while.
It is really nice to have italics, underlining, boldface, double
underlining, sub/superscripts, and small caps all displayable on the
screen, and nicely printed on an Epson printer.
A comment about speed of operation: it's perfectly adequate for my
needs, tho' one can notice delays at various points. My impression
is that they have made the functionality/performance balance pretty
well, meaning that they don't have a lot of cycles left to play with.
Contrary to the ridiculous "what's so important about a fast
processor?" editorial in a recent PC Tech. J., I think we shall soon
see add-on 8086/286 boards attempting to fulfill the demand for extra
cycles from Word and, probably more critically from what I've heard,
VisiON and similar products. More oomph is certainly going to be
needed to push around the bits for the higher-density graphics boards
popping up.
p. rowley, U. Toronto
------------------------------
Date: Wed 30 Nov 83 17:49:44-PST
From: Hellmut Golde <GOLDE@WASHINGTON.ARPA>
Subject: Re: Microsoft Word
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
A much easier way to solve the double striking problem with the
graphtrax printer is to format the superscipted character(s) as font
name PicaD. This make everything ok. If it is done with a style sheet
in really doesn't make any bother at all.
-------
------------------------------
Date: 29 Nov 83 17:59:50-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!tektronix!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!rwhas @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Corona 5 Mb Disk Driver Request
I am desperately searching of a way of upgrading an IBM PC
with a Corona 5 mB hard disk to DOS 2.0. The response of
Corona to a request for information was "ask your dealer".
When he tried to get some information for me , their
response was "We're working on it , call once a month and
you'll know within a month, call once a week and you'll know
within a week". Needless to say I cannot reccomend Corona.
But I still need some help. Has anyone written , heard of,
bought , dreamed of or have any information concerning a DOS
2.0 driver for a Corona hard disk interfaced to an IBM PC. I
will post anything I receive.
Russ Helbig
Boeing Aerospace Company
(206) 773 0252
USENET: ..!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!rwhas
------------------------------
Date: 3 Dec 1983 1217-PST
Subject: Corona 5 Mb Disk Driver
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: decvax!tektronix!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!rwhas@UCB-VAX
cc: info-ibmpc
In-Reply-To: Your message of 29 Nov 83 17:59:50-PST (Tue)
I believe Tall Tree Windrive supports the Corona. At least they used
to support Corona for DOS 1.1. As the following message suggests Tall
Tree's documentation is sufficient for a hacker or engineer, but is
not appropriate for the computer novice.
I suspect that hard disk installation is much simpler than the floppy
disk installation mentioned in the next message.
-------
------------------------------
Date: 1 Dec 1983 8:23:27 EST (Thursday)
From: Edward Haines <haines@BBN-UNIX>
Subject: Shugart half-height Quad drives
To: Info-ibmpc @ isib
I have recently replaced a single sided drive with a pair of
Shugart SA465 half height Quad drives. These are in addition to
a standard Tandon double sided drive. Although I would prefer a
10 megabyte hard disk, this configuration does provide some of
the advantage of a hard disk (lots of online storage) without
some of the disadvantages (costs less, does not use up an
expansion slot, easy to back up).
There are several interesting problems:
. How do you connect more than two internal drives?
. How do you support Quad drives with DOS 2.0?
. What are the best drives to install?
To connect more than two internal drives, you need two things: an
additional power connector and a logic connector that plugs into
the 37 pin sockect on the back of the disk controller card. For
the power connector you can buy a Y adapter for about $10. I
ended up using the connector that came with the drive and
splicing into one of the existing power lines; crude but free.
The connector on the back of the disk controller is already set
up for two additional floppy drives. The existing internal cable
will only support the first two drives. Therefore it is
necessary to plug into the rear socket and snake the ribbon cable
into the PC. This all sounds worse than it is; it all fits easily
and is not visible except from the back. You can buy a third and
fourth drive cable for anywhere from $30 to $50; I made my own
(for the third drive only) for $10. It is straightforward 34
conductor ribbon cable from a 34 pin edge connector to a 37 pin D
shell connector. (In the August 1981 Technical Reference manual
there is a mistake on the diagram on page 2-109 that makes it
look like you have to reverse pins 13 and 18 from the adapter;
you should NOT reverse them.)
I am not so sure about the advisability of powering an additional
internal drive. With the Shugart drives there is an another
worry: the drive motor remains running for three seconds after a
drive is deselected. This means I often have two and sometimes
even three drive motors running at the same time. I have not had
any sign of trouble but it clearly contradicts the IBM plan of
only running one motor at a time.
If these were ordinary double-sided drives it would suffice to
set the switches on the system board to indicate three drives.
With Quad drives it is not anywhere as simple. (A Quad drive has
two sides with 80 tracks per side.) To be able to boot ordinary
disks, you have to keep the first drive as an official single or
double sided drive. In my case the system board is set to one
drive and the Quad drives are supported by a device driver
(JFORMAT 2) that is loaded when DOS is booted. JFORMAT is told
to skip the first drive and to support the second and third
drives which are called drives C and D. (Remember if you have
only one drive it is treated as two logical drives, A and B.)
I won't go into all the gory detail of using JFORMAT. Actually
the software works very well once you get it set up reasonably.
The manual is terrible; it is very hard to understand and would
have you assign multiple drive letters to each disk. You have to
be a dedicated hacker to work this out. My result is: The first
(double) drive is A and B; it is fully and normally supported by
DOS as a double-sided drive. The second and third (Quad) drives
are supported by JFORMAT in either single or double sided, eight
or nine sector IBM mode or in ten sector Quad mode at 811008
bytes per disk. Actually there are several other options
available but these seem to be the reasonable choices.
It is fine to read an IBM format disk in a Quad drive; you can
also write it (I have done so without problem) but it is not
recommended because the track size is smaller. The IBM commands
FORMAT and DISKCOPY do not work on the Quad drives. FORMAT is not
a problem because you use JFORMAT instead; however I really miss
having DISKCOPY to make a verbatim copy of a disk.
I have defined the system so that my D drive disk is normally
resident and contains all the most commonly used utilities, word
processor, communications, etc. My PATH is set to D:\COM. The A
drive is used to boot the system and to write on any IBM format
disks. The C drive is available for applications such as PASCAL.
On one Quad disk you can fit all four distribution disks for the
Microsoft Pascal Compiler and have plenty of room left over for
your own stuff.
Speaking of disks, I have so far used only ordinary high quality
(Verbatim, BASF, and Sentinel) single sided, double density disks
(maximum IBM capacity of 180K) and have had no trouble formatting
them at 800K.
My costs for the upgrade:
2 Shugart 465 drives 558.00
J Format 2.0 35.00
Shugart mounting kit 10.00
parts for logic cable 9.75
tax and shipping 22.99
telephone calls (estimate) 10.00
-----
total 645.74
(I also plan to purchase JETDRIVE, $40, to make copying faster.)
In two weeks of operation so far I have had no trouble since a
couple of initial problems getting JFORMAT working. I now have
lots of online space and can store lots the equivalent of five or
six single sided disks on one Quad disk. I think full height
floppies are a thing of the past but the verdict is not yet in on
which half height brand to buy. The Quad drives are great IF you
are or have access to a PC expert and are willing to learn what
you can and cannot do. For the average user I would not
recommend them (unless IBM anounces support for them.)
Ted Haines
------------------------------
Date: 1 Dec 1983 14:14:52-EST
From: Greg.Glass@CMU-CS-CAD
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: Mice
Speaking of mice, I have been using the Microsoft one for
some time now and have not had any problems with it. I got
it because 1) it has the lowest cost 2) it comes with a software
library that I can link to from my Microsoft pascal and 3) hooking
something up between the keyboard and computer seemed
too strange for my taste. If you want to use a mouse with existing
"keyboard interaction" programs the Microsoft is not for you
but if you want to write your own graphic interaction programs
it seems like a good bet. By the way the documentation that
comes with looks better then any other that I have seen from
Microsoft.
By the way having the second library I found a strange bug
in the new large-model linker that came with my pascal. If
the two libraries are not in directories that are sub-directories
of the current one the linker will not find the pascal library.
It finds the mouse one just not the pascal no matter what order
they are specified. I am giving full path names in both cases.
Strange!
Greg
------------------------------
Date: 1 Dec 1983 11:15:29-PST (Thursday)
From: Guillermo A. Loyola <LOYOLA.IBM-SJ@Rand-Relay>
Return-Path: <LOYOLA.PALOALTO.IBM-SJ@Rand-Relay>
Subject: Pascal & C subroutines available
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Cc: slade@yale
This is a forwarded message from a person with no direct access
to the net who has some code to share:
========================================================================
A person named Stephen Slade (SLADE@YALE) has a note in V2 #87 of
INFOPC, asking for a PLAY command for C. I have this command already
written for C and for PASCAL.
They are available by sending a disk to me, with the proper
packaging for return, at the address below.
Both of these programs are PUBLIC DOMAIN and source code will
be included if requested.
I also have programs to handle the joystick from PASCAL or from C.
The joystick commands are also in the PUBLIC DOMAIN, and can be gotten
the same way as the PLAY commands.
I hope that you can get in touch with this S. Slade because I
can't.
Thank You
Manny Alvarez
Home Addr -- 4 Billata Dr.
Binghamton N.Y.
13901
[- We will list these routines in INFO-IBMPC Library when/if we receive
them Ed. -]
------------------------------
Date: Thu 1 Dec 83 14:27:30-PST
From: Jim Celoni S.J. <Celoni@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: Lattice C 2.0
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Lifeboat sells the update for $100 (includes library manager,
disassembler, compiler, and documentation). The library's source is
now available, but it's $500! If you get it (or other C-tool like
Smorgasbord or 8087 support), the update's free. CI-C86 looks more
attractive... +j
-------
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 Dec 83 12:01 PST
From: John Palevich <palevich.atari@Rand-Relay>
Return-Path: <palevich%atari.Atari@Rand-Relay>
Subject: LAN info wanted
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Our research lab uses a number of IBM PCs, and we also have several
VAXen and some lisp machines. I'm tired of using Kermit to communicate
between all of these, and also tired of using floppy disks to move files
between the PCs.
Is there a better way? In particular, can I buy some magic set of boards and
cableing and software that will let me automatically transfer files between
PCs and a VAX? Let me use the VAX's printer as LPT1:? Do I have to wait for
PC-DOS 3.0? For the next VMS? For BSD 4.1 Unix?
Sincerely,
Jack Palevich
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 Dec 83 12:10 PST
From: John Palevich <palevich.atari@Rand-Relay>
Return-Path: <palevich%atari.Atari@Rand-Relay>
Subject: Hard Disk Backup Query
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
How do people back up their hard disks? Do you keep around 40 floppies per
machine? Have you bought a backup peripheral? Do you move a single backup
peripheral between all your machines? Do you use a remote file server on
a larger computer?
We just lost a couple of months work because we hadn't backed up our TecMar
hard disk, and the controler failed. We're trying to keep this from hapening
again, but hate the thought of using 360K diskettes to back up 10M disks.
Sincerely,
Jack Palevich
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 2 Dec 83 0:49-PST
Date: 29 Nov 83 12:00:52-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!hou2g!stekas @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Serial Ports
Does anyone know of an expansion board for the PC which
is capable of 19.2K baud asynchronous? The 8250 chip
limits the standard IBM board to 9.6K. Anyone know of
any hardware problems with designing a serial port around
a 6551? Thanks for any (mailed) responses.
Jim
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 2 Dec 83 2:12-PST
Date: 29 Nov 83 7:37:37-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!floyd!whuxle!pyuxll!eisx!dad @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Changing the underline cursor
Does anybody out there know how to modify the standard IBM cursor from a
blinking underline to a blinking DEL character (box)? I'm pretty sure that
I've seen it done. After you work with WordStar and documents all day
its easy to develop a case of "cursor blindness". Thanks in advance.
Don deCourcelle (201) 561-7100 x2075
!eisx!dad
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 2 Dec 83 4:55-PST
Date: 29 Nov 83 22:44:05-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!uiucdcs!uicsl!preece @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Datamac HELP ??
I have a Datamac DM-64 memory board for my PC. I want to add more
memory to it, but it isn't exactly like the ones I've seen articles
about and I could use any advice anyone can offer (the only phone
number I have for Datamac is out of service, so they may be no
longer around).
Rather than having four rows of sockets the board has two rows:
0 1 2 ... 17
---- ---- ---- ----
E |XX| | | |XX| ... | |
|XX| | | |XX| | |
---- ---- ---- ----
0 1 2 ... 17
---- ---- ---- ----
D | | | | | | ... | |
| | | | | | | |
---- ---- ---- ----
The initially populated sockets (for 64K) are the even sockets in row E.
There is also an 8 switch DIP switch on the board, which has switches
1, 2, and 3 ON, the others OFF.
I'd like to hear from anyone who has one of these with instructions for
adding chips, knows about them, or has any good idea about adding
additional chips. I have two sets of chips, but I need to know
(1) WHICH SOCKETS GET POPULATED NEXT (my own guess is E odds and
D evens), and (2) HOW SHOULD THE SWITCHES BE SET?
[P.S. I don't have the board in front of me, so it's possible I got
odd and even reversed in my memory; I am sure of the pattern, however].
scott preece
ihnp4!uiucdcs!uicsl!preece
------------------------------
Date: 2 Dec 1983 1222-PST
From: Ted Shapin <BEC.SHAPIN%USC-ECL@MINET-CPO-EM>
Subject: FORTH for those with no net access
To: info-ibmpc-request@USC-ISIB
Postal-address: Beckman Instruments, Inc.
Postal-address: 2500 Harbor X-11, Fullerton, CA 92634
Phone: (714)961-3393
- - - -
I have loaded the F83 files I have to SIMTEL20 MICRO:<CPM.FORTH-83>.
I have also sent the 8080 version to the SIG/M User Group in New
Jersey for addition to their library. For people who can't access
the above and want another source, here is a copy of an information
sheet handed out at the October 1983 FORTH Interest Group Convention
in Palo Alto, CA. I am sending it to indicate another source for
these files.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - -- - - - -
WELCOME TO FORTH
This implementation of the 1983 FORTH standard was begun in
October 1982 by Mike Perry and Henry Laxen. Our motivation was
to produce a high quality system that would serve as a model for
vendors and other implementors of FORTH systems based upon the
1983 standard. We have made it our policy to cooperate with any
vendor who desires to use this model as part of their own FORTH
based product, and intend to continue to do so. In order to
promote widespread distribution of this model, we have placed it
in the public domain, and encourage use, reproduction, and
improvement, especially the latter.
We would like to thank many of the local, and not so local
FORTH Interest Group members who have made many valuable
suggestions, discovered bugs, and recommended improvements.
First and foremost we would like to thank Kim Harris for his
support and encouragement, and for the fact that he would not let
us get away with anything questionable. We would also like to
thank the following who contributed to the FORTH 83 model effort:
Martin Tracy, Wil Baden, John James, Alfred Tang, Steve Taylor,
John Hall, Mike Brockman, Robert Berkey, Daniel Kelley, Gerry
Grismore, Michael Gwilliam, Craig Gonter, Evan Rosen, Stephen
Maguire, Ted Shapin, Owen Thomas, Joel Wittenberg, and others
who have helped along the way.
Machine readable version of these listings are available on
the following formats:
1. 8080 CP/M-80 Model on 8" Single Sided, Single Density (2 disks)
2. 8086 CP/M-86 Model on 8" Single Sided, Single Density (2 disks)
3. 8086 MS-DOS Model on 5.25" Double Sided, Double Density IBM PC
format (2 disks)
Be sure to specify the format you want, and don't bother asking
for any other than those listed above. All are available as is,
with no support, handholding, questions, warranties, guarantees,
assurances, refunds, or any recourse whatever for $25.00 from:
No Visible Support Software
PO Box 1344
2000 Center Street
Berkeley, CA 94704
Best of luck to you, and may the FORTH be with you.
Henry Laxen Mike Perry
-------
[- The editors don't consider this to be a "Freeware" announcement as
sources are available publicly. The $25.00 appears to be a nusance
charge for sending the diskette as opposed to a guilt tax-]
------------------------------
Date: 2 Dec 1983 1415-PST
Subject: PCjr.
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
The second issue of the PCjr. News has more details on the Junior:
1. The ROM has code built in for an 83-key keyboard, in addition
to the standard 62-key chiclet board.
2. RAM memory can theoretically go up to 640K. I suppose you'd
need a board with 256K chips to fit it in.
3. The half-height drives have slightly narrower tolerances,
hence the slightly slower access speed in DOS 2.1
4. IBM warns against putting the monitor on top of the Junior because
it blocks ventilation.
5. The connector on the back can drive RGB, composite video,
or TV monitors.
-------
------------------------------
Date: 2 Dec 1983 18:01:36 EST (Friday)
From: <maples at mitre-gateway>
Subject: IBM kit-bashing
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
There seems to be a general interest in 'making' a
PC, so (for what it's worth) here's the package I
am considering.
1) Use the Faraday Electronics mother board. Price 495.00
You will get 64k, expands to 256k on board
8k ROM, expands to 32k on board
2 serial rs-232 ports, 50-9600 baud
1 parallel printer port, Centronics type
5 slots on bus, expands to 9 (You'll need it)
IBM compatible keyboard and speaker ports
External Reset (very nice!)
Cost so far, 495.00
2) Buy the now mandatory floppy disc controller card. Price 275.00(est)
All the good ones control 1-4 floppies,
and some (read more money) handle 1 or 2 winchesters
Cost so far, 770.00
3) Get a 150-200 watt p.s., enclosure, and keyboard.
Prices: <150.00, <150.00, 200.00 respectively
Cost so far, 1270.00
4) 2 half high 48tpi drives, 250.00 each
I'm going to try 96tpi with a hacked controller
so that I can recog 48 and 96, along with many std. formats
Cost so far, 1750.00
5) Monochrome board and monitor. Price 450.00
Cost so far, 2200.00
That's the basic idea. There are more and more
manufacturers out there cashing in on the IBM boom, and
their products are more and more like REAL IBM. If I was
a tad more cynical, I'd say that they were expecting some
of their customers to plug in (against copyright/patent)
IBM ROMs. Since I have no idea what IBM has got in there,
and I have no interest in going to jail, I'll stick with
MS-DOS from Faraday, etc.
2200.00 or thereabouts is not too bad. This design
will allow one to upgrade directly to an XT, and 200 watts
is plenty of power to support a winchester in the same cabinet.
Comments?
Greg Maples
(maples@MITRE)
------------------------------
Date: Fri 2 Dec 83 15:05:55-PST
From: Chuck Restivo <RESTIVO@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: Bubble Memory Devices
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I read an announcement for a 4MB bubble memory card in a recent
issue of Byte magazine. The vendor for the product was Helix
Systems in San Diego. Have not been successful in finding a
telephone or address for the outfit, would you let me know
if you have ? Would like to hear about individual experiences
with this product. Thank you.
-------
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 3 Dec 83 0:38-PST
Date: 23 Nov 83 11:56:22-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: microsoft!gordonl @ UW-BEAVER
Subject: Fix for MS-Mouse/XT Problem
The problem (no warm reboots) that people are encountering with
the Microsoft Mouse card on IBM PC-XTs has a simple cause and fix.
It seems a couple of batches of mouse cards were shipped with the
interrupt jumper on "5" rather than "2". If you have an XT,
just move the jumper (between the 40-pin chip and the edge connector)
from "5" to "2" and the problem vanishes.
The jumper controls the interrupt level; on an XT interrupt 5
conflicts with some other hardware. The driver software learns
which interrupt is in use during initialization, so no software
change is needed.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 3 Dec 83 4:17-PST
Date: 30 Nov 83 12:18:39-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!dartvax!davidk @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Modula-2 for the IBM?
[]
Does anyone know of a *good* implementation of Modula-2 for the
PC? Any pointers at all will be welcome. Please mail to me and
I will repost.
--
David C. Kovar
Usenet: {linus, decvax}!dartvax!davidk
ARPA: kovar@MIT-ML (Infrequent)
U.S. Snail HB 3140
Dartmouth College
Hanover NH
03755
"The difficult we did yesterday, the impossible we are doing now."
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 3 Dec 83 8:15-PST
Date: 30 Nov 83 22:51:03-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!wivax!linus!utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: What Commodore & Atari might think of IBM
A marvellous line, from "The Journal", Cdn Broadcasting Corp, Nov 30th,
in a segment on personal computers:
"Even though the PCjr has yet to be delivered, already the phrase
`Peanut envy' has become current in the computer industry"
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 3 Dec 1983 12:15 EST
Message-ID: <SJOBRG.11972567086.BABYL@MIT-OZ>
From: SJOBRG%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Subj: Expansion Chassis for PC and PC Compatibles
EXPANSION CHASSIS FOR THE IBM PC AND PC COMPATIBLES
The following is a comparison of several manufacturers of expansion
chassis for the IBM PC/XT and compatibles. The information was gleaned
from the manufacturers, from authorized dealers, and from advertisements
in the various trade and popular magazines. Prices listed are from the
indicated source and may vary from dealer to dealer. However, since the
expansion chassis market does not seem to be very large, the quotations
below may hold for some time. Note that IBM is absent from the list
since the company provides an expansion chassis only with its hard disk
system. I would appreciate hearing from those who have experience with
any of the products listed below. I would also appreciate hearing about
products that are not included.
Note:
This survey was prompted by my need to expand the functionality of
my Compaq computer. That (reasonably) little transportable now sports
its original two floppies, the Compaq color/graphics board driving an
Amdek Color II, a Quadram multi-function board with two serial ports
(one for my Vadic modem, the other for a mouse), 512 KB of RAM, a Scion
PC640 high-res graphics board (driving a Sony commercial color video
monitor), a Pegasus 23 MB hard disk. I hope to add a 23 MB streamer tape
backup, Sritek 68000 add-on, additional memory for the latter, and even
perhaps a PC-to-Multibus converter! My need for an expansion chassis is
legimate, although I am beginning to feel somewhat ridiculous adding all
that hardware to a "portable".
My thanks to Ramsey@SRI-KL and UNO@Rand-Unix for their replies to my
earlier request for information.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. TecMar
Personal Computer Products Division
23600 Mercantile Road
Cleveland, OH 44122
(216) 349-0600
Product Name: PC-Mate (tm) Expansion Chassis (part no. 20001 in 1983
PC-Mate catalog)
Capacity: 8 slots, one required for cable to host
Power Supply: rated at 6.0A @ +5VDC, 6.0A @ +12VDC, 0.5A @ -12VDC,
and 0.25A @ -5VDC, with fan.
Cable: unsure, but I believe about 36"
Size: 5.25" high, 19.5" wide, 16" deep (about same as PC)
Price: $945.00 (ComputerLand and Catalog quotes)
Comments: Two convenience outlets (switched).
Available with a wide range of add-ons: 5, 10, 15
megabyte hard disks, removable hard disk cartridges,
5.25" and 8" floppy drives.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. P.C. Horizons, Inc.
200 North Tustin Ave.
Santa Ana, CA 92705
(714) 953-5396
Product Name: PC-XTRA expansion chassis
Capacity: 6 slots, all available (cable attached to PC-XTRA board)
Power Supply: ??? watts (does not say in literature and I was not able
to find out from them directly), no fan
Cable: 16" flat cable
Size: 5.5" high, 9.25" wide, 16" deep (about half PC size)
Price: $680.00 (Byte, p. 646, Nov. 1983), but recent price
reduction to $549.00 in early November
Comments: From Ramsey@SRI-KL, a note saying that one can not plug
in any boards that use a 14.31818 MHz or faster clock.
This is also clearly stated in their literature.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Anrok Computer Products
2405 de la Cruz Blvd.
Santa Clara, CA ???
(408) 727-7622
Product Name: PCX-6 expansion chassis
Capacity: 6 slots (one required for cable to host)
Power Supply: 50 watt, with fan
Cable: 36" ribbon
Size: half width, same depth, about 0.25" taller than IBM PC
Price: $495.00
Comments: Sold through dealers (they will be happy to supply the
name of the nearest dealer)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Sigma Designs, Inc.
2990 Scott Blvd.
Santa Clara, CA 95050
(408) 596-0536
Product Name: Sigma Expansion Chassis
Capacity: 9 slots (one required for cable to host)
Power Supply: 100 watt switching with "super quiet fan"
Cable: 3.5-foot, shielded
Size: Same as IBM PC
Price: $795.00 (PC Magazine, Oct. 1983)
Comments: Sold also with Winchester hard disk subsystems
------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. I-Bus Systems
8863 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92123
(619) 569-0646, toll free (800) 382-4229
Product Name: I-Bus Six-Pac Expansion Chassis
Capacity: 6 slots (one required for cable to host)
Power Supply: 40 watt with or without fan (fan suggested when
dissipated heat load exceeds 30 watts); 4-output
switching power supply
Cable: 18" or 48" shielded
Size: 5.25" high, 10" wide, 15.5" deep w/o fan, 17.5" deep
w/fan
Price: $695 with 18" cable, $755 with 48" cable (PC Magazine,
October 1983)
Comments:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. M&R Enterprises
910 George Street
Santa Clara, CA 95050
(408) 980-0160
Product Name: SUP'R Extender
Capacity: 6 slots (one required for cable to host)
Power Supply: 50 watt switching, with fan
Cable: flat ribbon, about 12" long
Size: same height and depth, about half the width of the PC
Price: List $439, Advanced Computer Products $439 (Byte, Oct.
1983, p. 619)
Comments:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 3 Dec 83 10:45 MST
From: Brzozowski.RPMtnd@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: Compaq cursor control
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I have been trying to teach my Compaq to use Emacs, but I cannot seem
to find a way to implement the VIP7200 cursor control. My modem is a
Hayes Smartmodem look-alike (Qubie' Distributing 1200 baud) with PC-TALK.
Does anyone have some experience in this area? Thanks in advance.
Gary Brz...
------------------------------
[ INFO-IBMPC doesn't run articles on Apple computers, but the following
have enough interest to the INFO-IBMPC audience to be included. ed]
Date: Thu, 1 Dec 1983 12:39:50 EST
From: SMALLEY.Upenn-1100@Rand-Relay (LIZZZZARDS!!!)
Subject: 3000 Macintoshes for a "univ. back east"
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Drexel University here in Philadelphia has (supposedly) made
arrangements with APPLE to supply *all* of its undergraduate students
with the MacIntosh, at some very low cost. This deal was made about
a year ago (at least that is when it was in the local press), and
could have been changed or dropped totally in the interim.
The benefits of this are potentially enormous for APPLE. First,
it provides a large sales ground for the system, as each student is
the purchaser, not the university, so that the yearly rollover in
population results in new sales (although the used market could get
fierce). Second, the "proving ground" for the hardware in an
environment that is usually abusive to systems will show how well
put together the system really is. Third is the possibility of
a software development staff with 3000 "free" programmers! What
this could mean is hard to predict, but I would not mind having
the option of using the talents of that many students.
Lester Smalley Moore School of EE Univ. of Pa. Phila Pa 19104
------------------------------
[ We had dozens of answers on Apple IBM disk compatibllity but these two
messages seemed to cover the field pretty thouroughly. To those whose
messages were dropped this issue is long enough already! Editor]
Date: 1 Dec 83 23:37:27-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!cwruecmp!elwell @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re:Re: A new IBM-compatable from Apple
The uPD765 (or 8272, if you like Intel) in the PC needs the index hole,
even for soft sectoring.
The Apple Disk ][ drive/controller system doesn't even have the little
LED for detecting the index hole. The Apple disk controller is a
masterpiece of simplicity. It manages to pack 143K on a single-density,
35 track disk (using FM encoding, for hardware buffs). It uses a
special self-synchronizing bit pattern in the interrecord gaps to find
the start of a sector, so it doesn't need the index hole. In true Apple
style, if you don't need it, why bother?
The only practical way to read both formats with the same drive is to
put an Apple controller and a 765 in parallel. The QuadLink board does
precisely this. The only problem is that the Apple controller likes to
control the stepper motor directly, so you have to emulate it.
Details and documentation available upon request.
------------------------------
Date: 1 Dec 1983 2135-PST
From: HFISCHER%USC-ECL@MINET-CPO-EM
Subject: Apple PC Compatibility Stories, Controversy and Concern
To: Brackenridge at ISIB, Gillmann at ISIB
Remailed-To: info-ibmpc
APPLE PC COMPATABILITY STORIES, CONTROVERSY AND CONCERN
I, too, was told by Apple's marketeers that Apple intends to make the entire
line PC compatible. But, pressing for details, what I was told was was not
near as encouraging as the net messages in the last digest; the Apple person
told me that he was only told of an effort to provide MSDOS compatability --
not PCDOS compatibility. (I was also told that, for the popular IIe, attempts
internally were struggling for Xmas timing on product availability... I guess
things are tougher than thought). Articles in the newspaper have indicated
that the additional processor, and supporting circuitry might, for the IIe,
reside in the box with the drive.
MSDOS vs PCDOS
There is an incredible difference between MSDOS and PCDOS, not that one is
better than the other (MSDOS probably wins here), but that PCDOS runs
software geared for the IBM "misuse" of interrupts, for the IBM unique
graphics card, etc. I am not an expert here; but having played somewhat
with Columbia's MSDOS, it will not run all of the programs built for the PC.
The most frustrating and rediculous differences are in the "generic"
Microsoft software, particularly BASIC and Multiplan. The BASIC which IBM
only sells with PCDOS has things like the Draw statement and the Paint
statement which I have not personally seen in the MSDOS (non-IBM) versions.
This prevents an incredible number of distributed BASIC programs from being
transported (unless the transporter buys or pirates PCDOS for the MSDOS
machine). The worst offender really bugs me, Multiplan. IBM distributions
of Multiplan allow one to set screen color for each window (window paint
command); direct Microsoft distributions do not. The PCjr brochure shows a
screen with a number of colorful Multiplan windows on the den table. Buy your
Multiplan from a software store, or any other non-IBM source, and all you get
is monochrome. That hurts the eyes on a color monitor. Worse yet are
printer controls. From IBM you can switch from underlining to bold print,
italics, and even superscripts, within the text on the spreadsheet, by the
alt codes. Generic Microsoft won't allow that. (You cannot put the trademark
superscript on the word Ada!) Incredibly irritating and DUMB. Unless the
non IBM user intends to buy from IBM he looses all of the sexy features of
Microsoft's software. Even getting help is different, alt H on the IBM version
and "?" on the other version. (Many folks buy from their general dealer;
owners of non IBM machines take home the generic Microsoft versions not
knowing better, and get so frustrated that they end up pirating the IBM
versions anyway, and shelving the paid-for generic version.)
DISK SECTORING
Joe Budge's article noted that IBM PC compatibility requires the hard
sectoring of the disk. "Well, the PC uses the index holes on
diskettes (it's hard sectored). Apple diskettes are completely
soft-sectored, so Apple doesn't bother to install the extra hardware
necessary for hard-sectoring."
If one disconnects the LED that reads the index hole on any IBM PC,
he would find that it was perfectly capable of reading and writing
(but not formatting). Try it. I did (by accident).
Unless Apple EXACTLY duplicates the IBM floppy controller, both in
the read/write (not using the holes) mode, and in the formatting
modes, one will not be able to run PC (not MS DOS) software.
The exactness is needed to run copy-protected software. Because the
PC is "soft-sectored", index markers can appear anywhere on a track.
Scattering these index markers, and placing serial numbers therein
(instead of address and length fields), are frequently used to make
disks difficult or impossible to copy. But most protected software
allows the user to make ONE copy before it self destructs (by
changing one of the funny index markers). Unless the Apple can format
records of any length (multiples of 128 bytes), and with any data in
the index markers, that software will not operate. Additionally, many
protection schemes time the distance between scattered index marks.
The rotational speed must be 300 rpm. And finally, unless Apple wants
to defrock the schemes which write index markers with no data records
(like Lotus 1A), their controller must NOT allow you to format
records with less than 128 bytes.
WHY SUCH A BIG DEAL ON IBM PC COMPATIBILITY
There is a lot of wonderful software written for the IBM PC, with its unique
interrupt structure, unique screen graphics, and, of course, unique floppy
controller characteristics. As with the Zenith, Columbia, and the other
somewhat, almost, or 99.993% compatible guys, it is not the almostness which
counts but whether you can get the software that you want. Look at the
assembly code differences in PC Kermit to handle the MSDOS Zenith -- it's
significant! Try to buy MSDOS 2 from a Columbia dealer (at least when I last
checked)...
And then there are the languages. APL. LOGO. LISP. And the educational game
software: Facemaker, Story Machine, and others with custom operating systems.
I hope Apple makes the right decision, but I haven't bought any of their
stock. Rest assured that if they do not make the right decision, Japanese
companies will.
Herm Fischer
-------
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂06-Dec-83 1340 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB INFO-IBMPC Digest V2 #95
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 6 Dec 83 13:40:01 PST
Date: 6 Dec 1983 1149-PST
Subject: INFO-IBMPC Digest V2 #95
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 6 December 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 95
This Week's Editor: Randy Cole
Today's Topics:
Serial Port Interrupt Routines Announcement
Help With Word Processing on PC (2 messages)
File Name Path Patches
Assembly Development and Cross Development
New Editor
New SPERRY PC
PCs & LANs
Running CP/M Programs on PCs
Loading problem -- More Information
QUBIE Modem -- Info?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat 3 Dec 83 16:27:06-PST
From: William "Chops" Westfield <BILLW@SRI-KL.ARPA>
Subject: Serial Port Interrupt Routines Announcement
To: info-ibmpc-request@USC-ISIB.ARPA
In view of the many requests for info on using the IBM RS232 serial
port on an interrupt driven basis, it is with pleasure that I announce
the availability of SERIAL.ASM.
This program inserts itself into memory below command.com (it uses
the "terminate but stay resident" DOS call), and changes the ROM
BIOS interrupt vectors for RS232 io to use interupt driven I/O.
Thus if you have a program that uses the ROM BIOS to do serial I/O,
and the program has been limited in speed by the poor performance
of the standard ROM routines, all you need to do is run SERIAL first,
and the program will suddenly magically work at speeds up to 9600 bps.
This is also useful for writing programs that will be transportable
to IBM lookalikes that emulate the ROM BIOS, but not the same hardware
configuration.
Instructions for use:
edit SERIAL to reflect your choice of buffer size and
handshaking characters.
assemble using the macro assembler.
link using link.
convert to COM file using exe2bin.
delete .EXE file.
SERIAL works with both DOS 1.1 and 2.0.
Limitations:
It isn't clear that the "initialize port" function
of int 14h works properly.
Various IBM programs will break SERIAL by virtue of
not leaving the serial port as it was found. Most
notable amoung these are MODE and BASICA. If this
happens, it will probably be necessary to power cycle
the system.
SERIAL is set up for COM1 only. It could easilly
be converted to use COM2, and with slightly more
difficulty, both.
SERIAL only receives characters on an interupt basis,
characters output to the serial port are sent in the
old slow manner. Thus SERIAL is not particurally
useful for, say, a serial printer spooler.
SERIAL does not check the various other RS232 signals
that the orignal ROM routine do. Thus, depending on
exactly how the hardware works, hardware handshaking
may not work.
If anyone makes useful changes, Id like to here about them [in
particular, a "SERIAL COM1:9600,n,8,1,<bufsiz>" user interface
might be nice. SERIAL already uses the space taken up by the
initialization code as part of the buffer].
Enjoy
BillW
[Ed: SERIAL.ASM has been added to the INFO-IBMPC program library.
Our thanks to BillW]
------------------------------
Date: 1 Dec 83 5:55:26-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!duke!mcnc!ecsvax!augsec @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Help With Word Processing on PCs
I would apprecite any comments, criticisms or recommendations
for the following word processing programs:
SUPERWRITER (SORCIM CORP. --- ABT $295)
THE FINAL WORD (MARK OF THE UNICORN --- ABT $300)
WORDSTAR (MICRPRO INTERNATIONAL --- ABT $495)
If someone has something better, please respond.
I would also appreciate comments on using Lotus 1-2-3 for
handling data in research projects.
I am posting this for a fellow faculty member who is just
getting into micros. He is using his PC to run PL/1 but would
like to expand its capabilities. My background is with the
Apple so I can only give him advice on Wordstar.
Wayne Robarge (...decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!augsec...).
Dept. Soil Science
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC
------------------------------
Date: 5 Dec 83 22:14:01-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!eagle!mhuxl!ulysses!princeton!eosp1!robison @ Ucb-Vax
Final Word is available from "software n stuff" for $199 including
shipping (no charge for credit card order).
They ship promptly and advertise in PC magazine.
Final Word has a lovely advanced formatter (many nroff capabilities).
They handle footnotes/endnotes pretty well,and claim to be soon
releasing a free update that will do even better. The documentation
is very good, and seems to have been written using the FW editor
(including an excellent index).
If you buy Final Word and are not satisfied with its command structure,
and can't do enough customizing using the 40 function key combinations
(FW comes with good definitions for the function keys), you can add
PROKEY, which will, in any case get you a macro facility to go along
with the editor.
FW supports many different printers, and is always ready to try
to support another one.
- Keremath, care of:
Robison
decvax!ittvax!eosp1
or: allegra!eosp1
[Ed: Considerable discussion of The Final Word has appeared here and is
available on old issues of INFO-IBMPC. People who have already contributed
their experiences with TFW are encouraged to send them directly to Wayne]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 4 Dec 83 14:23:05 pst
From: dag%ucbarpa@Berkeley (David Allen Gewirtz)
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: File Name Path Patches
As both a user of UNIX and PC DOS 2.0, I find myself constantly
typing the wrong characters for the specifications of path separators
and switches in PC DOS. In UNIX, the path separator is the
character '/' while in PC DOS it is '\'. In UNIX the switch
character is '-', while in PC DOS, it is '/'.
It seems to me that the following patches in one of the PC DOS
system file could be made so that the characters would be
interpreted properly:
NOW WHAT I WANT
---------------------------
/ -
\ /
I know that reassignments such as this could be done with a
Pro-key like tool, but I would much prefer to see this accomplished
in the DOS itself.
Has this sort of thing been done by anyone? I see some implementation
problem possibilities. If it's been done, how can I patch my system?
Thanks
David
[Ed: Considerable discussion about using an "undocumented" interrupt
to change the \ to something else has appeared in INFO-IBMPC, and
I for one hope that subject has been laid to rest.]
------------------------------
Date: Mon 5 Dec 83 08:56:57-MST
From: Carl Diegert <G.DIEGERT@SANDIA.ARPA>
Subject: Assembly Development and Cross Development
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I would be grateful for any help you can provide in drumming up some tools
and assemblers for producing MS-DOS programs for the IBM PC using both
the PC and a VAX 11/750 (UNIX or VMS, preferably VMS).
I saw a note on problems with the "Microsoft Assembler." Is Microsoft
now selling an assembler, or is this the Microsoft developed product that
IBM sells? Is IBM providing updates for their assembler? Are the
updates worth getting?
[Ed: Microsoft provides "improved" versions of their macro assembler
with other MS-DOS machines, such as the Hyperion. The problems noted
were with Version 2.04. As far as we know, IBM has not released updates
of their version, or fixed any of the known bugs]
Does Intel or someone else market an assembler that will run both on
the PC and on a VAX? Output could be in "Intel Hex" format, which
MS-DOS debug can load.
Have you experimented with simulation software products that allow
execution of MS-DOS on a VAX?
Are you aware of any software to get code assembled on the IBM PC with
IBM's assembler out in Intel hex format? (After all, DEBUG will read
it in from this format)?
Thanks in advance...
------------------------------
Date: 5 Dec 1983 1438-PST
Subject: New Editor
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome Randy Cole as our
third co-editor of the Info-IBMPC digest. Randy has very graciously
agreed to edit the digest every fifth week. By sharing the editing
we hope to be able to keep this list in digest form, rather than an
automatic remailing list.
Dick Gillmann
------------------------------
Date: 2 Dec 83 20:01:33-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!rlgvax!cvl!umcp-cs!aks @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: New SPERRY PC (100% IBM compatible)
Sperry Computer Systems, Inc. has recently announced a new product
called the ``Sperry PC''. It is made by Mitsubishi (IBM's is
manufactured by Fujitsu, I understand) [Ed: ??] and is 100% compatible
with the IBM PC, while offering greater capabilities at 10% less cost
(list OR discounted!). Some of its enhancements are: its color
monitor has twice the resolution of the IBM PC, its 8088 cpu runs
at 7.16 MHz (1.5 times faster than IBM's speed of 4.77 MHz), and
is switch selectable to provide true compatiblity for speed and
timing sensitive programs; 128K RAM standard (the IBM PC comes
standard with only 64K RAM); built-in time-of-day clock with battery
backup; built-in RS232C interface (does NOT require an expansion slot
-- unlike the IBM PC); a speaker for sound effects and music;
seven expansion slots.
DSDD diskette drives (320KB) are offered (either one or two, depending
upon the model), or a 10MB hard-disk may replace one of the diskette drives.
The controller for the drives requires one expansion slot.
As for monitors, a monochrome (green) or color is available. The color
monitor's resolution is 640 dots across and 400 dots down. Of course,
there is a IBM-compatibility mode so existing programs may use the
lower resolution satisfactorily. Also, 256 colors are displayable
(the IBM PC has only 16 colors).
Sperry paid attention to the keyboard too -- the keyboard is
quite similar to the IBM PC's keyboard, EXCEPT for the placement of
two or three keys (and corresponding characters), such as the placement
of the angle brackets, the dashes, and the shift and return keys.
Otherwise, they're the same so that any templates from IBM PC software
may also fit over the keyboard of the SPERRY PC keyboard.
Oh yes, the keyboard has a 6-foot coiled extension cable.
The SPERRY PC comes in five models:
Model 10: Monochrome, 1-320K 5 1/4" floppy, MS DOS 1.25
Model 20: Monochrome, 2-320K 5 1/4" floppies, MS DOS 1.25
Model 30: Color, 2-320K 5 1/4" floppies, MS DOS 1.25
Model 40: Monochrome, 1-10MB disk, 1-320KB diskette, MS DOS 2.0
Model 50: Color, 1-10MB disk, 1-320KB diskette, MS DOS 2.0
Apparently, the only difference between MS-DOS 1.25 and 2.0 is the
support of the 10MB hard-disk.
The standard, supplied software is G.W. BASIC (Gee-Whiz BASIC), and
some diagnostics.
Finally, prices were not announced but it was FIRMLY stated that SPERRY
would aggressively compete in the market via enhancements and LOWER
PRICES, and that, no matter what configuration/price IBM offered, SPERRY
will beat it by at least 10%! It was also announced that SPERRY would
be opening ``Productivity Centers'' where SPERRY PC's would be displayed
alongside with IBM PC's for customer comparison. The area Productivity
Center will, initially, probably coincide with the local marketing
headquarters (in Wash, D.C., it will by at Tyson's Corner bldg.).
------------------------------
Date: 6 Dec 1983 02:38:10-PST
From: romkey@MIT-BORAX
Real-name: John L. Romkey
To: palevich%atari.Atari@Rand-Relay
CC: info-ibmpc%usc-isib@mit-multics
Subject: PCs & LANs
There are two network boards for the IBM PC which I've had
experience with. One is the 3COM 10Mb ethernet board and the other is the
Proteon 10Mb ring interface. First 3COM.
The 3COM board seems to be farily reliable, though it has its ups
and downs. 3COM provides some software with it which PC's access other PC's
floppy disks and printers over the network - just what I always wanted:
remote virtual floppy disks. Anyway, their programs work but I've never
found them very useful. They speak Xerox XNS, which you might be able to get
your VAX to speak but I doubt that your lispms will want to talk. You will
be able to physically connect your PC's to the same net as vaxen and lispms
can be on. Also, 3COM will probably start distributing the MIT (our) TCP/IP
programs sometime soon, and you can get TCP/IP code for vaxen fairly easily.
I think the 3COM board costs about $1000.
The other interface is from Proteon, and it connects the pc to a 10Mb
ring called the "Pronet". This product is VERY new; I have experience with
it because I've been developing a driver for it. Proteon will also probably
distribute our TCP/IP (in a while). You can put vaxen on rings and get
drivers easily, but I've never heard of putting a lispm on a ring. Then
again, your pc's probably wouldn't be able to talk to them anyway (until
Symbolics starts marketing TCP/IP code).
I think the Proteon board costs about $600.
You can use these things with PC-DOS 2.0, at least as long as you
don't mind not having support from Microsoft. You can do file transfers and
remote login (with the appropriate protocols) but it would be pretty hard to
rig it so that LPT1: could be spooled to your vax.
------------------------------
Date: 4 Dec 83 19:28:01-PST (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!uiucdcs!seaburg @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Running CP/M programs on PCs
The CP/M editor I used to have -- Nevada EDIT -- has a configuration
program that asks you what kind of terminal or I/O board you have.
They give you a choice of many popular terminals and I/O boards.
Then the configurator program builds in the correct control sequences
into the working editor program. If your terminal isn't any that they
have listed, you have to specify in detail how your terminal does
different editing functions. (This can sometimes prove to be difficult.)
I seem to remember that my editor had an IBM PC with a Z80 card as
one of its possible configurations, so yours might also.
G.P.Seaburg
------------------------------
Date: 5 Dec 83 6:31:38-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!hou2g!stekas @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Loading Problem -- More Information
The problem with loading concerns segment location as in
the following example:
DATA SEGMENT
. Data goes here
.
DATA ENDS
DELTA EQU {Difference between DATA and CODE segments}
CODE SEGMENT
ENTRY PUSH BP
MOV AX, CS ; Set up DATA reference using
SUB AX, DELTA ; constant offset from CODE
MOV DS, AX ; so DATA&CODE can go anywhere
.
RET FAR
CODE ENDS
As long as DATA and CODE are loaded contiguously, the above
code will work anywhere in memory if entered at ENTRY.
The problem is that there is no (easy) way to get the linker to load
DATA before CODE. If one reverses the order of CODE and DATA
in the assembler listing, then CODE has forward references and
assembly bombs. The only way of getting DATA loaded first is to
declare it as COMMON, assemble a copy of it seperately and link it
seperately as in - LINK DATA.OBJ+CODE.OBJ
It seems there should be an easier way to do this. - Jim
------------------------------
Date: 5 Dec 83 8:03:51-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!hou2g!stekas @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: QUBIE Modem - Info?
QUBIE Distributors has been advertising a Hayes like,
direct connect modem on a PC plug-in card for $299. The
price is right, but does anyone know anything more?
It is auto dial/answer with pulse and DFTM compatibility.
Does that mean it has pulse *AND* tone dialing?
Any info would be much appreciated. - Jim
[Ed: People who have ordered from Qubie (pronounced Q-B-A) report
that it seems to be a good, reliable outfit to deal with. They
also have a sense of humor -- I'm told that Q-B-A originated from
the expression "quick buck artist".]
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂07-Dec-83 1329 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB INFO-IBMPC Digest V2 #96
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 7 Dec 83 13:28:29 PST
Date: 7 Dec 1983 1227-PST
Subject: INFO-IBMPC Digest V2 #96
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday 7 December 1983, Volume 2 : Issue 96
This Week's Editor: Randy Cole
Today's Topics:
NETSOURCE/PC-LAN or PERCOM PC-LAN boards
Request for Info: Pascals under PC-DOS
QUBIE Modem Info (2 msgs)
Compaq Compatibility
Reading/Writing IBM PC Compatible Diskettes on a Victor 9000 (2 msgs)
Format is Not Position Independent!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Gavin Eadie"@UMich-MTS.Mailnet
To: INFO-IBMPC@ISIB
Subject: NETSOURCE/PC-LAN or PERCOM PC-LAN boards
While I was at COMDEX last week I saw a product which implements
the mechanisms and protocols of a token-passing LAN for IBMPCs.
The board uses the Western Digital WD2840 LSI chip and seems VERY
neat.
I wonder if anyone has any experience of this board. I'm
considering the purchase of the startup kit (3 boards, two
cables, two terminators) from Percom Data Corp. (The board is
also manufactured by Western Digital under license.)
Gavin aka Gavin←Eadie%UMICH-MTS@MIT
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Dec 83 13:59:07 PST
From: Dr. Terry Gray <gray@UCLA-LOCUS>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: Request for Info: Pascals under PC-DOS
I need advice on whether to build something using IBM (Microsoft) Pascal,
or DRI's Pascal MT+.
An IBM-PC with PC-DOS is both the intended host and target.
-Terry Gray
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 7 Dec 83 08:41 MST
From: Brzozowski@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: QUBIE Modem Info
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I have been using the QUBIE' modem for about 3 weeks and am very
happy with it. Here are some of the goodies included:
1.) It does BOTH pulse and tone dial (Not at the same time however...)
2.) 300/1200 baud
3.) Serial port (I have not used yet, assume RS-232)
4.) A speaker (To hear phone line)
5.) Originate & answer (Auto answer is HARDWARE switchable only)
6.) PC-TALK modem driver.
The biggest problem seems to be lack of documentation. NO hardware
documentation is included, and the only software documentation given
is a list of modem commands (With short one line explainations).
The bulk of the documentation is how to install the modem.
(Open the cover & slide it in).
PC-TALK is another matter altogether. It is contained on a single
diskette. This diskette contains:
1.) a compiled version of the BASIC source
2.) the BASIC source.
3.) multiple info files
4.) a soft copy of the PC-TALK users manual (To print out)
PC-TALK is freeware (Not bought, but supported by user donation
paid by QUBIE'). The only thing I don't appreciate about this package is
the freeware banner at the start (SEND US MONEY!!!).
I have had no problems with my unit, It worked right out of the
box and performance met all expectations (The price 'aint hard to
take either).
Gary Brz...
------------------------------
Date: 6 December 1983 22:01 est
From: Hess.Unicorn at MIT-MULTICS
Subject: QUBIE Modem Info
Re: INFO-IBMPC Digest V2 #95
To: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC at USC-ISIB>
Compare the Qubie' card with one from IDE associates which is also doing
Hayes-alike. If they look the same, then they are; remember that the
Qubie' I/O card is AST I/O plus and the Qubie' keyboard is the
Keytronics one. This is not to denigrate their marketing efforts or the
products they sell, just to make you aware that you should look for the
same product at other places to see if there's a lower price.
------------------------------
Date: 2 Dec 83 14:24:55-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!duke!mcnc!ecsvax!john @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Compaq Compatibility
In a recent info-pc digest (#92, I think) someone reported that
he had had good success with various combination boards and a
Corvus card on a COMPAQ. I too have had no trouble with the
Quadram Quadboard or with a Quadram serial card or with a
Corvus Constellation network (ribbon cable network) card. With
the Corvus card, however, I am only using DOS 1.1, since I don't
have the new Corvus PROM for auto-boot into DOS 2.0. Has
anyone found any problems with Corvus Omninet (twisted-pair) and the Compaq
in an auto-boot DOS 2.0 situation?
john hogan
ncecs
box 12035
rtp, nc 27709
(919) 549 0671
------------------------------
Date: Wednesday, 7 Dec 1983 09:45-PST
To: Info-IBMPC at USC-ISIB
Subject: Reading/Writing IBM PC Compatible Diskettes on a Victor 9000
From: avi@ISL at Sumex-Aim
Does anybody have any suggestions how the Victor 9000 can be made
to read/write IBMPC compatible diskettes?
It has Quad density drives,with no (at least known to us) option
to use them as Double density ones.It uses the MS-DOS operating system,
so presumably,this is the only problem.
Will the Tall-Tree-Systems JFORMAT program work on the Victor,and make
its disk understand IBMese ?
Any help will be appreciated.
Avi Weinreb
ISL-Stanford University
------------------------------
Date: 7 Dec 1983 1119-PST
Subject: Reading/Writing IBM PC Compatible Diskettes on a Victor 9000
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: info-ibmpc
You can do anything you want if Victor provides documentation. I know DEC
tried to keep the disk format code secret for a long time so they could get
a higher mark up on selling floppy disks. If Victor has a similar attitude
you may not be able to write a dual density driver.
Tall Tree provides sources with their code. I suppose it is pretty much of a
chicken and egg thing. You should be able to modify it to run with the Victor
if you are good at writing systems level code. While the Tall Tree
documentation is notoriously confusing to the novice it is sufficient that an
experienced programmer should be able to modify it. Give them a call and see if
they will make you up a special version of the source code on a quad disk so
you can read it and modify it to work on the Victor.
Tall Tree warns that disks written on a quad system in dual mode may not
be readable on all dual disk drives. They simulate a 40 track drive on an
80 track drive by skipping a track. If the 40 track drive is slightly out
of alignment it may not find the track written by the 80 track drive.
This shouldn't bother you much as I assume your main goal is to read IBM
software.
------------------------------
Date: 7 Dec 1983 1104-PST
Subject: Format is not Position Independent!
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
I was having trouble with the FORMAT program and discovered (with help
from Brackenridge & Henderson) that it has a terrible bug in it that
makes it depend on where it loads in memory for proper operation. In
other words if you have device drivers and programs that remain
resident, they may shift the starting point for the FORMAT program so
that it won't work right. This has something to do with crossing 64K
boundaries.
I experimented with a varying the load point and doing a FORMAT A:/B/1
and found that at some positions I got a 160K disk, at others a 179K
disk and at still others I got a bad track 0 error -- all with the
same diskette.
Does anyone have a properly written FORMAT program?
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂08-Dec-83 1827 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #97
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 8 Dec 83 18:27:25 PST
Date: 8 Dec 1983 1657-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #97
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, 8 December 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 97
This Week's Editor: Randy Cole
Today's Topics:
Kermit for Victor 9000
Victor 9000 Drives
Microsoft IBM-PC Educational Discounts
Inquiry: Synthesizing Spoken Letters Without Special Hardware
Comment on PC LANs
Turbo Pascal Review
NEC PC Information Sought
Hercules Graphics Software
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed 7 Dec 83 13:18:21-EST
From: Frank da Cruz <cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: Kermit for Victor 9000
To: Info-Kermit@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA
This is to announce the possible arrival of KERMIT-86 for the Sirius 1,
aka Victor 9000. There are two versions, one for CP/M-86, another for MS DOS.
The programs arrived on a tape in undecipherable format, which I had to dump
bit-for-bit and then pick apart by hand, removing periodic chunks of imbedded
garbage. I hope I didn't remove anything that wasn't garbage (I was careful),
and didn't miss anything that was.
These two programs are adaptations of IBM PC Kermit as it existed in May 1983
(edit 13), i.e. before the interrupt-drive i/o was added, terminal emulation
improved, various minor bugs fixed, etc. The MS DOS support could conceivably
be merged into the current (better still, next -- announcement forthcoming)
release of IBM PC Kermit, and the CP/M-86 support integrated with the new
Rainbow CP/M-86 Kermit. However, since we don't have any Victor machines to
test them on at Columbia (at least not yet), we're making these programs
available as they are for the benefit (?) of anyone who does.
The programs were supplied in source form only -- no binaries or hex. It would
be greatly appreciated if someone who has a Victor could download the
appropriate source program (do Victors have a way to do this? MODEM? Some
proprietary or vendor-supplied package?), try it out, create a hex (or IBM
PC Kermit-style .FIX) file and make it available, along with any reactions
about if and how well the program works.
The files are available via anonymous FTP from host COLUMBIA-20, as KER:VIC*.*.
KER:VICTOR.DOC is a short message explaining the changes he made to support the
Victor. KER:VICMSDOS.ASM is the MS DOS version, KER:VICCPM.A86 is the CP/M-86
version.
Thanks to Barry Devlin, University College Dublin (Ireland), for the
contribution.
- Frank
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 8 Dec 83 08:28:43 PST
From: William T. Overman <overman@AEROSPACE>
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: Victor 9000 Drives
The Victor 9000 has a variable speed drive and I doubt that anyone can make
it read or write IBM disks. Victor is supposedly coming out soon (if they
are still in business) with something they cleverly call 'drive c' that will
do the job. What it is is just a third external IBM-compatible drive.
Bill Overman
------------------------------
Date: 6 Dec 83 5:58:22-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!duke!mcnc!ecsvax!jko @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Microsoft IBM-PC Educational Discounts
Re: Microsoft Educational Discounts
Software is available at a 50% discount, hardware at 65% off.
Neither, however, is for individual purchase. Orders must be accom-
panied by payment and although one needn't use an institutional pur-
chase order the products must be used for instructional purposes. The
discounts are not given to end users.
Jonathan Ocko
North Carolina State University
Dept. of History
(919) 737-2484
decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!jko
------------------------------
Received: FROM SU-AI BY USC-ISIB.ARPA WITH TCP ; 7 Dec 83 16:34:21 PST
Date: 07 Dec 83 1629 PST
From: Richard Pattis <REP@SU-AI>
Subject: Inquiry: Synthesizing Spoken Letters Without Special Hardware
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
Does anyone know of a package that can "speak" the letters A thru Z by just
using standard IBM PC hardware?
Rich (REP@SAIL)
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 7 Dec 83 17:41:11 PST
From: Computer Club SDC <v.cc2@UCLA-LOCUS>
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: Comment on PC LANs
A comment on PC LAN's: Most of them are *very* similar. I have used
4 different ones (Orchid PC-NET, Xcomp X-net, 3Com Etherlink, and Davong
Multilink) and except for the way they handle different quirky situations,
they run much the same. The biggest problem with any LAN I have seen for
the PC is that none of them seem to re-route printer things properly (read
in hardware, not software). The are fine unless a program does something
to do an output directly to a printer and not through DOS (as it turns out
most things do). I will be very happy when IBM releases their card which
handles this problem in hardware. The card should be announced officially
in January.
I have also made a discovery on the IBM assembler. It is the macro porition
of the thing that is really slow. The code part is only slow. The stupid
thing assembled my 4000 line program in just over 2 hours (yes hours). After
I ran a macro preprocessor over the source, it took just over five minutes
to assemble and the proprocessor run to another five minutes.
- Howard
------------------------------
Date: 7 December 1983 22:14 EST
From: Charles L. Jackson <CLJ @ MIT-MC>
Subject: Turbo Pascal Review
In addition to the two Pascals mentioned in a recent question
to the info-ibmpc list, there is another Pascal for the PC,
named Turbo Pascal -- which I have seen advertized in Byte
and PC (maybe other magazines also).
The ads are the usual outrageous stuff -- they claim that the
product is equivalent to MT+ with SPP, but that it is smaller and
compiles 10 times faster. Their price is only $50.
Well heck, for $50 I thought I'd give it a try. I needed a
pascal to run a program I had developed and run on Pascal/M and
Pascal MT+ in the Z80/CPM world.
So I bought a copy. Based upon a few hours examination, all
their claims appear to be true.
They have a Wordstar-like editor. When you are doing a compile,
the compiler display and you are in the editor with the cursor at the
point where the syntax error occured. (The editor uses Wordstar-like
commands and I use Wordstar every day, so what could be easier. )
In execution mode, the Turbo environment notes the program
counter when a fatal error occurs (e.g. open a non-existent file
or take the ln(0.0) ), reinvokes the compiler -- scans forward to
find the source code corresponding to the pc at error time, and
pops you into the editor with the cursor at the problem spot when
you hit escape. [this feature can be bypassed]
The compiler is incredibly fast. They distribute a 1200 line
pascal program with Turbo which implements a small electronic
spreadsheet. It compiles in about 28 seconds. My 600 line
pascal program appears to compile in less time than it would take
basica to read in a non-tokenized program of the same size.
I haven't used the system enough to tell if there are any subtle,
but severly damaging bugs. But it's Pascal which is as
convenient to use as basic. This is the best higher level
programming writing/debugging environment I've ever used -- let
alone on a pc!
There some bugs and nits I've found. Features have been added
which are incompatible with other Pascals (but which you really
want to use).
It does not recognize a <:> when used where it expects <..> -- an
obscure provision in pascal which only us ex-algol programmers
use.
It does not recognize that a <file of char> is the same as a
<text > variable.
I don't know how (or it doesn't allow) to have a com program take
parameters from the command line. (maybe I have to use system
calls ?)
All in all, I'm very happy with it!
Turbo pascal is available from Borland International
4807 Scotts Valley Drive
Scotts Valley, California
They have a phone and take credit cards
------------------------------
Date: 1 Dec 83 19:36:57-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!uiucdcs!uiuccsb!faiman @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: NEC PC Information Sought
Our School of Humanities here at the University of Illinois
is hoping to buy a number of pc-like -- though not necessarily
lookalike -- machines for faculty use, chiefly I gather as text
editors/processors. One possiblility is for them to buy IBM because
of the attractive university discount. But NEC has been trying to
interest them in the NEC Advanced Personal Computer. The base
machine has an 8086, 128k bytes (expandable), two 1M-byte 8" floppies,
green monitor and a really excellent keyboard. It's supplied with
CP/M-86 (MS-DOS is supposed to be available) and a lot of fairly
standard software like Wordstar and Supercalc. "Special introductory"
price of $1995.00.
If anyone out there knows anything about this machine, good or
bad, I would be grateful to hear from him or her. Mail me at
uiucdcs!faiman
Mike Faiman -- Dept of CS
------------------------------
Date: 8 Dec 1983 1547-PST
Subject: Hercules Graphics Software
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: info-iBMPC
I have been using the Hercules graphics board for the IBM PC for
the last few weeks. The hardware is adequate but like most things
for the PC there are myriad software packages most of them very
good.
I could wish for more resolution than 720 X 348 but that seems to
be enough for a screen as small as the IBM display. In text mode
the Hercules card appears to be identical to the IBM display. In
graphics mode the display jumps around a bit when actually
writing but seems to settle down when writing stops. I don't know
much about how hardware works, but you get the feeling that
things are a bit strained when a lot of activity is going on.
Dave Farber mentioned in an earlier issue of INFO-IBMPC that the
Hercules card wouldn't work with one of the Unix clones he is
running on the PC. We have had no program that wouldn't work with
the Hercules in text mode.
ISI bought Hercules cards primarily because the accountants here
use Lotus 123. An IBM-PC running Lotus can pay for its self in
one week. I always find it amazing how accountants can make
figures come out in their favor. Anyway they love the graphics
and it gets them off the KL-10s so everybody is happy.
The VLSI group needs Hewlett Packard graphics terminal emulation.
The Hercules card has separate text and graphics memory and
nearly identical resolution as a Hewlett Packard display. Dick
Gillmann is updating his HP terminal emulator to use the
Hercules cards. As a loaded PC is considerably cheaper than a HP
graphics display this saves the VLSI project a bunch of money.
Of course the VLSI people would like 1024 X 1024 8 color
resolution, but this is still too expensive to give each
researcher.
I use the display to graph speech and signal processing spectra and
had no problem converting existing graphics application programs to
run on the Hercules card.
We have both the Graph X from Hercules and Mouse Window from
Metagraphics via Mouse Systems. These packages sell for $50 and
$40 respectively.
Graph X uses the BIOS INT 10 function. The normal graphics codes
don't work. You must use codes 40-4E. It implements the usual set
of graphics routines. Nothing terribly fancy here, but the
interface through the INT call, while not the fastest in the
world, is convenient as multiple programs can use these calls.
The package also provides hard copy support which is configurable
for other than the standard printer.
Mouse-Window from Metagraphics and Mouse systems is really the
Rolls Royce of graphics packages. It will determine whether it is
running on a Hercules card or standard IBM monitor and configure
all parameters correctly transparent to the user. You don't need
to use the mouse. In fact I got an existing application up and
running rapidly which did not use the mouse.
This package has things like view-port scaling, flash fill of
several different texture patterns, proportional spaced font
support, and pushing and popping of graphic context. Of course
this package is designed for Lisa or Star like mouse-graphic
interaction, but it works fine for your normal scientific
graphics applications. It is also very fast as the package is
written in assembly language and designed so it is called at a
fairly high level of abstraction so that scaling and clipping is
done in the assembly language routines.
Earlier we had experimented with the Orchid graphics card which
came with the Halo graphics package. I believe this package can
be modified to run on the hercules card. It lies somewhere
between the GraphX and Mouse-Window packages in complexity.
Hercules also provides software which modifies the standard IBM
diagnostics so they can cope with the non standard display as well
as a modification to the Basic interpreter. I haven't used these
programs, but believe modification of existing color graphic basic
programs would be more trouble that it is worth.
In summary the Hercules card is only a $200 addition to the
total system cost of a PC and can add a great deal of capability
for a wide range of applications. It is becoming standard issue
here at ISI and I hope to see some mouse bit mapped graphics
software evolve. I also would like to see Microsoft's Word
support this card as it seems to be evolving as the monochrome
graphics standard.
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂10-Dec-83 1805 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #98
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 10 Dec 83 18:04:55 PST
Date: 10 Dec 1983 1711-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #98
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 10 December 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 98
This Week's Editor: Randy Cole
Today's Topics:
Softalk's Screen Saver
DOS 2.0 Switchar
More on Turbo Pascal
Patching FORMAT to Protect Hard Disks
Arpanet Mail Program Wanted
DOS 2.0 Support for Corvus Disk Wanted
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 8 Dec 1983 2233-PST
From: HFISCHER%USC-ECLB@MINET-CPO-EM
Subject: Softalk's Screen Saver
To: info-ibmpc at ISIB
I am submitting the Screen Saver program from the December Softalk
to the Info-IBMPC library.
I have only found one product Screen Saver is not compatible with,
IBM's APL language. (It seems to work well so far with all else I
have tried, including word processors, Kermit, Basic, Logo, debug...)
With APL the problem is that once APL finishes loading, when you press
a key strange things happen, such as garbage spitting on the screen
and the CPU locking up (unloadable, and, yes, believe it or not,
un-cold-startable).
I have never seen any software which makes the processor unable to
restart by cycling power, except scrnsave and APL. Apparently
something somewhere in the system has a large electrolytic capacitor
which takes forever to discharge, and that item is screwed up with
this software combination. Waiting a good half minute apparently is
enough to clear this incredibly strange situation.
The only fix I can think of is to have your APL startup procedure peek
at the interrupt vector and if it sees scrnsave, quit right there.
Herm Fischer
[SCRNSAVE.BAS has been added to the Info-IBMPC library. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: 9 Dec 83 18:21:42 EST (Fri)
From: Mike Ciaraldi <ciaraldi@Rochester.ARPA>
Subject: DOS 2.0 Switchar
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
The last Digest had a message asking about how to make the option
character in DOS 2.0 be a "-" instead of a "/", and make the path-name
separator a "/" instead of a "\", to match Unix conventions.
I have been using ZDOS 2.0 on a Zenith Z-100 (pre-release), and there
is an easy way to do this. It turns out this works fine on PC-DOS 2.0
also, although it does not seem to be documented anywhere.
In your CONFIG.SYS file, include the line:
switchar=-
This changes the switch character to a minus sign. You can make it
anything you want. As long as you make it anything but a slash, the
path-name separator will automatically change from reverse-slash to
forward-slash.
Mike Ciaraldi
ciaraldi@rochester
------------------------------
Date: 10 Dec 83 11:43:00 PST
From: CLJ@MIT-MC
Subject: More on Turbo Pascal
To: info-ibmpc at USC-ISIB
1. I was asked if Turbo can generate more than 64k of code or data
area. I know it can generate more than 64k of data, but as far as I
can tell it will do this only dynamically using pointer variables --
not much of a problem .
No single object can be bigger than 64k, e.g.
var i : array[32000] of integer ; is okay
var i : array[40000] of integer ; fails.
The documentation seems to imply that it can generate more than 64k of
code. I havn't gotten near there.
2. It's easy to read command line variables -- took me five minutes
with the ibm documentation to see how use mem[Cseg:$80] to get at the
command line data.
regards
Chuck
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 10 Dec 83 12:24:25 mst
From: b-davis@utah-cs (Brad Davis)
To: brown@utah-cs, brownc@utah-cs, info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: Patching FORMAT to Protect Hard Disks
For any of you that have been worried about the fact that some user of
your PC-XT will reformat the hard disk instead of a floppy here is a
patch to FORMAT.COM that will give an error exit if no drive is
specified. This will only work in the IBM FORMAT.COM (though I would
think that it would not be hard to do the same for other systems).
This may also be good for those of us that sometimes forget what we
may be doing.
The ????: segment value depends on how your system is configured. All
lines are terminated by a carriage return.
C>DEBUG FORMAT.COM
-A 17B
????:017B JMP 160
????:017D NOP
????:017E NOP
????:017F NOP
????:0180
-W
Writing 1780 bytes
-Q
C>
Share and Enjoy,
Brad Davis
b-davis@utah-cs.ARPA
------------------------------
Date: 9 Dec 1983 1445-PST
Subject: Arpanet Mail Program Wanted
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: INFO-IBMPC
Is anyone working on or have a program to read and answer ARPANET
style mail on a PC?
------------------------------
Date: 9 December 1983 20:57 est
From: Hess.Unicorn at MIT-MULTICS
Subject: DOS 2.0 Support for Corvus Disk Wanted
To: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC at USC-ISIB>
I have an old Corvus 5-Meg hard disk with an IBM PC interface. And I
have no dealer to support me, and have had no luck with Corvus. I
need DOS 2.0 support. I have DOS 1.1 support. Can someone tell me if
they have 2.0 support, whether or not it cost them something, and if
so, who sold it to them; and if not, whether they would be willing to
supply me with the new ware for the price of a couple of SASD's
(Self-Addressed Stamped Disks) and proof of purchase of the old Corvus
IBUTILS?
Brian
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
******************************
-------
∂13-Dec-83 1339 DRF@SU-SCORE.ARPA Outline for TeX
Received: from SU-SCORE by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 13 Dec 83 13:38:56 PST
Date: Tue 13 Dec 83 13:26:02-PST
From: David Fuchs <DRF@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: Outline for TeX
To: als@SU-AI.ARPA
Here is my outline for a general introduction to the TeX system.
What do you think?
-david
What is TeX?
"Document compiler" similar to Troff, Runoff, Script, Scribe, etc.
Flexibility to allow formatting of wide range of different document
designs.
Used in academic and commercial settings
Allow for highest typographic quality output possible!
Technical and math text!
Portable, CPU and output device
Compatible results on different CPUs
Dramatic new hyphenation, line-breaking, page-breaking algorithms
Flexible footnotes, figure placement, white space distribution
and widow control, up to 256 fonts of any size, kerning
and ligatures, automatic spacing after punctuation, foreign
languages allowed (including hyphenation).
Low-level typographic primitives that allow construction of higher
level capabilities, such as automatic indexing, balanced
columns, table-of-contents, structured documents, etc.
User assisted interactive error recovery, with on-line help messages.
What TeX isn't.
Interactive what-you-see-is-what-you-get.
A text editor (Wordstar, EMACS, Mince, etc.)
A native high-level language.
Where did TeX come from?
Stanford CSD
Prof. Donald Knuth
Art of Computer Programming
Disgust with low-quality computer typography
Scholarly study of high-quality typography
TeX project includes
Students
Other faculty
Supported by
Stanford University
NSF
IBM
Office Naval Research
System Development Foundation
Early version used by universities and some corporations for years
Feedback from AMS, other commercial corporations.
New version, totally rewritten, new features and new manuals
Source code intended to be an example of programming and documenting
a large system.
Who owns TeX?
"TEX" vs. "TeX" vs. "\TeX".
public domain
copyright Knuth
trademark AMS
Avoid incompatible TeX's: test suite
Value added non public domain commercial support software OK
We send out tapes and documentation for TeX and our fonts
What documentation is available?
TeXbook
A real book
high quality, typeset with TeX
Addison-Wesley
available in technical bookstores
500 pages, including excellent index
$15
first chapters introductory
TUG: The TeX User group
TUGboat publication
Meetings
Classes
"First Grade TeX"
LaTeX, AmSTeX
Complete source code listing of the system
What Language is TeX written in?
WEB, a macro language on top of Pascal
We supply the macro processor, you supply the Pascal compiler
Complete source code listing of the system provided
Exhaustively Commented.
Pretty-printed.
Typeset with TeX
Meant to create a new standard of internal documentation
To be published as part of the "Computer Typography" series
Portable Pascal--standard except for "otherwise", file names on open
Installation optimized with changes for I/O and system interface.
What computer systems does TeX now run on?
IBM VM/CMS, MVS
DEC Vax/VMS, Berkeley Vax/Unix, Tops-20, Tops-10, Tenex
HP 9826/36 (Motorola 68000 based), 1000, 3000
Multics
Prime
Data General MV8000
Apollo
Cray-1
Honeywell CP-6
Others
More to come
Need 32-bit arithmatic and 20-bit process address space
What output devices TeX is being used with.
QMS, Symbolics, Imagen
Versatec, Varian
IBM Electro-Erosion printer
HP 2680A
Xerox Dover, 9700
Florida Data, Printronix, Epson, etc.
Autologic APS, Compugraphic 8600, Alphatype CRS, Linotron 202
Various bit-map screens (high resolution necessary)
Others
more to come
Who's fonts can TeX be used with?
Ours
"Computer Modern"
especially for math
made with METAFONT
available as bit-maps, any resolution
Available now, improved versions coming
developed with MetaFont, which is to be available in '84
Theirs
need width information
kerning and ligature info is nice too
height, depth, italic slant, x-height, even better
math characters need even more info
problems getting our fonts on to some printers
Programs that are part of the TeX package
WEB system
TANGLE
WEAVE
POOLtype
TeX system
TeX
PLtoTF and TFtoPL for font maintainance
DVItype and a complete test suite
PATGEN for new language hyphenation
Metafont system (some day)
-------
∂14-Dec-83 0232 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #99
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 14 Dec 83 02:30:43 PST
Date: 13 Dec 1983 2144-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #99
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 13 December 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 99
This Week's Editor: Dick Gillmann
Today's Topics:
Compatible Mice Query
Loading Problem
Microsoft Pascal
Turbo Pascal
Monochrome Graphics Query
Reset Button Wanted
Mail Systems
SCREEN.ASM
Pascal Address Printing Program
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Saturday 10 December 1983 19:33:31 EDT
From: Chris Schmandt <cms@mit-pamela>
Subject: Compatible Mice Query
To: <Info-IBMPC@isib>
I'm interested in getting some mice for PC's, both genuine and
semi-compatibles (TI, Wang). I haven't seen much about mice in the
Digest, and would appreciate any comments/advice either in the Digest
or to my personal mailbox (arpa address cms%pamela@mit-mc). I'm
concerned mainly about hardware and interface (especially if there IS
any interface to the TI and Wang), only slightly concerned about
drivers as I'll probably want to write my own anyway. Thanks.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 10 Dec 83 22:56-PST
Date: 9 Dec 83 15:35:28-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!philabs!cmcl2!floyd!whuxle!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Loading Problem
The easier way is not to use separate CODE and DATA segments. In that
case the program would look like:
cseg segment
entry: jmp init
:
:
:
data goes here so that it
is defined before referenced
:
:
init: ......real start of program
push cs
pop ds ; address data
:
:
cseg ends
This puts everything in the same segment and makes relocation on
setting up of addressability very easy. I have noticed that the linker
will concatenate the segments together in alphabetical order if they
have the same attributes.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 10 Dec 83 23:08-PST
Date: 9 Dec 83 15:35:43-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!philabs!cmcl2!floyd!whuxle!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Microsoft Pascal
I have used the IBM PASCAL (Microsoft) for development and have found
that to be very good. Some of the reasons are:
- The text (code) can be as large as you want (not
restricted to 64K) since all the calls between
procedures are intersegment (4bytes).
- The data space is restricted to a total of 64K,
but PASCAL has pointers which are 20 bits so that
you can access all of memory and therefore if you
need it, you can create your own memory management
functions for the memory that your program does not
occupy, thereby using all the available memory of
the system.
The compiler has been reliable and there appear to be other extensions
to the compiler for writing 'interrupt' routine and other 'system'
routines, but this is not documented. The code that is generated (if
you turn off the run-time checks on values, array bounds, etc.) is
very good.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 12 Dec 83 6:10-PST
Date: 12 Dec 83 0:35:06-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hp-pcd!orstcs!nathan @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Turbo Pascal
Borland International's Turbo Pascal:
The good news:
We clocked it at over 4000 lines per minute for small programs (<300 lines)
slowing down to perhaps 2000/min for larger progs. This compares favorably
with mainframe speeds.
It has all variety of extensions (along with a bunch of new keywords) to
implement the nice frills that are necessary for most real work. These
include "sizeof" and all the other stuff that uses it.
It has facilities for complete initialization, including selected components
of structures; even variant records. Unfortunately, it's syntactically
weird: you declare the initialized variables as "typed constants", although
they are really just treated as variables.
It fits in 28k, including a screen editor disgustingly similar to Wordstar.
When a syntax error is found, it switches to the editor and puts the cursor
at the offending spot. We have not found any way to make it compile the
whole thing, just marking errors.
It does generate *native code*, which compares reasonably with other
machines (runs Sieve on a PC in 10 sec, compiles in <1 sec.)
It costs only $50!
The bad news:
It does not support any useful variety of separate compilation. There
is a primitive "external" declaration; you have to tell it the address
in memory to load to. It does have "include", though, and the compiler
runs fast enough that that might be ok.
They decided "get" and "put" were unnecessary, along with the file
variables. This makes it a real nuisance converting other programs
to run on it. (but it can be done; can take hours, though)
There is no "new/dispose" facility; instead, they put in UCSD ("scud")
Pascal's "mark/release". It is possible to write one in terms of the
other, but a nuisance.
Floating point format is weird: 40 bit mantissa, 8 bit exponent. Not
actually a fault, but not IEEE either. (better than 32 bit, anyway.)
We haven't tried it for accuracy or speed.
It supports only the "small-medium" memory model: 64k stack/heap,
64k code, 64k global data. It has a weird "recursion stack" that
recursive routines copy their current data area to before using
it. (this, I presume, makes non-recursive routines quicker to call;
it also makes the code non-reentrant.) The limits on memory usage can be
partially resolved by a facility they provide to access memory as
Mem[seg:offset]
with seg and offset integer expressions.
The license agreement is a bit screwy: for $50, you agree not to
run the compiler or any of *your* programs on anybody else's box.
This includes giving the programs away. For an additional one-time
fee of $100, you get unlimited use of the run-time package, and can
do with your programs whatever you want. (You can, of course, give
away your sources anyway) The result is that the program sellers
subsidize the hobbyists, a little bit. If you can't make $100 selling
your programs, find a different business.
*summary*
At the price, it's a superb product. There is no reason ever to use
BASIC again for quick'n'dirty programs, as the compiler is so
*damned* fast that for anything less than 100 lines the compile time
is unnoticeable. It's also fine for writing utilities and other
small-but-useful programs (write an "ls" or "dc" in it).
It's not really adequate for such very large projects as "cc" or "ingres"
and the like because of the lack of separate compilation facilities,
and the ability to find more than one error per compile. I suspect you
could use it for a long time before these became intolerable.
I suggest that if you aren't maintaining something that big, it would
be ideal as your primary compiler (if you can tolerate Pascal . . .);
even if you need something more "industrial strength", it is easily
worth buying for day-to-day needs, especially at the price. Even
at $150, its better than most.
------------------------------
Date: 10 Dec 1983 1434-PST
From: Rob-Kling <Kling%UCI-20B.UCI@Rand-Relay>
Subject: Monochrome Graphics Query
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
I'm continuing to look for a graphics board for the IBM PC which
allows graphics displays on the monochrome monitor. I would like a
board to support Lotus 1-2-3 graphics and not have some of the
problems continually attributed to the Hercules board.
Mylex has been advertising a graphics board that sounds plausable.
However, neither Mylex or Tecmar promise Lotus 1-2-3 support.
Most recently, Applied Computer Products has run an ad for two
graphics boards (BiGraphix I and II) on page 30 of the January issue
of PC World which appears to meet my requirements. They appear to
promise Lotus 1-2-3 graphics compatability with each.
I would appreciate hearing from anyone who hasd had experience with
these boards or other plausable candidates.
Thanks,
Rob Kling
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 11 Dec 83 2:39-PST
Date: 8 Dec 83 9:14:01-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: keithe.tek@rand-relay
Subject: Reset Button Wanted
Has anyone installed a real reset button on their IBM-PC? I'm looking
for a HARDWARE reset. I already know about Control-Alt-Delete, but
sometimes even that doesn't work.
keith eriscon
------------------------------
Date: Sunday, 11-Dec-83 00:18:39-PST
From: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@RAND-UNIX>
Subject: Re: Mail Systems
To: INFO-IBMPC@ISIB
A complete system for handling ARPANET and UUCP mail will be included
as part of my MSDOS UUCP package. Reasonable facilities for
generating and reading mail will be provided. Plans are in the works
to also include a nifty screen-oriented mail processing program as
well.
--Lauren--
------------------------------
Date: 12 Dec 1983 14:04:31-EST
From: Greg.Glass@CMU-CS-CAD
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: SCREEN.ASM
I have typed in the screen control program that was in last month's
Byte magazine.
So far I have not been able to get it to work on my XT. Has anyone
got this working? I think I got it in there as published.
It goes into a loop when it tries to set things up in proc init←code
code line 315: mov es:keyint,offset key←rtne. Hope someone else can
get it to work as it seemed useful.
Greg
[The code can be ftp'ed from [ISIB]<INFO-IBMPC>SCREEN.ASM. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: 12 Dec 1983 14:09:35-EST
From: Greg.Glass@CMU-CS-CAD
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: Pascal Address Printing Program
I have done a simple address printing program for my Xmas cards. This
is written in MicroSoft Pascal and should be simple to change for
printers other then my FX-80.
Greg
[LIST.PAS is now in the library. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: 13 Dec 1983 15:24-PST
Subject: Tandy 2000 Review
From: ABN.COSCOM-CE@USC-ISID
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB, INFO-MICRO@BRL
The recent announcement by Tandy (aka Radio Shack) of the System 2000
impressed me quite a bit. It sounded like Tandy had finally come up
with a wonderful machine. Well I went to my local computer store to
take a look.
In my impression, having only used the Tandy demo disk, the 2000 is
the best thing along since the IBM (which when introduced created
quite a flurry of industry notice). The 2000 uses the Intel 80186.
This chip is an advance over the 8088 used in the IBM in three primary
ways. First it is a true 16 bit cpu. Both the internal architecture
and the address bus are 16 bits wide. In the 8088, only the internal
architecture is 16 bits. The data path is 8 bits and for that reason
was able to take advantage of the large already existing 8 bit
peripheral market. But Tandy has a full line of peripherals already
available and so is not out to lunch because the data path is wider.
The second difference is the clock speed. The clock speed of the 8086
is 4.7 MHertz. The 2000 runs at 8 MHertz. Thats an almost direct
increase in processing speed of 70 percent (and it shows). The third
difference is the chip replacement. The 8086 chip has a family of
chips that are used to support it when a computer is built. The 80186
consolidates a number of these chips into one chip (I don't know the
count- someone help).
Well on to the drives. There are two configurations, one with two
DS/DD drives and one with one drive and a 10MByte drive. The disk
drives are half height drives that each can hold 720 KBytes. That's
1.4 MBytes of floppy storage alone. Quite a chunk and twice the IBM
PC storage. But the drives can read and write to IBM PC disks. In
fact the standard operating system is MS-DOS. And the drives are
quite fast, silent and have very nice drive doors.
Standard system of the 2000 is cpu with 2 disk drives, monitor
adapter, 128KBytes, printer and RS232 interfaces, MS-DOS for list of
$2750.00. The monochrome monitor costs $249.00. So a basic system
costs $2999.00 compared to a comparable IBM PC list of $3658.00 (for
the most comparable system.)
Other sundry characteristics that might be of interest follow:
-monochrome graphics are possible at 600x400 pixel resolution.
-color graphics are possible at 600x400 resolution with 8 simultaneous
colors.
-the standard system can accept another 128KBytes on the mother board.
-there are 4 slots available on the standard system.
These slots are mounted so that they can be installed and removed
directly into the back panel without opening anything.
-256KByte expansion board is available.
-a floor pedestal for the main box is
available and so is a swival tilt mount for the monitor.
-the keyboard is detachable and connected with a coiled cable.
-it has a 90 key keyboard witha fairly nice feel. There are
14 function keys, a numeric keypad, some special keys for printing,
hold cursor control, etc. But the best thing is the keyboard is
standard typewriter with shift keys in the right place, return key
right size, etc.
-because it uses MS-DOS, there are already a number of software packages
available.
One final operating comment. The overall set up is nice and
convenient. The power and reset switches are easy to access but hard
to accidently hit. The unit is fairly silent in operation and the
keyboard is good for typing. The system runs fast on graphics as is
demonstrated by the demo.
If Tandy can overcome the market difficulties of 16 bit peripherals
and non IBM add on cards, the 2000 should do fantastic and set new
standards.
Until IBM comes out with a 80186 machine.
Kevin Rappold
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂15-Dec-83 0010 @SU-SIERRA.ARPA:CC.KEN@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA New KERMIT-20 available
Received: from SU-SIERRA by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 15 Dec 83 00:10:29 PST
Received: from COLUMBIA-20.ARPA by SU-SIERRA.ARPA with TCP; Thu 15 Dec 83 00:10:39-PST
Date: Thu 15 Dec 83 03:10:45-EST
From: Ken Rossman <cc.Ken@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: New KERMIT-20 available
To: SU-Bboards@SU-SIERRA.ARPA, Bboard%LOTSA@SU-SIERRA.ARPA
Address: 716 Watson Labs, 612 W.115th St, NY, NY 10025
Phone: (212) 280-3703
New code may be found in:
MRC:<KERMIT> at SCORE
SRA:<KERMIT> at SIERRA
PS:<KERMIT> at LOTS
Questions, suggestions, complaints to:
Bug-Kermit@SCORE
Action@SIERRA
Bug-Kermit@LOTSA
/Ken
---------------
Mail-From: CC.FDC created at 13-Dec-83 19:12:54
Date: Tue 13 Dec 83 19:12:54-EST
From: Frank da Cruz <cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: New KERMIT-20 available
To: Info-Kermit@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA
KERMIT-20 version 3C(133) is available for testing. There are two changes
since version 3B was announced not too long ago:
1. 8th-bit-prefixing will now be done when requested. It can be requested:
a. Explicitly via the SET EIGHTH-BIT-PREFIX command;
b. Explicitly by the other side in the Send-Init packet;
c. Implicitly if you SET PARITY to anything other than NONE.
8th-bit-prefixing allows 8-bit binary data to be sent through a 7-bit
communication link, such as one that uses parity (examples are TELENET,
which uses MARK parity, and IBM mainframes, which typically use MARK,
ODD, or EVEN parity). The prefixing method is costly in transmission
overhead, so KERMIT-20 will not use it unless asked to. Even then, the
KERMIT on the other side must also know how do do this. Presently, only
VAX/VMS and TOPS-10 KERMITs fall in this category, with others soon to
come (including IBM PC and Apple DOS).
2. Whenever a timeout occurs, KERMIT-20 will clear any XOFF condition on the
communication line, and transmit an XON. This will overcome any deadlocks
that might occur when an XOFF is spontaneously generated on a noisy line,
and both sides are doing XON/XOFF flow control (as KERMIT-20 does during
file transfer).
Report any problems to me. Next comes repeat-count processing. - Frank
P.S. The relevant files are in KER:20KERMIT.* at host COLUMBIA-20, accessible
as always via anonymous FTP.
-------
-------
∂15-Dec-83 0007 @SU-SIERRA.ARPA:CC.KEN@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA New release of CP/M-80 KERMIT
Received: from SU-SIERRA by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 15 Dec 83 00:07:42 PST
Received: from COLUMBIA-20.ARPA by SU-SIERRA.ARPA with TCP; Thu 15 Dec 83 00:07:56-PST
Date: Thu 15 Dec 83 03:08:03-EST
From: Ken Rossman <cc.Ken@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: New release of CP/M-80 KERMIT
To: SU-Bboards@SU-SIERRA.ARPA, Bboard%LOTSA@SU-SCORE.ARPA
Address: 716 Watson Labs, 612 W.115th St, NY, NY 10025
Phone: (212) 280-3703
As usual, new sources are in:
MRC:<KERMIT> at SCORE
SRA:<KERMIT> at SIERRA
PS:<KERMIT> at LOTS
Comments, suggestions, complaints to:
Bug-Kermit@SCORE
ACTION@SIERRA
Bug-Kermit@LOTSA
/Ken
----------------------------------------
Date: Tue 13 Dec 83 14:13:42-EST
From: Frank da Cruz <cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: New release of CP/M-80 KERMIT
Announcing a new release of KERMIT-80, which provides file transfer and
terminal emulation for CP/M-80 systems. This release is version 3.6; it has no
new functionality over version 3.5, but several major bugs have been fixed.
These include:
Cursor addressing errors fixed for various systems.
During terminal emulation, some systems (the Kaypro II, for instance) would
output nulls continuously. This has been fixed.
Thanks to James Grossen at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville for these
fixes. Users of CP/M Kermit are encouraged to get the new .HEX files (using
their current versions of Kermit), LOAD them, and try them out. If you do
this, please let me know which system you tried, whether it worked, and if not,
what went wrong.
The .HEX files are available in KER:CPM*.HEX via anonymous FTP from host
COLUMBIA-20. The systems supported, and the corresponding files, are:
CPMAPPLE.HEX Apple II with Z80 SoftCard, DC Hayes MicroModem II
CPMBRAIN.HEX Intertec SuperBrain
CPMDMII.HEX DECmate II with CP/M option
CPMGENERI.HEX "Generic" CP/M-80 version 2.x
CPMHEATH.HEX Heath/Zenith 89
CPMKAYPRO.HEX Kaypro II
CPMOSBORN.HEX Osborne 1
CPMOSI.HEX Ohio Scientific
CPMPLUS.HEX "Generic" CP/M-80 version 3.0 (CP/M Plus)
CPMRAINBO.HEX DEC Rainbow-100, CP/M-80 (Z80 side)
CPMROBIN.HEX DEC VT180 "Robin"
CPMTELCON.HEX Telcon Zorba
CPMTRS80.HEX TRS-80 Model II with CP/M
CPMVECTOR.HEX Vector Graphics
CPMZ100.HEX Heath/Zenith Z100, CP/M-80 (Z80 side)
CPMBASE.M80 The single source file for all the above.
CPMBASE.DIF Source differences from version 3.5.
There are also various associated .DOC and .HLP files.
KERMIT implementations are also available for many other systems, both micros
and mainframes. To get an idea of what's available, see the file
KER:00README.TXT.
Those of you who have been using KERMIT-80 version 3.2 or earlier are
encouraged to try out this new release -- in incorporates many new features,
including built-in DIR and ERA commands, a way for switching and logging in
disks, improved wildcard facilities, etc.
Since we do not have examples at Columbia of more than a couple of the systems
listed above, I would be very grateful to anyone who could report to me about
their success or lack thereof in running this new version of KERMIT-80.
In the meantime, an entirely new (and radically different) release of KERMIT-80
is in preparation. It is expected that this new version will require
considerable testing, so it is very desirable to stabilize the present version.
Your reports will be of great help in doing this.
- Frank da Cruz (Columbia U)
-------
-------
∂16-Dec-83 1121 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:P.CRAMTON@WHY TeX on IBM PC
Received: from SU-SCORE by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 16 Dec 83 11:21:40 PST
Received: from WHY ([36.40.0.209]) by SU-SCORE.ARPA with TCP; Fri 16 Dec 83 11:19:35-PST
Date: Fri 16 Dec 83 11:19:19-PST
From: Peter C. Cramton <P.CRAMTON%WHY@WHY>
Subject: TeX on IBM PC
To: texhax@SU-SCORE.ARPA
Does anyone know when TeX will be running on the IBM PC? Also, what
brands of personal-type printers will be supported? Thank you.
-------
∂15-Dec-83 @SU-SIERRA.ARPA:CC.KEN@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA 15-Dec-83 RDG New KERMIT-20 available
Received: from SU-SIERRA by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 15 Dec 83 00:10:29 PST
Received: from COLUMBIA-20.ARPA by SU-SIERRA.ARPA with TCP; Thu 15 Dec 83 00:10:39-PST
Date: Thu 15 Dec 83 03:10:45-EST
From: Ken Rossman <cc.Ken@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: New KERMIT-20 available
To: SU-Bboards@SU-SIERRA.ARPA, Bboard%LOTSA@SU-SIERRA.ARPA
Address: 716 Watson Labs, 612 W.115th St, NY, NY 10025
Phone: (212) 280-3703
New code may be found in:
MRC:<KERMIT> at SCORE
SRA:<KERMIT> at SIERRA
PS:<KERMIT> at LOTS
Questions, suggestions, complaints to:
Bug-Kermit@SCORE
Action@SIERRA
Bug-Kermit@LOTSA
/Ken
---------------
Mail-From: CC.FDC created at 13-Dec-83 19:12:54
Date: Tue 13 Dec 83 19:12:54-EST
From: Frank da Cruz <cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: New KERMIT-20 available
To: Info-Kermit@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA
KERMIT-20 version 3C(133) is available for testing. There are two changes
since version 3B was announced not too long ago:
1. 8th-bit-prefixing will now be done when requested. It can be requested:
a. Explicitly via the SET EIGHTH-BIT-PREFIX command;
b. Explicitly by the other side in the Send-Init packet;
c. Implicitly if you SET PARITY to anything other than NONE.
8th-bit-prefixing allows 8-bit binary data to be sent through a 7-bit
communication link, such as one that uses parity (examples are TELENET,
which uses MARK parity, and IBM mainframes, which typically use MARK,
ODD, or EVEN parity). The prefixing method is costly in transmission
overhead, so KERMIT-20 will not use it unless asked to. Even then, the
KERMIT on the other side must also know how do do this. Presently, only
VAX/VMS and TOPS-10 KERMITs fall in this category, with others soon to
come (including IBM PC and Apple DOS).
2. Whenever a timeout occurs, KERMIT-20 will clear any XOFF condition on the
communication line, and transmit an XON. This will overcome any deadlocks
that might occur when an XOFF is spontaneously generated on a noisy line,
and both sides are doing XON/XOFF flow control (as KERMIT-20 does during
file transfer).
Report any problems to me. Next comes repeat-count processing. - Frank
P.S. The relevant files are in KER:20KERMIT.* at host COLUMBIA-20, accessible
as always via anonymous FTP.
-------
-------
∂15-Dec-83 0007 @SU-SIERRA.ARPA:CC.KEN@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA New release of CP/M-80 KERMIT
Received: from SU-SIERRA by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 15 Dec 83 00:07:42 PST
Received: from COLUMBIA-20.ARPA by SU-SIERRA.ARPA with TCP; Thu 15 Dec 83 00:07:56-PST
Date: Thu 15 Dec 83 03:08:03-EST
From: Ken Rossman <cc.Ken@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: New release of CP/M-80 KERMIT
To: SU-Bboards@SU-SIERRA.ARPA, Bboard%LOTSA@SU-SCORE.ARPA
Address: 716 Watson Labs, 612 W.115th St, NY, NY 10025
Phone: (212) 280-3703
As usual, new sources are in:
MRC:<KERMIT> at SCORE
SRA:<KERMIT> at SIERRA
PS:<KERMIT> at LOTS
Comments, suggestions, complaints to:
Bug-Kermit@SCORE
ACTION@SIERRA
Bug-Kermit@LOTSA
/Ken
----------------------------------------
Date: Tue 13 Dec 83 14:13:42-EST
From: Frank da Cruz <cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: New release of CP/M-80 KERMIT
Announcing a new release of KERMIT-80, which provides file transfer and
terminal emulation for CP/M-80 systems. This release is version 3.6; it has no
new functionality over version 3.5, but several major bugs have been fixed.
These include:
Cursor addressing errors fixed for various systems.
During terminal emulation, some systems (the Kaypro II, for instance) would
output nulls continuously. This has been fixed.
Thanks to James Grossen at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville for these
fixes. Users of CP/M Kermit are encouraged to get the new .HEX files (using
their current versions of Kermit), LOAD them, and try them out. If you do
this, please let me know which system you tried, whether it worked, and if not,
what went wrong.
The .HEX files are available in KER:CPM*.HEX via anonymous FTP from host
COLUMBIA-20. The systems supported, and the corresponding files, are:
CPMAPPLE.HEX Apple II with Z80 SoftCard, DC Hayes MicroModem II
CPMBRAIN.HEX Intertec SuperBrain
CPMDMII.HEX DECmate II with CP/M option
CPMGENERI.HEX "Generic" CP/M-80 version 2.x
CPMHEATH.HEX Heath/Zenith 89
CPMKAYPRO.HEX Kaypro II
CPMOSBORN.HEX Osborne 1
CPMOSI.HEX Ohio Scientific
CPMPLUS.HEX "Generic" CP/M-80 version 3.0 (CP/M Plus)
CPMRAINBO.HEX DEC Rainbow-100, CP/M-80 (Z80 side)
CPMROBIN.HEX DEC VT180 "Robin"
CPMTELCON.HEX Telcon Zorba
CPMTRS80.HEX TRS-80 Model II with CP/M
CPMVECTOR.HEX Vector Graphics
CPMZ100.HEX Heath/Zenith Z100, CP/M-80 (Z80 side)
CPMBASE.M80 The single source file for all the above.
CPMBASE.DIF Source differences from version 3.5.
There are also various associated .DOC and .HLP files.
KERMIT implementations are also available for many other systems, both micros
and mainframes. To get an idea of what's available, see the file
KER:00README.TXT.
Those of you who have been using KERMIT-80 version 3.2 or earlier are
encouraged to try out this new release -- in incorporates many new features,
including built-in DIR and ERA commands, a way for switching and logging in
disks, improved wildcard facilities, etc.
Since we do not have examples at Columbia of more than a couple of the systems
listed above, I would be very grateful to anyone who could report to me about
their success or lack thereof in running this new version of KERMIT-80.
In the meantime, an entirely new (and radically different) release of KERMIT-80
is in preparation. It is expected that this new version will require
considerable testing, so it is very desirable to stabilize the present version.
Your reports will be of great help in doing this.
- Frank da Cruz (Columbia U)
-------
-------
rdg - m 60
∂16-Dec-83 2226 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #100
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 16 Dec 83 22:26:27 PST
Date: 16 Dec 1983 2054-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #100
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 16 December 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 100
This Week's Editor: Dick Gillmann
Today's Topics:
Final Word Typeahead Problem
Victor 9000 Diskettes
Reset Switch (3 msgs)
Turbo Pascal Addenda
Optimizing CI-C86?
IBM PC Kermit Announcements
CPU Speed
PCJr.
Lotus 123 Query
PCterminal
Microsoft Word (2 msgs)
JFATALITY
----------------------------------------------------------------------
14-Dec-83 01:24:08-PST,1363;000000000001
Date: Tue 13 Dec 83 22:03:30-PST
From: Tim Gonsalves <Gonsalves@SU-SIERRA.ARPA>
Subject: Final Word Typeahead Problem
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIC.ARPA
I have a problem with the Final Word on a H/Z-100 with Z-DOS: any
characters typed whilst FW is being loaded from the floppy get lost.
Likewise, there is some lossage during quitting. The Z-100 has an
interrupt-driven keyboard handler with an 80-character buffer. I have
not noticed any loss of typeahead with any other software (and, I use
this feature a lot because of the speed of floppies).
Has anyone else noticed this problem on this or other similar
machines? Any fixes for it?
I wrote to Mark of the Unicorn describing this behavior. A support
person there phoned me today to try to help (very decent of them).
Unfortunately, she did not appear to understand what typeahead means.
After I spent some time explaining, she informed me that no
microcomputer software allows typeahead during program loading (except
possibly some Zenith-specific utilities), and she could see no reason
why anyone would want to typeahead anyway! Further, since no one else
had complained to MoU about FW losing typeahead, it is apparently not
likely that MoU will fix the problem.
Being many years since I've used a machine that did not support
typeahead, any help will be appreciated.
Tim
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 14 Dec 83 3:40-PST
Date: 12 Dec 83 12:04:06-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: Roy.GaTech@CSNet-Relay
Subject: Victor 9000 Diskettes
I believe that the Victor 9000 achieves its tremendous (1.2 MB versus
360 KB on the IBM PC) increase in density due to several factors:
1) The diskettes are written at 96 TPI rather than 48.
2) The diskette rotational speed is varied to allow the
outer tracks to be as dense as the inner tracks.
3) Group encoding is used to store data on the diskette,
thus eliminating sync pulses.
Now you can get around the 96/48 TPI problem (for reading, not
writing) by simply reading every other track, and I believe that there
is a drive speed per track vector that can be reprogrammed to keep the
rotational speed constant. But I don't see any way that you can read
diskettes that were not written using group encoding since that is a
function of the analog part of the disk drive.
Roy J. Mongiovi
School of ICS
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA 30332
------------------------------
Date: 14 Dec 1983 1707-PST
Subject: Reset Switch
From: Daniel Trentham <TRENTHAM@USC-ISIB>
To: info-ibmpc
I had good luck with the following reset scheme but it does require
some soldering although one could always use E-Z hooks.
First remove the system board from your PC. Then remove the wire from
P1 pin 1. See sheet 10 of the schematic for the system board in the
technical reference manual. This wire comes from the power supply and
goes to the system board. You can use a small screwdriver to depress
the locking pin securing female pin to the connector. This wire is
the "pwr good" signal from the power supply.
Now solder a small wire (I used 30 Gauge wire-wrap wire) to U11 Pin 11
and to one side of a momentary contact switch. Solder a second wire
to ground and to the other side of your switch. You are now all set.
U11, Intel's 8284a, is the clock generator chip which provides a
sync'ed reset as one of its functions. The RES* input to the 8284A is
a schmitt trigger input. I didn't use a pull up on it but noted no
bad effects from not having done so. The synced reset goes to the
8088 which in turn executes the instruction at absolute address FFFF0H
when reset goes away. This instruction is a "JMP RESET" in the IBM-PC
BIOS.
Daniel
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 15 Dec 83 10:37:54 PST
From: Computer Club SDC <v.cc2@UCLA-LOCUS>
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: Reset Switch
I installed a momentary switch to pull the reset line on the 8088 and
it works fine as a reset switch (although it goes through all of the
selftests again!)
A friend of mine got to play with the new Intel 286/310 machine. It's
pretty cute. He wrote a PC emulator to run all, not some, all PC
software. That includes any graphics stuff. The emulator runs, get
this, faster than the PC itself!. That 310 is a *fast* machine. It's
nice to have 1 giga-byte addressing!.
Howard
------------------------------
Date: Wednesday, 14-Dec-83 13:25:05-PST
From: Pete Carah <vortex!pete@RAND-UNIX>
Subject: Reset button
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
CC: keithe.tek@rand-relay, lauren
I have not actually done this yet, but it should work. On page 12 of
12 of the System board schematic in the OLD PC Tech Reference, you
will find a wire called POWER GOOD. The page number may be different
for the PC2 or XT, but IBM traditionally puts connectors on the last
page of each schematic. If this wire is grounded, you will reset the
system (truly reset it, not just interrupt). There are two possible
problems with this:
1. The memory refresh will be stopped while the line is held low, and for a
short time afterward. This should not cause loss of information, but may.
2. The device(s) supplying this line in the power supply are not
mentioned anywhere, and might not tolerate even momentary shorts to
ground. If (as the spec implies) the device is LSTTL, it would
tolerate SHORT shorts to ground with no damage. A solution to this,
if desired, is to re-route the signal through an AND gate, and to
connect the button to the other input of this new gate. The gate
could be made up of diodes and a resistor, or a "flying chip", or a
search for a free gate on the system board could be done. This last
would almost certainly be different for the two board styles of the
PC and the third of the XT.
My own inclination has been simply to ground the line in parallel with
the power supply, but I have never gotten around to trying it.
-- Pete
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 14 Dec 83 23:57-PST
Date: 14 Dec 83 0:56:30-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hp-pcd!orstcs!nathan @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Turbo Pascal Addenda
Update on Turbo Pascal:
Correction:
It allows the heap to fill all available memory; on this system
it gives 250k worth.
It is, inexplicably, lacking a "page(output)" built-in function.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 15 Dec 83 0:09-PST
Date: 14 Dec 83 0:56:15-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hp-pcd!orstcs!nathan @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Optimizing CI-C86?
We obtained version 1.33d of the CI-C86 C compiler in April '83 (the
latest non-optimizing version), with the promise that for our $400 we
would be getting the optimizing version within a month. We have yet
to receive it. About every month or so, they say "in three or four
weeks" when I call to check up. Otherwise, I am very pleased with the
compiler and have had very little trouble contacting them.
I am particularly pleased that I can talk to the person who wrote the
compiler when I have difficulties. (compiler bugs do surface on
occasion...)
The optimizing version still won't have structure assignment or enum
types. These facilities have been in Unix C for several years now,
and there is little excuse for not putting them into a modern
compiler. Recently we had occasion to port code produced by yacc to
this compiler; the CI compiler rejected it. (with some hand-massaging
we made CI accept it)
CI also does not ship a lint with their compiler. Since nobody else
but Bell seems to, we can't really single them out; but they claim to
supply "full K&R C". Lint is mentioned many times in K&R as
accompanying the C compiler, and is described as being as much a part
of the C system as "stdio".
Can we consider a C compiler product complete K&R if it doesn't
include lint?
Nathan C. Myers
Alan Batie
------------------------------
Date: Thu 15 Dec 83 12:44:16-EST
From: Daphne Tzoar <CC.DAPHNE@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: IBM PC Kermit Announcements
To: info-kermit@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA, info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
A new version of PC KERMIT, version 1.20, is now available for testing.
Some additions made to the current version (v1.18) include:
- Allow ↑X/↑Z to interrupt sending/receiving a file or file group,
respectively.
- If get an error when receiving a file, clean up and send an error
packet. Allow user to specify whether to keep what made it over
or to discard it.
- Add U. of Arizona changes so Kermit once again compiles on the
Z100 (Joellen Windsor). Move IBM specific statements inside
IBM conditional assembly blocks.
- Print packet and retry numbers in decimal instead of hex.
- Allow users to choose between COM1 (default) and COM2. Also,
remind the user about which communications port they are using
and at what baud rate when connecting to another system.
- Add SET BACKARROW so can set backarrow to backspace or delete.
(William Dair) And, set default to ON for renaming files due
to filename conflicts. Change VT52 emulation messages to
Heath-19 since that's what Kermit-86 emulates.
Please report any bugs to Sy.Daphne@CU20B or CC.Daphne@Columbia-20.
Users with Z100's are encouraged to try the test version as we are
not sure all the Z100 compilation problems were fixed.
The files are located in a publicly accessible directory on
Columbia-20 called Kermit, logically defined as KER:. The relevant
files are PCKERM20.ASM, PCKERM20.HLP, and PCKERM20.FIX (the
printable version of the .EXE file.) To get a working copy of
Kermit for the IBM PC or the Z100 (running MS DOS), copy the FIX
file to the PC and run the BASIC program PCKEXE.BAS or use the
bootstrapping programs PCKSEND.FOR and PCKGET.BAS. For more
information, see the Kermit User's Guide (USER.DOC).
Finally, there is a new format for the FIX files. Therefore, to
reconstruct the .EXE file, make certain that you are using the most
recent versions of PCKSEND.FOR, PCKGET.BAS, PCKEXE.BAS, and
PCKFIX.ASM.
Daphne Tzoar
Systems Group
------------------------------
Date: 15 Dec 1983 11:07:53-PST
From: microsof!gordonl@uw-beaver
To: uw-beaver!Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
Subject: CPU Speed
A recent article explained the Tandy 2000's increased speed by
comparing the bus width and clock speeds of the 80186 and the 8088.
Another important factor is the internal construction of the 8018[68]:
they both have separate internal hardware to make address
calculations. This means that an 8018[68] running at the same clock
speed as the equivalent 808[68] is still about twice as fast.
16-Dec-83 06:19:36-PST,1938;000000000001
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 16 Dec 83 6:13-PST
Date: 15 Dec 83 11:30:20-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!rlgvax!geller @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PCJr.
I was sure surprised when I came upon an IBM PCjr in a local
ComputerLand store here in Mclean, Virginia. I thought I'd share a few
of my impressions of the system with you.
It has been fairly well publicized that the "Peanut" has a
chicklet-style keyboard. This is certainly true. However, I was
surprised to find that the keyboard had a relatively good feel to it.
The keys are raised approximately 1/2 inch from the main keyboard
assembly, providing a fairly long travel distance for the keys.
Someone I had spoken to had said that the "Peanut" has helped to
significantly boost Apple IIe sales. Apparently people find out that
the keyboard is not up to par and select another system. It really
wasn't all that bad.
I must say that it was a pleasure using the keyboard without having to
worry about a cable tangling or getting in the way (the PCjr has a
wireless, remote keyboard using infrared data transmission).
The main chassis is small and seemingly well assembled. The unit I
played with had a half-height floppy that was surprisingly quiet. If
my memory serves me correctly the unit also had an internal fan.
I'm afraid that I didn't have the opportunity to explore the software
on the machine. I did notice, however, that there was a demo program
running some nice color graphics. Aesthetically I thought the machine
was impressive. I'm afraid that I'm not too familiar with the
hardware.
Well I guess I can't tell you much more. It's cute, seemingly well
built, and over-priced (some criticism is needed!). Rumors have it
that there are warehouses full of these toys ready for deliver in late
January.
David Geller
Computer Consoles, Inc.
Office Systems Group
Reston, VA 22090
------------------------------
Date: 16 Dec 1983 07:41-PST
Subject: Lotus 123 Query
From: HARDY@USC-ISI
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
I have been using KBD.COM created from a basic program in the
INFO-IBMPC software library. It allows you to have a type ahead
buffer of 160 characters. It also will not work with Lotus 123
version 1 on my XT.
Has anyone done some hacking on the Lotus 123 file format ? I am
trying to read/write one. I have decoded the global header area for
the most part. But need a bit more information to feel confident in
reading one, and a lot more information to write one.
Richard Hardy.
------------------------------
Date: 16 Dec 1983 08:29-PST
Subject: PCterminal
From: HARDY@USC-ISI
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
Santa Clara Systems has come out with a strip down PC compatible.
They call it the PCterminal. The PCterminal uses PCnet a local area
network for the IBM PC. It specifications are:
Height: 15", Width: 18.5", Depth: 14"
Processor: Intel 16 bit 8088 microprocessor 4.773 MHz clock rate
Memory: Eprom 24K, Standard 64K RAM expandable to 256K
Peripheral Interfaces: Serial interface RS-232, Band rates 110,
150, 300, 600, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600
Parallel printer port
4 channel DMA controller
Built-in PCnet interface
8 level priority interrupt controller
3 Channel controller/timer
4 IBM PC hardware compatible expansion slots
Integral monochrome CRT controller
Keyboard: IBM compatible, 83-key, full sized, detachable with
typewriter layout, 10-key keypad, 10 software program-
mable function keys.
Display: 25 lines x 80 characters, tiltable monitor, 12" diagonal,
non-glare green phosphor.
Disk Storage: Optional 5.25 half-height double-sided floppy disk
drive providing 320K bytes of formatted storage
with 512 bytes per sector and 8 sectors per track.
Cost: $1295.
What interests me is that it is designed as an add on to the PC or XT.
You cable PCterminal to one or more (up to 64000 !) IBM PCs or
PCterminals, and PCterminal boots from one of the PC/XTs with DOS
running and shares any or all peripheral devices connected to the
network. With it, you can, on one terminal, run a command on another
PC as if the command had been entered on the second computer's
keyboard. The claim to handle device sharing and do printer spooling.
Has anyone had hands-on experience with PCterminal ?
Santa Clara Systems
1860 Hartog Dr.
San Jose, CA 95131
(408) 287-4640.
Richard Hardy
------------------------------
Date: Fri 16 Dec 83 11:53:53-PST
From: Jim Celoni S.J. <Celoni@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: Microsoft Word
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Here are some notes on Microsoft Word. To the best of my knowledge they're
correct and nothing is proprietary:
How is newline included in search or replace text?
Search text only: ↑n matches newline, ↑t tab, ↑p/↑d paragraph/division mark.
How is a standard ASCII (non-Word-format) document (i.e. w/ CRLFs)
reformatted?
Word doesn't change chars inside the file, so first remove crlfs, tabs, and
extra whitespace manually, then attach a style sheet and print. (Word
format has all char/graf/div formatting info at end of file.)
Can Word hyphenate even if I don't insert discretionary hyphens?
When the online dictionary-based spelling checker is added, yes.
Can I put anything in a file? (Alt-nn doesn't work for ↑@, ↑M, and ↑←.)
No; certain chars (9..13, 31, 196, 255) are reserved for leader dots,
discretionary hyphens, non-breaking spaces.
How do I provide arguments (e.g., to make a line of 72 "-"s, delete 100 lines,
or find the 4th occurrence)?
You can't.
What can I do with "divisions"?
Change params in "format division" menu, and have different running heads.
Can I refer to sections/pages as in FinalWord/Scribe (@ref, @pageref)?
References aren't supported.
Printer support: Can I give Word a translation table? Will Word handle
delays? Is it smart about print head motion (using bare CRs, BSs, escape
sequences, hardware tabs)? How do I add a new printer?
Printer description (PRD) file includes a translation table that maps single
chars to either 1 or 2 (overstruck) chars. No delays yet. Word isn't smart
about head motion, but printers are (usually w/whitespace and bidirection).
Word doesn't use printer tabs. Word 1.0 can't be customized for a printer
incompatible w/ one officially supported.
Does the Microsoft mouse card for IBM fit in a small XT slot?
Yes. (The generic mouse uses a serial port.)
Does the mouse come with enough software and documentation to program for it?
Interface is well-documented. Now only a few demos are available, but watch
for a menu-oriented mouse-keyboard driver that allows you to define your own
tree of menus and translate both motions and clicks to keyboard input.
Does Word take advantage of extra RAM it knows about?
All overlays fit in 256K, but scratch files are still used during editing
and printing.
How is Word written/compiled?
C is compiled to pseudocode which is interpreted. Some C is compiled to
8086 code.
Commands: When choosing commands, first letter, space, and BS work but not <-
or ->; when choosing subcommands, only tab and [awkward] shift-backtab (again
not arrows) work. Without a mouse, filling in parameters is quite tedious.
Transfer Load: Loading over an unsaved file doesn't warn me but isn't
undoable. If I hit enter instead of <- in TL's parameter (e.g., *.txt CR but
intending to see all the .txt-files), Word takes it and names the file
"*.txt". Pathnames seem to cause problems: if I have a file a\b\c.d, TL
a\b\c.d CR reads it but TL a\b\*.* <- gives "Empty" or whatever the previous
list was.
Features: Printed documents don't have widows or orphans. It's great to
attach a style sheet and then change looks here and there. There are
equivalents to some Bravo looks (e.g., visible, hardcopy, all/same, keep [for
paragraphs]. Word's "beep" beats DOS's, but "mute" is nice. (Even when mute,
Word beeps when I fill the typeahead buffer.)
Closing question: Mouse Systems Corp. says their [optical] mouse behaves
absolutely identically to Microsoft's when running Microsoft software--have
any readers verified this? [Yes, it works. -Ed.]
Incidentally, have you found yourself, like me, typing Word commands
into a file? I compensated by using ESC more often than necessary.
+j (not affiliated with Microsoft)
------------------------------
Date: 16 Dec 1983 09:46-PST
From: GFISHER@USC-ECLB
To: hfischer@USC-ECLB
Subject: Microsoft Word
Forwarded-to: Info-IBMPC@ISIB
I bought Microsoft WORD. There is a "program" diskette that contains
a lot of files that is used when WORD is run. According to the
documentation, program disk files may be placed in any directory as
long as that directory is included in the search path. So I put the
program disk files in a directory given in the search path.
Unfortunately that did not work. The floppy disk version does not use
the search path: it only looks on drive A:. This is a bug, according
to Microsoft, that will be fixed in later versions. It did not do to
make A a hard disk volume. I got around this by using the assign
command to assign A to the hard disk volume that contained the program
files.
Gerry
------------------------------
Date: 16 Dec 1983 1718-PST
Subject: JFATALITY
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: info-ibmpc
The tall tree holiday edition of their newsletter advises that to avoid
Jfatalities don't drink and mess with your disk drive during this
holiday season.
I entered the command:
JET A: C:/ECHO
Now this was supposed to copy the contents of the A: drive into the
subdirectory ECHO. Unfortunately I should have typed:
JET A: C:\ECHO
Henderson's idiot parser interpreted my command as:
JET A: C:/E
which as the more observant of you may have guessed means erase C disk
before copying the files. Of course I hadn't backed up important files
for six weeks.
This afternoon I am recovering from a substantial hangover.
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂18-Dec-83 1536 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #101
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 18 Dec 83 15:36:22 PST
Date: 18 Dec 1983 1407-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #101
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Sunday, 18 December 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 101
This Week's Editor: Dick Gillmann
Today's Topics:
Reset Button (2 msgs)
The FinalWord and Type-Ahead
Z-100 Typeahead
Extended Display Adaptors and Monitors
SCREEN.ASM
Writing Graphics Pixels
Z-80 and CP/M Boards Query
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thursday, 15 Dec 83 11:20:51 PST
From: Keith Ericson <keithe.teklabs.tektronix@Rand-Relay>
Subject: Reset Button
To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
I got the hint I needed to get the hardware reset button installed in
my IBM pc (older version). (My thanks to Dan Trentham at USC-ISIB)
I tried two approaches: one didn't work, the other did (does).
For both methods the "pwr good" wire from the power supply to pin 1 of
connector P1 must be disconnected; that is, removed from the housing
connecting to the system board.
In the method that didn't work I wired a 1 microfarad capacitor from
pin 11 of U11 - the 8284A clock generator - to ground, and a 4.7
kilohm resistor from the Vcc (of a nearby ic pin) to the same pin 11
of IC 11. (The idea here is that the capacitor will hold the pin at a
logic low until the power supply has time to charge it - through the
4.7k resistor - to a logic high.) This didn't work because the nearby
Vcc wasn't high enough to get pin 11 up to a high enough level to be
recognized as a logic high: the computer was "stuck in RESET".
The next attempt - the one that works - was to remove the 4.7k and
replace it with a 1k that runs between the "pwr good" wire
(disconnected earlier) and pin 11 of ic 11. I left the 1 uF cap in
place 'cause I (a) didn't think it would hurt and (b) didn't want to
put a soldering iron in there any more than I had to. I then put a
normally-open momentary pushbutton switch in the knock-out hole in the
back panel. (I got a switch out of company stock that ALMOST filled
the hole. A couple of 1/2" washers took care of the rest.) One side
of the switch goes to pin 11 of ic 11, the other side goes to ground.
(This discharges out the capacitor (asserting RESET) which then gets
re-charged through the 1k resistor from the "pwr good" line.)
Now the machine powers up just fine, and when it does a nosedive into
oblivion - and the Control-Alt-Delete won't recover - I can hit my
reset button and get back to work.
The next step will be to modify the bootup ROM so as to bypass the
(presumably content-destructive) RAM memory-check procedure.
keith ericson at teklabs
(keithe.tek@rand-relay)
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 17 Dec 83 19:54-PST
Date: 15 Dec 83 19:36:02-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!mhuxl!eagle!allegra!alice!rabbit!ark @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Reset Button
One of the pins on one of the system board power supply connectors
is noted as "Power Good". The hardware manual has this to say:
"Power On/Off Cycle: When the supply is turned off
for a minimum of 1.0 second, and then turned on, the
power-good signal will be regenerated.
The power-good signal indicates that there is adequate
power to continue processing. If the power goes below
the specified levels, the power-good signal triggers
a system shutdown.
This signal is the logical AND of the dc output-voltage
sense signal and the ac input voltage fail signal.
This signal is TTL-compatible up-level for normal
operation or down-level for fault conditions.
The ac fail signal causes pwer-good to go to a down-level
when any output voltage falls below the regulation
limits.
The dc output-voltage sense signal holds the power-good
signal at a down level (during power-on) until all
output voltages have reached their respective minimum
sense levels. The power-good signal has a turn-on delay
of at least 100 ms but no greater than 500 ms."
------------------------------
Date: 17 December 1983 12:40 est
From: Hess.Unicorn at MIT-MULTICS
Subject: The FinalWord and Type-Ahead
To: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC at USC-ISIB>
cc: bnh at MIT-MULTICS
Yes, The FinalWord does semi-intentionally turn off type-ahead.
Originally, this was related to CP/M things. But the IBM PC version
does the same thing. It turns out that if you manage to type things
during the instant that TFW clears the screen but before it finishes
redisplaying the first screen line, it will get a "Mark in Wrong Buff"
error message because the "screen marks" which are used in redisplay
have been modified before being used (and presumably saved) the first
time. Too bad it takes so long to load TFW on your machine; I hardly
notice nor care. The other place where type-ahead disappears in TFW
is in the formatter and printer, but these are always looking at the
keyboard eating characters to see if you typed a ↑Z.
------------------------------
Date: 17 Dec 83 12:57:59 EST (Sat)
From: Mike Ciaraldi <ciaraldi@Rochester.ARPA>
Subject: Z-100 Typeahead
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
I have noticed a similar problem/feature when running Wordstar. I
tried the 8080 version of Wordstar, which works fine on a Z-100 under
CP/M-86. Just like Final Word, it ignores characters typed during
loading of the program, and the OS ignores those typed while exiting
the program.
The Z-100 has a hardware buffer in the keyboard, holding 17
characters. The software buffer in the operating system (both ZDOS
and CP/M) is about 80 characters. All standard I/O looks in the
software buffer automatically.
Mike Ciaraldi
ciaraldi@rochester
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 17 Dec 83 10:54-PST
Date: 15 Dec 83 13:39:16-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!cires!nbires!milo!zhahai @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Extended Display Adaptors and Monitors
I am interested in the new fancy display adapters available from
various sources. Examples are the Tecmar GraphicsMaster, USI
Multidisplay, Amdek MAI, (perhaps the STB board, or others). Typical
features (from Graphics Master) might be:
Compatible with both IBM monochrome (50 Hz, 720 x 350) and IBM color
(60 Hz, 640 x 200) monitors (switch selectable), as well as clones.
Complete (?) software compatibility with the IBM mono and color
adapters, i.e. all character and graphics modes are supported, same
memory layout and addresses.
Additional Modes:
Mono: 720 x 350 graphics
interlace optional for 80 x 50 chars or 720 x 700 graphics
supports IBM High Res mono monitor
Color: 4 and 16 colors/pixel in 320 x 200 and 640 x 200 graphic modes
more scan lines for "low-overscan monitors" giving 640 x 240
optional interlace for 640 x 400 (or 480) resolution
can have 720 x 200 for 4 colors
supports just about all combinations which fit within display ram
supports RGBI digital or NTSC composite
can do gray scale in NTSC mode (monochrome)
Up to 128 KBytes of display ram; lower resolutions allow multiple
pages of display. Uses 6845 controller (same as IBM mono and color
boards).
The interlace modes will tend to flicker, at least on a color screen;
I do not know about the 720 x 700 mode on a green/amber mono screen.
Some boards also have an IBM compatible parallel printer port. Tecmar
does not. Some are reputed to support better scrolling than IBM.
Tecmar may be able to support external sync, at least in NTSC mode
(useful for mixing). One claimed to allow partitioning of onboard
memory between display and CPU (presumably CPU access to the latter
has no delay and generates no hash on screen?).
Questions: Can anyone provide more details about boards other than the
Tecmar, listed above or otherwise? I would especially appreciate
comments by anyone who has used any of these extended boards -
problems, advantages, tradeoffs. Does High Res Mono interlace flicker
on a green or amber screen? What monitors support the 240 (or 480)
high mode? Can any of the boards support analog RGB? (or is there a
simple way to convert?) How about gray scale on a High Res Mono
screen?
Related Question: Anybody want to contribute information or experience about
the IBM compatible color monitors?
- IBM Color Monitor
- Amdek Color II ( and III and IV?)
- Princeton Graphics HX-12
- Taxan
- Quadchrome
- other.
Differences seem to involve: size/spacing of phosphor dot (finer on
Princeton, one of the Amdeks, maybe others), "brightness of colors",
non-glare screens, 240/480 line capability (see above), and general
quality.
Zhahai Stewart (NBI Inc)
------------------------------
Date: 18 Dec 1983 12:04:47-EST
From: Greg.Glass@CMU-CS-CAD
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: SCREEN.ASM
I have corrected the problems in screen.asm and added a section of
comments that tells how to build it and what the commands are.
This program seems to work very well but a bit slow. It has made
mince useable on the color display - gold letters on a red background
is quite nice. Even if you don't have a color display it is useful
for setting reverse video on the mono display. I had been using the
program from the Norton utilities to do this but screen works better
because you don't have to run a separate program and therefore can
change the setting inside a program like kermit or mince.
Greg
[SCREEN.ASM has been added to the Info-IBMPC library. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: 18 Dec 1983 12:14:15-EST
From: Greg.Glass@CMU-CS-CAD
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: Writing Graphics Pixels
I have been writting some graphics primitives for the color card and
find that most of the execution time is spent inside INT 10H writing
pixels. I have a microsoft program that does this much faster and
assume that they must be bypassing DOS for this operation. Before I go
ahead and do this I was wandering if anyone else had done this
already? Or does someone want to work on this with me?
Greg
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 18 Dec 83 1:39-PST
Date: 16 Dec 83 15:49:02-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!cires!nbires!milo!zhahai @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Z-80 and CP/M Boards Query
Has anyone out there used the "Big Blue" Z-80 card from QuCeS (or QCS or
Quality Computer Services)?
There seem to be several Z-80 boards for using cp/m-80 (tm DRI) software on
the IBM PC and clones. This includes the DS-1 (and DS-2) from BYAD, the
Baby Blue (from ???), the Big Blue from QCS and something from LNW. I am
interested in the Big Blue because it seems to have a good price (seen in
mail order for less than $450), and several additional features:
- Z-80B CPU (presumably running at 4.7 MHZ?)
- 64K ram (dual ported to Z-80 and 8088?)
- serial port, parallel port, battery backed-up clock/calendar
- "hard disk interface"
- software to run CP/M programs under MSDOS
- utilities to access various 5" CP/M disk formats via PC drives
I called QuCeS in New Jersey (201-548-2135 or 800-631-5944) and was told that:
- the serial, parallel, and clock are accessible from either cpu
- the ports are addressed as "alternate ones" (COM2 and LPT2?)
- the Z-80 runs concurrently with the 8088
- the processors can interrupt each other
- the hard disk interface is only for their own disks and is proprietary (not
SASI/SCSI?)
This sounds good, but was largely given as "yes" answers to my questions,
leading me to doubt the technical level of the answers. Thus I appeal to the
net for experiences with this product (or other Z-80 boards). I would like
to use it to run existing CP/M software, as a serial/parallel interface board
for the PC, and perhaps as an I/O coprocessor. Specific questions are:
- How does the 64 KB onboard fit into PC's bus (address, etc.)?
- How does the 8088 access the ports and clock (COM2 compatible, etc.)?
- How does the Z-80 access the ports and clock (I/O addresses)?
- How does the Z-80 start up? PROM?
- Can the processors interrupt each other and how?
- Is the hard disk interface actually SASI, or can it at least be used as
a parallel port if one doesn't get their disks? (I doubt there would
be room onboard for a disk controller, just a Host Adaptor).
- What can the supplied software do/not do?
- How well does it work? Other impressions, kudos, warnings?
Zhahai Stewart
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂20-Dec-83 0204 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #102
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 20 Dec 83 02:02:51 PST
Date: 19 Dec 1983 2248-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #102
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Monday, 19 November 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 102
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
Welcome message
Plot Routines
TEMPEST PC
Disk Drive Bargain
Printing Hex Data
PC card definition query
IBM Personal Computer Seminar Proceedings
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 19 Dec 1983 1738-PST
Subject: Welcome message
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
We have been asked to send out our standard "Welcome to INFO-IBMPC"
message as so many people have joined through bulletin boards or
joined so long ago that perhaps they forgot.
We do encourage further re-distribution of INFO-IBMPC and are particularly
responsive to requests from people at relay sites.
Welcome to Info-IBMPC!
Info-IBMPC is a forum for technical discussion of the IBM Personal
Computer and compatible micro-computers. Info-IBMPC provides a way
for interested members of the ARPANET community to compare notes, ask
questions, and share insights of a technical nature about these
machines. Messages are collected, edited into digests and distributed
as the volume of mail dictates (generally twice a week).
Messages to the list should be addressed to Info-IBMPC at ISIB. All
requests to be added to or deleted from the list, problems, etc.
should be sent to Info-IBMPC-REQUEST at ISIB.
Old digests are archived in <INFO-IBMPC>DIGESTS-83, Q3-DIGESTS-83,
Q2-DIGESTS-83, Q1-DIGESTS-83 and Q34-DIGESTS-82. These files may be
ftp'ed from ISIB by logging in to FTP with username ANONYMOUS,
password GUEST. If you're not directly on the Arpanet the files can
be mailed to you, although there is a limit to the length of a
message.
A library of free software is maintained in [ISIB]<INFO-IBMPC>. The
list of available programs is in <INFO-IBMPC>PROGRAM-LIBRARY.LIST.
Donations of source code are eagerly welcomed (even trivial programs).
Donated programs must be truly free, with no fee or contribution
required or requested.
To donate a program to the library, send a description of the program
along with a copy of the source code to INFO-IBMPC-REQUEST.
Editors:
Dick Gillmann (GILLMANN at ISIB)
Bill Brackenridge (BRACKENRIDGE at ISIB)
Randy Cole (COLE at ISIB)
Info-IBMPC Free Program Library
-------------------------------
The following programs can be FTP'ed from [ISIB]<INFO-IBMPC> using
uername ANONYMOUS, password GUEST to FTP.
VT52-1.BAS VT52 terminal emulator and ASCII file transfer system.
VT52-2.BAS Host end of file transfer in PCFTP.*. Requires 96K.
VT52-1,2 are for Versions 1,2 of the IBM Async. Comm.
Support package, respectively. Requires interpreted
BASIC. (Gillmann@ISIB,8/2/82, G.Dair@SU-SCORE,11/22/83).
FILEHEX.ASM Dumps diskette files in hex. Mainly useful as a simple
model for new assembly language programmers.
(Gillmann@ISIB, 8/2/82).
SWAP.ASM Switches between monochrome display and graphics display.
(BillW@SRI-KL, 8/14/82). Converted to standard IBM DOS
assembler format by Brackenridge@ISIB (10/23/82).
MODEM2 File transfer system and H19/Z19 emulator. Full checksum
(big) and retransmit of bad blocks supported. For description
and pointers to the source files, see Info-IBMPC Digest V1 #9.
The Modem program is also kept in <INFO-IBMPC>MODEM.*.
(BillW@SRI-KL, 8/23/82).
UNIX.TERMINAL These programs implement a terminal simulator that works
(big) well with UNIX systems. The main part of the program is
written in BASIC, with a small assembly language program.
The Basic compiler is required. The Unix side of the ftp
is written in C. Submitted by BillW@SRI-KL. Author is
hplabs!hao!menlo70!sytek!zehntel!teklabs!charliep@Berkeley
(Charlie Perkins, 10/11/82).
WHETST.FOR Whetstone Fortran benchmark program. See H.J. Curnow and
B.A. Wichmann, "A Synthetic Benchmark", Computer J.,
V19 #1, Feb. 1976, pp. 43-49. Current timing list in
WHETST.ANSWERS. (Gillmann@ISIB, 11/4/82).
CANNON.BAS Cannon aiming game. Good sound effects. Requires BASICA.
(Gillmann@ISIB, 12/12/82).
DEFEND.BAS Defend cities from descending missiles. Requires joystick,
Game Control Adaptor, Color/Graphics card and BASICA.
(Gillmann@ISIB, 12/12/82).
CONVERT.BAS Converts binary to and from ASCII .HEX files. CONVERT
gives you instructions if you ask. (CSL.JLH.Celoni@SU-SCORE,
3/3/83)
NEWBELL.ASM Shortens the bell (by intercepting some ROM code) until
the next boot. You can change the bell's length and
frequency. (CSL.JLH.Celoni@SU-SCORE, 3/3/83)
NUMBER.C Puts line numbers on an ASCII file. Written in
Lattice C. (schoff@ddn1, 4/16/83)
VDSK.ASM The electronic disc from the DOS 2.0 manual. To use,
(big) assemble it and convert it into a .COM file. Install
it in your CONFIG.SYS file. It will appear as D:.
(SHOLAR@CMU-CS-C)
VARVDISK.ASM The electronic disk from the DOS 2.0 manual has been
REBOOT.ASM modified and enhanced in this version. The size of it
SETVDISK.BAS is made variable. See V2 #79 for details.
SETMEM.BAS (joel@rochester, 10/20/83)
KERMIT Kermit is a checksumed file transfer system. It also
(big) includes a partial H19/Z19 terminal emulator. There are
versions for TOPS-20, Unix, the PC, Apple II, CP/M, etc.
The full KERMIT library is in [COLUMBIA-20]<KERMIT>.
Contact INFO-KERMIT-REQUEST@COLUMBIA-20 to be placed on
on the INFO-KERMIT mailing list. (CC.FDC@COLUMBIA-20, 8/8/83)
SCROLLK.ASM As described in May 83's Softalk PC, SCROLLK becomes part
of DOS and implements the Scroll Lock key as a toggle.
When in scroll lock mode, the scrolling stops after 23
continuous lines of output, left-shift resumes scrolling
(until the next stop), and right-shift resumes scrolling
only as long as key remains down; when not in scroll lock
mode, scrolling doesn't stop. (JLH.Celoni@SU-SIERRA, 7/11/83)
DVORAK86.ASM As described in May 83's BYTE, DVORAK86 becomes part of
BIOS and implements a Dvorak keyboard. To use, assemble it
and convert to a .COM file. Run it once and it will stay
resident. To invoke Dvorak keyboard use Ctl-Enter, to return
to normal keyboard Ctl-Esc. (Brackenridge@ISIB, 7/31/83)
PLOT.ASM This is an assembly language line drawing package that
can be incorporated into assembly language graphics programs.
(MFarber@UDel-Relay, 8/15/83)
CHMOD.BAS This BASIC program creates a file CHMOD.COM on the default
drive. CHMOD is a 'change file mode' command for DOS 2.0,
It changes the file modes readonly, hidden, system, and
archive. (harpo!floyd!whuxlb!jph@UCB-VAX, 8/22/83)
CLEAR.ASM This program clears the screen from DOS. It will do it in
any graphics or alpha mode. In the graphics modes, the
DOS 2.00 CLS will fill the screen with bars; this doesn't.
(Mfarber@UDel-Relay, 8/25/83)
SWITCHAR.ASM This program that will either report or set the SWITCHAR
from the DOS command level. Requires DOS 2.0.
(Mfarber@UDel-Relay, 8/26/83)
CURPOS.ASM Procedure to position the cursor. Uses Lattice C calling
conventions. (jim@rand-unix, 9/2/83)
SPEAKER.C Routines to use the speaker. Written in (Lattice?) C.
(ihnp4!houxm!hocda!spanky!ka@Ucb-Vax, 9/15/83).
MOWED.ASM Sets the CRT to any mode, including the graphics modes
not settable by the MODE command. (Gillmann@ISIB, 9/18/83).
BUF128.HEX BUF128.HEX is the CONVERTed (from the Info-IBMPC program
library) version of BUF128.EXE, a program which when run
once after boot makes the keyboard type ahead buffer 128 (not
the standard fifteen) characters long. It takes some 800
bytes, works with or without SCROLLK and/or ProKey 2.20,
if you install Prokey last. (Celoni@SU-SCORE, 11/5/83).
KB←FIX.BAS LOAD this BASIC program with the normal IBM BASIC, run it,
BUF160.ASM and it produces KB←FIX.COM. When run, KB←FIX.COM expands
the type ahead buffer. Written by John Socha for the
Socha's Toolbox column in Softalk for the IBM PC, Nov 83.
BUF160.ASM is the assembly language source equivalent.
(jim@rand-unix, 11/22/83).
FORTH A public domain implementation of FORTH 83 is available
(big) on the Arpanet SIMTEL20 system in the directory
MICRO:<CPM.FORTH-83>. Runs only under CP/M-86. Get the file
F83-READ.ME for a list of the files and what each contains.
(BEC.SHAPIN@USC-ECL, 11/25/83).
SERIAL.ASM Serial I/O routine which inserts itself into memory
SERIAL.DOC and changes the ROM bios interrupt vectors for RS232 I/O
to use interrupt driven I/O. (BillW@SRI-KL 12/3/83)
LIST.PAS A simple address label printing program. It is
written in MicroSoft Pascal and should be simple
to change for printers other then the FX-80.
(Greg.Glass@CMU-CS-CAD, 12/12/83)
SCREEN.ASM Screen management program from Nov 83 Byte. It
allows you to reset the foreground and background
colors while in other programs, and to change modes.
(gjg@cmu-cs-cad, 12/18/83)
-------
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 83 20:33:51 EST
Subject: Plot Routines
From: Manny Farber <manny%udel-eecis3.udeecis@udel-relay.arpa>
To: info-pc%usc-isib.arpa@udel-relay.arpa
A long time ago I sent in PLOT.ASM, which contains a PROC to draw
a LINE, and a PROC to PSET. You can use either the ROM-BIOS or
PSET to plot points for LINE. The PSET is limited to plotting
points in Hi-res; it would require changing an OR to a NOT and
adding an AND to make it clear points.
Any questions, manny@udel-eevax3
Manny
[ PLOT.ASM is listed in the INFO-PC program library. I wouldn't have
run this message except I forgot who the original request was from. I
hope whoever asked for it in the first place sees this -- ed]
------------------------------
Date: 18-Dec-83 16:11 PST
From: William Daul - Tymshare Inc. Cupertino CA <WBD.TYM@OFFICE-2>
Subject: TEMPEST PC
IBM's Federal Systems Division demonstrated a working model of a
preciously unannounced version of the company's best-selling PC -- an
RFI/EMI-resistant model reconfigured to meet TEMPEST specifications --
at this year's Association of Old Crows annual meeting in Virginia
Beach, Va. The new machine is identical to the low-end consumer model
PC except it meets NACSIM specification 5100A. Although the machine
had not been formally announced, IBM booth personnel at AOC said they
are ready to take orders. Price is at least $6,975, twice that of a
conventional PC; delivery is quoted at 30 days after receipt of order.
The 16-bit computer is produced by IBM Entry Systems Division, Boca
Raton, Fl., and shipped intact to Federal Systems Decision's facility
in Gaithersburg, Md., where a special RFI/EMI enclosure and shielded
cables are attached. Fiber optic cabling was considered, but
rejected. Marketing is limited to government agencies through FSD's
national federal marketing managers in Gaithersburg or through IBM FSD
representatives. Booth personnel said evaluation units had been sent
to unnamed government agencies (probably including NSA), but no orders
had been received. The TEMPEST model PC is not on the GSA catalog at
IBM's request, they added, but officials said they expected it to be
on NSA's next preferred product list.
The heart of the computer is five cards: two for asynchronous data
transmission (including one for a serial printer, although IBM is not
offering such a printer), one for system network
architecture/synchronous data line control (SNA/SDLC), one for the
monochromatic-only display, and one to control the floppy disk drives.
The computer contains 192K bytes of RAM expandable to 256K bytes, and
runs on all IBM PC software, according to booth personnel. This PC is
smaller than the enhanced versions of the IBM PC announced in October,
and is likely aimed at applications in local area networks (LANs) tied
in to large mainframe computers to handle highly classified data.
FROM: DEFENSE ELECTRONICS Dec. 1983
------------------------------
Date: 19 Dec 1983 09:43:50 PST
From: SUNSHINE@USC-ISIF
Subject: Disk drive bargain
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
I noticed an ad in the Dec Byte from The Great Salt Lake Co,
from where else, Salt Lake City. They will sell you PC drives of various
sorts for anywhere from $210 (the MPI B52 DS/DD) on up, including some
half heights (Shugart, Tandon) for $220 in pairs. The nifty part is
they will give you a trade in of $75 per SS/DD drive or $175 per pair
of DS/DD drives returned to them. You send them COD for that
amount after you order your new ones. Has anyone dealt with these
fellows? Are they for real? Sounds like a good deal for upgrading disks.
You can phone them at 800-545-2633 for details.
-------
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 83 16:35 PST
From: pateccles.es@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: printing hex data
To: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
Does anyone know how to send hex data to a printer? Print commands in the
BASICA environment sends out the character representation of the hex value.
The PRINT command in the OS sends out the hex data in a file but appends what
looks like a file header to the data. The file header plus the hex data is
sent to the printer in data monitor mode. How do I send just the hex data in
my file?
------------------------------
Date: 19 Dec 1983 17:21:04 PST
From: MOCKAPETRIS@USC-ISIF
Subject: PC card definition query
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIF
I am looking for a definition of the allowable dimensions of cards that
plug into the PC. Has IBM released such a thing? Bus conventions would
also be helpful.
-------
------------------------------
Date: 19 Dec 1983 1724-PST
Subject: IBM Personal Computer Seminar Proceedings
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: info-ibmpc
The following are excerpts from IBM Personal Computer Seminar
Proceedings "The Publication for Software Developers of the IBM
Personal Computers" Published by International Business Machines
Corporation Entry Systems Division. This is Volume 1, Number 3.
No copyright notice is given.
We came by this through PCjr magazine. A local software developer
here who is a regular advertiser in PC magazine refused to take
advertising space in this new magazine until he was sure his
software would run on the PCjr. The staff at PCjr sent him this
publication in hopes of convincing him to purchase space.
I can't understand what possessed me to stay up all night typing
this in over the objections of a nearly disastrous PARITY CHECK
2. Much of the material here will be in the Technical Reference
manual, but who knows when we will ever see one. This is an
important document, not particularly for its content, as we will
all be able to take apart our PCjrs in another month or so when
we take delivery, but because it exists at all, and IBM makes
quite clear what "IBM compatibility" really means.
If anyone has issues 1, 2 or later please let us know. If anyone
knows how to get on IBM's list of chosen developers, I would like
to know that as well. There was no author or address other than
"Entry Systems Division".
As this publication is thirty pages of closely printed notes and
extensive diagrams I can only give a summary. I have left out a
few details and have tried to mark my editorializing accordingly.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The IBM Entry Systems Division is pleased to provide the
Proceedings of the IBM Personal Computer seminar, designed for
independent developers of software for the IBM Personal Computer.
The purpose of these proceedings is to aid you in your software
development efforts by providing relevant information about new
product announcements and enhancements to existing products......
PURPOSE
What is our purpose in putting out a publication such as this? it
is quite simple.
The IBM Personal Computer family is a resounding success. We've
had a lot of help in achieving this success, and much of it came
from the independent software developers.
As you proceed with your software development, do you at times
wish for some bit of information or direction that would make the
job easier? Information which IBM can provide? This is the type
of information we want to make available to you.
TOPICS
The following list gives a general indication of the topics we
plan to cover in future seminars and include in the IBM Personal
Computer Seminar Proceedings:
o Information exchange forum -- letters to the editor format
o Development tools -- languages, database offerings
o New devices -- capacities and speeds
o System capacities -- disk and memory
o Enhancements in maintenance releases
o Tips and techniques
o New system software
o Hardware design parameters
o Tips on organizing and writing documents for clear and easy reading
o Changes to terms and conditions
Comparisons between DOS 2.1, 2.0 and 1.1
[DOS 2.1 appears to differ from DOS 2.0 only in features necessary
to support the PCjr. -ed]
DOS 2.1 was written to take advantage of the differences in the
PCjr, such as:
o minimum memory configuration
o IBM PC compact printer
o diskette characteristics
o BASIC interface
Thus all DOS commands are supported on the 64KB entry environment
of the PCjr.
IBM PCjr Architecture
o 8088 Microprocessor
The 8088 Microprocessor in the PCjr is the same microprocessor
used in the IBM Personal Computer and XT. The 8088 runs at the
same speed in all three machines.
o 64KB Read Only Memory (ROM)
The system board contains 64KB ROM. The ROM contains BIOS, power
on diagnostics, customer level diagnostics, cassette Basic, and
the keyboard adventure program that teaches how to use the 62-key
keyboard.
o 64KB RAM and 64KB Memory and Display Expansion
The PCjr comes with 64KB RAM. The system board also has a
connector for a 64KB memory and display expansion option, which
increases the total RAM to 128KB. The 128KB of RAM is shared
between the processor and video circuitry.
o 128KB Cartridge interface
The PCjr has a 128KB cartridge interface to allow ROM programs to
be inserted in the system.
o Video Graphics Subsystem
The functions of the IBM PC Color/Graphics adapter have been
moved, with some enhancements to the IBM PCjr subsystem.
o Sound Subsystem
Four sound inputs are available on the PCjr sound subsystem -- a
complex sound generator, 8253 timer sound, cassette audio input
and audio input from the I/O channel.
o Game adapter
Comes standard joystick extra, compatible with PC.
o Serial Port
The serial port is compatible with the PC at card two address
(2F8H). The serial port will support the following speeds:
-- 4800 bits per second transmitting
-- 1200 bps for receiving with overlapped keyboard operation
-- 4800 bps for receiving with no keyboard overlap
The transmission rate divisors are different from the PC because the PCjr
uses an input clock of 1.7895 MHz.
o Keyboard Interface
Consists of infrared receiver or cable interface. This signal
causes a non maskable interrupt (NMI) to the 8088 which then
deserializes the data to obtain the scan code data. [ They must have
saved themselves 35 cents production cost on this crock! -ed]
o Modem and Diskette Interface
The internal modem is 300 bps Bell 103 compatible with auto
answer auto dial capability. It is direct connect and the serial
port is at card one address (3F8H).
A single half hight diskette can be installed on the PCjr.
Because the PCjr has no DMA controller, diskette operations can
not be overlapped with keyboard or asynchronous communication
operations!
o Nine level Interrupt
The PCjr provides nine levels of interrupt. All but three are
used on the system board for diskette, modem, serial port,
vertical retrace, timer, and keyboard operations. The remaining
three are available on the I/O expansion bus.
o I/O expansion bus
Contains "many of the same lines as the PC and XT I/O channel".
VIDEO GRAPHICS SUBSYSTEM
Unlike the PC and XT the PCjr includes the video system on the
system board. This is an enhanced version of the Color/Graphics
adapter.
The 64KB RAM on the system board is shared between the processor
and video every 1.1 micro seconds. Two fetches are made for the
display and one for the processor. Each fetch is 8 bits wide.
This is sufficient to support 40 column alpha, 160 X 200 16 color
graphics, 320 x 200 4 color graphics and 640 x 200 2 color
graphics.
If a 64Kb memory and display expansion option is installed, the
memory is reconfigured so that even bytes reside on the system
board and odd on the expansion card. This allows the video
adapter to fetch 16 bits at a time. This supports 80 column
alpha, 320 x 200 16 color graphics, 640 x 400 4 color graphics.
Logic has been added so that reads and writes directed at B8000H
will appear to be the same as a PC color/graphics card.
The PCjr also has CRT page register so any 16KB region can be
mapped to display memory. This will aid in animation when coupled
with the vertical retrace interrupt.
The PCjr has a custom Video Gate Array (VGA) which contains a 16
X 4 color palette. This allows a program to quickly change
colors on the screen by changing the palette rather than
changing memory. The palette also controls the border color.
The video subsystem supports RGB, composite video, and TV connector.
SOUND SUBSYSTEM
The nucleus of the sound subsystem is an analog multiplexor which
allows one of four different sound sources to be amplified and
sent to the audio outputs. The sound sources are:
Complex sound generator chip SN76496N -- three programmable
frequencies can make chords as well as white noise. Each of the
sources can be attenuated to 16 levels.
8253 timer chip is compatible with the PC and can be used as a
sound source.
The other two sources are the I/O expansion channel and cassette
input. Data and voice can be stored on the cassette. The I/O
channel allows easy addition of things like speech synthesizers
or telephone answering machines which can use the audio amplifier
and speaker already attached to the system.
ROM CARTRIDGE INTERFACE
128K of ROM can be accessed by the cartridge interface. Each slot
can hold 64KB. It doesn't matter which slot is used as the
cartridge configures where it will be in the memory map.
Inserting a cartridge causes a system reboot. Two signals in the
cartridge interface called - BASE 1 ROM IN CARTRIDGE and BASE 2
ROM IN CARTRIDGE allow the system ROM to be overridden by the
code provided in the cartridge. This feature can be used to gain
control at system boot time and completely replace DOS.
I/O EXPANSION CHANNEL
The expansion channel is available on the right side of the
system unit. Expansion modules can be daisy chained and screwed
together so that they appear to be part of the system unit.
Subject to power restrictions pretty much anything that can be
added to a PC or XT can be added to the PCjr expansion slot.
There are only three interrupt request lines brought out to the
expansion slot as the other six are reserved for the system
chassis.
The main difference between the PCjr I/O bus and the PC is that
the PCjr has no DMA. You can add DMA to the PCjr in an expansion
unit and even run the onboard diskette adapter in a DMA mode
using the DACK0 and DRQ0 lines.
[ The paper goes on to give great technical detail on how to add
external DMA capability. Suffice it to say it can be done and
will be documented in the technical reference manual when it is
released -ed]
The I/O bus also extends the audio line mentioned in the sound
section above. It also has provisions for adding wait state so
the PCjr could be connected to an expansion cabinet.
[ The bus appears to be an improvement over the PC/XT bus -ed]
IBM PCjr COMPATIBILITY
All PC BIOS calls are preserved, but of course the code is not
identical so don't depend on any absolute addresses being the
same.
Programs running in RAM will run slower than on a PC or XT.
Programs running in ROM will run faster. Diskette performance
will be slower. IBM advises the programmer not to depend on
instruction execution timing. If you need to time short intervals
use the system timer.
IBM warns that estimation of memory usage is a complex matter.
The display subsystem can use varying amounts of memory depending
on the application. Cartridge Basic vs Cassette Basic vs Disk or
Advanced Basic complicate the issue further as does the use of
DOS vs stand alone cartridge software.
The cordless keyboard can generate all of the scan codes
generated by the standard 83 key keyboard.
The highest level of compatibility to interface to keyboards is
through BIOS interrupt 16H (read keystroke). Below that level is
risky since there are hardware differences between the PCjr
keyboard and PC keyboard. The PCjr system uses the nonmaskable
interrupt (NMI) to deserialize the scan codes and pass them to
interrupt 48H for compatible mapping to the 83 key format.
Interrupt level 9 remains a compatible interface for 83-key scan
code handleing. It is not recommended to replace interrupt level
9 even though a high degree of compatibility is maintained. If
necessary analyze this architecture carefully.
COMPATIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT
[following is verbatim modulo my typing errors]
This article summarizes the compatibility guidelines for
application development. IBM suggests that you use these
guidelines in your program development. These are guidelines
only. They are not guarantees to ensure compatibility nor are
prohibitions of any kind. You may write a program in any manner
you wish. However, if you follow these guidelines, your program
will have a much better chance of running correctly on the
different systems in the IBM Personal Computer family.
This article emphasizes how the PCjr affects application programs.
For the purpose of simpler notation all references to the PC also
apply to the XT. One distinction between the PC and XT appears at
the end of the article.
[ I am abbreviating to PC and XT I am sure to the horror of the
IBM legal staff. I also sometimes refuse to capitalize a few
IBMisms -ed]
1. High Level Languages
IBM-supported languages - BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL and Pascal are
the best choice for writing compatible programs. IBM will make
every effort to ensure that these high level languages continue
to work on all systems in the PC family.
The Pascal and FORTRAN compilers will not run on the PCjr because
there is not enough memory. However programs that were compiled
will run on the PCjr, as long as they do not exceed the memory
capacity of PCjr. This means you can do program development on an
IBM PC, and then transfer the resulting program to an PCjr.
A high level language program must be well-behaved. If a program
directly uses features of the hardware, that program may not be
transportable. For example, if you use hardware specific commands
like IN, OUT, PEEK, and POKE, or you use assembly language
subroutines, you should follow the assembly language rules given
below.
Any program that requires precise timing information should
obtain it through a DOS or language interface (e.g. TIME$ or
TIMER in BASIC). If the program requires greater precision it
should use the assembly techniques shown below. Using program
loops for timing may prevent a program from migrating to an
otherwise compatible system with different performance.
Because system memory is shared with display memory in the IBM
PCjr, a program in PCjr RAM will probably run slower than the
same program running on the IBM PC. This means that all timing
dependent programs intended for both the IBM PC and the IBM PCjr
must use external timing information.
2 ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE PROGRAMMING
Assembly language programs should perform I/O through ROM BIOS or
through DOS function calls.
A program should use software interrupts to access these
functions. This removes absolute addressing from the program, and
only the interrupt number is required.
The IBM PCjr has retained the physical address of most of the IBM
PC's ROM BIOS entry points, but your program should not rely on
them.
The BIOS and the operating system can hide hardware differences.
As new devices are added to the system, IBM may modify the ROM
BIOS to maintain a consistent programming environment.
For example the IBM PCjr does not have a DMA memory controller.
if your program directly controls the diskette adapter, and with
it the DMA controller, it won't work on the PCjr. However, the
diskette BIOS routine (interrupt 13H) has the same calling
interface. A program that uses the BIOS interrupt for the
diskette will still run correctly.
At system initialization time, the ROM BIOS builds I/O parameter
tables for some of the devices. (The diskette and video adapters
are two examples.) If you want to modify a BIOS table for use by
your program you should first make a copy of the table ,make your
changes in the copy, and then change the vector table to point to
the modified table. When your program finishes you should restore
the vector table to its original value. This will maintain a
consistent structure for BIOS, and will allow your program to
restore the system correctly before it terminates.
IBM has changed the BIOS tables in support of the PCjr. For
example, some of the BIOS video parameters dealing with
horizontal and vertical timings have changed. Unless you copy the
existing table before making changes, you may unintentionally
change other portions of the table.
ROM BIOS and DOS do not provide for all devices and functions.
Following is a list of the allowable I/O operations, that IBM
will attempt to keep compatible in future systems.
A program can control the sound by using port 61H and the sound
channel of the Timer/Counter (see below)
-- A program can control the 8253 Timer/Counter channels 0 and 2,
ports 40H, 42H and 43H. Under no circumstances should a program
change the value in port 41H of the IBM PC, since this channel of
the timer controls dynamic memory refresh.
The IBM PCjr uses a different method of refreshing memory, and
channel 1 is used for extended timing and keyboard
deserialization. Channel 0 provides the time of day interrupt,
and can also be used for timing short intervals. Channel 2 of the
timer/counter is the output for the speaker and cassette ports.
This channel may also be used for timing short intervals,
although it can't interrupt at the end of the period. The PCjr
uses the same input clock frequency to these timer channels as
does the IBM PC. Assembly language programs that require the
measurement of short intervals should use these timers.
-- A Program can use port 201H to control the game control adapter.
This applies to both the IBM PC and the PCjr.
Note: Programs should use the
timer, rather than a program loop,
to determine the delay on a
resistive input.
-- You can use the video status port (3BAH or 3DAH) to determine
horizontal and vertical retrace times.
The PCjr video controller is significantly different in its
implementation than the IBM pC Color/Graphics adapter. This means
that the programming for special display effects such as
animation, will be different for the PCjr. In most cases the PCjr
has extended capabilities to help the programmer. These
facilities are unique to the PCjr, and are not available on other
IBM personal computers.
-- You can program the asynchronous communications adapter and the 8250
chip for interrupt driven communication. You should use ROM BIOS for
the initialization of the 8250 -- baud rate, parity stop bits and data bits.
The input clock on the IBM PCjr is not identical to the input
clock on the IBM PC. If you use BIOS for initialization, you are
guaranteed that the correct baud rate will be set. If you set it
yourself, it may be incorrect on the IBM PCjr. All other
functions are identical on the PCjr.
-- A program can use the Interrupt Mask Register (IMR), port 21H to
selectively mask and unmask the hardware features.
The IBM PcjR has maintained all of these hardware compatibility
requirements.
o Absolute Memory Locations
-- Interrupt vectors (0H) -- A program may change the interrupt
vectors to point at different processing routines. When a program
changes an interrupt vector, it should retain the original value.
If the interrupt (hardware or software) is not directed toward
this device handler, the request should be passed on to the
original interrupt handler. You can build a chain of interrupt
handlers in this fashion.
-- Video display buffers (B0000H and B8000H) -- For each mode of
operation defined by the video display BIOS, the memory map will
remain the same. For example, the bit map for 320x200 medium
addressability graphics mode of the color/graphics adapter will be
retained on any future card that supports that mode. If the bit
map is modified, a different mode number will be used.
All IBM pCjr video modes that are identical to the Color/Graphics
modes have an identical bit map and an identical BIOS interface.
The new PCjr display modes have new mode values assigned to them
(Refer to the discussion of the COLOR statement in the IBM PCjr
BASIC manual, page 4-63). Notice that the PCjr hardware provides
a display paging mechanism that lets your program write display
information into segment B8000H, even though the refresh buffer
is located in the system memory. This feature lets you do direct
display control in your program identically on both the IBM PC
and PCjr.
-- ROM BIOS data area (40:0) -- Any variables in this data area will
retain their current definitions as long as it is reasonable to
do so. However, it is possible that someday a variable may
someday no longer have meaning in the system, and IBM may use the
data area it occupies for other purposes. Therefore you should
access all ROM BIOS data variables through BIOS calls and not by
direct addressing.
The ROM BIOS data area has changed in the IBM PCjr to include
some new variables. All the old variables have retained their
previous meanings.
o Timing Dependencies
A program that requires timing information should use either the
time-of-day clock or the timing channels of the 8253 timer. The
input frequency to the timer will be maintained at 1.19 MHz,
providing a constant time reference. Program loops should be
avoided.
The IBM PCjr timer/counter has identical characteristics to those of the
IBM PC.
o Copy Protection
Programs which use copy protection schemes should use the ROM
BIOS diskette calls to read and verify the diskette.
You can use any method to create the diskette. However you should
also consider how you are going to modify a large number of
replicated diskettes if you have to add a copy protection
methodology.
The verifying program can look at the diskette controller status
bytes in the ROM BIOS data area for further information about any
embedded errors.
The IBM PCjr uses a diskette controller similar to the one used
on the IBM Personal Computer. However, since the PCjr has no DMA,
the diskette programming is done differently. ROM BIOS
effectively masks these differences. Notice also that a copy
protection scheme that relies on instruction timing (rather than
diskette rotation timing) will not work correctly on the PCjr.
o Program Relocatibility
DOS programs must be relocatable. They should be insensitive to
the size of DOS or their own load address.
[ I wonder if Microsoft has fixed the FORMAT command so that it is now
relocatable? -ed]
A program's dynamic memory requirement should be known, and
should be contiguous with the load module. Don't assume that all
of memory is available to your program -- DOS 2.1 has memory
allocation function calls that you can use. Also you should
verify that your load module has sufficient memory in which to
operate.
3. Machine Sensitive Code
o Programs may use machine specific features, with the
understanding that they will then be machine dependent. This may
be a very reasonable choice for a program that desires the
ultimate in performance or special effects. However, such a
program will no longer be transportable to other machines in the IBM
Personal Computer family.
o You can write a program that uses machine specific features and
still retains its compatibility. You can do this by writing the program for
all types of machines that you intend to use it on. The program can test
to determine which machine it is running on, and then configure itself
appropriately. IBM has embedded a machine identification value in the
ROM BIOS which is different for each machine:
At absolute address FFFFE
FFH IBM PC
FEH IBM XT
FDH IBM PCjr
o You can also use this same technique for I/O adapters in the
system. The BIOS call which determines machine type can also tell
you what devices are attached to the system.
In the future, if IBM adds new machines and I/O devices to the family,
IBM will continue to provide methods for determining the specific machine
type or I/O feature.
-------
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
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∂18-Dec-83 2041 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:CC.KEN@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA New IBM PC Kermit available
Received: from SU-SCORE by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 18 Dec 83 20:41:07 PST
Received: from COLUMBIA-20.ARPA by SU-SCORE.ARPA with TCP; Sun 18 Dec 83 20:40:47-PST
Date: Sun 18 Dec 83 23:41:00-EST
From: Ken Rossman <cc.Ken@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: New IBM PC Kermit available
To: SU-Bboards@SU-SCORE.ARPA
Address: 716 Watson Labs, 612 W.115th St, NY, NY 10025
Phone: (212) 280-3703
There is a new version of the IBM PC Kermit available on SCORE and SIERRA.
Details in Info-Kermit archives. Questions, problems to Bug-Kermit.
-------
∂21-Dec-83 1943 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #103
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 21 Dec 83 19:43:37 PST
Date: 21 Dec 1983 1756-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #103
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 21 December 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 103
This Week's Editor: Dick Gillmann
Today's Topics:
How to hang BASIC 2.0
printing hex data
Color Card Information
Cheap Compilers
Loading Problem - Solution
apl load problems
Extended Display Adaptors and Monitors
Question about DOS int 21
Common Lisp for the IBM PC
Non-IBM PC boards
Languages, IBM-PC compatibles
Re: Great Salt Lake Computer Co.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 18 Dec 83 11:51:45-PST (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!rochester!jay @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: How to hang BASIC 2.0
A friend of mine just discovered a bug in advanced basic 2.0 for the
IBM PC. He wanted to print out the character chr$(16) (triangle pointing
right), and so entered ALT-16 inside a quoted string. As soon as he
hit return, the computer hung. It did respond to interrupt driven things
(i.e. keyboard, print screen) after that, but to do anything else it
required a reboot.
I'd be interested in hearing if the same thing happens to others. Anybody
want to try it?
-Jay Weber
{..!seismo!rochester!jay, jay@rochester.arpa}
------------------------------
Date: Tuesday 20 December 1983 12:18:58 EDT
From: Chris Schmandt <cms@mit-pamela>
Subject: printing hex data
You can send hex data to the printer as follows:
(I assume that you want the actual bits sent, as opposed
to printing "A" for bits "1010")
From basic:
lprint chr$(hex←value);
the ; prevents a <cr>
chr$ converts an integer to equivalent character
Alternatively, put the hex value in the DL register and use
DOS function call 5. All DOS function calls are documented in
an appendix to the DOS manual.
------------------------------
Date: Tue 20 Dec 83 10:32:18-PST
From: Gio <Wiederhold@SRI-AI.ARPA>
Subject: Color Card Information
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I obtained the following information in order to help me make a purchase
decision:
Planttronics - PC+ products was in Frederick MD now in Milpitas CA
4 colors High res. (640 pixels/line) 16 colors med.res. (320 p/l)
200 lines per screen ( ie. single frame, as IBM ) list $560
32 K on board , not usable otherwise, parallel printer port.
Tecmar Graphics master - Cleveland OH
16 colors High res 4 colors extra high res (720p/l, 480 lines)
Extra high res is prob beyond most monitors, and the extra lines
may not be visible). 400 lines per screen. Comments on flickering
even when not scrolling were not supported by the one user we talked
to. Has 128K, which is usable when the card is not otherwise used,
when it is used for low resolution it might be usable by memory-disk
simulation techniques.
Also simulates IBM monochrome and produces in that mode crisper
characters. $690 list and in relatively short supply - being
purchased by people who are upgrading the IBM monochrome card since
it can also drive the IBM monochrome display.
External NTSC sync for mixing available.
Note
you get what you store:
IBM 640 x 200 x 1color = 320 x 200 x 2↑2 colors - 128Kbits = 16K bytes
Plantronics 640 x 200 x 2↑2 = 320 x 200 x 4↑2 - 256Kbits - 32K bytes
Tecmar 640 x 400 x 4↑2 = other modes = 1Mbits = 128K bytes.
gio
-------
------------------------------
Received: FROM USC-ISI.ARPA BY USC-ISIB.ARPA WITH TCP ; 20 Dec 83 18:32:01 PST
Date: 20 Dec 1983 1831-PST
Subject: Cheap Compilers
From: Laurence I. Press <SWG.LPRESS@USC-ISI>
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISI
I am trying to get pointers to low-cost (under$100) language
processors -- those that could be afforded by folks who just wanted
to play around. Send me your favorites (with commentary if you are
up for it) and I'll post the combined list.
Larry Press
-------
------------------------------
Date: 19 Dec 83 13:41:36-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!hou2g!stekas @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Loading Problem - Solution
After receiving suggestions and performing some experiments I've
found out how to control the order in which segments are loaded.
Here are all the facts you need to get things loaded where you want.
1) The most important factor in determining where a "segment" will
be placed by LINK is its "class". LINK allocates memory to
"classes" in the order in which they are encountered.
2) When LINK encounters a segment, it places it after previously
encountered segments of the same class. If LINK hasn't seen
the class before, the class is placed after the next most
recently encountered class.
3) Although the manual states that segments are loaded in the order
encountered don't assume that this order is the same as the source
listing. X.OBJ modules generated by ASM (and probably anything else)
begin with an ALPHABETICAL table. When LINK goes through this
table it processes segments in alphabetical order, NOT in the
order in which they are assembled.
So the simplest way to get two segments (in the same .ASM) file to
be loaded sequentially is to put them in the same class and give
them alphabetically sequential names.
Thanks to the many helpful netters,
Jim
------------------------------
Date: Wednesday, 21 December 1983 02:07 est
From: EPayne.ADL@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: apl load problems
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I am trying to find a fix to the problem of loading apl on a pc with
640k of memory. It seems to choke on this as I now get a fatal open
error with my machine full of memory. Everything seemed to work fine
with less memory.
--Ed Payne--
------------------------------
Date: 19 Dec 83 14:41:01-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!eagle!mhuxl!ulysses!princeton!eosp1!robison @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Extended Display Adaptors and Monitors
The USI multidisplay card supports flicker-free scrolling.
If you are going to do much WP, or use any program that scrolls
a lot, you should seriously consider getting this card, or some
other card that also is flicker free. The difference to the eye
is amazing.
The USI also has twice as many pages for color memory. You can use
it to display on a both color and mono monitors (but only one at
a time).
USI availability has been peculiar. It's discount and list prices
have been gradually rising since about August. I had a very hard time
buying one for under $400 in November.
- Keremath, care of:
Robison
decvax!ittvax!eosp1
or: allegra!eosp1
------------------------------
Date: 20 Dec 83 22:32:32-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!ut-sally!cyb-eng!shell!starr @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Question about DOS int 21
Is there something which prevents DOS function 21 from being
called recursively?
For example, let's say function 21 calls function A. I replace
function A with my own routine. Within function A, I need to use
a facility in function 21, so I invoke it via an interrupt 21.
After invoking function 21 from within function A, I am returned
to function A (as I should be). Function A cannot seem to perform
a proper return back to function 21, though (where it was
originally called from).
Perhaps I am doing something wrong, as this problem is more
complicated than presented above (i.e. when interrupt 21 invokes
(my) function A, and function A invokes int 21, int 21 reinvokes
function A... but I think I am protected against internal (func-
tion A, specifically) recursion problems).
Can anyone help? I have been struggling with this for several
days. My routine A works peachy until I invoke int 21.
P.S. I am using DOS 2.0, but want this to work under lower
versions too. Please respond via mail.
Thanks,
RF Starr
[It has been noted before in this journal that DOS calls are not recursively
callable. I believe from discussions the problem is that DOS doesn't use
the caller's stack for temporary storage, but I have no first hand experience
with this problem -ed]
------------------------------
Date: 21 December 1983 08:37 EST
From: John A. Teeter <KALA @ MIT-ML>
Subject: Common Lisp for the IBM PC
To: info-ibmpc @ USC-ISIB
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Cambridge MA., December 5 -- Gold Hill Computers Inc., a
software company specializing in Artificial Intelligence
systems, today announced Golden Common LISP (GCLISP) for the
IBM PC.
GCLISP is an extensive subset of Common Lisp, the industry
standard developed by a consortium of experts from the business
and academic communities.
GCLISP offers a full range of data types, including infinite
precision integers, floating point numbers, arrays, character
strings, lists, closures, structures, compiled functions,
co-routines, and symbols. GCLISP supports object oriented
programming with object definition, creation and message
sending mechanisms. The Intel 8087 math coprocessor is used if
present but not necessary. Included are over 500 pages of
comprehensive user documentation conforming to the Common Lisp
documentation standards. On-line documentation and HELP
facilities are included. In addition to the Lisp language,
GCLISP also supports many programming development aids
and operating system extensions. These include:
- A full screen intelligent editor
- Multi-tasking
- A structure definition package (Defstruct's)
- Macros and read macros
- Program debugging and development aids (Trace, Stepper,
Pretty Printer and others)
- Flexible memory allocation and garbage collection
- Stream Oriented Input/Output
The interpreter will be available in March 1984 for $375. It
requires an IBM PC with DOS 2.0 or greater, and 256K bytes of
memory. Gold Hill Computers will release a compiler in the
near future and will support the iAPX286. A series of Power
Tools for Programmers are currently under development. These
are software libraries that enhance the Lisp system and include
graphics, communications, mail, pointing device support, and
interface to other programming languages.
For questions or more information contact:
Gold Hill Computers, Inc.
163 Harvard Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 492-2071
------------------------------
Date: 21 Dec 1983 8:39:23 EST (Wednesday)
From: Greg Maples <maples@mitre>
Subject: Non-IBM PC boards
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
I have been giving some thought to developing my own IBM PC
system, but do NOT wish to pay IBM's ridiculous prices. So far, I
have come across two manufacturers of IBM mother boards, Micro-Mint
and Faraday Electronics. I'm looking toward putting my own system
together as a pseudo-kit, as I wish to use 96tpi drives, use a better
power supply, etc. I'm fully capable of making my own ROMs, and
therefore would like to get a system that has some flexibility to it.
Does anyone have experience with Micro-Mint or Faraday?
If so, can you swap floppy controller chips to move to the new
multi-purpose chips from various sources, or is a proprietary
scheme being used? Is the board well designed or a hog?
Are there any other motherboard sources I've not listed? Can
you get the mother board from IBM? If so, at what price?
Greg Maples (maples at mitre)
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Non-IBM PC boards
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: Greg Maples <maples@MITRE>
cc: info-ibmpc
IBM is officially selling a PC with just the power supply, cabinet,
and motherboard. I forgot the price and whether this includes a keyboard.
We have a Faraday board, but only use it in the electronics lab for
debugging custom built IBM-PC add on boards. All software development
is done on real PCs.
There are significant BIOS differences.
-------
------------------------------
Date: 19 Dec 83 0:54:37-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!logo @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Languages, IBM-PC compatibles
I am considering buying either a Hyperion or a Compaq IBM-PC compatible
computer. The basic rational is minimum price for maximum utility in
an INTERIM machine. I find portability (luggability) attractive.
My primary usages will be terminal emulation, text editing, and messing about
with various programming languages.
I would like
reviews of the Compaq
the Hyperion
comparative reviews of the two
terminal emulator programs (VT100, 1200, up/down load
required, 9600 desired)
Pascal compilers
Modula-2 compilers
pointers to
and reviews of Lisp implementations
Logo implementations
Prolog implementations
pointers to, reviews of,
and information on
implementing Smalltalk (language and system) (I know about the
4 volumes by Goldberg, et. al.)
T (a relatively new Lisp dialect with multiple
inheritance classes)
I would also like suggestions on printers in the $500 ballpark where my main
criteria, in decreasing importance, are: reliability, a good correspondence
quality mode, and a high speed draft mode. Given my druthers, I would like it
to be quiet.
I wish to make my purchase next week if possible, and definitely within the
current tax year (by Dec 31). Please respond by mail.
THANKS!
-David
...!sdcsvax!logo
------------------------------
Date: 21 Dec 1983 1440-PST
Subject: Re: PCs, Languages
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!logo@UCB-VAX, info-ibmpc
Having tried to port a terminal emulator to the Hyperion (and not
having much luck), I feel I should warn you about it. It is NOT
PC compatible, and the Compaq basically is. When I took the Hyperion
apart, I found that it is much different from a PC. It uses a
different UART. There is no 8087 slot. It even has a Z80 in it
for some reason.
But the biggest problem with the Hyperion is the lack of documentation.
There is no equivalent of the Tech. Ref. Manual, or even a list
of DOS calls. You're pretty much stuck with using software sold
by Hyperion and a few selected vendors, although the generic MSDOS
stuff like compilers will work.
Dick
-------
------------------------------
Date: 21 Dec 83 10:19:19 PST (Wednesday)
From: Ciccarelli.pa@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: Re: Great Salt Lake Computer Co.
In-reply-to: SUNSHINE@USC-ISIF's message in Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #102
To: SUNSHINE@USC-ISIF.ARPA
cc: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
I bought a Tandon TM-100-2 (DSDD 5.25" full-height) drive this summer
from Great Salt Lake. They misunderstood my order (I specified Tandon
only) and sent me a compatible REMEX drive instead. I called up and
straightened things out and several weeks later my new Tandon drive
arrived; I then returned the REMEX via UPS with a cover letter
mentioning the situation and both part numbers. This closed the matter.
[The Tandon was brand new (as it should be); I've had no problems
whatsoever with it].
I would buy from them again; delivery time is the only matter in
question as they performed in good faith otherwise (especially shipping
the Tandon drive without requiring that I return the REMEX first). The
deal in Byte sounds good (I do have a SS/DD drive I'd like to
replace...) but count on several weeks delivery time.
/John
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
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∂22-Dec-83 0420 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:ARK@SU-AI TeX/TUG Meeting Suggestions Solicited
Received: from SU-SCORE by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 22 Dec 83 04:19:40 PST
Received: from SU-AI.ARPA by SU-SCORE.ARPA with TCP; Thu 22 Dec 83 04:19:41-PST
Date: 22 Dec 83 0418 PST
From: Arthur Keller <ARK@SU-AI>
Subject: TeX/TUG Meeting Suggestions Solicited
To: TeXhax@SU-SCORE, SU-BBoards@SU-AI
The TeX Users Group will have its 1984 meeting at Stanford University
during August 1984. The three-day meeting will be sandwiched between a
week-long intensive introduction to TeX/LaTeX/AMSTeX and a two-day short
course.
We are interested in receiving suggestions for topics for two-day courses
to follow the meeting. There is a possibility for multiple tracks,
although some people have a mild aversion to it. Feel free to vote for
the suggestions I have presented below, or to suggest your own.
(Vote early, vote often.)
TeX Macro writing
TeX Macro writing, specifically the intracacies of output routines
LaTeX or AMSTeX internals
Writing document style modules for LaTeX
Standard typesetting jargon and practice for TeX users
Document design (can anyone suggest a real live document designer?)
Metafont 84 (a short version of the Spring Quarter course)
I intend to teach the week-long intensive introduction preceding the
conference. We have plans to rent a large computer on the Stanford
campus, add a printer, and let the students experiment. I intend the
course for people who are vaguely familiar with computers---they must know
at least one computerized text editor---but may know nothing about
typesetting. There will be 4 to 6 hours of lecture each day, with the
remainder of the day for trying things on the computer. Participants will
be able to (encouraged to!) arrive early enough to spend some time on
Sunday getting familiar with the particular environment used for the
course (e.g., the text editor EMACS on a DECsystem-20 running TOPS-20).
Arthur
∂21-Dec-83 1929 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:CC.KEN@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA Kermit announcements
Received: from SU-SCORE by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 21 Dec 83 19:29:41 PST
Received: from COLUMBIA-20.ARPA by SU-SCORE.ARPA with TCP; Wed 21 Dec 83 19:25:43-PST
Date: Wed 21 Dec 83 22:25:41-EST
From: Ken Rossman <cc.Ken@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: Kermit announcements
To: SU-Bboards@SU-SCORE.ARPA
Address: 716 Watson Labs, 612 W.115th St, NY, NY 10025
Phone: (212) 280-3703
Due to the general nature of SU-Bboards, and the nongeneral nature of new
Kermit announcement, new versions of Kermit will no longer be announced on
SU-Bboards. Interested parties should watch Info-Kermit for announcements
of new Kermits. The newly announced Kermits should appear at SCORE and
SIERRA a few days afterwards. If you have questions, please send them to
me at CC.KEN@COLUMBIA-20. /Ken
-------
rdg - m 20
∂25-Dec-83 1600 DRF@SU-SCORE.ARPA TeX on XT/370
Received: from SU-SCORE by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 25 Dec 83 16:00:15 PST
Date: Sun 25 Dec 83 16:00:12-PST
From: David Fuchs <DRF@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: TeX on XT/370
To: texhax@SU-SCORE.ARPA
I visited Alan Spragens at SLAC the other day. They have a new IBM
XT/370 (that's the IBM PC/XT with a few extra boards that let it run
the 370 instrution set). Sure enough, you can copy the object code
for TeX down from the big mainframe, and then just run it on the
XT/370. It's fairly slow, but it seemed to us that this was mostly
due to a large amount of thrashing with the local 10Mbyte Winchesters.
Perhaps if the XT/370 had 1Mbyte of real memory rather than half that,
TeX might run without excessive paging. In any case, I was personally
amazed that the XT/370 was SO compatible with the big VM/CMS system.
-david
p.s. We were unable to make any real timing tests due to techincal
difficulties. It seemed to take about a half minute to get the "*"
prompt after saying "TeX", and then maybe another half minute to read
in PLAIN.FMT after doing a "\relax". Perhaps we'll be able to run a
large file in the next few days to see what throughput is like. It
seemed to be about a half minute per page, but these figures aren't
firm.
-------
∂26-Dec-83 1648 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #104
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 26 Dec 83 16:48:24 PST
Date: 26 Dec 1983 1532-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V2 #104
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Monday, 26 December 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 104
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
Double Dos Info Wanted
Question about DOS function 21
Pascals under PC-DOS
Maynard Electronics Hard Disk
A Second Serial Port?
COMPAQ Computer
Needed: LINK with higher capacity
The Great Salt Lake Computer Co.
Graphics Peripherals
COBOL on PC
Disk Format Command Fix
Qubie modem card arrives early
MS-DOS 3.0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 21 Dec 1983 2127-PST
From: HFISCHER%USC-ECLB@MARYLAND
Subject: Double Dos Info Wanted
To: info-ibmpc at ISIB
cc: hfischer at ECLB
Has anybody tried "DoubleDos" from SoftLogic?
I would like to know if it can run Kermit or Fancy Font in one partition
while running in the other word processors (text mode ones, or graphic
mode ones like Word), or IBM LOGO, or IBM APL (both again use screen
in graphics mode).
Is it compatible with scrnsave? With other rom-bios handler mod's?
Herm Fischer (HFischer@eclb)
-------
------------------------------
Date: 20 Dec 83 15:37:59-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!utah-cs!brownc @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Question about DOS function 21
No, you can't recursively invoke DOS interrupt 21 because it keeps its
own stack, and it stores the caller's stack in a fixed memory location.
Therefore, if you call DOS interrupt 21 recursively, the previous caller's
stack is lost, and when DOS tries to return to the previous caller, the
stack is fried.
There is a way to 'solve' (i.e., hack around) this problem: Have your routine
that wants to recursively call DOS intercept the interrupt 21 vector and
save the stack segment and stack pointer, and then just before it wants to
call DOS, preserve the old stack segment/pointer. After it has finished
calling DOS, restore the old stack segment/pointer by calling DOS with the
old stack segment/pointer. This uses up some more stack space, but most
programs have plenty of stack space.
If you want examples, send me some MAIL and I will send you an example of
what I mean.
Eric C. Brown
...!harpo!utah-cs!brownc
------------------------------
Date: 20 Dec 83 18:39:25-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!floyd!whuxle!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Pascals under PC-DOS
I have used the IBM PASCAL (Microsoft) for development and
have found that to be very good. Some of the reasons are:
- The text (code) can be as large as you want (not
restricted to 64K) since all the calls between
procedures are intersegment (4bytes).
- The data space is restricted to a total of 64K,
but PASCAL has pointers which are 20 bits so that
you can access all of memory and therefore if you
need it, you can create your own memory management
functions for the memory that your program does not
occupy, thereby using all the available memory of
the system.
The compiler has been reliable and there appear to be other
extensions to the compiler for writing 'interrupt' routine
and other 'system' routines, but this is not documented. The
code that is generated (if you turn off the run-time checks
on values, array bounds, etc.) is very good.
------------------------------
Date: 21 Dec 83 4:57:29-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!eagle!mhuxl!mhuxt!evans @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Maynard Electronics Hard Disk
Does anyone know anything about the Maynard Electronics 10 Meg hard disks?
thanks in advance
Steve Crandall
mhuxt!evans
------------------------------
Date: 22 Dec 1983 9:02:59 MST (Thursday)
From: John Mitchener PO <jmitchen@wsmr70a>
Subject: A Second Serial Port?
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Cc: jmitchen@wsmr70a
I have a need to add a second serial port to my PC. Presently I have a
Quadram Quadboard so I am not particularly interested in multi-function
cards unless they offer memory, serial port, and a function not included
on the Quadboard.
Can anyone suggest the best alternative for a second serial port? Cost
is somewhat of a consideration. Thank you.
John
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 Dec 83 09:57 PST
From: barlow.eosa@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: COMPAQ Computer
To: decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!logo@Ucb-Vax.ARPA
cc: info-ibmpc@Usc-Isib.ARPA
David,
I have been using a COMPAQ since September and have found it to be an
excellent machine. To date I have run the following programs on it and
found no problem in compatibility:
1-2-3
dBase II
Wordstar, Spelstar, Mailmerge
Scitor Project Scheduler
Aardvark Professional Tax Plan
Microsoft Fortran
Microsoft Basic Compiler
IBM Pascal
IBM Macro Assembler
Supercalc
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Microsoft Decathlon
Millionaire
Rogue
Xeno-Copy
IBM Professional Editor
CI-C86 Compiler
Codesmith Debugger
Home Accountant Plus
Spinnaker Facemaker
SMARTCOM II
IBM DOS 2.0 (substituting COMPAQ Basic)
The only program I have found that wouldn't run is the 1982 version of
MicroLabs's Tax Manager. The 1983 version supposedly runs, according to
COMPAQ.
I have been talking to a VAX at 9600 baud using PC_TALK III, a FREEWARE
program. It is a dumb terminal program with no VT100 emulation. It does
allow for file upload and down load operation, also phone communications
over a Hayes Smartmodem.
I found the COMPAQ to be reliable and easy to use. I installed a 1200b
modem card with no problem other than a rapid pulse (I'm a software
type- never opened a computer before). I have also owned an Osborne I
and a TRS-80 Model I with all the bells and whistles. The COMPAQ is by
far the finest computer I have used, including the IBM PC.
The printer I use is an Okidata 92. It prints 160 cps for drafts and 40
cps for correspondence quality. I've had it for a year and it has been
extremely reliable. It is very quiet and completely silent when not
printing. The day I purchased it I was planning on buying a daisy wheel
printer and spending a lot more. When I saw the correspondence quality
print of the Okidata I bought it immediately. I got mine at Orange
Micro. I've seen them in mail order ads for less than $500. I have been
extremely happy with this printer so far.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 Dec 83 13:07:40 EST
From: Robert E. Wells <rwells@BBN-UNIX>
Subject: Needed: LINK with higher capacity
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Cc: rwells@BBN-UNIX
I need a version of LINK for the ibmpc that can handle larger programs.
We have run into three limits so far with the LINK we are using:
(1) "Program size exceeds capacity of LINK". We got this error trying to
link a program of about 300kb; at 200kb it works fine. Is this limit
based on the amount of physical memory available?
(2) "Too many external symbols in one module". We have a dispatch routine
that can call roughly 400 different routines depending on interpretive
opcode. Apparently there can be at most 256 external symbols per
module.
(3) There appears to be a limit on total public symbols of 1024, which we
haven't hit yet but expect to; one configuration we are interested in
linking has just under 2000 routines.
Is there an alternative to LINK that can handle these larger demands?
-Thanks, Robert
[ The copy of LINK supplied with the Microsoft compilers (Pascal and FORTRAN)
is advertised to handle larger capacity programs than the standard LINK
shipped with DOS. I don't know what the limit of these programs is. -ed]
------------------------------
Date: Thu 22 Dec 83 11:35:58-PST
From: Tim Gonsalves <Fat.Tag@SU-SIERRA.ARPA>
Subject: The Great Salt Lake Computer Co.
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Reply-To: Gonsalves@SU-Sierra.Arpa
Recently, I bought an Epson FX-80 from the Great Salt Lake Computer Co. When I
placed the order they told me that they would ship on receipt of my check -
sounded too good to be true. They actually shipped it about 4 weeks later.
(Most other places I contacted predicted delays of 6 weeks or so for an FX-80).
They seem a bit disorganized, but basically trustworthy.
Tim Gonsalves
Gonsalves@SU-Sierra.Arpa
-------
------------------------------
Date: 22 Dec 1983 15:43:19 EST (Thursday)
From: jose rodriguez <jrodrig at mitre-gateway>
Subject: Graphics Peripherals
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Cc: jrodrig at mitre-gateway
Netland:
As part of a proposal for a project I have to find out some information
on peripherals (software, etc.) used in graphics applications.
I know this sounds too general and therefore let me phrase the following
questions:
1- Has anyone used Scion's graphics cards (and displays (?)), particularly
for the IBM PC?
2- Has anyone seen or tried Tecmar's ELAN product? Is the voice digitization
and manipulation equipment (and software ) any good?
3- Has anyone seen Data Copy's image processing products? Has anyone seen
Data Copy?
Any information on graphics equipment and experiences is welcome and desired.
I guess that's enough. If any of the above has been discussed before just
give me pointers to the discussion. If there is enough interest I will
post whatever replies I get.
Thanks for your time.
Jose M. Rodriguez (jrodrig@mitre-gateway)
Information Systems Dept.
The Mitre Corp.
------------------------------
Date: 22 Dec 1983 13:21-PST
Sender: HARDY@USC-ISI
Subject: COBOL on PC
From: HARDY@USC-ISI
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
I'm looking for advice on COBOL compilers for the IBM PC. If anyone has
good/bad experience with any let me know and I will summarize and post.
Rich Hardy
------------------------------
Date: 21 Dec 83 10:13:29-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!floyd!clyde!akgua!gatech!roy @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Disk Format Command Fix
Here is a quick fix for FORMAT on DOS 2.0 to prevent accidental
nuking of the fixed disk.
debug format.com
-d 7c7 l1
XXXX:07C7 74 <debug responds with this>
-e 7c7 72
-w
-q
This changes a jump condition so that FORMAT responds:
Insert drive C and strike any key
when you try to format the fixed disk. Typing control-c
or break will then cancel the format (non-believers can
turn the PC off to be sure). A bizarre way to "fix" the
problem, but it works.
--
"Roy J. Mongiovi"
USA: School of ICS, Georgia Institute of Technology. Atlanta, GA 30332
uucp: ...!{sb1,allegra,ut-ngp}!gatech!roy ...!duke!mcnc!msdc!gatech!roy
CSNet: Roy@GaTech ARPA: Roy.GaTech@CSNet-Relay
------------------------------
Date: 24 Dec 1983 0908-PST
From: HFISCHER%USC-ECLB@SRI-NIC
Subject: Qubie modem card arrives early
To: info-ibmpc at ISIB
Qubie Modem Card
I ordered a Qubie modem card, early last week, after checking out
similarities between it and the IDE Assoc. modem card (the chips and
their placement in the pictures of the cards were different, and the
IDE was very much more expensive). Qubie said that they manufacture
the card themselves in the LA area, in a factory owned by one of the
partners, and since they had orders for "4000", that they could not
ship before mid January (they also said there were "1500" delivered).
Mine arrived as a Christmas present, this Friday, long ahead of when
promised. The UPS shipment was uninsured, sitting on the doorstep when
I came home.
The card worked the first time I tried it. It is a professionally
designed circuit card, solder masked and the like, and it does fit into
the XT slot as advertised without bothering nearby cards. The parts
(resistors, etc.) are hand-stuffed into the card, and somewhat askew;
I guess even the small guy can make it in this business. The card
appears to work well with Kermit, with an IBM system, with Arpanet,
and with Telenet.
My concern was that, since they make their own cards, what happens to
me when I need it serviced in three years, when they are either out of
business or making newer VLSI modems or whatever. No problem, they
say; if they stop making it, they will, only then, give me the
hardware documentation, even though they won't release it now (?)! Of
course, they intend to supply servicing for it forever.
Herm Fischer
-------
------------------------------
Date: 22 Dec 83 17:18:48-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!vortex!lauren @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: MS-DOS 3.0
My understanding is that 3.0 will not be released to the public
until around next June or so.
--Lauren--
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂28-Dec-83 1757 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:ARK@SU-AI Draft course outline for week-long TeX course at TUG 84 meeting (comments solicited)
Received: from SU-SCORE by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 28 Dec 83 17:57:37 PST
Received: from SU-AI.ARPA by SU-SCORE.ARPA with TCP; Wed 28 Dec 83 17:42:17-PST
Date: 28 Dec 83 1740 PST
From: Arthur Keller <ARK@SU-AI>
Subject: Draft course outline for week-long TeX course at TUG 84 meeting (comments solicited)
To: BB@SU-AI, TeX82@SRI-AI
CC: TeXhax@SU-SCORE
Draft Course Outline
Week-long TeX Course Preceding TUG Meeting 84
Arthur Keller
December 28, 1983
Preliminaries
The process from text to typeset copy
Short intro to the text editor
Short intro to system commands
Intro to TeX
Overview (review) of process of TeX
Character set
A sample document from start to finish
Interpreting and correcting errors
Fonts
Ligatures
Intro to LaTeX
Document style
Page layout
Environments
Interpreting and correcting errors
TeX fundamentals
Dimensions
Boxes and glue
Interpreting and correcting errors
Modes
Mathematics
In-line math formulas
Intro to displayed formulas
Interpreting and correcting errors
Macros
Some built-in macros
Parameters
State changing vs. parameters
Interpreting and correcting errors
More LaTeX
Tables
Figures
Interpreting and correcting errors
Breaking paragraphs into lines
Hyphenation
Penalties
Interpreting and correcting errors
Breaking lines into pages
Penalties
Insertions and "floating" insertions
Interpreting and correcting errors
Interpreting and correcting errors
Overview and review
This course is a week-long intensive introduction to TeX and LaTeX. It is
suitable for those without any exposure to TeX, but those with some prior
knowledge may benefit as well. No prior knowledge of typesetting is
necessary. It is necessary, however, that all participants know how to
use at least one computerized text editor (or word processor). The
intended format is four hours of lecture for each of the five days, with
hands-on experience using TeX.
Costs and arrangements have yet to be decided. It is anticipated that
enrollment will be limited to about 100 participants to provide adequate
computer access.
Questions regarding the course may be addressed to Arthur Keller.
****Note that this course outline is tentative and subject to change.****
∂01-Jan-84 1235 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #1
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 1 Jan 84 12:35:36 PST
Date: 1 Jan 1984 1123-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #1
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Sunday, 1 January 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 1
This Week's Editor: Dick Gillmann
Today's Topics:
MIT/ISI Comm Package
Transend Query
PC-TALK Problems
Position Sensitive Code
Lattice C Utilities Query
PLINK86
Call for Papers
Serial Printer Problem
Serial Printer Buffer Query
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 28 Dec 1983 2128-PST
Subject: MIT/ISI Comm Package
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
cc: Brackenridge, Rogers
We're releasing a new serial I/O package to the Info-IBMPC library.
This package has a rather long history. It was originally developed
by John Romkey and Jerry Saltzer of MIT in a non-standard assembler
format. I converted it to standard DOS assembler form and made some
modifications. Craig Rogers has taken it quite a bit further. The
package is fully interrupt driven on transmit, receive and error
detection. It will run at 9600 baud, and even faster if you don't
plan on doing anything else.
Both my version and Craig's version are now in the library. My
version is pretty much the same as the one sent me by John Romkey. It
has been converted to use Microsoft Pascal calling conventions. Only
one serial port is supported (COM1:). The package is in the file
<INFO-IBMPC>COM←PKG1.ASM. A dumb terminal program that calls it,
written in Pascal, is in the file <INFO-IBMPC>GLASSTTY.PAS. Send
questions about this version to GILLMANN@ISIB.
Craig Rogers' version is in the subdirectory <INFO-IBMPC.INT>. It
uses a dozen files or so. You will need all the files to do anything
useful so FTP the entire subdirectory. <INFO-IBMPC.INT>$CONTENTS
describes the various files. Both the complexity and flexibility of
this version come from its ability to support multiple operating
systems, languages, and address sizes. Currently it supports large
and small model Lattice C, DOS 1.1 and DOS 2.0 as well as a stand
alone mode. Both COM1 and COM2 are supported simultaneously. A
package is included for line printer support. The subdirectory
contains a dumb terminal program and a null modem program written in
Lattice C that call the package. There are many goodies in here worth
browsing through. Questions about this version to ROGERS@ISIB.
Dick Gillmann
Bill Brackenridge
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 26 Dec 83 20:14:18 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis3.udeecis@udel-relay.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@udel-relay.arpa
Subject: Transend Query
I am looking for:
1. Someone who has Transend up and would like to let me test my system
against theirs.
2. Anyone who has spent the time thinking out their protocol for mail
transfer -- it uses xmodem and some directives. I would like to build
a "channel" for our mail transport system -- mmdf for it.
Dave
------------------------------
Date: Sunday, 25 December 1983 20:28 est
From: Schauble@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: PC-TALK Problems
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA, Info-Micro@MIT-MC.ARPA
I am having problems with PC-TALK version III that appear to be bugs
in the program. Is there anyone on the net who could help me with the
problem?
Paul
------------------------------
Date: 28 Dec 1983 2127-PST
Subject: Position Sensitive Code
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: info-ibmpc
In an earlier message it was pointed out that the FORMAT command
appears to be position sensitive, i.e. it does different things when
loaded at different places in memory.
I believe I am having similar problems with DISKCOPY. I am running DOS
2.0 and have about 30K of resident code on top of the normal operating
system. I have also been getting PARITY CHECK 2 errors when doing
disk I/O in Mince and CodeSmith. This behavior can be modified by
changing the size of the resident operating system.
Has anyone experienced similar difficulties with FORMAT, DISKCOPY, or
parity errors that appear to be position sensitive?
I believe the problems stem from programs attempting to do DMA over
64K memory segment boundaries. DOS disk I/O calls take segment
register, offset, and transfer length as arguments. The manual warns
clearly that a transfer should not be of such a length that it will
exceed the segment boundary. Apparently there is no run time checking
in DOS as the responsibility for checking this condition is left with
the programmer.
I have not dis-assembled any of these programs to find out how they do
disk I/O, and whether they check for this condition. I don't really
want to rewrite Microsoft's operating system. It is easier for me to
just juggle the size of the operating system until a given program
appears to work.
If my theory is correct there must be other people who have
experienced similar problems and patches must be floating around to
fix the problem.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30-Dec-83 00:03:21-PST
From: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@RAND-UNIX>
Subject: Lattice C Utilities Query
To: INFO-IBMPC@ISIB
Does anybody have utilities to fill in some of the more obvious gaps
in Lattice C? I'm thinking in terms of public domain versions of
qsort, setjmp/longjmp, etc. I'm hoping that somebody has a nice,
concise package already available...
Any pointers appreciated. Thanks much.
--Lauren--
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 30 Dec 83 3:41-PST
Date: 28 Dec 83 9:16:43-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!ihuxx!hersee @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PLINK86
The Phoenix linker PLINK86 does not have any of the limits of the MS
linker. Dave (the author) uses dynamic memory allocation with
overflow to disk to keep up to 35000 information structs. This linker
also supports overlays.
The linker is available from:
Lattice, Inc (312) 858-7950
Lifeboat Assoc (212) 860-0300
------------------------------
Date: 30 Dec 1983 13:34:41 EST (Friday)
From: Marshall Abrams <abrams@mitre>
Subject: Call for Papers
To: microgroups:@mitre
The IEEE Computer Society has issued a call for papers which I think
would be of special interest to those of us involved with small
computers. The conference title is The Small Computer (R)Evolution.
The call for papers says that the program will encompass a wide scope
of applications: as tools for managers, professionals,
non-professionals, students, home-users, hobbyists and as embedded
elements of other systems. The program will include tutorials, panels,
demonstrations, and technical papers."
The schedule includes:Jan 3 1984 Proposals for tutorials due (these
are all-day tutorials of professional quality with the speaker being
paid)
April 2 Paper, session, and panel proposals due
April 16 Demonstration descriptions due
The papers (due April 2) are to be submitted in three copies and
should range from 1000 to 5000 words.
All mail is addressed to:
Small Computer (R)Evolution
c/o IEEE Computer Society
P. O. Box 639
Silver Spring, MD 20901
I will be happy to supply further information, including a copy of the
physical call for papers, on request. I would especially encourage
formation of sessions concentrating on subjects/applications which are
from a group of co-workers.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 31 Dec 83 0:53-PST
Date: 29 Dec 83 7:03:05-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: utcsrgv!mendel @ UW-Beaver
Subject: Serial Printer Problem
I am trying to connect a serial printer (DataRoyal) to one of the
serial ports on a Quadram Quadboard on a PC. The printer uses a
busy/ready protocol while it seems that the PC uses xon/xoff (although
I haven't been able to confirm this in any manual). The result is
that a variable number of characters at the beginning of each print
line are lost. Can somebody suggest how to fix this? Thanks.
Alberto Mendelzon
University of Toronto
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 31 Dec 83 19:53-PST
Date: 30 Dec 83 12:23:14-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: fortune!burton @ sri-unix
Subject: Serial Printer Buffer Query
Does anyone on the net have experience with printer buffers, typically
64KB, that are connected between the cpu and the printer, for a Diablo
630 or similar printer using a serial interface?
Please comment on pricing, reliability, any problems with WordStar or
other WP packages that use control characters to control the printer.
Also please note if I can buy a "minimum" configuration, say 32K, and
upgrade myself with chips I buy myself. Please mention any useful or
*useless* features.
Thanks,
Phil Burton, Fortune Systems:
101 Twin Dolphin Drive, Redwood City, CA 94065
(415) 595-8444 x526
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂02-Jan-84 0718 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:jacobson@LBL-CSAM TeX on a QMS Laser Printer
Received: from SU-SCORE by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 2 Jan 84 07:18:40 PST
Received: from lbl-csam.ARPA by SU-SCORE.ARPA with TCP; Mon 2 Jan 84 07:17:44-PST
From: jacobson@LBL-CSAM (Van Jacobson [rtsg])
Return-Path: <jacobson@LBL-CSAM>
Message-Id: <8401021519.AA26669@lbl-csam.ARPA>
Received: by lbl-csam.ARPA ; Mon, 2 Jan 84 07:19:11 pst
Date: 2 Jan 1984 0719-PST (Monday)
To: laser-lovers@washington, texhax@su-score
Subject: TeX on a QMS Laser Printer
Fcc: inbox
We have just gotten TeX82 to drive our QMS 1200 laser printer and I
thought people on the net might be interested.
For those not familiar with it, the QMS uses the Xerox xp12 marking
engine: a dry toner, plain paper, 300 DPI, 12 PPM device. The xp12 is
also used in the DEC LN-01 and Xerox 2700 laser printers and "laser
lovers" has had generally good reviews on its print quality. The QMS
electronics include a 68000 with some special `rasterop' hardware,
512KB of font & buffer memory and a separate memory to bitmap a
complete 8.5 x 14" page (1.4MB). There are RS-232, Centronics and IBM
interfaces. We use the RS-232 interface to a Vax 780 running VMS &
Eunice (a 4.1BSD Unix on top of VMS). The interface is supposed to run
up to 34Kbaud but our Vax dies above 19.2Kbaud so we run it at 19.2.
I second the raves about xp12 print quality. The blacks are BLACK and
the toner transfer is uniform even on huge black areas (I've tried
printing 6 x 8" black rectangles -- no problem). I haven't tried
printing on a brown paper bag (yet) but I have run 16 through 22 weight
paper, including our letterhead stock, and the results were uniformly
good. Most of our printing was done over Christmas week & the heat was
off in the building. I've run about 4000 sheets through the unit in
temperatures varying from 45 deg. to 70 deg. and with the relative
humidity up to 97%. There didn't seem to be any effect on print
quality and only 2 paper jams.
We got the QMS instead of the DEC or Xerox versions of the xp12 because
QMS lets you do everything the printer can do. The DEC LN-01 can
(currently) only be used as a line printer and, while the Xerox 2700
has the capability to download fonts, Xerox wouldn't tell God what the
download commands are. QMS gives you line printer & Diablo daisy-wheel
printer emulation, vector & raster graphics and multiple, downloadable
fonts, all of which you can intermix arbitrarily, even on the same
page. It took less than 3 hours, total, to get a Unix plot filter for
the QMS running, most of which was spent in deciphering the lousy QMS
manuals. We had some 256x256x4 digitized video images lying around
(courtesy of Vortex Video Systems) so I also did a raster image
filter. The QMS has some built in half-tone patterns & I'd already
decoded the curious version of English they use in the manuals so this
filter took about an hour. The results were beautiful -- not book
quality but much better than newspaper quality.
We're using the current version of the TeX AMR fonts (I think -- we
have 3 different font tapes & PXL files don't seem to have dates in
them). Anything above 7pt looks great (to me). I don't have Brian
Reid's educated eye but I have been looking for the problems he
mentioned. The glyphs aren't "blurry or hard to read"; the edges are
sharp & smooth, even under a magnifying glass. The descenders don't
stick to the letter bodies, the serifs are symmetric & the thickness of
hairlines & stemlines doesn't seem to vary. At 5pt & below the toner
transfer seems to get uneven and some characters have voids (although
this may have been an artifact of the 50 deg. temp & high humidity --
I'll try again when our heater is back on). Glyphs smaller than 3pt
turn into unreadable blotches but we have very few applications that
need 3pt type.
I've tried running the same document on both the QMS & an Imagen and
the difference is easily visible. The large characters on the Imagen
are grey & the edges wash out and the bodies of the small characters
tend to run together (the only Imagen I have access to has been in
continuous use for almost 2 years so this comparison isn't very fair).
I think most of the difference is due to the dry vs. wet toner process
since the 25% improvement in the QMS resolution shouldn't be very
visible in 10pt type.
We're downloading 12 fonts to the QMS, a mixture of 8, 10 & 12pt
styles. It takes about 2 minutes to download the rasters for 128 10pt
characters at 19.2Kbaud. The current version of the QMS DVI driver
sends characters that haven't been downloaded as raster images. Most
of the documents I've been printing are about 3000 char. per page.
Pages containing only downloaded fonts print at the 5 sec. per page
printer speed. Pages containing no downloaded characters are limitted
by the communication line speed to about 1 minute per page. Most
documents (e.g., the TeXBook or the LaTeX manual) average 10 sec. per
page. Texas A&M is working on a new version of the driver that will
download fonts on an LRU basis, similar to the way Richard Furuta's
DVI2LGP driver works. That should keep things running at the printer
speed, even on a 9600 baud line.
We don't have enough experience with the QMS to have accumulated many
complaints, but I have a few. As I mentioned before, the manuals are
awful (though I hear that new versions are in the works). The QMS
people seem to be unfamiliar with typesetting applications (when I
called to try to find out how to download fonts, they said "Download
what?" & put me on to a guy who explained why I couldn't download code
to the 68000. Other than this, the QMS people have been very helpful
and prompt in answering questions). The communications software
interface is pathetic: The only characters that the QMS ever sends
back to your computer are the ↑S/↑Q for flow control. It's impossible
for the computer to find out if the paper is out or jammed or if you're
in the middle of a power up cycle (the QMS does a good job of handling
these things, though. I've yet to see it lose a page of output).
What's worse, it's impossible to find out what fonts have been
downloaded and how much free memory is available for fonts. (If you
try to download more fonts than there's room for, the entire excess
font(s) get discarded WITHOUT NOTIFICATION.) Since the QMS uses a
bizarre fixed block allocation scheme for font memory, trying to figure
out how much is left from knowing what you've already loaded looks like
an NP-hard problem. The 200 page paper trays on the xp12 are the
pits. They make unattended operation almost impossible. The paper
registration also seems to go to hell when the trays are low so the
operator needs to pay a lot of attention to how much paper is left.
The two paper jams we've had both occurred with <10 pages in the tray.
That's probably enough for now. Thanks again to the many people who
helped us with answers to questions & shipments of software, particulary
David Fuchs & Richard Furuta. Also, many, many thanks to Norm Naugle
of Texas A&M who supplied us with the a first version of the QMS driver,
dropped by to help us install it & even brought the latest PROMs from QMS
to make sure everything would work! Cheers.
-Van Jacobson, RTSG, Lawrence Berkeley Lab
(jacobson@lbl-csam.arpa)
∂03-Jan-84 0944 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:Nemnich.PDO@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Re: TeX on a QMS Laser Printer
Received: from SU-SCORE by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 3 Jan 84 09:44:29 PST
Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by SU-SCORE.ARPA with TCP; Tue 3 Jan 84 09:43:33-PST
Date: Tuesday, 3 January 1984 12:42 est
From: Bruce Nemnich <Nemnich@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA>
Subject: Re: TeX on a QMS Laser Printer
To: jacobson@LBL-CSAM.ARPA (Van Jacobson [rtsg])
cc: laser-lovers@WASHINGTON.ARPA, texhax@SU-SCORE.ARPA
In-Reply-To: Message of 2 January 1984 10:19 est from "jacobson at LBL-CSAM (Van Jacobson [rtsg])"
Message-ID: <840103174225.523393@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA>
We (at Thinking Machines Corporation) have been running TeX82 on the QMS
with the Texas A&M driver for about a month now. I agree with
Jacobson's assessments of the printer (I think it is great), but I have
not had the paper-jam problem. The only times I have ever jammed it
were by opening the thing up while it was printing.
One caution. The toner denisty knob and associated machanism is
sensitive to movement along its axis of rotation; i.e., don't push or
pull it, just turn it! It is a design bug. Pushing it even slightly
can throw the toner distribution mechanism out of whack. On ours, the
print kept getting lighter and lighter until it was hardly readable.
They came out to fix it and told me what had happened.
--bruce
∂03-Jan-84 1726 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #2
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 3 Jan 84 17:25:05 PST
Date: 3 Jan 1984 1408-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #2
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 3 January 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 2
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
Unix Conversion
IBM/Microsoft BASIC compiler
Goodies for your library
OBJ,EXE,LIB formats
MS Assembler Bugs
Compaq Video Compatibility
Position Sensitive Code
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 3 Jan 1984 1346-PST
Subject: Unix Conversion
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: info-ibmpc
We have decided to attempt to move INFO-IBMPC to one of the Unix
systems at ISI. As the INFO-IBMPC mailing list is very large and
uses every form of legal and illegal mailing address, conversion
may take a few weeks. In the mean time you may be receiving test
messages from various ISI Unix hosts purporting to be INFO-IBMPC.
Please just ignore those messages unless we ask for some sort of
verification reply.
We will not announce the move until we can support all the
services we have had on Tops-20. This includes Anonymous login
FTP, support for archives of messages and program library,
Kermit, and robust SMTP mail service. We will not support direct
UUCP mail or non IP gateways from ISI.
It is in the long range plans of ISI and ARPA to move from large
scale timesharing to a more distributed environment. While I
would rather move to a small scale Tops-20 PDP-10 architecture
with a distributed file system, such a beast does not exist so
Unix appears to be the only choice.
All of the editors of INFO-IBMPC are Unix novices and we would
appreciate any help from Unix people who have experience with
running mailing lists or with cross support between IBM-PCs and
Unix systems.
During the transition please continue to address your mail both
to the list and to any of the editors at USC-ISIB.
------------------------------
Date: 3 Jan 84 12:22:26 EST
From: WEISS@RUTGERS.ARPA
Subject: IBM/Microsoft BASIC compiler
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA, info-micro@MIT-MC.ARPA
cc: weiss@RUTGERS.ARPA
I have been using this BASIC compiler on an IBM PC with 320K bytes of
memory. At the end of compilation, the compiler always indicates that
22,151 bytes of space are available for the symbol table. Is 22,151
the absolute limit for the symbol table or is there a way to enlarge
this table? (I have a program that would easily fit in the 64K code
segment if it could be compiled without overflowing the symbol table.)
Sholom Weiss
-------
------------------------------
Date: 1 Jan 1984 1218-PST
From: HFISCHER @ USC-ECLB
Subject: Goodies for your library
To: info-ibmpc at ISIB
I am submitting two programs for the INFO-IBMPC library:
(1) ScrnColr - Intercepts characters on the way to the IBM PC
screen handler and, if they are for white on black
or black on white, changes to whatever color attrib-
utes user assigns.
(2) Bat-Ques - Allows interactive responses to questions within
.bat files, and allows testing of these responses.
For example, allows you to ask user if he wants
some option run, and then the .bat file can test
the results and do conditional execution.
ScrnColr
--------
This program is an adaptation of the program SCREEN, which is in
the INFO-IBMPC library. SCREEN traps keyboard entries, using
alt-function key combinations. I found these incompatible many
popular text editors. It was also incompatible with LOGO.
ScrnColr only reads command line parameters, and does not inter-
cept keyboard entries. I have been using it with ScrnSave, DVED,
Mince, Blue, Prof. Editor, ASM, LOGO, APL, Kermit, and many
others. It seems compatible with all.
To change color assignments for the 80 wide text mode only, run:
ScrnColr nn rr
where nn are attributes to replace normal white on black and rr
replace reverse video black on white. (nn and rr are standard HEX
video codes) Examples:
ScrnColr 06 60 for brown (amber) colors
ScrnColr 17 71 for white on blue & opposite
ScrnColr 1e 5c for yellow on blue and lt. cyan on red
Acknowledgments are, of course, due to the authors and maintainers
of SCREEN.ASM, from whence this program is derived.
Bat-Ques
--------
To ask a question:
Bat-Ques tttttt$ where ttttttt is the text of the question
User then keys a single character response.
To check answer, use IF [not] errorlevel cc, where cc is the
character code value of the response. Only single character responses
are supported.
This program allows one to build decently friendly batch files. One
no longer has only the ctrl-break response to a pause (which isn't
very friendly).
Examples:
This program allows a batch file to ask the user a question and
return a one-character response which is testable by the IF
subcommand of bat files, via the errorlevel.
You use the question asker per following example:
.
. (your batch file to ask if user wants to edit with
. mince/emacs or ibm's editor)
.
echo off
bat-ques WHICH EDITOR, m OR e FOR MINCE (EMACS), i FOR IBM's? $
if errorlevel 110 goto badresp
if errorlevel 109 goto minceed
if errorlevel 106 goto badresp
if errorlevel 105 goto ibmed
if errorlevel 102 goto badresp
if errorlevel 101 goto minceed
:badresp
echo Your response was invalid. Sorry.
goto endit
:minceed
if not exist mincomm.sum copy \bin\mince.swp mince.swp
mince %1
if not exist mincomm.sum del mince.swp
goto endit
:ibmed
profed %1
:endit
echo on
Note that the question prompt follows the bat-ques command and must
end with a dollar sign. The ascii value of the response is returned
as the error level. Since error level tests are always greater than
or equal tests, you must check for highest value first and lowest
value last. Example above shows what you do to check for missing
values. Note that the example assumes lower case answers only for
simplicity sake.
Ascii values (e.g., A is 65, B is 66, a is 97) are found in back of
your BASIC manual. Only one character responses are accepted, and
they are not followed by a carriage return.
Extended ascii codes (function and alt keys) should work as per page
G-6 of your BASIC manual; the first call to bat-ques will return a
zero and the next call (presumably "bat-ques $" without another
prompt) will return the number shown on page G-7.
Friendly and colorful Hints
---------------------------
To make your screen even more friendly, especially since some programs
may leave you hanging in different directories from whence you
started, change your prompt to give you the directory instead of just
the default drive (but do remember that if you have no disk in the
defaulted drive you will get the drive not ready message when Prompt
tries to show the directory).
prompt $p$g --- best inserted into your autoexec.bat
To make your screen more colorful, (borrowing from IBM's use with TSO,
where prompts are different colors from responses), install the ANSI
screen handler, and change your prompt string to:
prompt $e[0;31m$p$g$e[0m -- red prompt string
Don't forget to end your .bat files which call programs which use
the screen directly with the cls command. Cls forces screen
attributes to become the defaulted color. Otherwise you have
strange cluttered colors left on the screen.
To make KERMIT easier to handle, change the "curatt" definition from
black and white (I use 02, green) and reassemble. I don't suggest a
background color with kermit because EMACS will leave black holes in
your screen. With curatt redefined, when "connected" you get that
color, and when talking to kermit-86 you get the ScrnColr settings.
For a enjoyable and prosperous '84,
Herm Fischer (HFischer@usc-eclb)
attached: 2 programs for library
page 64,132
title scrncolr - Change display screen from white to color attrib
.radix 10
;***************************************************************
; Adapted from "SCREEN.ASM" by H. Fischer - HFischer@eclb 12/83
; SCREEN was Typed in by Glass - gjg@cmu-cs-cad from Byte Nov. 1983
;
; NOTE: only meaningful with color card, and does not look at
; keyboard (which makes it easywriter, etc. compatible)
;
; To build this program:
; 1> masm scrncolr; /* assemble the code */
; 2> link scrncolr; /* link it - will get no stack seg. message */
; 3> exe2bin scrncolr.exe scrncolr.com /* make executable */
; 4> del scrncolr.exe /* don't need this anymore */
;
; To use program: run it or place in autoexec.bat as follows:
;
; scrncolr nn rr
;
; where nn are screen attributes to replace
; normal white (attr=07h) video, and rr are
; attributes for reversed white (attr=70h)
; (intensity and blink are preserved).
;
; for example, to change calls for white to white on blue
; and to change calls for reverse white to magenta on white,
; issue the call: "scrncolr 17 75"
;
; Only 80x25 screen calls are affected and only in text mode,
; (this makes it LOGO and APL compatible)
;
; COMMANDS:
; none -- you reassemble to change the color assignment
;***************************************************************
;
; Define interrupt vectors for
; screen interrupt 10H, in segment 0.
;
;***************************************************************
scrvect segment at 0 ; define screen interrupt vector
org 10h*4
SCRINT label dword
scrvect ends
;***************************************************************
;
; define constants
;
;***************************************************************
bw←val equ 07h ; standard b&w attribute sent to monitor
;***************************************************************
;
; start code area
;
;***************************************************************
code segment para
assume cs:code
org 82h ; parameters
PARM label word ; normal & rev attribs "nn rr"
org 100h ; start code offset 100h from starting segment
; (this leaves room for DOS's work areas)
KEY proc far
START:
; Initialization code...used only once, on system startup
jmp init←code ; call initialization routine
even
validchk db 'FCP!' ; used by INSTALL to check for valid SCREEN
; program
;***************************************************************
;
; SCR←RTNE - Replaces SCREEN interrupt so that it can intercept
; B&W character writes and change attributes
;
;***************************************************************
SCR←RTNE:
assume ds:code
sti
push ds ; get cs into ds the funny way
push cs
pop ds
cmp ah,0 ; Spot mode change call
jne NOT←MODE
mov savemod,al ; Save mode input
NOT←MODE:
cmp ah,6 ; Spot SCROLL UP and SCROLL DOWN calls
jl NORMAL←SCR ;
push ax ; check if in 80x25 modes
mov al,savemod
cmp al,2
pop ax
jl NORMAL←SCR ; no-ignore attribs (keep LOGO straight)
push ax ; check if in 80x25 modes
mov al,savemod
cmp al,3
pop ax
jg NORMAL←SCR ; no-ignore attribs (keep LOGO straight)
cmp ah,6
jg NOT←SCROLL ;
SCROLL:
call GET←CH ; for scrolling, update attribute
jmp NORMAL←SCR ; now, execute scroll
NOT←SCROLL:
cmp ah,9 ; check for "WRITE ATTRIBUTE/CHAR" cmd
jne NORMAL←SCR ; send out any other command as normal
xchg bh,bl ; get attribute for command
call GET←CH ; update attribute for command
xchg bh,bl ; move attribute back to bh for cmd
NORMAL←SCR:
pop ds ; restore ds reg
;
; NOTE: We are now ready to invoke the BIOS screen interrupt.
; Since the ROM code includes an IRET interrupt return call,
; all we need to do is to jump to the start of the ROM code
; and all will be well. Since the initialization code set
; up the address to the screen interrupt code below, we can
; set up a forced jump to that address.
JMP←SCR: ; Address to SCREEN interrupt
db 0EAh ; force a FAR JMP but do not set up dest-
dw 0,0 ; ination address at assembly time.
; (INIT routine will set this address)
savemod db 3 ; default to 80x24 color mode
KEY endp ;done with main routine
;***************************************************************
;
; GET←CH - subroutine replaces B&W character with current replacement
; attributes and allows for intensity bit setting
;
; Inputs : bh contains attribute to be modified
;
;***************************************************************
GET←CH proc near
mov savech,bh ; save character
and bh,77h ; Remove intensity and blink bits
cmp bh,07h ; see if currently defined B&W value
jne ISITREV ; exit if not
mov bh,savech ; otherwise, modify to current attribute
and bh,88h ; get rid of B&W part
or bh,normvid ; move in current attribute part
jmp OUT
ISITREV:
cmp bh,70h ; see if currently defined W&B value
mov bh,savech ; otherwise, modify to current attribute
jne OUT
and bh,88h
or bh,revrvid
OUT:
ret ; done
savech db 0 ; temporary character store
normvid db 05h ; replacement for white norml video
revrvid db 50h ; replacement for reverse white video
GET←CH endp
LASTONE: ; all code after this label is freed to DOS use after
; initialization of the program.
;***************************************************************
;
; INIT←CODE - Code to load and initialize the SCREEN program..
; sets up DOS to keep all code before "LASTONE" label
; safe from overlaying during system operation.
;
;***************************************************************
INIT←CODE proc near
; initialize SCREEN intercept code
assume es:scrvect ;'vectors' is interrupt segment 0
mov ax,scrvect ; get address to interrupt vector
mov es,ax ; save in es
mov ax,es:scrint ; get address to interrupt
mov bx,offset jmp←scr+1 ; address to place to save vector
mov [bx],ax ; save interrupt address
mov ax,es:scrint[2] ; get interrupt segment for rtne
mov [bx+2],ax ; save it too
mov es:scrint,offset scr←rtne ; now replace with own address
mov ax,cs ; save segment in interrupt vector
mov es:scrint[2],ax ;
mov ax,cs ; make parameters for color
mov ds,ax ; addressable
mov dx,PARM
test dx,0040h ; fix hex a-f
jz IT2
sub dx,0007h
IT2: test dx,4000h
jz IT3
sub dx,0700h
IT3:
and dx,0f0fh ; strip and jamb nibbles
mov cl,4
shl dl,cl
or dh,dl
mov normvid,dh ; save parameter
mov dx,PARM+3
test dx,0040h ; fix hex a-f
jz IT4
sub dx,0007h
IT4: test dx,4000h
jz IT5
sub dx,0700h
IT5:
and dx,0f0fh
mov cl,4
shl dl,cl
or dh,dl
mov revrvid,dh
mov dx,offset lastone ; save all code up to "LASTONE" label
int 27h ; no return needed
INIT←CODE endp
code ends
end start
********************************************************************
********************************************************************
********************************************************************
********************************************************************
********************************************************************
********************************************************************
********************************************************************
********************************************************************
page 64,132
title bat-ques -- Batch file Question Asker, sets errorlevel
.RADIX 10
;
;
;
;*****************************************************************
; INFO-IBMPC library contribution by H. Fischer - HFischer@eclb 12/83
; If you like it, do not send me $10 (but I will accept amounts
; with many more zeros if your generosity is excessive).
; Questions/problems to HFischer@eclb (213/902-5139).
;
; This program allows a batch file to ask the user a question
; and return a one-character response which is testable
; by the IF subcommand of bat files, via the errorlevel.
;
; You use the question asker per following example:
;
; .
; . (your batch file to ask if guy wants to edit with
; . mince/emacs or ibm's editor)
; .
; echo off
; bat-ques WHICH EDITOR, m OR e FOR MINCE (EMACS), i FOR IBM's? $
; if errorlevel 110 goto badresp
; if errorlevel 109 goto minceed
; if errorlevel 106 goto badresp
; if errorlevel 105 goto ibmed
; if errorlevel 102 goto badresp
; if errorlevel 101 goto minceed
; :badresp
; echo Your response was invalid. Sorry
; goto endit
; :minceed
; if not exist mincomm.sum copy \bin\mince.swp mince.swp
; mince %1
; if not exist mincomm.sum del mince.swp
; goto endit
; :ibmed
; profed %1
; :endit
; echo on
;
; Note that the question prompt follows the bat-ques command and
; must end with a dollar sign. The ascii value of the response is
; returned as the error level. Since error level tests are always
; greater than or equal tests, you must check for highest value first
; and lowest value last. Example above shows what you doto check for
; missing values. Note example assumes lower case answer only for
; simplicity sake.
;
; Ascii values (e.g., A is 65, B is 66, a is 97) are found in back
; of your BASIC manual. Only one character responses are accepted,
; and they are not followed by a carriage return.
;
; Extended ascii codes (function and alt keys) should work as per
; page G-6 of your BASIC manual; the first call to bat-ques will
; return a zero and the next call (presumably "bat-ques $" without
; another prompt) will return the number shown on page G-7.
;
; To build this program:
; 1) asm bat-ques
; 2) link bat-ques
; 3) exe2bin bat-ques.exe \bin\bat-ques.com (name your path dir!)
; 4) del bat-ques.exe
;
; have fun
;********************************************************************
code segment para
assume cs:code
org 82h
PROMPT label byte ; here DOS places the prompt string
org 100h
KEY proc far
START:
mov ax,cs ; make this mess addressable via ds
mov ds,ax
assume ds:code
mov dx,offset PROMPT
mov ah,9
int 21h ; display the prompt
mov ah,1
int 21h ; get the input into AL
mov saveit,al
mov dx,offset newlin ; move display to new line
mov ah,9
int 21h
mov al,saveit
mov ah,4ch ; return the errorlevel already in AL
int 21h
newlin: db 10,13,'$' ; give user a new line before quitting
saveit db 0
KEY endp
code ends
end start
-------
------------------------------
Date: 2 Dec 83 12:27 EST
From: Robert Dewar <DEWAR.ACF2@NYU-CMCL1.ARPA>
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Subject: OBJ,EXE,LIB formats
Only the OBJ format is (more or less) compatible with the Intel
standard, and there are several discrepancies apparently resulting
from less than careful reading of the appropriate manual by Microsoft
(in particular, MS compilers generate zero type indexes, which are not
permitted by the Intel standards, and which are rejected by the Intel
linker). Be warned that the object format is ludicrously complex and
it is a major project to understand it fully!
The EXE format is fully documented in the DOS manual. The only glitch
I am aware of is that the text must start on a 512 byte boundary or it
will not be properly loaded by COMMAND.COM.
The LIB format consists basically of concatenated object modules,
which are forced to be on 512 byte boundaries (thus wasting huge
amounts of space), followed by some kind of hash table. I have been
totally unable to locate technical descriptions of this format, any
help would be appreciated. Why MS did not use the standard Intel
format for libraries I have no idea!
Another pretty much undocumented feature in the MS/DOS linker is the
overlay facility. This again does not follow the Intel standards. The
way to get overlays is simply to set a non-zero overlay index in the
segment record, the linker will then generate separate files for each
overlay (you have to write your own handler to load the overlays).
MS/COBOL uses this feature.
One more note on EXE format. The format specifies a special two byte
header and a checksum. Absolutely no-one checks either of these fields,
a fact made clear by the fact that the MS (IBM) PASCAL EXE files are
distributed with the first two bytes reversed!
-------
------------------------------
Date: 2 Dec 83 12:30 EST
From: Robert Dewar <DEWAR.ACF2@NYU-CMCL1.ARPA>
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Subject: MS Assembler Bugs
There are a number of ways of persuading the MS assembler to generate
invalid object modules without any complaints (one of the many
charming features of this miserable assembler). The most common is to
mess up the segment-ends bracketing and attempt for example to
generate code not included within any segment.
------------------------------
Date: 2 Dec 83 12:40 EST
From: Robert Dewar <DEWAR.ACF2@NYU-CMCL1.ARPA>
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Subject: Compaq Video Compatibility
Here are some notes on Compaq video compatibility which may be of interest:
The Compaq video interface is a very interesting combination of the color
graphics and monochrome interfaces of the IBM PC. It actually switches
display modes dynamically (those with sufficiently acute hearing will be
able to notice the distinct change in the high pitched tone as the display
rate changes).
To the eye, the monochrome mode is extremely similar to the IBM display. The
color/graphics mode simulates color using grey scales (works fine with Apple
Panic, but J-Bird is a problem!). The board also generates RGB and composite
video output. I recommend getting a composite monitor (the Panasonic CT1300D
about $320 from discount houses is an excellent choice) if you want spiffy
color for games (note that for many purposes, composite video gives better
color than RGB and you have the fine resolution needed on the Compaq
monitor, an ideal combination for the MS flight simulator).
To a program, the interface looks just like the color graphics interface
(i.e. in either mode the display buffer is at B8000). This works fine for
most normal software, since the display will switch into the appropriate
mode automatically. However, some software is written to work quite
differently in graphics and monochrome mode, and will get confused in the
COMPAQ environment. For example, my DVED screen editor is very careful to
respect the annoying retrace restrictions of the color graphics card, while
still retaining decent performance. It works OK on the COMPAQ, but there are
cases when it is less efficient than it should be, and also it flickers the
screen unnecessarily (the COMPAQ monochrome mode does not require the
program to bother about retrace restrictions). I eventually added a test
for the COMPAQ copyright notice and improved the COMPAQ performance.
------------------------------
From: pcarah.es@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Date: 1 Jan 84 17:19:19 PST
Subject: Re: Position Sensitive Code
To: Brackenridge@usc-isib.ARPA
cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
The DOS does indeed check (two places) for long writes. The DOS will
partition a write into segment sized chunks if too much is requested,
and the driver (in IBMBIO.COM, not the ROM) handles 64K boundaries
separately. Also, I have never had a problem with FORMAT or DISKCOPY
regardless of other programs resident. The way that the driver
handles 64K boundaries is a bit strange and may be possible to fool at
the top of memory, and that check is indeed up to the programmer.
Note that both FORMAT and DISKCOPY do their I/O directly with INT 13
rather than through the DOS (at least the I/O not writing files or
volume names). Thus my comment is not entirely relevant to your
problem. I would assume that no-one at IBM (not Microsoft for that
part of FORMAT) thought of checking for a 64K boundary in the format
or FAT buffer. Why that would cause a parity check 2 is beyond me,
however, at least for FORMAT.
Pete
[The parity check 2 comes from MINCE and CodeSmith debugger (when
loading programs). It is not clear to me either that the two problems
are related, but I can always make the parity check go away if I
change the size of resident operating system code -ed]
------------------------------
Date: 2 Jan 1984 1646-PST
Subject: Re: Position Sensitive Code
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
cc: Gillmann, Brackenridge, pcarah.es@PARC-MAXC
Here's a concrete example of how FORMAT is position dependent:
(1) Assemble, link and exe2bin the following program which I call
SPACE.ASM. The program when executed simply installs itself and takes
up 39K bytes of memory, thereby changing the load point for programs.
CSEG SEGMENT
ASSUME CS:CSEG
ORG 100H
START PROC FAR
JMP INIT
START ENDP
K EQU 1024
WASTE DB 39*K DUP(0)
INIT PROC NEAR
MOV DX,OFFSET INIT
INT 27H ; EXIT BUT STAY RESIDENT
INIT ENDP
CSEG ENDS
END START
(2) Change your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files to remove any
installed device drivers or installations of programs which stay
resident (examples: ANSI.SYS or PROKEY).
(3) Boot DOS 2.0. This should give you a pure copy of DOS.
(4) Run SPACE.COM, thereby changing the program load point.
(5) Now put a diskette in drive A: and give the command FORMAT A:.
You will get a "Track 0 bad - disk unusable" error, no matter which
diskette you use.
I ran this test on an XT, but it should work on a PC as well. Using
a different version of DOS would change it. Try varying the amount
of space wasted; FORMAT does all kinds of things. I understand
that this problem also affects DISKCOPY.
Dick Gillmann
-------
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂05-Jan-84 2051 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #3
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 5 Jan 84 20:49:43 PST
Date: 5 Jan 1984 1913-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #3
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, 5 January 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 3
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
PC Kermit version 1.20
Optimizing C86 from Computer Innovations
File Transfer Problems
How Does DOS Function 48H Work?
64K print buffer/interface converter
Fortran Compilers
Wanted: Info on X.25 Package for IBM PC
Extra IBM PC Keyboard
More Batch File Goodies
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu 5 Jan 84 11:14:09-EST
From: Daphne Tzoar <CC.DAPHNE@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: PC Kermit version 1.20
To: info-kermit@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA, info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Version 1.20 of PC Kermit is now the default and has been renamed to
PCKERMIT. Version 1.18 is available as PCKOLD. Both files can be
anonymously FTP'ed from node Columbia-20. Please report any problems
to me.
/daphne
-------
------------------------------
From: vortex!lauren at RAND-UNIX
Date: Thu, 5-Jan-84 06:32:29-PST
Sender: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@RAND-UNIX>
Subject: C86
To: INFO-IBMPC@ISIB
Greetings. I keep getting reports that the C86 compiler is superior
to Lattice. If anybody can provide the answers to a few questions
about C86, I'd sure appreciate it.
The Questions:
1) How much does the beastie cost?
2) Does it support the full MSDOS 2.0 directory structure for
filename access (that is, the Unix-style pathnames)?
3) Do they have any restriction/royalty requirements for
selling code compiled/linked via their software?
4) Does anybody have any useful tales regarding use of the C86
compiler? Comparisons with Lattice, in particular, would
be useful.
Thanks much, all.
--Lauren--
------------------------------
Date: Tue 3 Jan 84 17:12:45-EST
From: Willie Lim <WLIM@MIT-XX.ARPA>
Subject: Optimizing C86 from Computer Innovations
To: INFO-IBMPC
I just got the announcements from Computer Innovations on the release
of versions 2.0 (January 1984) and 2.1 (February 1984). Here are the
manufacturer's claims for the new optimizing compiler:
programs (presumably object code) 10-20% smaller & twice as fast,
address up to 1M - compile time option,
standard linker and object format,
assembler output option,
8087 code inline,
MS-DOS 2.0 and graphics functions added to library.
Willie
-------
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 84 19:36 PST
From: "Goldberg S.%LLL"@LLL-MFE.ARPA
Subject: FILE TRANSFER PROBLEMS 805 546 2319
To: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
I AM HAVING PROBLEMS TRANSFERRING FILES FROM THE VARIOUS COMPUTERS
AT LIVERMORE LABS TO THE IBM PC LOCATED IN SAN LUIS OBISPO. I AM USING
THE TYMNET TO CONNECT UP TO THE LABS.
I AM ABLE TO TRANSFER FILES FROM THE ARPANET TO LIVERMORE WITH NO
PROBLEM. WHEN I TRY TO TRANSFER FROM LIVERMORE TO SLO MY FILES ARRIVE
WITH ↑@ INSERTED ON EVERY OTHER LINE (THE NULL CHARACTER). I THEN HAVE
TO EDIT THE FILES TO REMOVE THEM. ANYONE KNOW HOW TO FTP WITHOUT
GETTING THE ↑@ SHIPPED ALONG.
THANKS SAUL GOLDBERG
------------------------------
Date: 3 Jan 84 5:46:28-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!floyd!clyde!akgua!psuvax!psuvm%cjs @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Does DOS function 48h work?
Has anyone had success using DOS 2.0 function 48h to allocate memory
(page D-43 of DOS 2.0 manual)? I've been using code like:
mov bx,10h ;number of paragraphs
mov ah,48h
int 21h
Pretty simple. Carry flag gets set to indicated an error, and AX
contains the error code 8 -- which means not enough memory. I've
been able to allocate only 3 paragraphs without error, and these
were put way down in DOS. Shoot, I got a 640K machine, so there is
plenty of memory available.
I'd like to allocate a large buffer (4k or more) dynamically. Don't
want it taking space in my .COM files. Cannot find any information
on how DOS allocates memory other than that one page in the manual.
Any suggestions?
------------------------------
Date: 4 Jan 84 14:05:33-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!utah-cs!brownc @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: How Does DOS Function 48H Work?
Well, the Allocate Memory call should work, but first, you have to perform
a Modify Allocated Blocks call because COMMAND.COM sets each program to have
the entire free memory space allocated to it before it starts to execute.
In this way, programs written under 1.0 MS-DOS won't totally foul up the
memory allocation scheme.
Eric C. Brown
...!decvax!harpo!utah-cs!brownc
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 1984 16:54:57 EST
From: SMALLEY.Upenn-1100@Rand-Relay (LIZZZZARDS!!!)
Subject: 64K print buffer/interface converter
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Via: UPenn; 4 Jan 84 2:53-PST
I have a pretty good 64K print buffer - the Angel by Ligo Research Inc.
This buffer is great - it has both serial and parallel inputs AND outputs
so that you can use it as an interface converter, saving you a serial card
for some other device for example. The only weird thing is the parallel
connectors use 20 pin edge connectors, available for $3.00 from Ligo, or
$48.00 for a set of parallel cables (which interface with Centronics 36 pin
connectors). Baud rates up to 19.2KB are supported, but serial devices
running faster than 2400 must be matched on the buffers input and output
speeds. Settings can be changed via 3 banks of 8 dip switches, hidden
under a lid on the top of the unit. Functions are CLEAR, PAGE←SKIP, COPY,
PAGE←RE-PRINT, HOLD (input) and PAUSE (output). Two function keys allow
programed sequences to be entered. You can set it up to print a hex dump
of the buffer, or to generate multiple copies of a document.
Good stuff was the operating manual's appendixes which showed how to
set up the buffer for several configurations. Bad stuff, if you need the
parallel cables, the extra cost (50 bucks for cables like that isn't out
of line, just annoying). The Angel comes in a 64K size only, physically
it's 4.75x7.5x2 inches, external power pack is 2" cube which hangs right
on the outlet.
List price is $295, but I got my unit from an outfit in Delaware for
$250 which included shipping. Turn-around on the order was about 24 hours
because I had the unit in one working week (Wed. to Tues.) counting all
the time USnail possessed the order and buffer.
the place is INFOCON
P.O. Box 390
Hockessin, DE 19707
(302) 239-2942
share and enjoy!
------------------------------
Date: 4 Jan 1984 0917-PST
From: SHOSTAK at SRI-CSL
Subject: Fortran Compilers
To: info-ibmpc-request at USC-ISIB
cc: shostak at SRI-CSL
Some time back it was mentioned that DRI was about to announce a FORTRAN 77
compiler that would "blow away" the Microsoft compiler and others. Anyone
know where that stands now? What is currently the best FORTRAN 77 compiler
for PC-DOS?
-------
------------------------------
Date: 4 Jan 84 8:30:57-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!hound!han @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Wanted: Info on X.25 Package for IBM PC
I am looking for information on actual experiences
any one on the net might have had with
the X.25 package for the IBM PC offered by Frontier Technology
- the "Advanced Communications" board and the X.25 software,
or only the board (used in some other communication applications)):
1. Problems encountered in using the package to
interface to X.25 packet-switch/packet-networks.
2. Characteristics of the user interface to the software.
(e.g., does it have built-in PAD functions? performance?)
3. Characteristics of the X.25 interface (e.g., link/packet
level parameter value ranges, facilities supported, etc.)
I would also appreciate receiving similar info on any other
similar X.25 packages (for the IBM PC or other personal computers).
Please mail your responses to hound!han. Thanks.
Han Nguyen
------------------------------
Date: 3 Jan 84 14:25:05-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!ulysses!princeton!eosp1!robison @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Extra IBM PC Keyboard
References:
I am the proud owner of a new IBM PC, complete with a Keytronics
KB5150 keyboard, which I like very much. Therefore I have one
new, unused (except to make sure it works) IBM keyboard for the
PC available for sale or to trade for hardware of comparable value.
Anyone interested?
Toby Robison
decvax!ittvax!eosp1
or: allegra!eosp1
or: 609-924-7747 (home, not
business hours)
or: 70 Jefferson Rd.,
Princeton, NJ 08540
------------------------------
Date: 3 Jan 1984 1741-PST
From: HFISCHER%USC-ECLB@SRI-NIC
Subject: More Batch File Goodies
To: Info-ibmpc at ISIB
I am submitting another utility for batch files, bat-cd, for the
INFO-IBMPC library. This program allows a batch file to change
directories (just like the CD command), but to read the new directory
from the "standard input file" instead of the command line.
The command:
bat-cd reads new directory from keyboard
bat-cd < file reads new directory from "file"
bat-cd <file >nul no display of new dir name when changing
You can use the directory changer to change back to the directory a
batch file started out with, such as when doing a spelling correction
or fancy font printing.
.
. (your batch file to do fancy font from any directory)
.
echo off
cd > \bin\bat\starting.dir saves initial directory
copy %1 \fancyfnt\temp/v make file local to pfont dir
cd \fancyfnt go to pfont dir
pfont +fi temp +fo romn12 (etc.) do printing
del temp get rid of local file copy
bat-cd <\bin\bat\starting.dir >nul return to user's directory
echo on
If you were going to, for example, a speller directory, which made
changes to the file, then you would copy the local file back before
changing directories back:
echo off
cd >\bin\bat\starting.dir save initial directory
copy %1 \speller\temp.txt/v make your file local
cd \speller
spellit temp.txt
bat-cd <\bin\bat\starting.dir >nul change back to user's dir
copy \speller\temp.txt %1/v copy spelling corrected file
del \speller\temp.txt back & delete other copy
echo on
Note that the new input is read as a single line, without any prompt,
followed by a carriage return. If the input is not a valid directory,
then the message "path not found" is placed on the standard output
file (console, but redirectable if one wishes).
Herm Fischer
attachment: bat-cd.asm
*********************************************************************
page 64,132
title bat-cd -- Batch file Directory Changer
.RADIX 10
;
;
;
;*****************************************************************
; Public domain program by H. Fischer - HFischer@eclb 12/83
; Questions/problems to HFischer@eclb (213/902-5139).
;
; This program allows a batch file to change directories
; (just like the CD command), but to read the new directory
; from the "standard input file" instead of the command line.
; The command:
;
; bat-cd reads new directory from keyboard
; bat-cd < file reads new directory from "file"
; bat-cd <file >nul no display of new dir name when changing
;
; You can use the directory changer to change back to the
; directory a batch file started out with, such as when
; doing a spelling correction or fancy font printing.
; .
; . (your batch file to do fancy font from any directory)
; .
; echo off
; cd > \bin\bat\starting.dir saves initial directory
; copy %1 \fancyfnt\temp/v make file local to pfont dir
; cd \fancyfnt go to pfont dir
; pfont +fi temp +fi romn12 (etc.) do printing
; del temp get rid of local file copy
; bat-cd <\bin\bat\starting.dir >nul return to user's directory
; echo on
;
; If you were going to, for example, a speller directory, which
; made changes to the file, then you would copy the local file back
; before changing directories back:
;
; echo off
; cd >\bin\bat\starting.dir save initial directory
; copy %1 \speller\temp.txt/v make your file local
; cd \speller
; spellit temp.txt
; bat-cd <\bin\bat\starting.dir >nul change back to user's dir
; copy \speller\temp.txt %1/v copy spelling corrected file
; del \speller\temp.txt back & delete other copy
;
; Note that the new input is read as a single line, without
; any prompt, followed by a carriage return. If the input
; is not a valid directory, then the message "path not found"
; is placed on the standard output file (console, but redirectable
; if one wishes).
;
; To build this program:
; 1) asm bat-cd
; 2) link bat-cd
; 3) exe2bin bat-cd.exe \bin\bat-cd.com (name your path dir!)
; 4) del bat-cd.exe
;
;********************************************************************
code segment para
assume cs:code
org 100h
CD proc far
START:
mov ax,cs ; make this mess addressable via ds
mov ds,ax
assume ds:code
mov dx,offset buffer
mov ax,0c0ah
int 21h ; read the new directory name
mov bh,0 ; stuff a zero at the end
mov bl,buflen ; of the name just read
mov entry[bx],bh
mov dx,offset entry
mov ah,3bh
int 21h ; change the directory
cmp ax,3 ; error code?
jne done
mov dx,offset error ; display error if bad path
mov ah,9
int 21h
done: int 20h
buffer db 64 ; longest path is 63 chars & c/r
buflen db 0 ; dos-read length
entry db 64 dup(0) ; the new directory name
error db 'path not found',10,13,'$'
saveit db 0
CD endp
code ends
end start
-------
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂05-Jan-84 2143 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:OGAWA%SLACVM.BITNET@Berkeley BITNET mail follows
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(4.13/4.9.5) id AA03778; Thu, 5 Jan 84 21:37:54 pst
Date: 5 January 84 21:38-PST
From: OGAWA@SLACVM
To: TEXHAX@SU-SCORE
Subject: BITNET mail follows
Date: 5 January 1984, 18:38:02 PST
From: OGAWA at SLACVM
To: TEXHAX at SU-SCORE.ARPA
Subject: Problem with \write and @(at-sign)
In PLAIN.TEX for TeX ver 1.0, the @ is treated specially, viz.
it is \catcode'd to be 11 at the beginning and \catcode'd to be 12 at the end.
I wish to report difficulties encountered when \write is used.
The problem arises in applications where one is attempting to, for instance,
compile a table of contents:
We want a line put out to a temporary file which contains the current chapter
number and current line number. However, in case two chapters begin on the
same page, as is some times encountered, we want to cause the actual, expanded,
chapter number to be output. This requires some expansion, so we use \xdef, as
illustrated below. Of course, the page number should not be expanded, so we
use \noexpand. This, however is not relevant to the example.
A glance at the generated file will reveal the difficulty. In this case,
an innocent macro, \dotfill, was employed which, upon expansion, produced
'...\z@...'. This caused TeX to choke when the file was read back in.
Now, there are many ways to get around this, but it seems that there is a
very nasty problem at bottom.
Also, we have noticed that WEAVE'ing programs with the new TeX
suffers from a problem of this same kind.
The input file illustrating the problem, the intermediate file with the table
of contents, and the log file follow:
TeX input file:
% ATTEST.TEX - illustrate the diffuculty with the @ symbol
% begin macro definitions
%
% macros for the page number
\newcount\pagecount\pagecount1
%
% macros for the chapter number
\newcount\chaptercount\chaptercount0
%
% macros for temporary file for table of contents
\def\chapterfile{chapter.textemp }%
\newwrite\chapterwrite\immediate\openout\chapterwrite\chapterfile
%
% the chapter macro
\def\chapter#1{% begin a new chapter
\advance\chaptercount by 1 % increment the chapter number
\xdef\writeit{% must expand \chaptercount *now*
\write\chapterwrite{%
\line{%
\number\chaptercount\quad#1\dotfill
\noexpand\number\pagecount% must wait to be expanded
}%
}%
}%
\writeit % an entry in the table of contents
\centerline{#1\quad\number\chaptercount}% the header for the chapter
}%
%
% end macro definitions
%
% following is the text of the paper:
%
\chapter{The First Chapter}%
First sentence of the chapter.
%
% at the end of the paper, we emit the table of contents
%
\par\vfil\eject
\immediate\closeout\chapterwrite % close the file
\centerline{Table of Contents}\bigskip % the banner
\input\chapterfile % input the temporary table of contents file
The generated intermediate file:
\hbox to\hsize {1\hskip 1em\relax The First Chapter\cleaders \hbox
{$\mathsurround =\z@ \mkern 1.5mu.\mkern 1.5mu$}\hfill 1}
The log file:
This is TeX, VM/CMS Version 1.0 (preloaded format=PLAIN 83.12.12)
5 JAN 1984 21:14
**ATTEST
(ittest.tex
\pagecount=\count25
\chaptercount=\count26
\chapterwrite=\write0
[1] (chapter.textemp
! Undefined control sequence.
l.1 ...\cleaders \hbox {$\mathsurround =\z
@ \mkern 1.5mu.\mkern 1.5mu...
? x
Output written on TEX10.dvi (1 page, 280 bytes).
My own analysis and comments:
1. If we didn't do that clever thing with @, we wouldn't have this problem.
This is an accurate, but not very helpful comment.
2. If \xdef did a complete expansion, we wouldn't have this problem.
This is in a similar vein to the above.
3. If we had a primitive called \expand which did the opposite to \noexpand,
we wouldbe able to avoid the problem.
I'm not sure that one wants to do this....
4. Some trickery/hackery can be used to avoid the problem.
Any suggestions? A reference, mayhap, to a page in the TeXbook?
∂05-Jan-84 2202 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:ARK@SU-AI Re: Problem with \write and @(at-sign)
Received: from SU-SCORE by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 5 Jan 84 22:02:27 PST
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Date: 05 Jan 84 2200 PST
From: Arthur Keller <ARK@SU-AI>
Subject: Re: Problem with \write and @(at-sign)
To: TeXhax@SU-SCORE, OGAWA%SLACVM.BITNET@UCB-VAX
Although I can sympathise with the kinds of problems Ogawa is having, I believe
that a sledgehammer is being used instead of a scalpel. Rather than causing
the entire thing written to be expanded, you can do an \xdef of just the number
you want expanded and then use the macro in the write.
\xdef\writeit#1#2{\write\chapterwrite{\line{#1\number\chaptercount#2}}}
\writeit{}{\quad#1\dotfill\number\pagecount}
Arthur
∂05-Jan-84 2300 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:Allen@YALE Re: Problem with \write and @(at-sign)
Received: from SU-SCORE by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 5 Jan 84 23:00:51 PST
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Subject: Re: Problem with \write and @(at-sign)
Date: Fri, 6 Jan 84 01:56:53 EST
From: Todd Allen <Allen@YALE.ARPA>
To: texhax@SU-SCORE.ARPA
In-Reply-To: OGAWA@SLACVM (?Invalid domain (host)), 5 January 84 21:38-PST
Invalid-addresses: ogawa%slacvm@BINET (?Invalid domain (host))
In PLAIN.TEX for TeX ver 1.0, the @ is treated specially, viz.
it is \catcode'd to be 11 at the beginning and \catcode'd to be
12 at the end. I wish to report difficulties encountered when
\write is used.
The problem arises in applications where one is attempting to,
for instance, compile a table of contents: We want a line put
out to a temporary file which contains the current chapter number
and current line number. However, in case two chapters begin on
the same page, as is some times encountered, we want to cause
the actual, expanded, chapter number to be output. This requires
some expansion, so we use \xdef, as illustrated below. Of course,
the page number should not be expanded, so we use \noexpand. This,
however is not relevant to the example.
A glance at the generated file will reveal the difficulty. In
this case, an innocent macro, \dotfill, was employed which, upon
expansion, produced '...\z@...'. This caused TeX to choke when
the file was read back in.
Yes, this is a problem, but it has already been solved. Way back
in late June or early August I invented as \sanitize macro intended
specifically for eliminating this sort of problem. The macro takes
a file number and a token string and inserts a \noexpand in front
of every active character and control sequence. This guarantees that
the control sequences will not be expanded until you TeX the resulting
file. Knuth included a version of this macro in the dirty tricks
section of the TeXBook (Appendix D). I've been using this to write
toc's, indices, and other addenda for many months, and have had great
success with it.
If you don't have a copy of the book yet (you should get a copy), maybe
Don or Dave could could extract the macro from the manuscript source files
and mail to TeXHax. I'd publish my copy, except it's full of all my
peculiar synonyms and hacks.
∂05-Jan-84 2315 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:OGAWA%SLACVM.BITNET@Berkeley BITNET mail follows
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(4.13/4.9.5) id AA04932; Thu, 5 Jan 84 23:02:37 pst
Date: 5 January 84 23:03-PST
From: OGAWA@SLACVM
To: TEXHAX@SU-SCORE
Subject: BITNET mail follows
Date: 5 January 1984, 22:37:54 PST
From: OGAWA at SLACVM
To: TEXHAX at SU-SCORE.ARPA
Subject: problem with @ and \write, revisited, with suggestion by ARK@SU-SCORE
This is in reference to my previous note on this subject.
I have incorporated the suggestion by Arthur Keller to the effect that one
may try to control the amount of expansion by making the crux macro have
parameters. Unfortunately, this seems not to work; the expansion seems
to apply to the replacement portion of the macro *including the parameters*.
I wish to stress that I am introducing this problem, not because I cannot get
around it, rather for the purpose of pointing out what seems to be an
undesirable (and perhaps unanticipated) consequence of using the @ in the
particular way that we are using it in TeX82, version 1.0.
In particular, I am in favor of a way of `unlocking' and `locking' macros with
the use of something like a @.
Unfortunately, there are difficulties that will inevitably crop up in
applications such as the current one.
I invite macro enthusiasts to consider this issue as it may apply in a general
way.
The input file ( note altered macro \chapter):
% ATTEST.TEX - illustrate the difficulty with the @ symbol
% begin macro definitions
%
% macros for the page number
\newcount\pagecount\pagecount1
%
% macros for the chapter number
\newcount\chaptercount\chaptercount0
%
% macros for temporary file for table of contents
\def\chapterfile{chapter.textemp }%
\newwrite\chapterwrite\immediate\openout\chapterwrite\chapterfile
%
% the chapter macro
\def\chapter#1{% begin a new chapter
\advance\chaptercount by 1 % increment the chapter number
%ARK@SU-SCORE suggests I try this:
\xdef\writeit##1{%
\write\chapterwrite{%
\line{\number\chaptercount##1}%
}%
}%
\writeit{\quad#1\dotfill\noexpand\number\pagecount}%
% Previous trial commented out
%\xdef\writeit{% must expand \chaptercount *now*
% \write\chapterwrite{%
% \line{%
% \number\chaptercount\quad#1\dotfill
% \noexpand\number\pagecount% must wait to be expanded
% }%
% }%
% }%
%\writeit % an entry in the table of contents
\centerline{#1\quad\number\chaptercount}% the header for the chapter
}%
%
% end macro definitions
%
% following is the text of the paper:
%
\chapter{The First Chapter}%
First sentence of the chapter.
%
% at the end of the paper, we emit the table of contents
%
\par\vfil\eject
\immediate\closeout\chapterwrite % close the file
\centerline{Table of Contents}\bigskip % the banner
\input\chapterfile % input the temporary table of contents file
The table of contents file:
\hbox to\hsize {1\hskip 1em\relax The First Chapter\cleaders \hbox
{$\mathsurround =\z@ \mkern 1.5mu.\mkern 1.5mu$}\hfill \number \pagecount }
The log file:
This is TeX, VM/CMS Version 1.0 (preloaded format=PLAIN 83.12.12)
5 JAN 1984 22:45
**TEX10
(TEX10.tex (attest.tex
\pagecount=\count25
\chaptercount=\count26
\chapterwrite=\write0
[1] (chapter.textemp
! Undefined control sequence.
l.1 ...\cleaders \hbox {$\mathsurround =\z
@ \mkern 1.5mu.\mkern 1.5mu...
? x
Output written on TEX10.dvi (1 page, 280 bytes).
∂06-Jan-84 0608 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:Allen@YALE Re: problem with @ and \write
Received: from SU-SCORE by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 6 Jan 84 06:07:57 PST
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Subject: Re: problem with @ and \write
Date: Fri, 6 Jan 84 09:03:12 EST
From: Todd Allen <Allen@YALE.ARPA>
To: ogawa%slacvm.bitnet@UCB-VAX.ARPA, texhax@SU-SCORE.ARPA
In-Reply-To: OGAWA@SLACVM (?Invalid domain (host)), 5 January 84 23:03-PST
Since my previous note, eariler this morning, copies of the TeXBook have
finally arrived at Yale. Consequently I can give a more precise
reference to the sanitizer:
Page 377 \unexpandedwrite & \sanitize
As I stated earlier, this hack has saved me lots of problems. In
general, what I do is sanitize any token lists obtained from the user
(e.g., arguments to a chapter, heading, section, or figure macro),
and use care with tokens added by those macros (i.e., explicit
\noexpands, as appropriate).
Another thing I've done, is done numeric conversion (i.e., to roman
and to alpha) in advance of the \write. This even works for page
numbers as the conversion can be done as part of the \output routine.
This also helps to resolve expansion timing problems.
∂06-Jan-84 1429 ELYSE@SU-SCORE.ARPA Forsythe Lectures
Received: from SU-SCORE by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 6 Jan 84 14:29:05 PST
Date: Fri 6 Jan 84 14:26:36-PST
From: Elyse Krupnick <ELYSE@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: Forsythe Lectures
To: faculty@SU-SCORE.ARPA
Stanford-Phone: (415) 497-9746
Ron Rivest will be giving the Forsythe Lectures the week of January 23.
The lectures are as follows:
Monday, Jan. 23 7:30 pm Skilling Auditorium
"Reflections on Artificial Intelligence"
Wednesday, Jan. 25 7:30 pm Skilling Auditorium
"Estimating a Probability Using Finite Memory"
Thursday, Jan. 26 4:15 pm Jordon 040
"An Algorithm for Minimizing Crossovers in VSLI Designs"
(For two-pin nets only, given a global routing)
AFTER THE WEDNESDAY LECTURE THERE WILL BE A DEPARTMENTAL RECEPTION AT
THE FACULTY CLUB. PLEASE SEND ME OR ELYSE THE NAME AND ADDRESS OF
PERSONS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE INVITED.
-Gene-
-------
∂06-Jan-84 1524 GOLUB@SU-SCORE.ARPA AGENDA
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Date: Fri 6 Jan 84 15:22:48-PST
From: Gene Golub <GOLUB@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: AGENDA
To: faculty@SU-SCORE.ARPA
TENTATIVE AGENDA
FACULTY MEETING
JANUARY 10, 1984
Room 146 - MJH
1. Presentation of Degree Candidates Walker 10 mins.
2. Selected Committee Reports
Ph.D. Admissions Reid 5 mins.
Forum Lenat 5 mins.
3. Financial Report Ullman/Scott 10 mins.
4. Computer Usage Policy Ullman 10 mins.
5. Math Science Program: Efron 7 mins.
Change of Name
6. Departmental Lecturers Golub 5 mins.
7. Course Changes Golub/Yearwood 5 mins.
8. General Announcements
9. New Business
Please send me any supporting materials as soon as possible.
-------
-------
∂06-Jan-84 2017 @SU-SCORE.ARPA:kay@UCLA-CS Typesetting programs with TeX
Received: from SU-SCORE by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 6 Jan 84 20:16:55 PST
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Date: Fri, 6 Jan 84 20:12:27 PST
From: David G. Kay <kay@UCLA-CS>
To: texhax@su-score
Subject: Typesetting programs with TeX
I am a relative newcomer to the TeX world, working on a project
which will require that many programs be typeset using TeX. I'd like to
know of any references or anyone's experience with using TeX to typeset
programs under the following constraints:
1. The programs will be set in "Algol publication format",
with bold keywords, italicized identifiers, roman constants,
and so on.
2. It should be possible to compile and run the programs from
the TeX source with (at most) minor, automatic modification.
I am not bound to any particular format or macro package yet; it may be
(and I hope) that one of the common packages provides this capability
already.
Many thanks,
David G. Kay
∂07-Jan-84 1457 TEXGUESTS@SU-SCORE.ARPA Re: BITNET mail follows
Received: from SU-SCORE by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 7 Jan 84 14:57:09 PST
Date: Sat 7 Jan 84 14:55:06-PST
From: TEX Guests <TEXGUESTS@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: Re: BITNET mail follows
To: TEXHAX@SU-SCORE.ARPA, TEXGUESTS@SU-SCORE.ARPA
In-Reply-To: Message from "OGAWA@SLACVM" of Thu 5 Jan 84 21:38:00-PST
i've had a similar problem, writing out entries to a file for an index;
the same error condition occurred, namely truncation of a control sequence
name before an @ sign. however, i'm working at one level removed from
plain.tex, namely with AMS-TeX. i tried applying \noexpand to the
offending control sequence, and that had no effect whatever (when i get
time, i plan to test whether that's simply an idiosyncracy of AMS-TeX
or a problem with TeX itself or a misunderstanding of the rules). but
the following technique did work --
apply the \string function to the offending control sequence
and it will sail right on the the output file, where it can be expanded
as desired when that file is processed. i don't have a TeXbook reference
(only one copy has reached providence, r i, so far, although we check
every day), but it can be found in the index. there's a short reference
in the TeX82 -- comparison with TeX80 list in the TeX and Metafont:
errata and changes published by TUG, item 111, page 29 of the sept 83
edition.
barbara beeton (bb@sail)
-------
∂07-Jan-84 1726 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #4
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 7 Jan 84 17:26:00 PST
Date: 7 Jan 1984 1643-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #4
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 7 January 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 4
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
Fortran Compilers for PC
Object Module Librarian
Lattice/Microsoft C Query
C86
Switchar Problem
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 6-Jan-84 16:25:24-CST (Fri)
From: pool@ANL-MCS.ARPA (Pool)
Subject: Fortran Compilers for PC
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
Based upon our preliminary evaluations and our experience in implementing
a subset of the NAG (Numerical Algorithms Group) Fortran Library, we feel
that the Microsoft MS-Fortran (Release 3.13) is the best of the currently
available Fortran compilers for MS-DOS in the reasonable price range, i.e.,
excluding the Intel compiler. Using MS-Fortran, we have implemented 50
user-callable routines (requiring about another 100 auxiliary routines) of
the 500 user-callable routines (requiring about another 500 auxiliary
routines) in the NAG Fortran Library for minis, mainframes, and supercomputers
with no major difficulties. We have executed over 100 test programs to
exercise these 50 routines; therefore, the total usage of the compiler
has been significant.
However, there are two warnings: 1) do not try a major Fortran software
development project with MS-Fortran unless you have a hard disk; and
2) be aware that the lack of an object module librarian will pose major
"bookkeeping" problems.
I understand that the DR Fortran 77 compiler is still in the test phase;
however, the description in the DR ISV Forum Newsletter is very promising,
in particular, their anticipated ability to port it among operating
systems and chips.
Jim Pool
Numerical Algorithms Group
pool@anl-mcs
------------------------------
Date: 6-Jan-84 16:33:55-CST (Fri)
From: pool@ANL-MCS.ARPA (Pool)
Subject: Object Module Librarian
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
Has anyone had experience using PolyLibrarian from Polytron Corporation
or any other object module librarian for MS-DOS (applicable to Fortran
programs)?
Jim Pool
Numerical Algorithms Group
pool@anl-mcs
------------------------------
Date: 6 Jan 1984 1216-PST
Subject: Lattice/Microsoft C Query
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
I'm trying to determine whether it's better to get the Lattice C
compiler from Microsoft or from Lattice. I am thinking in terms of
price, getting C-food, getting the Microsoft librarian, and getting
the latest version of the compiler and updates. I'd appreciate
hearing from anyone who has bought a copy from either source recently.
Dick
------------------------------
Date: 10 Jan 1984 2257-CST
Subject: C86
From: Doug <HUNEYCUTT@GUNTER-ADAM>
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
Lauren, et al
I've talked to George Eberhardt of CI a couple of times a week for the
past 7 months, as we're beta testing C86 on a Z-100 here. Latest word
about new stuff is as follows:
New versions (as mentioned earlier) for release in early 84. Will
include small and large models, and full MS-DOS 2.0 and later support.
This makes sense, as the package is under development on an XT.
Cost is still around $400. An overlay linker, similar to Lattice's,
will be available 'soon', but won't cost anywhere near the $400 that
Lifeboat charges over and above the $500 for Lattice C. C86 currently
supports overlays, but the usage is pretty kludgey.
No royalties have been imposed for stuff you develop. Also makes sense,
since the output from an optimizing compiler is relatively impossible
to take apart.
Some very interesting things are on the horizon. The version currently
in the works (release around mid-summer) runs the Byte benchmark in
around 4 seconds. The original release ran it in 17 secs, and the
current optimizing beta runs it in around 12. Also mentioned from two
different sources in CI is a currently working C interpreter. This could
be handy. Is uses most of the existing library for C86, and is reputed
to be compatible with the compiler. (not released yet, so this officially
falls under the classification of 'rumor').
My dealings with vendors have shown me one disturbing thing about the recent
adoption of Lattice at the Microsoft C compiler. This is that Microsoft
has licensed Lattice THROUGH Lifeboat! This means that for us to get a
vendor (Zenith, IBM, TI, etc) to offer us Lattice means a chain of 4
organizations we would have to pass through to get bug reports, etc, back
to the authors. My dealings with both Lifeboat and Microsoft have been
very discouraging from the user support standpoint. CI has shown an interest
in user experiences greater than any I have experienced. These facts alone
would convince me to buy C86, even if I didn't think that it was clearly
the better package.
Doug
-------
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 7 Jan 84 13:31:55 pst
From: ty%CCVAX@Nosc
To: Info-IBMPC@ISIB
Subject: Switchar Problem
Upon learning about the switchar=-, I immediately made the change and
have been enjoying the change until I tried to RESTORE my hard disk. I
seems that when you change the switchar that the path names embedded
into each file at BACKUP time are separated by '/'. The problem I
have encountered with this is that you can no longer RESTORE files
from the floppy disk. I have no problem using BACKUP/RESTORE when I
do not use switchar, but right now I am unable to restore my hard disk
since I BACKUP'ed it with switchar=-. Anyone have experience with
this? Would appreciate any info on this.
Thanks in advance.
ty@NOSC
------------------------------
Date: 7 Jan 1984 1557-PST
Subject: Re: Switchar Problem
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: ty%CCVAX@NOSC-CC
cc: info-ibmpc
In-Reply-To: Your message of Sat, 7 Jan 84 13:31:55 pst
I suppose it might be instructive for all concerned to reprint Gordon
Letwin's warnings about switchar from last July's issue of Info-IBMPC:
Date: 22 Jul 83 12:03:53-PDT (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: microsoft!gordonl @ UW-Beaver
Subject: SWITCHAR Warning
Recent articles have described the SWITCHAR facility in MSDOS 2.0.
This changes the path character from "\" to "/" and the switch
character from "/" to "-".
Please be warned that this feature is NOT DOCUMENTED and, in fact,
(often) DOES NOT WORK. Yes, the OS and COMMAND.COM will correctly use
the new characters, but other utilities may become confused. For
example, I used SWITCHAR on my own PC, then did a full dump a few days
later. After reformatting my hard disk I discovered that a dump taken
with SWITCHAR in effect cannot be read.
In short, if it's undocumented, use at your own risk, and be aware
that you may encounter totally unexpected problems.
gordon letwin
microsoft
-------
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂10-Jan-84 1739 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #5
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 10 Jan 84 17:39:37 PST
Date: 10 Jan 1984 1651-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #5
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 10 January 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 5
This Week's Editor: Randy Cole
Today's Topics:
Status Line Question
Help -- PC1 Switch Settings
VDISK and the Reset Switches
DOS 2.0 On-line HELP Facilities
WordStar on the PC - HELP!!!!
Paging
Test Version of PC Kermit has Server Function Added
FW Config Problem
Epson FX-80 Bug
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 5 Jan 84 5:32:57-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!duke!mcnc!ecsvax!ctk @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Status Line Question
How does one go about using line 25 as a status line in a program? In
basic this is not a problem. I'm trying to write a C program that uses
line 25 and when the screen becomes full line 25 is scrolled up like
everything else. Is there a system call or a port I can write to that
makes line 25 special? How does Basic do this? All help will be
appreciated. TIA.
As usual respond by mail.
C.T. Kelley
Dept. of Math.
N.C. State U.
Raleigh, N.C. 27650
decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!ctk
------------------------------
Date: 4 Jan 84 10:20:25-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!duke!mcnc!ecsvax!vicki @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Help -- PC1 Switch Settings
We haven't found any material documenting what the IBM PC1 switch
settings are on the mother board for memory over 512K. Does
anyone out there know FOR SURE what the switch settings would be??
Thanks,
Vicki Lonell
NCECS POB 12035
RTP NC 27709
DECVAX!MCNC!ECSVAX!VICKI
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 84 10:45:44-PST (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!iuvax!apratt @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: VDISK and the Reset Switches
I have what I believe to be a unique disk emulator. It is a hack of the one in
the DOS manual, and it works like this:
The system board switches are set to 128K, but the machine has 640K
inside. The device driver installs itself by turning off parity checking and
using the memory from 128K to 640K as a RAM disk. If something goes wrong, I
can use ALT-CTRL-DEL; the driver is smart enough to preserve the data that's
already there in "protected" memory.
The point was that a "reset" switch could be installed, and the IBM
could merrily test the memory up to 128K like it's supposed to, and the data
in that high partition would not be touched. The rub: a fellow tells me that
the first part of the power-up cycle (when "pwr good" goes true from false)
is a hardware "clear all memory" signal (NOT in ROM, but in HARDWARE). Can
anybody confirm this? Is there any good reason for it? Can it be circumvented?
With a little more polish and any request, I will post the mods to
the IBM-copyrighted virtual disk device driver to net.sources. The polish will
consist of generalization: reading the switches, testing to see how much memory
you ACTUALLY have, and carrying on from there.
-- Allan Pratt
...ihnp4!iuvax!akp
------------------------------
Date: 6 Jan 84 19:51:44-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!duke!mcnc!ecsvax!mia @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: DOS 2.0 On-line HELP Facilities
Is there anyone out there who knows where there might be an on-line
DOS2.0 HELP program/package/etc? Would appreciate knowing!
Mark Appelbaum (mia)
358 Davie Hall -0l3A
UNC-CH
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
(919-962-5036)
------------------------------
Date: 6 Jan 84 18:48:10-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!duke!mcnc!ecsvax!mia @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: WordStar on the PC - HELP!!!!
Have any of you out there had any success getting WordStar 3.30 operating
under DOS 2.0 to recognize any form of paths? Particularly using the XT?
If so your help would be greatly appreciated.
Mark Appelbaum
358 Davie Hall -0l3A
UNC-Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 275l4
(919-962-5036)
------------------------------
Date: Mon 9 Jan 84 16:56:14-EST
From: Bernard Gunther <BMG@MIT-XX.ARPA>
Subject: Paging
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I am working on an XT in C and I was wondering if there was any easy
way to "page in" certain portions of a program at once? This could be
done either via virtual memory with some sort of intelligent paging
routine or by some way of compiling sections of the program so that
they use the same area of memory. I would like to keep a central
monitoring program in memory at all times, but would like to bring in
the appropriate application program when called for.
Thanks,
Bernie Gunther
BMG@MIT-XX
------------------------------
Date: 9 Jan 1984 1846-PST
From: HFISCHER%USC-ECLB@SRI-NIC
Subject: Test Version of PC Kermit has Server Function Added
To: Info-Kermit at COLUMBIA-20
cc: HFischer at ECLB
A number of folks have expressed an interest in a version of the IBM PC Kermit
program which also functions as a server. Intense pressure at my company
(Litton Data Systems) to be able to do something with all of our PC's so that
managers could collect their status reports automatically prompted me to make
an initial test release of the PC (and Heath) Kermit (with server added).
I have succeeded in modifying PCK20.asm to become both the regular local
Kermit and additionally a server. As a server, the program (the same
identical program) can function as an unattended remote, either controlled by
its own console, or with the DOS-2 CTTY command, over the communications
line.
The modified kermit is in my directory for those who would like to test it.
At Arpanet site "USC-ECLB" FTP file <HFischer>pck20.new for the modified
assembler code, and file <HFischer>pck20.exe for the 8-bit mode .exe file.
If you'd rather have the file some other way, there are two choices; mail me
a floppy (Herman Fischer, Litton Data Systems, 8000 Woodley, ms 44-30,
Van Nuys, CA 91409) or contact me by net or phone (we could put my PC into
server mode and transmit the .exe file directly).
Please let me know of any problems, or questions in getting it up. My
telephone number is 213/902-5139 (but I will be out of town next week and the
week after, net accessible next week but not at all the week after).
I have tested it using the resources available in my company (my test setup is
a Sytek local area network with 9600 baud communications between multiple
PC's). Obviously there are many combinations of equipment which are still to
be tried.
If you must run under DOS 1, then you can only load the kermit server on the
serving machine's console (because DOS 1 cannot redirect commands over comm
links). When you load kermit, after setting the baud rates, parity, or
whatever, issue the command "server". This places your machine in a receive
state, whereby callers can send to you, receive from you (default directory
only). Don't let remote callers issue "finish" or "logout" because that'll
return your machine to DOS, and then subsequent callers cannot access kermit
without your presence to reload it.
It is much more sexy to use DOS 2 CTTY to redirect your keyboard to the comm
line. Then the caller can use dir, edlin, type, and just about all programs
which use DOS (not BIOS) calls. (BASIC uses BIOS calls, so it won't cooperate
with CTTY.) If your machine has CTTY COM1 issued, then the caller can do
whatever he wants, including loading and running PC Kermit. For PC Kermit,
your caller must type in a command to load Kermit and override the DOS 2 CTTY
redirection (because your comm line probably needs set baud and other
preparatory commands, and the server command, and because PC kermit uses
BIOS console I/O (lest it not run on DOS 1 any more)). Once the remote caller
is ready, to load kermit, he MUST do it (or invoke batch files) as thus:
"kermit < yourfile.xx > con:"
where yourfile.xx contains something like:
"set baud 9600
server".
He then does his "↑]C" and tells his kermit what to send/receive/finish. When
finished, he again can connect and operate the remote PC's DOS (those programs
not using BIOS, of course). Wildcards work as usual. Drive id's work, but are
tricky, for example, because getting a file from a sepecified drive of the
server will stuff the file onto the default drive of the recipient.
If the owner stumbles back into the office with the "serving machine", since
we have ">con:" on the kermit statement he will see the ongoing transactions.
I have modified the program so that a ↑C issued at the main console of the
serving machine will abort the program and return to DOS. Also, that means
now that a ↑C at any point while sending or receiving, even if you are not a
server, will abort the program (you might have to follow the ↑C by a bunch of
enter depressions, depending on where you caught the program hanging).
I will next try to think of some way to make this Kermit version do some type
of elementary mailing task with unix go-betweens.
Herm Fischer (HFischer@eclb)
------------------------------
Date: Tue 10 Jan 84 16:21:59-PST
From: Tim Gonsalves <Fat.Tag@SU-SIERRA.ARPA>
Subject: FW Config Problem
To: info-micro@BRL-VGR.ARPA, info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I ran into a problem whilst trying to configure the FW to use the user-defined
character set on an Epson FX-80. The character string required to switch the
printer between the standard (ROM) and user-defined (RAM) set is:
<ESC>%<n><0>
where <n> is a byte with value n. To select RAM, n=1, to select ROM, n=0.
The problem is that Config appears to treat <0> as an end-of-string marker.
Thus, it accepts the <ESC>%<1> as the string to select RAM, and <ESC>% as the
string to select ROM. The printer, alas, has other thoughts on the matter.
Is there any way to get Config to accept a <0> in a string in a printer
definition?
Tim Gonsalves
Gonsalves@SU-Sierra.Arpa
------------------------------
Date: Tue 10 Jan 84 16:28:54-PST
From: Tim Gonsalves <Fat.Tag@SU-SIERRA.ARPA>
Subject: Epson FX-80 Bug
To: info-micro@BRL-VGR.ARPA, info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I have found what seems to be a bug in my Epson FX-80. In immediate mode
(<ESC>i1) setting the 8th bit on (<ESC>>) does not work. With the 8th bit
on, ASCII characters sent to the printer should be printed in italics. This
works in normal mode, but not in immediate mode. The manual does not mention
any restrictions on what can be done in immediate mode.
(This is not a serious problem since I dont use immediate mode much, just to
test new characters; and italics mode works okay in immediate).
Tim Gonsalves
Gonsalves@SU-Sierra.Arpa
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂10-Jan-84 2052 @WASHINGTON.ARPA:mark%umcp-cs@CSNet-Relay Which is faster: Tex, Scribe, Troff.
Received: from WASHINGTON by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 10 Jan 84 20:51:45 PST
Received: from csnet-cic.ARPA by WASHINGTON.ARPA with TCP; Tue 10 Jan 84 20:32:15-PST
Date: 10 Jan 84 22:19:16 EST (Tue)
From: Mark Weiser <mark%umcp-cs@CSNet-Relay>
Return-Path: <mark%umcp-cs@CSNet-Relay>
Subject: Which is faster: Tex, Scribe, Troff.
To: laser-lovers@washington, unix-tex@washington
Via: UMCP-CS; 10 Jan 84 22:26-EST
A large number of cycles on our Vaxes are eaten up with troff jobs.
If we switch to Tex (possible) or Scribe (unlikely because of price)
will things get much worse or much better?
∂10-Jan-84 2228 M.JOHN@SU-SIERRA.ARPA
Received: from SU-SIERRA by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 10 Jan 84 22:28:10 PST
Date: Tue 10 Jan 84 22:27:40-PST
From: John D. Johnson <M.JOHN@SU-SIERRA.ARPA>
To: ALS@SU-AI.ARPA
In-Reply-To: Message from "Art Samuel <ALS@SU-AI>" of Tue 10 Jan 84 15:45:00-PST
Yes, I do use the Epson MX-80 with Graftrax bit-plot graphics
for TeX ouput. It has a resolution of 120 dots per inch. It
is not really acceptable output for anything other than drafts.
I use it on my home computer, but I produce final copy with the Dover.
If you want some sample output I can send it to you.
It is also very slow, about 7 minutes for a full page of text. The fonts
were all hand edited.
The output driver works by building a page image in the host's memory
then sending all the bits to the printer. It recieves only bit-plot
graphics commands. One of the reason for its slow speed is that a
row of 8 dots are printed, the head is returned and the paper advanced
1/2 dot width, then the interweaving 8 dots are printed.
I am strating to work on a DVI driver for a Toshiba P1350 dot matrix printer,
but do not having anything to show yet. It has a resoultion of
180 dots per inch and a 24 wire print head.
-- John D Johnson
-------
Thanks for your comments. I would like to see your Epson output.
I have an IBM-PC at home and if ever I get time I would like to look into
putting TeX up on it. I use the PC for personal letters when I can't
justify using the DOVER, and the Epson output leaves much to be desired.
∂11-Jan-84 1708 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #6 (Special Issue)
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 11 Jan 84 17:05:48 PST
Date: 11 Jan 1984 1440-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #6 (Special Issue)
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 11 January 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 6
This Week's Editor: Randy Cole
Today's Topics:
This is a special issue, of interest to those writing code for the IBM
asynch port. Thanks is due to Billy Brackenridge for editing the series
of messages which follows, and of course, to the people who participated
in the discussion.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
10-Jan-84 12:44:52-PST,12551;000000000001
Date: 10 Jan 1984 1244-PST
Subject: Edge Triggered Messages
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: info-iBMPC
Here is an edited version of the edge triggered interrupt debate. These
messages will be of interest to anyone writing code for the IBM async
port. It also should shed some light on some of the design decisions
taken in the two MIT comm packages supported in the INFO-IBMPC library:
Date: 30 Nov 1983 1619-PST
Subject: Bugs in the COM: Package
From: Craig Milo Rogers <ROGERS@USC-ISIB>
To: Romkey@MIT-CSR
Hi. I've been using a version of your interrupt-driven COM:
package for the IBM PC. I think that I've discovered a timing bug in
it, as follows:
1) The IBM PC uses the 8259 interrupt controller in edge-triggered
mode.
2) The COM interrupt routine checks for interrupts from the 8250
before clearing the interrupt flag in the 8259 with a specific
end-of-interrupt.
3) Between the time that the interrupt code checks for interrupt
sources, and the time that it clears the interrupt flag, a new
interrupt source could appear on the 8250. The resulting edge
to the 8259 would be lost when the EOI is issued.
My conclusion is that the end-of-interrupt should be issued to
the 8259 BEFORE the 8250 is checked for interrupt sources. How does this
sound to you?
Craig Milo Rogers
-------
------------------------------
Date: 16 December 1983 23:53 est
From: Saltzer at MIT-MULTICS
Subject: edge-triggered interrupts
To: Rogers at USC-ISIB
cc: Saltzer at MIT-MULTICS, romkey at MIT-CSR
Craig,
Now that classes are over, I finally had a chance to look into the
8250-8259 interrupt interaction question that you raised. The
documentation on the 8259 is a little vague on this point, but
I believe that it is actually quite clever in edge-triggered
mode. If an edge comes along, it latches the fact, and ignores
more edges till the signal goes back down again AND the interrupt
gets forwarded to the 8088. Then it begins watching for more
edges. For the case of an 8250, the 8250 brings up its interrupt
line, the 8259 latches and, unless there is other activity,
notifies the 8088. The 8088 accepts the interrupt and begins
running the COM interrupt handler, which knocks down the interrupt
line when it reads the IIR of the 8250. That dropping of the
interrupt line in turn causes the 8259 to start watching for
another edge.
The EOI has as its only function allowing the 8259 to coordinate
interrupts among various levels. Until the EOI is issued,
not recognized by the 8259. After the EOI, they will be.
The EOI has nothing to do with whether or not edges are
noticed and latched for later handling.
Thus the EOI should be set as the last thing on the way out.
If you set it early in the routine, the manipulation of the
registers in the 8250 will cycle the interrupt line and
generate a COM interrupt on top of the COM interrupt. The
result is a series of nested COM interrupts until you get
deep enough that the IIR seems empty and no further COM interrupts
get generated.
That is how I read the manual, though I am the first to admit
that any interpretation of the manual seems to require a leap
or two of the imagination to fill in some of the gaps. In
any case, this model of how it works is consistent with all
the external observations we have been able to make of the
two chips and with the bugs we have tripped over when we tried
different models (such as yours.)
Jerry Saltzer
------------------------------
Date: 19 Dec 1983 1147-PST
Subject: Re: edge-triggered interrupts
From: Craig Milo Rogers <ROGERS@USC-ISIB>
To: Saltzer@MIT-MULTICS
cc: romkey@MIT-CSR, Gillmann@USC-ISIB
Thank you for your analysis of the problem. That must explain
the "LATCH ARMED" indications on the "IR Trigerring Timing Requirements"
diagram in the 8259A specs from Intel. Your empirical experiences
certainly outweigh my theoretical speculations.
However, I would like to speculate some more based on the new data.
Assume that the receiver were to request an interrupt. The 8250 would
request an interrupt. IRR would be set active in the 8259A. Eventually,
the 8088 interrupts. IRR is set inactive, ISR is set active. The
interrupt routine checks the receive condition, and clears it. The 8250
drops its interrupt request line. The 8259A latch is reenabled. Suppose
that the transmit section were now to request an interrupt. The 8250 would
raise its interrupt line. The 8259A would latch it, and set IRR again.
The 8088 is still in the interrupt service routine, which now repolls the
8250 for transmit interrupts. Seeing one, it clears it. The 8250 drops its
interrupt line. The interrupt service routine issues the EOI, clearing the
ISR bit. The 8088 returns from the interrupt routine, reenabling its
interrupts. The 8259A has been waiting for the 8088 to process the
interrupt cycle caused by the IRR bit activated by the transmit request.
However, since the 8250's interrupt line was dropped before the 8088
acknowleged the interrupt to the 8259A, the 8259A should perform a "Default
IR7" interrupt cycle, instead of a normal interrupt. If the line printer
(IR7) is enabled at the same time, this will cause a false line printer
interrupt. Any objections to this scenario?
In any case, I fail to see how nested COM interrupts could result.
8088 interrupts are disabled throughout execution of the interrupt routine
(no STI or POPF). At least, this is true of the version the Dick Gillmann
gave me to start with.
Craig Milo Rogers
-------
------------------------------
Date: 20 December 1983 20:57 est
From: Saltzer at MIT-MULTICS
Subject: Re: edge-triggered interrupts
To: Craig Milo Rogers <ROGERS at USC-ISIB>
cc: Saltzer at MIT-MULTICS, romkey at MIT-CSR,
Gillmann at USC-ISIB
Craig,
Your scenario is one I hadn't thought about before, but it sounds
correct. It also explains one mystery. Our serial line interrupt
handler has a counter to pick up interrupts for which no condition code
is set; that counter has never registered anything but zero. Yet the
repoll sequence ought to cause some conditions to be serviced in advance
of the interrupt that they cause, so that counter ought to occasionally
record something. (We are certain that such early conditions actually
occur because the handler loses characters if you don't repoll.) Your
scenario calls for such early-serviced conditions to lead to level-7
interrupts rather than serial line interrupts, so this handler never
sees them. I suppose that whatever level-7 handler is available is
smart enough to ignore interrupts that don't have serviceable conditions
to back them up so it doesn't matter. And I don't suppose it counts
these cases so I can't verify that the com line is giving it extra
things to ignore.
I forgot that the CPU remains masked through the handler--the nested
interrupt thing can't happen.
It would help a bit if INTEL would publish the wiring diagram of the
8259 (and the 8250). The English language description sure leaves a lot
to the imagination.
Jerry
------------------------------
Date: 20 Dec 1983 18:42:39 PST
Subject: Re: edge-triggered interrupts
From: Craig Milo Rogers <ROGERS@USC-ISIB>
To: Saltzer@MIT-MULTICS
cc: romkey@MIT-CSR, Gillmann@USC-ISIB
Interesting. I expect that your repoll sequence is necessary
to prevent lost characters because the 8250 is presenting an interrupt
*level* condition, rather than an interrupt *edge* condition. Thus,
if more than one interrupt source is present withing the chip (say,
receive and transmit), the interrupt request will remain active until
all sources have been serviced. If the interrupt service routine were
to service only one source before returning, the 8250 would not generate
another edge for the 8259A. At least, this is how I read the 8250
documentation in the IBM Technical Reference manual.
Thus, if you don't repoll to verify that all possible interrupt
sources on the 8250 are clear before returning from the current interrupt,
I would expect you to eventually reach a state where no more characters
get through. This is somewhat different from your description of "losing
characters" when repolling isn't present. I am concerned about the
discrepancy. Does your application code perhaps time out and reset the
8250?
So, even if you were to instrument the IRQ7 (line printer) service
routine, I would expect to find few fake interrupts due to the 8250
ports. Considering the various windows involved, missing interrupt
request edges should be far more common than delayed interrupt
request edges, up to the point where the interrupt service routine itself
is consuming 50% or so of the 8088 CPU.
By the way, I believe that there is a wiring error in the IBM
Line Printer interface circuit, so that all line printer interrupts
are treated by the 8259A as fake IRQ7 interrupts rather than real ones.
If you have time, you might review my analysis at the start of the line
printer interrupt handler in [ISIB]<INFO-IBMPC.INT>LPT←PKG.ASM. I am
interested in any comments you have.
Craig Milo Rogers
-------
------------------------------
Date: 20 December 1983 22:45 est
From: Saltzer at MIT-MULTICS
Subject: Re: edge-triggered interrupts
To: Craig Milo Rogers <ROGERS at USC-ISIB>
cc: Saltzer at MIT-MULTICS, romkey at MIT-CSR,
Gillmann at USC-ISIB
Craig,
You are certainly correct in your analysis of why one must repoll for
further conditions after servicing the first one found. However I am
unconvinced by the argument that suggests that early handling of
conditions will be rare. If the line is operating full-duplex, a
transmit holding register empty condition can occur at any time. If it
occurs before the receive condition is read (but after the receive
condition is registered) the interrupt line out of the 8250 will stay
high, causing the "lost interrupt" effect. And that small window
definitely does get hit, at least at 9600 baud and 19.2K, in our
experience. If the THRE condition occurs after the receive condtion is
read, then there should be a fake interrupt at level 7. If this window
is at least as large as the previous one (and it is in this code) then
unneeded interrupts should be at least as frequent as lost interrupts
without repolling.
This whole area I haven't looked carefully at for at least 18 months, so
my recall sometimes is a little fuzzy.
Jerry
------------------------------
Subject: Re: edge-triggered interrupts
From: Craig Milo Rogers <ROGERS@USC-ISIB>
To: Saltzer@MIT-MULTICS
cc: romkey@MIT-CSR, Gillmann@USC-ISIB
By the way, the repoll code in the COM routines doesn't check for
line/modem status transition interrupts. It seems to me that this is an
error. A line/modem status transition could take place while a transmit or
receive interrupt is being processed; the interrupt request line will not
drop; the interrupt routine will dismiss; no more COM interrupts.
Craig Milo Rogers
-------
------------------------------
Date: 22 December 1983 21:31 est
From: Saltzer at MIT-MULTICS
Subject: Re: edge-triggered interrupts
To: Craig Milo Rogers <ROGERS at USC-ISIB>
Craig, Good try, but no cigar. The COM code (as I left it behind--hope
you didn't change this property) doesn't enable line/modem status
transition conditions, so they don't affect the interrupt request line.
If they were enabled, they would have to be polled, agreed. There is
a place in the code to go to in case the conditions appear in the IIR,
but that path was provided as a safety net, not because I expected it
ever to be followed.
I ran into a subtle interaction in the polling for transmit interrupts,
which led me look for every possible excuse to avoid enabling for lower
priority interrupts. The reading of the IIR (which you have to do to
find out whether or not the lower priority interrupts are there) resets
the THRE condition. So I couldn't figure out any way to repoll without
taking a chance on losing a THRE condition. Repolling again for an
empty transmitter register would work, but then one would have to repoll
yet again for a modem/line interrupt, etc., forever. So I just ducked
the issue and left it for someone to sort out who really needed those
conditions monitored.
Jerry
-------
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂12-Jan-84 1905 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #7
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 12 Jan 84 19:03:10 PST
Date: 12 Jan 1984 1710-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #7
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, 1 January 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 7
This Week's Editor: Randy Cole
Today's Topics:
Sanyo MBC Compatible
Paging (overlays) in C
6809 Cross Assembler
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Hardware Reset
PSP in Basic
Line Printer Interrupts
Load ordering, LINK and the assembler
Allocating memory
File formats
Position dependency in FORMAT/DISKCopy
Volume Label Program - label.c
Bug in MSDOS 'delete file'
------------------------------
Date: Wed 11 Jan 84 09:02:34-PST
From: Steve Dennett <DENNETT@SRI-NIC>
Subject: Sanyo MBC Compatible
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
I recently visited two local computer stores to examine the
Sanyo MBC 550/555 IBM PC compatible. Here's what I was
told:
CPU - Intel 8088 running at 3.6 MHz
RAM - 128K std., expandable to 256K
DOS - MS-DOS 1.25
printer - parallel printer port
Disks - 1 or 2 160K drives std. 320K & 640K optional
Software -Wordstar, spreadsheet, Sanyo color graphic Basic
utilities, included.
Options - monochrome or RGB monitor, 8087, joysticks, RS232 port
List prices are: MBC 550 (1-160K drive)..........$ 999
MBC 555 (2-160K drives).........$1394
As to the question of compatibility, the dealers claim
(caveat emptor) it will run 85% - 90% of IBM software.
However, it' graphics are NOT IBM color graphics compatible.
Also, it has NO expansion slots.
IBM PC COMPATIBILITY
With the plethora of PC compatibles coming out, it would be
handy to have an easy way to test for IBM compatibility.
Perhaps one of you ingeneous programmers could devise a
"Compatibility Diagnostic Program" that would run a series
of operations to test a machine's compatibility, starting
with basic reading and writing of data, and working up
through color graphics. It might even include some routines
that shouldn't work because the compatible lacks the IBM
ROM. Like the standard diagnostic disk, it could report to
the user as a machine succeeded or failed each type of test.
If you do write such a program, be sure to pass it on the
the library!
Steve Dennett
SRI
------------------------------
Date: 11 Jan 84 11:13:14 PST (Wednesday)
From: Ciccarelli.pa@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: Paging (overlays) in C
To: Bernard Gunther <BMG@MIT-XX.ARPA>
cc: Ciccarelli.pa@PARC-MAXC.ARPA, info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Bernie,
Look up "overlays" in your compiler documentation. An "overlay" is part
of a program that shares memory space with (overlays) some other part.
Generally, support for such a feature is (or is not) provided by the
compiler.
I'm using a "C" cross compiler which supports overlays (Aztec C-II /
MS-DOS to Z-80); offhand I don't know if the major MS-DOS native C
compilers (Computer Innovations C86, Lattice/Microsoft C, C-Ware/DeSmet
C88) support overlays.
/John
------------------------------
Date: 11 Jan 1984 1356 PST
From: John McCluskey <MCCLUSKEY@JPL-VAX>
Subject: 6809 Cross Assembler
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Does anyone have knowledge of a 6809 cross assembler for the PC? Price?
Source language? I have the source code for the Introl 6809 assembler, but
no C compiler for my PC. I'm looking for a nice macro assembler that runs
fast and is available quick. Thanx. John McCluskey@JPL-VAX
[Ed: Avocet Systems, Inc., 804 South State Street, Dover, DE 19901
ph. (302) 734-0151 advertises one (see EDN, Dec. 22, 83, p. 265. The
ad seems to say they have both CPM/86 and MS-DOS versions available,
but isn't entirely clear. Price $250. If you find out more or if
anyone has any experience with their cross-assemblers please let us
know.]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 84 20:11:19 PST
From: Willard Korfhage <korfhage@UCLA-ATS>
To: ibm:
Subject: Microsoft Flight Simulator
While home for Christmas I played with the Microsoft Flight Simulator on
the family PC XT. Unfortunately, though, it would not display in color, even
though we have the standard IBM color graphics equipment and told the
program that we had it. I have seen this in color on other systems, so
what have we done wrong?
Thanks,
Willard Korfhage
(korfhage@ucla-ats)
[Ed: You haven't done anything wrong. On a RGB display the MFS uses the
PC's high-resolution graphics mode, which represents the 640 x 200 pixels
with only one bit per pixel, thus giving black and white. If you have
a composite-video color monitor the MFS uses the same resolution but
is able to play tricks with the video output signal to generate colors.
Such tricks are very popular on the Apple II. However, these tricks are
not possible with an RGB monitor. One thing you can do is buy a video
modulator for the PC (cost $60 or $70), which essentially turns your
home color TV into a composite video monitor, and fly in living color.]
------------------------------
Date: 12 Jan 1984 0217-EST
From: James Park <JCP@CMU-CS-PS1>
Subject: Hardware Reset
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
One can implement a hardware reset by connecting a single pole single
throw (pushbutton) switch between the reset pin and the ground bin of
the empty socket for the 8087 numeric processor (unless of course you
already have an 8087 occupying the socket.) This would be pins 1 and
21. The reset is activated when the switch connects ground and the
reset pin. The result is the equivalent of turning off the machine
and turning it back on again.
James Park (JCP@CMU-CS-PS1)
------------------------------
Date: 12 Jan 1984 0220-EST
From: James Park <JCP@CMU-CS-PS1>
Subject: PSP in Basic
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
Does anyone know how to obtain the PSP (Program Segment Prefix)
of Basic from a machine language subroutine which is called from BASIC
using the CALL statement?
When BASIC executes the CALL statement, it changes the segment
registers so that this information is not readily available.
James Park (JCP@CMU-CS-PS1)
------------------------------
Date: 11 Jan 1984 23:31:38 PST
Subject: Line Printer Interrupts
From: Craig Milo Rogers <ROGERS@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
For the diehard bit-shovelers out there, here are some
observations I've made on the design of the interrupt interface
in the IBM-PC line printer interface. These comments are part
of the interrupt-driven code in <INFO-IBMPC.INT> on ISIB.
Has anyone else out there analyzed the line printer interface
in detail? Did you reach the same conclusions I did?
Craig Milo Rogers
--------
; This is a module of routines for interfacing with the
; LPT1: communications interface on the IBM PC. The code has
; been carefully constructed to properly drive the printer interface
; and the 8259 Interrupt Controller. Internal circular buffers
; are used for transmit and receive.
; Only one LPT: is supported at present. A unit number is
; included in all calls so multiple-printer support may be added in
; the future.
; The LPT: interrupt source is the -ACKNOWLEGE signal from
; the printer. In the case of the Epson MX and FX printers, -ACKNOWLEGE
; goes active (low) for 5 usec when a character has been processed,
; then returns to inactive (high). Since the -ACKNOWLEGE signal is
; inverted by the printer interface card before it is presented to
; the IRQ7 line on the IBM-PC's bus, it is the high-to-low transition
; of -ACKNOWLEGE which causes the low-to-high transition of IRQ7, which
; in turn triggers the interrupt sequence in the 8259. This, in turn,
; triggers an interrupt sequence in the 8088 processor.
;
; Thus, it is the high-to-low transition of -ACKNOWLEGE which
; starts the interrupt sequence. However, since -ACKNOWLEGE is low
; for only 5 usec, it may have returned to its high state before the
; 8088 sends INTA to the 8259 to acknowlege the interrupt. This is
; a violation of the 8259 specification. The 8259 will then generate
; a "DEFAULT" interrupt request cycle, instead of a normal IR7 cycle.
; However, since the DEFAULT cycle just happens to be IR7, too, it
; all works out OK.
;
; The 8259's restriction on IRn pulse length is intended to
; catch static on the IRn lines, and/or malfunctioning devices.
; It is entirely possible that a DEFAULT IR7 may be generated for
; some reason other than the line printer. The line printer interrupt
; routine attempts to protect against this case by checking the
; BUSY bit in the interface. Everything would probably work a lot
; better if the line printer interface fed the -ACKNOWLEGE signal
; directly to IR7, instead of inverting it first.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 11 Jan 84 23:56-PST
Date: 9 Jan 84 9:19:28-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!microsoft!markz @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Load ordering, LINK and the assembler
The anomalies in segment ordering of output from the assembler is due to
an unfortunate bug in the assmebler. For 'compatability' reasons, IBM
has declined to ask for a fix to the problem:
Instead of emitting the segments in the order declared, the assembler
emits them during a walk of the symbol table. Hence they are in
alphabetical order.
There are many ways to get around this problem. The most general purpose is
to write several small .asm files that declare a single segment only. Then,
order these files appropriately and include them in your link script before
your other object files. I know that this is bogus, but it is the user
community that needs to put pressure on IBM to ask for a remedy for this
bogosity.
The linker views the input not as a sequence of files, but as a stream of
segment declarations. The exact methods that the linker uses for determining
segment ordering are as follows:
Segments with the same name (classname and segmentname) with public
attribute are combined.
The output ordering of classes is the same as the ordering of the
initial occurrence of each class on input.
The output ordering of segments within a class is the same as the
ordering of the initial occurrence of each class on input.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 11 Jan 84 23:58-PST
Date: 9 Jan 84 9:37:12-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!microsoft!markz @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Allocating memory
When a program is loaded into memory, it is allocated a certain amount of
memory that is removed from the system pool. For upward compatability, all
.COM files and all .EXE files that have not had their header modified are
allocated the largest available free block. In most cases, this is
equivalent to being allocated "all of memory". Please do not rely on this
equivalence!
When the program begins execution, the initial ES and DS are set to point to
the PSP which turns out to be the first address of the program's allocation
block. Any use of the Alloc system call without any prior release of memory
will result in an out-of-memory condition. To free some of this, you need to
place the initial contents of DS/ES into ES and then issue the SetBlock
system call.
To modify .EXE files so that they are allocated the minimal amount of space
when invoked, you need to set the values for MinAlloc and MaxAlloc (the words
at 0x0A and 0x0C in the .EXE file header) to be the same value. Note the
following restrictions:
Values of 0 for both fields indicate that the file is load-high.
The linker will place non zero values into the MinAlloc field for
unallocated data. Reducing this value will probably result in
very bizarre results.
The allocation scheme used in 2.0 is a boundary-tag with rover pointer.
Accessing memory not specifically allocated to you will have disastrous
results. Do not rely on this allocation method to remain the same.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 12 Jan 84 0:09-PST
Date: 9 Jan 84 9:54:50-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!microsoft!markz @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: File formats
"... Why MS did not use the standard Intel
format for libraries I have no idea!..."
The Intel object format is based on variable sized records. To implement
the Intel library format would require reading and processing the LIB file
in order to search it. On a floppy based system this can be unreasonably
slow. Having a hash table at the end of the LIB file speeds things up
dramatically.
The 512-byte alignment is another speed improvement for floppies; LINK's
overflow-to-disk processing mechanism is used to page in the required sections
of the library.
"...header and a checksum. Absolutely no-one checks either of these
fields, a fact made clear by the fact that the MS (IBM) PASCAL EXE
files are distributed with the first two bytes reversed!..."
The checksum field is provided in case people do want to do checksum
verification. The signature field is checked; the EXEC system call uses
these two bytes to determine if the file is either an EXE file or a COM file.
Using a name to guide in interpretation of the contents is pretty bogus.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 12 Jan 84 0:08-PST
Date: 9 Jan 84 9:42:00-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!microsoft!markz @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Position dependency in FORMAT/DISKCopy
The apparent position sensitive code in FORMAT/DISKCOPY, etc is due to an
unfortunate bug in the IBM ROM. When performing any disk operation (except
format), register AL has the number of sectors to be transferred. The ROM
performs a simple check with this number and ES:BX to see if there is a
64K boundary in the range. If so, it reports a DMA violation.
Unfortunately, the format command to the ROM places the number of sectors to
be formatted in AL and ES:BX points to a table of 4 byte records, one for
each sector to be formatted. The ROM then uses the SAME test to see if there
is a segment violation. The test is inappropriate and, in this case, totally
incorrect.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 12 Jan 84 2:11-PST
Date: 9 Jan 84 5:42:00-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!iuvax!apratt @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Volume Label Program - label.c
I have written a program in Lattice C to create or change the
internal label of a disk. That is, you can change the "volume label"
of the disk without reformatting. It uses the Lattice-dependent call
"bdos", which loads AL and DX with its arguments, then executes an INT
21, returning the result code as the value of the function call. This
is extremely useful, and if your C doesn't have it you might want to
write one for it.
In any case, someone expressed an interest in this program a while
ago, and I think it might be of general use anyway, so I have posted
the source in net.sources, along with a man page (done with WordStar,
not Nroff).
-- Allan Pratt
...ihnp4!iuvax!apratt
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 12 Jan 84 3:53-PST
Date: 10 Jan 84 5:40:23-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!iuvax!apratt @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Bug in MSDOS 'delete file'
Incidentally BDOS "delete file" function DOES NOT WORK for files with
the "label" attribute. That is, if you pass a pointer to an extended
FCB, with the label attribute set and the file name all question
marks, you would expect BDOS to remove the volume label from the
directory. It does, but it also crashes the FAT, and is therefore not
advisable.
Seems somebody didn't read the specs on the attribute byte. I don't
have the book in front of me, but I remember the phrase pretty well:
"If the LABEL attribute bit is set, the next eleven bytes contain the
volume label of the disk. This can only appear in the root directory,
and the directory entry contains no other information." Specifically,
the pointer to the file's allocation list is NOT valid, but the DELETE
FILE function thinks it is.
This is just for your general information. I wonder if anybody at IBM
or MicroSoft reads this newsgroup...? [Ed: They sure do....]
-- Allan Pratt
...decvax!ihnp4!iuvax!apratt
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂14-Jan-84 1807 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #8
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 14 Jan 84 18:06:15 PST
Date: 14 Jan 1984 1600-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #8
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 14 January 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 8
This Week's Editor: Randy Cole
Today's Topics:
COHERENT UNIX Problem
MS Flight Simulator: False Color on RGB
Lattice CXERRs
Replies to WordStar on the PC - HELP!!!! (2 msgs)
DOS 2.1 Query
Paging
MS FORTRAN (V3.13) Integer Multiplying
IBM "termcap" Wanted
IBM UNIX (PC/IX) (for what it's worth...)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu 12 Jan 84 20:06:14-PST
From: Mark Erlbaum <ERLBAUM@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA>
Subject: COHERENT UNIX Problem
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
We purchased Coherent Unix for the expressed purpose of running a medium size
system written in C which resided on a VAX. The executable VAX file took up
roughly 58K -- it's medium sized because the data files use 5 MBytes. After
porting the source code to the XT, I attempted compilation and linking of the
10 modules in the system.
The cc command successfully generated 10 object code files (xxx.o), but
linking failed with a cryptic message:
ld: address wraparound
Does anyone know how to resolve this? Does it have something to do with the
large vs small memory models for the 8088? A telephone consultation would be
greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Mark Erlbaum
UCSF Medical Information Science
(415) 666-2951
------------------------------
Date: Friday, 13 Jan 1984 07:46-PST
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
Subject: MS Flight Simulator: False Color on RGB
From: jim@rand-unix
There's a patch available on CompuServe to add color to the Flight Simulator
running on the RGB input (which is normally only B/W).
Here's the information as I pulled it off of CompuServe. I tried a number
of different values for the colors (see below) but found none that was
better than the one given. Note that it gives "false color" as you might
see in a picture from a multi-spectral satellite, rather than the truer
colors you get from running Flight Simulator on the composite video.
Please let me know if you find any improvements. I didn't understand or
use the information below that said:
<- this is also saved at 1000:0070
Jim Gillogly I/ /
randvax!jim I←/
jim@rand-unix I
-------------------------------------------------------------
Flight Simulator RGB Modifications
By: Andrew Tuline
CIS: 70465,1223
The modifications included herein will allow an RGB
monitor to show some colours using the Flight Simulator program.
This modification is not perfect, nor is is very well tested.
The user should make a copy of their Flight Simulator program
using their favourite technique. As we know even the most
obvious methods may elude us. Anyways, one of the bugs is, when
the user enters the slew mode, the modifications are nullified.
Basically, the technique is to intercept the disk vector and
setup a port for the colour display adapter for the needed
values. I certainly hope, that by disclosing this technique,
Microsoft doesn't skin my hide. Anyways to modify your extra
spare disk, boot up debug in DOS 2.0 and type the following:
Note: you need a system with at least 96K to use this
modification as is.
[Ed: It looks like you need to have your disk in Drive A to make this
work]
l cs:0 0 0 1
a 0
mov ax,201
mov dx,0
mov cl,2
mov ch,27
mov bx,1000
mov es,bx
xor bx,bx
int 13
jmp 1000:0
w cs:0 0 0 1
l cs:0 0 139 1
a 0
push cs
pop ds
mov ax,0
mov es,ax
es:
mov ax,[4c]
mov [70],ax
es:
mov ax,[4e]
mov [72],ax
mov ax,48
es:
mov [4c],ax
es:
mov [4e],cs
cli
xor ax,ax
mov ds,ax
mov es,ax
mov ss,ax
mov sp,c0b0
mov cx,200
mov si,7c00
mov di,500
sti
repz
movsb
jmp 0:7c18
a 48
pushf
push cs
cs:
mov [74],ax
mov ax,5b
push ax
cs:
mov ax,[74]
jmp F000:EC59 <- this is also saved at 1000:0070
pushf
push ax
push dx
mov dx,3d8
mov al,0a
out dx,al
inc dx
mov al,20
out dx,al
pop dx
pop ax
popf
iret
w cs:0 0 139 1
The value 20 a couple of lines up sets up the colours for low
intensity cyan/magenta/white. Good luck, and may the colours
be with you.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 13 Jan 84 4:28-PST
Date: 11 Jan 84 19:40:02-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!iuvax!apratt @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Lattice CXERRs
Lattice C has a compiler error which I intend to report: certain
errors with the conditional operator are not trapped and result in
CXERR:18 (I think 18 is right). The following code will cause the e
main() {
int c;
c = 1 + (2 ? 1 : );
}
(note the blank field following the :). Clearly this is a badly-formed
expression, but the fact that it generates a CXERR is (by definition) a
compiler error.
Another strange item: using the constant 0 caused a CXERR in the second
pass (of an entirely different program), while substituting a variable
(initialized to zero) compiled properly. Has anyone else had this problem? I
haven't studied it thoroughly enough to report on it yet.
Your friendly neighborhood compiler watchdog...
-- Allan Pratt
...ihnp4!inuxc!iuvax!apratt
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 13 Jan 84 4:27-PST
Date: 11 Jan 84 19:39:44-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!iuvax!apratt @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Reply to WordStar on the PC - HELP!!!!
Can't you configure your hard disk to be several "devices", of
arbitrary (but prescribed) size? That is, on an 8M disk, can't you
have 2M as C:, 4M as D:, and 2M as E: (or something like that)? If
that is the case, why not declare 90K to a single device, put the
overlays there, and set the proper byte in WS.COM (the one which tells
WS where to look for its overlays if they're not in the current
directory)? If I'm wrong, and you must declare the entire HD as a
singe drive (with, of course, multiple directories), then I offer my
apologies for wasting your time and my condolances for your wasted
space.
-- Allan Pratt
...ihnp4!inuxc!iuvax!apratt
(note new path)
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 14 Jan 84 10:16-PST
Date: 11 Jan 84 11:29:43-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!duke!mcnc!ecsvax!genej @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: WordStar on the PC - HELP!!!!
One way around the problem with Wordstar not recognizing path names is to
move Wordstar to a ram disk. You can then edit files in any directory.
This is much better than having several copies of Wordstar on the hard disk.
Wordstar does have to be installed to use D: as its overlay disk but this
is part of the install program with V. 3.3. An added benefit is much faster
performance as the time to load an overlay is nil. This method does of course
assume that you have memory enough for a ram disk to be created.
Gene Jackson
Triangle IBM User Group
Carolina Apple Core
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 14 Jan 84 2:45-PST
Date: 12 Jan 84 12:26:58-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!eagle!hou5h!hou5g!hou5f!hou5e!hou5d!hogpc!3216lmb @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: DOS 2.1
What is the difference between DOS 2.0 and DOS 2.1?
If one has DOS 2.0 is there a way of exchanging it for DOS 2.1?
[Ed: As far as I know, there is no way to exchange DOS 2.0 for 2.1.
The differences seem to be mostly those needed to run the PCjr, but
maybe someone knows what, if any bugs were fixed]
Larry Brody
AT&T - Information Systems
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 14 Jan 84 5:42-PST
Date: 12 Jan 84 20:09:46-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!ihopa!dap @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Paging
I posted a routine for a UN*X style "system" call a while back. If you want
it try calling me since I can't seem to get anything over the ARPAnet
gateway. It was written for Lattice C and it could only be used from a .com
file (although I think I can get it to work for a .exe now if I tried).
Darrell Plank
ihopa!dap
312-979-4582
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 14 Jan 84 8:11-PST
Date: 13 Jan 84 7:01:43-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!hound!5114djh @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: MS FORTRAN (V3.13) Integer Multiplying
I have just started running MS FORTRAN (V3.13) and decided to check it out
with a simulation program I had run on other machines. When it didn't run
correctly I traced the problem to the random number generator that I had
used. This is the standard congruential method that assumes 2's complement
representation of 32-bit integers and overflows are thrown away. However,
it appears that large integer multiplications do not work as expected.
As a simple example, the product of 2 and 1073741824(2**30) resulted in an
answer of -131072(-2**17). The answer normally is the number with bit
representation of a one followed by 31 zeros. Whatever you want to call
that number, it's not -2**17.
I would like to know if anyone has experienced similar problems or if
anyone knows how integer overflows are handled in MS FORTRAN.
David Houck
AT&T Bell Laboratories
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 14 Jan 84 8:55-PST
Date: 13 Jan 84 10:58:03-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!ittvax!ittral!hornburg @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: IBM termcap wanted
We have recently bought an IBM pc which we'd like to used under
4.1 BSD *UNIX*. We'd like to use as much of the capability of the
IBM as we can.
Before I sit down and try to generate a termcap entry for the IBM
I was wondering if anyone out there has already written one and is
willing to share it. Also, any ideas on how to provide a good
method of information between the IBM and *UNIX* would be greatly
appreciated (IBM has the RS-232 equivalent port).
Thanks in advance,
-Bob Hornburg
(..!ittvax!ittral!hornburg)
------------------------------
Date: Sat 14 Jan 84 14:04:28-PST
From: Tony Fanning <FANNING@SRI-KL.ARPA>
Subject: IBM UNIX (for what it's worth...)
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
THE IBM PERSONAL COMPUTER INTERACTIVE EXECUTIVE (PC/IX) IS A
new operating environment derived from the UNIX(1). Time Sharing
System. It includes several enhancements designed specifically for
the IBM Personal Computer. PC/IX was developed for IBM by INTERACTIVE
Systems Corporation of Santa Monica, California. PC/IX is based on
INTERACTIVE's IS/3, which is based, in turn, on UNIX System III, as
licensed by AT&T Technologies, Inc., formerly the Western Electric
Company.
PC/IX is a single-user multitasking system. It allows a single
user to run several tasks at the same time, e.g., printing one file
while editing another. Several users may also utilize the IBM
Personal Computer at different times, with full control to prevent
unauthorized access to or usage of files by one user that belong to
another user. PC/IX provides a flexible working environment and a
uniform set of tools for program development, document preparation,
and text processing.
6428163
(1) UNIX is a trademark of Bell Laboratories.
HIGHLIGHTS
o Hierarchical file system.
o Flexible command language.
o Execution of sequential, asynchronous, and background processes.
o A powerful full-screen editor.
o Flexible document formatting system.
o System to control and track changes in programs and documents.
o Co-residence with PC-DOS on fixed disk partitions.
o High-level programming language (C language) conducive to
structured programming.
o Utilities for file transfer to and from PC DOS Version 2.
o 8087 Math Co-Processor support or emulation.
DESCRIPTION
THE KERNEL
The kernel is the basic resident operating system that
executes system calls, maintains the file system, and manages system
resources. It contains device drivers, input/output (I/O) buffers,
processor and memory scheduling components, and gathers accounting
and device error information. All I/O is logically synchronous.
Automatic buffering by the operating system makes physical records
invisible and exploits the hardware's ability to do overlapped I/O.
Unbuffered I/O is also available.
The file system consists of directories and files arranged in
a hierarchical structure. It possesses the following features:
o Directories, which may contain files and/or other directories.
o Simple, consistent naming conventions. Names may be fully
qualified, or relative to a directory in the file system
hierarchy.
o Mountable and demountable file systems and volumes.
o File linking across and within directories.
o A flexible set of directory and file protection modes.
o Facilities for creating, accessing, moving, and processing files
and directories simply and uniformly.
o Each physical I/O device, from the display and the keyboard to
main memory, is treated like a file, allowing uniform file and
device I/O.
USER ACCESS CONTROL
Access to PC/IX is protected by passwords. The system
administrator can:
o Allow users to change their passwords at will.
o Force them to change their passwords at specified intervals.
o Prevent them from changing assigned passwords.
INED EDITOR
The INed Editor is a full-screen text editor which features:
o Function keys that may be used in place of having to type
commands.
o Multiple "windows" that display one or more files, with both
window and cursor positioning.
o Corrections, insertions, and deletions made by cursor positioning
and typing. Text is accepted in overwrite or insert mode. Insert
mode automatically moves existing text to the right as characters
are typed.
o Cut-and-paste operations that allow picking up text from a file
and placing it elsewhere in the same file or in a different file.
o Scrolling one line or a number of lines at a time. Vertical
scrolling may also be done as a fraction or multiple of the
number of lines in the window. The text may be scrolled left or
right to display lines whose length exceeds the width of the
window.
o Automatic scrolling on input. After text is entered on the bottom
line of the window, the editor automatically scrolls upward,
allowing entry of additional text in the window. Preceding text
remains on the screen to maintain the context of the entry.
o Ability to use UNIX System "filter" programs while in the editor.
These programs can manipulate and process the text being edited,
e.g., sorting, or global replacement can be performed in this
manner.
o Several backup levels that help prevent the inadvertent
destruction of files, while keeping file proliferation to a
minimum.
COMMAND LANGUAGE
The flexible and powerful PC/IX SHELL serves as an interactive
command interpreter with high-level programming language constructs.
SHELL procedures (command files) are easily written to perform
tedious or repetitive sequences of commands and to tailor the general
PC/IX environment to specific requirements. Features of the SHELL
include:
o Use of programs as commands, with dynamic character-string
arguments. File name arguments may be generated by a
pattern-matching operation on the names of files in specified
directories.
o Redirection of standard input and output, permitting a program to
run with a file, display, keyboard, or other device, as input
and/or output.
o Sequential command execution.
o Concurrent parallel command execution with the output of one
command connected to the input of another. This command chaining,
called "pipelining," permits the construction of complex
operations from sequences of simple programs.
o Program and command execution in the "background" mode.
o Iteration (repetition) of commands for explicit lists of items,
file names, or command-file arguments.
o Conditional execution: IF, THEN, ELSE, FOR, CASE, and WHILE
constructions.
o Case selection based on pattern matching.
o String variables including string and integer operations on those
variables.
FILE MANAGEMENT UTILITIES
PC/IX includes a full range of utilities for copying,
renaming, deleting, and archiving files. Other commands give the user
flexible access to the directory hierarchy. Users may create and
remove files and directories that they own, list various information
about files and directories, or search a directory hierarchy for
files having particular characteristics. There are commands for
locating particular strings or combinations of strings in files,
finding line-by-line differences or common lines among files,
performing character translations, and sorting and/or merging files
based on selected fields.
STATUS INQUIRY UTILITIES
Status inquiry commands allow the user to determine what
processes are active and to obtain various system usage statistics.
The user can also request a disk usage summary by directory or for
the entire file system.
DOCUMENT PREPARATION
The text processing facilities of PC/IX include a powerful
full-screen editor (see INed Editor above), spelling error detection
facilities, and text formatting capabilities. The text formatting
facilities provide control of formatting features such as pagination,
paragraph style, heading and subheading numbers, line justification,
hyphenation, multi-column pages, footnote placement, and generation
of tables of contents. These capabilities help automate the
production of documents such as letters, memoranda, legal briefs, and
books.
PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT TOOLS
The principal programming language for PC/IX is the C
language, a general-purpose language designed for structured
programming.
PC/IX provides:
o Compiler for the C language.
o Assembler and relocating loader for the IBM Personal Computer.
o Comprehensive run time library.
o Program for checking C source programs for stylistic and
portability deviations (LINT).
The system allows the profiling of the execution of C
programs, giving procedure-call frequencies and timing information.
Other support tools include a C cross-referencer, a debugger, a
symbol-table lister, and programs for organizing and maintaining
object-module libraries.
The MAKE program mechanizes program creation and maintenance,
ensuring that all constituents of a set of programs are current. A
graph of dependencies specified in a MAKEFILE controls re-creation of
the target programs. If some constituents are modified, only the
modules affected by the dependencies are recompiled.
SOURCE CODE CONTROL SYSTEM
The Source Code Control System (SCCS) is a collection of
programs that manage changes to files. It provides facilities for
storing, updating, and retrieving any version of a controlled file.
It controls updating privileges to a file and records who made each
change, and when and why it was made. SCCS solves many of the source
code and document control problems that software development projects
encounter when customer support, system testing, and development are
all proceeding simultaneously. SCCS includes the following features:
o Re-creation of source files as they existed at previous stages of
development or maintenance.
o Storage of the original file and changes made to it, so that
common code or text is stored only once. This permits compact
storage of all releases and/or versions of source code modules or
text.
o Protection from unauthorized changes to releases in production or
system test status.
o The ability to cause automatic insertion of identifying
information into source code modules that enables identification
of the exact version and release of any module, given only the
corresponding load module.
QUEUING SYSTEM
The PC/IX Queuing System provides queued access to devices
such as printers and communications controllers. It supports
first-come/first-served, shortest-job-next, and priority-based
scheduling, multi-copy printing, and job status inquiry.
SYSTEM MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS
PC/IX system management tools include facilities for:
o Adding, deleting, and changing user accounts.
o Creating, mounting, and unmounting file systems.
o Performing consistency checks on file systems and automatically
or interactively repairing damaged file systems.
o Dumping and restoring file systems (both full and incremental
dumps are supported).
o System start up and shut down.
o Enabling and disabling system access via selected ports.
o Performance monitoring, accounting, and error logging.
COMMANDS
The UNIX System commands supported by PC/IX are listed and
described in the PC/IX User's Manual (SH20-6365).
PUBLICATIONS
The publications for PC/IX, except for the General Information
Manual (GH20-6247), are provided in loose-leaf binders.
Publication Binder
General Information Manual GH20-6247
User's Manual SH20-6365 SH20-6364
Programmer's Guide SH20-6367 SH20-6366
System Manager's Guide SH20-6369 SH20-6368
Text Processing Guide SH20-6371 SH20-6370
The General Information Manual is available now. The other
documents and binders listed above may be ordered separately from
Mechanicsburg by IBM representatives at general availability.
SCHEDULE
The planned availability date is April 1984.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
SPECIFIED OPERATING ENVIRONMENT
HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS: The PC/IX system supports both the IBM
Personal Computer XT and the IBM Personal Computer with Fixed Disk
Expansion. All minimum configurations require 256 KB storage, one
dual-sided diskette drive, and one 10 MB fixed disk drive.
The minimum hardware configuration for the IBM Personal
Computer XT consists of:
o One IBM Personal Computer XT System Unit/Keyboard (model
5160087), which includes the following:
- One dual-sided diskette drive
- One 10 MB fixed disk drive
- One Asynchronous Communications Support Adapter
- 128 KB storage
o Two 64 KB memory module kits (option 1501003), totaling 256 KB of
memory
o One IBM Monochrome Display (option 5151001) and Adapter (option
1504900)
or
o One IBM Color Display (option 5153001) and Adapter (option
1504910). The Color Display is supported in text mode only.
The minimum configuration for the IBM Personal Computer with
Fixed Disk Expansion consists of:
o One IBM Personal Computer System Unit/Keyboard (model 5150164),
which includes the following:
- One dual-sided diskette drive
- 64 KB storage
o One IBM Personal Computer Expansion Unit (model 001) with a 10 MB
fixed disk drive and fixed disk adapter (option 5161001)
o Three 64 KB memory module kits (option 1501003), totaling 256 KB
of memory
o One IBM Monochrome Display (option 5151001) and Adapter (option
1504900)
or
o One IBM Color Display (option 5153001) and Adapter (option
1504910). The Color Display is supported in text mode only
The monochrome and color displays may both be used within the same
PC/IX system. Switching between the displays may be accomplished
using the PC/IX STTY command.
The following optional hardware is supported:
o Additional storage up to a total of 640 KB; 64/256 KB memory
expansion (option 1501013); 64 KB memory module kit (option
1501003)
o 8087 Math Co-Processor (option 1501002)
o Up to two Asynchronous Communications Adapters (option 1502074)
o One additional 10 MB fixed disk drive (option 1602500) for use
with the PC Expansion Unit Model 001 (option 5161001)
o One IBM Personal Computer Expansion Unit Model 002 with a 10 MB
fixed disk drive (option 5161002) for attachment to the PC/XT
o Up to three additional single-sided or dual-sided diskette drives
(a total of four diskette drives)
o Up to two IBM Graphics Printers (option 5152002) or IBM 80 CPS
Matrix Printers
SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS: There are no software prerequisites.
PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS: It is recommended that the configuration
include 512 KB of storage in order to take full advantage of the
multi-tasking capabilities of PC/IX. An additional 10 MB fixed disk
is recommended for applications that require large amounts of data.
The additional disk may also be used to improve system performance.
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂16-Jan-84 2229 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #9
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 16 Jan 84 22:29:28 PST
Date: 16 Jan 1984 2112-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #9
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Monday, 16 January 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 9
This Week's Editor: Dick Gillmann
Today's Topics:
Personal Computer Interactive Executive (PC/IX)
PC/IX VT100 Emulator
Unix Termcap and Terminal Emulation (5 msgs)
WordStar and DOS 2 Pathnames
RGB Color MS Flight Simulator
Lotus 1-2-3 .PIC Format Query
Corona Hard Disk and DOS 2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 14 Jan 1984 1559-PST
Subject: Personal Computer Interactive Executive (PC/IX)
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: info-ibmpc
As everybody probably knows by now on Thursday IBM announced a Unix
system for the XT written by Interactive Systems of Santa Monica. It
is called Personal Computer Interactive Executive (PC/IX). I stopped
by yesterday (Friday) to take a look at the new system and pick up a
copy of the announcement.
I am not a Unix expert so I won't try to give a detailed criticism of
the system from a Unix point of view. It will be on display at Uniform
(a Unix conference) next week along with a lot of other PC Unixes. If
anyone attends, we would like to receive a report. If anyone can give
us a detailed comparison between Microsoft Xenix and PC/IX I would be
particularly interested.
This is a real Unix based on Bell Labs System III. Interactive
Systems has added their own screen editor (INed) to the system.
This editor uses direct screen writes and has horizontal as well
as vertical scrolling. It is very fast and makes for a nice user
interface to the shell.
It is a delight to see disk I/O and other processing overlapped at
last. I understand there was nothing in the contract that said they
actually had to use the ROM BIOS in the XT so they managed to bypass
all that busy wait I/O. The result is an apparent improvement in
performance over disk intensive tasks under MS-DOS.
While this is a single user Unix there is support for multiple
user logins and password security. I understand the user can
access the system through the communications port, but of course
performance won't be as snappy.
IBM is billing this as a text processing and program development work
station. There is of course a C compiler as well as run time library,
lint, make, etc etc... The announcement mentions SCCS Source Code
Control System. I don't know if this is standard Unix or an
Interactive Systems enhancement.
I didn't get a chance to see what they have for electronic mail support.
I would assume mail is read through the INed editor. I am told UUCP is
in place and that the system can act as a usenet host to send and receive
mail.
Networking is glaringly absent. Any interconnection between systems is via
COMM ports and UUCP or terminal protocols. I have no idea as to how difficult
it would be to add IP/TCP support to this flavor Unix.
PC/IX will run on an XT or PC with expansion cabinet. It requires
256K of memory, but IBM recommends 512K and a second disk for applications
with large data requirements. PC/IX can live with DOS in a partitioned
disk environment and has programs to convert files between DOS and PC/IX.
The real bad news is the product is supported by IBM. This means
we have the same relationship with Interactive Systems that we
have with Microsoft. ie. we have to submit our complaints and bugs
to IBM who may or may not pass them on as they deem fit to the
contracting vendor. The developers at Interactive Systems have
been reading INFO-IBMPC as do people at Microsoft and IBM etc. but
of course couldn't respond due to security considerations as the
mere fact that they knew what an IBM XT is would have blown the story.
If a customer buys more than 20 systems he qualifies for support
from the IBM Office Systems Customer Assistance Center through
the IBM Electronic Support Facility for the IBM Personal
Computer - PC/INFO.
The system does not come standard with a source license, but
source licenses are available from Interactive Systems. I don't
know the price for a source license, but the standard package
costs $900
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 15 Jan 84 10:23:52 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis3.delaware@udel-relay.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@udel-relay.arpa
Subject: PC/IX VT100 Emulator
For those of you who have seen the announcement of the "UNIX"
for the PC from Interactive, also note the availability of
a VT100 emulator for the PC from Interactive -- only $450.
Dave
["only $450"? - Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: 15 Jan 1984 1303-PST
Subject: Termcap
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
As I understand it, there is no Unix "termcap for the IBM PC" because
the IBM PC is not a terminal. One solution is to use a terminal
emulation program along with a termcap file for that terminal. I
don't think it matters too much which terminal you emulate, so long as
you have a termcap file for it and it has the functionality you need.
The DEC VT100 terminal is a common choice.
Dick
------------------------------
Date: 14 Jan 84 4:19:57-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!eagle!allegra!alice!rabbit!ark @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: IBM 3101 Termcap
IBM offers something called the "3101 Emulator Package." A 3101 is a
full-duplex ASCII terminal sold by IBM. There is a termcap entry for
it on most systems I have seen. The emulator does a good enough job
that the 3101 termcap entry will work.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 15 Jan 84 3:55-PST
Date: 14 Jan 84 5:59:44-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!floyd!whuxle!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: HP 2621 Termcap
I have a software package that will emulate an improved HP2621 on the
Ibm PC so that you can use 'vi' 'emacs', etc. that use 'curses'. It
will also support XMODEM protocol for BBSs and has user definable
function keys. It is written in PASCAL and MACRO and is available
**FREE** with source if you will send me a floppy disk and a self
addressed **STAMPED** return envelope. It has its own TERMCAP and
will also support upload/download from UNIX(tm)..
Jim Holtman
35 Dogwood Trail
Randolph, NJ 07869
(201) 361-3395
------------------------------
Date: 15 Jan 1984 1510-PST
From: HFISCHER@USC-ECLB
Subject: Using Kermit as a Unix Terminal
To: decvax!ittvax!ittral!hornberg@Berkeley
Cc: HFischer@USC-ECLB, info-ibmpc@ISIB
The new test version of Kermit which I am temporarily distributing
directly supports defining function and cursor control keys for your
particular Unix editor. Kermit itself expects VT52 cursor controls
(actually Heath-19, because insert/delete line are supported). As far
as what the function and ctrl, alt, and arrow keys generate, this
version of kermit takes a setup file which specifies the codes to be
generated. For example, I distribute setup files for the Interactive
Systems Unix INed and EMACS. You can also add your favorite modem
dialing sequences, etc.
Herman Fischer
------------------------------
Date: 16 January 1984 01:03 EST
From: Paul L. Kelley <PLK @ MIT-MC>
Subject: Free Communications Program
To: info-ibmpc @ USC-ISIB
cc: INFO-MODEM7 @ MIT-MC
The following files are available on MIT-MC:
JCAF;PCCOMM 10COM
JCAF;PCCOMM 10DOC
JCAF;PCCOMM 10HEX
PCCOMM is an asynchronous communications program for the IBM-PC
operating PC-DOS. It has the following features:
1. Menu driven
2. Interrupt operated
3. Supports the Christensen protocol
4. Optional H19 terminal emulation
5. Online reconfiguration of communications parameters
6. Optional local status line
The DOC file explains how to change the initial configuration with
DEBUG. The ASM source will be released as soon as comments are added.
The program has only been tested with an IBM monochrome monitor. I
would appreciate bug messages and suggestions. Note that the HEX file
is in the PC hex format, not the Intel (CP/M) hex format.
P. L. Kelley
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 15 Jan 84 3:54-PST
Date: 14 Jan 84 5:59:30-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!floyd!whuxle!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: WordStar and DOS 2 Pathnames
WordStar 3.30 does not recognize path names since it must use the
system calls that are compatible with DOS 1.1. You have to be
positioned in the correct directory when invoking WS. One thing I have
done is to put the WS overlays and help files on a RAM disk and
specified this as my 'system' disk so I don't have to have a copy
every place I want to use it. By also using the PATH option of DOS 2
you can leave the WS.COM in one place, so it really doesn't become
much of a problem.
------------------------------
Date: Sun 15 Jan 84 22:58:31-PST
From: Gio <Wiederhold@SRI-AI.ARPA>
Subject: RGB Color MS Flight Simulator
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
An RGB version of the Microsoft Flight simulator is in test, looks
very good, and should be out soon.
Gio
------------------------------
Date: Mon 16 Jan 84 12:43:13-PST
From: Stefan Demetrescu <STEFAN@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: Lotus 1-2-3 .PIC Format Query
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Has anyone out there deciphered the .PIC format of Lotus 1-2-3? Does
anyone know of any de-facto standard file formats (analogous to the
.PIC format for Lotus) for describing graphical images generated by
existing IBM PC compatible graph generating programs (e.g. pfs:GRAPH,
Graphwriter, BPS Business Graphics, etc.).
Thanks, Stefan@su-score
------------------------------
Date: Mon 16 Jan 84 17:28:16-PST
From: CRESWELL@SRI-KL.ARPA
Subject: Corona Hard Disk and DOS 2
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Talked with Corona and finally found someone (Melanie Perretti) who
seemed knowledgeable about availability of software to permit use of
their hard disks with DOS 2. She says the program is now in alpha
test and barring problems, is expected to be released through dealers
by the end of February. Price: $60.
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂18-Jan-84 1930 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #10
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 18 Jan 84 19:29:08 PST
Date: 18 Jan 1984 1837-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #10
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 18 January 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 10
This Week's Editor: Dick Gillmann
Today's Topics:
UUCP on PC/IX
Comm Subroutine Wanted
PSP in Basic
Sritek, 3Com, and Co-Processor Queries
Switchar
Quadcard COM2: Problems (4 msgs)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 17-Jan-84 02:38:02-PST
From: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@RAND-UNIX>
Subject: UUCP on PC/IX
To: INFO-IBMPC@ISIB
While I cannot claim to be completely unbiased on this issue, I might
point out that having UUCP support in the Interactive PC/Unix will be
of limited value except for direct FTP'ing, at least compared with
multi-user implementations such as Coherent. The reason is pretty
simple -- if you plan to be a Usenet node or have any reasonable
amount of traffic, you really want that dialup line to be ready at all
times for incoming UUCP calls, and not only usable for incoming UUCP
logins when you're not otherwise using the machine.
My MSDOS UUCP will of course have such a limitation (until MSDOS 3.0
comes out, anyway) but the Coherent version does not -- at any given
time I am usually working on the machine or reading mail while UUCP
calls are pretty continuously coming in. Of course, on a single-user
system (like Interactive's, so we're told) you could always use UUCP
for ftp type operations and outgoing calls... but for $900 I'd expect
much more, especially when much cheaper multi-user systems are
available. I still suspect that the Interactive Unix is going to be
pretty large in the kernel and disk use size areas, which probably
explains why the docs make it clear that additional disk and memory
are needed for many applications.
A couple of other goodies I'm working on for Coherent currently are a
version of RCS (who needs SCCS when you've got RCS?) and
modifications to the Emacs-clone running on Coherent to drive the PC
screen directly as well as the existing internal and full termcap
supports.
--Lauren--
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 84 20:38 EST
From: Ed Fox <fox.vpi@Rand-Relay>
Subject: Comm Subroutine Wanted
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Is there a relatively small subroutine available (or something using
interrupts) that a DOS 2.10 C program can call to:
1)choose and logon to a machine, using direct LAN connection or autodialing
2)send ascii messages
3)receive and store ascii messages
The program must also communicate with a user via keyboard and
monitor. My interest is in a reliable package that is easy to use and
won't take too much memory, and is callable by C. YTERM has been
mentioned - is that suitable?
Also of interest would be B-tree or indexed file support routines to
be called from C program.
Thanks for the help! - Ed Fox (fox.vpi@rand-relay)
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 17 Jan 84 0:53-PST
Date: 15 Jan 84 14:45:06-PST (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!floyd!whuxle!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: PSP in Basic
If you want the program segment that executed the CALL segment (within
the BASIC interpreter), then just look at the return address on the
stack which is set up of a FAR procedure and therefore is the
SEGMENT/OFFSET format. Upon entry, CS can be referenced by [SP+2].
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jan 1984 17:16:26 EST (Monday)
From: jose rodriguez <jrodrig at mitre-gateway>
Subject: Sritek, 3Com, and Co-Processor Queries
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Currently we are acquiring several pieces of equipment for a project
on PCs and LANs and we trying to get some information on the following
products:
1- Sritek boards : is anyone using them? There are some rumors that
there are problems with them. Has anyone used the board with the 8088
processor? (Is anyone from CMU reading this?)
2- 3Coms's Etherseries systems. We have looked at it and are quite
interested in it (if it wasn't for that single buffer, but oh well...)
but there are rumors (again?) that they have problems. Does anyone
have an actual lan based on them? Can you get any performance from the
server XT?
To finish I will like to ask if anyone knows of co-processors in
expansion cards for the PC. We are strongly leaning toward 8086/88,
but could consider others. They should be 16 bitters.
Thanks for your help. I will relay any info and/or summarize to the
net if requested to do so.
Jose M. Rodriguez
Information Systems,
Mitre Corp.
(jrodrig@mitre-gateway)
P.S. Someone asked me to relay any info I got on a previous request on
I/O peripherals for workstations. My mailer wasn't able to send to you
and now I lost your msg (sorry). Could you send me another msg? Thanks.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 18 Jan 84 1:09-PST
Date: 16 Jan 84 19:36:59-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!uiucdcs!uiuccsb!grogers @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Switchar
Since the "-" character is a valid filename character then using
"switchar=-" will cause any files with the "-" in the name to become
unreadable.
------------------------------
Date: Tue 17 Jan 84 10:13:26-PST
From: RAMSEY@SRI-KL.ARPA
Subject: Quadcard COM2: Problems
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I am using an XT with DOS 2.0, an IBM asynchronous communications
adaptor (RS-232C port), and a Quadcard, also with an RS-232C port.
Normally, I use the IBM port as COM1: to connect to a remote computer.
I have recently tried to use the Quad port as COM2: for access to a
Houston Instruments digital plotter through OPEN and PRINT #
statements in BASIC but the system does not seem to know that it is
there.
I POKEd the memory to find out if the addresses were correct, and they
were: 3F8H for primary and 2F8H for secondary. Further, when I ran
the IBM diagnostics, the system recognized that the secondary port was
there. I then switched the ports making the Quad port COM1: and the
IBM port COM2:. COM1: worked fine, but COM2: still failed to function
when using Bill Westfield's MODEM2 program in BASIC. Thus it does not
appear to be a hardware problem with the Quadcard (at least for
COM1:).
A Quadram representative suggested that I use the DOS MODE command to
reassign LPT1: to COM2: and use LPRINT statements in BASIC. I did
this and was able to output data to the plotter. This works although
it seems a bit of a kluge. Does anyone know why I can't use COM2:
directly with BASICA OPEN and PRINT # statements?
- Dave Ramsey -
------------------------------
Date: 17 Jan 1984 1219-PST
Subject: Re: Quadcard COM2: Problems
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: RAMSEY@SRI-KL
cc: info-ibmpc
The old Quadcards have the serial port on interrupt level 4, no matter
whether configured as COM1 or COM2. The proper interrupt level for
COM2 is 3. So the Quadcard will work OK as COM1, but will work as
COM2 only with code that doesn't use interrupts, such as the BIOS
RS-232 routines.
Dick
------------------------------
Date: Wed 18 Jan 84 10:11:10-PST
From: RAMSEY@SRI-KL.ARPA
Subject: Reply to COM2: problems
To: gillmann@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Remailed-To: info-IBMPC
Thanks for your explanation of the COM2: problems I have been having.
I read your message in Vol. 2, Issue 59 of info-ibmpc and had assumed
that by changing the jumper on the Quadcard that the interrupt level
would also change.
I still don't understand what is happening when I jumper my IBM card to
be COM2:. According to your message, the interrupt level should also
change, and there should be no conflict between IBM as COM2: and Quadram
as COM1:. Maybe I am misunderstanding the instructions about jumpering
the IBM card. On my IBM card there is an 8-pin DIP jumper package that
can be turned 180 degrees (flipped ?) to change from COM1: to COM2:
(according to my "updated" IBM Tech. Ref.). There is also a two-pin
jumper that is totally undocumented as to function but may be "J1" on
the IBM schematic. I tried to trace out the schematic but my board does
not match the IBM schematic and I have gotten nowhere. My order for the
IBM Tech. Ref. version 2.02 seems to be back ordered forever.
Maybe the answer to the IBM question is that my board *is not* one of
the newer versions. Did the old versions have the jumper? I guess I
need to trace the schematic to see if my board corresponds as far as the
IRQ3 and IRQ4 lines are concerned.
Thanks for your input. If you know of any fixes to the Quadram problem,
including butchering the board, I would be interested.
- Dave Ramsey -
------------------------------
Date: 18 Jan 1984 1056-PST
Subject: Re: Reply to COM2: problems
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: RAMSEY@SRI-KL
cc: gillmann
Remailed-To: info-IBMPC
Yes, the thing to do is to follow the traces to see which interrupt
level is REALLY being used. The Technical Reference Manual shows
the bus pinout and so you can work backwards from the IRQ4 and IRQ3
lines. I have heard of people actually rewiring their Quadram
boards. IBM will update your async board free if it's one of the
old ones. Trouble is, I don't know how to tell if it's old.
As far as I know the little J1 jumper is meaningless.
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂22-Jan-84 2032 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #11
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 22 Jan 84 20:31:02 PST
Date: 22 Jan 1984 1948-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #11
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Sunday, 22 January 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 11
This Week's Editor: Dick Gillmann
Today's Topics:
New Tall Tree Software
ProKey 3.0, Jet 2.20
Chaosnet and 3Com Ethernet
LANs and IP/TCP
PCCOMM Upgrade
ROM Replacement Query
IEEE 488 Card Query
Lattice C intdos Problem
Sritek Boards
Hercules Card with MS Word
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 19 Jan 1984 1716-PST
Subject: New Tall Tree Software
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-ibmpc
I just got Tall Tree Systems new software for their bank switched
memory boards. JRAM is a memory board with built in bank switching.
Any 64K segment can be mapped to any 64K boundary in the 20 bit 8086
address space. This allows a machine to use more memory than there is
address space. This system allows up to 4Mb memory on a PC. I am
using it with 1.25 Mb. Jdrive is a RAM disk emulator that takes
advantage of JRAM or any other installed memory to simulate a disk in
RAM. There is also JSPOOL, JTYPE, JFORMAT, jetc....
The DOS 2 drivers had never been entirely satisfactory, particularly
with XTs. One of the prime attractions of using the JRAM system here
was that it was sense switch insensitive. All of our PCs have their
sense switches set for the amount of motherboard memory only. This
will usually be 64K or 256K depending on model of PC. Earlier
versions of the program required the mother board to be fully
populated. As we have so many systems all different, we were running
into maintenance problems. This latest version of the software is
back to the level of maturity that the DOS 1.1 version was. It
appears (so far) that you can throw just about any hardware
configuration and any switch combination and JDRIVE will sort out the
whole mess and make sense of whatever havoc meddling hands have made
with the system configuration.
Another problem area was preserving the electronic disk over reboot.
Tall Tree had supported preservation of the disk over soft reboot (Ctl
Alt Del) as long as the simulated disk was entirely on JRAM memory.
Now you can have part of the electronic disk on motherboard memory or
fixed memory and part on JRAM and the disk will be preserved over
reboot. Unfortunately during the reboot process memory had a habit of
not getting refreshed as often as one might have wished and parity
errors were common. There are now provisions to read memory with
parity disabled and write back the value. This can help in saving a
file on the electronic disk.
Previously in order to enlarge the size of DOS memory at the expense
of RAM disk, one had to reboot. Now one can alter the size of DOS
memory from a command which can even be included in a batch file.
Divide by zero and parity interrupts now are recoverable. Rather than
hanging the machine one can: Ignore (not considered wise), Soft
reboot, or go back to ROM reboot which may wipe out non JRAM
electronic disk. As I have an expansion cabinet and several home brew
boards and write flaky programs I am prone to these errors and have
run into them already. Recovery has been graceful.
The installation process is much simpler. While there are many more
options to the driver none are required, and the command syntax is
quite simple.
A month ago I scrambled my hard disk because one of the programs takes
/E as a command to erase the file allocation table. I had mis-typed
\ECHO (the name of a directory) as /ECHO and lost my disk. Tall Tree
claims to have fixed the problem. Now you must name your directory
\ERA to get your disk wiped out by this mistake. I suppose this is
progress.
------------------------------
Date: Thu 19 Jan 84 21:31:58-PST
From: Jim Celoni S.J. <Celoni@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: ProKey 3.0, Jet 2.20
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I recently received a ProKey update: version 3.0. FYI, there are several new
features:
Define more keys: e.g., <altpgdn>, <ctrl7>, plain keys
Insert time delays (h:m:s.t)
Change keyboard layout (e.g. exch. Lshift & \), make shift/alt/ctrl sticky)
Control playback speed (and whether to play while disk's spinning)
Always have the old defs accessible (hit backquote first)
Temporarily suspend definitions
Specify command characters (though unfortunately backquote's hardwired)
Specify amount of space to store definitions
Help line during definition (can be put anywhere or suppressed)
Uses 13K + buffer
I was quite happy with the v2.20 I've used for 6 months, but 3.0 will
save me even more time and is sure worth the $25.
The new JETDRIVE electronic disk package includes an updated JET file
transfer utility: file lists (specifying which files you want to copy)
now work, but best of all filespecs and paths are supported. "JET
c:sub a:" copies new files in c:\sub to a: (faster than DOS backup and
onto standard files); "jet c:\dec83\*.mss d:" puts the specified
.mss-files not already on d: there. (Tall Tree says it works with any
ramdisk, but it didn't seem to work with STB's PC Accelerator.)
I'm affiliated with neither RoseSoft nor Tall Tree Systems.
+j
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1984 10:14 EST
From: SLOAN%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA
To: jrodrig@MITRE-GATEWAY.ARPA
cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Subject: Chaosnet and 3Com Ethernet
I have two PCs up and running on ChaosNet. I use the VERY LOWEST
LEVEL of 3Com's stuff (GetAddress, SetAddress, SendFrame,
ReceiveFrame) with no problems whatsoever. We have better machines to
use for file servers and the like, so almost everything I have written
is user-level (a MAIL sender, user-CFTP, and the like.) Everything
from the low level 3Com support on up is home brew, in IBM Pascal, and
includes Chaos support up to and including Streams. One of the PCs
acts as an "interaction server" - it handles a touch sensitive display
and a writable optical videodisc and offers net access to these
services. Again, no problem.
So...if you are home-brewing, I can vouch for 3Com's hardware. If you
want off-the-shelf, no data.
-Ken Sloan
------------------------------
Date: 21 Jan 1984 2120-CST
Subject: LANs and IP/TCP
From: Doug <HUNEYCUTT@GUNTER-ADAM>
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
cc: Huneycutt@GUNTER-ADAM, Westine@USC-ISIF
I'm looking for some general feedback, both from the university and
personal micro users and from government-oriented users.
I've been looking at the general networking environment for several
years now, most recently dealing closely with the government office
environment. We've been told by the Management that, at least for the
Air Force, TCP/IP is the only networking protocol that will be
allowed, acquired, and supported.
Actually, TCP/IP is probably a very fine protocol for the multi-path,
long- haul packet-switched system of ARPANet/DDN. However, at first
glance it seems a bit bulky for the local-area coax/fibre type
network. Can anyone tell me:
1) Do any LANs currently support TCP/IP (base or broadband)?
2) If a LAN supports TCP/IP, does any micro hooked to it (as a server,
not just a terminal) have to support the high-powered packages
like FTP, TN, MM, etc???
3) Does anybody realistically expect a 5MHz 8088 in a single-tasking
environment to handle this kind of comm?
It seems to me that LANs are just beginning to be offered with the
kind of support software that makes the idea attractive to the public.
The EtherNet (at least 3Com's implementation) is advertised to support
shared resource capability, mail, and other utilities that bring the
paperless office idea almost into grasp. Forcing the TCP/IP issue,
when the military is the only one using it, puts us even further
behind the general industry.
I'd appreciate any comments/suggestions/experiences/FLAMES/etc. I've
been seeing net addresses for a few years now that appear to originate
at a LAN site connected to an ARPANet host.....this may be a way
around the problem (TCP/IP on the gateway, whatever on the LAN). If
you'd like to reply, please include the word LAN in the subject
line; I'm on about 5 mailing lists and I like to sort out things on
subject. Sorry for the length, but confusion breeds wordiness.
Doug
------------------------------
Date: 19 January 1984 22:21 EST
From: Paul L. Kelley <PLK @ MIT-MC>
Subject: PCCOMM Upgrade
To: INFO-IBMPC @ USC-ISIB
PCCOMM, my free terminal program which emulates the H19 and uses the
Christensen protocol has been upgraded to version 1.1. A glitch in
the treatment of COM2 has been fixed and a minor enhancement added.
The COM, DOC and HEX files are available in the JCAF directory on
MIT-MC. I will release the ASM file ASAP.
Paul Kelley
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 20 Jan 84 2:56-PST
Date: 19 Jan 84 11:50:57-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!inuxc!inuxd!arlan @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: ROM Replacement Query
I have a software type friend, self-employed, who's asked me to help
him find a ROM for his PC. Seems IBM won't sell the DIP itself, only
will replace the whole PWB at great cost. The only ID I have is that
it's the "fourth ROM" on the system board, and allows BASIC to be
used.
If anyone in netland can help this guy, please give him a call at
317-849-4450 or drop me a note at ihnp4!inuxc!inuxd!arlan@ucb-vax,
CORNET 338-6197. (BTW, his name is Phil, and I don't think he takes
collect calls...)
--arlan andrews, AT&T CP Labs, 317-845-6197
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 20 Jan 84 2:55-PST
Date: 19 Jan 84 11:38:59-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!inuxc!inuxg!wheatley @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: IEEE 488 Card Query
I would like to hear from anyone who has experience with one of the
IEEE488 bus cards available for the IBM PC. I need one that can be
accessed from a Pascal program. What's the best one to buy?
Steve Wheatley
ATT Consumer Products
------------------------------
Date: Fri 20 Jan 84 16:29:55-EST
From: Bernard Gunther <BMG@MIT-XX.ARPA>
Subject: Lattice C intdos Problem
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I just recently got a copy of the new optimizing large model Lattice C
compiler for the IBM PC/XT running under DOS 2.0. I was trying to use
the intdos function and when I run the program, when it gets to the
function call, it hangs. Nothing works and I have to turn off the
machine. I think that I may just be calling it in the wrong manner,
but I can't see where I'm screwing up. If anyone could send me a copy
of some code that uses this call and works, I would really appreciate
it.
Bernie Gunther
------------------------------
Date: 21 Jan 1984 09:45:16-EST
From: David.King@CMU-CS-H
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib, jrodrig@mitre-gateway
Subject: Sritek Boards
We had a 68000 Sritek board a year ago, and it seemed to work well
enough to run their Xenix on it. I don't know if it has been used
since then.
We have seen a 16032 board, and it seemed to run, but we haven't been
able to get one in our hands to test yet.
There may be one or two more boards on campus, probably 68000, but the
users aren't saying anything about them. Ours is sitting on a shelf
somewhere.
David King
Information Technology Center
Carnegie-Mellon University
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 22 Jan 84 10:10-PST
Date: 20 Jan 84 7:13:27-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!floyd!clyde!akgua!sb1!mb2c!arl @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Hercules Card with MS Word
Anyone out there using the Hercules Graphics Card with their IBM
Monochrome Display? Interested in whether characters mixed with
graphics are still identical with the normal monochrome font. I am
using Microsoft Word with Mouse lately and have been informed that
release 1.1 (due in March) will support bit mapped graphics with the
Hercules card. After having wrestled with Word's manual for about two
weeks I have somehow emerged the victor and am actually VERY fond of
the program. The only thing it lacks on my standard monochrome display
and adapter is the ability to display italics, small caps, and
sub/superscripts as will the CG adapter (with correspondingly low
resolution).
The mouse cursor also will change shape a la Lisa with the CGA or
Hercules board. I haven't been able to locate a Hercules board
locally and would appreciate any comments by present users before I
bite the bullet and order by mail.
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂24-Jan-84 0059 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #12
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 24 Jan 84 00:59:32 PST
Date: 23 Jan 1984 2347-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #12
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Monday, 23 January 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 12
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
Large Programs
Multifunction Boards
H-19 Terminal Emulator
Kermit
IP/TCP LANs (3 messages)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun 22 Jan 84 20:36:38-PST
From: Todd Wipke <Wipke@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA>
Subject: Large Programs
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I am interested in knowing what the largest programs are that have
been successfully run on the ibm-pc. It is sad to start a large project
and find later that the lack of overlays, loader symbol table limitations,
or other system limitations prevent completion of the project. If one
is planning a large program on the IBM-PC, what operating system and
what language is recommended? Can IBM/Microsoft Pascal cope with large
overlaid programs? Appreciate advice and experiences.
-------
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Jan 84 22:15:09 PST
From: Willard Korfhage <korfhage@UCLA-ATS>
To: ibm:
Subject: multifunction boards
We are looking around at these; there seem to be a lot of them. Does
anyone have recommendations or anti-recommendations?
Thanks,
Willard Korfhage (ARPA: korfhage@ucla-ats)
------------------------------
From: dab@mit-borax (David A. Bridgham)
Message-Id: <8401231852.AA05133@mit-borax.ARPA>
Date: 23 Jan 1984 1352-EST (Monday)
To: info-ibmpc-request@isib
Subject: a terminal emulator
As a part of a research project I started here at MIT two years
ago, I wrote a H-19 terminal emulator for the IBM PC. This emulator
does a fairly complete emulation of the non-ansi escape sequences and
enough of the ansi stuff so that it would work with EMACS on TOPS-20s
(the only thing we ever found that used ansi). It runs fine at 9600
baud using the "COM package" recently announced on the mailing list (the
original not the one modified to assemble on the PCs). It is just a
terminal, no file transfer, but if that is all that is needed, it works
fairly well. One problem we have noticed is that it tends not to work
with "IBM compatible" displays. If this would be interesting or useful
it is available to be put in the library. Sources are also available but
are probably not useful because the assembly code is for the cross
assembler we use and is not compatible with the IBM assembler.
Dave
[Do we have any volunteers to convert this code? If so we should coordinate
this with the Kermit effort at Columbia -ed]
------------------------------
Date: Mon 23 Jan 84 16:47:26-EST
From: Frank da Cruz <cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: IBM PC Kermit
To: Info-Kermit@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA, Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
We (at Columbia) have decided to make a full blown effort at getting IBM PC
Kermit in shape, and will be working on it full time over the coming weeks or
months. While the present release, 1.20, is quite adequate, there remain gaps
and problems. What's worse, 5 or 10 different sites have made significant
modifications to this program -- most of them useful and worthwhile -- and we
are badly behind in fitting all this work into the base version. What follows
is our list of things to do (it's rather long). If you have comments on this
list, please send them to me. And if you have additional suggestions, send
those to me too, rather than changing the program yourself. Meanwhile,
announcements will be made of test versions of PC Kermit from time to time, as
the various features find their way into the program. Here's the list:
* Support for multiple systems:
First, the program should no longer be thought of as IBM PC Kermit, but rather
MS DOS KERMIT. Support has been added to it (at other sites) for at least the
following MS DOS systems:
. DEC Rainbow 100, 100+
. Heath/Zenith 100
. Victor 9000
. Seequa Chameleon
. Eagle 1600
. Ericson Step/One (Panasonic JB3000)
And we'll soon be getting in some IBM Peanuts and HP-150s, which will have to
be supported by this program too. Currently, only the IBM PC/XT and Z100
support are integrated into the same program. We need to integrate support for
the other systems too.
By the way, the IBM PC version is known to run without modification on certain
PC-compatibles, including the Compaq portable and the Columbia MPC.
* Program organization:
The program is now a gigantic monolith, with conditional assembly to select the
PC or Z100. It will only become larger and more tangled (like CP/M-80 KERMIT)
if we support the additional systems in the same way. So it has to be broken
up into separately compiled modules. There should be a system-independent
module for the protocol, and system/device/etc-dependent modules for:
. port i/o
. modem control, if necessary (for "smart" &/or internal modems)
. file i/o
. printer i/o
. screen display (cursor positioning, screen clearing, etc)
. terminal emulation (some people have wanted to plug in their own terminal
emulators)
. command parsing (some people would prefer a Unix-style command parser, or a
menu, or function keys, or a mouse, or a pointing finger, or ...)
and so forth. This cuts down on assembly time, KERMITing time, etc, and -- if
the modules have well-defined specifications and interfaces to the outside
world -- should make it easy to support new systems by plugging in new modules.
Doing it this way requires clear user-level documentation about how to put
together a working KERMIT for an existing or new system.
* I/O structure:
Packet encoding/decoding must be separated from file/port i/o, to allow
non-file data to be encoded/decoded, e.g. to send directory listings. For
instance, it is now possible for you to type "GET FOO#BAR" (assuming you're
talking to a system that allows "#" in filenames); since the argument for the
server command doesn't go through the normal encoding mechanism, the remote
KERMIT will see "FOO#BAR" and translate the "#B" to control-B. The data field
of any packet should go through the encoding mechanism to get control & 8th-bit
prefixes, etc. Obvious exceptions are the init and attributes packets.
* Binary file transfer:
. Get the 8th bit prefixing working reliably with DEC-10/20, VAX, etc.
. Get binary file transfer working with CMS KERMIT. This requires
implementation not only of 8th-bit prefixing, but also the dreaded FILE
ATTRIBUTES packet, to allow arbitrary record boundaries to be preserved for
CMS files sent to the PC and back.
* Herm Fischer's changes:
Test this stuff, integrate it, check it out on non-PC machines:
. Server mode
. TAKE command
. Init file
. Key redefinitions
. etc
* Kimmo Laaksonen's change:
. Filename completion, a la TOPS-20 & TENEX.
* Terminal emulation:
. Modularize
. Insert character is too slow when inserting a block of characters.
. Use 25th line to display current settings -- baud, parity, etc. Maybe
toggle (and/or scroll) this display with a function key.
. SET HANDSHAKE to allow user to specify this.
. SET FLOW-CONTROL option for XON/XOFF (during both terminal emulation & file
transfer)
. Session logging (with big memory buffer, XON/XOFF &/or handshake)
. Multiple page screen memory (like HP or new Concept)
. Distinguish between ↑H and backarrow (they really are different); make
SET BACKARROW only affect backarrow, not ↑H too.
. Support VT52/H19 reverse index command -- many editors, like VI, use it.
. User-defined function keys.
. SET BELL {VOLUME | PITCH | DURATION}
. Support for IBM's ANSI.SYS to allow (relatively slow) ANSI terminal
emulation. This has already been done by Glenn Everhart in the Seequa
version (I think the same thing is also in Herm's SET CONSOLE business).
. Support CTRL/PrtSc during terminal emulation (Shift/PrtSc already works).
. Fix the getting-stuck-on-25th-line problem.
. Do bounds checking on all cursor positioning commands.
. (pie in the sky) Full-speed ANSI terminal emulation, windows, line/char
insert/delete, etc.
* Add local functions (like in CP/M Kermit 3.6 & above):
These are especially handy for 1-drive systems (like the Peanut).
. Directory listings
. Deleting files
. Find out how much space is left on disk
. Change default disk
* Fix existing problems:
. Always update retry count on screen when there's a NAK or retransmit.
. MS DOS file byte count includes the ↑Z at the end of the file.
If it's a text file, you don't want to send it; if it's a binary file
you do. Find some way to do this right. Probably need to add SET FILE
BINARY/TEXT like CP/M KERMIT.
. COMND simulation -- currently, if any fields are left off, the command has
no effect (like SET<CR> or SET IBM<CR>). It should either complain, or
supply a default. Also, implement ↑R, ↑W.
* Missing features from the protocol manual:
. Timeouts
. Fancy block check types -- 2 char checksum, 3 char CRC.
. Repeat counts.
. Sending file-management commands to server & displaying results.
. Server-provided file management: delete, rename, directory, type,
change directory, login, ...
. DEFINE command for SET macros.
* Etc:
. Verify everything in SPAR.
. Prevent receive-packet buffer overruns.
. Ability to run in background from a batch file.
. Ability to send a raw file (like in Kimmo's CP/M Kermit), with prevailing
handshake/flow control (XON/XOFF, half duplex XON, etc).
. Special features for PC-to-PC connection. For instance, sending an
entire directory tree, to be replicated on the target system.
. ↑C during file transfer sends you straight back to command level.
. Don't set the baud rate to 4800 when starting up, but leave it at whatever
it was set at. If you want it at 4800 (or whatever), put a SET BAUD
command in your KERMIT.INI file.
. Appearance -- put some whitespace around "?" help messages.
. Add a real "help" command that gives a bit more information.
. Allow redirection of incoming files to devices other than disk:
- Printer, to let PCs share printers.
- Memory, to let programs be downloaded and started from remote disk.
* Finally, a manual:
A new manual needs to be written, for use in conjunction with the KERMIT User
Guide, much like the new (draft version of the) KERMIT-20 Manual. The manual
should contain not only detailed descriptions of the commands, but also hints
about using KERMIT within the PC/MS DOS environment, for instance:
Using KERMIT in conjunction with key redefinitions (like ProKey). For
instance to get a META key for EMACS, to make the arrow keys work with your
favorite editor.
Using KERMIT as a terminal (can't transfer files!) over a protocol emulator
as a 3270 -- inverse video, etc.
. Using KERMIT with a RAM disk.
. Using KERMIT with a "smart" modem.
. Using KERMIT over TELENET, through a TAC, over TYMNET, etc etc
. Nuts & bolts of connected two PCs.
Any other suggestions?
-------
------------------------------
Date: 23 Jan 1984 0047-PST
Subject: IP/TCP LANs
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: Doug <HUNEYCUTT@GUNTER-ADAM>
cc: info-ibmpc
In-Reply-To: Your message of 21 Jan 1984 2120-CST
I hope you get a wide range of responses to your query and would be
interested to see them. As I am including a copy to INFO-IBMPC I
will try to confine my answers to IP/TCP as it applies to the PC
class of machine.
1) Do any LANs currently support TCP/IP (base or broadband)?
You are confusing hardware and software here. The IP and TCP
specifications say nothing about the physical medium on which the
signals travel. For example the MIT IP/TCP package for the IBM-PC
was originally developed to run on a high speed RS232 connection but
has been adapted to run on the 3Comm Ethernet and a Proteon ring
net.
Our Ethernet at ISI currently carries Xerox PUP and NS, MIT CHAOS,
and DARPA IP protocols simultaneously on the same physical cable.
We also have several different hardware LANs that run IP and are
connected through gateways to the ARPANET or WideBand net.
2) If a LAN supports TCP/IP, does any micro hooked to it (as a server,
not just a terminal) have to support the high-powered packages
like FTP, TN, MM, etc???
No. PCs are best when they devote all of their resources to a
single task. For example, I am working on a server that runs on a
PC which will allow a process running on a second computer to send
voice mail. The PC will dial the user's telephone digitize and
compress speech and FTP the user process a file to be sent as voice
mail. No timesharing system could possibly handle the real time
requirements of this task. The system is cost effective precisely
because the machine doesn't have to try to do all possible tasks.
If you have enough special purpose machines combined with a few
general purpose time sharing systems on a LAN a wide range of
computing needs can be accomidated.
3) Does anybody realistically expect a 5MHz 8088 in a single-tasking
environment to handle this kind of comm?
Granted the ROM BIOS busy wait disk I/O in the IBM-PC makes it
terribly difficult to get decent throughput on any network
application which needs to access a a file, but using a simpler
protocol won't solve this problem. In fact the 3Comm Etherlink
software is very slow as it doesn't even overlap file I/O with net
I/O.
I have long advocated that having no process structure in DOS is
superior to having a bad process structure enforced by the
operating system. I expect my concept of a bad process structure is
different from that of your typical business user. Clearly I
wouldn't want whoever wrote PRINT under DOS 2.0 adding generalized
tasking to DOS 3.0. Those applications that need asynchronous
processing typically implement it themselves.
Again the MIT IP/TCP code stands as an existence proof that IP/TCP
can run very rapidly on a PC. An Ethernet telnet connection appears
to be faster than a direct 9600 baud connection, and cross country
file transfers compare favorably to those on Tops-20.
IP/TCP implementations can be done very efficiently on PCs because
the entire protocol need not be implemented. A great deal of time
and effort is spent on Tops-20 converting host names to IP
addresses. PC implementations rely on external name servers thereby
saving thousands of bytes of code and table space. Similarly on a
timesharing system the network code must handle all possible
options and conditions on multiple connections simultaneously. On a
PC one can compile a specific version of TCP for a telnet
application and a different TCP for a file transfer application.
The code will be faster and leaner than the generalized case.
It seems to me that LANs are just beginning to
be offered with the kind of support software
that makes the idea attractive to the public.
The EtherNet (at least 3Com's implementation)
is advertised to support shared-resource
capability, mail, and other utilities that
bring the paperless office idea almost into
grasp. Forcing the TCP/IP issue, when the
military is the only one using it, puts us
even further behind the general industry.
Commercial operations notably Apollo, Xerox, Wang, and IBM all have
made great strides in networking and resource sharing. They have
the distinct advantage that you can pay your money and get
reasonable delivery, but none of these systems can talk to each
other and none are any simpler than IP/TCP.
If you want commercial LAN you might consider PCnet from Orchid
Technology or the Corvus LAN. These systems are fine for remote
disk servers and simple exchange of messages in a single office
environment. One step up are Sytek, and Interlan who make boxes
which will use a LAN to provide a 9600 baud RS232 to RS232
connection. These systems are great if all you want is point to
point connection and don't want to string dozens of cables.
Those of us in a university environment do have an advantage over
you in the military. We have captive slave labor. John Romkey was a
sophomore when he wrote the MIT IP/TCP. You have to buy it from a
vendor, and by the time your random defense contractor gets through
with it, the taxpayers will be out millions. In the past it has
been unattractive for free market vendors to sell IP/TCP as most
users are in universities who won't pay for it. Perhaps some of the
commercial sites who receive INFO-IBMPC can help you out.
-------
------------------------------
23-Jan-84 14:15:03-PST,3054;000000000001
Date: 23 Jan 1984 16:22:59 EST (Monday)
From: jose rodriguez <jrodrig at mitre-gateway>
Subject: LANs
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib, huneycutt@gunter-adam
Well, I can give you some info on LANs because we have installed
several on DOD sites. Let me answer your questions:
1) Yes, TCP/IP can run on LANs (baseband or broadband -- it is
immaterial to base/broad what layers you have above the datalink (I
think). As a matter of fact some people are putting baseband nets into
broadband channels through 10Mhz modems (a really neat idea) (you see,
there is no standard for broadband datalink layer).
As a matter of fact, I would say that the faster the LAN is, the less
important the size of packets is (what really counts is the number of
packets -- but this is an extremely complex problem...). (If anyone
has hard facts, please come forth.)
2) "If a LAN supports TCP/IP" actually is the nodes that support
TCP/IP. You mentioned servers vs. terminals. Well, there is
something in the middle: the user-side of protocols. All protocols
have two sides: user (driven by the person) and server (waiting for
connections across the net). The user side can be made considerably
simpler (and in my opinion, better) which makes them feasible for pc's
(the 8088 is slow, but not THAT slow...). There are other schemes to
make implementations perform reasonably (for a single user) on PCs.
Now "...have to support ...FTP,TN..." well why have TCP/IP, etc.? If
you mean less powerful applications, that's a good idea. The CSG
group at MIT have done such work, particularly they have a TFTP (T for
trivial) which only needs one TCP channel.
3) "...expect...8088..." Well, if you design it right, why not?
Look at it as a challenge. (We think it is feasible). "...single
tasking..." I would rather have a monolithic program that takes
over the pc than some scheduler coming around and bothering. I can
implement my own multi-task OS for the pc more suitable for real
time needs. You see, our Suns 1.0 have a performance far worse than
pc's... think about that....
3Com's Ethernet has a lot added to Ethernet (a remote procedure call
protocol and a byte stream protocol based on the XNS (from Xerox)
family of protocols). The same (or similar) functionality is provided
by other PC vendors but the problem is they all are incompatible!
"That's fine, you know, for our needs...", well what happens when your
supplier goes under? Or if you want to add someone else's equipment
(say a 68k workstation) not supported by your network vendor?
Actually, I am being a little too hard on 3Coms equipment. As a
matter of fact I think their protocols can easily coexist with Telnet,
FTP, etc. (if it wasn't for their hardware, but that is a different
story...).
What does TCP/IP buy me? Well being able to hop to our LAN, go through
a gateway, into the Arpanet, go through a MIT gateway and login to my
old job's host machine.
If you have any questions don't hesitate sending mail directly to me.
Jose
------------------------------
23-Jan-84 22:52:51-PST,4178;000000000001
Date: Sun, 22 Jan 84 23:54:55 est
From: romkey@mit-borax (John L. Romkey)
Message-Id: <8401230454.AA03135@mit-borax.ARPA>
To: HUNEYCUTT@GUNTER-ADAM
Subject: TCP on a LAN
Hi,
For the past several years I've been working in a research project
here at MIT to implement the TCP/IP protocols on an IBM PC. At first the
idea was merely to see if it could be done. The first implementation was
done using a serial line as the medium with our own framing protocol for
packets. The line was usually run at 9600 baud or 19.2kbaud and there was a
gateway which sat between a bunch of serial lines and a 10Mbps ring we have.
Telnet, over the 9600 baud line, is usable, but not as nice as a hardwired
9600 baud terminal since you lose so much bandwidth. Still, it's quite
usable and a professor here has a leased line from LCS to his home where he
has his PC, and he can do a lot of work at home this way.
When 3COM announced their 10Mbps ethernet interface for the PC we
got one right away and ported the code to it. Before we broke our terminal
emulator somewhat (built into telnet, emulates an h19) we frequently got
better performance than 9600 baud hardwired lines. A simple file transfer
protocol called TFTP has also been implemented and we usually get 15kbps or
better out of a file transfer to the floppy disk, or around 70kbps to IBM's
winchester. In testing, it's broken 110kbps, but there it was just dropping
data as soon as it received it. We haven't done a full FTP because our TCP
implementation only supports a single connection and FTP requires two. Maybe
someday we'll fix this but for now we don't really need it.
Now why would you want a PC to run server telnet, anyway? Something
else we've done is to take a remote virtual disk protocol which our vaxen
use and implement it on the PC so that it can access disks over the net. The
protocol gives an interface to a remote RAW disk, not to a remote
filesystem. It's kind of like 3COM's remote disk code except that it's IP
based and we never did a server for the PC. We don't get blazing speed out
of this but that's because of known problems with the implementation which I
haven't had the strength to fix.
There's also a net interface available from Proteon for their ring.
We have a fairly large ring here with about 25 vaxen, one PDP 11, several
gateways and a PC on it. I've been working on a driver for the ring for our
programs.
Overall, I think that something like the PC can't drive an ethernet
or a ring like a vax can, but then again, a single vax can't use the net up.
When you scale down performance wishes along with processor power, the PC
lives up to expectations. I wrote this message while telneting to my VAX
from my PC. I don't do most of my work on the PC because I hate it as a
development environment, and lately I've been developing some very hard
feelings about the 8088. But it can talk tcp.
If you'd like a copy of our programs, you should contact Prof. Jerry
Saltzer (saltzer@mit-multics). He's led this project from the start. I can't
yet give you a copy of the remote virtual disk code because it's not fully
debugged yet (= it's still somewhat embarrassing). I hope this has helped
somewhat; feel free to ask more questions.
**addendum**
I just looked over your message again, and I think one of us has the
wrong idea about local are networks. Lots of people have them. MIT has a
ring and an ethernet. I know that Udel and CMU and ISI and Berkeley all have
ethernets. Take a look at the NIC host table. Arpanet and Milnet are long
haul networks and there are a couple of other nets which aren't local
area class, but I think you'll find that most of them are actually local
area networks. The Arpanet is NOT the Internet. The Internet is far vaster
than the Arpanet, and the protocol is designed to allow the interconnection
of LOTS of networks. My PC here, two gateways away from the arpanet, can
talk tcp/ip to another pc out at isi, at least another gateway away from the
arpanet. Now the packets do get transported over the arpanet in the process,
but...
- John Romkey
romkey@mit-borax
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂25-Jan-84 1558 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #13
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 25 Jan 84 15:56:47 PST
Date: 25 Jan 1984 1428-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #13
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 25 January 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 13
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
Sony 25 Inch Monitor
Tabs converted to spaces
Multi function boards
UN-erasing
LANs and IP/TCP
TFTP Correction
LANs
XTALK Transfer protocol
Calling Lattice C from Basic ?
want info on multitasking
HP-150 Review
----------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Tue 24 Jan 84 10:57:19-EST
From: R-SCOTT@CMU-CS-C.ARPA
Subject: Sony 25 Inch Monitor
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
We recently purchased a SONY KX-2501A Component TV to be used as a
color monitor with the PC for training and demonstrations.
I am very please with the unit. The 25 inch screen can be read from
about 3 feet to about 10 feet away in 80 character mode. We have been
using it for 1-2-3 training. The reverse video works fine. For most
work we would be using 40 character mode but for some reason, 1-2-3
forces the screen to 80 characters (anyone know of a patch???).
We interfaced the monitor to the PC with the SONY PC-701 RGB Interface
Adaptor. This is a small box with a 34 pin connector that goes into the
TV and the standard 9-pin DIN connector for the PC's color card. We were
using the standard IBM color card.
The best part about all this was that it worked right out of the box. We
were giving a demo within a half hour of opening the boxes. We used it for
2 days straight with no problems.
The set retails for $1500. We got it at a local electronics supply house
for $1250. The RGB interface box costs $70. We found a stand to sit it
on for $183. Be careful when looking at stands. Most only "support"
23 inch TV's.
J. Ray Scott
-------
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Jan 84 08:33 PST
From: Halsema.ES@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: Tabs converted to spaces
To:Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
cc: XeroxInfoIBMPc↑.es@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
I'm driving a word-processing printer with an XT, and I've discovered
that the XT is converting tabs (Hex 09) into a series of spaces. Is
there any way to configure the XT so that it will output the tabs?
Thanks,
--Ian
------------------------------
Date: Tue 24 Jan 84 09:55:40-PST
From: Gio <Wiederhold@SRI-AI.ARPA>
Subject: Multi-function Boards
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
In regard to Multi-function boards: I have from AST Research a 256K
Combo (clock, 1 asynch, prtr) and a Mega-plus (256K, clock, 2 asynch,
prtr), used them both in XT and PC without any problems. I have not
yet used the printer port since my 1972 Diablo is still working.
Maybe I am just lucky? Jade in LA (see Byte ads) sells them heavily
(51%?) discounted, the combo at $419. They promised two weeks
delivery, but I had them at my door in less than a week.
Gio
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Jan 84 20:10:30 PST
From: Computer Club SDC <v.cc2@UCLA-LOCUS>
To: korfhage@ucla-ats
CC: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: Multi function boards
I have used many different multi function boards including Quadram,
AST, Persyst, etc. My personal preference is Persyst for the
following reasons
1. The Persyst boards we use have a MUCH lower failure rate than any other.
2. The clock battery lasts a long time as opposed to AST which lasts about
6-8 months.
3. They have good expansion modules (dual serial ports, etc.)
4. The Quadram board manages to foul-up other boards with the placement
of there hardware clock addresses.
I have a few other reasons but those are my main ones. Good luck.
- Howard
------------------------------
Date: 24 Jan 1984 13:19:03-PST (Tuesday)
From: Jim moore <MOORE.LOSANGEL.IBM@Rand-Relay>
Subject: UN-erasing
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Is there an UNERA program for the ibm-pc? Where?
Thanks.
Jim Moore
(MOORE.LOSANGEL.IBM@RAND-RELAY)
------------------------------
Date: 25 Jan 1984 1105-PST
Subject: Re: UN-erasing
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: Jim moore <MOORE.LOSANGEL.IBM@RAND-RELAY>
cc: info-ibmpc
In-Reply-To: Your message of 24 Jan 1984 13:19:03-PST (Tuesday)
The Peter Norton Utilities contain unerase programs. I have used them on
several occasions both on hard disk and floppy.
-------
------------------------------
Date: 23 Jan 84 8:16:00-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!sdcrdcf!darrelj @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: LANs and IP/TCP
LAN and protocol are mostly independent issues, since the only thing
required is to define some encapsulation into the LAN transport.
Ethernet packets include a 16-bit protocol identifier, and there are
assigned codes for PUP, DOD IP, Xerox NS and probably others.
4.2 bsd specifically supports many TCP/IP services (SUN is especially
committed to this, it's how they connect their workstations together).
Symbolics (lisp machine mfg) also supports TCP/IP on their machines as well
as several large mainframes (VAX unix, VAX VMS, TOPS-20). The only real
complication in putting TCP/IP on Ethernet is address translation: IP
addresses are 32 bit (with some internal structure) while Ethernet II
addresses are 48 bits (all but one bit have no special significance).
As far as which services must or should be implemented, the
definitive answers are in the RFC series documenting the protocols, but all
you "have to" implement are the IP transport layer (including honoring
certain supervisory messages such as "use gateway X to net Y") and
realistically TCP and UDP protocols. User and server functions need only be
implemented for services you use. 99% of needs can likely be met with
TELNET (virtual terminal), FTP (file transfer) and SMTP mail. A nominally
single-user workstation needs TELNET user, both FTP server and user, and
maybe SMTP (unless you do all mail on a large host you TELNET to).
--
Darrel J. Van Buer, PhD
System Development Corp.
2500 Colorado Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90406
(213)820-4111 x5449
...{allegra,burdvax,cbosgd,hplabs,ihnp4,sdccsu3,trw-unix}!sdcrdcf!darrelj
VANBUER@USC-ECL.ARPA
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Jan 84 14:21:09 est
From: romkey@mit-borax (John L. Romkey)
To: jrodrig@mitre-gateway
Subject: TFTP Correction
Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Hi,
Just wanted to make a couple of corrections about TFTP. One is that
TFTP was originally done by the CSR (Computer Systems Research) group at
MIT, and the second is that TFTP only uses a single UDP connection (even
though UDP doesn't have connections...). But it is VERY easy to implement,
except for getting the timeouts right.
- John
romkey@mit-borax
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Jan 84 20:49:50 PST
From: Computer Club SDC <v.cc2@UCLA-LOCUS>
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: LANs
I hate the general software available for the PC!
This gripe has been on my mind for a while but it came to a head yesterday
when I finally got fed up with Orchid PCnet trashing the FAT on my hard
disk for about the fiftieth time. This is due to the fact that (I was told
this by Orchid) "The system is designed to be used by a single user and share
peripherals." What's the point?! That means that there is no mechanism in
PCnet to lock the fat in any way. What happens is that each machine reads a
copy of the fat into memory when it opens a file. After it diddles with the
file, puts it back, and writes the fat that it got when it opened the file,
regardless of what other nodes on the net do. So if you are working on a
file that has a FAT entry in the same FAT sector as another node, at the
same time, the result is 1 trashed disk - every time.
I figured, OK, someone else must realize that this has to be dealt with.
I tried Davong Multi-link. What complete junk, we won't even talk about
it further. Suffice it to say that it does most everything wrong (just
like everything else they make.)
Then I tried Xcomp X-net. They swore up and down that they had the FAT
problem solved. If you open a file with a file handle open for write or
with just a normal open, the file is locked until closed and they read the
FAT BEFORE they rewrite it. Great, no more trashed hard disk 'cause it,
in fact, does what they said, however, they also don't support standard
input or output. None of the pipes or filters worked anymore. I was
just about to hit the roof!!
I have had just about enough of this trial and error hardware testing. Every-
one seems to be using the public as a beta-test sight. Do any of you know of a
net that works properly (I am leaning toward 3Com, all I need is a good word)
with 3-6 users doing disk intensive stuff that supports IBM's documented
features (no trade offs: No trashed disk but no stdin/stdout). I don't really
care that much about speed as long as it works well.
- Howard
(cc2@ucla-locus)
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Jan 84 20:32:34 PST
From: Computer Club SDC <v.cc2@UCLA-LOCUS>
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: XTALK Transfer protocol
Anybody out there is PC lan(d) know what protocol Microstuf used
for file transfer in Crosstalk? I'm a gonna write a stand-alone
send and receive modules (ignore that "a" before "stand-alone") and
haven't had time to check it out. It'd save me some time I someone
knew. I'll send the stuff to the library when it's been writ.
- Howard (cc2@ucla-locus)
------------------------------
Date: 17 Jan 84 11:50:42-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!wivax!linus!philabs!seismo!hao!kpno!hsi!stevens @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Calling Lattice C from Basic ?
Has anybody tried calling Lattice C functions from Basic on
the IBM PC ? Any problems or pitfalls to be aware of ?
Richard Stevens
Health Systems International, New Haven, CT
{ decvax | hao | seismo | sdcsvax } ! kpno ! hsi ! stevens
ihnp4 ! hsi ! stevens
------------------------------
Date: 25 Jan 1984 09:42:46 PST
From: SUNSHINE@USC-ISIF
Subject: want info on multitasking
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
I am interested in getting some kind of multitasking capability
on my PC. Nothing too fancy, just ability to run some interactive
program with user in "foreground", and maybe a couple of processes
running serial and/or parallel port I/O in the background. Should
all hang under MS-DOS (2.0). Can anyone give me pointers to what
is available (name and phone numbers of vendors), and any experience with
use and goodness of these things. I've heard of MULTILINK from Software
Link in ATlanta (404-255-1254) so far, recommended as OK by Dave Farber.
Current price $295. For those of you who have it, they are up to
Version 2.0.6 and you can get an update by sending them your
serial number and $25 they say.
Carl Sunshine
-------
------------------------------
Date: Wed 25 Jan 84 10:44:59-EST
From: Frank da Cruz <cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: HP-150 Review
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Does anyone have technical information about the HP-150? We just received
some of these systems, but there is no technical documentation, no assembler,
no DDT, etc. We need to adapt MS DOS (formerly IBM PC) KERMIT to run on this
system, so we have to find out the details of serial i/o, interrupts, and so
forth. Here's a not-too-technical review:
HP-150 First Impressions
------------------------
(This review is from Ken Rossman of Columbia University, based on a day's
novice-user-level experience with the system.)
The HP-150 is a new 8088-based MS DOS microcomputer from Hewlett-Packard. It's
a grey and white box approximately a foot wide, a foot high, and a foot deep.
This houses both the processor and the display. Underneath sits a dual 3.5"
flexible-disk drive. The keyboard is white with grey keys, and is another in
the series of ultra thin lightweight micro keyboards with several misplaced
keys (see below) that are current the trend.
The display is a small 8 inch (diagonal) green phosphor (short persistence)
tube. The characters and graphics are sharp and crisp, but because of the size
of the screen and the fact that it is a full 80x24 characters, it can be hard
to read at a distance of more than four feet or so.
The unique feature of the HP 150 is a "touch screen" that can be programmed to
detect when and where you place your finger (or any object, really) on the
screen. The HP demos use this feature extensively in iconographic "touch
menus" and graphics applications. The "touch sensitivity" feature is actually
accomplished via rows of optical sensors running all along the sides of the
screen, so you don't actually have to touch the screen and smudge it up -- you
need only bring your finger close to the screen (and, of course, you don't
actually have to use your finger either). There are actually 23x40 separately
addressable points on the touch screen, making the screen a fairly flexible
low-resolution input device -- good for menus and coarse graphics input, but
not well suited to text editing. There is audio feedback when you make
contact, and response is quite snappy.
The processor is an 8 MHz 8088 (IBM and DEC PC processors run at about 4.8
MHz). There are no internal program ROMs (such as a BASIC ROM, for example).
If no disks are loaded at power-up or at the time you request a reboot
(control- shift-reset), the HP 150 automatically goes into terminal mode,
emulating the HP-2623 graphics terminal including HP-2621 alphanumeric terminal
compatibility and the full HP-2623 512x390 bit-mapped graphics screen, plus all
related hardware functions. The terminal mode also includes smooth scroll,
which the HP-2623 does not. The terminal emulator mode is supposed to be able
to clock 19.2K baud, but I found that it seemed to lose characters now and then
at speeds above 4800 baud, even with XON/XOFF enabled.
When booting off of the supplied system/demo disk, MS DOS is loaded initially,
but it automatically searches any disks it finds for special HP format
applications programs, and runs those if found. In the case of the HP
system/demo disk, the system automatically chains over to an HP general utility
program known as PAM, (Personal Applications Manager). PAM is a menu-driven
general top-level shell, which automatically lists any of the known utilities
it finds on the ready disks, so that any of these utilities can be selected as
a menu item. In addition, along the bottom of the screen is the "standard" 8
block HP mode line, from which you can select PAM functions (either by touching
the screen or typing a keyword), such as a general help printout, the terminal
emulator, a file system utility (menu driven), or a mode to set the system
date/time. A nice feature of this scheme is that I was able to pop back and
forth between PAM and the terminal emulator as I wrote this paragraph, so I
could write a little bit in EMACS, pop back and look at PAM's screen, and pop
back to write some more.
The keyboard uses white and two shades of grey to visually separate the various
different function keys from the standard typewriter keys. Red and blue
lettering also differentiates shifted and nonshifted key functions. The touch
is fairly nice -- very light, virtually no resistance, and has key click, which
can be disabled. RETURN is a double-sized key and is placed fairly comfortably
on the right where the pinky (almost) naturally falls. The control key sits
over on the left pretty much where it ought to be, but as HP tends to do with
all of their other terminals that I've used, there is a CAPS toggle key just to
the left of the control key, which I tend to hit all too often. And if the
CAPS key is perhaps a little too available, the ESC/DEL key is very
UNavailable, being down on the lower left. There is a single-quote-tilde key
where I would have expected the ESC key to be (at the upper left corner). I
really had a lot of trouble with this when using the HP 150 as a terminal, and
ended up programming the quote/tilde key to be escape (in EMACS, not on the
local hardware). The shift keys are fairly well placed, and don't have keys
below them, as do many similar micro keyboards (they DO have keys to the
outside, which I felt at times I might almost slop over onto, but haven't
managed to yet). By the way, the shift and control keys click when you hit
them, just like the other keys, which tended to make me think I had actually
typed a character by accident when only hitting a shift or control key by
itself.
This was the first time I had ever seen or used the new 3.5" disks, and I
was very impressed with them. A sliding metal piece covers the cutout where
the read/write head moves to read the media. The drive opens and closes
this door itself, so that when the disk is out of the drive, the door is
always closed, thus protecting the media. The full working capacity of a
single disk is roughly 280K bytes, so although the disks are physically
small, you can pack a decent amount of information on them.
When in operation, the unit is fairly quiet. Only the sound of a small fan
in the back of the main unit, and the occasional click of the disks is
heard (of course, there is also the key click, which is fairly quiet also,
and an occasional bell here and there).
Two RS-232 ports come standard built into the back of the main unit, along
with an HP-IB interface jack, which peripherals are daisy-chained onto.
Currently available peripherals include: printers, pen plotters, hard
disks, and, of course, additional flexible-disk drives. The printer is built
in to the system unit, fitting behind the CRT (we don't have our printer yet).
Up to 7 peripherals can be daisy-chained onto the HP-IB bus at once.
Applications software is somewhat limited, as is to be expected with a new
product. The 150 comes with WordStar, VisiCalc, and graphics. However, unless
we missed something, there was no assembler or DDT, and apparently no other
programming language, even Basic. Furthermore, there was little or nothing in
the way of technical documentation.
The HP-150, like most other recent entries in its class, is aimed at the IBM
PC. To my mind, it seems to win out in many categories. Standard features
like the touch screen, monochrome graphics, 2623 terminal emulation (with its
separate alphanumeric and graphics screen memories), two standard serial ports,
an HP device bus, two 3.5" disks, and solid HP materials and workmanship tend
to edge the HP 150 ahead of the IBM PC in terms of standard features. The
ability to switch between terminal emulation and computing without rebooting
and losing your current environment is a very attractive feature, as is the
ability to use the graphics both locally and from mainframe graphics packages.
On the other hand, the IBM PC has the built-in ROM Basic, a larger screen, an
army of companies building hardware and software for it, and an enormous market
advantage.
- Ken Rossman, Columbia University Center for Computing Activities
-------
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂28-Jan-84 1625 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #14
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 28 Jan 84 16:25:15 PST
Date: 28 Jan 1984 1528-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #14
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 28 January 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 14
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
Graphics Library for Lattice C
Protocols Again
IBM-PC & TEKTRONIX equipment
SRCCOM Clone Needed
CHAMELEON Info Request
IOMEGA disk unit
QUBIE Modem
PCjr Kermit
PC-Talk
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed 25 Jan 84 20:26:12-EST
From: Ralph W. Hyre Jr. <RALPHW@MIT-XX.ARPA>
Subject: Graphics Library for Lattice C
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I would like to be able to do turtlegraphics-type drawing with Lattice C.
Is there a library for the Lattice compiler that will let me do this?
- Ralph Hyre
-------
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 84 12:27:44 EST
From: Martin Schoffstall <schoff@BBN-UNIX>
Subject: Protocols Again
To: info-ibmpc at isib
I hate to broach the subject with kermit,umodem,arpa, xns, and
various protocols for networking computers out there but has anyone
looked into microcoms protocols. Specifically their link level
protocol and their mail exchange protocol? I know visicorp is looking
into at as is apple, anyone else?
schoff at bbnu (arpa)
!decvax!bbncca!schoff (usenet)
------------------------------
Date: 27 Jan 1984 06:01-PST
Sender: HARDY@USC-ISI
Subject: IBM-PC & TEKTRONIX Equipment
From: HARDY@USC-ISI
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
Has anyone ever connected the following Tektronix equipment to the IBM-PC:
Graphics Plotter Mod#4662
Digitizer------- Mod#4935
Hard Copy Unit-- Mod#4631
If so,please send me a note on how to do it.
Richard Hardy (HARDY@ISIB).
------------------------------
Date: 27 Jan 1984 1645-PST
Subject: SRCCOM Clone Needed
From: Bob Knight <SWG.KNIGHT@USC-ISIB>
To: info-ibmpc
I'm looking for a MSDOS SRCCOM-like program. Anyone out there have any
pointers?
Thanks in advance...
Bob
-------
[SRCCOM is a source compare program that highlights the difference between two
ascii files. There have been numerous requests for such a program in the
last two years of INFO-IBMPC but as yet no news of such a program. Pointers
would indeed be appreciated. -ed]
------------------------------
Date: 26 Jan 84 13:21:44-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!inuxc!butch @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: CHAMELEON Info Request
Does anyone have any info on the CHAMELEON by Seeque.
It is a IBM compatible computer, well almost. The one I saw
would not run a "basic" program that ran on an IBM. Is there
different types of basic programs and the CHAMELEON run one type
and the IBM run another??
Besides this, it looks like a good machine at $2499.
At that price you get 256k RAM, dual 320k disc and one serial
and one parallel ports. Software included are Perfect Writer
and Perfect Calc.
------------------------------
Date: 26 Jan 84 7:21:52-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!CS-Mordred!Pucc-H.ac4 @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: IOMEGA disk unit
---
I walked into my local ComputerLand the other day and saw a new cartridge
disk drive hooked to an IBM-PC. It is made by IOMEGA Corporation,
4646 South 1500 West, Ogden, Utah 84403. They call it the Bernoulli Box.
The beast has two cartridge drives, and each cartridge holds 10 megabytes!
The two cartridges mount side-by-side in an enclosure that is the same
size and shape as the IBM-PC system unit.
When I walked in, the salesman pulled one cartridge from the drive and
dropped it on the floor, then put it back and proceeded to use it! These
are not "hard" disks ... they have what looks like a hard plastic disk of
some type. The cartridges are about 5-6" wide by 8-9" deep by 1/2" thick.
Not only do you get 20 Mbytes online with removable media, but the average
access time is 30 milliseconds ... almost 3 times faster than the 10 Mbyte
winnies they put in the XT. It shows, too... They can do a complete
cartridge to cartridge copy in 3 minutes!
The retail price for the controller to fit into the PC, the two drives
in their enclosure with power, two disk cartridges, and DOS 2.00 device
driver is about $3695. Additional cartridges are something like $80
each. Not exactly cheap, but it you compare it to the PC expansion
cabinet, it begins to look real good. By the way, it has a pretty
hefty fan on it, so it makes a good deal more background noise than an XT.
Anyway, this thing sounds almost too good to be true... media that is rugged,
large capacity, fast, easy backup, etc. What really has me puzzled is that
(1) I haven't seen any advertising in the usual trade rags about this thing,
and (2) I don't see anybody talking about "semi-floppy" (?) or whatever disk
technology when they write overview articles on the state of the art. I
understand from my local salesman that it was announced at COMDEX, so it is
apparently relatively "new," but in the usual manner of a born-again TV
salesman, he doesn't know anything about the technology, etc.
Anybody know anything more about this unit? Its technology?
Anyone have one yet?
Tom Putnam
...!pur-ee!pucc-h:ac4
------------------------------
Date: 26 Jan 84 17:03:27-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!hou2g!stekas @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: QUBIE modem
I bought a QUBIE modem about a month ago but was forced to
exchange it because of an unacceptable error rate. I just
plugged in the replacement and get the same problems - bursts
of errors every one or two screensfull of data. This isn't
due to line noise either because the modem shows the same
tendency on lines on which original 212As *never* show any
errors.
Are there other QUBIE users out there with the same problem?
With no problems? Any suggestions? Other modems to recommend?
Thanks for any comments,
Jim { !inhp4!houxm!hou2g!stekas }
[The QUBIE modem card retails for $299. It uses digital signal processing
to implement the modem. This significantly lowers the cost of production.
I know of no other 212A modems for near this price. -ed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri 27 Jan 84 20:52:47-PST
From: Pardner Wynn <WYNN@SU-SIERRA.ARPA>
Subject: PCjr Kermit
To: info-kermit@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA
Remailed-To: info-ibmpc
Kermit for the IBM PC, version 1.20, does not work with the PCjr.
I just tried it with the disk model, DOS 2.1, built-in serial port and
Hayes Smartmodem 300.
My PC-Talk.exe program (freeware) runs fine.
Let me know if I can be of help trying out new versions...
Pardner Wynn wynn@su-sierra.arpa
-------
------------------------------
Date: 23 Jan 84 16:37:31-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!fortune!phipps @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PC-Talk
According to my documentation for PC-Talk II,
the latest in the PC-Talk line should be available from
Freeware
The Headlands Press, Inc.
P. O. Box 862
Tiburon, CA 94920
The program author, Andrew Fluegelman, can be reached by two public networks:
CompuServe 71435,1235
The Source TCP204
The usual way to get a copy of PC-Talk is
to send a blank formatted disk and an addressed postage-paid return mailer.
Program and documentation is sent by return mail.
PC-Talk is distributed on the "Freeware concept", which allows a user
to try the program at no cost or risk, and if satisfied with it,
send a donation later. The people behind this idea actually *encourage*
people to copy and distribute their programs. They are depending upon
the basic honesty that they think characterizes most microcomputer users.
I don't know how ordinary indefinite procrastination fits into their picture;
I took a really long time (over a year) to send my donation.
Note that PC-Talk is *not* in the public domain;
it is copyrighted by The Headlands Press, Inc.
I have used (and still use) PC-Talk II to communicate between my PC
and both VAXen and PRIME mainframes. PC-Talk II works on DOS 1.1 and
2.0. The program allows the PC to be used as a dumb terminal or as a
machine to transfer files to and from. File transfer is performed by
typing the mainframe system's "copy" command (or its moral
equivalent), pressing ALT-R or ALT-T as appropriate to begin receiving
or transmitting the file, pressing CR to start the command you have
typed on the mainframe, and voila ! The file contents zoom past you on
the screen as they get transferred. The screen will not reflect the
actual formatting of lines in the file (files appear to be transferred
in units that are not simply multiple lines), but the transferred file
is assembled at its destination as an exact duplicate of the original
(I am having difficulty right now phrasing this accurately). Pressing
ALT-<whatever you pressed to begin> completes the transfer.
PC-Talk III is the successor to PC-Talk II, and is reputed to be even better.
Disclaimer: I have no connection whatsoever with the Freeware people
or Headlands Press. I am merely a satisfied user.
-- Clay Phipps
--
{allegra,amd70,cbosgd,dsd,floyd,harpo,hollywood,hpda,ihnp4,
magic,megatest,nsc,oliveb,sri-unix,twg,varian,VisiA,wdl1}
!fortune!phipps
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂01-Feb-84 1411 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #15
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 1 Feb 84 14:11:27 PST
Date: 1 Feb 1984 1243-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #15
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 1 February 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 15
This Week's Editor: Dick Gillmann
Today's Topics:
Omnisoft Warning
File Compare Utility
Dewar Utilities
Z-100 Extended Video
Graphics Library for Lattice C
COMPAQ Problems
IBM Software Support
Add-on Processor Query
Cross-Assembler Wanted
Readonly Lock Desired
Hmmm on DOS 2.1
Electronic Bulletin Boards
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 28 Jan 84 19:52:02 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.delaware@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Omnisoft Warning
I have no knowledge of the validity of this item from the Source, but
I saw no disclaimers .. Dave
"All mail-order users: Be aware that 'Omnisoft Corp' of Chatsworth
Cal, appears to have committed MAIL FRAUD. You have seen their ads
for 'Global Thermonuclear War', 'Casino Master', and 'Time Machine I'
in PC Mag, BYTE, etc. NONE OF THESE GAMES HAS EVER EXISTED, and NONE
WERE EVER SHIPPED! The principals of this scam have left the LA Area,
and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service is very interested in them. DO
NOT SEND ANY MONEY TO OMNISOFT OR 'STARFIRE GAMES' -- or you will
become one of the victims."
------------------------------
Date: 29 Jan 84 11:07:59 EST (Sun)
From: Joel Seiferas <joel@Rochester.ARPA>
Subject: File Compare Utility
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA, SWG.KNIGHT@USC-ISIB.ARPA
A nice file comparison utility does exist in the Zenith version of
MS-DOS, and it does work fine with PC-DOS 2.0 and 2.1. I don't have
the Zenith or its MS-DOS, but I think the utility's name was FC.EXE.
------------------------------
Date: 30 Jan 1984 0753-PST
From: HFISCHER@USC-ECLB
Subject: Dewar Utilities
To: Brackenridge at ISIB
Remailed-To: Info-IBMPC
A source text compare tool is available from Robert Dewar (DEWAR@NYU).
I believe that the tool is part of a utility set sold for $40.
Robert's mailing address is 73 5th Ave., NYC NY 10003.
This is the same Robert Dewar as of Ada fame. An accomplished
musician, he distributes an editor called the "Dewar Visual Screen
Editor" (DVED) which handles the color screen like a musical
instrument -- flickerless and smooth as silk. Better yet, this
editor, like the PC-Write, contains a note that it can be
redistributed if no charge is made! The editor has multiple buffers
(like Emacs) but as far as I can tell only one window. It works
incredibly smoothly with my Logitech mouse, and I believe it is also
compatible with the Mouse Systems mouse.
If the free editor is any indication, I suspect that the utility tools
will be superb.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 29 Jan 1984 13:19 EST
From: SJOBRG%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Subject: Z-100 Extended Video
The November 1983 issue of Microsystems magazine carries a review of the
Zenith Z-100 computer system. The review states:
The video board allows an alternate display format, which
could be used to provide an interlaced display of 640 by
525 pixels, but no information is provided on specific
programming for that purpose. (p. 100)
I have often lamented the fact that the IBM PC only goes up to 200
lines in high-resolution mode when 480 would have permitted a square
aspect ratio (so important when dealing with digitized images). Does
anyone have any information about this capability in the Zenith
machine?
Thanks.
------------------------------
Date: 29 January 1984 15:10 EST
From: Steven T. Kirsch <SK @ MIT-MC>
Subject: Re: Graphics Library for Lattice C
To: Info-IBMPC @ USC-ISIB
cc: RALPHW @ MIT-XX
The most complete library of Graphics for Lattice C is the $150
MouseWindow package from Mouse Systems. It supports the IBM Color
monitor, the Hercules card, the Tecmar card, and the CCS Supervision.
Available in mid-February, is is considerably updated from the last
version.
At somewhat lower level of support is available by using the Microsoft
Mouse Driver library (MOUSE.LIB). However, only the Mouse Systems
version (MSMOUSE.LIB) interfaces with Lattice C. This library has
been available for many months.
[It should be pointed out that Mr. Kirsch is associated with the
Mouse Systems company. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Jan 84 10:47 PST
From: BARLOW.EOSA@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: COMPAQ Problems
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Twenty-two days after my warranty expired my COMPAQ expired. It
required a new power supply to get going again. Two weeks later it
expired again, apparently with more severe problems. Have any of you
with COMPAQs had any similar experiences?
I am planning to write to COMPAQ in Houston and would like some backup
experiences or horror stories.
Thanks,
Jeff
------------------------------
Date: 30 Jan 1984 1243-PST
Subject: IBM Software Support
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: Brackenridge
Cc: Info-IBMPC
I just got a brochure from IBM offering telephone support for software
on a contract basis. The price is $380 for one year. This entitles
you to 7 phone calls and a newsletter. Software supported includes
DOS, all the compilers and interpreters that IBM sells, and also the
Personal Editor and Professional Editor. The number to call for more
info is 1-800-426-2700.
Seems kind of pricey to me. That's more than $50 a phone call.
[Capt. Hook says I should have written "piracy" for "pricey".]
------------------------------
Date: 30 Jan 1984 20:57-EST
From: Barak.Pearlmutter@CMU-CS-G.ARPA
Subject: Add-on Processor Query
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
The Boltzmann group here at CMU is interested in a simulation problem
which can be sped up considerably by running identical copies of the
simulator on multiple machines, and then combining the results
collected and behaving appropriately at relatively infrequent
intervals. The volume of data to be combined is small compared to the
total size of the simulation.
It would seem that an ideal (i.e. cheap and off the shelf) vehicle for
doing such a simulation would be an IBM PC with lots of boards plugged
into it, each board containing a local processor, a good hunk of local
memory, and some way of communicating with the native 8088.
For this application lots of them have to be running at the same time,
so we are not interested in boards that take over the entire machine
when they run. Nor are we really concerned with good OS support;
we're willing to hand code stuff to load the simulator into the slaves
and examine the results ourselves. We just want the little guys to
crunch.
If anyone has done similar things with IBM PCs (or other off the shelf
hardware) we'd love to know about problems you encountered, and if you
have information about such boards, especially concerning their speed
(we can get away with fixed point math), cost, amount of local memory
and communication channel configuration, we'd appreciate anything you
can tell us.
Multiple thanks in advance...
Barak Pearlmutter Pearlmutter@CMU-CS-C.arpa
Department of Computer Science
Carnegie-Mellon University (412) 578-2582
Schenley Park
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 31 Jan 84 5:10-PST
Date: 30 Jan 84 6:40:32-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!ihuxq!covert @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Cross-Assembler Wanted
I need a cross assembler for the Intel 8088 CPU which runs under
CP/M-80. I have a small 8088 controller board which I bought at a
Hamfest. I would like to be able to write some small 8088 assembly
language programs for it. I have a Z80 based CP/M system with an
EPROM programmer. If I could get a cross assembler that would
generate Intel HEX files then I could burn my own PROMs.
Can anyone out help me locate such at tool (BTW I need something in
the public domain or else inexpensive).
Also, has anyone ever heard of a version of basic called TBASIC
written for the 8088? I got an 8755 with TBASIC burned into it with
the controller.
Also, any ideas about a good assembly language programming book for the
8088?
Richard Covert
BTL Indian Hills West, Room 1E-408
(312) 979-7488
------------------------------
Date: 31-Jan-84 15:29:44-EST
From: nagy@BNL
Subject: Readonly Lock Desired
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
There has been some talk concerning the possibility of doing a FORMAT
inadvertently on one's hard disk (though you could do it to a valuable
floppy, too). One fix has been to patch FORMAT.COM so that it won't
format the hard disk.
This is a good idea. However, why have OS designers not provided more
to help the user protect himself? The idea is nothing but a
"readonly" software on/off switch similar to what we used to put on
tape request cards in batch jobs. A hard disk user could use A: for
DOS, compilers, canned programs, etc. (which could be locked at
power-on from AUTOEXEC.BAT). Then B: would be a free fire zone for
editing, TMPs, etc. At the end of a session, one would carefully (as
usual) lock B:, unlock A:, and copy anything from B: worth saving.
Even a 2-floppy user would find soft protection useful if he wishes to
temporarily suspend operations on A: and mess around on B: but is so
paranoid he usually takes the disk out of A: or puts a tab on if he
still needs it (e.g. for a copy).
Any instruction which attempted to write on a locked drive could just
trap to the same message currently used for tab protected floppies
(the terms "protection" and "ignore" now having broader meaning). Or,
to better accommodate calls from programs, a new trap, message, and
menu added.
Just to be a little paranoid myself, there must be something very
wrong with this idea because certainly someone would have done this
already. To those people who like to live dangerously, a person
doesn't have to make use of the new facility if he doesn't wish to
(UNLOCK would be the default).
Suggested New DOS Commands:
LOCK {d:|HARD|FLOPPY|ALL} == software tab-on for drive d,
hard-disks, floppy-disks, or all
UNLOCK {d:|HARD|FLOPPY|ALL} == software tab-off for same
STATLOCK == displays lock status of all drives
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 84 17:18:03 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.delaware@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Hmmm on DOS 2.1
For the first time ever I got a hard disk boot error soon after
switching to DOS 2.1 . All I did to fix it was to do a sys c:
and now all is well. But ... who knows
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 84 18:33:34 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.delaware@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Electronic Bulletin Boards
The following list was obtained from hackernet (aka technet), a bboard
dedicated to hacker stuff. Nice people and some good stuff. Their
number is 617-791-1957
Dave
* * * * * * * * * * * IBM PC BULLETIN BOARD * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Inside the Continental United States
Telephone Number: (415) 845-9462 Location: Berkeley, California
SYSOP: John Carmichael Password: GUEST
Title: Unknown
Parameters: 7 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, Even Parity, 300 Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours
Notes: None
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (213) 649-1489 Location: Culver City, California
SYSOP: George Peck Password: Personalized
Title: Unknown
Parameters: 7 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, Even Parity, Unknown Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, download, upload, messages
Notes: Temporarily down
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (213) 390-3239 Location: Santa Monica, California
SYSOP: Marc Schoenberg Password: Personalized
Title: Unknown
Parameters: 8 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, No Parity, 300/1200 Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, download, upload, 10 MB hard disk
Notes: None
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (303) 773-2699 Location: Denver, Colorado
SYSOP: Chris van Essen Password: Personalized
Title: Unknown
Parameters: 7 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, Even Parity, Unknown Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, download, upload, electronic mail, tips, for sale
Notes: None
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (404) 294-6879 Location: Atlanta, Georgia
SYSOP: Jeff P. Garbers Password: Personalized
Title: The Midnight Express
Parameters: 7 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, Even Parity, Unknown Baud Support
Facilities: Midnight - 8 a.m. EST
Notes: Interview with Jeff Garbers in PC World, Volume 1, Number 2, Page 284
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (404) 252-9438 Location: Atlanta, Georgia
SYSOP: Rod Roark Password: Personalized
Title: The Software Link
Parameters: 8 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, No Parity, 300/1200 Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, download, upload, messages, tips, news
Notes: None
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (404) 926-8411 Location: Atlanta, Georgia
SYSOP: Ken Shackleford Password: Personalized
Title: Atlanta IBM Employees Club Technical Exchange
Parameters: 7 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, Even Parity, Unknown Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours except Sunday, download, upload, electronic mail, tips
Notes: None
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (404) 252-4146 Location: Atlanta, Georgia
SYSOP: Nancy Frank Password: IBMPC
Title: N.F. Systems 24 Hour Help Line
Parameters: 8 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, No Parity, 300/1200 Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, download, upload, messages
Notes: Run by N.F. Systems, Ltd.; makers of Hostcomm
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (312) 259-8086 Location: Chicago, Illinois
SYSOP: Gene Plantz Password: Personalized
Title: Unknown
Parameters: 8 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, No Parity, 300/1200 Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, download, upload, messages
Notes: SYSOP affiliated with PCMODEM and writer of BBS Watch for PC World
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (312) 376-7598 Location: Chicago, Illinois
SYSOP: Pete Coniceak Password: Personalized
Title: Unknown
Parameters: 8 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, No Parity, 300 Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, download, upload, messages
Notes: None
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (319) 363-3314 Location: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
SYSOP: Ben Blackstock Password: Personalized
Title: Hawkeye-PC
Parameters: 7 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, Even Parity, 300/1200 Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, download, upload, messages, 450 baud
Notes: Fairly large download
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (913) 842-5749 Location: Lawrence, Kansas
SYSOP: Unknown Password: CUSTOMER
Title: Miracle Computing IBM PC Software Interchange
Parameters: 7 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, Even Parity, 300 Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, download, upload, electronic mail
Notes: Lower long distance rates!
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (301) 937-4339 Location: Beltsville, Maryland
SYSOP: Chet Rhodes Password: Personalized
Title: Small People Software
Parameters: 7 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, Even Parity, Unknown Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, games, messages
Notes: None
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (301) 460-0538 Location: Bethesda, Maryland
SYSOP: Ramona Landberg Password: Personalized
Title: Unknown
Parameters: Unknown
Facilities: 24 hours, upload newsletter articles
Notes: Capital PC Affiliated
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (301) 251-6293 Location: Gaithersburg, Maryland
SYSOP: Larry Jordan Password: IBMPC
Title: Unknown
Parameters: 7 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, Even Parity, 300/1200 Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, communications information
Notes: Capital PC Affiliated
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (703) 522-4513 Location: Gaithersburg, Maryland
SYSOP: Unknown Password: IBMPC
Title: Unknown
Parameters: 8 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, No Parity, 300 Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, download, upload, messages
Notes: None
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (301) 949-8848 Location: Rockville, Maryland
SYSOP: Rich Schinnell Password: IBMPC
Title: Capital PC Software Exchange
Parameters: 8 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, No Parity, 300/1200 Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, download, upload
Notes: None
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (406) 656-9624 Location: Billings, Montana
SYSOP: George Peck Password: Personalized
Title: Unknown
Parameters: 7 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, Even Parity, Unknown Baud Support
Facilities: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., 11 p.m. - 7 a.m. MST
Notes: None
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (716) 836-6964 Location: Buffalo, New York
SYSOP: Bob Taylor Password: Personalized
Title: Unknown
Parameters: Unknown
Facilities: Unknown
Notes: None
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (201) 678-6670 Location: New York City, New York
SYSOP: Donald David Password: IBMPC
Title: Unknown
Parameters: 7 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, Even Parity, Unknown Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, user group software support
Notes: None
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (215) 250-0173 Location: Easton, Pennsylvania
SYSOP: Jerry Lotto Password: Personalized
Title: Unknown
Parameters: Unknown, 300 baud support
Facilities: 24 hours, download, upload
Notes: None
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (713) 890-0310 Location: Houston, Texas
SYSOP: Tim Tindle Password: NFSYS
Title: COMPAQ Computer Corporation
Parameters: 7 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, Even Parity, Unknown Baud Support
Facilities: Unknown
Notes: A Hostcomm system; commercially operated by N.F. Systems
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (713) 933-7353 Location: Houston, Texas
SYSOP: Unknown Password: Personalized
Title: HAL-PC and Zachary * Net Bulletin Boards
Parameters: 7 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, Even Parity, 300 Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, download, upload, electronic mail, tips, news
Notes: Two bulletin boards in one
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (703) 560-0979 Location: Annadale, Virginia
SYSOP: Wes Merchant Password: Personalized
Title: Unknown
Parameters: 7 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, Even Parity, Unknown Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, download, messages, bulletins
Notes: None
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (703) 680-5220 Location: Dale City, Virginia
SYSOP: Tim Mullins Password: Personalized
Title: Dale City Information Exchange
Parameters: 7 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, Even Parity, Unknown Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, news, new product reviews
Notes: None
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (703) 591-5120 Location: Fairfax, Virginia
SYSOP: Denny Flanders Password: Personalized
Title: Unknown
Parameters: 8 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, No Parity, Unknown Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, on-line conferencing, electronic mail
Notes: Run by Cornerstone Computer Corporation
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (703) 425-9452 Location: Fairfax, Virginia
SYSOP: Bob Flanders Password: Personalized
Title: Unknown
Parameters: 8 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, No Parity, Unknown Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, conferencing, electronic mail
Notes: Run by Cornerstone Computer Corporation
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (703) 978-0921 Location: Fairfax, Virgina
SYSOP: Bruce Churchill Password: IBMPC
Title: Unknown
Parameters: 7 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, Even Parity, 300 Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, software evaluation and purchase
Notes: A Hostcomm system
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (703) 978-9592 Location: Fairfax, Virginia
SYSOP: Don Withrow Password: IBMPC
Title: Unknown
Parameters: 8 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, No Parity, 300/1200 Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, download, upload, tips
Notes: A Hostcomm system
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (703) 425-7229 Location: Springfield, Virginia
SYSOP: Bob Blackwell Password: Personalized
Title: Unknown
Parameters: 7 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, Even Parity, Unknown Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, download, upload, ASM files, messages
Notes: A Hostcomm system
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (703) 560-7803 Location: Vienna, Virginia
SYSOP: Unknown Password: Personalized
Title: Apple Bulletin Board System with an IBM Conference
Parameters: 7 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, Even Parity, Unknown Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, download, upload, messages
Notes: None
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Telephone Number: (608) 262-4939 Location: Madison, Wisconsin
SYSOP: Read Gilgen Password: Personalized
Title: PC User's Group Bulletin Board System
Parameters: 8 Data Bits, 1 Stop Bit, No Parity, 300/1200 Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, download SPS-BBS, messages
Notes: Run by a User's Group
Outside the Continental United States
Telephone Number: (416) 499-7023 Location: Toronto, Canada
SYSOP: Doug Peel Password: IBMPC
Title: Unknown
Parameters: Unknown, 300/1200 Baud Support
Facilities: 24 hours, download, upload, messages
Notes: A Hostcomm system; commercially operated
P.S. If you know of any errors or have any updated information please drop a
line to the SYSOP.
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂03-Feb-84 2137 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #16
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 3 Feb 84 21:37:34 PST
Date: 3 Feb 1984 1627-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #16
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 3 February 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 16
This Week's Editor: Dick Gillmann
Today's Topics:
Table of Contents
X.25 Query
Columbia VP Maintenance
Corona
Multiple Displays Query
KERMIT for HP-150
Booting Coherent from a Hard Disk
Hard Disk Query
COMPAQ Problems Not So Bad After All
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2 Feb 1984 1624-PST
Subject: Table of Contents
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
cc: nagy@BNL
nagy@BNL has been kind enough to make up a table of contents for the
Info-IBMPC Digest for January 1984. This can be found in the file
<INFO-IBMPC>TOC.JAN84.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 1 Feb 84 22:20:26 EST
From: Martin Schoffstall <schoff@BBN-UNIX>
Subject: X.25 Query
To: info-ibmpc at isib
Somewhere I have seen an advertisement for X.25 network interfaces for
the PC and also some discussion. Does anyone have any pointers?
Thanks,
marty
------------------------------
Date: Wed 1 Feb 84 21:57:21-PST
From: L. Brett Glass <G.GLASS%LOTS-A@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: Columbia VP Maintenance
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
About a half a month ago, I purchased a Columbia VP (Columbia Data
Systems' portable IBM-PC lookalike), and had it shipped to me here at
school. The unit arrived in pretty good condition, and worked fine,
EXCEPT for some problems in the video screen. It seems that
extraneous lines will sometimes appear when inverse (black-on-white)
characters are used, and there is a fair amount of "snow" whenever the
monochrome screen is updated.
I wasn't troubled too much by this at first, as Columbia had claimed
in their ads that warranty repairs could be done at any Bell & Howell
service center. But when I called up Bell & Howell, they told me that
1) They serviced only the desktop versions of the Columbia, not the VP;
2) They did not know if they ever would be servicing VP's; and
3) In any event, it was not likely that I would be able to get my machine
serviced by them until at least a month or two (or three) from now.
When I called Columbia, the person I spoke to verified that Bell &
Howell had indeed not been contracted to service the portable unit,
but only the 1600-4 and 1600-1 desktop models. She then went on to say
that the only way I could have my machine serviced right now would be
to return it to the factory -- where the repair time would range from
2 to 3 weeks. Allowing for 1 week (UPS) shipping in each direction,
this means that I would have to be without my computer for 4 to 5
weeks!
I have both called and written Columbia since that time, and so far
have not gotten any more favorable response.
The moral: Be wary of ANY and ALL claims that a manufacturer makes in
his advertising; and steer clear of the VP (which is otherwise
a good machine) until Bell & Howell (or someone else) really
CAN service it.
Brett Glass
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 1 Feb 84 23:23-PST
Date: 31 Jan 84 16:03:16-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: judd.umcp-cs@CSNet-relay
Subject: Corona
The Corona seems to be all that the Columbia is BUT it has REALLY NICE
characters. The mono board is on the Corona motherboard and they have
used a 13 v x 16 h matrix for their chars. Very easy to read and easy
on your eyes.
Judd Rogers
------------------------------
From: Allyn Fratkin <sdcsvax!sdcsvax!allyn@Nosc>
Date: 2 February 1984 1000-PST (Thursday)
Reply-To: allynf <sdcsvax!allyn@nosc>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: Multiple Displays Query
Does anyone have any info on driving more than one display from a PC,
either one monochrome and one graphics, or two graphics screens?
We will soon have an application requiring such a thing and any info
would be greatly appreciated. From what I've seen, it's not easy,
if it is possible at all.
Thanks,
Allyn Fratkin
UCSD Pascal Project
U.C. San Diego
------------------------------
Date: Thu 2 Feb 84 20:06:16-EST
From: Frank da Cruz <cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: KERMIT for HP-150
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
KERMIT for the HP-150 MS-DOS micro is now available. It is based on
IBM PC Kermit Version 1.3A, circa last June. It works quite well for
both terminal emulation (HP2621) or file transfer. Terminal
connection loses occasionally at 4800 baud, but this seems to be a
failing of the firmware.
The support for the HP-150 comes from Frank Heartney at HP. We'll be
integrating it into the new MS DOS KERMIT in the next few weeks. In
the meantime, it's available as KER:HP150.* from COLUMBIA-20 via
anonymous FTP. The .FIX file is a nibble-encoded .EXE file, which you
can download using the same procedure as for IBM PC Kermit (assuming
you have Basic) -- the PCKSEND and PCKGET programs.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 3 Feb 84 0:10-PST
Date: 31 Jan 84 20:13:48-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!hogpc!pegasus!eby @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Booting Coherent from a Hard Disk
I am using the Coherent operating system on an IBM XT, and was
wondering if anyone has figured out a way to boot directly off of the
hard disk (rather than from floppies). It seems to me it should be
possible to do. The only added complexity over booting DOS from a
hard disk should be in interpreting the Coherent filesystem, which I
assume is somewhat more complex. I will summarize any replies I get.
Bob Eby
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 3 Feb 84 0:57-PST
Date: 31 Jan 84 6:57:30-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: tektronix!johnbu @ UW-Beaver
Subject: Hard Disk Query
My goal is to add a hard disk (10 Mbyte or so) to an old version (64K
system unit) PC. In my brief amount of shopping, several questions
come to mind:
1) The prices I've seen used to range from 2,000 to 3,500. Why the extreme
variation? Is there really that much difference in quality?
2) I've recently seen one (I can't remember the manufacturer right now)
for 995 for 10 Mbyte. Does this significant price drop represent
an associated quality or feature drop?
3) The ideal case would be to get one that would install in the PC system
unit. I've heard that one can buy IBM's souped up power supply,
a controller board, and the drive and make it all work. Does it
really work? What price should I expect?, etc, etc.
Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
John Burgess,
Tektronix, Inc
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 Feb 84 09:20 PST
From: barlow.eosa@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: COMPAQ Problems Not So Bad After All
To: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
UPDATE:February 3, 1984
COMPAQ has told my Computerland tech that they will honor the
warrantee and pay for all necessary repairs. This was on the basis of
a 3 minute call to COMPAQ in Houston. COMPAQ deserves their reputation
as a high quality company as far as I'm concerned.
Jeff
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂07-Feb-84 2127 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #17
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 7 Feb 84 21:26:32 PST
Date: 7 Feb 1984 2027-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #17
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 7 January 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 17
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
ANSI.SYS and the IBM Async Package
Communications subroutine for DOS?
PC/IX UUCP / Coherent -- terminal emulations
SPITBOL
Multiple display screens
Beware Davong!
Booting Coherent off a hard disk
PC/IX Requirements
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 1 Feb 84 5:50:43-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: utcsrgv!garfield!derek2 @ UW-Beaver
Subject: Re: ANSI.SYS and the IBM Async Package
Last summer I had to get ANSI.SYS to work with IBM async. The way I
did it was to write a machine language routine that used INT21 to
display characters on the screen. That way ANSI.SYS gets used. Of
course there is some conflict if you use Basic `prints` to display
things also. Nothing a bit more hacking wouldn`t cure.
Derek S. Keeping
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 Feb 84 17:31 EST
From: Ed Fox <fox.vpi@Rand-Relay>
Subject: Communications subroutine for DOS?
Is there a relatively small subroutine available (or something using
interrupts) that a DOS 2.10 C program can call to:
1)choose and logon to a machine, using direct LAN connection or autodialing
2)send ascii messages
3)receive and store ascii messages
The program must also communicate with a user via keyboard and monitor.
My interest is in a reliable package that is easy to use and won't take
too much memory, and is callable by C. YTERM has been mentioned - is
that suitable?
Also of interest would be B-tree or indexed file support routines
to be called from C program.
Thanks for the help! - Ed Fox (fox.vpi@rand-relay)
------------------------------
Date: 4 Feb 84 16:10:38-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!vortex!lauren @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PC/IX UUCP / Coherent -- terminal emulations
The IBM people touting PC/IX sure seem to be confused on a number of
points -- it has been very difficult to get straight answers out of
them for even slightly technical questions.
---
Several people have asked me what terminal Coherent emulates on the
IBM PC console. The answer is a straight H19/Z19. The very
imminent new Coherent release will include a new version of H19/Z19
emulation that includes virtually every H19/Z19 feature that makes
sense on the PC console, including 25th line handling, wrap modes,
etc. Just about the only thing left out is H19 graphics, which you
can't do properly on the Monochrome board that most people are
using. If *reasonable* graphics boards get into regular use, then
H19 graphics will be considered again. I regularly use my system
with various ARPANET hosts that have "wired-in" support (i.e. no
termcap) for the H19, and everything works fine. You can also use
your normal termcap entry for the H19 if you wish, though I also
have a special "cohibm" entry that adds a couple of features that
the H19/Z19 doesn't have, like underlining and meta-key support.
(The new Coherent keyboard driver defines ALT as a standard META key
for use with the display editor (a fast EMACS-type editor.)
--Lauren--
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Feb 84 17:13:20 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber%udel-eecis1.delaware@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: SPITBOL
I received today the preliminary release of Bob Dewar's SPITBOL. As
the Daddy of SNOBOL 0,1,2,3 and the Grand Dad of Snobol 4, it is a
very good job. (Spitbol is a compiler dialect of Snobol 4 and is
similar to the Spitbol on the IBM 360 and the Univac 1100.
It works very well and will be a very valuable string processing
addition to the PCs language family.
It can be ordered from:
Robert B.K. Dewar
SPITBOL Orders
73 5th Ave
NY, NY 10003
It costs $195.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Feb 84 14:18:04 PST
From: Computer Club SDC <v.cc2@UCLA-LOCUS>
To: sdcvax!allny@nosc
CC: Info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: Multiple display screens
It is fairly difficult to run a monochrome screen and a graphics screen
simultaneously however, it is trivial to run up to three mono, three rgb
or as many as you want composite screens at the same time. The mono and rgb
screens can just be split and run in parallel (after three the signal just
doesn't cut it). With composite screens, just go down to your local stereo
store and get a Y-adapter. That works fine for about four composite screens,
for more you'd need a distribution amplifier because of the current loss by
splitting.
- Howard
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Feb 84 14:29:28 PST
From: Computer Club SDC <v.cc2@UCLA-LOCUS>
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: Beware Davong!
I have had the unfortunate job of having to deal with Davong hard drives.
These people have managed to give their dealers and the public more problems
than you could possibly imagine. Take for example a 75% out of the box
failure rate (this is a great improvement over their previous 90%-95% rate).
If you happen to be lucky and get one that works, it probably won't stay that
way for long since the average life of their controllers seems to be about
4-6 months (MTBF 700 hours). During the brief time that the stupid thing
works, most people are using Davong's Multi-OS. That rotten piece of software
(definitely a piece of something) manages to trash files systems for no
reason, give "Fatal MULTI-OS Error"s all over the place and give the mysterious
messages like "Bug #3 encountered." I wonder how many of those there are?
If you are considering hard drives, I would shy away from these unless you
are doing a study on frustration!
- Howard
------------------------------
Date: 1 Feb 84 16:01:52-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!vortex!lauren @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Booting Coherent off a hard disk
I boot my Coherent off of one of the hard disks. There's no particular
complexity involved. I'm hoping that the hard disk boot code will be
included in a Coherent release shortly. It hasn't been up to now
because of some minor complexities involving the OEM who wrote the
original code for a specialized environment.
MWC isn't on Usenet at this time, though I talk to them fairly frequently
and tend to relate items of interest. They'll be running my Coherent UUCP
and getting some of the more important newsgroups fairly soon, as soon
as phone lines and such can be set up (something of a pain in the old
building they inhabit in Chicago [which I'm told is the original
building in which Teletype Corp. started!]).
--Lauren--
------------------------------
Date: 23 Jan 84 20:37:49-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!genrad!wjh12!n44a!ima!haddock!johnl @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PC/IX Requirements
haddock!johnl Jan 23 15:53:00 1984
I'm interested in getting PC/IX for my PC. Why do I need an expansion
cabinet? I'll be happy to load up on memory, and set up maybe 512k plus
128k of RAMDISK for temporary files generated by Unix on the fly.
PC/IX needs to use the 10MB hard disk, which is why you need an expansion
cabinet if you have a PC. Unix is a much larger system than MS-DOS with
many more standard programs on the disk. It multitasks and swaps programs in
and out of core (there's an anachronistic term for you.)
PC/IX is happy to share a partitioned hard disk, with part reserved for MS-DOS
and part for PC/IX.
John Levine, ima!johnl
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂11-Feb-84 2104 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #18
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 11 Feb 84 21:03:42 PST
Date: 11 Feb 1984 1930-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #18
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 11 February 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 18
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
Any information on Instant-C?
IBM Pascal Runtimes
Fast Hard Drive for PC/XT
Interfacing to Radio Shack Model 100
Rogue on the PC ?
Monitor Response
wanted -- PC clone information
CCP/M-86
Centronics under CPM
Graphics Software
C Routines
X-shell
Combined Graphics/Monochrome Boards
Another SPITBOL implementation
Kermit-86 Take Files for use with Unix EMACS
EXTRNal STRUCs Query
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 6 Feb 84 4:33:06-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!utah-cs!brownc @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Any information on Instant-C?
Has anyone tried a C development system for 8086-based machines called
Instant-C?
It is supposedly an integrated editor, compiler, and debugger that
generates binary code very quickly.
It is sold by an outfit called Rational Systems, Inc., and it costs
$500. Before we buy it, we would like to know about its reliability,
bugginess, and general usability.
Thanks in advance,
Eric C. Brown
..!harpo!utah-cs!brownc
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 7 Feb 84 23:04 EST
From: Rishiyur Nikhil <Nikhil.UPenn@Rand-Relay>
Return-Path: <NIKHIL%UPenn.UPenn@Rand-Relay>
Subject: IBM Pascal Runtimes
To: info-ibmpc@isib
IBM Pascal Runtimes
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
We are trying to install an existing program written in Pascal on an
IBM PC with 512kb of memory, using IBM Pascal. The program is large
(a couple of thousand lines), in several modules, and works fine under
TOPS-10 on a DEC-10.
We use the heap via the NEW(..) statement. We do not use the DISPOSE
statement; instead, we reclaim used records in our own linked list,
because many Pascals (IBM Pascal excluded) do not implement DISPOSE.
All our dynamic storage usage is strictly standard Pascal (we do not
diddle with bit representations, addresses or anything), but we have been
repeatedly and erratically thrown out with a "Heap is invalid" error
message. (Note: this is NOT the same as being out of memory when the
stack meets the heap.)
We are at our wits end trying to figure out why this happens. Has anyone
else had this problem, and do you have any suggestions to offer? I would
would be very grateful for any help on this matter. Please reply to
nikhil.upenn@csnet-relay
if any points of general interest arise, I will summarize them for the net.
Other IBM Pascal problems that I would be delighted to be enlightened upon:
- Is there any way to get a traceback when a Pascal program bombs?
All I can get it to do is to give me the procedure/line where it
crashed, but I would sure like to know the call-stack at that point.
- It appears to me that the heap allocation routine will make a complete
circuit of the heap looking for a free block before deciding to expand
it. This means that if all your program does is to allocate a linked
list of length N, it will take N-squared time. This is ridiculous!
Or am I mistaken in my understanding of the heap allocation routine?
- Is there any good reason why the implementors of this Pascal chose to
use the heap to maintain the source error context instead of using the
regular stack? If the heap allocation routines are flaky by themselves,
this could only make matters much worse!
As you might guess, the more I learn about IBM Pascal, the more
distasteful it gets! I would love to have my mind changed by someone who
knows the innards of this beast.
Nikhil
[The editors suggested a copy of Microsoft Pascal would be more up to date
than the IBM version. I don't know if this will fix these specific problems,
but at least one can then complain directly to Microsoft with perhaps more
effect than complaints to IBM. -ed]
------------------------------
From: Allyn Fratkin <sdcsvax!allyn@Nosc>
Date: 8 February 1984 1134-PST (Wednesday)
Reply-To: allynf <sdcsvax!allyn@nosc>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: Fast Hard Drive for PC/XT
We will be ordering four XTs in the next week or so. However, I have
heard that the drive that comes with the XT is not particularly fast, even
as 5.25" drives go. We would like to have drives that are as fast as
possible as we are going to use at least one as a network server.
Would it be better to buy regular PCs and buy hard drives from a third
party? Is this possible with the difference between the PC and the XT?
We would like to hear stories, good or bad, of experiences with
hard drives around 10 Mb from outside vendors. Include the min, max and
average seek times for your disk, please.
Also, does anyone know the seek times for the IBM hard disk? The IBM
Product Center (and most salesmen in general) seem to have no idea.
Thanks,
Allyn Fratkin
UCSD Pascal Project
U.C. San Diego
------------------------------
Date: 8 Feb 1984 14:11:26 PST
From: HOROWITZ@USC-ISIF
Subject: Interfacing to Radio Shack Model 100
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
I recently purchased the Radio Shack Model 100 Portable and I've
been trying to upload programs from the Model 100 to my IBM-PC,
WITHOUT SUCCESS. I believe I have set the parity, baud rate,
stop bits properly for both machines, but when I do an upload
I get an AUX I/O Error as each character of the file is transferred.
Will anyone out there give me a hand?
ellis
-------
------------------------------
Date: 5 Feb 84 10:46:36-PST (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
Subject: Rogue on the PC ?
From: ihnp4!we13!burl!clyde!akgua!psuvax!burdvax!sjuvax!armstron @ Ucb-Vax
I came across an advertisement in a PC magazine displaying ROGUE
for the IBM PC. Not much was said on version number or other details.
It simply said something to the extent of "play rogue ... the ultimate
fantasy game and most popular game on UNIX." Has anyone else heard anything
on this...has anyone played it? Might as well post responses to the net.
Thanx in Advance,
Len Armstrong
St. Joseph's University.
[I have played PC Rogue as far as I know it is the same as the real thing
except in color and allows use of the PC arrow keys. If you play a bootleged
version and find yourself falling on your own sword you are getting what
you deserve -ed]
------------------------------
Date: 28 Jan 84 9:48:01-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!duke!mcnc!unc-c!dya @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Monitor Response
Virtually ALL consumer monitors stink, because their limiting factor
is the dot / other triad pitch. The upper frequency limit can be calculated
by:
((line length) / (dot pitch * 51 us) ) * sqrt(2.0)
Generally, a dot pitch of 0.43 mm is required for satisfactory NTSC
performance on a 15 inch screen, while 0.31 is required for a 13 inch screen
(including luminance to 4.2 mc/s.) Obviously, for RGB this matters because
all three channels have the full video bandwidth.
Vectrix's monitor isn't so bad ( $ 1100 ) although I don't know if
they will part it out. It has a 0.31 mm dot pitch. There seems to be a big]
brouhaha about someone like MGA which boasts an AWESOME 0.43 dot pitch. (This
is an improvement, my 9 inch ColourTrak is something like 0.8).
The other limiting factor is how many pixels. If you are only doing 128
by 128, then anything will work. Also, dot pitch is meaningless unless your
monitor manufacturer can guarantee convergence (especially in the corners.)
Needless to say, the RGB should be direct to the cathodes with a
minimum of amplification, and aperture correction if possible.
--David "Last of the Analog" Anthony
{ decvax!duke!mcnc!(urp,unc-c)!dya }
------------------------------
Date: 2 Feb 84 19:34:55-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!linus!philabs!sbcs!bnl!sasw @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: wanted -- PC clone information
I have been told that there are at least three companies making copies
of the IBM PC. Can anyone tell me who they are and what their products
are called? Names, prices, and comparisons would all be very useful.
Thank you!
-- Steve
------------------------------
Date: 7 Feb 84 13:24:51-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!afinitc!rbm @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: CCP/M-86
We are presently in need of a PC compatible with a deliverable Concurrent
CP/M-86 system that is ready to go. Apparently many companies are promising
this, but we can not find one which will deliver a running CCP/M-86 today. If
anyone knows of such a PC compatible we would appreciate hearing from you.
Rick Moll
..!ihnp4!afinitc!rbm
Affinitec
2252 Welsch Ind. Ct.
St. Louis, MO 63146
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 84 12:33 PST
From: jwaas.es@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: Centronics under CPM
To: Info-IBMPC
cc:Jwaas.es@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
The IBM PC running CPM with the parallel printer port assigned
as the list device does not conform to the Centronics protocol.
Apparently there is some intervening interrupt which causes the driver
routine to fail to always find the BUSY term from the printer. This in
turn causes the IBM to assume that since it could not find BUSY it of
course is in fact busy ( go ahead reread what I just wrote ). The driver
therefore must first find BUSY then determine that it has gone away. In
any event to insure that BUSY is found the term must be held for around
450 milliseconds which is several hundred more than Centronics. The
EPSON printer appears to work well with the IBM with a BUSY of 65
milliseconds but in fact does occasionally hang up as Busy when it is
not. Investigation showed that even a couple of milliseconds plus or
minus of 65 results in considerable failures. At around 25 milliseconds
the IBM refuses to run., It would appear that EPSON just happens to
synchronize with the possible intervening interrupt most of the time.
MSDOS runs with Centronics protocol (or was that PC DOS or both).
Jaye
------------------------------
Date: Thursday, 9 February 1984 16:38:38 EST
From: Tom.Wood@cmu-ri-fas
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: Graphics Software
A friend of mine is looking for some kind of graphics software for the PC
that meets the following requirements:
-Ability to use the Hercules graphics board.
-Ability to do 2-d graphics (3-d would be nice)
-Labeling of x and y axes, a heading, and user defined points
to do other labeling as well (that is, you can label at a
given coordinate on your plot)
-Direct reference to plotting coordinates (GRAPHX, for instance,
must have points translated to the screen matrix it knows about)
-Some kind of automatic numbering on the axes
-Ability to label in at least two directions (horizontally and
vertically, the latter useful for y axis labeling)
I believe that a package intended for plotting scientific/engineering data
would be more appropriate than a business package. Fortran callable
routines (if applicable) would be preferred.
If you have any suggestions, please send mail to taw@cmu-ri-fas, or
you can speak to Aaron Tanzer directly at (412)578-3717. Thanks in advance.
Tom Wood
taw@cmu-ri-fas
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 84 17:25 EST
From: Slade.wbst@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: C Routines
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
cc: Slade.wbst@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
For those programmers in C who have more creative things to do than
reinventing the wheel, you should look at a new package of C subroutines
which will work with either Computer Innovations C86, Microsoft, or
Lattice C.
The package is by Greenleaf Software, 2101 Hickory Drive, Carrollton,
Texas 75006, (214) 446-8641. For $175, you get about 200 routines which
communicate with the serial port, do disk operations, etc. Based on a
few of these, the communications routine requested by
fox.vpi@rand-relay, should be straight forward. Greenleaf recently ran
an ad in PC Tech.
From the literature sent to me by them ( includes reference card), it
looks like you could save yourself a lot of time and trouble.
Mike Slade
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 84 18:45:35 EST
From: Craig Douglas <Douglas@YALE.ARPA>
Subject: X-shell
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Brief description of X-shell
A small collection of programs patterned after ones found with
UNIX. Included is a Bourne shell and over 40 supporting commands.
I/O redirection is provided and variable and filename expansion for
all commands, whether they came with X-shell or not.
It is not an implementation of UNIX, nor is it a multitasking
operating system. X-shell is a program which runs under the
DOS shell and provides services for the rest of the support commands.
Requirements
IBM PC, XT, or clone
MS DOS (1.1 or 2.0)
256K (resident part of X-shell is 68K)
2 disk drives (floppy or hard) (I find 1 hard sufficient)
30K worth of frequently used programs are nominated for a RAM disk.
Further, some small temporary files associated with variable evaluation
and pipes should be on the RAM disk. A RAM disk of 32K or greater is
suggested.
Support programs
A partial list of the support commands is as follows:
cat chdir/cd clear
cmp comm cp
date echo expand
expr false grep
hd head ls
mkdir mv num
pr pwd rm,rmdir
sh size sort
sum tail tee
test time tr
true unexpand uniq
wc words
Known problems
DOS 1.1: Redirection works only for X-shell commands
DOS 2.0: Redirection works only for X-shell commands
Only mkdir and chdir accept paths
debug, basic, and basica do not work
Promised update to be received in February
find, cpio, and more
full support for DOS 2.0
redirection for all DOS programs
faster .exe file loader
hashing of directories on PATH list
additional shell features: "here documents", read, and eval
Comments
grep takes wildcards in its filename arguments. In fact, most
commands act like the UNIX originals. There are minor inconsistencies,
but nothing that should cause much anguish. The documentation comes
with explicit directions on installation, a tutorial, a good reference
section, and gory directions on how to report problems. An index
might be useful, but probably goes against UNIX philosophy (no
flames, please).
My own personal wish list includes online help (i.e., man), make,
and m4.
I find the lack of pathnames in most commands irksome, but I believe
the problem will be fixed shortly. To use programs written in
Basic, I just exit X-shell and run the program from DOS. Restarting
X-shell is a snap.
Finally,
this is not a free package, but I would shell out the bucks again.
It is quite considerably cheaper than IBM's UNIX and has many of the
advantages (but not all, like multitasking). It has the further
advantage of easily running my favorite MS DOS applications without
having to reboot.
Product ordering
Standard Datacom, Inc. 415/775-8882
Suite 6195 (Cash, VISA, MC)
1550 California St.
San Francisco, CA 94109
-------
------------------------------
From: vortex!lauren at RAND-UNIX
Date: Fri, 10-Feb-84 23:00:40-PST
Sender: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@RAND-UNIX>
Subject: Combined Graphics/Monochrome Boards
To: INFO-IBMPC@ISIB
Greetings. I'm looking for information regarding boards which can replace
the standard IBM monochrome board and (hopefully) provide the following
features:
1) Have modes to support BOTH monochrome-type text AND standard graphics
displays on a normal IBM-compatible monochrome monitor (the ones with the
18 Khz horiz. rate and separated syncs). If the unit has "enhanced"
graphics modes as well, so much the better, but no special versions of
software should be necessary for standard graphics displays.
2) Have outputs for BOTH the monochrome monitor (using the standard DB-type
connector) AND for a conventional color monitor (15 Khz horiz, composite
video). Ideally both the 18 Khz monochrome and 15 Khz composite outputs
could be used simultaneously or at least easily switchable.
3) Mouse input (optional, I can live without it).
I'd like to emphasize that it's critical that the unit be able to
display standard IBM graphics on the monochrome monitor and (in full color
where appropriate) on a conventional composite monitor. It's also important
that when in monochrome text mode, the display be of equivalent quality
to the standard IBM monochrome board.
Any pointers would be appreciated. Thanks much.
--Lauren--
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Feb 84 11:25:30 EST
From: "Gavin Eadie"@UMich-MTS.Mailnet
To: info-ibmpc@isib.arpa
Message-ID: <323406@UMich-MTS.Mailnet>
Subject: Another SPITBOL implementation
I noticed Dave Farber's enthusiastic review of Dewar's Spitbol
(Snobol4 dialect). We have just started using a version of Snobol4
written by Viktors Berstis that also seems to merit high marks. It
has been very reliable and is quite complete (although it lacks LOAD
and the Spitbol extensions). At $45 it is a very handy file
scanning utility. It requires at least 128K and can support an
8087.
Does anyone have performance comparisons between the Dewar and
Berstis versions? Are there other Snobol implementations?
We ordered it from Snobol4
P.O. Box 6995
Rochester, MN 55903
----
Replies to: Fred←Swartz%umich-mts@mit-multics
------------------------------
Date: 11 Feb 1984 1007-PST
From: HFISCHER at USC-ECLB.ARPA
Subject: Kermit-86 Take Files for use with Unix EMACS
To: info-kermit at COLUMBIA-20
Remailed-To: info-IBMPC
Marco Papa has contributed a set of files which allow Kermit-86 to
fully use the functionality of Unix EMACS from the PC Keyboard. I
have recommended to Columbia that they incorporate these files as an
additional appendix for the Kermit-86 User's Manual (or whatever those
folks eventually incorporate it into). Meanwhile, so you Unix EMACS
users can benefit from this contribution, I have placed these files in
my directory for netland FTPing. On net node ECLB, file
<HFischer>PCUXEMCS.ALL can be split into three files, one for use on
the Unix system, and two for use on the PC. On the Unix system,
pc-h19-key.ml provides for Unix EMACS macro-key assignment for use
with the built-in Kermit-86 Heath-19 emulator (or a real Heath-19).
On the PC, a batch file, pcuxemcs.bat, is used to load kermit and
"take" console keyboard setup commands from the PC-resident TAKE file,
pcuxemcs.ker. The procedure "undoes" the keyboard setup after the
user exits from kermit. Comments in the file explains the
operation.
(If you have an old version of Kermit-86 with the take and server
additions, which gives an error message on the comment lines in take
files, contact me if you want a three line fix; or alternatively the
current version is in my directory under PCK20.NEW.)
Herm Fischer
-------
------------------------------
Date: Sat 11 Feb 84 14:54:03-EST
From: Daphne Tzoar <CC.DAPHNE@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: EXTRNal STRUCs Query
To: gillmann@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Remailed-To: info-IBMPC
I am trying to use the IBM assembler to define a STRUC in one module
and reference it from another module. As I understand it, a structure
must first be declared as
foo struc
one db ?
two db ?
foo ends
and then allocated some space as
foobar foo <0,0>
before it can be used as foobar.one. I put all of the declarations in
one file which is INCLUDE'd in the file I am trying to compile. The
actual allocation is in File A and I want to reference the fields of
the structure in File B. I must declare it as EXTRN but as what type?
The BYTE option compiles but then it doesn't know foobar is a
structure. The manual mumbles something about using a name defined by
a EQU but doesn't explain itself. I've tried a few options but get an
error "Already had an ELSE statement". Great !! So, my problem is
how can I declare this structure so I can use it as foobar.one and
foobar.two or do I have to find a different way to do it (ie, pass the
address in a register and add offsets to it.
/daphne
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂15-Feb-84 0328 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #19
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 15 Feb 84 03:28:06 PST
Date: 14 Feb 1984 1544-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #19
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 14 February 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 19
This Week's Editor: Randy Cole
Today's Topics:
DOS 2.1 Fix (and yet again, IBM did not tell us)
PC SPITBOL and Minnesota SNOBOL4 Comparison
DIFFER, a SPITBOL File Comparison Program
Accessing External STRUC in 8086 MS-DOS Assembler
Experience with Corvus Hard Disk
PC/IX
Combined Graphics/Monochrome Boards
IBM PC For Sale
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 84 22:00:17 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: DOS 2.1 Fix (and yet again, IBM did not tell us)
I asked on Compuserve about a real nasty I found with DOS 2.1
and got this answer. Why are we not told about such things by IBM?
Dave
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
#: 29301 Sec. 0 - General Information
Sb: #29222-DOS 2.1
12-Feb-84 14:43:32
Fm: John Chapman 70205,1217
To: Dave Farber 76010,104 (X)
Dave: did you REFORMAT your hard disk with DOS 2.1? - There's a known
problem with DOS 2.0 format that is corrected in 2.1.. I've had similar
problems on both an XT/10M and an APPARAT/PC 27M drive: copy , alleged O.K.
(with verify on) then access to the data produces DISK/DATA ERROR WHILE
READING DRIVE [d:
This is supposed to be generated because DOS 2.0 format can't correctly label
two consecutive bad tracks, or something like that; I reformatted my HD's
when 2.1 arrived; AND I HAVEN'T HAD THE PROBLEM SINCE .. if you didn't
reformat, I'd suggest doing that, even if it's a hassle dumping stuff...
you might find some more trashed files during the BACKUP (I did)
....See Ya...
John <>
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 84 11:20:28 est
From: shields@nyu (David Shields)
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: PC SPITBOL and Minnesota SNOBOL4 Comparison
Here are some comparisons between PC SPITBOL and Minnesota SNOBOL4:
NQUEENS program included with Minnesota SNOBOL4:
Compile Execute (times in seconds)
SNOBOL4 2.5 35.8
SPITBOL 0.6 1.3
LOOP is a short program to test statement overhead:
LP I = I + 1
LE(I, 10000) :S(LP)
Execute
SNOBOL4 144.8
SPITBOL 7.1
BASIC 13.0 BASICA: 20 FOR I=1 TO 10000: NEXT I
For these two programs, SPITBOL executes from 20 to 30 times faster.
Note that SPITBOL executes LOOP about twice as fast as BASICA interpreter.
Runs were made on PC running DOS 2.0 with Davong disk.
As one of the implementors of PC SPITBOL I am not a disinterested party.
However, since there has been a request for comparative performance
information and since I am one of the few people with access to both
versions, I am sending these figures along now.
David Shields
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 84 11:42:38 est
From: shields@nyu (David Shields)
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: DIFFER, a SPITBOL File Comparison Program
Since there have been several requests for a file comparison program
for the IBM PC, I enclose the following program written in SPITBOL.
It runs quite fast - on one test involving a few changes made to
a file of about four thousand lines, it ran almost four times faster
than the FILCOM program distributed with MS-DOS for the Zenith 100.
It also includes line numbers from the input files, a feature lacking
in FILCOM.
David Shields
(As one of the implementors of PC SPITBOL, I am not a disinterested party;
however, this program is in the public domain and feel free to include
it in your directory of freely available PC programs).
[Ed: The program has been placed on Info-IBMPC, with the name DIFFER.SPT]
------------------------------
Date: 12 Feb 84 1510 pst
From: Robert & Carol Lerche <XA.W51%STANFORD.BITNET@Berkeley>
To: Daphne Tzoar <CC.DAPHNE@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: Accessing External STRUC in 8086 MS-DOS Assembler
Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
In order to get addressability to data, the assembler must know
the SEGMENT the data are defined in. Define a COMMON SEGMENT as
follows:
(FOODEFN.INC)
; FIRST, THE STRUCTURE DEFINITION
FOO STRUC
A DW ?
B DW ?
FOO ENDS
; NEXT, THE ACTUAL ALLOCATION OF A FOO
DATA SEGMENT COMMON
FOOBAR FOO <0,0>
DATA ENDS
Then simply include the definition in all referencing modules.
The linker will overlay the definitions due to the COMMON
combine type.
(FOO1.ASM)
PAGE 59,120
INCLUDE FOODEFN.INC
;
DATA2 SEGMENT 'DATA'
STUFF DB 'PRIVATE DATA FOR BLAH (NOT BLAH2)'
DATA2 ENDS
;
DGROUP GROUP DATA,DATA2
CODE SEGMENT PUBLIC BYTE 'CODE'
ASSUME CS:CODE
EXTRN BLAH2:FAR
BLAH PROC FAR
MOV AX,DGROUP
MOV DS,AX
ASSUME DS:DGROUP
CALL BLAH2
MOV AX,FOOBAR.A
MOV BX,FOOBAR.B
MOV CX,OFFSET(DGROUP:STUFF)
BLAH ENDP
CODE ENDS
;
END BLAH
(FOO2.ASM)
PAGE 59,120
INCLUDE FOODEFN.INC
CODE SEGMENT PUBLIC BYTE 'CODE'
DGROUP GROUP DATA
ASSUME CS:CODE
ASSUME DS:DGROUP
PUBLIC BLAH2
BLAH2 PROC FAR
MOV CX,FOOBAR.A
MOV DX,FOOBAR.B
RET
BLAH2 ENDP
CODE ENDS
END
NOTES:
1. This is a "work around." In principle, there is no reason
why you can't just have a STRUC with an external name. In
practice, *sigh*.
2. Note use of OFFSET(DGROUP:STUFF) in FOO1. If you forget the
DGROUP, you will just get the offset from the start of the DATA2
segment, which will probably not be what you want.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 84 11:08 PST
From: jwaas.es@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: Experience with Corvus Hard Disk
To: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>, Allyn Fratkin
<sdcsvax!allyn@Nosc.ARPA>
The Corvus hard disk is 10 MB and the software supplied in conjunction
with the IBM provides network functions, mail lists, and
limited/unlimited access to files. It takes about one hour to install
hardware and software. The support from the factory is excellent if
you can't find your way around the rather simple manuals.
Jaye Waas
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 84 20:56:36 EST
From: Ron Natalie <ron@brl-vgr>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: PC/IX
You don't really need the expansion box if your system is like an
XT with the 10MB disk in the main cabinet. The ones at UNIFORUM
used two XT drives (the basic system takes between 6-8 MB depending
on the amount of superflous junk you keep loaded) and they put them
both in the expansion box to make things neat.
-Ron
------------------------------
Date: 14 Feb 84 11:00:16 PST (Tuesday)
From: Ciccarelli.pa@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: Combined Graphics/Monochrome Boards
To: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@RAND-UNIX.ARPA>
cc: Ciccarelli.pa@PARC-MAXC.ARPA, Info-IBMpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Lauren,
Look into the Tecmar Graphics Master. I'm investigating it myself for a
color application. No mouse input, but supports both the IBM color and
monochrome modes, with substantial enhancements on both. The board uses
the Motorola 6845 (same as the IBM Color board, I think) and a 2764
EPROM as a character generator (supports both 9x14 and 8x8 character
sets). It has on-board 14.3 MHz and 16.2 MHz dot clock oscillators for
the two IBM-compatible modes. $695.
The User's Manual that comes with the board is only minimally useful; it
describes only a graphics terminal emulator which Tecmar provides with
the board -- no low-level access information. However the release of
the Technical Reference for the board is imminent (I obtained a
preliminary version by calling Tecmar customer support at their plant in
Ohio). The Tech Ref is excellent, full of information about programming
modes, and frank in its explanation of the board's limitations.
Other around-$1K PC-compatible color graphics boards:
Graphics Dazzler, from Sigma (Santa Clara, CA) which has a
640x400x4-color window on a 1024x1024 display space (with hardware pan
and 1x..16x integer zoom -- I've seen it and it's amazing; uses the NEC
7220 chip). The board looks like two I/O ports to the PC, unlike the
IBM boards which are memory-mapped, so Sigma includes programs to use
the board as the main DOS display. $895.
I just learned of several boards called the Revolution series, from
Number Nine Computer Corp., 691 Concord Ave., Cambridge MASS 02138,
(617) 492-0999. They are described on pages 87 and 98 of the latest
(Feb. 13) E.E.Times. The boards use the new Intel 82720 Graphics
Display Controller for displays from 512x512 up to 1720x1200 (!). $945
to $1395.
/John
------------------------------
Date: 12 Feb 84 1439 PST
From: New Wave Dave Siegel <NWD@SU-AI>
To: brackenridge@USC-ISIB, info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
Subject: IBM PC For Sale
IBM PC For Sale:
128K ram (Seattle memories)
color board
serial interface
parallel interface
Miniscribe 6MB hard disk, new
2 Qume half-heights, new
XT power supply
Amdek Color 2 monitor
Hayes Stackmodem (300 baud)
also: one Tandon quad density drive - 96 tracks, double sided, 880K
Software:
Dos 2.0
Pascal compiler
Supercalc
others
People can call me at (415) 327-7194 if interested.
Thanks,
Dave
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂17-Feb-84 1051 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #20
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 17 Feb 84 10:51:20 PST
Date: 17 Feb 1984 0954-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #20
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 17 February 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 20
This Week's Editor: Randy Cole
Today's Topics:
IBM Portable Personal Computer
Graphics on an IBM Monochrome Display
PC/IX and other Unix Systems
KERMIT for Tandy 2000
Using DIFFER with Minnesota SNOBOL4
MS-DOS Archives
C86 Release Date?
Genealogy Software?
Better than DBASEll DBMS's?
Changing Memory Allocation... (2 messages)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 17 Feb 1984 0923-PST
Subject: IBM Portable Personal Computer
From: Randy Cole <COLE@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
According to a news item in the L.A. Times Business section, IBM announced
the Portable Personal Computer Thursday. It has a 9 inch amber screen,
comes with one 360K drive (expandable to two), a carrying case, weighs
in at 30 (ugh) pounds, and lists at $2795. Amount of internal memory was
unclear, although it is at least 256K. The article said it was compatible
with "most" PC software and hardware.
Randy Cole
------------------------------
Date: 15 Feb 84 13:31:58 EST
From: CS-598.FOSTER@RUTGERS.ARPA
Subject: Graphics on an IBM Monochrome Display
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Topic: Graphics on the IBM Monochrome Monitor (Techmar, Hercules and STB)
The problem of doing graphics on the IBM monochrome monitor is
deciding between compatibility and number of pixels. The highest level
of compatibility is when graphics that run on the color screen will
run un-modified on the monochrome screen. This is only available with
the STB Graphics Plus(tm) (last page of PC Jan 24, 84). The next level
of compatibility is when the Basica graphics will run with a patch.
This is done by the Hercules board. Finally, there is 'no'
compatibility, i.e. you have to do it yourself. This is the category
that I put the Tecmar Graphics Master in. The following is a table of
pixel densities.
STB ($379) 640 x 200 everything IBM mono & color
Hercules ($359) 720 x 354 123 and Basica IBM mono-only
Tecmar GM ($495) 720 x 350 or 720x700 123 wide range of
monitors
(prices are what PC Connection sells them for -- list is about $500,$500,$700
respectively)
I tried the Tecmar GM but sent it back after a week. To do graphics,
one either has to do bit-mapping yourself, or use their terminal support.
Their terminal support is S-L-O-W !!! It will only draw about 5-10 lines
per sec.
The STB might have higher pixel densities, but I haven't gotten any
real answers on it.
None of these do it all. I might wait, they seem to be coming out
with one new board a month or so. Maybe the next one will do it
right!
Dean Foster
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 84 16:04:17 EST
From: Ron Natalie <ron@brl-vgr>
To: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@usc-isib>
Subject: PC/IX and other Unix Systems
Well, you can divide the IBM PC UNIX systems into two classes:
REAL UNIX systems (i.e. essentially the Bell code and
the Bell license)
UNIX-like systems.
Currently there are two REAL UNIX style systems. The first is
VENIX from VENTURCOM. It is a real System III ported to the 8088.
Not bad, just blase vanila system III. The other is the IBM PC/IX.
PC/IX is not available now (April they claim). The software was not
done by IBM but by Interactive Systems of Santa Monica. They are
one of the oldest UNIX supporting organizations. I have mixed feelings
about them. PC/IX is a basic system V with a lot of the Interactive
Systems enhancements. Some of these enhancements are nice, some aren't.
On the whole PC/IX looks to be a rather nice, ready to go, unix.
It includes a screen editor (whose name keeps changing) but one name
is INed. This is a derivative of the RAND editor.
Both VENIX and PC/IX will run about $900.
Popular UNIX like systems include (quickly, see the first issue of UNIX
Review for a comparison):
Coherent (Mark Williams): It took me a while to realize (even
(looking at the source) that this wasn't a ported V7 system.
$500. Fairly nice. No UUCP yet (except that Lauren is doing
it).
Xenix: Based on V7, but enough different to cause most UNIX people
to pull their hair out.
Unetix: Cheap, probably worth the $99 it costs but not outstanding.
Personally, I was going to go with Coherent being more of a V7 type than
System III/V. However, due to the more supported nature of PC/IX and due
to the fact that I am very familiar with the way the Interactive Systems
code works (even if I don't always like it) I've settled on PC/IX and now
I'm just waiting. The functioning UUCP that comes with it is a very big
carrot to dangle in front of me.
-Ron
------------------------------
Date: Thu 16 Feb 84 11:19:06-EST
From: Frank da Cruz <cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: KERMIT for Tandy 2000
To: Info-Kermit@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA
This is an adaptation of IBM PC Kermit V1.20 (the current version) submitted
by Stephen Padgett at the University of Texas. This support will eventually
be merged into the new MS DOS KERMIT, but for now it's available in
KER:TA2000.* on COLUMBIA-20 via anonymous FTP (ARPANET) or CU20B via NFT
(DECNET). The .ASM file is the assembler source, the .FIX file is the
hexified .EXE file, which you can download following the same procedure as
for the IBM PC, described in KER:PCBOOT.HLP (note that all the files
referred to in that document have the prefix "PC" in the KERMIT distribution
area, e.g. KGET.BAS is found as PCKGET).
- Frank
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 84 20:52:14 est
From: shields@nyu (David Shields)
To: BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB
Subject: Using DIFFER with Minnesota SNOBOL4
By the way, only slight changes should be needed to have DIFFER.SPT
run using Minnesota SNOBOL4. SPITBOL is a (highly) compatible
extension of SNOBOL4.
------------------------------
Date: 15 Feb 1984 1617-PST
From: STERNLIGHT at USC-ECL.ARPA
Subject: MS-DOS Archives
To: info-pc at ISIB
Are there any significant archives of ms-dos programs on the net other
than the isib<info-pc> collection? Thanks; --david--
------------------------------
From: vortex!lauren at RAND-UNIX
Date: Wed, 15-Feb-84 16:00:08-PST
Subject: C86 Release Date?
To: INFO-IBMPC@ISIB
Perchance does anyone out there have some up-to-date info regarding
the release of newer C86 versions? I originally heard that there was
going to be a release in January, and then another release this month.
Apparently the January release did not occur on schedule, and still
hasn't appeared (much less the second release!)
Also, I keep hearing conflicting stories about C86 regarding:
1) Whether or not they charge a license fee for selling programs
compiled using their code, and
2) Whether or not setjmp/longjmp is included.
Definitive statements regarding these two points would be appreciated.
Thanks much.
--Lauren--
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 84 01:00:24 pst
From: ucscc!ucscc!psych36@Berkeley (21045000)
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: Genealogy Software?
Does anyone know of genealogy software for the IBM PC or XT
that can handle 50 generations?
Michael M. Cohen - UC Santa Cruz
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 84 12:42 EST
From: Slade.wbst@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: Better than DBASEll DBMS's?
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Is there a better, more sophisticated DBMS than DBASEll for an IBM-PC or
MS-DOS machine?
That is, can anyone recommend a DBMS that has the command language,
memory variables, etc. of DBASEll and: (in order of importance)
Has audit trail/backup recovery capability.
More easily incorporates calls to other languages (C, Basic, etc).
Can be called from another another language.
Handles more than two files at once.
I have seen one or two magazine articles which claim to compare DBMSs
for the PC but since they dont seem to list the proper features for the
DBASEll that I know in the CPM world, I dont find the listings too
useful. Therefore I would most appreciate personal experience
evaluations.
Thank you,
Mike Slade
------------------------------
Date: Thu 16 Feb 84 03:49:30-PST
From: William "Chops" Westfield <BILLW@SRI-KL.ARPA>
Subject: Changing Memory Allocation...
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I'm having trouble with the memory allocation function call
of MSDOS (this is actually on an HP150), i.e. code 4Ah.
It returns Error Code 7 (internal stuff trashed), even
on a freshly booted system. Is there something tricky
about this call ?
Thanks
Bill W
------------------------------
Date: 16 Feb 1984 1307-PST
Subject: Re: Changing Memory Allocation...
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: William "Chops" Westfield <BILLW@SRI-KL>
cc: info-ibmpc
You aren't the only one confused by this call. I searched through the
archives and came up with an earlier discussion of the subject. We are
really getting quite an extensive data base on MS-DOS and PC related
problems. Of course the index is just vague memories of past
INFO-IBMPC discussions helped out with a string search command.
You might contact Darrel Plank, if that proves fruitless this is the
sort of problem Microsoft has been responsive to in the past. I assume
these memory allocation functions get to be more important when one is
designing programs to run under Microsoft Windows.
Date: 14 Nov 83 8:28:56-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!ihlpf!dap1 @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Memory Allocation in DOS?????
I have been trying to get the DOS 4bh interrupt (exec) to work from
Lattice C. The return code said there was insufficient memory. I
assumed this was due to not doing a 4ah interrupt first (SETBLOCK).
Unfortunately, this interrupt is not explained very well. It talks
about "blocks" which I assume are the blocks assigned by interrupt 48h
(Allocate Memory). Does this mean that I have to "allocate" memory
just so I can turn around and "free" it? If so, where is this memory
allocated from? Lattice C sets up the data and stack segment just
behind the code segment. How does DOS know that Lattice is using this
64K? If it doesn't know, does it wipe out my stack and data segment?
Or does it allocate memory from the top of memory down, in which case
I'll have to determine just the right size to ask for. Alternatively,
could I ask for 256K and get the size of the "largest block of memory
available" in BX, subtract 64K from it and request that size block?
Of course this all seems rather silly, since I only WANT it so I can
immediately DELETE it. Does anybody have a clue as to what these
routines REALLY do??????
Thanks in advance,
Darrell Plank
BTL-IH
Date: 15 Nov 83 3:00:40-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!ihlpf!dap1 @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: "Re: Mem. Alloc. in DOS????? - (nf)"
Well, I have figured out some stuff since last night when I posted the
original note. I got my exec() system call for Lattice C working, but
only on .com files (generated under Lattice by linking with cc.obj
rather than c.obj). I could not get function 4a to work in a .EXE
file. In a .com file you just pass the value of the ES register upon
entry and the size in paragraphs in the BX register. I haven't the
foggiest what goes in the ES register for .exe files. I tried sending
the segment with the PSP, the CS segment and finally, the segment just
beyond all the memory I was using (although I don't see how DOS could
distinguish that, so it didn't surprise me that it didn't work). None
of them worked. I always got an error code 7 back which means "Memory
control blocks destroyed". It seems as though the note on P. D-47 of
the DOS Manual which says "When your program received control, all of
available memory was allocated to it" only applies to .com files. The
only hint that the manual makes of this distinction is on PPs. E-6 and
E-7 where the fact that all the memory is allocated to the program
seems to apply only to .com files.
What is going on here? If there is a distinction, why didn't
they mention it in the function calls??? Why does such a distinction
exist? Is it totally impossible to deallocate memory from a .exe file
and hence to exec from it??? Whatever the case, I think they did a
lousy job of documenting this feature.
Darrell Plank
BTL-IH
P.S. I got a request to post the "exec" function which is modified
from a macro put up by Brad Davis a while back. I'll do this shortly
so maybe I can save other people the headache of trying to figure out
the difference between the DOS documentation and DOS itself.
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂21-Feb-84 1838 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #21
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 21 Feb 84 18:38:35 PST
Date: 21 Feb 1984 1728-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #21
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 21 February 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 21
This Week's Editor: Dick Gillmann
Today's Topics:
Portable IBM PC
Venix is Slow
UUCP Developments
C86 Version 2.0
Allocating Memory with Function 4A
123 Compatible Graphics Boards (2 msgs)
10M Hard Disk for $895
Quadboard Problem Warning
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 84 7:02:52 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: IBM Portable PC
From the Source BBOARD...
Subject:IBM PORTABLE PC
From:ST4341
Posted:19 FEB 6:26 pm
I just had the opportunity to see the new IBM portable PC.
Here is the basic rundown:
--XT motherboard with 256K standard. 3 standard sized slots
1 taken up with disk card and color card, leaving one free,
four small (like in corner of XT) slots.
--Qume half-height drives. Double-sided. 1 standard
No hard disk support as yet.
--Amber composite 9 inch monitor. No support for monochrome
--Fully compatible with all IBM software not DOS 1.1 or PCjr specific
Initial delivery begins in March, high levels by May.
It's a compact unit--smaller than COMPAQ. Its the same keyboard feel
and layout but the keyboard unit itself is much lighter and plugs into
the front with a standard phone connector. It weighs thirty pounds and
comes standard with a carrying case. Retail price 2700 with one drive
and 256K.
------------------------------
From: vortex!lauren at RAND-UNIX
Date: Fri, 17-Feb-84 14:06:11-PST
Subject: Venix is Slow
To: INFO-IBMPC@ISIB
One thing I noticed about Venix right off the bat is that it seemed to
be extremely SLOW for many simple operations. I've been unable to find
anyone who can tell me why. Anybody know?
--Lauren--
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17-Feb-84 14:16:41-PST
From: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@RAND-UNIX>
Subject: UUCP Developments
To: INFO-IBMPC@ISIB
I've been getting a lot of queries lately regarding how I plan to handle
domains and such in my UUCP implementations (standard UUCP doesn't deal
with them at all at this point).
After a lot of thought, I think I've worked out a scheme that will
allow for maximal usefulness of the evolving domain/Internet
framework. I plan to implement this in all of my UUCP versions, for
Coherent, MSDOS, and VMS. Whether or not the complete implementation
will appear in the first release of these UUCP's is not clear, but
I'll try.
Without going into details, the basic idea is that @site.domain or
@site.subdomain.domain (etc...) routing will be supported in a
reasonable fashion, along with automated tables for the picking out of
short direct UUCP routes where these are known to exist and can
economically bypass the domain gateways. The end result should be that
if you're sitting at home on your PC and want to send a message to
this digest, you should be able to say:
mail INFO-IBMPC@ISIB.ARPA
and have it go to the right place. I think I've got things worked
out enough for this to generalize to any number of domains and
subdomains, and I think I can fit this into my code with a minimum
of hassle.
It should turn out to be pretty flexible. I hope this puts some
fears regarding future UUCP compatibility issues to rest.
--Lauren--
------------------------------
Date: 17 Feb 1984 2308-CST
Subject: C86 Version 2.0
From: Doug <HUNEYCUTT@GUNTER-ADAM>
To: Vortex!Lauren@RAND-UNIX
cc: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
As I have mentioned before, we are beta testing C86, so this may not
be relevant to others....BUT. I got a fresh version of C86 Version
2.0 a few weeks ago. It came with a new manual, so I assume they are
shipping it as orders come in. About updates, I'm not sure.
I've mentioned to the author several times that we are producing
packages to be shipped out to the whole Air Force and he has never
mentioned royalties. I seem to remember him saying they don't do that
sort of thing, but then I have a fairly small stack, so I have to do a
core dump too frequently to retain much detail.
About setjmp() and longjmp()...yup. They are defined as:
setjmp(envp)
jmp←buf *envp;
longjmp(envp,value)
jmp←buf *envp;
int value;
For general information, this is a synopsis of major changes from
Version 1.33. They say that if you have code from 1.33 and have
followed all the rules, it should compile without errors under 2.0.
* Code is typically 10-20% smaller and 2-4 times as fast.
* The Big model allows up to 1 Meg for code and data. Big model
code with heavy pointer usage runs at about the same speed as
the small model of 1.33
* 2.0 produces Microsoft relocatable object files, without the
.ASM intermediate. You can get the .ASM back if you want if
through an option. Now you use LINK, instead of the CI linker.
* Floating point in-line 8087 support.
* 8087 trig and math library recoded in assembly, great gains in
speed.
* I/O packages for both MSDOS 1.2x and 2.0, allowing access to
2.0 file structure calls.
* Machine dependent support for DOS and the IBM PC has been added,
particularly for PC basic graphics support. Several special
purpose DOS functions added.
* They've added a librarian (MARION) to the package for PC users,
seeing as how IBM saw fit not to include LIB.EXE with PCDOS.
The compiler is now 4 passes (preprocessor, parser, code generator,
and optimizer). However, the compiler has been run through itself
and optimized, so the result is pretty fast (especially when compared
to the old way of having to assemble the output).
All libraries have source included (C, assembler, and 8087 support).
Any questions, feel free to write.
Doug
------------------------------
Date: Sat 18 Feb 84 20:27:18-PST
From: William "Chops" Westfield <BILLW@SRI-KL.ARPA>
Subject: Allocating Memory with Function 4A
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Well, a little fiddling yields the following information:
1) In order to use function 4A (change allocation), you must indeed
pass a block that has been previously been allocated using one
of the DOS functions. For both COM and EXE files, this is the
address of the Program segment prefix. For COM files, this is
the address in all of the segment registers ES,DS,CS,SS. For
EXE files, the PSP address is in DS and ES only, and the usual
practice is to load those registers with something more useful.
2) Thus, you must make your memory smaller before you change ES -
The following code segment at the beginning of your program
should accomplish this (this is from memory, and may contain errors):
start: mov ax,es ;address of PSP
mov bx,cs ;address of code seg
sub bx,es ;number of paragraphs is psp/stack/etc
;(this assumes the code seg is last in
; memory).
add bx,(endofmem/16)+1 ;add amount of code (in paragraphs)
mov ax,4A00h
int 21h ;shrink memory allocated to us.
:
:
endofmem equ $
end
By the way, the add instruction causes an "expected a constant" error
message, but generates the proper code anyway (?!)...
Enjoy
BillW
------------------------------
Date: 10 Feb 1984 1057-PST
From: Rob-Kling <Kling%UCI-20B@UCI-750a>
Subject: 123 Compatible Graphics Boards
To: info-ibmpc%ISI-BUCKWHEAT@UCI-750a
Remailed-to: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
I'm continuing to look for a graphics board for the IBM PC which
allows graphics displays on the monochrome monitor. I would like a
board to support Lotus 1-2-3 graphics and not have some of the
problems continually attributed to the Hercules board. I use an Amdek
310A monitor and have heard rumors that the Hercules will not match
the Amdek very well. I don't know anybody who's tried it.
Mylex has been advertising a graphics board that sounds plausible.
However, neither Mylex or Tecmar promise Lotus 1-2-3 support.
(According to a recent article in PC Tech magazine, the Tecmar board
will not work alone as a good driver for the Monochrome monitor.)
Applied Computer Products has run an ad for two graphics boards
(BiGraphix I and II) on page 30 of the January issue of PC World which
appears to meet my requirements. They appear to promise Lotus 1-2-3
graphics compatibility with each. On page 187 of the March 1984 PC
World, they actually promise Lotus compatibility.
STB Graphics advertises a board that is supposed to be compatible with
Monochrome Lotus (March PC World, p. 177).
The local Computerlands don't carry these boards. They do carry the
Hercules board and sell "if the buyer insists." That doesn't build
encouragement.
I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has had experience with
these boards or other plausible candidates for getting Lotus graphics
displayed on an Amdek 310A monochrome monitor.
Thanks
Rob Kling
UC-Irvine
------------------------------
Date: 20 Feb 1984 2331-PST
Subject: Re: 123 Compatible Graphics Boards
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: Rob-Kling <Kling%UCI-20B@UCI-750A>
cc: info-ibmpc
The Hercules board has become an accepted business standard. Even AST
has unofficially announced a Hercules compatible board. I was at a local
computer club recently where S of AST (I forgot his name) addressed the
group. He told the story of how one of the engineers was left alone to
design the ultimate graphics driver board for for the IBM Monochrome
display. It did everything imaginable, but the marketing people would
have nothing to do with it as it cost too much and wasn't Hercules
compatible.
The board is now re-designed. I understand it uses the new 16K x 4 chips.
They are quite pleased that display memory is completely dual ported
such that one can write to memory without causing "snow" on the screen.
I don't know how any of these boards deal with the Amdek 310A monitor,
but it is supposed to be IBM compatible.
Our accountants here use the Hercules card with Lotus 123 and a standard
IBM monochrome display and think it is wonderful.
------------------------------
Date: 19 February 1984 17:14 EST
From: Steven T. Kirsch <SK @ MIT-MC>
Subject: 10M Hard Disk for $895
To: info-ibmpc @ USC-ISIB
I saw an ad in a recent issue of Infoworld about a half-height hard
disk that can operate using a standard PC's power supply. It is also
less expensive than anything else I've seen.
Does anyone have any more information on this?
[There's an article about it in the latest "Computer Trader
Magazine". They basically liked it, but after a few hours it
overloaded the power supply on a PC with all I/O slots used. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 84 7:02:52 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Quadboard Problem Warning
From the Source BBOARD...
Subject:QUADBOARD PROBLEM WARNING
From:ST3574
Posted:20 FEB 9:43 pm
We have a Quadboard which is used heavily 8 hrs a day. The clock
has begun to malfunction, with PWRUPCLK not giving the correct time
upon boot-up. Quadram says that older Quadboards have a circuit
defect which results in overcharging of the soldered-in battery, so
that it dies. They want the board returned. We cannot afford to be
without it, so they're sending us a "kit" consisting of a new
battery and a pair of resistors to fix the problem. Will keep all
here informed on how the repair goes. If you start having clock
problems, this is probably why.
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂22-Feb-84 1941 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #22
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 22 Feb 84 19:41:13 PST
Date: 22 Feb 1984 1849-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #22
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 22 February 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 22
This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann
Today's Topics:
WHEREIS.ASM
Lattice Curses Library Query
Venix and Hard Disks (2 msgs)
Unetix Query
Multiple Displays
\DEV Query
TEAC Half-Height Drives
UNIPRESS Software Warning
Strange DOS 2.10 Message
DOS 2.00 Divide by Zero Error
Sritek 68000 XENIX Query
High Capacity Hard Disk Query
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 20 Feb 84 0:09-PST
Date: 18 Feb 84 18:36:11-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!akgua!clyde!floyd!whuxle!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: WHEREIS.ASM
I am enclosing the source code for WHEREIS which takes a file name or
pattern (e.g., *.BAS) as an argument and finds where it is in the file
system by starting at the root and working down through all the
sub-directories. I obtained this from a BBS.
[WHEREIS.ASM has been added to the Info-IBMPC Free Program Library. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: 22 Feb 1984 1233-PST
Subject: Lattice Curses Library Query
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
Does anyone know of an implementation of the curses library for
Lattice/Microsoft C under MS-DOS? I sure hate reinventing the wheel.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 18 Feb 84 7:39-PST
Date: 17 Feb 84 14:57:40-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: mark@Berkeley.ARPA
Subject: Venix, etc.
I'm new to the IBM PC game, so pardon me if this subject has been
hashed into the ground. I'm considering getting a PC (or clone) to
run some flavor of UNIX on. Low cost is very important.
My initial impressions are that, while everybody and his dog makes
a 10MB hard disk that plugs into the PC, none of them are in any way,
shape, or form compatible with any of the others. (In this world of
IBM plug compatibility, I'm pretty surprised at this.) They call come
with a PC-DOS device driver, but for UNIX this doesn't do me a whole
lot of good.
Who makes the "official" XT disk for IBM? Who makes the controller?
Do they sell direct, or through somebody that doesn't charge $2400
for the silly thing? Someone told me Zobex makes the controllers,
but Zobex themselves (who have a terrific buy at $1100 for a 10MB
disk with controller) say they don't, and they aren't software
compatible either.
Does anyone have any experience with running various hard disks under
some flavor of UNIX? Have you written any UNIX compatible drivers?
I'm also interested in performance and reliability, but it's less
important than cost and compatibility.
What do people think of the various Unices available for the PC?
Coherent is only $500, but is apparently a subset of V7 - what I
can buy today is missing UUCP, has no screen editor, and does not
have termcap, termlib, or curses. And apparently it needs considerable
changes to the kernel to support RAW mode in the tty driver, modem
control, and the like. The good news is Coherent supports several
flavors of disk.
Venix looks pretty good to me, but the turkeys at UniSource won't
return my phone calls or answer their phone, so I've been unable
to find out which PC clones and disks they support. With this kind
of support I really wonder. (Venix actually comes from VentureCom,
but they claim they only support the PC/XT and nothing else. Since
I've seen Venix demoed on a Compaq, this makes me wonder.) The good
news is that all the software I care about is there - vi, more, csh,
uucp, an ls that uses columns. The tty driver echoes ↑H as ←, however.
PC/IX comes with Interactive's own funny editor and apparently uucp,
but it doesn't exist yet, and no doubt will only support the XT, in
an effort to increase IBM's sales at the expense of everybody else.
I would appreciate any additional information anyone can give me.
Mark Horton
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 22 Feb 84 2:56-PST
Date: 20 Feb 84 19:36:36-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!vortex!lauren @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Venix, etc.
Mark,
I suggest you read the back archives of INFO-IBMPC for lots of
information about Coherent, IX, Venix, and others.
As far as Venix is concerned, it is actually a V6 system (or at least
a V6 filesystem) with some V7 utilities. An odd crossbreed.
Benchmarks so far place it much slower than either Coherent or IX for
typical operations.
The EMACS-clone editor for Coherent will be released shortly -- it
uses termcap or direct code for the handling the H19 superset console
emulation. Termlib and curses will be in there also. Raw mode has
always worked fine. I added full modem control to allow fully
flexible UUCP operations, including being able to autodial out on
standard autodial modems with my new L.sys format (since I wrote my
UUCP from scratch, I didn't feel constrained to be so restrictive
about the way L.sys was oriented.) Internet domain handling and such
will be in my mail programs as well. All of this actually works here
at vortex (other than the domain stuff, which has to wait a bit until
the network settles down regarding some addressing issues) and it's
just a matter of getting it all back to MWC for inclusion in their
official distributions...
Once again, the INFO-IBMPC digest has had a wealth of information on
these topics...
--Lauren--
P.S. By the way, a number of different manufacturers make the hard
disks in the standard XT. I use a 17 meg Miniscribe disk along with
the 10 meg normal XT disk in the vortex Coherent system. The
Miniscribe seems to be pretty reliable. It has "burped" twice
(entering an error check diagnostic mode) but those were apparently
related to power problems and caused no data loss.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 20 Feb 84 0:24-PST
Date: 19 Feb 84 12:57:52-PST (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: jay@rochester.arpa
Subject: Unetix Query
Anyone know with whom I should correspond to buy Unetix? Any
satisfied or unhappy customers out there?
Jay Weber
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 17 Feb 84 5:58-PST
Date: 13 Feb 84 9:06:35-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!akgua!sb1!mb2c!uofm-cv!rich @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Multiple Displays
We here at the University of Michigan, have an application currently
being developed that utilizes both a monochrome and a graphics
display. This actual dual arrangement has been in operation for almost
two years and requires no special modifications and/or hardware. It
does require that you have the equivalent of separate monochrome and
graphics boards. We are using the standard IBM boards, but I don't see
why you couldn't use other vendor boards.
The refresh RAM for these displays are in two distinct areas. (e.g..
Graphics address starts at B8000 and occupies the next 16K. The
monochrome refresh memory starts at B0000 and also occupies next 16K.
I not aware of any situations utilizing two graphics displays,
although it could be possible. Again each display would need its own
refresh memory. E.g. one graphic display mapped into the B8000 address
and one mapped into the B0000 address. Some of the newer boards that
combine monochrome and graphics board could be a problem and I don't
know enough as how this equipment works to say for sure. If however,
the board has an "IBM compatibility" mode then it should probably
work. I'm not aware of any vendor for an IBM PC offering any
monochrome/ graphics boards with a configurable refresh address which
would be ideal for multiple displays.
Someone suggested it is easy to string together a series of color
monitors by using Y adapters, etc. I would argue that this is not an
application of multiple displays, but rather an application of
multiple monitors of a SINGLE DISPLAY. Such an application is intended
for displaying items to large audiences, etc. The system in use here
at Michigan utilizes both concurrently.
Hope this helps. If you need more info. and/or the specific code etc.
you can mail be a note via the network or contact me by telephone
(Rich Jungclas) at (313) 763-1563.
------------------------------
Date: 20 February 1984 1320-PST (Monday)
From: Allyn Fratkin <sdcsvax!allyn@Nosc>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: Undocumented Features in DOS 2.0
Why are character constants '\DEV\NUL' '\DEV\CON' '\DEV\AUX' and
'\DEV\PRN' defined in the config.sys initialization code? I couldn't
find any mention of these in the manual... What special things can
you do with them?
What is the (also undocumented) AVAILDEV config.sys command do?
Is anyone from Microsoft listening? If so, just a side question: Why
doesn't SWITCHAR become a documented feature?
Thanks,
Allyn Fratkin
UCSD Pascal Project
U.C. San Diego
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 22 Feb 84 3:40-PST
Date: 21 Feb 84 14:02:27-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!rlgvax!geller @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: TEAC Half-Height Drives
If you already have one IBM (CDC, TANDON, or anything) drive in your
PC you are still able to add another drive or even two more drives.
These new drives would be drives b: and c: respectively.
If I'm not mistaken the IBM PC Tech reference manual doesn't include a
diagram for the dip positions for three drives - only two. I'll post
this extra information as soon as I get home and can look in my notes.
I use this setup now with two TEAC drives and a RAM Drive as drive c:
I highly recommend TEAC half-height drives. I have two 48 tpi double
sided drives and they work great. I got them for only $199 each! I
got them from COMPUMAIL of California. They might still have them,
although you can never be sure. Sometimes they buy a good deal by the
truckload and sell out real soon. Try them, though. Their number is
213-881-1556. Please be aware that I am in no way affiliated with them
at all - I just like to pass on good information when I can. On note,
though. The drives, come with NO documentation - only a single sheet
describing how they can be mounted inside an IBM. If you order them
you had better ask for a mounting set (approx $10). I'll post
installation instructions this evening.
David Geller
Computer Consoles, Inc.
Office Systems Group
1760 Reston Avenue
Reston, VA 22090
703-471-6860
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 18 Feb 84 7:15-PST
Date: 17 Feb 84 9:48:37-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!drutx!druxv!ijb @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: UNIPRESS Software Warning
I have a copy of this company's UNIX tools for the PC and they all
work, but there are some major deficiencies. None of the tools will
accept wild card file specifiers or path names in DOS 2.0. This is
not important for some of the tools like diff, but it makes things
like grep useless. I called the company and they didn't have any idea
how to go about adding wild card or path support to their product.
Thus, if you have a UNIX system with source code and a method to
download files, you can compile the UNIX tools on the PC for yourself
and get the same product. Overall, I am not impressed with the effort
the company has put into their tools.
As always, these are my private views and have nothing to do with my
employer.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 18 Feb 84 8:39-PST
Date: 17 Feb 84 17:22:01-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!ulysses!mhuxl!aluxp!wrbull @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Strange DOS 2.10 Message
When I tried to TYPE a file, I got the following message:
cat: cannot open capture.asm.d
The file according to DIR is called capture.asm. I cannot find this
in the DOS Manual or the DOS Tech. Manual. Anybody know why I got
this message? No, I was not on Unix. Could part of DOS 3.0 be
there?
W.R.Bullman
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 19 Feb 84 5:11-PST
Date: 17 Feb 84 16:45:51-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!bet @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: DOS 2.00 Divide by Zero Error
I seem to have discovered a bug in DOS 2.00. Zero-divide interrupts
aren't correctly trapped, so dividing by zero causes a crash. DOS 1.00
and 1.10 caught the interrupt, reported "Divide Overflow", and
returned to DOS. Make the following a .com file: (it's easy with the
2.00 debugger)
xor dx,dx
mov ax,10
xor cx,cx
div cx
int 20
Now run it under DOS 1.00 or 1.10. Divide Overflow. DOS 2.00: space
shot. If anyone has an interrupt handler written (preferably as an
end-and-remain-resident .com file) please let me know. I am trying to
write one, but keep getting "memory allocation error, cannot load
COMMAND.COM. System halted". when I try it out with the above test
file.
Bennett Todd
[The Tall Tree utilities handle this problem. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 19 Feb 84 7:39-PST
Date: 19 Feb 84 22:30:23-EST (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!hound!5132ts2 @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Sritek 68000 XENIX Query
Has anybody used the Sritek M68000 Xenix package for the IBM PC?
I am looking for information on connecting to other systems
via COM1 - IBM asynch adaptor and external modem. Also how to connect
(activate) a parallel printer (LPT1). Has anybody written a device driver
to obtain graphics? Any info would be appreciated.
T.Schonfeld
------------------------------
Date: Wed 22 Feb 84 17:36:35-PST
From: Gio <Wiederhold@SRI-AI.ARPA>
Subject: High Capacity Hard Disk Query
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
We need to store more data than an XT can handle. The following candidate
systems are being considered. They all have responded positively to phone
calls. Is there any user-based information about them?
Name Capacity Speed (s+r) List Wholesale Warranty
QuCeS 53 MB 53 ms $4995 $3535 1 year factory
Pegasus 38 MB ? $2795 $2095 90 days
Vista 43 MB 58 ms $4795 $3372 6 mos factory
Alloy 42 MB 61 ms $4195 $3360 1 yr factory
for comparison
IBM seagate 10MB 108 ms $2500 90 days
I will summarize any comments we receive. Gio
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂24-Feb-84 2156 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #23
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 24 Feb 84 21:56:19 PST
Date: 24 Feb 1984 1959-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #23
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 24 February 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 23
This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann
Today's Topics:
IBM's Local Area Network for PC's and PCjr's
INFO-HZ100 Mailing List and Program Library
IBM vs. MS Pascal
Venix vs. Coherent
OLDER.ASM
PCjr. Extended Graphics Modes
CICS to PC Communication
Interrupt Troubles (4 msgs)
VisiOn
TECO Query
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 24 Feb 1984 1146-PST
From: HFISCHER@USC-ECLB.ARPA
Subject: IBM's Local Area Network for PC's and PCjr's
To: Gillmann@USC-ISIB.ARPA, Brackenridge@USC-ISIB.ARPA
cc: HFischer@USC-ECLB.ARPA
Remailed-To: info-IBMPC
IBM PC CLUSTER ADAPTER
The IBM Personal Computer Cluster Adapter (feature #1206) for the IBM PC, the
IBM Portable PC, and the IBM PC/XT; and the PCjr Cluster Attachment (feature
#0027) for the IBM PCjr, allow any IBM personal computer to be attached in a
clustered multi-user configuration. The cluster can interconnect the above
computers. Programming support is provided by the IBM Personal Computer
Cluster Program.
Highlights
- Provides low priced, clustered, multi-user configuration support
for the PCjr, PC, Portable PC,and XT.
- Supports data transfer rate of 375K bits/sec (CSMA/CA)
- Supports up to 64 computers/cluster (less for performance considerations)
Description
A main coaxial cable bus provides cable drops to the PC Cluster Adapter or to
the PCjr Cluster Attachment. Drops connect to the main coax cable with BNC
T-connectors, and to the PC's and PCjr's with BNC connectors. Max length for
the main cable is 1000 meters; max length of a drop is 5 meters.
Protocol is carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA),
and cables carry baseband signaling. Topology of interconnects is a bus (not
a ring) environment). Cable is 75 ohm coax. Data rate is 375K bits/sec.
Cluster adapters/attachments contain switches to set station addresses.
Remote IPL may be specified on the PC, and is mandatory on the PCjr.
Availability, 2nd qtr, 1984.
Hardware requirements
Each PCjr requires a cluster attachment, which cannot (right now) be
installed with any of the diskette, modem, or printer attachments. IBM
intends to support all jr configurations in the future. The attachment goes
onto the side of the PCjr, and includes ROM memory with a diagnostics
program.
The others use a full-size expansion slot (main or expansion chassis). If your
BIOS date is prior to 10/20/81, a new BIOS ROM Kit (feature #1005) is needed.
You can check your BIOS date with the basic program:
10 def seg=&HF000
20 for x = &HFFF5 to &HFFFF
30 print CHR$(peek(x));
40 next
The PC's which must be upgraded were made for domestic use (US/Canada) prior
to serial number 0300961.
Cables come in cable kits.
Data security
Computers on the network can be used and managed to limit risk of unintended
modification, destruction, or disclosure of sensitive data. Customers are
responsible for the selection, implementation, and adequacy of appropriate
measures.
Costs
PCjr Cluster attachment feature #0027, P/N 8600027 $400/each
PC (non-jr) Cluster adapter feature #1207, P/N 1501206 340
Cable kit feature #1005, P/N 1501207 110
BIOS Update Kit feature #1005, P/N 1501005 30
Quantity and educational allowance discounts are available.
SOFTWARE - PC CLUSTER PROGRAM, feature #4107
Small work groups in schools and businesses can now share a fixed disk and
exchange messages and data.
- Provides disk server with one public read-only volume for the cluster
and one private read/write volume per computer in the cluster
- Public and private volumes appear as additional disk drives at remotes
- PCjrs down-load DOS and applications at remote power-on
- Supports file transfer, message send/receive, message broadcast, thru
menu-oriented operator interface
- Supports up to 64 computers per cluster.
Special packaging option (for the software) contains five copies of the
documentation with one copy of the program.
Description
An XT, or a PC with expansion and hard disk, can be designated the disk
server. The other computers share the server's fixed disk, which is
partitioned into one public volume and one private volumer per remote
computer. The Disk serving computer can use the remaining area of its fixed
disk. Remote operators view the public volume and their own private volume
as additional diskette drives.
PCjrs are down-loaded with DOS when they power up (because they cannot have
the diskette installed at present with the hardware cluster attachment).
The message and file transfer functions are available whether or not a disk
server is included in the cluster. Message broadcast is also included.
Availability, Second Qtr 84
Hardware requirements
PC family computers need at least 128 kb memory and the bus
attachments. Each non-jr computer on the cluster needs one diskette
drive. If a server is included in the cluster, the serving computer
needs 256 kb memory.
Software compatibility
Legend: pu - runs from public volume, pr - runs from private volume, d -
runs with data in private volume, jpu - runs on jr from public volume, jpr -
runs on jr from private volume, jd - runs on jr with data in private volume.
Adventures in math 1.0 pr,d jpr,jd
APL pu,pr,d
Async Comm Support pu,pr,d
BASIC, BASICA, & basic compiler pu,pr,d jd (interp) jpu,jpr,jd (compil.)
BSC 3270 pu,pr,d
Diskette librarian pu,pr,d jpu,jpr,jd
Easywriter 1.15 pu,pr,d jpu,jpr,jd
File command 1.0 pu,pr,d jpu,jpr,jd
Fixed Disk organizer pr,d
Fortran 1.0 pu,pr,d
LOGO pu,pr,d
Macro assembler pu,pr,d
Multiplan 1.1 d
Pascal 1.0 pu,pr,d
Peachtext 1.0 pu,pr,d jpu,jpr,jd
pfs FILE 1.05 d
pfs REPORT 1,05 d
Personal Editor pu,pr,d jpu,jpr,jd
Professional Editor pu,pr,d jpu,jpr,jd
SNA 3270 & RJE pu,pr,d
VisiCalc 1.2 d
Word Proof pu,pr,d jpu,jpr,jd
3101 Emulator pu,pr,d
Those programs which run from diskette on a PC (non-jr) family member can be
loaded from diskette where the chart indicates that they cannot be run from
public or private volumes. For example, VisiCalc loads from diskette but not
via the bus, though it can access private data via the bus disk server.
Customer Responsibility
The customer is responsible for configuring the installation, setup of coax
cables, and for ENSURING THAT EACH USER IN A CLUSTER IS APPROPRIATELY
LICENSED TO USE ANY PROGRAMS TRANSFERRED WITHIN THE CLUSTER.
Costs
PC Cluster Program, feature #4107, P/N 6024107 $ 92
Cluster program, five-pack, feature #4182, P/N 6024182 400
There are quantity and educational allowance discounts.
------------------------------
Date: Fri 24 Feb 84 11:23:34-EST
From: Gern <GUBBINS@RADC-TOPS20.ARPA>
Subject: INFO-HZ100 Mailing List and Program Library
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
cc: INFO-HZ100@RADC-TOPS20.ARPA
In the unlikely event that any H/Z-100 owner is still not aware of it,
this is a reannouncement of INFO-HZ100, a mailing list (faster message
response and less overhead on my part) concerning the concerns and
topics with regard to the Zenith desktop professional machines.
All Submissions to INFO-HZ100 @ RADC-TOPS20.
All Administriva to INFO-HZ100-REQUEST @ RADC-TOPS20.
Coordinator: Dave Gubbins (Gern) <GUBBINS @ RADC-TOPS20>
Also announcing (with many thanks) file space for free public domain
H/Z-100 related source programs, and archives on USC-ISIB supporting
anonymous FTP. The directory is <INFO-IBMPC.HZ100>. Program
submissions to this directory to INFO-HZ100-REQUEST @ RADC-TOPS20.
The first program to be placed there is a terminal emulator and file
transfer program I wrote under ZBASIC while at Clarkson College in
order to transfer my 4 years worth of IBM 4341 and VAX 11/780 software
off of the machine in the 4 months I had after getting my Z-100 before
I graduated. This is the lastest version, I will update the DOC
someday. It is now free public domain to hack or ignore at will.
Cheers,
Gern
------------------------------
From: Rishiyur Nikhil <Nikhil%upenn.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa>
Subject: IBM vs. MS Pascal
To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@csnet-relay.arpa
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 84 20:36 EST
Some time ago, I submitted an item to INFO-IBMPC regarding a problem
that we had encountered ("Heap is invalid") in a large program in IBM
Pascal. Well, (blush), the problem was in one of our own routines: we
had an assembler BIOS interface for the color monitor, and it was
clobbering a certain crucial register within the BIOS Video interrupt.
A second positive outcome of this was that at least two people steered
me towards Microsoft Pascal (v 3.13) instead of IBM Pascal (v 1.0) which
I was using.
IBM Pascal seems to be an old (ossified?) version of MS Pascal. Some
advantages of MS Pascal over IBM Pascal:
- MUCH better documentation.
- faster compiler
- facilities for writing and setting up interrupt service routines, written
entirely in Pascal.
- Can use full memory. You can allocate a "long heap" in free memory and
use Pascal pointer syntax to refer to objects there.
- 8087 support. You don't have to change source code, just the library
(supplied).
In short, I regret having put down the money for IBM Pascal in the
first place. I'm told that a major new release of MS Pascal is in the
offing (April?).
Rishiyur Nikhil ( nikhil%upenn@csnet-relay )
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 84 23:24:39 pst
From: ucscc!ucscd.psych36@Berkeley
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: Venix vs. Coherent
Lauren has recently been dumping on Venix but I think we should take
this with a grain of salt given his relationship with Coherent. I
have not seen the benchmarks he refers to, perhaps he could make them
public. What I have seen is that Venix runs vi, uucp, and csh. The
evaluation copy of coherent we got did not even have a swapper, and
crashed at the slightest provocation (e.g. doing a simple C compile
and anything else at the same time).
On Hard disks... The XT uses a Xebec sasi controller which seems to
be equivalent to the Xebec Tecmar uses (as far as I can tell from the
manual) and to the Xebec used by STARLOGIC. We obtained 2 Tandon 15Mb
units with a Xebec sasi control from STARLOGIC a while ago for $2275.
We have not yet tried to put Venix on this machine but have it on an
XT.
Spell Benchmark... On 3 unix systems as sole active user I ran spell
on a text file of 43800 bytes. The results are:
user sys wall %CPU words found
------ ----- ---- ---- -----------
IBM-XT 174.8u 11.8s 3:26 90% 121, 769 bytes (venix)
114.4u 9.9s 3:22 61% 121, 769 b (new venix)
Onyx 6.4u 4.1s 2:39 6% 125, 817 b
VAX-750 3.6u 2.0s 1:19 7% 114, 737 b 4.1 BSD
As far as wall time goes, Venix did not do too bad.
Michael M. Cohen, UC - Santa Cruz
------------------------------
Date: Thu 23 Feb 84 10:22:10-EST
From: Dan Tappan <Tappan@BBNG.ARPA>
Subject: OLDER.ASM
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Enclosed is a useful program, OLDER.ASM, which compares the ages
of two files.
Usage:
OLDER <file1> <file2>
Return value is 1 if <file1> is older than <file2>, 0 if <file1> is
newer (or if <file2> doesn't exist)
As an example of its use the following is my LC.BAT (Lattice C front
end):
:top
OLDER %1.C %1.OBJ
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO skip
LC1 %1
LC2 %1
:skip
SHIFT
IF NOT "%1"=="" GOTO top
This requires DOS 2.0 or greater to run.
[OLDER.ASM has been added to the Info-IBMPC Free Program Library. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: Thursday, 23 Feb 1984 11:11-PST
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
Subject: PCjr. Extended Graphics Modes
From: jim@Rand-Unix (Jim←Gillogly)
I'm working on some graphics software, and have been unable to access
two of the three graphics mode that the IBM PCjr has beyond the IBM PC
and XT.
First, a recap:
Mode 0: 40x25 BW Available on PC and PCjr
1: 40x25 color "
2: 80x25 BW "
3: 80x25 color " (requires extra mem on PCjr)
4: 320x200 4-color graphics PC and PCjr
5: 320x200 BW graphics "
6: 640x200 2-color graphics "
7: 80x25 BW PC only, requires monochrome adaptor
===================
8: 160x200 16-color graphics PCjr only
9: 320x200 16-color graphics PCjr only, needs extra mem
10: 640x200 4-color graphics "
So that's what's supposed to be available. Obviously the new modes
for the Jr are comparatively wonderful. So how do we get to them?
The usual method is to use INT 10H, the VIDEO←IO interrupt in the ROM.
You load AH with 0 and AL with the mode, then execute INT 10H and
you're now magically in the correct mode. This works fine from
Lattice C or a stand-alone ASM program for most modes. In particular,
it works for modes 0-8 (assuming you have the correct hardware). All
PC modes work with no problem. However, executing this with mode 9 or
mode 10 on the PCjr results in hanging up the machine so that you have
to power up to get going again. Note that mode 8 works correctly, and
is one of the new extended modes.
I have the PCjr Technical Reference Manual, which includes the source
for the ROM BIOS. It makes no distinction among the modes, and
doesn't hint at special requirements for the higher ones. My PCjr has
the extra memory. The modes really are in the machine, since the
hardware diagnostics accessed through CTRL-ALT-INS put up some screens
that can only be those new modes.
Help! Help!
Thanks... Jim Gillogly
jim@rand-unix
decvax!randvax!jim
------------------------------
Date: Thu 23 Feb 84 15:53:19-PST
From: David L. Pike <DAVEP@WASHINGTON.ARPA>
Subject: CICS to PC Communication
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I'm hoping some of you folks out there can offer some advice on a
problem I'm helping a friend with.
His company is designing a communications system that will need to
link IBM PC's (XT) with either CICS/VS 1.5 (TP monitor) or the RJE
interface to a 3081 running vanilla mvs. Some of the questions that
have come up are:
1) Does anyone have any experience with the two recently announced IBM
packages for the PC that handle SDLC protocol and are designed to
emulate the 3770/3790 logical unit schema that IBM uses for streaming
data? I think they were released under the creative name 'PC-batch
Communications Program'? I'll get the product number if anyone's
interested.
2) It doesn't seem terribly difficult to stream data from a 3770
emulator to CICS via 2400 baud synchronous lines, but some of our
systems folks are balking. Anyone done this before or know of any
caveats?
3) We are planning on using the IBM sdlc board in the PC. Is the IRMA
board any better? We've had some complaints about the software that
comes with the board. Apparently the routines are written in compiled
Basic (gak!).
4) We're also evaluating PC Cobol compilers (you don't want to know
why). We've heard Microfocus is pretty good, same with RM Cobol.
Some of our concerns are about the way the compiler generates DOS and
BIOS calls because portability is an important issue. Anyone have any
experiences with this that they would care to relate?
5) Is the possibility of using the RJE interface really reasonable in
light of the fact that we would really be sending JCL streams with the
data in the SYSIN DD * format?
Thanks for listening. I'd sure appreciate any comments from anyone
who's been in these waters before.
Davep@Washington
------------------------------
Date: Thu 23 Feb 84 16:44:15-PST
From: Willis Dair <G.Dair@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: Interrupt Troubles
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I am using C86 1.33D to write some Ethernet drivers/utilities for the
IBM PC using 3Com EtherLink board. I would like to have the board be
interrupt driven. The software and interrupts work. However, when I
am in a routine that prints to the screen (printf, bdos(2)) and an
interrupt is raised, the PC goes into never-never land and cannot be
fixed except for cycling of power. The way I handle interrupts is
with an assembly interface to the C program. I have a routine that
patches the interrupt vector of the assembly routine. The assembly
routine saves all the registers and does a call to the C interrupt
handler. Upon return, the registers are popped back and STI
instruction executed and an IRET.
Some questions: Am I approaching this right? Is there something in the
C86 that needs to be worked around? Do I need an external stack for the
interrupt routine? Is there something that needs to be worked around
the DOS?
Pointers and suggestions are welcome and appreciated, especially from
C86 users and PC system hackers.
Willis
------------------------------
Date: 23 Feb 1984 1712-PST
Subject: Re: Interrupt Troubles
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Willis Dair <G.Dair@SU-SCORE>
cc: Info-IBMPC
A few suggestions: (1) be sure you don't call any DOS functions from
your interrupt handler. DOS is not a multitasking system (alas).
(2) be sure to do your STI as soon as you can. Many interrupt
handlers can be written to do it right away (tho not all). If
interrupts are masked for too long all kinds of hassles can occur.
(3) I don't know specifically about the 3Com board, but it would be
interesting to know what level it uses (it might conflict with
something) and are you resetting the 8259 interrupt controller chip
correctly?
Dick Gillmann
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 84 13:53:08 est
From: romkey@mit-borax (John L. Romkey)
To: G.DAIR@SU-SCORE
Subject: Re: Interrupt Troubles
Cc: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>, info-ibmpc@usc-isib
I don't really have much more than Dick Gillmann. DOS is a disaster at
times and you really better not do system calls from an interrupt
handler. I've tried it and lost in the same way. The only way I've
ever been able to print out messages from an interrupt handler was to
use some other display managing routine which doesn't involve DOS.
The one I used is the H19 emulator we use in telnet.
The 3COM board can use interrupts 3 or 5. 5 conflicts with the hard
disk controller in an XT. Otherwise I don't know of any conflicts with
other hardware.
John
[Interrupt 3 conflicts with COM2. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: Fri 24 Feb 84 13:46:23-PST
From: Willis Dair <G.Dair@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: Re: Interrupt Troubles
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
OK, will try suggestions.
The 3Com board is on level 3. That should be interrupt 11 decimal. I
don't think there is anything there. As far as I know the 8259 is
also OK. It does interrupt, just that if the interrupt comes when in
an output routine the PC is gone.
Thanks.
Willis
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 84 3:40:03 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: VisiOn
I have just gotten a copy of it and have had a chance to use it. I
have the Graph and Calc services (tools) only. I am impressed. It
seems very clean, easy to bring up, moderately easy to use (more
latter) and very useful. I have found a few minor bugs but nothing
major.
It seems to work in any size memory it has. If the memory is small it
pages itself to death (or you to boredom), give it more memory and it
goes faster.
I have a major question wrt windows. For the life of me I cannot
see how humans (as opposed to us hackers and past hackers) can
handle them things. I found myself with a pile of them wondering
how I got that way. It was my fault. I got out easily, but I
suspect non computer types would reboot. For that matter,
I wonder how many of those guys will want DOS 2, Unix, Windows,
etc as opposed to the easy DOS 1.1 world?
Dave
------------------------------
Date: Fri 24 Feb 84 15:34:40-PST
From: Stefan Demetrescu <STEFAN@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: TECO Anyone?
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Has anyone heard of a version of TECO running on the IBM PC/XT?
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂03-Mar-84 1740 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #25
Received: from USC-ISIB by SU-AI with TCP/SMTP; 3 Mar 84 17:39:31 PST
Date: 3 Mar 1984 1516-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #25
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 3 March 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 25
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
Streaming-tape Backup Units
VENIX from UniSource
PC/IX and other Unix Systems
Terminal Emulator Offered
Talking to Radio Shack Color Computer
Writers Wanted to Cover *NIX on the IBM PC
Compiling UNIX utilities on your PC
Hercules Board
Real Time Animation
Ladybug - Freeware Logo
TEAC half-heights & Others
Faraday Query
Compiling UNIX utilities on your PC
"Multi-user" PC's
Wordstar/NEC 3550 incompatibility?
ASM/CREF
Sanyo PC and Other Low-Cost Compatibles
BUFFERS bug?
Reading Directories
Programming the 8237 DMA controller
WHEREIS Fixed
Genealogy Software?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon 27 Feb 84 14:23:38-PST
From: RAMSEY@SRI-KL.ARPA
Subject: Streaming-tape Backup Units
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I am in need of a streaming backup unit for my XT. Ideally, I would
like for it to fit into a 5.25-inch slot in an expansion chassis such as
the Tecmar, IBM, or SDI. I have not found such a unit, but have found
several stand-alone units that are listed below. If anyone has any
comments on any of these units or others that I am not aware of, I would
appreciate the information. If there are enough comments I will post
the results.
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Unit: ADIC Data Library
Manufacturer: Advanced Digital Information Corp.
Address: 60 Lakeshore Plaza Suite 3
Kirkland, Washington 98033
206/821-4788
Features: 1/4-inch Scotch data cartridges, 67.1Mbyte on 600-ft
cartridge (Model 600) or 16.8Mbyte on 150-ft cartridge
(Model 615); tapes come preformatted, 16 track, 10,000
bpi; random access; comes with software for operation as
a standard floppy or hard disk.
Price: ?
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Unit: PC-Backup
Manufacturer: Alloy Computer Products
Address: 100 Pennsylvania Avenue
Framington, MA 01701
617/875-6100
Features: 1/4-inch standard ANSI tape cartridges, 16.5Mbyte on 555-
ft tape; 4 track, 6400 bpi; DOS 1.1/2.0 compatible with
file-oriented backup and restore; menu-driven software
package available; utility programs of assembly language
subroutines and BASIC modules for use in programs.
Price: $2,195
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Unit: Magnabyte-10
Manufacturer: Great Lakes Computer Peripherals, Inc.
Address: P.O. Box 94789
Schaumburg, IL 60194
800/323-6836 (Illinois 312/884-7272)
Features: Only comes with a 10-Mbyte hard disk; 32Mbyte tape.
Price: $995 hard disk + $495 tape backup + $30 shipping
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
Unit: TG-4020 and TG-4045 Tape Backup Systems
Manufacturer: Tallgrass Technologies Corp.
Address: 11667 West 90th. St.
P.O. Box 12047
Overland Park, Kansas 66212
913/492-6002
Features: 1/4-inch standard ANSI tape cartridges (DC-600 or DC-
300XL), 20 or 45 Mbyte; file-by-file backup and
individual track directories; also available with hard
disks; interface adaptor for PC comes extra.
Price: 20Mbyte $2195, 45Mbyte $2495, interface $149
←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←
-- Dave Ramsey --
-------
------------------------------
Date: 23 Feb 84 11:50:39-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!eagle!mhuxl!cbosgd!mark @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: VENIX from UniSource
It's amazing - Usenet gets results. I posted a message previously that
indicated I was unable to talk to anyone from UniSource to answer my
questions. Someone apparently read it and conveyed this to UniSource,
and I got a phone call today.
Anyway, the person who returned my call is Joyce Dinman. She's also the
person I talked to the first time I called, several weeks ago, and at
that time she was very helpful, even gave me a number I could dial up
and try the system out with. However, she has apparently been out of
town for a few weeks. For some reason (unclear to either of us)
attempts to speak with a technical person other than her did not
succeed. Now that she's back, she's vigorously trying to make sure that
this problem doesn't happen again.
Interesting point - a single user license lets you run UUCP on your async
port anyway. How do they implement this? Can you put a getty on the port
for uucp but nobody else can log in on it? Or do they only allow outgoing
UUCP? (ugh!)
So anyway, UniSource seems to be an OK place, at least as long as Joyce
Dinman is in town.
Mark
------------------------------
Date: 24 Feb 84 8:24:16-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!alberta!ubc-vision!mprvaxa!wolfe @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PC/IX and other Unix Systems
The VENIX VENTURCOM UNIX port that we have played with is system V not III.
In playing with it, it is much more like real UNIX than COHERENT (also
have played with that). ALL the normal UNIX utilities are there and it
comes with CSH and VI etc. etc.
The speeds of both of these systems are nothing fantastic but what do you
expect from an 8-bit bus and not super hard disk drive.
Also note that there is a company out here in Vancouver, Canada that is/will
be offering a tuned version of COHERENT. I think this implementation
will actually allow multiple users doing I/O at reasonable speeds.
Name is Network Consulting Inc. and I don't have the address handy but I think
they have adds in BYTE magazine.
--
Peter Wolfe
Microtel Pacific Research
..decvax!microsoft!ubc-vision!mprvaxa!wolfe
------------------------------
Date: 25 Feb 84 4:13:23-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!akgua!clyde!floyd!whuxle!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Terminal Emulator Offered
I don't have a VT100 emulator, but I have one that emulates
an HP-2621 like terminal and can upload/down. If interested,
send me mail.
Jim Holtman
------------------------------
Date: 24 Feb 84 16:11:16-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ucbcad!tektronix!ogcvax!metheus!cdi!shanks @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Talking to Radio Shack Color Computer
I am looking for a method to get data from a Radio Shack Color Computer
to an IBM PC. This request is made on behalf of my father, who is a
complete computer novice.
My father is using a Color Computer as a data logger and storing the
data on cassette tape. He wishes to crunch the data on his IBM PC.
Does anyone out there know of a way to get data from the Color Computer
to the PC?
I was thinking of hooking the Color Computer's serial port to the PC's.
Is this possible (I am no hardware hacker)? Or is there a better way
to do it?
Once he had a connection between the two machines he would need some
software to get the two machines to talk. Are there packages available
to do this between these two machines? I could hack something together
for him, but a pre-existing package would be better.
Another possibility would be to read the cassette directly on the PC.
Is this possible? Or has IBM dropped the cassette port from their
PC in recent releases (his computer is brand new)?
Any replies will be greatly appreciated.
David Shanks ..!tektronix!ogcvax!metheus!cdi!shanks
Computer Development, Inc.
6700 SW 105th Suite 200
Beaverton, OR 97005
(503) 646-1599
------------------------------
Date: 29 Feb 1984 1229-PST
Subject: Talking to Radio Shack Color Computer
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: ucbcad!tektronix!ogcvax!metheus!cdi!shanks@UCB-VAX
cc: info-ibmpc
Kermit from Columbia University should answer your problems it that it
will allow file transfer between the two machines over a direct connection
on two serial lines.
The cassette interface is on all PCs except the XT. I have never seen it used
and isn't very well supported in the system. I too would be interested
in hearing from anyone who has any code to donate that will support the
cassette.
By the way the standard Radio Shack cassette connecter works with the PC.
-------
------------------------------
Date: 25 Feb 84 11:42:13-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!infopro!dave @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Writers Wanted to Cover *NIX on the IBM PC
InfoPro Systems, the publisher of the UNIX newsletter UNIQUE, is looking
for part-time authors and contributors. We want to talk to people who
are interested in covering the IBM PC (and clones) running operating
systems such as PC/IX, Venix, Coherent, uNETix, Idris, QNIX, etc. AND
applications/tools that run on these systems. We are considering the
possibility of a PC editor as well.
Articles can range from a few hundred words to several thousand.
We'll pay at or above standard industry rates for accepted articles.
For more details or a free sample of UNIQUE, please contact me by email or at
InfoPro Systems, PO Box 849, Denville, NJ 07834.
Dave Fiedler
{harpo,zeppo,astrovax,philabs}!infopro!dave
[We have run one job offer in INFO-IBMPC previously. This was for Columbia
University. We don't ordinarily run commercial job offers, but I felt
the existence of such a journal and the subjects they intend to write about
would be of interest to the community and perhaps employment to a starving
graduate student.
INFO-IBMPC welcomes articles on the same subjects and pay our usual standard
rates for accepted articles.... -ed]
------------------------------
Date: 28 Feb 84 10:23:08-EDT (Tue)
From: Lehmann%nsf-cs.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa
To: Info-IBMPC%usc-isib.arpa@csnet-relay.arpa
cc: jrl%nsf-cs.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa
Subject: Hercules Board
We have heard undercurrents of problems with Hercules boards but have no hard
information. Are there serious problems? If so, what are they? We have been
trying one with Multi-mate, Lotus-1-2-3, and RBASE 4000 and have found no
problems yet. Are we missing something? Are there other software packages
which do not work with this card? Any experiences or hard information would
be appreciated. Please respond directly to me.
John Lehmann (jrl.nsf@csnet-relay)
------------------------------
Date: 29 Feb 1984 1715-PST
From: Kelley <BOAN@USC-ECL.ARPA>
Subject: Word Perfect & Microsoft Word Query
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Has anyone out there used either Word Perfect, from SSI, Inc.; or
The Word, from MicroSoft? I'm trying to evaluate these two and all I can
find for reference is the occasional ComputerLand salesman who was pushing
used cars last week. Also, has anyone used Rbase 4000, from Microrim? Same
problem.
Thanks in advance,
Kelley<Boan@usc-ecl.ARPA>
-------
------------------------------
Date: 29 Feb 84 2235 EST (Wednesday)
From: Brian.MacWhinney@CMU-CS-A
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: Real Time Animation
Can anyone give me information regarding the best way to use the
IBM-XT to present real-time animation? Currently, I am considering
purchasing either the Scion or the Revolution boards and something
like a Mitsubishi RGB high-res monitor. Media Cybernetics outside
Washington, D.C. provides a graphics package for this and other boards
called HALO and a set of animation routines that build upon HALO.
One catch is that the animation-creation software costs $13,000. I
want to be able to display sequences such as the following: a bird flies
up into a tree, starts pecking at the tree, a dog runs up and barks
at the bird, the bird flies away and the dog runs away. The movement
of the various appendages of these animals can be quite crude. For
example, when the dog runs, only his legs need to move. When the bird
pecks at the tree, he only needs to move at the neck, etc. These stimuli
will be used in various countries with children between 3 and 12 years
of age. I would like to avoid using videotapes, if at all possible.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions on how to proceed. Please send
responses to: macwhinne@cmu-cs-a
Correction: macwhinney@cmu-cs-a
--Brian MacWhinney
------------------------------
Date: 23 Feb 84 9:16:42-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!vjja @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Ladybug - Freeware Logo
Ladybug is a "freeware" version of logo, written in BASICA.
I have a early version of ladybug, it is fairly slow, but
not bad considering what it is written in. To get ladybug:
Send a diskette and a postage paid mailer to:
David N. Smith
44 Ole Musket Lane
Danbury, CT 06810
Please mark LADYBUG on the OUTSIDE of the envelope.
Ladybug Requires: - 128K, DS/DD disk, graphics adaptor on IBM PC
or compatible.
Jim Allen
PS. Neither I or my organization is associated with ladybug. You send
your disk, you take your chances.
------------------------------
Date: 25 Feb 84 12:08:56-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: !tektronix!stever @ Uw-Beaver
Subject: TEAC half-heights & Others
This is my experience with half height drives:
YES, on the IBM PC you can set the system switches for the number
of drives you have from 0 to 4. I have mine set at 4 with two
physical drives, and one or two RAM drives depending upon my
needs. My AST SUPERDRV software allows me to assign the RAM
disk(s) to any of the four drives.
You don't need another controller board for the extra drives as
was implied by someone. If you acquired the IBM PC with only one
drive, the data cable should have a have connector on it for a
second drive, and there should be a second power connector
inside. For three drives you need a power splitter cable
and an external data cable. For a 4th drive you need another
power splitter cable. The external data cable plugs into the
connector on the outside of the IBM disk controller board, and
then is routed back inside the system unit. It should have
connectors on the other end for C and D drives. Apparat and many
other disk drive vendors should have both the power splitter
cables and the data cables.
You might have to put your original full height drive on the right
hand side because the data cable plugs in on the opposite side from
the full height on many half heights, making the distance between
the A and B drives (where one is full and one half height) twice
the width of a standard drive. The cable supplied with the IBM
PC was not designed for that distance. I have configured such a
system with two double sided half heights and one single sided
full height.
I have had "50-50" experience with half heights. Early on in the
game I bought 2 TEACs and 2 HITACHIs for two different IBM PC
systems. The A drives worked great! The TEAC makes a sharp
clicking sound and the HITACHI was so quiet I was always checking
it! However, the B drives of both types worked only about 20% of
the time. After several shipments back to Apparat and several
wiped-out diskettes I have given up on the B drive except as a
scratch drive. Apparat was very cooperative, but I feel they
did not have the technical knowledge to solve this problem.
All they could do is recalibrate and clean the heads.
It is a funny situation. Recently, I was forced to use my B
drive to dump a source listing from a compiler. (i.e. Needed 3-
320K drives to do a FORTRAN compile--it is large program!) It
worked perfectly in writing an 85k file. A BASIC test program
writing, reading, and erasing 40 files works every time. But
when I start trusting it, I lose data and sometimes the disk is
not useable. No pattern to it at all.
Two final comments. The HITACHIs got replaced by Shugarts and I
understand everything is working fine. I would not recommend
HITACHIs to anyone mainly because they have a plastic point that
brushes the diskette right next to the write protect notch. When
you cover that notch you have to off-center the tape or the plastic
point sticking down will catch on it---very annoying! If you will
look closely at the Amdex drives in ads, you can see the plastic
point! Buyer beware!
If anyone can tell me their secret for operating a TEAC half-
height as a B drive, I would be VERY happy! Otherwise, I will
soon replace my TEACs with Shugarts or CDCs.
------------------------------
Date: 27 Feb 84 15:03:32-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ucbcad!tektronix!orca!iddic!rickc @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Faraday Query
Fellow netters:
I am considering making a group purchase of Faraday (Palo Alto, Calif.)
Corporation's single-board IBM PC clones. Has anyone had any experience
(bad or good) with this board or firm? I can be contacted by netmail at:
tektronix!iddic!rickc
if you know the way to tektronix, or you can use the header in this news
article if you don't know the way.
Thanks,
Rick Coates
------------------------------
Date: 29 Feb 84 12:38:06-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!intelca!kds @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Compiling UNIX utilities on your PC
> The idea of porting UNIX utilities directly to the PC is, in
>addition to being illegal, very impractical, as the MS-DOS shell
>does not expand meta-characters. This requires you to add code
>to do this to EACH AND EVERY thing you bring over, unless you want
>to hack on COMMAND.COM (not a pretty thing).
Well, since c programs usually start with "main()," you need some
code that takes where the MSDOS loader puts you to jump to "main()."
This code could also set up argv,argc, etc. which I don't believe
that MSDOS does for you. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that yes,
this code will be added to every command, but really it is trivial
(MSDOS supplies calls to do the expansion for you!) and would almost
have to be there anyway! I did this thingy a while ago just for
grins, and if anyone out there would like to see the code, I can
see about posting it.
--
Ken Shoemaker, Intel, Santa Clara, Ca.
{pur-ee,hplabs,ucbvax!amd70,ogcvax!omsvax}!intelca!kds
------------------------------
Date: 1 Mar 1984 14:53-EST
Subject: "Multi-user" PC's
From: JKIMMELMAN@BBNA
To: info-ibmpc@ISIB
I am configuring a system for a friend and I am interested in driving
an auxiliary terminal from a PC-XT so that one user can access a public
data base. My first cut was to use two PC's and a Corvus (an expensive
option), but I have heard about a cheaper alternative. In the March 20
issue of PC magazine there is an article about a soon-to-be-released
product called PC-GT. It allows two users to access a PC via a add-on
card which has an 80186 on board. My questions:
1) Has anyone had experience with such add-ons? If so, what are the
constraints involved? Are they reliable?
2) This product is from Sierra Data Sciences--are there any competitors
of interest to me?
3) Can any of you gurus out there offer me alternatives that I haven't
mentioned here?
You can send mail to JKIMMELMAN@BBN or answer via the Digest as I am
an avid reader. I will relay any data that I may get to the Digest.
Thanks in advance.
Jeffrey Kimmelman
P.S. Someone was inquiring about TECO on a PC. To the best of my knowledge
TECO is a firmware program available only on DEC machines. I have seen an
editor on a Pertec 8080 machine (a very old one running something called
FDOS) which was very TECO like in its command structure, but did not have
all of the programming capabilities of TECO (i.e. loops, branches,
conditionals, flags, etc.). Since TECO is as much a programming language
as a text editor I would doubt that there are any true PC implementations.
I would be interested, however, in any extant.
--JK
------------------------------
Date: 1 Mar 84 14:37:15 EST
From: Rich Stillman <STILLMAN@RU-BLUE.ARPA>
Subject: Wordstar/NEC 3550 incompatibility?
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
A user has come to me with a problem. He is running Wordstar 3.30 on
an IBM PC. His output device is a NEC 3550 with a NEC sheet feeder. This is
a combination I recommended to him because of the compatibility of the
PC and the 3550.
Unfortunately, all is not well. If he indents his text, the first
page of the output is indented, and following pages print at column 0 on
the printer. It's as if the first form feed Wordstar sends resets the left
margin on the printer.
I checked out his system and this is what I found. If I write
a BASIC program to set the left margin, it stays set no matter how
many form feeds I send- until I run Wordstar. Under Wordstar, the
margin I set in BASIC gets reset after the first form feed, just like
before. However, if I take off the sheet feeder and hand feed
pages,everything works- including Wordstar! With the sheet feeder off,
form feeds have no effect on the left margin setting.
The user has called MicroPro, and their apparent response was:
"Yes, we know there's an incompatibility between version 3.30 and the
NEC sheet feeder". They did not sound like they were in a hurry to fix
it.
Has anyone else had this experience? Is there a fix, other
than changing word processors or running an earlier version of
Wordstar? And, does anyone know the >official< MicroPro position on
this bug?
Rich Stillman
(Stillman@Rutgers
------------------------------
Posted-Date: 2 Mar 84 01:55 EST
Date: Fri, 2 Mar 84 01:53 EST
From: JSLove@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA (J. Spencer Love)
Subject: ASM/CREF
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Using the IBM assembler version 1.0 under DOS 2.0, both ASM and MASM
take 33 minutes to assemble KERMIT 1.20 on a 512K PC XT. Does anyone
have a faster assembler? (Actually, for this time I removed the .XLIST
option on line 1, and I specified that I wanted a .LST file and a .CRF
file. It's a bit quicker, but not much, if it is only generating a .OBJ
file.) This speed is not impressive. The disk drive is selected very
briefly every 5 to 10 seconds, so most of the time is being spent
groveling over data in memory. Presumably the assembler is assuming
that I only have a 64K system or something of the sort, since even an
8088 needn't be this slow.
I then try to use the CREF command to generate a .REF file from the .CRF
file. It runs for 3 minutes, then says **Out of Memory**
The original input file was about 178000 characters, and the .CRF file
is about 24000 characters, but I am sure that if it claims to be out of
memory it is not using all the memory available. Does anyone know how I
might come by a version of CREF that does not suffer from this
limitation? The documentation does not specify any command line
switches that might be used to tell CREF that it has more memory. As it
stands, the CREF command is useless for a file this large. Can anyone
tell me how big a file CREF can deal with? I won't have the manual
until it arrives from IBM (I don't know how much longer the wait will
be), so I can't look this one up for a few days, even if it is
documented.
------------------------------
Date: 3 Mar 1984 13:41:37 PST
Subject: Re: ASM/CREF
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: JSLove@MIT-MULTICS (J. Spencer Love)
cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
I have been using the IBM Macro assembler daily for nearly two years now
and I hate it. IBM has been completely unresponsive to any requests to
fix the legion known bugs. Every once and I while I hear rumors of another
assembler, but none of them pan out to be real products.
Actually you are quite lucky that you can assemble Kermit at all. The
only reason you can is that it has no macros. We found that about 1000
lines of source code is max for a program which makes reasonable use of
macros.
There seems to be the attitude that the assembler should only be used
for small subroutines called from higher level languages and that nobody
in their right mind would program a large project in assembler language.
I just placed an order for the Seattle 8086/8087/8088 assembler and Z80
source code translater. I don't need any of these functions as we already
wrote 8087 macros and I couldn't care less about Z80 code. I just want to
have a company that I can call up and vent my frustration at. I suspect
that the IBM assembler is just an early version of the Seattle assembler.
In any case I will report on this assembler when it arrives.
-------
------------------------------
Date: Thu 1 Mar 84 22:51:25-EST
From: Edward Huang <PGS.G.EH%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA>
Subject: Sanyo PC and Other Low-Cost Compatibles
To: INFO-PC@MIT-MC
cc: pgs.g.eh%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA
Dear readers,
If any of you have a Sanyo PC or knows about it, I would
appreciate hearing from you. Specifically, many dealers
list it as around $900 and says it comes with one drive,
MSDOS 1.25, WordStar, Sanyo BASIC, and a spreadsheet pgm.
Can anyone tell me more about:
1) expansion slots and options?
a) Scottsdale Systems of Arizona (see BYTE) lists
a PC-Plus for $1099 saying it HAS expansion slots
2) compatiblity
a) PCDOS/real IBM stuff
b) MSDOS stuff (General, not IBM specific,ie, ROMS)
3) performance, comments, keyboard, etc.
4) lastly, but the MOST IMPORTANT, How long is warranty
and is it true that Sanyo Corp. has over 60 US
repair centers?
Thank you very much, -Ed
PS: OTHERS: If you know about other low cost IBM PC-compatibles
and seem to work well/compatible/etc, I'd like to know...
ie, Tava PC, MicroMint (Ciarcia), Netronics....
It apparently seems that the real good PC-compatibles and
portables cost huge bucks (ie, the original IBM PC/XT,
Eagle,Compaq,Columbia,Hyperion,Corona... $2500-$4500)
!PLEASE!PLEASE!PLEASE! REPLY DIRECTLY TO ME AS I AM NOT
ON INFO-PC THANK YOU
[Don't forget to include a copy of the reply to INFO-IBMPC -ed]
-------
------------------------------
Date: 2 Mar 84 13:23:02 EST (Fri)
From: Joel Seiferas <joel@Rochester.ARPA>
Subject: BUFFERS bug?
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
The BUFFERS command in the CONFIG.SYS file, even in PC-DOS 2.1,
seems to be VERY DANGEROUS. With BUFFERS = 10, I had some problems
with FORMAT; but changing to BUFFERS = 11 seemed to help, for some
reason. Now I have discovered that every 9-track 1-side DISKCOPY
copies track 1 on side 0 wrong (without telling me so). DISKCOMP
confirms this. The same problem occurs for BUFFERS = 12. If I
eliminate the BUFFERS command (implicitly settling for BUFFERS = 2),
the problem SEEMS to go away, but who knows?
I install lots of resident programs when I boot, so I tried
briefly to recreate the DISKCOPY problem with a bare version of the
operating system. Nothing showed up; but, again, who knows? I do not
have the patience for yet another binary search through my AUTOEXEC.BAT
file for a culprit, especially when the real culprit seems likely to be
the operating system. Does anybody know what is going on, and a sure
way to avoid it? Is all this perhaps just another manifestation of the
persistent 64K boundary-crossing problem we keep hearing about?
Joel Seiferas
(joel@rochester)
------------------------------
Date: 3 Mar 1984 14:18:33 PST
Subject: Re: BUFFERS bug?
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: Joel Seiferas <joel@ROCHESTER>
cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
This is not a problem with the buffers command. The IBM BIOS format
command has a bug in it that makes calls to this routine position
sensitive.
There was a discussion of this issue starting with Volume 3 issue #2
of INFO-IBMPC.
Microsoft claims this is a problem with IBM's BIOS. I know the problem
also exists in the Corona. Now that all the PC compatibles have agreed
not to copy IBM's BIOS exactly we might get some fixes to these bugs.
As IBM has known about this problem for a long time, I don't expect
any changes from that camp.
The Tall Tree JFORMAT and JET copy program work around this problem, but
we have found systems can be tuned by changing the amount of resident
code such that FORMAT and DISKCOPY will work again. Just try different
values of BUFFERS and things will work.
-------
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 2 Mar 84 13:33 EST
From: Bruce Nemnich <Nemnich@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA>
Subject: Reading Directories
To: Info-IbmPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Anyone know of a way to open a directory for input using DOS function
3D? I always get an error return code of 5 ("Access denied").
The manual mentions that a directory can be read using an extended FCB
"with the appropriate attribute byte" through function 0F.
Incidentally, trying to CHMOD (function 43) the directory to attribute
00 does not generate an error return, although it has no effect on the
directory bit. CHMODing it to "hidden" (attribute 02) does hide it,
although it is still a directory.
--bruce
------------------------------
Date: Friday 2 March 1984 15:40:00 EDT
From: david chen < dead@nick>
Subject: Programming the 8237 DMA controller
To: <Info-IBMPC@ISI>
Does anyone know where I can get some information concerning the
8237 DMA controller? Much obliged,
David Chen
------------------------------
Date: 2 March 1984 22:08-EST
From: Robert L. Plouffe <PLOUFF @ MIT-MC>
Subject: WHEREIS Fixed
To: INFO-IBMPC @ USC-ISIB
cc: PLOUFF @ MIT-MC
As you may know, the copy of WHEREIS.ASM that was first put
in INFO-IBMPC at USC-ISIB didn't work, although the basic program
that generated a WHEREIS.COM file did work. I don't know if
anyone else corrected it by now, but there is a completely
corrected copy at MIT-MC in GUEST1;WHERIS ASM. It generates
the identical code as WHEREIS.BAS (which makes a .COM file)
Just assemble and link, the convert to .BIN with EXE2BIN and
rename to a .COM file. This was corrected by Jerry Wolfson of
Planning Research Corporation. (Note that it is spelled
WHERIS ASM at MIT 'cause file names can't be over 6 chars.)
(There is also a copy of WHERIS BAS at the same place.)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 2 Mar 84 22:20:55 pst
From: <keil%OT34@Nosc>
Subject: Re: Genealogy Software?
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
There is a "freeware"-like genealogy package for the PC that says it
can handle any number of generations depending on disk space....it has
excellent documentation BUT is in basic (documentation on disk - one program
and one documentation 160b disks......send 2 blank disks to
Melvin O. Duke
P.O. Box 20836
San Jose, CA 95160
and postage-paid return mailer......have not tried it but it might
be what you need
(this is reply to Michael Cohen from vol3 issue 20.....tenny keil)
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂06-Mar-84 1457 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #26
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 6 Mar 84 14:57:15 PST
Date: 6 Mar 1984 1308-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #26
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 6 March 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 26
This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann
Today's Topics:
SIDEWAYS.PAS, OLDER.ASM, WHEREIS.*
Background Jobs Query
Crosstalk
PC-VT
Standalone Debugger Wanted
Columbia PC Query
C86/MS Fortran Query
DMA Controller
Power ON or OFF?
Turbo Pascal Bug
PCjr. Extended Modes
Intel C Query
OS's for the XT
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 5 Mar 1984 1845-PST
Subject: SIDEWAYS.PAS, OLDER.ASM, WHEREIS.*
From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
SIDEWAYS is a program to print files sideways on an Epson
dot matrix printer. I got it off a bboard system and haven't
tried it, but it looks interesting. It can be found in the
file [ISIB]<INFO-IBMPC>SIDEWAYS.PAS.
The OLDER and WHEREIS programs described earlier have had
some bugs fixed and new versions are now in the <INFO-IBMPC>
directory.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 4 Mar 84 12:48 PST
From: "Glasser Alan"@LLL-MFE.ARPA
Subject: Background Jobs Query
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
I am looking for information on how to get a program to run in
background while another program runs in foreground. I've written a
screen dump program from a Control Systems Artist 1 board to a
Tektronix 4695 Color Copier. With a resolution of 1024x768 and 8
colors, the copier takes about 3 minutes to finish, most of which is
taken up by actual printing, not data transfer or processing. It
seems like an ideal candidate for running in background. I know there
are hardware and software printer buffers available on the market, but
I'd like to know how to do this myself. I have a preference for
assembly language programming, but if anyone knows how to do this is
any language, I can probably do the translation. Also, I would prefer
to have something that would run under DOS 1.1 and not rely on new
utilities in DOS 2.0.
[The way I'd do this would be to have the background job exit but
remain resident and tie it to the timer (or printer) interrupt. Each
time the interrupt fires, do a little processing. Of course, you can't
call any DOS functions because it's not a multitasking system. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 4 Mar 84 19:26-PST
Date: 1 Mar 84 9:08:06-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: wilkes.gatech@CSNet-Relay
Subject: Crosstalk
We've been using Crosstalk on our IBM PCs to talk to the local
network, including our VAX running 4.1bsd. The VT-100 emulation works
well with vi at 9600 baud.
The latest version of Crosstalk-XVI (version 3.4), however, does
include XMODEM support, which comes in handy when used with the "uc"
XMODEM program for UN*X, which appeared a while ago in net.sources.
Microstuf will send you the upgrade and a new manual for $20 (I think
that's the price; better call their customer service people for the
details).
Tom Wilkes
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Mar 84 09:32 EST
From: LBrenkus@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: PC-VT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
An excellent "freeware" VT-100 terminal emulator is available as
PC-VT. It can be downloaded from many IBM PC bulletin boards or
obtained directly from its author:
Mark DiVecchio
9067 Hillery Drive
San Diego, CA 92126
Send a formatted double-sided disk with prepaid mailer to the above to
receive the emulator with on-disk documentation. I have found it
quite pleasant; the only limitations I can find are:
* No termcap (but you could use Prokey, etc.)
* No support for VT-52 mode. Setup menus are identical to vt-100/102.
Cursor works fine with EMACS. As with other "freeware"-type programs,
donations are suggested ($25) but not obligatory and copying of the
unmodified program is encouraged. Disclaimer: not associated with
program, just satisfied user.
------------------------------
Date: Mon 5 Mar 84 12:49:23-MST
From: Lee Hollaar <Hollaar@UTAH-20.ARPA>
Subject: Standalone Debugger Wanted
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Does anyone know where I could get a debugger capable of setting
breakpoints, examining registers and memory, etc. (much like DOS
debug), capable of running stand-alone. We are putting together a
system on an 80186, with no operating system or standard I/O devices,
and would be making it permanently resident in ROM. Since it would
have to be configured to handle our devices and extended to handle the
new 80186 opcodes, source to the debugger is absolutely necessary.
Please respond directly to me, and I will summarize what I get.
Lee <Hollaar@Utah-20>
------------------------------
Date: Mon 5 Mar 84 14:22:02-PST
From: Steve Dennett <DENNETT@SRI-NIC>
Subject: Columbia PC Query
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
Has anyone out there had any experience with the Columbia line of PC
compatibles, especially the portable? If so, I'd like to hear if
they've been reliable, and how compatible they really are. Thanks.
Steve Dennett
------------------------------
Date: 5 March 84 15:02-PST
From: KJBSF%SLACVM.BITNET@Berkeley
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
Subject: C86/MS Fortran Query
Is it possible to use routines written in C86 with something such as
Microsoft Fortran? It would be very helpful, so that I would not have
to re-write a bunch of routines I have.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Mar 84 09:32 EST
From: LBrenkus@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: DMA Controller
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
A previous message on info-ibmpc requested help with programming the
DMA controller. This is documented in detail in the book "Interfacing
to the IBM Personal Computer", written by Lewis Eggbrecht, published by
Sams(1983). He was design team leader for the PC at IBM, and the book
could reasonably be called Tech Ref, vol 2.
------------------------------
Date: 5 Mar 1984 2135-PST
From: mike@LOGICON
Subject: Power ON or OFF?
To: .ibmsig:
I recently purchased an IBM PC/XT and was just wondering the answer to
a classic question. Should I leave the system on all the time or
power it off when I am not using it and on when I am?
Mike Parker
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Mar 84 07:54:05 pst
From: Robert A. Dukelow <dukelow%cod@Nosc>
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: Turbo Pascal Bug
I sent the following bug report to Borland International last week. I
will post another article if and when I get a response. The following
program produces incorrect results for the MS DOS version of Turbo
Pascal for the IBM PC. I have no idea whether it works for other
versions and have not tried to further generalize the nature of the
bug.
I am generally very impressed with Turbo Pascal and hope that Borland
is pricing it at a level which will allow them to continue to improve
the product. It is too good to just let sit.
The values for the constants or whether the program is run from memory
or COM file seem to make no difference (except for the value of the
resulting garbage).
Bob Dukelow
(dukelow@nosc)
program bugtest;
const
m = 5; {arbitrary as far as I know}
n = 5; {also arbitrary}
type
s = array [1..m] of char;
var
a: array[1..n] of s;
b: s;
begin
a[1] := '12345';
writeln('the following is garbage: ', a[1]);
b := '12345';
a[1] := b;
writeln('the following seems to be ok: ', a[1]);
writeln('type CR to continue');
readln;
end.
------------------------------
Date: Tuesday, 6 Mar 1984 09:14-PST
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
Subject: Re: PCjr. Extended Modes
From: jim@Rand-Unix (Jim←Gillogly)
After talking to IBM in Boca Raton, I've found a way around my
problems using the PCjr extended video modes. The short answer is
this: modes 9 and A use 32K memory instead of 16K, and the second 16K
springs into being below the normal video buffer, which is in high
memory. So stay away from all 32K when you go into these modes.
That's fine in assembler, since you have full control over memory
allocation. It's interesting to note that neither DOS nor DEBUG is
aware of the mode, and both will get stepped on by the video memory.
However, according to the guy in Boca, you can move the buffer around
with the video interrupt (10H), function 5 and maybe keep out of the
way if you're clever.
I figured out an easy way to do it in Lattice C, where the video
memory steps on the stack: allocate a stack that's greater than 16K
(I'm using 20,000 bytes), then as your last act in main() allocate a
dummy array that's 16K long that you never use; since that's ripped
off the top of the stack (i.e. high memory), the video memory's
attempt to trash your stack is thwarted. Then go into the new modes,
do your work, and GET OUT AGAIN before you exit.
Jim
------------------------------
Date: 6 Mar 1984 12:58-EST
Subject: Intel C Query
From: MHARRIS@BBNF
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
I am looking for a development environment which supports Intel C and
includes an "execution vehicle". I know about RTCS; they are too
pricey, since they bundle in stuff you might not need. I know about
MicroWare; they don't support Intel C. If you know of any other
candidates, please respond. Thanks.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 3-Mar-84 20:48:37-PST
From: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@RAND-UNIX>
Subject: OS's for the XT
To: BRACKENRIDGE@ISIB
Resent-To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
First of all, a point of information: I choose to run (and work with)
Coherent because I like the system and I personally feel that it
provides a compact and useful environment on what is inherently a very
limited piece of hardware. I'd be just as enthusiastic if I wasn't
helping to add features to aspects of the system. I would not spend
time on the system if I didn't feel it was worthwhile -- I run what I
feel serves my needs best.
I can't comment on the early evaluation copies of Coherent -- I haven't
seen them. I know that even with the first copies I did get, I never
experienced odd crashes except when debugging code -- which is to be
expected on hardware without memory management -- no system can fix that.
The lack of swapping in the original Coherents was for a good reason --
many people who buy the system (apparently) want to have two or three
users logged in at once, and the single XT disk simply did not perform
well enough in that environment in a swapping mode -- it's not a
particularly fast disk. I might mention that NCI (a Canadian
Coherent distributer) has drifted quite a bit away from the
mainline development stream. Their own modifications to the async
code were done independently and have been completely isolated from
the more general revamping given the tty driver fairly recently.
There were some problems with the async lines running high speed
input at one point -- but in the process of bringing up uucp and
getting a third async line running (the usual max on the PC is two, of
course) the problem was found and dealt with. While I was at it, I also
made changes to simplify the use of a single line for both incoming
and outgoing uucp calls, which is my normal mode of operation here
(though I'm probably going to start using a separate line for outgoing
uucp shortly, as soon as I have some time to do some wiring...)
This divergence with NCI shouldn't last too long -- they will presumably
be updated fairly soon with a new "baseline" system from which to work
which will include the changes mentioned above. The next official regular
release of the system from Mark Williams Co., which will include the bulk
of the kernel changes and application changes that I've mentioned will be
numbered 2.4.0. There are versions called 2.3.27, 2.3.28, and 2.3.29
which have been distributed to some people who were really in a rush
to get updates which include intermediate versions of some of these
changes.
As for the Coherent versions of my mail/uucp programs -- the exact manner
of distribution has yet to be fully worked out. I'm attempting to hold off
release a little longer so that I can put some elementary domain support into
the code -- this is difficult since the decisions regarding the best
way to provide this support for uucp are still being made at this moment
by the uucp community. However, the intention is to make sure that the
mail/uucp programs will be conveniently available to people who are running
Coherent once I let them out of the door.
The new version of the system that will go out has swapping (I've been
running with swapping enabled for months) and some cleverness seems to
have gotten around the disk speed problems pretty well. As a
practical matter, I've had to work rather hard to test swapping
properly, since the system doesn't even try to swap until it runs out
of memory, and stops swapping when all processes fit back into core.
In my environment, with 640K, swapping is pretty rare unless I have
about 4 or 5 C compiles going at the same time (which I occasionally
do). Of course, the old 8088 kinda drags under those conditions
(especially if, in addition to the compilations, someone else is
logged in and uucp is also running -- a common event on my system)
but it still is pretty reasonable. The PC hardware really leaves
a lot to be desired in some areas, of course.
If you want to play the benchmark game, the typical disk test is to
time a bunch of cp's and such, or to copy a disk device to /dev/null.
It isn't clear what these sorts of tests REALLY prove, but I guess
they're worth something... maybe. One key to disk performance (pretty
obviously) turns out to be the number of in core file buffers you're
willing to have around. Changing this parameter can have drastic
effects on overall throughput. Another factor revolves around the
difference between a V6-type filesystem (in the case of some systems)
or of V7-type filesystems (PC/IX and Coherent). Unfortunately, there are
other nasty PC hardware problems that have an effect on overall system
performance, including the painful lack of full PDP-11 type interrupt
priority control for the 8088 hardware itself. By the way, neither
PC/IX nor Coherent use the PC ROM BIOS for disk operations -- the BIOS
just isn't suitable for most multitasking operations, so both systems
have their own code to handle the disk. I would assume that Venix
would have had to go this same route, though I don't know for sure.
I guess in the final analysis, a choice of PC operating system depends
a lot on what your needs REALLY are. Among these (in no particular order):
1) Ability to run all MSDOS programs
2) Ability to run "large model" programs (greater than 64K I, 64K D)
3) Money you want to spend
4) Level of compatibility you need for whatever purposes you
plan to use the machine. Some people might desire "absolute"
compatibility with System V or 4.2bsd or whatever,
while others may find that minor variations from those standards
may actually provide a more useful environment for what *they*
need to accomplish. If absolute compatibility isn't required,
there may be advantages to systems which are either conceptually
"different" or which have provided similiar functionality in a
different manner, smaller size, or with other features.
It all depends on what YOU yourself plan to do with the system
and what YOUR needs really are. It's important to try figure
out what these needs are BEFORE choosing an OS, or even buying
the hardware, for that matter. There is no perfect choice!
5) Whether or not you want the ability to (legally) run multiple
logged-in users on the machine.
6) Size (kernel and disk) of the system (unless you have lotsa
disk and/or are in a fairly limited applications environment).
7) Overall performance for the applications with which you're most
concerned.
8) Level of support (and responsiveness to suggestions for modifications,
changes, or special applications) that you expect from the
distributing company. This would presumably include (but not be
limited to) ease of obtaining (and cost of) updates and general
responsiveness of the entity concerned to bug reports and requests
for fixes, updates, and other information.
My personal opinion is that if you plan to work a lot with MSDOS
programs, run MSDOS! Oh yeah, there will be MSDOS "emulators" of
different sorts for various systems. I would expect them to normally
be of fairly limited use. Why? Well, anyone who has worked much with
MSDOS programs of any complexity knows that many popular programs make
some (fairly reasonable) assumptions about the environment in which
they're running. In particular, many assume that they are the only
process running on the machine, and DIRECTLY play all sorts of dandy
games with segments of memory, the console, async ports and various
other aspects of the hardware. Some of the bizarre memory manipulations
that these programs perform might be emulatable under non-MSDOS systems,
but not without a good deal of efficiency loss in many cases. Even worse,
many popular MSDOS programs insist on having entire files in memory at
one time -- if you want to work with a 100K file, the program just
sucks up 100K of memory through direct CPU register operations.
Another point worth keeping in mind is that, apparently, MSDOS 3.0
(the multitasking version of MSDOS) will be performing even more
bizarre operations that could make emulation even more difficult.
On the other hand, since 3.0 will be offering more Unix-like features,
it will probably serve well for many people and allow them to avoid
buying a non-MSDOS system.
What's hell to one may be heaven to another! There are certainly many
applications for the PC where MSDOS is clearly the operating system
of choice.
--Lauren--
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂06-Mar-84 1457 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #26
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 6 Mar 84 14:57:15 PST
Date: 6 Mar 1984 1308-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #26
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 6 March 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 26
This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann
Today's Topics:
SIDEWAYS.PAS, OLDER.ASM, WHEREIS.*
Background Jobs Query
Crosstalk
PC-VT
Standalone Debugger Wanted
Columbia PC Query
C86/MS Fortran Query
DMA Controller
Power ON or OFF?
Turbo Pascal Bug
PCjr. Extended Modes
Intel C Query
OS's for the XT
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 5 Mar 1984 1845-PST
Subject: SIDEWAYS.PAS, OLDER.ASM, WHEREIS.*
From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
SIDEWAYS is a program to print files sideways on an Epson
dot matrix printer. I got it off a bboard system and haven't
tried it, but it looks interesting. It can be found in the
file [ISIB]<INFO-IBMPC>SIDEWAYS.PAS.
The OLDER and WHEREIS programs described earlier have had
some bugs fixed and new versions are now in the <INFO-IBMPC>
directory.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 4 Mar 84 12:48 PST
From: "Glasser Alan"@LLL-MFE.ARPA
Subject: Background Jobs Query
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
I am looking for information on how to get a program to run in
background while another program runs in foreground. I've written a
screen dump program from a Control Systems Artist 1 board to a
Tektronix 4695 Color Copier. With a resolution of 1024x768 and 8
colors, the copier takes about 3 minutes to finish, most of which is
taken up by actual printing, not data transfer or processing. It
seems like an ideal candidate for running in background. I know there
are hardware and software printer buffers available on the market, but
I'd like to know how to do this myself. I have a preference for
assembly language programming, but if anyone knows how to do this is
any language, I can probably do the translation. Also, I would prefer
to have something that would run under DOS 1.1 and not rely on new
utilities in DOS 2.0.
[The way I'd do this would be to have the background job exit but
remain resident and tie it to the timer (or printer) interrupt. Each
time the interrupt fires, do a little processing. Of course, you can't
call any DOS functions because it's not a multitasking system. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 4 Mar 84 19:26-PST
Date: 1 Mar 84 9:08:06-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: wilkes.gatech@CSNet-Relay
Subject: Crosstalk
We've been using Crosstalk on our IBM PCs to talk to the local
network, including our VAX running 4.1bsd. The VT-100 emulation works
well with vi at 9600 baud.
The latest version of Crosstalk-XVI (version 3.4), however, does
include XMODEM support, which comes in handy when used with the "uc"
XMODEM program for UN*X, which appeared a while ago in net.sources.
Microstuf will send you the upgrade and a new manual for $20 (I think
that's the price; better call their customer service people for the
details).
Tom Wilkes
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Mar 84 09:32 EST
From: LBrenkus@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: PC-VT
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
An excellent "freeware" VT-100 terminal emulator is available as
PC-VT. It can be downloaded from many IBM PC bulletin boards or
obtained directly from its author:
Mark DiVecchio
9067 Hillery Drive
San Diego, CA 92126
Send a formatted double-sided disk with prepaid mailer to the above to
receive the emulator with on-disk documentation. I have found it
quite pleasant; the only limitations I can find are:
* No termcap (but you could use Prokey, etc.)
* No support for VT-52 mode. Setup menus are identical to vt-100/102.
Cursor works fine with EMACS. As with other "freeware"-type programs,
donations are suggested ($25) but not obligatory and copying of the
unmodified program is encouraged. Disclaimer: not associated with
program, just satisfied user.
------------------------------
Date: Mon 5 Mar 84 12:49:23-MST
From: Lee Hollaar <Hollaar@UTAH-20.ARPA>
Subject: Standalone Debugger Wanted
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Does anyone know where I could get a debugger capable of setting
breakpoints, examining registers and memory, etc. (much like DOS
debug), capable of running stand-alone. We are putting together a
system on an 80186, with no operating system or standard I/O devices,
and would be making it permanently resident in ROM. Since it would
have to be configured to handle our devices and extended to handle the
new 80186 opcodes, source to the debugger is absolutely necessary.
Please respond directly to me, and I will summarize what I get.
Lee <Hollaar@Utah-20>
------------------------------
Date: Mon 5 Mar 84 14:22:02-PST
From: Steve Dennett <DENNETT@SRI-NIC>
Subject: Columbia PC Query
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
Has anyone out there had any experience with the Columbia line of PC
compatibles, especially the portable? If so, I'd like to hear if
they've been reliable, and how compatible they really are. Thanks.
Steve Dennett
------------------------------
Date: 5 March 84 15:02-PST
From: KJBSF%SLACVM.BITNET@Berkeley
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
Subject: C86/MS Fortran Query
Is it possible to use routines written in C86 with something such as
Microsoft Fortran? It would be very helpful, so that I would not have
to re-write a bunch of routines I have.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Mar 84 09:32 EST
From: LBrenkus@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: DMA Controller
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
A previous message on info-ibmpc requested help with programming the
DMA controller. This is documented in detail in the book "Interfacing
to the IBM Personal Computer", written by Lewis Eggbrecht, published by
Sams(1983). He was design team leader for the PC at IBM, and the book
could reasonably be called Tech Ref, vol 2.
------------------------------
Date: 5 Mar 1984 2135-PST
From: mike@LOGICON
Subject: Power ON or OFF?
To: .ibmsig:
I recently purchased an IBM PC/XT and was just wondering the answer to
a classic question. Should I leave the system on all the time or
power it off when I am not using it and on when I am?
Mike Parker
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Mar 84 07:54:05 pst
From: Robert A. Dukelow <dukelow%cod@Nosc>
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: Turbo Pascal Bug
I sent the following bug report to Borland International last week. I
will post another article if and when I get a response. The following
program produces incorrect results for the MS DOS version of Turbo
Pascal for the IBM PC. I have no idea whether it works for other
versions and have not tried to further generalize the nature of the
bug.
I am generally very impressed with Turbo Pascal and hope that Borland
is pricing it at a level which will allow them to continue to improve
the product. It is too good to just let sit.
The values for the constants or whether the program is run from memory
or COM file seem to make no difference (except for the value of the
resulting garbage).
Bob Dukelow
(dukelow@nosc)
program bugtest;
const
m = 5; {arbitrary as far as I know}
n = 5; {also arbitrary}
type
s = array [1..m] of char;
var
a: array[1..n] of s;
b: s;
begin
a[1] := '12345';
writeln('the following is garbage: ', a[1]);
b := '12345';
a[1] := b;
writeln('the following seems to be ok: ', a[1]);
writeln('type CR to continue');
readln;
end.
------------------------------
Date: Tuesday, 6 Mar 1984 09:14-PST
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
Subject: Re: PCjr. Extended Modes
From: jim@Rand-Unix (Jim←Gillogly)
After talking to IBM in Boca Raton, I've found a way around my
problems using the PCjr extended video modes. The short answer is
this: modes 9 and A use 32K memory instead of 16K, and the second 16K
springs into being below the normal video buffer, which is in high
memory. So stay away from all 32K when you go into these modes.
That's fine in assembler, since you have full control over memory
allocation. It's interesting to note that neither DOS nor DEBUG is
aware of the mode, and both will get stepped on by the video memory.
However, according to the guy in Boca, you can move the buffer around
with the video interrupt (10H), function 5 and maybe keep out of the
way if you're clever.
I figured out an easy way to do it in Lattice C, where the video
memory steps on the stack: allocate a stack that's greater than 16K
(I'm using 20,000 bytes), then as your last act in main() allocate a
dummy array that's 16K long that you never use; since that's ripped
off the top of the stack (i.e. high memory), the video memory's
attempt to trash your stack is thwarted. Then go into the new modes,
do your work, and GET OUT AGAIN before you exit.
Jim
------------------------------
Date: 6 Mar 1984 12:58-EST
Subject: Intel C Query
From: MHARRIS@BBNF
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
I am looking for a development environment which supports Intel C and
includes an "execution vehicle". I know about RTCS; they are too
pricey, since they bundle in stuff you might not need. I know about
MicroWare; they don't support Intel C. If you know of any other
candidates, please respond. Thanks.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 3-Mar-84 20:48:37-PST
From: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@RAND-UNIX>
Subject: OS's for the XT
To: BRACKENRIDGE@ISIB
Resent-To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
First of all, a point of information: I choose to run (and work with)
Coherent because I like the system and I personally feel that it
provides a compact and useful environment on what is inherently a very
limited piece of hardware. I'd be just as enthusiastic if I wasn't
helping to add features to aspects of the system. I would not spend
time on the system if I didn't feel it was worthwhile -- I run what I
feel serves my needs best.
I can't comment on the early evaluation copies of Coherent -- I haven't
seen them. I know that even with the first copies I did get, I never
experienced odd crashes except when debugging code -- which is to be
expected on hardware without memory management -- no system can fix that.
The lack of swapping in the original Coherents was for a good reason --
many people who buy the system (apparently) want to have two or three
users logged in at once, and the single XT disk simply did not perform
well enough in that environment in a swapping mode -- it's not a
particularly fast disk. I might mention that NCI (a Canadian
Coherent distributer) has drifted quite a bit away from the
mainline development stream. Their own modifications to the async
code were done independently and have been completely isolated from
the more general revamping given the tty driver fairly recently.
There were some problems with the async lines running high speed
input at one point -- but in the process of bringing up uucp and
getting a third async line running (the usual max on the PC is two, of
course) the problem was found and dealt with. While I was at it, I also
made changes to simplify the use of a single line for both incoming
and outgoing uucp calls, which is my normal mode of operation here
(though I'm probably going to start using a separate line for outgoing
uucp shortly, as soon as I have some time to do some wiring...)
This divergence with NCI shouldn't last too long -- they will presumably
be updated fairly soon with a new "baseline" system from which to work
which will include the changes mentioned above. The next official regular
release of the system from Mark Williams Co., which will include the bulk
of the kernel changes and application changes that I've mentioned will be
numbered 2.4.0. There are versions called 2.3.27, 2.3.28, and 2.3.29
which have been distributed to some people who were really in a rush
to get updates which include intermediate versions of some of these
changes.
As for the Coherent versions of my mail/uucp programs -- the exact manner
of distribution has yet to be fully worked out. I'm attempting to hold off
release a little longer so that I can put some elementary domain support into
the code -- this is difficult since the decisions regarding the best
way to provide this support for uucp are still being made at this moment
by the uucp community. However, the intention is to make sure that the
mail/uucp programs will be conveniently available to people who are running
Coherent once I let them out of the door.
The new version of the system that will go out has swapping (I've been
running with swapping enabled for months) and some cleverness seems to
have gotten around the disk speed problems pretty well. As a
practical matter, I've had to work rather hard to test swapping
properly, since the system doesn't even try to swap until it runs out
of memory, and stops swapping when all processes fit back into core.
In my environment, with 640K, swapping is pretty rare unless I have
about 4 or 5 C compiles going at the same time (which I occasionally
do). Of course, the old 8088 kinda drags under those conditions
(especially if, in addition to the compilations, someone else is
logged in and uucp is also running -- a common event on my system)
but it still is pretty reasonable. The PC hardware really leaves
a lot to be desired in some areas, of course.
If you want to play the benchmark game, the typical disk test is to
time a bunch of cp's and such, or to copy a disk device to /dev/null.
It isn't clear what these sorts of tests REALLY prove, but I guess
they're worth something... maybe. One key to disk performance (pretty
obviously) turns out to be the number of in core file buffers you're
willing to have around. Changing this parameter can have drastic
effects on overall throughput. Another factor revolves around the
difference between a V6-type filesystem (in the case of some systems)
or of V7-type filesystems (PC/IX and Coherent). Unfortunately, there are
other nasty PC hardware problems that have an effect on overall system
performance, including the painful lack of full PDP-11 type interrupt
priority control for the 8088 hardware itself. By the way, neither
PC/IX nor Coherent use the PC ROM BIOS for disk operations -- the BIOS
just isn't suitable for most multitasking operations, so both systems
have their own code to handle the disk. I would assume that Venix
would have had to go this same route, though I don't know for sure.
I guess in the final analysis, a choice of PC operating system depends
a lot on what your needs REALLY are. Among these (in no particular order):
1) Ability to run all MSDOS programs
2) Ability to run "large model" programs (greater than 64K I, 64K D)
3) Money you want to spend
4) Level of compatibility you need for whatever purposes you
plan to use the machine. Some people might desire "absolute"
compatibility with System V or 4.2bsd or whatever,
while others may find that minor variations from those standards
may actually provide a more useful environment for what *they*
need to accomplish. If absolute compatibility isn't required,
there may be advantages to systems which are either conceptually
"different" or which have provided similiar functionality in a
different manner, smaller size, or with other features.
It all depends on what YOU yourself plan to do with the system
and what YOUR needs really are. It's important to try figure
out what these needs are BEFORE choosing an OS, or even buying
the hardware, for that matter. There is no perfect choice!
5) Whether or not you want the ability to (legally) run multiple
logged-in users on the machine.
6) Size (kernel and disk) of the system (unless you have lotsa
disk and/or are in a fairly limited applications environment).
7) Overall performance for the applications with which you're most
concerned.
8) Level of support (and responsiveness to suggestions for modifications,
changes, or special applications) that you expect from the
distributing company. This would presumably include (but not be
limited to) ease of obtaining (and cost of) updates and general
responsiveness of the entity concerned to bug reports and requests
for fixes, updates, and other information.
My personal opinion is that if you plan to work a lot with MSDOS
programs, run MSDOS! Oh yeah, there will be MSDOS "emulators" of
different sorts for various systems. I would expect them to normally
be of fairly limited use. Why? Well, anyone who has worked much with
MSDOS programs of any complexity knows that many popular programs make
some (fairly reasonable) assumptions about the environment in which
they're running. In particular, many assume that they are the only
process running on the machine, and DIRECTLY play all sorts of dandy
games with segments of memory, the console, async ports and various
other aspects of the hardware. Some of the bizarre memory manipulations
that these programs perform might be emulatable under non-MSDOS systems,
but not without a good deal of efficiency loss in many cases. Even worse,
many popular MSDOS programs insist on having entire files in memory at
one time -- if you want to work with a 100K file, the program just
sucks up 100K of memory through direct CPU register operations.
Another point worth keeping in mind is that, apparently, MSDOS 3.0
(the multitasking version of MSDOS) will be performing even more
bizarre operations that could make emulation even more difficult.
On the other hand, since 3.0 will be offering more Unix-like features,
it will probably serve well for many people and allow them to avoid
buying a non-MSDOS system.
What's hell to one may be heaven to another! There are certainly many
applications for the PC where MSDOS is clearly the operating system
of choice.
--Lauren--
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂08-Mar-84 0114 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #27
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 8 Mar 84 01:13:08 PST
Date: 7 Mar 1984 2139-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #27
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 7 March 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 27
This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann
Today's Topics:
Table of Contents
IBM Portable PC & Kermit
RS-422 at 38.4K Baud Query
Repair Problems
Alternate Keyboard Query
Microsoft Word
Free Lattice C Math Library
Z/MS-DOS Program Editors (2 msgs)
Format Problem (2 msgs)
Concurrent CP/M 2.0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 6 Mar 1984 1624-PST
Subject: Table of Contents
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC
nagy@BNL has been kind enough to make up a table of contents for the
Info-IBMPC digest for February 1984. This can be found in the file
<INFO-IBMPC>TOC.FEB84.
------------------------------
Date: Tue 6 Mar 84 17:43:36-EST
From: Frank da Cruz <cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: IBM Portable PC & Kermit
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA, Info-Kermit@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA
I'm writing this note on an IBM Portable PC which we have on loan for
a few days, using KERMIT in H19 emulation mode with EMACS. KERMIT seems to
work just fine on this new machine; I didn't test it extensively, but I
transferred a few files back & forth with no difficulty at all, and the
terminal emulator works fine with EMACS.
A couple impressions about the portable PC -- the 8.5" amber screen is
awful. I have nothing against amber, but the monitor is driven by the
IBM color adapter, so you get the low resolution characters and the
disconcerting flicker during scrolling. There's no monochrome option.
The keyboard is exactly like the PC/XT keyboard, except with a
different base that folds onto the front of the unit. The cord plugs
into the front of the unit (hooray!) with a phone jack and stores
inside the keyboard.
I installed an IBM async adapter and it worked fine right away (at
4800 baud). I notice there are 6 expansion slots. 4 of them are very
short, 1 is a little bit longer, and one appears to be ALMOST long
enough for the AST or Quadram multifunction boards. There's an
annoying high pitched noise coming out of the vent in back. The noise
plus the flicker would make this machine no fun to sit in front of all
day. But the compatibility and the keyboard beat the PCjr.
Speaking of the PCjr, we have one of those on loan for a few days too
and will try to get KERMIT running on it if we can.
- Frank
------------------------------
Date: 6 Mar 1984 17:44:38-EST
From: Greg.Glass@CMU-CS-CAD
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: RS-422 at 38.4K Query
Anyone know of an interface card that will give me 38.4K? RS-422
would be nice also. I want to control a Sony video tape deck and
that's what it wants.
Greg
------------------------------
Date: Tuesday, 6 Mar 1984 19:08-PST
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
Subject: Repair Problems
From: anderson@Rand-Unix (Robert←Anderson)
After running my two-year-old IBM PC about 6 hrs. a day, 5 days a week
with no problems (except expected ones in the 3rd party Daisywheel
printer) I suddenly had some component on my motherboard (don't know
which) go, requiring a $400 replacement (it would be $800 without turn
in of my old motherboard), followed several weeks later by a short in
the flyback transformer in my IBM monochrome display (Computerworld
says its unrepairable, because it would have to be sent back to IBM,
and would cost as much as a new one). I haven't been hit by lightning
lately, or anything else that would have caused this rash of problems.
I conclude that some of the components have a lifetime of about 2
years.
What I conclude from this is that it might pay to get some sort of
service agreement on your PC after a year or so, to handle the big stuff
when it hits; what seems rock solid now won't last forever.
By the way, does anyone know if the flyback transformer in an IBM
monochrome display is a common electronic part that can be procured
at an electronics outlet?
Bob Anderson
------------------------------
Date: 06 Mar 84 23:19:23 PST (Tue)
To: info-micro@Brl-Vgr, info-ibmpc@Usc-Isib
cc: kling@Uci-750a
Subject: Alternate Keyboard Query
From: Jerry Sweet <jsweet@uci-750a>
Are there any alternative (i.e. close-to-Selectric configuration) keyboards
available for the IBM XT?
I find that the positions of the shift and return keys on the XT are enough
to increase my typing errors by 70% and decrease my typing speed by a
similar amount. If the IBM XT keyboard were the only keyboard that I used,
the problem would go away, but for most of the day, I must use four other
keyboards that have more in common with each other than with the IBM
keyboard.
I have heard that there is software available to convert the "weird"
keys to "expected" keys, but this is not the optimum solution. Yes, I
really want a different keyboard. The keyboard must not require any
soldering, rewiring, or reprogamming to work; it must plug right into
the XT chassis, no fuss, no muss.
Please...no religious keyboard issue flaming; I want information, not
attempts to convert me.
-jns
[There are several replacement keyboards for the PC, made by Keytronics
and others. The ones I've seen have the Selectric layout, but are
not as good mechanically as the PCs. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Mar 84 22:15 EST
From: Charles Weems <weems%umass-cs.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@csnet-relay.arpa
Subject: Microsoft Word
I was allowed to play with Word at a local dealer for several hours.
My general impressions are that I like it but it has some definite
shortcomings.
Some problems I ran into were: Very slow start-up, very slow file
writes to floppy. The screen area is only 19 lines long because they
use fixed, rather than pop-up, menus. The style sheets are difficult
to deal with and poorly documented (however they are also very
powerful -- probably a good design choice if only the help info and
manuals would explain them). The command system is a bit baroque
without the mouse. With the mouse I found editing to be very quick
and easy. The editor shows you exactly how the document will appear
except for page breaks, headings, line numbers and so on.
Word has a number of very nice features. The mouse works very well.
It does cut-and-paste very quickly. You can do multiple columns.
Italics, boldface and underlines all show up on the screen. It can
also be used for writing raw text files (like source code). It has a
built in glossary system that allows you to write with abbreviations
that it fills in for you. It supports a good collection of printers.
The new version (due out real-soon-now) will allow you to define your
own printer driver through an interactive driver-builder. They
specifically claim that this will make it possible to use laser
printers.
In summary, I really liked a lot of the things that they did. I can
deal with most of the faults. I would only recommend using it with
the mouse.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 7 Mar 84 01:01:58 pst
From: dag%ucbarpa@Berkeley (David Allen Gewirtz)
To: INFO-CPM@MIT-MC.ARPA, INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA, INFO-MICRO@BRL-VGR.ARPA,
INFO-UNIX@BRL.ARPA, SOMMERS@RUTGERS.ARPA
Subject: Free Lattice C Math Library
For math goodies, here's a real out of this world reference. There's
a bulletin board system has a whole lot of mathematics subroutines
(arcsine and other mean, nasty, and ugly things). It is in the SF Bay
area at 415-864-1418 and the rest is up to you.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 7 Mar 84 15:43:22 cst
From: knutson@ut-ngp.ARPA
To: info-hz100@radc-tops20.ARPA
Subject: Z/MS-DOS Editor Query
Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
Does anyone have any suggestions for a decent programmers editor?
EDLIN is the pits and I am not too fond of Wordstars user interface
either. An editor with capabilities similar to EMACS or vi would be
nice. I am looking for one that will run on ZDOS so if it uses IBMPC
direct screen control, it's no good to me. I would like for it to be
able to handle large files gracefully. Multi-file or multi-window
would also be nice but is not essential. Of course, the cost must be
reasonable also, but isn't that always the case?
Many thanks,
Jim Knutson
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 7 Mar 84 15:14:17 mst
From: brownc@utah-cs (Eric C. Brown)
To: info-hz100@radc-tops20.ARPA, knutson@ut-ngp.ARPA
Subject: Re: Z/MS-DOS Editor
Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
Well, we use Final Word from Mark of the Unicorn for most of our
editing jobs; it can handle up to 240Kbyte files and up to sixteen
files can be loaded at one time. The default commands are fairly
worthless, but the commands can be altered at will to include any
commands, so we have it modified (about an hour's effort) to include a
substantial subset of EMACS. Also, the terminal interface can be
reprogrammed, so we have it set up to bypass the normal DOS interface
commands and talk directly to the monitor entry point, so updates run
blazingly fast. The price is reasonable, $300 for the editor and a
Scribe-like formatter that supports a wide variety of printers.
Hope this helps,
Eric C. Brown.
------------------------------
Date: 7 Mar 1984 1639-PST
From: DBAKER at USC-ECL.ARPA
Subject: Format Problem
To: info-ibmpc at USC-ISIB
Help! I am having a problem with an IBM PC using DOS 2.0, 660K
memory, an expansion with 10 Meg disk. The problem is that if I try
to format a disk in the b: drive using the /s/v option I get an error
indicating that I have insufficient memory to transfer the system
files. I can reboot the dos disk and the format /s/v works.
I reformatted the c: drive, restored the files and it works ok. The
problems re-occurs though and at random times. I have yet to pin down
any one parameter that triggers it.
Has anyone seen this problem? Please reply to dbaker@ecla
Thanking you in advance,
Dwight Baker,
Hughes Aircraft Electro Optical Group
------------------------------
Date: 7 Mar 1984 1655-PST
Subject: Re: Format Problem
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: DBAKER@USC-ECL
cc: info-ibmpc
Sounds like the notorious format position bug again. Both
format and diskcopy are sensitive to where they are loaded.
The load point is changed when you install device drivers
or add buffers= or have programs that stay resident, etc.
The only answer at present is to juggle these things until
you have a load point at which format works.
------------------------------
Date: Wed 7 Mar 84 16:59:21-PST
From: Jim Celoni S.J. <Celoni@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: Concurrent CP/M 2.0
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I received my ($40) update to Digital Research, Inc.'s original
Concurrent CP/M-86: Concurrent CP/M version 2.0 with Windows. The
complete package is 3 DSDD disks (boot/help, system, graphics [GSX]),
rewritten manual (2.5" thick), and a coupon to send to receive version
3.1 (with its PC-DOS emulator) free when it's released "spring 1984".
Still 4 concurrent processes max, at most one running graphics.
Windows may be arbitrarily sized and placed (you can even put two on
your IBM monochrome display and two on your color monitor), either
with commands or a manager that prompts in line 25. The [RA]MDISK may
now be set up to use memory banks 4-9 (not A) or D-E (you give
starting bank; it goes to end of installed RAM) (only one contiguous
block, unlike what's possible with some others like STB).
Unfortunately, DRI outdid IBM's 2.0-to-2.1 unbundling of the manual:
Not only does the new CCP/M manual NOT include the CCP/M Programmer's
guide (it was half of the old manual), but the disks don't include
some of the old system, most notably assembler and linker! Instead,
there's a "Programmer's PAK coupon" offering more programs (assembler,
linker, librarian, xref, systat, window source code, queue
communications example--I assume the latter two are machine-readable
too) and documentation (GSX user and programmer guide and CCP/M
programmer guide) for $70.00. When I called, DRI said that all copies
of CCP/M 2.0 had the same coupon (i.e., it wasn't extra because my
copy was an update).
An ad pamphlet inside said CCP/M (list $350 w/o PAK) is available for
an "introductory" price of $150, or free with two DRI applications.
Actually, I don't think $220 with Programmer PAK is bad; my
disappointment with DRI is that nowhere was I told what I was NOT
getting until I unsealed the package.
Caveat emptor. +j
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂10-Mar-84 1917 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #28
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 10 Mar 84 19:14:47 PST
Date: 10 Mar 1984 1528-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #28
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 10 March 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 28
This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann
Today's Topics:
MS-DOS 2.5
Rogue for the PC
Spitbol/Snobol Query
Keytronics Keyboard
Repairs
Expansion Chassis Update
Science Education Software Query
DeSmet C Compiler
Code Profiler Wanted
New Source for Public Domain Software
Word Processing Programs
Leaving Machines On
MS-DOS Program Editors
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 8 Mar 1984 13:30:06 PST
Subject: MS-DOS 2.5
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
The following is an article by Richard Duffy from PC Week. PC Week is
a free weekly magazine from Ziff-Davis. It is a pretty good magazine
in that it can be scanned in a finite amount of time unlike PC (or
even INFO-IBMPC).
MULTITASKING 3.0 AWAITED, BUT 2.5 TO ARRIVE SOON
PC Week has learned that Microsoft's next release of MS-DOS is likely
to stress networking capabilities. The new version of the operating
system, to be called MS-DOS 2.5, is not, however, the much awaited
concurrent operating system many in the industry are expecting.
Industry insiders say the new version will be a precursor to the multi
tasking , multi user capabilities of the product called MS-DOS 3.0.
Microsoft would not comment.
The existence of the products came to light in a "Software Price List for
OEMs" published in December, PC Week has obtained a copy of that list,
which gives prices for MS-DOS 2.0, MS-DOS 2.5 (including MS-VS) and
MS-DOS 3.0 (including MS-VS).
The prices for the 2.0 and 2.5 versions are identical -$6 to $90 per copy,
depending on volume and licensing arrangements - while MS-DOS 3.0 is
prices at $7 to $110.
A top executive with a large maker of IBM PC compatibles says it is
his understanding that MS-DOS 2.5 has only a few enhancements over 2.0
and 2.1. Essentially, he says MS-DOS 2.5 simply includes the hard
disk handling features "that version 2.0 should have had but didn't".
These, he says, include password protection, the capability to establish
file attributes (such as read file) and additional spooling features.
However, he says, the real reason that DOS 2.5 is being released "is to
cover up the fact that DOS 3.0 still isn't ready".
A Microsoft competitor predicts that MS-DOS 2.5 will include such networking
and multiuser functions as file sharing and locking. "It will be 2.0 with
networking plus a few additional features."
Microsoft is also developing a product called MS-Net, which is listed in the
OEM price list, presumably offering more extensive networking capabilities.
MS-Net will range from $7 to $110, says the document.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 7 Mar 84 23:57-PST
Date: 10 Feb 84 16:37:12-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!ulysses!princeton!astrovax!fisher!djl @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Rogue for the PC
Rogue is indeed available from A.I. Designs, out in Sunnyvale, CA. I
know the guys involved, and it is based on Rogue 5.3. with several
major 'enhancements.' See Byte et. al. for the gory details.
***dan
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 8 Mar 84 1:25-PST
Date: 29 Feb 84 10:07:30-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!linus!philabs!micomvax!cfmp @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Spitbol/Snobol Query
Hi there all you SPITBOL (or SNOBOL) lovers. Where are all of you?
Would anybody know of a version of Spitbol or Snobol for the PC? This
would make porting my MVS work a lot simpler. I would appreciate any
hints on where I could buy a copy. Thanks in advance.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 7 Mar 84 08:21 PST
From: "Pearson Pete"@LLL-MFE.ARPA
Subject: Keytronics Keyboard
To: info-micro@brl.arpa
Keytronics makes a passable keyboard substitute. Check their frequent
ad in Byte or PC to see how you like the layout. My biggest gripe
about it (not very big) is that there is no tactile feedback. Also,
they had no good suggestion, when I called on behalf of a large number
of users, as to what I might do with the OLD keyboards. But if you
haven't bought your "system unit" yet, note that you CAN get a system
unit without a keyboard. Most IBM dealers deny it, but the item
number is 5150X14, 5150X64, or 5150X74 (according to disk(s): 1 SS, 1
DS, or 2 DS). Our (rather old) price list shows each of these as $270
less than the corresponding with-keyboard model.
Peter.
[Thanks to Rob Kling <Kling%UCI-20B@UCI-750a> for forwarding this
message. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 8 Mar 84 09:26 PST
From: jwaas.es@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: Repairs
To: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
This is in response to a question regarding repairs to the IBM logic and
the video display.
The flyback is a quite common transformer which most T.V. parts supplier
will be willing to sell. The cost would be around $20 . The type might
be discernible from the actual unit but most often a good parts man can
find one of several replacement types. When installing, first wash your
hands very well to remove oils and salts which can cause arcing problems
on the transformer body, then, if soldering any wires, when soldering
create smooth well rounded balls without peaks if soldering any wires.
The printed circuit board soldering needs only normal soldering methods.
The cost of replacing the entire board could be avoided if taken to a
good technician. I found a tech. who works on 8085,8086 and Z80
machines. He charges $100 minimum which covers the first hour of his
work. Parts are extra. But he repaired my Z80 machine for $165 which
beat the $480 replacement cost although it did take him 3 days.
Jaye
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 8 Mar 1984 18:43 EST
From: SJOBRG%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Subject: Expansion Chassis Update
The following information on PC expansion chassis is courtesy of Scott
Morrison of MIT <OA.SMOR@MIT-XX.ARPA>. It supplements the information
posted to Info-IBMPC earlier this year (Info-IBMPC Digest for 12/03/83,
Volume 2, Issue 94):
The Anrok PCX-6 expansion chassis can be obtained directly from
Anrok in 2 days (UPS Blue) for $514.50. Their nearest [to
Massachusetts] distributor is Data Access Systems in Norwood, NJ.
The Sigma Expansion Chassis has been raised to $895.00 with a 20%
discount to MIT [a similar discount is probably available to other
qualified organizations].
The I-Bus Six-Pac Expansion Chassis is now $795 with the 18" cable,
and $835 with the 48" cable.
Also, there is a new contender in the PC expansion chassis market:
Desert Technologies, Inc.
P.O. Box 41628
Tucson, AZ 85717
Product Name: EM 103 Bus Expansion Module
Capacity: 6 slots
Power Supply: 5.0A at +5V, 0.5A at -5V, 1.5A at :12V, 0.5A at -12V,
with fan
Cable: 20" shielded
Size: 5.5" high, 14.2" wide, 16.0" deep
Price: $645, 2 week delivery est. (as of 2/21/84).
------------------------------
Date: 8 Mar 1984 16:41-PST
Subject: Science Education Software Query
From: ISAACSON@USC-ISI
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
I'd appreciate pointers relating to IBMPC software in science
education (including Biology, Chemistry, and Physics) at the
High-School and College levels. Availability, quality, etc.,
especially as compared with such software which is available for the
Apple IIe.
Please respond to ISAACSON@USC-ISI. Thanks.
------------------------------
Date: 6 Mar 84 8:19:53-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!bet @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: DeSmet C Compiler
The DeSmet C Development Package costs approx. $110 (I don't know exact
current prices), supports full K&R C with stdio, and includes:
compiler -- 2 passes, the first loads the second as an overlay
assembler -- loaded by pass 2 of compiler to translate intermediate
assembler into object unless you give the compiler the
"-a" switch. Useable as a separate assembler.
linker -- assembler (and therefore compiler) produces linkable
object modules (not Microsoft standard)
library manager
listing program that produces a cross reference
GOOD screen-oriented editor
A lot of bang for the buck. Standard I/O *is* standard, and
implements all the common functions. The compiler is fast, produces
efficient code, and hasn't demonstrated any bugs in a *lot* of C
programming. To wit: an alpha-beta search othello program, approx. 16K
of *dense* C before comments (written for a competition) was able to
search to four moves ahead, examining as many as 2000 boards in
mid-game, in the 30 second time limit. A natural-language program,
written and developed on a PDP-11/70, approx. 80K of source. The PDP
(node "duke") got unhealthy, and started crashing regularly. Moved
the project to an IBM PC/XT. The code compiled with exactly two kinds
of changes required:
1) the DeSmet compiler treats names as significant to 31 characters,
instead of 8, so it caught some typographical errors in the ends of
long names
2) the linker (*not* the compiler) is case-insensitive, so a few
external names that were only distinct by case had to be renamed
The resulting program ran slower than on the 11/70, by a factor of about 2.
Still useable.
For information contact: C Ware Corporation
970 W. El Camino Real
Suite 4
Sunnyvale, CA 94097
(408) 736-6905
Disclaimer: I have no connection with this establishment, except as a satisfied
customer.
Bennett Todd
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 9 Mar 84 9:28:05 EST
From: Robert E. Wells <rwells@BBN-UNIX>
Subject: Code Profiler Wanted
To: info-ibmpc@isib
I need a code profiling tool to help me analyze which parts of my IBM
PC programs are taking the most time. Something similar to monitor
and prof in the Unix environment would be wonderful.
Also, how can a sampling rate higher than 18.2 samples/second be
achieved? Perhaps by tricking a serial port into giving interrupts
constantly?
-Thanks, Robert
------------------------------
Date: 9 Mar 1984 13:12 MST (Fri)
From: "Frank J. Wancho" <WANCHO@SIMTEL20>
To: INFO-CPM@BRL, INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
Cc: INFO-MICRO@BRL, INFO-UNIX@BRL
Subject: New Source for Public Domain Software
SIMTEL20 holds the online repository for the entire SIG/M and
CPMUG volumes of public domain disks. We also actively maintain a
separate collection of current CP/M public domain software originally
started on MIT-MC. There is also a fledgling collection of UNIX/C
public domain software from Rick Conn, with the DARCOM ToolChest to be
added momentarily. We also expect to be uploading the current set of
42 PC-BLUE volumes next week, and the latest releases from SIG/M as
they become available.
The major directories of interest are:
MICRO:<CPM.*> The constantly updated CP/M collection from MC
See MICRO:<CPM>CPM.DIRLST for a short list of
the subdirectory name to substitute for the *.
MICRO:<SIGM.VOLnnn> The SIG/M collection, where nnn = 000 to 145.
We are expecting 146 to 165 RSN.
MICRO:<CPMUG.VOLnnn> The CPMUG collection, where nnn = 001 to 054,
and 078 to 090 (055 to 077 are duplicates of
various SIG/M volumes).
MICRO:<UNIX.*> UNIX/C utilities from Rick Conn, including UC
and MENU to name two.
MICRO:<UNIX.TOOLCHEST.*>The DARCOM ToolChest (available later today).
MICRO:<PC-BLUE.VOLnnn> The SIG/M and NYACC PC-BLUE collection, where
nnn = 001 to 042 (available later next week).
Each major directory also contains a file of the form,
MICRO:<dir>dir.CRCLST, which lists the contents of each of the
subdirectories in alphanumeric order along with the size, filetype,
and CRC value.
Filetype may be either ASCII or COM. If COM, then it is an ITS Binary
file. ALL of the files in MICRO:<SIGM.VOLnnn>, MICRO:<CPMUG.VOLnnn>,
and (soon) MICRO:<PC-BLUE.VOLnnn>, and the obviously binary files in
MICRO:<CPM.*> are stored in ITS Binary format to preserve published or
documented CRC values.
--Frank
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 9 Mar 84 16:04:37 est
From: ANDERSEN <sigurd%vax1%vax1%cc.delaware@udel-relay.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Word Processing Programs
Cc: '%vax1%cc.delaware@udel-relay.arpa
At the University of Delaware we recently evaluated many word processing
programs for use by Humanities faculty, many of whom knew nothing about
computers, and many of whom wanted all sorts of fancy features - footnotes,
foreign language capabilities, etc.
Word Perfect and MicroSoft Word were two of the top contenders. We
ended up choosing Word Perfect for a number of reasons. The screen is
not cluttered with commands, margins etc. Interaction is rapid.
Included with the program are mail merge and simple integrated spread
sheet capabilities, along with a relatively decent speller program.
Twenty plus printers are supported in the standard version, and it's
not too hard to add new ones, with all features supported. One of its
biggest advantages is that support from Satellite Software
International is superb, especially when compared to that from
MicroSoft, who are almost impossible to reach.
I found Word to be a bit slow, especially on a floppy-based system.
Perhaps on an XT or with ramdisk that would improve. It is a new
product, and as with any new product, still has some rough edges. I
found its display on the color/graphics screen to be fascinating in
that it showed italics and other special fonts, but found the 8x8
character matrix woefully inadequate for long-term use. It can also
work with a monochrome display, but doesn't have as many fancy
features. I did not work with the mouse, so can't really give you an
opinion of how well that is integrated with the program, or how well
it works. Microsoft's support is, in my opinion, quite poor. The
documentation said that output to a laser page printer is possible,
but there were no details about the internals that would probably be
necessary in order to make use of that or other fancy output devices.
That, also, could change in the future.
One of the other top contenders was Final Word from Mark of the
Unicorn, which was rejected by the Humanities members of the committee
because of the two-step nature of editing, then formatting. People
who had worked with a mainframe version of Scribe found its identical
subset of commands quite valuable and easy to use. One negative to
Final Word is that is a bit difficult at first to get used to the way
it handles files and backing them up for you (done automatically every
so often). It's hard to lose text accidentally, but it's also hard to
get rid of all copies of unwanted text until you figure out how to do
that.
We looked at Volkswriter Deluxe. I found it to have too many
non-obvious control key sequences for my taste. It is fairly
powerful, but not as strong as those mentioned above. Multimate did
not have some of the features that the Humanities people considered
necessary. Otherwise, it would have been a contender in our
evaluation.
Sigurd Andersen
Academic Computing Svcs.
University of Delaware
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 10-Mar-84 02:20:57 PST
From: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@RAND-UNIX>
Subject: Leaving Machines On
To: INFO-IBMPC@ISIB
I normally recommend leaving most systems running at all times --
vortex certainly is up 24 hrs/day, 7 days/week. By and large, many
hardware failures occur due to startup surges and related temperature
changes straining components. Once hardware has reached a
steady-state temperature, random failures of that sort are less likely
to occur, pretty much regardless of stated MTBF values. The same
seems to hold true for Winchesters -- the strain on the hardware of
the turn off/on cycle seems to be greater than the steady state
"normal" usage effects.
Of course, if you're only using the equipment a few hours a day, then
leaving it running probably doesn't make much sense -- but if it's on
much more than that you might as well just leave it on...
--Lauren--
------------------------------
Date: 10 Mar 84 09:58:33 PST (Saturday)
From: ciccarelli.PA@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: Re: MS-DOS Program Editors
To: knutson@ut-ngp.ARPA
cc: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA, Ciccarelli.PA@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
A back issue of the PC Technical Journal (I think it's Sept-Oct '83) has
a review of 18 programmer's editors. (I don't have the issue handy so I
don't recall the results).
I'm making do with Professional Edit until I hear of something capable
of
(a) split-screen on a single file,
(b) ability to edit 2 or more files at once, for cut-and-paste, and
(c) mouse support for commands and text selection (like Word).
If anyone at Microsoft is listening -- how about a spinoff of Word that
programmers can use (i.e. no embedded formatting information)? Hmm what
do the MS-DOS programmers at Microsoft use?
/John Ciccarelli
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂15-Mar-84 0127 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #29
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 15 Mar 84 01:27:21 PST
Date: 14 Mar 1984 2353-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #29
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 14 March 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 29
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
Turbo Pascal
Turbo Pascal versus COMPAS Pascal
IBM Pascal Problems
Free Terminal Emulator
Leading Edge Computer
BASIC compiler
TEAC drives (AGAIN!!!)
Restore Problem with Switchchar = \-
Keyboard Wanted
Venix on a PC/XT
Disk drive practices -- survey request
BASIC compiler
PC/XT Mantainence Contracts
More about leaving equipment "on" /// STB Graphix Plus board
Pegasus hard disk
FORMAT Problem fixed in DOS 2.1?
MS-DOS Call 4B
SPITBOL and SNOBOL
Format of 1-2-3 Spreadsheets
IBM XT Security
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 7 Mar 84 19:27:16-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!uiucdcs!grogers @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Turbo Pascal
I too have been using Turbo Pascal for a few weeks. Overall I am very
pleased with the system although there are a few quirky things I don't like.
First the things I don't like:
. Turbo does not recognize path names. All files must be in the
current working directory. Their ads claim "full support of
operating system facilities" but under DOS 2.xx this is not true.
. One of the big selling points for Turbo is that you can configure
the system to fit you terminal. They did a great job of this for
the Z80 version (I've used Turbo on an Altos also) but for the PC
the terminal selection is limited to 40x25 bw, 40x25 color, 80x25
bw, and 80x25 color and the screen attributes for each of these
selections is set in concrete. As far as I can tell there is no
way to change the character attributes that are displayed. I have
a color monitor and there is nothing that bugs me more than working
in white (dim characters) and yellow (bright).
. EVERY program clears the screen and resets the character attributes
before it executes. There is no way to avoid this other than NOPping
out the call to the routine that does this (not much fun using debug
on every program I write...that's why I am using a high level lan-
gauge in the first place).
. Upon completion of your program the cursor is positioned on line 25.
This causes the screen to scroll and you lose the first line of your
output (which is on line 1 via flame #3).
. You can call external procedures and functions which must be in
COM format but you cannot compile these external routines using
Turbo.
. There are quite a few fatal typos in the manual, I'll just mention
the worst of these. You can place object code within your program
using a statement named in line. The manual shows it being used like
this: in line ($c4,$be,...) where the '$' just signals a hex value
and each value is separated by commas. The actual format is this:
in line($c4/$be/...) the values are separated by slashes.
In an example showing how to reference parameters on the stack from
an external proc uses MOV AL,[BP-1] the '-' should be a '+', the
stack grows down not up.
. Every now and then the editor will duplicate the last line on the
screen. I have not tried to narrow down the cause but it seems to
happen when the screen scrolls backwards. The duplicate line does
not get into your file but it is annoying having it on the screen.
. There is a routine that will test the keyboard buffer for characters.
This works ok except when it appears just after a write or writeln.
repeat writeln('foobar') until keypressed;
will tend to hang the system sort of. You must hold down the return
for quite a few iterations before the program will recognize it.
Things I like about Turbo:
. You can call BIOS & DOS routines using
BIOS(func,parm):integer & BDOS(func,parm):integer
where parm = record
AX,BX,CX,DX,DI,SI,DS,ES,FLAG : integer
end;
. You can put object code in line with pascal code. This made it
very easy for me to write some graphics routines.
. The ads for Turbo boast about the speed of compilation and execution.
Believe it or not it really is that fast, if not faster. To get a
very rough idea of how fast the code really was i wrote a simple
program to write an asterick at a random line and column until the
keyboard was used (using the sometimes faulty keypressed routine).
The short program compiled in <= 2 seconds (but the compiler was
already in memory along with my source code). When I tapped 'r'
to run the program (menu driven like UCSD), I almost fell out of my
chair. Before I let up on the 'r' key the screen was about 70%
filled.
. Turbo is a very good Pascal program development system. With the
full screen editor tied to the compiler it is very easy to edit-
compile-run-edit-compile... in an almost interpretive form (like
BASIC).
. Best of all, it's only $50.00. The best computer bargain I have
ever seen.
---------
disclaimer: I have no Borland International, the company that distributes
Turbo Pascal.
greg rogers
university of illinois, urbana-champaign
...uiucdcs!grogers
------------------------------
From: Robert A. Dukelow <dukelow%cod@Nosc>
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: Turbo Pascal
Since submitting an message concerning a bug in the IBM PC version of
Turbo Pascal I have received several comments. I guess trying to keep
a message short doesn't pay off since it just leads to having to write
another.
The bug (as previously reported):
const
m = 5; {arbitrary example}
type
s = array[1..m] of char;
var
a: array[1..n] of s;
.
.
a[1] := '12345'; {a random example}
writeln(a[1]); {results in garbage}
Response comments I have received:
1. Yes, I know that "s" should have been declared as a PACKED array. It
was in the original program where I discovered the bug. According to
the manual, PACKED is ignored by Turbo Pascal and, in fact, it makes
no difference in this case.
2. Even though, as one person pointed out, the above declaration of "a"
is equivalent to "a: array[1..n, 1..m] of char" there is nothing wrong
with the writeln statement above. It is not the same as trying "to print
out a two dimensional array using only one subscript". Again, the example
should have included PACKED for (ANSI/IEEE) standard Pascal, but it has
always been legal in Pascal to use elements of an array of any structure
anywhere that a simple variable of that structure is allowed. At any rate,
the bug I am trying to demonstrate has nothing to do with the writeln
statement. The error occurs in the assignment statement. The data in a[1]
is garbage. Note that the following works and is a way around the bug:
var
b: s;
.
.
b := '12345';
a[1] := b;
writeln(a[1]); {produces the correct result}
3. The error was discovered as I was porting a moderate sized program
from a much more standard compiler on another machine. This to me is
one of the most painful types of bugs since the symptoms can be very
obscure.
I repeat that I am generally very happy with Turbo Pascal. The program
I was porting when I discovered this bug is just over 3000 lines and
compiles in about 1.5 minutes (yes, I have been reading the articles
on measuring program size and complexity but don't have a better measure
handy). Overall, most of the problems I encountered had to do with
differences between the UNIX environment the program was coming from and
the MS DOS target. The program was written to be used as a filter and
since Turbo uses old DOS calls for input and output it took some extra
effort to get the redirectable I/O working the way I wanted. When writing
a program specifically to be run under Turbo I have found many of the
extensions useful and well thought out (if not always well documented).
I would, however, echo a comment that someone else on the net has made.
Turbo tries to do a little too much for you. Having the program
automatically clear the screen and set the output character attributes
is cute but sometimes gets in the way.
As far as delivery, I got my copy in about 10 days after ordering by phone
(using Master Card). If the rumors are true about delivery being delayed
because of a new release, I would like to hear what the changes are.
Questions that I have:
1. Has anybody heard what kind of update policy Borland has?
2. Is is possible to get an MS DOS version which will run on the PC
but produce more transportable code (i.e. do a little less for you)?
Sorry this got so long.
Bob Dukelow
dukelow@nosc
------------------------------
Date: 23 Mar 84 23:22:00-EST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hp-pcd!orstcs!nathan @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Turbo Pascal
You want separate compilation?
You want linking?
You want it *when* ???
(ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!)
------------------------------
Date: 12 Mar 84 4:44:39-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!zehntel!dual!decwrl!rhea!gva01!gvasa!lugrin @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Turbo Pascal versus COMPAS Pascal
I have no documentation of Turbo pascal. But I have evaluated
COMPAS Pascal, which seems to me very very similar. COMPAS Pascal
is a product of
Poly-Data microcenter ApS
Aaboulevarden 13
DK - 1960 Copenhagen V
which sell for a few hundreds $. I am trying to known if both
products are completely separates or if they are two names of the
same product. Here is a short description of COMPAS Pascal:
There is a Z80, a CPM-86 and a MSDOS version. They all have:
- Combined Compiler/ Editor Run-time library in ~32kb
- Full screen editor
- Very high compilation speed (>2000 lines/minutes)
- Dynamic strings (like UCSD)
- Structured constants
- Program chaining with common variables
- Include files
- Operating system support functions
- In linE machine code and external subroutines (in a limited way)
For Z80 version: Automatic overlay
The MSDOS/ CPM-86 version make full use of memory and has a better
editor (to my point of view).
I found it was an excellent product, which should at least replace all usage
of Basic interpreters. But I would like to known if there is any relation
between Turbo and Compas Pascal, and what is the price of Turbo Pascal
in the USA.
I have no relations with Poly-Data microcenter. My opinions do not
engage my company.
Jean-Marc Lugrin, Geneva ...decvax!decwrl!rhea!gva01!gvasa!lugrin
------------------------------
Date: 12 Mar 1984 16:43-PST
From: arbab%USC-CSE@USC-ECL.ARPA
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Subject: IBM Pascal Problems
I am having problems with the IBM Pascal 1.0 and would appreciate
any hints, pointers, etc.
1. I have a program that goes through pass 1 without
any errors or warnings, but gives a "compiler internal
error" in pass 2.
The only things in the program that may be considered
"funny" are use of units and a bunch of string manipulation
procedures (standard), which should not matter at compile
time anyway.
I tried juggling the program around, commenting out segments
of source code, systematically deleting source code, replacing
procedure bodies with single writeln statements, and never
got through the second pass. If I am lucky, I get one of these
error numbers: 100, 101, 116, 180, 186, etc., otherwise all
I get is "Error: Compiler Internal Error, Contact Technical
Support".
I finally took out all unit, extern, public, etc., reduced it
to a very simple program, and then cut it down to the point
that I got it to compile by deleting one of my variables and
the couple of statements referring to it. Deleting the same
variable from the original program does not work, though.
I do not believe it is the length of the program (about 10
pages of source listing) as I have successfully compiled
larger ones. I think I am somehow pushing the compiler
beyond one of its internal size limits (too many variables
with birthdays in October, perhaps...) but after wasting
a perfect weekend, I could not see any pattern to what
bothered the compiler. WHY ISN'T THERE ANY MENTION OF SUCH
INTERNAL ERRORS AND THEIR CAUSES IN THE MANUAL?
2. It seems like both passes of the compiler and the linker
are "hard-wired" to run from the A diskette. This is very
annoying when you have a hard-disk or extra memory to use
as RAM-disk and you cannot transfer Pascal to run from
either. Is there any way to make the compiler run from
another disk? Maybe there have been discussions on this
issue before, but, again, WHY ISN'T THERE ANY EXPLICIT
MENTION OF THIS IN THE MANUAL?
Farhad Arbab
------------------------------
Date: 13 Mar 1984 11:18:10 PST
Subject: Re: IBM Pascal Problems
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: arbab%USC-CSE@USC-ECL
cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
There have been several messages in the past regarding the IBM Pascal
and FORTRAN compilers. These compilers were originally written by Microsoft
and were released full of bugs. While IBM mad minor improvements in the
FORTRAN compiler they have stone walled on most of the bugs. I can assure
you you will get no satisfaction contacting IBM. I tried and gave up and
bought Microsoft compilers.
While the Microsoft customer service phone lines are usually jammed at least
there are customer service phone lines. Similarly Microsoft is constantly
updating their products. We just sent in a Pascal Compiler for the
latest update. Updates are free if sent in within 90 days of purchase or
$25 if sent in after. This way you can go down to your dealer, buy a new
Pascal and immediately send the disk in for a free update. You
can be assured of getting the latest version.
The IBM Pascal is nearly 3 years out of date. It has numerous bugs and
no 8087 support. Clearly IBM has no intention of remedying the
situation. I would just consider your money spent with IBM a loss and
buy a Microsoft compiler. Then if you have the same problem, at least
you have a place to complain.
-------
------------------------------
Date: 8 Mar 84 4:38:31-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!whuxle!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Free Terminal Emulator
The terminal simulator that I wrote (SIMTERM) and a VENTEL
modem satisfy your requirements. It provides the capability
to run `vi' (or anything using `curses'), can
upload/download using XMODEM (for error checking and access
to BBSs). The VENTEL will cost you, but SIMTERM is **free**
by sending me a self-addressed **STAMPED** return envelop
and a floppy. You get the source with it. The software will
also automatically dial a list of phone numbers until an
answer is received and then `beep' you to say it contacted a
BBS.
Jim Holtman
35 Dogwood Trail
Randolph, NJ 07869
(201) 361-3395
[If anyone will send us the above mentioned disks we will place this
terminal emulator in the INFO-IBMPC library -ed]
------------------------------
Date: 8 Mar 84 12:54:58-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!hou2a!kho @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Leading Edge Computer
The Leading Edge Computer is the same as the Sperry PC computer.
Both are manufactured by Mitsubishi.
Samuel Kho
hou2a!kho
------------------------------
Date: 9 Mar 84 22:07:26-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!rlgvax!geller @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: TEAC drives (AGAIN!!!)
Remember me? I used to post articles praising TEAC 1/2 height disk
drives for use with IBM Personal Computers to net.micro.pc. Well,
I'm happy to report that my TEAC 1/2 heights are STILL working
perfectly. Why the article? I just found out a few things that may
be of interest to those of you out there still contemplating pur-
chasing non-IBM disk drives for use with your PC.
TERMINATING RESISTOR
Up until yesterday I had never heard of the beast. (I'm not much
of an electronics jock) What I found out was that when you have disk
drives daisy-chained together (i.e. drives a: and b: on your PC) the
last drive in the chain is supposed to have a terminating resistor
attached to it (on the board). I found out about this thing a day ago
when someone called me asking about my experiences with the TEAC. I
told him that I had had no problems and that installation was fairly
simple - a few cabling attachments (power and I/O) and four screws for
the mounting (one is on top of the other). He then asked me about the
terminating resistor. What I said - I never did anything like that to my
drives. We ended the conversation with him thanking me for what I had
told him and me wondering what he had made mention of. Two of my fellow
workers then told me that it was VERY important for the terminating
resistor to be in place in the last drive and not anywhere else within
the I/O path. What would happen if they both had the resistors I asked -
after all, this is how my system had been operating for many months
(perfectly I might add!!!). Fry, sizzle, die were their answers. Come
on I said. They told me that I should open up the ol' box again and look
for the beastie. Look for a socketed chip near the cabling area on the
drives board they said. I did and I think I found it. I THINK...
The "thing" I found is marked 1AM E3317 and is black with a
white underside and has fourteen (14) legs. Ichhhh - a bug!!! Well -
I removed the sucker from the a: drive and reassembled my system. All
well. I suspect, though, that I have made a mistake. Two things lead
me to this conclusion. The first is that my old configuration worked
just beautifully. I changed the config only to prevent impending
disaster. The second is that the a: drive is the last drive in the
chain - at least on my cable. I referenced page 11 of the IBM diskette
adaptor manual. The a: drive also has the twisted cable in the middle
of the ribbon. What's up?
Did I do the right thing? Will drives soon die? The thing I
pulled out - should I have. I eagerly await a response. I'm sorry if
I`ve confused any of you out there. I'm just playing around and always
learning new things.
THANKS IN ADVANCE
{seismo}!rlgvax!geller David Geller
Computer Consoles, Inc.
Office Systems Group
1760 Reston Avenue
Reston, VA 22090
703-471-6860
------------------------------
Date: 9 Mar 84 9:33:14-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!eagle!mhuxl!mhuxv!mcbride @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Restore Problem with Switchchar = \-
When I change the PC-DOS switchchar from / to - (so I can use / for path names
as in UNIX) backup writes its files with / as the path delimeter instead
of \. Restore seems to want \ , so it doesn't work. Anyone know of
a way around this?
Don McBride
eagle!ihnp4!mhuxv!mcbride
[This bug in MS-DOS has been noted in earlier issues of INFO-IBMPC. Once again
users are warned that if they use undocumented features of MS-DOS they are
likely to get into trouble. We can only hope this problem will be fixed in
future versions of MS-DOS -ed]
------------------------------
Date: Sat 10 Mar 84 20:55:14-PST
From: Doug <Faunt%hp-labs.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa>
Subject: Keyboard Wanted
To: Info-IBMPC%usc-isib.arpa@csnet-relay.arpa
I would like to get a standard, IBM keyboard. Who among you
has bought a replacement keyboard and will sell me yours for
a small amount of money?
...!hplabs!faunt
faunt.hplabs@csnet-relay
(415)857-6934 (wk)
-------
------------------------------
Date: 8 Mar 84 14:34:39-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!ulysses!burl!clyde!akgua!mcnc!ecsvax!john @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Venix on a PC/XT
I have just finished bringing up Venix/86 on an IBM PC/XT,
but along the way two interesting problems developed with the
XT:
1) The XT was delivered with approximately 36,000 bytes in
bad sectors. I was lucky that none of the bad sectors
showed up in the swap area, but I wonder how many people
will try to bring up versions of UNIX on XT's and discover
that they have bad sectors in critical spots. Venix/86
at least is not smart enough to work around the bad sectors.
My IBM dealer says that 36,000 bytes in bad sectors is
only slightly above average. A quick check of some other
XT owners tended to confirm this.
2) I wanted the XT to have a two megabyte DOS partition, so
I set aside 60 cylinders for DOS when I configured Venix. When
I ran IBM's FDISK program to establish the DOS partition,
FDISK reported that there was no space for DOS, even though
simple addition of the number of cylinders devoted to the non-DOS
operating system (Venix) confirmed that there were 60
cylinders left for DOS. (The XT has 305 cylinders, and
I had used 245 for Venix.)
On a whim, I decided to try the Compaq FDISK utility that
came with a friend's Compaq Plus, and the *Compaq* FDISK
utility saw that there were 60 cylinders left for DOS,
and was able establish this DOS partition for me, which
I then was able to format and use for DOS data.
I have DOS 2.0, and my IBM Guide to Operations is version
2.02.
Has anyone else had a similar problem? My conclusion
from this is that for my application (Venix and DOS on
the hard disk) a Compaq Plus would be superior. I have not
called Unisource (Venturcom's marketing and support agent)
to report my problem, but I will. In the meantime, this
looks like IBM's problem, not Venturcom's.
john hogan
nc educational computing service
rtp, nc 27709
(919) 549 0671
...decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!john or
...akgua!mcnc!ecsvax!john
------------------------------
Date: 9 Mar 84 8:20:43-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!ulysses!burl!clyde!akgua!mcnc!ecsvax!bet @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Disk drive practices -- survey request
Duke University Computation Center is maintaining over 200 IBM-PC's on
campus, and we have two questions:
1) should you clean mini-floppy drives (Tandon TM-100 or equiv.)
2) should you realign the head(s)
We have heard mixed reports on both. Both questions refer to *regular*
practice, preventative, as opposed to "when it stops working". If yes to
either, how often and how? Please mail responses and I will summarize
to the net.
Bennett Todd
...{decvax,ihnp4,akgua}!mcnc!ecsvax!bet
------------------------------
Date: 12 Mar 1984 0907-PST
From: mike@LOGICON
Subject: BASIC compiler
To: Info-IBMPC@isib
cc: mike
I am having a problem compiling an 800 line BASIC program using the IBM
standard issue of the BASIC compiler Version 1.00. The program always runs
into an out of memory condition. I have used all the switches (i.e. /x/s/n)
that I can think of. Any ideas on what to do.
Please note that I am using DOS v2.1 and I have 256K of memory which I would
have presumed would be enough.
If you use a different BASIC compiler than the IBM issue, I'd like more
information on it.
Thanks.....
Mike Parker
-------
------------------------------
Date: 12 Mar 1984 1302-PST
From: mike@LOGICON
Subject: PC/XT Maintaince Contracts
To: INFO-IBMPC@isib
cc: mike
I'd like to hear from people about their experiences with maintaince
contracts for their PC systems. I am seriously considering going with
a maintaince contract, probably in depo mode. Pros, cons, and people
you deal with would be appreciative. I would like to deal with a
national concern since I may not be at one place all the time.
Thanks...Mike Parker
-------
------------------------------
From: vortex!lauren at RAND-UNIX
Date: Mon, 12-Mar-84 14:18:42 PST
Sender: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@RAND-UNIX>
Subject: More about leaving equipment "on" /// STB Graphix Plus board
To: INFO-IBMPC@ISIB
An additional note about leaving computer equipment running. The one
exception to my "rule" that I normally practice involves CRT's.
Personally, I prefer to turn them off when not in use. There are those
who prefer to leave them on but blank the screen or turn the brightness
all the way down to avoid phosphor burn, but that's a matter of
personal preference, of course....
---
I'm still looking for the "right" monochrome/graphics board -- still
without success. Man, but there's sure a lot of garbage out there.
The one that looked the most promising, the STB Graphix Plus, turns
out to be useless since (surprise!) the board will only allow
graphics displays on the monochrome monitor if you are using a REAL
IBM monochrome monitor -- forget it if you have an Amdek (as I do).
The STB documentation never mentions this fact -- in fact they are
unwilling to send you any documentation other than the little one
page glossy blurb -- they claim they don't have anything else to send.
It seems that they play games with the IBM display's sync rate -- sounds
like a pretty bad idea given the sensitivity of that display. When I
mentioned that they might cause damage to the IBM display, they responded
with, "Oh yeah?"
Sigh!
--Lauren--
------------------------------
Posted-Date: 13 Mar 84 02:25 EST
Date: Tue, 13 Mar 84 02:23 EST
From: Paul Schauble <Schauble@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA>
Subject: Pegasus hard disk
To: Info-Micro@BRL-VGR.ARPA, Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I am contemplating buying one of their units, with tape cartridge
backup. Does anyone have any experience with this unit to report? I
will summarize the results to the list.
Paul
------------------------------
Date: 13 Mar 1984 1004-PST
From: DBAKER at USC-ECL.ARPA
Subject: FORMAT Problem fixed in DOS 2.1?
To: info-ibmpc at USC-ISIB
Yes, I was suffering from the format position bug.
I was able to load Superspl with 132K and work ok. I then copied
format from the 2.1 DOS which I haven't installed yet and it works
OK so it is either fixed or sensitive in a different area.
I was curious if format was compatible and all testing seems
to prove I can use the 2.1 format with 2.0.
Thanks again, Dbaker@usc-ecl
[DISKCOPY also has the same problem. We would be interested to hear from
people if DOS 2.1 has indeed fixed the problem -ed]
-------
------------------------------
Date: 13 Mar 1984 1521-EST
From: Larry Campbell <LCAMPBELL@dec-marlboro>
To: info-micro@brl-vgr
Subject: MS-DOS Call 4B
Thanks to those of you who responded with suggestions on my problems
with DOS call 4B (EXECute a process). For those of you who may have
been bitten by this, here's what was doing me in, and the solution:
The shell, COMMAND.COM, can be invoked with a switch, /C,
followed by a shell command. This causes the shell
to execute the single command and return. What is
truly bizarre is that the command line must be terminated with
a carriage return (D hex), but the count of characters
in the command line must NOT include the return!
------------------------------
Date: 13 Mar 1984 2018 PST
From: Robert A. Lerche <XA.W51%STANFORD.BITNET@Berkeley>
To: <decvax!linus!philabs!micomvax!cfmp@Berkeley>
Subject: SPITBOL and SNOBOL
Cc: info-IBMPC%STANFORD.BITNET@Berkeley
There are two SNOBOL4 implementations I know of for the IBM PC:
SPITBOL, from Robert Dewar, is a highly efficient dialect that
includes several language extensions. The current release is
a "preliminary" version that does not include the ability to
create an "EXE" file but is otherwise complete. In the interest
of efficiency, integers are limited to the range -32768 to 32767, and
the data region is limited to 64K.
Another version, slower but supporting large integers and memory
space, is the Minnesota SNOBOL4 language. Minnesota SNOBOL4 omits
the LOAD function (access to assembly language) which SPITBOL
includes.
SPITBOL comes with the Realia record manager, a fancy file I/O
package that implements keyed, fixed, and variable length file
types.
SPITBOL is available from Robert B. K. Dewar, SPITBOL Orders,
73 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10003 for $195.
Minnesota SNOBOL4 orders should be addressed to SNOBOL4,
P. O. Box 441, Millwood, NY 10546. The price is $39.95 ($49.95
includes "The SNOBOL4 Programming Language" book).
Ralph Griswold publishes a SNOBOL4 Information Bulletin. The address
is Ralph Griswold, Department of Computer Science, The University
of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721.
------------------------------
Date: 13 Mar 1984 22:08:54 PST
From: HOROWITZ@USC-ISIF
Subject: Format of 1-2-3 Spreadsheets
To: INFO-IBMPC
I would like to know if anyone in the info-ibm-pc community has
worked out the format in which Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheets are saved.
Secondly, I wonder if anyone has written a program that translates
such spreadsheets into ascii characters.
ellis
-------
------------------------------
From: dpopeck at NADC
Subject: IBM XT Security
Cc: dpopeck@NADC
To: info-IBMPC
Our department at NADC recently acquired an IBM XT. We were
wondering if any other IBM PC or XT users have implemented any type of
security into their systems (for example, passwords for entering the
system). Since our system will be used by multiple users, we are
concerned about the security of the information on our Winchester disk
drive, especially since we currently do not backup our files.
We realize that we are courting trouble by not doing periodic backups,
but we don't have that much stored on our Winchester yet.
Our IBM is using DOS 2.0 .
Dave Popeck
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂17-Mar-84 1412 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #30
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 17 Mar 84 14:11:47 PST
Date: 17 Mar 1984 1311-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #30
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 17 March 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 30
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
TEAC drives (AGAIN!!!)
Mounting TM55-2 Disk Drives
Restore problem with switchar -
MS-DOS 2.0 for Z100
Expansion Chassis
Timer interrupts faster than 18.2 per second
VARDSK to drive D
PC-BLUE Volumes Available
FAR procedures
SMD disks on PCs?
Pointer to Assembly Language Book
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 9 Mar 84 17:35:45-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!bbncca!sdyer @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: TEAC drives (AGAIN!!!)
I have run two 5 1/4" drives daisy-chained with both containing a
termination resistor without any problem. Like you, I removed
the inner-most resistor only for peace of mind. What function,
exactly, does this perform?
--
/Steve Dyer
{decvax,linus,ima}!bbncca!sdyer
sdyer@bbncca.ARPA
------------------------------
Date: 13 Mar 84 8:06:26-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ssc-vax!fluke!pwl @ Uw-Beaver
Subject: TEAC drives (AGAIN!!!)
I'm surprised this question has not been answered yet. Floppy disk
drives in general use what are called "open collector" drivers for
their hardware interface signals. These drivers have the property
that they look either like an open switch or a switch which is
closed and connected to ground (0 volts). Information is passed
along this interface by the absence or presence of a voltage greater
than 2 volts. Now where does this 2 volts come from? The interface
driver itself can only be open or shorted to ground. The source of
this voltage is the terminating resistor, which is tied to +5 volts.
Without a terminating resistor connected to the interface line, there
is no reliable signal to be switched by the interface driver.
In a typical floppy disk system, there are a number of terminating
resistors used, tied to various signal lines. These resistors generally
reside in a package which looks very much like a 14-pin integrated circuit.
This resistor package resides on the floppy disk drive control board,
usually near the interface connector. These resistors are generally
placed in a socket, so that they may be readily removed. There should
only be ONE set of terminating resistors in a system. The interface
drivers are designed to switch only a limited amount of current. If
more than one set of terminating resistors is present, the current switched
by the driver may become excessive. The most likely result of this
would be marginal signal levels, which could cause erratic behavior.
No physical damage to the drive should result from this situation.
The bottom line is that for reliable operation, you should only have
one set of terminating resistors in a system, and these resistors
should normally reside on the disk drive which is farthest down the
interface cable.
Paul Lutt
John Fluke Mfg. Co
Everett, WA
{uw-beaver,decvax!microsof,ucbvax!lbl-csam,allegra,ssc-vax}!fluke!pwl
------------------------------
Date: Thu 15 Mar 84 23:49:44-EST
From: Willie Lim <WLIM@MIT-XX.ARPA>
Subject: Mounting TM55-2 Disk Drives
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Last October, I sent out a message seeking help in mounting two Tandon
TM55-2's on my IBM PC to replace the two TM100-1's. Well, I finally
have them mounted. I would like to share my experience with you.
The TM55-2 drives seem to be working fine electronically. I do have
occasional problems with the diskette-ejecting spring on one of the
drives. My biggest problem was getting the mounting hardware for the
drives since I bought the drives without it. I end up modifying a set
of mounting hardware obtained through mail-order. (Make sure your
drives come with the right kind of mounting hardware. Don't panic if
you don't have the proper mounting hardware, they are quite easy to
make. Send me mail if you need help.) Following the "advice" given
in the TM55-2 manual, I mounted the TM55-2's using all the six screws
used for mounting the original TM100-1 drives - two for mounting the
lower drive to the chassis (at the side near the front and at the
bottom) and the rest for mounting the top drive to the bottom one.
Note that for the TM55-2's (and TM50-2's too), the drives should be
mounted one on top of the other using metal strips (7/8 in. long, 3/8
in. wide, approx.). The strip is to be screwed (one on each side) on
to the top middle hole at one side of the lower drive to the lower
middle hole at the same side of the top drive. When mounting the two
drives (without power and signal cables) onto the chassis, it is easier
to slide the drive from the back to the front through the front
opening of the chassis. One has to be very careful when doing it the
other way since the components and thin wires on the top pcb of the
top drive tend to get in the way.
Regarding the cable connections and termination resistor, the A drive
is at the end of the daisy chain and hence the termination resistor
must be in the A drive and not the B drive. For the TM55-2, the
resistor is a 16-pin dip package mounted on a socket near the
microprocessor on the top pcb of the drive. All the other 16/14 pin
packages are soldered onto the pcb. Also a jumper on the jumper block
near the microprocessor must have the same set up for both drives.
They have to be set to select DRIVE 1 i.e. the W2 jumper block must be
plugged in. For the TM100-1's, the DS1 jumper on the programmable
shunt socket 1E must be present. (In my TM100-1, that is the only
jumper present in the shunt socket.) Does anyone know how a drive is
selected by the IBM PC diskette drive adapter? Is this taken care of
by the cabling i.e. the select lines leaving drive B are swapped on
entering drive A? I presume IBM does this so that all the drives have
identical jumper settings and would thus simplify things in the
assembly line.
Now I am left with two TM100-1's. How easy is it to convert a TM100-1
to a TM100-2? I presume it involves changing the disk heads and doing
the necessary head realignment. Well, I might as well sell them off.
Willie
-------
------------------------------
From: vortex!pete at RAND-UNIX
Date: Thu, 15-Mar-84 09:54:27 PST
Sender: Pete Carah <vortex!pete@RAND-UNIX>
Subject: Restore problem with switchar -
Here is a sample debug session (I edited in the w command, so the DEBUG
answer isn't there) to fix the RESTORE bug you mentioned. Note that the
fixed version won't restore a disk dumped with the normal switchar, so you
need two versions of restore (Hence the other n command).
-nrestore.com
-l
-udb0
2ED9:0DB0 E87C00 CALL 0E2F
2ED9:0DB3 75E6 JNZ 0D9B
2ED9:0DB5 C60500 MOV BYTE PTR [DI],00
2ED9:0DB8 5F POP DI
2ED9:0DB9 89958000 MOV [DI+0080],DX
2ED9:0DBD C3 RET
2ED9:0DBE C60603015C MOV BYTE PTR [0103],5C
2ED9:0DC3 8A166C00 MOV DL,[006C]
2ED9:0DC7 BE0401 MOV SI,0104
2ED9:0DCA B447 MOV AH,47
2ED9:0DCC CD21 INT 21
2ED9:0DCE F606F40301 TEST BYTE PTR [03F4],01
-u
2ED9:0DD3 751E JNZ 0DF3
2ED9:0DD5 BE0301 MOV SI,0103
2ED9:0DD8 803E3A025C CMP BYTE PTR [023A],5C
2ED9:0DDD 7409 JZ 0DE8
2ED9:0DDF AC LODSB
2ED9:0DE0 3C00 CMP AL,00
2ED9:0DE2 75FB JNZ 0DDF
2ED9:0DE4 C644FF5C MOV BYTE PTR [SI-01],5C
2ED9:0DE8 8BFE MOV DI,SI
2ED9:0DEA BE3A02 MOV SI,023A
2ED9:0DED AC LODSB
2ED9:0DEE AA STOSB
2ED9:0DEF 3C00 CMP AL,00
2ED9:0DF1 75FA JNZ 0DED
-e dc2 2f
-e ddc 2f
-nrestr2.com
-w
-q
For some reason you don't need to change the 5c in de7.
The strange thing about this is that the program actually checks
the switchar using the appropriate system call, and makes ALMOST
all the necessary adjustments. They only missed one, the default
path to check against the files to see what matches the command line.
-- Pete
[Microsoft has repeatedly warned us of the dire consequences of
using this and other un-documented non-supported features of MS-DOS.
I would like to use this feature, but don't have the nerve as I
value my file system. Hopefully future releases of DOS will support
switchar = - In the mean time I'd like to hear from those brave souls
who have made this patch, and whether they have run into other problems.
For example can PC/IX read files created on such a system? -ed]
------------------------------
Date: 15 Mar 1984 13:50:05 EST (Thursday)
From: jose rodriguez <jrodrig at mitre-gateway>
Subject: MS-DOS 2.0 for Z100
To: info-micro@brl, info-pc@usc-isi
Cc: jrodrig at mitre-gateway, llarson at mitre-gateway
Does anyone know if MS-DOS 2.0 is available for the Zenith 100?
A friend of mine has just got one and he was wondering if it is available.
I have only seen it for the IBM-PC (and, I guess, clones) and the Tandy
2000. I wonder, how hard would be it be to buy a generic MS-DOS 2.0 and
modify it for the Zenith machine. Beyond the device drivers, what else
would be required?
Thanks for your help,
Jose R.
jrodrig@mitre-gw
Mitre Information Systems
------------------------------
Date: 15 Mar 1984 13:39-PST
Subject: MS-DOS 2.0 for Z100
From: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID
To: jrodrig@MITRE-GATEWAY
Cc: info-micro@BRL, info-pc@USC-ISI
Extract from Zenith's literature to GEA discussing software available for
the Z100:
16 BIT OPERATING SYSTEM Z-DOS* (MS-DOS* BY MICROSOFT); INCLUDES MACRO
86 16-BIT ASSEMBLER CLIN 25, MODEL NO. OS-63-4 Z-DOS is one of the
most extensive operating systems for 16-bit microcomputers, and is the
primary operating system of the Z-100*. Z-DOS features include device
independent I/O, advanced error recovery procedure, program
relocatibility, flexible file characteristics, as well as many operating
systems utilities.
Does that help?
Regards,
David Kirschbaum
Toad Hall
(ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID)
------------------------------
Date: Wednesday 16 March 1983 14:09:38 EDT
From: Chris Schmandt <cms@mit-pamela>
Subject: DMA on an expansion chasis
To: <info-pc@isi>
Has anyone out there been successful at doing DMA on
channels 1 or 3 using an expansion chassis? This is the
"official" IBM chassis connected to a (temporarily) very
stripped down PC.
With no cards in the chassis (except the card the expansion
cable plugs in to) the status register on the 8237 DMA
controller indicates continual pending DMA requests on both
channels 1 and 3. Disconnecting the chassis removes this state.
It appears that the expansion chassis and DMA are
incompatible?
cms%pamela@MIT-MC.ARPA
------------------------------
Date: 15 Mar 84 19:44:45 PST (Thursday)
From: ciccarelli.PA@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: Expansion Chassis
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
In-Reply-To: SJOBRG%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA's message in Info-IBMpc V3#28
cc: Ciccarelli.PA@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Speaking of Sigma's expansion chassis, I visited Sigma Designs in Santa
Clara, CA, and saw the concept of the expansion chassis taken one step
further. They have a PC-compatible computer that replaces the system
("planar") board with an "expansion board"-style 8088/8087 CPU card that
plugs into an I/O connector.
Presumably users of add-in CPU cards (e.g. Sritek 68000) could buy the
box without the 8088 cpu card, and wouldn't have to pay for an unused
PC-style 8088 motherboard.
/John
------------------------------
Date: 15 Mar 84 20:07:53 PST (Thursday)
From: ciccarelli.PA@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: Timer interrupts faster than 18.2 per second
To: Robert E. Wells <rwells@BBN-UNIX.ARPA>
You can use the tick interrupt at a faster rate by not using the "user
routine" hook which IBM provides near the end of their handler.
Instead, do the following:
Installation routine:
a) Reprograms the timer channel for a multiple of the 18.2 Hz rate (call
it 'N').
b) Records the contents of the tick interrupt vector, then points the INT
vector at your routine, which will then be executed at the higher rate.
Interrupt handler:
a) Keeps a modulo-N count of the fast ticks, and...
b) ...every 'N' fast ticks, calls the routine(s) that were pointed to by
the old contents of the interrupt vector. Thus, things like the
diskette motor shutoff logic will continue to work at their usual rate.
c) Should, of course, save registers like any interrupt routine.
...And of course a termination routine to undo what the installation
routine does.
(I haven't actually programmed the above algorithm, but I know someone
who has done so. Also beware: BASIC reinstalls the tick vector when it
starts up.)
/John
------------------------------
Date: 16 Mar 1984 14:36:54-EST
From: sclin at NADC
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: VARDSK to drive D
I just FTPed the VARDISK program from info-ibmpc. since my pc (not XT) has
256K and two drives, I decided to create a virtual disk of size 128K,
I modified the INIT routine in the VARDISK by "MOV AX,80H" instead of
using those basic program to set memory size. It ran OK, and created the
new drive on drive "C". My question is: is there any way I can modify
VARDISK so that the virtual disk will be on drive "D" ? we have
another pc which is XT, with the XT, I would like to create the virtual
drive on drive "B". Can any body give me some information about this?
------------------------------
Date: 16 Mar 1984 14:23 MST (Fri)
From: "Frank J. Wancho" <WANCHO@SIMTEL20>
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
Cc: INFO-CPM@AMSAA, INFO-MICRO@AMSAA
Subject: PC-BLUE Volumes Available
The first 42 volumes of the PC-BLUE distribution disks are now
available for ANONYMOUS FTP from SIMTEL20 (with the exception of
VOL040 due to an error in copying the disks).
All the files from each volume have been stored in ITS Binary format
to preserve published CRC values. MICRO:<PC-BLUE>PC-BLUE.CRCLST
contains the CRC list of each volume in alphanumeric order.
The directory names are of the form:
MICRO:<PC-BLUE.VOLnnn>, where nnn = 001 to 042, with 040 empty for now.
For details on the format of these files, methods for FTPing to
non-PDP-10 mainframes, and downloading to your micro, send a query to
INFO-CPM-REQUEST@AMSAA.
--Frank
------------------------------
Date: 16 Mar 1984 19:06-PST
Sender: BILLW@SRI-KL
Subject: FAR procedures.
From: William "Chops" Westfield <BillW @ SRI-KL>
To: info-ibmpc@ISIB
I am having troubles getting the assembler/linker to do what I think
it should with Far procedures. Here is the scenario:
--------------------------------------------------
file1:
foo segment public
assume cs:foo, ds:foo
external test:far
:
{data}
:
start: {code}
call test
:
foo ends
end start
--------------------------------------------------
File2:
bar segment public
assume cs:bar,ds:bar
public test
{data}
test proc far
{code}
test endp
bar ends
end
--------------------------------------------------
Now, what I think should happen is that the far call should generate
something like CALL NNNN:MMMM, where NNNN is the offset of segment BAR
within "real" memory (computer at the time DOS loads it?), and MMMM is
the offset of TEST within BAR. What actually seems to happen is that
it generates CALL XXXX:YYYY, where XXXX is the offset of segment FOO,
and YYYY is a correct offset of TEST from the beginning of FOO...
This wouldn't be so bad, except that references to the data in BAR use
offsets relative to BAR, and consequently go to the wrong place.
I suspect that I mis-understand something about SEGMENT, or CLASSes, or
GROUPS, or something else equally obscure... The Basic compiler seems
to generate proper code, so I doubt that the problem is in the loading
of .EXE files....
HELP!!!
BillW
PS: Does anyone know of any public domain 8086 assemblers or
dissassemblers (for standard Intel format)? Any language
would be useful. Is the format of .OBJ files documented?
------------------------------
Date: 13 Mar 84 23:38:13-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!cca!ima!haddock!johnl @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: SMD disks on PCs?
Has anybody out there investigated putting big disks on a PC? By big, I
mean SMD sized, say 60 - 300 megabytes. A bunch of 40MB disks might do
the trick, but we've had little luck locating suppliers who can actually
ship real working 40MB drives anytime soon.
Software support isn't a big issue, since we'd be running them under PC/IX
and would write our own drivers. (The PC/IX manual includes a fairly
informative section on writing device drivers, by the way.) We do need
reasonable hardware documentation.
I saw ads for PC compatible SMD controllers sometime ago, but can't find
any references any more. Anybody have one? Any leads? T.I.A., as always.
John Levine, INTERACTIVE Systems,
441 Stuart St, Boston 02116; (617) 247-1155
decvax!yale-co!ima!johnl, {allegra|amd70|cca}!ima!johnl
{uscvax|ucla-vax|vortex}!ism780!johnl, ucbvax!cbosgd!ima!johnl,
Levine@YALE.ARPA
PS: In case you were wondering, we'd like to be able to keep an entire set
of PC/IX sources and sccs on line on a PC for integration and testing. I
realize it'd take a week to recompile it all.
------------------------------
Date: 17 Mar 84 13:39:15 EST
From: Don <WATROUS@RUTGERS.ARPA>
Subject: Pointer to Assembly Language Book
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I have a friend who's looking for a good book on learning to program
in assembly language. I think he's looking for something in between a
beginner's programming book (he's computer literate) and a hardware
reference manual (he's never worked with an assembly language
before). Something specific to the PC would be best.
Thanks,
Don
-------
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂20-Mar-84 1024 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #31
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 20 Mar 84 10:22:31 PST
Date: 20 Mar 1984 09:53:29 PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #31
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 20 March 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 31
This Week's Editor: Randy Cole
Today's Topics:
Assembly Language Books
Online Catalog Files
IBM Pascal
MS-DOS 2.0 for Z-100
Sritek/Compaq Query
Information Wanted on Zenith PCs
Need MASSCOMP to IBM PC Cross-compiler
New XT Backup ??
Writing Drivers for PC/IX
Help Needed with 8086 Code for 32-bit Operations
Need Advice on Large Model C Compilers
IBM PC Pascal Problem
Homebrew Mouse or Light Pen
FAR Procedures (4 messages)
Quad-density Half-height Disk Drives
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 18-Mar-84 22:20:52-EST
From: nagy@BNL
Subject: Assembly Language Books
To: watrous@RUTGERS
Cc: nagy@BNL, INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
I bought two books: Scanlon as a "text" and Rector & Alexy as a
"reference". Both were about $18 at a local computer store. If
people on the net wish to send me titles (with full publication
information) and/or their opinions, I will maintain an annotated
bibliography on the IBM PC for <INFO-IBMPC>.
Scanlon, Leo J.
IBM PC Assembly Language:
A Guide for Programmers
Robert J. Brady Co. (Prentice-Hall)
Bowie MD 20715
1983
Rector, Russell and George Alexy
The 8086 Book
Osborne/McGraw-Hill
630 Bancroft Way
Berkeley CA 94710
1980
------------------------------
Date: 19 Mar 1984 16:10 MST (Mon)
From: "Frank J. Wancho" <WANCHO@SIMTEL20>
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
Subject: Online Catalog Files
The following files consist of the contents of the -CATALOG.nnn files
of each of their respective subdirectories in reverse numerical order:
MICRO:<PC-BLUE>PC-BLUE.CAT
MICRO:<CPMUG>CPMUG.CAT
MICRO:<SIGM>SIGM.CAT
These are the ONLY files which are ordinary ASCII text files in those
subdirectories which they represent.
--Frank
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 84 16:21 EST
From: Jack Orenstein <orenstein%umass-cs.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@csnet-relay.arpa
Subject: IBM Pascal
This note was prompted by the recent note on IBM Pascal.
I bought the IBM Pascal compiler specifically for the UNIT feature and
I'm thoroughly disgusted. The documentation, throughout the entire manual,
is the worst I've ever seen. And I've seen some bad ones. The general approach
of the authos is "Subject X: Here are some things I remember about subject X.
Next subject". How fortunate for them that manuals are anonymous.
The compiler itself is slow but tolerable. During Pass 1 it seems to
move the disk arm around quite a bit - even though all files are contiguous.
My major complaint is that the thing is incredibly flaky. The following
problems, all associated with UNITs, (the only selling feature as far as I'm
concerned) have caused me much mental anguish:
- If a program or unit is using more than one interface, the order in which
these are INCLUDEd is very important. If done "incorrectly" the compiler
hangs. Ctrl-Alt-Del may or may not get the thing back to DOS. If not,
I have to power down.
- Files which are INCLUDEd are often "cut off" before end-of-file.
- Types which are exported (by UNIT) are found by the compiler to be
different from "identical" types (using manual's definition of identical)
declared in an importing unit.
Removing the exported type in question and trying to get around the problem
caused the system to hang (!) as described above (and reordering the
INCLUDEs didn't help).
I'm presently changing my code to use modules instead of units. A lot
of this is guesswork because the documentation is unspeakably rotten. I
will probably end up getting another compiler. This is my wish list:
1) Separate compilation - a must. Something like UNITs would be nice but isn't
essential.
2) Access to low level stuff such as cursor positioning.
3) Something like WORD type and WRD function - I have to do a fair amount of
bit twiddling.
4) Compiler should not hang the system. (Should be obvious but isn't to IBM).
Cast your vote, stand up and be counted.
Thanks for the help.
Jack Orenstein
------------------------------
Date: 19 Mar 1984 1217-CST
Subject: MS-DOS 2.0 for Z-100
From: Doug <HUNEYCUTT@GUNTER-ADAM>
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
Zenith has 2.0 in house and at selected beta test sites. It should be
released sometime within the next few months. (Actually 2.2 or something
like that.) The Z-150 (PC clone) arrives with both 2.0 and 1.25 (and
MS-LIB....gee.)
We are working with 2.0 on both the 100 and the 150...seems to be fine.
A problem that everyone seems to find is that, with all the redirection
going on, system I/O checks slow down screen display approx. 10-20%, making
WordStar something of a pig. You can get around this (non-standard) by
diddling around with the interrupts to go directly to the BIOS instead of
the DOS code.
Everything I've tested on the 150 so far runs just like on a PC. Most of
the tested stuff has been public domain. I'm still trying to justify to my
boss the acquisition of the Microsoft flight simulator (but gee, it's
considered the 'acid test' for clones...its not just a game!)
More on the 150 later. Don't go to the effort of buying an off-brand
MS-DOS and trying to write in Z-100 support....Zenith does it better,
probably sooner, and definately more in line with Microsoft definitions.
Doug
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 17 Mar 84 22:25-PST
Date: 15 Mar 84 7:36:14-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!houxd!johnm @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Sritek/Compaq Query
Has anyone tried using the Sritek 68000 board/Xenix software
on a Compaq Plus? I'd like to purchase this combination if
it works...
John Montgomery
Bell Communications Research
ihnp4!houxd!johnm
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 18 Mar 84 3:29-PST
Date: 15 Mar 84 6:40:24-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!ulysses!burl!clyde!akgua!psuvax!sysred @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Information Wanted on Zenith PCs
I'm considering the purchase of a Zenith PC (Zenith has made them
available through PSU at a very attractive price). I'd like to hear
from anyone with either Z-100 or Z-150 experience (especially
comparisons!!), as I have not yet decided which to buy. I'd also
appreciate any help with the following questions:
How is Z-DOS? Is it at all MS-DOS compatible?
What software is available for the Z-100? Is a good C compiler
available?
How particular is the S-100 bus in the Z-100? Can non-Zenith boards
(e.g. memory, serial I/O, disk controllers) be used? Which ones do
you KNOW work?
The local Zenith dealer claims to have run Microsoft's Flight Simulator
and Lotus 1-2-3 on a Z-150. Is this claim accurate? If these packages
do run, is it an indication of a high degree of IBM PC compatibility?
Thanks much. Please respond by mail.
--
Ralph Droms
Computer Science Department (814) 865-9505
312 Whitmore Lab {allegra,ihnp4}!psuvax!sysred
The Pennsylvania State University sysred@penn-state (csnet)
University Park, PA 16802 sysred@psuvax1 (bitnet)
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 18 Mar 84 5:43-PST
Date: 15 Mar 84 14:11:28-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!ulysses!burl!clyde!floyd!cmcl2!philabs!rdin!malik @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Need MASSCOMP to IBM PC Cross-compiler
We are looking for a "C" cross compiler which runs on a
MASSCOMP (68000 microprocessor based) to produce code
for an IBM PC running UNIX.
If anyone knows of such a compiler, please let me know,
if you can:
- where we can purchase it
- how much it costs
- features
- your opinion
Jeffrey Malik
Resource Dynamics Incorporated
New York
philabs!rdin!malik
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 18 Mar 84 7:39-PST
Date: 23 Mar 84 21:14:22-EST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!ecn-ee!mahler @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: New XT Backup ??
You say you need to back up 10MB of disk but don't
like the idea of 30 floppies ???
I just got my hands on some info from IRWIN MAGNETICS ..
its a 1/2 high cartridge tape streamer THAT PLUGS INTO
THE FLOPPY controller. A version is also coming that
plugs into the DB-37 on the back of the computer interface.
Sounds good to me! Is this something I have missed before?
Or is it a new approach to interfacing a tape backup unit.
Price is in the $500-1000 range.
Info:
IRWIN MAGNETICS
2311 Green Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
313+996-3300
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 18 Mar 84 20:14:18 EST
From: Joe Pistritto <jcp@brl-bmd>
To: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@usc-isib.arpa>
Subject: Writing Drivers for PC/IX
Has anyone out there any info on writing drivers for PC/IX? I will
be running a non-IBM Winchester (Kamerman Labs), and will need to
write a driver for it. IN particular I would like to know if there
are major differences from writing/linking a standard UNIX system III
disk driver.
-JCP-
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 18 Mar 84 18:38-PST
Date: 8 Mar 84 7:25:38-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!linus!utzoo!utcsrgv!mendell @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Help Needed with 8086 Code for 32-bit Operations
I am currently writing the 8086 code generator for Concurrent Euclid,
and I have been having trouble coming up with code sequences for long
(32-bit signed) comparisons. The structure of the ConEuc compiler makes it
necessary to come up with a code sequence that compares 2 LongInts, and sets
the condition code properly, based on the comparison. For example, I need a
code sequence that does the same as the following, but for 32-bit quantities.
cmp x,y
bCC label
For 32-bit compares, the compiler cannot use the method that the portable
C compiler uses (we have a version of an 8086 compiler here). What is needed
is a sequence of compares that will produce ONE place where a branch
instruction can be used. This is necessary because the ConEuc compiler may
want to "reverse the sense" of the branch at any time. If there is more than
branch that must be reversed, it will be too late because some code will
already have been emitted.
Here is an example that works for = and not= in ConEuc:
cmp x.low,y.low
bne L
cmp x.high,y,high
L: bCC label
This code works because CC in this case will be either equal or not equal,
and the code will work for either condition. The problem is to come up with
solutions that will work for:
greater equal & less than (reverse conditions)
less equal & greater than (reverse conditions)
Alternate solutions to the problem: Subtract y from x, and test the
result to 0, i.e. produce a condition code that represents a 32-bit quantity
>, <, or = to zero.
While I am asking for help, does anyone have routines that will do
32-bit (signed) multiplication, division, and modulus (remainder)?
Please mail back any replies. Thanks in advance for your help.
----
Mark Mendell
Computer Systems Research Group University of Toronto
Usenet: {linus, ihnp4, allegra, decvax, floyd}!utcsrgv!perelgut
CSNET: mendell@Toronto
ARPA: mendell%Toronto@CSNet-Relay
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 18 Mar 84 21:26-PST
Date: 12 Mar 84 11:33:25-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!linus!utzoo!utcsrgv!perelgut @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Need Advice on Large Model C Compilers
HELP!
We desperately need advice on a "C" compiler for the 8086-family
(under MS-DOS) that supports large model machines and produces correct
code. The Digital Research C compiler (DR. C) supports all four
models of compiler but generates incorrect code for some combinations
of features such as indirect assignments and casts.
Advice/input/flames/anything needed quickly. Don't be shy.
Thanks,
----
Stephen Perelgut
Computer Systems Research Group University of Toronto
Usenet: {linus, ihnp4, allegra, decvax, floyd}!utcsrgv!perelgut
CSNET: perelgut@Toronto
------------------------------
Date: Mon 19 Mar 84 12:03:49-EST
From: Andy Schwartz <OC.Schwartz@CU20B>
Subject: IBM PC Pascal Problem
To: Info-IBMPC%USC-ISIB@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA
IBM PC Pascal (version 1.00) has a problem computing the available
free memory at the start of the compiler's second pass when the system
has 512Kb RAM, namely that it thinks the system has no more RAM left
(Compiler Out of Memory Error). Has anyone written or come across a
patch that fixes the problem?
Andy Schwartz
Columbia University
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 84 15:55:58 cst
From: knutson@ut-ngp.ARPA
To: info-hz100@radc-tops20.ARPA, info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
Subject: Homebrew Mouse or Light Pen
I would like to be able to rig up a lightpen or mouse for my Z100.
I know there are some commercial ones but I like to twiddle. Building
a lightpen doesn't seem that hard. Just a photo-detector in a casing,
perhaps a lense, and maybe a diode or two (I'm just guessing since
I don't know word one about that kind of stuff). A mouse would be
a bit tougher but not impossible. Would the parts for these cost
just as much as the commercial product?
------------------------------
Date: 19 Mar 1984 1302-PST
Subject: FAR Procedures
From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: William "Chops" Westfield <BillW@SRI-KL.ARPA>
I've also had problems with FAR procedures in the assembler. I've
been getting around the problems by having the FAR proc immediately
JMP to a NEAR proc, where all the code is. In a FAR proc, a forward
JMP to a label within the proc gives an error, unless you put FAR PTR
in front of it.
The format of .OBJ files is documented in the Intel publication
"8086 Relocatable Object Module Formats", Intel 121748-001.
I'm pretty sure there are no public domain assemblers for
the 8086. Alas.
------------------------------
From: Paul Fishwick <Fishwick%upenn.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa>
Subject: FAR Procedures and Data Addressability
To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@csnet-relay.arpa,
billw%sri-kl.arpa@csnet-relay.arpa
Date: Sun, 18 Mar 84 13:28 EST
In response to the question on FAR procedures : The main problem
appears to be in correctly addressing the local data to the particular
segment in question (namely 'foo' or 'bar'), and not with far
procedures (as long as code is being generated that allows you to
branch to a far procedure and return correctly, then far procedures
are no problem...). Back to data addressability... Presumably, you
establish a value for DS within the far procedure 'BAR'. But when
you do this, DS is permanently changed so that when you return to
the main routine, the data segment will point to 'BAR's local data
area and not the main routines local data area. There are probably
many solutions, but two are mentioned : 1) push and pop ds in
the entry and exit( respectively ) of procedure test. 2) put your
data in a global data segment.
------------------------------
Date: 20 Mar 1984 02:51-PST
Subject: FAR Procedure Calls
From: William "Chops" Westfield <BillW @ SRI-KL>
To: info-ibmpc@ISIB
Well, I fixed my problem, though I dont understand why the fix works,
nor do I understand what caused the original problem...
First of all, data addressability was not the problem. The far
procedure was very careful to move CS into DS when it started,
and restore DS when it returned. The problem was that for a given
location, there are a large number of segment value/offset value pairs
that point to the same place, and LINK/MASM/something was using an
unreasonable value for the segment value (ie: the current CS, which
isnt THAT bad, but offsets of data in the far procedure were not
corrected for this change. That is, given the following:
exrternalsegment SEGMENT PUBLIC
dataitem DB 0
farrproc PROC FAR
mov ax,OFFSET dataitem
ret
farproc ends
which ended being loaded at segment value 200, and the call to it
was in a procedure that was loaded at segment value 100. The call
ended going to 100:1001 (is the multiplication right? whatever...),
whereas I feel it should have been call 200:1; Ok, but OFFSET dataitem
was still 0 (ie 100:0) instead of 1000 (ie 200:0). Sigh.
Second, a more accurate description of the code I had actually had
"CODE segment public 'CODE'" where I had segment BAR. (these were
packaged object modules...) The solution was to change my code so
that it read:
:
:
code SEGMENT PUBLIC 'CODE'
EXTERN glork:far
code ends
foo segment public
:
call glork
:
foo ends
Strange, huh? Ill be grateful to anyone who can explain what is
going on. (a major clue is that the assembly listing has a column
called ATTRIBUTE, which was 'FOO' for GLORK, even though GLORK was
external, which seemed strange to me....)
Thanks for the responses I did get...
Bill Westfield
------------------------------
Date: 20 Mar 1984 07:54:56 PST
Subject: Re: FAR Procedures.
From: Craig Milo Rogers <ROGERS@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: BillW@SRI-KL.ARPA
cc: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Put your external statements OUTSIDE the segment bracketing.
When you place the externals inside a segment bracket, the assembler
believes that the external identifier, although seperately compiled,
will eventually reside in the specified segment. Thus, it helpfully
optimizes...
The OBJ format is a subset of the standard Intel object format.
See "8086 Relocatable Object Formats: An Intel Technical Specification",
order number 121748-001. I have no idea how much of the specification
is actually implemented by the IBM PC linkers.
Craig Milo Rogers
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 18 Mar 84 0:53-PST
Date: 15 Mar 84 9:49:40-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!CS-Mordred!Pucc-H.ac4 @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Quad-density Half-height Disk Drives
Here is another variation on half-height drives for your IBM-PC.
I bought my PC way back "in the beginning" when all I could get
was single-sided drives. I tell people (and try to tell myself) that
the best advice in this business is to not buy anything new until
you really need it in order to get the most for your money.
I really needed more storage, but not really 10Mb. Besides, I was
worried about trying to backup a 10Mb hard disk on my single-sided
floppies. And I needed something that could read the defacto "standard"
DSDD floppies that everyone else seems to have these days.
Solution: remove one of the SSDD drives and replace it with two half-height
96-tpi (quad density) double-sided drives. You can buy these drives for
just a few bucks more than a "normal" 48-tpi (double density) drive.
I bought two TEAC FD-55F half-height drives from MicroXpress for $520.
I also bought a power Y-cable ($15) and an external logic cable ($35)
which plugs into the disk controller card in back; I routed it back inside
to the drives. And of course I needed the device driver software;
I bought the Tall Tree Systems JFORMAT package for $35 from MicroXpress.
The package includes a disk formatter and a driver. It comes in versions
for 1.1 (patches DOS) or 2.0 (loadable device driver through CONFIG.SYS).
DOS cannot really use the quad-density drives as "standard IBM" drives
unless you fool it by copying the first 40-tracks of a standard
DOS diskette onto the first 40 tracks of the normally 80-track diskettes
used in the quad drives. Instead of fooling around with that mess, I
set my system switches to say I have one "official" drive (A) which is
my old standard SSDD drive. I boot from that drive. The CONFIG.SYS for
DOS 2.0 is set to load the JFORMAT driver for the quad drives which I
can then use as drives C and D.
The JFORMAT driver has logic to go out and look at the media descriptor
byte on the first diskette sector and figure out what kind of diskette it is.
If it is a 48-tpi format, the driver "double steps" so you can read the
standard diskettes. You can also write them if you are careful. The key
is not to write in 48-tpi format on a diskette that has been used
in 96-tpi format unless you first degauss the diskette. This can be
accomplished with a bulk tape eraser (available for around $15 from your
local Radio Shaft store). If you don't do this, there is "noise" left
between the tracks and the 48-tpi drives will detect it and get confused.
I have written numerous 48-tpi diskettes and read them on other systems
with no trouble.
The best part of this whole affair is that I now have 5-1/4" diskettes that
can hold over 800,000 K bytes if I use the JFORMAT 10-sector/track mode.
By the way, you don't have to buy those expensive diskettes - the DSDD
diskettes work fine.
I found it useful to patch the driver tables as noted in the JFORMAT manual.
This is not something you want to try to tackle if you are a novice.
To put it another way, I know a rank novice who actually did this and
made it work, but I was able to help him make it work much better by
understanding what these patches were doing. The JFORMAT package does
include the device driver source, by the way.
A note of caution: I have not tried any copy-protected diskettes.
I imagine some of the protection schemes bypass the DOS drivers and
muck-around on the diskette. So I don't know if I can use,
for example, LOTUS 1-2-3.
I have been using this system for about a month now without any hardware
problems. I am not overly enamored with the TEAC drives. They work fine,
but unlike the Tandon drives, they don't leave the head loaded all the
time, so you get a "clack" sound every time you spin-up the drive
and load the head. They tell me that saves on media (diskette) wear,
but I am no expert in such matters.
As for MicroXpress as a mail-order supplier, their heart seems to be in
the right place, but their execution left something to be desired. My first
shipment arrived within a couple of days after my telephone order, but they
left out the cables and mounting brackets. The next time around, they sent
the wrong mounting brackets. They seem happy enough to correct these
problems promptly over the telephone, and I know other people who have done
business with them with no trouble. They are located in Anaheim, Calif.
(714)632-8512. The best thing I can say is that they had the best prices
I could find for these drives.
Happy hacking (clacking?) !!!
Tom Putnam
...!pur-ee!pucc-h:ac4
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂23-Mar-84 1429 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #33
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 23 Mar 84 14:28:52 PST
Date: 23 Mar 1984 14:09:02 PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #33
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 23 March 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 33
This Week's Editor: Randy Cole
Today's Topics:
Modula 2
APL on IBM-PC Reviewed
VICTOR 9000 MS-DOS 2.0
MSDOS Printer Driver for Tandy 2000
Christensen Protocol
C vs. Large Memory Model
Request for Communications re Venix
C compiler & HEX files
PCjr. Basic (2 messages)
IBM Pascal Patches
Re: PC/IX Questions (2 messages)
Re: Repairs
Re: FTPing PC-BLUE files
Accessing PC-BLUE Volumes from TOPS-20
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Mar 84 19:41:50 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Modula 2
I have a copy of the Logitech Modula 2 compiler for the IBM PC.
I picked it up during a visit to Logitech. First I was impressed by
the quality of the people there. The compiler installed very easy
and ran the first time (after some products in this field that
always makes me happy). The code generated is tight and fast. While
I have had no experience with other PC Modulas (just VAX) the
fact that it is a compiler rather than an interpreter (or a
compiler of p like code) speaks well for it. I will keep this
bboard informed. It seems to conform to the "standard" very well
and Logictech is heavily involved with the Swiss folks.
Dave
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 22 Mar 84 23:58-PST
Date: 20 Mar 84 7:42:13-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!bbncca!sxnahm @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: APL on IBM-PC Reviewed
A while back I asked if anyone has tried STSC's version of APL
for the IBM-PC. No responses were forth coming, but I've just
noticed that the March issue of Byte has a good review of that
version of APL, plus IBM's own. The review can be found on pages
246 through 264.
The reviewer, Jacques Bensimon, pretty much likes both versions,
but seems to favor STSC's APL*PLUS. He likes that version's
better handling of memory segments, better output formatting
method (traditional STSC []FMT), and still seems to harbor a
grudge against IBM for not including APL characters in the
IBM-PC's default character generator ROM (STSC provides a
replacement ROM; IBM uses the graphics adaptor, or tries to get
by with the default ROM).
Bensimon shows the results of various benchmarks, comparing IBM
APL, which requires an 8087 coprocessor, against STSC APL, both
with and without the 8087 (it's used automatically if available).
One of the benchmarks is an interesting chess problem solving
program, which is listed in the article. For the sample problem
which he used as the benchmark, IBM APL took 33.3 minutes, and
STSC APL took 28.3 minutes. The author comments that he'd be
interested in timings of this particular benchmark problem on
hardware more powerful than the IBM-PC, so have at it.
The review is informative, and Byte has included some useful
side-bars, including "A brief look at APL". This review is worth
reading if you're thinking of buying either of these two systems.
STSC APL*PLUS goes for $595 and does not require an 8087.
IBM APL cost $195, and requires the 8087, which costs $200-$260.
Steve Nahm
BBN Communications
------------------------------
Date: Fri 23 Mar 84 13:49:38-EST
From: Ivo Welch <WELCH@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: VICTOR 9000 MS-DOS 2.0
To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA
Victor Technology has just become the latest victim of the tough climate on
the personal computer market. Their support for their machine has never
been very good, but bad will probably become worse now ( e.g. there is no
service station in the New York Metropolitan area anymore, the closest
being Atlanta ).
Shortly before they filed for chapter 11, they announced MS-DOS 2.0, plus
some other software. I have seen it shortly at a show, but do not have a
copy of it yet. Does anybody have it ? Does anybody use it ? Comments ? If
you own a Victor and would be interested in forming a Victor user group for
mutual support of a "bankrupt" machine, please send mail to:
WELCH@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA
or
Ivo Welch
Columbia University
East Campus 1206
New York, N.Y. 10027
Ivo Welch
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Mar 84 6:10:33 EST
From: GMM Labs <eed←wgmm%jhu.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa>
To: Info-Micro%brl.arpa@csnet-relay.arpa
Subject: MSDOS Printer Driver for Tandy 2000
Well, I am pretty peeved. I have a Tandy Model 2000, which is such a
nice machine, blows the socks off the PC, has a real keyboard (with
ESCAPE, delete, and everything!). Built in hard drive, the works.
Only one problem...
Radio Shack, to support their braindamaged printer series, has
modified the BIOS so that an LF after CR is deleted. Really makes it
tough to transfer the printer between machines since the LF switch is
deep in the bowels of the NEC 5530. Besides, none of the decent
word processors work unless you disable the auto LF.
I talked to Tandy; they won't even admit it is a "problem." All I
asked for was another device driver which didn't do it. Can't be too
tough, right? Just take out the section "Was last char a CR? Yes.
Is this one a LF? YES. Delete it." No biggy.
But NOOOOOOO! No, no, no, no, no, no. Never, ever, ever. They will
not (most likely cannot) and what's more, they won't give me documentation
to do it myself (for 8 weeks).
I am looking for someone who understands the device tables and could
possibly lead me through a process where I can use debug (?) to
NOP out the section which eleiminates the LF. Or, if anyone knows how
to write and install a filter which changes every LF into two linefeeds
before going to the printer, that would tide me over until I can
write a whole new driver. I would be willing to pay, if necessary.
If anyone has any suggestions, please send me a message. Address them
here directly since I am not on the lists.
Richard P. Wilkes
Johns Hopkins University EECS
CSNET: eed←wgmm.jhu at csnet-relay
Arpa: RICK at MIT-MC
------------------------------
Date: 21 Mar 1984 19:22-PST
Sender: POLARIS@USC-ISI.ARPA
Subject: Christensen Protocol
From: POLARIS@USC-ISI.ARPA
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
I seem to have misplaced my copy of the description of the "XMODEM"
protocol developed by Ward Christensen [I hope I got it spelled right].
Although I have several programs which implement it, I don't seem to have
a very clear description of exactly what it does, and inparticular what
happens in wildcard file transfers. If anyone has an electronic copy of a
description of the protocol I'd be grateful.
--mike seyfrit
<polaris@usc-isia>
------------------------------
Date: 21 Mar 84 2059 PST
From: David Fuchs <DRF@SU-AI.ARPA>
Subject: C vs. Large Memory Model
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
CI C86 supports the large memory model? Not in my book. Try to
declare an array bigger than 64K. You can't even get that big
a chunk of memory at runtime (via sbrk and friends). Lattice C
lets you get large chunks of memory at runtime (though not at
compile time).
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 84 19:51:17 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Request for Communications re Venix
I have just brought up the new version of Venix on my PC
and would like to know about others who also have it so
I can trade war stories and help.
Dave
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 23 Mar 84 3:31-PST
Date: 21 Mar 84 11:01:30-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!intelca!amd70!fredel @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: C compiler & HEX files
I have an IBM-XT.
Does anyone know how to get a '.EXE' file to PROM's?
And / or does anyone know of an assembler for the XT that generates HEX
output files?
[Ed: The Seattle Computer assembler for the PC and XT generates HEX output
files (and only HEX output files)]
Though I'm sure it has been asked before, is there a good C cross-compiler
which runs on the XT and generates HEX output files for the 8086, i.e. HEX
files which are NOT tailored just for the XT?
Any pointers to existing articles or new information
is greatly appreciated.
Please respond by mail.
Thanks,
Fred Elliott
--
Fred Elliott
Advanced Micro Devices (MCSD)
(408)988-7777
{ucbvax,decwrl,ihnp4,allegra,intelca}!amd70!fredel
------------------------------
Date: 22 Mar 84 13:34:20 PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc@Usc-Isib
Subject: PCjr. Basic
From: bwong@uci-750b
I just happened to be browsing through the DOS 2.1 disk and I noticed
something unusual. There was a program on it called MUSICA.BAS. When
I tried to run it, I got a lot of syntax errors. Specifically there
were basic statements that were not in the manual. They were:
SCREEN 4,0,0,0,2 too many parameters and the first 4 is not
legal)
PALETTE 1,2 (no palette command as i can remember)
when you remove the bad commands and run it, instead of printing a keyboard,
it prints a chicken. When you play a song, it prints a hat or someting on
the chickens head. (mexican hat dance prints a sombrero on the chickens head)
Someone mentioned that these commands might be for the jr. Could it
be true that the jr has commands that the pc does not?
The program SAMPLES.BAS is the program that decides if you get to run
MUSIC or MUSICA. it checks location DEF SEG &HFFFF and an offset of E
(i think!). it checked to see if the location contained "FD". if it
did, then it is supposed to run MUSICA. My machine returns "FF".
Could it be for the new graphics board?
/bradley
------------------------------
Date: 22 Mar 1984 1414-PST
Subject: Re: PCjr. Basic
From: Gillmann@ISIB
To: bwong@UCI-750B.ARPA
Cc: Info-IBMPC
Yes, there is a byte in the ROM (at F000:FFFE or equivalent) which
indicates whether you have a PC or early XT (FF), XT (FE) or PCjr.
(FD). The junior does have some extra capabilites over the PC: it has
three additional color modes and a three voice sound system.
The new Basic commands you mentioned are only available with the
new cartridge Basic for the PCjr.
Dick Gillmann
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 84 14:51:50 EST
From: "Gavin Eadie"@UMich-MTS.Mailnet
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Subject: IBM Pascal Patches
There have been two questions about patches to the IBM Pascal 1.00
release in PC Digest recently. I have comments on both of them:
A. 512k memory limit problem. I got these patches from IBM via
the University's AcIS Academic Information Systems) person. I
have installed them and they work. In each case the change
is one byte from x'7e' to x'76' - since the bug is in the run-
time library, and Pascal is written in Pascal, you need to
patch the library, PAS1 and PAS2 ...
with the ORIGINAL disk PAS1 in B:
debug
l ds:100 1 a 1
d ds:12a l 1
XXXX:012A 7E
e ds:12A 76
w ds:100 1 a 1
q
with the ORIGINAL disk PAS2 in B:
debug
l ds:100 1 f 1
e ds:12a 76
w ds:100 1 f 1
q
with the ORIGINAL Pascal Lib in B:
debug
l ds:100 1 9 1
e ds:1ba 76
w ds:100 1 9 1
q
Those who have cleverer brains than mine may be able to figure
how to do this on a copy of the originals; I knew it would take
me longer to solve that problem than to go back to my master
copies, make the patches and recopy to my hard disk.
B. The PASKEY default disk patch. You'll find it makes a lot more
sense to change "A:PASKEY" to "PASKEY " (as suggested by IBM
in the DOS V2.0 manual) than to hardwire for another disk.
Gavin Eadie [University of Michigan]
Gavin←Eadie%UMICH-MTS.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 84 22:05:16 EST
From: Guy Harris <rlgvax!guy@SEISMO>
To: HFISCHER@USC-ECLB.ARPA
Subject: Re: PC/IX Questions
> #1: "stty" and "gtty" are not to be found in any library or include
> definition. Why, or is there another better call to replace these?
Yes, there's a better call. It's called "ioctl". However, the "ioctl"
functions that duplicate "stty" and "gtty", namely TIOCSETP and TIOCGETP,
should *NOT* be used on a System III-based system like PC/IX. Use
TCGETA and TCSETA instead - they're documented in TTY(4) (as they were
in V7).
> #2: on a PC, one uses floppies frequently. Under PC/IX, you have to
> run /priv/mount when sticking the floppy in, and /priv/unmount before
> pulling it out. Problem is that you must have the root password in
> order to execute mounts. How are 'plain old users supposed to do
> mounts within the Unix philosophy? Certainly unpriviliged visitors to
> my system should need the ability to install floppies and remove them!
System III is partially based on PWB/UNIX, which was a version of UNIX
used as a front end to various IBM and Univac mainframes. As such, it
was run in a comp center environment and they didn't want IBM jocks trying
to mount things and crashing the system, I guess. The "mount" and "umount"
system calls are privileged. You might try making "/priv/mount" and
"/priv/umount" (an Interactive Systems-ism if I ever saw one) set-UID root.
> #5: a system deamon insists on displaying the time on the hour (like a
> grandfather clock which needs to be silenced). Besides the anoyance
> of it, when in the INed editor, the deamon yanks the cursor to the top
> line, prints the time, and leaves the cursor on top. Is there a way
> to get it to shut up, or at least not muck me up when typing away on
> the stroke of the hour?
In standard System III that's caused by an entry in "/usr/lib/crontab".
You might look there and remove the entry that runs "date" every hour on
the hour if there is one.
Guy Harris
{seismo,ihnp4,allegra}!rlgvax!guy
------------------------------
From: ima!haddock!johnl@CCA-UNIX
From: John Levine, INTERACTIVE, 441 Stuart St, Boston MA 02116 (617-247-1155) <johnl@haddock.UUCP>
Subject: Re: PC/IX Questions (V3 #32)
To: cca!info-ibmpc@CCA-UNIX
#1: "stty" and "gtty" are not to be found in any library or include
definition.
stty and gtty went away after V7. Use the TCGETA and TCSETAW
ioctl() calls which do the analogous thing in a Sys III way
#2: you have to be superuser to mount or unmount stuff
I agree, you shouldn't have to. Make /priv/mount and /priv/unmount
suid to root, and they should work for anybody.
#3: dosread, the program to import MS-DOS files, appears to want one
file name at a time, instead of directory or wildcard requests. Is
there a switch to do bulk importing (or do I have to write shells for
that?)
At the moment, you have to do it with a shell script.
Modulo the bug below, such shell scripts are pretty easy to write.
#4: dosdir, the program to display directory contents of MS-DOS
floppies, will only display the first bunch of files in a directory,
and forgets that there are more to come (especially when you have 60
or 70 files in a directory). Dosread does not have a problem
accessing all of the files, so is there a switch or patch needed?
Peculiar. Dosread and dosdir are actually links to the same
program!
#5: a system deamon insists on displaying the time on the hour (like a
grandfather clock which needs to be silenced).
This is caused by a line in /usr/lib/crontab. Just edit
crontab and delete the line.
John Levine, ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.ARPA
PS: These are my own opinions formed from fooling with PC/IX, not those
of my employer or of IBM.
[Ed: At least one other person responded with answers to Herm's questions.
Thanks to all who took the time to respond]
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 23 Mar 84 2:15-PST
Date: 19 Mar 84 7:59:40-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!tektronix!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!fluke!pwl @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Repairs
It has been suggested in this group that the IBM monitor could be
repaired by any competent TV service type. While this is possibly true, it
should be noted that the IBM monochrome monitor runs at 18 kilohertz, not
the more usual 15,750 used in all normal NTSC compatible televisions.
Replacing the IBM monitor's flyback transformer with one from a normal TV
would most likely burn out the horizontal drive system. This is because
flyback systems in CRT systems are highly tuned. Using a component
designed for a different operating frequency from the one originally
installed will unbalance this tuning, causing excessive power consumption
and overstressing of drive components.
The modern CRT is a marvel of design, but it must be kept in mind that
just because the tube sitting on your computer LOOKS like a normal
television doesn't mean that it is necessary the same. Find out what you
have before you attempt to repair it.
Paul Lutt
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
Everett, WA
{uw-beaver,decvax!microsof,ucbvax!lbl-csam,allegra,ssc-vax}!fluke!pwl
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 84 22:37:07 EST
From: Dave Towson (info-cpm) <cpmlist@Amsaa.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@usc-isib.arpa>
Subject: Re: FTPing PC-BLUE files
When Frank Wancho announced the PC-BLUE files on Simtel20 and suggested
that queries concerning FTPing and downloading them be directed to me, he
was giving me credit for having more than I really had. I have had for
quite some while a little blurb describing the archives that I send to new
people on INFO-CPM. This, together with various INFO-CPM messages, has
done fairly well to acquaint people with the situation. However, it is not
really adequate for the current need. Therefore, I am rewriting it and
expanding it considerably. Please advise your readers that I will release
the "whole story" (I fervently hope) very soon. I'll be sure to send you a
copy. In the meantime, here is a part of my forthcoming blurb. The intro
to FTP may be too elementary for some, but my mail indicates that it is not
too elementary for all. Hope it helps.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, a formalized procedure for
moving files among machines on the Defense Data Network (DDN) and other
networks that are gatewayed to the DDN. The protocol is implemented by a
program called FTP.
To use FTP for file transfers between the machine you're on and
Simtel20, type "ftp simtel20" (without the quotes). When you are asked to
login, use the username "anonymous". When asked for a password, use "ftp'
(or anything else, so long as you type at least one printing character).
By default, FTP works in ASCII mode. If you want something else, you must
issue a command to change modes. Any further explanation is beyond the
scope of this discussion. See your site support people for additional
help.
All files in the SIGM, CPMUG and PC-BLUE archives are stored in ITS
binary format, which had its roots at MIT-MC. Binary storage is used in
order to preserve the CRC's (cyclic redundancy codes - similar to
checksums) that are published for use in verifying the accuracies of copied
files. Each file starts with a four-byte ITS header, which must be removed
after the file is transfered. On Simtel20, four 8-bit bytes are stored
(with four padding bits) in a 36-bit word. In order to successfully
transfer these ITS binary files, you must use "tenex" or "type L 8" mode
for UNIX machines, and "image" mode for 36-bit machines running TOPS-20,
ITS or MULTICS. Once an ITS binary file has been FTPed to your mainframe,
additional processing is needed to make the file into a standard CP/M file.
In the case of UNIX machines, all that is needed is the removal of the
first four bytes of the file, which constitute the special ITS header.
This can be done using the UNIX utility DD, or it can be done after the
file has been transferred to the CP/M machine. You can obtain and LOAD the
Simtel20 file "micro:<cpm.hex>itscvt.hex" for this purpose.
The post-processing of ITS binary files transferred to TOPS-20
machines can be done using programs in directory "micro:<cpm.tops-20>".
See the file "micro:<cpm>cpm.crclst" for a list of available TOPS-20
utilities.
Post-processing of files on MULTICS machines can be done using a
modified version of the system copy utility. At present, transfer of this
program is a delicate matter because of the need to preserve the vendor's
proprietary rights. If you need this uitlity, send a message to
INFO-CPM-REQUES@AMSAA, and I'll try to help you out.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, that's it for now. There is, and will be, much more. When
finished, the blurb will describe all five archives on Simtel20, tell how
to find out what's available, and how to download to a micro (several
ways). Much of this is written and exists in various pieces. It shouldn't
be much longer before It's done. Please be patient.
Dave Towson
info-cpm-request@amsaa
------------------------------
Date: 23 Mar 1984 02:17 MST (Fri)
From: "Frank J. Wancho" <WANCHO@SIMTEL20>
To: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
Subject: Accessing PC-BLUE Volumes from TOPS-20
First of all, DON'T selected ANY options for FTP. It should default
to the right thing, i.e., IMAGE mode.
Secondly, since ALL of these files are ITS Binary files, you might
want to swipe a few utilities from us, namely one in particular,
TYPE8, which you can get from our SYS:TYPE8.EXE. This utility will
attempt to display those ITS Binary file that are really ASCII as if
you had used TYPE on them.
--Frank
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂27-Mar-84 2004 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #34
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 27 Mar 84 20:04:09 PST
Date: 27 Mar 1984 1810-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #34
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 27 March 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 34
This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann
Today's Topics:
Slot Machine Game
Math Library in C
SWCHAR.ASM
DIR, COMMAND.COM, Inter-Fdisk Transfer Program
Expansion Boards for early PCs
Lattice C Compiler
DIP Switch Positions for 3 Drives
Microsoft Language Address Space Query
Query: Getting Memory Size from C
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 23 Mar 1984 1523-PST
Subject: Slot Machine Game
From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC
I have copied SLOTMACH.BAS into the Info-IBMPC library. It was taken
from the PC-BLUE collection. SLOTMACH is a simple slot machine game,
with sound and color. It will work with either the graphics or the
monochrome display.
------------------------------
Date: 23 Mar 1984 1532-PST
Subject: Math Library in C
From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC
A nice set of math routines written in Lattice C was given to me by
Marco Papa. He got them from a bboard system. They are in the
Info-IBMPC library as MATH.C and MATH.H. Included are trig functions,
logs, roots, etc.
------------------------------
Date: 27 Mar 1984 1734-PST
Subject: SWCHAR.ASM
From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC
Mike Parker (Mike@Logicon) has sent in an updated version of
SWITCHAR.ASM. The new code is in SWCHAR.ASM
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 84 20:05:23 EST
From: Manny Farber <manny@udel-relay>
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: DIR, COMMAND.COM, Inter-Fdisk Transfer Program
* I have discovered that if you give DOS 2.10 (and probably 2.00 also)
"DOS ..." (3 periods) as a command, it will list only directories,
i.e., it is the functional equivalent of: DIR | FIND "<DIR>".
[I got directories and also files with blank extensions. -Ed.]
* Does anyone know how to tell DOS where it should load COMMAND.COM
from? It seems to do it from the disk it was booted from; I would
like to change this.
* We added a second FDISK, and needed to copy everything from C: to
D: (to install VENIX). There is no way to do this from DOS other
than using BACKUP, and RESTOREing to the D: instead of C:. Or, you
can make all the directories and copy the junk into them. I wrote
a BASIC program to write a batch file that will do this. Not fast,
but certainly beats floppies. The best way to do it would be to
write an Assembler program that would transfer everything sector-
for-sector, but I wanted something quick.
To do this,
- At the DOS prompt, type TREE | FIND "Path: " > DIRLIST
- Run the following BASIC program; name a batch file (ex.: TMP.BAT)
as an output file; for source/target FDISKs, enter only the letter,
and not the colon ("C", and "D", for ex.)
- Exit to DOS and run the batch file
Here's the BASIC program:
10 OPEN "I",1,"DIRLIST":INPUT "Output file: ",o$:input "Source drive: ",a$:
INPUT "Target: ",b$:OPEN "O",2,o$
20 IF EOF(1) THEN PRINT #2,"COPY ";A$;":\*.* ";B$;":\":CLOSE:END ELSE INPUT
#1, X$:X$=MID$(X$,7)
30 PRINT #2,"MD ";B$;":";x$:PRINT #2,"COPY ";A$;":";X$;"\*.* ";B$;":";X$
40 GOTO 20
------------------------------
Date: Sat 24 Mar 84 16:43:17-EST
From: STERPE%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA
Subject: Expansion Boards for early PCs
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I'm looking for various pieces of hardware and/or expansion boards for
relatively early PC models. Magazines like PC and InfoWorld provide a lot
of advertisements, but it would be nice to have informed opinions on these
products. Can anyone suggest vendors or provide comments for these items:
o A modem plug-in card, preferably with smart features. I have run across
the Hayes Smartmodem 1200B, which looks good. Is there something else
worth considering?
o A display (single color) that is easy on the eyes, with reasonably high
resolution. The IBM Monochrome display is the right thing, basically,
but is there one with better resolution or some other better features?
o Is there a board incorporating one of the above two functions that also
has a parallel port capable of interfacing to the Epson MX-80? Again,
the IBM Monochrome display adapter fits the bill, but what else is
there?
o Who makes good hard disks (under $4,000), or, perhaps more relevantly,
who makes bad hard disks?
o The MICROSOFT (Lattice) C compiler seems quick, well documented, and
trustworthy. Does anyone know if there are any horrific bugs that would
warrant not buying it?
Thanks for your help.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 25 Mar 84 23:30-PST
Date: 22 Mar 84 8:58:59-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: cornell!vax135!floyd!cmcl2!rocky2!datagen!boykin @ UW-Beaver
Subject: Lattice C Compiler
Sorry guys I'm still prejudiced. I like the Lattice C compiler better
than the others. To date it still has the best track record in terms
of code quality (version 1.02 ran the Sieve (yuch!) in 4.5 seconds
(MS-Pascal in 3.5, compiled MS-basic in 5.5 and an old CI-86 in 7.5).
Version 2.0 supports the MS-DOS version 2.00 libraries, the 8087 and
the large memory models. FYI: Version 2.1 is due out in a few weeks.
The bad points are that the source to the libraries are still not
included. The libraries were the bad part of the package but are
getting better.
The price is high if you go through traditional sources (Lifeboat),
namely $500.00, but many will sell it cheaper.
Joe Boykin
Data General Corp.
Distributed Systems Group
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 27 Mar 84 0:11-PST
Date: 22 Feb 84 11:52:47-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!seismo!rlgvax!geller @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: DIP Switch Positions for 3 Drives
I received a piece of mail asking if it were possible to add two
floppy disk drives to a system already configured with one. The
answer is YES. Unfortunately the IBM Tech Manual 2.0 doesn't provide
a DIP SWITCH diagram for such a config. Here it is:
Total # SYSTEM BOARD SWITCH POSSIBLE FLOPPY
drives number 1 drives
1 7 8
-------- ------------------- ---------------
1 OFF ON ON A:
2 OFF OFF ON A: B:
3 OFF ON OFF A: B: C:
4 OFF OFF OFF A: B: C: D:
This information was derived, in whole, from AST's SIXPAK User's
Manual for the AST SIXPAK PLUS Multifunction card, which I highly
recommend to anyone needing 384K more RAM, a parallel port, serial
port, clock/calendar, great RAM DISK software (although there's plenty
of public domain stuff available) and SPOOLing software, as well as
an optional game port.
I think that you need another power supply cable for a third drive. I
don't feel like opening up my system for the umpteenth time - but if I
remember there are only TWO sets of power/control cables for drives.
The system CAN handle several drives - you just have to get the proper
controller board and power cabling.
David Geller
Computer Consoles, Inc.
Office Systems Group
1760 Reston Avenue
Reston, VA 22090
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 27 Mar 84 2:40-PST
Date: 24 Mar 84 10:19:05-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!mhuxl!aluxp!fjames @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Microsoft Language Address Space Query
I have the Series 100/Basic interpreter for the HP150. I understand
this basic is produced by Microsoft. And I also understand that none
of the Microsoft software supports memory above 64K. This will also
apply to, if my understanding is correct, the Basic compiler, and the
Pascal and Fortran compilers, made by Microsoft, that are also
available for this machine.
Is Microsoft also listening? Is there a way around this? Remember
that unlike the IBM PCs, all the HP150s come with 256K memory. (The
additional 192K is used for some of the other software, like VisiCalc
and Lotus 1-2-3, I am told, but is not used in any of the Microsoft
stuff.)
Floyd J. James
VLSI Device Reliability Group
IC Customer Service Laboratory
AT&T Bell Laboratories
[MS Fortran, Pascal and C all support memory above 64K. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 27 Mar 84 4:18-PST
Date: 25 Mar 84 22:30:18-PST (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!rlgvax!cvl!umcp-cs!deba @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Query: Getting Memory Size from C
Is it possible to know the size of the remaining workspace (memory)
from a C program running under DOS (IBM PC)?
deba@MARYLAND
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂30-Mar-84 0001 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #35
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 30 Mar 84 00:00:51 PST
Date: 29 Mar 1984 2122-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #35
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, 29 March 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 35
This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann
Today's Topics:
Oki 84 Query
PC/IX (2 msgs)
Link Error (2 msgs)
Microsoft FORTRAN 3.20
"The Creator" Query
COMMAND.COM Location
PC Version of "vi" Editor Wanted
New Version of MIT Comm Package
One-Handed Word Processing
RGB Sync Query
Converting from DOS 2.0 to DOS 2.1
CTTY Command
PACMAN Game
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 84 21:33:18 PST
From: Matthew J. Weinstein <matt@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: Oki 84 Query
Does anyone have details on hooking up an Oki 84 to an XT?
A friend (non-technical) wants to give it a shot.
Reply directly. Thanks!
- Matt
------------------------------
Date: 28 Mar 1984 03:17:49-EST
From: John Levine, INTERACTIVE, 441 Stuart St, Boston MA 02116 (617-247-1155) <Levine@YALE.ARPA>
Subject: Sources for PC/IX Info
To: haddock!fa.info-ibmpc@CCA-UNIX
People here have pointed out that IBM has set up an 800 number, or
will in the next few days, to report PC/IX questions and bugs. If you
are a PC/IX user, please let them know about your problems, so they
can get them logged and, one hopes, scheduled for repair.
For general questions and ordering information about PC/IX you can try
calling IBM in Dallas at 214-556-5287.
John Levine, Levine@YALE.ARPA
------------------------------
Date: 29 Mar 1984 02:25:16-EST
From: John Levine, INTERACTIVE, 441 Stuart St, Boston MA 02116 (617-247-1155) <Levine@YALE.ARPA>
Subject: PC/IX Opinions
To: cca!hfischer@USC-ECLB.ARPA
Remailed-To: Info-IBMPC
Here are a few opinions:
INed: The current version of INed does indeed write bytes directly into
the screen memory, even if it's invoked from a serial port,
whether you like it or not. It's unlikely to be fixed any time
soon, since PC/IX has a single user license so that it's hard to
explain to them why it's a problem ("I can't imagine why anybody
would want to call up his own PC over the phone.")
Console terminal: It emulates a fairly dimwitted X3.64 terminal, not
exactly the same as any real terminal I know. It's easily
described to termcap, and the distributed /etc/termcap has an
entry for it.
INmail: We're fooling with it internally, but it's not a PC product at
this point. PC/IX comes with uucp and Bell mail, which is
certainly better than nothing.
Screen graphics: The IBM guys are just wrong. You can set attributes
on characters with escape sequences in the data stream, and you
can switch the monitor into any mode you want with some ioctl()
calls. There are tplot filters to do graphics output both on the
color screen and on the graphics printer.
John Levine, Levine@YALE.ARPA
------------------------------
Date: Wed 28 Mar 84 02:16:13-EST
From: Bernard Gunther <BMG@MIT-XX.ARPA>
Subject: Link Error
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I was modifying a tasking package to work with the Lattice compiler
and I get a very annoying problem. I MASM the assembly part of it and
so far so good, but when I LINK this file in with the rest of my
files, I get the following error:
Invalid object module
Input File: TK.OBJ(A) pos: 00034 Record Type: A0
Do you have any ideas on what may be causing this? I am really
puzzled since the module MASMed properly.
Thanks in advance,
Bernie Gunther
------------------------------
Date: 29 Mar 1984 1714-PST
Subject: Re: Link Error
From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Bernard Gunther <BMG@MIT-XX.ARPA>
cc: Info-IBMPC
In-Reply-To: Your message of Wed 28 Mar 84 02:16:13-EST
I've gotten such link errors several times. The record types
mentioned in the error message are described in the Intel manual
on object module formats. Here is a summary:
6E RHEADR R-MODULE HEADER
70 REGINT REGISTER INITIALIZATION
72 REDATA RELOCATABLE ENUMERATED DATA
74 RIDATA RELOCATABLE ITERATED DATA
76 OVLDEF OVERLAY DEFINITION
78 ENDREC END RECORD
7A BLKDEF BLOCK DEFINITION
7C BLKEND BLOCK END
7E DEBSYM DEBUG SYMBOLS
80 THEADR T-MODULE HEADER
82 LHEADR L-MODULE HEADER
84 PEDATA PHYSICAL ENUMERATED DATA
86 PIDATA PHYSICAL ITERATED DATA
88 COMENT COMMENT RECORD
8A MODEND MODULE END
8C EXTDEF EXTERNAL NAMES DEFINITION
8E TYPDEF TYPE DEFINITION
90 PUBDEF PUBLIC NAMES DEFINITION
92 LOCSYM LOCAL SYMBOLS
94 LINNUM LINE NUMBERS
96 LNAMES LIST OF NAMES
98 SEGDEF SEGMENT DEFINITION
9A GRPDEF GROUP DEFINITION
9C FUXUPP FIXUP RECORD
9E (none)
A0 LEDATA LOGICAL ENUMERATED DATA
A2 LIDATA LOGICAL ITERATED DATA
A4 LIBHED LIBRARY HEADER
A6 LIBNAM LIBRARY MODULE NAMES
A8 LIBLOC LIBRARY MODULE LOCATIONS
AA LIBDIC LIBRARY DICTIONARY
LEDATA records can hold up to 1024 bytes of relocatable or absolute
data. As often happens with these things, the record type isn't very
informative. Sometimes the reason for a bad record is that your OBJ
file was cut off in the middle, e.g. by a control-break. So
reassembling is worth a try.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 84 11:53:59 EST
From: Craig Douglas <Douglas@YALE.ARPA>
Subject: Microsoft FORTRAN 3.20
To: Info-Ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
The latest version of Microsoft FORTRAN (3.20) supports arrays of any
length, not just the old maximum of 64K.
------------------------------
Date: Wed 28 Mar 84 11:06:01-PST
From: Steve Dennett <DENNETT@SRI-NIC>
Subject: "The Creator" Query
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
Does anyone know anything about a program called "The Creator" written
by Bruce Tonkin (?). I believe it is a program generator of some
sort, and heard that it was recently put into public domain. Thanks.
Steve Dennett
------------------------------
Date: 28 Mar 1984 1113-PST
From: mike@LOGICON.ARPA
Subject: COMMAND.COM Location
To: manny@udel-relay
cc: info-ibmpc@isib
The system does indeed load the COMMAND.COM file from the drive you
boot from. The DOS manual provides a way of changing this by the
placing a 'SHELL=' command line in your CONFIG.SYS file.
My experience with the above statement has not been really great.
What I tried to do was to have the COMMAND.COM file reside in a
directory 'bin' on my fixed disk. However, it seems that when the
system comes up it needs the COMMAND.COM in the root directory.
If you are just trying to change the disk that COMMAND.COM loads from
you might get different results.
Mike Parker
------------------------------
Date: 28 Mar 1984 12:20:16 PST
From: SUNSHINE@USC-ISIF.ARPA
Subject: PC Version of "vi" Editor Wanted
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Does anyone know of a vi editor port to the IBM PC? We use it in the
Unix world, and would like to find a look-alike for PCs.
------------------------------
Date: 28 Mar 1984 1749-PST
Subject: New Version of MIT Comm Package
From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC
I am submitting to the Info-IBMPC library my latest version of the MIT
comm package. It supports both serial ports simultaneously, will work
direct or thru a modem (with full modem handshaking), has XON/XOFF
flow control built in, keeps running error counts, and is compatible
with the PC, XT and PCjr. It uses assembly language calling
conventions. The program is in <INFO-IBMPC>COM←PKG2.ASM and a test
driver for it is in <INFO-IBMPC>GLASSTTY.ASM.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 84 13:24 EST
From: Stan Kulikowski <stankuli%umass-cs.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@csnet-relay.arpa
Subject: One-Handed Word Processing
[This isn't really about PCs, but perhaps someone can help. -Ed.]
Today I received a request for information as follows:
Amherst Regional Jr High
I have a student who is learning to use an IBM Display Writer System.
He only has one hand and we think he will need to master word
processing for his educational career. This is a fairly new machine
(about 1982) and has detachable keyboard as shown:
.-----------------------------------------------.
: @@@@ :
: @@ OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO @@@@ :
: @@ OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO :
: @@ OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO @@@@ :
: @@ OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO @@@@ :
: OO XXXXXXXXXXXXXX OO :
:-----------------------------------------------:
On the left and right are function keys which need to be held down
simultaneously with another key in the central area. A person with
only one hand cannot reach these.
Any ideas you have to modify this would be appreciated.
There are a couple approaches that seem feasible, given that the
school may not want to invest in a prosthetic keyboard:
>> The special function keys on this keyboard
be replaced with ones that mechanically lock.
The Keytronics Corp (Spokane, WA.) provide
replacement keyboards for Apple-II and IBM-PC
with locking shift and ctrl keys.
>> Some temporary attachment to lap board which
holds the special function keys.
>> Will this word processor allow key binding
so the special functions can put within singlehand reach
I will investigate the last possibility. Does anyone know of any
implementation or alternatives to these? I once saw an Apple program
for one-handed word processing. I'm interested in alternatives that
are not machine-specific. This kid and and others with similar
abilities will need to move from machine to machine as frequently as
the rest of us.
stan
------------------------------
Date: 29 Mar 1984 14:47:14-EST
From: Greg.Glass@CMU-CS-CAD
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: RGB Sync Query
Could anyone give me information on how to connect a "real" analog RGB
monitor up to the TTL outputs of the IBM color card? How do I hook up
the sync? The monitor can take sync on green or external sync.
Greg
------------------------------
Date: 29 Mar 1984 14:51:56-EST
From: Greg.Glass@CMU-CS-CAD
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: Converting from DOS 2.0 to DOS 2.1
I got DOS 2.1 and find that there is no information included for
co␈verting from DOS 2.0. I seem to remember that I will have to
backup the hard disk and reformat it. Anything else to know?
Greg
------------------------------
Date: 29 Mar 1984 1307 PST
From: Scott McCord <SMJPM@JPL-VLSI>
Subject: CTTY Command
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
Has anyone attempted to use the CTTY command? I have tried without
success in getting it to work. What I did was to connect a TI Silent
700 to the PC using the TI's modem and a Hayes Smartmodem.
Establishing a connection in that manner was the easy part. What I was
attempting to do was to be able to issue dos commands from the TI.
When I invoked the Command (from the PC keyboard): CTTY COM1, the "A>"
prompt appeared on the TI. When I tried to issue a command from the TI
(namely the DIR command), I got no response. I could tell by watching
the modem that information was in fact being passed into the PC from
the TI.
As another test, I put in the a bat file the following:
CTTY COM1
DIR
By invoking the bat file I was able to get a directory listing on the
TI. Does anyone know how to get the TI (or another keyboard device)
to talk to the PC with the CTTY command? I was using DOS 2.1 (had also
tried 2.0's version of CTTY as well).
My goal is to be able to leave my PC running and have the ability
access it remotely. Has anyone else had any luck in using the CTTY
command?
Scott Siegel
------------------------------
Date: 29 Mar 1984 1444-PST
Subject: PACMAN Game
From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC
Another goodie from the PC-BLUE library: there is now a PACMAN game in
<INFO-IBMPC>PACMAN.BAS. It the graphics adaptor. You should compile
it for proper speed.
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂01-Apr-84 1555 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #36
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 1 Apr 84 15:54:30 PST
Date: 1 Apr 1984 1214-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #36
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Sunday, 1 April 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 36
This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann
Today's Topics:
Accounting Package Query
Insider 10M Hard Disk
XT Disk Controller Query
Converting from DOS 2.0 to DOS 2.1 (2 msgs)
Oki 84 Printer
Non-Epson Graphics Print Query
CTTY Command (2 msgs)
COMMAND.COM Location (4 msgs)
Link Error
RGB Sync
Sperry PC Compatibility Review
Timer Interrupt Query
DIF Format Query
Venix Parity Errors (2 msgs)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 29 Mar 84 23:44-PST
Date: 26 Mar 84 15:55:07-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!drutx!houxe!hogpc!houti!ariel!vax135!floyd!cmcl2!philabs!mcnc!unc!howell @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Accounting Package Query
Does anyone know of a good accounting package for the IBM PC? This
would be for a small operation, less than $3M annually. Thanks.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 30 Mar 84 2:15-PST
Date: 27 Mar 84 10:17:03-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: teklabs!keithe @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Insider 10M Hard Disk
We have two "original" (i.e., 64k mother-board) IBM PCs in our office
for which I purchased and installed the Insider 10-meg hard disk
system from Micro Design International of Maitland Florida. Primary
reason for purchase of this particular system was money: $995 for
drive and controller, plus $13.40 for shipping. I also spent $65 for
clock-calendar module and $55 for game port.
These systems originate from Maynard Electronics, and appear to be the
same as reviewed in the February 28th edition of PC WEEK. The drive is
a half-height unit, but comes with front-panel bezel and mounting
standoffs so as to occupy a full-heights worth of space.
There are several installation options. The controller electronics
module plugs onto another card that plugs into the PC mother-board.
This "daughter-mother" card has six locations at which function
modules can be installed, the hard-disk controller spans three of the
locations. The other three can be occupied with any of the following:
printer port ($59), serial port ($95), clock/calendar ($65), game
adapter ($55). Or if you've run out of slots in the PC you can fill
the remaining three locations on the daughter-mother board with a
replacement floppy-disk controller and eliminate the original floppy
controller. (That adds $300 to the price)
I had already modified my PC by replacing the two full-height,
single-sided floppy drives with Shugart 455's (half-height,
double-sided) and I had to modify that installation. The instructions
told me to put the hard-disk drive on the right, and that's where I
had installed both the floppies. I ended up retaining only one floppy
drive in each system: there are only two power connectors coming from
the power supply, and I'm not sure the PS could handle three drives
(the hard disk is run from the internal supply). Indeed, on the other
computer we have removed the graphics adapter (never used, anyway)
because the power supply folds-back (apparently) when the hard-disk is
spinning up, a sign that the current limit of the PS is being at least
temporarily exceeded. (By the way - anybody got any documentation on
these power supplies? I'd crank up the current limit if I knew where
the adjustment is.) My PC doesn't have this problem even though all
the slots are now occupied (256k RAM expansion & serial port, graphics
adapter, monochrome & printer adapter, hard-disk controller,
floppy-disk controller).
Turns out it was a good thing we bought two systems: one (mine)
wouldn't work - erroneous reads - and by process of elimination I
determined that the controller card was at fault. Calling Micro Design
International got a return material authorization to get a
replacement, and (about) a week and a half later I was back "on the
air" with the new controller.
Over all I'm very pleased with the drives. They're everything hard
disks are supposed to be: fast, somewhat noisy, and somewhat scary (I
just KNOW I'm gonna accidentally wipe out something one of these days,
and with no backup). On problem I have yet to solve is the front panel
bezels for the half-height floppy drives. Presently there are gaping
holes above and below the floppy, and this adds to the noise output.
I'll have to either make or buy some pieces to cover up these holes.
keith ericeon at teklabs
PS - I've no connection with Micro Design International, other than as
a reasonably satisfied customer.
------------------------------
Date: Friday, 30 March 1984 16:41:15 EST
From: Bob.Sproull@cmu-cs-vlsi.arpa
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: XT Disk Controller Query
I would like to read data from the XT disk as fast as possible (the
transfer rate is 5Mbit/sec and track-to-track seek is less than a
rotation, which suggests one might be able to get 4Mbit/sec or so).
Unfortunately, the IBM Technical Reference manual is entirely
unhelpful about the details of this board, which contains a Xebec
controller, Z80, and some program in ROM. Trying all obvious
combinations of command formats in the TechRef, I am able to transfer
only 2 (of 17) sectors per revolution. Does anyone have better poop
on this controller, or experience reading data faster? I'm willing to
give up error correction.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 84 6:48:47 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber@udel-ee.arpa>
To: Greg.Glass@cmu-cs-cad.arpa
cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Re: Converting from DOS 2.0 to DOS 2.1
All I did to convert is to do a sys onto the hard disk from the 2.1
diskette and copy command.com (and other utilities). Works fine.
------------------------------
Date: 30 Mar 1984 0846-PST
From: mike@LOGICON.ARPA
Subject: Re: Converting from DOS 2.0 to DOS 2.1
To: INFO-IBMPC@isib
I recently went from DOS 2.0 to DOS 2.1 on my XT with no problems.
The installation is pretty simple. Just copy all the binaries from
the 2.1 disk to replace all the 2.0 programs (especially all .EXE and
.COM files supplied). I have not noticed that the hard disk has to be
reformatted or anything so drastic. Just a simple SYS command will
transfer the system stuff.
Hope this helps.....
Mike Parker
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30-Mar-84 10:07:38 PST
From: Pete Carah <vortex!pete@RAND-UNIX>
Subject: Oki 84 Printer
To: info-ibmpc@isib
An OKI 84 can be hooked directly to a standard IBM parallel port or
serial port (depending on the version of the printer). You should be
able to get a cable from any dealer that sells printers. The graphics
modes are not compatible unless you have a special ROM in the OKIDATA,
which is available from some printer dealers. The printer will
probably not run full speed if it is parallel and run from the IBM
PRINT command, which uses the clock interrupt to meter characters to
the parallel printer due to a problem in the interrupt system. To get
full speed COPY <file> LPT1: or open the printer directly in a
program.
I have modified my printer cable to fix this problem (but the simple
fix won't work on TI or Centronics printers, I only know about EPSON),
and am using an interrupt driven print buffer program successfully.
------------------------------
From: Paul Fishwick <Fishwick%upenn.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa>
Subject: Non-Epson Graphics Print Query
To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@csnet-relay.arpa
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 84 09:37 EST
Can someone suggest an efficient way to write a graphics screen using
the Shift-PrintScreen interrupt, i.e. the analog of graphics.com, for
a printer other than Epson? I'm using a CITOH Prowriter 8510. I have
written code to do the dump, but am not sure of a good way of
integrating it within the context of Shift-PrintScreen. Here is one
possibility (is it the best?) :
1. ) Use the DOS allocate-memory function.
2. ) Write the binary image of dump program to the allocated
part of memory.
3. ) Change the print-screen interrupt vector to reflect this
new location.
I'll appreciate any info. on this...thanks.
[Just have your program exit-but-remain-resident, as the graphics.com
program does. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: Fri 30 Mar 84 13:56:18-PST
From: Herm Fischer <HFISCHER@USC-ECLB.ARPA>
Subject: Re: CTTY Command
To: SMJPM@JPL-VLSI.ARPA
cc: Gillmann@USC-ISIB.ARPA, HFischer@USC-ECLB.ARPA
Remailed-To: info-IBMPC
Scott,
I have used the CTTY command quite a lot, and it does work. I use it
both over a local area network, and via modems. I have also used it
to/with Kermit, and the Kermit documentation for the Take/Server
version deals with how to use it.
(If you have any questions, since you are local you could call me
at 818-902-5139.)
Herm Fischer
------------------------------
Date: Fri 30 Mar 84 23:31:35-PST
From: Carl Fussell <G.FUSSELL@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: Re: CTTY Command
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I have accessed the PC remotely through the COM1 serial port. No real
difficulties were encountered. The only item that took a little time
was using a breakout box to make sure all the signals were properly
connected. When I first connected cables, I found the PC did not want
to respond to anything. But once I had signals like DSR and CTS etc
wired correctly, there were no more difficulties. Just issued the
appropriate MODE command and then CTTY and everything worked fine.
Carl Fussell
------------------------------
Date: 30 Mar 1984 1918-EST
From: Larry Campbell <LCAMPBELL at DEC-MARLBORO>
To: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC at ISIB>
Subject: Re: COMMAND.COM Location
You need to give the SHELL= command in CONFIG.SYS the location of
COMMAND.COM as an argument; you also need to give the /P switch
(Permanent, makes the EXIT command a no-op). If COMMAND.COM resides
in E:\BIN, you'd have
SHELL=E:\BIN\COMMAND.COM E:\BIN /P
This seems to work fine for me.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30-Mar-84 10:07:38 PST
From: Pete Carah <vortex!pete@RAND-UNIX>
Subject: Re: COMMAND.COM Location
To: info-ibmpc@isib
To start a command.com from c:/bin and make it refresh from there (the
latter is what is not in the IBM manual), use the command
SHELL=C:\BIN\COMMAND.COM C:\BIN /P
as the last thing in your config.sys. The c:/bin after the first
shell name is the path from which command.com will be reloaded when
needed. The P switch makes the initial shell resident.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 31 Mar 84 9:57:13 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Re: COMMAND.COM Location
I got this from Compuserve. It works fine for me.
Sb: CONFIG.SYS SHELL=
Fm: Don Gentry 74166,1704
For those who are interested, the SHELL= in CONFIG.SYS works as
designed, but the documentation is very poor. When you code
SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM this only instructs DOS to look on the C disk for
the initial load of COMMAND.COM. COMMAND.COM must be passed parms for
the reloading of the transient portion. To initially load COMMAND.COM
from C & continue loading the transient portion from C try the
following: SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM C:\ /P Note: if C is a virtual (RAM)
disk it won't work because when command is loaded before you can copy
it to the virtual disk it will look for itself & it won't be there,
but if you have a hard disk it should work. You can even use a path
like: SHELL=A:\COMMAND.COM C:\COMMAND /P or just for fun
SHELL=DEBUG.COM (but you'll loop when you quit) & look at CS:80 & see
the parms DOS passes command! Better yet - does anybody know how to
keep command resident all the time for dos 2.x? Hope this helps
someone.
Don Gentry
------------------------------
Date: 31 Mar 1984 1125-EST
From: "Ted Hess" <THESS at DEC-MARLBORO>
To: info-ibmpc at USC-ISIB
Subject: Re: COMMAND.COM Location
To run COMMAND.COM for some path or drive other than the root of the
booted disk is as follows:
SHELL=[originpath]COMMAND.COM [newpath] /P
COMMAND.COM will be loaded from the original path [originpath] and all
reloads of the transient portion will come from [newpath]. NB: the
checksum of the file on [newpath] had better be the same as the
[originpath] file. The /P says - make this shell permanent and is
required for the top-level shell usually. Example:
SHELL=C:\BIN\COMMAND.COM C:\BIN /P
This all goes in a CONFIG.SYS file which must be in the root area of
the booted disk.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30-Mar-84 10:07:38 PST
From: Pete Carah <vortex!pete@RAND-UNIX>
Subject: Re: Link Error
To: info-ibmpc@isib
I don't know about an invalid data record (I have never seen one), but
I know one certain way to generate an invalid .OBJ file from an
apparently valid assembly:
FOO SEGMENT PUBLIC 'DATA'
.
.
.
FOO ENDS
.
.
.
< in code segment>
MOV AX,SEG DATA
MOV ES,AX ;for example
.
.
.
The assembler doesn't check that data is not really a segment name,
and the linker subsequently complains about a 9C record (relocation)
which is attempting to resolve the MOV AX instruction.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30-Mar-84 10:07:38 PST
From: Pete Carah <vortex!pete@RAND-UNIX>
Subject: Re: RGB Sync
To: info-ibmpc@isib
We connected a SONY KX2501 to an IBM color board a year or so ago, and
the only problem we had was that the SONY would not accept the sync
from the color board as is, it had to be inverted. We did this by
stealing power from the light pen connector, and putting an inverter
chip (74LS..) inside a lump in the cable. This looks bad but
works. I hear that SONY now has an adapter to do the same, which may
also handle the luminance signal (we ignored it), but I know no
details about such an adapter.
-- Pete
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 1984 13:20:38 EST
From: David M. Axler - MSCF Applications Mgr. <AXLER%upenn-1100.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa>
Subject: Sperry PC Compatibility Review
To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@csnet-relay.arpa
For those wondering just how the phrase "99 44/100% compatible"
translates into reality, here's some info on the Sperry PC's
compatibility, according to a press release from them:
1) Minor problems w/Pascal (p-system) and SYS command to be fixed by May;
also, Sperry PC uses "Basic", not "Basica" as a command to start basic, which
can lead to trouble -- this will also be fixed by May, they claim.
2) The following are listed by Sperry as "successfully tested":
Flight simulator Concurrent CP/M-86 PFS: File
PFS: Report PFS: Graph PFS: Write
EasyWriter II Supercalc 2 Multimate
BPI Accounting Perfect Writer Perfect Speller
DBase II VisiWord VisiSchedule
Personal Investor Lotus 1-2-3 Home Accountant
VolksWriter Word Star Multiplan
Microsoft Cobol Hyper Graphics Typing Tutor
Visi Spell Auto CAD Frogger
BPI Payroll BPI Inventory Control BPI Job Cost
Peachtext 5000 Peachtree Graphics Lang. Business Graphics Lang.
Crosstalk DOS 1.1 and 2.0 CP/M
USCD-p Logicalc Context MBA
Fastgraphs MS-Cobol Graphtalk
T/Maker III PC-Adventure VisiTrend/Plot
VisiCalc InfoScope Fast Graphs
Microsoft Fortran Cdex Visicalc Training APL
Microsoft Windows Microsoft Word Knowware
Chartman ATI Training for PC-DOS
3) The following are listed as "products with known errors":
Casino Games Snooper Troops Voyager
Desk Organizer IFPS/Personal Concurrent CP/M Demo
4) The following add-on boards have been found to operate successfully:
Tall Grass Hard Disk Mountain Hard Disk Quadram Memory
Hayes SmartModem IRMA Board (3270 cntrlr.) SRITEK MC68000 co-processor
Ryan/McFarland Xenix Hercules Monochrome ALL AST boards, incl PC-Net
All Persyst Boards Fox Research LAN for Santa Clara hard disk
Data Mac Hard Disk both Ethernet and Devong Hard Disk
IBM SNA and BISYNC twisted pairs. Intech Wand Scanner
Novelle Netware IBM Color Graphics Zenith Monitor
Amdek Monitor(amber) Tecmar Graphics (monochrome)
5) In addition to this, the damned thing's faster and has better color
resolution!
------------------------------
Date: Sat 31 Mar 84 00:05:15-EST
From: Francisco Camargo <CAMARGO@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: Timer Interrupt Query
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I'm trying to implement a timer interrupt driven routine using the
user interrupt vector 01C provided by DOS, but I'd like sometimes not
to return from the interrupt, but switch to another task instead. The
problem is that I'm afraid of sending the EOI to the interrupt
controller, and therefore allowing interrupts to occur again before
returning from the previous one, because I intend to make the older
interrupt regain control latter on and then return to DOS. If I do so,
the EOI could be sent twice to controller and I don't know under which
risk.
An alternative I got was to intercept the interrupt 008 itself and
make my own routine decide when to pass control to the original ROM
interrupt handler, not issuing the EOI in that cases. To do so, I
doubled the interrupt rate to 36.4 interrupts per second and when an
interrupt occurs I decide if it is for the ROM routine or for my
routine to process it. It works fine, but I don't like to double the
interrupt rate since that 18.2/s in enough to me. I also wonder if
the timer interrupts are related to the memory refresh, i.e., do I
have to worry about refresh cycles when writing interrupt driven
routines that will work at high interrupt rates? Or does the DMA do
the job alone?. I'd appreciate it if anyone has any comments on these
questions.
Francisco A. Camargo
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 31 Mar 84 2:57-PST
Date: 27 Mar 84 12:33:30-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: mendel.toronto@CSNET-RELAY
Subject: DIF Format Query
I'd appreciate pointers to a description of DIF (Data Interchange
Format), supposedly a common file format accepted by many software
packages for IBM and other PCs. Thanks in advance,
Alberto Mendelzon
University of Toronto
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 31 Mar 84 10:10:35 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Venix Parity Errors
During the initial fcheck, I often get a comment like
Memory Parity error (Ignored).
and then I get indications of file system errors.
I recommend not believing the error comments and reboot of latter run
a fcheck. The "memory" error seems to make fcheck lie a bit even when
all is well.
Dave
------------------------------
Date: 31 Mar 1984 17:33:30 PST
Subject: Re: Venix Parity Errors
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: Dave Farber <farber@UDEL-EE>
cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
It sounds like Venix isn't doing proper memory initialization on power
up. If you set your switches to less memory than you actually have
parity may not get set correctly on power up.
Early Tall Tree systems suffered this problem as they tried to
preserve electronic disks over a Ctl Alt Del reboot. Memory refresh
gets turned off momentarily during ROM reboot and subsequent parity
errors were common. Tall Tree since fixed this around release 2.30.
Could booting Venix be turning off memory refresh for a short period?
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 3 Apr 84 20:14:19 PST
Date: 3 Apr 1984 1706-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #37
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
3-Apr-84 07:12:35-PST,15503;000000000001
Return-Path: <cpmlist@Amsaa.ARPA>
Received: FROM AMSAA BY USC-ISIB.ARPA WITH TCP ; 3 Apr 84 07:10:28 PST
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 84 9:36:32 EST
From: Dave Towson (info-cpm) <cpmlist@Amsaa.ARPA>
To: info-ibmpc@Usc-Isib.ARPA
Subject: Simtel20 Archives.
Public Domain Software Lovers - At long last, the Great Archive Blurb is
finished! This updated version covers ALL of the archives on SIMTEL20, and
will (I hope) answer most of the questions that have been pouring in since the
announcement of the new PC-BLUE archive.
I especially want to thank Gail Zacharias <GZ@MIT-MC> for a very thorough
job of proof-reading and error reporting. The blurb is considerably improved
as a result of her efforts.
Thanks are also due to Frank Wancho <WANCHO@SIMTEL20> for making the
archives possible, and to Keith Petersen <W8SDZ@SIMTEL20> and Richard Conn
<RCONN@SIMTEL20> for maintaining them. Without the efforts of these people,
I wouldn't have had to write this thing (hmmmmm).
Finally, thanks to all of you who have been patiently waiting for this
information, and wishing I'd hurry up so that you could get at the goodies.
This blurb is about thirteen-thousand characters long. It's a lot to
absorb at one time if you don't already know most of it. My advice is to print
it, and keep it on hand for reference.
Dave Towson
INFO-CPM-REQUEST @ AMSAA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE SIMTEL20 ARCHIVES
OVERVIEW
There is a colossal amount of free public domain CP/M software in
several archives on SIMTEL20, a PDP-20 running TOPS-20 at White Sands Missile
Range. Files may be obtained using FTP (described in a following paragraph)
with user-name "anonymous". For a password, use your host-name (or any string
of printing characters). Throughout this message, FTP examples are given in a
GENERIC syntax. You will have to consult either a local documentation file or
your friendly system wizard to learn the actual syntax used with your local
mainframe operating system.
UNIX users can do "man ftp" for instructions. ITS users can do
":INFO FTP". I will be happy to update this message to include pointers to
other sources of documentation if they are sent to INFO-CPM-REQUEST.
To get directory listings, connect to SIMTEL20 via FTP and do this:
get micro:<cpm>cpm.crclst
get micro:<cpmug>cpmug.crclst
get micro:<sigm>sigm.crclst
get micro:<unix>unix.crclst
get micro:<pc-blue>pc-blue.crclst
The first will get you a directory of a cpm archive that was moved from MIT-MC.
This is the one to watch for the very latest CP/M offerings, as it is updated
frequently. The second is the full catalog of the CP/M Users Group. It (and
the third and fifth archives) will be updated as new disks are issued. The
third is the full catalog of the Special Interest Group for Microcomputers
(SIG/M), a service of the Amateur Computer Group of New Jersey. The fourth
contains UNIX-related software, not all of which is CP/M-specific. That which
does apply specifically to CP/M is in the directory <UNIX.CPM>. The CRCLST
file shows the contents of the full UNIX archive, which is growing rapidly.
The fifth archive contains software for the IBM-PC.
There are many overlaps in the first three archives, but you will find the
latest versions in the <CPM> archive. In general, the archived software is
very good, having been worked-over and refined by multiple users. The comments
tend to be complete and informative.
FILE TYPES
Files in the <CPM> archive are stored in two formats, ASCII for DOC, HEX
and ASM files, and ITS binary for COM and squeezed files. Squeezed files have
been compressed using the programs available in directory <CPM.SQUSQ> to obtain
an approximate 35-percent size reduction. These files can be identified by the
letter Q in the file-type field. For example, file MICRO:<CPM.MODEM903>DEFF.AQM
is a squeezed file. It must be transferred as a binary file, and then un-
squeezed. The unsqueezing can be done on the CP/M system using USQ-20.COM (or
whatever is the current version from directory <CPM.SQUSQ>), or there are
several host-based unsqueezers in the <CPM> archive (see for example, directory
<CPM.TOPS-20>). File MICRO:<CPM>CPM.CRCLST shows the type of storage used for
each file in the <CPM> archive.
ALL FILES in the <UNIX> archive are stored in ASCII.
With the exception of the CATALOG FILES to be described later, ALL FILES
in the <SIGM>, <CPMUG> and <PC-BLUE> archives are stored in ITS binary,
a format which had its origin at MIT. Each file begins with a 36-bit
identifier-word containing DSK8 in SIXBIT code. This reads as 446353300000
in octal, and 933AD8000 in hexadecimal. All data are stored as four 8-bit
bytes per 36-bit SIMTEL20 word, with the low-order four bits of each word
filled with zeros. If such a file is interpreted as a contiguous string,
as will happen if a straight binary transfer is made to a 16 or 32-bit UNIX
machine, the four zero filler-bits per 36-bit group will cause rather bizarre
and frustrating results. The methods for dealing with this situation, which
differ from machine to machine, are explained in a following paragraph.
The ONLY files in the <SIGM>, <CPMUG> and <PC-BLUE> archives that are NOT
stored in ITS binary are the CATALOG files. These files, which are stored in
ASCII, contain (in reverse numerical order) the -CATALOG.nnn files from all the
volumes of their respective archives. To obtain these composite catalog
files, connect to SIMTEL20 via FTP and do this:
get micro:<sigm>sigm.cat
get micro:<cpmug>cpmug.cat
get micro:<pc-blue>pc-blue.cat
Remember, ALL are ASCII files.
FILE TRANSFER VIA FTP
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, a formalized procedure for moving
files among machines on the Defense Data Network (DDN) and other networks that
connect with the DDN. The protocol is implemented by a program called FTP.
The different mainframe operating systems implement FTP with variations in
command syntax. Some systems have the remote-file-name precede the local-file-
name in the command. Others reverse this order. Some versions have the whole
command on a single input line, while others use multiple lines. Read the
documentation for your local system, or consult a friendly system wizard
for the details of your local FTP command syntax. FTP transfers from SIMTEL20
can be made with user-name "anonymous". Use your host-name (or any string of
printing characters) for a password.
Users of TOPS-10, TENEX, TOPS-20 or ITS systems can use "type image" or
"type paged" mode for ALL transfers. UNIX users must use "type ascii" mode
for ASCII files, and "type tenex" or "type L 8" mode for ITS binary files.
MULTICS users must use "type ascii" mode for ASCII files, and "type image"
mode for ITS binary.
Once an ITS binary file has been transferred to your mainframe, additional
processing is needed to make it into a standard CP/M file. This processing is
done automatically by the programs used on TOPS-20 and ITS machines for
downloading to a micro, so those users need not be concerned with this. UNIX
users have only to remove the first four bytes of each file. These four bytes
are a special "ITS header", and are not really a part of the file. They can
be removed using the UNIX utility "dd", or they can be removed using the
program ITSCVT, available as an ASCII-transferable .HEX file in directory
MICRO:<CPM.HEX>.
Post-processing of files on MULTICS machines can be done using a modified
version of the system copy utility. At present, transfer of this program is
a delicate matter because of the need to preserve the vendor's proprietary
rights. If you need this utility, send a message to INFO-CPM-REQUEST, and
I'll put you in touch with the person who has the program.
Anyone who can obtain an exact contiguous copy of an ITS binary file
(probably using "type image" mode), and then download it to a CP/M machine
without losing any bits, can post-process the file into standard format using a
CP/M program available from INFO-CPM-REQUEST. If there is enough interest in
this program, it can be added to the <CPM> archive. If it necessary for you to
take this route, study the description of ITS binary format given in the
section on FILE TYPES, so that you will know what to expect. This method
worked satisfactorily with transfers to our 16 and 32-bit UNIX machines before
we learned to use "type tenex" mode.
MAINFRAME PROGRAMS FOR TRANSFERRING FILES BETWEEN MAINFRAMES AND MICROS
Christensen Protocol:
For a micro to reliably exchange files with a mainframe, cooperating
file transfer programs with automatic error detection and retransmission of
faulty blocks must be running on both computers. One such family of programs
uses a popular protocol created by Ward Christensen and enhanced by others.
Directory MICRO:<UNIX.CPM> contains two programs, UC and the older UMODEM
(both written in C), which implement this protocol on UNIX machines. See the
file MICRO:<UNIX>UNIX.CRCLST for a list of other useful UNIX utilities.
On ITS machines, file transfer using the Christensen protocol can be done
using MMODEM (type :MMODEM for instructions), or LMODEM. Documentation for
LMODEM is in file .INFO.;LMODEM HELP. Other useful ITS utilities include TYPE8,
which types an ASCII file stored in ITS binary format; TYPESQ, which types an
ITS binary format "squeezed" file (see the first paragraph under FILE TYPES);
USQ, which creates an unsqueezed version of a squeezed file; HEXIFY, which
creates an Intel hex format file from an ITS binary format COM file; COMIFY
which creates a COM file from an Intel hex file; and CRC, which computes the
Cyclic Redundancy Check value for a file, using the same algorithm that is used
by the CP/M program CRCK. Brief instructions for any of these utilities except
LMODEM can be obtained by typing ":utility←name" (for example, :CRC).
TOPS-20 utilities for transferring and manipulating files can be found in
directory MICRO:<CPM.TOPS-20>. See MICRO:<CPM>CPM.CRCLST for a list of
available programs.
File transfer and conversion utilities for use with VAX/VMS machines are
contained in directory MICRO:<CPM.VAXVMS>. See MICRO:<CPM>CPM.CRCLST for
details.
Kermit:
Another excellent program for transferring files is called KERMIT. This
program has the advantage of being available for an impressively large number
of mainframes and micros. It is, for example, available for the IBM-PC, and
DOES NOT require CP/M.
To get started with KERMIT, connect to Columbia-20 using FTP, and do this:
get ps:<kermit>00readme.txt
dir ps:<kermit>
Note two things: The machine name is "columbia-dash-twenty", and the filename
begins with "zero-zero".
After reading 00README.TXT, look at your directory listing and see what's
currently available (it may have changed since the last edit of 00README.TXT).
From then on, you are on your own. Questions can be addressed to INFO-KERMIT @
COLUMBIA-20.
MICROCOMPUTER PROGRAMS FOR TRANSFERRING FILES BETWEEN MAINFRAMES AND MICROS
Christensen Protocol:
An excellent program for transferring files between micros, or between
micros and mainframes is called MDM7xx, where the "xx" is replaced with two
digits to give the current version number. This program, often referred to as
MODEM7 (the name of its easier to pronounce ancestor), uses the popular
Christensen protocol to transfer files with automatic error detection and
retransmission of erroneous blocks.
To get started with MDM7xx, you should first FTP and examine three files
from the directory MICRO:<CPM.MODEM7>. After connecting to SIMTEL20, do this:
get micro:<cpm.modem7>(see below)
get micro:<cpm.modem7>mdm7xx.doc
get micro:<cpm.modem7>mdm7xx.msg
All are ASCII files. Together, they will tell you just about all there is to
know about getting the program to run on your machine. Take the time to read
these files; they're quite informative. You will also get some helpful insights
from reading some of the overlay files. These overlays, described in file
MICRO:<CPM.MODEM7>(see below), are used to customize MDM7xx for particular
machines without having to edit and assemble the huge MDM7xx source file.
Complete instructions for performing this procedure are contained in each
overlay file. The above use of "see below" refers to a file with the
characters "OVL" in its name. This message will be updated when the name of
that file becomes stable (at this moment, there are two).
Kermit:
As stated in an earlier paragraph, KERMIT is also an excellent program for
transferring files between computers. It, too, does automatic error detection
and retransmission, and it works between mainframe and micro, between micros,
and between mainframes. See the earlier paragraph for details.
Getting Started:
In order to get MDM7xx or KERMIT running on your micro, you must first
transfer the necessary files from mainframe to micro. If you already have a
receive-to-disk communications program of some sort, you can use it to move
the needed files. It is VERY CONVENIENT to be able to transfer 8-bit binary
files, although in most cases it is not absolutely necessary. Some of the
files are quite large. For example, MDM7xx.COM is over 18K bytes, and the HEX
file (which you will need if you can't transfer 8-bit files) is over 52K.
Moving large files to your micro without using an error detecting protocol can
result in frustrating errors, but it can be done by receiving multiple copies
and using manual or machine-assisted comparisons to locate and repair bad parts
of the code. However, there IS a better way.
Directory MICRO:<CPM.MODEM> contains a file that can be FTPed to your
mainframe, printed, and then entered into your micro by hand and assembled.
It is quite short. To examine this option, connect to SIMTEL20 via FTP and
do this:
get micro:<cpm.modem>pipmodem.asm
get micro:<cpm.modem>pipmodem.doc
get micro:<cpm.modem>mboot3.asm
All are ASCII files. Read PIPMODEM.DOC first, then look at MBOOT3.ASM.
PIPMODEM.DOC explains the situation very nicely. Questions concerning these
programs should be sent to INFO-CPM @ AMSAA.
ADDITIONS, IMPROVEMENTS AND CORRECTIONS
Suggestions for additions, improvements and corrections to this message
are always welcome. Please send them to INFO-CPM-REQUEST. Additional
information concerning FTP is, however, beyond the scope of this message. If
you need help with FTP, please read the documentation for your local system,
or see your friendly system wizard.
Contributions of public domain software are actively solicited. If you
have something that seems appropriate for inclusion in the <CPM> archive,
please contact Keith Petersen <W8SDZ@SIMTEL20>. Likewise, contributions to the
<UNIX> archive can be addressed to Richard Conn <RCONN@SIMTEL20>.
Happy hacking!
Dave Towson
INFO-CPM-REQUEST @ AMSAA
-------
∂04-Apr-84 1252 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #38
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 4 Apr 84 12:48:35 PST
Date: 3 Apr 1984 1847-PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #38
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 3 April 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 38
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
Maynard Hard disk drive
IBM-PC vs VAX II
PC/IX and other Unix Systems
Accounting Package
IMSL FORTRAN package?
Linking Pascal and C
Blocking Fork Call for MSDOS?
BATCD.ASM Update
Where to discuss Heathkit/Zenith HS-151, HS-161?
VT100 Terminal Emulator
CROSSTALK XVI
3 Tubes on a IBM-PC
APL Notes
DIF Format Defined
Electronic Mail
Tandy 2000 Printer Drivers
Pascal 8087 Problem
INFO-IBMPC KERMIT on the PCjr
Table of Contents March 1984
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun 1 Apr 84 17:24:18-PST
From: William Pearson <PEARSON@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA>
Subject: Maynard Hard disk drive
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I also just received my new Sandstar hard disk system (mfg. by
Maynard Electronics, purchased from PC-Connection) on friday. I purchased
the WS-2 model, which includes a built in Floppy disk controller for
$1169. I wanted to be able to hook up my 8-in drives in the future.
The system without FDC (and with 3 expansion slots for small
modules) goes for $995. My system was a 256K PC, with USI (now Paradise)
combination monochrome/graphics board, and AST Megaplus with 256K, and
2 Tandon TM100-2 drives. I switched the IBM FDC board for the Maynard
FDC/Winchester controller, replaced one TM100-2 with the hard disk, and
had the same power-up fold back current limiting problem mentioned
in a previous message. I found that the system would work without the
Tandon, or without the Megaplus, but not with both. My solution was to
hook up both drives to the power supply for my old Heathkit H-17
disk cabinet (which is built like a tank), and everything works fine.
On my first attempt to format the disk (under DOS 2.1, without
making the fix recommended by Maynard) the program said it would not
format because of errors in track 0. Running the Maynard diagnostics
also found an error. So I reformatted the disk using the Maynard
utility, (which includes a section where you lock out bad cylinders
which are listed on top of the drive from the factory), ran the
diagnostics again, and everything was OK. I have now been running for
about 12 hours, and dozens of power-ups to figure out the power supply
variables, with no problems.
I am very happy so far, but I am in the market for an auxiliary
power supply (who ever heard of IBM powered by Heathkit).
Bill Pearson (Pearson@sumex-aim)
-------
------------------------------
Date: Sun 1 Apr 84 17:56:40-PST
From: William Pearson <PEARSON@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA>
Subject: IBM-PC vs VAX II
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA, info-micro@BRL.ARPA
There has been a good deal of discussion about my previous msg,
mostly focusing on the comment 1/2 of a VAX is 3 IBM-PC's. It was not
my intention to disparage the VAX, or to suggest that universities give
up plans to purchase large machines and buy micros. I was just a little
surprised that my little machine, with 8 bit memory bus and 16 bit
internal data paths, could do a computationally difficult problem about
1/6 as fast as a VAX11/780 running unix. (I don't remember mentioning
the factor of 50 difference in cost). It seemed to me that the major
reason for the IBM's excellent performance was the Lattice 'C' compiler,
which is very good, and the lack of a comparable quality compiler for
the VAX. (I find this surprising, since the efficiency of unix depends
so much on the 'C' compiler, and making a 'C' compiler better seems like
a cheap way to improve system performance.)
I have now run the same program on several machines, including
Vaxen running VMS. The CPU times are:
VAX11/780 VMS 3:58
VAX11/780 Unix 5:54
VAX11/750 VMS 6:42
IBM-PC, Hard disk, DOS2.1
Lattice 'C'
25:19 v2, small memory model
26: v1, (small memory model)
29:10 v2, large data model (32 bit pointers) but
no data structure larger than 64K (16 bit
offsets)
I must note that theoretically the new Radio Shack machine (3 - 4X
IBM-PC) would compare very favorably with a Vax 11/750 running unix (0.6 780).
I should also point out that despite the necessity for having a large machine
for doing difficult problems, the Vax unix system I use seems to get bogged
down the worst when several people are running nroff or reading the news.
Bill Pearson (Peasron@sumex-aim)
-------
------------------------------
Date: 25 Feb 84 18:32:00-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!pournell @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PC/IX and other Unix Systems
If you're looking for a real "PC engine", I suggest you look at the
Eagle 1600 series. Extremely well-built, 8086-based machine, running at 8
Mhz.; comes with 128K and sockets (on the mother board) for 512K. This
is its limit, unless you can convince the 8086 to read 8 bits at a time
from the data bus.
There's an 8087 socket, but you'll have to either slow down or wait for
an 8 Mhz part. There are 8 PC expansion slots, all full-length. PC-DOs
2.0 now standard. Keyboard makes all the standard IBM sequences, but
it's laid out differently (it's detached).
Space for built-in hard disk, comes w/ a 96 TPI 1/2 hi 5-1/4 which can
read/write/format IBM 40 trackers. Hard disk either 10 meg or 40 from
Eagle; standard SASI so you could use others. 2 hard disks (of either
type) is normal max. Comes with monochrome board, serial board,
parallel (centronics) board.
It's designed to be multi-user and take an 8-port serial board. The
tech people have been really nice to us when we have called. The
manuals have improved radically since their inception.
I called Network Consulting, who have been porting Coherent to the
various flavors of PCalikes. They say within a short while (<=2 months,
don't hold them to it; call yourself) they'll have Coherent on the Eagle
series.
I'd like to hear from other users of the 1600, which I feel is a very
capable development machine for those who like speed. It's not cheap,
but it's extremely well-built and designed. Among other things, it has
a real reset switch (!).
Alex Pournelle
------------------------------
Date: 1 April 1984 21:59-EST
From: Steven T. Kirsch <SK @ MIT-MC>
Subject: Accounting Package
To: info-ibmpc @ USC-ISIB
We used Accounting Plus for a while, but it was not well supported
and caused endless frustration for our administrator because of bugs.
Don't know how much things have changed since ASK bought them out.
We looked at Champion, but it lacked many of the things you need in
real life.
We ended up with ASK on a time-sharing basis. It costs over $1,000 a
month, but does almost everything you could want.
We did a few million in sales last year.
------------------------------
Date: Sun 1 Apr 84 19:00:15-PST
From: Herm Fischer <HFISCHER@USC-ECLB.ARPA>
Subject: Accounting Package
To: zehntel!ihnp4!we13!burl!duke!unc!howell@UCB-VAX.ARPA
I needed an accounting package for an office property management
application, and having looked at a number of "canned" applications,
it became apparent that my idea of how I wanted the files and reports
differed from that of the developers.
Being too busy to write one myself, I asked my local software discounter
to find me a package which came with source code so I could maintain
it. I also objected to the ridiculous pricing structure of most vendors,
who nickel and dime you $200 at a time for each feature which I consider
standard.
He responded with "dPROGRAMMER", best described as an applications
generator and menu package for dBASE II, which happens to come with an
accounting package. It took me an evening to get into the mindset of
the package, and a whole Saturday to add Payroll to the package (it
only included general ledger and accounting). I think it speaks well
for the package that payroll was added in so short a time. I even
modified the accounting part for my particular "creative" (but within
IRS audit constraints) accounting habits.
DBASE II is a bit of a pain in the tush if you have to write code for
it with no help. Applications generators sure make it easy. And this
particular one was priced right, came with source code, and happened to
include the accounting code I needed.
Herm Fischer
-------
------------------------------
Date: 30 Mar 84 8:30:07-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!drutx!houxe!hogpc!houti!ariel!vax135!floyd!clyde!akgua!emory!km @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: IMSL FORTRAN package?
Is there a version of Fortran for the IBM PC that uses
the 8087?
Is there a package something like IMSL available for the PC?
Thanks
Ken Mandelberg
Emory University
Dept of Math and CS
Atlanta, Ga 30322
{akgua,sb1,gatech}!emory!km
[The Microsoft FORTRAN supports the 8087 -ed]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 29 Mar 84 16:38 EST
From: Jack Orenstein <orenstein%umass-cs.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@csnet-relay.arpa
Subject: Linking Pascal and C
I am writing half of a fairly large system. I want to write in C
and the other half is already written in Pascal. Does anyone know
of Pascal and C compilers that can be linked without difficulty under
DOS 2?
Both the Pascal code and the C code make extensive use of separate
compilation. Large memory model would be appreciated (but not ABSOLUTELY
necessary).
Jack Orenstein
[While Microsoft Pascal and C compilers use the same .OBJ format,
calling conventions for the two languages are different. Both calling
conventions are well documented and an assembly language routine could
be written to allow cross calling of routines. The result wouldn't be
pretty but it could be made to work. -ed]
------------------------------
From: vortex!lauren at RAND-UNIX
Date: Mon, 2-Apr-84 02:55:46 PST
Sender: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@RAND-UNIX>
Subject: Blocking Fork Call for MSDOS?
Greetings. I've noted that there was a submission of an "execl"
routine for C86 sometime ago. Has anybody written a "blocking fork"
routine? This would act like the Unix "fork" system call in that a
subprocess would be forked with the same open files, and the main process
would be suspended until the subprocess (child) exited. I know that it
is theoretically possible to do this with 2.X MSDOS -- but has
anybody tried it from C? Thanks much.
--Lauren--
------------------------------
Date: 31 Mar 1984 2202-PST
From: mike@LOGICON.ARPA
Subject: BATCD.ASM Update
The program BATCD.ASM has one significant flaw. When you are using
a multiple disk system, this command will not return you to the
default disk. This is because the stupid DOS command CHDIR does
not change the default disk. Only the default path for the drive.
It is interesting to note however, that it seems that there is a
default path for each disk. In otherwords, if I perform the command
sequence:
cd a:\dir1\dir2
cd c:\dir3\dir4
a: {change default disk to a}
cd {will output A:\DIR1\DIR2}
c:
cd {will output C:\DIR3\DIR4}
I have changed this program to perform the DOS system call to change
the default disk. I'll send it back if you are interested.
Mike Parker
PS: I am using DOS v2.10 so I don't know how earlier editions stack up.
[BATCD.ASM has been updated in the <INFO-IBMPC> program library -ed]
-------
------------------------------
Date: 02 Apr 84 17:01:51 PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc@Usc-Isib, h19-people@Mit-Mc, info-micro@Brl-Vgr
Subject: Where to discuss Heathkit/Zenith HS-151, HS-161?
From: John Mangrich <grich@uci-750a>
Where is the appropriate place to discuss the new Heathkit/Zenith IBM PC
lookalikes?
As long as I'm here, has anyone had any experience with them (even
though they're very new)? And what about the famous "how compatible
ARE they?"
John Mangrich
UC Irvine
------------------------------
Date: 30 Mar 84 12:41:19-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!duke!ucf-cs!more @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: VT100 Terminal Emulator
There is a company called PERSOFT INC. which has some
software called SmarTerm 100 which is a VT100 series
Terminal Emulator with ASCII and Binary File Transfer.
The specifics are:
Persoft Inc.
2740 Ski Lane
Madison WI 53713
(608) 273-6000
--
Duane N. More
------------------------------
Date: 26 Feb 84 23:58:09-PST (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!seismo!rlgvax!geller @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: CROSSTALK XVI
I've been using CROSSTALK XVI from Microstuff for quite
some time and have found it to be very easy to use. It
is especially easy to down/upload MS-DOS data files, or
any files for that matter. A couple of things should be
said about this package:
1) The documentation is fairly complete and
compliments the software, which is also
very complete (in its functionality).
2) The user interface is very good.
3) Data transferring is particularly easy. The
programs allows a number of various timing
parameters to be changed.
4) The program provides its own script (EXEC)
language.
5) The program has a DEC VT-100 emulation mode
that emulates ALMOST 100%. I've caught a few
cases where it missed some specialized graphics
character sequences and will be preparing a
bug-report for Microstuff.
6) It does NOT support the XMODEM protocol.
I hope this was of help to you.
{seismo}!rlgvax!geller David Geller
Computer Consoles, Inc.
Office Systems Group
1760 Reston Avenue
Reston, VA 22090
703-471-6860
------------------------------
Date: 30 Mar 84 12:16:13-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!duke!ucf-cs!more @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: 3 Tubes on a IBM-PC
There is a company called TECMAR
TECMAR INC.
Personal Computer Products Div.
6225 Cochran Road
Cleveland Ohio 44139
(216) 349-0600
This company puts out the appropriate hardware and
software in order to get three tubes on the PC to
do those things you need.
--
Duane N. More
------------------------------
Date: 28 Mar 84 16:24:38-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!bbncca!sxnahm @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: APL Notes
I've posted three messages to net.lang.apl which offer more views on APL
for the IBM-PC. If interested, look there.
Steve Nahm
sxnahm@bbn-unix (ARPA)
{decvax,ima,linus,wjh12}!bbncca!sxnahm (Usenet)
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 84 04:04 EST
From: Gladstein.SoftArts@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: DIF Format Defined
To: mendel.toronto@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA
Send a check or money order in the amount of $10.00 to:
DIF Clearing house
P.O. Box 638
Newton Lower Falls, MA 02162
This gets you a Technical Specification, a list of commercially
available programs which can use DIF, and a reprint of the BYTE
magazine article "DIF, a Format for Data Exchange between
Applications Programs."
David Gladstein
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 84 07:58:38 PST
From: John W. Portela <portela@AEROSPACE>
Subject: Electronic Mail
Is there anyone who has attempted to transfer the contents from their
electronic mailbox in UNIX to a mailbox in Ethernet using the IBM PC? How can
it be done? I want to transfer general messages directed to the people in our
office from UNIX to our Ethernet network.
portela
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 84 09:31:32 PST
From: William T. Overman <overman@AEROSPACE>
Subject: Tandy 2000 Printer Drivers
Tandy's advice to me when I asked about the CR/LF printer driver problem
was to buy a radio shack printer. I'm sure the move away from a tradition
of proprietary operating systems is a slow process.
However, they say that a planned summer release of a new MSDOS version will
include several printer drivers to support a variety of printers.
Bill
p.s. I've seen symptoms that indicate a duplication of LF's instead of the
elimination suggested here before. Are there other forces at work
in obscure situations?
------------------------------
Date: 3 Apr 1984 15:26:53-EST
From: Greg.Glass@CMU-CS-CAD
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: Pascal 8087 problem
I ran into a strange problem when changing to the microsoft pascal
library that supports the 8087. In one of my units I had a record that
was allocated off the heap using NEW when the unit was initialized.
This record had about 8k bytes. Worked fine with the emulator
library but the program hung with the 8087 library. When I lowered
the size of the record to 6400 bytes it worked again.
I'm still looking into this to find what's really going on.
Anyone else have this kind of problem ?
By the way that record had an array of integers.
Greg
------------------------------
Date: 3 Apr 1984 1647-PST
Sender: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
Subject: Pascal 8087 problem
From: Brackenridge@USC-ISIB
To: Greg.Glass@CMU-CS-CAD
Are you sure the processor board sense switch is set correctly for
showing that the 8087 is installed? This switch allows the 8087
to generate interrupts for the 8088. Many programs will run fine
as they don't generate 8087 exception conditions which require
that the 8088 be interrupted. I ran for months with the switch in
the wrong position and only a few programs hung mysteriously.
-------
------------------------------
Date: Tue 3 Apr 84 17:41:55-EST
From: Frank da Cruz <cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>
Subject: KERMIT on the PCjr
To: Info-Kermit@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA, Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Well, it took three weeks, but IBM finally came through with a serial
communication port cable for the PCjr (it's a short 16-pin to 25-pin
adaptor). We plugged it in to the serial port and gave KERMIT a whirl.
It worked, sort of. Details: IBM PC KERMIT v 1.20 (the current release)
was used. The serial port corresponds to COM2 on the PC or XT, so you
have to SET PORT 2. We ran at 4800 baud and signed on to a DEC-20, emulating
a Heath-19. When typing files or running EMACS, a few characters are lost
here and there, but the terminal emulation is usable. File transfer worked
just fine, though we only tested it with a few relatively short text files.
One problem is that the KERMIT program assumes the screen is 80 columns wide,
and the Peanut is 40 by default, so the display during file transfer is
out of whack (but the files are still transferred OK). If you happen to have
a monitor that supports it, you can do MODE 80 to get 80-character lines,
and then the display during file transfer works just like on the PC, XT, or
Portable PC.
We'll fix KERMIT to run more naturally on the Peanut, by taking note of the
current width, and doing whatever buffering or flow control may be necessary
to prevent loss of characters during file transfer, etc. But even in its
current state, it seems to be perfectly usable. Meanwhile, work on the next
release continues; there should be an announcement within a few weeks.
- Frank
-------
------------------------------
Date: 2-Apr-84 09:01:49-EST
From: nagy@BNL
Subject: Table of Contents March 1984
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
Cc: nagy@BNL
INFO-IBMPC Digest --- Table of Contents
---------------------------------------
March 1984 volume 3 numbers 25-35
day vol no seq subject
--- --- --- --- -------
3 3 25 1 Streaming-tape Backup Units
3 3 25 2 VENIX from UniSource
3 3 25 3 PC/IX and other Unix Systems
3 3 25 4 Terminal Emulator Offered
3 3 25 5 Talking to Radio Shack Color Computer [query]
3 3 25 6 Talking to Radio Shack Color Computer [Re:]
3 3 25 7 Writers Wanted to Cover *NIX on the IBM PC
3 3 25 8 Hercules Board
3 3 25 9 Word Perfect & Microsoft Word Query
3 3 25 10 Real Time Animation [query]
3 3 25 11 Ladybug - Freeware Logo
3 3 25 12 TEAC half-heights & Others
3 3 25 13 Faraday Query
3 3 25 14 Compiling UNIX utilities on your PC
3 3 25 15 "Multi-user" PC's [query]
3 3 25 16 Wordstar/NEC 3550 incompatibility?
3 3 25 17 ASM/CREF
3 3 25 18 Re: ASM/CREF
3 3 25 19 Sanyo PC and Other Low-Cost Compatibles
3 3 25 20 BUFFERS bug?
3 3 25 2$1 Re: BUFFERS bug?
3 3 25 22 Reading Directories
3 3 25 23 Programming the 8237 DMA controller
3 3 25 24 WHEREIS Fixed
3 3 25 25 Re: Genealogy Software?
6 3 26 1 SIDEWAYS.PAS, OLDER.ASM, WHEREIS.*
6 3 26 2 Background Jobs Query
6 3 26 3 Crosstalk [new release]
6 3 26 4 PC-VT [terminal emulator]
6 3 26 5 Standalone Debugger Wanted
6 3 26 6 Columbia PC Query
6 3 26 7 C86/MS Fortran Query
6 3 26 8 DMA Controller [book suggestion]
6 3 26 9 Power ON or OFF?
6 3 26 10 Turbo Pascal Bug
6 3 26 11 Re: PCjr. Extended Modes
6 3 26 12 Intel C Query
6 3 26 13 OS's for the XT
7 3 27 1 Table of Contents [<INFO-IBMPC>TOC.FEB84]
7 3 27 2 IBM Portable PC & Kermit
7 3 27 3 RS-422 at 38.4K Query
7 3 27 4 Repair Problems
7 3 27 5 Alternate Keyboard Query
7 3 27 6 Microsoft Word
7 3 27 7 Free Lattice C Math Library
7 3 27 8 Z/MS-DOS Editor Query
7 3 27 9 Re: Z/MS-DOS Editor
7 3 27 10 Format Problem
7 3 27 11 Re: Format Problem
7 3 27 12 Concurrent CP/M 2.0
10 3 28 1 MS-DOS 2.5
10 3 28 2 Rogue for the PC
10 3 28 3 Spitbol/Snobol Query
10 3 28 4 Keytronics Keyboard
10 3 28 5 Repairs
10 3 28 6 Expansion Chassis Update
10 3 28 7 Science Education Software Query
10 3 28 8 DeSmet C Compiler
10 3 28 9 Code Profiler Wanted
10 3 28 10 New Source for Public Domain Software
10 3 28 11 Word Processing Programs
10 3 28 12 Leaving Machines On
10 3 28 13 Re: MS-DOS Program Editors
14 3 29 1 Turbo Pascal
14 3 29 2 Turbo Pascal [more on a bug]
14 3 29 3 Turbo Pascal [purpose of message unknown]
14 3 29 4 Turbo Pascal versus COMPAS Pascal
14 3 29 5 IBM Pascal Problems
14 3 29 6 Re: IBM Pascal Problems
14 3 29 7 Free Terminal Emulator
14 3 29 8 Leading Edge Computer
14 3 29 9 TEAC drives (AGAIN!!!)
14 3 29 10 Restore Problem with Switchchar = \-
14 3 29 11 Keyboard Wanted
14 3 29 12 Venix on a PC/XT
14 3 29 13 Disk drive practices -- survey request
14 3 29 14 BASIC compiler [memory problem]
14 3 29 15 PC/XT Maintaince Contracts [sic; query]
14 3 29 16A More about leaving equipment "on" /// [CRT]
14 3 29 16B STB Graphix Plus board [complaint]
14 3 29 17 Pegasus hard disk [query]
14 3 29 18 FORMAT Problem fixed in DOS 2.1?
14 3 29 19 MS-DOS Call 4B [understood]
14 3 29 20 SPITBOL and SNOBOL
14 3 29 21 Format of 1-2-3 Spreadsheets [query]
14 3 29 22 IBM XT Security [query]
17 3 30 1 TEAC drives (AGAIN!!!) [query]
17 3 30 2 TEAC drives (AGAIN!!!) [response]
17 3 30 3 Mounting TM55-2 Disk Drives
17 3 30 4 Restore problem with switchar -
17 3 30 5 MS-DOS 2.0 for Z100 [query]
17 3 30 6 MS-DOS 2.0 for Z100
17 3 30 7 DMA on an expansion chassis [query; problem]
17 3 30 8 Expansion Chassis
17 3 30 9 Timer interrupts faster than 18.2 per second
17 3 30 10 VARDSK to drive D
17 3 30 11 PC-BLUE Volumes Available
17 3 30 12 FAR procedures. [problem]
17 3 30 13 SMD disks on PCs?
17 3 30 14 Pointer to Assembly Language Book [query]
20 3 31 1 Assembly Language Books
20 3 31 2 Online Catalog Files
20 3 31 3 IBM Pascal [problems]
20 3 31 4 MS-DOS 2.0 for Z-100
20 3 31 5 Sritek/Compaq Query
20 3 31 6 Information Wanted on Zenith PCs
20 3 31 7 Need MASSCOMP to IBM PC Cross-compiler
20 3 31 8 New XT Backup ??
20 3 31 9 Writing Drivers for PC/IX
20 3 31 10 Help Needed with 8086 Code for 32-bit Operations
20 3 31 11 Need Advice on Large Model C Compilers
20 3 31 12 IBM PC Pascal Problem
20 3 31 13 Homebrew Mouse or Light Pen
20 3 31 14 FAR Procedures
20 3 31 15 FAR Procedures and Data Addressability
20 3 31 16 FAR Procedure Calls
20 3 31 17 Re: FAR Procedures
20 3 31 18 Quad-density Half-height Disk Drives
21 3 32 1 IBM PC/IX Prolog; Benchmarks
21 3 32 2 PC/IX Questions
21 3 32 3 Assembly Language Book
21 3 32 4 ANSI.SYS Bug?
21 3 32 5 New Tools for MS-Pascal
21 3 32 6 Software Tools in Pascal [offer]
21 3 32 7 Pascal Comparisons [query]
21 3 32 8 Re: IBM Pascal Problems
21 3 32 9 Re: UNIX TERMCAP wanted for IBM-PC
21 3 32 10 Re: Need a *good* C compiler
23 3 33 1 Modula 2
23 3 33 2 APL on IBM-PC Reviewed
23 3 33 3 VICTOR 9000 MS-DOS 2.0
23 3 33 4 MSDOS Printer Driver for Tandy 2000
23 3 33 5 Christensen Protocol
23 3 33 6 C vs. Large Memory Model
23 3 33 7 Request for Communications re Venix
23 3 33 8 C compiler & HEX files
23 3 33 9 PCjr. Basic
23 3 33 10 Re: PCjr. Basic
23 3 33 11 IBM Pascal Patches
23 3 33 12 Re: PC/IX Questions
23 3 33 13 Re: PC/IX Questions (V3 #32)
23 3 33 14 Re: Repairs
23 3 33 15 Re: FTPing PC-BLUE files
23 3 33 16 Accessing PC-BLUE Volumes from TOPS-20
27 3 34 1 Slot Machine Game
27 3 34 2 Math Library in C
27 3 34 3 SWCHAR.ASM
27 3 34 4 DIR, COMMAND.COM, Inter-Fdisk Transfer Program
27 3 34 5 Expansion Boards for early PCs
27 3 24 6 Lattice C Compiler
27 3 34 7 DIP Switch Positions for 3 Drives
27 3 34 8 Microsoft Language Address Space Query
27 3 34 9 Query: Getting Memory Size from C
29 3 35 1 Oki 84 Query
29 3 35 2 Sources for PC/IX Info
29 3 35 3 PC/IX Opinions
29 3 35 4 Link Error
29 3 35 5 Re: Link Error
29 3 35 6 Microsoft FORTRAN 3.20
29 3 35 7 "The Creator" Query
29 3 35 8 COMMAND.COM Location
29 3 35 9 PC Version of "vi" Editor Wanted
29 3 35 10 New Version of MIT Comm Package
29 3 35 11 One-Handed Word Processing
29 3 35 12 RGB Sync Query
29 3 35 13 Converting from DOS 2.0 to DOS 2.1 [query]
29 3 35 14 CTTY Command
29 3 35 15 PACMAN Game
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂06-Apr-84 1641 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #39
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 6 Apr 84 16:40:24 PST
Date: 6 Apr 1984 15:40:16 PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #39
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 6 April 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 39
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
Venix Hayes Modem Support
5.25" disk drives for sale
Zenith Z-150
Testing Floppy Disk Drives
A looping batch file on DOS 2.0
Pascal PRSRQQ Problem
Crosstalk XVI gripes
Announcing the Turing Language Compiler
A good FORTRAN 77 for the PC
Information on Tecmar Graphics Master
Terminal emulator for IBM-PC, in C with assembler
"VI" look-alike editor
Bug in DEBUG.COM ???
NAG Fortran PC50 Library
Zilog 8530
----------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: 6 Apr 1984 13:42:25 PST
Subject: Display Writer Support
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
This week the Los Angeles Times mentioned that IBM had announced a package
to support transfer of files between the IBM-PC and DisplayWriter. I have
been unable to get any information on this announcement from IBM. If anyone
has any information please send it to INFO-IBMPC.
-------
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 84 22:57:50 EST
From: Dave Farber <farber@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa, info-micro@brl.arpa
Subject: Venix Hayes Modem Support
If there is anyone out there fooling around with Venix (or anyone
from Venturecom?).
I am trying without any success to get the system to answer a modem call.
I have a internal hayes with the switches set to follow Carrier
and with So=1 (damn annoying of Hayes to set it to 0).
The /etc/ttys entry is
13com1.modem
The modem answers and then deadly silence. The ds shows a tty input
on com1 by root (no process is showing?).
Any ideas???
It claims to be multiuser at sysgen time.
Dave
------------------------------
Date: 31 Mar 84 23:00:44-PST (Sat)
From: decvax!mcnc!duke!ucf-cs!jeff @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: 5.25" disk drives for sale
For Sale: Nearly new DSDD 5.25" disk drives. 80 tracks double
sided means over 700k each formatted. Usable with most systems,
I have used them on an IBM-PC and on a Lobo Max-80 without prob-
lems. These are thinlines, and come with power supply and case,
and a cable for edge card connection. I am selling them because
I no longer have a system to use them on.
Original cost: $389 each per drive
$100 for case and power supply
$ 40 for cable
----
$918 total for two drives, PS, cable and case.
First $600 takes it away, providing you can find an acceptable
way to transfer the funds. I am a little shy of sending this off
to a total stranger without some sort of collateral, and I'm sure
the same goes for you.
Contact: Jeff C. Glover, P.O. Box 26378, Orlando, FL 32816
{duke|decvax}!ucf-cs!jeff UUCP
(305)-275-4130 from 9pm-11pm Eastern Time.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 Apr 84 17:39:14 est
From: sigurd%vax1%vax1@cc.delaware (ANDERSEN)
To: grich@uci-750a
Subject: Zenith Z-150
A local vendor here carries the new Zenith computers. The only problem
he has turned up is that using third party boards with serial ports can
cause problems. There are serial and parallel ports built in which seem
to conflict with others added to the machine. It's supposed to run just
about anything that a PC runs, including Lotus and Flight Simulator.
Sigurd Andersen
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 Apr 84 18:13 EST
From: Paul Schauble <Schauble@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA>
Subject: Testing floppy disk drives
I have recently been reading about programs that can test a floppy disk
drive without removing it from the computer. One particular very good
one involves using a specially recorded disk in the drive to be tested
and a special program that uses this to test speed, spindle wear,
clamping, and head alignment. This program is presently only available
for a Radio Shack machine.
Does anyone know of a similar program for the IBM? Any comments from
anyone who has used it?
The program mentioned above is supposed to be available for the IBM
"sometime in May". If I haven't bought something else first, I'll
report on it then.
Paul
------------------------------
Date: 5 Apr 1984 08:55:10 PST
Sender: TRENTHAM@USC-ISIB
Subject: Testing Floppy Disk Drives
From: Daniel Trentham@USC-ISIB
To: Schauble@MIT-MULTICS
I haven't heard anything about such a program/disk package. I
would certainly be interested in one.
We have been looking at a product by Dysan called the PAT
which is an intelligent hand-held disk tester. It uses a special disk
and checks such things as head alignment, skew, index timing, azimuth,
spindle speed, centering, etc. It sells for $999.00 + $40.00 for the
special disk. One faux pas with PAT is it will only test 5 1/4"
drives. You end buying two of them to test both 8" and 5 1/4" drives.
Dan T
-------
------------------------------
Date: 4 Apr 1984 15:49:10-EST
From: sclin@NADC
Subject: A looping batch file on DOS 2.0
Recently I ftped the Q4 digest 83, I found the query from Mr.
Joel Seiferas about the bug in the command "for". It is about the bug
when you use
For %%x in (%2 %3 ......) %1 %%x
I have my own approach to get around the problem. First I create a batch
file called doall.bat as follows:
:loop
if not exist %1 goto outs
......
compile program %1.asm
shift
goto loop
:outs
Now if I enter the command
doall f1 f2 f3 f4
PC will compile f1, f2, f3 and f4 and
exit with the message
.asm file not found
Any comments ?
sclin from NADC (phil, PA)
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 Apr 84 20:00:55 cst
From: knutson@ut-ngp.ARPA
To: info-hz100@radc-tops20.ARPA, info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
Subject: Pascal PRSRQQ Problem
Has anyone else had problems with the MS Pascal? In particular,
the function prsrqq. All I get is a string of periods when I print
the value that it returns. The following is an example short program:
program test2(input,output);
function prsrqq(a,b: real): real; extern;
begin
writeln('prsrqq returns ',prsrqq(2.0,4.0));
end.
I believe the version I am using is 3.1. Am I missing a fundamental
concept? The manuals don't really go into what to do when something
goes wrong.
Jim Knutson
knutson@ut-ngp
------------------------------
Date: Wednesday 4 April 1984 22:12:23 EDT
From: Chris Schmandt <cms@mit-pamela>
Subject: Crosstalk XVI gripes
Not sure I completely agree with the good reviews of
Crosstalk XVI in the last digest. The documentation is
NOT complete, in specific little detail is provided as how
to send control characters of whatever sort to your modem
(i.e., how to write the script files). In particular,
I have NOT been able to figure out how to get Xtalk to
make my on-board Hayes modem go into answer mode, so no one
can get or put files to my PC. This is not a problem with
an off-board Hayes, as auto-answer is a switched option, not
software selectable.
I may have missed it, but I sure pored over my documentation
looking for it!
cms%pamela@mit-mc.arpa
------------------------------
Date: 30 Mar 84 12:54:30-PST (Fri)
From: ihnp4!houxm!hogpc!houti!ariel!vax135!floyd!clyde!watmath!utzoo!utcsrgv!perelgut @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Announcing the Turing Language Compiler
ANNOUNCING THE TURING LANGUAGE COMPILER
Believing that a programming language should be easy to
teach and simple to use, yet capable of performing complex
calculations, R.C. Holt, J.R. Cordy and J.N.P. Hume of the
University of Toronto have created the new computer
language--TURING, which we are now distributing.
The Turing language is a general purpose programming
language that is well suited for teaching programming, and,
in fact, it has been class-tested by over 3000 students at
the University of Toronto since the summer of 1983.
Turing is a Pascal-like language that incorporates almost
all of Pascal's features, however, it alleviates many of the
difficulties with Pascal. For example, Turing provides con-
venient string handling; it provides modules; its variant
records are type safe and it has dynamic parameters and
arrays.
Turing has a simple, unwordy syntax, allowing concentration
on what is being programmed rather than on language details.
As a result, although Turing is a more general language than
Pascal, its basic features have an expressiveness that is
characteristic of more modest languages such as Basic and
Logo. Turing has been formally specified and is designed to
support formal verification of program correctness. Its
design has eliminated verification and security difficulties
of Pascal-like languages without adding inefficiency.
The Turing language has been implemented by a portable
user-friendly compiler on the Vax, the IBM370 and (soon) on
various microprocessors such as the MC68000, NS16000. Tur-
ing for the 8086 running MS-DOS will be available for dis-
tribution in the late spring.
For a more complete description of the language, see Turing
Language Report by Richard C. Holt and James R. Cordy (CSRG
Technical Report No. 153), available from me, and the book
by R.C. Holt and J.N.P. Hume, Introduction to Computer Sci-
ence using the TURING Programming Language (Reston Publish-
ing Co., 1984, (703) 437 8900).
Distribution information for Turing can be obtained by
sending me your "hardcopy" mailing address.
--
Stephen Perelgut
Computer Systems Research Group University of Toronto
Usenet: {linus, ihnp4, allegra, decvax, floyd}!utcsrgv!perelgut
CSNET: perelgut@Toronto
------------------------------
Date: 30 Mar 84 21:53:46-PST (Fri)
From: decvax!genrad!grkermit!masscomp!clyde!akgua!ganehd!mp @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: A good FORTRAN 77 for the PC
Is there a good FORTRAN 77 compiler for the IBM PC. He has MS FORTRAN
in IBM distribution form and it's I/O and other features are a bit inadequate.
The goal is to put Software Tools on the machine (and its I/O and the RATFOR
require a flexible compiler).
He really has a Corona XT (PC/XT Compatible - even reads IBM disks)
Any information would be appreciated.
Scott Barman UUCP: ..!akgua!ganehd!mp
AT&T: (404) 542-2911
USPS: Department of Computer Science
University of Georgia
415 Boyd Graduate Studies Research Center
Athens, Ga 30602
------------------------------
Date: 31 Mar 84 17:24:54-PST (Sat)
From: decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!bet @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Terminal emulator for IBM-PC, in C with assembler
Having received many requests for my terminal emulator for the IBM PC,
here it is. It is written in C for the DeSmet C compiler, with assembler
for all the I/O routines. DeSmet's I/O library is big as a bus, and slow
to boot, so I simply avoid it. This program does very little, reasonably
well. New functions are easy to add. For folks with other compilers,
the only part likely to fail to work is the assembler for I/O: I put it
in-stream, using the "#asm" construct for in-stream assembler. You will
need to edit all assembler into an external assembler file, and invent
headers and trailers to implement the C calling convention for your compiler.
This program hasn't been prettied up for public consumption, but I am
painfully busy with other things, so in the hope that this is better
than nothing.
[The files COMM.DOC and COMM.C have been included in the INFO-IBMPC program
library -ed]
------------------------------
Date: 28 Mar 84 7:04:50-PST (Wed)
From: decvax!genrad!wjh12!vaxine!debl @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Information on Tecmar Graphics Master
I am looking for compatibility information on the Tecmar Graphics Master
board. This board replaces both the IBM monochrome and IBM graphics adaptor.
Is there any graphics software that will not run with the Tecmar board?
Are there special drivers to make the Tecmar board look like a Hercules board
for the monochrome hi-res display. Thanks in advance.
David Lees
------------------------------
Date: 5 Apr 1984 21:48:32-EST
From: reece@NADC
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib, sunshine@usc-isif
Subject : "VI" Look-Alike Editor
An editor that looks like VI is available from "The Software Subscription"
P.O. Box 5379, Richmond CA 94805. Ph. (415) 237-2115. I have the H89
version & it does a reasonable job considering the limited memory space
(z80). The bad news is that it only edits what is in memory; the good
news is that it is VERY fast. I don't know if the PC version takes advantage
of all the memory. About $50.
------------------------------
Date: 1 Apr 84 0:27:32-PST (Sun)
From: pur-ee!uiucdcs!grogers @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Bug in DEBUG.COM ???
Does anyone know what is going on in DEBUG under Dos 2.x?
When using 2.1 debug, I entered the following
-d ss
the debugger started displaying unformatted crap on my screen (lots of control
characters causing screen clears, beeps, ...) which soon repeated itself over
and over (infinite loop). When I pressed Ctrl-Break the ↑C character was
displayed but the loop continued just where it left off. After Ctrl-Alt-Del
I was back in business.
So I tried version 2.0 and it the same command (i.e. 'd xx' where xx is one
of the segment registers) causes debug to terminate (same as '-q').
So I went clear back to 1.1 and finally the debugger worked correctly, and
I received the following:
-d ss
↑error
Anyone have any ideas? I don't think I'm up to debugging the debugger!
Greg Rogers
...uiucdcs!grogers
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 84 12:57:47 pst
From: (James Pool [onr-hq]) pool@lbl-csam
Subject: NAG Fortran PC50 Library
Regarding the availability of Fortran mathematical and statistical
routines for the IBM PC, NAG has implemented fifty of the five
hundred routines in the NAG Fortran Library using Microsoft's
MS-Fortran. Additional information is available by calling
312/971-2337 or writing
Numerical Algorithms Group
1101 31st Street, Suite 100
Downers Grove, IL 60515.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 84 14:08 CST
From: Rusty (Where's the fish?)Haddock <haddock%ti-csl.csnet@csnet-relay>
Subject: Zilog 8530
Does anyone know what bits in the modified interrupt
vector (from channel B) get twiddled and their corresponding
meanings ??? The documentation I have from Zilog doesn't explain
these at all other than some bits do get modified. Any help
would be appreciated.
-Rusty- :-|
[ I don't believe there is an 8530 in a standard PC although several
boards have this chip -ed]
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂09-Apr-84 1818 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #40
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 9 Apr 84 18:18:14 PST
Date: 9 Apr 1984 17:43:41 PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #40
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Monday, 9 April 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 40
This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann
Today's Topics:
PC/XT Maintenance
Diskette Diagnostics
TECMAR Graphics Master
Spare ROM Socket (2 msgs)
Lattice C 8087 Math Routines Wanted
Crosstalk-16 and XMODEM
Undocumented DOS Interrupt 29H
Word Plus Query
AST vs. QUADRAM Query
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 1984 15:31:45 EST
From: David M. Axler - MSCF Applications Mgr. <AXLER%upenn-1100.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa>
Subject: Numerical Algorithms Library
To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@csnet-relay.arpa
While the IMSL library is not available in any PC form at this time,
one of their competitors, the Numerical Algorithms Group, Inc., is
planning to take a subset of their library (quite similar to IMSL) and
port it to the IBM PC. You can contact them for more info at
NAG; 1250 Grace Court; Downers Grove, IL 60516; 312-971-2337
--Dave Axler
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 7 Apr 84 3:31-PST
Date: 2 Apr 84 11:59:03-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!gmc @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PC/XT Maintenance
I am in the business of providing microcomputers to developing
countries for use in extracting important information from demographic
and population data which can be use to plan development strategies.
More and more frequently, these microcomputers are IBM-PC's. Aside
from the usual problems of erratic power sources and dust in these
countries, often there is no local source for parts or service. Or, if
there is a local IBM service center, the cost of that service is
astronomical.
We try to provide basic training in process-of-elimination diagnostic
procedures, as well as a reasonable stock of replacement parts.
Normally this stock includes at least on spare 5-1/4 Tandon floppy
drive and two complete disk drive door assemblies for each two
machines (We all know how great Tandon's door hinge design is,
right?). Also, we provide spare RAM chips. This selection of spare
parts is based on our own in-house experience, and the recommendations
of the service departments at several IBM dealerships. I'm not at all
convinced that it is correct, or complete. Unfortunately, when we
provide these parts, we frequently have very little time for training
personnel in-country in the common-sense procedures required to
determine exactly * which * part is causing the problem.
I am looking for two kinds of information to help with these problems:
(1) Information pointing to a good, simple guide to diagnosing problems,
locating the malfunctioning component and replacing it.
I haven't seen anything like this in any of the computer stores,
or in any of the book stores which handle microcomputer literature.
At the Institute of the Sahel, Bamako, Mali (French West Africa),
I found two of their French IBM-PC's down and abandoned because
they ceased to boot. The problems were simple, one broken disk
drive door (thanks Tandon) and on malfunctioning A: drive. The
machine with the bad A: drive had an expansion chassis with two
10 Mb hard disks. Come on folks, with a setup like that you only
need one floppy drive anyway (this setup boots from the A: drive,
not from the first hard disk in the absence of a DOS floppy as
does the XT). All one had to do is make the B: drive the A: drive
and the system was up again. Unfortunately, the people there had
never seen the inside of a PC and were reluctant to touch something
that looks that complicated. They need hands-on training and a good
guide for use after we leave. They are, in most cases, perfectly
intelligent enough to handle these simple procedures.
(2) Information suggesting the weakest components in the PC/XT--those most
likely to fail under normal use and those which are fairly easy to replace.
I don't envision these people attacking a disk controller board
with a soldering iron, but I can see them determining what board
is causing the problem and then replacing the defective board with
a good one.
Gordon M. Cressman
P.O.Box 12194
Research Triangle Institute
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 7 Apr 84 13:12:37 est
From: sigurd%vax1%vax1@cc.delaware (ANDERSEN)
To: schauble@mit-multics
Subject: Diskette Diagnostics
Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
I just got literature from ReadiWare Systems Inc., PO Box 107, Ridgefield
CT. 06877 (or at PO Box 680, West Redding CT. 06896; both addresses are
mentioned in the literature), telephone (203) 431-3521 about ReadiScope,
"a diskette drive diagnostic program for the IBM PC that will allow you
to do complete diskette drive alignment and testing ..."
It tests rotational speed, "progressive offset" (for tracks 0 19 and 39,
heads 0 and 1), and "alternate offset" for head 0 only. The progressive
offset test tells if head alignment is off, the alternate offset test
tells if the hub or diskette clamping mechanism is out of round
and whether the drive is likely to be centerable by adjusting it.
The program requires a 64K PC with at least one diskette drive that works
well enough to load the program. Works with either color or monochrome
displays. It gives a graphic representation of diskette performance
which looks like it should be easy to use. Retail is $295 + $3 shipping.
Discounts are 15% at 6+ copies, 30% at 21+, 40% at 50+ copies.
I haven't used it, and have no connection with the company.
------------------------------
Date: Sat 7 Apr 84 12:34:58-PST
From: Gio <Wiederhold@SRI-AI.ARPA>
Subject: TECMAR Graphics Master
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I have a TECMAR Graphics Master board, and an Electrohome Display.
The only difference I found that IBM blink does not make the fields
blink using the TECMAR card. I have not used all the available
formats, those I have tried do work, and the colors and resultion are
fine. I don't have a monochrome. Gio
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 7 Apr 84 23:00-PST
Date: 3 Apr 84 6:12:43-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!eagle!mhuxl!aluxz!kjo @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Spare ROM Socket Query
I want to read a 2764 eprom by putting it in the PC's empty socket and
capturing the code with debug. Somewhere I read that the empty socket
is checked to see if it is really empty. If it returns garbage DOS
continues on its merry way. If it contains a signature then some point
in the prom gets the current instruction pointer control.
My problem is that I can't remember the details, so it is possible it
came to me in a dream! I can't find any reference to the F4000 start
address nor any other reference in the Tech Ref BIOS.
If someone in netland can set me straight and point me to the information
I'd be thankful.
Kevin O'Connor
AT&T Bell Labs
Allentown, Pa
(215) 770-3546
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 8 Apr 84 23:25-PST
Date: 3 Apr 84 9:48:02-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!inuxc!druid @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Spare ROM Socket
There was an article in SOFTALK about 3 to 6 months ago about the
empty 5th ROM socket in non-XT pc's. Placement of a correctly
programmed ROM will allow you to boot from a drive C hard disk via a
built-in check that the BIOS does to code that is supposed to be
there. Perhaps that is where you read it?
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 8 Apr 84 17:20:36 EST
From: Manny Farber <manny@udel-relay>
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: Lattice C 8087 Math Routines Wanted
Anyone out there have a set of lattice c compatible MASM routines
that do 8087 math?
Manny
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 9 Apr 84 3:01-PST
Date: 5 Apr 84 8:20:03-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!john @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Crosstalk-16 and XMODEM
The latest versions of Crosstalk-16 (3.4 and 3.41) do indeed support
XMODEM. These latest versions also have a number of other
improvements over earlier versions:
1) Support for the Hayes Smartmodem 1200B (the internal
version of the Smartmodem 1200).
2) Earlier versions were not able to keep up at 9600 bps in
simple terminal mode. 3.4 apparently has a larger buffer,
since the screen no longer is garbled during long listings at
9600 bps, although a <ctrl-s> still is not acted upon
as promptly as it should be.
3) 3.4 and 3.41 are available for the Texas Instruments Professional
Computer.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 9 Apr 84 6:30-PST
Date: 30 Mar 84 12:05:57-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: Elwell%Case@CSNet-Relay
Subject: Undocumented DOS Interrupt 29H
In the process of disassembling and commenting PC-DOS 2.00 (no flames,
please; I know it's masochistic but I am insatiably curious), I have
discovered the purpose of reserved interrupt number 29H. It is used
by the console driver to output a character. This means that if you
want a new console output driver, all you need to do is intercept INT
29H and DOS will handle multi-byte transfers, device strategy and
interrupts, etc. The character to output is passed in the AL
register. The default handler does not seem to preserve the
registers, but it might be a good idea to do it just in case.
Keyboard handling remains the same.
This should allow much smaller screen drivers, since DOS takes care of
all of the overhead. Note: Since this is undocumented, it may well go
away in future versions (though it's still there in DOS 2.10). I don't
know if this "feature" is in generic MS-DOS 2.x.
Clayton Elwell
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Apr 84 14:54 EST
From: Tom Davenport <Davenport@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA>
Subject: Word Plus Query
To: Info-PC@MIT-MC.ARPA
Has anyone out there heard of a word-processing package for the IBM PC
called "Word Plus"? I'd especially appreciate pointers to sellers of
this product. Please reply directly to me (Davenport.MSEHQ at
MIT-Multics). Thanks!
------------------------------
Date: 9 Apr 1984 1136-PST
From: mike@LOGICON.ARPA
Subject: AST vs. QUADRAM Query
To: INFO-IBMPC@isib
I really need a little help in deciding between two different multi-
function boards for an IBM PC/XT and was wondering the experience with
these two different cards.
The first is the AST 6-pack card and the Second is the Quadboard that
is expandable to 384K.
Any help really appreciated. Thanks.
Mike Parker
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂13-Apr-84 1300 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #41
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 13 Apr 84 12:59:31 PST
Date: 13 Apr 1984 12:28:32 PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #41
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 13 April 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 41
This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann
Today's Topics:
Portable PC (3 msgs)
AST vs. QUADRAM Combo Boards
Diskette Drive Diagnostics (2 msgs)
Maintenance Manuals
Removable Cartridge Hard Disk Query
Larger Hard Disks (2 msgs)
Hayes Modem Setup for Venix
1-2-3 Reverse Video Query
NAG Address Correction
Monochrome Display
Turbo Pascal
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 12 Apr 84 6:42-PST
Date: 8 Apr 84 10:31:06-PST (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!alberta!jeff @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Portable PC Product Announcement
This is the official product announcement for the IBM Portable Computer.
Also, IBM has announced an BIOS upgrade kit for all of us with the old
(64k motherboard) PCs that incorporates new I/O, a new power on test,
and will let us use any expansion card that has programs in ROM.
As well, they have announced a Local Area Network for the PC, the PC jr.,
and the Portable.
IBM PORTABLE PERSONAL COMPUTER 5155 MODEL 68 EXPANDS THE IBM
PERSONAL COMPUTER FAMILY
The IBM Portable Personal Computer, the newest compatible member of
the IBM Personal Computer Family, has characteristics identical to an
equivalently configured IBM Personal Computer 5150.
HIGHLIGHTS
System Unit Standard Features (5155068)
o INTEL 8088 processor
o 256K random access memory
o Color/graphics monitor adapter
o Diskette-drive adapter
o Universal power supply (115 or 230 volts, 50 or 60 cycle)
o Lightweight 83-key keyboard
o Nine-inch amber composite video display
o Double-sided diskette drive
o Lightweight case with carrying handle
o Five available expansion slots
o Protective carrying case for the system unit
System Unit Optional Features
o IBM Color Display
o 64/356KB memory expansion option
o Printer Adapter
o Game-control adapter
o Expansion unit Model 1
o Asynchronous communication adapter
o Binary synchronous communication adapter
o Synchronous data link control (SDLC) communication adapter
o 3278/3279 Emulation AdapteR
o PC Colour Printer
o IBM Graphics Printer
o 8087 Math co-processor
o New second slimline diskette drive
o Cluster Adapter
Slimline Diskette Drive (6450300)
o Double-sided, double-density (360 KB with DOS 2.1)
o Reads and writes either single or double-sided diskettes
o Customer installable
DESCRIPTION
System Unit
The IBM Portable Personal computer 5155 Model 68 consists of a
lightweight case with a carrying handle containing a built-in diskette
drive (with space for an optional second drive), and two IBM Personal
Computer attachment options (diskette adapter and color/graphics
adapter). The unit also has a new, lightweight keyboard and a
universal power supply. The system board is the same as that of the
IBM Personal computer XT with 256Kb of memory that is expandable to
512Kb using the memory expansion option. Five expansion slots are
available for the connection of most IBM Personal Computer Options.
The system has identical function and performance characteristics to
an equivalently configured IBM PC.
Diskette Drive
The system unit has space and power for an additional 5 1/4-inch
diskette drive. The drive, which is fully self-contained, is
double-sided with 40 tracks per side.
It uses modified frequency modulation (MFM) to read and write dated
with a track-to-track access time of 6 milliseconds. This diskette
drive is not interchangeable with diskette drives on the IBM Personal
Computer or the IBM Personal Computer XT.
Each system unit will be shipped with two binders: The Guide to
Operations (6936571) with sections on installation problem de
termination procedures, operating your system and moving your system
and the BASIC reference manual.
The IBM Portable Computer is also described in:
o Technical Reference Manual (6936572)
o Hardware, Maintenance, and Service Manual (6936573)
An options insert for the Guide to operations is included with the diskette
drive when it is shipped.
DELIVERY
General availability is planned for second quarter 1984.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
System Unit
o Dimensions: length, 20 inches (500mm); Depth, 17 inches (430mm); Hight, 8
inches (204mm)
o Weight, approximately 30 lbs (13.6 Kg)
o Input Voltage: 115V or 230V, 50 or 60 Hz
o 115V Switch Setting: 100V to 125V
o 230V Switch Setting 200V to 240V
o KVA: Q.32 KVA
o Heat output: 650 BTU/hour
o Power Cord: A variety of power cords will be used to meet "worldwide"
requirements. The system will use the same cords as the IBM Personal
Computer.
o Air Temperature: System operating, 60 to 90 F (15.6 to 32.2 C); power
off, 50 to 110 F (10 to 43 C)
o Relative Humidity: 5 to 80%
o Wet Bulb Temperature: System operating - 10 F - (22.8 C) maximum: power
off, 5 F (26.7 C) maximum.
Diskette Drive
o 512 bytes/sector
o 9 sectors/track
o Track density: 48 tracks/inch
o Number of sides: two
o Number of Tracks: 40 per side (80 total)
o 300 RPM
o Access time: 6 milliseconds track to track
o Date transfer rate: 250KB/sec
o Dimensions: Height, 1.5 inches (41.6mm); Width, 5.7 inches (146mm); Depth
8.1 inches (208mm)
o weight 2.5 lbs (1.1 Kg)
Compatibility: Diskettes created on any member of the IBM Personal
Computer family may be read or written to by the IBM Portable Personal
Computer. The diskette drive, however, cannot be used on the IBM
Personal Computer or Personal Computer XT. The base system unit
supports all IBM Personal Computer diskette-based software. All IBM
Personal Computer hard-file-based software is supported when a hard
file and an expansion unit are attached.
Note: When using the Personal Editor or Multiplan, Window Paint
Option, some combinations of foreground/background colours render the
characters illegible.
Packaging: The IBM Portable Personal Computer will be shipped in two
packages: one will contain the system unit, and its protective
carrying case and one containing the keyboard, publications, and the
power cord.
The diskette drive option is packaged in a carton along with the
necessary installation instructions.
Limitations: The following are not supported:
o 160K and 320K diskette drives
o Monochrome display
o Monochrome display and printer adapter
o 32K and 64K memory expansion options
o IBM Personal Computer XT expansion unit (model 2)
SINGLE UNIT
TYPE MODEL FEATURE DESCRIPTION PURCHASE PRICE
5155 068 IBM Portable $4,225.00
Personal Computer
645 Slimline Diskette 642.00
Drive
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 11 Apr 84 3:57-PST
Date: 6 Apr 84 16:20:23-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!dartvax!cmi @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Portable PC
I just saw the IBM portable PC for the first time today. Impossible?
That's what I said to the dealer. Supposedly, IBM is not announcing
it yet, other than a short clip in the Wall Street Journal, because
they are not ready for volume production. I hadn't heard any
announcements, and thought it was a hoax, but the dealer is a
full-fledged IBM dealer, and the machine has the IBM stickers in the
right places...
It has an amber monitor, and is not particularly attractive as far as
portables go. It's also not cheap; this dealer says they are
retailing at $3400. Internally, all I learned was that it has two
slots, and they might be the "short" slots also found in the PC/XT.
I would imagine that software-wise, the portable would be totally
compatible with the PC and XT.
Has anyone else seen this machine? Any details?
-Theo Pozzy
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 12 Apr 84 3:17-PST
Date: 7 Apr 84 14:37:46-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!ulysses!burl!clyde!watmath!utzoo!utcsrgv!spoo @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Portable PC
I, too, have seen the Portable PC (in Toronto). I was on the way to
dinner, so I didn't have time to play much, but it was pretty neat
looking. VERY LARGE! These people at IBM must have pet gorillas to
carry these things around. Also, after some insistent prodding at the
salesman, I got him to say that it would NOT be 100% compatible with
the PC. Anyone verify this?
Suk Lee
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 84 11:31:49 est
From: sigurd%vax1@cc.delaware (ANDERSEN)
To: mike@logicon
Subject: AST vs. QUADRAM Combo Boards
Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
The AST six-pak plus works well. I've heard of a couple of problems
with Quadram boards, e.g. serial ports that don't work quite the same
as IBM's. Quadram's problems may be temporary, but AST seems to have
better quality control over their products in general.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 84 11:46:11 est
From: sigurd%vax1@cc.delaware (ANDERSEN)
To: schauble@mit-multics
Subject: Diskette Drive Diagnostics
Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
PC Connection, 6 Mill St., Marlow, NH 03456 (603) 446-3383 has an
advertised software special (through April 30) on the Verbatim disk
drive analyzer that tests drive performance for (1) radial alignment,
(2) disk speed, (3) drive clamping accuracy and (4) write/read test.
I saw this ad in both the PC Tech Journal (4/84) and PC Magazine
(4/3/84, 5/1/84). The price is $29.
------------------------------
Date: Tue 10 Apr 84 10:01:29-PST
From: WILSON@SRI-KL.ARPA
Subject: Diskette Drive Diagnostics
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
The March Byte has an announcement for the Verbatim "Datalife Disk
Drive Analyzer": a floppy that costs $39.95, and tests for disk
alignment, clamping, write/read accuracy, and speed.
Dave Wilson
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 84 17:50:32 est
From: sigurd%vax1%vax1%vax1@cc.delaware (ANDERSEN)
To: decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!gmc@ucb-vax
Subject: Maintenance Manuals
Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
IBM publishes two versions of their Advanced Diagnostics, one for the
PC and one for the XT at $155 (!) each. These give step-by-step
details for diagnosing problems. The title on the binder of these
books is "Hardware Maintenance and Service." They come with an
"Advanced Diagnostics" disk and with RS-232 and printer "wrap plugs"
to test the comm and printer adapters. Another possible source of
information (which I have not used) is "How to repair and maintain
your own IBM PC/XT" from Personal Systems Publications, PO Box 90754,
Los Angeles, CA 90009. The price is $19.95 including postage and
handling for a 200-page manual.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 11 Apr 84 3:32-PST
Date: 6 Apr 84 9:00:43-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!hogpc!houti!ariel!hou5f!hou5e!hou5d!hou5a!hou5h!hou5g!aaa @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Removable Cartridge Hard Disk Query
I am interested in any information about the various removable
cartridge winchesters that are available for the PC. Has anyone used
them? What about:
- cost
- reliability
- cost of the cartridges
- software to back them up
- how many Mbytes?
Thanks,
Aaron Akman
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 13 Apr 84 1:56-PST
Date: 9 Apr 84 13:55:50-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!intelca!omsvax!plb @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Larger Hard Disks
I'm in the market for a winchester add on to my PC and I've been looking
at larger than 10Mb units. Specifically, the 23 Mb ones offered by 2
companies:
a) International Instrumentation Inc
b) Great Lakes
Both are about $2300 so the price per Mb is about $100.
I haven't seen/heard much about the companies and was wondering
if any one had any comments on them. Specifically:
a) reliability of the HW and SW
b) reliability of the vendor
c) compatibility with IBM XT controller.
d) compatibility with the 'older' PC (ie the one
with 16 K DRAMS and no wini boot ROM on the mother-board).
Any other good winis that have > 15 Mb capacity at a reasonable price
out there? I'll be more than happy to summarize to the net.
The alternative (for me) is to scrounge a wini subsystem together. I
know that Quantum 40Mb (or so) winis can be had for about $1500
(quantity 1!!) and power supplies/chassis aren't to expensive but I
haven't seen controllers advertised much. Anybody got any
info/experience they're willing to part with?
Thanks in advance
Phil Barrett
Intel Corp
503-640-7335
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 12 Apr 84 1:57-PST
Date: 5 Apr 84 21:49:46-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!sdcrdcf!trwrb!scgvaxd!wlbr!chi @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Larger Hard Disks
This is in response to a request for an SMD interface on an IBM PC.
There is a company in California that makes an SMD interface that will
interface to 25, 50, 84, 168, 334, or 474 Megabyte Disk Drives for a
total possible 1000 MB (1 Gigabyte) storage space on an IBM PC. They
are supposedly delivering "now" (as it says in their propaganda). It
says that their disks have 17 ms average access times and data
transfer rates of "nearly" 2 MB per second. One single slot
controller can support 2 drives. MTBF is quoted to be 30,000 hours.
I don't know anything else about the product or the company except
their name and address:
National Memory Systems
355 Earhart Way
Livermore, CA 94550
415-443-1669
Attn. Mr. Yasamoto or Victor L. Weber
Please post any information you can get (especially if you buy one!),
we are thinking about purchasing one.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Apr 84 19:24 CST
From: Rusty Haddock <haddock%ti-csl.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa>
To: brackenridge%usc-isib.arpa@csnet-relay.arpa
Subject: Hayes Modem Setup for Venix
Resent-To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
First, flip switch #5 UP. This will set S0=1 on power up.
If you get no carrier try flipping the switch that forces the Carrier
Detect (CD) line high. The switch # escapes me. UNIX likes to see a
carrier before it'll start talking to a tty port. There's another
that forces the DTR pin high; you may as well try that one too.
I've been using a Hayes SmartModem 1200 but if you're using the
300-baud only version the switches may be different.
-Rusty-
------------------------------
Date: Tue 10 Apr 84 11:08:50-PST
From: ALFIERI@USC-ECLB.ARPA
Subject: 1-2-3 Reverse Video Query
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Does anyone know how to patch the Lotus 1-2-3 program so that the
entire screen display will be in reverse video? I would greatly
appreciate help with this, and in return can offer lots of help with
WordStar/MailMerge, dBASE II, et al.
Thanks!
Vince Alfieri <alfieri@usc-eclb>
------------------------------
Date: 10-Apr-84 14:13:54-CST (Tue)
From: pool@ANL-MCS.ARPA (Pool)
Subject: NAG Address Correction
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
The address for Numerical Algorithms Group quoted in the first message
of Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #40 is incorrect. The correct address is the
following:
Numerical Algorithms Group
1101 31st Street, Suite 100
Downers Grove, IL 60515
312/971-2337.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 12 Apr 84 2:00-PST
Date: 8 Apr 84 22:40:31-PST (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!hsplab @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Monochrome Display
Both the Lear Siegler ADM-22 and the IBM-PC monochrome monitor are
made by the Taiwan electronics company TEC. In fact, the cases are
very similar and the controls on our ADM-22 were "glued" in the same
fashion as you described. Even the deflection yoke was glued and in
one case, this presented read problems on one ADM-22 we had on which
the yoke was tilted slightly. I wonder if anyone has looked into
using the Lear-Siegler as a source of replacement parts (both use the
same green screen CRT tube, at least by inspection) for the PC
monitor.
David Chou
Univ of NC, Chapel Hill
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 84 07:54:17 pst
From: Robert A. Dukelow <dukelow%cod@Nosc>
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: Turbo Pascal
I sent two letters to Borland regarding a bug which I have already
discussed on the net. I received responses to both in relatively short
times. It's nice to know that there really are people out there that
have some concern for their customers. Wonder how long it will last.
The first response attempted to explain why there really wasn't a bug,
the second was rather vague concerning the bug, but did provide
information about the planned new release which others may be
interested in. Following is a quote from the letter.
We plan on letting Turbo 2.0 go around May or June.
The update will contain an editor that does what we
say it will, overlays, 8087 support, isam structure,
windows, sound, color, graphics, and an installation
program for your applications. It will cost about
$30.00.
I suppose that the size of the system will now increase to 35K or 36K
and the compile speed will drop to only 2K lines per minute. Oh well,
it was nice while it lasted.
The above was concerning the IBM-PC version of Turbo. I don't know what
(if any) applies to the CP/M version. They also confirmed that they
have dropped the additional license requirement for distributing
programs compiled by Turbo.
I also recently purchased the CP/M version. With it I got a "coupon"
for a free ($5.00 for shipping and handling) update. A friend says he
got a similar coupon for the IBM version he just purchased. I don't
know how this relates to the $30.00 indicated in the letter from
Borland.
Bob Dukelow
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂15-Apr-84 1522 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #42
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 15 Apr 84 15:21:09 PST
Date: 15 Apr 1984 14:31:49 PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #42
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Sunday, 15 April 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 42
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
Larger Hard Disks & Controllers
Portable PC
Gosling Emacs on the PC
Tall Tree JRAM2
Assemblers
DisplayWriter PC Connection
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 13-Apr-84 23:50:04 PST
From: Pete Carah <vortex!pete@RAND-UNIX.ARPA>
Subject: Larger Hard Disks & Controllers
To: info-ibmpc@isib
I have been using a Xebec S1410A (purchased from Hamilton Electro
Sales but they are also sold through other distributors) for a year
now, and have had no trouble with it except that it won't support a
Syquest removable without a different ROM, and thus it may be hard to
mix a removable and a non-removable drive on the same controller. I
don't know if a normal drive will work with the Syquest ROM, however.
(It won't if you formatted it with the normal ROM). These controllers
will support at least 1024 cyls and 8 hds as they come. I have been
using Miniscribe 17meg (formatted) drives (4hd, 480 cyl) with this
controller, and tested a Maxtore (118 meg formatted) with it (though
the stock ROM makes addressing of this drive difficult, since the
drive uses the reduced write current line as a head select). The
controller ran about $295 and host adapter (SASI) about $150 a year
ago.
To do this yourself you need a good source of ribbon cable and
connectors of 3 sizes (20, 34, and 50 pin). All of the power
connectors are compatible with 5-1/4 inch floppies (AM-P 4 pin).
The drive market has changed a lot since I looked - I could suggest
looking in Mini-Micro Systems, Computer Design, or that type of
magazine - there are now several half-height 30 meg drives available.
The controller used in (at least early) XT's is also a Xebec (1210)
which is not normally listed in Xebec catalogs. It is almost (but not
quite - trust IBM) program compatible with the SASI version. If you
get it from Xebec, you don't get the IBM Bios ROM. The separate
controller and host adapter is easier to use if you don't have an XT
power supply since it is difficult to cable external drives to the
built-in controller, and difficult (though not impossible) to bring
drive power into the PC.
-- Pete
------------------------------
Date: 8 Apr 84 11:49:11-PST (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: randy@washington
Subject: Portable PC
The following information comes from an article entitled "IBM Portable
PC Not All That Compatible" on p. 5 of the March 20th, 1984 issue of
PC Week. The major thrust of incompatibility is that the IBM Portable
PC uses the slower Qume drives, which requires DOS 2.1, which slows
down disk accesses. Therefore software that won't run under DOS 2.1
will not run on the Portable. This includes "BPI Accounting",
Peachtree's "General Ledger", Sierra Online's "Homeword", SofTech's
"UCSD p-system", and "Turtle Power." It appears that version IV.1 of
UCSD p-system will run under DOS 2.1. Another area of incompatibility
is the screen. Programs that try to take advantage of the monochrome
screen's higher resolution (720X350) will not work in the Portable.
One example: "101 monochrome mazes."
It appears that the Portable only has one full-size expansion slot. A
few other small expansion slots are provided. Does this machine live
up to the Compaq?
Randy.
------------------------------
Date: 14 April 1984 17:54-EST
From: Steven T. Kirsch <SK @ MIT-MC>
Subject: Has anyone tried Gosling Emacs on the PC
To: info-ibmpc @ USC-ISIB
I saw an ad for this from Unipress. Requires 384K and costs $375, if
memory serves me correctly. Has anyone tried this?
------------------------------
Date: 14 Apr 1984 18:29:43 PST
Subject: Gosling Emacs on the PC
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: Steven T. Kirsch <SK@MIT-MC>
ISI has it on order. I spoke with the people at Unipress and they say it
will be ready for shipment about the same time a purchase order clears
campus.
I asked about mouse support. There is none but they were interested.
This summer they expect a stripped down version suitable for use on a
floppy drive only system. I am told that despite the huge size that once
the thing is loaded it runs at a pretty good clip and provides all features
of a true Gosling Emacs.
-------
------------------------------
Date: 14 Apr 1984 22:42:07 PST
Subject: Tall Tree JRAM2
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
Tall Tree Systems has recently announced JRAM-2. This memory board is
similar to to the original JRAM card in that it has the same memory
mapping capability that allows one to expand RAM on the PC to beyond
the 1 MB address space of the 8086.
The new card can use either 64K RAM chips or the new 256K RAM. Up to 4
boards can be placed in a system. With 64K RAM chips each board contains
512K memory for a total system size of 2 megabytes. Using 256K chips
8 megabytes of memory can be placed in a PC.
As MS-DOS with Tall Tree modifications can only use 704K, the rest of
the memory is currently used as RAM disk or print spool buffer. I have
been informed that Multi Job will be supporting Tall Tree memory
mapping. This should allow one to run multiple copies of large memory
Lotuses if one were so perverse.
There is also room on JRAM-2 for a daughter card. Currently one daughter
card contains a calendar clock, parallel port, and serial port. Another
has two serial ports. Even with the daughter board installed JRAM-2 will
fit in an XT narrow slot.
One problem with the PC design is the shortage of interrupt vectors.
The Tall Tree system allows one to run up to 8 serial lines on a PC.
Multiple serial ports can share a single interrupt vector. Interrupt
software must poll each serial port to find which serial line caused
the interrupt.
Each card has a 9 pin D connector and a standard 25 pin D connector.
A ribbon cable adaptor optionally changes the 9 pin D connector to a 25 pin
connector if desired. Currently other multi function cards support
multiple connectors by running ribbon cables out the back of the PC. The
Tall Tree approach should make for a neater looking back side and less RF
noise.
A JRAM-2 board with no memory chips retails for $199.
The clock, serial port, parallel port option brings the price up to $399.
I don't have a price for for the two serial port option.
Tall Tree Systems
1032 Elwell Court
Palo Alto, CA 94303
(415) 964-1980
-------
------------------------------
Date: 15 Apr 1984 13:59:26 PST
Subject: Assemblers
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
I have seen ads for "Assembler & Tools" from Digital Research. I believe
"Tools" means a linker and debugger. This package is reputed to run under
MS-DOS. I have been unable to find a software store in Southern California
where anyone knows what an assembler is much less differences between the
IBM Assembler and Digital Research Assembler.
The Programmer's Shop (a mail order house) carries this product as well
as the Microsoft Assembler 1.25. I have never seen in any Microsoft
catalogues admission that they actually wrote what is billed as the IBM
Macro Assembler. If I had been able to purchase an assembler from Microsoft
I would have done so long ago and sent them a book full of bugs. It might
not do any good, but sending bug reports to IBM doesn't even make one
feel better.
In the mean time I tried purchasing the Seattle assembler. I gather Seattle
is a subsidiary of Microsoft. If I were Microsoft I wouldn't have admitted
to having written the Seattle assembler either.
Has anyone tried the Digital Research assembler and is it compatible with
the specification of the IBM assembler?
-------
------------------------------
Date: 14 Apr 1984 20:39:14 PST
Subject: DisplayWriter PC Connection
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
Recently IBM has made some announcements regarding cross support
between the DislpayWriter and PC.
The DisplayWriter is IBM's stand alone word processor. As it has a nearly
identical screen and keyboard as the PC, and the internal processor is an 8086,
cross support was pretty much a natural move.
The following official IBM announcement describes two communication
options for transferring files from DisplayWriters to PCs. What is only
alluded to in this document is that DisplayWriter software is now
available which runs directly on the PC. This software is similar to
the popular MultiMate which emulates a Wang word processor in that
a typist already familiar with an existing word processor need not
learn new commands in order to move to the cheaper PC.
Revisable Form Text Document Content Architecture (RFTDCA) is IBMese
for DisplayWriter internal file format. IBM is now supporting this file
format on the PC and DisplayWriter. I suspect this will become a word
processor standard similar to the Software Arts DIF format for spread sheets.
Currently Flagstaff Engineering is the only company I know of which
makes a RFTDCA to Wordstar format converter, but I suspect there will be
a host of programs to translate between various word processor formats.
IBM announces the IBM Personal Computer DisplayComm Binary
Synchronous Communications licensed program, a member of the IBM
DisplayWrite Series, providing batch data transmission capabilities
for the IBM Personal Computer (5150), Personal Computer XT (5160),
and IBM Portable Personal Computer (5155). This program supports
data exchange with the IBM Displaywriter, IBM 6670 Information
Distributor, IBM 5520 Administrative System, IBM Office System 6,
and suitably programmed host computers, as well as with other IBM
Personal Computers equipped with DisplayComm Binary Synchronous
Communications (BSC). Multiple data formats are supported,including
the revisable form text document content architecture data stream.
6024187 HIGHLIGHTS
? Communicates revisable form text document content architecture
(RFTDCA), page image text, or card image text.
? Communicates DOS ASCII files between IBM Personal Computers that
have IBM Personal Computer DisplayComm Binary Synchronous
Communications.
? Stores up to eight communication setups.
? Provides a send queue of up to 20 documents/files.
? Line speeds of up to 4800 bps are supported.
? Attended or unattended operation.
? Utilizes switched or non-switched lines.
? Provides IBM 2770/3780 and IBM 2780 emulation.
DESCRIPTION
IBM Personal Computer DisplayComm Binary Synchronous
Communications (BSC) is a program for the IBM Personal Computers
(IBM Personal Computer, IBM Personal Computer XT, and IBM Portable
Personal Computer) that provides the functions necessary to transmit
documents or data over a communications line. IBM Personal Computer
DisplayComm BSC provides batch data transmission at line speeds of
up to 4800 bps.
IBM Personal Computer DisplayWrite documents can be
transmitted in RFTDCA format to another IBM Personal Computer that
has IBM Personal Computer DisplayComm BSC, an IBM Displaywriter, or
suitably programmed IBM host computer. DisplayWrite documents may
also be transmitted in page or card image to another IBM Personal
Computer that has IBM Personal Computer DisplayComm BSC, an IBM 6670
Information Distributor, IBM 5520 Administrative System, IBM Office
System 6, or suitably programmed IBM host computer. Additionally,
IBM-PC DOS ASCII and object files may be transmitted to other IBM
Personal Computers that have IBM Personal Computer DisplayComm BSC.
Print level 7-bit ASCII documents received may be optionally
converted to DisplayWrite 2 format or stored as PC DOS ASCII files.
IBM Personal Computer DisplayComm BSC provides IBM 2770/3780
and IBM 2780 emulation. Switched and non-switched lines are
supported. Unattended operation is facilitated by support for
auto-answer modems and by an optional exchange of identification
information with another DisplayComm BSC program, or with suitably
programmed devices.
IBM Personal Computer DisplayComm BSC is similar in function
to the Binary Synchronous Communications program (5608-SR2) for the
IBM Displaywriter System. Differences exist to accommodate
implementation under the IBM Personal Computer DOS.
SCHEDULE
The planned general availability date is April 1984.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
SPECIFIED OPERATING ENVIRONMENT
HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS: DisplayComm BSC is designed to operate on the
IBM 5150 Personal Computer, IBM 5160 Personal Computer XT, or IBM
5155 Portable Personal Computer with:
? A minimum of 256KB of memory
? Two double-sided diskette drives or one double-sided diskette
drive and a fixed disk drive
? IBM Binary Synchronous Communications Adapter (feature number
2075)
? One of the following 80-column displays (or equivalent):
- IBM 5151 Monochrome Display and the IBM Monochrome Display
and Printer Adapter
- IBM 5153 Color Display and the IBM Color/Graphics Monitor
Adapter
- Self-contained display for IBM Portable Personal Computer.
? User-supplied modem, cable, and communications network.
? For document printing, one of the following (or equivalent),
including appropriate prerequisites:
- IBM 5152 Model 1 Matrix Printer
- IBM 5152 Model 2 Graphics Printer
- IBM 5182 Model 1 Color Printer (supported as an IBM 5152
Model 2 Printer)
- IBM 5218 Models 3 or 4 Printwheel Printer (requires at least
320KB of memory). Concurrent communication and printing is
not supported.
SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS: DisplayComm BSC requires IBM Personal
Computer Disk Operating System (DOS) Version 2.1 for operation.
COMPATIBILITY: An IBM Personal Computer using DisplayComm BSC and
DisplayWrite 2 (feature number 4189) can interchange information
with an IBM Displaywriter using the Displaywriter Binary Synchronous
Communications licensed program (5608-SR2). Exchange of documents
in the Document Content Architecture revisable-form-text data
stream is supported. The level of compatibility for editing and
printing RFTDCA documents on IBM products is dependent upon each
product's functional capabilities and implementation.
Compatibility documentation describing the level of interchange
between IBM products will be available in the third quarter of 1984.
An IBM Personal Computer using DisplayComm BSC and
DisplayWrite 2 can exchange information with the IBM 5520
Administrative System with communications support, or with an IBM
6670 Information Distributor or Office System 6 with binary
synchronous communications support. DisplayComm BSC provides the
capability to convert DisplayWrite 2 documents to and from either
EBCDIC page image or EBCDIC card image for exchange with these
devices. Limitations for this exchange are documented in the
DisplayComm BSC reference manual.
An IBM Personal Computer using DisplayComm BSC can interchange
data with another similarly equipped IBM PC. Any DOS file, including
object files, can be transmitted and used by the receiving system as
if it had been created on that system. Any exchange of data for use
by a different software program and any transmission of copyrighted
information are the responsibilities of the user.
DisplayComm BSC may also be used for exchange of data with
suitably programmed host computers that support IBM 2770/3780 or IBM
2780 communication protocols. DisplayComm BSC can send and receive
files in any DOS format. In conjunction with DisplayWrite 2,
DisplayComm can also send and receive EBCDIC page image, EBCDIC
80-column card image or RFTDCA data streams. It is the customer's
responsibility to determine the ability of the host program to use
any of these data streams.
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE: The IBM Personal Computing Assistance Center
(Boca Raton) will continue to support eligible IBM customers.
PACKAGING: DisplayComm Binary Synchronous Communications is
distributed with the following:
? Program diskette
? Reference manual
? Keyboard template
SECURITY, AUDITABILITY, AND CONTROL
User management is responsible for evaluation, selection, and
implementation of security features, for administrative procedures,
and appropriate controls in application systems. If sensitive data
is sent over external communication facilities, user management may
wish to pursue the application of cryptography.
PLANNING INFORMATION
CUSTOMER RESPONSIBILITY: The customer is responsible for program
setup and operation, implementation of backup procedures, and
applicable problem determination procedures. The user should be
familiar with the operation of both the IBM Personal Computer and PC
DOS. To install and use these programs, the customer should read
the reference manual as necessary to understand the system, perform
program setup procedures, and make backup copies of the program
diskettes.
ORDERING INFORMATION
Orders for any quantity will be accepted by IBM representatives.
Orders for quantities less than 20 can also be taken at IBM Product
Centers. Each product center will accept and process orders within
its trading area.
This program is available as a feature for 5150, 5160, 5271, 5155,
or 4860, as follows:
AAS
Part Feature
Program Number Code
DisplayComm 6024187 4187
CHARGES, TERMS, AND CONDITIONS
CHARGES
IBM Personal Computer DisplayComm BSC $375.00
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
WARRANTED: No, the provisions of the IBM Program License Agreement
apply to this program.
IBM PROGRAM LICENSE AGREEMENT: A copy is packaged and shipped with
each program and is visible to the customer before the diskette
package is opened. The customer is advised that opening the diskette
package indicates acceptance of these terms and conditions. No
signature is required.
QUANTITY DISCOUNT AGREEMENT: This program is marketed by IBM branch
offices as an eligible program under the terms and conditions and
discount schedule contained in the IBM Personal Computer Licensed
Program Quantity Discount Agreement (QDA) (Z125-3412) and Exhibit
(Z125-3413). A version of this Exhibit, which includes the IBM
Personal Computer DisplayComm BSC program, will be available soon.
Quantity of Qualified Discount
Eligible Licenses Percent
20 - 49 12%
50 - 149 16%
150 or more 20%
The QDA is not available at IBM product centers. Product
center single-delivery quantity discounts are available as follows:
Single-Delivery Discount
Quantity Percent
3-10 5%
11-19 8%
TESTING PERIOD: None
EDUCATIONAL ALLOWANCE: Qualified educational institutions are
eligible to receive the educational allowance of 20% for order
quantities of up to 49. Discounts under a Quantity Discount
Agreement are not in addition to the educational allowance.
For additional information, contact your IBM representative,
or IBM Product Center.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
IBM announces the IBM Displaywriter/Personal Computer Attach
Convenience Kit, providing the ability to connect the IBM
Displaywriter and the IBM Personal Computer, the IBM Portable
Personal Computer, the IBM PCjr, or the IBM Personal Computer XT.
This cable attachment allows the transfer of documents and files
between a Displaywriter and a single IBM Personal Computer. This
attachment also allows a Displaywriter to connect with the IBM
Personal Computer Cluster, using an IBM Personal Computer as an
interface to the cluster. Displaywriters can share a fixed disk and
exchange messages with other Displaywriters or IBM Personal
Computers attached to the cluster. Editable document exchange is
supported among IBM Personal Computer DisplayWrite 2 licensed
programs and Displaywriters. This Convenience Kit is available
for installations by customers in business, commercial, or
industrial environments, and not in residential environments.
HIGHLIGHTS
? Connection of the IBM Displaywriter and the IBM Personal
Computer, the IBM PCjr, the IBM Portable Personal Computer, or
the IBM Personal Computer XT.
? Interchange of revisable form text document content architecture
(RFTDCA) documents among IBM Personal Computers that use
DisplayWrite 2 (feature number 4189) and Displaywriters.
? IBM Personal Computer DOS print files sent to Displaywriter are
converted to Displaywriter text document format for editing,
printing, or combining with other documents.
? IBM Displaywriters used with the IBM Personal Computer Cluster
can:
- Share a fixed disk
- Exchange messages
- Share and exchange RFTDCA documents
- Receive ASCII files.
? Optional alternate foreground execution on Displaywriter allows
hot-key switch between Personal Computer attach functions and
Textpack functions.
DESCRIPTION
The IBM Displaywriter/Personal Computer Attach Convenience Kit
includes a special attachment cable, a program for the IBM
Displaywriter, and a program for the IBM Personal Computer, the IBM
Personal Computer XT, the IBM PCjr, or the IBM Portable Personal
Computer. Two categories of functions are available using this kit:
those available to all users of the kit, and those available when
the IBM Displaywriter is used with a cluster. All functions
described in this announcement as being available for the IBM
Personal Computer (IBM PC) are also available for the IBM Personal
Computer XT, the IBM Portable Personal Computer, and the IBM PCjr,
unless otherwise specified. The IBM Displaywriter/Personal Computer
Attach Convenience Kit is available for installations by customers
in business, commercial, or industrial environments, and not in
residential environments.
DISPLAYWRITER - PERSONAL COMPUTER ATTACHMENT FUNCTIONS
File and document transfer between the IBM Displaywriter and
the IBM Personal Computer are accomplished using IBM PC DOS file
commands at the Displaywriter. The Directory command can be used to
display the directories of either Displaywriter diskettes or IBM PC
diskettes. The Delete command may be used to delete documents and
files from Displaywriter or IBM Personal Computer diskettes.
To transfer documents and files, the Copy command is used.
When copying documents from the IBM Displaywriter to the IBM PC, the
documents are converted to RFTDCA format and stored on the IBM PC.
Reportpack files that are copied are converted to a special
interchange format for storage. Chartpack documents may not be
copied to an IBM Personal Computer.
Documents and files copied from the IBM PC to Displaywriter
are converted as follows:
? IBM PC RFTDCA documents are converted to Displaywriter document
format.
? Reportpack files are converted to Displaywriter internal format.
? DOS ASCII files are converted to IBM Displaywriter document
format. Some editing of the resulting document may be required.
For best results, it is recommended that only print files be
transferred. After conversion, the document may be printed,
edited, or combined with other documents.
Optional alternate foreground execution is available on
Displaywriter, allowing the user to switch (hot-key) between
Displaywriter/Personal Computer attach functions and Textpack 4 or
Textpack 6 functions, such as creating or revising documents,
pagination, and spelling verification. An additional 128Kb of memory
is required over that required for the IBM Textpack licensed program
being used.
CLUSTER ATTACHMENT FUNCTIONS
The IBM Displaywriter/Personal Computer Attach Convenience Kit
allows the IBM Displaywriter to access the functions provided by the
IBM Personal Computer Cluster Program. The IBM Personal Computer
attached to the Displaywriter is used as an interface device, and
must have the appropriate hardware prerequisites to execute the IBM
Personal Computer Cluster Program. The IBM Personal Computer used
for cluster interface for a Displaywriter may be used for other
functions when not acting as the interface. In situations where the
IBM Displaywriter is to be attached to the cluster for long
periods, the use of a dedicated IBM Personal Computer may be
advisable.
All functions described in the previous section are available
to a Displaywriter attached to a cluster. In addition, the
following functions are available using the IBM Personal Computer
Cluster Program.
The Displaywriter can share an IBM Personal Computer fixed
disk with other users of the cluster. Data must be copied from the
fixed disk to the Displaywriter diskettes to be accessed by IBM
Textpack licensed programs or by Displaywriter feature programs. The
Displaywriter and the interfacing IBM Personal Computer will share a
single private volume on the disk server unit. Sharing of data on a
private volume can be limited by the owner of that volume. Data
copied between the Displaywriter diskettes and the fixed disk will
be converted as described in the previous section.
The information transfer function of the IBM Personal Computer
Cluster Program can be used by the Displaywriter operator to send or
receive files. Data transferred to or from the Displaywriter
diskettes will be converted as described in the previous section.
The Displaywriter and the interfacing IBM Personal Computer share a
single cluster address.
Interchange of revisable form text document content
architecture (RFTDCA) documents among Displaywriters and IBM
Personal Computer DisplayWrite 2 is supported through the
facilities provided by the IBM Displaywriter/Personal Computer
Attach Convenience Kit and the IBM Personal Computer Cluster
Program. Interchange can be accomplished either through a shared
private volume or through file transfer. The level of compatibility
for editing and printing RFTDCA documents on IBM products is
dependent upon each product's functional capabilities and
implementation.
The Displaywriter operator can send and receive messages. The
Displaywriter shares a single message log with the interfacing
Personal Computer. The broadcast capability is also available.
Please refer to the IBM Personal Computer Cluster Program
announcement dated February 16, 1984, for further information on the
capabilities, restrictions, and prerequisites for cluster operation.
PACKAGING: The IBM Displaywriter/Personal Computer Attach
Convenience Kit consists of the following:
? One Attach Cable (7.5 meters)
? One 5-1/4" Attach Program Diskette
? One 8" Attach Program Diskette
? One Installation/Operation/Diagnostic Guide
? Two Wrap Plugs for diagnostics.
PUBLICATIONS
The following document will be shipped with the IBM
Displaywriter/Personal Computer Attach Convenience Kit from
Princeton, New Jersey, and is available through your IBM
representative: IBM Displaywriter/Personal Computer Attach
Installation/Operation/Diagnostic Guide (G544-2280).
SCHEDULE
The planned availability date is August 1984.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
SPECIFIED OPERATING ENVIRONMENT
HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS: The IBM Displaywriter/Personal Computer
Attach Convenience Kit is designed to operate on the following IBM
Displaywriter and IBM Personal Computer components. A display is
required on the IBM Personal Computer systems to perform stand-alone
Personal Computer diagnostics.
IBM Displaywriter
? IBM 6580 Display Station. The IBM Displaywriter/Personal
Computer Attach Cable may not be installed on IBM Displaywriter
systems with communications features installed in the diskette
unit (3704, 3707, 1630, 5502, 5503, or 5511), or with the
IBM Magnetic Card Unit (6361).
Memory Requirements (in Kb): Textpack 4 Textpack 6
Without alternate foreground 256 320
With alternate foreground 384 448
? IBM 6360 single or dual diskette unit. (A dual diskette unit is
highly recommended).
IBM PCjr
? IBM 4860 Systems Unit with 128Kb of memory.
? A display is required on the IBM Personal Computer systems to
perform stand-alone Personal Computer diagnostics.
? Cluster Attachment Card for cluster attach (#0027), or diskette
drive (#0005), but not both.
IBM Personal Computer or IBM Portable Personal Computer
? 5150 or 5155 with at least 128Kb memory.
? Asynchronous Communications Adapter (#2074).
? IBM Compact Printer Connector Adapter (#0102).
? A display is required on the IBM Personal Computer systems to
perform stand-alone Personal Computer diagnostics.
? Cluster Adapter Card for cluster attach only (#1206).
IBM Personal Computer XT
? 5160 Model 87.
? IBM Compact Printer Connector Adapter (#0102).
? A display is required on the IBM Personal Computer systems to
perform stand-alone Personal Computer diagnostics.
? Cluster Attachment Card for cluster attach only (#1206).
Refer to the IBM Personal Computer Cluster Adapter
announcement dated February 16, 1984, for further information on the
capabilities, restrictions, and prerequisites for cluster operation.
SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS: The IBM Displaywriter/Personal Computer
Attach program requires the following software environment:
IBM Displaywriter
? Textpack 4 (5608-TR4) or Textpack 6 (5608-TR6).
IBM Personal Computer
? IBM Personal Computer DOS Version 2.1.
? IBM Personal Computer Cluster Program (feature number 4107) for
cluster attach. Refer to the IBM Personal Computer Cluster
Program announcement dated February 16, 1984, for further
information on the capabilities, restrictions, and prerequisites
for cluster operation.
COMPATIBILITY: The level of compatibility for editing and printing
RFTDCA documents on IBM products is dependent upon each product's
functional capabilities and implementation. Compatibility
documentation describing the level of interchange between IBM
products will be available in the third quarter of 1984.
When transferring IBM PC DOS ASCII files to the IBM
Displaywriter, these files are converted to IBM Displaywriter
document format. Some editing of the resulting document may be
required to produce the desired results. Messages produced by the
conversion routines assist the operator in identifying potential
problems. For best results, it is recommended that only print files
be transferred.
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
The IBM Personal Computer Assistance Center (Boca Raton) will
continue to support eligible IBM customers.
SECURITY, AUDITABILITY, AND CONTROL
User management is responsible for evaluation, selection, and
implementation of security features, for administrative procedures,
and for appropriate controls in application systems.
PLANNING INFORMATION
CUSTOMER RESPONSIBILITY: To successfully use this product, the
customer is responsible for reading the
Installation/Operation/Diagnostic Guide and following the
installation procedures described. The customer must be
operationally familiar with IBM Personal Computer DOS, and, if
cluster attachment is desired, with the IBM Personal Computer
Cluster Program. The customer is also responsible for making backup
copies of the program diskettes.
INSTALLABILITY: The IBM Displaywriter complies with the requirements
in Part 15 of FCC rules for a class A computing device, and is
intended for use in business, commercial, or industrial
environments. The IBM Displaywriter/Personal Computer Attach
Convenience Kit is available for installations by customers in
business, commercial, or industrial environments, and not in
residential environments.
In applications that require frequent use of cluster program
menus, cluster interface through the IBM Personal Computer, IBM
Portable Personal Computer, or IBM Personal Computer XT will provide
better performance than interface through the IBM PCjr.
ORDERING INFORMATION: Orders for the IBM Displaywriter/Personal
Computer Attach Convenience Kit may be placed by calling IBM Direct
at 1 (800) 426-2468.
The IBM Displaywriter/Personal Computer Attach Convenience Kit
may be ordered as separate items through IBM Direct using the
following IBM part numbers:
? IBM Attach Cable (6403729)
? IBM Wrap Plugs (6403730)
? Attach Program Diskettes (one 5-1/4" and one 8") (6403731)
In addition to the IBM Displaywriter/Personal Computer Attach
Convenience Kit (6403728), the IBM Compact Printer Connector Adapter
feature is required when attaching the IBM Displaywriter to the IBM
Personal Computer, IBM Portable Personal Computer, or IBM Personal
Computer XT. Orders for the IBM Compact Printer Connector Adapter
feature may be placed through the branch office using #0102.
CHARGES, TERMS, AND CONDITIONS
CHARGES
IBM Displaywriter/Personal Computer
Attach Convenience Kit $495
IBM Attach Cable 295
IBM Wrap Plugs 75
Attach Program Diskettes
(one 5-1/4" and one 8") 300
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
WARRANTED: Program - No, the provisions of the IBM Program License
Agreement apply. IBM provides a three-month warranty from date of
shipment on the attachment cable.
IBM PROGRAM LICENSE AGREEMENT: A copy is packaged and shipped with
each program and is visible to the customer before the diskette
package is opened. The customer is advised that opening the diskette
package indicates acceptance of these terms and conditions. No
signature is required.
SERVICE INFORMATION: If the cable becomes defective during the
warranty period, a replacement cable may be obtained by calling IBM
Direct. IBM does not provide any extended warranty or maintenance
service for the cable. After three months, a replacement cable can
be purchased through IBM Direct.
EDUCATIONAL ALLOWANCE: Qualifying educational institutions are
eligible to receive the educational allowance of 20%. This
educational allowance is not additive to any other discount or
allowance.
-------
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂17-Apr-84 0509 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #43
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 17 Apr 84 05:09:10 PST
Date: 17 Apr 1984 01:13:39 PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #43
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 17 April 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 43
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
Screen Editors
IBM PPC
Request Help With PC-Talk
Big Winchesters
Great Kermit Hoax
Big ROMs
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 11 Apr 84 5:44:08-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!ulysses!mhuxl!dkk @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Screen Editors
I'm looking for some help in selecting a screen editor for my PC.
Selection criteria are (in order of importance):
1. Works on ascii files
2. Automatic backups
3. Features like vi
4. Incorporating or interfacing to a what you see is what you get
word processor.
I've heard of XYwrite, Textra, and VEDIT. Any comments on these?
Dave Kallman
AT&T Technologies
ihnp4!mhuxl1!dkk
------------------------------
Date: 11 Apr 84 12:07:48-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!linus!kbb @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Screen Editors
We have purchased several PC's, as well as PC compatibles -
like Compaq , GRiD, etc. We want to do some programming on
them, but we cannot find a good editor.
We are looking for a full-screen editor, as opposed to a
word processor. We have tried things like Perfect Writer,
and Multi-Mate, but these are geared towards word processing -
too many "nice features" that get in the way.
If anyone knows of a good SIMPLE editor to enter in source code, that will
run under MS DOS, please send me any (and all available) information.
Thanks,
linus!kbb
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 84 05:29 PST
From: Gaffney@LLL-MFE.ARPA
Subject: IBM PPC
My wife has had the IBM personal portable computer for about three
weeks now. Our initial impressions about the screen were not very favorable,
however, after about a day of continual use, we are grateful for its
minimal eye strain. Our overall conclusions are that the machine
is very well engineered, and thus a pleasure to work with. Our major
complaint is with the DOS 2.1 manual that is supplied with the computer.
It appears that ibm believes that anyone using this machine will
be incapable of digesting any technical material. All of the
technical appendices that accompanied DOS 2.0 have been removed from the
DOS 2.1 manual and packaged under a separate title at an additional
cost! Add this to the fact that the first part of the manual has been
written for a moron and the complete package is an insult.
Otherwise we are very pleased with the IBM PC.
------------------------------
Date: 11 Apr 84 6:16:52-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!ihuxi!rtb @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Request Help With PC-Talk
*******************************************************************************
I just downloaded PC-TALK from a local BBS and have been very frustrated
trying to get the xmodem protocol to work. When the system tells me it's ready
to download I type 'alt r' and nothing happens. I have tried many things to
tell the program to expect xmodem binary programs but nothing has worked. Here
is the Catch-22 - The documentation is posted on the board in some sort of
squeezed binary form, so until I figure out how to use the binary download, I
can't get the documentation. Please no flames about software piracy, this
program is distributed on the freeware concept, and as soon as I get the
documentation I will decide if I like the program enough to send in a donation,
else I will simply erase it.
Thanks in advance
R.T.Bradstrum
!ihuxi!rtb
******************************************************************************
------------------------------
Date: 12 Apr 84 15:32:07-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hpda!fortune!phipps @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Help With PC-Talk
I know that this doesn't address the problem as posed,
but may provide an alternative solution.
I am still using PC-Talk II, which has no special protocol
for data transfer, and as far as I can tell, it works fine for me.
I do have some apprehension about using it for C source code, however
[from postings to "net.sources" and "net.micro.pc", NOT UN*X source].
For file reception (host to PC), after logging in to our VAX host,
the keyboard sequence on my PC is
cat vax-filename<ALT-r>pc-filename<CR>
The pc-filename is typed in response to a prompt issued by PC-Talk.
For file transmission (PC to host), after logging in to our VAX host,
the keyboard sequence on my PC is
cat >>vax-filename<ALT-t>pc-filename<CR>
The ">>" above is the familiar UN*X shell "append" file operator;
"<ALT-r>" and "<ALT-t>" denote multikey "alt-codes";
"<CR>" denotes the broken-arrow "return" key (actually, 2 <CR>s
may be necessary where I have indicated just one -- I forget).
-- Clay Phipps
--
{cbosgd decvax!decwrl!amd70 harpo hplabs!hpda ihnp4 sri-unix ucbvax!amd70}
!fortune!phipps
------------------------------
Date: 11 Apr 84 12:21:27-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!ulysses!burl!clyde!watmath!utzoo!utcsrgv!spoo @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Big Winchesters
I have heard from a friend who is working in the "clone" business
that WANG is coming out with a plug-in 300 MByte (!!!!!!) hard-disk
somewhere in the near future. Does anyone out there have
knowledge of this?
--
>From the pooped paws of:
Suk Lee
..!{decvax,linus,allegra,ihnp4}!utcsrgv!spoo
------------------------------
Date: Mon Apr 16 1984 15:39:33
From: Marco Papa <papa%USC-CSE@USC-ECL.ARPA>
To: info-kermit%columbia-20.arpa@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA
Subject: Great Kermit Hoax
This is an excerpt from an article by Michael N. Huttner in the latest issue
of PC WEEK, entitled "Barnum Would Enjoy Hucksterism in Ads; Buyers Beware":
"... More than likely, it was one of Barnum's cunning descendants who
engineered the legendary "Great Kermit Hoax," by successfully contriving to
fleece Uncle Sam himself for a hefty sum before fading safely away into the
sunset.
According to our version of the story, our bright friend recently
contracted with an agency of the federal government to develop a personal
computer-to-mainframe communications software package. It seems the fellow
simply borrowed a working copy of a program called KERMIT from a library
collection of free, public-domain personal computer software. After making
some very cosmetic modifications, he then neatly proceeded to duplicate and
deliver the package as promised--and collected $ 495 per copy.
A very smooth job indeed...."
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 84 15:46:11 PST
From: Matthew J. Weinstein <matt@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA>
To: info-micro@brl
To: info-mac@sumex
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: Big ROMs
According to the Dvorak column in April 30th InfoWorld:
``IBM has placed an order for 1.5 million digital audio disk players from
an unspecified Japanese source. The order was made by the personal
computer division in Boca Raton, Fla.
...
Some speculate that IBM will put a complete UNIX system on a disk with
hundreds of utilities. Others feel that IBM is about to decimate the
competition by bundling a few hundred megabytes of free software and a
special new "win-dowing" operating system''
Dvorak calculates a capacity of 400 MBytes/side for these disks.
Anyone know more?
- Matt
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂18-Apr-84 2034 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #44
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 18 Apr 84 20:34:25 PST
Date: 18 Apr 1984 19:54:50 PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #44
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 18 April 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 44
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
PC-DOS is not Unix
Discrete Simulator Query
MPX-16 For Sale
Kamerman Hard Disk
"real" RGB from the Color Adaptor
Help with PC-Talk
C86 V2.1 has been delivered!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 12 Apr 84 20:31:36-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!ihuxw!bamford @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PC-DOS is not Unix
For awhile, I had my config.sys set with "switchar=-" and was able to
use pc-talk. I had to rename the program to pctalk, but its utility
files still had "-" embedded in their names. It is true that referring
to files with a "-" on a command line was tricky, but the programs
seemed to not have any trouble.
--
Harold Bamford
AT&T Bell Labs @ Naperville, Illinois
(312) 979-0837
ihuxw!bamford
------------------------------
Date: 17 Apr 84 12:57:54 EST
From: Bowman @ DCA-EMS
Subject: Discrete Simulator Query
I am looking for anyone who might have or know something
about a discrete-event simulator package that would be useable
on a machine such as the IBM PC. Ideally, I would like to find something
that is written as a set of Pascal procedures. That way, the native
Pascal source code could be useable by a variety of operating systems,
not just PCs (e.g. CP/M). I have heard of such beasts called such
names as "passim" or "simpas", but have been unsuccessful in obtaining
any of them. Anyone out there who can help?
------------------------------
Date: 13 Apr 84 14:11:48-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hpda!fortune!dsd!avsdS!mac @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: MPX-16 For Sale
MPX-16 By Micromint Inc. NY
This Computer is hardware compatible and in most respects
software compatible with the IBM PC.
/ 8088 CPU 256K Byte RAM 2 Serial Ports
| 1 Parallel Printer Port (Centronics)
Main Bd.| 5 1/4" Floppy Controller (convertible to 8")
| 2 Parallel Ports Configured as SASI Disk Port
\ 9 IBM PC Hardware Compatible Expansion Slots
/ 2 256K Byte Memory Cards (for a total of 768K Bytes)
| 1 Super-Computer Monochrome Graphics card
Added | Keytronics 5150 Keyboard
| Shugart 455 Disk Drive
\ Switcher power supply
Software: CPM86 PC-DOS 2.0
All the above is running and in good condition,
however no box is provided. $1800.00
John McCommons (415) 368-0234 home (415) 367-3212 work
------------------------------
Date: 18 Apr 1984 14:29:44-EST
Subject: Kamerman Hard Disk
From: sclin@NADC
Recently I am collecting informations about Hard Disk for PC. I
would like to have a 10 Mb external. The PC Magazine (April 3) had
an AD for almost just what I wanted. It is from Kamerman Labs, Beaverton
OR. Megaflight 100 asked for $895 for internal installation and $1295 for
external installation (include external Box and power supply). Anybody has
more information about this ? Thanks.
S.Lin from Pa
------------------------------
Date: 18 Apr 1984 15:04:12-EST
From: Greg.Glass@CMU-CS-CAD
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: "real" RGB from the Color Adaptor
A while back I asked for information on hooking up an RGB monitor
to the TTL level output of the color card. I had asked for a friend
but in the mean time he came up with a solution which I am passing along:
Hi, I got your forwarded message but I already tried an alternate (and
what I might label clever?) to using active elements to make the
correct sync. What I did was just use a passive voltage divider (two
resisters) on the R,G,and B signals to chop them down to ~ 1 volt and
then just plug the composite video output into my monitors separate
sync input! I don't believe there is any such simple way if you need
to combine the sync on the green signal. You also are probably asking
"What about the I signal?" Right, I haven't dealt with it yet. I am
going to try combining it with the others through diodes as you
suggested. The current half-solution works fine except for one color
combination on which it looses sync!? Haven't figured it out yet:
Hopefully it has something to do with the missing I signal.
------------------------------
Date: Wed Apr 18 1984 17:05:38
From: Marco Papa <papa%USC-CSE@USC-ECL.ARPA>
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Subject: Re: Help with PC-Talk
PC-Talk III supports ASCII, Binary, and XMODEM file transfers. Most BBS
also support all three transfers. The set-up protocol works the same for
all of the transfer types, except that in the last two cases you have to
append '=b' (for binary) or '=x' (for XMODEM) to the file specification of
the destination file on your micro.
For example, a typical file transfer using XMODEM protocol would look like
this (comments are between {}):
{here you are connected to the BBS}
Upload, Download ? [U/D] : D
File transfer type - Ascii, Binary, XMODEM [A/B/X] : X
Filename: BBSFILE.COM
Escape back to your micro and start XMODEM protocol
<ALT-R> {<---- after this you are talking to PC-TALK again}
FILE SPECIFICATION : myfile.com=x <ENTER>
{Once you have pressed <ENTER> you will see a message indicating that
the protocol is in effect:}
*** Holding for Start...
{If you are receiving, you will now see messages like these:}
Received block #1
Received block #2
.
.
.
Receiving (and sending) messages with XMODEM protocol is VERY slow. If the
communication line is good, you might think about using the binary transfer
('=b' option) that does not provide error checking, but is a lot faster.
Marco Papa
ARPA, CSNET: papa.usc-cse@csnet-relay
UUCP: ...randvax!uscvax!papa
------------------------------
Date: Wed 18 Apr 84 22:17:06-EST
From: Willie Lim <WLIM@MIT-XX.ARPA>
Subject: C86 V2.1 has been delivered!
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I got my C86 V2.1 about a week ago. Tried it out and it seemed to
work. Programs that were compiled under the old version seem to have
no problems with V2.1. .EXE modules are smaller though. The new
version comes with Marion, an object librarian that "maintains a
Micro-soft format library of object modules". V2.1 has 4 passes
(preprocessor, parser, code generator, and code generator) instead of
just 3. Library sources come with the compiler as before. There are
124 library functions plus software (i.e. no 8087 chip) and hardware
(with 8087 chip) 8087 math routines. .LIB files come in 8 flavors -
combinations of large/small modules, all versions of DOS/only DOS 2.0,
and software/hardware 8087 math option. Compiler output is either a
.OBJ file or assembly source code. The documentation is better than
the old one.
Willie
-------
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂20-Apr-84 1601 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #45
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 20 Apr 84 15:58:52 PST
Date: 20 Apr 1984 14:51:59 PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #45
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 20 April 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 45
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topic:
COMPUSERVE IBM SIG PCDOS/MASM NOTES
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 19 Apr 1984 1452-PST
From: VERNE@USC-ECL.ARPA
Subject: PCDOS/MASM NOTES
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
-------------------- THE PRECEEDING INFO IS FROM THE -----------------------
COMPUSERVE IBM SIG
[70205,1217]
PCDOS.TIP 16-Apr-84 62635
Disposition:
Notes and Observations
-
on
-
IBM PC-DOS and Microsoft MS-DOS
-
Releases 2.0 and 2.1
-
April, 1984
This document is a collection of data from various sources,
including bulletin boards, magazines, seminar handouts, and
independent research.
WARNING: This information is provided without warranty of any kind.
Each individual must determine the applicability and accuracy ofthis
information to their specific environment.
If you have corrections, additions, or comments, please send them
to:
John Chapman
844 S. Madison St.
Hinsdale, Illinois 60521
Or, send EMAIL to userid [70205,1217] on CompuServ,
or MAIL to userid $AC on PCSHARE
BATCH PROCESSING
To modify the DOS 2.0 command interpreter so that the default is echo off
when a batch file is run,
C>debug \command.com
-e1721 28 1f
-e364a 24 26 c6 06 6e 09 00 e9 19 e8
-w
Writing 4500 bytes
-q
The DOS Environment is accessible for use in BATs.
The standard keywords COMSPEC, PATH, PROMPT et al can all be read and set.
New keywords can be set and checked within BATs. The keywords are saved
across BAT executions.
For instance BATs can check which screen is active using SET conventions
as follows:
. NOTE leading and trailing Percent signs
IF %SCREEN% == MONO GOTO COLOR
IF %SCREEN% == COLOR GOTO MONO
:COLOR
SET SCREEN=COLOR
. NOTE no spaces around '=' in SET
MODE CO80
EXIT
:MONO
SET SCREEN=MONO
MODE MONO
EXIT
. SCREEN is set and saved across BAT executions
Another example using a link convention allows BATs to call BATs:
*****CALL.BAT*****
IF NOT %BATLABEL% == . GOTO %BATLABEL%
. note BATLABEL is assumed to be set to '.' as a null value
ECHO DO SOME STUFF HERE
SET BATCALR=%0
. give the called BAT my name to get back
. then leave word where to come back to
SET BATLABEL=RETURN
. set further parms to save %1 thru %9 if necessary
CALLED
:RETURN
ECHO FINISH UP HERE AFTER RETURN
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 2
The DOS Environment is accessible for use in BATs. (Cont'd)
*****CALLED.BAT*****
ECHO DO STUFF WE WERE CALLED TO DO
. return to caller
%BATCALR%
. separate keywords will be necessary if further calls
. will be made
A note of caution (this is documented), the environment at boot time,
is limited (I believe to only 128 bytes). If any resident modules are
installed (i.e. PRINT, MODE, or GRAPHICS) the area cannot be expanded.
You can SET enough variables from within AUTOEXEC.BAT to get enough
space to get by.
I would also recommend setting up a set of conventions and preinitializing
the parms you'll use to '.'; Null parameters are removed from the
environment.
In summary -
The rules are simple
SET a parm without percent signs
refer to them by enclosing them in percent signs
I hope this discovery will generate a lot of re-thinking some BAT
techniques.
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 3
Current MSDOS 1.xx - 2.xx Disk formats
(T. Jennings 19 Aug 83)
Disk Type Type Code
.......................................................
Single Density Single Sided 8" (SD128)
**** Double Density Single Sided 8" (DD1024)
**** FIDO's 8" Double Density (DD1K)
Double Density Double Sided 8" (DD1024-2)
IBM Displaywriter System disk (SD256)
IBM Displaywriter System disk (DD256-2)
IBM PC 8 Sector Single Sided (IBM8)
IBM PC 9 Sector Single Sided (IBM9)
IBM PC 8 Sector Double Sided (IBM8-2)
IBM PC 9 Sector Double Sided (IBM9-2)
Single Density Double Sided 8" (SD128-2)
**** Never did get Microsoft to figure out which one these
is the "correct" 8 inch format. Who knows.
Type Dir Disk Fats Blk Res Sec FAT
Code Size Size size secs size ID
.....................................................
SD128 68 251K 2 512 1 128 FE
DD1K 192 660K 2 1024 1 1024 FE
DD1024 96 612K 2 1024 1 1024 FE
DD1024-2 192 1232K 2 1024 1 1024 FF
SD256 80 287K 2 512 2 256 FA Note 1
DD256-2 172 1001K 2 1024 2 256 FB Note 2
IBM8 64 162K 2 512 1 512 FE
IBM9 64 180K 2 512 1 512 FC
IBM8-2 112 320K 2 1024 1 512 FF
IBM9-2 112 360K 2 1024 1 512 FD
SD128-2 68 2 512 4 128 FC
Type trks secs res sec FAT dir 1st 2nd 1st 1st totl num.
Code trk secs size size size FAT FAT dir data secs heads
......................................................................
SD128 77 26 1 128 6 17 1 7 13 30 2002 1
DD1024 77 8 1 1024 1 3 1 2 3 6 616 1
DD1024-2 77 8 1 1024 2 6 1 3 5 11 1232 2
SD256 77 15 17 256 4 10 2 6 10 20 1155 1
Note 1
DD256-2 77 26 54 256 6 20 2 8 14 34 4004 2
Note 2
IBM8 40 8 1 512 1 4 1 2 3 7 320 1
IBM9 40 9 1 512 2 4 1 3 5 9 360 1
IBM8-2 40 8 1 512 1 7 1 3 5 10 640 2
IBM9-2 40 9 1 512 2 7 1 3 5 12 720 2
SD128-2 77 26 4 128 12 17 4 16 28 45 4004 2
Note 1:
15 sector bias in BIOS
Note 2:
52 sector bias in BIOS
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 4
Additional feature in DEBUG command
There is a compare feature in DEBUG that is not in the documentation. Two
blocks of memory can be compared, byte by byte with the following
command:
-C AD1 AD2 AD3
DEBUG will compare the memory block from AD1 to AD2 with the memory block
starting at AD3. The results appear in a table showing both blocks side
by side with the addresses and the corresponding contents.
(from IBM.PC Users Group of Winnipeg)
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 5
Program File Formats
The order of the segments in memory is determined by the linker; and
all the segments are contiguous, unless you do some really determined and
tricky hacking. Supposedly, the linker determines the order of the
segments by putting them in "alphabetical order by segment name", or at
least that's what the documentation says it's supposed to do; but I've
found that it puts them in the order in which they're encountered in the
program source code, unless you create a dummy file (see LINK
instructions) with a different sequence and make it first in the LINK
list of OBJ modules. (I generally put them in source in the sequence
code, data, stack; they always come out in that order, regardless of
segment names, unless I use the dummy file. Let's assume that sequence
for the remainder of this discussion.)
With an .EXE file, just before execution, the registers are as follows:
AX - ostensibly per doc, zero; seems to contain the number
of characters in the command tail, though
BX:CX - 32-bit number showing load module memory size in bytes
(good for dynamically allocating memory)
DX - zero
SS:SP - if you defined a stack segment, these are loaded
accordingly; if not, SS=CS, SP=0FFFFH or end of
memory
DS and ES - SEGMENT address of "program header" (see below)
CS:IP - far address of label in "END" statement of program
The program header is the standard 256-byte .COM file "header",
similar to what you would expect to see at 00-FFH in CP/M 2.x (but see
doc for important differences!). Therefore, DS = CS - 10H (which is 100H
divided by 10H) if the code seg is the first (owest) in memory, because
it points to a location 100H before the start of the code seg.
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 6
Program File Formats (Cont'd)
Now, if CS is, say, 9E3H when you come up, then DS and ES will contain
9D3H. (Remember, though, that your code thinks it starts at 9E3:0, zero
being the address you specified in your END directive, and the
instruction pointer will actually contain zero.) These values have
nothing at all to do with the place at which your data seg is located;
they point at that "program header". At location 9D3:80 (DS:80) is the
command tail, if you're gonna reference that; its length is in AX (I
believe) and is also pointed to by the expression DS:80 (just like CP/M;
data starts at 81H), or to say it another way, in this case absolute
memory location 09DB0 (09D30+80). But your code segment is, say, 400H
long, and the linker knew that 'cause the assembler told it so in the
seg, the instructions
MOV AX,DATASEG
MOV DS,AX
MOV ES,AX
(where DATASEG is the name of your data segment) will have been resolved
by the linker in this way; the first instruction of those three was
interpreted by the assembler as an immediate move, but the "data" to be
moved into AX was marked as relocatable. The linker leaves instructions
for the loader to add 9E3H (or whatever address the loader decided was a
good place to put the program) to the value of the "constant" DATASEG,
which is equal to 40H (400H/10H) because it's being "loaded" into a
segment register, and when you look at that instruction under DEBUG it
would say MOV AX,0A23H. (Obviously, this is the process of address
resolution.) In absolute addresses, the codeseg starts at 09E30H, and the
dataseg 400H later at 0A230H; in 8086 shorthand that's 9E3:0 and A23:0
respectively. (This assumes the stackseg is last, say at A98:0; that
would imply that your data seg was (0A98H-0A23H)*10H, or 750H, in
length.)
Almost all instructions accessing data use DS as "base" register,
unless you override that with a prefix (as in MOV AX,ES:BLKCTR). All
instructions accessing storage require one of the segregs as "base"
register. (String primitives ALWAYS work with DS and/or ES and can't be
overridden by a prefix; instructions using BP as an "index" are relative
to SS, unless overridden by a prefix; otherwise, it's DS when not
overridden. Be careful!)
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 7
Program File Formats (Cont'd)
In BAL, you give the assembler a USING statement; that tells it that
offsets will be computed relative to the first operand of the USING
statement, and tells it to use the second operand as "base" register in
base+offset instructions. The code won't work properly until you load the
address of the first operand into the register named by the second
operand. In 8086, you give the assembler an ASSUME statement; for
instructions using CS as "base" (segment) register (all of them), such
offsets will be calculated from the point named as xyz in the statement
"ASSUME CS:xyz, DS:abc,ES:def"; for instructions which use DS (such as
MOV AX,BLKCTR), the value of the offset of BLKCTR is computed relative to
label abc; for ES instructions (when you use a segment override prefix,
as in MOV AX,ES:BLKCTR), offset is computed relative to "def". Then, if
you hav
that (for example) DS:offset points to the absolute location of BLKCTR,
you'll be moving something random into your AX register. With .COM files,
CS=DS=ES at startup; note that a typical .COM file ASSUME statement looks
like ASSUME CS:CODESEG,DS:CODESEG,ES:CODESEG,SS:CODESEG (whoops, one
more)
But as you can see from the preceding stuff, with .EXE files DS and ES
start out with values which don't point at your data at all. You have to
do something like MOV AX,abc!MOV DS,AX!MOV ES,AX to put coherent values
into the segregs, just as you have to do something like BALR 4,0!BCTR
4,0!BCTR 4,0 to put a coherent value into the base reg in BAL. That is,
with an .EXE file, you tell the assembler to use DATASEG as the reference
point to compute an offset from (with the ASSUME statement); and then you
must make sure you load DS with a value that will, in combination with
the computed offset, point at the right data.
One more example, then I'll stop. Let's take a BAL program and specify
a code "segment" 4096 bytes long, a data "segment" 4096 bytes long, and a
"stack segment" after that. In order to be able to access all of that
data in that way, you'd need three base registers; let's use 3, 4 and 5.
With BAL, you have to figure the addresses yourself, so we get something
like:
PGM START 0 BEGIN STM 14,12,12(13)
BALR 3,0
DTSEG EQU START+4096
STSEG EQU START+8192
USING *,3
USING DTSEG,4
USING STSEG,5
START ST 13,SAVEAREA+4
LA 13,SAVEAREA
LA 4,4096(3)
LA 5,8192(3)
That is, if I remember my BAL. You get the idea.
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 8
The CTTY Command and Basic Feature
(from Tom Jennings)
The DOS manual explains that the command is simply CTTY
device-name. This will transfer control from the keyboard and
screen to that device. It suggests that LPT1: is not a ood
idea since the printer communicates (mostly) one way. What
this really leaves is COM1:, COM2: and AUX:
I very cleverly tried typing CTTY COM1: It does do something,
it kills the keyboard and a cold BOOT is necessary to
restart. Well, that wasn't it. Something must occur prior to
the CTTY command. Being strickly a seat-of-the-pants type, I
set the HAYES to ANSWER and called in. Nice, I had a
connection (CARRIER/carrier). I rushed over to the PC
keyboard and typed CTTY COM1: and the screen went dead. So,
what else is new....But, on my other SYSTEM, (other end of
the office), the prompt A> appeared. I sat and typed on the
terminal just as though I was sitting in front of the IBM.
Well, what do you know?
1) Commands are limited to what the terminal keyboard can
reproduce i.e. ↑C for CTRL-BREAK but not CTRL-ALT-DEL (as if
you would want that one anyway).
2) Going to BASIC cuts you off. SYSTEM control returns to the
keyboard.
3) Most commands work except COPY as it relates to CON: or
COM1: COPY from disk to disk worked O.K.
4) This means is total control from outside while in DOS
only on a line-by-line basis. Anything which relies on screen
mapping will not work. (Run Norton's DISKMAP from the
terminal and the map appears on the PC screen.)
You may be wondering why all this verbage. Well.... the result
of my efforts is a BASIC program called RING.BAS which will set up the
HAYES to patiently look for an incoming ring, and very politely turn
SYSTEM control over to the caller. Oh, I forgot to mention the BASIC
program must be called from a BATCH file called OUTSIDER.BAT. When RING
goes back to the SYSTEM, the next command is CTTY COM1: Slick, huh? RING
will even write the BATCH file for you. Just take a look at the internal
documentation for additional information.
Note: Tom Jenning's 'FIDO' board is at (415) 864-1418
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 9
DOS 2.0 HAS PROBLEMS WITH REDIRECTION OF I/O
There are problems in DOS 2.0 with the redirection of I/O and
piping for programs that use the original DOS 1.1 INT 21 function
calls for input. This problem is readily apparent to users of C
language packages such as Computer Innovation C-86, Lattice C, or
Microsoft C (you'd think they would get it right!). One problem is
that all output to the screen is redirected, even keyboard echo.
Correct operation would redirect all program output for the screen
(stdout) to the specified >file, but the echo of keyboard input would
still be sent to the screen. Instead, both the keyboard echo and
the program output are sent to the redirected >file. Thus, if you
run programs such as the CAT.C (K&R,page 154) example that Microsoft
distributes with their C; or COPYIO.C (K&R,page 15) with the output
redirected to a file, you will get the following results:
1. Under DOS 1.1, keyboard input is echoed to the screen
as you type and each line appears in the >file once as
expected.
2. Under DOS 2.0, keyboard input is not echoed to the
screen, but each line appears in the >file twice!
This situation is handled correctly in DOS 2.0 if the new INT
21 function call 3F is used. This can be demonstrated by redirecting
output for the DOS 2.0 function MORE - it works as desired.
The redirecting of input to these programs doesn't work properly
either. If the file has not been edited with debug to end with a
control-Z, the program will hang up at the end of the <input file.
You must reboot the system to continue! Also, if you pipe the output of
the first program into a second program, the final output will
contain each line four times, doubled spaced after the second lie!
These problems do not occur for programs that use the new DOS 2.0
calls for I/O, such as SORT and MORE.
The question now is how do you fixup C programs to run under
DOS 2.0 and not redirect keyboard echo to the stdout file? The easiest
way for C compilers that include their own redirection code is to
change their redirection symbols from <, >, and >> to something else.
Then DOS 2.0 won't do the redirection, so the C code will be able to
do it correctly. With the Microsoft C compiler, this is easily
accomplished by modifying three lines of code in MAIN.C. A good
choice is to modify MAIN.C so that it redirects on the symbols
{, , and . The only restriction is that these symbols then should
not be used in filenames. With these changes, the user can choose to
let either DOS <, >, >> or C {, . do the redirecting.
The modified version of MAIN.C is compiled to obtain a new
MAIN.OBJ, which can either be put into the library MC.LIB to replace
the original MAIN by using the LIB.EXE utility, i.e. LIB
MC.LIB MAINMAIN or it can be kept separate. If kept separate,
remember to include it in the list of .OBJ files specified
in the LINK call, i.e. LINK cmain myprogram.
The three lines to change in Microsoft C's MAIN are:
case '{':
case ' ':
if (*line == ' ')
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 10
The following is a summary of some undocumented DOS 2.0 functions
which can be invoked through interrupt 21H. The information provided
herein have inaccuracies, so use it at our own risk! It is correct to
the best of my knowledge. See the section in your DOS 2.0 manual entitled
"Invoking DOS Functions" for further information. The function number
provided below for each operation is to be placed in the AH register as
described in the DOS manual. All numbers shown are in hex.
FUNCTION DESCRIPTION
37 This interrupt is used to change incompatible
configuration parameters to allow for switch
indicators and whether hardware devices are
available at every level of the tree directory.
Usage: MOV AH, 37
MOV AL, func ; function code
MOV DL, data
INT 21H
; read function data is returned in DL
Function code for AL:
0 - Return the DOS switch character in DL.
Many systems might return "-".
1 - Make the character in DL the switch character.
2 - Read the device availability byte into DL. A
0 means devices that devices must be accessed
in file I/O calls by /DEV/device. A non-zero
value means that devices are accessible at
every level of the directory tree (e.g., PRN
is the printer and not a file PRN).
3 - Set the device availability byte to the
contents of DL.
Possible errors returned in AL:
FF - Illegal function code specified in AL.
1F (?) Retrieve the pointer to the default drive parameter block.
Usage: MOV AH, 1F
INT 21H
; address of drive parameter block is returned in DS:BX
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 11
32 (?) Retrieve the pointer to the drive parameter block
for the drive number in DL, where 0 = default drive,
1 = drive A:, 2 = drive B:, etc.).
Usage: MOV AH, 32h
MOV DL, drivenum
INT 21H
; address of drive parameter block is returned in DS:BX
; AL contains FF if the drive # in DL is invalid.
F8 (?) Set OEM handler for INT 21H calls from F9 through FF
to DS:DX. To reset these calls, pass DS and DX with FFFF.
DOS is set up to allow ONE handler for all 7 of these
calls. Any call to these handlers will result in the
carry bit being set and AX will contain 1 if they are
not initialized. The handling routine is passed all
registers just as the user set them. The OEM handler
routine should be exited through an IRET.
Usage: LDS DX, handleaddr
MOV AH, F8h
INT 21H
4B Load and possibly execute a program (EXEC). This call
is PARTIALLY documented in the IBM DOS 2.0 manual, but
several function call values (for register AL) are
omitted. They are:
1 - Create the program segment prefix and
load the program, but do not begin
execution. The CS:IP and SS:SP of the
program are placed in the area provided
by the user.
+-------------------------------+
| Word segment addr of environ. |
+-------------------------------+
| Dword ptr to cmd line at 80h |
+-------------------------------+
| Dword ptr to default FCB to |
| be passed at 5Ch. |
+-------------------------------+
| Dword ptr to default FCD to |
| be passed at 6Ch. |
+-------------------------------+
| Dword value of SS:SP returned |
+-------------------------------+
| Dword value of CS:IP returned |
+-------------------------------+
2 - This function still remains a mystery.
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 12
4E Find first matching file (FIND FIRST). This function
is PARTIALLY documented in the IBM DOS 2.0 manual.
The description of what is returned in the DTA where
the first 21 bytes are "reserved for DOS use on
subsequent find next calls" contain the following
in this order:
1 byte - attribute byte of search
1 byte - drive used in search
11 bytes- The search name used
2 bytes - Word value of last entry
4 bytes - Dword pointer to this DTA
2 bytes - Word directory start
-----------------------------------
{ The documented bytes follow here
such as attribute found, file's
time, date, size, and name found.
50 Define the current DTA (?) - this is all I know...
51 Retrieve current DTA (?)
52 Retrieve "IVARS" (?)
53 Define something about a DTA (?)
55 Duplicate a DTA (?)
The DOS critical section flag may be interrogated from
within an interrupt handler before requesting DOS
services:
MOV AH,34h
INT 21h
returns in ES:BX the address of a byte indicating (when
set) that DOS is in an uninterruptible state, and no DOS
calls should be made.
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 13
To access DOS' PRINT capabilities:
MOV AH,func
INT 2Fh
Where:
AH = 0 adds the file specified by DS:DX to the
print queue. DS:DX must point to valid
opened FCB.
AH = 1 cancels the file indicated by DS:DX.
DS:DX must point to an FCB, opened or
unopened. The drive byte must not be 0.
Wildcards are restricted: ? is okay, *
isn't.
AH > 1 do nothing.
Return with registers set as follows:
DS,SI,DI,CX preserved, all others destroyed.
AH = number of files currently in queue.
AL = for AH=0, return 1 if queue was
full. For all other cases, return 0.
ES:BX = pointer to list of 10 FCBs in
queue, 38 bytes/FCB. If the first
byte of an FCB is -1, that FCB is
unused.
ES:DX = pointer to currently printing
FCB. If the queue is empty, DX = -1.
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 14
An Operating System Dialog - PC/MS-DOS
This is a list of PCDOS and MSDOS peculiarities, etc. You will
have to guess from the text what the particular questions were, but you
systems programmers will find it worth your while to rummage through it
all.
There is a problem of compatibility between MS-DOS and IBM PC-DOS having
to do with FCB Open and Create which has finally been tracked.
The IBM 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0 documentation of OPEN (call 0FH) contains the
following statement.
"The current block field (FCB bytes C-D) is
set to zero [when an FB is opened]."
This statement is NOT true of MS-DOS 1.25 or MS-DOS 2.00. The difference
is intentional, and the reason is CP/M 1.4 compatibility. Zeroing that
field is not CP/M compatible. Some CP/M programs will not run when
machine translated if that field is zero ed. The reason it is zeroed in
the IBM versions is that IBM specifically requested that it be zeroed.
This is the reason for the complaints from some vendors about the fact
that IBM MultiPlan will not run under MS-DOS. It is probably the reason
that some other IBM programs don't run under MS-DOS.
PROGRAMMERS NOTE:
Do what all MS/PC-DOS Systems programs do: Set
every single FCB field you want to use regardless of what
the documentation says is initialized.
a) It seems there is a maximum of 19 handles, no matter what the
files parameter is set to. Is this really the case? What does one gain
by setting files to less than 19? Is memory for handles allocated
dynamically?
There is a maximum of 20 handles per process no matter what the
files parameter is set to. There has to be a table in your process header
for your handles, there is a limited amount of space down there. 40 bytes
or so are taken up by each system FCB, setting files to less than 20
saves a little bit of memory. Memory for handles is not allocated
dynamically, in general an attempt to do so would fail anyway. Recall
that .COM files and most .EXE files are given the biggest piece of memory
possible w hen they are EXECed because the DOS cannot make assumptions
about how much memory these programs really use. This means they
typically get ALL of the free memory, that means there is no free memory
to allocate dynamically. You will find that almost a ll operating systems
(CP/M is about the only exception) have a limit on the number of open
files. MS-DOS has a limit of 20. CP/M has no such limits because it
requires the user to keep FCBs in his own address space, managing FCBs is
a pain. You get si mplicity and you give up very little. What program
needs more than 20 open files? If you can think of one, it is probably a
poorly written program in that it probably only needs a few open files at
a time and doesn't bother to close files after it's d one with them.
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 15
b) Execing a program eats 5 (I think) handles per try. Is this the
passing of parent's environment that is mentioned (very briefly) in the
documentatio n? What are these handles? They don't seem to be allocated
with system calls, either. Is that true? std-in, std-out, std-err,
std-aux, std-prn. I suppose you would like your program to be able to use
the 1-12 system calls? That means there have to be 5, the first three are
standard UNIX style fair and are required for the software tools approach
to programming. Std-aux and Std-prn are required for system calls 3,4,
and 5. Just because you are handed these default handles doesn't mean you
can't close them.
"... 1) what exactly is meant by the dos being in an unstable
state. (This is what the documentation says happens if one returns to
a user program directly from an int 24 handler.)..."
It means that the DOS has the notion of an error being in effect. All
printer echoing is turned off, and some other stuff doesn't work. Also,
there are dirty buffers that are not correctly flushed out. Thus the
disks may not be consistent.
"... 2) my experimentation shows that an abort from a hard error
handler causes an int 22 without the value for int 22 being sucked out
of the program header. every other way out of a program uses he
terminate address in the header.
is this difference intentional? Why? DOes one expect the value at int
22 to be different from the value in the header ever?..."
False. No INT 22h is ever issued. The header is only used to save the
previous process' vectors. The address contained in INT 22 is saved in a
temp spot, the contents of INTs 22-24 are restored from the header, and
then an indirect jump is taken th rough the temp location. Certain
programs (such as COMMAND) may want to intercept themselves from
terminawill then
attempt to write it out, causing a write-protect error. If you catch the
INT 24 and do not return, the dirty b uffer still exists. To clear out
the dirty buffer, you MUST return from the INT 24 saying to abort the
process. You can then catch the terminate and restore your stack (you
will be running on your parent's stack).
"... 1) Why does PCDOS exec function 3 (overlay) demand that there
be some free memory that it can allocate...."
It doesn't. IBM specifically requested that the Exec code be overlayable
in the MSDOS. As a result, it lives in the transient piece of
COMMAND.COM and gets loaded when needed: thus the requidement for enough
free space to laod the Exec loader (about 1.5K).
Under other MSDOS's there is no such problem as the Exec system call
lives in system space. A general rule of thumb is: if you are not going
to use some space, free it. You can do this either via SetBlock system
call, or by twiddling the EXE file he ader. You should avoid .COM format
files.
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 16
"... what happens if I try to overlay an .EXE file with the high/low
switch set to load the thing for high memory..."
Nothing. The HIGH/LOW switch is only for process creation, not for
overlays.
"... Are all these answeres the same for MSDOS?..." [Yes.]
"... zeroing of the current record field ..."
That incompatability existed between 1.1 PC-DOS and 1.25 MSDOS. 2.0
versions of both function identically (like 1.1 PC-DOS).
The Shell command on PC-DOS 2.0 works just fine.
CONFIG.SYS
shell = b:\command.com b:\ /P
Putting a disk with command.com in drive B: when the system boots causes
COMMAND to be read from drive B: and the COMSPEC in the environment is
"B:\COMMAND.COM". If you are having trouble it's because you are doing
something wrong. Recall that your g iven COMSPEC is checked, if you give
it a bad one it will try to go back to the default which is the root
directory on the default drive. Recall also that this is an undocumented
2.0 feature so even if it doesn't work nobody is going to be all that ho
t to do something about it.
My error on the shell stuff, IBM hid it real well. The "b:\" is also
documented on page 10-9 (the [d:][path] part). They did an equally poor
job here.
The /P and the path spec have absolutely nothing to do with the SHELL
command, they are arguments to command. Expecting SHELL to know stuff
particular to command is not reasonable because you are not restricted to
running command as your top level she ll. You can run DEBUG as your top
level shell by saying
SHELL = debug.com
But watch out!! debug is not designed to run as a top level shell. if you
ever say "q" to this debug the system will crash. Command on the other
hand is smart enough to run as a top level shell. If you give the /P
switch to it Command does some specia l things to insure that typing EXIT
to it will not cause the system to crash as with debug. There is
absolutely no way for command to assume the /P switch because he must run
as a top level shell, and as a utility. The smart user has to tell him
what to do. Similarly the "b:\" tells command where to look for himself.
For instance:
SHELL = A:\BIN\COMMAND.COM D:\COMMAND\BIN /P
The "A:\BIN\COMMAND.COM" tells SYSINIT where to load the initial
command.com, the "D:\COMMAND\BIN" tells command where to look for himself
when he needs to locate his transient. As you can see they are not
restricted to being the same things. I suggest you foreward any
complaints about the manual to [no address given]
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 17
The volume ID attribute is very special, and is treated differently from
all the other attributes. It is very "sticky", in order to find one you
must look for it and it alone. And when you do look for it, you find only
it and nothing else.
The volume ID is constrained to be in the ROOT directory, and there can
be only one file in the ROOT with the attribute. The FCB flavor calls
have special code to enforce these rules.
The new calls were supposed to enforce the same rules, but they are not
working correctly, and unexpected results are possible. You should use
the old FCB calls to diddle with volume ID for the moment.
Thanks for the info. The causes of your problems are:
(a) ↑Z on output to a device in cooked mode will terminate the output.
This is for CPM-compatability: you don't want stuff after the ↑Z output
to your printer for example.
As a result COMMAND.COM issues a write to stdout and then checks
to see if the number written is equal to the number requested. If
they are not the same, then a redirection error is assumed. ECHO ↑Z is
supposed to output a single cha racter. It outputs NO characters and
thus the strange message.
Programs that use old function calls, get redirected, and then
read more than is expected will behave bizarrely: how do you indicate
EOF on a read-byte-from- console system call? I believe that it
returns ↑Z. Most of these programs we re never expecting to get
redirected and thus, the failure to handle the boundary conditions
properly.
(b) The main crock about CP/M is that the extention on a file name
determined the type of the file. This is bogus: a file should be
distinguished by its contents, not by its name. When you are loading
a file with the name *.EXE, it d oes NOT assume that it is an EXE
format file. It looks at the first two bytes for a signature
telling it that it is an EXE file. If it has the proper signature,
then the loa proceeds. otherwise, it presumes the file to be a COM-
form at file.
If the file has the EXE signature, then the internal consistency
IS checked.
Pre-2.0 versions of MSDOS did not check the signature byte for EXE
files.
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 18
;This routine implements the UN*X system call (in spite of the fact that I
;called it exec, the name in the DOS manual) under Lattice C although it
;should be easy to adopt it to other languages. One caution, it uses the
;undocumented 037h DOS call to retrieve the switch character. This is
; marked in the code and I will change it after DOS 2.0 so I'd rather
;the DOS purists don't jump down my throat about this. If you don't like it
;the way it is, change it.
;
;
; Darrell Plank
; BTL-IH
PAGE 55,132
;
; This function is modified from the macro by Brad Davis (b-davis@utah-cs)
; The prolog and epilog are modified from Jim Holtman's macros for Pascal.
;
; exec( cmd)
; char *md;
;
; This function accepts a string with the pathname of a command to be
; executed and executes it. The returned value is one of the following:
; 0: Successful
; -1: Insufficient Memory
; -2: Access Denied
; -3: No such command
; -4: Invalid command format
;
PROLOG MACRO
PUSH BP
MOV BP,SP
ENDM
EPILOG MACRO NUM
POP BP
RET
ENDM
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 19
EXECVAL EQU 0
OVLVAL EQU 3
FNCINT EQU 21H
SETBLK EQU 4AH
EXECF EQU 4BH
CR EQU 0DH
PSP STRUC
INTVECT DW ?
TOM DW ?
RES1 DB ?
DOSLONG DB 5 DUP (?)
TERMINA DD ?
CTRLBRK DD ?
CRITERR DD ?
DOS1 DB 22 DUP (?)
ENVIRO DW ?
DOS2 DB 46 DUP (?)
FPA1 DB 16 DUP (?)
FPA2 DB 20 DUP (?)
UPA DB 128 DUP (?)
PSP ENDS
EXECDEF STRUC
NENVIRO DW
COMMND DW 2 DUP (0)
FCB5CH DW 2 DUP (0)
FCB6CH DW 2 DUP (0)
EXECDEF ENDS
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 20
PGROUP GROUP PROG
PROG SEGMENT BYTE PUBLIC 'prog'
ASSUME CS:PGROUP
PUBLIC EXEC
EXEC PROC NEAR
PROLOG
PUSH DS
PUSH ES
;
; free up as much memory as we can
;
MOV AX,CS
PUSH ES ; Save ES for later
MOV ES,AX
MOV BX,SS
SUB BX,AX
ADD BX,1000H ; 64K for stack segment
MOV AH,SETBLK
INT FNCINT
JNC NEAR PTR LBL1
MOV AX,-1 ; Insufficient memory
JMP NEAR PTR FINE
LBL1: POP ES ; Get ES's original value
;
; Save SS and SP registers
;
MOV CS:SPSAVE,SP
MOV CS:SSSAVE,SS
;
; set up the parameter block
;
MOV CS:EXECBLK.NENVIRO,0 ; Inherit envir. from parent
MOV AX,3700H ; Undocumented call for SWITCHAR
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 21
; W A R N I N G: The following function call is undocumented and is
; liable to disappear or change in future versions of DOS.
INT FNCINT
MOV CS:COMMAND[1],DL ; Switchar
MOV DX,4[BP] ; Address of the command
MOV SI,DX
MOV DI,DX
CLD
XOR AL,AL
MOV CX,100H ; Longest string can be 100h
REPNE SCASB ; Find Null termination
SUB DX,DI
NEG DX
MOV CX,DX
DEC CX
ADD DX,2
MOV CS:COMMAND[0],DL ; Save command length
LEA DI,CS:COMMAND[4]
MOV AX,CS
MOV ES,AX
REP MOVSB ; Copy command into our buffer
ASSUME DS:PGROUP
MOV AX,CS
MOV DS,AX ; DS points at code segment
MOV BYTE PTR [DI],CR ; Put in Carriage Return
LEA DX,COMMAND
MOV EXECBLK.COMMND[0],DX
MOV EXECBLK.COMMND[2],DS
MOV BX,OFFSET EXECBLK
XOR SI,SI
MOV DS,[SI].ENVIRO ; Get environment address
ASSUME DS:NOTHING
LEA SI,CS:COMSPEC ; Point SI at env. variable name
PUSH DS ; Swap
PUSH ES ; ES
POP DS ; and
POP ES ; DS
CALL GETENV
PUSH DS ; Swap
PUSH ES ; them
POP DS ; back
POP ES ; again
MOV AH,EXECF
MOV AL,EXECVAL ; OVLVAL here for overlay
INT FNCINT
JC NEAR PTR LBL2
MOV AX,0 ; Successful exec
JMP NEAR PTR FINE
LBL2: MOV SI,AX
MOV AL,CS:ERRORS[SI] ; Get error code
MOV AH,0FFH ; Sign extension - Assume Negative
FINE: MOV SS,CS:SSSAVE
MOV SP,CS:SPSAVE
POP ES
POP DS
EPILOG 1
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 22
EXECBLK EXECDEF <>
;
; first byte of command s length excluding the length byte and the
; trailing \r. Second byte is switchar.
;
COMMAND DB 2 DUP(?),"C ",254 DUP(?)
COMSPEC DB "COMSPEC",0
SPSAVE DW
SSSAVE DW
ERRORS DB ?
DB ?
DB -3 ; No such command
DB ?
DB ?
DB -2 ; Access denied
DB ?
DB ?
DB -1 ; Insufficient memory
DB ?
DB ?
DB -4 ; Invalid command format
EXEC ENDP
;
; Getenv expects ES to have the environment paragraph and DS:SI to point
; to an ASCIIZ string with the desired environment variable in it.
; It returns the address of the proper string in ds:dx.
;
PUBLIC GETENV
GETENV PROC NEAR
PROLOG
PUSH AX
PUSH CX
PUSH SI
PUSH DI
MOV CS:VARNAME,SI ; Save offset of env. name
XOR DI,DI
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 23
;
; At this point ds:si points to dummy variable environment name and
; es:di points to environment.
;
CLD ;Forward string operations
TOP:
LODSB ;Get a char. of env. name
CMP AL,0 ;If we're at the end
JNE NEAR PTR LBL3
CMP BYTE PTR ES:[DI],'=' ;Check for match
JNE NEAR PTR LBL4
;
; We matched
;
INC DI ;Move beyond '='
MOV DX,DI
POP DI
POP SI
POP CX
POP AX
EPILOG 2
LBL4:
;
; At this point we found the end of the Env. variable name but it didn't
; match because the env. string was too long
;
MOV CX,-1
REPNE SCASB ;Find the end of the env. string
CMP BYTE PTR ES:[DI],0
JNE LBL3
MOV AX,-1 ;End of evironment area
POP DI
POP SI
POP CX
POP AX
EPILOG 2
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 24
LBL3:
;
; Check if the next character matches
;
AND AX,11011111b ;Capitalize the character in ax
SCASB
JE TOP
;
; If we get here we don't have a match so move on
;
MOV SI,CS:VARNAME ;Go back to start of env. string
XOR AX,AX
MOV CX,-1
REPNE SCASB ;Go to next env. variable
CMP BYTE PTR ES:[DI],0
JNE TOP
MOV AX,-1 ;End of environment area
POP DI
POP SI
POP CX
POP AX
EPILOG 2
VARNAME DW ?
GETENV ENDP
PROG ENDS
END
[This program will be kept in <INFO-IBMPC> as EXEC.ASM -ed]
PC/MS-DOS Tips (2.0/2.1) 25
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| D O S 2 . 1 I N T E R R U P T 2 1 F U N C T I O N C O D E S |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+----+--------------------------+-----------------------+--------------------+
| AH | F U N C T I O N | Entry / Register Use | N O T E S |
+----+--------------------------+-----------------------+--------------------+
| 00 | Program terminate | CS=PSP seg. addr. | Exit vectors are |
| restored |
| 01 | Keyboard input | N/A: returns AL | waits for a char; |
| echoes it |
| 02 | Display output | puts DL | break checked for |
| 03 | AUX (Asynch) input | N/A: returns AL | Unbuffered,
| non-interrupt |
| 04 | AUX (Asynch) output | puts DL | " " |
| 05 | Printer output | puts DL | |
| 06 | Direct CON: I/O | DL=FF input | ZF set for no input|
| 07 | Direct CON: input Noecho | N/A: returns AL | |
| 08 | Console input Noecho | N/A: returns AL | Same as Fctn 1 |
| except no echo |
| 09 | Print string | DS:DX ==>string | string terminator $|
| 0A | Buffered keyboard input | DS:DX ==>buffer | 1st byte is length |
| 0B | Check std. input status | AL=FF if input | AL=00 if no input |
| 0C | Clear kybd buf. + other | AL = function no. | fctns 1,6,7,8,A |
+----+--------------------------+-----------------------+--------------------+
| 0D | Disk reset | N/A | Flushes all buffers|
| 0E | Select disk | DL=drive no. | AL=no drives |
| | on system |
| 0F | Open file | DS:DX ==> FCB | AL=FF for error |
| 10 | Close file | DS:DX ==> FCB | AL=FF for error |
| 11 | Search for first entry | DS:DX ==> FCB | AL=FF for no match |
| 12 | Search for next entry | DS:DX ==> FCB | must follow fctn 11|
| 13 | Delete file | DS:DX ==> FCB | AL=FF for error |
| 14 | Sequential read | DS:DX ==> FCB | EOF = 01 or 03 |
| 15 | Sequential write | DS:DX ==> FCB | AL=01 (full) |
| | 02 (bad buffer) |
| 16 | Create file | DS:DX ==> FCB | AL=FF |
| directory full |
| 17 | Rename file | DS:DX ==> FCB | AL=FF for error |
| 18 | Used internally by DOS: | | |
| 19 | Current disk | N/A: returns AL | |
| 1A | Set DTA | DS:DX ==> new DTA | |
| 1B | Get FAT (default drive) | N/A: returns DS:BX | FAT id byte for |
| | default drive |
| 1C | Get FAT (select drive) | N/A: returns DS:BX | FAT id byte for DL |
| 1D | Used internally by DOS: | | |
| 1E | Used internally by DOS: | | |
| 1F | Used internally by DOS: | | |
| 20 | Used internally by DOS: | | |
| 21 | Random read | DS:DX ==> FCB | AL=00 good read |
| 22 | Random write | DS:DX ==> FCB | AL=00 good write |
| 23 | File size | DS:DX ==> FCB | AL=00 rrf=# records|
| 24 | Set random record field | DS:DX ==> FCB | |
+----+--------------------------+-----------------------+--------------------+
| 25 | Set interrupt vector | DS:DX = vector | Int specified in AL|
| 26 | Create new PSP | DX = segment no. | Use 4B instead |
+----+--------------------------+-----------------------+--------------------+
| 27 | Random block read | DS:DX ==> FCB | CX = record count |
| 28 | Random block write | DS:DX ==> FCB | CX = record count |
| 29 | Parse filename | DS:SI ==> command | AL = parse service |
+----+--------------------------+-----------------------+--------------------+
| 2A | Get date | N/A: returns CX:DX | CX=yr DH=mo DL=day |
| 2B | Set date | CX:DX = new date | |
| 2C | Get time | N/A: returns CX:DX | CH=hr CL=min DH=sec|
| 2D | Set time | CX:DX = new time | |
| 2E | Set / reset VERIFY | DL=0, AL=1/0 (on/off | See 54 |
+----+--------------------------+-----------------------+--------------------+
| 2F | Get DTA | N/A: ES:BX ==>DTA | |
|
| 30 | Get DOS version number | N/A: returns AX | AL=major AH=minor |
| 31 | Stay res. terminate | AL=retcode DX=size | |
| 32 | Used internally by DOS: | | |
| 33 | Ctrl-Break check | AL=00/01 (get/set) | |
| | | DL=00/01 (off/on) | |
| 34 | Used internally by DOS: | | |
| 35 | Get interrupt vector | N/A: returns ES:BX | See 25 |
| 36 | Get disk free space | DL=drive; returns BX | DX=tot CX=bytes |
| | AX=sectors |
| 37 | Used internally by DOS: | Get/set SWITCHAR | AL=0/1 DL=char |
| 38 | Get natl dependent info | DS:DX ==> memory | country dependent |
+----+--------------------------+-----------------------+--------------------+
| 39 | MKDIR - Create subdir. | DS:DX ==> ASCIIZ | Errors 3,5 |
| 3A | RMDIR - Remove subdir. | DS:DX ==> ASCIIZ | Errors 3,5 |
| 3B | CHDIR - Change subdir. | DS:DX ==> ASCIIZ | Error 3 |
+----+--------------------------+-----------------------+--------------------+
| 3C | Create a file (handle) | DS:DX ==> ASCIIZ | CX=attr BX handle |
| 3D | Open a file (handle) | DS:DX ==> ASCIIZ | AL=access code |
| 3E | Close a file (handle) | BX = handle no. | Error 6 only |
| 3F | Read (handle) | BX = handle no. | CX=read length |
| 40 | Write (handle) | BX = handle no. | CX=write length |
| 41 | Unlink - Dir. delete | DS:DX ==> ASCIIZ | Errors 2,5ength |
| 42 | LSEEK - Move r/w pointer | BX = handle no. | AX = method |
| | CX:DX = offset |
| 43 | CHMOD - Change file mode | DS:DX ==> ASCIIZ | AL=function |
| 44 | IOCTL - I/O control | BX = handle no. | AL=function value |
| 45 | DUP - Dup file handle | BX = handle no. | AX new handle |
| 46 | FDUP - Force dup handle | BX = handle no. | CX second handle |
+----+--------------------------+-----------------------+--------------------+
| 47 | Get current directory | DL = drive | DS:SI==>64byte area|
+----+--------------------------+-----------------------+--------------------+
| 48 | Allocate memory | BX = no. para. | AX block start |
| 49 | Free memory | ES ==> block | Errors 7,9 |
| 4A | Modify allocated memory | ES = block BX = size | Errors 7,8,9 |
| 4B | EXEC - load a program | DS:DX ==>ASCIIZ | AL=function; 0 or 3|
+----+--------------------------+-----------------------+--------------------+
| 4C | EXIT - Terminate | AL = retcode | See FC 0 |
| 4D | WAIT - return code | N/A: returns AX | |
| 4E | Find first match (ASCIIZ)| DS:DX ==> ASCIIZ | CX = attrib |
| 4F | Find next match (ASCIIZ)| DTA ==> 4E call | same as 4E |
| 50 | Used internally by DOS: | | |
| 51 | Used internally by DOS: | | |
| 52 | Used internally by DOS: | | |
| 53 | Used internally by DOS: | | |
| 54 | Get VERIFY state | N/A: AL=0/1 (on/off) | See FC 2E |
| 55 | Used internally by DOS: | | |
| 56 | Rename a file (ASCIIZ)| DS:DX ==> ASCIIZ | same drive only |
| 57 | Get/Set file date stamp | BX = handle no. | DX=date CX=time |
| | AL = 0/1 |
+----+--------------------------+-----------------------+--------------------+
| AH | F U N C T I O N | Entry / Register Use | N O T E S |
+----+--------------------------+-----------------------+--------------------+
[70205,1217]
MASM.BUG 15-Apr-84 7975 10
Keywords: MASM ASSEMBLER PC-DOS BUGS
This document describes some problems, omissionas, bugs and limitations in
the IBM version of the Microsoft Macro Assembler.
Disposition:
<R D T): R
The IBM / Microsoft Macro Assembler
-
Version 1.0
-
Known Problems
-
and
-
Usage Hints
-
John Chapman
[70205,1217]
Introduction
This document describes several known limitations, bugs and quirks
of the IBM distributed Version (1.0) of the Microsoft Assembler. Note
that these descriptions are from various sources, and have been verified
at least once. Some of these problems are intermittent, dependent upon
available memory, program size, structure of source program, etc.
Disclaimer
Please note that this document is provided without warrantee of any
kind. Each individual must make the final determination of applicability
to a specific situation, program, or configuration.
Audience
This document is intended for the experienced assembler language
programmer. The reader is assumed to be familiar with the 8086
instruction set, the IBM Macro Assembler, and the IBM Personal Computer.
Additions and Corrections
This document will be periodically updated as new information is
made available. If you have corrections, or additions, please send them
to:
John A. Chapman
844 S. Madison St.
Hinsdale, Illinois 60521
Or: Send EMAIL to userid [70205,1217] on Compuserv,
or MAIL to userid $AC on PCSHARE.
Assembler Tips 2
Untrapped Errors
When an instruction is accepted by the assembler, it is assumed that
the instruction is not only syntactically correct, but that it will be
decoded, as specified, into a legal machine operation. In MASM 1.0 this
does not always occur:
Segment Registers
The 8088 does not support a compare with a segment register as the
register operand. Coding
CMP ES,0
will generate the instruction
CMP AX,0 .... without generating a diagnostic
message, or providing any other indication.
Omitted Operands
Most instructions with missing operands will generate error
messages; the instruction:
MOV AX,
produces
MOV AX,0 ... and no message
Apparently, the above treatment occurs for all instructions that can
use a register [non-segment register] with immediate data as the second
operand. Zero is always used for the missing operand.
Missing Brackets
Erroneous code will also be generated if square brackets are omitted in
certain operations, even thought an error message would be expected.
MOV BYTE PTR ES:DI,'$' Is incorrect, and
generates:
MOV BYTE PTR ES:[7],'$' Rather than what was intended,
which was:
MOV BYTE PTR ES:[DI],'$'
This appears to occur because the assembler finds DI in it's symbol
table, equated to it's register triplet '111'b, and substitutes the 7 as
if the programmer had said DI equ 7.
Assembler Tips 3
Data entry errors
Always scan comments in a newly entered program to assure that each
comment is preceded by a semi-colon [;], rather than a colon [:]. The
assembler will assume that the colon denotes a label, and will
subsequently generate the spurious message "OPEN PROCEDURES", and may
generate additional error messages.
Review program labels in failing programs: the branch table sequence
below provides both correct and incorrect examples.
Correct Incorrect
JMP CS:jumlist[BX] JMP CS:jumlist[BX]
... ...
... ...
jumlist DW routin1 jumlist: DW routin1
DW routin2 DW routin2
Radix Specifications
Even if a RADIX pseudo-op has been used to specify the default base
for data values, the assembler will still check the last character for a
valid radix specification, and use it if present. For example:
SUB BX,0B
generates:
83 EB 00 .. which is incorrect for X'0B";
while:
SUB BX,11d or BX,0Bh .. are both correct;
and will generate:
83 EB 0B .... which is the intended instruction.
Pseudo-Operations
The .XLIST pseudo operation will be ineffective [during both passes]
if the command line parameter /D is specified for the assembly.
The assembler will not correctly resolve 'identity' type definition
errors in the EQUATE pseudo-op.
LOOP-IT EQU LOOP-IT will cause the assembler to loop.
Assembler Tips 4
Out of Memory Error in small programs
Occasionally users will experience an MASM abort with the message
"OUT OF MEMORY", with a large amount of installed, available memory,
and a small program. This problem is a recognized bug common to
Pascal, MASM, and other Microsoft products written in Pascal.
A>ren masm.exe masm.xxx
A>debug masm.xxx
-s 0 ffff 81 fb 00 10 7e 03
xxxx:FB23
-d fb20,fb2f
xxxx:FB20 00
-e FB27
xxxx FB27 7E.76 <===================Enter 76 in response to
first part of line
-w
WRITING 10800 BYTES
-q
A>
The patch above corrects an invalid comparison for memory size, caused by
using JLE rather than JBE for the test.
Assembler Tips 5
Reserved Words
The IBM/Microsoft assembler documentation does not provide documentation
on the reserved word list of the assembler. This is especially
unfortunate, since the assembler will fail to provide a diagnostic
message if a reserved word is used in place of an operand or label.
Example:
MOV ax,byte ;BYTE not defined - no error reported
Pass 1 Errors omitted
Errors caused in Pass 1 that are not repeated in pass 2 are not reported.
Example:
IF1
ABC EQU AX
ENDIF
-- Incorrect equate - no error.
Macro Parameters
If a macro is invoked within another macro, with a parameter which is a
quoted string constant, all operands following the quoted string will be
set to blank.
Example:
sampl1 macro p1,p2
insamp <p1>,<p2>
endm
insamp macro p1,p2
MOV AX,p1
ADD AX,p2
endm
+ MOV AX,"0"
+ ADD AX,
----------
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂21-Apr-84 1505 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #46
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 21 Apr 84 15:04:41 PST
Date: 20 Apr 1984 15:32:26 PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #46
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 20 April 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 46
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
Simple Editor
640K on old Mother Board
Three Microsoft Pascal Questions (sort of)
Public Domain 8086 tools for UNIX?
DOS 2.1 Patch ?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[I ought to apologize for the size of the last issue of INFO-IBMPC and
the amount of traffic in general on the mailing list. This whole thing
is getting out of hand. I'd like to spend more time editing the journal
as opposed to just pasting it together. In the past we could send articles
back to the authors for revision. This week the volume of messages has
been so huge I have been lucky just to get the issues out. The growth
of INFO-IBMPC has not slowed. I have been getting complaints that we
are overflowing disk space all over the net. I don't know what to do
about the problem. We are looking for more editors. -ed]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thursday, 19 April 1984 01:37:38 EST
From: Lawrence.Butcher@cmu-cs-g.arpa
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Simple Editor
Looking for a simple editor, eh? Let me suggest the Turbo Pascal system.
From time to time people post messages of the form "FAST, FAST, FAST, you
won't believe how FAST...", but they are talking about the compiler. They
are correct. The compiler is FAST.
Turbo is also more than a compiler. The system contains a simple editor
which is initially configured as a subset of WordStar. The editor can be
re-configured to look like some other editors. It can be made to look
ALMOST like MINCE/EMACS for all single letter commands. The present Turbo
editor does not allow the ESC character to be used for a prefix character.
Turbo edits a character stream, like Mince. It does not support embedded
formatting info (like bold). Instead Turbo is distributed a separate program
which is a runoff-style formatter. No documentation, but there is an
example text file.
The Turbo editor is not everything to everyone. It is good enough for
simple program generation and simple text processing. Remember that
Pascal is in there somewhere. Cheap. Try it!!
------------------------------
Date: 14 Apr 84 20:40:05-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!ctk @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: 640K on old Mother Board
Hello, I am trying to put 640k in an ibm pc with the old mother board. Before
I buy the additional memory (I have 512k now) I am experimenting with the
program in the 8/83 issue of Softalk. This program modifies the bytes
at 40:13 and 40:14 to change the bios data area. It seems to me that if
I do this with debug to **reduce** the amount of memory the system thinks
it has I should be able to observe some results. However, when I do this and
use chkdsk to see how much total memory I have no reduction has happened.
What is going on? Has anyone else used the Softalk routine? I'm using DOS 2.0
and the routine is for 1.1. Has something important changed?
There are other rumors around about this problem. A) Leave the switches
alone; drop in the memory; DOS 2.0 will take care of you.
B) IBM has a rom upgrade that will do the deed. Computer land says that
this rom upgrade is for the new IBM network and that Boca Raton makes no promises
about anything else.
What is the story?
C.T. Kelley
Dept. of Math.
N.C. State U.
Raleigh, N.C. 27650
decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!ctk
------------------------------
Date: Thursday, 19 April 1984 22:58:18 EST
From: Tom.Wood@cmu-ri-fas.arpa
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Three Microsoft Pascal Questions (sort of)
Is there a graceful way to recover from I/O errors in MS Pascal? In
particular, I would like the ability to determine whether assign()/reset()
opens a file successfully, and if not, try again with another name.
Alternatively, a function that checks to see if a file exists would do
the trick.
Anyone have a Pascal callable random number generator?
And, I can't seem to get the 'TICS' function to work (supposed to return
the time, in ticks.) Is it supposed to work with the IBM PC? If not, is
there an easy way to ask MS-DOS for the time?
If the answers to these questions have appeared in previous digests, I'd
appreciate it if someone could point me to the volume/date. Thanks.
-Tom Wood
C-MU Robotics Institute
taw@cmu-ri-fas
------------------------------
Date: 15 Apr 84 12:30:09-PST (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!sdcrdcf!akgua!emory!km @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Public Domain 8086 tools for UNIX?
Are there any public domain tools for 8086 cross development
on Unix (compilers, assemblers, simulators, etc).
Ken Mandelberg
Emory University
Dept of Math and CS
Atlanta, Ga 30322
{akgua,sb1,gatech}!emory!km USENET
km@emory CSNET
km.emory@csnet-relay ARPANET
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 20 Apr 84 08:01 EST
From: LBrenkus@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: DOS 2.1 Patch ?
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Does anyone know how to patch DOS 2.1 to restore the disk drive
parameter table to the values used in DOS 2.0? I have noticed a 40%
degradation in
floppy drive performance since switching to ver 2.1 . This seems to be
due to a much-increased disk head settling time for the PCjr. I located
one copy of the parameter table in IBMBIO.COM, but substitution of the
old value of 00 for the new value of 0f in this one location does not
restore performance. Any suggestions?
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂23-Apr-84 1632 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #47
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 23 Apr 84 16:31:49 PST
Date: 23 Apr 1984 15:43:22 PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #47
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Monday, 23 April 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 47
This Week's Editor: Randy Cole
Today's Topics:
Modula II Query
Reading 2764 EPROMs in a PC
Graphics Printing Query
Summary of MSDOS Text Editors
"Windows for C" on the PC
DOS 2.1 Floppy Access Timing (Re: DOS 2.1 Patch)
A Portable OS, Unix-Compatible, with Ada, runs on Z80, 8088, etc???
How do you use an XT?
Need Color Terminal Emulator for Sritek 68K Board on PC
Odd Bug with A/D on PC - Help!
Re: Summary of MSDOS Text Editors
T-switches for PC Parallel
SMD Drives for the PC
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 21 Apr 84 8:36-PST
Date: 10 Apr 84 17:11:03-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hpda!fortune!wdl1!jbn @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Modula II Query
I am interested in using Modula II on an IBM PC or equivalent.
Questions:
- Who sells a compiler?
- Is it reliable w.r.t. producing correct code?
- Is pointer/subrange/array run-time checking available?
- Is it fast compared to (say) Lattice C?
- Can it support large arrays (>64K) and pointers beyond 64K?
Nagle@SCORE
------------------------------
Date: 21 Apr 1984 0935-PST
From: Robert A. Lerche <XA.W51%STANFORD.BITNET@Berkeley>
To: <harpo!eagle!mhuxl!aluxz!kjo@Berkeley>
Subject: Reading 2764 EPROMs in a PC
Cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
The ROM sockets in the PCs I have looked at are 24-pin, while the 2764 is a
28-pin device. The ROMs in the PC are the "mask ROM" variety, and have a
different pin-out from the byte wide programmable ROMs. In particular,
according to the Tech Ref manual, pin 18, used for "output enable" in the
standard byte wide pin-out, is A11 in the PC's ROMs. You can probably rig
something to work, but it will require some wiring and a kludge device to
take care of the top 4 pins on a 2764.
------------------------------
Date: Saturday, 21 April 1984 22:05:03 EST
From: Peter.Monta@cmu-cs-g.arpa
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Graphics Printing Query
Message-ID: <1984.4.22.2.57.33.Peter.Monta@cmu-cs-g.arpa>
Does anyone know the meaning of the graphics printer escape codes ESC Y and
ESC Z? The Guide to Operations, page 3-31, fails to explain what "cannot
print on consecutive dot positions" means; my feeling is that the printer
should be capable of 240x216 dots/inch resolution (using ESC Z) if the
print head traverses a single line three times.
Any wisdom about the IBM graphics printer would be much appreciated.
Peter Monta
monta@cmu-cs-g
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 21 Apr 84 21:49-PST
Date: 16 Apr 84 11:49:18-PST (Mon)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!linus!kbb @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Summary of MSDOS Text Editors
First, I would like to thank those of you who replied to my request.
Although I have not had time to examine any of the editors in detail, I
will give a summary of the replies that I received.
For those who missed my original request, I will restate it. I am looking
for a simple, but versatile text editor - as opposed to a word processor -
to run under MSDOS. Our main need is for editing source files, where we
don't need any of the 'nice' functions that most word processors have.
Many different editors were suggested to me. Of those, two were by far most
popular. The first was the IBM Personal Editor. Those who recommended it
seemed most impressed with its price - about $100.
The other popular editor was Edix, by Emerging Technology in Boulder, Co.
Although much more expensive (about $400), Edix seems to provide many of
those features that you always thought would be nice to have. Some of these
include (up to 4) windows, easy redefinition of keys - including function
keys, and also user defined macros.
Many others were recommended, but most of these were associated with a
particular language (such as DeSmet C,and Turbo Pascal). Also, I was
informed that 'PC Tech Journal' had a review of 16 text editors a few
issues ago (no date was given).
As I said, I haven't tried any of these yet. This was mainly just a summary
of the info. I received.
Thanks to those who replied,
linus!kbb
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 22 Apr 84 4:02-PST
Date: 17 Apr 84 18:41:21-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!bbncca!jbray @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: "Windows for C" on the PC
A Vermont company makes a product called Windows for C, which is described
as follows:
"Windows for C is an integrated set of ASM and C functions that facilitates
management of the video screen of the IBM PC abd video-compatible computers.
Windows for C's unique implementation of the window concept simplifies
and enhances programming of screens for all application software.
Windows for C will allow you to produce more professional screen displays
in less time with less code."
I saw this demo'd and it looked good. I also looked at the manual, which
was in the style of Unix manuals but more professional. The interface looked
like a pleasant fairly standard Unix library-routine-type set of functions.
They seem to know what they are doing. The product is cheap ($120 for whole
deal, $500 for whole deal with source).
If there is any interest, please respond and I will tell you more and/or
put you in touch with them, or you can go straight to them. They are:
Creative Solutions
21 Elm Ave. Phone 802-848-7738
Richford, VT 05476
Jake Levison is the name of a friend there. Tell them I sent you, tho' I
won't get anything out of it but gratitude and the knowledge that I am helping
to make it possible for people to do software without living in cities.
--Jim Bray (UUCP decvax!bbncca!jbray, ARPA jbray@bbncca.ARPA)
------------------------------
Date: Sunday, 22 Apr 1984 12:08-PST
To: <Info-IBMPC at USC-ISIB>
Subject: DOS 2.1 Floppy Access Timing (Re: DOS 2.1 Patch)
From: avi@ISL at Sumex-Aim
DOS 2.1 is indeed slower.There is a program called FASTDISK.COM,which
changes the parameters. It is supplied as an add-on gift with the
FORLIB-PLUS Fortran utilities object library,by
Alpha Computer Service P.O.Box 2517 Cypress, Ca. 90630 ,(714) 894-6808.
It is also rumoured to be available on some public Bulletin Boards.
I would check, however, if it is compatible with the particuler drive used.
Avi. (avi%isl@su-dsn)
------------------------------
Date: Sun 22 Apr 84 13:57:59-PST
From: Herm Fischer <HFISCHER@USC-ECLB.ARPA>
Subject: A Portable OS, Unix-Compatible, with Ada, runs on Z80, 8088, etc???
To: info-ada@USC-ECLB.ARPA, info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA, info-unix@BRL-AOS.ARPA
cc: hfischer@USC-ECLB.ARPA
I am in posession of some documentation which first strikes me as
preposterous, yet makes some claims which need to be taken seriously, so
this is a request for feedback from net-readers who either have direct
knowledge of the product, or perhaps know of some of the folks developing
it.
The advertisement which attracted my attention stated that:
"Unix is a Dinosaur,
CP/M & MS-DOS are Toys"
... and that Multi-Solutions, Inc's "S1" is "the World's first 4th
generation operating system". Features like portable, modular, multiuser,
multitasking, multiPROCESSING(?), parallel processing(?), networking,
windowing, and UNIX Source Compatible!
My interest became less casual because they advertize Ada and Lisp
compilers "WITH EXTENSIONS" available in August, for the Z80. For more
information I guess I was supposed to send money, so I am concerned.
As you can see from the price list, they say I can have the same OS with C,
Modula-2, and Ada, running on the 68000, Z80, 8085, and 8086/88. Since my
company builds embedded military products based on the Z80, with the edict
that microprocessor software must be in Ada ["DoD Report to Congress",
Study Annex], and with all my friends laughing at the viability or
marketability of an Ada for a Z80...
In the following list, everything is "available now" (according to the
brochure which solicits my order), except for the Ada and LISP, which are
available in August (according to the first page) and September (according
to the last page).
Price List
68000 Z80 8085 8086/88
S1 OS with all utilities
OEM $850 $300 $200 $400
Pre-configured 950 375 250 495
"C" (K&R) 350 195 175 275
Modula-2 350 195 175 275
Ada + "extensions" 700 475 425 575
LISP 350 195 175 275
User Manual $45 \
Progr. manual 100 } system and language orders
Mod-2 manual 45 } are shipped with manuals
Ada manual 75 /
Does anybody have the manuals????
Reading the expensive linnen-textured fancy "document" they sent me would
lead me to think they have an operating system kernel, but I cannot see how
it would be supportive of Ada "tasks" with the primitives they supply.
Then, if Unix is a Dinosaur, since Unix has tons of "utilities" like UUCP,
UUX, Mail, snazzy editors, N/TROFF, SCCS, Lex, YACC, Graphics workbench,
PIC, etc etc., is theirs mean and lean without the equivalent utilities?
Or, since they are "Unix Source Compatible", will all unix utilities be
portable to it? Will UUCP or my YACC Ada grammar run on it (on the Z80 or
8088)?
If you want to sleuth,
Multi Solutions, Inc.
Suite 207
123 Franklin Corner Rd.
Lawrenceville, N.J. 08648
609/896-4100
I'd really like a net-reader who lives nearby to drop in and report back!
Herm Fischer (HFischer@eclb, ..{trwrb,cepu}!litvax!fischer)
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 22 Apr 84 18:31-PST
Date: 18 Apr 84 0:31:43-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!ulysses!burl!clyde!akgua!emory!km @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: How do you use an XT?
My idea of how to organize files is to put the object code for tools in one
or more directories, set my search path to find them, and start a project
node in a new directory. Hardly a new idea.
I just started working with an XT with one floppy and one winchester. I am
determined not to use the floppy (except for backups, etc).
My first (and so far only) idea was to load all my tools (compilers,
wordprocessors, etc) in the root directory, put \ in my path and cd
elsewhere. Unfortunately some of the utilities fail to find their auxiliary
files (which do live in \). It looks like these programs were written
before DOS had a file hierarchy and were only expecting to search one
directory per disk. cd makes it look like the current directory (not \) is
that directory, and the search fails.
It also does not work to "assign" an additional disk name (like a:) to the
winchester, and install the utilities on a:. My cd on c: (the winchester)
moves the top of a: down with it.
Any suggestions.
Ken Mandelberg
Emory University
Dept of Math and CS
Atlanta, Ga 30322
{akgua,sb1,gatech}!emory!km USENET
km@emory CSNET
km.emory@csnet-relay ARPANET
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 22 Apr 84 22:31-PST
Date: 19 Apr 84 7:32:30-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!ulysses!gamma!pyuxww!u1100a!sdo @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Need Color Terminal Emulator for Sritek 68K Board on PC
[This is being posted for someone without access to netnews.
Please mail replies to her at the address given below.]
I have an IBM PC/XT with a SRITEK 68000 board running Xenix. I need to be
able to use the PC's color monitor for an application under development and
would like to know if a device driver for this purpose is available. If
anyone knows where I can get such a Xenix driver (the Sritek salesman was
no help - he suggested I put a request on the net), or, better yet, can
send me one, I would be eternally grateful.
You can reach me at the following address:
Geraldine Commrade
Bellcore, Piscataway, N.J.
{ihnp4,allegra,pyuxww}!u1100a!u1100t!gxc
201-981-6553
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 23 Apr 84 1:41-PST
Date: 17 Apr 84 12:51:51-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!ulysses!mhuxl!mhuxm!lmb @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Odd Bug with A/D on PC - Help!
I have an intermittent problem with a Tecmar Labmaster A/D board in a
Compaq PC compatible. The hardware test software is written in assembly
language and is called by a C program. It simply reads the A/D, fills a
1000 element stack and then returns. Everything works fine when the Compaq
is first turned on. (The test signal is a sinusoid.)
However, after a few runs, the high byte is read as a low number, when it
should be 0xF. This only happens with low negative numbers. The outputs
from the A/D are okay, but they are not getting to memory.
Particulars:
- 512K bytes on-board memory
- CI-86 C
- also have Tecmar Winchester 33/share expansion unit
Any suggestions? Anyone else run into this?
Thanks.
Loreen Breda
AT&T Bell Laboratories (201)-582-7009
mhuxm!lmb
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 23 Apr 84 6:26-PST
Date: 18 Apr 84 8:06:26-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!dgary @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Summary of MSDOS Text Editors
An excellent word processor and text editor is PC-WRITE, a program
distributed on a "commission shareware" basis. PC-WRITE can be had for $10
from the author, Quicksoft (219 First N. #224, Seattle, WA 98109, phone
(206) 282-0452). It supports two windows on the screen, moving text from
file to file, suspending editing to go play in DOS underneath PC-WRITE (and
returning to PC-WRITE just where you were), on-screen help, etc. etc. etc.
Version 1.4 is good, but version 1.5 is outstanding (and has the extra
features like extensive on-screen help I raved about in the last sentence).
I'd use it no matter what it cost. (Within reason!)
By the way, if you really like it, the author would like you to send $75,
in return for which you get the source (!!), phone support, and a $25
commission for each sucker (other person) you get to "register" (pay $75
for) a copy got from you. I have no connection with Quicksoft other than
being an appreciative customer.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 23 Apr 84 6:24-PST
Date: 18 Apr 84 7:55:40-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!ghb @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: T-switches for PC Parallel
If you have tried to use a T-switch to link a couple of PC's with a
parallel printer and had problems, you might be using the wrong T-switch.
It seems that most of the boxes out there strap pin #1 (protective ground)
common to all the connected devices. This doesn't work with the PC
parallel configuratioon which uses pin #1 for Data Strobe and pin #25 as
the ground.
Now BLACK BOX Corp. has a series of three T-switch boxes that have been
built for the PC parallel port. There is a 2 to 1 box ($104), a 4 to 1 box
($169), and a cross-over box ($159).
Their address:
BLACK BOX Corp.
P.O.Box 12800
Pittsburgh, PA 15241-9980
412/746-5500
As is usually mentioned at the end of these blurbs: I don't work for BLACK
BOX and do not own any of their stock. I have been very satisfied with
their delivery response time and after-sales support.
George Brett ...decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!ghb
NCECS POB 12035 RTP NC 27709 (919)549-0671
------------------------------
Date: Mon 23 Apr 84 10:21:22-PST
From: Bob Knight <KNIGHT@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: SMD Drives for the PC
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Hi - I visited National Memory Systems Friday to kick the tires on their
Fujitsu Eagle SMD systems and 9 track tape drive systems for the PC. First
impression: I sure want one of each, right NOW!
The 474 MB Eagle is rack mounted. Up to 168 MB, the drive is desk-
mounted in a cabinet about 1.5 times the height, same footprint as the PC
base unit. On the 474 MB drive, you get virtual drives C through N, each
holding ~30 MB. They claim a year warranty (replacement if necessary) and
will extend said warranty for another year for $500. Prices (quoted below)
include a controller and said controller will handle two drives and takes
one slot. They don't make the controller; a company in Texas (name escapes
me - they pointed me to NMS) makes it. NMS simply integrates, tests and
ships. They claim to have a lot of drives in the field, and no
unsatisified customers.
The tape drive is a Pertec, controlled by an Alloy controller (with
Alloy software). The drive looks better made than a Cipher (I've had bad
experiences with both Pertec and Cipher equipment in the past, so I'm not
overly enthusias- tic about either). However, it worked. The distributed
Alloy software, in a word, is cretinous - minimum functionality. They
claim that you can get the sources to the drivers, so it shouldn't be too
hard to hack up a reasonable dump-restore/archive system. At any rate,
with a large disk sitting out there, a reasonable tape drive is a must.
So, now for the OEM prices (from their price list):
Quantity 25.5 MB 42 MB 84 MB 168 MB 335 MB 474 MB
============================================================================
1-9 $5900 $6500 $7900 $9900 $12900 $14900
Includes: Interface cables
Disk drive
Controller
Documentation
Power Supply
Rack mounts (335 MB and 474 MB only)
Secondary drives (all quantities):
$3900 $4900 $5900 $6900 $8900 $10500
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The pricing for the tape subsystem is as follows:
$5700
Includes: Controller
Drive
Interface cables
Slide rack mounts
Software
Documentation
All in all, I was very impressed.
Bob Knight
I have no connection to National Memory Systems save as a potential customer.
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂26-Apr-84 1835 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #48
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 26 Apr 84 18:35:32 PST
Date: 26 Apr 1984 17:53:45 PST
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #48
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, 26 April 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 48
This Week's Editor: Randy Cole
Today's Topics:
PC-Write
Pascal Callable Graphics Subroutines
Problems with ANSI.SYS?
Disk Error Handler Bug (?) in MS-DOS 2.0
Help with Interfacing Sanyo RGB Monitor to PC
Re: Modula II Query
A Portable OS, Unix-Compatible, with Ada, runs on Z80, 8088, etc???
PC/IX Announcement
Large Address Spaces on the PC
Re: How do you use an XT?
PC Joysticks
PC/1200B/VT100/Unix
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon 23 Apr 84 18:36:08-PST
From: Hellmut Golde <GOLDE@WASHINGTON.ARPA>
Subject: PC-Write
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
First, I would like to re-affirm the previous message (not by me), and say
that I think the PC-Write is a great editor. I would like to provide some
more up-to-date information about the just-released version 2.1.
It has all the great features of the last version, and also includes:
Horizontal scrolling (no line length limit!)
9-screen on-line help, user modifiable
Keyboard record and playback. press Shift F1 and then PC-Write records your
keystrokes until you press it again. Grey * plays them back.
FULL CUSTOMIZATION - redefine any key to any other key or sequence of keys.
Keys customizable include ctrl-keys, alt-keys, shift, ctrl, alt F1-10,
shift, ctrl, keypad keys, and a few others. I'm not sure whether the plain
old typewriter keys are redefinable. Other customizable features include
the help screens, the attributes used on the screen, printer definition,
ctrl-z or not ctrl-z, "sticky" ctrl, shift, and alt, tab expansion on
input. (I may have missed something)
PCJr support
Printer attributes supported (underline, bold). Attributes are done with
the WordStar ctrl-key method, except the alt-keys enter the ctrl-codes and
they are displayed as single characters. You can program the attributes to
also modify screen attributes (so you can get on-screen bold, underline).
It still has the same great price too!!! I would recommend this editor
to anyone who has a need for such a product.
------------------------------
Date: Mon 23 Apr 84 19:30:35-PST
From: Willis Stinson <STINSON@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: Pascal Callable Graphics Subroutines
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I am looking for a package (either public domain or for sale) of Pascal-
callable graphics routines for the IBM color card. I would appreciate any
suggestions. Thanks,
W. Stinson
[Ed: Mouse Systems Corp., 2336H Walsh Ave., Santa Clara, CA 95051, sells their
"Mouse Window" package for somewhere in the neighborhood of $100. It has
a very complete set of graphics features, including RasterOP, and of course
works with Pascal. They are about to provide a new version for Lattice C.
This package is VERY fast and I have not found any bugs so far. It also
supports their mouse, of course. They support is excellent.]
------------------------------
Date: Tuesday, 24 April 1984 10:24:13 EST
From: Ravinder.Chandhok@cmu-cs-gandalf.arpa
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Problems with ANSI.SYS?
Message-ID: <1984.4.24.15.18.53.Ravinder.Chandhok@cmu-cs-gandalf.arpa>
I seem to found an interesting "feature", which I think is a bug in the
ANSI.SYS tty driver that comes with DOS 2.0. It seems to think that ↑P
(control P) is equivalent to ↑ PrintScreen, but only when the speaker is
making noise (as in when you send a ↑G to the console). This in turn makes
output appear on the printer at random times, even from the command
interpreter.
Any one else notice this ? Have any ideas ? Or should I just avoid
ANSI.SYS alltogether ?
-Rob (chandhok@cmu-cs-gandalf.arpa)
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Apr 84 15:52:17 EST
From: Jeff Kimmelman <jkimmelm@bbn-vax>
Subject: Disk Error Handler Bug (?) in MS-DOS 2.0
To: info-ibmpc@isib
I just ran into what I think is a definite bug (feature) of MS-DOS. I was
performing an operation which required a disk write to a floppy drive which
(accidentally) had a write protected diskette inserted.
I got the usual message and the question Abort, Retry, or Ignore? I
immediately got out the (backed up) diskette I had intended the write to go
to and inserted it. Was I ever suprised--after the write my directory had
an exact copy of the directory from the write protected diskette!!!! Now
come on guys, I know that the directory is just a file which must be read,
updated, and rewritten, but is it so difficult to reread after a diskette
error? Is there a philosophy behind all this or did they just make a
boo-boo? Perhaps someone has a patch to avoid crashing the directory of
the disk in such a simple, straightforward manner. If so I would be very
appreciative if you would help me out.
By the way, I was using Kermit on an Eagle PC-Plus when the bug bit if that
is of any use.
Cheers
--Jeff Kimmelman (=JKIMMELMAN@BBN-UNIX)
[Ed: This has happened to me, and I for one make it a practice to never
let DOS or any program retry a write under these circumstances. I don't
know if this is a bug or a "feature"]
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 25 Apr 84 1:02-PST
Date: 20 Apr 84 14:15:42-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!das @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Help with Interfacing Sanyo RGB Monitor to PC
I need help with interfacing an IBM PC with Color/Graphics Monitor Adapter
(IBM's own) and a Sanyo DMC 6113 RGB monitor. Nobody here seems to know
how to do it, and some doubt it can be done. The Sanyo calls for input
signals at TTL level (4.5 V + or - 1.5 V), and it has an 8-pin EIAJ
connector with pins labelled as follows: 1. Cursor input 2. Red input 3.
Green input 4. Blue input 5. Video ground 6. Sync ground 7. Horizontal
drive or composite sync 8. Vertical drive. As PC people know, I suppose,
the C/GMA has a 9-pin output, with pins labelled: 1. Ground 2. Ground 3.
Red 4. Green 5. Blue 6. Intensity 7. Not used 8. Horizontal Drive 9.
Vertical drive. Some of the correspondences are obvious, but not all.
Will a direct cable connection work? How should the connectors be wired?
Please reply by mail, USNail, or phone. I doubt this is of general
interest, but if anyone else wants the answer, I will forward it on
request. Thanks in advance.
David A. Smith
Department of Mathematics
Duke University
Durham, NC 27706
(919) 684-2321
{decvax,akgua}!mcnc!ecsvax!das
[Ed: Sounds much the same as interfacing a Sony Profeel. Does anyone know
if it is?]
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 25 Apr 84 5:31-PST
Date: 19 Apr 84 7:14:10-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!noscvax!uhpgvax!islenet!todd @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Modula II Query
I just bought the $40 Modula-2 compiler from Modula Research Institute
(phone 801-375-7402 for order forms & licensing terms). Unfortunately, I
have not had enough time to really make some tests (or even read the entire
manual for that matter!). However, I can say the following:
1. It works as advertised and expected
2. It is the only current Modula-2 implementation for the ibm-pc
that supports the type 'real' without an 8087 installed
3. It comes with enough info to write assembly routines for
4. It comes with its own linker
5. Source code for the compiler is available for $160
6. It compiles very slowly (4 pass compiler)
7. It compiles to M-Code (not native)
8. Due to '7' it executes reasonably quickly (much faster
than interpreted BASIC or BASICA but not nearly as fast
as Lattice/Microsoft C (but then what does on the pc?)
9. M2 from MRI at $40 is definitely worth getting for
learning purposes (I don't have any other M2 compiler
available to me). However, I would not use it to write
production stuff.
If you want a good fast compiler, take a look at Turbo-Pascal. It
has enough extensions to make it very usable too (case w/else, etc.).
Todd Ogasawara -- University of Hawaii -- Dept. of Psychology
{ dual, vortex, uhpgvax }!islenet!todd
------------------------------
Date: 26 April 1984 04:19-EST
From: Jerry E. Pournelle <POURNE @ MIT-MC>
Subject: A Portable OS, Unix-Compatible, with Ada, runs on Z80, 8088, etc???
To: HFISCHER @ USC-ECLB
cc: info-ibmpc @ USC-ISIB, info-ada @ USC-ECLB, info-unix @ BRL-AOS
This outfit was in a SMALL booth, with NO machinery, but lots of slick
paper, at Winter Comdex. Why they were in a small booth off one wall might
be interesting.
They claim the earth, and they have a Princeton genius who wrote all this.
They will have something to show Real Soon Now. They were going to send
something to me, but they have not.
Robert Knight of Princeton is supposed to have written this.
Their chairman was a chap named Lombardo who seems more interested in
selling stock than shipping product; indeed, I have not see any product
other than pretty brochures an stock prospectuses.
I would LOVE it if this S1 system really works, and iof they really have
all the compilers they claim, but I note that the articles in Computerworld
and Systems and Software have "according to Knight" and "according to
Lombardo" disclaimers; no reviewer seems to have SEEN this work, only to
have heard that it either does work or will Real Soon Now.
Apparenlty Knight has good record in compiler work, but has UNCOL and
JOVIAL caught on? According to Lombardo you can port all these languagez
to any machine in three months and then recompile and you have it; it all
sounds wonderful; but I kept wondering, where ws a machine that it ran on?
Why didn't they bring even one? It all sounds great, and according to
computer systems news they raised 2.2 million bucks when they went public.
But they sure didn't look like a well financed outfit. But they sure claim
great capabilities.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 25 Apr 84 23:17-PST
Date: 21 Apr 84 21:03:57-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!cca!ima!ism780!isc.net @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PC/IX Announcement
Orders for PC/IX (IBM's UNIX* for the PC) will be taken at IBM Product
Centers starting April 23, 1984. The product number is 6428163.
The cost is $900 (major credit cards are accepted at IBM Product Centers),
with the following quantity discounts:
QUANTITY DISCOUNT
3-9 5%
10-19 8%
For quantities of 20 or more, contact your IBM National Accounts Division
salesperson.
Qualifying educational institutions are eligible for a 20% educational
allowance (not additive to other discounts).
--isc.net INTERACTIVE Systems Corp.
←←←←←←←
* UNIX is a trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 26 Apr 84 1:58-PST
Date: 19 Apr 84 18:03:09-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!hogpc!houti!ariel!vax135!floyd!cmcl2!philabs!sbcs!bnl!drs @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Large Address Spaces on the PC
Has anyone had any strange experiences when the memory in a PC was increased?
Today I installed a Tecmar Captain board which expanded the amount of RAM
to the maximum 640K permitted on the XT. DOS boots up correctly, but a
program which has been running well for ages now almost immediately crashes
with a "Stack Overflow" message, and attempts to recompile a small Pascal
program with the IBM pascal compiler aborts with a "Compiler out of memory"
error message! <insert the sound of teeth grinding>
To make matters worse, I can make the first problem vanish by running the
program from DEBUG, or by setting the swithes on the board to show < 512K
total memory. It may also eliminate the second. I don't suspect the
Tecmar hardware since a friend of mine installed one with the same result.
The Venix operating system seems to be unaffected. Any help would be
appreciated. I'll post the solution since anyone running unix on this
machine needs all the memory they can get!
Dave Stampf
Applied Math. Dept.
Brookhaven Natl. Lab.
Upton, N.Y. 11973 (516 282 4148)
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 26 Apr 84 0:49-PST
Date: 21 Apr 84 6:24:16-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!whuxle!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Large Address Spaces on the PC
The problem is that the startup routine for PASCAL has a bad
instruction that can not test if memory is greater than
512K. To get around it, use the following patches for PAS1,
PAS2, and PASCAL.LIB.
ren pas1.exe pas1.xyz
debug pas1.xyz
e 72a 76 ; original value should be 7E
w
q
ren pas1.xyz pas1.exe
ren pas2.exe pas2.xyz
debug pas2.xyz
e 112a 76 ; original value should be 7E
w
q
ren pas2.xyz pas2.exe
debug pascal.lib
e 5ba 76 ; original value should be 7E
w
q
At this point it should work fine with >512K of memory.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 26 Apr 84 1:57-PST
Date: 19 Apr 84 7:03:58-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!noscvax!uhpgvax!islenet!todd @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: How do you use an XT?
Putting everything in root on the XT started getting messy so I did the
following: My root now consists only of 'autoexec.bat' and subdirectory
listing. All DOS files (mode, chkdsk, etc.) were placed in '\system'.
Secondary tools (i.e., tools I had to write) were placed in '\tools'. In
autoexec.bat path was set to 'path=c:\system; c:\tools' in order to cause
searches to different subdirectories.
I too ran into the problem of programs that only recognized its current
directory. The only 'solution' I have found so far is to write batch files
to move files around. E.g., after writing a piece of source code, I have
it copied over to the appropriate compiler subdirectory (e.g.,
\compiler\c). Not much of a solution I admit, but it works for me.
Todd Ogasawara -- University of Hawaii -- Dept. of Psychology
{ dual, vortex, uhpgvax }!islenet!todd
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 26 Apr 84 6:17-PST
Date: 21 Apr 84 12:13:13-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!noscvax!uhpgvax!islenet!todd @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PC Joysticks
I recently ordered STSC APL*PLUS/PC to aid me in my quest to rid myself of
mainframe dependency for statistical and complex graphics jobs. I decided
a couple of days ago that it would be nice to have a joystick for use with
APL*PLUS/PC graphics on my PC. Being too cheap (and broke after paying for
APL*PLUS/PC) I decided to build my own joystick following the specs
detailed on pages 1-211 thru 1-216 of the version 2.02 PC Technical
Reference manual.
The specs call for 0-100k ohm pots so I grabbed one of two lying around and
built the joystick. A quick check on a multimeter showed that the pots
used ranged between 250 ohms and 101k ohms. Obviously I was not going to
get a zero (0) reading on my PC. I accepted that. The high end looked ok
though. WRONG. After plugging it into my PC I went into BASICA and wrote
a short routine to check the joystick. I found the following ranges:
x-axis 3 - 112
y-axis 3 - 101
The 3's were expected. The 112 and 101 were not. A 250-255 high end
should have appeared. What happened? Well, you can check out back issues
of PC Tech Journal (two part article in the Jan 84 and Feb 84 issues) for
the full answer. To make a long story short, don't expect the game adapter
(I have the AST Sixpack option, but this is true for all adapters) to work
with joysticks as speced. It turns out that most joystick makers are using
250k- or 300k ohm pots to make their wares. Check out how your particular
system works with different pots before soldering (I should have, but I
figured the tech manual would not lead me astray).
Todd Ogasawara -- University of Hawaii -- Dept. of Psychology
{ dual,vortex,uhpgvax }!islenet!todd
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 26 Apr 84 6:27-PST
Date: 22 Apr 84 16:57:21-PST (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!nsc!foster @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PC/1200B/VT100/Unix
This is a word in praise of crosstalk XVI (rev 3.41). I am using an IBM-pc
with a hayes 1200B modem and going dialup to a DEC VAX 11/780 running UNIX
(berkely 4.2). Previously I was running SMARTCOM II and while this worked
fine for file transfers, it has no emulation function and I was limited to
being a "dumb" terminal.
With crosstalk 16, full vt100 emulation is available for the pc. I am
happy to report that with vt100 emulation in effect, all terminal functions
(including vi) work as well as a real vt100 hard wired to the host.
File transfers to and from the host work as well as SMARTCOM II, and they
operate while in emulation mode or out of it. Emulation can be changed
while on-line to any of the emulations available: VT100, VT52, Televideo
910/920, IBM 3101 ASCII, Adds Viewpoint, or Texas Instruments 940.
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂03-May-84 0459 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #49
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 3 May 84 04:58:29 PDT
Date: 2 May 1984 18:58:02 PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #49
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 2 May 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 49
This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann
Today's Topics:
PCJr Horizontal Retrace Query
SIMTERM
Comm Port I/O from MS-Pascal (2 msgs)
Crosstalk VT100 Emulation
Modula II
8" Drives (2 msgs)
Spurious Out-of-Memory Condition
Hercules on CP/M-86 Query
TCP/IP Query
Avatar Query
Quadram and AST Boards (3 msgs)
Turbo Pascal
Spice
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 27 Apr 1984 11:58:13-MST
From: Olaf Lubeck C-3 <oml@lanl>
To: info-ibmpc@lanl
Subject: PCJr Horizontal Retrace Query
I've been working with the pc-jr's graphics and need to change color
registers at a particular scan line. I know that there is no
capability to interrupt at horizontal retrace but I can use the timer
interrupt to interrupt just before the retrace period. If I could
then poll the horizontal retrace active bit, I would be able to change
color registers during that time. Only problem is I can't find
documentation to tell me if there is such a thing as a horizontal
retrace active bit. Anyone know ... or have other ideas? I know the
pc had this bit.
Olaf Lubeck Home 505-662-3471
work 505-667-6017
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 27 Apr 84 1:59-PST
Date: 22 Apr 84 21:33:26-PST (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!whuxle!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: SIMTERM
For those users of the terminal simulator that I wrote, it now does not
require the IBM Async Comm Support software. It has its own interrupt
driven comm line handler. It supports XMODEM protocol for accessing BBSs
and for error free data transfer to/from UNIX(tm). It also has 'scripts'
for automatically logging onto systems and if you have a VENTEL modem, it
will dial a list of numbers will it get a connection. If you would like a
copy (its **FREE**), just send me a floppy and a self-addressed **STAMPED**
return envelope.
Jim Holtman
35 Dogwood Trail
Randolph, NJ 07869
(201) 361-3395
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 28 Apr 84 21:48 EST
From: Paul Schauble <Schauble@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA>
Subject: Comm Port I/O from MS-Pascal
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I am trying to write a program in MS-Pascal that needs to drive a
terminal attached to a serial port. I am connecting to the terminal by
doing:
var Terminal: text;
assign (Terminal, 'com1');
rewrite (Terminal);
This works fine except for three problems:
First, the application needs to display some text, wait for some time
period, and then display something else. The wait is easy enough with
a loop, but MS-Pascal is buffering the output. So, the display is not
complete when the wait is done. I can force a buffer flush with
close(Terminal); rewrite(Terminal);
but this appends a CR, LF. Is there any way to force a buffer flush
without appending the CR, LF??
Second, the application needs to be able to read a character from the
terminal if a key is pressed or to know that no character was sent
since the last query. This call cannot wait, if no key has been
pressed it must return that indication. This can be done for the main
keyboard, but I don't see how for the terminal.
Third, when the application does a read, it must be able to regain
control if the read was not completed within a certain time. I could
implement this by reading characters individually according to
question 2 and timing it myself, but, is there a better way?
Thanks for any assistance,
Paul
------------------------------
Date: 29 Apr 1984 14:54:12 PDT
Subject: Re: Comm Port I/O from MS-Pascal
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: Paul Schauble <Schauble@MIT-MULTICS>
You might consider using the async packages in the INFO-IBMPC library.
Unfortunately there are several versions of the same package:
Info-IBMPC Free Program Library
-------------------------------
The following programs can be FTP'ed from [ISIB]<INFO-IBMPC> using
username ANONYMOUS, password GUEST to FTP.
COM←PKG1.ASM Fully interrupt driven, high speed, serial I/O package
GLASSTTY.PAS adapted from code by John Romkey and Jerry Saltzer of MIT.
Implements a library of communications routines callable
from Microsoft Pascal. GLASSTTY.PAS is an example
terminal program that calls it. (Gillmann@ISIB, 12/28/83).
COM←PKG2.ASM New version of the MIT comm pkg. It supports both
GLASSTTY.ASM serial ports simultaneously, has XON/XOFF flow
control built in, can be used direct or thru a
modem, keeps running counts of comm errors,
works with PC, XT and PCjr computers.
Uses assembly language calling conventions.
GLASSTTY.ASM is a test driver for it that emulates
a teletype. (Gillmann@ISIB, 3/28/84).
<INFO-IBMPC.INT> A more elaborate version of the MIT comm package.
subdirectory It uses a dozen files or so. You will need all the
(big) files to do anything useful so FTP the entire subdirectory.
<INFO-IBMPC.INT>$CONTENTS describes the various files.
It supports large and small model Lattice C, DOS 1.1 and
DOS 2.0 as well as a stand alone mode. Both COM1 and COM2
are supported simultaneously. A package is included for
line printer support. The subdirectory contains a dumb
terminal program and a null modem program written in
Lattice C that call the package. (Rogers@ISIB, 12/28/83).
If you choose to take this approach I think it would be best to take
the Pascal interface from COM←PKG1 and add it to COM←PKG2. Of course
INFO-IBMPC would like to have the result and we could then drop
COM←PKG1 from our library....
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 30 Apr 84 23:24-PDT
Date: 24 Apr 84 9:06:26-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!tektronix!ogcvax!metheus!teneron!shanks @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Crosstalk VT100 Emulation
I too am using Crosstalk on the IBM PC. But while I am very happy
with the program, I must report that it does NOT do a complete
emulation of the VT100. Several things it is missing are listed in
the manual. Among them are (I am speaking from memory) 132 column
mode, double wide characters, double high characters and smooth
scroll.
There are also some things which the manual does NOT mention that
Crosstalk does incorrectly.
1) It sometimes scrolls the display when it should not.
2) It does not ignore escape sequences which are not supported
(parts of them appear on the screen).
3) It does not correctly handle some characters with more than one
attribute set:
a) Bold blink appears as bold.
b) Bold underline appears as underline.
c) Bold underline blink appears as underline blink.
d) Blink reverse appears as underline.
e) Bold reverse appears the same as reverse.
f) There is no underline in reverse mode.
g) There is no blink in reverse mode.
I have a VT100 test program which can confirm these claims. The
program is in the public domain (I originally got it from the net) so
I can mail it to anyone who requests it.
In summary, while this review may sound a bit negative, I don't want to
give the impression that I don't like Crosstalk. I do like it and I am
using it (version 3.21 in TVI 920 emulation) right now to compose this
article. I simply want to warn everyone that it's VT100 emulation mode
has a few bugs in it.
Dave Shanks
Teneron Corp.
6700 SW 105th, Suite 200
Beaverton, OR 97005
(503) 646-1599
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 27 Apr 84 2:31-PST
Date: 22 Apr 84 17:04:00-PST (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: pur-ee!uiucdcs!tapia @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Modula II
There are 3 companies that sell Modula-2 compilers.
1) Logitech, a subsidiary of a European firm.
Palo Alto, CA (415)326-3885, Approx. price $500
2) Volition Systems
P.O. Box 1236
Del Mar, CA 92014 (619)481-2286 (no idea about price)
3) Diser Inc. (no additional info about this company)
For references you might look in:
BYTE December 83 pp.59-64, August pp. 324-327.
I have learned about these firms because I'm trying to transport a Modula-2
compiler that runs on Lilith (the original Modula machine designed and
built by N. Wirth's group) to an IBM PC. I suspect that Logitech did
something similar already, i.e., they took the Lilith compiler that runs on
a PDP-11 (on an M-code interpreter) and modified its fourth pass to
generate 8086 code.
At the moment I am working with a version that runs on Unix in VAX
compatibility mode. So far I have had no problems with it. The documentation
I have, however, is poor. This version, which is not very different from
the one above since it was written by the same people, has the capability to
check for subrange and array run-time errors. I have no comments to make on
its speed, except for the fact that it isn't any slower than any other
software running on our system. Arrays are limited to 64K.
Cris Tapia
Univ. of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
Dept. of Computer Science
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 28 Apr 84 3:15-PST
Date: 24 Apr 84 7:28:34-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!drutx!houxe!hogpc!houxt!ijk @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: 8" Drives
I have obtained [legally] some software on 8 inch floppies (3740
format) for my PC. Now, I'm getting some 8" drives, but apparently
the software needed to run these drives is a scarce beast (according
to my local hardware dealer). This seems hard to believe, since the
drives are being produced and I have 8" floppies in hand. Am I
missing something, or does CPM have this built-in (and I only need
special software for PC-DOS)???? I've checked with the Xenocopy
people, and they may have something on the market in a few weeks to do
this, but ... Any insight would be appreciated.
Thanx
Ihor Kinal
------------------------------
Date: 29 Apr 1984 14:38:14 PDT
Subject: Re: 8" Drives
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: ihnp4!drutx!houxe!hogpc!houxt!ijk@UCB-VAX
cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
The standard IBM floppy controller will not run an 8" drive correctly
particularly in "single density" format. We have an 8" drive and controller
from Flagstaff Engineering of Flagstaff Arizona. Vista (in Irvine California)
and Maynard Electronics (somewhere in Florida) also make controllers
and drives for 8" floppies. I assume each of these manufacturers has
software packages to read the myriad formats found on 8" drives.
This is a very confused area and I for one know little about various
CPM and IBM 8" formats. This is the sort of thing INFO-IBMPC could keep
a data base on if someone would take the survey and send us the results.
I regularly read all the IBM-PC related magazines and have never seen
a survey of 8" floppy drive products. If anyone can point out such an
article it would be a great addition to my files.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 28 Apr 84 4:31-PST
Date: 22 Apr 84 7:37:13-PST (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!noscvax!uhpgvax!islenet!todd @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Re: Spurious Out-of-Memory Condition
This is not a solution to the >512K RAM problem, but it will (I hope)
give a credible reason for the problem of certain programs claiming
that the PC is "out of memory" when more than 512K is installed. If
you look at the DIP switch settings for specifying installed RAM size,
you will notice that the first four switch settings for 64K and 576K
are identical. Ditto for the settings for 128K and 640K. The fifth
switch is the determining factor here. If the program you use only
"looks at" the first four switch settings to check RAM size, it will
"think" that only 64K or 128K is there (for 576K and 640K
respectively). While patching the program is the optimum solution,
this is often not possible. In this case, you may simply want to
reset your RAM size selector to 512K and hope that your RAMdisk and
RAMspooling programs are able to recognize the memory above it anyway
(AST software can do this).
Todd Ogasawara -- University of Hawaii -- Dept. of Psychology
------------------------------
Date: 30 Apr 1984 1053 PDT
From: John McCluskey <MCCLUSKEY@JPL-VLSI.ARPA>
Subject: Hercules on CP/M-86 Query
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
A friend of mine has the Hercules graphics card, but no way of doing a
graphics dump to his printer. Has anyone written a sample driver for
the Hercules card for extracting the graphics buffer? He's using CPM-86
and has Pascal and assembly for his machine. My friend also wants to know
how to implement a ramdisk under CPM-86. Reply to me and I'll relay and
summarize as usual... John McCluskey
------------------------------
Date: 30 Apr 84 14:00:43 EDT
From: nrdcnola @ DDN2
Subject: TCP/IP Query
To: allusers @ DDN2, allusers @ ddn1, tcp-ip @ sri-nic, info-ibmpc @ usc-isib
CC: nrdcnola @ DDN2, murray @ ddn1
We have seen numerous references made to tcp/ip implementations for
microcomputers in mailbox correspondence over the past several months.
We're requesting information from any users that have implemented
tcp/ip (and ftp if available) on micros that may help us locate
sources for our own implementation. Specifically, we're interested in
a package to operate on a 16-bit micro under ms-dos (or compatible)
for connection to ddn and need the answers to such questions as:
1. What interfacing strategies have been used (i.e. ethernet,
x.25, 1822, etc.)?
2. Manufacturer and model of micro
3. Who provides tcp/ip, ftp, x.25, etc., software and/or
associated hardware?
4. Who provides support for the software?
5. What is the cost?
6. In what language is it written?
Any such information or points-of-contact that could be provided would
be greatly appreciated.
nrdcnola at ddn2
Lt P. L. Richardson -or- Mr Alan David
autovon 363-5730/5727
fts 686-5730/5727
comm 504-948-5730/5727
------------------------------
Date: 30 Apr 1984 1158-PDT
From: DBAKER@USC-ECL.ARPA
Subject: Avatar Query
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
Does anyone use the Avatar TC100/110 with the MS-DOS option and care
to share info on what programs are compatible? Or are there lists
someone can direct me to? Reply direct or call collect.
thanks
Dwight Baker
Hughes Aircraft
213-616-5685
d.baker@ecla
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 1 May 84 23:42-PDT
Date: 27 Apr 84 23:11:26-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!vax135!ray @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Quadram Board Problem
My IBM PC also started making annoying noises after I installed a
Quadram board, so the problem may be a design flaw in the new Quadram
384k board, rather than a pc problem. (The noise comes from the
speaker and is probably due to spiking on the power buss. If the CPU
is in a very tight loop it's a barely audible continuous high
frequency pitch which is annoying, and if it is listing to the screen
it comes out as clicks. Beware that subliminal high frequency noises
can cause significant discomfort so you folks in noisy environments
should make sure your pc is not making such noises.)
I called Quadram and they finally admitted that it might be a board
problem and to send it in. I'm now worried that that it's a design
flaw and I'll get the problem right back.
While we're on the subject of Quadram and all those other all in one
pc boards, here are my experiences with my 384k board (also includes
clock, serial port, parallel port, and some software):
(1) Their customer service people are bozos;
(2) the serial and parallel ports work but fail the IBM diagnostics
routines (apparently because of circuitry differences. I don't
like that, because who knows when the incompatibility will show
up. This gave me quite a heart ache.
(3) Their "software" doesn't seem to work properly. For example,
the print spooler occasionally drives the printer crazy or
simply hangs the system. It also won't work in Basic.
If you have any other device drivers like the ansi.sys or
printer device drivers included with dos 2.1, then forget it.
You can't do a system reset and the system behaves weird
occasionally (even when the Quaddriver is loaded first as
Quadram says).
(4) which brings us back to (1), customer service. You explain a
problem and they say they will call back, but never do. This
has happened six out of six times. There is a possibility that
they are doing this systematically to minimize returns and
overhead.
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 2 May 84 2:10-PDT
Date: 27 Apr 84 6:38:34-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!rlgvax!cvl!umcp-cs!aplvax!rgg @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: AST Board Experience
My AST Six-Pack Plus has worked perfectly since I took it out of the
box and slipped it into my PC four months ago. I know of several
other people who have had similar good experiences with AST boards.
Their software and documentation are quite good. Thankfully, I have
no experience with their customer service department. (You know a
product is good when you can't comment on customer service!)
I waited for a while to buy one of the new 384K Quadram boards, but
got disgusted after I found they were advertising the product long
before it was actually available.
Considering I bought my AST board for $259 (including 64KB ram), I am
very satisfied. Make this one vote for AST.
Richard Greenberg
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 2 May 84 1:46-PDT
Date: 27 Apr 84 6:08:11-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!inuxc!druid @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: AST Board Experience
I've had no problem at all with my AST SixPack. Their (AST's)
technical people are cooperative also.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 2 May 84 14:08 PDT
From: "Borchers Bob%LLL"@LLL-MFE.ARPA
Subject: Turbo Pascal
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
I just talked to a person from Borland, the creators of Turbo Pascal.
I had called to see if there was a version that would run on a plain
vanilla MSDOS machine. The answer is that there are in fact at least
two versions, one for the IBMPC which uses direct calls to the BIOS
and a version which uses only DOS calls. An interesting additional
piece of information was that they have announced and apparently are
shipping a new release which provides 8087 support among other things.
If I remember correctly the upgrade is $69.95 plus $5 plus your old
disk (add sales tax if in CA). Without a trade the price was $89.95.
As usual my only connection with Borland is as a satisfied customer
and I agree that the text editor is worth the price alone.
Bob Borchers@lll-mfe
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 2 May 84 17:31 PDT
From: Gloger.es@XEROX.ARPA
Subject: Spice
To: INFO-VLSI@SANDIA.ARPA, INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
You might be interested in the following product announcement for a
version of the Spice circuit simulation program that runs on the IBM PC.
"Blume Engineering is pleased to announce the release of PSpice, a
program which simulates electrical circuits. PSpice runs on any IBM PC
or XT computer system with 512 kilobytes of memory, the floating-point
co-processor, and the MSDOS 2.0 operating system. Based on the popular
Spice program from UC Berkeley, PSpice offers the owner of an IBM PC the
capabilities previously available only on large machines, and with
improved convergence properties. PSpice will calculate the dc
characteristics, the frequency response, the noise, and the behavior
over time of a circuit. It can simulate circuits with up to 120
transistors. Its speed is about 1/5 that of Spice running on a VAX
11/780 with floating-point processor board. PSpice with user's guide is
$650. An update subscription service is available for $65/year. The
user's guide is available separately for $35. For more information call
Blume Engineering at (714) 731-8091."
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------
∂05-May-84 1649 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #50
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 5 May 84 16:48:58 PDT
Date: 5 May 1984 16:02:01 PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #50
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 5 May 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 50
This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann
Today's Topics:
Table of Contents, Othello
Hi-Res IBM Color Graphics Soon?
IBM PC/IX Network and Message System
STB Boards
Mysterious Speaker Noises
More on AST boards
STSC APL Memory
Trapping I/O Errors in MS Pascal
CI-C86 v2.1
Turbo Pascal 2.0
Relational DBMS Query
XMODEM Protocol
Crosstalk vs. SmarTerm
Kamermann Labs Hard Disk
Datec Modem Problems
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 5 May 1984 13:41:05 PDT
Subject: Table of Contents, Othello
From: Gillmann@ISIB
To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
Nagy@BRL has been kind enough to compile a Table of Contents for the
April digests. It can be found in the file [ISIB]<INFO-IBMPC>TOC.APR84.
Also, I have placed an Othello (Reversi) game in OTHELLO.FOR. This
program was adapted from the PC-Blue library into Microsoft Fortran 77.
It plays a very strong game of Othello!
------------------------------
Date: Fri 4 May 84 17:28:56-PDT
From: Herm Fischer <HFISCHER@USC-ECLB.ARPA>
Subject: Hi-Res IBM Color Graphics Soon?
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
My company has received several IBM 3270 PC/XTs shipped with a text-
only color display whose resolution makes the standard PC seem crummy.
However, these XT 3270's lack a graphics capability, which "might be
shipped in 3rd Qtr", and "might cost about $550".
The BIOS calls and modes for this new color display are important for
those writing color graphics software, because they differ from what
we have now on the "plain old PC graphics" card. (It seems that many
of the applications which write directly into the screen memory will
need to be modified.)
[It sure seems to me that the same monitor and graphics hardware could
be plugged into a non-3270 PC or XT, for non-eye-strained color
characters, but I have no idea of what really will come!]
The following is excerpted from SC23-0103, page G-47:
"Using the Full Screen All Points Addressable Mode
When emulating the IBM PC color graphics adapter [on the new card],
note that approximately one half of the display screen is used (640 x
200 PELs). In addition, the All Points Addressable adapter [the new
graphic card's name] is capable of displaying 720 x 350 PELs. To set
this full screen mode, a video interrupt (INT '10') must be made to
BIOS. For high resolution full screen graphics mode (720 x 350 PELs),
register AH must contain '0' and register AL '30'. For medium
resolution full screen graphics mode (360 x 350 PELs), register AH
must contain '0' and register AL must contain '31'.
For either full screen graphics mode, the storage addressing scheme
CHANGES from the standard IBM PC odd/even scans to a simpler,
contiguous map of 32K starting at 'B8000'. For example, the first
byte of the second scan line is addressed as 90 ('5A').
The BIOS character generator cannot be used while in full screen mode.
Aspect ratios differ as follows:
PC card New graphics
High res 5:12 32:54 (~2:3)
Med res 5:6 35:27 (~5:4)
In BASIC, add the aspect ratio parameter to the CIRCLE command to get
circles instead of ovals on the display screen. The correct aspect
ratio parameters are also available dynamically. A video interrupt
(INT '10') must be made to BIOS. Register AH must contain a '30'.
This causes an address to be returned in CX (segment) and DX (offset)
which points to the aspect in two hexadecimal bytes: '23' and '36' for
high resolution, or '23' and '1B' for medium resolution.
------------------------------
Date: Fri 4 May 84 15:47:34-PDT
From: Herm Fischer <HFISCHER@USC-ECLB.ARPA>
Subject: IBM PC/IX Network and Message System
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
[excerpts from IBM's May 1 announcement:]
The IBM Interactive Network and Message System (INNET/INMAIL) is
designed to operate on the IBM PC under the UNIX operating system
(PC/IX). It provides queued transfer of files and electronic messages
between users sharing the same computer. The system allows users to
send, receive, update, print, delete, restore, move, copy, search, and
review messages. Remote printing is also provided.
INNET/INMAIL provides an easy to use message sending and receiving
facility for business organizations.
INNET/INMAIL is NOT intended for use with IBM's strategic office
system architectures.
Each user has a primary, private mailbox for sending mail to, and
receiving mail from other users. Messages are written, read, and
edited using a standard form, menu, and the PC/IX screen editor. All
facilities for sending and receiving messages are supported, including
selecting, reading, creating, filing, and deleting messages.
Distribution includes two floppy disks, documentation, a license
agreement, and a registration card.
Planned availability is July 17, 1984.
Program number is 6410976, feature number is 9217.
One-time charge of $300 includes updates through 7/31/86.
[Author's opinions based on experience with these products on VAXen
are that INMAIL (at least on VAXen) provides facilities similar to
what ARPANET DEC-20 users have via MSG and SNDMSG, and INnet somewhat
duplicates FTP.]
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 3 May 84 1:20-PDT
Date: 27 Apr 84 16:41:50-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!we13!ll1!mfn @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: STB Boards
I have 2 PC's , 1 running VENIX and 1 PCDOS and a Compaq also running
VENIX. I have had very good luck with STB boards in all of them. I
run their color graphics board in the VENIX system because of its no
flicker static ram. I run the Super RIO multifunction board in all of
them. The Super Rio has 256 k mem with another 512 added on piggy
back. It has 2 serial ports and a parallel. Also a clock with
external battery (pen lite cell). It comes with a software package
called PC Accelerator (PCA). This package has a print spooler and up
to two electronic disks. One of the nice features is a soft reset
which will reboot the system, but leave the spooler spooling and keep
the contents of the electronic disks intact. I have had a 128k
spooler file running, and rebooted CCP/M86, and the spooler still
runs. I have found NO PCDOS package to not run properly with either
the boards, or the software. The Super Rio has a metal bracket that
mounts on the back of the pc and holds the 3 db25's for the ports. It
also has a IBM type game adapter that will take Apple or IBM
controllers. The company is very receptive to callers. I had a
problem with VENIX not liking the parallel port where it was, and STB
sent me a new PAL that relocated the port at no charge.
Randy Suess CBBS(tm)
------------------------------
Date: 3 May 1984 08:36:29 PDT
Subject: Mysterious Speaker Noises
From: Craig Milo Rogers <ROGERS@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
My IBM-PC has a JRAM card for electronic disk memory. I notice
low-level tones from the speaker during any electronic disk access. I
use the tones to tell how well my compiles and LINKs are progressing,
without having to look at the screen.
Craig Milo Rogers
------------------------------
Date: Fri 4 May 84 09:56:57-PDT
From: Hellmut Golde <GOLDE@WASHINGTON.ARPA>
Subject: More on AST boards
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
To add a bit more information to the recent Quadram-AST message flurry:
I bought an AST ComboPlus card more than a year ago. It came with 64 k
memory, a clock-calendar with battery, a serial and a parallel port. I
plugged it in and it has worked ever since. I have twice bought 64 k
bytes of additional memory chips from a different source (two
different chip manufacturers), have inserted them into the AST board,
changed the DIP switches, and all was well.
Also, the battery is still ok.
I have had no need to contact AST -- but at least this product is good.
--HG
[Several other messages praising AST boards were also received. -Ed.]
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 3 May 84 2:11-PDT
Date: 4 May 84 6:16:19-EDT (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!ulysses!burl!clyde!akgua!sdcsvax!noscvax!uhpgvax!islenet!todd @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: STSC APL Memory
Somewhere and somewhen ago I read/heard that the STSC APL*PLUS/PC
forced those with more than 512K RAM installed to reset their pc dip
switches to 512K RAM. The word was that STSC and other programs
read only the first four positions of the five RAM dip switches and
"got confused."
Well, I just took delivery of STSC APL*PLUS/PC version 3.1 and it
works perfectly in my 576K RAM IBM PC. Just put in the APL
character generator, pop in the diskette and fly.
Todd Ogasawara -- University of Hawaii -- Dept. of Psychology
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 3 May 84 2:10-PDT
Date: 27 Apr 84 9:24:18-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!ulysses!burl!clyde!akgua!sdcsvax!noscvax!uhpgvax!islenet!todd @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Trapping I/O Errors in MS Pascal
This info is based on the older IBM Pascal (MS-Pascal is several
generations ahead) and may not be completely true for the new
implementation.
assign (fp, filename); {filename assigned}
fp.trap := true; {trap errors here}
if fp.errs = 10
then writeln('File ',filename,' does not exist.');
Each file has its own 'trap' and 'errs' system values. Thus, you do
not need to declare 'fp.trap' and 'fp.errs'. Hope this helps you.
Todd Ogasawara -- University of Hawaii -- Dept. of Psychology
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 3 May 84 2:20-PDT
Date: 28 Apr 84 7:21:20-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!ctk @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: CI-C86 v2.1
I just got my copy of the new CI-C86 C compiler. This is v2.1 and was
one of the choices for the free update that came with v1.33. I managed
to recompile all my stuff with trouble only with a few assembler
functions. I writing this on a terminal emulator that I wrote using
v1.33 and recompiled with the new compiler.
The package comes in three double sided disks. Most of the files are
in a squeezed format and must be unsqueezed before use. You have your
choice of 8 libraries that use small or big model, dos2 or all
versions of dos, 8087 or software floats. The documentation is much
improved and as before the source to all the library functions is
included. The I/O redirection bug has been fixed.
I use the dos2, small model, 8087 library. All comments below are
about that library. The compiler is **big**. The library is over 100k;
it's a 4 pass compiler (the last pass being an 'optimizer') and each
pass of the compiler is 30-60 k. You use the standard dos linker that
comes with dos. Compiles and (especially) links are slower than with
previous versions. The package includes a library manager for .lib
files that is compatible with the dos linker.
I ran a few of the benchmarks from the 8/83 issue of byte.
program old time new time
intmath3 13.8sec 12.02sec
pointer1 75.2 49.37
sieve 17.4 13.51
float 45.3 14.39
As you can see the really dramatic improvement is with the floating
point support. This is most of my work and I'm very happy with this.
The compiler will do an LU factorization of a 50x50 matrix of doubles
using partial pivoting in 7 sec. This is faster than Microsoft
fortran, a SageII running either the P-system (big deal) or APL under
cpm-68k.
I'm happy. My only complaint is that the thing is so big. By the way,
the exe files generated by the linker are a good deal smaller for
floating point intensive code than before. For non-floating point code
the exe files are roughly the same size.
C.T. Kelley
Dept. of Math.
N.C. State U.
Raleigh, N.C. 27650
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 4 May 84 12:08:00 pdt
From: Robert A. Dukelow <dukelow%cod@Nosc>
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: Turbo Pascal 2.0
An associate just received her version of Turbo Pascal 2.0 for the IBM
PC. I haven't got mine yet and can't comment much about the new
features but I did test for the bug I reported earlier (concerning
assignment to arrays of "strings"). It is now fixed. With all those
new features the standard compiler has grown from 33280 bytes to 36480
bytes (plus 1408 to 1536 bytes for the message file).
Bob Dukelow
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 5 May 84 0:49-PDT
Date: 1 May 84 13:16:50-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!intelca!t4test!chip @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Relational DBMS Query
I'm curious if anybody has found a good *relational* DBMS which runs
on the IBM PC. What I'd really like is "mistress" on a PC; it has
many of the features I want. This is stuff like a query language
interface, as well as several levels of interface through
software--especially C. (That seems to rule out DBase II and
look-a-likes.)
Chip Rosenthal, Intel/Santa Clara
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 3 May 84 4:39-PDT
Date: 28 Apr 84 5:15:53-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!whuxle!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: XMODEM Protocol
MODEM PROTOCOL OVERVIEW 178 lines, 7.5K
1/1/82 by Ward Christensen. I will maintain a master copy of
this. Please pass on changes or suggestions via CBBS/Chicago
at (312) 545-8086, or by voice at (312) 849-6279.
NOTE this does not include things which I am not familiar with,
such as the CRC option implemented by John Mahr.
Last Rev: (none)
At the request of Rick Mallinak on behalf of the guys at
Standard Oil with IBM P.C.s, as well as several previous
requests, I finally decided to put my modem protocol into
writing. It had been previously formally published only in the
AMRAD newsletter.
Table of Contents
1. DEFINITIONS
2. TRANSMISSION MEDIUM LEVEL PROTOCOL
3. MESSAGE BLOCK LEVEL PROTOCOL
4. FILE LEVEL PROTOCOL
5. DATA FLOW EXAMPLE INCLUDING ERROR RECOVERY
6. PROGRAMMING TIPS.
-------- 1. DEFINITIONS.
<soh> 01H
<eot> 04H
<ack> 05H
<nak> 15H
<can> 18H
-------- 2. TRANSMISSION MEDIUM LEVEL PROTOCOL
Asynchronous, 8 data bits, no parity, one stop bit.
The protocol imposes no restrictions on the contents of the
data being transmitted. No control characters are looked for
in the 128-byte data messages. Absolutely any kind of data may
be sent - binary, ASCII, etc. The protocol has not formally
been adopted to a 7-bit environment for the transmission of
ASCII-only (or unpacked-hex) data , although it could be simply
by having both ends agree to AND the protocol-dependent data
with 7F hex before validating it. I specifically am referring
to the checksum, and the block numbers and their ones-
complement.
Those wishing to maintain compatibility of the CP/M file
structure, i.e. to allow modemming ASCII files to or from CP/M
systems should follow this data format:
* ASCII tabs used (09H); tabs set every 8.
* Lines terminated by CR/LF (0DH 0AH)
* End-of-file indicated by ↑Z, 1AH. (one or more)
* Data is variable length, i.e. should be considered a
continuous stream of data bytes, broken into 128-byte
chunks purely for the purpose of transmission.
* A CP/M "peculiarity": If the data ends exactly on a
128-byte boundary, i.e. CR in 127, and LF in 128, a
subsequent sector containing the ↑Z EOF character(s)
is optional, but is preferred. Some utilities or
user programs still do not handle EOF without ↑Zs.
* The last block sent is no different from others, i.e.
there is no "short block".
-------- 3. MESSAGE BLOCK LEVEL PROTOCOL
Each block of the transfer looks like:
<SOH><blk #><255-blk #><--128 data bytes--><cksum>
in which:
<SOH> = 01 hex
<blk #> = binary number, starts at 01 increments by 1, and
wraps 0FFH to 00H (not to 01)
<255-blk #> = blk # after going thru 8080 "CMA" instr, i.e.
each bit complemented in the 8-bit block number.
Formally, this is the "ones complement".
<cksum> = the sum of the data bytes only. Toss any carry.
-------- 4. FILE LEVEL PROTOCOL
---- 4A. COMMON TO BOTH SENDER AND RECEIVER:
All errors are retried 10 times. For versions running with
an operator (i.e. NOT with XMODEM), a message is typed after 10
errors asking the operator whether to "retry or quit".
Some versions of the protocol use <can>, ASCII ↑X, to
cancel transmission. This was never adopted as a standard, as
having a single "abort" character makes the transmission
susceptible to false termination due to an <ack> <nak> or <soh>
being corrupted into a <can> and canceling transmission.
The protocol may be considered "receiver driven", that is,
the sender need not automatically re-transmit, although it does
in the current implementations.
---- 4B. RECEIVE PROGRAM CONSIDERATIONS:
The receiver has a 10-second timeout. It sends a <nak>
every time it times out. The receiver's first timeout, which
sends a <nak>, signals the transmitter to start. Optionally,
the receiver could send a <nak> immediately, in case the sender
was ready. This would save the initial 10 second timeout.
However, the receiver MUST continue to timeout every 10 seconds
in case the sender wasn't ready.
Once into a receiving a block, the receiver goes into a
one-second timeout for each character and the checksum. If the
receiver wishes to <nak> a block for any reason (invalid
header, timeout receiving data), it must wait for the line to
clear. See "programming tips" for ideas
Synchronizing: If a valid block number is received, it
will be: 1) the expected one, in which case everything is fine;
or 2) a repeat of the previously received block. This should
be considered OK, and only indicates that the receivers <ack>
got glitched, and the sender re-transmitted; 3) any other block
number indicates a fatal loss of synchronization, such as the
rare case of the sender getting a line-glitch that looked like
an <ack>. Abort the transmission, sending a <can>
---- 4C. SENDING PROGRAM CONSIDERATIONS.
While waiting for transmission to begin, the sender has
only a single very long timeout, say one minute. In the
current protocol, the sender has a 10 second timeout before
retrying. I suggest NOT doing this, and letting the protocol
be completely receiver-driven. This will be compatible with
existing programs.
When the sender has no more data, it sends an <eot>, and
awaits an <ack>, resending the <eot> if it doesn't get one.
Again, the protocol could be receiver-driven, with the sender
only having the high-level 1-minute timeout to abort.
-------- 5. DATA FLOW EXAMPLE INCLUDING ERROR RECOVERY
Here is a sample of the data flow, sending a 3-block message.
It includes the two most common line hits - a garbaged block,
and an <ack> reply getting garbaged. <xx> represents the
checksum byte.
SENDER RECEIVER
times out after 10 seconds,
<--- <nak>
<soh> 01 FE -data- <xx> --->
<--- <ack>
<soh> 02 FD -data- xx ---> (data gets line hit)
<--- <nak>
<soh> 02 FD -data- xx --->
<--- <ack>
<soh> 03 FC -data- xx --->
(ack gets garbaged) <--- <ack>
<soh> 03 FC -data- xx ---> <ack>
<eot> --->
<--- <ack>
-------- 6. PROGRAMMING TIPS.
* The character-receive subroutine should be called with a
parameter specifying the number of seconds to wait. The
receiver should first call it with a time of 10, then <nak> and
try again, 10 times.
After receiving the <soh>, the receiver should call the
character receive subroutine with a 1-second timeout, for the
remainder of the message and the <cksum>. Since they are sent
as a continuous stream, timing out of this implies a serious
like glitch that caused, say, 127 characters to be seen instead
of 128.
* When the receiver wishes to <nak>, it should call a "PURGE"
subroutine, to wait for the line to clear. Recall the sender
tosses any characters in its UART buffer immediately upon
completing sending a block, to ensure no glitches were mis-
interpreted.
The most common technique is for "PURGE" to call the
character receive subroutine, specifying a 1-second timeout,
and looping back to PURGE until a timeout occurs. The <nak> is
then sent, ensuring the other end will see it.
* You may wish to add code recommended by John Mahr to your
character receive routine - to set an error flag if the UART
shows framing error, or overrun. This will help catch a few
more glitches - the most common of which is a hit in the high
bits of the byte in two consecutive bytes. The <cksum> comes
out OK since counting in 1-byte produces the same result of
adding 80H + 80H as with adding 00H + 00H.
------------------------------
Date: 3 May 1984 22:20-PDT
From: granacki%USC-CSE@USC-ECL.ARPA
To: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
Subject: Crosstalk vs. SmarTerm
I have used a version of Crosstalk a while back and a VT100, it
wasn't! I also had access to another program called SmarTerm it did
an excellent VT100 emulation, especially for Emacs. Also, the file
capture and transmit was all very user friendly (not my experience
with Crosstalk).
John
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 5 May 84 0:31:18 EDT
From: Joe Pistritto <jcp@Brl-Tgr.ARPA>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
cc: mike@Brl-Tgr.ARPA, rnj@Brl-Tgr.ARPA, dpk@Brl-Tgr.ARPA, kermit@Brl-Tgr.ARPA
Subject: Kamermann Labs Hard Disk
My 10 Mb hard disk from Kamermann Labs came today in the mail. (This
is the one I've been waiting for since early March). And I must say,
it works like a charm.
The controller is a DTC 5150BX, which will control two ST-506
compatible winchesters, (capacity up to 28Mb, independently selectable
for both drives). The standard system, (which I got), is the
controller and one 10Mb Micro-Sci drive, (10Mb, 306 cylinders, 4
heads). My next drive will probably be a 28Mb one, (might as well
pack in all the capacity you can get).
It took about 40 minutes to install, and the supplied mounting and
cabling works perfectly in a PC-II. The PC will even auto-boot the
thing, (without any monkeying around with drivers, roms, etc.) They
supply a diskette which includes programs to utilize the thing on a
PC-I or various IBM lookalikes without Fixed Disk roms.
The one problem is power supply. (not enough of, that is). The
standard 63.5 watt PC-II supply will run one floppy, one winchester,
256Kb, one serial port, one parallel port, a color graphics board and
THAT'S IT! I mean not one little component extra... (for instance,
adding 64K on my AST board drags it down). The power supply is very
good about it, mind you, it just shuts down quietly when you turn the
PC on as the winchester is trying to spin up, but it definitely WILL
NOT power the thing with more components than that plugged in. (Don't
even think about using an 8087 with this combination, those things EAT
power!). I suspect this wouldn't be a problem in an expansion
chassis, however, which is what I will go to when I get a second
drive.
Anyway, its been running great, with no heat problems for six hours
(I've been checking hourly for heat buildup), will keep you all
posted...
Megabytes for the Masses
-JCP-
------------------------------
Received: from Usenet.uucp by sri-unix.uucp with rs232; 5 May 84 1:29-PDT
Date: 31 Mar 84 2:49:21-PST (Sat)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!ctk @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Datec Modem Problems
Our research group recently bought 4 Datec Pal 1200 baud modems (we
got a good deal on a state contract). One is for my use at the office
and at home. At my office the thing works fine with a Televideo 920c.
At home I have an IBM PC and the PAL fails *even the loopback test*.
What is the deal here? Datec says that the problem is either with the
cable or IBM. Has anyone else had this problem? What is the proper
Datec to ibm interface? I am using a very old PC and an AST megaplus
II card. I need help if the DATEC PAL is to be more that a very
expensive boat anchor. By the way, the more expensive Datec 212 also
worked in the office and failed at home.
C.T. Kelley
Dept. of Math.
N.C. State U.
Raleigh, N.C. 27650
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
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∂09-May-84 0202 INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #51
Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by SU-AI.ARPA with TCP; 9 May 84 02:01:47 PDT
Date: 8 May 1984 21:06:20 PDT
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V3 #51
From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC: ;
Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 8 May 1984 Volume 3 : Issue 51
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
Xenix for IBM PC
Tecmar IEEE board to HP plotter
Cartridge Tape Disk
Relational DBMS Query ("Mistress" on PC??)
XMODEM Protocol Query
Tecmar Service Review
Project Planner
PC Printers
AST board experience
Patching DOS2.1 to act like DOS2.0
Graphics Board Info Wanted
Logo Inquiry
RS-232 protocols on PC? - (nf)
MICROSOFT WORD and the "Prowriter"
CI Compiler
Communication with Unix/YTERM
Communication with Unix
Monte-Carlo←board
Helionetics Array Processor Board
Tandon XTra Hard Disk Query
Hercules Graphic Card Screendump
Assemblers
Assemblers -- Programmers' Shop
PC<==>UNIX file transfer programs needed
Any bad side effects when using ANSI.SYS ??
HAYES SMARTMODEM???
FORTRAN Compiler For Sale
DeSmet C (Many messages)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 6 May 84 10:40:30 EDT
From: Dave Farber <farber@udel-ee.arpa>
To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.csnet@udel-ee.arpa
Subject: Xenix for IBM PC
I just brought up the Santa Cruz Operations Xenix for the IBM
PC. It is a complete system, well documented and seems to
be all there. It has a neat "local" network capability that
uses rs232 to get rather good networking (remote files
etc).
As opposed to the Venix folks, the people at SCO know what they
have and how it works. I could dial in via a modem with NO
difficulties -- still cannot get Venix to do that.
Dave
------------------------------
Date: 2 May 84 6:14:57-PDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!unc!jge @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Tecmar IEEE board to HP plotter
I am trying to interface an HP7470A plotter to a PC/XT with Tecmar's
PC-Mate IEEE488 board. Tecmar's documentation for their BASIC software
package is terrible and their customer service is a joke. Surely someone
out there has addressed this problem. I would like to set up a C routine
which sets things up for 1-way communication, from PC to plotter, and another
which allows sending ASCII command strings to the plotter.
------------------------------
Date: 2 May 84 6:17:47-PDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!billb @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: cartridge tape disk
In the May 29 issue of PC (Page 314), is an announcement of "Zeke":
a 28 meg removable cartridge tape system that acts like another
disk. It provides full random access, can be used as either a
standalone or as a backup system. list price is $1195.
Anyone been able to get their hands on one of these things yet ? and
if so, have any experiences to share?
Thanks Bill Boyarsky, Duke
------------------------------
Date: Sun 6 May 84 09:44:20-PDT
From: Herm Fischer <HFISCHER@USC-ECLB.ARPA>
Subject: Relational DBMS Query ("Mistress" on PC??)
To: hplabs!intelca!t4test!chip@UCB-VAX.ARPA
cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA, hfischer@USC-ECLB.ARPA
Chip (Is that your real name, or what you get for working at Intel?),
The folks who bring out Mistress have told my company that Mistress
is being used on Venix and other PC-hosted Unixes, and that they intend
to also support PC/IX.
As soon as I get my own PC/IX back order delivered, I intend to order a
Mistress for it and will report on it then.
Herm Fischer
arpa: HFischer@eclb
uucp: ..{trwrb,cepu}!litvax!fischer
-------
------------------------------
Date: 29 Apr 84 14:55:19-PDT (Sun)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!whuxle!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: XMODEM Protocol Query
The first copy had a mistake in it. The ACK should be a
x'06' and not a x'05'. Hope no one problems with it. That's
what I get for not checking stuff that I get off of BBSs.
[The INFO-IBMPC Archives have been updated to reflect this change -ed]
------------------------------
Date: 1 May 84 12:59:12-PDT (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!houxm!mhuxl!mhuxm!lmb @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Tecmar Service Review
As of this writing, my technician and I have exceeded ten
calls in one week to Tecmar "customer service", just trying
to get a trace put on equipment they shipped to us via UPS
ten days ago. UPS assures us that they can trace a shipment
within four days, but the Tecmar customer service rep.
doesn't agree with our info.
The equipment is a replacement for a Labmaster unit.
We are not happy with the service.
------------------------------
Date: 10 Apr 84 12:49:55-PST (Tue)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: !ssc-vax!fluke!limey @ Uw-Beaver
Subject: PROJECT PLANNER
I wonder if anybody could help!
I'm looking for a Project Planner to run on the IBM PC. It should be capable of
CPM (PERT) and Resource Allocation.
Any suggestions?
Anybody use any other Project Management tools on the IBM PC?
thanks,
Paul Baldock
------------------------------
Date: 2 May 84 17:17:42-PDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!tektronix!orca!iddic!rogerm @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PC Printers
Need some help......What data exists on what it takes to be compatible with
the IBM PC as far as talking to the printer over a Centronics interface.
Responses will be summarized and posted back to the net. Printers could be
for example, the Epson, the IBM, P1350s , etc.
TIA
Roger
------------------------------
Date: 2 May 84 14:07:56-PDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!duke!bcw @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: AST board experience
I have an AST board which has caused no problems (it's one of the
6-pack boards). The only gripe I have is that there seem to be
some problems with the spooler software which comes with it - it
does work **much, much** faster than the DOS 2.0 print spooler -
when it works!! Often if you do anything (it can be as innocuous
as a DIR) while the spooler is reading anything from disk, the
system gets wedged somehow and must be rebooted by turning the
machine off (CTL-ALT-DEL doesn't work). Ugh. I've tried several
combinations but none seem to work, so I gave up on it since I
don't have time at the moment to figure out if it's DOS, the
spooler, or me which is causing the problem. Ran on a bit about
the spooler problem, it's not really causing any trouble (now that
we're not using it), the rest of the product (hardware & software)
seem to work great.
Bruce C. Wright
------------------------------
Date: 3 May 84 10:21:32-PDT (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hao!seismo!rlgvax!cvl!umcp-cs!aplvax!rgg @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Patching DOS2.1 to act like DOS2.0
I have not seen a posting of how to patch the disk settle
time parameters in 2.1 so that they are the same as in 2.0.
If anyone knows how to do this, please let me know.
Thanks.
--
Richard Greenberg
...decvax!harpo!seismo!umcp-cs!aplvax!rgg
...rlgvax!cvl!umcp-cs!aplvax!rgg
------------------------------
Date: 11 Apr 84 20:37:58-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: mark@Berkeley
Subject: Graphics Board Info Wanted
I'm looking for a graphics board to put on an XT. What I really want
is a single board that will serve as either an IBM monochrome board
or an IBM color board, at the flip of a switch and change of a monitor.
(It would be nice to have graphics on a monochrome monitor, too, but
this is not essential.) I intend to run several different operating
systems on the XT (Venix/86 primarily, but also QNX and MS-DOS) for
which I won't have sources, so I can't install somebody's MS-DOS patch
to make a board work. (I gather this rules out the STB board.)
I initially intend to use it in monochrome mode with an Amdek 310A
monitor (which looks like a IBM monochrome monitor to the machine.)
I would also like it to not flicker on the color monitor when the
screen scrolls (the IBM color board does with some software.)
There are a number of boards out there: STB Graphics Plus; PC Comp
Bigraphics; Paradise; Plantronics Colorplus; Quadram Quadcolor;
Amdek MAI; Multigraph; USI; Tecmar. My information on them is limited to
what's printed in PC magazine (e.g. the product name and price).
I would appreciate hearing (by mail, I'll summarize) from users of
these boards. How do you like it? Is it plug compatible or did you
have to patch MS-DOS (apparently a change to AUTOEXEC.BAT is needed
to initialize a mode to something other than garbage in the STB and
the TecMar?)
Also, where is Keytronics located? The order-taker-types for the two
ads mentioning them can barely tie their own shoelaces, much less tell
me where to call for literature.
"Thanks in advance"
Mark Horton
mark@cbosgd.UUCP (cbosgd!mark)
mark@Berkeley.ARPA
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 7 May 84 13:24 EDT
From: "Roger C. King" <RCKing@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA>
Subject: Logo Inquiry
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Now that Dr. Logo (Digital Research) and IBM Logo have been
out for some time, can anyone compare the two implementations?
Roger King <focus @ LL>
[PC, PC World, and Personal Computer Age have recently carried articles on
the various Logos -ed]
------------------------------
Date: 19 Apr 84 12:06:36-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!hpda!fortune!mbr @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: RS-232 protocols on PC? - (nf)
I am writing code to do I/O using an RS-232 port on the IBM PC, and
I need to support the following forms of handshaking:
software: DC1/DC3
ETX/ACK
hardware: DSR/DTR
CTS/RTS
I have read the section entitled "IBM Asynchronous Communications Adapter"
(pp. 1-183 to 1-212) of the IBM PC/XT Technical Reference. I can find no
information on how to set up handshaking. Do I have to code the protocol
myself, or have I missed something in the documentation?
Please reply by mail. I will summarize to the net when the responses dwindle.
{ihnp4,ucbvax!amd70,hpda,sri-unix,harpo}!fortune!mbr
[An earlier message has pointed out that these flow control schemes are
supported by the various comm packages in INFO-IBMPC program library -ed]
------------------------------
Date: 18 Apr 84 12:05:31-PST (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: !ssc-vax!fluke!limey @ Uw-beaver
Subject: MICROSOFT WORD and the "Prowriter"
Has anybody adapted MICROSOFT WORD (IBM PC) to work with the Prowriter
Printer?. My Version 100 does not include any information on how to create the
.PRD file.
Help!!!!
Paul Baldock
206 356 5546
------------------------------
Date: 19 Apr 84 17:05:42-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!we13!ll1!mfn @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: CI Compiler
I have been using and am VERY happy with the new optimizing
compiler from Computer Innovations. I have to write code at work on
a Zenith Z-100 under Dos 2.0 for a Cable TV head end unit, and CI86
produces tight, fast code. The latest version has an optimizing pass
that produces code about 30% smaller and 20-50% faster than Lattice
C. It supports the 8087 and gives the complete source to the library.
I have two PC's at home, one with VENIX, and I bring the code home from
work, transfer it to VENIX and run lint and the other tools on it. I have
had no incompatibilities between CI86 and the VENIX C compiler. I have
Lattice c, Aztec C, Mark Williams C (DOS and Coherent), and other than
absolutely LOVING to program under VENIX, CI86 is the only other compiler
I use.
Randy Suess CBBS(tm)
------------------------------
Date: 19 Apr 84 14:49:57-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!ulysses!allegra!princeton!tilt!chenr @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Communication with Unix/YTERM
We have YTERM here at Princeton. Among other things, I hear that the
file transfer functions have a tendency to overwrite both files on the
local PC and the remote IBM mainframe. A real party time... They
say that Yale has promised to fix this in the next release.
Not holding my breath (as a matter of fact, not even caring),
--
>From the Random Fingers of --
Ray Chen
{allegra | ihnp4 | mhuxi}!princeton!down!tilt!chenr
"It's amazing what a thousand monkeys and a few typewriters can accomplish..."
------------------------------
Date: 20 Apr 84 5:51:13-PST (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!whuxle!jph @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Communication with Unix
If you want a reasonable **FREE** terminal emulation
package, I have one that is specifically designed to work
with UNIX(tm) via its own TERMCAP entry which is similar to
an HP-2621. It also supports upload/download of text files
and provides XMODEM support for the transfer of any type of
file. It is written in PASCAL and MACRO and supports upto
9600 baud. If you would like a copy of the executable module
and the source, send me a floppy and a self-addressed,
**STAMPED** return envelop.
Jim Holtman
35 Dogwood Trail
Randolph, NJ 07869
(201) 361-3395
------------------------------
Date: 26 Apr 84 10:41:43-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!ihuxf!bryan @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Monte-Carlo←board
Does anybody have the schematic for the Monte-Carlo board for the
IBM-PC/XT ?
ihuxf!bryan
312-979-3987
------------------------------
Date: 8 May 1984 7:35-PDT
From: dietz%USC-CSE@USC-ECL.ARPA
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Subject: Helionetics Array Processor Board
Can anyone tell me about array processor boards for the PC? I've heard
Helionetics makes one that supposedly increases the floating point
computation speed of the PC by a factor of 10,000 (compared to what, I
don't know).
Paul Dietz (dietz%usc-cse@csnet-relay or dietz@usc-ecla)
------------------------------
Date: 8 May 1984 10:59:35 PDT
Subject: Tandon XTra Hard Disk Query
From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
I've been looking for an add-on hard disk for my 64K PC-I. I'm
looking for an external one with its own power supply (because the
PC-I's is marginal anyway), and as XT compatible as possible. The
Tandon XTra seems to fit my needs, selling for $1495 for 10 MB. This
includes its own power supply. Has anyone used one of these disks?
Are they reliable? How XT compatible are they?
-------
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 May 84 16:27:20 EDT
From: "Richard Jeff Lehman"@UMich-MTS.Mailnet
Subject: Hercules Graphic Card Screendump
To: John McCluskey@JPL-VLSI.ARPA c/o INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
(Note: I'm following crude instructions on how to get a message into
INFO-IBMPC. Please pass this along as appropriate. Thanks.)
1. Hercules sells a package, GRAPH-X (about $50.), which includes the
PCDOS utility, HARDCOPY.COM, to do screendumps.
2. Since the HARDCOPY screendump is quite small, I wrote the BASIC
program, SCRNDUMP.BAS (appended to this text), which produces a 7 X 10
inch picture on an Epson FX-type printer. The annotation in the program
should help your friend figure out how to get a graphics dump. Running
under BASICA, the program is S-L-O-W, but it moves along at the printer's
speed when compiled. I hope this helps.
R. J. Lehman
University of Michigan
Transportation Research Institute
2901 Baxter Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
------------------------------
Date: Sun 6 May 84 09:22:49-EDT
From: Paul G. Weiss <PGW@MIT-XX.ARPA>
Subject: Assemblers
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Does anybody know the difference between the assembler bundled with
PC-DOS (PC-DOS version 1.00) and the Microsoft version 2.04 assembler?
-------
------------------------------
Date: 8 May 1984 18:20:38 PDT
Subject: Assemblers -- Programmers' Shop
From: Brackenridge@usc-isib
To: Paul G. Weiss <PGW@MIT-XX>
cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB
I have been extensively investigating the subject of assemblers, but
haven't been able to find out much. Digital Research makes a package
called Assembler Plus Tools. I have been unable to find anyone who
has seen this package or knows anything about it.
I have tried the Seattle assembler. Seattle is owned by Microsoft. This
product is worthless for all but a small class of problems as it is
an absolute assembler with no Macros.
There is also a family of assemblers from 2500AD Software. In addition to
an 8086/8 assembler running on the IBM-PC they make a whole family of
cross assemblers for many machines. These are not compatible with the
Intel/Microsoft/IBM format.
I called the Programmer's Shop (908 Providence Highway Dedham, Massachusetts
02026 (617) 461-0120 (800) 421-8006) and asked about various assemblers.
I received their catalog and copies of literature for the Digital Research
and 2500AD assemblers.
The Programmer's shop also carries Microsoft 1.25 assembler. The catalog
list it as "Version 1.25 cures many bugs of IBM MASM includes Librarian
and 8087 support".
I find it difficult to bring myself to purchase another Microsoft Assembler.
The last one was so bad and is so slow that unless Microsoft fired whoever
wrote the first one and started over from scratch, I would rather take my
chances with the Digital Research product if it is source language compatible.
I highly recommend the Programmer's Shop. There are a lot of neat looking
products I'd like to try if I had the Time/Money. Here are some of the
products that interested me:
INSTANT C -- Fast Interpreter of Full C. Should have a fantastic impact on
productivity of development. Will include full structures, all data types,
rich Library. Programs execute at speeds close to a compiler. MS-DOS $500
PROFILER - profile execution of any MSLink compatible program. All Microsoft
Languages, Lattice, C86,SBB. See how much time is being spent in each
routine, in execution of disk drivers, and other DOS functions. MS-DOS $165
UNICHIP-86 - extremely tight compiler for MS-DOS. C-like language uses
registers to pass arguments, calls for every DOS service and interrupt,
optomise for speed or size, low overhead for large memory, virtual memory,
tight function calling. Produces MASM-86 code. Call for benchmarks. MS-DOS
$500
-------
------------------------------
Date: 3 May 84 8:42:38-PDT (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From:ihnp4!houxm!hogpc!houti!ariel!vax135!floyd!cmcl2!philabs!rdin!perl @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: PC<==>UNIX file transfer programs needed
I find myself in need of a program for transferring data between
an IBM PC and a UNIX system. This is the way I need this transfer
to take place:
Start up some kind of terminal program on the PC and logon to
the UNIX system. Once logged in, type some kind of command that
will start up a communications program on the UNIX system and
start transferring files between the UNIX system and the PC.
For those of you familiar with cu(1), what I am asking for is
philosophically the same as the %put and %take commands, but
I would prefer that it use some kind of protocol like XMODEM
to allow the transfer of binary files and assure an error free
transfer. It must be able to transfer files to and from the
PC.
I am running UNIX System III on a MASSCOMP MC500 and PC-DOS on
the PC. I would welcome any sources or pointers to sources or
pointers to prepackaged systems or pointers to venders of prepackaged
systems.
Please mail to me (if possible). I will summarize to the net.
Robert Perlberg
Resource Dynamics Inc.
New York
philabs!rdin!perl
------------------------------
Date: 4 May 84 3:04:40-PDT (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!ulysses!burl!clyde!watmath!watrose!jmsellens @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Any bad side effects when using ANSI.SYS ??
I want to use the ANSI.SYS console/screen driver under DOS 2.0.
This seems to be the best way to get Pascal/MT+ to do bold/reverse
etc - in fact it may be the only way.
Does anybody know of any bad side effects of doing this and/or
programs that it will screw up?
Please reply by mail - I will summarize if warranted.
Thank you.
John M Sellens - U of Waterloo - watmath!watrose!jmsellens
------------------------------
Date: 4 May 84 20:03:24-PDT (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From:decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!noscvax!uhpgvax!islenet!todd @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: HAYES SMARTMODEM???
I happen to like the external Hayes 1200 for the following reasons.
1. I like to be able to see the LED status lights sometimes
This may seem silly at first but can be real handy if
you work with systems that do not hang the line properly
when you logout. The DEC2060 I work on does this every
once in a while and the LED lets me know what has happened
right away.
2. Slots in the PC are scarcer that diamonds and I didn't want
to waste one. I can always put a switch on my serial port
if I, say, want to use an RS232 based mouse and don't want
to spring for another port.
3. My PC is not the last computer I will buy. I want the
flexibility to move my modem over to my new machine whenever
it comes along. If you have multiple micros, you are also
able to use the 1200 with your other micro should the PC
go on the blink
4. If the modem itself goes bad, I can just unplug it and put
my old Hayes 300 back on without even taking the PC case
off.
If you really want an internal modem for your PC, you might want to
consider the Qubie for $299 mail order. I know several people who
have bought it and they are very pleased. It appears to be totally
compatible with the Hayes 1200b.
The only advantages of an internal modem that I can see are:
1. They are cheaper than the Hayes 1200 external
2. They don't take up any desk space
Still, I suggest going with an external....todd
Todd Ogasawara -- University of Hawaii -- Dept. of Psychology
{ dual,vortex,uhpgvax }!islenet!todd
------------------------------
Date: 26 Apr 84 19:31:39-PST (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: ihnp4!ihps3!rt1tt @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: FORTRAN Compiler For Sale
SUPERSOFT FORTRAN compiler with COMPLEX latest version. $65.00
Call Chuck Bell
312-749-3552 after 5:00
------------------------------
Date: 2 May 84 6:17:44-PDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!unc!jge @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: DeSmet C
On the C for PC debate: the DeSmet compiler refuses to compile
functions that exceed a certain size, and it's not that big a size;
apparently this problem is there to stay, therefore I would classify
this compiler as a toy basically. It is cheap.
------------------------------
Date: 2 May 84 17:43:22-PDT (Wed)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!bet @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: DeSmet C -- NOT a toy
My experience contradicts this. I am communicating with the originator of
the note; I will see if the version of DeSmet C is older than mine, if
the limitation occurs with my version, etc. I have compiled many large
applications with DeSmet C, without any difficulties. I would insist that
DeSmet C is definitely not a toy, it is a completely useable production
compiler. I am extremely concerned about that posting, inasmuch as accusing
a VERY cheap compiler ($160 with screen editor, library manager,
assembler, symbolic debugger, and handfuls of little junk) of being a
toy could destroy the company.
More to follow.
Bennett Todd
...{decvax,ihnp4,akgua}!mcnc!ecsvax!bet
------------------------------
Date: 3 May 84 7:11:33-PDT (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!ulysses!burl!clyde!watmath!wateng!bjroehl @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: DeSmet C
I would strongly disagree with the observation made about DeSmet C. I
have used it for a wide variety of different projects, and have
nothing but high praise. It's fast (*much* faster than CI-86),
produces nice tight code and comes with a set of utilities that you'd
pay a good price for anywhere else. A full-screen editor (which is my
editor of choice), a very quick assembler, a handy dump utility, and
bunches of other goodies for $100. I've used CI-86 and Lattice, and
will stick with DeSmet. Their latest release (2.3, which I ordered
yesterday) includes a full-screen symbolic debugger as well as
everything else. (This version is slightly more expensive, but not
much). I have had no problem compiling large functions; some have run
to three pages or more, and compile clean. (A good C programmer
doesn't *write* functions much longer than that!). In short, I am
extremely pleased with the DeSmet package. I'll dig up their address
and include it in a later posting.
--Bernie Roehl
P.S.
Did I mention they give you updates for just $20? I'd like to see some of
the other C vendors beat that! Some of them charge more for their updates
than the C-Ware people charge for the DeSmet compiler!
--
-Bernie Roehl (University of Waterloo)
------------------------------
Date: 3 May 84 6:45:56-PDT (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: decvax!mcnc!unc!jge @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: DeSmet C
There apparently has been some misunderstanding of my posting concerning
the DeSmet C compiler. By stating that "it is cheap", I mean that it is
very inexpensive, probably the best buy. I believe it is a good product,
but not suitable for large applications. My impression is that other
available PC C compilers are superior in this regard, but I
must admit that I have not actually made a direct comparison.
Perhaps I am making an unfair comparison with the VAX/UNIX environment.
------------------------------
Date: 4 May 84 12:43:18-PDT (Fri)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: hplabs!tektronix!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!bruce @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: DeSmet C
I too am very postive about DeSmet C. I love it, and it works well. But--
(and there always is a but, isn't there?) I always cringe when I get the latest
DeSmet Newsletter which lists all the bugs in my version which are fixed in the
new version. On reading the descriptions of the bugs I usually wonder how I
could have been so lucky as to have avoided them. I now have 3 such
newsletters.
The latest newsletter extolls V2.3 but mentions that the the transcendental
routines (which are so slow as to be useless; ie, as slow or slower than
interpreted BASIC) will be speeded up in yet another future release. So do I
update now or wait??? ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!
Since I have not used any of the competitors C compilers, I don't know if this
situation is unique to DeSmet or better (or worse) with other vendors. But I
am of the opinion that there is an element of "getting what you paid for"
mixed in even though you do get a lot of bang for your buck.
Bruce Stock
Boeing Aerospace
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Date: 3 May 84 22:37:55-PDT (Thu)
To: info-ibmpc @ Usc-Isib
From: harpo!ulysses!burl!clyde!akgua!emory!km @ Ucb-Vax
Subject: Expand Wildcards for DeSmet C?
Has anyone written a function to rewrite argv with
wildcards expanded, that will work with DeSmet C for 2.0?
Looks to me like you have to write it in assembler.
Even better, what is available in alternate command.com's.
Is there something more unix like (wildcard expansion,
history, etc).
Ken Mandelberg
Emory University
Dept of Math and CS
Atlanta, Ga 30322
{akgua,sb1,gatech}!emory!km USENET
km@emory CSNET
km.emory@csnet-relay ARPANET
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End of Info-IBMPC Digest
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