Info-IBMPC@C.ISI.EDU.UUCP (01/25/87)
Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 24 January 1987 Volume 6 : Issue 5 This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge Today's Topics: Processing of Digitized Audio Interrupting DOS INDOS Flag Well Behaived Protected Mode DOS Applications MS Windows and RAM Parity Errors 80286/80386 Benchmarks 8 Line Serial Device Connecting H89 to IBM PC lisp and vi Swapping Printer Ports SIMCGA and HGCIBM Offered Pascal Compilers in Pascal 8051 C Cross-Compiler Keytronics KB5151AT&T Keyboard Today's Queries: Leading Edge and the EGA Decnet-DOS V1.1 with a MICOM Ethernet Board Tek4010 Protocol Manual Bad Blocks Adding Cassette Ports to XTs Dumping Screen to a File SIMCGA with Old BIOS Squeeking Hard Disks Disk Lockout Express Hard Card Bugs in LIST60.ASM and CPUID.ASM Bugs in C Compilers Barcode System New 720K DOS board 6805 PD Assembler Wanted PCjr Enhancements software search dBase Memo Fields LOADALL Application Generators Diagnostics Code 102 MS C Implementation of SYSTEM with .BAT Files Problem with FINAL WORD II WENDINs PCVMS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: osh@mtuxo.UUCP (d.oshinsky) Subject: Processing of Digitized Audio Date: 21 Jan 87 22:38:22 GMT Organization: AT&T Information Systems Labs, Holmdel NJ I would like to stimulate a discussion regarding add-on hardware for personal computers which allows for acquisition and processing of digitized audio (note: this does not include MIDI interface boards). Such add-on hardware should have the following characteristics: * designed for use with a personal computer such as AT&T PC6300 and compatibles (including the IBM PC :-), Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Apple Mac, etc. * includes A/D and D/A with at least 12 bits of resolution. 14 or 16 bits would be preferable. * the hardware should be able to sustain a sampling rate of at least 30 kHz. 40 kHz or more would be preferable. * may or may not include a digital signal processing chip. (i.e., processing may be done by uP in PC, or by coprocessor) To get the discussion rolling, I've included a description below of a plug-in digital signal acquisition and processing board for the AT&T PC6300 and compatibles. Dalanco Spry Signal Processor for IBM PCs (condensed from Computer Music Journal): The Model 10 digital signal processor from Dalanco Spry is a coprocessor board for the IBM PC/AT/XT and compatibles. It features the 16/32 bit TI TMS 32010 DSP chip. The TMS 32010 is a fixed point uP that computes at 400 nsec for a multiply-accumulate operation and 60 msec for a 1024 point complex FFT. An IEEE-standard single precision floating point multiply takes 8.6 usec on the Model 10. Other features include three 16 bit timers to provide sampling rates ranging from 0.001 Hz to 200 kHz, and a 2-way 16 bit register for communications between the TMS and the IBM's CPU. Four kwords of dual-ported RAM and mutual interrupt capability between the 2 processors is provided. Software included with the system includes an inline assembler, a disassembler, a debugger, signal display software and other applications examples. An external I/O connector permits the addition of custom "piggyback" boards of various functions to be integrated with the system. This could be used for interfacing the device to other equipment. An upgrade from a 20 MHz version to a 25 MHz version is available as an option. The Model 10 costs $850 with onboard 12 bit 40 kHz A/D and D/A conversion. Contact: Dalanco Spry, Suite 241, 2900 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20008. Telephone (202) 232-7999. David Oshinsky {ihnp4|houxm|vax135}!mtuxo!osh P.S. If you have comments, questions, or further information to contribute, please send e-mail to the above address. If this posting generates enough interest, I'll summarize to the net. P.P.S. I have no connection whatsoever with Dalanco Spry. I have not actually used their Model 10 DSP board and therefore cannot guarantee that it meets the specifications given above. ------------------------------ From: backman@interlan.UUCP (Larry Backman) Subject: Interrupting DOS INDOS Flag Date: 17 Nov 86 19:17:57 GMT Organization: MICOM-Interlan, Boxborough, MA In article <2409@vrdxhq.UUCP> tom@vrdxhq.UUCP (Tom Welsh) writes: > As many of you may know, DOS is NOT reentrant. In other words, if DOS is busy doing something like writing to disk or printer, then no interrupt routine should attempt to invoke a DOS service, e.g. INT 21H. I found this out by having a program crash. My Here's what I'm curious about ... SuperKey, which responds to keyboard interrupts, seems to obey this rule. If, while doing nothing, I press ALT-/ to invoke Superkey, it comes up instantly. If I do something like copy a gigantic file (requiring several seconds), and I press ALT-/ as soon as the copy starts, Superkey WAITS until the copy is done before it comes up. HOW DOES IT KNOW at the time of the interrupt that DOS was currently doing something and should not be interrupted? A while ago, someone on the net mentioned a DOS/BIOS service or a flag that could be checked to see if DOS was busy. I can't find such a thing in the Superkey code. And, on another note, I found an INT 28H in the Superkey code. What does this do? All my documentation says its reserved for DOS. > In a previous place of employment, I was involved in solving the DOS reentrancy puzzle. The product that I worked on was a real-time communications device, a terminal emulator, that could be placed in the back-ground via "Hot-Key". What was special about this product was the ability to have background file-transfer while a separate user application was occuring in the foreground. We went through a number of contortions with DOS to provide this backgound file transfer ability, the above mentioned INT 28 being one of the keys to our sucess. Our product ran off of the hardware timer while in background mode. To make matters even more complicated, the product was comprised of three separate resident modules, each of which communicated with each other via software interrupts. The lowest module was driven by interrupts occuring from a communication line, while the higher modules were driven by the timers tick. Incoming data was buffered in the lower module, waiting for polls from above before passing it up to the higher layers. The highest of the three layers was the brains of the whole system. It polled the other two modules for data as well as interfacing to both DOS and BIOS. Being the brains, it had to know when DOS was in a critical section, caused by a foreground application issuing an INT 21 call. Sounds simple... just trap INT 21, put a semaphore around it and hold off any DOS accesses until the INT 21 call finished. This was our first approach, and it worked resonably well. Unfortunately, we discovered that the DOS command prompt, as well as many applications issued keyboard reads by waiting for input (INT 21 functions 1 and 0A). We also had problems around the EXEC and EXIT calls (function 4B and 4C). End result... try another solution. The next attempt involved the famous undocumented DOS "dirty bit". While DOS is not reentrant to the outside world, it reenters itself left and right. In fact many function calls call DOS dozens of times before completing. For an educational experience try tracing a DOS function call, function 4B for instance. Anyway, if DOS reenters it- self, it must have a means of checking when it is safe to do so. This means is provided in MS-DOS via INT 21 function 34. Note that I said MS-DOS as opposed to IBM PC-DOS. It returns the DOS critical section semaphore in AL, if AL is 1 DOS is busy, try again later. To make a long story short, this worked 98% of the time, but we still had problems when DOS itself was waiting for keyboard input, and when the user "hot-keyed" at just the wrong instant. So... scratch one more good idea... After a series of marathon sessions tracing through PRINT.COM and MODE.COM we started to notice that DOS grabbed the INT 28 interrupt vector in these programs. More disassembling convinced us that we had tripped over DOS's internal scheduling mechanism. We found that many of the DOS functions called INT 28 from within themselves. A lot of experimentation convinced us that trapping INT 28 was a means of knowing when it was safe to reenter DOS. So.. we built a system that used the INT 21 function 34 semaphore to tell us if we could interrupt DOS, if we could, great, off went our disk or printer request with no risk of rentrancy. If on the other hand, the semaphore indicated that DOS was in a critical section we backed off, since we were currently in the hardware timer interrupt, not a good place to be while DOS is critical. Before we exited the timer however we set another semaphore of our own indicating that we had a pending DOS request which had been post- poned. We then trapped INT 28, and issued the postponed request when the next INT 28 occurred, one that DOS itself had generated, indicating to other applications that they could schedule a DOS interrupt at this time. I would be extremely interested in hearing from anyone else on the net with similar solutions to this problem. I also would like to pose two questions of my own. First; is there anyone who had access to DOS source code that can postively confirm that INT 28 is a scheduling function? Second; a corollary part of our product was the ability to deallocate the three resident programs from memory. We did so via a SETBLOCK (function 4A) when starting the program and a FREE (function 48) when the user wished to deallocate the program. It worked most of the time. Any hints what we were doing wrong, any other approaches to this problem would also be interesting. Larry Backman Micom Interlan, Inc. 155 Swanson Rd. Boxborough, Ma. 01719 617-263-1199 mit-eddie \ ulowell -> !interlan!backman ima / [This article has been appended to INDOS.TXT a long running discussion of this issue. INDOS.TXT can be found in the INFO-IBMPC program library. In past issues Gordon Letwin of Microsoft has warned against use of these DOS features and promised that these hooks will NOT be there in future versions of DOS. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jan 87 17:15:13 cst From: mlw@ncsc.ARPA (Williams) Subject: Well Behaived Protected Mode DOS Applications Reading over the digest indicates that many of us are using quite sophisticated methods in our programming... Unfortunately, those methods may be forced into obsolescence by the emergins 286-DOS. A recent article in Programmer's Journal (an interesting, non-glossy publication) implied that recent remarks from Microsoft representative s (how did I miss the "s"?) at MS-WINDOWS seminars have indicated that the requirements for good behavior from applications programs are much more stringent in the new (or forthcoming) environment. I would suggest that programmers who have a significant investment in providing MS-DOS products (internal or external, custom or mass-produced) look carefully at this kind of information as soon as it is available. I got the feeling from skimming the article that the protected-mode OS may give Microsoft the club they may have been seeking to keep outsiders from tweaking their environments too much. I wouldn't say that MS is actively searching for such a thing -- it's probably just a side effect of the OS requirements. Anyway, some of the stuff I saw was, if not alarming, at least food for thought and something to be prepared for if existing software is supposed to move to the new operating system. Sorry that I have no more hard information -- this is just a heads-up for anyone who's interested. Mark L. Williams (mlw@ncsc.arpa) [If we could get this sort of information we would publish it. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Jan 87 22:17:13 EST From: jcm@ORNL-MSR.ARPA (James A. Mullens) Subject: MS Windows and RAM Parity Errors > From: Steve Dennett <DENNETT@SRI-NIC.ARPA> > Subject: MS Windows Error Message > I'm trying to run MS windows on my generic PC AT clone. [...] > I get the title screen, the desktop starts to appear, [but then] > I get [a RAM parity error message] > This is the first software that hasn't run correctly on this machine. Your situation is identical to my experience with my 10 MHz, 0-wait-state RAM Everex AT-Clone I purchased from Eltech (in CA). Windows would cause a parity error every time it ran in a certain configuration. I ran 2 or 3 highly-rated RAM diagnostics on the machine overnight and *never* caught the problem. Nevertheless, replacing RAM chips solved it. I replaced all Fujitsu 100 ns chips on my motherboard upon the recommendation of a fellow who installs them for a living. He recommended either NEC, Hitachi, or NMBS. (The board already had Mitsubishis on it). I installed NMBS and I was able to run Windows with no problem. Whether the blame should be placed on the Fujitsu chips or an overly demanding motherboard I cannot say. I don't think the RAM testers designed for 8-bit bus PCs throughly test the AT. It would also like to see a machine *exerciser*. The exerciser would run 80287, DMA, disk I/O, ROM BIOS calls, interrupts, etc at the highest capacity of the machine -- trying to make something "stress out". For example, the FastBack software people found that some machines could not (electrically) handle the DMA operations their disk backup software used, so they distribute a test program with their program. jim mullens / representing hisself / jcm@ornl-msr.arpa ------------------------------ From: neighorn@qiclab.UUCP (Steven C. Neighorn) Subject: 80286/80386 Benchmarks Date: 15 Jan 87 13:13:50 GMT Organization: QIC Laboratories, Portland OR. The following benchmarks were compiled from three machines I have easy access to. Every attempt at careful measurement and control was made. My hope is to share the results with others who might be interested in seeing a comparison of three different AT class machines running small programs at different clock speeds/wait states. Certainly, this is not intended to be an ultra-scientific laboratory controlled benchmark listing, as is obvious by my inclusion of the much maligned Norton SysInfo value. I hope everyone finds something useful in the table that follows. Comments are more than welcome and would be appreciated. COMPUTER SYSTEM/SPECIFICATION/BIOS .-------------------------------------------------. ---------------------------| IBM PC/AT | QIC 1801 | Intel 80386 | PROGRAM OR OPERATION | 6Mhz/1 WS | 8Mhz/0 WS | 16Mhz/1 WS | | IBM BIOS | AWARD BIOS | PHOENIX BIOS | ---------------------------|----------------|----------------|---------------| Format 360k disk (data) | 52.00 sec | 44.50 sec | 44.30 sec | ---------------------------|----------------|----------------|---------------| Format 1.2meg disk (data) | 85.33 sec | 72.45 sec | 59.70 sec | ---------------------------|----------------|----------------|---------------| Copy 285k file RAM > FLOPPY| 36.20 sec | 30.62 sec | 27.80 sec | ---------------------------|----------------|----------------|---------------| Copy 285k file FLOPPY > RAM| 20.70 sec | 15.32 sec | 19.53 sec | ---------------------------|----------------|----------------|---------------| Copy 285k file RAM to RAM | 1.21 sec | 0.78 sec | 0.50 sec | ---------------------------|----------------|----------------|---------------| Copy 285k file HARD to RAM | 2.80 sec | 2.30 sec | 2.00 sec | ---------------------------|----------------|----------------|---------------| PC Mag BENCH01.EXE 512 bytes| | | | Random Write RAM/FLOPPY | 3.30/70.36 sec | 2.64/77.23 sec | 1.04/75.00 sec| File Read Random RAM/FLOPPY| 5.33/47.62 sec | 2.25/45.37 sec | 0.88/57.51 sec| File Read Seqntl RAM/FLOPPY| 1.54/44.71 sec | 0.99/49.65 sec | 0.66/48.06 sec| ---------------------------|----------------|----------------|---------------| MIP.COM (many instructions)| 11.42 sec | 5.97 sec | 3.07 sec | ---------------------------|----------------|----------------|---------------| SIEV.EXE (of Erastothenes) | 28.39 sec | 14.83 sec | 9.08 sec | ---------------------------|----------------|----------------|---------------| SYSINFO.COM (Norton V3.1) | 5.70 | 8.4 | 13.3 | ---------------------------|----------------|----------------|---------------| REALSI.COM (factor PC/AT) | 3.0/1.0 | 5.9/1.9 | 10.1/3.1 | ---------------------------|----------------|----------------|---------------| CLK.COM (timing:4.77 Mhz=PC)| 9.60 Mhz | 15.40 Mhz | 31.10 Mhz | ---------------------------|----------------|----------------|---------------| CLOCKSP.COM (min RAM acc) | 2.38 sec | 1.70 sec | 0.93 sec | ---------------------------|----------------|----------------|---------------| 87BENCH.EXE (cruncher 80287)| 7.25 sec | 5.21 sec | 2.74 sec | ---------------------------|----------------|----------------|---------------| 88BENCH.EXE (same w/o 80287)| 72.75 sec | 41.36 sec | 24.77 sec | ---------------------------|----------------|----------------|---------------| NOTES : 1) Each test result was the average of five test runs. 2) All tests were timed with a special in-memory timer program and were double checked with a quartz timer and, when possible, the $T option available with the PROMPT environment variable. 3) All memory resident programs were removed before running the tests. 4) All tests were run under PCDOS 3.2. 5) All floppy drives used in the tests were manufactured by TEAC. 6) All floppy disk tests used a Maxell MD2-D floppy diskette. 7) All benchmark programs were run from RAMDISK. 8) All AT style RAMDISKS were run in EXTENDED memory using VDISK.SYS /E. 9) The IBM PC/AT had 2176k of 16bit memory. The QIC 1801 had 3072k of 16bit memory. The Intel 80386 had 2560k of 32bit memory, and 2048k of 16bit memory. 10) All machines used the standard Western Digital AT disk controller. 11) The IBM PC/AT used a CMI 20meg hard disk (40msec ave access). 12) The Intel 80386 used a Seagate 4051 40meg hard disk (40msec ave access). 13) The QIC 1801 used a Seagate 4038 30meg hard disk (40msec ave access). 14) All machines used BUFFERS=50 in the CONFIG.SYS file. 15) All machines used FCONSOLE 1.15 in place of ANSI.SYS. 16) The IBM PC/AT used a 80827-6, the QIC 1801 used a 80287-8, and the Intel 80386 machine used a 80287-10. 17) MIP.COM executes 15,728,640 ADD AX,CX instructions, 1,048,576 LOOP instructions, 64 MOV's, SUB's, DEC's, and JNZ's to control loops, a SUB AX,AX and an INT 21. The program is designed to check total estimated clocks versus 'real world' time. 18) REALSI.COM is an improved System Information measure from Relia. It returns a speedup factor over a stock IBM PC and a 6Mhz IBM PC/AT. 19) CLK.COM runs timing loops, and returns the equivalent clock speed a standard IBM PC would have to operate at to achieve the same results. 20) CLOCKSP.COM checks for minimal dRAM access. On a standard IBM PC operating at 4.77Mhz, the program would take 10 seconds to execute. 21) The 87BENCH and 88BENCH programs are based on Savage's Benchmark. I would be glad to discuss the test programs I used and/or the results with anyone who is interested. I can be reached at the phone number below via land line, the address below via U.S. Mail, or the usenet path below via net email. Steven C. Neighorn tektronix!{psu-cs,reed}!qiclab!neighorn Portland Public Schools "Where we train young Star Fighters to defend the (503) 249-2000 ext 337 frontier against Xur and the Ko-dan Armada" ------------------------------ Date: 19 Jan 1987 10:34:29 PST Subject: 8 Line Serial Device From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@C.ISI.EDU> To: HSS0%UHUPVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU I've used one such device quite successfully for my multi-line bulletin board system, DLX. The device is called a DigiCom/8. It has 8 serial ports, which all share one interrupt level. There is also a special status port that allows you to tell which one generated the interrupt. It comes with driver software, too. The company that makes it is called DigiBoard at 800-344-4273. Richard [DigiCom has a new board with 8 serial lines and onboard 80188 processor and memory. At about $1100 it is expensive but finesses the driver problem. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jan 87 10:07:03 EST From: Todd Krein <vizard%dartmouth.edu@RELAY.CS.NET> Subject: Connecting H89 to IBM PC Just a thought... Check the signal ground connects.... perhaps even leaving them off might help. Todd Krien vizard@dartvax ------------------------------ To: adelson%tufts.csnet@relay.cs.net Subject: lisp and vi Date: Mon, 19 Jan 87 13:46:49 -0500 From: Mark Colan <mtc@ATHENA.MIT.EDU> There are 3 VI editors I've seen for MSDOS. 1. Manx "Z" (a VI-clone). Does not have most of the ex (":") commands, a major deficiency. Very fast. In visual mode, mostly but not completely compatible. Not particularly recommended, because without the ex commands its only half of VI. Around $150. 2. Custom Software Systems' PC/VI - highly recommended. About 99% identical to BSD 4.2 VI (I use both, go back and forth). All differences I've found are documented. When used with FANSI-Console, provides very fast performance. PC/VI is about $125 (from Programmer's Connection) and FANSI-Console (which is a terrific product on its own, useful for many other things besides PC/VI) is $75. You can order it from Custom Software directly (617) 653-2555 which may be a little faster than Programmers' Connection, but they won't give you the discount that PC will. 3. The back pages of PC Tech Journal have been running an ad for a kit of Un*x tools for MSDOS, which includes VI. Inexpensive (around $130?). I have never used it, cannot tell you whether its good or complete or not. There are many implementations of LISP; since I've never programmed in it, all I can tell you is what I've seen. You can find XLISP on some arpa sites (including INFO-IBMPC's lending library). Price is right (free). Gold Hill Computer, Cambridge MA, offers a lisp interpreter and a lisp compiler. Both include a Lisp training package. The interpreter, from what I hear, is mostly useful for a novice who wants to learn; it tends to be slow. I've heard that the compiler is much faster and thus useable. These unfortunately are rather expensive products. Look at any Programmers' Connection ad for a list of LISP product that they sell; I seem to recall that they have others. Standard disclaimer applies; batteries not included. Mark Colan MIT Project Athena ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jan 87 17:16:49 cst From: mlw@ncsc.ARPA (Williams) Subject: Swapping Printer Ports Isn't it remarkable that the MODE command will, in fact, not let you direct LPT1 output to LPT2. There are many BBS programs that will do that, however. One is called SWPTR and is available on many different systems. The only thing that needs to be done is to swap the port addresses in the DOS "where's the printers?" area. I don't have my copy here, so I can't give the correct addresses, but COMPUTE's "MAPPING THE IBM PC" provides the information, as does IBM technical info. I suppose some of Norton's books should have it, too. If you really need more info, let me know directly and I'll dig it up. Mark L. Williams (mlw@ncsc.arpa) ------------------------------ Date: 16 Jan 87 07:47:00 EST From: "STEVE ZURO" <zuro@nrl.arpa> Subject: SIMCGA and HGCIBM Offered Hello, I just read your message requesting SIMCGA. If you wish, I can send you a copy of both SIMCGA and HGCIBM (another simulation of the CGA with a Hercules Monochrome Card). I have found that some routines/graphics work with SIMCGA and others with HGCIBM and still others with both. If you wish a copy on a diskette, send me a message or write to: Steve A. Zuro Code 5316 Radar Division Naval Research Lab Washington, D.C. 20375-5000 or call 202-767-1047 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1987 10:42:03 -0200 From: Steven Pemberton <mcvax!cwi.nl!steven@seismo.CSS.GOV> Organisation: CWI, Kruislaan 413, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands Phone: +31 20 5924071 Subject: Pascal Compilers in Pascal The complete code of the Pascal P4 compiler and interpreter, with commentary, are available in the book Pascal Implementation by Steven Pemberton and Martin Daniels Published by Ellis Horwood, Chichester, England Distributed by Wiley in the USA Steven Pemberton, CWI, Amsterdam; steven@cwi.nl or try steven@mcvax.uucp ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jan 87 23:03:12 pst From: well!nsmith@lll-lcc.ARPA (Neil Smith) Subject: 8051 C Cross-Compiler Several weeks ago someone asked the net if there was a C cross compiler for microcontrollers. Such a beast exists for the 8051 family. It runs under MS or PCDOS 2.0 or greater, and generates absolute hex in Intel or Motorola loader format. Contact: Archimedes Software 1728 Union Street San Francisco, CA 94123 (415) 771-3303 Neil Smith uucp: ...!ihnp4!lll-lcc!well!nsmith ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jan 87 21:44:36 CST From: Scott Royall <HSS0%UHUPVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Keytronics KB5151AT&T Keyboard To: Glen Jones <GDJ5T%VIRGINIA.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Glen, What does one say about keyboards? We have two KB5151AT&T's, both have worked well for 18 months. Keytronics has an excellent reputation. Incidentally, they also are the only company which makes a keyboard for the physically disabled; it is a modified KB5151AT&T with locking <ctrl>, <alt>, <caps lock>, shift, and (unfortunately) <esc> keys. (I must remember to write them about the latter.) Scott Usual disclaimer: I have no connection with Keytronics except as a customer. Acknowledge-To: <HSS0@UHUPVM1> ------------------------------ Subject: Leading Edge and the EGA Date: 20 Jan 87 11:25:06 EST (Tue) From: Chuck Cavanaugh <ccavanau@ccv.bbn.com> Apologies if I am bringing up an old question, however, I would like to use a Quadram EGA+ card in a Leading Edge Model M. The revision code on the mother board is WESY10 if that matters. The existing bios doesn't recognize the card but will work with a Hercules CGA clone. Thanks for any help. Chuck Cavanaugh ccavanaugh@ccv.bbn.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jan 87 10:18 EST From: JOHNSON%nuhub.acs.northeastern.edu@RELAY.CS.NET Subject: Decnet-DOS V1.1 with a MICOM Ethernet Board I have some pc LAN's, OMNINET and NOVELL to be exact. We're running them with OMNINET boards. On one of these nodes I want to put a MICOM ethernet board and run decnet-dos v1.1. I don't want to buy decnet-dos until I know that I'm NOT going to have a collision between board addresses on the pc bus. DEC won't tell me anything about decnet-dos v1.1 until I buy it. We have reached an impass. Anybody have decnet-dos v1.1 running a MICOM ethernet board? I'm trying to find out what addresses decnet-dos expects to see the MICOM at. I'm told that although the board is configurable, decnet-dos currently isn't and expects the board at a certain address (grumble). Please rush any available help. Thanks much. Chris Johnson Northeastern University csnet: johnson@nuhub.acs.northeastern.edu arpa: johnson%nuhub.acs.northeastern.edu@relay.cs.net at&t: (617) 437-2335 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20-JAN-1987 15:04 EST From: Timothy Stark <H462BATMS%GALLUA.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Tek4010 Protocol Manual Hello IBM-PC users, I have Public Domain Tek4010 terminal emulator for IBM-PC. I read manual but It is not good. It is very short because the author didn't how to write manuals. Tek4010 graphics terminal seems useless without a protocol manual. Does anyone have a graphic protocol manual for tek4010 emulator?? If you have, please send it to me. I found Kermit program is good but no graphics! It has wonderful documents with protocol information (ESC sequences). I want Tek4010 ESC sequence manual!!! But kermit manual shows VT102 and H19 only! If you have the VT220/240 protocol manual (ESC sequences), I'd like that as well. Tim Stark Bitnet: H462BATMS@{GALLUA,GALLUB,GALLUC,GALLUD} Arpa: H462BATMS%{GALLUA,GALLUB,GALLUC,GALLUD}@WISCVM.WISC.EDU ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jan 87 15:48 EST From: EKZMS%CUNYVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Bad Blocks To: INFO-IBMPC@C.ISI.EDU Hi, Recently I bought a 21Mb Priam hard disk for my IBM-AT. After formating the disk I run the check disk program in order to detect bad blocks. None were detected. It was only after I started running data aquisition programs in chunks of 2Mb that the disk started to show read/write problems. I was told that the check disk routine checks for bad blocks only within the formatted area and that if some parts of my disk were bad from the beginning and were not even formatted they would never be detected by the DOS check disk routine. If that is true, is there any other way to check a newly purchased disk other than filling it to capacity? Thanks. Ephraim Katz. Internet: EKZMS%CUNYVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Bitnet: EKZMS@CUNYVM ------------------------------ Subject: Adding Cassette Ports to XTs Date: Tue, 20 Jan 87 14:50:09 -0800 From: Randy <randy@larry.cs.washington.edu> Believe it or not, I need to add a cassette port to XTs. The cassette port should mimic the cassette port found on the original IBM PCs. The intended use is to emulate TDD (telecommunication devices for the deaf). The cassette port is used to modulate the telephone signal. I would appreciate anyone's thoughts on how hard or expensive this modification would be. Thoughts on how to do it would also be appreciated. Thanks in advance, Randy Day. UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4}!uw-beaver!uw-june!randy ARPA: randy@larry.cs.washington.edu CSNET: randy%washington@relay.cs.net ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Jan 87 17:45:54 ULG From: Andre PIRARD <A-PIRARD%BLIULG12.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Dumping Screen to a File Print screen is fine, but does not allow later computerized reuse of the information. Dumping the (character) screen to a file would. Does anyone know of a general resident pd or cheap program that does that? It would be of general use as session logger and the like. It is easy to write, but why reinvent the wheel? [LPTX in the info-ibmpc lending library will accomplish this function, and it is free with source code! -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Wed 21 Jan 87 11:06:37-PST From: Jackie <Burhans@USC-ECLB.ARPA> Subject: SIMCGA with Old BIOS I picked up a copy of SIMCGA.ARC from SIMTEL20 and loaded it on my PC. Following the documentation I tried to run the SIMCGA.EXE program to install the resident portion. As soon as I did so, my screen blanked and my system hung and I had to do a power off to reboot. I have a PC1 with an old bios chip (until I can get to the swap meet this weekend) running DOS 2.10 and I have a Hercules clone (picked up at a swap meet). Anybody have similar problems, Any possible solutions? Thanks Jackie Burhans BURHANS%ECLD@USC-ECL.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jan 87 17:08:38 PST From: WU%RAL@ames-io.ARPA Subject: Squeeking Hard Disks A few months ago there was a discussion about fixing squeeking hard disks. Could someone point me to the correct archive for lubricating CMI hard disks? Thanks. Alex wu@ames-aero ------------------------------ Date: Wed 21 Jan 87 21:29:18-PST From: Lawrence <LDURHAM%SHEDIR@usc-oberon.ARPA> Subject: Disk Lockout I have a problem which I created myself,and not sure how to get out of it . I have a IBM-PC which I just installed a 10meg harddisk. I got this program called "pc-lock",which makes it impossable to access the harddisk unless you know the password. The program installs itself into the config.sys file, and require that the disk you use to install the program be also used to deinstall. My problem comes in that during some of the config.sys changes I was making,as I was building the disk up. I found that when booting the system up off the hard disk, it would freeze up after putting in the password. I know that the password program works fine, and that it is the change I made after it read the password. Because there weren't many files on the disk I decided to reformat the disk. I formatted the disk with several versions of low level formats, but fdisk gives me a "ERROR READING FIXED DISK". I would like to be able to reformat the disk and load my software, but I can't do the disk partition. Have I screwed up royally, or is there someone who can help me out of this mess. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Jan 87 14:24 +0200 From: Dvorah <DVORAH%HUJIAGRI.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Express Hard Card Has anyone used an Express Systems Express Hard Disk Card? We're interested in ordering some and would like to hear what users think of it. Thanks, Deborah Art-Weisman Faculty of Agriculture-Hebrew University ------------------------------ Date: Thursday, 22 January 1987 15:56:15 Subject: Bugs in LIST60.ASM and CPUID.ASM From: "AM29%CAM.PHX@UK.AC.CAM.ENG-ICF" <AM29%phoenix.cambridge.ac.uk@Cs.Ucl.AC.UK> I have had problems with a couple of progs in the program library. 1. LIST60.ASM: MASM gives Open segment error. It looks as if a second last line should be inserted: Cseg ends [Correct and our source code has been updated -wab] 2. CPUID.ASM. I have had strange problems with this in an IBM AT (6M, no NDP). If run from the hard disk or 1.2 M floppy it usually starts printing garbage part of the way through the output report. It looks as if something is overwriting the program area because the garbage sometimes appears from half way through a message. Has anyone had similar problems, or know what might be going wrong? Also, I have had an AT clone reported as having unknown/80288?? processor. Are there 286 processors which the CPUID algorithm falls over on? Allan MacLean (am29%cam.phx@cs.ucl.ac.uk) ------------------------------ Date: Thursday, 22 January 1987 15:57:39 Subject: Bugs in C Compilers From: "AM29%CAM.PHX@UK.AC.CAM.ENG-ICF" <AM29%phoenix.cambridge.ac.uk@Cs.Ucl.AC.UK> Authentic-sender: MAIL01@UK.AC.CAMBRIDGE.ENGINEERING.SERC-ICF [Take your choice of addresses. Our system buys the second one. The others may work from other systems. -wab] I have been asked to help with the compilation of a summary of features and bugs on C compilers. Bugs are obviously difficult to track down, so I would appreciate info from users of recent versions of any of the major compilers. If you have come across any bugs, or 'features' you consider undesirable, could you mail me the details: Compiler name Version number List of bugs (and circumstances under which they occur if appropriate) Many thanks, Allan MacLean (am29%cam.phx@cs.ucl.ac.uk) ------------------------------ Date: 22 Jan 87 13:26:00 EDT From: "MAARTEN NEDERLOF" <salomon@wharton-10.ARPA> Subject: Barcode System To whom it may concern, We are looking for recommendations and information regarding bar-code based inventory management systems. Such a system should have portable barcode reader(s) that would allow you to upload the information to an IBM PC/AT for use with an inventory management software package. The equipment we'd be tracking would be physical telephone/computer/peripheral equipment. It should also have a device that could generate our own barcode stickers/labels, either with specialized equipment or on available printing devices. We'd greatly appreciate any information you could provide. Maarten Nederlof University of Pennsylvania Reply to: MAARTEN@WHARTON-10.ARPA please ------------------------------ Date: 22 JAN 87 16:07-EST From: 89RBW%WILLIAMS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: New 720K DOS board About two issues ago in PC Magazine, a board was briefly reviewed that claimed to allow DOS 720K by paging in and out the ROMBIOS. Has any one out there tried this board or heard anything more about it? Thanks, Richard Ward < 89RBW @ WILLIAMS.BITNET > [I don't know about new but I have been running with a Tall Tree board since 1981 that allows 720K DOS regions. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jan 87 10:58:45 wst From: munnari!swanee.oz!kid@seismo.CSS.GOV (Mark Callaghan) Subject: 6805 PD Assembler Wanted I'm looking for a public domain assembler for the 6805 family, to run on ibm-pc (preferably) or unix 4.2. Thanks, Mark Callaghan. University of Western Australia. ARPA : kid%swanee.oz@seismo.css.gov UUCP : ...!{seismo,mcvax,ucb-vision,uks}!munnari!swanee.oz!kid ------------------------------ Date: 23 Jan 1987 11:59-EST Sender: DOWENS@G.BBN.COM Subject: PCjr Enhancements From: David Owens <dowens@bbng.arpa> I'm interested in expanding my Jr especially to increase its performance. Where's the best place to shop for expansion boards and how much should I consider paying to add another disk drive. I also have found some incompatiblities between my disk drive and a real PC's (ie. it has trouble reading some diskettes). Is this because I don't have a DMA controller? What other soft/hardware incompatiblities should I expect between my Jr and the garden variety PC that I have at work? Any info appreciated, Dave Owens <dowens@bbng.arpa> ------------------------------ Date: Fri 23 Jan 87 10:55:40-PST From: Sandra L. Smith <SSMITH@Sierra.Stanford.EDU> Subject: software search I am looking for a program that determines the field and current lines between arbitrarily placed metal pieces. If you are aware of any programs that do this, please contact me directly at ssmith@su-sierra.edu. Thank you ------------------------------ Date: Fri 23 Jan 87 12:15:48-PST From: QUILES@USC-ECLB.ARPA Subject: dBase Memo Fields I have a problem with the memo fields in dBASE. I want to convert the memo fields to ascii text file. Is there a program that can convert the memo fields to ascii file. Ruben Quiles ------------------------------ From: dan%caseus@spool.wisc.edu Subject: LOADALL Date: 15 Jan 87 16:07:43 GMT Organization: Prairie Computing, Madison, Wisconsin A friend of mine wants to write some software using the undocumented LOADALL (or whatever) instruction on the 80286. This instruction apparently offers a special escape to real mode on the 286 without having to go through the reset register and BIOS on the PC/AT. There was also a recent rumour that IBM had requested that this instruction be put back into the 386, from which it had been removed. Can someone please supply me with details on this instruction's format and function? It would be very greatly appreciated. I know that Microsoft and IBM are already using it, so it wouldn't be the first time someone got it. Dan Frank uucp: ... uwvax!prairie!dan arpa: dan%caseus@spool.wisc.edu [I wasn't aware that this instruction did more than load all the conventional registers. Perhaps somebody knows more about this subject? -wab] ------------------------------ Date: 23 Jan 87 17:05:11 est From: Marty Connor <mdc@ht.ai.mit.edu> Subject: Application Generators I am looking for any and all information on "Application Generators", that is, programs or systems that allow the end-user to input specifications for a program via menus or other graphical interface, and the generator takes care of writing the code for the program. What I am trying to do is to configure such an application generator so that it will generate simple programs to drive a serial device based on user input. If you know of such a program or system for the IBM-PC, Please let me know. Any ideas, even vague ones, are welcome. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jan 87 11:53:34 ULG From: Andre PIRARD <A-PIRARD%BLIULG12.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Diagnostics Code 102 I passed Advanced Diagnostics on a hard disk whose track 0 only contained record 1. Doctor's order: replace the hard disk. Reformating it really is a money saving. Same for a motherboard error 102. Don't know what it is, but I guess there is something better than mother board replacement. It would help many people if someone could give a pointer to a published list of diagnostic codes, or post it to SIMTEL20? Really blue to say, we have IBM official dealer status for our university, but the information is nowhere to find in the litterature we've got. [See Volume 5 Issue #3 for a listing of diagnostics codes. Unfortunately, the 102 error code isn't in this listing -wab] ------------------------------ Date: 19 Jan 87 09:14 EST From: McCord @ DCA-EMS Subject: MS C Implementation of SYSTEM with .BAT Files Can anyone help me with MS's implementation of the C capability to call on MS-DOS resources such as a batch file (*.bat)? I've built an efficient method of querying using MS-DOS's FIND, but would like to increase its flex- ibility with a C program that can first parse the query and translate it to the appropriate parameters for my basic query in F.BAT. Example: I execute L.EXE with "L unix & dbms & sql" and want L to call F with corresponding parameters using SYSTEM("F unix & dbms & sql"). Unfortunately, SYSTEM is undocumented in the MS C Reference Manual, and the compiler is giving me "unresolved external references" (link). Again I'm asking about SYSTEM (" ") as described in Kernighan & Ritchie on pg. 157-- not linking assembly routines or building my own interrupt handlers. Thanks. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1987 10:09 EST From: LIN@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Subject: Problem with FINAL WORD II I have just acquired an IBM PC with a bunch of hardware enhancements (Tseng Labs Ultrapak, Supercharger accelerator board, AST Ramdisk), running DOS 3.2. I also use FINAL WORD II. Here is the problem: FW II will NOT accept a zero from the keyboard as text. However, it will SEARCH for a zero; it will take zeros liberated from another file (by the undelete command). Also, typing zeros at the machine from DOS works fine -- I can get zeroes to show up at the prompt to my heart's content. Help?? Pls reply to me directly. (LIN@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU) tnx. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jan 87 07:56:56 +0100 (Central European Time) From: XBR4D715%DDATHD21.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Klaus Dieter Schmitt FB17) Subject: WENDINs PCVMS Hi netlandians ! Does anyone out there knows/has ever heard of/uses WENDIN's PCVMS (operating sys like VAX - VMS, multitasking and multiuser) ? In their fact sheet WENDIN says: "You can even port VAX/VMS source programs to your PC's". Has anyone experiences with this product ? WENDIN's adress is: WENDIN Box 266, Cheney, WA 99004, (509) 235-8088 Since we are very interested in such a product, we would like to share your experiences (if you have some, hopefully positive !) Klaus D. Schmitt Institute for El. Power Supply Technical University Darmstadt FRG XBR4D715%DDATHD21.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------