Info-IBMPC@B.ISI.EDU (Info-IBMPC Digest) (08/07/86)
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 6 August 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 75 This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge Today's Topics: Printer Redirection Audience PC Presentation IBM Personal Computer Seminar Proceedings Index DeSmet "static" bug MODE PGA Today's Queries: Help Needed for PGA IBM PROFORT/GDT 1.1 Breaking the 32MB DOS Limit -- Anybody Ever Try Vfeature? 386 Specification Question ICC Burroughs Emulation Software UUCP Definicon's DSI-020 68020 Processor Board INSTALL/DEINSTALL of Device Drivers Can Speeding Up an Old AT Harm it ? Hard Disk Head-Park Sanyo 555 Serial Port Wordstar 2000 with Two Printer Ports CAD-System for Electrical Engineers Disk Catalog Fspool MS-Word Internal .DOC Format ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 4 Aug 86 12:30 EST From: davidsen%kbsvax.tcpip@ge-crd.arpa Subject: Printer Redirection I recently posted a request asking for some help in getting PCDOS to send output to either of two printers, switching by some method more elegant than rebooting the system and specifying a new device to print. This came from a user on my system. From del Tue Jul 22 12:24:40 1986 To: davidsen Date: Tue Jul 22 12:24:39 1986 No, you're not missing anything in MODE. There is no provision under PC-DOS for redirecting LPT1 to LPT2 or LPT3. The only way you can access those ports (under any release so far) is by accessing a table of port addresses and PEEKing/POKEing to swap addresses around in the table (which is down in the memory resident part of IBMBIO.COM). The MODE command only supports redirecting LPT1 to COM1 or COM2. You will find a simple BASIC program which works in the Appendix of the user's manual for the AST Six Pack memory board. I presume you have stacks of those around your shop. If you can't locate a manual, let me know and I'll upload a program file. It works. To reach him, use "del" instead of "davidsen" in the path below... Thanks to all who sent me information. It looks as though there are lots of ways around, but no clean handle in PCDOS. Are you listening, Microsoft? sixhub seismo!rochester!steinmetz | / \ V ihnp4 unirot >------->-------------- crdos1!davidsen \ / --- chinet >------------/ Last resort: davidsen@ge-crd.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Aug 86 13:33:55 cdt From: mlw@ncsc.ARPA (Williams) Subject: Audience PC Presentation Michael Slade asked about large-screen PC video... One of the most effective demonstrations I've seen used a COMPAQ and a color video projector (like old big-screen TVs, but without the furniture). The one I saw used was a Sony, but there's an ad in the July Computer Graphics World for the (fanfare, please) ECP 2000 Color Projection System, which looks nice. I have no idea about the cost, but they (Electrohome, the mfg., that is) say "Because the ECP 2000 was specifically designed to accept data from computer sources, it offers a higher resolution and frequency range than system designed for video only. ... The instant [!] the ECP 2000 is turned on, it locks-up to virtually all computer terminals or PCs. ... allows you to focus on screens from 5' to 14' diagonal ..." etc. etc. I have never seen this unit in use, and there are probably many competitors for it, but if you want more info, the vendor is: Electrohome Limited Advertising Department [?] P.O.B. 628 Buffalo, NY 14225-0628 1-800-265-2171 and the real company seems to be in Canada. They say they'll be at SIGGRAPH boot #1632 for those of you planning to attend. No endorsement, of course... Mark L. Williams (mlw@ncsc.arpa) ------------------------------ Subject: IBM Personal Computer Seminar Proceedings Index Date: Tue, 05 Aug 86 16:12:14 -0500 From: jcmorris@mitre.ARPA The following list, taken from the most recent issue of the IBM Personal Computer Seminar Proceedings, shows the order number and subjects covered in the issues to date. Publication Volume Topics Number ----------- ------ ------ V1.1 Identical to V1.2 G320-9307 V1.2 DOS 2.0 and 1.1 Comparison Compatibility Guidelines for Application Development 8087 Math Coprocessor IBM Macro Assembler G320-9308 V1.3 DOS 2.1, 2.0, and 1.1 Comparison DOS 2.1 PCjr Architecture PCjr Compatibility Overview Cartridge BASIC IBM Personal Communications Manager - Modem Drivers G320-9309 V2.1 Identical to V2.2 G320-9310 V2.2 IBM Software Support Center International Compatibility Requirements IBM Personal Computer Cluster Program G320-9311 V2.3 IBM Personal Computer Cluster Program SORT version 1.00 FORTRAN and PASCAL Compiler, Version 2.00 PCjr Cartridge Tips and Techniques G320-9312 V2.4 IBM Personal Computer AT Architecture ROM BIOS compatibility DOS 3.0 Software Compatibility G320-9313 V2.5 IBM PC Network Overview IBM PC Network Hardware IBM PC Network BIOS (NETBIOS) Architecture IBM PC Network Program G320-9314 V2.6 TopView G320-9315 V2.7 IBM Personal Computer Resident Debug Tool G320-9319 V2.8 IBM PC Network SMB Protocol (note the out-of-order pub number) G320-9316 V2.9 IBM PC Xenix G320-9317 V2.10 IBM PC Professional Graphics Software IBM PC Graphical Kernel System IBM PC Graphical File System IBM Plotting System Library IBM Professional FORTRAN IBM PC Data Acquisition & Control Adapter & Software IBM General Purpose Interface Bus Adapter & Software G320-9318 V2.11 IBM Enhanced Graphics Adapter G320-9320 V3.1 IBM PC Information Panel (3295 Plasma Display) G320-9321 V3.2 IBM BASIC Compiler 2.00 G320-9322 V3.3 IBM Personal Computer C Compiler You should be able to get copies of these pubs from your friendly neighborhood IBM sales crew. Joe Morris (jcmorris@mitre) ------------------------------ Subject: DeSmet "static" bug Date: Mon, 04 Aug 86 21:36:27 -0500 From: James R. Van Zandt <jrv@mitre-bedford.ARPA> > Jim: > I disagree with your recent Bug Report that said that DeSmet C will > overwrite the static variables if malloc() is used. I'm also using > version 2.41... > > Mike Scheutzow "There is nothing wrong with the 8086 that > Georgia Tech treating it like a PDP-11 wouldn't cure." > gt6294b@gitpyr -RBJ- > Are you sure you used the -c switch when you compiled your program? I'm reluctant to blame a compiler until I have a SHORT program that demonstrates the problem. Here's the program... /* demo - test variable declarations in DeSmet C */ #include <stdio.h> char g[2]; static char s[32]; main() { char *heap; printf("globals are at %04x - %04x\n",&g[0],&g[1]); printf("statics are at %04x - %04x\n",&s[0],&s[31]); heap=malloc(1); printf("heap starts at %04x\n",heap); if(heap<&g[1] || heap<&s[31]) printf("------ CONFLICT -------\007\n"); else printf("heap is okay.\n"); } Printout from a compilation... C88 Compiler V2.41 (c) Mark DeSmet, 1982,83,84,85 end of C88 006C code 00A2 data 3% utilization Binder for C88 and ASM88 V1.6 (c) Mark DeSmet, 1982,83,84,85 end of BIND 22% utilization Printout after compiling with -c switch.... globals are at 01B2 - 01B3 statics are at 01D6 - 01F5 heap starts at 01DB ------ CONFLICT ------- Printout after compiling without -c switch... globals are at 01B2 - 01B3 statics are at 01B6 - 01D5 heap starts at 01DB heap is okay. Note that heap location is unchanged, but static variables have moved. I posted this program at the CWare BBS (408-720-8197) and got this reply... > #16 2 29 Jul 86 23:29:01 (PRIVATE) > From: Sysop > To: James Vanzandt > Subj: static > > Your right, 2.41 did have such a bug. In fact 2.5 also had one. 2.51 is > supposed to fix that problem, so I will compile your code under a newer > release and see if it is still around. > Ken > I wonder what other bugs lurk in 2.41. Maybe I'll have to invest in 2.51 after all. - Jim Van Zandt ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Aug 86 14:49:53 edt From: edison!jso@seismo.CSS.GOV (John Owens) To: Joe.Newcomer@sei.cmu.edu Subject: MODE To force a switch to one card or the other, if the video interrupt function 0 won't let you, write to the byte at 40:49 the mode you want to be in (3 for color/80, 7 for monochrome). *THEN* issue the mode set command (function 0) for the same mode you forced it to think it was in.... Kludgy, but it should work. The MODE command seems to modify the equipment word at 40:10 to say you have the equipment you want (if the equipment's there); you could also try that. Good luck! -John Owens jso@edison.UUCP jso%edison.UUCP@seismo.CSS.GOV ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Aug 86 13:21:57 cdt From: mlw@ncsc.ARPA (Williams) Message-Id: <8608051821.AA12330@ncsc.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: PGA Edmund Lai asked about information pertaining to the Professional Graphics Adapter (actually, "Controller")... The official technical reference is available from IBM as part of the Personal Computer Hardware Reference Library. The section is titled "IBM Personal Computer Professional Graphics Controller Technical Reference," part no. 6138161, (c) 1984 (most recent posting I have is Aug 15, 1984. The thing is 204 pages of little teeny print and figures, so there's no way I can impart even a fraction of it through the net. Here's some of the Table of Contents, though. If you want some de- tails about a single topic, I may be able to provide some, anyway. Description.....................................1 Major Components..............................3 System-Bus Interface........................4 Microprocessor Section......................6 Video Control Generator Section.............8 Emulator Address Control...................11 Graphics Emulator..........................13 Display Memory.............................15 Look-Up Table and Video Output Section.....18 Timing and Control Section.................19 Emulator Modes...............................20 Alphanumeric Mode..........................20 Graphics Mode..............................24 Description of Basic Operations............28 High-Function Graphics Mode..................29 Alphanumeric Operation.....................29 Graphics Operation.........................30 Description of Basic Operations............32 Programming Considerations.....................33 Emulator Programming Considerations..........33 Programming the 6845 CRT Controller........33 Programming the Mode Control and Status Registers................................35 Color-Select Register......................36 Mode-Select Register.......................38 Status Register............................41 Sequence of Events for Changing Modes......42 Memory Requirements........................42 High-Function Graphics Programming Considerations...........................43 Coordinate Space...........................45 Video Generation...........................56 Display Control............................58 Drawing Primitives.........................63 Text.......................................69 Command Lists..............................71 Look-Up Table..............................73 Image Processing...........................74 Read-Back Commands.........................75 System Reset...............................77 Communications.............................78 Communication Protocol.....................80 High-Function Graphics Commands..............83 Interface.....................................179 Connector Specifications....................180 Specifications................................181 Logic Diagrams................................183 Mark L. Williams (mlw@ncsc.arpa) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Aug 86 14:52:48 PDT From: Martin C. Jordan <jordan%cod@nosc.ARPA> Subject: Help Needed for PGA I have recently inherited an IBM PGA card and monitor. I would like to make use of its advanced graphics capabilities, but am hampered by several things. My inheritance contained absolutely nothing in the way of documentation, drivers or software. I was able to find a copy of the PGA's VDI device driver and some information on the cards capabilities in the IBM Technical Reference Options and Adapters, Vol. 3 (IBM# 6322522). I also found a synopsis of the Tech. Ref. material in the IBM Systems Journal, Vol.24, No.1, 1985. It is not supported by IBM's Graphical Kernel System or their Graphics Development Tool kit according to the documentation. The local IBM boys have someone who has reputedly used the GDT with the PGA, but I have received no detailed information as yet. The scanty documentation I have found does not really tell one how to make practical USE of the PGA (at least it doesn't tell me). At this point, all I know is that it makes a dandy word processing display and has some high-powered graphics capabilities that cannot be accessed. Can anyone out there in net land help with suggestions, software, or phone numbers to Big Blue? I'm getting desperate, but its not big enough for a boat anchor. Thanks in advance, Martin Jordan jordan@nosc.arpa 619-225-2742 ------------------------------ From: vax135!petsd!moncol!lagaipa@ucbvax.berkeley.edu Date: Sun, 3 Aug 86 01:35:36 edt Subject: IBM PROFORT/GDT 1.1 Is anyone having difficulty with utilizing the PEL functions, within the Graphics Development Tool kit version 1.1, from IBM Professional Fortran 1.0. All our programs work fine under GDT 1.0 but die when accessing the PEL functions in GDT 1.1. What's the story? Did IBM release (recently) a version that doesn't work?? Please respond, either by Mail or call (201) 747-8277 ask for me, (Joe La Gaipa). ------------------------------ Date: 3 Aug 86 18:15:00 EDT From: "CHRISTOPHER E. SHULL" <shull@wharton-10.ARPA> Subject: Breaking the 32MB DOS Limit -- Anybody Ever Try Vfeature? A couple of months ago I added a 70 MB MiniScribe Winchester disk to one of our PC/AT comestibles. It installed easily (even though the documentation was awful), connecting to the standard disk drive controller card. It has been working very nicely with a 32 MB DOS partition and a 38 MB Xenix partition ever since. However, because we barely ever use Xenix, we would like to break the 32 MB MS-DOS limitation. I just ran across a $99 program called Vfeature offered by a company named Rupp Brothers (P.O. Drawer J, Lenox Hill Station, NY, NY 10021, 212/517-7775). The catalog reads as follows: BREAK ON THROUGH 280MB VOLUMES, At Your Service o Beat the 33MB DOS Barrier o Tune drives for optimum performance o Complete Password Protection FAST [sic] THE LIMITS Now you can have minicomputer hard disk capacity on your micro! Vfeature supports the use of very large drives with AT, XT, and compatible hard disk controllers -- Vfeature transcends the XT controller's 10 MB limit, the AT controller's drive configuration limits, and the 33MB limit of DOS. With Vfeature, you can use any physically-compatible drive -- or two! The deluxe version of Vfeature even allows a single file to span two drives. STRETCH THE LIMITS Reduce access time by putting large files in large volumes with large clusters. It's your choice -- the volume and cluster sizes are selected by you, not by your DOS level. SET THE LIMITS Vfeature is secure! Your password controls system booting. You can password-protect individual volumes. You can lock out diskette access. You can even lock your keyboard. Before I try to order Vfeature, does anyone have any experiences (good or bad) with the product or the company? Is there a public domain, shareware, or other commercial alternative for breaking the DOS limitation? Should I just wait for DOS 5? Thanks in advance! -Chris Christopher E. Shull Decision Sciences Department The Wharton School Shull@Wharton-10.ARPA University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104-6366 215/898-5930 ------------------------------ Subject: 386 Specification Question Date: Sun, 03 Aug 86 21:27:58 -0500 From: James R. Van Zandt <jrv@mitre-bedford.ARPA> I have been studying the specification for the 80386 and, to say the least, I'm impressed. However, I have a couple of questions... I've found two instructions with the same op code: BSF (bit scan forward) 00001111 10111100 mod reg r/m BSR (bit scan reverse) 00001111 10111100 mod reg r/m Is the direction controlled by the direction flag, or is this a misprint? My guess is that one of them ought to have the op code 00001111 10111101 mod reg r/m, which is otherwise unused. Another instruction that has me confused is SHRD (shift right double register/memory by CL) 00001111 10101101 mod reg r/m I suspect that in 16-bit mode the register 'reg' and the location pointed to by 'mod r/m' are being concatenated to form a 32 bit word which is being shifted. In 32-bit mode a 64 bit word is being shifted. Is that right? Is 'reg' at the left or the right end of this word? - Jim Van Zandt ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Aug 86 23:55:42 PDT From: crash!pnet01!scotto@nosc.ARPA (Scott O'Connell) To: crash!noscvax!info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: ICC Burroughs Emulation Software Has anyone used the ICC package on a Compaq using COM1 or COM2? I tried to install the software and it doesn't seem to address the COM ports correctly. Both COM1 & 2 work perfectly with quality TTY type terminal programs. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Scott O'Connell {ihnp4, cbosgd, sdcsvax, noscvax}!crash!pnet01!scotto ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Aug 86 12:42 AST From: <IUS%DACTH51.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA> (Eberhard W. Lisse) Subject: UUCP Hi, does anybody out there know of a version of UUCP running on the IBM-PC/XT/AT under DOS? Thanks, el [Lauren Weinstein (vortex!lauren) has such a product, but I don't know how to reach usenet via bitnet. Perhaps there are some users out there who would care to comment about this product. I haven't heard anything about it for the last six months or so. I suppose he is still selling it. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Mon 4 Aug 86 10:03:46-EDT From: Thomas S. Wanuga <WANUGA@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU> Subject: Definicon's DSI-020 68020 Processor Board Has anyone tried Definicon's DSI-020 68020 processor board for the IBM PC (see July and August 1986 issues of BYTE)? I'd like to hear how well it works. I remember seeing a query in the Digest a while back, but don't recall seeing any responses. Tom ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Aug 86 14:33:47 pdt From: Wm. L. Brown <wbrown@lbl-ux4> Subject: INSTALL/DEINSTALL of Device Drivers Cc: wksg@lbl-ux4 We have several situations where we need to remove device-drivers and other memory-resident "things" without having to re-boot (in fact some "things" don't even seem to go away when we re-boot). Here are the situations that we need to deal with. One scenario involves an application that is soooo big that nothing else will fit in memory (AT, 640K). The problem is that the "editor-of-choice" (PC-VI) requires "ANSI.SYS". Also, some people want to use BASIC "graphics" which is also memory resident. We've worked around this by making a couple of batch files which modify CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT and then do a "WARM BOOT". It would be real handy if we could install and remove these memory-resident things without having to re-boot. The second case is a bit more obscure. For reasons too involved to go into here, a product from WANG Labs. which simulates a WANG Word Processing System on a PC-XT is in wide-spread use here at L.B.L. It comes complete with a WANG-like keyboard and does things in a manner very similar to the way that the original WANG system does things. (The big deal here is that the secretarial personnel don't have to learn anything "new" in order to use P.C.'s{?}) Anyway, when one exits from the package in a manner that is supposed to leave nothing in memory, any attempt to restart the package fails with a message to the affect the there isn't enough memory. What's worse, a warm boot doesn't change the situation! The only way out is to turn the machine off, wait a couple of minutes, and try again. Also, this package sticks some stuff in between the serial port and other applications (like KERMIT or PC-VT) which causes bad things to happen to any kind of communications package that tries to run faster then 2400 baud or so. I don't think that WANG is too impressed with our problems, so I don't expect a fix from that direction. Well, sorry that the explanation of the problem got to be so long. Any pointers or a solution will be appreciated. -Bill ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Aug 86 00:06:30 edt From: Glenn Jordan <ecsvax!trent%mcnc.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: Can Speeding Up an Old AT Harm it ? Well, it goes like this : Where I work we got an IBM-AT with a replaced-by-IBM disk controller card handling the 20-Meg Data Products drive that it came with. IBM replaced the old card because it would only format 1/4 or so of the hard disk. We have been having no trouble with the system, except that it is amazingly slow with the original crystal. So, I replaced the crystal with a faster one. The people at EXEC-PC sent me one they said was identical to the ones coming in the faster AT's from IBM, as part of a deal we had going... It worked fine, and the speed-up was appreciated by all who used the machine. But then one day, at power-up we got a strange message : 1780 - Disk 0 Failure (Resume = F1 key) when you push F1, you get cassette basic... This happened a few times, cycling the system off/on would usually fix. I replaced the original crystal this afternoon, and it appears to have helped. Is this some kind of warning that my controller is getting flaky? What is the connection with the crystal change, if any ? How can I fix it ? Thanks in advance, trent@ecsvax ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Aug 86 22:59 EDT From: Hess@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Hard Disk Head-Park I have a hard-disk head park program that doesn't seem to do anything at all. Does anybody have source or object that they could let me see, either for a general-purpose head-park or specific device version? My program (from Basic-Time, aka Qubie', for a Tandon 20Mb disk) asks the hardware how many cylinders it has, adds 50, and seeks to that place. Well, the disk heads move (and light flash) for numbers up to the size of the disk, but no light flashes for larger numbers, and the INT 13 returns AH=02, address mark not found. Is it actually doing something or is my controller or drive defeating the +50 seek? If you have source or would be willing to hexify a .COM file and mail it to me, I would be grateful. Brian (Hess@MIT-Multics.ARPA) ------------------------------ Date: 6 Aug 86 04:46 GMT From: cfac-cso @ KOREA-EMH Subject: Sanyo 555 Serial Port What is the change to Sidekick to allow the dialer to access Sanyo 555 RS-232 port with a Smartmodem. ------------------------------ Date: 6 Aug 86 07:11 GMT From: ldsmith @ KOREA-EMH Subject: Wordstar 2000 with Two Printer Ports Is there a way to install WS-2000 to access LPT-2 on the print command? I can't seem to print through LPT-2. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Aug 86 17:41:48 +0200 (Central European Summertime) From: XBR1YD22%DDATHD21.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA (Ralf Bayer {Herz-Baerchi}) Subject: CAD-System for Electrical Engineers I'm looking for a CAD-System for Electrical Engineers. This system should perform the following tasks: (1) allow the layout of schematic circuit designs interactively (2) automatically create the pcb layout from the circuit design. Positioning of the devices on the pcb can be done interactively, but the routing should be done automatically. (3) possibly allow for circuit simulation (but that's not necessary). If you know such a beast, tell me about the name, price and supplier of the program. Any comments about the quality of the programs are welcome, too. (and please reply to me directly, I don't always read the list) Thanx in advance Ralf Bayer (The Care Bear) Computing Center at the Technical University of Darmstadt ArpaNET: xbr1yd22%ddathd21.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu BITNET: xbr1yd22@ddathd21 ------------------------------ Date: Wednesday, 6 Aug 1986 07:19:04-PDT From: dantowitz%eagle7.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM (David LTN2-2/H07 -- DTN: 226-6957) Subject: Disk Catalog I presently have several hundred (2-3) floppy disks, and on a floppy system, organization is important. Does anyone have or know of any software that will catalog information like: what files are on which disks, and perhaps data, size and CRC information as well (to uniquely identify different versions). Descriptions of the files might be nice too. David P.S. This could be PD or otherwise, although I would favor PD software. Also does anyone know what the BLOCK file bug was in TURBO 3.0 and what Borland's exchange/update policy is with respect to this bug? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Aug 86 16:27:20 EDT From: Kenneth Van Camp -FSAC- <kvancamp@ardec> Subject: Fspool The first time I used the public domain Fspool program (redirects printer output to disk file), it was with a very large file. So when I got done and noticed that my hard disk access times had increased by at least a factor of 3, I just figured the time had finally come to reformat my disk. I figured too many files had gotten to be non-contiguous, probably caused by the very large file I had just created. After I reformatted my disk and restored everything, though, I used Fspool again -- this time on a very small file (about two screenfuls). To my amazement, I saw some of the same behavior, although on a much smaller scale. But disk access, especially in the directory in which I had used Fspool, was noticeably slower. Now I've decided to only use Fspool with the floppy disk. Does anyone know what Fspool is doing? Am I the only one who has experienced this problem? Just for the sake of completeness, I have an IBM PC-XT running DOS 2.10, with the standard 10MB hard disk. --Ken Van Camp <kvancamp@ARDEC.ARPA> Chairman: Committee to Draft CRAY X-MP FOR PRESIDENT, 1988 [Why not try LPTX in the info-ibmpc lending library. It does the same thing, and since you have access to source code any problems can be fixed. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Aug 86 18:30 EDT From: Hess@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: MS-Word Internal .DOC Format Has anybody taken a stab at parsing MS-WORD .DOC format? I'd like some hints if you have them, or even better, a list of the structures and their items (optimistic!). Thanks, Brian (Hess@Mit-Multics.ARPA) ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------