Info-IBMPC@B.ISI.EDU.UUCP (07/20/86)
Info-IBMPC Digest Sunday, July 20, 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 71
This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann
Today's Topics:
TMS320 Boards
AST RAMvantage, Goldbow Cache-at
Clock/Calendar without the Slot (2 msgs)
Display-Write 3 File Recovery (2 msgs)
dBase III and Data Disks
TeX
File Compression
PC/SAS File Integrity
PC HACK Updated
Today's Queries:
Superkey Query
IBM Portable PC Query
Volume Label Query
ARC*.EXE Wanted
Multiple Graphics Cards Query
Pipe File Query
Laser Digital & Hard Disk Queries
File Recovery Query
PD Assembler Wanted
European Conventions for Programs
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Date: Sat, 19 Jul 86 23:09:25 EDT
From: Chris Schmandt <geek@MEDIA-LAB.MIT.EDU>
To: info-ibmpc@b.isi.edu
Subject: TMS320 Boards
There are rumors that the IBM VCO 320 board is on its way out. They
aren't really selling many, it seems.
In the meantime, HP has introduced its own 320 board, based on Natural
Microsystems Watson board. The only change I know of is that they added
Berkeley Systems text-to-speech. The came through the HP lab in Grenoble
France, so I am not sure what the target of the board is.
It seems really stupid to me to try to market such a board without modem
software. At one point, Watson advertised "If you're going to buy a modem,
pay a few bucks more and get our wonderful answering machine too". Sure
seems a way to cut the effective price of an otherwise fairly expensive
board.
It is worth noting, in this vein, that simple answering machines or
dial-a-date services don't need expensive TMS320 boards. For about 1/3
the price (of the IBM or TI boards) you can get a board with telephone
interface, dial, touch-tone decode, and voice record/playback. Dialogic
in New Jersey is one of many vendors.
The real advantage of a 320 is that it is a progammable speech peripheral.
Now, how useful this is depends on its run time environment, i.e. how many
algorithms or processes can it support or swap between in near-real time,
but the point is that a single board can give you record/playback, modem,
recognition, and synthesis (and image processing and filtering and...)
Unless you use more than one or two of these functions, it isn't cost
effective.
To our work at MIT, though, these boards are the proof that the hardware
at least could be there to support some fairly sophisticated voice
functionality on an other inexpensive workstation (read: PC). You only
really need the speed for the digital signal processing, and that is
precisely how the 320 fits in. The focus of our work is on the user
interface to that voice functionality, with the kind of personalization
and response time one can expect from a dedicted micro. The point is
that voice mail, etc. need not run on a dedicated mini some place
with all the associated cost, accessibility, and vanilla interface
that seems to imply.
My address was listed incorrectly as a source of information about
the Architecture Machine (now Media Lab) speech work. It's
geek@media-lab.mit.edu. I'll be happy to send copies of papers, etc.
------------------------------
Date: Wed 16 Jul 86 21:51:16-CDT
From: GFT.IVO%gsbadm.uchicago.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA
Subject: AST RAMvantage, Goldbow Cache-at
To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa%gargoyle.uchicago.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA
I just received some new toys for my AT, and thought other people may
be interested in my experience(s):
I ordered the AST RAMvantage board (upgradable to 3Meg on-board [i.e.
w/o extra piggyback board]) and 1.5Meg RAM from Priority One
electronics. I chose RAMvantage primarily because it is fairly cheap
(about $250). I don't know why AST bundles sidekick (I think I can
start collecting sidekicks now), and a Superpak software package,
which only seems to imitate DOS' vdisk and print program (if anyone
knows what it does extra for people w/o serial printers, let me know).
RAMvantage's manual looks professional, but is rather confusing. In
particular, it can't make up its mind whether a switch is on when it
is up or down. In addition, I received a boot-up error message which
later turned out to be a bent chip leg. Needless to say that it took
me a while (and phone-calls to AST and Priority 1) to find out what
was wrong. The AST support was rather knowledgeable, but difficult to
get a hold of (they had a one-day waiting list to call back). Priority
One was rather nice (they immediately offered me to take the board
back with them paying UPS), but completely ignorant.
In any case, the board now works like a charm. I can heartily
recommend it, although you may want to have your supplier put in the
memory and set up the switches for you.
There is not much one can do these days with extended memory. One
program that is worth buying a board for is Goldbow's Disk Cache. It
peacefully coexists with DOS' vdisk. My 800K allocation to cache-at
produces a 70 to 85 percent hit-rate. It's cheap and effective, so
for all of those with 1.5 Megabyte of unused VDISKs, my advice is to
get cache-at. Rumor has it that Goldbow's next version will also be
able to cache floppy disks (the current version handles only hard
disks).
Hope that helps...
Ivo
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 86 07:52:47 cdt
From: mlw@ncsc.ARPA (Williams)
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
Subject: Clock/Calendar without the Slot
There are a whole bunch of wierd (well, maybe "interesting" is a better word)
combinations of stuff on multi-function boards lately, but I've also seen
a thing called "dCLOCK" which seems to be a clock/calendar chip w/battery
backup that costs about $60 and plugs into the 8088 socket. Then the 8088
plugs into it. I've been curious about how well this works...adding a
clock/calendar for under $100 and using no expansion slots would be an
attractive enhancement for many of the PCs at NCSC. Let me know if you
go that route -- I'd like to hear how it works.
And of course, now that I've gotten this ready, I can't find the ad anywhere.
I think a recent PC Mag is probably the best source (and they have a product-
name cross-reference -- a big help in these searches), but my recent copies
have mysteriously wandered off...
Mark L. Williams
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 86 23:54 EDT
From: Hess@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: Clock/Calendar without the Slot
To: INFO-IBMPC@B.ISI.EDU
There is a company that makes a clock/calendar which is a tiny kluge
board. You pull the 8088 from your system, plug on this board into the
socket, and push the 8088 into this board. I forget the name of the
company, but they advertised in InfoWorld 2-3 months ago, with a small
3-by-3(4?) corner, for several issues in a row. Their idea works with
PC clones, but not with TI Pro (the 8088 is soldered) or DEC Rainbow
(the PC is not is some "______ mode", forget what they called it) so
I've never actually bought one. If I find the name I'll send it, or if
anybody out there has used one, could you tell us about it?
------------------------------
To: ciaraldi@rochester.ARPA
Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
Subject: Re: Display-Write 3 File Recovery
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 86 08:45:28 -0500
From: edelheit@mitre.ARPA
Mike - I checked with my wife (a heavy DW3 user) and she extended a lot
of sympathy to your co-worker. Bottom line is that your co-worker may have
damaged the disk. DW3's recover utility won't help. The DOS recover
command may be of some help. (She has had to use it once or twice
herself; It's great working in a building under construction and having
your power turned off without warning!) She also said that her home
office has used the Norton Utilties with a high degree of success; but
she has no details of how or what the do with Norton.
Your co-worker may have to (sigh) re-enter the whole thing. The last time
my wife's office lost power, it took out a 40 page legal pleading that was
needed for the next day. She had to re-type the whole thing.
Sorry for the bad news.
Regards,
Jeff Edelheit (edelheit@mitre.arpa)
The MITRE Corporation, 1820 Dolley Madison Blvd.
McLean, VA 22102 (703) 883-7586
------------------------------
Date: 18 Jul 86 10:28:51 PDT
From: "COX R.G." <cox@nusc.ARPA>
Subject: Displaywrite 3 and Data Disks
To: "info-ibmpc" <info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA>
Forwarded from Southeastern CT PC Users Group BBS:
Msg # 468 Dated 07-14-86 00:25:17
From: MILO TSUKROFF
To: ALL
Re: DISPLAYWRITE 3
DISPLAYWRITE 3 is dangerous to diskette directories! If you remove a
diskette before leaving the program, the program has not written the
directory back onto the diskette and all files are USELESS and
UNRECOVERABLE. This comes from a good source in Traveler's Insurance
Corporation. It appears that IBM has violated DOS in direct opposition
to recommended programming practices! (? What's going on with IBM here
?)
No information is available about whether this is fixed in
DISPLAYWRITE 4 or not.
Milo
------------------------------
Date: 18 Jul 86 10:29:20 PDT
From: "COX R.G." <cox@nusc.ARPA>
Subject: dBase III and Data Disks
To: "info-ibmpc" <info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA>
An additional comment concerning to Milo's previous message (#468);
my wife had a similar experience using dBase III. In the process
of juggling disks containing dBase III programs and data, the
File Allocation Table (FAT) of one disk was overwritten with the
FAT of the data disk she had been using at the beginning of one
dBase III session. Even more alarming was the fact that the
damaged data disk was WRITE PROTECTED!!! Apparantly, the write
protect is a software protection only, and calls can be made to
the disk controller causing a write despite any write protection.
In this case, we were able to restore most of the data using
CHKDSK and other tools, but she is very careful now to properly
log changed disks in dBase.
[This is news to me -- I always thought the write protect tab on a
diskette could not be circumvented. -rag]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 86 17:09 CDT
From: Dick Brown <RBROWN%carleton.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA>
To: INFO-ibmpc@B.ISI.EDU
Subject: TeX for PCs
Carl Fussell's note in issue 5_68 failed to mention that there are two
competing versions of TeX for PCs. The other one is called PCTeX, and is
put out by Personal TeX Inc. of Mill Valley, CA (415)388-8853. In order to
run TeX, you need a port of the program TeX itself (written by Donald Knuth),
which converts your TeX code into a device-independent .DVI file, then you
need a driver program which converts the .DVI file into the appropriate format
for your device. Here are list and educational discount prices for some of
Personal TeX's products:
list ed.disc.
PCTeX, the TeX port 249 150
PCDOT, driver for dot matrix 95 55
Laserwriter driver 275 200
Preview, for screen output 225 200
They also support several other laser printers at comparable prices. I
understand that the educational discount is available when a purchase of $500
or more is made by an educational institution.
I have been using PCDOT to print .DVI files which were generated on a VAX
and downloaded via Kermit for some time, and am pleased with the results, and
a colleague across town is very happy with the whole system. We plan to buy
into the educational discount soon. Both PCTeX and Addison Wesley's MicroTeX
have been reviewed in various publications, including: Dr.Dobbs' Journal,
Sept 85; Micro/Systems Journal, Sept/Oct 85; Notices of the American Math
Society, Jan 86; and Byte, April 86.
Dick Brown
Carleton College
------------------------------
Date: Fri 18 Jul 86 13:40:20-PDT
From: Ted Shapin <BEC.SHAPIN@USC-ECL.ARPA>
Subject: Re: File Compression
To: info-ibmpc@B.ISI.EDU
Brian Blau asked about writing a Huffman file compression program
using LAttice C. [Vol. 5 Issue 68]
The Squeeze and Unsqueeze programs that are widely used on CP/M
systems perform Huffman compression and the source code in C
is available on many public BBS's.
The newer methods that run on IBM-PC systems have switched to
using ARC, which uses Lempel-Zev-Welch encoding which usually
gives a little more compression.
What we don't need is *another* incompatible compression program!
Ted.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 86 17:19:27 edt
From: Ted Emigh <ecsvax!emigh%mcnc.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA>
Subject: PC/SAS File Integrity
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
I have just spent the better part of a day recovering from a romp
PC/SAS took through my hard disk on an IBM-AT. Apparently, PC/SAS was
modifying random clusters on the disk without the formality of opening
and closing the files. This meant the files were modified without the
date on the directory being updated. The only way I found this out
was that one of the files it modified was the SASGLM.EXE file. I was
demonstrating "how neat PC/SAS" was on a simple problem when the
display went wild.
Anyway, PC/SAS was modifying the files in such a way that a cursory
inspection would not let me know it had been modified. Fortunately, I
had not backed up the hard disk since installing PC/SAS, so I was able
to get clean copies of all my programs, and was able to fix *MOST* of
the data by hand. I am frightened by thinking about what would have
happened if I had backed up the bad files without realizing it!
My question is this: Are there any programs that check for file
integrity? I would like a program that will keep a file of CRC's for
all the files on the disk. Then before a backup, I would run the
program to make sure that the CRC's are the same for those files that
have not been modified. Public domain would be wonderful, but if I
plan to ever use PC/SAS again, I will need whatever is on the market.
If not, I guess I'll have to write my own (sigh).
Ted H. Emigh Genetics and Statistics, North Carolina State U, Raleigh NC
USENET: {akgua decvax duke ihnp4 unc}!mcnc!ecsvax!emigh
ARPA: decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!emigh@BERKELEY
BITNET: NEMIGH@TUCC
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 19 Jul 86 17:45:28 PDT
From: kneller@cgl.ucsf.edu (Don Kneller)
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
Subject: PC HACK Updated
I've uploaded the latest as HACK351.ARC. Not much has changed, but a
few bugs have been fixed. This now replaces HACK33.ARC.
Don Kneller
UUCP: ...ucbvax!ucsfcgl!kneller
ARPA: kneller@ucsf-cgl.ARPA
BITNET: kneller@ucsfcgl.BITNET
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 86 16:07 N
From: <LAANE%HGRRUG5.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA>
Subject: Superkey Query
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Has anybody experience using Superkey with a non-IBM keyboard, like
the Olivetti M24 keyboard no 2 (AT&T 6300?). Superkey redefines this
keyboard as an IBM keyboard and I don't want that to happen.
Redefining the keyboard with the layout program is of no use because
you can't split the ";" and the ":" from one another. Redefining keys
with a macro isn't possible either. Try it; you'll end up in a
recursive loop defining "+" as ":" and ":" as "+" etc. Must I buy a
new keyboard or throw away Superkey? Or is there a solution?
Thanks in advance
Winfried Laane
State University Groningen
Holland
------------------------------
Date: Thurs, 17 Jul 1986 8:52 EST
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
From: eric%acorn@mit-live-oak.arpa
Subject: IBM Portable PC Query
Several computer stores in the Boston area have indicated that the IBM
Portable PC has been discontinued and is no longer available.
Does anyone know if this is true?
-- Eric Swenson
------------------------------
Date: 17 Jul 86 08:47:29 EDT (Thursday)
Subject: Volume Label Query
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
cc: Bill <Crocca.wbst@Xerox.COM>, IBMPC^.es@Xerox.COM,
Pascal/Turbo^.x@Xerox.COM, Homecomputing^.X@Xerox.COM
From: Bill <Crocca.wbst@Xerox.COM>
I'm trying to write a small routine (in turbo) to put a volume label on
a disk. I've got Norton's book. I need to be compatible with MS-DOS v2
and up.
The most success I've had so far is using MS-DOS function call 3C,
Create File. If I change the directory to be the root (\) and Create
with an attribute of volume label, then Create returns with an error
code of 2 (file not found). At that point, the volume label appears to
have been written, although I'm not sure its correctly written: DIR
correctly identifies the volume. But programs which use the extended
FindFirst and FindNext calls cannot read this volume label. Another
interesting thing occurs if I try this sequence a second time: Create
returns error 5. In neither case does Create return a valid handle.
1. Can anyone help me with this or point me to adequate reference
material?
2. Is it possible to change the volume label without clobbering the
rest of the disk?
I'm beginning to suspect that in order to do these functions may require
raw read and rewrite of fat table entries or some such - - but I sure
hope not!
Thanks in advance,
Bill
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 86 09:35:29 cdt
From: pyle@ngp.UTEXAS.EDU (Keith Pyle)
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Subject: ARC*.EXE Wanted
Where can I obtain the often referenced ARC 'shareware'?
Keith Pyle
UUCP: . . .{ihnp4,seismo,ctvax,noao,gatech}!ut-sally!ut-ngp!pyle
ARPA: pyle@ut-ngp
------------------------------
Date: 17 Jul 1986 15:23-EDT
Sender: MHARRIS@A.BBN.COM
Subject: Multiple Graphics Cards Query
From: MHARRIS@A.BBN.COM
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I need to drive several (at least four, preferably more) graphics screens
with a single AT, and am looking for card(s) which allow this at minimum
cost. The requirements:
* Each screen 640x480x8 bit pixels ideally, but will settle for less.
MUCH less.
* Ability to modify one screen without altering others.
* Ability to write into individual bitplanes. I'm told the EGA can
do this, but no one here knows how.
* "Good" performance (speed is important) (EGA is "good" I guess).
Even CGAs might be okay, but I'm told you can't use more than one. Same
with EGAs, so they say. Cards like the Number Nine, Matrox, etc. are nice
but too costly. Any pointers? What's an "Orchid Technology" other than a
rumor? Despite hearsay, can you in fact have multiple EGAs in one AT?
Does anyone know of high-res hardware which can drive multiple lower-res
screens (e.g. 1280x1024 bitmap into 4 640x480 outputs)?
Many thanks for any forthcoming help.
--Michael Harris
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 86 10:57:28 MEZ
From: I1090201%DBSTU1.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA
Subject: Pipe File Query
ReSent-To: info-ibmpc@B.ISI.EDU
Does anybody know how to tell DOS not to write its intermediate files
to the root directory of the current disk? Things would be a lot
faster if DOS was using the harddisk or the virtual (ram) disk, if
installed.
Thanks in advance,
Michael G.
I1090201@DBSTU1.BITNET
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 86 19:05:26 PDT
From: willis%ucbviolet@BERKELEY.EDU
To: Info-IBMPC@b.isi.edu
Subject: Laser Digital & Hard Disk Queries
1) I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who has had experience
with Laser Digital AT's and Laser Digital DaisyWriter Laser
Printers.
2) We've been having problems with the generic Taiwanese 20 meg
hard disks recently installed by a vendor in the PC's and AT's at
our site (not U.C.B., my summer job). Bad sectors began appear-
ing after only a week on several of them. I found that even the
disks that haven't failed have bad sectors on them which have
been marked by FORMAT as unusable. The vendor claims that it is
normal for new hard disks to have bad sectors on them. "That's
why a 20 meg hard disk usually is closer to 22 meg." I've never
experienced this phenomenon before. Have I just been lucky? The
explanation strikes me as self-serving. Any comments or sugges-
tions would be appreciated.
Willis Johnson
...ucbvax!violet!willis
willis@violet.BERKELEY.EDU
------------------------------
Date: Thu 17 Jul 86 19:16:20-PDT
From: Connie Chitteden <CHITTENDEN@SRI-KL.ARPA>
Subject: File Recovery Query
To: info-ibmpc@B.ISI.EDU
A co-worker just clobbered a disk by inadvertently writing another
disk's directory over the correct directory. We know the files are
still on the disk, but the directory is wrong. Of course, he has no
backup, and the files are vital. Can anyone suggest how to recover
the files? I've heard there are utilities that help do this, but I
don't know what they are.
Thank you!
Connie Chittenden
------------------------------
Date: 18 Jul 86 14:31:00 EDT
From: John Duimovich <John_Duimovich%CARLETON.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA>
To: <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
Subject: PD Assembler Wanted
Does anyone out there know of a Public Domain (shareware too) assembler
suitable for teaching. It doesn't have to be too fancy, just as long
as it works and follows Intel mnemonics.
Thanks,
John_Duimovich @ Carleton.BITNET
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 20 Jul 86 05:32 EDT
From: Paul Schauble <Schauble@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA>
Subject: European Conventions for Programs
To: Info-IBMPC@B.ISI.EDU
I am presently working on a project that requires making version of a
program in several different European languages. I would greatly
appreciate advice on a few points. Please reply to me and I will
summaryize responses for the list.
The first language I will be doing is French. Dutch, German, Spanish,
and Italian will soon follow, so I would appreciate guidance for them
also. I am interested in Information for the IBM PC and for commonly
available clones.
1. Do the Euporean machines use the same keyboard as the US versions.
That is, are the keys such as <Home>, <PgUp>, <PgDn>, etc. labeled
the samy way? If not, what are the labels?
2. Can one depend on the video boards having the accented characters in
the same place as the US equivalents? If not, how does one handle
accented characters. Also, does the standard video board provide all
of the characters needed for these languages?
3. For "Yes" or "No" choices: Is the English form universal or should
one take the first letter of the native language words? Have any of
the countries developed local conventions? Should one punt the
question and use function keys?
4. How does one key in the accented characters?
5. Can accented characters appear in file names?
Please reply to Schauble at MIT-Multics. I will post responses if I get
any.
Thanks,
Paul
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End of Info-IBMPC Digest
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