Info-IBMPC@B.ISI.EDU.UUCP (06/30/86)
Info-IBMPC Digest Sunday, June 29, 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 65
This Week's Editor: Phyllis O'Neil
This Afternoon's Topics:
MASM 4.0 Bug Forwarded
U.S. Naval Observatory Item
PC-HACK V3.4
Re: Caution with PC Network
Re: The PICK operating system
Apple LaserWriter info
This Afternoon's Queries:
Lifetree Software
PC-Draw (Query)
PC-KAT
8-Mhz AT, Wait States query
Z-80 Cross Assembler Wanted.
Problem with MS Word Print Driver
Needed: APL Character Set
PRN redirection
PC to Unix
286 Boards for XT
Tractball equiv. for Microsoft Mouse
------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 86 13:19:24 PDT
From: Gordon_Bartel%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Subject: MASM 4.0 bug
I found a problem with the % macro expression operator when used in
default hex radix (.radix 16). 0 through 9 are ok, but instead of
using hex digits A - F that the rest of the world uses, MASM comes up with
the letters J - O !!! After producing the MASM-HEX digits 'J' through 'O',
the assembler procedes to produce a 'symbol not defined' error.
The following sample program produces 0,,9,J,K,..,O as output when you
assemble it!
.radix 16
output macro char
%out char
endm
n = 0
rept 10
output %n
n = n + 1
endm
end
I called Microsoft, and they said that this was a known problem which they
were planning on correcting with their next version. I asked about the
possibility of an update, and she said that she didn't know if there would
be one or not.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 86 02:59:05 EDT
From: Fred Blonder <fred@mimsy.umd.edu>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Forwarded U.S. Naval Observatory Item
I found this on the Naval Observatory's BBS, and am passing it
along for your information.
====================================================================
A "FLOPPY ALMANAC" FOR MICROCOMPUTER USERS
A new compact source of accurate astronomical information is being
developed at the U. S. Naval Observatory. A 5-1/4 inch computer
diskette, called the "Floppy Almanac", will soon be available to
microcomputer users. This diskette will provide one years'
information on accurate positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and
stars, for any date and time within the year; data on the apparent
illumination and rotation of planets; times of rise, set, and
transit of any astronomical body for any location on Earth; and the
data needed by a navigator to obtain a position "fix" from
astronomical observations. This is the principal data now
contained in three annual Observatory publications - the
Astronomical Almanac, the Nautical Almanac, and the Air Almanac -
comprising over 1000 pages of tabular information.
The "Floppy Almanac" diskette will be useful for professional and
amateur astronomers, navigators, surveyors, meteorologists,
engineers, and others who regularly need accurate information on
the positions and motions of the Sun, Moon, planets and stars. Use
of the diskette will require a microcomputer compatible with the
IBM* PC. (Specifically, the "Floppy Almanac" is being designed for
use in any IBM PC-compatible machine with at least 256k bytes of
memory running MS-DOS**; an 8087 arithmetic coprocessor is strongly
recommended.)
The "Floppy Almanac" is the result of a year-long development
effort by Dr. George H. Kaplan, Mr.Timothy S. Carroll, Dr. LeRoy
E. Doggett, and Dr. P. Kenneth Seidelmann of the Nautical Almanac
Office of the U. S. Naval Observatory, and Ms. Susana E. Deustua of
the University of Michigan. It draws upon ten years of experience
producing the Almanac for Computers, an annual publication of the
Nautical Almanac Office which provides astronomical formulas and
algorithms for small computers and calculators. In contrast, the
data from the "Floppy Almanac" will be immediately available to
anyone with a microcomputer and the diskette; no programming or
detailed knowledge of computers is required. Ease of use has been
a specific design goal.
It is anticipated that the "Floppy Almanac" diskettes will be
available in late summer 1986. At that time, interested
institutions and individuals will be able to purchase the diskettes
by writing to the Naval Observatory, code FA. The projected price
of each diskette is $20. Each diskette will provide the data for
one calendar year. Only the diskettes for 1986 and 1987 will be
available initially. Diskettes covering future years, as well as
improvements and extensions to the data on the diskettes, will be
available by mid-1987. Versions of the "Floppy Almanac" for
microcomputer architectures other than that of the IBM PC are
planned.
* IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines Inc.
* MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
-END-
Contact: Dr. George H. Kaplan (202) 653-1516 or 653-1541 (PAO)
Nautical Almanac Office, U. S. Naval Observatory
Washington, D.C. 20390
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 86 17:50:56 edt
From: brant%linc.cis.upenn.edu@CIS.UPENN.EDU
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Subject: PC-HACK V3.4
The latest release of Don Kneller's port of Unix Hack to
MS-DOS, PC-HACK V3.4, is temporarily available by anonymous
FTP from linc.cis.upenn.edu in the pub/hack subdirectory.
Feel free to add it to your archives.
Brant
P.S. The two files you want are hack34.arc and hackmisc.arc
------------------------------
To: elefante@radc-multics.ARPA
Cc: info-micro@brl-vgr.ARPA, info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
Subject: Re: Caution with PC Network
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 86 08:12:49 -0500
From: Mark H. Granoff <mhg@mitre-bedford.ARPA>
With regard to ordering by mail, I thought readers might like to hear a
success story.
Last April, I decided to replace by computer system with an AT&T 6300.
After searching locally for the best price (and finding the best one to
be about $3200), I hunted through magazines for the best mail order
price and found one.
The outfit I found was The Computer Discount Warehouse in Illinois.
Since the only thing I had ever bought previously by mail was a printer
for considerably less money, I went through several gyrations to
determine if they were "on the level" or just out to rip me off. (I
called the Illinois Better Business Bureau, the Illinois State
Department, and a the outfit's bank (the largest in Illinois)).
When I was finally satisfied that they would actually send me some
merchandise, I sent them a certified check. Within 10 (business) days
of sending out the check, I had my system.
It's worth noting that I payed $2100 for the following:
AT&T 6300 w/
640k memory (socketed)
1 20mb Seagate HD w/ Western Digital Controller
1 360k Half-height floppy.
Parallel Printer Cable
(That price included shipping, too!)
The upshot here is that I was very pleased to get such fast delivery.
At the time, everything I bought was "in stock and ready to ship." I
remain pleased with my purchase and have had no problems.
Mark H. Granoff (mhg@mitre-bedford)
------------------------------
To: cc.galvin@r20.utexas.edu
Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
Subject: Re: The PICK operating system
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 86 09:35:28 -0500
From: ted@mitre-bedford.ARPA
>Hi, anyone with experience with the PICK operating system out there?
>I'm interested in opinions on its functionality/usability. Also, what
>they DB lookup commands or are they more like standard OS commands
>(rename, delete, etc).
>
>I'll summarize if I get any responses and anyone else is interested in
>the results.
Pete,
I recently graduated from Cornell University, where I was a part-time
programmer for the Cornell Campus Store. The Campus Store runs the
AIS implementation of PICK on a Honeywell mini. For such an unknown
operating system I was very impressed with its capabilities.
PICK is a highly database oriented operating system. Standard OS commands
include SELECT (filename, relational operators), LIST (filename item or "*")
DELETE_FILE, DELETE(filename itemname), and the usual COMPILE, EDIT, COPY...
There is really no difference between the the 'OS' type commands and the
'Database' commands. They are all equally accessible.
Every file in PICK is a database file, with items which can be accessed
by their "KEY". You might ask "What about the program files?", well
programs are also kept in these type of files. Your program is one BIG item
in a file of many items/programs (somewhat like a library). Files in PICK
can also have what is called DICTIONARY. The dictionary section of the file
contains items which describe the FIELDS of the ITEMS in the DATA section
of the file. (Getting confusing yet?) The descriptions in the dictionary
section allow you to give real names to the fields and their lengths, types,
etc. This allows you to produce reports very easily and quickly. For
example: (Please don't hold me to the exact syntax)
1. SELECT STUDENT.FILE WITH CHARGE.BALANCE > $100 AND WITH GRADUATION.YEAR=
"1986"
2. LIST LAST.NAME FIRST.NAME PHONE.NUMBER CURRENT.BALANCE
You now have a nicely formatted list, which could have been sorted/printed.
As far as I know (please correct me if I'm wrong) the only programming
Language available is BASIC. It is a very robust form of BASIC, with
all of the constructs of those "higher level languages". It gives you
complete flexibility to massage a database in any way you see fit. The
compiler that AIS supplies is fast, and the executeable seems to be fairly
efficient.
My only major complaint with the AIS implementation of PICK is the editor.
It is a line editor <BARFFF>. An unsupported full screen editor comes
with the O/S, it has a fairly limited command set, but it works well
and has never chewed up any of my files.
I could run on for quite a while, but I really don't know what else
you would like to know. If you could fill me in on what you would like
to use the system for I could help you out.
Just for reference, my past/current programming experience includes
BASIC(-PLUS-2) on VMS and RSTS, and some Pascal on RSX-11M.
I have used other operating systems such as VM/CMS, TOPS-20, UNIX,
and RT-11, and have programmed on them in a limited fashion. I own
a PC clone, and have done some programming on it.
I would happy to answer any other questions that you have.
-- ted
ted@mitre_bedford.arpa
DDD (617) 271-3144
Disclaimer: I am in no way a affiliated with PICK or AIS.
English is not my forte, and I hate proof-reading.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 86 08:38:08 cdt
From: mlw@ncsc.ARPA (Williams)
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
Subject: Apple LaserWriter info
David:
I am only just now looking into this question, so I don't really have
answers but I think I've found a good info source (if I can go through
it all)... There's another interest group called LASER-LOVERS on the
net that addresses laser printer topics. Obviously, there are many
non-IBM-PC applications out there, but the use of LaserWriters in
different environments seems to be fairly commonly discussed. Maybe
you can get more specific help there. Requests for joining the
distribution group are supposed to go to
LASER-LOVERS-REQUEST@WASHINGTON and archives are available through
anonymous login ftp from <MAILING-LISTS>LASER-LOVERS.ARC and
<MAILING-LISTS>LASER- LOVERS.ARC-1 (and maybe some others?). Hope
this helps. If you find any significant information, could you send
me a copy directly? I'd be glad to work with you to assemble a
"status report" or some such if you're interested.
Mark
(mlw@ncsc.arpa)
------------------------------
From: hermix!stan@rand-unix.ARPA
To: randvax!info-ibmpc%ISIB@ECLB
Subject: Lifetree Software
Date: Tue Jun 24 21:05:17 1986
Does anyone out there know what happened to Lifetree Software?
Specifically, last year I saw a program from them called EGAMAGIC.
It allowed the user to specify colors on an EGA display. I would
like to get in touch with the company to obtain a copy.
Thanks.
Stan Stead
BELL: (213)206-6238
ARPA: hermix!stan@rand-unix.ARPA
UUCP: {decvax!ihnp4!trwrb}!hermix!stan
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 86 08:54:53 cdt
From: moore@ncsc.ARPA (Moore)
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
Subject: PC-Draw (Query)
Does anyone have any pointers to public domain drawing programs? Nothing
fancy, but I've heard only rumors about "PC-Draw." Any suggestions?
Jim Moore
NCSC
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 86 11:45:50 EDT
From: John Shaver STEEP-TMAC 879-7602 <jshaver@apg-3>
Subject: PC-KAT
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
I am trying to use PC-KAT and keep getting a -1 error. I objviously am
not doing something correctly. I do not have a hard disk but am using
the program on a 1.2M Hi-density disk.
John
------------------------------
Date: 25 Jun 86 14:18 EDT
From: (Gary Chapman) <CHAPMAN@NYU-ACF1.ARPA>
To: <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
Subject: 8-Mhz AT, Wait States query
Can anyone provide me with technical information, or a good source for
such information, about wait states on the IBM PC/AT (specifically the
new 8-Mhz model)? What is the story? Is it possible to put in faster
memory and remove the wait state? At what level is the wait state
implemented? Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
--Gary Chapman, NYU ACF Microcomputer Lab (CHAPMAN@NYU-ACF1.ARPA
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 86 19:07:06 EDT
From: Rob%UMass.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Systems Programmer)
Subject: Z-80 Cross Assembler Wanted.
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
* W A N T E D *
An inexpensive or public domain cross-assembler for the Z-80 that can
be run on an IBM-PC clone. I would like a source copy if possible but
an executable version is acceptable. I would prefer to pay no more
than 50$.
If anybody has any information please send it to: ROB@UMass.BITNet
Thank you,
Rob deFriesse
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 86 13:50:31 edt
From: Mark D. Freeman <mdf@ohio-state.ARPA>
Subject: Problem with MS Word Print Driver
To: info-ibmpc-request@usc-isib.arpa
I have Microsoft Word 3.0. I also have a NEC P5 printer. The NEC P5
emulates an Epson LQ1500. It also has many other features, such as real
underlining, full IBM character set (graphics characters), higher resolution
graphics, triple as well as double-width fonts, etc.
The Microsoft Word printer driver for the NEC P5 doesn't even support all the
fonts that they support in their Epson LQ1500 driver! I'd copy it over, but
the spacing tables are different. The NEC P5 driver doesn't take advantage of
ANY NEC P5 extensions to the Epson commands. It does underlining by drawing
a 60 dpi graphics line under the characters, and microspaces by using graphics
mode. It translates some IBM graphics characters to dashes and other ugly
plain ASCII 'equivalents'.
I called Microsoft, and they said that if I found an actual bug, I
could send to them in writing. They would send it on to their
development team, who might look at it, and might fix it. The fixed
driver would then be made available with the next new product release.
Even if they fixed it next week, I'd have to wait for an official disk
of new drivers to be released, which may never occur.
I asked for some help in modifying the driver myself. I was told that if I
couldn't figure it out from the manual, they couldn't help me, because that
was the only reference material available to the tech support staff. They
supply the drivers, but do not support them, nor do they help anyone who
wishes to write new ones.
By the way, if anyone has intimate knowledge of how these damned PRD files
work, or has a working NECP5 driver for any version of Word, I'd love to get
mail from you!
------------------------------
From: irwin.wbst@Xerox.COM
Date: 26 Jun 86 7:51:49 EDT
Subject: Needed: APL Character Set
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Does anyone know where I can get an APL Character Chip
for a PC or Clone? I understand that STSC sells them bundled
with their software for about $300.
Ethan Irwin
------------------------------
Date: 26 Jun 86 11:54 EST
From: davidsen%kbsvax.tcpip@ge-crd.arpa
Subject: PRN redirection
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
We have a system which has the matrix printer on LPT2 and another
device on LPT1. Is there a way, such as an undocumented call to MODE
which will redirect PRN and printscreen to use LPT2?
------------------------------
Date: 26 Jun 1986 13:47-PDT
From: Guy Tiphane <logitech!guy@decwrl.DEC.COM>
Subject: PC to Unix
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB
I am looking for an inexpensive solution to our separation
between developers who like the Vax Unix system and those who
like the IBM PC. We are running BSD 4.1 (I know, it's old) and
have lots of tty lines. Regular PC-DOS is used on the PC side.
I used a program called TANGO (it seems to be called SYNCHRONY now) by
a company called COSI in Michigan. Although it solves the problem of
file transfer, it still remains primarily a terminal emulator. I need
more than anything else:
- A PRINT that can send to the Vax printer
- A MAIL that can communicate with the Vax mail
- A GET/PUT FILE to archive files once edited on the PC
As you can see, the terminal emulator is not so important.
Any idea?
Guy Tiphane
Logitech, Inc.
805 Veterans Blvd.
Redwood City, CA 94063
(415) 365-9852
ucbvax!decwrl!logitech!guy (I am not member of this mailing)
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 86 18:20:30 PDT
From: hplabs!sdcrdcf!SEASUN.MERMAID.SDC.UUCP!alex@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Alex Hwang)
To: sdcrdcf!usc-isib.arpa!info-ibmpc
Subject: 286 boards for XT
I need some advice on PCturbo 286e boards by Orchid and the Classis 286
Speed Pak by JDR Microdevices.
Both boards claim 8MHz 80286, mega byte on aboard EMS memory, faster than
AT and absolute compatibility with ol' XT environment.
I do a lot of memory intensive processing, usually via ram disk. Recently
I sort of ran out memory space for ram disks and got tire waiting for the
8088. While shopping around for extended or expanded memory, I notice for
few hundred bucks more I can get one of these 80286 board for my XT. This
seems a lot cheaper and less hassle than dumping my XT and getting an AT.
Any word of wisdom is very much appreciated in advance.
Alex Hwang
..!hplabs!sdcrdcf!alex
------------------------------
Date: 27 June 86 09:38 EDT
From: T7Y%CORNELLC.BITNET@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU
Subject: Tractball equiv. for Microsoft Mouse
To: INFO-IBMPC@usc-isib.arpa
Folks,
If anyone is familiar with a tractball (sort of a upside down
stationary mouse) that would function in place of a Microsoft Mouse
please send along any product info you might have. Thanx in advance .
. .
Tom Abdella
Tufts University
T7Y@CORNELLC.BITNET
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------