Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA.UUCP (06/14/86)
Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, June 14, 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 61
This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann
Today's Topics:
Change in BITNET Program Library Access
IBM Tech Reference Manuals
Hardcard (2 msgs)
Autodex and DScanner
NEC Serial Cable
Using LANs for Interprogram Communication
Freelance Graphics Package
XENIX and 9600 Baud
IBM PC/AT model 339 keyboard
Re: PC/IX - Hercules Mischief
X.25/X.PC Public Domain Code
PC Designs AT Clone
Why INT 20H is more elegant
Toshiba T1100, Queries
Displaywrite3 under DOS 3.1
Today's Queries:
Knuth's WEAVE and TANGLE Query
Short Slot Hard Disk Controller Wanted
Screenwriter's WP Wanted
MS Fortran Problem
Timeout Program Wanted
SYNCOM Query
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 86 22:46:16 CDT
From: CCRJW%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Richard Winkel UMC
Computing Services)
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Subject: Change in BITNET program lib access
In response to pleas from various VMS nodes on BITNET, I've made a minor
change in how the program library is accessed on CCUC@UMCVMB.
VMS does not allow dashes in filenames, so the required filename for the
list of files to be sent has been changed from PC-LIB REQ to PCLIB REQ.
(See issue 58 for a complete description of how the program library is
accessed from BITNET)
Rich Winkel
------------------------------
From: Herm Fischer <hermix!fischer@rand-unix.ARPA>
To: info-ibmpc@isib
Subject: IBM Tech Reference Manuals
Date: Fri Jun 13 12:28:12 1986
Just recieved a bulletin that you can order Tech Reference Manuals
via phone calls...
Examples of manuals and prices: from the "options and adapters
updates"
6280131 EGA Reference $ 9.95
6280133 Prof Graphics & DAC 27.95
6280090 3.5" internal diskette drive 5.95
(Anybody know what a 3.5 internal drive is???)
To order these or others, you need a visa, MC, AmEx, or IBM card,
and call 1-800-IBM-PCTB; 1-2 wks delivery for call-in orders...
------------------------------
Date: 12 Jun 86 10:57:00 EDT
From: "Maarten Nederlof" <maarten@wharton-10.ARPA>
Subject: Hardcard Alternative
To: "info-ibmpc" <info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA>
cc: 6061204%pucc.bitnet@wiscvm.arpa
As an alternative to the card from PLUS, there's another company that
advertised either a 10MB or 20MB hard disk on a card; they're called
OnBoard 10 and Onboard 20 from Maynard Electronics. (See ad on p. 47 of May
13's PC Magazine (Volume 5 No. 9)
They boast 'single-slot installation' as follows:
'Simply snap OnBoard into expansion slot 1 of your IBM PC or XT, leaving
all your other slots free for additional boards.'
You might want to try giving Maynard Electronics a call. They're at
460 E. Semoran Blvd., Casselberry, FL 32707. They're phone is 305/331-6402
I've never used one of these, but I'm curious. Has anyone out there ever
bought one of these disks on a card and care to comment?
Maarten Nederlof
University of Pennsylvania
ARPA: <Maarten@Wharton-10.ARPA>
Address: Maarten Nederlof
Wharton Computer Center
3620 Locust Walk, Suite 114
Philadelphia, PA 19104
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 13 Jun 86 08:29:48 EDT
From: John Nolan <nolan@mimsy.umd.edu>
To: 6061204%pucc.bitnet@wiscvm.wisc.edu
Subject: PLUS Hardcard
Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
I have used a PLUS Hardcard for about 2 months, 5 days/week & 8
hours/day. I am well satisfied with its performance. It is faster
and quieter than the PC/XT's 10MB disk, runs off system power, and
installs in any single slot (and occupies only one slot). It takes no
effort to install (other than normal care) in the long slot of a PC or
XT but I have no information on installation in an ATT6300. In an XT,
the Hardcard becomes drive D. One of the nice things about it is you
don't need to give up one of your dual floppy drives to accomodate the
Hardcard.
Specifications (from spec sheet):
Current (amps) 12V 5V
------------------
Average .67A .47A
Max .70A .54A
Start up 1.27A .54A
Heat dissipation 10.9 watts
MTBF 25000 hours
Access times
Track to track 15 ms
Average 65 ms
Full stroke 105 ms
Average latency 8.33 ms
PLUS doesn`t sell direct to the public so you have to shop around for
the best price. Prices have fallen fast and you should be able to buy
one for less than $800.
Other boards with larger capacities (20 MB) have appeared but I have
no information on them except to note that I have not seen one that
occupies just one slot.
I have no connection with PLUS Corporation.
john nolan@maryland
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 86 05:10:26 EDT
From: Edward_Vielmetti%UMich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA,
jim%ucf1vm.bitnet@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
Subject: Autodex and DScanner
Microsystems magazine (now defunct) had a 3 page article in their
Feb/84 issue on Autodex. They describe the version for CP/M-80.
The following excerpt gives a clue as to how the current owners
might be contacted:
"AUTODEX was formerly distributed by Durant Software under
the name SIMPLIFILE, version 1.1. AUTODEX is currently
available from:
Automatic Software USA
1035 Santa Barbara St.
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
(805) 963-5861
In short, AXX is commericial software, not public domain or
shareware or freeware.
As far as file managers go, I've settled on a nice free program
called DScanner. If comments are important, DScanner won't fit
the bill; on the other hand, as a shell, it's really nice. The
tree structure of your hard disk is kept in memory, so it runs
quickly after it's first run. You can execute programs directly
from it and access a command line; in addition, one keystroke
will take you to an editor and to Vern Buerg's LIST program for
editing or viewing files. The tree structure of the disk is shown
on the left side of the screen and you can move through it easily
with the function keys.
Until I get my new Ethernet card figured out (yay!), I still
can't point you to sources for programs from any of the nets.
Look for a program called DS200.ARC, DS210.ARC, or DS211.ARC (the
three versions I know about). It's written by LCDR Nat Martino.
The place I found it was a fine RBBS system in California run by
the author of LIST; his board is VOR RBBS, (415) 994-2944. But
look on a local bbs first, because it should have made its way to
Florida by now.
Edward Vielmetti
Computing Center MicroGroup
University of Michigan emv%UMich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-Multics.ARPA
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 86 09:08:37 edt
From: ANDERSEN <sigurd%vax1.acs.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU>
To: frank@su-csli.ARPA
Subject: NEC serial cable
Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
I got the following from a book titled, 1 --- 1
"RS_232 Made Easy: Connecting Computers, C 2 --> 3 P
Printers, Terminals and Modems" by Martin O 3 <-- 2 R
D. Seyer, Prentice-Hall, 1984. M 4 --> 8 I
P 5 <+- 19 N
The diagram is for connecting an IBM PC U 6 <+ T
to NEC "3500 Series (except 3500R) and T 7 --- 7 E
7700 Series Printers. E 8 <+- 4 R
R +> 5
20 --> 6
In text: Connect grounds (1-1 and 7-7), cross lines 2 and 3,
4 on the computer side to 8 on the printer side, 5 & 6 on the
computer side to 19 on the printer side, 8 on the computer
side to 4 & 5 on the printer side, and 20 on the computer
side to 6 on the printer side.
I haven't used this particular combination, so there are no
guarantees.
------------------------------
Date: 12 Jun 86 10:50 EDT
From: Mark Williams <mlw@ncsc>
Subject: Using LANs for Interprogram Communication
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Re: Nick Dunlavey query about using a LAN product to provide inter-program
communications:
It has been my experience that garden-variety PC LANs (MS-Net implementations)
do not typically provide communications between applications programs running
on a server and a satellite. This is especially obvious in network systems
that require a dedicated server -- such a unit cannot be used to run any non-
network applications at all. The more typical use of PC LANs is to provide
shared resources (like printers, hard disks, etc.) or electronic mail facil-
ities. This fact applies to other commercial networking environments as
well (in particular, XNS (Xerox Network Services) systems).
The fact that most, if not all, network protocols are implemented as layered
combinations of hardware and software elements implies that a developer can
design his or her own applications interface -- in fact, many early reviews
of the IBM PC Network Program suggested that a better user-interface could
have been included in the package. I suppose one could attempt to use the
low-level network facilities to provide inter-computer communications in a
dedicated, single-application network like the one Mr. Dunlavey is des-
cribing. I suspect, however, that some alternative approach may be deemed
more feasible in his circumstances.
Mark Williams
------------------------------
Date: 12 Jun 86 11:04 EDT
From: Mark Williams <mlw@ncsc>
Subject: Freelance Graphics Package
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Naomi Salvador from Xerox wrote asking about software to help in developing
dataflow diagrams on the PC... I have been very satisfied with the operation
of Freelance from Graphic Communications, Inc. (no affiliation, nor does this
comment imply any endorsement from the gov't., etc. etc.). The package allows
you to create just about any object or combination of objects you desire and
lets you join your selections into a single symbol. It will not, however,
provide any means of extracting information from the diagrams for inclusion
in an external program. You can select and copy text from one diagram into
another one (stripping the structure, etc., away), but there's no export
facility to allow moving the text to an ASCII file, for instance. On the
other hand, Freelance will import 1-2-3 graphics files, so it might be
possible to define the data elements first in 1-2-3, generate a rough
graphic that would include the data element names, and then import that into
Freelance. A real kludge could even use dBASE III(+) to maintain the data
dictionary, which can generate files 1-2-3 can import, which can generate
files Freelance can import, which can... Well, anyway, Freelance won't
handle the whole problem, but it's a fine graphics package for the PC. A
word of warning, though -- my Freelance software resides on my RAM disk,
which makes it run a good deal faster than it will from hard disk (we're
talking XT speeds, here). I don't know if its performance will be as
acceptable in a non-RAM disk environment.
Mark L. Williams
------------------------------
Date: Sat Jun 7 22:48:21 1986
From: doug%sco.uucp@cfg.PC.UDEL.EDU
To: ihnp4!seismo!men1!andys
Subject: XENIX at 9600 Baud
Andy, we are very pleased you have had such a positive experience
with your XENIX system. Your comments on its solidity, performance,
and ease of use are the sort of thing we look forward to hearing.
I would like to clarify a couple of things alluded to in your summary.
Serial I/O performance: You are correct that dumb cards do present a
serious and difficult load for any computer. An interrupt per character
at 9600 baud is about 1000 interrupts per second. A normal UNIX style
driver makes a context switch for each interrupt and this results in almost
all CPU cycles being used up. SCO has invested enormous effort to build
a driver that minimizes context switches and thus improves performance
dramatically. Unfortunately we do not currently support the Bell serial
board with this driver. They have provided their own and it does not
have the same level of performance. I think you would find if you used
one of the boards supported by SCO you would see a marked improvement.
C compiler problems: We have been distributing a beta release of a newer
version of the C compiler, it will be incorporated in the 2.2 release of
XENIX later this year. We have held off until we could extensively test it.
Any SCO customer may get a copy by simply calling our toll free support
number and requesting it. There is a known limitation in the compiler
because certain storage classes must go into DGROUP, which is limited
to 64kb. The main problem here is initialized global data. This is
an unfortunate restriction and we are working with Microsoft to eliminate
it. While I sympathize with the annoyance of working around this situation
it should not be ignored that the Microsoft C compiler is an extremely
powerful and flexible compiler in general. It produces better code then
any other 286 compiler we know of and has the added flexibility of DOS
compatibility as well as a complete DOS cross development environment.
In addition it has a number of extensions that make writing high performance
programs on the 286 considerably easier then with other systems.
As to some of your other suggestions they are generally positive ideas to
improve the product. We will be adding a complete permuted index to make
using the documentation easier, we are considering on-line man pages now
that disks are typically bigger then 20 MB, we will provide support for
disks not covered by ROM.
My largest concern is your quickness to praise competing systems that you
have not evalutated as carefully may mislead others. SCO is more then
willing to be objectively compared side by side with any other version
of UNIX that runs on the AT as long as you fairly compare: performance,
stability, reliability, range of peripherials supported, quality of
support, overall quality and completeness of documentation, I/O performance
with supported peripherials (especially serial ports, try COM1 and COM2 for
comparison), commercial applications available, etc. We know our product is
not perfect and we are continually improving it, largely based on informed
suggestions such as yours. We do not believe that any other product on
the market will outperform SCO XENIX in an objective evaluation.
Thanks for using XENIX, please keep your suggestions comming.
Doug Michels
Vice President
------------------------------
Date: Thursday, 12 Jun 1986 12:37:37-PDT
From: desmond%cadsys.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
Subject: IBM PC/AT model 339 keyboard
In response to Mark Colan's concerns about the new AT keyboard:
I also have the new AT model 339 and have to agree that the placement of
the CTRL and CAPS-LOCK keys is inconvenient although I am starting to get
used to it. I am also getting used to the new function keys although I
am not as quick with them as I was on the 10 on the old keyboard.
As far as compatibility problems, I have not had any trouble. I use
DOS 3.10 and the new keys work fine. If you are not running ANSI.SYS
try it; it might help. I don't recall if I ran it without the device
driver. I now use NANSI.SYS instead but either will work with the new
keys. You probably don't want to use FCONSOLE.SYS because it beeps at
each of the new keys. The funny part is the keys still work. The cursor
moves even though the machine beeps when you use the new cursor keys.
I ahve never seen any funny characters from it. That includes running
DOS 3.10, IBM Personal Editor, and PC-Write. Hope this is of some help
to you.
One more note: I don't use any key definition utilities and I never use
BASIC unless tied up and forced to and then still with much resistance.
John
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 86 16:59:14 EDT
From: pgc@andrew.cmu.edu (Paul Crumley)
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Re: PC/IX - Hercules Mischief
I had a similar problem with an old Hercules Monochrome adapter. At
the time I had problems there were 3 different versions of the
adapter. The three versions, 1, 2 & 3, differed in the way the memory
buffers are used. At the time version 1 emulated the IBM Monochrome
adapter the worst, and version 3 emulated the IBM product the best. I
had a version 2. I called Hercules and complained quite a bit and
finally got them to trade my version 2 for a version 3 card.
I don't know if there are more than three versions at this time, (this
all happened over a year ago) but I do know versions 1 and 2 don't
work too well with PC/IX device drivers.
Paul G. Crumley
CMU/ITC
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 86 09:53:57 pdt
From: David Rosenbaum <lll-crg!caip!harvard!rclex!drilex!david@lll-tis-b.ARPA>
To: styx!USC-ISIB.ARPA!Info-IBMPC@lll-tis-b.ARPA
Subject: Re: X.25/X.PC Public Domain Code
Public Domain Code should be available from Tymnet. For more information
call the Tymnet number in your local phone book. We have been working on
the X.PC code they gave us, and found it to be excellent, and their support
is good, as well.
Good luck.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 86 15:13:30 EDT
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: BENJY%VTVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
Subject: PC Designs AT Clone
After a four month wait, I received the PC Designs ET-286i AT clone I
ordered. It was definitely worth the wait. (The wait was due to a
problem in obtaining motherboards that would run at the advertised
speed.)
The unit contains an ACS ET-286 motherboard with 1 MB of RAM, three
serial interfaces, and two parallel interfaces. Two serial ports and
one parallel port are cabled to knockout panels on the back of the
machine. It is software switchable between two clock rates. The high
speed is 10 MHz. The low speed is strap selectable at 6 or 8 MHz. The
motherboard is upgradable to 12 MHz. operation. (The upgrade will be
available at the factory when 12 MHz. components become cheaper.) There
are eight motherboard slots (6 available after installation of the
floppy/hard disk controller and a monitor adapter card).
The system comes with an AT style case, a Fortron 192 watt power supply,
a Maxiswitch AT keyboard, your choice of a 360 KB or 1.2 MB floppy
drive, a Princeton graphics MAX 12 amber monitor, and a monochrome card.
Hard drives and color adapters/monitors are optional. There is a
software reset switch at the rear of the case.
It's interesting that the unit arrived in an old IBM PC shipping carton.
Although the instruction book detailed how to install the power supply,
adapters, and disk drives, my unit was completely assembled except for
installation of the hard disk drive. My only complaint so far is that
the backup power for the CMOS configuration memory and the clock is a
set of AA batteries mounted over the hard drive. I think I'll move the
batteries so if they do corrode, I won't zap my drive. A factory rep.
said they were now placing the batteries on the side of the power
supply.
So far, compatibility has not been a problem. I am running PC DOS 3.2,
KEDIT, and Gold Hill LISP.
I use a vanilla IBM PC/AT at work, and the extra speed of the PC Designs
machine is a big plus, especially when running LISP. It does take
noticeably longer for the PC Designs BIOS to recognize that a 360 KB
diskette has been inserted in the high density drive.
If you can't tell from the above ramblings, I really like the PC Designs
ET-286i.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 86 15:12:18 PDT
From: Ya'akov_Miles%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Subject: Why INT 20H is more elegant
I frequently use INT 20H indirectly to exit from an MS-DOS com file
by declaring my program to be PROC NEAR, and then exiting with RET.
This facilitates modular programming in that your program becomes
conceptually nothing more than a procedure called by the operating
system as an external transient. The following code illustrates
Title MYPROG
MYPROG proc,near ; Declare program as procedure
. . ; ...insert code here
. . ; ...more code
ret ; Back to caller (really INT 20H in PSP)
MYPROG endp
end MYPROG
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 13 Jun 86 10:31:32 MEZ
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: UZR500%DBNRHRZ1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
Subject: Toshiba T1100, Queries
1) Toshiba T1100
The filetransfer using the Laptop Toshiba T1100 from 5.25" -> 3.5" works
very fine.
2) 80-Track-Floppy Query
Is it possible to adapt easily a (3.5"-) 80-Track-DS-Floppy (720k) to
a normal PC-controller? Perhaps Olivetti M24 (AT&T 6300) - DOS,
Toshiba T1100 DOS, DOS 3.2?
3) MS-C 3.0 function parameter of type Char *String
How can one give a string (as *...) to another string in order to give
it another value in a function, so that it runs AND MS-C don't say
"Null pointer assignment"? (Sorry for this horrible query; it's from
a friend of mine....)
------------------------------
To: jim%ucf1vm.bitnet@wiscvm.wisc.edu
Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: Displaywrite3 under DOS 3.1
Date: Fri, 13 Jun 86 10:39:18 -0500
From: Jeff Edelheit <edelheit@mitre.ARPA>
Jim - My wife has been using DW3 under 3.1 on an AT for over 6
months. When I asked her about any special tricks, her response
was "just install it properly & it runs fine".
Regards,
Jeffrey A. Edelheit (edelheit@mitre.arpa)
The MITRE Corporation, 1820 Dolley Madison Blvd.
McLean, VA 22102 (703) 883-7586
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 86 19:12 MST
From: Allan Haggett <Haggett@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA>
Subject: Knuth's WEAVE and TANGLE Query
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Has anyone ported Knuth's WEAVE and/or TANGLE to their MS-DOS machine?
For those who may not be familiar with Knuth's system, it is an elegant
means of structuring programs as "webs" made up of documentation and
programming language text (Pascal). One runs such a WEB file through
WEAVE to produce a TeX input document or runs said WEB through TANGLE to
produce a Pascal program.
Anyway, forgetting the requirement for TeX and Pascal, it would be very
interesting to know whether people have ported WEAVE and TANGLE yet.
Since Knuth wrote them to be portable, I assume that it is not that
difficult.
Thanks in advance. -- Allan
------------------------------
Date: 11 June 86 14:41-PST
From: DEP%SLACVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Subject: Short Slot Hard Disk Controller Wanted
Can anyone tell me if it is possible to buy a hard disk controller for
the IBM Portable PC which uses a short slot? And whether anyone makes
a half-height hard disk which is shock-resistant and specifically
designed for use in the Portable?
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12-JUN-1986 18:13 EDT
From: Barry D. Browning <BROWNINGBD%VTVAX5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU>
To: <info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa>
Subject: Screenwriter's WP Wanted
An associate of mine is looking for a word processor designed especially
for screen-writers. Send any mail to BROWNINGBD@VTVAX5.BITNET
Thanks in advance,
--Walter
c/o Barry D. Browning
[There's a program called Scriptor, but I don't know anything more about
it than the name. -rag]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 86 16:20 EST
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
From: GKN3M2%IRISHMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
Subject: MS Fortran Problem
Consider the following short FORTRAN program:
CALL MESS(20H12345678901234567890)
STOP
END
SUBROUTINE MESS(MESSGE)
CHARACTER * 20 MESSGE
WRITE(*,*) MESSGE
RETURN
END
From what we all learned about FORTRAN in high school, this program
should print the literal string
12345678901234567890
But instead we get
***** ERROR 26, LINE 1 --")" EXPECTED
PASS ONE 1 ERRORS DETECTED
9 SOURCE LINES
COMPILATION ERROR
I should say that if the hollerith field "20H" is replaced with
single quotes, such as,
CALL MESS('12345678901234567890')
this program works fine. The FORTRAN manual says, however that
hollerith is supported. We're using MS FORTRAN V3.31 under
DOS 2.1. Does anyone know why holleriths don't work in this case?
Please reply directly to:
Evan Bauman
U. of Notre Dame
GKN3M2%IRISHMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 86 13:00 EST
From: JERRY FREEDMAN <FREEDMAN%cs.umass.edu@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA>
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Subject: Timeout Program Wanted
We are building a system to teach elementary programming courses
on PC-compatibles running MS-DOS. One of the requirements is that
we be able to "test" student programs. We want to run them from a
large commaand file-every program runs on the same test data etc.
Obviously we will see a lot of programs with infinite loops. We
need to "timeout" the student programs - abort programs running
too long - with out screwing up the magic- when a student program
aborts we just (automatially) clean up and run the next one.
This seems like a fairly simple idea. I don't want to see myself
re-inventing the wheel so if anybody out there has done this or
has advice, moral support etc I would appreciate it. Thanks in
advance
Jerry Freedman
Computer and Information Science Dept
Umass, Amherst, Ma.
Freedman@umass-cs
(* CSNET *)
------------------------------
Date: 12 Jun 86 07:39 GMT
From: ghicks @ KOREA-EMH
Subject: SYNCOM Query
To: Info-IBMPC @ USC-ISIB
My sponsor here has purchased the SYNcom TIS/XA DMBS software.
It has not arrived yet so we cannot evaluate or assist in installing
the package.
Has anyone used this package? Wwould appreciate any comments on
how easy this system is to use, can it be expanded, how fast is it,
etc ...
In general, what can you tell me about the package?
I will summarrize to the net after enough responses (if any) are received.
Thanks!
Gregory Hicks
GHICKS@KOREA-EMH
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
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