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 ************************ -------