Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA (Info-IBMPC Digest) (06/08/86)
Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 7 June 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 59
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
Expand XT Motherboard to 640K
Reading from COM1 in TURBO-Pascal
Rosesoft's LAYOUT and DOS 3.2
How to get PCBOARD
TOADADD.PAS Big Number Adder (Turbo Pascal)
Borland Turbo Prolog (2 Msgs.)
Microsoft "C" and Environment Space
DDJ DOS Shell & 132 Column Text Mode
Trojan Horse Programs
KEY-FAKE Program Allows Preset Keystroke Responses
Object Formats Query
Today's Queries:
File Size Max with Xenix
DOS 3.1 Editing Keys
Extending RGB Interface
Tandy 3000 HD Clock Running Slow
Squeezing Files on VMS
Crossword Puzzle Program
Kamerman Labs XT/123 Graphics??
LAN Evaluation Methodology
Wordstar/CPM -> MS-DOS
Computer/Computer Disk Read
INT 20
Wildfire from Software Wizardry
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 7 Jun 1986 14:56:32 PDT
Subject: Expand XT Motherboard to 640K
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
From CTM Magazine June 1986:
Parts Required: Tools Required:
18 41256 RAM Chips 45 Watt Soldering Iron
1 74LS158 Needle Nose Pliers
1/2 Inch 30 gage bare wire Solder
Chip Puller/Inserter (16 Pin)
Warning you may void your Warentee
Caution pin 1 (dot on chip) should be in upper left corner on all
chips.
Procedure:
1. Insert the 74LS158 in the empty socket at location U84.
2. Remove 18 4164 RAM chips in the first two rows of memory and
install 18 41256s in their place.
3. Add a jumper between pins one and two of E2. This may be done
from above but it is recommended that you remove the left hand
floppy drive first. The jumper should be soldered in by holding with a
needle nose after bending into the shape of a "U" such that the two legs
are the same distance as pins 1 and two of E2. Using your soldering
iron and being careful not to drip solder onto the board heat each of the
pads and insert the bare wire ends into the holes. There is sufficient
solder on the board to accomidate bare wire soldered in but not for
stranded. Stranded wire is not recommended.
4. Reinstall your drive and test your system.
5. The system should now boot as normal except will report 640KB RAM present.
(The two rows of 41256 chips are closest to the expansion card sockets. The
two rows of 4164 chips are closest to the front. U34 is to the right of
the front most row of 4164s. The E2 jumper is to the extreme right of
the motherboard. Pins 1 and 2 of the E2 jumper are to the rear of the
motherboard.)
I haven't tried this. It is also unclear what the correct XT memory
switch setting should be.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Jun 86 19:36 N
From: <ZRKL001%DTUZDV5A.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU>
Subject: Reading from COM1 in TURBO-Pascal
You may get strange and unpredictable results when reading the COM1
from TURBO-PASCAL with the Read(AUX,X) statement on PC-XT-clones. I
configured the COM1 to work with 5 databits and 1.5 stopbits (this
setup is used in worldwide TELEX). When reading with Read(AUX,X) the
program could not read the bit-combination 00000. Furthermore, the
COM1 was not reset after the first reading of a bit-combination of
10110 (letter F in the Telex-code), but on the next(!), so all F's in
a text were doubled. On another XT-clone the Read(AUX...) didn't
work at all, the program just tried to read and read ... and didn't
get any input from the COM1.
The solution was to use the following statement instead:
IF Odd(Port[$3FD]) THEN X:=Port[$3F8];
polling (the COM has data received when bit 0 of port address 3FDH
goes high) and then directly read the data from the port 3F8H. On
both PC-clones mentioned above that works OK, and reading 00000 and
10110 now as it should. This solution has further advantages: -
While the Read(AUX...) can only attempt to read from COM1, just by
changing the port addresses to 2FDH/2F8H it also can be read from COM2
now. - The Read(AUX...) would hang forever trying to read when no
more data are available from the COM (no polling).
Ralf D. Kloth (DL4TA)
Tuebingen, West Germany
ZRKL001@DTUZDV1.BITNET
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 3 Jun 86 13:29:10 PDT
From: Jim Anderson <bilbo.jta@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU>
Subject: Rosesoft's LAYOUT and DOS 3.2
LAYOUT is a program that comes with PROKEY. It allows remapping of the
keyboard. For instance, you could make any key you desired the left shift
key. It performs it's trick by jumping into the middle of the keyboard
handler in the BIOS. It recognizes the BIOS keyboard handlers of several
different compatibles. It requires that the IRQ1 vector still point to
the BIOS when it is installed. Therein lies the rub.
DOS 3.2 takes over the hardware interrupts so it can perform its
stack swapping trick. This prevents installation of LAYOUT. Here are
two little programs that get DOS out of the way temporarily so LAYOUT
can install itself and then link things back up again. These two
short COM files may be used to install LAYOUT on an AT running DOS
3.2. They check for DOS 3.2 and do not do any damage if run under
prior versions of DOS. They should work on a PC also, but have not
been tried. For clones that are compatible with LAYOUT, change the
F000 and E987 references in kf1.com to the address of your keyboard
interrupt (IRQ1) handler.
To use, place these lines near the beginning of your autoexec.bat file:
KF1
LAYOUT xxxx.lay/L
KF2
kf1.com:
xxxx:0100 B80030 MOV AX,3000
xxxx:0103 CD21 INT 21
xxxx:0105 86C4 XCHG AL,AH
xxxx:0107 3D1403 CMP AX,0314
xxxx:010A 7302 JNB 010E
xxxx:010C CD20 INT 20
xxxx:010E 31C0 XOR AX,AX
xxxx:0110 8ED8 MOV DS,AX
xxxx:0112 A12400 MOV AX,[0024]
xxxx:0115 A30003 MOV [0300],AX
xxxx:0118 A12600 MOV AX,[0026]
xxxx:011B A30203 MOV [0302],AX
xxxx:011E C706240087E9 MOV Word Ptr [0024],E987
xxxx:0124 C706260000F0 MOV Word Ptr [0026],F000
xxxx:012A CD20 INT 20
kf2.com:
xxxx:0100 B80030 MOV AX,3000
xxxx:0103 CD21 INT 21
xxxx:0105 86C4 XCHG AL,AH
xxxx:0107 3D1403 CMP AX,0314
xxxx:010A 7302 JNB 010E
xxxx:010C CD20 INT 20
xxxx:010E 31C0 XOR AX,AX
xxxx:0110 8ED8 MOV DS,AX
xxxx:0112 A10203 MOV AX,[0302]
xxxx:0115 8EC0 MOV ES,AX
xxxx:0117 8B3E0003 MOV DI,[0300]
xxxx:011B 8B0E2400 MOV CX,[0024]
xxxx:011F 8B162600 MOV DX,[0026]
xxxx:0123 893E2400 MOV [0024],DI
xxxx:0127 A32600 MOV [0026],AX
xxxx:012A 83EF04 SUB DI,+04
xxxx:012D 26890D MOV ES:[DI],CX
xxxx:0130 26895502 MOV ES:[DI+02],DX
xxxx:0134 CD20 INT 20
------------------------------
From: cbosgd!oucs!mxs@seismo.CSS.GOV
Date: Wed, 4 Jun 86 14:05:22 EDT
Subject: How to get PCBOARD
To: cbosgd!seismo!usc-isib!info-ibmpc@seismo.CSS.GOV
It seems that the makers of PCBOARD have put version 11 out commercially
however, version 10 is still available as SHAREWARE. They are no changes
between them. If you would like a copy of version 10, I suggest the safest
way of obtaining it:
Mail 2 blank disks and 2 stamps or
$4 to cover disks and postage to:
Bob Mathews
RTV Building
Ohio University
Athens, Ohio 45701
As soon as we receive your request, your
software will be in the mail within 1 day.
If you have any questions, you may call Bob
at 614-594-5662 or the HAMNET BBS at 614-594-5076.
If you wish to download the software (which will
cost more) call the MARKET BBS at 201-564-7829.
(You might not get enough time to download)
------------------------------
Date: 5 Jun 1986 21:21-EDT
Subject: TOADADD.PAS Big Number Adder (Turbo Pascal)
From: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA
Turbo Pascal Inline routines for MS-DOS systems.
First release permits you to add numeric strings to numeric strings,
or integers to numeric strings.
Sounds simple, but this gives you a handle on manipulating literally
infinitely large numbers. (When the number depicts more than the
number of objects in the universe, that's a pretty good definition
of infinite, ne?)
Code could be rewritten to permit use with Z80 systems, but I'll leave
that as an exercise to the student. (Don't you just HATE that?)
More to follow ... subtraction, multiplication, division, etc.
(Keep your eyes peeled for TOADMATH.PAS.) (Unless some other Netlandian
beats me to it.)
Assembler ideas obtained from Chapter 11, "Assembler for the IBM PC and
PC-XT", by Peter Abel ((C) 1984 Reston Publishing Company, Inc.)
for the usual ripoff price.
Works just fine on an 80286 PC clone running PC-DOS 3.1 and Turbo 3.0
.. should be fine on any MS-DOS system and any Turbo version.
Released to the public domain. (Yep, it's my code.)
David Kirschbaum
Toad Hall
ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA
[TOADADD.PAS has been added to the library -wab]
------------------------------
From: Herm Fischer <hermix!fischer@rand-unix.ARPA>
Reply-To: HFischer@ada20
Subject: Borland Turbo Prolog
Date: Fri Jun 6 08:54:54 1986
I received a copy of Borland Turbo Prolog, and have a few initial impressions
to convey. (I presently have been mostly using UNSW prolog under Xenix
on the PC/AT.)
It is a true compiler, and code executes quite fast. Some examples of LIPS
(logical inferences per second) of test programs (from the net):
TEST PC-AT* PC-CONVERTIBLE
FUNCTION UNSW** TURBO TURBO
naive reverse (30 items list) 550 9920 4509
quicksort (reverse order list) 385 8760*** 2390
quicksort (ordered list) 495 8736 3559
---------------
* - PC/AT has 14.6 MHz crystal installed
PC Convertible (new laptop) is unmodified
** - UNSW interpreter timings under Xenix 3.0 version, huge mem. model
Turbo-Prolog timings under MSDOS 3.2
*** - seems inconsistent, but that's the empirical number
From the speed, and the presence of a full set of features, I'd say this
is one of the first Prolog compilers which is truly usable for real
applications. (It is a bit amazing to me to have 4500 lips running in a
laptop battery powered computer!)
Features include a very nice user interface (multi-window system);
debugging is done with a trace in one window, the printed dialog output in
another, and the source code in a third window... the source code steps
thru as the trace progresses, allowing reediting and recompiling from the
middle of a trace without loosing the contents of the screen windows. The
window system is also usable by applications...
The language is typed, leading to some conversion difficulties for old
Prolog programs with sloppy naming habits. Ada programmers will love it;
Prolog hackers may have to learn new habits. Typing allows defining types,
weak subtypes, and enforced rules of parameter checks. This should be a
real benefit to developers of code which must be maintained by crews of
programmers other than the original authors... (though a bit of a pain for
quick and dirty work or conversion of old code)
The syntax is true Clocksin & Mellish.
Some features missing in the first release include arg and functor (said
to be coming out "real soon maybe"), parentheses nesting of subgoals
(hardly ever used anyway), and findall/bagof restricted to simple atoms
and lists of elements.
I expect this product to legitimize Prolog for the semi-mass market!
Herm Fischer
{ihnp4, decvax, randvax}!hermix!fischer or HFischer@ada20.arpa
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 6 Jun 86 13:51:09 PDT
From: newton@vlsi.caltech.edu (Mike Newton)
Subject: Borland Turbo Prolog
[This is a review of Turbo Prolog. It was originally sent to the
AI-DIGEST, but I believe the info-ibmpc may also be a good place.
Note that I do not subscribe to this (info-ibmpc) digest!]
[ Caveats to remember when reading this review: I have *not* read all
of the manual, nor used it on many programs. Views expressed are
from the perspective of someone who has done the code generation and
evaluatable predicates for a high speed (810 KLips on one processor
of a IBM 3090) prolog compiler. I have no affiliation with
Borland, and only a (*very*) indirect affiliation with IBM -- MON]
From a local software store we purchased Turbo Prolog over the weekend.
It came as a cellophane wrapped book with a couple of floppies. It cost
$69.95, list of $99.
The environment was very nice. There was a window for the editor, goals
debugging information and messages. This seemed well done, and responded
reasonably well (I am not used to IBM-PC's.)
The unfortunate part was the Pascal-ization of the language. Everything
had to be typed (they called it domains). As far as I could tell, lists
had to be composed solely of other lists or elements all of one type. One
had to define the possible terms (giving the functor) that could be
arguments to a predicate. It seemed impossible to write generic predicates
for dealing with arbitrary types of terms.
Ex: to have a term that could be a 'symbol' (atom) or an integer
one had to do this:
domains
aori = a(atom) or i(integer)
It was not possible to just use an atom or an integer as a subterm...
Typing each subterm of a term is not my idea of Prolog.
After about an hour we got the 'standard' timing example of naive
reverse running (Some people have used other, non-environment-creating
samples. This is an unfair comparison). It did 496 unifications in
approximately 11/100 of a second. This amounts to a speed of a little
under 5 Klips. Considering that they do not need to do 'real' unification
(since everything is pre-typed, and thus can be reduced to a simple test),
this speed is not particularly impressive.
- mike
ps: Since writing the above, Fernando Pereira pointed out to me that
there is are two more VERY serious problems: the logical variable doesn't
really exist: it is a run time error to do variable-to-variable unifications
as in
p(X,X).
?- p(X,Y), p(X,a).
And, it is not possible to assert clauses with variables.
In summary, I would say that there advertising is at best a
misrepresentation. They are not selling a 'Prolog' system!
newton@cit-vax.caltech.edu {ucbvax!cithep,amdahl}!cit-vax!newton
Caltech 256-80 818-356-6771 (afternoons,nights)
Pasadena CA 91125
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Jun 86 07:54 PDT
From: TODD BOOTH <PC-TOKEN-RING@UCLA-CCN.ARPA>
Subject: Microsoft "C" and Environment Space
In regards to the Microsoft p0.exe 128 byte command line limitation,
the DOS 3.1 command, "SUBST" may prove useful. For example, the
following two commands:
subst f: c:?apps?program?msc?include
set include=f:
will allow the use of long path names when using p0.exe.
Todd Booth / UCLA Data Comm.
------------------------------
From: Hess@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: DDJ DOS Shell & 132 Column Text Mode
Re: DDJ DOS Shell
I ordered the disk from them and was disappointed. It crashed
a lot. It comes without the utilities to TYPE and etc. (Just send a
check for $ to get them too!) I sent a registration and note about the
crash and never heard from Holub's company. If you'd like to borrow it
and see if you'd like to buy it from me for what I paid, I'd be glad to
accommodate. My problems were so weird -- maybe you'll have better luck.
Disclaimer: I'm not interested in hacking the source code, so may not
be the ideal customer for DDJ/Holub's product.
Re: 132-col Text Mode
I don't know for sure, but suspect that FinalWord II could
drive the board. The usual requirement for FW II is that the memory map
be contiguous, organized the same row/column/attribute way as IBM's. In
other words, the "extra" columns shouldn't be off in some other place by
themselves, with the first 80 x 24 being in an emulation contiguous
chunk. If you loan me one, I'd be glad to go to the trouble of finding
out. (FW works OK on a Genius, 43-line EGA, and 50-line Zenith 150.)
If the board comes with an ANSI.SYS driver that understands 132 columns,
then many generic MS-DOS WP versions should also work, treating it as a
(slightly dumb) VT100.
Brian
------------------------------
Date: Fri 6 Jun 86 13:01:26-PDT
From: Richard Gillmann <DICK@isi-venera.arpa>
Subject: Trojan Horse Programs
Downloaded from DLX#3 "The Talk Channel" 818-506-0620
From: Warren 6
To: All
Date: 06-01-86 23:45:11
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| HACKED & TROJAN HORSE PROGRAMS: |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name Category Notes
------------ -------- ----------------------------------------------
ARC.COM HACKED Someone keeps running SPACEMAKER or a similar
EXE squeezer on SEA, Inc.'s ARC archive
program, then uploading the resulting COM file
to BBS's without the author's permission. Not
kosher, whoever you are. SEA won't support the
COM version -- this is an unauthorized
modification.
ARC513.EXE *TROJAN* This hacked version of arc appears normal, so
beware! It will write over track 0 of your
[hard] disk upon usage, destroying the disk.
BALKTALK *TROJAN* This program used to be a good PD utility,
but some one changed it to be trojan.
Now this program will write/destroy sectors
on your [hard] disk drive. Use this with
caution if you aquire it, because it's more
than likely that you got a bad copy.
DISKSCAN.EXE *TROJAN* This was a PC-MAGAZINE program to scan a (hard)
disk for bad sectors, but then a joker edited
it to WRITE bad sectors. Also look for this
under other names such as SCANBAD.EXE and
BADDISK.EXE...
DOSKNOWS.EXE *TROJAN* I'm still tracking this one down -- apparently
someone wrote a FAT killer and renamed it
DOSKNOWS.EXE, so it would be confused with the
real, harmless DOSKNOWS system-status utility.
All I know for sure is that the REAL
DOSKNOWS.EXE is 5376 bytes long. If you see
something called DOSKNOWS that isn't close to
that size, sound then alarm. More info on this
one is welcomed -- a bagged specimen
especially.
EGABTR *TROJAN* BEWARE! Description says something like
"improve your EGA display," but when run it
deletes everything in sight and prints "Arf!
Arf! Got you!"
FILER.EXE *TROJAN* Labelled "Great new filing system" - wiped out
20 Megabyte HD. I'm looking for confirmation
on this.
LIST60 HACKED Vuern Buerg's LIST 5.1, patched to read 6.0.
QMDM110.ARC HACKED ONLY versions 1.10 and 1.10A! They are
QMDM110A.ARC HACKED copies of 1.09, hacked to read 1.10. There
have been rumors of a worm in 1.10, but I
haven't seen any evidence of it. Other
versions are OK.
QUIKRBBS.COM *TROJAN* This Trojan horse advertises that it will
load RBBS-PC's message file into memory
2 times faster than normal. What it really
does is copy RBBS-PC.DEF into an ASCII file
named HISCORES.DAT...
SECRET.BAS *TROJAN* BEWARE!! This may be posted with a note saying
it doesn't seem to work, and would someone
please try it; when you do, it formats your
disks.
STRIPES.EXE *TROJAN* BEWARE SYSOPS!! This one draws an American flag
(nice touch), but meanwhile it's busy copying
your RBBS-PC.DEF to another file (STRIPES.BQS)
so Bozo can log in later, download STRIPES.BQS,
and steal all your passwords. Nice, huh!
VDIR.COM *TROJAN* This is a disk killer that Jerry Pournelle
wrote about in BYTE Magazine. I have never
seen it.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1986 21:53 MDT
From: Keith Petersen <W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARPA>
Subject: KEY-FAKE Program Allows Preset Keystroke Responses
Now available from SIMTEL20:
Filename Type Bytes CRC
Directory PD:<MSDOS.KEYBOARD>
KEY-FAKE.LBR.1 BINARY 3200 86A3H
A Program, used with Batch Files, which will preset the keystroke
responses required when a Program loads. This Program was published
in the December 24, 1985 Issue of PC MAGAZINE in an article by Charles
Petzold on page 215. This interpretation of the Article is by Bill
DeGain of the PHOENIX IBM-PC USER GROUP.
--Keith
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 7 Jun 86 12:26 EDT
From: Chizmadia@DOCKMASTER.ARPA
Subject: Object Formats Query
> From: Jameson
> Subject: Object Formats Query
>
> Can anyone point me in the direction of publications which
> describe the Intel, Microsoft, and Digital Research object
> module formats?
I'm not sure about the DR format, but the Intel and Microsoft
formats are discussed in extensive detail in the October, 1985
edition (VOL 3, No 10) of the PC Tech Journal. The name of the
article is .OBJ LESSONS and starts on page 62. It is concise,
readable, and contains very useful diagrams of the various object
file record structures. The emphasis is on the Microsoft format.
David Chizmadia
National Computer Security Center
------------------------------
Date: Fri 6 Jun 86 18:04:27-PDT
From: William Pearson <PEARSON@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA>
Subject: File Size Max with Xenix
Recently I discovered that I could not make a file larger than
approximately 1048000 bytes under IBM's XENIX 1.0. Since when does UNIX
has a 1 Meg file size limit? I had lots of space on the disk, is there
something else I need to do? (I tried to make the file by cat'ing
a small file to a 1030000 byte file, and also failed by seeking to the end of
the resulting file (1048000 bytes) and adding a little more).
Bill Pearson
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 7 Jun 86 09:43:40 PDT
From: kegel@Juliet.Caltech.Edu (Dan R. Kegel)
Subject: DOS 3.1 Editing Keys
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Does anyone know why the line editing commands ^W (delete back word) and
^U (delete back line) provided by PC-DOS 3.1 seem to work on some AT's,
but not on others? The machines in question are thought to be running the
same software.
- kegel@citjulie.bitnet, @juliet.caltech.edu
[I remember an article in info-ibmpc giving patches to enable this feature,
but I can't find it now. I doubt the software is "the same" try copying
the COMMAND.COM from a system where these editing keys work. -wab]
------------------------------
Date: Tuesday, 3 June 1986 11:57:00 EDT
From: Joe.Newcomer@sei.cmu.edu
Subject: Extending RGB Interface
I need to place a keyboard and RGB monitor about 50-100 feet from the
IBM PC box. I have been assured, and am not surprised, that there will
be problems trying to push the RGB signals that far. The obvious
solution is some high-speed line drivers, probably differential. The
problem I have right now is (a) I'd rather buy than build and (b) I
can't find technical specs on the RGB interface in ANY of my IBM or
Hercules documentation. Just "plug in the cables..." is the extent
of the interface documentation.
Has anyone tried to place an RGB monitor considerable distance from the
processor? If so, what cables would you recommend (flat, twisted pair,
shielded twisted pair...)? Any ideas on interface boxes? Sources?
joe
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 3 Jun 86 18:02:47 edt
From: m15126%mwvm@mitre.ARPA
Subject: Tandy 3000 HD Clock Running Slow
The Tandy 3000 HD is Tandy's (nee Radio Shack's) AT-compatible.
It seems a real nice machine, but for some reason the battery-operated
clock seems to be losing time. Not steadily (that would be too
convenient); but maybe five or ten minutes every two to four weeks.
Tandy Tech Support denies knowledge of any losing-time problem, but it's
recurring on each of thirty system units.
I remember this sort of problem on some of the earliest add-on clocks,
(one vendor's clock stopped running during system boots) but haven't
seen it recently, until now.
Any ideas? Tandy does tell me the clock is on a Tecmar supplied board,
if that's any clue.
Thanks in advance.
Burgess Allison <m15126%mwvm@mitre.ARPA>
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 Jun 86 23:06:46 edt
From: Mike Ciaraldi <ciaraldi@rochester.arpa>
To: info-kermit@cu20b.arpa
Subject: Squeezing Files on VMS
Recently, I had a whole bunch of text files I needed to download
from a VAX running VMS to an IBM PC running PC-DOS.
Since they totaled about 3 Mbytes, I thought about squeezing them
in some way to reduce transmission time.
I retrieved the portable SQ and USQ programs from SIMTEL20.
These are written in C, and are compatible with the SQ/USQ used
originally in CP/M and now available for the IBM PC.
They compiled OK on VMS, and SQ produced a Huffman-encoded
file which could be correctly unsqueezed by USQ on the VAX.
When I downloaded a squeezed file to the IBM PC using VMS Kermit,
however, the resulting file was not acceptable to the DOS
version of USQ. It said there was a CRC error in the file.
Has anyone tried to do something similar?
Is there some trick to bringing up SQ and USQ on VMS?
Is there some special way VMS Kermit has to treat the squeezed files?
I tried both SET FILE TYPE TEXT and SET FILE TYPE BINARY
without any success.
Thanks for your help in this matter.
Mike Ciaraldi @ University of Rochester
ciaraldi@rochester
seismo!rochester!ciaraldi
------------------------------
Date: Thu 5 Jun 86 07:44:15-CDT
From: Clifford A. Wilkes <CC.Wilkes@R20.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject: Crossword Puzzle Program
Department: Computation Center - A20/R20 staff
I have heard of a program that will take a list of words and arrange them
into a crossword puzzle. Does such a program really exist and if so
where can I get a copy?
Thanks.
<@>
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Jun 86 15:23:53 GMT
From: Keith Dale <kdale@bbncc-eur.ARPA>
Subject: Kamerman Labs XT/123 Graphics??
Help!
Does anyone know if the Kamerman Labs XT basic system will support
Lotus 123 graphics? [I live in Germany and I'm too cheap to call
(:-)] It comes with an amber monitor and generic "IBM monochrome"
compatible card. Any (quick) replies would be *most* appreciated!
Keith
<kdale@bbncc-eur.arpa>
------------------------------
Date: 5 Jun 1986 11:09:13 PDT
Subject: LAN Evaluation Methodology
From: Laurence I. Press <SWG.LPRESS@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
I have the chance to benchmark several fully configured IBM and Apple
LANs. I would like pointers (literature references or personal
experience) to:
1. LAN benchmarks -- examples of meaningful benchmarks or discussions
of the methodology of benchmarking LANs. (I plan to simulate
"other users" with programs that wake up and fire off service
requests with a known distribution of time between requests).
2. Analytic models of LAN performance.
3. Simulation models of LAN performance.
4. Actual data on observed LAN utilization (for setting model
parameters).
5. Checklists of features and factors to consider (in addition to
performance).
6. Other input on LAN evaluation methodology.
I will summarize and feedback whatever comes my way.
Larry Press
213-475-6515
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Jun 86 23:44:24 edt
From: kjs <@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA,@TUFTS.CSNET (Kevin Sullivan):kjs@TUFTS.CSNET>
Subject: Wordstar/CPM -> MS-DOS
A colleague of mine has all of his manuscripts entered into a
SUPERBRAIN running CP/M and Superbrain Wordstar and now wants to run
an IBM-PC compatible. So he needs to do a conversion. Does anyone
know of any software that will help?
Thanks very much.
Kevin Sullivan
Tufts University
on behalf of Harvard Center for Science and International Affairs
CSNET: kjs%tufts@csnet-relay
BITNET: kjs@tufts
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 6 Jun 86 07:24:51 edt
From: William Spears <spears@nrl-aic>
Subject: Computer/Computer Disk Read
Because this deals with two different computers I am sending it to
this newsgroup.
A friend of mine has a set of Commodore 64 5.25" floppies which he
now wants to read on his Epson IBM compatible. How? Are there PD programs
to do this sort of thing? He no longer has the Commodore 64.
Please reply to me directly. Thanks --
Bill Spears
spears@nrl-aic.arpa
[This question comes up all the time. It is usually easier to transfer
files via a serial port using Kermit than to attempt reading disks. -wab]
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Date: Fri, 6 Jun 86 16:40:11 PDT
From: Jim Carter <jimc@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU>
Subject: INT 20
A friend is writing a command to switch to Turbo mode (clock
acceleration) on a PC clone. The tech support people suggested that
he exit his command with int 20 rather than int 21/ah=4c. Does anyone
know what advantage there might be to using int 20?
A .COM file is acceptable for this command. However, from a .EXE
file how could you use int 20? The IBM DOS tech ref manual says that
CS: has to point to the PSP when you do int 20, whereas CS: will point
to the code segment. The hardware won't let you load CS: directly.
What are you supposed to do, fake up a far jump to the next instruction
that adjusts CS: and PC by opposite amounts? This seems rather
far-fetched.
James F. Carter (213) 206-1306
UCLA-SEASnet; 2567 Boelter Hall; 405 Hilgard Ave.; Los Angeles, CA 90024
UUCP:...!{ihnp4,ucbvax,{hao!cepu}}!ucla-cs!jimc ARPA:jimc@locus.UCLA.EDU
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Date: Fri, 6 Jun 86 16:30:43 pst
From: tweten@prandtl.ARPA (Dave Tweten)
Subject: Wildfire from Software Wizardry
I recently noticed an advertisement for a product called Wildfire in the May
issue of the Heath/Zenith Users Group publication, REMark. It is an H/Z-151
or H/Z-161 accelerator kit with the following claimed features:
1. Crystal, processor chip, and miscellaneous other socketed chip
replacements result in 8 Mhz operation.
2. Replacement processor chip is an NEC V20, resulting in further speed
improvement.
3. Includes CPU daughter board, speed selection switch (with front panel
LED indicator), and hardware reset switch.
4. Price: $249.
I haven't seen any discussion of it. My questions to those who have tried
it are:
1. Does it work?
2. What specific compatibility issues are there?
Does it play havoc with ROM wait loops? I have found that simple
insertion of a V20 makes my Z-151's manual boot from floppy a
sometimes thing (there's a floppy disk time out wait loop, and the
V20 waits too quickly). Auto-boot from either floppy or hard disk
works well, though.
Does it play games with my 8087's socket? I presume I'll have to get
a "-2" version to replace my current 8087.
Will it work with the replacement memory address decoder chips on the
market, which permit the use of 256K chips? How fast must my memory
chips be?
Are there any known problems with Heath/Zenith's accessory boards?
I only care about the hard and floppy disk controllers, though others
might care about Heath/Zenith's high resolution graphics controller.
Are there known problems with early configurations? My Z-151 has a
very early serial number.
3. Generally what goes where? The advertisement implies some front panel
reconfiguration. Where do the speed switch and the reset switch go?
What goes on the daughter board?
4. Finally, is it worth it? Would I come out significantly ahead by just
buying a crystal and faster parts for selected socketed CPU board
chips?
If you have any answers, please mail them to me at "tweten@AMES-NAS.ARPA". If
you'd like the answers too, please also mail requests directly to me. I'll
post any results to this group if demand warrants it.
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End of Info-IBMPC Digest
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