Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA (Info-IBMPC Digest) (03/22/86)
Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 21 January 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 37
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
Emacs-style Editors: Epsilon Wins
PROINDEX Index Program
TOC/Index for WordStar
Experiences with Cache Programs on the AT
PC/IX Users Survey
EGA and Display Write
TEMPEST LAN Problem (4 Msgs)
"Mobius" and "LanLink" Query
IP/TCP
More Corrections Regarding AK Technology
MS C 3.0 Compiler Bugs
Device Drivers and Windows & Running Symphony under Windows
When is a Clone a Clone
MASM OFFSET Bug (2 Msgs)
Program List
Fast Cards
VDISK Source Listing Documents FAT
Interrupt Handlers in Turbo (V5 #20)
Today's Queries:
FTP Between PC and VM/CMS (2 Msgs)
WordPerfect & Epson Proprinter Emulation
BSR Board
DAVONG multi-function bd.
Anchor Automation Volksmodem 1200
Anchor Automation Volksmodem 1200
Automated PC-->Mainframe Sessions
Info on MS Mouse Driver for Xenix
Changing Cluster Size
Microsoft Mouse and Print Spoolers
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 21 Mar 86 17:18:30 +0200
From: enea!tut!jty@seismo.CSS.GOV (Jyrki Yli-Nokari)
Subject: Emacs-style Editors: Epsilon Wins
I use EPSILON from the Lugaru software regularly and I'm EXTREMELY
pleased with it!! I once tried BRIEF but was unable to operate it
without the manual and gave up.
I've used, first Gosling-emacs and afterwards GNU-emacs extensively.
Now that I have access to a pc, I do all my editing in it with
epsilon. The major point is that I've never read the manual, since
it is very much emacs-compatible. It has concurrent processes, multi
windows and you can even have COMMAND.COM in a window (this is the
REAL command line editor!!!!). It's also very fast! My version is
2.04, and they have released version 3, which is said to be a lot
better. My only arguments are that the beast doesn't support
non-american keyboards and you have to do an extensive keyboard
remapping. Secondly, the pc-window (sidekick-like utility) doesn't
work with it when editing, but is back when you exit the epsilon.
Summa Summarum:
It's $195 and well worth it!
Check out the Lugaru's ad in the latest Dr. Dobbs Journal.
The Address is:
Lugaru Software Ltd.
5740 Darlington rd.
Pittsburgh, PA 15217
(412) 421-5911
jty@tut.UUCP ! I know all about FORTH.
Jyrki Yli-Nokari ! I saw a TV-program about it once
Tampere University of Technology ! (I also love Carl Barks)
Computer Systems Laboratory !
N 61 26' E 23 50' !
+358 31 162590, home +358 31 531999 !
Disclaimer: I don't have any personal or financial contacts with
the Lugaru software except as a pleased customer.
[I spoke with Todd Doucet of Lugaru this week. He informs me version
3.06?? is in beta test. This version can be configured to run such
that it passes characters through to various resident "pop-up" style
programs. It should be able to run with any of these style machines
or Generic MS-DOS machines. The new version also allows EEL
programmers direct access to the INT function. ISI also recently
acquired a site license for Epsilon. -wab]
------------------------------
Date: 18 Mar 1986 17:23-EST
Sender: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA
Subject: PROINDEX Index Program
From: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA
Cc: Ghenis.pasa@XEROX.COM
I just snarfed PROINDEX.DOC from the PC-BLUE volume 175 at SIMTEL20.
Haven't downloaded or run the program yet, but documentation indicates
it might be a good one.
Basically you create a list (separate ASCII file) of the words/phrases
you wish indexed. The indexer then works thru the target file and creates
the index (to disk file or printer). Also an interactive mode, plus various
switches you can set for case-sensitive, etc.
Not like the CP/M indexer I used quite often, where you must actually enter
specific control characters within the document for those segments you
wish indexed. This never touches the original file.
Might be worth your while to snarf the .DOC (price is right .. Freeware,
but even with registration only $35 to $45). If you can't reach SIMTEL20
via ANONYMOUS FTP, yell and I'll EMail the .DOC to you.
Usual disclaimers .. no financial interest (don't even know the guys).
David Kirschbaum
Toad Hall
ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA
------------------------------
Date: 19 Mar 86 07:27 EST
From: Mark Williams <mlw@ncsc>
Subject: TOC/Index for WordStar
RE: Table of Contents and Index generators for WordStar:
In the not too distant past, the WordStar Professional package for CP/M
machines included a MicroPro TOC/Indexer called StarIndex. It worked
fairly well as I recall, and I would expect it to be included in MS-DOS
releases, too. I don't remember all the details about its operation and
capabilities, but it made a suitable point of departure.
Mark L. Williams
Naval Coastal Systems Center
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18-Mar-86 20:05:10 EDT
From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU>
Subject: Experiences with Cache Programs on the AT
I have been trying various disk cachers on my AT. I am running
a 9 mh unit with 3.5 mbytes.
I have run Lightning and VCACHE (Golden Bow Systems San Diego).
Lightning is claimed to work with the expanded memory boards
(the Intel-Lotus etc) (which I don't have). It works well with
normal PC 640 memory space but the cache is rather small. It
does not work nor do they plan to have it work with the extended
memory of the AT.
VCACHE works with all three memory configurations and thus is the
only one that works well for me. Both seem the same technology
and VCACHE is cheaper and better (at least for ATs).
Minor bug in VCACHE. It seems not to work with no ramdisk (at least
for me). So I set up a 512k ramdisk and a 1.7meg cache. REAL WINNER
I get 85 % cache hits on the average with what I run.
Dave
[Farber does it faster! -ed]
------------------------------
From: allyn@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu (Allyn Fratkin)
Date: 18 March 1986 1902-PST (Tuesday)
Subject: PC/IX Users Survey
Does anyone out there still run PC/IX at all?
I know it never really became popular, and I was just wondering
how many PC/IX systems are really out there.
thanks in advance.
Allyn Fratkin allyn@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu
UCSD EMU/Pascal Project or
U.C. San Diego {ucbvax, decvax, ihnp4}!sdcsvax!allyn
[Please send replies to Allyn not us. I am sure he will summarize. -ed]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 1986 23:44 EST
From: Mike Kramer <MMKBC%CUNYVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU>
Subject: EGA and Display Write
To: jim moore <moore@ncsc.arpa>
>
From: Jim Moore <moore@ncsc>
This is really frustrating. Both PC Mag and Software Digest's Ratings News-
letter say that DW3 can do ON-SCREEN underlining and boldfacing. Now, IBM
Tech Support says, yep, that's true, but.... The guy I spoke to is using a
Mono Display and can do on-screen u-ing and says I should be able to do the
same with an EGA w/64K on board. He just can't tell me how.
>
From extensive experience with DW3 and various monitors/display cards,
here seems to be the lowdown:
The default colors of Dw3 text is green on black. On a CGA with
color monitor, bold text appears as bright green, and underlined text
appears in the color brown. As far as I know, there is NO way to get
true underline in DW3 on a color monitor. The same applies to DW3
when used with an EGA. EXCEPT for the following: When DW3 has been
informed that the user is utilizing an EGA- (using the DW3USER
command -- see the manual p. 23-10 and the "mode" parameter of the
DW3PG command in the DW3.BAT file). then the alternate character set
is loaded into the EGA which provides a wealth of technical and
mathematical symbols (WYSIWYG). Unfortunately, in IBM's infinite
wisdom, when you enable the alternate character set, you must
sacrifice the ability to display highlighted text (the "bright color"
attribute bit on the EGA and the "alternate character" attribute bit
are one in the same). Therefore, DW3 bold text on an EGA is not
displayed differently than the regular text. Underscored text is
still brown. Bold text is not displayed differently on the EGA, but
a printer that will support bold will still bold the text. It is
beyond me why they couldn't at least highlight bold in a different
color (e.g. yellow) when the alt char set is enabled!
As an aside, DW3, an EGA and a Quietwriter or Pageprinter makes a
great technical writing system!
Michael Kramer (MMKBC@CUNYVM.BITNET)
Brooklyn College Physics Dept.
------------------------------
Date: 19 Mar 86 11:46 EST
From: JHodges @ DDN2.ARPA
Subject: TEMPEST LAN Problem
To: tcp-ip @ sri-nic.arpa, info-ibmpc @ usc-isib.arpa
I have a problem that I'm hoping someone out there can
help me with. I have a user who has a large number of TEMPESTed
Zenith PCs (IBM-compatible types) who wishes to connect these PCs to
a secure LAN (Fiber Optic based). He wishes also to implement
the usual file-sharing capabilities and remote logins associated with
LANs. The problem is that the user has been told that, if he opens
the PCs to work on them, any and all maintenance agreements
go out the window and (supposedly) Zenith is not willing to
renegotiate a new maintenance agreement. Also opening the PCs violates
the TEMPEST certification. Further complicating matters,
the customer is not willing to use a third-party maintenance group.
Now, having said all of that, does anybody out there know of any
software which might allow the connection of the PCs to the LAN via
the PC's RS232 port, and also implement/allow file sharing?
Are there any other solutions which might be feasible (such as an
Thanks in advance for your help!
Jim Hodges
------------------------------
Date: 20 Mar 1986 16:43:57 CST
Subject: TEMPEST LAN Problem
From: DSDC-SDT2@GUNTER-ADAM.ARPA
To: jhodges@DDN2.ARPA
Being the TEMPEST Officer here I can appreciate your user's problem.
If I were a vendor I would not want a user to open my Tempest box.
In response to your question about alternatives, I talked to our LAN
people here and they gave me some literature on a product called
EasyLAN Office Network. This product claims: EasyLAN shares
printers, disk drives, and infor; easy to justify - less than $100
per PC; Easy to install; easy to operate; performs in the background.
PC's are connected by EasyLAN cables plugged directly into your PC's
standard serial comm port. Can be used with digital PBX's as well as
modems and dial-up lines. All comm operations are protected by
optional passwords and disk access restrictions. Will operate on a
PC with an individual copy of EasyLAN, 128K memory, a serial port,
and DOS 2.0 or above.
It seems to be in the cables only, no special black-box attachment. They
don't say anything about fiber optics. Their address is:
SERVER TECHNOLOGY, Inc.
1095 Duane, S107
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
1-800/835-1515, in Calif call 408/738-8377
This product is described in the latest MIS Weekly
newspaper, which is at home. Our LAN folks are also going to get me more
info on another product tomorrow, and will post it to the net as soon
as I look at it.
********** STANDARD DISCLAIMER **********
Cheers....
Walt
-------
------------------------------
Date: 20 Mar 1986 22:24-EST
Subject: TEMPEST LAN
From: CERF@USC-ISI.ARPA
To: JHodges@DDN2.ARPA
Jim,
shot in the dark: SYTEK makes a lot of RS-232 S-XX (product number which
I forget) interfaces for its broad-band LAN. It is conceivable that they
can help - but if the LAN is not SYTEK's, I dunno...
Putting a Tempest CARD into a Tempest cage does NOT mean the result is
TEMPEST.
Why not have Zenith evaluate/inspect/test the card? Someone will have to
run TEMPEST certification all over with the card installed, in any case,
before you could reasonably expect approval to work in that new mode.
Vint Cerf
------------------------------
Date: 20 Mar 86 12:43 EST
From: JHodges @ DDN2.ARPA
Subject: "Mobius" and "LanLink" Query
I was wondering if anybody has had any experience in using/installing
either "Mobius" or "LanLink". "Mobius" claims to enable a virtually
invisible link between PCs and VAXes, and to allow the PCs to share
the VAX's memory/programs/peripherals etc. "LanLink" claims to
implement a LAN without any special Hardware and to achieve
data rates of around 100kbps.
Anybody know anything about either of these?
Jim Hodges
[Sounds dubious to me. -wab]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 21 Mar 86 01:54:42 est
From: romkey@BORAX.LCS.MIT.EDU (John Romkey)
To: JHodges@DDN2.ARPA
Cc: tcp-ip@sri-nic.arpa, info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: TEMPEST LAN problem
FTP Software will be doing a SLIP (Serial Line IP) driver for its
TCP/IP product, which includes the standard Darpa protocols and also
the Berkeley Unix protocols. There is already a SLIP driver for 4.2
and Suns, from rick@seismo. SLIP is currently used for point-to-point
links between Unix systems. Once the PC SLIP is done, you'll be able
to also use it to connect a number of PC's to a VAX or Sun via serial
lines and have the VAX or Sun gateway packets between the PC's and any
other networks it was on.
FTP Software's address is:
FTP Software, Inc.
PO Box 150
Kendall Square Branch
Boston, MA 02142
phone (617) 868-4878.
- john romkey
late of MIT
now of ftp software
Biased? Of course I'm biased...
[A 9600 baud serial line solution would be fine for remote logins, but
as a remote disk server it will be too slow. Symphony takes up about
256K of disk space. Assuming no overhead for error checking or retransmission
it would take about 4.5 minutes to load Symphony over a serial line. This
would be an intolerable delay. -wab]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 21 Mar 86 12:08:28 pst
From: minshall%ucbopal@BERKELEY.EDU (Greg Minshall)
To: tcp-ip@sri-nic.arpa
Subject: IP/TCP
The University of California at Berkeley issued an RFQ towards the
end of last year. The RFQ asked for a combination of hardware and
software which would allow:
1. PC-net programs to run on ethernet, using TCP-IP protocols.
2. FTP and TELNET.
3. Programmatic interface to the TCP-IP-link level (and UDP),
for writing custom applications.
4. Assurances that the product bid would, in some unspecified
time, become a commercial product.
The RFQ was sent to a number of companies. The responses were evaluated,
and the contract was given to Ungermann-Bass.
The Ungermann-Bass product (which is NOT a commercial product at this
time) puts TCP-IP on board, is NETBIOS compatible (so, the IBM PC
networking software runs on top of it), comes with user FTP, and
allows us to port our own 4.2 applications over (it is interesting,
though not surprising given our location, that we have worked hard to
try to get an interface that allows for the 4.2 networking calls to
work as in the 4.2 manual. I'm not a bigot about how great they are;
I just think they are a [somewhat malleable] standard).
Of course, this is a new TCP implementation. That means that certain
algorithms which impact the efficiency of the protocol are unlikely
to be optimal this early in its life. On the other hand, the
University's RFQ requested a 20KBytes/second FTP file transfer rate,
and the product we are currently using out performs that (to put the
requested number in perspective, unloaded Vax 750's seem capable of
doing about 60 KBytes/ second, while an IBM 3081 using a DACU does
barely 20 KBytes/second [though there is more to the 3081/DACU
performance than just this miserable number]).
The product we currently run does host name to host number translation
via static tables. There has been considerable discussion within
Ungermann-Bass and within the University about the "right" way to do the
name lookups. Basically, the question here is whether to use an
IEN116 name server or the new Domain Name Server. The final product
delivered to the University will support one of these protocols. This
final product should be delivered within the next few months.
My hope, certainly, is that this will become a commercial product
very soon. I believe this to be Ungermann-Bass's intention, too, but
you'd have to talk with Ungermann-Bass marketing people about this.
The University's interest in this becoming a commercial product has
to do with our desire to have a good vendor support for the product.
One-of-a-kinds don't have that kind of support; real live products
may.
My one comment on other TCP-IP packages I've noticed so far is that
NETBIOS compatibility is a large, missing feature. I worry a bit that
many of us say "foo" to IBM PC networking, but that many of our end
users (say small, non-computer oriented departments) are going to see
many of the PC networking features as being very useful. It is also
true that allowing NETBIOS compatibility allows us to NOT develop
the function that PC networking already provides (remote disk access,
etc.). Of course, one problem in NETBIOS support is that it is hard
to imagine two vendors mappings of PC Networking -> TCP/UDP/IP to
be compatible. We would hope, vainly I'm sure, that there would
be some meeting of the minds between the various developers on this.
Greg Minshall
minshall@berkeley.edu
minshall@ucbcmsa.bitnet
(415)642-0530
[I have been talking with a lot of network vendors recently these same
issues seen to crop up again and again -wab]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 86 16:09:53 est
From: Mark D. Freeman <mdf@ohio-state.ARPA>
Subject: More Corrections Regarding AK Technology
The following is what was in the 5-35 digest:
[AK Tech makes the IRMA replacement board and software for IRMA cards. -ed]
Unfortunately, it is a bad edit on what I sent. CXI makes boards
that are alternatives to IRMA boards, as well as making software that
enables IRMA owners to have more features and higher performance
without upgrading hard- ware. AK Technologies Corporation is a
distributor/dealer of CXI products, not their manufacturer.
Sorry that this has become so complicated.
[I goofed I don't know much about these boards. -wab]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 86 14:03:17 PST
From: Matthew J Weinstein <matt@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU>
Subject: MS C 3.0 Compiler Bugs
1) Using strict type checking modes -W2 and -W3 can cause bad code to
be generated. MS acknowledged the problem, but has no fix. They
recommend using -W1 for real code generation, and -W2 or -W3 for
'lint'ing only.
2) The large model 'qsort' library has had a tendency to loop in some
circumstances. MS has not acknowledged this as a problem. I believe
it to be caused by bad code generation during optimization (see below).
3) -O (optimize) may generate code that fails in limited circumstances
(such as some address arithmetic above $8000). I have not gotten
an answer from MS about this one.
- Matt
------------------------------
From: microsof!gaben@uw-beaver.arpa
Message-Id: <8603192300.AA14867@uw-beaver.arpa>
Subject: Device Drivers and Windows & Running Symphony under Windows
Date: Wed Mar 19 10:24:16 1986
Microsoft is currently working with a large number of device
manufacturers to help them write device drivers for Windows.
Microsoft will rarely if ever be writing device drivers itself in the
future. As device drivers are returned to Microsoft by the device
manufacturer, we will put them through our QA group, and when they
pass they will be distributed to our OEM and Retail product support
groups. We are currently considering putting together a device
drivers disk, but we have no schedule or commitments for such a disk.
Barring disk space or other considerations, we will try to include
all the drivers we can QA in the next retail release of Windows, for
which we also have no announced release date. Contact our retail
product support group if you need to have a device driver that wasn't
in our retail release, and if they have it, they will send you a
copy. Also device drivers are posted on the Windows RoundTable on
GEnie, the new General Electric Information Services network.
If you are interested in writing a device driver, send a letter describing
the device and your intentions to:
Gabe L. Newell
Windows Program Manager
Microsoft
16011 NE 36th Way
Box 97017
Redmond, WA 98073-9717
Retail Product Support can be reached at (206) 882-8089.
There was a query on what patch would be needed to run Symphony under
Windows. Symphony will run without modification under Windows.
Since Symphony modifies memory and the keyboard interrupt, Windows
reduces itself to a 4K stub, and allows Symphony to be run to
completion. You can do screen grabs from Symphony, but you can not
switch back into Windows from Symphony until you exit, when Windows
will reinstall itself. If you have any other problems running
Symphony under Windows, please contact our Product Support Group at
the above number.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 86 9:08:18 EST
From: Steven Segletes <steven@BRL-TBD.ARPA>
Subject: When is a Clone a Clone
Some recent talk on the net about Wang PCs raises questions in my
mind about clone compatibility. Am I to believe that most (if not
all) clone ROMs do not have INT 10H compatibility? Does anyone know
which ROMs do or do not have such compatibility?
Steven Segletes <steven@brl.arpa>
U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory
Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5066
[A PC without INT 10H compatibility is not a clone. It might be a "MS-DOS"
compatible machine, but not a PC clone. -wab]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 86 19:07:46 est
From: dewar@nyu-acf2.arpa
To: GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Subject: MASM OFFSET Bug
But you certainly agree that if you have:
a equ [bp+4]
lea bx,a
You will not get a 4 in bx, which is what I wanted! I didn't want the
effective address of a, which in any case OFFSET could not even be
expected to provide.
Here is the issue with groups:
; suppose G is a group composed of S1,S2,S3
assume ds:G
; assume variable v is in S2
mov ax,offset V ; gives offset relative to start of S2
mov ax,offset (G:V) ; gives offset relative to start of G
mov ax,offset (S1:V) ; gives offset relative to S1 (may fail in LINK)
lea ax,V ;gives offset relative to start of G (because of ASSUME)
Usually what you want is the offset relative to the start of the group
G, hence your comment that LEA generally works. On the other hand, you
might think that
mov ax,offset V
was not working if you got something else, but this would be unfair to
Microsoft since they indeed should give something else (namely the
offset from G) when you do this.
I am quite prepared to believe that
mov ax,offset (G:V)
would not fix the problem as it should. Incidentally this sort of
thing is documented clearly in the Intel ASM manual, but not at all in
the Microsoft manual.
I am always amazed that people manage to get ASM programs working given
the combination:
Horrible complicated Intel Semantics
+ Incompetent implementation and interpretation of said semantics by Microsoft
+ Misunderstandings and confusion on the part of the programmer
!!
Doing an exactly Intel compatible assembler is really hard (I know, I
did one for the Vax). However, Microsoft is inexcusably far from the
target. Their handling of EQU's for example as text substitution
macros causes all kinds of subtle incompatibilities (there are many
cases where putting parentheses round the EQU expression changes the
assembled code -- Gee just like C!)
------------------------------
Date: 18 Mar 1986 10:33:08 PST
Subject: MASM OFFSET Bug
From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: dewar@NYU-ACF2.ARPA
Thanks for your informative message. My problems with OFFSET usually
occurred when I had separate assemblies, as in your S1,S2,S3 example
but not formal GROUPs -- just segments with the same name. I have
one example where
cmp ax,offset foo
failed, but
mov bx,offset foo
cmp ax,bx
worked ok! In all cases the problem was that I got the offset relative
to the separate assembly, unaffected by the linker.
You're right that lea ax,[bp+4] is different from mov ax,offset [bp+4].
Do you have the document number for the Intel assembler manual? I'd
like to get a copy.
Dick Gillmann
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 86 16:15:50 est
From: dewar@nyu-acf2.arpa
To: GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA, dewar@NYU-ACF2.ARPA
Subject: MASM OFFSET Bug
I will try to get that document number for you.
Incidentally the bug you mention with cmp ax,offset foo had to do with
an earlier bug in MASM. The difficulty was that MASM was testing to
see if an offset was short enough to use the 1 byte offset. They
forgot to include in this test the test for whether the offset was
relocatable. For the MOV OFFSET, there is no one byte offset form, so
it worked OK.
This particular bug has been fixed, so now your CMP OFFSET example
should work fine.
I was bitten by this many times with MASM V1.0
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 86 10:07:46 pst
From: gould9!ronb@nosc.ARPA (Ron Belanger @ CACI)
Organization: CACI, Inc. -- La Jolla
Xuucp-Path: {ihnp4,cbosgd,pyramid,sdcsvax}!gould9!ronb
Xarpa-Path: gould9!ronb@nosc
To: Joe.Newcomer@a.sei.cmu.edu
Joe,
There is a discrete simulation language available for the PC.
SIMSCRIPT II.5, the same simulation language which runs on your
favorite mainframe is available for PC, XT and AT machines. It
is self-contained and can be used as a general purpose language,
so it's not necessary to dip into other languages.
The current version supports limited graphics (histograms built
with characters). The release which is due out shortly supports
graphics and animation as well.
CACI, our company, sells SIMSCRIPT II.5. Call 619-457-9681 if
you have any questions and ask for Rick Crawford.
Ron
------------------------------
Date: 20 Mar 1986 14:19:57 PST
Subject: Program List
From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA, swg.koji@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I've made an abbreviated version of the Program-library.list. The
new list is called PROGRAM.LST and it is in a one line per program
format. It is accessible with FTP from the Arpanet.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 20-Mar-86 21:07:53 EDT
From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU>
Subject: Fast Cards
I ran two "benchmarks" on three machines.
1. A IBM XT with the Classic 286 card
2. An IBM PC with the Victor 286 card
3. A Zenith 148 at 4.77 mh
4. A zenith 148 at 8 mh
5. An IBM AT at 18 mh crystal
Two tests were run. They were:
1. Drystone
2. A Speed test supplied by Classic that did a lot of memory
references and log calculations ( no 287 87 etc)
Answers
Test 1 2
machine
1 1282 14.33 sec
2 1041 15.22
3 373
4 632 16.72
5 1388 10.89
If anyone can make sense out of that!!
The Classic lists for 1100 and sells to univ for 800
The Victor lists for 595.
The 18 hm crystal is 1.95
------------------------------
Date: 21 Mar 86 02:56 GMT
From: ghicks @ KOREA-EMH
Subject: VDISK Source Listing Documents FAT
In reply to the query from Daniel Briggs query re: format equivalent
within a program, the supplemental program diskette from IBM that
comes from DOS 3.1 has a listing of VDISK.SYS on it.
It shows how to set up a FAT, BOOT RRECORRD and DIRECTORY. Might be able
to help...
Gregory Hicks
GHICKS@KOREA-EMH
------------------------------
From: mcvax!ukc!jmh@seismo.CSS.GOV
Date: Fri, 21 Mar 86 11:24:02 GMT
To: milne <milne@icse.uci.edu>
Subject: Interrupt handlers in Turbo (V5 #20)
>
I'm afraid I don't see from your paragraph #1 how it's possible to install a
Turbo routine directly as an interrupt servicer.
>
Apologies if I didn't make myself clear. If you need to swap stacks for the
reasons below, then you do of course have to try a different tack. Iff it is
OK to use the existing stack (i.e if the interrupt is only called by user
code with plenty of stack space) then you can use (again, this is for
Turbo 3.0 - I have no way of knowing if it works on earlier versions)
procedure foo ;
....
begin
{ push ax, bx, cx, dx, si, di, ds, es }
inline ( $50/$53/$51/$52/$56/$57/$1E/$06 ) ;
...
{ pop es, ds, di, si, dx, cx, bx, ax }
{ mov sp,bp ; pop bp ; iret }
inline ( $07/$1F/$5F/$5E/$5A/$59/$5B/$58/$8B/$E5/$5D/$CF )
end ;
and install addr(foo) into the vector. See p214 of the Turbo 3.0 manual.
Addr(foo) points to the start of the procedure prelude, which saves BP
on the stack and then places a copy of SP into BP, marking the start of
the procedure stack frame. MOV SP,BP at the end restores SP to this
point, POP BP recovers the saved value of BP, and IRET returns from
the interrupt - i.e this is the normal Turbo postlude with RET replaced
by IRET.
>> 2. It is only necessary to inform the 8259 of interrupts you wish
>> to receive *which are generated by external hardware*.
>
> I don't suppose you would know what the appropriate mask values for it are,
> or, more generally, where one would find a reference on programming it?
For the serial ports COM1 and COM2, which operate through IRQ 4 and IRQ 3
respectively, to enable their interrupts in the 8259 you need to clear
the corresponding bit at Port[$21] e.g.
Port[$21] := Port[$21] and $F7 ; { Enable IRQ 3 }
Port[$21] := Port[$21] or 8 ; { Disable IRQ 3 }
For further information, the book I used (the only one I had available) was
"Microcomputer Systems : The 8086/8088 family. Architecture, Programming,
Design", Liu & Gibson, Prentice-Hall 1984. It's rather turgid, and not IBM PC
specific. I've just found in the library "Interfacing to the IBM PC",
Lewis C Eggebrecht, Howard W Sams & Co 1983, which on a cursory inspection
seems to be somewhat easier to read and is PC specific.
> .... In other words, any interrupt servicer
> which does not create for itself a nice roomy stack elsewhere in memory
> may be inviting disaster if its interrupt is raised during a call
> to a DOS service routine. I had no idea of this. Would anybody care
> to take a crack at amending the servicer's initialization code to use
> such a stack?
<Discrete cough> As it happens, I revised the way I was handling interrupts
considerably in the light of your article, and included just this. With
comments there's some 225 lines in the relevant file, so I won't post it
to info-ibmpc (unless requested) but mail it to you.
Good luck,
Jim Hague jmh@ukc.UUCP
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 21 Mar 86 15:06:16 cet
To: BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: UZR500%DBNRHRZ1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
Subject: FTP Between PC and VM/CMS
The computer center of the University of Bonn (called RHRZ Bonn ) has
an IBM/370 with VM/CMS as OS. Our IBM-PCs must also work as terminals.
for FTPing from diskette to the CMS host. But our PCs have no IRMA cards
and they have no AST-PCOX cards. And they have no other cards like this.
The PCs are connected with a protocol converter by using a coaxial cable
The protocol converter is the only alternative to be connected with the
CMS host if we don't want to buy expensive cards like IRMA or AST-PCOX
or others. The coaxial cable from the PC to the protocol converter uses
the V.24 (RS232) of the PC. So I began to develop such a FTP program to
solve this. Now we have several programs working with the V.24 . These
programs are written in TURBO-PASCAL (V.3.01A) or in IBM-BASICA. But we
have our problems in developing this FTP program:
1) Our BASICA program runs under the interpreter,but it is very slow.
So I tried to compile it with the IBM BASIC COMPILER V.1.0 .
First I got some error because of wrong handling (I forget the
compiler options needed for communication). But now I get an error
when compiling the program. Before I got the error when running the
program. Now I had a look to my program. Then I only compiled the
following line and got exactly the same error :
60 OPEN "com1:9600,e,7,1,pe" as #1 : '...any comment
Three weeks ago I got the IBM BASIC COMPILER V.2.0 and then the same
story.
At the same time I got the QUICKBASIC COMPILER from MICROSOFT.There
I got my problems when linking the necessary library for communica-
tion. This is the BCOM10.LIB library.
Can one help me in compiling this program. If you really know how to
work with these @#&%*$ +! compilers please tell me that and you can
get the whole program from me in order to try to compile it. But a little warning : I'm not logged on all the days and nights. So I
answer you some days later.
2) When writing our program in TURBO-PASCAL we found out that installing
the BASICA line open"com1:9600,e,7,1,pe'"as#1 (port = COM1,9600 baud,
7 data bits 1 stop bits,parity even) in TURBO is not very easy.I know
that one can do this by using MODE. But our program is written for
people who are not experts in using computers. So we want that it is
installed automatically by our program.
I know that one has to use the declaration
cpureg = RECORD
ax,bx,cx,dx,bp,si,ds,es,flags : INTEGER
END;
and that one has to set
cpureg.dx := $0000; for COM1
and cpureg.ax := $00A6; for 2400 baud,no parity,2 stop bits,7 data bits
:= $00E6; for 9600 baud,no parity,2 stop bits,7 data bits
:= $00FE; for 9600 baud, parity,2 stop bits,7 data bits
But there are still unsolved problems when doing this. Did anyone al-
ready write such a program and could this person help me ?
Perhaps today my letter is more detailed and one can understand me bet-
ter. Please send all information to :
Thorsten Glattki +49 228 73-2747 <UZR500@DBNRHRZ1.BITNET>
RHRZ Uni Bonn
Zimmer 003
Wegelerstrasse 4
D-5300 Bonn 1
Federal Republic of Germany (West-Germany)
Thanks a lot in advance.
Thorsten
------------------------------
Date: 21 Mar 1986 10:45:32 PST
Subject: FTP Between PC and VM/CMS
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: UZR500%DBNRHRZ1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
Well that is quite a specific message. Sorry to inform you but communications
support is very weak from BASIC and even Turbo Pascal. DOS provides very
little support for serial communications.
It is necessary to write your own machine language level serial I/O support
as the DOS routines provide no buffering. Unless your low level routines
buffer the incoming characters you will lose incoming characters when the
PC is busy writing to the disk. Even the standard DOS bell routine ties up
the processor so long that characters will be lost at 9600 baud if your
PC is beeping at you! Fortunately this code was done in 1982 at MIT
and they have placed in the public domain. I will send a copy
of this code in a following message.
Unfortunately this requires the Microsoft Assembler, but as the code has been
debugged you shouldn't have any problem getting it running. Also you will
have to read the section in the BASIC compiler manual on how to link to
assembly language routines and modify the code so it can be called by BASIC.
The more difficult question is what to send in order to communicate with your
protocol converter. I have never seen such a device so I can't help you here,
but I believe the people at Columbia University have versions of Kermit that
can deal with protocol converters. I will forward your message on to them and
would be happy to act as a mail forwarding agent if you can't get the kermit
files directly via BITNET.
I will also run your plea in the digest as somebody else might be able to
answer your BASIC and Turbo Pascal questions.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 86 21:40:27 PST
From: larry@Jpl-VLSI.ARPA
Subject: WordPerfect & Epson Proprinter Emulation
We have an AT with WordPerfect 4.1 on it and want to use the nifty
line-drawing feature. However, some weird things happen when we set
the Epson 286 to Proprinter mode.
(1) Subscripts and superscripts won't work.
(2) When WP is exited, the Epson is set into near-letter-quality mode.
Any idea how to fix this? Or even why this happens? Two of us have
independently studied the Epson manual and the WordPerfect Printer
customizing utility, and haven't figured it out yet?
Larry @ jpl-vlsi.arpa
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 86 17:03:14 est
From: Scott Guthery <sguthery%slb-doll.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA>
Subject: BSR Board
BSR is a remote control standard that uses AC lines and $15 modules from Radio
Shack for controlling things like lights, radios, clocks, blenders, or
any other AC plug-in device. Does anyone know of a BSR controller board
for the PC? I'd like JUST BSR and not a lot of A/D and D/A extras.
Thanks, Scott
------------------------------
Subject: DAVONG multi-function bd.
Date: 20 Mar 86 09:17:15 PST (Thu)
From: arms@sri-spam
I have an expansion bd from the now defunct DAVONG Corp. I inherited
it with a used COLUMBIA (PC compatible). It works fine for the 256K
memory expansion (for which part I have documentation). It also has
a parallel and a serial port (for which part I have *NO* documentation)
and it is interfering with my built-in Com1 serial port on which I have
a modem.
Query: Does anyone have a similar DAVONG bd for which one might possess
the description of the two DIP switch packs settings relevant to the
two comm ports?
I still need to use the memory on this bd as the COLUMBIA's resident
is only 128K and a newly acquired AST SIXPACK PLUS (used of course)
contains 384K. 512K is nice but I want *more*.
Thanks very much for any oncoming assistance.
Tom Arms <arms@sri-spam>
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 86 23:21:29 EST
From: Robbit%UMass.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Rob Kaplowitz)
Subject: Anchor Automation Volksmodem 1200
Presently, I have a Anchor Automation Volksmodem 1200 connected to my
PC compatible, however I've been unable to get it to work properly using
Crosstalk XVI V3.5 & V3.6. As a test, I hooked up a Hayes smartmodem
to the same Comm port and it worked flawlessly. I have played around
with the DIP switches on the Volksmodem but nothing seems to work.
Any suggestions????
Rob
<Robbit%UMass.bitnet@wiscvm.arpa>
------------------------------
Date: 20 Mar 1986 11:50:59 PST
Subject: Anchor Automation Volksmodem 1200
From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Robbit%UMass.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Rob Kaplowitz)
I bought one of those Volksmodem 1200s myself. First off, it's NOT
Hayes compatible, though it does have a subset of the Hayes
commands. I've been able to use it with VDTE by modifying my
Hayes command files to fit the subset. I suspect that Crosstalk
is assuming a Hayes modem and having trouble as a result. The
Volksmodem works OK, it's cheap, but be prepared to do your own
modem commands.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 86 18:27:39 EST
From: James H. Coombs <JAZBO%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU>
Subject: Automated PC-->Mainframe Sessions
Greetings! We have people interested in conducting unattended sessions
between an IBM PC and a 3081. Ideally, they would be able to connect,
download mail, terminate the session, process the mail, and then
reconnect and upload the results. Even when an operator is present,
they would like to have the process as automated as possible.
Has anyone experimented with something like this. The natural place to
start, I would expect, is PROCOMM or PIBTERM, which have SCRIPT
facilities and KERMIT file transfer (at least PROCOMM does). We are
reluctant to get them started on one of these programs unless we have
indications that the results will be satisfactory and reliable. Any
advice would be appreciated.
Many thanks. --Jim
P.S. We are running 7171s, so asynchronous file transfer is "no" problem.
------------------------------
From: hermix!stan@rand-unix.ARPA
To: randvax!info-ibmpc%ISIB@ECLB
Subject: Info on MS Mouse Driver for Xenix
Date: Thu Mar 20 14:37:00 1986
I have just purchased a Microsoft Mouse version 5.0. Unfortunately, the
programming information included with the mouse is confined to MS-DOS.
Has anyone either the technical information on how the mouse communicates
via the serial port, or even better, has someone developed a program/driver
written in C to interface Xenix to the mouse?
As usual, Thanks in advance.
Stan Stead
UUCP: {ihnp4|decvax}!hermix!stan
ARPA: hermix!stan@randvax
BELL: (213) 206-6238
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 21 Mar 86 00:06:44 EST
From: Dean Carpenter <ST701979%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU>
Subject: Changing Cluster Size
In the latest issue of PC-WORLD there is a method of diddling the BPB
when formatting the XT's 10 meg hard disk to give a cluster size of
just 2K. Has anyone tried this yet ? What sort of difference does it
make ? Could the same method be used to make a 1K cluster size without
totally wiping out performance ? Thanks.
Dean Carpenter
ST701979@BROWNVM.bitnet
PS. the article is on page 341 of the April 1986 issue
------------------------------
Date: Fri 21 Mar 86 05:56:39-PST
From: Tony Brand <BRAND@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA>
Subject: Microsoft Mouse and Print Spoolers
* This is the 3rd time I've tried to upload this file from my *
* PC. Qmodem 2.0 has a nasty timing bug in it. Now the bug has *
* fixed with Qmodem 2.0C. *
I've just set up my Zenith 200 with 2 30Mbyte drives,
AST Advantage, Quadram EGA+ (actually a full length Video 7
board relabelled, because Quadram says they've been delayed in
shipping the half height board pictured in ads because it uses
surface mounted IC technology). I've ordered but not received
a Cannon Laser printer which I'm going to use with a Tall Tree
J-Ram board and laser interface. I've also got a Microsoft mouse.
So that's where I'm at.
1. Does anyone know of a source for Microsoft Mouse definition
files for using the mouse with the programs below?
SuperKey, SuperCalc3, WordPerfect, SideKick
2. How does the Microsoft mouse identify when an application,
which it has the menus for, is loaded? Is there a tech
manual for the mouse?
3. I bought an optical mouse for a friend and its driver allowed
the mouse to emulate the cursor pad under all programs. Can I
make the Microsoft mouse do that?
I've used SuperSpl, the resident print spooler supplied
with AST 6-paks on all IBM PCs. I just got the print spooler from
Quadram and that's much slicker because it has a window which one
can call up with one key combo (mine is Alt Left shift) and then
one can flush the buffer or pause it. It does seem to be slower
than SuperSpl when spooling however. It works with Sidekick and
Superkey present. Anyway I think the Quadboard is as good
as the AST 6-paks I've been buying previously.
Ok, that's enough for now, usual disclaimers on all the above.
I'm not on the info-pc lists so please send replies, if any,
to
brand@sumex-aim.arpa
Tony Brand, Trenton State College Voice : (609)-771-3013
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
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