Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA (Info-IBMPC Digest) (02/07/86)
Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, 6 February 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 18
This Week's Editor: Richard Nelson
Today's Topics:
Brief Test of Victor SpeedPac 286
Fast Xtals in AT / Sidekick
Calling EXEC from Turbo Pascal (2 msgs)
PCjr to VAX 11/780 Query
PCjr Serial Connector
Wordperfect 4.1 and HP Laserjet (2 msgs)
Sluggish Hard Disc
Burroughs Terminal Emulator
Renaming Subdirectories
Directories as Data Files Query
Plotting Overhead Transparencies Query
Faster Xtals in Compaq 286 Query
Hard Disk Optimizer Query
"Screen Machine" Recommendations Request
Word Processor for Russian Query
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Date: Sun, 2-Feb-86 16:12:32 EDT
From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU>
Subject: Brief Test of Victor SpeedPac 286
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA, ud-ibmpc@louie.udel.EDU
CC: farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU
I recently purchased for testing a Victor SpeedPac 286. The
ordering people were very pleasant, the unit came RIGHT away
and all seems very good. The unit is short board with a
umbilical cord that plugs into the 8088 socket. It has a
8k cache and a 7.5 80286 and can hold a 80287 (5 or 8).
The construction was very good with even a big heat sink.
I tested it using the ARC 5 File achieve program with a 80k
compressed file in ramdisk. I ran the "test" option which
has to de squeeze the text to check for validity. (it uses
Lempel-Zev coding scheme. Run times are as follows:
AT (9mh with 150 nano memory) 30 sec
PC with SpeedPac 39
Zenith 148 (4.77 mh)= PC 118 (note this is the same as the PC
without SpeedPac)
Zenith 148 (8mh) 72
Seems that speedpac is a reasonable way to speed up an old PC at
a reasonable price ($595).
Dave
------------------------------
From: davidsen@ge-crd.ARPA
Subject: Fast Xtals in AT / Sidekick
Date: Sat, 1-Feb-86 12:39:48 PST
I would encourage anyone who has a problem with the floppy drives and
a fast clock to look at all the sources of the problem carefully
before slowing down. I had some of these problems (9 MHz) and tried
some patches and stuff without much luck. I finally found that
Sidekick was the cause (or at least part of the problem), since taking
it out turned hard failures into perfect operation.
Since Sidekick also craps up the operation of DOS functions 6 and 7
(direct read), I'm not too unhappy taking it out. To prove that it
does this, write a program with DEBUG doing:
a100
mov ah,7
int 21
g=100,104
With Sidekick out, the values of ALL keys are passed back to the
program. With Sidekick, ^P toggles the printer, ^S stops output, ^Q
starts output, and ^C kills the program. Nobody ever used those keys
in an editor, huh? Borland gets by this in their editor by bypassing
the DOS completely and going to the hardware. This is acceptable in a
program for the PC, but making DOS fail is not!
-bill davidsen
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 86 09:04:52 est
From: allegra!phri!greenber@seismo.CSS.GOV (Ross Greenberg)
Subject: Calling EXEC from Turbo Pascal
Regarding calling EXEC from Turbo Pascal:
I've gotten the same error message from Lattice. I discovered what
caused the problem in Lattice, chances are the same thing caused it
in Turbo.
SWITCHAR=-
When Lattice calls command.com, it appends a '/c' to the string. If
you have SWITCHAR=- (or any other character), then you're trying
to execute a program called "COMMAND/", which is a tough one to
create or parse! :-)
The dumb code doesn't checkint 0x21, ah = 0x37 to determine or set the
switch character. Specs:
al = 0, return current SWITCHAR in dl,
al = 1, set SWITCHAR as specified in dl
al = 2, return device available byte in dl
al = 3, set device available byte as specified in dl
if al = 2 and dl = 0, then I/O to devices should be done through"
/dev/device (/dev/con, /dev/prn, etc.)
DOS 2.x allows you to specify SWITCHAR=- in CONFIG.SYS, DOS 3.x doesn't.
For DOS 3.x, a little program utilizing the above calls can set it the
way you desire.
------------------------------
To: hplabs!INFO-IBMPC%usc-isib.arpa@csnet-relay.arpa
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 86 10:53:52 PST
From: Arvind Kumar <hpcea!kumar@hplabs.ARPA>
Subject: Calling EXEC from Turbo Pascal
>Subject: Calling EXEC from Turbo Pascal
>
>The only problem occurs when I attempt to load the DOS
>COMMAND processor from my invoking program. Assuming it is
>on the boot drive (A:), and the default drive is the boot
>drive, then I get a mysterious error message:
>
> Specified COMMAND search directory bad
>
My semi-intelligent guess is that somehow the PATH variable in the
environment is getting clobbered. Memory allocation in DOS and on the
8086 being what it is, this is not impossible to do.
The latest issue of Programmer's Journal has an entire article devoted
to this (written by yours truly). With the set of procedures described
in the article, I did not run into the problem you are having, so you
might want to take a look at it.
Arvind Kumar
kumar@hplabs@csnet
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 86 11:01:14 EST
From: Michael Camilletti (CSD) <cptcam@AMSAA.ARPA>
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
cc: cptcam@AMSAA.ARPA
Subject: PCjr to VAX 11/780 Query
My organization is planning to provide me with a Racal Vadic model #VA3451
to use with my IBM PCjr for access to the mainframe. There is a lack of
good information about how to accomplish this. Our particular need is to
determine the additional hardware, firmware and/or software requirements
this will entail.
The system manager does not have the details on the IBM side of the
connection to assist in the set-up. We think we can fabricate the DB25
connector to the PCjr's serial connector if we can identify the pin out
configuration. We are unsure of any other hardware restrictions there
might be. Also, is there a particular firmware or software application needed
to communicate once the hardware is hooked up. We have access to PC Talk.
Finally, when all this hook-up is accomplished what communications limits
will we face. Can we expect to download information to a floppy on the
micro? Can we send files from the micro to the mainframe?
Maybe what we need is a good reference manual. As you can guess, we are
initiates to the micro-mainframe operation.
Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
CPTCAM@AMSAA.ARPA
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 86 23:16 pst
From: "tomaschke greg%b.mfenet"@LLL-MFE.ARPA
Subject: PCjr Serial Connector
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
In regards to the questions about the pin-out of the 16-pin serial
connector on the PCjr--
The following material is taken from pages 2-129 and 2-134, ("Serial
Port"), and 3-89 thru 3-90 ("Serial Devices Cable") of the IBM Technical
Reference Manual for the PCjr.
As you are looking at the back of the Jr, the 16-pin connecter is
labeled as follows
A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8
(I think this is right. There is some ambiguity in the diagram on p3-89)
The pin specification is
A1 not used
A2 Data Terminal Ready
A3 Request to Send
A4 Transmit Data
A5 Carrier Detect
A6 Data Set Ready
A7 Clear to Send
A8 Receive Data
B1 Shield Ground
B2 Signal Ground
B3-B8 Signal Ground (not used)
According to the diagram on p3-90, the correct connection to a 25-pin
connector is
A2 - 20
A3 - 4
A4 - 2
A5 - 8
A6 - 6
A7 - 5
A8 - 3
B1 - 1
B2 - 7
Hope this helps.
Greg.
Tomaschke%ccc@lll-mfe.arpa
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 86 09:56:12 PST
From: Brian_McCashin%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Subject: Using Laserjet with Wordperfect
My understanding is that the Internal Courier font has no Bold or Italic
characters. You need the courier font cartridge to get bold face. Underlining
doesn't need a stress change.
Brian McCashin%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
[This is correct. All you get with a vanilla LaserJet is plain Courier
in portrait and landscape modes. Additional character sets require
font cartridges. -ed]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Feb 1986 12:46 MTN
From: Kelly McDonald <KCM%BYUADMIN.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU>
Subject: Wordperfect 4.1 and HP Laserjet
To: <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
cc: <HOWALD%ECLD@USC-ECL.ARPA>
Following is a message I received from someone on our campus
that seems to have had the same problem.
======================================================================
Received: by BYUADMIN (Mailer X1.23) id 2815; Fri, 24 Jan 86 13:26:17 MTN
Date: Fri, 24-JAN-1986 13:24 MST
Sender: (CTSHHH@BYUVAX) via List Processor <LISTSERV@BYUADMIN>
Reply-to: Distribution List <PCSHARE@BYUADMIN>
From: <CTSHHH@BYUVAX>
Subject: Bold LaserJet Courier with WordPerfect
To: KELLY MCDONALD <KCM@BYUADMIN> (Distribution: PCSHARE)
Hi! I am out here; I just forgot to read my mail lately.
There are two ways you can get bold Courier on the Laser Jet. 1) Get the
cartridge which has the italic and bold Courier fonts, or 2) get WordPerfect to
do it for you with "shadow printing." To make WordPerfect do shadow printing,
run the PRINTER program (on the Learning disk) and select option 3 (printer
definitions). Edit the definition for HP Laserjet A (Courier 10). Pick option
5 (superscript/subscript/underline/bold), then delete any codes under line 9
and line A (bold on, bold off). When WordPerfect sees that there is no printer
code to do bolding, it will shadow print.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 86 11:30:54 PST
From: Jim Carter <jimc@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU>
To: wilkins@fas.ri.cmu.edu.ARPA
CC: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
Subject: Sluggish Hard Disc
In a recent PC digest, wilkins@fas.ri.cmu.edu.ARPA writes:
> ...Why might my hard disc have gotten so slow?
Maybe it's getting fragmented. It's quick to access sectors in their natural
order, but if they are spread all over the disc it's much slower. DOS allo-
cates the first vacant sector, then when that fills it gives the then-first
vacant sector, ad nauseum. So if your disc had a lot of little files, and
you deleted them, and then wrote a .EXE file, it would end up strung all over
creation and would load slowly. Other scenarios also produce fragmentation.
Several programs are on the market for making hard disc files contiguous.
I have used "Disk Optimizer" by SoftLogic Solutions, 530 Chestnut St,
Manchester, NH 03101.
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
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 86 16:41 EST
From: Hess@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: Burroughs Terminal Emulator
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Well, this may be too late, but:
I saw a Burroughs emulator at a Sperry site. It was running on their
AT clone. Try:
Southern Computer Systems
Attn. David McKay
2732 7th Ave. South
Birmingham, AL. 35233
(205)251-2985
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 86 22:55 CST
From: Wilkinson@HI-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: Renaming Subdirectories
To: MATHES%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
cc: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
The easiest way that I have found under PC-DOS 3.0 on my XT is with the
NAME command in BASICA direct mode:
NAME "\dirpath\subdir" AS "\dirpath\newdir"
You can also MOVE a file from one dir to another as in:
NAME "\dirpath\file" AS "\newdir\file"
OR rename a file as in:
NAME "\dirpath\file" AS "\dirpath\newname"
An combinations thereof.
Richard {Wilkinson@HI-MULTICS}
------------------------------
Date: 01 Feb 86 15:16 CDT
From: David_R_Linn%VANDERBILT.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
To: "Info-IBMPC Digest" <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
Subject: Directories as Data Files Query
I need some help reading MSDOS 2+ directories as data files. I'm
working in Microsoft C Version 3 but will use 8086 assembler if I
must.
David R Linn@Vanderbilt.MAILNET
LINNDR@VUEngVAX.BITNET
David Linn
P.O. 3241-B Vanderbilt
Nashville, TN 37235
------------------------------
Date: 3 Feb 1986 (Monday) 1707-EDT
From: LINDA BOHNSACK <BOHNSA@wharton-10.ARPA>
Subject: Plotting Overhead Transparencies Query
To: info-ibmpc%isib@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA
I am interested in a software package (cheap to about $300) which
is capable of producing overhead transparencies on a plotter. I have
an IBM XT and I am willing to purchase a plotter (two pens). Does anyone
have any suggestions?
Sincerely,
Linda Bohnsack
------------------------------
Date: Mon 3 Feb 86 16:37:49-PST
From: Bob Knight <KNIGHT@SRI-NIC.ARPA>
Subject: Faster Xtals in Compaq 286 Query
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
With all the discussion about faster crystals in ATs, I have yet to see such
discussion regarding Compaq Portable 286s. Has anybody tried it? Is it
feasible...so on and so forth.
For various reasons, primarily convenience (we do a fair amount of field work,
and a portable is MUCH easier to move than a conventional machine), we're
probably going to buy a Portable 286. Any comments pro or con from people
on this group?
Thanks,
Bob
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 04 Feb 86 06:43:49 cet
To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
From: 10409813%WSUVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
Subject: Hard Disk Optimizer Query
I am looking for a Public Domain Hard Disk Optimizer program. My first
choice would be for some source code that is fully debugged. However,
if someone out there is working on this sort of thing currently, I
would be willing to help with development in exchange for its use.
For those of you who don't know, a Hard Disk Optimizer is designed to
rearrange the files of your HD so that all the clusters assigned to
each are contiguous, and files within a directory follow each other
physically on the disk. It cuts down on the time to read a single
file, as well as the seek time when reading different files in the
same directory.
Please reply by direct E-mail, as I am not receiving info-ibmpc at
this time.
Thanks in advance,
Eric Schneider 10409813@wsuvm1.BITNET
or eric@wsu.CSNET
------------------------------
Date: Tue 4 Feb 86 13:39:47-PST
From: Marvin Zauderer <ZAUDERER@SU-SUSHI.ARPA>
Subject: "Screen Machine" Recommendations Request
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
A "screen machine", as far as I can tell, is a program that allows
you to prototype a (usually frame-based) program quickly. Some
of them produce a file which can be re-"executed",
which in this case means that you can proceed automatically
through the sequence of frames (screens) that you have designed. Some
of these programs actually produce working code; I've seen
one that produces Turbo Pascal code from your specifications.
I'm looking for a screen machine which supports the EGA card, i.e.
that operates in high-resolution mode. I'm not very particular
about whether or not it produces code -- I just want something
that will allow me to prototype and link together a sequence
of screens.
Any recommendations?
Thanks,
Marvin
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 1986 12:55:14 EDT
From: FAC0395%UOFT01.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Joe Feustle)
Subject: Word Processor for Russian Query
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Can anyone recommend a word processor for the PC that will
handle Russian? Thanks.
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End of Info-IBMPC Digest
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