Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA (Info-IBMPC Digest) (01/09/86)
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 8 January 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 3
This Week's Editor: Richard Nelson
Today's Topics:
Quickie Review of MASM 4.0
Microsoft Windows Review
Epsilon and Resident Programs Incompatibility
Shipdisk
Undigestification
X.PC (2 msgs)
Bare Boards and Real Cheap Clones (2 msgs)
IBM Diagnostic Codes List
FreeStyle Problem
Okidata Printer Crashes AT/XENIX Problem
10M+ Hardcard Pricing Query
PC's Limited Turbo PC Query
"Fountain" PC Clone Query
FORTRAN Subroutine Library for PC-DOS Query
Statistical Package for IBM-PC Query
Floppy Disk Drive Quality/Reliability Query
Turbo MS-DOS Pascal on Wang PCs Query
AT With 30M Drives Query
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: corwin@cdp.uucp
Subject: Quickie Review of MASM 4.0
Date: 5 Jan 86 22:48:00 GMT
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
MASM 4.0 first impression
I found about a 240% speed increase. Now it runs about as fast as
an assembler should. There are some new programs which allow you to
condense and EXE file and to modify its header. These work well
and are nice additions. Quality of the documentation is excellent.
I also found the bug which causes the warning message with "include".
Although the default condition for the assembler is not to display
the source text of a line which contains an error (it gives a line
number), you can override that with a command line switch to operate
as it used to. Overall I'm very happy with the new release.
Corwin Nichols, MicroTech Exports, 415-324-9114
cdp!corwin@SU-Glacier.ARPA
ihnp4!hplabs!glacier!cdp!corwin
{decwrl,sun,bellcore}!glacier!cdp!corwin
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 7 Jan 86 10:56:05 PST
From: walton%Deimos@CIT-Hamlet.ARPA
Subject: Microsoft Windows Review
To: info-ibmpc%Deimos@CIT-Hamlet.ARPA
I received my copy of Microsoft Windows on Monday. Briefly--I like
it a lot! It replaces all of the DOS shells-keyboard enhancers-
multitaskers-directory sorters-file selectors I have ever seen or even
heard of. It comes with the desktop utilities Notepad (simple text
editor which I am using for this message), Terminal, Calendar, CardFile,
Calculator, Clock (ticking away in the lower left corner of my screen),
and a Reversi (Othello[tm of someone]) game. In addition, if you buy it
before Jan. 31, Microsoft will throw in a copy of Microsoft Windows
Paint and Microsoft Windows Word. MW-Word is a nice simple little
what-you-see-is-what-you-get word processor, complete with font
changing, underscores, bold face, and drivers for most popular graphics
printers. You can also import diagrams from MW-Paint into an MW-Word
document and print the result. All this for $99 list!
Biggest good things: the Clipboard, an area of memory into which
text from one program (e.g. Terminal) can be placed and later restored
to another program (e.g., Notepad); the ability to select a file and
have Windows automatically start the program which will use that file as
input (this is done by the file extension); the nice looking
characters, at least on my Hercules graphics card; the ability to run a
program by specifying its path name, even under DOS 2.
Windows is not without flaws. The biggest one isn't actually
Microsoft's fault--a stock IBM PC just doesn't have the horsepower to
multitask to any great extent. Since Windows, drives the screen in
graphics mode, screen refresh is a bit slow. In the absence of a mouse,
you have to type several keystrokes in order to access windows, scroll
bars, etc., and these have to be memorized. This aspect could have been
done better. There are also some inconsistencies between the Desktop
utilities--for example, CardFile uses Backspace to throw away selected text,
but Notepad uses Shift-Del. Notepad can't refresh the screen as fast as the
typematic key repeat--it ignores the arrow key strokes which it misses as a
result, but keeps Backspace characters. Thus, you easily find yourself
deleting more text than you really wanted to. The Terminal utility has no
way to redefine the backspace key to send a delete character--you must use
the keypad Del (.) key.
Hardware and software restrictions: The Hercules graphics card and
the IBM Color and Enhanced Graphics Adaptors are currently supported,
but only the last allows color. The Lotus/Intel/Microsoft Expanded
Memory is supported only to the extent that you can tell Windows to use
a RAMdisk in the expanded memory as its swap space. It will run under
DOS 2. Finally, you should have 640K. On my system, MEMSIZ tells me I
have 590K available immediately after reboot. After starting Windows, it
tells me I have 416K available for other programs.
In short, a worthwhile enhancement to DOS 2 or 3, reasonably
priced.
Steve Walton
Caltech Solar Astronomy
------------------------------
Date: 7 Jan 86 21:26:00 PST
From: fae.wu@ames-vmsb.ARPA
Subject: Epsilon and Resident Programs Incompatibility
To: info-ibmpc-request@isib
With the rave reviews that Epsilon has received in this form, I would
like to add a note of caution. Epsilon is incompatible with at
least two common BORLAND products, SIDEKICK and LIGHTNING. It is
understandable that SIDEKICK is incompatible since both programs
use CTRL-ALT as commands, but Epsilon seems to take over the keyboard
interrupt and does not pass the information on. Even when a key is
not bound, (ALTf8,etc.) it eats the interrupt. Are there any solutions
to this problem since I like both EPSILON and LIGHTNING?
Alex Woo
(As an aside, the info-ibmpc program that expands the keyboard type
ahead buffer is incompatible with PC-EDT. Not a serious problem.)
------------------------------
From: microsof!randyn@uw-beaver.arpa
To: uw-beaver!info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Subject: Shipdisk
Date: Wed Jan 8 10:43:22 1986
i encourage people who turn off their machines at night to run shipdisk
before doing so. i'm no hardware expert, but my pc-at hard disk went bad,
and while talking with the repairmen i got the impression that simply
turning the machine off without parking the hard disk heads runs the small
but finite risk of sending an electronic signal to the heads. if you're
unlucky, you could punch a hole in a directory or the fat, with loss of
info, or the whole disk. if the heads are parked, you'll be writing to a
cylinder that's not used anyway, so no harm. i also got the impression that
these disks tend to pound themselves out of calibration, usually between 6
months and a year of heavy use, so keeping critical data on the hard disk
without doing regular backups is asking for trouble. i do software development,
and hang the machine with software bugs regularly, sometimes so bad i have to
cold boot (ibm prefers the phrase "power cycle" :->), so i can't always take
advantage of my own advice to run shipdisk. but i encourage people who have
the opportunity to do it before turning the machine off. i think the few
extra seconds it takes to seek the disk heads so you can boot the next morning
are well worth it if it saves you an extra month or two of hard disk usage
randy
------------------------------
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: Undigestification
Date: 07 Jan 86 19:53:31 EST (Tue)
From: Mark Colan <mtc@ATHENA.MIT.EDU>
I use MH 6.1, the Rand Message Handling System from UCI.
MH can be used for all of your mail, but the current version
has some great digest handling support built in.
You just "burst" the digest into a folder (one command)
then read each message with more ("next" command). You
can "repl" to reply (like I'm doing now) or "refile" to
a folder. Folders can be hierarchical, since they are
really just Un*x directories.
The only thing that could be better is one interactive
program instead of all these commands. There IS an interactive
reader for MH; it might be just the thing but I have not
looked at it yet.
MH is in the public domain, runs on various Un*xes, and has
a mailing list for its users. It wouldn't surprise me if
it could be ported to PC-DOS by a clever hacker.
It can easily be ftp'ed from the arpanet. For information on
getting a copy, contact Marshall Rose <Bug-MH@UCI.arpa>.
Mark Colan
MIT Project Athena
mtc@athena.mit.edu
[I agree. mh is an excellent set of tools for mail messages and
digests. -rn]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 7 Jan 86 10:25:24 pst
From: gould9!joel@nosc.ARPA (Joel West @ CACI)
Subject: X.PC Protocols
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
Date: 4 Jan 1986 05:05-EST
Subject: Browse, X.PC
From: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA
Re the kind soul offering X-PC documentation since it was so big it couldn't
very well be EMailed anywhere .. if you're on the ARPAnet, the wizards at
DEC-MARLBORO have kindly stashed the full documentation (X-PC.DQC) in the
disk CPM:. Very nice document indeed, but still don't know of any code
anywhere implementing it.
Regards,
David Kirschbaum
Toad Hall
ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA
I don't know about "any code", but here's something out of my
x.pc archive. I don't own an IBM PC (and wouldn't ever :-)
so I can't vouch for it.
Joel West CACI, Inc. Federal, La Jolla
{cbosgd,floyd,ihnp4,pyramid,sdcsvax,ucla-cs}!gould9!joel
gould9!joel@nosc.ARPA
>From ucbvax!mit-xx.arpa!Telecom-REQUEST Sun Sep 8 09:49:00 1985
>Newsgroups: fa.telecom
>Subject: TELECOM Digest V5 #34
>Date: 8 Sep 85 16:49:00 GMT
>Reply-To: telecom@ucb-vax.berkeley.edu
>TELECOM Digest Sunday, September 8, 1985 12:49PM
>Volume 5, Issue 34
>Date: Thursday, 5 September 1985 15:37-MDT
>From: pur-ee!uiucdcs!uiucuxc!hamilton@Ucb-Vax.ARPA
>Subject: X.PC protocol description available
>then Tymnet came along... after 1 phone call* i got a PC disk with an
>X.PC driver and an application (source) using it, plus a package of
>protocol docs and stuff. a 2nd phone call elicited 2 more disks with
>the sources for the driver.
>i haven't decided yet if X.PC is the answer to our problems, but i
>know i like dealing with the Tymnet people a lot more than Microcom.
> wayne ({decvax,ucbvax}!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uiucuxc!)hamilton
>* sorry, i don't have the phone number handy. also, i hear that
>they've had so much response that they will probably have to change
>their distribution methods.
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 1986 15:48:20 PST
Subject: X.PC Code Distribution
From: Craig Milo Rogers <ROGERS@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I have a copy of the X.PC code and documentation distribution
on my office AT. It is true that Tymnet's letter entitled "X.PC
DISKETTE AND UPDATE POLICY" states, "The X.PC Driver Module is in the
public domain." However, the actual source code carries the following
lines at the start of each file:
/*****************************************************************************
* This program is the sole property and confidential information of *
* Tymnet, Inc., and may not be copied in whole or part, or disclosed *
* to any third party, without the written prior consent of Tymnet. *
*****************************************************************************/
I will talk to the X.PC Product Specialist at Tymnet to see if
they'll give us permission to put the X.PC sources in the Info-IBMPC
library.
Craig Milo Rogers
------------------------------
Date: 7 Jan 1986 12:55:10 PST
Subject: Bare Boards and Real Cheap Clones
From: Richard Bisbey <BISBEY@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
In LA, we have an Amateur Radio/Electronics Swap Meet each month replete with
Taiwanese XT clones. Here is an example price list from one vendor:
256K M. Board w/o RAM $120
640K M. Board w/o RAM $140
Flip top case $ 50
135 W PS $ 75
Keyboard $ 40
2 Drive Floppy Ctlr. $ 35
4 Drive Floppy Ctlr. $ 45
Color Graphic Card $ 65
Mono Graphic/Printer $ 85
These prices are pretty typical. The lowest I've seen Mother Boards go for
was $75. New half-height DSDD floppy drives go for $25. Monitors are usually
about $25, while old 63.5 W IBM power supplies go for $25. In short, you can
easily assemble a 256K dual floppy system for under $500. With some shopping,
you can get it in under $400, and if you're really cheap and like to haggle
(like wab), you can put one together for $300!
Richard
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 1986 13:44:42 PST
Subject: Bare Boards and Real Cheap Clones
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Semiconductor chips have been made in third world countries for a long time.
You can't fault Korea and Taiwan from taking their World Bank loans and setting
up native semiconductor industries. Companies in these countries are buying
these subsidized parts and producing clones of American designed products. As
they are only shipping electronic parts to the US not finished computers
tariffs are low and consequently we seeing these low priced PC clones.
I have never heard of any compatibility problems with display adaptors which
claim to be Hercules or IBM compatible. Early in the game some disk adaptors
were a little weird, but as disk adaptors come with BIOS in ROM it doesn't
matter if the hardware is different so long as the bios functions are the same.
IBM ROM compatibility isn't that much of a problem either. Franklin got into
trouble when they copied Apple's ROM bit for bit. As everyone called Apple
ROM by direct memory jumps this was necessary. Anybody who calls IBM ROM
directly deserves trouble. The INFO-IBMPC program DVORAK.ASM suffers from
this and only runs on PC's with 16K motherboards. Many people do copy
the IBM ROMs but that is silly as there is a lot of room for improvement
in ROM BIOS without changing the functional spec. For example we have in
our library a replacement for the async I/O driver.
ROM burners are real cheap now so anyone really interested in rolling their
own clone should have no problems in this area.
------------------------------
Date: Tuesday, 7 Jan 1986 07:08:53-PST
From: waters%karnac.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM (Lester Waters PCSG)
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA, net.micro.pc%karnac.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM
Subject: IBM Diagnostic Codes List
I recently downloaded this from a BBS. Does anybody have any additions
or corrections?
- Lester Waters -
code Description Date: 8-Jun-1984
=========================================================================
101 Main system board failed.
109 Direct memory access test error
121 Unexpected hardware interrupts occurred.
131 Cassette wrap test failed.
199 User indicated configuration not correct.
201 Memory test failed
301 Keyboard did not respond to software reset correctly or a stuck
key failure was detected. If a stuck key was detected, the scan
code for the key is displayed.
302 User indicated error from the keyboard test.
401 Monochrome memory test, horizontal sync frequency test, or video
test failed.
408 User indicated display attributes failure.
416 User indicated character set failure.
424 User indicated 80X25 mode failure.
432 Parallel port test failed ( monochrome adapter ).
501 Color memory test failed, horizontal sync frequency test, or
video test failed.
508 User indicated display attribute failure.
516 User indicated character set failure.
524 User indicated 80x25 mode failure.
532 User indicated 40x25 mode failure.
540 User indicated 320x200 graphics mode failure.
548 User indicated 640x200 graphics mode failure.
601 Diskette power on diagnostics test failed.
602 Diskette test failed
606 Diskette verify function failed.
607 Write protected diskette.
608 Bad command diskette status returned.
610 Diskette initialization failed.
611 Timeout - diskette status returned.
612 bad NEC - diskette status returned.
613 Bad DMA - diskette status returned.
621 Bad seek - diskette status returned.
622 Bad CRC - diskette status returned.
623 Record not found - diskette status returned.
624 Bad address mark - diskette status returned.
625 Bad NEC seek - diskette status returned.
626 Diskette data compare error.
7xx 8087 math coprocessor
901 Parallel printer adapter test failed.
10xx Reserved for parallel printer adapter.
1101 Asynchronous communications adapter test failed.
1201 Alternate Asynchronous communications adapter test failed.
1301 Game control adapter test failed.
1302 Joystick test failed.
1401 Printer test failed.
15xx Sdlc communications adapter errors.
1510 8255 port B failure.
1511 8255 port A failure.
1512 8255 port C failure.
1513 8253 timer 1 did not reach terminal count.
1514 8253 timer 1 stuck on.
1515 8253 timer 0 did not reach terminal count.
1516 8253 timer 0 stuck on.
1517 8253 timer 2 did not reach terminal count.
1518 8253 timer 2 stuck on.
1519 8273 port B error.
1520 8273 port A error.
1521 8273 command/read timeout.
1522 Interrupt level 4 failure.
1523 Ring Indicate stuck on.
1524 Receive clock stuck on.
1525 Transmit clock stuck on.
1526 Test indicate stuck on.
1527 Ring indicate not on.
1528 Receive clock not on.
1529 Transmit clock not on.
1530 Test indicate not on.
1531 Data set ready not on.
1532 Carrier detect not on.
1533 Clear to send not on.
1534 Data set ready stuck on.
1536 Clear to send stuck on.
1537 Level 3 interrupt failure.
1538 Receive interrupt results error.
1539 Wrap data miscompare.
1540 DMA channel 1 error.
1541 DMA channel 1 error.
1542 Error in 8273 error checking or status reporting.
1547 Stray interrupt level 4
1548 Stray interrupt level 3
1549 Interrupt presentation sequence timeout.
17xx Fixed Disk errors.
1701 Fixed disk Post error.
1702 Fixed disk adapter error.
1703 Fixed disk drive error
1704 Fixed disk adapter or drive error.
18xx I/O Expansion unit errors.
1801 I/O Expansion unit POST error.
1810 Enable/Disable failure.
1811 Extender card wrap test failed (disabled).
1812 High order address lines failure (disabled).
1813 Wait state failure (disabled).
1814 Enable/Disable could not be set on.
1815 Wait state failure (enabled).
1816 Extender card wrap test failed (enabled).
1817 High order address lines failure (enabled).
1818 Disable not functioning
1819 Wait request switch not set correctly
1820 Receiver card wrap test failure
1821 Receiver high order address lines failure
20xx Bisync communications adapter errors
2010 8255 port a failure
2011 8255 port b failure
2012 8255 port c failure
2013 8253 timer 1 did not reach terminal count
2014 8253 timer 1 stuck on
2016 8253 timer 2 did not reach terminal count or timer 2 stuck on.
2017 8251 Data set ready failed to come on
2018 8251 Clear to send not sensed
2019 8251 Data set ready stuck on
2020 8251 Clear to send stuck on
2021 8251 hardware reset failed
2022 8251 software reset failed
2023 8251 software "error reset" failed
2024 8251 transmit ready did not come on
2025 8251 receive ready did not come on
2026 8251 could not force "overrun" error status
2027 Interrupt failure-no timer interrupt
2028 Interrupt failure-transmit, replace card or planar
2029 Interrupt failure-transmit, replace card
2030 Interrupt failure-receive, replace card or planar
2031 Interrupt failure-receive, replace card
2033 Ring indicate stuck on
2034 Receive clock stuck on
2035 Transmit clock stuck on
2036 Test indicate stuck on
2037 Ring indicate stuck on
2038 Receive clock not on
2039 Transmit clock not on
2040 Test indicate not on
2041 Data set ready not on
2042 Carrier detect not on
2043 Clear to send not on
2044 Data set ready stuck on
2045 Carrier detect stuck on
2046 Clear to send stuck on
2047 Unexpected transmit interrupt
2048 Unexpected receive interrupt
2049 Transmit data did not equal receive data
2050 8251 detected overrun error
2051 Lost data set ready during data wrap
2052 Receive timeout during data wrap
21xx Alternate bisync communications adapter errors
2110 8255 port a failure
2111 8255 port b failure
2112 8255 port c failure
2113 8253 timer 1 did not reach terminal count
2114 8253 timer 1 stuck on
2116 8253 timer 2 did not reach terminal count or
2117 8251 Date set ready failed to come on
2117 8251 Clear to send not sensed
2118 8251 Data set ready stuck on
2119 8251 Clear to send stuck on
2120 8251 hardware reset failed
2121 8251 software reset failed
2122 8251 software "error reset" failed
2123 8251 transmit ready did not come on
2124 8251 receive ready did not come on
2125 8251 could not force "overrun" error status
2126 Interrupt failure-no timer interrupt
2128 Interrupt failure-transmit, replace card or
2129 Interrupt failure-transmit, replace card
2130 Interrupt failure-receive, replace card or planar
2131 Interrupt failure-receive, replace card
2133 Ring indicate stuck on
2134 Receive clock stuck on
2135 Transmit clock stuck on
2136 Test indicate stuck on
2137 Ring indicate stuck on
2138 Receive clock not on
2139 Transmit clock not on
2140 Test indicate not on
2142 Data set ready not on
2142 Carrier detect not on
2143 Clear to send not on
2144 Data set ready stuck on
2145 Carrier detect stuck on
2146 Clear to send stuck on
2147 Unexpected transmit interrupt
2148 Unexpected receive interrupt
2149 Transmit data did not equal receive data
2150 8251 detected overrun error
2151 Lost data set ready during data wrap
2152 Receive timeout during data wrap
All personal computer error codes for the diagnostic and advanced
diagnostic package are represented with the device number followed by two
digits other than 00. The device number plus 00 represents successful
completion of the test.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1986 13:57:36 EDT
From: ATSWAF%UOFT01.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Wendy Fraker)
Subject: FreeStyle Problem
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Has anyone used a word processing package called Freestyle?
I have used in with an IBM compatible on a Proprinter, and
also with an FX-80 printer, and for some reason when
it is printing, all of a sudden it starts underlining everything.
And the only way to stop it is to pause the program, turn the printer
off and then back on, and then it will resume printing normally.
Has anyone else had this problem or know of anyone else who had it
and fixed it?
Just in case it matters the IBM compatible that I am using is an ITT extr
Thanks
Wendy Fraker
ATSWAF%UOFT01.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA
------------------------------
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA
Subject: Okidata Printer Crashes AT/XENIX Problem
Date: Wed, 08 Jan 86 17:35:18 -0500
From: cayz@louie.udel.EDU
Hello Again All,
I have had a small problem with my Okidata printer and IBM AT running
Xenix 3.0. Whenever I power-off the printer with the cable still attached to
the AT, the AT goes to lala land - no key echo, no nothing. Cycling power
means that I may lose files ( especially if I was in vi ), but that is the only
solution I could come up with. Now, if I disconnect the cable with the power
on, everything is OK, so it isn't that the AT just crashes because it misses
the printer..... If anyone has any solutions to this problem, I would
appreciate direct E-mail.... If there is any interest in the solutions I get,
I'll post a summary to the net.
Thanx in Advance,
James
ARPA: cayz@louie.udel.edu (best) BITNET: cayz%louie.udel.edu@WISCVM.BITNET
UUCP: ...!harvard!cayz@louie.udel.edu CSNET: cayz%louie.udel.edu@csnet-relay
AT&T: +1 302 451-6718 ( noon to midnight Eastern Time )
USPS: James Cayz, ETL, 125 Evans Hall, University of Delaware, Newark DE 19716
------------------------------
From: Barbara Siefken <barbara%tekcbi%tektronix.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 6 Jan 86 09:46:05 pst
Subject: 10M+ Hardcard Pricing Query
I am interested in purchasing a 10 M Plus Hardcard for my
IBM PC. (A 20M would be nicer if the price were reasonable
and it plugged into the card cage in the same fashion). The
card is also compatible with the ATT-PC.
List price is about $1200. I have seen it for $900. Anyone
have a source better than that?
Thanx in advance
Barbara Siefken
tektronix!tekcbi!barbara
(503)-627-7524
------------------------------
Date: 7 Jan 1986 18:42:36 GMT (Tuesday)
From: Keith Dale <kdale@vaihingen-emh.arpa>
Subject: PC's Limited Turbo PC Query
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib
Howdy!
Once again, I'm in the market for another PC. Instead of buying a complete
package from a particular vendor, I'm thinking of patching a system together,
using the best prices on what I consider to be solid parts (not the cheapest,
mind you, but recognized solid devices). My proposed system would include, in
part:
PC's Limited Turbo PC - 1-360Kb drive,system unit,keybd,8088-2 proc,
640KB RAM
Hercules Color Card
Princeton Graphics HX-12
A 20MB hard drive, probably Qubie's
My question is: Who knows *anything* about the PC's LTD Turbo PC -- the
infamous PC compatibility, reliability, agreement with the above mentioned
items, etc...
Thanks in advance...reply to me, I'll post results if response warrants.
Again, thanks! - Keith *Standard disclaimer*
<kdale@vaihingen-emh.arpa>
------------------------------
To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: "Fountain" PC Clone Query
Date: 07 Jan 86 15:07:07 EST (Tue)
From: Mark Colan <mtc@ATHENA.MIT.EDU>
My mother has the opportunity to purchase an IBM PC/XT clone called
"Fountain". The offer she is considering is among the following
components:
$500 CPU, without disk controllers but with monochrome
adaptor and "Multi-Display" (a brand?) monitor.
$185 first diskette with adaptor
$115 second diskette without adaptor (uses same adaptor as #1)
$565 10Meg hard disk with adaptor
These prices seem to be too good to be true. I am always suspicious
of such "fantastic" deals.
Questions:
1. Anyone ever heard of this computer? Good or bad reactions?
2. If you had a friend who was considering the purchase of a PC clone,
what things would you have them check, in order to determine the
accuracy of the cloning? Any easy way to determine how well the
BIOS ROM will do with most software?
3. Among POPULAR software (ie, you could borrow it from a friend),
which programs will readily demonstrate the adequacy of the cloning?
Is Lotus among these? MYM? Any others?
Mark Colan
MIT Project Athena
mtc@athena.mit.edu
(617) 253-1358
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 07-Jan-86, 13:44:00 EDT
To: Info-IBMPC <info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa>
From: Charlie Hofacker <7508***%fsurai.bitnet@wiscvm.arpa>
Subject: FORTRAN Subroutine Library for PC-DOS Query
I am looking for subprograms that will run on a PC/AT and PC DOS 3.1.
What I would like is a library similar to the popular IMSL mainframe
library for numerical analysis. The kinds of things I need are eigen-
structure, matrix inversion, multiple integration, maximization/minimization
routines, and so forth. My preferred language for this endeavor is FORTRAN,
but I might consider another compiled language. Does anyone know of such
a product? I suspect that SAS/IML or APL would be a bit too slow for what
I have in mind... Any information that someone would like to pass along
to me would be appreciated.
I get only sporadic access to this bulletin board, so I would appreciate
it if (copies of) replies were sent directly to me:
Internet: 7508***%fsurai.bitnet@wiscvm.arpa
BITNET: 7508*** AT fsurai
AT&T: 904/644-4091
Thanks for your time (in advance),
Charlie Hofacker
College of Business
The Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL 32306
------------------------------
Date: Tue 7 Jan 86 15:04:17-PST
From: Marvin Zauderer <ZAUDERER@SU-SUSHI.ARPA>
Subject: Statistical Package for IBM-PC Query
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA, su-bboards@SU-NAVAJO.ARPA
I'm interested in a statistical package (for the PC) with the
following capabilities:
1) frequencies
2) descriptive statistics
3) two-way tables
4) OLS
Any leads?
Thanks,
Marvin
[STSC offers StatGraphics, a rather slow but easy-to-use package, and SPSS
offers SPSS/PC for the XT which is similar to mainframe SPSS/X. Both are
in the $500-$600 range and have all the popular statistical functions,
including the above. -rn]
------------------------------
Date: 7 Jan 1986 16:25:05 PST
From: BALLGOOD@USC-ISI.ARPA
Subject: Floppy Disk Drive Quality/Reliability Query
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
Is there a digest someplace on the quality/reliability of the various floppy
disk drives for the IBM? My first full-height Tandon drive's stepper motor
went out after 92 days. My second full-height Tandon drive head went out
after 1 year and my repaired first drive is slightly flaky. Since I am going
to have to replace one or both drives, I would appreciate some comments on
cost and effectiveness of the different drives available. Perhaps a combo of
double-density and quad-density? Any comments would be appreciated.
Bob Allgood
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 1986 06:55-EST
Subject: Turbo MS-DOS Pascal on Wang PCs Query
From: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
NetLandians,
The nice lady at Borland positively declares that the "generic" MS-DOS
version of Turbo Pascal (NOT the IBM PC-specific one) will run without
patches on a Wang PC running MS-DOS 2.0 or higher .. without the Wang
IBM PC emulator card.
Can anyone out there personally vouch for this? I'd test it in a heartbeat,
but don't have the "generic" compiler to compile any test code!
Alternatively, if someone could compile a likely file (like one available
at the <INFO-IBMPC> archives at USC-ISIB in source form) using the
"generic" MS-DOS Turbo Pascal and leave the object code where I can
reach it via ANONYMOUS FTP .. and please tell me what non-IBMPC-clone
machine you successfully ran it on... I could use that to test with.
Thanks in advance,
David Kirschbaum
Toad Hall
ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 8 Jan 86 19:09 EST
From: "Roger C. King" <RCKing@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA>
Subject: AT With 30M Drives Query
To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA
I just received an all-IBM AT with dual 30 Meg internal drives. I
perceive the noise level to be MUCH higher and much higher pitched than
standard 20 Meg AT drives. Can anyone else with 30 Meg drives comment
on this.
Also, I had hoped to use diskcopy C: D: for backup purposes until such
time as I really needed the second hard drive, but no go, DOS doesn't
support the command for hard disks. Can anyone suggest a quick way of
cloning C: to D: ? I would hate to rely on a lengthy batch file to copy
each directory individually (many directories) or on BACKUP which would
also likely be quite slow.
Roger King
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------