Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA (Info-IBMPC Digest) (10/25/85)
Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 25 October 1985 Volume 4 : Issue 125 This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge Today's Topics: Sidekick vs. Microsoft C Followup VDI driver for Proprinter needed Reliability of Compaq computers Xenix printer query Graphics Display in Enable LU and SQ available on the Arpanet Query: Two Monitors at Same Time Quad density drive for the Z150? Hard disk query FinalWord II (2 Msgs) dBase Compilers Query Public Domain Prolog and Lisp Available 2400 Baud Modems with MNP "Protocol" Product Announcement: AT&T PC 6300 ATT 6300 PLUS Code Generator (IBM/AT) Cheap Monitor Cables (and other accesories) XINU Graphics for Microsoft Fortran, Anyone? Multitaskers NEC V20 in Z-150 UUENCODE AND UUDECODE EXECUTABLE Wordstar for Beginners Guide Ram Resident Accessories Programs Available Last (?) Word on NEC V20 Basic Printer Reset Problem X.25 for IBM PC? EGA Documentation Experience with PC NETWORK Operating Environments (Integrators) Re:Topview Leading Edge PC and Lotus 1-2-3 Ctrl-Alt-Del Re: Ctrl-Alt-Del Xenix UUCP Patch for Initial Timeout Fast Number Crunching PC/AT Programs with Massive Amounts of Data V20 Incompatabilities "Five Speed" Selectable Clock Speed for PC AT, Query Reading DOS directories. Info wanted on Titan Accelerator Cheap RAM Upgrade MS-DOS Beefs Re:KAYPRO to TELEVIDEO File Splitter/Combiner Query: How to Generate Semicolon in DBASE II? Translate Utility for MSDOS Leading Edge Model "D" TOPVIEW (LAST REQUEST) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bruce White <sota@fluke.uucp> Subject: Sidekick vs. Microsoft C Followup Date: 18 Oct 85 21:28:47 GMT Several people have responded to my initial query regarding Sidekick coming up when the host program was executing a "gets()" function. The general opinion was that lower level I/O calls should be used to allow Sidekick to come up. Taking that advice, I then wrote a primitive version of gets() using putch(), getch(), and kbhit(). This lower level I/O function seems to work just fine with Sidekick. As an added comment, "HOMEBASE", another memory resident desktop-type program came up just fine through the original program. The new gets, (getsraw), follows: getsraw (string) char *string; { int i = 0; char ch; while (1) { if (!kbhit()) { if ((ch = getch()) == '\r') { string[i] = '\0'; putch ('\r'); putch ('\n'); return(0); } else if (ch == '\b') { putch ('\b'); putch (' '); putch ('\b'); i--; } else { string[i++] = ch; putch(ch); } } } } -- Bruce T. White John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc. {uw-beaver,decvax!microsof,ucbvax!lbl-csam,allegra,ssc-vax}!fluke!sota ------------------------------ From: Bradley Dickinson <bradley@princeton.uucp> Subject: VDI driver for Proprinter needed Date: 19 Oct 85 15:59:36 GMT Apparently IBM has not released a vdi driver for the PROPRINTER. A little experimenting indicates that the driver for the color printer works `sort of` with problems arising in captions on graphs and on sizing. (This using the professional graphics package.) Does anyone know of a driver that works better? Thanks in advance for any information you can provide. ------------------------------ From: Simcha-Yitzchak Lerner <talcott!sesame!slerner@harvard> Subject: Reliability of Compaq computers Date: 20 Oct 85 03:39:45 GMT Compaq portable and Compaq Plus -- The power supplies on these machines is a little marginal in terms of capacity. Too many option cards in the system can tax them. I know of a lot of power supplies dieing, to the extent that one firm with a lot of compaqs in use keeps a case of replacement power supplies on hand. The deskpro, and both 286 machines have much larger power supplies, so they should have no problem. Otherwise, I have never heard of any compaq problems. Opinions expressed are public domain, and do not belong to Lotus Development Corp. Simcha-Yitzchak Lerner {genrad|ihnp4|ima}!wjh12!talcott!sesame!slerner {cbosgd|harvard}!talcott!sesame!slerner talcott!sesame!slerner@harvard.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Sun 20 Oct 85 12:15:07-PDT From: Carl Fussell <G.FUSSELL@SU-SCORE.ARPA> Subject: Xenix printer query Address: Santa Clara University I have a question from a user at our site that I hope perhaps someone on the list can help with... This user been trying to get XENIX on his AT with the NROFF formatting package to drive a pseudo-Epson printer. XENIX apparently only comes with built-in conversion tables from the ATT unix system nad no info on how to construct a new conversion table to print anything other than straight text. Is there anyone who has figured out these conversion tables (a fellow in Toronto if rumors are correct)? Thanx in advance for any information. Carl ------------------------------ Date: 20 Oct 1985 21:56:22 CDT Subject: Graphics Display in Enable From: HUNEYCUTT@GUNTER-ADAM.ARPA The graphics displays of Enable can be displayed in the word processor if you have a graphics card and set the mode to final, rather than draft. In draft mode you get the grey block...in final mode it looks just like what you saw under the spreadsheet. I've worked with it a bit. Enable looks just like Lotus in the spreadsheet, except that the graphics can be 'three-dimensional', at your option. You display the graph, then open a text window, then import from the graphics window into your text. You can then (if you'd want to ever do this) treat the graph in text as normal text, deleting lines of it and all. This generally screws things up royally, so I'd advise against it. Enable's editor also supports alternate character sets, one of which lets you draw boxes. Nice for org charts. I've been very pleased with Enable driving an HP Laserjet. Prints the graphics with the text, without ever slowing down. For those of you who've driven an HP with WordStar, you'd never go back. Doug ------------------------------ Date: 21 Oct 1985 06:40-EDT Subject: LU and SQ available on the Arpanet From: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA The query was a request for someone to upload some files to ARPA. The first two (PDPsomething and HOPE) I donno about, but.. LU.EXE (a library utility), NUSQ, and SQ are already available: At SIMTEL20's PC-BLUE archives, available via ANONYMOUS ftp: PD:<PC-BLUE.VOL112>MS-LU.LBR MS-USQ.LBR NUSQ.COM PD:<PC-BLUE.VOL081>NUSQ.COM SQ.EXE LU and other LU-type utilities are also available at MARKET in MSDOS: I coulda sworn I saw the newer AUSQ somewhere out there, but couldn't find it. Hope this was a little help. Regards, David Kirschbaum Toad Hall ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID ------------------------------ Date: 21 Oct 1985 07:12:10-EDT From: stars@NADC Subject: Query: Two Monitors at Same Time Is there any way to connect up and control two monitors (preferably color) to update and display two different monitors with two different scenes "simultaneously" on an IBM/PC XT ? Thank you, Bruce Skwiersky (stars@nadc) (215)-643-3800 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Oct 85 11:58:03 edt From: myers@nrl-csr (Philip A. Myers) Subject: Quad density drive for the Z150? Has anyone out there used a JDISKETTE controller board from Tall Tree systems, in the Zenith Z150 machine? I called the company and got a guy on the line that sounded like he was reading an offical statement that disavows the use of there products with anything exept IBM-PC's. He would not even speculate on the possibility of there products working with anything else. I use the JRAM II board with no problems (I have a 640K mod on the "motherboard") I want to use a Quad density drive with my system. I would like it to be able to load and back-up my 2 meg ramdisk. Does any body know of a setup like I need that will work with the Z150? Thanks in advance... Philip Myers (reply to: myers@nrl-csr) ------------------------------ Date: 21 Oct 1985 13:53:40-EDT From: skip@mitre-bedford.ARPA Subject: Hard disk query Looking for an IBM PC/AT compatible hard disk drive with REMOVABLE MEDIA. Minimum requirements are: 1. No patches required to DOS. 2. At least 20 MBytes. 3. As fast as the IBM PC/AT hard drives. Desirable but not required: 1. Boot from hard disk. 2. Internally mounted. Anyone with experience with or knowledge about such drives please contact me at: skip@mitre-bedford. Thanks in advance. ------------------------------ Date: Monday, 21 October 1985 15:43:03 EDT From: Joe.Newcomer@a.sei.cmu.edu Subject: FinalWord II I had heard about FinalWord II from a path slightly different than ibmpc digest, and I called them a few days ago. Well, it is out, and it appears to be everything I might want in a Scribe-like formatter for an IBM PC, *BUT I CAN'T GET IT AND THEY WON'T TELL ME WHEN I CAN*. Pretty disorganized; if I had owned FinalWord I would probably get an update within the next month (for $95). Otherwise, well, they don't know when it is going to be made available to end users. Several phone calls to various parts of the organization were not much help. They think it is going to be either $295 or $395 or perhaps some other price... In exasperation when they told me that if I only had a copy of FinalWord I that I could get it sometime in the indefinite Soon, I finally explained that I not only didn't have FinalWord I but that I had had a chance to steal a copy and it was so bad that I turned it down. FinalWord II was probably the product I wanted, and I would send them money Right Now if they would only sell me a copy. No luck. Since it seems that it will do everything I want plus be compatible between my mainframe Scribe and my PC it has a certain charm; I will try to keep you posted as to when it becomes available to end users. ------------------------------ Date: 24 Oct 1985 17:19:19 PDT Subject: FinalWord II From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> My experience in dealing with Mark of the Unicorn products is that you are better off buying from a dealer (or a distributer if you are a dealer) rather than direct from the publisher. You will get better prices and quicker delivery. Dick Gillmann ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Oct 85 09:25:47 EDT From: D710016%UNIVSCVM.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA Subject: dBase Compilers Query We are in the process of setting up a number of tracking programs for various departments here at South Carolina. The decision has already been made to use dBase III as the language. What I'd like to find now is a decent (i.e. compatible) compiler for the code, to facilitate program development as well as reduce memory requirements & hopefully speed up execution speed. Anyone out there have any experience w/dBase compilers? Are they worth looking into at all? Can external routines be linked in to 'extend' the dBase language? Post replies directly to me, & I'll share responses w/the digest. Thanks in advance for any help. Bill Douglass University of South Carolina d710016.univscvm@wiscvm.bitnet (wisconsin gateway between bitnet & arpa) ------------------------------ Date: 21 Oct 1985 1738-EST From: Michael Grimes <MRG@PS1.CS.CMU.EDU> Subject: Public Domain Prolog and Lisp Available In response to someone's question about A.D.A. Prolog (the PD version), I located it on a BBS at (603)623-1711/(603)623-1711... Also there is the public domain version of XLISP (including sourcecode). ---m ------------------------------ From: Herm Fischer <HFischer@USC-ECLB.ARPA> Subject: 2400 Baud Modems with MNP "Protocol" Date: Mon Oct 21 16:17:36 1985 I looked (briefly) into the new 2400 baud modems for use with my Xenix system. The dealers all push versions with a built-in protocol called MNP. This protocol handles retries of bad characters, BUT (e.g., beware) it is not really suitable for use on communications where the underlying software already has a protocol. With uucp, the MNP flow control will be incompatible, and thus one will have to disable MNP. With Kermit, MNP is likely to play havoc particularly where the end-to-end flow control needs to be preserved (likely at 2400 baud on systems which might become busy), because MNP only appears to support modem to computer flow control. For interactive computer access, if you need control-s or control-q, e.g., if you use an editor like emacs ever, then again you might have difficulties. The people who produced the MNP protocol, and whose marketing has caused the modem suppliers to energetically advertise its features (without being knowledgable of its operation), ended up recommending that I buy some other modem without the feature. Finally, be aware that MNP is only a retry on error protocol; it is not a forward error correction device with hamming codes (as I expected from its sales literature). ------------------------------ From: "A.THANGARAJ" <xxajtxx@hou2d.uucp> Subject; AT&T PC 6300 (Regular) Update Date: 23 Oct 85 15:32:08 GMT In article ihlpf.187 dated Oct 13, 1985, George Wilkin lists some of the updates to the PC6300 and the software that comes with it. Here are some of his observations and some of mine. I compared PC6300s a year apart. > The second serial port which was unused on my pc, has been removed > from the mother board altogether. (no connector) Gee, I wish I had known that there was a second serial port; we went out and bought an IBM (ugh, we had to get it from the competition ;-)) asynchronous communications card for our serial mouse systems mouse, since our first serial port was tied up for communications. > MS-DOS 2.11 Release 2.0 (note release ##) Additional commands include SIZE, which lists the sizes of the files mentioned, and CHMOD which changes the mode of a file (eg. to"hidden") > DOS now includes a ram disk!! and a 'ship' program?? The ramdisk program works fine. It allows you to specify only the size of the ramdisk. A program called "Membrain" that I've seen on bulletin boards lets you specify a whole lot of other parameters. > Customer diagnostics seem more interactive? > Anyone else notice this? I can't vouch for this; perhaps the PC6300 team could fill us in. > On another note, all 256k was soldered in, very tough to upgrade > to 640K. There are now (at least ;-))two models of dual floppy 6300's: Model 3703-E20 has 256K of soldered RAM; you need the expansion board to upgrade to 640K (cost: several hundred dollars). Model 3703-E21 has 128K soldered in and 128K socketed, making it easy to upgrade to 640K for under $60 (see page 2-14 of the PC6300 Service Manual). (Sigh! I wish the hard disk PC 6300 also had a model with socketed RAM) > A section on the enhanced video board in the gw basic users guide. GWABSIC.EXE is now 70704 bytes long, and whaddya know, BASICA and plain-vanilla BASIC are also on the disk, providing IBM-compatibility! And, don't forget that the PC6300 (regular, not plus) team is listening to your feedback at mtuxt!pc6300. Here's a good opportunity to say something to someone who can actually do something in response to your feedback. ....arun. _______ _______ Suite HR1K228 / * \ _ / * \ all views are | * | / \ | * | 480 Red Hill Rd |* * H * *| <(GSP)> |* * R * *| my own, etc... | * | \_/ | * | Middletown NJ 07748 | * |Garden State | * | +-------------+ Parkway +-------------+ hou2d!xxajtxx | R E D |Exit 114 | H I L L | ..the future +-------------------------------------------+ 201-949-9127 |R E Q U I E M B Y T H E P A R K W A Y| lies in PC's +-------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ From: matt%mirror@cca Subject: Product Announcement: AT&T PC 6300 Date: 22 Oct 85 15:51:00 GMT If I'm not mistaken (and I may be), OS-Merge was developed for AT&T by Locus, the California group that has also worked on a distributed Unix system and a "bridge" between MS-DOS machines and Unix machines. The bridge software looked interesting when I inquired about it a few months ago. It runs on top of and Ethernet and allows each machine to see another machine's file system as a hierarchical directory structure in a format it can recognize. The PC end runs code that intercepts all the "appropriate" DOS (and BIOS?) services to manipulate the filesystem and decides whether they're supposed to operate on the local disks or on a remote "virtual" directory. In the latter case, the requests are forwarded on to a daemon running on the remote machine. File formats are fixed up on the fly, so an application cannot tell the difference between a file on a local (DOS) disk and a file on a remote (Unix) disk. All in all, it looked like things were done the right way. If the Unix end had been available on a Pyramid, we might have bought it at the time. Locus is on the net (ucla-cs!locus!... ??), so I'm sure someone there can correct any misstatements I've made. Matt Landau ARPA: matt%mirror@cca Mirror Systems, Inc. UUCP: {decvax!cca, ima!inmet, mit-eddie, wjh12}... Cambridge, MA ...mirror!matt ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21-Oct-85 20:43:11 PDT From: vortex!lauren@rand-unix.ARPA (Lauren Weinstein) Subject: ATT 6300 PLUS I suspect you'll have trouble testing out what you really want to test (performance aspects) since I don't think they're shipping the MSDOS/Unix concurrency system yet. I believe that's been slated for first quarter '86. So until then, I think you'll only be able to test the more conventional operations of the two OS's separately, which unfortunately won't prove very much at this stage of the game. Real testing will have to wait until next year, apparently. --Lauren-- ------------------------------ From: carroll@uiucdcsb.cs.uiuc.edu Subject: Code Generator (IBM/AT) Date: 18 Oct 85 04:52:00 GMT As part of a research project for the University of Illinois, I would like a code-generator that accepts Portable C Intermediate Code Representation (as used in the Berkely Pascal compiler), and outputs machine code for the IBM AT (i.e. either 8086 or 80286). It would be used to port a compiler system to the AT, as part of a Master's Thesis (mine). The operating system will be either MS-DOS or Xenix. Source would be nice, but we would probably accept binary. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Many Thanks! Alan M. Carroll (Please send mail to carroll@uiucdcs. Thank you) ------------------------------ From: ihnp4!netisun!m-net!jtxenix!jon@UCB-VAX.Berkeley.EDU To: m-net!netisun!ihnp4!ucbvax!USC-ISIB.ARPA!INFO-IBMPC@UCB-VAX.Berkeley.EDU Subject: Cheap Monitor Cables (and other accesories) Date: Mon Oct 21 19:59:12 1985 I recently moved my AT underneath my desk (horizontally) and was faced with the problem of extending the monitor cable. Since the AT has a long enough keyboard cable already, and my monitor (a Roland 14" monochrome black-on-white) has a conventional power cable (that doesn't plug into the back of the CPU) that already reaches the wall socket, I didn't want to spend the $49.95 that the local computer stores want for the complete extension cable kit. (Besides they all either didn't carry them or were out of stock.) The answer is a Radio Shack "Joystick Extension Cable", catalog number 276-1978. List price is $3.99. It's 10 feet long, and pursumably unshielded. It works fine with both my monochrome monitor and the EGA/enhanced color monitor next door - no noticible degredation of the screen image. While you're at Radio Shack, check out the selection of nifty adhesive cable ties. Catalog numers 278-1640 and 278-1639 are for cables up to 3/8" and 1/2" respectively, and snap open and closed to allow removing the cables. I stuck them on the bottom of the desk surface to keep the cables off of the floor and out of sight. They're packaged 10 to the bubble-pack for $1.99. The local K-mart has an amusing little joystick Y-adaptor that could probably ("don't blame me") be used to feed two monitors. The point is, the PC monitor cable (DB-9) is the same kind of cable used for many "toy" joysticks, so look for extension cables in unlikely places. We still have an XT that needs a keyboard extension, so I'm off to find a place that still sells CB radios. (Microphone extension cable - a lot of CBs use 5-pin DIN plugs on the mike.) By the way, my under-desk horizontal stand consists of plastic milk crates, which can be had for anywhere from free to $5 depending on your moral standards. It's just the right height for reaching the disk drives when necessary. Works great for putting the the machine under some kind of a stand/desk that doesn't have a bunch of drawers in the way. uucp: ihnp4!netisun!m-net!jtxenix!jon ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Oct 85 09:28 EST From: Mike Hickey <MHICKEY%UDCVM.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA> Subject: XINU I haven't heard anything about XINU for quite some time though I've been looking. I would appreciate any info you might have as I'm in- terested in porting/running this on both a DEC-2065 and an IBM-PC/XT. I'd also be interested in any work others may have done in similar ports. Thanks in advance, Mike Hickey Systems programmer Univ. of DC ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Oct 85 13:55 EST From: Spiros Triantafyllopoulus <spiros%gmr.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: Graphics for Microsoft Fortran, Anyone? Hello Out There, A friend is doing some simple plot stuff in Microsoft Fortran and is wondering if there is an XY-plot subroutine package available that he can use, in either fortran or assembly. All he needs is simple graphics, i.e. lines, circles, and xy plots. Either public domain or reference to commercial products will be highly appreciated. Thanks Much! Spiros Triantafyllopoulos Computer Science Department General Motors Research Labs Warren, MI. 48090-9055 CSNET: spiros@gmr, USENET: /* we don't have usenet */ PS: The version of Microsoft is the 1982-1983 for the PC used on an AT with the regular Graphics pieces. /* no fancy stuff */ ------------------------------ Date: 22 Oct 85 09:14:41 PDT (Tuesday) Subject: Multitaskers From: Eldridge.es@Xerox.ARPA I use the multitasking program DesqView, and I am very happy with it. DesqView, from Quarterdeck Office Systems, is a multitasking program that allows you to have up to nine windows on your PC, each running a separate program. One of the windows is the "current" or "foreground" window. The foreground task is the one that receives keyboard input. All of the other tasks are in the background. Switching between windows is done very easily using the DesqView hotkey <ALT>. Up to nine windows can be active simultaneously, but usually you will run out of memory before then. That is not really a problem if you have a hard disk, since DesqView will swap out a task to make room for a new one. The DesqView program itself requires about 128K of memory. DesqView does time slicing so that all of the programs in memory can run simultaneously. The amount of processing time allocated to the foreground task and background tasks is programmable. Each window can have a different combination of colors. DesqView manages each window allowing you to change the size, color, and position. To the application program the window appears to be like the full screen. To run an application under DesqView, you must provide information about the application (program size, does direct writes to screen RAM, swappable, etc.). DesqView will use TopView program information files, or you can create your own information files. A number of information files are provided for popular programs such as WordStar, Lotus-123, etc. Creating program information files is probably the most critical operation in DesqView. In addition to multitasking, DesqView provides two other useful functions. It allows you to create and use "scripts" (keyboard macros). You can redefine a key to be a string of keystrokes, including nested macros. It also lets you assign an unused drive letter to a subdirectory. For example, you put all of your WordStar overlays in the subdirectory WSOVR. Then you assign G: to be the subdirectory WSOVR. You also install WordStar to get its overlays from drive G:. When WordStar tries to access drive G: it actually is accessing the subdirectory WSOVR. This solves the problem of having copies of the WordStar overlays in every subdirectory. It is possible to break DesqView. I broke it several times when I first started using it. Every time it turned out that I had incorrectly specified something in the program information file. You have to be very careful when you create the program information files. You must be careful running programs that directly access hardware or interrupt vectors. The only real bug that I have found is that you can't shrink a window that is in 40 character mode. Perhaps this is just a limitation of the program that is not documented. I use an RGB monitor on my system, which causes a problem since it cannot display highlighting. Some of the DesqView programs use highlighting, so I called Quarterdeck to see if they could do something about it. Their support was fast and courteous. They sent me a patch for users with RGB monitors so that highlighted characters are changed to a different color. This patch to the window package converts the highlighted characters from any application into characters of a different color. This make it much easier to run WordStar and other program that use highlighting for selection. The cost is quite reasonable, too. I bought DesqView from Egg Head Software for $75 (half the price of TopView). If nine windows are not enough, then run it with SideKick. Yes, it does work with SideKick! There is a package from Quarterdeck called simply "Desq". This is apparently the big brother of DesqView. It sells for about twice the price. For more information contact: Quarterdeck Office Systems 1918 Main Street Suite 240 Santa Monica, CA 90405 (213) 392-9851 George (Eldridge.es@Xerox.ARPA) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Oct 85 15:13 EDT From: Elefante@RADC-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: NEC V20 in Z-150 Installed a NEC V20 processor chip in my Winchesterized Z-150. After running a host of before-and-after benchmarks, my findings are as follows: speed improvements run entirely in the 3-6% range, not astonishing by any means (and certainly not discernable in the seat-of-the-pants). This is a far cry from the 10-40% claimed by advertising. Has anyone see improvements in the 10-40% range? Don Elefante ------------------------------ Date: Tue 22 Oct 85 16:59:06-EDT From: Geoff Mulligan (USAFA) <Geoffm@AFSC-HQ.ARPA> Subject: UUENCODE AND UUDECODE EXECUTABLE To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Does anyone have a copy of uuencode and uudecode for the ibm-pc in executable form that I could download to my machine. I do not have a c compiler to compile the sources on isib. Please reply directly to me since I am not on this list. geoff ------------------------------ From: Craig Werner <werner@aecom.uucp> Subject: Wordstar for Beginners Guide Date: 21 Oct 85 02:17:56 GMT The following has been requested from me so often that I thought I would post it. Feel free to use it yourself, give it to your Secretary, your friend, your friend's secretary, etc. Just don't edit my name off of it. It's not designed to be complete, just functional, but if you think I made any egregious ommisions, let me know, and I'll rationalize them, and possibly even correct them. I have a similar summary for vi, which has been popular through the years. WSGUIDE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wordstar made ridiculously simple. c. 1984 by Craig Werner (some rights reserved) (1935-14E Eastchester Rd. Bronx NY 10461, werner@aecom.UUCP) One of the most common complaints about Wordstar is that there are too many commands to learn. I have taught over a dozen people how to use Wordstar by adhering to the dictum that it does not make sense to learn all the commands before you start using the program, just the ones you need. They were all using Wordstar within 10-15 minutes. So here are the one's you need, or to paraphrase Hillel: "This is the whole manual. The rest is commentary - with the possible exception of the Appendix with the command summaries. Go and type your paper." To start: Type 'ws' to the DOS prompt (the A> ), ie, A> ws In the main (No-file) menu: D starts a Document. (That's what you want to edit.) L changes the Logged disk drive, so you can see which files are there. (LB changes to disk B, LA to disk A, etc - the colon is not needed) --> make sure to hit [RETURN] X eXits to DOS, so you can run other programs. Within Wordstar: ^J^H2 (There is about 7 lines of help screen at the top. You get rid of them with Control-JH2 - you can just hold down the control key and hit J and H, then lift off the control key and hit 2.) (I use 2 because the 2nd level menus are preserved, if you have to search for something they still are there.) Prefixes (IF you have to search for a command, it's going to begin with one of the following prefixes.) ^Q for Quick (cursor movements of a large scale) ^O for stuff seen On-screen (like spacing, justification, centering) ^P for things seen only during Printout ^J Help screens ^K File commands + Block Moves + [Note: the O (for open) and P (for print) make sense, but why J and K? Answer: Look at your fingers. They are used by the other two keys of the right hand, and U and I were taken. These two, and other Wordstar commands are ergonomic (to minimize hand movement), not mnemonic (to minimize brain movement)] Useful commands (in 11 groups) 1. All cursor keys work. Use them for motion, although control commands exist, why bother with them. However, I'll mention a few of these in context. 2. ^Q^R - goto beginning of file (^R = Page Up) ^Q^C - goto end of file (^C = Page Down) 3. ^F - one word forward ^A - one word backwords 4. ^Q^S - beginning of line (^S = left arrow) ^Q^D - end of line (^D = right arrow) Picture the keyboard R It makes life simpler that way : /\ A S D F <= <- -> \/ => C 5. Deletion: ^G - deletes the letter you are on. (This makes a lot more sense if you know that ^G was a bell on old teletypes. It's not so arbitrary.) ^T - delete a word (the key above G) ^Y - delete a whole line (the key next to T) 6. ^B - reformats (rejustifies) a paragraph when its been edited. IMPORTANT. 7. ^P^S - UnderScore (the S for score, U was taken) ^P^B - Boldface (B for bold) 8. Onscreen Stuff ^O^Sn - line spacing. (^OS1 = single space, ^OS2 doublespace, etc) ^O^H - toggles Hyphen-help (Hyphen help can be an annoying feature when using Control-B to reformat.) ^O^J - toggles justification (between rough-edge and Right-justify) ^O^G - Paragraph indent (left side only) ^O^R/^O^L - sets Right/Left Margin repectively. (Note: WS automatically puts the left margin in, so Column 1 is really already an inch from the left. The margins are all relative to this Page offset.) 9. File Access ^K^D - Save file and leave [Done] IMPORTANT. ^K^R - Read another file into the one you are currently editing. [See below for Writing] 10. Searching ^Q^F - Find: search for a pattern/word. ^Q^A - Search and replace. (These have options, like 'G' for Global, that are explained within the command.) 11. Block moves (Blocks/Passages/Excerpts of text) #1 Mark it. Go the beginning and type ^K^B (Begin), then go to the end and hit ^K^K. It should change color or highlight status. Again: ^K^B begins / ^K^K ends. #2 Move cursor to where you want the text to go. ^K^C - copies the marked text to where you are now. ^K^V - moves (copy and deletion) text to where you are. (C and V are next to one another) Other block commands worth knowing: ^K^W - writes the block to a file for disk (which can be later read into another file by ^K^R) ^K^Y - deletes the marked text (remember ^Y deletes a line) ^K^H - Unmarks/Hides a piece of marked text. (^K^H if you goof or when you are done with it) Dot Commands: .OP Omit Page numbers (good for one page letters) .PA Insert a Page Break / Pagination. .MT # / .MB # Margins top and bottom (# of blank lines inserted per page) .PO # Page offset (See above note on margins) (The help screen ^J^D will give you the rest.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ My copy of Microsoft Word gathers dust while I use Wordstar exclusively. Craig Werner !philabs!aecom!werner "The end. 94. 95. The very, very, very end." ------------------------------ From: Keith Vetter <kvetter@dartvax.uucp> Subject: Ram Resident Accessories Date: 21 Oct 85 22:44:02 GMT After reading the article in the special BYTE issue about the PC on making your own desk accessories via an interrupt handler, I decided to write one myself. I ran into a problem with DOS that hopefully someone out there can shed some light on: If the interrupt handler uses the stack segment and pointer it receives from the interrupt, it works fine. However, if it changes the stack segment and pointer (and restores them upon leaving) some times, but not always, I get the error message upon leaving an application "Memory allocation error. Can't load COMMAND.COM" Since my handler doesn't use DOS's allocation facilities and it only happens occasionally, it seems like a interrupt problem. Can anyone explain what could be going on here? Thanks. Keith Vetter Dartmouth College Hanover, NH 03755 ------------------------------ Date: Tue 22 Oct 85 18:37:42-CDT From: Pete Galvin <CC.GALVIN@R20.UTEXAS.EDU> Subject: Programs Available To: info-ibmpc@R20.UTEXAS.EDU The following is a new, updated list of the new, updated programs available over the arpanet from the directory [R20.UTEXAS.EDU]<CC.GALVIN.PUBLIC>. The new programs of interest include: DOSAMATIC - the DOS multitasking shell of recent net fame (version 2.04) CED - a resident program allowing command editing and much more ARC - a file library maintainer, with automatic file compression (a new version - 4.3) QMODEM - a full function communications program (no terminal emulation though) (version 1.11) Enjoy, and remember, I'm always interested in adding to this collection...send me your suggestions (and even better, the programs themselves). --Pete Public domain and shareware programs at TOPS20-site R20.UTEXAS.EDU (UTEXAS-20): Updated 10/22/85 Several of these programs have been newly uploaded or upgraded...check the write dates listed to determine their ages. Ps:<Cc.Galvin.Public> Pgs Bytes(SZ) Write Alusq.Com 5 8704(8) 23-May-85 Unsqueeze files with .xQx extension. Arc.Exe 16 31360(8) 22-Oct-85 Manipulate .ARC files, .Man 9 21120(7) 22-Oct-85 combine and squeeze files. Catutil.Com 25 50688(8) 8-Sep-85 Catalog hard and floppy disk files Ced.Arc 16 31616(8) 20-Oct-85 Great keyboard editor Dialer.Com 5 9347(8) 24-May-85 Background autodialer .Man 1 2304(7) 10-Jul-85 and manual Dosamatc.Arc 46 93354(8) 22-Oct-85 DOSAMATIC multitasking DOS shell (2.04) Dpath.Lbr 5 9216(8) 20-Oct-85 Paths for files AND programs (3.0) Files.Dir 2 3683(7) 22-Sep-85 This file list Lu.Exe 12 22656(8) 29-Mar-85 Manipulate .LBR files, combine files Max.Lbr 86 175488(8) 27-Apr-85 Emacs like editor (pretty basic) Pcdisk.Pas 18 46013(7) 8-Sep-85 Disk catalog program in Turbo Pcwrite.Arc 114 232641(8) 20-Oct-85 Pcwrite word processor (2.5) Printdir.Pas 10 20237(8) 3-Apr-85 Turbo directory routines Qmodem.Arc 47 95232(8) 20-Oct-85 Great communications program (1.11) Tfiler.Com 17 33024(8) 24-May-85 File manipulations Thelp.Man 1 2432(7) 26-Jul-85 Ram resident Turbo help with sources! .Pas 13 32384(7) 24-Jul-85 Transfer.Txt 7 15706(7) 21-Apr-85 Some help in transfering these programs Turbo.Lbr 13 25344(8) 28-Mar-85 Some general Turbo DOS routines Turbobbs.Lbr 30 60800(8) 20-Oct-85 BBoard program in Turbo with sources Vf150.Arc 7 13696(8) 19-Oct-85 File display Vintro.Arc 26 51840(8) 19-Oct-85 V20 and 30 tutorial in Turbo Ps:<CC.GALVIN.PUBLIC.FANSI> is a subdirectory which contains the FANSI- CONSOLE ANSI.SYS replacement. This is not public domain or shareware, but essentially a complete version for use only on a trial basis. If you use it, you are required to pay the fees listed in the DOC file. I think it's well worth the money. This is a fairly old version..new one shortly. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 85 10:21:17 PDT From: walton%Deimos@CIT-Hamlet.ARPA Subject: Last (?) Word on NEC V20 If I may presume to try a summary of the debate on the V20: It seems fair to say that, at least in its 5 MHz incarnation, the V20 speeds up by a little those things which the 8088 already does reasonably fast, and speeds up by a lot those things at which the 8088 is relatively slow (witness the 1.7 rating by the Norton Utility SI). As the chips are inexpensive and add the 80186 instructions to your machine's instruction set, I don't see any reason not to make the swap. (I got mine for $10.15 from IEC, 3 Vanderbilt, Suite A, Irvine, CA 92718, phone 714-837-9960 and ask for Steve in Sales. Usual disclaimer--I have no connection with this company, other than as a satisfied customer.) I have not installed the 8 MHz version in the Z-158 we have around here, but examination of its system board shows no sign of an Intel 8284 or equivalent. Instead, there is a large square leadless package to which the crystals (yes, there is one for each clock speed) are closest, though I have not traced the leads to see if the crystals are connected to that chip. In either the 151 or 158, it would be inadvisable to try the swap of the NEC for the Intel clock chip and the accompanying crystal change, because the crystals are soldered in, not socketed, and soldering on a multilayer circuit board is not a job for the home hobbyist! Steve Walton Caltech Solar Astronomy walton%deimos@cit-hamlet.arpa walton@citdeimo.bitnet ...!psuvax1!walton@citdeimo.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 85 12:11:32 CDT From: CCRJW%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA (Richard Winkel UMC Computing Services) Subject: Basic Printer Reset Problem Paul Schauble wanted patches to the basic compiler to keep it from reseting his printer each time a program was chained. I ran into the same problem with basic (and other programs) several years ago. The solution I came up with was a routine to intercept the printer i/o int and filter out reset commands. I'm not sure I could find this routine in my pile of floppies, but I incorporated the idea into a printer spooler I wrote around that time, which is still on some of the PC bulletin boards. It's called MSPOOL (for multi-spooler). If you want, I could send you the source (or send it to Info-IBMPC if there's interest). Rich ------------------------------ From: Brian Bertan <brb@philabs.uucp> Subject: X.25 for IBM PC? Date: 21 Oct 85 14:18:04 GMT Western Digital has a board level product implementing X.25 through level 3, avialble for the IBM-PC family. It is based on their WD2511 X.25 microcontroller. I have not seen the board level product, but from what I've seen of the WD2511 it should meet your needs. Their address is: Western Digital 2445 McCabe Way Irivine, CA 92714 (714) 863-0102 Brian Bertan Philips Labs Briarcliff Manor, NY {allegra | decvax | seismo}!philabs!brb (914) 945-6309 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 85 12:52:29 CDT From: CCRJW%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM (Richard Winkel UMC Computing Services) Subject: EGA Documentation I recently came across a copy of the 'IBM PC Seminiar Proceedings' Vol2N11-1, in which IBM describes the EGA. If there is interest here, I can upload some of the more interesting portions from time to time. Rich ------------------------------ From: Erik Bailey <ejb@THINK.ARPA> Subject: Experience with PC NETWORK Date: 23 Oct 85 23:11:56 GMT I am a member of PC-NETWORK, and so far have been quite satisfied. Although I have not yet bought any major products, I ordered 2 boxes of disks from them (back when they were $14/box, now they are ~9$), and they came in a few days. And the greatest part was when I decided to expand my Compaq Deskpro to 640 from 256. I ordered 512k of 256k chips, and it came out to * $65 postpaid (incl. credit card surcharge) *. Not bad... I plan to get a little I/O card (serial, parralel, game, clock, etc. ) for $69. Right now, hard drives go for $330 (10meg), $420 (20meg), and they are selling the tape backup used in the Deskpro (a fine machine) for about $450. I am quite satisfied in the comany, and plan to renew my membership next year. However - I am very dissatisfied with the game rental stuff - they have not had a single game I've queried about (AtariSoft, Electronic Arts, and a couple SSI). That I'm NOT renewing. has anyone else had any other experiences? Remeber - I ahve not ordered anything big, but they seem to be nice enough (particularly the person I talked to wehn ordering the RAM). Well, hope that helps (and maybe starts up a discussion). --Erik ------------------------------ From: "Curtis J. Braun" <cjb@ccice2.uucp> Subject: Operating Environments (Integrators) Re:Topview Date: 23 Oct 85 13:49:21 GMT I am posting this summary for Software "Integrators" as per request from the mail I received. This is from the Oct 8, 1985 issue of PC WEEK. The article says that the integrators may/will have a boost with the new extended memory boards, due to the fact that the memory boards will offset the large memory requirements for the programs. Quarterback Office Systems (Desq) plans on bundling Desqview with the rampage card. The extra memory would allow instantaneous program swap out, since disk access would not be required. Integrators such as Topview and Desqview are also called operating environments and typically allow several stand-alone packages to run under a common interface. Software packages that are not compatible can exchange data under the integrator. The software must be written to look at the config.sys file for a device driver. Without the driver, the memory above 640K bytes cannot be addressed. To date only Windows and Desqview are written to use EMS. IBM has made no annoucements regarding an EMS version of Topview. Hope this helps, Curtis (!rochester!ccice5!ccice2!cjb) Summary ------- Vendor Product Memory used Announce Ship Application APX Core 43k June,83 April,84 Executive Corp. Computer Associates Easy Plus 245K May,85 May,85 Micro Products Dynamical Research Inc Panorama 70k March,85 --- IBM Topview 175K Aug,84 Aug,84 Indian Ridge Window Master 50K Nov,83 Feb,84 Enterprises Microsoft Windows 100K Nov,83 --- North American Memory/shift 31K Sept,83 Sept,83 Business Systems Quarterdeck Office Desq 256K April,83 May,84 Systems Desqview 130K May,85 July,85 There's nothing to disclaim if ther's nothing said. ------------------------------ Date: Thu 24 Oct 85 10:19:11-PDT From: Jackie <Burhans%ECLD@ECLA> Subject: Leading Edge PC and Lotus 1-2-3 A friend of mine is having a problem with his Leading Edge trying to run 1-2-3. He has 640k, mono screen, hercules card, 1 floppy drive and a 10MB harddisk. While running 1-2-3 from the A drive he tries to save a worksheet onto the C drive (hard disk) and gets a DISK ERROR message. The question then: has anybody else had this problem? found a solution? have any good suggestions on how to make this work? By the way, a friend of his has a Leading Edge with 2 floppies and lotus runs fine. He also tried running lotus from the hard disk and got similar problems. I am in a bit of a rush for this info, so if you have any, send to me direct--you can also send to the bulletin board if you think others have interest. Thanks. Burhans%ecld@usc-ecl.arpa ------------------------------ Date: 24 Oct 85 14:35:00 EDT From: "DESILVA, ERIC" <desilva@nbs-vms.ARPA> Subject: Ctrl-Alt-Del Does anyone know how to alter what Ctrl-Alt-Del does? It can be done, since the PCNet program alters it, but I can't find any documentation on changing it... ------------------------------ Date: 24 Oct 1985 14:49:07 PDT Subject: Re: Ctrl-Alt-Del From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: "DESILVA, ERIC" <desilva@NBS-VMS.ARPA> Documentation on Control-Alt-Del is in the Technical Reference Manual. Basically you can write your own handler for either the BIOS c.a.d. interrupt or the DOS equivalent (or both, I suppose). Dick Gillmann ------------------------------ From: Herm Fischer <hermix!fischer@rand-unix.ARPA> Reply-To: HFischer@USC-ECLB To: info-ibmpc%ISIB@ECLB Subject: Xenix UUCP Patch for Initial Timeout Date: Thu Oct 24 11:26:59 1985 Some uucp sites are notoriously slow at getting the uucp caller logged on. Xenix has a 90 second timeout for uucico's slave end to load up; to change this, patch location 63:2131 of /usr/lib/uucp/uucico. This timer starts after the logon and password are successfully completed, and expires if the initial message from the remote end is not received. ------------------------------ Date: Thursday, 24 October 1985 15:05:24 EDT From: Joe.Newcomer@a.sei.cmu.edu Subject: Fast Number Crunching I'm asking this for someone else... Assume I have an IBMPC/AT, a Fortran compiler, and a HUMONGOUS amount of floating point data to process. What is the absolutely top fastest board (cost only moderately an object) or chip I can add to the PC to do this. Coprocessor solutions involving 68xxx or 32xxx chips running Unixoids are not likely to be acceptable. Ideally, the board should have the property that it could run ordinary 80x87-based software, but a special board with an accompanying math library compatible with Fortran [and here I don't know which one...probably Microsoft] would be acceptable. An FFT coprocessor board would be even better. Hacks such as crystal upgrades and special 80x87 chips are quite acceptable. Can any of you number crunchers out there help? thanks joe ------------------------------ Date: Thursday, 24 October 1985 15:28:25 EDT From: Joe.Newcomer@a.sei.cmu.edu To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: PC/AT Programs with Massive Amounts of Data Here's one for 80286/MSDOS wizards... I've got a situation in which I want to run a C (Lattice 2.14) program to manipulate a truly massive memory-resident database. I have 3Mb on my PC/AT. During the time this is being manipulated, I occasionally have to do DOS calls, but I'm willing to do this in a "switch to real memory"/"switch back to virtual memory" mode. Is it possible at all on the 80286? One scenario is to remap all of physical memory to locations 0..1M of virtual memory, and start my data heap at the 1M boundary. using some call other than malloc() to allocate. Now all I have to deal with are DOS interrupts from my code and external interrupts from devices. If I go back to "real mode" before calling some I/O routine, normal malloc usage in the libraries will generate data in the real memory space. If things like keyboard interrupts continue to work then I shouldn't have any problems. An interesting property is that it looks like in the remapping (if I have to map the OS into my space at all) I can write-protect DOS so that bogus long pointers don't damage me. General view I have is something like a D or L Lattice model behaving as follows: main{} { ... stuff virtual(); /* We go virtual, with phsyical addresses==virtual addresses */ /* Write the data out... this used to be just an fprintf... */ sprintf(buffer,....); real(); fprintf(...,buffer); virtual(); ... real(); /* about to exit */ } Yes, it involves lots of work, but the piece of code I'm interested in assumed a Vax and consumes about 2Mb of virtual address, and rewriting it to fit a 512K data space (what's left in the PC after the program is loaded) appears be harder than some small kludges to get me a virtual space. Besides, once I've solved this I'm out of the 640K limit. Thus, I'm willing to invest both time and real $ (like buying the Lattice runtime sources) to see that this works. Also, if anyone knows of better documentation for the extended memory BIOS calls (PC Tech?) than the BIOS listings I'd appreciate hearing about it. I've done similar things in the past with operating systems and architectures even more bizarre than the 80286, so it isn't like I'm trying it for the first time; I know some of the problems and pitfalls in general but if anyone knows of any real killers in the '286/PC-DOS architecture I'd like to hear of them before I start. thanks joe ------------------------------ Date: 24 Oct 85 21:16:50 GMT From: Bob Stine (stine@edn-unix) To: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC@usc-isib.arpa) Subject: V20 Incompatabilities The V20 does not seem to work with Easy-Flow Plus; the tech rep at HavenTree Software claimed that the problem is due to the multiplication of two eight-bit quantities causing a multiplication overflow condition, even though the target register is a sixteen-bit register. This boo-boo seems more insidious than the clock-cycle mismatch. - Bob Stine ------------------------------ Date: 24 Oct 85 23:12:58 PDT (Thursday) Subject: "Five Speed" Selectable Clock Speed for PC AT, Query From: Burton.osbunorth@Xerox.ARPA The latest issue of PC Week has a Classified ad for "Five Speed", which is depicted as a 5 position rotary selection switch for the clock speed: 4, 6, 8, 9, and 10 MHz. The switch has leads that plug into the AT's crystal socket. The vendor is Ronsco Systems, Monee, IL, 312 534-1303. The product costs $125. The claimed benefits are that 4 MHz is useful to slow down games to "proper" speed, 6 MHz is needed to install copy-protected SW, and 8 - 10 MHz are for speedup. The usual questions apply: Does anyone know this company? Is anyone using this product? Is it really necessary? Are the claimed benefits real? When you switch clock speeds, do you have to reboot? Would you let your sister use one in her AT? Please reply to me directly. If I get any responses, I'll post a summary to the net. Phil Burton burton.osbunorth@Xerox.ARPA ------------------------------ From: Timothy Lange <langet@ecn-pc.uucp> Subject: Reading DOS directories. Date: 23 Oct 85 19:37:35 GMT Hi! I am trying to get an assembler program running that will read the entries in a sub-directory. I am running on an IBM PC/XT that is using DOS 2.1. I have set up an extended FCB with the attribute byte set for system+readonly+directory permission. The DOS Technical manual says this will allow directories to be accessed. I am using function 0F to open the directory FCB after I stick the directory name in the name field. After opening, it gets the date of the directory stored and no errors are returned. I set the record size to 32 bytes and the current block and record to zero, I then try to read the directory file with function 14 but get error code for no data read. Anybody got any suggestions or pointers to help me figure out what I am doing wrong? Thanks in advance for all help. -- Tim Lange Engineering Business Offices 317-494-5338 Rm 120 Engineering Administration Bldg. Purdue University West Lafayette, IN 47907 {decvax|harpo|ihnp4|inuxc|seismo|ucbvax}!pur-ee!langet ------------------------------ From: Peter Lee <pete@umich.uucp> Subject: Info wanted on Titan Accelerator Date: 23 Oct 85 20:40:44 GMT Does anyone out there have a Titan Technologies PC accelerator board installed in a PC-1? How well does it work? I've heard great things about it, but I'm a bit suspicious because it is so much cheaper than the competition (about $600), and was not mentioned in the accelerator board review in the last issue of PC Magazine. Thanks in advance from a pc user who needs a bit more horsepower... Peter Lee ------------------------------ From: "A.THANGARAJ" <xxajtxx@hou2d.uucp> Subject: Cheap RAM Upgrade Date: 23 Oct 85 22:13:49 GMT 640K bytes of RAM is becoming more and more desirable on PC's today. The extra RAM can be used as a RAMDISK, especially for floppy-disk PC models. (You can zip along faster than a hard disk in some applications). Many programs these days are memory-hungry and can use (or may need) a lot more than 256K bytes RAM. Now that cheap RAM upgrades on the motherboard using high-density 256K chips have become commonplace, it would be interesting to find out on just which models of which computers it is feasible to do so. I would think that at least two conditions need to be satisfied: The motherboard should have sockets into which the high-density chips can be inserted. For example, the motherboard might have 128K bytes of soldered memory and eighteen empty sockets for additional RAM. If you insert 18 low-density (ie. 64K-bit) chips, you will get another 128K bytes of RAM (2 of the 18 chips store parity bits; the remaining 16 chips make up 16X64/8 = 128K bytes of RAM). If, on the other hand, you insert 18 high-density (256K-bit) chips, you get another 16X256/8 = 512K bytes of RAM. If the motherboard comes with low density chips in the sockets, you can pull them out and replace them with high-density chips for under $60 total cost. If all the RAM in the motherboard is soldered, and there are no empty sockets for additional RAM, that particular model of that PC cannot be cheaply expanded - you will need an expansion board. Having put the extra memory in, you have to be able to tell the computer that it now has that extra memory. This usually involves changing the settings of dipswitches on the motherboard. You have to know which dipswitches to set and how to set them. If the PC manual doesn't tell you that, you have to experiment, or ask a friend, etc., and it still may not work. I would like to hear from the net regarding which PC's (and which models) have socketed RAM and support cheap RAM upgrades, and whether the dipswitch (or other) settings required are mentioned anywhere. I will summarize and post to the net. ------------------------------ From: Walter Bright <bright@dataiodataio.uucp> Subject: MS-DOS Beefs Date: 23 Oct 85 21:40:11 GMT I have been watching the evolution of MS-DOS for some time, and never see some fundamental problems being corrected. These corrections I believe are simple to implement, and would ease a lot of difficulty for us implementors. I am posting this in the hope that Microsoft/IBM will see it, and maybe feel some pressure to correct them. 1) Provide an MS-DOS 'configuration' call that would return the following information: a. What is the CPU? (8088, 80286, etc.) b. What is the clock rate? c. What display is connected? is it color? d. Is there an 8087 or 80287 connected? e. What is the manufacturer and model # of the machine? f. Is ANSI.SYS installed? What other device drivers are installed? g. Is 'Windows' or 'Topview' active? h. How many serial ports are connected? Many of these are discernable by examining the BIOS. But in order to do that, the program becomes 'misbehaved' and non- portable. Having such calls would make it possible for programs to write directly to the screen for machines it knows are safe, and to automatically revert to more 'well-behaved' but slower methods when these are necessary. Programs could also become largely self-configuring. 2) Rewrite the serial I/O BDOS calls so they are interrupt driven internally to MS-DOS, and have a choice of XON/XOFF protocol or handshaking to handle flow control. Every communications program I know of has to directly manipulate the hardware to do this, and therefore becomes hopelessly non-portable. Until MS-DOS provides these services, Microsoft and IBM will have to continually struggle with misbehaved programs. ------------------------------ Date: 25 Oct 1985 09:43:28-EDT From: mlsmith@NADC To: compusci@aecom.uucp, @, BRL@NADC Subject: Re:KAYPRO to TELEVIDEO I know of two programs that should help: WSTOVX - Volkswriter utility to change WS files. UNDOWS - Changes WS files to ASCII. Volkswriter is a word processor which uses near-ASCII files. Although some special symbols used for underline, paragraph, etc. It is very readable. UNDOWS should be perfect, but I believe it is bundled with Wordstar. good luck, mlsmith@NADC ------------------------------ Date: Fri 25 Oct 85 08:58:35-MDT From: Larry Armijo <COLSA@SIMTEL20.ARPA> Subject: File Splitter/Combiner I am looking for a program which will enable me to backup a very large single file on a hard disk to several floppies and then restore them to the hard disk in case of hard disk failure or other damage to the large file. I've already looked through the entire PC-BLUE archives here at SIMTEL20 but have been unable to find anything suitable. It may be there and I may have missed it. What I think I need is a file splitter/combiner. Any leads would be greatly appreciated. Larry Armijo COLSA@SIMTEL20 [Try Jet from Tall Tree it comes free with their hardware -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Oct 85 17:15:40 -0100 From: hans@oslo-vax (Hans A. ]lien) Subject: Query: How to Generate Semicolon in DBASE II? A colleague wants to do some screen control from a routine in DBASE II on his Rainbow. He has attempted all kinds of quoting, but he has failed completely in creating an escape sequence containing the ';'. Is there an (undocumented) trick somewhere? Thanks in advance. hans@oslo-vax.arpa (Hans A. ]lien, Univ. of Oslo, Norway) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Oct 85 13:17:21 EDT From: Kenneth E. Van_Camp (LCWSL) <kvancamp@Pica-Lca.ARPA> Subject: Translate Utility for MSDOS I am looking for an msdos utility similar to the UNIX tr command, which copies the standard input to the standard output with substitution or deletion of selected characters. I envision this as a general-purpose filter to do things like remove tab characters, or convert special characters into other forms. I could easily write such a utility in C, but am looking for the compactness of a machine language routine. If you know of such a routine, your help in locating it would be appreciated. Otherwise, I am willing to undertake writing such a routine myself. I have experience in assembly language, but all Motorola and I have little idea where to begin in msdos. In the interests of saving a great amount of time, if someone could supply me with a short assembly listing that demonstrates how to (1) read from standard input, (2) write to standard output, and (3) read command line inputs, I would appreciate this as well. Thanks in advance for all your help. --Ken Van Camp ------------------------------ Date: 25 Oct 85 13:38 EST From: CFMucken @ DDN2.ARPA Subject: Leading Edge Model "D" CC: jordan @ noscvax It appears that the problem described by Martin Jordan arises from confusion about the nature of a "Hercules Card". The LE comes with a Hercules graphics emulator as well as an IBM Color Graphics Adapter emulator. The "Hercules Color Card" is an IBM Color Graphics Adapter emulator. The COMPAQ is different still, it provides emulation of the IBM Monochrome Display Adapter, which is alpha-numeric only, and the IBM Color Graphics Adapter on a special dual-mode screen. The Hercules monochrome graphics driver is a high resolution, 720x348, graphics driver for monochrome displays. The Hercules color graphics card is a medium resolution, 640x200, graphics driver for color displays. Most graphics software, such as produced by Turbo Pascal, is written for the IBM CGA and its clones this software will run on a LE Model "D" with a color monitor but not on a LE with a monochrome monitor. To see a LE operating with monochrome graphics boot MS Word with the /h option, it works. We are getting ready to take delivery of a large number of LEs for our office and chose the LE because of everything which is standard, such as 640K on the motherboard, monochrome and color graphics, clock /calender, dual half height floppies, four real expansion slots, 130 watt power supply, and one year warrantee, all for $1231. We are adding an internal modem, $179, printer, $249, and upgrading to 640K, $43.20. Our entire system is only $1702.20, and we didn't even have to pay extra for the DOS. The LE is a good machine at a price no one can beat, at least not yet, so it is unfair to attribute "problems" to the machine which are truly "human errors". Carl F. Muckenhirn SPARTA, INC. ------------------------------ Date: 25 Oct 85 15:10 EDT From: Jim Moore <moore@ncsc> Subject: TOPVIEW (LAST REQUEST) This is the last time I'll post this question: I've asked it twice so far with no response: I need to communicate with TopView users who have successfully loaded any non-trivial software package (esp. dBASE III). Does anyone out there know how to use TopView w/ dBASE??? Jim ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------