bright@dataio.Data-IO.COM (Walter Bright) (08/04/87)
Does anyone know how a program can reliably: o Determine if it is running on a PS/2? o Determine if it is a Model 30, 50, 60 or 80? Other things: If you have trouble transferring files between your AT and your PS/2 because of incompatible disks, try the Brooklyn Bridge (by White Crane Systems). It is a well-engineered product, and works well for transferring files. The IBM Data Migration Facility is a joke by comparison. Afterburners on: o Why are the control and caps lock keys swapped? ARGG. Who designs those silly keyboards? I use 4 different keyboards on a daily basis, and three of them are IBM (the other's a VT100)! o It's difficult now to do one-handed Ctrl, Shift or Alt followed by a function key. o The thing seems to always boot up with numlock on. o I've worked with a number of Japanese MS-DOS machines. They are all mutually incompatible, but share two wonderful features: there is a hard reset switch, and the display can be in both text mode and graphics mode simultaneously. That is, the text and graphics buffers are separate, and the video can be one, the other or both. This is wonderful for debugging graphics programs without the kludge of two monitors or a terminal out the serial port. The press is always gushing over the VGA, but why couldn't IBM implement this? They did a custom chip anyway. o The numeral 0 looks pretty strange on the VGA. o If you follow the directions on installing MSDOS, you wind up with only 32 mb of disk, instead of the available 40. o I don't mind switching to 3.5" disks. However, IBM comes out with two flavors (1.44mb and .72mb). Yuk! Why not just the 1.44? Why don't all PS2's come standard with 1.44? Then us software vendors could distribute on 1.44s, instead of always the lowest common denominator. Here we are with the 1.2mb/360kb problems all over again, and this time from day 1! Gripe, grumble, razafrazza.
hrh@well.UUCP (Harry Henderson) (08/12/87)
> > o Why are the control and caps lock keys swapped? ARGG. Who designs > those silly keyboards? I use 4 different keyboards on a daily > basis, and three of them are IBM (the other's a VT100)! Can't think of any good reason. The old position for Ctrl allowed you to reach many more keys with the same hand. Who designs the keyboards? Maybe concert pianists with long fingers. > o The thing seems to always boot up with numlock on. Now this makes more sense. It comes up with numlock on because you can now use the numeric keyboard solely for entering numbers, and use the separate pad for all cursor movement functions. > o If you follow the directions on installing MSDOS, you wind up > with only 32 mb of disk, instead of the available 40. That limitation is built into MS-DOS itself. > o I don't mind switching to 3.5" disks. However, IBM comes out > with two flavors (1.44mb and .72mb). Yuk! Why not just the 1.44? > Why don't all PS2's come standard with 1.44? Then us software > vendors could distribute on 1.44s, instead of always the lowest > common denominator. Here we are with the 1.2mb/360kb problems > all over again, and this time from day 1! Distribute on 720K disks. They can be read by the 1.44 mb. I have found that 1.44MB capacity is only marginally useful on my Model 50 because it refuses to format most name-brand 2MB unformatted capacity disks. I guess it only works reliably with the very expensive ($4-5 each) IBM 1.44MB disks. Anyone know of a cheaper brand that works reliably on the PS/2? -- The opinions expressed are my own, but you're welcome to share them. Harry Henderson (freelance technical editor/writer).
johnl@ima.ISC.COM (John R. Levine) (08/13/87)
In article <3735@well.UUCP> hrh@well.UUCP (Harry Henderson) writes: >[why are there 720K and 1.44MB microfloppies?] >Distribute on 720K disks. They can be read by the 1.44 mb. I have >found that 1.44MB capacity is only marginally useful on my Model 50 >because it refuses to format most name-brand 2MB unformatted capacity >disks. I guess it only works reliably with the very expensive ($4-5 >each) IBM 1.44MB disks. Anyone know of a cheaper brand that works >reliably on the PS/2? I've had good luck with a bunch of Fuji 2MB disks that someone gave me to try on my PS/2-50. However, everwhere I look I find that 2MB disks are considerably more than twice as expensive as 1MB disks (that's 1.44MB and 720KB formatted.) So I'll pass on the 2MB disks for the time being. It'd be nice to keep the disk clutter down, though -- I hope the prices come down. -- John R. Levine, Cambridge MA, +1 617 492 3869 { ihnp4 | decvax | cbosgd | harvard | yale }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.something The Iran-Contra affair: None of this would have happened if Ronald Reagan were still alive.
ward@chinet.UUCP (08/20/87)
Regarding the hosed-up control and caps-lock keys on "enhanced" keyboards (I wish I could come up with an insulting phrase that sounds like "enhanced")... has anyone tackled the problem? ... - how about a TSR that takes over the lowest level keybaord input and maps the keys back? - Does SuperKey work to do that? I needed it SO BADLY on my 3270/PC, but it didn't work on my level of the control program - anyone dared take the keyboard apart to "fix" it? - How about above questions on an AST premium-286? Re: 720K diskettes, etc: I buy generic 720K'ers from 1-800-USA-FLEX, and was VERY surprised they formatted to 1.44M first time I tried it on a PS/2-50! I fully expected the "density identification hole" on the 2M diskettes to be read by the drive, but, sigh, no.
toma@tekgvs.TEK.COM (Tom Almy) (08/20/87)
In article <1426@chinet.UUCP> ward@chinet.UUCP (Ward Christensen-) writes: > Re: 720K diskettes, etc: I buy generic 720K'ers from 1-800-USA-FLEX, and >was VERY surprised they formatted to 1.44M first time I tried it on >a PS/2-50! I fully expected the "density identification hole" on the >2M diskettes to be read by the drive, but, sigh, no. ***THIS IS A BAD IDEA*** The magnetic properties of the 2Meg diskettes are different than that of the 1Meg. Even if the disk formats without error, data you place on the disk could vanish over time. IBM decided to save a buck by leaving the sensor out. This same identical problem exists with the PC/AT's 1.2 Meg floppy drives. If you format a "normal" floppy for 1.2 meg, then you take BIG risks. For those old-timers out there, this problem is far more severe than the trick of using single sided disks in double sided drives or single density disks in double density drives. Don't skip on disks, they represent such a small percentage of the system cost yet the information they hold is far more valuable than the disks (or usually even the entire system). Tom Almy toma@tekgvs.TEK.COM
cbenda@unccvax.UUCP (carl m benda) (08/21/87)
In article <1426@chinet.UUCP>, ward@chinet.UUCP (ward) writes: > a PS/2-50! I fully expected the "density identification hole" on the > 2M diskettes to be read by the drive, but, sigh, no. It will. Try this. place the format program in a different directory on the hard disk and have a path to THAT directory. Next, go into a different directory on C: and put a diskette into A:. Next type format a: You will find that now, DOS 3.3 is smart enough to use the hardware to check to see if the diskette is actually a 2M diskette. I had the same thing happen to me when I tried the format program from drive C: when I was in the same directory as format.com.. It DID let me format a 720 to 1.44Meg.... When I changed directorys, no matter what I tried, It would not let me format a 720kb diskette to 1.44 Meg. /Carl ...decvax!mcnc!unccvax!cbenda
enchant@oliveb.UUCP (Dan Crocker) (08/22/87)
In article <797@unccvax.UUCP>, cbenda@unccvax.UUCP (carl m benda) writes: > In article <1426@chinet.UUCP>, ward@chinet.UUCP (ward) writes: > > a PS/2-50! I fully expected the "density identification hole" on the > > 2M diskettes to be read by the drive, but, sigh, no. > > > It will. Try this. place the format program in a different directory > on the hard disk and have a path to THAT directory. Next, go into a > different directory on C: and put a diskette into A:. Next type format a: > > You will find that now, DOS 3.3 is smart enough to use the hardware > to check to see if the diskette is actually a 2M diskette. I tried exactly this on my model 50 and I didn't get the same results. Here's what I did. 1. I created a directory called temp 2. I copied format.com into it 3. I deleted the format.com that was in root 4. I did a cd to temp 5. I put a 1M disk into drive a: and ran format The format completed without problems 6. I did a cd to root and set path=\temp 7. I ran format again on the 1M disk Format worked fine From what I have seen, the system DOES NOT know what media is in the drive. Furthermore, I am pretty sure don't know that the IBM floppy drives have NO switch to detect the media. I really want to understand what you have done, so I have a few questions: a. What was the message dos gave you when format failed? b. Can you determine who the manufacturer of your 2 meg floppy is? I have seen drives made by Alps and Mitsubishi. I really would appreciate your help. Thanks dan -- Here comes the supernatural anesthetist If he wants you to snuff it All he has to do is puff it He's such a fine dancer
doug@edge.UUCP (Doug Pardee) (08/25/87)
] > > a PS/2-50! I fully expected the "density identification hole" on the ] > > 2M diskettes to be read by the drive, but, sigh, no. ] > ] > You will find that now, DOS 3.3 is smart enough to use the hardware ] > to check to see if the diskette is actually a 2M diskette. ] ] I tried exactly this on my model 50 and I didn't get the same results. I don't know nothin' about this, but Electronic Engineering Times ran a front-page story last week about how everyone in the industry's complaining because IBM did NOT put a media sensor in the PS/2. They claim that IBM figures you users are supposed to be smart enough to know if you've got 1MB or 2MB media. -- Doug Pardee, Edge Computer Corp; ihnp4!mot!edge!doug, seismo!ism780c!edge!doug
ward@chinet.UUCP (ward) (08/29/87)
{Sorry about null upload! Line glitch occured during edit ":wq",
caused my msg to be written to ^?}, not to the news file!}
> It would not let me format a 720kb diskette to 1.44 Meg
I think this was due to circumstances similar to those I've seen where
DOS keeps formatting a 360K diskette as if it were single sided. Somehow
DOS gets "stuck" thinking the drive is single sided. I'll bet that
if you bulk-erased the 720K diskette and tried again at 1.44, it would
work. I'm NOT ADVOCATING this - just trying to convey the thought that
it was more "fluke" than "plan" that wouldn't let you format it. ...and
there were plenty of other replies indicating there's no sensor (sigh
again) to prevent formatting a 1M diskette to 1.4!.cbenda@unccvax.UUCP (carl m benda) (08/30/87)
In article <1453@chinet.UUCP>, ward@chinet.UUCP (ward) writes: > DOS gets "stuck" thinking the drive is single sided. I'll bet that > if you bulk-erased the 720K diskette and tried again at 1.44, it would > work. I'm NOT ADVOCATING this - just trying to convey the thought that On the model 80 it seems to use the sensor... All of the brand new out of the box 3M diskettes which we have that are 1Meg. Would not be allowed to format to 1.44Meg. I mean that the system would not even turn the drive light on. It would just flat out say, incompatable media. When a true 2Meg. diskette diskette was used, it came out fine, 80 tracks, 145xxxx bytes available. /Carl ...decvax!mcnc!unccvax!cbenda