Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL ("Info-IBMPC Digest") (06/23/91)
Info-IBMPC Digest Sun, 23 Jun 91 Volume 91 : Issue 161
Today's Editor:
Gregory Hicks - Rota Spain <GHICKS@WSMR-Simtel20.Army.Mil>
Today's Topics:
DOS5, PCTOOLS7, NORTON6
DOS 5.0 and PCTools Version 6.0
DOS 5 items
DOS directory musings
echoing blank lines
Formatting woes (2 msgs)
IDRIS1 or IDRISI Geographical Info System request
Low-density, High-Density 3 1/2 diskettes (V91 #143)
Maxtor 213 and AWARD bios incompatibility? (V91 #143)
PC TLC Logo wanted
Reply to "SCO list?" query in V91#143
Today's Queries:
communication programs
Communications shareware/freeware/$ware
CP/M-86 Problem
dBase III Plus - Labels and User Defined Functions
Problems with programs
Scheduling program for PC
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 91 14:54 EST
From: Michael Gordon <GORDONM@MAX.CC.DENISON.EDU>
Subject: DOS5, PCTOOLS7, NORTON6
There's an interesting article in the New York Times (Tuesday,
18 June) reviewing the new upgrades for DOS 5.0 of PCTools and Norton
Utilities. The author liked both programs and likened them to a Swiss
Army Knife and a scalpel. I leave it to you all to figure out which is
which
Michael D. Gordon Internet: gordonm@cc.denison.edu
Department of History Bitnet: gordonm@denison
Denison University VoiceMail: (614) 587-6588
Granville, OH 43023 FAX: (614) 587-6417
------------------------------
Date: 18 Jun 91 12:39:00 EDT
From: "FARR, DR. MARSHALL" <farrm@alexandria-emh2.army.mil>
Subject: DOS 5.0 and PCTools Version 6.0
I have just read in your pages that PCFormat doesn't work with DOS 5.0
if PCFormat is part of Version 6.0 of PCTools (which I have on my IBM
PC clone). My question is, given that I see no need to "upgrade" to
PCTools 7.0, can I use the DOS 5.0 format command if and when I install
DOS 5.0? In other words, can I bypass the PCTools 6.0 incompatability
with DOS 5.0 re the format command. I know that now, with my DOS 3.3,
PCTools 6.0 doesn't allow me to use the standard DOS format command --
it changed it to its own version when PCTools was installed.
I also read in your Digest, in a note by Gurevich in #144 issue,
that the uninstal disk must be in A:. My A drive is a hi-density 3
1/2" floppy, and I note that the versions that Egghead is advertising
as a special super deal are all 5 1/2 floppy-based. Can I assume,
based on Gurevich's success in installing from B that the Microsoft
admonitions are wrong? Or should I copy the 5 1/4 2 DOS 5 floppies
onto floppies onto 3 1/2 diskettes, and use those to install from in my
A: drive?
Marshall J. Farr
FarrM@alexandria-emh2.army.mil
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 91 14:19:58 EDT
From: Joe Morris <jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org>
Subject: DOS 5 items
From INFO-IBMPC 91:145...
By Rob <C08926RC%WUVMD.BITNET@uga.cc.uga.edu>:
>Yep. Egghead Software is selling the MS-DOS 5.0 upgrade package for
>$39, after a $20 mail-in rebate.
^^^^^^^ "instant": you just pay $39. No mail-in required.
> I don't know if you have to prove
>ownership of an older DOS or not...
No proof required. Just fill in the usual
I'm-gonna-be-on-a-mailing-list survey form they give you. (You can
order by phone; they'll ask you the questions.)
By James_Williams%ESS%NIAID%NIH3PLUS.BITNET@uga.cc.uga.edu
[listing some of the DOS 5 features]
> It remembers the last 10(?) command you
>entered, and allows you to edit the command line.
The depth of the command memory is a function of how much buffer space
you give DOSKEY when you invoke it.
By yev_g@athena.mit.edu (Yevgeny Gurevich)
>You will need to have at least one disk for the uninstall data that DOS
>5.0 requires that you make (I used a 1.2 meg 5.25"). IMPORTANT - this
>disk (uninstall) MUST be in A:
This is necessary because the uninstall disk is a bootable disk...and
very few systems have the ability to boot from any floppy other than
the A: drive.
By Ronald Hahm @ University of Northern Iowa
> What is the upgrade
>policy of users of DOS 4.01? (This is if there is such a policy on
>DOS). How can on get an upgrade?
As far as any of the local vendors (Egghead, WaldenSoftware, CompUSA,
Etc) are concerned, you walk in, plop down your money (plus a short
survey in the case of Egghead) and walk out. For mail order, try
1-800-EGGHEAD. No proof-of-purchase or any such required.
Joe Morris
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 91 20:30:52 -0400
From: pshuang@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
Subject: DOS directory musings
OK, so you have an application for SPSS which requires 4,500 files in
1,500 directories with 3 files each. Can you restructure your file/dir
structure so that you have something more balanced, like forty-five
directories with a hundred files each? That's a configuration which
should leave DOS a little happier. This solution seems so intuitively
obvious that I wonder if you have forgotten to mention another
constraint on possible ways out of your throughput problem.
Also, your branch offices may not have ever heard of caches, but if
they have DOS 3.3 or later, you might want to try FASTOPEN and tweak
its parameters and see if that helps you any.
Re: deleting 9,500 files taking 5 hours. There are two ways of
deleting files (I think the differentiation has something to do with
handles), one of which is supposed to be faster. But since you've got
to remove subdirectories as well as files... I wonder how much of a
speed-up in that case you would have gotten with a *VERY* good
write-held cache?
Re: strands of performance. Might it be possible that you ran into the
analgue for memory page thrashing? i.e. at each leap, DOS buffers had
to thrash an additional cluster to handle the extra directories.
Singing off,
UNIX:/etc/ping instantiated (Ping Huang)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 91 22:04 EST
From: George Nassas <GEORGE@NICKEL.LAURENTIAN.CA>
Subject: echoing blank lines
>From: "Bill Ball" <C476721@UMCVMB.missouri.edu>
>I have stumbled upon what seems to be an easy way to ECHO a blank line
>in a batch file (I know this is a FAQ). type "echo", space, then alt-27
>(which shows up as a left arrow and is the escape character). It sure
>seems to work.
I think that one breaks on Compaq DOS but don't quote me. I went
through almost all of the characters below ascii 32 and above 126 and
all of them fail on someone's version of DOS. Then someone told me
about "echo.". (That's echo 'period' with no spaces). I've yet to see a
DOS that doesn't do the right thing.
- George
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 91 16:07:33 U
From: Greg Kaisen <greg_kaisen%YCCATSMTP.YCC.YALE.EDU@uga.cc.uga.edu>
Subject: Formatting woes
Hi all, I have a Zenith lo-profile PC with an external 5.25" 360K
drive. When I installed this external Zenith drive, there was a setup
program that told the CMOS exactly what drive type this was (a 360 K
5.25" drive) My drive has the designation B: When i format a DS/DD
disk in this drive by typing format B: they always format to 720 K,
this i think is pretty stupid since i told the machine via
setup, that this was a 360 K drive. Does anyone know why this
continues to happen? I know about doing things like "Format B: /N:9
/T:40" but my format says invalid parameter. My dos is MS-DOS 4.01 the
version # of Zenith's Format.COM program is 4.00.02.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 91 22:25:25 EDT
From: Alex Nemeth <AN5%CORNELLC@uga.cc.uga.edu>
Subject: Formatting woes
Well, I hope this helps, it's been a long time since i worked on ZDS
comsuters
in your config.sys file addd this parameter
drivparm= /d:1 /f:0 /h:2
if that doesnot work then try
device=driver.sys /d:1 /f:0 /h:2
Alex Nemeth
AN5@cornellc.bitnet
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 91 18:49:24 PDT
From: 6500boo%ucsbuxa@hub.ucsb.edu (William Bushing)
Subject: IDRIS1 or IDRISI Geographical Info System request
You should be able to reach IDRISI at IDRISI@CLARKU.BITNET. IDRISI was
developed by this Massachusetts college (Clark University) Dept. of
Geography. Mail address is:
IDRISI
Graduate School of Geography
Clark University
950 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01610
Bill
William W. (Boo) Bushing
6500boo@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu
Marine Biotechnology Lab
Univ. of Calif. Santa Barbara
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 1991 09:16:20 EDT
From: "Drew Derbyshire" <ahd@kendra.kew.com>
Subject: Low-density, High-Density 3 1/2 diskettes (V91 #143)
> Date: Thu, 30 May 91 13:12:05 TUR
> From: Turgut Kalfaoglu <TURGUT%TREARN.BITNET@uga.cc.uga.edu>
> My solution (actually, Matti Aarnio told me this :) was to remove the
> drive, find the detector that looks for that hole (a mechanical
> switch), remove the detector, solder two wires in its place, and
> connect a switch at the end of the wires. Now, when I want 720K
> diskettes, I flick the switch, format with appropriate options. When I
> need 1.44, flick the switch the other way, and format.
> I always format my regular-density 3 1/2 diskettes at high capacity,
> and never had trouble. I heartily recommend the above solution as it
> works like a charm -- provided you don't mind fiddling with the drive.
> I have been using it over a year. Regards, -turgut
Here we go again ... I don't heartily recommend any solution which
suggests trying to exceed what the vendor recommends for hardware (or,
for that matter, software). I don't recommend any such solution at
all. Buy the right density disks, and use the proper switches with
FORMAT to format them; the data you save may be your own.
-ahd-
--
Drew Derbyshire
Internet: ahd@kendra.kew.com U.S. Mail: 108 Decatur St, Apt 9
Voice: 617-641-3739 Arlington, MA 02174
Swap read error. You lose your mind.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1991 11:09:32 PDT
From: George_C._Burkitt.El_Segundo@xerox.com
Subject: Maxtor 213 and AWARD bios incompatibility? (V91 #143)
Assuming that the Maxtor can be formatted after it left the factory,
the only thing you need is something like Disk Manager with a wider
selection of large drives to pick from, or possibly an editable drive
table. The only thing you are missing is the number of sectors.
What you select is the largest capacity drive in the list which has
the same number of heads as your drive (7) and a smaller number of
cylinders than yours (1320).
If you have a Micropolis version of Disk Manager, try the 1774-7 (157
MB). If you are using the Seagate version, try the ST1186A (164 MB).
If you have a DM type formatter whic allows you to enter the drive
parameters, you will have to guess at the number of sectors; my
reference doesn't show it. Probably it is either 26 or 36, maybe 28,
35 or 36. Sorry about that.
Experiment a bit. The larger number means more capacity for you.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 91 06:57:31 NZT
From: foster@nzkites.actrix.gen.nz (Foster Schucker)
Subject: PC TLC Logo wanted
Around 1984 I got a copy of TLC (The Lisp Company) LOGO for my CPM
system. I also got a 'sprite' graphics board that would allow me to do
graphics from Logo. In the next few years I wrote a great deal of
software in TLC Logo. (Hey don't laugh, TLCLCLC Logo is pretty
powerful, it's a nice cross between Logo and Lisp with the best
features of both)
I'm trying to make the final transition to MS-DOS and get rid of the
two Xerox 820-II systems. The last software to move is the TLC Logo
software.
I'd really like to find a version of TLC Logo that runs on the PC. Do
any of you know how to get in touch with The Lisp Company? From the
book "Thinking About TLC Logo" (1984) the authors are John Allen, Ruth
Davis and John Johnson; I assume that they worked for The Lisp Company.
A contact with one of them may offer some leads.
I realize that all the graphics stuff will need to be modified, but in
most cases it's fairly localized and should not present a problem. I'd
rather not be forced to redo all the other logic.
The other alternative is to find a replacement for TLC Logo. The only
logo that I've seen is one called Ladybug. It has some serious
problems and is not really acceptable as a programming language. Any
other leads on Logo(s) would be appreciated.
Thanks for your help!!
Foster Schucker == Wellington, New Zealand == Foster@nzkites.actrix.gen.nz
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 91 10:11:21 PDT
From: <bek@hprnls9.rose.hp.com>
Subject: Reply to "SCO list?" query in V91#143
In V91 #143 Flint Waters asks:
> Does anyone know of a list specifically geared towards SCO Unix? I
> haven't seen any SCO questions on the PC or 386 users list and sure
> have a few to post.
There are two public forums for discussing SCO Unix I know of:
1) A NEWS/USENET newsgroup/mailing_lists run from xenitec.on.ca:
Evolution of SCO newsgroups and Mailing Lists
---------------------------------------------
Many readers have had the opportunity to obtain and contribute
useful information on SCOs Open Desktop over the past year through the
USENET newsgroup sco.opendesktop or it's companion mailing list.
With the increasing demand for accessibility to this newsgroup and a
need for additional SCO newsgroups, many current contributors including
those who have been active in circulating SCO related newsgroups and
mailing lists have felt that the readership would be best served by
creating a biz.sco.* hierarchy to improve propagation (and hence
availability) worldwide.
biz.sco.{opendesktop,general,announce} were newgrouped May 2, 1991
in accordance with accepted proceedure within "biz". Given the
content, this change relocates the "opendesktop" newsgroup to a more
proper place within the established usenet news hierarchy and adds the
new "announce" and "general" groups.
Subject to the USENET hierarchies carried by your upstream feed, you
are now able to subscribe to the following:
Newsgroup mailing list subscription
--------- -------------------------
biz.sco.opendesktop scoodt-request@xenitec.on.ca
biz.sco.general sco-list-request@uunet.uu.net
biz.sco.announce scoann-request@xenitec.on.ca
All 3 newsgroups are bi-directionally gated to companion mailing
lists, so anyone not having access to NEWS but who does have a USENET
mail feed can still participate fully using email. Mailing list
subscribers should send their request to the appropriate "mailing list
subscription" address above, including in the message body:
Add: subscriber_address -eg-
Add: your_logname@site.do.main -or-
Add: up!stream!yoursite!your_logname
Inclusion of an alternative working bang-path relative to a well
know major functional site might prove beneficial. Mailing list
subscribers generally receive "how to post to the mlist" article
submission information when their request is processed.
[note that mlist subscriptions are free, subject to whatever
arrangements you may have with the site(s) feeding you].
What's in the newsgroups/mailing_lists:
biz.sco.opendesktop: Technical questions and answers and informative
postings relating to past, present, and future implementations of the
SCO OpenDeskTop operating environment and it's various bundled
components.
biz.sco.general: Questions, answers and comments on SCO products
in general, and of course resulting discussions.
biz.sco.announce: SCO product announcements of interest to
current and future users of SCO products, and to SCO developers,
resellers and distributors. (moderated, followups directed to
biz.sco.general).
Ed. A. Hew, <edhew@xenitec.on.ca> ..!{watmath|lsuc}!xenitec!eah
XeniTec Consulting Services, Kitchener, ON, Canada (519) 570-9848
[biz.sco.{opendesktop,general,announce} newsgroup/mlists person.]
2) Several (unmoderated) NEWS groups carry discussions about SCO XENIX/UNIX
plus several other PC UNIX vendors: comp.unix.xenix.misc;
comp.unix.xenix.sco; comp.unix.sysv*
Brian Krelle
Hewlett-Packard
Roseville Networks Division
------------------------------
Subject: Today's Queries:
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 91 10:45:16 EDT
From: nathan madutujuh <MASTR15@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU>
Subject: communication programs
Maybe this is too late, but I just started learning modem stuff. Is
there anyone have an example of a communication program in Turbo Pascal
4/5/6 ? I only have a KERMIT now, maybe there are programs better than
it? Please tell me how can I get those programs.
Nathan Madutujuh.
Notes: I have Pascal routines for contour, virtual screen, virtual array,
Icon editor (BGI/VGA), GUI, Solver, Large Eigen, 3D graphics, and
many civil engineering stuffs.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1991 16:38 EDT
From: Steve Rafferty <E7L8RAF%TOWSONVX.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Communications shareware/freeware/$ware
Perhaps this has come up before but I am looking for suggestions for
a communications programs, preferably shareware, that will do the
following.
It must support Kermit, x-,y-, and zmodem transfers.
It must provide TRUE VT-100 emulation. For example, with my
current software, in either of two VT-100 emulators, I cannot use EVE
(Extensible Vax Editor) on our vax cluster because the key mapping is
not correct.
I am currently using BitCom 3.1(?) which was bundled with my modem
but it does not achieve the VT-100 emulation described above, AND, I
have been told that the program is slow, i.e., that it does not work at
2400 baud when that is what is designated. If I am losing time
unnecessarily when downloading, I'd certainly like to fix that.
Any suggestions for software, comments on the BitCom speed
problem, etc., greatly appreciated.
Raf
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 91 10:45:42 -0400
From: Jay Sage <sage@ll.mit.edu>
Subject: CP/M-86 Problem
As a Boston Computer Society resource person (i.e., emergency
problem solver), I was just contacted by someone with a problem that I
had no immediate solution to. Since I am about to go away on vacation
for a month, I hope that someone on the net will be able and willing to
help this person.
Ms Gale's father has been using his IBM XT clone for about ten years
under CP/M-86. The person who set him up gave him no boot floppies (or
he lost them), and in the whole time he has never written anything to
floppy. Suddenly the machine complains on boot-up of a disk error
while trying to read CPM.SYS. Obviously, he would like to get the
machine running again, at which point Ms Gale plans to move the files
over to MS-DOS.
It sounds to me as if the CPM.SYS file has become corrupted (the
optimistic view) or that the whole partition has become corrupted (the
pessimistic view). One obvious first step is to get from someone a
bootable CP/M-86 diskette that is appropriate for this hardware. I've
asked my friends who might have had CP/M-86, but so far I have not
found a copy.
I have CP/M-86 for the ATR8000, but I doubt that it can work on a PC
(the disk is in an ATR8000 format that cannot even be read by Uniform
or MediaMaster). I did copy the CPM.SYS file over to a diskette in
another ATR8000 format, which I could read on the PC, and I eventually
got it onto a diskette in CP/M-86 PC format. I've sent this to Ms
Gale; however, I don't think this it will help her. First, she won't
have any way to get it onto the hard disk, and, second, it may well be
hardware dependent (I don't know which of the OS components are
included in this file).
A second approach someone suggested to me is to run a program on the
DOS hard disk partition (the machine will come up in DOS) that can read
files from the CP/M partition. The DEC Rainbow had such a utility, but
I don't know whether such utilities are available under generic MS-DOS
or PC-DOS.
Anyway, I hope someone out there can help. If so, please contact Ms
Gale, as follows:
Jill Gale
Shott Fiber Optics
122 Charlton Street
Southbridge, MA 01550
508-765-9744 x 207
I'd be interested in hearing by email of any progress that is made on
the problem. Thanks.
-- Jay Sage, SAGE @ LL.MIT.EDU
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 91 17:44:52 EDT
From: jyoo@elbereth.rutgers.edu (J-S Yoo)
Subject: dBase III Plus - Labels and User Drfined Functions
Hi,
1. Label printing:
I tried printing labels using the
built-in label definitions. Does the printer normally advances 3 lines
before printing the first label?
[I THINK the program tries to vertically CENTER the text on the label.]
If so, how do we align the paper? [I've found the trial and error method
to be best.] It
seemed that the starting positions of label on each page is off a bit
so that after several pages of printing, some labels are on the
perforation line. I want to have a certain number of labels printed on
each page as everybody (I guess) want to. I tried the label printing
on Epson's LQ-1000.
2. Use of user-defined function:
How can I use a user-defined
functions within dBase? What I like to do is to transform the lunar
date to the solar date.
Many thanks.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1991 23:30:00 GMT
From: mig@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Meir)
Subject: Problems with programs
Why would certain sound programs such as sounder and sndtool not work
well, sounding unusably noisy (static/scratchy), while others like
remac and replay sound very good? In particular, I would like to get
sndtool to work on my Packard Bell 286/12.
Are there any free or shareware mac-like icon-based file-system
interfaces for the IBM? I saw one for windows (can't recall the name)
but it gave me the not enough memory error on my 1 Meg machine.
When I try to run Windows in standard mode, I encounter a strange
problem. As soon as a touch the mouse (a logitech PS/2), the cursor
leaps to the edge of the screen, and jumps all over the edge of the
screen whenever I try to move it. Is this a bug in Windows or in my
computer? What should I do about it? Windows runs perfectly in real
mode, until I remove smartdrv from extended memory. Then real mode
exhibits the same problem. In other words, I can run in real mode with
smartdrv taking up all extended memory (384K). I can run in real mode
with smartdrv taking only some of extended memory, but standard mode
exhibits this mouse bug.
So; how can I run in standard mode?
Meir Green
(Internet) mig@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu
meir@msb.com mig@asteroids.cs.columbia.edu
(Amateur Radio) N2JPG
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 91 09:30:19 EDT
From: Maria Mercedes Gutierrez de Guzman <guzman-maria@CS.YALE.EDU>
Subject: Scheduling program for PC
Can someone tell me if there is a nice scheduling program for IBM PCs
that will do some sort of PERT/CPM on the schedule. What I really one
is to give the program a list of persons, a list of tasks and a set of
dates for which those task need to be fullfilled. In addition I want
to be able to say: person x can only work xyz% time during those dates.
Help please!!
Maria M. Guzman
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest V91 #161
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