Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL ("Info-IBMPC Digest") (06/23/91)
Info-IBMPC Digest Sun, 23 Jun 91 Volume 91 : Issue 160
Today's Editor:
Gregory Hicks - Rota Spain <GHICKS@WSMR-Simtel20.Army.Mil>
Today's Topics:
Any news about MS-DOS 5.0?
sending key strokes from within a program (2 msgs)
GPSS Available for Purchase
Turning PCs On and Off (V91 #144)
Problem with DOS 3.2 and larger disks (V91 #140)
Unix > DOS (V91 #143)
looking for updated COMMCALL.PAS or Author
Size of files
UNIX > DOS (V91 #143)
Listing of BBSs (2 msgs)
Today's Queries:
Fix for bug in TurboPascal 6.0?
Quattro Pro 3.0 label problem
SCSI Tape Connection Problems
Booting from the B: Drive
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Date: Sat, 15 Jun 91 17:40:59 IST
From: Nir Nathansohn <NIRN%TAUNIVM.BITNET@uga.cc.uga.edu>
Subject: Any news about MS-DOS 5.0?
Yes, MS-DOD 5.0 worth the upgrade price... IF you need what it offers.
The most attractive feature, as I see it, is the ability to load most
DOS resident part in high memory (above 1024 KB). According to the DOS
manual, it leaves you up to 621K of low ram free on 286/386/486/586.
But if you already use QEMM or 386max as your memory manager, and 4DOS
as your command processor, you already have a better combination:Much
better memory management than offered by DOS 5 and a better command
processor than COMMAND.COM.
The other additives are improved graphical shell (but Norton Commander
is better), onlinehelp (4DOS is better), full screen editor (QEDIT, PE2
etc), undelete/unformat/command line editor (all available as
commercial, shareware or freeware and are as good as the DOS utility).
One little point more- it allows you to use disk partitions of up to 2
GB (giga bytes) without using SHARE.
To conclude- Microsoft has made a step in the right direction, and it
worth the $39 for upgrade. But the main reason I did buy it is that
this is going to be THE STANDART DOS for quite a while now, and you can
expact more and more programs supporting it. Which means that if YOU
write a program, you can't allow yourself not to support DOS 5. If you
are looking in the details and not at the whole picture, you can do
quite well with DOS 3.3 plus a few commercial or shareware utilities
you probably already have.
Nir Nathansohn
nirn@taunivm nirn@taunivm.tau.ac.il
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Date: Mon, 17 Jun 91 17:31 EST
From: Michael Gordon <GORDONM@MAX.CC.DENISON.EDU>
Subject: changing speed
>From: KUMAR@ENTO.TAMU.EDU
>Subject: sending key strokes from within a program
> 1.) I have a laserwriter+ connected to my 486 through an Appletops
>card. Since this 486 is too fast for the card to handle, whenever I
>have to print something, I have to slow down my system ( by pressing
>ALT + CNTL + MINUS). After the printing is over, I can get back the
>original performance of the system by pressing ALT + CNTL + PLUS.
> I would like to create a batch file which will take care of these
>three operations. Does anyone know how I can send these keyboard signal
>to the computer through a batch file?
Some computers, e.g., EPSONs, come with a program (e.g., ESPEED), which
changes speed. I don't know whether they would work on "alien"
machines, but it might be worth trying. I think you'll have difficulty
finding a batch file to send these keystrokes, I tried to find a
program (~key-fake) to send the ALT + CTRL + F1/F2 keystrokes (for the
KEYB command) and found that the ATL +CTRL combo is very special.
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
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Date: Mon, 17 Jun 91 20:37:03 PDT
From: raymond@math.berkeley.edu (Raymond Chen)
Subject: sending key strokes from within a program
In Info-IBMPC Digest V91 #143, KUMAR@ENTO.TAMU.EDU asks for a way to
simulate the Alt-Ctrl-KeypadMinus key that changes his CPU speed.
Such key codes are trapped by the BIOS and interpreted at a very low
level. Moreover, each BIOS does something different when it encounters
the keystroke, corresponding to the different ways of changing the CPU
speed for different motherboards. Some motherboards control the CPU
speed through bit 2 of port 061h. One day I traced through my BIOS and
figured out that a complex combination of port I/O and timing loops was
necessary. If you're lucky, your motherboard manual will tell you what
is necessary for your machine. If you're unlucky, you'll have to sit
down with a pencil and paper and type `u' at DEBUG.COM for a while.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 91 17:45:47 PDT
From: frank@mars.odetics.com (Frank Merrow)
Subject: GPSS Available for Purchase
There was recently an inquiry about GPSS in your DIGEST. It took me a
while to fetch the information from home, but I thought your orignal
reader might be interested to know that there is a professionally
maintained GPSS available on a bunch of platforms. I ran into Dave
Martin and Simulation Software Ltd some years ago and used his (their?)
product on a DG machine. Support was excellent.
David Martin
Simulation Software LTD
760 Headley Drive
London, Ontario, Canada N6H 3V8
1-519-657-8229
or Telex 064-78585 LDN
Last I knew Dave was supporting DG, PC (DOS), VAX, Several Flavors of
Unix and a bunch of other CPUs. To my knowledge Dave is not Usenet
connected, but my guess is that he could be (if customers asked) since
as I recall he was loosely associated with some University in Canada.
Frank Merrow
frank@odetics.com
uunet!odetics!frank
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Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1991 11:42:02 PDT
From: George_C._Burkitt.El_Segundo@xerox.com
Subject: Turning PCs On and Off (V91 #144)
>Date: 31 May 91 07:00:00 CST
>From: "384BMWMAMAC" <384BMWMAMAC@sacemnet.af.mil>
My idea of power down is as follows:
1. If you use the controller every day, leave it on.
2. If you use it 5 weekdays / week, turn it off Fri PM, on Mon AM.
3. In general, for periods of disuse over 24 hours, turn it off,
less than 24 hours, leave it on.
I lost two hard drives in less than a year doing the daily power
down bit, so I got conservative. My employer directed us to power
down daily to reduce electricity costs, but the professional costs
were too high for me.
If you are in an area where power disturbances are common and you have
no line protection, I would recommend that you leave the power off
except when in actual use. (Obviously, I recommend power line
protection in every case.)
My opinion is that if I turn the computer ON, it stays on if I
anticipate using it again within the next 24 hours or so. It goes off
for weekends, vacations and trips.
At home, if I turn it ON, I leave it on until I am sure I won't be
using it again that day (or go to bed, whichever comes sooner) ...
otherwise it would stay on until I go back into the room again, maybe
several days.
[In addition to the things George mentions, I ALWAYS park the heads on
my 20Mb Seagate and Tandon drives before I power them down. I've had
the Tandon (running!) since '85 without problems. gph]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 1991 13:07:51 PDT
From: George_C._Burkitt.El_Segundo@xerox.com
Subject: Problem with DOS 3.2 and larger disks (V91 #140)
>Date: Tue, 28 May 91 15:16:38 -0700
>From: steveh@mips.com (Stephen C. Hill)
AS I remember, my xt only allowed two hard disk drives. Whether your
setup has the same limitations, I don't know, but if so it could be
either the controller or the motherboard. Check the paperwork for them
both for info on how to set up the switches for more than two drives.
It may be that the motherboard has some limits ...
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Date: Mon, 17 Jun 91 15:53:14 EDT
From: rachiele@NADC.NADC.NAVY.MIL
Subject: Unix > DOS (V91 #143)
cat@buast9.bu.edu (James Howard) writes in Info-IBMPC Digest V91 #143:
>I have attempted, though anonymous ftp, to get files for my IBM, but I
>can never quite get them to work. I use ftp to transfer files (as
>binary files) to my UNIX account, and then I use kermit to transfer
>them to my PC. I have tried several sites, including SIMTEL, and tried
>getting everything from gif to exe to zip files, but they always have
>errors in them when I try to use them. ASCII files transfer ok. Is
>there something else I need to do?
>[After you start Kermit on the Unix machine, do you SET FILE TYPE
>BINARY? (or whatever your system equivalent is?) gph]
Also, you need to type "bin" as an FTP command before you do the "get"
to tell FTP they are binary files. If you check the length in bytes on
the FTP host, the unix machine, and the pc, they should be all the
same, otherwise you most likely forgot one of the binary switches.
(There is another way to get FTP into binary mode, two commands in
combination, but I forget it.)
jr
------------------------------
Date: 17 Jun 91 04:01:30 GMT
From: u5533129@ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au
Subject: looking for updated COMMCALL.PAS or Alan Bishop
Comment: Forwarded by Keith Petersen
On SIMTEL there is some Turbo Pascal v3.0 code in a file called
COMMCALL.ARC, written by Alan Bishop. It seems to work well. I also
have the source of a terminal emulator, written by one Steve Nutt,
which uses Alan Bishop's code.
I have put a lot of work into modifying Steve's terminal emulator, and
now want to port it to a later version of Turbo Pascal. Unfotunately,
Alan's stuff is won't compile under later versions of TP. (It makes
extensive use of the * operator in inline code).
Has anyone been through the exercise of rewriting the code in COMMCALL
for later versions of Turbo Pascal?
Alternatively, can anyone tell me where I might contact Alan? The last
address I have for him is bishop@ecsvax. I don't seem to get any
response when I send mail there.
Many Thanks,
Peter Summers
u5533129@ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 17 JUN 91 15:41:21 BST
From: CHAA006@vax.rhbnc.ac.uk
Subject: Size of files
Keith ---
>>> This file was obtained directly from the author's BBS. I did not
>>> repack it, although I was tempted to break it into two ZIPs because of
>>> the size: 602349 bytes. Complaints about this to the author, please,
>>> not to me.
To be quite honest, I at least prefer one large file to many small
files. Interactive InterNet FTP is a pain, and the fewer commands I
have to issue, the better I like it. Within the U.K., I regularly put
up multi-megabyte files for NIFTP. A negative complaint, in fact ! **
Phil.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 1991 17:04:42 GMT
From: twilson@ccs.carleton.ca (Tom Wilson)
Subject: UNIX > DOS (V91 #143)
In digest V91 #143 Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.mil writes:
>I have attempted, though anonymous ftp, to get files for my IBM, but I
>can never quite get them to work. I use ftp to transfer files (as
>binary files) to my UNIX account, and then I use kermit to transfer
>them to my PC. I have tried several sites, including SIMTEL, and tried
>getting everything from gif to exe to zip files, but they always have
>errors in them when I try to use them. ASCII files transfer ok. Is
>there something else I need to do?
>James Howard
>[After you start Kermit on the Unix machine, do you SET FILE TYPE
>BINARY? (or whatever your system equivalent is?) gph]
ABSOLUTELY!!! Set file type to binary, and it should work OK.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 91 18:07:24 -0700
From: cspatgen@ch3.intel.com (Chris Spatgen)
Subject: Listing of BBSs
Greetings,
I am trying to locate a network/BBS where I live (Arizona) that I can
connect to SIMTEL 20. I know about Detroit Download Central. What I
am interested in is locating a network/BBS that I can gain access to
SIMTEL 20 in the Southwest Region of the U.S. I do not mind giving
money to a network/BBS, But I refuse to give money to the Phone Company
for Long Distance Charges!!!!
If anyone knows any network/BBS numbers. Please let me know.
Thank You,
Chris Spatgen
CSPATGEN@CH3.INTEL.COM
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Date: Tue, 18 Jun 91 00:52:58 MDT
From: Gregory Hicks <GHICKS@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: Listing of BBSs
Chris:
I don't have the info you request, but I looked through the file
PD1:<MSDOS>SIMIBM.IDX and found the following files that might give you
what you want:
PD1:<MSDOS.BBSLISTS>
800NUM2.ZIP Toll-free 800 BBS numbers as of July 1990
96BB0191.ZIP World-wide 9600+ bps BBS list for JAN 91
AAAREAD.ME Information about the files in this directory
BBS0291.ZIP 'THELIST' national BBS list for Feb. 1991
DTPBBS.ZIP List of Desktop Publishing BBS Sept. 1990
GOVT91.ZIP Listing of government-run bulletin boards
HCAP1290.ZIP Handicap/disability related BBS list (12/90)
USBBS80.ZIP Darwin's nationwide IBM BBS listing: 01/01/91
USBBSED1.ZIP Convert USBBS list to comma-delimited text
WCLIST3.ZIP List of 2000+ public BBSs world-wide Jan '91
You might also investigate the current issue and/or the previous issue
of Computer shopper. I understand that every other issue, they run a
list of BBS's sorted by state/area code.
Regards,
Gregory Hicks
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Date: Mon, 17 Jun 91 00:53:26 MEZ
From: "Gisbert W.Selke" <S00100%DBNRHRZ1.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Fix for bug in TurboPascal 6.0?
Apparently, there is a bug in the built-in assembler of TurboPascal 6.0
related to the DD directive, or so I recall from an article in a German
magazine, in which Anders Hejlsberg (Borland) acknowledged it and
talked of it being fixed in release 6.01. Since this bug has possibly
catastrophic consequences, I'd be interested in the fix. How do I go
about getting it? Has a patch been published?
\Gisbert <s00100@dbnrhrz1.bitnet> WIdO, Bonn, Germany
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 91 00:46:45 MEZ
From: "Gisbert W.Selke" <S00100%DBNRHRZ1.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Quattro Pro 3.0 label problem
I have just installed Quattro Pro 3.0 (German version), and it seems a
bug has survived from version 2.0: In graphics, you are supposed to be
able to position internal labels above/left/right/under/within, say, a
bar. However, the only position you do get is *above*, no matter what
you specify.
Borland (Germany) has acknowledged this bug (for version 2.0). Now,
has anybody heard of a fix? Or a work-around?
Alternatively, I think I recall Borland was accessible from the
Internet somehow, but I can't seem to find their address in my notes.
Could anyone, please, mail it to me?
Thanks a lot,
\Gisbert <s00100@dbnrhrz1.bitnet> WIdO, Bonn, Germany
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Date: Mon, 17 Jun 91 09:44:40 PDT
From: Tom_Felton@mtsg.ubc.ca
Subject: SCSI Tape Connection Problems
I am having problems connecting an Emulex MT02 SCSI tape to an
Adaptec AHA-1522 SCSI controller in my PC. Emulex and Adaptec have
both been no help. I have tryed all the obvious things like
simplifying my autoexec.bat and config.sys to a minimum setup, changing
SCSI cables and changing the SCSI termination configuration. The tape
unit works fine when connected to a number of Sun systems. On power up
the tape moves forward and reverse but the Adaptec software driver is
unable to recognize the Emulex tape is connected to the bus and
therefore my tape software won't run.
Does anyone else out there use a similar setup? Does anyone have any
idea why this isn't working?
I'm about to give up on this setup. Would anyone care to comment on
which SCSI tape units they have hooked up to PC's or would I be better
off to forget the SCSI bus and use something like an Irwin tape drive
for backup.
If you would E-mail me directly I will summarize to the net. Thanks.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 91 21:54:36 BST
From: MD2RJH%IBM.SHEFFIELD.AC.UK@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Booting from the B: Drive
Dear All,
Can anyone help me? I am using a VIG II, PC clone, with a HD 3.50" a:
drive and a 5.25" b: drive. Currently it attempto to boot from the a:
drive and then the hard drive. I should like to be able to boot it from
a 5.25" disk on the b: drive, but don't know how. Any ideas?
Yours Richard Hillier
md2rjh@uk.ac.shef.ibm
[As much as I hate to say this, unless you install a floppy driver
similar to the one provided with the SOTA Fplooy I/O Plus, I don't
think this is possible. However, if you are using an AT or higher
computer, you SHOULD be able to designate the boot device in the CMOS
setup. gph]
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End of Info-IBMPC Digest V91 #160
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