Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL ("Info-IBMPC Digest") (06/18/91)
Info-IBMPC Digest Mon, 17 Jun 91 Volume 91 : Issue 146
Today's Editor:
Gregory Hicks - Rota Spain <GHICKS@WSMR-Simtel20.Army.Mil>
Today's Topics:
BITFTP
Bugs and OS/2
Caps lock
Capslock via software
COM ports & IRQs (v91, #128)
Documented DrivParm Command (V91 #131) (was Re: DRIVPARM)
DOS directory musings
Hard time getting DIR connect to work
Aproria Object Oriented Desktop help
Public Domain OCR Program available?
English/Hebrew word processors (V91 #130)
Perstor ARLL dick controller
PostScript Interpreter Info
Problems with VEGA V7 graphics card.
Ramdisk Suggestions Wanted
IDRIS1 or IDRISI Geographical Info System request
Running DOS applications under Windows (#128)
UUDECODE problems (2 msgs)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 91 10:03 MET
From: Adriano Santoni <SANTONI@IMIMNVX.IRFMN.MNEGRI.IT>
Subject: BITFTP
Hello, there! I used to download SIMTEL20 software through BITFTP, the
one in Princeton, I mean. Now, BITFTP@PUCC.PRINCETON.EDU says that it
cannot forward files to this area anymore, due to some kind of network
problem or change. Does anybody know what other similar system exist
(if any) that can be used from this area (northern Italy). We are
connected to an InterNet node in Pisa. Thank you very much for any
suggestions.
\\\ Adriano Santoni ///
santoni @ imimnvx.irfmn.mnegri.it
Unita' di Biomatematica
Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche IRFMN
Milano - ITALY
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 91 08:03:23 EDT
From: gary@ctc.contel.com (Gary Bisaga x4219)
Subject: Bugs and OS/2
Steven V. Christiansen writes:
>Bertram G. Moshier 612/683-5419 <bgm@gallipolis.cray.com> writes:
>>I picked this report up off the OS/2 shareware BBS (703)-385-4325 or
>>(703)-385-0931. It is FYI: (I am not sure who wrote this).
>> b. DOS is not powerful enough or reliable enough to serve as the
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>platform for the new advances in products and applications.
>Ahem, I take exception to this. IMHO I have not seen a real "bug" in
>DOS for a long time (ever, I think). Have there been any?
>[IMHO - and I do mean humble - I have seen several... gph]
A bug in an operating system? My gosh! I imagine there will be no
bugs in OS/2, right? Just like there are no bugs in Microsoft C V6.0?
I am not picking on Microsoft here, it's just that everything has bugs.
(I sometimes shudder to think that the software that I use is written
by people like *me* <B^).
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 91 12:34:45 EDT
From: moy@xp.psych.nyu.edu ()
Subject: Caps lock
Changing the CAPS lock state is easy. The following program shows how
this can be done in BASIC.
10 'Change CAPS Lock state
15 '
20 DEF SEG=&H0 'BIOS
30 KBSTATUS%=&H417 ' keyboard status byte
40 CAPSLOCK%=&H40 'Caps lock is bit #6
50 '
60 'Un-comment appropriate statement below for action desired
70 'POKE KBSTATUS%, PEEK(KBSTATUS%) OR CAPSLOCK% 'Set bit on
80 'POKE KBSTATUS%, PEEK(KBSTATUS%) XOR CAPSLOCK% 'Toggle bit
90 'POKE KBSTATUS%, PEEK(KBSTATUS%) AND (NOT CAPSLOCK%) 'Set bit off
100 END
This can be done more elegantly using assembly language, or by using
DEBUG with a script file.
Moy Wong, Dept. of Psychology, New York University
------------------------------
Date: Mon Jun 3 13:06:19 BST 1991
From: Mike O'Carroll <mike@elec-eng.leeds.ac.uk>
Subject: Capslock via software
> Does anyone out there know where I can get a program which will change
> the CAPSLOCK state via software; i.e. from within a batch file?
This came up a while ago with regard to the numlock key. I think there
is something in the simtel archives, but a couple of xxencoded progs
follow for you to try.
Mike O'Carroll, Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering,
The University, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
E-mail: @ukc.ac.uk:mike@ee.leeds[.ac.uk]
uucp: ...!mcsun!ukc!lena!mike OR mike@lena.uucp
earn: mike%ee.leeds@earn-relay.ac.uk
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 91 11:39:39 EDT
From: moy@xp.psych.nyu.edu ()
Subject: COM ports & IRQs (v91, #128)
Don't use IRQ14--it's used by the hard disk. You may be able to use
IRQ2, which is usually used by a network adapter.
You have to reserve IRQ lines for something like a mouse since its
interrupt handler has to be able to handle an outside event (namely,
mouse activity) at any time, unlike those for the COM ports, which are
normally used one at a time in DOS. For a serial-port-based network
connection on a regular COM port, the IRQ for that port must not be
shared either, since activity on that port can occur at any time. The
key is that such events on a PC are serviced by hardware interrupts,
and whether events need to be serviced *any time they occur.*
By the way, the COMx device name designation is really applied by DOS,
and follows a convention. In DOS 3.xx and below, there are only COM1
and COM2, which occupy 3F8-3FFh and 2F8-2FFh in I/O space, and IRQ4 and
IRQ3, respectively. In later versions, COM3 and COM4 use 2E8-2EFh and
2E0-2E7h and IRQ4 and IRQ3, respectively. You might choose to use 2E8h
and IRQ2 for a serial port, for example, but you could not correctly
call that "COM3."
Resolving conflicts is usually a matter of keeping I/O addresses
unique, and in your case, the IRQs unique as well. Some bus adapters
will allow just such a choice to be made. However, some serial
adapters may be very limited as to the choice of IRQs.
Moy Wong - Dept. of Psychology, New York University
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 03 Jun 91 10:54:55 CST
From: Brad Thone <C09615BT@WUVMD.Wustl.Edu>
Subject: Documented DrivParm Command (V91 #131) (was Re: DRIVPARM)
#Date: Mon, 20 MAY 91 12:48:37 BST
#From: CHAA006@vax.rhbnc.ac.uk
#>>> there is so much talking about the undocumented DRIVPARM function in
#>>> DOS. Maybe someone could 'document ' it for us mortals and describe
#>>> properly the usage? THANKS
#DRIVPARM - modify the parameters of an existing physical disc drive
#This command allows the modification of parameters associated with
#existing block devices, overriding the default MSDOS values. To add a
#new device, use DRIVER.SYS
#COMMAND TYPE: System configuration VERSION: 4.0 and up
#USE: DRIVPARM=/d:number [/c][/f:factor][/h:heads][/i][/n][/s:sectors]
#/d:number declares the physical drive to be used (acceptable range 0-255)
# where 0=A:, 1=B: etc.
#/c indicates that drive referenced has door-open detection available
#/f:factor specifies the form factor (drive type) from the list below
# 0 = 160/180/320/360 kbytes 1 = 1.2 Mb
# 2 = 720 kb (3.5") 5 = fixed hard disc
# 6 = tape drive 7 = 1.44 Mb (3.5")
# The default values for the following options depend on the value
# given to /f
#/h:heads -heads is number of heads (1-99)
#/i specifies an electrically compatible 3.5" drive. Such a drive is
# connected to the existing floppy disc controller as drive A: or
# B:. Use this switch if the ROM bios does not support 3.5" drives
# directly
#/n specifies a none-removable block device
#/s:sectors - sectors is the number of sectors per track (1-9)
#/t:tracks - tracks is the number of tracks per side (1-999)
#
#NOTE: This command can only be used in CONFIG.SYS
#
#SEE ALSO: DRIVER.SYS
In the /f FORM FACTOR parameter, it states that 7 = 1.44M 3.5" drive.
A 3.5" 1.44M drive has: 80 tracks, 18 sectors per track, 2 heads.
How can it be that the /s SECTORS parameter supports only up to 9
sectors per track AND DRIVPARM supports a 1.44M drive?
Seems somewhat impossible to me.
Brad Thone | BITNET: C09615BT@WUVMD.BITNET
Educational Computing Services | INTERNET: C09615BT@WUVMD.WUSTL.EDU
Washington University in St. Louis | USMAIL: One Brookings Drive
St. Louis, MO USA | Campus Box 1221
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 04 Jun 91 03:07:00 MEZ
From: "Gisbert W.Selke" <S00100%DBNRHRZ1.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: DOS directory musings
We are currently building an application that seemingly requires us to
have a directory filled that, in its turn, contains *many*
subdirectories (1500+), each of which contains 3 files which are to be
processed by SPSS. The access times drastically increase with the
relative position of the subdirectory within the directory; a study
that was prepared by one of my colleagues (Joachim Wannhoff) produced
the following graph: x axis is the number of the subdirectory, y axis
shows the (relative) time to open a file in the subdirectory:
1300 |
1280 |. : 1 occurrence
1260 | .o : 2 occurrences
1240 |x: 3 occurrences
1220 | .*: 4+occurrences
1200 |
1180 |
1160 | .
1140 | . ...
1120 |
1100 | . . x**
1080 |
1060 | . ... **.
1040 | .xo. .*o***
1020 |
1000 | . .* x.x*x***** .
980 | .o. o. .o.
960 |
940 | .oxo************.
920 |
900 |
880 | oo o.oo.x.xx**x*o . ..
860 |
840 | xo.o******x
820 | o.oox*o******
800 |
780 | . . .o.********o*
760 | ..x xoo.
740 |
720 | x.o.****oox.
700 |
680 |
660 | .***********
640 |
620 | . .*x. xo
600 | ***.x*oo.
580 |
560 | .o
540 |
520 |
500 |. . . .. o.
480 |
460 |
440 |.x..*xx.x***
420 |
400 |o*********o
380 |x**********
360 |
340 |.o*oox**x**
320 |.. . .
300 |
280 |
260 |
240 |
220 |
200 |
180 |
160 |
140 |
120 |
100 |
80 |
60 |
40 |
20 |
0 |
+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Now, there are some regularities here. Times increase not continuously
but in discernible steps. Within each of the groups thus defined, there
are several clearly discernible strands. And there are runaway times
near to the beginning of each of the groups.
Now, what are the reasons for these effects? I imagine that one
directory block on disk can contain only so-and-so-many entries; to
reach entries further down, more directory blocks need to be read in
from disk. So that's why there are groups. But what bout the other two
features?
And, more importantly, is there a (standard DOS) way around this
tremendous increase in time? Since we are designing the package, we are
free to change the directory-cum-many-subdir tactics. But how? (SPSS
must still be able to find its files, so one gigantic indexed file will
not do.)(Yes, I know we would profit from a large disk cache. But we
are providing our branch institutions with this, and we can't expect
people there even to have heard the word 'cache', let alone to be able
to buy and install one.)
For the curious, here is a quiz: How long does it take to remove some
9500 subdirectories each of which contains one smallish file, using an
appropriate batch file? Answer: some 5 hours. (80386/33MHz/171 MB
disk/15 ms). One more question: The largest raw data file to be
handled by SPSS was some 9.8 MB in length. Trying to read and convert
it to an SPSS file bailed out - 'not enough disk space left', and I had
started at 95 MB (!). The temporary SPSS file SPSS.SY2 alone had
apparently 43MB. Well, then: does anyone know of an (even rough and
ready) formula to calculate SPSS's needs for space?
Thanks to all,
\Gisbert <s00100@dbnrhrz1.bitnet> WIdO, Bonn, Germany
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 91 18:08 U
From: HARISH%ITIVAX.BITNET@clvm.clarkson.edu
Subject: Hard time getting DIR connect to work
Folks -
Hi. 3 things. In ver 1.10, I don't seem to be able to get the DIR
connection to work. DIR.MDM seems to be incomplete. I added some
fields as is shown below. Looks like more things are missing. Any
suggestions?
DIR.MDM ----
CharDelay=2
Connect="" // added this line
Device=COM1
DialPrefix="" // changed from \r\c to ""
InSpeed=9600
Ring="" // added this line
---EOF---
On WinUUPC, my plan was to first build a windows-based mail reader and
then tackle the other things. Will keep you posted as things progress.
Wish list: A news server/reader would be nice. rnews, as is, merely
picks up news. Anyone know of a PC-based news server/reader? Send
replies to the list rather than to me :-). I know of WinQVT/Net but it
is a NNTP client. It is a swell shareware winapp. WinQVT/Net works on
TCP/IP+Win3+ PacketDrivers and is on cica.cica.indiana.edu under
/pub/pc/win3/util (I think) and called QVTNET16.ZIP.
Enjoy.
Harish Pillay harish@itivax.bitnet
CSA Research Pte Ltd
Singapore
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 03 Jun 91 16:14:27 GMT
From: Gideon <K042240%CZHRZU1A@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
Subject: Aproria Object Oriented Desktop help
Do you know of Aproria Object-oriented Desktop ?
I learned it requires windows and it is on Compuserve (go PCMAG).
I got this info from a friend and I will be grateful if you can enlighten
me on that. Cause I have no access to Compuserve.
Thanks
Gideon
[If this in on Compuserve, you have two choices:
1. Become a subscriber to Compuserve. Compuserve is not available for
FTP from the Internet. The only access we have is E-Mail service to
the Compuserve clients.
2. Find someone who is willing to download this for you.
Regrets, but I can't give any better info. gph]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 03 Jun 91 13:55:07 EST
From: Manjit Trehan <ITMS400@INDYCMS.IUPUI.EDU>
Subject: Public Domain OCR Program available?
Does anyone know of a public domain OCR program? How about any books
on the subject?
. Manjit Trehan version 1.0 ITMS400@INDYCMS .
. Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI) .
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 91 16:41:45 +0300
From: Shahar Steiff <cerrlss@techunix.technion.ac.il>
Subject: English/Hebrew word processors (V91 #130)
> Date: Sat, 18 May 91 17:46:22 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Mario Castelou Goertzel <mg2p+@andrew.cmu.edu>
> I have a friend who needs to write a dissertation in both Hebrew and
> English. She is planning on purchasing a new computer, either a mac or
> pc compatible. I need information on English/Hebrew word processors
> for both systems. I'm particularly interested in how the English and
> Hebrew integrate, printing and system compatibility.
For the Mac:
Rav-Ktav is considered one of the most popular BiLingual WPs. There is
a Hebrew version of the Mac operating system. Rev. 6.0.3 is the latest
I beleive. The Hebrew fonts are built into the computer, so any mac can
do. Switching between the two languages is done by clicking a key,
Justification to the Right or to the left is by means of an online
menu, mixed language ducuments are easy and straight forward to make.
Latest version is 1.5, but it doesn't differ much from the (cracked)
version 1.3. Needs a Key diskette .
For the PC: There are quite a few. If you want a text mode WP I would
recommend either QTEXT (last vers. 3.8) or Alef-Bet (Last Vers. 5.5).
They are both the nearest to WYSIWYG as you can get in TEXT mode. QTEXT
is easy to use and learn, copy protected by a phisical key, plugged to
the printer socket. Alef-Bet is a little heavier, but can handle larger
files, and has some more features. Copy protected by means of software.
In both WP you can define Hebrew or English rulers, which change the
language according to the direction of the ruler. Pushing hebrew in an
english ruler, and vice versa, is easy to do.
The problem : Your computer must be able to show hebrew characters in
text mode. On MCGA,VGA,EGA you can load a hebrew code page, but on CGA
and HERCULES or Monochrome cards, you must have the hebrew characters
burned into your card's rom, which means youl'l probably have to buy
your card in Israel...
Printing is even a bigger problem, because your printer must have
hebrew in it as well, regardless of your graphics card. Hebrw chips are
available (and expensive) in Israel, for most printers. Note that some
printers have the option of using downloadable fonts. I have a file
that will download hebrew to a Panasonic printer, and most probably to
other EPSON compatibles as well.
Laser printers need the hebrew fonts as well, some fonts are available
to HP and compatibles.
Graphical WP: There is a new WP named OREN, works on HERCULES,
MCGA,EGA, VGA. Needs no hebrew code page or chip (Graphics mode,
remember???) the main problem is that it is a bit bogus. Hopefully the
coming versions will be more solid. The OREN is a scientific WP, which
means it can handle formulas and mathematical signs easily (actually,
much easier than in latin WP I know.). It also has a limmited anotator,
and the best part: It can load TIFF graphics and combine them in your
text. supports matrix and laser printers, needs no hebrew chip
installed in the printer, and no fonts on your laser.
Shahar.
* Shahar Steiff * Dept. of Chem.Eng., Technion IIT, Haifa, ISRAEL *
* Phone:(+)972-4-293420 Fax.(+)972-4-292850 TLX:45182 PALRAM IL *
* E-Mail:cerrlss@techunix.technion.ac.il cetek63@technion.bitnet *
* Snail-Mail: Kibbutz Ramat-Yochanan, 30035, Israel Tel. 04-459536 *
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 1991 14:36 IST
From: Freund <HCUFE%HUJIVM1@TAUNIVM.TAU.AC.IL>
Subject: Perstor ARLL dick controller
I have recently installed a Perstor ARLL HD controller in my computer.
The controller doubled my MFM hard disk space from 40MB to 79MB
(formated) and the accsess time changed from ~28MS to ~17MS. The
controller seems to work fine under DOS, but DESQview hangs, and
communications sometimes seems to get stuck. The dealer who sold me
the controller refused to take it back, and Perstor address I have
seems wrong or out dated. Has anyone had any experiance with this
controller? The DSZ manual has a short refarence to this controller,
saying Perstor controlers are incompatible with DSZ, and that Perstor
has a fix.
Any information will be most welcome.
Thanks
Gil Freund
------------------------------
Date: 3 Jun 91 10:34:00 EDT
From: "Raymond P. Pichulo" <pichulor@v3.hanscom.af.mil>
Subject: PostScript Interpreter Info
In reply to Scott Myers posting in a previous digest..
>I see ads for many
>different emulators (GoScript, Freedom of the Press, etc.). I would
>appreciate any feed back of experience with any of these packages
>(including ones not listed I may not know about). Thanx in advance.
Let me preface this with a disclaimer. I did the documentation for
Custom Applications Inc (Freedom of Press), but as an outside
contractor. However I may still be biased.
I have been using Freedom of Press for well over two years with never a
problem. I have no experience with any others so can't compare it with
them. However all of the reviews I have seen have rated Freedom equal
to or above LaserGO and GoScript and the others re speed, quality of
output, ability to handle complex graphics, etc. The printer I use it
with is a Ricoh 6000 emulating a laserjet. I use it with Ventura
Publisher, Arts & Letters and occasionally MS Word. In two years of
fairly heavy use, I can honestly say that I have never had a file it
didn't print. I have used it on a 286 and a 386..it works better on
the 386 and also works better with a coprocessor; however you don't
need the coprocessor for it to work.
As far as printer support goes, there is probably not a printer that
FOP won't support. They have a Professional version that supports just
about everything including the Canon CLC 500 laser copier. There are
several versions out, including one called Freedom of Press Light,
which is a response to to LaserGo's (or somebody else's) 13-outline
font version. The light version goes for about $75 (street price) and
the full 35-font version goes for about $225 on the street.
Just as an aside, there are several versions of Freedom of Press out
now..in addition to the PC version, there is a Macintosh version, and a
UNIX version.
hope this helps
Ray
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 91 07:53:37 BST
From: dit@aberdeen.ac.uk
Subject: Problems with VEGA V7 graphics card.
I recently purchased a VEGA V7 VGA graphics card for my Apricot 386 PC
compatable. It works fine most of the time, but sometimes enters a
state where no text is displayed and graphics is displayed as partial
vertical stripes.
This seemed to be related to the printer; checking the manuals (all
else had failed) revealed both the V7 and the internal parallel port
used the same address range. I diabled the internal parallel port, but
the problem persists. Further checking revealed the V7 uses IRQ2, which
according to my PCs manuals is used internally, and is not available to
the outside world.
Q. Is this the cause of the problem. Is IRQ2 usually used internally by
PCs, or is this yet another of the Apricots incompatabilities. Can
anyone suggest anything to try, other than junking the card and trying
another (or will the same thing probably happen again)?
Thanks for any and all replies.
__
David Tock dit@uk.ac.aberdeen.kc / \ /
Department of Mathematical Sciences / / __ __o __/
University of Aberdeen /___/_(_<_/\/ /_/_/
------------------------------
Date: 3 Jun 91 00:58:54 GMT
From: joerg@bdc.ubc.ca (Joerg Messer)
Subject: Ramdisk Suggestions Wanted
Keywords: ibm pc ramdisk
Summary: Need suggestions for good PD ramdisk software.
Could someone suggest a good PD ramdisk? It's been a while since I've
used such a beast and I'd be interested to know what's currently being
favoured. Thanks.
Joerg Messer | Email: joerg@bdc.ubc.ca
Department of Zoology | joerg@nexus.bdc.ubc.ca (NeXT)
University of British Columbia | Phone: 604-228-6527
Vancouver, Canada, V6T 1W5 | Fax: 604-228-2416
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 03 Jun 91 10:46:41
From: PR2JBC@primea.sheffield.ac.uk
Subject: IDRIS1 or IDRISI Geographical Info System request
Does anyone know of the IDRIS1 or IDRISI Geographical Information
System Package for the PC? I'd be grateful for any known contact
details or where to get it. I keep getting odd email leads but no
replies, help!
Joe Claxton
pr2jbc@uk.ac.sheffield.prime
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 91 01:10:15 -0700
From: tkennedy@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Todd Michael Kennedy)
Subject: Running DOS applications under Windows (#128)
>Date: Fri, 17 May 91 08:35:56 UCR
>From: "Mario A. Guerra" <MGUERRA%UCRVM2@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
>If I try to run a normal DOS application in a window, Windows refuses
>to do that and displays a message stating that I have to put the app in
>full screen mode in the foreground.
What kind of DOS application is it? If you are trying to run a program
that uses any kind of graphics, it will NOT run in a window. You have
to make the program full screen. Just a quirk with Windows.
The Night Owl
tkennedy @ hypnos.CalPoly.EDU
tkennedy @ polyslo.CalPoly.EDU
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 91 16:58:24 EDT
From: David Kirschbaum <kirsch@usasoc.soc.mil>
Subject: UUDECODE problems
In Info-IBMPC #131:
>From: Michael Purcell <MOPURC01%ULKYVM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
> I'm having trouble uudecoding files that I receive. It seems that
>the left square bracket (ASCII 91) and the right square bracket (ASCII
>93) are BOTH translated into the 'pipe' character (ASCII 124). This
>occurs when uuencoded files are received as PROFS mail - I'm on the IBM
>370. If they come in as NON-PROFS mail, they can be uudecoded.
> In the documentation for the BITFTP server, it mentions that some
>gateways change ASCII 93 to ASCII 124, which has happened here. But
>ASCII 91 is also changed into ASCII 124. Is there anyone out there who
>has overcome this that can help? I use both BITFTP at PUCC and
>LISTSERV at RPI???? for file requests. Files >200k are sent to me as
>uuencoded. Is there a command that I've missed that will result in
>UUENCODED files that I can process?
The only solution to this I've seen is xxencode, which uses a different
character set in the binary -> ASCII translation. It's often used when
stuff must pass through EBSDIC systems .. and maybe that's your problem
too.
There are several xxencodes out there .. portable C, unportable (but
fast) 8086 assembly language (AKA TOADXX), etc.
Of cours, the REAL problem is how to make the sender (e.g. BITFTP and
LISTSERV use xxencode instead of uuencode .. and I'm afraid that's not
easily solvable .. and not at ALL from your end alone!
Sorry I couldn't be of more help.
David Kirschbaum
Toad Hall
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 1991 21:08:08 GMT
From: phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Phil Howard KA9WGN)
Subject: UUDECODE Problems
> I'm having trouble uudecoding files that I receive. It seems that
>the left square bracket (ASCII 91) and the right square bracket (ASCII
>93) are BOTH translated into the 'pipe' character (ASCII 124). This
>occurs when uuencoded files are received as PROFS mail - I'm on the IBM
>370. If they come in as NON-PROFS mail, they can be uudecoded.
This is why I invented the XXENCODE format a couple years ago. These
problems were anticipated by me based on my experience with IBM
mainframes even though I never actually had them here.
> In the documentation for the BITFTP server, it mentions that some
>gateways change ASCII 93 to ASCII 124, which has happened here. But
>ASCII 91 is also changed into ASCII 124. Is there anyone out there who
>has overcome this that can help? I use both BITFTP at PUCC and
>LISTSERV at RPI???? for file requests. Files >200k are sent to me as
>uuencoded. Is there a command that I've missed that will result in
>UUENCODED files that I can process?
You need to ask the servers that choose to uuencode something that is
not already encoded to use xxencode instead. I have an xxdecode in
REXX for CMS. My original xxencode/xxdecode was in C. There is also a
better version for several platforms on the wuarchive.wustl.edu FTP
server (if you can get it considering your problems).
The original xxencode/xxdecode is available as source from
ux1.cso.uiuc.edu in the unix/xxcp subdirectory. I can send my CMS REXX
versions by request.
/***************************************************************************\
/ Phil Howard -- KA9WGN -- phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu | Guns don't aim guns at \
\ Lietuva laisva -- Brivu Latviju -- Eesti vabaks | people; CRIMINALS do!! /
\***************************************************************************/
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End of Info-IBMPC Digest V91 #146
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