Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL ("Info-IBMPC Digest") (04/11/91)
Info-IBMPC Digest Thu, 11 Apr 91 Volume 91 : Issue 91 Today's Editor: Gregory Hicks - Rota Spain <GHICKS@WSMR-Simtel20.Army.Mil> Today's Topics: 3.5" drive in a XT (3 msgs) Final CFV comp.os.msdos.desqview and vote acknowledgement IBM Error codes Memory Hype ? (V91 #48) PS/2 POST error 165 Tools for viewing SIMIBM.IDX on a PC Re: Zeos International Numlock Key as Normal Ascii key Today's Queries: IDE AT Controller + APPEND problem and gnuplot IDE HD and NetWare MS-Windows Compatibility SEDT-PC UUPC/extended for OS/2 (revisited) Computer Hangs New Uploads: Baker's PC Industry Catalog (text ref) uploaded to SIMTEL20 Send Replies or notes for publication to: <INFO-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL> Send requests of an administrative nature (addition to, deletion from the distribution list, et al) to: <INFO-IBMPC-REQUEST@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL> Archives of past issues of the Info-IBMPC Digest are available by FTP only from WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL in directory PD2:<ARCHIVES.IBMPC>. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 8 Apr 91 17:03:00 PDT From: CHASE%UOFPORT@uga.cc.uga.edu Subject: 3.5" drive in a XT Your Xt will not recognize a 3.5" drive unless you set up a device called driver.sys in your config.sys file. This device comes with DOS 3.2 and up. DOS 3.2 driver.sys will work only with 720k drives. Check your DOS manual for the syntax. If you have no drive d: one usually sets the 3.5" to d: ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Apr 91 15:37:00 EST From: Rick Beebe <BEEBE%YALEMED.BITNET@uga.cc.uga.edu> Subject: 3.5" drive in an XT >>>Doesn't recognize a 3.5" in an XT > >The 3.5" drive format came about after the XT did, so the BIOS in the > XT cannot recognize what the heck this 3.5" drive actually is. The > solution is to upgrade your BIOS. Another solution is to replace the XT floppy controller with one that has an on-board BIOS. I've been using one from CompuAdd ($39). It's a painless solution, and the only way to get an XT to use a 1.44meg disk (the XT controller just can't handle high density). You can get an XT to recognize a 720K by installing DRIVER.SYS in your config.sys without any hardware changes (check out your DOS manual), but it usually becomes drive D:. Be aware, that in all cases, you need DOS 3.1 or greater to recognize 720K disks, and DOS 3.3 or greater for 1.44's. Rick Beebe (203) 785-4566 Biomedical Computing Unit Yale University School of Medicine 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 06514 BEEBE@YALEMED.BITNET beebe@biomed.med.yale.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Apr 91 16:51:34 EDT From: Matthew <ST403023%BROWNVM.BITNET@uga.cc.uga.edu> Subject: 3.5" drive in an XT I had installed a 3.5" drive in my XT a year ago and I had exactly the same problem. It turned out that my bios had no idea that 3.5" disks existed at all. I eventually had to get a floppy controller which added a bios extension to talk to the drive. The one drawback is that this conflicted with the clock I had on another card so I had to replace the other card. The other suggestion that the place that sold me the drive had was to replace my bios but I really had no need for that as the XT just runs my bench equipment and I have a 386SX for the rest of the work. Hope this helps. Matt ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Apr 1991 17:23:47 GMT From: kusumoto@chsun1.uchicago.edu (Bob Kusumoto) Subject: Final CFV comp.os.msdos.desqview and vote acknowledgement This is a 2nd Call for Votes for the creation of the group called comp.os.msdos.desqview. Included in this message is a vote acknowledgement sorted by addresses. comp.os.msdos.desqview will be an unmoderated group devoted to the Quarterdeck product DesqView and related products (such as QEMM and QRAM, two memory managers used frequently with DesqView). Topics of discussion can range from how to fine tune desqview for such and such a product and getting the memory managers to work correctly, to discussions about upcoming updates such as the long awaited DesqView/X product. Voting started midnight CST March 25, 1991 and will continue until midnight CDT April 25, 1991. You may vote only once to the proposed group as specified above. If you want to vote yes, please send your vote to: yes@chsun1.uchicago.edu If you wish to vote no, please send your vote to: no@chsun1.uchicago.edu I would appreciate if you could place on the subject line of your message, something to the effect: YES: comp.os.msdos.desqview or NO: comp.os.msdos.desqview Bob Bob Kusumoto | I just come from the land of Internet: kusumoto@chsun1.uchicago.edu | the sun/ from a war that must Bitnet: kusumoto%chsun1@uchicago[.bitnet] | be won in the name of truth. UUCP: ...!{oddjob,gargoyle}!chsun1!kusumoto | - New Order, "Love Vigilantes" ------------------------------ Date: 8 Apr 91 11:48:13 GMT From: msa3b!mgphl@gatech.edu (Michael Phillips) Subject: IBM Error codes Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.mil writes: >When booting an IBM PS/2 Model 60, what does a "165" error code mean? >(IBM is so wonderful with it's error messages and we don't have a >manual around here to decipher the codes. :) >Is it a catch-all error code or what? (I've taken out all of the cards >-- except for the HD controller and the 5.25" FD card -- and I don't >get the error, but when I start putting the other ones -- one for a >CD-ROM drive, Novell network card, & EMS memory card -- I start getting >the number again.) Mark, Put *all* desired components back in & boot with a "reference" disk that has been updated with configuration files for the hardware you have. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Apr 91 19:48:33 EDT From: baim%aaec1.UUCP@dspvax.mit.edu (Paul Baim) Subject: Memory Hype ? (V91 #48) I didn't see the earlier item but Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.mil writes: >The answer lies in the little `b' of `Mb'; `b' => `bytes'. Ergo, in >your terms, `4 MEG of 8 bit memory'; 1 byte = 8 bits. motcid!yeates@uunet.UU.NET replies: >What abbreviation is commonly used for Mbits (if any)? I didn't see the original item which started this but thought I would point out that accepted practice is the use of MB (uppercase B) to indicate Bytes and Mb (lower case b) to indicate bits. The use of KB and Kb follows. I infer the earlier query had something to do with memory designations which further complicate the issue because useful memory amounts must be in terms of "words" of memory which depend on your CPU (some are 8 bits, some 16, or 32, or other odd widths). As for a byte being 8 bits, this is only always true in the world of pcs (lowercase means not just PCs). Actually, PCs use 9 bits for each byte internally where you can't see them. And then there's "baud" ... Paul [Actually, the earlier query was about how much memory would be obtained if the add read xxMb... gph] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 APR 91 12:48:45 GMT From: CHAA006@vax.rhbnc.ac.uk Subject: PS/2 POST error 165 >When booting an IBM PS/2 Model 60, what does a "165" error code mean? >(IBM is so wonderful with it's error messages and we don't have a >manual around here to decipher the codes. :) >Is it a catch-all error code or what? (I've taken out all of the cards >-- except for the HD controller and the 5.25" FD card -- and I don't >get the error, but when I start putting the other ones -- one for a >CD-ROM drive, Novell network card, & EMS memory card -- I start getting >the number again.) from IBM's wonderful PSINFO suite: 165 POST Error - System options not set (Run SETUP) - card ID mismatch Philip Taylor Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, ``The University of London at Windsor'' ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Apr 91 19:18:51 EDT From: Keith Petersen <w8sdz@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL> Subject: Tools for viewing SIMIBM.IDX on a PC In a recent Info-IBMPC digest Greg Hicks <GHicks@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL> said: > My copy of Norton Editor can't handle the SIMIBM.IDX file (Listing of > Programs available from the MSDOS Archives from WSMR.SIMTEL20) at one > shot. I have to delete x number of lines at the beginning of the file > in order to get the rest to load. However, I just live with this > restriction because NE is such a small nice (quick and dirty??) editor. > Like you, I'm just a satisfied user. gph] Greg, have you tried Vernon Buerg's LIST program? Directory PD1:<MSDOS.TXTUTL> Filename Type Length Date Description ============================================== LIST75G.ZIP B 98723 910406 V. Buerg's classic ascii/binary file viewer If there is no need to edit the SIMIBM.IDX, you can view and search it with that program. In addition, get this file: Directory PD1:<MSDOS.FILEDOCS> Filename Type Length Date Description ============================================== SIMCVT_C.ARC B 11261 900427 Compiled C pgm for MSDOS to print SIMIBM.IDX The archive contains SIMCVT.EXE, a fast convertion program that puts the SIMIBM.IDX into a more human-readable form. Try this: SIMCVT <SIMIBM.IDX >SIMIBM.LST Then: LIST SIMIBM.LST I think you will be very pleased. Another tidbit - make a two-line batch file called LOOKS.BAT. @echo off fgrep -sx %1 c:\simtel\simibm.idx | simcvt | list /s The fgrep program referred to above is: Directory PD1:<MSDOS.TXTUTL> Filename Type Length Date Description ============================================== FGREP172.ZIP B 12512 900510 Chris Dunford's fast text search w/wildcards Try some searches with LOOKS.BAT. That's what I used to produce the SIMTEL20 file references in this message. Keith -- Keith Petersen Maintainer of SIMTEL20's MSDOS, MISC & CP/M archives [IP address 26.2.0.74] Internet: w8sdz@WSMR-SIMTEL20.Army.Mil or w8sdz@vela.acs.oakland.edu Uucp: uunet!wsmr-simtel20.army.mil!w8sdz BITNET: w8sdz@OAKLAND ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Mar 91 15:53:01 EST From: John Honeyman <HONEYMAN@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu> Subject: Re: Zeos International Below are the three items I received re: Zeos International. I also found that there had been some discussion of this topic on PCTECH-L at the end of Jan/ beg. of Feb. I have decided to try a Zeos machine. If you are still interested a couple of weeks from now, send me a note and I'll let you know if I like it or not. From: James Williams <James_Williams@ESS.NIAID.pc.niaid.nih.gov> The only ZEOS product I have used is their keyboards. There warranty was better than most, five years if I remember correctly. But, the keyboards themselve don't feel good. I just wasn't overly impressed. James Williams | Bitnet: JWW%ESS%NIAID@NIH3PLUS.BITNET | | Internet: JWW@ESS.NIAID.PC.NIAID.NIH.GOV | From: Andrew Lee <ANLEE@mis.Arizona.edu> I have dealt with Zeos and have been extremely pleased. My father does a lot of CAD and his old 386-16Mhz was a little slow. We decided to go for a 386-33Mhz. I orginally ordered a Northgate but they screwed up the order big time. I canceled that order and gave Zeos a call. I am glad that I did. The Zeos is a faster machine and we also saved a few hundred dollars. The Zeos sales staff was very helpful. The machine was shipped the next day (unlike Northgate and Gateway which have lead times of 2-4 weeks!). If I am paying almost $4k for a computer, I want it NOW!!! The workmanship on the ZEOS was excellent. The tower case was roomy and well conctructed. It has two seperate fans so it runs very cool and quiet. Technical support is also very good. A math coprocessor arrived dead on arrival. I gave them a call and they shipped a new one next-day FedEx. No problems ever since. I have had experience with both Northgate and Gateway, and Zeos is far superior IMHO. Gateway may be cheaper but technical support is terrible and their machines aren't spectacular. Northgate builds nice machines but customer service leaves much to be desired. Also, you can expect to pay a little more for a Northgate but you get absolutely nothing extra. I guess I do have one bad thing to say about Zeos. On-site service is $50 extra. Most other companies throw that in for free. You might also want to take a look at CompuAdd and Dell. Let me know if you have any specific questions. From: Gregg <GFERRER@CALSTATE.bitnet> John, I am extremely happy with my purchase of a Zeos computer. I bought a 386-20 Editor's Choice system. It came with 4MB of RAM, 80MB IDE hard drive, 64K SRAM cache, 1.2MB and 1.44MB floppy drives and a multiscan monitor. I paid an extra $100 for Super VGA (which I have so far taken very little advantage of). If you have the bucks, go for it. If you have any questions about the options, just ask. One pointer, in case you're not aware: I check the ad in PC Magazine, and one of the options is 14" 1024 VGA. I have the 1024 VGA graphics card, however it will only work at that resolution in INTERLACED mode. My monitor will only work in NON-interlaced mode, therefore I can't use that resolution. I learned the hard way when my brother brought over a program to display some pretty pictures and it didn't work. I don't presume anyone to be as ignorant as I was, but I did a lot of research before buying and I still didn't know everything. So, like I said, if you have any questions, just ask and I'll try to help. ------------------------------ Date: 8 April 91, 12:13:35 UPM From: ACDL004@SAUPM00.BITNET Subject: Numlock Key as Normal Ascii key. Recently, Some one asked how to use the numlock key as a NORMAL ascii key and many were responded. I found that some of the friends gave the idea how to turn the numlock key off when booted. I think that the user wanted it to be used as normal ascii key. I wrote a program to use the numlock key as '=' sign and keeps the numlock on forever. The code is given below. Use MASM, LINK and EXE2BIN to create the com file. Enough documentation is provided in order to modify the program as the user wanted.( eg. If he wants to use numlock as any other key change the appropriate coding. I am sending this program not only to help the friend but also to make some of my doubts that occured when I wrote the program clear. I noticed that when the redirected INT9 is called it is repeated 3 time per one press of the numlock key making 3 '===' signs for a single touch. Though I overcome this problem by skipping the first two calls by a variable ( see Code below) It is still a mystery to me. Is it some kind of bug in the keyboard interrupt or problem with my machine? My machine is an AT 286. IBM COmpatible ofcourse. Any help would be appreciated. I present here only the simplest version of my program which cannot be uninstalled once it was loaded for the sake of the length of this msg. I have the extended version of this which can be loaded when wanted and ininstalled when not. If anybody needs the source code of this, please, leave amessage. I would be happy to share. I could have sent this program long before as soon as I completed it. But I had (and still have) a problem of uploading my files from PC to main frame. I typed all of this in mainframe single handed to reach this program at least by now. Any help on this matter is also welcome. Thanks in Advance. Nasir Haniffa Bitnet Address : acdl004.saupm00.bitnet My permenent address is : Nasir Haniffa ' Haleema Manzil' Zam Zam Road Maruthamuna1-03 Kalmunai SRI LANKA. ================= Here goes the program =================== Code segment assume cs:code Org 100h start: jump install ; goto installation old9 dd 0 once db 0 int9 proc near push ax push bx push cx push es ; save used registers pushf call old9 ; let int 9h to do its job. mov ah,12h int 16h ; Read extended shift status. Cmp ah,32 ; Is it Numlock? jne nonum ; Nah.. . Exit. mov al,once ; be ready to avoid repetion inc al ; repetion counter cmp al,3 ; Three times repeated? jne no3 ; No. xor al,al ; Yes. Make counter to zero. no3: mov once,al or al,al ; Is Counter = 0? jnz nonum ; No.`exit mov ax,40h mov es,ax mov ah,byte ptr es:[17h] ; Take shift status byte or ah,00100000b ; Keep numlock on.D mov byte ptr es:[17h],ah ; put it back mov ah,5h mov ch,0dh ; Scan code for '=' mov cl,'=' ; ascii value of '=' instead if wish int 16h ; but them in Keyboard buffer nonum: pop es pop cx pop bx pop ax iret endp ;============}=========================== msg db ' Numkey installed. Nasir Haniffa.'13,10 db ' ACDL004@SAUPM00.BITNET'13,10,'$' install: mov ax,3509h ; int 21h ; get interrupt vector of 9h mov word ptr old9,bx mov word ptr old9+2,es ; store them in OLD9 mov dx,offset int9 mov ax,2509h int 21h ; set interrupt vecter to INT9 mov dx,offset msg mov ah,9h int 21h ; display install message. mov ax,3100h int 21h ; terminate and stay resident. code ends end start ;================================================================ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Apr 91 10:09:37 BST From: Derek Jones <derek@aivru.sheffield.ac.uk> Subject: IDE AT Controller + APPEND problem and gnuplot Config: 386 + 4Mb + ProII+ + 89Mb IDE Drive 5 1/4 A 3 1/2 B MSDOS 3.3, 2 * 32 Mb partitions, 1 22Mb partition. Citizen Swift 24 colour printer. 1.) Apologies if this is a well known problem, polite summaries, RTM's welcome. When using APPEND, various programs (DIR, SCAN, UUPC, etc..) will report files from appended directories in otherwise *empty* directories. Blank floppies when DIRed show the contents of an APPENDed directory. Why?? Is there a fix other than to stop using APPEND, which is what I have now done. I have noticed this problem for a number of months but it only became a problem when implementing uupc on Saturday, and when it reported not being able to find the file thrown up by xscandir(), and hence failed. 2.) Gnuplot2. I have both the source and DOS executables. I can't use the generic EPSON driver, but can use the NEC driver (in colour!) if I set the Citizen to emulate NEC mode. Do I need to RTM again? Polite and helpful suggestions welcome. Thanks in advance. Derek Jones. System Manager. A.I. Vision Research Unit, Sheffield University, Western Bank, Sheffield. S10 2TN U.K. Tel: (0742) 768555 X 6551 email: derek@aivru.sheffield.ac.uk ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 08 Apr 91 14:38:11 ARG From: Luis MAGNI <banyc!fmcba.sld.edu.ar!luis@uunet.UU.NET> Subject: IDE HD and NetWare. I have connected a hard disk ST157-A IDE technology from Seagate (40 MBytes) to my AT286, I wish to know if is possible to install a Novell Netware 2.15 over this kind of disk, someone here say that I need a special driver, is this true???. Does anyone have this driver ??. If not, what should I do?. If someone have any information, please let me know. Thanks in advance. | Luis Magni - Administrador de Correo | Phone :(54-51)690442 | | Centro de Microscopia Electronica | CC 362 - 5000 CORDOBA | | Universidad Nacional de Cordoba | ARGENTINA | | postmaster@fmcba.sld.edu.ar | luis@fmcba.sld.edu.ar | ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Apr 91 13:08:08 CDT From: smutniak@fergvax.unl.edu (Frank Smutniak) Subject: MS-Windows Compatibility Could somebody please explain what makes some executables MSW compatible and others not? What are the lower level details of this split. Is it a "protected mode" issue or what? I am considering getting windows 3.0, will some or most of my commercial software (does I-APL work?) and my own composures work? Thanks in advance Frank smutniak@fergvax.unl.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Apr 91 13:45 CDT From: <BBHULSEY%UAMS.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> Subject: SEDT-PC Greetings! Is anyone out there using SEDT-PC, the public-domain EDT clone for the PC? I recently acquired a copy and installed it on my Zenith Z-386 SX with an enhanced keyboard. I have been trying to map the keyboard as closely as possible to the VT220, i.e. Zenith 'Insert' to VT220 'Find', Zenith 'Home' to VT200 'Insert Here', etc. but have had little luck and unpredictable results using the utilities supplied with the package (the documentation is pretty sketchy and arcane on this subject). I've tried all the supplied keymap files and SET SYSTEM and SET KEYBOARD commands that I know to try. I'm very used to finding the keys by feel on my VT220 and I'd like to be able to do the same on my PC. SEDT itself seems very functional and I would like to register it, but if the keyboard mapping doesn't work the product is not very useful to me. If anyone has had any success with keyboard re-mapping using the utilities included with SEDT, or has written a key-map to do what I'm trying to do, please let me know. Thanks! Bruce Hulsey Univ. of Arkansas for Medical Sciences .. bbhulsey@uams.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 08 Apr 1991 07:48:38 EDT From: Drew Derbyshire <ahd@kendra.kew.com> Subject: UUPC/extended for OS/2 (revisited) I had some time over the weekend, and so I ported UUPC/extended's communications (ULIB.C) and directory search (NDIR.C) components into OS/2 versions from scratch. I also cleaned up UUPOLL and wrote a new make file for Microsoft's NMAKE for the OS/2 environment; this gives me a full suite of UUPC/extended programs for OS/2, as RMAIL and MAIL both already work in the OS/2 environment. Alas, I'm taking a crash in UUIO when calling the DosDevIOCtl (which sets the parameters for the serial port), and I've lost the sample OS/2 program I was gracefully sent as an example. Could the sender of that program resend it to me? (I'll take ANY example which shows DosDevIOCtl calls from MS C.) Thanks in advance, -ahd- Drew Derbyshire Internet: ahd@kendra.kew.com U.S. Mail: 108 Decatur St, Apt 9 Voice: 617-641-3739 Arlington, MA 02174 ------------------------------ Date: 8 April 91, 14:57:28 SAT From: FACEFM72@SAKFU00.bitnet Subject: Computer Hangs I have a problem with my 286 at computer that i have built. Sometimes during booting my computer hangs. Also while working with some programs, not all programs, the same thing happend. The intersting point is that this problem happened only when i am in the turbo speed while everything woks fine during the ordinary mode (8 mhz). I BUILT MY COMPUTER BACK 1988 WITH THE FOLLWING FEATURES; 80286 MICROPROCESSOR RUNNUNG AT 12 MHZ AS TURBO SPEED RAM 640 K (ONLY ?????) BIOS VER 3.20 08/26/88 DTK CORP. HARD DISK 40 MB MITSUBISHI. 5.25} 1.2 MB AND 3.5} 1.44 MB TEAC HD & FLOPPY CONTROLLER WESTERN DIGITAL. VGA CARD (ONLY 8 BIT) PARADISE VGA MONITER CTX. 14 I WILL APPRECIATE ANY RESPONSE FROM ANY BODY OUT THERE. EMAD FACEFM72@SAKFU00 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Apr 91 18:17:31 EST From: Keith Petersen <w8sdz@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL> Subject: Baker's PC Industry Catalog (text ref) uploaded to SIMTEL20 Now available from SIMTEL20: pd1:<msdos.info> PIC11S01.ZIP Baker's PC Industry Catalog (text ref), 1 of 2 PIC11S02.ZIP Baker's PC Industry Catalog (text ref), 2 of 2 PIC11S03.ZIP Baker's PC Industry Catalog (text ref), 3 of 2 Baker's PC Industry Catalog, a handy text reference listing of thousands of companies and their products for the PC industry. This shareware release only includes basic company names and city/state/country but full product listings. A commercial release is available by mail as outlined in the included documentation, with full mailing addresses and telephone/fax/bbs numbers for over 9,600 companies and 21,000 products (almost twice the data included here). Either version may be obtained on a quarterly subscription basis. Check documentation included. Requires your own search utility or word processor to be used, but usable on virtually any computer system. These files were obtained directly from the author, Bob Baker. Keith -- Keith Petersen Maintainer of SIMTEL20's MSDOS, MISC & CP/M archives [IP address 26.2.0.74] Internet: w8sdz@WSMR-SIMTEL20.Army.Mil or w8sdz@vela.acs.oakland.edu Uucp: uunet!wsmr-simtel20.army.mil!w8sdz BITNET: w8sdz@OAKLAND ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest V91 #91 ******************************** -------