Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL ("Info-IBMPC Digest") (04/06/91)
Info-IBMPC Digest Wed, 3 Apr 91 Volume 91 : Issue 78 Today's Editor: Gregory Hicks - Rota Spain <GHICKS@WSMR-Simtel20.Army.Mil> Today's Topics: 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: Wed, 27 Mar 91 09:01:18 CST From: CW00000 <CW00%SIUEMUS.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu> Subject: 386 BSD Berkeley UNIX or 386 PCs I am looking for some information about 386 BSD Berkeley UNIX for 386 PC's. Any information such as where or how can I get it, how much is it, and what does it require will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Don Weihl CW00@SIUEMUS ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Mar 91 08:49:56 MST From: Gregory Hicks <GHICKS@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL> Subject: 386 BSD Berkeley UNIX or 386 PCs Don: Dr Dobbs Journal currently has a series of articles re: porting BSD Unix to the '386. Unfortunately, the only info I've been able to glean about obtaining the system is "Those who meet the requirements of the Regents of the University of California can obtain the system from the Univ of California at Berkeley." Unfortunately, no-where do they tell you what those requirements are- or even where to get the info... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Mar 91 14:55 MET From: "Jim Groeneveld, NIPG-TNO, Leiden, NL" <JIM%RULTNO@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> Subject: File and subdirectory detection Below is the source of the BATch file CHKEXIST, which may be of general use. It checks existence (or not) of some name as a disk file or subdirectory. One may adapt it for specific purposes, e.g. replacing the textual output by environment variable definitions. It's simple standard DOS language. Beginning of CHKEXIST.BAT @echo off if "%1"=="" goto help if not exist %1 goto no_file echo %1 is a diskfile goto end :no_file if not exist %1\nul goto no_subdir if exist %1\*.* echo %1 is a non-empty subdirectory if not exist %1\*.* echo %1 is an empty subdirectory goto end :no_subdir echo %1 does not exist goto end :help echo CHKEXIST by Jim Groeneveld, NL, 21/3-91. echo Checks existence (or not) of some name as a disk file or subdirectory. echo Syntax: CHKEXIST name echo Output: textual report of existence, adapt for specific purposes. :end =================================end=================================== Regards - Jim Groeneveld. E-mail: GROENEVELD@NIPG.TNO.NL (RFC-822/internet-type Bitnet address) GROENEVELD%NIPG.TNO.NL@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (from Internet) File xfer: GROENEVELD@HDETNO51.BITNET (EARN address) NIPG-TNO [postal/visiting address] | Y. Groeneveld P.O.Box 124 | Wassenaarseweg 56 | Schoolweg 14 2300 AC Leiden | 2333 AL Leiden | 8071 BC Nunspeet Nederland (NL) | (+31|0)71-178810 | 03412-60413 [office] Fax (+31|0)71-176382 | [home] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Mar 91 13:56:40 PST From: Andrew Klossner <andrew%frip.wv.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET> Subject: Programming Printer Port for Input?? Recent PCs can, indeed, input on the 8 data lines of the parallel port. Examples include the PS/2 series and my Toshiba T3100SX. The hardware lets you configure the port to be either input or output in a half-duplex model. There is absolutely no support for this in the BIOS, so you have to program the hardware by hand. As far as I can tell, there is no established protocol for turning around the line (changing the direction of data in a two-way conversation.) In fact, I haven't found any program, anywhere, that configures this port for input. For this reason, we decided not to support the bidirectional parallel capability in our printer product line. Reference: "IBM Personal System/2 Hardware Interface Technical Reference", chapter entitled "Parallel Port Controller (Type 1)". -=- Andrew Klossner (uunet!tektronix!frip.WV.TEK!andrew) [UUCP] (andrew%frip.wv.tek.com@relay.cs.net) [ARPA] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Mar 91 14:37:30 -0500 From: David Kirschbaum <kirsch@usasoc.soc.mil> Subject: Repair of DOS backup files (V91 #66) >Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 15:54:35 GMT >From: salehh@jacobs.cs.orst.edu () > Is there a utility that will repair damaged backup files? The files >are ascii and were backedup under DOS 3.2 . The possible cause of the >damage is that the machine the files were backedup from had floppy >drives that were out of alignment. I don't believe so. However, if you wish to salvage the maximum of that ASCII text (via an editor or some such), it's relatively trivial to trim off BACKUP's 128-byte header and produce a (hopefully) clean_if_broken text file. I even have an ancient utility (BCOPY, *not* the BCOPY at SIMTEL20's <FILUTL> subdirectory) that does the trimming for you. But it's also easy to do with DEBUG or with any binary editor. And there are several shareware/freeware/public domain editors that would handle any binary characters that might sneak into the previously pristine ASCII text. If you need a step-by-step explanation of what to do, contact me privately via EMail. David Kirschbaum Toad Hall kirsch@usasoc.soc.mil ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Mar 91 16:14:19 CST From: Charlie Turner <CHARLIE%UMVMA@TAUNIVM.TAU.AC.IL> Subject: ST225 and RLL I forward a reply I got directly about my Hard Disks and controllers problem. ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- I saw your question in the Info_IBMPC digest. Old ST225 drives were supposed to be solid enough to actually work properly in RLL mode. Supposedly the newer ST225 drives won't, persumably because Seagate sells the good ones as ST238 RLL drives instead! You can try cabling the ST225 as the second HD behind your RLL controller and see what happens. Otherwise I think it is possible to have both a MFM and RLL controller in a PC at once, but that requires the two controllers to keep out of each other's way. I have a SCSI adapter and an RLL adapter in my 386 PC and everything works fine. I haven't tried a MFM and RLL together however. Hopefully someone can recommend a MFM controller to you that is known to work in a two controller situation. Otherwise you may be in for an adventure getting everything working. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Mar 91 14:37:07 -0500 From: David Kirschbaum <kirsch@usasoc.soc.mil> Subject: Tiff File Format In Info-IBM #050, Danny Taub asks: > A friend here at Vassar has asked me if I can find out the file >formats of TIFF files. If anyone has any information, please send >information either to the net or to me directly. Thanks in advance. A fast fgrep of my SIMTEL index reveals: PD1:<MSDOS.GIF> VUIMG295.ZIP GIF/GIF89a/TIFF view/print w/Zoom/Pan/Scale PD1:<MSDOS.GRAPHICS> ALCHMY13.ZIP JPEG/Targa/GIF/IFF/PICT2/PCX/Sun/TIFF convert GRAFWK48.ZIP View/cvt/print MAC/IMG/GIF/TIFF/EPS graphics PD1:<MSDOS.TIFF> DTIFF.ZIP Displays TIFF files on screen, uses TACS DVTIF1.ZIP TIFF reader:PACKBITS compr/uncomp C src, ALDUS TACS40.ZIP TIFF Access/Create System - C source, TIFF 4.0 TFTOOL.ZIP TIFF toolkit developer package C source, ALDUS TIFF-50.ARC Tagged Image File Format specs, v5.0 TIFFAX.ZIP TIFF FAX format definition/example, ALDUS Those last two look like just what the doctor ordered, and the first ones might give you utilities to play with. [David, file descriptions are more readable when reformated... Although, thanks for the FGREP... gph] Regards, David Kirschbaum Toad Hall kirsch@usasoc.soc.mil ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Mar 91 14:37:34 -0500 From: David Kirschbaum <kirsch@usasoc.soc.mil> Subject: UUDECODE question In Info-IBMPC #066: >Date: Fri Mar 15 09:29:32 1991 >From: johnboyd@logdis1.oc.aflc.af.mil (John Boyd;CRENP) > >I've run into a problem with a uuencoded file from the listserver@nodak. ... >On INFOP145.ZIP I get the pieces OK, and strip out the 'spurious garbage' >and then proceed to uudecode. The error message I get says 'end not >found'. The DDs warn that files passing through Unix systems may >incorrectly translate the CR/LF situation, but that it will really be OK. >Well, it's *not*. I go ahead and run pkunzip -t, and it tells me that >there is an error, and to use pkzipfix. I do that, and go ahead and >extract the exe, and when I try to run that; *suprise*, DOS says 'error in >exe file'. I could probably <smugly> say, "Well, if you were using TOADUU, you wouldn't *have* this problem." But that might be naive or premature. Possibilities: 1 - You *are* doing all this in the MSDOS environment, right? If not, entirely new ballgame. 2 - If you had a CR/LF translation problem, you should've had an editor problem already when doing that "strip out the spurious garbage". If you're needing CR -> CR/LF conversion, you *are* using FLIP, right? 3 - If you're having to put together multiple pieces of a uuencoded file, are you *sure* something isn't getting lost in the reassembly? Does each chunk have a unique begin and end you can use during the reassembly? Don't depend on editing off headers and trailers of each separate chunk and then using DOS's COPY or some such to concatenate the chunks. Blank lines are liable to sneak in there. And blank lines are a "no-no" with the uudecode process. 4 - Some braindead uuencodes still use spaces (ASCII 32) instead of the commonly accepted "`" (ASCII 96) replacement. These spaces (mainly the trailing ones on each line) can be trimmed by an equally braindead communication channel. Then, if you don't have a uudecode utility smart enough to make up for this .. problem city. (Toad Hall UUDECODE of course handles this problem.) 5 - If PKUNZIP reports an error (either during unzipping or via the "-t" switch .. forget it. You're broke, finished, done with. Throw the .zip file away .. PKZIPFIX doesn't solve problems like that. Your problem's in the original uudecode process. 6 - These *ARE* uuencoded files, right? Starting with a "M" on each line? And a "begin 644 foobar.zip" as a first line format? And a "end" for the very last line? xxencoded files look similar to uuencoded ones, but are fundamentally different! Hope this helps, or at least gives you some ideas to chew on. David Kirschbaum Toad Hall ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Mar 91 23:27 +0200 From: Urban_Janlert_Socialmedicin@norrkom.umu.se Subject: Validation programme February 28th Andrew McLean <PHR050@ibm.southampton.ac.uk> asked about programs for validated data input: I think that the EPIINFO programme (a PD from Centre for Disease Control) will fit you excellent. It has facilites for entering, validating, exporting & importing as well as analyzing data. The programme is distributed by USD, Incorporated 2575 A West Park Place Stone Mountain, GA 30087 U.S.A. Urban Janlert M.D. Phone: +46 920 712 14 Dept. of Community Medicine Fax: +46 920 147 26 Kopmangatan 36 B S-951 32 LULEA SWEDEN mail: Urban_Janlert@NORRKOM.UMU.SE ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Mar 91 08:30:00 EST From: "Bruce H. McIntosh" <DHBHM@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu> Subject: Windows 3.0 in 386 mode You have to have at least 2 megabytes of RAM for Windows 3 to run in 386 mode; the more RAM you have, the happier Windows'll be. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Mar 91 18:07:40 EST From: Curt Priest <BMSLIB@mitvma.mit.edu> Subject: AST Rampage board I have a specialized need for another RAMpage AT board that was discontinued by AST about four years ago. This is the 2 meg EEMS board. Does anyone know of any source that might be clearing out these boards or is there someone out there who is upgrading their AT and just happens to have one they might contact us about. If it weren't a special need we would just go to the RAMpage Plus but this isn't compatible. ------------------------------ Date: 26 Mar 91 17:22:00 EDT From: "DRCV06::OPER1" <oper1%drcv06.decnet@drcvax.af.mil> Subject: CLOCK.SYS I am having a bit of a problem with a DELTA XT10 pc. The clock.sys driver does not allows you to enter a date greater than 3/18/91. If you enter a date greater than that it makes the date some date in 1990. Does anyone know of a newer version of this clock driver? Is the clock driver machine specific? Glenn. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Mar 91 08:52:15 MET From: "Rene de Bie" <CRISRB@HLERUL2.BITNET> Subject: Quantum HD info wanted Hello networkers, I have the following problem: I have a 32MB QUANTUM HD model Q540 dated 1982 wich worked fine in a WANG PC, but will not do so in an other PC. We've tried to build it in an IBM XT, and it starts up ok, the light flashes as normal, but that's all! There's no way the PC wil recognize the HD. Now I know that the WANG pc is not at all compatible, but why should a HD be this also? Does anyone has any suggestions? Rene de Bie - CRI - University Leiden - Holland System Programmer ORACLE/IDMS/PCSA Mail :P.O.Box 9512 - 2300 RA Leiden - The Netherlands Phone :+31 71 276948/276968 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Mar 1991 19:55 CST From: ST11A@jetson.uh.edu Subject: Help with Vmix. Does anyone use the shareware multitasker called VMIX? I'm trying to get kermit to run in a window by itself, but It won't work. I can get to the MSkermit> prompt, but when I connect the window locks up. I used the terminal emulator that comes with external zmodem, and it works just fine in a window. I have also gotten basic and a small ascii editor to work at the same time with no problem. I just can't get kermit to work properly. If someone knows of a shareware multitasker, let me know so that I can try it out. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Mar 91 15:38:13 CST From: Mark Parr <JPARR1@UA1VM.ua.edu> Subject: IBM Error codes 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.) Thanks, Mark |-- JPARR1@UA1VM.BITNET -- JPARR@MIBSRV.MIB.ENG.UA.EDU Mark Parr --|-- University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest V91 #78 ******************************** -------