Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL ("Info-IBMPC Digest") (03/30/91)
Info-IBMPC Digest Sun, 24 Mar 91 Volume 91 : Issue 70
Today's Editor:
Gregory Hicks - Rota Spain <GHICKS@WSMR-Simtel20.Army.Mil>
Today's Topics:
386 Mother Boards
FORTRAN and the 80x87.
Missing kB on XT (V91 #59) (2 msgs)
System problem (V91 #60)
MS FORTRAN 5.0 with 8087
Connecting a second keyboard to a PC
Today's Queries:
Apple to IBM -- apple works to ASCII
Fileserver for pc clone
File Transfer
Animation Software to Manipulate Graphics from Digitizer
Lharc
OS2 question
PS/2 1.44Mb drives
New Uploads:
ABC412A.ZIP - ABC Fun Keys: Teach children ABCs, v4.12a
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: 19 Mar 91 15:23:00 GMT-9:00
From: "HUGH PRESTON" <hpreston@osan-emh.af.mil>
Subject: 386 Mother Boards
Steve,
Just read your note in Info-IBMPC on 386 mother boards and thought I
would send you a quick note.
I picked up a 25 Mhz DTK mother board here in Korea which made it about
one step away form the original manufacturer in Taiwan. It cost me
about a grand with 4 megs of RAM installed. I added another 4 megs
myself. It has the ability to handle another 8 megs of 32 bit addressed
RAM if you get the 32 bit board they also offer. It also has a 64K
static RAM cache. I added a 120 Meg RLL hard drive and some other stuff
and am really happy with the results. Am now running Windows 3.0 for
everything and it is fast! Had no problems with the board at all.
Hugh Preston
Osan Air Base
Korea
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 09:28:51 IST
From: "Jacques J. Goldberg" <PHR00JG%TECHNION@TAUNIVM.TAU.AC.IL>
Subject: FORTRAN and the 80x87.
The short program reproduced below was recently shown as an example of
wrong operation of the Microsoft FORTRAN compiler, version 5. if I
remember well.
1-The author says that the result "SHOULD BE" 2500.27709960937500 Well,
reading the program (this is why I reproduce it below) I would rather
say that the result should be exactly 2500.
2-I have run this program with the following results.
SYSTEM COMPILER RESULT
----------------------------------------------------------------
reading no need 2500.
claim ??????? 2500.277099609375000
IBM 3081D/VM VS Fortran 2499.99999896191929
VAX 9210/VMS DEC Fortran 2500.00000000484
PC-clone/MSDOS WATFOR-77/8087 2500.0000000011800
PC-clone/MSDOS WATFOR-77/soft 2500.00000115752000 *see remark 1
Apollo3500/SYS-V Apollo 2500.00000000000000000...
Atari-ST1040 BC (free) 2499.7974147796707 *see remark 2
PC-clone/MSDOS Lahey F77L 2500.00000000001
Remark 1: the WATFOR documentation explicitly states that the software
library works on 64 bits floating point arithmetic, while the 8087
works on 80. This explains the difference between the two results with
WATFOR
Remark 2: this is a very bad result but the compiler and library are
new, and at least cost much less (infinitely less) than the bugged
Microsoft software.
Reamrk 3: the WATFOR documentation explicitly states the hardware
problem of controlling 8087 interrupts and the fact that many
compilers/packages just ignore the problem.
Remark 4: what damage have such bugs already caused? I stopped using
Microsoft FORTRAN since version 3.30 was bundled here in a mass
DEC-Rainbow purchase. When version 4.0 appeared, it was withdrawn
shortly later, following 177 bugs reports in one month (at least,
that's what I remember from the day I had my hand on the box to buy it,
accidentally browsed thru the BYTE magazine, and read the story,
probably in Aug. '84).
Jacques Goldberg
Professor of Physics
TECHNION, Haifa, Israel
The "case":
program savage
real*8 a
integer*2 i
a=1.d0
write(*,*)'start timing'
do 10 i=1,2499
10 a=dtan(datan(dexp(dlog(dsqrt(a*a)))))+1.d0
C I (J.G.) have added the following statement to see BOTH numbers.
write(*,*)' the answer should be 2500.277099609375000'
write(*,*)'the answer is ',a
end
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 11:51:27 +0100
From: bax@tudgw2.tudelft.nl (Jan Adriaan Bax)
Subject: Missing 1kB on XT (V91 #59)
>Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 12:39:58 GMT
>From: <E07J%DHBRRZ41.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
>Help! My XT ist acting extremely strangely. The symptoms: It has 640kB
>memory (I should know, I installed it myself). When booting, the 640kB
>memory are checked perfectly, no complaints, nothing. Yet DOS only
>reports 639kB memory. Diagnostic tools, such as PC-TOOLS report "Memory
>reported by DOS:639k, Total memory found to be: 640k".
>Where has that 1k got to?
A friend of mine had exactly the same problem when he installed a
Seagate 30M harddisk with controller and configured it as 1 partition.
When he used 2 partitions, eg. 20M and 10M, the problem didn't occur.
He used dos 3.30. I don't know if the problem is solved by now, I know
he switched to dos 4.01, but I didn't see him lately.
Hope this may be of some help...
Arjen Bax.
PS. the pingpong bootsector virus also steals 1 kb, so check for that
virus too...
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 17:58:00 EST
From: moy@xp.psych.nyu.edu
Subject: Missing 1kb on XT (V91 #59)
Have you checked for viruses? The problem you described sounds
exactly like a problem I had. It turned out to be the so-called
"Ping-Pong" virus, which lived in the partition table of the hard disk.
The computer was a true-blue IBM-PC with a 256K motherboard, with RAM
filled out to 640K with a J-RAM expansion card. This memory card had
an unusual installation in that it needed to run a startup program,
then warmstart the computer in order for the extra memory to be
recognized.
The presence of the virus, which grabbed part of the 256K memory
*before* DOS ever bootstrapped, caused the J-RAM's startup to fail.
The on-board RAM was mis-sized at 254K, total RAM mis-sized at 638K,
and the system then hung.
Try booting the machine from a *clean* DOS master floppy and see if
the memory problem goes away.
Moy Wong
Dept. of Psychology
New York University
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 1991 Mar 20 15:05 EST
From: Bob Babcock <PEPRBV@CFAAMP.BITNET>
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V91 #60
> We have this 386-33 system in the lab with some problem. Upon
>booting, the system will run config.sys but not the autoexec.bat. What
>happened???
Probably config.sys has a shell= directive without the /P switch.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 21:43:24 +0100
From: C102TA%AINUNI01@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: MS FORTRAN 5.0 with 8087
Hello,
some time ago I described a problem concerning MS FORTRAN 5.0 on
8086/8087 machines. I received several answers (thank you all). John
Norwood from Microsoft <microsoft!johnnor@uunet.uu.net> told me the
following:
"Using the Microsoft FORTRAN 5.00 coprocessor or math emulation library
on an Intel 8087 math coprocessor (not an 80287 or 80387 coprocessor)
may give incorrect results for math operations. The symptoms of this
problem are incorrect results, loss of decimal place precision, or
unexpected zero results. In some cases the machine may lock or hang at
run time. The problem is caused by incorrect initialization of the 8087
control word."
He also sent me instructions how to patch the FORTRAN runtime library
using LIB and DEBUG to work around this problem:
"To patch the FORTRAN 5.00 coprocessor library for use with the 8087,
follow these steps:
1. Make sure that the DOS directory and FORTRAN BIN directory are
listed in the PATH.
2. Change to the FORTRAN LIB directory.
3. Type the following keystrokes verbatim (substituting the name of
the FORTRAN coprocessor or emulator library you are using for
LLIBFOR7.LIB below):
LIB LLIBFOR7.LIB-*87EXIST; <ENTER>
DEBUG 87EXIST.OBJ <ENTER>
E 12DD:01E9 B9 1E 00 E2 FE DB E3 <ENTER>
W <ENTER>
Q <ENTER>
LIB LLIBFOR7.LIB+87EXIST; <ENTER>
The library is now patched and can be used normally."
I followed these instructions and ... success! ... all my FORTRAN
programs work properly on my 8086/8087 machine.
Andreas Tranquillini
C102TA@AINUNI01.BITNET
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 12:37 EDT
From: Randy Morey <RMOREY%UTRC@utrcgw.utc.com>
Subject: Connecting a second keyboard to a PC
>Date: Sat, 09 Mar 91 11:44:41 +0200
>From: Omer Zak <XLACHA1%WEIZMANN.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
>I need to connect a second keyboard to a PC and run a program which
>accepts input from both keyboards, yet recognize the origin of each
>incoming character. One possible way to implement this is to locate a
>keyboard with RS232C interface and connect it to one of the COMn: ports
>of the PC.
>However, I can't locate such a keyboard.
>I would appreciate if any one of you can lead me to such a keyboard
>and/or suggest alternative solutions which can be implemented. Note:
>due to cost and space considrations, use of a terminal with display and
>with RS232C interface - is not desirable in this application.
Vetra Systems Corporation makes a PC keyboard to RS-232 adapter, as
well as several other adapters for PC keyboard/RS232/switch conversion.
The adapter you want is called a VIP-341 "Reverse Pipe" for $179.
I have never used one. I just happened to run across their ad in a
trade journal, and ...
>>> I have no affiliation or financial interest with the company <<<
Their address is:
Vetra Systems Corporation
1670 Old Country Road
Plainview, NY 11803
(516)-454-6469
Hope this helps.
Randy Morey
United Technologies Research Center
East Hartford, CT 06108
(203) 727-7560
RMOREY%UTRC@UTRCGW.UTC.COM
------------------------------
Subject: Today's Queries:
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 08:07 EDT
From: ROB LEGGETT <@ksuvxa.kent.edu:LEGGETT@ksuvxm>
Subject: Apple to IBM -- apple works to ASCII
Hi everyone!
Does anyone know if there is an easy way to convert Apple Works
files to ASCII and then convert them over to an IBM format using an
Apple 2e. I have heard that it is possible on a MAC, but I am not
familiar at all with apple computers. I thought about sending the
apple files to a VAX and then downloading them on an IBM, but how would
I get the software to run the apple with my modem (without spending
money of course).
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
-Rob Leggett
Rob Leggett "NEVER go off on a tangent you can't integrate!!"
Computer Lab Assistant
Kent State University Stark Campus Leggett@ksuvxb.kent.edu - INTERNET
Leggett@kentstar - BITNET
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 18:10 IST
From: "S.M.SIDEEK" <SMS%tifrvax.bitnet@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
Subject: Fileserver for pc clone
How does one go about writing a fileserver for a cluster of PCs.
The problem is, there are number of PCs linked Via RS 232C ports. The
idea is to make one bigdisk common to all. The file server should
manage files on this disk which will be shared by users on different
PCs. I am new to this list and am not sure whether this is the right
forum to put this question? Any suggestions , comments will be
appreciated.
rgds,
S.M.Sideek
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
INDIA.
Bitnet: sms@tifrvax
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 1991 16:53:54 EST
From: SHEAK@MCL.SAIC.COM (Kevin M Shea)
Subject: File Transfer
I don't know if this is the correct place to send this question, but
I will try anyway. I am trying to send ZIP files from a PC to a VAX
running VMS. I have tried using Kermit 2.32 with file type sent to
binary, but the transfer does not succeed. The VAX gets about 10% of
the file and then the transfer teminates. Any ideas???
Thanks.
Kevin Shea
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 12:36 CET
From: "JOHAN HENDRIKS" <BURHG8%HLERUL2.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Software to Manipulate Graphics from Digitizer
I am looking for information about software that is capable of
manipulating graphics from my digitizer. My search till now (SIMTEL,
several BBS's) delivered a lot of software that looks fine , as there
is VGACAD21, PICLAB, GRAFWORK, CSHOW etc.
What I need now is animation-software. FANTAVISION is good but only
supports EGA 16 color. Who knows about more ?? Maybe adresses of
suppliers ??
I am also interested in the address of Broderbund Software Inc. They
designed FANTAVISION, PRINCE OF PERSIA. Any help will be great.
Johan Hendriks,
Head of Personnel Department
Gorlaeus Laboratories, Leiden University, NL.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 17:02:20 GMT
From: ZM BEN-HALIM <benhalzm@uhura.aston.ac.uk>
Subject: Lharc
Does there exist a version of lharc for DOS which is capable of
handling archives created on a Unix machines. Specifically, not choking
on '/' in paths and sensible truncation of long file name.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 11:20:31 CET
From: YOON%UNICC.BITNET@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: OS2 question
Can anyone help me regarding OS/2 and LanManager? I have OS/2 1.2, but
LanManager does not want to run on it. I use IBM PS/2 Model 80 with 10
MB RAM and 300 MB HD. Is there a way of making LANMAN work with OS/2
1.2? If not, which OS/2 works with which version of LANMAN.?
Thanks in advance.
Steve Yoon @UNICC
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 17:06:24 GMT
From: ZM BEN-HALIM <benhalzm@uhura.aston.ac.uk>
Subject: PS/2 1.44Mb drives
What, exactly, makes PS/2s' drives capable of formatting double-density
disks (ie. 720K) as high-density ones (ie. 1.44M) whilst other machines
can't format or read such disks. Is simply that it does not look for a
second hole and the others do, or is it more profound than that?
------------------------------
Subject: New Uploads:
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 18:16:13 PST
From: Roger Fulton <roger@wrq.com>
Subject: ABC412A.ZIP - ABC Fun Keys: Teach children ABCs, v4.12a
Summary: Reposted by Keith Petersen
I have uploaded to SIMTEL20:
pd1:<msdos.education>
ABC412A.ZIP ABC Fun Keys: Teach children ABCs, v4.12a
This is an updated version of ABC40.ARC which was in <msdos.education>.
From ABC.DOC:
ABC FUN KEYS is an educational game for children between the ages of
two to six years old. The game features 38 colorful full screen
graphic pictures, action, and lots of nursery rhyme songs. The major
feature added in this latest release is on-screen scrolling lyrics for
all 27 nursery rhyme songs.
Roger Fulton
roger@wrq.com
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest V91 #70
********************************
-------