Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL ("Info-IBMPC Digest") (03/21/91)
Info-IBMPC Digest Mon, 18 Mar 91 Volume 91 : Issue 60
Today's Editor:
Gregory Hicks - Rota Spain <GHICKS@WSMR-Simtel20.Army.Mil>
Today's Topics:
Disable Control-C (V91 #53)
DISABLE CNTR-C
Autoexec.bat
Accessing Compuserve from the Internet (V91 #23)
Adding Formfeed after Print Screen (V91 #52)
Re SCSI drive and OS2 (V91 #52)
IDE Interface Information Wanted (V91 #53)
reading 41st track of 360k floppies (V91 #53)
9 pin mouse vs IBM PS/2 50 (V91 #54)
Request for help with floppy tape unit (V91 #44, 54)
Maximum dos memory with EMS,Ramdrive and MS-DOS 4.01.
Mix compiler & IDE controllers
Music Composer for Sound Blaster
NumLock (2 msgs)
Personal Communications/3270 PDF file for HP Laserjet III
Today's Queries:
486 Benchmarks
Changing the clock speed on an IBM PS/2 model 80
System problem
VGA Video Modes
Video Goggles
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Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 12:04:28 -0500
From: David Kirschbaum <kirsch@usasoc.soc.mil>
Subject: Disable Control-C (V91 #53)
Date: 4 Mar 91 15:22:00 GMT+109:13
From: "VAXA::ANDY" <andy%vaxa.decnet@nusc-npt.navy.mil>
Subject: DISABLE CNTR-C
... Since the program is run through
autoexec.bat, some users found that if they hold control-c down while
the pc boots they stop the security program from running.
... [details on mutilating users omitted]
... but it would be nicer to just disable control-c at boot.
Preferably through config.sys. Is this possible?
No problem, Andy; put your knife away!
From the Fido Technical Echo:
=== msg included ===
FROM: Robert Hessler
TO: Charlie Cain
SUBJECT: Autoexec.bat
> DH>> How do you prevent a CTRL-C from loading of the autoexec.bat?
> DH>> A menu system with passwords will not do any good unless the
> DH>> autoexec.bat is not abortable.
>
> MH> BREAK OFF
>
> I tried this in both the CONFIG.SYS file and the
> AUTOEXEC.BAT file and
> still was able to interrupt execution of the AUTOEXEC.BAT
> file. At least
> for this machine, I need another answer.
First line in AUTOEXEC.BAT
CTTY NUL
Last line in AUTOEXEC.BAT
CTTY CON
The first line tells DOS that all input commands to DOS are going to
come from the NUL device. This effectively completely disables your
screen and your keyboard. The last line returns DOS input/output to
the keyboard and screen.
=== include ends ===
Hope that helps.
David Kirschbaum
Toad Hall
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 09:39:50 -0500
From: Sarah Gray <sarahg@merit.edu>
Subject: Accessing Compuserve from the Internet (V91 #23)
I had a few comments on the subject of accessing Compuserve via
Telnet: In response to:
>While this is true, you CAN access Compuserve via Telnet using the
>address 35.1.1.6 and typing 'compuserve' at the 'Which host? ' prompt.
That is no longer the correct address for hermes.merit.edu. The
correct addresses are: 35.1.48.149 and 35.1.48.150. We have two
addresses to balance the load, so it is better to use them; also, the
IP addresses often change, although the name does not.
Note also that since going through hermes.merit.edu to Compuserve
means going through Sprintnet, your Compuserve charges will be more
than if you called your local Compuserve number.
Finally, Merit/Michnet is very likely to begin charging for this
service.
Sarah Gray, Technical Support for Merit/Michnet
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 15:06 EST
From: Michael Gordon <GORDONM@MAX.CC.DENISON.EDU>
Subject: Adding Formfeed after Print Screen (V91 #52)
Adding formfeed:
There is a little TSR by Howard Urban called formfeed.com which
executes a formfeed from within a program by using CTRL + >. Very nice.
Michael Gordon
Denison University
gordonm@max.cc.denison.edu
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 13:45:02 EST
From: jardined@qucis.queensu.ca (Don Jardine)
Subject: Re SCSI drive and OS2 (V91 #52)
I have an Adaptec 1542 board. There is no support in OS/2 V1.1 or 1.2.
Adaptec sells a driver for V1.1 but not for V1.2. The driver interface
is different in the two versions of OS/2, at least I treid the Adaptec
1.1 driver with OS/2 V1.2 and it failed. I read in the PC press that
OS/2 V1.3 will support Adaptec SCSI interfaces, but I have not tried
it.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 1991 10:14:25 PST
From: George_C._Burkitt.El_Segundo@xerox.com
Subject: IDE Interface Information Wanted (V91 #53)
>Date: Mon, 04 Mar 91 14:13:59 CST
>From: me <S103637@UMRVMA.UMR.EDU>
The IDE interface is designed to be connected directly to the AT
motherboard expansion bus, using only a straight-through connector and cable.
All of the controller functions are integrated into the drive electronics.
That removes some small delays. The drives are usually 3.5", new designs
which are inherently faster than 5.25" drives because of reduced mass, etc.
The drive manufacturer is also free to use RLL encoding to increase
capacity and data transfer speed without concern for compatibility
with a variety of controllers. So it is cheaper, faster, simpler
to install, all the good things.
The differences between the IDE drives and SCSI drives as well as
smaller ST506 capacities is in the electronics; the basic mechanical
designs can be the same (of course, most drive makers have a variety
of basic mechanical designs for the different capacity ranges. Drives
(from one maker) within a capacity range of, say, 40 - 80 MB are
usually the same basic design, with one disk for the lower capacity and
an additional disk for the higher capacity. There is some variation
in height from maker to maker, from 1.0" to 1.625".
Some drives: Conner CP-4080 85 MB
West Digital AC140 42.7
West Digital ?? 65
Maxtor 7080 80
Toshiba MK134FC 40 - 60
Conner CP-30080 84
West Digital AC280 85.3
Kalok KL343 42 - 57
Seagate ?? (not on my list yet)
Quantum ?? (not on my list yet)
Fujitsu ?? (not on my list yet)
For price, Kalok may be the best bet. They are carried by
distributors, I think. Seagate would also be a price contender, from
distributors. Some of the others may not be availble except as OEM
equipment, sold with the computer by the computer manufacturer.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 1991 10:24:04 PST
From: George_C._Burkitt.El_Segundo@xerox.com
Subject: reading 41st track of 360k floppies (V91 #53)
>Date: Mon, 4 Mar 91 13:58:12 EDT
>From: BOWMAN%MOREKYPR.BITNET@uga.cc.uga.edu
As long as your controller will accept the higher number, most
floppies will reach more than 40 tracks. Maybe you can debug the
BIOS? If you don't mind playing with the hardware, you might try
changing the track '0' stop to track '1'. Then, you could read
track '41' by accessing track '40'. You won't be able to access
track '0' on that drive, tho. It seems to me that the BIOS is the
best bet. (By the way, don't forget that the 40th track is numbered
'39', since the first track is numbered '0'.)
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 09:04 EST
From: Michael Gordon <GORDONM@MAX.CC.DENISON.EDU>
Subject: 9 pin mouse vs IBM PS/2 50 (V91 #54)
>I bought a 6-9 pin converter so that I could plug a 9-pin mouse into
>the 6-pin dedicated mouse/joystick port on my IBM PS2-50 (curse the
>beast). The mouse driver looks out to COM1 (my modem flashes) but
>doesn't find the mouse.
George Waller's problems with getting a 9 pin mouse to work on a 6 pin
mouse- port remind me of the problem I had trying to use a 9 pin
Microsoft Mouse on my son's PS2/30 (the old 8086 one). I couldn't find
a 9-6 pin converter any-where and eventually traded in the 9 pin mouse
for a new Microsoft Mouse with higher resolution (400 vs 300) and a
full set of converters (both serials as well as mouseport). I did this
directly through Microsoft for $25. Not too bad!
Michael Gordon
Denison University
gordonm@max.cc.denison.edu
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 1991 10:32:59 PST
From: George_C._Burkitt.El_Segundo@xerox.com
Subject: Request for help with floppy tape unit (V91 #44, 54)
>Date: Tue, 05 Mar 91 08:42:08 MST
>From: d bear <IDDWB%ASUACAD.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
>a ribbon cable with 3 edge connectors ...
This is true if your controller is set up for more than two drives.
Most AT's are limited internally to two drives, and require a 'bus
expander' card to generate the additional addressing. These are
usually available from the tape drive suplier, probably from your
local computer store, too.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 17:14 MET
From: "CvanDAM/HR@O" <DAM%HRO.nl@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Maximum dos memory with EMS,Ramdrive and MS-DOS 4.01.
Does any one can tell me how to get under MS-dos 4.01 580KB free
DOS-memory while there is an EMM used for 1MB expanded memory and also
with RAMDRIVE 1MB virtualdisk together with some drivers? ABOVEDISK
does not work together with ramdrive. The total memory on the
motherboard is 4MB.
C van Dam. HRO Rotterdam.
"HROVX1/::DO_DAM"
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 09:55:13 EST
From: "Chuck R." <346B36G%CMUVM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Mix compiler & IDE controllers
Well, someone said that IDE drives come with the controller attached.
Is this true for all IDE drives, without exception? (If so, I guess IDE
controllers are sold separately for use in repairing a drive.)
Also, I saw an ad that implied IDE drives and AT controllers are
compatible. Is this true? Also, what is an AT controller? Is it yet
another type of controller or is it compatible with, for example, an
MFM drive?
I saw another ad for a C compiler from Mix Software for $19.95. It had
a make utility and a library including graphics routines (which is what
I'm looking for.) Has anybody bought this? If so, any comments about
it, good or bad?
Thanks.
Chuck R. bitnet: 346b36g@cmuvm.bitnet Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, USA
"Know whut I mean, Vern?" ;) ;) --> --> (wink wink, nudge nudge)
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 91 23:16:54 GMT
From: snoopy@charlot.pg.bull.fr (Francesco Iarlori)
Subject: Music Composer for Sound Blaster
Does anybody have a music composer (and, or sampler) for ibm-pc with
Sound Blaster card in order to make music directly from a pentagram.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 21:14:31 +0200
From: Dov Peter Grobgeld <CFGROB%WEIZMANN@TAUNIVM.TAU.AC.IL>
Subject: Num Lock
Jimmy Kuo <cjkuo@locus.com> writes:
>wolfgang wuerz <wuerz-w%vax.hmi.dbp.de@RELAY.CS.NET> writes:
>>I want to use the upper row of keys on the numeric-pad; my problem is
>>the numlock-key. I want to disable the light, which is associated with
>>it and then use the key as any other one, but not to toggle between
>>numeric-pad ON/OFF. Any suggestion/pseudo-code/... appreciated.
>The numeric key is electrically different from the other keys. For one
>thing, it has no typamatic. So if you want to "use the key as any
>other one", it is an impossibility.
No Jimmy, your answer isn't correct. All keys on the IBM PC keyboard
are equivalent. They send out a so called scan code when they are
depressed, the scan code is repeated if they are held down, and they
send out a scan code when they are released.
In order to read the Numlock-Key you must trap the interrupt 9. Read
the scan code yourself by hardware. If it is the key you are interested
in then you can stuff a character code in the keyboard buffer, and if
it is not a key you are interested in, then you should jump to the old
keyboard interrupt routine.
You may do this programming in most programming languages, including
assembler, Turbo-Pascal and C.
I'll be happy to send an example program source in Turbo Pascal to
illustrate how to do this to anyone interested.
Dov Grobgeld
Department of Chemical Physics
The Weizmann Institute of Science
Israel
------------------------------
Date: Mon Mar 11 13:17:32 GMT 1991
From: Mike O'Carroll <mike@elec-eng.leeds.ac.uk>
Subject: Numlock (again)
> Could anyone tell me how to get rid of the feature where the NumLock
> key automatically switches itself on when the computer is switched on
In fact, it seems dead easy. All you have to do is knock out bit 5 in
the keyboard state flags in the Bios data area. I'm not an assembler
expert, but this seems to work:
code segment byte public 'code'
assume cs:code
numoff proc
mov ax, 40h ; bios data area
mov ds, ax
cli ; just in case
and byte ptr ds:17h, 0dfh ; byte 17 is KB state - clear bit 5
sti
mov ax, 4c00h ; exit
int 21h
numoff endp
code ends
end numoff
You can of course turn it on again by doing an
or byte ptr ds:17h, 20h ; turn on bit 5
Hope this helps
--
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, 11 Mar 1991 07:51:37 EST
From: "Hunter Goatley, WKU" <goathunter%WKUVX1@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: NUMLOCK-key
Jimmy Kuo <cjkuo@locus.com> writes:
>wolfgang wuerz <wuerz-w%vax.hmi.dbp.de@RELAY.CS.NET> writes:
>>I want to use the upper row of keys on the numeric-pad; my problem is
>>the numlock-key. I want to disable the light, which is associated with
>>it and then use the key as any other one, but not to toggle between
>>numeric-pad ON/OFF. Any suggestion/pseudo-code/... appreciated.
>The numeric key is electrically different from the other keys. For one
>thing, it has no typamatic. So if you want to "use the key as any
>other one", it is an impossibility.
You can use NM100.ARC, available from Simtel in <MSDOS.KERMIT>. It's a
shareware product that lets you treat the NumLock like the F1 key.
Hunter Goatley, WKU, goathunter@wkuvx1.bitnet, 502-745-5251
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 12:01:56 EST
From: Joel Saunders <RJFS%SNYCENVM.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: Personal Communications/3270 PDF file for HP Laserjet III
On Tue, 05 Mar 91 16:22:18 EST you said:
>I have started using IBM's Personal Communications/3270 package. I
>want to use it as a source for my mainframe printing. My printer is an
>HP Laserjet Series III. The problem is that all of the Printer
>Defintion Files (PDF) are for IBM printers. Has anyone ever written
>one of these things for an HP. Or can you point me to a potential
>source?
I have gone through the gyrations necessary to get the PCOM3270 package
to print to the LASERJET II. The PDF that I have created is a
bare-bones implementation.
One of the major problems with using the LASERJET as a MAINFRAME
printer is the limit of 60 lines/page at 6 LPI because of the fact that
the LJ can't physically print to positions around the edge of an 8.5 x
11 page.
The PDF sends a printer command that tells the LJ to get into 7 LPI,
prints the document, and resets the printer to 6 LPI. This works for
us because the LJ is primarily used as PC LAN server printer (Most PC
programs use the LJ at 6LPI)
I will upload the PDF to SIMTEL if someone would give me directions.
[Send a note to Keith Petersen <w8sdz@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil>]
I've downloaded many times from there and would love to make this
contribution.
Hope this helps.....
... Joel
... PS.. Yes I said LJII but would imagine that it would work for the LJ3.
JOEL F. SAUNDERS
RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF S.U.N.Y.
SUNY PLAZA - BROADWAY F209
ALBANY, NEW YORK 12246
SPECIAL PROJECTS CONSULTANT
BITNET: RJFS AT SNYCENVM
AT&T : (518) 434-7200
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 09:00:01 EST
From: kobus@NADC.NADC.NAVY.MIL (D. Kobus)
Subject: 486 Benchmarks
We are preparing to conduct an evaluation of generic 486 machines for
possible purchase. Would appreciate any suggestions on possible public
domain software benchmarks that could assist in this evaluation.
Critiques of the benchmarks listed in SIMIBM.IDX are also welcomed.
David B. Kobus
Naval Air Development Center
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 11:36 EST
From: <SYS%ALBION.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Changing the clock speed on an IBM PS/2 model 80
Can you change the processor speed on an IBM ps/2 model 80? If
so, how do you do it? I can't find any switches on the box, and
haven't been able to find anything in the docs about it.
We're using it as a Novell server, and need to slow it down a
little bit.
Thanks in advance.
Jason
- Jason Ruiter - System/Network Manager - Albion College, Albion MI -
- Bitnet: Sys@Albion ------------------------------------------------
- MaBell: 517-629-0479 - "Never play leapfrog with a unicorn!" ------
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 15:33:58 SST
From: Vincent Chan <ENGP0017%NUSVM.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu>
Subject: System problem
Hi there,
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??? This system is using AMI bios setup, 120 M harddisk
partitioned into three 40 Mb partitions. (A Wearnes BOLDLINE computer).
Help is appreciated. Thanx.
Vincent Chan
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 11:29:27 EST
From: dan@bmw.webo.dg.com (Dan Zehme)
Subject: VGA Video Modes
On all PS/2 compatable machines, there are two graphics modes that
provide 320x400x256 and 360x480x256 resolution x colors. I have seen
these modes used in other programs. Can someone please tell me what
the video mode number is for these two modes? Thanks.
| Dan Zehme Data General Corp. mail stop: D232 |
| dan@bmw.webo.dg.com 4400 Computer Drive phone: (508) 870-9237 |
| Dan_Zehme@bsn.mceo.dg.com Westboro, MA 01580 fax: (508) 870-9291 |
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 10:58:49 -0500
From: Jim Kenyon <jkenyon@css.itd.umich.edu>
Subject: Video Goggles
I am looking for a binocular display (two screens mounted in a pair of
goggles) to use in a simulator. Any leads are appreciated.
Thanks in advance
-Jim
BTW, the set would be connected to a PC clone -- any video format is
acceptable.
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End of Info-IBMPC Digest V91 #60
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