Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL ("Info-IBMPC Digest") (03/07/91)
Info-IBMPC Digest Mon, 4 Mar 91 Volume 91 : Issue 48 Today's Editor: Gregory Hicks - Rota Spain <GHICKS@WSMR-Simtel20.Army.Mil> Today's Topics: Soundblaster IBM-PS2-30 (286).memory expansion on mother-board. Download with Kermit on a VAX Today's Queries: Windows Terminal Slower than DOS only Software? Bugs in MS Fortran v5.0 using 8087s DeSmet C Compiler Game port access GIF89a / JPEG? Graphics Formats MEMORY HYPE?? 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: Tue, 26 Feb 91 07:44:45 EST From: jay@zen.cac.stratus.com (Jay Appell) Subject: Soundblaster There are two additional chips that can be added for additional voices on the Soundblaster card. Does someone know if these chips can be purchased from a source other than the vendor ? Jay [What are the chip types and specs? gph] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Feb 91 13:06 MET From: "CvanDAM/HR@O" <DAM%HRO.nl@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> Subject: IBM-PS2-30 (286).memory expansion on mother-board. TO David Gilbert. IBM PS2 model 30 need special simm's for the onboard memmory. They don't have a separated parity bit ( 9 the bit ). So you have to buy expansive SIMM's. Or you have to modify normal Simm's. Which I did with success. I used 4MB as expanded memory with 590kB free DOS memory. I hope this is enough information for you. "CvanDAM/HR@O" . Netherland. ------------------------------ Date: 28 Feb 91 08:11:00 CST From: "SACLMR" <saclmr@sacemnet.af.mil> Subject: Download with Kermit on a VAX >Date: Sun, 24 Feb 1991 09:46 EST >From: WAXMONRW%SNYBUFVA.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu I saw your initial message and did not realize what your problem MAY be until I saw on of the responses telling you how to process the msdos file once you get it on the VAX. This may be something you already know but the following does work. 1) Extract the file from your "receivebuffer" on the VAX with the "Receive/ Binary" command. This is essential for any file which originate on an IBM mainframe and Simtel20 has an IBM. It relates to the EBCDID to ASCII translation on the VAX. [WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL does NOT use an IBM mainframe. It is a DEC-6020 running TOPS-20. However, word length is 36 bits long. gph] 2) Given the file name "filename.xxx;1" in your root directory on the VAX, issue the following command: analzye/file/fdl filename.xxx;1 3) The above command will produce a file named filename.fdl;1 in your root directory. Issue the following command: edit filename.fdl;1 s/none/carriage_return/none/21 You have opened the .fdl file and substituted no carriage returns for carriage returns. You may want to "type" out the .fdl file and checke to see if I have the correct line no. (21). The .fdl file is a short file. You will now have the second version of filename.xxx;2 (notice the ";2"). 4) Given filename.xxx;2, issue the following commandd: convert/fdl=filename.xxx.fdl;2 filename.xxx;1 fixed_filename.xxx;1 5) Delete the files filename.xxx;1 (the original file) and filename.fdl;2. The file you want to download is fixed_filename.xxx;1 (you don't have to call it "fixed" - that is merely an identifier for you). You may want to rename the "fixed_filename,.xxx;1" to something simplier to DL. 6) DL with Kermit. The way I do this is a follows: 1) My PC Kermit is is set to receive a binary file 2) After callng Kermit on the VAX, I issue "set file type bin" 3) I then issue "send filename.xxx;1" (the "fixed" file!) 4) I escape back to the PC Kermit and type " R filename.xxx" That does it. Hope I did not leave anything out! As I said, I suspect you know all this by now and also, while it works for me, it may not work for you. If it does, send a note to the moderator of Info-IBM suggesting they be a little more explicit in the explanatory notes (which you can obtain from the "keeper" of the Simtel20 files. I never had the guts to suggest that! [Why not? Always open to suggestions for improvement! gph] Bye Ray Waxmonsky (waxmonrw@snybufva) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Feb 91 17:28:08 +0100 From: pnieuwen@rc1.vub.ac.be (P. Nieuwenhuysen (BIBL)) Subject: Windows Terminal Slower than DOS only Software? Question: Is Windows Terminal indeed slower in comparison with DOS-only communications software? If yes: why? Context: Downloading of received mail to my IBM PS/2 from a server on our university campus LAN (based on SUN UNIX, TCP/IP and NFS) is always much slower using Terminal than when I use much older DOS software (even when this is started from the Program Manager). I have not yet asked our WIN3 dealer. Paul Nieuwenhuysen Information and Documentation, University Library, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussel, Belgium. Tel. 2 / 6412436 (directly) or 2 / 6412609 (secretary) Fax. 2 / 6412282 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Feb 91 09:06 EST From: <LANDMAN%MSUPA.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> Subject: Bugs in MS Fortran v5.0 using 8087s I don't know if this is of general interest for this list, but here it goes. I seem to have found an interesting bug in the Microsoft fortran v5.0 compiler, specifically how it generates startup code for 8087 math coprocessors. The tale begins like this... I am working on a program that I have written to integrate the radial schrodinger equation, for the standard coulomb potential (this is some physics stuff). I had written it in fortran (the 77 flavor), and compiled it under several different compilers, so I could make benchmark measurements of performance, size, etc. These are for my own use, so I can decide which compiler I will blow some large portion of my miserly pittance on. Software aint cheap, and grad students aint rich, even though we need to use various bits of software, to get our degrees... As it exists now, the programs performs PERFECTLY under the following environments, with no alterations needed to port it. Dec VAX 8650, IBM 3090 180e vf, AST PC/AT (premium) 10Mhz 80286/80287 under DOS v3.30, Dale PC/AT 386/387 at 16Mhz. On the PC/AT machines, I have compiled it under the Lahey F77/em-16 system, the Watcom WatFor87 system, and the Microsoft Fortran v5.0 system. The program performs flawlessly under all the previous systems/compilers. Now to the problem. Using the following command line for MS Fortran, my program compiles properly (I link it using a seperate command) on a PC, PC/AT, etc. fl /4I2 /4Yb /AM /Fsschrod.lst /G0 /Gs /Otls /c schrod.for (in reality, the effect I see is INDEPENDANT of the compiler switches). I can run this program on an AT machine, and it gives me good numbers, that is, it converges. On the XT however, the program (which is basically a fancy rootfinder), actually ORBITS the root!. That is, the perterbation correction that I apply does NOT cause convergence, but rather it orbits the correct solution. Now for the mystery. When I brought the CodeView system over to the XT to test the code, I tried something simple. I loaded CodeView, and the same exact copy of the program which did not work, type g<enter>... and the bloody thing worked. Ok Im confused. Why should a program that works under CodeView, not work from the DOS command line? I had no clue, but I did the next obvious thing. I exited CodeView, and ran the program from the DOS line. I found orbits. I got back into CodeView, and ran the program. I got convergence. So, I have over the last 2 months permuted the various compiler parameters to no avail. The program still works from AT's and PC's in CodeView, but NOT from the PC command line. I also recalled that the "savage" benchmark that I compiled under the MS v5.0 of fortran, gave me 2 different results, for the SAME program, (compiled for the 8086 processor using the 8087 library) run on a PC/XT and a PC/AT. The only thing I have not changed is the library for the mathematics. Thus I STRONGLY suspect the 8087 portion of the MS v5.0 package is faulty. I also do not trust the output of these programs that are run on 8086/8087 machines. I tested this exhaustively under many conditions, and variations. I know the program works well on other machines/compilers. Thus I am led to the conclusion that the MS v5.0 fortran compiler does not know how to properly deal with an 8087, and that the codeview debugger somehow adjusts things properly for these chips. I borrowed the use of the MS V5.0 fortran compiler from a registered user in our department. The Lahey compiler is owned by my thesis advisor, and I had an old copy of the Watcom Fortran WatFor87. I am not affiliated with any company that has a fortran compiler etc on the market. I insert generic disclaimers, and offer my code up for inspection if desired. I have written all of my own code, with the sole exception of 3 modified numerical recipies routines. Joe Landman Graduate Student, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202 landman@msupa.pa.msu.edu (this is in the process of evaporation) 07480jln@msu.bitnet Joe_Landman@MTS.cc.WAYNE.edu (only use this if necessary) (313)-577-2752 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Feb 91 16:17:32 -0500 (EST) From: Michael Anthony Mantarro <mm3o+@andrew.cmu.edu> Subject: DeSmet C Compiler Is this beast still in existence? Does anyone know where it can be obtained, or possibly how one could get a manual for it? I don't so much want the compiler as I want to find out what many functions in some DeSmet C code that are called things like _lmove and _memset really do. (So that they can be done either directly in 8088 or through Turbo C) Any help (via email) would be greatly appreciated. Mike ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Feb 91 12:21:19 EST From: pkel@psych.purdue.edu (Paul L. Kelly) Subject: Game port access Hi, I need to access the game port on a PC compatible from Turbo Pascal. I know the address of the port (hex 200 to 207), but I can't seem to get anything other than readings from the joystick buttons. It would seem that if BASIC can handle a game port then Turbo Pascal would be able to do so as well. I have searched through the TP archives on wsmr-simtel20.army.mil, but nothing in the directory listing says anything directly regarding game ports or joy- sticks. Certainly somebody out there has written a game in pascal that uses a joystick! The application that I'm writing is not a game, and has to oper- ate considerably faster than interpreted basic will allow. Any ideas? Thanks in advance, Paul L. Kelly (pkel@brazil.psych.purdue.edu) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Feb 91 05:16:01 -0500 From: jguo@cs.NYU.EDU (Jun Guo) Subject: GIF89a / JPEG? Hi, I have no success in viewing GIF89a. I tried Steel Tiger, which use return to previous all the time I think. But both CSHOW 8.23a and VUIMG 295 didn't 'return to previous'. CSHOW leaves black 'windows' on the picture and VUIMG messes the picture. I noticed CSHOW will do better with more memory. But when I ran CSHOW in plain DOS it still leaves one black window. I'm using Paradise 1024P adaptor in 640x480x256 mode. Any hints? I tried Alchemy. I think the speed is acceptable on my machine considering the disk space saved. But with good GIF files (which use 256 colors to cheat eyes as if it has more than 256 colors), the converted JPEG files don't looks good. So my question is where can I find JPEG files? (And also JPEG viewers?) Thanks. Jun ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Feb 91 16:31:01 ARG From: Luis MAGNI <banyc!fmcba.sld.edu.ar!luis@uunet.UU.NET> Subject: Graphics Formats Does anyone knows a place where could I find information about Graphics formats???. I am looking only populars ones, for example: TIFF - PCX - EPS - MAC - PIC - GIF - SS - DXF - etc.... Thanks in advance. (Please reply to me directly and via list ). | Luis Magni - Administrador de Correo | Phone & Fax :(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: 26 Feb 91 16:37:00 CST From: "90SMWACC" <90smwacc@sacemnet.af.mil> Subject: MEMORY HYPE?? I am considering the purchase of a 386DX system. The problem concerns *memory hype*. Many mail order firms advertise >>4Mb<< of ram. Does this mean 4 MEG of 8 bit memory or 4 MEG of 32 bit memory? Some of the motherboards I have seen contain memory sockets for 8 SIMS. Ads for SIMs are 1MEG of 8 bit memory. So how do I know if mail order computers are 4Mb or 4MEG of 32 bit memory? Also, if these computers have only 4Meg of 8 bit memory, aren't they misleading the public? That is 4Mb is really only 1Meg of 32 bit memory. Or are these systems arranged as 8 bit memory, requiring 4 memory fetchs to load a 32 bit instruction? Maybe I am off base, but this stuff is a little confusing to me. ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest V91 #48 ******************************** -------