Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL ("Info-IBMPC Digest") (11/18/90)
Info-IBMPC Digest Sun, 18 Nov 90 Volume 90 : Issue 189
Today's Editor:
Gregory Hicks - Rota Spain <GHICKS@WSMR-Simtel20.Army.Mil>
Today's Topics:
Dial tone modem
EGA (and other) monitors
PKZip (was Re: Ooops. The disk was wrong not the file)
Today's Queries:
DView3.1 problems
Instruction Prefetch Queue Length
SVGA monitors
Autosketch & Epson LQ series?
Miniscribe 3212 and Zenith
PCSA print 'problem'
Russian Language Network
New Uploads:
DANIX.ZIP - 14 UNIX-like utils including man, ls, ptime
New version of TCU (V3.0) uploaded
simgrep -- an easy way to locate files
UUPC/extended v1.09c uucp for MSDOS available from SIMTEL20
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<INFO-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL>
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Archives of past issues of the Info-IBMPC Digest are available by FTP
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Date: Thu, 15 Nov 90 09:29:54 est
From: Pete_Simpson%dgc.ceo.dg.com@RELAY.CS.NET
Subject: Dial tone modem
I think what you are looking for here is a *Dual-Tone Multi Frequency*
modem (DTMF for short).
If this is true, then there is one listed in the Black Box catalog...
it's their part number GR-IC041A for $495. The catalog says it connects
a telco line to your ASCII computer and converts the dialled digits to
ASCII characters. There's also a 25 word, 0-9 digit, A,B,C,D character
speech synthesizer to pass information back to the caller. For more
info:
Black Box Corporation
POB 12800
Pittsburgh PA 15055
(412) 746-5530
Peter Simpson, KA1AXY
Data General Corp M/S E132
Westboro, MA 01580
(508) 870-9837
Pete_Simpson@MERCURY.MCEO.DG.COM
------------------------------
Date: 14 Nov 90 12:40:00 CDT
From: "55SRWLGS" <55srwlgs@sacemnet.af.mil>
Subject: EGA (and other) monitors
This past summer, a friend was telling me something he'd read, in
Byte, PC Magazine, one of those. According to this article, the
components which make up monitors, especially EGA's, are all made by
just a handful of companies. This being the case, so the argument goes,
it essentially wouldn't matter whether you bought a Zenith, Magnavox,
or Discount Mailorder monitor. The insides being the same, you get
virtually the same quality anywhere.
I may soon have to replace my monitor, and would be curious to know
whether anyone else has heard or read anything like this.
Frank Starr
55srwlgs@sacemnet.af.mil
------------------------------
Date: 15 Nov 90 16:05:25 GMT
From: sigma@rpi.edu (Kevin J Martin)
Subject: PKZip (was Re: Ooops. The disk was wrong not the file)
>[The last PKZIP released on the net was PKZ110EU.EXE. You MIGHT
>have a file that PKZIP V1.02 can't interpret.
The official word, as I heard it, is that PkZip 1.10 does not produce
files which are incompatible with 1.02 - the compression scheme
remained the same, and the improvements were mostly to features and
speed. The only difference I've ever seen has been about 32 bytes,
which is probably more efficient handling of file blocking, or deletion
of an optional but unnecessary field in a header somewhere.
On the other hand, 0.91 and 0.92 and 1.01 might not work, you're right.
Kevin Martin
sigma@rpi.edu
"england my country, the home of the free
(such miserable weather)"
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 09:26:06 +0200
From: Dov Peter Grobgeld <CFGROB%WEIZMANN.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: DView3.1 problems
I have tried to use the DVI previewer DView 3.1 but it hangs the
computer *almost* every time I use it and at *different* places. I
thought it might be some hardware incompetability in my XT, so I tried
it in my friends portable 386 with the same result. I found it to be a
real shame, since the program seems to be excellent as regards to
flexibility and user interface.
The Doc file that comes with the program just states that it was
written by Steve Ward and Ricardo Jenez, but leaves no address, neither
snail nor email. Does anyone have an address of the authors, know if
there is a newer version available with the bugs fixed, and in that
case where? The version 3.1 on Simtel was written in October 1989.
Please answer by direct email, since I am not a regular subscriber of
info-ibmpc.
Dov Grobgeld
Department of Physical Chemistry
The Weizmann Institute of Science
Rehovot, Israel
Email: cfgrob@weizmann.bitnet
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 09:03 PST
From: DLEWIS%SCU.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Instruction Prefetch Queue Length
Every piece of software I've ever seen that attempts to identify the
CPU type differentiates the 8088/8086, 80188/80186, and V20/V30 pairs
based on a measurement of the length of the instruction prefetch queue.
This is done by attempting to write ahead into the instruction stream -
if the write makes no difference on the execution, then the target of
the write must have already been prefetched.
All of the code I've seen is prone to measurements which are too low
because the code doesn't take steps to insure that the queue is full
when the write occurs. There are three common problems:
(1) NO ADDRESS ALIGNMENT: On 16-bit and 32-bit CPU's, this can really
screw up the measurement since instruction bytes are prefetched in byte
multiples as determined by the data bus width.
(2) NO SYNCHRONIZATION WITH REFRESH CYCLES: Refresh cycles preempt
instruction prefetching, and may prevent the queue from filling, thus
causing the measurement to be low. If you put this measurement in a
loop and let it run, you'll get measurements from a length of about 2
bytes all the way up to a maximum given by the actual length.
(3) NO SATURATION OF THE EXECUTION UNIT: Instruction prefetching is
accomplished by the Bus Interface Unit (BIU) in parallel with the
Execution Unit (EU). It's important to give an execution-intensive
sequence of instructions to the EU so the BIU can fill the queue faster
than the EU is draining it.
Based on these ideas, I have tried writing my own code to measure the
queue length. Although I was able to verify that issues (1) and (2)
above are critical for repeatability, I was surprised that the inverse
of (3) seems to hold! Placing an execution-intensive sequence of
MUL/DIV pairs in front of the write led to innacurate measurements!
Surprisingly, placing a JMP in front of the write yielded an accurate
measurement, yet the JMP is supposed to *FLUSH* the queue!
CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN THIS CONTRADICTION?
MY code follows... It is designed to be run in a loop, changing the
value of "queue_length" from 0 to 32 until BX is non-zero at the end of
a pass.
mov ax,cs ; set up to store into cseg
mov es,ax
cld
; Force 32-bit word address to optimize instruction fetch
mov di,OFFSET codebfr
add di,3
and di,0FFFCh
; Insert the STOSB that stores into the instruction stream
mov al,0AAh ; STOSB opcode image
mov si,di ; save address of STOSB
stosb
; Offset STOSB target address by desired amount
add di,queue_length
dec di
xor bx,bx
mov cl,43h
; Wait for the end of the current refresh cycle
cli
mov dx,0FFFFh
wait1: mov al,40h
out 43h,al
jmp dly5
dly5: jmp dly6
dly6: in al,41h
mov ah,al
jmp dly7
dly7: jmp dly8
dly8: in al,41h
xchg al,ah
cmp ax,dx ; Looking for rollover
mov dx,ax ; of the refresh timer
jbe wait1
; Now we won't be preempted!
mov al,cl ; get a INC BX for STOSB
jmp si ; jump to the STOSB
codebfr: nop ; 4 NOP's for word alignment
nop
nop
nop
nop ; 1 NOP for stosb
nop ; 32 NOP's for prefetch queue
...
...
nop
sti
dec di ; repair the NOP
mov BYTE cs:[di],90h
Prof. Dan Lewis Phone: (408) 554-4449
Computer Engineering Program Email: DLEWIS@SCU.BITNET
EECS Department
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara, CA 95053
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 08:04:36 EST
From: jrv@sdimax2.mitre.org
Subject: SVGA monitors
I have a Maxon MVGA-16 SVGA card (Trident chip set) and a Relisys
RE9513 VGA monitor. When I bought them, the dealer told me that
monitor would not support SVGA modes. I had hoped I would at least be
able to use the 640x480x256 mode (5Dh, according to the Maxon
numbering). In fact, none of the SVGA modes work. Why? I can use the
standard 640x480x16 mode (12h) and the sync frequencies ought to be the
same.
The Maxon book lists sync polarities and frequencies only for the
standard VGA modes. It does say the SVGA modes are supported by
variable frequency monitors like the NEC Multisync II, but not by the
IBM 8514, 8513, 8512, or 8503 monitors. (Can I conclude from the model
numbers that the Relisys RE9513 is the equivalent of the IBM 8513?)
- Jim Van Zandt
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 22:47:08 CST
From: Brian Piersel <S1CH%SDSUMUS.BITNET@VM1.NoDak.EDU>
Subject: Autosketch & Epson LQ series?
I was looking at a friend's copy of Autosketch, and was thinking it
might be something I'd want to get. However, before I do, I want to
make sure it will support my hardware.
I have an Epson LQ-500, and it isn't in the list of printers it brings
up when you configure the program. However, it appears that other
external drivers can be loaded, and it also appears that the same
drivers work for AutoCAD. So, does anyone know if such a driver is
available, or if AutoSketch does support this printer and we just
couldn't find it? I didn't have much time to look at it, and my friend
didn't have his manual handy.
For those who don't know: The Epson 9-pin drivers (FX, RX, etc.) won't
work with LQ series printers because of different pin spacing. Sure, it
will print, but not to the correct scale.
Brian Piersel
BITNET: S1CH@SDSUMUS
BITNET: SBPK09@SDNET
ICBM: 96.50W 44.20N
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 11:34 EST
From: Chris Schmechel <CHRIS%DUKEMVS.BITNET@VTVM2.CC.VT.EDU>
Subject: Miniscribe 3212 and Zenith
I am trying to put a Miniscribe Model 3212 in a Zenith 386 25mhz
desktop. Does someone have the specs on the Miniscribe as to what
type, number of heads and cylinders. Also when I turn on the Zenith to
enter the SETUP ROM program, it seems to take 5-6 secs to cycle between
each hard drive type with whatever hard drive I put in it.
Thanks.
Chris Schmechel
CHRIS@DUKEMVS.BITNET
CHRIS@BART4.AC.DUKE.EDU
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 15 Nov 90 07:30 EST
From: "Henry Jonker" <JONKERH%ENSFLM%sdi.polaroid.com@RELAY.CS.NET>
Subject: PCSA print 'problem'
For one reason or another DEC PCSA always adds an empty page at the end
of a report when you print off this report on a laser printer. Till now
DEC support hasn't been able to answer this question. Does anybody know
why this happens?
JONKERH@MR.POLAROID.COM
Henry Jonker,
Polaroid (Europa) BV, Enschede, Holland,
Phone: ++31-53-821541
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 13:13:07 EST
From: Lowe Robert LTC <4r8345@westpoint-emh2.army.mil>
Subject: Russian Language Network
All --
Have received a query pertaining to a Russian language network SOVSET.
Does anyone know of this network and possible access to it?
Robert S. Lowe
Director, Computer Systems Division
US Military Academy 4r8345@westpoint-emh2.army.mil
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 18:34:47 EST
From: schikore@MENTOR.CC.PURDUE.EDU (Dan Schikore)
Subject: DANIX.ZIP - 14 UNIX-like utils including man, ls, ptime
I have uploaded to SIMTEL20:
pd1:<msdos.sysutl>
DANIX.ZIP 14 UNIX-like utils including man, ls, ptime
This is a collection of 14 UNIX-like utilities for PC compatibles.
The programs included are cat, chmod, cut, cwd, daytime, dtree, head,
ls, man, paste, ptime, tail, touch, and wc. All support wildcards, and
text utilities also support input from standard input, files, or both.
The man program comes with man pages for each of the commands listed
and allows the user to create new man pages for other commands, up to
150 man pages in all.
-Dan Schikore
schikore@mentor.cc.purdue.edu
------------------------------
Mon, 12 Nov 90 18:32:20 CET
From: Karl Keyte <KKEYTE%ESOC.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: New version of TCU (V3.0) uploaded
Please add following to your "recent uploads" section:
PD1:<MSDOS.TURBO-C>TCU_30.ZIP TC/TC++ Windows, menus & form entry library
Thanks,
Karl Keyte
------------------------------
Tue, 13 Nov 90 13:33:42 CST
From: david@wubios.wustl.edu (David J. Camp)
Subject: simgrep -- an easy way to locate files
#! /bin/sh
# I was tired of greping simibm.lst only to go back with my pager
# to find out in which directory items were found. Now I do not
# have to do that, with the wonderful new Unix utility called simgrep.
# This will grep a simibm-style listing, but list the directories
# containing each match. Alas, it is case-sensitive.
PATTERN=$1
shift
sed -n -e '/PD[0-9]*:<.*\..*>/{x;s/.*//;x;H;d;}' \
-e "/$PATTERN/{H;g;p;d;h;}" \
$*
# david@wubios.wustl.edu ^ Mr. David J. Campd
# david%wubios@wugate.wustl.edu < * > +1 314 382 0584
# ...!uunet!wugate!wubios!david v
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 Nov 1990 08:16:38 EST
From: "Drew Derbyshire" <ahd@KENDRA.KEW.COM>
Subject: UUPC/extended v1.09c uucp for MSDOS available from SIMTEL20
Keywords: uucp,ms-dos,uupc
Now available from SIMTEL20:
pd2:<msdos2.uucp>
UUPC09C.INF UUPC/extended v1.09c changes summary (11/90)
UUPC09CS.ZIP MSDOS uucp, TC 2.0 src for UUPC v1.09c (11/90)
UUPC09CU.ZIP MSDOS uucp, user files for UUPC v1.09c (11/90)
This release is primarily a maintenance release, correcting various
errors in pager support, error logging, and mail routing. It does add
limited Windows support by surrendering its time slice if running on a
386 system, and the documentation now explicitly describes how to
support multiple users on one system.
For a full list of changes, users should read CHANGES.DOC included in
UUPC09CU.ZIP.
Please direct all questions to help@kendra.kew.com.
Drew Derbyshire
Internet: ahd@kendra.kew.com U.S. Mail: 108 Decatur St, Apt 9
Voice: 617-641-3739 Arlington, MA 02174
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End of Info-IBMPC Digest V90 #189
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