Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL ("Info-IBMPC Digest") (09/16/90)
Info-IBMPC Digest Sun, 16 Sep 90 Volume 90 : Issue 148
Today's Editor:
Gregory Hicks - Rota Spain <GHICKS@WSMR-Simtel20.Army.Mil>
Today's Topics:
Defective Hard Disk
MNP Problems with Practical Peripherals PM2400SA MNP Modem (2 msgs)
Sound Blaster Card queries..
Today's Queries:
386 & 486 Towers Query
Accounting Programs
BGI driver for HP Laserjet
Winchester Disk seeks at half speed
Re: Winchester Disk seeks at half speed
Problems with Soft Font Download to an Olivetti PG306 Laser
Request info on WordPerfect Mailing List
TAR Source code requested
problems downloading 2 halves of a uuencoded file
ARC or ZIP Utilities for CMS Wanted
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Date: Sat, 08 Sep 90 09:51:34 CDT
From: Tony Phillips <S102066@UMRVMA.UMR.EDU>
Subject: Defective Hard Disk
On Tue, 4 Sep 90 20:00:04 +0200 Info-IBMPC Digest said:
>From: Vainer Moshe <VAINER%BENGUS.BITNET@VM1.NoDak.EDU>
>I've sent a day or two ago a mail about my deffective disk after
>receiving a lot of suggetions. I've tried pctools v6 and the only thing
>that succeed was reviving and after it formatting the disk. the
>interesting thing is that after formatting the disk even has no bad
>sectors!!! so, the problem wasn't physical?!!?!?
Probably not. I had that same problem a few weeks ago when my Hard
Drive started to suddenly give "General Read Failure" errors on several
of my programs. All that was required was a low-level format, and
everything was back to normal. With no bad sectors reported.
Apparently, sometimes DOS "misplaces" a track by a few micrometers.
Subsequent reads and writes serves to propigate the problem until DOS
finally deams that the track is bad. A low-level format (And sometimes
a simple format) will re-organize the tracks.
It appears that your "misplaced track" was one of the boot tracks.
The place where I bought my hard drive recommends leaving a computer on
for more than an hour before formatting a hard drive. The reason, they
said, was because after a hard drive warms up, it has expanded a small
amount; apparently enough to cause problems later.
Tony Phillips
President- A.C.M. Rolla Chapter
Student of Computer Science
University of Missouri, Rolla
Reply Addresses
BITNET: S102066@UMRVMA
INTERNET: S102066@UMRVMA.UMR.EDU
-or- TONYP@CS.UMR.EDU
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 8 Sep 90 09:09:39 PDT
From: Bob Hardy <hardy@lucid.com>
Subject: MNP Problems with Practical Peripherals PM2400SA MNP Modem
Carmen, per your msg. on SIMTEL's Info-IBMPC Digest, V90 #143:
This is interesting. I have an outboard Microcom AX/2400c attached to
my PC/AT clone and a dedicated line to my employer, who also uses the
same modem. I also USED to use ProComm. Looking over your settings, I
see at least one thing that's quite wrong.
CURRENT SETTINGS: 9600,N,8,1,COM1
How can you run a 2400 baud modem at 9600 baud? You must have
something in the modem's firmware that adjusts when baud rates are
mismatched, or you'd get no throughput. My Microcom docs say to set
the serial baud rate at 4800 when operating the modem at 2400. This
allows the PC to access the uncompressed data at a speed that the modem
can deliver, but the PHONE LINE end of the hookup needs to be 2400.
I don't know your specific hardware at all, but the Microcom has to
either have the RELIABLE mode set as the default, or set the AUT mode
that detects and adjusts if the (Microcom) modem at the other end tries
to initiate a reliable connection. Perhaps you have not done this, in
whatever manner your modem recognizes.
Data compression should not change the speed indicator on your modem,
as the baud rate is completely independent of the content of your data
transfer. You get the ILLUSION of running faster, but only because
redundant characters, etc. are replaced with a code that says "...and
here there were x-teen redundant 'foo characters". All of the
redundant characters are not sent, just the encoding token. The modem
reconstructs the original characters, and sends them on to the PC at an
accellerated speed. But your baud rate remains constant, or it is
supposed to! (The Microcom also adjusts for flucuating baud rates --
another issue.)
Is it possible that your modem's reliable connection is different in
some way than the host's?
Anyhow, try setting your serial rate to 4800 and your MODEM'S baud rate
to 2400. If no change, try setting the serial to 2400 as well; but
this may impair the reliable mode's speed advantages. And don't be
surprised if RELIABLE mode doesn't set your modem's baud rate to 9600!
Your modem can't go that fast, as I imagine your phone line may not,
either.
Yell if I've missed something...?
Bob Hardy, Scientist; Lucid, Inc., 707 Laurel St., Menlo Park CA 94025
Net: (ARPA): hardy@LUCID.COM (UUCP): ...!sun!edsel!hardy
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 10 Sep 90 12:52:19 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Johnny J. Chin" <jc58+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: MNP Problems with Practical Peripherals PM2400SA MNP Modem
This may not be the answer you are looking for but HS (high speed)
light, I believe only comes on if you are connected at 2400 baud.
Also, I recommend that you tell Procomm to automatically recognize baud
rates in the setup.
ARPAnet: Johnny.J.Chin@andrew.cmu.edu
BITnet: jc58@andrew
UUCP: ...!harvard!andrew.cmu.edu!jc58 Computer Dr.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 7 Sep 90 10:15:50 TUR
From: Turgut Kalfaoglu <TURGUT%TREARN.BITNET@uga.cc.uga.edu>
Subject: Sound Blaster Card queries..
I have a Sound Blaster Card, and I love it. First the easy stuff: yes,
it's a stereo, 12-voice synthesizer. I have the CMS music development
set, so you enter voices, with its own syntax: (1=DO, 2=RE, etc.) + =
up octave, _ = down octave, it has preset instruments, and you can
define your own. Another utility puts rhythm and bass into the music
score you wrote (and drums).
Yes, it can sample voice, and store it in its own format, which is
documented. Theoritically, you should be able to convert your guitar
sound into music score (no utility for this is provided, as far as I
know), but it would take coding. What the provided voice software does
is to sample microphone voice (up to 64K of it, so at best quality, you
have 35 seconds or so, but you can compress the resulting file or
reduce sampling rate and get more seconds)
Then you can record this file on disk, and play it back whenever.
Finally, the new version of the software comes with a text-to-speech
converter. So, you load a TSR (removable) then say 'SAY "Hello,
greetings"' and it says it.. Or, SAY fn.ft. The voice quality is
almost excellent, but not quite as good as DEC's voicebox (or whatever
it's called) that costed $3000. Oh yes, it also has unlimited
vocabulary, and a commonly-used-words vocabulary to say common things
'right'.
No, I don't work for Creative Labs, but it would be a fun job :)
Regards, -turgut
------------------------------
Date: 8 Sep 90 16:20:00 CDT
From: "55SRWLGS" <55srwlgs@sacemnet.af.mil>
Subject: 386 & 486 Towers Query
I've heard some talk, and seen some ads, for 386 & 486 "tower" PC'S.
Just what is a "tower", and what advantages does it have to standard
PC's. From the ads I've seen, it looks to be nothing more than a CPU
made to stand on end, rather than sitting flat like standard PC CPUs.
Doesn't look to be that extraordinary, to me.
Frank Starr
55srwlgs@sacemnet.af.mil
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Date: Mon, 10 Sep 90 11:57:39 -0400
From: David L Caldwell <caldwell@brahms.udel.edu>
Subject: Accounting Programs...
Hello Everyone;
We are in the process of developing or evaluating an accounting package
that tracks transactions by department, project, and account code
(among other things) here at the University of Delaware. I'm curious,
what accounting software packages are being used by other Universities?
Did you develop your own application or was it purchased off the shelf?
How do you like your current system? Any ideas, comments or
suggestions would be much appreciated.
Dave Caldwell
Information Center, University of Delaware
caldwell@vax1.acs.udel.edu
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 10 Sep 90 09:51:47 CET
From: Christian Burger <BURGER%DMRHRZ11.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: BGI driver for HP Laserjet
Running Turbo Pascal (V5.0) I am looking for a BGI device driver for a
HP Laserjet printer supporting the high resolution of this machine.
What I have at the moment is only a screen hardcopy. A phone call with
the Borland ppl revealed that they do not have such a device driver and
that I should write it myself using their BGI tool kit. This sounds
like real hard work. Anyone did this already and can post me the
result? Thanks in advance...
Virtually, Chris
Christian Burger <BURGER@DMRHRZ11.BITNET>
Dept.of Phys.Chem./Polymers, U.of Marburg/Germany
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 08 Sep 90 10:03:41 CDT
From: Tony Phillips <S102066@UMRVMA.UMR.EDU>
Subject: Winchester Disk seeks at half speed
Can you help me with my problem?
A couple of weeks ago, I was forced to do a low-level format on my
Seagate ST-238R Hard drive. I used the program packaged with it, the
Disk Manager and Diagnostics program.
Now that I've reformated it, it runs at half the speed.
Track-Track seek seems slower and data transfer rate has been more than
cut in half. Before the format: 120 KB/sec. After the format 28
KB/sec!!! I can't stand that! I formatted it at a 2:1 interleaving.
I have no idea what the interleaving was before, because the people
whom I bought the computer from formatted the drive for me. I tried a
1:1 interleaving, but as I have a 10MHz XT compatible, it doesn't work.
[Sounds like the interleave is set wrong. Try a 3:1 interleave.]
Tony Phillips
President- A.C.M. Rolla Chapter
Student of Computer Science
University of Missouri, Rolla
Reply Addresses
BITNET: S102066@UMRVMA
INTERNET: S102066@UMRVMA.UMR.EDU
-or- TONYP@CS.UMR.EDU
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 08 Sep 90 10:03:41 CDT
From: Gregory Hicks <GHICKS@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil>
Subject: Re: Winchester Disk seeks at half speed
On Tue, 4 Sep 90 20:00:04 +0200 Info-IBMPC Digest said:
>Date: Mon, 27 Aug 90 13:02:55 MDT
>From: caeco!fsf@cs.utah.edu (Rick Farnbach)
>
>Hope this reply isn't too late to be useful to you...
>
>> I now have a Seagate ST-251 that appears to be seeking at half speed.
>> The speed of the platter does not seem to be at half speed, but the
>> seek mechanism appears to be slow.
>>
>> I base this on the sounds that come out of the drive during seeks.
>> ...
>Just guessing here, but I would guess that the lower pitch, one octave
>lower if it is indeed running at half speed, is related to the fact
>that the 40Mb disk has twice the number of tracks per inch. Thus, the
>linear speed of the head could now be reduced by half. This seems even
>more likely when one considers that your bus speed is only 4.77MHz and
>your controller was probably not designed for any *real* performance.
You know, this seemed reasonable to me as well... Until I tried
SPINRITE (available from SIMTEL in file PD1:<MSDOS.DSKUTL>SPINTIME.ARC.
Guess I owe him $10...) and CORETEST... SPINRITE reports that the RPM
is 1812 +/- 0.3% while CORETEST reports that the average seek time
(from track 0 to track 812) is around 842 ms. The track-to-track
seek time is right at 14.8ms.. Something doesn't seem right to me. My
Seagate 225 is faster than that!
Does anyone know if there is a test point (on a ST-251) where I can
check (with an O'scope, natch) what the rotation speed of the platter
is??? gph
-----------------------------
Date: Sun, 09 Sep 90 14:28:27 CET
From: Stephan Maier <IBTUS05%CZHETH1I@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
Subject: Problems with Soft Font Download to an Olivetti PG306 Laser
I haven't had any success in printing TEX-documents on my Olivetti
PG306 Laser, which is supposed to be HP-Laserjet II compatible. I have
tried the drivers DVIHPLJ (Version 1.3i by E. Mattes) and DVI2LJ
(Version 0.43 for MS-DOS). The output-files for the printer are ok, as
I have printed them on a real HP- Laserjet II and on a Brother HL8PS
(in HP-Laserjet-mode). Both drivers I used rely on the soft-font
concept.
Any suggestions?
Thank you Stephan
Institute for Biomedical Engineering and Medical Informatics
University and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology/Zurich
Stephan Maier MD Gloriastrasse 35
CH-8092 Zuerich
IBTUS05@CZETH1I.BITNET
Tel ++41 1 256 45 62
------------------------------
Date: 7 Sep 90 21:27:00 PDT
From: "Thomas H. Couper, Civ." <couperth@afsc-sdx.af.mil>
Subject: Request info on WordPerfect Mailing List
I've heard that somewhere on the Internet is a WordPerfect mailing list
devoted to the discussion of various WP topics.
I've checked the Internet "List of Mailing Lists" and asked around in
several places and haven't come up with anything. Do you know if there
is such a list and, if so, what the net address is?
Many thanks.....Tom Couper.....COUPERTH@AFSC-SSD.AF.MIL
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 10 Sep 90 15:39:59 CDT
From: andrewd@sematech.tamu.edu (Andrew Duchowski)
Subject: TAR Source code requested
I'm interested in obtaining source compatible with Unix's TAR archive
program. I'd like to obtain C source that can readily be compiled on a
PC running msdos, using the turbo c compiler.
I've tried the TAR.EXE program that I found previously in a ZIP'd
archive on simtel, but that EXE must have been compiled on DOS3.3,
because it would not run on my machine.
I'd appreciate some help in locating this source. Thanks in advance,
Andrew Duchowski
andrewd@sematech.tamu.edu
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 06 Sep 90 22:05:59 EDT
From: "Chuck R." <346B36G%CMUVM@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
subject: problems downloading 2 halves of a uuencoded file
I am having problems downloading large uuencoded files. For this
instance, I put together several files from TRICKLE and took out the
mail headers.
Then I cut this large file in half, and downloaded each half. Next I
used the dos COPY command to put the two back together like so: copy
4dos-1.uue + 4dos-2.uue 4dosfin.uue
No errors yet. When I tried to uudecode it, it said "Nothing to decode."
1. Why did i get this error?
2. Did dos or somewhere else along the line put in troublesome end-of-
file markers in between the two halves?
I am also considering downloading each TRICKLE file, then putting
every- thing together in dos and uudecoding it. I am now doubtful this
will work.
Chuck R. bitnet: 346b36g@cmuvm.bitnet Michigan, USA
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 08 Sep 90 15:15:45 EDT
From: "Chuck R." <346B36G%CMUVM@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
Subject: ARC or ZIP Utilities for CMS Wanted
Does anybody know of any ARC or ZIP utilities for CMS?
I have a utility called ARCUTIL for uudecoding and unarcing files. By
default, it places the uudecoded file on my A disk. I want the output
to go to another disk. Does anybody know how to do this in CMS?
Does anybody know of a discussion list for mainframe CMS operating
system problems?
Chuck R. bitnet: 346b36g@cmuvm.bitnet Michigan, USA
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End of Info-IBMPC Digest V90 #148
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