Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL ("Info-IBMPC Digest") (08/13/90)
Info-IBMPC Digest Sun, 12 Aug 90 Volume 90 : Issue 133
Today's Editor:
Gregory Hicks - Rota Spain <GHICKS@WSMR-Simtel20.Army.Mil>
Today's Topics:
COLORs on a 386
Fax/Modem Switch Reply
Little-known DOS Extender for 286/386/386sx's
Microsoft C 5.1 and Spawn
VIRUSCAN Bug Report
Today's Queries:
break vs sysreq
Computer for Handicapped
Extremely virulent virus problem
Problems with Borland Quatro Pro
V20-8 & JDR MICRODEVICES TURBO-XT MOTHERBOARD
Windows 3.0 and dumb printers
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Date: 8 Aug 90 22:15:00 CDT
From: "55SRWLGS" <55srwlgs@sacemnet.af.mil>
Subject: COLORs on a 386
Just got in a 386 computer, and am using MS-DOS 4.1. I am having
trouble using ANSI escape sequence commands to get color from the color
monitor when at the DOS level. I'm not sure, but this may be a VGA
monitor.
I have the DEVICE=ANSI.SYS line in my CONFIG.SYS file. I have this
command as one of the first lines in my AUTOEXEC.BAT file: PROMPT
$e[37;44m. Doesn't give me white text on a blue background, however.
Just the default white text on black.
The manual seemed to say I should have PROMPT$e[p37;p44m, with "p"
being an indicator for using a numeric rendition for the color codes.
No dice there, either. So, what do I do?
Frank Starr
55srwlgs@sacemnet.af.mil
[Try
"prompt $e[37;44;1m" vice "prompt $e[37;44m".
The '1m' means intensify the colors. Case IS important! If the m is
entered as M, ANSI.SYS does something else. Leaving the 'm' off
defaults to 0m or 'no intensify'. gph]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 09 Aug 90 11:53:30 EDT
From: Curt Priest <BMSLIB@mitvma.mit.edu>
Subject: Fax/Modem Switch Reply
To the person desperately after a fax/modem switch, there are MANY to
choose from. MDS Novae Marketing carries the Fax Line Manager and puts
out a useful comparison table to the other major models. You can get
literature by write P.O. Box #4326, Cerritos, CA 90703 or calling
800-MDS-0063 (213-926-8730) or FAX (213- 926-1523.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 8 Aug 90 16:22 PDT
From: DLEWIS%SCU.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu
Subject: Little-known DOS Extender for 286/386/386sx's
Here's something I thought this discussion group might find of
interest:
There's another little known DOS extender (similar in purpose to QEMM,
386^MAX, and QRAM) called LASTBYTE. Like QRAM, it takes advantage of
those motherboards that use the Chips & Technologies chipsets to load
software into the memory between 640k and 1Meg.
Unlike all other such products, however, LASTBYTE has the unique
ability to use *ALL* 384k of that memory! Physical memory that sits
"behind" the display buffer, ROM's, etc., is not accessible with other
DOS extenders, but LASTBYTE uses a "bank-switching" technique to store
data there (e.g., for a ram disk, emulated EMS memory, etc.).
LASTBYTE does NOT use any protected mode software and so is fully
compatible with Windows 3.0. Moreover, since it does not rely on the
memory mapping capability of a 386, it does NOT remap any Extended
Memory into the 640k-1M region, nor does it even require a 386 - it
works on any PC that uses the C&T chipset and has at least 1M of
physical memory. LASTBYTE also requires DOS 3.0 or higher.
In addition to software to load device drivers and TSR's into high
memory, LASTBYTE includes software to mark (and later remove) TSR's,
device drivers that use high memory to implement a ram disk, to emulate
ems memory (both LIM 3.2 and 4.0), and to provide a programmer's
interface for allocating/deallocating high memory. The latter can also
be used with 4DOS (the shareware replacement for COMMAND.COM) to move
the 4DOS command processor and master environment into high memory.
And of course there's a program to display the contents of high memory
at any time.
There are command line options to select between normal and best-fit
memory allocation, and to delete environment blocks allocated for
TSR's.
Best of all, a fully functional but memory-limited version of LASTBYTE
is available free of charge for evaluation. If you like it, then only
$29.95 buys you an access key that can be used with the accompanying
LICENSE program to acquire unlimited access to all 384k. LASTBYTE can
be downloaded from a number of bulletin boards, including Vern's BBS at
(707) 778-8944, or directly from the manufacturer:
Key Software Products
440 Ninth Avenue
Menlo Park, Calif. 94025
(415) 364-9847
Enjoy!
Dan Lewis (owner, KSP)
Bitnet: DLEWIS@SCUACC
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Aug 90 08:01:52 EDT
From: gary@ctc.contel.com (Gary Bisaga x4219)
Subject: Microsoft C 5.1 and Spawn
I haven't used this exact function, but I have used other functions
under DOS where I made *EXACTLY* the same mistake, I would estimate,
about ten times. When I wanted to specify a full DOS pathname, I just
did it, e.g.,
fopen("C:\ETC\FOO.TXT", "r")
The problem here, of course, is that with DOS's brain-damaged use of
'\' for directory separators, it screws up my C language string, and I
should write
fopen("C:\\ETC\\FOO.TXT", "r")
to escape the backslashes. It's a pretty dumb mistake, but, as I said,
I have made it a number of times. Might it be your problem, too?
Sincerely,
Gary Bisaga (gary@ctc.contel.com)
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Aug 90 14:25:13 -0400
From: David Kirschbaum <kirsch@usasoc.soc.mil>
Subject: VIRUSCAN Bug Report
[Snarfed from Prodigy, 9 Aug 90 by
David Kirschbaum
Toad Hall]
CLUB: PC CLUB
TOPIC: SOFTWARE
POSTED: 08/07 5:32 PM
TO: ALL
FROM: JOHN BOOTH (GXRH24A)
SUBJECT: VIRUS SOFTWARE
From McAfee Associates BBS (408) 988-4004, as of 8-7-90
OOPS! BUG REPORT: Two last-minute additions to VIRUSCAN are
apparently causing some problems due to false alarms. Users infected
with the Stoned virus sometimes get the message that their disks are
infected with the Stoned II [S-2] virus as well. They are not, it's
just the normal Stoned virus. Apparently a non-system (bootable)
diskette infected with the Stoned virus gives off this false alarm,
although we haven't managed to trace it down to a particular version of
DOS. This will be corrected in Version 66, due out in early August.
SON OF BUG REPORT: Yep, another one. The copy of the 1381 Virus we
received was in a keyboard-handling program, and apparently when
checking for the virus, VIRUSCAN looks for keyboard modification
routines as well. Consequently, some keyboard drivers and modification
programs have been falsely identified as having the 1381 virus. This
will also be fixed in the next relase of VIRUSCAN.
"STEALTH VIRUS MAKES STATE OF TEXAS DISAPPEAR"-claims a fictional
newspaper headline. Just kidding, folks. We have received many
queries from users in the Dallas, Texas area regarding the 4096 virus,
variously known as the "4k," "IDF," and "Stealth" virus. This virus,
is still relatively rare in the United States, although we have
received reports of it in Monterey and Scotts Valley, California, as
well as one computer near Austin, Texas. A Stealth virus is a virus
that hides from conventional virus detectors, such as checksum and
filtering programs by removing the virus from infected files when the
checksummer looks for the virus or by bypassing the filter entirely.
It is extremely unlikely that you have this virus, but...** IF YOU ARE
CONCERNED THAT YOU HAVE THE 4096 VIRUS, DOWNLOAD THE VIRUSCAN AND
CLEAN-UP PROGRAMS WHICH WILL DETECT AND REMOVE THE 4096 STEALTH VIRUS
**
FYI, jb
------------------------------
Date: 10 Aug 90 08:20:00 GMT+109:13
From: "V70D::HUNTRESS" <huntress%v70d.decnet@nusc-npt.navy.mil>
Subject: break vs sysreq
I've got an "off brand" portable PC (like Duluth is "off Broadway")
running lotus 123. My problem is that I can't break out of an
executing macro. On my Tandy I hit CTRL-BREAK and that works fine, but
on the portable I've got to use CTRL-SYSREQ, and that doesn't work. I
set BREAK=ON in autoexec, no help.
Any ideas?
Gary Huntress
Naval Underwater Systems Center
Newport RI
(401) 841-1237
HUNTRESS@NUSC-NPT.NAVY.MIL
------------------------------
Date: 9 August 1990 09:04:46 CDT
From: "Tom Kirke (312) 413-5539" <U33515@UICVM.uic.edu>
Subject: Computer for Handicapped
Hello All!
One the professors here has severely limited manual dexterity. He was
considering buying a special keyboard for $1300 that would let you do
all functions with one keystroke at a time (ctrl-alt-del, alt-f1 etc).
Unfortunately this would not work with his machine (IBM convertable,
he likes it because it fits well on his wheelchair.)
My questions to the list are:
Does anybody know of a special keyboard that would work with the IBM
Convertable?
Does anybody have some similar experience? Any advice or hints would
be very welcome. Feel free to recommend a change of hardware if you
think that is what is needed.
Please reply to me, I will summarize to the list as I feel that many
would benefit from this.
Thank you,
Tom Kirke
U33515@UICVM.BITNET
U33515@UICVM.CC.UIC.EDU
U33515@UICVM.CC.UIC.EDU@DASNET#
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Aug 90 11:47:54 MST
From: Carol anne Clayson <clayson@gandalf.Colorado.EDU>
Subject: Extremely virulent virus problem
We're having a problem with an extremely virulent virus. Aside from
infecting programs, it seems to store itself in parameter ram as well,
so soley reformatting the hard drive doesn't kill it. It seems to lock
up Windows, Harvard Graphics, and several other graphics based
programs. We've managed to get it off of our machine, but we're not
sure what floppies have been infected and what ones have not. We're
looking for a virus checking program that would recognize and remove
this virus. Does one exist and if so, where can we get it?
Please reply by email (clayson@gandalf.Colorado.EDU) as I do not read
this newsgroup. [HOWEVER, the rest of us may need the same
information. So please Cc: the Digest. gph]
Thank you very much.
C. A. Clayson
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Aug 90 8:28:24 EDT
From: "Dr. Amnon Birenzvige" <axbirenz@RSCH5.APGEA.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: Problems with Borland Quatro Pro
I am using Borland Quatro Pro as a spread sheet. It worked great until
recently but started to misbehave. The first sign of trouble started
when all of a sudden I will loose the Mouse Operation (including the
icons on the right hand side of the screen). When this happened,
however, I was able to continue to operate by using the key board. If I
exited and re-loaded the program every thing was fine again. The last
few days the problems has gotten much worse. When I tried to delete a
column the computer went dead and I had to do a cold boot - hitting the
ALT-Ctrl-Del for a warm boot did not help. Same thing happens when I
tried to fill a block with numbers (using the Edit-Fill command).
Any body can guess what happened? Is it related, may be to bad RAM
since Quatro Pro is doing some fancy memory management things. Can any
body recommend a good RAM testing program? Any body has any other
suggestions on might have gone wrong.
Thanks
Amnon Birenzvige
------------------------------
Date: 9 Aug 90 11:00:00 EDT
From: "ANDREWS, GLENN" <oper1@drcvax.af.mil>
Subject: V20-8 & JDR MICRODEVICES TURBO-XT MOTHERBOARD
I have a JDR Microdevices Turbo-XT motherboard with a 8088-8 CPU. I
just bought a V20-8 CPU to speed up my PC as much as possible. I have
installed it with No problems. I can see a visible increase in speed
with the V20 installed. But after a while the PC locks up, no matter
what program I am running or what combo of AUTOEXEC & CONFIG I can
think of.
I have a Paradise EGA 350 board, a JDR MULTI I/O & FLOPPY board, an
Adaptec RLL board and a JDR EMS board installed. The Bios is a MCT
bios by Edward S. O'Neal. Anyone have any idea on what I can do. JDR
was kind enough to replace the V20 with a new one (in case it was
defective) but to no avail..
Glenn.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Aug 90 08:23:05 EDT
From: gary@ctc.contel.com (Gary Bisaga x4219)
Subject: Windows 3.0 and dumb printers
I have Windows running on my Gateway 2000 386/25 (BTW: ATI Wondercard
w/ 512K RAM works fine in 386 mode, even in 800x600 and 1024x768). In
terms of printers, I have a Diablo daisy wheel (not real modern, but
it's brand new, never used, and I got it for $100). Now, I have told
Windows of this, but when I create a document w/ MS Word, it gives me a
default font of "Times," with no fonts available to choose (not even
the one it gives me as a default). I can manually select others by
typing their names, but they do not appear on the scrolling list.
Since it is a daisy wheel, I am not terribly surprised that there is
not really a font selection to choose from. I have not actually tried
the printer because I don't have the proper cabling (yet).
However, I would have expected it to at least give me a
non-proportional font. My question is: Is Windows really going to use
micro-spacing on the Diablo to make it print proportionally? Or, as I
suspect, lacking this, is there any sensible font selection I can make
to have things look on the screen more or less the way they print
(WYSIMOLWYG :-)? And can this be the default?
Thanks,
Gary Bisaga (gary@ctc.contel.com)
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End of Info-IBMPC Digest V90 #133
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