Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL ("Info-IBMPC Digest") (05/26/90)
Info-IBMPC Digest Sat, 26 May 90 Volume 90 : Issue 92
Today's Editor:
Gregory Hicks - Chinhae Korea <GHICKS@WSMR-Simtel20.Army.Mil>
Today's Topics:
Copyright Policies
Who can help me get dBASE II for a CP/M-80 machine ?
IBM PC magazines
Re: MS-DOS Documented Source Code Available?
Interpreter, Inc TapeXchange 60TX
Lotus 1-2-3 and t-test
Once a day BATCH file
overwriting the psp (2 msgs)
PC Fixed disk
Query on TSR Scroll-back Utilities
query re: unsplitting files
TCP/IP
DD/HD 3.5" floppies
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>
The Lending Library is available from: WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL (see file
PD1:<MSDOS.FILEDOCS>AAAREAD.ME details on file directories and
descriptions.)
Archives of past issues of the Info-IBMPC Digest are available by FTP
only from WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL in directory PD2:<ARCHIVES.IBMPC>.
WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL can be accessed using LISTSERV commands from
BITNET via LISTSERV@NDSUVM1, LISTSERV@RPIECS and in Europe from EARN
TRICKLE servers. Send commands to TRICKLE@<host-name> (example:
TRICKLE@TREARN). The following TRICKLE servers are presently
available: AWIWUW11 (Austria), BANUFS11 (Belgium), DKTC11 (Denmark),
DB0FUB11 or DTUZDV1 (Germany), IMIPOLI (Italy), EB0UB011 (Spain),
TAUNIVM (Israel), and TREARN (Turkey). SIMTEL20 is not accessable on
the first Wednesday of each month from 6-8pm Eastern Standard Time.
If you are unable to access SIMTEL20 via Internet FTP or through one of
the BITNET/EARN file servers, most MSDOS SIMTEL20 files, including the
PC-Blue collection, are available for downloading on the Detroit
Download Central network at 313-885-3956. DDC is a networked system
with multiple lines that support 300, 1200, 2400, and 9600 bps (HST).
This system is a subscription system with an average hourly cost of 17
cents per hour. It is also accessable on Telenet via PC Pursuit and on
Tymnet via StarLink outdial. New files uploaded to WSMR-SIMTEL20 are
usually available on DDC within 24 hours.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 11 MAY 90 10:04 -00
From: Stu Warford <SWARFORD@peppcdrm.bitnet>
Subject: Copyright Policies
I've got an administrator who has created a set of templates and who is
interested in having them copyrighted for potential future
distribution. I would appreciate any policy/procedure statements your
institution might have on how this is handled.
Thanks|
Stu Warford Phone: (213) 456-4040
Executive Director Fax: (213) 456-4758
Information Resources BITNET: SWARFORD@PEPPCDRM
Pepperdine University
Malibu, Ca 90263
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 11 May 90 08:51:12 IST
From: "Jacques J. Goldberg" <PHR00JG@TECHNION>
Subject: Who can help me get dBASE II for a CP/M-80 machine ?
I would like to acquire dBASE II for a CP/M-80 machine. Which PC user
still has his set from the CP/M-80 days and would be willing to
transfer ownership? Or knows where to purchase this? The target
machine is a LOBO-80 but I can read/write essentially any 5in1/4
diskette. I however need dBASE II with the installation software to
tailor it to my system.
Jacques Goldberg
phr00jg@technion.ac.il.bitnet
------------------------------
Date: 11 May 90 12:45:00 CDT
From: Jimmy Dean <CSVCJLD%NNOMED.BITNET@VM.TCS.Tulane.EDU>
Subject: IBM PC magazines
Remember the good ol' days when PC magazines demonstrated concepts
with simple programs? When they'd inspired you to write code? Today,
the articles seem to be advertisements and lectures. Are there any
magazines out there like the early issues of Byte?
------------------------------
Date: Fri May 11 09:56:46 1990
From: "Gregory Hicks" <GHICKS@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil>
Subject: Re: MS-DOS Documented Source Code Available?
| Date: Mer, 02 Mai 90 16:48:37 FRA
| >From: 2546R%FRESTP11.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
|
| I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF SOMEONE HAS DOCUMENTED SOURCES OF MS-DOS
| (PREFERABLY 4.0X BUT 3.XX WOULD BE WELCOME)
|
| ANY POINTERS WOULD BE WELCOME.
I contacted Microsoft regarding the above message and got the following
response:
If you find anyone to answer this request, I suspect that the Microsoft
legal department would LOVE to talk to them. The source code to DOS is
100% propriatary, Microsoft makes millions of dollars a year selling
the binaries, we don't just give the source away.....
There are unassemblers that "reverse engineer" the "source code" from a
binary, but....
I'm not sure of the legal implications of using such a beast, however I
know that you can get in REAL trouble (and lots of people have) for
using MS-DOS propriatary code in your application - Especially if you
EVER intend to sell it....
Please note: The above should not be construed as opinions of Microsoft
Corp. I am not a lawyer, I just know that Microsoft DOESN'T give the
sources to DOS away, and sues the pants off of anyone they think has
used it in their product.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 10 May 90 09:05:10 EDT
From: Greg Granger <GRANGERG@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU>
Subject: Interpreter, Inc TapeXchange 60TX
Does anyone have experience with Interpreter's TapeXchange 60TX tape
backup unit? The unit interfaces through the PC's parallel port and
uses CT-600H (60 meg) data cassettes and a TEAC drive mechanism. It
seems to be a very good solution to my office's backup needs (various
PCs, no network, backing-up to floppies).
If you'd like send mail directly to me (Greg Granger
GRANGERG@VTVM1.BITNET) and I will group and send the responses to the
list in one convenient bandwidth sav'in message.
Thanks,
Greg Granger (GRANGERG@VTVM1.BITNET)
PS: "If you is interested" the address of Interpreter is:
Interpreter Tape Backup Systems, Inc.
11455 West 48th Avenue
Wheat Ridge, Colorado 80033
303-431-8991
Fax 303-431-9056
The unit above costs $1,295 and tapes 19.50 each.
and of course the ads and p.r. claim it's better than sliced bread
(and I hope they're right, cause I'm tired of playing feed the PC)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 11 May 90 13:18 +0200
From: Steiner Melissa <MELISSA%HUJIMD.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Lotus 1-2-3 and t-test
Greetings!
I need help with Lotus 1-2-3/Quattro Pro/etc and the "student t-test."
Does anyone know how to get these spreadsheets to run a t-test??
Please answer by e-mail.
Thank you.
Ron Steiner
Melissa@Hujimd.bitnet
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 10 May 90 07:43:00 EST
From: Norman Walsh <NORM%IONAACAD@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
Subject: Once a day BATCH file
I implemented a simple solution to this problem so that I could run
CHKDSK once a day (I'm a software developer by trade and if I had to
wait for my machine to run CHKDSK on C:,D:,E:, and F: everytime I had
to reboot my machine -- I'd grow old, quickly).
What I did was write a simple program that looks at the system date and
the date stored in a file and returns ERRORLEVEL 0 if they are the same
or updates the file and returns ERRORLEVEL 1 if they were different.
If anyone would like, I can whip the program back together (I wrote it
a long time ago and I doubt I can still find the source) and ship it out
to anyone interested.
ndw
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 May 90 13:50:29 EDT
From: "David J. Birnbaum" <djb%HARVUNXW.BITNET@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
Subject: overwriting the psp
>Of course the quick and dirty aproach would work fine if the stack needed
>is less than 256 bytes, otherwise it runs into whatever is below it.
Thanks very much for the clarification, but I think there is a solution.
If you need more space, you can allocate it at the beginning. Thus:
=====================================================================
jmp loader ;first line of program
even
ourstack db 40 dup '*' ;use this plus psp for stack
savess dw 0 ;save stack state on popup
savesp dw 0
======================================================================
When you pop up:
======================================================================
mov cs:savess,ss ;save old stack info
mov cs:savesp,sp
cli ;disable interrupts while fiddling with stack
mov sp,cs ;set stack seg to our program
mov ss,sp
mov sp,offset savess ;point sp to top of our stack
sti ;safe to reenable linterrupts
========================================================================
This provides 300 bytes of stack space: 256 bytes of psp, plus 4 bytes
from the jmp and the nop that even will generate, plus the 40 specified
in ourstack. You should be able to use this quick and dirty method no
matter how large a stack you need, as long as you provide explicitly for
any amount beyond 256 bytes.
--David
============================================================
David J. Birnbaum djb@wjh12.harvard.edu [Internet]
djb@harvunxw.bitnet [Bitnet]
============================================================
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 10 May 90 10:03:18 EDT
From: "David J. Birnbaum" <djb%HARVUNXW.BITNET@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
Subject: overwriting the psp
>What I don't get is why
>do you want a better way? It seems to make good use of that wasted space (psp)
>unless, of course, you don't need a stack, then perhaps relocating the whole
>thing (program) down 256 bytes should do the trick except that memory mappers
>will get confused (return garble).
I was curious about relocating the program down over the psp precisely for
situations where you don't set up a stack. I'm not sure how this could
be done effectively, though; wouldn't it be necessary to readjust all
addresses explicitly after relocating?
I have tried releasing the environment for tsrs at the end of initializa-
tion and this alone confuses memory mappers. You don't get garble, but
you don't get the program name either; I think you get the address of the
psp. I suppose I'll have to decide whether 256 bytes is a reasonable
price to pay to keep memory mappers happy.
Thanks again,
David
============================================================
David J. Birnbaum djb@wjh12.harvard.edu [Internet]
djb@harvunxw.bitnet [Bitnet]
============================================================
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 10 May 90 08:50:41 EST
From: Manjit Trehan <ITMS400%INDYCMS.BITNET@UICVM.uic.edu>
Subject: PC Fixed disk
I just acquired a 20 Meg fixed disk from a friend who has upgraded to a
larger disk. I decided to do a low level format using the format
program from my disk controller's ROM. I used defaults for most of the
prompts and the disk has been formatted to 30 Meg. I've successfully
installed and run programs from this disk.
Though, the reliability of this will become visible over time; could
someone comment on this?
Is it possible that the 10 Meg is only an illusion? Is there a way to
check this short of filling up the whole disk?
Thank you.
mst.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 May 90 20:25:52 EDT
From: David R. Sewell <dsew@uhura.cc.rochester.edu>
Subject: Query on TSR Scroll-back Utilities
Does anyone have suggestions about TSR scroll-back utilities for
DOS? I'm looking for something I can load before running a
communications program that does not have built-in scroll-back. (The
idea, of course, is to be able to retrieve screens that have gone past
already.)
I have tried out Back Scroll 3.4, which is on SIMTEL20 in the
MSDOS.SCREEN directory, but it loses lines displayed, for example,
while running Unix "rn" with VT102 emulation.
-----
| David Sewell, English Dep't, University of Rochester, New York USA |
| dsew@uhura.cc.rochester.edu || dsew%uhura.cc.rochester.edu@uorvm |
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 11 May 90 09:32:55 EDT
From: Joseph Skoler <SKOHC%CUNYVM.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu>
Subject: query re: unsplitting files
I believe I saw a posting about this same matter a while ago, so please
excuse.
When retrieving file from SIMTEL via the listserv at rpiecs, the files
get split. Is there a program to unslit them (Ms-Dos)? Are they
UUencoded? In other words, what do I do with this bunch of programs?
Thanks, Joseph Skoler, SKOHC@CUNYVM, kc2yu%kc2yu.ampr.org@ka9q.bellcore.com
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 11 May 90 08:29 PST
From: MIKE@cisco.nosc.mil
Subject: TCP/IP
We have someone here who is digging into the NCSA source to try and
figure out how to communicate with a SUN using TCP/IP. Does anyone know
of a socket library available?
Mike Pawka
NOSC, San Diego
mike@cisco.nosc.mil
------------------------------
Date: 11 May 1990
From: GOMBERG%UCSFVM.UCSF.EDU@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu
Subject: DD/HD 3.5" floppies
I use DD 3.5" as HD's in my clone, and do not poke holes in them. I
have a Toshiba drive, and it has a jumper labeled "Media select" and
"Software select". With the jumper in one position (I forgot which) I
can do everything I want except FORMAT 720K. With the jumper in the
other position, I can FORMAT 720K. So I just brought the jumper out to
a front panel switch, and now I can read, write, and format 1.4M on DD
disks. Simple. I have had zero troubles doing this with high-quality
floppies (Sony and C. Itoh).
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest V90 #92
********************************
-------