Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL ("Info-IBMPC Digest") (04/05/90)
Info-IBMPC Digest Thu, 5 Apr 90 Volume 90 : Issue 59
Today's Editor:
Gregory Hicks - Chinhae Korea <GHICKS@WSMR-Simtel20.Army.Mil>
Today's Topics:
386 vs 386SX?
EXE2BIN
PS/2 70's and Windows/386
RE: Hypercard-like products for the PC
Re: How to use the DOS SORT command?
Running Extra! and Procomm Plus under DESQview/386
SCSI drive question
Stanford TCP/IP driver bugs
TSR's in 640K
Today's Queries:
WINDOWS/386 VT Terminal Emulation
Disk-based tutorial software
WorldCreator program wanted
financial calculations
X-Windows Available from?
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Date: Fri, 23 Mar 90 16:27:09 EST
From: "Bert Tyler" <TUB@CU.NIH.GOV>
Subject: 386 vs 386SX?
> Could someone please tell me the difference between a 386 and
> a 386SX? I know all about the bus size difference, etc, and don't
> really care. I'm more curious about how any differences would affect
> and/or limit the SX's compatibility and usefulness vis a vis a true
> 386. Specifically, what are the differences in a) speed,
> b) compatibility with software written for the 386, c) compatibility
> with hardware (oops, this might be a loaded question!), and
> d) upgradeability.
From a software point of view, there is no difference between the 386 and the
386SX. Their instruction sets are identical (remember, the 386SX was
developed *after* the 386, so Intel already had the 386 mask to start from).
From a hardware point of view, I know of two differences. First, as you
mentioned, the 386SX can only access the outside world 16 bits at a time, and
because of that runs a little slower than the 386. A second limitation is
that the 386SX only runs 24 address lines to the outside world, so it can
only physically address 16MB of memory. The 386, with its 32 address lines,
can physically address 4096MB.
Of course, this only counts if the PC that 386 is sitting on actually *uses*
all 32 of those address lines. I believe that most of the current crop of
PCs only run the lower 24 address lines (if that), negating that particular
advantage of a "true" 386.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 90 11:53:00 EST
From: Joe Morris <jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org>
Subject: EXE2BIN
In INFO-IBMPC 90:51 "The Time Traveler" is looking for EXE2BIN to convert a
.EXE to .COM format. If my memory hasn't developed a parity check, IBM in
its supposed wisdom moved that file to the supplementary disk which it
marketed only with the DOS Technical Reference manual. The change occurred
between releases 3.2 and 3.3 of PC-DOS.
I don't have a copy of MS-DOS handy to check, but I wouldn't be surprised to
find a copy of EXE2BIN in the standard package there.
Joe Morris
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 90 17:54 EST
From: <ACSCS%SEMASSU.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu>
Subject: PS/2 70's and Windows/386
I thought I would pass this along to everyone who cares. There is an
interesting article in the April 1990 issue of PC Computing magazine on or
about page 54. This article discusses IBM is having with PS/2's and
Windows/386. The article also provides some work arounds.
While I am here, I have a question...does anyone know what Shadow RAM is? I
thought it was a brand name for RAM, but I think I am wrong. Many of the ads
for 386 machines say that the machine has 1MB RAM on board and 384K Shadow
RAM.
Thank you
Chris Sullivan
Senior Computing Services Assistant
Southeastern Massachusetts University
N.Dartmouth, Ma
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 90 10:47:14 CST
From: Bill Hayes <IANR012%UNLVM.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu>
Subject: RE: Hypercard-like products for the PC
There are several really neat programs for the PC which have many of the
Hypercard's features. One product, Guide (by OWL International) acutally
preceded Hypercard. It's rumored that Apple actually intended to bundle
Guide with the Macintosh before Hypercard's advent. OWL then moved Guide
into Windows. One of Guide's real strengths is that it is available on both
the Mac and PC, so file translations using special utilities are supposed to
be easy. Owl has just released Guide 3.0, it is a very impressive package.
We own two copies of it. One of my programmers has said that the Guide
package went from being worse than Hypercard to Better than Hypercard.
Shoot, have to go now. I'll submit a few more notes later about other
packages and then give an overview of all offerings.
Bill Hayes
IANR Computing Services
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 90 10:10:19 CST
From: Tony Phillips <S102066@UMRVMA.UMR.EDU>
Subject: Re: How to use the DOS SORT command?
In I-IBMPC #52, Chuck R. Writes:
>From: "Chuck R." <346B36G%CMUVM.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu>
>
>Does anybody know how to use the DOS SORT command? (I thought there
>was one.) And, how about, is there a DOS MERGE command to merge 2 sorted
>files together where the result would be one large sorted file? Would be
>kinda nice sometimes.
Chuck, to use the dos SORT command, you must use a method called "piping".
This is a method of redirecting output of one program into another program.
Here's a few examples. (The PIPE character is the character that on some
machines is just a straight solid vertical line. On my P.C. Clone it's the
fat colon, on the backslash key.)
TYPE textfile.txt | sort (You should have a path set to DOS for this..)
DIR C:*.* | sort
To get this output to go to a new file, add the standard dos redirection char.
TYPE textfile.txt | sort > newfile.txt
DIR C:*.* | sort > sorted.dir
To merge two sorted files, combine the two files using COPY, then sort the
new file.
/ Tony Phillips
/
/ S102066@UMRVMA.UMR.EDU
/ &
/ TONYP@MCS213K.CS.UMR.EDU
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 90 15:36 CST
From: Dave Ulrick <A01DGU1%NIU.BITNET@UICVM.uic.edu>
Subject: Running Extra! and Procomm Plus under DESQview/386
Thank you very much to everyone who helped (or tried to help) with my
DESQview/386 problem.
It turns out that the problem lay with the version of Extra! I was running
(v1.31). It turns out that we had a newer version of Extra! (v1.41) on site
that doesn't seem to have the same keyboard handling idiosyncracies. Procomm
Plus (and my other DESQview windows) aren't losing any more characters now
that I'm up to date with Extra!
If only I could get Extra's cursor to stop disappearing (intermittently--it
comes back if I press a key) everything would be perfect. As it is, though,
things are going lots better than before. If you are interested in any more
details, please let me know.
Thanks,
Dave
+------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
: Dave Ulrick : Bitnet: A01DGU1@NIU :
: Northern Illinois University : Internet: A01DGU1%NIU.BITNET@UICVM.UIC.EDU :
+------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 90 00:28:27 +0100
From: herbing%netmbx.UUCP%TUB.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu (Kai Herbing)
Subject: SCSI drive question
Hi Bill,
all XT and AT compatibles and 386 machines, I know of, are capable of booting
from a disk controller with its own bios. Especially on XT systems, this is
a requirement, as the original XT bios doesn't contain any support for
harddisk drives. But You must verify, that the controller, You want to use
has support to boot, e.g. revectors int 19h to support booting from the new
device supported by it. Normally this should not represent any problems,
because I have never seen a harddisk controller with rom bios without that
feature.
Hope this helps
Kai
------------------------------
Date: 24 Mar 90 10:24:11 PDT
From: <dhinds@popserver>
Subject: Stanford TCP/IP driver bugs
> My first problem is with NET3C523.EXE, which--despite its extension--is a
>DOS driver, not a program. When the line DEVICE=\IP\NET3C523.EXE is added to
>the CONFIG.SYS file, this driver proceeds to swallow up between 54 and 55 k
>of memory that I can ill afford. I have seen other Drivers that only consume
>4 or 5 k of memory...
There is a bug in all of Stanford's TCP/IP drivers, that causes them to
eat up lots of memory. The size calculation routine forgets to subtract the
base address from the top address, and uses the top address (modulo 64K) as
the amount of memory to allocate. It works out that this usually allocates
50-60K, depending on what else is installed in CONFIG.SYS. There is a fairly
simple patch that works for all the drivers, that reduces the memory
allocation to the correct value of 10K or so:
1. Rename the NET3C523.EXE file to NET3C523.BIN
2. Load the .BIN file with DOS's DEBUG
3. Enter the following commands:
A 056B
MOV CX, CS
SUB AX, CX
MOV CL, 04
<return>
W
Q
4. Rename the .BIN file back to .EXE
I think the patch address (056B, above) is the same for most if not all
of the drivers. To be sure, though, use debug's 'u' command to disassemble
the code starting at 0560 or so. Look for the following two instructions:
MOV [04F2], AX
MOV CX, 0004
The address of the move instruction is the point where the patch needs to be
put in. Incidentally, the MOV is leftover debugging code, and clobbering it
with the patch doesn't hurt anything.
>...I looked at it in a hex editor and it is
>weird, the device header doesn't even contain a name--though one appears in
>what looks like another device header that is located two logical sectors
>further on.
Because the driver is an EXE file, it has an EXE header at the beginning,
with relocation information. That is why I said to rename the file to .BIN
in the patch - so that DEBUG will leave the header alone. An .EXE device
driver is very strange, though.
-David Hinds
dhinds@popserver.stanford.edu
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 90 00:37:56 +0100
From: herbing%netmbx.UUCP%TUB.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu (Kai Herbing)
Subject: TSR's in 640K
Hi Chris.,
if your systems are 386 or 386SX systems, you are lucky! There are products
available, that remap 386 extended memory, between the video ram and the rom
bios. With these products, you will be able to put device drivers and memory
resident programs above your video ram, thus freeing the needed 640K memory
area.
The products are 386MAX Professional from Qualitas Inc., which I prefer, and
QEMM386 from Quarterdeck Office System, which is cheaper, but less powerful.
If you own an original IBM PS/2 Model 50 or 60, you can use QEMM50/60 from
Quarterdeck for the same purpose. If you haven't a 386 or a PS/2 50 or 60,
you can try a special designed memory board with software. I know that such
boards are available at the market, but I don't know where at the moment.
Hope this helps
Kai
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 90 11:15 EST
From: MORRISTA%UCMCIC@UCBEH.SAN.UC.EDU
Subject: WINDOWS/386 VT Terminal Emulation
Anyone know of a shareware VT-100 terminal emulation package which will run
under Windows/386 in a shared fashion (you know what I mean--doesn't take
over the whole machine but lets you have it in one window while something
else is in another). I don't care if the terminal session goes into
suspended animation when its window is inactive...
I'm not on the mailing list anymore (we've >mostly< switched to Macs :-) )
but do e-mail direct to one of the choices below, please!
Thanks,
Ted Morris
|Theodore Allan Morris |231 Bethesda Avenue, ML# 574
|University of Cincinnati Med. Ctr. |Cincinnati, OH 45267-0574
|Med. Ctr. Information & Communications|513-558-6046 W, 731-3451 H
|Information Research and Development |WMLBTAM@UCCCVM1 Bitnet, U1091
|AppleLink, MORRISTA@UCMCIC.OA
|UC.EDU Internet, WB8VNV NTS
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 90 11:53 EST
From: Paul Scheftel <Scheftel@DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL>
Subject: Disk-based tutorial software
I'm looking for some (relatively) simple and (hopefully) inexpensive software
application which will allow me to author and distribute automation security
tutorials. The product must be able to run on the Army's standard Zenith 248
configuration and allow me to incor- porate text and graphics (preferably
with an import and edit feature for relatively common existing graphics
formats). It must also allow "branching" - show a different screen depending
on user response (I guess real educators or computer literate types would
call that "inter- active").
I'd appreciate any help I can get. If none of the means of communication
listed below will work, put an ad in the Honolulu Advertiser or Star Bulletin
(someplace in the classic car section - I'm sure to see that).
Thanks.
Paul A. Scheftel Headquarters, US Army Western Command
Automation Security Attention: APIN-SC
Program Manager Fort Shafter, Hawaii 96858-5100
Email: scheftel@dockmaster.arpa
apin%scheftel@shafter-emh2.army.mil
Commercial phone: (808) 438-8603
Autovon/STU-III: 438-8603
Unclas fax: (808)/AV 438-6302
------------------------------
Date: 23 March 1990, 18:37:00 MEZ
From: Harald Fricke <ZZFRICK@DHVRRZN1.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu>
Subject: WorldCreator program wanted
Hi!
I am searching for a public domain program called WorldCreator (by the author
of Traveller). I'd like to know where it is available on an ftp or mail
server or on any PD disk series. Please respond personally as I do not get
this list. Thank you in advance,
Harald <ZZFRICK@DHVRRZN1.BITNET>
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 90 08:04:31 MET
From: Eric Lambermon <U478004%HNYKUN11.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: financial calculations
I'm looking for a (pubdom or shareware) program that allows me to calculate
loans and mortgages with variable (annuity/amort) interest rates. Who can
help me out?
Greetings from Holland.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 90 11:18:31 EST
From: Tom Neiss <RTRN%SNYCENVM.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: x-windows
I am not sure if this is the right place but I need to start somewhere. Who
markets X-Windows?
Tom Neiss
RTRN@SNYCENVM.BITNET
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End of Info-IBMPC Digest
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