Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL ("Info-IBMPC Digest") (03/09/90)
Info-IBMPC Digest Thu, 8 Mar 90 Volume 90 : Issue 38
Today's Editor:
Gregory Hicks - Chinhae Korea <GHICKS@WSMR-Simtel20.Army.Mil>
Today's Topics:
Animation Software!
IBM on Appletalk network ppletalk
Address for SigmaPlot
Logitech Mouse Driver Not Supporting 320x200x256 Mode!
memory and hardware testers
More Small Hardware Questions
Quarterman art. and NEW book
serial ports & C
Spinrite II
unARCing files
Today's Queries:
COMx and QuickBasic
How to get Kermit working with an internal modem?
KERMIT 3.0 documentation
Keyboards with Control Key in the Correct Place
VT100/VT220 Capture Buffer needed
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Date: Thu, 1 Mar 90 14:15:41 CST
From: Rich Zellich <zellich@STL-07SIMA.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: Animation Software
AutoDesk (the people who bring you AutoCAD) has a relatively new IBM-PC
animation program called AutoDesk Animator. It lists for $299, but I've seen
it discounted for about $280 and on sale briefly at Egghead for $249.
It sounds good from their ads, but then what software doesn't! :-) I have
read one review of it, and it was a positive one; I don't remember which
magazine it would have been in though - probably either PC Computer or
Computer Shopper...
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 90 9:38:19 edt
From: "Newcomer, Don" <NEWCOMER%DICKINSN.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: Appletalk
>Date: Tue, 20 Feb 90 16:37 EDT
>From: Mary Lou Frey <MLFREY@rcca.bbn.com>
>Subject: IBM on Appletalk network
>
>I have a Leading Edge Model D circa 1985 I would like to hook into an
>existing AppleTalk network in order to use the postscript printer.
>Mary Lou Frey
We are currently using Zeniths but are connected to an Appletalk network with
Apple's own LocalTalk PC Card. It requires an "IBM PC (minimum 256K), two
disk drives, and a LocalTalk Connector Kit DB-9". The Apple product number
is M2313 and has worked well. Naturally it's a little slower to talk to an
Apple Laserwriter than a true Apple but it works!
Don Newcomer
(NEWCOMER@DICKINSN.BITNET)
P.S. - The usual disclaimers apply.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 90 08:40:41 MST
From: koontz@alpha.bldr.nist.gov (John E. Koontz)
Subject: Address for SigmaPlot
Address for SigmaPlot:
Jandel Scientific
65 Koch Road
Corte Madera, CA 94925
800-874-18888
Price is $395 + $6 shipping + sales tax in California
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 90 12:17:15 PST
From: bmarsh@cod.nosc.mil (William C. Marsh)
Subject: Logitech Mouse Driver Not Supporting 320x200x256 Mode!
I have just been told by a tech support person that Logitech does *not*
intend to support the VGA 320x200x256 color mode! I think this is a rather
stupid decision, and I wanted to see what the forces of the net can do to
cause a little excitement in the Logitech camp. Both Microsoft and Mouse
Systems drivers support this mode.
I would think in their 'mouse driver of the month' mode they could slip this
into the driver without much trouble...
Bill Marsh, Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA
{arpa,mil}net: bmarsh@cod.nosc.mil
uucp: {ihnp4,akgua,decvax,dcdwest,ucbvax}!sdcsvax!nosc!bmarsh
"If everything seems to be coming your way, you're probably in the wrong lane."
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 90 8:34:06 CDT
From: bob@wubios.wustl.edu (Bob Parks)
Subject: memory and hardware testers
I am looking for hardware testing software (or even hardware).
I have used CHECK-IT but it finds no problems.
PROBLEM. Machine 8088 clone. With WORD 4.0, sometimes, apparently randomly,
the FAT and directory of a floppy disk are 'trashed'. One machine seems to
'0' the FAT and store the newest file as the only file on the disk. A second
machine just gets it all confused (cross-linked files, etc.).
Two different very old PC's occaisionally have parity errors.
A new 386 occaisionally partially trashes the hard disk (cross linked
files, directory structures get funny entries, etc). On this one, some
suspicion is pointed at Magellan or Excell but it is probably hardware and
not software.
All the bench marks we have and CHECK-IT report perfection for all these
machines. I hate to just put them in the round file, but the time spent
recovering trashed stuff is too great to spend much more time with these
machines. A good memory tester might take a week or more for a thorough test
of memory but I have never seen a 'good' memory tester.
Hence, I am looking for software/hardware which would *really* test the
equipment (without much human involvement of sitting there for a week
watching it).
Bob
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 01 Mar 90 13:53:59 EST
From: "Robert E. Zaret" <ZARET@mitvma.mit.edu>
Subject: More Small Hardware Questions
Two more small questions about hardware:
Why do computers still come with 720K, rather than 1.44M drives? The extra
density would be especially welcome with a laptop, but laptops seems less
likely to have high-density drives. Disk prices may have been a problem, but
are dropping quickly (50% in a year).
Has anyone considered writing data to hard disks in parallel, meaning one bit
per head? At first I thought space for all those platters might be a
problem, but then I realized a drive could have multiple heads per platter.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 01 Mar 90 09:07:51 EST
From: Elliott Parker <3ZLUFUR%CMUVM.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: ACM Article on Networks and a NEW book
In the 90:33 Info-IBMPC Digest, there was a note about Quarterman's ACM
article. This has been expanded , to put it mildly, into a just published
book: The Matrix: Computer Networks and Conferencing Systems Worldwide
(ISBN 1-55558-033-5). The original query wanted info on nets--this is it,
expensive ($50), but worth it.
Elliott Parker BITNET: 3ZLUFUR@CMUVM
Journalism Dept. Internet: eparker@well.sf.ca.us
Central Michigan University Compuserve: 70701,520
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859 BIX: eparker
USA UUCP: {psuvax1}!cmuvm.bitnet!3zlufur
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 90 10:56 EST
From: <SYMOLON%CTSTATEU.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: serial ports & C
For those of you who are interested in serial programming in C:
C Programmer's Guide to Serial Communications
Joe Campbell
Howard W. Sams & company
1-800-428-SAMS
This book is a must get, if you are going to do any serial programming. It
contains information for the beginner/advanced user that explains the serial
interface. It describes the way that serial data is sent, and how to send
it. The C routines developed can be used to create a terminal program. The
book goes into modems (Hayes 1200,2400 A,B,+) and also describes the XMODEM
protocol. I had not much time to go into the routines, but they are
definetly a time-saver if you have to develop programs using the serial port.
James Symolon | standard disclaimer applies
SYMOLON@CTSTATEU |
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 90 8:26:48 CDT
From: bob@wubios.wustl.edu (Bob Parks)
Subject: Spinrite II
We are very satisfied users of Spinrite but not of Spinrite II. All the ads
for II seem to say that it will work for partitions greater than 32 meg.
It ain't so. We have 286 clones with Seagate 251 or 277r 60 meg disks and
RLL controllers. When we had them partitioned as two 30 meg logical drives
Sprinrite worked GREAT. I was having all kinds of problems until we let
Spinrite reformat the disks and since then, NO PROBLEMS.
Then with MS-DOS 4.01 we went to one large disk (60 meg). Spinrite II will
not low level format the disk. We called, and they said that it would not
work, regardless of the partition size, with our RLL controller. We told
them they were wrong but they refused to believe us.
We also have some ESDI 160 meg disks. Spinrite II will not work at all on
them. Called. They said, NOPE, will not work with ESDI controllers.
Well, I really liked the old one, and we are now going to reformat all the
large RLLs into smaller partitions so that at least we can have Spinrite work
on them. My complaint to the company is that no where in any ad or manual do
they explicitly state that the program will not work for ESDI or RLL
controllers (though they do state that caching, hardware or software, will
not allow Spinrite to work). SIGH - one great program not so great.
Bob
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 90 12:55 EST
From: "GASPAR KIRALY,JR" <V2173WXV@ubvmsc.cc.buffalo.edu>
Subject: unARCing files
Hi, I got problems uncrunching ARCed files, I downloaded from SIMTEL20.
I think I did the downloading correctly. This is how I obtained the files:
(after logged on SIMTEL with anonymous FTP using a VAX)
I typed BINARY
Then I got a warning message to use TENEX or L 8.
I then typed quote "*** L 8" I forgot the exact command.
Then I got a message that" binary OK size 8" or something like that.
Then I used FTP to download the files.
To transfer the files to the PC I used Kermit.
I set the file type to binary "set file type binary".
Then after downloading the files I was not able to unarc them.
I got a message that the files are not the right format or something like that.
I tried to use pkxarc and pkunpak. PKXARC is released in'86 and PKUNPAK
is released in '88.
Is something I am doing wrong, or the Xtracting utilities are outdated?
I used to have no problem getting files from simtel (a year ago or so).
One of the file I wanted to get is cshow81.arc.
Thanks for any help
Gaspar
v2173wxv@ubvms
------------------------------
Subject: Today's Queries:
Date: Thu, 01 Mar 90 13:51:28 EDT
From: Tim Margush <R1TMARG@AKRONVM>
Subject: COMx and QuickBasic
I am writing a program in QuickBasic (V3.0) that simply reads data from COM1
and dumps it to a disk file. The data is coming from a data buffer that
collects information from another device. The problem that occurs is that
the first 20 or so characters are lost when the com port is opened and the
receive loop begins. Everything after that goes fine.
The same program works when run under GWBasic (interpreted). I have tried
running it under QuickBasic, compiling to memory, compiling to a .EXE file
and linking with the BRUN module, compiling to .OBJ and linking with BCOM
module together with the GWCOM.OBJ file... Nothing seems to work.
At different baud rates, the number of characters lost is slightly different.
It appears that the characters are received into the buffer but the character
count is reset to zero after some of the characters are already received!
Is this a bug in QuickBasic? Will a newer version of QuickBasic fix it? Is
there something else I can try? I would appreciate any comments or help you
may have to offer.
Tim Margush R1TMARG@AKRONVM.BITNET
Department of Mathematical Sciences R1TMARG@VM1.CC.UAKRON.EDU
University Of Akron R1TMARG@AKRONVM.UAKRON.EDU
Akron, OH 44325 (216) 375-7109
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 01 Mar 90 13:26:58 -0500
From: Jeff Kimmelman <jkimmelm@BBN.COM>
Subject: How to get Kermit working with an internal modem?
I'm not sure about the Everex but with another internal modem I used I had
the same problem. It turns out that not all internal modems use the right
UART chip (the 8250 I believe) that PC-Kermit is cozy with. This is the
standard chip used by most serial ports. So, an external modem works because
Kermit uses the serial port which has the right chip. The internal modem
probably uses a (not 100% compatible) clone chip. Kermit does allow you to
access the internal modem via BIOS (yech) calls. However, the BIOS allow
only 1200 baud activity at best. Try:
SET PORT BIOSn
where n is the COM port the internal modem is configured for.
Hope this helps--
Jeff
* Jeffrey Moss Kimmelman |Phone: (617) 873-2679 *
* BBN Communications Corporation |Internet: jkimmelman@bbn.com *
* 150 CambridgePark Drive | *
* Cambridge, Ma. 02140 | *
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 01 Mar 90 14:17:38 EST
From: Joe Morris (jcmorris@mitre.org) <jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org>
Subject: KERMIT 3.0 documentation
MS-KERMIT 3.0 looks nice...but is the documentation available somewhere?
I've looked both on SIMTEL20 (pd2:<msdos2.kermit>) and on the Columbia
machine (watsun.cc.columbia.edu, directory kermit/a) and come away
empty-handed. Suggestions?
Joe Morris
[This query has been forwarded to Info-Kermit-Request.]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 90 02:17:14 -0800
From: gast@CS.UCLA.EDU (David Gast)
Subject: Keyboards with Control Key in the Correct Place
One of the problems that I face with using an IBM Clone PC is that the keys
are in the wrong position. Specifically, the shift lock key is where the the
control key should be and the escape key is inconveneiently located.
Personally, I feel that the escape key should be very convenient and the
shift lock key should be placed a couple light years away from the frequently
used keys. (I hear the Very Pour Smell feels differently). Are there PC/AT
keyboards with rational layouts? I only know of a TSR program to change the
caps lock key, but that seems very inefficient.
Thanks in advance,
David Gast
gast@cs.ucla.edu
{uunet,ucbvax,rutgers}!{ucla-cs,cs.ucla.edu}!gast
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 01 Mar 90 10:25:31 EST
From: Leonard Abbey <LABBEY@GTRI01.gatech.edu>
Subject: VT100/VT220 Capture Buffer Needed
I need to find a way to capture a VT100 or VT220 session to a PC disk file.
If I can get sessions with our accounting database into a file, I can then
manipulate/analyze it in ways which the database designers did not forsee,
but are now important. This is being done by hand in other departments.
I have tried Procomm, Procomm Plus, and CONCOPY, but these either stop
recording when VT100 is reached, or return a jumbled mess. The solution (if
any) needs to be inexpensive or free.
Any assistance will be very much appreciated.
Leonard Abbey
Georgia Tech Research Institute
404-894-3832
labbey@gtri01.gatech.edu
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End of Info-IBMPC Digest
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