Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL ("Info-IBMPC Digest") (02/15/90)
Info-IBMPC Digest Thu, 15 Feb 90 Volume 90 : Issue 18
Today's Editor:
Gregory Hicks - Chinhae Korea <GHICKS@WSMR-Simtel20.Army.Mil>
Today's Topics:
3.5" on PC and AT
AT drive problems
BTRIEVE Help
Digest 90 V11
FidoNet Technical Information
Help needed with Sperry Univac terminal UNITERM 200
How to detect a write-protected floppy
Info-IBMPC Digest 90:11 incomplete.
Info-IBMPC Digest V90 #11
Info-IBMPC Digest V90 #8
Kermit 3.0 (or 2.32) under SoftPC
Parallel Port Interception
Password Protection
PC - Magnet
PC Compatibles?
Request for Published Specs for TCP/IP
Trying to find EGA2VGA
Turbo Technojock
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 90 10:32 EST
From: <PETERSON%LIUVAX.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: 3.5" on PC and AT
An AT that uses a CMOS setup area needs to be aware that drive x is a 3.5"
A PC, with a standard controller, unless its a real cheap one, will handle
a 720k drive just fine. We found that the original IBM PCs will read and
write a 720k 3.5" drive without a device driver loaded.
BUT if you want to format the drives for 720k you need to have the DOS
device driver (driver.sys) or some other loaded.
If you AT does not support a 3.5 you should be able to treat the drive
just as you would on a PC.
J. Peterson/ LIU Southampton, NY/ peterson@liuvax.bitnet
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 90 09:54:26 EST
From: "Jimmy Law" <PHYJLAW%UOGUELPH.bitnet@ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca>
Subject: AT drive problems
Re vol90/13 on AT floppy drive problem - queries from E Mueller and R
Schuerger reply. I had the same problem when I up the crystal speed on my
True Blue AT from 6 MHz to 10 MHz. The solution is to increase the timing
loop to wait for the Floppy controller. Since you can't change the BIOS,
only way is to tap into the disk interrupt vector. The following code did
it for me:
DEBUG DUMP OF DISK.COM
[Dump and cose has been uploaded to WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL]
To recreate diskf.com:
a) Place the code below in a file : diskf
b) execute : debug <diskf
c) this will give you the TSR program diskf.com
d) place it in your autoexec.bat
e) I have it working on my true Blue-AT souped up to 10MHz from 6MHz
f) The longer timing loop means there will be no" disk not ready" message
but you will sometime notice a slightly longer wait for Floppy disk access.
g) Does not affect Hard disk access.
ENJOY!
[DEBUG DIS-ASM has been uploaded to WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL]
------cut here---------------
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 90 15:32 EST
From: Nutsy Fagen <MJB8949%RITVAX.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: BTRIEVE Help
Our office is using a program which stores data on a BTRIEVE file. Is
there a simple program out there which will allow us to access this
database to generate more custom reports than we're currently able to with
the system we have now?
We will continue to use the program we have now, but will do the expanded
reporting with whatever we can come up with that offers the following:
Group reports by one field in the database
Print reports in a format where some info stays the same (in this
case, account number, billing name), while itemizing other related fields
(specific charges, dates, etc)
It would also be nice to be able to search through one of the
fields (which is a free-formatted 'message' field to find specific data
for report generation)
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've included the above details to
assist someone with a broad knowledge on the subject.
Thanks in advance,
Mike
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 90 14:54:28 est
From: KAHN%void.mceo.dg.com@RELAY.CS.NET
From: <CLOTSCHE%HROEUR51.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Digest 90 V11
It seems that volume 11 was cut off prematurely. Can you pls resend 1
copy to Info-IBMPC@ADAM.DG.COM (or whatever .DG.COM address you have)?
Thanks.
Bruce (KAHN@ADAM.DG.COM)
Postmaster@ADAM.DG.COM
[Due to noise on the lines from Chinhae to Taegu, there were TWO issues
for V90 #11. The Taegu user FTP process dropped the connection to
WSMR-Simtel20.army.mil when the noise got to be too much. The SECOND
issue was the full issue.]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 90 14:49:08 est
From: KAHN%void.mceo.dg.com@RELAY.CS.NET
Subject: FidoNet Technical Information
Can someone on the net please tell me where I can get some technical
information about the FidoNet protocols and organization. I've picked up
some of the .arc/.zip files from Simtel20 and other places but none of
them seem to tell me anything about the protocols (ie Message storage and
forwarding, routing, handshaking, overall topology, etc). Any help or
files will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Bruce (KAHN@ADAM.DG.COM)
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 90 15:58 MEZ
From: BURKHARD SCHILLINGER <GAUBATZ@DGABLG5P.BITNET>
Subject: Help needed with Sperry Univac terminal UNITERM 200
Recently, I found an old Sperry Univac Terminal named UNITERM 200 in a
Computer junk store for $25 and took it home. Does anybody know this
Terminal type?
The design seems to be from the stone age, and it has many buttons with
cryptic names on them on its keyboard.
All I know is that it seems to work in local mode right now, and that it
has a 25 pin male sub-d connector, which I suppose to be a standard RS-232
port. However, there's also another multi-pin nonstandard connector, and a
key named PRINT on the keypad. Is it possible that the RS-232 is only for
a local printer? And/or can I expect this to be settable/interchangeable?
Does anybody know baudrate, parity, number of data and stop bits, and the
type of handshaking (RTS/CTS, Xon/Xoff, or none) ?
How do I set this Terminal Online? Typos appear right on the screen, so I
have no Echo mode right now via the serial port. No Data, not even junk,
seems to be received via the port, tried at different baud rates and
parity/handshake settings.
For sending, there semms to be a button "Transmit unprot Display", but how
do I receive?
Any help would be highly appreciated, because we need this terminal for a
student's project.
PLEASE HELP!!
Burkhard <GAUBATZ@DGABLG5P.Bitnet>
P.S.: Please reply directly to this address, as I am no subscriber to this
list. Thanks!
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 1990 14:24:51 CST
From: KJE2282 @ VENUS.TAMU.EDU
Subject: How to detect a write-protected floppy
/********************************************************************
* WR_PROT.C
*
* Check to see if a drive is write protected
*
* Compiled with MSC 5.1 2/5/90 by Kevin English
* kje2282@venus.tamu.edu kje2282@tamvenus.bitnet
*
* Uses the DOS Interupts 25H and 26H to do an absolute
* read, then write of logical sector 0 of the drive.
*
* resultant ERRORLEVELs:
* 2 : error accessing drive
* 1 : write protected
* 0 : writable
*/
#include <dos.h>
char buffer[2048];
int main()
{
union REGS inregs, outregs;
struct SREGS segregs;
char far *bufferp;
inregs.h.al = 0; /* drive number 0,1 = a,b: 128,129=c,d */
inregs.x.cx = 1; /* sectors to read */
inregs.x.dx = 0; /* starting sector number */
bufferp = buffer;
inregs.x.bx = FP_OFF(bufferp);
segregs.ds = FP_SEG(bufferp);
int86x(0x25, &inregs, &outregs, &segregs);
if (outregs.x.cflag == 1) {
printf("error reading drive A\n");
return 2;
}
int86x(0x26, &inregs, &outregs, &segregs);
if (outregs.x.cflag == 1) {
printf("error writing drive A\n");
return 1;
}
return 0;
}
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 90 17:40:36 EST
From: Peter Jones <MAINT%UQAM.bitnet@ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca>
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V90 #11
On Tue, 23 Jan 1990 17:16:14 CST MCKINNEY @ THORIN.HSCSA.UTEXAS.EDU said:
>Subject: Access control and password protection
>
>a minimal level of security for some PCs in our micro lab.
> These machines are located in a room that is out of sight of
>the staff desk.
Why not use a closed-ciruit TV system?
Peter Jones MAINT@UQAM (514)-987-3542
"Life's too short to try and fill up every minute of it" :-)
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 90 00:15 EST
From: BCA%PSUARCH.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V90 #8
I have a friend who is having trouble installing a Paradise VGA+ 8-bit
card in his 8088 system, with a NEC Multisync 2A. We cannot get the
screen to show any text upon booting up. The system does not beep, and we
have eliminated the fact that the monitor doesn't work by trying it on my
system.
Has anybody experienced similar problems setting their system up? I would
sincerely appreciate any help that anyone could provide.
By the way, we have the following switch settings:on
on the vga card : 1-on,2-on
on the motherboard: 5-on, 6-on
These settings are the recommended settings as stated by Paradise systems.
Thanks...
Barry Allyn
Penn State University
BCA@PSUARCH
------------------------------
Date: 5 Feb 90 11:46 EST
From: WMLBTAM%UCCCVM1.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu
Subject: Kermit 3.0 (or 2.32) under SoftPC
I recognize that a Mac running SoftPC isn't the same as a true MS-DOS box,
but here's where the expertise is, so I'm asking you folks...
I'm trying to run Kermit under SoftPC. The outgoing characters are making
it fine; my host reads my outgoing data stream. Incoming characters don't
make it to the screen; if I guess what the host's state is (from knowing
the host applications) I can send the appropriate information to talk to
the host's application, but the host's responses don't show up on the
screen.
Insignia, publisher of SoftPC, says they're afraid the incoming signals
aren't even getting through the serial port on the Macintosh; they're
getting in through the modem (I can see the LEDs blinky-blinky), but the
RS422/RS232 conversion isn't happening right on incoming. They say
something about how Kermit is coded to rely on hardware handshaking that
they can't get the Mac to do (can't properly emulate the UART in
software).
Anyone have a workaround/patch I could put in place on the Kermit side to
either forego the handshaking (I'm not trying to do file transfer, only to
fire up a telecommunications session to be managed by the National Library
of Medicine's "Grateful Med" search engine shell) or fake it into thinking
it's happy?
Any direct reply will be gratefully accepted (no pun intended). I'm not
able to read this digest regularly anymore, though, so I'll be glad to
summarize to the net but let's not take Digest bandwidth til then, o.k.?
Thanks 1Meg!
Ted
===============================================================================
| | |Theodore Allan Morris |231 Bethesda Avenue, ML# 574
| | |University of Cincinnati Med. Ctr. |Cincinnati, OH 45267-0574
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Bearcats!| Call me up and I'll talk data to ya'! |(you-one-zero-nine-one)
===============================================================================
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 90 13:22:47 EST
From: elh@caen.engin.umich.edu (Erliang Han 000-30-2442)
Subject: Parallel Port Interception
I want the output of a measurement system through its parallel port
printer support function(Standard 9-pin Epson), and plan to connect its
parallel port with my AT parallel port to intercept its normal printing
output.
Is there any existing programs capable of doing this? Any advice if I want
to write my own program in TurboC to do it.
Replies appreciated. Thanks.
--- E. Han, Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 90 11:10 GMT
From: OVERDIJK%ECN.NL@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Password Protection
This is a reply to Jim McKinney's request in Info-IBMPC V90 #11 on the the
subject "Access control and password protection". I've played a little
with password protection programs available on SIMTEL-20. The best one (my
opinion) is PCLOCK21.ARC which is a demo version of the 'real' program.
(This demo-version allows only passwords with length of 1 character...). I
think it is very good, and you must be a very big DOS-freak to break this
protection!! Putting a bootable disk in drive A: doesn't help, the system
just doesn't recognize drive C: (the hard disk) any more. (DOS simply says
that the C: drive doesn't exist. PCLOCK probably does something with the
*absolute* disk sector 0 - track 0 - cilinder 0, so that the BIOS
cold/warm start code doesn't 'see' drive C:).
PCLOCK21.ARC is on directory PD1:<MSDOS.SYSUTL>.
This program is low Shareware priced. I warn you, do NOT use PCLOCK11.ARC
which is also on this directory, on a DOS 3.3 (or higher? and a few
versions lower?). It works as some kind of virus, you're able to install
it, but you can never de-install it any more. (The de-install program
simply doesn't work (DOS 3.3)!. In my case, I had to re-format the hard
disk......
Greetings from a stormy Holland,
Harrie Overdijk
ECN - Petten (nh)
The Netherlands
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 1990 21:07 IST
From: Gil Freund <HCUFE%HUJIVM1.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: PC - Magnet
Does anyone know of a way to reach PC-Magnet from BITNET? I would like to
find a way to download some of their utilities without paying a huge
overseas phone bill.
Thanks
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 05 Feb 90 18:18 CST
From: Bill McGown <CFWPM%ECNCDC.BITNET@UICVM.uic.edu>
Subject: PC Compatibles?
Eastern Illinois University has had in place for a number of years
a policy that has restricted the purchase of microcomputers to two
vendors; IBM and Zenith. An administrative decision has been made that it
might be beneficial if EIU were to have the choice of one more vendor of
an "IBM compatible" computer. The main requirement of this third vendor's
computer is that it be compatible with our token ring network. This
network is based on the IBM Token-ring network technology. Our local
rings are running across IBM Type 1 shielded twisted pair at 4 MBits, with
a backbone ring of optical fiber running at 16 MBits. We use IBM
Token-ring Adapter IIs and /A cards for connection, off-the-shelf IBM
software, and IBM PCs, PS/2s and Zenith PCs. All of our network services
are based on IBM architectures, and we use NETBIOS as our communications
protocol.
We will need a vendor that has a "full line" of machines, varying
from low end XT types to 386 33mhz. server class machines.
If any reader has had experience with "clone" machines in a
similar environment I would like to know the brands of machines and how
they have performed?
I will summarize responses if there is sufficient interest and
post then to the list. Pardon the cross posting but this request is being
posted to both INFO-IBMPC and BIG-LAN.
Bill (W. P.) McGown BITNET: CFWPM@ECNCDC
Psychology Dept.
Eastern Ill. Univ.
Charleston, IL
61920
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 90 19:19:15 PST
From: dbarber@pnet01.cts.com (David C. Barber)
Subject: Request for Specs for TCP/IP
Where can I get published specifications for TCP/IP?
*David Barber*
UUCP: {hplabs!hp-sdd ucsd nosc}!crash!pnet01!dbarber
ARPA: crash!pnet01!dbarber@nosc.mil
INET: dbarber@pnet01.cts.com
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 05 Feb 90 14:27:03 EST
From: Jeffrey R Kell <JEFF%UTCVM.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: Trying to find EGA2VGA
I am trying to find EGA2VGA, a program which expands EGA images into
256-color VGA images. It is mentioned several times in documentation of
SQZGIF and VGACAD (which are at SIMTEL). If it (VGA2EGA) is at Simtel,
can someone please point me at the proper subdirectory? If not, would
appreciate any pointers to a source for this package.
| Jeffrey R Kell, Dir Tech Services | UTC Postmaster/Listserv co-ord. |
| Admin Computing, 117 Hunter Hall |Bitnet: JEFF@UTCVM.BITNET |
| Univ of Tennessee at Chattanooga |JEFF%UTCVM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU |
| Chattanooga, TN 37403 | Bell: (615)-755-4551 |
------------------------------
Date: Monday, 5 Feb 1990 08:54:27 EST
From: "Olynyk, Roman J." <U0BA9@WVNVM.WVNET.EDU>
Subject: Turbo Technojock
There is a Version 5 of TechnoJock's Turbo Tool Kit, but as far as I know,
you have to pay to get it. I got a copy about a year ago and am very
satisfied with the product. With it, you get a spiral-bound reference
guide and several diskettes. An additional feature is a reference guide
that works with Norton's memory resident guide. I've got TechoJock's
address (CIS address too) at home, so if you're interested, send private
mail to me (U0BA9@WVNVM.BITNET) and I'll pass it on to you.
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
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