Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL ("Info-IBMPC Digest") (01/22/90)
Info-IBMPC Digest Sun, 21 Jan 90 Volume 90 : Issue 8
Today's Editor:
Gregory Hicks - Chinhae Korea <GHICKS@WSMR-Simtel20.Army.Mil>
Today's Topics:
3.5 inch floppies
ITT Xtra problem
Sending Mail to Compuserve
Recording system startups
Correction to the Quick reference list of SIMTEL20's MSDOS directories
Today's Queries:
TSR Cookbook
"SCANV54.ARC" not found?
Bargains without manuals
PC Mag - LABS BENCH 5.1
Software Copyright...
Unisys Personal Work Station Series 500
New Programs:
EMACS15F.ARC - Bug fix for Freemacs 1.5e PC clone executable
F-PROT.ARC - Detect, prevent and remove viruses
Fido BBS version 12r uploaded to SIMTEL20
IDTAG.ARC - Cvt text file to OBJ for linking to executable
MERSENNE.ARC - Math: Lists 31 Mersenne Primes & bibliography
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 from
WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL in directory PD2:<ARCHIVES.IBMPC>.
WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL can be accessed using LISTSERV commands from BITNET
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If you are unable to access SIMTEL20 via Internet FTP or through one of
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Date: Wed, 17 Jan 90 11:50:04 EST
From: Glenn Karcher MITRE/D79 <gwk@mbunix.mitre.org>
Subject: 3.5 inch floppies
To: turgot@trearn (Sorry that this message is to the entire list, but
but the supplied address was insufficient for our mailer)
[Should have been <TURGOT%TREARN.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> ... gph]
The 3.5" floppy disk installation problems may be more than just a
"device=driver.sys..." problem. The machine's BIOS also must provide
support for the drive. DOS 3.3 says use the "/N:9 /T:80" parameters with
the FORMAT command to get 720kB. However, if the BIOS does not support
the drive, you will probably get an "Invalid Parameter" message (I just
had this happen on my AT clone). I would suggest contacting the
manufacturer about whether or not your BIOS provides the necessary
capabilities. From personal experience, I know that the Award BIOS
versions 3.0 and above do support the 3.5" drives. One of the recent
issues of BYTE magazine listed COMPUTERWERK, INC (1-800-423-3400) as a
vendor for these chips [please, no flames, no specific advertisement is
intended].
Hope this helps you get your system up soon. Best of luck...
Regards,
--Glenn Karcher
Disclaimers: The usual ..., these are all my own opinions...
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 90 08:47:01 IST
From: Hank Nussbacher <HANK%TAUNIVM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: ITT Xtra problem
>Date: Tue, 02 Jan 90 11:19:28 EST
>From: "Lawrence G. Zweibohmer" <lzweiboh@note.nsf.gov>
>
>I would appreciate any help/suggestions for a problem I am having with an
>ITT_XTRA. When power is turned on for booting, almost immediately the
>following message appears:
>
> Invalid NMI Interrupt
> Press the RETURN Key to Continue
>
>The RETURN key does nothing at this point and the only action that does
>anything is turning power off and on. The light for the hard disk blinks
>once as soon as power is turned on, else no other activity but the message
>on the screen.
NMI stands for Non-Maskable Interrupt and is usually associated with
memory parity errors or I/O errors from cards installed in the expansion
backplane. The ITT is unique that it not only can do a CTL-ALT-DEL to
reboot but there is also a "secret" CTL-ALT-ESC that puts the ITT XTra
into ROM Diagnostic mode. No need for a special IBM diskette. The
diagnostics sit in ROM. Try the CTL-ALT-ESC and see if you get a 'Rom =>'
prompt. If not then your machine is dead in the water.
If you get the prompt you can then take it from there. The diagnostics
are menu driven and always accept the word HELP. The 5 diagnostics are:
system board, memory, floppy, keyboard and video. You can then test your
system to see whats wrong.
If you don't get the Rom => prompt then it might be that your system is
having a critical error when doing the memory self test at boot time. I
have disabled this since it saves me about 2 minutes at power up time. On
the motherboard there is Switch 2, position 7. If the dip is ON - the
system will do a memory self test. If the switch is OFF there will be no
memory self test.
In addition there is Switch 4. Position 3 can be either ON (mother-board
has 512K) or OFF (motherboard has 640K). Position 4 dip switch can be
either ON (no expansion memory) or OFF (test for extra 512K or 1Mb of
expansion memory).
Best is to turn the switch 2, position 7 to OFF and try restarting your
system, bypassing the memory tests. Then get into Rom diagnostic mode and
see what is the matter.
Any wonder I know so much about it since this is about as powerful a
machine that the USA allows to be exported to Israel (for the past 18
months). No IBM 3090 vectors or mini-Cray's allowed here.
Hank Nussbacher
Israeli Network Information Center
------------------------------
Date: 17 Jan 90 13:22:00 EDT
From: "CMSGT LARRY KELLY" <kellyl@gw2.hanscom.af.mil>
Subject: Re: Mail to Compuserve
In Vol 90, #2, Chris Eddington asked how to send mail to Compuserve....
address to 99999.999@COMPUSERVE.COM
where 99999.999 is the receipients Compuserve Account #. NOTE:
Compuserve account numbers have a ",". YOU MUST REPLACE THE COMMA WITH A
"."
To go the other use EasyPlex and at "Send to (Name or User ID):"
enter >INTERNET:receipient@address.domain
example >INTERNET:KELLYL@GW2.HANSCOM.AF.MIL
I've done it both ways and it works. See The December 89 issue of
"ONLINE" for further details.
- Larry Kelly
------------------------------
Date: 17 Jan 90 12:53:19+0100
From: Norbert Bladt <bladt@hslrswi.uucp>
Subject: Recording system startups
>Return-Receipt-To: <bladt@hslrswi.UUCP>
Hello !
I have seen several answers to the question of Mike Bunnell (Vol. 89, #
121). However, I could not resist to come up with another solution. How
about:
echo.|date >>boot.dat
echo.|time >>boot.dat
This avoids the dependance on a file which could be accidentally deleted
by somebody sometimes. It works on PC-DOS 3.30 and COMPAQ-DOS 3.31. I
think it should work on almost any DOS.
Norbert Bladt.
[There have been MANY replies on this subject, and, unless someone comes
up with a 'different, more innovative' method, this will be the last one
on this subject. gph]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1990 10:57 MST
From: Keith Petersen <w8sdz@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: Quick reference list to SIMTEL20's MSDOS directories (correction)
Quick reference list of SIMTEL20's PD1:<MSDOS.x> directories as of January
18, 1990 (where 'x' is one of the names below):
ADA COMPUTE-PC FREEMACS MSWINDOWS SNOBOL4
AIJOURNAL CROSSASM GENIE MUSIC SPREADSHEET
ALLCHARGE CROSSREF GIF NCSATELNET SPRINT
APL DATABASE GRAPH NETWORK SQ-USQ
ARC-LBR DBASE GRAPHICS OS2 STARLINK
ARCNET-PCIP DDJMAG HAMRADIO PACKET STARTER
ASM-MAG DESKACCESS HYPERTEXT PASCAL STATISTICS
ASMUTL DESKJET IRIT PC-JR SURFMODL
AT DESKPUB KA9Q-TCPIP PCPURSUIT SWAP
AUTOCAD DESQVIEW KERMIT PCRESOURCE SYSUTL
AWK DIRUTL KEYBOARD PCTECH TEX
BASIC DISASM LAN PGMUTL TROJAN-PRO
BATUTL DSKUTL LAPTOP PILOT TURBO-C
BBS EDITOR LASER PLI TURBOBAS
BBSLISTS EDUCATION LISP PLOT TURBOPAS
BORLAND EEL LOTUS123 PREPROCESS TXTUTL
BYTEMAG EGA MAC PRINTER UUCP
C EMULATORS MAPPING PRODIGY VENTURA
CAD FILEDOCS MATH PROGJOURN VGA
CALCULATOR FILUTL MAX PROLOG VOICE
CASE FINANCE MEMACS QBASIC VOICEMAIL
CATALOG FLOWCHART MENU QPASCAL WORLDMAP
CIS FORMGEN MICROCORN RAMDISK X-10
CLIPPER FORTH MODULA2 SCREEN XLISP
CMPLNGMAG FORTRAN MOUSE SMALL-C ZIP
COMPATIBLES FOSSIL MSJOURNAL SMALLTALK ZOO
Quick reference list of SIMTEL20's PD2:<MSDOS2.x> directories as of
January 18, 1990 (where 'x' is one of the names below):
BIBLE MODEM PIBTERM RBBS-PC XPC
CMU-PCIP OPUS PROCOMM TAXES ZMODEM
FIDO PCMAG QMODEM TELIX
See PD1:<MSDOS.FILEDOCS>AAAREAD.ME for details on
file directories and descriptions.
--Keith
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 90 14:54 EST
From: Boebert@DOCKMASTER.ARPA
Subject: TSR Cookbook
A while ago I asked about books which explained TSR design/coding to the
level of a beginning hacker. Only got one response, which was
discouraging. Am happy to report success: "Born to Code in C" by Herb
Schildt explains how to do it. This is a verified report: my hacker
friend found the book, followed the instructions, and his code worked.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 90 14:23 U
From: LCSHIAO%TWNCTU01.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Subject: "SCANV54.ARC" not found?
From the listing of SIMIBM.ARC of 16-Jan-1990, I would like to download
the SCANV54.ARC in the directory "pd1:<msdos.trojan-pro>scanv54.arc. But
the listserv always responsed the message "file not found". Would you
please telling me what is going wrong? How can I get the file?
Thanks.
[What happened is not your fault. This program is updated far faster than
most other programs in the MS-DOS Collection. The recommended way to grab
this program is to request file PD1:<MSDOS.TROJAN-PRO>SCANV*.ARC... This
way, you'll ALWAYS get the latest version since older versions are deleted
as soon as the update is loaded.
There may be a chance that your request comes in after the new version is
uploaded but BEFORE the old one is deleted. However, the REAL chance of
this happening are quite slim (<0.0001% of the time) since your request
must be processed, one file finishes being sent and the next file in the
sequence opened... gph]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 90 23:05:38 EST
From: "Richard J. Reiner" <RREINER%YORKVM1.bitnet@ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca>
Subject: Bargains without manuals
At a gov't surplus sale last week, I picked up a bunch of PC accessories.
They were real cheap, but all are totally without documentation. Does
anyone have specs/manuals for any of the following? Perhaps addresses of
the manufacturers so I can get original manuals?
Tallgrass TG-5025(A) tape and HD combination unit
Scriptel SPD-1212T graphics tablet
Polaroid Palette 72-10
Epson FX-100 with factory upgrade to FX-185
Santa Clara Systems 32/11R external tape and HD unit
Syquest SQ 312RD tape drive
Syquest 338F disk drive
I'll gladly pay for photocopying and mailing if anyone can help. Thanks
very much,
--Richard
Richard J. Reiner rreiner@nexus.yorku.ca
BITNET: rreiner@yorkvm1.bitnet (also rreiner@vm1.yorku.ca)
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 90 13:26:11 EST
From: BROWN%CMR001.bitnet@ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca
Subject: PC Mag - LABS BENCH 5.1
I have run into a bit of a problem after running BENCH 5.1 Running CHKDSK
/F now gives me this...
C:\>chkdsk /f
Volume CMR INFO created Jul 9, 1987 11:13a
Probable non-DOS disk.
Continue (Y/N)? y
31768576 bytes total disk space
83968 bytes in 6 hidden files
186368 bytes in 83 directories
27766784 bytes in 1600 user files
3731456 bytes available on disk
655360 bytes total memory
185408 bytes free
It is the "Probable non-DOS disk" that concerns me. I had done a chkdsk a
few hours before running BENCH 5.1 and had no problems. I spoke with a
tech-rep from PC Mag and he doesn't see how the problem could have been
introduced by BENCH, nor has he or anyone else seen this problem.
The hard disk works fine, it boots nicely, and seems to be intact, but I
am still a bit concerned. By the way, I really like BENCH 5.1.
Info: I am running a real IBM AT (model 5170), dual floppy, 30 meg hard
(all from IBM). I ran all the benchmarking tests twice, the first with MS
WINDOWS SmartCache and the second time with a simple AST Ramdisk.
My questions are... Has anyone else seen this? Is BENCH the culprit or
should I be looking elsewhere, and finally, what do I do now (besides
backing up the hard disk and reformatting it)?
Thanx for your time,
CP6-Mail: Michael Brown @CMR
NET-Mail: <brownm@cmr001.bitnet>
Michael Brown Snail-Mail: Service Informatique CMR, St-Jean, Que. J0J 1R0
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 90 09:19 EDT
From: "Navin Ganeshan" <GANE0155%UDCVAX.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: Software Copyright...
Hi, I'm looking for the address/telephone number of the Software
Copyright office or something of that function. I'm an amateur programmer
and have a couple of programs that I'd like to release to the Public
Domain (or as shareware)
I have no idea what the procedure is. If any professional programmers
out there have any tips regarding distribution or other information, I'd
be extremely grateful.
Navin S. Ganeshan
Academic Computing Services
Univ. of DC,
Washington DC
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 90 10:41:05 JST
From: Ken Miller <asqj-sot-hadmin@buckner-emh1.army.mil>
Subject: Unisys Personal Work Station Series 500
Reference Info-IBMPC Digest V90 #2. The item from subject address
requested information on a UNISYS Personal Workstation Series 500. I use
such a machine on a daily basis at work (U.S. Army). I cannot send
messages to bitnet. If this individual has an address we can get to from
milnet, please let me know and I will contact him. Thanks for being the
go-between.
Ken Miller
Electronic Mail Host Administrator
Fort Buckner, Okinawa, Japan
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1990 14:46 MST
From: Keith Petersen <w8sdz@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: EMACS15F.ARC - Bug fix for Freemacs 1.5e PC clone executable
[--forwarded message--]
From: Russ Nelson <nelson@image.soe.clarkson.edu>
I have uploaded this file to SIMTEL20:
pd1:<msdos.freemacs>
EMACS15F.ARC Bug fix for Freemacs 1.5e PC clone executable
The PC clone executable for Freemacs 1.5e has two nasty bugs (neither of
which shows up on my machine, hence the need for and promise of future
alpha testing). The first causes the CGA snow control code to crash the
machine. The second turns off memory refresh on pre-AT class machines
whenever the bell is rung. To my knowledge (obviously limited), version
1.5f fixes these two bugs. Rather than do a complete re-release, I have
decided to release 1.5f as an executable-only release.
-russ
Thanks, Russ!
--Keith
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1990 12:29 MST
From: Keith Petersen <w8sdz@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: F-PROT.ARC - Detect, prevent and remove viruses
[--forwarded message--]
From: jwright@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu (Jim Wright)
I have uploaded the new F-PROT from Fridrik Skulason to SIMTEL20. This
package combines the features of just about every other offering into a
single set of programs. There's virus scanning, checksum calculation,
memory-resident protection, etc. Lots more. Sent to me directly by the
author for uploading to SIMTEL20.
pd1:<msdos.trojan-pro>
F-PROT.ARC Detect, prevent and remove viruses
Jim
---
Thanks, Jim and Fridrik!
--Keith
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1990 12:59 MST
From: Keith Petersen <w8sdz@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: Fido BBS version 12r uploaded to SIMTEL20
[--forwarded message--]
From: pozar@ucbarpa.Berkeley.EDU (Tim Pozar)
I have uploaded the latest version (12r) of the Fido BBS package from Tom
Jennings to SIMTEL20. See below...
All files with the extention of ".LZH" are compressed with LHARC, which is
available from SIMTEL20 as pd1:<msdos.arc-lbr>LH113C.EXE.
Tim
pd2:<msdos2.fido>
FIDO.LST What files to download to get latest Fido BBS
FIDO12R.LZH Tom Jennings' Fido/FidoNet BBS v12r, 1of3
FIDO_IBM.LZH Tom Jennings' Fido/FidoNet BBS v12r, 2of3
NEWFIDO.LZH Tom Jennings' Fido/FidoNet BBS v12r, 3of3
POLICY.PRN Policy concerning fees and usage of Fido BBS
--- From FIDO.LST ---
If you are trying to get the latest version of Fido/FidoNet, save
yourself needless downloading, and follow these instructions LITERALLY.
ALWAYS TAKE THIS FILE: it contains the files and programs that have
changed recently, which you will need to upgrade from a previous version,
or for a new installation.
Fido12R.LZH
(Only one file so far, right?)
-*-*- -*-*- -*-*- -*-*- -*-*- -*-*- -*-*- -*-*- -*-*- -*-*-
FOR UPGRADES AND ALL NEW INSTALLATIONS:
It is the Fido/FidoNet program itself.
Fido_IBM.LZH IBM PCs and 100% clones
(This makes two files total, no matter what.)
-*-*- -*-*- -*-*- -*-*- -*-*- -*-*- -*-*- -*-*- -*-*- -*-*-
FOR NEW INSTALLATIONS ONLY: Or for upgrades from pre-12H versions. It
contains all of the basic files (sample bulletins, help files, etc) that
you will need.
NewFido.LZH
(Now you have three files if you don't have Fido yet, or still only two
if you do.)
[--end forwarded message--]
Thanks, Tim!
--Keith Petersen
Maintainer of SIMTEL20's CP/M, MSDOS, & MISC archives [IP address 26.2.0.74]
Internet: w8sdz@WSMR-SIMTEL20.Army.Mil, w8sdz@brl.arpa BITNET: w8sdz@NDSUVM1
Uucp: {ames,decwrl,harvard,rutgers,ucbvax,uunet}!wsmr-simtel20.army.mil!w8sdz
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1990 11:15 MST
From: Keith Petersen <w8sdz@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: IDTAG.ARC - Cvt text file to OBJ for linking to executable
[--forwarded message--]
From: kenji@ybbs.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp (Kenji Rikitake)
I have uploaded the following file to SIMTEL20:
pd1:<msdos.pgmutl>
IDTAG.ARC Cvt text file to OBJ for linking to executable
IDTAG is a small utility which converts a text file into an .obj file so
that the text file will be part of .exe file.
Enjoy,
Kenji Rikitake, JJ1BDX, Sakurajousui R&D Center, Packet Radio User's Group
<kenji@ybbs.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp> / <kenji@jj1bdx.ampr{.jp|.org}> [44.129.16.82]
[--end forwarded message--]
Thanks, Kenji!
--Keith
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1990 13:28 MST
From: Keith Petersen <w8sdz@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: MERSENNE.ARC - Math: Lists 31 Mersenne Primes & bibliography
[--forwarded message--]
From: Steve Clancy <sclancy@orion.oac.uci.edu>
I have uploaded the following files to SIMTEL20:
pd1:<msdos.math>
MERSENNE.ARC Math: Lists 31 Mersenne Primes & bibliography
-- Steve Clancy
[--end forwarded message--]
Thanks, Steve!
--Keith
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
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