Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL ("Info-IBMPC Digest") (01/19/90)
Info-IBMPC Digest Thu, 18 Jan 90 Volume 90 : Issue 5
Today's Editor:
Gregory Hicks - Chinhae Korea <GHICKS@WSMR-Simtel20.Army.Mil>
Today's Topics:
AX=0201,CX=1,DX=80,int 13 at IBMBIO.COM
BCOPY
Bus standards and the 6581
Controlling an audio CD via a CDROM
CTTY and COM1:
DEST Scanner Problem
Disabling ctrl-C on startup
File: "IBMPC-L MAIL" being sent to you
Finding a phone number
Floppy drive access problem
Info-IBMPC Digest V89 #120
Looking For New KEY-FAKE
Mouse info
pc
Programming a VGA card
Russian keyboard and driver for IBM PS/2
Slowing down a PS/2 Model 50
Submission for comp-sys-ibm-pc-digest
Wrong Address
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and descriptions.)
Archives of past issues of the Info-IBMPC Digest are available from
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Date: Thu Jan 11 21:38:31 1990
From: "Luis Valdivia P." <LVALDIVI%USACHVM1.BITNET@rice.edu>
Subject: AX=0201,CX=1,DX=80,int 13 at IBMBIO.COM
Hello there!
Well, I found that in IBMBIO.COM the first absolute
sector from Hard Disk is read. This because of when we boot
from diskette (drive a:), the hard disk is knew with yours
partitions. (I tested this)
Now I need to know where in IBMBIO.COM this is done.
Can any HELP ME? Please drop me a note to lvaldivi@usachvm1.
Thanks in advance... :-)
/ o ___
/ / / / /__
/___ /___/ / ___/
Disclamer: "I say my opinion and not my bosses's opinion... necessarily"
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Luis Ricardo Valdivia Pinto Lvaldivi@Usachvm1.bitnet :
Memorista en Computacion e Informatica Assmpc-l's Owner :
Technical Support Emulpc-l's Editor :
Servicio de Computacion SECOM Universidad de Santiago de Chile :
:
Analista de Sistemas de Informacion Lvaldiv@Santiag2.Exxon :
Sistemas y Procesos. Area El Soldado. Cia. Minera Disputada :
---------------------------------------------------------------------
=====================================================================
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 90 17:14 CST
From: <JBJ6908%TNTECH.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: BCOPY
Does anyone know if BCOPY by PC MAGAZINE is located anywhere on
the simtel20 directories?
It is a program to copy files while doing another task in dos.
Thanks,
Jim
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 1990 0:33:18 CST
From: KJE2282 @ VENUS.TAMU.EDU
Subject: Bus standards and the 6581
This is in reply to Rob Fugina's request for info on interfacing
a 6581 SID chip onto a card for a pc.
A book that I found to be very good on this subject is Jeffrey P.
Royer's book Handbook of Software and Hardware Interfacing for
IBM PCs. This book is a text for a hardware interfacing class
and includes the plans for a "pedagogical board" that is used as
a teaching aid in the course.
Kevin J. English
kje2282@venus.tamu.edu
------------------------------
Date: 11 Jan 90 14:55:00 MET (Thu)
From: acadch!krefcom!gucky@cis.ohio-state.edu (Ralf Huelsmann)
Subject: Controlling an audio CD via a CDROM
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.digest you write:
>Hello everyone.
>We have just purchased a Sony CD-ROM player with MS-Extensions etc. With
>it there is a utility called CDPLAY which will play audio CDs. I wonder
>if there is a shareware package, preferably in the RED archives, which
>will control CDs better, perhaps allowing control from command line level
>in MSDOS?
>Thanks in advance for any help,
>Drew Radtke
>-----------
>Janet: Drew@uk.ac.bradford.central.cyber2
>Internet: Drew%cyber2.central.bradford.ac.uk@cunyvm.cuny.edu
>Earn/Bitnet: Drew%cyber2.central.bradford.ac.uk@ukacrl
>UUCP: Drew%cyber2.central.bradford.ac.uk@ukc.uucp
>Post: Science & Society, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK, BD7 1DP.
>Phone: +44 274 733466 x6135
>Fax: +44 274 305340
Hi !
I read your artikel, now if got to questions:
1) do you use your cd-rom on an ibm-kompatibel system ? what is
it like, does this system work well ?
2) where can i buy the hardware to set up a ibm-komp. system with
a cd-rom, and whta does this cost ?
thanks for a answer.
ciao
ralf
*******************************************************************************
Home Adress: E-Mail:
Ralf Huelsmann UUCP: gucky@krefcom.UUCP
Bartzheide 78 Zerberus: gucky@MHB.ZER
D-4152 Kempen 1 Pro-Net: ISH:SYSOP
West Germany telex: 1631 btx d
phone 02152/6935 btx 021526935 0001+
fax comming soon
please remember that the Adressinformation is in Germany. Mayby you have to
add the prefix for germany. ( 0049 on phone, for example)
*******************************************************************************
>Telex: 51309 UNIBFD G
---
*******************************************************************************
Home Adress: E-Mail:
Ralf Huelsmann UUCP: gucky@krefcom.UUCP
Bartzheide 78 Zerberus: gucky@MHB.ZER
D-4152 Kempen 1 Pro-Net: ISH:SYSOP
West Germany telex: 1631 btx d
phone 02152/6935 btx 021526935 0001+
fax comming soon
please remember that the Adressinformation is in Germany. Mayby you have to
add the prefix for germany. ( 0049 on phone, for example)
*******************************************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 90 18:56 EST
From: <MSALETNI%TUFTS.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu> (Michael J. Saletnik)
Subject: CTTY and COM1:
In a recent post, a person was looking to capture Com1: output to disk and
asked about STTY. You referred him to possibly using CTTY. This will not
work. CTTY changes the console TTY, causing standard input and output to
be redirected as requested. If you do not have a terminal attached to
COM1, this terminal will become your DOS terminal. If you do not, you
will lose control of DOS and have to reboot.
Incidentally, CTTY NUL is an excellent user-method of locking up DOS.
Michael J. Saletnik
msaletni@tufts.bitnet
"Usual Disclaimer"
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 90 15:56:15 EST
From: Mark Edward Toomey <MTOOMEY%UGA.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: DEST Scanner Problem
I would appreciate any help with a IBM PC/XT 286 and DEST PC Scan Plus problem
I have. Following is my setup:
IBM PC/XT 286 with 80287 math coprocessor
640K RAM
EGA w/64K - slot 1
25 pin serial card - slot 2
DEST Scanner card - slot 3
9 pin serial/25 pin parallel card - slot 4
Floppy/Hard Disk controller card - slot 5
1 - 5 1/4" 1.2 Meg Floppy Drive
1 - 3 1/2" 1.44 Meg Floppy Drive(using Bastech software driver)
2 - 20 Meg Seagate ST-225 Hard Disks
DEST PC Scan Plus Sheet-feed Scanner
All DIP switches (2 banks) in back of scanner OFF.
DMA DIP switches on DEST card set for NONE(3-8 off)
IRQ DIP switches on DEST card set for NONE(1-7 off)
I/O Ports(Hex Address) DIP switches (tried every setting 200-270)
Operating System - DOS 3.3
Software: DEST Publish Pac v. 2.0 w/runtime Windows v. 1.04
DEST Text Pac v. 2.3
PC Paintbrush Plus v. 1.2(for use with DEST scanner)
Config.sys - DEVICE = C:DESTSCANDRVR.SYS /S:N /C:N /P:220
DEVICE = C:DOSDRIVER35.SYS {driver for 3 1/2" drive)
FILES = 50
BUFFERS = 25
LASTDRIVE = G
I had an IMAGEINF.SYS driver also in config.sys, but the rep from
DEST told me several people had had problems with it so to take it
out. I've tried every HEX address setting on the DEST card but to
no avail. The scanner works fine with another plain IBM PC machine
with the same settings. Should their be some conflict in the DMA
or IRQ settings? The DEST Scanner goes through its Power On Self-Test
fine, changing from an '8' on the LED readout to a '0' but when the
XT boots up, the zero doesn't disappear (which it does when we use it
with the Macintosh). When we try to run Text Pac or Publish Pac it
hangs up the XT every time.
Anyone who could shed some light on this dilemna would be a god-
send to my soon-to-be-bald scratched spot!
**************************************************************************
Mark Edward Toomey Disclaimer: I only speak for
Computer Services Specialist myself, although
College of Home Economics sometimes I wonder
University of Georgia even about that!
BITNET: MTOOMEY@UGA
FAX: (404) 542-4862
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 90 18:56 EST
From: Nutsy Fagen <MJB8949@ritvax.bitnet>
Subject: Disabling ctrl-C on startup
Thanks to all who helped out with a previous question (recording system
time/date on startup.) I recieved so many replies that I lost track of who I
actually acknowledged, I'll try to be more on top of things this time.
My question pertains to a system in which I want to restrict access to one
program. The program itself has adequete password protection for exiting to
DOS, so the only weak link is when the autoexec.bat file is running.
Is there any (simple?) way to keep someone from breaking out of auotexec.bat
when it is running. (I assume 'killing' ctrl-c would do the trick?)
Thanks in advance.
Mike Bunnell
mjb8949@ritvax
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 90 22:29:02 HOE
From: Juan Francisco Suarez Vicente <NETMAINT@EOVUOV11>
Subject: Intelligent Cards
I'm looking for information (e-mail, documents, books, articles,etc...)
about the recent 'Intelligent Cards' application within a company.
We're at the University of Oviedo (SPAIN) and we're thinking the
possibility of implementing a new personal element for security,
personal data, medical data, etc..., and we've heard about intelligent
cards.
For example: Philips is developing an 'intelligent card' for the
Barcelona'92 Olympic Games, which purpose is to give everybody the
possibility to use 'ONLY ONE CARD' to do many things: personal
identification, medical data, to do monetary operations, etc,etc...
I think it's based on EEPROM cards.
But I think that Sony or another Japanese Company talked about its
own 'intelligent personal card'.
WHERE COULD I GET INFO ABOUT IT ??
Please, forgive if this is the wrong list.
SEND YOUR ANSWER DIRECTLY TO ME. I'M NOT A SUBSCRIBER OF THIS LIST.
Best regards from Spain Y
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| +------------------------------------+ |
| | ELECTRONIC MAIL | Juan Francisco Suarez |
| +------------------------------------+ |
| | Internet: | Systems Programmer |
| | Network.Manager@cpd.uniovi.es| Data Processing Center |
| | EARN/BITNET: | University of Oviedo |
| | NETMAINT@EOVUOV11 | SPAIN |
| +------------------------------------+ |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
------------------------------
Date: Thu Jan 11 20:28:56 1990
From: "Owner: Luis Valdivia P." <LVALDIVI%USACHVM1.BITNET@rice.edu>
Subject: Finding a phone number
Can anyone help me to find a telephone number in USA for
McCarty Associates Inc.? Who distribute the Software
Workstation Manager by Box Mountain System Inc. 1984, 1987,
1988. Moreover, if any say me Box Mountain System's phone... I
could be very happy... :-)
If it's possible... drop me a note directly
Lvaldivi@Usachvm1 Thanks in Advance... (This is very
important for me).
/ o ___
/ / / / /__
/___ /___/ / ___/
Disclamer: "I say my opinion and not my bosses's opinion... necessarily"
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Luis Ricardo Valdivia Pinto Lvaldivi@Usachvm1.bitnet :
Memorista en Computacion e Informatica Assmpc-l's Owner :
Technical Support Emulpc-l's Editor :
Servicio de Computacion SECOM Universidad de Santiago de Chile :
:
Analista de Sistemas de Informacion Lvaldiv@Santiag2.Exxon :
Sistemas y Procesos. Area El Soldado. Cia. Minera Disputada :
---------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 90 11:11:05 CST
From: emueller@skvax1.csc.ti.com (Ed. Mueller @ (214) 575-3429)
Subject: Floppy drive access problem
I am experiencing a bothersome, intermittent problem. I have a no-name AT
clone (IDS PC-286T) I bought back in August, 1987 which normally runs well.
However, every couple of days or so I'll try to do a floppy disk operation
(A:, dir A: or such) which fails. The light comes on, the drive spins, but
nothing else happens. Eventually, the drive light goes out and the drive
stops spinning, but DOS does not return any message or info; the system
locks up. The keyboard still seems to work because I can re-boot and then
everything works fine again.
I have two 5 1/4" floopies in the system (1.2M & 360K) and the problem happens
with both of them. I replaced the controller card (now have a WD 1006), but
the problem still occurs. I have cleaned the drive heads. I have re-installed
DOS (3.20). I have run virus detection programs on my system. So far, nothing
has worked. I cannot reproduce the problem at will. The problem is only with
the floppy drives as my hard disk works flawlessly.
I am looking for suggestions about what to try next to diagnose/repair the
problem. I only have the diagnostics diskette which came with the machine
which reports that everything is fine. Any comments/suggestions will be most
welcome. Thanks in advance.
- Edward Mueller
EMUELLER@SKVAX1.TI.COM
(214) 575-3429
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 90 14:15:00 CET
From: Thomas Zielke <113355%DOLUNI1.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V89 #120
RE: DVI for TeX
Kim A. Tan wrote that DVI-drivers were FTP-able from SCIENCES.UTAH.EDU.
Could somebody please explain to me how to get files from that node?
(I'm working on an IBM-mainframe under VM/CMS which is connected
to BITNET via EARN.)
Yours
Thomas Zielke
------------------------------
Date: Fri Jan 12 22:56:01 1990
From: fstarr@lognet2.af.mil (TSgt Frank Starr)
Subject: Looking For New KEY-FAKE
Does anyone know if there is a new and revised version of the
KEY-FAKE program? I have one from September of 1985. It does not
work with newer programs on the market, such as WORDSTAR 5. I
think that this was originally a PC Magazine utility.
Regards,
Frank Starr
------------------------------
Date: 6 Jan 90 14:07:00 GMT-9:00
From: "HUGH PRESTON" <hpreston@osan-emh.af.mil>
Subject: Mouse info
In Info-IBMPC vol. 89 issue 127 you asked about what kind of mouse was
best.
I have had several; a Zenix (from Taiwan and pretty good), a Genius with a
weird power arrangement that required an extra cable in line with the
keyboard, A serial and a Bus Microsoft. My current rodent is a Logitec C7.
If I were to do over again, I would probably go with the Logitec C9 "High
Res" version that they are offering now. Both of the Microsoft "rats" ended
up in the trash heap. In both cases, the left button stopped working
properly. It appeared that they were suffering from a "soft plastic"
syndrome for lack of a better term. The micro-switch that the plastic "leg"
makes contact with had caused an indentation in the base of the plastic
leg. As a big user of Microsoft Windows, I HAVE to have an operating mouse!
The Logitec has done well for Windows although it acts a bit "jittery" on
some other applications. The software with the Logitec gives you quite a
bit of flexibility to change the parameters you are working with.
Hope this helps,
Hugh Preston
hpreston@Osan-EMH.AF.MIL
PS: usual disclaimer applies!
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 90 09:30:34 CST
From: Don Meredith <DMEREDI3@UA1VM.ua.edu>
Subject: Programming a VGA card
I need some help in writing some C routines for a VGA card.
The problem is that we are using an Inmos Transputer board
to create graphical programs. The only thing the compiler
will let me do is generate interrupts or write directly to
memory. I need some way of displaying images one pixel at
a time but without using the BIOS interrupt because it is
to slow for our purposes.
Don Meredith
----------
You like to form new friendships and make new acquaintances.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 90 14:01:17 SET
From: Johan Berteloot <JBERTELO%RKC.UFSIA.AC.BE@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Russian keyboard and driver for IBM PS/2
Hello,
A professor here is looking for a keyboard(driver) which supports
Russian characters on a real IBM PS/2 Model 30 286 (with coprocessor).
Does it exist and where could we find it ?
This is rather urgent. Therefore I'd ask to e-mail me directly, I'll
report to the list.
Thanks in advance.
Johan Berteloot (JBERTELO@BANUFS11.BITNET)
University of Antwerp, Belgium.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 90 06:55:24 CST
From: Don Meredith <DMEREDI3@UA1VM.ua.edu>
Subject: Slowing down a PS/2 Model 50
Is there any way of slowing down the processor speed of a PS/2
Model 50? I don't have the original documentation that came with
the machine.
Don Meredith
----------
A good memory does not equal pale ink.
------------------------------
Date: 12 Jan 90 21:24:03 GMT
From: theseas!nfotis@relay.EU.net (Nikolaos Fotis)
Subject: i486 motherboards - a little summary
As I promised, I send out a summary of the (very few!) responses I got
In my request for info regarding i486 motherboards.
Specifically, I wanted to see if anyone had info/experiences from
i486-equipped motherboards. My personal ideal was a motherboard with:
a) Room for at least 8 MBytes (16 are best, with 1MBit chips) on board.
b) Not wait states (I can afford, as many of us, 70ns chips...)
c) (Not required, but very welcome): SCSI interface on board.
Of course, apply the usual requirements for any PC motherboard also:
software compatibility, must run seamlessly Dos/Unix, perhaps CMU Mach
in the future.
(I'm not interested in OS/2)
Must be (with 2 MBytes of memory) not over 2000 USD
My usual work involves ray-tracing/radiosity, so I eagerly await for
the fast floating point capabilities that it seems to have...
Here follows my comments to Mr. Davidsen's response:
(edited, to save size)
-------
In your reply about i486 boards you write:
> Since my wife is a dealer, I'll give you the bad news. These suckers
> are *expensive*! We are just beginning to get offers of evaluation
> quantities of boards, 25MHz 486, 8MB on board, 256k cache, AT bus (no
> EISA) available with no memory (to dealers only) at the giveaway price
> of $4600!!
(Gasp..)
That's not very agressive pricing... :-(. But I think that you've read the
last BYTE. At last, we may see soon a change in their pricing.
I repeat, I want to buy a motherboard with 0K memory for <$2000
(and it's possible, even with a good-sized cache memory).
Then, nothing prevents us the poor power hungry users, to get plenty
of "bang for the buck"...
>
> I'm planning to buy mine about March, 1991. By then the prices will be
> down, and the 50MHz part will be out. The stuff I can't do on my 386
> won't benefit from 3:1 increase, I will need 6:1 or better to get it off
> the Convex.
I, also, think that's a good idea. But the FPU performance doesn't be so
bad in any of these beasts, and that matters much for me. If we see something
at the performance of ALR's PowerCache4, with the price of the Cheetah, then..,
>
> Good luck, I'll try to post a status report when things change. I
> believe there will be some boards with no external cache for more like
> $2500, but you lose a good bit of performance.
Comparing with a $1000 25-MHz 386 board, I see nearly the same cost
in materials, plus a $500 for the bonus of having the i486.. As for your
performance remark:
Is this true? I saw the preliminary BYTE benchmarks for the Cheetah Gold 33,
and the performance loss in integer math doesn't seem so terrible
(of course, my mileage WILL vary, but I tend to believe that the BYTE benchs
are rather precise).
After much time, I got another letter:
-------
From: "Grant Hoover" <U26264@UICVM.uic.edu>
Subject: i486 motherboards
> Back in November I read in PC Digest that you were looking for
> information on 486 motherboards. The information I have for you
> might very well be too little too late, but I figured I'd pass it
> along just in case.
>
> I have heard that some manufacturers are gearing up for replacement
> motherboards as well as accelerator cards (including one for the
> Micro Channel), but the most recent information I have is that
> nothing with a 486 in it is in regular production due to delays at
> Intel caused by some last minute bugs in the chip. Apparently the
> prototypes we've all been reading about have contained these bugs.
>
> That's all I know. If this is still the case (it was about 2 weeks
> ago), then it might explain some of the frustration in finding 486
> based hardware for sale.
---------
I don't know if you got any smarter now, but I think that in the forthcoming
summer, the world will be flooded with 486s.
(not anone needs those beasts, though).
It seems that Cheetah has the best offer now (I checked 1 1/2 months ago,
and I don't know the current condenders. Well, I'll have the money
in some months...)
Greetings,
Nick.
--
Nikolaos Fotis E-mail:
16 Esperidon St., UUCP: mcvax!ariadne!theseas!nfotis
Halandri, GR- 152 32 InterNet: nfotis%theseas.uucp@uunet.UU.NET
Athens, GREECE or: nfotis@theseas.uucp
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
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