Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL (06/23/89)
Info-IBMPC Digest Sat, 23 Jun 89 Volume 89 : Issue 61
Today's Editor:
Gregory Hicks - Chinhae Korea <COMFLEACT@Taegu-EMH1.army.mil>
Today's Topics:
ZIP Problem (Maybe?)
Trojan "PK" archive package?
8514A Video Adapter
Chameleon information
Extended Memory Application Running (Reverse that)
New Assembly PC List
Responses on the Programming languages question
Files sent to Australia?
IBM Infowindow System
Re: Using a TDD with a PC
Re: Reading Mac disks on an IBM-PC
Requesting Help with an IBM/PC Jr
Redirection of PrtScr
RS232C interrupts
seeking ind$file info
Slight change in documentation on the ListServers
Turbo Pascal Bugs
Using TCPIP on a PC
Re: Serious bug in Microsoft Fortran 4.1
Info-IBMPC Lending Library is available from: Bitnet via server at CCUC;
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Friday, 2 June 1989 23:34-MDT
From: James Ford <JFORD1%UA1VM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: ZIP Problems (Maybe?)
This was taken from an IBM SIG conference. This is *NOT* a virus/trojan
warning/alert; however I thought it might be of interest.
James
Original-From: Sysop Of 107/522
Original-Subject: .ZIP Utility ALERT
FILES UPLOADED TO YOUR SYSTEM THAT HAVE BEEN COMPRESSED UTILIZING PHIL
KATZ'S PKZIP/PKUNZIP UTILITY COULD CRASH YOUR SYSTEM WHEN UNZIPPED!
As most of you know it is possible to reprogram your keyboard (and
other things) using ANSI Escape sequences... .ZIP programs will allow the
use of ANSI in the comments section... I have received several such
"innocent looking" files in the last two weeks. One caused my F1 key to
display a wide DOS Directory, the other attempted to delete all files on
my hard drive!
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 89 03:14 CDT
From: "David Stever, 45n, 93w, +870ft." <STEVER%sp.unisys.com@RELAY.CS.NET>
Subject: Trojan "PK" archive package
Recently I downloaded a package from a local BBS called PKFUK.ARC; after
uploading it to another board (and somehow not trying it out myself), it was
discovered to be a trojan. Phil Katz has been informed, but the rest of
the world should be on the lookout for this "package". Phil says that it
will destroy any file name(s) supplied on the command line, with some sort
of suitable message.
David Stever
Eagan, Minnesota
Unisys Corp.
Stever@SP.Unisys.com
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 06 Jun 89 16:31:35 CET
From: "Christoph H. Hochstaetter" <HOCHSTAE%DMRHRZ11.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: 8514A Video Adapter
Does anyone know, if there are drivers for the IBM 8514A video adapter for
any software. We currently have a 8514 driver for Turbo-Pascal and
Turbo-C. We are also looking for drivers for other software like WORD,
GEM, WINDOWS, SAS, STATGRAF, ...
Any info would be appreciated. Thanks in advance
Christoph H. Hochstaetter
Philipps-Universitaet Marburg
Buero/Office: Privat/Private
Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaften
Universitaetsstr. 25 Carl-Strehl-Str. 20
3550 Marburg 3550 Marburg
Phone: +49 6421 28-3895 Phone: +49 6421 14618
BITNET/EARN/NETNORTH: HOCHSTAE@DMRHRZ11
INTERNET: HOCHSTAE%DMRHRZ11@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
UUCP: DMRHRZ11.BITNET!HOCHSTAE
------------------------------
Date: 5 Jun 89 11:36
From: dantowitz%eagle1.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (Fine Tuning)
Subject: Chameleon information
Answering Ken Yap's questions about the Seequa Chameleon:
It is a good PC and has some great features not present in the IBM PC:
It has a RAM character set, so that you can create your own character
set on the fly. (On the REAL IBM PC the fonts are stored in a ROM and are
not easy to modify.)
The color pallets are also soft and can be set to what ever colors you
want, not the fixed pallets of the IBM PC.
Yes, there is a slot for the 8087 - I have one and it's GREAT! It got
me through college years ago when I needed fast floating point operations.
(It also has the CGA built in and can do monochrome stuff, but not as nice
as the IBM monochrome.)
More features - on the ONE board it does have lots of other chip slots
(besides the 8087 slot) - I added a game port with a few dollars of
hardware (the 558 timer chip and a few cables). There are lots of empty
spots on the board ready for more options that usually require a separate
board and a PC slot.
Okay, a non-feature is the fact that they used a different COMM chip
from the standard PC (so Ken's may not be broken, but just isn't working
because you need special software).
Okay, another bummer, yes, I think Seequa is defunct - or at least
last I heard (please let me know if you hear otherwise).
I don't know about adding memory, but I do have Seequa's technical
addendum, which is somewhat useful. The IBMPC technical reference
contains all the schematics and these are basically similar on the Seequa
- using the IBM docs I was able to find everything on my Chameleon (add an
8087, a game port, change the drives, etc.)
Yes, the Chameleon is supposed to run CPM and MSDOS (the computer
actually has a Z80 processor as well as the 8088), but I've never seen CPM
running on one.
The one draw back is the COMM chip, but everything else works like a
normal PC. I put together my own driver for INT 14H (the COMM port) so
that the Seequa port looks like an IBM port (and buffers IO too!)
As far as being a PC - the only differences are in the COMM chip and a
few VERY low level differences in the ROM BIOS. One game program I had
depended on a specific value from the IBM PC ROM BIOS (VERY poor
programming on the GAME's part) but I fixed the game to work properly.
I'd be interested in hearing from all Chameleon readers. There used
to be a Chameleon interest group somewhere - is anyone still using
Chameleons?
David Dantowitz
Digital Equipment Corporation
Soon to be a Graduate student at UCLA
------------------------------
Date: Tue Jun 6 02:48:53 1989
From: gautier@lognet2.ARPA (SrA Richard A. Gautier)
Subject: Extended Memory Application Running (Reverse that)
>>From: <BRINKGRE%HLSDNL5.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
>I have two questions:
I can only answer the first one, sorry.....
>- Are there utilities that allow programs to run in expanded memory ?
>Michel Brinkgreve
>BRINKGREVE
Yes, there is one in the Simtel-20 archives... VMIX 1.51 in
ps1:<msdos.sysutl>vmix151.arc The vmix will allow you to do this, (AND
MUCH MORE)
At least I believe that is what I read in the documentation when I read
it. I don't have any EMS or EMMS, so I didn't pay attention while
reading it, and I don't keep documentation around, being your average
programmer.
Hope it does, and it helps.
SrA Richard A. Gautier
51st Supply Sq
Osan AB, KOREA
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 06 Jun 89 22:00:00
From: Luis Valdivia P. <LISTVIR%USACHVM1.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu>
Subject: New Assembly PC List
This is an invitation to contribute to a new mailing list,
ASSMPC-L. This list is located on USACHVM1 (in BITNET) and deals
with issues related to the PC Assembly languages (Intel
8086/88/286/386/...). There is an initial programming goal that the
managers of this list wish to accomplish:
We are inviting all users to assist in the coding of projects. For
instance, our first task will be a Resident Program Manager. We will use
Turbo Assembly or MacroAssembly to develop our applications.
The users of this new surprising list will receive mail with code
contributions and discussions, and eventually the program source
listing finished with the help of the participants. Then, the list will
propose a new project to work on.
Any and all code contributions, ideas, and anything else that will
help in achieving this opening goal will be appreciated, discussed,
reported and acknowledged for the list.
Virtually... ASSMPC-L
------------------------------
Date: 6 June 1989 19:26:31 CDT
From: "Michael J. Steiner " <U23405%UICVM.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu>
Subject: Responses on the Programming languages question
I haven't thoroughly read all of the replies, but here are some ideas from
yesterday's (Monday's) replies:
I agree that it's not the quantity of languages you know that counts, but
how well you know the ones you know. (Knowing a lot of languages is good,
though.)
I think that C++ and Modula-2 are worth studying, and maybe IBM 370
assembler (but I'm not done with PL/1 and Fortran yet! :-))
Since I am planning to be a system administrator for a university, I don't
think COBOL is worth the trouble. Smalltalk seems like a goofy language
(almost as bad as Prolog :-)); I would rather learn C++ as an
object-oriented language. I haven't heard of Icon, Apl2, or Sgml; what
are these like/used for? Is Ada a souped-up version of PL/1? (or does it
SEEM to be?)
Since I am going to be working in a university environment (with MVS,
VM/CMS, and UNIX), which languages that I listed in my original posting do
you think I will use the most? The least?
P.S. Is there a languages discussion list out there? Maybe we could start
one...
Thanks for all the replies
*************************************************************************
* Michael Steiner * Bitnet: U23405@UICVM *
* Computer Science Major * Internet: U23405@UICVM.UIC.EDU *
* (Sysadmin-wanna-be) :-) * UUCP: beats me! *
*************************************************************************
* Disclaimer: I'm only an undergrad. :-) *
*************************************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 89 12:51:23 +1000
From: munnari!elecvax.eecs.unsw.oz.au!8720142@uunet.uu.net
Subject: Files sent to Australia?
I am wondering if anyone knows of someone that receieves the simtel20
files in Australia. I am having trouble getting the files from simtel20
since I have to pay for them.
Any information would be appreciated.
BITNET: 8720142%elecvax.eecs.unsw.oz@uunet.uu.net
ACSnet: 8720142@elecvax.eecs.unsw.oz
UUCP: ...!uunet!munnari!elecvax.eecs.unsw.oz!8720142
SNAIL:
Tim Smithers,
2/48 Redmyre Rd,
Strathfield 2135.
N.S.W. Australia.
Phone:
+61 2 766 786
[Try contacting the Melbourne PC User Group by phone at 699-1943 (9am
to Noon) or by writing to Melbourne PC User Group, GPO BOX 1728P,
Melbourne VIC 3001.
No, I done have any connection with these people. I just 'happened'
to have a copy of their monthly magazine. gph]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 06 Jun 89 15:44:58 EDT
From: Brian M. Clapper <bmc@SEI.CMU.EDU>
Subject: IBM Infowindow System
A friend FAXed me a recent article which talks about integrating video
technology with IBM PCs using something called the IBM Infowindow System.
He asked me if I had any further information. I don't; does anyone out
there know anything useful about this product? If you do and you're
willing to share it, please send me e-mail. If you decide to post it,
please send me a copy, since I don't regularly read this digest.
Thanks in advance.
Brian M. Clapper, Software Engineering Institute, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Internet: bmc@sei.cmu.edu
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 89 01:06:02 EDT
From: rbarth@tumtum.cs.umd.edu (Richard Rbarth)
Subject: Re: Using a TDD with a PC
A TDD uses the Baudot code, not ASCII. The modem is not compatible
with standard ASCII modems; it is half duplex and uses a mark tone of 1400
Hz and a space tone of 1800 Hz.
A computer can talk to a TDD, but... You need specialized software and
a special modem, or software that can emulate a TDD modem using existing
computer hardware. As an example, public domain software is available for
the IBM-PC and PCjr and for the Color Computer that uses their cassette
ports to generate and receive TDD tones. Connection to the phone line is
via a modified telephone amplifier. This software is available on my BBS,
the Handicapped Educational Exchange (HEX) BBS, at either:
(301) 593-7033 (TDD or 300 baud 8n1) or
(301) 593-7357 (300/1200 baud)
Obviously, downloading is not possible for TDD callers. X/Y/Zmodem is
supported.
The above software supports only computers having cassette ports. For
those that don't, commercial TDD modems are available from several
sources. The file "compare.tty" is available on HEX describing those I
know about.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 89 16:29 CDT
From: Jerry Katz <KATZJA%SLUVCA.SLU.EDU@UICVM.uic.edu>
Subject: Re: Reading Mac disks on an IBM-PC
In response to the comment that there is no way to achieve this noble end,
let me do a 2-center. I'm a little embarrassed to be mentioning this firm
again, but please note the usual disclaimer - I really don't own any of
their stock, etc.
Mircosolutions sells a board that fits between the disk drive controller
and the disk drive on MS-DOS machines. With this board in place, the
3.5" drive CAN read and write MAC disks. I have NOT used this board, but
have used their similar board for permitting MS-DOS machines to read Apple
DOS (or even Apple CP/M) disks. I have not had any problems with my board
in the 3 years I've had it. I suspect their MS-DOS/MAC board is similarly
trouble free.
MicroSolutions is at 125 S. Fourth St., DeKalb IL 60115,
phone (815)756-3411.
My guess is that cost is in the $150-200 range.
Hope this helps.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 89 22:01 EST
From: "C'est ma vie." <JSHIN%HAMPVMS.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Requesting Help with an IBM/PC Jr
Is there anyone out there with a PC-Jr?
Especially someone with an experience (or many) with Hard disks!
(installing, writing a driver, modifications, etc. - cheap ways, that is)
My friend wants to know (he's in Malaysia right now), and don't mention
any commercial products (especially Racore) - too expensive!
Thank you...
John Shin
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 89 22:02:40 EXP
From: Juan Pizzorno <NCD01009%UFRJ@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Redirection of PrtScr
If you're actually using Kermit and want to have a copy of the screen on
disk, you can simply press the key that does that -- PgDn (page down) if
I'm not wrong. Well, at least with Kermit 2.31.
--Juan
ncd01009@ufrj
ncd01009%ufrj.bitnet@oac.ucla.edu
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 89 18:06:23 LCL
From: Sedat ALIS <SEDAT%TRYILDIZ.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: RS232C interrupts
Hello,
I need help about RS232C communication on a PC and PS/2. I want to detect
a Data Set Ready interrupt via a resident program. Which interrupt must I
use? When a PC sends data to the other one, the other one must detect this
data. One way is to make a resident program which controls RS232C line
status register for data set ready. But I want to do it via a hardware
interrupt? Is there anyone who can help me?
Sedat ALIS
YILDIZ University
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 06 Jun 89 15:09:54 MEZ
From: C0033003%DBSTU1.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Subject: seeking ind$file info
does anyone have a description about the ind$file mechanism of IBM?
Anyone tried to utilize this mechanism to supply a low level interface to
replace the TCP/IP drivers?
We do have ind$file running here, it's a standard feature (I guess) for
file xfer between hosts and remote machines at IBM, but I couldn't even
find a description of this mysterium until now.
Any info would be appreciated. Thanx in advance.
#include <disclaimer.std>
Detlef J. Schmidt +49 531 391 5514
Computing center, University Brunswick, P.O.B. 3329
D-3300 Braunschweig, F.R.G.
C0033003 at dbstu1.bitnet
c0033003%dbstu1.bitnet%cunyvm.cuny.edu@BRL.ARPA
..!mcvax!unido!DBSTU1.bitnet!c0033003
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 89 22:56 CDT
From: "David Stever <STEVER%sp.unisys.com@RELAY.CS.NET>
Subject: Slight change in documentation on the ListServers
I recently saw a notice in the Digest that one of the main file headers at
SIMTEL20 was now residing on PD3:, instead of PD1:. I had tried in the
past to request files via the servers from a pack other then PD1:, and
this had resulted in an irretrievable file. I thought that the reply was
of interest to the user community at large...
>From: "Frank J. Wancho" <WANCHO@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil>
>Since there is a system-wide alias of PD: to PD1:, PD2:, PD3:, you can
>specify PD:<dirname> without being explicit as to which structure of the
>three, except for CD or CWD commands. As far as I know, the RPI and NDSU
>servers do not use CD or CWD, but specify the entire pathname. The catch
>is that only certain top-level dirs are currently wired into their
>servers, namely those related only to the CP/M and MSDOS collections.
>Here is the current map of top-level dirs:
>PD1: | PD2: | PD3:
> | |
> HZ100 | ADA SIGM | MACINTOSH
> INFO-IBMPC | ARCHIVES STARS | MISC
> MSDOS | CPM UNIX-C | TOPS20
> PC-BLUE | CPMUG VHDL |
> | PCNET ZSYS |
>--Frank
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 89 14:02 N
From: <OGIGUCHT%HLERUL52.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Turbo Pascal Bugs
A few weeks ago I asked for known Turbo Pascal bugs. Duncan Murdoch sent
one to me, but I don't think it's a real bug because the Turbo Pascal
manual warn you for this. First his message and then a discussion :
From: Duncan Murdoch <dmurdoch@watstat.uwaterloo.ca>
You asked in the IBM PC Digest for known bugs. One that hits people doing
numerical work is that the code generator generates code that makes very
inefficient use of the 8087 stack when working with Extended type
operands, including constants.
For example, if you run
var a:extended;
begin
a:=1;
a:=a+a+a+a+a+a+a+a+a;
end.
you'll get a coprocessor stack overflow. What is apparently happening is
that if an expression parses to (simple expression) op (complicated
expression) it gets compiled to calculate simple expression, and push
value calculate complicated expression, and push value do op.
Just by reversing the first two lines, much better use of the stack is made.
The workaround for this bug is to use type Double whenever possible,
instead of Extended. Constants should be explicitly typed, i.e. use
const
one : double = 1.0;
instead of
const
one = 1.0;
or just using the number 1 in an expression.
Duncan Murdoch
He is fully right, this code produces an error, but the Turbo Pascal
manual discusses complicated expressions that can lead to an error. What
I think happens is, that the compiler should check for this kind of
expression and warn you about it, the compiler knows how deep it goes, so
it can check how much stack space is needed.
In a Dutch magazine, something like this was published. Try the next
program and see the output:
Program ShowTP5Bug;
Procedure s;
Var
i : Shortint;
Begin
For i := 0 to 1 do Begin
Write (2*i-1:10);
Write (-1+2*i:10);
Write (-(-2*i+1):10);
Writeln (-(1-2*i):10);
End;
End; { Proc }
Procedure b;
Var
i : Byte;
Begin
For i := 0 to 1 do Begin
Write (2*i-1:10);
Write (-1+2*i:10);
Write (-(-2*i+1):10);
Writeln (-(1-2*i):10);
End;
End; { Proc }
Procedure i;
Var
i : Integer;
Begin
For i := 0 to 1 do Begin
Write (2*i-1:10);
Write (-1+2*i:10);
Write (-(-2*i+1):10);
Writeln (-(1-2*i):10);
End;
End; { Proc }
Procedure w;
Var
i : Word;
Begin
For i := 0 to 1 do Begin
Write (2*i-1:10);
Write (-1+2*i:10);
Write (-(-2*i+1):10);
Writeln (-(1-2*i):10);
End;
End; { Proc }
Procedure l;
Var
i : Longint;
Begin
For i := 0 to 1 do Begin
Write (2*i-1:10);
Write (-1+2*i:10);
Write (-(-2*i+1):10);
Writeln (-(1-2*i):10);
End;
End; { Proc }
Begin { Program }
Writeln ('Shortint':10); s;
Writeln ('Byte':10); b;
Writeln ('Intger':10); i;
Writeln ('Word':10); w;
Writeln ('Longint':10); l;
End. { Program }
--------- Output --------
Shortint
-1 -1 -1 -1
1 1 1 1
Byte
-1 -1 -1 -1
1 1 1 1
Intger
-1 -1 -1 -1
1 1 1 1
Word
65535 -1 -1 -1
1 1 1 -65535
Longint
-1 -1 -1 -1
1 1 1 1
Yes, I read what was said on pages 25 & 26 of the TP 5.0 Reference Guide,
but I think it is better to convert intermediate shortint and byte
operands to Integer than to something that is compatible to integer and
word. This at least would overcome the 65535 and -65535 results.
Has someone any reaction to these things? Hope I've helped people who
asked themselves why integer results went wrong sometimes.
e-Mail ogiguchte@hlerul52.bitnet
phone +31-2522-11809
p-Mail Kagertuinen 65
2172 XK Sassenheim
The Netherlands
Jeroen W. Pluimers
Gorlaeus Laboratories
Leiden University
The Netherlands
------------------------------
Date: 06/07/89 12:09:39 MEZ
From: <BD50180%DHHUNI4.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Using TCPIP on a PC
We are planing for our department LAN's to use Ethernet with Schneider &
Koch Cards (SK-NET), Novell Netware 2.12 and the TCP/IP Software from SK
to communicate with a SIEMENS BS2000 machine over the same LAN.
Does anyone have early test experience with the products?
Thanks in advance, WR
Dipl. Inform. Wolfram Reinken
Universit{t Hamburg, Arbeitsbereich f}r
Betriebswirtschaftliche Datenverarbeitung
Von-Melle-Park 5, D-2000 Hamburg 13
E-Mail : <BITNET> BD50180@DHHUNI4.BITNET
<EUNET> REINKEN@INFOHH.RMI.DE.UUCP
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 89 14:24:01 CDT
From: FRITZ KEINERT <@CCVAX.IASTATE.EDU:S1.FXK@ISUMVS.BITNET>
Suvject: Re: Serious bug in Microsoft Fortran 4.1
About 6 weeks ago I posted a query on a deadly interaction between
Microsoft Fortran 4.1 and Zenith microcomputers (and other brands) with an
80x87 coprocessor. Specifically, any kind of floating point error
(overflow, underflow, divide by zero, ...) would hang up the machine. The
same programs produce appropriate error messages on true IBMs.
I got a lead from Bob Allison from Microsoft right away. He pointed me to
a file EMOEM.ASM on the Fortran distribution disk. If I understand the
information there correctly, IBM uses non-maskable interrupts for floating
point errors, whereas other machines use regular interrupts via 8259
interrupt controllers. EMOEM.ASM is used to patch up the run-time library
to handle this correctly.
However, in order to use it, you have to fill in lots of machine specific
information, like the port numbers of the 8259 interrupt controllers. This
information is not listed anywhere in the manuals. I have been bugging
Zenith about this for weeks, so far to no effect.
Microsoft's answer is ``Microsoft does not support the modification of
this file. It is up to the manufacturer ...''. This is a literal quote
from a letter I received yesterday.
In other words: Microsoft is not interested in supporting their programs
on any machine other than true IBMs, not even on widely used brand-name
models.
If that is how they feel about their customers, they can do without my
business in the future.
Fritz Keinert
Dept. of Mathematics
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011
(515) 294-5128
S1.FXK@ISUMVS
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
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