Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL (02/05/89)
Info-IBMPC Digest Sun, 5 Feb 89 Volume 89 : Issue 17
Today's Editor:
Gregory Hicks - Chinhae Korea <COMFLEACT@Taegu-EMH1.army.mil>
Today's Topics:
AST 5250 board/IBM 5162-286 problem.
Re: Data acquisition for IBM PS2 model 80
Comments on DSDD vs DSHD disk compatability
Conversion of TIF to PIC files
duplicate files
A problem with a program called MANDELEX
Re: Back-up Programs for a (nearly) compatible Clone
Re: Hiding Bad sectors on a Hard Disk
Getting the current directory into an environment variable
Re: Removing SIMCGA1 FRom Memory
Memory parity interupt error on a zenith AT (IBM clone)
Multi-tasking Software for IBM-XT
Multiuser OS query
Need information on UNIX type system for NEC V20 machine
Password Protection
Stack content changes
Word processing conversion utility
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 89 11:23 CST
From: <MCDONALD%UMKCVAX1.BITNET@UICVM.uic.edu>
Subject: AST 5250 board/IBM 5162-286 problem.
Kind of specific, so most of you can press N (or D) to skip. For those
few others, a question from my brother:
He has an IBM XT with 286 processor ... I think it came out before AT ...
with CGA board, DOS 3.2, IBM color graphics monitor, 20 meg hard disk, 640
k memory and an AST 5250 which comes with software to emulate a 5251/11
(or something like that). When he runs it, all he gets is flashing blocks
of light which go across screen. He was told to use IRQ2 and set mem loc
to D000h. Didn't work. Any suggestions *greatly* appreciated!
Please e-mail direct to:
GaryM. BITNET contact UMKCVAXn (n=1,3)
Univ. of Mo. at K.C.
MCDONALD @ UMKCVAX1 . BITNET
ps if more info needed, let me know.
------------------------------
Date: 31 Jan 89 14:20 EDT
From: FAC2285%UOFT01.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Re: Data acquisition for IBM PS2 model 80
I'm a novice and using an IBM PS2 model 80 with a Data Translation DT 2905
A/D board to collect Electromyographic data. Is there anyone who is doing
similar work? and does anyone know whether any software available (for
acquisition and analysis particularly for smoothening, filtering and
finding the rectified integal of the input signal)? I'm still in the
process of developing the software. I'd appreciate if you could contact me
directly. Thanks in advance.
-Kumar
BITNET: FAC2285 at UOFT01
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1989 16:47:31 LCL
From: JKMASSEY@uffsc
Subject: Comments on DSDD vs DSHD disk compatability
I have been following the recent comments regarding DSDD (360K) floppy
compatability with the higher density DSHD (1.2M) 5.25" floppy drives.
Since several contributers have listed their experiences and opinions, I
hereby submit mine.
Assuming properly maintained standard 5.25" floppy drives (either
full-hieght or half-height) I have found the following to be true.
1) A DSDD floppy disk formatted and written on a DSDD drive will be
readable on any other DSDD drive to the limit of the reliability of the
media and drives (usually exceeds 98% of the time). Some low quality (not
necessarily low priced) media can change this ratio tremendously.
2) A DSDD floppy disk formatted and written on a DSDD drive will be
readable on *most* DSHD drives better than 98% of the time. I have a
couple of DSHD drives out of 30+ that consistently will not read DSDD
floppy's but appear reliable in DSHD mode otherwise.
3) A DSDD floppy disk formatted on a reliable DSDD drive can be written
to by a DSHD drive. The resulting files will be readable on another DSHD
drive about 98% of the time. These files will be readable on a DSDD drive
only about 80% of the time (and may require numerous Retries before a
successful read). My safety suggestion when transfering files from a
machine with only a DSHD drive to another with only a DSDD drive is to
write each transfer file three times. I have found that about 95% of the
time, at least one of these three files will be readable on *most* DSDD
drives. THIS IS THE ONLY *RELIABLE* WAY TO ASSURE REASONABLE
COMPATABILITY BETWEEN DSDD DRIVES AND DSHD DRIVES!
4) A DSHD floppy disk cannot be made readable on a DSDD drive even though
it were formatted with the 360K switch on a DSHD drive. And it most
assuredly cannot be made readable if formatted on a DSHD drive at 1.2M.
5) A DSDD floppy disk formatted on a DSHD drive without the 360K switch
will show up with between 100K-200K of usable space and about 1M of bad
sectors. This is because the hardware tried to treat the DSDD media as if
it had the same magnetic coercitivity as DSHD media and this just ain't
true. Furthermore, attempts to use DSDD disks formatted in this manner
will shortly result in corruption of the remaining usable space. MORAL:
Don't attempt to format DSDD floppies on DSHD drives without the 360K
switch (see recent IBMPC DIGEST vol 89, #10).
6) A DSDD floppy disk formatted on a DSHD drive with the 360K switch can
be used reliably only on other DSHD drives. Such floppies will be useable
on DSDD drives less than 80% of the time (very high frustration
coefficient). This is true even though the DSDD drive will be able to
read the FAT most of the time before you start saving files on it.
7) A DSHD floppy disk formatted on a DSHD drive with the 360K switch can
be read/written reliably by other DSHD drives, but cannot be used on a
DSDD drive. MORAL: Don't try to use DSHD floppies on DSDD drives. Many
physical parameters of the DSHD media just aren't compatible with the DSDD
drives. I have found that less than 50% of such disks are even recogniz-
able as having been formatted to the DSDD drive.
8) Most of the above observations likewise apply to 3.5" media where the
DSDD capacity is 720K and the DSHD capacity is 1.44M though in general I
find the overall reliability figures to be somewhat higher, particularly
with respect to DSDD floppies formatted and written by DSHD drives when
subsequently used on DSDD drives.
NOTE: The above percentage figures represent relative levels of
frustration more than actual measured field failures. In general,
anything better than 95% means you hear minor grumbling but users learn to
get by. Between 80-95%, users can learn to cope, but anything less than
80% means that the frustration index surpasses the user's (and
subsequently the support person's) tolerance.
James K. Massey JKMASSEY at UFFSC.BITNET
Box J-275
Dept. of Pathology
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32610 904-395-0208
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 89 09:28:32 EST
From: Mike Klein <MDK007%GWUVM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Conversion of TIF to PIC files
Does someone know of conversion software to get PIC files from TIF files?
I will summarize and forward answers. Thanks...
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 89 12:36:08 MEZ
From: Erich Neuwirth <A4422DAB%AWIUNI11.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: duplicate files
Paul Andrews asked for a possibility to find duplicate files in different
directories.
PC-Magazine had a utility called REPEATS.COM which writes a list of all
duplicate files to standard output, so you can redirect it into a file an
then work from that file. I do not know if it is available from SIMTEL20.
I got it from the companion disk to the book DOS Power Tips by Paul
Somerson.
I only can advise anybody interested in more technical PC question to buy
that book. And the disk contaibs approx. 200 small utilities but I think
that for anybody there are at leats 10 utulities where you will think
thats what I needed for quite some time.
ERICH NEUWIRTH
Intitute for Statistics and Computer Science
University of Vienna
Universitaetsstr. 5/9
A-1010 VIENNA, Austria
------------------------------
Date: 31 January 1989 21:50:47 CST
From: "Michael J. Steiner" <U23405%UICVM.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu>
Subject: A problem with a program called MANDELEX
I recently transferred and downloaded a package from SIMTEL20 called
MANDELEX, which is supposed to graph the Mandelbrot set (fractals). When
I try to execute it, it says "ERROR: unrecognized computer". I am using a
Zenith PC (Z-100, I think), and just about all of the other graphics
programs I have used worked on this PC. I even tried out this MANDELEX
program on a Zenith PC with CGA, and I got the same message.
Does anyone have any experience with this program, and could tell me how
to get it to run? (It was in the PD1:<PC-BLUE.VOL358> directory)
Thanks in advance,
Michael Steiner
Email: U23405@UICVM.BITNET
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 89 09:15:25 PST
From: madler%Hamlet.Bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Mark Adler)
Subject: Re: Back-up Programs for a (nearly) compatible Clone
In response to:
>> Because I have a nearly but not fully compatible PC, I need a backup
>> program, like Fastback or others, which uses neither the DMA-Chip nor
>> direct access to floppy controller. DOS-Backup works fine, but it is
>> not very convenient. Can anyone help ?
I would recommend PC Tools Version 5. It has a "DOS compatible" backup
mode that goes through DOS instead of the DMA hardware and it is very
convenient to use. PC Tools 5 also includes a lot of other useful stuff
including a Sidekick replacement much better than Sidekick, a mouse driven
DOS shell, disk maintenence programs like Mace, and undelete, etc. like
Norton. And, it is compatible with DOS version 4.01 (which I use). And
it's cheap. I've seen it for $39 mail order. Aside from public domain
and shareware, it is easily the most value for your money I've seen in
software.
Mark Adler
bitnet: madler@hamlet
arpa: madler@hamlet.caltech.edu
------------------------------
Date: Tuesday, 31 January 1989 06:54:43 GMT
From: Turgut Kalfaoglu (nad) <TURGUT%TREARN.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu>
Subject: Re: Hiding Bad sectors on a Hard Disk
>Also, does anyone know of a program that will allow the user to write a
>file (not just data) to specific sectors on a hard disk? (I have located a
>bad sector on my hard disk and have left a "junk" file over it so that it
>can't be used. Since the file is over 100K long, I would like to find out
>exactly which sectors of the 100K are bad. Then I could write a (smaller)
>junk file over it and then hide it, effectively removing the bad sector
>from use.
Putting a large file over a bad sector, is not a reliable way to 'hide'
it. DOS has a table where it keeps the bad sectors known to it, on that
disk. (Once DOS knows where the bad spots are, it will never use them.)
You may wish to re-format your drive so that DOS could mark that spot for
you, otherwise you may run a program that does disk de-fragmantation, and
your file may get moved to somewhere else. The process is very simple, and
by far the 'best' way. BTW: I am sure that the bad sector(s) on your
drive are less that 100K in size. If DOS can't find bad sectors, you may
wish to try DT (DiskTest, Norton Utilities), which is more 'sensitive' to
the spots which have, or may develop a bad sector. Writing to specific
sectors on disk can make you lose the File Allocation Table, or the
Directory of the disk, depending on where you write, but both PCTOOLS and
Norton, as well as some public domain software such a U-Util, can write
directly to disk sectors. (some virus programs can too, but you can't
specify to which sector.. oh well :) -turgut
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 01 Feb 1989 10:09:18 CET
From: A0045%DK0RRZK0.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Getting the current directory into an environment variable
This is possible under DOS>=3.3 with standard DOS tools and one trick.
The idea was published in PC Magazine some months ago, amd it goes like
this:
1) Construct a file SETCDIR.BAT with the contents
SET CDIR=
2) Append the current directory to this file
CD >>SETCDIR.BAT
3) Execute the file SETCDIR.BAT
CALL SETCDIR
The standard DOS redirection in 2) appends the directory name at the
absolute end of the file SETCDIR.BAT, therefore the trick is, that the
file must initially not contain anything after the equal-sign, that means
no CR+LF, no ^Z. Most text editor will have difficulties to prepare such
an file, but the simpliest way to build one is:
COPY CON SETCDIR.BAT<CR>
SET CDIR=^Z<CR>
The CALL in 3) needs DOS version 3.3.
In earlier DOS's the call can only be placed at the end of a batch file,
and I guess that is not the usage you are thinking of. The other pre 3.3
trick, namely writing COMMAND /C SETCDIR to call the new batch file from
another batch file doesn't help either, because the SET variable
disappears again after returning from the higher DOS shell level.
Another possibility is to use a program which writes an arbitrary string
to standard output, again with no added characters (watch out for ^Z's).
A flexible freeware program of this kind is in the SIMTEL20 archive under
<MSDOS.SYSUTL>SEND.ARC. This program even understands all the
meta-characters from DOS's PROMPT-command, so you don't even need the CD
anymore. With the help of this program you can simply write:
SEND SET CDIR=$P >SETCDIR.BAT
CALL SETCDIR
Jochen Roderburg
Regional Computing Center
University of Cologne
Robert-Koch-Str. 10 Tel. : 49-221/470-4564
D-5000 Koeln 41 Email: A0045 @ DK0RRZK0.BITNET (CDC)
West Germany or A0045 @ DK0RRZK1.BITNET (IBM)
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 89 15:00:44 CST
From: Don Meredith <DMEREDI3@UA1VM.ua.edu>
Subject: Re: Removing SIMCGA1 From Memory
The first version of SIMCGA did not come with a much needed
feature of removing the program from memory. The latest version (4.0 I
think) does come with such a feature. I have used this version plenty of
times with different applications and everything seems to work O.K. If
you would like a copy send me your address and I will try to send you the
.ARC format of that file.
"Dandy" Don Meredith
Alias: DMEREDI3@UA1VM.UA.EDU
"The most horrifying untruths are those truths that are slightly modified."
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 89 13:41 EST
From: Steve <V055L9Y3@ubvmsc.cc.buffalo.edu>
Subject: Memory parity interupt error on a Zenith AT (IBM clone)
I'm working on a project in the physics department. I'm trying to debug
an error of the form "memory parity interrupt." The code in which the
error occurs is a data acquistion program.
Data is input from a photosensor which records the intensity of light.
The data is written into memory via a D.M.A. (Direct Memory Access)
operation. The first time the data is manipulated in the code produces
the "memory parity interrupt." Actually, the error doesn't occur all the
time, only some of the time but at the same point of the code.
Can you tell be any information about the nature of this error? Ie, when
is the memory parity tested? What tests the parity?
Any information or reference to possible sources of information would be
greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance,
Steve Zelazny (v055l9y3@ubvms.bitnet)
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 89 08:44:33 EST
From: Rob Hudson <SSROB%ECUVM1.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Multi-tasking Software for IBM-XT
I am attempting to solve a users problem here at ECU. The problem Here
is the configuration: IBM-XT with an Intel-386. The software solution
needs to be capable of running dBase, a room scheduling application as
well as a Communication Program all at the same time if possible. Any
information would be helpful. (ie. Experiences..., Nightmares with all
the multi-tasking operating systems.
Thanks in advance.
Rob L. Hudson SSROB@ECUVM1.BITNET
Systems Programmer ( 919 ) 757 - 6401
East Carolina University Greenville, NC 27858
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 89 10:25 EST
From: <YAN%QCVAX.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Multiuser OS query
A friend of mine asked me yesterday what OS I would run on a multiuser
386 machine. Since I really have no ideas here (my needs and knowledge
run more towards multitasking), I figured I'd get him some advice from
people who actually know and use these things.
He would like to have each user see as close as possible to a PC/XT/AT,
but I figure that might get a bit expensive (multiple remote VGA-type
displays on a machine have got to be big bucks!), but he would like to
know what can be done, and ballpark (very) ideas of the costs involved.
I've heard of DOS emulators that run under Unix, but how effective are
these? Sal (my friend) needs to be able to run the standard PC
applications (WordPerfect, Lotus, DBase, etc), and would like to be able
to use things like Sidekick, etc. Also, I'm sure that text only displays
would be cheaper than graphics, but can anyone give me a good idea of how
much cheaper?
Any suggestions, etc. would be greatly appreciated. You might as well
send them to me directly at YAN@QCVAX.BITNET. I'll sumarize the replies
to the digest.
Thanks,
Yan Juras, YAN@QCVAX.BITNET
Systems Programmer, Queens College Academic Computer Center
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 89 15:10:50 CST
From: Don Meredith <DMEREDI3@UA1VM.ua.edu>
Subject: Need information on UNIX type system for NEC V20 machine
I would like any information regarding a UNIX style system that would
be based on the NEC V20 ( 8088 clone ) processor. I would prefer
information regarding public domain programs, but any information would be
helpful. I will compile a list for all interested parties and submit to
the newsletter if enough people ask for it.
Thanx,
"Dandy" Don Meredith
ALIAS: DMEREDI3@UA1VM.UA.EDU
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 89 08:52 EST
From: <ELJAZZAR%UTKVX3.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Password Protection
> Is anyone familiar with some software that can be used to password-protect
> the hard drive of an IBM PC system? Has anyone written something that
> would be useful?
About a year ago I reviewed a product called DiskManagerPC. Here's a
summary..
DiskManagerPC (DMPC) is a "hard disk security and access control"
software package with several features and options, including:
1. Access to the hard disk is controlled by passwords. A wrong password
transfers the user to a public directory previously set by the "System
Manager" (SM). A "Superuser" is another DMPC's totally-privileged user.
2. A "privileged" user logs on with a password and can have access to
"private" directories as assigned by the (SM).
3. Any/all directories may have one of three attributes:
- NORMAL (free access, periodic file purge),
- RESTRICTED (conditional purge, code access), or
- SYSTEM (not purged, superuser access only.)
4. Files may have one of four attributes:
- NORMAL (no attribute-unrestricted)
- READ ONLY (no delete, write, rename, CHMOD)
- PROTECTED (no offload, delete, or rename)
- EXECUTE ONLY (same as READ ONLY, but no READ)
Illegal operations are signaled by a few "beeps" to keep off intruders.
The software is available from Cooke Publications, Ithaca, New York. I
don't know about the price now..
Disclaimer: I do not have any connection with the company selling the
product. I am only passing information along to thos who may need it..
Mohamad El Jazzar / UT Computing Center / Knoxville, TN
------------------------------
Date: Tue Jan 31 18:05:09 1989
From: Gregory Hicks - Chinhae Korea <COMFLEACT@TAEGU-EMH1.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: Stack content changes
|From: <OEBL8724%TREARN.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu>
|
| After some debugging sessions i have figured out that
| Add sp,? (any number)
| Sub sp,?
| changes the contents of the stack.
|
| Any one knowing the reason..
While it won't happen often, it's quite possible that an interrupt could
occur between the 'add' and 'sub' instructions. It *is* likely that it
will happen occasionally. It will almost certainly happen if you are
debugging and single stepping between these instructions. The interrupt
processing messes with the stack.
An interrupt may occur at any time while interrupts are enabled. When an
interrupt (or trap) occurs, the current stack is used to save processor
state information. When the interrupt is complete, the processor state
(including SP) is restored. In the meantime, however, the memory below
the stack has been used by the interrupt service routine.
While one solution might be to disable interrupts, this might cause
problems when an interrupt *needs* to be serviced ASAP. A better solution
would be to leave SP below any memory that you wish to remain intact. If
you need to address memory in the stack, copy SP into BP and reference
memory relative to BP (it assumes the stack segment).
Any opinions expressed are mine, not my employer's.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 89 13:13:06 MEZ
From: Erich Neuwirth <A4422DAB%AWIUNI11.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Word processing conversion utility
steve@nscs asks for a word processing conversion utility.
On SIMTEL20 you can find XWORD23 ind <MSDOS.TXTUTL>. It handles quite a
few formats.
I remember having seen an ad for a program called Word for Word, (in
BYTE), but I cannot offer any more clues in that direction.
Erich Neuwirth
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------