Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL (11/08/88)
Info-IBMPC Digest Fri, 4 Nov 88 Volume 7 : Issue 48
This Week's Editor:
Greg Hicks - Chinhae Korea <COMFLEACT@taegu-emh1.army.mil>
Today's Topics:
Administrivia
Please ask for 10 sector/track (400K) MS/DOS floppy disks..
Today's Queries:
AT Clone problem
EDT for PCs
PC GKS Implementation Wanted
New Programs Available:
ARCTOOL and ARCTOOL4
GSARC - non-compatible more efficient archiver
GSARC10 replaced by PAK10
New MSDOS uploads (3 msgs)
Telix 3.10 communications program uploaded to SIMTEL20
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Date: Sun, 30 Oct 88, 15:45 GMT
From: Gregory P. Hicks <COMFLEACT@Taegu-emh1.army.mil
Subj: Administrivia
The following have been dropped from the Info-IBMPC Distribution List
as "host appears to be down or permanently not accepting mail" or
because "User name not known". I understand the user name not known,
but host down/not accepting mail???
Down anyone know where these people have moved to?
>
> cantrell@arecibo.aero.org,-
> info-ibmpc-request@lbl-csam.arpa,- (POC: craig at lbl-csam.arpa)
> ibmpc@trantor.harris-atd.com,- (POC: trish at trantor.harris-atd.com!)
> "info-ibmpc%acorn%live-oak.lcs.mit.edu"@mc.lcs.mit.edu,-
> "manny%tcgould.tn.cornell.edu"@mc.lcs.mit.edu,-
> "marx%mit-oz"@mc.lcs.mit.edu,-
> "twood%xls-plexus02"@amc-hq.arpa,-
> bburkhol@amc-hq.arpa,-
> cramer@wp-eds.arpa,-
> hess%unicorn@mit.mit.edu
> kamel@nps.arpa,-
> lssapc@amc-hq.arpa,-
> mdburdes@pad1.apgea.army.mil,-
> sctc-afcc@afcc-oa2.arpa,-
Regards,
Gregory Hicks
PS - It might be my mailer. For some unexplained reason, this thing
reports hosts as DOWN (after trying for some length of time) even
though I can go to the host with Telnet. This is happening to the
BITNET side even now.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Oct 88 21:45 PDT
From: <MULTI%TRIUMFCL.BITNET@CORNELLC.CCS.CORNELL.EDU>
Subj: Please ask for 10 sector/track (400K) MS/DOS floppy disks..
The regular (non-AT) floppy disk controller is capable of reliably reading
and writing 10 sector/track floppy disks. The gap lengths for FORMAT could
be 40h, and for read/write could remain 2Bh, with reliable i/o according
to QUAID's utility EXPLORER. For some reason Microsoft (and IBM) have
shown reluctance to go to a 10 sector/track format, and modifying the disk
parameter table format GAP from 50h to 40h still results in floppy disks
with a formatted gap of 50h. A format gap of 50h is too big for 10
sectors/track...
ps: I would LOVE to get 10 sectors (800K) on my quad density (80 trk)
disks. Due to the excessive format GAP of 50h, it is impossible to
fit more than 9 sectors (720K) on quad disks. For some reason,
Microsoft (and IBM) have shown reluctance to grow up to a 10 sector
per track format from a 9 sector per track format, even though the
Bios Parameter Block (BPB) will automatically take care of the larger
capacity in a manner compatible for the MS-DOS (PC-DOS) user. Please
get that FORMAT gap size from that stone-age 50h to a more modern gap
format GAP size of 40h (as recommended by QUAID), and which will allow
10 sectors per track without sector splicing...
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 88 11:34:29 EDT
From: David Kirschbaum <kirsch@braggvax.arpa>
Subject: AT Clone problem
Netlandians,
A buddy has a problem with his AT clone (CCS Labs Mother Superior 80286
6/8 MHz):
1. He can't boot from his floppy A: drive any more (goes through memory
testing, checks drives A,B, beeps, then reports a "RAM Parity error, check-
ing for segment address", then a "0", cursor disappears, A: drive light
stays on, system lockup!
2. When he boots from his hard drive (C:), boots fine, runs fine, except:
a. If he tries to read his A: drive (e.g., DIR A:), same parity error
msgs, locks up.
b. He can copy from A: to C:, but not from A: to his ram disk (D:).
He tried a utility called ATPARITY.COM, which I think intercepts memory
parity errors. Fine, he can now read his A: drive, can copy from A: to
the ram disk D:, but can't copy from A: to C: or from C: to D:!
He's swapped out the A: drive, its controller card; removed his extended
memory board, even swapped out mother board memory chips, all to no avail.
He's tried IBM's Advanced Diagnostics, gets a "system board error" of some
sort, and an address of something like ("0000:(s)"). (I didn't get
details on that testing.)
Any ideas? (Before we swap the mother board, that is!)
Thanks in advance,
David Kirschbaum
Toad Hall
kirsch@braggvax.ARPA
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 88 17:33 N
From: <WITMANS%HLSDNL5.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: EDT for PCs
We are looking for an EDT package for the IBM PC AT or true compatible.
Does anybody know of a public domain, shareware or commercial product ?
Regards,
Piet Witmans
Dr. Neher Laboratories, Netherlands PTT.
Dr. Neher Laboratories, BITNET/EARN: Witmans@HLSDNL5
PO Box 421, Telephone: +31 70 435508
2260 AK Leidschendam,
Netherlands. PSS(Datanet1): +0204 1170358
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 88 15:37 N
From: <EAROSAM%EBRUPC51.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: PC GKS Implementation Wanted
I am looking for an implementation of GKS for the IBM/PC running
DOS. Could you please help me?
PLease answer me directly:
Rosa Martin
bitnet: earosam@ebrupc51.bitnet
ean : rosam@fib.upc.es
voice: 34-3-3338308 (ext. 314)
fax: 34-3-2406302
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 1988 22:14 MDT
From: Keith Petersen <W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: ARCTOOL and ARCTOOL4
Les Brown writes:
I think there are a couple more duplicate files in the arc-lbr and
they are arctool.arc and arctool4.arc. I uploaded arctool.arc which
is version 4 of the program and I think someone else sent another copy
renamed. If that is the case then there is another file for the bit
bucket.
I thought so too, until I looked at the DOC files. ARCTOOL is a program
for extracting files from damaged archives. ARCTOOL4 is a menu-driven in-
terface for archiving and dearchiving. Too bad there isn't some central
clearinghouse for file names! :-)
--Keith
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Oct 1988 20:10 MDT
From: Keith Petersen <W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: GSARC - non-compatible more efficient archiver
Just uploaded to SIMTEL20...
Filename Type Bytes CRC
Directory PD1:<MSDOS.ARC-LBR>
GSARC10.EXE.1 BINARY 71680 85D2H
GSARC10.INF.1 ASCII 4338 CBCBH
This is an interesting development. A new program that makes and
extracts ARC files using a more efficient variation on LZW compression,
called "Crushing". I have included the .INF file below. Beware - the
ARCs it produces cannot be read by ARC, ARCE or PKUNPAK unless GSARC's
compatibility switch is used. The program does work, and it does
produce *signficantly* smaller ARC files.
The information below is presented "as-is". I have no connection with
NoGate Consulting and this posting should not be interpreted as an
endorsement of yet another incompatible ARC-maker. However, it does
pose an interesting question: are we to resist this just because it's
incompatible - even though it is a significant step forward in
compression efficiency? It will be interesting to see what SEA's
reaction will be.
--Keith Petersen
Maintainer of the CP/M and MSDOS archives at SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL [26.0.0.74]
Arpa: W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL
Uucp: {ames,decwrl,harvard,rutgers,ucbvax,uunet}!simtel20.army.mil!w8sdz
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Date: Sat, 22 Oct 1988 16:57 MDT
From: Keith Petersen <W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: GSARC10 replaced by PAK10
Now available via standard anonymous FTP from SIMTEL20:
Filename Type Bytes CRC
Directory PD1:<MSDOS.ARC-LBR>
PAK10.EXE.1 BINARY 71578 C46EH
PAK10.EXE is an updated (slightly) version of GSARC that now uses the
filetype PAK instead of ARC as an attempt to stay out of SEA's way.
It is basically the same program. This is a self-extracting archive.
Run it to extract the files from within.
Thanks to Maurice Thaler for the upload.
--Keith Petersen
Maintainer of the CP/M and MSDOS archives at SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL [26.0.0.74]
Arpa: W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL
Uucp: {ames,decwrl,harvard,rutgers,ucbvax,uunet}!simtel20.army.mil!w8sdz
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 1988 12:18 MDT
From: Keith Petersen <W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: New MSDOS uploads
<msdos.sysutl>
SEARCH11.ARC
- Tweaked SEARCH.COM (DOS PATH replacement) Includes original (v1.0)
SEARCH.COM, the tweaked and improved (??) SEARCH11.COM, and
"documentation" extracted from the program's help screens.
I snarfed the original SEARCH.COM years ago from some BBS; it's worked
fine on every system I've tried. Tweaked v1.1 works fine on my system
(PCDOS v3.1). Source unavailable (copyrighted by Arborsoft Systems,
Inc.)
(I've waited years for their promised update, but no sign of it .. and
just couldn't STAND the original's clumsy code any longer!)
pd1:<msdos.dirutl>
PURGTRE1.ARC Prompted file delete thru subdirectories (w/.ASM src)
Updated tree purge utility. Archive includes original
and updated source and .COM files, short documentation.
Works very nicely! Kudos to original author.
David Kirschbaum
Toad Hall
kirsch@braggvax.ARPA
---
Thanks, Dave!
--Keith
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 10 Oct 1988 20:17 MDT
From: Keith Petersen <W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: New MSDOS uploads
> Date: Monday, 10 October 1988 08:41-MDT
> From: Ralf.Brown at B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU
pd1:<msdos.c>CC01.ARC
pd1:<msdos.c>CC02.ARC
pd1:<msdos.c>CC03.ARC
pd1:<msdos.c>CC04.ARC
pd1:<msdos.lan>EASY-NET.ARC
pd1:<msdos.database>LIST-MGR.ARC
pd1:<msdos.txtutl>MSPANTOC.ARC
pd1:<msdos.arc-lbr>MVA101.ARC
pd1:<msdos.sysutl>WEAKLINK.ARC
CC01 through CC04 are collections of "C" subroutines and programs
EASY-NET is a two-computer serial-port network that claims to be NETBIOS
compatible
LIST-MGR contains a bibliography manager and a mailing list manager
MSPANTOC is a print formatter with sections/subsections/figure numbering,
etc
MVA101 lets you split .ARC files across multiple floppies (doesn't work
with ZOO, though, probably because of ZOO's random seeks) WEAKLINK is
another serial-port file xfer program
Thanks, Ralf!
pd1:<msdos.turbopas>SPOC88.ARC
pd1:<msdos.sysutl>SYSID32.ARC
SPOC88 is the code from the September/October _Turbo_Technix_ magazine
SYSID32 is an update to SYSID30 which is already in the archives
pd1:<msdos.pascal>MYSTIC.ARC The MYSTIC Pascal compiler
pd1:<msdos.pascal>QPARSER.ARC A full-featured (but limited-capacity)
demo version of the commercial parser generator
Thanks, Ralf!
--Keith
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 20 Oct 1988 01:51 MDT
From: Keith Petersen <W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: Telix 3.10 communications program uploaded to SIMTEL20
Now available via standard anonymous FTP from SIMTEL20:
pd1:<msdos.telix>TLX310-1.ARC Executable and support files.
pd1:<msdos.telix>TLX310-2.ARC Telix documentation, Host Mode script source
files, and dialing directory conversion
program.
pd1:<msdos.telix>TLX310-3.ARC SALT script language documentation.
Telix is a shareware communications program for PCs running the PC/MS-DOS
operating system. Features include:
- an extensive range of built-in file transfer protocols, including
Zmodem, Compuserve Quick B, Xmodem, Xmodem-1k, Xmodem-1k-g,
Ymodem (TRUE), Ymodem-g, Kermit, SEAlink, Telink, Modem7, and
ASCII. Up to four 'external' protocols may be defined and called
from within Telix.
- multiple dialing directories, holding up to 1000 entries each.
An entry contains many pieces of information required for
communicating with remote services, such as the phone number and
communications parameters.
- automatic queue redialing for hard-to-reach numbers.
- DEC VT102 and VT52 terminal emulation. Keys may be redefined by the
user.
- extensive SALT script language which allows Telix to perform automated
logons and many more complicated functions. As an example of the power
of script files, the Telix Host Mode is written in the SALT script
language.
- full access to DOS including a DOS shell, a DOS Command option, and
full
path support.
- A Host Mode with file transfers, operator paging, a Remote DOS shell,
and two access levels.
- A Chat Mode, keyboard macros, a scroll-back buffer, session capture,
usage log, translate table, and a variety of other features, detailed
in the manual.
Telix is fast and has a powerful, friendly, user interface. It will run
on an IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, or true compatible with at least 170k of free
memory. For a few functions, such as the DOS Shell, more memory is needed.
Telix will support up to 8 defined comm ports (COM1 through COM4 are
predefined), any number of disk drives, and a printer connected to the
parallel port.
--Keith Petersen
Maintainer of the CP/M and MSDOS archives at SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL [26.0.0.74]
Arpa: W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL
Uucp: {ames,decwrl,harvard,rutgers,ucbvax,uunet}!simtel20.army.mil!w8sdz
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End of Info-IBM Digest
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