hicks@WALKER-EMH.ARPA (Gregory Hicks COMFLEACTS) (02/14/88)
Info-IBMPC Digest Tue, 9 Feb 88 Volume 7 : Issue 11
This Week's Editor: Gregory Hicks -- Chinhae Korea <hicks@walker-emh.arpa>
Today's Topics:
8259 Interrupt Controller Chip
CompuAdd 10MHz AT Clone Review
Fortran for the 386
Boot Sector Format Information
10mb Microcomputer Memories Drive
Intel AboveBoard Support bug
MS Word Default Font Question Answered
Shell Sources Requested
Transferring files via RPICICGE
V20 Support information
Today's Queries:
5 1/4 and 3 1/2 inch drives on AT
Arabic Keyboards and Word Processors
PC/AT Communications Package
What's in a Kernel
PD MACRO86 Information Requested
MS FORTRAN 4.0 & COM1
TSR Utility Problems
Non-standard HD Sector Sizes
Overheating Problems
Printers
Token Ring Board Query
Voice-mail cards for PCs
Info-IBMPC Lending Library is available from:
Bitnet via server at CCUC; and from SIMTEL20.ARPA (see file
PD1:<msdos>files.idx for listing of source files)
SIMTEL20.ARPA can now be accessed access from BITNET is via
LISTSERV@RPICICGE.BITNET using LISTSERV Commands
INFO-IBMPC BBS Phone Numbers: (213) 827-2635 and (213) 827-2515
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1988 00:44 EST
From: SGP@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU
Subject: 8259 Interrupt Controller Chip
Some data is available in
Eggebrecht: interfacing to the IBM personal computer (Sams Co) 1983
A Sargent and Shoemaker: The IBM PC Inside aznd Out (Addison-Wesley) 1986
I am awaiting shipment of a component book from Intel.
There are 4 initialization control words and 3 operation control words:
OCW1 is via port 21h; OCW2 and OCW3 ase via port 20h
OCW1 is interrupt mask (1s mask)
in port 20, if bits 3 and 4 0, its OCW2
if bit 3 is one and 4 is zero its OCW3
OCW3 D0-2 set level
D5-7 are commands
001 nonspecific end of interrupt
011 speciufic EOI
101 nonspecific EOI resets hights and moves up rest
100 set automatic priority rotation
000 clear automatic priority rotation
111 specific EOI and rotate
110 set priority
------------------------------
Date: 01 Feb 88 13:50 EDT
From: C0144%CSUOHIO.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Subject: CompuAdd 10MHz AT Clone Review
In a previous digest, Richard G. Anderson asked for opinions on CompuAdd's
10MHz AT clone reviewed in PC Magazine...
I've been working with the "Standard 286" sold by PC Source, which is a
just another name for the CompuAdd people. I purchased it in July of 1987,
and I've been extremely happy with it. Currently, I have an Intel Aboveboard
286 w/ 2Meg as well as 2 Miniscribe 6053's plugged into the system. I have
never had compatibility problems with any of the hardware or software that
I've used on it.
I pound on this machine heavily, since I run an Opus BBS and my own
sessions under Desqview 2.01. The machine is running 24 hrs a day. Heat has
not been a problem.
In fact, the only gripe that I've had in seven months has been the the
fact that the el-cheapo diskettes that PC-Source supplies with its system
packages should be used for frisbees - certainly not for data. But were
talking $15 out of a $2000 system.
The company is prompt in delivering merchandise (7 days or less when using
plastic). I know now of three individuals, including myself, who ended up
purchasing this system. The other users have been pleased as well.
Hope this reviews helps your buying judgement.
-Dave
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
From the North Coast David Chatfield, Computer Services Dept.
_____ of America...._-! Cleveland State University
! --___ ___-- !
! ------(*) ! Bitnet: C0144@CSUOHIO
! Cleveland ! Arpa: C0144%CSUOHIO.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
! ! Usenet: {ihnp4}!necntc!ncoast!ohiont!davec
! O H I O ! Fidonet: Sysop, OHIONet Express, 1:157/512
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 02 Feb 88 14:58:11 GMT
From: DMV@SYSC.SALFORD.AC.UK (Dave Vallence)
Subject: Fortran for the 386
[This message was forwarded in response to a query I received from a reader.
I'm not too sure it belongs in this digest, but the compiler LOOKS
interesting... gph]
A version of FTN77 for 80386-based PCs
---------------------------------------
FTN77 is being converted to run on the new range of 80386-based PC's. The
new compiler, which will be available in March 1988, will run under MS-DOS.
It will use 386-protected mode, enabling it to address all available memory,
thereby breaking the usual 640k memory limit on PC's. All the familiar
features of the Prime version of FTN77 will be supported, including:
o Facilities for planting run-time checking code
o An ANSI conformance check
o The code/edoc in-line assembler feature
o A run-time break-point package (now using windows on the PC)
o An extensive library of extra subroutines and functions
To use the new PC version of the compiler you will need a 386-based PC
running MS-DOS and equipped with a maths co-processor (80287 or 80387).
Machines such as the Compaq Deskpro-386 can already take up to 16 Mbytes of
memory. However, the 80386 chip itself can address up to 4 Gbytes of memory,
all of which can be used by FTN77; this should satisfy even the most
voracious number crunchers among you!
Initial tests have shown some impressive figures for run-time performance of
this new version of the compiler. The compiler can either be used
free-standing, or in conjunction with SLINK to provide a powerful
combination of PRIME and 386-PC with a common FORTRAN77 environment,
affording the advantage of similar user-compiler interface and language
extensions between the two machines.
------------------------------
Date: 1 Feb 88 12:38:20 PST (Monday)
From: "George_C._Burkitt.ElSegundo"@Xerox.COM
Subject: Boot Sector Format Information
Just an adder to the discussion of the boot sectors and contents: if the DOS
has not been loaded, the boot sequence depends on the ROM...a fairly limited
storage area. So all the computer knows at start - up is the location of
the system files... the first tracks on the first disk. This is the boot
sector of the A: floppy (or the 1st hard disk, if set up for hard disk
boot). IBM PCDOS 2.1 call the system files IBMDOS.com and IBMBIO.com;
MSdos 3.1 calls them MSDOS.SYS and IO.SYS. These are flagged "hidden" so
the usual "DIR" won't display them.
------------------------------
Date: 1 Feb 88 11:22:33 PST (Monday)
From: "George_C._Burkitt.ElSegundo"@Xerox.COM
Subject: 10mb Microcomputer Memories Drive
>From: stev@OBERON.LCS.MIT.EDU (Stev Knowles)
>I have found myself in posession of a strange little beast. it is a
>Microcomputer Memories Inc MM112, 3.5 inch 10 meg drive.
Sounds as though your new drive is schizophrenic...it wants to be both drive
1 and drive 2. If you know that the drive responds to a "drive 2" SELECT
signal as well as a "drive 1" SELECT signal, then, my guess is, the drive is
defective. You can try to re -designate the ST4051 to drive 3 and see if
there is still interference. The XT should be able to address all three
drive ID's. If the new drive does respond to both drive 1 and drive 2
SELECTs, it is probably a faulty IC on the drive, or possibly a short on
printed circuit board. If it only affects the two ID's, it should be OK to
reassign the other drive to 3.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 03 Feb 88 19:17:40 EST
From: Joe Morris (jcmorris@mitre.arpa) <jcmorris@mitre.arpa>
Subject: Intel AboveBoard Support bug
Last fall Intel offered a free upgrade of the LIM interface software used to
support the AboveBoard EMS product. I received the new code in early November
and installed it on my ancient PC-1. A real nice feature of it was a greatly
improved test sequence for warm boots.
Unfortunately, the code has a problem: it masks off NMI, meaning that a card
which detects a parity error on the bus cannot signal the processor that it
needs help. I discovered this because I use IBM's Professional Debug
Facility,
which uses NMI to permit the user to interrupt a process.
I've been talking to the Intel people about this since late December; this
morning they finally sent me (by FedEx!) a replacement diskette which I've
just installed and tested: the bug is fixed.
The software distributed last fall which introduced the error was at version
4.0; the new diskette I received today had a paper label saying that it was
at release 4.1, but the code itself says it's at release 4.0.A. The
documentation packed with the diskette which arrived this morning still
claims to be at release 4.0. Either way, it works.
Intel's telephone number is (800) 538-3373.
Joe
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 88 07:24:33 CST
From: moore@ncsc.ARPA (Moore)
Subject: MS Word Default Font Question Answered
I recently posted a question about Word 3.11 and default fonts; Phil Wherry
was kind enough to point out that defining a paragraph format in the Gallery
and using standard as the variant (then doing Format Character) lets you
chose the font Word starts up in. Thanks to all who responded.
Jim
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 88 14:39:45 EST
From: Kenneth Van Camp (US Army FSAC) <kvancamp@ARDEC.ARPA>
Subject: Shell Sources Requested
There is a PD Csh for the Amiga, which I think is better than anything PD
I've seen running on a PC. I haven't looked at much of the source code, but
I'll venture a guess that > 80% is system independent. It's available on
many Amiga bulletin boards. I might even be able to find a place where you
could get it via anonymous ftp on ARPAnet, if I look around a little. Doubt
you could access it from Bitnet, though. I can give you the name of a place
you could get it on an Amiga format disk, but how you'd read that from a PC
is anybody's guess. 8<)
--Ken Van Camp <kvancamp@ARDEC.ARPA>
------------------------------
Date: 02 FEB 88 17:10 GMT
From: KCH3%NUSEEV.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Transferring files via RPICICGE
[this is in response to query by Jason Ruiter (V07N06)]
I had the same problem moving in binary files (.ARC) from the ibmpc
lending library at umcvmb to my VAX. The RECEIVE/BINARY option works but
binary files get clobbered on transit. What you should do when you request
binary files from listserv @ Rpicicge is to uuencode them.
Listserv @ RPICICGE accepts this request. ie
/pdget pd:<msdos.some_dir>*.arc (uue
^^^^^
Few weeks ago I requested the surfmodl arc'ed files from ccuc. They
were sent as binary files but they got trashed. At that time the collection
at RPICICGE wasn't set up yet. Rich Wenkel (ccrjw@umcvmb) was kind enough to
help me by uuencoding them and then sending them over to me. They are working
fine on my PC now. You'll need the file uudecode.c to decode them.
KCH3@nuseev
Ps. RPICICGE send uuencoded files with the same extension, ie if the original
file was .ARC they become .ARC after encoding. If you do not rename the
extension to something else the file will get trashed.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 2 Feb 88 13:37:59 est
From: eric@necntc.NEC.COM (Eric Hanselman)
Subject: V20 Support information
Hi Greg!
This note is a response to A.H. Lim's question about V20 support information.
I figured that it is a common enough request to post to the digest.
For documentation, such as user's manuals, article reprints, and data sheets,
the following numbers connect you to the literature department:
In California 800-632-3532
elsewhere 800-632-3531
For support with "V20 in a PC" questions, consult with:
Evsan Company
Daly City, CA
415-991-1051
800-443-8853
Hopefully this information will be of use.
- Eric Hanselman
Application Engineer, Intelligent Peripherals Group
eric@necntc.nec.com
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 2 Feb 88 22:32:52 est
From: marwood@dmc-crc.arpa (G. J. Marwood)
Subject: 5 1/4 and 3 1/2 inch drives on AT
My office is in the process of purchasing some PC-ATs. The configuration
which we would prefer is two 1.44MB 3 1/2 inch drives, one 1.2MB 5 1/2 inch
drive and a 30MB hard disk. We are having trouble finding any dealers who
know whether this configuration can be used on an AT running under MS-DOS.
Can anyone tell me whether this arrangement presents problems either with
regard to MS-DOS, controller cards or physical arrangement. I believe that
in most (or all) systems one of the floppies will have to be external. The
closest that we have been offered so far is one internal 1.2MB 5 1/4, one
internal 1.44 MB 3 1/2, and external 720K 3 1/2 and the hard disk. We may
also consider upgrading to OS-2 when this is feasible and perhaps this will
make our configuration easier to achieve.
Can anyone provide any information as to whether the configuration that we
would like is feasible. Any specific hardware details would be appreciated.
As I am not on the INFO-IBMPC list, I would appreciate it if any replies
could be sent with a direct copy to me.
Thank you in advance!
Gordon Marwood
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 2 Feb 88 10:30 N
From: <PAAI%HTIKUB5.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Arabic Keyboards and Word Processors
A student of mine, who is Maroccan, asks if anybody out there knows anything
about computers/operating systems/word processors which use the arabic
language and characters. Please send any information to my bitnet-addres.
Thanks.
Hans Paijmans
PAAI@HTIKUB5.bitnet
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 2 Feb 88 05:54 EST
From: RON PICARD <PICARD%gmr.com@RELAY.CS.NET>
Subject: PC/AT Communications Package
We are currently using PC ATs as MVS consoles and want a communications
package that can simply call out to a beeper or use a voice synthesizer to
signal when the system is in trouble. Any package we've tried expects a
carrier signal and hangs up when it doesn't get it.
Thanks in advance.
Ron Picard (PICARD@GMR.COM)
General Motors Research Labs
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 88 03:08 EDT
From: William - BITNETer <CS115151%YUSOL.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: What's in a Kernel
Hi,
Would anybody tell me what the kernel of the operating system is?
Many thanx in advance !
William LO
BITNET : cs115151 @ YUsol
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 88 14:34:17 -0500 (EST)
From: "Philip H. Dye" <pd1h+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: PD MACRO86 Information Requested
Does a PD or shareware macro86 exist ? Something like small-c or tiny-c? I
need full source for an 8086 based Macro Assembler. I would prefer C code
but I'll take anything.
Thanks all,
Philip
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 2 Feb 1988 16:36:39 EST
From: "Robert E. Zaret" <ZARET@MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
Subject: MS FORTRAN 4.0 & COM1
I'm trying to help someone who wants to write to and read from COM1 using MS
FORTRAN 4.0 so he can control a data analyzer. Writing to the port seems to
be no problem. When we try to read, much of the data seems to be ignored,
and we get: Read fault error reading COM1: Abort, Retry, Ignore? We do issue
a MODE COM1:4800,e,7,1 command; if we don't, the program sits and waits for
input until I press ^break.
BASIC works fine, but he would like to use FORTRAN.
Thank you.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 88 19:10:01 PST
From: MFENET%MIT.MFENET@NMFECC.ARPA
Subject: TSR Utility Problems
NOTE: TO RESPOND TO THIS MESSAGE, PLEASE PUT NERUS::CASEY@MIT.MFENET
IN THE SUBJECT LINE.
I am having trouble with a TSR utility. It works ok within an
application program, but hangs up the keyboard on exiting if run from the DOS
prompt. It is made resident with INT 27H. The only interrupt it traps for
is #5 (PRTSCRN). ROMBIOS interrupt #10 and DOS interrupt #21 (those are hex)
are both used within the interrupt routine. Is there anything illegal about
any of the above (I can't imagine why there would be...)? Any help would be
appreciated....
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 03 Feb 88 11:06:17 EST
From: Bob Munck <munck@mitre-bedford.ARPA>
Subject: Non-standard HD Sector Sizes
I would like to be able to format hard disks with 4112-byte sectors -- a 4K
page plus 16 bytes of control information. I need to read them such that the
4K goes into a page frame and the control info into a table that is NOT
contiguous to the frame; writes would also be non-contiguous.
Back when I was hacking on OS/360 (and Nixon was president), IBM disks could
be given any physical block-size and you could do this kind of scattered
read/write. It was called CCW data-chaining. I have a strong suspicion it's
not possible on current hard disks, but hope someone can tell me I'm wrong.
Note that the 4112 blocksize is more important than the data chaining; I can
always move the data from a buffer.
-- Bob Munck
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 02 Feb 88 09:41:51 EST
From: "Robert E. Zaret" <ZARET@MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
Subject: Overheating Problems
I'm trying to help someone with an Infinite AT-compatible that can run at 6
or 8 MHz. He has problems at 8 MHz, but not at 6 MHz. He is using MS
Windows 2.03. After 30 minutes, "the font and cursor have trouble finding
each other"; when he leaves Windows, his prompt has been reduced to a
blinking cursor and he cannot reboot.
Other equipment:
Phoenix BIOS
A Hercules-compatible graphics adaptor
MS Serial Mouse
512K RAM on mother board
AST Advantage Premium with 896K RAM
set to exclude Hercules and Extended memory (I think the
device=rem statement in config.sys has parameters)
CONFIG.SYS includes buffers=10
and device=smartdrive /a
(for Windows' disk cacheing)
Thanks for any help; I hope I didn't garble the description too badly.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 03 Feb 88 21:07:08 EST
From: Alex Gutman <RAAQC502@CUNYVM.cuny.edu>
Subject: Printers
I have an old Apple Imagewriter here just sitting here and collecting
dust. Can anyone tell me a way that I can hook it up to my IBM AT? I really
can use its graphic printing capabilities which are better than my panasonic
pkx1090i that I am currently using.
Please help!!
-AG-
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 4 Feb 88 08:41:26 PST
From: Jeffrey Stone <STONE@SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: Token Ring Board Query
Does anyone know of vendors that could provide TOKEN RING adaptor boards and
the associated drivers for:
PC-AT bus under MS-DOS and
Multibus 1 under UNIX?
Please send replies to STONE@sumex-aim.stanford.edu
Thank you,
Jeffrey Stone
Menlo Park, CA
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 04 Feb 88 11:44:29 GMT
From: Brian J Haughey <HAUGHD88%IRLEARN.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Voice-mail cards for PCs
Hi all :
I'm trying to get some information on manufacturers of Voice-Mail cards for
PC's. (Essentially these are boards which allow you to plug your PC into a
PBX. A caller can then leave a voice message which is stored in APCM format
on a disk for later retrieval)
Any details on manufacturers etc of such devices would be very welcome.
Please respond to the net or directly to :
ARPANET : HAUGHD88%IRLEARN.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
BITNET/EARN : HAUGHD88 AT IRLEARN
------------------------------
************************
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
-------