Info-IBMPC@C.ISI.EDU (Info-IBMPC Digest) (09/25/87)
Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, 24 September 1987 Volume 6 : Issue 65 This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge Today's Topics: Smalltalk on the PC/AT Partitions on Z-248 Hard Disk CTS Modem Garbage How to get MIT/CMU TCP/IP Package The WHOLE scoop on UNIX 5.3 for the 80386 Dos 3.3 BACKUP.COM bug Imaginary Drive Problem Flushing Files Without Close Open Overhead OS/2 Developer's Kit (2 Msgs) Today's Queries: Spell Checker Wanted I need a BIOS update for old IBM-PC Having Problems Looking for a Good Inexpensive Schematic Editor MS Windows and IBM Mouse Uninstalling Memory Resident Programs Hard Disk Head Parking Sperry DOS Reports within Symphony MSC Initializing Static Unions Reconfiguration of Northgate Keyboard PRTEGA.ASM PC NJE node Redirecting COM1 to Disk Security for IBM Model 30 INFO-IBMPC BBS Phone Numbers: (213)827-2635 (213)827-2515 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 21 Sep 87 17:19:30 PST From: telesoft!dar@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu (David Reisner @telesoft) Subject: Smalltalk on the PC/AT Yep, Softsmarts is still around. Although mail to the old address should still get to them, they've moved to 299 California Ave, Suite 205 Palo Alto CA 94306 (415)327-8100 (same as before) Their system - a real Xerox Version 2 image plus their interpreter - costs $995. They now offer a "test drive" which will do everything except snapshot (so you can't save your work) for $149. (For Smalltalk "beginners" out there, I think it is important to emphasize that Smalltalk is much more meaningful as a system (and there is LOTS of it) than as a language. Thus, if you want to use others' work (e.g. interesting postings on comp.lang.smalltalk) or may want to work on other machines someday, there is a great advantage to using a Xerox V2 (or 2.x) image (e.g. Softsmarts, ParcPlace, Tektroniks), rather than a Smalltalk language with someone's own system (e.g. little smalltalk, Digitalk Smalltalk/V). ) -David sdcsvax!telesoft!dar ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Sep 87 21:27:13 CDT From: steve@ncsc.ARPA (Mahan) Subject: Partitions on Z-248 Hard Disk Jim, I have experienced this also with only installing one drive (40 Mbyte) on the military contract (Air Force and Dahlgren) Z-248's. It seems that if you assign partitions manually (selected with dsksetup) Zenith reserves the drive letters c,d,e,f for drive partitions. Automatic assignment of drive partitions will only assign the boot partition to c: and will not allow the further assignment of drive partitions to drive letters. If manual assignment is selected the next available drive letter is g which is used by the ramdisk driver when it is installed from config.sys. You can use the assign command in autoexec.bat after the asgnpart commands to reassign the drive designation as desired. Sample is : asgnpart 0:2 D: asgnpart 1:1 E: assign g=f end sample This will give c: - main partition on boot drive d: - second partition of 40 meg (assumed drive 0) e: - 20 meg drive f: - ramdisk g: - also ramdisk steve@ncsc.ARPA Steve Mahan Code 3120 Naval Coastal Systems Center Panama City, FL 32407-5000 (Voice) (904) 234-4224 ------------------------------ Subject: CTS Modem Garbage Date: Tue, 22 Sep 87 09:03:41 EDT From: Joe Morris (jcmorris@mitre.arpa) <jcmorris@mitre.arpa> In INFO-IBMPC 6:64, Gary Dunn asks about CTS 2400-ADH modems giving a high noise-to-signal ratio for received data. I don't have any experience with the ADH series, but our 2400-ADA modems running at 2400 bps (but not 1200) have the distressing habit of showing the same symptom if the parity of the terminal program in the PC is not the same as that of the data being received. (Don't ask me why.) Killing the connection (via DTR toggle), changing the parity, and completely re-initializing the modem with the new parity setting made it all work properly. I've had some limited experience with other 2400 bps modems (Vadic, Novation) and didn't see the problem, but I'm not sure I actually had a parity mismatch condition during those runs. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Sep 87 23:38:10 -0400 (EDT) From: Drew Daniel Perkins <ddp+@andrew.cmu.edu> To: pcip@louie.udel.edu Subject: How to get MIT/CMU TCP/IP Package Well at least one person wants to know and I haven't posted it for a while so... We're pretty much finished with a full DEC VT102 emulator and I hope to release it pretty soon. Thanks to Ken Key from UTK I also have the Stanford FTP and multiconnection TCP running under MSC. And boy does it fly! I will be able to give this to anyone who can show me a license from Stanford, so if you don't have one yet, send them some a check and get yours! Can you beleive I'm promoting someone else's code :-) ? Drew The TCP/IP package for PC's better known as PCIP was developed at MIT using a cross compiler on a UNIX VAX. In order to make developement using this package easier, it has been "ported" to the Microsoft C compiler and Microsoft Macro assembler. You must have version 3.0 or higher of both the compiler and the assembler. Also you must have the Microsoft Make program, Librarian and linker that are distributed with the compiler and assembler. Getting CMU PCIP from the arpanet To get the CMU Microsoft C version of the PCIP package from the arpanet, connect to host "lancaster.andrew.cmu.edu" with FTP (no quotes when you really type it). This machine is a 4.2bsd UNIX system. Login in as user "anonymous", password "guest". Next, use the "cd" command to change your working directory to "pub". Now if you do a "dir" command you will get a listing of all the necessary files. First, "get" the files "readme" and "install.bat" in netascii mode. The rest of the files must be retrieved in binary/octet/image mode. Now retrieve the files "tarread.exe", "root.tar", "include.tar", "srcdev.tar", "srclib.tar" and "srccmd.tar". The file "doc.tar" is also available if you want the scribe documentation. The three large files, "srclib.tar", "srccmd.tar" and "doc.tar" are also available in "compressed" format. These files have a ".Z" extension. If you retrieve these, there is no reason to retrieve the original ".tar" files. These files are provided in case you have trouble transferring the large files over the network. The UNIX "uncompress" program may be used to regenerate the original ".tar" files. Once you have these on your local machine, use TFTP, kermit or some other file transfer program to get them to your PC. Put the files under a subdirectory such as c:\pcip. Make sure you do the transfers in the proper mode (octet or ascii, as above). The file "readme" explains what you have, and how to proceed farther. The program tarread.exe is a very small tar file reading program that I wrote. It has very few features, but it serves the purpose here. Getting CMU PCIP from BITNET To get the CMU Microsoft C version of the PCIP package from BITNET, retrieve the "pcip package" from host cmuccvma. To do this from an IBM VM system, type the command: "tell listserv at cmuccvma get pcip package" From a VMS system running JNET say: "send listserv@cmuccvma get pcip package" If you would like to automatically receive updates you can "subscribe" yourself. From VM use the two commands: "tell listserv at cmuccvma pw add 'password'" "tell listserv at cmuccvma afd add pcip package pw='password'" And from VMS: "send listserv@cmuccvma pw add 'password'" "send listserv@cmuccvma afd add pcip package pw='password'" In either case, replace 'password' with some string. Once you have received all of the files, you should have a collection of plain ascii files with a "boo" extension. These files are formatted specially so that they can get through BITNET unchanged (hopefully!). Once you have these on your local machine, use TFTP, kermit or some other file transfer program to get them to your PC. Put the files under a subdirectory such as c:\pcip. Since boo files are all plain ascii files, make sure you transfer them in netascii mode. I.e. if you are transferring them from a VM system, make sure that EBCIDIC to ASCII translation is done. If you are transferring them from a VMS system, JNET should have already done the transformation. The file "read.me" explains what you have, and how to proceed farther. Good luck, Drew Perkins arpanet: Drew.Perkins@andrew.cmu.edu phone: (412) 268-8576 US mail: Drew D. Perkins Carnegie-Mellon University 4910 Forbes Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15213 ------------------------------ From: ron@vsedev.VSE.COM (Ron Flax) Subject: The WHOLE scoop on UNIX 5.3 for the 80386 Date: 20 Sep 87 16:31:06 GMT In article <411@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> rich@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Richard Pettit) writes: >"So, whose product is it that I got when I bought my Bell Tech. machine ?" >you're asking yourself. Microport. They are one of the companies that I beg to differ with you here. Actually Bell's version is 386/ix from Interactive with Bell's device drivers for streaming tape, intelligent serial card, non-intelligent serial card, etc. The only thing unbundled in the Bell release is the Documenter's WorkBench 2.0, and of course vpix (the Interactive Systems DOS executive...). As far as documentation goes, Bell gives you the AT&T hardware specific documentation (differences specific to the 80386 port of UNIX 5.3), the System Administrator's Guide (from AT&T), and the System Administrators Reference Guide (equivalent to section 1 of the normal UNIX manual pages pertaining to administration. They also give you the generic AT&T UNIX 5.3 documentation as published by Prentice Hall for AT&T. You can of course buy as many copies of this as you need at around $100 per complete set. ron@vsedev.vse.com (Ron Flax) inet: vsedev!ron@cvl.umd.edu uucp: ..!uunet!cvl.umd.edu!vsedev!ron ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Sep 87 14:23:23 CDT From: "Richard Winkel" <CCRJW%UMCVMB.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu> To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIC.ARPA Subject: Dos 3.3 BACKUP.COM bug IBM has ackowledged there is a bug in the version of BACKUP.COM which is distributed with dos 3.3. The problem is it simply stops after the 77'th (?? 78?) directory and says it is through. Rich Winkel ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Sep 87 12:54:46 EDT From: David Kirschbaum <kirsch@braggvax.arpa> Subject: Imaginary Drive Problem Jim Moore described a problem where he used up drives A..E with real devices, then tried to establish a RamDisk as Drive F. DOS wouldn't take it, forcing him to Drive G. I assume, Jim, that you told DOS (in your CONFIG.SYS) "LASTDRIVE=F" (page 4-24 in my PC-DOS 3.1 users manual). The default value is LASTDRIVE=E. If you did this, beats me why it's skipping Drive F. David Kirschbaum Toad Hall kirsch@braggvax.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1987 15:23 EDT From: LENOIL@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Subject: Flushing Files Without Close Open Overhead This has probably been said already, but in case you're not aware, DOS 3.3 has a single file flush command. Do int 21H with AH = 68H and BX = file handle. [This was mentioned but possiply has been lost in the ensuing discussion. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Sep 87 11:23:30 PDT From: ROME%ORN.MFENET@NMFECC.ARPA Subject: OS/2 Developer's Kit I have the OS/2 developer's kit. At $3000, it is a steal. Microsoft spent that much alone on the food at the Developer's Conference. Then there is the approximately six feet of material I now have. This includes a C compiler, Assembler, Editor (for protected mode), OS/2 itself, Win- dows and the Windows Developer's Kit, the Microsoft Systems Journal, and a subscription to DIAL for help. Also, I have 15 hours of video tapes of the Developer's Conference. Doing OS/2 development is MUCH more complex than it is for MS-DOS since OS/2 is a real operating system. Thus, I think it will be very difficult for the average hacker to write his own protected mode programs, especially with Presentation Manager. The environment looks very much like a Macintosh. Very few of my colleagues actually program their Macs, they just run lots of nifty programs with an easy to use interface. Thus, you really do need all the documentation and help, and this costs money. I am quite sure that Microsoft loses a lot of money on each OS/2 kit sold. If you are serious about OS/2, ante up the money fast since the kit will only be available for a short time longer. There is one difficulty, however. OS/2 (as delivered) will not run on many PCs. For example, it wouldn't work on my PC's Limited 386, or on any TeleVideo PC. It does work on a Compaq, IBM AT, Zenith, and NCR. The compatibility problems seem to stem from the disk controller. I was told that Western Digital controllers work, but TeleVideo's fance 1:1 interleaved, buffered controller doesn't. Also, you need lots of memory, at least 2 Mb, with 3 preferred. Stop complaining about OS/2 if you are really interested in pro- gramming Jim Rome ------------------------------ Date: Thu 24 Sep 87 14:45:19-PDT From: Anonymous Subject: OS/2 Developer's Kit [If anybody wants to submit anonymous messages just ship them to me or whoever is editor requesting anonynimity. -wab] I've used OS/2 (Version 10.0, Rev 3.42.1.1) for approximately two months on both an IBM PC-AT model 139 (boosted to 8 MHz, 1 ws; 2.5 Mb ram; 32 Mb, 46 ms, I2L disk), and an AT clone (8 MHz, 0 ws; 2 Mb ram; 72 Mb, 24 ms, Toshiba disk. I've given up on OS/2. Why? 1. OS/2 is slooooow. It is soooo slooooow, you'd swear you were using a 4.77 MHz PC (without a NEC V20). For example, OS/2 scrolls text on a MDA in real mode at about 2400 baud. Hey, there's no need to use MORE or ^S/^Q; you've got plenty of time to read the text as it goes by! (When the good Dr. Brackenridge saw this, he immediately got sick and left in disgust.) Performance in protected mode isn't much better. I have yet to find an operating system that is slower than OS/2. MS-DOS, MINIX, PC/IX, etc., all run circles around OS/2. 2. OS/2 is buggy. I experienced lots of mysterious crashes with lots of mysterious messages, i.e., "System detected an internal processing error", "Internal thread attempting to leave kernel", etc. OS/2 would even crash (for no reason at all) in the middle of boot. 3. OS/2 is huge. The system comes on 8 1.2 Mb floppies, and takes over 7 Mb of disk space. OS2DOS.COM alone is 233,016 bytes. IBMDOS.COM, the DOS 3.3 equivalent, is only 30,159 bytes. (Interestingly, MS doesn't bother to mark the file hidden anymore; I guess it's gotten too big to hide...) Everything else is also bloated. A comparison of a DOS 3.3 System Disk and the OS/2 Supplemental Disk is indicative of OS/2's "big is beautiful" philosophy: Program Size (bytes) DOS 3.3 OS/2 FORMAT.COM 11616 63040 KEYB.COM 9056 12278 MODE.COM 15487 47726 REPLACE.EXE 11775 29072 SYS.COM 4766 27602 XCOPY.EXE 11247 22928 [Does anybody know if Codeview debugging statements were turned on when this version of OS/2 was generated? How can SYS.COM take 27k??? -wab] Hey guys, the more code there is, the longer it takes to load (and probably execute)! And what do you get for 7 Mb of disk space? Not much. Only the bare basics, e.g., CD, COMP, COPY, DEL, DIR, EDLIN, MORE, REN, etc., are included with OS/2 (MORE still requires a "<"). For comparison, PC/IX, IBM's old System III Unix for the PC and AT, also takes about 7 Mb of disk space Then again, PC/IX's 7 Mb include over 200 programs and utilities, e.g., awk, diff, lex, mail, spell, SCCS, troff, uucp, yacc, and a full screen editor, just to name a few. Also, the "Installation procedure for the MS OS/2 Software Development Kit" says, "MS OS/2 will run ... with the following hardware: ... 1 meg of memory (2-3 recommended). ..." Don't believe it. Don't even think about trying to use OS/2 with less than 2 Mb ram. The C compiler, linker, etc. won't run in less. 4. OS/2 won't boot with foreign cards installed, such as a 3Com Ethernet card, a TI320 DSP card, etc. This means that you'd better keep your screwdrivers at the ready if you plan on using your AT to do REAL work. You've got to take the cover off the PC and remove/reinstall boards every time you switch between OS/2 and ANY other operating system. 5. Many of OS/2's "new" features did not work. At least Microsoft was kind enough to warn you of some, "...memory swapping to disk is not solid in this release. If you stress it too hard it will fail and the system will stop." Hey, I couldn't get swapping to work AT ALL. Codeview doesn't understand the concept of threads, nor can it debug dynamic link libraries. The list goes on and on. And that's what MS was nice enough to acknowledge--- LOTS of OS/2 just doesn't work. 6. OS/2 uses the same pathetic file system found in MS-DOS, e.g., filenames are still limited to a short eight letters with an optional three letter extension, etc. Peter Norton (and others) get to sell you a brand new set of utilities for OS/2 to make the disk and operating system usable. Conclusion OS/2 was a terrible waste of $3000 and 2 months of my time. On the other hand, if I was cunning enough to dupe 2000+ people out of $3000 each (=$6,000,000+), I sure would. And that's just for the beta version---when the real OS/2 comes out, you get them to pay you again! About $395. But wait, there's more! You'll need new OS/2 software too. The total to make a programmer's OS/2 system? Here are some VERY rough numbers: OS/2 $ 395 OS/2 C Compiler 450 OS/2 Assembler 150 OS/2 Norton Utilities 100 OS/2 Epsilon text editor 195 OS/2 CrossTalk Comm package 195 ===== ~$1500 Hmmmmm, maybe Interactive, Microport, and others should double the price of their UNIX systems so they'll be competitive with OS/2. Then again, they'd still have more features... P.S., if you own a non-IBM keyboard destined for OS/2 use, you might want to test it to make sure that it handles ctl-esc and alt-esc, the key combinations used to bring up the session manager and switch between screen groups. Alt-esc doesn't work on many AT-clone keyboards! P.P.S., if Billy could get 2000+ people to contribute $30 each (=$60,000+), INFO-IBMPC might last past October! [It would be much easier with 30 people at $2000 each. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: 21 Sep 87 16:41:00 EDT From: "V70NL::S_DANIELS" <s_daniels%v70nl.decnet@nusc> Subject: Spell Checker Wanted Would appreciate any tips, comments on a spell checker for a PC or AT. Needs- preferably not ram-residetn ("pop up" like Lightning) - I like (liked) Random House from several years ago, but would like if it offered to retype the corrected word for you, vice making you do it. Anybody heard about ELECTRIC WEBSTER by CORNUCOPIA SW ? Saw an ad in PC Mag about a year agop, nothing since. Appreciate any sugfgestions. Scott. [I use an old version of Microspell from Bob Lucas/Trigram Systems somewhere in the Pittsburgh area (I think). This is an interactive spelling checker and corrector. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Mon 21 Sep 87 16:22:32-PDT From: Roland Hutchinson <R.RDH@HAMLET.STANFORD.EDU> Subject: I need a BIOS update for old IBM-PC Having Problems I have been trying to purchase a ROM BIOS update for my 1982 vintage IBM-PC. (It is the original model with 64K motherboard, etc.). I have been getting the royal runarround, thus: I called a number or IBM-authorized retailers, all of whom said, "we don't carry it; they don't make it anymore." I called IBM-Direct at 800-426-2468, and they said that the product was still available, although there was a minimum quantity order, and I would have to march down to my authorized dealer, speak to the manager, and firmly but gently insist that he order me one. So I spoke to yet another friendly local dealer, and he says he (being one of the good guys) has in fact been trying to get the things from IBM, but they won't send them to him. The part in question is IBM part no. 1501005, officially known as the "BIOS Update Kit." Retail price is supposed to be about $70.00, and I am told that IBM requires that you trade in your old BIOS ROMs, lest they fall into the hands of some clonesmith. I would greatly appreciate any help or suggestions that anyone could give me. Roland Hutchinson Music Department Stanford University r.rdh@OTHELLO.STANFORD.EDU [Back when IBM owned the product centers the update was easily obtainable. One could take the chip into the store and swap it. The product centers were pretty good for service as well. If you had a complaint it would get entered into an IBM database and days (sometimes months) later you might get a return phone call from someone in Boca who had an answer to your query. In all fairness in those days PCs cost $6,000 so I guess you could expect a bit of service. At our local computer swapmeets you can buy a new motherboard for $25. You might be able to bargain as you won't need a second 8088 chip. Unfortunately you will have to throw away your 16K memory chips. Nine 256K memory chips will cost you another $20 - $25. With the money you save you could even buy more memory. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Sep 87 15:31 EDT From: Peter Heitman <HEITMAN%cs.umass.edu@relay.cs.net> Subject: Looking for a Good Inexpensive Schematic Editor I am looking for a schematic editor program for PC's. The perfect program would run under Microsoft Window's and cost less than $100. If you have any information about schematic editors running on PC's, I would be interested in hearing about them. THanks. Peter Heitman heitman@umass-cs.csnet ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Sep 87 20:56:06 PDT From: Doug_Wade%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-Multics.ARPA Subject: MS Windows and IBM Mouse I've had no luck trying to get Microsoft Windows to recognize a IBM mouse on my PS/50. Windows works fine without the mouse however, the IBM mouse driver (MOUSE.COM) will not work, nor will MOUSE.SYS v6.0. I also tried the mouse driver from MS Word 3.11 to no avail. Does anybody have the drivers for Windows. I've written 2 letters over the past 2 months to Microsoft about this and neither has been replied to. I'll gladly send a disk to anybody who has the mouse driver already. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Sep 87 21:36:46 CDT From: steve@ncsc.ARPA (Mahan) Subject: Uninstalling Memory Resident Programs I am currently using a government Z-248 Zenith (8 MHz AT, 640K, 80287). When I boot I normally install Superkey and Sidekick. However, when I use Autocad I need all the memory I can get. Does anyone know of a way to remove these memory resident utilities which can be used from within a batch file? I would like to be able to type "acad" and have the utilities removed and then reinstalled after I exit the program. I have tried prompting myself to remove them manually during batch file execution but that is cumbersome, and could swap autoexec.bat files around and reboot (with reboot.com) but that is slow and leaves the machine in an unpredictable state on powerup (besides being hard to maintain). Please reply to me and I will summarize any workable solutions to the digest. Thanks, steve Stephen Mahan Code 3120 Naval Coastal Systems Center Panama City, FL 32407-5000 (904) 234-4224 steve@ncsc.arpa ------------------------------ Date: Tue 22 Sep 87 22:01:26-CDT From: Russ Williams <CS.RWILLIAMS@R20.UTEXAS.EDU> Subject: Hard Disk Head Parking I've got an AT clone with a Seagate ST225 but no head park program. The manufacturer unhelpfully tells me that such programs are available but gives no further info. Can anyone recommend any (hopefully public domain, available online?) or describe if it's a simple enough thing to write such a program oneself (if it just involves sending a few bytes to a port or something.) I know little about this. (As I understand it, it is only necessary to park the head if the system is being moved. Does this include shifting it on the table?) Thanks for any info, --Russ ------------------------------ Date: Wed Sep 23, 1987 11:40:35 CDT From: 'Bryan Ferguson' <DPBF%SIUEMUS.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu> Subject: Sperry DOS I recently was brought a disk formatted on a Sperry PC with DOS 2.1. When I tried to access it in any way (dir, recover, & Norton Utilities) the only response I was able to get was the "File allocation table bad, drive A: ". The machine I was using was an IBM PC with DOS 3.21. I was able to recover everything on the disk by rebooting with an old copy of DOS 2.1. I copied the entire disk to my hard drive which had originally been formatted with 2.1 and rebooted under DOS 3.21. Now everything is usable from the hard disk. What is going on? Is it a Sperry trait or is it DOS? I thought DOS was downward compatible. Thanks, Bryan Ferguson <dpbf@siuemus> Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Sep 87 15:36:57 edt From: Mike Watson <mwatson@NSWC-OAS.ARPA> Subject: Reports within Symphony Does anyone know of any packages to print a report from within Lotus Symphony that is a Formtool quality report? i.e. nice lines and boxes. Want something to run within Symphony so macros can be used. Thanks, Mike Watson mwatson@nswc.arpa ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Sep 87 20:40:13 EDT From: "James H. Coombs" <JAZBO%BROWNVM.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu> Subject: MSC Initializing Static Unions To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIC.ARPA I just had difficulty initializing static structures with unions containing members with different levels of indirection. Specifically, I want to store either an int or an int * in the same place, thus the union. When initializing unions, however, the compiler assigns the value to the first member of the union, so I had problems with indirection levels. I worked around the problem by putting the pointer first in the union and casting the ints to pointers, but I don't have much confidence in this approach. Is there a "right" way to do this? I could store all of these numbers in arrays, but the majority of the instances will be single valued, so I would prefer to save the extra two bytes that would be required in addition to the pointer to the array. Thanks for any suggestions. --Jim /* Union of single values and pointers to arrays of values. */ typedef union u_num { int *num_array; /* Pointer to array. */ int num_val; /* Single value. */ }; /* Table of numeric value(s)-string pairs. */ typedef struct ntable { union u_num nums; /* Value for the string. */ char *string; /* The string. */ }; /* Define mnemonics for the values. */ #define N_READ 87 #define N_READ_ING 172 #define N_READ_Y 34 /* Array of multiple values. First element is the number of values. */ int N_READS[] = {3, N_READ, N_READ_ING, N_READ_Y}; /* Initialize the table. */ struct ntable[] = { (int *)N_READ_Y, "ready", (int *)N_READS, "read-" }; Acknowledge-To: <JAZBO@BROWNVM> ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Sep 87 23:04 MDT From: <GLAHE%COLORADO.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu> Subject: Reconfiguration of Northgate Keyboard To: Info-IBMPC@C.ISI.EDU X-Original-To: EDU%"Info-IBMPC@C.ISI.EDU",glahe@colorao I recently purchased a Northgate Computer Systems New AT style keyboard that I am using with an XT clone that has a DTK bios. The keyboard has a switch on the bottom so that it is compatible with either XT or AT machines. It has the best touch of any keyboard that I have used, but when IBM designed this keyboard they put the left CapsLock where the Ctrl key should be and the Ctrl key where the CapsLock should be. In the June 9, 1987 issue of PC-Magazine there is a program described on page 413 for reversing these keys. It is written in assembly language and is reproduced below. My problem is that when I run the assembled and exe2bin version of this program, my keyboard locks up and I have to do a cold reboot. Can some- one advise me as to how the program can be modified so that it will work with my machine? Thanks. Glahe@Colorado on BitNet. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// CODE SEGMENT ASSUME CS:CODE,DS:CODE ORG 100H START: JMP INITIALIZE OLD_KEYBOARD DD ? CAPS_FLAG DB 0 NEW_KEYBOARD: PUSHF PUSH AX PUSH DS MOV AX,40H MOV DS,AX MOV AH,DS:[17H] IN AL,60H CAPS_PRESS: CMP AL,1DH JNZ CAPS_RELEASE CMP CS:CAPS_FLAG,1 JZ KEYBD_RESET XOR AH,01000000B MOV CS:CAPS_FLAG,1 JMP SHORT STORE CAPS_RELEASE: CMP AL,1DH+10000000B JNZ CTRL_PRESS MOV CS:CAPS_FLAG,0 JMP SHORT KEYBD_RESET CTRL_PRESS: CMP AL,3AH JNZ CTRL_RELEASE OR AH,00000100B JMP SHORT STORE CTRL_RELEASE: CMP AL,3AH+10000000B JNZ NO_BUSINESS AND AH,11111011B STORE: MOV DS:[17H],AH KEYBD_RESET: IN AL,61H MOV AH,AL OR AL,80H OUT 61H,AL XCHG AH,AL OUT 61H,AL CLI MOV AL,20H OUT 20H,AL POP DS POP AX POPF IRET NO_BUSINESS: POP DS POP AX POPF JMP CS:OLD_KEYBOARD INITIALIZE: MOV AX,3509H INT 21H MOV WORD PTR OLD_KEYBOARD,BX MOV WORD PTR OLD_KEYBOARD[2],ES MOV DX,OFFSET NEW_KEYBOARD MOV AX,2509H INT 21H MOV DX,OFFSET INITIALIZE+1 INT 27H CODE ENDS END START ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Sep 87 15:47 CET From: Helmut Waelder <ZRWA001%DTUZDV1.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu> Subject: PRTEGA.ASM To the author of PRTEGA.ASM please add code to reset the line spacing to normal after a graphics print: ESC 2 on Epson compatible printers, I think. Thanks Helmut (ZRWA001@DTUZDV1,BITNET) Acknowledge-To: Helmut Waelder <ZRWA001@DTUZDV1> [I have forwarded your message to James van Zandt woh wrote prtega. One of the reasons we call it the info-ibmpc LENDING library is we encourage others to add features to programs and give the enhanced program back to the library. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Sep 87 09:11:18 EDT From: Ray La Chance - SUNYA VM <SYSRML%albnyvm1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: PC NJE node Has anyone developed software to make their PC with a Bisync adapter look like an NJE node to a network?. I have an application that will be cont- inuously receiving data on an ASYNC adapter. I then want to package the data and pass it to a variable user on our VM system. It seems that setting up an NJE link to our RSCS would facilitate my needs very well. Besides the software, does anyone have any suggestions for the adapter boards I could use? Thank You. Ray La Chance SYSRML@ALBNYVM1.BITNET State University of New York at Albany Computing Services Center (518)442-3710 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Sep 87 13:28:17 PDT From: Todd Wipke <WIPKE@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU> Subject: Redirecting COM1 to Disk There are many spoolers that will redirect LPTn to COMn and some that redirect LPT1 to disk. I have a plotting program that I would like to do offline plotting with and need to create a disk file from the output going to COM1. If anyone knows of a public domain program that can redirect COM1 output to disk, please let us know. ------------------------------ Date: 24 Sep 87 16:58 EDT From: (Gary Chapman) <CHAPMAN@NYU-ACF7.ARPA> Subject: Security for IBM Model 30 Organization: New York University/Academic Computing Facility Systems Group Office: Rm 318, Warren Weaver Hall, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences Address: 251 Mercer Street, NY, NY 10012 Work-Phone: (212) 460-7160 or (212) 460-7181 Network-Address(es): Chapman@NYU, or ...!{seismo,allegra}!cmcl2!chapman The IBM model 30 has two punch holes in the rear for installation of a u-bolt, which one can presumably use to chain the machine to a desk. We have been unable to find a distributor of u-bolts small enough to fit the punch holes, which are approximately one inch apart. Has anyone done this procedure? -- Gary Chapman, NYU Microcomputer Lab ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------