Info-IBMPC@C.ISI.EDU (Info-IBMPC Digest) (08/06/87)
Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 5 August 1987 Volume 6 : Issue 54
This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge
Today's Topics:
Update to MOUSE.E
DESQVIEW
Procomm 2.4.2 Old Patch is Best Patch
ARC PKARC The REAL Story
TERM.CAT and PRAXIS.CAT
STARLAN SIZE LIMIT
PCs as LAN Servers
Prt-Screen problem with PCDOS & NEC 8023A printer
PKARC/PKXARC 3.5 Available from SIMTEL20
Microemacs Sources on BITNET
List of UNIX(R) Tools for MS-DOS
IBMCACHE
Drive Tables IOCTL 44H
Using 2 Printers with Turbo Pascal
Memory Resident Program Extractor MARK&REL
Turbo C
Hebrew Fonts for HP Laser Printer from SoftFonts
MicroEmacs 3.8L now available from SIMTEL20
Turbo C Patches Available
INFO-IBMPC BBS Phone Numbers: (213)827-2635 (213)827-2515
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1987 18:36 EDT
From: LENOIL@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU
Subject: Update to MOUSE.E
Dear Editor:
... be sent to the readership
in its entirety. Specifically, my statement that, "If you don't feel like
editing the file, send me a note and I'll mail you the entire file" was
directed to you, the librarian, not the world at large. My intention was that
you update the MOUSE.E on C.ISI.EDU and broadcast the change and the fact that
the lending library's sources had been updated. I did not mean to solicit
requests from the net for copies by mail of the full program; that's what the
lending library is there for. I would appreciate if you'd post this
clarification to the bulletin board.
Thank you,
Robert Lenoil
[Sorry about that. <INFO-IBMPC.EEL>MOUSE.E has been updated in our lending
library. -wab]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 87 09:31:41 PDT
From: Jim Celoni <celoni@shasta.stanford.edu>
Subject: DESQVIEW
DV 2.0 does 9600 baud comm in background with no problems. I successfully used
1.21 and 1.30 for concurrent editing/DOS/comm too. +j
------------------------------
From: Gordon W. Ross <gwr%linus@mitre-bedford.ARPA>
Date: 24 Jul 87 19:37:40 GMT
Subject: Procomm 2.4.2 Old Patch is Best Patch
Please restore the old <msdos.modem-utils>prcm242.pat which I recently
updated. David Escalante just informed me that my "improved" patch
breaks the kermit transfer facilities in procomm. I guess I owe an
apology to all those who modified their copies of procomm with the
faulty patch. Sorry. I did use the faulty patch for more than a
year, but I guess I didn't use kermit on that machine.
Therefore, to fix your copy of procomm (v. 2.4.2), even if you have
applied the recent, faulty patch, do the following:
(Removes recent patch and applies old one.)
RENAME PROCOMM.EXE PROCOMM.BIN
DEBUG PROCOMM.BIN
E 083D E8 3A 7E
E 8686 0
W
Q
RENAME PROCOMM.BIN PROCOMM.EXE
If I find a better way to patch the program I'll post it, otherwise
just stick with the old patch (E 8686 0).
Gordon W. Ross Phone: (617) 271-3205
The MITRE Corporation ARPA: linus!gwr@MITRE-BEDFORD
Bedford, MA 01730 UUCP: decvax!linus!gwr
------------------------------
Date: 22 Jul 87 03:50:22 GMT
From: Phil Katz <katz@UWM-CS.MILW.WISC.EDU>
Subject: ARC PKARC The REAL Story
What is this article?
It's an response from me, Phil Katz, author of PKARC and
PKXARC, in an attempt to answer common questions,
misconceptions, and downright ugly rumors propagated by the
misinformed in regards to PKARC and PKXARC.
The specs for Squashing were never released.
FALSE! In early January 1987, shortly after PKARC 2.0 with
Squashing was released, the file SQSHINFO.DOC was released
detailing the format of Squashed files. This file can be
found on many BBS's across the country.
Why wasn't a different extension used for archives with
Squashed files?
Mainly, because using a different extension would cause many
more problems than it would solve. By the time PKARC 2.0
was being developed, there were many programs with .ARC
specific code in them, such as disk cataloguers, directory
programs, communications software, BBS software, and others
that treated .ARC files special from ordinary files. The
vast majority of these programs never extracted files, and
couldn't care less if files were "Squashed", "Stomped", or
"Mashed". Changing the extension of archives created by
PKARC would mean that all these programs would have to be
kludged for the new extension.
Earlier versions of PKARC could handle archives with
Squashed members with no problems whatsoever. Earlier
versions of PKXARC would simply skip over any Squashed
files, and issue a warning that the file was compressed in
an unknown way. Only SEA's ARC program and Buerg's programs
would bomb out completely on these files.
Since PKARC and PKXARC could read *ALL* archives made by
*ANY* archive program back to SEA's ARC 1.00, keeping the
extension of .ARC creates much less confusion than creating
an entirely new extension for everyone to have to deal with.
Why was type 9 used for Squashed files, rather than type 8
with a 13-bit identifier?
Type 8 "crunched" files are non-repeat packed (DLE encoded)
before the file is crunched, and similarity are non-repeat
unpacked after the file is uncrunched.
When developing Squashing, I found that on the vast majority
of files, that slightly higher compression ratios could be
achieved by *NOT* performing the non-repeat packing/unpacking.
Also, a significant amount of execution time could be saved if
it wasn't necessary to do the packing and unpacking.
If Squashed files, which were NOT packed, were stored as
type 8 in the archive header with a 13 bit identifier, it
would be inconsistent with the type 8 12-bit files, which
were packed. Therefore, it was necessary to give Squashed
files a unique file type number.
PKARC has problems with memory allocation.
Well, PKARC 2.0 had problems when a large DOS environment
was present. It would abort with the message "Insufficient
memory". The Lattice C startup module copies the
environment strings into the static 64K data segment before
calling _main(). Since PKARC 2.0 had already used up nearly
all of the static data segment with tables and buffers etc.,
the startup module would abort if it couldn't allocate
enough heap space in the data segment to hold a copy of the
environment.
Note that all error messages displayed by PKARC start with
the phrase "PKARC: " whereas this one didn't, and was
generated by the Lattice library routines. In addition,
there is not *ANY* documentation in the Lattice C manuals
that the startup module copied the environment strings into
the data segment when using the small memory model. I found
this out by tracing the execution of the startup module.
This problem has been resolved in PKARC version 3.5.
PKXARC crashes on damaged archives.
Not anymore. Admittedly, earlier versions of PKXARC would
lock up, crash, burn, cause floods and other major natural
disasters when a damaged or corrupted archive was
encountered.
However, PKXARC 3.5 is *UNCRASHABLE*! PKXARC 3.5 has loop
checks and other fault tolerant reliability mechanisms built
in to it. To date, there have been *NO* verifiable reports
of PKXARC 3.5 ever crashing. If anyone can make PKXARC 3.5
crash, please inform me ASAP.
PKARC and PKXARC have trouble with RAMdisks, EMS memory etc.
NO! PKARC and PKXARC are completely MS-DOS generic
programs. They will run on TI Pro's, DEC Rainbows and all
MS-DOS machines. All I/O is done through standard MS-DOS
file handle calls. All memory allocation is done through
standard MS-DOS memory allocation calls. Neither PKARC nor
PKXARC make any BIOS calls, or directly manipulate any
hardware. If there are any incompatibilities with memory or
device drivers, it is because they fail to execute legal
MS-DOS calls, or otherwise affect the normal operation of
MS-DOS. To date, I have not received any verifiable reports
of any problems with RAMdisks or EMS memory.
The -g option of PKARC is not compatible with SEA's -g option.
FALSE! The encrypt/decrypt functions added to PKARC and
PKXARC version 3.5 were designed to be totally compatible
with SEA's (rather primitive) encryption algorithm. Any
instances where PKARC creates a non-degarbleable file with
SEA's ARC should be considered to be either a bug in PKARC
or ARC. Again, if anyone knows of any instances where the
-g option of PKARC and ARC work differently, please let me
know ASAP.
What ARE the known problems with PKARC and/or PKXARC version 3.5?
There are two known bugs in PKARC version 3.5 dealing with
temporary files.
Under DOS 2.x, PKARC by default will try to create a file
called "./$PKARC.CRN". This works in every subdirectory,
except the root directory in DOS 2.xx. If you try to open
this file in root directory under DOS 3.xx however, it works
just fine. When archiving a large file or using the archive
comment feature of PKARC while in the root directory in DOS
2.xx, PKARC will abort with the message "PKARC: Can't create
./$PKARC.CRN".
This problem can be solved by using the PKARCTMP environment
variable to tell PKARC what drive/directory to use for
temporary files, such as SET PKARCTMP=/ for example.
Alternatively, PKARC can be patched to eliminate the bug as
follows:
debug pkarc.com
e 4aa8 2f 0
w
q
Under DOS 3.xx, after archiving many large files, PKARC may
abort with a "Can't create" error, and the file name given
will be different each time. This is due to an error in the
Lattice C ver 3.1 manual for the dunique() function. In the
Lattice C ver 3.1 manual on page F-65 it says:
"Note that dunique does not actually open the file, so
the return value on success is not a file handle."
WRONG! dunique() calls MS-DOS function 0x5A, which sure as
anything opens the file for read/write access and returns a
file handle!
The result is that PKARC first calls dunique() and then
calls dcreat() to open the file (because dunique() doesn't
according to the manual . . .) which would cause two file
handles to be consumed each time a temp file is created, and
only one handle is returned via dclose(). Depending on the
FILES=xx value in the CONFIG.SYS file, PKARC can eventually
run out of handles. (As an aside, Lattice C will probably
be abandoned in all future MS-DOS releases of PKARC/PKXARC).
This problem can fixed by the following patch:
debug pkarc.com
e a62 eb 14
e 105a a3 46 ea eb 20
w
q
There are *NO* known bugs in PKXARC version 3.5.
When will we see a UNIX version of PKARC and PKXARC?
Hopefully rather soon. Since the original MS-DOS versions of
PKARC and PKXARC used a significant amount of assembly code,
it wasn't easy to convert these to portable C. Nevertheless,
a portable C version of PKXARC now exists which works under
MS-DOS, Amiga, and VAX/VMS. An Amiga version of PKXARC is
slated for release this August. VAX/VMS and Unix versions of
the software are currently under development.
>Phil Katz>
Exec-PC BBS, Shorewood WI ......... 414-964-5160, 24 hours, 1200/2400 baud
Fargo BBS, Fargo ND ............... 701-293-5973, 24 hours, 1200/2400 baud
Sound of Music BBS, Oceanside NY .. 516-536-8723, 24 hours, 1200/2400 baud
USENET ............................ uwvax!uwmcsd1!uwm-cs.milw.wisc.EDU!katz
BIX ............................... Username: philkatz
U.S. Mail ......................... 7032 N. Ardara Ave., Glendale, WI 53209
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 87 13:47:03 edt
From: karl@hipl (Karl Gegenfurtner)
To: cmcl2!info-ibmpc-request@usc-isib.arpa
Subject: TERM.CAT and PRAXIS.CAT
I am sending two programs, which I have also sent to simtel, together
with the executable versions.
Term is a memory resident communications program. It has no file
transfer capabilities, but emulates a z-19 terminal. Term is ideal, if
you do work on a mainframe and use your PC as a terminal. With one
press of the hotkey, term switches from PC to mainframe or the other
way around. A built in alarm feature will notify you of mail or of
talk requests, if you are running a Unix system.
The accompanying installation program sets baud rate, com-port, hotkey
and other comm-parameters.
Praxis is a subroutine for the minimization of a function in several
variables. Versions in C, Turbo-Pascal and Unix pascal are included,
together with a small demo program.
Term was written by Hans Irtel of Regensburg, West Germany, and me.
The implementation of Praxis is based on a routine by R.P. Brent in a
book on minimization. Both of these programs are free and can be used
by anyone for any purpose.
Because both programs consist of several modules, I concatenated them,
using an old program called 'archc'. It's easy to split the files,
the archive is pure ascii, and header lines begin with '-h-'.
I also have a version of Jove for MSDOS, which I'm planning to send to
the simtel-archives very soon now. It has several advantages over
previous MSDOS versions:
- It was ported directly from the latest (4.6.1.4) Unix version, which
has some new features over the older Version 2.0. Also the code in
version 4.6 is much cleaner (integers and pointers) than in the
previous one, which gave lots of warnings on compilation. Some of the
new features are backups on write, comment formatting and
filename-completion. Also I implemented commands like filter-region,
which were previously not available under DOS-JOVE.
- The screen interface uses Bios calls only and does not write into
screen memory directly, as the previous version did. Thus there is no
flicker on color monitors.
- The full 8-bit character set is supported, as are all the function
keys on the PC-keyboard.
- Versions are available for IBMPC, generic MSDOS and DEC Rainbows.
The main advantage of JOVE over Micro-Emacs is, that it's much faster.
I am willing to send the files per email to anyone, who does not have
access to the info-ibmpc library or the simtel archives.
Karl Gegenfurtner
arpa: karl@hipl.psych.nyu.edu
uucp: ...{seismo|ihnp4|allegra}!cmcl2!xp!hipl!karl
usps: Department of Psychology, NYU
6 Washington Place, 8th fl.
New York, NY 10003
[TERM.CAT and PRAXIS.CAT have been added to the info-ibmpc lending
library. -wab]
------------------------------
Date: 27 JUL 87 11:35 EDT
From: V2002A%TEMPLEVM.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu
Subject: STARLAN SIZE LIMIT
Doug Gee (DMGee@his-phoenix-multics-arpa) inquired about LAN size:
The question of LAN size is as much a function of configuration
of the hardware as of the hardware itself. STARLAN has a limit of 10
machines per "network". However, when several "networks" are linked
via a master Network Expansion Unit, the number goes up to 200.
There is a lot of literature available from ATT about STARLAN.
They (still?) offer seminars on STARLAN which I thought were quite
good.
Andy Wing <V2002A@TEMPLEVM.BITNET>
------------------------------
Subject: PCs as LAN Servers
Date: 28 Jul 87 01:53:39 EDT (Tue)
From: campbell@maynard.BSW.COM
<> ...I am curious to know what the maximum usable number of active nodes in
<>a good LAN (say Novell) is.
<>
<> The most I have heard of is several dozen; certainly less than 100. A
<>salesman is proposing a 300 node LAN as a feasible solution to a potential
<>customer. Surely the man is dreaming.
Surely you are suffering from PC tunnel vision. Yes, if you're using
mere PCs for servers, a 300-node network is dreaming. But if you're
talking real machines on a real net (for instance, VAXes on an Ethernet,
or Apollo work stations on a ring) then a LAN of thousands of nodes
is quite feasible.
There are a number of factors that can conspire to limit the size of
a LAN -- probably more factors than have occurred to you. They include:
1. CPU power of the server(s)
2. disk throughput of the server(s) (here is where PCs fall flat)
3. intelligence of the LAN interface board (does it filter out
multicast messages, for example, or must the CPU do that)
4. raw bit rate on the LAN wire (less important than you might
think, usually less important than 1-3)
5. LAN software cleverness or stupidity (MS-NET, for instance,
is quite suboptimal where performance is concerned)
In any event, a 300-node LAN is quite reasonable, *if* you have decent
interface boards, 10 MB or better raw bit rate, good software, and
something better than PCs for servers.
(By "PC" I mean almost any Intel-based box, or anything with ST506 or SCSI
disks...)
--
Larry Campbell The Boston Software Works, Inc.
Internet: campbell@BSW.COM 120 Fulton Street, Boston MA 02109
uucp: {husc6,mirror,think}!maynard!campbell +1 617 367 6846
[Clearly the blocking disk I/O of IBM BIOS and DOS is the major limiting
factor of disk or file servers. I don't think much of 3Comm's software, but
I think even they must bypass BIOS to achieve any throughput. US Designs
has an interesting approach to this problem. They make a disk that contains
lots of memory and a 68000 that does head optimization. This makes even
IBM BIOS's dumb busy wait I/O very fast.
Another solution is lots of RAM disk or RAM for disk caching. One can
tolerate a pretty slow server with lots of local RAM to cache frequently
used files. -wab]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 87 14:34:34 EDT
From: Michael Friendly <FRIENDLY%YORKVM1.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu>
Subject: Prt-Screen problem with PCDOS & NEC 8023A printer
cc: Keith Petersen <W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARPA>
>I am having a strange problem with "Prt Sc" on an IBM-PC/XT running
>PCDOS 3.3. My printer is a NEC PC-8023A. When I copy files to PRN or
>use control-P it works fine. When I use Prt Sc to dump the screen to
>the printer, everything prints on one line. It's as if the DOS Prt Sc
>function is stripping all line feeds or simply not adding them. Has
>anyone else had this problem? I don't want to turn on the printer's
>auto line feed on receipt of carriage return because that would result
I have the same printer and encountered the same problems.
GRAPHICS.COM simply doesn't support non-IBM/EPSON printers. I have
found several software packages which provide solution to this
problem:
PRNT-SC
PRNT-SET
PRNT-CHR
Specifically geared to the NEC8023A. PRNT-SC is memory resident,
intercepts interrupt 05, produces screen dumps (graphics or text) with
equal facility, is fairly fast, provides support for italics,
integrates well with most wordprocessors, comes with an extensive
manual. PRNT-CHR gives IBM graphics character support flawlessly.
It is fairly slow when you print e.g., text with graphics character
boxes, but never fails. PRNT-SET is a menu-driven non-resident utility
to turn on bold-face or set 17cpi etc.
Available from: Soft & Friendly <<NO relation>>
Soft & Friendly
Address: (Attn: Michael Hoyt)
R2 Box 65
Solsbery IN 47459
Phone: 812-825-7384
Shareware: $45.00 I think. Well worth it.
PROEPSIM
PROSCRN (sp?)
etc.
A disk full of utilities for the C-Itoh Prowriter, the same printer
mechanism as the NEC8023A. PROEPSIM is memory resident, simulates an
Epson FX (I think), does a reasonably fast and reliable job of
print screen and graphics characters on the NEC. It seems to take
over the printer until you reboot, however, unless I missed in the
manual how to disable the critter.
Available from: C-ITOH directly. Supposed to be for C-Itoh
dealers. (``Can it emulate an Epson?'' ``Sure!'')
As far as I know, it is not available commercially.
GRAFPLUS
Advertised in the Buyer's Mart in BYTE as supporting ANY printer
and many graphics cards. It has worked on all the ones I've tried,
including LaserJet. Allows you to Prt-Sc in portrait or landscape
orientation, small or large size [selectable when you install it]
Graphics dumps are slower than PRNT_SC, graphics characters not as
good, but acceptable.
Available from: Jewell Technologies
4740 44th Av. SW
($49.95) Seattle WA 98116
Hope this helps
-- Snail Mail -- ** E-mail **
Michael Friendly BITNET: FRIENDLY@YORKVM1
Psychology Department Othernet: FRIENDLY@YORKVM1.BITNET
York University or FRIENDLY%YORKVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
Toronto ONT CompuServe: 72777,253
CANADA M3J 1P3 Voice: (416) 736-5118 x6249
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1987 22:24 MDT
From: Keith Petersen <W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARPA>
Subject: PKARC/PKXARC 3.5 Available from SIMTEL20
PKARC/PKXARC version 3.5 is available from SIMTEL20...
Filename Type Bytes CRC
Directory PD:<MSDOS.ARC-LBR>
PKARC35P.ARC.1 BINARY 1792 0F6FH
PKX35A35.EXE.1 BINARY 71680 3DDFH
The ARC is a patch file for those who wish to make no squash the
default. The EXE is the entire PKARC/PKXARC package, self extracting.
--Keith
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 87 18:13:12 CET
From: Eberhard W. Lisse <LISSE%DACTH51.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu>
Subject: Microemacs Sources on BITNET
Regarding the note by larry@jpl-VLSI.ARPA on where to get microemacs
sources from, I might add, that I have recently received 3.8i and will
get 3.9 once it will be ready to be shipped. (That one will support
Turbo-C)
I am willing to send it to anybody on the BITNET (or its clones EARN
and NETNORTH)
regards, el
------------------------------
From: psc@lznv.att.com (Paul S. R. Chisholm)
Subject: List of UNIX(R) Tools for MS-DOS
Date: 29 Jul 87 03:57:57 GMT
< "I'm *not* expendable, I'm *not* stupid, and I'm *NOT* going!" >
I've collected a list of UNIX(R)-like tools that run under MS-DOS(TM).
A lot of this information is from Harry Avant's article, "UNIX Shells
and Utilities for DOS PCs" in the June 1987 issue of UNIX/World; the
rest is from various advertisements. I'd be interested in others that
any of you know, or experience you've had with them. A collection of
UNIX-like public domain and shareware tools was just posted to
comp.binaries.ibm.pc, but I haven't had a chance to look at it yet.
I'm primarily interested in supported commercial tools. Please send
mail to Internet psc@lznv.att.com, AT&T Mail !psrchisholm, or Usenet
lznv!psc via mtune, allegra, cbosgd, ihnp4, or any other Action
Central site. -Paul S. R. Chisholm
MKS Toolkit, $140US: Mortice Kern Systems, 43 Bridgeport Road East,
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2J 2J4, 519-884-2251. Includes awk,
banner, basename, c, cal, cat, cd, chmod, cmp, comm, cp, cpio, crypt,
ctags, cut, date, dd, deroff, dev, df, diff, dirname, du, echo, ed,
egrep, env, expand, expr, fg, fgrep, file, find, fmt, fold, getopt,
grep, head, help, init, join, kill, lc, line, login, ls, mkdir, more,
mv, nm, od, pack, passwd, paste, pcat, pr, prof, ps, pwd, rev, rm,
rmdir, sed, sh (really ksh), size, sleep, sort, split, strings, strip,
sum, switch, tail, tee, test, time, touch, tr, uname, unexpand, uniq,
unpack, unstrip, vi (included, but also available separately), wc,
which, who. MasterCard and Visa accepted.
Comments: A friend of mine just ordered from them. He said they
sounded like stereotypical, "Great White North" Canadians. He also said
version 2.2 was shipping (registered users can upgrade for $45US; new
disks, all new manuals.). They have site licenses available (and some
AT&T sites have them). I've heard *very* good things about these
people. MKS vi still supports, but no longer requires, an ANSI device
driver. They're on Usenet somewhere, and provide support via phone,
paper mail, and email! Final note: how come we Americans can't sell
those nasty furriners *any* encryption software, but these Canadians
can sell us crypt(1)? (Flames to /dev/null, *please*!)
PC/VI, $149; PC/TOOLS, $49; PC/SPELL, $49: Custom Software Systems, PO
Box 678, Natick, MA 01760, 617-653-2555. Includes banner, bfs, cal,
chmod, cut, diff, diffh, diff3, grep, head, make, od, paste, pr, rm,
sed, see, sort, spell (separate package), split, strings, tail, touch,
tr, vi (separate package), wc. American Express, MasterCard, and Visa
accepted.
Comments: They had the first good PC implementation of vi; I've heard
good things about it. Don't know anything about PC/TOOLS. PC/SPELL
does prefix and suffix stripping, but from the ad, it looks like just a
spelling *checker*, not a spelling *corrector*.
PCNX, $49: Wendin, PO Box 3888, Spokane, WA 99220-3888, 509-624-8088.
Includes at, cat, cmp, cp, cron, date, df, echo, false, file, find,
finger, getty, grep, group, grppswd, head, kill, line, logname, lpd,
lpr, ls, mail, mkdir, mkgroup, mkuser, more, mv, news, nice, nohup, od,
passwd, pr, ps, rev, rm, rmdir, rmgroup, rmuser, sh, sleep, strings,
stty, tail, tee, test, time, touch, true, tty, uniq, wc, who, whodo,
write. American Express, MasterCard, Visa accepted.
Comments: PCNX is a UNIX-like environment; not just UNIX-like tools,
but multi-processing under MS-DOS. I don't know if you can use these
utilities from vanilla MS-DOS, or only while running PCNX. Wendin is
now pushing "Wendin-DOS", a $99 "multitasking, multiuser MS-DOS
replacement". Anyone know what's up in Spokane these days?
PercentShell, $95: Thompson Automation, PO Box 5163, Beaverton OR
97006, 503-645-9434. Includes cat, chmod, cmp, cp, cu, cut, df, diff,
du, egrep, fgrep, grep, head, login, ls, mf, mkdir, more, mv, paste,
pr, printenv, pwd, rm, rmdir, sed, sh (some csh/ksh functions), split,
tail, tee, touch, tr, uudecode, uuencode, wc, whereis.
Micro C-Shell, $50; Micro C-Tools, $25; Micro Make, $25; Beckemeyer
Development Tools, 478 Santa Clara Ave., Suite 300, Oakland CA 94610,
415-452-1129. Includes banner, cal, chmod, cmp, csh (separately),
date, dc, detab, diff, entab, fgrep, file, find, head, lpr, make, num,
od, pick, pr, rpl, sed, show, sort, split, strings, tail, tee, touch,
uniq, wc.
Comments: also available for Atari ST.
Utility Pack, $75: Peak InfoSystems, 727 Manitou Ave., Manitou
Springs, CO 80829, 303-685-1137. Includes calendar, calpath, cat, cb,
chgvol, chmod, cl, col, crypt, d, df, e, ed, extract, grep, latest,
list, pg, prep, ptx1, ptx2, ptxpath, red, renum, sort, split, table,
tail, tee, tolower, touch, tr, uniq, update, uptime.
Comments: cat (at least) knows about WordStar files (eighth bit on).
Also includes disk twiddler, Epson printer utilities, and a loan
amortization program (oh, gee!)
DOS Helper, $50: MetaWare, 903 Pacific Ave., Suite 201, Santa Cruz CA
95060-4429, 408-429-6382. Includes cat, find, fgrep, ls, mv, tail,
uniq, wc.
Comments: find knows how to create (UNIX-compatible??) "tar" archives.
Aztek C86-d Developer System, $299: Manx Software Systems, 1
Industrial Way, Eatontown NJ 07724, 800-221-0440, 205-542-2121.
American Express, MasterCard, Visa accepted. Includes cc, diff, grep,
make, vi.
Comments: This is really a C compiler with some UNIX-like utilities.
Anyone know if the utilities are available separately? Also available
for Apple II, TRS-80, CP/M-80, Macintosh, Amiga.
Text Management Utilities, $120: Lattice, PO Box 3072, Glen Ellyn IL
60138, 312-858-7950. Includes diff, ed, grep, wc, and non-UNIX
utilities (build, extract, files, splat).
Personal PVCS, $149; PVCS, $395: Polytron, 1815 NW 169th Pl.,
Beaverton OR 97006, 800-547-4000, 503-684-3000.
Comments: A "Version Control System". They also sell a $150 make.
UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T.
MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft.
I'm not speaking for my employer, I'm just speaking my mind.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1987 11:11 EDT
From: Villy G Madsen <VMADSEN%UALTAVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU>
Subject: IBMCACHE
The speedup noticeable with this product when first starting a program
is due to its look ahead capability. It can read more sectors than you
have asked for, and seems to do its caching on a page basis. A page
can be set to 1, 2, 4 or 8 sectors, and if you ask for any sector in a
page then the entire page is read in. This accounts for a lot of the
speed up claimed for the model 50 drives. It works best with the PS/2
drives that are formatted with no skew at all, i.e. sector 2 follows
sector 1 etc. For the other systems out there with skews of 2 or 3
some improvement may be noticed. For those with 6, I doubt if any
improvement would be noticed on startup, with the larger page sizes.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1987 11:47 EDT
From: Villy G Madsen <VMADSEN%UALTAVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU>
Subject: Drive Tables IOCTL 44H
A while back, I sent a note discussing the fact that the DRIVPARMS entry in
CONFIG.SYS no longer works.
After some research, I have found that PC/DOS 3.2 and 3.3 support a new
IOCTL (FUNCTION 44H) call. Function 44H with Al=0DH, and CH = 08H provide
a number of subfunctions viz: CL = 40H Set device parameters
= 60H Get device parameters
and a bunch more.
It is explained as well as can be expected in the applicable Technical
References. I have included a short MASM program that can be used to set the
characteristics of the B floppy so that it can be formatted with only 10
cylinders. The following program segment sets the default parameters
which are really only used by FORMAT. If you read a disk, then the actual
BPB is read from the boot block and used for all I/O operations to that
disk (other than a FORMAT).
PAGE ,132
CSEG SEGMENT PARA PUBLIC 'CODE'
ASSUME CS:CSEG,DS:CSEG
SetDT PROC
JMP StartOfCode
A_DeviceParameters:
SpecialFunctions: db 04h ; this is the new default BPB
; all sectors are the same size
DeviceType: db 00h ; 320/360kb 5.25" floppy
DeviceAttributes: dw 00h ; no change line support
; media is removable
NumberOfCylinders: dw 5
MediaType: db 01h ; media type is dd ds 5.25"
DeviceBpB:
BytesPerSector dw 512
SectorsPerCluster db 2
ReservedSectors dw 1
NumberOfFats db 2
RootEntries dw 32
TotalSectors dw 90
MediaDescriptor db 0F0H
SectorsPerFat dw 1
SectorsPerTrack dw 9
Heads dw 2
HiddenSectors dd 0
Reserved_1 dd ?
Reserved_2 db 6 dup(0)
TrackLayout:
SectorCount: dw 9h
SectorNumber: dw 1h
SectorSize: dw 200h
etc: dw 2h
dw 200h
dw 3h
dw 200h
dw 4h
dw 200h
dw 5h
dw 200h
dw 6h
dw 200h
dw 7h
dw 200h
dw 8h
dw 200h
dw 9h
dw 200h
StartOfCode:
MOV AH,44H
MOV AL,0DH
MOV BL,2
MOV CH,08H
MOV CL,40H
PUSH CS
POP DS
MOV DX,Offset A_DeviceParameters
INT 21H
mov ah,4ch
int 21h
SetDT ENDP
CSEG ENDS
END
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 87 22:34:51 CDT
From: "Curtis Bohl" <C386104%UMCVMB.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu>
Subject: Using 2 Printers with Turbo Pascal
>I have just started using Turbo-Pascal in a Radio-Shack Tandy PC-AT.
>I would like to know how I can access two printers (connected to S-8 and
>S-10 )? I tried the "writeprinter" routine given in Turbo-Pascal
>book...it does seem to print, but the characters are sometime printed twice
>and it is extremely slow...
You might want to try assigning a Pascal file to the LPT1: or LPT2: device.
Example:
var LPTR_FILE: test;
begin
Assign(LPTR_FILE,'LPT1');(* or LPT2 as the case may be *)
Rewrite (LPTR_FILE);
Writeln (LPTR_FILE,'This is a printer test');
Close (LPTR_FILE)
end.
The MS-DOS printer name can be in a string that can be changed to
whichever printer is needed.
Curtis Bohl <C386104%UMCVMB@WISCVM.ARPA>
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 87 20:29:36 EDT
From: David Kirschbaum <kirsch@braggvax.arpa>
Subject: Memory Resident Program Extractor MARK&REL
To permit easy "unloading" of memory resident (TSR) programs, I'd
suggest the package MARK&REL (usually MARK&REL.ARC on most BBS's),
composed of two utilities, MARK.COM and RELEASE.COM. (Public domain
or freeware or something, not commercial programs.)
You run MARK with a unique name or identifier, e.g.,
MARK FOOB
MARK remembers the current state of Page 0.
You then install the TSR just like normal. (All this can work from a
batch file, of course.)
Any time you wish to "unload" the TSR, or ANYTHING for that matter
that was loaded after that MARK, just enter: RELEASE FOOB
RELEASE looks through memory for the appropriate MARK, restores Page 0
per the data MARK saved, and terminates. All is as before.
This does NOT give any indication as to how much memory your TSR used,
but a utility like MEMSIZ, run before and after you install your TSR,
can tell you that quickly and simply.
Nicest and simplest way I've found to install and uninstall TSRs,
rather than reboot. Buddy of mine includes these routines in a
batch-file menu, so MARKs and RELEASEs happen automatically and
invisibly.
David Kirschbaum
Toad Hall
kirsch@braggvax.ARPA
------------------------------
Date: 1987 Jul 30 22:03 EDT
From: (Bob Babcock) PEPRBV@CFAAMP.BITNET
To: bonak@cs.uiowa.edu
Subject: Turbo C
I don't have Turbo C to experiment with, but I think that your
problem may have to do with a difference between K&R C and ANSI C.
According to K&R, all floats are promoted to doubles before being
passed as function arguments, but I believe that ANSI C can leave the
numbers as floats if there is a function prototype in scope. In your
example, there is no prototype for operate(a,b), so a and b are
presumably promoted to double. But in operate, a and b are declared as
float. So try either changing a and b to double in operate, or declare
void operate(float, float); in main and see if that helps.
------------------------------
Date: 1987 Jul 30 22:14 EDT
From: (Bob Babcock) PEPRBV@CFAAMP.BITNET
To: (Info-IBMPC Digest) Info-IBMPC@C.ISI.EDU
Subject: Turbo C
I don't have Turbo C, but according to my Computer Innovations C
manual, the format %g is for floats, and doubles require %lg or
%G. Since scanf is only passed a pointer, it must use the format
specifier to get the type of the variable to be stored. Since
doubles and floats use different numbers of bits for the
exponent, you get garbage numbers, not just undefined values in
the least significant bits.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 87 14:06 EDT
From: DON%atc.bendix.com@RELAY.CS.NET
Subject: Hebrew Fonts for HP Laser Printer from SoftFonts
To: 5103%lsn.mfenet@NMFECC.ARPA
SoftFonts appears to have Hebrew characters available in several
different type faces for the HP laser printers. I've used their
other fonts and their font editor. They are very good, especially if
you use MS Word.
Their phone number: (800)351-0500
Don Mitchell Don@atc.bendix.com
Bendix Aero. Tech. Ctr. Don%atc.bendix.com@relay.cs.net
9140 Old Annapolis Rd. (301)964-4156
Columbia, MD 21045
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1987 23:18 MDT
From: Keith Petersen <W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARPA>
Subject: MicroEmacs 3.8L now available from SIMTEL20
MicroEmacs version 3.8L is now available via standard anonymous FTP
from SIMTEL20:
Filename Type Bytes CRC
Directory PD:<MSDOS.MEMACS>
EM38LBIN.ARC.1 BINARY 222208 0BCBH
EM38LDOC.ARC.1 BINARY 93312 C2B2H
EM38LSRC.ARC.1 BINARY 237425 3CECH
The DOC and SRC files are also available individually in directory
PD:<MISC.MICROEMACS>.
Here is the author's README file:
MicroEMACS 3.8i Release Notes April 26, 1987
[amended for version 3.8l June 5th 1987]
**********************************************************************
(C)opyright 1987 by Daniel M. Lawrence
MicroEMACS 3.8 can be copied and distributed freely for any
non-commercial purposes. MicroEMACS 3.8 can only be incorporated
into commercial software with the permission of the current author.
**********************************************************************
MicroEMACS 3.8i is available in a couple of different ways.
First, it is available via my bulletin board system.....
The Programmer's Room
FIDO 201/2
(317) 742-5533
24 hours 300/1200 baud
Also it should be online on the following BBS's:
The Starship Trooper Fido 201/1 (317) 423-2281 2400
Duncan Communications (317) 567-2143 2400
There it is arranged as three MSDOS .ARC files, EMACSDOC.ARC
which contains the documentation and command files, EMACSSRC.ARC which
contains the sources and the UNIX Makefile, and EMACSEXE.EXE which
contains the MSDOS executables. Also all the various executables are
available individually. (On Duncan Communications, only the sources and
documents are present as shar files).
EMACSDOC.ARC includes the files:
README This file
EMACS.RC Standard startup file
ME110.RC HP110 startup file
ME150.RC HP150 startup file
AMIGA.RC AMIGA ".emacsrc" startup file
EMACS.HLP Online help file
EMACS.TUT Online tutorial
EMACS.MSS MicroSCRIBE format of EMACS.TXT
EMACS.TXT NEW EMACS BEGINNER'S/REFERENCE MANUAL
(missing the formatted version right now....)
AZMAP.CMD Translate .SYM files to .MAP
BDATA.CMD BASIS Data statement builder
MENU.CMD Sample Menu system
MENU1 datafile for menu system
TRAND.CMD Generate random numbers and do statistics on them
EMACSSRC.ARC includes the files:
ANSI.C ANSI screen driver
BASIC.C basic cursor movement
BIND.C key binding commands
BUFFER.C buffer manipulation commands
CRYPT.C encryption functions
DG10.C Data General 10 screen driver
DISPLAY.C main display driver
EBIND.H binding list
EDEF.H global variable declarations
EFUNC.H function name list
EPATH.H default path settings
ESTRUCT.H configuration and structure definitions
EVAL.C expression evaluator
EVAR.H EMACS macro variable declarations
EXEC.C macro execution functions
FILE.C user file functions
FILEIO.C low level file I/O driver
HP110.C HP110 screen driver
HP150.C HP150(A or C) screen driver
IBMPC.C IBM-PC CGA and MONOCHROME driver
INPUT.C low level user input driver
ISEARCH.C incremental search functions
LINE.C text line manipulation functions
LOCK.C file locking functions
MAIN.C argument parsing and command loop
RANDOM.C other random user functions
REGION.C region cut & paste functions
SEARCH.C search and replace functions
SPAWN.C OS interface driver
ST520.C ATARI ST1040 screen driver [not verified]
TCAP.C Termcap screen driver
TERMIO.C low level I/O driver
TIPC.C TI-PC screen driver
VMSVT.C VMS screen driver
VT52.C VT52 screen driver
WINDOW.C window manipulation functions
WORD.C word manipulation functions
Z309.C Zenith 100 PC series terminal driver
EMACSEXE.ARC includes the files:
MEIBM.EXE IBM-PC CGA/MONO/EGA version
MEANSI.EXE MSDOS ANSI graphics version
ME110.EXE HP110 portable version
ME150.EXE HP150 version
ME309.EXE Zenith 100 PC series version
ME520.PRG Atari 520/1040ST version
MEAMIGA. Amiga 1000 version (missing at this moment...)
MicroSCRIBE 1.0, which I had hoped to have ready by now, is only
about half written. MicroEMACS took up more of my time in updates (and
mailings) then I had expected, however having this fairly advanced, and
hopefully fairly stable version, I can get back to getting MicroSCRIBE
written. Also in the works for a later release is a spell checker
(called MicroSPELL rather predictably) and sometime next year, a
integrated thesaurus program. [MicroSPELL beta version 1.0 will be out
within the month].
A more customized MicroEMACS for the Macintosh will probably
become available in the next couple of months. Support for the mouse,
standard file boxes, pull down menus and different resolutions will be
included. If you can be of help in getting this ready, please contact
me.
As before, I will continue to support these programs, and
encourage everyone to spread them around as much as they can. If you
make what you think are changes that are useful to many, send me the
updates, and as time permits, I will incorporate the ones I understand,
and agree with into the master sources. Being over swamped with mailers,
I have discontinued my mailing offer, but if you have a special problem
getting hold of MicroEMACS, contact me and we can work something out for
you.
USmail: Daniel Lawrence
617 New York St
Lafayette, IN 47901
UUCP: ihnp4!pur-ee!pur-phy!duncan!lawrence
or ihnp4!itivax!duncan!lawrence
ARPA: nwd@j.cc.purdue.edu
FIDO: The Programmer's Room 201/2
(317) 742-5533
ATT: (317) 742-5153
New Features
============
*** IBMPC drivers combined with the EGA driver as well...
The IBM-PC CGA/MONOCHROME and EGA drivers have been combined
into one driver which will look up the graphics adapter type at startup
and adjust accordingly.
*** Atari 520/1040ST Support added
The Atari 520/1040ST is now supported in both monochrome and
color modes. Both low and medium resolution can be used with the color
monitor. DENSE mode (40 line) is not ready for the monochrome monitor at
the time of this version. Also shelling out for commands is not ready.
*** Zenith 100 PC series Support added
Someone sent me this driver. I was able to generate an executable
from it but I do NOT have access to one of these machines. Could someone
please test this one out and get back to me? Thanx. Also the driver's
author's cover letter got ate by the mailer....could someone send some
mail and take credit for this one?
*** TOTALLY NEW MANUAL
EMACS.TXT is the first draft of a totally new comprehensive
manual written by Brian Straight and myself. It covers both beginning to
use MicroEMACS and a reference to all the current commands. Appendixes
cover machine dependant versions and the progress on such. The version
here is ready for a printer. A scribe-able version is the source for
this, and is also included.
*** Autosave mode
This mode, when enabled, will cause your file to be saved to
disk every 256 characters inputed. The count till the next save is held
in $ACOUNT, and the character interval between saves is in $ASAVE.
Add-mode ASAVE to enable this mode.
*** More new functions...
&LEN <str> take the length of a string
&LOWer <str> Lowercase a string
&UPPer <str> Upercase a string
&RND <num> generate a random integer between 1 and <num>
*** New environment variables
$lastkey last keystroke struck...
$curchar character under cursor (can be changed)
$version returns the current program version number
$progname always returns "MicroEMACS" for an unmodified emacs
$discmd when TRUE, disables echoing of output strings
on the command line
$seed integer seed of random number generator
*** Advanced text processing functions
trim-line (^X^T) trims white space off the end of lines
entab-line (^X^E) changes spaces to tabs where possible
detab-line (^X^D) changes tabs to multiple spaces
*** fixed buffer variable bugs
Buffer variables can now reference any on screen or off screen
buffer with no restrictions.
*** 8 bit chars fixed
in the MSDOS/AZTEC C version. Aztec was kindly stripping the 8th
bit off of chars when read from a file. I worked around it by putting a
layer under agetc to fix it.
*** list-buffer expanded
The list-buffer (^X-^B) command, if it has any argument, now
will also list the normally invisible buffers.
*** named procedures
which are really just named macros can now be defined...
store-procedure onered
delete-other-windows
add-mode "red"
!endm
invoked as:
execute-procedure onered
or:
run onered
*** magic searches improved
searches for strings in magic mode using the
query-replace-string function can now also use the (u)ndo option
reasonable.
*** fixed exec language bugs
Fixed a number of different bugs in the execution language
*** changed $curcol
so the first column is now 1 instead of zero.
[These changes are for version 3.8l....]
*** NOP (M-FNC)
This command does nothing......sound boring? it isboundto the
illegal keystroke M-FNC. This keystroke is executed previous to any time
the user is to type a command. Other things can be bound here.
*** Yet more environment variables
$wline returns and sets # lines in current window
$cwline returns and set current line within window
$target returns/sets target for line moves
$search returns/sets default search string
$replace returns/sets default replace string
$match returns last matched string in magic search
*** Changed delete-next-word
Rewrote delete-next-word to not kill trailing non-white space
after the last word. Also a zero argument will cause it to just delete
the word and nothing else.
*** Forced more out
Clear-message-line, write-message, echo of $debug lines, and
interactive variables now all override the $discmd setting.
*** Startup sequence re-written
Things work right now.....i.e startup macros execute and can even
exit properly. (like the spell check scan macro...)
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Aug 87 14:43:58 EDT
From: Dave Goldblatt <bh0u@clutx.clarkson.edu>
To: info-hz100@radc-tops20.arpa, info-ibmpc@c.isi.edu
Subject: Turbo C patches available
The complete set of patches for Borland's Turbo C compiler, along with a
program to automagically apply these patches, is now available for FTP
from clutx.clarkson.edu. They are located in /pub/TurboC/tcpatch.arc.
These patches are current as of 7/16/87. Although Borland provided me
with these patches, they bear no responsibility for them, nor do they
necessarily condone this activity.
Legal stuff aside, I plan on keeping the latest patches, and possibly some
other goodies, in this directory. The patches are in the public domain, so
please spread 'em around as wide as possible!
-dg-
BITNET: bh0u@clutx
Internet: bh0u@clutx.clarkson.edu
uucp: {rpics, gould}!clutx!bh0u
Following is the DESCRIBE file from the archive.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[76701,46]
P1TC.DIF/binary 29-Jun-87 384
Keywords:
PATCH DIF FLOAT DIVIDE CONSTANT
floating constant evaluation patch
allows version 1.0 to evaluate constant division.
Integrated Environment (TC.EXE) Turbo C version 1.00.
[76701,46]
P1TCC.DIF/binary 29-Jun-87 384
Keywords:
PATCH DIF FLOAT DIVIDE CONSTANT
floating constant evaluation patch
allows version 1.0 to evaluate constant division.
Command Line (TCC.EXE) Turbo C version 1.00.
[76701,46]
P2TC.DIF/binary 29-Jun-87 512
Keywords:
PATCH DIF FLOAT STRUCTURE
floating point structure push patch
Allows Turbo C to pass structures with floating point members.
Integrated Environment (TC.EXE) Turbo C version 1.00.
[76701,46]
P2TCC.DIF/binary 29-Jun-87 512
Keywords:
PATCH DIF FLOAT STRUCTURE
floating point structure push patch
Allows Turbo C to pass structures with floating point members.
Command Line (TCC.EXE) Turbo C version 1.00.
[76701,46]
P3TC.DIF/binary 29-Jun-87 384
Keywords: PATCH DIF GENERATE FOR SPEED SWITCH -G
generate for speed switch patch
Allows the use of the Generate for speed switch with large
switch statements.
Integrated Environment (TC.EXE) Turbo C version 1.00
[76701,46]
P3TCC.DIF/binary 29-Jun-87 384
Keywords: PATCH COMMAND LINE DASH G GENERATE FOR SPEED LARGE CASE
STATEMENTS
This file enables Turbo C to use the Generate for speed option (-G) with
large case statements.
This file should be input to PATCH.COM to patch TCC.EXE for Turbo C v1.0.
To get a copy of PATCH.COM, download a copy of PATCH.ARC.
[76701,46]
P5TC.DIF/binary 29-Jun-87 512
Keywords: PATCH DIF BUILDALL BUILD ALL
This file allows BUILD ALL to operate as expected.
[76701,46]
P6TC-2.DIF 02-Jul-87 516
Keywords: PATCH INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENT TC.EXE EDITOR TAB WIDTH 2
This patch will change the Turbo C Integrated Environment editor's tab
width from 8 to 2.
This file is input to PATCH.COM.
To get a copy of PATCH.COM, download PATCH.ARC
[76701,46]
P6TC-4.DIF 02-Jul-87 514
Keywords: PATCH INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENT TC.EXE EDITOR TAB WIDTH 4
This patch will change the Turbo C Integrated Environment editor's tab
width from 8 to 4.
This file is input to PATCH.COM.
To get a copy of PATCH.COM, download PATCH.ARC
[76701,46]
P7TC.DIF/binary 29-Jun-87 256
Keywords:
PATCH DIF CONTROL BREAK
This file stops Turbo C from exiting when ^C or ^Break are
pressed during compilation.
Integrated Environment (TC.EXE) Turbo C version 1.0
[76701,46]
P8TC.DIF 30-Jun-87 384
Keywords: PATCH INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENT DELETE TEMPORARY FILE DMMWPGBJ.$$$
This fixes a problem in the integrated environment where in certain
circumstances, the temporary file DMMWPGBJ.$$$ is not deleted.
[76701,46]
P9TC.DIF 30-Jun-87 432
Keywords: PATCH INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENT IBM PC JR
This file allows the Integrated Environment version of Turbo C to work on
the IBM PC Jr. No similar patch for TCC.EXE is needed as that program
works on the Jr without modification.
This is an input file for PATCH.COM. To get a copy of PATCH.COM, download
PATCH.ARC.
[76701,46]
PATCH.ARC/binary 29-Jun-87 10496
Keywords:
PATCH DIF BORLAND
This file contains PATCH.COM and PATCH.DOC. PATCH.COM uses the .DIF files
found in this DL to effect changes to the Turbo C compilers. Download and
extract the files with an ARC51 compatible dearchiving utility.
------------------------------
End of Info-IBMPC Digest
************************
-------