Info-IBMPC@C.ISI.EDU (Info-IBMPC Digest) (06/27/87)
Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 26 June 1987 Volume 6 : Issue 49 This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge Today's Topics: Good News Bad News Info-IBMPC Support Arbitron Ratings Broken EGA Cards & Codeview Keyboard scan code reporter FORTRAN Reviews, Benchmarks and Bibliography MS FORTRAN and Floating Point Speed Microsoft Fortran 4.0 Problem Formatting 1.44Mb disk on PS/2 Mod 50. Toshiba T1100+ Async Port (2 Msgs.) Hercules mono graphics, 80286, Extended Memory & Expanded Memory MS-DOS 5.0 and PC/OS2 Hard Disk Fragmentation Kermit and Com3 Archive Server Shutdown Today's Queries: Don Kneller Where are you and Hack? Goslings Unix Emacs as 8 bit Emacs? NEC V-series Chips IBM Graphics on an Epson clone. Looking for PC terminal program to emulate Wang 2200 Are vibrations from a Seagate st225 Normal INFO-IBMPC BBS Phone Numbers: (213)827-2635 (213)827-2515 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 26 Jun 1987 15:32:48 PDT Subject: Good News Bad News From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@C.ISI.EDU> The good news is Frank da Cruz and Columbia University will take over INFO-IBMPC. The bad news is they still don't have money and they won't take it over until September. I will find someone to edit the digest in July when I am on vacation. In the mean time I will be asking you for money every time you send in a query or request. In the long term money shouldn't be a problem. Info-ibmpc will be modeled after the Kermit project. Kermit is self supporting. Columbia charges a tape fee of about $100 when they mail out the Kermit libraries. Network access is free. Once our library is transferred to Columbia it should provide enough income to help support the staff necessary to get out the digests. In the shorter term they still need about $50K to get bootstrapped. I had hoped that I could get two or three of the largest PC software companies to contribute the $50K necessary. In the last week I sent out lots of messages shamelessly begging for money. This brought up the more general problem that commercial organizations are not allowed on the net unless they are actively doing research in networking under DARPA contracts. We all agreed it seemed wrong for companies barred from the net to support a net activity like info-ibmpc. I have been led to believe that new rules for accessing the net will soon evolve that will allow for the sort of university - industry - government cooperation that can support services like info-ibmpc. We felt if we were funded by a few large companies we would look like we were influenced by their donations. I get accused of that all the time already without the money. We have set a policy of asking for donations between $2000 and $5000. At this amount people can show their support without being accused of buying their way onto the network or affecting the editorial policy of info-ibmpc. Make your checks out to Columbia University Center for Computer Activities. Their Federal ID # is 13-559-8093 and tax exempt # is 127-902. Donations are tax deductible. Contact Frank da Cruz <SY.FDC@CU20B.COLUMBIA.EDU> for more information. The University of Michigan started things off with a $2000 contribution. (See next message) Lotus has volunteered to donate between $2000 and $5000 if other micro computer firms participate as well. I will ask the management here. It has to be worth at least $5000 to ISI in order to get rid of info-ibmpc. I'd like to see something from some of the European universities. Thanks to everyone who has sent in notes of support. I am particularly pleased by those people who have sent in programs at the last minute in hopes they can still be shared by the large numbers of people who read info-ibmpc. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jun 87 08:31:02 EDT From: Gavin_Eadie@um.cc.umich.edu Subject: Info-IBMPC Support I've passed the Info-IBMPC funding problem past our Information Technology administrators here at the University of Michigan. We all feel that we make enough use of Info-IBMPC as a valuable information source to want to make a contribution to its maintenance. Our Vice Provost for Information Technology, Doug Van Houweling, has asked me to offer $2000 towards the Info-IBMPC fund with the proviso that it must be matched with enough other contributions to satisfy the sensible needs of Columbia (or another site) in their support of the continuing Digest. "... which would perhaps start an appropriate bandwagon, would be to publicly offer to contribute $2K if it's matched by enough others to make the enterprise fly" Doug [This contribution did indeed start the bandwagon. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jun 1987 20:38:22 PDT Subject: Arbitron Ratings From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@C.ISI.EDU> In the last week I have tried to estimate how many people read info-ibmpc: We have about 750 direct addresses on the mailing list. Many of these are expanding mailing lists. On BITNET we have about 800 direct recipients on about 600 hosts. Usenet arbitron estimates claim 8000 people read the digest on usenet. We are on internal nets at Xerox, DEC, and ATT. Sometimes we are on IBM's internal Vnet and sometimes not. I don't really have any idea how many people regularly read the digest. Many sites forward the digest to publicly accessible bboards. If I have missed any major networks or your site has an unusually large number of readers please let me know. ------------------------------ From: voder!kontron!cramer@decwrl.dec.com (Clayton Cramer) Subject: Broken EGA Cards & Codeview Date: 24 Jun 87 23:59:37 GMT Organization: Kontron Electronics, Mt. View, CA Lines: 8 I saw complaints a while back about trying to use Codeview with some EGA cards giving "pink and green" problems. I now have an EGA card with this problem, the Quadram EGA+ card. I found that if I bring up Codeview in 43 line mode (/43), it still comes up pink and green, but after the first command, the colors are useful, and I can actually see the screen! (Unlike coming up in 25 line mode). Clayton E. Cramer ------------------------------ Subject: Keyboard scan code reporter Date: Thu, 25 Jun 87 09:34:33 EDT From: Joe Morris (jcmorris@mitre.arpa) <jcmorris@mitre.arpa> Organization: The MITRE Corp., Washington, D.C. Partly as a result of my attempts to deal with the new, "improved" IBM keyboard (and partly to see if I could remember how to write code in 80*8* assembler code) I wrote a program which reports to the display the actual scan codes generated by a keyboard. It's also been useful in trying to figure out just what some of the so-called compatible keyboards are doing...a real problem when using programs like YTERM which use the hardware scan codes directly. It reports both make and break codes as received, and returns to DOS when the ESC key is pressed. It has worked for all the PC's and compatibles I've tried, but of course it is provided with the typical PC software warranty, which is to say, "none". There are a few rough spots which could/should be changed, but I wanted to get the code to the Lending Library before the computing equivalent of Prop 13 completes its dastardly deeds on 30 June. Joe Morris [KBCODE.ASM has been added to the info-ibmpc lending library. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jun 87 09:45 EDT From: Zaret@mit-multics.arpa Subject: FORTRAN Reviews, Benchmarks and Bibliography In response to the query in V5 #47 about FORTRAN compilers. for micros: I admit to feeling spoiled by VS FORTRAN (the compiler for IBM mainframes), and somewhat disappointed by all the FORTRAN compilers I have tested on micros. The good news is that several very good FORTRAN compilers are available. The good/bad news is that no one of them is clearly superior to the others. I'm also pleased to see that newer versions of compilers I reviewed before have added options to flag non-standard code; the flag greatly increases portability by helping programmers avoid non-standard (i.e., non-portable) code. Microsoft and WATCOM definitely have such an option now; the versions of IBM Professional and Lahey F77L did not, but newer versions may. GENERAL IMPRESSIONS: IBM Professional FORTRAN 1.0 I believe 1.0 is not the most recent version, but it is the only version I examined. This compiler was actually written by the Ryan- McFarland company; I believe Ryan-McFarland Version 1.1 corresponds to IBM Version 1.0. The documentation is clear; the user's guide may be the best of the lot for beginners. The debugger works well and logically (no quirky behavior). My only complaint is the lack of direct support for users; they are required to go through dealers for help. Lahey F77L Version 1.35 I know newer versions are available, but this is the only version I have examined. I admit a bias towards this compiler; it feels good. The documentation is a single volume that makes no attempt to be a tutorial; as a result, it doesn't stumble trying to explain concepts to beginners, but presents the information clearly and succinctly. It is the only program I have heard about (I may not be well informed) that is self correcting: every time the compiler starts, it reads a file that contains bug fixes; the bug fix file contains ASCII code that users can edit, which means a user can get a fix over the phone and install it in minutes. When a user asks the compiler to provide information for the debugger, the extra information goes into a separate file, where it has no effect on the program unless the user explicitly asks to debug the program. When the user is through debugging, erasing the auxiliary file eliminates all traces of the original desire to debug. Microsoft FORTRAN 4.0 Microsoft finally provided a full FORTRAN 77 compiler. My benchmarks (more below) indicate the code this version produces is significantly faster than the code the old version produced. The documentation may be slightly more readable than the documentation for the earlier version; or I may know more now and find it easier to read. It tends to alternate between overly sketchy and arcane. The command interface, the debugger (CodeView), and some features of the compiler suggest (correctly) that the compiler was put together by C programmers. WATCOM WATFOR 77 Version 1.4 Anyone who remembers WATFOR and/or WATFIV will know the purpose and utility of WATFOR 77. It is an extraordinarily good compiler for students and for development (at least for small programs). It is sort of a "Turbo" FORTRAN: a very fast, one-step compile, link, and execute (note speed of compilation and linking in benchmark results below). It comes with an integrated editor, a very good debugger, and GKS (Graphical Kernel System). This is the second version I have evaluated; the major changes are the abilities to use object (assembler or IBM Professional FORTRAN) libraries and to generate executable files. It is still not appropriate for generating production code for large programs; the code is too slow, and the compiler produces no object files. BENCHMARKS I wrote several benchmarks: aritime measures the speed of floating- point operations; sieve (three versions of the Sieve of Erasthones) measures the speed of integer and logical operations; strtime measures the speed of string operations; and utitime measures the speed of utility operations, especially input/output to disks. Each of these programs provides more detail than I think is appropriate here. For example, aritime has 2 loops for measuring floating-point division, and utitime has 18 loops to compare variations of unformatted and formatted i/o for the same 5 numbers. I am mildly skeptical about my own results because each program is based on many loops, which a clever optimizing compiler might be able to optimize to trivia; however, some loops are specifically designed to check for such optimization, so I think my results are meaningful. The following table gives "wall-clock" time; I generally used batch files that called a timestamp routine between steps; the timestamp routine reported the time and date. The routines also reported elapsed time for individual loops. All tests were run on an IBM PC/AT 239 (6MHz) with an 80287 coprocessor, and all programs were compiled to use the coprocessor. Aritime Sieve Strtime Utitime IBM Pro 1.0 Compile 3:06 0:41 0:49 1:36 Link 0:19 0:15 0:14 0:20 Execute 5:32 5:16 5:45 16:43 Lahey F77L 1.35 Compile 0:42 0:12 0:13 0:23 Link 0:20 0:15 0:17 0:24 Execute 15:32 3:52 3:31 18:02 Microsoft 3.3 Compile 2:10 0:26 0:35 1:07 Link 0:33 0:28 0:28 0:31 Execute 10:37 1:52 7:28 15:01 Microsoft 4.0 Compile 3:23 0:41 0:51 1:32 Link 0:22 0:18 0:20 0:23 Execute 2:52 2:10 4:55 9:27 WATFOR-77 1.3 Compile :31 0:07 0:08 0:11 Link ---- ---- ---- ---- Execute 20:12 11:52 11:54 36:45 WATFOR-77 1.4 Compile 0:48 0:19 0:17 0:19 Link ---- ---- ---- ---- Execute 8:18 18:58 15:55 35:00 OTHER REVIEWS: David Crossley, McGill University Computer Centre Newsletter, May/June 1987 discussed WATFOR 77. Alan Howard, PC Tech Journal, October 1985: compared DRI (Digital Research Incorporated) FORTRAN 77 Version 4.0, IBM Professional FORTRAN Version 1.0, Lahey F77L Version ?, and Microsoft FORTRAN 77 Version 3.2? Chris Wolf, PC Magazine, December 24, 1985: compared IBM Professional FORTRAN Version 1.0, Lahey F77L Version 1.35, and Microsoft FORTRAN Version 3.30. Daniel Holzman, PC Magazine, August 21, 1984: discussed how to use Microsoft FORTRAN 3.20 on the PC. Richard Bensor, Avram Tetewsky, Chris Wolf, Steve Golson, and David Hopper, Computer Language, January 1986: compared Digital Research FORTRAN-77 Version 4.1, IBM Professional FORTRAN Version 1.0, Micro Way Intel FORTRAN-86 Version 2.2, Lahey F77L Version 1.35, Microsoft FORTRAN Version 3.3, Prospero ProFortran, SuperSoft FORTRAN Version 2.10, and WATCOM WATFOR-77 Version 1.2 Feel free to contact me for more information: Name: Robert E. Zaret U.S. Mail: MIT Room 11-326 77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 Telephone: (617) 253-7725 BITNET: ZARET at MITVMA.MIT.EDU ARPANet: Zaret at Multics.mit.edu (until Multics goes away in December) P.S.: This is my first contribution to this digest; seems it will be my last. I'm glad I've had one chance to repay everyone before this digest goes away. Thank you all for your contributions. Thank you wab for keeping it together. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jun 87 12:34:18 PST From: iverson%cory.Berkeley.EDU@berkeley.edu (Tim Iverson) Subject: MS FORTRAN and Floating Point Speed Organization: University of California, Berkeley In article <8706250657.AA14757@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> you write: >Date: Mon, 22 Jun 87 10:17 EST >From: "GLENN EVERHART, 609 486 6328" <EVERHART%ARISIA%rca.com@RELAY.CS.NET> >Subject: Microsoft Fortran 4.0 > >I am not sure why >the 4.0 compiler gives larger and slower code than 3.3; I suspect it >may be the added subroutine calling overhead. > > Anyone using Microsoft (which I did to allow my code to run >on machines with and without 8087 (80x87) I haven't used Microsoft's Fortran, but I do use their C compiler (4.0) and I know there are some similarities (in the compilers, not the languages!). One thing I noticed about 8087 support was that their emulator library (EM.LIB, I believe) was MUCH slower than their alternate library (FA.LIB?). I had the impression that things were running at least 50% faster in my 3D renderer after I switched to the alternate library. The alternate doesn't support all the different 'infinities' and 'NANs' that the 8087 library does, but it is very fast. Since you spent the cash on 4.0, you might want to check it out. The speed improvement is well worth having two versions - one for boxes with an 8087, and one for those without. - Tim Iverson iverson@cory.Berkeley.EDU ucbvax!cory!iverson ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jun 87 18:54 EDT From: Hess@MIT-Multics.ARPA Subject: Problem Formatting 1.44Mb disk on PS/2 Mod 50. Yes, I have had the same trouble. It appears to coincide with a soft, high-pitched noise that the drive makes. I attributed it to a communications program that I had run just prior to the format. I have had no problems formatting disks in a multiple batch, within the same invocation of FORMAT. If you find out a real cause, I'd be interested in knowing about it. By the way, does anybody know what the "PS/2 Model 50 recall" was about? There was an article that said that some units had been motherboard-traded by IBM dealers, but as usual, IBM isn't saying what the problem or the fix was. This P.R./secrecy crap makes me mad! And I can't just get even... Brian ------------------------------ Date: 25 Jun 87 14:52 PDT From: Gobbel.pa@Xerox.COM Subject: Toshiba T1100+ Async Port About the problems one person reported in using the Toshiba 1100+ serial port: I've been using lots of software that programs the port hardware directly, with no difficulties at all. Compatibility seems essentially perfect. "IBM only" Kermit runs reliably at 19200 baud. Seems to me there's either a parameter set wrong somewhere, or the hardware's broken, despite the fact that the "Brooklyn Bridge" seemed to work. -Randy ------------------------------ From: "Roger Fajman" <RAF%NIHCU.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu> Date: Fri, 26 Jun 87 12:48:12 EDT Subject: Toshiba T1100+ Async Port I've run Kermit through the serial port of the Toshiba 1100+ at 19200 bps using a null modem cable to another PC with no problems other than an occasional retransmission. I use MS-Kermit 2.29. ------------------------------ Subject: Hercules mono graphics, 80286, Extended Memory & Expanded Memory From: oxy!bagpiper@csvax.caltech.edu (Michael Paul Hunter) Date: 25 Jun 87 19:34:52 PST A few days ago I posted saying that I was having problems with a Herc mono board in a 286. Well, I have to admit that was a easy problem to solve and the answer was right in my nose. We were using the IBM C compiler and it, because it was running on an 286 machine, assumed that it could produce 286 code. Well this clashed with the Real mode code that we had used in our graphics routines (written in asm). Sorry if anybody lost any sleep over this one. Now, we only have half of the problem licked...that was a cheap clone AT, now we can't get the routines to run on a compaq 286 (less compatibility for the money???). The main problem that I can see is that the compaq 286 has a meg and a half of EMS...could that be causing problems?? (this would be a great time for some guru to kick in with an explanation of the difference between extended and expanded memory....I am clue less about the difference?!?) Thanks a load!! Michael Hunter (programmer) MicroCosm, Inc. day:1-213-539-9444 UUCP : ...{seismo, rutgers, ames}!cit-vax!oxy!bagpiper Box 241 ARPA : oxy!bagpiper@csvax.caltech.edu Occidental College BITNET: oxy!bagpiper@hamlet.bitnet Los Angeles, CA 90041 CSNET : oxy!bagpiper%csvax.caltech.edu@relay.cs.net ------------------------------ Subject: MS-DOS 5.0 and PC/OS2 Date: Thu, 25 Jun 87 22:35:43 -0700 From: Alastair Milne <milne%ICSE.UCI.EDU@ICSE.UCI.EDU> I understand OS/2 is to have dynamic linking, and allow for overlays. The UCSD p-System has had automatic memory management for code (including dynamic linking combined with overlays) for the past several versions. The operating system itself, and the library of intrinsic routines available to languages under it, consist of swappable, self-contained segments (of which overlays are one sort), exactly one copy of each of which is needed in the whole system, no matter how many programs are using it. When a program is executed, a path of code files including the OS and the library is searched for all the segments the program uses, and they are swapped in and out of the code pool(s) as frequency of use and competing memory needs require. (For earlier machines, the total amount of code in the OS alone was actually considerably more than the memory could hold.) It therefore makes no difference how big either the OS or any applications program gets. And as the machine gets bigger, the p-System can be configured for increasingly large code pools, balanced as you like with the automatic allocation of ramdisk, which requires no special drivers. (This is an awfully simplistic description of the system's power, but I just want to give the feel of it). And yet, only when IBM manages, years late, to get an approximation of code management into a PC's operating system is it brought to the public's attention. It is to weep. Does anybody know whether the system calls actually consist of compilable procedure or function declarations, with actual, declared, typed parameters? Or are we still expected to stuff some set of registers, hope they're correct (since no language or linker can give us any automatic assistance to make sure they are) and raise what we hope is the right interrupt? I don't want to think how many years ago the development of FORTRAN raised programming from the level of machine instructions and assembly mnemonics. Now we've got catalogues full of programming languages. And yet people are still being required to obtain operating system services by raising interrupts. Well, I'm hoping for a lot from OS/2, and I guess there's reason for belief that some of it, at least, will come through. But every time I remember that we've had so much of it already, for years, and had our combined attention directed away from it, the old frustration mounts again. End-of-tooth-gnashing. Alastair Milne [I am not sure of the fine points of this as I program in Pascal not C. Microsoft uses Pascal calling sequences in Windows and has carried this over to OS/2. C (here I am on thin ice) allows variable numbers of calling arguments. Pascal insists on a fixed number all the correct type. The latter makes more sense when making system calls. The last few versions of the Microsoft C compiler allow you to define routines as using the Pascal calling sequence. You can even type check the variables. Who knows C might turn into a reasonable language. I understand INT instructions no longer work even while running in compatibility mode under OS/2. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jun 87 9:17:11 EDT From: Glen Jones <gdj5t%krebs5.acc.virginia.edu@RELAY.CS.NET> Subject: Hard Disk Fragmentation Could someone please offer advice (or review) on the various programs that will de-fragment a hard disk? I have a 20 Mg. Hard Disk on an AT&T 6300. Thanks in advance for your help. Sad to see you go info-ibmpc! [See digest V6 #39 for an announcement of REFORMAT a public domain disk garbage collector available on SIMTEL-20. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Fri 26 Jun 1987 10:12:04 CDT From: Mark S. Zinzow <Markz%UIUCVMD.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu> To: Mark Layton <mark@ntsc-74.arpa> Subject: Kermit and Com3 I have applied all know bug patches to the Kermit 2.29 sources and added support for com ports 3 &4 (took me a couple weeks in my spare time to get it right). Anyhow, I'll mail you a binary in boo form, and sources if you need them. I'm working on adding the code to version 2.3, but that's kind of been on a back burner for a while. The new clone I/O routines mean more coding to continue the support. I have a Z248, but only one com port, but I have tested my version in an AT clone using an Everex modem. -------Electronic Mail---------------------------U.S. Mail-------------------- ARPA: zinzow%uiucuxe@a.cs.uiuc.edu Mark S. Zinzow, Research Programmer BITNET: MARKZ@UIUCVMD.BITNET Computing Services Office To BITNET from ARPA or UUCP: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign MARKZ%UIUCVMD.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu 150 Digital Computer Laboratory CSNET: zinzow%uiucuxe@uiuc.csnet 1304 West Springfield Ave., Urbana, IL 61801 USENET/UUCP: {ihnp4,convex,pur-ee,cmcl2,seismo}!uiucdcs!uiucuxc!uiucuxe!zinzow Phone: (217) 244-1289 Office: CSOB 109 ihnp4!pyrchi/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1987 08:58 MDT From: "Frank J. Wancho" <WANCHO@SIMTEL20.ARPA> Subject: Archive Server Shutdown Several changes to the Archive Server have been made in the past few weeks to improve service for replies sent through intermediate hosts. One of the requested changes was to reduce the size of the messages by half so that these messages don't hog the single-stream mail channels, particularly on BITNET, for extended periods of time, and thus give other mail a chance to get through in a timely manner. Unfortunately, this has resulted in the SIMTEL20 mail queue to rapidly grow way beyond all expectations: the Server was now generating twice as many messages and our dedicated mailer for this service now had to establish twice as many connections for the same number of replies. That mailer could not keep up with the queue, and for the second time in as many weeks, we have had to shutdown the Server because we were running out of disk space. Because the disk space is at a premium for our regular users, and because the resources required by both the Server and the mailer have now reached a point well beyond the capabilities of our present system configuration, the Server has been shut down until further notice and for an indefinite period of time. New requests will be returned unanswered, and both present requests and replies will be flushed. In the meantime, we are examining other possibilities to provide access to our collections. Because the great majority of requests have come from BITNET users, we are looking for one or more BITNET hosts willing to provide the disk space and BITSERV facilities for one or more of our collections of public domain software. --Frank [I assume one can still FTP to SIMTEL-20. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jun 87 10:44 EDT From: Daniele Montanari <MONTAN1%BRANDEIS.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu> Subject: Don Kneller Where are you and Hack? I have gotten a copy of HACK (the rogue- like game) for the pc. This is version 1.0.1 (or something like that), and dates back to 1985 (if I remember well). I was wondering whether there are newer versions, and where I can find them. I tried to get in touch with Don Kneller, but the address kneller@ucsf-cgl (on arpa) seems to be wrong. (Hey, this is an arpanet thing, not one of those bitnet things you arpa folks despise so much :-) ). Can you help me? I am kind of addicted to the game... Ciao Daniele [SIMTEL-20 keeps the latest and greatest Hack versions, but it looks like you are out of luck here till some site on bitnet takes over the archives. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1987 10:55 FIN From: "C. Beckstein - Uni Erlangen" <I621%DERDBS5.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu> Subject: Goslings Unix Emacs as 8 bit Emacs? Most of my time I'm writing on a book on my IBM PC. Having used Goslings Unix Emacs for editing programs I learned to love it. But now I've a real problem. The Emacs that runs on my IBM PC (Unipress Emacs V1.2, Aug 1985) is a 7 bit Emacs so I can't get chars of the extended part of IBM's ASCII set into a file via the keyboard. But the German Language is full of them (the so called German Umlaute - single chars for ae, ue and the like...). If I can't find an Emacs able to process the full IBM PC ASCII set I probably have to switch to another (compared to Emacs medieval) editor. Who can help me? Does anybody know about an 8 bit Emacs for the IBM PC? Clemens Beckstein c/o IMMD 6 at University Erlangen Martenstr.3 D-8520 Erlangen el.mail: cmb@derdbs5.BITNET [Epsilon from Lugaru can be configured to work comfortably with foreign language characters. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Thur 25-JUN-87 16:30 EDT From: Dave <GOBRAN%UMAECS.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu> To: info-ibmpc@c.isi.edu Subject: NEC V-series Chips I am interested in getting some general information on the NEC V-series chips. I don't need any highly technical items such as new macro commands supported etc. What I am looking for is more of a general user oriented summary. I am already aware that the V20 is an 8088 replacement and the V30 is an 8086 replacement, I am interested in the improvements over their Intel counter parts, what speeds are available, prices and compatibility problems. I have also seen reference to several other chips: a CMOS V30, a V40, a V50 and most recently a V70 and a V80. Does anyone have a good reference for a discussion of these chips or have some good information themselves? I was also curious as to whether the long rumored NEC replacement for the 8087 math chip has ever made it to the market and at what price, speed improvement, etc. Please forward any information to me as well as the net in case the forever interesting Info-IBMPC folds before your reply makes it. Thank You Dave Gobran GOBRAN@UMAECS (BITNET) Gobran@ecs.umass.edu (ARPA) [When these chips first became available there was much discussion of them in the digest. The NEC V20 gives about a 10% speed improvement in a PC. It runs cooler and draws less power. The Norton SI indicator shows dramatic improvement as it consists of a multiply/divide loop. It does multiplies, divides and shifts much faster than the intel chips. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jun 87 21:34 ADT From: <JSRGS%ALASKA.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu> (Robin Sheppard) Subject: IBM Graphics on an Epson clone. I have a Star Micronics Gemmini 10X printer running from a PC clone. When I use graphics programs requiring Epson compatibility (the Gemini is), I get the graphics characters okay, except a blank space is printed between each line of output. I have tried setting the line spacing to 8 lpi to no avail. The graphs are correct but elongated with empty spaces. Is there a fix for this--short of buying a new printer? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jun 87 12:23:50 cdt From: beto@im4u.utexas.edu (Humberto A. Appleton M.) Subject: Looking for PC terminal program to emulate Wang 2200 I need a terminal emulator to connect my IBM-PC clone to a Wang 2200. Does somebody knows about public domain or commercial software ?? reply to: beto@im4u.utexas.edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1987 17:48 EDT From: STEPHEN%RPICICGE.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu (Timothy Stephen) Subject: Are vibrations from a Seagate st225 Normal I installed a seagate st225 20meg drive in my Zenith 148 ibmpc clone about a month ago and noticed immediately that the drive was emitting small but continuous vibrations. The drive seems to work fine but is this normal? Should I be concerned? Does anyone on this list have an st225 that does or does not do this. Please respond to me directly (Stephen@Rpicicge.Bitnet) as I am not on this list. Thank you very much. ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------