[comp.sys.ibm.pc.digest] Info-IBMPC Digest V6 #49

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
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