========================================================================= Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by wiscvm.wisc.edu on 01/28/86 at 15:43:51 CST Date: 28 Jan 1986 12:50:55 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #15 From: Richard Gillmann To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 28 January 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 15 This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann Today's Topics: A look at AIX and the RT PC Expanding Environment Space (2 msgs) PC Speedup (2 msgs) AT Speedup (3 msgs) Renaming Subdirectories (6 msgs) Expanded Memory for Compaq286 Deskpro Re: Vfiler problem Re: Multilink Windows vs. DesqView vs... Review of the Mix "C" Compiler Re: BOOTCODE.ASM Query: Turning off key rollover Query: Queuing a Print File Free plotting library wanted Query: "Preview" for TEX output "PROCOMM" Query Disk Optimizer Query WPS+PC Query Some technical problems ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 26 Jan 86 05:13:30 est From: "John R. Levine, P.O.Box 349, Cambridge MA 02238-0349 (617-494-1400)" Subject: A look at AIX and the RT PC First, let me explain how I know about the RT PC. I used to work for Interactive Systems until August 1984, and while I was there, I was the software architect for the port of Unix to the RT PC. I don't work for Interactive any longer and can't predict what will happen to the RT PC in the future, but I did have a lot do with the design of AIX. The report below is my own opinion and recollection, and not the formal position of anyone including myself. So much for disclaimers. Hardware The RT PC uses the IBM ROMP chip, a more or less reduced instruction set chip that has been in the works for a long time. It is a fully 32-bit big-endian byte addressed machine. It is not particularly RISC-y in that its register architecture is just like the 360's (16 general purpose registers) and there are no interlocks that the software has to take into account like the MIPS chip has. It does have branch-with-execute and the only memory reference instructions are load and store and load-multiple and store-multiple. Halfword and fullword operands are forcibly aligned on natural boundaries by ignoring the low bit or two of the address. This is a major performance win. Sorry, Vax and 80286 fans. The address architecture is more interesting. All virtual addresses are 32 bits. The high order 4 bits of an address are a "segment register number" and the low order 28 bits are the offset into the segment. The 4-bit segment register number is immediately looked up and translated into a 12-bit segment number (the current hardware only supports 12-bit segment numbers, but there's room in the architecture for 15.) The 12-bit segment number plus 28-bit offset together determine a virtual address which is translated by the segmentation hardware. The page tables are inverse mapped in the manner of the System/38 or an Apollo -- there is a page frame for every page of real memory and the logical page and segment tables exist only in software. The page size is 2K and a segment can grow either up or down. Segment registers 14 and 15 are reserved by the hardware for I/O stuff, but the other 14 registers are available to software. This scheme allows fast context switches because the real page tables and TLB keep track of the 12-bit segment numbers; only the 16 segment registers need be changed for a context switch and no TLB flush is needed. Up to 4K segments can be simultaneously defined, which is enough for all of the processes under a typical AIX. Floating point support is provided by a coprocessor board with the National Semi floating point chip. If the coprocessor is not present, floating point is simulated in software. If you're writing in assembler it's up to you to address the coprocessor board (special addresses in segment 15) and to call simulation routines if it's not present; higher level languages such as C handle it for you automatically. Note that unlike the 8087, the National chip supports only the most basic floating point functions and NANs and gradual underflow are done in software in any event. The National chip does do what it does very fast, so that floating arithmetic that doesn't generate a lot of exceptions should run fast. Software architecture The RT PC has a three-level software architecture somewhat like that of VM/370. At the lowest level is the Virtual Resource Manager, the VRM, which provides a virtual machine with segmented virtual memory to the next level. The second level is the Unix kernel, and the third level is Unix user processes. The virtual machine provided by the VRM is somewhat specialized to support the Unix kernel. For example, it can create a logical copy of a segment where the new and old segment share common pages but whenever one or the other changes a page, it gets its own copy of that page. This primitive is very handy for efficient implementation of the Unix fork() primitive. The VRM also handles low-level disk I/O and error recovery, and also provides most of the support for the screen windowing (unless they changed it since I left, which they might have.) The AIX system is a port of AT&T System V with a lot of upwards compatible extensions. Where it made sense, we borrowed stuff from 4.2, for example the improved signal handling calls. Where there were de-facto standards that made sense we followed them, such as the /usr/group file locking primitives. Other stuff we had to invent ourselves, most notably primitives which map files into segments, useful for code sharing and for data base stuff. The C compiler is a straightforward port of PCC, much of which I did. It produces code that is about as good as any other PCC compiler's, although it must be admitted that PCC does not take very good advantage of large numbers of registers. None the less, I believe you'll find that if you compare C programs on a Vax 780 under 4.2 or SystemV and on a RT PC under AIX, you'll find the RT PC to be somewhat faster. Friends have run dhrystones but I'll let them report their own results. Adding your own hardware devices Go right ahead. It can be a little more complicated than on other Unix systems since you need both a VRM driver and a Unix driver unless it's something like a disk where your VRM driver can present an interface that the Unix kernel already understands. Facilities are provided to add new drivers to both the VRM and Unix in binary-only systems. The external I/O bus is a PC/AT bus and most of the peripherals, other than the new screens, are PC AT peripherals. I don't know how IBM feels about attaching stuff to the internal 32-bit bus, but unless your device is extremely fast, I don't know why you'd need to. Interactive Systems DOS There are two entirely separate DOS environments on the RT PC. One is the PC AT coprocessor board which not surprisingly acts very much like a PC AT. The other is a DOS compatibility package which runs under AIX. It consists of a library of routines which faithfully simulate the various documented DOS calls along with reimplementations of most of the commonly used DOS commands and the DOS command processor. This means that if you have a DOS program written in something other than 8088 assembler, in principal you recompile it under IS-DOS and it should work. Of course in practice the fact the the ROMP has 32-bit big-endian linear addressing rather than 16+16=20 little-endian segmented addressing will cause trouble, as will the fact that practically every useful DOS program diddles the interrupts and directly addresses the screen and other hardware. Even so, I gather that the IS-DOS environment feels comfortable and familar to DOS users and that porting from PC-DOS to IS-DOS is notably easier than going all the way to native AIX and besides, most of your familiar batch scripts and function keys still work. Unix programs can call DOS programs and vice-versa, since it's still Unix underneath, so that mixed environments are workable. IS-DOS can read and write PC-DOS floppies directly and if you open A:FOO.BAR from your IS-DOS program, by golly it'll read your PC-DOS floppy, unless of course you logically redirected A: somewhere else. Networking Beats me. AIX supports what you get with System V, i.e. uucp. We physically plugged in 3Com Ethernet cards and got them to work under AIX in a primitive way that was adequate for transferring files from our Vax and a lot faster than floppies. IBM is not dumb and I expect they'll have some sort of network out eventually, but I do not know what kind or what functions it will support. As noted elsewhere, the ACIS port of 4.2BSD (which was an almost entirely separate effort from AIX) gives you the TCP/IP support that 4.2 provides. John Levine, Javelin Software, Cambridge MA 617-494-1400 { decvax | harvard | think | ihnp4 | cbosgd }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.ARPA The opinions above are solely those of a 12 year old hacker who has broken into my account, and not those of my employer or any other organization. ------------------------------ Date: 23 Jan 1986 19:19-EST From: Tom.Wood@FAS.RI.CMU.EDU Subject: Two AT Problems: environment space & ctrl-break We've run into two significant problems--any suggestions would be appreciated: According to the DOS documentation, once a device driver is loaded, environment space can no longer be expanded. Unfortunately, because of our application (a PGB driven from VDI), we need both to load drivers from CONFIG.SYS and to expand our environment space. I have tried the undocumented switch "/E:n" as described in the last issue of INFO-IBMPC--it causes our system to hang up. Is there any reasonable solution to this problem? AND, we have an AT that will completely lock up 4 out 5 times that CTRL-BREAK is invoked. Power cycling is the only way to recover. The machine passes all the diagnostics. We are perplexed and annoyed(!). Could this be a hardware problem anyway? Oh--we are running DOS 3.1. Thanks for any ideas. Tom Wood taw@fas.ri.cmu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Jan 86 13:25:17 est From: malpass@ll-sst (Don Malpass) To: INFO-HZ100@RADC-TOPS20, info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: environment space - some replies Here are some responses dealing with the environment space problem. My original thought was to wait till I had tried Don Nash's suggested patch, but decided insetad to forward the whole pile in case any of you got some hack-time before I did. It appears to be a general enough problem that copies of future msgs should probably be sent to info-hz100 and/or info-ibmpc until we lick the problem. DON [MALPASS@LL-SST] FORWARDED [EDITED] MESSAGES: FROM: Tim Gonsalves Re: environment space - I've seen messages in info-ibmpc on the subject and suspect that [isi-b] contains a program to increase it. This should work directly or with modifications in a -100. Re: "Bad command.com ..." message - I've had the same problem. Unresolved so far. Please let me know I you find any answers. Re: Finding environment reduced to PATH and COMSPEC - you could be stuck in a higher level command.com. Try typing 1 or more "exit" to get back to the lowest level. This has happened to me. Tim FROM: dlnash@ngp.UTEXAS.EDU (Donald L. Nash) Here is a patch to COMMAND.COM to increase environment space to 128 paragraphs of 16 bytes each: debug a:\command.com -u cs:ece ;should be XXXX:0ECE BB0A00 MOV BX,000A ; XXXX:0ED1 B448 MOV AH,48 ; XXXX:0ED3 CD21 INT 21 -aece ;address to asemble new code into XXXX:0ECE mov bx,0080 ;system prompts you with XXXX:0ECE, ; you enter "mov bx,0080" followed by . XXXX:0ed1 ;system prompts you with XXXX:0ED1, ; just type a . -u cs:ece ;should be XXXX:0ECE BB8000 MOV BX,0080 ; XXXX:0ED1 B448 MOV AH,48 ; XXXX:0ED3 CD21 INT 21 -w ;write change YYYY ;message telling how many bytes were written -q ;quit I got this patch from: Max S. Robin AT&T Bell Laboratories Rm. 3E-318A Whippany, NJ 07981 201-386-6865 email:whuxg!2212msr so ask him for more info. If you unassemble at that location and don't get what is above, don't try anything, the address for the patch for your version of COMMAND.COM is different. I've done this myself for an IBM PC with PC-DOS 2.0 and it works fine. FROM: F._Andy_Seidl%UMich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA MS defines the environment as occupying "up to 32K bytes" and that it can move around (meaning that if you get its address via a system call, you cant be guaranteed that it will be in the same place if it is modified or if you start a new process.) This shortage of env space has been a real headache for me as I have several products which use the environment and it is usually not possible to have everything SET that I would like. I have tried tracking down the problem for several months but have not found satisfactory solutions anywhere, including Microsoft, IBM and Zenith tech support, user groups, every competent MS-DOS hacker I know (which is not a small number) and several conferences. I was hoping MS-DOS 3.10 would solve the problem but no such luck. END FORWARDED MSGS More to follow, I hope. don [malpass@LL-sst] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25-Jan-86 18:44:29 EDT From: Manny Farber Subject: Boosting PC (not AT) clock rate I just replaced my PC's 8088 with a NEC V-20, (the Norton Utilities and the V20TIMER program both say that the performance is equivalent to that of a hypothetical 11.92 MHz 8088. When running programs with normal memory access, it seems to be much closer to 8 MHz, perhaps less; it's a welcome boost nonetheless) and would like to try to boost the clock rate, using the higher-speed V-20. I would appreciate any pointers from anyone who has tried boosting his clock rate. Thanks in advance ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Jan 86 22:20:59 pst From: Paul Stephen To: Info-IBMPC Digest Subject: Query: Overthruster PC Speedup Anyone out there know anything about the "Overthruster"? It's supposed to be a system in which you replace the 8088 with the 8088-2 processor and you remove the clock chip and put in a circuit board which gives you 2 switches -- one for a machine reset and the other to switch between regular and higher clock speed. Firm is located in Culver City CA. Firm's name is Nucleus. ------------------------------ From: connery%bnrmtv.UUCP@BRL.ARPA Subject: Avoiding diskette timeouts on 18MHz ATs Date: Thu, 23-Jan-86 09:16:18 PST A patch for avoiding the floppy diskette timeout problems on ATs running xtals >15MHz... ; ; Change Diskette Parameter Table's motor startup delay ; by Glenn Connery, BNR, January 1986. ; ; The Diskette Parameter Table is pointed to by interrupt vector 1E at ; address 78H. The table consists of 11 bytes (0..A) the last of which ; is the motor start up time, in 1/8ths of a second (normal clock). By ; modifying this value you can correct for the faster crystal installed ; in your PC-AT. ; ; The normal value is 8 (is 1 second). Running a 9MHz machine instead of ; a 6MHz machine means that 0C (or 1.5 seconds normal time) should be used. ; ; No warranty is made of the suitability of this program for any purpose ; nor any guarantee that it will function as specified. Use it at your ; own risk. ; code segment public assume cs:code,ds:nothing org 100h ; : start: mov ax,0 mov ds,ax ; mov bx,ds:[78h] ;offset mov es,ds:[7Ah] ;segment ; ; and finally, stuff the new delay period into the appropriate place in the ; table... this is the byte to change for different crystal speeds ; mov byte ptr es:[bx+0Ah],0CH ; exit: mov al,0 mov ah,4ch int 21h ; code ends end start ------------------------------ From: Stephen Sisler Subject: How to make a faster AT Date: Wed, 22-Jan-86 13:58:30 PST Courtesy of Stephen Sisler, here is some interesting information about products that will speed up the PC AT. This is from messages in the IBM PC AT forum (PCS-131, subtopic 4) of CompuServe. Stephen's account there is 72366,3724. 80286s: 10mhz are going for $250-$300. 12mhz for $350-$400 retail. 14mhz are supposedly available for $$$$. Some ATs will run at 16mhz. Reportedly these are the new C6 or E2 versions that fix the protected mode bug that plagued DRI. 80287s: Even when you're running your 80286 at 9 or 10mhz, your 80287 is still running slow, because while the 80286 is driven at 1/2 the xtal speed, the 80287 runs @ something like 1/3 (?), so boards are available that plug into the 80287 socket and drive the 80287 at 8mhz (twice the normal speed) using 8mhz 80287s. 100ns RAMs: 128k @ circa $7 each; 256k @ $5.15 each Software: A patch is available for $24.95 that inserts a floppy drive timing delay to stop those Drive Not Ready episodes when operating at > 9mhz. A patch to defeat that rotten timing loop in the new 30MB AT ROM is also available (isn't life wonderful). Speed Switches: Several companies are selling switches that let you switch between 2 to 5 different speeds. (I made my own for < $10). The 2 most interesting are sold by AMS: The AT-1 lets you switch manually between 3 different speeds for $74.95. The AT-2 @ $124.95, lets you switch between 3 different speeds using the *KEYBOARD*. One or both also contain hardware and/or software to defeat the timing loop in the new AT ROM. Both come with a reboot button and *OCCUPY AN EXPANSION SLOT*. (NOTE: Paged memory boards won't yet run at faster speeds). I'm saving my shekels for the 80386 upgrades/add-ons coming out this year. Stephen offered the following sources for the above mentioned products. These are not necessarily the only sources, but Stephen cites them as ones that solicit retail business. Fast crystals, 80286s, software patches, 80386 product in near future: ARIEL, (201-788-2788). 100ns RAMs, 80286s, 80386 Motherboard, RAM boards, software patches. Will modify your AT motherboard if needed to make it run faster. BGI, (215-538-3900). Fast crystals, AT-1 & AT-2 Speed Switches, software patches. AMS: (818-810-8443). Speed Switches, Crystals, 8mhz 80287 board, software patches. Megahertz Corp: (801-355-8857) . 8mhz 80287 board, 8mhz 80287s, Established reliable company. MicroWay: (617-746-7341). 100ns 256K RAMs. Microprocessors Unlimited: (918-267-4961). Very cheap crystals with thin wire leads for making your own speed switch, etc. B.G. Micro: (214-271-5546). Some companies advertising high-speed crystals are charging $8 to $16. Fry's Electronics in Sunnyvale is selling them for $1.99. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 86 08:46:52 PST From: walton%Deimos@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Subject: Re: IBM Boobytrap for AT Speedup To: Qualcomm@USC-ISID.ARPA, info-ibmpc%Deimos@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Franklin, you are correct in your assumption, as PC Magazine confirms. With the new AT's with the IBM-produced 30 Mb hard disk, IBM has indeed added a timing loop to the BIOS which prevents system bootup if a faster crystal has been installed. Talk about planned obsolescence! Buy someone else's AT clone--this combined with the wait states should dissuade anyone from buying an IBM AT. As far as I know, the only way around this is to replace the ROM BIOS in your new IBM AT with a copy of the one in someone's older machine, which is NOT RECOMMENDED. Steve Walton Caltech Solar Astronomy walton%deimos@hamlet.caltech.edu swalton@caltech.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jan 1986 00:01-EST Subject: Re: Renaming Subdirectories From: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA This is in response to Elias Saab's query about how to rename a subdirectory without deleting all the files, etc. I have a public domain program named "DIRENAME.COM" that came without source code or documentation, and I don't even recall where I snarfed it from! But it does work quite well. It prompts for old directory name, renames it to new, with no problems whatsoever. Never had any problems on my system (PC clone, PC-DOS 3.1, 10 Megger). Dunno how I can respond directly to Elias (some weird BitNet address I never have much luck reaching), but will dig around the nets and try to find where I found it. Regards, David Kirschbaum Toad Hall ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 26 Jan 1986 06:01 EST From: LENOIL@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Subject: Re: Renaming Subdirectories The restriction that you can't rename a directory is artificial, i.e. command.com prohibits you from doing it, not the DOS. Therefore, write a small program to call DOS function 56h. Or, do it using DEBUG, like this: CD to the parent of the directory you wish to rename. Let's assume you wish to rename C:\FOO to C:\BAR. Do the following: C>CD \ C>DEBUG -A xxxx:0100 INT 21 xxxx:0102 [press RETURN] -E 200 "FOO",0 -E 300 "BAR",0 -R AX ax xxxx :5600 -R DX dx xxxx :200 -R DI di xxxx :300 -T 1 -Q If you follow this procedure, substituting the appropriate filenames, your directory should be renamed. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Jan 86 15:56:04 EST From: Kenneth E. Van_Camp (LCWSL) Subject: Re: Renaming Subdirectories The batch file below uses the public domain MV.EXE program (on the USC-ISIB archives) to move an entire directory. Create the following file and call it MVDIR.BAT --------------------------- Cut Here -------------------------------------- ECHO OFF CD > \TMP\PWD.MKB CD\ TYPE \TMP\CD.MKB > CMMDS.BAT TYPE \TMP\PWD.MKB >> CMMDS.BAT MKDIR %1 COMMAND /C CMMDS MV *.* %1 CD\ TYPE \TMP\RMDIR.MKB > CMMDS.BAT TYPE \TMP\PWD.MKB >> CMMDS.BAT COMMAND /C CMMDS DEL \CMMDS.BAT CD %1 --------------------------- Cut Here -------------------------------------- The syntax of the command is: MVDIR \dest where the full path name of the destination directory must be specified (including the initial \). It is assumed that the current directory is the one you want moved. Not quite as flexible as the Unix mv command, but it's the best I could do. Note that there are two supporting files, as well: \TMP\CD.MKB and \TMP\RMDIR.MKB. These can be easily created as follows: COPY CON CD.MKB CD ~Z and COPY CON RMDIR.MKB RMDIR ~Z Notice that only a space separates the command from the ~Z (Control-Z). After the ~Z, of course, you should type a carriage return. \tmp\cd.mkb: cd \tmp\rmdir.mkb: rmdir ------------------------------ Date: 27 Jan 1986 17:35:29 PST Subject: Re: Renaming directories From: Richard Gillmann To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA The program RENAME.PAS, in the Info-IBMPC library, can rename both directories and files. Dick Gillmann ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 86 06:10:34 MST From: halff@utah-cs.arpa (Henry M. Halff) To: info-IBMPC@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Renaming Subdirectories Elias Saab asks: Does any one know how to rename a subdirectory without erasing it and creating it with a different name. There is a utility called DIRENAME in CompuServe's IBM-PC SIG's library that will do this job. I believe that it can be found in DL1. hh ------------------------------ Date: Tue 28 Jan 86 09:00:28-CST From: Pete Galvin Subject: Re: Renaming Subdirectories To: MATHES%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU cc: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA I believe DOS call 51 (hex) will allow you to rename a directory without deleting it and rebuilding it. See the DOS technical manuals. ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jan 1986 12:44-EST From: SCHNUR@USC-ISI.ARPA Subject: Expanded Memory for Compaq286 Deskpro I have a Compaq286 with 1.6 megabytes obtained by replacing the memory with 256k chips. Does any one know how do make this accept the various expanded protocols now being written eg. for lotus 123.version2, etc. Can I add a board such as the ast advantage the system as it now exists? Will that work for the Lotus system? All I can do now with the memory is use it for a very nice and large RAM disk. Joel Schnur (Schnur@ISI) ------------------------------ Date: Mon 27 Jan 86 11:58:39-PST From: Ted Shapin Subject: Re: Vfiler problem I have experienced the same problems with vfiler 2.28. It has no protection against copying a file to the same directory which results in files being truncated to the first block (4K or whatever). I don't use SIDEKICK. Maybe someone with a Compuserve? account could try and contact the author Mike Nice [73565,565] and see if he is willing to fix it or to make the source code available. I use it, although I have been burned by it and some of our other users have banned it entirely. Ted. ------------------------------ Date: 27 Jan 86 10:57 GMT From: meaders @ KOREA-EMH Subject: Re: Multilink To: bakin @ mit-multics.arpa CC: info-ibmpc @ usc-isib.arpa Ref your question on MultiLink: ML allows (or turns) a PC, XT or compatible to perform apparent multitasking and multiuser functions. It turns your system into a PC-DOS/MS-DOS time sharing system. I have been using ML in its bulletin board mode and simulataneously using WordStar. I have also used several other programs successfully; HOWEVER, programs that do fun things to the video data do not work without serious modification. The company is The Software Link, Inc. Sorry I don't seem to have the address or phone number. Mark Meaders ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 86 08:45:56 PST From: walton%Deimos@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Subject: Windows vs. DesqView vs... To: info-ibmpc%Deimos@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu I am the author of a favorable mini-review of Windows in INFO-IBMPC a few weeks back. Two (at least) unfavorable ones have appeared since. I have a bit more to contribute. The worst flaw in MS-Windows, and it is very serious, is that it uses the start of a DOS function call as its trigger to pause one task and take up another one. This means that a CPU-intensive task, which includes such things as a compile-link sequence, takes over the machine. All of the other multitasking programs for DOS use some form of time-slicing, which gives each program a piece of the CPU for a fixed fraction of the time available. As for the windows-vs.-tiles arguments: The response from Microsoft that MS-Windows doesn't preclude overlapped windows is true, but misleading, since it is the MS-DOS Executive, the top-level Windows program provided by Microsoft, which does the tiling and automatic resizing of windows which George Eldridge complained about. Microsoft would have to modify this program in order to allow overlapped windows--you can't do it yourself even if you write your own Windows Applications. Finally, though, I still think Windows is a very nice package, though as I stated originally, it is probably best thought of as a graphics interface rather than a multitasker at present. Anyone who wants a fair and detailed overview of 8 (!) multitaskers for the PC is referred to the review in the December '85 issue of PC Tech Journal. Steve Walton Caltech Solar Astronomy walton%deimos@hamlet.caltech.edu swalton@caltech.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Tue 28 Jan 86 09:10:11-PST From: Jackie Subject: Review of the Mix "C" Compiler To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA cc: howald%ECLD@USC-ECL.ARPA My friend, Vince Alfieri, who is not on the net, recently purchased the MIX C compiler. Here's his report: I decided to take the plunge and buy the MIX C compiler, because I wanted to learn C without spending too much money, and it looked like a good deal at $39.95. After mailing in my order, I received the software promptly. I am an experienced dBASE programmer with a smattering of Pascal, but this was my first exposure to C. So keep in mind that my comments are those of an "educated beginner." In general, I am VERY happy with the program. It seems to be a fairly "standard" version of the K & R language, is easy to use, compiles programs quickly, and works for the most part without problems. There are also a host of "non-standard" functions, including ones for the MS-DOS and CP/M environments. The manual, although not type set, is quite well done. It is divided into sections: a "getting started" section, a tutorial, a reference section, a discussion of standard and non-standard functions, and a "tools" section, which includes how to use the compiler and other special files. The tutorial was good, but not great; their ad claims it to be the "best tutorial." However, it certainly covers the essentials of the language for the novice, and gives full program examples for all important concepts. Thankfully, most of the programs in the tutorial run without a hitch. One complaint: each section has its own index, which makes finding information rather difficult. The compiler does a relatively fast, one-pass run, showing you your program code on the screen, together with line numbers, as it goes along. It is definitely not as fast as Turbo Pascal by any means, but not terribly slow either. The code for #include files are also shown on the screen at the point of inclusion. MIX uses the "stdio" file, but no "math.h" file (the math functions are built in). Errors are flagged with an "~" and error code number directly beneath the offending spot, and a list of error codes and their meanings follows the compilation. After a while, you get to know what the error codes mean, so you can stop the compilation (I use a batch file from which I can Ctrl-Break at any time) and make your corrections. The compiler does not produce standard DOS .OBJ files. Rather, it creates .MIX files that are then used by the MIX linker. If you want to include DOS .OBJ files in your programs, there's a utility to convert them first to the .MIX format. The linker shows you the various function calls on the screen as it works, all of which is gibberish to me, but you can side-step this by redirecting the screen display to the DOS NUL device. When successful, the linker creates a DOS .COM file, not an .EXE file. When not successful, the linker shows you its own commands, which allow you to move around in the file, find references, etc. (I haven't investigated these linker features yet.) I have used program examples from several introductory textbooks, most of which compile and run correctly. However, at my novice stage I haven't delved too deeply into C or written any extensive programs, so I don't know how this software would handle a large project or larger than 64K programs (there is an overlay feature in the linker). One thing that the compiler doesn't seem to understand is the macro substitution of functions during the compilation stage. I haven't inquired from MIX whether this is available and I'm just doing it wrong, or whether the compiler doesn't support this feature. No mention of macros occurs in the manual. I also purchased the MIX editor as part of the package deal (for $15 more than the compiler itself). The editor is also excellent and complements the compiler quite nicely. Like the Turbo Pascal editor, the MIX editor uses many of the standard WordStar control-key sequences, so I felt right at home. But the editor also allows you to configure commands in any way you'd like by changing key assignments and creating macros. These are kept in a setup file. If you don't like to remember control-key commands, you can hit the key or ~J and type the command abbreviation (such as "ED" for "EDIT") on the command line. The editor also lets you split a screen horizontally or vertically and to show line numbers if you wish. Although not a total "programming environment" like Turbo Pascal, the MIX compiler/editor comes close. You can use the RUN command from within the editor to compile, link and run programs, thus effectively never having to leave the editor. If you set up the process in a batch file, use the DOS command to run the batch file from the editor. This is ALMOST as good as Turbo! The package comes with several "readme" files that supply updated information, including ways to patch the compiler, linker and editor for various changes. One patch that I would have liked is to disable the automatic request for backup files (the editor always asks if you want to save a backup file when you exit, which is rather annoying, so I have a Superkey macro to get around this). In sum, from the novice's standpoint, I think that the MIX C compiler and editor are an excellent and inexpensive package that are a good start on the path to learning and using C. Even if I eventually need a more expensive compiler, I still won't feel that the money spent on MIX was wasted. ------------------------------ To: INFO-IBMPC@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Re: BOOTCODE.ASM Date: Tue, 28 Jan 86 14:38:52 -0500 From: Dan Grim I have discovered through my own sad experience that BOOTCODE.ASM is not able to deal with newer DOS partitions that use the 16-bit FAT format. BOOTCODE.ASM understands DOS with 12-bit FAT's (ID byte = 1) and Xenix (ID byte = 2). DOS with 16-bit FAT's has an ID byte = 4 which BOOTCODE doesn't recognize. The fix is trivial: simply change the line following the label 'lddos' from mov al,1 ;id for dos to mov al,4 ;id for dos with 16-bit FAT's Of course, once you do that BOOTCODE won't handle 12-bit FAT DOS any longer. Dan ------------------------------ Subject: Query: Turning off key rollover Date: 25 Jan 86 13:57:02 PST (Sat) From: Randy Day Does anyone have a driver that turns off the PC's keyboard's auto-repeat function? Randy Day. UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4}!uw-beaver!uw-june!randy ARPA: randy@washington CSNET: randy%washington@csnet-relay ------------------------------ Date: Sunday, 26 Jan 1986 09:29:43-PST From: tinius%ekbv00.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM (Stephen Tinius - Kaufbeuren Manufacturing - KBO) Subject: Query: Queuing a Print File I am trying to submit a file to the (PCDOS 3.0/3.1) print queue using int 2F. From the Disk Operating System Version 3.0 Technical Reference (6322677) page 5-18: "On entry AL=1, and DS:DX points to the submit packet. A submit packet contains the level (BYTE) and a pointer to the ASCIIZ string (DWORD). The ASCIIZ string must contain the drive, path, and filename of the file you want to print." Can anyone tell me what a "submit packet" is, and what "level" means? Stephen Tinius Kaufbeuren, Germany ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Jan 86 12:24:52 EST From: Steven Segletes Subject: Free plotting library wanted Not being an assembly language programmer (but still wanting to have all the benefits associated therewith), I was wondering if the Info-IBMPC library program PLOT.ASM follows Microsoft calling conventions, for instance, so that I might call it from a high level language. If not, are there any freebie routines out there that do such a task (draw a line on the screen) and are callable from a high level routine? Unfortunately, I don't have access to a C compiler (yet??). Steve Segletes U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5066 [Sorry, but PLOT.ASM uses assembly language linkages only. -ed.] ------------------------------ Date: 19 Jan 86 21:45 CDT From: Sean_Donelan_%VANDERBILT.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Query: "Preview" for TEX output Has anyone had experience with the Preview program from Personal TEX, Inc? This program supposedly allows one to see what the document will look like without having to send it to a printer. It uses a Hercules (or EGA) graphics card, and displays the document on the screen. Is this the answer to our wish to avoid sending rough drafts to our central facilities laser printer just to check spacing and page breaks. Are there any known problems. Will summarize any responses I receive. Sean Donelan Vanderbilt University Sean_Donelan%Vanderbilt.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: 28 JAN 86 13:20-N From: INNO%HWALHW5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC-REQUEST@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: "PROCOMM" Query Could someone help me find a software package called PROCOMM? It's an emulator, doing up to 6 different emulations. Also VT100, and we need that very much. Most important is the fact that it is free. Only, I don't know how to get it. Hope someone can help. I first got the information on the existance in DEC USER of January 86, page 44/45. The article was written by Dr Alan Solomon IBM Communications Offer S & S Enterprises 31, Holloway Lane Amersham,Bucks,HP66DJ In the article it is said that you can get it via the user groups, maybe someone has connections with them. Phone: (04867) 88710 or 01-6301199. I think this product also shouldn't miss in the Info-IBMPC library. Inno Frencken Computing Centre Agricultural University Hollandseweg 1 6706 KN Wageningen The Netherlands phone: 08370-83875 EARN-id: INNO EARN-node: HWALHW5 ------------------------------ Date: 28 Jan 1986 05:19-PST Subject: Disk Optimizer Query From: BSCHAAR@USC-ISIF.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I have seen some recent articles on software that improves disk performance. Does anyone have any comments on the following: 1. Disk Optimizer from Soft Logic Solutions $49.95 2. Flash from Software Masters $49.95 3. Lightning from Personal Computer Support Group $49.95 Most of the advertisements are quoting a 2-4-8 times improvement. Any ideas on how these products work would be appreciated. Brian Schaar ARPA: bschaar@usc-isif ------------------------------ Date: Tue 28 Jan 86 08:09:27-PST From: CRESWELL@SRI-AI.ARPA Subject: WPS+PC Query To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Anyone have experience with WPS+PC software by DEC? Claim is that it fully emulates the Decmate 2 word processor on IBM-PCs. We now have the Decmate and are considering transferring to PCs. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1986 18:04 O From: Ram Kolins Subject: Some technical problems To: Me and two of my friends are currently working on a few projects with the pc. We are having a few technical problems and would appreciate some help. The first problem involves memory resident programs: We are writing a memory resident programs using Turbo pascal; any time the memory resident program open or reads a file it halts the computer when it tries to return to the background task. I think that the problem is because of the fact that the bios routines are not reentrant but if so then how does Sidekick manage to open files ? The second problem is a technical problem: I'm developing a special kind of keyboard that should replace the pc keyboard. The Technical manual mention that the keyboard interface is a bidirectional serial port but he does not mention what kind of information does the computer sends to the keyboard serially? Another problem is with the Ciracia Circuit Cellar voice recognition project using the SP-1000. Is there anyone up there how have built the project and ready to give us some help with the software? Is there any replacement to the ADC-0831 that works properly? The last problem is with the Tandy 1000 : What is the exact reason that some hardisks does not work with computer? I also know that Tandy is about to produce a new version of the computer : 1000A and that the difference is in the motherboard, Is there anyone on the net who knows more details? If anyone can assist me with these problems I would highly appreciate it. Please answer by mail. Thanks RAM KOLINS ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ ------- ========================================================================= Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by wiscvm.wisc.edu on 01/31/86 at 08:50:19 CST Date: 30 Jan 1986 12:52:41 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #16 From: Info-IBMPC Digest To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, 30 January 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 16 This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann Today's Topics: PC RT (3 msgs) AT Speedup (3 msgs) PC Speedup TallTree JLASER Board (2 msgs) Tektronix 4010 Emulator (2 msgs) Anchor Modem Problems (2 msgs) DOS vs. Direct Screen Writes (2 msgs) 7 cents per Kb Procomm B for the IBM PC and compatibles under MS-DOS. Dos 3.1 Environment size patch Clarification on GREP.C LOTUS Specs Different versions of ARC PC Ltd. AT Query Battery backed up memory MS Compatible Driver Wanted for Logitech Mouse Bad Reset Disk Optimizers....not too good File I/O from resident programs More MIX "C" notes LS.LBR INT09 Side Effect ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 28 Jan 86 20:31:12 EST From: kevin@harvard.HARVARD.EDU (Kevin Crowston) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: RT and XNS Does anyone know if the RT's version of BSD 4.2 includes support for the XNS protocols? Can anyone describe its networking capabilities in more detail? Kevin Crowston UUCP: {seismo,ut-sally}!harvard!kevin MIT Sloan School of Management ARPA: kevin@xv.mit.edu or kevin@harvard.arpa ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Jan 86 15:55:19 pst From: amd!ubvax!skip@SUN.ARPA (Skip Addison Jr) To: amd!sun!ucbvax!info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: RT networking and my mistake Hopefully this will get out before too much damage is done. Apparently there were two operating system released for the RT PC. One that I was referring to in my submission is the Academic Information Systems. It is a 4.2 bsd derivative and is sold to academic units only. Someone mentioned CMU's Andrew software. This may be that. ACIS does support Ethernet and Token Ring networks. It does not support the PC Network Adapter from IBM. The other operating system I don't have information on, but apparently it was developed by those folks that brought us PC/IX. It is originally a Sys V derivative with enhancements. (I love Unix, I really do! I just can't figure what it is. :-) It does support the PC Network Adapter and apparently not the others. My incorrect statement was that the RT PC does not support the PC Network Adapter. It depends on which flavor of Unix you're running. Sorry for the confusion. -- Skip Addison {lll-crg, decwrl}!amdcad!cae780!ubvax!skip ------------------------------ Date: 29-Jan-1986 1340 From: mitton%olorin.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM (Dave Mitton) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: IBM PC Network support on PC-RT RE: Skip Addison's comments on no support of the PC Network adapter. I beg to differ with him, but the information given in issue #9 is straight from the IBM announcement, section 186-006, page 6. Dave Mitton. ------------------------------ Date: 28 Jan 86 13:05:35 PST (Tuesday) Subject: Heat Sink for PC AT running at 9 MHz From: Burton.osbunorth@Xerox.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.Arpa cc: ibmpc~.ES@Xerox.COM I recently sped up my PC AT to 9.7 MHz, and I installed a heat sink, using heat sink compound to attach the heat sink to the CPU. I use my AT "tower" fashion, so that in theory the heat sink could slide off the CPU into the disk controller. Is the heat sink compound also an effective adhesive? If not, can you recommend an adhesive that can be removed without traces, in case I have to take the CPU back to the dealer for service? Phil Burton Xerox Corporation ------------------------------ Date: 28 Jan 86 13:06:07 PST (Tuesday) Subject: Ronsco 5 Speed Clock Switch for AT From: Burton.osbunorth@Xerox.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.Arpa I just received and installed the Ronsco "Five Speed" clock switch in my AT. The unit has a jack that plugs into the AT's crystal socket, which leads to a five position rotary switch that select the various crystals. The crystals and rotary switch mounted are on a flat plate that mounts in the AT's "maintenance panel" on the rear of the CPU, to the left, as viewed from the front. The crystals and switch are enclosed in a rubber jacket, which I have not removed. Installation was quick, less than fifteen minutes, not counting uncabling and recabling my system, with clear instructions. The actual speeds vary somewhat from the nominal speeds: Nominal Actual* 10 10.6 9 9.7 8 8.1 6 6.0 4 3.9 All speeds determined by the Norton Utility "si", with the standard 6 MHz showing a 5.7x rating relative to the PC. [The Norton "si" benchmark is notoriously deceptive! --Ed.] The rotary switch is not firm enough in its settings. It is apparently possible to get an intermediate speed setting if the switch contacts two crystals at the same time. At 10.7 MHz, the system would boot up only when it was cold. Otherwise, it failed the Power On Self Test before the keyboard test was complete. The memory tests were apparantly completed, but the keyboard LED's never lit. Once warm, the system would not accept keyboard input at 10.6 MHz. At 9.7 MHz, I was able to use all my input/output devices without any changes in operations. At 3.9 MHz, games are decently slow. However, the system bleeps several times during POST, and the "Press F1 to continue" message appears. Also, my EGA is apparently not initialized properly, and initially displays output in 40 column mode. (I use mode to restore co80.) Ronsco recommends against switching speeds while the system is running. My limited experience suggests it works between 6 and 8 MHz, otherwise not. I usually power down the system to change speeds. (Can anyone recommend a hardware reset switch that would be as effective?) My configuration consists of a model 068, my own third party hard disk and half-high 360 KB floppy disk, AST card with 1.128 MB, parallel port, two serial ports, and a game port. Also, an EGA with the EG Display. I have a Hayes modem, a serial Diablo printer running at 9600 baud (which share COM1 with a Y cable), a parallel Epson printer, and COM2 reserved for a serial mouse. Overall, I'd give this product a good minus, because of the mediocre quality of the rotary switch. If readers are interested in getting this product, they better hurry. Ronsco's real business is vertical market software, and they produced this device initially as an accommodation for the AT customers, then decided to market the product, then finally decided NOT to continue marketing it. Telephone support was very good. Ronsco is in Monee, IL, at 312 534 1303. I bought this switch, instead of simply installing a faster crystal, so that my kids could play games. At 6 MHz, the AT is too fast for any time-sensitive game written for the PC. Philip Burton Xerox Corporation ------------------------------ Date: 28 Jan 86 13:08:12 PST (Tuesday) Subject: Switching speeds on PC AT From: Burton.osbunorth@Xerox.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.Arpa cc: ibmpc~.ES@Xerox.COM I recently got a speed switch for my PC AT, and proper procedure for switching speeds is to power down the system. Would a hardware reset switch be as effective? Which one is recommended, and at what price? I don't need any extra features. Phil Burton Xerox Corporation ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Jan 86 22:12:05 PST From: iverson%cory@BERKELEY.EDU (Tim Iverson) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Overthruster PC Speedup Query In the Feb. 1986 issue of PC Tech Journal, tucked way in the back, I found an add for a kit to increase the PC clock speed to 7.38Mhz. The product is called The Overthruster and is produced by Data Management Systems. Now, the question: How is this done? General answers and gueses are apreciated, but I would kill for a detailed explanation (with lots of big words and chip numbers). After all, I would like to do this myself without spending $300. Thanks, Tim Iverson. (iverson@cory.berkeley.edu) ------------------------------ From: Date: Sat, 25 Jan 86 02:33:48 PST To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: Talltree JLASER board An add on board for the Talltree JRAM3 and JRAM-3AT 2mb RAM board, is their JLASER add on. This allows a PC or AT to send full page 300 dpi graphics at high speed to ANY Canon laser engine (Apple Laser Writer, HP LaserJet et al.) However, I'm looking for software to support it. Nothing actually seems available now. Rumors that a version of Fontrix and Printrix will work do not seem to be confirmed by local software dealers. Another rumor is that a company called Le Beau has a program that will take any DOS or WordStar text file and return a printed document in any of 32 fonts and any point size up to and including a single character per page at 300 dpi is encouraging, but I can't find the company. Sigh. The JLASER board concept is great, it entirely bypasses the intelligence (and limitations) of the various Canon engine laser printers allowing the PC (you) to create full page hi res pictures and text and then sending them directly to the engine at high speed. I don't know what the memory limitations of the Apple LaserWriter are, but the HP is capable of only 1/4 page of 300 dpi graphics (the laserJet+ can do 1/2 page) and it takes a while to print. The JLASER uses 1mb of the 2mb RAM board and includes a hi-speed parallel interface for the printer. The board and interface are co-resident with the original interface and do not interfere with normal use. A good start I hope. Now if I could only find software.. Bret Marquis (sdcsvax, ihnp4) bang!bam bam@NOSC.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: 29 Jan 1986 12:38:18 PST Subject: Re: Talltree JLASER board From: Billy Brackenridge To: I spoke with Ed Thompson of Tall Tree. He informs me that Jlaser is selling well and many have joined the band wagon. He claims Jlaser memory isn't limited to 1MB as your article implies I think the limit is 8MB as you can run it from several JRAM boards. Here is the list they gave me of software companies with announced products. Le Beau makes Le Print 800-532-2844 Data Transforms makes Fontrix and Printrix The dragons in the Tall Tree ads seeen in PC week were made with this. (303)832-1501 Softcraft has a version of their popular Fancifont (619)944-0151 Financial decisions makes large scale (mainframe) corporate accounting systems. They are using Jlaser to print state and local corporate tax forms. They really don't make PC products per se (Their software costs around 10K). They digitise the forms rather than generate them from software. (818)706-2000 Personal Tex has a tex implementation (415) 388-8853 Jlaser only works with the JRAM-3 and JRAM-3-AT boards. These boards conform to the Intel expanded memory spec as well as Tall Tree's own memory scheme. While not printing the memory can be used for any of the normal purposes. I understand that the switches and jumpers are a real rats nest and Tall Tree's documentation has never been up to the standards of AST or IBM, but their technical help line have always been extremely competent. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29-JAN-1986 17:44 EST From: To: Subject: Tektronix 4010 Emulation We've got a public domain Tektronix 4010 emulator here at Virginia Tech that was written in-house. It supports the full 4010 protocol including GIN mode. It features picture file capture, on-line help and keyboard maps, hardware break key, snoop mode, and many other things. It takes up 13KB disk space (that's 13KB) including the picture file manager. We have used it running all PLOT-10 software, SAS/Graph, etc. on our VM/CMS and VAX/VMS systems. A version that includes VT100 (ANSI) emulation and other features is available with documentation by mail for $39.95. If you are interested in either version of TekTERM, let me know. Greg Sherman ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29-JAN-1986 23:20 EST From: To: Subject: Re: Tektronix 4010 Emulation I'd like to release the source but the communication modules and 4010 parser are the basis for the commercial version (which includes VT100 emulation). Also, it's about 100KB of 8086/88 assembler. But because I know this type of program is highly useful in a university environment, I am making the 4010 package available for distribution with NO strings whatsoever.. no donations, etc. Our computing center here at VA Tech supports the program and provides documentation (which is also available on disk). Anyone who is interested can let me know and I'm happy to make arrangements. And in case anyone needs to know, the program requires a PC with 64KB, color/graphics monitor and adapter, an asynch card and modem, and at one disk drive. The AT is supported, but the PCJr is not. Most BIOS compatible machines (Compaq, Leading Edge) have been reported to do fine, as well as some compatible graphics cards (Paradise, Everex). I admit my motivation in giving away TekTERM 4010 is to sell the VT100 version, but in no way is TekTERM 4010 an incomplete or poorly featured program. Let me know if you want any more information. Greg Sherman ------------------------------ Date: 30 Jan 86 10:39 GMT From: ghicks @ KOREA-EMH Subject: Anchor modem problems To: info-ibmpc @ usc-isib I am the proud owner (not so proud??) of an Anchor Communications Mark VI (it might be a 300B ) internal modem. I really don't know since it was given to me. Supposedly, the modem is capable of the following protocols: Bell 103 and 202, CCITT V21 and V23. One BASIC program was included. This program has the following problems: a. I can't filter characters (ie. nulls) nor can I program function keys. b. If I want to use a capture buffer, it must be initialized prior to making a connection. If the number I want to dial is busy (and here in Korea, the IMP/TAC numbers are usually quite busy during the daytime) I must re-initialize the buffer before each attempt to dial the number. c. The program uses timing loops in INTERPRETED basic to determine pulse or tone spacing/duration. This means that I had best not compile the program or the timing loops are messed up. I know the following things about the modem: a. Ports are at 03F8H - 03FFH (IRQ 4) for COM1: and 02F8H - 02FFH for COM2: (normal, I believe); b. Since the program is poorly documented, I think the registers are named as follows: TXB (Transmit buffer) - 03FBh MCR (Modem Control Register) - 03FCh, LSR (????? status register) - 03FDh, MSR (Modem Status Register) - 03FEh, TDR (Transmit Data Register??) - 03FFh c. I believe the MODEM chip is a WD8250PL-00 (a 40 pin DIP). It might be an 8519 (a 28 pin DIP). d. The COMx: port is opened as "COM2:BAUD,PARITY,BITS,STOP,CD" (a normal DOS port request.) Modem input/output is via this handle. My request: Does anyone know of a better program that will work with this modem?? Or does anyone know where I can get more documentation for the modem? Thanks in advance. Gregory Hicks GHICKS@KOREA-EMH (or JUSMAG-DT@KOREA-EMH) PS. I can't seem to get the 202 mode working. Any ideas? Or is the problem that interpreted Basic isn't fast enough? ------------------------------ Date: 30 Jan 1986 10:21:27 PST Subject: Re: Anchor modem problems From: Richard Gillmann To: ghicks@KOREA-EMH.ARPA cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Sounds to me like a standard PC internal modem, in terms of the registers, etc. I've got an Anchor Automation (is this the same?) Volksmodem 1200 which works fine with VDTE. I would imagine it would work also with most other terminal emulation or comm programs. You might try some of the free comm programs in the Info-IBMPC library. As to the 202 modem, do you have a host computer to talk to which does 202? Bell 202 is very rare these days (212 is the standard) and the only use I've seen of it recently is in amateur packet radio. Dick Gillmann ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 86 22:32:12 pst From: minshall%ucbopal@BERKELEY.EDU (Greg Minshall) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: DOS vs. direct screen writes Cc: gts%ucbopal@BERKELEY.EDU Hi. I'm a novice in the PC arena, but I am sorely tempted to complain about the so-called "write_string" sub-code of the INT 10H BIOS entry point (I don't even know how to call things, sigh). This routine generates at least one, if not two, INT 10H's per character being moved into the video ram. I haven't measured how fast this is really running on my AT, but I doubt it goes more than about 19K bits per second. If I just do a REPZ MOVSW, the update is essentially instantaneous. (So, I just measured the rates. INT 10H runs at about 59 Kilobits/second; REPZ MOVSW runs at about 5.12 Megabits/second.) Am I right? Given that I need instantaneous updates (not 19K bits), what do I do? Can I just copy some of the BIOS code (for locking out things - as in the scroll_up function, which seems to do things right), and run that, and assume that it will run everywhere? Thanks. Greg Minshall ------------------------------ Date: 29 Jan 1986 14:46:45 PST To: minshall%ucbopal@BERKELEY.EDU (Greg Minshall) Subject: DOS vs. direct screen writes From: Richard Gillmann Cc: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Yes, your analysis of the video display choices is valid. If you go thru DOS, it will be compatible with all MS-DOS computers, but relatively slow, especially if you're doing full screen updates. If you go direct to the regen buffers, it will be fast but compatible only with IBM PC clones. Don't forget to do the vertical retrace boogie with the color/graphics adaptor or you'll wind up in "snowy mode". Dick Gillmann ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 86 16:38:06 PST From: walton%Deimos@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Subject: 7 cents per Kb To: info-ibmpc%Deimos@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu cc: caltech%Deimos@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu From the February 1986 issue of PC Tech Journal: "The shocker of the show [COMDEX] was the announcement from TheSys of an add-in memory board holding 8 Mb of RAM. Actually, the board has 12 Mb on it; 4 Mb are used for ECC [error correction--NOT just detection]. Fully populated, this board costs $800. And it is EMS-compatible. Want more? It is CMOS. Not content? TheSys also introduced a 16MB solid-state hard disk--a box full of RAM with your choice of disk interface. Buy the unit, plug it into your hard- disk controller, and away you go with a hard disk that boasts an average access time of 10 microseconds (about 8,000 times faster than the XT hard disk). Again, it is CMOS and can be backed up with batteries." As a side note, it would cost us a minimum of $16,000 to upgrade our 5-year-old VAX 780 from 4 to 8 Mb of memory--40 times more per megabyte. Steve Walton Caltech Solar Astronomy walton%deimos@hamlet.caltech.edu swalton@caltech.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Jan 86 02:36:13 EST From: James H. Coombs To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Procomm Inno Frencken asks about Procomm. I don't use it but I do have the latest version. Let me know if you want it for the INFO-IBMPC library. --Jim [Yes! Please send the source code. --Ed.] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Jan 1986 11:39:37 -0100 From: mcvax!steven@seismo.CSS.GOV (Steven Pemberton) To: info-ibmpc-request@usc-isib.arpa Subject: B for the IBM PC and compatibles under MS-DOS. B FOR THE IBM PC AND COMPATIBLES UNDER MS-DOS. (This B is unrelated to the predecessor of C: B is a working title. The language will get its final name, ABC, when the language is frozen.) Summary There is now a first implementation of B available for the IBM PC and compatibles under MS-DOS, alongside the existing implementation for Unix. It is available for the cost of the media: $35 US, or Dfl. 100. Details of the implementation and an order form are at the end of this article. What is B? B is a new interactive programming language and environment that is as simple as Basic to learn, offers the structure of C and Pascal, but thanks to its high-level data-types is very powerful and convenient to use. DATA-TYPES It has 2 basic data-types: numbers and texts (=strings), and 3 composite data-types: compounds, lists and tables. o Numbers are unbounded, like all data-types in B, and are kept exact if possible (even with division); o Texts can be joined, repeated, trimmed; o Compounds are like records, or structures, but without field-names; o Lists are sorted sequences of values of any one type (numbers, texts, lists...); o Tables are generalised arrays: both indexes and elements may be of any type. COMMANDS The usual structured commands are available: IF, WHILE, etc. You can define your own commands and functions. Functions can return values of any type. ENVIRONMENT B is both a language and an environment. There is a structured editor that knows about B which you use the whole time that you are using B. It suggests possible command completions, so for instance, if you type a W, it suggests the command WRITE, which you can accept by typing a tab. It also supplies such things as closing brackets automatically. EXAMPLES The best way to appreciate the power and simplicity of B is to see some examples, and 2 are given below. For more details see "An Overview of the B programming Language" by Leo Geurts, in SIGPLAN December 1982, and "Description of B" by Lambert Meertens and Steven Pemberton, SIGPLAN February 1985.) Imagine you want to maintain a list of phone numbers. You start off with an empty list (>>> is the prompt from B): >>> PUT {} IN tel and add a few numbers >>> PUT 4138 IN tel["Frank"] >>> PUT 4071 IN tel["Leo"] >>> PUT 4141 IN tel["Lambert"] Now you can look up individual numbers: >>> WRITE tel["Leo"] 4071 or even write the whole table: >>> WRITE tel {["Frank"]: 4138; ["Lambert"]: 4141; ["Leo"]: 4071} (note they're sorted on the names). You can access the list of 'keys' (the indexes): >>> WRITE keys tel {"Frank"; "Lambert"; "Leo"} and so you can write the table neatly: >>> FOR name IN keys tel: WRITE name, ":", tel[name] / Frank: 4138 Lambert: 4141 Leo: 4071 It is easy to discover who has a particular number: >>> IF SOME name IN keys tel HAS tel[name]=4141: WRITE name Lambert But if you do this often it is easier to create the inverse table: >>> PUT {} IN let >>> FOR name IN keys tel: PUT name IN let[tel[name]] >>> WRITE let[4141] Lambert >>> WRITE let {[4071]: "Leo"; [4138]: "Frank"; [4141]: "Lambert} Example 2: a cross reference generator. (This example would need more than 100 lines of Pascal or C.) HOW'TO INDEX text: PUT {} IN xtab FOR line'no IN keys text: TREAT'LINE OUTPUT TREAT'LINE: PUT text[line'no] IN line WHILE line>"": TREAT'WORD TREAT'WORD: GET'WORD IF word>"": SAVE'WORD GET'WORD: PUT "" IN word WHILE line>"" AND NOT alpha: PUT line@2 IN line WHILE line>"" AND alpha: PUT word~line|1, line@2 IN word, line alpha: REPORT line|1 in {"a".."z"} OR line|1 in {"A".."Z"} SAVE'WORD: IF word not'in keys xtab: PUT {} IN xtab[word] INSERT line'no IN xtab[word] OUTPUT: FOR word IN keys xtab: WRITE word<<10 FOR line IN xtab[word]: WRITE line>>4, " " WRITE / THE IMPLEMENTATION o Requires at least 384K bytes to run, though there is a restricted version without the built-in editor that runs in 256K. o Runs under MS-DOS 2.0 or higher. o Configurable for different size screens, or to use the ANSI screen driver, for compatibles with incompatible BIOS. o Editing operations can be bound to the keys of your choice. o Comes on a single 5.25" or 3.5" diskette. Apricot format also available. o It is not copy protected. But: o It is not a production version: it is not fast, but it is fun! WHAT YOU GET Apart from the floppy, you get a book introducing B, how to use the system, and giving a complete description of the language, and a quick reference guide. HOW TO ORDER Fill in the details below, and send them with a cheque or money order for $35 US or Dfl. 100 (to cover cost of media, postage, etc.) payable to Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam to: B Group, PC Distribution Informatics/AA CWI POB 4079 1009 AB Amsterdam The Netherlands Name: Organisation: Address: Country: Telephone: Network address: Type of machine(s): Required media [ ] 5.25" double-sided, double density floppy [ ] 3.5" double-sided floppy Required version [ ] Full implementation (at least 384K bytes) [ ] Small version (256K bytes) Signature and date: ------------------------------ Date: Wed 29 Jan 86 09:01:41-CST From: Pete Galvin Subject: Dos 3.1 Environment size patch To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Here it is, snarfed from a recent issue of the Boston Computer Society's PC REPORT: Debug Command.Com: xxxx:0D11 0A change the 0A to 1E for a 544 byte environment or 3C for a 1K size. Then of course do a 'W' command to save the new version. --Pete ------------------------------ Date: Wednesday, 29 January 1986 11:32:56 EST From: Joe.Newcomer@a.sei.cmu.edu To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Clarification on GREP.C The version of GREP.C I submitted contains, as I indicated, calls on the Blaise Computing CTOOLS library. This includes the use of the file which is part of their library. Anyone who wants to expand the code to "run native" using some DOS gate may do so; the problem is that most DOS gate code is not portable across C compilers. Since I felt no loss in generality by using the Blaise package, and most of the necessary logic changes I made in this area are necessary, I felt this to be an improvement over the no-wildcards version that was there. The dsrfirst and dsrnext calls are translations of the DOS calls, and the struct used is based on the DOS documentation. Ideally, someone will now build on my contribution and produce a fully-native version, or produce a and dsrfirst/dsrnext package. I cannot, because I have already read the Blaise copyrighted code and any such effort could be construed as releasing proprietary information. joe ------------------------------ Date: 29 Jan 86 09:46:00 PST From: ALEX WOO Subject: LOTUS Specs To: info-ibmpc-request Dennis Korbel here at NASA Ames called LOTUS and checked on those LOTUS internal specs that I sent you. They are released to the public domain, but they are copyrighted so that you don't modify them. Basically if the documents are released without modification then LOTUS OK's it. Alex. [OK, this is now available in the file [ISIB]LOTUS123.FILE-FORMAT -- ed.] ------------------------------ Date: 29 Jan 1986 11:55:24 PST Subject: Different versions of ARC From: Koji Okazaki To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Hello. It has recently come to my attention that there may be some incompatibilities between some versions of the public domain archiver program called ARC. The specific versions in question are ARC430.COM, ARC450.COM, and ARC500.COM. As we are starting to get more program submissions in ARC format, it is important that we know what the differences are between the three aforementioned versions, and the degrees of compatibility between them. Some users have already said that they couldn't successfully de-archive the programs they ftp'ed from us, perhaps due to the possibility that they were archived in one version and de-archived in another. Help will be appreciated! ------------------------------ Date: Wed 29 Jan 86 15:48:35-PST From: Steve Dennett Subject: PC Ltd. AT Query To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA There have been several messages over the last few months requesting info on the PC's Limited AT clone. I'd like to know if anyone has at this point actually bought and used one, and what their experience with it has been. Thanks mucho! Steve Dennett dennett@sri-nic.arpa ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Jan 86 15:48:14 PST From: Matthew J Weinstein To: info-ibmpc-request@isib Subject: Battery backed up memory A company called ``SEMIDISK'' makes battery backed up memory. $595/512k. It's in some of the mags. - Matt ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Jan 86 19:09:55 PST From: mccluskey@Jpl-VLSI.ARPA Subject: Microsoft Compatible Driver Wanted for Logitech Mouse To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa I'm using a couple of AT's equipped with Logitech mice that came with the $6000 Futurenet Schematic capture system, and I'd like to use these same mice with Microsoft software such as PC-Paintbrush, etc... Could someone post me the phone number of Logitech so I can call them up and beg them for a driver? Futurenet is no help at all, and I seriously doubt we will ever buy anything from them again. I've ordered a schematic drawing package from Omation, in Texas, and it looks like a very nice system for a reasonable (relative to Futurenet) $495. A review will follow when it arrives. P.S. I went to the L.A. computer swap meet and what they say is true! An 8 slot motherboard with a V-20, boot rom, and 640K capable (0K installed) for a mere $115 !!! Still, the supply of EGA compatible graphics boards is not yet comparable to the plethora of color and hercules boards displayed. John McCluskey @ JPL-VLSI.ARPA ( or is it JPLLSI ??? ) ------------------------------ Date: 30 Jan 1986 10:47:05-EST From: mlsmith@NADC To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: Bad Reset Recently I have been unable to reset the IBM-PC/AT I have with a . I have to power down to get it running again. The symptoms I get are "Invalid drive specification" when it seeks the autoexec file and ANSI.SYS on the hard disk. I also used to load the mouse driver, but have removed it from the config.sys file. I load from A: the following files: CONFIG.SYS: break = on device = c:\dos\ansi.sys buffers = 50 files = 15 AUTOEXEC.BAT: [The contents of this are saved in [ISIB]AUTOEXEC.BIG -- by the way, this is by far the longest autoexec file I have ever seen, over 200 lines! --Ed.] Does anyone have a clue of what is going on? {DOS is 3.1} ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 86 08:34:48 est From: allegra!phri!greenber@seismo.CSS.GOV (Ross Greenberg) Subject: Disk Optimizers....not too good To: allegra!seismo!usc-isib.arpa!info-ibmpc In respose to a request regarding information regarding Disk Optimizers: I'm not too impressed. They perform exactly as advertised, but with the following (important) caveat: They all seem to throw the empty disk space in one large chunk at the end of the (physical) disk. Soft Logic's program also alphabetizes the directory, and throws all of a directory's clusters together. So, when I do a "COPY /c/myprog.c /c/myprog.old, the poor disk has a lot of work to do, going from the directory and FAT, to the the actual data area, to the empty space at the *other* end of the disk, and back. Lots of seek time. Reads are pretty quick, but writes actually become slower. Fix-by: create a huge file in your most commonly used directory, run the optimizer, then delete the huge file, leaving a gorgeous chunk of contigious space right where you need it. I think the disk optimizer companies should re-release their products when it puts all the empty space in the center of the disk. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 86 08:47:51 est From: allegra!phri!greenber@seismo.CSS.GOV (Ross Greenberg) Subject: File I/O from resident programs To: allegra!seismo!usc-isib.arpa!info-ibmpc Regarding opening up a file when you are terminate-and-stay-resident: WARNING PROFESSOR ROBINSON! WARNING! Be very careful when you attempt this. Many an FAT has been eaten for lunch when I first tried doing it. Two ways that work like a charm: 1) Take over interrupt 0x28. This interrupt gets called by DOS while its waiting for a key to be hit. Whenever it does get called (your program should not be time critical, btw, as this routine is never called from CPU intensive tasks), it is safe to do with DOS what you will. (Except for certain interruptions, such as Search First and Search Next, which either you'll screw-up for the foreground task, or they'll screw-up for you.) 2) Get the Critical Section Flag by issuing an int 21, with ah=0x34. This returns a pointer to a flag in ES:BX. When this flag is NULL, *and interrupts on on!*, it is safe to play DOS games. Unless you are the last program to take over the interrupt, don't trust the flag word: many "fine" programs like SideKick do not give you a true copy of the flag word on the stack, but rather give a simple "pushf" *after* interrupts are turned off. (Grumble...jeez!) Happy Hackin' ------------------------------ Date: Thu 30 Jan 86 09:35:52-PST From: Jackie Subject: More MIX "C" notes To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA cc: howald%ECLD@USC-ECL.ARPA Two more notes on the MIX C compiler: There is indeed a #define MACRO feature and a /*$LISTMACRO*/ compiler option to expand macros during compilation. The linker creates very small .COM files, but they must be used with a runtime support file called RUNTIME.OVY, which has to reside on the same disk or in the same directory as the .COM file. You can, however, patch the linker to look for the overlay file on another drive or directory, in which case all linked files will share the path direction to RUNTIME.OVY. You can also use the linker to "build" an executable file with the runtime support in it. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 86 10:07:57 PST From: prandt!reynolds@AMES-NAS.ARPA (Don Reynolds) To: amelia!EB%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU%XX.LCS.MIT@EDU.ARPA, reynolds@AMES-NAS.ARPA Subject: Re: LS.LBR Cc: amelia!info-ibmpc-request@usc-isib.ARPA I will put a copy of it in our public directory on our ARPA node, ames-nas.arpa. It is a 4.2 bsd VAX which supports ftp login anonymous with any (non-null) password. I will put it in two subdirectories with Kermit, using image mode (kermit -is) for the executable in subdirectory /bin; and ascii mode for the documentation and source listings (for the folks at Info-IBMPC). Happy snarfing! Best, Don ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 86 14:10 EST From: Elefante@RADC-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: INT09 Side Effect To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Anybody know if the keyboard interrupt routine (INT09) leaves the byte value sent to the I/O port in tact after using it, i.e., can it be read again by subsequent code if another kb interrupt hasn't arrived to clobber it? ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ ========================================================================= Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by wiscvm.wisc.edu on 02/02/86 at 01:04:20 CST Date: 1 Feb 1986 22:11:45 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #17 From: Info-IBMPC Digest To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 1 February 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 17 This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann Today's Topics: PC RT is slow Public Domain Emacs Wanted MAX editor Vertical Retrace Boogie (2 msgs) AT XENIX vs Ungerman Bass Adhesive for your heat sink Re: Anchor modem Experience with the Proprinter PROCOMM and PIBTERM Tall Tree Jlaser & Soft Craft Fancy Font Differences between old and new AT BIOS Re: PC-DOS 3.1 Environment Size ARC versions: compatible downward but not upward Calling EXEC from Turbo Pascal Microsoft Assembler problem and solution Review of Prolog_V+ Query: Interleave factors WordPerfect and LaserJet Problem 8085 Cross-assembler Wanted Query: GCLISP & PC/XT Extended Memory Boards PCjr Expansion Query ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 31 Jan 86 10:35:03 est From: Scott Guthery To: INFO-IBMPC@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: PC RT is slow I recently took the RT out for a spin and didn't feel any of the speed that is claimed for the machine. In fact it felt down right soggy. The 600K lines of code that Big Blue added to make Unix idiot proof take a MIP off the top. Furthermore, the mouse is handled in software BY EACH PROCESS so if you have some stuff in the backgound the mouse cursor hops and jumps rather than glides as you move the mouse. I.e. you see the Unix scheduler on the screen! AIX should join PC/IX in the penalty box. How can one get AIS? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 86 19:44:23 EST From: "Paul E. Hoffman" To: info-ibmpc-request@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Public Domain Emacs Wanted I want to find out about two public domain EMACS' that are supposedly available (mini-EMACS and SCAMI). Is there a direct way of getting this information? Thanks, and if you want to communicate by analog (speaking), my tele is 415/644-0433. >>Paul Hoffman ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Feb 86 03:09:38 PST From: larry@Jpl-VLSI.ARPA Subject: MAX editor To: info-ibmpc@isib.arpa About 8 months ago I got a binary copy of a freeware editor call MAX, a micro-Emacs. I find myself using it more and more, because it provides 95% of what I need outside of word processing. It's small (16K obj + 16K help file) and absolutely the fastest software I've ever seen on a PC. It has problems and limitations but the tradeoffs for me are on the plus side. For instance, when I go to GNU Emacs on a Sun or Gosling Emacs on VMS I don't have to go to Underthruster Drive. Now I want to bite the bullet, pay up for what I've got, and buy the source as well. Unfortunately...I don't know the phone or address of the author, Ivo Welch, residing in New York state someplace. Anyone out there know? Also, I'd appreciate any comments on the latest version. (Mine is 1.01 with a 1984 copyright notice.) Larry @ jpl-vlsi ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 86 18:42 CST From: SMiller@HI-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Vertical Retrace Boogie Query To: Gillmann@USC-ISIB.ARPA ReSent-To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA I saw your message in the INFO-IBMPC digest that mentioned the CGA and the ``Vertical retrace boogie'' that was required to avoid the nasty snow on the monitor when accessing the hardware directly. Could you elaborate on how to dance with the CGA, the steps required (and maybe a code example?) etc. so I can get rid of the snow and get on with my application... Thanks. Scott Miller SMiller at HI-Multics ------------------------------ Date: 1 Feb 1986 11:34:44 PST Subject: Re: Vertical Retrace Boogie From: Richard Gillmann To: SMiller@HI-MULTICS.ARPA cc: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA If you just write directly to the regen buffers for the color/graphics adaptor, you will get snow all over your display (snowy mode). The snow can be avoided by the following means: 1. Do this only for the CGA, not the monochrome. 2. Vertical retrace occurs when the scanning electron beam of the monitor reaches the bottom of the screen. It must then go back to the top and this takes a small amount of time. 3. Wait for vertical retrace to begin. 4. Turn off video display (blank the screen). 5. Now do your direct writes to the regen buffers. 6. Turn the video display back on. The exact code for this can be found in the Tech Ref Manual BIOS listing for the video display function INT 10H. The above procedure for avoiding snowy mode causes the screen to flicker somewhat, as it does for example when you do a long "DIR" listing on a CGA equipped PC -- but this is much preferable to snowy mode. Dick Gillmann ------------------------------ Date: Thu 30 Jan 86 12:41:02-PST From: William Pearson Subject: AT XENIX vs Ungerman Bass To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I have recently started using XENIX on my IBM PC/AT. The two serial ports are connected to a Hayes Smartmodem and a Ungerman-Bass Net/One LAN port. The LAN port is configured for a terminal, since I often use the PC as a smart terminal, but this seems to preclude its use as a dial-in port under XENIX. When I enable the LAN port under XENIX XENIX sends the "login:" message which the LAN echos and back and forth forever, so the LAN port is always busy and cannot be dialed into. I would appreciate help from anyone who has solved this problem without changing the LAN port to the host mode, where it cannot be used to dial out. Bill Pearson ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 86 17:10 PST From: Dave Platt To: INFO-IBMPC Subject: Adhesive for your heat sink I wouldn't trust the heatsink grease. Instead, I'd suggest laying a narrow bead of silicon adhesive ("RTV") OVER the mounting feet of the heatsink... don't put it between the heatsink and the chip (or whatever), but instead lay a bead of it around the edges of the heatsink. There are some very nice high-temperature silicon adhesives; they are goopy when applied, become firm but flexible when they cure (1-12 hours), and can generally be peeled away cleanly, leaving no residue. I've used off-the-shelf clear RTV adhesive for mounting electronic components for years (any decent hardware or auto-supply store will have a tube for less than five bucks); if you're concerned about the heat, then you could try the silicon-based "form-a-gasket" available at auto-supply shops... it'll handle temperatures above the boiling point of water, and is made to peel away cleanly for replacement. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 86 17:15 PST From: Dave Platt To: Info-IBMPC Subject: Re: Anchor modem 202 mode? Bleah. That's a half-duplex protocol, I believe... it's completely incompatible with the Bell 212 protocol that most PCs and networks support. I believe that the same may be true for one of the V protocols that you mentioned... it looks to me as if your modem is not capable of running full-duplex at any speed greater than 300 baud (Bell 103). Given the way that the prices for 212-compatible modem cards has come down over the past couple of years, I'd strongly suggest that you consider retiring your current card and buying one that has the following characteristics: (1) It speaks both 103 [300 baud] and 212 [1200 bps] protocols; (2) it has good noise filtration [adaptive equalization is VERY nice, if you can find it], and (3) it uses the command set popularized by Hayes, and supported by LOTS of people. You can almost certainly find a card of this variety for under $350 these days (and likely lots less), and it will give you much greater satisfaction than the one you're using now. Also... you might want to consider shelling out the additional couple of hundred $$ for a modem that has 300, 1200 and 2400 full-duplex support. You'll have the option of operating at 2400 baud (and thus cutting file-transfer time, phone bills, and sometimes your CompuServe bill also). In addition, 2400-baud modems always have adaptive equalization (I *think* all of them do), which works much better than fixed equalization... so, a 2400-baud modem operating at 1200 baud (in Bell 212 mode) will generally work better than a 1200-baud-only modem operating in the same mode... since most 1200-baud modems have fixed equalization. ------------------------------ Date: 30 Jan 1986 18:42:59 PST Subject: Experience with the Proprinter From: Bill Mann To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I've seen the Byte magazine review of the Proprinter by Rich Malloy. I agree with most of his reactions, which are rather lukewarm, but after using my Proprinter for a while I give it much worse grades than Rich does. The machine is simply underdesigned. For one thing the whole paper-drive mechanism is aligned by two little plastic clips gripping a shiny metal rod. With all the noise and vibration, they drift, and the printer goes into paper-crunching mode. It seems to happen about every 10 pages. It's silly to walk out of the room with the thing printing, because before you get back it will be stuffing little shreds into its guts. Another piece of underdesign is the lack of ribbon guides. Quite frequently the paper drags the ribbon up on top of the print head, making it necessary to handle the ribbon and mess the current page before reprinting. Inserting a page of letterhead or an envelope will generally throw the ribbon up as well. (The lack of ribbon guides also allows the ribbon to rest on the paper when not printing. And it always leaves a spot overnight.) It's also annoying that even though the machine has been out for many months, new software that I buy can't handle it. (Malloy's article seems to suggest that using Epson MX-80 settings will work, but it hasn't worked for me with Sideways or Lotus123. Local PC experts suggest ordering upgrades for everything.) As an Epson look-alike, it's hard to justify. Malloy says "If you will not be using the (front) slot much, I suggest you look around at other dot-matrix printers." I suggest you look around even if you really wanted to use the slot a lot. Bill Mann ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 86 18:10 EST From: "George Barbanis, Heldenprogrammer" To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: PROCOMM and PIBTERM The PROCOMM package can be found on many PC bulletin boards (I got it from the local BBS - (413)549-1501 - for free). From the same BBS I got another communications package called PIBTERM which had a MUCH better VT100 emulation mode (PROCOMM's VT100 emulation, for instance, couldn't get EMACS right, whereas PIBTERM worked fine). Hope that helps, George Barbanis UMass - Amherst ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 86 09:59:14 CST From: fenchel@rsch.wisc.edu (Bob Fenchel) To: brackenridge@isib Subject: Tall Tree Jlaser & Soft Craft Fancy Font ReSent-To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA The Jlaser is pretty good with Canon engines. We have adapted both Fancy Font and Fancy Word to use the Jlaser and Jram and can print a full page with multiple fonts etc. is just under 1 minute using an IBM AT and JRAM-AT. (it can take MUCH longer to use the graphics mode on the HP w/o jlaser). Please note that our phone number is 800 351-0400 (608 257-3300). Bob [Fancy Font is a troff like program which allows any normal word processor or editor to print documents using fonts. Fancy Word adds their font library as an extention to Microsoft Word. I guess that with the addition of the Fancy Word, Microsoft Word can support the Jlaser interface. -WAB] ------------------------------ Date: 31 Jan 86 09:15:21 PST (Friday) Subject: Differences between old and new AT BIOS From: Burton.osbunorth@Xerox.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.Arpa Has anyone done a comparison of the old and new AT BIOS to see if there are any other changes besides the infamous speed check and support for additional drive type via the CMOS configuration memory? Some possibilities: Burn your own BIOS chips to bypass the speed check, if you have a new AT. Burn your own BIOS chips, to add non-standard drive types, if you have an old AT. Phil Burton Xerox Corp. ------------------------------ From: connery%bnrmtv.UUCP@BRL Subject: Re: PC-DOS 3.1 Environment size Date: Mon, 27-Jan-86 09:45:13 PST Actually the line in CONFIG.SYS should look something like: SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS /P /E:20 where the options are respectively: 1) Where to load the initial copy of COMMAND.COM 2) Where to get subsequent copies 3) Make these changes permanent 4) Environment size, in number of paragraphs. The default is 10 but anything between 10 and 62 will work. values outside that are ignored. Also, there's apparently (I got this info off compuserve) another switch /D which causes AUTOEXEC.BAT not to be executed, if you care. Glenn ------------------------------ To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.csnet-relay@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA From: kwan%mhuxa.btl.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA Date: Fri, 31 Jan EST 1986 13:13 Subject: Bar code readers Does anyone have experience with bar code readers (hard- and soft-ware) on IBM PC? We have a few TimeWand's from Videx for reading bar codes. However, they are not for *interactive* processing, i.e., bar codes are read offline first into a wand, then the data are fed into the PC later. Pointers to where to find bar code readers will be useful. Choi Kwan ATT Bell Labs (201) 582-5727 "mhuxa!kwan"@btl.csnet ihnp4!mhuxa!kwan ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 86 19:22:58 EST From: James H. Coombs To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: ARC versions: compatible downward but not upward Koji Okazaki points out that there are incompatibility problems with ARC files. The best source for information is the documentation that System Enhancement Associates provides with the program. In general, however, they have been guaranteeing upward compatibility but have not been able to maintain downward compatibility. In their own words, ARC 5.0 can still read archives created by earlier versions of ARC, but once again it creates archives which older versions cannot read. Since every version brings considerable enhancements, developers are understandably anxious to use the newest versions immediately. This creates problems for those who do not have the latest version. To reduce the confusion, we should do two things: 1) Developers should specify the version of ARC that they have used. 2) Everyone should avail him/her/selves of the latest version as soon as possible. The first step is straightforward as long as there is some medium external to the ARC file for expressing requirements. Unfortunately, many bulletin boards allow for only 40 character descriptions, and there is not enough room for a description of requirements. Since ARC is rapidly becoming a standard, we might consider a convention of ending program descriptions with strings such as "ARC5.0". In any case, developers must find some means of letting people know how to unpackage their products. The second step--getting the latest version--is a little more complicated. Still, if people know what version of ARC they need, they will at least know that they cannot unwrap the package until the proper version appears. Developers might consider delaying the use of a version until it has had some time to circulate. Hope this helps. Let me know if you need ARC 5.0. The documentation contains a detailed version history, so I will not repeat it here. --Jim ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 86 17:50:50 PST From: David_T._Price%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Calling EXEC from Turbo Pascal I have been working on a Turbo Pascal routine to call the DOS function 4B (Load and Execute Program) from within a Turbo program. After a fair amount of fiddling around, and cursing Microsoft documentation, I've almost got it working. The only problem occurs when I attempt to load the DOS COMMAND processor from my invoking program. Assuming it is on the boot drive (A:), and the default drive is the boot drive, then I get a mysterious error message: Specified COMMAND search directory bad but COMMAND is loaded correctly and works. If I attempt to load it from a logged drive other than the boot drive, then I get the same error message, but (not very surprisingly) COMMAND is not loaded. This error message is not mentioned in my copy of the DOS 2.11 user's manual, and it's not in the Programmer's Reference Manual either as far as I know. Could anyone explain what the error message means (maybe someone in the vicinity of Bellvue WA?) and what I should do about it, if anything. Thanks, Dave. ------------------------------ From: frank%sagan.UUCP@BRL Subject: Microsoft Assembler problem and solution Date: Tue, 28-Jan-86 17:17:07 PST phil@kcl-cs.UUCP writes: >I think that the following should assemble without problems: >PUBLIC foo >foo PROC NEAR > mov [si],OFFSET bar >foo ENDP > >bar PROC NEAR >bar ENDP >All of this being in the code segment of course. The error message from MASM >is: > error 35: Operand must have size >This happens with both V3.0 and V4.0 of MASM. Is this a bug and how do I get >around it? The assembler first converts the "OFFSET bar" into a (relative) constant, thus forgetting its type (size). This confuses the opcode generator, which doesn't know if SI is pointing to a byte- or word-sized data. Thus MASM complains. The only work-around I found was: mov [si],Word Ptr (OFFSET bar) which looks funny, but assembles correctly. The parentheses are necessary, as: mov [si],Word Ptr OFFSET bar again confuses the assembler. The fact that the compiler outputs this code is probably a case of premature optimization (the coder missed one of the cases). I usually see compilers output something like: mov ax,OFFSET bar mov [si],ax which is one more byte but one less clock (on an 8088). ...Frank Whaley, MicroPro Product Development UUCP: {decvax!decwrl | ucbvax}!dual! {hplabs | glacier}!well! seismo!lll-crg! ihnp4!ptsfa! pyramid!micropro!sagan!frank ARPA: micropro!sagan!frank@lll-crg.ARPA "I'm told there are better programs [than WordStar], but I'm also told there are better alphabets." --William F. Buckley Jr. ------------------------------ From: dcgoricanec%watnot.UUCP@BRL Subject: Review of Prolog_V+ Date: Tue, 28-Jan-86 14:18:39 PST I have used prolog_v+ (plvp) for 4 months in a professional evaluation sense for a major Canadian employer. For 99.95 US Chalcedony Software will mail a box containing : one (1) handsome red-clad professional-looking manual; one (1) 360-kb diskette containing an AMAZING prolog interpreter one (1) licensing agreement; Plvp supplies IBM PC (and clone) dependent graphics predicates such as : setdot, getdot, drwln and scrnrl (for rolling screen window), exciting predicates for any prolog, as well as comprehensive dos calls from within plvp, as well as ability to load c, pascal, dbase3, etc. stuff below plvp as a coresident routine, as well as 8087 support (as coresident routine), as well as 64-bit floating point reals, as well as editor support for user's choice, as well as 90% Clocksin + Mellish compatibility, with full comp. availiable by simply adding some predicates to the plvp library (prolog.lib) file, as well as ample demo routines on disk, as well as the best and most descriptive prolog manual i have ever seen, allowing anybody over 16 years old to learn prolog in a single day. bug report : all of the 100+ predicates that I have tested work . PLVP is an interpreter,a compiler would be nice. There are 2 bugs : 1. Division by a real number in interval [0.0,.999999) will not work. (Divide by zero error ?) My patch involved inserting the following predicate for multiplicative inverse in prolog.lib : inv(X,Y) :- A = 1000000, Y is A / (X * A). ( if I remember correctly. ) 2. Operators are handled inconsistently sometimes, but there are obvious solutions avoiding problems. ie. *,/ are treated differently than +,- " user-defined. typically, op(50,yfx,~)? These are inconsequential difficulties since I have a plvp+ symdiff program similar to C + M but with the full CRC table of differentiation formulae which runs v-e-r-y smoothly . In summary, PLVP is a usefully feature-packed ,C + M standard, well-documented language with only two bugs which you can patch easily. There is no telephone support, but you can always mail me. :-) The major advantage of plvp is the price : 99.95 US . Don't buy the stripped down plv for 69.95 because $ 30 is cheap for all the bells and whistles provided in plvp. PLVP works on clones very well also. :-) BUY IT ! It remains to be seen if MPROLOG Compiler for PC (mega-expensive) conquers the business market, but plvp may be destined for a significant educational role due to its cheap price and superior primary and tertiary documentation. The author is in no way affiliated with Chalcedony Software nor MPROLOG, and will only accept positive liability for this review . ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 86 21:58:16 est From: Chris Schmandt To: INFO-IBMPC@ISIB.ARPA Subject: Query: Interleave factors I have read with interest many references to interleave factors lately. Now it is my turn to deal with it, and I am confused. I am replacing a fried 10Mb disk from an XT with a 20 Mb disk. I suspect I want to use a different interleave factor, but have no idea where one even specifies an interleave factor to Dos (I am using 2.0). Or is it something that gets stuck in the new Rom for the disk controller? Thanks a lot if anyone can clarify this for me. chris ------------------------------ Date: Thu 30 Jan 86 20:08:49-PST From: HOWALD%ECLD@USC-ECL.ARPA Subject: WordPerfect and LaserJet Problem To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA We are experiencing difficulties trying to get WordPerfect (4.1) and the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet printer to print in boldface. The printer prints boldface correctly when we use the cartridge fonts, but not when we use the internal "courier" font (under- lining is o.k.). The setup string *IS+ correct according to the printer manual. It looks like a bug in the software. Has anyone else had this difficulty and can provide a solution? Thanks in advance! James Howald howald@usc-ecld ------------------------------ Date: 31 January 86 09:13-PST From: DEP%SLACVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: 8085 Cross-assembler Wanted We're looking for an 8085 assembler that runs on an IBM PC. Has anyone heard of such a thing? Don Pelton, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford, Calif. Bitnet: DEP@SLACVM Arpa: DEP%SLACVM.BITNET@wiscvm.ARPA Usenet: ihnp4!ptsfa!well!dep 415-856-8032 (home) 415-854-3300 ext. 2901 (work) ------------------------------ Date: Fri 31 Jan 86 13:17:25-PST From: Ted Markowitz Subject: Query: GCLISP & PC/XT Extended Memory Boards To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Excuse me if this has has been asked before, but has anyone been able to get GCLISP (Golden Common) to use extended memory on an XT? I seem to remember a message about it. Any pointers would be appreciated. --ted ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 86 13:48:57 EST From: Michael Camilletti (CSD) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: PCjr Expansion Query I have the same questions as jim@maryland.arpa. 1. Identify the pin-out of the 16 pin connector on the serial connector. 2. Any recommended add-on drive kits? I've only found J&M Systems@ $295. 3. 128k RAM expansion hidden costs? What do I need besides the board? What do I need to know to install it? Microsoft offers a board at $145. Is it any good? Many thanks! CPTCAM@AMSAA.ARPA ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------