Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!hellgate.utah.edu!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ucbvax!penndrls.upenn.edu!GTHEALL From: GTHEALL@penndrls.upenn.edu (George A. Theall) Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro Subject: Rainbow Echomail Digest Message-ID: <8910181708.AA14075@remote.dccs.upenn.edu> Date: 18 Oct 89 18:04:00 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 288 Rainbow Echomail Digest OCT 18, 1989 In this issue: WANTED RE: FIDONET ON COMPUSERV RE: OPUS UNDER V3.10B (2 Messages) CSERVE-FIDO LINKUP MS-DOS 3.1 DEC RAINBOW 100 DISK FORS FOSSIL SUITABLE SOLUTIONS RE: LOTUS-123 RAINBOW VIDEO-FOSSIL RE: MS-DOS 3.1 Articles posted to either INFO-DEC-MICRO or comp.sys.dec.micro are currently gatewayed automatically to the Rainbow Echo on Fidonet; thus, you do need not to take any special action to respond to articles in these digests. Please send reports of problems or suggestions for improvement of this digest to GTHEALL@PENNDRLS.UPENN.EDU (ARPA Internet). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: 10-17-89 (11:10) Subject: WANTED From: GEORGE THEALL ES>I'm a new Rainbow user. Recently bought a Model B machine at Boeing Surplu ES>and would like to expand it a little. Here's what I'm looking for: ES>256 K RAM Chips (18 of them) to max out at 896 k ES>Graphics Board for Rainbow ES>Color Monitor for Rainbow ES>Tractor feed assembly for DEC LA34 printer ES>Rainbow compatible hard drive larger than 20 mBytes Welcome to the Rainbow community, Eric. If you don't receive any offers directly from people reading your messages, you might call either Caroline Mack (1-618-632-1143) or Suitable Solutions (1-408-727-9090). Caroline publishes a newsletter (_Rainbow News_) which is without doubt the premier source of information about Rainbow computers; if there's a good source for any of those parts, Caroline knows of it. Suitable Solutions, on the other hand, is a business still supporting Rainbow owners. Give them a call, if for no other reason than to get on their mailing list. Ok, now on to specifics. First, you can buy RAM from *any* source to add to your 'bow - you already have the expansion board. 150ns chips will work fine. As for a graphics board, hmmm, you'll probably have to find something used. (You're message is being gatewayed to other networks already; perhaps someone will take the trouble to port it to DECPC forum as well.) For a monitor, you can look for a DEC version or hook up a NEC Multisync II monitor (Jim O'Brien explained how to do this in April '88 to the INFO-DEC-MICRO list). Printers are not my forte' so I'll let someone else handle that question. Finally, a hard drive. Do you have a controller card already? Although any ST205 or ST225 hard disk will work in a Rainbow, you *will* need a DEC or DEC-compatible hard disk controller (~$300). Check out the June 1988 issue of _Rainbow News_ as it had an article from Jerry Miller of Suitable Solutions which listed exactly which hard disks have been known to work in the Rainbow. Hope this is of some help, George --- ~ EZ-Reader 1.21 ~ I'm NOT the NRA ------------------------------ Date: 10-17-89 (11:10) Subject: RE: FIDONET ON COMPUSERV From: GEORGE THEALL Look, I do *not* want to start a flame-fest with you over this. I am simply trying to unite Rainbow users in three chiefly separate forums. I have sought opinions from people both here and on IDM/csdm. Only two people have objected because a one-way link with CIS is "not fair". Granted, but does that mean we should not pursue it? It's also not fair for these two objections to prevent others who do want the link-up from taking place. As a compromise, I've even offered to not pass along messages which explicitly state they are not to be gatewayed. No response yet to that compromise. Perhaps your refusal will be enough to prevent the link-up, perhaps not. About a bidirectional link between DECPC forum and this echo, I don't understand why you continue to propose this as acceptable to you. We've already learned why it's impossible. Hardly a constructive suggestion, in my opinion. As for my contributions to Fidonet, well ... I've already begun gatewaying messages between here and IDM/csdm *and* contributed patches so that TURBO C, v2.0, can be run on Rainbows. Not bad for only ~2 months of participation, eh? George --- ~ EZ-Reader 1.21 ~ Carpe diem ------------------------------ Date: 10-17-89 (11:10) Subject: RE: OPUS UNDER V3.10B From: GEORGE THEALL GS>FM>Anybody else have any experience running Opus under SS 3.10 or GS>FM>3.10b? GS> GS>I echo that request. Is anyone from Suitable Solutions listening? Well, chances of their participation would be a lot higher if we were linked to the DECPC forum. For now, though, I'll pass along your request, Gary, to their account on Compuserve and relay back any response. If you do call them, please mention this and mention whether you'd like them to participate here via their Compuserve account. George --- ~ EZ-Reader 1.21 ~ This space for rent - call (215) 662-0558 ------------------------------ Date: 10-16-89 ( 12:2) Subject: CSERVE-FIDO LINKUP From: PAUL OLSON George, I'm all for it. I have been an advocate of interconnections for a long time, between most systems. As a 'bow user for the last six years, and knowing that it has ALL become a grass-roots effort, I feel that anything which will help keep the user base informed is preferable to user ignorance, princip or not. Paul PS - I am also a subscriber to CS. I wouldn't mind any of my messages being forwarded to a volunteer net, but I would also like to know how to access the volunteer net ;-) --- ConfMail V3.31 * Origin: The Pot of Gold - (703-359-6549) (1:109/103) ------------------------------ Date: 10-15-89 (03:14) Subject: MS-DOS 3.1 From: GEOFF REED VV> OPUS runs fine here, Suitable's 3.10 (not the b version so far) with the Video Fossil installed, not to mention a 512KB VV> SCACHE running to speed up mail tossing. VV> VV> I think I heard a rumble that VFOS doesn't get along well with 3.10b, are you running it? I am, but certainly don't use it VV> for anything very often, as I normally don't do much of anything from the console. VV> VV> +vanhorn+ Van, I dunno if it's the new vfos (vfos_dec, vers 0.25, or what, but on msged I cannot see what the heck I am typing, until the line wraps and it prints it on the screen once again... I suspect that the problem lies within msged as binkleyterm uses the video-fossil and is having no problems whatsoev with it...) --- msged 1.96L MSC * Origin: StarShip_Inconnu, Cruisin' the Stars (1:343/3.1) ------------------------------ Date: 10-15-89 (03:21) Subject: DEC RAINBOW 100 DISK FORS From: GEOFF REED MM> FORMAT A:/1/8 MM> MM> This will create a single sided, 160 K diskette with 8 sectors/ track that the DEC Rainbow will read in MS-DOS but NOT MM> write. MS-DOS 2.11 on the 'bow and the RX50 will read ONLY single sided diskettes and NOT the 9 sectors/track currently MM> defaulted to on most PC's. MM> Maynard, it is unnessacary to use the /8 parameter when formatting a single-si disk on an IBM for data transfer to a rainbow... I regularly transfer data from my IBM-clone to the rainbow, and vice versa, using 9-sector disks, withou a problem.... --- msged 1.96L MSC * Origin: StarShip_Inconnu, Cruisin' the Stars (1:343/3.1) ------------------------------ Date: 10-15-89 (03:27) Subject: FOSSIL From: GEOFF REED RM> What's a fossil? RM> RM> (And watch the wisecracks, please. I *DID* study paleontology in college.) Rick, FOSSIL stands for Fido, Opus, Seadog, Standard Interface Layer [FOSSIL] it is a communications package that replaced the INT-14 comm interupt used by ms-dos with a far more versitile, usable communications routine... now there is even the video-fossil that allows near universal video video-display without having to use generic ms-dos writes to the screen. The FOSSIL lets any computer that has a fossil written for it (dec-rainbow, ti-pc tandy 2000, IBM clones, HZ-125, etc...) use communications packages that are writte to utilize such... (binkleyterm, Opus, MSGED... --- msged 1.96L MSC * Origin: StarShip_Inconnu, Cruisin' the Stars (1:343/3.1) ------------------------------ Date: 10-16-89 (00:32) Subject: SUITABLE SOLUTIONS From: VAN VANHORN From recent conversation, it sounds like they only monitor CompuServe. Why don't you call Julie and ask her to join us here as well? Or I could. There must be somebody local on the DEC-BBS list for them to call. +vanhorn+ --- * Origin: Horsefeathers + Burn a flag for freedom! + (Opus 1:343/30) ------------------------------ Date: 10-16-89 (08:36) Subject: RE: LOTUS-123 From: ANDREW TAYLOR Assuming you mean 1-2-3 v 2.01 for the Rainbow: The BREAK command is implemented as CONTROL-PRINT SCREEN (ie Control-F2) I've heard a report that, on some "underground" versions of MS-dOS 3.10 for the Rainbow, presssing CONTROL-SHIFT-PRINT SCREEN while using 1-2-3 will hang the machine. Couln't duplicate the problem myself. In brief: CONTROL-PRINTSCREEN = BREAK --- * Origin: Glacier Peak Rainbow, Bellevue, WA - 206/644-8431 (Opus 1:343/3) ------------------------------ Date: 10-16-89 (15:31) Subject: RAINBOW VIDEO-FOSSIL From: GEOFF REED I can use a bit of help... I recently switched to the latest version of the rainbow video-fossil, and I seem to have developed a problem... it works fine with Binkleyterm, but using msged on my point, I cannot see the area names, or the text I am typing. I am also going to see if I can get any help on this from Jim Nutt (msged author) but I need to know if there is a newer Vfos_dec than 0.25 --- * Origin: Glacier Peak Rainbow, Bellevue, WA - 206/644-8431 (Opus 1:343/3) ------------------------------ Date: 10-17-89 (11:25) Subject: RE: MS-DOS 3.1 From: FRANK MALLORY > > > --- msged 1.96L MSC > * Origin: StarShip_Inconnu, Cruisin' the Stars (1:343/3.1) If you are having trouble with your MSGED, suggest you try the latest version (1.99L). --- * Origin: Silver Bullet - Silver Spring, Maryland - 301-622-2247 (Opus 1:109/1 ------------------------------ Date: 10-16-89 Subject: RE: OPUS UNDER V3.10B From: MARK BUDA In a message of <14 Oct 89 14:12:43>, Gary Stebbins (1:343/3) writes: > FM>Anybody else have any experience running Opus under SS 3.10 or > FM>3.10b? I have been running V3.1 for, well at least a good 9 months and more like a year without ANY problems. I recomend it highly. - mark --- QM v1.00 * Origin: VAXCat; Merrimack, NH;Home of the Black VAXCat;(603)424-0923 (1:132/ ------------------------------