Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!decwrl!ucbvax!PENNDRLS.UPENN.EDU!GTHEALL From: GTHEALL@PENNDRLS.UPENN.EDU (George A. Theall) Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro Subject: Rainbow EchoMail Digest Message-ID: <9007152045.AA13062@remote.dccs.upenn.edu> Date: 15 Jul 90 21:47:00 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 157 Rainbow EchoMail Digest Jul 15, 1990 In this issue: RE: DECCOMM ARTICLES WANTED FOR NEWSL RE: JUST GOT A RAINBOW! I DRIVE/DS DRIVES ON RAIN (2 messages) Articles posted to either INFO-DEC-MICRO or comp.sys.dec.micro are currently gatewayed to the Rainbow Echo on FidoNet. You do not need to take 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 (Internet). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: 07-14-90 (12:54) To: ALAN CONROY Subject: RE: DECCOMM From: FRANK MALLORY AC> Rainbow/HST?! What's "HST". We ARE talking about DEC Rainbow AC> here, right? HST = US Robotics Courier HST modem. It's capable of 14,400 bps data transfer when communicating with another HST. - --- msged 1.99L MSC * Origin: Silver Bullet - Silver Spring, Md. - 301-622-2247 ------------------------------ Date: 07-13-90 (06:55) To: ALL Subject: ARTICLES WANTED FOR NEWSL From: DAVID MAROUN I edit the Vancouver Area Rainbow Users (VARUG) newsletter. I invite anyone with information about the DEC Rainbow, other DEC small systems, or any other personal computer operating in a Digital environment to submit articles to the newsletter. I post the newsletters regularly on the Glacier Peak bulletin board. Articles should be submitted to David P. Maroun Editor, VARUG Newsletter 9395 Windsor Street Chilliwack, British Columbia Canada V2P 6C5 Telephone (604) 792-4071 The ideal format for submissions is ASCII form on diskette, but other legible formats are also accepted. Please include a covering letter describing the submission briefly and indicating what disk format you used. - --- Opus-CBCS 1.12 * Origin: Glacier Peak Rainbow, Bellevue, WA - 206/644-8431 ------------------------------ Date: 07-13-90 (14:54) To: CHRISTOPHER WROTEN Subject: RE: JUST GOT A RAINBOW! From: BOB FULLER I have a Peachtree Accounting Package you could purchase for $95. The program includes General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, Sales Invoicing and Inventory Control complete with software and original documentation in four, standard one-inch binders The programs are designed specifically for the Rainbow's CPM 80/86 operating system. Although the documentation says it will work with either floppy or hard disk systems, I recommend a hard disk. Many hard disks will work on your Rainbow. If you don't have one already, the contriller card may be the most expensive part of the conversion. This BBS would be a good place to leave a message to see what a controller would cost you. There was a good article written by Jerry Miller of Suitable Solutions on installing hard drives in the Rainbow. A users group in your area would be a good place to find one or leave a message here and I'll send a copy to you For your information, the Rainbow will run both CPM and MS- DOS software and you can partition your hard drive into sepereate sections for both systems. Bob - --- Opus-CBCS 1.12 * Origin: Glacier Peak Rainbow, Bellevue, WA - 206/644-8431 ------------------------------ Date: 07-13-90 (08:45) To: ALL Subject: I DRIVE/DS DRIVES ON RAIN From: FRANK ZSITVAY Are any device drivers available that would let you put DS drives onto the rainbow?? i don't know the first thing about writing said drivers, but since the drivers for the I drive do exist, there must be others around somewhere. and if there ain't, then how does one go about getting a set of Idrive drivers and making a cable?? - -- fzsitvay@techbook.UUCP ...!tektronix!{nosun,tessi,sequent}!techbook!fzsitvay Version 2 of anything is usually the version that works. - --- QM v1.00 * Origin: TECHbooks One, Fido Gate to techbook (503) 644-8135 ------------------------------ Date: 07-15-90 (16:25) To: FRANK ZSITVAY Subject: I DRIVE/DS DRIVES ON RAIN From: GEORGE THEALL FZ> Are any device drivers available that would let you put DS drives onto FZ>the rainbow?? i don't know the first thing about writing said drivers, FZ>but since the drivers for the I drive do exist, there must be others FZ>around somewhere. There's some source code available from the INFO-DEC-MICRO file archives which purport to do this. Look for it as file RBIODIF.ZIP in the [.PROG] directory. About 2 years ago a fellow named Richard Thomsen patched his Rainbow's BIOS and DOS adding support for double-sided drives. He also found a way to replace the normal RX50 drives in A/B with a pair of TEAC drives. He said this setup not only let him use (read/write) standard PC floppies in drives A and B, but also continue to use his RX50 floppies! From what I remember, the source code that's available is not the complete BIOS and DOS code - since DEC holds a copyright on that he can not distribute it. Rather, it consists of changes that must be made to your BIOS and DOS. To do this you must somehow obtain the original DEC source code and add in Thomsen's changes. Back when DEC supported the Rainbow, it was possible to obtain a hardcopy of the BIOS and DOS code - I believe it's part of the Rainbow Technical Reference Manual. Things are probably quite different now with many people now using MS-DOS v3.10 from Suitable Solutions. Anyway, after purchasing a hardcopy listing from DEC, Thomsen then typed it in by hand (wow!!!), corrected lots of mistakes in the DEC-supplied listing (geez :-(, and went from there. I don't know enough about assembly language, but I've wondered why one couldn't just apply a disassembler to the code on his/her own machine to get the original DEC source code. Anybody know? George ------------------------------