Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utcs!mnetor!seismo!lll-crg!nike!ucbcad!ucbvax!B.ISI.EDU!Info-IBMPC From: Info-IBMPC@B.ISI.EDU.UUCP Newsgroups: mod.computers.ibm-pc Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #68 Message-ID: <8607130955.AA12014@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Date: Sun, 13-Jul-86 03:41:56 EDT Article-I.D.: ucbvax.8607130955.AA12014 Posted: Sun Jul 13 03:41:56 1986 Date-Received: Sun, 13-Jul-86 10:20:26 EDT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 1250 Approved: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Info-IBMPC Digest Sunday, 13 July 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 68 This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge Today's Topics: ECHO OFF in Batch Files in MS-DOS 3.1 and PC-DOS 3.2 XT Accelerator Boards Color with IBM CGA / DOS 3.2 & the PC Network SixPakPremium Card and DeskView Microsoft C V4.0 132 Column Editors MS WORD Printer Drivers SIRIUS 1 Diskette AT -> PC Disk Xfers 64K LIMIT on Turbo X10 Product Review STARTUP.C added to Library line monitor Dresselhaus ROM TAGS.C Added to Library Tektronics Emulator Public Domain Editor for EGA EGA Screen Dump TeX from Addison Wesley Safety First with FASTBACK Returning to the Directory a Batch Command was Called from Centram (Mac/IBMPC nets) Address and Phone Number Cold Boot New AT keyboard, revisited Today's Queries: Loading Executables via INT 4B Variable Dump in Basic Compiler DOS-3.2 and GEM Crashes 43 line EGA patch for WordStar 3.3 Tubo READ ESC? LEX & YACC Wanted Hercules Clones Downloading Fonts to EGA Graphics Adapter for Mono Display ASMGEN Source Running a Program Within a Program (again) Writing Control Z from Lattice C Getting Software Published Monochrome w/color graphics card? Compilers Using Expanded Memory Ram disk for AT extended memory: Doesn't clear on reboot? How to Determine Size of Free Disk Space from BASIC Sanyo 555 RGB Output Plug ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: reintom@ROCKEFELLER (Tom Reingold) Date: 7 Jul 1986 1143-EDT (Monday) Subject: ECHO OFF in Batch Files in MS-DOS 3.1 and PC-DOS 3.2 A little while back, I asked for help in setting ECHO to OFF as the default in batch files. I use Zenith's MS-DOS, not IBM's PC-DOS. I don't know what version of PC-DOS my version corresponds to. When I type "ver", I get IO.SYS Version 3.05 MS-DOS Version 3.10 I am posting my finding for anyone else who is looking for what I needed. With the suggestion from nasser@ucbvax.Berkley.EDU, I looked for all values of 01 between offsets 1900 and 1cff. I found ten of them and, one by one, changed them to 00 and tried each copy to see the effect. Upon the third try, I found that changing 01 to 00 at offset 1987, ECHO was OFF in batch files unless it was turned ON with an "echo on" statement. He also said that he had to do the same at offset 1b1c for his version, which I think was PC-DOS version 3.2. This is a catch-as-catch-can method for making these changes and I have no idea how people can do so much by reading values in an executable file, but I am pleased and impressed anyway. Tom Reingold ------------------------------ Subject: XT Accelerator Boards From: JEFFS%MAINE.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA Date: Tue, 08 Jul 86 00:22:41 EDT A recent query from Alex Huang asked about experiences with 286 accelerator boards. I use a configuration very similar to that of Alex (XT, work off RAM disk), and purchased an Orchid 286e board to speed up processing. I did not get a 'replace the 8088 chip' type of accelerator because my machine is an XT/370 (also runs as a desktop System/370 using VM/CMS), and did not want to take the chance. Some observations: - Speedup of most applications is approximately 4.5:1 with the XT as the base. For example: Orchid 286e 8088 Large Modula2 compile 1:06 4:45 GML text format 0:57 4:17 ARC extract 0:14 0:47 MASM 3.0 0:12 0:50 Sieve in Modula-2 0:06 0:24 Modula cross compile 3:03 12:20 (PC to IBM 370) Except for the Sieve program (which may or may not be the 'standard' Byte Sieve, so don't compare these times to any published numbers), these programs are not completely CPU bound. These are therefore 'real' benchmarks, using actual tasks that I perform (except for the Sieve!), and reflect the speedup that I experience in normal work. - Screen update is very fast. Both ill- and well-behaved screen I/O is done much more quickly than on the native XT, even if a speedup program like FANSI-CONSOLE is normally used on the XT. The Orchid INSTALL program asks if your display adapter can be run without retrace delay; if it can it displays more quickly. I have this capability, since I use a Quadcolor board, so this may cause the high update screen. Orchid 286e DOES NOT work with EGA in other than CGA compatibility, so don't try to mix them. - The RAM disk is the TallTree Systems JDRIVE program, using their JRAM-3 2MB memory card. It and the 286e can be used together. However, when you install the 286e and run the INSTALL program, you must briefly remove the JRAM-3, or the system will hang during INSTALL. INSTALL looks for a 64K bank of memory to use for communication between the two processors, and will start at a bank range normally used by JRAM-3, resulting in a hang. The circumvention is to remove the JRAM-3 card, run INSTALL, and then afterwards use INSTALL to change the 64K address to one not used by JRAM. You can also order the 286e with a 2nd megabyte of storage, which you can use as EMS or RAM disk storage. The disadvantage is that you cannot use this storage while running as an 8088. The presumed advantage is that it would be faster. [Use of some of the options in the JBOOT program should make it possible for JRAM to coexist with the Orchid card as Tall Tree software allows one to place the ram disk swap page anywhere. -wab] - The 286e works with: TopView, KEDIT, Logitech Modula-2, ARC, FileFacility, Norton Utilities, ARC, Turbo Pascal, Relay Gold, WATCOM GML. It does not work with the Norton Editor. - The 286e has been reported to fail very badly with XT's equipped with expansion chassis. Errors include seek failures and destroyed FATs. I do have an expansion chassis, and have not experienced this problem (touch wood!). This may be because I am not using standard IBM products: the expansion unit is from Everex, the disk controller is Omti, and the disk drives are Seagate and MicroScience. Nonetheless, observe caution. - The product is not totally reliable, at least not at the Version 1.1 level I am running (I am expecting a shipment with 1.2). The symptoms are 'crashes' of the 80286, and being either dropped back into the 8088, or having to reboot the machine altogether. I suspect a timing problem, since it has occurred most often when I ran a communications program on the 286e (comm. I/O has to be shipped to the host 8088 on each character). Their Tech support people also suggested that I change the interrupt address used to interrupt the 286e from the default of 7 to IRQ2. Despite the occasional outage, I am satisfied with the purchase. The four-fold improvement in performance for the applications the machine is used for makes the investment worthwhile. I hope this message is useful. If anyone has further queries, please feel free to direct them to me. I have no connection with Orchid than as a customer. Jeff Savit Savvy Computing 212/709-3661 ------------------------------ Date: 0 0 00:00:00 PST From: "COX R.G." Subject: Color with IBM CGA / DOS 3.2 & the PC Network The following messages are forwarded without comment - I have no personal experience with either of these situations. Forward any comments or responses to the INFO-IBMPC digest. -- cox@nusc.arpa From: MILO TSUKROFF To: ALL Re: COLOR WITH IBM CGA ABSTRACT: Getting color out of the IBM CGA composite jack in BASIC. DETAIL: It is normally not possible to get color out of the IBM Color/Graphics Adapter's composite jack (requires an RCA plug). However, with certain programming at the machine language level, color does appear. While I don't know the addresses required to make color appear, I have found a way to get color out of the CGA composite jack when in BASIC operating in SCREEN 0. In this screen, 16 foreground and 8 background colors are possible. To get color, use these two statements: SCREEN 0,1,0,0:COLOR 15,1,1 The result is, a half-second of black-and-white, and then color sort of pops in. It works very nicely, but the color always disappears when going to SCREEN 1 or SCREEN 2. Perhaps someone can figure out the proper addresses to POKE to get color all the time? -- Milo Tsukroff, Sysop of Willi-Board, Fido 16/216 From: MILO TSUKROFF To: ALL Re: DOS 3.2 & THE PC NETWORK ABSTRACT: DOS 3.2 will not support the server of the PC Network, version 1.0 DETAIL: The 1.0 release of the IBM PC Network (CSMA/CD network with coax cable, NOT the token-ring network) can not configure a server when running in DOS 3.2. This was discovered when attempting to use the latest version of DOS with an unupdated PC Network program. It is not known what the 1.10 level of the PC Network program will do when in DOS 3.2. According the the cover of the package, it will only work with the Token-Ring network, with DOS 3.2, or with the PC Network, with DOS 3.1. It is probable that 1.1 will still not work with the PC Network. ------------------------------ Subject: SixPakPremium Card and DeskView Date: Tue, 08 Jul 86 15:14:06 -0500 From: Terry Woodhouse I received some pertinent information on the cause of my previously reported problem from someone close to QuarterDeck Office Systems (the maker of DesqView). It seems there is a bug in the REX.SYS extended memory driver that comes bundled with the SixPakPremium card from AST. This bug causes any specification less than or equal to 48K to be ignored. If, as in the case in point, one specifies a spooler, for example, within this range, the default size of 512K is actually allocated. DesqView then correctly uses whatever is left (which isn't much) as expanded memory. The recommendation was made to try, say, 64K as this should be recognized by REX.SYS properly. A pity AST didn't mention this in their documentation for the drivers. DeskView remains one of my all-time favorites. Thank you, Allan, for clearing up the confusion. Standard disclaimer applies. Terry Woodhouse tjw@mitre-bedford ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Jul 86 02:53:48 EDT From: Stev Knowles Subject: Microsoft C V4.0 if anyone finds this at a discount at a reputable source, i would appreciate hearing for you. thanx. stev [reprinted from InformationWEEK, pg 10, without permission.] Microsoft Releases Enhanced Compiler Last week, Microsoft Corp. released a new version of its C compiler. Version 4.0 features improved optimization and a debugger that, to the user, looks like the company's Windows program. With this version, Microsoft increases the compilers execution speed by eliminating common subexpressions. The compiler's code emitter has also been improved. Codeview, the programm's source-level debugger, allows users to watch as source or object code is debugged by opening windows as needed. A spokesman for the company points out that with Codeview, "the programmer can also see the contents of registers and flags in the CPU and watch the values of expressions and variables as they change." The program has a suggested retail price of $450. Registered owners of the previous version of the C compiler can recieve the new version for $150. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Jul 86 14:02 EDT From: Hess@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: 132 Column Editors Subject: MS WORD Printer Drivers Subject: SIRIUS 1 Diskette Subject: AT -> PC Disk Xfers [Sorry for the grubby header but this is the only way to get these into the kwic index. -wab] re: Manny Farber: 132 Column Editors Yes, FinalWord II will run with more than 25 lines. We use it with Ann Arbor Ambassadors in "miniscule mode", and it runs on the EGA in 43-line mode just fine too. I've never actually tried it on a 132-column board, but if the memory map is contiguous, it should work same way. Re: Mark Freeman: MS WORD Printer Drivers The basic problem that I am having is in trying to get the NEC P5 driver to underline rationally, and to microspace without going into graphics mode. If the P5 really emulates the Epson the way it claims, then you can forget microspacing without graphics mode -- you just have to, there's no way out. At Mark of the Unicorn, we get this question all the time from Epson owners with FinalWord II, especially the older Epson models, where going into graphics mode is *really* slow and printhead-waggly. But there's no other way on the old ones. On your LQ1500-clone, there *is* an inaccurate way, which we use with some success. It operates in 60ths of an inch, while the underlying resolution of the printer is 360ths, and PS char width values may not be multiples of 6. Move forward by using the ESC $ command (instead of ESC Y). But if you insist on absolutely accurate positioning, there's no substitute for graphics mode. For underscoring, the auto-underscore mode (ESC - 1 and ESC - 0) should suffice with MS-WORD. Re: Gunther Hartmann: SIRIUS 1 diskette Given that you're in Germany, it would probably be easier, since there are plenty of Sirius machines around, to find someone with a Victor 9000 "PCPlus" upgrade installed, and ask them to please read your Victor single-sided disk for you, and produce IBM disks on their Victor instead. I just installed a PCPlus in my V9000, and though I haven't done tests of how good the screen and BIOS emulations are yet, it certainly *does* read and write both Victor and IBM format disks flawlessly. Re: Nigel Head: AT -> PC Disk Xfers Can someone explain to me what all the fuss (and software) is about with writing PC 360K disks on the AT HD drive? If blank disks are not previously formatted on the PC, simply supplying the correct switches to the FORMAT command on the AT and copying files onto the disk works just fine for me. If the disk has been previously written to by a PC, $15.95 bulk tape eraser makes the disk so that this AT format/write process can be used successfully. We've never had any problems. You just have to remember that only one of the two kinds of drives is allowed to write (ever!) on any given disk, else a chance for non-transferrability is introduced. Brian ------------------------------ Date: 9 Jul 1986 14:08:52 EDT Subject: 64K LIMIT on Turbo From: Jim Stevens This is in response to the query on how to increase the 64K limit in Turbo Pascal. A company called Turbo Power Software [phone:(408) 378-3672] makes a product called Turbo Pascal Extender which allows Turbo Pascal programs larger than 64K. A price quote on 16 June was for $149.00. I have never used this product, but another project here at Rockwell has. They told me that it worked fine. Jim. ------------------------------ Date: Thu 10 Jul 86 01:26:29-EDT From: Joseph M. Newcomer Subject: X10 Product Review [I gather from reading this several times that the X10 Powerhouse is a BSR controller which allows one to turn on and off various electrical outlets in your house by sendigh digital radio signals through the power lines to remote switches. -wab] I bought an X10 PowerHouse with IBM-PC software a while back from the nice folks at DAK. I couldn't get it to work, so hadn't reported on it. What I can now report is success. The basic problem was the parrot was dead, whoops, the interface was dead. This was hard to determine, since pushing an on/off key actually sent data to the machine, and the machine was clearly sending data to the PowerHouse controller, but the controller never responded to the computer. I finally got around to calling them, and got their technical guy on the line. He had me do a couple experiments and determined that it was dead. Within a week I received a new unit with a return letter to return the old (dead) one. It took a bit more experimental computer science to get it working. The documentation told me how to install DOS on my X10 disk, but not how to install X10 software on my hard disk. So of course I got it wrong; I failed to install "X10.DAT". I'm not sure what this does but it is critical; without it, the interface still appears to be dead. (The differences was that 'local control' at the interface would actually activate devices!) The error message is definitely misleading. Anyway, I installed X10.DAT and it worked. The user interface is rather tasteful. No silly little house icons with 5 bedrooms and no libraries or computer rooms (as the Radio Shack product) and you can assign any house/unit code to any device (unlike Radio Shack where you have to artificially use up all the "A" units to be able to use a "B" unit, and you can't have multiple assignments to the same code). I'd have done a few things differently, but at least they got it really well done. You can save configurations on disk files, and load the files, so I now have "normal" and "away" modes. You can temporarily "freeze" a request so it is effectively "turned off" without actually losing the data, although on the whole I prefer to use different files for this. It comes with three manuals, all rather detailed but certainly not complete. There is an owner's manual which tells how to install controllers and configure them. There is the software manual, which tells how to use the software they deliver with it. Finally, there is the programming guide, which gives in nearly-infinitesimal detail all of the async protocols for actually communicating with it. This detail, alas, misses a few key questions and isn't entirely clear anyway, but most of it appears to be there. If you have a compulsion to program it yourself, which I think is largely unnecessary given the not-bad-at-all software, you may end up on the phone to New Jersey. On the other hand, they seem anxious to help. A Good Buy, in my estimation. joe [How much was it? -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Thu 10 Jul 86 01:41:54-EDT From: Joseph M. Newcomer Subject: STARTUP.C added to Library I sent out a request a few days ago about how to get the "mode" command effect. After fiddling with it a while I figured out that what I probably have to do was poke equip_flag, so I did, and viola! (sound of mid-range string instrument dramatically inserted here...) it worked. I'm sending my program STARTUP.C to the archives. As usual, it uses the Blaise CTOOLS procedures, such as screset, sccursor, and scmode, but BIOS hackers will quickly figure out the right C BIOS gate calls for the video. This program was intended to be called from my AUTOEXEC.BAT file (hence its name) to select which screen gets selected (default is the current screen). It has the property that it also turns off the "other" screen. I do this not by poking the 6845 chip (I value my monitors and have little confidence in my skill) but by writing spaces in the video memory and then setting the cursor off. It works. joe [STARTUP.C has been added to the library. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Thu 10 Jul 86 01:50:42-EDT From: Joseph M. Newcomer Subject: line monitor Some of you may have seen my audio-patch-panel-as-RS232-panel hack that I published here some months ago. Let me add the latest to this. I needed a line monitor, and since now I didn't have DB25 connectors except at the ends I needed a way to insert a line monitor. So I went to Radio Shack and got some of their 3-color LEDs, 1/4" phone plugs and 1/4" Y-connectors. The plug was wired like this: __________________ _/_ /---vvvv--------|_____________ (___|-------------------------------O \__________________| (or as best I can draw it using only text characters...oh for a standard graphics interchange mechanism for embedding pictures in messages). The resistor is 560 ohm, 1/4W. The polarity is to your taste, depending on whether you want red-idle or green-idle. By plugging this into a hole on the panel I get high/off/low indication. By using one of the Y-plugs, I can plug a signal line in parallel with it and watch the data go by. Has already saved me a number of hassles. joe ------------------------------ Date: Thu 10 Jul 86 01:36:50-EDT From: Joseph M. Newcomer Subject: Dresselhaus ROM A company called Dresselhaus sells a product called Dots-Perfect, an NLQ (near-letter-quality for you acronymophobes) enhancement for an FX80 printer. I bought one, $79.95+postage. It arrived quickly, I installed it, it worked the first time. Nice output for an FX80. Slows it down, as all lines require two passes, but worth it. I use it as the optional output mode for Final Word II (it is not the default, because it is so slow). Only problem was that I didn't have a character width chart. Alas, it was Friday, so I did it the hard way. Then I tried to get the IBM characters to print and they didn't. On Monday I called up, got Dresselhaus himself, and found out that I had to enable the codes octal 200-237 with a special command (that I had previously been unware of). He also sent me a font width. Funny device, as I discovered; the font widths in draft and NLQ modes are different, not totally surprising, but the draft (FX80-like) mode is also different from the standard FX80 set in a couple places. I also supports the IBM graphics characters; I have Final Word configured to switch around so that IBM graphic characters on input produce the correct IBM graphics on output, but italic requests use the Epson font. I've not tried to italicize a graphics character, since I was not feeling especially perverse today. I'm happy with it, and the service I got. Dresselhaus Computer Products, 837 E. Alosta Ave., Glendora, CA 91740. (800)368-7737, Visa, M/C, perhaps others. I also bought one for the RX80 which does not give the full character set, but I've not yet installed it. See the ad on page 334 of June Byte (the computer/music issue). ------------------------------ Date: Thu 10 Jul 86 03:07:25-EDT From: Joseph M. Newcomer Subject: TAGS.C Added to Library I now have a working TAGS system for C and Epsilon. For those of you who don't know what TAGS is, it allows you to find the file which contains a definition if you know the name of the object being defined. For example, you are looking at a call on procedure xYzzY, and want to see what it does. Fine. Invoke TAGS by typing Alt-., give it the name xYzzY, and suddenly before your very orbs is the definition point for the function! If the cursor is sitting somewhere before a word, that word is the default name to look up and so A-. CR usually suffices. This requires running a program over your source file that locates all the tags and puts them in a tag dictionary, then having an editor command that looks things up in the tag dictionary. I am submitting the source for both of these. TAGS.C is the name of the file, and it contains its makefile and the editor support for Epsilon, TAGS.E and TAGS1.E. Tags is non-resident and loaded by a library load operation; included is the procedure to do the library load, which you can install in your Epsilon environment somewhere (I put mine in FILES.E). There are some caveats. I didn't write this, it was written by Richard M. Stallman of EMACS and GNU fame. It comes with his copyright, which I believe I have honored in providing full support source with it (namely Epsilon code). Please continue to honor this copyright. I added Scribe and TeX modes, but have only tested them minimally. I have not tested the Fortran or Lisp modes at all. .C and .E files seem to work. Feel free to enhance it. It seems to have various obscure switch options which I don't understand; I've inserted documentation showing the result of the various switches. I've also added a mode that allows it to interact reasonably with makefiles; this is documented in the comments. I have found it immensley useful after I went back to my 84-file 700,000 byte source after 6 months' absence; I can now find things. I offer it, unsupported and 'as is'. If it is broken, please feel free to make improvments and resubmit it. joe [TAGS.C has been added to the INFO-IBMPC lending library. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Jul 86 05:02:08 EDT From: Edward_Vielmetti%UMich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: GKN3M2%IRISHMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Tektronics Emulator I have found a Tektronics emulator called TEKTERM. It was developed at Virginia Tech (anyone listening from there?) and written by Greg Sherman. It seems to work, but I think I have a damaged copy. I'd suggest that you get in touch with Va. Tech; I can't point you to any bulletin boards or anything because I've only seen it on the board where it was bad. As a terminal program goes, it's not great, but it does do tek 4010 emulation just fine. Edward Vielmetti Computing Center MicroGroup University of Michigan emv%Umich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-Multics.ARPA emv@umix.uucp (only if necessary) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Jul 86 06:47:27 PDT From: larry@Jpl-VLSI.ARPA Subject: Public Domain Editor for EGA I'm using a version of MicroEMACS with an EGA and it works fine in either 43-line or 25-line mode. The color is hard-wired into the source code, so I had to change that before I compiled. The code is stored on juliet.caltech (I've forgotten the directory; /public, I believe). This is a variant of MicroEMACS 2.0 that (Jerome?) Kegel ported to Microsoft C. I've just gotten version 3.6 from seismo.css.gov (10.0.0.25 in case your host tables don't have the name) and will let you know my experience with it. It is set up for two versions of Lattice C, Aztec C and runs on VAX VMS, VAX Unix, the IBM PC, and the Amiga. Larry @ jpl-vlsi ------------------------------ Subject: EGA Screen Dump Date: 10 Jul 86 08:43:21 PDT (Thu) From: flamm@aerospace.ARPA Does anyone know where to get a print-screen driver to use with an EGA clone? We recently got Quadram's EGA clone, which does not come with print-screen drivers. As a side note, this board is advertised as emulating IBM mono, IBM CGA, Hercules and EGA. So far the claim appears to be valid, with the comment that CGA and Hercules modes require running another program first ("QEGA.COM") first. However that standard Hercules print-screen program does not work with our system in the Hercules mode. I say "for our system" because we are using this with a new XT with the new keyboard, and I am not totally sure that part of the problem is not the keyboard. We are using the QEGA board with a Princeton Max-12E monitor, which will act either like a IBM mono monitor or IBM CGA (all in amber). Our hope had been that we could switch from EGA mono mode to CGA on the same monitor by switching modes in software, but it takes resetting DIP switches on the back of the board and a warm reboot to make the switch. ------------------------------ Date: Thu 10 Jul 86 09:40:59-PDT From: Carl Fussell Subject: TeX from Addison Wesley Regarding a query for TeX on a PC. It is available from the Addison-Wesley Publishing company and is called MicroTeX. They list it for about $295 although the price can be much higher (by hundreds of $) if you purchase some of the other attendant packages (various device drivers, screen previewer, etc). I also heard that it was available from the Stanford University bookstore, but at a somewhat higher price (this is hearsay and I cannot really confirm this). I have not used it yet but will be ordering it within the next couple weeks and perhaps can give some impressions if anyone is particularly interested. Carl Fussell Santa Clara Univ. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Jul 1986 14:25 EDT From: EB%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Subject: Safety First with FASTBACK At least in my copy, the FASTBACK documentation says you should never, never format your hard disk without making two more backups AND VERIFYING THEM. That's how you can be reasonably sure the restore function will work. If you care whether or not your files were really backed up, use the VERIFY function of FRESTORE every time you do a backup. FASTBACK also has a switch that causes a VERIFY to be done automatically while you back up, but it's not recommended because that won't save you if you have your diskettes mis-seated or something. (I don't really see how any software package could protect you in that case.) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Jul 86 19:36:43 EDT From: Brent W Baccala To: bec.shapin@USC-ECL.ARPA Subject: Returning to the Directory a Batch Command was Called from In Info-IBMPC Digest, Volume 5: Issue 67, you write: > This is one way to issue a batch command from any directory, > possibly change to another directory and change back to the > original directory. Is there a simpler way to do this? ANSWER: YES, and better as well! In PC Magazine, Vol. 5 Num. 10 (May 27, 1986), John Friend presents his PUSHDIR/POPDIR programs ("Programming Utilities: Stacking up Subdirectories", p. 243). These programs maintain a stack of directory names, and function as their names imply. They are written in assembly code for DOS 2.0 and later and feature a default stack holding 6 directories, but this can be changed. The best part of all is that they are FREE. There are a number of ways to get the goodies. The most preferable is to download them from PC's Interactive Reader Service at (212)696-0360, which supports Xmodem protocol. Two BASIC programs to create the COM files are also provided, in case you can't download the binary and don't have an assembler. Second, you could type in the source from the article (Ugg!) and assemble it. Finally (if all else fails), drop me a line explaining your problem and we'll arrange a solution. -bwb - BRENT W. BACCALA - Aerospace Engineering Department U.S. Naval Academy Annapolis, MD "I do graphics work on an SGI Iris, fun work on a VAX 11/780, grunge work on an IBM XT" ------------------------------ From: lotto%lhasa.UUCP@harvard.HARVARD.EDU Date: 11 Jul 86 09:30 EDT Subject: Centram (Mac/IBMPC nets) Address and Phone Number In my last message about Laserwriters/IBMPCs and Macs on Appletalk, I neglected to include an address and phone number for Centram Systems West, Inc. They are at: 2372 Ellsworth Ave. Berkeley, CA 94704 (415) 644-8244 Gerald Lotto - Harvard Chemistry Dept. UUCP: {seismo,harpo,ihnp4,linus,allegra,ut-sally}!harvard!endor!lhasa!lotto ARPA: lotto@harvard.ARPA CSNET: lotto%harvard@csnet-relay ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Jul 86 10:54:07 pdt From: Wm. L. Brown Subject: Cold Boot >From: Jim Carter >[...] Does anyone know how to boot from c: (the hard disc) short of >an illegal jump to the absolute BIOS coldstart entry point [...] Here is a program which generates code for cold-boot and warm-boot .com files. The source is cited in the blurb. The original article explained how the programs work in detail. I hope that these help. (This blurb was originally published in the L.B.L. Computing Newsletter for June 86.) BASIC BOOT Program There are times when it would be handy to be able to cause a "WARM BOOT" from inside a ".BAT" file. A handy little program was published in the May 13, 1986 (Vol 5 #9) issue of "P C Magazine"). This Basic program creates two files; "WARM.COM" which starts a "warm boot", and "cold.com" which starts a "cold boot". 100 ' BOOTER.BAS 110 ' MAKES FILES TO WARM AND COLD BOOT 120 N$(1)="WARM.COM":N$(2)="COLD.COM" 130 FOR A=1 TO 2:OPEN N$(A) AS #1 LEN=1 140 FIELD #1,1 AS D$:FOR B=1 TO 16 150 READ A$:IF A=1 THEN 170 160 IF B=7 OR B=8 THEN A$="7F" 170 LSET D$=CHR$(VAL("&H"+A$)) 180 PUT #1:NEXT:CLOSE:RESTORE:NEXT 190 DATA B8,40,00,8E,D8,B8,34,12 200 DATA A3,72,00,EA,00,00,FF,FF ------------------------------ Cc: toma%tekgvs.tek.csnet@csnet-relay.ARPA Subject: New AT keyboard, revisited Date: Fri, 11 Jul 86 15:09:20 -0500 From: jcmorris@mitre.ARPA Tom Almy reports that, contrary to what our local IBMers insist, there IS a new update to the AT Tech Reference manual. It's apparently a complete replacement for the contents, and carries part number 6183355. I will pound on our local IBM office to see why we were told that it didn't exist, but in the meantime it would be interesting if someone could examine the BIOS code to see if there is anything in it to reflect the new keyboard design. In a similar vein, (or in vain, if you prefer) I was hopeful this morning when UPS delivered an update to the DOS tech reference manual. The cover sheet (it's a total replacement for the contents) says it supports DOS 3.2...but the table of extended codes on p. 6-12 doesn't admit to anything beyond F10. I could make a bad pun about 6-12 and bugs in the documentation, but I'm too frustrated. Is there *ANYONE* at IBM who has to work with what the average user has to put up with? Joe Morris (jcmorris@mitre) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Jul 86 10:53:01 -0200 From: Kurzion Yair Subject: Loading Executables via INT 4B I would like to present a problem I am facing writing a loader module for the IBM-PC-AT : I am using INT 4B for loading executables . (I am not interested in executing these modules but in loading them only) . Does anyone out there know how to get the main entry point of an `.exe' executable when using INT 4B with AL = 3 ? . The technical reference manual says it is written in the file header , is there any way one can accesss that header after a `load overlay' operation is done ? (through INT 4B , AL = 3). Yair. (yair@bengus.bitnet) ------------------------------ Date: 11 July 86 10:22-PST From: DEP%SLACVM.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Variable Dump in Basic Compiler I am looking for information about the organization of variables within IBM's Basic compiler. Or, better yet, a utility or routine which would dump all the variables in Basic's data space. 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: ...psuvax!dep%slacvm.bitnet or ...ihnp4!ptsfa!well!dep * * 415-856-8032 (home) 415-854-3300 ext. 2901 (work) * *-------------------------------------------------------------------* ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Jul 86 09:59:53 edt From: Ted Cooley Subject: DOS-3.2 and GEM Crashes Greetings. I have been running GEM on my IBM PC/XT under PC-DOS 3.10. When I tried to upgrade to PC-DOS 3.20 (in order to format the 3 1/2" external drive), GEM hangs during load. I had a similar problem under 3.10 until I removed the printer buffer program from the autoexec.bat file. (The printer program came with the Tecmar Captain board.) When this program call was removed, GEM and 3.10 worked just fine together. Any suggestions as to the problem now?!? Other hardware goodies with the XT include: 2 1/2 height 5 1/4" drives 10 MEG Hard drive (IBM original) 3 1/2" external CGA Tecmar Captain board with 384K US Robotics internal modem Any suggestions may be sent to me or forwarded to the net. Thanks for any help. Ted Cooley Thayer School of Engineering Dartmouth College Hanover, NH 03755 CSNet: tedc@dartmouth.edu uucp: ...seismo!harvard!dartvax!tedc ------------------------------ Date: Fri 11 Jul 86 16:26:41-PDT From: David John Buerger Subject: 43 line EGA patch for WordStar 3.3 cc: dave%SCU%PANDA@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA Message-ID: <12221933648.20.D.BUERGER@SCU> Does anyone have a patch to allow WordStar 3.3 to be used with an EGA card and monitor, showing 43 lines instead of 25? How about 132 columns instead of 80? Many thanks. David J. Buerger Santa Clara University ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jul 86 11:08:03 EDT (Thursday) Subject: Tubo READ ESC? From: Bill Hi, I'm writing a program using Turbo Pascal on my PC/XT clone. Imagine a menu of options. I need a way to allow the user to gracefully backout of a chosen option. What I'd like to do is allow the escape key to signal exit back to option menu. I choose the escape key because it is the common PC technique and is therefor familiar. This leads to two questions: 1. If I'm executing a Turbo read() or readln() procedure, can I detect the escape key and do the right thing yet still preserve all the nice line editing turbo provides? 2. Is there a way to get an interrupt on the escape key yet still preserve normal read() or readln() processing? I could set a global variable and test it at the appropriate places for gracefully terminating a function prematurely. I'd appreciate some explanation and/or code fragments from anyone who can help. I'm not a PC guru so I'd like at least partially illuminated expanations or pointers. thanks, ~ Bill ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jul 86 16:54:19 GMT From: Subject: LEX & YACC Wanted Organisation: University of Technology, Electrical department Delft, The Netherlands. Good day to you. I am looking for a LEX and a YACC version for ibm-pc. Could you tell me more about it? Jan Edixhoven, student. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jul 86 12:26:34 PDT From: dbercel@SUN.COM (Danielle Bercel, MIS Systems Programming) Subject: Hercules Clones Does anyone have any experience with any of the inexpensive Hercules' clones? If so, could you please relate you experiences with the board and what your recommendation would be. thanks - danielle bercel [I bought the Hercules clone from PC Ltd. in Texas as well as their AST Sixpack Clone both work and delivery was prompt. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Wed 2 Jul 86 22:30:00-PDT From: D.LEWIS%SCU%PANDA@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA Subject: Downloading Fonts to EGA The EGA BIOS extension provides a method for redefining the character generator patterns for characters in both the alpha and graphics modes. However, the BIOS call also initiates a mode set, causing the display to "jump". I need to change the character generator patterns in alpha mode without this "jump". According to the documentation, the patterns are kept in bit plane 2 with the ascii codes in plane 0 and the attribute bytes in plane 1. I've tried to access the patterns directly by changing the bit plane mask to plane 2 and then writing to the display buffer, but with no luck. Does anyone know enough about the EGA hardware to tell me how to change the alpha mode character generator patterns (8x14) without going through the BIOS? Thanks in advance! Dan Lewis EECS Dept. Santa Clara University Santa Clara, CA 95053 (Or reply to the net-mail return path above) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Jul 86 10:57:49 EDT From: Dave Anderer Subject: Graphics Adapter for Mono Display Sender: Dave Anderer I'm looking for a graphics adapter that I can use with my IBM monochrome monitor. I need one that allows CGA emulation on the monitor, as well as supporting Herc monochrome graphics. Is there such a beast? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Jul 86 10:31:00 pdt From: lee@ames-prandtl.ARPA (Bock W. Lee) Subject: ASMGEN Source Can anyone out there tell me where and how I may get a copy of the source listing for the program: ASMGEN? Any help will be appreciated. B. Lee lee@ames-prandtl.ARPA [Anybody know what ASMGEN is? -wab] ------------------------------ Date: 9 July 86 11:46-PST From: KJBSF%SLACVM.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA Subject: Running a Program Within a Program (again) Thanks for all the help people gave me on my problem; now I have one other question about this. Does the program you've called with the DOS EXEC function always return to the DOS prompt, or can you have it go back to the program you were already running? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Jul 1986 20:02 EST From: Brian Blau Subject: Writing Control Z from Lattice C I am having a serious problem using my IBM-PC and I wanted to know if anyone has a solution, or has encountered the same problem before. I am writing a file compression program using the Huffman algorithm in Lattice C. The compression scheme is an involved process which calculates the character frequency of the file, then creates a binary tree which represents the new character code, and then outputs the new bits to the file. The resulting file is shorter than the original and is in such a format that it can be easily decompressed. In the process of writing the new bit patterns to the file, the chance of getting any one of the 256 characters is the same for all characters. Since the program creates a ControlZ (dec 26 hex 1A) right in the middle of processing, the computer thinks this is an EOF and stops all I/O. My question comes from days of debugging. I have tried most of the Lattice functions that read and write, including the Level 1 and Level 2 functions. I have also tried reading and writing in both translated and untranslated modes. Is there any way that I will be able to write this ControlZ without causing the program to prematurely stop? Please send any information you might have, or please send me in the right direction. Thanks, Brian Blau University of Central Florida Please reply to : ------------------------------ Date: 9 Jul 86 17:37 PDT From: Steve Kleiser Subject: Getting Software Published I finally have some "entertainment software" for the IBMPC ready for market, but have only a clue how to proceed. Can anyone volunteer their experience, point me to a book or maybe someone that has already gone through the motions? I'm thinking I need to contact some firms that publish "outsiders" efforts, maybe after getting an agent? ... Please respond direct to . Maybe I'll be able to supply free copies to helpful respondents! Even the smallest suggestion or comment will be greatly appreciated. Thanks. -steve- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Jul 86 01:47 UT From: MYHRED%HAW.SDSCNET@LLL-MFE.ARPA Subject: Monochrome w/color graphics card? Does anyone know if there is a way to hook up a monochrome monitor to a IBM type color graphics card? The card I am currently using is a Quadram EGA+ (Vega 7) but it will not allow you to use a monochrome monitor in color graphics mode (like some other graphics boards). I don't have a color monitor, nor am planning to buy one in the near future but have a lot of software that requires a IBM graphics board (not herculies compatible). Is it possible to rewire the pin connections (eg. red, green, and/or blue to video)? Douglas Myhre Hawaii Institute of Geophysics ARPA : [The standard IBM mono display has a sweep frequency of 50 Hz. Attempting to drive it with 60 Hz will just generate lots of heat. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Jul 86 11:35 EDT From: "David S. Bakin" Subject: Compilers Using Expanded Memory To: Info-Ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Message-ID: <860710153525.155559@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA> Are there any compilers available which 1) use expanded memory during compilation? 2) generate code which uses expanded memory a) instead of overlays, i.e., for code b) for data, e.g., for large arrays 3) have libraries to make it easy for you to use expanded memory? If people would prefer to send me responses I will summarize for the digest. THANKS! -- Dave Bakin (Bakin -at mit-multics.arpa) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Jul 86 11:39 EDT From: "David S. Bakin" Subject: Ram disk for AT extended memory: Doesn't clear on reboot? Can someone point me to RAM disk software for the AT's extended memory which DOESN'T clear on a CTRL-ALT-DEL reboot? (Or, how to do it? I've tried to look for the volume label before initializing the VDISK, from within VDISK.SYS of course, but always get only 0's back .) Thanks! -- Dave (Bakin -at mit-multics.arpa) ------------------------------ Date: 10 July 86 15:27-EDT From: ATSWAF%UOFT01.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA Subject: How to Determine Size of Free Disk Space from BASIC Does anyone know of a way from a BASIC program to determine the amount of space available on a disk? I need to include this in a program to then decide if the data the program will generate will fit in the space available. Thanks, Wendy Fraker ATSWAF@UOFT01.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: 10 Jul 86 23:20 GMT From: ghicks @ KOREA-EMH Subject: Sanyo 555 RGB Output Plug I have a friend that has a Sanyo 555 PC (semi)compatabile computer. He would like to connect a standard IBM PC color monitor to the RGB output on the rear of the computer. However, the documentation available to both of us (his owner's manual and reference manual) does not describe the pinout for the 8 pin, circular connector on the rear of the computer. I imagine that if he were to buy a Sanyo monitor, there would not be a problem but they are not available over here. I know what the pin-in for the IBM monitor is but have no idea on the Sanyo. Can anyone help with info? Thanks in advance. Gregory Hicks GHicks@Korea-EMH or JUSMAG-JP@Korea-EMH (my friend) CFAC-CSO ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------