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Article #1813

Rainbow EchoMail Digest

#1813
From: George A. Theall
Date: Tue, 02 Jan 1990 13:37
234 lines
8717 bytes
Rainbow EchoMail Digest                     Jan  2, 1990

In this issue:
  CP/M SALES-PITCH
  RE: Z80
  NULL MODEM
  RAINDOS V1.0                   (2 messages)
  Z80
  RE: GRAPHICS ON A NON-LA5      (2 messages)
  FORMAT


  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 not need 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:     12-30-89
To:       FRANK MALLORY
Subject:  CP/M SALES-PITCH
From:     PAUL OLSON

Frank,
Thanks for the reply.  No sales pitch was intended.  When I received my IDRIVE,
the IFORMAT program was CP/M only.  I do seem to have heard that Suitable
is now providing IFORMAT in DOS format.  The 'bow to IBM disk which I was
referring to is a special disk which Caroline Mack asked me to put together.
Unfortunately (for DOS users), the most convenient way to distribute all
the files was on the CP/M side of the world as DOSFLX is PD, while I don't
know if RDCPM (as supplied with DOS) is PD.  At least I hadn't seen that
it was.  Since there are a lot of folks running 2.01 DOS, I couldn't be
sure that everyone had RDCPM.  I know that the individual files are available
on other WARUG disks, but Caroline was putting together a special 'bow-IBM
product.  I'm not sure if she ever advertised it in the RAINBOW NEWS.  I
know she is still selling it.  Interestingly enough, in the last four months
I have received a number of calls from folks doing that transfer.  I was
chairman of WARUG recently, and DEC is still giving out my name as a Rainbow
resource! <:-O
As Always,
Paul

--- ConfMail V3.31
* Origin: The Pot of Gold - (703-359-6549) (1:109/103)

------------------------------
Date:     12-30-89 (12:13)
To:       FRANK MALLORY
Subject:  RE: Z80
From:     CARL HOUSEMAN

As others have said and you've found, faster parts do not a faster 'bow
make.  It's like putting 91 octane into a car designed to run fine on 87
(presuming it doesn't have a knock sensor).

The V20 vs. 8088 makes a difference because the chips' INTERNAL timing
for specific operations is different.  The V20 can do more work than the
8088 in the same number of 4.77 Mhz clock cycles.


---
* Origin: Silver Bullet - Silver Spring, Maryland - 301-622-2247 (Opus 1:109/123

------------------------------
Date:     12-30-89 (13:27)
To:       ALL
Subject:  NULL MODEM
From:     PATRICK FINK

Could someone tell me what pins to swith to make a null modem adapter?
-pat


---
* Origin: Silver Bullet - Silver Spring, Maryland - 301-622-2247 (Opus 1:109/123

------------------------------
Date:     12-30-89
To:       GEORGE THEALL
Subject:  RAINDOS V1.0
From:     FRANK MALLORY

GT>   Does anyone know whether RX50 will work on an XT-class machine?
GT> Or how common it is to find XT's with 1.2MB drives in them?

XTs with 1.2MB drives are not very common.  You need the proper controller
card and DOS version in addition to the hi-density drive itself.

I don't see any advantage in RainDOS over RX50.

If somebody REALLY wanted to do the Rainbow community a favor, they would
figure out a way to let us replace our RX50 drives with RX33s.


--- msged 1.99L MSC
* Origin: Silver Bullet - Silver Spring, Maryland - 301-622-2247 (1:109/123)

------------------------------
Date:     12-30-89
To:       GEORGE DAHLCO, SYSOP 102/
Subject:  Z80
From:     FRANK MALLORY

GD>   Don't expect too much - your master clock speed is still 4.77MHz. The
GD> new  geartrain might be able to take it but if you can't increase the
GD> rev's you'll  never see the horsepower increase :-)
GD>
GD>   It *could*, however, run cooler, and may have some microcode
GD> refinements which  might speed up some instruction execution. Let us

GD> know the results of your  tests.
GD>
GD>  Happy New Year...
GD>
GD> -George, 102/138-
GD>
GD> --- msged 1.999

The jury's not in altogether, yet.

Hey, George:  Do you have MSGED 1.999 working on a Rainbow?

Happy New Year to you and all other Rainbow diehards here.


--- msged 1.99L MSC
* Origin: Silver Bullet - Silver Spring, Maryland - 301-622-2247 (1:109/123)

------------------------------
Date:     12-31-89
To:       GEORGE THEALL
Subject:  RE: GRAPHICS ON A NON-LA5
From:     FRANK MALLORY

GT> FM>If you can do it all in one piece, how about uuencoding Marks'
GT> FM>program and
GT> FM>sending it to me?
GT>
GT>    I think that would be a bad idea. If the ZIP came out corrupted, at
GT> least you found out before attempting to run a program. What would
GT> happen if I sent the executables for Marks' UUENCODE/UUDECODE?
GT>

Problem was that UUDECODE appeared to run OK - - no error messages - - but
it produced a ZIP file of zero length.  I assume it has something to do with
the fact that it was a multi-part file, because it works alright with a single-p
file.  Of course, I edited the files first to join the separate parts together,
without the overhead text.

When you use Marks' program, do you still have to edit the files to reconstitute
the whole thing?


--- msged 1.99L MSC
* Origin: Silver Bullet - Silver Spring, Maryland - 301-622-2247 (1:109/123)

------------------------------
Date:     12-30-89 (07:12)
To:       ALL
Subject:  FORMAT
From:     CHRIS SWEET

I have a friend who has a rainbow and we can't access the hard drive..
We think that it might not be formated...we always get read erro

how does one go about formmating a hard drive on the rainbow thur
msdos..


------------------------------
Date:     01-02-90 (08:25)
To:       FRANK MALLORY
Subject:  RE: GRAPHICS ON A NON-LA5
From:     GEORGE THEALL

FM>Problem was that UUDECODE appeared to run OK - - no error messages - - but
FM>it produced a ZIP file of zero length.  I assume it has something to do wit
FM>the fact that it was a multi-part file, because it works alright with a sin
FM>file.  Of course, I edited the files first to join the separate parts toget
FM>without the overhead text.

   But what about the answers to my questions, Frank? To get a zero
length file something must have been seriously munged by a mailer
somewhere. I suggest, though, that we take this up privately. Can you
mail me the uuencoded file back again? I'll compare it against what I
originally sent you for any differences.

FM>When you use Marks' program, do you still have to edit the files to reconst
FM>the whole thing?

   No. The eof is marked with the keyword "end". Additionally, if the
file was generated by Marks' UUENCODE there's checksum information
following this. When his UUDECODE finishes processing a physical file it
prompts for the next file in the sequence and processes that. It
continues until is sees the keyword "end".

George
---
 ~ EZ 1.23b4 #263 ~ Every man has his price

------------------------------
Date:     01-02-90 (08:33)
To:       FRANK MALLORY
Subject:  RAINDOS V1.0
From:     GEORGE THEALL

FM>GT>   Does anyone know whether RX50 will work on an XT-class machine?
FM>GT> Or how common it is to find XT's with 1.2MB drives in them?
FM>
FM>XTs with 1.2MB drives are not very common.  You need the proper controller
FM>card and DOS version in addition to the hi-density drive itself.

   Surprisingly, a prof at Penn operates in this setup. I knew he was
interested in doing so, but until he contacted me saying he WANTED
RainDOS I had no idea he had succeeded.

FM>I don't see any advantage in RainDOS over RX50.

    I don't either, except for those like this professor.

FM>If somebody REALLY wanted to do the Rainbow community a favor, they would
FM>figure out a way to let us replace our RX50 drives with RX33s.

    Actually, I thought Richard Thomsen's BIOS changes held lots of
promise. The limitation is you have to get the current BIOS in source
form. Anybody know whether a disassembler would do this adequately?

George
---
 ~ EZ 1.23b4 #263 ~ Dyslexics of the world - UNTIE!

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Subject: Rainbow EchoMail Digest
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