🚀 go-pugleaf

Rainbow EchoMail Digest                         Oct 11, 1990

In this issue:
  RAINBOW PARTS NEEDED
  RE: QUANTUM DRIVES ON RBO      (2 messages)
  RE: EMULATORS
  QUANTUM DRIVES ON RBOW
  RE: ZMODEM ON RAINBOW
  KERMIT
  RAINBOW POWER SUPPLIES
  RAINBOW
  INFO WANTED: RAINBOW 100+
  RAINBOW CHARACTER GENERAT


  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:     10-04-90 (23:36)
To:       ALL
Subject:  RAINBOW PARTS NEEDED
From:     BILL ROGERS

I JUST PICKED UP A RAINBOW MODEL 100B.  FROM WHAT I SEE THE UNIT WORKS

GREAT!  ONLY ONE PROBLEM, I NEED A KEYBOARD!
ANYBODY OUT THERE KNOW WHERE I CAN PICK ONE UP IN GOOD WORKING
ORDER FOR A GREAT PRICE (CHEAP!)

ANY INFO WOULD BE APPRECIATED. I CAN BE REACHED AT 438-1320 BEFORE 4 PM.
                          BILL ROGERS


- --- Opus-CBCS 1.12
 * Origin: Glacier Peak Rainbow, Bellevue, WA - 206/644-8431 (1:343/3.0)
------------------------------
Date:     10-06-90 (00:22)
To:       MARC MCCUNE
Subject:  RE: QUANTUM DRIVES ON RBO
From:     CARL HOUSEMAN

re: any & all hard drives workable on Rainbow

 Well, since you asked, just off the top of my head...

 Drive Size    DEC Name    Mfr         Mfr's Name
   20 m        RD31        Seagate     ST-225
   32 m        RD52        Quantum     Q540
   40 m        RD32        Seagate     ST-251
   67 m        RD53        Micropolis  ??? So old I forget!!!

 Anyway, that's a start.  Probably somebody else can come up with the
ones I've left out.  As for personal experience, I've used both
Seagate drives with success.


- --- Opus-CBCS 1.12
 * Origin: Silver Bullet - Silver Spring, Md - 301-622-2247 (1:109/417.0)
------------------------------
Date:     10-06-90 (11:07)
To:       MARIO LAZZARIN
Subject:  RE: EMULATORS
From:     BILL MAYHEW

The best public-domain terminal emulator product (and I am using "best"
here STRICTLY in the sense of its TERMINAL EMULATION
capabilities, including keyboard support -- I am NOT factoring
file-transfers in, particularly the issue of "diversity of
protocols" or "support for <somebody's idea of> the 'best'
protocol") is probably Kermit 3.xx.
   For a commercial product I like the Reflection series from Walker
Richer and Quinn.
   Both of them support full keyboard remapping.  Both can run on LAT
circuits as well as serisl ports.  WRQ's products are
well-supported commercial products, and they have ReGIS graphics
support in some of their products (which Kermit does not have
and probably never will have).
 They also support a wider variety of protocols than Kermit does, have
PC-to-host backup capabilities, etc. etc.
   -Bill
   P.S. We're talking about running this on a PC or compatible, right...
 not on a Rainbow?


- --- QM v1.00
 * Origin: Still Servicing the Rainbow - Maybee Forever (1:101/1.0)
------------------------------
Date:     10-06-90 (09:09)
To:       MARC MCCUNE
Subject:  QUANTUM DRIVES ON RBOW
From:     DON MARQUART


 > Does any have any knowledge of using a Quantum 10 or 40 meg hard drive
 > on a rainbow?

If memory serves the Quantum Q540 is listed by DEC as the RD-53 and will
work in the Rainbow with the proper cables and WUTIL formatting
utility.  The formatted capacity is a little over 32 meg.
Don't know about the 10 meg.

Hope this helps some Marc...


- --- ConfMail V4.00
 * Origin: Club Micro * CompuMatch (303)973-8578 (1:104/888)
------------------------------
Date:     10-06-90 (20:46)
To:       ALL
Subject:  RE: ZMODEM ON RAINBOW
From:     FRANK ZSITVAY


In article <984.270DD3EF.@techbks1.FIDONET.ORG>
Chris.Ryan@f138.n102.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Chris Ryan) writes:
> > CR>   Some months ago I had some troubles with Zmodem transfers
>Rainbow (Supplied by Bill Bird, a local sysop) to test it on. Although
>registration of DSZ is no big hairy deal, sending him a Rainbow to work with
>IS.  With our non-8250 compatible UART, I can't think of any other way he
>could do the porting to the Rainbow.
>
>Anybody else have any observations to add?  (or possibly a spare Rainbow to
>donate to the cause???? 8^) ).
>
 i've got a spare rainbow i'd donate to the cause, provided someone come
up with a monitor for it.

 and i'm a local call to Telegodzilla, too.   (that's chuck's board, isn't
it??)

- --
fzsitvay@techbook.COM - one of these days i'll get it right...
Version 2 of anything is usually the version that works.


- --- QM v1.00
 * Origin: TECHbooks One, Fido Gate to techbook (503) 644-8135 (1:105/369.0)
------------------------------
Date:     10-08-90 (00:33)
To:       ALL
Subject:  KERMIT
From:     PAUL ROBINSON

I have a copy of the sources to an MS-DOS Kermit written in Assembly
language.  My computer is an IBM Klone, so if someone wants it
I can copy it onto 160K 8 Sector Single Sided Diskettes so it
can be read for anyone that wants them.  I believe it will take
3 diskettes.  If anyone is interested in a copy they can do one
of two things:

 1.  Send me 3 formatted disks and return postage   (or)
 2.  Mail me $2 to cover disks and return postage and nothing else;

 This is the ASM sources so you need to have an assembler to use them,
and they are the "generic" MS-DOS.  I'm making this available
for those who might want them.  Also, I'll post them to this
board in the next few days so if you are local to the
Washington, DC suburb of Silver Spring, MD you can pick them up
for a local call.  The archives will take over 400K so you will
need a hard disk unless you just want them to read them.  If
you can't download them, mail me one of the above requests
 to:
     Paul Robinson
     P O Box 70970
     Washington, DC 20024-0970

 Be sure to give your address and state you want MS-Kermit ASM sources
on 160 K disk.  The same offer applies to a set of Kermit
sources which I have in Turbo Pascal (I think it is a Version 4
TPU though) and a Kermit which is written in C.  If you want
any of the others, ask also; I think that either one should fit
on one disk, so if you also want those, toss in another disk or
50c additionally.


- --- Opus-CBCS 1.12
 * Origin: Silver Bullet - Silver Spring, Md - 301-622-2247 (1:109/417.0)
------------------------------
Date:     10-08-90 (07:03)
To:       CARL HOUSEMAN
Subject:  RE: QUANTUM DRIVES ON RBO
From:     GEORGE DAHLCO

In a message of <Oct 06 00:22>, Carl Houseman (1:109/417@fidonet) writes:
 >re: any & all hard drives workable on Rainbow
 >
 >Well, since you asked, just off the top of my head...
 >
 >Drive Size    DEC Name    Mfr         Mfr's Name
 >  20 m        RD31        Seagate     ST-225
 >  32 m        RD52        Quantum     Q540
 >  40 m        RD32        Seagate     ST-251
 >  67 m        RD53        Micropolis  ??? So old I forget!!!
                                        DEC=1325D, Micropolis=1325

  Carl,

  Just added in the Micropolis part number. Originally "DEC" versions
of all those drives were built to DEC spec, generally meaning
slightly tighter tolerances on some electrical parts or more
often, longer test and burn in. But my guess is nowadays any of
the above will work as long as you have the right formatter. I
have used all of the above "generic versions" of those disks
with success.

  Interestingly enough, you get 1-3Mb additional formatted capacity
when the above disks are used on an IBM PC type machine. Thats
because DEC uses 16 sectors per track as opossed to 17 in the
PC. Just some trivia...

 -George, 102/138-


- --- msged 1.999.7
 * Origin: Long Island_RB VAX EC/RAINBOW/PDP Echo Hub (1:102/138@fidonet)
------------------------------
Date:     10-07-90 (22:17)
To:       ALL
Subject:  RAINBOW POWER SUPPLIES
From:     ANDREW TAYLOR

1) A friend has a dead Rainbow: circuit breaker pops out when you turn
it on: presumably a dead power supply. Machine is a 100B

2) Another friend has a 100A power supply.

QUESTION: Can I put a 100A power supply into a (Floppy only, no
graphics board, ie no power problems) 100B.

I vaguely recall that an A has an AC fan and a B has a DC fan (or vice versa).

Comments, help etc??
Thanks
Andrew Taylor


- --- Opus-CBCS 1.12
 * Origin: Glacier Peak Rainbow, Bellevue, WA - 206/644-8431 (1:343/3.0)
------------------------------
Date:     10-09-90 (15:55)
To:       GEORGE THEALL
Subject:  RAINBOW
From:     AMER NELSON

Replying to Charles Watson at U. of Texas:
 The Rainbow is not THAT compatible with IBM machines or clones.  The
main hangups are diskette format and (particularly) graphics.
The Rainbow is a GOOD machine, however.  You can use either
CP/M or MS-DOS as an operating system.  There are
Rainbow-specific versions of several popular programs, but NOT
THE LATEST AND GREATEST versions.  For example -- 1-2-3 release
2.01, dBaseIII, WordPerfect 4.2.  If you can get by with good
software without ALL the latest bells & whistles, the Rainbow
is for you.  If you need documentation our user group has it
available at a modest price.  Write me at 12030-36th Avenue,
N.E., Seattle, WA  98125-5637 or call (206) 365-5795.
 ++ Amer Nelson ++


- --- Opus-CBCS 1.12
 * Origin: Glacier Peak Rainbow, Bellevue, WA - 206/644-8431 (1:343/3.0)
------------------------------
Date:     10-10-90 (08:09)
To:       GEORGE THEALL
Subject:  INFO WANTED: RAINBOW 100+
From:     DON MARQUART

 From: spam@walt.cc.utexas.edu  (Charles E. Watson) Organization: The
 University of Texas at Austin

 > I have an opportunity to buy a Dec Rainbow 100+, but I am not sure what it
 > is. Would somebody e-mail me their opinion and tell me what operating
 > systems are available. This computer has no docs. Thanks!

The system runs under either MS-DOS or CP/M86/80 featuring both an 8088
and a Z80 processor.  While considered to be a little slow (
4.77 on the 8088) by todays standards it is a very nice system.
 You would not be able to run software that requires IBM
compatible video graphics or has non configurable addressing to
the ports though as they are in different locations.

If you decide to get the system I do have some extra MS-DOS v2.05 and
CP/M86/80 operating system manuals available for 5.00 ea plus shipping.

Hope this helps some...


- --- ConfMail V4.00
 * Origin: Club Micro * CompuMatch (303)973-8578 (1:104/888)
------------------------------
Date:     10-10-90 (17:27)
To:       ALL
Subject:  RAINBOW CHARACTER GENERAT
From:     HARRY GRAY

According to the 100B and 100+ technical manual, character code 7F is
reserved for the character generator ROM CHECKSUM. Does any
body know how this is calculated? I have made a character
generator ROM that matches the Symbols10 rom in the LA100, but
the Rainbow won't cold boot. It gives the message: See Owner's
Manual MESSAGE -1- Main Board.
Diskette diagnostics tell me that the problem lies in he video channel.
(It is possible to warm boot after the cold boot fails and run
diskette diagnostics). Since, in the diagnostics, the video
output is rerouted through to MPSC to the 8088, etc.,
apparently the checksum that I have in the character generator
ROM is incorrect for the character set that I have designed.
The characters, themselves, are fine. I can't use the Technical
character set ROM as it is incompatible with the TURBOW rom for
some reason.

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