HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: idg10@cl.cam.ac.uk (I.D. Griffiths)
Subject: Re: ARM risc speed?
Reply-To: idg10@phx.cam.ac.uk
Organization: U of Cambridge Computer Lab, UK
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 12:17:06 GMT

In article <2804@eagle.ukc.ac.uk>, spt1@ukc.ac.uk (S.P.Thomas) writes:
|>....
|> In a similar vain, one of the optimisations I do is to cause the
|> code to be generated such that the starting addresses of the
|> code sequences that can be jumped to are aligned to have an address
|> of &XXXXXX4.  This maximises the number of consequtive (sp?) sequential
|> memory cycles when using MEMC1a.  I have three main questions.
|> 
|> 1) The effect of this alignment is quite significant on an ARM2
|> machine.  Would the effect be as significant on an ARM3 (or ARM250,
|> although I suspect the answer is yes, in this case)?

Yes, very - the ARM3 fetches stuff into the cache 4 words at a time!

 
|> 2) In the next generation of memory controllers, are different rules
|> likely to apply?  If so (I suspect this is highly likely), can anyone
|> give me an idea what they might be?

Very likely.  Don't know any details however.  ARM ltd might be able to help
you on that one, I would guess that information on the Arm610 is available..


|> 3) Is it possible that certain orderings of instructions are "better"
|> than others (ie, faster), even though they achieve the same effect?  For
|> example
|> 
|>         ADR    ad1,blk1                    ADR    ad1,blk1
|>         LDMIA  ad1,{r0-r7}   compared      ADR    ad2,blk2
|>         ADR    ad1,blk2        with        LDMIA  ad1,{r0-r7}
|>         STMIA  ad1,{r0-r7}                 STMIA  ad2,{r0-r7}
|> 
|> These sort of sequences occur a great deal in the code I'm generating.
|> If there is a difference, what are the rules?

The rule is to run both and time them.  :-)


Ian Griffiths
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
From: andy@laguna.santafe.edu (Andy Mell)
Subject: Re: Auto Translation protocol (TransLink)
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 93 02:26:52 GMT
Organization: Santa Fe Institute

In article <1993Jan18.232637.14383@cs.aukuni.ac.nz> jwil1@cs.aukuni.ac.nz (TMOTA) writes:
>
>OK. So we have Alias$@ImportType_695 for GIF, which says "Run Translator".
>This is all fine, but what if Translator can't translate a GIF into the
>form that we need? For example, if you drag a GIF file to a text editor,
>should Translator be run? Because after running, it will still be unable to
>supply a translated form of the GIF that the text editor can read.

Have a look at the 'Datatypes' system implemented in the commodore amiga WB3
OS. It is rather nice, and i would like to see something similar implemented
on the Arc.

A
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andy Mell, Applied Physics Department,  |   andy@santafe.edu
University of Hull, Hull, HU7 6RX       |   amell@nyx.cs.du.edu
England.                                |   torq@gnu.ai.mit.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
From: altman@cryton.demon.co.uk (Hugo Fiennes)
Subject: Re: A5000 serial port 
Distribution: world
Organization: The Serial Port
Reply-To: altman@cryton.demon.co.uk
X-Mailer: Simple NEWS 1.90 (ka9q DIS 1.19)
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 12:25:09 +0000

In article <C1Ewyx.2ny@dcs.ed.ac.uk> gst@dcs.ed.ac.uk writes:

>Further to my previous posting concerning my record of faulty serial ports, I
> now
>have my machine back and working.
>
>The engineer at Norwhich Computer Services reports
>that the serial driver chip had suffered static damage (the driver chip is a
> CMOS
>device which uses a charge pump to create the +/- RS232 voltages).
>He suggests extreme care be taken with the port and that screened (hence
> earthing
>from one machine's chasis to another) leads and plugs should always be used.
>I would have thought that given the typical nature of serial port use (noisy
>environments etc) that CMOS drivers are a bad idea, I intend to make up my own
>buffer to protect my port. I have never heard of this problem occuring on
>other euqipment using serial ports.
Generally on serial hardware you're not supposed to connect PG (pin 1 on
25-way) to the PG on the other end (or so I was told). As the 9-pin has
no PG, I don't know what you really should do.

A3000 serial ports never seem to blow when they've been working before... 
however, I know of *many* people who have got the chips and had them D.O.A.

The old A5000's use the same method (ie charge pumps), as does our serial
card (socketed AD238's). I note with interest that the A3010/4000 use the
(very) tried and tested 1488/1489 combination with unregulated +/-12v
supply (nice you you've got it). Bombproof, practically, the way it used
to be done in 'the good old days'.

Hugo
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     "Did I say that? My lips didn't move..."
Hugo Fiennes - The Serial Port                      altman@cryton.demon.co.uk
                                                or altman@cix.compulink.co.uk
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Gavin.Flower@comp.vuw.ac.nz (Gavin Flower)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
Subject: Re: Thanks for Help ! and some new ?'s
Date: 25 Jan 93 21:07:40 GMT
Article-I.D.: comp.C1FHCt.GGE
Organization: Dept. of Comp. Sci., Victoria Uni. of Wellington, New Zealand.

In article <21175@acorn.co.uk> tsumner@acorn.co.uk (Tony Sumner) writes:
>In article <1993Jan24.125726.13112@cs.nott.ac.uk> smb@cs.nott.ac.uk (Simon Burrows) writes:
>>
>>Also, can anyone comment on stories that there are RISC OS 3.10 ROM sets
>>in circulation which contain different versions of the FontManager? I
>>have had great trouble printing with my LaserDirect using the built-in
>>fontmanager (not FastText), and have heard that Acorn brought out a
>>newer fontmanager which fixes this problem without telling anybody.
>>
>
>FACT.
>
>ALL RISC OS 3.10 rom sets contain the same version of the font manager.
>
>Thankyou for your attention.
>
>Tony Sumner
>(Senior SQA Engineer)


Fine! - But, what is it's version?


Gavin
-- 
Tomorrow's Society                              | flower_g@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz
    Depends on                                   ----------------------------
Today's Children  - help us raise them properly! 
*******  These comments have no known correlation with dept. policy!  *******
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
From: vaughajr@cs.aston.ac.uk (James Vaughan)
Subject: Re: *CheckMap Error
Reply-To: vaughajr@cs.aston.ac.uk
Organization: Aston University (Comp Sci)
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 23:09:55 GMT

S.Hickinbottom@lut.ac.uk wrote:

: I've just started getting an error when I do a *checkmap command - when it seems
: to have checked the entire map it then says "map inconsistent with directory
: tree". What's going on? I thought *CheckMap would offer to overwrite the
: bad map, or is this a different case?
: 
: Should I be on my knees looking skyward, or what?

I had this problem too, on my 40meg Watford drive...
As it didn't seem to matter if I ignored it, that's exactly what I did.
I don't know if this is such a good idea however; it may be better to backup the
drive and re-format it.


***** James Vaughan. ****************************************************/|***
|  ___                 e-mail : vaughajr@uk.ac.aston.cs           |#####/ |##|
|   /   _ _   | /                                                 |####/_ |##|
| _/ / / ) )  |/   snail mail : Floor 3, Room 18, Stafford Tower  |###/  \|##|
|                              Aston Street, Birmingham. B4 7EG   |##/    |##|
*****************************************************************************
From: veijalai@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Tony Veijalainen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
Subject: BTW: can VIDC20 support simultanous monitors?
Date: 21 Jan 93 09:14:26 GMT
Distribution: eunet
Organization: University of Helsinki
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]

VIDC20 can support LCD-screen and monitor, but can it
	a) display on them same time
	b) use extra monitor as extra desktop base (Mac Duo style)

-- 
Tony Veijalainen	e-Mail: Tony.Veijalainen@helsinki.fi (preferred)
 		(finger veijalai@plootu.helsinki.fi for more information)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
From: crj10@phx.cam.ac.uk (Clive Jones)
Subject: Re: RISCOS_lib and alternatives
Telephone-Messages: +44 223 33 4900
Address: Christ's College, Cambridge CB2 3BU, ENGLAND.
Organization: Cambridge University Computer Laboratory
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 18:03:38 GMT

In article <1993Jan27.142801.9279@csc.ti.com> a909937@tiuk.ti.com writes:
>RiscOSLib is included in the sharedClibrary in the ROM's of
>RiscOS 3.10. What is required is for Acorn to release the object
>file to link with, so come on Acorn where is it.

There isn't one, and one can't be written. Acorn has explained this in
c.s.a.tech some time ago. The problem is that the RiscOSLib in
question is somewhat neutered - it has lots of unwanted routines
pruned out if not needed by the ROM, so that things fit. Also, a lot
of stack checking and such has been removed. To make matters worse,
the code is tacked on to the end of SharedCLibrary, and the
applications in ROM are linked directly to it. This means that the
entry points cannot be guaranteed to stay in the same place in future
releases of the ROM. Thus, you'd throw portability out of the window
if you linked to it from code that is not part of the ROM.

--Clive.
From: julian@bridge.welly.gen.nz (Julian Wright)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
Subject: Re: Thanks for Help ! and some new ?'s
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 18:30:15 +1300
Reply-To: wright_j@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz
Organization: USS Enterprise, NCC 1701a

banksie@khantazi.welly.gen.nz (Philip R. Banks) writes:

> thughes@dcs.warwick.ac.uk (Tom Hughes) writes:
> 
> > Having been told that at the BETT show on Saturday, and being informed
> > that most people had 2.98, I look at mine last night and found that it
> > was 3.xx (02 I think).
>
>    Fascinating. The A4 ROM set has v3.07 of the FontManager in it. But then

The 3.10 upgrade roms for my A5000 also have FontManager 3.07, and
SuperSample 0.07 in them... 

--
I'm here to chew gum and kick ass - and I'm all outta gum...
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
From: crj10@phx.cam.ac.uk (Clive Jones)
Subject: Re: Driving TTL Montiors
Telephone-Messages: +44 223 33 4900
Address: Christ's College, Cambridge CB2 3BU, ENGLAND.
Organization: Cambridge University Computer Laboratory
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 17:43:03 GMT

In article <30824@castle.ed.ac.uk> rych@festival.ed.ac.uk (R Hawkes) writes:
>We want to drive a RGB TTL monitor (i.e. an old BBC CUB
>monitor) from an Archimedes and would like to know if anyone 
>out there has already tried it and if there are any problems?

Not tried it, but know a little about the subject.

TTL monitors (as opposed to analogue RGB monitors) accept *BINARY*
signals on their RGB lines. That is, you can only have the primaries,
complementaries, white and black. For the Archimedes, this is a bit of
a let-down - yes, it will work (provided the levels trigger as 1s, and
I *think* they would - just), but you won't be impressed.

I believe Microvitec have foreseen this problem, however, and have a
little modification they can do to make such CUBs accept analogue
input. If you ask them, you might find that you're in luck.

--Clive.
From: smb@cs.nott.ac.uk (Simon Burrows)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
Subject: Re: Hard Disc Prices AGAIN!
Date: 21 Jan 93 19:38:58 GMT
Organization: Nottingham University

In article <C15zKJ.7K1@compsci.liverpool.ac.uk> pss@uxb.liv.ac.uk (Mr. P.S. Spencer) writes:
>The question was: is there any reason why I can't buy a hard disc from a
>PC dealer (which means that it would be almost half the price in some
>cases) and, provided I've made sure that it drives the disc, buy a
>controller card from an Acorn dealer. If there is no reason why this
>won't work, then I should be able to get a 170Mb IDE for about $350 (no
>pound sign on this terminal) inc VAT and delivery!

There's no reason why you shouldn't go to a PC dealer, but you will have
no guarantee that the drive will work with your interface. IDE is not
a well-defined standard like SCSI. If you buy from an Acorn dealer, you
can expect it to work, and also receive support if anything goes wrong.
You are paying the extra money for 'peace of mind' (?!).

Simon
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Simon Burrows   smb@cs.nott.ac.uk  psyhsmb@unicorn.nott.ac.uk  +44 533 712030
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
From: wuerthne@minnie.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de (Martin Wuerthner)
Subject: Help ! Undeletable file
Organization: Informatik, Uni Stuttgart, Germany
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 12:34:31 GMT

I have an A3000, 4MB, ARM3, RISC OS 3.1, HCCS 8-bit internal SCSI
controller (version 2) and a Quantum LPS 105 hard disc.
(Despite some postings I read my HCCS controller runs fine under RO3.1.)

Some days ago I save a file (from DeskEdit) which was about 1.03MB in size.
During the save operation I got an error message (internal fatal error in
DeskEdit) and afterwards a 'FileCore in use' error.

I switched the computer off and on again and tried again. I one more time
put the file together (the file was obtained by putting together some other
files) and saved it to a different directory.
* And exactly the same happened !! *

The only difference was that in the first case, there already was a file
with the same name on the disc, so the file was overwritten. In the second
case the directory was empty.

The result is that I now have a 1.03MB file on my harddisc that crashes the
system when it is accessed (i.e. if you try to open or delete it !!). It was
the file that was not properly overwritten (when the first error occured).
*Checkmap reports a good map.
However, the space (1.03 MB) is taken up by the file and I would like to free
it. You may rename the file but not open or delete it.

I hope, anyone can help ...

Martin



-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Martin Wuerthner          wuerthne@minnie.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de
 Jahnstrasse 18                    
 7034 Gaertringen          Phone: +049-7034-29262
     Germany               Fax:   +049-7034-21286
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: crj10@phx.cam.ac.uk (Clive Jones)
Subject: Re: Using kermit with RISCOS 3.1
Telephone-Messages: +44 223 33 4900
Address: Christ's College, Cambridge CB2 3BU, ENGLAND.
Organization: Cambridge University Computer Laboratory
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 17:51:58 GMT

In article <yorkr.728067138@cs.man.ac.uk> yorkr@cs.man.ac.uk (richard york S92 sbf) writes:
>I have just bought an A4 and as I still make some use of my beeb I decided to
>get a copy of kermit from the info server. Unfortunately it seems to have
>problems since 99% of the time it refuses to send characters, even in simple
>terminal mode, even though the baud rate etc is correct. It will receive characters
>happily from the beeb, and when used on a 540 with RISC OS 2 it works perfectly.

1) RiscOS3 is not guaranteed to work at more than 2400 baud because of
interrupt latency problems. Try again at that speed.

2) The fact that it works in one direction, and not the other strongly
implies that you might not be aware that split baud rate operation is
not possible on the A4 - it uses the same send and receive rates.

--Clive.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
From: altman@cryton.demon.co.uk (Hugo Fiennes)
Subject: Re: Hard Disc Prices AGAIN! 
Distribution: world
Organization: The Serial Port
Reply-To: altman@cryton.demon.co.uk
X-Mailer: Simple NEWS 1.90 (ka9q DIS 1.19)
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 12:17:26 +0000

In article <memo.895245@cix.compulink.co.uk> amclintock@cix.compulink.co.uk writes:

>In-Reply-To: <727580969snz@cryton.demon.co.uk> altman@cryton.demon.co.uk (Hugo
> Fiennes)
>
>Hard Disk Whinge
>I don't like my IDE drive/controller
>which I bought from ICS.
>
>1) 25second boot up time (with RiscOs2)
some other IDE cards do this (DT software?)... I can't see a reason myself,
most IDE drives become ready from powerup within 5-10 seconds max.

>2) window bugs in filer, paths longer
>   than 40 chars (or so) cause windows larger
>   than they need to be. (big gaps to the right)
>   Or perhaps this is a riscos bug.
That's RISC OS...

>3) The occasional bad drive error.
That's the drive?
>
>Does anyone know why the "*map" command
>fills my screen with bits of free space.
>Shouldn't it all be in one continuous block?
>*compact reduces it a bit...
There's a maximum free chunk size, but you don't see it often (empty, big
disks.. it's something like 16mb chunks?), but there are always 'bits'
of free space. *compact doesn't compact any more when some oscure formula
works out that it's not worth the hassle (chunks big enough already? 
not too many chunks?)

Hugo
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     "Did I say that? My lips didn't move..."
Hugo Fiennes - The Serial Port                      altman@cryton.demon.co.uk
                                                or altman@cix.compulink.co.uk
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: maupb@csv.warwick.ac.uk (Mr J L Saunders)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
Subject: Price of new machines
Date: 21 Jan 1993 17:58:14 -0000
Organization: Computing Services, University of Warwick, UK
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: violet.csv.warwick.ac.uk
Keywords: Acorn, Sun, mips, workstation.

Having just seen the new Sparcstation LX advertised in this month's Byte for
about 7000 dollars, I hope Acorn will be coming up with something really good.
The LX does 59 mips, has a very nice hi-res display, and SCSI and ISDN are
built in.

I can't remember the rest of the details as I don't have the mag. with me. For
the expected 3500 quid price tag, Acorn had better come up with something
really mean. As the Sparc architechture can be easily upgraded to a
multi-processor machine, I would expect the Acorn to have a similar option.

I know all this is expecting a lot, but maybe when the new machine comes out
Acorn should follow Sun's example by setting a standard and licencing it out to
third parties. That way hopefully we'll get some cheap, good quality machines
that really compete with the rest of the workstation industry.

Cheers,
Jason
-- 
                       Jason L Saunders [ RouE ]       
                     email: maupb@csv.warwick.ac.uk
snail: Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
From: tb@liszt.thorn-emi-crl.co.uk (Tim Browse)
Subject: Glass format
X-Status: NS
X-Mailer: Aster*x 2.0 (360)
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 16:16:31 +0000



Erm...the comments seem to have tailed off a bit so I take it most 
people who want to have had their say...I'll look thru all the 
comments and post a revised format soonish.

One thing that had occured to me was that it would be nice to 
have two GLS_WIND type chunks - one for System font templates, 
and one for Anti-aliased fonts...perhaps a GLS_WINF for the fancy 
font chunk? Obviously you'd tell the module which one to load 
when you do a Glass_Load or whatever so they're not soaking up 
memory if not used...
I think this would be useful, as more programs seem to be offering 
the choice of anti-aliased fonts in templates...any comments? Are 
2 chunks enough? Should we make it n chunks for extensibility?

You can't really just change the icons so they use System 
font/Fancy fonts from the one template set, as fancy ones usually 
need a bit of tweaking to look right.

Cheers,
Tim
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
From: mjw19@cl.cam.ac.uk (M.J. Williams)
Subject: Re: Help needed on Acorn/PC Networking
Reply-To: MJW19@phx.cam.ac.uk
Organization: The National Society for the Inversion of Cudddly Tigers
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 18:30:48 GMT

In article <1993Jan28.140936.3982@infodev.cam.ac.uk> ph10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Philip Hazel) writes:
> ... use TCP/IP, which is available for both the Arc and the PC (and other
> things too).
>
>--
>Internet: P.Hazel@ucs.cam.ac.uk       University Computing Service,  <<---.
>JANET:    P.Hazel@uk.ac.cam.ucs       Computer Laboratory, Pembroke St,   |
>Phone:    +44 223 334714              Cambridge CB2 3QG, England.         |
                                     .-------------------------------------'
I don't suppose you could tell them -' that, do you? Oh well, never mind...

Mike. 8-)
--
____________________________________________________________________________
\  /  / Michael Williams                     Part II Computer Science Tripos
|\/|\/\ MJW19@phx.cam.ac.uk                          University of Cambridge
|  |(__)Cymdeithas Genedlaethol Traddodiad Troi Teigrod Mwythus Ben I Waered
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
From: thughes@dcs.warwick.ac.uk (Tom Hughes)
Subject: Re: Thanks for Help ! and some new ?'s
Keywords: VIDC, FontManager
Organization: Department of Computer Science, Warwick University, England
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 11:33:46 GMT

In article <1993Jan24.125726.13112@cs.nott.ac.uk> smb@cs.nott.ac.uk (Simon Burrows) writes:
>Also, can anyone comment on stories that there are RISC OS 3.10 ROM sets
>in circulation which contain different versions of the FontManager? I
>have had great trouble printing with my LaserDirect using the built-in
>fontmanager (not FastText), and have heard that Acorn brought out a
>newer fontmanager which fixes this problem without telling anybody.

Having been told that at the BETT show on Saturday, and being informed
that most people had 2.98, I look at mine last night and found that it
was 3.xx (02 I think). As I bought my upgrade last October, I can't
believe that many were sent out with 2.98. But then maybe I've got the
wrong end of this altogether.

Tom.

============================================================================
Tom Hughes, CS3

thughes@uk.ac.warwick.dcs            57 Shakleton Road
csugk@uk.ac.warwick.csv              Earlsdon
                                     Coventry
(0203) 673584                        CV5 6HT
============================================================================
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
From: burke@vxdesy.desy.de (Stephen Burke)
Subject: Re: RISCOS_lib and alternatives
Organization: (DESY, Hamburg, Germany)
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 18:45:37 GMT

In article <KERS.93Jan28131720@cdollin.hpl.hp.com>, kers@hplb.hpl.hp.com (Chris Dollin) writes:
> It's much easier to have but the one loop, and (if *necessary*) cut
> off some of the functionality while your oh-so-special box is up
> there. I agree that RISCOSLib can get in the way, but that's not a
> property of being the single polling loop; it's a property of being
> not terribly well designed. IMAO.

I think it depends on the problem. With a single polling loop you have to
have state flags for every possible state your program might be in. If some
of these states are very different from the "normal" state then it may make
sense to have separate polling loops for these. I don't think it's too
difficult to make sure that all the standard things are still taken care
of.

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