HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: densond@storm.CS.ORST.EDU (Dave Denson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Ungrounded equipment
Date: 28 Dec 92 09:30:02 GMT
Article-I.D.: flop.1hmheqINNehv
Distribution: world
Organization: Computer Science Department, Oregon State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: storm.cs.orst.edu

I realize that this is not the proper group for this (but then, what is?), 
but I have a question concerning improperly grounded outlets.  I may be
moving to an older home with improperly grounded outlets.  The ground of the
outlet is wired to the metal case of the shell, which is only nailed to the
stud.  I am pretty sure this is not adequate protection...

My queries:

	1.  Other than potential power-supply fry, what are the dangers of
	using such a source of power?  I have a considerable amount of computer
	and network equipment I'd like to keep from going up in smoke.

	2.  Can the situation be easily fixed?  When I was younger, I remember
	reading about how to ground outlets, and two things (of dubious
	accuracy, I'm sure) come to mind:  One, you could use a cold water pipe
	to connect the ground to, or two, you could use a (6-foot?) spike
	driven into the earth near something (the inlet?).  Are either of these
	accurate?  If not, what is?

Thanks for any help--for the sake of others, please mail me.  Also, if you
know of a better place to post this query, I will cancel this article, and
post it elsewhere...

Dave

-- 
------ Dave Denson                      (Preferred:  densond@storm.cs.orst.edu)
Computer Sciences Corporation                       (densond@heart.cor.epa.gov)
US EPA Corvallis Environmental Research Lab
The above opinions are by no means whatsoever endorsed by US EPA, CSC, or OSU.
From: duncan@ravel.ati.com (Jim Duncan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Overextending a UPS
Date: 24 Dec 92 06:37:53 GMT
Reply-To: duncan@ravel.ati.com (Jim Duncan)
Organization: K-FOX 94.5 Classic Rock (KUFX, Gilroy-San Jose, CA)

In article <1992Dec21.155633.15000@zooid.guild.org> David Mason <vid@zooid.guild.org> writes:
>
>My question is, what would happen if I used a Tripplite model BC325 (up to 325
>volt/amps) with this system. I can get the Tripplite for a really good price,
>but it's a model that is recommended for a "single DOS" system. The
>implication being that it's for less-powerful systems than mine in terms of
>power consumption.  
>
First of all, get another brand of UPS, perhaps the very nice APC
(American Power Conversion) units or maybe one of the Kensington
models.

The newer Tripplite BCxxx designs in the plastic cases may have a
serious design defect.  I am working with Tripplite even as we speak.
One hundred percent of my 3 unit sample have failed catastrophically
with clouds of acrid smoke and internal orange glows.  Suddenly when
switching to the standby mode, these Tripplite UPS's all literally went
up in smoke and were a total loss.  Last week I just shipped them back
for evaluation explaining that I either wanted the company's money back
or some other product as a replacement.  These things are bad news.
Fortunately, the circumstances were such that I was nearby; otherwise
I'm sure that the staff would've called the fire department and made a
big scene out of it.

Just as a test, I set up a unit (whose self destruction had been quickly
aborted) in the radio station parking lot and then called the TV
station next door (KICU-TV) suggesting they send a news person with a
camera.  I piled computer papers on the UPS and put it next to a
cardboard box.  Then after connecting a 100 watt light bulb to the
Tripplite BC500 output, I pulled the plug.  So what happened?  The TV
station owner and its chief engineer came over (no camera people
available on such short notice) to watch a minute or so of popping,
hissing, and clouds of smoke but no fire.   

These units had been lightly loaded with data equipment (90 watts on a
BC500 for instance) and were in controlled environments.  Inside, these
things look like they were built in someone's garage and have minimal
heatsinks, etc..  The spiky, messy square wave output seems to run
everything I connect to it, including precision audio equipment, but
reliability seems to be a major issue here.  The station has several
SB1000b's and older BC750 units that have been fine. 

Based on my own experiences, I would strongly recommend that folks may
want to avoid this line of UPS equipment pending an evaluation by
Tripplite as to the problem.     
-- 
K-FOX|      w  ["]                            | WA6MBV      
94.5 |...   |___|_____..duncan@ravel.ati.com  | Jim Duncan  
KUFX |          H                             | 408.297.5977   
********  \_____I_____/  37 3 10N/121 59 10W  ************** 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: ergo@netcom.com (Isaac Rabinovitch)
Subject: Re: Will Windows crawl on my system?
Organization: UESPA
Distribution: usa
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1992 23:17:30 GMT

In <1992Dec17.211413.19398@iti.org> cdj@iti.org (Chris D. Jennings) writes:


>Please excuse me if this is a FAQ - I'm new to this group.

>I'm considering Windows 3.1 so that my home machine will be more
>compatible with the machine my wife uses at her office.  What I need
>to know is whether I'd be a fool to try to run Windows on my
>hardware.  I have a CompuAdd 316s (386SX at 16Mhz) with a Hyundai
>VGA monitor (RAM is 1 Meg but I would increase to at least 4, and
>hard disk is only 40 Meg but I would add another or replace this one
>for at least a 100 Meg).

>I mostly use word processing (will use WinWord if I add Windows).  I
>don't have any kind of video accelerator card or anything else
>installed to speed up my system.  ....

One of the systems I have is very similar to yours.  Main difference
is that mine is a minor brand.  It's used very much as you intend to
use yours (WP, etc.).

True, a 386sx/16 is considered low-end for windows, but for the purposes
described it works fine.  To boost performance, be sure to set up a
permanent swap file (see the Windows docs), especially if you forget
to increase your RAM.

The video adapter might be more important than the system itself.  My
system has an Oak VGA with 512K ram, which is supposedly enough to
support 600x800 monitors.  The system's current monitor is just
640x480, so that extra RAM may have a serious effect on performance.
I've never used a Windows system with a less powerfrul VGA setup, but
in my experience, extra VGA RAM helps a lot.  For example, I used to
use a Tseng-4000 card with 1 meg on a 386dx/33.  That's the maximum
RAM the adapter will take, and is the minimum needed to support the
256-color Windows driver.  I got much better performance on the same
hardware with a 16-color driver.
-- 

	ergo@netcom.com 			Isaac Rabinovitch
        {apple,amdahl,claris}!netcom!ergo	Santa Cruz, CA
	
	Abstinence makes the heart grow rounder.
		-- Prescot Gooberstein
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: sri@storage.tandem.com (Sri Chandran)
Subject: Optimouse Driver
Followup-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Organization: Tandem
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1992 18:49:14 GMT

I have DOS 5.0 running in my machine and have a Mouse Systems' Optimouse
attached.  With Windows 3.1 I have no problems
using this mouse.  I would like to use this under DOSSHELL.  If you know
where I can get the latest driver for this mouse,
please send me an EMAIL.  The help is much appreciated.
Xref: sparky comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:34269 comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc:16159 comp.sys.amiga.misc:19133
From: ekrieger@quasar.hacktic.nl (Eric Krieger)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc,comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: Re: Seagate ST-225
Date: 28 Dec 92 05:49:18 GMT
Followup-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc,comp.sys.amiga.misc
Organization: Private
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]

Louis van Dompselaar (clldomps@cs.ruu.nl) wrote:
> In <1992Dec18.033034.11802@news2.cis.umn.edu> avatar@wings.micro.umn.edu
> (Timothy Fay) writes:
> >
> >I have an ST225 in my XT clone that I've used _heavily_ since 1987 (and
> >it was a year or two old when I got it).  The drive crashed once in 1988
> >(when I accidentally overwrote track 0).  I did a low-level reformat
> >then, and haven't had any problems with it since.

> I've been using one too for over a year now. Works okay, though it
> doesn't support all the SCSI commands it should (you can't, for instance,
> use the 'check drive' function in Commodore's SCSI util-thing)

Hooo.  You're talking about the ST225N, which is a SCSI-device.  But
the original post was about the ST225 (without the N) and is a MFM
(ST412) HD. There's also a ST225R which is a RLL (ST412) HD.

And here are the specs:

                                ZPHYSICAL? LOG.
  MANUFACTURER    UNFORMAT WTH. PL CYLS ST CYLS INTERFACE   ACC     POWER
  MODEL NUMBER    FORMATED HGT. HD PREC AC HDS  REC.METH    T-T      MTBF
  ADDITIONAL COMMENTS                      ST               XFER
  =======================================================================
  SEAGATE           25.6MB 5.25  2  615 17      ST412      65mS     14.8W
  ST225             21.4MB HALF  4  300 SM           MFM   20.0m    100K
                                    670                     5.0Mb   P?= N
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
      CYLS ... TOTAL CYLINDERS        AC ....... HEAD ACTUATOR
      ST ..... SECTORS PER TRACK      XFER ..... TRANSFER RATE
      PL ..... NUMBER OF PLATTERS     P? ....... SELF PARKING ?
      HD(S) .. # OF READ/WRITE HDs    MZR ...... MULTIPLE ZONE-
      ACC .... AVERAGE ACCESS TIME               RECORDING
      T-T .... TRACK TO TRACK TIME    LZ ....... LANDING ZONE

                  Source: TheREF V4.21 (F.R. Falbo)


> Louis van Dompselaar  (clldomps@cs.ruu.nl)  4th year cs student
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: vmp@pathfinder.JPL.NASA.gov (Vincent Pollmeier)
Subject: DeskWriter/Deskjet in a mixed (PC/Mac) environment
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA/Caltech
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 01:33:09 GMT

I am currently in the position of trying to find an econonmical solution
to providing color output capability to a relatively small group of personal
computer users.  The users are using a number of IBM-clones (mostly 386
machines, including two notebook computers) and Apple Macintoshes (LC's, LC II's and others).  The question I have is given there relatively similar design, is there any simple way to allow either the DeskWriter 550C or the similar machine intended for the PC market to be usable for both sets of machines. 














Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: sheldon@iastate.edu (Steve Sheldon)
Subject: Re: What's the deal? My chip says "SX-25"; Norton says "SX-33"
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 23:23:31 GMT

In <C01LuI.542@news.cso.uiuc.edu> (Mike Berger) writes:

>In article <5870140@pollux.svale.hp.com>, dlow@pollux.svale.hp.com (Danny
>Low) wrote:
>> 
>> This is not quite right. Intel tests ALL chips at 33MHz and those
>> that pass are marked 33Mhz. Those that FAIL are re-tested at 
>> 25MHz and if they then pass, are marked 25MHz. So your 25MHz
>> chip is marked as such because it failed at least one of the tests
>> Intel uses at 33MHz. I would not be all that confident of the
>> reliability of the chip. The dealer is betting that you will not
>> encounter the failure that made the chip a 25MHz one instead of
>> a 33MHz one. 
>*----
>Do you have any reason to believe this is really the case?  It would be
>very costly for Intel to test ALL chips.  Usually they're sampled from
>batches.  If one sample chip fails at the higher speed and passes at the
>lower speed, then the whole batch is designated for the lower speed.  So
>chances are good that some will function at faster clock speeds.

 Interesting point.  If these chips were designated for a Military or
aeronautic application then they probably test ALL chips for certification.
(And then they're most likely tested again at the OEM site)

 But since these are targeted for commercial usage, they're most likely
only testing 1 in every 100 or so, as Mike said, a few out of each batch.

 If any of the sample fail the 33 Mhz test, they're tested at 25 Mhz, if
they pass that, then make the whole batch 25 Mhz.  If they all passed 33
Mhz, make the whole batch 33 Mhz.

 Chances are also good that if any of the sample batch fails the 25 Mhz, and
depending on the percent failed, they'll test all chips in that batch to see
if any of them are salvageable before they go throwing them all out the
door.  Of course this last one depends on the economics of how expensive it
is to test all the chips vs. just making new ones.

-- 
sheldon@iastate.edu                Steve Sheldon
Project Vincent                    ICSS Resource Unit
SCO ODT, Arc/Info, Atlas GIS       2142 Agronomy Hall
                                   Iowa State University
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: datta@cs.uwp.edu (David Datta)
Subject: Electrical Shielding
Organization: University of Wisconsin - Parkside
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 00:52:25 GMT

Is there an easy way to add shielding to cards in a PC? I have a
Creative Labs Video Blaster and a SoundBlaster. Both cards are noisy
and interfere with each other. Is there a way I can shield one from the
other?
-- 
-Dave datta@cs.uwp.edu
	"Such abuse would be illegal and is therefore unlikely." 
		- FBI Director William Sessions
From: Heikki.Haldre@mbbs.tartu.ee (Heikki Haldre)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: HELP! RAMPAGE/2 (AST is doomed)
Date: 21 Dec 1992 15:09:37 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu




Hi folks

HELP ME!!! AST RAMPAGE/2 programming documentation needed!!!

Anybody likes a company called AST???
This company is doomed.

I've got an AST RAMPAGE/2 ( well, it is old, really antique, but XT 
holding it doesn't need better. ) memory card ( can be used to backfill 
conventional memory or as expanded or extanded memory. )
And, possibly, I never will have anything from AST any more. At least 
if I have to pay for AST's products.

Now this card has a wonderful(!?) setup program, so You needn't bother 
setting proper switches and so on. It has a memory that holds the config 
parameters.

But, a guy came, wondered: what this program's for?, and started to 
study it. He set card's memory start address at 0K and somehow 
made the card to think that it had only 64KB memory on board.

You think - no problem, just run the setup program again and everything 
will be OK?

NO! This program is a simple .COM program. Even if it is started 
by it's own BOOT program (ASTDOS,) it loads into segment higher than 
0, of course. And it sets it's stack starting offset 0FFFFh - so it 
can't be run on a machine that has only 64KB memory. I found one 
place where it moved this value into SP register, but I couldn't find 
the other - maybe there are more bugs.

Well, I need hardware level programming documentation on how to 
reset and write this card's setup.

I know the following things:
 It's on board memory holds it's
 
    Base I/O address: it can be 208h, 218h, 258h, 268h, 2A8h, 2B8h, or 2E8h
    Amount of memory to backfill conventional memory.
    Memory Bank type: Bank 0 has 64K DRAMs, Bank 0 and 1 have 64KB DRAMs
                      or All banks have 256KB DRAMs
    Parity Error Checking: Enabled or Disabled
    Start Address of Expanded Memory
    
I think that the program outports something, inports something and then 
writes the configuration into some area of memory ( for example at 
segment 0D000h ). At least, I have no other ideas.

From the various docs, I've got, I read that Toshiba 1000 EMM Unit has 
the same ports - but I have no further info about these ports. If 
You happen to know these port's, maybe You can help me.


Thank You.

Please E-Mail me to heikki.haldre@mbbs.tartu.ee 
--  
Heikki Haldre - via FidoNet node 2:490/60
INTERNET: Heikki.Haldre@f60.n490.z2.FIDONET.ORG
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: sct@beta.lanl.gov (Stephen Tenbrink)
Subject: Re: The maxtor 213 meg drive is NOT 213 megs!
Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 22:31:42 GMT

I believe that disk manufacters do list the "unformatted" capacity of their
drives.  I'm not exactly sure how they come up with the value but it is
always a larger value than the formatted value and marketeers being what
they are will always give you the biggest number they can, even if it is
bogus.


-- 
Steve Tenbrink
sct@lanl.gov
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: bdaniels@rock.concert.net (Brian L Daniels -- Personal Account)
Subject: Looking for BIOS setup program for Phoenix 286 3.06
Organization: CONCERT-CONNECT -- Public Access UNIX
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 06:10:01 GMT


I have a old 286 that has lost its CMOS information.

It's now requesting that I run the setup program (and it no longer
recognizes it's HD :-(

Is this an internal program that can be activated by a key secquence,
or is it an external one?  If it's an external one, where can I get
it?

It's a Phoenix 80286 Rom Bios Version 3.06

Thanks in advance,
Brian

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------
Brian Daniels                   Printed on 100% Recycled Bits
bldaniel@rock.concert.net  Comprising 70% Post-Computer Waste
---------Public Keys Available by E-Mail Request----------------
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: axi0349@ultb.isc.rit.edu (A.X. Ivasyuk)
Subject: Re: Should WD Caviar 2200 be noisy? - FOLLOWUP
Originator: axi0349@ultb
Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1992 07:06:17 GMT

In article <4044@hpwala.wal.hp.com> mikew@hpwarha.wal.hp.com (Michael Williams) writes:
>This is a followup to the question posed by the following person:
>
[article deleted]

[more stuff deleted]
>The technical support manager (Bill) gave me sound measurments for a
>correctly operating drive in two different states:
>
>	Idle: 38 dba
>	Seeking: 42 dba
>
>These are both at 1 meter away from the drive.  (Perhaps someone with a
>"loud" WD drive and the appropriate equipment can verify these numbers.)
>
>Bill recommended that I do some performance tests on the drive, and he
>summarized by saying that unless the noises were obviously "unusual" or
>the drive was experiencing read errors or poor performance, the drive is
>probably doing just fine.
>
>* About Western Digital Technical Support

[case of poor customer support deleted]

>
>Happy holidays,
>
>Mike

I have two WD drives myself: An AC280 (about 1.5 years old) and an AC2200
(about 1 month old).  The 280 is the quietest drive I have ever seen.
It's quiet when idle and quiet when seeking, except for a faint clicking
when the heads move.  The 2200, however, emits a rather high pitch sound
constantly when idle.  Even my roommate (who just had an ear operation)
can hear it.  It's not much louder than the 280 when seeking, however,
although the difference is noticeable.  I haven't called WD tech support
yet, because I figured that it was normal to have a variance in noise
levels among drives.  I've heard all sorts of drives in the last few
years, and there is quite a variety in noise levels.  I don't think
its that unusual to have varying noise levels even among drives of
the same model.  Not all hardware is created equal.  Just as long
as it performs reliably, I'm happy.  I figure I can always put a thick
book between myself and the computer to cut down on the noise.  ;-)

-Anatoly
-- 
  Anatoly Ivasyuk @ Computer Science House @ Rochester Institute of Technology
   anatoly@nick.csh.rit.edu || axi0349@ultb.rit.edu || axi0349@ritvax.rit.edu

                  You say you haven't heard of CSH?  You will...
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: singer@uwovax.uwo.ca
Subject: READ/NEW/FOLLOWUPDEC, HP Monitors B 
Organization: University of Western Ont, London
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 17:08:45 GMT

I wonder if anybody has seen the DEC or HP monitors usually sold with 
their desktop PCs? As I have posted before, the IBM ones sold with
the PS/1 and Value Point lines are very bad, very fuzzy, and not up
to the advertising hype by any means. I wonder if anybody has found 
DEC or HP video systems to be better?-- 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: robl@PROBLEM_WITH_INEWS_GATEWAY_FILE (Rob Laddish)
Subject: Re: VESA slots on Gateway's 66 MHz DX-2 System
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 19:31:42 GMT
Organization: Division of the month club
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8.1]

Richard Robb (Richard_Robb@mindlink.bc.ca) wrote:
: Can anyone tell me if any VESA slots are left open in Gateway's 66 DX-2
: system?  My understanding is that the video card goes in one VESA slot and
: the VESA hard drive controller is built into the motherboard.  Does that mean
: there is one extra VESA slot available for some future 32-bit card?  If so,
: could that slot be used for some VESA CD-ROM controller that may be developed
: in the future?

You are correct. My system has the IDE built in on the motherboard, an ATI
card in one slot, and the other is left open. Btw, I don't think a VESA
CD-ROM controller makes any sense unless someone really soups up their
CD ROM drives. Currently they are so slow as not to matter much.

Rob
---------___----------------------------------------------------------
        /  /        Robert Laddish              AT&T:    707-577-3767
HEWLETT/hp/PACKARD  HP Santa Rosa, Ca.          Telnet:  1-577-3767
      /__/          mail stop 4USQ              robl@sr.hp.com           
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Xref: sparky comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:33904 comp.sys.ibm.ps2.hardware:2275
From: anand@sunglasses.Eng.Sun.COM
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,comp.sys.ibm.ps2.hardware
Subject: ISA/EISA Peripheral Cards
Date: 21 Dec 92 21:13:47 GMT
Reply-To: anand@sunglasses.Eng.Sun.COM ()
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.  Mt. View, Ca.
NNTP-Posting-Host: sunglasses


Hi There,

	I'd appreciate any information from you folks over there
	on how to build an ISA/EISA bus peripheral card for PC's.

	Any information/literature will be welcome. Details on 
	device drivers, configurations, peripheral chips like
	the Bus Master Interface Chip will be useful.

	Design rules to conform to the ISA BUS Specification, 
	Application notes will help me in implementing the card
	I'm building to control some devices at home.

	Please email directly to me.

	If anybody else needs this information, I'll collate it
	and pass it on.

	Thanks a lot.

Anand



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
                                                                                   %%
R. K. Anand					       	  Phone:(w)415-336 2558    %%
Sun Microsystems                                                                   %%
MTV 19-02				    		email: r.anand@Eng.Sun.COM %%
2550, Garcia Avenue                                                                %%
Mountain View, CA 94043                                                            %%
                                                                                   %%
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^%%
--

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
                                                                                   %%
R. K. Anand					       	  Phone:(w)415-336 2558    %%
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware