HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: mbb@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (martin.brilliant)
Subject: Re: Significant price rise on RAM?
Organization: AT&T
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 21:52:07 GMT

From article <1992Nov10.155126.5425@news.eng.convex.com>, by swarren@convex.com (Steve Warren):
> In article <4690045@pollux.svale.hp.com> dlow@pollux.svale.hp.com (Danny Low) writes:
>>There are two ways to price goods, purchase cost + margin or replacement
>>cost + margin. When the two costs are the same the two methods are
> 
> No, there is only one way to price goods: "How much would someone be willing
> to pay me for this thing???"

You're both half right.  Danny is talking about the supply curve, and
Steve is talking about the demand curve.  According to classical
economic theory, the price is where they intersect.

> If a decision is made to impose heavy duties, this creates an impression that
> the item may be more difficult to obtain, causing consumers to be willing to
> pay more for the item...

No, causing consumers to try to buy before the price goes up.  The
price goes up because if it didn't the retailer would run out of
stock.  A retailer has to figure that if he/she runs out of stock, the
price was too low.  Raising the price causes fewer consumers to be
willing to pay the price.  Those who buy are the ones who were willing
to pay the higher price to begin with, and were getting a windfall
(called consumer surplus) because the price was lower.  Anyway, that's
the classical answer.

> ....  Retailers experiment with raising the price, looking
> for how high they can go before it affects their sales volume....

It always affects their sales volume.  Not always noticeably, though.
Sometimes noticeably, but they don't notice until it's too late.

> .....  As long as
> people are still buying, they are going to keep raising the price.  Once they
> reach the consumer's objection point they will back off on raising the price,
> because they want to keep selling.

Basically true, but oversimplified.  There is no specific objection
point.  In theory, there is a price that maximizes their profit, and
they try to get close to it.  They never know exactly when to raise or
lower the price, and those who guess wrong go out of business.  Notice
that no two mail-order ads quote exactly the same price.

I wouldn't want to be a retailer in this market.

							Marty
marty@hoqaa.att.com		hoqaa!marty
Martin B. Brilliant		(Winnertech Corporation)	
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
From: schottd@ucs.orst.edu (Derek Schott)
Subject: Hi-Tech USA
Summary: Anyone ordered from them before 
Organization: University Computing Services - OSU
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 22:32:21 GMT

Anyone done business with them in the past? They have some
outrageously low prices. Seems too good to be true...


-- 
=============================================================================
* Derek Schott                                Mail:schottd@ucs.orst.edu     *
* Department of Public Safety/OSP             Corvallis OR OSU              *
=============================================================================
From: mulvey@blurt.oswego.edu (Allen Mulvey, SUNY, Oswego, NY)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: math/science editing
Date: 10 Nov 92 22:46:11 GMT
Organization: SUNY College at Oswego, Oswego, NY

In article <ng4.721027644@husc10>, ng4@husc10.harvard.edu (Ho Leung Ng) writes:
> 
>    Hi.  I am looking for a pd or cheap shareware program that will allow
> me to edit math/science expressions.  Recommendations for inexpensive
> commercial programs are also welcome!  Thank you.
> 
> Ho Leung Ng

With the educational discount WordPerfect 5.1 is relatively inexpensive and 
does a very good job in it's equation editor.

			Allen Mulvey
			mulvey@blurt.oswego.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
From: ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Iskandar Taib)
Subject: Re: 486 vs. 386
Keywords: prices          
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 16:18:54 GMT

In article <BxFpHv.8zB@news.orst.edu> schottd@ucs.orst.edu (Derek Schott) writes:

>the lower they get in price, the better. My biggest fear is that
>if I wait too long, some unseen factor (ie trade embargo, stock
>market fluctuations, aliens landing in Sunnyvale CA., etc)
>will cause prices to go back up. 

Its happened already. Its called the RAM tariff...




-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iskandar Taib                          | The only thing worse than Peach ala
Internet: NTAIB@SILVER.UCS.INDIANA.EDU |    Frog is Frog ala Peach
Bitnet:   NTAIB@IUBACS                 !
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: AMI BIOS ext. cache
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 21:51:46 GMT

In <6NOV199209235050@cc.utah.edu> msfuller@cc.utah.edu (MARC S. FULLER) writes:

>I have a 486 EISA computer with an AMI 1991 bios.  One of the options in the 
>advanced CMOS setup is external cache on or off.  My dealer tells me this cache 
>is similar to the cache programs like smartdrv, ncache, etc. only in BIOS.  If
>this cache is on and I also have a DOS cache my computer will invariably crash 
>in windows.  Any info on this feature? Is the dealer correct? Thanks for your 
>comments.

This sounds more like an external MEMORY cache than a disk cache like
SMARTDRV.  There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to use this
with a disk cache; in fact, you should want to, since it will speed
your machine up.  A few questions.  Does this cache work if you DON'T
have a disk cache installed (do you still crash in Windows)?  Sounds
to me like you have a hardware problem with the external cache memory.

Oh, and I think I'd look for a new dealer, if this is really what you
were told.  I'd hate to think there's someone out there selling
hardware who doesn't know the difference between a disk cache and a
memory cache.

-- 
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
 in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
From: johnwu@netcom.com (John Wu)
Subject: Re: 486 vs. 386
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 23:03:04 GMT

In article <vjn1bhr@rpi.edu> moncrg@marcus.its.rpi.edu (Gregory Donald Moncreaff) writes:
>article <1992Nov9.200839.27999@exu.ericsson.se> exuhag@exu.ericsson.se writes:
>>
>>Not to mention that very few people actually need a 586 (aka Pentium).
>>How many people--excepting ray-tracing fanatics and people who do
>>serious number crunching--have had any speed problems with a 33 MHz
>>486?  
>>
>does any one remember when they asked us, "who really needs a 486?"
>
Or from the November 25, 1986 issue of PC Mag...

"Certainly not everyone is going to need or want a 386 PC.  Fast 80286 PC's
 will become the new office-automation standard...."        ^^^^
-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
- John Wu                       "I saw a bird in my sight                - 
- johnwu@netcom.com              something dropped into my eye           -
- jmw@ocf.berkeley.edu           I'm a big boy so I won't cry            -
-                                I'm sure glad that cows don't fly!"     - 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc,comp.os.ms-windows.misc,comp.os.ms-windows.setup
From: frandsen@milo.nodak.edu(Bill Frandsen)
Subject: HELP! Smartdrive BOMBS in Himem.
Reply-To: frandsen@milo.nodak.edu(Bill Frandsen)
Organization: NDSU ACM BBS, Fargo, ND
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 05:12:04 GMT


Could someone please help with the following problem.  I think it may have
been discussed in one of these newsgroups before, but I forgot the solution.

I just upgraded my motherboard for an Intel/Phoenix based 386DX/25 to a
AMD/AMI/OPTI based 386DX/40/64kcache.  Both have 8 megs of memory.

I installed DOS 5.0 on the hard drive and Windows 3.1.  After fine tuning
everything (I had deleted the drive to re-set it to user defined for 5 more megs
of space ofer the default drive type), thus had to re-install from floppy.
I can no longer get smartdrive to work.

I'm using the latest version (between DOS 5 and Windows 31) of HIMEM.SYS,
EMM386.EXE, and SMARTDRV.EXE (from windows, not dos distribution), version 4.0

If I have it load in the autoexec (after MSMOUSE), into himem (no parameters)
the system locks.  If I let it boot, and then type it from command line,
it loads, but as soon as I start windows, during the logo the system either
reboots or locks.  If I load smart drive into low (/l) it seems to work
better.

Whats up?  The only thing different that before is that I no longer have the
drive stacked (yet).  I figure if it worked with stacker, it most definetely
should work w/o!!!

Please post a followup or email if you know the answer.

Thanks much.
From: dpn2@po.CWRU.Edu (Damien P. Neil)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 23:53:21 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University
NNTP-Posting-Host: b63519.student.cwru.edu
Keywords: caching disc controllers

In article <Bx9ME2.H40@voder.nsc.com> pad@galaxy.nsc.com (Paul Denny x8349) writes:
>As a starter I note that caching disc controllers
>are supposed to increase the speed of disc intensive
>applications but a salesman I spoke to 8^) claimed
>that these are flakey designs as a single bad bit
>can propogate through your data and corrupt it. He
>suggested additional system RAM and partition it
>in DOS to have a large cache area. Can anyone verify
>or debunk this and provide an explanation?

I do not have the good fortune to own a caching disk controller, but I have 
heard only good things about them. Perhaps the RAM would cost more than the 
controller, giving the salesman more profits? :-)
+-------------+------------------+---------------------------------+
| Damien Neil | dpn2@po.cwru.edu | Case Western Reserve University |
+-------------+------------------+---------------------------------+
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Gateway 2000 problem...
From: aspragg@netlink.cts.com (Adam Spragg)
Date: Mon, 09 Nov 92 20:04:25 PST
Organization: NetLink Online Communications, San Diego CA


Ok.  I have a Gateway 2000 386 '33.  When I run Norton's SYSINFO.EXE, and 
look at the benchmarks, I get about a 14.9 on CPU speed, compared to a 
Compaq 386 '33's 34.  I figured maybe that was just a better computer.  
But now I find that it should not be like that.  A friend of mine said 
that it may be something wrong with the clock speed, and to correct it 
from the setup ROM program.  I looked in there, and there was nothing 
that even looked remotely useful...  Has anyone had a similar problem, or 
know what I should do?  As far as I know, my computer is running at half 
speed... :P...  I am wondering if there is any more information that is 
necessary.  Please e-mail a response, as I am not a regular reader of 
this topic.
Thanks,
Adam

--                    
INTERNET:  aspragg@netlink.cts.com (Adam Spragg)
UUCP:   ...!ryptyde!netlink!aspragg
NetLink Online Communications * Public Access in San Diego, CA (619) 453-1115
From: agr00@ccc.amdahl.com (Anthony G Rose)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: PC to swap for laptop
Date: 12 Nov 92 06:37:18 GMT
Reply-To: agr00@juts.ccc.amdahl.com (TONY ROSE)
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA



I currently have:  IBM PC Compatible with:   42M Hard Disk Drive
                                             3.5 1.44M HD Disk Drive
                                             5.25 1.2M HD Disk Drive
                                             VGA Monitor
                                             1MB RAM
                                             101 Key Keyboard
                                             2400 External Modem
                                             Panasonic Dot Matrix Printer
                                             MPU-401 Roland MIDI Card
                                             Mouse Systems Mouse
                                             Parallel & Serial Card
                                             Software & More!


I would be interested in swapping with someone for a laptop of similar value.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
From: chuckc@fc.hp.com (Chuck Cairns)
Subject: Re: Has anyone heard of Floptical drives?
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 20:33:48 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Fort Collins Site
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1.6 PL6]

Eric Lambert (esl1@crux2.cit.cornell.edu) wrote:  :  I read in a
magazine yesterday about a new (?)  disk for IBM's.  :  It is the size
of a 3.5" disk, but optical, so the TPI is :  somewhere over 1000.  It
stores 21MB of data, and each disk costs :  about $25.  The drives are
standard size 3.5" drives and can :  read/write to 720K.  1.44meg, and
21meg Floptical disks.  All for :  about $500.  Is this new?  Does it
work?  Does anyone have one?  :  :  Thanks.  :  :  -------- :  Eric
Lambert esl1@cornell.edu

 It exists.  Relatively new.  Rumor has it that it will go to ~40 meg
 soon.  One of these technologies which has been "coming" for a long time.

 Consider however that floptical is (I believe) much slower and has less
 capacity than either a Bernoulli Drive or a Syquest/SyDos drive!  Both
 of those can be gotten in the 88-90 Megabyte range for ~$500.  The
 removable media is ~$110 a pop for ~90 meg so it is slightly more
 expensive per byte but faster and larger.  The 44 Meg Bernoulli and
 Syquest drives are less $$ and the media is also less $$.  Beroulli
 claims that their media is very impervious to shock.  I think Syquest is
 somewhat faster.
 (see ads in Computer Shopper, Hard Drives Intl for examp)

 Regards,
 Chuck Cairns
From: tarheit@jupiter.cse.utoledo.edu (Tim Arheit AKA Fool Boy)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: increasing memory...
Date: 9 Nov 92 20:25:38 GMT

paiz@Ingres.COM (Hide the beer, the pastor is here!) writes:
: Hi, I have a 286 with 40 megs on the hd. Unfortunately, I am running out of 
: hd space. Is there a program that will compress or .zip files, but have these 
: files still be available to be accessed normally? I would prefer if it is
: share/free ware.
:
Currently I am using Stacker on an 8088 and it is not to bad.
Of course I refuse to use such high disk swapping programs like
windows or the like so i get slowdown only during loading.

The are a few shareware programs that do this also.
slim110a.zip lets you use compressed files, looks decent, but I didn't
read the docs close enought to tell you how it works.  One drawback
is that it takes about 73K of mem compaired to ~42K with Stacker.
Its on grind.isca.uiowa.edu if you want to try it.  I think
there might be others though.  Telenet there and use ISCABBS for
the login name and it will drop you in a file system (with
file description :-) )

-Tim
From: runyan@cup.hp.com (Mark Runyan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: RCS ported to DOS?
Date: 6 Nov 92 15:54:07 GMT
Article-I.D.: cup.BxAxI7.42F
Organization: HP, Cupertino, CA, USA
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1.8 PL6]

Ralph Finch (rfinch@water.ca.gov) wrote:
: Does anybody know if RCS has been ported to DOS?

There was a company (MKS) that sold an RCS for DOS.  They may still
be about.  I believe MKS stood for Mortan Kern Systems, but don't
have the address with me.

Mark Runyan
Xref: sparky comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc:14666 comp.os.ms-windows.misc:4571
From: kad@ip29!bob (Keith Drescher ip30)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc,comp.os.ms-windows.misc
Subject: Re: SuperStor/Windows *incompatible*
Date: 9 Nov 92 17:16:40 GMT
Organization: InterBold

I get a system integrity violation just opening an MSDOS window with the
combination of MSDOS 5.0 and WINDOWS, and SuperStore.  I've never lost any
data though, probably because the DOS session crashes almost immediately.

My solution - I only purchased Windows so that I can run MathCAD, which 
unfortunately migrated to Windows.  Windows locks up my machine frequently
with or without SuperStore, so I'll keep SuperStore and dump Windows. -KD
From: Rick_Michael_Cortese@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: increasing memory...
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 08:37:11 PST
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
  <denaumow.721323289@vela> <1992Nov9.190259.10726@csx.cciw.ca>

There's also PKLITE, I believe it adds the decompression routine to the
file so you don't need a TSR. It won't do programs that require overlays
and seems to compress most files only about 30% or so. It's a little
tedious to use: Copy a file to a backup, compress & test file, repeat until
ready to scream.
From: lawson@ecst.csuchico.edu (M. Todd Lawson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Help Please
Date: 10 Nov 92 23:10:56 GMT
Article-I.D.: charnel.1dpfi0INNrfr
Distribution: world
Organization: California State University, Chico
NNTP-Posting-Host: hairball.ecst.csuchico.edu



   Hi!

     I am a student at Calif. State Univ. Chico studying computer engineering.
  I am currently looking forward to a career in the field of technical
  writing and documentation. Because of this, I have decided to start 
  a journal for the most frequently asked questions about computers. I
  intend for it to be a bi-monthly publication with the purpose of answering
  all the most often asked questions new and semi-experienced computer
  users have. It will not be for those of you with off the wall, obscure
  questions, because I will not be able to answer many of those.        

    For me to get started, please send me any question that a new user is
  likely to ask; i.e. What is the speed of my computer? 386 or 33mhz?
  I know that seems simple, but you would be surprised to hear what
  new computer people will ask. 
  
    Below is a subscription form and question
  sheet.  All I ask is that you send me a question, and your name will go
  into the mailing list. However, as I am a student, I have limited funds.
  
  If this is not in the scope of        
  NetNews, then, forgive me and just send a question. I will print as many
  as I can afford and send them out.

    Thanks for your participation, and I look forward to hearing from you.

    Todd Lawson.

    Lawson@cscihp.ecst.csuchico.edu

    1245 Esplanade Ave. #10
    Chico Ca. 95926

    




    Name:..................................................
     
    Address:...............................................

    City, State, Country:..................................
   
    Zip:..............

    Phone Number:..........................................

    Please put question below:.............................















    .......................................................


   Thanks again.

   Todd.
  
   
-- 
===============================================================================
M. Todd Lawson -- Lawson@cscihp.ecst.csuchico.edu
California State University, Chico. Computer Engineering Dept.
It happens to the best.  It happens to the rest.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
From: syny@crux1.cit.cornell.edu (R Craig Stevenson)
Subject: Re: CheckFree Anybody...
Organization: Cornell Information Technologies
Date:  7 Nov 92 22:23:42 GMT

huot@cray.com (Tom Huot) writes:

>In article <henley.720879827@lead9> henley@rtsg.mot.com (Aaron Henley) writes:
>>Anybody out there use CHECKFREE and care to comment about
>>what you like and dislike about it?  Currently CHECKFREE gives
>>you 1 free month and then a 90 day money back option if your
>>still not satisfied after 90 days.

>I use Checkfree and I really wouldn't want to do without it any more.

I agree with Tom.  I have been using Checkfree since their very early
offering.  I also agree that their software is really pretty pathetic
(although I have not used their version for a couple of years, but I
doubt it has impreoved that much).

However, what I find has really improved is the Managing Your Money
software, which includes a very nice and fairly seemless interface
into checkfree.   Highly recommend the MYM/checkfree combination!!!

-- Craig Stevenson

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc,comp.os.msdos.misc
From: jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org (Joe Morris)
Subject: Re: Why does ctrl-P give "Write Fault Error ...
Organization: The MITRE Corporation
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 14:56:46 GMT

Yesterday Yours Truly (jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org wrote:

>walls@saifr00.cfsat.honeywell.com (Gerald Walls) writes:

>> dchivers@engr.UVic.CA writes:
>>>merchant@cbnews.cb.att.com (shahrukh.s.merchant) writes:

>>>> [Typing ^P causes screen output to echo to the printer]

>Once it may have been in BIOS but no more.  If I can find it I'll look at
>the BIOS source for the original 1981 PC to check on this.

>Originally the echo-to-printer function was toggled by CTRL-PrtSc, but
>that seems to have disappeared sometime in the distant past.

>A quick look at the source code for the IBM PC/AT BIOS reveals that if you
>hit CTRL-PrtSc it is recognized as a special case, causing the keyboard
>interrupt handler (int 0x09) to place code 0x0072 in the keyboard buffer.
>(Note that this key combination is defined only for an 88-key keyboard;
>the "enhanced" keyboards put PrtSc on a special-purpose key which sends
>the 0xE0 prefix.)  Testing a few systems in the area I found that CTRL-PrtSc
>has no effect any more.

I dug out of may archives a copy of the BIOS source listings for the original
(1981) PC and found that (like the AT BIOS I noted previously) there's no
special code for ^P, and the CTRL-PrtSc key combination is recognized as
a special case, producing a response of 0x0072 to the INT 0x16 caller.

I didn't look up the DOS V1 manual I've got squirreled away somewhere, but
the IBM PC Technical Reference Manual documents CTRL-PrtSc as the toggle
for screen-to-printer echo.

Joe Morris