HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: cs902117@ariel.yorku.ca (TONY D'ALFONSO)
Subject: Re: Barebones TI 99 for $10:  is that a good deal?
Organization: York University, Toronto, Canada
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 04:20:01 GMT

Article 688 of comp.sys.ti
- 
- 	Today I went to a thrift shop here and saw a TI 99/4A being
- sold for $10.  Besides the computer and the power supply, some booklets
- and TV/cassete cables are included in the package.  Does it worth going
- after this machine?



>No, not really, unless you are going to go alllllll the way. And that 
>would cost big! Believe me, I know...

>Andrew webster              andy-w@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca 


Andy, why not?  It all depends on what the person wants to do with the machine.
If it is simply playing games, pick up the thing and get some cartridges, and away you go.  If he wanted to do something more, then I guess you are referring

to a PE Box when you said "cost big".  If that's the case, then I still think
you're wrong.  If you want a full blown TI system, you should get it from that
one person to avoid frustrations, but if you buy by parts, you may save yourself some money!  I got myself a TI, PE Box, Disk controller, cartridges, manuals
power supply, flex card (which I do have one extra and I do believe it was you
who was looking for one), cassettes, cassette cable, cassette player, and a few other little goodies (like a speech synthesizer), for about $50 US (then there's shipping costs, but that's another story).  I had to hunt down the 32k card
(thanks Joseph!), so it may have cost me all together less than $200 for a full
TI system.  To go from a simple $10 TI console to a full blown system costing
20 times as much, yes, that does look like a big leap.

It all depends on what you want to do with the system.

    ____
     / o n y.


Newsgroups: comp.sys.ti
From: cohen@GOMEZ.phys.virginia.edu
Subject: Tony D'A.'s problem-
Reply-To: cohen@GOMEZ.phys.virginia.edu
Organization: Dept. of Physics, University of Virginia
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 1992 00:54:48 GMT

Tony has asked me to post his problem here.
Any ideas?  Sounds to me like overheating of the P.E. Box power supply,
or a bad controller.  (I once had a controller that killed 3 DS drives
in a matter of weeks  :-(  ) but perhaps somebody else knows better.
From:	MX%"<cs902117@ariel.yorku.ca>" 23-AUG-1992 20:43:35.46
CC:	
Subj:	Re: TI-99/4A + many cartridges!

Date: Sun, 23 Aug 92 20:43:04 -0400
From: <cs902117@ariel.yorku.ca>

Since we are on the topic of disks...  I got a few disks from Mr
Geeslin and he wanted me to copy some TI stuff over for him (for his students).
Funny thing is one of his disks screwed up two of my drives!  I tried 
formattingit in MDOS on my 2nd floppy drive and it completed the format, 
but choked on 
the verification.  Same thing happened when I tried formatting it on my 3rd 
floppy drive.  Now both drives won't read or write to disks, but just keep
spinning until it's "timed out".  I am thinking the disk was dirty and dirtied
(sp?) my drive heads.  That would be a matter of getting a disk cleaner and
clean them up.  The disk did make a loud hissing type noise when it was 
spinning but I have used disks like that before and never had that problem...
 
HELP!
 
    ____
     / o n y. 
 
P.S - if you can't figure it out, please upload it to the newsgroup as I am 
having problems with my .newsrc file.
From: andy-w@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Andrew webster)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ti
Subject: Re: Barebones TI 99 for $10:  is that a good deal?
Date: Tue, 01 Sep 92 20:11:50 MDT
Organization: Edmonton Remote Systems #2, Edmonton, AB, Canada

mauricio@MOZART.AERO.UFL.EDU writes:

- 
- 	Today I went to a thrift shop here and saw a TI 99/4A being
- sold for $10.  Besides the computer and the power supply, some booklets
- and TV/cassete cables are included in the package.  Does it worth going
- after this machine?



No, not really, unless you are going to go alllllll the way. And that 
would cost big! Believe me, I know...

Andrew webster              andy-w@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca
From: andy-w@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Andrew webster)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ti
Subject: Re: Barebones TI 99 for $10:  is that a good deal?
Date: Fri, 04 Sep 92 08:48:20 MDT
Organization: Edmonton Remote Systems #1, Edmonton, AB, Canada

- 
- Having some limited experience with other home computers, I think the TI-99/4
- is the most exciting.  And, since the user community has forced the operating
- system open, it is one of the most versatile, too (provided you remember its
- limitations and are willing to accept them).
- 
- Have fun!

__________________________________________________________________________
 
Well Tony, Joe, I agree. 
Did I tell you guys about the time I went into a thrift shop and found a 
99/4A console that had a wire sticking out of it? Well there was a tag at 
the end of it that said "video input/sync needed"!! Well, I said to 
myself, what if there is some special mod in this thing that I've never 
seen before? Some hacker dumped his "whiz" project! I just had to buy it. 
So I dished out the $15.00 they wanted, rushed home, down the stairs to 
the basement where my TI warehouse is and took it apart. What? No special 
chips! No added parts! Just to connections to on the 9918. Heck! 
So it ended up on the pile. Now I have 10 consoles as back up. And you 
know what? My first one hasn't broken down yet. Now I'll bet no IBMer 
would get so excited over a wire sticking out the back of a IBM, EH!
later, boys.....

Andrew webster              andy-w@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca
From: mauricio@MOZART.AERO.UFL.EDU
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ti
Subject: Barebones TI 99 for $10:  is that a good deal?
Date: 1 Sep 92 18:37:30 GMT


	Today I went to a thrift shop here and saw a TI 99/4A being
sold for $10.  Besides the computer and the power supply, some booklets
and TV/cassete cables are included in the package.  Does it worth going
after this machine?
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ti
From: olsone@aix02.ecs.rpi.edu (Erik G. Olson)
Subject: Re: Barry Boone
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 18:20:53 GMT

In article <stricher-230892114325@stayman.ocean.fsu.edu> stricher@masig.fsu.edu (Char Aznabul) writes:
>Barry E. Boone wrote:
>
>> currently involved in the DSR development for the new IDE controller, and I
>
>Just out of curiosity, why IDE and not a SCSI interface? I'm not familiar
>with IDE devices - are there other things besides disk drives? I know that
>there are many diffent peripherals with SCSI interaces.
>
>James

I was once told that the Myarc WDS100 hard disk unit housed a SCSI controller
card (attached to a Tandem TM502 10mb, I think.) The personality card in
the P-Box was an interface to the SCSI controller. I wouldn't stake
anything on its usefulness, but this would mean, peculiarly enough, that
we've had SCSI for a long time. (Almost a decade!) (Which is more than reason 
enough to start all over again.) 
-- 
Erik G. Olson          =+ "... They do not lie along the line of what we are 
olsone@rpi.edu         =+ now able to know if we devote ourselves to it..."
                       =+ --Jacob Bronowski, _The Ascent of Man_
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ti
From: cohen@GOMEZ.phys.virginia.edu
Subject: Re: Barebones TI 99 for $10:  is that a good deal?
Reply-To: cohen@GOMEZ.phys.virginia.edu
Organization: Dept. of Physics, University of Virginia
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 18:33:06 GMT

In article <0a1kqB3w165w@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca>, andy-w@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Andrew webster) writes:
>__________________________________________________________________________
> 
>Well Tony, Joe, I agree. 
>Did I tell you guys about the time I went into a thrift shop and found a 
>99/4A console that had a wire sticking out of it? 

>Heck! >So it ended up on the pile. :-(
>
>Andrew webster              andy-w@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca 

I had a console in the past that started acting up on the video part.  I thought
my XB cartridges was locking up the computer (a common problem).  Turning off
the console would help.
The probelm was painfully revealed later.  Due to poor assembly line work
(this is one of the el-cheapo late 1983 consoles) TI has the heat-conducting
silicone compound on a wrong chip, not on the 9918A video chip.
The poor 9918A actually suffered bravely for quite a few years, but eventually
fried.  But it has sent the disk controller card into a very violent mood,
forcing the disk drives to spin in a very irregular way, and killing
them instantly (luckily drive prices were low enough by that time).
I later replaced the 9918A from a dead console and everything worked (not the
drives, though).
Can somebody tell me why that happened?  Is it related to the VDP RAM, which
also controls the disk system?

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ti
From: cohen@GOMEZ.phys.virginia.edu
Subject: Help with Seikosha Axiom GP-100 II TI-99/4A printer
Reply-To: cohen@GOMEZ.phys.virginia.edu
Organization: Dept. of Physics, University of Virginia
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 06:44:03 GMT

Anybody has a manual for the above printer?
Short of manual, can somebody e-mail instructions on operating it?
Thanks.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ti
From: cohen@GOMEZ.phys.virginia.edu
Subject: Re: Help with CorComp Disk controller
Reply-To: cohen@GOMEZ.phys.virginia.edu
Organization: Dept. of Physics, University of Virginia
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 20:45:22 GMT

In article <1992Aug31.175526.167@afit.af.mil>, cawright@afit.af.mil (Chester A. Wright) writes:
>I had been using my CorComp controller with two half-height Teac
>FD-55BV-36-U drives for years.  One day I didn't get any response from
>the controller.  Someone said the TMS 9901 used in the controller is
>probably the problem.  After replacing it, the controller started
>working again.  The problem is that it doesn't seem to be as reliable as
>before.

Have you tried using another disk drive?
I know TEAC makes good drives, but honestly I had more than my fair share
of problems with them. (I am NOT using a CorComp controller, though...).
I never had any problem with the original TI drive (Which is a Shugart model
SA-400L).  Also, is your controller set to take advantage of the high-speed
Track-To-Track access time of the TEACs?
Perhaps it is a good idea to try another drive.  Also, both the CorComp manager
(v. 2.3 is it?) and the TI Disk Manager 2 have disk tests that you should run.
Another good diagnostics program is MG Advanced Diagnostics.

BTW, It is also known that some DM's on the CC controller will initialize
disks in such a way that no other controller can read them (in DD the MYARC
will not read them, in SD even the TI controller will not read them).  I do
not think this is your problem here, but try, perhaps, repeating your steps
with a different Disk Manager.  I personally believe that Birdwell's DISKU
is the best ever, for the TI as well as for any personal computer system.
>reloaded the song, it didn't have the same notes.


>Also, has anyone had any success
>transferring data via RS232 ports to/from the TI and non-TI computers?
>Guess I'm looking for cable wiring information.
>
>Chet
>:-)
>
Since the TI is wired as a serial DCE (i.e., as a mainframe or a modem) while
the IBM PC is wired as a DTE (i.e., as a terminal or a serial printer) all you
need is a straight cable from the TI to IBM serial port.  You can get fancier,
but connecting pins 2 and 3 straight through would be a good place to start.
For a more complete cabling you can contact L.L. Conner, who builts custom
cables (and charges custom prices :-(  ...).  Then, you can save files to the
RS232 or list them to the RS232 port, with the IBM PC waiting on the other side.

Since you have a CC controller, you might want to know that there are 2 programs
to transfer text (DV80) files:  One is CC TI-IBM Connection (cartridge), the
other PC Transfer (disk based).

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ti
From: gary@resumix.portal.com (Gary Lin)
Subject: Porting IPC code from 4.0.1
Summary: Compiles but executes improperly
Keywords: shared memory, semaphores, port
Organization: Resumix Inc.
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 92 14:44:55 GMT

Lately, I've been trying to port some code using shared memory and semaphores
originally coded under 4.0.1 to 4.1.2.  The source compiles correctly but locks
on execution.  Could someone explain what changed in the IPC semantics from
previous releases?  I would appreciate hints on how to fix my code.

Incidentally, my app works fine on Sony NEWS-OS, which is 4.3 with IPC added.


						Gary M. Lin
						gary@resumix.portal.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
From: drtr1@cus.cam.ac.uk (David Robinson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
Subject: Re: Too much memory
Date: 27 Aug 92 11:06:47 GMT
Organization: U of Cambridge, England

In article <1992Aug26.165257.5891@xilinx.com> holen@xilinx.com
(Victor A. Holen ) writes:
>Is there a way to tell SunOS to pretend it has less physical memory
>then it has ? (Without yanking the chips).
>
>Lets say I have 32Mb in my sparc-2 sun, but I would like to test the
>performance of a program in a 16 Mb configuration.  Any [reasonable]
>sugestions ?    Thanks.

I believe that if you reduce the size of your primary swap partion to 16Mb,
then SunOs will only use that amount of physical memory. This is even if you
later add extra swap files/partitions (such as entries in /etc/fstab)

The above is deduced from
1. An off the cuff remark made in a thread on tuning swap (saying that your
   primary swap partition should be at least as large as physical memory)
2. The empirical behaviour of a machine thus configured.

I have not found any entry in the FM which explains this, and would be
interested if anyone could confirm it...

David Robinson. (drtr1@cus.cam.ac.uk)
From: chalekcl@crd.ge.com (Carl Chalek)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
Subject: Re: How to play an audio CD...
Date: 31 Aug 92 14:24:38 GMT
Reply-To: chalekcl@crd.ge.com
Organization: GE Corporate R&D

Instead of xcdplayer mentioned in other responses, I would recommend
workman, written by Steven Grimm, e-mail is koreth@Hyperion.com.  It was
originally posted on alt.sources, and is probably available from ftp.uu.net.

One of the nice features of workman versus xcdplayer is the ability to set up
a database of cd's, and playlists.  Once you've enter artist, title, and track
names for a cd, and stored them in your database, then the next time you put the
cd in the drive workman finds it in the database and you can select tracks by
name.  Plus, the author has distributed a database of hundreds of cd's, and is
adding to it all the time.

The current version is beta 1.1, but I've not found any problems with it yet,
and if there are, the author is *very* responsive. 


Carl Chalek
GE CRD
chalekcl@voyager.crd.ge.com
From: matthew@sun.com (Matthew Stier - Sun NC Development Center)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
Subject: Re: Help! Problem with Postscript  printer
Date: 26 Aug 92 21:07:08 GMT
Reply-To: matthew@sun.com
Distribution: world
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: newwave.east.sun.com

In article 20143@usenet.ins.cwru.edu, ramesh@veda (Ramesh Doddamani) writes:
> 
> Hello
> 
> Is there a way to overcome this? Has anybody come across this problem? If we  
> have a filter that changes "%!" to "%!PS-Adobe3.0" will it work? I would  
> appreciate if anybody has a solution for this.
> 

Yes this should work.

Here is some pseudo-code.

first_line = 1;
while ( read_input != eof ) {
	if (first_line) {
		write "%!PS-Adobe3.0"
		first_line = 0;
	}
	write input_line
}


---
Matthew Lee Stier                          |
Sun Microsystems ---  RTP, NC  27709-3447  |     "Wisconsin   Escapee"
Email: matthew.stier@East.Sun.COM          |
Phone: (919) 469-8300 fax: (919) 460-8355  | 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
From: reetz@news.colorado.edu (Mike Reetz)
Subject: Sources for Third Party Sun Software/Hardware Maintainance Support??
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 20:55:07 GMT


Does anyone know of sources for support (besides Sun's) on Software and
Hardware (mostly Software)??

We have had WAY too much trouble dealing with Sun direct on the software
side.  We pay big dollars per month for support and the few times
per year we need it seems Sun is not able to help us.  We do all our
maintainance on the weekends (as most shops do) and it seems Sun has
one person on call and this person is ALWAYS unqualified to deal
with our problems and they have no way to escalate the problem to 
someone with more knowledge.  We only call when we are "up to 
our armpits" in a problem because the people here are pretty sharp.

Anyhow, 'nuff bitchin'...any sources?

Thanks.


-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Reetz                          boulder.colorado.edu!morse!reetz
ConferTech International            (800) 525-8244 or (303) 235-5378 (voice
2801 Youngfield, Golden, CO 80401   (303) 237-5151 (switchboard)        mail)
From: petrasg@berra.cs.rpi.edu (George Petras)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
Subject: Re: IBM RS6000 or Sun?
Date: 2 Sep 92 18:01:48 GMT
Article-I.D.: rpi.3bxyh-_
Distribution: comp
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY

In article <KV56962.92Sep2181129@kaarne.cs.tut.fi> kv56962@cs.tut.fi (V{{r{nen Kari) writes:
>
>Hello, netlanders!
>
>There's been some talk about changing our CAD-system from a Sun based
>system to IBM RS6000 and Catia. However, I am not so sure our
>bigbosses are doing something very sensible.
>
>Would you, fellow netlanders, tell me why I should or should not want
>to do this change. What are the pros and cons of RS6000 when compared
>to Sun?
>
>(We are now using Sun IPC (and Sun SS1, SS1+ and Sun 386i), but the
>IBM's would have to be much faster machines as Catia is (I think) much
>heavier program than the one we are using now. We have three Sun
>4/370s as fileservers and about 70 workstations.)
>

I don't think too many people move to Catia from other system unless
another part of the company uses it and they want to be compatible.  Catia
is a big and (in my opinion) ugly package that has been hacked to death.
Yes, it has a lot of functionality, but I think much of it is attached
quite awkwardly. The biggest problem with Catia is the steep learning curve
and the need to be using it all the time to be productive with it.  It's
very difficult to just jump on and use Catia for a short period of time.

Another thing is that our sys admin had trouble getting Catia to install 
correctly and when he did, there still were strange crashes.  It took a while
to get it to run right.

Unless there is something you need that only Catia can do (and DON'T listen
to the sale people on this one) consider another package.  I like 
Pro/Engineer from Parametric Technologies Corporation.  I don't know
how it compares feature-for-feature to Catia, but the learning is not
nearly as steep and it runs on multiple platforms including Sparcs and
RS/6000's.


gp.
From: barmar@think.com (Barry Margolin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
Subject: Re: Too much memory
Date: 27 Aug 1992 16:07:37 GMT
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: telecaster.think.com

In article <1992Aug26.165257.5891@xilinx.com> holen@xilinx.com (Victor A. Holen ) writes:
>Lets say I have 32Mb in my sparc-2 sun, but I would like to test the 
>performance of a program in a 16 Mb configuration.  Any [reasonable] 
>sugestions ?    Thanks.

Write a program that mallocs 16Mb, calls plock(2) to lock its data segment
into physical memory memory, and then goes to sleep.  That 16mb will be
unavailable to any other process, so you will effectively have reduced the
physical memory of the system.

Naturally, this program needs to run as root.

-- 
Barry Margolin
System Manager, Thinking Machines Corp.

barmar@think.com          {uunet,harvard}!think!barmar
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
From: wargopl@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Peter L. Wargo)
Subject: Re: How to play an audio CD...
Organization: Clarkson University
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 19:28:31 GMT

george@unixg.ubc.ca (George Chow) writes:

>Howdy,
>  I've got a SPARCstation IPC with a Sun CD-ROM drive and was
>wondering if there's a program available that let's me play audio CD in
>the CD-ROM drive. That is, something that will let me turn the CD-ROM
>drive into a CD player of some form. I'm running OW2, if that matters.
>Thanks.

>George

you can compile the cdplayer program to use in OW2.0

(hint: look in /usr/demo)

-Pete

--
----------
Peter L. Wargo        | wargopl@sun.soe.clarkson.edu | "In other words...
Documentation         |                              |  R.T.F.M..."
Enable Software, Inc. | GEnie mail: PSYCLOPS         |
From: guy@Auspex.COM (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
Subject: Re: Porting IPC code from 4.0.1
Keywords: shared memory, semaphores, port
Date: 28 Aug 92 04:23:49 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Auspex Systems, Santa Clara

>Lately, I've been trying to port some code using shared memory and semaphores
>originally coded under 4.0.1 to 4.1.2.  The source compiles correctly but locks
>on execution.  Could someone explain what changed in the IPC semantics from
>previous releases?

Nothing was supposed to have changed, as far as I know.  Without seeing
your code and a detailed description of how it fails, it's impossible to
tell whether there's something in your code that's dependent on details
of the IPC implementation that aren't nailed down by the SVID or some
other spec, or something in SunOS 4.1.2 that's broken.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
From: reed@prism.sps.mot.com (Tim Reed)
Subject: dump params for exabyte 8500 
Originator: root@mogate.sps.mot.com
Organization: SPS
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 19:57:14 GMT


Can someone please tell me what dump parameters to use for the  
exabyte 8500 5Gb tape drive?
Thanks,

--
-----------------------------------
Tim Reed
Motorola Inc.
Prism CIM System Admin.
reed@prism.sps.mot.com
-----------------------------------
From: yman@cabsav.vut.edu.AU (Y. M. NG)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
Subject: Symmetric Multiprocessing on th 690MP
Date: 2 Sep 92 06:21:19 GMT
Organization: Victoria University of Technology, Australia

We have a 690MP system running 4.1.2 UNIVERSE in the campus. The questions I have
are 

1) Are there any literatures on the design and implementation of MP on sun.
2) How can one's program make use of all the processors
3) Are there any special forum in Usenet that discuss multiprocessing?

Any comments will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

-- 
Yauman NG                               E-mail: yman@cabsav.vut.edu.au
Dept of Electrical Engineering, FIT     Tel: +61 3 688-4724
Victoria University of Technology,      Australia  3011
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc
From: goldader@hale.ifa.hawaii.edu (Jeff Goldader)
Subject: thanks for help with "dead 3/60"
Summary: it's dead, Jim
Organization: Institute for Astronomy, Hawaii
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 23:48:47 GMT


Many thanks to the people who offered suggestions on the dead 3/60.

Essentially, the problem was that the machine refused to see any SCSI
devices.

I tested out our tape drive and OS tapes today on another 3/60,
and they booted up just fine, so I know it's "my" 3/60's fault.

Glad I haven't paid for it yet...

Jeff Goldader			  Disclaimer:  They don't know what I say,
goldader@hale.ifa.hawaii.edu	               I don't care what they think,
				               and we're all happy that way.
Xref: sparky comp.sys.sun.misc:3991 comp.sys.sun.admin:5929
From: pkn@cs.utexas.edu (Kay Nettle)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc,comp.sys.sun.admin
Subject: strange mount problems
Followup-To: comp.sys.sun.misc
Date: 28 Aug 1992 16:12:20 -0500
Organization: CS Dept, University of Texas at Austin
NNTP-Posting-Host: deepthought.cs.utexas.edu
Keywords: cdrom hsfs

I'm trying to mount a hsfs on a sparc 2.  I type the command:

root@engr:98 % mount -rt hsfs /dev/sr0 /mnt

and this is what happens:

mount: /dev/sr0 on /cdrom: No more processes
mount: giving up on:
   /cdrom
mount: giving up on:
   /cdrom
mount: giving up on:
   /cdrom
mount: giving up on:
   /cdrom
mount: giving up on:
.
.
.
mount: giving up on:
   /mnt


Has anyone else had this problem before.  This is the first time it's
happend to me.

Kay

pkn@tac.harc.edu

Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.misc