HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: ucbked@athena (Earl H. Kinmonth)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
Subject: Re: NEC 9800 Disc Format
Date: 24 Dec 1992 18:36:35 GMT
Organization: Centre for Japanese Studies, Univ. of Sheffield
NNTP-Posting-Host: athena.berkeley.edu

In article <1992Dec23.144542.15162@eng.umd.edu> jeff@eng.umd.edu (Jeffrey Frey) writes:
>The NEC 9800 series, albeit N86 based, use a proprietary BIOS and
>disc format.  The latter is for 1.2M on a 3.5" floppy, but is not
>MAC-readable.

nec98 machines can read/write a 5.25 format that is acceptable to
generic msdos machines.  the 3.5 disks have a different format
(76 tracks, as i remember), but the real problem is a different
rotation rate for the disk itself.

>Programs that will run on the 9800 series will generally not run on
>an IBM-compatible PC.  Data, however, may be transferred using something
>like LapLink, etc.,--if you have such a program for the NEC.

generally, if you are careful and use only bios calls, you can
write programmes that will run on both.  if you have a borland c
compiler for the nec, you can pull the libraries and includes for
the nec, and use these on an at-clone to compile for the nec.

>Incidentally, one big difference between the Japanese and the US
>PC markets is that NEC dominates the former--and it's a closed
>system.  Thus has the Japanese PC industry grown slowly and rather
>expensively for consumers.  That's what might well have happened in the
>US had IBM made its system closed, or had Apple been the only computer
>maker in the business....

fortunately, this is changing.  drdos/v and dos/v which allow
japanese on at-clones have touched off a price war in japan.
35-40 percent has been knocked off prices in the last few months.
articles in the nihon keizai shinbun suggest that one or more of
the smaller proprietary manufacturers (fujitsu, toshiba, hitachi,
etc.) may give up.  nec is toughing it out, but has been reduced
to taking out (expensive) full page adverts in major japanese
papers to defend its obscence prices.

the real beneficiaries of *dos/v are the taiwan clone companies.
they have the expertise with multi-byte character sets.  they
have a cost edge over the japanese.  give them a standard, and
they will take all but the "patriotic" market....
-- 
earl h. kinmonth, centre for japanese studies, university of sheffield,
sheffield, england s10 2tn  jp1ek@sunc.sheffield.ac.uk
From: syny@crux3.cit.cornell.edu (R Craig Stevenson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
Subject: Re: Phone # for $25 network/opinions
Date: 27 Dec 92 15:15:13 GMT
Organization: Cornell Information Technologies

syny@crux3.cit.cornell.edu (R Craig Stevenson) writes:

>Could somebody please drop me the phone number for the company which
>sells the $25 network?  I have not seen them listed in the PC mag rags.

Thanks to Anthony Stieber for providing the following phone/address.

	$25 Network, Little Big Lan
	serial and parallel port file sharing
	Information Modes
	P.O. Drawer F.
	Denton, Texas 76202
	817-387-3339
From: CZTF@MUSICA.MCGILL.CA (CZTF)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
Subject: sound card in docking station: help?
Date: 28 Dec 92 04:55:55 GMT
Organization: McGill University


Hi folks.
I've been trying to, and have pretty much given up on, put a
sound card (ATI's Sound F/X) in the docking station that you can
buy for this 386DX notebook (sold under many names, including
Eurocom and one that starts with a D which I can't remember).

No amount of changing IRQ lines or port addresses helps, and of
course I've disabled all the battery-saving resident utilities
and shadowing; it seems to be a DMA problem, and I remember my
old Toshiba T1000 suprising me by not actually having a real
DMA chip: some laptops seem to have non-standard DMA handling,
and this sound card cannot be assigned to another DMA channel.

The docking station handles other stuff fine (Targa and Vista cards)
but behaves strangely when using a VGA card (you're allowed having
an external card replace the on-board): all drawing routines seem
uneven and much slower, and this is the same program (a telepropmpter)
that choked on the old Toshiba's DMA "emulation".

Does anybody out there know a way around this sort of thing? Or have
similar problems with this docking station? I'm looking for a MIDI-
capable card that won't barf in this situation. Please send email and
I'll summarize for fellow docking station users. Thanks.

Mark


Morgenstern________________________________________cztf@musica.mcgill.ca
                                                   (514) 937-8424,-5285
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
From: Andrew A. Ford <andyf@diablo.sps.mot.com>
Subject: Laptop for Sale!
Organization: Motorola - SPS Austin Tx
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.0
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 20:45:02 GMT
From: mbarnes@bismark.Sun.COM (Mike Barnes - Intelligence Natl Sales Manager Washington DC)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
Subject: Librex Laptop
Date: 25 Dec 1992 07:50:16 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc., Vienna, VA. 
NNTP-Posting-Host: bismark.east.sun.com
Keywords: Laptop

Daymark is closing out the Librix T386SX computer.  I recently purchased
the computer from them.  The price is $1195.95.  If you are a member of
their buyer's club, you get a 10% discount from this price.

I had owned an NEC Ultralite until it was crushed in my luggage. The
Ultralite was only marginally useful as a computer but very useful as a
lightweight terminal.  

I bought a TRIGEM GEMNOTE for $995.95 at COMPUSA.  The TRIGEM GEMNOTE is
an excellent value, but at seven pounds without extra battery and
power supply, it was just a bit too much to lug on airplanes every week.
Also, my GEMNOTE came with only 2 MB of RAM.  An upgrade to five MB of
RAM was $250.00.  

The Librex is much better built than the Trigem.  It is covered with a
rubber material that gives the Librex a very good finish.  The screen is
very large and bright.  The floppy is external.  The Librex T386SX
weighs about the same as the original Ultralite.  I includes an 80 MB
drive and 4 MB RAM.  

The Librex T386SX comes with a leather case that is large enough to
carry the computer, power supply, portable Fax Modem and trackball.
If I would fault anything about the T386SX it is the keyboard.  The
keyboard is not a responsive as I like.  This is a matter of presonel
taste.  

Three people in my office have said they are going to by the Librex
after seeing it.  Daymark has an 800 number.   I highly reccomend this
laptop.

Librex has announced that it is withdrawing from the U.S. Computer
market.  Librex is owned by Nippon Steel.
From: f_riskph@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
Subject: Mac vs DOS Laptops?
Date: 22 Dec 92 01:47:09 CST
Summary: Pros & Cons of Mac vs DOS Laptops Wanted
Reply-To: f_riskph.ccsvax.sfasu.edu
Organization: Stephen F. Austin State University

At the risk of asking too broad a question, I'm interested in comments
regarding the pros and cons of Mac versus DOS laptops.  I use both a Mac and a
DOS machine in the office and wonder about which I want on the road.  Weight is
a factor and so is size.  The DOS machines certainly seem faster and it seems
that translation software is improving.

Paul

Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
From: toddi@mav.com (Todd Inch)
Subject: Stacker, Ultralite, Serial Port Driver
Organization: Maverick International Inc.
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 92 18:40:40 GMT

I do have Stacker working sucessfully (quite well, actually) on my 2MB
Ultralite, which takes a little trickery to install if you don't have
the floppy drive.

If anyone wants, somewhere I have brief notes to myself on how to do
this. 

Also, I glued my memory module (the 2MB RAMdisk) into place after
dropping the unit and having it unplug (from its battery inside the
main unit) and lost some files which I hadn't backed up, of course.
Now it drops 3' onto the concrete floor just fine.  :-|

I highly recommend this old machine as a cheap notebook-type unit for
those of us (low-end users) who can cope with non-windowsish
environments and can endure inferior keyboards and LCD displays
occasionally.  My 286 desktop now sits mostly unused except to back up
the NEC and act as a "printer server", which, also BTW, the newer
kermit does quite well.

Now a question:  Does anybody have a serial port device driver/TSR
which will add XON-XOFF flow control to the port?  I want to just use
DOS copy (or MODE and PRINT) to send files to a serial printer without
hardware handshaking.  I've written a Basic program to do this (it does
the Xon/Xoff) but I'd rather have something I can redirect output to,
etc.  If you want my Basic kludge, write and I'll send it.

And, speaking of serial ports - I finally found that a bus mouse extension
cable (which you can replace the other end on as appropriate) will work
with the "proprietary" serial port jack on these beasties.

Can someone send me the/a mail address for the Ultralite mailing list? 
The last one I saw posted here bounced from my site.
From: steev@ipecac.esd.sgi.com (Motorin' Flarey Henderson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
Subject: Re: Portable printers
Date: 28 Dec 92 18:36:30 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.  Mountain View, CA

In <1992Dec23.024638.12522@schaefer.math.wisc.edu> junikka@schaefer.math.wisc.edu (Jari Junikka) writes:

>Does anyone have any opinions about portable printers?
>I'm considering either Canon BJ-10ex or Citizen PN48.
>I'd like to get good quality output. The per-page cost
>of the PN48 sounds very high to me (38 cents/page).

I have the Star SJ-48, which is basically the same as the BJ10e.  I picked the
Star over the PN48 as it's operating cost was lower, and I found the print
quality to be better, especially on ink jet paper.  

>I'd also like to know how Canon BJ-10ex differs from 
>Canon BJ200? 

The BJ200 is an AC only unit.  It is about 3 times faster and a pound or two
heavier.  It's very nice.  I probably would have bought one if it was available 
at the time.  Oh, and it also has a built in 50 page sheet feeder.  The BJ-20
appears to be a packaging of the BJ10e and sheet feeder, which is optional on
the BJ10e.  Then there is the BJ5, which looks like a cost reduced version of
the BJ10 and sells in the low $200.  Anyone know more on the BJ5 and BJ20?


--
steve valin		steev@sgi.com
	   	  It's like deja vu all over again...
Xref: sparky comp.sys.laptops:4798 comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:34087
From: aland@informix.com (Colonel Panic)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: i486SL Laptops/Notebooks/Sub-Notebooks
Summary: AST PowerExec
Keywords: i486SL, intel
Date: 17 Dec 92 02:26:12 GMT
Organization: You Tell Me, and We'll Both Know.

In article <1992Dec14.081146.23756@reed.edu> rseymour@reed.edu writes:
>
>	I'm looking at buying a laptop or notebook computer, and I want one  
>with a i486SL cpu. ...
>So far the only laptop/notebook that I've seen using it is the new  
>color Compaq (the active matrix monochrome [it's called monochrome, but it's  
>really grayscale] still uses a i386SL). I'm looking for other computers that  
>use this chip, either with a grayscale or color display. If you know of any,  
>please email to me or post with the company, model, and any other information  
>you know about it. Thank you in advance.

The AST PowerExec comes in 386SL and 486SL flavors.  Both have active-matrix
color options almost shipping; 386SL with passive matrix color has been
shipping for a while.

They have a fax-back system that you can use to get info: (714) 727-4773.
Last I checked, the full 486SL fact sheet wasn't in the fax system, but
the product announcement is.

I just got the 386SL with mono last week.  I like it a lot, but the mono
screen has some ghosting (noticeable with large dark blocks, e.g. the 
startup screens for EDIT and QBASIC).  If it isn't resolved by software
and isn't just a faulty unit, I may return it (the unit in the store
does the same thing).  AST claims that no ghosting should occur, and
Support is looking into it.

>Robert Seymour				rseymour@reed.edu
>Artificial Life Project			Reed College

--
Alan Denney      aland@informix.com      {pyramid|uunet}!infmx!aland

"What does not kill me, makes me stronger."     - Nietzsche
From: gilf@vms.huji.ac.il (Gil Freund)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
Subject: QEMM and Toshiba 1850
Date: 25 Dec 92 23:06:42 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

I have just got a Toshiba T1850 notebook and installed QEMM on it. With QEMM
installed, the I can't get the Toshibas popup control panel, accsess the
HARDRAM drive or run the TEST3 and setup programs. Can anyone advise?

Thanks
--
==========================================================================
Gil Freund                                             GILF@VMS.HUJI.AC.IL
==========================================================================
From: shri@unreal.cs.umass.edu (H.Shrikumar)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
Subject: A very quick Survey ... (was Re: Portable printers)
Summary: Just a couple-a-questions...
Date: 28 Dec 92 20:51:24 GMT
Reply-To: shri@unreal.cs.umass.edu (H.Shrikumar)
Organization: UMass, Amherst MA + Temporal Sys & Computer Networks Bombay India

Hi,

steev@ipecac.esd.sgi.com (Motorin' Flarey Henderson) writes:

> junikka@schaefer.math.wisc.edu (Jari Junikka) writes:
> >I'm considering either Canon BJ-10ex or Citizen PN48.

> I have the Star SJ-48, which is basically the same as the BJ10e.  I picked the
...
> the BJ10e.  Then there is the BJ5, which looks like a cost reduced version of
> the BJ10 and sells in the low $200.  Anyone know more on the BJ5 and BJ20?

 Hmmm.. thats interesting. How big is it ? And what is the running cost
per page ? 

 I am considerting getting a portable bubble jet printer, and am looking
for one with the lowest fixed and operating cost (as first priority), size
is second, speed and print quality after that. But reliability is foremost.

 I was looking at the Diconix 180si, but at $339, it is much costlier than 
the one quoted above.

 And BTW, how many pages do the ink jet heads lasted for you ?

-- shrikumar ( shri@legato.cs.umass.edu )

PS: Perhaps you could email me the following couple of lines, if you use
a portable printer. I'll summarize.

++ ----:<---------
++
++ Model of portable printer:
++ Serial/parallel/both:
++ 
++ Fixed (one-time) price:
++ 
++ Price of consumables
++ (including SpecialPaper, ink, head etc):
++ 
++ No of pages output for the above price of consumables:
++ 
++ Size:
++ 
++ Weight:
++ 
++ NiCd ? How long do they last ?
++
++ Reliability:
++
++ Comments:
++


Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
From: junikka@schaefer.math.wisc.edu (Jari Junikka)
Subject: Theft alarms?
Summary: Are electronic theft alarm a danger to hard disks etc?
Keywords: Notebooks, Theft alarms, Magnetic fields?
Organization: Univ. of Wisconsin Dept. of Mathematics
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 92 06:30:12 GMT


The above says it all: do the various theft alarms used by
shops and libraries pose a potential danger to the date 
on the hard disk of a notebook?

I don't think that this is a great problem, but what about
the cumulative effect?

regards,

jari

(junikka@math.wisc.edu)
From: tfoley@camaro.uucp (Tim Foley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
Subject: Expansion Connector Pinout wanted!
Date: 26 Dec 92 23:15:07 GMT
Organization: camaro


Wanted:  The pinouts for the expansion bus connection
 
** Please have a look in your owners manuals for the pinouts **
 
 
  I plan to build an expansion chassis (Docking Station) for my NBCC
386 sx laptop, but I don't have the pinout for the 96 pin connector (I think 
its 96 pins).  Once I have it working, I'll post the plans to 
comp.sys.laptops with a list of parts and where a basic pc-board with a few 
slots can be obtained.
 
								Tim
-- 
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------
               The HeartBeat of America...Yesterdays Camaro Z28 
                             tfoley@camaro.uucp   
     Call the Camaro Linux Pub-access site: 1-416-238-6550 USRobotics HST
    Note: Please, no ftpmail or mailing lists or the host gets annoyed :)
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: tnzj@vax5.cit.cornell.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
Subject: L40sx print prob
Date: 22 Dec 92 14:22:36 EST
Distribution: comp
Organization: Cornell University


Hi:

	Our L40sx will not print out of windows.  Printing seems to go fine
from Word perfect for DOS but will not go from word perfect for windows.
I'm using dos5.0 with windows 3.0.  The whole setup was copied from another
386 laptop (with laplink) that was priting fine.  A similar setup on a 286
portable also prints fine to the same expresswriter 301.  The only other
problem I have is running word perfect for DOS under windows; this results
in a system integrity error that shoots me back to windows and asks for a
reboot.  Any ideas?
				Thanks.....    Mark
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
From: bt@neocad.com (Bruce Talley)
Subject: Re: How do I switch between internal trackball and external mouse?
Organization: NeoCAD, Inc.
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 00:22:20 GMT


If you run windows you may have do set the following:

In file: c:\windows\mouse.ini should contain

--------------file start----------------
[mouse]
MouseType=serial1
--------------file end------------------

This should enable your mouse, rather than trackball, when
you run windows.  At least, this is what I had to do to make
my Compudyne 3SXL/25 work under Windows.
-- 
  Bruce Talley       | (303) 442-9121 x126        | The problem with an
  NeoCAD, Inc.       | (303) 442-9124 (Fax)       | open mind is that  
  2585 Central Ave.  | Internet: bt@neocad.com    | people can put things
  Boulder, CO  80301 | UUCP: neocad!bt            | in it. --anon
From: kenealy_d@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
Subject: Which Notebook or Laptop?
Date: 3 Jan 1993 11:46:45 GMT
Organization: Wellington City Council (Public Access), Wgtn, Nz
Reply-To: kenealy_d@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz
NNTP-Posting-Host: kosmos.wcc.govt.nz

Can anyone help?

My brother in the UK wants to buy a notebook or possibly a laptop.
Requirements:

1) For multisite use, essentially as a portable desktop rather than on the
move.
2) Mainly small to medium sized word processing (letters, research papers)
Home sized spreadsheets, database of few thousand records * say 30 fields.
Wants to run windows.

The question is should he go for a big name or a "generic". How reliable are
portable generics?
How big a hard disc?
How much memory?
386 or 486?

I will be travelling to the UK via either USA or Asia. Is it worth buying a
machine on the way (ie are they any cheaper than in the UK)?

Can anyone recomend a comprehensive review of laptops/notebooks available in
the UK? My brother says he can only find reviews dealing with a handful of
brands. 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
From: syny@crux3.cit.cornell.edu (R Craig Stevenson)
Subject: Phone # for $25 network/opinions
Organization: Cornell Information Technologies
Date: 26 Dec 92 18:10:29 GMT

Could somebody please drop me the phone number for the company which
sells the $25 network?  I have not seen them listed in the PC mag rags.

I'm looking for a very simple file & print sharing network to connect
my laptop to my desktop.  Does anyone have any experience with this
product who would advise against using it?

Thanks,
Craig Stevenson

Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
From: purwinc@woods.ulowell.edu
Subject: Pc laptop modem problem
Organization: University of Lowell
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 19:38:24 GMT

-- 

Hopefully some one will have this info:

	I have just purchased a IBM PC convertable laptop, that has 2 floppies 
and also has a built in modem.  There was no docs with the laptop so a call
to IBM yielded a phone number to Datastream (as ibm no longer supports 
that laptop.sniff)  Datastream said that the modem was slightly non standard
but that they had modified procomm to work with this laptop's modem.  
how much? $40. hmmm.. Then asking about some specs they claimed that they
had nothing for specs. Well that sounded real fishy, like they just wanted to
sell me the program. so what I want to know has anyone gotten the modem to work.
Or does anyone know how to get the modem to respond through procomm and if so
what settings must be used?  or througgh some other public domain comm 
package.   
		just mail me please!   
thanx in advance 

================================================================================
Charles Purwin    Systems    Internet: purwinc@woods.ulowell.edu
Actually, unix is a very user-friendly system.  Its just that it is
     particular about which users it chooses to be friendly with.   -The Oracle
Programmers and programs alike need die gracefully upon failure, and exit with
     no system disruption.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
From: prangba@halcyon.com (Bruce Prang)
Subject: Re: Floppy format of Japanese NEC PC-9800 Notebook
Keywords: Japanese, NEC, PC-98, Notebook
Organization: Northwest Nexus Inc. (206) 455-3505
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 17:01:12 GMT

mmeijer@accucx.cc.ruu.nl (Maarten Meijer) writes:

>On behalf of a Japanese colleague at our university in the Netherlands
>I would like to know if there's anyone who knows how to read or convert
>floppies from a NEC PC-9801 NS/E Notebook computer with MS-DOS 3.3 on/to 
>a normal MS-DOS computer. 
>The floppy format of this special notebook (that can display not only 
>the English letters, but also Japanese characters) appears to be
>unreadable in standard MS-DOS floppy drives (those that we use to call
>NEC compatible ... ). Some people here suggested that it should be
>readible on a Macintosh, but so far we didn't succeed.

If my memory serves me correctly, the NEC 3.5" (I assume it is 3.5) is
the "exact same" format as the 5.25" HD. That is the drive spins at 360
rpms (not the 300rpm for US drives). The sector layout is also the same
(15 512-byte). The only way to read these disk that I know of for sure
is to replace the clock on the drive controller. This will change the
data rate and make it "look" like the drive is spinning faster than it
really is. This of course won't let you use US formated disks in the
machine :)  The other possible option is just a variation on the same
theme. If some of multi-format floppy disk controller manufactures
(Sysgen, MicroSolutions (i think)) allow you to controller the data rate
by software you can do the same thing without having to modify a FDC.

I don't remember the exact clock needed to achieve the new data rate but
if your interested I can find out. Just mail me.

>Another solution would be a serial cable (null modem) but even the 
>serial port doesn't seem to be standard RS-232. It's a female connector
>instead of a male one, to just mention a detail. 

This is probably your best bet.

>Any reaction or suggestion would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in 
>advance!

Another possible option would be a data conversion company.


-- 
Bruce Prang
prangba@halcyon.com

Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.sys.palmtops