HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: caadams@hydra.unm.edu (Clifford A Adams)
Subject: Re: Bus Computers, Out of Business??
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 92 02:03:11 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

In article <1992Aug13.121108.418@mec.ohio.gov> dec_fouts@mec.ohio.gov writes:
>In the August issue of Computer Shopper, Page 272, a company named
>"Bus Computer Systems" placed a ad for Local Bus 486 PC systems. The prices
>were good so I ordered the 486DX-33Mhz S3 system Friday, 7-Aug-92.
>...

	Here is an article I posted earlier to this newsgroup.  Soon after
posting it I started a chargeback investigation with my credit card
company.  I recently received the chargeback for the full amount of my
system plus shipping charges (and even the interest on my credit
card!).  I hope your case works out...

-------------------- begin included article --------------------
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: caadams@leo.unm.edu (Clifford A Adams)
Subject: Vendor Warning: (Terribly Fast) Bus Computer Systems
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 92 23:56:11 GMT
Summary: Real problems with the promised 60-day guarantee
Keywords: BUS, IBM PC clones, vendor experience (refund)

	I recently bought a 386-40 clone from (Terribly Fast) Bus
Computer Systems.  I was not quite satisfied with its performance with
my applications (specifically, it would not run Linux unless the cache
was disabled), and some of the components seemed a bit cheap (for
instance some of the manuals had obviously never been proofread by a
fluent English speaker).  I returned the system following their
instructions for a refund.

	They have now had my system back for over a month and I still
do not have a refund.  While a few weeks ago the manager (Tom Ming)
assured me that I would receive a refund, I have found out that the
only thing stopping a refund is his signature.  Recently upon calling,
I have been put on hold for over 25 minutes and hung up on repeatedly
when I have reached him (he is hard to reach in the afternoon, and
while the manager has asked for my telephone # he has not called back).

	I would like to say here that the "front line" people at Bus
have been extremely helpful, and my problems are with its manager.

	I advise people to consider this before purchasing a system
from this company...

				--Cliff
[Email me if you want more info...]
-------------------- end included article --------------------

-- 
Clifford A. Adams --- "Understanding is inasmuch as becoming."
caadams@triton.unm.edu | 457 Ash St. NE/Albuquerque, NM 87106 | (505) 242-4519
Programmer in the USENET Moderation Project: tools for advanced filtering
(many-moderator groups, keyword/summary addition, prioritizing newsreaders...)
From: S_JUFFA@iravcl.ira.uka.de (|S| Norbert Juffa)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Disk storage size?
Date: 19 Aug 1992 15:47:13 GMT
Organization: University of Karlsruhe (FRG) - Informatik Rechnerabt.
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: irav1.ira.uka.de
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.23

In <0001@umd.edu> pc@umd.edu writes:

> 
> 
> When people talk about 200MB disk, do they mean  200x1,000,000 byte, or
> 200x1024x1024 ?  When talk about the RAM, people seems use 1k=1024, but
> when go to disk, it is metric. Is this always the case?


Actually, I think the use of a 'metric' megabyte has been introduced by a
clever disk manufacturer to make his disks seem larger. Over time, many of
the other disk manufacturers have followed suite. Most people don't know
about the two ways to compute the disk capacity, so when looking at two
disks, one having 210 MB (using the 'metric' megabyte) and the other having
200 MB (using the correct size of a megabyte) and selling for the same
price, they go of course for the 'bigger' one. This has led to endless 
confusion. Quite a few people have called me up and asked why and where they
had lost so much disk space, when in reality they only had run some utility 
that reported the correct size of the disk which was smaller than the inflated 
size given by the manufacturer. 

Norbert
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Norbert Juffa         email: S_JUFFA@IRAVCL.IRA.UKA.DE        Live and let live!
Xref: sparky comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:22102 comp.periphs:1134
From: gsteckel@vergil.East.Sun.COM (Geoff Steckel - Sun BOS Hardware CONTRACTOR)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,comp.periphs
Subject: Re: Are Seagate drives any good ?
Date: 18 Aug 1992 17:59:30 GMT
Organization: Omnivore Technology, Newton, Mass. (617)332-9252
Reply-To: gsteckel@east.sun.com (Geoff Steckel - Sun BOS Hardware CONTRACTOR)
NNTP-Posting-Host: vergil.east.sun.com

There are 2 different families of Seagate drives: the `Imprimis'
family bought from CDC a few years back, and the homegrown Seagates.

The Imprimis line is much higher quality than the old Seagates.

The old line (ST4096, for instance) had high incidence of stiction
(heads stuck to disk), extreme temperature sensitivity, and required
care about mounting position and vibration.  This was really bad news
in a line marketed to cheap PC customers.

The new line has had a few klunkers which required extra cooling
(766N) but otherwise worked well.  In the limited sample I've checked
(a few hundred) the Imprimis line is very reliable IF YOU KEEP THEM
COOL.  The smaller (3 1/2") drives are less power hungry.

	geoff steckel (gwes@trilobyte.com, gwes@wjh12.harvard.EDU)
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Sun Microsystems, despite the From: line.
This posting is entirely the author's responsibility.
From: dsterner@digsol.jpunix.com (Don Sterner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Does IBM EGA support composite video?
Date: 18 Aug 92 17:56:27 GMT
Organization: Digital Solutions, Inc. Houston, TX.

dgs@cnmss.tredydev.unisys.com (Dave G. Sokolowsky) writes:

> I was given what I believe to be an IBM EGA card (no doc, of course).
> Beside a 9-pin connector, it has 2 RCA jacks.  Are these for composite
> video?  If so, how do I use it?  Thanks for any help.
> 
> Dave S.

The phono jacks merely provide for external connection to whatever device 
might be connected internally to the feature connector. No composite video 
capability exists. The EGA will work with CGA display, a monochrome display 
and the Enchanced Color display. It will display up to 16 colors from a 
palette of 64 colors. Max graphics resolution (with the ECD) is 640x350.
 
Horiz. scan rate (hi res) is 21.85khz, vert = 60hz., vid. bandwidth = 
16.257, char size = 7x9pels, alpha modes = 0,1,2,3,  graph mode = 10.

More?
dsterner@digsol.jpunix.com
From: Jim_Johnson@abcd.Houghton.MI.US (Jim Johnson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: 60nSec memory - Will 486/33 be faster?
Distribution: world
Date: 20 Aug 92 00:24:20 EST
Organization: Amiga BitSwap Central Dispatch

In a message dated Wed 19 Aug 92 18:24, Mpalmer@encore.com (mike Palmer)
wrote:

 MP> Will a 486/33 be faster with 60nSec memory over 70 or 80nSec memory,
 MP> assuming
 MP> the data required is not in cache memory.

 MP> How does the CPU wait state tie into this?

 MP> Regards,
 MP> Mike palmer
 MP> Telephone: (305) 797-2326 (W)   (305) 7546-3146 (H)

Assuming you use the RAM with that is at least as fast as specified by the
manufacturer - you will see no performance improvement using faster RAM. 
Most systems now produced use an external cache in addition to the 486's 8K
internal cache.  They are also set for zero wait states with these caches. 
It is possible I suppose to find a 486 system using no cache and with wait
states - in this case the motherboard MAY permit the installation of faster
RAM and telling the CMOS setup to use zero waits.

-- Via DLG Pro v0.995

Jim Johnson-
*** Remember, they're only tools - Not a way of life! ***
From: js@gaaj.uottawa.ca (Jean-Serge Gagnon)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: 8bit RAM <-> 32bit RAM
Date: 17 Aug 92 15:24:02 GMT
Organization: Computing & Communications, Ottawa University

Hi,
    I grew up in the Z80 world (TRS-80 and Sinclair) and learned about
physical memory of 8bits with addresses upto 16bits (64K RAM). Then I went
to the PC world, still with 8bit memory, but with 20b of address (1Meg).

    For a while, I've seen talk of 32bit RAM SIMMs. I can understand that
1Meg of 32bit RAM is equivalent to 4Meg of 8bit RAM, but what I don't
understand is what it's used in now a days. I mean, if a 386/486 has a 
32bit data bus, then are the motherboards designed with only 8bit data
buses? If so, then what would be the advantages to buying a board designed
with a 32bit data bus?

Thanks for any insight.
---------
Jean-Serge Gagnon                           e-mail: jsg8a@acadvm1.uottawa.ca
Harware Maintenance Specialist               voice: (613) 564-7517
Ottawa, University, Canada                     fax: (613) 564-7819
--- Get PPST.ZOO in /public/unix on gaaj.uottawa.ca, it's a PostScript ---
--- benchmark test that tells you how fast any PS device is. :-)      ---
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: stevenh@cbnewsk.cb.att.com (steven.t.heinsius)
Subject: SOTA 386 card (for an AT)==> good or bad???????????????      
Organization: AT&T
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 15:04:37 GMT

I have the following ??'s about the sota386 card
  (there are a couple of differnt products like this
   one--- note it doesn't use a slot)
1-does it realy turn a 286 mother board into a 386sx?
  (what about my 286 BIOS?)
2-will window 3.1 run in enhanced mode ?
  (will it multi task -- like the add states??)

Background
the sota is a 2" X 3" card that has a 386sx onboard.
according to the add "simply pop out the 286 processor
and pop in the sota card.... and you have a 386sx"

Sounds to easy!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Thanks for the info
Steve

ps1 i know i can get a new mother board cheaper 
then the sota card.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: gude@uniwa.uwa.edu.au (David J W Emrich)
Subject: Re: Parallel Cable Info Needed
Organization: University of Western Australia
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 05:29:57 GMT

c23st@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com (Spiros Triantafyllopoulos) writes:

>Hello Net,

>I need to know how much of an extension cable can I get away with
>on a Centronics parallel printer. I'm looking towards, say, 15 feet, 
>maybe 18. Would that work if it's shielded?

>The printer is an Epson FX85 (old), and the PC is an AT&T 6300 (even
>older :-)). 

>Thanks,

>Spiros



>-- 
>Spiros Triantafyllopoulos                    c23st@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com
>Software Technology, Delco Electronics       striantafyll@kosds1.gm.hac.com
>GM Hughes Electronics, Kokomo, IN 46904      [A Different Kind of Disclaimer]

I have used a parallel cable over 20feet long, which was made using
standard flat (unshielded) ribbon cable.  This DOES exceed the
specifications for the centronics standard, but I have had no problems
with it.  It all depends on the noise level (electronic) in the
environment.


[dav]    aka
David Emrich
gude@uniwa.uwa.edu.au
Xref: sparky comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:21872 comp.sys.mac.hardware:15312 comp.sys.amiga.hardware:14106
From: davei@comp.lancs.ac.uk (Mr D Ingles)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,comp.sys.mac.hardware,comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Sony CPD 1302 Monitor Emits High Pitched Noise
Date: 14 Aug 92 20:55:38 GMT
Organization: Department of Computing at Lancaster University, UK.

In article <9v6mksl.stever@netcom.com> stever@netcom.com (Steve Riggins) writes:
>He is deadly serious, and you must be unfortunate to have ears that can always
>pick up the high pitched noises.


I work in a 3 - person office which has 8 monitors on at once - I can hear the 
high pitch noises off all of them ! Even the SVGA one which I work beside !

Davei
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: eyal@echo.canberra.edu.au (Eyal Lebedinsky)
Subject: What speed rep/movs on a 486?
Summary: I get unexplained results.
Organization: Info Sci & Eng, University of Canberra, AUSTRALIA
Date: 20 Aug 92 10:39:05 GMT

Hello Everyone,

I am eveluating a 486/50 for myself. I have a program that measures the
time to rep/mov a 20KB block as bytes, words or Dwords. On my 386 the
measured time is accurate. I get 2.000ms which translates to 4 cycles
per item (this is a 386/40). Moving words/Dwords kepps the item rate so
the total time drops to 1.000 then 0.500.

The same program on a 486/50 produces strange results. First, the best
that I get for rep/movsb is 2.000ms for 20KB which is 5 cycles/item. The
spec says it should take 3 cycles/item. Moving words/dwords gets a worse
per-item result of up to 7 cycles/item. The result is not regulat enough
to suggest a fixed wait state. With 8 megs installed there should be
enough interleave to allow burst move, but it does not. Is the cache
getting in the way? the 256KB cache should latch the whole 20KB block
and work at full speed?

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: dbasinge@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu (Mike Basinger)
Subject: Is Diamond Stealth Video Card worth + $180
Organization: Indiana University
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 02:45:34 GMT

Is a Diamond Stealth Video Card worth an extra $180 dollars over an
Trident SVGA card with 1meg of Ram, especially if I have 8 megs of ram
on my machine.

Mike Basinger
-- 
D. Michael Basinger: 	Not speaking for I.U. or the School of HPER
Computer Specialist	dbasinge@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu
School of HPER		dbasinge@iubacs.BITNET (Bitnet)
Indiana University	dbasinge@arapahoe.ucs.indiana.edu (NeXT Mail)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: JWEST@r3vm.dsd.trw.com (Judson West)
Subject: Re: Specs on Conner CP3204 200MB IDE drive
Organization: TRW Electronic Systems Group
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 20:30:28 GMT

In article <BsxMMK.o3@rice.edu>
frank@owlnet.rice.edu (Frank T. Kang) writes:
 
>
>Can someone post/email the CMOS setup parameters(i.e. heads, cylinders, etc)
>for the Conner CP3204 drive?  Thanks in advance.
>
>Frank Kang
>frank@owlnet.rice.edu
 
Just of the top of my head, the Conner CP3204 drive has 683 cyls, 16 heads,
38 sectors/track, formatted capacity of 213MB, access speed of 16ms,
and a 64k look-ahead cache.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Judson West                          Phone:     (310) 812-4394            |
| VM System Programmer                 Internet:  JWEST@r3vm.dsd.trw.com    |
| IBM Operating Systems                IBMMail:   IBMMAIL(USTRW001)         |
| TRW/Electronic Systems Group, One Space Park, Redondo Beach, CA 90278     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us (John R. Levine)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: How do I align a disk drive?
Date: 18 Aug 92 17:20:46 GMT
Article-I.D.: iecc.1992Aug18.172046.7976
Organization: I.E.C.C.

My 3.5 inch HD drive is giving me read errors on disks that I have reason to
believe are perfectly good, so I expect that the heads are out of alignment.

How do I realign them?  Does it require an oscilloscope, or can I do it with
tools more commonly found around the home?
-- 
John R. Levine, IECC, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 492 3869
johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us, {ima|spdcc|world}!iecc!johnl
Re-elect Vice President Potatoe-Head !
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,sci.electronics
From: killer@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Francis J Park)
Subject: Re: Resetting a computer by phone
Keywords: reset, computer, phone, remote
Organization: HAC - Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
Distribution: usa
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 23:35:44 GMT

I have a program called PHONEV4.1 which I have running on my BBS to reset the
computer after a specified number of rings.  It works remarkably well - the
few times my BBS has crashed, PHONEV4 did the trick to do a warm reboot after
the number of rings I specified.

It was written by Scott Neumyer, a sysop in WWIVLink, and if I recall, it's 
freeware.  It does require a Hayes compatible modem...since I don't think it
reads the terminal leads off the RS-232 port.  It's a small program, also.

There's another program out there called WATCHCAT but I haven't seen the progra
m firsthand.  I suspect it works quite the same way, though.  Dunno if it's 
freeware, though.


-- 
*******************************************************************************
Francis Park, Johns Hopkins (History) '94   Internet: killer@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu
S-1, Pershing Rifles, Co E, 8th Rgt		            WWIVLink: 149@18407
*******************************************************************************
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: dchiu@ravel.udel.edu (David Da-Wei Chiu)
Subject: Re: MR. BIOS, Has anybody heard about this BIOS??
Organization: University of Delaware
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 15:56:12 GMT

In article <13998@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au> gtj@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au (Glenn T Jayaputera) writes:
>Has anybody heard about 'MR. BIOS'  ?  How is it??  Is it fully compatible
>with something like AMI or Award bios??
>
>thank you
>GLenn Jayaputera

I installed MR BIOS on a 386-33 PC I put together last year. I'm really happy
with it. Basically, it sped up my boot time by 2x. It goes through POST tests
very quickly. Supposedly, it supports Windows 386 Enhanced mode better and 
*slightly* speeds up the PC. There are other features which someone has 
already mentioned in another message, but I'm satisfied with it's performance.

						Treasurer of UD ACM,
						David Chiu
Xref: sparky comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:22167 comp.periphs:1142
From: kapela@prism.poly.edu (Theodore S. Kapela)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,comp.periphs
Subject: Re: Are Seagate drives any good ?
Date: 19 Aug 92 12:09:52 GMT
Organization: Polytechnic University, New York

In article <16rdq3INN38b@seven-up.East.Sun.COM> gsteckel@east.sun.com (Geoff Steckel - Sun BOS Hardware CONTRACTOR) writes:
>The old line (ST4096, for instance) had high incidence of stiction
>(heads stuck to disk), extreme temperature sensitivity, and required
>care about mounting position and vibration.  This was really bad news
>in a line marketed to cheap PC customers.

ST4096 old?  We have a pair of ST238Rs (30MB RLL format) that we purchased
back in 1984.  The drives were used very heavily every day (and they
still are).  We have had absolutely NO problems with them.  The drives
are mounted in an original IBM PC case, stacked one on top of the other
(They are 1/2 height 5 1/4" format).  8 Years for two (not just one) drives
to keep going seems pretty reliable to me.

I have heard of lots problems with stiction on certain lines of Seagate
drives, though (This discussion comes around every year).  The problems
depend on manufacturing process and design.  Apparently, Seagate comes
up with a new process with each new drive they introduce.  Some work, some
don't.  It seems many manufacturers seem to have stiction problems on
drives with dry lubricant (I remember Miniscribe, Conner, and CDC
have all had problems, not to mention the infamous Quantum 105S mounted
in *lots* of Sun workstations)

(BTW:  Here at the U. we have over 30 386 PCs with ST251-1's
installed.  Three years old and haven't had one problem yet, even though
these were one of the lines many people have had problems with stiction on).

-- 
..............................................................................
 Theodore S. Kapela				kapela@poly.edu
 Center for Applied Large-Scale Computing	
 Polytechnic University
From: jalbert@IRO.UMontreal.CA (Francois Jalbert)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Olivetti SCSI Controller
Date: 21 Aug 92 02:20:43 GMT
Reply-To: jalbert@IRO.UMontreal.CA (Francois Jalbert)
Organization: Universite de Montreal

Grettings all,

We've been using SCO UNIX on Olivetti 486 for some time, and the driver
that was supplied by Olivetti for the tape backup works perfectly under
SCO with the tape backup unit Olivetti sold us.

However, we are moving to Novell and we want to be able to do backups
under DOS (and Novell). However, the Olivetti SCSI controller just won't
work under DOS apparently. We phoned Olivetti and they were (so far)
useless. They told us their proprietary controller is not supported
under DOS. And nothing standard we tried will talk to it properly.

So folks, we'd like to modify some existing freeware DOS driver we might 
locate somewhere, or simply find an already made DOS driver that could be 
made to understand that Olivetti oddity. Does anyone know the hardware
differences between standard and Olivetti SCSI controllers? Or any
Olivetti compatible DOS drivers? That would be most useful.

We are somewhat unhappy with Olivetti and don't plan doing business
with them in the future. We just need to hold on to their brand of
equipment for a little bit longer.

Thank you in advance for any info. We really wasted time on that one.

Franky
From: tar@math.ksu.edu (Tim Ramsey)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: FCC certification for newly purchased PC
Date: 18 Aug 1992 21:07:38 -0500
Organization: Dept. of Mathematics, Kansas State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: hilbert.math.ksu.edu

I have recently received a new 486/33 from a computer company that we've
done business with before.  Someone pointed out to me that there is no FCC
certification sticker on the back of the PC.  The fellow who noticed this
says that 1) it's against FCC regulations to sell computer systems without
certification and 2) the seller is subject to hefty fines for doing this.

What's the scoop on this?  Does anyone have a phone number for the FCC
handy where I can get more information on this?

Thanks for any wisdom.

-- 
    Tim Ramsey, 913.532.6750
    Department of Mathematics
    Kansas State University
From: gkendall@ncr-mpd.FtCollins.NCR.COM (Guy Kendall)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: ZEOS modem - reports??
Date: 19 Aug 92 19:21:25 GMT
Reply-To: gkendall@ncr-mpd.FtCollins.NCR.COM (Guy Kendall)
Organization: NCR Microelectronic Products Division

In article <5613@transfer.stratus.com> kdj@sw.stratus.com (Ken Jordan) writes:
 >> ZEOS Just released the Cardinal 14.4 S/R Fax modem for 195.00 dollars. 
 >> Interested parties may contact our sales department at 800-423-5891.

Do you have to own a Zeos PC to get one of these modems, or can anyone
call up and order one?


-- 
Guy W. Kendall - Applications Engineer            Guy.Kendall@ColoSpgs.NCR.COM
NCR Microelectronic Products Division               Voice: 719-596-5795 x465
1635 Aeroplaza Drive                                  Fax: 719-570-6045
Colorado Springs, CO 80916                            BBS: 719-596-1649 
Xref: sparky comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:21798 comp.sys.intel:1497 comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc:11468