HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: aa330@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Neil Gould)
Subject: Re: Smartdrive.sys & WIN 3.0 /3
Reply-To: aa330@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Neil Gould)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 92 17:15:57 GMT


In a previous article, aa330@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Neil Gould) says:

>
>
>On the encouragement of some other 'netters, I'm experimenting with using
>SMARTDRV.EXE with Windows 3.0. Aside from applications taking a L O N G 
>time to load, it seems like it may be working!  8-)
>
>If things run without crashing for a few days, I'll post the resulting
>solutions to my situation in hopes that it will help others...
>
 
 
Bottom line:
Windows 3.0 punches itself in the face *hard* when used with SMARTDRV.EXE. 
Apparently, it presumes that write caching can't be disabled and corrupts the 
PROGMAN and .GRP files on exiting. Applications also wind up with invalid .INF 
files on re-booting Windows.
 
The odd thing is that, during the session, it runs great!
 
 
-- 
		neil gould  +  aa330@cleveland.freenet.edu
		SysOp: Video Arts Department; Co-SIGop - Audio Arts SIG
		Opinions available at discount rates!
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.misc
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: Windows == OS
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 15:35:57 GMT

In <Bt51yD.Fv3@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu> ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Iskandar Taib) writes:

>In article <1992Aug03.091642.163545@zeus.calpoly.edu> jemenake@zeus.calpoly.edu (Joe Emenaker) writes:

>>But still you can't deny that Windows is a slave to DOS' limitations. If
>>you don't believe me, just try formatting a floppy with the file-manager.
>>The whole system freezes until DOS kindly hands the processor back to
>>Windows. Contrast that with, ooooh... say... OS/2. I can format a disk in
>>drive A: AND in drive B: *SIMULTANEOUSLY* without any noticable loss of
>>performance in my foreground-app.

>This was true with 3.0, but not 3.1. 3.1 will allow you to format
>diskettes while doing something else. 

I'll have to check, but I don't believe that this is true.  The only
way to format a diskette and do something else at the same time that
I've ever gotten to work is:

>Even with 3.0 I could format diskettes preemptively in a DOS window..
>never did try two simultaneously though. 

>I know its unfashionable to say so but Windows 3.1 is incredibly 
>robust. On a machine that doesn't have hardware problems I've had
>it going nonstop for weeks at a time. DOS isn't all that crash-
>prone either, it was usually apps that caused crashes. I've rarely
>had a machine crash at the C:\> prompt.

I've never found Windows to be as horribly crash-prone as some people
describe it to be.  I do, however, have periodic problems with
'vanishing resources'.  They slowly bleed away to zero, and getting
them back requires getting out of Windows and going back in.

>>Granted, Windows does go around MS-DOS to do many things (as it very well
>>should), but it is still dependent upon DOS for disk-I/O and for EMS/XMS
>>memory management.

>Yes for disk I/O, no for XMS. 

The only thing Windows uses DOS for is file management.


-- 
"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.os.ms-windows.misc
From: edt@microsoft.com (Ed Tharp)
Subject: Re: Mine Sweeper cheating
Date: 13 Aug 92 13:57:18 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corporation

In article <sph0301.46.713628643@utsph.sph.uth.tmc.edu> sph0301@utsph.sph.uth.tmc.edu (Kate Wilson) writes:
|I've noticed the following behavior which I can replicate pretty reliably.
|If you select the top left square as the first choice in a new game (this
|is in expert level - haven't tried it on other levels), that square is never 
|a bomb.  But if the mouse 'slips' a little and you hit the square below
|instead, then the top left square almost always turns out to be a bomb.
|It's as though the location of the bombs isn't decided until you make your
|first square selection.  Am I imagining this?

    That's one of the main difference between WinMine and other Minesweeper
clones.  The first selection is never a bomb, anywhere.  What fun would it
be to blow up on your first try.  If you first pick would have been a bomb,
it's moved.  This takes out all of the luck is selecting that first square.

Ed Tharp
-- 
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Edward Tharp          Microsoft Corporation        #include <std/disclaim.h> |
| UUCP: ..!{uunet,uw-beaver}!microsoft!edt Internet: edt@microsoft.com         |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Xref: sparky comp.os.ms-windows.misc:2243 comp.os.msdos.misc:4837
From: vscarafi@eccdb1.pms.ford.com (Vincent F. Scarafino)
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.misc,comp.os.msdos.misc
Subject: Re: Hard drive caches and smartdrv
Date: 21 Aug 92 18:07:47 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Ford Motor Co.
Originator: news@pms001

evans1@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (Dan Evans) writes:
> 
> Hi Netters,
> 
> I have a question regarding hard disk caches and smartdrive.
> 
> I'm running a 386SX with a 80 MB hard drive.  I just installed a 
> Quantum Hardcard 2 105XL.  The hardcard itself has a cache on the
> controller and for the sake of argument I will assume that the
> original HD has an on-board cache as well.
> 
> I am running the smartdrv version from MS-DOS 5.0 with the read
> and write caches enabled for all HD's and the read caches enabled
> the floppy drives (the smartdrv default).
> 
> The question I have is:
> 
> Am I double caching unnecessarily? According to smartdrive the 
> cache gets smaller when windows is actually running and I have the
> minimum cache size set to 0 so that windows will come up in 386 enhanced
> mode by default instead of standard mode. If the size of the cache
> from smartdrive (when windows is running) is smaller then the cache
> on the hardcard would I gain (or lose) anything by disabling the
> read/write caches that smartdrv creates?
> -- 
> The Danimal                @@@@-                    @@@@-            
>                           @@@@@-      @@@@-        @@@@@-       @@@@-
> UUCP: att!ihlpm!evans      @@@@-     @@@@@-         @@@@-      @@@@@-
>                                       @@@@-                     @@@@-

I suspect that the hardware cache on your drives does write-through to
the disk, effectively giving you read cache only.  So, the write cache
buys you some performance.  For the read side of the equation, it depends
on the relative sizes and speeds of the memory cache and hard cache as
well as the characteristics of your running applications.  If the cache
access speeds from smartdrv are significantly faster than the cache
speeds from your controller, it's probably advantageous to have both.

Vince
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.misc
From: shenoy@iastate.edu (Shiva Shenoy)
Subject: Re: Cardfile question
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 04:57:36 GMT

In <1992Aug19.030732.7236@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> bx953@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (David R. Cohen) writes:


>You netters did such a superlative job answering my clock questions, I now
>hit you with a cardfile question.

>I have a good deal of info in my cardfile "rolodex," about 150 cards.  I
>wonder if there is an easy way to extract this information and use it to
>create a mailing list ... perhaps via Wordperfect for Windows or some other
>Windows application.

>I sure would like not to have to retype all the info that is already in my
>cardfile file into a mailing list program!

Check out ftp.cica.indiana.edu in the pub/pc/win3/util directory for
wincrd.zip which allows you to extract all cards to text and text to card.
-- 
Shiva Shenoy                           | e-mail: shenoy@iastate.edu 
2066 Black,                            | Office: (515)-294-0082
Dept. of Aero. Engg. & Engg. Mechanics | Home  : (515)-296-7640
Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50010  |
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.misc
Subject: Re: WANTED: Windows 3.1 decpc 433 display driver (aka TIGA)
From: dmmatt@bigez (Mike Mattix)
Date: 19 Aug 92 13:49:39 GMT
Organization: Monsanto Agricultural Company
Nntp-Posting-User: dmmatt

In article <1992Aug19.094557.20116@odin.diku.dk>, krus@diku.dk (Lars Povlsen) writes:
> Hello, out there!
> 
> Does anybody know if a 3.1 driver is available for the decPC 433?
> (And where to get it from...)
> 
> The beast has a 34020 built in, and have the hardware fitted to go all
> the way to 1280x1024x256. 
> 
> I would really like to be able to use this potential instead of the
> emulated standard VGA 640x480x16.
> 
> (I have tried the 3.1 TIGA driver, but to no avail)
> ((I have a VDM-16 (66 Hz) monitor on it))
> 
> Thanks for any pointers.
> -- 
> Lars Povlsen,
> Olicom A/S

 The MicroSoft Download BBS has the RGDI drivers for the Appian board
in question.  You can get it there or wait until someone loads the 
latest drivers onto cica.

  I don't have the BBS number here (I am at home).  But maybe someone
else will post it.

-- 
Mike Mattix
Agricultural Group of Monsanto
P.O. Box 174
Luling, LA 70070
INTERNET Address: dmmatt@bigez.monsanto.com
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.misc
From: SDENARO@vm.poly.edu
Subject: Bill Gates on your Desktop!
Organization: Polytechnic University
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 92 16:34:04 EST

I have Posted a BMP and a GIF of Bill Gates in the
a.b.p.misc news group. If you can't get the pics, Tell
me and I'll help you out!
 
Now anyone can have Bill Gates on their desktop.
 
Be the first on your block with BILLY-PAPER!
 
--
SAL DENARO      "Live Fast, Die Young, Hack 'C'"
sdenaro@polyvm.poly.edu  sdenaro@polyvm.bitnet
>>> This line is to confuse CIA, FBI, NSA, KGB, IBM DESTROY HACKER
BUSH QUAYLE DRUGS MONEY CREDIT CARDS POWER NUKE IRAQ KILL PENTAGON
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.misc
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: Windows won't work with COM 2 modem?!
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 18:20:47 GMT

In <1992Aug14.002744.2386@kakwa.ucs.ualberta.ca> apollo@ee.ualberta.ca (Apollo Wong) writes:

>Hi netters,

>My system has the mouse in COM 1 and a 2400 baud in using COM 2. However,
>since Windows 3.0, I can't use any Windows' communcation program to
>use the modem port. I set up port 2 as 2400n81 using Control Panel.

>Recently I upgraded to Windows 3.1, hoping the problem will go away, but
>to my surprise, it is still there. Terminal.exe will not work. Cardfile.exe
>will hang up the system if I try to use it to dial a number. The only
>communication program I can use is DOS based (which will lost sync. when
>I run another DOS program while downloading files). 

>Has anyone got the fix to this problem? I noticed that if I pull out my
>Multi-I/O card, reset my modem to COM 1, then it will work. However, I have
>to live with my mouse for the moment and I can't change any setting on
>my Multi-I/O card because I lost my manual on that card.

Your problem is that you have both a modem and a COM port at IRQ3
(which is what COM2 uses).  There is no way to fix this other than by
changing either the modem or the serial port to another COM port.  If,
as you say, you cannot change the settings on your multi-I/O card,
then you cannot fix this (the other COM2 is living on the I/O card).
The only other possibility is if you can set the modem up to be COM3
or COM4 and use IRQ2 or IRQ5 for it.


-- 
"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.os.ms-windows.misc
Subject: windows optimization]
From: edowdy@vax1.umkc.edu
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 04:32:56 GMT
Organization: University of Missouri - Kansas City


	I just read in an article (Windows Magazine, Sept, 1992) that a good
way to save space on hard drives was to change the bmp files to compressed .RLE
files. Is this correct, and can I still use them as wallpaper? Is there a
simple program that will do this conversion?
	Secondly, in defragmenting my hard drive they suggested that the most
used directories (like windows, wpwin etc...) should go first and that this
will provide the best optimization results because the disk does not have
to search asfar. Can someone verify this for me?

Thanks in advance for letting me ask these FAQs.

Eric Dowdy
University of Missouri
From: john.will@satalink.com (John Will)
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.misc
Subject: Re: SCSI drives and Windo
Date: 20 Aug 92 20:25:00 GMT
Reply-To: john.will@satalink.com (John Will)
Organization: Datamax/Satalink Connection * Ivyland, PA (215) 443-9434

DN.I went back to smartdrv 3.x that came with my MSDOS 5.0 and tossed the
  .version that came with Windows 3.1 out. Everything works fine for me now.
  .Perhaps you should give it a try.

If you get better performance from SMARTDRV 3.xx than SMARTDRV 4.00, you
must have a significant problem!  I personally use HYPERDISK, but the
difference between the old and new SMARTDRV is significant!  I can't
imagine running with the old SMARTDRV now that I've sampled write
caching.
---
 . KingQWK 1.05 # 97 . Life is anything that dies when you stomp it.
                                                                                           
Xref: sparky comp.os.ms-windows.misc:2125 comp.os.msdos.misc:4785 comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc:4774
From: david@csource.oz.au (david nugent)
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.misc,comp.os.msdos.misc,comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc
Subject: IPX BYU drivers under Windows 3.1
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 09:01:00 +1000
Reply-To: david@csource.oz.au
Organization: Unique Computing Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia

Does anyone know of any updates to the Novell BYU IPX driver which
I believe Intel published as PD?  The 'current' ones (as obtained
from the Clarkson Uni ftp site) do not appear to work all that well
with Windows 3.1, the problem being that the tcp-ip application
(only) will slow down to a crawl or even stop completely.

All non-tcpip network operations seem to be unaffected, but in
narrowing down the problem, we've tried using tcp-ip software
which uses Novell's ODI layer, and these do not have the same
problems when communicating across the same links. However, not
all the software in use is ODI compatible and requires use of
the Clarkson drivers, and hence the need for an update for the
BYU IPX.OBJ.

Please reply by email, and I'll summarise to the group if there is
interest.

Rgds,

..............................................................................
david nugent          Public Access Usenet      "Only Nixon could go to China"
david@csource.oz.au     +61-3-792-3507                    - old Vulcan proverb
3:632/400@fidonet, 58:4100/1@intlnet, 199:4242/5@rainbownet, 33:300/6@admin
PO Box 260, Endeavour Hills, Victoria, Australia, 3802.
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.misc
From: vscarafi@eccdb1.pms.ford.com (Vincent F. Scarafino)
Subject: Re: SMARTDRV for Windows 3.1
Originator: news@pms001
Organization: Ford Motor Co.
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 13:57:19 GMT

ketil@edb.tih.no (Ketil Albertsen,TIH) writes:
> In article <BszDLM.G8u@fmsrl7.srl.ford.com>, vscarafi@eccdb1.pms.ford.com (Vincent F. Scarafino) writes:
> 
> >Programs that do proper transaction support *require* the assurance that at
> >least a minimal amount of data be safely written to a log (in such a way as
> >to survive the loss of power) *before* they can acknowledge to the application
> >that a transaction has been committed. Otherwise there is an integrity problem.  
>                                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Well, isn't that a little pessimistic? A rollback is not an integrity problem,
> it is next to "normal" in DBMSs - at least you should be prepared for it. And
> you can make a perfectly consistent system with no integrity probles even if
> you have no guarantee that "at least a minimal amount of data" is written
> safely to disk. The last data you write to the log is the commit record, and
> if after a power loss you don't find a complete commit record in the log (you
> may end the record with a checksum to verify that it is complete), then you
> have a rollback condition. If you find a commit record, it might be the case
> that the user was not informed about the successful commit before power went
> off, but he did request a commit and thereby gave up his right to do a
> rollback. So the DBMS should insist that everything is consistent (which it is!).
> 
> The only thing you require is that when the disk system reports that the
> entire data record has been written successfully to disk, then it *is* written 
> successfully to disk. If a power loss occurs before this report is given, then
> it is not written successfully to disk, and everything is still consistent,
> although in the state of the database prior to transaction start. (Rollback)

But with cached writes, these things happen asynchronously, so you have no
guarantee that they'll make it to the disk in total, or in any kind of order
that resembles the order they were written in.  It is possible to have info
on the disk that reflects the partial update of multiple transactions, all
in different phases of update and non complete.  There is no consistent point
of reference. 

> A "nice" DBMS may after power up pick up the incomplete transaction and ask
> if the user wishes a redo attempt, up to the point of the last successfully
> written log record (again, checksumming may be used to verify that the log
> record is indeed successfully written in its entirety). But this is not 
> required for consistency, and all redoing is under the full integrity 
> constraints mechanisms of the DBMS.

These designs assume the knowledge of completed, consistent writes, and that
cannot be guaranteed with cached writes.

Vince
From: velasco@cs.ucsd.edu (Gabriel Velasco)
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.misc
Subject: Licensing Message
Date: 14 Aug 92 00:01:20 GMT


I'm installing DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1 on 15 P/S 2s for a department
on campus.  When I installed Windows on the first workstation, I gave
it the name of one of the department employees as the person to whom
the software was registered and the department as the organization.  I
would like to change that to the department being the person to whom
the software was registered and the University as the organization.  I
am hoping there's a way to do it without having to reinstall Windows,
Excel, etc.  Is there a way?  Where is this info kept?  It only really
matters when you bring up the About screen, but it's a matter of
aesthetics.

Thanks, in advance.

-- 
                              ________________________________________________
 <>___,     /             /  | ... and he called out and said, "Gabriel, give |
 /___/ __  / _  __  ' _  /   | this man an understanding of the vision."      |
/\__/\(_/\/__)\/ (_/_(/_/|_  |_______________________________________Dan_8:16_|
From: jfreter@triton.unm.edu (The Myth)
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.misc
Subject: Re: DOS 6.0?
Date: 17 Aug 92 20:50:28 GMT
Distribution: comp.os.ms-windows.misc
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

In article <231@bsc835bsc.edu> ehunt@bsc835bsc.edu (Eric Hunt) writes:
>
>DOS 6.0 has entered Beta. I'm not a tester, but know people who are.
>-- 
>Eric Hunt                     | bsc835!ehunt@uunet.uu.net (preferred)

Are you allowed to give us more information, or were there non-disclosure
agreements that prevent your and your friends' discussions.
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.misc
From: cjohnson@tartarus.uwa.edu.au (Christopher Johnson)
Subject: Re: Looking for a .MOD player for Windows 3.1
Organization: University of Western Australia
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 01:27:04 GMT

tony@casper.cs.uct.ac.za (Tony Donno) writes:

>Hi,

>I think the subject line explains what I am looking for. Does anybody know of
>such a thing at an ftp site somewhere?

>Thanks

>Tony

>tony@casper.cs.uct.ac.za

There is a thing called WINMOD, but I can't get it working, because it
runs a dos application that tries to use something that win 3.1 is
using.

It may work if you are using win 3.0 .... its at simtel-20 in sound,
or music or windows or somthing I think.

If anyone has a true windows application that plays mods, please give me
a call or post it to this newsgroup.

Thanx,

Chris.
--
__________________________________________________________ When Something
Christopher Johnson         |  _________________________  |can go wrong it
cjohnson@tartarus.uwa.oz.au | | Sudden decompression Sux| |Segmentaion fault
johnson@swanee.ee.uwa.oz.au |  -------------------------  |Core dumped         | I reserve the right to be totally wrong!
From: ergo@netcom.com (Isaac Rabinovitch)
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.misc
Subject: Re: Looking for W4W 2.0a macro that will "speak" highlighted text.
Keywords: W4W, WfW, SoundBlaster, Macro
Date: 21 Aug 92 06:54:33 GMT
Organization: UESPA

In <100781@siemens.siemens.com> tsikos@siemens.com. (Constantine J Tsikos) writes:

>I am looking for a W4W 2.0 macro that will "speak" 
>highlighted text using a SoundBlaster Pro.
>Any help or pointers will be appreciated.

There's a product called Wired for Sound Professional that includes a "speak" function
other programs can access through DDE.  WfW does DDE (as do all Windows aps that are not
totally braindead), and I found it easy to write the macro you want.  I've since lost the
macro, but I'll rewrite it and post it if I get enough begging email.

Some notes on Wired for Sound Pro:  there's a subset product (Wired for Sound Amateur?)
that's slightly cheaper -- dunno if it includes this feature.  WfS does its own speech
synthesis, so you can dispense with the Sound Blaster (you can even dispense with the
multimedia drivers!).  I'd recommend using some kind of Windows-compatible sound board,
though, since PC speakers are not noted for their sound quality.  And note that WfS is not
outstandingly flexible or smart, so you'll have to put up with hearing things like
"Windows three period 1".

-- 

	ergo@netcom.com 			Isaac Rabinovitch
        {apple,amdahl,claris}!netcom!ergo	Santa Cruz, CA
	
	You will be assimilated.  Resistance is futile.
		
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.misc
From: amc@beryl.demon.co.uk (Anthony McCarthy)
Subject: Looking for wave randomizer 
Distribution: world
Organization: Rather poor
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 13:41:11 +0000


In article <1992Aug19.052646.29385@julian.uwo.ca> pettypi@gaul.csd.uwo.ca writes:

>Hello, netters!
>
>   I have tonnes of .wav files that I like to have played for
>various cues.  But for them to change I have to run Sound from
>the Control Panel.  I'd like to have these sounds changed
>automagically/randomly, preferably being allowed to select which
>groups of sounds that a particular event the randomizer would
>choose from.  Does such a beast exist?

Yes. I wrote a thing called RandySnd that seems to do exactly what
you want. It is available via ftp from cica.  The file is randysnd.zip
in the sounds (I think!) directory.  As I was (and still am) very new
to the net when I wrote RandySnd, I made no release announcement to
the net. (I guess this constitutes such an announcement!)

Btw, the archive contains MSC++ 7 sources as well as the executable.

If you have trouble finding/ftp-ing the file, please mail me for help.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anthony McCarthy           14 Beryl Road - Bedminster - Bristol - BS3 3DH - UK
amc@beryl.demon.co.uk 100012.3712@compuserve.com amccarthy@cix.compulink.co.uk
==============================================================================