HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: comp.os.cpm
Subject: Re: 720K 5-1/4" diskettes
From: ewen@naos.actrix.gen.nz (Ewen McNeill)
Date: Fri, 04 Sep 92 17:20:34   Y
Organization: Naos - Inside the Z80

killer@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Francis J Park) writes:

> Can't you just use standard 1.2MB floppies on a 720k drive?
> It seems since the media is the same, it should work.
>
If it were, you could. But it isn't.

1.2MB floppies are High Density.  720K floppies are Quad Density.  360K
floppies are Double Density.  Now it turns out that the media currently
used in 360K floppies copes with 720K format (more tracks, no higher bit
density in the track) better than 1.2M floppies (which expect a higher
bit density in the track).

I've had better results with 360K floppies than I've had with 1.2MB
ones, and they're cheaper too :-)

> Francis Park, Johns Hopkins (History) '94  Internet: killer@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.ed

--
Ewen McNeill, ewen@naos.actrix.gen.nz (or ewen@actrix.gen.nz)
Newsgroups: comp.os.cpm
From: lemay@epx.cis.umn.edu (Lawrence LeMay)
Subject: Re: 720K 5-1/4" diskettes
Organization: University of Minnesota
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 17:27:29 GMT

In article <9208300349.AA20646@st6000.sct.edu> eudoh@st6000.sct.edu (Etop Udoh) writes:
>hi,
>
>
>  Does anyone know where I can buy 720k  5-1/4" DSDD 96tpi diskettes...
>????????????????????????
>-- 
>.....................................................................
>:    Etop Udoh                             Eudoh@sct.edu            :
>:    1112 Hudson Rd.               Southern College of Technology   :
>:    Marietta, Ga 30060                   Marietta, Georgia         :
>:                                                                   :
>:      Abandon all hope ye who have entered  " CYBERSPACE "         :
>:...................................................................:

I dunno, but if you find out, LET ME KNOW!!!!!

I wanted to buy some of these disks (no hub rings, etc..), but even when
i found a place that claimed they had what i wanted (Maxell MD2DD) then
gave me MD2D instead....Sigh.

-Lawrence LeMay
 lemay@epx.cis.umn.edu
From: spt@acsu.buffalo.edu (Scott P. Toenniessen)
Newsgroups: comp.os.cpm
Subject: Re: 720K 5-1/4" diskettes
Date: 4 Sep 92 19:42:26 GMT
Organization: UB

In article <".2-Sep-92..8:36:48.EDT".*.Michael_D._Sprague.wbst311@Xerox.com> Sprague.Wbst311@xerox.com writes:
>
>> Does anyone know where I can buy 720k  5-1/4" DSDD 96tpi diskettes...
>
>Last I knew, Radio Shack sold them ... but the price was NOT cheap.  Note,
>however, that modern day DSDD floppies should work (I think).  I have not used
>them this way a lot, but have never had problems with those I have tried.
>

I use DSDD 5 1/4 as 720K disks with no problems so far (I've been doing
this for a few months).

                   Scott
Newsgroups: comp.os.cpm
From: maa@mamura.ee.mu.oz.au (Marc Alexander)
Subject: Z80 language compilers
Organization: Electrical and Electronic - University of Melbourne 
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 05:46:30 GMT

Hi,

I'm looking for a/some high level language compilers for the z80 series
of processors, eg, C, Basic, whatever....

Preferably public domain or shareware, can anyone tell me where these
may be found and if they exist?

thanks in advance!

_Marc Alexander     maa@mullian.ee.mu.oz.au   ph +61 3 3447689  fax 3446678_
_Electrical and Electronic Eng. Dept.     Melbourne University,   Australia_
 Animals can be driven crazy by placing too many in too small a pen.-R.A.H.
  Homo sapiens is the only animal that voluntarily does this to himself.
From: jeffj@panix.com (Jeff Jonas)
Newsgroups: comp.os.cpm
Subject: Re: 720K 5-1/4" diskettes
Summary: 360k floppies work just fine
Date: 1 Sep 92 03:23:02 GMT
Organization: Jeff's House of Electronic Parts

I've used 360k floppies on my 720k drives and they work fine.
Unless you're using real old floppies that are barely qualified for
double sided, modern floppies are quite capable of the higher track
density.
I once calculated the bit densities for track-to-track and
bits along a track.  Even at double density, the density along
a track is significantly higher than track to track.
I've done quite well with the bulk floppies.
You should not be spending more than a quarter a piece.
(heck - I've bought 8" double sided floppies for a dime each,
and I've recently been getting them for free).

- Jeffrey Jonas
jeffj@synsys.uucp
From: POSTMASTER@mc.duke.edu
Newsgroups: comp.os.cpm
Subject: INFO-CPM Digest V92 #88
Date: 28 Aug 92 17:26:05 GMT
Organization: Duke University Medical Center, Durham NC, USA

********************* DEMPO Error Message ***********************
UNSENT MAIL!                            
NO NAME SPECIFIED!                      
From:	BITNET::INFO-CPM@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL
To:	
Subj:	INFO-CPM Digest V92 #88

********************* DEMPO Error Message ***********************


To:
From: C3038B@UMRVMB.UMR.EDU ("Andy Stewart, Reference Librarian")
Newsgroups: comp.os.cpm
Subject: (none)
Date: 2 Sep 92 03:51:44 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: The Internet

May I add to the veritable flurry of CP/M systems being offered for
sale??  I have had no mechanical/electronic problems (or, for that
matter, modifications) with the Osborne 1 (SS/SD) I bought about ten
years ago.  Used it for relatively lightweight word processing, and,
more recently--very lightly as a terminal to the local "BIG" computer.

I don't have any idea as to the market value (but wondered if the
Boston Computer Exchange even "lists" Osbornes any more?....), so will
be glad to hear from Osborne enthusiasts who may need a working machine
for spare parts, as a backup machine, or whatever with offers to
purchase!!  [Please, I'd feel badly accepting anything over $10,000 :-) ]

More details:
      Grey case Osborne 1, 64K, two floppy drives
      All original copies of software which was included:
            Wordstar (v.2.26?)
            dBase II (never used!!) complete with _two_ manuals
                and a keyboard template
            SuperCalc
      Blue-cover paperback user's manual Osborne
      Townsend, Carl, _Using dBase II_, Osborne-McGraw-Hill, 1984
      Miller, Alan R, Mastering CP/M, Sybex, 1983
      IMP (communications) software "ready to go" with cable included
      2 dozen or so floppy diskettes

      whatever else I can find that will fit into the original box and
packing material.  If you're not interested in buying this package, but
have an opinion as to its value, I'd be glad to get a brief message, but
it's too late to convince **ME** as to the relative merits of CP/M over
DOS.  I just don't have the time to dig into the guts to get CP/M to do
what I want it to--more or less on my own.

      Please respond directly--there's no need to clutter up INFO-CPM
with responses (this is too long already!)

      Andy Stewart
      314-341-4007 (work)
      314-341-2789 (home
      Internet:  c3038b@umrvmb.umr.edu
      Bitnet:  c3038b@umrvmb (I think this will work; I've never tried it)
Newsgroups: comp.os.cpm
From: haworth@cwis.unomaha.edu (Dwight A. Haworth)
Subject: Re: Access to Internet through CP/M
Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 20:19:12 GMT

I use both a 4/84 and a 4+88 to work with the internet.  The obstacle you
will encounter is that your host machine may not have software that works
gracefully with the Kaypro.  Some editors presume function keys; some
host software does the same.  The problem lies not in the Kaypro but in
your host mainframe.

If your systems people cannot help you out with an editor and/or support
for the ADM-3A that the Kaypro emulates, perhaps you can find a keypad
redefinition program (several were available for the Kaypro at one time)
that will allow you to program the function key codes into the numeric
keypad.  I'm not sure if it is possible, but it is certainly worth a try
if your host system won't support the Kaypro.  Good luck.


Newsgroups: comp.os.cpm
From: weberj@diana.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de (Weber)
Subject: Re: 720K 5-1/4" diskettes
Organization: Informatik, Uni Stuttgart, W.Germany
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 07:37:04 GMT

In article <9208300349.AA20646@st6000.sct.edu> eudoh@st6000.sct.edu (Etop Udoh) writes:
>  Does anyone know where I can buy 720k  5-1/4" DSDD 96tpi diskettes...

Under DOS I could format standard 360K 5-1/4" disks to 720K with a programm
called FDFORMAT. 
-- 

Juergen G. Weber
Student am Institut fuer Informatik
Universitaet Stuttgart - Germany
Newsgroups: comp.os.cpm
From: donm@crash.cts.com (Don Maslin)
Subject: Re: 720K 5-1/4" diskettes
Organization: CTS Network Services (crash, ctsnet), El Cajon, CA
Date: 03 Sep 92 12:25:11 PDT

Francis J Park (killer@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu) wrote:
: Can't you just use standard 1.2MB floppies on a 720k drive?
: It seems since the media is the same, it should work.
:
 Sorry, the media are distinctly NOT the same!  It is unlikely that the
 720 drive could even successfully format the disk - much less write data 
 to it.  The 1.2 floppy requires a much higher magnetic force to write 
 to it.
From: wtc@cbnewsl.att.com
Newsgroups: comp.os.research
Subject: Re: threads wanted
Date: 2 Sep 92 19:10:43 GMT
Organization: AT&T UNIX System Laboratories
NNTP-Posting-Host: ftp.cse.ucsc.edu
X-Original-From: bill@usl.com (William Cox)
Originator: osr@ftp

In article <17n08iINN798@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> ted@squall.cis.ufl.edu (Ted Johnson) writes:
>
>I'd appreciate it if someone can tell me where I can get access
>to a threads package.  We're developing the system on decstations
>running ultrix, and we'd prefer posix compatability.

What you call "POSIX compatibility" for threads does not yet exist.

Pthreads (P1003.4A) is a DRAFT standard being produced by the IEEE Technical
Committee on Operating Systems (TCOS).  For a variety of wierd historical
reasons (don't ask) it grew out of the POSIX P1003.4 work on realtime
interfaces.

Each draft of "Threads Extension for Portable Operating Systems" say on the
cover page

	This is an unapproved draft and is subject to change.
  All rights reserved by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
	Do not specify or claim conformance to this document.

This wording has been on every draft since 1989.

Now the fact that people are not supposed to "specify or claim conformance"
hasn't stopped that from happening.  I know of at least three different
implementations to DIFFERENT DRAFTS of Pthreads; one of the companies
has been playing fast and loose with its "POSIX Conformance" and not
telling customers that the version they implemented is almost three 
YEARS out of date.    (I won't go into the claimed conformance to POSIX.4
realtime extensions, which has been in ballot for a loong time.)

The next ballot of Pthreads can't happen until early next year; Pthreads
has not yet gotten to where a recirculation ballot is possible, so
a POSIX threads standard is likely not feasible until mid- to late-1993.

So "posix compatibility" may mean "Pthreads draft 4", "Pthreads draft 2",
or "Pthreads draft 9 [1989]".  There are enough differences between these
that a sophisticated application is likely to require signficant porting
effort. If all you want is thread creation, exit, and join, you will have few
changes, but many semantics have changed, sometimes in subtle
(may I say inscrutable?) ways.

BTW, the most recent publicly available draft is Draft 6 on which
balloting closed in May, 1992.  Draft 7 is being produced by the technical
reviewers, but will not be publicly visible until year end.

Enough of the soapbox.  Your practical problems can be addressed by DEC's
Concert Multithread Architecture, which has a partial set of Pthreads Draft 4
wrappers available. A somewhat crufty version was included in OSF's DCE code.
Check with your DEC representative; if you get nowhere, send me mail
and I can probably get you a contact.

	bill

	William Cox
	bill@usl.com
	UNIX System Laboratories, Inc
	Summit  NJ  07901

	Technical reviewer for P1003.4A
From: heng@irisa.fr (Pack Heng,lsp)
Newsgroups: comp.os.research
Subject: looking for papers
Date: 3 Sep 92 18:07:32 GMT
Organization: IRISA, Rennes, France
NNTP-Posting-Host: ftp.cse.ucsc.edu
Originator: osr@ftp



I have difficulties to find the following documents, they are 
unavailable in our library. Could somebody please send me the 
copies of these documents:

	C. Dwork and D. Skeen
	The inherent cost of nonblocking commitment
	in Proc. of ACM Symp. Principles od Database Syst
	Mars 1983

	D. Skeen 
	Carsh recovery in database system
	Ph. D. dissertation, Comput. Sci. Division, University California,
	Berkeley 1982.

Thanks.


-------------------------------------------------------
 Pack HENG		        	email: heng@irisa.fr
 IRISA		        	tel: (33) 99 84 72 91
 Campus de Beaulieu	        	fax: (33) 99 38 38 32
 35042 Rennes Cedex, France		telex UNIRISA 950 473 F
-------------------------------------------------------
From: jesup@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com (Randell Jesup)
Newsgroups: comp.os.research
Subject: Re: Lightweight threads and "real" users
Date: 2 Sep 92 19:09:28 GMT
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA
NNTP-Posting-Host: ftp.cse.ucsc.edu
Originator: osr@ftp

fouts@bozeman.hpl.hp.com (Martin Fouts) writes:
>In article <17n06qINN793@darkstar.UCSC.EDU>, Jack_Palevich@taligent.com (Jack Palevich) writes:
>|> 3) Between address spaces use synchronous send-and-wait-for-reply
>|> messaging, rather than asynch messaging.

>If you don't, there will be a class of applications you will be able
>to write more efficiently than otherwise.  The above rules are good
>rules and should be followed unless you can discover a compelling
>reason not to follow them.  The trick here is that the reason must be
>compelling.

	I agree, Rule 3 is iffy at best.  Programs that have realtime response
problems would have to hide the synchronicity themselves by spawning even
more threads.  Another good example is an interface manager that sends messages
indicating UI actions that have taken place (such as "he clicked here").  You
_don't_ want the UI manager to block because the program was calculating
an FFT.  This is what gave people so much trouble porting things to the MacOS:
they had to sprinkle GetNextEvent() calls in code that might run for a long
while, to keep the UI running.

	I would think that might be rewritten "use synchronous messaging
whenever there isn't a good reason to use async".
From: lubbers@dutiws.TWI.TUDelft.NL (Bob_Lubbers)
Newsgroups: comp.os.research
Subject: looking for paper on process migration
Date: 31 Aug 92 18:58:10 GMT
Organization: Delft University of Technology
NNTP-Posting-Host: ftp.cse.ucsc.edu
Originator: osr@ftp


I am currently working on process migration using a standard implementation
of UNIX(tm). In an abstract journal I've found a pointer to an article
that seems to be unavailable in the Netherlands. Could somebody please help me
finding the article or the author?

Author: S. Israel

Article: "Process Migration in a homogeneous environment"
appeared in the  Proceedings of the Uniform Conference 1990, pg.  281-292.
Publisher: Uniform, Washington, DC, USA '90.
The conference was held in Washington, DC.

Reaction please through e-mail to: lubbers@dutiws.twi.tudelft.nl

Thanks, Bob Lubbers.
From: shafer@CS.ColoState.EDU (spencer shafer)
Newsgroups: comp.os.research
Subject: POSIX Status
Date: 3 Sep 1992 18:08:02 GMT
Organization: Colorado State University, Computer Science Department
NNTP-Posting-Host: ftp.cse.ucsc.edu
Originator: osr@ftp

I am interested in finding out the status of the various POSIX standards.
Specifically 1003.2, 1003.2a, 1003.3, 1003.6, 1003.7, and 1003.8.  I 
would like to get in touch with committee members to find out where these
standards will be in the next 6 - 9 months.  We are going into a procurement
and would like to state these as requirements and do so as technically
correct as we can.
Appreciate any information or contacts that anyone can provide.

-- 
/\__________________________________________________________________/\
||                     SPENCER SHAFER                               ||
|| email:shafer@handel.cs.colostate.edu    Work Phone: 303-498-0901 ||
\/------------------------------------------------------------------\/
From: Ken Birman <ken@cs.cornell.EDU>
Newsgroups: comp.os.research
Subject: Re: Summary:  File Replication
Date: 30 Aug 1992 06:47:08 GMT
Organization: Cornell Univ. CS Dept, Ithaca NY 14853
NNTP-Posting-Host: ftp.cse.ucsc.edu
Originator: osr@ftp

In article <17n0dvINN7b0@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> vander@flab.fujitsu.co.jp (Mike van der Velden) writes:
>Earlier this month, I wrote:
>
>> Does anyone have or know of some documentation about file replication,
>> especially within a Unix-like environment?
>> 
>> I will summarize to the net if there is interest.
>> 
>> Thanks in advance for your time.
>
>And now, thr promised summary.  Thanks to the following people for
>taking the time to respond.

... I was out of town and missed this posting.  A Cornell graduate
student, Alex Siegel, developed a software replication scheme that
emulates NFS using Isis.  He called his system Deceit and his thesis
is available by public FTP access to ftp.cs.cornell.edu; the file
is called pub/TR1266.ps.Z and can be pulled over by anonymous FTP.

Deceit is fully NFS compatible -- it supports the normal NFS mount
and file access protocols -- but replicates files to varying degrees
under user control.  Performance is close to that of a normal NFS
because caching hides most of the overhead introduced by Isis.  
(When caching is disabled, reads take no longer than for NFS
and writes are only about 10% slower; details are in Alex's thesis.)

Alex now works at Teknekron Information Systems, Inc. in Palo Alto, but
Isis Distributed Systems Inc. is now selling a commercially enhanced
software product based on his architecture.  Email to sla@isis.com to
inquire for details.  The product goes beyond Deceit by transparently
masking the roll-over from one file server to another, and by supporting
a fault-tolerant version of the LOCKD protocol, used by the flock system call.
-- 
Kenneth P. Birman                              E-mail:  ken@cs.cornell.edu
4105 Upson Hall, Dept. of Computer Science     TEL:     607 255-9199 (office)
Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 (USA)      FAX:     607 255-4428
From: ted@squall.cis.ufl.edu (Ted Johnson)
Newsgroups: comp.os.research
Subject: threads wanted
Date: 29 Aug 92 05:00:02 GMT
Organization: U of Florida. Computer Science Dept.
NNTP-Posting-Host: ftp.cse.ucsc.edu
Originator: osr@ftp


A little while ago, there was a running discussion of threads
packages.  I'm helping to develop a distributed application, and
the job is easier if we can use threads.
I'd appreciate it if someone can tell me where I can get access
to a threads package.  We're developing the system on decstations
running ultrix, and we'd prefer posix compatability.
  thanks
    Ted Johnson
From: schnee@sail.ncsl.nist.gov (Rick Schneeman)
Newsgroups: comp.os.research
Subject: System Call Matrix Needed
Date: 3 Sep 1992 01:08:36 GMT
Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz
NNTP-Posting-Host: ftp.cse.ucsc.edu
Originator: osr@ftp


As part of a larger study I ned to compare and contrast the 
various system calls used by the microkernel architectures. Some
systems use very similar system programming interface calls to
organize and implement the server processes on top of the microkernel.
Others use very specific ones; I would like to get a name, count and 
function listing of all particular microkernel system programming
interface calls involved; this way a matrix can quickly be formed to 
ascertain the predominance of certain functionality or the exclusiveness 
of others. I am appealing to each respective interest who has access to 
this information to forward this to me at the email address below. 
I really appreciate your time....

--
=======================================================
Richard Schneeman
National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST)
Computer Systems Laboratory (CSL)
Distributed Systems Engineering Group
Technology Building (225), MS-B266
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899 USA
schnee@sail.ncsl.nist.gov
=======================================================
From: gerns@informatik.uni-hildesheim.de (Arnd Gerns)
Newsgroups: comp.os.research
Subject: Workload Characterization for Distributed Systems
Date: 29 Aug 92 05:01:38 GMT
Organization: University of Hildesheim, Germany
NNTP-Posting-Host: ftp.cse.ucsc.edu
Originator: osr@ftp


   Hi!

   we found several papers concerned with workload characterization in
   centralized systems, but we have no papers about workload characterization
   in DISTRIBUTED systems.

   We would like to know, whether there exist any papers concerned with
   workload characterization in distributed systems. Any reference to
   such papers is appreciated.

   Thanks in advance,
   Goetz and Arnd.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Goetz Hatop, Arnd Gerns | Universitaet Hildesheim
                           | Institut fuer Betriebssysteme und Rechnerverbund
   Phone: +49 5121 883 755 | Samelsonplatz 1, D-W-3200 Hildesheim, Germany
   Fax:   +49 5121 883 749 | E-Mail: gerns@informatik.uni-hildesheim.de
From: Guido.van.Rossum@cwi.nl (Guido van Rossum)
Newsgroups: comp.os.research
Subject: implementing counting semaphores w. binary mutexes
Date: 29 Aug 92 04:59:31 GMT
Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz
NNTP-Posting-Host: ftp.cse.ucsc.edu
Originator: osr@ftp


(Excuse me if this is a bozo question -- I'm somewhat out of touch
with this field.)

I have a threads package that efficiently implements mutexes (binary
semaphores) with the usual lock and unlock operations.  Now I have the
need for a counting semaphore with down and up operations.  My
proposal to implement this is the following:

- a semaphore is a structure containing an integer "level" and two
mutexes, "mutex" (used to protect the data structure) and "block"
(used to block when a down operation finds the level at zero).

- to initialize a semaphore s:

	s.level = 0
	s.block = new_mutex()
	s.mutex = new_mutex()
	lock(s.block)

- to implement down(s):

	lock(s.block)
	lock(s.mutex)
	s.level = s.level - 1
	if s.level > 0: unlock(s.block)
	unlock(s.mutex)

- to implement up(s):

	lock(s.mutex)
	s.level = s.level + 1
	if s.level == 1: unlock(s.block)
	unlock(s.mutex)

I have two questions about this:

(a) has this implementation been described in the literature, and if
so, where?

(b) is it better or worse than other implementations, and why? (under
the assumptions that only binary mutexes are available)

(Note: I put this code in the Amoeba 4.0 library so some readers may
be familiar with it -- I'm asking for descriptions elsewhere...)

--Guido van Rossum, CWI, Amsterdam <guido@cwi.nl>
"Well I'm a plumber.  I can't act"