HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: hulsej@sun.lclark.edu (Jose Hulse)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: new to PC's, need info/recommendations
Date: 26 Dec 92 09:15:54 GMT
Article-I.D.: lclark.1992Dec26.091554.1093
Distribution: usa
Organization: Lewis & Clark College, Portland OR

(originally posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games)

Hello all,                                                      

Having been a Mac person up to now (boo, hiss),  I nonetheless must   
acknowledge the plethora of game titles available and the really high
bang per buck ratio of currently available fully configured '486 systems
with SVGA monitors.  So now that I am considering a PC, I need to get
people's recommendations and some help concerning hardware choices.  Here
are some questions:                                                    

*what sound card to buy?

*for a game machine, is 486 DX at 33 Mhz enough?  Or should I go for 50?

*what is DX2?                                                          

*Most systems come bundled with DOS 5 and Windows 3.1.  What about OS/2?
 Can you run DOS and Windows stuff under this?

*what about video performance?  How to insure that video doesn't become
a bottleneck?

*what the heck is BIOS (some kind of ROM?)

*would 4 Mb RAM be plenty, or should I get 8?

*What the heck is local bus, ISA, VESA, EISA, and which should I have for
a game machine (not a networked system or file server or anything fancy, but
still want all the power I can get--those flightsims are getting complex)

*should I get a 200 Mb hard disk or greater?  Why do all the PCs have IDE
hard disks instead of SCSI?

*and finally, what is a good CD-ROM drive for such a machine?

Obviously, feel free to answer just one question if that's all you have
the time or inclination for.  Other than for gaming, I would use the machine
for word processing, the occasional spreadsheet and some C programming.
Actually, with all the changes happening and prices dropping like stones,
is renting a system a better option? (it goes against my grain, but I'd
rather not take a financial bath, thank you)
Thanks to any and all who respond!  Email and or posting is fine.

-Jose'

-- 
_______________________________________________
Jose' Hulse  hulsej@lclark.edu |  Four years ago, Bush said that if I voted 
for Dukakis I could expect crime,taxes and the deficit to go up.
I guess he was right...I voted for Dukakis and look what happened!
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: dhess@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Drew William Hess)
Subject: Princeton VGA monitor cable
Organization: CS Department, Stanford University, California, USA
Date: 22 Dec 92 07:11:18 GMT

I have an old Princeton monitor (capable of 800x600, a multi-sync); sorry, can't
remember the number, but it does 800x600 and it's about a 13" screen.  
Anyways, I've been running it off an EGA system until now; now I want to attach
it to a VGA adapter but the cable I have is the wrong type.  Does anyone
have *any* idea a) how I can contact Princeton (are they still in business?)
or b) where I can get the necessary cable?  Thanks.

-dwh-
dhess@cs.stanford.edu

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: rohrernl@helix.nih.gov (Nathan Rohrer)
Subject: Am I getting ripped off?
Organization: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 14:15:22 GMT

In article <rohrernl.76@helix.nih.gov> rohrernl@helix.nih.gov (Nathan Rohrer) writes:

>I've got a Sony CD-ROM drive in for repair and the technician tells me that 
>the "logic board" is out.  He says it will cost about $450. to repair.
>Does this sound right?  Is there such a thing in an External CD-ROM? The 
>CD-ROM drive could only read CDs about 1/4 of the time.  Any help would be 
>appreciated.





/*********************************************************************/
/*                       --- Nathan Rohrer ---                       */
/*  NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE, OFFICE OF SCIENCE POLICY AND LEGISLATION */
/*              MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS SECTION               */
/* BITNET: NLR@NIHNEI31                  BETHESDA, MD 20892-0031     */
/* INTERNET: rohrernl@helix.nih.gov      NIH 3Com: NLR:NEI31:NIH     */
/* CompuServe: 70670,3164                PHONE: 301 496-2194         */
/*                                                                   */
/* Disclaimer: Did you really think my views represented those of    */
/*             the United States Government?                         */
/*********************************************************************/
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: lauusitalo@tnclus.tele.nokia.fi
Subject: Re: The maxtor 213 meg drive is NOT 213 megs!
Organization: Nokia Telecommunications.
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 07:35:36 GMT


I am glad we got this byte thing cleared. But one thing I got to say
is that *M* is mega and *k* is kilo. If you use m then it is factor of 1/1000.
There is one G difference. And there is no K (unless you mean Kelvin,
and that has very little to do with this).

(I wonder who works with 486dx 50mHz computer. Does he ever get things done?)


-------------------------------------------------------------------
Lauri Uusitalo                 I          "Life is hard,          
lauri.uusitalo@ntc.nokia.com   I                then you die..."  
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: rsrodger@wam.umd.edu (Yamanari)
Subject: Re: 386SX-16 succeeds in high-speed download
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 03:43:40 GMT

In article <1992Dec24.033608.16376@cbfsb.cb.att.com> rnichols@cbnewsg.cb.att.com (robert.k.nichols) writes:
>Showing total disregard for conventional net.wisdom, on this date a
>lowly 386SX-16 clone has successfully completed a 500KB data transfer
>at 9600 bps using a Digicom Scout Plus internal modem and the Windows

	I've downloaded megs and megs from my (external) 9600
	on my SX20 laptop.



-- 
       "If you can't eat sand, why the hell are you living in a desert?"
     Equality is a delusion, suffering is a fairy tale and God is a fantasy.
                 Buy American as if your job depended on it.
       Blaming society for inequality is like blaming the sky for rain.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: SCSI hard drive question
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 21:03:06 GMT

In <1992Dec28.230052.124433@zeus.calpoly.edu> jowalker@zeus.calpoly.edu (Jonathan Walker) writes:

>Can anyone explain the advantages of a SCSI drive and controller over an
>IDE drive and controller?
>I have read that they actually perform worse than IDE drives. Is the
>only advantage that you can link numerous SCSI devices together?

Other than the ability to hang 7 devices from one controller, the main
advantage of SCSI is that the CPU can be off doing other things while
the drive and controller carry out their commands.  I don't believe
this is true for IDE.  Note that I'm talking about a real SCSI
controller and not some little cheap thing that doesn't really meet
the specs.

If you are running something that is only single-tasking, like DOS,
you'll probably be better off with IDE.  They're cheaper and faster,
although SCSI drives are typically available in larger sizes.

>Also, does a SCSI device require an EISA or LB slot or do they work in
>ISA slots?

SCSI is primarily ISA and EISA, although I've heard of at least one VL
model.  

-- 
"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.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: aa339@Freenet.carleton.ca (Etienne Tasse)
Subject: Re: MFM controller with 25 sectors/track
Reply-To: aa339@Freenet.carleton.ca (Etienne Tasse)
Organization: The National Capital Freenet
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 21:48:18 GMT


In a previous article, staffan@nynashamn.telesoft.se (Staffan K-E Ungsgard) says:

>
>Hi,
>I own an old Victor that has the HD controller built in on
>the motherboard. The HD is of a type using 25 sectors per
>track. I have tried to move this disk to other systems,
>just to find out that the cotroller card I've tried ( Western
>Digital only) doesn't support other than 17 sectors per track.
>Does anybody know where I can get a HD/floppy controller that
>will allow me to hook up my old 25 sec/track disk ? ( The disk
>is a 130 Meg one, so it's not something I'd like to toss.)
>
>-- 
>  Staffan Ungsgard 		: Internet:
>  Telesoft Norden AB		: Staffan.Ungsgard@nynashamn.telesoft.se  
>  Utsiktsvagen 10, 		: Phone: +46-8 52069014
>  Nynashamn, Sweden		: Fax:   +46-8 52020965
>

- One IMPORTANT thing: MFM with 25 sectors is actually RLL!

- Some info that would help us help you:

	The Make and Model# of that Hard Disk

	What kind of Interface the HD is using (ST412,ESDI,SCSI,IDE)
	(in case the model number is not enuf)
-- 
 Etienne TassEh? //  Internet> aa339@freenet.carleton.ca   //  Earth:
Ottawa, Canada  //  Fidonet> U=Floyd A=1:163/524          //  Mostly Harmless.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: David Mason <vid@zooid.guild.org>
Subject: Re: Environment for floppies/FD drive
Organization: ZOOiD BBS
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 05:42:13 GMT

loc@yrloc.ipsa.reuter.COM (Leigh Clayton) writes:
> I don't mind so much losing a few boxes of diskettes (although they do add up
>eventually), but I'm considering a DAT drive and I would be disappointed indeed
>to drop $2K only to discover that my media weren't lasting for some reason. I
>have seen very old mainframe hypertape read just fine, but admittedly they were
>kept in an airconditioned vault.
>

I see this too. Backups that I made a year ago on floppy diskette seem to be
unreadable now. Is diskette storage really this unreliable? Can I expect the
same thing of the tape backups that I have made?

My disks aren't in a basement, and they (for the most part) are stored in
their sleeves in a normal disk case. Aside from the ones that are chewed on by
cats or run over by roller-chairs.. :)

-- 
vid@zooid.guild.org             -->> ZOOiD Public Access Usenet 416 322-7876
Xref: sparky comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:34442 comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard:5865
From: mhemy+@cs.cmu.edu (Michael Hemy)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: ATI soundboard and windows drivers
Date: 30 Dec 92 13:31:37 GMT
Article-I.D.: cs.C02qwq.Ao0.1
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon

The sound drivers supplied by ATI for windows 3.1 have a conflict
problem with gaming software, when the latter is ran from windows.

I installed all the games (DOS versions) under windows and all those
that generate sound for a soundboard can not run. I get the message
"The sound driver is in use by another application..." When I use
"setup" to modify the drivers to "Creative Labs drivers" as supplied
by Microsoft, the programs with sounds work O.K. But then I am unable
to get sounds from the .WAV files supplied by ATI; I only get sounds
from the standard .WAV files supplied with Windows.

The ATI rep said this is a known problem which is due to a faulty
development kit supplied by Microsoft. As far as he knows NO GAMES can
be run from Windows with sound, regardless of the soundcard. Hmmm,
sounds strange [pun intended :-)].... it did work  with the OTHER
drivers!

So does anyone know how to get everything working: all the .WAV files.
all the games from windows, etc ???

--Michael
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc,comp.os.minix,comp.os.linux
From: hartnegg@sun1.ruf.uni-freiburg.de (Klaus Hartnegg)
Subject: Re: Good book on PC hardware programming ??????
Organization: Rechenzentrum der Universitaet Freiburg, Deutschland
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 92 18:37:03 GMT

mark@mark-one.inet-uk.co.uk (Mark Powell) writes:

>Anyone out there know of a good book, or possibly some ftpable docs,
>on low level PC hardware programming. eg the ins & outs of the FDC
>and how to format tracks, etc. etc.

Some hardware info is included in the helppc program
available from simtel as <msdos.info>helppc21.zip

I too would be interested in a book or file that includes
more info.
-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Klaus Hartnegg, Kleist-Str. 7, D-7835 Teningen, Germany   
hartnegg@sun1.ruf.uni-freiburg.de  or  hakl@ibm.ruf.uni-freiburg.de
Disclaimer: this text reflects MY opinion, not that of my employer!
Organization: University of Central Florida--Computer Services
Date: Monday, 21 Dec 1992 21:52:07 EST
From: Bill Laird <COP80196@UCF1VM.BITNET>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: ATI is making me mad
 <92349.120353COP80196@UCF1VM.BITNET>
 <1992Dec16.073836.22047@pslu1.psl.wisc.edu>
 <BzMo3t.5Fz@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu>

In article <BzMo3t.5Fz@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu>, ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu
(Iskandar Taib) says:

[:stuff deleted:]


>Anyone who can call anything associated with Trident "HOT" deserves to
>use their cards 9-) No thanks. I'll wait till NT, meanwhile Windows 3.1
>works fine.
>
That is a matter of opinion. Trident offers a viable solution to os/2 users
who want high resolution. They are one of the few manufacturers who have not
been blinded by the annoying reflection of windoze. While you wait for NT
(aka OS/2 3.0), you may want to upgrade your hardware unless you already have a
486 50 with 16 mb of ram. Initial reviews are that it is a memory hog
even by os/2's standards!
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Iskandar Taib)
Subject: Re: I'm sick of off-white computers!
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 06:23:42 GMT

In article <MORGAN.92Dec19145357@dl5000.bc.edu> morgan@dl5000.bc.edu (Morgan Stair) writes:

>Airbrushed computer cases.  What a concept.  But seriously, if you
>want a new case that bad, order one for $75 in computer shopper.  I
>remember seeing an add with about 50 different cases.  You ought to be
>able to find one somewhere.  I've seen black cases at computer shows.

Hmmmmm

Problem is how well would the _monitor_ take to spray painting?




-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iskandar Taib                          | The only thing worse than Peach ala
Internet: NTAIB@SILVER.UCS.INDIANA.EDU |    Frog is Frog ala Peach
Bitnet:   NTAIB@IUBACS                 !
From: bryanw@rahul.net (Bryan Woodworth)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: *** HELP ME PICK A WINDOWS ACCELERATED CARD, PLEASE! ***
Date: 23 Dec 92 01:41:09 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: a2i network

In <palane.725065321@pv742b.vincent.iastate.edu> palane@iastate.edu (Paul A. Lane) writes:

>I might suggest you take a look at the current PC Magazine. There's a
>comprehensive review of accelerator cards, including the Diamond Speedstar
>but not the Stealth. The editors picked the ATI Graphics Ultra Plus, the
>Metheus Premier 1280NI, and the NDI Volante A%600 Plus as their favorites.

What is the name of the magazine?  "PC Magazine"?  I looked in PC World,
but found just skimmed coverage.

Also, in which issue of Byte is this accelerated card information?  I
looked in the December Byte but there was nothing.

>They recommeneded the SpeedSTAR 24X as a good lower-cost alternative.

>Paul
-- 
Bryan Woodworth <bryanw@rahul.net>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: gisie@wam.umd.edu (Satan)
Subject: Re: Why memory costs doubled
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 20:16:19 GMT

In article <BzzID0.1zC@fc.hp.com> chuckc@fc.hp.com (Chuck Cairns) writes:
>Joe Trott (joet@dcatlas.dot.gov) wrote:
>: phillip@kiwi.gen.nz (Phillip Hardy) writes:
>: 
>: >noel@reg.triumf.ca (NOEL) writes:
>: >: 	I am still peaved that RAM prices have doubled overnight seamingly
>: certain business interests found it easier to complain than to compete.
>: Granted, the Koreans were "dumping" at below cost, but people who are not                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Interesting note - the Japanese have been doing this for years.  They
will enter a market, dump products below cost until all of the
competition goes under trying to keep up, then they have the consumer
by the proverbial jewels...

They dont see this practice as wrong, as it is life in Japan...
Business is war and what is wrong to some (USA) its how its done
in another place (Japan)...

Doomo...

Tim

-- 
gisie@wam.umd.edu
"How will these windows affect my final document?"
From: jchavez@td2cad.intel.com (Joas Chavez)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Buying a 486
Date: 31 Dec 92 20:28:54 GMT
Organization: Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA USA

In article <Dec.30.22.40.49.1992.7870@trident.usacs.rutgers.edu> quadri@trident.usacs.rutgers.edu (Hasan M. Quadri) writes:
>
>I'm thinking of buying a 486, but I'd like to hear from others on what
>they think would be the best system.  I'm looking into a 486 system
>that is under $1500.  At the moment, I've decided on a Gateway 2000
>486SX/25 for 1495.  I've heard alot about Gateway on it's quality, is
>it really what everyone is saying?  Any input would be appreciated.
>Thanks

Hasan
	I sugest you look around and if you can built one for yourself
then do it.  The price for the SX your are trying to purchase is a
little bit too high.  For that price you can get a 486dx33, 4megRAM,
SVGA monitor, case, floppy drive 3.5ht, KB, so, you look around.  Me
too, I am going to upgrade my 386 to 486DX266.


jojo
From: dsc3pzp@nmrdc1.nmrdc.nnmc.navy.mil (Philip Perucci)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Noisy disk drive after upgrade!
Date: 1 Jan 93 23:04:08 GMT
Organization: Naval Medical Research & Development Command

In article <1993Jan1.212454.3532@njitgw.njit.edu> scr2275@hertz.njit.edu (Samuel C. Ramac) writes:
>Hi!
>
>  I upgraded my 286 motherboard to a 486 sx board but now I am having 
>some problems with my disk drives (two 1.2 MB).  They are noisy and I'm
>getting errors whenever I write to them.  Does this mean that I need a new
>controllers? 
>

Bang! (shot it the dark)

IF you don't already have it set that way, try 1 waitstate.  I have
read a number of postings about HD (not floppy, though) problems about
not having enough waitstates.

-- 
===========================================================================
  phil perucci      | "Any opinions expressed are solely my own views and 
  ssb1pzp@digex.com |  do not reflect the position of any organization"
===========================================================================
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: t06@clark.edu (Torry Schreiner)
Subject: Viewsonic monitors
Organization: Clark College, Vancouver, Wa.  USA
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 04:50:09 GMT

I'd like to see some opinions about the Viewsonic 5E and 6 monitors.  I
would also like to hear of other comparable monitors.  I will be using a
Diamond Speedstar 24X video card.

Thanks in advance.
-- 
It's not very good to just know a little about a lot and a lot about 
     little and then let everybody know just how much you know.
                Just ask me.  I'll tell ya about it.
             Torry V. Schreiner  (a.k.a. t06@clark.edu)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: mhemy+@cs.cmu.edu (Michael Hemy)
Subject: HELP:...Puzzle #3 Performance issues
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 22:07:11 GMT

Performance issues...

Well now that you have your "dream computer", how do you know that it
performs as you would expect it? Is there a benchmark which has a
minimum expected performance index for a given set of hardware, that
can be compared against your results?

Is 20 nsec SRAM good enough for a 486 DX2/66 ?

What is the expected transfer rate for an IDE Local BUS controller ?

-- Michael

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: michael@Canada.lsil.com (Michael Smith)
Subject: Re: ISA vs EISA vs Local Bus, 486/50, which ch
Reply-To: michael@Canada.lsil.com
Organization: LSI Logic Corporation of Canada, Inc.
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 15:32:39 GMT

In article 85589@ut-emx.uucp, dougmc@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Doug McLaren) writes:
>I'm now in the market for a new motherboard for my 386/33 machine ...
>I'm thinking 486/50 ...
>So I'm going through the Computer Shopper, checking prices, and find I have
>lots of questions ...
>   - EISA or ISA or Local Bus.  
>     - Will EISA do me any good if I still have ISA cards ?
>     - How much faster is Local Bus?

"Local Bus" is a meaningless phrase, since there aren't many machines that put
anything on the local bus.  The only things I've seen so far on a local bus
are a VGA controller and an FPU (Weitek).


>   - Chipsets : Vega, Opti, American Digicom, Micronics, AMI, Compat, Free ...

You forgot about Headland!  If you get a "DX2" machine, the Headland HTK342 
(aka Shasta) is much faster than any of the above mentioned ones.  This probably
won't show up much in DOS stuff, but for UNIX or Windows apps, there will be a
big difference.

>     - Any specific chipsets to look for / avoid?
>     - Any 'quirks' to look for / avoid ?
>       ( right now I'm running OS/2 and DOS, and plan to play w/ Linux later )

Looks like a Headland chipset would be up your alley

>   - Mail order: Any places to look for / avoid ?

Call up Dell - they have a Headland DX2 system available.

>     - Right now, I'm looking at ads from: Motherboard Warehouse, Dee One
>       Systems, Treasure Chest Peripherals, Hard Drive Super Source (for
>       memory ...) and Zora Computer.
>       Any of these places (or others) that I should buy from or avoid?
>       Any advice ?  (I've never bought anything big like this via mail order.)
>   - Any good / cheap places to buy 4megx9 60 ns simms ?
>
>Thanks ... 
>   Doug McLaren




---
     Michael Smith - Chipset Design Engineer

Phone: (416) 620-7400         michael@canada.lsil.com
Fax:   (416) 694-5005

    _/     _/_/   _/_/_/   _/                   _/
   _/    _/        _/     _/ 
  _/      _/_/    _/     _/     _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/ _/_/_/
 _/         _/   _/     _/     _/  _/ _/  _/ _/ _/
_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/   _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/ _/_/_/
                                        _/   LSI Logic Corp. of Canada, Inc.
                                   _/_/_/   Suite 1110, 401 The West Mall
                                           Etobicoke, Ontario
                                          M9C 5J5


Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: faunt@netcom.Netcom.COM (Doug Faunt N6TQS 510-655-8604)
Subject: disk controller info- WD1006V-SM2 F000 X7
Organization: at home, in Oakland
Distribution: comp
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 04:26:21 GMT

A friend of mine has this controller in a 386, and would like to hook
up a Maxtor XT1140 to it.  I looked in the WD files on simtel, and it
looks like it might work, but we don't know the procedure necessary.
The Maxtor has 15 heads, 916 cylinders.  She's got a 40Mb drive as
unit 0.  The number for the WD BBS given in an earlier message seems
to be out-of-service.

I'll be watching this group, or you can send me mail at
faunt@netcom.com.

thanx, doug