HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: hd@world.std.com (HD Associates)
Subject: VESA VL bus motherboard and hardware for 386BSD
Followup-To: comp.unix.bsd
Keywords: VESA-VL, 386BSD
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 16:01:44 GMT

I want to convert some NEC APC IVs to something suitable for running
386BSD by replacing the motherboard and using these parts scavenged
from some SONY NEWS 16Mhz 68020 (NWS-841) workstations:

Seagate WREN-? (maybe 4; Sony HD286) 286 MB SCSI drives,

SONY NWP-513 1280x1024 non interlaced fixed frequency monitors
(Horizontal scan: 63.82 kHz; Vertical scan: 60.43 Hz)

SONY QIC tape drive

SONY 1.44 MB SCSI floppy. (Probably not worth it)

I am looking for a motherboard with:

486DX-50 or 486DX2-66 ISA motherboard;
256K+ cache;
64MB+ memory;
VESA VL local bus with more than one slot.

On board SCSI or e-net would be a plus.

Initially I'll get things working using another SONY as an X-Terminal
and then when things are looking promising I'll be interested in
getting a VL bus graphics board capable of 1280x1024 8-bit 60.43
Hz non-interlaced graphics and supportable by Xfree86.

I am considering purchasing the Micronics "80486 VL-Bus System
Board" with 16 MB of memory (expandable to 64), 256K cache, 2 VL
slots and the 486DX2-66. I will round out this test system with a
3com 3C503 and Adaptec 1542B.

Now for my questions:

1. Questions, comments, criticisms?

2. Does the VL bus have 32 bit addressing?

3. Can anyone name names and model numbers for candidate mother
boards?

4. Does anyone have this Micronics motherboard?  Are you happy with
it? Are you running 386BSD?  What is your configuration?

5. Are any VL bus SCSI host adapters available now?  Is enough
documentation available to write a driver for Julian's SCSI system?

6. Can I use these fixed frequency monitors as long as I only use
them for X (that is, get the board set up for 1280x1024 60.43 Hz
during system boot time)?  Is there a graphics VL board that supports
1280x1024 60.43 Hz 8+ bits available now?

Peter Dufault
HD Associates
From: poege@iw.uni-hannover.de (Matthias Poege)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Computer upgrading problems
Date: 1 Oct 92 13:49:59 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Inst. f. Werkstoffkunde

In article <1992Sep28.145745.9799@nosc.mil> wildermu@nosc.mil (James H. Wildermuth) writes:
>Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
>Path: news!solaris.rz.tu-clausthal.de!Sirius.dfn.de!darwin.sura.net!spool.mu.edu!agate!dog.ee.lbl.gov!news!cod!wildermu
>From: wildermu@nosc.mil (James H. Wildermuth)
>Subject: Computer upgrading problems
>Message-ID: <1992Sep28.145745.9799@nosc.mil>
>Organization: Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA
>Distribution: usa
>Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 14:57:45 GMT
>Lines: 12


>Hi,
>        I am upgrading my old XT to a 386.  I am transfering my old hard disk
>and controller over to the new machine.  The hard disk is an ST238R and the 
>controller is an Adaptec ACB-2072.  I am also adding a MR535 drive.  These are
>all RLL components.  I have no information on the ST238R and I need the jumper
>settings to make this work on a two drive system.  The original setup had a
>one drive cable (no twist in it).  Also any suggestions on the setup of the
>controller would be appreciated.
>                        Thanks
>                        Jim Wildermuth


You must use a twisted cable and both drives must be configure as drive one, 
because the twisted end tells the controler that it is the drive two.

Good luck

Matthias

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*  Matthias Poege                 *                                         * 
*  Institut fuer Werkstoffkunde   *   E-Mail :     poege@iw.uni-hannover.de *
*  Universitaet Hannover          *      Tel.:     INT-49-511-762-4329      *
*  Appelstrasse 11 A              *      Fax.:     INT-49-511-762-3906      *
*  W 3000 Hannover 1; Germany     *                                         *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
From: JULIUS@BTVLABVM.VNET.IBM.COM ("Julius C. Chang")
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Cache memory speed
Date: 3 Oct 92 16:51:02 GMT

Going on memory, I am reasonably sure that my OPTi 82C493 chipset databook
says to use 20 ns SRAM for the cache and 12.5 ns SRAM for the tags for
50 MHz operation.  At 33 MHz, OPTi recommends 20 ns for the cache and
15 ns for the tags.  My 486DX-33 has 256 KB cache using 20 ns SRAM
for both the cache memory and the tags -- no problems seen in over one
year of service (Windows 3.0/3.1, OS/2 2.0, many DOS extender apps).

-Julius
------------------------------- Referenced Note ---------------------------
Subject: Cache memory speed
From: bolek@viewlogic.com (Boleslaw Ciesielski)
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 13:28:34 GMT

Hi,

I have a question about cache memory speed. What should be the correct
speed for 485DX-50 ? The dealer put 20ns, which seems kind of slow to me,
but I have no real knowledge of this stuff. Any info would be greatly
appreciated!

      Bolek
bolek@viewlogic.com
From: dave@frackit.UUCP (Dave Ratcliffe)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: BEWARE GATEWAY!
Summary: Clueless idjits need a lesson in the law
Date: 28 Sep 92 23:52:02 GMT
Article-I.D.: frackit.1661
Organization: Data Factory Services, Harrisburg, Pa.

In article <19qrgtINN1l3@news.aero.org>, macheske@aero.org (Richard M. Macheske) writes:
> >now, adding to the list:
> >The sent me the wrong version of EMM386.SYS!  I'm talking about the
> >wrong version on the hard drive, AND on the DOS 5.0 disks they sent me. 
> >These people obviously cannot handle their rapid success and quality has
> >suffered.

> You think that's bad, they've sent me upgrades I haven't ordered and
> tried to get me to pay the postage back.  Of course, a month later,
> I find out that my credit card had been charged.  This didn't once,
> but three times.  I hope they wake up!

Maybe a little reading of the law would help them, and you. If they sent
you something that was unsolicited on your part (ie. you didn't order
it) you are under no obligation to (A) pay for it or (B) return it. It
is to be considered a gift. If they further charged your credit card for
something you never ordered then they are treading into the area of
fraud and a quick call to your credit card company to put the charge in
dispute will get their attention. Make SURE the credit card company is
aware that you did NOT order the item in question and that it just
appeared in the mail out of nowhere. 

There is a law to back up the bit about keeping unsolicited items as
'gifts' but I'm afraid it's up to someone else to quote chapter and
verse on it. I'm aware of it's existance though. 


-- 
 ...uunet!wa3wbu!frackit!dave -or-                       |  Dave Ratcliffe  |
 frackit!dave@uunet.UU.NET -or- dave@frackit.uucp -or-   |  Sys. <*> Admin. |
 vogon1!compnect!frackit!dave@psuvax1.psu.edu            | Harrisburg,  Pa. |
From: lcsim@cstp.umkc.edu (Lin-Chow Sim)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Chipsets: OPTI or SIS ? Which would you prefer ?
Date: 1 Oct 92 02:46:16 GMT
Organization: Univ. of Missouri - Kansas City

In article <chans.717829072@marsh>, chans@cs.curtin.edu.au (Sean Chan) writes:
> bolek@viewlogic.com (Boleslaw Ciesielski) writes:
> 
> 
>>Hi,
> 
>>I am buying a computer for my father and the dealer has a choice of
>>motherboards with either OPTI or SIS chipsets. Does anybody have
>>good or bad experience with either of them ? If so, I would like to
>>hear! This is for ISA 486 DX-50.
> 
>>Thanks!
> 
>>     Bolek
>>bolek@viewlogic.com
> 
> Definitely OPTi!! I was told to stay away from UMC and SIS. So far, OPTi
> comes first, next comes ETEQ.
> 
> Sean

    I have been using a SIS chipset 486/33 /w 128K cache with no problem at
all.  Could you please elaborate on the reasons to stay away, I am curious to
know, since I still have 3 months left of warranty :)

-- 

+=============================================================================+
|                                  | Internet : <LCSim@vax2.cstp.umkc.edu>    |
|  Lin-Chow Sim                    |                                          |
|  Graduate Student                | BitNet   : <LCSim@UMKCVAX2>              |
|  Comp.Science/Telecomm. Program  |                                          |
|  University of Missouri          | Heartland: <lcsim@heartland.bradley.edu> |
|  Kansas City, Missouri           |                                          |
|  United States of America        |                                 	      |
|                                  |                                          |
+=============================================================================+
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: 486/50 Dies at 1024x768x256!
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 12:43:17 GMT

In <1992Sep26.165336.6617@cs.mcgill.ca> storm@cs.mcgill.ca (Marc WANDSCHNEIDER) writes:

>Here is some pretty intense weirdness:

>I just got a 486/50 with 16MB (4MBx9 x 4 60nx RAM) and it seems to be absol-
>utely perfect, except for a couple of REALLY scary things:

>However, it Dies on massive Parity errors and GP Faults when I run 8x6x256
>or 1024x768x256.  Even weirder is that they work mostly if I disable the system
>cache, and the only problem is that there are some random holes (really just
>small lines) missing and not being drawn fine.

>Does this point to a problem with my Diamond Speedstar 1MB, or the drivers
>perhaps???

I'm running a 486DX50 with a Diamond Speedstar and not having any
problems at all.  From the symptoms you describe, it sounds like
either a memory problem with your motherboard (when you disable the
cache the machine will insert waits and run slower) or that the
drivers you are using are scribbling over something.  Since you
mention GP faults, are your problems only happening in Windows, or do
you have problems from the DOS prompt if you set the resolution this
high?

>I didn't notice anything like this with the same card in a 40Mhz 386...

Well, I'm not seeing anything like what you describe, so there doesn't
seem to bbe any inherent reason that the parts shouldn't work
together.

-- 
"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
Subject: HELP: Connecting a printer to PC
From: Christopher.Norris@comp.vuw.ac.nz (Christopher David Norris)
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 03:38:52 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Comp. Sci., Victoria Uni. of Wellington, New Zealand.
Keywords: printer


I now own a Commodore PC40, and also have a Star NX-10C printer that
was used by a Commodore 64.

What I want to do is use the printer on my PC40.  The problem is that
the interface is different.

The PC40 has a RS 232 connection (9-pin Male D connector) and the
printer has a 6-pin DIN connection.

Can I buy a simple conversion plug to allow the PC40 to use the printer
OR sould I make one my self?

The pins coming out of the printer are
1  	serial SRQ in
2  	GND
3       serial ATN in/out
4       serial CLK in/out
5       serial DATA in/out
6       no connection

the PC40 has (RS232)
1       carier detect		<-
2       Recieve data	        <-
3       Transmit data		->
4       Data Terminal ready	->
5  	Signal ground
6       Data set ready		<-
7       Request to send		->
8       Clear to send		<-
9       Ring indicator		<-


I would think that the following connections are correct but am not
sure about the others.
   Printer				PC40
   2					5
   5					2,3

Any help would be greatly appreciated as this will save me buying a printer.

Thanks in advance
Chris Norris.

-- 
cnorris@comp.vuw.ac.nz
Chris Norris
Department of Computer Science
Victoria University of Wellington, N.Z
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: cpw8034@venus.tamu.edu (ALAN C. WEN (409)693-2924)
Subject: ***** Ah!!!!! For Speedstar24 and/or ViewSonic 5E owners...
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 19:12:00 GMT

I'm trying to desparately use DVPEG or any other program to display
Hi or True Color on my Diamond Speedstar24 (not x and not the original)
video card.  Under VIDSETUP for DVPEG, I've chosen the Tseng Hi-Color
drivers and although they test out fine by pressing the space bar, the
pictures don't seem to want to come up at all in the actual display.

Okay, next I thought that maybe I could remedy the problem by checking
which video resolutions actually supports Hi and True colors (and with
the correct sync's too) and set it up with VMODE MONITORS in my
Autoexec.bat too.  That didn't work.  I also set VMODE VESA in my auto
exec too... BTW, what does that actually do?  Does it take my any
kind of system resource like shadowing? 



Anyway, if anyone has seen hi or truecolors with their Speedstar24,
I'd greatly appreciate any help... oh, I forget to mention that I
do have 1Mb of video ram and I've disabled "panning" when viewing the
pictures if that had anything to do with it. 

thanks!
alan
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: u009@csx.cciw.ca (G. Stewart Beal)
Subject: Re: Dead/dying Seagate drive-help!
Organization: Canada Centre for Inland Waters
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 13:58:39 GMT

In article <1992Sep28.125654.9273@europa.asd.contel.com> markt@rocky.gte.com (Mark Tsombakos) writes:
>
>A friend of mine recently gave me a Seagate 7120 130M drive.  He told me he was
>having problems with it, and had to have it replaced.  Me, being the
>dedicated engieer and packrat, gladly took it from him.
>
>The problem with the drive seems to be that it fails to spin-up - sometimes.
>A friend told him it was a known problem with Seagate's drives of this type,
>and that the head(s) actually "stick" to the platter occasionally.  He
>
I have the same problem with an 80 meg Seagate SCSI drive. If it cools off
(onvernight or weekend) it sticks. I put it on a "hardcard" type frame in a
slot in the machine so I can pop it out and "spin" the drive on the platter
axis to free it up. Then I drop it back in the slot and power up. works in
95 % of the cases. the others need a second spin. I usually just leave the
machine on all the time turning the monitor off but we have occasional
outages in the building for whatever reason, so I haven't put the screws
back in the case for a long time. I haven't had any problems with the
drive 
but I religiously back up every 4-5 days to tape.
 
Regards, Stu Beal, VE3MWM, U009@CS.CCIW.CA,
National Water Research Institute, Burlington, Ontario, Canada.
 
"We'd made it through yet another nuclear winter and
 the lawn had just trapped and eaten it's first robin." - Kyle J. Spiller
From: v139r563@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Brian R. Talty)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: hard drive troubles
Date: 3 Oct 92 00:06:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

Dear Users:  When starting up the computer each morning, the computer doesn't 
recognize the hard drive.  It says go to CMOS setup.  I then put in the hard 
drive type and write it to CMOS.  Then the next morning the computer
doesn't recognize the drive. Please Email me direct if any one has any
suggestions on what to do. Thanks in advance.

-----
Brian R Talty                       Vax/Vms  :  v139r563@ubvms.cc.BUFFALO.Edu
University At Buffalo               UNIX     :  talty@acsu.BUFFALO.Edu
State University of New York        CWRUnet  :  bg786@cwns16.ins.CWRU.Edu
Buffalo, NY                   ///
                            \XX/Amiga Computer Systems
From: sergei@upenn5.hep.upenn.edu (Sergei Borodin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: QUESTION: Are IDE cacheing controllers better than Smartdrive?
Date: 7 Oct 92 01:26:09 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

In article <Bvpytn.Boo@ais.org> miax@ais.org (Kris Kortright) writes:

>      Im wondering, are those IDE cacheing controllers, the ones that can
>make your access time like 0.03 ms as opposed to 15 for my harddrive, and
>can have 8 megs on them, that are a 16 bit card better than programs like
>smartdrive or Qcache for speeding up harddrive loading?  The cards sound
>great, but someone said they thought the program ones were just as good, is
>this true?

  It cannot be true. All that program does is that it loads more sectors 
 into memory than have been requested.  During "writes" it suspends disk
 access until the buffer is filled up. Note that all this things are, in
 fact, done partially bu uP. Partially  - because 'smart drive' trys to 
 fool the requesting program by increasing the number of sectors to be
 read and telling that the write has been complete when heads hadn't
 been moved yet. Of course, all transfers are made through DMA between
 'smartdrive' buffer and a disk controller. 
  Furthermore, since the main program (I mean the program  DMA which is
 making request to the disk) allocates its own buffers the data has to 
 be transferred from/to the main programm buffer to a 'smart drive'
 buffer. That is by uP.

 From the other hand, cacheing controller makes all transfers on hardware
 level.  In simple case it could be just look-ahead buffer, which speeds
 up transfers of sequentially written files.
 Better controllers have tag memory and separate 'write' cache. 
 In either case, when program requests a sector to be read and if it
 is in the cache buffer, DMA transfer is initiated and data is moved
 from the controller's data register to the main program buffer.

 The main difference is that cacheing controller doesn't allocate
 memory in a processor address space and (till certain extent) needs
 no processor to be involved, when
  'smartdrive' requires additional processor intervention, which
 is very time consuming.

>	Kris 


 S.B.
From: msl30@ccc.amdahl.com (Michael Lucash)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: floppy disk problems
Date: 29 Sep 92 15:39:07 GMT
Reply-To: msl30@juts.ccc.amdahl.com ()
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

Hello everyone...

 Recently I noticed a problem with some of my 5 1/4" floppies that I have
had for a few years.  When I went to format them, they would format fine
but then when I went to write data to them I would get an unusable media
error.  I looked at the disk and found some white spots on the disk
surface itself.  The substance appeared thick enough to do some damage to
the drive heads so I just chucked the disk.  I then found more.  About
2 out of 10 were bad.

Searching throught the rest of my collection, which is all kept in the
same area, I think I might have found the cause.  On my disks that use
tyvek(?) sleeves there are no white spots.  But on the cheaper paper
sleeves these are where I started to find the spots.

My question is if anyone else has had or seen a similar problem?  Right
now I am in the process of changing all my sleeves over to Tyvek because
I have diskettes from 5 years ago that were kept in my cellar with Tyvek
sleeves that are still useable with no spots.


      Is this a potential problem or just bad luck?
            Michael Lucash  (msl30@juts.amdahl.com)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: mem28103@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Marc E. Munoz )
Subject: Re: Math Coprocessors
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 07:30:21 GMT

Ooops, In my reply i said that em87.zip was in the /msdos/emulators directory
of the WUARCHIVE mirror.  Well, it's not.  It's in the /msdos/sysutl directory.
While I was checking up on this they also had a file called 387.zip that 
emulates an 80387 chip.  If you can't find the files try archie.

-Marc
mem28103@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: feustel@netcom.com (David Feustel)
Subject: Re: BERNOULLI BERNOULLI
Organization: DAFCO: OS/2 Software Support & Consulting
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 00:05:12 GMT

Fred and John,

You two are both going into my kill file if you don't quit flaming
each other(in this group; feel free to continue privately if you
must). I will regret doing this since both of you are quite
capable of making constructive postings, but I'm really getting sick
of your bile.
-- 
Dave Feustel N9MYI <feustel@netcom.com>
 
[.sig on vacation]
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: rjones@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Ronald Jones)
Subject: Re: PS/2 SCSI - What's best?
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 17:54:16 GMT

In article <1992Oct5.111316.2996@actrix.gen.nz> dhaigh@actrix.gen.nz (David Haigh) writes:
>Ok folks. What's the SCSI controller of choice for a PS/2 Model 80
>(revision 0)?
>
>What are your experiences?
>
>I have fitted an IBM SCSI-II 512K caching & bus mastering controller
>to such a machine (with a 200MB connor disk). However, at most the
>drive moved 700KB/s - less than the antique ESDI 70MB disk.
>
>This was after I removed the AOX-486/25, ATI 8514/Ultra etc etc!
>
>The local supplier has pointed the finger at the BIOS - being old,
>and the fact that we aren't running OS/2. I don't beleive any of
>this - ok maybe the BIOS bit.
>
>Comments please!
>
>Dave.
>
Are you sure the Conner isn't the limiting factor? I have this SCSI
board too attached to an IBM 400MB drive I'll try some benchmarks. What
did you measure the speed with? I have run some of these (Core, Sysinfo,
spinrite) and found wildly different answers. I suspect these benchmark
programs.

The comment about OS/2 may be correct. It doesn't use the BIOS on your
80!




-- 
 < Ron Jones                   |    E-mail:       rj+@osu.edu   > 
 < The Ohio State University   |    Office:      (614) 292-1665 >
 < 338 West Tenth Avenue       |    FAX:(9-5PM)  (614) 292-7151 > 
 < Columbus, Ohio 43210        |        "eschew obfuscation"    >      
Xref: sparky comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:25480 comp.sys.intel:1783
From: malak@grebyn.com (Michael Malak)
Subject: VL-BUS specs
Keywords: VESA VL Local Bus Specification
Organization: Grebyn Timesharing
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 23:23:42 GMT

Where can I get the specs for the VESA local bus, VL-Bus?
The company I work for is interested in designing a board for it.
Thanks.


Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: stolk@fwi.uva.nl (Bram)
Subject: Re: Any diff's between Cyrix '387 and IIT '387 ?
Organization: FWI, University of Amsterdam
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 11:25:12 GMT

Hi,

wlsmith@valve.heart.rri.uwo.ca (Wayne Smith) writes:

>I initially wanted a Cyrix 33 mHz, but when my favorite mail-order house
>said that they just carried the IIT version, for $85, I bought it.
>Did I make a mistake?


Hell, no... the IIT is a very good copro.
Maybe the Cyrix will perform marginally better on multi purpouse
tests, but when it comes to the really nice applications 
(computer graphics, ray tracing, radiosity etc...) it's great
to have an IIT, cause it does a VERY fast 4x4 matrix multiplication.
(4x4 are used in homogeneous matrices, used for 3D graphics).
The nack is that you'll have to program the IIT yourself to
use this extra feature, which other copros dont have, but if
ya like some good hacking.... :-)

        Take care,

                Bram Stolk

+-------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| "Flying is a nack... the trick is   |  Bram Stolk (stolk@fwi.uva.nl)     |
|  to throw yourself at the ground,   |  Dept. of maths. & computer sience |
|  and miss..."  - Douglas Adams      |  University of Amsterdam           |
+-------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
                                  No, I dont use ms-winDOZE, I prefer Linux!

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware