HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: dgdhome!ddavis@meaddata.com (Don Davis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Where's the CGA/MONO switch?
Date: Mon, 06 Apr 92 21:05:13 EDT
Distribution: world
Organization: The Dayton Home for the Chronically Strange

storpis@cutter.ucdavis.edu (Sharif Torpis) writes:

> I am trying to install a monochrome monitor in an IBM PC/XT (8088) that
> previously had a CGA monitor attached. Now I believe there is a switch
> or jumper location on the motherboard that has to be toggled but I don't
> know which one it is. Does anyone know where the location is on the
> motherboard? Or at least the general area?

There's only one bank of 8 switches on the main board. It'll be in the
middle of the mainboard, someplace between the power supply and the first
expansion card. It may be obscured by the rear end of a disk drive, or
the cables to/from the drive(s).

Switches 5 and 6 in that bank control the Initial Active Monitor and
mode selection.

      5    6
     ON   ON   -  no monitor, or EGA
     OFF  ON   -  40x25 CGA mode
     ON   OFF  -  80x25 CGA
     OFF  OFF  -  Monochrome Adapter (MDA)

Be advised that you must not only replace the monitor, but also the
video adapter card inside the PC.  The CGA and MDA both use a DB-9
connector, but they are not wired the same. Plugging a monochrome
monitor into a CGA card (or a color monitor into an MDA) will NOT
work, and will probably damage either the monitor or the adapter
card.

Note: there are some exceptions to this - a few companies make some
very clever monitors or CGA/MDA adapters which will auto-detect the
type of equipment they are attached to. If you do not _KNOW_FOR_SURE_
that you have one of these, DON'T assume it.

Best of luck!

Don Davis (dgdhome!ddavis@meaddata.com) | Standard disclaimer applies.
 When all is said and done, why is it that most people keep talking?
From: aruggeri@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Anthony R. Ruggeri)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Video Upgrade
Date: 14 Apr 92 20:42:57 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Princeton University
Originator: news@ernie.Princeton.EDU

I'm planning to upgrade my Paradise 512k SuperVGA card to something with
more color capabilities, and the Boca XVGA 1meg looks like about the
best value around.  Does anyone know anything about this card or any
others that might be better with the same kind of performance and
capabilities?  I want to be able to run 1024x768x256 in WIndows, as well
(possibly) as 640x480x32767.  For the hi-res driver, I want to be able
to use what is often referred to as "small font" mode, i.e. VGA resolution
with more space, instead of the standard 8514/A size windows.  Any info
would be much appreciated!
-- 
---------------------------------------------------------
Anthony R. Ruggeri         aruggeri@phoenix.princeton.edu
   Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
 "May you live in interesting times." -Chinese curse
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: huot@cray.com (Tom Huot)
Subject: Gateway bashing again ...
Keywords: Okay, enough already
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Date: 7 Apr 92 15:49:58 CDT

I have had very good luck with Gateway myself. I do agree that they can
be a little slow to answer the phones or send out a product, but I do
think they are at least trying to keep up. They have obviously grown
too fast and that can be tough. The easy solution would be for them to
raise their prices and not give bargains to their former customers. Then
they would make just as much money. In fact, they could become just like
Northgate or Dell. Charge more and the hell with their former customers.
Personally I would rather put up with the way it is now and hope they 
can make it through the expansion ok. 


-- 
*****************************************************************************
* Tom Huot				email address: huot@pittpa.cray.com *
*****************************************************************************
From: darrylo@hpnmdla.sr.hp.com (Darryl Okahata)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Anyone know a good ISA SCSI card?
Date: 16 Apr 92 00:15:04 GMT
Organization: HP Network Measurements Div, Santa Rosa, CA

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware, pdg@crosfield.co.uk (paul goffin) writes:

> Does anyone know of an ISA SCSI card which will work
> with a CDC disk?

     I'd guess that the most-often-supported SCSI card is the Adaptec
1542 card.  It's not cheap, as it contains a separate processor for
managing the SCSI bus, but it is the card to get if you plan on running
a PC Unix or (maybe) OS/2.  You can buy cheap SCSI controllers for your
PC, but these controllers will use your PC's CPU to do all the busy
work.  "Bus-mastering" controllers like the Adaptec 1542 will let your
CPU do something else while the controller is off getting data from the
hard disk.  This can cause performance increases when used with a
multitasking environment like Unix or OS/2, especially if multiple
drives are used.

     However, note that such bus-mastering controllers buy you nothing
under MSDOS, as MSDOS has no real way to do "something else" while it is
waiting for data from the hard disk.  In fact, with Windows 3.1, a
bus-mastering SCSI controller will not give you performance as good as
an IDE drive.  This is because Win 3.1 has a special "fastdisk" IDE disk
driver, which bypasses the normal HD ROM bios and talks directly to the
controller.  With a bus-mastering SCSI controller, Win 3.1 must still
use the ROM bios, which supposedly does not give very good performance
compared to the "fastdisk" IDE driver.  Also, the version of SMARTDRV
that comes with Win 3.1 seems to cause a significant performance
DECREASE if used with a bus-mastering SCSI controller (SMARTDRV must be
used with such controllers, unless the ASPI4DOS driver or a third-party
disk cache is used).

     If you're building a system from scratch and plan on running only
MSDOS, get IDE drives instead of SCSI ones.  That way, you'll save
yourself a lot of heartburn.

     -- Darryl Okahata
	Internet: darrylo@sr.hp.com

DISCLAIMER: this message is the author's personal opinion and does not
constitute the support, opinion or policy of Hewlett-Packard or of the
little green men that have been following him all day.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: chin@cs.sfu.ca (( Fred Chin ))
Subject: Installing 720K 3.5" on an 286 AT 
Organization: Simon Fraser University
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 00:59:16 GMT


Greeting,
       I have a 286 AT Pheonix Bios Ver. 1.58. Yesterday, I took out  its
1.2M 5.25" disk drive and replaced it with a 3.5" 720K disk drive. I went to 
the Bios setup and change the drive to 720K dirve. Well, weird thing happens
from then. I ran Norton SI and it found a 1.2M and 360K ( the old config. )
instead. But, it showed that the CMOS value has 720K instead of a 1.2M
drive. What's happening here? I can read and write files onto the 720K
disk with no problem but can't format it. ??? Where do or DOS SI get the 
1.2M info.??? HELP!!! and Thanks in advance.

FRed         hchin@sfu.ca -- internet
             hchin@SFUVAX -- Bitnet
>
>
>       
>
>Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
>Subject: Re: MSdos 5.0 install disk
>Summary: 
>Expires: 
>References: <1992Apr09.174152.97918@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu>
>Sender: 
>Followup-To: 
>Distribution: 
>Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
>Keywords: 
>
From: carlf@panix.com (Carl Fink)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Generic CADD file format
Summary: I need to convert Generic CADD files into more common formats
Keywords: graphics, conversion, Generic CADD, CAD
Date: 11 Apr 92 02:30:40 GMT
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC


  Hi.  I work in the Training department of a large company, and one thing
we do is improve people's presentation materials.  We've largely standardized
on Harvard Graphics for our training sessions.  

  The problem is, one of our people did all his slides using Generic CADD, and
from what he says the file formats are completely incompatible with anything
else.  I myself am completely unfamiliar with Generic CADD.

  Is there a way to make GC output a standard file form, like CGM or PCX?  Is
there a (cheap or free, preferably free or shareware) program available that
can read Generic CADD files and output a standard format?

  Thanks in advance for any help.


-- 
==============================================================================

Carl Fink                   carlf@panix.com
                            CF427620I@LIUVAX.BITNET
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: russest@ampex.com (Steve Russell)
Subject: Re: Old 486-25 MBoard
Organization: Ampex Corporation, Redwood City CA
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 19:20:45 GMT

In article <701841136.6848@zooid.guild.org> vid@zooid.guild.org (David Mason) writes:
>Hi,
>
>I have an oldish (not exactly sure, I bought it used) 486-25 motherboard. It
>uses an Intel chipset, has no external cache (but it has the internal 8k
>cache, obviously) and has the RAM in DRAM form on a 32bit expansion card only.
>It works great, except for one thing. When I'm under Windows, it has problems
>accessing the floppies. In fact I get a variety of unusual reactions from the
>system, ranging from errors to sudden returns to DOS to total lock up. The
>floppies are 3.5" and 5.25" HD and work fine with another MBoard.
>
>It has an Award BIOS. The Award BIOS does have extended options but they are
>only to turn basic shadowing and some caching (ROM caching?) on or off. There
>is no option for controlling the bus speed, DMA speed, and so on, which is
>what I would suspect. The controller is an IDE floppy/hard disk controller
>combination. Other cards in the system are a Soundblaster 1.5 (interupt 7), a
>Roland MIDI card, an ATI XL card in 16 bit mode, an a standard I/O card (two
>serial, parallel, game).
>
>Any suggestions would be appreciated. I got the board cheap enough that just
>getting a new motherboard and transferring the 486 over would be worthwhile,
>but I'd rather work it out.
>
>Thanks!

If you can change only one board, replace the IDE card with a CCAT-200 or 400
(the 400 has serial/parallel ports, too). The 200 should be about 15-20 bucks.

We've has loads of problems with fast 386 and 486's with IDE controllers. The
CCAT series seems to handle it.

A way to test the controller is to install FASTBACK. The installation test
beats the dickins' out of the controller and DMA channels.

-steve
From: Haibo.Yu@bbs.oit.unc.edu (Haibo Yu)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Looking for Intel SnapIn 386
Date: 13 Apr 92 19:54:49 GMT
Organization: Extended Bulletin Board Service

Hello

I need to buy an Intel's SnapIn 386 (for PS/2 50/60s).  Is there any
place I can order it by mail?  Please list the price too.  Intel
lists its suggested price at $495.  So I expect the street price to
be lower.

Thanx in advance
haibo
--
   The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
     North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
        Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
           internet:  bbs.oit.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
From: rob@rjck.UUCP (Robert J.C. Kyanko)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: What is a Weitek coprocessor?
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 92 18:01:27 EDT
Organization: RJK Enterprises, Orlando, FL

dlab_macmill@winkle.bhpese.oz.au writes:

> Hi everyone,
> 
> 	I have recently purchased a 33Mhz 486 DX (optima) machine. I noticed in
> the mother board users manual than the board has an upgrade socket for a
> Weitek coprocessor. Could someone please explain to me what this is seeing th
> the 486 DX has a built-in coprocessor anyway!

The Weitek coprocessor is I think a memory mapped device which is supposed to
be upto 2-3 times as fast as the corresponding Intel part.  This performance
varies from family to family (ie. 386/486).  The main drawback is the
compatibility issue, they are also not cheap either.  They are not compatible
with the 387; you must have software which specifically supports it.

-----------
I am not responsible for anything I do or say -- I'm just an opinion.
             Robert J.C. Kyanko (rob@rjck.UUCP)
From: Alan.Gilbertson@f230.n3603.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Alan Gilbertson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: AMI password
Date: Mon, 06 Apr 92 20:40:24 EDT
Organization: FidoNet node 1:3603/230 - CSFSO Telecomm, Clearwater FL

Monday April 06 1992, "Julius C. Chang" writes to All:

 "C> As for why one needs to disable the password protection from the
 "C> outside, the answer lies in reading the posts to this group.  How many
 "C> people have asked for help when they forgot their AMI password?  How
 "C> many systems have a soldered-in battery so that removing the CMOS
 "C> battery backup is not a viable solution?

The standard solution I've used for thoroughly scrambled or otherwise inaccessible CMOS is to gently remove the CMOS chip itself, and let it sit on its pins on the power supply case.  This dissipates any residual charge in the CMOS, is inherently static free, and returns the chip to virgin state.  No need to disconnect the battery, which (as you pointed out) is often a soldered-in NiCad on modern motherboards.


--  
Internet: Alan.Gilbertson@f230.n3603.z1.FIDONET.ORG
UUCP: ...!uunet!ndcc!tct!psycho!230!Alan.Gilbertson
Note:psycho is a free gateway between Usenet & Fidonet. For info write to
     root@psycho.fidonet.org.
Xref: sparky comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:13388 comp.os.os2.misc:10750
From: t06@clark.edu (Torry Schreiner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,comp.os.os2.misc
Subject: Re: Request for info on SCSI Adapters
Date: 8 Apr 92 01:21:45 GMT
Article-I.D.: clark.1992Apr8.012145.18346
Organization: Clark College, Vancouver, Wa.  USA

In article <1992Apr3.183241.11890@digi.lonestar.org> jgay@digi.lonestar.org (john gay) writes:
>In article <1992Apr3.041555.15039@casbah.acns.nwu.edu> michael@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Michael MacFarland) writes:
>>
>>There are some usage notes
>>All adaptec adapters:
>>SCSI hard disks must be configed to ID 0 or 1 to be able to start up from
>>that hard disk.
>>
>>Adaptec AHA-154x
>>Adapter BIOS will not recognize the drive as Target 0 or 1.  drive can be
>>used as a non-startup drive.
>
>
>Does this mean that a SCSI HD connected to an Adaptec AHA-1542 can not
>be the boot disk in a system?  The way I read this I have to buy another
>HD (like IDE) just to boot with OS/2.  Can this be true?  More importantly,
>is this true?
>
>Please someone with an Adaptec 1542 and only one hard disk tell me that
>they can boot OS/2.

The way I read it it means the controller only has control of 0 and 1 on
boot-up but after the boot sequence is over the drivers make it possible to
control the rest.
-- 
The key to life is one thing.  It's up to you to figure out what it is.
                                    - Kurly in City Slickers 
     Torry V. Schreiner                                       t06@clark.edu
From: tomb@tandon.com (Tom Barrett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Minimum number of 4Meg SIMMs?
Date: 9 Apr 92 16:59:27 GMT
Article-I.D.: tandon.1992Apr9.165927.24675
Organization: Tandon Corporation, Moorpark, CA

>A mother board for a 386DX or a 486 COULD be designed to take [16] bit
>memory interactions and stall the processor while it made up the 32
>bits out of two 16 bit transactions with real memory, but that would
>trash the speed. 

Actually... if the processor had adequate cache memory, this would not 
be so much of a problem as you think.  Speed can be "made-up" in the way
the processor handles write cycles.

Furthermore, not all code is 32-bit code... PUSH/POPs and
memory accesses are still typically 16-bit.  There ARE 32-bit accesses,
like code fetches and interrupt table accesses, so these do account for 
the small decrease in performance... but like I said, other engineering
innovations can help counteract these limitations.

I certainly wouldn't advocate for the 16-bit system for server applications
or for UNIX (or Windows NT when it hits the retail shelves), but for
everyday use this is a good way to get most of the power of the 32-bit
processors to those with 16-bit budgets.


-- 
Tom Barrett (TDBear)        tomb@tandon.com                  voice 805-378-6207
Tandon Corporation          1:102/1006.6@fidonet.org           fax 805-529-8895
Sr. HW Design Engineer      "War is Peace, No is Yes, And We're All Free!" 
[The views expressed herein may not be shared by the organization of origin]
From: steveh@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au (Steven Hayes)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: New sound blaster - is it out?
Date: 13 Apr 92 12:37:38 GMT
Organization: Comp Sci, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia

Hi People,

Hope this question hasn't been flogged to death. Is the new, 4 operator
per voice, sound blaster pro available? I was in a store the other day
looking at a box for the SB pro. The box seemed to indicate that this 
infact was the 4 operator (new) SB pro. But the chip names were mentioned,
and they _weren't_ cited as being OPL3 chips (but they were yamaha). 
I don't remember the numbers the box gave :-(

Does anyone have the new SB pro? If yeah, please mail me the chip ID numbers
as given on your box. I want the new board, but I _don't_ want to make a
$400 mistake!

Thanks
-- 

   Steven Hayes                                    |  steveh@cs.rmit.edu.au
   Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)  |  +61 3 660-2693
From: carpenter@vixvax.mgi.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Gateway 486-33DX, -50DX2, same price!
Date: 13 Apr 92 18:55:29 GMT
Article-I.D.: vixvax.1992Apr13.135529.1764
Organization: Management Graphics, Inc.

I called Gateway this morning to order a 486-33DX, and was told that they
had, just moments earlier, begun a promotion offering their 486-50DX2 at
the same price.  Is this a deal to jump at, or are there significant
instances where the effective speed of the 50MHz system will be only 25MHz?
============================================================================
I was going to buy a copy of _The_Power_of_Positive_Thinking_, but then I
thought, "What the hell good would that do?"
============================================================================
Dave Carpenter                                       Voice:   (612) 851-6142
Management Graphics                                    FAX:   (612) 851-6159
1401 E. 79th St.                        Internet:   carpenter@vixvax.mgi.com
Bloomington, MN   55425
From: rdippold@cancun.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: OS/2 and AMI Incompatability
Date: 9 Apr 92 17:46:16 GMT
Article-I.D.: cancun.rdippold.702841576
Organization: Qualcomm, Inc., San Diego, CA

ewolf@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Eric Wolf) writes:
>With this "free" upgrade in the summer for Windows 3.1 compatability built-in
>will it also include the 32-bit graphics engine (that I hear is *not* in
>OS2 2.0)?

Yes, the 32-bit graphics engine was one of those marginal things.
Almost done, but not enough time to completely test and integrate
before March 31...   The current 16/32 isn't that bad, but more speed
is always good.

>Also, I have an ATI VGA Wonder card w/ 512k and am wondering if I will be
>able to use OS2 2.0 in anything above 640x480 on it straight out of the box?

You need drivers from ATI.
-- 
If I owned Texas and Hell, I would rent out Texas and live in Hell. -- Sheridan
From: wwitt@adara.intel.com (Wolf Witt)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: 386SX Question
Keywords: 386SX, AMI BIOS
Date: 7 Apr 92 19:41:22 GMT
Reply-To: wwitt@adara.UUCP (Wolf Witt)
Organization: Santa Clara Microprocessor Division, Intel Corp., Santa Clara, CA

In article <1992Mar28.021336.23574@tandon.com> tomb@tandon.com
(Tom Barrett) writes:
>
>>Maybe a stupid question: Will a 486SX proc. work if just plugged in
>>where the 386 proc. was?
>
>As you may have seen elsewhere in this newsgroup (there was a posting 
>about an article in the Dallas Morning News) or in the various trade 
>Journals (like EETimes and the Microprocessor Report), Cyrix Corp
>is planning to announce a 386 chip replacement with an internal 
>cache pretty soon. 

Not to put down Cyrix or anybody else, but...

People who think that the Cyrix part will dramatically increase
performance in existing 386SX systems due to the internal cache are
overlooking something: The internal cache won't work in existing
systems.

A part with an internal cache like the i486 or Cyrix' part need
additional pins for cache coherency control (e.g. KEN and FLUSH on
the 486). If a system board is not set up to manage these pins,
the cache won't work. So, the cache in the Cyrix part can only be
enabled if the system board is designed with this goal in mind.

Wolf

=> Wolf Witt, Design Engineer     <=> You say there is a bug in this chip?   <=
=> x86 Focus Group, Intel Corp.   <=> No, no, you don't understand...        <=
=> wwitt@smdvx1.intel.com         <=> This is a feature!                     <=
=> I speak for myself. Nobody ever listens to what I have to say anyway.     <=
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: pszemkow@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Paul Szemkow)
Subject: Chips & Technology
Organization: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 92 15:52:45 EDT

I need to replace a chip from the Chips & Technology's 4 piece NEAT chip
set.  This chip is designated as the Integrated Peripheral Controller with
ID # p82c206.  This chip is on a JDR 286 motherboard running at 20Mhz.  The
problem is that the floppy disks no longer work, but they check out on 
another computer!  I have tried C&T and their suggested local outlets, but
they all seem to have a minimum order requirement (like 75 pieces).  Does 
anyone know where I may be able to get this chip as a single piece order?
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware