HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: soyring@VNET.IBM.COM ("John A. Soyring")
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
Subject: Reply to Mr. Gordon Letwin
Date: 30 Jul 92 13:37:36 GMT


 Dear Mr. Letwin:

 The attached note was appended to comp.os.os2.misc identifying you as the
 author. Since the attached note states that either you, or one of your bosses,
 received "threatening letters" from IBM lawyers, I wanted to be sure that
 we investigated this matter.

 IBM's lawyers have searched our files and they have found no letters sent
 to you -- on any subject. To the best of their recollections, they recall
 sending no such letters to you.

 Would you please send to me copies of the letters you reported. Or please
 send to me the name of the attorney who signed the letter and the date
 of the letter. I will be happy to have this followed up for you since
 you were expecting a reply.

 Sincerely,

 John A. Soyring
 Director, IBM Software Development Programs
 IBM Corporation
 11400 Burnet Road
 Austin, TX 78758
 soyring@vnet.ibm.com

 Attachment:

 *************************************************************************
 Subject: Re: Paid Microsoft employees
 From: gordonl@microsoft.com (Gordon Letwin)
 Message-ID: <1992Jul21.233140.5660@microsoft.com>
 Date: 21 Jul 92 23:31:40 GMT
 Organization: Microsoft Corporation
 References: <1992Jul11.233516.3604@microsoft.com>
 <1992Jul14.072423.8768@rz.uni-hildesheim.de>
 <1992Jul15.061138.1074@midway.uchicago.edu>

 To make things perfectly clear, I don't give a hoot about such "ravings"
 and "unmittigated bull", myself.  However, two different IBM lawyers sent
 me threatening letters trying to force me off of the net.  This was in
 response to my posting about the amount of assembly language in the product.

 Note that the civilized way, if you're unhappy with someone's posts, is
 to complain to them and ask them to moderate their behavior.  You then
 fall back on the legal threats if and only if:

 	1) your complaint is valid and your threats are real, and
 	2) you've exhausted less drastic means

 IBM went directly to the serious legal threats, written to folks who
 they assumed were my bosses, hoping to get me fired.  More, they had
 no basis for the complaints; their arguments were unmitigated bullshit.

 So I sent them a little reply about IBM's postings on the net.  The
 above examples are excerpted from page after page of stuff that I sent back.
 I said that I had been laughing off the personal attacks by IBM, but
 since IBM was talking major damage suits as an appropriate response to
 postings then it seemed like a good idea to me...

 I never heard back from the IBM lawyer, but I have noticed a quieting
 of IBM postings.  Perhaps there's a correlation.

 By the way; this has nothing to do with Larry Solomon's departure from IBM.

 	gordon letwin
 	not a spokesperson for microsoft
*************************************************************************
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
From: apas611@chpc.utexas.edu (David Boles)
Subject: Impressions of Windows NT
Organization: The University of Texas System - CHPC
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 92 15:23:04 GMT

Yesterday I attended a presentation on Windows NT given by someone
who had just returned from the WinNT dev. conference.  I went because
I was genuinely curious about NT, and wanted to see what all the 
hoopla was about.  The auditorium contained an audience of mainly
engineers, programmers, and physicists used to using DOS, DOS/Windows,
MacOS, UNIX (SunOS, IRIX, HP-UX, AIX, Concentrix, UniCOS, NeXTstep, etc.)
and recently OS/2 2.0.

The presentation told us about the structure of NT and how user processes
relate to it.  If you look at it in light of NT having started life as
OS/2 3.0, things make a lot of sense.  There is a, IMHO, cleaner overall
system architecture.  However, after describing a system that is capable
of being an upgrade of OS/2 2.0 we were told that Msoft intends to market
this system for high-end x86 PC's (486-33 and up), RISC workstations, and
uni- and multi-processor servers.  We were then told that the system is
_not_ (yes that is a negative) multi-user.  The response from the audience
was rolling laughter and jeers.

So what we are going to be offered sometime in 1993, is an OS that is 
partly targeted at things like a Silicon Graphics 4-8 R4000 processor 
compute/file server that will only allow one person on at a time.
Further, since NT is 32-bit, users won't be able to address all of their
memory (physical + disk swap, the R4000 is a 64 bit chip because 32-bits
isn't enough address space).  With existing software, this machine can act
as a file and compute server for 30-40 people.  There is zero chance for
any market penetration here.

The person doing the presentation told the audience that they could come
up and play with the system (the "pre-beta" from the conference) after
the talk was over.  When the presentation ended everyone but myself and
one other got up and left.  I went down just to look things over.  The
is currently in a state designed to give the appearance of maximum breadth
of coverage.  Start clicking, however, and you quickly realize that things
are _very_ shallow (i.e., fancy looking and sounding icons have nothing
but simple text display windows that pop up when activated, the help system
wasn't working in the examples I tried, etc.).

It was the most underwhelming first meeting I have ever had with a piece
of product.  

Just a report,

David Boles
Applied Research Laboratories
The University of Texas at Austin

Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
From: jar@inel.gov (Jeffry A Rich)
Subject: Re: HPFS not finding bad blocks
Organization: Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 21:24:41 GMT

In article <29JUL199211244450@zeus.tamu.edu>, wjb5106@zeus.tamu.edu (Walter Barnett) writes:
|> In article <1992Jul28.173858.24764@usenet.ins.cwru.edu>, dab6@po.CWRU.Edu (Douglas A. Bell) writes...
|> > 
|> >In a previous article, jar@inel.gov (Jeffry A Rich) says:
|> > 
|> >>I have a 130mb hard drive with two known media errors on the disk. I can bypass these errors in dos/windows by using pctools.
|> >>When using OS/2 and HPFS, these errors manifest themselves within applications that I've installed on the disk. I was under the impression that if you format the drive while installing OS/2, the file system automatically detects these media errors and w|> 
|> >>If anyone has any thoughts concerning this problem, I would be most appreciative in hearing them.
|> >>
|> >> Regards,
|> >>   JR Rich
|> > 
|> >Try booting from floppy and running chkdsk c: /f:3
|> > 
|> >It may take a while, but it may fix it.
|> 
|> 
|> Isn't HPFS supposed to have 'hot fixes' by which it marks bad sectors as 
|> they occur and then bypasses them until the end of time?
|> 
I've tried formatting both HPFS and FAT from OS/2 install disks. Yes, the disk formats correctly but the bad blocks don't seem to have been found.

 Once, I formatted FAT and moved back to DOS/WINDOWS (I'm getting real good and installing/uninstalling OS/2!) and I STILL had to run PCTOOLS to isolate the bad blocks. Offhand, it looks like an incomplete format routine on the OS/2 install disks.

 I always thought that one of the basic functions of a format routine was to find and isolate bad blocks...was I mistaken?

Regards,
JR Rich
========== long legal disclaimer follows, press n to skip ===========

Neither the United States Government or the Idaho National Engineering
Laboratory or any of their employees, makes any warranty, whatsoever,
implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility regarding any
information, disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe
privately owned rights.  No specific reference constitutes or implies
endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States
Government or the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory.  The views and
opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the
United States Government or the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory,
and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.
From: marten@feki.toppoint.de (Marten Feldtmann)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
Subject: Re: Looking for Deskjet printer driver
Distribution: world
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 07:48:07 GMT
Organization: Private Site

karim@vlsi.polymtl.ca writes in article <1992Jul17.045406.13144@vlsi.polymtl.ca>:

> 	I desesperatly need a printer driver for the HP
> Deskjet printer (The basic deskjet, not the deskjet 500)

> with WIN-OS applications.  Also, Adobe Type Manager is going
> nuts (French caracters are jagged on screen and at printout),
> unless I use Adobe (for Windows 3.x) v 1.13 fonts. 

 The same here in Germany with our special characters! ATM is needless
for us --a VERY serious bug! Text processing 

 I'm also looking for a printer driver for my Deskjet+. I have problems
in printing since 6.177beta. TS answered in a follow-up news to use HP
Classic or EPL-6000. Well, I tried both and with the HP Classic I can at
least print my texts with different font-sizes.

 But my main problem: the output of PM-chart is totally damaged!!! Lines
are missing, big characters are not filled or have white spots and so
on... totally useless ...

 MF

--
Marten Feldtmann                         E-Mail: marten@tpki.toppoint.de
2300 Kiel 14,    Kieler Str. 29,   Tel.: 0431-731916,   FAX: 0431-737677

Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
From: rolfe@ldp.com (Rolfe Tessem)
Subject: Re: The Ultimate OS/2 FTP Source
Reply-To: rolfe@ldp.com
Organization: Lucky Duck Productions
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 21:50:12 GMT

In article <1992Jul26.190143.7589@midway.uchicago.edu>  
sip1@ellis.uchicago.edu (Timothy F. Sipples) writes:
> In article <712115518snx@w3vh.UUCP> rolfe@w3vh.UUCP (Rolfe Tessem) writes:
> >> I would prefer to see the site used for patches, CSD's, drivers and
> >> annoucements. We are already well served by ftp-os2 & other
> >> 'non-interested' parties for other wares.

> >This is perhaps the most assinine posting I have seen here in weeks.
> >Why should one poor, overworked machine at NMSU do all the work when
> >IBM has tons of hardware lying about?  The least they could do is
> >mirror hobbes on an IBM machine somewhere.
> 
> What is the hangup with having what has to be the best OS/2 site in
> the world at New Mexico State University?  Does it really matter _who_
> provides the ftp site?  All I care about is the software -- if I can
> get it, I really don't care where it comes from.

Just to clarify, at the risk of belaboring the point: my "assinine"
comment, while on reflection a bit too strong, refered to the earlier
poster's contention that a computer manufacturer was somehow at
legal risk for maintainimg a publicly accessible ftp server.  I think
that is patently ridiculous.

I also think it's wonderful that New Mexico State maintains ftp-os2-nmsu.edu
and hope they do so into the indefinite future.


-- 
Rolfe Tessem				Lucky Duck Productions
rolfe@ldp.com				New York City
(212) 463-0029				(212) 463-7049 fax
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
From: gregory@halcyon.com (Gregory Wright)
Subject: Dos box / Orchid drivers
Organization: The 23:00 News and Mail Service
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 07:54:06 GMT

I just downloaded the new ET4000 1024X256 drivers from ftp-os2 and it
looks great. I now have plenty of room for all sorts of shells. The
problem is that when I am running a dos full screen app, once I switch
out of it, I can't switch back. When I try to I just get a compressed
image of what my screen used to look like. The image takes up the middle
1/5 of my screen. What is the problem? Anyone else out there have this
trouble?      

-- 
 ________Greg Wright____________     "I struggle to be brief     
| gregory@bcstec.ca.boeing.com  |     and become obscure."     
|     gregory@halcyon.com       |                             
|____uunet!bcstec!gregory_______|               NOT A BOEING SPOKESPERSON.
From: ASI509@DJUKFA11.BITNET
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
Subject: Re: My first trap - I'm so proud! (Kernel rev number?)
Date: 24 Jul 92 08:39:22 GMT
Organization: KFA  Forschungszentrum Juelich

In article <1992Jul24.061751.25198@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>,
smsmith@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Stephen M Smith) says:
>
>duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca (Pat Duffy) writes:
>
>>revision 6.412, 92/06/02
>
>How come's ya got such a recent kernel revision?  Mine is
>revision 6.311, 92/05/14.  I did install the kernel patch
>for the non-shrinking swapper.dat problem; is there a
>later one than that?

This is the kernal patch that solves about 5 or 6 problems including the
AUTOCAD bug (i.e. total crash with trap 0000d in DOS sessions).
Its on software.watson.ibm.com and hobbes (er... ftp-os2.nmsu.edu).

Michael Bode.
From: person@plains.NoDak.edu (Brett G Person )
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
Subject: Programs Keep cComionng Back After Boot-up
Date: 31 Jul 92 04:56:26 GMT
Article-I.D.: plains.19444
Organization: North Dakota State University, Fargo



I keep getting a DOS box and an OS/2 box Whenever I reboot OS/2.

I have tried the following things as per the advice of IBM tech
support and my local SE to no avail. 

1.  Hold donw ctrl-shift-f1 so that the apps don't startup, then do a
shutdown. 
RESULT:  both  sessions came back after reboot.

2. Made sure that my startup folder was empty. It is. 
RESULT: same as 1. didn't cure problem.

3. re-install OS/2 over existing OS/2
RESULT:  The sessions came back even while the system was running the
tutorial and re-building the desktop.

4.  I booted from floppy, and did a chkdsk c: /f:3 debause BM told me
that it was an EA problem.

RESULT: see previous results.


I don't mind having both a dios and os/2 box active at startup, its
kinda nice.  It just bugs me that its happening without me asking for
it!  I think that originally I'd had a dos and OS2 in the startup
folder but I deleted them.

Whats going on here?


-- 
Brett Person
Guest Account	
North Dakota State University
person@plains.nodak.edu || person@plains.bitnet
From: paulf@ll.mit.edu (Paul Freeman)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
Subject: Can I change the font in a DOS or OS/2 window?
Date: 27 Jul 92 16:08:25 GMT
Organization: MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Hi.  I didn't see this mentioned in the FAQ or anywhere else.

I want to be able to use a smaller font inside my DOS or OS/2 windowed
session.  Right now (in standard VGA mode) the window covers the entire
width of the screen if I want all 80 columns visible.  I can change all
the fonts in the WPS, but the DOS window fonts are always the same.

Any tips will be appreciated.

- Paul Freeman  (paulf@ll.mit.edu)
From: csb960feakes@qut.edu.au
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
Subject: Re: Busmouse
Date: 29 Jul 92 21:18:32 EST
Organization: Queensland University of Technology

In article <V2g8NB2w164w@adp.bad.se>, peo@adp.bad.se (Per-Otto Lekare) writes:
> A friend of mine has OS/2 installed on his 386 w/16MB RAM, 1.3 GB harddrive,
> etc...
> 
> His problem is that he can't get the Logitech Bus Mouse to work on his system.
> When running Microsoft Windows, it works fine, but it doesn't work at all
> while running OS/2.
> 
> Does anybody have a solution to his problem?
> 
> Any help would be appreciated - please send E-mail.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Per-Otto Lekare
> peo@adp.bad.se
> 
> --
> peo@adp.bad.se (Per-Otto Lekare)

I to have a Logitec Bus mouse and have found that instead of using
the Logitec driver use a Microsoft driver eg 8.20a.

Geoff
From: midway.uchicago.edu!sip1@overmind.mind.org
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
Subject: Re: changing working directory for Windows apps running under OS/2
Date: 22 Jul 92 20:09:00 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Econ., Univ. of Chicago
X-mailer: Stadel 3.4a-227
X-Spam-content: irrelevant

In article <1992Jul21.143700.611@calmasd.prime.com> kjb@calmasd.prime.com 
(Ken Brucker) writes:
>A couple weeks ago I posted this same question but had to leave town
>unexpectedly for a week so I missed any followup that may have occured. 
>But to the point ...
>I'm trying to get some Windows applications to startup using different 
default
>directories from the ones they happen to reside in.  For example, try as I
>might I have been unable to have Word for Windows start with a default
>directory of anything other than c:/winword.  So everytime I start the
>application and want to work on specific files I need to change the 
directory
>spec in the "Open" dialog.

With specific reference to Word all you need to do is create a macro
(in Word BASIC) called AutoExec.  This macro will execute
automatically with each startup.  To cause Word to change directories,
just use one line in the macro:

ChDir "C:\docs"

(replace C:\docs with whatever directory you wish to use).

Since Win-OS/2 is based on Windows 3.0, and since Windows 3.0 forgot
to include this obviously useful feature that has been in OS/2 since
at least Version 1.3, it didn't make it into OS/2 2.0's Windows
compatibility.  With the Windows 3.1 update I anticipate IBM will
incorporate default directories for Windows applications.

-- 
Get the OS/2 FREQ. ASKED QUESTIONS LIST | Timothy F. Sipples
from 128.123.35.151, anonymous ftp,     | Internet: sip1@ellis.uchicago.edu
directory pub/os2/all/faq, or from      | Dept. of Econ., U. Chicago, 60637
LISTSERV@BLEKUL11.BITNET (send "HELP"). | Tsongas > Perot > Clinton.  Yay.
From: dic5340@hertz.njit.edu (David Charlap)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
Subject: Re: Format 1.2M to 1.44M
Date: 23 Jul 92 19:49:34 GMT
Organization: New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, N.J.

In article <1992Jul22.201259.7773@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> kls@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Kenneth L Shellberg) writes:

>Very recently, there was a posting which recommended a DOS floppy
>formatter called fdformat, which will format a 1.2M 5.25 floppy to
>1.44M.  Can anyone tell me where to find this program?  It sounds like
>it would be very useful to me.

I'd recommend not using it.  First of all, it probably won't work
under OS/2.  I'd be surprised if it did.

Second, I had problems with it under DOS 5.0.  It requires a TSR be
installed (FDREAD.COM).  This TSR enables unusual formats by
suppressing certain error handlers within DOS.  It makes some format
programs (like Norton's Safe Format) refuse to format a disk that
hasn't previously been formatted.

The disks you produce with FDFORMAT are usually unreadable by
computers that haven't loaded the FDREAD.COM TSR.

Aside from that, if you're still interested, it does work.  I've
formatted 3.5" disks to 1.7MB (20 sectors per track and 82 tracks...)
without too many problems.

I don't know where they might be found.  After consulting Archie, the
only references to fdread were for some Unix package by the same name.
I remember it was posted to comp.binaries.ibm.pc once, so you might
find it at one of its archive sites.  Look for a package called
FDREAD2.ZOO. 
-- 
   |)  David Charlap           "I don't even represent myself
  /|_  dic5340@hertz.njit.edu   sometimes so NJIT is right out!.
 ((|,)
  ~|~  Hi! I am a .signature virus, copy me into your .signature file.
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
From: sip1@ellis.uchicago.edu (Timothy F. Sipples)
Subject: Re: AMI BIOS incompatibilities????!!!???
Reply-To: sip1@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: Dept. of Econ., Univ. of Chicago
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 16:14:24 GMT

In article <1992Jul22.032138.25059@agora.uucp> tedm@agora.rain.com (Ted Mittelstaedt) writes:
>Just out of pure curiosity, why would a BIOS be a problem for OS2?  After all,
>BIOS code is written to be run in REAL mode.  I thought OS2 runs in the
>flat PROTECTED mode.  Is the OS making BIOS calls for I/O & such?  It would
>seem to be a drag on the system speed.

It would.  And OS/2 really doesn't use the BIOS.  The only exceptions
I am aware of are use of peripheral card BIOSes (e.g. video card),
especially for mode switching, and use of the hard drive BIOS if using
the IBMINT13.I13 driver.

The difficulty sometimes lies in the keyboard BIOS.  Believe it or not
your PC has a separate keyboard CPU (called the 8042) with its own
memory/BIOS.  This CPU is charged with handling keyboard input.  Since
OS/2 is not written for the 8042 (:-)), the code this CPU uses to run
is on a BIOS chip.  If the BIOS is poorly written even OS/2 can have
some problems.  Fortunately this problem does not seem to affect many
people, but if you have keyboard problems, and you have an AMI
keyboard BIOS earlier than revision F, you may need a $15 replacement
chip.  Read the file amiinfo.txt on ftp-os2.nmsu.edu for details.

-- 
Get the OS/2 FREQ. ASKED QUESTIONS LIST | Timothy F. Sipples
from 128.123.35.151, anonymous ftp,     | Internet: sip1@ellis.uchicago.edu
directory pub/os2/all/faq, or from      | Dept. of Econ., U. Chicago, 60637
LISTSERV@BLEKUL11.BITNET (send "HELP"). | Tsongas > Perot > Clinton.  Yay.
From: dic5340@hertz.njit.edu (David Charlap)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
Subject: Re: Format 1.2M to 1.44M
Date: 27 Jul 92 19:21:09 GMT
Organization: New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, N.J.

In article <1992Jul23.201541.27862@news.columbia.edu> mig@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Meir I Green) writes:
>
>Actually, the disks read just fine under stock OS/2 2.0, without loading the
>FDREAD driver.  I guess OS/2 actually reads the format specs before reading
>from the floppy.  Maybe that's why it is so slow :-)

Interesting.  Perhaps, though, this is simply because OS/2 recognizes
the 1.44MB format.  How does it do with non-standard formats (like the
1.7MB format)?  Under DOS, you can read the first 18 sectors of each
track, and the rest give sector-not-found errors.

-- 
   |)  David Charlap           "I don't even represent myself
  /|_  dic5340@hertz.njit.edu   sometimes so NJIT is right out!.
 ((|,)
  ~|~  Hi! I am a .signature virus, copy me into your .signature file.
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
From: harris@garfield.catt.ncsu.edu (Michael Harris)
Subject: Re: Adding more memory: what should I change?
Organization: North Carolina State University
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1992 20:47:06 GMT

glen@hpfcmgw.FC.HP.COM (Glen Robinson) writes:

>>   has come and soon I will have 16mb.  I know that I must change the
>>   initial size of the swapfile (listed in the config.sys), but I don't
>>   know what I should change it to.  So could someone out there please
>>   let me know how large a swapfile I should have?  Also, is there anything

>I don't claim to be any kind of an expert on tuning, but the default you
>get when installing with 16 MB to start with is 2048 2048.

To find out about the swappath statement in CONFIG.SYS, type HELP SWAPPATH
on an OS/2 command line.  Then double-click on the parameters you want
explained.

All statements in CONFIG.SYS are defined in the COMMAND REFERENCE.

Also keep in mind that you are only changing the INITAL size of the swapfile.

Also, you didn't HAVE to change the numbers.  The only reason that parameter
exists is to specify the initial size of the swapfile based upon how much 
memory you have.  The less memory, the bigger the initial swapfile.  The idea
is that the less memory you have, the more likely you are to swap.  If you are
going to swap a lot, go ahead and make the swapfile big at first because it
slows down swapping when the swapfile has to grow.
______________________________________________________________________________
     Michael Harris - harris@catt.ncsu.edu or harris@carvm3.vnet.ibm.com
 System Administrator, Computer & Technologies Theme Program, NC State Univ.
(My opinions are my own and do not represent those of NCSU or IBM Corporation)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc