HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: chaim@linc.cis.upenn.edu (Chaim R. Dworkin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
Subject: Re: new posters to this group . . .
Date: 16 Apr 92 17:44:08 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

In article <1992Apr14.112142.18278@sci.kun.nl> tmiller@sci.kun.nl (Todd M. Miller) writes:
>
>Is there any effort we can make to get Venix available for the PRO?  When

deleted stuff...

>how to burn PROMs, that might change the situation.  I'm certainly going to
>look into it.
>
A few years ago I was given a copy of a spreadsheet program for P/OS.  The
install and run of the program was dependent on a PROM-ID number.  Some
diligent hacker had removed the code which looks for the PROM-ID allowing
the program to run on any machine.  That is another possibility for anyone
with time on their hands.  

Actually, I almost got my nerve up to call VenturComm and ask for the 
algorithm.  I still might.



Chaim R. Dworkin
chaim@linc.cis.upenn.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
From: cjohnson@cs.scarolina.edu (Carnegie Johnson)
Subject: Re: new posters to this group . . .
Organization: USC  Department of Computer Science
Date: 15 Apr 92 04:36:25 GMT

Hi!

I read this newsgroup all the time.  I'm always interested in learning
new things to do with my Rainbow 100B.

Carney
From: kcwellsc@watdragon.waterloo.edu (Ken Wellsch)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
Subject: Re: new posters to this group . . .
Date: 12 Apr 92 15:08:19 GMT
Organization: University of Waterloo

> And I have a PRO 350, but I can't use that 'cause apparently the hard
> disk controller is no good. Or so says the little diagram that shows up
> when I turn the machine on. Of course, I've tried two different HD
> controller boards and it does the same thing. Sigh.

The Pro will show a HD failure also if it cannot find a "proper" boot block
on the HD.  The hardware itself may be just fine.
From: tmiller@sci.kun.nl (Todd M. Miller)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
Subject: Re: new posters to this group . . .
Date: 13 Apr 92 14:45:56 GMT
Organization: University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands

In <1992Apr11.063029.25680@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> schwartz@feh.scs.uiuc.edu (Dwight A. Schwartz) writes:


>	How many people read this group
>on a regular basis?  Is it appropriate to take a brief survey inquiring
>the readership of this group as to their reading habits, equipment, etc.
>Or is that a violation of some sort of netiquette to take such a survey?

It is certainly a good idea.  With enough interested parties some new 
software might even get developed?... Oh well, maybe that's pushing it.


--
===============================================================================
Todd M. Miller                                    tmiller@caos.caos.kun.nl
CAOS/CAMM, KUN			                  tmiller@sci.kun.nl
Nijmegen, NL					  (031) 080-653383 (CAOS/CAMM)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
From: entropy@gnu.ai.mit.edu (maximum entropy)
Subject: How to add a hard disk to a Rainbow 100A?
Organization: Not Proud Programmers
Distribution: comp
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 00:18:37 GMT


I've got a Rainbow 100A with no hard disk, and I'd like to add one.
Do I need to find a hard disk controller or is there a controller
integrated on the motherboard?  (And if there is, where are the
connectors?) 

I've seen messages in the archives telling what models the RD drives
"really" are, does that mean that I can just use one of the
"equivalent" drives without any modification, or did DEC use those
drives and then break them somehow to make them RD's?

Thanks,
entropy
--
entropy@gnu.ai.mit.edu
entropy. . .it's not just a good idea, it's the second law.
Boycott AT&T, Lotus, Apple, Ashton-Tate and Xerox.  Join the League for
Programming Freedom!  Write to league@prep.ai.mit.edu for more information.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
From: imp@solbourne.com (Warner Losh)
Subject: Re: Help with disk formatting on Rainbow
Keywords: Miniscribe 3650
Organization: Solbourne, User Interface Group
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 04:17:31 GMT

In article <1992Apr8.142904.13711@stsci.edu> richter@stsci.edu
(Otto-G. Richter) writes: 
>Well, yesterday evening I tried with DOS 2.11 and 3.10b and
>WUTIL 2.0 and DISKPART, to initialize and format the disk.

Try using WUTIL 3.2.  It can be had from solbourne.solbourne.com in
pub/rb/as-is/diskutl/wutil32.zip.  It works much better.  I vaguely
recall that it was smart enought to figure out the disk geometry on
its own when I installed my ST-251, but it has been a while.  In
general, you are OK if you use too few of something, but in bad
trouble if you use too many (but it won't format if you do).  At
worst, you could do a binary search to find the right number if my
memory of WUTIL is foggy.

Warner
-- 
Warner Losh		imp@Solbourne.COM	  MMP to DoD #882
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
From: imp@solbourne.com (Warner Losh)
Subject: Re: Rainbow FTP sites, Print-Screen CP/M-86
Organization: Solbourne, User Interface Group
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 15:38:33 GMT

In article <1992Apr16.082935.1@cc.newcastle.edu.au> outafrl@cc.newcastle.edu.au writes:
>We've got a number of Rainbows which are used as terminals to VMS.

I guess that is better than a door stop :-)

>We use CP/M-86 Kermit-86 as the terminal emulator as this gives use of
>almost all function keys and is the faster than any MSDOS emulator I've
>found.

Have you tried BinkyTerm?  It is faster than LCTERM and works fairly
well.  Since I don't boot CP/M, I can't tell you how it is compared
to, say, Kermit-86.

>The only restrictions I know are:
> - no printer support (Print-Screen key and escape sequences don't work)
> - ESC, BS and LF keys can't send escape sequences for WordPerfect/VMS.

There is a DOC emulator called TC-II that will send the 'right'
sequences for VMS.  Isn't there some way to tell Kermit to remap these
keys?  There is in other versions.

>Is there a CP/M-86 equivalent to the PRINT-SCREEN TSR's for MSDOS?

Don't know.  However, a vague, fuzzy memory from several (6?) years
agos recalls seeing this on a BBS.

>Are there any FTP-sites with Rainbow software available?

Solbourne.Solbourne.COM:pub/rb
drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu:[.info-dec-micro]

Warner
-- 
Warner Losh		imp@Solbourne.COM
"You're the woman that I've always dreamed of.  Well, not really, but you are
 good enough for now."
From: jcounsil@usenet.umr.edu (Joseph A. Counsil)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
Subject: Need Math Co-Processor for Rainbow
Date: 14 Apr 92 14:31:56 GMT
Distribution: comp.sys.dec.micro
Organization: University of Missouri -- Rolla

I am looking for a math co-processor for my Rainbow 100B.  Does anyone have
one in their bone pile, or know where I might find one?

Thanks!

Please reply to -- jcounsil@umrvmb.umr.edu
--
   +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
   | Joseph A. Counsil, Research Engineer, University of Missouri - Rolla |
   | Chemistry Department, JCOUNSIL@UMRVMB.UMR.EDU, Phone: (314) 341-4397 |
   |                  142 Schrenk Hall, Rolla, MO 65401                   |
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
From: imp@solbourne.com (Warner Losh)
Subject: Re: Beginner & WP On Rainbow !
Organization: Solbourne, User Interface Group
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 04:11:11 GMT

In article <2862.29e30db3@vulcan.mentec.ie> matt@vulcan.mentec.ie writes:
>I have just acquired a DEC Rainbow. After a bit of work it now starts up. Can
>anybody answer me a few questions.

I'll try.

>o What types of Hard Disk Drives (DEC HDD's) Can It Support, It Currently Has
>  An RD51.

Any drive that supports the ST506 interface.  This is most MLC drives
(at least that is what it says on the side of my ST506).  I currently
have a ST251-1 in my Rainbow.  You should be able to stick any disk
that is less than 65,000,000 (some call this 65M others 64M).

>o What can the memory be expanded to (it is somewhere around
>250Kish).

892K is the max.  The Rainbow 100A needed an extra adapter card to use
the large memory expansion card.  The 100B didn't.

>o Is there a word processor that can be used on it because everything I load
>  gives me the error 16. (Interrupts Off). All I want is something to drive a
>  Dumb Daisy Wheel (NEC Spinwriter) for one/two page documents.

The Rainbow isn't PC compatable.  Maybe you need to run CB to get your
word processor to work on the Bow.

>Can anybody help me change this beast into something somebody could get some 
>use out of ?

I'd upgrade to DOS 3.10b.  You can get it from IRUG.  The address that
I have for them is
	International Rainbow User's Group
	P.O. Box 518
	Dahlgren, VA 22448 (USA)
	(703) 775-2266
You'll also want to pick up code blue.  There are also some word
processors that run on the Bow available through them.  I don't use
the bow for word processing, so I can't tell you what they are or if
they are worth the money.

There is an emacs available for the Rainbow.  Version 3.10 I think,
but it may only be 3.9e.  There is also a version of EDT from VMS
available as well.  DED is another editor people swear by.  These
editors all require you to do "odd things" to get fancy fonts or
whatever in the diablo printer.  They are available via anonymous FTP
from solbourne.solbourne.com.

BTW, I have Micro Emacs 3.10 running on the Bow.  I thought that I may
have released it, but now I can't seem to find it.  Does anybody
recall me releasing it?

Warner
-- 
Warner Losh		imp@Solbourne.COM	  MMP to DoD #882
From: chaim@linc.cis.upenn.edu (Chaim R. Dworkin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
Subject: Re: Beginner & WP On Rainbow !
Date: 9 Apr 92 16:58:27 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

In article <2862.29e30db3@vulcan.mentec.ie> matt@vulcan.mentec.ie writes:
>
>o Is there a word processor that can be used on it because everything I load
>  gives me the error 16. (Interrupts Off). All I want is something to drive a
>  Dumb Daisy Wheel (NEC Spinwriter) for one/two page documents.
>

If you are getting an error 16 Interrupts off, then you had better solve
the hardware problem before you look for software.  There is a possibility 
you can just remove the BIOS chips and clean the pins.  Or it might be 
something more serious.


Chaim R. Dworkin
chaim@linc.cis.upenn.edu
Xref: sparky comp.sys.dec.micro:248 rec.games.moria:2139
From: z0w6103@rigel.tamu.edu (WU, ZUOGUO)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro,rec.games.moria
Subject: Re: Moria on the Rainbow
Date: 9 Apr 92 22:20:00 GMT
Followup-To: comp.sys.dec.micro
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <1992Apr9.042009.27188@solbourne.com>, imp@solbourne.com (Warner Losh) writes...
> 
>This is umoria ported to the Rainbow.  I ported version 5.4 from
>kukulcan.berkeley.edu.  I have only included my changes to the source,
>rather than the full source (sorry).  I've included an executable and
>......                                           
Can you say something about your changes?
Does your version work on VAX/VMS or UNIX?
>                                                        
>                                                      
--- ZGW
From: duff@starbase.mitre.org (David A. Duff)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
Subject: rainbow equipment available
Keywords: cheap dec rainbow sale
Date: 16 Apr 92 22:25:33 GMT
Article-I.D.: starbase.duff.703463133
Organization: The MITRE Corporation

i saw the header of a post recently from someone who was looking for
rainbow equipment, but it had expired before i had a chance to read
it...  anyway, here goes:

my parents have a complete, working dec rainbow and lots of old software
for it.  the machine is in perfect shape.  to be honest, the software is
most stuff that seems pretty unimpressive by today's standards, but it
is all official (no pirated software) and includes boxes, manuals, and
everything.  a lot of it runs under cp/m.  they do have ms-dos for the
machine, and an official copy of lotus 123 that runs under dos.  they
have a pretty decent emacs-based word processor called "final word",
microsoft multiplan (spreadsheet), mailing list management software,
basic, and even a c compiler, i think.

the machine has a hard drive.  it's pretty small - 5 or 10M, i think.
it has two 5.25" floppy drives.  it has a graphics card and some kind of
memory expansion in it.  it has a greyscale monitor.  i think it may
even have some kind of serial communications card.

the machine has been unused for about a year now, but i am certain that
it still works.  it got light use by my dad for spreadsheets and stuff,
but he has since moved on to different machine.

there's also a dec la100, which is a very heavy-duty wide-carriage
dot-matrix printer.

*any* reasonable offer on all of the above equipment (rainbow w/all
expansion cards + printer) would be accepted.  and by "reasonable", all
i mean is enough to make it worth the trouble for my parents to box the
stuff up and ship it out.  my folks live in lexington, ma, in case you
want to pick it up yourself.  if you belong to a charitable or
non-profit institution that needs a machine, perhaps we could arrange an
even better deal.

at the very least, the machine can be used as a full vt100 (102?)
terminal without even having to boot it.  so, i would imagine that
someone out there could get some use out of this thing...

if you need to know more details about the machine or s/w, let me know
and i'll try to find out or i can put you in touch with my folks.

dave duff                   mitre corporation               703-883-7731
duff@mitre.org             ai technical center            mclean, va usa
From: tmiller@sci.kun.nl (Todd M. Miller)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
Subject: Re: new posters to this group . . .
Date: 14 Apr 92 11:21:42 GMT
Organization: University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands

In <ENTROPY.92Apr13200654@wookumz.gnu.ai.mit.edu> entropy@gnu.ai.mit.edu (maximum entropy) writes:

>In article <1992Apr13.130935.6899@sci.kun.nl> tmiller@sci.kun.nl (Todd M. Miller) writes:
>   1. Acquire a copy of Unix from someone who has it on their PRO already. 
>Unfortunately, Venix (VenturCom's UNIX for the Pro) reads the Pro's
>ID-PROM and generates some numbers which you were supposed to give to
>VenturCom over the phone to get a code that would allow you to install
>Venix on your machine.  Without the code for your ID-PROM, you can't
>install it.  So, copying Venix is non-trivial.  I doubt VenturCom is
>willing to give out these passwords anymore.  So, your best bet is to
>buy a used Pro that already has Venix installed on it.  If you can
>find one, that is....

Is there any effort we can make to get Venix available for the PRO?  When
I called them I got some woman who said "Our Pro has been broken for so
long I'm sure we don't sell that anymore".  Maybe we need a few posts on
how to burn PROMs, that might change the situation.  I'm certainly going to
look into it.


--
===============================================================================
Todd M. Miller                                    tmiller@caos.caos.kun.nl
CAOS/CAMM, KUN			                  tmiller@sci.kun.nl
Nijmegen, NL					  (031) 080-653383 (CAOS/CAMM)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
From: schwartz@feh.scs.uiuc.edu (Dwight A. Schwartz)
Subject: new posters to this group . . . 
Summary:                                 glad to see you 
Organization: UIUC Chemistry Department
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 06:30:29 GMT

	To those of you that recently came from out of the blue to post in 
comp.sys.dec.micro, thanks for jumping in there.  Some of your names are 
new to me, and some are names I haven't seen for a while.  Maybe you read
this group all the time, but I was glad to see that some of you are still
active.

	It's nice to check this group and find articles to read; and some 
of you know a lot of stuff that us rookies want/need to know to keep our 
Rainbows, Pro's, and other stuff going strong.  I for one am trying to 
soak up any random info I can find on DEC Rainbows, since both information
and parts are hard to find at times.

	All this makes me wonder:  How many people read this group
on a regular basis?  Is it appropriate to take a brief survey inquiring
the readership of this group as to their reading habits, equipment, etc.
Or is that a violation of some sort of netiquette to take such a survey?

	If noone writes to tell me that this is a bad idea, I'll post a 
brief survey for each reader c.s.d.m. to fill out and send back (if he/she
chooses to do so, of course).  I would of course post the stats to the net.

	Thanks for your comments/replies/flames (oh no :( ...)/ etc.

Dwight
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dwight A. Schwartz ______--_-____--________------___--_-_-_-_-_----------__
University of Illinois Department of Chemistry | Box 10-1 Noyes Laboratory
505 S. Mathews Ave. | Urbana, IL   61801-3664 | 217-333-7605 | 217-333-3004
i-net: schwartz@feh.scs.uiuc.edu | bitnet: schwartz@uiucscs_--____-___-_-__
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
From: entropy@gnu.ai.mit.edu (maximum entropy)
Subject: VENIX (was Re: new posters to this group . . .)
Organization: Not Proud Programmers
	<ENTROPY.92Apr13200654@wookumz.gnu.ai.mit.edu>
	<1992Apr14.013141.19422@cs.yale.edu>
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 08:37:38 GMT

In article <1992Apr14.013141.19422@cs.yale.edu> eric@beastie.colby.edu (Eric) writes:
   When you boot the build disk (the only one which is bootable) it gives
   you the choice of installing venix or popping a shell... If you tell it
   you want to install, it goes through the whole password thing. However,
   if you choose the shell option it will give you a root shell from the
   floppy file system, which is a root filesystem containing what looks
   like everything you'd need to do the installation by hand... I.e., mkfs,

I think if you've already got your hard disk prepared for VENIX (i.e.
it's formatted and has a VENIX boot block on it) then you could get
away with doing this.  But, I'm *almost* positive that the hard disk
preparation is done by the "main" part of the install program, so you
would lose if you tried to install onto a disk that was previously
used for P/OS.

I don't think VENIX checks the ID-prom after the machine is booted, so
you may be able to get away with stuffing your hard disk into a
machine for which you've got the ID-codes and installing there, then
putting the hard disk back into your machine.  But, I've got no way of
testing that idea as I've only got one Pro.

Cheers,
entropy
--
entropy@gnu.ai.mit.edu
entropy. . .it's not just a good idea, it's the second law.
Boycott AT&T, Lotus, Apple, Ashton-Tate and Xerox.  Join the League for
Programming Freedom!  Write to league@prep.ai.mit.edu for more information.
From: gezelter@rlgsc.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
Subject: Re: new posters to this group . . .
Date: 13 Apr 92 19:17:56 GMT
Article-I.D.: rlgsc.1992Apr13.141757.33
Organization: Robert Gezelter Software Consultant, Flushing, NY

In article <1992Apr13.130935.6899@sci.kun.nl>, tmiller@sci.kun.nl (Todd M. Miller) writes:
 
> 3. Get a copy of P/OS.  You can legally get a copy of this free from a
> DECUS member I think (from a Local Area User's Group for sure if they have it).
> The problem here is that you don't get the manuals, they cost $240 by 
> themselves.
> 
For most purposes, P/OS is almost identical to RSX-11M-PLUS. In 
many cases, since the RSX-11 family of operating systems has been 
extremely stable, the manuals for any version of the system for 
the last couple (read that as ten or so) years should be adequate 
for most purposes. 
 
The normal RSX-11 manuals will not, however, contain information 
on the special features of the PRO, however, this only means a 
couple of manuals which must be copied.
 
I understand the problem with the DECUS distribution of the 
manuals (being the owner of several PROs). The software aspect of 
the distribution is OK (and, at least in the US, there is no 
prohibition on making duplicaties of the media). The problem is 
the manuals, which must be photocopied as required. The "Gray 
Wall" (to borrow somebody else's turn of phrase) is good sized, 
and is expensive to photocopy. With volumes probably less than 
1,000 copies a year, there is not enough volume to justify real 
printing.
 
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Robert "Bob" Gezelter                       E-Mail:  gezelter@rlgsc.com  |
| Robert Gezelter Software Consultant         Voice:   +1 718 463 1079     |
| 35-20 167th Street, Suite 215               Fax:       (on Request)      |
| Flushing, New York  11358-1731                                           |
| United States of America                                                 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
From: burt@binah.cc.brandeis.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
Subject: Re: Beginner & WP On Rainbow !
Date: 13 Apr 92 21:14:58 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.1992Apr13.211458.6528
Reply-To: burt@binah.cc.brandeis.edu
Organization: Brandeis University

Another editor that works pretty well on the Rainbow is VDE, which
comes in both CP/M and DOS flavors, and can be obtained from 
almost any bulletin board.
John Burt
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
From: entropy@gnu.ai.mit.edu (maximum entropy)
Subject: Re: new posters to this group . . .
Organization: Not Proud Programmers
	<1992Apr13.062639.7745@cs.yale.edu> <1992Apr13.130935.6899@sci.kun.nl>
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 01:06:54 GMT

In article <1992Apr13.130935.6899@sci.kun.nl> tmiller@sci.kun.nl (Todd M. Miller) writes:
   1. Acquire a copy of Unix from someone who has it on their PRO already.  Unix
   for the PRO reportedly came from VenturCom in Massachuesetts.  I called them
   and they said they didn't sell Unix for the PRO anymore.  To me that means
   they don't really care too much about it anymore either.  

Unfortunately, Venix (VenturCom's UNIX for the Pro) reads the Pro's
ID-PROM and generates some numbers which you were supposed to give to
VenturCom over the phone to get a code that would allow you to install
Venix on your machine.  Without the code for your ID-PROM, you can't
install it.  So, copying Venix is non-trivial.  I doubt VenturCom is
willing to give out these passwords anymore.  So, your best bet is to
buy a used Pro that already has Venix installed on it.  If you can
find one, that is....

Cheers,
entropy
--
entropy@gnu.ai.mit.edu
entropy. . .it's not just a good idea, it's the second law.
Boycott AT&T, Lotus, Apple, Ashton-Tate and Xerox.  Join the League for
Programming Freedom!  Write to league@prep.ai.mit.edu for more information.