HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: slendt@unomaha.edu (Steven Lendt)
Subject: Re: Gateway vs. Austin questions
Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 23:12:47 GMT

In article <C0D9DF.9q5@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> lemson@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (David Lemson) writes:
>From: lemson@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (David Lemson)
>Subject: Re: Gateway vs. Austin questions
>Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 05:46:13 GMT
>pastor@prc.unisys.com (Jon Pastor) writes:
>
>>I could not find a vendor that offered as much system for the money as
>>Gateway.  I wanted to; I had had an annoying experience with their sales staff
>>in the past, and knew that tech support was sluggish.  Zeos is a little better
>
>I bought my last Gateway system from them about 1.5 yrs ago and
>I've been talking to them about a new 66V system and have noticed
>something - they will NOT lower their price!  The guy I used to deal
>with would cave in with free shipping without me even trying!  This
>guy didn't seem to want to move at all.  I'm going to try to call my
>old salesman back and see if maybe it was just him, but has anyone
>else noticed that they are more steadfast in their pricing? (I have
>bought about 3 systems from that salesman over the years and always
>got at least $200 off the total delivered price)
>
>One more thing - the lead time on the 66DX2 systems custom
>configured is *3 weeks* !!! Jeez.  I was going to order it today
>until I heard that.
I ordered my 66DX2 and got it 12 days later.  It's like the signs
at Disney Land that say how long the wait in a line is for a ride.
Management says give them a big number and they feel happy when
the get it faster.
>-- 
>David Lemson                                                (217) 244-1205
>University of Illinois NeXT Campus Consultant / CCSO NeXT Lab System Admin
>Internet : lemson@uiuc.edu                UUCP :...!uiucuxc!uiucux1!lemson 
>NeXTMail & MIME accepted                           BITNET : LEMSON@UIUCVMD
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: mary@wam.umd.edu (Mary Louise Cassidy)
Subject: Using Apple/Atari joysticks w/ IBM
Organization: Workstations at Maryland, University of Maryland, College Park
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 00:44:00 GMT

I need the schems or whatever (wiring chart) to make a connector from
an Apple joystick to an IBM port (9 pin to 15 pin).  I know they are
out there, I need it ASAP!  I even posted one at one point...but all
I have on it is gone...now that I got a 15-pin part (BTW, does
anyone know a source for these??  Radio Shack dont have em!).

EMAIL is preferred.....thanks!!

Also, has anyone ever wired a digital Atari-type stick to an IBM??  I made
a connector for my Amiga (digital stick) that uses my IBM stick in
flight games that support the option.  But can it go vice-versa???  I
think it can as the newish gamepads for IBM (Gravis, Suncom) claim
to be just 8-way digital controllers.....so....anyone know???????  I
REALLY want to know this one.  Amiga games are now supporting 2-button
Genesis-style sticks (finally)...and if I could use it on my IBM
WITHOUT special software..it'd be great!  Also, is the Gravis GamePad
really digital??  Will it work with everything or does it need
sotware support (I've noticed the option in Wolf 3D)??

Thanx alot!!!
From: jgregory@ub.d.umn.edu (jennifer gregory)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Low-level formatting
Date: 11 Jan 1993 02:07:06 -0600
Organization: University of Minnesota, Duluth
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: ub.d.umn.edu


Please forgive me if I am asking something FAQ, but I've never read this
group before, nor do I know if this is the correct group for such a question
but it seems to be the most appropriate.

I have a new hard drive... and I know nothing about hardware... following
the sparse instructions I was given, I discovered that the utility that
appears to be built-in to the drive (which I will go into in a moment)
will not low-level format the drive - I believe it is defective, and will
find that out tomorrow... but that is beside the point.

First of all, the instructions that came with the drive (which, if it may
help at all, is a Maxtor 380MB that needs an MFM controller [the basic
cause of this whole problem] and the old one I had is an IDE 40MB) said to
use the debug program in MS-DOS and to enter the line
G=C800:6
which did, when the drive was connected, successfully initiate the low
level formatting procedure.  Now came the nightmare (although the 40 meg
had been backed up just before we started in) -- I asked my father is the
(err, if the) 40 meg was disconnected and he said yes.  We then proceeded
to do a low level format, and it formatted some 4 heads and stopped.
Apparently the 40 meg was NOT disconnected, and something went horribly
wrong... the hard drive is reported as having no boot sector.  (The 40 meg
that is) ... we found later that the dip switches to disable the on-board
HD controller were set wrong... we had not disabled them... we had disabled
the floppy by mistake (when we didn't find the information in the manual
we called a local company and he told us if we had one bank of dip switches
that it would either be 3,4, or 7.  7 was the floppy, 8 was for the HD.)
Anyway - I have no way to re-low level format the 40 meg, and the 380 meg
has to be sent in for repairs.  Trying to initiate the same program that
made this mess in the first place, once the 380meg is disconnected, locks
up the system - which leads me to believe that either the program run is
either loaded into memory by the MFM controller card or that it is stored
on a ROM chip of the hard drive - either way, I have no way to low level
format the 40 meg, and I need a hard drive.

If someone can help me, I would greatly appreciate it.

I'm learning quite a bit about hardware, now if only I could get either
drive running I'd be fine.  (Oh - this is being written from my father's
portable... my only access, and at a pitiful 2400 baud... sigh ... I want
my 14.4kbaud modem back... and my soundblaster... and hell... my computer!)

Thanks
Jen
(Email me - I don't usually read this group.)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: isc10085@nusunix1.nus.sg (NG YENG YONG)
Subject: Re: SRAM cache vs cache
Organization: National University of Singapore
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 10:29:24 GMT

Sorry about the previous post.

All cache are implemented using SRAM - Static Random Access Memory,
because only SRAM presently has access time less than 25 ns.



Best regards,
Steve


===========================================================================
=                                          =                              =
=  Ng Yeng Yong, Steve                     =   Life is short,             =
=  ISC10085@NUSUNIX1.NUS.SG                =       Play Hard,             =
=  1st Year, Computer Science              =            Work Hard,        =
=  Department of Information System        =                 Have Fun.    =
=  and Computer Science (DISCS)            =   So, let our hair down      =
=  National University of Singapore (NUS)  =      and have lots of fun.   =
=                                          =                              =
===========================================================================

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: D1SAR@VM1.CC.UAKRON.EDU (Steve Rimar)
Subject: Cornell PC's
Organization: The University of Akron
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 17:48:52 GMT

Has anyone had any experience with Cornell computers. (seen their adv in
Computer shopper)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*                                                                       *
*  STEVE RIMAR                       INTERNET: D1SAR@VM1.CC.UAKRON.EDU  *
*  INFORMATION SERVICES              BITNET:   D1SAR@AKRONVM            *
*  THE UNIVERSITY OF AKRON                                              *
*  AKRON, OHIO  44325           "THE SPEED OF THE LEADER DETERMINES THE *
*                                THE RATE OF THE PACK"  W.L.            *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: HP mouse
From: CFORDE@bcsc02.gov.bc.ca
Date: Tue, 05 Jan 93 10:01:45 PST
Organization: BC Systems Corporation

Does anyone have experience with the new HP mouse.  The one with the
"feet" instead of a ball.  How does it compare, comfort, tracking, etc
with a MS mouse?
 
Have fun,
Carl Forde                            phonenet: 604-389-3234
VM Systems Software Group             bitnet  : CFORDE@BCSC02
British Columbia Systems Corporation  internet: cforde@bcsc02.gov.bc.ca
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: harp@martha.utcc.utk.edu (harp)
Subject: Re: ATI Ultra PRO New Drivers (build 53) 
Organization: University of Tennessee Computing Center
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 16:15:21 GMT

In article <1993Jan8.150655.5640@gvl.unisys.com> pastor@prc.unisys.com (Jon Pastor) writes:
>The build 53 driver was uploaded by some kind person to ftp.cica.indiana.edu 
>(in the ../win3/uploads directory).  I happened to be talking to Gateway tech
>support last night, and I asked about it.  The tech said that they'd just had
>a long meeting about ATI  drivers that morning, and they have now released
>build 50, meaning it's on the Gateway BBS after passing Gateway's QA.  He said
>that they *did* have to fix it up some, and that Gateway does not officially
>recommend using ATI's beta drivers.
>
>I have trouble getting onto Gateway's BBS, and it's a long-distance call from
>here; could someone who lives close enough that it's not an expensive call, or
>someone with WATS, put it out on an FTP site?
>
>Thanks.

Gateway is officially "not with it".  The build 50 drivers were on the
internet weeks ago and they stink.  Is this a different build 50 than I
have played with?  Could there be such a thing as a build 50 final release
that would be more stable than a build 53 beta?

Sean Harp
University of Tennessee
From: davei@comp.lancs.ac.uk (Mr D Ingles)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: NO ROM BASIC, SYSTEM HALTED ???
Date: 9 Jan 93 16:02:01 GMT
Organization: Department of Computing at Lancaster University, UK.

In article <trung.726508956@sundance> trung@sundance.SJSU.EDU (Trung Tran) writes:

>>> >NO ROM BASIC
>>> >SYSTEM HALTED

>Well, I just saw this on my 486-50 last night.  I'm not really sure about
>the heat-related theory.  It happened to me when I just got home from work.
>I turned on the PC and there it was.  After a cold reboot, it disappeared.
>I'm pretty sure this was the first time I saw it.  Even if it was
>heat-related, I installed a CPU cooler (a small fan mounted on a heat-sink)
>for my 486 to prevent it from getting fried.
>
>Anyhow, anyone else has any comment?

I have obtained the error message a few times whilst using Norton
Commander.  The error sometimes appears if you try accessing a floppy
disk drive which doesn't contain a disk. 

Davei
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: jt@fuw.edu.pl (Jerzy Tarasiuk)
Subject: Re: Can someone please send me a list of the hard drive types 1-15 for bios
Organization: Warsaw University Physics Dept.
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 18:34:46 GMT

>>>>> On 28 Dec 92 21:07:48 GMT, russest@ampex.com (Steve Russell) said:
Steve> In article <1hl98oINNdcm@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> ah157@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Rob Henry) writes:
>Can you please send me the bios types of hard drives,there are 1_15 listed in
>my setup file.
>I have a 42 meg seagate st-251
>and a fuji 20 meg.
>Please,any help is appreciated.
>LEAVE MAIL
Steve> That kinda, sorta depends on the bios vendor and which drive types were put

This info can be read from BIOS: set type 1, boot and look data pointed
by vector 41h (46h for 2-nd drive, as I remember). 16 bytes for every
type shows information like cylinder count, head count, sectors/track,
park cylinder, write precompensation cylinder. I don't remember 'what
is what', but it should be easy to guess...
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: welz@controls.ccd.harris.com (Michael Welz)
Subject: Re:Help:CMOS settings messed up graphics.
Organization: Harris Controls 
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 20:04:39 GMT


I had the same problem with Civilization and my NCR VESA Local Bus
Card.  I posted a question on the Microprose BBS and all that 
their tech support said was that I must have "some sort of BIOS problem".

When I posted again for more explanation they stopped replying.

I also noticed the same problem with GS2000 (another Microprose game) but
the problem only occurred in the introduction.


I ended up selling Civilization since the EGA mode is too harsh.
Oh well.


Mike
   
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: deng@wright.seas.ucla.edu (Christopher H. Deng)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Rotten Hard disk
Date: 10 Jan 93 07:01:48 GMT
Organization: SEASnet, University of California, Los Angeles


  I have a 386/40 with 100mb HD.  Recently, my HD is acting really weird.  Ususally after or during, big programs like win 3.0 or MS word for Win, many of 
my files get truncated and cross-linked.  Just two days ago, I found out that
my FAT was ruined.  I had to use NDD to fix most of the problems but still
much of my data are lost.  

Weird symptom I noticed.  When the HD is reading/writing, it sometimes pauses
but the HD light is still on.  It pauses for about 10-20 seconds then starts
reading/writing again.  Often after that happens, most of my files gets 
corrupted.  However, this has happened before and never did anything 
until last week.  I still have my warranty should I get a new HD??

Please e-mail me at Deng@seas.ucla.edu
Arigatoo gozaimasu!
From: carl@Cayman.COM (Carl Heinzl)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: When is the 586 due?
Date: 12 Jan 93 16:28:03 GMT
Organization: Cayman Systems Inc., Cambridge, MA
In-reply-to: dic5340@hertz.njit.edu's message of 11 Jan 93 23:11:00 GMT
bcc: carl


>In article <1ikvprINNunc@ub.d.umn.edu> khuber@ub.d.umn.edu (Kevin Huber) writes:
>>Sorry if this is a FAQ, but when are systems with the Pentium (aka P5
>>aka 586) going to be on the market?

>The chip was released very recently.  Systems should be out within 6
>months, probably less.

Which chip was released?  Who can get hold of one?  Which *version* of
the chip is it?  Is it the one that will fit into the "P24t" sockets
on the existing 486 motherboards (I doubt it - that would cut into
their 486 sales - that chip will probably follow *far* down the road).

Was there a press release?  I can't believe that Intel would start
shipping and not have a huge press release (or did I just miss it?).

-Carl-
--
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: gryphon@openage.openage.com (The Golden Gryphon)
Subject: Re: NO ROM BASIC, SYSTEM HALTED ???
Organization: Open Age, Inc.
Date: Tue, 05 Jan 1993 13:22:39 GMT

rubin@procon.jhuapl.edu (Don Rubin) writes:


>I have been fooling around with a new motherboard
>and some disks and get the following message when
>I try to boot a 340mb IDE drive

>NO ROM BASIC
>SYSTEM HALTED

You may not have the boot partition active.  Hookup the drive and run fdisk off
floppy, and check the partition status.
-- 
The Golden Gryphon 				gryphon@openage.COM
"Mad Scientists seeks mindless brawny assistants, good pay, quiet location."
"They're not ghosts,  they're metaphysically challenged." - Me
Openage - The Premier SCO UNIX integrator in the Washington D.C. area
From: micky@flytrap.Eng.Sun.COM (Mayank Choudhary)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Help w/ modem setup
Date: 6 Jan 1993 19:01:59 GMT
Organization: SunSoft, Sun Microsystems Inc.
Distribution: world
Reply-To: micky@Eng.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: flytrap


Hope this is the right group for such questions.

I am trying to attach an external modem to my machine. It is a US Robotics
2400 baud modem. The windows manual that i have points me to setup the com
port and then use the Terminal app. 

The mouse uses COM1 and i changed the parameters of COM2 to the right baud 
rate, parity and stop-bits. I also set the Terminal app to use COM2, but 
cannot get the machine to talk to the modem, typing AT should return OK, 
but i get nothing.

What is the right way to connect an external modem? Oh, and i have a 486 box
from Compudyne, w/ serial, parallel, printer and game ports.

E-mail preferred, i do read this newsgroup too.

thanks
micky
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: gbrooksh@comanche.ess.harris.com (Greg Brookshire)
Subject: Re: Looking for comments on Gecco..
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 16:12:53 GMT
Reply-To: gbrooksh@comanche.ess.harris.com
Organization: Harris Corporation, Government Aerospace Systems Division


I'm considering buying a 486 machine by mail order, but know nothing about
some of the companies I see advertised in Computer Shopper.

Does anybody have any comments on a company called Gecco?


---
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Greg Brookshire                                                   407-729-2464
gbrooksh@su100l.ess.harris.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: kevr@is.morgan.com (Kevin Reilly)
Subject: Buying a SCSI controller board.
Organization: Morgan Stanley & Company
Distribution: usa
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 21:48:18 GMT


I own a Gateway 486-DX2 ISA machine that has installed one
202 MB IDE hard disk as Disk1. I have come into possession
a Maxtor 213MB SCSI HD model LXT213SY. I would like to add this
disk onto my system. Here are a few questions I hope can be answered.

1. I know I must buy a SCSI controller board. But which one?
   I am sure this question has been beaten to death already but I
   have read too many horror stories of systems with both IDE and SCSI
   disks not being able to function together w/o being a SCSI
   interface guru. 

2. After I buy a SCSI board can I link other devices right on to it
   i.e. a CD-ROM?

3. Can a complete distinct OS's (OS2,Windows or WindowsNT, Windows)
   exist on the different disks, which would then be selected at boot time?

Thank you in advance!!!

Kevin M. Reilly
From: amak@uoft02.utoledo.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: LaserPrinter can print from Mac and PC 
Date: 5 Jan 93 18:46:33 EST
Organization: University of Toledo, Computer Services

In article <1993Jan5.142128.29610@porthos.cc.bellcore.com>, bmaggio@wort.dcs.bellcore.com (Bill Maggio) writes:
> Hello.
> 
> Is there a low-cost postscript laser printer that has 
> a serial, parallel and Appletalk port built in?
> 
> something like the new, high-end Apple LaserWriters,
> but a much lower cost.
> 
> auto-switching is not important, but postscript and 
> the 3 port types, are.
> 
> thanx,
> 
> bill maggio
> Piscataway, NJ 08855-1320               Fax       : 908-336-2237

The NEC Silentwriter Model 95 sounds like the answer to your question.  It
comes standard with AppleTalk, Serial, and parallel ports.  It does auto-
detection too.  The printer comes with 2Mb standard (expandable to 5), 
Postscript Level Two, and HP L-Jet III.  The engine is 6 pages per minute,
and the print density is 300 DPI.  I've had mine for about 2 months and 
absolutely love it.  Check _Computer Shopper_, I think it can be had for
about $1350 now.

Alexander T. Mak                  
Assistant Director, Ritter Planetarium     Voice:    (419) 537-4641
and Brooks Observatory                     Fax:      (419) 537-2723 
The University of Toledo                   Bitnet:   amak@uoft02.bitnet
Toledo, Ohio 43606                         Internet: amak@uoft02.utoledo.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,comp.sys.mac.hardware,comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy
From: georgem@microsoft.com (George Moore)
Subject: Re: Windows Memory Protection (was Re: "Windoze" slow? Naah...)
Date: 04 Jan 93 18:32:33 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corporation

>tracer@majestix.cs.uoregon.edu (Roger M. Wilcox) writes:
>> I wrote:
>>As of Windows 3.1, all applications, including the shell, 
>>GDI.DLL, and USER.DLL run in Ring 3.  Only the p-mode kernel runs 
>>in Ring 0.
>
>
>Privilege Level 3?
>Uh oh.  Then I see a potential problem in possible future releases.
>	[things deleted]
>This kind of closes a potential door for even greater protection in future
>releases of Windows.  If IOPL were 2, instead (as in OS/2), and for the
>present all Windows tasks were run at Ring 2 instead of Ring 3, it would
>be possible to give I/O protection in future releases by running non-I/O-
>dependent Windows apps in Ring 3 and old, misbehaved, I/O-port-using Windows
>apps in Ring 2 (selected by a check box in the "Run" dialog or something).


I guess I should have given a longer answer before, since I managed
to confuse you.  The Windows kernel (kernel.exe) runs in Ring 3 along
with everything else, but the virtual machine kernel (win386.exe) runs
in Ring 0.  kernel.exe only runs Windows programs, and as such is treated 
as one process by win386.exe.  All of the other virtual dos machines, 
along with the Windows process itself, are pre-emptively multitasked based
upon the values you set up in the PIF files.  Note that this pre-emptive 
multitasking only occurs between VDMs and the Windows session; each 
individual Windows program still is cooperatively multitasked.

The IOPL, on the other hand, is set to 0 so that anybody can do almost
anything they want with the port trappings.  VxD's (which run in Ring 0
too) can also be set up to trap specific ports.  I'm not the local
expert on 80386 port trapping in win386.exe, but from what I've been 
told your sound-emitting program shouldn't have any problems.

For Windows 3.1, it wouldn't have been a good idea for us to try to 
provide I/O protection against certain apps since there are some
programs floating around which do very low-level things to the hardware
in order to support some boards or other I/O devices.  Compatibility
with Windows 3.0 and MS-DOS and all of that (it's a horrible fact of
life).  We had an pre-beta of Windows 3.1 in early June of '91 that
was shipped to around 100 ISVs just to make sure that we didn't
break any of their programs when we moved their execution from Ring 0
to Ring 3.  The regular beta of 3.1 went out in July of '91.

Windows NT, on the other hand, obviously doesn't allow any random
process to mess with these low-level things for security reasons.
Although I'm not in the NT group, I have heard that we are working 
closely with any of the vendors who have MS-DOS, Windows 3.0 or 
Windows 3.1 style applications which attempt to do these naughty things
so that their programs can be ported to NT.
From: tcscs!zeta@src.honeywell.com (Gregory Youngblood)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Viewsonic monitors
Date: Mon, 04 Jan 93 00:13:40 CST
Reply-To: zeta%tcscs@src.honeywell.com
Organization: TCS Consulting Services

t06@clark.edu (Torry Schreiner) writes:

> I'd like to see some opinions about the Viewsonic 5E and 6 monitors.  I
> would also like to hear of other comparable monitors.  I will be using a
> Diamond Speedstar 24X video card.
> 
First, I dont have a Viewsonic 5e, but I do have a ViewSonic 5.  I dont use
the 24x video board either, buthave a trident (8900b).

I have nothing but praise for this monitor.  The colors are bright and
vibrant and the controls are very simple.  I've had this for 18 months or
so now, and have had NO problems at all.  I would buy more of these gladly
for my own use.  I never realize how good it was until I saw other svga
type monitors.  I have an NEC 2 at work.  While it is old, and I can take
that into consideration, I'm not very impressed by it.  I've also looked at
other systems as well.  I like the viewsonic monitor i have.

Greg




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