HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: frisk@complex.is (Fridrik Skulason)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Cyrix incomparibility
Date: 4 Jan 93 21:48:55 GMT
Organization: Frisk Software International, Iceland

I am having problems with one of my program - which seems to work perfectly
on machines with any Intel 80x86 or AMD processor, but crashes if a Cyrix
"compatible" processor is installed.

Now, I admit this program does some strange things - single stepping through
interrupt calls, for example, but I am wondering....is anybody aware of any
incompatibility between Cyrix and the Intel processors which might be causing
this ?

-frisk



-- 
--
Fridrik Skulason      Frisk Software International     phone: +354-1-694749
Author of F-PROT      E-mail: frisk@complex.is         fax:   +354-1-28801
From: ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Iskandar Taib)
Subject: Re: Sick of dinky mouse pads.
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 19:23:37 GMT

In article <slendt.99.0@unomaha.edu> slendt@unomaha.edu (Steven Lendt) writes:

>Does anyone know of a place that makes large mouse pads?
>I'm talking 14" or bigger, arr, arr (Tim Allen sound effects).

Why not make one? Be the first on your block with a genuine 
cedar mousepad.. Or curly maple.. 

Try the local lumber yard and the craft store for something 
to put on the surface... I think plain unfinished wood sanded 
smooth would be a good surface...



-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iskandar Taib                          | The only thing worse than Peach ala
Internet: NTAIB@SILVER.UCS.INDIANA.EDU |    Frog is Frog ala Peach
Bitnet:   NTAIB@IUBACS                 !
From: tennesen@mars.dgrc.doc.ca (Andy Tenne-Sens)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Gateway2000 486DX-33 ??
Keywords: Gateway
Date: 7 Jan 93 18:05:43 GMT

I sympathize with those who have had problems with delivery from 
Gateway.  I ordered a system last November and still don't have 
it.  As of yesterday, Gateway hasn't sent it out their door.  
Here's my story.

I decided on Gateway because of the "almost-too-good-to-be-true"
price on the 486DX2-66-MHz system, and I wanted something that
wouldn't be obselete by the time it arrived.  I had also read 
good reviews about their systems' reliability, and customer 
satisfaction.  My order differed from the standard configuration
in that I opted for the tower case, a standard (i.e. not Anykey)
keyboard, 16M RAM (on *one* SIMM!), and the CD-ROM drive.  I was
told it should be shipped in 3 weeks.  That was Nov. 6.

After four weeks it hadn't arrived, so I called my sales rep, 
Angie, who said the CD-ROM drives were not available yet.  A 
week later (Dec. 15) I called again and, being told that the 
drives were still not available, I had her change the order to 
ship the PC without the drive, which would be sent later for me 
to install myself, at no extra charge.  Under this simplified 
configuration, the computer was supposed to have been shipped in 
1 to 1.5 weeks.  On Dec. 18, I was told that the order had been 
"released", meaning that it would be assembled in 1 or 2 days.  
I actually began to think it might arrive before the new year.

However, I've now waited 9 weeks and still don't have the system.
Some of my conclusions are:

    1.  As always, there is no such thing as a free lunch.  
Gateway's prices may be very competitive, and the reports of 
their reliability both speak well for Gateway.  The catch is that
you may have to wait longer than you think to get your system.

    2.  Their manufacturing seems based on something like "just-
in-time" manufacturing that keeps costs of stocking parts 
inventory low.  Unfortunately, this works best only if the parts
influx is steady, and that seems not to be the case.

    3.  The customer doesn't have much clout simply because the 
Gateways are such good deals.  I was told by Angie that Gateway
ships out "almost 3000 systems a day"!  What's it to them, then,
if one or two dozen disgruntled customers cancel their orders, 
especially when Gateway *does* seem to be able to send many 
systems out (probably the vanilla ones) within the promised 3 
weeks?

Be forewarned.

(What will really burn me up is if, as soon as I receive my 
system, I see the price on the 486DX2-66 dropped in the very 
next issue of PC Magazine.  They should be about due for a price
decrease.)   



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Andy Tenne-Sens                 E-mail: tennesen@mars.dgrc.doc.ca
Communications Research Centre / DRL
P.O. Box 11490, Station H       Office: (613) 998-2645
3701 Carling Ave.
Ottawa, Ontario                 Fax:    (613) 990-7987
CANADA   K2H 8S2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: simon@guk.auspost.com.au (Simon Carter)
Subject: Parallel Laplink Cable
Organization: Australia Post
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 22:48:04 GMT


Can anyone tell me the connections required to make a parallel cable
suitable for use with Laplink (Pro). I am sure this is a FAQ, but
have no idea where to get it from (*sorry*).

Any and all help appreciated.

Simon
--
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| Simon Carter: 3rd Year Elec/Comp Sci, Monash Uni, Clayton    |
| @mail: 14 Canterbury Rd, Heathmont, Victoria 3135, Australia |
|   Net: simon@auspost.com.au                          ___     |
| /simon% find -greatquotes -print >> .signature      (o o)    |
+--------------------------------------------------ooO-(_)-Ooo-+
From: harrison@aurs01.UUCP (S. Keith Harrison)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Slow floppy drive access!!??!!
Date: 11 Jan 93 22:36:19 GMT
Reply-To: harrison@aurxcg.aur.alcatel.com.UUCP (S. Keith Harrison)
Organization: Alcatel Network Systems, Raleigh NC

In article <1is22jINN1nq@umbc4.umbc.edu> marklc@umbc3.umbc.edu (Mr. Mark L. Cohen) writes:
-I had the same problem when setting up a 386/25 with AMI BIOS.  Everything was
-fine except the floppy drives were VERY slow like you said.  The solution
-was (aggrivatingly) simple -- turn on shadow RAM in your BIOS settings.  On
-this computer after I did this, the floppy drives were fast like they should
-be.
-
-    Hope this helps...
-      Mark Cohen   marklc@umbc7.umbc.edu

I also had a problem with slow floppys on my 486/33 AMI-OPTI motherboard.  
After a bit of experimentation, I found that "SLOW REFRESH DISABLED" 
reduced my "dir a:" times from 7 seconds to 3 seconds.  Apparently it 
will take some experimentation for each of us to determine _our_particular_
solution.

Keith


'^`'^`'^`'^`'^`'^`'^`'^`'^`'^`'^`'^`'^`'^`'^`'^`'^`'^`'^`'^`'^
 S. Keith Harrison          harrison%aurfs1%aurgate@mcnc.org 
 Alcatel, Raleigh, NC USA   ...!mcnc!aurgate!aurfs1!harrison 
 (919) 850-6560             73457.1660@compuserve.com
From: ah@doc.ic.ac.uk (Angelo Haritsis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Adaptec SCSI controllers query
Date: 7 Jan 93 12:07:08 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Computing, Imperial College, London
NNTP-Posting-Host: dolphin.doc.ic.ac.uk

Does anyone out there know the difference between an Adaptec 1542A and an 1542B
controller ? I was told that the only difference is that the A version is 
a full-length card whereas the B version is a half-length card; functionally
they are exactly the same.
Can I connect SCSI devices other than disks (tapes, CD-Rom etc.) on such
controllers ? For disks: is it guaranteed that any SCSI disk will work
with a 1542 controller.
Please include personal e-mail reply.
Thanks.
-- 
Angelo Haritsis, Applied Systems Section
s-mail: Dpt of Computing,Imperial College, 180 Queen's Gate, London SW7 2BZ, UK
e-mail: ah@doc.ic.ac.uk - tel:+44 71 589 5111 (x7511) - fax:+44 71 581 8024
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Iskandar Taib)
Subject: Re: IDE vs. SCSI
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 18:31:29 GMT

In article <1993Jan7.200509.3989@netcom.com> moses@netcom.com (Alex Jauch) writes:

>So if speed is your concern, I'd say SCSI is your answer.

The corollary to this, of course, is that if money is a problem, 
IDE is your answer.

The way I look at it is that if you want lots of drives, super large
drives and very fast transfer rates SCSI is the answer, but you'll 
need lots of moolah for it. 

If you need a 80-300 meg hard drive for a one-user clone, IDE is a 
perfectly good choice. Transfer rates, while not as fast as _potential_
Wide-and/or-Fast SCSI-II rates, are high enough. Couple an IDE drive
to a local bus controller and it can actually scream, though admittedly 
not as hard as what you'd get with good SCSI.

In the same price range you'll be stuck with a cheap ISA pseudo-SCSI
adapter card.




-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iskandar Taib                          | The only thing worse than Peach ala
Internet: NTAIB@SILVER.UCS.INDIANA.EDU |    Frog is Frog ala Peach
Bitnet:   NTAIB@IUBACS                 !
From: blean@rwb.esd.sgi.com (Bob Blean)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: VLB Machines and Bus Mastering - AIR Motherboards
Date: 12 Jan 93 05:39:39 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics

In article <1993Jan9.092322.932@sfu.ca>, mtichy@fraser.sfu.ca (Martin Tichy) writes:

|> You must be thinking of 1st Party DMA, not bus mastering.

What is "1st Party DMA"?
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: guay@fraser.sfu.ca (Tim Guay)
Subject: NEC IDE Drive jumpers, etc
Summary: Need NEC IDE Drive Jumper specs
Keywords: NEC, IDE drive, Jumpers
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 17:10:02 GMT

Hi;

I'm installing a NED 105mb IDE drive as a second drive. The NEC drive's
model number is D3756. The problem is this drive came with no docs, so 
I don't know what each jumper does. So my can anyone tell me what all the
jumper settings for this drive? 

Secondly, does anyone know a source for those mini-jumpers this drive uses?
Regular jumpers don't fit.

Thanks
	Tim Guay
	guay@sfu.ca

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: holt@camax.com (Jonathan Holt)
Subject: Re: Gateway2000 486DX-33 ??
Organization: CAMAX Systems, Inc.
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 18:13:30 GMT

lcc@security (Lee C. Cooper) writes:


>I'm thinking of purchasing a Gateway 2000 486DX-33.
>Does anyone have any experience with this particular model or
>something similar?
>      
>I've heard some not so flattering things about their
>14" CrystalScan 1024NI monitor. Is it that bad?
>                        
>I'm also thinking of getting their Telepath Fax/Modem. Does
>anyone know if Gateway ever straightened out the problems
>they were having with this model?
> 
>Also, does anyone know how bad/good the Mini Desktop Case and/or
>monitor is as far as EM emanations are concerned? 
> 
>Thanks in advance,
>   
>Lee Cooper                                                                    

I purchased the Gateway 2000 486DX-33 in Nov., and so far have been
very pleased with it.  I also heard poor things about the 14" 1024,
so I stepped up to the 15" flat screen CrystalScan, which seems to
work nicely (although it's no NEC!)  I also got 8Meg RAM and extended
the CPU cache to 256K (which I strongly recommend, at only $45) 

The Mini Desktop is a nice size, and seems well designed.  I have
no idea how EM emanations rate.  I have ordered the Telepath modem,
but have not yet received it, sounds great in the ad!

The only 'problem' I encountered was a sticky space bar on the keyboard
they shipped me, but I called up and they shipped a new one out within
the week.

The 486DX-33V model they now ship has a VESA conforming local bus,
but I couldn't justify spending the extra $$ for a bus that may or
may not be supported by 3rd party vendors.  The hard drive controller
and video board are already on the local bus, even on the standard 
486DX-33 model, so I can't see getting it unless you really know you
want it...

The worst part about dealing with Gateway is getting through to them
to make your order!


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jon Holt                                         CAMAX
holt@camax.com (Internet)                        Minneapolis, MN, USA

"The reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once."
						      B. Banzai
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Slow floppy drive access!!??!!
From: Senthil Ramas Kumar <SRK106@psuvm.psu.edu>
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 17:08:09 EST
Organization: Penn State University

In article <chans.726391175@marsh>, chans@cs.curtin.edu.au (Sean Chan) says:
> >Gidday all, > >I was wondering controls the speed the floppy drives are
accessed.  Ever >since I changed my motherboard from 386DX-33 to a
486DX2-50, I noticed >that it takes me 10 sec.  to get a response from a
simple dir/w a: or a:.  >My motherboard is a UMC chipset, I don't think it's
the floppy/hdd >controller because I haven't changed it (from my 386DX -
floppy access >there was fast!!).  Are there any settings I can do in the
AMI BIOS to >speed this up??  > >Another question, what's "Auto
Configuration" from Advance Chipset Setup >of my BIOS??  If I disable it, my
CPU runs much faster, but has problems >warm/cold booting.  > >Any info is
greatly appreciated...  > >Sean Chan Curtin University of Technology

I also have the same damn problem, very slow disk access, it takes me about
7 sec.  to do a dir on a: or b:.  I even asked about this problem here in
this group some 7 months ago, but no one could tell me anything.

I really wonder, that in the heck could be causing, such a slow performance.

I have a swan 486/33, AMI BIOS,

Kumar
From: carl@Cayman.COM (Carl Heinzl)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Run a 486/33MHz CPU at 40 or 50MHz?
Date: 12 Jan 93 16:24:16 GMT
	<up47198@zola.esd.sgi.com>
Organization: Cayman Systems Inc., Cambridge, MA
In-reply-to: blean@rwb.esd.sgi.com's message of 12 Jan 93 05:46:42 GMT
bcc: carl


>|> Now the question is that how far you can increase the speed. There is
>|> no rule here, it may run at only 1% or as high as 30% above the rated
>|> speed.

>Are DX2's as push-able ad DX's?  I.E. would you be likely to be able to
>successfully raise 33mhz to 40 mhz, and with a DX2-66 have 80mhz internally?

Very doubtful.  Remember, when you're pushing a 33 to 40 you're
pushing a chip that was actually designed to run at 50 Mhz but this
particular part didn't make the cut (at 50).

The real question to ask would be... "Has anyone successfully pushed a
DX50?  And to what speed.  Of course the inherent problems with this
scheme is that most motherboards are only designed to run at a maximum
of 50 Mhz so it would be difficult to tell if the CPU is failing or if
the motherboard is inducing the failure.

Be sure to change the bus clock speed divider when pushing the CPU
speed or you may notice a failure due to the increased speed of
peripheral cards.

-Carl-
--
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: Michael.Kohne@launchpad.unc.edu (Michael Kohne)
Subject: Trying to ID a drive...
Organization: University of North Carolina Extended Bulletin Board Service
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 04:16:50 GMT

I have this hard drive. I have NO data bout it, other than what is
on the labels on the outside of the drive. Can anyone help? The sticker
on the side has the following info:
Fuji Electric Co. Ltd. 
the string 'FK305-39R'
a serial number
a black rectangle with the numbers from 01 to 40 printed in it, and 
the numbers 01 and 03 scratched out with black felt-tip pen.

A sticker on the top has D-2180 (the 2180 looks printed seperate from the
rest), and the letters HEI. 

I'm guessing from the connections and the formation of the string above
(which I think might be a model number) that it's an RLL drive.

Any information (such as heads and cylinder counts) would be greatly 
appreciated.

Michael Kohne
House of the Techno-Discordians, Ambulatory Amusements Division

--
   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:  laUNChpad.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
Xref: sparky comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:34787 comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc:16330
From: jdoll@cup.portal.com (Joe - Doll)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Catalog of Hard-to-Find PC Enhancements (Repost)
Date: Mon,  4 Jan 93 21:44:55 PST
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Distribution: usa

"The Catalog of Personal Computing Tools for Engineers and Scien-
tists" lists hardware cards and application software packages for 
PC/XT/AT/PS/2 class machines.  Focus is on engineering and scien-
tific applications of PCs, such as data acquisition/control, 
design automation, and data analysis and presentation.  
  
If you would like a free copy, reply with your (U. S. Postal) 
mailing address.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: solsman@ra.nrl.navy.mil (Mark Solsman)
Subject: What is a good SCSI-II (FAST) controller?
Organization: Naval Research Lab, Washington, DC
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 18:30:50 GMT


Hello,
I am in the process of upgrading to scsi devices.  I need a scsi host adapter
controller card.  

I will have a SCSI-II (fast) drive.  I am looking for a good scsi-II controller.
The problem is that I need adaptec 1542B compatability.  

Is the adaptec 1542B a scsi-II card?  Are there any 1542B compatable cards
that are SCSI-II?

thanks an advance!
Mark Solsman     
-- 
Mark Solsman                                 Building 1, Code 5160
United States Naval Research Laboratory      solsman@ra.nrl.navy.mil
Washington, DC                               (202) 767-5769
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: timhu@ico.isc.com (Timothy Hu)
Subject: Re: What's the real difference between QIC-40 and QIC-80?
Organization: Interactive Systems Corp., Boulder CO
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 05:16:16 GMT

Okay all you curious people, here's the scoop on DC2000 and DC2120 (and
others) differences:
	 tape	uncompressed			Recording	   max tape
	length	  capacity  	Format		Density    #        speed
	 (ft)	   (MB)		Standard	(FTPI)	  Tracks    (ips)
DC300XLP 450	4.3-45		QIC24		10,000	4-9	   90
DC600A	 620	60,125		QIC24, 120	12,500	9-15	   90
DC6150	 620	125,150		QIC120, 150	12,500	15,18,32   120
DC6250	 1020	208,250		QIC120, 150	12,500	15,18,32   120
DC2000	 205	 20,40,64	QIC 40, 100;	12,500	14,20,24   90
				Irwin 20,40,64
DC2120   307.5	120		QIC80; Irwin 80	12,500	28,32	   90

So as you can see, the advantage that DC2120 has is longer length tapes
and more tracks. Gee, I hope this settles it.
-- 
Timothy Hu timhu@ico.isc.com	 | The intelligence (or lack of) expressed
Interactive Systems Corporation  | above does not necessarily reflect the
Resource Solutions International | that of anyone else.
From: amn@unix.brighton.ac.uk (Anthony Naggs)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Book on low level pc hardware
Date: 2 Jan 93 02:33:10 GMT
Organization: University of Brighton, UK

In article <1993Jan1.172858.24858@comp.lancs.ac.uk> daves@comp.lancs.ac.uk (Dave Stow) writes:
> ... - I am after something that will
>give me information on programming the *86 chips - particularly memory 
>management stuff, I/O hardware, and the various protection modes.

Try the Intel "i386 Microprocessor Programmer's Reference Manual", or the
"i486 ...", "i486SX ...".  These should be available from major book stores,
they are published jointly by Intel & Osborne McGraw-Hill.

They give quite a lot of details about the instruction set and use of 
registers for memory management (protected & virtual modes).  I haven't
had occassion to really use the book for the areas you mention, it looks
like a useful -reference- but doesn't give much guidance on actually
using the information.  Room for another book on the subject, anybody got
a better suggestion?

(Oh yes, I have the "i486 .." version #22.95 in 1990.  If you don't mind
buying without looking at it first you can probably find them in the RS and
Farnell catalogues - I don't have them at hand to check).

Hope this helps,
Anthony Naggs
Software/Electronics Engineer                   P O Box 1080, Peacehaven
                                                East Sussex  BN10 8PZ
Phone: +44 273 589701                           Great Britain
Email: (c/o Univ of Brighton) amn@vms.brighton.ac.uk  or  xa329@city.ac.uk
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: syny@crux2.cit.cornell.edu (R Craig Stevenson)
Subject: where to buy *quiet* fan for power supply?
Organization: Cornell Information Technologies
Date:  6 Jan 93 19:50:51 GMT

The fan on my power supply has always been quite loud.  That is, it is
not grinding, but it makes a lot noise as it blows air out of the
machine.  Now that I am leaving my machine on 24hr/day, it has begus
to drive me crazy since my "office" also doubles as our living room
(gotta love campus life).

A year or so ago, I remember a thread which discussed where one could
aquire a *very quiet* fan which I could use to replace the noisy one
in my power supply.  Anybody have any pointers or references to such a
beast?  Recommendations on how to not kill my self when I open up the
power supply to replace the fan?

(alternately, I have a 386DX/33 with a WD2200AC 213mb disk drive in a
full tower case.  Do I even need the fan running in the first place?)

-- Craig

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: schuster@panix.com (Michael Schuster)
Subject: Re: NO ROM BASIC, SYSTEM HALTED ???
Organization: Panix Public Access Internet & Unix, NYC
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 17:20:43 GMT

In article <1993Jan4.144305.4456@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu> 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
>
>I was previously able to put a DOS 5.0 system
>on this disk and boot it, but now the same disk
>gives this error on two different motherboards
>but a 137mb disk boots fine on both systems.
>
>What does it mean and what do I do to fix it.?

It means no boot device is available. When this occurs on an IBM PC, it
jumps to the ROM-based cassette Basic interpreter, which is usually
absent on clones.

How to fix: fix your hardware, partitioning, and format in such a way
that the hard or floppy disk boots properly.


-- 
_______________________________Mike Schuster________________________________
NY Pub. Access UNIX/Internet: schuster@panix.com | 70346.1745@CompuServe.COM
The Portal (R) System: schuster@shell.portal.com | MCI Mail,GEnie: MSCHUSTER
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware