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- From: Info-IBMPC@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL ("Info-IBMPC Digest")
- Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.digest
- Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V92 #175
- Message-ID: <921110231546.V92N175@brl.mil>
- Date: 10 Nov 92 23:15:44 GMT
- Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
- Reply-To: Info-IBMPC@wsmr-simtel20.ARMY.mil
- Distribution: world
- Organization: The Internet
- Lines: 705
- Approved: info-ibmpc@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
-
- Info-IBMPC Digest Tue, 10 Nov 92 Volume 92 : Issue 175
-
- Today's Editor:
- Gregory Hicks - Rota Spain <GHICKS@wsmr-simtel20.Army.Mil>
-
- Today's Topics:
- Borland Pascal 7.0 information
- capturing from communications
- Commodore 64
- Displaying postscript files on screen
- DOS window in Windows w/ environment
- VESA driver for C&T SVGA chip?
- Finish trashing OS/2
- Hand scanners tech. info needed
- Necessity/presence of TSRs? (V92 #169)
- Key definition (Kermit) (V92 #170)
- MSDOS 5.0 chkdsk WARNING!
- MSX Basic for DOS - Help!
- Pointer Mouse
- Safety Tracking Program
- TIFF to PCL
- Trying to execute a program from a server hard disk
- WAV file description
- Win 3.1 on < 386's ... nip it!
- Windows (V92 #170)
-
- Send Replies or notes for publication to: <INFO-IBMPC@brl.mil>
-
- Send requests of an administrative nature (addition to, deletion from
- the distribution list, et al) to: <INFO-IBMPC-REQUEST@brl.mil>
-
- Addition and Deletion requests for UK readers should be sent to:
- <INFO-IBMPC-REQUEST@DARESBURY.AC.UK>
-
- Archives of past issues of the Info-IBMPC Digest are available by FTP
- ONLY from WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL in directory PD2:<ARCHIVES.IBMPC>.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Date: Sun, 1 Nov 1992 09:31:05 GMT
- From: Sidney Markowitz <sidney@genghis.borland.com>
- Subject: Borland Pascal 7.0 information
-
- I have set up e-mail address bp7-info@borland.com as an automated
- server of an information file describing features and prices of the
- newly released Borland Pascal with Objects 7.0 and Turbo Pascal 7.0.
-
- E-mail sent to bp7-info@borland.com will receive in reply a 16.8Kb
- information file which also lists the Internet addresses I have set
- up to contact Borland Customer Service, Educational Sales, and to
- report bugs. The subject and text of mail that you send to
- bp7-info@borland.com will be ignored. If your mailer does not supply
- a correct "From:" header, you can manually include a "Reply-To:"
- header field with the correct Internet form of your e-mail address.
-
- I'm sure that there will be lots of questions on the net about BP
- 7.0, and this is my attempt to reduce the volume of traffic. I am not
- frequenting the newsgroups lately, so please let people know about
- the bp7-info@borland.com address when they ask these questions.
-
- -- Sidney Markowitz <sidney@borland.com>
- Borland International (Languages - R&D)
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 23:41:00 CST
- From: Glauber <gmribeir@david.wheaton.edu>
- Subject: capturing from communications
-
- :) Date: Thu, 22 Oct 1992 17:46 EST
- :) From: DannyK <DKALLIN@vax.clarku.edu>
-
- :) I am trying to find a program which will either capture text from the
- :) line buffer of my communication program (Quicklink II) and paste it
- :) to the keyboard or a communication program which has this ability.
- :) Any ideas??
-
- :) I am running a 386 clone, Quicklink has a capture to file but not
- :) keyboard. Thanks
-
- I don't understand exactly what you want, but most comm. programs do
- this via capture and "ASCII transfer." When you upload a file using
- "ASCII" or "text" mode instead of a protocol, it simply sends that
- file as if you where typing it. Kermit uses "log session" to capture
- input and "transmit" to keyboard a text file. Email me if this is too
- obscure.
-
- Glauber
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 07 Nov 1992 08:25:56 -0500 (EST)
- From: Joe Knueven <jknueven@tso.uc.edu>
- Subject: Commodore 64
-
- In report 169 the following subject was addressed:
-
- >> He wants to transfer the data and programs from the C-64 to the PC
-
- I have had a Commodore 64 for years and last Christmas my son sprung
- for an IBM PS/1 so I was faced with the same problem. I access a
- local community service bulletin board system (TriState Online) so I
- was able to upload the Commodore seq files to a personal storage area
- I had on the system and then download from there to my PC. I feel
- that it would have been faster to use a null modem cable to connect
- the two but <1> the boxes were located on different floors of our
- home and <2> I was too lazy to go out and locate a null modem cable.
-
- Transferring other files, such as prg and rel, files was beyond my
- capability although I did write a program for the Commodore to copy a
- relative file to a sequential file and then transfer the sequential
- file to the PC - in one case I was able to read the transferred file
- with Microsoft Works database program and did everything I wanted
- working in that environment. In another case I was unable to
- transfer it success- fully so I am still pondering what to do in this
- case. I never thought about transferring prg files - the Commodore
- version and the IBM version of BASIC seem so incompatible that I
- think it would probably be easier to just write a new program for the
- PC. BTW, I think that the Commie version is superior to the IBM
- version but that may be due to familiarity.
-
- * JOE KNUEVEN | "The grief of growing old was in the increasing *
- * | ability to see how life left you with so little *
- * jknueven@heartland. | of what you'd hoped for when you started." *
- * bradley.edu | ... Jean Rikhoff (in "The Sweetwater") *
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 9:41:20 GMT-3:00
- From: hjbortol@impa.br (Humberto Jose Bortolossi)
- Subject: Displaying postscript files on screen
-
- Is there a public domain/shareware program to display
- postscript files on a PC screen (CGA/EGA/VGA cards). If yes, where
- can I find it?
-
- Another question: is there a program that prints ps files on
- a non-ps-printer?
-
- Any hints're very welcome! Humberto.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 13:45 EST
- From: "J. Jeffrey Inglis" <JINGLIS%MIDD.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
- Subject: DOS window in Windows w/ environment
-
- Erich Neuwirth writes: (V92 #172)
- > can I get a DOS window in Windows with an environment from AUTOEXEC.BAT
- > as well as a TSR without running added batch files?
- [paraphrased]
-
- Yes - you should be able to run all needed commands within a PIF file
- you create using the PIF Editor (found in Main or Accessories program
- group). What I usually do with tasks like this is start with a basic
- DOS window - no environment, no TSR, nothing. Then I issue commands
- from the DOS prompt to get things the way I like them, and I keep
- track of the commands. When everything is A-OK, I go back into
- Windows, run the PIF Editor, and tell it to run all the commands I
- issued manually before.
-
- J. Jeffrey Inglis JINGLIS@MIDD.CC.MIDDLEBURY.EDU
- Computer Consultant
- Middlebury College Phone: 1-802-388-3711
- Academic Computing, Voter Hall Consultants' Office: x5933
- Middlebury, Vermont 05753 USA Academic Computing: x5558
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 14:55:26 CET
- From: Reinder Verlinde <reinder@neuretp.biol.ruu.nl>
- Subject: VESA driver for C&T SVGA chip?
-
- A friend of me owns a Olivetti PC with onboard SVGA-chip (type
- #52C453 SVGA-chip from Chips & Technologies). He also has a
- 'VESA'-driver for this chip. This driver suffers of two problems:
-
- - it is buggy
- - it does not support the complete VESA standard
-
- this is not a great wonder; it claims to be version 0.1 and dates
- from 1990. Olivetti does not have a newer version of this driver, so
- he looked at archie, but he had no success. If anybody knows about
- such a driver please respond directly to me (I am not a regular
- reader of this list).
-
- Reinder Verlinde
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 21:07:13 GMT
- From: joker@diku.dk (Morten Christian Holmgreen)
- Subject: Finish trashing OS/2
-
- Info-IBMPC@wsmr-simtel20.ARMY.mil writes:
-
- >Chris:
-
- >I would think that if Norton Disk Editor can see the file, then you
- >SHOULD be able to see the directory entry for the file.
-
- >If so, change the SYS, R/O, and HID attribute bits, write the changes
- >out to the disk, get out of DE to DOS and then delete the file.
-
- This proves it - sometimes you're wrong ;-)
-
- Actually, the file is named "EA DATA. SF" and has got to be renamed
- before DOS can delete it. But it should be a piece of cake using
- Norton, though...
-
- Christian
- --
- M. Christian Holmgreen / joker@diku.dk / mochmch@uts.uni-c.dk
- student, University of Copenhagen, Dept. of Computer Science
- "Human errors can only be avoided if one can avoid the use of humans"
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 13:35:41 CET
- From: SMOLIRA%PLWRTU11.BITNET@SEARN.SUNET.SE
- Subject: Hand scanners tech. info needed
-
- Hi !
-
- I'm looking for general information on how hand scanners
- communicate with computer. Do they use DMA or is the transmission
- interrupt-driven for each byte ? How to initialize scan ? What is the
- format of sent data ? ect. Please let me know if there are some
- general rules and where to look for such information on specific
- scanners.
-
- Please send responses directly to me. I'll summarize to the list.
-
- Thanks in advance
-
- --EARN in Poland? >-----+ | Peter Smolira ( Technical University of Wroclaw,
- . . | | - computer science student ).
- +---~~- . -~~-----------+ | E. MAIL: SMOLIRA@PLWRTU11 ( EARN/BITNET )
- | . . | Paper mail: Peter Smolira, ul. Okrezna 19,
- -It sometimes even works !! | 58-500 Jelenia Gora, POLAND
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 09 Nov 92 08:31:33 MST
- From: David <IDDWB@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU>
- Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V92 #169
-
- On Fri, 6 Nov 1992 21:21:49 GMT Info-IBMPC Digest said:
- >From: "John Boyd;LAHDI;" <johnboyd@ocdis01.oc.aflc.af.mil>
- >Subject: Necessity/presence of TSRs?
-
- >Since Windows is an operating *environment*, and not an operating
- >system, still relying on DOS's rules, I presume you still must use
- >TSRs to accomplish some things. Are TSRs still around in OS/2? If
- >not, how does one accomplish some of the 'background' things that
- >TSRs have been doing all this time, i.e., print spoolers, screen
- >savers, etc?
-
- You can use most of you TSR's in a DOS emulation mode under OS/2 --
- Prints spooling and screen saving are built into the os so you don't
- need addition garbage..
-
- If you have other utilities that directly read hardward or block
- drivers, you'll have to be very carefull with them under os/2.
- Otherwise, to make a system wide service that can pop-up, you would
- just right the program -- and since os/2 is a true preemptive
- multitasker you won't need to worry about dos multiplex flags/ or
- conflicting file i/o -- or any of the other problems that made dos
- the bane of computing...
-
- David Bear
- Office Automation
- ASU COPP (602)965-8257
- ... I think -- therefore I am a formal system -- I think?
- IDDWB@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 08 Nov 1992 22:33:49 -0600 (MDT)
- From: Joe Doupnik <JRD@CC.USU.EDU>
- Subject: Key definition (Kermit) (V92 #170)
-
- >Date: 2 Nov 92 12:48:20 GMT
- >From: rcivan@rwb.urc.tue.nl (Ivan Saez)
-
- >We have a question concerning Kermit :
- >
- >we are trying to redefine the F1 function key (we use kermit 3.12).
- >F1 should generate the following :
- >
- > - a screen dump ( \Kdump )
- > - \27OP
- > - a screen dump again
- >
- >We have tried to make a user defined macro :
- >
- > - define mak \Kdump,\27OP,\Kdump
- >
- >and a key definition to "call" the macro :
- >
- > - set key \315 {\Kmak}
- >
- >The problem is that it doesn't work. Pressing F1 generates one screen
- >dump. The escape sequence (\27OP) and the second \Kdump are ignored.
- >Can you help us?
-
- You really do need to look at the MS-DOS Kermit user's
- manual, the book "Using MS-DOS Kermit."
-
- In a DEFine unprotected commas are command separators, not
- verb separators. A compound key definition must be represented as a
- string at definition time, else the first part is decoded and the
- rest ignored. And never use \27OP when you really mean \kGOLD or
- \kPF1 because those keys send different things depending on the state
- of the terminal emulation.
-
- So, try a definition such as this:
-
- {\{kdump}\{kPF1}\{kdump}}
-
- The outer braces start a string, interpreted for verb contents when
- the string is sent. Inner braces prevent the spelling of a verb's
- name from colliding with the next item. No commas are used. You can
- define a key this way without inventing a macro.
-
- Joe D.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 30 Oct 92 19:12:47 GMT
- From: John Benfield <john@attcan.att.com>
- Subject: MSDOS 5.0 chkdsk WARNING!
-
- Congratulations MicroSoft!
-
- 24 hours after posting my complaints about 'chkdsk' and the lack of
- 'service' in Microsoft Canada's 'Customer Service', I received a call
- from Microsoft in Washington.
-
- Congratulations go to George Forsman for seeing my message and
- passing it on to the incredibly helpful and sympathetic Dave Schott
- who saved me many hours of code hacking and did a great job of
- diffusing an irrate customer (namely me! :)
-
- I received my 5.00a upgrade (read on...it's all explained further
- down) by express courier the next day (dispatched from Microsoft
- Canada, strangely enough. They had the upgrade but apparently didn't
- know what it was for) I also received a call from "Stephanie" at
- Microsoft Canada, but the number she left was for the automated
- support line (which had no option for an operator) and there wasn't a
- customer relations option (I'm assuming she was with CR/PR). Oh
- well....I got the upgrade and I'm a happy camper now. If she really
- wanted to talk to me, she can always call back.
-
- Now...on to the facts:
-
- (This is NOT an official report from Microsoft or AT&T. It's just my
- own friendly posting to try to help)
-
-
- Program: chkdsk
- O/S : MS-DOS 5.0
-
- Symptoms: Users running chkdsk with the /f option have 256 copies of
- the FAT written onto their hard disk starting at the first copy of
- the FAT. The result being that all directory information and a
- significant amount of the data in the data area are irrecoverably
- destroyed.
-
- Affected users: Any users using 256 sector FAT's.
-
- How to tell if you're at risk:
-
- Run chkdsk WITHOUT the '/f' option and check the "Total
- allocation units on disk". If this number is more than 65280, you're
- at risk. DO NOT USE CHKDSK TO CORRECT ANY DISK PROBLEMS if this is
- the case. You'll trash your disk.
-
- Solution: Call Microsoft and request the 5.00A upgrade. They know
- about the problem and they've fixed it. They've also done some
- diddling with the following programs: (though I don't know what they
- did to them.)
-
- deloldos.exe diskcomp.com diskcopy.com
- doshelp.exe dosshell.exe dosswap.exe
- emm386.exe expand.exe format.com
- himem.sys mirror.com qbasic.exe
- recover.exe setver.exe undelete.exe
- xcopy.exe
-
- Apparently, the only place that Microsoft posts information of known
- bugs is on CompuServe in something they called the Microsoft
- Knowledgebase. If there's anyone out there who regularly reads this
- forum on CIS, maybe you'ld like to volunteer to cross-post to this
- group?
-
- Just as a side note, a number of you sent me messages complaining
- about Microsoft Canada's customer support (or lack thereof), yet not
- even one person came to their defense. On the other hand, I received
- a lot of GOOD comments on experiences with Microsoft in Washington
- state and consolations for being unfortunate enough to have to deal
- with MS Canada. (and not one single bad comment about MS USA)
- Somebody at Microsoft should probably look into this. Either the
- Canadian entity isn't getting all of the support training and
- information they need from the US or there is just something terribly
- wrong with the Canadian organization itself. It's a shame. My faith
- has been restored in Microsoft, but I'm probably going to call
- Redmond next time that I have a problem rather than Microsoft Canada.
-
- Thanks again, Dave!
- (Oh...and you too George.)
-
- You've helped save my sanity and my respect for Microsoft.
-
- (I hope someone in management buys these two a brew for a job well
- done.)
-
-
- =--==== AT&T Canada Inc. John Benfield
- =----==== 3650 Victoria Park Ave. Network Support Analyst (MIS)
- =----==== Suite 700
- ==--===== Willowdale, Ontario attmail : ~jbenfield
- ======= M2H-3P7 email : uunet.ca!attcan!john
- === (416) 756-5221 Compu$erve: 72137,722
- ____Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines._____
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 13:43:22 GMT
- From: wijkstra@fwi.uva.nl (Marcel Wijkstra (AIO))
- Subject: MSX Basic for DOS - Help!
-
- Info-IBMPC@wsmr-simtel20.ARMY.mil writes:
-
- #Does anybody know about a product called MSX-basic ?.
- #One of the lecturers here is asking me (and I'm posting his
- #question you) about an interpreter or compiler for such a product
- #(PD, Shareware or Commercial).
-
- MSX stands for MicroSoft eXtended. MSX was intended to be the new
- standard in home-computers around '83 (or so). MSX originates from
- Japan; and most MSX computers were made over there. In Europe
- (especially: Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and maybe the UK)
- the first MSX computers had 64K RAM, 16K video RAM, 32K ROM (BIOS and
- MSX-BASIC), 40x24 text screen, 256x192x16 graphics screen, a
- 3-channel 8 octave sound generator and used a cassette player for
- storage and a simple TV as monitor. I bought my first MSX (a GoldStar
- FC-200) for less than $400. A few years later, MSX2 was released,
- having usually 128 or 256K RAM, 128K Video RAM, 64K ROM (including
- DiskBASIC), 80x24 text screen, 256x212x256/512x212x16 graphics screen
- and a 3.5" diskdrive. For my second MSX (a Philips VG8235) I payed
- about $600. Nowadays, MSX is almost dead, except for the Netherlands
- and Belgium (I think). In my opinion, an MSX2 is a perfect hobby
- computer (still).
-
- Now, for MSX-BASIC: since MSX-BASIC comes from Microsoft, it
- resembles Microsofts GW-BASIC very much. The major differences are
- about graphics, since an MSX has other video modes than a PC, and
- about sound, where MSX- BASIC is far superios to GW-BASIC. But most
- MSX-BASIC programs run quite nice without any modifications under
- GW-BASIC.
-
- A few remarks:
-
- * MSX-BASIC uses 'locate Y,X', where GW-BASIC does 'locate X,Y'
-
- * in GW-BASIC, you need spaces to seperate keywords; in MSX-BASIC,
- you may omit them
-
- * MSX-BASIC only recognises the first 2 characters of a variable,
- whereas GW-BASIC allows you you create long variable names
-
- So, an answer to you question might be:
- (a) use GW-BASIC instead
- (b) buy an MSX(2) computer
- (c) buy an MSX expansion card for your PC (from Philips) (if it still
- exists) (which is nothing mora than a plug-in MSX...)(for which you
- need another monitor) -> so don't
-
- Good luck!
- Marcel.
- --
- X Marcel Wijkstra AIO (wijkstra@fwi.uva.nl)
- |X| Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science
- X University of Amsterdam The Netherlands
- ======Life stinks. Fortunately, I've got a cold.========
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 17:04:42 -0500
- From: Howard Weiss <hsw@columbia.sparta.com>
- Subject: Pointer Mouse
-
- I presume that you are referring to the Microsoft BallPoint Mouse
- which works as a thumb-ball and has the buttons on the edge. In
- order to "orient" the mouse for use on the right edge, left edge, or
- the bottom of the keyboard, you run a program from Microsoft called
- 'compass' that asks you to orient the mouse movements and the button
- pushes. Also, you should see a ballpoint icon after the ballpoint
- driver has been installed. This runs the program 'pointer' that
- enables you to set up all the parameters for the mouse, including the
- button setup.
-
- Howard Weiss
- SPARTA, Inc.
- Columbia, MD 21046
- (410) 381-9400
- hsw@columbia.sparta.com
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sun, 8 Nov 92 9:54:22 EST
- From: Bill Starnes <ic009@bragg-emh1.army.mil>
- Subject: Safety Tracking Program
-
- >From reading your query re a safety reporting program, I'd
- >think that all you'd really want would be a database to store the
- >info in. Guess the hard part *would* be writing the program...
- >At least 2-3 days for the first report and about 1/2 day for other
- >reports.
-
- Writing the program wasn't hard, took me about four hours to do user
- interface, adding and editing records, etc. The bear is the reports
- since the customer wants to be able to query literally any field with
- any set of conditions. I figured it would take a couple of days per
- report if I could give it full attention which, since I'm also the
- gateway coordinator, the Asst DDN coordinator, and the only person in
- the office who can field WordPerfect questions, ain't agonna happen
- <grin>
-
- >You also might try posting your query to the USENET group
- >comp-sys-ibm-pc-misc@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (I think that
- >Internet <==> USENET gateway still works...)
-
- I'll give this a try. We don't have direct access to USENET or if we
- do, no one here knows *how*. There are some mailgroups on the USENET
- I'd love to be able to access. Appreciate your response.
-
- Bill Starnes
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 09:49:22 CET
- From: "Alberto Gianolio" <agianoli@estec.estec.esa.nl>
- Subject: TIFF to PCL
-
- I need to convert a TIFF file of about 1700 DPI into HP PCL (printer
- command language). Can anybody suggest a DOS tool (possibly public
- domain) which can do the job ? The only one I know of is Alchemy,
- but the shareware version is limited to files of 640 x 480 DPI.
- Thanks for your help Alberto...
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 09 Nov 92 21:32:10 +0200
- From: Omer Zak <XLACHA1@weizmann.weizmann.ac.il>
- Subject: Trying to execute a program from a server hard disk
-
-
- I encountered an undocumented MS/DOS 5.0 error message.
-
- Background: I work in an LAN Manager environment, over an Ethernet
- network. I wanted to execute a program which is stored in the LAN
- Manager server. When the program exists in my own hard disk (drive
- C:), it executes without problems. However when I copy the file to
- the server (which provides me with the network directory L:) and try
- to execute L:MYPROG, I get the error message:
-
- Cannot execute L:myprog.exe
-
- This message does not seem to be from the LAN software because the
- MS-DOS 5.0 COMMAND.COM contains the text of this message. However
- the Microsoft book on MS-DOS 5.0 (and none of the independently
- written books on MS-DOS 5.0 which I consulted) does not explain this
- error message.
-
- Does anyone know under what circumstances does this error message
- arise?
-
- Note that I made sure that I have all access privileges to the copy
- of the program on the server, and it did not help. Even logging in
- with Administrator privileges did not help. --- Omer Bitnet:
- XLACHA1@WEIZMANN
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sun, 08 Nov 92 10:00:47 MEZ
- From: Erich Neuwirth <A4422DAB@VM.UNIVIE.AC.AT>
- Subject: WAV file description
-
- is there (anywhere on the net) a description of the windows WAV file
- format? i would need it to convert digitized WAV files into
- numerical values to do sound analysis on a PC.
-
- ERICH NEUWIRTH
- BITNET (EARN): A4422DAB@AWIUNI11
- INTERNET: a4422DAB@vm.univie.ac.at = 131.130.1.2
- Institute for Statistics and Computer Science
- UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA, UNIVERSITAETSSTR. 5/9, A-1010 VIENNA, AUSTRIA
- TEL.: +43-1-40407-160 FAX: +43-1-40407-88
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sat, 7 Nov 92 14:25:19 CST
- From: Pat Hayes <pmh2962@tamsun.tamu.edu>
- Subject: Win 3.1 on < 386's ... nip it!
-
- From Info-IBMPC Digest
-
- + Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 20:21:07 EDT
- + From: Kevin Dancy <3237650@qucdn.queensu.ca>
- + Subject: Windows
- + I wish to add one more thought to Douglas Macpherson's thoughts on
- + Windows. If you don't own a 386-33 with a minimum of 4 megs of RAM
- + don't even consider Windows. On my 386sx-20, I have found it to be
- + too slow to be useful (and extremely irritating).
-
- Howdy!
-
- OK, here we go again...Let's not get this thread started. IMHO, to
- run Win,or not to run Win, on your 286/slow 386 is purely a matter of
- personal desires. Let's get a few facts straight:
-
- 1. Win v3.1 _DOES_ run on 286-based PCs. I'm using it right now to
- compose this.
-
- 2. Win v3.1 _DOESN'T_ run in enhanced mode (386) on a 286 (duh!).
-
- 3. If you run Win v3.1 on a 286, you're talking strictly (OK, slow)
- task-switching at best. No multi-tasking (on most vanilla 286 jobs).
-
- 4. If you wanna use any Windows-based apps and you have a 286, guess
- what -- you run Win v3.1.
-
- Opinions? I happen to love W4W v2.0b. I like WNQVT for telecomm,
- but DOS-based comm programs are faster -- so I get outta Windows to
- telecom. I'm on a 286/12MHz, w/stacked 65mbRLL->110mb, w/6mb DRAM
- and a generic 256K/640x480 VGA setup. Output from my DJ500 looks real
- close to laserjet stuff. Works for me!
-
- For Win-based apps; I use MS Publisher, Excel, Word+TT Fonts, and
- some PD/SW stuff for Windows. And my kids (right!) play Wingames on
- it. It's great! So, go easy on Windows; its a lot of fun, even for
- people on a 286 budget.
-
- p.s. - the usual; I don't have anything to do with MS or HP; just
- another happy camper. --
-
- Pat Hayes, Meteorology, Texas A&M
- University...<whoop!>...phayes@tamu.edu O&M 1008, TAMU, CS, TX
- 77843-3150....days:(409)845-1680 fax:(409)845-6331
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 09 Nov 92 09:41:14 -0500
- From: Joe Morris <jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org>
- Subject: Windows (Dancy, INFO-IBMPC 92.170)
-
- In INFO-IMBPC 92.170 Kevin Dancy (3237650@qucdn.queensu.ca) says:
-
- > [...] If you don't own a 386-33 with a minimum of 4 megs of RAM
- >don't even consider Windows. On my 386sx-20, I have found it to be
- >too slow to be useful (and extremely irritating).
-
- While I hope this doesn't trigger a round of "My OS is better than
- your OS" flame wars, the above statement is far too broad in scope.
- Clearly, if you are doing complex CAD in 24-bit color a 20 MHz system
- is too slow and *never* has enough RAM (with or without Windows), but
- for many other applications a 16 MHz system is an adequate if not
- spectacular platform.
-
- We've got a few thousand PC systems here, ranging from a (thankfully)
- few PC/XT-286 boxes up through some bleeding-edge top-end '486 toys.
- The XT-286 boxes are stuck on DOS 3.3 without Windows, but we've
- successfully run Windows 3.1 on the faster 80286 systems as well as
- the slower 80386s. A 16 MHz CPU provides adequate response for
- office applications (e.g., Word for Windows and Excel) and usable (if
- visibly slow) response for light office graphics (PowerPoint), if the
- system has a decent amount of memory (I agree that 4 MB is a working
- minimum) and is properly tuned.
-
- Tuning doesn't have to be a major effort. I've seen several systems
- where the user reported lousy response time, but all too frequently
- it turned out that the user had not bothered to install SMARTDRV (or
- some equivalent). Without the cache function of SMARTDRV the system
- will be far too sluggish for almost any application.
-
- Of course, Windows *does* consume a significant amount of system
- resources before you ever open the first application, and converting
- from a DOS application to an otherwise identical Windows app will
- require more hardware to deliver the same response to the user. At
- the same time, though, a 33 MHz system is not a prerequisite for
- successfully running Windows if the applications don't require it.
-
- ObDisclosure: this was written from a 16 MHz system running Windows,
- but I've asked for a 33 MHz box. I didn't say that you shouldn't
- get a faster machine if the company will buy one.
-
- Joe Morris / MITRE
-
- ------------------------------
-
- End of Info-IBMPC Digest V92 #175
- *********************************
- -------
-