Info-PC Digest V2 #6
INFO-PC@usc-isib
Info-PC Digest Thursday, 3 February 1983 Volume 2 : Issue 6
Today's Topics:
C Compilers (2 msgs)
RF Modulators (2 msgs)
Maynard Electronics Floppy Controller
Memory Expansion Boards
XENIX at UNICOM
Sritek MicroCards & XENIX
Installing Floppy Drives (2 msgs)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 29 Jan 1983 2047-EST
From: Willie Lim <WLIM@MIT-XX>
Subject: C86 and C-system C Compilers
To: info-pc@USC-ISIB
Anyone out there has any experience with C86 (a C compiler from
Computer Innovations Inc) and C-systems C compiler? The publishers
claim that C86 implements the COMPLETE Kernighan and Ritchie standard
"C" while C-systems C compiler has a source level debugging tool call
C-window. The prices of these two compilers are cheaper than that of
the Lattice C compiler.
Thanks.
Willie
------------------------------
Date: 3 Feb 1983 1452-PST
From: Jorge Phillips <JP at KESTREL>
Subject: CP/M-86 C Compiler Query
To: info-pc at USC-ISIB
cc: jp at SU-AI
Which is the best C compiler I can buy that will run on the PC under
CP/M 86? I want full Unix V7 compatibility and a complete
implementation of the language (including longs, floats, typedef,
etc). A friend told me about the Lattice C compiler, but I found it
only runs under PC or MS/DOS. If there is any Lattice C user out
there, can you tell me how portable is the runtime provided with the
compiler? Could I run it under CP/M 86 without too much recoding?
-Jorge
------------------------------
Date: 2 Feb 1983 11:59:43 EST (Wednesday)
From: Martin Schoffstall <schoff at BBN-UNIX>
Subject: RF Modulators
To: info-pc at isib
Cc: brackenridge at isib
Computerland wants to sell me a $70 RF modulator for my color/graphics
board. Has anyone gone to Radio Shack and come up with something that
works for less money than that?
schoff at bbn-unix
------------------------------
Date: 3 Feb 1983 0113-PST
Subject: Re: RF Modulators
From: Dick Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB>
To: Martin Schoffstall <schoff@BBN-UNIX>
cc: info-pc, brackenridge
When I first got my PC, I got a $19 cheapie RF modulator. It
transmitted on channel 34. The image was terrible, with herringbones,
losing vertical hold, interference from a local station, etc. I
returned it and got a $60 SUP'R'MOD RF modulator. It transmits on
channel 3 or 4. The image is rock steady and there is no
interference, even on channel 4 which is the local NBC affiliate.
So, personally, I'm convinced that it's worth the bucks to get a well
made one.
/Dick
------------------------------
Date: 2 Feb 1983 12:01:43 EST (Wednesday)
From: Martin Schoffstall <schoff at BBN-UNIX>
Subject: Maynard Electronics Floppy Controller
To: info-pc at isib
Cc: brackenridge at isib
Has anyone bought and successfully used the Maynard Electronics floppy
controller with their PC?
schoff at bbn-unix
------------------------------
Date: 1 Feb 1983 1753-EST
From: Willie Lim <WLIM@MIT-XX>
Subject: Memory Expansion Boards
To: info-pc@USC-ISIB
Has anyone used the memory expansion boards by tk eng., PDS Inc.,
Maynard Electronics, Apparat Inc., or Apstek Inc.? Are they worth
buying?
Thanks.
Willie
------------------------------
Date: 1 Feb 83 19:51:48-PST (Tue)
To: info-pc@isib
From: harpo!floyd!cmcl2!philabs!sdcsvax!sdccsu3!ee161ln (Don Coleman)@Berkeley.arpa
Subject: XENIX at UNICOM
I was at UNICOM in San Diego and I saw many interesting things there,
some of which related to the IBM-PC. I saw a pre-release version of
XENIX running on a normal PC with 512k and a five megabyte hard drive.
It was slow and still had a few bugs in it. What it really seems to
need is some way of keeping the most recently used blocks in memory.
The salesmen said they did this but I had a hard time believing this.
If you repeatedly performed an 'ls' it repeatedly read from the disk.
I realize ls does a lot, like reading the passwd file for user names,
but either they need a whole lot more of RAM to store commonly used
files in or users will have to live with the slowness. One of the
bugs in 'ls' was that as each line was printed an extra linefeed was
performed. I believe this had to do with the fact the the IBM-PC
doesn't have real autowrap; when you write the 80th char. on the
screen it immediately pops down to the next line, instead of waiting
until the next printing char. is received.
You can buy a VERSA board which is a memory board, then you can buy a
processor board which attaches to the VERSA board, thereby using only
one slot. They had available only the Z80, 68000, an iAPX-186. The
iAPX-286 and 16032 are still in the design and test phases.
The UN*X system III which I saw running under a 68000 board was quite
a bit better then the XENIX. It was faster and had no bugs I could
immediately find. It was hooked up to a Corvus hard drive which seem
to be quite a bit faster then the normal IBM-PC hard drive XENIX was
running under.
Don Coleman, UC @ San Diego.
UUCP: sdcssu3!ee161ln ( a class account- funky name )
------------------------------
Date: 2 Feb 83 10:35:49-PST (Wed)
To: info-pc@isib
From: npois!cbosgd!d...@Berkeley.arpa
Subject: Sritek MicroCards & XENIX
I've had several requests for more information on the Sritek products,
particularly the 68000 MicroCard, so I've decided to dig into my
literature and post a more detailed description. Much of what follows
is taken directly from Sritek's journal FOREFRONT. (vol.1, no.1,
Nov/Dec 1982).
"The building blocks for the Sritek products consist of the PC
VersaCard and the processor MicroCards with various operating systems,
programming languages and commercial applications. The VersaCard is a
single-slot expansion memory for the IBM PC. In a stand-alone mode,
it is a 256K byte expansion memory. The memory can be easily expanded
from 256K to 512K bytes by mounting a RAM Module.
A processor MicroCard can also be mounted on the VersaCard which
effectively changes the "personality" of the IBM PC. The VersaCard is
dual-ported memory; to the MicroCard it appears as a 16-bit memory and
to the 8088 it appears as an 8-bit memory. When a processor MicroCard
is mounted on the VersaCard, and the standard Sritek software is used,
all application programs are automatically redirected to the MicroCard
which acts as the Main Processing Unit (MPU). All input and output
chores, such as communication with the CRT terminals, the disk drives
and the printer are handled by the PC; the 8088 processor functions as
Input/Output Processor (IOP) and operates in parallel with the MPU.
This type of task-partitioning provides additional performance for
I/O-demanding applications such as multi-user and multi-tasking
systems or systems with local area network facility."
__________________ ____________________________________
/ / / /
/ RAM Module / / MicroCard /
/ (256K memory) / /(Z80B,8086,68000,iAPX-286, or 16032)/
/_________________/. /____________________________________/.
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. _________________________________________________________
./ . . . . . . . /
/ . . PC VersaCard . /
/. . . (w/256K memory) . /
/__________________________________ _______/
/_______________/
IBM I/O
Channel Interface
Figure 1: The RAM Module and MicroCard connect to the PC VersaCard
through three special back-to-back bus connectors, forming
a very compact unit that takes only one PC expansion slot.
The 68000 MicroCard brings UNIX System II to the PC via the enhanced
XENIX Ver 3.0 (by Microsoft) operating system. Features include
real-time clock, message registers for inter-processor communication,
paged-memory management that supports up to 16 users and hardware
protection for system programs from user processes. Sritek plans to
support the 68010 virtual memory processor in the near future.
Currently, 8 10 and 12.5 MHz 68000 are available. (The leadless chip
carrier (LCC) 68000 package is used to conserve board real estate.)
In case you'd like to contact Sritek directly, here is their address
and phone number:
Sritek Inc.
3637 S. Green Rd.
Cleveland, Ohio 44122
Phone: (216) 292-0011
Personally, I was very impressed. Sritek seems to have done
everything right as far as I can tell. Unfortunately, I didn't get
the chance to play with it very much, so I don't know how well some
parts work (the interaction between 68000 and 8088 for example).
Although I don't know specific pricing details, Sritek was quoting
<$6000 for a IBM PC + 68000 MicroCard + XENIX. When I told them about
the upcoming price reduction in the PC, they were excited, since that
would bring their quoted minimal system price even lower. I don't
know how much they were allowing for the PC used so I don't know how
much of the $6000 can be trimmed away through judicious purchasing
techniques, nor how much it costs to upgrade a PC if you've already
got one.
As for XENIX, it appears I was very wrong in asserting that it doesn't
have the C-shell and other Berkeley goodies. In fact, XENIX includes
quite a variety of Berkeley software, including csh, ex/vi, more,
tset, finger, ctags, mkstr, xstr, printenv, and gets. Unfortunately,
the Sritek description of XENIX makes no mention of these features, so
I incorrectly assumed they weren't there. Given this new information,
I can well believe that XENIX is the best of the UNIX-based systems.
Now if I can get some real price numbers out of Sritek, we'll have
things pretty well covered. If you have any more questions, let me
know.
David Bryant Bell Labs Columbus, OH (614) 860-4516
(cbosg!djb)
------------------------------
Date: 3 Feb 1983 8:13:44 EST (Thursday)
From: Martin Schoffstall <schoff at BBN-UNIX>
Subject: Installing Floppy Drives
To: gillmann at isib
How do you install generic Tandon DS/DD drives in a PC slot? I have
mine and they sent no directions.
schoff at bbnu
------------------------------
Date: 3 Feb 1983 2012-PST
Subject: Installing Tandon drives
From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB>
To: schoff@BBN-UNIX
cc: info-pc
I assume you have them up and working by now and this will arrive
after the fact. There are two things you have to do.
First: Find the jumper strip. This is a 16 pin package that looks like
it is 8 little fuses. Break all the connections except those
joining pin 3 to pin 14. These are the third pins from your
right assuming the front of the drive is facing you.
If you screw this up just stick a piece of wire in the sockets
to join this connection.
Second: On your "B" drive remove the terminating resistor pack. This
looks like a 16 pin chip but really contains a bunch of
resistors. It is right near the jumper chip and the only
other thing that isn't soldered to the board.
It seems I must have sent out dozens of variations on this message. Perhaps
Dick will keep it in a file and send it off whenever people request this
information.
(OK. This msg will be kept in [ISIB]<INFO-PC>INSTALL-TANDON.DOC. /Dick)
------------------------------
End of Info-PC Digest
******************************
-------