textfiles/messages/ALANWESTON/1995/CIS12_09.txt

#: 21287 S1/General Interest
    05-Dec-95  19:33:30
Sb: #Newcomer needs hdwe!
Fm: Chris Shearer Coope 76666,3026
To: all

Howdy y'all!

I'm an electrical engineer (at least that's what it says on the diploma) but
it's been a long time since I did anything besides software.  Anyway, I've got
some ideas for little projects I'd like to play around with, and to make them
happen I need a simple microprocessor board.  Nothing fancy, although a C
compiler would be nice <grin>, but since it's mostly for fun I really don't
want to invest multiple hundreds of dollars in this.

Does anybody (1) sell a simple board with processor and support circuitry that
I can hook up +5V (and ground too!) and RS-232 to my PC, and some simple PC
software to download programs?  Or (2) a book about some common microprocessor
that takes me step by step through what I have to do to build such a board on
my own?  The problem is that I work for myself now and I'm a stingy bastard of
a boss, so the most advanced equipment I have is a voltmeter, so I really can't
play around and try different things 'cuz I have almost no way to debug
problems.

For that matter, how about some way to turn my PC into an oscilloscope (for
almost no money, of course)?

Thanks all,
Chris

There is 1 Reply.

#: 21293 S1/General Interest
    07-Dec-95  02:09:20
Sb: #21287-#Newcomer needs hdwe!
Fm: Neil Morrison 72777,3013
To: Chris Shearer Coope 76666,3026 (X)

Look on large news stands for:-
Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar
Midnight Engineer
Both magazines are dedicated to just these areas.
 

There is 1 Reply.

#: 21294 S1/General Interest
    07-Dec-95  10:11:04
Sb: #21293-Newcomer needs hdwe!
Fm: Chris Shearer Coope 76666,3026
To: Neil Morrison 72777,3013

Thanks, will check them out!

I had kinda hoped somebody who actually builds & sells such a thing would pop
up and offer their services, but looks like I will have to actually do some
footwork <g>.

Chris

#: 21290 S1/General Interest
    06-Dec-95  06:36:15
Sb: #CoCo xfer problems
Fm: John L. Wilkerson Jr. 71140,77
To: ALL

My CoCo3 refuses to upload/download from compuserve and several other
systems/boards.  Then, some systems it works fine on.  This problem is
consistent with all terminal programs and protocols.

Any ideas?

There is 1 Reply.

#: 21291 S1/General Interest
    06-Dec-95  10:03:45
Sb: #21290-#CoCo xfer problems
Fm: Wayne Day 76703,376
To: John L. Wilkerson Jr. 71140,77 (X)

Look for commonalities... and eliminate the usual suspects.  Is your modem in
fact working correctly?  Is your logon path capable of handling 8-bit data?
Are you really equipped with the right software?

Too many possibilities to offer anything resembling a sensible answer to your
problem, so 'fess up with more info.

Wayne

There is 1 Reply.

#: 21292 S1/General Interest
    06-Dec-95  19:34:11
Sb: #21291-CoCo xfer problems
Fm: John L. Wilkerson Jr. 71140,77
To: Wayne Day 76703,376

   Well, I cannot transfer files to from the following type systems: CompuServe
, Wildcat systems  (Can use zmodem though), Major BBS systems,and clones
thereof.

       I use SuperComm, Kbcom, rz/sz... all exhibit the same problems.

_perhaps_ my modem settings could be off...... _perhaps_ my /T2 could be off.

BUT.... then, there is no standard settings to use.  My modem is a 2400 with
MNP capabilities.  I use the SACIA package.....

I keep the bps rate set to 4800 BPS, and use the mnp/compression.

At one time, all this _did_ work..... at times is still will, intermittently.
99% of the time, though... timeout city.

-- John

#: 21296 S1/General Interest
    09-Dec-95  03:38:06
Sb: F-Keys under Termcap
Fm: David Breeding 72330,2051
To: ALL

How does, or can, the system or a program use the Function-key definitions?  Is
there any way for a program to sense which F-key has been pressed except to
read the sequence of characters being sent from stdin (usually, I guess),
probably beginning scanning when ESC is read, and then compare the input with
known values?

What I am dealing with is that my system, a Delmar operating under G-Windows,
has its keys defined under VGA defs.  F1=\E[M, F2=\E[N, etc.

My Internet server uses F1-F4 for key controls, Exit, etc.. but looks for
either vt100 or Sun Systems F-key defs...  I need to translate F1=\EOQ,
F2=\EOR, etc  (I know this is off by 1 char from my termcap defs, but this is
what "it" wants)..

I can read the sequence, and then write from a translation table, but is there
a simpler way?


                         -- David Breeding --
       CompuServe : 72330,2051             Delphi :  DBREEDING
    *** Composed with InfoXpress/OSK Vr. 1.02 & VED Vr. 2.4.0  ***

#: 21284 S5/OS9 Users Group
    03-Dec-95  10:22:20
Sb: #Lost signals
Fm: Ian Langmead 71307,1417
To: all

Has any one experience of lost signals when using OS9.
Someone undertaking some development work with me has indicated  that signals
advising that pipe entries appear to be lost by the operating system. I am not
an OS9 expert so am
looking for help.
When dealing with a signal, should one check to see if any other signal request
have been queued before finishing the action.

Thanks.

There is 1 Reply.

#: 21286 S5/OS9 Users Group
    04-Dec-95  15:52:01
Sb: #21284-Lost signals
Fm: Ian J Shearer 100410,2733
To: Ian Langmead 71307,1417 (X)

Ian

 It's easy to think you're losing signals when it's not actually happening.
There are a few things to watch out for.

 1. Signals are guaranteed not lost from one task to the signal handler of
another. If you set a flag in the handler which is then checked in the main
code (i.e. the standard approach) you might not check the flag soon enough. The
answer is to use _os_sigmask() to queue new signals until the old one is dealt
with.

 2. If you're using events, then be aware that waiting on an event unmasks
signals just the same as sleeping does. Check the return value to see that the
event has actually done what you think and that you haven't been woken by a
signal.

 3. The same goes for when you're waiting for a child process to die.


 Hope this helps.


  -Ian J Shearer, Onyx Systems Ltd.


#: 21283 S7/Telecommunications
    02-Dec-95  20:50:34
Sb: #21278-#Internet with OS-9
Fm: Ian Hodgson 72177,1762
To: David Breeding 72330,2051 (X)

Time to jump in.

A shell account allows you to have text and file transfer interface via your
local service provider. Access to FTP, Newsgroups, Mail, etc. are done by using
programs that run ON YOUR SERVICE PROVIDER'S COMPUTER; you just have what
amounts to a medium dumb terminal. The programs are probably called FTP (for
FTP), TIN (for Internet News), and ELM (electronic mail) or PINE for email. But
remember, your computer just acts as a terminal, and the only special protocol
that might be required is something like VT100 emulation. In fact, providers
SHOULD be able to provide for a number of different terminal types, but mine
has suppressed the terminal type on login question and assumes ANSI, which lets
my CoCo out.

If you use a PPP connection, your service provider acts as a gateway, and most
of the action takes place on your local computer. This means that you have to
have some fairly sophisticated software to know about the various protocols, of
which there are really at least two different levels.

The lower level interface uses a protocol called TCP/IP, which specifies packet
frame details as well as how the packet are handled over the network. At a
higher level are the protocols used by FTP, email (POP3 and SMTP), and, of
course, The World Wide Web (HTML).

I have no idea why anyone would want to get the code from Netscape. Netscape is
a multi-function browser which handles HTML, FTP, Usenet (news) and, to a
limited extent, SMTP. Each of these is a clearly defined high level protocol
and anyone with the capability should be able to write programs to use them.
HTML, for example, is a text markup language. You use an editor to create HTML
code (which is text with a bunch of markers, in concept much like using Ved to
produce a Vprint file) and a viewer to look at it. The viewer is basically a
text formatter, with output to the screen. It provides for various colors for
text and backgrounds, graphics (which must be GIF or JPEG), centering,
different font sizes, bullets, numbered lists, emphasis of various sorts,
blinking text, tables and a number of other features. These are all defined in
the HTML standards; version 3.0 is current, though most browsers EXCEPT for
Netscape only handle 2.0. Not to worry, one of the requirements of HTML
browsers is that they will gracefully ignore markers they don't understand, so
if you try to read HTML 3.0 on an older browser, all that will happen is that
some of the formatting won't look right.

You can get the standards for HTML on the Web; if anyone needs it I can find
the URL (Uniform Resource Locator, i.e. address).

There would be no point in trying to write a browser for the CoCo; it simply
doesn't have the power nor the graphics capabilities. OSK is a different story,
and there should be no problem doing this, but the competition is indeed
Netscape, and since you can get an out of date 386 PC to run it for a couple of
hundred bucks it hardly seems worthwhile to write one for OSK.

By the way, to those who think they would have no use for the graphics
capabilities of the Web, take a lesson from me. I too was amongst the group who
felt that way, until I got the chance to start playing on the Web. It is very
addicitive BECAUSE of the neat formatting and excellent graphics. Once you've
tried it there is no going back to text. Good thing my service provider gives
me unlimited time for $30/month.

Ian



There is 1 Reply.

#: 21285 S7/Telecommunications
    03-Dec-95  13:26:25
Sb: #21283-#Internet with OS-9
Fm: David Breeding 72330,2051
To: Ian Hodgson 72177,1762 (X)

 > Time to jump in.

And thanks for doing so, Ian.  You have supplied some good insightful info on
this matter.

RE: Shell acct.
 > In fact, providers SHOULD be able to
 > provide for a number of different terminal types, but mine has suppressed
 > the terminal type on login question and assumes ANSI, which lets my CoCo
 > out.

I think I might get by with this.  Unless there are quite a few differences
between systems, I log onto a local PC BBS which provides ANSI support, and
using the VT100 emulations of G-Windows, does a pretty good job of screen
display.  A few stray, most often just ignored codes, but quite satisfactory.

 > I have no idea why anyone would want to get the code from Netscape.
 > Netscape is a multi-function browser which handles HTML, FTP, Usenet
 > (news) and, to a limited extent, SMTP. Each of these is a clearly defined
 > high level protocol and anyone with the capability should be able to write
 > programs to use them.

Right.  I can't remember who suggested that, but I doubt that would be
necessary, or productive.  Unless they were thinking of taking a shortcut in
code writing but it would probably take some fairly extensive editing anyway...

 > There would be no point in trying to write a browser for the CoCo; it
 > simply doesn't have the power nor the graphics capabilities.

Yes, I think this would be pretty well agreed upon.

 > OSK is a
 > different story, and there should be no problem doing this, but the
 > competition is indeed Netscape, and since you can get an out of date 386
 > PC to run it for a couple of hundred bucks it hardly seems worthwhile to
 > write one for OSK.

Yes.  This would be the easiest and quickest way out.  This is no doubt the
route most have taken.

However, if it were not a too big project to write a browser, it would add a
neat feature to our system.  The only problem is that surely there is some big
obstacle to it or someone would surely have already done it.

 > By the way, to those who think they would have no use for the graphics
 > capabilities of the Web, take a lesson from me. I too was amongst the
 > group who felt that way, until I got the chance to start playing on the
 > Web. It is very addicitive BECAUSE of the neat formatting and excellent
 > graphics. Once you've tried it there is no going back to text. Good thing
 > my service provider gives me unlimited time for $30/month.

You are probably quite right.  Perhaps if I got involved, I would get hooked on
it.  However, if you have been following my messages, the proposed service that
I may be getting will be too expensive to allow a very heavy addiction.   :-)

Thanks again for all the fine observations.

                         -- David Breeding --
       CompuServe : 72330,2051             Delphi :  DBREEDING
    *** Composed with InfoXpress/OSK Vr. 1.02 & VED Vr. 2.4.0  ***

There is 1 Reply.

#: 21288 S7/Telecommunications
    06-Dec-95  00:19:28
Sb: #21285-#Internet with OS-9
Fm: Ian Hodgson 72177,1762
To: David Breeding 72330,2051 (X)

Just a few more notes about Web stuff.

 > The only problem is that surely there is some big obstacle to it or
 > someone would surely have already done it.

I can't see any big obstacle, other than the fact that HTML is fairly
complicated, particularly if you allow in-line GIF and JPEG graphics, both of
which require integrated viewers that respect the HTML positioning commands.

But the basis shouldn't be any harder than writing any other text formatter,
such as Vprint. (Maybe I should start bugging Bob to write a browser; he is
struggling along with a shell account now. When I started pushing him for a
fancy formatter he wrote Vprint, maybe it would work twice <grin>!)

HTML formats text on the basis of commands such as <br> for line break, <p> for
paragraph marker, <center> and </center> to define centered blocks, and so on.
It provides for half a dozen different headers, bullets, numbered lists,
tables, graphics and a bunch of other things. As I said, the full definition is
available on the Web (I didn't get the chance to look up where I got it) so it
should be a straight forward, if somewhat tedious, job to write a formatter.

Incidentally, one of the nice features of HTML is that all formatting is
usually specified in general terms, i.e. you specify header type 3 rather than
Times Roman 14 point bold, etc. This lets the recipient's browser decide what
the header will actually look like, and makes the source code completely
machine independent.

I am just getting heavily into writing HTML source in conjunction with my job,
and I must say it is great fun.

And don't complain about your proposed server's high prices disallowing a heavy
addiction; this may well be a blessing in disguise. Gosh, that reminds me, one
of these days I will have to wash the dishes! Haven't had time for quite a
while!

Ian



There is 1 Reply.

#: 21295 S7/Telecommunications
    07-Dec-95  22:03:30
Sb: #21288-Internet with OS-9
Fm: David Breeding 72330,2051
To: Ian Hodgson 72177,1762

 > Just a few more notes about Web stuff.

And your observations are quite welcome.

 > I can't see any big obstacle, other than the fact that HTML is fairly
 > complicated, particularly if you allow in-line GIF and JPEG graphics, both
 > of which require integrated viewers that respect the HTML positioning
 > commands.

The (apparent to me) need to include all these protocols is one thing that
precludes my tackling it.  I must admit that my familiarity with really what
all _is_ involved with a browser is quite scanty.

Another little gotcha, I guess, would be the fact that the GIF protocol now
requires licensing, too, doesn't it?

It surprises me that no one has undertaken this project, though, given all the
magnificent applications that our great people _have_ made available.  It seems
that that someone would have begun this.

The only explanation I can come up with is that with our diversified systems,
and an app of this kind would be GUI-dependent, that no one sees a market for
it.

 > But the basis shouldn't be any harder than writing any other text
 > formatter, such as Vprint. (Maybe I should start bugging Bob to write a
 > browser; he is struggling along with a shell account now.

Yes, he has told us about this.  As you no doubt have seen, this is the avenue
I am looking at at this moment.

 > When I started
 > pushing him for a fancy formatter he wrote Vprint, maybe it would work
 > twice <grin>!)

Bob would be a good prospect alright.

I have a vague idea of how the HTML protocol works.  I've seen examples in
NET-related magazines, but of course I don't have detailed specifics.

 > As
 > I said, the full definition is available on the Web (I didn't get the
 > chance to look up where I got it) so it should be a straight forward, if
 > somewhat tedious, job to write a formatter.

Yes, it would be somewhat tedious.  It would no doubt be a formidable project.
However, quite a showpiece if it were made quite workable.

 > Incidentally, one of the nice features of HTML is that all formatting is
 > usually specified in general terms, i.e. you specify header type 3 rather
 > than Times Roman 14 point bold, etc. This lets the recipient's browser
 > decide what the header will actually look like, and makes the source code
 > completely machine independent.
 >
 > I am just getting heavily into writing HTML source in conjunction with my
 > job, and I must say it is great fun.

Yes, I believe it _would_ be quite intriguing.  I had entertained the notion
about trying to write a browser, but so far, the task has looked too daunting
to begin.

 > And don't complain about your proposed server's high prices disallowing a
 > heavy addiction; this may well be a blessing in disguise. Gosh, that
 > reminds me, one of these days I will have to wash the dishes! Haven't had
 > time for quite a while!

Well, heh-heh..  I have a bad habit of letting the dishes go even _without_ a
browser <G>

I don't know what would happen to me if I were to get involved with browsing..
To be honest, and seriously, this is one of my concerns about getting involved
with browsin' <G>

                         -- David Breeding --
       CompuServe : 72330,2051             Delphi :  DBREEDING
    *** Composed with InfoXpress/OSK Vr. 1.02 & VED Vr. 2.4.0  ***

#: 21289 S10/OS9/6809 (CoCo)
    06-Dec-95  06:33:38
Sb: HD partition info?
Fm: John L. Wilkerson Jr. 71140,77
To: ALL

i am looking for Hard drivre partitiion software.... any good choices for the
latest, or rather most recent B&B software?

Thanbnks
 j

[D

Press <CR> !>