283 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
283 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
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Chaos Corner V03 N01 27 Feb 93
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--------------------------------------------------
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Chaos Corner Volume 2 is now available
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At long last, the collected issues of Chaos Corner (volume 2) are now
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available in several forms. The PostScript and text forms are on
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pelican.cit.cornell.edu in the /pub directory. Look for ccv02.ps and
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ccv02.text. If you only want the index to the volume (9 pages in two
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columns in the PostScript version), look for ccv02.index.ps and
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ccv02.index.text. Last but certainly not least, the printed version of
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Chaos Corner Volume 2 is on sale at the CIT Service HelpDesk in the
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Computing and Communications Center on the Cornell Campus for only $3.
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Look for it in the Campus Bookstore next month.
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If you would like a full color copy of the graphic image that is on the
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cover of volume 2, use anonymous FTP to retrieve the file tims.gif from
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/pub/gif on pelican.cit.cornell.edu -- of course you will miss out on
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the final touches applied to the cover by the famous graphic designer
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Tom Boggass (worth the $3, without a doubt).
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In the planning ahead department, Gary Buhrmaster already has his order
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in for a bound copy of Volume 3.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Wrong 800 number to reach Deutsche Welle
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Pat Karl was quick to point out after the last issue that we seemed to
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have given out the wrong number for contacting Deutsche Welle and
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subscribing to their program guides. Dr. Chaos rechecked against
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the program guide; and then to be sure, he tried calling the number ...
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got the same recording as reported by Pat. Finally, in a flash of
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insight, he called 800-555-1212 (information for 800 numbers); asked
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for Deutsche Welle, and found that the number published in the DW
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program guide was incorrect. I was going to give you the correct number
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but Dr. Chaos now reports to me that the "correct" number no longer
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works, and that 800-information no longer has a listing for Deutsche
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Welle. Oh well, if you are really in a hurry, you can fax them a
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request for the program guide. From the US, call 011-49-221-389-4155
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for fax or 011-49-221-389-0 for voice. (We assume that people outside
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of North America already know how to make international calls and can
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figure out how to make the call based on the above instructions).
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--------------------------------------------------
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Chaos Corner Reaches out
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The distribution list for Chaos Corner is now closing in on 600 entries
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(with some of those entries being other list exploders). All continents
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except Africa and the South Pole are represented. Welcome to all of you
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who have joined since the previous issue in late December!
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--------------------------------------------------
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New version of C-Kermit is available, for Unix, OS/2 ...
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A new improved version of C-Kermit is available for OS/2 users and for
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certain selected Unix platforms (NeXT and Sun). If you don't feel like
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compiling it yourself, the binary executables are available from the
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main Kermit distribution point via anonymous FTP from
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watsun.cc.columbia.edu. In the kermit/bin directory look for the file
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ckoker16.exe (OS/2 Release 1), ckoker32.exe (OS/2 Release 2), and for
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the Unix systems look for files names ckuker.<systen-name> (eg.
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ckuker.rs6000). If you get this latest version and the herald still has
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a November 1992 date, don't worry. Issue the 'version' command and
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check the dates of some of the modules ... you will see that some were
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recompiled in February '93.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Deutsche Welle versus Voice of America
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In response to the description of the Deutsche Welle antenna array
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just outside of the town of Juelich, Bruce Tindall of N. Carolina says:
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"If you ever visit this area you could take a side-trip to the Voice
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of America antenna site near Greenville, N.C. Immediately adjacent
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to the huge high-tech facility is a community of none-too-wealthy
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hog farmers. The air all around has a certain olfactory je ne sais
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quoi. The picture of the gleaming monstrous antennas towering over
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the economically tottering and smelly little farms provides a picture
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as sadly ironic as the homeless person sleeping across the street from
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the White House. The only good thing about all this is that the high
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level of RF in the vicinity probably does a real good job of
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preventing trichinosis in the local pork supply."
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Dr. Chaos must agree that the smell from the pig farms would most
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probably overpower the aroma from the sugar-beet factory in Juelich.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Free Widgets available from the Free Widget Foundation
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The Free Widget Foundation (FWF) commenced in the summer of 1990.
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They began as an ad hoc, volunteer effort, to generate a publicly
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accessible repository for X graphical user-interface modules
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(widgets). Over time, many people have contributed widgets of varying
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degrees of complexity, and having application across a wide range of
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program domains. To join FWF, just send mail to:
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free-widgets-request@kazoo.cs.uiuc.edu
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Some examples of widgets already in the collection include:
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FileSelector, Histogram, ImageSelector, MultiList, PixelEditor,
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Rheostat, ScrolledList, and Slider.
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The latest version (3.4) of the FWF widget library can be obtained via
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anonymous ftp from:
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a.cs.uiuc.edu (128.174.252.1) pub/fwf.shar.Z
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in North America, or, if you are in Europe, try:
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ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de (131.159.0.110)
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/pub/comp/X11/contrib/lib/fwf/fwf.tar.Z
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A much extended widget set is tentatively schedule for release by the
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end of April, 1993 (Release 4.0). Look for it at the above sites.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Server for Unix Windows is hard to find
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Don Peckham points out that if you look just for the Unix server part of
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Unix Windows, it will be difficult to find ... because it is imbedded as
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a ".tar" file in the PC version of Unix Windows (currently UWPC201.ZIP).
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The ".tar" file must be uploaded to a Unix host in binary form and then
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unpacked to get the source for the server.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Finding the Perfect addition to Your Life
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'"The Catalog of Personal Computing Tools for Engineers and Scien-
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tists' lists hardware cards and application software packages for
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PC/XT/AT/PS/2 class machines. Focus is on engineering and scien-
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tific applications of PCs, such as data acquisition/control,
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design automation, and data analysis and presentation."
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If you would like a free copy, send your postal address (not sure
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if this is limited to U. S. Postal address) by e-mail to
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jdoll@cup.portal.com.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Want to upgrade that PS/2 you have sitting around?
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Ever wonder where to find products you can use to upgrade the PS/2s you
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might have sitting around? (Dr. Chaos claims that if you have XT or
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AT-class machine sitting around, don't even think about upgrading them
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... just donate them to a worthy cause.) Here are some 800 numbers for
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vendors that carry PS/2 upgrades:
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AOX Customer Support 800-232-1269
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BDS (sells AOXs) 800-950-5657 John Gavern x636
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Evergreen Technologies 800-733-0934
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IBM Customer Support 800-772-2227
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Kingston Technologies 800-835-6575
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Reply 800-955-5295
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Xtend Micro Products 800-232-9836 Phil
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Of course, you can always frequest the 'misc.forsale...' groups on
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NetNews. Dr. Chaos just managed to get a lead on an XGA card from one
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of those lists.
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--------------------------------------------------
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List of POST Codes
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For the German readers, no this is NOT a list of the new postal codes
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that are going into effect on 1. July; rather it is a list of the
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meaning of the cryptic error codes from the Power On Self Test (POST)
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program that runs each time you turn on your IBM PC or compatible. If
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you would like a copy of the list ... just let Dr. Chaos know at
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chaos-request@pelican.cit.cornell.edu.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Release 2 of PKZIP is finally available
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The long awaited new release of the popular library/compression program
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is now available. The latest version as of this writing is 2.04g ... it
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appears that at this point most of the nasty bugs are fixed and so it
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should be in reasonable shape to try. In addition to sporting newer,
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faster compression algorithms, Release 2.0 supports long awaited
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features like backups to multiple diskette volumes. An encryption
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algorithm approved for export (to almost all countries except Iraq) can
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be used to further secure your data (Dr Chaos asks how secure the
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encryption can be if the U. S. Government will let it be exported?).
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The irony is, since it can't be exported to everyone, the software
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is not available from the normal FTP sites. We don't know about you but
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Dr. Chaos is switching to the freeware versios of ZIP/UNZIP rather than
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deal with this any longer.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Want to read high-density Macintosh diskettes on your PC?
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A 3 1/2 inch diskette with a 1.44 MB capacity can be read by a disk
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drive either in a Macintosh or a PC. Macintosh users often have some
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software called "Apple File Exchange" that allow them to read and write
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PC diskettes and have the files appear on the Desktop. Dr. Chaos has
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come across two recommendations for PC users ... the first is
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mac-ette.zip from the pub/msdos/dskutl directory on oak.oakland.edu (for
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some reason we couldn't find the 'dskutl' directory on the simtel mirror
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of wuarchive.wustl.edu). Another program to read Macintosh disks is
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macsee.zip (Windows pgm) and it can be obtained by anonymous FTP from
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ftp.cica.indiana.edu in the pub/pc/win3/util directory.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Need to know what's installed on your PC?
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Understanding your PC hardware and software configuration and keeping
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track of it over time might be just a little bit easier with InfoPlus.
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The latest version (1.56 as of this writing) includes support for
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correctly reporting hardware configuration even when running under OS/2
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and supports many more resident drivers and utilities. Look for
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ifp1p156.zip in pub/msdos/info on oak.oakland.edu. The detailed report
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from this program is 21 screens long ... how could you awnt to know
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more?
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--------------------------------------------------
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Want a collection of opinions on High Speed Modems?
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Dr. Chaos just happens to have a collection of some reviews that
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appeard on NetNews about the products of the major high-speed modem
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manufacturers. If you would like a copy, ask for it by name by sending
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electronic mail to chaos-request@pelican.cit.cornell.edu.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Interested in Telephone Communications winners & losers for 1992?
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The annual review of the technology winners and losers for 1992 is
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reviewed along with short descriptions of existing and proposed services
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like SONET, VIdeo dial tone, ISDN, etc. If you're curious about the
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telephone industry and where it's going, request this file from Dr.
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Chaos at chaos-request (you know ehere).
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--------------------------------------------------
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Free copies of the REXX interpreter available to ".edu" sites
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The Workstation Group is offering to send out free copies of their
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version of the REXX interpreter to almost anyone with a return mail
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address that ends in ".edu" (and, we presume, other appropriate
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addresses such as "edu.au", etc.). This interpreter runs on a very
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large number of versions of Unix (more than Dr. Chaos even knew
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existed). If you're interested ... send mail to freerexx@wrkgrp.com,
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and make the subject line one of the following platform names:
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aixesa AIX/ESA
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apo68k Apollo DNx5xx, HP/9000-400(Domain OS)
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apoprs Apoll0 DN10000
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crayy Cray-Y/MP
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crayx Cray-X/MP
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cray2 Cray2
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decsta DECStation
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hp68k HP/9000-300, -400(HP-UX)
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hp700 HP/9000-700
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hp800 HP/9000-800
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mips3k MIPS Magnum 3000
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mot88k Motorola 88000
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pyramt Pyramid MIServer T Series
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pyrams Pyramid MIServer S Series
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rs6000 IBM RS/6000
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sgi Silicon Graphics
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sun3 Sun-3
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sun4 SparcStation (Sun-4)
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sysv386 SCO UNIX V (386)
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uts UTS
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Comments or problem reports should be sent to freerexx-help@wrkgrp.com.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Concise Guide to Unix Books
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If you have been looking for suggestions on the best books to learn
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about this strange and different operating system called Unix, check out
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the Concise Guide to Unix Books available from Chaos Corner.
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--------------------------------------------------
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FREE! Subscriptions
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For you very own free subscription to Chaos Corner, send electronic mail
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to chaos-request@pelican.cit.cornell.edu.
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Requests for files and subscriptions will be delayed until nearly the
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ides of March due to "unavoidable" travel delays ... but Dr. Chaos
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points out that you've already waited over two months for this issue
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anyway ... what's another couple of weeks?
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Dr. Chaos (I have a Master's Degree ...)
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.
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