346 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
346 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
Chaos Corner V02 N09 15 Sep 1992
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--------------------------------------------------
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Chaos Corner makes the connection!
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Based on the number of requests we got, it seems that ANY
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information at all about BSD Sockets is in great demand.
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Dr. Chaos was pleased that one programmer from Microsoft
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requested a copy of the document so that he could be sure
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that code sample would work in Windows NT with the new
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"WinSock" (Windows Sockets API) interface.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Not on alt.best.of.internet any more
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The keeper of the newsgroup has requested that I not post
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Chaos Corner directly to alt.best.of.internet ... even
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though Dr. Chaos thought that that IS the subject matter of
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this newsletter. Anyway, someone else has to do it ...
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alternate newsgroups were suggested, such as alt.hackers,
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alt.religion.computers, talk.bizarre(!), rec.games.misc,
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comp.unix.misc, comp.sys.ibm-pc and soc.misc. Look for
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Chaos Corner in a news group near you!
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--------------------------------------------------
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Reader has some PC graphics questions
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Eric Webster (ericw@redsone-emh2.army.mil) is having some
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problems with some animated graphics he has created. Things
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seem to work OK at 320x200-256 colors but he has some
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problems at higher resolutions like 640x480-16/256 colors or
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1024x768-16/256 colors. He needs to know (1) if there is
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some general way to switch banks/pages on the video card
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without writing card-specific code each time; and (2) what
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are the different techniques are used for 16 colors rather
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than 256 colors? He's using Turbo C++ V 2.0 on a 486DX and
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a Trident 8900C video card (on which things are working ...
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he wants to make the code less device specific). Any advice
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or a pointer to a book would be really appreciated.
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-------------------------------------------------
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Mail access to IP Address Resolver
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Eric pointed out to Dr. Chaos that the guardians of MILNET
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have decided that they will allow people to use anonymous
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FTP, but they "protect" things by not putting up any name
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servers ... therefore Eric needed the dotted decimal IP
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address for pelican so he could get a file from there
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(128.253.194.202). Dr. Chaos was able to point him to an
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Internet service that resolves names to IP addresses (and
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vice versa) through electronic mail (Eric couldn't use any
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of the standard Unix utilities because he's on a VAX). The
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secret (thanks to the Internet Services List) is to send
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mail to resolve@cs.widner.edu [Note: the correct address is
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resolve@cs.widener.edu] where the body of the letter
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contains
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site <address here>
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and the server will return via mail the IP address of the
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site.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Help with Lightning Strike Data?
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Alain Martineau at Hydro Quebec in Montreal is having
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problems plotting lightning strike information for the
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northeastern US and eastern Canada. He would like to find
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some public domain software that would put a cross in the
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right position of a map given the lat/long and intensity
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information (the cross would change in color as time passes
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and eventually disappear). He is looking for help on PC,
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Macintosh, or VAXstation platforms, and he is willing to
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consider making the data available as a public service if he
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can get this working. Contact him at
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martinea@ireq.hydro.qc.ca
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--------------------------------------------------
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Balancing ()s is not that easy
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Several eagle-eyed readers pointed out that the last Chaos
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Corner was missing a final ) (Rich Brennen also had some
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very nice things to say). Gary Buhrmaster just pointed out
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that his LISP interpreter had problems with the last issue.
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Dr. Chaos points out that we NEVER promised any kind of
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balanced reporting!
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--------------------------------------------------
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Downsizing and San Francisco
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We recently attended the Downsizing Expo in the Moscone
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Center in San Francisco. Cathie Dager from SLAC won a free
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printed copy of Chaos Corner volume 1 by correctly
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identifying Dr. Chaos in a crowd of several thousand people.
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Dave Gomberg of UCSF won a similar prize for locating a
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hotel in downtown SF that saved us $45/night over the
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"special" expo rates at the Hilton. We hope to be putting
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together a trip report Real Soon Now -- let Dr. Chaos know
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at chaos-request@pelican.cit.cornell.edu if you would like
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to receive a copy when it is complete.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Kermit 3.12 for MS-DOS moves to Beta-test
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A greatly enhanced version of Kermit is available for MS-DOS
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machines, but it's still in beta-test. If you would like to
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take a look at the new features, use anonymous FTP to access
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the file at watsun.cc.columbia.edu and look in the
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kermit/bin directory for mstibm.exe. Don't forget to use
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"binary" for the file transfer. There is also a new version
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of the "shim" that allows Kermit to run under Windows and
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use packet drivers (the packet driver has to have some place
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to put incoming data while Windows is executing some other
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program). The new version of WINPKT is at packet-
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drivers/bin/winpkt.com ... If you know any techno-weenies,
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they might be interested in the help file located at packet-
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drivers/doc/winpkt.hlp. Use of some of the new features
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will require that the Kermit program on the other end is
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also 3.12, or is a soon-to-be-released version of C-Kermit,
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or IBM Mainframe Kermit. By the way, the directory
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kermit/bin contains some executable modules of C-Kermit
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already compiled for several different Unix machines. Look
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for files of the form wermit.rs6000 or wermit.next. (No,
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wermit is not a typo.) [These files are now named
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ckuker.rs6000 and ckuker.next]
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--------------------------------------------------
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Tired of Converting Usenet files to Binaries?
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A program is now available (well, actually, it's a perl
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script) that scans newsgroups containing binary files,
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retrieves (from disk or via NNTP), organizes, and decodes
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them, depositing them in a configurable location. No human
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intervention is required. The scripts are available from
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sgigate.sgi.com, and as of this writing the current version
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is in file aub.2.0.5.shar in /pub/aub.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Interesting lists of phone numbers
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Let Dr. Chaos know if you would like any of these phone
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number lists by sending mail to chaos-
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request@pelican.cit.cornell.edu: modem manufacturer Tech
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Support and FAX numbers; the phone number from "Sneakers" of
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the female NSA agent; the number to call to reserve a place
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at the Second 1st Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony (held at
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MIT on October 1 -- sponsored by the Journal of
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Irreproducible Results (hurry! the current issue is the
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swimsuit edition!)); the number to call to specify a person
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in your MCI Friends & Family Calling Circle for whom you get
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a free 10 minute call every month for the next year; the
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numbers and service summaries for companies providing public
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access to the Internet (the PDIAL list); toll-free numbers
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in Germany (the 0130 list); 800 numbers for various software
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& hardware vendors; numbers for getting directly to
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Microsoft Tech Support groups without going through the long
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phone menus; and last but not least ... the US Senate/House
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phone/fax numbers.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Want more Information about free Unix on 386/486 machines?
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Certainly, many people will claim it's not Unix, but the
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Linux effort to develop a full-features OS on a Intel
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architecture machine continues. Many people across the net
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are contributing to the project ... and the price of the
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code is right ... free. One of the major distribution
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points is tsx-11.mit.edu but Dr. Chaos has a list of other
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sites if you are interested (and don't have access to
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archie). Dr. Chaos also has as summary of Unix clones that
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run on PCs. For a copy of the list, just ask for it at
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chaos-request@pelican.cit.cornell.edu.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Revealed! The OS/2 Printer -> Driver mapping
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If you ever wondered at the mapping of Printers to Print
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Drivers in OS/2, now is the time to request this information
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from Dr. Chaos. That's chaos-
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request@pelican.cit.cornell.edu. We know you can hardly
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wait.
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--------------------------------------------------
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What kind of Fool am I?
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What kind of person does it take to track things down across
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the Internet? You might be interested in the results of the
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first Internet Hunt on the LIBREF-L list (and we didn't even
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know it was happening). Players had to answer how they
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would find the solutions to such problems as: (1) I'm
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leaving tomorrow for Japan; approximately how many yen can I
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get for a dollar? (3) I'm taking a job as a social studies
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teacher at a high school in Denver CO; where can I find a
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list of environmental organizations that could come to speak
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to my classes? (6) Bill Clinton made a speech somewhere on
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Earth Day this year; where can I find the text of it? (7) I
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just read an interesting paper by a Bradley Smith in the
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Chemistry Department at the University of Western Australia;
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is it possible to get an email address for him? The answers
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to these questions and more are available from Dr. Chaos ...
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test your net-navigating skills!
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--------------------------------------------------
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NetNews group on Northern Exposure
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An immediately popular NetNews group [alt.tv.northern-exp]
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has started around the television program, Northern
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Exposure. One poster claims that if you want to see the
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real beginnings of Northern Exposure, go rent the movie
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Local Hero (it takes place in northern Scotland and concerns
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an oilman but many of the other characters are the same).
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Another poster gave a trip report on what it was like to
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visit Rosalyn, WA where much of the filming is done (the
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scenes that look onto the street or take place in the
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street).
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--------------------------------------------------
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Secret Screens and other Tricks?
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Ever wonder what programs had those little secret screens
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with pictures of the authors (like Windows 3)? How can you
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cheat at Solitaire? Learn all this and more when you
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request Joe Morris' (Mitre) collection of Ye Olde Secrete
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Screene Cheete Sheete (long; 1300+ lines). Again, send your
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request to Dr. Chaos at chaos-
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request@pelican.cit.cornell.edu.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Are you facing a Co-Processor Quiz?
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If you have a REAL need to know about math co-processors ...
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we have a four (4) part posting on EVERYTHING you would ever
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want to know about them. Dr. Chaos just sneered at me and
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said that I would I would save doggie doo if it was posted
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in four parts and labeled as a FAQ. Come to think about it,
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I think that there is something like that over here in the
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rec.pets.dog folder .....
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-------------------------------------------------
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Hitchhiker's Guide on BBC!
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If you have access to a shortwave radio (you can get a GE
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radio for $60-70), you might be interested in the
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Hitchhiker's Guide series that started on BBC on August 20.
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It is broadcast on Wednesday evenings (in the US) at 8:30
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EDT (0:30 CUT on Thursday morning). Of course, we have the
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BBC frequencies for you at that time ... 7325, 6175 Mhz in
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North America, 90200, 648 Mhz in Europe. Other locations
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(au & br) should send mail to Dr. Chaos if they want the
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frequencies ... or ftp the frequency list (can you figure
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out where?).
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--------------------------------------------------
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The Physics of Computation
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A new book due out this autumn is _Computation: The Micro
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and the Macro View_ by B. A. Hubberman (Xerox Palo Alto).
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"The laws and methodology of physics are starting to provide
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powerful insights into the nature and dynamics of
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computation. This book contains a number of articles that
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illustrate how fields ranging from quantum mechanics to
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statistical physics and nonlinear dynamics can help
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elucidate the nature of computation."
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You probably won't find it at the check-out line of the
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grocery store, so if you have to order it, use ISBN 981-02-
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0981-9 (US$ 45) or, for the paperback use 981-02-0982-7 (US$
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28).
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--------------------------------------------------
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Sources for UCB Logo
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Dr. Chaos has noticed that the Windows version of Logo that
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he mentioned in an earlier issue was quite popular (it has
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gone through several changes in version number since that
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issue was distributed so you have to look carefully to find
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it. In any case, there is another implementation of Logo
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developed at UC Berkeley and it can be found on
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anarres.cs.berkeley.edu in the following files:
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pub/ucblogo.tar.Z
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(Unix version)
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pub/ucblogo.zip
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(DOS version)
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pub/ucblogo.sit.hqx
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(Mac version )
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--------------------------------------------------
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Mail Server for Macintosh archive at U-Mich
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The large Mac archive at the University of Michigan can now
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be reached even if you have only electronic mail access to
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the Internet. For more information on how to access the
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archive, send a mail file with the single word "help" to
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mac@mac.archive.umich.edu (if you put the word "index" on
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another line, you will also receive a COMPLETE index and
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description of all the files available in the archive.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Worried about Software License compliance on Macintosh's?
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One program at the U-Mich archive can be of help in taking
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inventory of Macintosh systems. In
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/mac/system.extensions/da/tattletale1.50.cpt.hqx is a
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program allowing you to "obtain DETAILED reports of your
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current configuration, files, reserved System heap space,
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available and unavailable traps, and much more. VERY
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complete. Version 1.5.0 includes greater help and many bug
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fixes."
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--------------------------------------------------
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Version 1.1 of Socket has been Released
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"Socket(1) implements an interface to TCP sockets at shell
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level. Client and server sockets can be used from shell
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scripts or interactively. Socket can also run a program
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with stdin, stdout, and stderr connected to the socket
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connection. Sample shell scripts implementing a finger
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client (remote only) and a finger daemon are included."
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This has been posted to the Usenet sources, so if you check
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with archie, we're sure you will be able to find copies on
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sites near you.
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--------------------------------------------------
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The Small World Department
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If you have been reading for a while, you know that Dr.
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Chaos located one of his fellow draftees not too long ago
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... and they had been out-of-touch for about 18 years.
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Well, it's happened again. Dr. Chaos thought he would try
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out Eric Jacobsen's shell script to query the server at pit-
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manager.mit.edu ... needing something useful to try, Dr.
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Chaos put in the name of his college roommate that he hadn't
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heard from in approximately 15 years. When the response
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came back from the server, Dr. Chaos send a mail file
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asking, "Are you the ..." ... within an hour the response
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came back that contact had been re-established!
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That's all for now ... remember, if you want your own
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subscription to Chaos Corner, just ask (simply e-mail to
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chaos-request@pelican.cit.cornell.edu), after all it's free!
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Dr. Chaos (I have a Masters Degree ....)
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