357 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
357 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
9
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JANUARY===================<<< OCN NETNEWS >>>=======================1994
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************************************************************************
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This Newsletter is posted as a service of the OS-9 Community Network
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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SUBMISSIONS:
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We invite every member of the OS-9 Community to offer up any information
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that may be of interest to the members of this echo. Any article on any
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related OS-9 subject will be seriously considered for inclusion in this
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monthly posting.
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Send your articles via Fido NET Mail to Rodger Alexander,(1:301/3401).
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You may also E-Mail via Internet to (ralexander@nikiti.bham.wednet.edu).
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We offer no great reward ($$$),for posted articles other then the fame
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and praise you receive from your OS-9 colleagues, especially me.
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PAUSED (C)ontine (S)top PAUSEDC
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MICROWARE GOES HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH MICROSOFT
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A recent article in the Wall Street Journal featured an almost
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unbelievable account of MICROWARE going up against MICROSOFT.......
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and winning!!
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The aritlce explained that Microware has just contracted with Bell
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Atlantic Corp., the regional Bell company. Bell plans to distribute
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an interactive service to 10 million households by the end of the
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century. Bell has already placed orders for TV set-top boxes from
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three different suppliers and all of these boxes run OS/9 software.
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In the mean time, MICROSOFT is investing over $100 million a year and
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has allied with Intel and General Instrument Corp to develop their own
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TV set-top boxes.
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I think the key words here are MICROWARE and Atlantic Corp are planning
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to `distribute', while MICROSOFT and friends are busy `developing'.
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PAUSED (C)ontine (S)top PAUSEDC
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Also reported in the article was a head-to-head test between OS/9 and a
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prototype from MICROSOFT called modular Windows. OS/9 came out on top.
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MICROSOFT's Chairman, Bill Gates was reported to have said that "The
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early interactive services trials will be disappointing because we
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haven't made enough progress in user interfaces and the richness of
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services delivered".
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An interesting account by MICROWARE's founder, Kenneth Kaplan mentioned
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that MICROSOFT tried to buy Microware in 1986. "MICROSOFT began trading
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publicly on the over-the-counter market." According to Mr. Kaplan, "Mr.
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Gates saw that Microware was chosen as the operating system for the
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Philips-Sony CD-I machine and he wanted into that market badly" rather
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than design a new operating system. Mr. Gates figured it made more
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sense to buy Microware.
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There was a cautionary note in the article that the Bell Atlantic phone
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company could change its suppliers, however it intends to provide the
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current OS/9 operated set-top boxes to 50,000 homes by year's end plus
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another million homes by 1995. With reported future plans for Bell
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PAUSED (C)ontine (S)top PAUSEDC
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Atlantic to acquire Tele-Communications Inc., 20 million more homes
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could easily be added to the above figures.
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THE NOVICE PROGAMMER
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Like most beginners at C programming, I sometimes wonder
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if such and such can be done. As with the following problem.
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I very much liked the 'ON BREAK' call we have in Basic09. After
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asking around with some of the C programmers in the Dallas area,
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I was given a direction to start looking for the answer.
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The 'sgstat.h' header contains a structure 'sgbuf' which
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is designed to hold all the screen parameters. Declared in
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this structure are 2 charector bytes, sg_kbich and sg_kbach,
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that hold the values for 'tmode abort' and 'tmode quit',
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respectivily. By doing a 'tmode' on the hardware window you
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will find that 'abort' contains the value 03 and 'quit'
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contains the value 05.
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PAUSED (C)ontine (S)top PAUSEDC
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One way to turn off the 'BREAK' key would be to access
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this structure with pointers and change these bytes and
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then write it back out, I found this to be cumbersome and
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d
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#include <stdio.h>
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#include <os9.h>
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#include <lowio.h>
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#define ESCAPE '\x05' /* abort */
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#define CTRL_BRK '\x08' /* quit */
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/* use only to embed my name in executable code */
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char *ego[] = {"On_Break - Dave Kelly, v0.0, 1993, public domain"};
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/* buffer to store key board parameter */
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char key_board_buffer[32];
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main()
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PAUSED (C)ontine (S)top PAUSEDC
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{
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char c;
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Store_Keyboard_Parmeters(key_board_buffer); /* function call */
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Off_Break_Key(); /* function call */
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/* This is one way to impliment the testing of this */
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/* routine. There are others but I will leave that */
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/* to the programmers own exercises. */
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while(c = tolower(getkey())) {
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switch (c) {
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case ESCAPE:
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escmsg();
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break;
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case 'q':
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On_Break_Key(key_board_buffer); /* function call */
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exit(errno);
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break;
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default:
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PAUSED (C)ontine (S)top PAUSEDC
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break;
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}
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}
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}
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/* store key board parameters */
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Store_Keyboard_Parmeters(key_board_buffer)
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char key_board_buffer[32];
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{
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int i;
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_gs_opt(STDIN, key_board_buffer);
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}
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/* Turn break key off */
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Off_Break_Key()
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{
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/* temp storage for this function */
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char buf[32];
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_gs_opt(STDIN, buf); /* read the screen options */
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/* as in most cases, to turn */
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PAUSED (C)ontine (S)top PAUSEDC
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/* something off, set it to zero */
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buf[16] = '\x00'; /* sg_kbich nomally holds 'tmode abort=03' */
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/* BREAK */
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buf[17] = '\x00'; /* sg_kbach nomally holds 'tmode quit=05' */
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/* CONTROL BREAK */
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_ss_opt(STDIN, buf); /* write the screen options */
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}
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/* restore original key board parameters */
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On_Break_Key(key_board_buffer)
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char key_board_buffer[32];
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{
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_ss_opt(STDIN, key_board_buffer);
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}
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/* Tell user how to exit properly */
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escmsg()
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{
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printf(" The proper escape key is the letter 'Q'!\n");
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CurOn(STDOUT); /* For some reason I have not yet figured */
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/* out, the cursor is turned off when you */
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PAUSED (C)ontine (S)top PAUSEDC
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/* press the break key. If you need the */
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/* cursor, you must turn it back on. */
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}
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/* Returns a one key stroke value */
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getkey()
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{
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char c;
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return(read(STDIN, &c, 1) == 1) ? (unsigned) c : EOF;
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}
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Programming Note:
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I have used function names and variables much longer that
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the compiler will reconize to illustrate what each does.
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While each is unique and will compile, you should shorten
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them to conform with the 8 charector standard.
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I hope this information helps someone.
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_Dave Kelly
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PAUSED (C)ontine (S)top PAUSEDC
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<<<< SOLDER FEST >>>>
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When was the last time your club had a 'Solder Fest'?
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What in the (*&@!) Is a solderfest? You ask. OK, let me explain.
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If your OS-9 or CoCo Club is like ours, each meeting consist of
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demonstrations and discussions about our favorite machine or favorite
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operating system, but major hardware projects are limited to one of
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the members showing off what he/she has accomplished to their machine
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to improve it's performance.
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GREAT! Great for them but not for me!
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How many CoCo/OS-9 users have envied those fellow club members who
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have their machines neatly installed in a PC tower case. It looks so
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PAUSED (C)ontine (S)top PAUSEDC
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cool! But unless you have a great deal of experience in electronics
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and electronic hardware construction, you don't dare attempt to install
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your machine in a 'tower'. You just know that something will go wrong
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and then you won't have any computer at all.
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Solution......A SOLDERFEST!
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A special day long meeting of hardware hackers and non hackers.
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The expertise is there. The confidence is there.
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And your computer will come out 'NEW and IMPROVED' and WORKING!
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Can you imagine taking a Roto Tool and cutting your old multipak to
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one half of it's original size. NO WAY!
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How about installing a parallel port in your coco by soldering a 2nd
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PIA (68B21) chip on top of the original PIA . HUH?
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How about replacing the 6809 chip with the faster 6309 chip without
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destroying the CoCo's motherboard. OUCH!
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There are many hardware projects that most of us would like to have
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but will probably do without because we don't have the expertise.
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PAUSED (C)ontine (S)top PAUSEDC
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Regular club meetings simply are not long enough and not really
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the right environment to accomplish major hardware modifications to
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one or more computers.
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Our SOLDERFEST usually begins at 10 or 11 in the morning and goes
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to about 8 in the evening. The number of participants is limited by
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the number of hardware hackers available to help out. We found it
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best to keep the numbers limited to two 'non-techs' for every 'tech'.
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Things progress at a good pace with everyone busy.
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At the club meetings we determine what projects are going to be
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worked on and who is coming. It is the responsibility of the
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hardware hackers (techies) to provide a parts list to those
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individuals he/she will be working with at the 'FEST'.
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MM1 TECH Echo*
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To : Warren Hrach
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From : John A Donaldson
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Subject : Re: MM/1 TCP/IP
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Date : 93/01/26 09:45:52
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Previous Reply is Message 1241 Next Reply is Message 1409
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Warren,
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The UUCP port is seperate from BINKLEY. It is suppose to have not only
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UUCP but routines to do USENET MAIL. That is setup the packets for
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USENET and decode packets, Send Mail & Read Mail routines.
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USENET is not the same as FIDO. USENET mail is Internet mail. I read
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somewhere that someone was working on a bridge software to translate
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FIDO mail into Internet USENET mail and the other way around.
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John D
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--- RiBBS v2.10
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* Origin: Ocean Beach BBS 619-224-4878 MM1 TECH moderator (1:202/343)
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Public Message
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Message # 1409 *MM1 TECH Echo*
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To : John A Donaldson
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From : Warren Hrach
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Subject : Re: MM/1 TCP/IP
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Date : 93/01/26 10:29:50
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Previous Reply is Message 1408
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On Tuesday, January 26th, 1993 - John A Donaldson wrote:
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JA> USENET is not the same as FIDO. USENET mail is Internet mail. I read
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JA> somewhere that someone was working on a bridge software to translate
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JA> FIDO mail into Internet USENET mail and the other way around.
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John,
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At one time Erik Seilstat had an MS dos util that took the Internet,
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Usenet newsgroup msg. to fido type. He used to send to me but no longer
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is active since he got married. He also had an MM/1.
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I think Tim Jones has an OS9 conversion program that does similar
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but I doubt that it is 2 way. Neither one could send mail back to
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Internet/usenet but recieved only.
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-Warren
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--- RiBBS v2.10 (Beta)
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* Origin: Ocean Beach BBS 619-224-4878 MM1 TECH moderator (1:202/343)
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Public Message
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Message # 1410 *MM1 TECH Echo*
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To : John A Donaldson
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From : Warren Hrach
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Subject : Kterm bug
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Date : 93/01/26 10:51:00
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John,
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I have tried using Kterm Ymodem batch upload and cannot get it to
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work properly. What I did is to chd to my /r0 with several files in it.
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Then I start kterm 'kterm /t3' and log onto my BBS over my null modem at
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9600 baud. On the BBS I call up the upload function for ymodem batch.
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I then have the kterm protocol already set to ymodem and click on the
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file function. Selecting send it asks for a filename. If I enter only
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one name it will send it but on the bbs it gets named 'no_name'. If I
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enter 2 filenames it will skip the first one and send the second only.
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I am familiar with how OSTERM does the batch send by calling up the
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current dir and one can click on the various filenames to que up the
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files to send. But Kterm only opens a window that you have to enter a
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filename into. The kterm i have is edition #200 CRC 94D038.
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BTW the xmodem1k works fine.
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-Warren
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--- RiBBS v2.10 (Beta)
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* Origin: Ocean Beach BBS 619-224-4878 MM1 TECH moderator (1:202/343)
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Public Message
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Message # 1411 *MM1 TECH Echo*
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To : All
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From : Warren Hrach
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Subject : math module
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Date : 93/01/26 11:02:38
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Calvin Dodge has improved the math module's speed by 10-20 times. I
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have for downloading in my OSK Programs file section as 'CALSMATH.LZH'
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it is also freqable by the same name. I am also ticking it out to the
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OS9CN Librarys for distribution.
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-Warren Hrach, MM/1 Sales Rep.
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--- RiBBS v2.10 (Beta)
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* Origin: Ocean Beach BBS 619-224-4878 MM1 TECH moderator (1:202/343)
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=*= FIDO ECHO MESSAGES MENU =*=
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<1> Scan \
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<2> Read > OS9 Echo mail
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<3> Leave /
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<4> Scan \
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<5> Read > CoCo Echo mail
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<6> Leave /
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<7> Scan \
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<8> Read > CoCo_Club Echo mail
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<9> Leave /
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<A> Scan \
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<B> Read > MM1_TECH Echo Mail
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<C> Leave /
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<G>o back to Main Menu
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<P>revious Menu (Messages Menu)
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[57] Command >>> |