This is an archive of CompuServe forum messages from 1985 to 1995, as saved in transcripts by John Foust.
Search Results (33 messages)
#53201-
#Frosted Serial
Message #53405
I've never seen a book about RS-422, I learned what I know about it from a 422 serial card's manual and little bits and pieces here and there. One thing I can tell you about it's differences from 232C is that 422 is only an electrical specification and performance requirements,…
By phase difference, I presume you mean the opposite 8 degree shift from horizontal path each field track exhibits (the herringbone pattern that the tape would show if you could see magnetism). Now, the big question concerning the info in your last message, what's a 1H delay? One-half frame (one-sixtieth…
This is all just kibitz, of course. I had heard that the 5th head was for stills also, but from a questionable source. I wonder how it worked, mixed in the 2nd field of the frame maybe? I tend to believe the extra tape width story myself, based on the…
Hmmmm, that's not what I've always understood was the difference between 4and 2-head decks. You are, of course, right about the difference between the optimal gap for record and playback heads (the record head should have a smaller gap than the play head, from memory). However, what I remember is…
I have no idea if that has any bearing on a valid comparison between the 2 technologies. Comparing 2 alternate technologies almost always involves apples and oranges, and I'm not interested in a "which is better" discussion anyway. However, I would like to point out using a 2-head deck as…
True, what I was thinking of was shell dictatorship. My MS-DOS is showing, I think.
And I thought _I_ had expensive hobbies! Whew.
I know you're aware of this, but I'll ask the obvious anyway. The VHS units _are_ 4-head decks, aren't they? My first VHS unit was a 2-head deck, and the SP speed wasn't all that great in comparison to the 4-head decks even at the time. Like I said, I…
#49145-
S-VHS surprise
Message #49453
Pete (and Don), After my last message I repeated the "test" (and put a lot more effort into my observations, I might add), and I'd like to pull back from my original statement if I may. I now tend to think composite's broadcast advantage was "psychovisual" rather real. It like…
Funny you should mention that. In 1981, when I bought my first VCR, I looked at all 3 formats (Beta, VHS, and 3/4") and didn't see a decisive difference in 2 different places. The scuttlebutt at the time was one had better definition while the other had better color (can't…
#Macaroni (shells)
Message #49451
You're definitely right on 2 things, that all the commands that avail themselves of the "wildcard function call" will all have the same library call and that a shell expansion provides a consistent user interface. The relation between the function call overhead and the actual working code size of the…
The monitor being a better demodulator did occur to me, but the signal matching possibility hadn't. I am aware of production variations and the possibility of having a "good" monitor and a "bad" VCR in the demodulator department even though both pass their design tolerances. But the results seemed a…
#S-VHS surprise
Message #48407
This has little-to-nothing to do with the Amiga, but this is as good as a place as any for this question, and is just a point of curiousity anyway. About a year ago I got an S-VHS VCR, I soon gave my TV to my mother and started driving my…
#42999-
OpenLibrary differences
Message #43029
The A6 requirement is actually an Amiga convention, any address register other than A7 or one that the function expects a parameter in would do. But it's good form to establish a convention for such things to enhance readability and minimize usage conflicts, so they came up with a useful…
#41546-
New OS9?
Message #41634
Looks like an interesting book, I'll have to be on the lookout for that one. I doubt if the nomenclature conflicts will any get any better, they're driven by an effort to use meaningful names for system constructs and there's motivation _not_ to use the conventions from other systems. The…
#41311-
New OS9?
Message #41425
So what you do is set the Command field to the desired code, the remainder of the fields as required by the command (Data, Length, whatever) and use the Exec's IO functions to send it (DoIO() for synch, SendIO() for asynch). When the device if finished with the request it…
#41311-
New OS9?
Message #41424
With the graphics library we're firmly entering areas where I have _no_ experience, except my eyes of course. I did give it a quick skim a couple of years ago to familiarize myself with what the Amiga is doing/can do, and to know a graphics structure name when I see…
Workbench hints and tips
Message #40671
Oops, forget what I said about not being able to start a tool's process up with a different current directory from Workbench. Apparently I blew it when I first attempted it, and I wasn't trying very hard as I was guessing anyway. So to start from scratch again: Point out…
#40491-
Workbench hints and tips
Message #40670
I've tried the operation out again and it works, I must have screwed it up the first time (which was a couple of months ago). If you select a disk/drawer and then launch a tool with the shift key down, the tool's process will have that disk or drawer as…
#40541-
Workbench hints and tips
Message #40669
I must've screwed up my test of a couple of months ago, or misremembered what I did. Anyway, I just checked it out again and it works! If you extended-select a disk or a drawer along with the tool, the tool does indeed get launched in that directory. One possibility…
One thing that you can mention that seems easily forgotten (at least by me) is that you can feed a file (project) to an application (tool) from Workbench. Now there's one thing I'd like to know now that I'm thinking about it, how to you get a tool to start…
I still think they should have gone with 0 termination. That way the count would always be correct and a loop parameter would only be decremented when it was needed. You could also use pre-decrement to take care of it then, as now. But it's all a moot point, as…
Well, I can certainly forget about any career in technical writing, can't I? So far I'm batting about a 1.000 in misrepresenting my own views. You're right, of course, disliking DBcc is exactly what I said. What I _meant_ is that DBcc's terminating on a result of -1 is my…
Ah, so CPTR is in the new includes, good. Apparently the difference between an APTR and a CPTR is the number of significant bits? I had thought so but the name got to me, figured it could signify an extra level of indirection or something silly like that. To verify,…
#32827-
ARP & 1.3
Message #33040
Changing to 1.3's Mount did the trick. I had figured out that NEWCON: was causing the crash, but it would have taken me forever to hit upon Mount as the culprit. Thanks.
#10889-
WP & Hyphenation
Message #10978
After reading the other responses, I concur with them. Hyphenathion usually is a serious problem when something else is out of whack, such as a strangely formatted file, columns out of synch, XMODEM padding (used to see that one a lot on the PC), etc. Just STOPping would save your…
#10927-
#Asm. vs. HLL
Message #10977
Gee, Wayne, thanks for that macro-name story! I _really_ needed that one! Consider that message saved and passed around to whomever will read it.
#32827-
ARP & 1.3
Message #33018
Changing the Mount command to the 1.3 version did the trick. Thanks, even though I had it narrowed down to the NEWCON: device, it would have taken me forever to figure out that Mount was the culprit.
SubSystem1000
Message #29120
Ken, You asked me to let you know what happens in regard to the SubSystem1000. After a couple of calls it seems that the release date keeps slipping back further and further. Right now they have no idea when it'll be released. -jeff
Roy, Consider yourself complimented! I'm sorry I can't be of much more help, but I'm pretty ignorant where the Ami OS is concerned. I can only emphasize the random nature of the thing. I've gone days without any problems then wham! Freeze city without doing anything extraordinary. Is it possible…
#RSLclock 1.32
Message #58351
Roy, I'm another one who seems to be having "lock-up" problems that are very similar to Jim's. They started a little after installing RSLClock into my system. I thought I could give you a little more information to work with as a lock-up occurred only today and the circumstances are…
#41642-
C64->Amiga
Message #42038
Ken, Who is going to release this emulator? Is it somebody with agood track record or a newcomer? Emulators notoriousy fall short of the stated goals so that is an important point. However, I think you are right about the potential market. Also, don't forget the people who have already…
The Amiga – Questions!
Message #42037
Don, I agree! I was waiting for the SIDECAR with baited breath, but it apparently wasn't enough bait. I'm going out tomorrow an get a A1020 with transformer (which will serve my immediate needs) and see how the A2500(?) shakes out -Jeff