University of Vaasa, Finland, MIPS R2030 workstation garbo.uwasa.fi,
node number 128.214.87.1, has a large collection of PD and shareware
programs which are available by anonymous ftp (file transfer
program). This /pc/pd2/news91b.pd2 file contains selected news and
reviews about the MsDos programs in the /pc directories. (There are
more news in /pc/ts/0news-ts and /pc/pd/post##.txt.)
....................................................................
Prof. Timo Salmi Co-moderator of news:comp.archives.msdos.announce
Moderating at ftp:// & http://garbo.uwasa.fi/ archives 193.166.120.5
Department of Accounting and Business Finance ; University of Vaasa
mailto:ts@uwasa.fi <http://www.uwasa.fi/~ts/> ; FIN-65101, Finland
....................................................................
N e w s o f 1 9 9 1 f r o m 1-May to 31-Dec
Tue 31-Dec-91: Made /pc/DIRNAMES using the information in /pc/INDEX.
It gives the list of the MsDos directory names at garbo.uwasa.fi
with an explanation for each one.
Sun 29-Dec-91: Captured from alt.bbs.lists the BBS list of the
Federation of Independent States (Russia, etc) and made it available
as: 8516 Dec 29 10:06 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/bbs/fis9112.zip.
(Actually, I hear it should be called Commonwealth, not Federation
as the list claims. My thanks to Stan Brown for the tip).
Sat 28-Dec-91: June-Shyan Yih kindly uploaded us his
/pc/envutil
eed10.zip Full screen easy to use Environment EDitor, J-S Yih.
I like this. It is a very handy utility. Among other
things you can conveniently edit your path with eed
in an editor-like environment.
Sat 28-Dec-91: Acquired from SIMTEL20 to garbo.uwasa.fi archives:
/pc/stock
rsa301.zip Relational Stock Analysis + graphics DLM Consulting.
Seems very professional. As with all similar
packages looks daunting at the first encounter.
Obviously there is no escaping the manual :-).
Sat 28-Dec-91: We have recently created two new subdirectories at
garbo.uwasa.fi
/pc/linguistics : Files related to the science of linguistics
/pc/ham : Ham and other radio related programs
I am pleased to announce that these two directories are now jointly
moderated by a new co-moderator at garbo jari.perkiomaki@uwasa.fi.
Jari works at our linguistics department at the University of Vaasa,
and he is a keen ham himself. Harri Valkama (hv@uwasa.fi) and yours
truly continue as before as garbo moderators. I specialize in the
/pc (the MsDos) directories and our publicity, while Harri continues
to moderate all our fields. Harri is also the system manager of
garbo, so all connectivity problems are best reported to him.
Fri 27-Dec-91: Added garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/hist91.zip. It is my
subjective look back at 1991 in comp.binaries.ibm.pc newsgroups and
at the archives.
Thu 26-Dec-91: I got an update of the Finnish BBS list and it is now
available as garbo.uwasa.fi:/pub/pc/bbs/fi911221.zip. I am sure
that our foreign friends can't wait to get their hands on it :-).
Mon 23-Dec-91: Acquired the following program from a Finnish BBS to
garbo.uwasa.fi archives:
/pc/fileutil
sun-prot.zip Protect executable with a password (unfinished).
Here is a very interesting concept from a young
Finnish programmer. The idea is to attach a password
to the executable which, when called, would refuse
to run if the password is not correct. The scheme
does not yet(?) work for .exe files, only .com
files. Furthermore, it meddles with the cursor in an
unacceptable way and leaves it in an unpredictable
state after running a protected .com. There is no
unprotect the once protected program. But no matter,
it is a good idea well worth further development. It
is a little reminescent of the McAfee system of
attaching a checksum at the end of a file, or of a
benevolent virus. I did not try out what what happen
if the program were applied on a compressed
executable.
Sun 22-Dec-91: Acquired the following file from SIMTEL20
/pc/education
polyrt1.zip Tutor for polynomials and finding real roots.
A model example of a useful educational program. It
is obvious that programming and testing these kinds
of interactive teaching programs must take a lot of
effort.
Fri 20-Dec-91: Acquired the following files from SIMTEL20
/pc/math
amort11d.zip AmortizeIt, The Complete Amortization Solution.
A loan amortization program with and extensive 50
page document and with a nice interface. Perhaps it
is just me, but somehow I find it a bit confusing
and slightly intimidating. Take a look, and judge
for yourself.
/pc/batchutil
errlvl12.zip Return error level for batches, TifaWare (w asm).
Useful, no doubt, but personally if feel a bit
uncomfortable with tricks of batch programming which
require external programs when one can achieve the
same functionality also without them.
/pc/envutil
push.zip Push/pop the current environment variables (w asm).
This is a natural and interesting idea for a
specialized MsDos utility. This is one of those
cases where upon seeing the utility one kicks oneself
and thinks: "Hey, why didn't I come to think of that
idea to write a neat little utility".
/pc/educgames
pcftyp41.zip PC-FASTYPE typing Instruction Program from
Trendtech. A nice complement to the collection of
programs like /pc/educgames/typrdr11.zip,
typefast.zip and /pc/ts/tsgmeb15.zip for developing
typing skills. Fastype presents an image of the
keyboard in front of you, and signals the keys
you'll have to type. One problem for Europeans is
that the keyboard has the US layout. CGA graphics is
sufficient for playing Fastype. It has menus that
make it look like a utility. The distinction is not
important, but like the rest, Fastype is in effect
an educational game. Incidentally, I might myself be
interested to write a typing program that uses the
official speed typing rules to measure the users
typing skills. (Any typists around with the official
information?)
Fri 20-Dec-91: We have made a few arrangements at garbo. We have
added descriptions to the directory names in our annotated garbo
main file list /pc/INDEX (alternatively /pc/filelist/garboidx.arc
and /pc/filelist/garboidx.Z). We have also created a few new
directories like:
/pc/educgames Educational games
/pc/exam Old examinations with answers for our students
/pc/linguistics Files related to the science of linguistics
/pc/net Network related files
and deleted
/pc/games
The former /pc/doc directory has been subdivided into
/pc/doc-hard Hardware related documentation and information
/pc/doc-misc Miscellaneous information and documentation
/pc/doc-net Net service (news, ftp, etc) related information
/pc/doc-soft Software related documentation and information
Furthermore we have moved a few files from their old directories to
directories where they better belong.
We have in our sights the replacement of garbo with a more
powerful workstation. We shall, however, in all probability retain
the name garbo for the new machine as an alias arrangement, because
garbo has hopefully become a kind of an establishment.
Fri 20-Dec-91: Acquired garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/screen/scap250.zip screen
capture utility from a Finnish BBS. It is clumsy. Takes up a lot
of memory, and is difficult to use. No match to /pc/screen/
sniprr24.zip.
Fri 6-Dec-91: Updated my list of MsDos FTP sites and moderators. It
is garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/moder.lst. (It is an ascii file).
Sun 1-Dec-91: Acquired from a Finnish BBS
/pc/filefind
find221.zip Fast file finder by Bruce Gavin
/pc/sysutil
syslog12.zip A TSR logging of PC usage, Solid Oak Software.
It is a 8K TSR that makes a log showing every
program run, files handled etc. Seems very useful
for control purposes.
Mon 25-Nov-91: As some users will recall we accidentally had
CompuShow GIF viewer cshw833b.zip on our archives. That version
turned out not be shareware and we thus withdraw it from our
archives. The author Bob Berry has kindly made the shareware
version available, and I just downloaded it from SIMTEL20 from
Keith. We have it as garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/gifutil/cshw833a.zip. If
you got the commercial version because of this accident, please do
not abuse this situation. With the number of files and uploads we
have, these things are bound to happen. Warnings from alert users
are always welcome. This is how we found out about the current
case.
Sat 23-Nov-91: Acquired the following packages from a Finnish BBS to
garbo.uwasa.fi archives:
/pc/arcutil
ac142.zip Archive converter by Donald Langhorne.
Worth a look if you routinely need conversions from
one archive type to another. Reasonably
configurable, but reading of the documents is
necessary. Making the AC.CFG better self-documenting
wouldn't have been a bad idea.
/pc/dirutil
dbldr136.zip Double Directory management by George Tylutki
Two directories side by side can be managed in many
ways, such as copy files, delete etc. Obviously
useful.
/pc/unix
dosnx94i.zip Dosnix Unix style utilities from G. Vrooman.
One more to the plethora of Unix like command
collections for MsDos. I did not test this one, and
I'll thus leave the review open to others.
/pc/screen
nab17.zip "Noger Nabbit" Grab ASCII from screen.
Takes some reading and remembering of the docs, but
can be useful for grabbing text from the screen and
transferring it from one application to another.
Mon 18-Nov-91: Some new acquisitions to garbo.uwasa.fi archives:
/pc/batchutil
catsig.zip Audible and visual alarm for ending a long batch
/pc/business
int201.zip The Interest Analyzer (updates int108.zip)
/pc/education
recall1.zip Shareware version of Total Recall educational program
/pc/editor
tp-et.zip Thumb Print Software's Electric Typewriter
Mon 11-Nov-91: I have had to remove
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/gifutil/cshw833b.zip
CompuShow GIF viewer from our archives and replace it by the older
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/gifutil/cshw821b.zip
because it turned out to my consternation that the newer version has
gone fully commercial. It is good of users to be alert for cases
like this, since it is not always easy for the moderator to notice.
In the case of cshw833b.zip this came as a total surprise since I
have seen it around in BBSes (which shouldn't happen given the
changed Cshow status). But, frankly, also the author's way of
making the change detectable and publicly known leaves much to be
desired. Responsible users are implored not to misuse unfortunate
instances like this one.
Fri 8-Nov-91: Acquired garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/sysinfo/bench60.zip PC
Magazine's benchmarks from a Finnish BBS. The interface has been
radically changed since version 5.6 (which I retained in the
/pc/goldies directory). The old one used text mode without a mouse.
The new one uses dialog box type graphics and a mouse. (It is a
matter of taste, but I an not personally very keen on the this type
of an interface. But I am positive that Windows3 users will just
love it). The benchmarks now also include 486 comparisons. Even
the version was large (330Kb), but the new is even bigger. A whole
506Kb zipped.
Mon 4-Nov-91: Obtained an upgrade of Kim Kokkonen's TSR management
utilities from a Finnish BBS. This version has been updated for
compatibility with DOS 5.0 high memory management.
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/memutil/tsrcom30.zip
Sun 3-Nov-91: Here is a repeat of a little trick for QEdit editor
users. You can easily check the spelling of the edited file from
within QEdit by a single keystroke. It takes a bit setting it up,
though, and you have to have the necessary programs. You'll need
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/editor/qedit215.zip
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tschek12.arc
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/fileutil/list76b.zip
Furthermore it is useful to have
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/sysutil/shrom18g.zip
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsqed12.arc
The way it goes is this. Define a keyboar macro such as
@- MacroBegin
Dos 'spell spelled3.dny /f '
CurrentFilename ' | list /s' Return
Then you only need to press Alt- and the file is checked for
spelling. An additional trick is to call Qedit by using
shroom -s r:\ q.exe (where r:\ refers to ramdisk). This way you'll
not be running out of memory since QEdit is swapped to disk for the
duration of the checking.
Sat 2-Nov-91: I have updated my choice of (now) 21 best MsDos
programs. I decided to make this a separate file and it is now
available as garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/bestprog.zip. Enjoy the
list,... and these great programs.
Fri 1-Nov-91: Obtained from a Finnish BBS Patriquin's Text and file
searcher garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/fileutil/ps50.zip. Otherwise ok, but it
still crashes in searches with upper ascii characters.
Wed 30-Oct-91: Do something really different for a change. Call a
Finnish BBS. See garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/bbs/fi911026.arc for the
numbers.
Sun 27-Oct-91: I have been taking a closer look at some programs we
have downloaded to garbo.uwasa.fi archives from the binary postings
and from SIMTEL20.
/pc/sysinfo
asq130.zip Tutorial style system information program.
Takes a nicely paternal approach to presenting and
analyzing system information from nested menus
rather than subsequent pages of system information.
Whether you'll like its format is up to your
personal tastes, but it is certainly worth a look as
an alternative sysinfo program.
/pc/fileutil
cdump142.zip Cos File Dump Utility by Ofer Inbar.
Not the first, and not probably the last of many
file dump programs written (especially if one takes
into account that so binary editors can act as fiole
dumps, too). This filedump is one of the more useful
renditions having the options to produce several
types of output. One of the useful options is to
find the texts in a binary file.
/pc/termutil
gsz1015.zip Full-screen version of DSZ Zmodem.
As programs Chuck Forsberg's ZModems are undoubtedly
among the all time PC greats. GSZ adds color and
text graphics to the somewhat drab DSZ interface.
/pc/screen
dump0891.zoo Dump CGA,EGA,VGA or HERC graphics screen to printer.
A resident graphics screen dump by just pressing the
PrintScreen key. (At least taxed merrily my inkjet
cartridge :-).
/pc/sysutil
shrom18g.zip Swap to disc when shelling from an application.
Every once and awhile one comes upon a program, or
an idea that is a veritable gem. SHellROOM certainly
is. When you usually shell to MsDos from an
application you are left with much less room than
usual. SHROOM swaps the application to disk at shell
leaving you with much room. Unfortunately it does
not work with each and every application (eg Turbo
Pascal) unless I have made an error or missed
something again. I'll be interested to observe what
it does with Telnet when I get at my office 386.
/pc/filefind
cudup21.zip Colorado Utilities Duplicate File Manager.
I've written about this useful utility before. Finds
the duplicates even within archives. It has a good
interface. Can also be used to browse and delete the
duplicate files when they have been found. I have
programmed a duplicate file finder myself in
tsutlc16.arc, but honestly it cannot hold the canle
to this one.
/pc/programming
interc2.zip Intercept and interpret BIOS calls of a program.
This is a specialist's tool. It is useful to
advanced programmers especially in studying the
interrupt usage of programs and register values of
the interrupt calls.
Wed 16-Oct-91: It is nice having become such a popular ftp site, but
this also has its downsides. At the moment we have to contemplate
setting a limit on the number of simultaneous FTP users, just like
SIMTEL20 does. Please remember the alternative of using batchftp
(if you can) for more efficient usage. It is available as
garbo.uwasa.fi:/unix/ftp/batchftp102.tar.Z.
Tue 15-Oct-91: Acquired garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/sysinfo/sysid62.zip
system information by Steve Grant from a Finnish BBS. This program
has interesting offshoots, because /pc/sysinfo/ifp1p147.zip is based
on same code (the latter, that is InfoPlus docs stated sysid444).
The new sysid62 dates to 2nd of September 1991.
Mon 14-Oct-91: To decrease the load please note that the heavily
downloaded garbo.uwasa.fi MsDos filelist /pc/INDEX is alternatively
available as /pc/filelist/garboidx.arc (with MsDos eolns) and
/pc/filelist/garboidx.Z (with Unix eolns). These files are updated
at our archive site at the same time as the original /pc/INDEX.
Sat 12-Oct-91: As you may recall I recently posted about the further
FAQ, feedback, etc information file
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/post05.txt.
There is one problem with this system. I keep updating the latest
file in the post01.txt - post05.txt series until it contains 30 mail
readable messages. This means that the users who are interested in
this should be told about it having been updated. No problem
though, since we now have the special discussion subgroup
cbip.archives for the archive site announcements. I'll just make a
brief announcement each time the file has been updated.
Thu 10-Oct-91: Besides my Frequently Asked Questions collection
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfaq23a.arc I gave gathered further FAQs,
feedback, advice, and interesting messages in /pc/pd2/post##.txt
files. I update these files until they have 30 messages. The
fourth in the series (post04.txt) is now complete. I have also
started the fifth (post05.txt), but it is still almost empty. The
post##.txt files are in such a format that you can easily read them
(also) with Unix elm or PC /pc/mail/rmail401.zip.
Wed 9-Oct-91: I have updated the list of MsDos FTP sites & their
moderators. It is garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/moder.lst. This is a
minor update bringing up to date the information on the Australian
SIMTEL20 and garbo mirror site, now rana.cc.deaking.oz.au.
Sat 5-Oct-91: Acquired to garbo.uwasa.fi archives from a Finnish BBS
/pc/programming
dosref21.zip Dos technical reference by Dave Williams
/pc/execomp
pklte113.exe PKWare's .exe and .com file compress/uncompress
/pc/arcutil
am65.zip ArcMaster visual two window user interface (good)
shez64.zip Compression Companion for arcers be Jim Derr (good)
Thu 3-Oct-91: Summary: Please avoid uploading "naked" .exe's.
Again a word to your kind uploaders. (With the natural exception of
self-extracting archivers) we would like to get and distribute all
our MsDos material in archived (preference order: .zip, new .zoo)
format. Although uploads are welcome, if they come as .exe's or
.com's, this causes us a definite dilemma. Please avoid using this
format in your kind uploads.
Mon 30-Sep-91: I have updated for a change an exotic file
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pub/pc/bbs/fi910928.arc. It contains lists of
Finnish BBSes. (The little Finnish language in the list is not a
real problem, since the layout gives the basic idea of the
information).
Wed 25-Sep-91: Acquired garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/fileutil/list76b.zip from
a Finnish BBS. If you are a new PC user and you don't happen to
know Buerg's file browser, you are well advised to get it to be able
to list the contents of your files. It is one of the best-known (if
not the best known) utilities for MsDos, and there are many other
programs (some of mine included) that utilize it to perform the
listing tasks. More advanced users will find a number of useful
properties and settings. For example users who have a Unix
background will find LIST /S pipe a useful replacement of Unix less
on MsDos.
Mon 23-Sep-91: A word to our kind uploaders to garbo.uwasa.fi
archives. While we support all the major archive formats, our
preferences are 1) Zipped or failing that 2) Zooed (2.10 high
compression). Also other formats are welcome if it is very
inconvenient for you to use these methods.
Many of your uploaders have recently used LHARC, that is .lzh
files. If it doesn't make a big difference to you, would you please
help us by using your preferred methods because processing the .lzh
files causes extra work to my fellow moderator Harri Valkama. But
of course good uploads are more important than the package method if
you have no choice.
Sat 21-Sep-91: I was very pleased to learn that the good people at
Columbia decided to do as I implored and prepared a .zip collection
of the MsKermit version 3.11 files for MsDos usage. It is now
available also from garbo.uwasa.fi as /pc/termprog/msker311.zip.
Sat 14-Sep-91: Obtained QEdit editor update /pc/editor/qedit215.zip
and the corresponding macro compiler /pc/editor/qmac215.zip from
SIMTEL20 after Keith Petersen kindly gave me an advance notice of
the impending announcement from SIMTEL20. Semware's QEdit etitor is
my personal favorite for a text editor, and I use it extensively.
If you want a spelling checker and macros to be used with it,
take a look at /pc/ts/tsqed11.arc.
Wed 11-Sep-91: Obtained from a Finnish BBS /pc/astronomy/starry.zip
Starry Nights Indoor Astronomy by Rob Crockett.
Fri 6-Sep-91: Got the current version of the big file list of the
English speaking Micro Maniacs BBS 2:220/22 run by Ron Dwight. The
file is /pc/filelist/files-mm.zip.
Thu 5-Sep-91: Got updates of two Finnish BBS lists and put them in
/pc/bbs/fi910905.arc.
Tue 3-Aug-91: Unix-like less for MsDos by Mark Nudelman later improved
by Mark Lord is now available also from garbo.uwasa.fi archives as
/pc/unix/mless177.zip. Less is a good complement for the MsDos TYPE and
MORE commands for Unix oriented users since it can handle multiple files
and can be used for browsing with many options. It also has a nicely
colorful man(ual) page. The other obvious option for MsDos browsing is
/pc/fileutil/list76a.zip.
Mon 2-Sep-91: We have converted all our old MsDos and Unix (the /pc
and /unix directories) Zoo files to the newer version 2.10 Zoos with
high compression. We naturally hope that everything is ok, but some
files might have errors since the conversion first balked at a
couple of large zoo archives with multilayered, embedded
directories.
Sun 1-Sep-91: Received Ralf Brown's impressive interrupt lists
/pc/programming/inter27a.zip and inter27b.zip directly from the
author. They are a must for every serious programmer.
Sun 1-Sep-91: Obtained some updates from SIMTEL20 including the
following very worthwhile packages.
/pc/arcutil
am64.zip ArcMaster visual two window user interface. Along
with shez63.zip the shell to have for handling
archives. Personally I use shez, but this is also
very good.
/pc/filefind
cudup20.zip Colorado Utilities Duplicate File Manager. A good
interface. Finds the duplicates even within archives.
/pc/execomp
drx106.zip List and handle compressed executables. A very handy
shell for listing and compressing or uncompressing
executables. But a what's new would be in order.
Sat 31-Aug-91: Acquired from comp.binaries.ibm.pc and SIMTEL20 to
garbo.uwasa.fi archives:
/pc/execomp
unlzexe6.zip Uncompress an lzexe-compressed executable file. This
is a fix of an annoying little bug which froze the
PC under certain circumstances. The problem fix was
found by David Kirschbaum.
/pc/arcutil
zipoff.zoo Split a large .zip file into smaller parts. Useful
to counter the dilemma that arises if a .zip file is
becoming larger than the floppy where it is headed.
By Morgan Schweers.
/pc/termutil
szmod150.zip Alternative Zmodem by Scott Baker. Worked without a
hitch in the few tests I made. This seems a very
interesting development.
Sat 31-Aug-91: Obtained /pc/calendar/an204.zip Ample Notice reminder
and calendar from SIMTEL20. For those who preferred the full-screen
version I have retained /pc/goldies/an131.zip. The new format uses
non-overlapping windows which make a split-screen (or have I missed
some option), and I find the earlier version clearer. A matter of
taste, perhaps.
Fri 30-Aug-91: Acquired the following files from a Finnish BBS to
garbo.uwasa.fi archives.
/pc/termutil
gsz0807.zip Full-screen version of DSZ Zmodem
/pc/filefind
dupcheck.zip Identify duplicate files across fixed disk
/pc/editor
amac39a.zip AllMacro; QEdit macros
Fri 30-Aug-91: I have acquired an updated version of Compart BBS's
MsDos file list /pc/filelist/cbbs_dos.zip. I keep a couple of BBS
file lists available even if the files need not be on garbo in order
to have information on what can be found on good BBSes in way of
packages.
Thu 29-Aug-91: Got /pc/math/sm13a.zip. It is a mathematical
expression evaluator which can process the expressions symbolically
in a manner similar to the commercial Mathematica and Macsyma.
Recall that even if there is a gap of ten days in these news, it
does not mean that there hasn't been any new files acquired to garbo
archives in between. Take a look at /pc/_files.in for the monthly
list of all incoming MsDos files.
Mon 19-Aug-91: Acquired the following files from a Finnish BBS
/pc/filefind
fff37.zip File Finder Pack v3.7 by Jim Derr (author of Shez)
A useful file finder which presents you with a menu
of the files found.
/pc/stat
fit2.zip Statistics curve fitting and data modelling
Fri 16-Aug-91: Forrest Gehrke feg@clyde.att.com kindly sent update
/pc/termutil/zdoc0814.zip for the DSZ and GSZ Zmodem programs. Very
useful.
Wed 14-Aug-91: Our old laser printer at the department broke down
and I had to use newer laser for printing an article I am writing.
The dilemma was that this is a PostScript laser and I had to find an
ascii to PostScript conversion program in a hurry. My search of
garbo.uwasa.fi and SIMTEL20 archives gave four potential candidates
for the task, and my choice was an oldish /pc/printer/text2ps.zip.
It is very possible that being in a hurry I didn't scan carefully
enough, but I was slightly surprised at how few programs we had for
this purpose. The question that remains in my mind is that are
SIMTEL20 and garbo missing something essential in this field.
Tue 13-Aug-91: There is a very useful auxiliary documentation for
DSZ Zmodem usage /pc/termutil/zdoc0416.zip which I just downloaded
from SIMTEL20 based on a tip from Keith. We had an older version at
garbo. This file is something of a must to DSZ users giving a
wealth of information about the numerous DSZ settings. Because of
the widely varying transfer circumstances (different host and PC
machines, modems, etc) a suitable DSZ command line takes some
figuring out. This advice file (along with the examples in the
original DSZ documentation) is a good help in that task.
Fri 9-Aug-91: Got the new /pc/arcers/lha213.exe archiver for .lzh
files from SIMTEL20. Self-extracting.
Tue 6-Aug-91: Started the fourth collection /pc/pd2/post04.txt of
informative email and postings.
Mon 5-Aug-91: Jim Dunn kindly uploaded /pc/batchutil/doscall0.zip.
It is a free implementation of the call command needed as an
external program in earlier MsDos. Tight executable.
Sat 3-Aug-91 : Got /pc/memutil/tlb-v120.zip Upper Memory Manager
update directly from the author Dan Lewis. Shareware. Uploads
device drivers and TSR in the upper memory. The unregister version
limits the number of the modules that can be loaded to two, but that
is adequate for evaluating the program. I use this one myself with
MsDos 3.30 on my 386s.
Wed 31-Jul-91: Acquired /pc/arcutil/shez63.zip Compression Companion
update.
Tue 30-Jul-91: I have updated /pc/pd2/moder.lst, my list of MsDos
FTP sites, and their moderators.
Sun 28-Jul-91: I took a look at /pc/batchutil/ask11.zip, which is
one of the many ASK commands to enhance batch files. (It was just
distributed in cbip, and has been on the archives for some time).
One feature that MsDos is sorely lacking is the ability to ASK
questions in a batch file, and then branch accordingly. Many
authors (I included in tsbat26.arc) have come up with the missing
command, usually called ASK (there are also a few other names like
QUERY and BRANCH).
What these programs do is that they return and errorlevel in
accordance with the user's response to the query string. A kind of
a standard begins to emerge here, because it is now quite common
that the error level returned is equal to the ascii code of the
(first) letter of user's reply.
ASK11 adds the option for timed-out input. It is also quite
small since it is written in assembler with the source code
included. One switch which it seems to be missing in ASK11 is the
option to impose whether the enter key has to be pressed in ASK in
giving the response.
It is generally not a good idea to make bacth files dependent on
too many commands which MsDos does not originally include. The ASK
commands are a clear exception to this rule, because they enhance
batch programming in such a drastic way.
Thu 25-Jul-91: Obtained from SIMTEL20 an interesting small Turbo
Pascal module. It is now in the /pc/turbopas directory at
garbo.uwasa.fi and PD1:<MSDOS.TURBOPAS> at SIMTEL20. I have
rewritten the file description line.
pckselfm.zip Selfmodifying code which survives execompression. By
Jim Nicholson. Source included. I tested it with
pklite, and it really seems to work. I have written
selfmodifying mode myself in the /pc/ts/
tspas24##.arc packages, but they do not achieve this
feat.
Thu 25-Jul-91: Took down /pc/batchutil/call.zip from binary postings
comp.binaries.ibm.pc. It makes it possible to use the call command
in MsDos versions earlier than 3.30 where it was introduced as an
internal command. Call is the command that can be used to call
another batch for another batch and to return to the original batch.
It can also used to call a batch repeatedly from the MsDos command
line in the following manner: for %f (*.zip) do call rezip %f where
rezip.bat is an example of a batch file. (Note that this would not
work properly if you omitted the keyword call from the loop. It
would work only if rezip were an executable program).
Thu 25-Jul-91: Acquired from a Finnish BBS /pc/termutil/txswp121.zip
The Telix Application Swapper. You can toggle Telix by using the
hot key ctrl-shift-T. I have been using Telix for a long time, and
along with Mskermit it is my own favorite Telecomm prog. Perhaps I
have not taken a look the right utilities, but this is one of the
very few of the numerous add-on utilities for Telix that I find
potentially useful.
Wed 17-Jul-91: Got update /pc/filefind/dfl301.zip of one of the best
duplicate file finders.
Wed 17-Jul-91: Got update /pc/mail/rmail401.zip directly from the
author Jeroen Schipper. It is an excellent news, mail and message
reader for the PC.
Thu 16-Jul-91: Withdrew /pc/miscutil/xdos320.zip because of
suspicions that were brought to my attention of it containing
material stolen from other authors.
Sun 14-Jul-91: Acquired PKWare's /pc/execomp/pklte112.exe executable
compressor from simtel20. One of the musts.
Fri 12-Jul-91: My fellow moderator Harri Valkama and I downloaded
the new zoo v2.10 MsDos version from comp.binaries.ibm.pc, and as
the logic of an archiver dictates in my opinion, Harri converted it
into a self-extracting form. It is now available from garbo as
/pc/arcers/zoo210.exe. We are retaining the old version for a
littele while for added security as /pc/goldies/zoo201.exe, because
archivers are such vital utilities for archive management. Thus
both the Unix and MsDos 2.10 versions are now downloadable from us.
Wed 10-Jul-91: Acquired from a Finnish BBS the following files.
Since someone cracked the pkzip 1.10 authenticity (-av) code some
BBSes have been putting in their own ads as the authenticity labels.
I removed the labels from these .zip files lest they give a false
sense of security.
/pc/source
comspeed.zip A simple speed test, includes qbasic sources
I decided to include this one only because some
users might be interested in qbasic sources.
/pc/filefind
dupes300.zip Find/query delete duplicate files v3.00 R.Adams
/pc/filefind
fd500.zip Find duplicate files v5.00, dialog interface, J.Bean
/pc/fileutil
pgp10.zip Pretty Good Privacy 1.0 RSA public key cryptography
Takes some figuring out :-).
/pc/stock
sprm33.zip A stock portfolio record manager rel3.3 (Jun 91)
/pc/sysinfo
sysck224.zip System Checkout, info on your PC, v2.24 (nice)
Check this one out. I liked the concise way in
which the information was selected and presented.
Tue 9-Jul-91: Occasionally one comes upon pairs of programs that
collide. Here is a pair that crashes at least the two 386 I have
tried them on. If the Last Byte Upper Memeory Manager, which is a
very useful program for giving more Dos base many has been loaded,
then using unlzexe causes a freeze. I managed to correct a similar
situation with NCSA Telnet by redefining Last Byte interrupts. No
such luck yet with unlzexe. Any comments or experiences?
The reason why unlzexe is useful for me is for virus checking for
the compresses and uncompressed file forms with various virus
checkers. For my own compressions I usually go for
/pc/execomp/pklte105.exe.
Incidentally, virus checking is becoming more and more
problematic with the introduction of such execompressed programs
that do not allow decompression. This makes the denial of
decompression a somewhat harmful switch.
/pc/memutil
tlb-v119.zip The Last Byte MsDos Upper Memory Manager v1.19
/pc/execomp
unlzexe5.zip Uncompress an lzexe-compressed executable file
Mon 8-Jul-91: /pc/games/blast.zoo is back after Harri blasted the
offending part from the package.
Sat 6-Jul-91: Deleted /pc/games/blast.zoo because of the obscenity
that was hidden in it. Besides I am not overly keen of having these
games on garbo.uwasa.fi archives anyway.
Thu 4-Jul-91: Received /pc/mail/rmail40.zip update of ReadMail MsDos
mail reader from the author Jeroen Schipper. This excellent reader
program is one of my big favorites.
Thu 4-Jul-91: There are two forms of garbo.uwasa.fi download
statistics. An annotated (ie including file descriptions) sampled
MsDos download list /pc/filelist/dload##.lst that I have compiled
weekly until now, and a Monday to Monday list ftplog##.lst that is
automatically compiled each week covering all the downloaded files
for garbo files (ie also non-MsDos files). The latter gives also
total daily downloads and uploads, and downloader sites.
I am going to make the former list a monthly list after the
current dload26.lst. The other download list, ftplog##, is not
posted to cbib.archives, but it is downloadable from garbo from the
/pc/filelist directory.
Wed 3-Jul-91: Acquired from SIMTEL20 to garbo.uwasa.fi
/pc/math
cc4.zip Calculus Calculator experimental version 4 (good)
A comprehensive expression evaluator and function
plotter by David Meredith. Includes a help file, can
save sessions, and is easy to use. Worth a closer
look.
Tue 2-Jul-91: I have a couple of file lists of good Finnish BBSes on
garbo.uwasa.fi which can be used on the side of SIMTEL20 and garbo
filelists to see what MsDos material is in circulation. I received
an update of Micro Maniacs BBS 2:220/22 from the SysOp Ron Dwight
(thanks Ron), and it is now available as /pc/filelist/files-mm.zip.
Mind you, though. It is almost 800K in zipped form.
Mon 1-Jul-91: Gary Mussar kindly uploaded /pc/programming/
dosref20.zip MsDos technical reference by Dave Williams. This and
Ralf Brown's inter26a.zip & inter26b.zip lists make up a
comprehensive documentation of MsDos interrupts. These are musts
for every serious MsDos programmer.
Sun 30-Jun-91: Keith (Petersen) kindly uploaded a bugfix of the
small full'screen binary editor, and it is now
/pc/binedit/edcom44.zip.
Sat 29-Jun-91: Acquired from a Finnish BBS
/pc/binedit
edcom43.zip A small full-screen editor for binary files
Thu 27-Jun-91: The McAfee virus checking set v80 commencing from
scanv80.zip is now in our /pc/virus directory.
Wed 26-Jun-91: Acquired from a Finnish BBS
/pc/dirutil
dcom344.zip Directory Commander v3.44, DAC Micro Systems
Sun 23-Jun-91: Acquired from a Finnish BBS
/pc/batchutil
stackey3.zip Stackey stuff keys & BatUtils by CTRLALT Associates
Extracts from the documentation:
I.1 What STACKEY Does
STACKEY, a utility from the makers of CTRLALT, will
automatically place keystrokes in your keyboard buffer. It is
intended for use in connection with BATch files. Here is a typical
example of a BATch file "lot.bat" for use with 1-2-3 using STACKEY:
stackey W18 CR"/FR%1.wk1" CR
123
Entering "lot mysht" at the DOS command line starts the BATch
file with mysht as %1. STACKEY has the command line passed to it
by the BATch processor with %1 already replaced by mysht. Thus
STACKEY places in the keyboard buffer the text: "/FRmysht.wk1"
followed by a carriage return. The initial W18 tells STACKEY to
pause about 1 second to allow 123 to load. If it weren't there 123
would happily remove the keystrokes from the buffer before allowing
any input. These characters wait in the buffer until a program
requests keyboard input. The BATch file then loads 123 which
requests input and gets it from STACKEY. /FR calls up a dialog to
retrieve a worksheet and %1.wk1 followed by a CR loads that
worksheet. The CR after the W18 will banish the opening logo
screen in those versions with an opening logo.
I.2 What BATUTIL does
BATUTIL is a program with two purposes: to give you power
inside your batch files and to give you more control over the DOS
environment. Included in the information that you can get returned
in either the DOS errorlevel or an environmental variable are
- current time, date, day of the week
- total amount and amount free of disk space, memory and EMS
- CPU type and type of coprocessor if present
- whether a file exists not only in the current directory
but on the DOS path and if it exists on the DOS path, the actual
directory can be returned in another environmental variable
- whether a file has today's date or not
- whether one of two files is older than another
- you can parse a filespec into individual components
Some of these options may not seem so useful at first sight, but,
for example, whether a file has today's date or not can be used to
make a routine that will only get run once per day. Chapter VI
will explain sample uses of BATUTIL.
Sat 22-Jun-91: Acquired from a Finnish BBS /pc/dirutil/eddy552.zip
EDit DirectorY full-screen directory editor. Once in a while one
comes upon a really good MsDos utility program that one has not
noticed before. John Scofield's EDDY File and Directory Editor
belongs to this category. Once you get going after a couple of
minutes initial disorientation, you'll soon see that this is a very
handy tool for example for touching filedates, altering file
attributes, etc, etc. But nothing, of course, is without problems,
and I also managed to mishandle the program to lock my machine
needing ctrl-alt-del.
Mon 17-Jun-91: Acquired Fridrik Skulason's F-PROT virus protection
package update /pc/virus/fprot116.zip from a Finnish bulletin board.
Sun 16-Jun-91: Harri has made Ralf Brown's new interrupt list
release available as
/pc/programming/inter26a.zip
/pc/programming/inter26b.zip
Thu 13-Jun-91: Acquired /pc/virus/virussig.z16 virus footprint for
tbscan Dutch virus scanner v2.3.
Tue 11-Jun-91: Update /pc/printer/pprint53.zip of Patriquin's
printer facility.
Sat 8-Jun-91: Again updated my list of MsDos FTP sites & moderators
/pc/pd2/moder.lst after getting the missing information for
msdos.archive.umich.edu thanks to Keith Petersen and Allan
Bjorklund.
Fri 7-Jun-91: I have updated my list of MsDos FTP sites & moderators
/pc/pd2/moder.lst. It is a text file. But I am still missing any
confirmation from msdos.archive.umich.edu.
Thu 30-May-91: Updated /pc/miscutil/utillist.txt.
Wed 29-May-91: Another download from SIMTEL20 that I have looked at
a little more closely is /pc/plot/rk-plot.zip which plots three
dimensional contours. It makes an interesting demo, and I decided
to make an exception and include it in our collections even if its
documentation is not in English (it is in German).
Wed 29-May-91: Another utility worth seeing that I have downloaded
from SIMTEL20 is /pc/programming/helppc21.zip Advanced Programmer's
Quick Reference Utility by David Jurgens. It has for example
interrupt information in a handy format, with a good interface to
use the help. This one has class.
Tue 28-May-91: Every now and then one comes across a utility that is
exceptionally useful. I recently acquired /pc/screen/buffit30.zip
from SIMTEL20. It is screen scollback program. In other words you
can get back text that scrolled off the screen. The idea itself is
very old, but the scrollback utilities I have tried before have had
problems with my 386 equipment. Buffit works, and is a nicely
programmed utility altogether. Take a look see.
Mon 27-May-91: Don't forget the /pc/pd2/post02.txt news file either.
I have collected items of relevance from email and news to that file
(and its first part01.txt). Today, I have updated post02.txt again.
Sat 25-May-91: Harri got the following interesting upload to
garbo.uwasa.fi archives, and I took a slightly closer look.
/pc/diskutil
dskut330.zip Diskutils for copying and formatting v3.30. In
effect there are two main programs in this package
by Ulrich Feldmuller. One is a nifty diskcopy
substitute with a useful user interface. But my test
also revealed problems. The copying program copied
programs from the source to the target floppy as it
should, but the rest of the target tracks remained
unusable, and I couldn't write anything on them.
Obviously various floppy formats got confused. The
other main utility in the Diskutilities package is a
disk formatting program.
Fri 24-May-91: Acquired several files from SIMTEL20 archives to
garbo.uwasa.fi archives. They were just announced in the c.b.i.p.d.
news. There is one package that I would like to draw your attention
to because it is of an exceptionally high quality, and because of
its special interest for calculus. Try it. It is
/pc/math
mrcry203.zip Equation solver based on Borland's Eureka. Excellent.
Thu 23-May-91: Removed on request from garbo.uwasa.fi archives:
/pc/bbs
nodelist.zip Fidonet Nodelist for Friday, 10 May, 1991 (big)
See /pc/pd2/post02.txt for the reasons of the
deletion.
Wed 22-May-91: Acquired to garbo.uwasa.fi archives:
/pc/virus
tbscan23.zip A Dutch virus scanner v2.3 by Frans Veldman. To use
this scanner you'll have to unzip the virussig.dat
file from virussig.z16, which is within the package.
Wed 22-May-91: Acquired the following files to garbo.uwasa.fi
archives:
/pc/bbs
aboot200.zip AutoBoot for BBS crashes v2.00 (weird docs)
nodelist.zip Fidonet Nodelist for Friday, 10 May, 1991 (big)
/pc/database
stinfo13.zip US State Information Program v1.30 by Gary Moore
(Has a hacked .zip -av authenticy label)
Tue 21-May-91: Acquired update /pc/filecopy/pcopy90d.zip of
Patriquin's file copy program.
Mon 20-May-91: Acquired again an update of the ExtraDos utilities
collection /pc/miscutil/xdos280.zip. It is 460K in zipped form.
There are many useful utilities in it worth evaluating. But is the
authenticy label SQUIRREL Mailbox for real or is it a MAKEAV hack?
(Well, it is a hack, and this is funny in a pathetic sort of way.
Distribution of MAKEAV outside North America is prohibited by US
regulations because of this powerful encyption algorithm. Then
along comes some two bit hacker and merrily cracks the encryption
:-).
Sun 19-May-91: The most frequently downloaded file at garbo.uwasa.fi
is not surprisingly the /pc/INDEX list of our MsDos files. To save
transfer load, this file is also available both in archived format
(with PC eolns) and Unix compressed format (with Unix eolns). These
files are respectively /pc/filelist/garboidx.arc and
/pc/filelist/garboidx.Z.
Fri 17-April-91: Received /pc/cmdutil/anarkey4.zip directly from the
author Steven Calwas. Thanks for your upload Steven. The readme
file says: "Anarkey is an intelligent command-line editor for DOS.
With Anarkey, complete input lines can be entered with two or three
keystrokes. Anarkey is intelligent because there is no need to tell
it what you want to enter on the command line; simply press the
<Tab> key and Anarkey figures out what you want and does it for
you."
Thu 16-Apr-91: Harri and I decided to create two new directories.
They are /pc/diskcopy and /pc/filecopy, and transfer some of the
files there. The names should be self-explanatory.
Mon 13-Apr-91: Again acquired some semi-old programs to garbo
archives:
/pc/astronomy
estr8911.zip A starmap program v8911, reqs EGA
vstr8911.zip A starmap program v8911, reqs 286+, VGA
Interesting, _if_ you are an enthusiast.
/pc/format
ezf32a.zip Menu driven Easy disk Format, v3.20
ezf32b.zip Menu driven Easy disk Format documents, v3.20
Nice interface and idea. Definitely worth a look,
with appropriate carefulness.
Sun 12-May-91: Found /pc/astronomy/gmovie.zip lying around in a
Finnish BBS. It is an old, simple demo of a rotating Earth.
Sat 11-May-91: Acquired /pc/pcmag/vol10n08.zip to garbo.uwasa.fi
because it contains an interesting utility cdx.com for changing
directories based only on a part of a directory name or a file name.
Worth a look.
Sat 11-May-91: In my series of semiold updates acquired to garbo
archives:
/pc/filefind
dfl261.zip Duplicate File Locator v2.61. Good interface.
Quoting my earlier review: "This facility to find
the duplicate files on your hard disk has quite many
bells and whistles and sports a very nice user
interface. Works in two modes, names and exact,
which should be self-explanatory. There are already
other duplicate finders around, but this one
certainly has many features the others don't. The
others include finddupe (which crashes my PC),
/pc/filefind/sst_52a.zip (which has duplicate
finding as one of its extra options), and
doubles.exe in /pc/ts/tsutlc16.arc (which has an
intermediate mode the other lack for faster finding
of 'exact' duplicates by name, size, and date)."
/pc/diskutil
cudm319.zip Colorado Utilities Disk Manager v3.1.9
It is a disk cataloging utility and the interface
looks nice. This is one of the programs where you
have to dis deep into the manual if you want to find
out what the program is supposed to do.
/pc/diskutil
dm313.zip Directory Master III v3.13 File Manager. Cute,
colorful exploding windows. The author says:
"Directory Master III is a File Manager. It copies,
moves, and deletes files quickly and easily. You can
view text files, too. Furthermore, Directory Master
III makes it easy to create, modify and move between
directories."
Sat 11-May-91: Keith Petersen has found two newer versions of the
oldish updates I have been going through lately. They are
/pc/miscutil/xdos263.zip and /pc/termutil/tfe_221.zip. Thanks
Keith.
Fri 10-May-91: Started a new list /pc/pd2/moder.lst, a list of MsMos
FTP site mdoerators.
Fri 10-May-91: Prepared as usual on Fridays the weekly garbo
download statistics /pc/fileinfo/dload19.lst. Replaced dloadold.arc
by dload91.arc which contains all the all these Friday to Friday
stats since week 7. To me they make interesting reading, since they
tell what is being popular.
Thu 9-May-91: Acquired to garbo.uwasa.fi archives:
/pc/fileutil
what29.zip File format recognition utility v2.9 Boots & Pepper
Tells various word processor files formats from each
other, recognizes different gif files, etc. Useful.
/pc/miscutil
xdos260a.zip ExtraDOS utilities v2.60 1/2 by Foley Hi-Tech Systems
xdos260b.zip ExtraDOS utilities v2.60 2/2 by Foley Hi-Tech Systems
/pc/editor
galaxy3.zip Galaxy v3.0 word processor
Wed 8-May-91: Acquired to garbo.uwasa.fi archives:
/pc/diskutil
copyq226.zip Multiple one-go Format/Copy/Verify Diskettes v2.26.
A nifty utility - with an inevitable shareware nag,
that was so much discussed just lately.
/pc/editor
pco334.zip PC-outline; outlining and planning program v3.34
This program is an old one dating back to 1987 but
it is nevertheless a more recent version than we
previously had.
/pc/termutil
tfe_220.zip TelixFonEd dialing directory full-screen editor
v2.20
Tue 7-May-91: Acquired to garbo.uwasa.fi archives:
/pc/diskutil
hdtst495.zip Hard Disk Test/Repair Utility v4.95
/pc/doc
theref41.zip Hard drive & controller info v4.1 by R. Falbo
I did not test what hdtst does to a hard disk, so be careful. Stand
by, Keith will soon be announcing hdtst498.zip from Simtel20.
Mon 6-May-91: Harri and I made today a major overhaul of all the
.zip files in all the /pc directories. Their datestamps now give the
date of the lastest file within arch archive. This can be useful
information for assessing how current the archives are, and for
comparing potential updates, etc.
Fri 3-May-91: Acquired the following updates to garbo.uwasa.fi
archives:
/pc/execomp
drx102.zip List and handle compressed executables. Very good.
chk4c310.zip Detect compressed executables v3.10 by John Land
/pc/filefind
fff35.zip File Finder Pack v3.5 by Jim Derr (author of Shez)
/pc/bbs
fondir55.zip BBS Text File to Phone Directory Translate Utility
/pc/database
vidcat70.zip Videocasette Catalog Program v7.0 by William Jackson
Fri 3-May-91: Got two neat ascii maps of Finland from Tuomas
Kaikkonen. They are in the /pc/pd2 directory.
finserv.map An ascii map of Finnish IRC servers
finland.map An ascii map drawing of Finland
Wed 1-May-91: Got /pc/turbopas/tpmusic.zip from the author J C
Kessels. It is a Turbo Pascal unit for playing music in the
background using BASIC-like commands. I scanned through the .pas
file it contained, but I did not make any tests.
Wed 1-May-91: I have moved the 1-Jan-91 to 30-Apr-91 garbo.uwasa.fi
news file /pc/pd2/0news-pd2 to /pc/pd2/0news91a.pd2. The 0news-pd2
file will thus contain news from 1-May-91 on. The reason for not
waiting until the end of the year is the amount of material that has
piled up during the first four months of 1991.