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Subject: comp.os.msdos.programmer FAQ part 4 of 4
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Archive-name: msdos-programmer-faq/part4
Last-modified: 24 Sep 1993
(continued from part 3) (no warranty on the code or information)
If the posting date is more than six weeks in the past, see instructions
in part 4 of this list for how to get an updated copy.
Copyright (C) 1993 Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems. All rights reserved.
section A. Downloads
====================
Subject: A01. What are Simtel, Garbo, and wustl?
(rev: 24 Sep 1993) These are three of the most popular archive
sites, with a few bazillion files available for downloading by ftp.
(For email access, see next Q.) Everything is free for downloading,
though many of the files are shareware and you're expected to send a
payment directly to the authors if you use them regularly.
In comp.archives.msdos.d, Samuel Ko posts a two-part "Useful
MSDOS Programs at SIMTEL20 and Garbo"; it's downloadable as
pd1:<msdos.info>useful27.zip at Simtel
/pc/filelist/useful27.zip at Garbo
/pub/usenet/news.answers/msdos-archives/part* at rtfm.mit.edu.
For rtfm.mit.edu instructions, see "Where are FAQ lists archived?"
in section C, "More information".
A few words about file names and versions: Many files at the
archive sites are updated from time to time. SB verified every
filename in this FAQ as of 24 Sep 1993 by ftp to the named sites.
(Files listed at Simtel were verified by ftp to oak.oakland.edu.)
If you can't find a file given in these articles as mumble12.zip,
perhaps there's a newer version; try mumble13.zip or mumble14.zip,
or mumble*.zip if your ftp program supports wildcards (most do so).
Please let the editor know of any out-of-date file names.
Both Garbo and Simtel directory and file names, if available, should
be shown for every file mentioned for downloading. If you see a
listing for only one of them, it means that the file was not found
at the other site, or that the other site's catalog shows an old
version.
Also remember that caps and lower case filenames are not inter-
changeable at most archive sites, though they are at Simtel.
1) Simtel = wsmr-simtel20.army.mil [192.88.110.20]
is located in New Mexico, USA. For instructions, see these monthly
articles in comp.archives.msdos.announce:
SIMTEL20 archives info for Internet FTP users
How to find files in the SIMTEL20 msdos collection
How to order SIMTEL20 files via e-mail
How to upload files to SIMTEL20
These are downloadable from Simtel as pd1:<msdos.starter>simtel20.inf
and pd1:<msdos.filedocs>aaaread.me, mailserv.inf, and upload.inf.
If you have no ftp access, you can get these files (and anything
else) by email; see the next Q.
However...
Simtel is scheduled to cease operations at 16:00 MDT (GMT-6) on
Thursday, 30 Sep 1993. Keith Petersen, administrator of the
archive, has promised to announce what alternative arrangements (if
any) will be made: watch comp.archives.msdos.announce for info.
Even after Simtel stops, the files that are mentioned in this FAQ
should still be available at Simtel's mirror sites. Simtel's login
message to anonymous ftp users mentions these mirror sites:
oak.oakland.edu, wuarchive.wustl.edu, archive.orts.edu, ftp.uu.net,
nic.funet.fi, archie.au, nctucca.edu.tw. Of these, oak.oakland.edu
has been directly maintained by Keith Petersen. At Oak, directories
/pub/msdos/* correspond to Simtel's pd1:<msdos.*>, so the starter
files are downloadable as /pub/msdos/starter/simtel20.inf and
/pub/msdos/filedocs/aaaread.me, mailserv.inf, and upload.inf.
2) Garbo = garbo.uwasa.fi [128.214.87.1]
is located at the University of Vaasa in Finland and maintained by
Timo Salmi (ts@uwasa.fi) and others. Garbo and Simtel contain many
of the same files, but there are many differences too. Among them:
the directory structures differ greatly, and case is significant in
directory and file names at Garbo.
3) wustl = wuarchive.wustl.edu [128.252.135.4]
mirrors, among others, Garbo (in /systems/ibmpc/garbo) and Simtel
(in /systems/ibmpc/msdos). As with any mirror site, it may lag by a
day or two, so you may not want to try it on the same day you see an
upload notice posted.
4) others
A comprehensive list of MS-DOS archive sites is downloadable as
/pc/pd2/moder30a.zip at Garbo
pd1:<msdos.info>moder30a.zip at Simtel.
For archie.au via Telnet (different from the Archie file-finding
mail servers): Oceanian users should try archie.au first. Paul
Brooks has written to say that it "mirrors Garbo and Simtel-20 (in
/micros/pc/simtel-20, /micros/pc/garbo) as well as many other
archives. Telnetting to 'archie.au' and logging on as 'archie' (no
password) will access the Oceanic ARCHIE server." Email Craig Warren
(ccw@archie.au) for instructions if needed.
Subject: A02. I have no ftp access. How can I get files from the
archives?
(rev: 14 June 1993) First, be _sure_ that you have no ftp access
before trying email methods. (Ask your sysadmin, or a knowledgeable
user at your site.) ftp is better for you because it's faster, and
it uses less net resources too.
When using an email server, make sure the Reply-to path in your
message is valid. If it's not, you'll get no reply from the server.
Do wait a few days before assuming you're not going to get a
response; some servers have long pending queues. After a suitable
wait, get your sysadmin's help to correct your reply-to, and send
your message again.
Occasionally a machine goes down for an extended period, which may
prevent a timely reply to your message. If you're sure your message
bears a good reply path and you haven't got a reply in a week or so,
you might send your message again, once. Don't post it as an
article in a newsgroup.
For files from Simtel, see "How to order SIMTEL20 files via e-mail",
posted monthly in comp.archives.msdos.announce; or send email
containing only the word "help" to listserv@vm1.nodak.edu. For
instructions on using Garbo's email server, send a request to
Timo Salmi at ts@uwasa.fi.
The DEC Western Research Labs server will get files from any ftp
site by ftp and then email them to you. Send email containing
"help" to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com.
Subject: A03. Can I get archives on CD-ROM?
(rev: 24 May 1993) Copies of the SIMTEL20 MS-DOS, Macintosh and
Unix-C collections (also of wuarchive, cica, and others) are
available from Walnut Creek CDROM, 1547 Palos Verdes, Suite 260,
Walnut Creek, CA 94596-2228, telephone (800) 786-9907 or +1 510
674-0783, or FAX +1 510 674-0821, or email rab@cdrom.com.
For a catalog of disks available, send email to info@cdrom.com, or
ftp the catalog as /cdrom/catalog from cdrom.com.
Subject: A04. Where do I find program <mumble>?
(rev: 7 Aug 1993) You _are_ asking about shareware, freeware, or
public-domain programs, right? Commercial software is not legally
distributed through the net, in general. (Occasionally vendors will
make patches available, but these are useful only if you already
have the software.)
That said, there are several newsgroups to help you find a program.
comp.binaries.ibm.pc.wanted is generally the best place to ask your
question. Please review the guidelines in "What other newsgroups
should I know about?" in section 1, "General questions".
Download and check the indexes from Simtel and Garbo (see next Q).
Unless what you're looking for is commercial software, there's a
good chance it will be at one or both of those sites.
The Archie servers maintain directories of many (not all) ftp sites
worldwide. You can Telnet to a server or client to search for
files, or perform a search by email.
Subject: A05. How can I check Simtel or Garbo before I post a request
for a program?
(rev: 26 July 1993) Simtel and Garbo have indexes of their contents,
which you can download and then search off line.
Garbo's index file, /pc/INDEX.ZIP, contains an annotated list, often
updated, of the MS-DOS files there. The news file /pc/pd2/news-pd2
contains selected news on all MS-DOS directories at Garbo.
Simtel's index files, in pd1:<msdos.filedocs>, are updated several
times a month. SIMLIST.ZIP contains a list in text format. But you
may prefer the file SIMIBM.ZIP, which is comma-delimited for easy
use with any of these search facilities:
- Two downloadable search programs are SIMTEL35.ARC and
SIMDIR22.ZIP.
- dBASE III or IV users can load the index from SIMLIST.ZIP using
instructions in SIMIBM.INF and SIMIBM.DB3.
- PC-FILE users should get SIMIBM.HDR, which tells how to use
SIMIBM.IBM.
Subject: A06. How do I download and decode a program I found?
(rev: 7 Aug 1993) See the "Starter kit" and "Beginner's guide to
binaries" in comp.binaries.ibm.pc, usually posted on the first and
15th of every month. Please wait for these articles to come around;
don't post a request. If you can't wait (if?, bwaa-haa-haa), they
are downloadable from
Garbo as /pc/doc-net/starter.kit and bin.man
rtfm.mit.edu in /pub/usenet/comp.binaries.ibm.pc . The file
names are quite long; try look for names of the form
*starter.kit* and *bin.man*
For general instructions on rtfm.mit.edu, see "Where are FAQ lists
archived?" in section C, "More information".
Most binaries are posted and sent through email in 'uuencode'
format. The starter kit contains a uudecode program to turn this
file back into binary. Since the uuencoded file is bigger than the
binary, you'll save connect time if you can uudecode it and then
download the binary file. Remember to set file type to binary.
Subject: A07. Where is UUDECODE?
You can find it at Simtel and Garbo, but it's easier to take it from
the "starter kit" mentioned in the preceding Q.
If you're logged in at a Unix site, there's almost certainly a
uudecode there: just type "uudecode" followed by a space and the
file name. The binary file is 25% smaller than the uuencoded file,
so you'll save connect time if you can uudecode it on the Unix host
and then download the binary file. Remember: set file type binary.
Subject: A08. Why do I get errors when extracting from a ZIP file I
downloaded?
(rev: 5 Apr 1993) There are many possible causes, but two of them
probably account for 95% of all problems.
1) File transmission: You must tell the archive site to transfer
.ZIP files in binary mode. Depending on your software, you may also
need to set your local software to receive files in binary mode.
2) Unzipping program: Make sure you aren't using an obsolete
version. In <9303290853.kp28285@tacom-emh1.army.mil> on 29 Mar
1993, Keith Petersen, Simtel administrator, wrote: "SIMTEL20 has
standardized on the Info-ZIP group's ZIP and UNZIP because they are
freely distributable and they have no restrictions on exporting.
The latest version of Info-ZIP's ZIP and UNZIP can always be found
in directory PD1:<MSDOS.ZIP> and will always have the name
'Info-ZIP' in the description to make them easy to locate." PKUNZIP
version 1.10 may not unzip newer stuff from archive sites because
site administrators have now embraced version 2.04. Also see
"What's the current version of UNZIP?" in section B, "Vendors and
products".
section B. Vendors and products
===============================
Subject: B01. How can I contact Borland?
(rev: 6 Sep 1993) Borland has set up these email addresses.
However, none of them is for technical support such as help with
finding your own programming errors and explaining compiler
messages.
- bp7-info@borland.com will reply to any message with 17K of info on
Borland Pascal with Objects 7.0 and Turbo Pascal 7.0.
- customer-support@borland.com is for questions about prices and
features of products, replacing bad or missing disks, info on
upgrades, etc. They do not accept emailed credit-card numbers.
- bugs@borland.com will take "a well-documented bug report" and send
an automated response, but will not give you a workaround or a
scheduled fix date or even confirm that it is or is not considered
a bug. "The purpose of bugs@borland.com is to improve future
products sooner, not as a substitute for tech support channels."
Email tech support is available only through Compuserve (GO BOR).
Telephone support is provided through separate phone numbers for
most products. If you're calling from the U.S., dial (800) 841-8180
for a recorded list of toll numbers to call. Borland's BBS is at +1
408 439 9096. The surface-mail address is
Technical Support Department
Borland International
P.O. Box 660001
Scotts Valley CA 95067-0001, USA.
You'll need to give your product's name, version, and serial number.
Patches for Borland products are archived at ftp.cica.indiana.edu in
directory /pub/pc/borland . (I haven't verified this personally.)
Borland's TechFax documents are also available for download:
pd1:<msdos.turbo-c>bchelp10.zip from Simtel
/pc/turbopas/bchelp10.zip from Garbo.
These documents are detailed answers to common questions about Turbo
C and Borland C products, and aggregate several hundred Kbytes.
Subject: B02. How can I contact Microsoft?
(rev: 18 Sep 1993) Individual employees of Microsoft (not MicroSoft,
please!) post here sometimes. Their addresses all take the form
person@microsoft.com. However, Microsoft as a company does not
answer individual questions via email through the Internet.
1) information available via anonymous ftp
The company maintains an anonymous FTP server, ftp.microsoft.com.
Effective 1 Oct 1993 the server will support "Microsoft development
tools and advanced systems products, including Windows NT, the Win32
SDX, the Windows 3.1 SDK, Visual C++, Visual Basic, LAN Manager, SQL
Server, and others," according to {Microsoft Developer News} for
September 1993. The server contains "the complete Developer
Knowledge Base with articles written and used by Microsoft Support
Engineers. You will also find device drivers, patches, code
samples, help files, and white papers." Readme files will "give an
overview of the directory structure," which appears to be different
from what was put in place in July 1993. For further information,
says Microsoft, call (800) 936-5300.
"Microsoft Developer Network technical articles and selected sample
code files are available ... at ftp.uu.net ... in the subdirectory
~ftp/vendor/microsoft/developer-network" according to {Microsoft
Developer News} for September 1993.
2) information via U.S. Mail
Microsoft Product Support is at 16011 NE 36th Way, Box 97017,
Redmond WA 98073-9717, USA.
You can subscribe to the {Microsoft Developer News} by mailing a
request to Microsoft Developer Network, P.O.Box 51812, Boulder CO
80322-1812, U.S.A. The nearest I (SB) can figure, this is free;
certainly I've never paid for it or been asked to.
3) tech support via modem
On Compuserve, GO MICROSOFT; or call Microsoft's BBS at +1 206
936-6735 in the U.S., or +1 416 507-3022 in Canada.
4) tech support via voice telephone lines
If you want to place an order or get general pre-sales information,
call the appropriate sales and service number:
U.S. end-user sales (800) 426-9400
U.S. corporate/gov't/reseller/
educational sales (800) 227-4679
Canadian sales (800) 568-3503
International sales +1 206 936-8661
For tech support you must make an ordinary long-distance phone call.
Microsoft has separate incoming phone numbers for many products.
Since it's your nickel, first check your documentation to see if a
phone number is listed. Here are phone numbers (as of 1 June 1992)
for a few products of most interest to the readers of this group:
C/C++ (206) 635-7007
MASM (206) 646-5109
DOS Upgrade Users (206) 646-5104 (for 90 days after first call)
Windows Users (206) 637-6098
If you can't find the direct number any other way, call the "master"
numbers below or the sales numbers a few paragraphs above. You'll
get the "voice mail phone tree from h-ll" but you'll eventually get
to the right department. They don't provide technical assistance,
but a voice menu will help you find the current phone number for the
department you need.
U.S. end-user product support (206) 454-2030
U.S. languages support (206) 637-7096
Subject: B03. What's the current version of UNZIP?
(rev: 24 Sep 1993) As of April 1993, the administrators of Garbo
and Simtel are accepting uploads in the ZIP 2.0 format. You can use
the free Info-ZIP versions, or PKZIP 2.04g (not 2.04c or 2.04e).
Simtel has standardized on the Info-ZIP versions for several
reasons, as explained in an article posted 29 Mar 1993 in
comp.archives.msdos.announce.
The official site for the latest versions of Info-ZIP's Zip and
unZip programs is quest.jpl.nasa.gov, where they are downloadable as
/pub/zip201.zip
/pub/zcrypt20.zip
/pub/unz50p1.exe
(Other files contain source code for unix, MS-DOS, VAX/VMS, and
other operating systems.)
Downloadable from Simtel, in directory pd1:<msdos.zip>, are
unz50p1.exe UnZip 5.0p1 program and documentation
unz50p1.zip UnZip 5.0p1 source code
zip20x.zip Zip 2.0 .EXEs and docs (PKZIP 2.04 compatible)
zip20.zip Zip 2.0 source code (PKZIP 2.04 compatible)
Downloadable from Garbo, in directory /pc/arcers, are
unz50p1.exe UnZip 5.0p1 program and documentation
zip20x.zip Zip 2.0 .EXEs and docs (PKZIP 2.04 compatible)
xcrypt20.zip Zip 2.0 encryption code
PKZIP and PKUNZIP are shareware products of PKWARE Inc. The current
version is 2.04g, which is the third official version after 1.10.
They are downloadable
from PKWARE's bulletin board, +1 414 354 8670,
from Garbo as /pc/arcers/pkz204g.exe, or
from Simtel as pd1:<msdos.zip>pkz204g.exe
By the way, if you want to develop your own utilities, you will find
the ZIP 2.0 data structures described in the downloadable file
pd1:<msdos.zip>appnote.zip at Simtel.
Subject: B04. What's in Borland Pascal/Turbo Pascal 7.0?
You can send email to bp7-info@borland.com and get an automatic
reply of the 17K information file from Borland, or the file is
downloadable (6k, ZIPped) as /pc/turbopas/bp7-info.zip from
garbo.uwasa.fi.
Subject: B05. What's in Microsoft Visual C++?
(rev: 16 Aug 1993) This is the upgrade to Microsoft C/C++ 7.0, and
in fact the compiler's own logo message identifies it as version
8.00. It comes in Standard and Professional versions, as well as an
upgrade from MSC 7.0. The Professional upgrade is $139 in U.S. and
includes all software but less than half the full set of manuals.
According to Microsoft Sales, (800) 426-9400 in the U.S., the
Professional edition can develop applications for Windows or good
ol' DOS and includes the optimizing compiler; the Standard edition's
compiler lacks the optimization and can develop only Windows-hosted
applications.
Subject: B06. Where is Microsoft C 8.0?
There won't be an 8.0. Visual C++ is the upgrade to C/C++ 7.0 (see
previous Q).
Subject: B07. What is the phone number for a vendor's BBS?
(new: 11 Sep 1993) Robert Baker (rbakerpc@delphi.com) uploaded a
list of 800 bulletin-board support numbers operated by software
vendors as of August 1993. It is downloadable as
pd1:<msdos.bbslists>bbs_9308.zip from Simtel.
section C. More information
===========================
Subject: C01. Are there any good on-line references for PC hardware
components?
(rev: 28 July 1993) Good reports of HELPPC21 have been posted. It
is downloadable as
pd1:<msdos.info>helppc21.zip at Simtel
/pc/programming/helppc21.zip at Garbo.
This hypertext system contains much information on ports and other
hardware, as well as some overlap with Ralf Brown's interrupt list
(see next Q). It is shareware ($25).
Subject: C02. Are there any good on-line references for PC interrupts?
(rev: 14 Aug 1993) The definitive work is Ralf Brown's interrupt
list, which is packed with information on documented and
(officially) undocumented BIOS and DOS interrupts, DOS tables, and
interrupts hooked by many software packages.
The interrupt list comes from CS.CMU.EDU [128.2.222.173] in
/afs/cs/user/ralf/pub (switch there with a *single* command) as
inter36a.zip, inter36b.zip, and inter36c.zip; the separate file
inter36d.zip contains utilities. The list is also downloadable as
pd1:<msdos.info>inter36*.zip from Simtel
/pc/programming/inter36*.zip from Garbo.
These versions were uploaded in early August 1993; updates are
announced every few months in comp.archives.msdos.announce.
There is a book, {PC Interrupts: A Programmer's Reference to BIOS,
DOS, and Third-Party Calls} by Ralf Brown and Jim Kyle
(Addison-Wesley; ISBN 0-201-57797-6). This corresponds to INTER26
with the most important new material from INTER27, so the on-line
list contains more current information (and more information) than
the book.
Subject: C03. What and where is "Ralf Brown's interrupt list"?
See the preceding Q.
Subject: C04. Where can I find lex, yacc, and language grammars?
The FAQ list of the comp.compilers newsgroup answers this for Basic,
C, Pascal, and other languages. See later in this section.
Subject: C05. What's the best book to learn programming?
Sorry, this FAQ list cannot settle religious arguments.
Much of the heat over this topic arises because each person believes
that the book that he or she learned from is the best book. But
different people have very different experiences of the same book.
The only person who can tell you which is the best book for learning
a given topic is you.
Your best bet is to go to a fairly well-stocked bookstore when you
have a couple of hours to spare. Start at one end of the shelf and
work your way methodically through every book that looks like it
might cover what you want to learn. Look at the tables of contents;
read a page or two from each book. Then make your decision. If
money is a problem, or if you're not sure of your choice, check out
your top two or three from your library.
Subject: C06. Where are FAQ lists archived?
(rev: 24 Sep 1993) Very possibly the FAQ list you want is already at
your site. Check the newsgroup news.answers; if your site doesn't
carry news.answers, check comp.answers, rec.answers, etc., according
to the top-level name in the FAQ list's "home" newsgroup. Articles
are posted to the *.answers groups in a way that should make them
last until the next versions are posted. If they expire sooner at
your site, you might want to lobby your sysadmin to treat the
moderated *.answers groups as a special case and grant them longer
expiry times than other groups.
To ftp the FAQ lists, connect to rtfm.mit.edu, and change to
directory /pub/usenet/news.answers. The name of the file that you
want is the Archive-name from the top of the article. For instance,
to retrieve this article you would get msdos-programmer-faq/part4.
By email (only if you have no ftp access, please), the server is
mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu; file names omit the leading "/pub/". For
instructions about the mail server, send a message with "help" and
"index" on different lines.
Not just FAQ lists, but every article listed in the "List of
Periodic Informational Postings" (LoPIP) can be obtained by ftp or
email from rtfm.mit.edu. If you have an old copy of an
informational article, look for an "Archive-name" at the beginning;
rtfm.mit.edu stores it under that name in /pub/usenet/news.answers.
If the article has no Archive-name, check the first name on the
Newsgroups line and change to that directory under /pub/usenet.
Or send email >>> with valid reply-to address << to brown@ncoast.org
and you'll receive Stan Brown's canned instructions (about 8K) for
retrieving FAQ lists for most newsgroups. (This offer may be with-
drawn without notice depending on system constraints.)
Subject: C07. Where can I get the latest copy of this FAQ list?
(rev: 24 Sep 1993) It is posted to news.answers in such a way that
it should stick around until the next version has been posted.
Please check news.answers or comp.answers first, looking for the
Subject line "comp.os.msdos.programmer FAQ".
If the article has expired from your site's news.answers, or your
site doesn't get news.answers, you can retrieve the latest version
of this list as
/pub/usenet/news.answers/msdos-programmer-faq/part* via ftp or
email from rtfm.mit.edu; see previous Q
pd1:<msdos.info>faqp*.zip from Simtel
/pc/doc-net/faqp*.zip from Garbo.
Check the date before downloading, to make sure that the archived
version is actually newer than what you have. This is especially
important since the late September 1993 version of the FAQ list for
comp.os.msdos.programmer may be the last one for some time.
Subject: C08. How do I use ftp?
(rev: 24 Sep 1993) I (SB) was much impressed with {The Whole
Internet User's Guide and Catalog} by Ed Krol (O'Reilly &
Associates, ISBN 1-56592-025-2). It gives lots of information on
using ftp, email, Telnet, Archie, etc. As a new user of ftp
(January 1993), I found the information made me productive quickly.
(Disclosure: Though I don't believe it has biased my judgment, you
should know that O'Reilly sent me a free evaluation copy.)
You may also want to look for the "Beginner's Guide to FTP", posted
periodically in comp.binaries.ibm.pc. You can retrieve it from
rtfm.mit.edu (see "Where are FAQ lists archived?", above), in
/pub/usenet/comp.binaries.ibm.pc, as *ftp.man*.
When downloading a file by ftp, make sure you have write access to
your working directory on your local machine, and that your disk has
enough space to hold the files.
(end of comp.os.msdos.programmer FAQ)