(Burt G) Is there any file in the DL that will allow me to use the M100 as a verrrry good typewriter? (Sysop Tony) That's a question that has come up before, and the bottom line is that it depends on whether your printer can support immediate printing mode... that is, if the printer will immediately print a character that it receives. Most printers don't, they wait until they get a carriage return before printing the entire line. However, it's a simple programming exercise, usually three or four lines, and it's so easy that no one has bothered writing an entire file on the subject. Check your printer manual, and leave me a message if it will work in immediate mode, and I'll send you a couple line program to do it. (Burt G) Thanks in advance. It's a Brother HR-15, or a C-Itoh F-10/55. And I know the Brother works in immediate mode with my Kaypro. I'd appreciate getting the simple program. (Sysop Tony) OK, I'll send you a message later today. (Phil W) What about TYPER.BA in DL2? Is that such a thing? (Sysop .^Dave^.) Print Formatter, Phil. (Larry L) Everyone should check out VIEW80. It allows you to see what a printout will look like in 80 column mode. It's not too clear, but it works. It would be nice to be able to use that mode all the time. (Sysop .^Dave^.) Glad to hear you're enjoying that larry. Phil: isn't that the program that George Taylor has been having a snit, snavvles & sqarliks over? (Phil W) Yes, it is. Would be a good adjunct to a WP program which does not have a plotting mode. Larry, looks like it works only with text files on the menu. Is that right, Larry? (Larry L) Yes, but a patch should be possible to make it take over the printing in all modes. There is an 80 col WP in Portable 100, but I haven't seen it run. (Sysop .^Dave^.) Larry... what do you mean "in Portable 100" ??? Program or advertisement? (Larry L) Advertisement. (Sysop .^Dave^.) Hmmm, remember company? or product? (Larry L) Nope, sorry. I think it was in April or May issue. (Sysop .^Dave^.) Actually the ROM-View of Ultimate II does that, right Phil? (Phil W) Well, I'm not sure. The UR-2 version gives you a 60 column window. It sounds as it VIEW80 does a real 80 column. Larry, is that true? And why not change the source to make the patch? BASIC done with TCOMP! (Larry L) Yes Phil. It is really 80 column mode, but not perfectly readable. Not sure if it is really practical for long time use. (Sysop .^Dave^.) As soon as I said "ga" I remembered that UR II "scrolls" to 80 columns. (Rich L) I have been playing with VIEW80 this a.m., and I LIKE it!!! It has page breaks, too. (Larry L) found the ad in July issue of Port. 100. Sorry but this one uses 60 col. mode. Guess that was it. It's called LAPSTAR by Ciss Corp. (Sysop .^Dave^.) Uh huh, that was one that I had in mind when you commented. It is also TEXT only, methinks. (Sysop Tony) Well, in >my< opinion, characters that are 3 pixels wide and that run together to the point they are unreadable is not a very useful program. (Phil W) Well, two things. Tony, I think as a page plot type of feature it beats a bunch of dots!! and has anyone ever used LAPSTAR? Never have seen comments, only ads. (Sysop Tony) But Phil, It's NOT a page plot. It's an 8 or 10 line plot... the purpose of the page plot is to see what the entire page looks like, not just 8 or 10 lines. (Phil W) Maybe it should be more of a Display mode analog, but better? (Sysop Tony) Different strokes... (Phil W) In reading the VIEW80 doc, the author says that it's memory location is compatible with the TDD dos (??). It seems to live above FLOPPY. Could be using the buffer area used by FLOPPY, with problems! (Rich L) Use the SETRAM program to take care of that. It works with TS-DOS, FLOPPY, and POWER DISK. (Phil W) (good info!) (Sysop .^Dave^.) is SETRAM here?? (Rich L) It came with FLOPPY. (Sysop .^Dave^.) Before taking Burt's question, I'd like to point to Don Zeikel's new wonder in DL 3, the CRAPPS.100 program. But be sure to see CRAPPS.DOC first!! (Burt G) My Q concerns the 96K RAM expansion from PCSG. I've used it for more than a year now, but continue having problems with the board dropping all data at various times for unknown reasons. Anyone know a cure??? Also, can length of battery wires be changed, physically, to allow placement of their #$%^#&$^ little battery somewhere else in the machine? (Larry L) If you've had the RAM for a year it is very possible that your batteries are beginning to die. Does the dropout happen when you first turn the 100 on during use? Also, there is no reason I can think of that the battery wires cannot be lengthened. Just keep the wire thickness the same or a little larger. (Burt G) It seems to ahappen overnight, sometimes, and when I power up, all the data in the addl' banks is gone and that's really an annoyance for me despite fact I back up always with system 100. Also, what's the voltage of those batteries? Could they be replaced with external system? or some other kind of device within the M100, such as wiring them to the main set of batteries? (larry l) sorry dont know the voltage but PCSG should be happy to help you find the right ones. It really sounds like you have a battery failure or also the wiring could be bad unless you havent touched them (like removing the RAM. (Burt G) No...I've touched them many times. You have to remove the batteries and board to capture the System 100 op sys from their BBBS (rich l) I have one of the original 64k exsisting pc board that faces the batterys to clear room. also, some people have just bent them over to avoid pin contact thru the cover of the batterys. (Burt G) That may be my problem, I have wrapped the batteries in electrical tape several times. (larry l) If you feel competent you could check the voltage at the board end of the wires with a voltmeter..but ONLY if you have a static safe environment; otherwise I'd send the ram to PCSG for checks. (Sysop .^Dave^.) Burt, keep in mind that PCSG's rep, Mike Anders 70526,1715 is very responsive to messages here. (Burt G) What I'd like to do is to fashion some sort of way so that I don't have to rely on the little wrapped batteries to power the RAM board. I think I could make it more reliable, for instance, by clipping the wires, and if the voltage matches, simply run it from the AA cells that power the machine. (Sysop .^Dave^.) Don't s'poz a spare automobile battery would fit? (Burt G) Hard de Hard, har (PhilW.) [put it right next to the vacuum tubes, dave] (larry l) I dont recommend it. the notion of a separate battery is a good idea but no reason you couldn't put a larger capacity battery in the 100. (PhilW.) There is a fellow in Santa Barbara who has installed a PG Designs RAM board inside his M100, tying it to the batteries inside. I looked at doing it and decided it would be a bit too sporting! (Burt G) I don't mind taking a chance with the M-100 because I was fortunate enough to pick up a couple spares, cheap. (rich l) I'd stick with the original design, it works good for others, and the voltage has to be between 3.6 and 4.5 volts. there are 3 cells. I think the pins are shorting you out. (Burt G) Yes...they look like camera battteries, but why couldn't I just mount three camera batteries, or exact replacements somewhere inside the M100, where the pins would not interfere, and lengthen the battery supply wires to the board? seems to me that might make a much more reliable set-up and allow for replacement whenever necessary without having too send the entire board back to Dallas, which is what I'm trying to avoid having to do. My work requires [demands] I have the extra memory on-board all the time. (larry l) as I said there is no reason that you couldnt put the batteries inside as long as you keep the same or larger wire size. pcsg probably kept them short so it was removable. (Burt G) I'll give it a try and let you all know how I make outt with it. I promise a report and a quick how-to-do -it if it doesn't cause a major snafu. (PhilW.) If I were doing it and COULD LEAVE THE BOARD IN I would tie it to the nicad inside the m100 with a zener regulator. That way, no extra fuss. (Burt G) Do you mean a zener diode? (PhilW.) yup! [regulator = diode + resistor] (larry l) tying another 96K of Ram to the internal ni-cads might not be a good idea drain-wise. (PhilW.) well, Larry Gench left a message which says that the internal batteries are highly under rated re life time (Burt G) Yeah...and thanks for the info. If it works, do you'all want something on how and where the batteries went, and what they were? (larry l) [yes] (Sysop .^Dave^.) Shur nufff would be a good idea. We have very little in the way of hardware projects in the Data Library. Just had a THAWT though. Burt, maybe DIY32K.ASC file will have some ideas; that is a hardware project for installing your own 32K expansion board and might have some wiring bright ideeeeees too. DL 4. (PhilW.) New topic: I've seen a lot of info and messages re Super ROM but little re Ultimate ROM II. I wonder how many UR-2 users sthere are out there. Perhaps their absence from the SIG has affected the amount of message traffic. Any ideas about UR-2 usage? (Sysop .^Dave^.) There could be triple the SIG members using UR II without comment just as thousands (literally) download programs without a word. (Sysop Tony) there are lots of UR-2 users out there, but since Traveling Software has just changed reps it's taking the new man, Ken Smith, a while to get up to speed. He's not as active as Mike is and I think it's due to the learning curve. (Sysop .^Dave^.) Don't know eggZAKlee what the difficulty may be. Ken is not "new" in the sense of his association with TSI and is an experienced CompuServe user having been an assistant sysop for one of the SIG's. Traveling has long been slow on responding to the SIG's requests, both in .PRD files and in having representation here. (Sysop Tony) (Well, that shoots down my theory...) (Sysop .^Dave^.) Tried to make a point of the benefits for TSI and members' desires to Mark Eppley when I saw him in May, but to no avail. (rich l) this may be of interrest to ya'll. 10 days ago my 100 stopped dialing and would not hang up line. I took the back off and tapped the two gold colored relays sharply with a screwdriver and it's been working fine since. (Sysop .^Dave^.) Interesting; when you first mentioned it, I thawt t'was a bad squarlik, but I guess not. (PhilW.) [gemlins, use hammer next time.] (Sysop Tony) (Squarlik's seldom fail in the field...) (rich l) hehe (Burt G) [or 2nd echelon field maintenance....bigger screwdriver] (Sysop Tony) (Electricians have connections...) (PhilW.) [ugggggghhhhhh] (Sysop .^Dave^.) Ya awta see Mortimer's screen start to sweat when I pick up a screwdriver!! (Burt G) I'm running the System 100 drom A & J and love it, but it conflicts with number of .COP rograms in 100. I've tried relocating, but I can't seem to get it all to work together. Any ideas? (Sysop .^Dave^.) Not too many folks seem to be A&J fans, partly due to need to access BBS every time they have a Cold Start. Only suggestion I can make is to turn off A&J program prior to using any other .CO program. That is recommended procedure with Chipmunk and other OS also. IF you can, of course. (Sysop Tony) There's a file on relocating the A&J system in DL5. I haven't explored it. (Burt G) Perhaps what I need to do is switch to the ROM based version of PCGS littel word proc essor, but I want one that's got wirte, outline, and database with my RAM+ for the expansion. (Sysop .^Dave^.) Was trying to find the DL 5 file that Tony mentioned ... but Burt, try BRO/KEY A&J as well as BRO/KEY WAFER in the DL 5 Data Library. (PhilW.) That bit about the RAM+ chip is the biggest flaw of the PCSG RAm -- must remove Super/UR-ii to make transfers between banks. They need a RAM-resident transfer program (Gerald L. Gollinger) With regard to the message board. Is it possible to read just a subtopic such as "telecom" without reading every message on the board. It used to be possible, but apparently not any more. (Sysop .^Dave^.) To read JUST one subtopic on a temporary basis use the command SS 1 to limit to Telcom and then SS ALL to re-open all topics set in OPTIONS MENU or switch from Telcom to Products with SS 6 command et cetera. To set yourself PERMANENTLY [until you change] go to the OPTIONS menu with the OP command and then select SU function which gives you another menu to select the sections you wish as your defaults. [*] means that subtopic is selected while [ ] means t'ain't. Any help Gerald?? Or did I misunderstand you? (Gerald L. Gollinger) Yes, one more thing; I should create < > if i do not want to read other messages? (Sysop .^Dave^.) That is correct, the subtopics selection is a toggle. Choose the section number and it switches from [*] to [ ] or else from [ ] to [*] as the case may be. If adventurous, you may do the switching from the Function menu. OP;SU;0;1;2;3;4;5;6;7;8;9;P would change ALL of the sections from what was set to what was not set. Simple? (Gerald L. Gollinger) Got it, Thank you. (PhilW.) Ok. into the jaws of the lion I go! (Sysop .^Dave^.) [grrrrrrrRRRRRRRR] (PhilW.) X9 seems to be getting a bit too long. Could it be changed? One idea would be to make the duration less than a week. Another is to list the "new today" files right up front, for al DL's. (Sysop .^Dave^.) Ummmm, that could be a big pain to folks that are unable to access for five days due to trip to France, or summat, and then want to catch up. What if I drop the details at the bottom of the file? Would you miss that information? (PhilW.) No, I would not, because I control-P it now! But I often read the new X9 file and can't figure out what is new in it! How about a listing (no description) of the "new today" stuff, at the top? (Sysop .^Dave^.) Ummmm .... Of course that is possible, feasible, and could even be done. BUT, I'm not that certain I could talk the person that would have to do most of it into spending the extra time of shuffling and reshuffling. Defensively, I'd like to point out that this is the only major SIG that provides that information at ALL !! Give the mob a crumb, and they want the wheat field!! Tony?? Any thawts?? (Sysop Tony) Yes. I think the "new today" idea is totally unworkable; at what time do you define "today". If someone signs in regularly at 1 AM, and you delete the "today" file at midnight, he'll constantly get nothing. (PhilW.) [curses! foiled again, snidely!] (Sysop Tony) At least the current X9 gives the file additions for the last week or so accomodating those who may have been on trips, or such and a couple lines telling what it is. However, I agree with Phil that the Addenda since last year stuff at the bottom is not too useful. (Sysop .^Dave^.) Now Tony is lern'n to eggZAGjerate too !!! (Sysop Tony) (Heh heh...) (PhilW.) What I would really like to see is a "new since the last version of X9" list, so I know what the change is. Now it requuires a side-by-side comparison of the old (which I don't have) and the new one. (Sysop .^Dave^.) Phil, t'is clear you don't realize how X9 is maintained. It is changed IMMEDIATELY when a new file is merged which means that at times I've changed it ten times a day. One other comment about the details at the bottom. That part was added at the combined begging of several members and was considered to be very useful. To some. For a while. In maintaining that "Addenda" it turned out that it was saving me HOURS of work weekly. Howsomeverwhichway, I can move that file to X10 where I can play without injuring other folks eyes. (Sysop Tony) Seems I recall Denny was interested in that for Chipmunk folks to maintain disk copies of the long index. He's not been able to get that working. But it might better be a file in DL9 as APPEND.IDX or some such. Which might fill Phil's need as well leaving the X9 for the old format. (Sysop .^Dave^.) Phil, and others need the description. And you are WELL aware that maintaining a file in the Data Library is double, to triple, the work of maintaining one of the X files. (Curtis) don't change x9 (Sysop .^Dave^.) Curtis, does that mean you want/need the details at the bottom with the file size et cetera? (Curtis) Yes sometimes it is weeks between times that I sign on to check new files (Sysop .^Dave^.) Ummmm, inderrresding. maybe I'll remove that information for a week and see who yells in chorus with Curtis?? awfully hard to get feedback around here without doing sump'n people object to! (PhilW.) Clearly you need a bunch of new files, Leo -- a one week file, a one month file and a new this year file!! Ain't these CO's wonderful? (Sysop .^Dave^.) Keep in mind, my dear Phil ... that your name AIN'T Daniel!!! (Sysop Tony) Good idea. one more thought. The present format of X9 forces those using SMART to download more information than they may want. (Sysop .^Dave^.) Tony, two questions. One at a time .... 1) For the record, to what were you saying "good idea" ??? (Sysop Tony) Removing the Addenda for a time. (Whew! Thought you were gonna ask "Whose side are you on, anyway!) (Sysop .^Dave^.) Your "Good idea" came immediately after Phil's comments. Thawt we had a volunteer. 2) What does SMART (or ATO) have to do with X9 files? (Sysop Tony) Volunteer? Who, me? No, it was pre-typed, awaiting recognition. Well, if'n those folks want to know what's new, they may be doing an X9 in there somewhere. (Denny) The auto program I was working on doesn't work with the index as it stands. it isn't in absolute alpha order. (Sysop .^Dave^.) Whacha mean? Doesn't C normally follow B, W follow V, and numbers precede alpha?? Huh? Huh? (Denny) It has to be in ABSOLUTE order. there are files that are grouped logically rather than left apart in alpha order. (Sysop Tony) Last time I looked, there was an "L" in the "A's". (Sysop .^Dave^.) the "L" in the "A"s is about the only example that I know of but I thought Denny was speaking of X9, not INDEX.100. (Denny) the addenda in x9 was thought up to allow auto update of INDEX.100. the L in A causes everything to be dumped in the wrong place. (Sysop .^Dave^.) Ummm, how many editorial changes would you have to make to INDEX.100 so that your program would work? (Denny) I don't know. I got to the first one and gave up when I saw the problem. (Sysop Tony) (LDASM is the only one.) (Sysop .^Dave^.) Seems to me that moving one file name out of 2068 wouldn't be a major task to get a program working. Howsomeverwhichway, I'll consult with Mortimer, Eutie, Mortie, and Candy --- see what feedback we get from conference readers and then proceed to proceed into procedures to proceed with what must be processed. (PhilW.) [ a plebescite, yet!] (Denny) (Grin) (Sysop .^Dave^.) Conference is at an END! many thanks for those that yakked and those that listened. User ID Nod Handle ----------- --- ------------ 70250,211 LTR PETER 71266,125 TOR PhilW. 72256,504 PNX Burt G 72276,3505 ANA john k 72316,450 QFI KARL 72737,625 QEI CURT 73107,1333 MNN Ted Hartwell 73126,672 HLY Denny 73765,605 NYJ larry l 74425,231 NYJ Gerald G 75715,100 ATJ rich l 75725,1130 CVK Curtis G 76703,4062 SIE Sysop Tony 76703,446 BMD Sysop .^Dave^.