BTN: Birmingham Telecommunications News COPYRIGHT 1989 February 1989 Volume 2, Issue 2 Table Of Contents ----------------- Article Title Author Policy Statement and Disclaimer................Mark Maisel Slave Editorial Column.........................Randy Hilliard EISA vs. MCA: Interview with Mike Ennis.......Jay Enterkin Our Local Bulletin Board Systems...............Mark Maisel Profile........................................Chris Mohney Batch Files....................................Co-SysOp One, Channel 8250 From The Kitchen...............................Chez Stephan Message Board..................................Barry Bowden Known BBS Numbers..............................Mark Maisel ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer and Statement of Policy for BTN We at BTN try our best to assure the accuracy of articles and information in our publication. We assume no responsibility for damage due to errors, omissions, etc. The liability, if any, for BTN, its editors, and writers, for damages relating to any errors or omissions, etc., shall be limited to the cost of a one year subscription to BTN, even if BTN, its editors or writers have been advised of the likelihood of such damages occurring. With the conclusion of that nasty business, we can get on with our policy for publication and reproduction of BTN articles. We publish monthly with a deadline of the fifteenth of the month prior to publication. If you wish to submit an article, you may do so at any time but bear in mind the deadline if you wish for your work to appear in a particular issue. It is not our purpose to slander or otherwise harm a person or reputation and we accept no responsibility for the content of the articles prepared by our writers. Our writers own their work and it is protected by copyright. We allow reprinting of articles from BTN with only a few restrictions. The author may object to a reprint, in which case he will specify this in the content of his article. Otherwise, please feel free to reproduce any article from BTN as long as the source, BTN, is specified, and as long as the author's name and the article's original title are retained. If you use one of our articles, please forward a copy of your publication to: Mark Maisel Editor, BTN 221 Chestnut St. Birmingham, AL 35210-3219 We thank you for taking the time to read our offering and we hope that you like it. We also reserve the right to have a good time while doing all of this and not get too serious about it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Slave Editorial By Randy Hilliard Well!!! (as my fingers thump an angry tattoo on the desk). Here we are again. Evidential, our esteemed Editor-in-Chief, Mark Maisel, didn't receive enough complaints on the guest editorial of BTN 10 (that I wrote) to justify him taking the reins again (or at least selecting another victim). So here I am again, (pinched, sarcastic smile), catering to all of you kiddies for the BTN 11 issue and I tell you that I am so happy about this that I could just ... Oh, never mind. You see, when Mark told me that he wanted me to do this editorial again I told him "absolutely no way!" He then went on to explain how if he had to write the editorial he would sprinkle it liberally with anecdotes about my antics at the BTN meeting that my room mate had no idea of (due to the large quantities of fermented hops I had consumed, neither had I. I seemed to have had a rather good time though at least by Mark's version). So I decided to take it like a man; I gave in and told him I'd do it. So, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I proudly (?) present the 11th edition on the Birmingham Telecommunications Newsletter. It walks, it talks, its been know to crawl on it's belly like a reptile. It does all of this for the small price of one thin dime (looks at the sheet), I mean one thin nickel (whisper from behind the curtain), I mean free, ladies and gentlemen, just step right in.... This issue of the BTN contains an article by Jay Enterkin that should be of particular interest to the hardware freaks out there on the EISA vs MCA bus standards. We also have our regular article by Mark Maisel on one of our local bulletin board systems, Channel 8250. The Profile this month is on another local figure we have all heard about: Michele Cahoon. The Co-Sysop One of Channel 8250 has written an article on the care and feeding of batch files that we hope will be enlightening. Chez Stephan has written us another article on how to be a wizard with a grill and (this time) a steak. Barry Bowden has March's Message board on line which is followed by our Known BBS List by our infamous Idiot-in-Chief, Mark Maisel. And remember, ladies and gentlemen, Anything free is worth only twice what you paid for it! Enjoy! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- COPYRIGHT 1989 Jay Enterkin. Because this article may run almost simultaneously in another publication this article may not be reproduced without specific permission by the author except as part of the BTN 11 issue which may be placed on BBS's as a downloadable file. EISA vs. MCA by Jay Enterkin A Meeting & Interview with Mike Ennis, Senior Systems Engineer for Compaq at their Orlando Facility Ever since IBM introduced its' PS/2 MicroChannel Architecture machines in April, 1987, most industry observers and users we've seen have fallen into one of four groups: 1) Those who see the PS/2 MCA line as being a technological breakthrough, the certain system of choice to replace the 16-bit AT bus now and into the 1990s. 2) Those who decry the incompatibility of the PS/2 MCA line with IBM's past offerings. They see IBM as having been off-target with the PS/2 MCA machines, making add-in boards incompatible, requiring PS/2 users who need 5-1/4 inch drive capability to put cumbersome, unsightly and expensive external drives next to those sleek PS/2 CPU boxes, and generally making IBM offerings 'non-IBM compatible'. Compaq has hammered home the 'IBM is now non-IBM-compatible' message, and is seen by a growing number of users and businesses as the new industry leader. 3) Those who believe that at some point new hardware and software (including new operating systems) will be necessary to continue the rapid progress of PC technology. What distinguishes this group from Group 1 is that they don't seem to think that the whole PS2/MCA/OS2 package is the answer to that need, and they surely don't want to see the PS/2 MCA emerge as the only path for current MS-DOS users to take (assuming they don't want to break completely away by migrating to the MAC, NeXT, or other micros with CPU lineages outside the 8086/8088/80286/80386/80486 family). 4) Those who take a wait-and-see, or even an 'I don't know and I don't care I just want to get my work done today' attitude. Let the other folks make the hard choices and we'll follow whatever proves out, this cautious group concludes. In September, 1988, a group of organizations banded together to announce another alternative for the PC/MS-DOS world. The EISA Bus (for Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture) became the first real contender to challenge IBM's PS/2 MCA's position as the next hardware platform. Nine PC vendors (Compaq, Epson, NEC, Zenith, Hewlett-Packard, AST Research, Tandy, Wyse, and Olivetti) joined five other major players (Intel, Microsoft, Digital Communications, Novell and 3Com) in this attempt to develop a standardized 32-bit bus that will maintain downward compatibility with the current 16-bit AT bus. Predictably, Group 1 balked. Comments ranged from 'It's nothing, it doesn't exist yet. More vaporware.' to 'Just what we DON'T need. Two new standards in place of one.' IBM couldn't resist: 'EISA is just a set of flip charts' was one of Big Blue's oft-quoted reactions. For those in Group 2, EISA gives them hope and something (finally) to cheer about. Many of them felt EISA gave them a future for the systems they already have installed, protecting investments in AT-class equipment. A lot of companies have spent a small fortune on PC, XT and AT machines, and they don't want to write that off and invest in the even more expensive MCA line, which is, in their view, completely different. For Group 3, most welcome both MCA and EISA, and try to remain open to giving all technological advances a fair chance to prove themselves ---or fail --- on their own merits. Quite a few in this group are of the opinion that MCA, EISA and OS/2 are all just temporary bridges to the next level of technology, and that as such they will never come close to having the impact on personal computing that MS-DOS-based PC, XT and AT systems have had since their introductions. Group 4 are practical, hard-working types who don't fit the labels that some members of the other groups have hung on them: 'narrow-minded', 'overly cautious', 'myopic' and 'stuck in the past'. They are usually doing a pretty excellent job with what they have, and will happily move on to the next logical step, AFTER their critics have coped with the inevitable frustrations of being on the leading edge of a new technology, and proven the value, benefits and risks involved in making the change. Now it's first quarter, 1989. Almost two years have passed since the introduction of the MicroChannel Architecture, but only about six months since the announcement of the proposed EISA bus standard. More questions than answers about these two (MCA and EISA) have surfaced during that time: Does MCA have an insurmountable head start on EISA? Then why, as recently as November, did less than 20 percent of all 80386-based PCs sold have the MicroChannel Architecture? (IBM is licensing the MCA for use by other vendors, but at a cost as high as 5 percent of the total purchase price of the other vendors systems.) The latest available figures indicate that the installed AT-bus base is still at least 5 times larger than the installed MCA-bus base, but recent sales figures suggest that MCA machines are making a strong move. So there it is. Confusion and indecision are the order of the day whenever corporate buyers and end users consider which path to follow in what has been aptly termed 'The Bus Wars'. Recently, we had the opportunity to talk with some Compaq officials to get the latest inside information on EISA. This is what we learned: The conference room was packed. Most of those attending were members of the IEEE Computer Society, the group which had organized the meeting. Compaq's presentation team, consisting of Mike Ennis, Senior Systems Engineer at Compaq's Orlando facilities, and Richard Thomas, Scott Pierson and Jim Spurgeon, members of Compaq's marketing management team based in Atlanta, had flown in to Birmingham to get out Compaq's message about EISA on a first-hand basis. The Compaq team had strategically placed a non-EISA machine, a model SLT286 laptop, on a table right inside the door so that it would be the first thing each person saw when they entered the room. It was a very impressive sight with an eight-shade VGA gas plasma display running a graphics demo (naturally!), and had far and away the sharpest and brightest image I have ever seen on a portable machine, the first I have seen with color. With 640K RAM, a 20mb hard drive, 1.44mb 3-1/2 inch drive, built-in parallel, serial and VGA ports (external VGA monitors plug right in!), a detachable keyboard and 80286 CPU all in a package that folds up smaller than a standard briefcase, this was a machine for anyone's wish list. Doug Reinsch opened the meeting by introducing himself, adding "I'm the chairman of IEEE, as absurd as that may sound. But that's ok, since I'm only a figurehead." I found his self-effacing style amusing and refreshing. After a slick Compaq promotional video, Mike Ennis provided a detailed look at the new EISA bus standard. A key point in Compaq's effort to establish EISA in the marketplace is the fact that EISA (Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture, pronounced ez-uh) is a natural enhancement and evolution of the current machines, which it refers to as ISA (Industry Standard Architecture, pronounced as initials like MCA). The EISA bus is designed to be software AND hardware compatible with the millions of XT-and AT-class machines already in use worldwide, whereas the MCA systems are a radical departure. Some goals Compaq hopes to achieve with EISA were outlined: - to define the future PC architecture standard - protect the investment in the current ISA machines - an open industry standard with no royalties Compaq has found that the bus in current systems utilizes an average of only 5 percent of overall processing power, and that the CPU and memory accesses take a much larger share. Because of this, EISA is designed with a dual bus and a CPU/memory cache to allow optimized concurrent processing. According to Ennis, the dual bus approach combined with concurrent processing will allow EISA to outperform MCA by an average of 30 percent in terms of throughput speed. He also noted that EISA is strictly a bus specification, one that allows manufacturers greater flexibility with other aspects of EISA machines, as compared to MCA, which is a total systems architecture, right down to the CPU level. But aren't some of the nine original EISA members going ahead with plans to produce MCA machines? "Yes," Ennis replied, "They're not stupid. If a product (MCA) has a twenty-percent market share, why wouldn't they want to produce it?" But what if MCA's share of the market continues to increase? "Units sales are still running 5-to-1, ISA over MCA. With EISA machines soon to be available, we feel that the MCA market share won't expand beyond a certain point." Some critics have complained that the 5-to-1 ISA over MCA unit sales ratio Compaq continues to cite is tipped in favor of non-MCA machines because Compaq's numbers account only for retail sales through dealers and don't include IBM's VAR and direct sales. "We don't get our figures from a single source. We look to at least three sources for that data, and it does take into account non-dealer sales. Is the 5-to-1 unit sales ratio a real number? Yes." Someone else asked him why all the controversy over EISA. "Controversy sells newspapers and magazines. And because EISA is still evolving. We want to make sure we get it right the first time, and to allow developers to have confidence that we won't be changing the specs frequently. Those who have signed up as EISA developers are under a non-disclosure policy, and that angers some of the computer publications and independent testing labs who can't get their hands on the specifications." He said that when it is finalized it will be an open specification, however, unlike MCA which requires a licensing agreement with IBM and royalty fees to IBM based on sales. When will EISA machines actually come to the marketplace? "They should be available in the third quarter this year, but I don't expect Compaq will be the first manufacturer to bring one out. We are committed to selling EISA machines only when there are applications and third-party support for it. We don't want to do what IBM did with the MCA and put a product on the market that doesn't have any immediate benefits to the user." Ennis has been with Compaq for less than one year, but he cheerfully assured me he had made "the RIGHT choice." His previous employer? "AT&T". Based on what we've learned, we don't find it hard to believe that EISA may well be the right choice, too. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Local Bulletin Board Systems Number Two In A Series by Mark Maisel Name: Channel 8250 Sysop: Ed O'Neill Software: PC Board 12.1/D Been Around: 2 years Baud Rates: 300-2400 (9600 soon) Bulletins: General System Information Conferences: EZNET, Opinions; a general discussion conference, Agnostics; theology and philosophy discussions Computers Supported: IBM & Assorted Clones Files Available: variety of shareware and public domain offerings Doors Available: PKXDoor, User Door, ANSI Ads, ProDoor Special Information: Author of EZNET, PKXDoor, and User Door Q. Why did you start your BBS? A. Naivete, I guess. Q. What has been your greatest reward from running your BBS? A. I have made many new friends and met lots of new people. Q. What are your greatest regrets and annoyance associated with running a BBS? A. Maintaining file libraries is the biggest annoyance in running a BBS. It is also frustrating when users use all of their time to download files from the board without using or exploring other areas of the board. Q. What are your future plans for the BBS? A. I am supposed to get a 9600 baud modem and I am not sure of what else I might do in the near future. Q. What is the funniest thing that has happened on your BBS? A. The over-reaction by some folks to the first Breezin' Survey that appeared in BTN. I was amused and amazed at the people who took the survey seriously. Q. What is your favorite hobby/pastime outside of your BBS and computers in general? A. My job, but it is also computer related. I do enjoy working in industrial electronics outside of computers. Q. What do you think your system offers that might cause someone to prefer your board over others? A. It has interesting message bases and discussions. Q. Why? A. Because users who call my board are mainly interested in interactive discussion. I offer very little in the way of files. One reason I mentioned is one of my annoyances about folks who download constantly. Another is that most of the files people could want or need are available at the Birmingham Public Library (main branch) in a much more convenient format. Most other boards in town also have several of the same files. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- PRO FILE by Chris Mohney The Pro File is a short, half-serious biographical sketch given to various computer telecommunications personalities around Birmingham. Victims are selected randomly from a group of names put into the notorious Hat. Anyone who thinks himself brave or witty enough may petition for admittance to the Hat by leaving E-Mail to me (Chris Mohney, most boards around town) to that effect. Anyone who wishes to suggest more questions or sneakily nominate someone without their knowledge may take the same route .... --------- Pro File on MICHELE CAHOON --------- Age: 25 Birthplace: Birmingham,Al. Occupation: Professional Student My hobbies include: Fishing, water skiing, riding horses, and riding motors. Years telecomputing: 3 Sysop, past/present/future of: Point of NO Return My oddest habit is: being too curious and nosy. My greatest unfulfilled ambition is: writing two guide books. The single accomplishment of which I am most proud is: actually there are two which I am most proud of, Michael, my son, and Anna, my daughter. My favorite performers are: Van Halen, Guns and Roses, Eddie Rabbitt, and Randy Travis The last good movie I saw was: They Live The last good book I read was: Bill Cosby Forty-Nine If they were making a movie of my life, I'd like to see my part played by: Bette Midler My pet peeves are: dishonesty, and child abuse. When nobody's looking, I like to: play with children's toys. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Batch Files; Making Life Easier by Co-Sysop One Channel 8250 Birmingham, Al 205-785-7417 300/1200/2400 N-8-1 Batch files are ASCII text files that can be produced with any ASCII editor and are ran from the DOS level. They are probably the most universally helpful and most poorly documented of the DOS functions. Usually small, they can, depending on the skill of the programmer, become quite large and complex. When you first boot your computer up (those of you who have volatile DOS) it has just enough sense to read sector one of the boot disk. This sector of the disk tells it to load the next several sectors of disk containing more information about how it is to operate. After loading these tidbits of data it graduates from being an idiot to an imbecile; an incredibly fast imbecile, mind you, but still an imbecile. It will then look on the disk for a file called CONFIG.SYS and will ingest it if it is available. After CONFIG.SYS has been read and operating parameters altered yet again, it looks to see if AUTOEXEC.BAT is in the root directory of the default drive. If it finds an AUTOEXEC.BAT it will ingest it also out of curiosity and just to see if it is palatable. Hopefully this article will help you to write your AUTOEXEC.BAT (and your other BAT files) in such a way that your computer does not get indigestion. AUTOEXEC.BAT files are no different in creation or execution than any other batch file you might write but it is special in the fact that the people who wrote DOS thought it would be neat to have their computer do certain things automatically when booted up. So they wrote DOS in such a way that IF the AUTOEXEC.BAT was there THEN go ahead and run it. One oddity to mention at this point: if you are one of these people who does not have a clock card in your computer, get annoyed at having it ask you for the time when you boot up, and really don't care if your computer does think it is 00:00:00 on 01:01:80, then an AUTOEXEC is just the thing for you! It will not ask you the date unless you specifically tell it to. Think of your computer as your imbecile son and a batch file as a note you left on the table telling him what to do until you verbally tell him different. A list of things for him to do so to speak. Any valid command or program that can be given at the system (DOS, drive, whatever) prompt can be executed from a batch file as long as it does not require keyboard input while executing (more about how to get around this in a later article...). Note: this is a little known and even less cared for fact; all valid 'batch' file commands are in fact DOS commands and can be executed from the system prompt. The reason it is even less cared for is that most 'batch' file commands are not much good outside of a batch file (except maybe CLS [clear screen]). TALKING TO THE IMBECILE COMMAND: REM USAGE: REM EXAMPLE: REM XXXX This is a good place to start. DOS ignores anything printed on a line after a REM statement. This statement is used to comment a batch file so that later on when you look at it you know what it (or a section of it) does. COMMAND: ECHO USAGE: ECHO EXAMPLE: ECHO OFF EXAMPLE: ECHO ON EXAMPLE: ECHO XXXX Normally when a batch file runs every command is echoed (typed) to the screen as that command executes. The ECHO OFF command stops this nonsense which is useful when you are doing something crafty that you don't want everyone to see what you are doing in your batch file or if you'd just rather see a blank screen while it runs. If you have set ECHO OFF and later want to turn it back on at a later time, then use the ECHO ON command. ECHO XXXX (the X's being text of some sort) will type that text to the screen even if you have set ECHO OFF. ECHO on a line by itself causes the message 'ECHO is ON (or OFF)' to be typed to the screen. Use the ECHO commands (and DOS redirection) to control text output to the screen while your batch file is running. Do not put anything else on the same line with the ECHO OFF command. COMMAND: GOTO USAGE: GOTO EXAMPLE: IF GOTO Tells DOS to branch to a line label. Usually used with a conditional statement. If the condition is not true, then continue execution with the next line. COMMAND: :LABEL USAGE: :LABEL EXAMPLE: :AGAIN Ignored by DOS until told to GOTO LABEL. The LABEL is not a command; it is a destination. Except as a destination it has no effect on program execution. Note that the GOTO statement did not use the ':' before the LABEL name but that the LABEL statement does. COMMAND: IF USAGE: IF EXAMPLE: IF {NOT} EXIST FILENAME.EXT DEL FILENAME.EXT If this filename can be found at this location, then perform this command (any legal DOS (or BATCH) command). EXAMPLE: IF {NOT} X==Y ECHO TEXT If X does not equal Y, then type some text to the screen. EXAMPLE: IF {NOT} ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO BAILOUT If ERRORLEVEL is equal to one, then GOTO the line label BAILOUT. This command is extensively used with the EXIST == (equals), and IF ERRORLEVEL commands to allow the batch file to make decisions while running and act accordingly. The use of the NOT command is used to reverse the logic of the statement. This command is extensively used with replaceable parameters which are discussed later. COMMAND: CLS USAGE: CLS EXAMPLE: IF ERRORLEVEL 1 CLS Clears the screen and places the cursor at the upper left corner of the screen. COMMAND: PAUSE USAGE: PAUSE EXAMPLE: IF ERRORLEVEL 1 ECHO UH OH! PAUSE Stops execution of the batch file and displays the message "Strike a key when ready..." at the bottom of the screen. Batch file execution will continue whenever a key is pressed. This command is useful when you are displaying more than one screen full of data on the screen and want to keep it from scrolling off the screen or if you want to give an opportunity to bail out of the batch file at a given point of execution. COMMAND: IF ERRORLEVEL USAGE: IF ERRORLEVEL X EXAMPLE: IF ERRORLEVEL 0 GOTO AGAIN Most well mannered programs will set the ERRORLEVEL equal to 0 if they ran successfully and 1 if they did not. If you wrote a batch file that copied files from one disk to another, then deleted the original, you would want to use the IF ERRORLEVEL command to test for success of the copy operation before deleting the original file. ********************************************************************** BREAK and CONTROL-C CONTROL-C is used to abnormally terminate the operation of a program. DOS checks the keyboard buffer whenever it is printing, typing to the screen, or waiting for input from the user. This is because the default value for BREAK is OFF. The BREAK command is used to tell DOS how often you want it to check for a CONTROL-C and can be set ON (or OFF) from the keyboard, from within CONFIG.SYS, or from within a batch file. If BREAK is set to ON, then DOS checks for a CONTROL-C before every operation. Because DOS will spend more time looking for CONTROL-C when BREAK is ON then your system will appear to run a little slower but your ability to bail out of an executing program or batch file will be greatly enhanced. If you set ECHO to OFF in your batch file (and leave it off) and your batch is not printing to the screen or looking for keyboard input, then you will not be able to bail out of it unless you issue the BREAK ON command in the beginning of your batch file (you can always set it back off at the end of the batch). ********************************************************************* LOGIC WITH BATCH FILES This is a simple batch file that is just to illustrate simple batch file logic. The text following the REM statements explain what each line does. :BEGIN REM Line label. CLS REM Clears the screen. ECHO OFF ECHO . REM See note following example. ECHO Here we go... REM Echoes text to screen. ECHO . REM * See note following example. IF EXIST COMMAND.COM GOTO GOTCHA REM Looks for COMMAND.COM in the REM default drive. If it finds the REM program execution jumps to the REM line label :GOTCHA. ECHO This is not a bootable disk REM Since it didn't find COMMAND.COM REM it ECHOed text to the screen. GOTO AGAIN REM Jumps to the :AGAIN line label. :GOTCHA REM Line label. A destination REM for a GOTO command. ECHO This is a bootable disk REM Echoes text to the screen. :AGAIN REM Line label ECHO . REM * See note following example. ECHO Do you want to REM Sends text to the screen. ECHO check another disk? REM Sends text to the screen. ECHO . REM See note following the example. ECHO Hit any key to continue REM Text telling us to take an ECHO or CONTROL-C to abort. REM action. CONTROL-C aborts the REM program. REM if we don't want to check another REM disk. PAUSE REM Execution waits here for a key REM press. GOTO BEGIN REM This line executes if we just REM press a key. NOTE: Had line 17 read ECHO without the trailing '.' the DOS would have printed on the screen "ECHO is OFF". Using the period following the ECHO command gave us an almost blank line for ascetic purposes. This simple little batch will continue to check disk as long as you keep pressing any key but CONTROL-C. Note also that even though BREAK was at its default value of OFF we were able to abort execution because DOS was waiting for keyboard input (we were also doing a lot of screen display with this one). *********************************************************************** REPLACEABLE PARAMETERS WITH BATCH FILES Batch files recognize and use a special set of symbols in their execution. These symbols are %0 to %9 and are called replaceable parameters. Replaceable parameters make your batch files more flexible when used correctly. The easiest way to demonstrate this is by example. This example will be called TEST.BAT. ECHO OFF DIR *.%1 If you were to type TEST EXE at the DOS prompt, you would see a listing of all of the EXE files on your default disk drive. When you typed 'TEST EXE', DOS accepted the first whole word (TEST) as the file to run and assigned the second whole word (EXE) to the replaceable parameter %1. Had you typed in 'TEST EXE COM ARC' etc, DOS would have continued assigning the next whole word to the next available replaceable parameter (EXE would be %1, COM would be %2, ARC would be %3, and so on). If we change TEST.BAT a little, we can take advantage of a few more of these parameters. ECHO OFF DIR *.%1 PAUSE DIR *.%2 PAUSE DIR *.%3 Now if we type in TEST EXE COM BAT, we will see a listing of our EXE files first. After we hit a key we will see a listing of our COM files; another key press, then our BAT files. If we had entered TEST EXE COM, then at the DIR *.%3 line DOS would have given us a "file not found" reply (this is because in this case %3 would have equaled nothing). DOS automatically assigns the name of the calling batch file (in this case TEST) to the parameter %0. This leaves us with nine parameters to work with which is more than enough for most applications (but there is a way around this also! Read on). ************************************************************************ MORE BATCH FILE COMMANDS COMMAND: FOR USAGE: FOR %%f in (X Y Z) DO EXAMPLE: FOR %%f in (*.BAT *.DOC *.TXT) DO TYPE %%f The above example would type to the screen all of the BAT files in the default drive followed by the DOC files then the TXT files. It manages this by replacing %%f with the first item in the list (the list is everything between the braces) and then executing the command following the DO command. In this case it also replaced the second %%f with the same thing in the first %%F and typed it onto the screen. The TYPE command could be replaced by any legal DOS command (such as COPY, REN, etc). Once it finishes with the first item in the list it moves on to the second item and so on. This is a very powerful command and should bear very careful study until you understand it completely because it closely couples with the next command to form a very powerful tool in writing batch files. The items in the list can be separated by spaces, commas, or semicolons and can be just about anything including file names, paths, letters, words, etc. An oddity worth mentioning is that the parameter %%f (or %%x, %%y, %%z, etc) when used from the DOS level uses only one % sign (I.E. %f). COMMAND: SHIFT USAGE: SHIFT EXAMPLE: DIR *.%1 SHIFT In the example, after the DIR of %1 had finished, DOS would have SHIFTED (shuffled) the value of %1 to %0, the value of %2 to %1, the value of %3 to %2, and so on. The value that is contained in %0 is lost when the SHIFT occurs. So if we had entered TEST EXE COM, we would have been given a DIR of our EXE files followed by our COM files. A neat trick to couple with this command is: (1) IF NOT X==%1X GOTO AGAIN (2) ECHO YOU MUST SUPPLY SOME PARAMETERS! (3) GOTO END (4) :AGAIN (5) IF NOT EXIST *.%1 ECHO NONE HERE BOSS! (6) FOR %%F IN (*.%1) DO ECHO %%F (7) SHIFT (8) IF X==%1X GOTO END (9 GOTO AGAIN (10) :END The neat trick is contained in line 1. If DOS sees a blank on both sides of the equals sign (==), it kind of wigs out. Using the X and %1X gets us around this because if %1 has a value other than nothing (blank), then the execution jumps to line 4. If %1 does not have a value, then X==X and execution continues with line 3 (please note that the IF NOT part of line 1 reversed the logic of the statement!). Had we entered TEST ARC EXE COM, then %1 equals ARC, %2 equals EXE, and %3 equals COM. %4 through %9 do not have a value. Execution is as follows: (1) IF NOT X==ARCX GOTO AGAIN (They don't equal so jump to line 4) (4) AGAIN (5) IF NOT EXIST *.ARC ECHO NONE HERE BOSS! (If there are not any files with an ARC extension found then the ECHO 'NONE HERE BOSS!' shows on the screen. Program execution continues with line 6 in either case.) (6) FOR *.ARC IN (*.ARC) DO ECHO *.ARC (Any filenames with an ARC extension are sent to the screen.) (7) SHIFT (Here is where %1 becomes %0, %2 becomes %1, etc.) (8) IF X==EXEX GOTO END (Check to see if the last SHIFT shuffled a null value into %1. This time it did not since %1 equals EXE.) (9) GOTO AGAIN (We start over with line 4 and will continue to do so until %1 has a null value.) ************************************************************************ IN CONCLUSION This is enough to get most beginners started making their batch files more palatable to their systems. Most of the examples were fairly simple to keep from clouding the issue. Just because I made extensive use of the DIR function don't make the mistake of thinking that is all batch files are good for. Substitute standard DOS commands in your batch files and let your mind roam free with the possibilities. You can copy, delete, rename, move, list, display, run, arc, and un-arc files. Call your favorite programs, control your screen colors, and run boring repetitive task with batch files. I hope this has helped at least some of you with your use of batch files. Any and all comments (positive or negative) or requests for clarification will reach me at the Channel 8250 or on EZNET. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From The Kitchen by Chez Stephan Let's get the grill out one more time. First, lets talk about grills and cooking methods. You've either got a charcoal or gas grill. I'm sure you've decided which you prefer to use. Either is fine; it's all up to you. If using a charcoal grill, you should light the charcoal and let it burn until a slight ash coat is on the charcoal. If you are using wood chips, they should be soaked in water for at least one hour before using. It is actually best to let them soak over night because we want them to smoke not burn. To tell about fire temperature place your hand slightly above the grill surface. (PLEASE BE CAREFUL. WE WANT TO COOK THE FOOD. NOT YOU.) Count the number of seconds you can leave your hand there without it burning too badly. If you counted up to 5, you have a hot fire; if you counted up to 14 or 15, you have a medium fire. Anything over that and you're looking at a cool fire. Heat can be controlled by the amount of charcoal used as well as by grill height over the fire. If marinating meats and the meat will be cooking for extended periods, then I suggest doubling marinating times. Make use of what you have in the kitchen. You will be surprised as to what flavor can be added by things you normally would not consider using when grilling. Let's Do LONDON! London Broil Teriyaki: 1 1/2 to 2 lb. London Broil 3/4 cup olive oil 1/4 cup soy sauce 2 tbsp. vinegar 1/4 cup honey 2 tsp. fresh ground ginger 2 tsp. fresh crushed garlic 2 green onions chopped Combine all ingredients except meat in a small sauce pan and warm over medium heat. Set aside and let cool. Place meat in a Pyrex dish and pool cooled marinade over it. Cover with wrap and marinate overnight in the refrigerator. Turn a couple of times during the night when you get up to munch or get a drink. Grill 4 to 7 minutes on each side over a medium/hot fire. DO NOT OVER COOK. Crusty Steak and Rye: 1 - 3 in. thick boneless Sirloin steak (4 or 5 lbs) 1/3 cup oil 1/3 cup prepared mustard 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce 1 cup coarse salt (Sea salt is great for this) 4 tbsp. cracked black peppercorns Cut into fatty edge of steak to keep it from curling. Combine oil, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce and spread half of mixture thickly over one side of meat. Combine salt and peppercorns and press half of this onto the steak, forming a layer over the mustard mixture. Turn steak on wax paper and repeat the process on the other side of steak. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Place steak over low fire and cook 20 minutes each side for rare and 25 minutes each side for medium. Before serving, break crust of steak and slice in diagonal slices across the grain. Serve over toasted French bread if desired. Until next time and I hope you enjoy it! Ciao Chez Stephan ----------------------------------------------------------------------- MESSAGE BOARD by Barry Bowden M A R C H 1 9 8 9 S M T W T F S +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+---------+ ! ! ! !1 !2 !3 !4 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+---------+ !5 !6 !7 !8 !9 !10 !11 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !BAC ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+---------+ !12 !13 !14 !15 !16 !17 !18 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !BCCC ! !CCS ! ! !BEPCUG ! ! ! ! ! (C64/128)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !St. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Patrick's! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Day ! ! +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+---------+ !19 !20 !21 !22 !23 !24 !25 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !Palm !Spring !CCS ! ! !Good ! ! ! Sunday ! Begins ! (Amiga) ! ! ! Friday ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+---------+ !26 !27 !28 !29 !30 !31 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !BCCC ! !CCS ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (C64/128)! ! ! ! ! !Easter ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+---------+ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- BEPCUG CCS Birmingham East PC Users Group Commodore Club South Jefferson State Jr. College Springville Road Library RUBY Carson Bldg. 1st Floor-Computer Lab Huffman, Alabama 3rd Friday of Every Month 2nd and 4th Tuesday (C64/C128) 5:30PM to 9:00PM 3rd Monday (Amiga) Paula Ballard 853-1200,ext 1463 (Days) 7:30 PM to 10:00 PM Maurice Lovelady 684-6843 BCCC BAC Birmingham Commodore Computer Club Birmingham Apple Corps P. O. Box 59564 POB 5542 Birmingham, Alabama 35259 Birmingham, Alabama 32555 UAB School of Ed. Bldg. Room 153 Regular meetings - 1st Sunday 2nd and 4th Sundays UAB Building #2, Rm 115 at 2PM Starts at 2:00 PM Informal get-every Saturday Emmett Ferretti 823-3987 morning at 8:30AM at the Rusty Hargett 854-5172 Kopper Kettle in the Brookwood annex next to AC3 BACE Birmingham Atari Computer Enthusiasts 3rd Friday 7:00 PM Vestavia Hills Library If you belong to or know of a user group that is not listed, please let us know by sending E-Mail to me, Barry Bowden, on EZNET. Please leave the following information : User Group Name Meeting Place Meeting Time(Day/date,Time) Contact Person Any Other Important Information ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Known BBS Numbers For The Birmingham Area NAME NUMBER BAUD RATES SUPPORTED 68FREE 933-7518 300, 1200 America Online Nodes 1-3 324-0193 300, 1200, 2400 America Online Node 4 251-2344 300, 1200, 2400 American BBS 674-1851 300, 1200, 2400 Bus System BBS 595-1627 300, 1200, 2400 Channel 8250 785-7417 300, 1200, 2400 Club Phoenix 942-0252 300, 1200, 2400 Crunchy Frog 956-1755 300, 1200, 2400 D3 Systems BBS 663-2759 300, 1200, 2400 Duck Pond BBS 822-0956 300, 1200, 2400 Fortress BBS 664-9040 300, 1200 Joker's Castle 744-6120 300, 1200, 2400 LZ Birmingham 870-7770 300, 1200, 2400 Magnolia BBS 854-6407 300, 1200, 2400, 9600 Pinson Valley Node 1 854-9661 300, 1200, 2400 Pinson Valley Node 2 854-9662 300, 1200, 2400, 9600 Primary One 853-1175 300, 1200 ProSoft Systems BBS 853-8718 300, 1200, 2400 Role Player's Paradise 631-7654 300, 1200, 2400 Smitty's BBS 849-7349 300, 1200 Sperry BBS 853-6144 300, 1200, 2400, 9600 ST BBS 836-9311 300, 1200, 2400 The Connection Node 1 854-9074 1200, 2400 The Connection Node 2 854-2308 1200, 2400 The Outer Limits 969-3262 300, 1200, 2400 The Professional's Board 856-0679 300, 1200, 2400 The Realm Of Tarot BBS 870-7776 300, 1200 Trade Mart BBS 787-5512 300, 1200, 2400 Twilight Zone 856-3783 300, 1200 Willie's DYM Node 1 979-1629 300, 1200, 2400 Willie's DYM Node 2 979-7739 300, 1200, 2400 Willie's RBBS 979-7743 300, 1200, 2400 Ziggy Unaxess 991-5696 300, 1200