-=> Quoting Roy J. Tellason to Leonard Erickson <=-

 LE> Well, the only one I used much was an old version of Printmaster.
 LE> And I made a copy of the "bad" restore (from a file-by-file backup)
 LE> and compared it with the good copy I made by doing a new install.
 LE> It had provision for installing several times to allow you to
 LE> recover from "oops" situations.
 
 LE> I found one file that was different, and it was different for a few
 LE> bytes. It only took a bit to determine that those bytes were the
 LE> number of the cluster the EXE file started in.

 RJT> Aha.  Sounds like a bit of norton utilities were used there,  or
 RJT> something of that sort. 

Yep, it was an old version of Norton. Probably version 2.

 LE> The big ATX case I'm going to build the Win2k system in has several
 LE> of the internal bays set up so you can throw a lever to unlock
 LE> them, and they will then pivot out and can be removed by lifting
 LE> them off the pivots.

 RJT> No screws,  even.  Hm.

Well, there are a couple of screws to hold the side of the case on. I
replaced them with thumbscrews. :-)
 
 RJT> Two ways,  eh?
 
 LE> Haven't found a system that used a third way without using a
 LE> completely different connector.

 RJT> Some of them might do that,  I wouldn't put it past these mfr's.

I *did* find a couple. Like a the one that had all 10 pins in a single
line. 
 
 LE> But unless a customer asked for it to be done differently, we'd 
 LE> always have 1 25-pin port and one 9-pin port when we put a system 
 LE> together. That helped folks keep straight which was COM1 and which 
 LE> was COM2.

 RJT> Which was which the way you did it?  I used 9 for com1 because maybe I
 RJT> was gonna use a serial mouse,  and 25 for com2,  which is where the
 RJT> modem plugs in.  I can't remember why it was I decided it had to go
 RJT> that way,  but I've been running it that way for ages.  Probably some
 RJT> early software issue or something. 

I don't recall. I think we went for 25 pin as COM 1 since that was more
apt to be the modem default, and the systems *had* PS/2 mouse ports.

 LE> And after helping a friend get her MIDI capable keyboard hooked to 
 LE> her computer thru a "special" cable to the sound card, I picked up 
 LE> one of the cables myself, and later picked up a used keyboard, 
 LE> cheap. It turns out to not be all that hard to get working, just 
 LE> non-intuitive. I *stumbled* across the instructions in Windows 
 LE> help while looking for something else, you see. :-)

 RJT> Instructions?  Where did they hide them?  I have a vague recollection
 RJT> of somebody posting the cable info in here some time back,  but I
 RJT> never did anything much with it.  Did that give you midi in and out
 RJT> both? 

Yep. You can buy a cable for about $20 from Fry's or direct from
Creative's website. It's got a DB-15M to connect to the card, and
(depending on who you buy it from) either a foot or so of cable and a
DB-15F, or the DB-15F is on the same "box as the DB-15M (I have one
cable each way). And a couple of cables with male 5-pin din connectors
on them, one labeled IN and one labeled "OUT". the cables with the midi
plugs on them are about six feet long.

One trick is that the "OUT" plug goes into the IN jack on the keyboard
and vice versa.

I got the second cable as part of a package that included some
composition software and a "learn the keyboard" course.

 LE> So now I can test the MIDI capabilities of a system on the bench.  

I need to find something *small* that has midi in & out to take out in
the field though.
 
 LE> Oh yeah, I got a couple of Imac USB keyboards for free a while 
 LE> back. On a whim, I tried plugging them into a Windows box. Windows
 LE> says it's detected a new "Human Interface Device" and asks to
 LE> install the drivers. I told it to go ahead. It didn't ask for the
 LE> windows CD (so the drivers are part of the "base" install set).

 RJT> Hm.  More space wasting on stuff that I don't use,  but that's
 RJT> typical. 

Well, it makes a lot of sense given that so many systems come with USB
keyboards now.

 LE> And shortly after that I could typ away on the mac keyboard. The 
 LE> "cloverleaf" key works as an Alt key. And the
"apple" key works as
 LE> something else, Menu, I think.
 
 LE> Anyway, they make a great way to test USB ports. Of course, *now*
 LE> USB keyboard for the PC are getting common. But these are smaller
 LE> and easier to haul on house calls. :-)

 RJT> I don't know that I'd want to go USB for keyboard and mouse, 
 RJT> particularly when I already have ports for them otherwise,  and when I
 RJT> may be dealing at times with software that won't support them,  or at
 RJT> least without going to a lot of trouble. 

I just use them for testing to make sure the USB port actually *works*
on a system. I don't have to carry a driver disk for them. And they are
smaller than a standard keyboard.

Under Windows, the input from the USB keyboard can't be told from
the input from the regular keyboard. You can use both at once, in
fact. And you can type away in a DOS window.

But since (as far as I know) there are no USB drivers for DOS itself,
you can use them without Windows. 


--- FMailX 1.60