The Rainbow 100 Frequently Asked Questions File Revision 0.004 Contents Part 0 - General 001 What is a Rainbow 100 anyway? 002 What models are available? 003 Is this a CP/M computer or an MS-DOS computer? 004 Why won't the Rainbow run my favorite IBM PC programs? 005 Where can I receive support for my Rainbow? Part 1 - Hardware 101 How can I tell what model Rainbow I own? 102 What is the internal structure of a Rainbow? 103 How can I dissassemble/reassemble the Rainbow 100? 104 What kind of disks does the Rainbow use? 105 Why am I inserting disks upside down? 106 How can I install more memory? 107 Is this a standard serial port? 108 What type of printers does the Rainbow use? 109 What type of video port is this? 110 What kind of graphics does it have? 111 Can I attach two monitors to my Rainbow? 112 Can I attach a hard disk to my Rainbow? 113 Why doesn't my >20MB hard disk work correctly? 114 How can I read an IBM-formatted diskette on my Rainbow? 115 How can I read this CP/M diskette? 116 How can I attach a 3.5 inch disk drive to my Rainbow? 117 Can I attach a math coprocessor? 118 Are there any network boards available? 119 Can I upgrade the CPU on my Rainbow? 120 Is there any real-time clock available? Part 2 - Software 201 Will all CP/M software run on my Rainbow? 202 Will all MS-DOS software run on my Rainbow? 203 Is there any way to run IBM-compatible software? 204 Can I run Microsoft Windows on my Rainbow? 205 What word processors are available for the Rainbow? 206 What spreadsheets are available? 207 What graphics software is available? 208 What communications softare is available? 209 How can I make this hard disk usable? 210 Can I defragment my Rainbow's hard disk? 211 What diagnostics are available? Part 3 - Miscellaneous 301 How can I read Rainbow disks on an IBM PC? 399 About this FAQ 001 What is a Rainbow 100 anyway? The Rainbow 100 was a personal introduced in May 1982 by Digital Equipment Corporation as part of its low-end computer line. The Rainbow was meant to be a very compatible system, running 8- and 16-bit programs. All outputs from the computer were industry- standard at the time. Sadly, the Rainbow 100 was unsuccessful in the market for many reasons. First, the computer initially carried a price tag of $2995 US (?). The high price made entrance into the consumer market near impossible at first. Secondly, the Rainbow did not receive much marketing support. Some television adds were run, but they did little to fight the competition of IBM. Thirdly, Digital was not fully behind the product. Ken Olsen, the CEO at the time, favored the Professional series of low-end systems. Also, DEC salesmen did not try hard enough to sell them. As one DEC employee put it, "Why try to sell 12 Rainbows when you can get the same comission on selling just one VAX." Today, the Rainbow recieves little support and interest. Still, some still run their 'bows on a regular basis. As far as early PCs go, the Rainbow is quite a capable machine. 002 What models are available? There were three major releases of the Rainbow 100. The model numbers were 100A, 100B, and 100+. The 100A was the first released. This model had less expandability then subsequent models and could not support a hard disk. The 100A also contained an AC fan, making the unit louder tn later releases. The 100A was produced initially in Westfield, Massachusetts, but later built in Hong Kong, where all later models were assembled. The 100B was the first Rainbow to support booting from hard disks. However, neither hard disks nor their controller boards were included with the computer; all had to be added later as options. The 100B also had a DC fan, making the unit run quieter than a 100A. The power supply in the 100B was beefed up to handle the high power requirements for starting hard disks. 100Bs were also packaged with memory expansion boards, allowing 896Kbytes total memory. The 100+ was basically a 100B with a hard disk and controller included. The computer was initially available with 5, 10, or 20 meg hard drives. 100+ normally had a plastic 100+ emblem glued to the front of the CPU unit. There was one other model, named the Rainbow 190. Information on this system is hard to find. Apparently, Digital announced this to be a business-only PC. It supposedly packed a 80286 CPU. Some reports suggest that the 190 was not even Rainbow compatible. There is little evidence to suggest that these computers made it past the tooling stage of production. They are far more rare than any other Rainbow model. 003 Is this a CP/M computer or an MS-DOS computer? The answer to this question is "Yes." The Rainbow is both a fully functional CP/M - 80 version 2.2 and CP/M - 86 version 2.2 AND MS-DOS computer. Due to its dual-processor design, the Rainbow has the ability to run both 8- and 16-bit programs. Its proprietary version of CP/M, CP/M - 86/80, can launch either type of program. The operating system was modified so that when a 8-bit program was executed, it would transfer control of the program to its Z80 CPU. In all other cases, it would use its 8088 CPU. The Rainbow can also run MS-DOS. The most popular versions running on it were 2.05 and 2.11. Also available were 2.01 and, much later, 3.01b. All these versions of MS-DOS were modified by Digital to run on the Rainbow's hardware. Three other operating systems were also available. Concurrent CP/M - 86 was produced for use on the Rainbow, but it could not run 8-bit programs. Venix, a UNIX-like OS, was supposedly compiled for use with the Rainbow, but has not turned up in years. Finally, UCSD p-System is also available. 004 Why won't the Rainbow run my favorite IBM PC programs? The Rainbow is _not_ IBM compatible. The Rainbow was designed to be an MS-DOS compatible machine, not an IBM compatible machine. Most people do not understand the difference. IBMs do run MS-DOS programs, but they mostly run IBM compatible programs. When the Rainbow was introduced, many felt that, like CP/M, MS-DOS programs would run on any hardware, as long as the hardware also ran MS-DOS. At first, this seemed to be the case, but, as years passed, less and less programs made were MS-DOS compatible, while more and more were IBM compatible. The reason for this incompatibility was that most programs being written directly accessed the IBM PCs hardware and did not operate through the operating system. Programs that do very little direct hardware access on the IBM PC might run on the Rainbow. See the Software compatibility section for more information. 005 Where can I receive support for the Rainbow? Since the Rainbow 100 is a product of Digital, DECUS technically does support the Rainbow still. DECUS (Digital Equipment Computer User's Society) maintains an archive of software and documentation for the Rainbow and other Digital products. The information they have is not readily accessible, however, and must be specifically requested. For help from users, one should read the Usenet groups: comp.sys.dec.micro comp.os.cpm alt.sys.pdp11 Rainbow users write in both these groups occasionally. Many read these groups on a regular basis. Rainbow questions in the first group should receive replies in no more than two days usually. The second group receives considerably less Rainbow-oriented traffic since it covers only one of the Rainbow's many operating systems. 101 How can I tell what model Rainbow I own? To find what model Rainbow you are using, you need to look at a label located on the rear of the Rainbow below the AC input. The model number will say PC-100x, where x is either an A, B, or + (?), indicating the model Rainbow you are using. 101 What is the internal structure of the Rainbow? The Rainbow is an interesting computer in the sense that it is almost two separate computers in one. The Rainbow contains two separate 8-bit buses connected only by 128 Kbytes of shared RAM. Each bus is controlled by one of the Rainbow's 2 CPU's. The Z-80's bus contains the floppy disk drive access and 2Kbytes of dedicated memory. The Z-80 only has access to 62Kbytes of the shared RAM at any one moment, which it uses to communicate with the 8088's bus. The 8088's bus connected to many more devices. The video controller is connected to this along with the keyboard controller and port controllers. The video controller has access to 4Kbytes of dedicated RAM. The bus can access both 2Kbyte banks also. This bus also has access to all 128Kbytes of RAM. When present, the bus has access to the extended memory option board and up to 896KBytes of RAM. The 8088 bus also controls the MFM hard disk controller, graphics option, and Extended Communication Option. 102 How can I dissassemble/reassemble the Rainbow 100? The first step is to disconnect any cables connected to the CPU, especially the power cord. Next, look for two tabs located on the sides of the CPU box, just under the vented walls. Pull the tabs forward and outward. The tabs should lock into a new position. Now simply lift the plastic case upward. To replace, simply place the cover over the CPU again and slide the tabs backward and inward until they snap back into their original position. You do not need to force the tabs. To remove the disk drives, first disconnect any cables leading to the drives. On some hard disks, you may not be able to remove the cables as the first step. Next, locate and push the small metal tabs located at the front center of each disk drive. The drives should pop forward slightly. If no cables are connected, such as on the floppy drives, simply slide the disk drive forward and off the computer. If cables are still attached, slide the drive forward enough to remove the cables, remove them, and continue to slide the drive off the computer. To reinsert, simply slide the drives back into the guide rails. For floppy drives and some hard drives, slide them all the way in until the metal tabs in the front center of the drive bays pops up. Then reconnect all necessary cables. For most hard drives, slide the drive in until the cables can reach their ports. Connect the cables and slide the drive in until the metal tab pops up. To remove the power supply, first disconnect the ribbon cable that leads to the motherboard at the rear right of the system and the cables leading to the fan and switch housing on the left side of the system. Also remove any power cables leading to any disk drives present. Next, undo the clasp located at the reaf left side of the system. Move the metal tab located at the same place toward the rear of the computer. Finally, lift the powersupply upward on the left side and pull it off the system at a forty five degree angle. It can be placed back on by following the exact opposite directions. To remove the motherboard, first disconnect the ribbon cablethat leads to the power supply. If present, disconnect the hard disk cable. Then disconnect any floppy cables. Next, loosen the four thumb screws using your hands or a dime or penny. Finally, pull on the rear plastic panel and slide the motherboard with daughterboards out. To replace the motherboard, simply follow the steps backwards. 103 What kind of disks does the Rainbow use? The Rainbow makes use of Digital's RX50 format. These disks are single sided 5.25" floppies with a capacity of about 398Kbytes. The disk format is not readable on an IBM clone without the help of software. 104 Why am I inserting disks upside down? The RX50 floppy drive has been called Digital's "attmept at elegance." The dual disk drive makes use of a single spindle and head to read disks inserted in either the upper or lower drive. Since RX50 floppies are single sided, the head merely reads the underside of the disk. The upper disk is inserted normally and the bottom side is read. To read the bottom side of the lower disk, it must be inserted upside down. 105 How can I install more memory? To install more memory, you need the Memory Extension Board. The board was initially offered with the 100B model. The board will accept 64Kbit or 256Kbit 80ns RAM chips in groups of nine. The memory extension board contains 3 banks of 9 chips. Each bank must be filled with all 64Kbit or 256Kbit chips, but the banks do not all have to be the same. The layout of the board is: /---------------------------------------------------------------------------\ | XXXXX | XXXXX XXXXX EEEEEEE {{{3}}} {{{3}}} {{{2}}} {{{2}}} {{{1}}}| | | | XXXXX XXXXX SSSS XXXXX RRRRRR {{{3}}} {{{3}}} {{{2}}} {{{2}}} {{{1}}}| | | |XXXXXX | XXXXX | XXXXX RRRRRR {{{3}}} {{{3}}} {{{2}}} {{{2}}} {{{1}}}| | | | | XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX _______ XXXXX {{{3}}} {{{2}}} {{{1}}} {{{1}}}| | | | XXXXX | XXXXX |R XXXXXXX C| XXXXXXX {{{3}}} {{{2}}} {{{1}}} {{{1}}}| | |C| | | JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ |C | XXXXX {{{3}}} {{{2}}} {{{1}}} {{{1}}}| \---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ The {{{#}}} indicates a socket in that respective bank. If a bank is filled with 256Kbit chips, the switch with that number must be turned on. If the bank is filled with 64Kbit chips, the switch with the same number as the bank must be turned off. If there are no memory chips in one bank, the switch for that bank must be turned off. Switch 4 is always turned on. Current memory size can be found by pressing set-up (F3) on Rainbow 100Bs and 100+s. 106 Is this a standard serial port? Yes. The Rainbow has a standard RS-232 25 pin serial port. The serial port is only capable of speeds up to 19200 bits per second. It is accessible as AUX: , but some programs recognize it as COM1:. 107 What types of printers does my Rainbow use? The Rainbow 100 uses serial printers, not parallel printers. The port is an EIA RS-423 and RS-232-C and CCITT V.28 compliant port. Probably the most popular printer for use with the Rainbow is the DEC LA50, although the more advanced LA75 should also work. Other DEC printers that will work are LQP02 and the LA100. It is theoretically possible to connect a LN03 laser printer also. The printer port pinouts are as follows: Pin Name Signal Description 1 PROT Protective Chassis Ground GND ground 2 TXD Transmitted Data transmitted to the Data (Input) Rainbow computer 3 RXD Received Data Data transmitted from the (Output) Rainbow computer 5 CTS Clear to Send Always on 6 DSR Data Set Ready Upon power-up, Rainbow turns this signal on 7 SGND Signal Ground Common ground for all signals 20 DTR Data Terminal Indicates printer status. If Ready printer turns this off, Rainbow stops sending chars to printer. When printer turns on DTR, Rainbow sends chars to printer. Any pins not listed are not used by the Rainbow 100. 108 What type of video port is this? The Rainbow's video port is DEC's proprietary standard. It is meant for connection to a VR201 or VR241 monitor. The video port pinouts are as follows: Pin Signal 1 Red Shield Ground 2 Green Shield Ground 3 Blue Shield Ground 4 Mono Shield Ground 5 Ground 6 Ground 7 +12 volts 8 +12 volts 9 Blue Video 10 Green Video 11 Red Video 12 Mono Video 13 not used 14 Data from Keyboard to CPU 15 Data from CPU to Keyboard The color signals are only present if the Rainbow Color/Graphics Option is installed. 109 What type of graphics does it have? First of all, not all Rainbow 100s have graphics capability. The graphics option is contained on a daughter board shipped with some Rainbows. The Rainbow's graphics card was very advanced in its time. It had a maximum resolution of 800 by 240 with 2 planes. The Rainbow can display up to four unique colors in this mode chosen from a pallette of 4096 colors. In medium resolution mode, the maximum resolution was 384 by 240 pixels with 4 planes. The Rainbow could display up to 16 unique colors from a pallette of 4096 colors. The graphics card also had additional features, including smooth horizontal and vertical scrolling, a pattern generator/multiplier, and read-back ability. The pattern generator/multiplier was capable of tiling and provifding textures for graphics and lines. The read- back feature allowed the computer to read the current planes shown back into memory, mainly for diagnostic purposes. Many complained about how difficult it was to program the hardware. The card contained hardware-level line drawing functions and other graphics primitives that were only present later in graphics accelerators on PC for CAD and later, for Windows. To test for the graphics option, one can either look physically or use software to check. After removing the motherboard, the graphics option should be a daughter board located at the rear right side of the board. Also, one can use the program OPTION, which tests your Rainbow for various hardware options installed. The program can be found at b61984.cwru.edu/pub/rainbow/dos_soft/utils. 110 Can I attach two monitors to my Rainbow? Yes, you actually can. When the graphics option is present, the Rainbow is capable of operating with two monitors. According to the Rainbow Color/Graphics Option Programmer's Reference, the Rainbow's hardware is capbable of controlling both a color monitor and a mono monitor simuiltaneously. The Rainbow's pinouts also seem to suggest this. If two monitors are connected, the Rainbow routes all graphics to the color monitor, while sending all text to the monochrome monitor. Sadly, DEC never made a cable to take advantage of this feature, but one can be easily built. 111 Can I attach a hard disk to my Rainbow? Yes, the Rainbow can have a hard disk. In order to connect one, you must have a hard disk controller. Two hard disk contollers were made for the Rainbow 100: Digital's own controller and the Micro/CHS Dual Hard Disk controller. Digital's own controller supports one MFM hard disk up to 80 MegaBytes in size. It connects only to MFM drives using the ST-506 interface. The Micro/CHS controller supports two MFM hard disks. The Micro/CHS controller is extremely rare. The hard drive controller is attached at the front right of the motherboard and uses two front-most expansion ports. The problem with Digital's controller is that it uses a proprietary cable to attach to the hard disk. The ST-506 interface uses two card-edge connectors and usually makes use of two separate cables. The Rainbow uses only one cable which splits into the two connectors. The following letter written by an unknown source describes how to build your own cable and the problems surrounding Digital's cable: I followed the schematics for making a new cable and compared with the original one. All connections were the same, *but* on the original cable two lines had quite a remarkable resistance (pin 10 and 12 on the big disk-connector). The two lines are signals from the disk called 'track 00' and 'write fault'. No wonder it didn't work properly !! So, I made myself a new cable and installed a ST-225 disk. I installed MS-DOS, CCP/M-86, Windows, lots of utility programs and some games. No problems that far... Using the disk for a couple of days, convinced me it worked properly. Therefore I installed a 40Mb NEC D3142 disk (3.5", 615 cyl, 8 head) and uploaded almost every program I have on three partitions with MS-DOS 3.10b, CCP/M-86 and CP/M-80. The 'wutil 3.2' program did not report any bad sectors, nor did the 'Norton Disk Test'. Right now I have used the current setup for about a week, without any troubles what so ever. Here's the schematics: r = Red mark on flat ribbon cable. M = Mark on the connectors (for pin nr 1). o = PIN which is used. / = PIN not used, do NOT cut the cable line, it's the pin on the connector which is not used... Cut between as shown________________________________________ | | | | V V V V 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 FLAT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 RIBBON | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |_______ o o o o o o o o o o o o o o | | o o o o o o o o o o | | |________ \ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |_________ \ \ r | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |__________ \ \ to 20 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | \ \ pin card r | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | \ edge | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | connector r | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|________________ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |___|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|______________ | r | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 4 _1_|_3_|_5_|_7_|_9_|_1_|_3_|_____7_|_9_|_1_|_3_|_5_|_____________3_4_ |M | | 34 PIN CARD EDGE CONNECTOR | --------------------------------------------------------------------- The 20 pin card edge connector: 2 2 2 3 Cable line 7 8 9 0 numbers | | | | | | | | 1 1 | 1 1 | 1 2 ___2___4___6___8___0___2_|_4___6_|_8___0_ |M | o | o | | o o | ----------------------------------------- 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 5 7 9 1 3 5 7 9 Finally the 34 pin connector for the controller card, just make sure the mark on the cable is lined up with the nr 1 pin on the connector. 112 Why doesn't my >20MB hard disk work correctly? Look at question 108. It will explain the answer to this problem. 113 How can I read an IBM-formatted diskette on my Rainbow? One way is to format your IBM disk to single sided single density under MS-DOS. This gives you about 180Kbytes of disk space. To do this, you will need to run MEDIACHK (standard with most versions of MS-DOS for the Rainbow) with the ON switch, or type MEDIACHK ON at the DOS prompt. 114 How can I read this CP/M diskette? Unless it is a CP/M formatted RX50 diskette, you simply can't. No utility exists to make it possible. You can, however, convert it to RX50 CP/M standard on your IBM compatible using a wonderful program called 22DISK from Sydex. The program can read and write most CP/M formats. If you are attemepting to read an RX50 CP/M disk on your Rainbow, you should use RDCPM, a program shipped with most verions of MS-DOS for the Rainbow. The format is: RDCPM [OPTION] [DRIVE] [FILE] OPTION is either DIR, READ, or WRITE. DRIVE is the disk drive containing the CP/M diskette (this can also be a CP/M hard disk partition). FILE is the file to perform the operation on, whether it be for DIR (ex. *.DAT), READ, or WRITE. 115 How can I attach a 3.5 inch disk drive to my Rainbow? The Rainbow can actually handle double density 3.5 inch disk drives. To make this possible, you need one of two things: the Suitable Solutions upgrade kit for the Rainbow or IMPDRIVE by M. Warner Losh. The first is a lot harder to find, so you should probably rely on the latter. IMPDRIVE is available on the major Rainbow archive sites. It is considered shareware and the author request a small registration fee. The program allows the attachment of a 3.5" double density, a 5.25" double density, and a TEAC 55F 5.25" drives. The program is a simple driver that is placed in the the config.sys. The program works only under MS-DOS 3.10b. To connect the drive, you need a standard straight-through 34 pin cable. Just plug one end into the Rainbow floppy controller port (usually the C-D connector) and you're finished. To connect older 5.25" drives, you need a 34 pin to 34 card-edge straight-through cable. You can connect 2 drives at once, but you need to remember that the cable, which has two connectors, must be straight-through. 116 Can I attach a math coprocessor? Yes, the Rainbow can have an 8087 math coprocessor, but an expansion board is necessary. To install the 8087 daughterboard, you need to remove the memory expansion board and the hard drive controller if either is present. Then the 8088 CPU must be removed from its socket. No soldering should be required, since most Rainbow's 8088s sit in a chip socket. Next, plug the 8088 CPU into the CPU socket on the copreocessor board. The CPU socket is the one closest to the ribbon cable connector. Insert female female connector on the coprocessor daughterboard into the expansion port where the memory expansion card usually sits (between the hard drive expansion ports and the graphics expansion port). Finally, connect the ribbon cable (DEC part number 17-00662-01) to the 8088 CPU socket on the motherboard. If you have a hard drive controller, reconnect it to it's original expansion ports. I you have a memory expansion board, plug it into the connector atop the 8087 coprocessor board. 117 Are there any network boards available? Digital made a board for the Rainbow to allow it's connection to a DECNet network. The board was called the Extended Communications Option. The board was connected to the front rightmost expansion slot (one of the expansion ports used by the hard disk controller). A panel was then removed from the rear of the Rainbow, allowing access to a DECNet port and a second serial port. There were also rumors of a supposed EtherNet board. 118 Can I upgrade the CPU on my Rainbow? Yes, you can. The first and simplest upgrade is to a NEC V20 chip. The V20 is almost perfectly compatible with the 8088 except that it slightly faster. In order to successfully install one, you need to update the boot ROM on your Rainbow. The following text is taken from a text copyrighted by Carl W. Houseman in 1985 and outlines the ROM modifications: The rom modificatons should work for versions 04.03.11A of the 100A, and 05.03A of 100B/100+ boot firmware (the first number before the "." identifies the boot rom). However, subtle differences may exist in the boot rom without an external version number change, so before removing the rom, check for the correct version as follows: 1. Start DEBUG at the MS-DOS prompt 2. Enter one of the following DEBUG commands, depending on your system: 100A: 100B/100+: D FA00:1FFE 1FFF D F400:3FFE 3FFF 3. You should see: FA00:1FF0 91 B2 F400:3FF0 47 A0 (extra spaces in the display and trailing characters not shown here) If you have the correct version, you'll need a blank 2764 (100A) or 27128 (100B/100+) eprom for the copy, plus access to the following equipment: o A prom programmer/duplicator which allows specific prom locations to be changed for a duplicate operation o A small flat blade screwdriver o A chip extractor (preferred to a screwdriver for 100B/100+) o The Pocket Service Guide (EK-PC100-PS-002) or Technical Manual Addendum (EK-RB100-TM-001) Disassemble the system and remove the boot rom, being very careful with the socket in 100A systems as noted in the technical documentation. Set up the prom programmer to program the locations with data as indicated (all hexadecimal): 100A: 100B/100+: Location Data Location Data 043F 64 072F 64 067D 20 0B36 20 1FFE 2B 3FFE 1B 1FFF 70 3FFF 88 When you replace the 8088 with a V20, replace the boot rom at the same time. The modified rom will not work with the 8088 installed. As an addendum, for those who do not have any published hardware references, the boot ROM (or ROM 0) is the ROM closest to the front of the computer, or furthest from the Rainbow's external ports. Suitable Solutions released a board that allowed an upgrade to a 286. The expansion board, called the Turbow-286, was hard to find and probably plugged into the memory expansion board's port on the motherboard. The Windows 3.0 upgrade kit also came with a 286 upgrade board, but these are probably the most rare of the upgrades available. See question 204 for more information. 120 Is there any real-time clock available? Suitable Solutions released an upgrade in 1986 called ClikClok. The upgrade, which worked only in 100B's and 100+'s, involved the removal ROM 2 (closest to external video port) and the insertion of a tiny device containing a chip and a battery. The ROM was then placed on top of the ClikClok device. It was packaged with a driver program for MS-DOS which would update the system's clock to the ClikClok's time. The ClikClok is relatively rare. 201 Will all CP/M software run on my Rainbow? Probably. The Rainbow can run any strictly CP/M version 2.2 compatible software. The Rainbow will not run software designed specifically for use on a different system, but will run any generic CP/M program. 202 Will all MS-DOS software run on my Rainbow? Yes, all MS-DOS compatible software will run on a Rainbow provided that they do not require IBM or Tandy graphics. The Rainbow will not run IBM compatible software, however. 203 Is there any way I can run IBM compatible software? Yes, you can use the program Code Blue by Lower Falls Software. At this time, it appears that this program is being treated as freeware whether the authors like it or not. The last revision available is version 2.01. The program is capable of running most text programs available for the IBM PC. It will not run any programs that use graphics. WordPerfect v. 5.1 has been tested under it and is perhaps the program's greatest use. The program is available for download at ftp.update.uu.se/pub/rainbow/msdos/cb/. 204 Can I run Microsoft Windows on my Rainbow? Yes, you can. Most people are surprised to hear that Digital modified MS-Windows version 1.03 to run on its Rainbow. It appears similar to the version created for the VAXmate. Windows operates in high resolution mode, therfore allowing only 4 colors. When Microsft Windows 1 was released, it was released on some varied platforms. All software designed to run under Micrsoft Windows 1 could run on any system that could run Windows 1. This means that _any_ software for Microsoft Windows 1 will work on the Rainbow 100. Nobody is currently sure how to connect a mouse to a Rainbow for use in Microsoft Windows 1. Some people have said that you must connect a mouse to the printer port. No documentation seems to exist since Windows was not pushed during the 1980s. In the 1990s at some point, a Canadian firm introduced the Microsoft Windows 3.0 upgrade kit for the Rainbow. The package contained a 286 daughterboard that was connected between the memory expansion daughterboard and the motherboard. The firm also packaged with the board a special version of Windows that was modified for the Rainbow's hardware. The package has been apparently lost forever from the Rainbow community since nobody seems to have it. 205 What word processors are availble for the Rainbow? For CP/M: Program Description Wordstar Favorite of many users. Popular file format. Well-known interface. Select Extremely simple to use. Menu-driven system. No underline, bold, or italics possible. WPS-80 Some keyboards have this system's commands already printed on them. For DOS: Program Description Select Same description as CP/M version. Samna Word Very powerful. (Later became Ami Pro) WPS Plus Similar to WPS-80 except better user interface. Wordperfect Most modern. Up to version 5.1 possible using Code Blue. Most powerful of word processors available. Still protected by copyright owners. WordStar Same description as CP/M version. Many other word processors are theoretically possible under Code Blue. 206 What spreadsheets are available? For CP/M: Program Description VisiCalc A standard at one point in time. Multiplan For DOS: Program Description Lotus 123 R1 Most powerful. Some modern PC spreadsheets can load these old ones w/o any problems. Lotus 123 R2 Rumored in the testing phase. Similar to R1. Could take advantage of the 8087 math coprocessor if present. SuperCalc Shipped with Borland Turbo Pascal. Under- powered. Operates like 123. If you have trouble trying to load Lotus 123 Release 1 files into your modern spreadsheets (ex. MS Excel), first get a program called As-Easy-As, a shareware spreadsheet for IBM MS-DOS, load the R1 file, and resave in Lotus 123 Release 2 format. Most spreadsheets can read this file type. 207 What graphics software is available? For CP/M: Program Description GSX/RGI The Rainbow Graphics Interpretter is a hands- on program for accessing GSX. Command-driven. For DOS: Program Description UTE From Dover Graphics. An impressive drawing system. Powerful options. BeccaSketch A little drawing program running through GW-BASIC. Good for children. AutoCAD 1 Early AutoCAD version. MacCAD McDonnell Douglas's proprietary CAD software. Similar to AutoCAD. Overhead Presentation software. Text-driven. Express Good for all-text presentations. For MS-Windows 1: Program Description MS-PAINT Standard Windows paint program. Unusable without mouse. In-A-Vision Powerful computer aided drawing program. Very difficult without a mouse. 208 What communications softare is available? Built-in: Program Description Terminal mode Terminal mode can be entered by pressing T at the Rainbow's startup menu. This mode is directly configured in Set-Up (F3). Does not allow any disk access. For CP/M: Program Description Smartcom Communications software from Hayes Kermit There are versions of this protocol and terminal softare for CP/M. Poly-comm Polygon Associates' communications programs, including Poly-TRM and Poly-XFR, an obsolete terminal program and transfer protocol respectively. For MS-DOS: Program Description Poly-TRM & Small and simple communications software, Poly-XFR the former being a terminal system and the latter being an obsolete transfer protocol. LCTerm Small communications suite. Allows Xmodem and Kermit transfers Kermit-MS Last version released for the Rainbow was 2.31. Allows for Kermit transfers. BinkleyTerm Usually used as a front-end mailer for FidoNet compatible systems, BinkleyTerm comes with a powerful dumb terminal mode. Allows Xmodem, Zmodem, Telink, and SEAlink transfers. Last version capable of running on a Rainbow was 2.40. Requires FOSSIL drivers. 209 How can I make this hard disk usable? After you have installed you hard drive (see question 112), you need to partition and format it. The best utility available is WUTIL. The latest version is 3.2. This freely available program allows for initializing and low-level formatting of any type of MFM hard disk (provided that you know its characteristics) and the subsequent partitioning. WUTIL can create bootable partitions for CP/M-86/80, MS-DOS, Concurrent CP/M-86, and VENIX/Rainbow. It cannot create a p-System partition. WUTIL is available at ftp.update.uu.se/pub/rainbow/msdos/latrobe/w/ Remember, however, that if you have a Rainbow 100A, you will not be able to boot from the hard disk. If WUTIL returns errors while initializing your hard disk, do not panic. If your hard disk is over 20 megabytes and you are using DEC's HD cable, you need to see question 112. Digital also had it's own initializing program, called the Winchester Utility. You should probably forget about Digital's own and use WUTIL, which is much more versatile. 210 Can I defragment my Rainbow's hard disk? A shareware utility exists called the Disk Organizer (or DOG) by G. Allen Morris III. The utility operates on any MS-DOS system and, therefore, runs on the Rainbow. It has been tested and run successfully on the Rainbow. The author does warn, however, that he is not responsible for data loss due to his program. The program asks for a registration fee from $5.00 to $30.00. The most recent version is 2.06. 211 What diagnostics are available? For complete system diagnostics, there is the Rainbow's self-test and the 100B diagnostics. The self-test is very useful, but not very detailed. The 100B diagnostics are more thorough and descriptive. The 100B diagnostics are available at ftp.update.uu.se/pub/rainbow/misc For memory testing, you can rely on the self-test, which usually finds any errors, or you can use the PC100 Memory Utility. It is available at (currently unavailable) For graphics testing and picture alignment, you can use a program called the PC100 Graphics Option Daignostics. This tests the option's capabilities and allows for picture tube alignment. The program is available at (currently unavailable) For hard disk diagnostics, you can either rely on MS-DOS's chkdsk or you can use an early version of Norton Disk Test, which comes with the PC version of the Norton Utilities. To test the entire drive, including CP/M partitions, use WUTIL. 301 How can I read Rainbow disks on an IBM PC? To read your CP/M disks on PC, you should use the program 22DISK from Sydex. The program is shareware available from the Simtel archives. It allows for reading and writing files to most CP/M formats, including the Rainbow's RX50 diskettes. To read your MS-DOS diskettes, you have two options. The first is a utility from Digital called RX50DRVR, which is a TSR allowing for RX50 to be read in any 1.2 megabyte floppy drive. The second is Sydex's RainDOS, which works similarly. RainDOS is shareware and a registration fee is requested. 399 About this FAQ This Frequently Asked Questions file is maintained by Jeff Armstrong (jba4@po.cwru.edu). It is property of the public domain and nobody may claim copyright to the preceding file. All trademarks, registered or not, are property of their respective companies. Any copyrighted materials quoted in this file are property of their owners. This file is not to be used for profit and any copyrighted information included here is used only for the betterment of others. Some information included here was provided by: Tom Karlsson Digital Equipment Corporation Carl W. Housemann This FAQ was created partly in SEDT version 4.1 on a DEC Rainbow 100B with winchester option. Also used was Vision Edit version 2.1 on a Zentih 8088 laptop and Microsoft Edit (for merging files) on a GT Pentium 100 system. Special thanks to the following contributors: Mark Tapley Ed Chapman Gary Armstrong