INFO-VAX Fri, 26 Jan 2007 Volume 2007 : Issue 51 Contents: FA: Digital DEC KBD01-AA Diagnostics Console & DF112 Modem Re: Help with Brand NEW ES47 Re: How to get the codec from a file ? Re: Kermit Large File Support Re: Kermit Large File Support Re: Kermit Large File Support Re: Kermit Large File Support Re: Kermit Large File Support Re: Kermit Large File Support Re: Kermit Large File Support MI5 Persecution: BBC's Hidden Shame 4/5/95 (179) MI5 Persecution: Surveillance methods 5/8/95 (5609) RE: New HP Daylight Savings Time ( DST ) Web Site Re: PL/I for Itanium Re: Pulling a Web Page ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2007 05:25:21 GMT From: Jeff Shirley Subject: FA: Digital DEC KBD01-AA Diagnostics Console & DF112 Modem Message-ID: <5hguh.19015$X72.17789@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net> Greetings. I have just listed the following items on Ebay, in case anyone is interested. The item number is 220075848382, and the description is below. The starting bid is $4.99. Jeff. ---------- This auction is for a Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) KBD01-AA Remote Diagnostics Console and DF112 Modem. The KBD01-AA contains what looks like a 3-slot dual-wide Q-bus, and the power supply looks like what is used in a VT103. The following cards are installed: M7364 KBD01 Memory Module M7365 KBD01 I/O Module M7366 KBD01 CPU Control (8085 processor) Please note that these units have not been tested, so bid accordingly. They are clean, and appear to be in good condition. Shipping weight will be around 25 pounds, and the items would ship from 91773. -- Jeff Shirley spam-taco@mindspring.com "Bill Gates is filthy rich, but that doesn't mean I want to be married to him." ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 15:29:11 -0500 From: "Island Computers, D B Turner" Subject: Re: Help with Brand NEW ES47 Message-ID: <12ri4ofrbngngdb@news.supernews.com> Thanks That fixed the problem Also HP left the ES80 Jumper in so I was pulling teeth trying to figure out why it came up as an ES80 too Seems J25 jumper on I/O Board is off for ES47 and on for ES80 DT -- Island Computers US Corp 2700 Gregory St Savannah GA 31404 Tel: 912 447 6622 x201 Mail: dturner-atnospam-islandco-com (You know what to do with the dashes) "JF Mezei" wrote in message news:45b7d155$0$23511$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com... > Island Computers, D B Turner wrote: > > supposed to be Unix > > We "assumed" that you just change the os_type and boot_osflags to Unix but > > they are not taking > > You need to store those commands in the "nvram" file > > >>> edit nvram > *10 set os_type unix > *20 set boot_osflags xxxx > *exit > > This saves those commands in non volatile memory. "nvram" is executed > whenever the system is powered up or re-initialised. You can enter any SRM > commands in that file, but do not enter a "boot" command nor an initialise > command because you can get into infinite loops. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 20:12:20 -0600 From: David J Dachtera Subject: Re: How to get the codec from a file ? Message-ID: <45B96384.C30C047@spam.comcast.net> "Klaus-D. Bohn" wrote: > > Sorry, but this is not enough for me. > > For me is more important wich characterset has the file. > > I need these information. Look for this examples: > > iso8859_1 > koi8_r > cp1258 > johab_hangul Well, in VMSland, at least, the answer is typically "all of the above". Remember: this is not intrinsic to any filesystem. On UN*X and Windows, all files are no more or less than a stream of bytes. UN*X delimits records by line-feeds, Windows delimits record by either line-feeds or carriage-return+line-feed pairs. On VMS, there are multiple file organizations, record formats (including UN*X format (Stream_LF) and Windows format (Stream)) and record attributes (See HELP SET FILE /ATTRIBUTES). In both cases, however, the file content is entirely transparent to the o.s. - it doesn't care. The "file" utility you mention is apparently part of larger layer that sits ON TOP OF the o.s. It is in THAT layer that the question must be addressed. -- David J Dachtera dba DJE Systems http://www.djesys.com/ Unofficial OpenVMS Marketing Home Page http://www.djesys.com/vms/market/ Unofficial Affordable OpenVMS Home Page: http://www.djesys.com/vms/soho/ Unofficial OpenVMS-IA32 Home Page: http://www.djesys.com/vms/ia32/ Unofficial OpenVMS Hobbyist Support Page: http://www.djesys.com/vms/support/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 15:10:39 -0500 From: JF Mezei Subject: Re: Kermit Large File Support Message-ID: <45b90ee6$0$6230$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com> Paul Sture wrote: > According to the "VMS at 20" Book (1997), 64 bit system services came > with V7.1 in December 1996. However, this doesn't mean that the file system structures were modified at that time to enable the use of very large files. In other words, when did 64 bit versions of FAB and RAB come into existance ? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 15:08:54 -0600 (CST) From: sms@antinode.org (Steven M. Schweda) Subject: Re: Kermit Large File Support Message-ID: <07012515085494_2020028F@antinode.org> From: JF Mezei > Paul Sture wrote: > > According to the "VMS at 20" Book (1997), 64 bit system services came > > with V7.1 in December 1996. > > However, this doesn't mean that the file system structures were modified at > that time to enable the use of very large files. In other words, when did > 64 bit versions of FAB and RAB come into existance ? Who needs 64-bit pointers to do I/O with a large file? Hint: How big can your file be if you address it by 512-byte blocks, and you use a 32-bit (signed, say) integer to specify the block? For that matter, who needs 64-bit system services, either? For a program written in C, like, say, C-Kermit, the capabilities of the C run-time library may be important. In this respect, there's some version conditionality in DECC$TYPES.H, including this hint: # if defined(_LARGEFILE) # error " Support for large files not available before OpenVMS Alpha V7.2" # endif ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Steven M. Schweda sms@antinode-org 382 South Warwick Street (+1) 651-699-9818 Saint Paul MN 55105-2547 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 21:38:29 -0500 From: =?windows-1252?Q?Arne_Vajh=F8j?= Subject: Re: Kermit Large File Support Message-ID: <45b9699b$0$49202$14726298@news.sunsite.dk> JF Mezei wrote: > Paul Sture wrote: >> According to the "VMS at 20" Book (1997), 64 bit system services came >> with V7.1 in December 1996. > > However, this doesn't mean that the file system structures were modified > at that time to enable the use of very large files. In other words, > when did 64 bit versions of FAB and RAB come into existance ? The capability to use 64 bit addresses to system services must have come with the 64 bit support. The RAB64 block. I do not know if and when support for larger files where added. It has not relationship to 64 bit addresses. And is not as needed as on Windows and Unix (VMS are not byte oriented but block oriented and 32 bit signed/unsigned block counter is 1TB/2TB). A quick look in the VMS FAQ finds: "9.6 What is the maximum file size, and the RMS record size limit? RMS can store individual files of a size up to the maximum supported volume size. Under OpenVMS V6.0 and later, the volume size and the RMS maximum file size limit is 2**31 * 512 bytes—one terabyte (1 TB)." which indicates that it has not been increased. Arne ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 21:42:26 -0500 From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Arne_Vajh=F8j?= Subject: Re: Kermit Large File Support Message-ID: <45b96a86$0$49202$14726298@news.sunsite.dk> Steven M. Schweda wrote: > Who needs 64-bit pointers to do I/O with a large file? Hint: How big > can your file be if you address it by 512-byte blocks, and you use a > 32-bit (signed, say) integer to specify the block? > > For that matter, who needs 64-bit system services, either? 64 bit is about memory addresses not about disk addresses. And guess what: some people actually like to be able to call system services with data they have in P2 space. > For a program written in C, like, say, C-Kermit, the capabilities of > the C run-time library may be important. In this respect, there's some > version conditionality in DECC$TYPES.H, including this hint: > > # if defined(_LARGEFILE) > # error " Support for large files not available before OpenVMS Alpha V7.2" > # endif That is not a VMS thingy. It is a C thingy. C (thanks to its Unix heritage) is byte oriented not block oriented. So C needed a change to go above 2/4 GB. Arne ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 21:05:47 -0600 (CST) From: sms@antinode.org (Steven M. Schweda) Subject: Re: Kermit Large File Support Message-ID: <07012521054714_2020028F@antinode.org> From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Arne_Vajh=F8j?= > Steven M. Schweda wrote: > > Who needs 64-bit pointers to do I/O with a large file? Hint: How big > > can your file be if you address it by 512-byte blocks, and you use a > > 32-bit (signed, say) integer to specify the block? > > > > For that matter, who needs 64-bit system services, either? > > 64 bit is about memory addresses not about disk addresses. > > And guess what: some people actually like to be able to call > system services with data they have in P2 space. And guess what: I was still talking about large file I/O, which was the original subject. I have no objection in general to using 64-bit addresses with system services. > > For a program written in C, like, say, C-Kermit, the capabilities of > > the C run-time library may be important. In this respect, there's some > > version conditionality in DECC$TYPES.H, including this hint: > > > > # if defined(_LARGEFILE) > > # error " Support for large files not available before OpenVMS Alpha V7.2" > > # endif > > That is not a VMS thingy. It is a C thingy. It's a VMS C (DEC/Compaq/HP C) thing. > C (thanks to its Unix heritage) is byte oriented not block oriented. > > So C needed a change to go above 2/4 GB. A C change. Wow. Look at that _LARGEFILE macro. Do you think that it might be related? This horse _is_ dead, right? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Steven M. Schweda sms@antinode-org 382 South Warwick Street (+1) 651-699-9818 Saint Paul MN 55105-2547 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 22:26:32 -0500 From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Arne_Vajh=F8j?= Subject: Re: Kermit Large File Support Message-ID: <45b974dd$0$49199$14726298@news.sunsite.dk> Steven M. Schweda wrote: > From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Arne_Vajh=F8j?= >> Steven M. Schweda wrote: >>> Who needs 64-bit pointers to do I/O with a large file? Hint: How big >>> can your file be if you address it by 512-byte blocks, and you use a >>> 32-bit (signed, say) integer to specify the block? >>> >>> For that matter, who needs 64-bit system services, either? >> 64 bit is about memory addresses not about disk addresses. >> >> And guess what: some people actually like to be able to call >> system services with data they have in P2 space. > > And guess what: I was still talking about large file I/O, which was > the original subject. I have no objection in general to using 64-bit > addresses with system services. You wrote: "For that matter, who needs 64-bit system services, either" is that about large files ???? >>> For a program written in C, like, say, C-Kermit, the capabilities of >>> the C run-time library may be important. In this respect, there's some >>> version conditionality in DECC$TYPES.H, including this hint: >>> >>> # if defined(_LARGEFILE) >>> # error " Support for large files not available before OpenVMS Alpha V7.2" >>> # endif >> That is not a VMS thingy. It is a C thingy. > > It's a VMS C (DEC/Compaq/HP C) thing. On VMS yes. Other platforms has had to make similar changes. >> C (thanks to its Unix heritage) is byte oriented not block oriented. >> >> So C needed a change to go above 2/4 GB. > > A C change. Wow. Look at that _LARGEFILE macro. Do you think that > it might be related? Ofcourse. Anything indicating otherwise ? Arne ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 22:02:13 -0600 (CST) From: sms@antinode.org (Steven M. Schweda) Subject: Re: Kermit Large File Support Message-ID: <07012522021350_2020028F@antinode.org> From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Arne_Vajh=F8j?= > >> Steven M. Schweda wrote: > >>> Who needs 64-bit pointers to do I/O with a large file? Hint: How big > >>> can your file be if you address it by 512-byte blocks, and you use a > >>> 32-bit (signed, say) integer to specify the block? > >>> > >>> For that matter, who needs 64-bit system services, either? > >> 64 bit is about memory addresses not about disk addresses. > >> > >> And guess what: some people actually like to be able to call > >> system services with data they have in P2 space. > > > > And guess what: I was still talking about large file I/O, which was > > the original subject. I have no objection in general to using 64-bit > > addresses with system services. > > You wrote: > > "For that matter, who needs 64-bit system services, either" > > is that about large files ???? Yes. Didn't you read the Subject line? I did. Haven't you done file I/O using SYS$QIO[W]? I have. That _is_ a system service, isn't it? Or am I confused? No, I don't think so. > >> That is not a VMS thingy. It is a C thingy. > > > > It's a VMS C (DEC/Compaq/HP C) thing. > > On VMS yes. Around here, a VMS C thing is a VMS thing. > Other platforms has had to make similar changes. Interestingly, not Tru64. And those other platforms had other-platform C things, which were other-platform things. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Steven M. Schweda sms@antinode-org 382 South Warwick Street (+1) 651-699-9818 Saint Paul MN 55105-2547 ------------------------------ Date: 25 Jan 2007 20:15:25 GMT From: MI5Victim@mi5.gov.uk Subject: MI5 Persecution: BBC's Hidden Shame 4/5/95 (179) Message-ID: Date: Thu May 4 18:27:24 1995 Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy Subject: BBC's Hidden Shame Remember the two-way televisions in George Orwell's 1984? The ones which watched you back? Which you could never get rid of, only the sound could be turned down? Well the country which brought Orwell into the world has made his nightmare follow into the world after him. Since 1990 the British have been waging war against one of their own citizens using surveillance to invade privacy and a campaign of abuse in the transmitted media in their efforts to humiliate their "victim". And the most remarkable thing about it is that what they do is not even illegal - the UK has no laws to protect the privacy of its citizens, nor does it proscribe harassment or abuse except in the case of racial abuse. A lot of people in England know this to be going on, yet so far they have maintained perfect "omerta"; not a sound, not a squeak has escaped into the English press, and for all the covert harassment absolutely nothing has come out into the public domain. Have the British gone mad? I think we should be told. ------------------------------- From: "Mr.B" Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy Subject: Re: BBC's Hidden Shame Date: Mon May 8 05:32:13 1995 Mmmm. Who, exactly is this victim you're talking about? First up, Britain or the UK (not 'England' - England is a part of Britain, like Kansas is a part of the USA) does have laws that protect the individual from harassement - you can't just threaten people willy nilly. There are laws against that. And if someone lies about you in the press or tv then you have recourse to libel/slander etc. laws. True, Britain has no 'privacy' laws as such, but isn't that a good thing? As of this moment, the govt. are considering a privacy law, but it is unlikely to succeed. Why? Because any such law would benefit the priviledged and those in power. Privacy laws, while supposedly protecting the individual, help those in power hide their mistakes/scandals. They stop the press etc. investigating. Privacy laws are undemocratic - they prevent the people from keeping an eye on govt. And stop looking for some kinda conspiracy in the British press. It's hardly perfect, but your notion that they don't cover/campaign against press legislation, harrassment, discrimination, human rights etc. is plain wrong. You've never seen a British paper in yr life. You clearly have a specific case/individual in mind. Speak up! The thought police aren't coming round just yet. Douglas. ------------------------------- Date: Mon May 8 19:21:28 1995 Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy Subject: Re: BBC's Hidden Shame Confession time - the victim is/was me (except my name isn't Corley, but that's irrelevant). What happened was not threats; just invasion of privacy, in a partiicularly flagrant and shocking way, in a way which most people would consider to constitute harassment. You know there's a particular category of person with mental illness to whom TV and radio "talk", ie they feel the broadcast is directed at them in particular? This happpened to me, quite some time ago in the UK (I'm originally from London, so I've seen plenty of British media print and other). They invaded my home with their bugs, they repeated what I was saying in the privacy of my home, and they laughed that it was "so funny", that I was impotent and could not even communicate what was going on. Who did this? Our friends on BBC television, our friends in ITN, last but not least our friends in Capital Radio in London and on Radio 1. How did they do this? I'll give you an example. About a year ago, I was listening to Chris Tarrant (Capital Radio DJ among other pursuits) on his radio morning show, when he said, talking about someone he didn't identify, "you know this bloke? he says we're trying to kill him. We should be done for attempted manslaughter" which mirrored something I had said a day or two before (I'm not paranoid, honest!). Now that got broadcast to the whole of London - if any recordings are kept of the shows then it'll be there. 179 -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com ------------------------------ Date: 25 Jan 2007 21:28:12 GMT From: MI5Victim@mi5.gov.uk Subject: MI5 Persecution: Surveillance methods 5/8/95 (5609) Message-ID: From: Pamela Willoughby Newsgroups: uk.misc Date: Sat, 05 Aug 1995 18:08:32 GMT Organization: Myorganisation Lines: 15 Message-ID: <142297143wnr@willouby.demon.co.uk> >Hmmm, strange eh. >I mentioned all this goings on to my boyfriend, who works for the >British intelligence service, and he assures me this sort of thing >never goes on.. not ever...honest. >Though he said the name was familiar... it does go on, although it's an open question who does it. Some time ago there were press reports of an Army intelligence person called Jones who claimed Diana and Hewitt had been photographed in a compromising position... he said he'd been doing this as part of an Army unit which had previously operated in Northern Ireland. Then Hewitt said he'd been told the same thing by some Army people, and that they were threatening to release the tapes unless they curtailed their liaison... as per usual everyone denied everything, painted Jones as the "Jones twins" - not very original in how they deal with their perceived enemies, are they? You have to wonder how they manage to achieve this sort of surveillance though. Audio you can understand, it's possible to put a microphone through the wall, and apparently there exist devices which will retrieve sound from a laser beam bounced off a window - sounds sci-fi, but there's a well known surveillance electronics company in London which sells these things. But how would you get video out of a room, unless you had actual physical access in order to plant a device for pickup? We're not talking about looking in from afar, but an actual device within the room. You could either drill through the wall and shove a pickup through; or you could supply a trojan device with a hidden pickup inside; but most likely, you would have to physically break into your target room to plant a camera. That's not an infeasible option; all it means is having your target(s) watched to make sure they're not in the vicinity, then you negotiate any locks on the property and find a suitable receptacle for your device. The next question is how they defeat the usual methods of counter- surveillance. We had private detectives carry out a "sweep" of every room and the telephone line. They found nothing. That indicates at least four possibilities that I can think of; (this is all guesswork BTW, and probably fanciful guesswork at that!) 1) no bugs (pull the other one) 2) radio-transmitting devices which can be controlled from an external source, ie you can instruct them to switch off when you detect a counter-surveillance sweep taking place 3) hard-wired devices; probe microphones or whatever they're called, things you poke through the wall 4) passive surveillance devices; so you bounce laser or radio waves off a suitable reflecting surface (again, sounds far-fetched but such things may apparently exist). 5) there is a fifth possibility, that the PI's didn't detect an actual transmitting device; there are technologies specifically designed to avoid detection, eg frequency hopping and suchlike. But how much sophistication could you build in to a device which would have to be small enough to be physically concealable? I guess the real question is to find out who is ultimately behind these "goings on". And if the "great and good" (or the better known, at any rate) can't protect themselves, what hope is there for the rest of us? 5609 -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 22:55:47 -0500 From: "Main, Kerry" Subject: RE: New HP Daylight Savings Time ( DST ) Web Site Message-ID: > -----Original Message----- > From: Doug Phillips [mailto:dphill46@netscape.net]=20 > Sent: January 25, 2007 12:46 PM > To: Info-VAX@Mvb.Saic.Com > Subject: Re: New HP Daylight Savings Time ( DST ) Web Site >=20 >=20 >=20 > On Jan 24, 6:54 am, "Main, Kerry" wrote: > > All, > > > > The following cross platform HP web site may be of interest=20 > for those > > planning for the new US based DST changes. > > > > http://h10072.www1.hp.com/dst/ > > > > This web site is meant to be a collection point for HP hardware, > > software, storage, networking and management software=20 > patches required. > > >=20 > That page says 2007 US DST ends Second Sunday in November, 4 November > 2007. Maybe someone should fix that soon and maybe such=20 > articles should > be proof-read before they're posted. >=20 Unless I am missing something, it says the first Sun in Nov - Nov 4, 2007. Was this already fixed or am I not looking at the right section on the page? Thx Kerry Main Senior Consultant HP Services Canada Voice: 613-592-4660 Fax: 613-591-4477 kerryDOTmainAThpDOTcom (remove the DOT's and AT)=20 OpenVMS - the secure, multi-site OS that just works. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 15:44:55 -0500 From: "Richard B. Gilbert" Subject: Re: PL/I for Itanium Message-ID: Tom Linden wrote: > On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 19:57:11 -0800, Richard B. Gilbert > wrote: > >> David J Dachtera wrote: >> >>> Larry Kilgallen wrote: >>> >>>> [snip] >>>> >>>> posted by Tom Linden of Kednos (the company that provides PL/I on VAX >>>> and Alpha). >>>> >>>>> p.s. Any word on PL/I for Itanium VMS? >>>> >>>> >>>> No. Do you need it? If so have you told HP? >>> >>> Did anyone actually need to be told that "the world" needed: >>> - personal computers? >>> - Microwave ovens? >>> - laptop computers? >>> - flat-screen (non-CRT) displays? >>> - cell phones? >>> - broadband internet access? >>> - iPods? >>> - cars and trucks that generate their own energy using no petroleum >>> products? >>> (oh wait - we don't have those yet, either!) >>> >> >> I haven't seen a PL/I compiler on ANY platform in the last thirteen >> years. That doesn't mean that there aren't any but it suggests that >> PL/I is not widely used. It tried to be all things to all men and, I >> suspect, it wasn't the best at ANYTHING! > > > You are correct, it is not widely used on VMS any more, although it is > still used by many of HP's biggets VMS customers. On z/OS it is > widely used. > > You don't know PL/I. I DID know PL/I. That was twenty-five years ago. I took a course offered by the Princeton University Computer Center (I worked for the University at the time) and wrote a couple of programs for the IBM mainframe. Then the laboratory I worked in bought an HP minicomputer system (2100MXE running RTE-III, and, later RTE-IV). The mini only had a Fortran compiler. We started using the HP for nearly everything. That was the end of my PL/I usage. ------------------------------ Date: 25 Jan 2007 13:20:09 -0600 From: kuhrt.nospammy@encompasserve.org (Marty Kuhrt) Subject: Re: Pulling a Web Page Message-ID: In article , Stephen Hoffman writes: > lskphone@gmail.com wrote: >> I'd like to be able to pull the contents of a web page in DCL. I just >> want the full HTML... I'm planning on parsing it out myself. It would >> be nice if I could use OPEN on a web page. :-) Of course, barring >> that, if I can dump the HTML to a sequential file somehow, then I'll >> just OPEN that. >> >> Any ideas how I can do this? > > Ok; time to add this one into the next edition of the OpenVMS FAQ. > > You likely don't really want to write a web client in DCL. (A web > client written in DCL is, um, Real Work. It's work in any language.) > > Look for cURL and wget and related previous discussions using Google > Groups, as this topic arises here in comp.os.vms with some regularity. > (I expect it arises else-group, too; I don't think comp.os.vms is alone > in this regard.) I used an existing port of wget not too long ago, and > it worked just fine. > > Parsing HTML is a mess. Better to see if you can locate a source of > the required data via an XML feed and a defined grammar, if you can > manage to locate that. > > Depending on what you are up to, RSS might be an option here, too. > > If you really want to write your own, Perl and PHP and other > languages have extensive libraries of web-related and http-related > routines readily available, and there is always the libwww library for > other applications. (There is no analog available for DCL.) > > Oh, and comparatively few web pages are monolithic units of text data > anymore -- most are assembled from HTML and XML pulled in from multiple > servers around the network. Parsing an HTML document -- scrubbing it if > its tags looking for its text, and for whatever reason -- almost > inevitably involves following various of the embedded links around, and > likely also having various scripts invoked, and potentially contending > with CSS formatting. Only the most trivial of web pages are static and > monolithic these days. > > I'll assume you have dealt with the copyright issues with the owner > of the data, too. Scrubbing pages can make some organizations, um, cranky. > Parsing and copyright issues aside, here is how to "pull a webpage" using cURL from DCL... 1. Download cURL for your architecture and environment. http://curl.haxx.se/download.html#VMS has three zip files; IA64, Alpha and VAX. You'll need to be running V7.3 for Alpha/VAX and V8.3 for IA64. Pick the one that suits your arch. Inside each zip file are three versions of the pre-built executable. There are also three object libraries but you only need those if you decide to write some code to call the cURL library routines. For the sake of description, we'll say you are running a V7.3 Alpha and downloaded the zip file into MYDISK:[MYDIR]. 2. Extract the executable needed. Again, for the sake of description, we'll say you don't need SSL for this operation, so you are going to extract the no SSL version of the executable. $ UNZIP MYDISK:[MYDIR]CURL-7_16_0-VMS-AXP.ZIP CURL.EXE_NOSSL Archive: MYDISK:[MYDIR]CURL-7_16_0-VMS-AXP.ZIP inflating: curl.exe_nossl 3. Make a foreign symbol so DCL knows what CURL, as a command, means. $ CURL :== $MYDISK:[MYDIR]CURL.EXE_NOSSL 4. Invoked CURL with with -h or --help to get a list of all the parameters available, and to see if you have your foreign command set up right. $ curl --help Usage: curl [options...] Options: (H) means HTTP/HTTPS only, (F) means FTP only -a/--append Append to target file when uploading (F) -A/--user-agent User-Agent to send to server (H) --anyauth Pick "any" authentication method (H) --anyauth Pick "any" authentication method (H) [etc, etc, etc] Remember that in VMS if you plan on using uppercase parameters on the command line you need to put them in quotes. For instance the -A command above would have to be typed as follows... $ curl "-A" "SomeUserAgentString" somesite.org Also note that there are some parameters that don't have single letter options. In those cases you will need to use the full word. The "first four letters is close enough" style used in normal VMS apps does not apply here. 4. Invoked CURL with the right command line parameters for what you want, and go from there. For instance, to just pull a webpage into the file z.z, use this command... $ curl --output z.z www.awebpage.org You will now have the initial webpage sent by www.awebpage.org in the file z.z. You'll have put your own web address and filenames in place, of course, but this should give you a running start. The cURL website has documentation about all the parameters and how to use them, so refer there for more info. Have Fun cURLing, Marty ------------------------------ End of INFO-VAX 2007.051 ************************