RSX SIG Tape Distribution - Spring 1982
This is the RSX/IAS SIG Symposium Tape from the 1982 Spring DECUS
meeting in Atlanta. The tape contains material submitted by the user
community to the SIG at that meeting.
The programs on this tape are from user submissions. The DECUS staff,
the RSX/IAS SIG staff, and DEC are all in relative ignorance of the
contents of the tapes. No warranty of any kind is implied in the
distribution of these tapes. The programs may or may not be well
documented, they may or may not work, they may even crash your system. If
you have a problem with the contents of the tape, contact the author of the
program. Do not contact DECUS, DEC, or the RSX/IAS SIG.
The tape contains approximately 52,400 blocks of software in 2771
files. Since this will fit on a single 2400 foot tape in BRU format only
at 1600 bpi, it will be distributed as such, as an RK07 image, the smallest
DEC disk on which it will fit (and barely that).
UIC account [300,1] contains several files of interest. The file
RSXS82.DIR contains a directory of the contents of the tape (BRU does not
produce nice directories). The file RSXS82TPE.DOC contains an abstract of
the contents of the tape by UIC. The file README.ALL contains a
concatenated list of all the README files on the collection. The file
SUBMIT.DOC contains the guidelines for submissions to the RSX/IAS sig tape
collection. This is must reading for everyone who desires to submit a
program to the SIG tape.
A copy of this letter appears in the file BEGINS82.TXT in the same
account. The file UICSETS82.CMD contains the UFD commands to create all
the needed UIC's on device XX:. Edit it to match your needs before using
BRU to extract the tape contents. Note that a partial extraction can be
achieved by only creating the desired UIC's. Also, a word of caution:
under at least some circumstances, 11M V4.0 BRU's /UFD switch creates
directories even when it doesn't put anything in them).
The UIC account [300,2] contains the program that is used to copy this
and other tapes, BIGTPC. This is a still newer version of TPC than that on
the Fall 81 tape. See the .DOC file also in [300,2] for further
information. The source for this version has been supplied courtesy of
Glen Everhart, UIC [312,315] this tape. There is also a BIGTPC.EXE in
[300,2] for those who would like to use BIGTPC on a VAX (has been tested
under VMS 2.5 only). To use TPC with the distribution one needs a disk
with at least 55,000 blocks of free space, not necessarily contiguous.
To extract BIGTPC from the tape do the following:
>UFD SY:[300,2]
>BRU /NOINI/DENS:1600 MM:[300,2] SY:
To read in a copy of the master tape onto your disk, one enters the
following command:
RUN [300,2]BIGTPC
TPC>DN:RSXF81.BRU=MT:/HD
NOTE
The /HD switch is for High Density (1600
bpi). See the .DOC file for optional
/BL:nnnn and /SA:mmmm switches for better
performance in transferring to disk.
To make a copy of the tape for someone, one enters the following command
line:
RUN [300,2]BIGTPC
TPC>MT:=DN:RSXF81.BRU/HD
Again, don't forget the /HD switch, or you'll be generating an 800 bpi
copy, which WON'T FIT. And no, BIGTPC doesn't have the vaguest idea how to
do a two-volume copy.
If you are a VAX site and cannot use BRU, I have included a copy of
BIGTPC.EXE as the next file on the tape, after the BRU container file. You
can retrieve it by MOUnting the tape (it's ANSI labelled), then doing:
COPY MTA0:BIGTPC.* *.*
(There's also a BIGTPC.OBJ in case you need to rebuild it for VMS 3.0).
Don't forget to remount the tape /FOReign before running BIGTPC.
If you need to use BRU instead of BIGTPC for making copies, please try
to keep the VAX-usable files on the tape (BRU won't see them). To do so,
MOUnt the distribution tape, use PIP to copy BIGTPC.* onto a disk, and
after creating your output tape(s) with BRU, MOUnt them and use PIP to copy
the BIGTPC files out.
If you don't have 1600 bpi capability yourself, PLEASE try to locate
someone in your area who can make the necessary copy(s), at least enough to
continue the distribution tree. It will make life very difficult indeed
otherwise, particularly trying to preserve the VAX-related stuff at the
end. Thus, if you cannot handle 1600 bpi in any fashion, try to arrange
with your parent node to bypass you for further tree distribution. I'll be
available to help out after my vacation (I return July 18th). If you must
make local copies at 800 bpi, you will have to read the tape onto a disk
with BRU, and copy out with BRU. I would suggest using the /LEN:2000
switch, so that the output tapes can be copied (very hard to do if your
original goes all the way to the EOT marker).
A reminder: The SIG is relying on each node to contact the next higher
node for necessary tape-transfer arrangements. Since this is a volunteer
operation, sincere interest on the part of all participants is very helpful
in assuring a timely distribution. Remember, since this is a volunteer
operation, DECUS is NOT paying for postage or free copies of magnetic
tapes. Make arrangements so that this does not cost anybody a lot of money
or magnetic tapes.
The Tape Copy tree has been mailed in advance to all nodes with one
post card included. This first post card has hopefully been returned, to
acknowledge continued willingness and ability to participate.
With each master tape I am sending, I have included postcards and
copies of these instructions for all lower child nodes. Be sure that you
also send on the appropriate cards and documentation for all lower nodes
that each of your children will handle. I am trying this approach in the
hope that everyone will be reminded to return their second postcard as soon
as they have the tape (I still haven't heard from several nodes about the
Fall tape, which I shipped in February).
The RSX SIG Tape Working Group is continuing to create a document
listing the most popular programs from past sig tapes. From this we will
be able to create a "Best of the RSX/IAS Sig Tapes" tape, which we can keep
updated. The problem is how do we determine the most popular programs. If
you have taken a program off the SIG tape and used it, write me (Jim
Neeland) a letter and let me know. This be a start anyway. Let me know
about things that did not work also. Be sure to tell me which tape and
what uic.
The following people burned the midnight (4 A.M.) oil to create the
Spring 1982 RSX/IAS sig tape: Glen Everhart, Bruce Zielinski, Paul
Tompkins, Tony Scandora, the people at our host site (Dataflo Systems), and
myself.
Jim Neeland
RSX-IAS SIG Tape Copy Coordinator
Hughes Research Labs
3011 Malibu Canyon Rd.
Malibu, California 90265
(213) 456-6411 ext. 333