Introduction to BULLETIN on the Vax
2/88 AW
PUBLISHED BY THE DREW UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC COMPUTER CENTER. MAY BE
COPIED WITH WRITING CREDIT GIVEN TO DREW UNIVERSITY.
BULLETIN was written for the Public Domain by Mark London at MIT.
The BULLETIN utility permits a user to create messages for
reading by other users. Users may be notified upon logging on
that new messages have been added, and what the topic of the
messages are. Actual reading of the messages is optional. (See
the command SET READNEW for info on automatic reading.) Messages
are automatically deleted when their expiration data has passed.
The program runs like VAX mail. The different interest
groups or BULLETIN boards are implemented in the form of
'Folders', just like a filing cabinet. A Folder contain various
messages on the same general topic. A message is a piece of text
written by a user or staff person and added to a particular
folder. All users are not permitted to submit messages to all
folders.
A message consists of an expiration date, a subject line
and the text of the message. BULLETIN will prompt the user for
these things when a message is being added.
Several different folders are currently defined to
BULLETIN. The General Folders will be used by Computer Center
Staff to post messages of general interest concerning the VAX to
the user community. If something is of an important nature, it
will be posted in the General folder as a 'System' message.
This is a special message type. It will be displayed to each
user as they log in the first time after that message was
posted. This will be done automatically by BULLETIN on login.
Once a particular system message has been displayed, it will not
be displayed for that user on subsequent logins.
Folders
Different folders have been created to contain messages on
different topics. Folders may be public, semi-private, or
private. The majority of the folders will be public. However a
few will be semi-private, which will mean that all users may
read messages in the folder but not all will be able to post to
it. Currently, there are several folders defined:
GENERAL -- system messages
PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS -- Can be used by anyone to post messages
of interest to the public
On Beta:
AIDE STATION -- Private folder for Computer Center Employees
In addition on Alpha there are folders that receive electronic
magazines, such as:
NETMONTH -- The monthly magazine of BITNET information.
RISKS -- Identifying the risks involved in using computers.
INFOIBMPC -- Information about the IBM personal computers.
INFOVAX -- Information on the Digital VAX.
PROGRAMMING_JOURNALS-Includes MINIX, UNIX and C, Modula-2 and
Prolog journals
watch for new ones being added.
Using BULLETIN
BULLETIN is invoked by type the command 'BULLETIN' (or BULL,
for short) at the '$' prompt. BULLETIN will display its prompt
'BULLETIN>'. Help is available from DCL command level ($) or from
within the BULLETIN program itself by typing the word 'HELP'. To
leave the BULLETIN program, type 'EXIT'.
To see what is there
In order to see message and folders, on can use the
'Directory' command. Upon entering BULLETIN, the user is place
in the General folder. If the user wishes to see which folders
exist, the directory/folders command is used. for example:
typing:
BULLETIN> directory/folders
will make a display like:
Folder Owner
*GENERAL SYSTEM
*PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS BBEYER
NETMONTH BITNET
*VAX_SIG BBEYER
An asterisk (*) next to the folder name indicates you have unread
messages in that folder.
The command 'DIRECTORY/FOLDERS/DESCRIBE' would list all available
folders, along with a brief description of each.
To switch from one folder to another folder, the user may
execute the 'SELECT' command. For example, the following
command would show what a user would do to switch to the folder
called PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS:
BULLETIN> SELECT PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS
and BULLETIN would respond:
Folder has been set to PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS
Now the user may get a list of the messages in this folder
by issuing the directory command with no qualifiers.
This command, for example:
BULLETIN> DIRECTORY
would have bulletin respond:
# Description From Date
1 CHRISTMAS PARTY oleksiak 26-JUN-88
2 Learning about BULLETIN oleksiak 26-JUN-87
3 VAX MAIL LLLOYD 01-Jan-87
The command 'DIR/NEW' will list just unread messages.
Reading messages
In order to read messages in a folder, the user may type
the read command or he/she may simply type the number of the
message he wishes to read. The message numbers can be acquired
by doing the 'DIRECTORY' command. If the user hits a carriage
return with no input whatsoever, BULLETIN will type the first
message in the folder, or if there are new messages present, it
will type the first new message in the folder.
If a folder contains the above messages (as seen by the
'Directory' command) then these messages can be read by:
BULLETIN> READ
and BULLETIN would respond:
Message number: 1 PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS
Description: CHRISTMAS PARTY
Date: 26-JUN-1988 8:08:40 Expires: 1-JAN-1989 08:08:40
...Body of message.....
Should the user only wish to see message number 3, he can
enter the 'READ' command with the message number as a parameter.
for example:
BULLETIN> READ 3
There are three other useful commands that can be used at
the 'BULLETIN>' prompt when reading messages. These are:
BACK - Read the message preceding the message currently being
read.
CURRENT - Start reading the current message at the top. This is
useful for someone who is reading a message and wishes to reread
it from the beginning.
NEXT - Start reading from the beginning of the next message.
This is handy if the user is reading a very long message and
wants to skip to the next one.
Saving the interesting stuff.
If the user sees something which he/she wants a copy of,
the extract command can be use to write an ASCII copy of the
message into a file. This command works on the current message
being read. It requires the name of the file into which to save
the message. If the file name is not given, the user will be
prompted for it. For example:
BULLETIN> Read 2
********** Message on Screen ********
A person could then type
BULLETIN> extract
file: FV.TXT
BULLETIN>
BULLETIN has now saved the contents of message number 2 into the
file name 'FV.txt'.
If the file to which the user is writing already exists,
BULLETIN will append the message to the file. The user can
force BULLETIN to write a new file containing only the message
being saved by using the '/new' qualifier in the 'extract'
command. These messages can then be sent to other users, or
downloaded for use in Wordperfect. (See "Mail on the Vax", or
"Transferring a file between a PC and the VAX").
This command may be useful if you wish to transfer the message to
your PC, perhaps using a BITNET journal message as a reference in
a paper. Once the file is saved, you can transfer it to a PC by
following the instructions in the handout 'Transferring files
from the PC to the VAX of from the VAX to a PC".
Adding messages
A user may add a message to a folder by selecting the
folder and then using the 'ADD' command. This is provided that
the user is adding the message to a public folder. The user has
the option of giving the 'ADD' command and typing a message using
the VAX editor or uploading a message from your PC (see
documentation), or add a message you have extracted from VAX
mail. BULLETIN will prompt for the expiration date and subject
line. It will then add the text of the file as the body of the
message. To add a message that is stored in a file (from MAIL or
from your PC, for example) type:
ADD filename
If the user does not specify a file name, he/she will be
prompted to enter the body of the message. The user may also
use the EDT text editor by issuing the command with the
'/EDIT'option.
For example:
BULLETIN> sel PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS
folder has been set to PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS
BULLETIN> ADD MESS.TXT
IT IS 10-JUL-1988 12:41:06.15. SPECIFY WHEN THE MESSAGE SHOULD
EXPIRE: ENTER ABsolute TIME: <DD-MMM-YYYY]HH:MM:SS OR DELTA
TIME: DDD HH:MM:SS
A user then type the date of expiration and press the 'return'
button. The time input may be ignored. For example, typing:
20-JUL-1988 or type "10" - for ten days in the future.
BULLETIN responds:
ENTER DESCRIPTION HEADER. LIMIT HEADER TO 53 CHARACTERS.
Now the user may enter the subject of the message.
BULLETIN>
The above session adds the text in the file 'mess.txt' as the
next message in the PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS Folder. The message
will be deleted automatically on the 20th of July as requested
by the user adding the message.
Asking BULLETIN to notify you of new messages upon logging in.
If the user wishes to get notification on login when new
messages are in a folder, he should use the 'READNEW' option.
This command does not force the reader to reading new messages,
only gives notification. To do this, 'SELECT' each folder you
are interested in and do a 'SET READNEW' command while set to
that folder.
Example:
BULLETIN> Select PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS
folder has been set to PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS
BULLETIN> SET READNEW
Alternately, you may type SET SHOWNEW. This will just display a
message notifying you that there are new messages.
Mailing a BULLETIN message
A user may directly mail another user a message found in the
BULLETIN. While reading the message that he/she desires to send,
at the 'BULLETIN>' type 'MAIL'. The Vax will then ask to whom
you wish to send the information too.
Check the BULLETIN DISCUSSION folder on ALPHA for new additions.
If you have comments or questions about BULLETIN, leave them
there.