TERMINALS/PLOTTERS/PRINTERS SIG Message # 360 0 replies Reply to # 359 Left by: GREG SCHULZ On 25-Feb-90 At : (612)298-7344 Subject: LASER PRINTER HELP Take a look at the DEC LPS20 as it prints on a wide variety of paper sizes in addition to two-sideed printing, 1-100 up printing, regis, sixel, ascii, postscript, etc. GPS VMS SIG Message # 1308 0 replies Reply to # 1304 Left by: GREG P. SCHULZ On 25-Feb-90 At : (612)298-7344 Subject: CAPTURING LAT SERVICE AFT Time to get SDA out!!! Try the following and you might just find what you are looking for. 1. Get the UCB (Physical not Logical) of the LAT device. 2. Format the UCB out 3. At UCB$L_TT_ACCPORNAM for the next few bytes (at least 12) you will find the server and port name. 4. This may or may not get you closer to the service name but it may give you something to think about. Notes: 1. There are some QIO function routines now supported for doing things similar to the above but also keep in mind that the above worked before DEC supported formal access to these fields. Thus, if you where there is smoke, you might just find the fire. 2. The terminal server manager (TSM) actually cheats at how it can get and display the server information as it is basicly setting host to the terminal servers network port and displaying it back on your screen. 3. Perhaps next weeks V5.4 release will hold something of interest? SYSTEM PERFORMANCE SIG Message # 291 0 replies Reply to # 290 Left by: E On 25-Feb-90 At : (612)298-7344 Subject: MODIFIED PAGE LIST PARAME In a nut-shell what happend at 5.2 to fix the modified page flushing problem was to improve how the pages are written out to the page file. This involves a form of scatter gather grouping of the pages to be written which are in turn actually written out to the page file by the swapper. As far as is being fixed in 5.3 I have not seen anything yet and I am guessing 5.4 is more likely. To minimize the effects you can try the following: DEC has published in DSIN two workarounds to the problem which seem OK if you have the resources. The first is that if you have the CPU to burn then just let the CPU take the burrden. YOu can imagine my thoughts on that one! The second seems more reasonable but it requires that you have some free memory. Simply enlarge your working sets to reduce deadpage table scans and leave enough free memory to further reduce paging. YOu may want to look at your sysgen parameter MPW_IOLIMIT which controls how many page I/O's can be in progress at once. It probally would not hurt to take a look at your other MPW and page cache params as well. If you have not already sone so and wish to use the multiple I/O capability you should have your pagefiles spread accros multiple disks and better yet across multiple controllers. P.S. Whatch out for an increase in file system activity as well as disk transfer contention due to paging. COMMUNICATIONS SIG Message # 345 0 replies Reply to # 344 Left by: DAVE DESROCHES On 26-Feb-90 At : (508) 875-7511 Subject: HAYES-TO-DECSERVER200 PIN The DECServer 200 without modem control can be used with modems. The problem is that when you disconnect, the port does not always logout at the same time. Typically, a system manager has to go in to the DECServer and logout the port being used as a modem. In a pinch, you may want to use the DSRVB-BA for modems, but you would not want to leave the ports unattended and expect them to be available on a continuous basis. SITE MANAGEMENT SIG Message # 361 1 replies Left by: DAVE DESROCHES On 26-Feb-90 At : (508) 875-7511 Subject: IBM TAPE UTILITY Are there any utility programs that can read foreign (i.e. IBM) tapes and convert packed data fields from EBCDIC to ASCII, and vice versa. I have not been able to determine if there are any DECUS utilities that do this. I currently use ETAPE from a DECUS tape but it does not do anything with packed fields. I have both COBOL and C for languages if a compile is necessary. Thanks in advance for any help. PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES/AI SIG Message # 529 0 replies Reply to # 526 Left by: JAMES JOHNSTON On 26-Feb-90 At : HERE OR (215) 441-2166 Subject: PASCAL I have been using VAX Pascal (infrequently at best) for three years now. I find VAX C a much nicer environment. jim SITE MANAGEMENT SIG Message # 362 0 replies Reply to # 361 Left by: JEFF BEARDSLEY On 26-Feb-90 At : (708)571-9500 Subject: IBM TAPE UTILITY We have a tape utility from Edison Software Systems which handles records with packed-decimal fields. It works great! Our users also use it to convert DEC print files to IBM-format print files to load on a mainframe. I don't know if this is considered advertising or not, so I won't publish their phone number. But they do have a free demo, so if you want to call me, I'll be glad to give you their address and/or phone number. TERMINALS/PLOTTERS/PRINTERS SIG Message # 361 1 replies Left by: KAVIN P. LITTON On 26-Feb-90 At : (801) 379-6816 Subject: BP1500 PRINTER INSTALL I have been trying for a while to install a Data Products BP1500 printer on my MV3800 through a DECSERVER 200. I have not had much luck. I have been able to g the printer to communicate , but the tabs are mostly miplaced. The lines tends to wrap around or disappear altogether.. I would appreciate any help i could get... Thank you Kavin P. Litton Programmer Analyst City of Provo APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 428 2 replies Left by: ALAIN MARTINEAU On 26-Feb-90 At : 514-251-3114 Subject: SYS$ERROR ON DETACHED PROCESS Hi everybody, I am trying to get the traceback from a crashing detached process. Assigning SYS$ERROR to a file does not do anything. Any idea? CLUSTERING/NETWORKING SIG Message # 528 0 replies Left by: ALAIN MARTINEAU On 26-Feb-90 At : 514-251-3114 Subject: SYSTEM INDUSTRIES CLUSTOR Does anybody have experience with a cluster from System Industries called CLUSTOR ? I mean how compatible is it with the VAXcluster software ? APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 429 0 replies Reply to # 268 Left by: ED GEMO On 26-Feb-90 At : 201-507-7817 Subject: FMS AND TDMS I APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 430 0 replies Reply to # 428 Left by: Comet On 26-Feb-90 At : (408)982-5238 Subject: SYS$ERROR ON DETACHED PROCESS I saw something about this on DSIN. What version of op.sys. and language are you using? APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 431 0 replies Reply to # 428 Left by: JAMES JOHNSTON On 26-Feb-90 At : HERE OR (215) 441-2166 Subject: SYS$ERROR ON DETACHED PRO Alain, Is this a DCL Run/Detached process, or a language-SYS$CREPRC() process? Any other details will be helpful. jim TERMINALS/PLOTTERS/PRINTERS SIG Message # 362 0 replies Reply to # 361 Left by: RICHARD B. GILBERT On 26-Feb-90 At : (609) 258-6217 OR 5130 Subject: BP1500 PRINTER INSTALL Kevin, I'm not sure what a BP1500 is but the following works for a DEC LN03. I hope it helps. Well, I thought I was going to upload a command file but the upload halts after about ten lines. Sorry about that. Give me a call and we'll see if there is some other way to get it to you. APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 432 2 replies Reply to # 430 Left by: ALAIN MARTINEAU On 27-Feb-90 At : 514-251-3114 Subject: SYS$ERROR ON DETACHED PRO I am using VAX C on a VMS 5.1-1 system. I know I could run the processes each in a separate batch job but I'v got a lot of them and would like to keep them all detached. APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 433 1 replies Reply to # 431 Left by: ALAIN MARTINEAU On 27-Feb-90 At : 514-251-3114 Subject: SYS$ERROR ON DETACHED PRO We run all our processes via the DCL RUN command in the startup file. They are written in VAX C under VMS 5.1-1. I wonder how the traceback information that you get when you run interactive is found. If I could go the same way in my own exit handler that would be great. APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 435 2 replies Left by: FLORA KAN On 27-Feb-90 At : 202-863-8670 Subject: LOGIC FLOW CONTROL AFTER CTRL/Y DEAR ON-LINE FRIENDS: I WROTE AN ONLINE BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEM IN VAX COBOL. IWILL APPRECIATE THAT SOMEONE CAN TELL ME HOW I CAN DISABLE CTRL/Y AND CTRL/C AND ALSODIRECT THE PROGRAM CONTROL GO TO THE MAIN MENU DRIVE. AND I ALSO NEED TO KNOW HOW I CAN READ ANY REPLY ON ARIS. TKS!!! APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 436 0 replies Reply to # 435 Left by: MICHAEL A. BAYDOUN On 27-Feb-90 At : Subject: LOGIC FLOW CONTROL AFTER Flora, You could disable the control_y in the uaf by a command something like: mod username /flags=disctrly. Or if it would be better for you, you could put the following three lines at the top of your sylogin.com $ on control_y then (label) $ on error then (label) $ on severe_error then (label) The label could take the appropriate action. Most people on ARIS probably use option 4 (read messages across sig boundries). This allows you to read all messages left after a certain date. Hope this help some. Mike APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 437 0 replies Reply to # 433 Left by: JAMES JOHNSTON On 27-Feb-90 At : HERE OR (215) 441-2166 Subject: SYS$ERROR ON DETACHED PRO Alain, What does a typical command line look like? How many options are you specifying, and which ones are they? AND, just to ask the obvious, Is this a recently added process that just exceeds a quota (like DETACH) or does this process have EXQUOTA? Also, have you tried a "controlling" program that SYS$CREPRC's these detached processes? We do this in our lab (in FORTRAN) all the time and specify the error file there - THIS WORKS, and is helpful. jim LASER PRINTERS SIG Message # 114 0 replies Left by: DREW WATSON On 27-Feb-90 At : 217/963-2143 Subject: AST TURBOLASER/PS-PLUS 3 USERS I would like to contact anyone having a Turbolaser/PS+3 regarding problems our site has encountered. We are having difficulties when the printer is in LN03+ emulation mode and attempts to decode sixel data or VT100 line drawing characters. Please call me 8:00-17:00 CST or leave your number as reply msg. FORUM - 3RD PARTY SUPPLIERS SIG Message # 127 0 replies Left by: DREW WATSON On 27-Feb-90 At : 217/963-2143 Subject: CQD-220/TM OR WREN VII OWNERS We are about to purchase the above subsystem for use on a MicroVAX II. Does anyone have any comments (good or bad!) about either piece of equipment? VMS SIG Message # 1309 0 replies Left by: DREW WATSON On 27-Feb-90 At : 217/963-2143 Subject: RWAST ARTICLE OUT THERE SOMEWHERE I must be getting some bad blocks in the ole' organic memory disk. I could swear I saw and article in one of the DEC-related publications titled "RWASTed Again" but I'm darned if I can find it! Anyone with a better reference directory than mine would be doing me a big favor if they could point me in the right direction. GRAPHICS SIG Message # 105 0 replies Left by: SARAH MCKNEALLY On 27-Feb-90 At : 404-639-3595 Subject: GKS AND PRO300 SERIES Can anyone help us fix a Pascal/GKS program that WILL send graphics output to a Pro350 color monitor in terminal emulation mode but WILL NOT perform the same way on a Pro380? All terminal settings are the same. The Pro350 is running P/OS version 2.0A. The Pro380 is running P/OS version 3.0. The VAX is running VMS version 5.2 and GKS version 4.0 and Pascal version 3.9. DEC tells us they don't support GKS output to the Pro series but they could be hired to write a handler for us. Why does it work for the Pro350 and not for the Pro380??? VMS SIG Message # 1310 0 replies Left by: SARAH MCKNEALLY On 27-Feb-90 At : 404-639-3595 Subject: FILES FAIL TO CLOSE An end to the story: the problem was neither hardware nor software, but procedural. A flag was getting set that prevented the file from ever closing after it was created. Many hours and lots of money were spent on solving this problem, and we appreciate all the suggestions you offered. I still feel taking a look at the (unavailable) source code early in the game would have saved a lot of heartache for all concerned. APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 438 0 replies Reply to # 413 I think that the Sutherland _ Hodgman clipper will work for you. It may be found in most graphics texts, e.g. Foley and Van Dam or Pokorny and Gerald.Left by: WALTER CARNAHAN On 27-Feb-90 At : 812 237 2038 Subject: INTERSECTING POLYGONS APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 439 1 replies Reply to # 432 Left by: Comet On 27-Feb-90 At : (408)982-5238 Subject: SYS$ERROR ON DETACHED PROCESSES I think that I remember something about Digital recommending that the way to get traceback information from a detached process involves using LOGINOUT.EXE image.... I'll write more when I remember or see the article again. VMS SIG Message # 1311 2 replies Left by: KIM LEE On 27-Feb-90 At : 212-949-1344 Subject: CAN THE SET DEFAULT BE LIMITED TO PRIVILEGES USERS ONLY? We use a special connect command for our users to connect to client directories so that the computer usage can be recorded. Some of our users have been using SET DEFAULT to bypass this. Is there a better way? DATA/FILE TRANSFER SIG Message # 706 0 replies Left by: RICH WHITNEY On 28-Feb-90 At : 907-263-6849 Subject: DOWNLOADING DISLIST.DOC I have been trying to download the DISLIST.DOC file from this month's issue of the VAX Professional without success. I am using ASCII transfer @ 2400 bps. The file keeps getting clobbered and hangs. In several cases it continued to repeat certain enclosed DCL modules. Any suggestions?? Thanks. Rich Whitney, Supervisor Data Processing Services Anchorage School District// CLUSTERING/NETWORKING SIG Message # 529 1 replies Reply to # 528 Left by: NORM DONOVAN On 28-Feb-90 At : (408)970-5678 Subject: SYSTEM INDUSTRIES CLUSTOR We use two Clustor 3 controllers to attach 15 disk drives (~10 Gbyte) to 6 VAXes (1 780, 2 uVAX2, 2 uVAX3500, 1 uVAX3400). Our most critical drives are dual-ported between both controllers. We run disk shadowing software from ASCI. We provide 24-hour x 7-day service. Comments: 1. Clustor works, we have been running with better than 99.9% uptime for ~18 months. 2. SI technology is kinda old and they don't seem to be doing much to improve it. They are currently limited to two controllers per VAX and 16 drives (8 logical drives) per controller. 3. Never be the first on your block to install new SI hardware, it always falls over, sometimes with dire results. 4. We estimate that the uVAX-SI approach has saved us 1-1.5 million dollars in three years over the "standard DEC solution" (large VAXs and HSCs). 5. SI has no clue as to how to market Clustor. They have large expensive ads with pictures of pyramids, calvary, fingers, etc. but they never seem to state the only real reason that I can see for going with SI, it saves big bucks over the DEC solution. 6. If you buy Clustor, use the standard DEC LAVC software, it work fine. The SI LAVC software is SLOW!. The only SI software that we use is the DR driver. Feel free to call if you need more info. Norm VMS SIG Message # 1312 0 replies Reply to # 1311 Left by: MICHAEL A. BAYDOUN On 28-Feb-90 At : Subject: CAN THE SET DEFAULT BE L You could play with the protection of the set.exe file in sys$system. This would prevent certain users from setting anything. Another way to accomplish this would be to remove the set command from violating users command table. In either case though, they would not be able to set anything (probably not acceptable). Could you possibly make them captive users? If not, try to write a command file that accepts a variable number of parameters. Set up a symbol for the users like $ se*t :== @set.com In the command file, check to see if the first parameter 'p1' is equal to some form of the word default. If it is take appropriate action, if not issue the set command from the command file and send along the parameters recieved in set.com command file. One thing to watch for, if you try to issue the set command from the command file with the word 'set' you will end up calling your own command file (infinite loop). A quick work around would be to have another symbol (this one in set.com) $ command = set and issues the 'command' command from set.com (if you follow that). Hope this helps and sorry for the message length. Mike APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 440 0 replies Reply to # 428 Left by: S.LYON On 28-Feb-90 At : WHO KNOWS? Subject: SYS$ERROR ON DETACHED PRO I have used LOGINOUT.EXE to spawn my detached processes from C and the output log specified will contain any traceback info. RUN SYS$SYSTEM:LOGINOUT.EXE/DETACH /INPUT=commandfile_to_run_your_server /OUTPUT=logfile_name /EXTENT=8192 . . . You can set quotas and privleges as needed. LOGINOUT is not well documented I think I found vague references to it in either the DCL Commands under RUN or System Services intro under process creation. Good Luck. GRAPHICS SIG Message # 106 0 replies Left by: SARAH MCKNEALLY On 28-Feb-90 At : 404-639-3595 Subject: PRO300 SERIES AND GKS The plot thickens...we have found that the Pro380s DO work with our program (PASCAL/GKS) output. The problem exists only with the one system we chose to try it on (aargh!!). We have checked all the terminal emulation settings, the terminal server settings and the terminal settings when connected to the VAX. The only obvious difference in the "problem Pro380" is that its screen always comes on in blue instead of gray. All the connections and switches on the monitor look just like the other Pro380s which come on in gray. Any ideas, anyone? PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES/AI SIG Message # 530 1 replies Left by: ANDREW BELL On 28-Feb-90 At : (402) 293-1599 Subject: GNU C 1.37 I am looking for someone who may have a copy of the latest version of GNU C which was released several weeks ago. The version number is 1.37. Previous versions do not run under VMS 5.*. I have no Internet access and would love to KERMIT the latest release from someone, or send you a tape (TK-50 or 9-track). If someone has EMACS that runs under VMS 5.*, I would love a copy of that too. Thanks for any help. APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 441 0 replies Reply to # 435 Left by: PATRICK MAHAN On 28-Feb-90 At : HERE Subject: LOGIC FLOW CONTROL AFTER CTRL-Y Flora, There are a number of ways to perform this function. If it is inside of your program that you want to control this then you can set an OUT OF BOUNDS AST that will trap the control-y and control-c functions. The technique is documented in the TERMINAL DRIVER chapter in I/O user's guide: part I. The last was the low end way of doing it. For the High level way of catching ctrl/y's is to call the LIB$ routine LIB$DISABLE_CTRL will allow you to disable the use of ctrl/y's Another way is to run your program from a DCL command procedure and enter the following line in before you run the program. $ on control_Y then goto LABEL o o your code o o $ LABEL: ! take some action Good luck! APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 442 1 replies Reply to # 439 Left by: Comet On 28-Feb-90 At : (408)982-5238 Subject: SYS$ERROR ON DETACHED PROCESS Article on DSIN entitled "Output From VAX C Detached Process is Not Visible" describes your problem, and suggests the following: $ RUN/DETACHED/OUTPUT=disk:[dir]out.log/INPUT=disk:[dir]in.com - SYS$SYSTEM:LOGINOUT where IN.COM has the form $ OPEN/WRITE stdout SYS$OUTPUT ! This line needed SOMETIMES to get traceback. $ RUN disk:[dir]program APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 443 0 replies Reply to # 442 Left by: ALAIN MARTINEAU On 28-Feb-90 At : Subject: SYS$ERROR ON DETACHED PRO Ok thanks, loginout stays there and is the real process. We just tried it and it works fine. I don't see why the OPEN/WRITE is needed though. Another way would have been a batch job per process. We will have 25 times loginout present in the system just for that. I don't know the impact of that. Thanks for the help. P.S. what is DSIN? PC'S SIG Message # 269 0 replies Left by: DON MATYAS On 28-Feb-90 At : Subject: PCSA AND DBASE III+ Using PCSA 2.2 File Services for sharing Dbase DBF's works fine , but I keep getting a SHARING VIOLATION READING DRIVE M: (Abort,Retry,Fail) when saving a screen format file to drive m: (my user file service). or any file service. The strange thing is that the m: drive in question is not being shared. Does anyone have any ideas ? Thanxs PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES/AI SIG Message # 531 0 replies Reply to # 530 Left by: V. JAMES KRAMMES On 28-Feb-90 At : (614) 228-2001 X 341 Subject: GNU C 1.37 "...previous versions do not work under VMS 5.*" I've been using GNU C versions 1.22 and 1.36 (most extensively 1.22) on my 6210 under VMS 5.0 and 5.1 without any problems. What indicates that earlier versions don't work? --Jim GRAPHICS SIG Message # 107 0 replies Left by: DON IRONS On 28-Feb-90 At : 407-784-0410 Subject: DATAVIEWS PACKAGE Does anyone out there have experience with the Dataviews package from VI Corp. running on a VAXstation 3100 under VMS? We are considering using it for some real-time process control display functions under VMS DECwindows. APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 444 0 replies Reply to # 432 Left by: GREG P. SCHULZ On 01-Mar-90 At : (612)298-7344 Subject: SYS$ERROR ON DETACHED PRO If all you are doing is a RUN/DET command you can specify a /ERROR=file to define a file to act as SYS$ERROR. This may not work however if you are using LOGINOUT to start the detached process... Bonus Time!!! It turns out that you can actually use the debugger on detached process including symbionts etc. by simply defining the logicals DBG$INPUT and DBG$OUTPUT in your group table to point to a terminal device somewhere to be used for debugging. GPS CLUSTERING/NETWORKING SIG Message # 530 0 replies Reply to # 529 Left by: ALAIN MARTINEAU On 01-Mar-90 At : Subject: SYSTEM INDUSTRIES CLUSTOR Thanks for the info on system industries clustor. We just made our purchase order for 1 cluster 5 ( clustor 3 plus cache ), 4 SI95 ( 1.5 G disks ), 1 32MB ram disk, and interfaces for 3 uVAXs, 1 780 and 1 8350. They have no BI interface yet, we will use the unibus on the 8350. What do you mean by THEIR dr driver, you have to use their own driver ? the sales guy told me it was compatible with the DEC du driver. But he did not seem to know much about software and had no documentation on that. And why did they write their own LAVC software? MISCELLANEOUS SIG Message # 695 0 replies Reply to # 694 Left by: Brett Bump On 01-Mar-90 At : Here Subject: NEW HAM Bob. I'm now the proud (owner?) of four years of QST. Ron K0PTK, the ham who got my brother started, had an excess of ham magazines laying around, so I picked them up. In case you're interested, PacComm makes a 9600 baud modem that is plug- compatible with the MJF-1270 (more than likely your 1278 also). I am considering this as an add-on modem to possibly a Kantronics or AEA TNC (that is, if the $100 ad for the PacComm modem is correct). I'm in the process of trying to talk Phil Anthony into becoming a Packeteer. But as I'm a new ham without a call sign or even a radio yet, I guess he'll have to call me his Elmer Fudd (huh huh huh huht). 11/73 VMS SIG Message # 1313 0 replies Left by: JOHN BLUE On 01-Mar-90 At : 513-259-4428 Subject: AWK FOR VMS 5.0-2? is there a version of the awk programming language for VMS (5.0-2). (awk is a language that is on unix designed by Alfred Aho, Peter Weinberger, and Brian Kernighan at AT&T) Public domain would be prefered and any information would be most welcome. thanks, john blue UTILITIES SIG Message # 465 0 replies Left by: JOHN BLUE On 01-Mar-90 At : 513-259-4428 Subject: AWK FOR VMS 5.0-2?? does anybody know if there is a version of the awk programming language for VMS (5.0-2)? (awk is a language that is in unix designed by Alfred Aho, Peter Weinberger, and Brian Kernighan at AT&T) Public domain would be prefered and any information would be greatly welcome. thanks, john blue UNIX/ULTRIX SIG Message # 60 0 replies Left by: JOHN BLUE On 01-Mar-90 At : 513-259-4428 Subject: AWK FOR VMS (5.0-2)? does anybody know if there is a version of awk for VMS (5.0-2)? (awk is a programming language utility in unix). Public domain would be prefered and any information would be most welcome. thanks, john blue UNIX/ULTRIX SIG Message # 61 0 replies Reply to # 60 Left by: JOHN BLUE On 01-Mar-90 At : Subject: AWK FOR VMS (5.0-2)? never mind message on awk. i found an answer in the programming language sig. john blue VMS SIG Message # 1314 0 replies Reply to # 1313 Left by: JOHN BLUE On 01-Mar-90 At : Subject: AWK FOR VMS 5.0-2? never mind message about awk. i found an answer on the programming language sig john blue UTILITIES SIG Message # 466 0 replies Reply to # 465 Left by: JOHN BLUE On 01-Mar-90 At : Subject: AWK FOR VMS 5.0-2?? never mind the message on awk. i found an answer on the programming language sig. john blue PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES/AI SIG Message # 532 0 replies Reply to # 531 Left by: ANDREW BELL On 01-Mar-90 At : (402) 293-1599 Subject: GNU C 1.37 If GNU C works on your machine, then I suppose it should work on mine too. The reason that I thought that the earlier versions wouldn't work are that somebody told me so, and that "Hello World" will not run properly on my system. It runs properly and then exits with the SYSTEM - BADPARAM error. Am I missing a step in my compile/link? Is it OK to link against SYS$LIBRARY:VAXCRTL? I am running VMS 5.2. DATA/FILE TRANSFER SIG Message # 707 0 replies Reply to # 706 Left by: Phil Anthony On 01-Mar-90 At : Here Subject: DOWNLOADING DISLIST.DOC Rich, I've just finished downloading DISLIST.DOC three times - twice as ASCII text, once using Kermit. I had no problems either way. With ASCII download, capturing to a disk file, I received it in a little under 4-1/2 minutes, for a throughput close to 240 bytes/sec. Kermit took almost 6:50, a 55 per cent increase, about normal for Kermit. I also tried XModem twice (hope springs eternal), but the ARIS implementation never responded .... So I don't have any handle on what your problem might be. How clean are your communications lines - are the lines generating stray XOFFs, for exam- ple? What machine are you receiving to, with what software? Are you sure you got the same modules twice, or could you have been confused by the author's using the same labels in multiple modules? Total file size using ASCII capture should be 64,291 bytes, including the spare at the top of the file that you use to get things going and the message at the end telling you that the capture is complete. After editing them out, or when you use Kermit, file size is 64,198 bytes - ARIS must be using 2,048-byte clusters to get the listed length of 128 VAX/VMS disk blocks. APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 445 0 replies Reply to # 443 Left by: Comet On 01-Mar-90 At : (408)982-5238 Subject: SYS$ERROR ON DETACHED PROCESS DSIN is Digital Software Information Network, a bulletin board system provided by Digital Equipment Corporation for its software support customers. There's a different topic for each supported software product. Articles include release notes, bugs and fixes, example programs, and other technical information. Users may also submit questions to be researched. If you have Digital software support, you should call your contract specialist and ask about DSIN. Chances are good that you are already paying for this service. You will get a list of TYMNET phone numbers and a password. PC'S SIG Message # 270 0 replies Reply to # 269 Left by: Comet On 01-Mar-90 At : (408)982-5238 Subject: PCSA AND DBASE III+ $ SHOW DEVICE/FULL M: ! and see if the drive is allocated, or any funny biz. CLUSTERING/NETWORKING SIG Message # 531 1 replies Reply to # 530 Left by: Comet On 01-Mar-90 At : (408)982-5238 Subject: SYSTEM INDUSTRIES I have an SI9900 controller hooked to a few SI disks, and an SI tape drive. I'm using the SI version of DRDRIVER. It's a bummer having to purchase a new version of DRDRIVER from SI everytime I upgrade the operating system, but apart from that gripe, I've no complaints about SI. Some of the SI disks DO use the unmodified DEC drivers, but not my system disk. ~sigh~ You might be lucky and avoided this trap. It all depends on which SI drives you got, and what they are emulating. I would guess that the reason SI has their own CLUSTOR software is so that they can sell it in lieu of having to hawk DEC's VAXcluster software, "A complete solution", etc. One advantage that SI has, I've heard, is that they can CLUSTOR their tape drives. VMS SIG Message # 1315 0 replies Reply to # 1311 Left by: Robert G. Schaffrath 914-335-9792 On 01-Mar-90 Subject: CAN THE SET DEFAULT BE L SET DEFAULT is an internal DCL command (ie. SET.EXE and SETP0.EXE are not called). The only way you can eliminate it is to get a copy of SET.CLD (either from your VMS05x.A saveset or via VERB.EXE) and delete the default command directly. This will then mean that you have to keep two sets of DCL tables. One for privileged users and one for non-privileged users. If you take this approach, be sure to eliminate the 'SET COMMAND' command from the tables as well. However, this will not guarantee that users cannot change their default. You can easily change your default drive by redefining SYS$DISK to point to the new drive. And, the clever user can write a simple program to call SYS$SETDDIR and change the default. Your best bet is to simply set protections on various directories to prevent users from gaining access. Robert G. Schaffrath System Manager General Foods Corporation White Plains, NY 10625 MISCELLANEOUS SIG Message # 696 0 replies Reply to # 695 Left by: ROBERT G. SCHAFFRATH On 01-Mar-90 At : 914-335-9792 OR N2JTX@N2JCD.NY.USA Subject: NEW HAM 4 years of QST, yikes! I'd never get a chance to read anything else. I've been up on packet now for a little over a week and have been having alot of fun. Biggest problem with packet is that it is slllloooooooooowwwwwwww (A VAX 11/730 running a display at 75 baud is faster!). I am planning to go TCP/IP as soon as I can get myself registered in the Internet domain (the amateur packet domain is defined as .AMPR.ORG). It is at this point that I think a VAX might be interesting. There is a TCP/IP program, which I currently have, which is written in C. I don't have the source code but it is available. I am wondering if it would be possible to convert this code into VAX C and fire up a couple of images to talk through the async ports (ie. DHV11's) and tie several frequencies together. As for the modem, I'll keep it in mind. I currently have a 2400 baud built into the TNC. Unfortunately, I haven't found anybody using that speed yet. (70$ for nothing?). 1200 baud is still the most popular. Well, got to cut this 'letter' short. It's been about four weeks and your license should be arriving any day now. 73 Robert G. Schaffrath de N2JTX PC'S SIG Message # 271 0 replies ARE THERE ANY CARE ARE THERE ANY 16BIT ETHERLeft by: ROHINTON IRANI On 01-Mar- 90 At : (213)4954449 Subject: ETHERNET CARDS FOR PCSA PC'S SIG Message # 272 0 replies Left by: ROHINTON IRANI On 01-Mar-90 At : (213)4954449 Subject: ETHERNET CARDS FOR PCSA ARE THERE ANY 16BIT ETHERNET CARDS SUPPORTED BY PCSA CLUSTERING/NETWORKING SIG Message # 532 0 replies Reply to # 531 Left by: ANDREW DUGGAN On 01-Mar-90 At : Subject: SYSTEM INDUSTRIES CLUSTOR I have one of those little SI9900 controllerss too. (I have mine on SI maint., so I don't have to pay for new versions of the driver.) I just can't seem to ever get them to send it to me. What version of VMS are you running anyway? I really hate having to see if there is a new version of drdriver for each new release of VMS and if so, wait- ing foooorrrrrever for SI to get me a new driver. I luckily? have a DEC system disk, so at least I can use unmodified STABACKUP. If the the price of HSC50-AA and HSC5x-BA drop a little more, I could have a real Vaxcluster(tm), or maybe I'll upgrade to a 386. .<>. PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES/AI SIG Message # 533 1 replies Reply to # 527 Left by: DAVID ZANZE On 01-Mar-90 At : (714) 863-1000 EXT 209 Subject: PASCAL Patrick, Could you call me at (714) 863-1000 ext 209? We are new to the DEC world and have a Pascal Compiler. We are one of the "few" (about 5 sites) that use Pascal on the IBM System 38. We are porting applications and I would like to discusss the problems are are encountering! Thanks David PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES/AI SIG Message # 534 0 replies Left by: PHIL MACDONALD On 02-Mar-90 At : 4168463181 Subject: DIBOL We are currently running dibol version PDP 11/73 (RSTS) We are also considering the purchase of a Vax (VMS). My question is 1) Is the conversion as easy as they tell us in the RSTS/E-VMS Compatibility Guide. (We will continue to program in Dibol and want to run our current applications under VMS) 2) Any horror stories, what should I look out for and expect. Thanks Phil MacDonald UNIX/ULTRIX SIG Message # 62 0 replies Left by: PATRICK MAHAN On 02-Mar-90 At : HERE Subject: SETTING CSH ENVIRONMENT VARS Help! I would like to know if there is a system call that would allow me create or change the value of a CSH environment variable (ie. $HOME). The solution must be portable between a SUN 3/60, Silicon Graphics 4D and DECstation 3100. Thanks in advanced, Patrick DATA/FILE TRANSFER SIG Message # 708 0 replies Left by: DAVID HENSLEY On 02-Mar-90 At : 214 423 5383 Subject: MNP MODEMS WITH VMS We are currently trying to use ATI 2400/etc modems with our MicroVAX running VMS 5.2. These modems support the MNP protocols including the MNP-5 data compression option. They are reasonably priced (under $200) and give an apparent line speed of about 4800 baud when used for editing. Unfortunately, we have run into a problem when using these on our system, and I hope that some of the users of Trailblazers or Concords have solved it. Our modems need to run a higher data rate between themselves and the VAX in order to realize the advantages of data compression. This requires that the modem be able to control output from the VAX. Also, the MNP error correction scheme causes the modem to have to control output from the VAX when a lot of retransmission is occurring. Hardware handshake seems to be our only choice since most of our users are doing binary file transfers. DEC's implementation of RTS/CTS handshake is to compete the current I/O operation when CTS is dropped. This works fine until we try to use an editor, at which time single I/O operations of 400 bytes up to a couple of thousand bytes occur, overrunning our modem. This problem appears to make any error correcting or data compressing modem unuseable unless it has a lot of internal buffering. Any help, advice or sympathy would be appreciated. VMS SIG Message # 1316 0 replies Reply to # 1309 Left by: Phil Gravel On 02-Mar-90 At : HERE Subject: RWAST ARTICLE OUT THERE S "RWASTed Again" is a talk that has been given by Bruce Ellis at DECUS Symposia. He has given other, very enjoyable talks such as "But I AM the System Manager". The conference rooms are always packed for them. Bruce is a principal in his own company New Hampshire whose name and address I don't have handy. Phil UNIX/ULTRIX SIG Message # 63 0 replies Left by: JOHN BLUE On 04-Mar-90 At : 513-259-4428 Subject: CHINET, PORTAL, & THE WELL does anybody have any info about the public-access UNIX systems Chinet, Portal, and the WELL?? john blue VMS SIG Message # 1317 0 replies Reply to # 1316 Left by: ANNE SCHRAUGER On 05-Mar-90 At : HERE Subject: RWAST ARTICLE OUT THERE S Bruce Ellis' company is The Vastek Company, 1000 Market St., Portsmouth, NH 03801. APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 446 0 replies Left by: DAVID MUJICA On 05-Mar-90 At : 201-767-4801 Subject: FMS TO DECFORMS Currently we are developing software using FMS and FORTRAN, we are about to make a decision about whether or not to "upgrade" to DECforms. If anyone can lead me to articles,reviews or personal reasons why we should go with DECforms I would greatly appriciate it. I have experimented with DECforms briefly, and I think we should use DECforms but I need more information to convince my superiors. Thank you in advance, dave PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES/AI SIG Message # 535 0 replies Reply to # 532 Left by: V JAMES KRAMMES On 05-Mar-90 At : (614) 228-2001 X 341 Subject: GNU C 1.37 GNU C is fully compatible with VAXCRTL, and indeed with any vax run-time library including the curses library. I expect that the reason the program exited with BADPARAM is because of a value left in register 0. The following should work: main() { printf("Hello world\n"); exit(1); } Note the exit(1)! in VAX/VMS, a zero "return code" is not a good thing. I believe that this >>does<< require that you link with VAXCRTL. Call me if it doesn't work. (I haven't actually tried it) --Jim SITE MANAGEMENT SIG Message # 363 0 replies Reply to # 361 Left by: ED BASS On 06-Mar-90 At : (713) 220-4534 Subject: IBM TAPE UTILITY Try the utility IBMTAPE (I think that's the name -- at least it's close) from DECUS. It provides the ability to convert packed data. And it's cheap! UNIX/ULTRIX SIG Message # 64 1 replies Reply to # 62 Left by: Phil Anthony On 06-Mar-90 At : Here Subject: SETTING CSH ENVIRONMENT V Patrick, I spent a few days chewing on this one and looking over various UNIX, XENIX, and C manuals. Depending what you want to do, the C function setenv () - sometimes called putenv () (I think that was its pre-ANSI name) - might be helpful to make a local change; you might want to experiment with combinations of setenv () and system (). The functions execle () and execve () allow you to create a new process, including a new instance of csh, with a hand-tailored environment by passing your own *envp[]. Your different UNIX implementations may also have the env command available, which permits running a program from the command line (or from a shell script) with the environment temporarily modified. UNIX/ULTRIX SIG Message # 65 0 replies Reply to # 64 Left by: PATRICK MAHAN On 06-Mar-90 At : HERE Subject: SETTING CSH ENVIRONMENT V Phil, Thanks for the info. The reason for this is that I needed to added/change environment variables in the user's current C shell, not in a new instance of the shell. I have talk with my local UNIX Guru and he pointed out that the problem isn't creating or change the value but doing it in the parent, since every time you run a program C shell forks a new process. This is my current delemma. Patrick TERMINALS/PLOTTERS/PRINTERS SIG Message # 364 0 replies Left by: AL LILIANSTROM On 06-Mar-90 At : HERE Subject: PRINT SCREEN TO A REMOTE PRINTER Does anyone know of a way to use a printer hung off a terminal server as the output device when a user does a PRINT SCREEN from a terminal? I remember seeing a way to do this but I can't remember where. If you can help please leave a note or call me at (708)719-7128. Thanks, Al PC'S SIG Message # 273 0 replies Reply to # 268 Left by: RALPH BRANDT On 06-Mar-90 At : 717 751 5210 Subject: PCSA V3 I've monitored CPU on an 8530 with only one file service running, a file being freated by a PC backing up using FASTBACK as a test to see how much disk it would take. The CPU held at a couple of percent for the whole run. This backup of 20 meg full drive took 13M of VAX disk and about 10 minutes. Hope this helps measure performance. Pls let me know the results. COMMUNICATIONS SIG Message # 346 0 replies Reply to # 344 Left by: RALPH BRANDT On 06-Mar-90 At : 717 751 5210 Subject: HAYES-TO-DECSERVER200 PIN I just worked with a multitech 224 on a Defender system. had to get help from the vendor to finally get it to work. Some of the recent Multitech 224's have the board stencilled wrong on the MI/MIC option. I had it jumpered right and it didn't work. Sent it back, they had the same problem and traced it to the board stencil. I reversed the jumper and it worked... Thanks to the vendor being receptive it didn't take longer... I know this isn;t the problem here but it may save someone else an excedrin. APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 447 1 replies Left by: RALPH BRANDT On 06-Mar-90 At : 717 751 5210 Subject: FMS I hear several stories about FMS - its obsolete/its the greatest. Has anyone used it? APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 448 0 replies Reply to # 447 Left by: Comet On 06-Mar-90 At : (408)982-5238 Subject: FMS I've used FMS. I liked it. Rectangular cut/paste and VT and LNOn escape sequences output are nice features. FMS editor is lots easier than using paper to dope out the SMG routines. PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES/AI SIG Message # 536 0 replies Reply to # 534 Left by: ABE BRODY On 06-Mar-90 At : 617-734-2839 Subject: DIBOL Perhaps I could answer some of your questions. A few years ago I did a conversion from a PDP 11/34 running under RT ( I don't remember the Dibol version) to a MVaxII running under VMS , and Dibol V2.3. Currently, I am using the latest Dibol, version 4.0. You may reach me at the above number between 8:30 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. EST. Abe Brody The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery 10 Shattuck Street Boston, MA 02115 SYSTEM PERFORMANCE SIG Message # 292 0 replies Reply to # 57 Left by: On 06-Mar-90 At : Subject: VMS DISK CACHING? TERMINALS/PLOTTERS/PRINTERS SIG Message # 365 0 replies Reply to # 361 Left by: Kim C. Okada On 06-March-1990 At : Carondelet Health Care Corporation Tucson, Arizona (602)622-5833 ext. 1995 Subject: BP1500 printer install All of the DATAPRODUCTS, which includes DEC's LP series (25,26,27,29), band printers have problems with DEC's definition of TAB. In the terminal characteristics, "SET TERMINAL", set the LTAxxxx with "/NOTAB". TTDRIVER will then expand all tabs to eight spaces. NOTE: A similar problem exists on prior to REV. F DMF32 (unibus) parallel port "SET PRINTER/NOTAB LCx0:" will clear the problem. We also experience "INVALID PRINT SEQUENCE" when we print batch log files on LP32 ports (DMF32 and DMB32), regardless of revision level, with our BULL PERIPHERALS MP6090, NOTAB clears the problem Since you decided on the serial option for your DATAPRODUCTS, be sure to initialize the queue with "/RECORD_BLOCKING" to maximize performance. Future considerations: DECserver 250 (4 - serial and 2 - DATAPRODUCTS parallel ports) optimized for printers, or LPV11 controller and DATAPRODUCTS parallel option with DATAPRODUCTS interface APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 449 0 replies Reply to # 447 Left by: JOHN RICE On 07-Mar-90 At : HERE Subject: FMS Not too bad. Depends on what you want to use it with. I've used it extensively with datatrieve, with alot of success, but there were a few limitations in the area of getting fms numeric fields (with decimals) to properly translate to dtr fields. Also was never able to get fms to scroll with datatrieve , but I didn't try too hard. I think it really depends on the application and what you want to do. The FMS editor is reasonably straight forward and esay to learn. good luck J.R. UNIX/ULTRIX SIG Message # 66 0 replies Reply to # 65 Left by: Phil Anthony On 07-Mar-90 At : Here Subject: SETTING CSH ENVIRONMENT V Then I suspect you're out of luck, Patrick. As I understand it, the envi- ronment space in csh, or any shell, is just an area of memory containing an array malloc'd by the shell. If you have the source code to csh on your three systems, you might be able to modify them so that they'd use a common area of memory accessible from their child processes, or maybe so they'd respond to a signal from a child by looking for a disk file with a modified environment variable. But I haven't heard of an implementation of any UNIX shell that does what you want off the shelf. APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 450 0 replies Left by: On 07-Mar-90 At : Subject: APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 451 0 replies Reply to # 441 Left by: FLORA KAN On 07-Mar-90 At : Subject: LOGIC FLOW CONTROL AFTER APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 452 0 replies Reply to # 447 Left by: PATRICK MAHAN On 07-Mar-90 At : HERE Subject: FMS Ralph, I have implemented a number of applications using FMS (Forms Management System). It is interfacable (?) to Datatrieve, DBMS and Rdb as well as having a API. APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 453 0 replies Reply to # 441 Left by: FLORA KAN On 07-Mar-90 At : 202-863-8670 Subject: LOGIC FLOW CONTROL AFTER I enabled AST in my VAX COBOL program. The following is the code used: WORKING-STORAGE SECTION. 01 DEVICE PIC XX VALUE "TT". 01 CHANNEL PIC S9(9) COMP. 01 BUFFER PIC X VALUE SPACE. 01 CAST PIC S9(6) COMP VALUE IS EXTERNAL CAST. 01 YAST PIC S9(6) COMP VALUE IS EXTERNAL YAST. 01 IOSB. 02 COND-VAL PIC S9(4) COMP. 02 TRAN-CNT PIC S9(4) COMP. 02 DEV-INFO PIC S9(9) COMP. 01 RET-CONDITION PIC S9(5) COMP. 01 LIB$M_CLI_CTRLY PIC S9(6) COMP VALUE EXTERNAL LIB$M)CLI_CTRLY. PROCEDURE DIVISION. CALL "LIB$DISABLE_CTRL" USING BY REFERENCE LIB$M_CLI_CTRLY GIVING RET-CONDITION. CALL"SYS$QIOW" USING OMITTED,BY VALUE CHANNEL,BY VALUE 291,BY REFERENCE IOSB,OMITTED,OMITTED,BY VALUE YAST,OMITTED,BY VALUE 3,OMITTED,OMITTED,OMITTED GIVING RET-CONDITION. *** Another subprogram YAST.COB call LIB$DO_COMMAND to reexecute the system so that it will go to the main menu when CTRL/Y occurs. Same code used for CTRL/C except that YAST changed to be CAST. *** I appreciate your hints. APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 454 0 replies Reply to # 436 Left by: FLORA KAN On 07-Mar-90 At : 202-863-8670 Subject: LOGIC FLOW CONTROL AFTER Hi Michael, To disable CTRL/Y and CTRL/C by DCL worked fine, but to enable ASTs is prefered. The related code is in message#453. Thanks for help. LASER PRINTERS SIG Message # 115 0 replies Reply to # 113 Left by: KEVIN LUNDY On 08-Mar-90 At : (301)493-5500 Subject: LASER PRINTER HELP QMS has a printer that will handle up ot 11" x 17" and prints at 22 ppm. Comes with TeX driver and will work in an Ethernet environment. Its the Lasergrafix 2200. QMS main office in Mobile, AL (205) 633-4300. RT SIG Message # 24 0 replies Left by: Comet On 08-Mar-90 At : (408)982-5238 Subject: STRINGING COMMANDS One of my friends, who is using an RT-11 machine, wants to know how to string multiple commands on a single line. Does anybody out there remember? SYSTEM PERFORMANCE SIG Message # 293 0 replies Left by: CARL WITLICKI On 08-Mar-90 At : 603 362 3080 Subject: JOB IN FLA I am moving to Brevard County (Cocoa Beach area) in July. I have 15 years experience in the computer industry as a Software Engineer, Project Leader and System Manager. Extensive experience with VAX/VMS systems including clusters and networking. Experienced with IBM PC, Macintosh and Sun. Operating Systems:VMS, Unix, DOS, Macintosh and OS/2. Languages: C, Fortran, Assembly, Basic and Dibol. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- For further information or to request a resume contact: Carl Witlicki 23 Sunset Drive Atkinson, NH 03811 (603)362-3080 CLUSTERING/NETWORKING SIG Message # 533 0 replies Reply to # 530 Left by: NORM DONOVAN On 08-Mar-90 At : (408) 079-5678 Subject: SYSTEM INDUSTRIES CLUSTOR My correct phone number is (408) 970-5678. This thing needs a quit function. SI needs to provide their own DR driver for two reasons. First, The sizes of disk drives (number of cyl, trk, sec) are hard-coded into the DR driver, so in order to get the driver to recognize the SI disks that do not emulate a standard DEC disk, this table must be patched. Second, DEC does not support DR disks on a Qbus, so SI had to write their own driver to emulate this. We use MSCP system disks on each of our VAXs, so VMS upgrades and stand-alone backups can be done with standard DEC software. I recomend this highly. We used to boot off of the SI DR disks, but upgrades were a complicated, painful affair ( start the VMSINSTAL, suspend it after it loaded the new DRDRIVER, patch the driver, resume the install). Seperate system disks have been a great improvment. SI wrote their own LAVC software because they wrote it before DEC had such a thing. After DEC introduced their LAVC product, SI continued to sell theirs because the DEC product was very expensive and because DEC would only sell you a LAVC licence for one "boot node" and this "boot node" had to be a big VAX, not a MicroVAX. These restriction were removed by DEC with VMS 5.0 and the reason to buy SI software after this time ended. SI still supports the software for those customers that use it. We bought Clustor 5 controllers, but were only shipped Clustor 3 controllers because SI had problems with the cache. The Clustor 5 cache controller is basically an upgrade of the earlier 9900 DCP. We had major problems with a DCP that we bought (it ate disks), so I would recommend caution when turning your Clustor 5 cache on (like cache only less critical disks for the 1st few months). We are told that other sites have had no problems with the DCP, so we may be unique. In any case we are going to wait until their are lots of stable sites before we upgrade to Clustor 5. Norm Donovan VMS SIG Message # 1318 0 replies Left by: NORM DONOVAN On 08-Mar-90 At : (408) 970-5678 Subject: SWAPPER PROBLEMS - FIXED! DEC has a patch available to fix the swapper problems!!! When we upgraded from VMS 4.7 to VMS 5.0, we found that the modified page list was always being flushed. We upgraded to VMS 5.3 to fix this problem, but the problem was still there, only in a different form. Now the swapper would start up and consume 98% of available CPU cycles. The only way to fix this was to either force off an in-memory process (we kept a terminal logged in at prior 30 and/NOSWAP for this) or crash and reboot the VAX. We just got a patch from CSC and the problem stopped!!! YEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The patch file had a note that the patch was generated 31-Oct-1989. Takes a while for things to make it to the outside world, no? Norm LASER PRINTERS SIG Message # 116 1 replies Left by: KEN JACKSON On 08-Mar-90 At : 301-765-0981 Subject: EXTRA , DEVCONTLIB I have an HP LaserJet II+ connected to my MicroVAX 2000 file server with a device control library that I wrote myself. The problem is that every job kicks out atleast one extra sheet of paper. A DEC problem solver told me that the symbiont sees the escape sequence that my library is sending, and does not recognize it so it kicks out an extra sheet of paper. How can I supress those extra formfeeds?? LASER PRINTERS SIG Message # 117 0 replies Reply to # 116 Left by: RICHARD B. GILBERT On 08-Mar-90 At : (609) 258-6217 OR 5130 Subject: EXTRA , DEVCONTLIB Ken, There are two possible workarounds for the extra blank page problem. With a DEC LN03, you can include a character in each member of the device control library. (Yes, I'm serious! It works.) The other way is a pair of eight-bit control characters surrounding your escape sequences; it looks like mumble. I'm not positive that is the one to use to begin the string but if it's not, look for the one that starts what finishes. There are seven-bit equivalents for these things, I believe that translates to \. .<>. PC'S SIG Message # 274 0 replies Reply to # 273 Left by: GRAHAM HARWOOD On 09-Mar-90 At : UK +633 871111 Subject: PCSA V3 I can now tell you more about the problem we saw. Symptoms were 80-90% CPU taken by PCFS_SERVER process when just one PC performed a DIR command on a file service (not a disk service) with a lot of files. When trying to reproduce this bear in mind that PCSA probably caches results so use a different directory if entering multiple commands. We called TSC in the UK who knew of the problem. They told us to reduce the priority of the PCFS_SERVER process to 4 temporarily and they sent us a patched image. This appears to help the problem but you still can see 30% CPU with just one PC. Presumably every file in the directory is having to be opened! While I'm on I may as well tell of another problem when running PCSA in a VAX cluster. We found that cluster state transitions (caused for example when rebooting a node which may not even have had PCSA running on it) were causing all our PC's to lose access to file services but disk services were OK. Users found this very frustrating as they may have been typing for some time before finding out that they could not save their document and had the annoying experience of being able to see their work on their screen but have no option but to reboot their PC and lose it.! TSC told us to change two NCP parameters on all our PC's. INACTIVITY TIMER =90 and CONFIDENCE TIMER =60 this cured the problem for us but I guess its dependent on what kit you have in your cluster how long state transitions take. (we have a 785 and 8810). Hope this helps someone. DATA/FILE TRANSFER SIG Message # 709 0 replies Reply to # 708 Left by: ROBERT G. SCHAFFRATH On 09-Mar-90 At : 914-335-9792 Subject: MNP MODEMS WITH VMS I have been using a Microcom AX/9600 Plus with MNP Class 6 protocol on my VAX for some time now. It supports compression up to 19200 baud. So far I have not had any problems using text editors or similar products. It does fall back to MNP 5 and MNP 4 when necessary. I'd be curious to know how your port is set up. Robert G. Schaffrath System Manager General Foods Corporation White Plains, NY 10625 APPLICATIONS SIG Message # 455 0 replies Reply to # 446 Left by: MICHAEL A. BAYDOUN On 09-Mar-90 At : Subject: FMS TO DECFORMS I can't help you with any advice, but I am worried that DEC may someday discontinue FMS. I would be interested in hearing about your decision when you make it. Everyone make their reservations for DECUS yet? Someone had to start this tread, as good a place as any I guess. .<>. CLUSTERING/NETWORKING SIG Message # 534 0 replies Left by: PAUL KEEGAN On 10-Mar-90 At : 713-783-6020 Subject: MULTIPLE FALS I HAVE MULTIPLE COPIES OF A PROCESS THAT ACCESS MULTIPLE FILES ACROSS A DECNET. THIS RESULTS IN MULTIPLE FALS PROCESS ON THE SYSTEM THAT CONTAINS THE FILES. FOR EXAMPLE IF 20 PROCESS ARE RUNNING AND THEY HAVE THE SAME THREE FILES OPEN THERE ARE 60 FAL PROCESS ON THE SYSTEM WITH THE FILES. THIS USE TOO MUCH MEMORY AND PROCESS SPACE. IS THERE ANY PRODUCT OR METHOD TO REDUCE THIS OVERHEAD ? THANKS PAUL SYSTEM PERFORMANCE SIG Message # 294 0 replies Left by: On 10-Mar-90 At : Subject: CLUSTERING/NETWORKING SIG Message # 535 0 replies Reply to # 514 Left by: PAUL KEEGAN On 10-Mar-90 At : 713-783-6020 Subject: LINK LOST DURING TRANSFER THE DECNET CAN NOT USE ERROR CORRECTING MODEMS . SET THE MODEM TO USE NO ERROR CORRECTING AND NO DATA COMPRESSION AND THE LINK WILL WORK. I HAD THIS PROBLEM WITH MODEMS THAT USE NMP PROTOCOL. DECNET USES ITS OWN ERROR CORRECTING. GOOD LUCK PAUL. PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES/AI SIG Message # 537 0 replies Reply to # 514 Left by: DR. R On 11-Mar-90 At : BETWEEN LAS CRUCES & MILAN Subject: Pillar: Blissful or Tower of Strength? Details on PILLAR are few and far between. According to one loquacious ex-DECWest compadre, PILLAR was to have been SIL (System Implementation Language) for both PRISM operating systems and for VMS. Alas, further information about PILLAR is hidden within the QUARTZ that once graced Bellevue's glaciers and moraines. LASER PRINTERS SIG Message # 118 0 replies Reply to # 117 Left by: KEN JACKSON On 16-Mar-90 At : Subject: EXTRA , DEVCONTLIB Richard, The DEC guy told me about that funny escape sequence to surround my special characters, but those characters mean something entirely different to an HP LaserJet, so I never tried it. It just occured to me, however, that maybe they don't get sent to the printer. Is that the case? As for an extra in the sequence: really? When I have time I'll try these. Thanks for your reply. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ken .<>. COMMUNICATIONS SIG Message # 352 0 replies Reply to # 351 Left by: CHARLES BIAMI On 22-Mar-90 At : 708 4203750 Subject: RS232 TO DHV11 COMM Any idea how I can do that in Fortran. I've tried the standard carriage control characters(+,$), the first transmission using the following format statement (x,a1,/,$) seems ok but I must be carrying along extra baggage because subsequent ones fail. DATA/FILE TRANSFER SIG Message # 711 0 replies Reply to # 710 Left by: RICHARD B. GILBERT On 22-Mar-90 At : (609) 258-6217 OR 5130 Subject: INTERNET The internet is a term that is used rather loosely to refer to a network of networks that connects most of the free world. It is composed of NSFNET, BITNET, CSNET, UUCP, and a large variety of local networks. Most of the networks use the TCP/IP protocol suite; some, such as BITNET, must be reached through gateways that do some protocol translation. It is possible to do file transfers and remote logins over some of the networks. All can handle electronic mail. It is possible to send mail to sites in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, England, Germany, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands. I am sure that I have left out a few countries. MICROVAX SIG Message # 232 0 replies Reply to # 231 Left by: RICHARD B. GILBERT On 22-Mar-90 At : (609) 258-6217 OR 5130 Subject: MICROVAX MODEM PROBS Brian, You didn't say exactly what sort of remote terminal you were trying to work with. If you are using the word terminal in the sense of, say, a VT320 the DDCMP protocol is going to be useless to you. If you have something on the other end of the line that speaks DDCMP then you may have to turn off error correction on the modems in order to make the link work. DECNet and DDCMP have some timing restrictions that error correcting modems can't always meet. COMMUNICATIONS SIG Message # 353 1 replies Reply to # 352 Left by: Phil Anthony On 23-Mar-90 At : Here Subject: RS232 TO DHV11 COMM Charles, I'm afraid FORTRAN is one of the languages I'm not particularly fluent in. But I seem to remember, dimly, that in DEC's implementation of FORTRAN for VAX, text output with a format statement produces an RMS file with something other than ASCII stream attributes (the phrase "FORTRAN carriage control" comes to mind). When it's sent to a printer, the print symbiont knows how to translate the RMS control characters into something a printer understands; but your device knoweth not RMS. Maybe somebody who knows both FORTRAN and RMS can suggest a way to output a plain ol' stream of bytes from your program. MISCELLANEOUS SIG Message # 699 0 replies Reply to # 696 Left by: Brett Bump On 23-Mar-90 At : Here Subject: NEW HAM N2JTX DE N0LQG Well, I finally got my ticket, Robert (3/19/90). Alas, I am still without a radio to call my own, so this, my first QSO, will resonate through copper. The rig here is a modified Amiga 1000, running a 68020/68881 combination. Of course the antenna is Ma Bell. I did borrow the club's TS-520 and have it connected to a dipole via TV coax (59). If I can get the thing to tune up without blowing the finals, I may attempt a real QSO. Tell me your schedule for broadcasting, and I may give a listen. But remember, I'll only be able to answer you (maybe) on 10 meters (28,300-28,500). Sorry to hear that packet is so slow on your end. I only noticed a slowdown once while visiting Lynn's shack. It's very probable that you're waiting on people, not packet. Or it could very possibly be that your second MFJ-1278 is giving out. I've had numerous people tell me they haven't seen anything from MFJ work. Sorry! Give me a shout. 11/73 PC'S SIG Message # 277 0 replies Reply to # 276 Left by: DAN DONOHUE On 23-Mar-90 At : (215)439-3276 Subject: VENTURA & PCSA 3.0 I have a clearer idea now of what is causing our Ventura problem. By mixing and matching v2.2 & 3.0 components, I've determined that the culprit is LAST, i.e. if I load all 3.0 components but use LAST 2.2, we do not experience the memory allocation error. DEC says "Oh, then do that!" but I'm a little leary about mixing components of different versions. Also, even though Ventura now runs, we begun to experience period hangs for no reason, sometimes infrequently, sometimes in a flurry. I can't guarantee that these are caused by the odd LAST, but it seems likely. Anyway, I hope this may be of use to anyone who encounters a similar problem until DEC fixes it. It may not be limited to Ventura Publisher... COMMUNICATIONS SIG Message # 354 0 replies Reply to # 353 Left by: JOHN FLYNN On 23-Mar-90 At : 615-269-2266 Subject: RS232 TO DHV11 COMM Phil, You stated that many languages, including DCL, can be used to send a string out a terminal port using explicit carriage control. I fully understand your BASIC example, but can you give an example of how to do that in DCL? I have always wanted a method in DCL to bypass the default carriage control (which I believe is something like, precede the record with LF and follow it with CR). John. LASER PRINTERS SIG Message # 121 1 replies Left by: WILLIAM R. POOL On 23-Mar-90 At : 501-964-3192 Subject: QUEING MULTIPLE PRINTERS W/ONE QUE I will be getting a networked system with a Vaxstation 3100 and Microvax 3100 and 2-decserver 200 which will have 4 LN03 printers (2 on each server) What I need to know is how I can get the system to determine which printer is least busy and to then send that programs output there. Thanks, Randy LASER PRINTERS SIG Message # 122 0 replies Reply to # 121 Left by: RICHARD B. GILBERT On 23-Mar-90 At : (609) 258-6217 OR 5130 Subject: QUEING MULTIPLE PRINTERS William, The system does not need a whole lot of encouragement from you to do just that. Your default queue, SYS$PRINT is a generic queue. You will need four device queues, one for each printer. The queues will work in the same fashion as a bank where there is one line (queue) and four tellers (printers). The DCL would look something like this. $ INITIALIZE /QUEUE /START /FLAG /GENERIC SYS$PRINT $ INITIALIZE /QUEUE /START /FLAG LTA0: $ INITIALIZE /QUEUE /START /FLAG LTA1: .... Of course there is a bit more to it than that; you will need to set up your terminal servers proprerly, create services, define ports and all that jazz. I could upload examples (if I can get my comm program to upload ...) . COMMUNICATIONS SIG Message # 355 0 replies Reply to # 354 Left by: Phil Anthony On 24-Mar-90 At : Here Subject: RS232 TO DHV11 COMM I could be wrong, John. I haven't used DCL seriously for a few years and don't have the manuals. It seems to me REPLY/NOTERM/DEV= ... would accom- plish it. I recall a similar qualifier for WRITE as well, which is a better way to go (open the device as an ASCII stream file within DCL, then do READs and WRITEs), but I'm hanged if I remember the details. Maybe a DCL guru with up-to-date documentation can help both of us out on this one? You're right, of course, about the default carriage control. That's one of my complaints about both RSX and VMS. It works, but it's incompatible with other major operating systems that speak ASCII and put all their carriage control at the end of output. Also with ASCII devices, such as this one. RSTS SIG Message # 482 0 replies Left by: GLENN DAUGHENBAUGH On 24-Mar-90 At : TALLAHASSEE FLORIDA (904) 644-1746 Subject: CONFIGURATION OF RD53 DISKS I WOULD LIKE TO FIND OUT IF RECONFIGURATION OF RD53 DISKS IS POSSIBLE. THE PROBLEM I HAVE IS ONE OF MY DISKS (RD53) DURING INSTALLATION OF VERSION 5.2 OPERATING SYSTEM IS CONFIGURED FOR A RD51. THIS HAPPENED PREVIOUSLY AROUND A YEAR AGO,ON ANOTHER DISK,WHICH AT THE TIME I JUST REPLACED. IN THIS CASE I WOULD RATHER PREFER TO FIX IT. I AM CURRENTLY A NEW USER TO THIS ARIS INFORMATION SYSTEM, AND CURRENTLY DONT UNDER- STAND HOW I GET REPLIES. I PRESUME I HAVE TO GET IN JUST AS I AM TO SEE MY RESPONSES. I AM HOPING I DONT HAVE TO PAY DIGITAL TO RECONFIGURE THE DISK. THANKS... MASS STORAGE SIG Message # 286 0 replies Left by: GLENN DAUGHENBAUGH On 24-Mar-90 At : (904) 644-1746 TALLAHASSEE Subject: CONFIGURATION OF RD53 DRIVES I WOULD LIKE TO FIND OUT IF CONFIGURATION OF RD53 DRIVES BY THE USER IS POSSIBLE. I HAVE A RD53 DRIVE WHICH DURING 5.2 UPGRADE WAS CONFIGURED TO A RD51. SOUNDS STRANGE ,BUT LAST YEAR THIS HAPPENED AGAIN. AT THAT TIME A PURCHASE OF A NEW DISK WAS THE ONLY WAY OUT. REFORMATTING DOESNOT WORK SINCE ITS LOOKING FOR A RD53 DISK. THE CONTROLLER I HAVE IN MY MICROVAX IS A RQDX2. I AM HOPING THAT I DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE DIGITAL RECONFIGURE IT, OR JUST AS LAST YEAR,BUY ANOTHER ONE. I STILL HAVE THE ORIGINAL DISK FROM LAST YEAR,SO I HOPING SOMEBODY CAN HELP ME FIX IT. THANKS...GD .<>.