Table of Contents

     From the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RST-1
     Newsletter Dialup System now Available. . . . RST-2
     Readers Desperately Needed. . . . . . . . . . RST-2
     DCL Trick of the Month. . . . . . . . . . . . RST-3
     Software Performance Report (SPR) Log . . . . RST-3
     Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RST-4
     CUSP of the Month - SYSTAT. . . . . . . . . . RST-4

     Next month's theme - DECNET/E

===============================================================

                        From the Editor
                         Terry Kennedy


           "I don't think there's anybody back there"

     The above phrase may have been made famous by a  fast-food 
chain's  advertising, but recently I have heard  (and  thought) 
the  same  thing about some areas of DECUS,  particularly  this 
SIG.   This impression was caused by several things: Our  SIG's 
section  in the newsletter was sporadic at best, and seemed  to 
contain  mainly  reprints of articles.  There seemed to  be  no 
editorial direction.  When I called some of the SIG leaders  to 
ask  why  this was, I found that many of the  SIG  leaders  had 
changed  jobs,  or were otherwise unreachable.  I  developed  a 
view of the SIG as a remote, detached entity.  The SIG leader I 
finally reached told me "Go to the Nashville Symposium - you'll 
change your mind."

     He  was  right - I have to tell you that there is  a  VERY 
active  RSTS SIG.  If you go to the symposia, you already  know 
this.   For those of you who have never attended, it's  a  real 
eye-opener.   Our SIG had about two dozen sessions, which  were 
very   well  attended.   Almost  all  sessions  had   extensive 
handouts.   I found the SIG leadership to be very involved  and 
responsive.

     However,  that doesn't do a lot for the 90% or so  of  the 
DECUS membership who cannot attend symposia.  That's where this 
Newsletter  comes in.  I volunteered as Editor because  I  was, 
until  recently, one of that 90%.  My job is to communicate  to 
you  the activities of the SIG, and spread around some  of  the 
material generated by the symposia.

     As  my first task, I have updated the SIG listing  in  the 
back of the Newsletter.  You should notice that the information 
for  each person is now more complete.  If you have a  need  to 
communicate  with  one  of the SIG leaders, you  now  have  the 
information you need.  However, it is generally unreasonable to 
expect  extended return long-distance telephone calls  or  free 
advice regarding non-SIG topics.  More on advice later...

     Each issue after this one will have a theme topic (for  as 
long  as I can come up with good themes).  Next  month's  theme 
will  be  DECNET/E.   Please feel free to  suggest  topics,  or 
especially  to submit articles.  Remember, each  newsletter  is 
only as good as the articles submitted to it.

     I  would like to thank the SIG leadership for providing  a 
newsletter during the time that there was no editor.

===============================================================

             Newsletter Dialup System now Available


     As  of now, the RSTS SIG has a dedicated system  available 
for the electronic submission of articles (hint hint),  letters 
to the editor, etc.  The Spring/Fall combined SIG tape is  also 
on-line and available for downloading.  KERMIT is available for 
uploading and downloading files.  To use the system, dial (201) 
435-2546  at either 300 or 1200 baud.  Hit a few RETURNs  until 
you  get  the RSTS banner, then sign on with account  2,1.   No 
password  is  required.  You may request a private  account  by 
sending  MAIL  to  NEWS.  If you need help or  advice  on  some 
aspect  of  RSTS, you can leave a message to NEWS as  well.   I 
will  try to answer all questions I get.  In order for  you  to 
receive  a reply, I will need a 'real' address to send  it  to.  
Any  questions submitted may be published in the Newsletter  if 
considered of general interest.

     The system is up 24 hours a day, seven days a week, except 
after  power failures, which seem to happen too often.  If  you 
are  having a problem with the system, call (201) 435-1890  and 
leave a message.  This is a VOICE number, not a DATA number.

===============================================================

                   Readers Desperately Needed

     Did  you  know  that the information  in  this  newsletter 
reaches a very small percentage of RSTS users?  That means that 
they'll be missing all of this information we'll be  publishing 
-  information  which  will make  them  more  productive.   You 
already  know the benefits of subscribing, so you are our  best 
way  to  reach these people who aren't DECUS  members,  or  who 
don't subscribe to the Newsletter.

     If you know of another RSTS site where there isn't a DECUS 
member,   give  them  the  DECUS  application  and   newsletter 
subscription form found in the back of this issue.

                    DCL Trick of the Month

     Every  SIG  seems to be publishing DCL  'goodies'  lately. 
I'll  try  to have some of the more interesting ones  here.  As 
usual,  this is not restricted to RSTS DCL, any DCL trick  will 
be included.  However, preference is given to RSTS-unique ones.

     This  month's  trick  is  with SET  VERIFY.   It  is  only 
available on RSTS 9.0 and later. In addition to turning console 
logging  of  commands on and off, it can show you  the  command 
line after symbol substitution:

     $ DISPLAY == "SHOW" ! define display as a synonym for show
     $ SET VERIFY/DEBUG  ! turn on debugging display
     $ DISPLAY NETWORK   ! issue command
     (SHOW NETWORK)      ! displays substituted command
     ... output ...

     It can also show you the actual command that DCL issues to 
perform the task:

     $ SET VERIFY/WATCH  ! turn on translation display
     $ SHOW NETWORK      ! issue command
     (NCP SHO ACT NOD)   ! displays actual command issued
     ... output ...

     These  two  options  can be very useful when  you  have  a 
command  procedure which isn't acting as planned.   The  /DEBUG 
option will rapidly show you if you are experiencing  undesired 
symbol  substitution.  The /WATCH option will show you  exactly 
what  command  is  being executed - in the  example  above,  it 
explains  why DECNET/E only shows active nodes rather than  all 
nodes, which would be NCP SHO KNO NOD.

     Next  month,  I'll show you how to use  /WATCH  to  locate 
commands in DCL and change them.

===============================================================

               Software Problem Report (SPR) Log

     Please send the newsletter editor copies of any SPR's (and 
Digital's   answer)  on  RSTS/E,  DECNET/E,  or  RSTS   layered 
products.  We will print any that are of general interest.  The 
reason for this is that many SPR's are answered with a patch or 
a notice of restriction, but due to space considerations,  they 
are  not  published  in the  Software  Dispatch.   Since  we're 
desperate  for material, this should be useful information  and 
we will print it.




                         Questionnaire

     In   the  back  of  this  newsletter,  you  will  find   a 
questionnaire.  Please fill it out and return it to the editor.  
This will help us serve you better by defining the areas you're 
interested in.  There is a section for your comments, as well.

===============================================================

                       CUSP of the Month

     Every  month,  we'll  pick a CUSP  (Commonly  Used  System 
Program)  and  show you new things to do with it. This  may  be 
either  in the form of patches, or simply a new way to use  it.  
When we provide modifications to the source, we will only  show 
the lines which need to be changed.  If you decide you want the 
patch,  edit a COPY of the program (NOT the  original).  Please 
remember  that  Digital  can't  be  responsible  for   modified 
programs.

     This  month's victim is SYSTAT.BAS.  This is a reprint  of 
an  earlier  patch which allows the 'account name' field  of  a 
user's account to be displayed for each job. The author of  the 
patch is Mark Hartman, of Jadtec Computer Group.

Modify the line as indicated by underscored text:
"Job";TAB(6%);"Who";TAB(13%);"Name";TAB(26%);"Where";TAB(33%);&
"What";TAB(41%);"Size";TAB(47%);"State";TAB(56%);"Run-Time"; &
\ IF PRIV.TUNE% THEN &
        PRINT #O%,TAB(66%);"Pri/RB";TAB(75%);"RTS" &
ELSE    PRINT #O%,TAB(68%);"RTS" &

Replace the line:
\ PRINT #O%,TAB(3%);S0/$;TAB(9%-C%);S$; &
with:
\ PRINT #O%, S0/$;SPACE$(5%-C%);S$; &
\ PRINT #O%, SPACE$(8%-(LEN(S$)+(4%-C%))); &
\ PRINT #O%, FNACCOUNT.NAME$(PROJ%,PROG%);" "; &

Modify the line as indicated by underscored text:
\ PRINT #O%,TAB(26%);S$;TAB(33%);RAD$(UU.SYS0/%(17%)+ &
SWAP%(UU.SYS0/%(18%)));RAD$(UU.SYS0/%(19%)+SWAP%(UU.SYS0/%(20/%)));&
TAB(39%);FNN$(4%+PRIV.TUNE%,UU.SYS1%(13%)); &
\ PRINT #O%,"/";FNN$(2%,UU.SYS1%(19%)); IF PRIV.TUNE% &
\ PRINT #O%,"K";TAB(47%); &

Modify the line as indicated by underscored text:
\ PRINT #O%,TAB(65%-(PRIV.TUNE%*9%)-((NOT PRIV.TUNE%)*2%)); &
RAD$(UU.SYS0/%(27%)+SWAP%(UU.SYS0/%(28%))); &

Add the following before line 1510/0/:
150/10/ DEF* FNACCOUNT.NAME$(PROJ%,PROG%) &
\ ON ERROR GOTO 150/20/ &
\ Z$=SPACE$(13%) &
\ LSET Z$="<No name>" &
\ LSET Z$="<Logged out>" if proj%=0/% and prog%=0/% &
\ LSET Z$=CVT$$(MID(SYS(CHR$(6%)+CHR$(-25%)+CHR$(-1%)+CHR$(5%)+&
CHR$(PROG%)+CHR$(PROJ%)+STRING$(16%,0/%)+"SY"+ &
STRING$(2%,0/%)),8%,13%),5%) UNLESS PROJ%=0/% AND PROG%=0/% &
\ GOTO 150/30/ &

150/20/ RESUME 150/30/ &

150/30/ FNACCOUNT.NAME$=Z$ &
\ ON ERROR GOTO 190/0/0/ &
\ FNEND &
! RETURN THE ACCOUNT NAME BLOCKETTE DATA &

     You  should then re-compile SYSTAT with Basic-Plus  2  (if 
you  have  it) or Basic-Plus.  If you don't use BP2,  you  will 
have  to  rename $SYSTAT.TSK to something like  $SYSTAT.OLD  so 
that RSTS will use $SYSTAT.BAC.  The output of SYSTAT will then 
look like the following:

RSTS V9.x-yy SPCCSPDP status at 27-Jun-87, 10/:47 PM Up: 2:0/1:0/6

Job   Who    Name         Where  What    Size  State   Run-Time
 1     1,2   (SYSTEM)      Det   ERRCPY  5/64K SR NSw    1:11.2
 2     1,2   (SYSTEM)      Det   NPKDVR  9/64K SL          54.6
 3     1,2   (SYSTEM)      Det   PBS... 19/64K SL           3.1
 4     1,2   (SYSTEM)      Det   EVTLOG 18/64K SL           2.6
 5     1,2   (SYSTEM)      Det   MAILQ  32/64K SL          18.6
 6     1,254 Terry Kennedy KB26* SYSTAT 15/64K RN Lck       8.5
 7+    1,3   Operator      Det   DISPLY 17/64K SL        5:50/.8

     Of course, the rest of the display has been truncated. You 
may now want to set the [1,2] account's name to '(SYSTEM)' as I 
have done here.


















���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������