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$(13%) & \ LSET Z$="" & \ LSET Z$="" if proj%=0/% and prog%=0/% & \ LSET Z$=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.