[Ql DECUS The DeVIAS Letter ~ [Q]DEQJS US CHAPTER ~ [Q]DEQJS US CHAPTER The RSX Multi-Tasker December 1983 Issue Printed in the U.S.A. The following are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation: DEC DECnet DECsystem-10 DECSYSTEM-20 DECUS DECwr it e r DIBOL Digital Logo Edu System IAS MASSBUS PDP PDT RSTS RSX UNIBUS VAX VMS VT UNIX is a trademark of Bell Laboratories. Copyright© Digital Equipment Corporation 1983 All Rights Reserved It is auumed that all articles submitted to the editor of this newsletter ere with the authors' permission to publish in any DECUS publication. The articles are the responsibility of the authors and, therefore, DECUS, Digital Equipment Corporation, end the editor assume no responsibility or liebillty for articles or Information appeering In the document. The views herein expressed are those of the authors end do not necessarily express the views of DECUS or Digital Equipment Corporation. ~ MULTI-TASKER December 1983 Copyright<c> 1983, Digital Equipment Corporation. All rights reserved. It is assumed that all articles submitted to the editor of The Multi-Tasker or his representatives are with the author's permission to publish in any DECUS publication and that the author has the right to grant such permission. These articles are the responsibility of the authors and, therefore, DECUS, RSX Special Interest Group, the Digital Equipment Corporation, and the editor assume no responsibility or liability for articles or information appearing in The Multi-Tasker. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily express the views of DECUS, the RSX Special Interest Group, the Digital Equipment Corporation or the editor. The Multi-Tasker is the official publication of the RSX Special Interest Group of the Digital Equipment Computer Users Society. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome. For subscription information and an application, contact: Membership Services DECUS One Iron Hay Marlboro, MA 01752 CONTENTS Paqe RSX SIG Steering Committee Executive Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 RSX SIG Steering Committee Activity Coordinators .........·.. 2 RSX SIG Steering Committee Working Group Chairman 3 Hints 'n Things OPS.CMD Modification ....·..·.··.· 4 Manipulating the FORTRAN Environment ·· 6 Clear Your Screen ..........·.··.·.···· 9 RSX-llM V4.l SYSGEN Symbols .·.···.···· 11 Horkinq Group News .....··...·..··.·.·· 15 EXTRA --- EXTRA ······················· 15 DECUS Library Update ..........·····... 15 CALLING ALL IOUs · . . · . . . · . . . . . · . . · · · . · . 16 Field Test Report Panel ....··....····. 17 WANTED --- WANTED .·.............·.·..· 18 RSX-llM-PLUS for the Micro/PDP-11 ...·· 18 Building and Using Resident Libraries . 20 SPEAK OUT · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 21 The Multi-Tasker will follow strictly the guidelines related to the non-commercial nature of DECUS. If you have any questions on these, please contact the newsletter editor or the DECUS office. Editor Nancy Pallett Cameron Shaw Associates 6735 Telegraph Road Suite 15 Birmingham, MI 48010 PAGE 1 RSX SIG STEERING COMMITTEE Executive Board Chairman: Ralph Stamerjohn 412 Falaise St. Louis. MO 63141 Lobby Coordinator: Kerry Wyckoff LDS Church 125 North State Street Salt Lake City. UT 84103 Planning Coordinator: Terry Medlin GEJAC, Inc. P.O. Box 188 Riverdale, MD 20737 Publications Coordinator: Allen Watson The Record 150 River Street Hackensack. NJ 07602 Software Coordinator: Glenn Everhart RCA GSD Engineering 206-1 Route 38 Cherry Hill. NJ 08358 Special Projects/Trouble Shooting Coordinator: Liz Bailey Tenn Valley Authority 222 CEB Muscle Shoals. AL 35660 Symposia Coordinator: Jim Hopp Swift and Company 1919 Awift Drive Oak Brook, IL 60521 Volunteer Recruitment Coordinator: Nancy Pallett Cameron Shaw Associates 6735 Telegraph Road Birmingham, MI 48010 RSX SIG STEERING COMMITTEE Activity Coordinators LOBBY ACTIVITY: Kerry Wyckoff - Coordinator ll Menu Coordinator: Allen Bennett Clark Equipment Company Automated Systems Division 525 Norht 24th Street Battle Creek. MI 49016 PLANNING ACTIVITY: Terry Medlin - Coordinator ll Budget Coordinator Filled name not available 2l SIG Direction Coordinator Terry Medlin 3) Other SIG's Coordinators IAS - Ray French Boeing Commercial Airplane Co. P.O. Box 3707, MS 6F-21 Seattle. WA 98124 VAX - Open PC - Open PUBLICATIONS ACTIVITY: Allen Watson - Coordinator ll Newsletter Editor(sl Allen Watson Dominic DiNollo <Co-Editor> Loral Electronics 234 Drake Avenue New Rochell, NY 10805 2l Symposia Session Notes Coordinator S. Reid Madsen Weidner Communications 1673 West 820 North Provo, UT 84601 3l Scrib Service Coordinator Open 4l Book Publisher Coordinator Open SOFTWARE ACTIVITY: Glenn Everhart - Coordinator ll Tape Copy Coordinator Glenn Everhart 2> Tape Distribution Coordinator East - Filled <Name not available> West - Filled <Name not available> Central - Filled <Name not available> ~ MULTI-TASKER DECEMBER 1983 PAGE 2 RSX SIG StEEiRING COMMI'ITEE <Continued) SPECIAL PROJECTS/TROUBLE SHOOTING ACTIVITY: Liz Bailey - Coordinator 1) Audio/Visual Coordinator Open 2) Volunteer Recruitment Data Base Coordinator Liz Bailey SYMPOSIA ACTIVITY: Jim Hopp - Coordinator 1) Symposia Scheduling Coordinator Jim Hopp 2) Pre-Symposia Seminars Coordinator Steve Mylroic PRLS/Signetics MS0265 P.O. Box 3409 Sunnyvale, CA 94086 3) Call for Participation Coordinator Open 4) Software Clinic Coordinator Ed.ward Cetron The University of Utah Cener for biomedical Design 3168 Merrill Engineering Salt Lake City, UT 84112 5) Manpower/Facility Management Coordinator Gary Maxwell Scientific Research Management Corp. 848-3 E. Gish Road San Jose, CA 95112 6) Poster Papers Coordinator Open VOLUNTEER RECRUITMENT ACTIVITY Nancy Pallett - Coordinator 1) Volunteer Network Nancy Pallett 2) Job Description Coordinator Open 3) Working Group Coordinator Jeff Hamilton E-Systems Greenville Division P.O. Box 1056 CBN27 Greenville, TX 75401 WORKING GROUP CHAIRMAN SRO Working Group Bob Turkelson NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Mail Code 935 Greenbelt, MD 20771 RUNOFF Working Group Chuck Spalding Unimation, Inc. 1202 Charleston Rd. Mountain View, CA 94043 SIG Tape Working Group Glenn Everhart DECUS Library Working Group Bruce Zalinsky <Address Un-known> System Performance, and Accounting Waring Group Paul Sorenson Americal Electric Power Interactive Graphics Section 1 Riverside Plaza Columbus, OH 43215 Data Acquisition, Simulation and Process Control Working Group Allen Bennett RSX-llM Unsupported Versions Working Group Bill Burton Texas Research Institute 1300 Moursand Houston, TX 77030 Editor's Note: In an effort to save space, each persons address was only be shown once. THE MULTI-TASKER DECEMBER 1983 PAGE 3 Hints 'N Things "Hints 'n Th.inqs" is a monthly potpourri of helpful tidbits and rumors. Readers are encouraqed to submit items to this column. Any input about a way to make life easier on RSX is needed. Please beware that items in this column have not been checked for accuracy. Send any contributions to Multi-Tasker - "Hints n' Th.inqs", c/o DECUS, One Iron Way, MR2-3/ESS, Marlboro, MA 01752. OPS.CMD Modification Tony Gandy Systeme Corporation 3443 Parkway Center Court, Orlando, FL 32804 Enclosed please find a copy of the command file OPS.CMD. Th.is is a modification of the command file submitted by Ralph Stamerjohn in the April '83 issue. <Editor's Note: April '83 Paqes 127-128) The primary chanqe was to limit the number of command strinqs supported and move the parsinq up front to remove redundant parsinq of each line from the sort file. As a result, OPS runs faster, especially on RSX-llM where Indirect is heavily overlaid. Additionally, OPS may create a command file without executing it, allowing further editing or reuse. .ENABLE SUBSTITUTION .IFNINS SRD INS $SRD .SETN N l .SETF MAKFIL . SETS CMDNAM "TMP. TMP II . , .PARSE COMMAN "<><>" DUMMY SRD DUMMY XXX ...1 , If no SRD selection, take one .SETT INLINE . IF XXX NE "" . GOTO STRIN .SETF INLINE 1**************************************************************** OPS.CMD - Select files and perform operation @OPS <SRD selection> <command line> Examples: @OPS <*.TSK/AF:ll-APR-83> <MAC $F,$F/-SP=$F> @OPS and then answer questions Parameters are: $N is entire filename $D is device $U is UIC ($G is group, $0 is owner> $F is filename $T is filetype $V is version Limits: Up to 5 command lines allowed 1 Up to 7 substitutions per line 1**************************************************************** . IF SRD NE " " . GOTO CMDS .ASK MAKFIL Generate a command file <without executinq itl .IFF MAKFIL .GOTO SWORD .ASKS A File name (default='CMDNAM'l . IF A EQ "" .SETS A CMDNAM .SETS CMDNAM A .SWORD: 1 SRD selection <RETURN to exit) .ENABLE QUIET .ASKS SRD .DISABLE QUIET . IF SRD EQ "" .EXIT THE MULTI-TASKER DECEMBER 1983 PAGE 4 . OPS.CMD Modification (Continued) , If on command line, loop and read strings .CMDS: Command line 'N' <RETURN for no more commands> .ENABLE QUIET .ASKS XXX .DISABLE QUIET .IF XXX EQ "" .GOTO SORT ....S,,,TRIN: .SETS Parse CMD'N' XXX command line for later use .PARSE CMD'N' "$$$$$$$" Ql'N' Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 .SETN NN 2 .SETS $Z "" . PIECE: . SETS Q' NN' 'N' "$ "+Q 'NN' [ l : lJ .IF Q'NN' 'N' EQ "$" .SETS Q'NN' 'N' "$Z" .SETS R'NN' 'N' Q'NN'[2:100.J . INC NN .IF NN LE 7 .GOTO PIECE .INC N .IF N LE 5 .AND .IFF INLINE .GOTO CMDS . . , , Make SRD selection to temp file and open for read .SORT: .IF N EQ l .EXIT SRD SRD.TMP='SRD'/LI .OPENR SRD.TMP .... ,,,, .IFT MAKFIL .OPEN l 'CMDNAM' Read SRD file and select filename. Parse so $N is entire filename $D is device $U is UIC ($G is group, $0 is owner> . , $F is filename $T is filetype . , $V is version .MFD: .READ LINE .IFT <EOF> .GOTO FINIS .SETS TEST LINE[l:3J . IF TEST NE " **" . GOTO FINIS .PARSE LINE " [,J" DUMMY DUMMY $D $G $0 DUMMY .SETS $U "["+$G+" ,"+$0+"]" . , .READ LINE .LOOP: .READ LINE .IFT <EOF> .GOTO FINIS .SETS TEST LINE[l6.:16.J · IF TEST NE ";" .GOTO MFD .PARSE LINE" .; "DUMMY DUMMY $F $T $V DUMMY .SETS $T "."+$T . SETS $V "; "+$V . , . , .SETS $N $D+$U+$F+$T+$V . , Execute commands or build a command file for each line .IFNDF CMDl .GOTO LOOP .SETS COMAND Qll+'Q2l'+R2l+'Q3l'+R3l+'Q4l'+R4l+'Q5l'+R5l+'Q6l'+R6l+'Q7l'+R71 .IFF MAKFIL 'COMAND' .IFT MAKFIL .DATA l 'COMAND' .IFNDF CMD2 .GOTO LOOP .SETS COMAND Ql2+'Q22'+R22+'Q32'+R32+'Q42'+R42+'Q52'+R52+'Q62'+R62+'Q72'+R72 .IFF MAKFIL 'COMAND' .IFT MAKFIL .DATA l 'COMAND' .IFNDF CMD3 .GOTO LOOP .SETS COMAND Ql3+'Q23'+R23+'Q33'+R3+'Q43'+R43+'Q53'+R5+'Q63'+R63+'Q73'+R73 .IFF MAKFIL 'COMAND' .IFT MAKFIL .DATA 1 'COMAND' .IFNDF CMD4 .GOTO LOOP .SETS COMAND Q14+'Q24'+R24+'Q34'+R34+'Q44'+R44+'Q54'+R54+'Q64'+R64+'Q74'+R74 .IFF MAKFIL 'COMAND' THE MULTI-TASKER DECEMBER 1983 PAGE 5 Manipulating the FORTRAN Environment Douglas C. Shaw Cameron Shaw Associates 3650 Tuckahoe, Birmingham, Michigan 48010 Editors Note: Douglas promised to write an article while at the "Fall '82 Symposium". His Multi-Tasker IOU is now Paid-In-Full. Thank you Douglas!!!! Although we are primarily a FORTRAN shop, we occasionally make small forays into the cryptic world of MACRO in order to enhance the FORTRAN environment. Presented here are three of my favorite little MACRO subroutines 1. SWERLN - Switch Error LUN This routine re-assigns the LUN that FORTRAN used for logging any errors it happens to find. We direct it to the CO: device. This is particularly usefull for obtaining hard copies of errors and also, if you are using FORMS 11, prevents garbage from being spread all over your form . . TITLE SWERLN.MAC .ENABL LC .NLIST BEX .IDENT /C00.00/ .MCALL ALUN$S .GLOBL SWERLN EXTERNAL DEFINITIONS .GLOBL .MOLUN ;- l.Name: ENTRY POINT Msg Output lun from FORTRAN impure area SWERLN 2.Function: This routine switches the FORTRAN Error LUN device assignment to CO: so that the task wont't hang if the TI: is attached to another task Ca very real possibility in the MMD environment) 3.Calling Sequence: CALL SWERLN 4.Routines called: None 5.Directives called: ALUN$ - Assign LUN 6.Author: Douglas C. Shaw 7.PCN History: 25-Sep-82 Written , ;+ .PSECT SWERLN:: MOV ALUN$S RETURN ERR: HALT · END 06-Nov-83 Doug Shaw Use .MOLUN global for error LUN instead of computing it from number of user luns. $CODE1 RW, I, LCL, CON @ .MOLUN,RO RO, "CO, O,ERR Get the error logging LUN Switch it to CO: Back to whence I came Crash via ERROR 7 <Reserved instruction> if there is a problem .... THE MULTI-TASKER DECEMBER 1983 PAGE 6 Manipulating the FORTRAN Environment <Continued) 2. IVAL - Return value of Global symbol or run time address As its name implies, this routine returns the value of a global symbol (declared with GLBDEF task builder option> or the address of a FORTRAN variable. In this manner, it works much like the GETADR subroutine. We use it for reading options set at task build time and some times for setting addresses of FORTRAN variables for Executive services calls . . TITLE IVALUE.MAC - GET VAR ADDR .ENABLE LC Function to simply return the address of the argument in RO <standard FORTRAN Function Convention> , .PSECT IVAL:: RTS .END Usage $CODE1 MOV PC IVARl=IVALCIVAR2> where IVAR2 is a variable name or a global symbol delclared in an EXTERNAL statement. RW, I, LCL, CON 2CR5>,RO ; Move the address ; Return 3. GETARG - Return number of calling parameters This little routine allows you to determine how many arguments were passed to a subroutine. It must be the first call upon entry to the routine; don't ask me how it works it was empirically designed ! .TITLE .DSABL .ENABL .NLIST .IDENT .GLOBL ;- l.Name: GETARG.MAC GBL LC BEX /C00.00/ GETARG ; ENTRY POINT GETARG 2.Function: To return the number of arguments that were passed to the subroutine who called THIS routine. 3.Calling Sequence: CALL GETARG CNARGSl 4.Routines called: None 5.Directives called: None 6.Author: Douglas C. Shaw 7.PCN History: Written 28-Apr-82 <With a little help from my friends ! ! > ;+ .PSECT $CODE1 RW, I, CON, LCL GETARG:: MOV @2 CSP l ,@2 CR5 > ,, Get the number of arguments BIC 177400,@2CR5> ,, from the previous call and RTS PC ,, clear the high order byte . · END THE MULTI-TASKER DECEMBER 1983 PAGE 7 Manipulating the FORTRAN Environment <Continued) The following short example illustrates the use of these routines PROGRAM TEST IMPLICIT INTEGER CA-Z> INTEGER*2 DUM1,DUM2,DUM3 BYTE BUFF C4l c CALL SWERLN Switch errors to Console ENCODE (4,100,BUFF> 12345 The ERROR 63 conversion 100 FORMAT CI4l c error from this statement will appear on CO: device c c Call subroutine with varying numbers of arguments c CALL DUMMY C) CALL DUMMY CDUMl> CALL DUMMY CDUM1,DUM2> CALL DUMMY CDUM1,DUM2,DUM3) CALL DUMMY CDUM1,,DUM3l CALL EXIT END SUBROUTINE DUMMY CARG1,ARG2,ARG3l IMPLICIT INTEGER CA-Zl c CALL GETARG CNARGSl TYPE *,I I Number of arguments passed TYPE *, 'NUMBER OF ARGUMENTS PASSED = ' ,NARGS c C Address of the arguments; -1 means that no argument is present c IF CNARGS.GE.ll TYPE *,I IVALCARGl> =' ,IVALCARGll IF CNARGS.GE.2l TYPE *,' IVALCARG2) =' ,IVALCARG2l IF CNARGS.GE.3> TYPE *,' IVALCARG3l =' ,IVALCARG3l RETURN END And this is the output from the program <note that the ERROR 63 message does not appear here ... it comes out on the CO: device> : >RUN TEST NUMBER OF ARGUMENTS PASSED 1 IVALCARGll = -1 NUMBER OF ARGUMENTS PASSED = 1 IVALCARGll = 1484 NUMBER OF ARGUMENTS IVALCARGll = PASSED 1484 = 2 IVALCARG2l = 1486 NUMBER OF ARGUMENTS PASSED = 3 IVALCARGll IVALCARG2l = = 1484 1486 IVALCARG3l = 1488 NUMBER OF ARGUMENTS PASSED = 3 IVALCARGll = 1484 IVALCARG2l = -1 IVALCARG3l = 1488 Il::m! MULTI-TASKER DECEMBER 1983 PAGE 8 Clear Your Screen Bernard E. Hood Los Alamos National Laboratory P. O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, NM 87545 Editors Note: Bernard promised to write an article while at the "Fall '82 Symposium". His Multi-Tasker IOU is now Paid-In-Full. Thank you Bernard!!!! Many (if not most) users resolutely refuse to clear the terminal screen or dispose of paper when loqqinq off. This may pose a problem at installations which handle confidential or proprietary information. The followinq subroutine hooks into BYE to automatically clear screens and/or remind users to remove their paper. See comments for installation notes · . TITLE BYESUB .ENABLE LC User subroutine to hook into ... BYE. The purpose is to automatically erase screen of a softcopy terminal or to perform paqefeed on a hardcopy terminal at loqoff time, in order to prevent unauthorized access to data shown on the terminal. Notes: <ll This subroutine is hardware dependent and must be modified to use at other installations. The modifications required are to examine the terminal-type byte in RO for those terminals present at the installation and to add messaqe and screen-erase strinqs for these terminals. In the present case, the only terminal types which exist are Tektronix 4014, TI Silent-700 and DEC VTlOO and LA120. The SET /TERM=ttn:m Cm = model number, 128-255) command is used at startup time to define the Tektronix terminals as m=l29 and the TI terminals as m=l30. See DEC documentation for lists of known terminals and their symbolic names and screen-erase strinqs. See terminal documentation for non - DEC terminals. <2> BYE assiqns LUNs 1 and 7 to TI:. Th.is subroutine uses LUN 1 and EFN 1 for terminal I/O. (3) SY:[l,24lBYEBLD.CMD contains documentation on includinq this subroutine. Author: Bernard E. Wood P-15, HS D406 Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos NM 87545 Lanquaqe: MACR0-11 System: , .PAGE RSX-11/M .MCALL DIR$,MRKT$C,WTSE$C,QIOW$,QIOW$C,TTSYM$ ; LUN EFN T.TK40 T.TI70 , .NLIST TTSYM$ =l =l =201 =202 BEX ; define TT: char. words define TEK as model 129. TI 130. THE MULTI-TASKER DECEMBER 1983 PAGE 9 Clear Your Screen <Continued> 'TTYPE: . BYTE TC. 'lTP, 0 'ERSMSG: .ASCII sCREEN NILL ERASE IN 3 SECONDS LERSK:;·. -ERSMSG PGMSG1 .ASCII pAGE FEED IN 3 SECONDS - PLEASE .ASCII REMOVE USED PAPER LPGMSG·. -PGMSG TICERAS: .BYTE 33,14,15 erase TEK screen L'l'ICER ·.-TICERAS VTERAS: .BYTE 33,133,110,33,133,112 erase Vt screen LVl'ER · ·VTERAS LAERAS: .BYTE 14,15 paqefeed LA120 LLAER ·.-LAERAS LFEEDS: .BYTE 12,12,12,12,12,12 fake other termls. LLFS ·.-LFEEDS .MACRO HOV HOV HOV DIR$ .ENDH ; TYPQIO: QIOH$ TYPE HSG,LEN,FMT MSG,TYPQIO+Q.IOPL LEN,TYPQIO+Q.IOPL+2 FMT,TYPEIO+Q.IOPL+4 TYPQIO TYPE IO.HVB,LUN,EFN,,,,<O,O,O> ; $USRSB: : QIOH$C HOVB CMPB BEQ CMPB BEQ CMPB BEQ CMPB BEQ . , BR TEKT: TYPE JSR TYPE MRKT$C WTSE$C BR , Vl'lH: TYPE JSR TYPE BR , LA120: TYPE JSR TYPE BR , TI700: OTHER: TYPE JSR TYPE ; RETURN: RTS , . PAUSE: MRKT$C WTSE$C RTS .END SF.GHC,LUN,EFN,,,,<Tl'YPE,2> Tl'YPE+l,RO qet terminal type RO, T.TK40 is it a TEKtronix? TEKT ·.. yes - qo do it RO, T.VlOO is it a "1'100? Vl'lH ... yes - qo do it RO, T.Ll20 is it a LA120? LA120 ·.. yes - go do "it RO, T.TI70 is it a TI-700? TI700 ... yes - go do it OTHER none of the above - fake it ERSHSG,LERSHG,40 PC,PAUSE TKERAS,LTKER,40 1,2,2 l RETURN notify of what's coming erase the TEK screen wait for screen to settle ... and quit ERSHSG,LERSMG,40 PC,PAUSE VTERAS,LV!'ER,40 RETURN notify of what's coming erase the "1'100 screen ... and quit PGHSG,LPGMSG,40 PC,PAUSE LAEERAS,LLAER,40 RETURN notify of what's coming output a formfeed ... and quit PGMSG,LPGMSG,40 PC.PAUSE LFEEDS,LLFS,40 treat TI-700 and unknowns notify of what's coming output some linefeeds PC back to main code 1,3,2 1 PC 'llZ MULTI-TA§KER DECEMBER 1983 PAGE 10 RSX-llM V4.1 SYSGEN Symbols Dick Ba.ker-Munton Systime Computers Limited Systime House 15/23 Baches Street. London Nl Hhen RSX-UM V3.2 appeared. I subaitted a "Road Hap" of RSXMC.HAC symbols in Auqust 1980 which was published in Ih!:. Hµlti-Tasker. The enclosure is the equivalent for the V4.l release. which you miqht like to publish in your next newsletter. The Cll,lOlRSXMCO.HAC and C200,200l~.CMD from RSXM35 and EXCPRV volumes of RL01/RL02 distribution kit were concatenated into one file. All lines with "$$" were extracted, sorted eliainatinq duplicates and formatted usinq TECO. The result is a definitive directory of symbols that may be included in the RSXMC.MAC prefix file qenerated by SYSGEN. Other symbols may be found in the Cll,lOl~.MAC source files. These relate to options no lonqer supported (i.e. cannot be enabled by a straiqht SYSGEN> or for unbundled products or RSX-llM+ to I&D space etc. not supported under llM>. Any more information can be obtained from me at Systime's London Office as above. A$$BIO=O AUBRT=O AUCHK=O A$$CLI='NCLI'. AUCPS=O A$$D01='AD', AUF11='AF', AUHDR=O AUNSI=O A$$PRI=O A$$R11='AR', AURDA=O AUTRP=O B$$LV1=''$BASEL' B$$LV2=''$BLREV' B$$MAF'=1 C$$CDA= I $C[l[I' CUCHE=O C$$CKP=4, C$$CSR='$MDC' CSU NT=O C$$0NS='C0', C$$0RE= I $[1SA I. C$$R11='CR'. C$$RSH='$CND' CURTO= I $CRR I. CURUN='$CDU' CHSMT=O C$$ TTY= I $RSD' D$$B11='XB'. [1$$C11='NCONTR,' D$$E11='XL', D$$H11~'NCONTR,' [1$$IAG=O D$$ISK=O D$$J11='NCONTR,' D$$L11='NCONTR.' D$$LMD=O D$$M11='NDM. I D$$P11='Xf'', D$$PAR=O D$$CU1='XG', D$$R11='0 D$$SHF=O [1$$lJ11= I XU I. D$$Vl1='NCONTR,' D$$VMD=O D$$W1.t" 'XW', ;ASYNCHRONOUS BUFFERED IIO ;SPECIFY REQUESTED EXIT AST DIRECTIVE ;ADDRESS CHECKING ;ALTERNATE CLI SUPPORT; MAX NUM OF 'NCLI', CLIS ;ACF' SUPPORT ;ADOl A/D CONVERTERS ;AFC11 AID CONVERTERS ;ALTERNATE TASK HEADER REFRESH ;ANSI MAGTAf'E SUPPORT ;ALTER PRIORITY DIRECTIVE ;AR11 LAB PERIPHERAL SYSTEMS ;AR11 DIA OPTION ;AST SUPPORT ;BASELEVEL '$BASEL' ;BASELEVEL REVISION OF ''$BLREV'' ; bitmap screen ICRASH DUMP ROUTINE ICACHE MEMORY SUPPORT ICHECKPOINTING SUPPORT ;csR ADDRESS OF CRASH DEVICE ;CONNECT TO INTERRUPT DIRECTIVE ; CONSOLE [IR IVER ;SIZE OF DYNAMIC STORAGE REGION ;CR11 CARD READERS ICRASH REPORTING ;cR: NOT READY MSG INTERVAL IPHYSICAL UNIT NUMBER OF CRASH UNIT ICANCEL SELECTIVE MARK TIMES ;REGISTER/STACK DUMP DEVICE CSR ADDRESS ;DA11-B PAR, LINE !INTERFACES ;bitmap video interface ;DL11-E LINE INTERFACE 1DH11 ASYNCHRONOUS LINE MULTIPLEXERS ;DIAGNOSTIC FUNCTIONS INONRESIDENT TASK SUPPORT ;DJ11 ASYNCHRONOUS LINE MULTIPLEXERS ;DL11 A/B/CID LINE INTERFACES ;DL11-E MODEM SUPPORT IDM11BB MODEM CONTROL INTERFACES ;DP11 LINE INTERFACES IDIRECTIVE COMMON SUPPORT ;DQ11 SYNC. LINE INTERFACES IDR11-K OPTION PRESENT ;AUTOMATIC DYN. MEM, COMPACTION ;ou11 LINE INTERFACES ;DHVll ASYNCHRONOUS LINE MULTIPLEXERS ;DHV11 MODEM CONTROL ;DUP11 LINE INTERFACES THE MULTI-TASKER DECEMBER 1983 PAGE 11 RSX-llM V4.l SYSGEN Symbols <Continued> [1$$W50=1 DUWCK=O D$$YNC=O DUYNM=O D$$Z11='NCONTR,' D$$Z50=1 [1$$ZMD=O E$$ACT=O E$$I1VC=O E$$EAE=O E$$LOG=O E$$XPR=O FULPP=O FUL TP=O F$$LVL=1 GUEFN=O G$$ TPP=O G$$TSS=:O GHTTK=O G$$WRD=O H$$RTZ=50, I$$C11='IC', I$$COM=O I$$P11='IP', IHPOM=O IHRAR=O I$$RDN=O KHCNT=173202 KHCSl;:==l 73030 KHIEN==115 K$$LDC=<57*256.>t77 K$$ TPS=64. l\$$W11=172400 L$$11R='O L$$50H:=O L$$A11=='LA'. L$$ASG=O L$$0f(V=O L$$KPC=='KMK,' L.$$LDR=O L$$P11='LP', L$~;PS1'-"'LS·', L$$PTO= I $PNR I. L$$SBF==O L $$SDA=O LHSDR='O L$$SGR=O L$$SI1=:0 M$$CLI=O M$$CRB=:84, M$$Cl;:X=O M$$EIS,.,,O MUEXT:=O M$$FCS=:O M$$L11='EM'. MHMGE=O M$$MUP=O MHNET=O M$$0VR=O N$$LDV='NL', N$$MOV= I $DTV I. N$$UMR::5*4 P$$BPR=51. PUCTL=O P$$FRS=200, P$$GMX=O P$$HIL=1600. P$$LAS=O P$$LOL=600. ;RCD50 Winni controller <DWI> ;DISK WRITECHECK SUPPORT ;DYNAMIC CHECKPOINT ALLOCATION ;DYNAMIC MEMORY ALLOCATION SUPPORT ;oz11 ASYNCHRONOUS LINE MULTIPLEXERS iRX50 diskette controller CDZI) ;riz11 MODEM SUPPORT ;LOGGING OF CONCURRENT I/O ;LOG DEVICE ERRORS AND TIMEOUT iEAE SUPPORT ; ERROR LOGGING ;EXTEND PARTITION <TASK) DIRECTIVE ;FLOATING POINT PROCESSOR SUPPORT ; FIS SUPPORT ;FILES STRUCTURE LEVEL SUPPORT ;GROUP GLOBAL EVENT FLAGS ;GET PARTITION PARAMETERS DIRECTIVE iGET SENSE SWITCH DIRECTIVE ;GET TASK PARAMETERS DIRE'CTIVE ;INCLUDE $GTWRD CODE ; LI NE FREQUENCY iICS/ICR-11 INDUS CONTROL SUBSYSTEM iIP11/IP300 PROCESS SUBSYSTEMS ;INSTALL· REQUEST, AND REMOVE ON EXIT ;I/O RUNDOWN ; address of clocks interrupt re~ister ; internal clock CSR address <CKCSR2l ;CLOCK INTERRUPT ENABLE <KW11-P AT LINE FREQ) ; lo=disable.hi=enable clock interrupt ; clock interrupt rate (ticks Per second> iKW11·-Y SUPPORT ;FAST PRINTER SUPPORT ;soHz LINE FREQUENCY ILPA11 LAB PERIPH. ACCELERATORS ;LOGICAL UNIT ASSIGNMENT ;LOADABLE DRIVER SUPPORT ;KMC11 POLLING COUNT ILOADABLE LOADER SUPPORT iLP/LS/LV11/LA180 LINE PRINTERS iLPS11 LAB PERIPHERAL SYSTEM ;1..p: NOT READY MSG INTERVAL iLPS11 BANDWIDTH FILTERING iLPS11 DIA OPTION ; LF'SDR--A PRESENT iLPS11 GAIN RANGING OPTION iLSI-11 PROCESSOR ;MULTIPLE CLI SUPPORT <NEVER DEFINED W/A$$CLil ;MCR COMMAND BUFFER LENGTH ;EXTERNAL MCR FUNCTIONS ;EXTEND INSTRUCTION SET SUPPORT ;EXTENDED MEMORY SUPPORT IFCS/FILE SYSTEM SUPPORT iML11 MEMORY DISK CONTROLLERS ;MEMORY MANAGEMENT ;MULTI-USER PROTECTION ;EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS PRODUCTS <NETWORKS> ; 0\..'ERLAYED MCR ;NULL. DEVICE >SIZE OF BLXIO ''MDV'' TABLE ;BYTES OF STATICALLY AL.LOCATED UMR''S iPOOL BASE PRIORITY TASK CONTROL ;pool MONITORING TASK SUPPORT it.OWEST PERMISSIBLE SIZE OF LARGEST POOL FRAGMENT IGET MAPPING CONTEXT IHIGH POOL LIMIT ;PROGRAM LOGICAL ADDRESS EXTENTIONS ; L.OW F'OOL LIMIT THE MULTI-TASKER DECEMBER 1983 PAGE 12 RSX-llM V4.l SYSGEN S}'Jlbols <Continued> P$$MON=O P$$NIC='$PDD' PSSOFF=O f'$$P11='f'P', P$$P45=0 PSSR11='PR'. PS$RFL=O PURTY=O P$$SRF=O PUWRD=O Q$$CRC=O Q$$HPT=O Q$$MGR=O Q$$0PT='$NPK', RU11M=O RU11S=O R$$611,='DM'. R$$60F=O RHDER=O RUEXV=O R$$F11='DF', R$$JP1='DB', RHJF'O"O R$$JS1='DS', R$$K11='DK', R$$L11='DL', R$$LKL~'1 R$$M11='DR', R$$MOF""'O R$$NDC= I $RRS I. R$$NDH='$HIC', $LDC F~$$NDL= I I. DP 1~$$F'11= I I. R$$POI=0 0 R$$PRO,~o RHSND=O 1~$$1F'R=' 'TEMPS' 1:;:$$UDA='DU', 1'~$$X11,,·'DX', R$$X21= I DY I. S$$ECC=O S$$NM1=''TEMPS' S$$NM2=. ·'TEMP£) I S$$NM3=''TEMPS' SHTIM=O S$$TOF'==O S$$WLK,~o S$$Wf'C=0 / $DKS 1 , S$$WPR~'$SWP', S$$WRG==O S$$YSZ='$TME',*32, T$$30P=O T$$A11='CT', H$ACD= 0 0 T$$ACR,~o T$$BTlJ=o0 THBUF=O T$$C11=00 'DT', T$$CCA·-=O T$$CCO~'o T$$CPW=O THCTF:=O THCUP=O THESC=O THGMC=O THGTS=O THHFF=O ;sPM-11 SUPPORT iCSR ADDRESS OF PANIC DUMP DEVICE iPARENT/OFFSPRING TASKING iPC11 PAPER TAPE PUNCH ;ROTATING DATA LIGHTS iPR11 PAPER TAPE READER PLUS ANY PC11 READERS iPOWER FAIL H'ARITY MEMORY ;SEND/RECEIVE BY REFERENCE ;INCLUDE $PTWRD CODE iDQ11 CRC OPTION SUPPORT ;DQ11 PROTOCOL OPTION SUPPORT ;QUEUE MANAGER SUPPORT ;PRE-ALLOCATE I/O PACKETS ;RSX-1 lM SYSTEM iRSX-11S SYSTEM iRK611 DISK CART CONTROLLERS 1RK06 OFFSET RECOVERY SUPPORT ;coRAL DEALLOCATION ERROR CHECKING iEXTEND EXECUTIVE TO 20K ;RF11 FIXED HEAD DISK CONTROLLERS iRJ/RWP04\05\06 PACK CONTROLLERS iRP04/05/06 OFFSET RECOVERY SUPPORT 1RJ/RWS03\04 DISK CONTROLLERS ;RK11 RK05 DISK CONTROLLERS iRL11 DISK CARTRIDGE CONTROLLERS iRMS RECORD LOCKING AND PLACE CTL, iRWM03 DISK PACK CONTROLLERS ;RM03 OFFSET RECOVERY SUPPORT iCLOCK TICKS PER SCHEDULING INTERVAL ;HIGHEST PRIORITY CLASS TO CONSIDER iLOWEST PRIORITY CLASS iRP11-C\E DISK PACK CONTROLLERS ;REQUEST AND PASS OFFSPRING INFO ; Professional s~stem CPMX) iSEND/RECEIVE DIRECTIVES iTYPE OF PDP-11 PROCESSOR iUDA DISK CONTROLLER ;RX11 DISK CONTROLLERS ;RX211 DISK CONTROLLERS iSHARRED ECC CODE ;FIRST 2 CHARS OF SYSTEM NAME ;SECOND 2 CHARS OF SYSTEM NAME iTHIRD 2 CHARS OF SYSTEM NAME ;SET SYSTEM TIME DIRECTIVE iSTOP BIT DIRECTIVES ;soFTWARE WRITELOCK SUPPORT ;cLOCK TICKS PER SWAPPING INTERVAL iSWAPPlNG PRIORITY 1PROCESSOR HAS A SWITCH REGISTER ISWITCH STATE DIRECTIVE ISIZE OF PHYSICAL MEMORY IN 32W BLOCKS ; LA~rnP SUPPORT ITA11 DUAL CASSETTES iANClLLARY CONTROL DRIVER SUPPORT ! AUTOMATIC CR/LF ;BREAKTHROUGH WRITE lCHECKPOINTABLE DURING TERMINAL INPUT lTC11 DECTAPE CONTROLLERS ;UNSOLICITED INPUT AST iWRITE WITH CONTROL/O CANCELLATION ;FULL DUPLEX TERMINAL DRIVER ;coNTROL-R SUPPORT iDEVICE INDEPENDENT CURSOR POSITIONING lESCAPE SEQUENCE SUPPORT IGET TERMINAL CHARACTERISTICS IGET TERMINAL DRIVER SUPPORT ;LA180S TERMINAL SUPPORT THE MULTI-TASKER DECEMBER 1983 PAGE 13 RSX-llM V4.l SYSGEN Symbols <Continued> T$$HLD=O T$$J16='MM', T$$KMG=O T$$LWC=O T$$M11='MT', T$$M78='MF', T$$MIN=O T$$RED=O T$$RNE=O T$$RPR=O T$$RST·O T$SRUB=O T$$S11='MS', T$$SMC=O T$$SYN=O T$$TRW=O T$$U58='DD', T$$UTB=O T$$UT0='$TMN', T$$VBF=O U$$ACH='UAK,' US$ADM='UDDO,'t'UDD1,' U$$AOM='UDD2,' U$$CIM='UDDJ,' US$CSM='UDD4,' U$$D11='UD', U$$DCM=O Ul$LTM='UDD5,' U$$MHI=O U$$ML0=160000 UStMRN=170224 USSNIP=O U$$SSM='UDD6,' Ul$TIM='UDD7,' V$$CTR='$HIV,' VSSRSN=41 V$$S2S=O V$$S60=0 V$$T11=0 XS$DBT=O X$$M11='XM', ;HOLD SCREEN MODE ;TM02/03 MAGTAPE CONTROLLERS ;TASK TERM,/DEVICE NOT READY MESSAGES ;SETTABLE CASE CONVERSION ITM/TMA/TMB11 MAGTAPE CONTROLLERS ;TU78 MAGTAPE CONTROLLERS IBASELINE TERMINAL DRIVER ;HARDWARE RECEIVE ERROR SUPPORT IREAD WITH NO ECHO ;READ AFTER PROMPT IREAD WITH SPECIAL TERMINATOR ICRT RUBOUT SUPPORT ITS04/TS11 MAGTAPE SYSTEMS ;SET TERMINAL CHARACTERISTICS ;TERMINAL-HOST SYNCHRONIZATION ITRANSPARENT READ/WRITE ITU58 <NEW> DECTAPE CONTROLLERS IUSER TERMINAL INPUT BUFFERING ITIME OUT ON UNSOLICITED INPUT IVARIABLE LENGTH INPUT BUFFERING INUMBER OF CHANNELS PER MODULE ;ADU01/IAD-IA ANALOG INPUT ;ANALOG OUTPUT ;DIGITAL INTERRUPT ;DIGITAL SENSE IUDC11 UNIVERSAL DIGITAL CONTROLLER IBI-STABLE OUTPUT ;HIGH ADDRESS OF 18 BIT UNIBUS ADDRESS IN BITS 4 AND 5 ILOW 16 BITS OF 18 BIT UNIBUS ADDRESS IADDRESS OF NEXT AVAILABLE UMR ;AR11 UNI-POLAR A/D SAMPLING ISINGLE SHOT OUTPUT II/O COUNTER ;HIGHEST INTERRUPT VECTOR ~RSX-11M V4.1 IVS60 DRIVES 2 CRT MONITORS IVS60 GRAPHICS DISPLAY SUBSYSTEM IVT11 GRAPHICS DISPLAY SUBSYSTEM IEXECUTIVE DEBUGGING TOOL IDMC11 LINE INTERFACES ~ MULTI-TASKER DECEMBER 1983 PAGE 14 Working Group News Jeff Hamilton E-Systems P. O. Box 1056 CBN27 Greenville. TX 75401 Editor's Note: Jeff is the new Working Group Coordinator taking over the responsibilities that were previously handled by Liz Bailey. At this time I would like to thank Liz for the Working Group reports that she has submitted to The Hulti-T&sker over the past two years. SRO Working Group The SRO Working Group met in Las Vegas to discuss the future of the working group and its directions. The official working group version of SRO is on the Fall83 SIG tape. Bob Turkelson. chairman revealed that there were several enhancements. The group is working on including features not yet implemented and increasing overall speed of operation. RUNOFF Working Group The RUNOFF Working Group with Allen Watson the temporary chairman sitting in for Chuck Spalding who was unable to attend. The group decided to continue development and try to consolidate the various versions into one "official" version. Sigtape Working Group The Sigtape working group met and discussed ways of breaking the SIG tape job into several smaller and more easily managed sub functions. This will enable the tape to be shipped to users in less time than in the past. The tree structure was discussed and ways of increasing the integrity of the structure were brought out. Glenn Everhart the new chairman will try to whip the submissions into shape and leave the distribution to several members of the working group. DECUS Library Working Group The DECUS Library Working Group with Bruce Zalinsky as the chair decided upon continued testing and compilation of information off of past RSXIAS SIG tapes to submission to the library. System Performance and Accounting Working Group The System Performance and Accounting Working Group discussed several options to bring M+ style accounting and performance enhancements to M. Several possible sessions to be given at the Spring84 national symposium were discussed. Data Acquisition. Simulation. and Process Control Working Group The Data Acquisition. Simulation. and Process Control Working Group finally decided to take matters into their own hands. The group voted to join like members in the V'A'X and RT areas to form a real-time SIG. The preliminary work of getting signatures and petitioning the executive council were accomplished. EXTRA --- EXTRA The Multi-Tasker editor will accept articles through the second Friday of each month for the following month's issue. Send your articles to the address below: The Multi-Tasker clo DECUS One Iron Way. MR2-3/E55 Marlboro. MA 01752 EXTRA --- EXTRA DECUS Library Update Ardath A. Hassler The Catholic Universitv of America Washington. DC Reported by Phil Beene DECUS Scribe Service DECUS Spring '83 Symposium St. Louis. MO Ms. Ardoth Hassler. library coordinator for the DECUS Library Board. led an informative working session designed to update interested users on DECUS Library activities. Following her brief status report on how the Library has been operating since the previous DECUS Symposium. SIG representatives from the U.S. Program Library Committee delivered short reports on how their individual groups are progressing. Ardoth began her report by explaining the DECUS Library's new incentive/reward program to encourage program contributions from DECUS users. Any member contributing a program will receive a plaque from the Library acknowledging their efforts. Although announcement brought a general sense of approval from members of the audience, many thought the program would be more successful if the contributor were offered the alternative of receiving credit towards one of the Library's existing THE MULTI-TASKER DECEMBER 1983 PAGE 15 DECUS Library Update <Continued> listed proqraaa. This suqqestion will be referred to the Library co. .ittee. FollowincJ Ardoth'a announcements, Larry Hicks qave a brief report on his work with the Library cataloq. Since the last Symposium, the previous three exiatinq versions of the cataloq have been compiled toqether into one document. A free copy of this new version should be mailed to all DECUS aelll>ers around June. The Library will beqin treating this cataloq as its main marketing tool. It will be given away in order to make more DECUS melll>ers and others aware of the wide selection of proqrams available through the Library System. In addition to the cataloq distribution the Library will continue to improve user awareness throuqh posters, buttons, booth displays and the implementation of advertising. A discussion of the Library's current taping proqrams and strategies elicited considerable input from members of the audience. One suggestion which came up during this portion of the discussion was the Library's need to make a better general abstract listing of available tapes and the information contained within them. The point brouqht up, was that many potential Library customers can't justify the tape purchase price without a better knowledge of what they are buying. Ardoth said the group would consider this in the future and try to come up with a better list. Another taping problem currently being experienced by the Library is their need for a better copying system. A new mass-producing copying unit is one of the Library's main immediate objectives. For those users and SIG members unable to attend the Symposium, or just wishing to obtain copies of SIG sessions, master tapes will be available. SIGs having copies made at the St. Louis Symposium included: RSX, RT-11, DECsystem-10/20, VAX, and RSTS. Copies of these tapes are available to users for about $112. The RSX and VAX tapes are quite lengthy, and are expected to include two tapes. The last portion of the formal half of the session included a discussion of long range planning goals. The main Library goal is to acquire a method of determining what items and interests users will have in the future. According to committee members, this knowledge will enable the Library to better plan and prepare for these needs, saving everybody time and money in the future. Following the formal first half of the session, Ardoth and other co. .ittee members took questions from the audience. Many of the questions concerned the alternative methods available to create Library donor incentives. Moat DECUS members present agreed a credit systea would be aore effective than the current plaque proposal. Citing other successful library programs, even Ardath agreed, but said she was not certain such a proqram would work in the DECUS system. She feels the Library could easily become overwhelmed with nonusable programs offered by users wanting free proqrams. Although the DECUS Library is not a profit organization, she said such results could destroy the system's financial stability through increased operating costs. One alternative to the plaque system already being discussed, is the possibility of offering a RAINBOW 100 system through a lottery which would include all program contributors. In other pertinent discussion, some users felt that DECOS should obtain stronger rules applying to users' copying and distribution of proqrams obtained through the library. Though there is no law which protects the programs, which are public property, members said it would be nice if DECOS created a head or logo least recognize their contributions to program users. This would not only be self-rewarding to the program authors, but would also create a greater awareness among non-DECOS programmers. In concluding the meeting, Ardoth promised all suggestions would be carefully discussed among Library managers, and promised to let users know results of these discussions as soon as possible. CALLING ALL IOUs Does The Multi-Tasker editor have an IOU that has your name on it? At the DECOS Fall '82 Symposium the ~ Multi-Tasker editor offered an instant reward for article IOUs. Have you sent your article? It is not too late, please forward your article to: The Multi-Tasker clo DECOS One Iron Way, MR2-3/E55 Marlboro, MA 01752 '~ CALLING ALL IOUs ~ MULTI-TASKER DECEMBER 1983 PAGE 16 Field Test Report Panel RMS-V2.0, RSX-llM-PLUS V2.l and RSX-llM V4 .1 Allen Bennett Clark Equipment Company Battle Creek, MI Jim Downward KMS Fusion Ann Arbor, MI Gary Maxwell U.S. Geological Survey Menlo Park, CA Mike Pettengill Digital Equipment Corporation Nashua, NH H. Legare Coleman, Session Chairperson Philip Morris International New York, NY Reported by Marc Caffee DECUS Scribe Service DECUS Spring '83 Symposium St. Louis, MO The purpose of this session was to have reports from individuals who have field tested the soon to be released versions of RSX and RMS. Both favorable and unfavorable features were discussed. For RSX-llM V4.l the first consideration was the ease with which the system was generated. There were no unexpected crash problems. RMS V2.0 works as advertised, in particular there is transparent file access through DECnet. It is worth noting that to incorporate this feature you need lengthy overlays or 32 KB of memory dedicated. Additionally, the system can now be "dynamically" tuned using MCR commands. Among some of the disappointments was essentially the same EDT as in V4.0. The latest word on V3.0 of EDT is that it might be on the first update of RSX-llM 4.1 and RMS 2.1 It was also observed that TKB died occasionally for apparently unknown reason. In the 4.1 version IQ.X was removed. It was felt that despite it not working properly in 4.0 it was still better than nothinq. At least one panel member was distressed by the direction of this new version. Hh.ile V4.l is iaproved in terms of maintenance it appears there are no real substantial improveaents to facilitate better realtime coaputinq applications, vectored FCS library for example. Also it would be desirable to see more uniformity for installation of layered products. Another improveaent miqht be a vectored executive. In summarl, V4.l is better than nothing but not what t could have been. Some of the features incorporated in RSX-llM-PLUS are: 1. A new version of the overlay runtime support. 2. 700 bytes of binary pool savings. '3 · A large version of FllACP is now automatically multiuser. 4. There is now OPEN support for I-D space tasks. 5. ODT can look at both I-D parts of tasks. Additionally an improved version of BRU is incorporated into both V4.l and V2.l. This version of BRU is upward compatible. It is not downward compatible. Features in the new BRU include the ability to backup to smaller sized volumes. If you run out of room on the smaller volume BRU asks you to mount the next volume. Also there is a new R.P. sort algorithm. The new version of RMS will have stream file support. Other features include use of wildcards and resident clusterable libraries in order to save space. In summary, the new version of RMS will essentially have the functionality of VAX RMS. Q. What will be the difference in performance between FCS and RMS? A. FCS can be faster using multibuffering, but RMS does have more functionality. Q. Hh.at are the updates we've been hearing about? Will these replace the autopatches? A. Updates will replace autopatches. Hopefully, they will be better. Q. Is a new I/O operations manual in the making? A. Not to anyone's knowledge. The RMS manual has undergone major change. Q. Hill current Fortran compilers work in I-D space? A. F77 will work, F4P will not. Q. RMSLIB will be a vectored library. Hh.at about other libraries? A. He are workinq towards task independent libraries. 1'tJl; MULTI-TASKER DECEMBER 1983 PAGE 17 Field Test Report Panel <Continued) Q. How much space does RMS use in RSX-11M-PLUS7 A. 40 K with indexing, 20 K without. Q. Using RSX-llM-PLUS with many terminals causes operating system crashes frequently; has this been fixed? A. We believe this will no longer be a problem Q. Will TKB run in I-D space? A. Yes Q. Will the distribution kit be in BRU format? A. Yes Q. What about EDT? A. Some minor changes have been made but nothing major until V3.0 of EDT is released. Q. Will all tasks linked to resident libraries in V4.0 and V2.l have to be rebuilt? A. Yes WANTED --- WANTED Articles for The Multi-Tasker Newsletter Send articles to: The Multi-Tasker clo DECUS One Iron way, MR2-3/E55 Marlboro, MA 01752 WANTED --- WANTED RSX-llM-PLUS for the Micro/PDP-11 Brian McCarthy Digital Equipment Corporation Nashua, NH S. Reid Madsen, Session Chairperson Weidner Communications Menlo Park, CA Reported by Marc Caffee DECUS Scribe Service This session dealt with future plans for support of RSX-llM-PLUS for the Micro/PDP-11. The basic problems encountered in RSX include difficulties in installation management and the lack of speed in TKB. The basic challenge is to overcome the above problems so that Micro/PDP-ll's running RSX can be utilized in small applications. Constraints encountered in meeting the above challenge are reduced cost for software, new distribution media requirements, ease of installation, reduced operating costs, and availability of applications. Some of the goals for future Micro/PDP-11 systems running RSX are as follows: 1. A system the customer can install within 1 hour. 2. A system which is easy to use. 3. Compatibility with the RSX family. 4. Easy to develop applications <applications sell systems). 5. A system which is efficient in disk space usage. 6. A system packaged for the end user market. 7. Support for all Micro/PDP-11 hardware and relevant options. In meeting these goals DIGITAL plans the following actions: 1. A single installation "card" which contains instructions on installing the system. 2. A redesigned stand-alone system <single floppy subset system>. 3. Standardized additional software installation procedures for layered products. 4. Autoconfiguration on host aa.chine. ~ MULTI-TASKER DECEMBER 1983 PAGE 18 RSX-llM-PLUS for the Micro/PDP-11 <Continued> To facilitate ease of use DCL will be the only CL! supported with the base system. Additionally, the documentation will be greatly simplified. Other features will be online help facilities and named directories. Ease of management will be accomplished by eliminating the sysgen <as previously outlined), simplifying the error logger, a simplifying the backup procedure, autoconfiguration, and implementation of a startup procedure driven by an "English-like" parameter file <similar to V2.0 in M-PLUS>. RSX compatibility will be accomplished by using the RSX-llM-PLUS V2.l executive and file control system. RMS V2.0 will also be incorporated. DCL and utilities in the Micro/PDP-11 will be compatible with RSX-llM-PLUS V2.l. Finally, the Micro/PDP-11 will be upward compatible with RSX-llM V4.1. Applications may be compiled/linked on an RSX host system, then transferred to a Micro/PDP-11 system. Most application debugging may be performed on the host machine. There will be programming extension kits available for native development. As previously mentioned, the Micro/PDP-11 will be packaged for the end user market. Importance is being given to presenting a packaging/documentation combination that is attractive to the first time user. For example, the system will be shipped in a "desiqner" box. This package will have provision for OEM resale. The minimum recommended system will include 512 KB of RAM memory, two RX50 diskette drives, and a RD51 10 MB fixed winchester disk. It should be noted that the system only comes with 256 KB of memory, however for many applications, such as multiuser systems, more memory is urged. Optional hardware will include a floating point processor, commercial instruction set, line printer, RL02s, RX02s, AND DZVll'S. The system will be available in three kits: l> base system 2) advanced programming kit 3) additional software kit. Features to be included in the base system include online help, layered lanquage support, and TKB. Options will include error logqinq, and report generator control file <RPI'>. The base system documentation kit will include the previously discussed installation card, and a two volume introduction to Micro/PDP-11 RSX. The advanced system will allow program development in MACR0-11. This system will also support privileged program development, file transfer, and magtape capability. The documentation set will be much more extensive. Among the additional software to be available will be the following: 1. Developmental languages 2. Communications products 3. DIGITAL layered products 4. Business applications 5. Technical applications 6. Office automation All systems will have a ninety day limited warranty, which includes telephone support. More extensive warranties will be made available. During the Question and Answer session, the following questions were asked: Q. Hill the Micro/PDP-11 support shared regions? A. Yes Q. When will F77 be available? A. No commitments, but hopefully this fall. It is currently being field tested. Q. How will RX02s be supported, since RX02s are not supported in 22-bit addressing on Q-Bus systems? A. A new device driver will be available. Q. Hill this driver one day be available for other RSX users? A. He'll think about it. Q. When will DECnet be supported? A. Hopefully this fall. Q. What tape drive is supported? A. TSVOS H MUI.TI-TASKER DECEMBER 1983 PAGE 19 Building and Using Resident Libraries S. Reid Madsen Weidner Communications Provo. UT Allan J. Bennett. Session Chairperson Clark Equipment Company Battle Creek. MI Reported by Marc Caffee DECUS Scribe Service DECUS Spring '83 Symposium St. Louis. MO The RSX taskbuilder permits three types of shared regions: shared commons, shared libraries, and dynamically allocated regions. Several types of shared libraries were discussed. as follows: 1. Resident library - a library that requires a dedicated address window in your task. 2. Cluster library a set of libraries mapped through one window !this type of library can be very slow>. 3. Supervisor mode library <RSX-llM-PLUS only> - the library mapped uses supervisor I space while the task is mapped in D space. The purpose in using a library is to reduce the physical address space required for a task by putting routines used by many tasks into a common area (library>. By doing this a net gain in physical address space is made. Using shared libraries also reduces . disk swapping, since the space requirements for tasks is less than that required by tasks which do not use shared libraries. This not only increases throughput, but can possibly forestall the purchase of additional memory. An example of an existing library is the FCS library. During the SYSGEN procedure you can link a number of tasks to FCSRES. Additionally, some of the layered products (e.g. FORTRAN> have the ability to build resident libraries. In addition to the above libraries the user can write his own libraries. In order to establish a library you must: define the library contents, build the library, install the library, and finally link the task to the library. A user built library can contain either a MACR0-11 source file or an overlay descriptor file. MACR0-11 source files are used by specifying the source file's global entry points. If an ODL file is used, the file contains the names of the object modules to be included in the library. After the contents of the library have been established, TKB is used to build the library. By using different TKB commands you can build overlaid libraries, cluster libraries. and supervisor libraries. In building a memory resident overlay a potential pitfall occurs in referencing entry points. If an entry point is not referenced in the root segment it should be defined using the .GBLREF option. In building cluster libraries there are several things to remember. 1. All libraries except the first must be memory-resident overlays. 2. User task vectors indirectly resolve all interlibrary references. 3. Revectored entry point symbols must not appear in the "Upstream" symbol definition file. A .GBLXCL option must appear for each symbol being revectored to a "Downstream" library. 4. All libraries must be built PIC or built for the same address. 5. Trap or asynchronous entry into a library is not allowed. Building a supervisor mode library is similar to building other libraries. Once a library has been built, the next step is installation. One way to do this is to use VMR to create a new bootable system image. One strategy is to install each library in a partition which has the same name as the task. To get the size for the partition to be created look at the memory allocation map. You are now ready to link to the resident library which you have created. For a non-clustered and non-supervisor-mode library use either the LIBR or RESLIB TKB options. For clustered libraries use the CLSTR keyword. Supervisor-mode libraries are specified by SUPLIB or RESSUP. In a test to check performance three different situations were compared: 1. No libraries 2. Cluster library in which both libraries were overlaid 3. Cluster library where the first library was not overlaid Cases 1. and 2. had essentially the same performance, while case 3 was slower by about a factor of 9. ~ MULTI-TASKER DECEMBER 1983 PAGE 20 SPEAK OUT "Speak Out" is a monthly column for readers to express their opinions or to comment on a previous column. The articles published in this coluan are an individual's viewpoint and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of DECUS or the RSX SIG. Readers are welcome to submit articles on any subject concerning the RSX World. Send submissions to: The Multi-Tasker Speak Out, c/o DECUS, One Iron Way, MR2-3/E55, Marlboro, MA .01752. Kevin Angle TELEX Terminal Communications 3301 Terminal Drive, Raleigh, NC 27604 July 11, 1983 Hr. Ralph Cook Digital equipment Corp. 800 Ea.stowne Drive, Suite 100 Chapel Hill, NC 27514 Dear Mr. Cook: After receiving your letter of July l. 1983 in which you attempted to console me regarding the quality of Digital's software support. I decided to take a new attitude towards software support, SOFTWARE DISPATCH. et al. I decided to assume all was well until the first time software support disappointed me again. Lo and behold, today's mail brought the July SOFTWARE DISPATCH. Fearlessly I proceeded to apply the only relevant patch <seq. #10.3.5.24l. Overlooking the typos (e.g.: "falal"l, I began following instructions to apply the patch. I was determined not to let minor problems change my attitude. But, what's this???? The text says that the patch updates to version 2.5-13 but the patch file actually updates to 2.5-14! Oh, what the heck - I'll just try all the different permutations of ident's and levels until it comes up correct. Next, I find more typo's but this time in the patch file (e.g.: "PAPER!" in F8.PATl. Could this mean that these patches are never tested before release to paying customers? Still undaunted, I attempt to PAT, but perish the thought the checksums were wrong! Then the command line for patching references module "F5" which has nothing to do with the fix. Hmmmm . . . . . so much for pleasant attitudes. Kevin Angley Software Engineer cc: RSX SIG Multi-tasker clo DECUS One Iron Way, MR2-3E55 Marlboro, MA 01752 .;,..;,..;,..;,..;,..;,.1<..;,.1<.1<. l<.l<l<.-J<.-J<.-J<.-J<.-J<.-J<.-J<.-J<.-J<.1<..;..1<.1<.1<.-J<.-J<.-J<. INDEX Page Building and Using Resident Libraries · 20 CALLING ALL IOUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Clear Your Screen ..................... 9 DECUS Library Update .................. 15 EXTRA --- EXTRA ....................... 15 Field Test Report Panel ............... 17 Hints 'n Things OPS.CHO Modification . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Manipulating the FORTRAN Environment 6 RSX SIG Steering Committee Activity Coordinators 2 RSX SIG Steering Committee Executive Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 RSX SIG Steering Committee Working Group Chairman ........... 3 RSX-llM-PLUS for the Micro/PDP-11 ..... 18 RSX-llM V4.l SYSGEN Symbols ........... 11 SPEAK OUT · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · . · · · · · · 21 WANTED --- WANTED ..................... 18 Working Group News .................... 15 THE MULTI-TASKER DECEMBER 1983 PAGE 21 NOTES PAGE 23 MOVING OR REPLACING A DELEGATE? Please notify us immediately to guarantee continuing receipt of DECUS literature. Allow up to six weeks for change to take effect. ( ) Change of Address ( ) Delegate Replacement DECUS Membership No.: Name: Company: Address: State/Country: Zip/Postal Code: Mail to: DECUS · ATI: Subscription Service One Iron Way, MR02-1/C11 Marlboro, Massachusetts 01752 USA -- -I I I I I I I I - - ....- - I I J ~[OJ 3: :I> :o 0 z m -~c c m n mr - -:o- I:I>Ce:n 0 :o 0 z r- en m c: .P:ec~ ~:3I>: ~:<I> ~:cv: ~n:D :ni >o: o-1zo- ::C'lJnz ~C:n-"os:e~n ::i en ::: ~ -m1 m!n5 .0.....,. en N :D ecmn: e:Dn n ~ m -<I ,, "Tl ~· c ~ g.~0g' l\J ~- ~ )> ,, ;i= .......z.. ~~ C- ~0;1 ~s:: ~i; )> ~ L