pdsoft@pd-software.lancaster.ac.UK (The National PD Software Archive) (05/31/89)
> From INFO-A16@EARN.DEARN Tue May 30 20:23:10 1989 > Received: from earn-relay by uk.ac.lancaster.central1; Tue, 30 May 89 20:23:05 -0100 > Received: from UKACRL by UK.AC.RL.IB (Mailer X1.25) with BSMTP id 7276; Tue, 30 > May 89 19:50:53 BS > Received: by UKACRL (Mailer X1.25) id 6089; Tue, 30 May 89 19:50:51 BST > Date: Tue, 30 May 89 14:27:05 LCL > Reply-To: INFO-ATARI16@EDU.STANFORD.SCORE > Sender: INFO-ATARI16 Discussion <INFO-A16@EARN.DEARN> > Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was INFO-A16@MARIST > From: ADRIANO <NCD01012%UFRJ.BITNET@EDU.UCLA.OAC> > To: Alan Phillips <pdsoft@UK.AC.LANCASTER.PD-SOFTWARE> > > HELP > Hello, Please find below a copy of our annoncement file which describes the archive. If I can be of further help please mail me. Regards, Steve Jenkins -- +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | THE NATIONAL PD SOFTWARE ARCHIVE (Alan Phillips & Steve Jenkins) | | LANCASTER UNIVERSITY JANET : pdsoft@uk.ac.lancs.pdsoft | | BITNET: pdsoft%uk.ac.lancs.pdsoft@ukacrl | | | | Terminal/FTP access : username "pdsoft" password "pdsoft" (lower case) | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ANNOUNCING THE NEW NATIONAL PUBLIC DOMAIN SOFTWARE ARCHIVE ---------------------------------------------------------- Finally, after many years devoted service, the LANCS.VAX1 system will be powered down for the last time at the end of January 1989. The Lancaster Kermit Distribution Service and Micro Software Archive has migrated to Lancaster's new Sequent Symmetry UNIX machine, and we've taken the opportunity to make some major changes. Some are to offer new facilities; others are to correct aspects of the design that we either got wrong initially or were forced into by the way VMS worked but which we never much liked. The major thing you'll notice is that both the old services are now combined under the heading of the "National P.D.Software Archive". The new name reflects the fact that we are now funded by the Computer Board as a national service (watch the newsletters for news of developments!). There is now one account only, and all software is accessible via this. The software can be collected by FTP (the preferable method) or in terminal sessions as before. How to reach the new machine ---------------------------- The machine to call for the National PD Software Archive is registered in the NRS as "lancs.pdsoft" or "lancaster.pd-software", and its address is 000010401000 for terminal calls, 000010401000.ftp for FTP, and 000010401000.ftp.mail for e-mail. The username you give to access the service is "pdsoft", which has password "pdsoft". NOTE THAT YOU MUST GIVE BOTH USERNAME AND PASSWORD IN LOWER CASE. What the filestore looks like ----------------------------- The filestore is arranged in a hierarchical way. At the top level are directories "kermit" and "micros", that contain the current two major areas of software. Under directory "kermit" you'll find sub-directories for each implementation, each of which contains all the necessary files. Under directory "micros" you'll find further directories "ibmpc", "mac", "atari" and so on, and beneath these the directories holding the actual packages. The format of filenames is UNIX-like. Thus, the directory micros/ibmpc/f77/f77int.boo contains the BOO-encoded file for a package. Note that the filename must be given in lower-case; upper-case is NOT equivalent. Within each directory there'll always be a file called "00contents" (the first two characters are zeros), which gives you an up-to-date list of the names of all the other files in the directory. [Users of the old service should note that the name "00files.txt" is no longer used for these indexes] Access for terminal sessions ---------------------------- If you access the Archive in a terminal session, you'll find yourself talking to a custom UNIX shell that has a small, but adequate repertoire of commands. UNIX users should note that this is NOT the C-Shell, Bourne Shell, or any other shell you've ever come across; don't expect extrapolations from these to be valid! Probably the best place to start is with the command "help": this takes into a new interactive help system that you can browse around and should, we hope, tell you all you need to know. You can always get a list of available commands by typing the command "?", but here's a brief summary of what you can do cd changes the directory you're working in pwd prints the name of the current working directory help starts the interactive help system type displays a file on the screen dir gives you a directory listing search looks for a string in a file news displays a news-of-the-day file kermit runs the UNIX Kermit program for downloading logout logs you out You can stay logged in as long as you wish, provided that you actually do something; if your terminal is idle for more than 30 minutes you'll be logged out automatically. Access by FTP ------------- As always, the preferred way of acquiring files from us is for you to use FTP; log in to your *own* machine and issue the appropriate FTP commands to pull the files you want. FTP is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Exactly how you do it will, of course, depend on what your own system expects, so consult your local support people if you're in doubt. Remember that you need to give the full pathname of a file in order to FTP it; so, to access the package we mentioned above, you'ld ask your system to pull micros/ibmpc/f77/f77int.boo where you start the name relative to the top-level directory. You will not be able to specify filenames that are absolute (i.e. those that begin with "/"), nor can you access the Archive from any username other than "pdsoft". Remember that you MUST give username, password and filename in LOWER-CASE. Make sure that your system isn't translating lower-case to upper-case without telling you - users of VAX/VMS must be careful here when using the $TRANSFER command. If you have problems, talk to your local Computer Centre support staff. You might like to start by pulling the file "help/basics" which gives you some starting information on the new system. The file "help/00contents" will give you a full list of the other help files in this directory. Some useful files ----------------- Useful files you might like to look at are listed here (note that the names are not always the same as they have been on the VAX system!) kermit/index.mch Kermit index in machine name order kermit/index.pfx Kermit index in prefix code order kermit/index.sys Kermit index in Operating System order micros/index Index of microcomputer software news The main news of the day file kermit/news The Kermit-specific news of the day file micros/news The micro-software-specific news of the day file help/basics The introductory part of the help information, in text form. The directory "help" contains other help files as well 00contents One of these exists in every directory, and is a list of all the other filenames in that directory Our new e-mail address ---------------------- Our address for e-mail has changed, of course, with the new machine: you should now contact us as pdsoft@lancs.pdsoft Some major additions -------------------- The Archive now contains a collection of PC-SIG, PC-BLUE and COMUG software for IBM PC and compatible systems. This has been purchased on behalf of the Academic Community by CHEST and is mounted at their request.