mike@erix.UUCP (Mike Williams) (03/14/88)
My wife is having a hard time running an IBM system 36 at her place of
work. Not being a computer person, she turns to me (who is at least
supposed to be one). After having looked at the IBM manuals and tried
to play with the machine, I have not yet even been able to understand
the file system (there seems to be no way of doing an "ls" to get a
list of all files on the system, the "catalog" command seems to have
bizarre options and why does the "catalog" command print its output by
default on a printer, not on the terminal on which you are working?)
Are there any good books about thyese systems? Is there any software
commercial or otherwise which tames these systems? Is there any logic
about the way the OS is written? (Why have one set of commands to deal
with files on floppies and a completely different set of commands to
deal with files on hard disks? )
My advise to them has been to throw the box out of the window and buy a
UNIX box, a VAX/VMS box, a networks of PC's or in fact anything except
what they have got. Am I being too severe or have I just missed reading
the vital book/manual which explains the system?
Any advise at all would be welcomed (including letters of sympathy!).
Mike Williams
mike@erix.ericsson.se
...{mcvax,uunet}!enea!erix!mikesee1@sphinx.uchicago.edu (Ellen Keyne Seebacher) (03/22/88)
In article <1583@erix.UUCP> mike@erix.UUCP (Mike Williams) writes: >My wife is having a hard time running an IBM system 36 at her place of >work. ... > >Any advise at all would be welcomed (including letters of sympathy!). Mike, I was going to right you a nice cheery letter beginning: "Fortunately for both of you, I come across all sorts of obscure information in this job. :-) IBM runs a nationwide system of Guided Learning Centers, which furnish self-instruction materials on obscure subjects up to and including System 36; costs generally run $60-65 per half-day..." Then I checked your system name in uuhosts. I had no idea whether IBM's "nationwide" system of Guided Learning Centers is available in Stockholm, or indeed anywhere outside US borders! So I called IBM here in Chicago, and got a woman who tried to tell me about their centers in such foreign countries as Alaska (!) and Guam. I finally got it through her head that EUROPEAN information would be appreciated, and she referred me to the Atlanta Guided Learning Center: Sara Coggins (404) 847-7069 Peg Johnson (404) 847-6075 These two should be able to give you information on System 36 courses in Stockholm. Good luck! -- Ellen Keyne Seebacher University of Chicago Computation Center staff.ellen@chip.uchicago.edu ...{ihnp4!gargoyle, oddjob}!sphinx!see1