arl@ut-ngp.UUCP (06/07/83)
We were recently given the project of converting Xerox 850 formatted
text files to nroff format. This will entail two major steps: reading
the 850 disks onto the UNIX system, then converting the embedded 850
formating codes to nroff equivalents.
We do not foresee too much difficulty with the second phase, but the
first is a bit more trouble. The Xerox 850 we are using has a commun-
ications board and the associated software. With this there are two
modes of communication, tty and point-to-point, both allowing upload-
ing and downloading of files from 850 disks. Tty mode simply emulates
a dumb terminal, while point-to-point uses a more sophisticated bisyn-
chronous protocol (ASCII, not EBCDIC). Uploading an 850 file in tty
mode causes the text to be formatted and, subsequently, all formatting
codes are lost. Our only hope seems to be to use the point-to-point
mode which supposedly preserves format codes; however, we do not have
available any bisynchronous software for UNIX.
So, does any one out there know of (1) bisynchronous software for UNIX
allowing capturing of received text, (2) code already written to do
the 850-to-nroff conversion, or (3) any better solutions to our prob-
lems?
We can be contacted at this net address (arl@utexas-11), or by phone:
John Hardin (512) 835-3341
or, at the following address:
Applied Research Laboratories
P.O. Box 8029
Austin, TX 78712
Attn: John Hardin
Thanks in advance for any possible help.