[comp.os.vms] Novices - aren't we all, sometimes?

FXHELP@ALASKA.BITNET (UAF Computer Support Group) (07/25/87)

I'd like to offer a "second" to Dan Graham, who writes:

> There are many new VMS system managers and programmers on this net who
> would be afraid to ever ask anything after reading the above referred
> material.  This should not be so.  If we more experienced can't offer
> assistance to those less so, than this net is a waste of time.

Amen, and thanks, Dan!

If anyone feels they know enough that they no longer need an occasional
pointer from a colleague, and is no longer interested in the general flow
of PD "hacks" and just "what's going on in the world," they are quite free
to drop their subscription.  Personally, I have learned quite a bit from
my subscription, and even though it sometimes gets bothersome to read twenty
duplicate answers to a reasonably novice question, I feel that it's worth it;
sometimes those twenty answers are each slightly different, and they all deal
with something I don't know!

The VAX/VMS doc set is indeed a lot, but even worse, information is not always
where you expect to find it -- if it's in the doc set, at all!  (This is all
leading up to my novice question!)  Which is:  Anyone know if it's possible (or
how) to PRINT a file directly from tape?  The manual says PRINT file_spec; the
other manual says MUA10:filename.type is a valid file_spec, but the two don't
go together.  Neither does re-direction of SYS$OUTPUT..?  I imagine VMS would
rather not spool a file from tape?

So, there's my opinion, plus another possibly lame-brained question.

*************************************************************************
* Jo Knox / UAF Computer Support Group / University of Alaska Fairbanks *
*                                ``he never said a mumblin' word!''     *
*************************************************************************

carl@CITHEX.CALTECH.EDU (Carl J Lydick) (07/28/87)

 > Anyone know if it's possible (or how) to PRINT a file directly from tape? The
 > manual says PRINT file_spec; the other manual says MUA10:filename.type is a
 > valid file_spec, but the two don't go together.  Neither does re-direction of
 > SYS$OUTPUT..?  I imagine VMS would rather not spool a file from tape? 

I'm not sure, but I suspect that the command:
	$ COPY MUA10:filename.type print_device:filename.type
will do pretty much what you want.  If print_device is spooled and associated
with a print queue, then the copy command should enter a copy of the file
into the print queue.