kimiko+@andrew.cmu.edu (Kim Costello) (05/03/89)
The National Science Foundation is accepting proposals in electronic
form as part of an experimental program called EXPRES. This is being
done to speed and simplify the proposal review process. Specifically,
you are encouraged to send proposals as PostScript files. PostScript, a
trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc., is a standard language for driving
laser printers. There are several advantages to preparing your proposal
in PostScript:
1. It will be less expensive in duplication and mailing costs because
you need send only one paper copy to the NSF.
2. Electronic transmission takes only minutes.
3. Proposals look better because they are printed freshly on laser
printers rather than being duplicated on copiers multiple times.
4. The NSF can extract data from the electronically-prepared forms,
making it easier to track your proposal.
The investigator may prepare the technical body of the proposal using
whatever document creation tools he or she wishes. The job of preparing
the budget, filling out the forms, and assembling the proposal can be
done by the investigator or another person, often a department secretary
or a grant office. We provide some programs to help them. These programs
can be run on UNIX, VMS, Macintosh, and PC systems. Proposal templates
for some common document processors are available, too.
There are different ways to obtain the software depending upon your
computing circumstances. In each case, you will receive a file guide.ps
which you should print on a PostScript printer, and read for further
instructions.
1. Macintosh and PC users can request a disk by sending email to
ps-expres@andrew.cmu.edu
or regular mail to
PS-EXPRES
Information Technology Center
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Be sure to specify Mac or PC and the disk size.
2. People with NSFNet/ARPANet connections can get the code in source
and executable form via FTP. First, connect with a particular
machine at CMU by typing the following commands:
ftp 128.2.12.15
ftp>Name: anonymous
ftp>Password: anythingyoulike
ftp>prompt
ftp>ascii
ftp>cd common
ftp>mget *
ftp>cd ..
This will retrieve files everyone needs.
If you simply want to run the software, copy everything
from the appropriate machine-specific
binary directory below. For example, to retrieve
the PC executable programs type
ftp>binary
ftp>cd pc
ftp>mget *
ftp>cd ..
ftp>ascii
The machine-specific directories are:
mac (apply BinHex 4.0 to files after retrieving)
pc
rt (apply chmod +x after retrieving)
sun3 (apply chmod +x after retrieving)
vax-unix (apply chmod +x after retrieving)
We haven't figured out how to distribute VMS
binaries yet, so VMS users will have to rebuild
the software themselves.
The following directories contain document
processor templates for proposals:
scribe
tex
latex
troff
For example, to retrieve the tex template, type
ftp>cd tex
ftp>mget *
ftp>cd ..
You may also want to retrieve a set of blank
forms used by the processor templates by
typing
ftp>cd blanks
ftp>mget *
ftp>cd ..
If you want to modify or rebuild the software retreive
the source code by typing
ftp>cd src
ftp>mget *
ftp>cd ..
The src directory contains
SREADME: instructions for building
executables
C-Programs and Header files: *.c and *.h
UNIX-specific files: Makefile
VMS-specific files: compile.com, descrip.mms
Macintosh-specific files:
*.r, NSFForms.make, nsfmenus.c,
window.c, nsfwndw.h
PC-specific files: *.MAK
To exit type
ftp>quit
3. If you are a UNIX user but cannot use the FTP
connection, request the software by email. If
you send a request to
ps-expres@andrew.cmu.edu
We will send you the non-binary software in the
form of shar files.
4. If you do not need any of the software, but want
to submit proposals electronically, contact NSF
at the following address:
Gerald B. Stuck
National Science Foundation
1800 G Street NW
Room 401
Washington, DC 20550