$$$I$JV@NERVM.BITNET (04/27/88)
Date: 25 April 1988, 12:00:51 LCL From: William S. Kirchhoff (904) 392-4601 $$$I$JV at NERVM To: INFO-DEC-MICRO at SCORE.STANFORD Being finals time, it is always easy to find more enjoyable subjects of conversation, and thus the following comments on previous questions. I hope you find them useful. > Questions on usenet. I'm not familiar enough with usenet to comment directly, but the questions sound like "what's out there for the Rainbow?" If you have access to FTP/IP on anything from a VAX, IBM mainframe, to a PC, and a link to the Internet you have quite a bit of free software available. Simtel20.arpa has a huge collection of old CP/M programs (just about everything will work - and even a few for CP/M16), and of course MSDOS. Since everything is in .arc format it is easy to miss all kinds of neat programs. A version of Emacs is available in both executable and source formats, and a bunch of games such as Hack, Moria, and Larn (all with Rainbow support options). > ...VERY simple example of way to access. $ ftp simtel20.arpa <- VAX example connection .... <- Ftp hello and such FTP/IP Version x.xx >login anonymous <- the ANONYMOUS id is used to allow anybody to login User id ANONYMOUS accepted.. <- more info from ftp >pass guest <- send password GUEST or any other string Password accepted... >dir pd1:<msdos> <- root directory for msdos (also cpm, misc) List started. pd1:<msdos> . <- directory list . Now comes the fun part. With all the different computers on the net, and the different conversions used, the adventure begins. Helpful hints : - On the Vax, always use the TENEX option for transfering binary files. - When using an IBM mainframe several problems arise. First, when using the IBM Workstation control program to send/receive files from the PC and the mainframe certain characters get incorrectly changed - this is only with ascii uuencoded files. It has something to do with internal conversion pages. Our problem was with the brackets getting changed to some strange value (something used on the old card readers but was never updated). A simple little scan/replace program in Turbo Pascal fixed this problem up in no time. Second, the version of FTP/IP we are testing has a bad problem with sending binary files in the correct format. We have to trick it into Image mode with a length of 8. To do this we type: > image mode I > type l 8 What happens is that if you just enter 'type l 8' it stays in ascii mode and gets everything wrong. When you type in 'image' first it jumps to the correct mode but sends the remote a wrong length. So then 'type l 8' fixes everything ... and off we go. This will be fixed later on our system (everything is in beta test now). These were just a few problems I have encountered. Most of you will never have a need for this trivia, but it just may help. A last few comments : - Out of all the editors I have for the Rainbow (SEDT, KEDT, DED, Emacs, and that forgetable Select), DED is probably the most useful for program work. SEDT is neat, but big and cryptic. KEDT is just like the Vax, but old and outdated. Emacs is fun, but slow because of going through screen codes. I won't even discuss Select. DED is fast and powerful. Find yourself a copy if you don't have one. - For wordprocessing I use XyWrite II+, so I'm spoiled. I put together the microjustification codes for my Apple ImageWriterII (yes, I use an Apple printer - but at 250cps and color I couldn't resist) and the output is incredible. Anybody else have some neat additions? - And last but not least. About 95% of all the compilers on the market will work on the Rainbow. I have used the Manx C development package, several different versions of Mark Williams C, Logitechs Modula2, etc. The only problems usually arise in the debugging programs or front ends that provide all the fancy windowing, and the libraries that have all the IBM specific routines. This summer will partially be spent writing Modula2 support modules for the Rainbow. So what would I like to see? Someplace on the net where we can start a collection of Rainbow programs, routines, and past messages. Any takers? *---------------------------------------------*---------------------------* | William S. Kirchhoff - (904) 392-4601 | \ /\ | | North East Regional Data Center (NERDC) | --)(-- \ | | $$$i$jv@nervm.BITNET (VM) | / \ \ | | wsk@beach.cis.ufl.EDU (Unix) | /____________\ | | ...{ihnp4,rutgers}!codas!ufcsv!ufcsg!wsk | "Technology Through Time" | *---------------------------------------------* University of Florida | | STANDARD DISCLAIMER : Digitized Thought | Engineers' Fair | *---------------------------------------------*---------------------------*
willcox@urbsdc.Urbana.Gould.COM (04/29/88)
> Emacs is fun, but slow because of going through screen codes.
I have a copy of microEmacs 3.9e that I modified to use the Rainbow
direct-to-screen calls. It's much faster than the ANSI-terminal
version. It's slower than DED, but oh so much more powerful (multiple
windows, remappable keys, command macros). I especially like the
autoindent mode for C code.
I would be very willing to let people have it if they want it, but
don't want to devote a whole lot of time to packaging it. I definitely
do not want to start redistributing source on the net. (I tried
sending the Rainbow modifications for an earlier version to the owner
of microEmacs. They seem to have been ignored.) If anyone has a
suggestion, let me know. In the worst case, a disk an a SASE will get
you a copy of source, binary, and the documentation.
On a completely different subject - I remember hearing some time ago
about a program that let well-behaved CPM programs run under MSDOS. I
believe that it was available from one or more of the collections of
public domain software. However, I don't know what it was called.
Does anyone remember this program, know its name, and know if it is on
simtel20 or one of the other systems that collects this kind of stuff?
I'd sure like to be able to throw away my CPM system disks.
David A. Willcox
Gould CSD-Urbana
1101 E. University Ave.
Urbana, IL 61801
217-384-8500
UUCP: ihnp4!uiucdcs!ccvaxa!willcox
ARPA: willcox@gswd-vms.arpa, dwillcox@Gould.com