kiss@flab.fujitsu.co.jp (Mitsuhiro Kishimoto) (05/09/91)
Hi
This is a seventh issue of NeXusMemo. I hope you will like it.
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NeXus Memo
NeXT User Society in Japan
Vol. 1 Issue 7
91. 3. 27
_____________________________________________________
CONTENTS
1. About NeXus 2
2. Summary of the Eighth NeXus Meeting 3
3. NeXus Quarterly Spring Issue 6
A. NeXus Membership Application 7
_____________________________________________________
To Contact NeXus
(1) e-mail:
Internet: NeXus-office@etl.go.jp
juice: ohashi@sunrise.ocean.juice.or.jp
Nikkei-MIX: shioya
NIFTY: PFC02015(Ogawa), PDG03047(Yamada)
(2) Facsimile:
+81-3-3351-0880 (Shioya, SRA, Inc.)
(3) Snail mail:
NeXus Office c/o Ohashi Clinic
4-4-2, Ebara, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, 142 JAPAN
NeXus Memo:
The English version of NeXus Memo (what you are reading) is formatted
on a NeXT cube using WriteNow and is printed on the NeXT Laser
printer.
The Japanese version is produced on a NeXT cube with a 330 MB hard
disk using XNeXT, kterm, nemacs and JLaTex (ASCII version) and printed
on a LaserWriter II NTX-J which has Kanji fonts. The equipment is
networked by Ethernet and Appletalk bridged with FastPath4.
English version Editors: Mitsuhiro Kishimoto, Kaoru Ozawa, Masana
Harada, and Teruo Utsumi.
NeXus Memo is copyrighted by NeXT User Society in Japan and each
article is copyrighted by its author. Copying and distribution of
NeXus Memo are permitted with no charge.
1. About NeXus
NeXus is a non-profit organization to facilitate collaboration among
members and to collect and exchange NeXT and NeXT related information.
The main topics we cover are:
- Easy-to-use, superior human interface
- Integrated network environment for interpersonal computing
- Graphical and multimedia applications
- Advanced object-oriented programming environment.
Our mother ship is a NeXT computer (NeXT station and cube). We,
however, do not restrict our activities to NeXT. Other advanced
high-tech computers are also of interest. We are the first NeXT user
group in Japan and Asia. One of our principal interests is using
Japanese on the NeXT computer. We have local activities in mainly the
Tokyo area and our meetings are open to the public. We place our
newsletters on worldwide ftp sites to distribute them freely. NeXus is
not affiliated with any company. Enthusiastic volunteers support
NeXus. We welcome your contributions.
NeXus Activities:
Meetings:
Monthly meetings are held on the 4th Wednesday of each month starting
from 7:00 p.m. The meetings are open to the public. The guest fee is
1,000 Yen, including the latest NeXus Memo.
Newsletter:
We publish a monthly NeXus Memo and quarterly Newsletter. NeXus Memo
is distributed at every monthly meeting. You can also ftp NeXus Memo
from ETL (etlport.etl.go.jp 192.31.197.99) or SRA (srawgw@sra.co.jp
133.137.4.3). The third issue of NeXus Quarterly is due in July.
Special Interest Groups:
We have several SIGs: Japanese, Mathematica, Graphical Human
Interface, Mach OS, Programming, Object-oriented Programming,
Networking, and others. If you are interested in any of these, please
contact the executive staff.
Software Library:
We have a publicly distributable software library on MO disks and a
Video library.
Networks:
Currently we run mailing-list (NeXus-mail@sra125.sra.co.jp) on JUNET.
We are talking on a NeXT news group of JUNET named 'fj.sys.next' and
'FCSALON' forum of NIFTY-Serve.
Other Activities:
We contact and exchange information with overseas user groups, contact
with NeXT Computer Inc., Canon group (distributor in Japan), and other
third party developers. We are planning to have seminars and
symposiums.
Executive Committee: Volunteers
Kazunori Shioya: President Shouichi Hachiya, Kazuyuki Inoue,
Katsuhiro Ohashi: Newsletter editor Taketosi Mori, Hironobu Suzuki,
Syuichi Tashiro: Software library admin
Norimasa Yamagishi, Kenichi Yanase,
Yoshio Yamada: SIG coordinator Kaoru Ozawa, Masana Harada
Mitsuhiro Kishimoto:International liaison
Membership:
A one year NeXus membership includes four issues of out newsletter,
NeXus Quarterly, and 12 monthly NeXus Memos. You can pick them up at
monthly meetings or, if you miss any meeting, you can receive them by
snail mail. The first fiscal year started in October '90 and will end
in September '91. Members joining NeXus in the middle of the fiscal
year will get back issues of NeXus Memo and NeXus Quarterly. You also
get our software and video library with only shipping and handling
charges. There are four types of memberships: regular, student,
overseas, and corporate. An application form for regular, student, and
overseas membership can be found at the end of this memo.
2. Summary of the Sixth Seventh Meeting
Written by Katsuhiro Ohashi
Translated by Masana Harada and Kaoru Ozawa
Date: February 27, 1991
Place: SRA Yotsuya
Attendance: About 40
Preface The format for NeXus meetings was one of the problems which
has troubled the NeXus staff. The exchange of information among
members had not been as successful as had been hoped, even when many
members attended the NeXus meetings. The meetings tended to be a one
way briefing. At this meeting, however, we tried to encourage free
discussion by the setting the seats in a circle. Various topics were
presented and opinions were actively expressed. Accordingly, we
considered this meeting a success.
Although the meeting discussion tended to be a little too
unstructured, we would like to maintain the atmosphere of this
meeting, that is, to ask questions freely, while we set the main topic
of each meeting. We feel it is best if we can create an environment in
which any member can ask even a beginner-level question and have
another member kindly respond to it.
This meeting report summarizes the free discussion mentioned above.
Please note that the contents of this report are not completely
correct because they are mainly the records of oral discussion at the
meeting.
2.1. NeXus Network (by Communication SIG)
The contact person is Mr. Shioya. We would like to establish a NeXus
network for members in order to experiment with multi-media
communication and to exchange information among members.
Like JUS (Japanese UNIX Society), we are going to obtain a IP address
for our network in the future. We also want to communicate (exchanging
announcements) with other networks. For the time being, we would like
to establish a network connecting members' NeXT machines through
public telephone lines.
If we try to get our network connected with JUNET, we should be
careful not to send garbage information to JUNET for the time being.
There is a rule that JUNET cannot be used for commercial purposes.
Since our network is closed and available for commercial purposes, we
may assume that it has its own merits that existing networks do not
have.
2.2. Report on GUIde (by K. Ozawa)
This is a report on another NeXT's user meeting called 'GUIde' which
Mr. Arthur C. Kyle holds from 18:30 on every second Thursday at the
Canon Shin-Kawasaki Office.
This meeting originally began to exchange information among three
Americans (including Mr. Kyle) possessing a NeXT machine. When Mr.
Kyle joined Canon Inc., the GUIde started as a meeting which anyone
can join regardless of his or her nationality in order to share and
exchange NeXT information more broadly.
Half of the members of the GUIde are Japanese and half foreigners.
There is no member requirement for joining and no membership fee is
required. Unfortunately, all group conversation is in English.
Although Mr. Kyle himself is not fluent in Japanese, he is tolerant of
broken English. He would welcome anyone's attendance to the GUIde
meeting.
The contents of the last meeting held on February 14 is as follows:
1. The Release of FaxModem
Abaton started to ship its InterFax 24/96 NX FaxModem, and Mr. Kyle is
now in trial use. This modem uses a serial interface. It can send and
receive files, including an EPS file as facsimile.
2. IBM RS6000
NeXT OS 1.0 support for the IBM RS6000 has been completed.
3. Bundling of Lotus Improv
If you order a NeXT machine by this March, you can obtain a free copy
of Lotus Improv.
4. Demonstration of NeXTmail
NeXTmail can send and receive PostScript files merged with text among
NeXT machines. However, NeXTmail can send only text between NeXT and
other machines since NeXTmail is basically for NeXT-to-NeXT use. You
can switch modes by clicking on an icon.
5. Review of the First Issue of NEXTWORLD Magazine.
Mr. Kyle frankly commented that the first issue of NeXTWORLD contains
too many advertisements and lacks substance despite the number of
pages, but he looks forward to future improvements.
The first issue has an article comparing three spreadsheets, namely,
Wingz, PowerStep, and Improv. The article evaluates Improv as the best
because its approach is the newest. The other two are just within the
scope of old spreadsheets. The release of PowerStep was postponed, and
there is a possibility that its shipment may be cancelled because it
cannot compete with Lotus Improv.
One NeXus member mentioned that NEXTWORLD might be sold at Ikebukuro
Pascal.
Ten copies of NEXTWORLD obtained by NeXus were distributed to members
who wanted copies by drawing lots after the meeting.
2.3 First impressions of NeXTstation by Aoyama
When entering my password on the login window, it reacted so quickly
that I thought the system went down. Generally it is fast, and
especially printing jobs work quickly. Displaying windows are also
improved in speed.
Right now on my system the server works with OS1.0. And when I try
Mathematica and IB through the network, the system goes down. I feel
it rather sloppy. Pressure on time may have caused it.
2.4 Discussion at the meeting
** How to get Abaton FaxModem
Canon may become a retailer. Mr.Komatsu, who sells FaxModems, said
that Abaton FaxModem has two models with different firmware for Macs
and for UNIX machines. For use in Japan, it is necessary to adjust the
firmware and power supply and to clear regulations. Mr.Kyle said he
uses it without any problems but he doesn't use Japanese. If you use
it as it is now, 2-byte code is not be treated properly. Also it
cannot read a fax header and it cannot connect with extension numbers.
** 68040 upgrade board
Due to delayed shipment of the 68040s, the upgrade board is expected
to come in April. You can get a 2.0 upgrade kit MO disk by contacting
Canon.
** Where to get MO disks
Canon Zero-One Shops sell a two-sided blank MO disks which NeXTs can
use.
** Memory chips for Mac on NeXT
We tried installing Mac 1MB 80ns SIMMs. It works and costs only 6,800
yen. 4MB SIMMs for SUN work too.
A question was raised on mixing parity SIMMs. Under OS 1.0, it's OK
since the OS ignores of it.
** About serial ports
The new serial ports works under RS-423. They have a different pin
layout compared to the old RS-232C, which is Mac compatible.
** About SCSI
The new SCSI connector is a SCSI-2, the same as SPARCstations but
different from the old, Mac compatible SCSI. A conversion cable costs
about 9000 yen in Akihabara.
** How to get 2.8MB floppies
Toshiba sells a five disk package.
** How to copy a large file onto floppy discs
A UNIX utility dump will do it. GNU tar may be able to do it also,
but there is no NeXT style way now.
** How to connect a hard disk drive for a Mac to a NeXT
You can get an external Maxtor MB HD drive, which has the same disk
inside as the internal drive of NeXTs, from a mail order shop (Mac
Gallery, ads in the journal Mac Power) for 30,500 yen. It may be
formatted 512 bytes per sector. With OS2.0, there should be no trouble
connecting it to a NeXT. Canon does not recommend its use as an
internal drive, however. Since the internal connector for MO is not
SCSI, you can not install other MO drives inside a cube.
3. NeXus Quarterly Spring Issue
Written and Translated by Mitsuhiro Kishimoto
The second issue of our quarterly newsletter NeXus Quarterly Vol. 1
Issue 2 was published and shipped to all members in late April. This
issue has 72 pages, 24 pages more than the first issue. If you are not
a NeXus member, you can obtain a copy for 1,000 yen plus S/H charges.
This distribution differed from the first. We asked attendants of the
April user meeting on April 24 to help with shipping to the members
not present. So far, it is not clear how NeXus's non-technical members
can help with NeXus's operation. This voluntary shipping is one way
for non-technical members to help. Most of the attendants helped and
the work took less than twenty minutes. Thank you very much for
everyone's help.
The contents of this issue are as follows:
1. Summaries of NeXus meetings.
From fifth to eighth user meeting summaries.
Although a few editorial notes are newly attached, these summaries are
also found in the English version of NeXus Memos.
2. Open letter to CANON Inc.
This is an open letter to CANON Inc. asking them for non-charge Kanji
Fonts of the Japanese NeXT OS. We have sent it to Mr. Hosokawa,
director of Canon's NeXT Division.
This letter is written in Japanese. You will find the English version
in NeXus Memo #6.
3. Interview
We, NeXus, are trying to talk with vendors and acquire information and
ask them to improve their products. This was our first interview with
engineers of NeXT Computer Inc. and CANON. We discussed NeXT OS 2.0,
the MC68040 processor, programming environment, documentation and
Japanese OS. This interview was held on November 20 at NeXT's private
show.
4. NeXT Station Review
The workstation magazine Super ASCII, published by ASCII Corp., asked
our NeXus office to write a review of the NeXT Station. ASCII and
CANON setup a NeXT Station and Japanese OS (beta version) for us. This
article will appear in the March issue of Super ASCII.
5. Software Report
This article consists of three parts. The first one is about
NeXTAnswer, a Q&A archive by NeXT's Developer Technical Support team.
The second one is an explanation of distributable software. In this
issue, we introduce Altdock, LockScreen and Performance Monitor. The
last is about 'Objective DB Toolkit,' a software development
environment for SyBASE.
6. Tutorial: Software Installation
In this issue we give installation tips for UUCP, Wterm (Kanji xterm
with kana-kanji translation feature) and mh.
7. Conference Report
Mr. Ohzawa wrote a BaNG meeting report based on Mr. Joe Barello's
summary. Mr. Narita wrote a Mathematica Conference report. He
explained new features of Mathematica 2.0 in detail.
8. Voice of Members
Two members said a few words:
Hironobu Suzuki: editor of Japanese version NeXus Memo
Norimasa Yamagishi: editor of NeXus Quarterly
A. NeXus Membership Application
Welcome to NeXus! Please complete the following application.
1. Name :_______________________________________________
2. Address:_____________________________________________
City:_________________ State: ______ ZIP CODE:________ Country: ______
3. Method of contact (please prioritize, 1 = highest):
( ) E-Mail: network_____________address_____________________
( ) Snail Mail:_________________( ) Facsimile:__________________
4. Membership type:
( ) Regular 7,500 Yen/Year, ( ) Student 4,000 Yen/Year
( ) overseas 10,000 Yen/Year (air mail delivery, including Students)
5. Method of payment:
( ) Pay dues to NeXT User Group, Fuji Bank Yotsuya branch (241)
Saving account:1642210
NeXT User Group, 4-4-2 Ebara, Shinagawa-Ku, Tokyo 142 (office address needed for deposit)
( ) Pay at NeXus user group meeting.
6. Do you have a NeXT?
( ) Home ( ) Office ( ) Do not own,
Model:________ Hard disk:____ MB, RAM: ____ MB, Printer: ____________
Daily applications: ______________________________________
7. What other computers do you use besides NeXT?
8. What would you like to do in NeXus?
SIG: ________________________________________________________
Volunteer work: _______________________________________________
9. Profile Privacy
I agree to allow disclosure of personal information to corporate members.
( ) Yes. ( ) No.
10. How can we improve the user group?
11. Comments and Suggestions:
--
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