ftp.robelle3000.ai 2014/2014.06.ftp.robelle3000.ai.tar/ftp.robelle3000.ai/newsletter/1988/w1988-02.txt

Text File | 1999-04-27 | 25KB | 466 lines

         What's Up DOCumentation



        Robelle Consulting Ltd.
        8648 Armstrong Rd., R.R.#6
        Langley, B.C.  Canada V3A 4P9
        Telephone: [phone]  Telex: 04-352848

 Date:  March 31, 1988
 From:  Robert M. Green, President
        David J. Greer, Research & Development
        Michael C. Shumko, Customer Support
 To:    Users of Robelle Software
 Re:    News of the HP 3000, 1988 #2

      What You Will Find in This News Memo:

        News Tidbits
        The Joys of 9600 Baud Over Voice Lines, Part II
        SUPRTOOL Definitions From the QSCHEMA
        Technical Tips
        About Robelle
        Robelle Products:  Problems, Solutions, and Suggestions


                                 News Tidbits

 Spectrum Is Released but Not Released.  In our last news memo, we reported
 that MPE XL users were now removed from non-disclosure restrictions and
 allowed to put their Spectrum machines into production.  In the last month,
 that news has been confirmed by many sources.  We also concluded, and
 reported, that MPE XL had obtained MR (Manufacturing Release).  That is
 untrue.  MPE XL has apparently obtained SR (System Release), but not MR.  SR
 seems to be a new category of release created just for MPE XL.  We have heard
 from some new 950 customers who did not need to sign a non-disclosure
 agreement.  However, one customer reported that before HP would allow him to
 order he had to sign a document stating that he had no specific performance
 expectations (!?).  On the other hand, we heard from a school that recently
 went live with 35 student sessions and had great response times ("the machine
 is coasting along at 10% cpu utilization").

 Non-disclosure restrictions are not lifted for everyone.  Sites that are
 beta-testing subsystems which were not released with the initial MPE XL
 system are still restricted.  We presume that means HPDESK and the like.
 Also, third-party FastStart companies such as ourselves are still restricted
 from passing on any performance or reliability information that we obtain
 from HP.  We face no restrictions regarding performance information received
 from our customers, so please call with your experiences.

 Rumors of New Machines.  The HP user community is buzzing with rumors of new
 computers from Hewlett-Packard, all expected to be announced on April 7th.
 The Sakura is a desktop Classic 3000 including disc drive and tape backup in
 a case the size of a Vectra, supporting four or eight users and starting at
 $12,000.  Sounds like a great home computer.  The 955 or 960 is an upgrade to
 the 950 Spectrum machine.  The 925 is the MPE XL version of the previously
 announced 825 UNIX machine.  Some people even talk about a 935 upgrade for
 the 930, although others dispute that.


 Ramdisc/3000.  The RAM disc is a common feature of PCs and has finally come
 to the HP 3000.  Ramdisc/3000 is a new product from Kelly Computers that
 consists of extra memory boards for your HP 3000, plus software drivers to
 allow you to create "ram discs".  You put frequently-accessed, but disposable
 or read-only files on the ram disc to boost performance.  Likely candidates
 are SORTSCR, USL files, the intrinsic file, forms files, small read-only
 databases, and the temporary files used by all compilers and 4GLs.  The ram
 disc size is typically from 4 to 24 megabytes, although up to 100 megabytes
 is possible.  Where physical discs are limited to about 30 accesses per
 second, the ram disc is capable of 600 accesses per second.  This first
 implementation of the ram disc on the 3000 has some limitations:  the ram
 disc holds only private volume groups, and the ram disc is lost on system
 failure.  But, if enough people buy the product, we are likely to see more
 general ram disc software in the future.

 WRQ Newspaper Article.  Recently, the Seattle PI newspaper wrote an
 interesting article about Walker, Richer and Quinn, producers of the
 Reflection terminal emulator.  The headline read "Software Skyrocket".  My
 favorite line was a quote from Doug Walker, explaining how Craig McKibben,
 another WRQ principal, talked him into taking up programming: "He convinced
 me programming was an easy life and you didn't have to know anything."


                The Joys of 9600 Baud Over Voice Lines, Part II
                                by David Greer

 Last year, I reported our experiences using a Microcom 9624 modem to achieve
 9600 baud over voice lines.  Since then, we have also tried the US Robotics
 Courier HST modem.  Both of these modems require one configuration at the
 computer end and a different configuration at the terminal end.  Readers
 should be aware that we make extensive use of character mode, and we are
 sensitive to minor differences in displaying lines and the processing of
 Control-Y and Control-S.  Many of our concerns won't matter to block-mode
 users.

 Microcom 9624.  After reviewing my last article, I realized that there was no
 concise summary of the modem settings.  The modem at the computer end should
 be configured with the following switch settings:

          Front                    Rear
     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
     U U U D U U U U          D U U D U D D D

 After setting the switches on the modem, you must connect the modem to a
 terminal set for 9600 baud with no parity.  Then you type "45" and hit Return
 followed by "HP1" and Return.  There will be no verification from the modem
 because our selection of switch settings disables all status messages.  Now
 you can connect the modem to the ATP (or ADCC).

 At the terminal end, we use these switch settings:

          Front                    Rear
     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
     U U U D U U U U          U U U U U U U U

 We use an HP Vectra with Reflection 1 version 2.2 configured for 9600 baud
 with no parity.  The commands used to configure the modem are (each sequence
 ends with Return):  "45", "INIT", "SBRK1", "SX1", "SMAUT", and "HP2".

 US Robotics Courier HST.  As with the Microcom modems, we had to make several
 configuration changes to get the modems working.  When you connect a Courier
 modem directly to an HP 3000 port, use these switch settings:

                   Rear
     Quad   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
      Up    U U U D U U U U U U

 After setting the switches, the modem must be connected to a terminal set for
 9600 baud with no parity.  The commands used to configure the modem are (each
 sequence ends with Return):  "AT", "AT&F", "AT&I3", "ATS7=120", and
 "ATS21=40".  Our original modem would hang if a Control-S was typed at the
 MPE colon prompt, and it would disconnect whenever block mode was used at
 9600 baud.  US Robotics gave us a ROM upgrade (version 964.4) that fixes both
 these problems (it takes five minutes to install).  You can check your ROM
 version by typing "ATI7", which should print "Supervisor date 11/25/87,
 Supervisor rev 4".

 At the terminal end, we used these switch settings:

                   Rear
     Quad   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
      Up    U U D U D U U D D U

 Most of the the default factory settings are correct for the terminal end; we
 need only enter one command:  "AT&I4".

 Comparison of the Modems.  The US Robotics modem was easier to install and
 configure, and its command set includes four help screens (try "AT&$").  We
 prefer the Microcom verification, which is accessed by "HELP", to the US
 Robotics verification (use "ATI4").  It took longer to figure out the
 configuration settings for the Microcom, but it works better in character
 mode.  Listing a file to the terminal is fast and scrolling is smooth.  The
 US Robotics modem pauses slightly at random intervals for a tenth of a
 second, and I found this particularly irritating.  QEDIT's modify command
 also seemed harder to use with the US Robotics modem, because echoing a
 character seems to take slightly longer than with the Microcom.

 File Transfer With Reflection.  You must reconfigure Reflection to run pclink
 with ;parm=1 in order to do file transfer with either of these modems.  This
 option forces Reflection to transfer all characters with a value less than
 space (32) or greater than del (127) as a two-character sequence.  This is
 not the same as Advancelink's seven-bit option.  Because the parm=1 option
 slows file transfers significantly, Walker Richer and Quinn have experimented
 with turning off the ENQ/ACK options of the Microcom modem.  Running pclink
 with ;parm=0 (the default) will work and file transfers are faster, but
 character-mode displays are so slow that unless the modem is used exclusively
 for file transfer, we would not disable the ENQ/ACK features.  File transfers
 were 15% faster with the Microcom.

 The Network Engine.  We wanted to connect the US Robotics modem at the
 computer end to a Network Engine from Telamon.  This meant reconfiguring the
 modem to allow dailing in or out.  We used the following switch settings:

                   Rear
     Quad   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
      Up    U U D U U U U D D U

 We also connected the modem to a terminal set for 9600 baud with no parity
 and entered the same AT configuration commands as above.

 Turning the Microcom Into a Hayes-Compatible Modem.  By default, the Microcom
 uses its own "SX" command set.  Recently, we've been developing Reflection
 command files and it's a pain to have two sets:  one for Hayes-compatible
 modems, and one for the Microcom modem.  The Microcom can be changed into a
 Hayes-compatible modem.  We changed our terminal modem to the following
 switch settings:
          Front                    Rear
     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
     U D D U D U U D          U U U U U U U U
 The AT commands used to configure the modem are:  "AT", "AT&F", "AT\K1",
 "AT\X1", "AT\N3", "AT\Q1", "AT\G0", "AT\J0", "ATS2=0", "ATS8=2", "AT&D2",
 "ATX4", "AT\H2", and "AT&W".  We didn't change the computer modem, since we
 don't use it for dialing out.

 Conclusions.  It's wonderful having 9600-baud communication over standard
 dial-up lines.  We like both the US Robotics Courier and the Microcom modems.
 Because of the better scrolling and the faster file transfer, we would choose
 the Microcom modem over the US Robotics.  Local pricing and service may be
 the final item that makes the decision for you.


                     SUPRTOOL Definitions From the QSCHEMA
                                  by P. Wood
                     Wesson, Taylor, Wells & Assoc., Inc.

 The use of Robelle's SUPRTOOL is increasing at our clients.  Our clients use
 SUPRTOOL to increase the speed of the select and sort process.  The
 techniques described in the SUPRTOOL User Manual show how to fill a QUIZ
 subfile with SUPRTOOL.  What is not discussed is how to use the definitions
 available via the QSCHEMA to select in SUPRTOOL.  The IMAGE database
 definitions are available in the root file, and SUPRTOOL can use them.  But
 when the file is not an IMAGE dataset, DEFINE statements must be entered into
 SUPRTOOL.
 This paper presents a technique to get these definitions out of the QSCHEMA
 and save them in a file.  We keep this file in the SUPRSRC group, and USE it
 in SUPRTOOL.  Thus, almost all of the fields in a file will be defined and
 can be used in SUPRTOOL IF, EXTRACT, and SORT commands.

 Overview of Technique.   The idea is simple.  First, you get the definitions
 from QSHOW into a text file that can be manipulated with an editor.  Then you
 massage the text file until it contains the SUPRTOOL syntax to describe the
 data file.  Finally, you save the definitions as DFxxxxxx.SUPRSRC and USE it
 in subsequent SUPRTOOL select and sort jobs.

 Acquiring the Edit File.   An editable file is built using the :RUN
 ...;STDLIST=option of MPE.  Setup is straightforward:
      :purge mylist
      :build mylist;rec=-80,16,f,ascii;disc=320,32
      :file qschemac=osbnamec.pub.boss
 Before you can proceed, you need to check the current UDC for QSHOW using the
 HELP command of MPE:
      :help qshow
 HELP prints the UDC definition on the terminal.  Finding the RUN command
 shows how to run the program, and gives the fully qualified name of the
 program.  The final MPE command will look something like this:
      :run qshow.current.cognos;info=" ";stdlist=mylist
 When you run QSHOW with STDLIST redirected into MYLIST, you do not see any of
 the normal prompts.  However, the user input is echoed, so just press the `s'
 (i.e., first character of "showfile" command)  until it shows on the screen.
 Then you complete the QSHOW commands:
      showfile filename
      exit
 QSHOW writes the listing to the file MYLIST.

 Fixing the Definitions.   Now bring the definitions from QSHOW into your
 favorite text editor.  I use:
      :run qedit.pub.robelle
      /text mylist; list lp all
 This will also make a hard copy of the QSHOW definitions of the file for
 future use.  Specific techniques of editing are dependent on the editor.  I
 like to start by deleting the superfluous lines, the ones that head each page
 of the listing, etc.  Then I put in the DEFINE keyword:
      /change 1 "DEFINE" all
      /change "DEFINE     "DEFINE" all
 will do that and shrink the line length.  This leaves room in the lines for
 subsequent editing.  Next I delete the field types.
      /change "             CHARACTER" " all
      /change "             INTEGER" " all
      /change "             ZONED UNSIGNED" " all
      /change "             INTEGER UNSIGNED" " all
 These changes also shrink line size.  Then I delete the period (.) that
 precedes the field-names if a field is redefined in the QSCHEMA:
      /change "." " all
 Now the real work begins.  I use QEDIT's visual mode to insert the commas (,)
 needed by SUPRTOOL between the field-name, the start position and the length,
 and to align the columns for appearance.  Just type:
      /vi first
 and dive in!

 Adding the field types is done with the aid of the listing that was printed
 before changes started.  Conversion is on a case-by-case basis:
   *CHARACTER fields need no work.   SUPRTOOL defaults to BYTE type.
   *INTEGER fields go to DOUBLE (4 bytes long) or INTEGER (2 bytes long).
   *INTEGER fields that are 8 bytes long may not be handled by SUPRTOOL.  More
    research is needed here.
   *ZONED UNSIGNED convert to DISPLAY.  If the fields are dates, then more
    stuff can be done.
 Finally, ITEM statements are inserted for all the date fields.  This allows
 SUPRTOOL to do date-based record selection, such as IF DATE-ENTERED = $TODAY
 (see the SUPRTOOL User Manual).

 The file is saved into the SUPRSRC group.  Give it the same name as the file
 being defined, with a 'DF' prefix to indicate that it is a definition file.
 Put a comment block at the first line of the definition file to document it
 for future users.  Especially important are dates of creation and changes, so
 the user knows that the file matches the current data.

 Checkout and Use.   You can use SUPRTOOL to check the syntax of the
 definition file.  Simply:
      :run suprtool.pub.robelle
      >input filename
      >use   DFname.SUPRSRC
 and watch for any syntax errors.  The ABORT command ends SUPRTOOL without any
 action taking place.  Fix the syntax errors with another trip through an
 editor, and repeat the above until the file is syntactically correct.

 Most QUIZ jobs that use SUPRTOOL have three phases:
   *Set up a subfile to be loaded by SUPRTOOL with QUIZ or QTP
   *Use SUPRTOOL to load the subfile
   *Create the report (or another subfile)
 Consult the SUPRTOOL User Manual for details.

      :run suprtool.pub.robelle
      >input  filename
      >use    DFname.SUPRSRC
      >if                       {job-specific select criteria}
      >sort   field-name        {optional sort of the extracted data}
      >output outfile, erase    {QUIZ/QTP defined subfile}
      >exit

 Final Note.   A variation on the foregoing is available for subfiles that are
 not defined in the QSCHEMA: use QUIZ instead of QSHOW.  The set-up is the
 same as in the section Acquiring the Edit File, except you use HELP QUIZ
 instead of HELP QSHOW.  Then a run command is entered, such as:
      :run quiz.current.cognos; info=" ";stdlist=mylist
 Again there are no prompts, so enter these commands:
      access *                  {subfile - must be on system}
      show elements
      exit
 and edit the file MYLIST.

 Specific edits will differ from the ones above.  The QUIZ show format is not
 like the QSHOW one.  I recommend that you get a hard copy of MYLIST to plan
 an editing strategy.

 Automating the Editing.  After Mr. Wood sent us his first report, we
 suggested a few improvements to automate the process.  Mr. Wood added these
 comments.  A USE file can be created for some of the common QEDIT commands.
 The following can be used for files created using QSHOW:
      /dq 1/16                  {Remove heading lines}
      /cd 64 "," all            {Insert comma after type}
      /cq 69 "," all            {Insert comma after offset}
      /cq 1 "DEFINE" all        {SUPRTOOL's define command}
      /cq "." " all             {Remove the quiz-defined indicator}
      /cq "DEFINE     "DEFINE" all
      /cq "CHARACTER" " all
      /vi first
 Editing is still needed to flip the type behind the byte length.  Editor's
 note:  there is no built-in way to copy columns with QEDIT, but there is an
 obscure QLIB /p routine that will do the job.  The COPYCOL routine could help
 automate the switching of the type and length columns.  Robelle advised that
 INTEGER will work for both single and double so DOUBLE should not be needed.
 The starting position of a field is zero-indexed in COGNOS, and one-indexed
 for SUPRTOOL.  Each number in that position will have to be increased by one
 to make it come out right.

 If the text was derived from SHOW ELEMENTS against a subfile, the following
 will take out some of the work:
      /dq 1/9                   {Remove heading lines}
      /cq ")"," all             {Comma after type}
      /cq 49 "," all            {Insert comma before type}
      /cq 29 "," all            {Insert comma between name and offset}
      /cq 1 "DEFINE" all        {SUPRTOOL's define command}
      /cq "CHAR " " all         {SUPRTOOL's default type is byte}
      /vi
 The definitions derived from subfiles have many differences from the ones
 from QSHOW.  For one thing, the lines all seem to appear twice! And the
 starting positions aren't listed - just the type, scale, decimal, and
 picture.  The starting positions must be figured out from that.

 It can be seen from listings of the derived files that this is about as much
 as can be automated.  Of course, a COBOL program could be written to parse
 the whole wretched mess .  .  .

 Conclusions.  I am using the above technique to create definition files for
 such production QUIZ reports as I am assigned.  It does take a bit longer to
 get the first report off a non-IMAGE file, but I feel it will increase
 programmer productivity as subsequent reports are required from the defined
 file.

                                Technical Tips

 Copying Programs From MPE XL to MPE V.  Under MPE V, a program file has only
 one extent.  Under MPE XL, it may have several; in fact, it usually has at
 least two.  If you PREP a CM program on MPE XL, then STORE it to tape and
 RESTORE it under MPE V, the system software is supposed to take care of
 converting the program file to one extent.  However, if you copy the program
 file over NS from MPE XL to MPE V, you will not be able to run the program on
 the MPE V system: "Invalid program file."  One workaround is to use :FILE
 Out=progname; dev=,1,1 and copy to *out.
 Abortjob Tip.  On MPE XL, if you want to abort a job or session, do BREAKJOB
 first, then ABORTJOB.  For some reason, this is much faster than just an
 ABORTJOB.
 Detecting MPE XL in Jobs.  To detect whether you are running on MPE XL or MPE
 V in a job stream, do a CACHECONTROL XXXX command.  On MPE XL this will fail
 with CIERROR = 9103.  If you are on any other version of MPE, you will get
 some other error message.
 Copying Running Programs Under MPE XL.  When an MPE XL program is running,
 the program file is open with lock access.  If you try to make a copy of the
 program file with FCOPY or list it with QEDIT, you will get a file system
 error 48.  Workaround: use :FILE x=progname,old;lock and list or copy *X.
 Or, use SUPRTOOL to copy the program file; it automatically switches to lock
 access if needed (as does version 3.6.3 and later of QEDIT).
 Configuring CSTBK.  The performance of MPE Auto-Allocate is governed by the
 sizes of four MPE tables: code segment table (CST), code segment table
 extension (CSTX), CSTX block table (CSTBK), and loader segment table (LST).
 Most people who use the MPE Auto-Allocate feature have seen that the first
 table to reach its limit is CSTBK, and that SYSDUMP doesn't seem to have a
 prompt for increasing its size.  In fact it does, but it's not called CSTBK.
 The prompt is MAXIMUM NUMBER OF CONCURRENTLY RUNNING PROGRAMS.  John Beckett
 at Southern College reports that on his system CSTBK gets set to eight higher
 than whatever value he specifies for the "concurrent" prompt.  This appears
 to be normal.  John Luxton at Canadian National Railways warns that CSTBK
 must still be the first of the four tables to fill up.  If another table is
 allowed to fill up before CSTBK does, say CST entries, then auto-deallocation
 will not work properly and you will get "Out of CST entries" messages when
 you run programs.  The short-term workaround is to turn off Auto-Allocation,
 while the long-term solution is to configure CSTBK so that it is large enough
 to be useful but small enough to be the first to fill up.
 VPLUS and COBOL II.  COBOL II allows you to call intrinsics using the call
 intrinsic "FOO" construct.  This allows the compiler to ensure that the
 parameters passed to the intrinsic are correct (byte vs word address, value
 vs reference, etc.).  But if you do this with VPLUS intrinsics, VPLUS doesn't
 work any more.  You must set the v-language field of the comarea to 5
 (Pascal) to make it work.  This works well on MPE V, and may be a useful
 trick on MPE XL if you plan to migrate your COBOL/VPLUS applications.

                                 About Robelle
 Swedish Fishing Trip and Amusement Park.  Robelle Consulting is joining with
 Ole Nord AB (our dealer in Scandinavia) to sponsor both a fishing trip party
 and amusement park tickets in G╓teborg.  The fishing boat can hold only 150
 people, so if you want to go, request it on your registration form (first
 come, first served).  Everyone else will receive tickets to go and have fun
 at the amusement park in G╓teborg.

            Robelle Products:  Problems, Solutions, and Suggestions
 SUPRTOOL  Version 2.9 and 2.9.1

 MPE XL.  When using SUPRTOOL to copy a file from MPE XL to MPE V, don't ever
 press Control-Y.  This can cause a system hang of MPE XL.  In fact, any use
 of Control-Y over NS is dangerous with MPE XL, so avoid it.

 QUIZ.  Last year, we recommended using QTP to create the empty QUIZ-subfile
 that SUPRTOOL fills with data.  The reason is that QTP allows you to `set
 process limit 0', while QUIZ insists that the limit be at least one.  If you
 have a master dataset with only a few entries, or a detail dataset with many
 deleted entries at the beginning, QUIZ will create a delay in producing the
 empty subfile.  [Gary Arehart]

 ASK MANMAN.  Are you using SUPRTOOL with ASK MANMAN? We would like to hear
 about your experiences integrating SUPRTOOL into the ASK software.


 QEDIT  Version 3.6

 MPE XL, NS, and VISUAL.  When you use NS with MPE V and MPE XL, it is
 possible to be running QEDIT on one machine while your terminal is connected
 to the other.  In this case, QEDIT 3.6 will assume that your terminal is
 connected to the machine that QEDIT is running on and VISUAL mode will not
 work.  Temporary workaround:  use set vis ignorecpu on when the terminal is
 connected to MPE V and QEDIT is running on MPE XL.  For the reverse case, you
 will need the latest QEDIT pre-release.

 700/92.  If you don't like the way QEDIT 3.6 uses the 132-column mode of the
 700/92 terminal, change the terminal ID to 2392A.  Fixed per user feedback in
 QEDIT 3.6.2.

 NM Compilers.  QEDIT 3.6 will not work with NM compilers.  Workaround:  KEEP
 your file first, then XEQ command file.  Solution: you need QEDIT 3.6.2,
 including the new UDCXL.CATALOG.ROBELLE.

 VISUAL on MPE XL Console.  The MPE XL console is not connected to the DTC; it
 goes through a different interface.  To use VISUAL mode on the console, you
 must have ENQ/ACK handshaking enabled, as well as XON/XOFF.