Thank You!
I appreciate your purchase of the eighth edition of the Big Green CD Set, and your use of this disc, the Big Green Library 6.0. The BGCD set is an eclectic collection of freely redistributable NEXTSTEP, OPENSTEP, and now Yellow Box and Rhapsody software and other reference material split between this disc, the Big Green Developer 3.0, and the Big Green Apps 3.0. I hope you'll like what you find, and would greatly appreciate any pointers you have to other material you think might be good to include on future editions.

Organization
The BGCD 4 was a two-disc set because the quantity of such software had grown quite large. With the BGCD 5, my manufacturing costs dropped enough that I could make it a three-disc collection but keep it at the same price as 4.0. Like 5, 6, and 7, version 8 is once again a three-disc set.

The Big Green Apps disc contains all NEXTSTEP, OPENSTEP, Yellow Box, and Rhapsody applications, quite a few compiled for multiple platforms. The Big Green Developer disc contains source code and UNIX software (both source and binaries). Finally, the Big Green Library contains documents and references.

The BGA3's and BGD3's top level directories divide the software according to operating system. The NEXTSTEP directory contains software for NEXTSTEP versions through 3.3, and quite a bit of it will also be compatible with OPENSTEP. The OPENSTEP directory contains software that will run only on OPENSTEP, either 4.0, 4.1, or 4.2. The YellowBox directory holds software for running within Apple's so-called Yellow Box environment on Intel machines. The BGL6 contains reference material and has its own organizational structure.

Multi-Architecture Binaries
Most all applications on the BGCD set are packaged as so-called ªmulti-architectureº binaries, also known as ªMABº or ªfatº binaries, which will run under NEXTSTEP for Motorola, Intel, HP, SPARC, PowerPC, or some combination simultaneously. Most NEXTSTEP and OPENSTEP applications are compatible with Motorola, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, and SPARC hardware. Yellow Box applications run only on Intel machines on which you've installed the Yellow Box environment (previously called OPENSTEP for Windows or EOF).

To let you instantly identify which platform software runs on, I've identified folders and README files with its processor. You'll see files with ªMº (meaning the Motorola of the original NeXT machines), ªIº (Intel), ªHº (HP), or ªSº for SPARC. Most applications will run on some combination (most are now quad-fat). Applications that run on Rhapsody will have either ªPº for PowerPC or  ªIº for Intel or  ªPIº for both. Finally, applications for the Yellow Box will have a small  ªwº in their folder and README filenames, referring to Windows.

Recent versions of NEXTSTEP and all versions of OPENSTEP can detect the presence of the appropriate binary and use it automatically. This necessarily means that the binaries take up extra space on the CDs and your hard disks, so if you are using only one architecture I recommend that you remove the other architecture's binaries from the copy you put on your hard disk. NeXT provides a command line utility to do this called  lipo. If you make a mistake and remove the wrong binary, don't worry! You can always get another copy from them. Beware the lipo in NEXTSTEP 3.2, however. It can have problems with quad-fat binaries.

READMEs
The Digital Librarian is a terrific tool, and so I've collected and indexed the README files of much of the BGL's material, ready for you to browse with DL. Open BGL6.bshlf in the /BGL6/Bookshelves folder and you'll find the README target, plus a few other indexed folders of interest, including the latest NeXTAnswers (as of 25 April 1998) and the three README directories of the BGA3, the BGD3, and the BGL6.

If you're running Rhapsody and don't have DL, you either have to navigate through the README folders using the Workspace Manager or open the index.html file in each README's folder.

The structure of the three README target folders mirror their respective discs. This means that when Digital Librarian displays a README file, you'll see the path to the actual file. Here is an example from an earlier edition of the Big Green CD which will illustrate the principle. If you search for ªtickleservice,º you'll see this:

¬

As you can see, TickleServices's README file is in Utilities, which corresponds to TickleServices's location in the old /BGA2/Utilities.

The ª1.12º refers to the version number, and the ªMIHSº means that this is a multi-architecture binary versionÐit contains Motorola, Intel, HP, and SPARC binaries. You'll see files with ªMº (meaning Motorola), ªIº (Intel), ªHº (HP), or ªSº or possibly some combination (like the quad-fat binary of TickleServices).

For your convenience, I have included .tar.gz versions of all three READMEs directories (copying them to your hard disk will be much faster than copying the READMEs directory itself). Uncompress it using the UNIX gzip utility or use TickleServices, and you'll be able to search the each disc's contents whether or not you have mounted the actual disc. The BGA's uncompressed README directory will take up over 700K of your hard disk.

I had to remove some material from this edition of the BGL to make room for an expanded NeXTAnswers and more Usenet News. Previous editions have over 200 megabytes of indexed literature, graphics, and other items of interestÐcall me if you want to buy a copy of a previous BGL for $5 + shipping).

Directories
Here are brief descriptions of the BGL's directories.

Bookshelves
This contains two bookshelves which point to a variety of material on the disc. BGL5 points to items of general interest, while News points to comp.sys.next news.

Accessing indexed files from a NeXT CD-ROM drive will be painfully slow and may crash DL on older machines. A fast CD-ROM drive will greatly improve usability.

NeXTanswers
This is the complete NeXTanswers as of 25 April 1998.

News
USENET news is arranged by both year and group (the group subdirectories contain links to subdirectories in the appropriate years). I have statically indexed them by year and category subdirectories for use in Digital Librarian. The news starts in 1995 and runs through through the end of March 1998.

READMEs
These are the indexed README directories from all three discs.

Disc Format
Unlike previous editions of the Big Green CD, version 8's discs are native NEXTSTEP UNIX filesystems. They cannot mount on Windows or Macintosh, but are mountable on NEXTSTEP, OPENSTEP, and Rhapsody Developer Release 1 (RDR1) for PowerPC machines and RDR2 on both PowerPC and Intel. Unfortunately, they will not mount on RDR1 for Intel, because of endian problems (that OS lacks a bit-flipping filesystem). RDR2 fixes this problem. In future, I hope to return to using the ISO9660 standard with Rockridge extentions, which allow NEXTSTEP to display the disc's files and folders as if they were on a regular NeXT disk but which still permits the disc to still be mountable on Mac and Windows machines.

The NEXTSTEP CD Driver
Is anyone still using NEXTSTEP 3.1? And if so, are you still using its CD-ROM driver? You should know by now that 3.1's driver was brain-damaged. Files would turn into the dreaded ªquestion markº icon and copy commands would frequently fail. Thankfully, NeXT repaired the driver in 3.2 and you shouldn't have any problems reading from the CD. If you do, give me a call. I haven't heard of any CD driver problems with 3.3 or OPENSTEP.

If you are using NEXTSTEP 3.1 on Motorola hardware, you should replace your 3.1 driver with the driver from 3.0 or upgrade to NEXTSTEP 3.2+.

If you don't want to upgrade to NEXTSTEP 3.2+, follow these procedures to replace your CD driver. Log in as (or su to) the root user and mount the NEXTSTEP 3.0 CD-ROM. Within a Terminal or Stuart window, type the following commands. The first changes the name of the 3.1 CD-ROM filesystem, the second copies the 3.0 files to your hard disk, and the third makes CDROM.util accessible to other users.

mv /usr/filesystems/CDROM.fs /usr/filesystems/CDROM.fs.3.1

cp -r /NeXTSTEP_3.0/usr/filesystems/CDROM.fs /usr/filesystems/CDROM.fs

chmod u+s /usr/filesystems/CDROM.fs/CDROM.util

Then reboot. Now, when you mount the BGL, NEXTSTEP will use the 3.0 CD-ROM filesystem and you should have access to all BGL files. Let me know if you have trouble with this, or any other difficulties. 

Here is an ls of the 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2 CDROM.fs:

localhost> ls -l /usr/filesystems/CDROM.fs.3.0
total 79
-r--r--r--  1 root        3546 Jan 28 10:29 CDROM.fs.tiff
-r--r--r--  1 root          16 Jan 28 10:29 CDROM.name
-r--r--r--  1 root        3546 Jan 28 10:29 CDROM.openfs.tiff
-rwsr-xr-x  1 root       24576 Jan 28 10:29 CDROM.util*
-rw-r--r--  1 root       46224 Jan 28 10:29 CDROM_reloc
localhost>
localhost> ls -l /usr/filesystems/CDROM.fs.3.1
total 378
-r--r--r--  1 root        3546 Mar 25  1992 CDROM.fs.tiff
-rw-r--r--  1 root           5 Jul 25  1993 CDROM.label
-rw-r--r--  1 root          16 Jul 25  1993 CDROM.name
-r--r--r--  1 root        3546 Mar 25  1992 CDROM.openfs.tiff
-rwsr-xr-x  1 root       24576 Apr 16  1993 CDROM.util*
-rw-r--r--  1 root      343548 Apr 16  1993 CDROM_reloc
localhost> 
localhost> ls -l /usr/filesystems/CDROM.fs.3.2
total 378
-r--r--r--  1 root        3546 Mar 25  1992 CDROM.fs.tiff
-rw-r--r--  1 root           5 Mar 11 04:42 CDROM.label
-rw-r--r--  1 root          16 Mar 11 04:42 CDROM.name
-r--r--r--  1 root        3546 Mar 25  1992 CDROM.openfs.tiff
-rwsr-xr-x  1 root       24576 Sep  3  1993 CDROM.util*
-rw-r--r--  1 root      343428 Sep  3  1993 CDROM_reloc
localhost> 

The GNU Project
Much has been written about the GNU concept of free software. Here is a brief excerpt from an article by Richard Stallman on the subject:

The GNU project is not just about developing and distributing some useful free software. The heart of the GNU project is an idea: that software should be free, and that the users' freedom is worth defending. For if people have freedom but do not consciously appreciate it, they will not keep it for long. If we want to make freedom last, we need to call people's attention to the freedoms they have in free software.

The GNU project's method is that free software and the idea of users' freedom support each other. We develop GNU software, and as people encounter GNU programs or the GNU system and start to use them, they also think about the GNU idea. The software shows that the idea can work in practice. Some of these people come to agree with the idea, and then are more likely to write additional free software. Thus, the software embodies the idea, spreads the idea, and grows from the idea.

Shareware
Although you can freely copy the contents of the BGCD discs (subject to possible restrictions), not all of the software is ªfree.º Some of it is ªshareware,º meaning that if you use it for more than some specific length of time (indicating that you find it useful in some way), you must pay its author. Your purchase of the BGCD pays for the media itself, and for my manufacturing, printing, and advertising costs (and I hope a bit more for diapers and baby food).

Shareware payments are often low, usually less than $50, but that doesn't mean the software is low quality or that the authors don't deserve your money. Just as the GNU concept encourages freedom and technical advancement for all our benefit, paying for shareware you use is vital to encourage individual programmers to write yet more software. Check the app's Info panel or README file for where to send your check.

Dedication
I want to thank all the freeware and shareware authors whose work I am proud to bring to you. In particular, I am grateful to Scott Hess, author of Stuart and TickleServices; Don Yacktman, coordinator of the MiscKit and nifty games; Joshua W. Burton, collector and formatter of numerous works of literature; Garance Alistair Drosehn, of my alma mater and a number of use-daily utilities; Toru Sato of Stellar Craft Inc., for his dedication to promoting NEXTSTEP in Japan; Hideo ªSir MaNMOSº Morishita for his hard work on the SimpleInternetStarter Kit and ps_if; Ryuichi Mizuno for his dedication to NEXTSTEP; the entire membership of NeXus for their kindnesses; TJLuoma, hardworking ftp admin, helpful USENET poster, and all-around Nice Guy; the radical guys at Radical; Bill Bumgarner, hard coder; and of course Tim Reed, always a provider of much technical and moral support.

Restrictions
Although the software on this disk is freely redistributable, some of it may contain restrictions or requirements which I ask you to respect. For example, someÐbut not allÐis distributed under the terms of the GNU Public License which copyrights the software but licenses you to use and redistribute its source code, and modify it for your own use. For your reference, a copy of the GNU Public License is in the /BGA3/AboutBGA3/, /BGD3/AboutBGD3/, and /BGL6/AboutBGL6 folders.

Upgrades
I will update the contents of the BGCD Set again as I gather new materialÐif you haven't already, send me your registration card so that I can keep in touch with you. If I haven't included something you would like, please let me know and I'll try to include it on the next version. And also let me know if you have software of your own that you would like me to include.

Conclusion
Let me know what you think of the disc and how you think I can improve it. I appreciate the input I've received from owners of earlier editions, and I want to hear from you, too.

Thanks again for purchasing the Big Green CD Set. Be sure to let me know what you think of this edition and I'll do my best to improve the next one.

Sincerely,

Arthur Kyle

Skylee Press
PO Box 471645
San Francisco, CA 94147-1645

+1 415 474-7803
+1 415 474-7896 fax/voicemail
1-888-2SKYLEE orders
ack@skylee.com
http://www.skylee.com/

And now, please enjoy!
28 April 1998

MEDIA WARRANTYÐIF YOU DISCOVER DEFECTS IN THE DISC MEDIA WITHIN NINETY (90) DAYS OF THE DATE YOU PURCHASED IT, RETURN THE DISC WITH RECEIPT TO THE PLACE OF PURCHASE AND SKYLEE PRESS WILL REPLACE IT FREE OF CHARGE.

NO SOFTWARE WARRANTYÐWE PROVIDE THIS SOFTWARE "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. SOFTWARE IS RARELY ERROR-FREE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE CONTAINED HEREON IS WITH YOU: IN NO EVENT WILL SKYLEE PRESS BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST MONIES OR OTHER SPECIFIC, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THESE OR OTHER PROGRAMS. WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU MAKE FREQUENT BACKUPS OF YOUR APPLICATIONS AND DATA.

The Big Green CD, the Big Green Disk, the Big Green Library, the Big Green Net, the Big Green Apps, and the Big Green Developer are trademarks of Skylee Press. NeXT, NeXTstep, NeXTSTEP, NextStep, NEXTSTEP, OpenStep, and Digital Librarian are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Skylee Press donates a portion of profits to organizations dedicated to protecting the Constitution of the United States of America and in particular the Bill of Rights. Contents subject to change without notice. This file is copyright ã 1998 by Skylee Press.