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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS);faqs.007 The Glass patch was posted to the newsgroup after V6.0-2 was released. The archives for the newsgroup are accessable from listserv@vm1.nodak.edu. here's an example of what you should send to listserv@vm1.nodak.edu: //ListSrch JOB Echo=No,Reply-via=mail Database Search DD=Rules //Rules DD * Select glass v6.0-3 patch in anu-news since 1-jan-1991 print /* i believe you can send mail there with a subject (or is it body?) of "help", and it'll send help. Q: Does anybody have documentation for ANU News? A: At the anonymous FTP sites, you will find another compressed backup saveset called something like news-v60-3_doc.bck_z. It contains the documentation for ANU News. The documentation is excellent. It comes in several formats. The news_sit.hqx is a BINHEXed Stuffit archive which contains the Microsoft Word version of the document. News.ps is the Postscript version designed for A4 papersize. Finally, there is an ASCII version called news.txt. By all means, use the Word or Postscript versions if possible. They include some screen dumps and are nicely formatted. For installation, there is an additional installation document found in the NEWS_DOC saveset in the version on KUHUB. A newer version of this installation document can be found via anonymous FTP to FTP.UNT.EDU in the VMS directory. It is called ANU.INSTALL. The major difference between the two version is that the newer one has information on using NNTP over DECnet. Stanley Wong of the University of Sydney has written a document called "Network News on the VAX/VMS System." It is an entry level document that is pretty good. It can be acquired by anonymous FTP to DECO.UCC.SU.OZ.AU in the resource-guides directory. It is available in both PostScript and ASCII formats. FYI: several people have asked me about the UNT documentation on ANU News. All it is an edited form of the original documentation reprinted with Geoff Huston's permission on the UNT campus. I do not redistribute it off-campus as the original documentation is more complete and more global than my edited version. Q: I'm having problems printing the Postscript documentation on my printer. A: The Postscript file is setup for A4 page size. In the US, a different page size is commonly used. In this case, you will need to use the Microsoft Word version of the document and print it via Word. Q: NEWS is sending everything I get back to my feed system. What do I do? A: Make sure that the system name in NEWS.SYS matches what your feed system puts in the Path: header. Q: Why do I sometimes fall into newsgroups when using the arrow keys? A: DEC's SMG routines have a bug in which they return the wrong value on 44th attempt and at other times. The discussion and workarounds for the problem are available via anonymous FTP on ftp.unt.edu in the vms directory filename NEWS-SMG.PATCH. This is an UNOFFICIAL patch and is a "use at your own risk" program. Q: ANU is not sending my local posts to other sites. A: There are many possible causes. One possible problem and work around is described in the file ANU.UCX-NNTP-FIX on ftp.unt.edu in the vms directory. This file describes a problem and workaround for a problem with the UCX NNTP code. It may or may not be valid for other NNTP drivers. Q: I am remote reading (diskless client) with ANU from a Cnews site and my users regularly crash due to memory problems. A: Verify that NNTP on the Cnews side is returning the correct message numbers on the list command. If not, then a patch exists somewhere on the net for Cnews to take care of this. (where?) Nothing is wrong with ANU. Q: How do I connect to an NNTP server? A: Try "news/netsever=newshost/netproto=tcp" where "newshost" is the name of the NNTP server. Note this connects over a TCP/IP network and requires that News was built to support to support that service. Also requires that the server accept a connection from your system. Q: News is awfully slow to start up. Especially for NNTP connections. A: News> set profile/fastload Will configure news to only load those newsgroup in which you are registered. This makes the start up considerably faster but you don't have access to groups you're not registered in. However, if you try and access a group that you are not registered to, ANU will access load all the groups off the NNTP server at that point. Q: News is still slow to start up to an NNTP server. A: News> set profile/display=(unseenstack,nolines,nopost) Will configure news to only show you new articles and will not retrieve the line count or posting date. This is especially useful if you're running off of an NNTP server that doesn't support ANU extensions to NNTP. Retrieving line counts and posting dates is notoriously time consuming. Q: How do I get a signature file appended to my articles? A: News> set profile/signature=file.name Note you should keep your signature file brief -- no more than three lines. Q: How do I get my full name into my return address? A: News> set profile/personal_name="Your Name" Q: I want to use emacs as my editor. A: News> set profile/editor=emacs Note this requires, of course, that you have emacs installed on your system. Q: Command recall doesn't work. A: Of course it does -- use CTRL-B to go back a command. The arrow keys have been bound to other commands. Q: Do I need this big newsrc. file? A: News> set profile/rcfilter Will store only the registered groups in your newsrc. file, this makes rewritting the file quicker. Not required if you have /fastload set in your profile. Q: I want to display groups in a different order. A: News> set profile/rcorder Will display newsgroups in the order they are listed in your newsrc. file -- edit the file to order things accordingly. Q. I have just installed the NEWS server software. When I ran it the first time, I got the message: RMS-E-FNF, file not found RMS-F-IFI, invalid internal file identifier A> Either there is some problem with your NEWS logicals, the NEWS executable is not properly installed, or the account that you started NEWS from the first time doesn't have the NEWS manager id granted to it. Xref: bloom-picayune.mit.edu rec.aviation.answers:26 news.answers:4765 Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!hri.com!spool.mu.edu!darwin.sura.net!sgiblab!news.kpc.com!kpc!peck.com!geoff From: geoff@peck.com (Geoff Peck) Newsgroups: rec.aviation.answers,news.answers Subject: Netiquette on rec.aviation (regular posting) Message-ID: <1992Dec23.083007.8659@peck.com> Date: 23 Dec 92 08:30:07 GMT Expires: Wed, 13 Jan 1993 08:00:00 GMT Reply-To: geoff@peck.com Followup-To: poster Organization: Geoffrey G. Peck, Consultant, San Jose, CA Lines: 246 Approved: geoff@peck.com, news-answers-request@mit.edu Original-from: geoff@peck.com (Geoff Peck) Last-modified: 22 Dec 1992 by geoff@peck.com (Geoff Peck) Archive-name: aviation-netiquette [This article is posted to rec.aviation.answers twice per month. It is likely that it has been slightly revised since the last time you read it. Change bars in the left margin indicate revisions, but it is probably worth your while to at least quickly read the entire posting.] Welcome to rec.aviation. This is one of two regular postings designed to introduce new readers to the dynamics of this newsgroup, and to provide repositories of information which may be helpful to posters both old and new. For those of you who may be new to this forum, you may be interested to know that there are approximately FIFTY-THREE THOUSAND readers of rec.aviation worldwide. This is not "just another BBS" -- in fact, the difference between a conventional BBS and rec.aviation is approximately the difference between a personal copy machine and the _New_York_Times_. So, yes, you may have access to the rec.aviation "soapbox", but please use it wisely. Please see the Frequently Asked Questions posting for a listing of the 13 newsgroups which comprise rec.aviation. Before posting an article, please follow the "golden rule" which will make reading rec.aviation more palatable for all of us: **** THINK BEFORE ENGAGING THE KEYBOARD **** Herewith are some specific guidelines, most of which have been culled from previous postings by me and a few others: 1. Please check your line lengths. Many readers utilize 80-column terminals, and articles with line lengths in excess of 79 characters cause problems for them. If you wish for others to be able to easily quote your articles, a line length of 72 columns is suggested. On a UNIX system, consider running your articles through "fmt" -- for example, "fmt -72". Justified text ("flat" right margins) may look "prettier" in some sense, but it is almost always harder to read than leaving ragged right margins. 2. Trim down your quotes. Summarize when possible. Use ellipses ("..."). PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE minimize the number of lines which you quote from others' articles. If you must quote verbatim, use the standard prefix '> ' before quote lines so those who are attempting to automatically trim the quotations out may do so. Quote only when absolutely necessary. And never, ever quote others' .signatures. That's totally wasteful. Remember that many readers read their news over lower-speed lines -- 2400 or even 1200 baud. Excessive quoting is very hard on these folks. And most people who read rec.aviation do so regularly -- they don't need to read the same article three, four, or ten times in order to understand others comments on the article. | 3. Since individuals post to rec.aviation from all over the world, and | stories and pilots' perspectives frequently are at least somewhat tied | into the area in which they reside, it would be helpful if you included | somewhere in your article or the header where you are from. Sometimes, | this appears in the "Organization:" field (see sample in this article), | but if it doesn't, it would be nice if you included something to this | effect at the end of the article in your signature. 4. Check the "Distribution:" line in your header. Some systems gratuitously set this to "USA" or some such. Remember that rec.aviation is a worldwide group, and posters throughout the world are most likely interested in what you have to say, especially if you're participating in an ongoing discussion which has up to this point had no distribution restrictions. The simplest thing you can do is to change it to "Distribution: world". Also, if you are posting about a topic of interest to only a smaller region, then please use the "Distribution:" line to _limit_ the distribution. Examples of such postings would be inquiries about aircraft, training, or maintenance availability; smaller airshows; smaller fly-ins; or extended discussions about U.S. regulations. Typical useful distributions include: ba (S.F. Bay Area), ca (California), ne (New England), usa (USA), and so on. Check with your site administrator to determine other useful distributions. 5. Please DO NOT include glossaries with standard vocabulary entries. There is now a bi-weekly "frequently-asked questions" (FAQ) posting which includes a large glossary. If you want something added to it, please contact me. These "mini-glossaries" eat net.bandwidth and are distracting for frequent readers. 6. If you're asking a "basic" question, please read the "frequently asked questions" posting _first_. It's posted about every other week. If you need a copy right away, send mail to geoff@peck.com. If you're asking for "relatively vanilla" information, rather than a discussion, please consider requesting that people *mail* the information to you; you should normally volunteer to post a summary or a digest of the responses you receive. 7. Only post if you have something *valuable* to add to the discussion. "I don't know about X, but here's what I don't know about X" postings are a waste of net bandwidth, not to mention the time of other readers. Remember that when you post something to rec.aviation, you are causing an estimated 53,000 people to read what you wrote. If the appropriate audience for what you are writing is considerably smaller (the poster to whom you are responding, for example), please use e-mail instead. To add some urgency to these comments, here are Brian Reid's statistics (for the month of August 1992) on rec.aviation: +-- Estimated total number of people who read the group, worldwide. | +-- Actual number of readers in sampled population | | +-- Propagation: how many sites receive this group at all | | | +-- Recent traffic (messages per month) | | | | +-- Recent traffic (kilobytes per month) | | | | | +-- Crossposting percentage | | | | | | +-- Cost ratio: $US/month/reader | | | | | | | +-- Share: % of newsrders | | | | | | | | who read this group. V V V V V V V V 53000 1151 77% 1876 3586.8 2% 0.14 2.1% rec.aviation As Paul Kube commented, When answering someone's posted question, if you find yourself typing "I don't remember exactly, but..." or "I don't have the book here, but I seem to remember...", STOP. Take some time (a day or two won't hurt) and do a little research. Look things up or think them through and get it right. Post a nice authoritative response that we can all learn from. If you've got a bona fide question, or don't understand something, or sort of understand it, by all means, speak up in an interrogatory vein -- that's a great way of getting a discussion going. 8. Don't post your version of something which has been commented upon and resolved recently -- post only if you have something new and interesting to add. Posting to show off only that you also know something is neither required nor encouraged. The volume of traffic on rec.aviation is quite high, making it easy to get behind by dozens of articles. It's often preferable to hold off replying to articles until you've read all the followups; the issue may already be resolved. Users of "rn" should find the "M" (capital M) command helpful -- it marks an article as unread, for the current session. Make your first session "read only" and then go back and respond (or don't) to the articles you've marked. 9. Ensure that your posting will be of value to a *wide* audience. If your posting is really only of value to a single individual, or a few individuals on the net, use e-mail instead. If your posting is really only of value to yourself, send it to /dev/null. 10. Sometimes, humorous threads are great. But, sometimes, the first posting has been mildly amusing and we've gone *way* downhill from there. So, if you're trying to be funny, please post a follow-up only if it's *screamingly* funny. Original funnies are usually no problem -- it's the follow-ups which are. 11. There have been a number of interesting discussions on rec.aviation recently in which there has been too much verbatim inclusion of previous articles. Please, folks, remember that the readership of rec.aviation is a relatively static and loyal community -- chances are that someone reading your article will have read the original, and will quite possibly even remember it. Thus, it's not necessary to include entire articles (or even paragraphs) in your posting in many cases -- a simple summary, like: In article <12345@foo.bar.COM>, redbaron@foo.bar.COM (The Ace Himself) asked about using a recycled prefromulated framastat as a replacement the infamous Continental engine in the Piper Malibu. I think this sounds like a good idea, but you'd need to get an autogas STC to make it work, and Piper doesn't seem to like autogas... will usually suffice. If you do wish to quote, please, please, gentle writers, trim those quotations down. You are welcome to use ellipsis ("...") to minimize the lines you're quoting. 12. Please don't include signature lines from the original message in the reply. Again: DO NOT QUOTE OTHER PEOPLE'S .signature LINES! 13. Please, if you're a netter in the USA, consult the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) and/or the Airman's Information Manual (AIM) before asking simple regulatory questions. Presumably, most readers have a copy of the FAR's, and they can look up and find a simple answer that way. If the answer given in the FAR's is vague, or is contradicted by other FAR's, then it's a fine topic for net discussion. Otherwise, let's try not to waste bandwidth with trivial questions (*reader* bandwidth is really the critical quantity here). 14. Please speak and write in plain English. When one needs to use technical terms, acronyms, or other words which might not be understood by all who are listening or reading, the speaker or writer should define these terms on first use. (It is better to do this "in line," parenthetically, than to include a glossary at the end of your posting.) Since aviation does make use of many acronyms, there is a list of many of these in the frequently-asked-questions (FAQ) posting which appears regularly. Feel free to use these terms and acronyms in this forum; assume that readers know enough to refer to this posting if they don't know a particular term. 15. If you use location identifiers (the 3- and 4-letter "abbreviations" for airports and weather-observing stations), PLEASE define them unless they appear in the frequently-asked-questions (FAQ) posting. If you find yourself frequently having to give this definition for a few places, let geoff@peck.com know and the location(s) can be added to the FAQ. 16. Don't post silly "conversational" notes -- these are best left to e-mail. Occasionally, these are fine, but when half of the daily rec.aviation volume is consumed by these things, it's very, very discouraging to the average reader (or even to me). Basically, if you can't decide whether what you're sending is appropriate to a posting or to e-mail, choose e-mail. 17. Your subject line should be indicative of the content of the article. "Dumb question #1" or "There I was ..." is NOT a good subject line -- "Logging Flight Engineer Time in Piper Warriors" is a good one. If the subject has changed since the subject line was originally written, **replace it**. You might also consider deleting the list of referenced articles if they are no longer relevant. 18. If you are writing about more than one subject, please, please post *separate* articles for each subject, with appropriate header lines. 19. If you are responding to a group of articles on the same subject, it is easiest for readers to read your comments if you make a single, consolidated response. 20. For those of us who selectively archive rec.aviation, it would help tremendously if you would include something of the form "in article <xyz@foo.bar>, zardoz@foo.bar (Mr. Science) wrote..." in the *body* of any article which is a direct follow-up to someone else's article. This is particularly important if your news-responding software does not include the "References:" line in the header. 21. Last, but not least: Praise in public, criticize in private. Rec.aviation is not a forum in which flame wars are well received. However, it is very important that we maintain rec.aviation as a forum in which constructive criticism can be given after-the-fact. Real-world pilot experiences are important, and we can all learn from the mistakes of others. When posting an original "experience", expect some criticism and second-guessing. When commenting on someone else's actions, do so gently, positively, constructively, and with reason. Again, what is required here is for the poster to exercise a bit of judgement and take a bit of time before posting so that the thousands of readers of this group don't have to take so much time reading it. I thank you, thousands of times. Comments on this article are, of course, welcome. Geoff Xref: bloom-picayune.mit.edu alt.lang.basic:722 news.answers:3387 Newsgroups: alt.lang.basic,news.answers Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!tamsun.tamu.edu!bcm!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!noc.near.net!news.cs.brandeis.edu!chaos.cs.brandeis.edu!cos From: cos@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Ofer Inbar) Subject: FAQ for alt.lang.basic, 8 October 1992 (2.1) Message-ID: <1992Oct8.043619.295@news.cs.brandeis.edu> Followup-To: alt.lang.basic Summary: Frequently Asked Questions about BASIC Sender: news@news.cs.brandeis.edu (USENET News System) Organization: Brandeis University Computer Science Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 04:36:19 GMT Approved: news-answers-request@mit.edu Expires: Tue, 1 Dec 1992 23:00:00 GMT Lines: 636 Archive-name: basic-faq Version: 02.10 FAQ for alt.lang.basic, fifth revision, 8 October 1992 [0.1] Is this the only BASIC newgroup? [0.2] Why an alt.* group, rather than comp.lang.basic? Microsoft Products [1.1] What is the difference between QuickBASIC and QBASIC? [1.2] Is there any version of QuickBASIC later than 4.5? [1.3] Visual BASIC for DOS press release. [1.4] How do I program the mouse in QuickBASIC? [1.5] What are the differences between PDS 7.1, VB/DOS, and VB/DOS Pro? PC General Questions [2.1] Whatever happened to Turbo BASIC? [2.2] How can I write TSRs in BASIC? Other Platforms [3.1] What is available for the Macintosh? [3.2] TrueBASIC [3.3] Is there BASIC on Unix platforms? [3.4] Business BASIC Appendixes [A] Addresses & Phone Numbers - TrueBASIC - Crescent Software (QB libraries) - MicroHelp (QB Libraries) - Spectra (Turbo BASIC) - ZEDCOR (ZBASIC / FutureBASIC) - Staz Software (?) - Ariel Publishing (BASIC on the Mac...) [B] Periodicals - Basic Magazine - BasicPro - Windows Tech Journal [C] Notes from the FAQ author ---------- [0.1] Is this the only BASIC newsgroup? Yes, alt.lang.basic is currently the only netnews group devoted primarily to BASIC. There exist other newsgroups where it is possible to discuss BASIC, such as comp.lang.misc, but none of those are primarily BASIC groups. There also exists on FidoNet an active BASIC echo conference. [0.2] Why an alt.* group, rather than comp.lang.basic? The comp.* hierarchy is part of Usenet, and follows Usenet's lengthy group creation guidelines. AltNet, on the other hands, has no such rules. People are expected, for the sake of courtesy, to propose new groups before they create them to see if anyone has any objections. But basically, anyone may create any group they want. It is possible in the future to convert alt.lang.basic to comp.lang.basic through a Usenet vote. However, now is probably not yet the time. In order to pass a vote, the group should be able to demonstrate sufficient volume of postings to justify its own group. If alt.lang.basic continues as is for a while, it will have a stronger case to join Usenet later on. To have a group created on Usenet, one must: - Post a Request For Discussion to news.groups, news.announce.newgroups, and all other groups related to the topic. - Allow a period of discussion in news.groups about the merits of the proposed group. Issues will be brought up that include "Is there interest in this group?", "Is this the right name?", "Will there be enough traffic to justify it?", and so on. - Post a Call For Votes at the end of the discussion period. Someone must the collect all votes for the duration of the voting period, check for duplicates, keep a count of yes and no votes, and post periodic mass acknowledgements of who has voted. - At the end of the voting period, if the results indicate at least 100 more yes votes than no votes, and if yes votes account for at least 2/3 of the total, the group will be created. A few days are allowed after the results are made public, for people to make any final objections. - If there was controversy during the discussion, or any allegations of an unfair vote or a biased vote taker or whatever, then some systems may choose not to carry the new group even if it does get created. ---------- Microsoft Products [1.1] What is the difference between QuickBASIC and QBASIC? Microsoft QuickBASIC is a standalone product that has been available since 1987 (?). It includes an integrated debugger/editor/compiler working environment, can create standalone .EXE files, and can create .OBJ files for linking with other modules created in other languages. When MS-DOS 5.0 came out, Microsoft included a replacement for the GWBASIC interpreter of past versions of DOS, called QBASIC. QBASIC is a stripped down version of QuickBASIC 4.5. It includes most of the capabilities of QuickBASIC, including the integrated environment, but it is not a compiler. Consequently, it cannot create .EXE or .OBJ files. It also does not support call interrupts, and is limited to only one 64Kb module per program. QuickBASIC is still on sale as a standalone product. Any program written in QBASIC should work under QuickBASIC, but the opposite is not necessarily true. If you're not sure which of the two you're using, check the Run menu to see if it allows you to create an executable file. Also, QBASIC.EXE is QBASIC, while QB.EXE is QuickBASIC, unless you've renamed it on your machine. [1.2] Is there any version of QuickBASIC later than 4.5? With the release of Visual BASIC for DOS, QuickBASIC 4.5 has been discontinued. Version 4.5 was the last release. However, Microsoft also sells the Microsoft Basic Professional Development System, or BASIC PDS, which is currently in version 7.1. BASIC PDS is an optimizing compiler that is upward compatible with QuickBASIC in the same way that QuickBASIC is with QBASIC. In addition to optimized compilation, the PDS has several extra features, including a character mode windowing system, built-in database library, and mouse support. VB/DOS is apparently the 'upgrade' for QuickBASIC. It's actually a new product with significant new features. VB/DOS retails at $199, but student discounts are available, as well as upgrade prices for owners of QuickBASIC or the PDS. Microsoft's press release introduction VB/DOS is reproduced here on a temporary basis. From: oconnell@bandelier.cs.unm.edu (Pat O'Connell) > >The offer to upgrade QBasic 4.5 to 7.1 is certainly worthwhile, if for >no other reason than the manuals that come with the compiler, which >are much better than QB 4.5's. (Is this offer still around now that VB/DOS is out?) [1.3] Visual BASIC for DOS press release. Microsoft Introduces Microsoft Visual Basic for MS-DOS REDMOND, Wash. -- Sept. 1, 1992 -- Microsoft Corporation today announced the Microsoft* Visual Basic* programming system for MS-DOS*, Standard and Professional Editions. Visual Basic for MS-DOS is based on the same easy-to- use, visual programming model pioneered in Visual Basic for the Windows* operating system. Combining the ease of graphical design with the power and versatility of traditional programming, developers simply draw the user interface and attach code that responds to events. Designed to offer developers the fastest and easiest way to create portable applications, Visual Basic for MS-DOS provides the same collection of objects available in its counterpart for Windows. Forms, menus, 15 standard controls and a compatible programming language allow developers to simultaneously develop applications for MS-DOS and Windows. Finished applications can be compiled into native 80X86 standalone executable files. No runtime library is required. "This extension of the Visual Basic product line addresses many issues for organizations in transition between MS-DOS and Windows," said Tom Button, group product manager for the applications programmability product unit at Microsoft. "Applications written in Visual Basic for MS-DOS will smooth the path to Windows for developers, PC managers and their users. Developers can leverage their code, PC managers can preserve their investment in older PCs, and users can benefit from similar applications on both platforms. Corporations, VARs and independent software vendors can now focus their resources on developing a consistent set of applications, targeted to the two most popular PC platforms," he continued. In addition to compatibility with Visual Basic for Windows, Visual Basic for MS-DOS runs the existing Microsoft QuickBasic* development system, Basic professional development system, and MS-DOS