What's Up DOCumentation Robelle Consulting Ltd. Unit 201, 15399-102A Ave. Surrey, B.C. Canada V3R 7K1 Phone: (604) 582-1700 Fax: (604) 582-1799 Email: support@robelle.com Date: October 29, 1993 From: Robert M. Green, CEO David J. Greer, President Michael Shumko, Editor To: Users of Robelle Software Re: News of the HP 3000, 1993 #6 What You Will Find in This News Memo: News Tidbits Technical Tips Book Review: Help! The Art of Computer Technical Support Robelle News XPRESS 3.0 is Released SIGSYSMAN News Robelle Products: Problems, Solutions, and Suggestions News Tidbits San Francisco Conference. A sunny week in September set the stage for 5,303 people attending the 1993 San Francisco Interex Conference. Held in the huge Moscone Center, the vendor expo and the numerous sessions were a grand success. As always, there were too many things to do at once - especially when there were usually twenty different presentations being offered at the same time. One person who came to the Robelle booth said, "There are seven sessions I would like to attend right now." Among the sessions that he could have attended were any one of eleven Robelle-sponsored tutorials and papers. Eight one-hour sessions were devoted to customer education for Suprtool and Qedit, and were extremely well-attended. We practically had our own "Robelle Room". One Interex session was so popular that it was repeated. "Introduction to the Internet" was given by Chick Webb of Taos Mountain Software. The room was packed with HP 3000 users trying to learn more about what the Unix world has known about for years. Chick's presentation was clear and well-received. He included interesting points on the ethical and legal issues of the Internet as well as the expected "What, Who and Hows". The phenomenal growth of Internet usage plus the wide array of resources available were also covered. One of the more interesting aspects was who pays for this service. (Bing! Mostly taxpayers...) By the end of the talk, attendees could confidently drop terms such as gopher, archie, ftp and Telnet into any conversation. Interex is getting better every year. Instead of just one keynote speaker at the start of the conference, there was a keynote speech every day. Registration was smooth, and even the bugs in HP's computerized surveys had been wiped out. Interex had hired a video crew to toodle around and find points of interest at the conference, including some quick interviews and candid shots. The tape, shown on the last day, is just ten minutes long but well worth viewing. If you haven't seen it, you might want to borrow a copy for your local regional user group. Contact Johanna Seele at Interex. This year's Interex party was the best ever, as attendees were bussed to a secret location, then fÁted with a Haight Ashbury 'sixties revival. Lots of people wore tye-dye shirts, love beads, and grooved to a live band playing tunes from the '60s and '70s. Robelle had lots of fun, too. With Bob, David, Dave, Marie, Paul, Mike and Ken in the Robelle vendor booth, we were able to attach faces to voices that we've chatted with on the phone, meet new people, and revive old friendships from previous conferences. We also took in many enhancement requests from customers who don't usually call for such "trivial things". Nothing is trivial to us! Keep those cards, letters, faxes and phone calls coming. We're already looking forward to the Interex conference next year in Denver, Colorado, from September 18-22. [by Ken Robertson] And the Winners Are... Congratulations to Chuck Brooks and Brian Simmons, the winners of the two contests we held at the San Francisco Interex conference in September. Chuck Brooks from L.A. Gear won a copy of Qedit for HP-UX and a cordless telephone. It turns out that Chuck won't have an HP-UX machine for a few weeks, but as soon as he gets it we'll send him his tape. He can start using the phone right away. Brian Simmons from James River Corporation had the keenest eye (or luckiest guess) in the Big & Tall contest, the goal of which was to guess the combined height and weight of Bob Green and David Greer. Brian's entry had the correct height of 12 feet 9 inches, and his guess of 480 pounds was off by only seven pounds. Brian walked off with a desktop CD player. We also gave away door prizes at the various talks and tutorials. Here are the winners of Robelle golf shirts, listed in no particular order: Bernard Gillman, Crystal Kline, Randy Martin, Mike Maziarczyk, Richard Eggers, Jim Phillips, Bob Clements, Don De Frease, Tuan H Hang, Cathy Grant, Dave Evans, Lee Deese, Barbara Naghavi, Terry Verbeck, Nestor Centeno, Tom Combs, Ben Wormeli, Jay Stirm, Greg Schmidt, Stephen Cann, Benny Poon, Ken Steele, Mary Teehan, Ranjit Dhillon, Juliet Ogden, John Wasowski, Michael Duarte, Eugene Brown, Max Steplyk, Jeff Mikolai, Rita Roll, Joe Sitver, and Dennis Butler. We probably are forgetting a few people. Congratulations to all our winners. Qedit/UX. It looks like our new product, Qedit for HP-UX, is going to be popular. The big demand for demo tapes is keeping Rosemary hopping. For more information on Qedit/UX, see the data sheet included with this newsletter mailing. IMAGE/3000 Handbook. Here's an updated address for obtaining the IMAGE/3000 Handbook. Send check, money order or AmEx (no Visa, MC, etc.) to: Marguerite Russell, 1617 South Hill Street, Seattle, WA, 98144-4333, (206) 323-1548. Do not send faxes to the number published in a previous What's Up DOCumentation?, as that fax number now belongs to another company. Marguerite is offering a special price of $35 until the end of the year for prepaid orders. Virtual Tech Support. No, that doesn't mean that you get info that is almost, but not quite, helpful. "Virtual" is one of those new buzzwords that implies something is provided entirely by computer technology. Here's a typical scenario: you're at your workstation and you discover a problem with some piece of software. You send a message via e-mail to the vendor's tech support mailbox, and a little while later get the answer back in your e-mail at your workstation. More vendors are providing this service, since it makes it easy to provide exact copies of problem job streams, command files, configuration screens and pscreen listings, all of which assist in duplicating your problem. Some of the vendor e-mail addresses that we know of: Robelle support@robelle.com Adager support@adager.com D.I.S.C. support%disc@mcimail.com Reflection support@wrq.com Unison-Tymlabs support@unison.com Orbit tech_support@orbitsw.com In a slightly different category is HP's SupportLine service, which allows you to submit questions and problems to the Response Center and use the interactive inquiry program. Dial into (415) 964-0229 and type hello user.hpsl. Or Telnet into 192.6.148.19 (support.mayfield.hp.com) and type hpsl at the login prompt. You'll need your system handle and a password provided by HP. Internet Mailing Lists. Last issue we published the details of how to subscribe to the HP3000-L mailing list. From the SIGSYSMAN newsletter we learn that there is also an HP-UX mailing list called HPMINI-L. To add your name to this list, send a message to the list server at listserv@uafsysb.uark.edu. The message should consist of one line of text: SUB HPMINI-L your full name Subsequently, send messages to the list at hpmini-l@uafsysb.uark.edu. There is also a PowerHouse-for-HP3000 mailing list. Send a message to Georges Bourgeois at bourgeg@umoncton.ca asking for membership. He maintains the list manually. Technical Tips Unattended Backups. One of the joys of DAT drives is the ability to do a backup at night with no operator required to feed tapes. However, occasionally the last person out the door forgets to put a DAT in the drive. At midnight the job starts, and waits for someone to load a DAT. And waits.... At 7 a.m. the first person in the office discovers the problem, puts in the DAT, and then cannot access the system for an hour while the backup does its thing. How can the job determine if there is a DAT in the drive before starting the backup? We posed the question on the Internet HP3000-L discussion group, and a Kevin McCann in Ottawa came back with a simple solution. He noticed that when a DAT is on-line the output from the MPE Showdev command will contain the string "(Nolabel)". Kevin's solution used MPEX from Vesoft. We simplified it by using Qedit: !showdev 7>foo !run qedit.pub.robelle;parm=128;info="list foo '(Nolabel)'" !if qeditcount = 0 then ! tellop There is no tape on-line, so no backup !else ! file dat;dev=7 ! store @.@.@;*dat !endif The procedure assumes that you use unlabeled tapes. If you use labeled tapes you would search for something different, such as (ANSI) or (IBM). Craig Vespe points out that you could just search for a closing parentheses, which will appear in all three cases. Craig also points out a more insidious situation: if someone unloads the tape from the drive before it is used, the Showdev will still show (Nolabel). The Showdev output will only be updated when another tape is loaded or when someone accesses the tape drive. So the above method is not foolproof. In the past we have used the HP SYSDIAG tool to get reliable information about the status of HPIB drives. For SCSI drives, Goetz Neuman tells us that the SCSIDDS utility will give us what we want. It will print "Tape Loaded" or "No Tape Loaded". :sysdiag DUI >scsidds section=50 ldev=7 Checking if tape loaded in drive.... .... No Tape loaded SCSIDDS>exit SCSIDDS Exiting... SCSIDDS has terminated DUI >exit MPE Disc Space Requirements. We get a lot of news via the Internet. Here's one that came across our virtual desks from Jeff Vance. Here are the numbers I have re. disk space needed for various MPE releases. This is the total amount of bytes, not incremental amounts: 4.0 4.5 5.0 FOS SLT 362 Mb 425 Mb 500 Mb FOS SLT + subsys 670 Mb 884 Mb 826 Mb The 5.0 values are still estimates. I INSTALLED an MR'd version of 4.5 without the subsys tape and a :DISKUSE / showed 1,406,208 sectors (360Mb). I don't know why there is a 65Mb discrepancy between my measurements and the published numbers above. Auto-install Problem. E.A. Kilroy ran into a problem while running the Autoinst utility. Autoinst requires 600,000 free sectors. A DiscFree showed 1.8 million free sectors, but Autoinst would not run, giving the dreaded FSERR 46 (out of disc space). The Response Center told him that there is a little-known algorithm in the Build command which prevents a new file from being created with more than x extents (x being a value which changes from MPE release to release). If the disc space is badly fragmented then Build may not be able to create the file, even though the space is available. For years HP has been saying that disc fragmentation is not a problem on MPE/iX, so there is no need to worry about it, and no need for a VINIT-CONDENSE-like utility. Hmmm. E.A.'s only recourse was to purge files until the file could be built. He could also have altered his permanent file allocation percentage if it was not already at the maximum. Filling Up A File Quickly. One of E.A. Kilroy's tricks for reserving disc space is to build large files which can be purged when disc space runs short. The idea is to make an out of disc space condition something that can quickly be corrected for the short term while you look for a long term solution. E.A. reserves file space by building large files that have data in them (MPE can be clever about releasing unused space in files). He puts one record into the file, then uses FCOPY to fill it up using a "ripple-move". build space100;disc=100000,1,1;dev=1 file in=space100;shr file out=space100,old;shr;acc=append echo Purge this data file only in times of great need > *out fcopy from=*in;to=*out comment ignore the eof error from fcopy Book Review: HELP! The Art of Computer Technical Support HELP! The Art of Computer Technical Support, by Ralph Wilson (Peachpit Press, 1991), is a book written by a technical support professional for other technical support personnel. It focuses on support for microcomputer hardware and software products, although many of its messages are also relevant to other platforms. The book is presented in self-contained sections which are readable in any order. It covers the management of technical support departments in hardware and software companies. It investigates the economics of support, key people issues, how to measure and set service levels, and how to sell the importance of support. The management issues surrounding the provision of internal support are discussed: how to meet the challenges which face today's internal help desk staff - increased technical complexity, decreased resources, staff burnout and varied user needs. Alternatives to the traditional help desk are also examined. The book addresses the issues of effective communication by support professionals and how to deal with the content of technical support calls. It also presents ways to gather, organize and provide technical information that is vital to providing quality support. The users of a support service will find Ralph Wilson's book useful too, since there's a good chapter on the support business from the user's point of view. He offers practical tips on how to avoid unnecessary calls for help and how to communicate well with support staff to ensure that the problem is understood and gets solved. The demand for support today is growing exponentially, and techniques for delivering this support are essential for meeting the needs of an increasing body of computer users. Ralph Wilson's readable style and practical advice make this an invaluable book for computer support professionals who really want to make a positive impact in today's world of technical support. [review by Max Bichsel, Facer Information Design] Robelle News Welcome Newest Techie. After several years in freight brokering and international trading in South Africa, Hans Hendriks discovered his aptitude for computer software in 1987. After six years of PowerHouse sales, training, and technical support in Capetown, Hans joins our technical support team to help us improve our support for PowerHouse customers. Hans is married, with two sons, and enjoys camping and outdoor pursuits during the few times that it's not raining in Vancouver. XPRESS 3.0 is Released Robelle Consulting has again enhanced Xpress, its electronic mail system for the HP 3000. Without any commands to learn, Xpress users can easily start exchanging mail the first day without formal training. Xpress works on any HP 3000 hardware, and on all versions of MPE (including MPE/iX). Xpress keeps machine overhead low, while still offering quick access and all necessary functions. Here are the highlights of Xpress 3.0: * Convenient Access to Global Distribution Lists. An Xpress user who often sends messages to the same group of people can save time by defining them as a "distribution list". Instead of naming each recipient individually, the user simply sends a message to the list and Xpress ensures that each person receives it. This new version allows the Xpress manager to create global distribution lists that can be shared by all Xpress users. * Instant notification with MPEX. In addition to using the MPE :Tell command, Xpress can now notify users about incoming mail with the MPEX Warnf command. Users who have the MPEX utility from Vesoft can take advantage of this function which (unlike the :Tell command) works even when a session is in "Quiet mode". The Warnf command immediately sends the message about new mail to the function-key area of the screen whether the user is at the system command prompt or in a full-screen application program. * Gateway to the World. Xpress can communicate with users on international electronic networks, by using the Gateway/3000 product from E-Mail Inc. With Gateway, Xpress users can exchange messages and faxes with the thousands of people who access MCI Mail, Internet, and AT&T Mail. Xpress/Gateway users can also send a fax to any fax number in the world. A complete description of all new features is in the change notice which accompanies update tapes. All Xpress users who have service coverage receive an update tape automatically. The update tape also contains the latest user manual which can be printed or viewed as on-line help. Demo tapes can now be pre-configured so that you can be up and running within minutes of receiving the tape. For a free demo or more information, please contact Robelle or one of our international distributors. SIGSYSMAN News The special interest group for system managers, SIGSYSMAN, is one of the most active SIGs in Interex. It is headed by Scott Hirsh, who received an award from Interex for Outstanding Special Interest Group of 1993. The following notes are from Jim Knight's minutes of the SIG meeting in San Francisco and from the September SIGSYSMAN Update newsletter. HPIBDIAG and System Failures. Responding to a comment from Scott Hirsh who said that HPIBDIAG killed his MPE 3.0 system, Mike Hess of HP indicated that if you're on 3.0 and doing a lot of things in SYSDIAG, you might want to exit and re-enter SYSDIAG regularly since it seems to get confused after awhile. MPE/iX 5.0 Notes. Look for the capability of dynamically extending the limits of IMAGE datasets in 5.0. A utility to change the system clock without rebooting will also be included. The utility will slow down the clock if necessary to get to the correct time so that time stamping will not get out of sequence. The utility also has a "now" capability to change the clock instantly. Several users reported good things about the Betimes clock-setting utility from Software Research Northwest. Hung Ports. A couple of users were having problems clearing hung ports on their MPE/iX machines. They reported that after receiving a patch for MPE/iX 4.0, things are much better. The problems were particularly associated with sessions via NS/VT. DAT problems. The SIG users discussed DAT drives, jamming and reliability. While nothing specific was resolved, the recommendations were to clean the drives regularly and to use data grade tapes with the media recognition option. LDEV 1 Free Space. A little-known potential problem: if you are running with a low percentage of available free space, your system log file buffers are configured on the smallish side, and you are logging a fair amount of system activity, you can reach a situation where you get a high-priority interrupt when a log file fills up. The system must open a new one, but if the buffer fills before the request can be satisfied, the system will hang/freeze up or sit like a stunned mullet responding to nothing. The only way out is to restart. [Ron Burnett] Remote Job vs. Session. There is one fairly reliable trick for determining if a remote session is executing on behalf of a job or a session. If you can set HPTypeAhead True then the originator is a session. It will fail in job mode with a tell-tale CIWARN 8174. Doing this on a classic is left as an exercise to the reader. [Jeff Kell] Robelle Products: Problems, Solutions, and Suggestions Qedit Version 4.1 Purge Existing File [no]? Don't you just hate it when you are keeping a file and you respond "Y" to purge the existing file, without really reading the question? If you're like me, you sometimes end up purging a file you didn't mean to. Here's a tip from Bob Green: when you know that the file is supposed to exist and you want to purge it, use the Keep,yes command, which pre-answers the question. Use the Keep command without the yes option when you don't expect the file to exist; that way if Qedit asks Purge Existing File?, it's a surprise, and you have to think about it. [Mike Shumko] HP Variables. You can use MPE/iX variables in Qedit commands, although it's not altogether obvious how to do so. You can refer to variables in command files, and you can execute Qedit commands in command files. Putting the two together results in Qedit commands which refer to variables. For example, to have the Qedit prompt show the current group and account name, you can create a command file with the following line: /set prompt "!hpgroup.!hpaccount/" Invoke the command file as part of your Qeditmgr configuration file. $INCLUDE with COBOL. A question came up during a Qedit tutorial which Mike Shumko was not able to answer immediately. (Okay, more than one, but this is the only one he can remember.) After diligent research, here is the answer. The COBERR utility works well with $INCLUDE statements in COBOL, but needs some help to know when the include file is finished and the main file is once again being processed. Add a comment at the end of each include file (with the $-sign): * END $INCLUDE Editing Non-Printing Characters. To remove control characters or other non-printing characters from your file, use the Change command in conjunction with the Set Decimal command. Set Decimal On permits you to represent a character by its decimal number equivalent. For example, to remove all bells (decimal 7) from a job stream file: /set decimal on /change '7 "" all /set decimal off You can see from the example that the decimal value of 7 is indicated by a single quote character, and that the quote is used only before the number, not afterwards. The bells are changed to a null string, removing them from the file. After the change we Set Decimal Off so that single quotes may again be used to represent normal strings. Suprtool Version 3.5 Blank Lines. Question: How do I get a blank line between records when using List Standard? Answer: Extract a blank constant, large enough to cause the listing to wrap to a second line. For example, >extract " " XPRESS Version 3.0 Sending Internet Messages. Using Xpress electronic mail from Robelle and the Gateway software from E-Mail Inc., you can easily send messages to the Internet, as we do when corresponding with the HP3000-L mailing list, for example. After you create your message in the Out Basket, Xpress will prompt for address information. You format the address as A=I, which means Internet, followed by M= and the Internet address. For example, Enter one or more users [7]: mci Deliver this MCI GATEWAY message to: a=i;m=hp3000-l@utcvm.utc.edu PSCREEN Version 89C Little-known facts: you can choose to capture only a part of terminal memory instead of all of it by using parm=1. Pscreen will prompt you for the ending and starting points. Capture the information to a disc file instead of to the printer by using parm=2. A file called FLAT will be created. Combine these by using (you guessed it) parm=3.