SSC News, June, 1993 =================== Contents: Nancy McDermott to Demonstrate SAS/INSIGHT Bulletin facility will use Gopher SSCGOPHER added OLDBULL will also use Gopher New Hardware Installations planned for this Summer WHOIS on VMS to be Renamed SSCWHO New Option added to SOFT command on VMS SmarTerm price reduced This is the SSC News. This monthly electronic newsletter will keep you informed about recent changes on the SSC computer networks. We hope this new source of information will help improve communication between the SSC computing staff and all of you computer users out there. TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS NEWSLETTER, just reply to this mail message indicating you want to unsubscribe. We will remove you from the distribution list for future electronic mailings. If you ever change your mind, just notify the SSC Consultant or send mail to SSCNEWS asking to get back on the list. ------------------------------------------ Nancy McDermott to Demonstrate SAS/INSIGHT ------------------------------------------ INSIGHT is a SAS product utilizing X-windows that we have licensed on our UNIX machines. It is a highly interactive graphical tool for data analysis. A combination of tools, palettes, and pull-down menus enable the user to manipulate objects contained in linked windows. The demonstration will be in the IRP conference room on Wednesday, June 9th from 12:00-12:30. This will also be an opportunity to see how we can use eXcursion software on a pc to project X applications from ULTRIX with our data show (lcd panel). --------------------------------- Bulletin facility will use Gopher --------------------------------- Effective immediately, the SSC Bulletin on VMS and UNIX will use Gopher to display Bulletin messages. When you type 'bull', you will see a list of SSC Bulletin messages as always. The menu will be formatted somewhat differently than in the past; messages will be sorted by date with the newest ones at the bottom of the list. A typical Bulletin menu entry will look like this: --> 1. 03/01/93 PUMA error in PUMS90. The arrow indicates the current message; just move the cursor to the menu entry you want or enter the number of the one you want to read and press Return. Prompts at the bottom of the screen will tell you your options. When you are finished reading the message, you will return to the Bulletin menu, where you can type q to quit the facility and return to the prompt. SSCGOPHER added --------------- One change in the Bulletin is that messages which are more or less permanent, like the Consulting schedule or tips on how to get started using UNIX, will no longer be listed in the Bulletin. To read these messages, you should use the SSCGOPHER. To read SSCGOPHER messages, type 'sscgopher'. You will see the menu of SSC files. SSCGOPHER also has links to other gophers, including the Bulletin and WiscINFO, the Madison campus Gopher. OLDBULL will also use Gopher ---------------------------- One last change to note is that old Bulletin messages which are of continuing importance will now be in a gopher called OLDBULL. If you are away from the SSC for a period of time, or if you want to review a message which is no longer in Bulletin, just type 'oldbull'. VMS has had an OLDBULL facility for some time, but this is a new feature for UNIX. OLDBULL works the same way as Bulletin: messages will be listed by date with the newest ones last. -------------------------------------------------- New Hardware Installations planned for this Summer -------------------------------------------------- This summer the SSC staff will spend a good deal of its time installing new hardware and some system software. Below is a list of our current installation priorities. This does not include items that have not yet been delivered to us. Some of those items will take priority when they arrive, in particular the upgrade of CDE2S to a dual-processor SPARC 10/512MP and the deployment of CDE's 20-gb erasable optical jukebox. CDE2S will not be upgraded until the jukebox is available, perhaps in late July. The SSC has bought two very powerful UNIX servers that will not support third-party software until about the end of 1993 because they run new versions of UNIX for which little commercial software is yet available. Those machines are the SPARC 10/512MP (Solaris 2.2) and a DEC 3000/400 Alpha AXP (OSF/1). When these machines are installed we will have four versions of UNIX in the SSC. Over time OSF/1 (replacing Ultrix) and Solaris 2.x (replacing SunOS) will become the standards, but the transitions will be long ones. Early-to-Mid-Summer Hardware/System Software Installation Priorities: UNIX VMS ---- --- 1. Install new memory in IRP01D. Get VAXstation 4000/60 and new disks working. 2. Install 4 new system disks, then Install 2-gb DSSI system disk. upgrade the DEC machines to Ultrix 4.3. 3. Recompile X11R5 & emacs for Ultrix. Move serial printer to terminal server. 4. Get DEC 3000/400 Alpha running. Relocate SSCB tape drive. May have to be unavailable for a while. 5. Complete programming on disk Move data from old SSCA & B management system for Unix. disks to new VAXstn disks and create new SSCBONETAPE queue. 6. Move all user disks to Alpha (and mail Open VAXstn 4000/60 to users as activity?). SSCB and retire SSCA and old SSCB. 7. Recompile our Fortran & C programs for OSF/1: e.g., LIMDEP, Rate, CTM, HLM. 8. Perfect DECnet installation on Suns. --------------------------------- WHOIS on VMS to be Renamed SSCWHO --------------------------------- There are several in-house utility programs that are available on both VMS and UNIX. For example, 'bull' will get you into the bulletin from either operating system. The 'whois' command on VMS and the 'sscwho' command on UNIX is another example of an in-house utility program available on both UNIX and VMS, but their names are different. In an effort to make the operating systems more consistent and easier to use, we are renaming 'whois' on VMS to 'sscwho'. The reason we cannot rename 'sscwho' on UNIX to 'whois' is because 'whois' is a command that is part of the UNIX operating system. For the time being, you can type either 'sscwho' or 'whois' from VMS. --------------------------------------- New Option added to SOFT command on VMS --------------------------------------- A new option (-u) has been added to the 'soft' command on VMS which allows you to check for the availability of software on UNIX. For example, to check which UNIX nodes have SAS you would type: soft -u sas The 'soft' command on UNIX has a similar option (-v) which allows you to check for the availability of software on VMS. ---------------------- SmarTerm price reduced ---------------------- Persoft has announced new, lower prices for their SmarTerm PC terminal emulation software. SmarTerm 420 (for Windows) $153 SmarTerm 320 (for DOS) $116 SmarTerm is available from a variety of software vendors, but is not available through MACC software sales.