** ** ****** ** ** ******** ** ** ***** ** ** ** * ** ** ** *** ** ** ** ** ** * ** ** ** * **** **** ** * ** ** ** ** ** **** ** ** ** ** ** *** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** * ** ** ** ** ** ****** ** ** ** ***** ***** ** ** ** ****** ****** ***** ** **** ******** ****** ****** ** ** ** ** * ** ** * ** ** ** ** ****** **** ** ** ** ** **** ****** ** ** ** ** **** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** * ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ****** ***** ** **** ** ****** ** ** **** KY REGISTER **** KY REGISTER **** KY REGISTER **** KY REGISTER *** JULY 1988 TABLE OF CONTENTS Wang E-Mail Gateway Now Available. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 036 "Kentucky Register" to Resume Printed Publication . . . . . . . . . 059 Suggestions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 074 Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Service Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 ************************************************************************* WANG E-MAIL GATEWAY NOW AVAILABLE Wang users now have the capacity to electronically communicate with non-Wang users, BITNET users, and other e-mail systems. Non-Wang users can send e-mail to Wang users by using this address: "firstname.lastname@UKWANG.UKY.EDU." Wang users can send e-mail to non-Wang users by addressing mail "To: BITNET" "Subject: xxxxxxxx" "to: userid@UKCC" Be sure to include "to: userid@UKCC" in the body of the communication so the mail can be routed to the individual. The August edition of "The Kentucky Register" will include more detailed information on sending e-mail between Wang users and other systems. ************************************************************************* PUBLICATION OF "KENTUCKY REGISTER" TO RESUME "The Kentucky Register" will resume printed publication next month, with a welcome-back issue for the Fall semester. Scheduled publication of the printed UKCC newsletter will be bi-monthly. Distribution of the newsletter will include subscribers, the regular online edition, and extra copies by the Users Room (111 McVey Hall). To be placed on the mailing list, you must subscribe. To subscribe, contact the Editor at 257-2219 or through e-mail at EDITOR@UKCC, or stop by the UKCC Main Office in 128 McVey Hall. Computing-related articles and news from UK faculty, staff, and students are always welcome. ************************************************************************ SUGGESTIONS 1. Is it possible to reset the "first unused vaddr" found by GETVADDR? I sometimes link and drop a large number of disks in a day. GETVADDR looks for the next unused vaddr, but is too conservative: if I've used, say, 202 earlier today then, even if it's not in use now, GETVADDR thinks it is and returns 203 or something higher. This is true even if I've logged off in the meantime. Some utilities then return confusing information; for instance, GRAB can make it look like I've got a disk linked a number of times, because it remembers the earlier vaddr's used. Anyway, can I reset what GETVADDR is looking for? Thanks. >>>GETVADDR and GRAB look for the first unused device address. Remember that RELEASE isn't the same as DROP or DETACH, and DISC isn't the same as LOGOFF. RESTART and IPL also cause accesses to be released without detaching the disks. 2. Ever since we switched accounts to the IBM 3090, the network has been very sporadic, anything but smooth. I thought for a while that this was because of the large student loads late in the semester, but the problem continues, and even grows worse. I'm using an IBM PS-2/30 with Kermit version 2.29, which generally seems to work well. Is there any reason why the network response should be quite so jerky at times? >>>The response time that a user sees is a combination of several factors. One form of measurable response time is the time required for data communications. In a case such as yours, there is the time required for your PC to read the keyboard and send the character out the communications port, the time required for the network to carry the character to the host computer, and the time for the host to receive and register the character. Since UK computers are operated in full duplex, remote echo, the host will resend the same character over the network to your PC, which will then display it on your screen. In this sequence, the network is often, but not always, the most time- consuming. The network response is primarily indicated by how long after you type a character it appears on your screen. It can sometimes be seen in the time required to paint an entire screen when this is required, such as the response to the FLIST command on an IBM host. The network is generally set up to carry characters at 9600bps (960 chars per sec), and can be very efficient in this mode since it carries many characters per packet rather than only one. In many cases, neither host computers nor PCs can handle that many characters per second on any continuous basis, and delays which occur in full screen paints are not a function of the network at all. A second form of response time, which is often more important to users, is how long it takes for the results of a command to appear after the return or enter key is pressed. It should be obvious from the fact that the network echoes each character as it is typed that any variations in this second form of response time is mainly a function of the host computer and the application servicing your command rather than the data communications between the PC and the host. You aren't specific about the response time problems you're having, so it's difficult to address them specifically. This discussion should help you determine where there are problems, if any. We need more details of exactly what response problems you're having before we can address them in more detail. 3. Can anyone tell me why WHOIS wasn't available over the weekend? >>>WHOIS was down part of the weekend because of a software problem. It's back up now. 4. Someone at Connolly's workshop has a problem; he's getting lots "Vector underflow" messages. I can stop ordinary underflows using START * NOXUFLOW. Is there something similar for vector calculations? I think this is occurring in combination with a vector masking operation. Thanks. >>>START * NOXUFLOW should work in vector or scalar operation. If you're operating in link mode, then you can suppress the underflow interrupts by using the following option VSF2G filename ( usertxtlibs >NOXUFLOW Alternatively you can call the subroutine XUFLOW in your program, CALL XUFLOW (i) where i may be 0 or 1. If i has the value 0, all interrupts are allowed to occur. If your program is running correctly and the underflows are not important, then suppressing the underflow interrupt messages can improve your program performance. 5. How do I access the NAG library? GRAB NAG, but what library do I add to the VSF2G command? >>>There are three libraries available: scalar vector NAG12S NAG12V These are from the current Mark 12 of NAG. NAG11 This is the older Mark 11 edition. 6. When the exec VSF2F is invoked with options, adding a closing parenthesis, e.g., VSF2G JOE (CLEAR NOXUFLOW), makes the load/start options unrecognizable. And no error message is given either. >>>The programming language commands don't have quite the same syntax as most other CMS commands because of the need to handle several kinds of options. Check the online HELP files on CMS5 for more information. 7. How do I get the routine MCMS linked to a Fortran program? I want to use it to issue CMS commands (in particular, TELL) from within a FORTRAN program. but running the program gets message DMS201W, telling me that the name MCMS is undefined. Thanks. >>>MCMS is an XMENU routine found in the XMENUSUB library. For example, VSF2G filename ( XMENUSUB other_libraries. See HELP XMENU TASK for more information. 8. How can I find the INTERNET address or domain-style name of a node for which I only know the BITNET node? This is necessary to use TELNET. Is there a look-up table accessible to be browsed, or some listing like the BITNET nodes listed in the BITNET disk? >>>There is no general way to find the domain address for a particular site, regardless of whether it's a BITNET site or not. Some sites have both BITNET access and internet access, while many sites have only one or the other. There is no correspondence between a site's BITNET (RSCS) node name and its internet (domain) name. Our 3090 is called UKCC on BITNET and ukcc.uky.edu on the internet, but not all sites use names like this. The only sure way to find out the name is to ask someone at the site. There is a table of internet host addresses online; it has about 6,000 entries, but it is by no means complete. You can GRAB TCPMAINT 592 and look at the file HOSTS LOCAL. You may be able to find the address you want there. 9. I embedded this interface file in my SCRIPT file: .im posts font normal time 12 timei 12 timeb 12 timebi 12 .bf normal then tried to get an italic string by typing .US ITALIC in my SCRIPT file. But I can't get the italic string. Please help! >>>When we tried your example, we got italics, but they were underlined. Using the ITALic option of LWSCRIPT got rid of the underscoring and retained the italics. 10. Is it possible to have an account logged back to GONE status after the system goes down? Some sort of autologging? >>>We don't have such a service at this time. 11. I constantly get "All GEN ports are busy" or "All UKDP ports are busy" when connecting from ADMIN. Couldn't the number of UKDP and GEN ports available to ADMIN/network be increased? >>>You're getting an "all GEN ports are busy" because we have a limited number of ports available between the administrative channel and the general channel. This will be resolved with the installation of a data link bridge which will allow a far greater number of paths between the two channels. The "UKDP busy" will be resolved in mid-July with the addition of 64 more ports on the network. ************************************************************************* UKCC CLASSIFIEDS Classified ads are free to UK students, faculty, and staff. Ads run for one issue and must be resubmitted for publication in subsequent issues. If you'd like to place a computing-related ad, send it via e-mail to EDITOR@UKCC or mail it to the Editor, UK Computing Center, 128 McVey Hall, Lexington, KY 40506-0045. The deadline for ads is the first week of the month for the following month's issue. We do not accept advertising from commercial vendors and all ads are subject to revision by the Editor. FOR SALE: A Hayes 1200 Smart Modem with 27 pin serial cable and serial PC card for sale -- $150. Call 255-6910 and ask for Don. ************************************************************************* UKCC SERVICE DIRECTORY McVey Service E-Mail Address Phone Hall Vice President, Information Services Eugene R. Williams DPS128@UKCC 257-3609 Director, University Computing Services Dr. Douglas Hurley HURLEY@UKCC 257-2900 132 Director, Communications & Distributed Systems Doyle Friskney DOYLE@UKCC 257-6225 Director, Computational Sciences Dr. John Connolly CONNOLLY@UKCC 257-8737 324 Academic Consulting Services Lavine Thrailkill UKC105@UKCC 257-2257 122 CMS Consulting Bob Crovo CROVO@UKCC 257-2258 109 Complaints Carol Lotz LOTZ@UKCC 257-2213 129 Consultant for Remote Sites Wanda Dixon Spisak WANDA@UKCC 257-2206 115 Consulting Consultant on Duty SUGGEST@UKCC 257-2249 110 Contingency Planning & Security Jack L. Coffman UKA051@UKCC 257-2273 230E Database - IDMS Rick Chlopan DBA003@UKCC 257-2211 218 Data Center 257-2222 61 Data Entry Frank McCormick OPFRANK@UKCC 257-1785 Disk Rental Janet Hyatt HYATT@UKCC 257-2212 105 Larry Johnson JOHNSON@UKCC 257-2217 105 Facilities Operations Joe Williams SYSDATA@UKCC 257-2231 72 Information Center Judy Kisil UKA041@UKCC 257-2241 222 Information Resources Dr. Jon Hesseldenz UKA045@UKCC 257-3904 230D Instructional Software Wayne Beech WAYNE@UKCC 257-2238 100 Machine Room 257-2222 59 Management Information Systems Forrest Hahn UKA006@UKCC 257-2260 205 Memos and Manuals Consulting Room 257-2249 110 Micro Lab 257-2207 107 Network/Telecommunications George Broomell UKT101@UKCC 257-2229 127 New Accounts Janet Hyatt HYATT@UKCC 257-2212 105 Larry Johnson JOHNSON@UKCC 257-2217 105 Numerical Analysis Consulting Anne Leigh ANNE@UKCC 257-2205 109B Optical Scanner - NCS Chris Corman CHRIS@UKCC 257-2243 109 Bob Crovo CROVO@UKCC 257-2258 109 Passwords Janet Hyatt HYATT@UKCC 257-2212 105 Larry Johnson JOHNSON@UKCC 257-2217 105 PRIME Information Peggy Akridge PEGGY@UKCC 257-2237 100 Program Documentation/Libraries Consulting Room 257-2249 110 Publications Office Marguerite Floyd EDITOR@UKCC 257-2219 200 Refunds Consulting Room 257-2249 110 SAS and SPSS Consulting Steve Thomson STEVE@UKCC 257-2259 116 Lorinda Wang UKC333@UKCC 257-2204 109B Statistical Consulting Steve Thomson STEVE@UKCC 257-2259 116 Tapes to Borrow, Tape Storage Data Center 257-2222 61 Tours of UKCC Lavine Thrailkill UKC105@UKCC 257-2257 122 User Account Services Janet Hyatt HYATT@UKCC 257-2212 105 Larry Johnson JOHNSON@UKCC 257-2217 105 *************************************************************************