| Previous | Contents | Index |
OneKey presents conferences containing unseen notes in the order that the conferences were added to your notebook. This reading sequence can seem somewhat random.
If you want OneKey to present some conferences before others do this:
Entries that don't match anything are ignored. (They increase the search time a millisecond or so). If not all conferences are listed, that's OK. All you need are the ones you want to see first, in the desired sequence. The rest of them are presented in the same order as usual. With a shorter ONEKEY_READ_SEQUENCE.DAT file, OneKey will do some things a little bit faster. Duplicates are ignored (the first one does it).
Creating a letter-perfect ONEKEY_READ_SEQUENCE.DAT file may seem
complicated. To simplify this, OneKey will create the file for you
fully populated, in alphabetical order. Just press GOLD-S at the
Notes> prompt. If you don't edit this file to change the order,
OneKey uses the alphabetical sequence. To customize the sequence use
any editor to cut and paste the lines in the desired sequence.
8.14 132-Column Mode
The GOLD-Y key sequence toggles your screen between 80-column and
132-column modes. 132-column mode is useful for some directory
displays. The screen used to enter replies remains with the margins set
to encourage notes to be in 80-column width. (Hint: GOLD-Y gets its
name from a funny spelling of the word ``wYde'' )
8.15 Customizing OneKey
Several of features of OneKey can be tailored to suit your requirements. It's also possible to add features to OneKey if you like, and to change the key definitions. Instructions for customizing OneKey and other special features of OneKey are posted in the DECUServe VAX_NOTES_UTILITY Conference, Topic 222.
The Internet is a large collection of state-wide, regional, and national TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) networks, covering most of the industrial world. The Internet began as a means of tying together academic and research communities, but has grown in recent years to include a more general membership.
DECUServe is connected to the Internet via the New England Academic and Research Network (NEARnet), a National Science Foundation sponsored TCP/IP network serving the New England Area.
The software used to provide NEARnet and Internet access to the DECUServe system is called MultiNet, a VAX/VMS TCP/IP software package from TGV, Inc. In addition, PMDF, a VAX/VMS multi-protocol electronic mail system from Innosoft International, Inc. provides Internet electronic mail services.
The primary services offered by DECUServe over the Internet are remote terminal emulation (TELNET), remote file access (FTP), and the bi-directional exchange of electronic mail (MAIL).
Internet Names and Addresses for DECUServe are shown in Table 9-1
| System | Internet DNS Name | Name Type | Internet Address |
|---|---|---|---|
| DECUServe | EISNER.DECUS.ORG | Primary | 192.67.173.2 |
| DECUSERVE.DECUS.ORG | Alternate | ||
| DECUSV.DECUS.ORG | Alternate |
Remote terminal emulation is supported via the TELNET protocol.
To connect to DECUServe over the Internet, use your local TELNET client or terminal server to connect to the Internet host EISNER.DECUS.ORG (IP address 192.67.173.2).
For example, on a local UNIX workstation, you might type the command:
$ TELNET eisner.decus.org |
If your system is not configured to use the Internet Domain Name System (DNS) to perform host name to IP address resolution, you may need to access the DECUServe system directly by IP address.
For example, to establish a TELNET connection to DECUServe by IP address, you might type the command:
$ TELNET 192.67.173.2 |
However, you should be aware that the IP address for DECUServe is subject to set wrap change.
Once a connection has been established to the DECUServe system, you are prompted for your username and password just as if you had dialed in.
Contact your local network administrator for additional information about the Domain Name System if you have trouble reaching any of the DECUS systems by host name.
TELNET may also be used for remote access to other systems reachable via the Internet. To Telnet to a remote host, enter:
$ TELNET remote_host_name |
Remote file access to and from DECUServe is supported by the Internet File Transfer Protocol (FTP).
An FTP client is generally invoked in much the same way as a TELNET client; type the FTP command followed by a host name or IP address. Once a connection is established, the exact command syntax that you use to specify your DECUS username and password and transfer files depends on the type of system from which you are FTPing. In particular, some FTP clients may prompt you for your remote username and password, while others require you to type a USER or LOGIN command followed by your remote username.
You may FTP from your machine to PUT or SEND (upload) or to GET or RECEIVE (download) files from DECUServe. You may also FTP from DECUServe to other systems reachable via the Internet.
If you have FTP available on your system, you should be able to connect to DECUServe by typing:
$ FTP eisner.decus.org |
The following instructions describe FTP on DECUServe. The commands on your system may be slightly different.
At the FTP prompt, you should type LOGIN and answer the prompts. After supplying your username and password, you may use the FTP commands. Type ? for a list of commands, or type HELP command-name for help on a particular command.
Type EXIT or QUIT to leave FTP. This
logs you out of the remote system.
9.4 Internet Electronic Mail
The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is used to provide electronic mail exchange between Internet hosts. (DEC uses the VMS MAIL in native mode between DECnet hosts.)
Mail sent via the Internet to DECUServe will be delivered to as regular VMS MAIL. DECUServe users can also send mail to Internet users using regular VMS MAIL by specifying an Internet-style address at the To: prompt.
The Internet address syntax when sending mail to a DECUServe user is:
username@EISNER.DECUS.ORG |
Most hosts are not sensitive to the case of the address, so uppercase, lowercase or mixed case addresses should be equivalent.
To send mail to an Internet site from VMS MAIL on DECUServe use:
To: IN%"username@address" |
where username@address is the recipient's username and host address in fully qualified domain name form. The IN% part specifies that the PMDF-to-VMS MAIL foreign mail interface should be used to send the mail over the Internet.
For example, a VMS MAIL user would send mail to user John at hal.bigvax.com by using the address:
To: IN%"JOHN@HAL.BIGVAX.COM" |
To send mail to a DCS user from VMS MAIL on DECUServe use the normal DECnet- style mail address:
To: DCSA1::username |
Subscribers who wish to have their electronic mail automatically forwarded to their home systems over the Internet should perform two steps to ensure that all of their mail will be correctly forwarded:
SET FORWARD "IN%""user@address""" |
$ PMDF FORWARD "user@node" |
The PMDF command causes any mail coming in over the Internet to your DECUServe account to be immediately redirected to the system and account you specify. PMDF redirection prevents electronic mail headers from becoming unnecessarily complicated by being handled by the local VMS MAIL agent.
The SET FORWARD command in VMS MAIL insures that VMS MAIL from other DECUServe subscribers is forwarded as well as Internet mail.
The VAX/VMS Mail Utility can be used to exchange private messages between members of DECUServe and other systems. This form of communication should be used sparingly, since it somewhat defeats the purpose of having VAX Notes conferences.
Activate VMS MAIL from the operating system prompt using the following format:
$ MAIL [/SUBJECT="subject text"] [[file-spec] recipient-name(s)] |
You can omit all of the optional parameters and let VAX MAIL prompt you for them.
Help is available within the VMS MAIL utility by entering the commands shown:
$ MAIL MAIL> HELP |
Information on sending, receiving or forwarding Internet mail is
available in Chapter 9
10.1.2 Invoking VMS MAIL Within VAX Notes
You can send a mail message to one or more users without leaving VAX Notes using the VAX Notes FORWARD or SEND commands. In both cases, VAX Notes starts up your default editor so you can compose your mail message.
You can forward the note you are currently reading by typing
Notes> FORWARD [to-list] |
Options allow you to forward the note back to the note's author (handy if you want to have some private dialogue about the note in question):
Notes> FORWARD/AUTHOR |
or to all the moderators of the conference:
Notes> FORWARD/MODERATORS |
You can compose a completely new mail message (optionally using a file as input) by:
Notes> SEND [file-spec [to-list]] |
Again, the /AUTHOR and /MODERATORS
options are available to send mail directly to the note author or
conference moderators. Additional help on VAX Notes MAIL is available
within VAX Notes by entering Notes> HELP FORWARD or
Notes> HELP SEND.
10.2 KERMIT
KERMIT is a popular file transfer protocol which enables you to upload and download files to and from the system. To use KERMIT you must have a matching KERMIT program running on your local PC, MAC or other computer system.
To activate KERMIT on the DECUServe system you must be at the DCL command level:
$ KERMIT |
You then see something similar to the following:
Executing SYS$COMMON:[SYSEXE]CKERMIT.INI;1 for VMS... Executing CKERMIT_INI:CKERMIT.SYS Good Morning! C-Kermit 5A(189), 30 June 93, OpenVMS VAX Type ? or HELP for help DISK_USER:[DECUSERVER_USER.your_username] C-Kermit> |
You can now enter Kermit server mode by typing the command SERVER, or issue a file transfer command such as RECEIVE filename.typ or SEND filename.typ directly. What you do depends somewhat on the capabilities of your local KERMIT.
At this point you ``escape'' back to your local KERMIT program using whatever escape sequence you have set up, and enter the appropriate file transfer commands for your local version of KERMIT.
For example, if you had enabled server mode on the remote system, you would be able to issue GET or SEND commands to your local KERMIT and download or upload the indicated files(s).
Additional help is available once you have started KERMIT by using the
HELP command.
10.3 ForWords
ForWords is a text retrieval facility which operates on master indices
of the notes conferences maintained by the DECUServe volunteer staff.
10.3.1 Invoking ForWords
You invoke the ForWords facility with the FW command at the DCL prompt.
When first invoked, FW briefly displays its copyright message and then displays the working screen. The first screen consists of the Main Menu displayed at the top, similarly to a spread sheet program, and two windows.
To tell FW to find something for you, you use the Search option of the Main Menu, followed by the Enter option of the Search Menu. This will put the cursor in the Search Specification Form.
You select one of the options from a menu by either positioning on the
option with the cursor keys and pressing RETURN or by typing the first
letter of the option.
10.3.2 Defining Searches
The Search Specification Form has several fields for entering information to control the search. Any field that contains information will _restrict_ the search. You are not required to put information in any field. However, if you do not specify anything, you will retrieve a _very_ large list of documents.
The most common search will be for key words or phrases. In FW you may
enter a phrase or individual words with the reserved words
AND and OR to construct logical
expressions. The ``field'' is a scrolling region and you can build very
large expressions if you like. Generally one or two words will suffice
for your needs.
10.3.2.1 Additional Attributes
If you also want to restrict the selection of notes to a specific conference or author, you may enter values in those fields also. Entering a value in any field means _only_ retrieve notes which match this value. The final set is the ``and'' of matches to all the specified fields.
You should note that the field in the FW search form that references ``KEYS'' is referring to the KEYWORD feature of VAXnotes and not to the keywords you may want to find in the titles and bodies of the notes.
You are free to use OR to form lists of conferences to search and the use of both AND and OR will provide for more complex expressions in the Title and Keywords fields. The AND operator is only useful with Keywords and Titles since no note may appear in more than one conference and all notes have only one author.
10.3.2.2 Listing Field Values
You can invoke the internal list manager by using PF1-L when the cursor
is positioned in any of the selector fields. You will be shown a list
of items that match the partial string you have entered in the field.
If the field is blank, you will be shown the full list of candidate
values. When the PF1-L list is being displayed, you may move the cursor
up and down the list and select items by pressing the space bar. The
items will be entered into the field as an OR
expression when you press RETURN. When you are viewing the list,
entering a string of characters will position the cursor to the first
occurence of the string in the list.
10.3.2.3 Starting the search
Press the ENTER key (not RETURN) to initiate the search.
10.3.2.4 Stopping runaway searches
FW will display progress messages while it is searching. The progress
messages may be alarming in the sense that they could tell you you are
finding a lot of hits to the ``VMS conference'' for instance. These are
statistical values and do not greatly affect the search speed. However,
FW also displays messages about the number of items added to the list
of found notes. If this value becomes very large, you may want to use
the CTRL/C to terminate the search.
10.3.3 Using the search results
When FW has found all the notes you have requested, it will display the
list in the topmost of the two ``editing'' windows. The search
statistics will be displayed in the lower window. The cursor will be
placed in the list and the note the cursor is on will be highlighted.
Pressing RETURN will display the contents of the note. Pressing RETURN
a second time goes back to the list.
10.3.3.1 Browsing the notes in the list
When you are browsing a note, the PREV SCREEN and NEXT SCREEN keys can
be used to move the note in the window. The keys F, N, P, and L, can be
used to find the key words you used to select the note. The PF1 (or
GOLD) key may be used with PREV SCREEN and NEXT SCREEN to move to the
previous or next note in the note stream. Pressing RETURN will take you
back to the list window. The + and - keys will display the next and
previous notes in the list without bothering to go back to the list
window.
10.3.3.2 One window vs two
If you prefer to work with a single window rather than two, you may use
PF1-Z to ``zoom'' either in to or out of two window mode.
10.3.4 Convenient function keys
PF1-W is used to introduce a request for various FW displays. PF1-W-L
returns to the list window. PF1-W-S returns to the search window.
10.3.5 Selecting a different index
The default index for FW is called ALL and represents all the conference that are available for public access. The index LIBRARY provides information on software available on DECUServe either from SIG Tapes or the DECUS CD-Rom collection. There are other indices that are used for administrative purposes by the volunteer staff that are protected from access by normal users of the system.
To select a different index for searching, you use the option Search -
Index (you may just enter SI). You will be prompted
for the index to search on the default device INDEX:. To see the list
of available indices press DO or PF1-L.
10.3.6 Advice on using FW
10.3.6.1 Not a substitute for VAXNotes
Remember that the FW indices are updated nightly. They are not as up to
date as the actual conferences. FW does not mark notes as ``seen'' when
you read them in the context of FW. You do not have a notebook.
Therefore, FW is most useful for retrieval of ``historical''
information. If you have a question, it is very worthwhile to look for
the answer first with FW before posting a note requesting help. Even if
you want to start a general discussion on a topic, it is good practice
to see what similar discussions may have already taken place.
10.3.6.2 Saving Lists
You are free to save search lists and use them again. Therefore, if you are researching a topic, you may return to your list in later sessions and continue to browse the notes. When browsing notes, you may also invoke the FW editor or an external editor of your choice to create documents.
A useful technique would be to compose a ``position paper'' on some topic by referencing related notes and including your own insights and then post the ``paper'' in the appropriate conference for further discussion.
If you are saving large lists, you will need to save them in your
scratch area that is not subject to disk quota. Nnformation left in
your scratch area is subject to removal by the system manager if space
is needed. More information on your scratch area is can be found in
Section 10.4.
10.3.6.3 Finding a ``home'' for a topic
If the appropriate location for a particular discussion is not obvious, FW can provide a means for locating where most discussions on related topics have taken place in the past.
| Previous | Next | Contents | Index |