INFO-VAX Sun, 23 Sep 2007 Volume 2007 : Issue 520 Contents: Re: Command fails in batch, seems to work at-ed interactively Re: despair Re: DS10 - with pedestal BA350+kzpac-xv Re: Encoding test please ignore Re: Lock problem with SAMBA/NMBD Re: MOUNT /ASSIST Re: MOUNT /ASSIST Re: VMS Update Re: VMS Update ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2007 01:05:17 -0800 From: glen herrmannsfeldt Subject: Re: Command fails in batch, seems to work at-ed interactively Message-ID: norm.raphael@metso.com wrote: > > This code checks for an empty or blanked PostalZip field. > When run inside the batch, is seems to give a different, incorrect > result then when the code is extracted to another procedure file > and run against the renamed data file. I remember some command with quote marks in it where the quotes had to be tripled to run in batch mode, but not to run interactive. I don't remember anymore what that command was, though. I think it was related to mail. -- glen ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2007 12:37:24 GMT From: VAXman- @SendSpamHere.ORG Subject: Re: despair Message-ID: <86tJi.11$Vi4.0@newsfe12.lga> In article <1190521638.832190.154900@r29g2000hsg.googlegroups.com>, "David P. Murphy" writes: > > >On Sep 22, 12:41 pm, "Tom Linden" wrote: > >> Penny-wise, pound-foolish? The development and maintenance >> of C code is more costly. So pay now or pay later. > >Ah, absolute claims, what would Usenet be without them? > >You have a *basis* for your opinion. Fine. It's still just >your opinion. I've seen applications that were painlessly >developed in C and a pleasure to maintain. I'm also looking >at FORTRAN applications which are an absolute nightmare to >maintain. Surely the environment --- the programmers, the >procedures, the office atmosphere --- are bigger factors >in the code of development and maintenance than the language. I don't buy into the "my language is better than yours" arguments. I do believe there are many factors which affect the quality of code that you -- and others -- see. 1. A person authoring a program does not a programmer make. I worked on a large Fortran (and Macro32) project in the early '80s for the military. The code suffered not because it was Fortran; it suffered because the engineers that were hired were not software engineers (some were chemical, petroleum, bio and maybe even sanitary). Most had never programmed a line of code in their career. I found abhorrent practices throughout the code as a result. (eg. IF I .NE. 0 THEN I = 0 ) Code comments were just as abhorrent. (eg. ! If I is not 0 make it 0) Doh! Better living through chemistry but not better coding. :) 2. Programming for the sake of writing code. In the late '80s I worked on a NASA project. I was assigned to work on a system to simulate flight software. They designed an interface that was very DCL like and began coding it in Ada. This was to run on a VAX cluster. They were working on this code for months before my arrival. I coded up the interface in one brief afternoon using CLDs and CLI RTLs. This was reinvent the wheel coding IMHO and a lack of appreciation for the VMS environment's rich set of features. 3. Mind over matter; money over manual. In the early '90s I work on product that was supposed to be for saving data; instead, it corrupted data. Why? IMHO, arrogance and a lack of appreciation for reading the manuals. I could quote chapter and verse from the "Book of Ruth" (ie. OpenVMS I&DS manual) wherein it *CLEARLY* stated that an intercept this code was exploiting could *NOT* be used in said fashion. It didn't seem to matter as people purchased it and gleefully paid to corrupt their data. None of the above were C projects. These were Ada, Basic, Fortran and Macro32. I could cite some abhorrent C projects too. The point is that BAD code comes from BAD programers (or, if #1, non-programmers) and not necessarily from the language used to construct the program. While I'm not a big fan of C, with some discipline decent code can be written in C. Now for more coffee... -- VAXman- A Bored Certified VMS Kernel Mode Hacker VAXman(at)TMESIS(dot)COM "Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?" http://tmesis.com/drat.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2007 18:32:04 +0300 From: =?ISO-8859-2?Q?Uusim=E4ki?= Subject: Re: DS10 - with pedestal BA350+kzpac-xv Message-ID: <46f684d7$0$27816$9b536df3@news.fv.fi> Michael Austin wrote: > Uusimäki wrote: > >> Michael Austin wrote: >>> Uusimäki wrote: >>>> Michael Austin wrote: >>>>> Scenario: >>>>> >>>>> VMS 7.3 >>>>> SCSI controller dies. >>>>> Shelf has 3 mirror sets (w/2 x PSU) >>>>> >>>>> KZPAC has been replaced - needs to be configured. >>>>> Trying to execute ra200rcu - from AlphaBios ->Utilities-> Run a >>>>> maintenance program. >>>>> >>>>> Reads floppy - Screen turns black - then nothing. If you hit any key >>>>> (or may have not found that magic key yet...) it immediately returns >>>>> to the AlphaBios menu. >>>>> >>>>> I am trying to work this issue remotely, so I cannot tell you every >>>>> nuance of what happens. >>>>> If you just type ARC - you don't get any menu at all I would expect >>>>> to see somthing to the effect of: >>>>> Boot Menu >>>>> Boot Windows NT >>>>> Boot an alternate operating system >>>>> Run a program >>>>> Supplementary menu ... >>>>> Use the arrow keys to select, then press Enter. >>>>> >>>>> But you get nothing. Just "hit F2 for AlphaBios" at the bottom. >>>>> >>>>> Is this normal for a DS10? >>>>> >>>>> Any other ideas on why this is not working? >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> I assume you are trying to do it via the serial port. >>>> In that case you have to run ra200srl. It is a version of the KZP*C >>>> configuration utility which is meant to be used with a terminal (local >>>> or remote). With it you can use the key sequences, which you find in >>>> the other reply. >>>> If you don't have that version, you'll find it on the firmware CD or >>>> you can download it from the ftp.digital.com server: >>>> ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/Digital/Alpha/firmware/v7.3/utility/swxcrmgr >>>> >>>> Good luck! >>>> >>> >>> >>> Using console graphics mode. >>> >>> After executing ra200rcu - screen turns black - hitting any key just >>> takes it back to the Alphabios menu. Should it not bring up the KZPAC >>> menu? >>> >>> >>> > > First - let me state that I am not onsite with this server - nor do I > have another configured with the KZPAC to do any testing of the programs. > >> When using the graphics console the ra200rcu is the indeed the correct >> version of the utility. >> Yes, the RA200 menu should appear, but it takes some time for the >> utility to poll the PCI buses for the KZP*C('s). When you start the >> utility, it shows in the upper part of the screen its version and what >> it has found. When it has found one or more KZP*C's it will display the >> menu. How long a time did you wait for the menu before you hit the key? > > Waited as long as 5 minutes. > >> Maybe it wasn't ready yet? It takes also some time to read it from the >> diskette. >> Are you sure that the utility diskette is fully in order? Have you >> tested it on another machine? >> Have you run it earlier successfully from the same diskette? > > No - Diskette was created remotely. > >> Have you tried to run it from the firmware CD? > > Tried - got "file not found" - like I said, I am not onsite and trying > to troubleshoot this remotely. > >> Does the KZPAC appear normally on the output of ">>> show config"? > > Not sure if this was executed. > >> Do you see any lights on the disks in the disk shelf? > > Lights are on until the system is powered up - I am told they then go > off... > > When you tried to run the utility from the firmware CD, did you write the path to the utility also? On the firmware CD it resides in a subdirectory and the path there is: CD:\utility\swxcrmgr\ra200rcu.exe Any luck? ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2007 13:42:06 GMT From: =?ISO-8859-15?Q?Jan-Erik_S=F6derholm?= Subject: Re: Encoding test please ignore Message-ID: Tom Linden wrote: > > My reader (Thunderbird) says : > Content-Type: > text/plain; format=flowed; delsp=yes; charset=iso-8859-15 > Content-Transfer-Encoding : 7-bit Regards, Jan-Erik. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2007 15:00:17 +0200 From: Albrecht Schlosser Subject: Re: Lock problem with SAMBA/NMBD Message-ID: Martin Vorlaender wrote: > Albrecht Schlosser wrote: >> Volker Halle wrote: >>> You can use the File-ID field in the F11B$S >>> resource name to find out about the filename involved. >> I can't see anything obvious :-( Can you tell me how to >> find the file-ID ? > > $ MCR DFU SEARCH /FID= Thanks for this, but this is not my problem. The question is, how to find the _file-ID_ from the lock info. Albrecht ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2007 15:45:37 +0200 From: "P. Sture" Subject: Re: MOUNT /ASSIST Message-ID: In article <46F5D819.A0F61EA7@spam.comcast.net>, David J Dachtera wrote: > I don't have access to a TCPware system to research that. Use > F$GETJPI( 0, "CREATOR" ) to find the PID of the process which created the > current process. Thanks, that's a new one on me. CREATOR isn't in the help for F$GETJPI, at least on Alpha V8.3. Any idea how long it's been valid? -- Paul Sture Sue's OpenVMS bookmarks: http://eisner.encompasserve.org/~sture/ovms-bookmarks.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2007 10:21:23 -0500 From: David J Dachtera Subject: Re: MOUNT /ASSIST Message-ID: <46F68473.3DD29F2F@spam.comcast.net> "P. Sture" wrote: > > In article <46F5D819.A0F61EA7@spam.comcast.net>, > David J Dachtera wrote: > > > I don't have access to a TCPware system to research that. Use > > F$GETJPI( 0, "CREATOR" ) to find the PID of the process which created the > > current process. > > Thanks, that's a new one on me. CREATOR isn't in the help for F$GETJPI, > at least on Alpha V8.3. > > Any idea how long it's been valid? Dunno. First learned about it here (I think - age-related brain rot seems to be setting in). -- David J Dachtera dba DJE Systems http://www.djesys.com/ Unofficial OpenVMS Marketing Home Page http://www.djesys.com/vms/market/ Unofficial Affordable OpenVMS Home Page: http://www.djesys.com/vms/soho/ Unofficial OpenVMS-IA32 Home Page: http://www.djesys.com/vms/ia32/ Unofficial OpenVMS Hobbyist Support Page: http://www.djesys.com/vms/support/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2007 09:53:26 -0700 From: Neil Rieck Subject: Re: VMS Update Message-ID: <1190566406.253846.261050@57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com> On Sep 22, 10:46 pm, David J Dachtera wrote: > Neil Rieck wrote: > [...snip...] > > > With regard to wrapping URL's etc I have a suggestion for readers of > > this newsgroup. > > > For many years I had accessed "comp.os.vms" using "Outlook Express" > > until my ISP declared that newsgroups were dead so they would be > > shutting down port 119. > > Consider inviting your ISP back into the 21st Century. > My ISP is Bell Canada's Sympatico service. Major portions of this ISP have slowly been taken over Microsoft (just clicking http://www.sympatico.ca now takes you to http://sympatico.msn.ca/). 1) It is "my" belief that Bell Canada deferred much of the portal maintenance to Microsoft in order to decrease their own expenses. Then killing port 119 services at a later date was just another method to further increase profits. On top of this, their main competitor (http://www.Rogers.ca) had already dropped newsgroup support (citing the volume of porn) so may be Bell Canada thought it was now safe to drop this service too. On the flip side this idea could have come from Microsoft. 2) Others stated that lots of people were using port 119 to download porn and some ISPs were constantly getting pulled into court whenever an offender's PC was confiscated. 3) Still others have stated that large companies have come under post 9/11 pressure from both Canadian and US governments to eliminate services (like newsgroups) which allowed free posting (we all know that Sympatico would have been able force clients to enter a password prior to each upload; but never let a logical alternative stand in the way of paranoia). All the alternative newsgroup services I've tried DO require me to log onto the server for up loading so may be there is some truth to this. Before Y2K I was always searching for archived newsgroup advice from you people at http://www.deja.com but since then Deja.com is now pointed to Google I have decided to use http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.vms/ as my access to COV. NSR ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2007 13:25:30 -0400 From: JF Mezei Subject: Re: VMS Update Message-ID: Neil Rieck wrote: > My ISP is Bell Canada's Sympatico service. Major portions of this ISP > have slowly been taken over Microsoft (just clicking http://www.sympatico.ca > now takes you to http://sympatico.msn.ca/). ISPs that have widthdrawn NNTP service have usually argued that few people were using it and that those who still needed it could subscribe to external services. I am quite surprised that Bell would have been stupid enough to actually block port 119. I would suggest you take a look at http://www.teksavvy.com they are also DSL provider. You get text newgroups access with basic package, and if you subscribe to a fixed IP ($4.00 per month), you also get access to binary newsgroups. And their tech support is just that: TECH suypport. It isn't drones in India who read scripts. Google is a real pain for NNTP. Great to pull up archives, but not so great to see ongoing discussions. > 1) It is "my" belief that Bell Canada deferred much of the portal > maintenance to Microsoft in order to decrease their own expenses. Then > killing port 119 services at a later date was just another method No, they are marketing agreements. This is one reason Bell had locked its web sites to Microsoft software only, redirecting a page for users using non-microsoft browser advising them than their browser was incompatible. And this also allowed them to produce statistics showing 100% of their customers were using Microsoft Browsers and thus didn't need to support other browser. And just like Air Canada, their web site had thousands of HTML errors. They have since relaxed the rules because of the popularity of Linux. I do not know what sort of deal you are getting from your employer for Sympatico access, but Teksavvy charges $29.95 per month, no contract. And you can give them a test drive for $10.00 per month with a login-only account ( Your Sympatic account continues to pay the DSL line, so Teksavvy gets a free ride. If you switch to Teksavvy (or any other), than that ISP gets charged roughly $20 per month by Bell/Nexia for the actual DSL service from customer's home to the ISP's router). ------------------------------ End of INFO-VAX 2007.520 ************************