In the beginning, there was RSX on a PDP 11/70 (at least for us).  Back
then we came across a nice utility on an RSX symposioum tape called FLY
(File Listing YOU-tility) which enabled us to produce multicolumn
hard-copy output and save much paper.  Even with our 780 (of blessed
memory) we continued to invoke FLY on a regular basis.  With our
advanced technology 8530, absent a trace of compatability mode hardware,
FLY is no more.  I have, therefor, written MCL (Multi Column Lister) in
VAX Fortran.  I hope you will find it useful.  A preliminary version of
the program appeared in the Fall 1987 tapes, courtesy of the PAGESWAPPER
and Dale Coy, who carried it to Anaheim for me.  I also thank Dale for
"goading" me into finishing the whole job!  We use it all of the time on
our 8530 and it have saved us tons of trees.

[Editor's note: FLY was a slightly hacked and renamed LISTRSX, which
was my translation and extension for RSX of a DOS-11 program originally
written by C. Lynn and others of the MIT CIPG group about 1974.]

Details of the program's capabilities can be found in the file MCL.DOC.
Briefly, however, the program will read a given file and reformat the
output to either as many columns as fit on a page (of width that the
user may specify) or the number of columns that the users specifies.
The output is directed to a file specified by the user;  a suitable
default is provided.

This is a corrected and enhanced version and incorporates almost all
that I could think of putting into the program, with one exception: I
have not taught MCL how to read LOG files correctly (so that carriage
control would be preserved).  This last item is waiting for version 5.0
of VMS, in case the specifications change on us.  In the interrum, I
recommend my program CVTLOG, which was submitted to the Fall 1983 tape
and I am including here.

Gerson H Cohen
National Institutes of Health
Bldg 2, Room 312
9000 Wisconsin Ave
Bethesda, MD  20892
(301)-496-4295