Introduction to BULLETIN on the Vax 2/88 AW PUBLISHED BY THE DREW UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC COMPUTER CENTER. MAY BE COPIED WITH WRITING CREDIT GIVEN TO DREW UNIVERSITY. BULLETIN was written for the Public Domain by Mark London at MIT. The BULLETIN utility permits a user to create messages for reading by other users. Users may be notified upon logging on that new messages have been added, and what the topic of the messages are. Actual reading of the messages is optional. (See the command SET READNEW for info on automatic reading.) Messages are automatically deleted when their expiration data has passed. The program runs like VAX mail. The different interest groups or BULLETIN boards are implemented in the form of 'Folders', just like a filing cabinet. A Folder contain various messages on the same general topic. A message is a piece of text written by a user or staff person and added to a particular folder. All users are not permitted to submit messages to all folders. A message consists of an expiration date, a subject line and the text of the message. BULLETIN will prompt the user for these things when a message is being added. Several different folders are currently defined to BULLETIN. The General Folders will be used by Computer Center Staff to post messages of general interest concerning the VAX to the user community. If something is of an important nature, it will be posted in the General folder as a 'System' message. This is a special message type. It will be displayed to each user as they log in the first time after that message was posted. This will be done automatically by BULLETIN on login. Once a particular system message has been displayed, it will not be displayed for that user on subsequent logins. Folders Different folders have been created to contain messages on different topics. Folders may be public, semi-private, or private. The majority of the folders will be public. However a few will be semi-private, which will mean that all users may read messages in the folder but not all will be able to post to it. Currently, there are several folders defined: GENERAL -- system messages PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS -- Can be used by anyone to post messages of interest to the public On Beta: AIDE STATION -- Private folder for Computer Center Employees In addition on Alpha there are folders that receive electronic magazines, such as: NETMONTH -- The monthly magazine of BITNET information. RISKS -- Identifying the risks involved in using computers. INFOIBMPC -- Information about the IBM personal computers. INFOVAX -- Information on the Digital VAX. PROGRAMMING_JOURNALS-Includes MINIX, UNIX and C, Modula-2 and Prolog journals watch for new ones being added. Using BULLETIN BULLETIN is invoked by type the command 'BULLETIN' (or BULL, for short) at the '$' prompt. BULLETIN will display its prompt 'BULLETIN>'. Help is available from DCL command level ($) or from within the BULLETIN program itself by typing the word 'HELP'. To leave the BULLETIN program, type 'EXIT'. To see what is there In order to see message and folders, on can use the 'Directory' command. Upon entering BULLETIN, the user is place in the General folder. If the user wishes to see which folders exist, the directory/folders command is used. for example: typing: BULLETIN> directory/folders will make a display like: Folder Owner *GENERAL SYSTEM *PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS BBEYER NETMONTH BITNET *VAX_SIG BBEYER An asterisk (*) next to the folder name indicates you have unread messages in that folder. The command 'DIRECTORY/FOLDERS/DESCRIBE' would list all available folders, along with a brief description of each. To switch from one folder to another folder, the user may execute the 'SELECT' command. For example, the following command would show what a user would do to switch to the folder called PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS: BULLETIN> SELECT PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS and BULLETIN would respond: Folder has been set to PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS Now the user may get a list of the messages in this folder by issuing the directory command with no qualifiers. This command, for example: BULLETIN> DIRECTORY would have bulletin respond: # Description From Date 1 CHRISTMAS PARTY oleksiak 26-JUN-88 2 Learning about BULLETIN oleksiak 26-JUN-87 3 VAX MAIL LLLOYD 01-Jan-87 The command 'DIR/NEW' will list just unread messages. Reading messages In order to read messages in a folder, the user may type the read command or he/she may simply type the number of the message he wishes to read. The message numbers can be acquired by doing the 'DIRECTORY' command. If the user hits a carriage return with no input whatsoever, BULLETIN will type the first message in the folder, or if there are new messages present, it will type the first new message in the folder. If a folder contains the above messages (as seen by the 'Directory' command) then these messages can be read by: BULLETIN> READ and BULLETIN would respond: Message number: 1 PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS Description: CHRISTMAS PARTY Date: 26-JUN-1988 8:08:40 Expires: 1-JAN-1989 08:08:40 ...Body of message..... Should the user only wish to see message number 3, he can enter the 'READ' command with the message number as a parameter. for example: BULLETIN> READ 3 There are three other useful commands that can be used at the 'BULLETIN>' prompt when reading messages. These are: BACK - Read the message preceding the message currently being read. CURRENT - Start reading the current message at the top. This is useful for someone who is reading a message and wishes to reread it from the beginning. NEXT - Start reading from the beginning of the next message. This is handy if the user is reading a very long message and wants to skip to the next one. Saving the interesting stuff. If the user sees something which he/she wants a copy of, the extract command can be use to write an ASCII copy of the message into a file. This command works on the current message being read. It requires the name of the file into which to save the message. If the file name is not given, the user will be prompted for it. For example: BULLETIN> Read 2 ********** Message on Screen ******** A person could then type BULLETIN> extract file: FV.TXT BULLETIN> BULLETIN has now saved the contents of message number 2 into the file name 'FV.txt'. If the file to which the user is writing already exists, BULLETIN will append the message to the file. The user can force BULLETIN to write a new file containing only the message being saved by using the '/new' qualifier in the 'extract' command. These messages can then be sent to other users, or downloaded for use in Wordperfect. (See "Mail on the Vax", or "Transferring a file between a PC and the VAX"). This command may be useful if you wish to transfer the message to your PC, perhaps using a BITNET journal message as a reference in a paper. Once the file is saved, you can transfer it to a PC by following the instructions in the handout 'Transferring files from the PC to the VAX of from the VAX to a PC". Adding messages A user may add a message to a folder by selecting the folder and then using the 'ADD' command. This is provided that the user is adding the message to a public folder. The user has the option of giving the 'ADD' command and typing a message using the VAX editor or uploading a message from your PC (see documentation), or add a message you have extracted from VAX mail. BULLETIN will prompt for the expiration date and subject line. It will then add the text of the file as the body of the message. To add a message that is stored in a file (from MAIL or from your PC, for example) type: ADD filename If the user does not specify a file name, he/she will be prompted to enter the body of the message. The user may also use the EDT text editor by issuing the command with the '/EDIT'option. For example: BULLETIN> sel PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS folder has been set to PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS BULLETIN> ADD MESS.TXT IT IS 10-JUL-1988 12:41:06.15. SPECIFY WHEN THE MESSAGE SHOULD EXPIRE: ENTER ABsolute TIME: The above session adds the text in the file 'mess.txt' as the next message in the PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS Folder. The message will be deleted automatically on the 20th of July as requested by the user adding the message. Asking BULLETIN to notify you of new messages upon logging in. If the user wishes to get notification on login when new messages are in a folder, he should use the 'READNEW' option. This command does not force the reader to reading new messages, only gives notification. To do this, 'SELECT' each folder you are interested in and do a 'SET READNEW' command while set to that folder. Example: BULLETIN> Select PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS folder has been set to PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS BULLETIN> SET READNEW Alternately, you may type SET SHOWNEW. This will just display a message notifying you that there are new messages. Mailing a BULLETIN message A user may directly mail another user a message found in the BULLETIN. While reading the message that he/she desires to send, at the 'BULLETIN>' type 'MAIL'. The Vax will then ask to whom you wish to send the information too. Check the BULLETIN DISCUSSION folder on ALPHA for new additions. If you have comments or questions about BULLETIN, leave them there.