ABSTRACT for the CSM PLOTTING PACKAGE 10-Apr-84 The CSM Plotting Package replaces subroutines PLOT, SYMBOL, and SETABL in FORLIB version 6 or 7. Output can be sent to TEKTRONIX terminals, ReGIS devices, or to a compressed plot file on disk. The compressed plot file is smaller than DEC's spooled file by a factor of over 20 to 1. The plot file can be viewed on a graphics terminal before being sent to the system queue. SYMBOL.DAT includes 13 fonts, including the Greek alphabet. Modifications to SPROUT allow it to drive both an XY10 plotter or a Houston Instruments plotter with a PTC-6 or CPS-15 interface. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- BACKGROUND: The CSM Plotting Package was invented out of necessity. We make daily plots of system statistics, showing number of jobs, core used, idle and overhead time, etc. Back when we had a KA-10, all our disks were RP02s and RP03s, and running DEC's subroutine PLOT to a spooled disk file would fill up an RP02 rather quickly. Therefore Rex Shadrick developed a compressed plot file, in which delta-X and delta-Y were encoded in one or two halfwords. Moves requiring 700 6-bit bytes were reduced to a single 36-bit word. Also included in the compressed plot were op-codes to control a plotter with 3 pens. The PLTSPL program was modified to read the compressed plot file and expand the movements to single-increment bytes, which were then sent to the XY10 plotter interface on the I/O bus. Later routines were added to drive the TEKTRONIX 4010 graphics terminal, and a program was written to read a compressed plot file and display it on the TEKTRONIX terminal. Another of Rex's improvements was to replace subroutine SYMBOL. DEC's table of characters had limited resolution, and had to be in core at all times. A file named SYS:SYMBOL.DAT was built, and subroutine ISETAB read it into core. Included in the file are fonts for italics, olde English, and script writing. Since then, the plotting package as been upgraded to 6.03, 7.01, and 7.02. It now works with FORTRAN-10 version 6 and FORTRAN-77 version 7. (An old version for FORTRAN-10 version 5 is available.) Subroutine PLOT can talk directly to a graphics terminal, or it can write to a disk file. The TEK program can be used to view this disk file, even on systems with no plotter. The graphics terminals currently supported are: TEKTRONIX 4006, 4010, 4012, 4014, 4025, and compatible terminals VT125, VK100/GIGI, VT240, PRO-350, and compatible ReGIS terminals Houston Instruments DMP-4R, DMP-7R, and compatible ReGIS plotters The SPROUT program currently supports the following plotters: All CALCOMP models connected to an XY10 controller on the I/O bus Any Houston Instruments plotter connected to a PTC-6 controller TTY Houston Instruments CPS-15 plotter connected to a TTY line The current version of the software is V12A. Version 12B will utilize the hardware character generator in devices that support it, and will be able to run unmodified under TOPS-20. Joe Smith Colorado School of Mines Computing Center 1500 Illinois Street Golden, CO 80401 (303)273-3448