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     This is the RSX/IAS SIG Symposium Tape  from  the  1982  Spring  DECUS
meeting  in  Atlanta.   The  tape  contains  material submitted by the user
community to the SIG at that meeting.  

     The programs on this tape are from user submissions.  The DECUS staff,
the  RSX/IAS  SIG  staff,  and  DEC  are  all  in relative ignorance of the
contents of the  tapes.   No  warranty  of  any  kind  is  implied  in  the
distribution  of  these  tapes.   The  programs  may  or  may  not  be well
documented, they may or may not work, they may even crash your system.   If
you have a problem with the contents of the tape, contact the author of the
program.  Do not contact DECUS, DEC, or the RSX/IAS SIG.  

     The tape contains approximately 52,400  blocks  of  software  in  2771
files.   Since  this will fit on a single 2400 foot tape in BRU format only
at 1600 bpi, it will be distributed as such, as an RK07 image, the smallest
DEC disk on which it will fit (and barely that).

     UIC account [300,1] contains several  files  of  interest.   The  file
RSXS82.DIR  contains  a directory of the contents of the tape (BRU does not
produce nice directories).  The file RSXS82TPE.DOC contains an abstract  of
the  contents  of  the  tape  by  UIC.   The  file  README.ALL  contains  a
concatenated list of all the README files  on  the  collection.   The  file
SUBMIT.DOC  contains the guidelines for submissions to the RSX/IAS sig tape
collection.  This is must reading for everyone  who  desires  to  submit  a
program to the SIG tape.  

     A copy of this letter appears in the file  BEGINS82.TXT  in  the  same
account.   The  file  UICSETS82.CMD contains the UFD commands to create all
the needed UIC's on device XX:.  Edit it to match your needs  before  using
BRU  to  extract  the tape contents.  Note that a partial extraction can be
achieved by only creating the desired UIC's.   Also,  a  word  of  caution:
under  at  least  some  circumstances,  11M  V4.0 BRU's /UFD switch creates
directories even when it doesn't put anything in them).

     The UIC account [300,2] contains the program that is used to copy this
and other tapes, BIGTPC.  This is a still newer version of TPC than that on
the Fall  81  tape.   See  the  .DOC  file  also  in  [300,2]  for  further
information.   The  source  for  this version has been supplied courtesy of
Glen Everhart, UIC [312,315] this tape.  There  is  also  a  BIGTPC.EXE  in
[300,2]  for  those  who would like to use BIGTPC on a VAX (has been tested
under VMS 2.5 only).  To use TPC with the distribution  one  needs  a  disk
with at least 55,000 blocks of free space, not necessarily contiguous.

To extract BIGTPC from the tape do the following:
>UFD SY:[300,2]
>BRU /NOINI/DENS:1600 MM:[300,2] SY:

To read in a copy of the  master  tape  onto  your  disk,  one  enters  the
following command:

        RUN [300,2]BIGTPC
        TPC>DN:RSXF81.BRU=MT:/HD


                                   NOTE

               The /HD switch  is  for  High  Density  (1600
               bpi).    See   the  .DOC  file  for  optional
               /BL:nnnn and  /SA:mmmm  switches  for  better
               performance in transferring to disk.



To make a copy of the tape for someone, one enters  the  following  command
line:

        RUN [300,2]BIGTPC
        TPC>MT:=DN:RSXF81.BRU/HD

Again, don't forget the /HD switch, or you'll  be  generating  an  800  bpi
copy, which WON'T FIT.  And no, BIGTPC doesn't have the vaguest idea how to
do a two-volume copy.







     If you are a VAX site and cannot use BRU, I have included  a  copy  of
BIGTPC.EXE as the next file on the tape, after the BRU container file.  You
can retrieve it by MOUnting the tape (it's ANSI labelled), then doing:
COPY MTA0:BIGTPC.*  *.*
(There's also a BIGTPC.OBJ in case you need to rebuild  it  for  VMS  3.0).
Don't forget to remount the tape /FOReign before running BIGTPC.

     If you need to use BRU instead of BIGTPC for making copies, please try
to  keep  the VAX-usable files on the tape (BRU won't see them).  To do so,
MOUnt the distribution tape, use PIP to copy  BIGTPC.*  onto  a  disk,  and
after creating your output tape(s) with BRU, MOUnt them and use PIP to copy
the BIGTPC files out.

     If you don't have 1600 bpi capability yourself, PLEASE try  to  locate
someone in your area who can make the necessary copy(s), at least enough to
continue the distribution tree.  It will make life  very  difficult  indeed
otherwise,  particularly  trying  to  preserve the VAX-related stuff at the
end.  Thus, if you cannot handle 1600 bpi in any fashion,  try  to  arrange
with your parent node to bypass you for further tree distribution.  I'll be
available to help out after my vacation (I return July 18th).  If you  must
make  local  copies  at 800 bpi, you will have to read the tape onto a disk
with BRU, and copy out with BRU.   I  would  suggest  using  the  /LEN:2000
switch,  so  that  the  output tapes can be copied (very hard to do if your
original goes all the way to the EOT marker).

A reminder:  The SIG is relying on each node to  contact  the  next  higher
node  for  necessary tape-transfer arrangements.  Since this is a volunteer
operation, sincere interest on the part of all participants is very helpful
in  assuring  a  timely  distribution.  Remember, since this is a volunteer
operation, DECUS is NOT paying for  postage  or  free  copies  of  magnetic
tapes.  Make arrangements so that this does not cost anybody a lot of money
or magnetic tapes.

     The Tape Copy tree has been mailed in advance to all  nodes  with  one
post  card  included.  This first post card has hopefully been returned, to
acknowledge continued willingness and ability to participate.

     With each master tape I am sending,  I  have  included  postcards  and
copies  of  these instructions for all lower child nodes.  Be sure that you
also send on the appropriate cards and documentation for  all  lower  nodes
that  each  of your children will handle.  I am trying this approach in the
hope that everyone will be reminded to return their second postcard as soon
as  they  have the tape (I still haven't heard from several nodes about the
Fall tape, which I shipped in February).

     The RSX SIG Tape Working Group is  continuing  to  create  a  document
listing  the  most popular programs from past sig tapes.  From this we will
be able to create a "Best of the RSX/IAS Sig Tapes" tape, which we can keep
updated.  The problem is how do we determine the most popular programs.  If
you have taken a program off the SIG  tape  and  used  it,  write  me  (Jim
Neeland)  a  letter  and let me know.  This be a start anyway.  Let me know
about things that did not work also.  Be sure to tell  me  which  tape  and
what uic.

     The following people burned the midnight (4 A.M.) oil  to  create  the
Spring  1982  RSX/IAS  sig  tape:   Glen  Everhart,  Bruce  Zielinski, Paul
Tompkins, Tony Scandora, the people at our host site (Dataflo Systems), and
myself.  

                                Jim Neeland
                                RSX-IAS SIG Tape Copy Coordinator
                                Hughes Research Labs
                                3011 Malibu Canyon Rd.
                                Malibu, California  90265
                                (213) 456-6411 ext. 333

