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meeting  in  Los Angeles.  The tape contains material submitted by the user
community to the SIG at the Fall DECUS 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 36,000  blocks  of  software  in  1900
files.   Since  this  will  fit  on  a single 2400 foot tape in 800 bpi BRU
format, it will be distributed as such, as an RK07 image, the smallest  DEC
disk on which it will fit.

     If you are a VAX site  and,  for  whatever  reason,  cannot  read  the
contents  of this tape (so graciously submitted by the hard-working RSX/IAS
SIG members), please contact Jim Neeland.

     UIC account [300,1] contains several  files  of  interest.   The  file
RSXF81.DIR  contains  a directory of the contents of the tape (BRU does not
produce nice directories).  The file RSXF81TPE.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  BEGINF81.TXT  in  the  same
account.   The  file  UICSETF81.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.

     The UIC account [300,2] contains the program that is used to copy this
and  other  tapes,  BIGTPC.   This is a new version of TPC with various new
features.  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.  To use TPC with the distribution  one  needs  a  disk
with at least 38,000 blocks of free space, not necessarily contiguous.

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

        RUN BIGTPC
        TPC>DN:RSXF81.BRU=MT:

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

        RUN BIGTPC
        TPC>MT:=DN:RSXF81.BRU



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     The distribution is again being made through the  SIG  tree-structured
distribution  system.   A  geographically  oriented  distribution scheme is
used, where each LUG makes a few copies of the tapes and sends them  on  to
other  LUGS, which in turn makes a few copies of the tape and sends them on
to other LUGS, and so on.  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   soon-to-be
participants  is  very helpful in assuring a timely distribution.  Remember
since it 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  will  be
mailed in advance to all the nodes with two post cards included.  The first
post card is to be mailed on receipt of the tree, to acknowledge  continued
willingness and ability to participate.  If there is some reason why a node
cannot  participate  in  the  distribution,  please  contact  Jim   Neeland
IMMEDIATELY.   The  second  post  card  is  to  be  returned  when the Tape
Collection copy is received.

     Now for a new project, we are in the beginning stages of  compiling  a
tape  which contains the most popular programs on all past sig tapes.  This
tape "Best of the RSX/IAS Sig Tapes" will be kept 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.  Some programs to start with would be  TECO,  SRD  (which  one  ???),
RUNOFF (whose mods ?  or no more mods ?), Ralph's INDEX, and Jim Downward's
KMSKIT (includes CCL).  Write and let me know what other programs are being
used and WHERE YOU FOUND THEM.  Tell me which tape and what uic.

     Speaking of writing letters, if you use a program off  the  SIG  tape,
take  the  time to write to the author and let him know.  If you find a bug
or make an enhancement, write and let him know.  Don't call (we all get too
many  phone  calls)  and  don't  expect  a  bug  fix, but a little positive
feedback can go a long way.  Just think, we have over  230,000  blocks  and
13,500 files.  With a little positive feedback we will all have to get 6250
bpi tape drives.  Anyway, my thanks to all the people who have submitted to
the sig tape.  You are the ones who have made it the huge success it is.

     The following people burned the midnight oil to create the  1981  Fall
RSX/IAS sig tape:

     Ken Radford, Steve Lazarus, Philip Cannon, Glen Everhart,  Bob  Denny,
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

