     BONNER LAB RUNOFF                                                  Page 1
     

                                      AUTHOR:
                                      -------


                                  --- VMS/RSX ---
                                   John Clement
                                 T. W. Bonner Lab
                                  Rice University
                                   P.O. Box 1892
                                Houston, Tx, 77251
                              Tel (713) 527-8101x2037
                        Arpanet:  CLEMENT@PHYSICS.RICE.EDU
                               Bitnet:  BONNER@RICE

                                   --- Rt-11 ---
                                  Robert Walraven
                                  Multiware, Inc.
                                   437 F Street
                                  Davis, CA 95616

     BONNER LAB RUNOFF                                                  Page 2
     






                                     ABSTRACT

                              Bonner Lab Runoff (RNO)

     Bonner  Lab Runoff is a text formatter that, when used with your favorite
     editor, makes a complete word processor.  Its syntax is almost a complete
     emulation of DSR (Digital Standard Runoff) and it is very compatible with
     previous versions of Runoff.  The document and help file for this version
     can  also be used for DSR.  The intent of this program is to support com-
     plete scientific word processing to produce publication  quality  output.
     It  has been used to produce thesis, progress reports, and scientific pa-
     pers here at Rice University.  

     This version allows complete control of any special printer available via
     user definable escape sequences.  In addition  a  macro  facility  allows
     text  or  sequences  of commands to be abbreviated to a single label.  If
     the printer has the correct features, then variable spacing,subscripting,
     superscripting, and equation formatting are possible.  By properly defin-
     ing escape sequences the user can support different printers in  a  tran-
     sparent  fashion.   In  other  words  the  same  input text will print in
     identical fashion on different printers with different control codes  and
     escape sequences.  

     Table  of  contents,  indexing  and  sub-indexing  are  all supported.  A
     variety of LAYOUT and STYLE commands can completely change  the  look  of
     the  pages.   Table layout is simplified by right justified and 'decimal'
     justified tabs.  Permanent margins that apply to  the  page  headers  are
     available.  These simplify the setting of header and text margins.  

     All  special  characters  are  redefinable.  The user can define new com-
     mands, and text macros.  By defining commands you can make  this  program
     resemble other text formatters, or other versions of RUNOFF.  You may de-
     fine numeric symbols to facilitate constructing lists of arbitrary items.
     These  allow page and section references.  A 2 pass option allows forward
     references to symbols defined later in the text.  

     This  program  runs under VMS-native mode, RSX, IAS, RT11, TSX, P/OS, and
     RSTS.  It occupies a minimum of 30 to 37 kbytes depending on the  operat-
     ing  system.  Complete documentation, help files, and test files are sup-
     plied with the program for all operating systems.  

     BONNER LAB RUNOFF                                                  Page 3
     

                                   Distribution

     This  distribution  contains all files necessary for building RNO for any
     supported operating systems.  Nearly All file names are 6  characters  or
     less  to  acommodate all operating systems.  Once you have built the exe-
     cutable image, you can use it to generate documentation  and  help  files
     for your operating system.  The tape contents are:  

          1.  [RUNOFF.DOC] - Documentation 
               o  BUILD.DOC contains instructions for building the program and
                  documentation.  
               o  RNOBUG.DOC lists bugs that have been fixed.  
               o  CHANGE.DOC lists the latest enhancements.  
               o  RUNOFF.DOC is the full document for VMS native mode version.
                  This is not distributed on small kits, but is included  with
                  mag tape kits.  
               o  RUNOFF.HLP  is  the  full help file for VMS native mode ver-
                  sion.  
               o  INTERNALS.DOC is for wizards only.  

          2.  [RUNOFF.RNO]  -  text sources and command files for building do-
              cumentation 

          3.  [RUNOFF.MAC]  -  source code and command files for building RUN-
              OFF.  

          4.  [RUNOFF.VMS]  - RUNOFF.EXE is the VMS native mode executable im-
              age.  All other users must build RNO.  

          5.  [RUNOFF.TST]  -  *.TST  are test files for various RNO features.
              *.RNO are prefix files for various printers and terminals.  


                            Changes since last release
          1.  Fixed problem with equations and tab stops.  
          2.  Added .SET LEVEL command the same as in DSR.  

     I would like to extend thanks to:  
          1.  Robert  Walraven, RT-11 Sig - He provided a new manual, and also
              a list of bugs, with suggested changes to fix them.  
          2.  Charles  Sandman, Shell Oil Co -His work on the native mode ver-
              sion yielded much faster running code.  He  also  developed  the
              parser, VMS dynamic memory, and VMS 2 pass mode.  

