22 September 1986
Z-NEWS 601
Z Tips. Latest version of CLEANDIR, 1.3c, has a directory status feature
some may find useful, and also a check-only without writing option. Much
slower than Version 1.1, especially on big disk systems, 1.3c should be
considered a complement to 1.1, not a replacement. On Z-Nodes and on SUS #5.
See below.
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If you can't remember ASCII character hex values, a short little program
called ASCII displays value of character typed--neat...on many RCP/M systems
and SUS #5.
Soon available programmer's tool, PPAL, Pretty Printer for Assembly
Language, is three times faster than AN source code filter written in C (on
SUS #2). Extreme flexibility along with speed are featured, converting source
to form desired. Pretty viewing and printing! One of four built-in default
formats is new proposed Z-System standard. Optional directives change
defaults. Control appearance of labels, op codes, operands, and comments
(both embedded and stand-alone). Upper and lower case, case of first letter,
space or not between comment-beginning semicolon, colon or not after symbols
and labels, make no change, blank line removal, macro and conditional nested
indenting, and more. Over 100 million combinations in seven categories.
Works from command lines, aliases, and menus. And format directives may be
placed within source code itself. Thus, one portion of source can be for-
matted differently for another. PPAL is one of several utilities in
PROGRAMMER'S TOOLBOX to be offered by Echelon.
Announcements. For Echelon software delivery, baseline now is double-sided
(double-density) 5.25" diskette. We can still handle single-sided, for $5.00
download fee; but, if not specified, we ship Ampro, Kaypro, Osborne, Heath,
etc., as DSDD. Because of money considerations, we had either to do this or
up our software package prices. Hopefully, DSDD can be handled by great
majority of our present and future customers. Thank you.
Z-News 504-5, 30 June 1986, stated our overseas (International) Shipping
and Handling (S&H) policy not reflected in PRICES11.RAS file or subscription
edition of Z-News 509. PRICES12.RAS corrects this oversight. (Overseas S&H
is actual postal charges plus $2.00.)
ZRDOS, Version 1.7, is shipping. Many new utilities support it features.
DISKRST (reset disk system), LOGGED (show read-only, fixed- and removable-
media drives), SRO (set drive read-only), DRO (display read-only drives), and
SRW (set drive read-write). We believe version to be bug-free. Very fast for
fixed media memory, RAM and hard disk. Should be last change until banked
version comes out. Update for $20.00 plus S&H.
SUS Report. Fifth Software Update Service diskette contains programs
discussed or mentioned in this or in previous newsletters. The beat goes
on...
XDIR III, Version 2.0 Horizontal Listing by File Name/Type
Disk: F User: 0 Name: BACKUP, File Attributes: Non-System
Filename.Typ Size K RS Filename.Typ Size K RS Filename.Typ Size K RS
-------- --- ------ -- -------- --- ------ -- -------- --- ------ --
-SUS .005 0 R AC42 .COM 6 ALIAS .CMD 2
ASCII .LBR 2 CLNDR13C.COM 4 CLNDR13C.ZQ0 18
ERADIR10.LBR 14 FINDF25 .LBR 22 FINREP22.LBR 14
MCOPY43C.COM 6 MCOPY43C.ZQ0 18 PRICES12.RZS 10
SAK22A .LBR 8 SIEVE .C 2 SIEVE .COM 18
SIEVEZ80.COM 10 TALIAS16.LBR 38 TXT2ASM .LBR 12
VF41H .LBR 28 VMENU20A.LBR 74 WF .COM 2
ZHELPR17.RQS 4 ZNODES34.LQT 4
23 Files Using 316K, 23 Files on Disk and 74K Left
PRICES12.RZS requires using UNCR(unch), efficient un-compress tool, to obtain
readable ASCII text file. (Middle letter of file-type signals crunched if Z,
squeezed if Q.) Find UNCR.COM in CRUNCHnn.LBR of SUS #2 and on Z-Nodes
everywhere. Eventually, Z utilities will be upgraded to handle conveniently
both squeezed and crunched files. Full details of SUS concepts are in Z-News
507 (and 506). If you cannot economically contact Z-Nodes, here's the way to
stay current with Z-System community for $85.00 per year.
From Our Mail Box. Testimonial from R. Barry Lewis, Champaign, IL, "This
past Friday morning you kindly helped me to get my copy of ZRDOS+ installed.
I was very impressed by the highly professional manner in which you diagnosed
the problem and guided me to a solution over the telephone. It was a pleasure
to talk with someone who clearly knows what they are doing and who has the
skill and the patience to help a novice. Thanks again./ "I must also add
that the good things that I have heard and read about Echelon are borne out by
my experience in the couple of instances that I have bought something from
your company. I will buy more from you and will try to promote your company
and ZCPR3 locally." Thank you, Barry...we do our best...what more can we say?
David Vergin, Elma, WA, writes, "'...if we are to continue...?' [from Z-
News 408-5.] My gosh! Z-News die? No. Here's $24.00. Keep it up."
Z-User's Corner. Here, meanings of words and expressions dealing with file
names and trailing attributes and parameters, as used in ZCPR3 and Z-System
command lines, by common usage and by convention. Meanings established by
assignment, program requirements, and accepted by majority of people active in
the community:
field --
A file has two fields: name and type. Example: VFILER is the name field,
COM the type field for file VFILER.COM. Up to eight characters are
allowed for names and up to three for types. Either field may be empty.
A period, ., separates name field from type field.
wild card --
Either an asterisk, *, or a question mark, ?, used within field. "?"
matches any character; "*", all characters from position to field's end.
afn --
Ambiguous File Name. Name and type fields may contain wild cards.
VFILER.* All files with name VFILER and any type.
?V*.COM All files of type COM with any first character for name,
secondcharacter a V, and with any remaining up-to-six
characters.
?V? Any three character file name without a type.
*.TXT Any file name of type TXT.
ufn --
Unambiguous File Name. Exact name and type of file to be acted upon.
VFILER.COM ECHO.LBR Z-NEWS.502 Only exact file names and types.
Wild cards not permitted.
file_list --
A declaration of more than one file name, separated by comma delimiters.
File names may include wild cards.
ECHO.COM,?FILER.*,*.D?C The file ECHO.COM, all seven-character files
with FILER occupying positions two through six in name field with
any type field, and all files of any name with type starting
with D and having C for last character.
fn.ft --
File name and file type of file used in an example. Same as "ufn."
Wild cards may be used to declare file in actual use, if
program accepts them.
string --
A series of characters made up of one or more words.
"This is an example string." Several words in quotes.
This is a string Words without quotes.
This_is_a_string Words handled as one word using
underline character as delimiter,
connective.
cmd --
Command. May take the form of cmd;cmd2;cmd3;... . Spaces between
semicolon command delimiter and next command are
ignored. cmd; cmd2; cmd3; ... is accepted.
<text> --
Necessary operator input.
[text] --
Optional input, as desired by operator.
Please refer to Z-News 309-4 (Z-News, Volume 3, Number 9, page 4, Z-Index
reference convention) for more details regarding ZCPR3 and Z-System convent-
ions.
Lunch Break. Symmetric 375 (Z-News 409-2) reduced in price to $4,995.00. If
interested in a 22-pound portable, personal Unix bsd v4.2 computer using 10mHz
National 32016 chip and 50-megabyte hard disk, now is time to buy. Machine
comes with 8 languages: C, Fortran, Pascal, LISP, Prolog, BASIC, APL, and
Assembler. And SPICE, TEX, INGRES, and EMACS! Plus 2-megabytes of DRAM,
parallel Centronics and 4 serial ports at up to 38.4k-baud. Call 408/279-0700
for literature.
Zedcor, 4500 E. Speedway, #93, Tuscon, AZ 85712, and ZBasic appear to be
doing well. At $89.95, their interactive compiler gives new life to BASIC,
and portability between machines (Apple IIc, IIe, Macintosh; IBM PC and
compatibles, TRS-80 Models 1, 3, 4/4p; Kaypro Graphics; and Z-80/HD64180 Z-
System, CP/M v2.2 computers). As Zedcor says, "Works the same on all
computers." Sieve benchmarks, BYTE's prime number classic, prove compiler's
efficiency (29 seconds versus 1490 seconds for MBasic, compiler against
interpreter, 34.7 seconds for Aztec CII, 7.4 for assembler, all on 4mHz Z80).
Compiler translation speed is 40 lines per second! Features put ZBasic into
structured-language class giving C and Pascal a run for it. More information,
call toll-free 800/482-4567.
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Of Angles and Eagles. "Yes, machines think--if you disagree, wait another 2
years for evidence even 'flat-earthers' won't be able to repudiate!" From Z-
News 109-3, 8 April 1985. Machines remember, better than humans. Machines
manipulate data and return information. Machines reach conclusions. But
machines do not generate knowledge from information, from its decisions.
Machines do not understand ideas. Machines do not create ideas. (What are
ideas?)
Information-overloaded society, that's us! Computers have been main
force behind data explosion in our industrial, international culture. Post-
printing press era, where information increases have been so great we cannot
keep up with overwhelming amount of semi-paralyzing data. Some believe
information is power. It is not. But knowing how to convert information into
knowledge is. Knowledge requires human assessment (and knowledge is worthless
unless acted upon) and here is where we fall apart. (See Z-News 501-4 for
more details relating data, information, knowledge, and understanding.) We
continue like nothing has changed--more data is on the way, too much data.
Who learns to assimilate such ever increasing amounts of data for rational
action to follow?
Learning to understand how machines think, task for computer
users...making machines think, job of designers and engineers. (What is
thinking?) By April 1987 we should see computers thinking beyond what most of
us ever thought they would or could. Man quickly learns how mankind thinks!
Presently, whole subcultures dealing with how-do-we-think harvest fruits from
earlier blossoms, fruits go into ripening-baskets, fruits from Artificial
Intelligence (AI) community nearly ready to be eaten. Banquet prepared,
spread once-eaten surely changes the world! What hath man wrought! A servant
superior to its master, creator? Yes, and beyond...a machine answering
mankind's burning questions: What is life, what are humans?
"Man's mind stretched by a new idea never goes back to its original
dimensions."--Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1809-1894, physician and author.
Experience is one thing, openness to new ideas is quite another.
From a multitude of realities, each real for a particular observer, comes
an understanding of the oneness of all. We need only to learn other realities
to come to this view. But a bend in our thought process is necessary for
learning to occur. Myth dwarfs truth...major problem that slows progress,
forward movement of mankind. You see, we must change our thinking habits,
both style and pattern, to see more or differently than we see now. See you
down the lines...
Echelon, Inc.
885 N. San Antonio Road
Los Altos, CA 94022 USA
Telephone: 415/948-3820
Z-Node Central (RAS): 415/489-9005
Trademarks: Bookshelf, Ampro Computers; SB180, Micromint; PRO-180, Magnum
Digital; ON!, Oneac; DT42, The SemiDisk, Deep Thought 42, SemiDisk Systems;
TR-XL180, M.A.N. Systems; HD64180, Hitachi; Z-System, ZCPR3, ZRDOS, Z-Tools,
Zas, Zlink, Z-Msg, Term3, Quick-Task, FINDS, PPAL, Lasting-Value Software,
Echelon; GT180, Turbo Modula-II, Borland International; Lotus 1-2-3, Lotus
Development; MBasic, Microsoft; TWP, The Word Plus, Oasis Systems; SIFT,
Siftsoft; Electra-Find, O'Neill Software.
* *
Z sets you FREE!
* *
Z-News 601 is Copyright 1986 Echelon, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Permission
to reprint, wholly or partially, automatically granted if source credit is
given to Echelon.
hts Reserved. Permission
to reprint, wholly or partially, automatically granted if so