FMD RED CONSENSUS TOPS-20 SURVIVAL GUIDE
========================================
Greetings citizen! Due largely to the untimely demise of our
last system operator, we have produced this TOPS-20 survival
guide using wetware final-consciousness extraction on said
operator's brain tissues. It is hoped that future operators
will benefit from the scattered information we were able to
retrieve, as first they begin their adminstrative duties.
The extrated information has been organized into several
topics. Our last operator was frequently inebriated (a
contributing factor to his life-ending airlock accident,) so
the info is of dubious quality. We present it nonetheless
for your instruction.
DOCUMENT CONVENTIONS
====================
Any time a command is referenced, it will appear on its own
line and will be indented. TOPS-20 commands will be
represented with a "@" prompt (for non-ENABLEd commands) or
a "$" prompt (for ENABLEd commands.) Pressing <enter> after
a command is usually implied, but is sometimes specified
(especially when <enter> is required at a prompt.) Comments
after a command (not associated with the command, its
output, or its arguments) will be after the command, some
space, and the # character.
Abbreviated commands will be used in this document. The
ubiquitous "dir" command is a good example; in its full
form, the command is "DIRECTORY (OF FILES)." If you wish to
see a full version of an abbreviated command, simply press
<esc> after an abbreviated portion, as in "dir<esc>." This
will auto-fill the command. The <esc> key can be used
multiple tiles while filling out commands and options. The
<esc> key can be used for filename completion in most cases
as well.
A theoretical user name "mavrides" will be used in all
examples requiring a system username. Substitute your own
username, or another active username, as needed. Be careful,
The <> characters around usernames are not inidcators of
substitution, they are part of the commands. Do not attempt
to contact user mavrides on the live system, as her account
has been deleted.
LOGGING IN
==========
To connect to the FMD REDCON mainframe, use the following
bridge:
ssh -p 2320 twenex@consensus.circumlunar.space
At the @ prompt, enter your username. Do not be alarmed by
the \<char> results if you need to use the backspace key;
this is expected behavior, you are being shown the character
that is removed from the buffer.
After entering your username, you will be prompted for your
password. Upon successful login, your personal LOGIN.CMD
file will be executed, and you will be presented with a @
command prompt.
After you first login, you may wish to change your password
with something like the following (substituting your own
username, of course):
@set directory password <mavrides>
You may also want or need to set terminal options. The TSIZE
command will let you adjust your terminal size (tsize cols
rows), or:
@set terminal ?
@terminal ?
to view help on additional terminal-related options.
GETTING HELP
===========
The operating manuals are exceptionally written. For online
help while logged in, try:
@?
@HELP
NAVIGATING THE FILESYSTEM
=========================
You will start in your directory at login. To see some
information on your current directory:
@info dir
You will note that your "home" directory is named after your
username, as in this example output from the above command:
@info dir
Name TOPS20:<MAVRIDES>
Working disk storage page limit +INF
Permanent disk storage page limit +INF
WHEEL
Number of directory 643
Account default for LOGIN - none set
Protection of directory 774040
Maximum subdirectories allowed 10
Last interactive login 10-Apr-2019 10:16:25
TOPS10 project-programmer number - none set
The primary disk device on the RED CONSENSUS is "TOPS20:"
Additional logical devices are setup to make things easier.
You may view all of the logical pointers with:
@info log sys
View the files in your directory with any of the following
commands:
@dir # for a normal directory listing
@vdir # for a verbose listing
@tdir # for a listing sorted by write date
Also consider the following commands, which will give the
same info as the first command above:
@dir <mavrides>
@dir tops20:<mavrides>
@dir tops20:<mavrides>*.*.*
And finally, consider the following command, which will
output a customized list with self-evident information:
@dir,
@@size
@@times
@@user
@@<enter>
You may also want to try:
@dir,
@@?<enter>
for a full listing of the 33 available output options.
Now you can: 1) find info on where you are current located
in the filesystem; and, 2) show a listing of files and
directories in your current location.
To create a directory in your home directory, first make
sure "info dir" shows a Maximum subdirectories value; if it
does not, contact the operator to have them add this
capability. We'll use the "build" command to create a new
directory:
@build <mavrides.testing>
[New]
@@work 100
@@perm 100
@@list
Name <mavrides.testing>
Working disk storage page limit 100
Permanent disk storage page limit 100
FILES-ONLY
Account default for LOGIN - none set
TOPS10 project-programmer number - none set
@@<enter>
It is highly recommended that you read the appropriate
operating manaul for the BUILD entry, but the above
demonstrates how to create a simple directory with 100 pages
of available space.
Let's look at the directory, enter the directory (or
"connect" to the directory,) and then return to our home
directory and kill/delete our test directory:
@dir testing.*
TOPS20:<MAVRIDES>
TESTING.DIRECTORY.1
Total of 0 pages in 1 file
@conn <.testing>
@info dir
Name TOPS20:<MAVRIDES.TESTING>
Working disk storage page limit 100
Permanent disk storage page limit 100
FILES-ONLY
Number of directory 255
Account default for LOGIN - none set
TOPS10 project-programmer number - none set
@conn # conn alone will return to home
@info dir
Name TOPS20:<MAVRIDES>
Working disk storage page limit +INF
Permanent disk storage page limit +INF
WHEEL
Number of directory 643
Account default for LOGIN - none set
Protection of directory 774040
Maximum subdirectories allowed 10
Last interactive login 10-Apr-2019 10:16:25
TOPS10 project-programmer number - none set
@build <mavrides.testing>
[Old]
@@kill
[Confirm]<enter>
@@<enter>
Finally, look at a few interesting directories and files
that you should have access to:
@dir <help>
@dir <system>
@dir <redcon.help>
@dir <subsys>
@dir <games>
@dir <games>*.exe
@dir <system>*.txt
@dir fun:*.exe
CREATING AND EDITING A TEXT FILE
================================
The RED CONSENSUS has EMACS, and a few other editors (along
the ED and TECO lines.) Use "edit" to load emacs. We'll
start it with a filename specified:
@edit test.txt
(For help type <ctrl>_ and then press "?", or look online.)
Enter some text into your file. Here are a few primer keys:
<ctrl>f move forward one character
<ctrl>b move back one character
<ctrl>p move to previous line
<ctrl>n move to next line
<ctrl>x<ctrl>s save
<ctrl>x<ctrl>c exit
Save and exit. Look at the contents of your text file:
@type test.txt
If your text file has escape sequences, you might want to
type it with those intact:
@type test.txt,
@@unformatted
@@<enter>
If your text file was C code, saved as hello.c, you may want
to run it with:
@execute hello
and save it by:
@load hello.rel
LINK: Loading
@save hello.exe
HELLO.EXE.1 Saved
@hello.exe
Hello World
@
If you run out of file space while working (which may occur
if you're in a directory with limited space and you're
compiling C programs with the inefficient KCC compiler),
then you might want to:
@del hello.*
HELLO.C.1 [OK]
HELLO.EXE.1 [OK]
HELLO.REL.1 [OK]
@expunge
TOPS20:<MAVRIDES> [80 pages freed]
@