Sydney S. Weinstein, CDP, CCP is a consultant, columnist, author, and president of Datacomp Systems, Inc., a consulting and contract programming firm specializing in databases, data presentation and windowing, transaction processing, networking, testing and test suites, and device management for UNIX and MS-DOS. He can be contacted care of Datacomp Systems, Inc., 3837 Byron Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006-2320 or via electronic mail on the Internet/Usenet mailbox syd@DSI.COM (dsinc!syd for those who cannot do Internet addressing).
Workload has hit another of the source group moderators on USENET network news. Brandon Allbery declared that he is too busy to moderate comp.sources.misc and asked in early October for volunteers to do the job. Thus for the interim, comp.sources.misc has been very quiet.
The new moderator should be from a site directly connected to the Internet, so that he can update the archive sites easily. An efficient moderator needs about two to four hours per week just to maintain things. (I think Brandon underestimated the time necessary since it really takes more time to do a good job.) Some of Brandon's last postings are highlighted here.
For those using the MS-DOS shell posted by Ian Stewartson <iarwqer@datlog.co.uk>, a major patch was issued as Volume 14, Issues 65 and 66, bringing the shell to version 1.6.3. Many bugs were fixed and support for POSIX P1003.2 commands has been started. POSIX is the standards body for an operating system that looks somewhat like UNIX. P1003.2 specifies the commands such an operating system should have, such as listing directories and copying files.
The mail and news pretty-printer by Rich Burridge <rburridge@sun.com> has been enhanced and reposted. This new version, mp-2.4.5, will print mail or news messages using PostScript in a "pretty" format. It supports landscape mode and will print multiple pages in a reduced size on a single sheet of paper. It also can print normal ASCII files as well as a personal organizer format. For those with time to spare, a TODO list is included. mp-2.4.5 is Volume 14, Issues 67 and 68.
C++ is filtering through the nets. S. Manoharan <sam@lfcs.edinburgh.ac.uk> has contributed a C++ class set for building event-based discrete event simulations (Volume 14, Issue 69). Silo provides classes for Entity, Event, Resource and Bin, and is based on M. H. MacDougall's book Simulating Computer Systems: Techniques and Tools.
Wayne Davison <davison@dri.com> has invented a new context difference listing format that produces output roughly 25 percent smaller than the standard context diff output. Context diffs show changes made to a file by outputting the old and new lines with several lines around them (context). diffs allow automated patching programs (such as patch) to find where to make changes even if line numbers have changed. This new format, called unidiff, includes the context only once, showing the old and new lines within the same "hunk" of output. unidiff, Volume 14, Issue 70, includes a patch to gnudiff 1.14 to output unidiff's, a patch to Larry Wall's patch program (PL12) to accept unidiff, and programs to translate to and from old style context diffs to unidiff's format.
If you're using the old troff and an HP DeskJet printer, then you need cat2desjet. Vasilis Prevelakis <vp@cui.unige.ch> contribution takes old troff output (for the c/a/t phototypesetter) and converts it to a format suitable for the HP Deskjet. Based on the cat2lj (c/a/t to HP LaserJet) program, cat2desjet runs in two modes, a pure graphic bitmap mode and a soft font download mode. The latter supports a lower resolution draft mode whose speed warrants the loss in resolution for drafts (Volume 14 Issues 71-73).
Elwood Downey <downey@dimed.com> has updated his ephem (an interactive astronomical ephemeris) program to version 4.21. New features include more magnitude models, bug fixes, a Skydome watch format, and VMS support. The large posting is Volume 14, Issues 76-81.
Tired of sorting out your files in an ls listing? Kent Landfield <kent@sparky.imd.sterling.com> has contributed lc, which separates the files into groups of like types and then displays the information in columns (Volume 14, Issues 82 and 83). Note for Xenix users, lc is not the same as lc under Xenix, which is just ls -C.
For those into AI, Donald Tveter <drt@chinet.chi.il.us> has contributed the routines he used for the experiments in his AI textbook. The routines perform back-propagation using a very efficient algorithm. Fast-backprop is Volume 14, Issues 84-87.
Seeing your news build up and wondering in what groups they reside? Tired of seeing du count the subdirectories in the parent directory? Then Chip Rosenthal's <chip@chinacat.unicom.com> enhanced du (disk usage) is for you. A simple useful tool that is Volume 14, Issue 88.
David Kirschbaum <kirsch@usasoc.soc.mil> contributed a portable unzip 3.1 for Volume 14, Issue 102-106. Unzip from the INFO-ZIP project extracts files stored in PKZIP format from UNIX, Minix and Atari. It works on both little and big endian machines and on machines with different word lengths (except for the Cray's). Unzip only extracts files. It cannot build zip files.
The system V enhanced getty, previewed in the first quarter of 1990, has been released by Paul Sutcliffe, Jr. <paul@devon.lns.pa.us> as version 2.0. It supports both standard (getty) and bi-directional (uugetty) modes, use of runtime defaults file, modem chat scripts to set up the modems, and incoming autobauding via the connect string. It's Volume 15, Issues 4-8.
If you aren't connected to Internet, you can't run NTP (network time protocol) to automatically set your UNIX system to accurate time. However, you can install a Heath GC1000 WWV radio clock and run gc1000 to set the UNIX time from the clock. When run periodically from cron, gc1000 will synchronize the system time with the clock, correcting for drift. gc1000 does not change the time if the clock has lost the WWV signal, or if the time is off by more than a certain number of minutes (to allow for errors in the time reception not to effect the system). It also supports a debugging mode for checking the interface. It's a relatively small program and is Volume 15, Issue 9.
Those sites running an archive and desiring a mail-based archive server should obtain rnalib2 by Paolo Ventafridda <venta@i2ack.sublink.org>. An advanced mail-server, rnalib2 allows remote users to ask for text or binary files via ordinary e-mail. It can compress/uuencode/btoa/uusend/e-mail or uucp a file as needed (Volume 15 Issues 10-13).
gnuplot, the command-line driven interactive function plotting utility, has been upgraded via a very large patch. Besides bug fixes, it includes many new output drivers including X11. Contributed by Russell Lang <rjl@monu1.cc.monash.edu.au>, it is Volume 15, Issues 15-19.
If you've ever considered moving from SCCS to RCS (see my column in CUJ, vol.7, no.4), sccs2rcs_kc from Kenneth H. Cox <kenstir@viewlogic.com> will do the trick. It converts the SCCS s-file into the identical RCS history file without altering or deleting the sccs file. Date, time, author, comments, and branches are all preserved (Volume 15, Issue 22).
GNU-Emacs's calculator has been updated, and the update patch is more than 1Mb. This 20-part patch file takes calc from 1.04 to 1.05. David Gillespie <daveg@csvax.cs.caltech.edu> made it up, and if you have ftp access, follow his instructions, ftp the full source. It must be easier than making sure a 1Mb patch all worked. If not, it is Volume 15, Issues 28-47.
If you keep a file as a bunch of index cards and are looking for a way to easily do the same on the computer, you need cardfile. Dave Lampe <dplace!djl@pacbell.com> contributed cardfile as Volume 15, Issues 49-51. It uses the metaphor of a stack of index cards with fields and subfields. Searching and simple formatting are supported.
Last time I mentioned dmake, an enhanced make like utility at version 3.5, there was a copyright problem in that version, and the author has corrected it and released version 3.6, requesting that all copies of 3.5 be deleted. If you have copies of 3.5, please comply. The new version has no loss in function. Dennis Vadura <dvarudra@watdragon.waterloo.edu> has contributed the new version for Volume 15, Issues 52-77. A patch to dmake 3.6, patch1, was posted on Nov. 1, 1990 to comp.sources.bugs. This five-part patch fixes minor UNIX problems and major problems with Microsoft C 6.0 and TCC 2.0. dmake is different from other makes because it supports significantly enhanced macro facilities, enhanced inference algorithms, support for file system transversal both during inference and during the make, parallel makes on those architectures that support it, attributed targets and text diversions. It is portable to both UNIX and DOS and includes support for command.com and the MKS korn shell under DOS.
Rich Is Still Slowly Posting Sources...
Slowly, but still there have been postings appearing in comp.sources.unix, but they have been few and far between.Chip Salzenberg's Deliver program was upgraded in a 10-part patch. Deliver will automatically handle sophisticated algorithms for handling inbound electronic mail. Deliver can save the electronic mail in different files, and answer it for you automatically. New features include normal and error logs, aborting of overly recursive delivery invocations and more configurability, plus bug fixes. The original posting was at patchlevel 1, so this patch, patch 2 is Volume 23, Issues 1-10.
If you are feeding network news a large number of sites, and running out of cycles, newsxd from Chris Myers <chris@wugate.wustl.edu> will help you control the load. newsxd is a configurable daemon that allows for a more controlled execution of nntpxmits and sendbatches. It can vary when they execute by time of day, type of service, and system load. Newsxd is Volume 23, Issues 11-13.
For a simple spreadsheet program that is free, try sc, now up to version 6.8. Contributed to Volume 23, Issues 23-25 by Jeff Buhrt <sawmill!buhrt>, sc now supports ASCII files via psc, plus cleans up many bugs. Patches to this have appeared in comp.sources.bugs including files posted on Sep. 27, Oct. 29, and Oct. 31. These patches take sc to version 6.10. Eventually these patches will appear in comp.sources.unix.
Pseudo-terminals are a method of running a process without having a real terminal connected all the time. Dan Bernstein <brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> has contributed pty. Pty is the sole interface between pseudo-terminals and the rest of UNIX. It supports improved security, disconnect and reconnect, full pty control and several utilities. It does not yet support POSIX ptys, which differ slightly from the older BSD ptys, but port is planned. Pty is Volume 23, Issues 31-36.
Paul Vixie <vixie@vixie.sf.ca.us> has contributed the cron, which he also contributed to Berkeley for 4.4BSD. This version of cron supports the System V style of multiple cron tables, one for each user running cron. (Cron is the UNIX time-based scheduling program. It runs programs at specific regular intervals, such as once a day at 3:00 am, or every five minutes, or the first Monday of every month.) Vixie-cron is Volume 23, Issues 28-30.
The latest version of flex, a freely distributable replacement for lex, the Unix lexical analyzer is Volume 23, Issues 37-46. Version 2.3 at patchlevel 6 supports UNIX, Atari, MS-DOS and VMS. It's contributed by Vern Paxson <vern@cs.cornell.edu>.
Fast Update Cycles Getting Faster
The wonder of the "net" is that support is so fast, new versions appear before I can even get the old versions mentioned in the column. The group comp.sources.games is a wonderful example.In my last column, I introduced vcraps, the full screen casino-style craps game based on curses. Now Robert Steven Glickstein <bobg+@andrew.cmu.edu> has updated it to version 2, which incorporates all the patches and more fixes. It is Volume 11, Issues 48 and 49.
The othello-like game Reve, has been upgraded to version 1.1. It supports SunView, XView, X11 and termcap modes. Reve offers nine levels of difficulty, from beginner to tournament. The authors plan to enter the program in the University of Waterloo Computer Science Club's Seventh Annual Computer Othello Tournament. Rich Burridge <rburridge@sun.com> and Yves Gallot <galloty@cernvax.cern.ch> submitted it for Volume 11, Issues 52-58 with patch 1 in Volume 11, Issues 61-64.
Another multi-user game is Internet Go, which allows users to play go in real time over a TCP/IP network. It requires a BSD style UNIX system and INET sockets. Igo is contributed by Greg Hale <hale@scam.berkeley.edu> and Adrian Mariano <agrian@milton.u.washington.edu> for Volume 11, Issues 66 and 67.
Ski, a skiing game from Mark Stevans <resumix!stevans@decwrl.dec.com> in Volume 11, Issue 69, has been updated again, this time to version 6.0.. This text-based skiing simulation offers an infinite slope, trees, ice, bar ground, and the snowman. The goal is to get as far down the slope as you can. Unfortunately, your jet-powered skis only go on backwards so you cannot see where you are going, only where you have been. It has some strange options, and apparently is still played enough, even after eight years, to warrant an update.
Tired of loosing at nethack? A spoiler's file was contributed by Alan Light <wheaton!alight>, Ken Roth <wheaton!kroth>, and Paul Waterman <wheaton!water>. It was compiled by playing nethack, and from electronic mail and news groups. Warning, this is a spoiler file, so if knowing the answer in advance ruins the fun, don't get Volume 11, Issues 71-74.
Previews From alt.sources
Calendar programs still abound in alt.sources. New this time are a non postscript version for use on line printers using 132x66 sized paper. Calendar from Andrew Rogers <rogers@sud509.ed.ray.com> generates one month per page and was posted Sept. 27, 1990. Pcal has also been updated to version 2.5 and now supports having the left-most day of the week be user-selectable, some reformatting of the calendar and cleanup of the resulting postscript output. By making the day numbers smaller, nine lines of text are possible for each day. The newest pcal was posted by Joseph A Brownlee <jbr@cbnews.att.com> on Oct. 6, 1990.If your old C compiler only supports eight-character variable names, then unique-nms posted by Jean- Pierre Radley <jpradely!jpr> can help. It creates a mapping of long names to short ones. Unique-nms was written by the late Fred Buck. It was posted on Oct. 14, 1990.
A useful utility, cktar, will compare the contents of a tar archive against the actual disk files. Useful to see what has changed without un-tar-ing the entire archive into a parallel directory and doing a compare. It also checks for file ownership and permissions. It is bytewise compare program, not a source diff, so it also handles binary files. Cktar was posted by Warren Tuckey <wht@n4hgf.mt-park.ga.us on Nov. 10, 1990.
If you need to read from compressed files, Graham Toal has provided a library routine set to open, read, and close compressed files. It works on UNIX and DOS and even supports 16-bit compress under DOS. Included is a version of zcat.Zlib was posted on Nov. 15, 1990.
Still using CP/M? How about a CP/M emulator. It allows a UNIX system to emulate an 8080 running CP/M. It was posted on Nov. 15, 1990 by D'Arcy J. M. Cain <druid!darcy> in three parts.
Psroff, the old-troff (c/a/t version) to postscript converter was updated to version 2.0, patchlevel 5 in a 16-part posting (complete release, not a patch) by Chris Lewis <ecicrl@clewis>. It supports Postscript, HP Laserjet, and HP Deskjet. Psroff was posted on Nov. 17, 1990.