7 October 1985
Z-NEWS 304
Z TIPS: The making and using of aliases is so easy, now that Jay Sage's two
tools are available: VALIAS and ARUNZ. We can have our cake and eat it too,
have our way with computing machine we're learning to use!
Our four new library tools (in LUZ3.LBR, see Z-News 302), LGET, LHELP,
LLF, and LX, are meant to complement NULU, flexible library manager. Used in
alias script files, extended features--to automate library operations--are now
available. LUZ3.HQP tells all, but use HELP, Version 5.3, to read it. Don't
forget: all Z-System HLP files can be file-typed as HQP (squeezed), but only
if using 5.3, saving about 30% disk space from that required earlier.
LX (Library eXecute) is particularly useful running COM files from libra-
ries other than COMMAND.LBR. Here, IF12.COM upgrade of Charles McManis
(Sunnyvale, CA) really shines in aliases requiring wildcard file name testing!
Use VALIAS to create and modify scripts, or your editor to add to prototype
text file ALIAS.CMD, and then execute with command: ARUNZ <alias name> [para-
meters]<cr>. Individual ALIAS.CMD files may be placed in various directories,
like VFILER.CMDs, along search path for security control and enhanced
versatility.
In case your implementation of ZCPR3 doesn't include the GO command but
does have GET and JUMP, don't fret! JUMP 100 is similar to GO. Using JUMP
100 is like calling location 100 hex; computer's program counter (PC) is
indexed to location 100 and op(eration) codes there are executed. So if you
load (GET 100 fn.ft) a program, you can run it by issuing command JUMP 100.
(GET uses absolute addresses, not pages as indicated in the MANUAL; also
there's no CP-resident ECHO.)
New ZRDOS Plus: Dennis Wright's stroke of brilliance makes programs WSPATCH,
MAKE, SETDRU, and PUBlictm Patch no longer necessary. ZRDOS with public DIRs
and DUs open new possibilities for Z-System users. With utility supplied,
disks and user areas are declared global, PUBLIC. There, place overlays of
special programs like WordStar, T/Maker, dBASE, The WORD Plus, Multiplan, even
MBasic (BAS and ASC) files! Then use these programs from any drive or user
area, with but one copy of each on your system! So quick and easy: PUBLIC
can be handled automatically with your STARTUP alias!
For $20.00 you can go from original ZRDOSs to ZRDOS Plus with public
directories. Send in your original ZRDOS or Z-COM disk. New Plus sells for
what old did, $59.50 plus shipping and handling.
We_Get_Letters: "Thanks for sending my copy of ZCPR3: The Manual so quickly!"
writes R. Glenn Brooke, Evanston, IL. Glenn, our shipments haven't always
been prompt! Ask thousands who waited long for book you received so quickly,
but that's another story, one about evolving towards concordancy...we
presently bask in radiant abundance.
From Jerry Nelson, Marburg, GERMANY, "Teach us about obtaining libraries,
using linkers, and advanced library management techniques. (Where are
potentially useful modules? Which revision is current? How do we standardize
the environment for system calls, terminal configuration disks, amount of
RAM... .)" In his three-page letter lots of probing questions are asked about
real-time, multi-tasking, and support for high level languages. Briefly,
Jerry, our presently available SYSLIB3, Z3LIB, and VLIB--all in Assembler--are
main source for over 400 tested and often-needed routines.
A thick document (over 400 pages, written by Richard Conn), soon to be
published, tells how to design and code using REL libraries. Manual contains
sufficient information making other than Assembler for Z80/NSC800/HD64180 8-
bit systems un-necessary, and undesirable, considering computer run-time
resources usually available. High level languages may be okay for some 32/64-
bit machines, but generally not for 8-bit. Program design and coding must be
fitting for end-user, programmer's conveniences secondary--to be Master, one
must be Servant to All! Dreams can become reality...our real-time, multi-
tasking OS is in the works!
PropStar Program Review: We've been using, off-and-on for about nine months,
a print utility that works with WordStar files. Utility's major feature
provides true proportional character spacing on daisy wheel printers, with
right-margin justification that follows typesetting rules. Other features:
continuous underlining with new .cu dot command and extra intercharacter
spacing when boldface (shadow) is activated.
We don't use daisy wheels, but a 24-wire dot matrix software compatible
with Diablo 630. Civil Computing Corporation (2111 Research Drive, Suite #1,
Livermore, CA 94550, 415/455-8086) wrote program to take advantage of market
represented by millions of WordStar users, which includes most of Echelon's
staff. Program, though written in Fortran and Assembler (26k-byte length
takes a few seconds to load, but program keeps up with our fast printer
needs), is great for post-processing WordStar text into proportionally-spaced,
right-justified output to printers. PropStar, Version 2.0, Release D, is
priced $79.95--worth more!
Other so-called proportional printing programs for WordStar have been
used here at EI--none tried is as valuable as PropStar. They, the rest, fake
the process by using internal table and algorithm of WordStar that don't work;
that's why MicroPro wouldn't support proportional printing. They knew their
program wasn't right and talent that could make it right were no longer in
their employ. MicroPro hasn't been motivated to make it right, at least not
for 8-bit versions 2.5, 3.0 or 3.3.
CCC is thinking of offering a generic laser printer (Cannon) with special
PropStar. It'll sell at low price--compared to Hewlett-Packard, Apple, QMS,
Imagen, and CTI laser marking machines--such combination we are interested in
testing (and buying if it suits our high-performance needs)!
Amateur Z User's Corner: When studying ZCPR3: The MANUAL, or reading Z-News,
do not allow doubt as to meanings of words muffle, muzzle, or muddle your
thought. Use your regular and technical dictionary
often. It is amazing how definitions can clarify
thought. Dictionaries are like arms of our mind, so
important is lexicology to our mental body.
You know time and effort is required to learn
ins-and-outs of ZCPR3 and Z-System--learning in
proportion to giving (your energy). For us who have a
lazy streak we wrote in Z-News 106, "Appreciate,
accept, our Universe is about releasing energy from
matter--you are its center (did you think it was about
matter being created from energy, you silly savage)."
Enough said? How's your progress learning DU3, the
far- ranging disk editing utility?
sketch of a member The MANUAL isn't completely clear about tools
of royality responding to WHEEL and QUIET commands. Utilities
with presently wheel-byte protectable: ALIAS, MKDIR, PATH,
below quote: PUBLIC, VALIAS, VFILER's copy, rename, and delete
functions, PWD's table of passwords associated with
"If they find Unix name directories, and WHEEL itself cannot be set or
harsh, inefficient, reset without operator knowing correct password.
and slow, Certain crucial programs respond to the QUIET
let them use Z... " flag, cancelling most messages to console operator:
CD, LDR, MCOPY, PATH, and REG (plus LUZ3 and 25
command modules of Term3).
Such tool flexibility is ideal for setting up turn-key systems
tailored exactly to your requirements. Their use with remote access systems
(RAS)--like electronic bulletin boards and local area mail networks--adds a
touch of class, compared to what is possible with Unix and PC-DOS. But first,
MENU, VMENU, and VFILER usage must be mastered. Re-read 101, 104, 106, 202,
and 203 and Chapters 5 and 7 of the MANUAL. Sample menus contained in file
DEMO.LBR are good place to see many working examples. Menus cover automated
tasks for word processing, database and spreadsheet management, communi-
cations, assembly language program development and modification, disk and file
housekeeping, and system maintenance.
[ZNODESnn.LST]
Echelon Z-Node List #7
14 September 1985
Al Hawley, Los Angeles, CA 90056, 213/670-9465 *
Allan E. Levy, Satellite Beach, FL 32927
Andrew Hart, Palo Alto, CA 94306
Barry L. Bowerman, Weaver, AL 36277
Ben Ragan, St. Louis, MO 63134, 314/423-7038
Charles Boghosian, Durham, NC 27712, 919/383-6595
Charlie Hoffman, Tampa, FL 33629, 813/831-7276
David McCord, Fremont, CA 94536, 415/489-9005
Don Buzzingham, College Station, TX 77843, 409/845-8931
Douglas Thom, San Jose, CA 95129, 408/253-1309
Edward C. Unrein, Orlando, FL 32810, 305/295-0844 *
Fred Townsend, San Jose, CA 95132, 408/262-5150 (5pm to 8am)
Jay Denebeim, Durham, NC 27707, 919/489-6737
Jay P. Sage, Newton Centre, MA 02159, 617/965-7259 *
John Rovner, Union City, CA 94587, 415/489-0388
Jon Schneider, El Paso, TX 79936, 915/592-4976 *
Jud Newell, Islington, Ontario M9A 1A7, CANADA, 416/231-9202 *
Mark R. Evans, San Angelo, TX 76904
Marvin Eyre, Robards, KY 42452, 502/521-7011
Michael M. Ward, Voorhees, NJ 08043, 609/428-8864
Norm Gregory, Seattle, WA 98112, 206/325-1325 *
Norman L. Beeler, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, 408/245-1420
Rea Williams, El Toro, CA 92630, 714/855-0672 *
Rich Rodeheaver, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068, 614/864-2673 *
Richard A. Petersen, El Paso, TX 79904, 915/821-3638 *
Richard Driscoll, Phoenix, AZ 85008
Richard Jacobson, Chicago, IL 60606, 312/649-1730 *
Richard Mead, Pasadena, CA 91105, 818/799-1632
Robert B. Tate, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701, 305/831-6049 *
Robert Finch, Glendale, CA 91205
Robert Kuhmann, Belle Etoile, par St. Martin de la Brasque
84760, FRANCE, 011-33-90-77-61-36 (from USA) *
Robert L. Paddock, Franklin, PA 16323, 814/437-5647
Rod L. Blackman, Visalia, CA 93291, 209/739-8303
Ron Stone, Lisle, IL 60532, 312/420-1722
Stanley K. London, Aurora, CO 80013, 303/680-9825
Terry Smythe, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3N 0T2, CANADA, 204/452-5529 *
Thomas Hill, Anchorage, AK 99504
Thomas R. Bowerman, Anniston, AL 36201
Tim Linehan, Olympia, WA 98502, 206/357-6757
Notes: 1) Asterisk (*) indicates node is a downloader of Echelon proprietary
software. Ask node Sysop for procedure.
1) Lack of RAS (remote access system) telephone number indicates node
may not be up presently but should be within two months, or we have
not yet received number.
3) When updating or correcting file ZNODESnn.LST for errors, please
increment list number (nn) and change date to current. Then upload
to nearest Z-Node.
BEAUTY IS JUST THE FRAME
All beauty inspires most. I am a country boy, born and brought
up in the town of Vinci, in Tuscany [Italy]. I love nature and
have a constant dialogue with it. Not exactly like those sweet
old ladies who talk to cactus flowers, but in the sense of loving
it and letting it help me. I have never had such an exhilarating
experience as with the nature scenes, the backgrounds, for
BROTHER SUN, SISTER MOON. I understood Saint Francis of
Assisi through those scenes. He was stunned, bewildered, and
driven almost berserk by the beauty that surrounded him. I
believe, as he must have, that God expresses Himself most elo-
quently through the beauty of His creation.
Nature is very generous. Man-made material is not. It
resists you. You must think about it, plan for it, by it. You
buy acrylic or whatever you need for a scene or a set, and you
have it made. You paint it. You move it around. You work with
it, and still it resists you. It is hard to conquer; hard to
bend to your will and to your experience. But nature just
happens. And unlike the rest of our world, it is not con-
formist. Nowadays the whole world is plagued by conformity, and
I hate it. What has happened to the freedom that was so evident
in classical times and in early America?
Today, free spirits are becoming pathetic relics. And I am
one of them. I simply cannot conform, or line up with a multi-
tude of people who profess the same ideas. Every man, however
many billions of us there are now, is a planet [sphere] of his
own. If there is a harmony in the universe, then each one of us
is somebody; that's the dignity of life. Instead, we throw it
away by trooping. Even by trooping in good causes.
Many people seem surprised that I can continue to have two
or three careers at the same time. That is because conformists
tend to assign themselves, and others, a specific role: you are
a writer, I am a director, that dog is a dog. Period. People
with more that one career confuse them. It is, I admit, perhaps
a bit like having three lovers. And that is not very ethical.
One is supposed to say, "This is it," but often it isn't. With
one lover, for example, you go to the theater and opera. With
another you discuss books. With a third you don't talk, you make
love.
The aim in my profession is to create beauty and to make
dreams come true. I am fed up, however, with the label "creator
of beauty." Beauty is just the frame. Inside the frame must be
the picture. I don't think people cried and suffered with my
ROMEO AND JULIET just because the costumes and sets were
beautiful. They cried because I really grasped the essence of
this love story, the reality and the vitality of the characters.
from Franco Zeffirelli
Motion Picture Film Director
Z-Node Activity: Welcome to northern neighbor Sysop Terry Smythe, Z-Node #40,
204/452-5529. Terry runs a club node for iBEX and Osborne computer users in
Winnipeg, Manitoba, CANADA. Locals are having one-good-time downloading Z-
stuff. If you have a few extra coins this month, give his out-of-the-States
node a call for one of those changes of pace we all need now and then.
To get really out-of-sight, contact our European distributor, Robert
Kuhmann, in FRANCE. Bob is Z-Node #26 Sysop. He carries full-load of Z-
System software and is in regular contact with Philippe Billotte, Northstar
ZCPR3 expert (see Z-News 303). Call Bob at 011-33-90-77-61-36 (from USA);
write Philippe at 47 Rue Abou Dabi, Quartier Oasis, Casablanca, MOROCCO. Let
them know how small this planet is!
Digitec Z-Node #5 (Lisle, IL) on a roll...Sysop Ron Stone tells of
activity on his node. Much comes from pioneers of microcomputer world: CACHE
(Chicago Area Computer Hobbyist Exchange) founders and members, Jim Mills,
Ward Christenson, etc. Need we say more! Ron's number is 312/420-1722.
Sysop Mike Ward, Z-Node #11, Voorhees, NJ, 609/428-8864 found a go-for
that keeps his RAS current with Dave McCord, Z-Node Central--hurray! Many
callers have found Mike's system just what they've been looking for in so
uth
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware areas...Z-System activity continues to
grow as more people understand the power of ZCPR3 combined with ZRDOS.
Assistance for continued learning comes from Z-Nodes and their Sysops. All
RAS operators share a deep emotional interest in assisting those who ask for
help.
October issue of BYTE magazine clearly describes many, but far from all,
features of Z-System. Those not familiar with Z have much to compare: 8-bit
with 16/32-bit; Z with CP/M and PC-DOS, and appropriately with Unix. Z sets
the pace...combined with Term3, there is none that matches flexibility, grace,
and efficiency. Order Term3 now and get in on free future upgrade.
RELAX! The race is neither to the swift nor the
cunning, but to those who use work as a conscious
means to learn, become, and realize. The RACE is to
racing those learning!
motorcyclist Musings from keyboard about Cosmic geometry:
here first infinity (zero) is of position only, without
dimension or form; next, is linear displacement
followed by planes (2-D); then substance, full 3-D,
followed by substance displaced in time (4-D).
Entering extremely oneiric domains, we add all-time
(past, present, and future), the fifth-dimension or
sixth-level! Last, we displace all-time to receive the unknowable (Western
concept of GOD), the seventh-level (heaven). (Notice how we went from zero to
six dimensions, the way Assembler level programmers normally count.) The
remaining eighth (?) level is "nothing-going-nowhere," Eastern idea of VOID
(zero, no-thing).
You cross a psychological INFINITY as you add a dimension (either
horizontal or vertical, really orthogonal and beyond) to your understanding,
to your being. Eight is more (?) than there is, having moved back (forward)
into the previous (next) octave, appearances notwithstanding! Words Gnosis
(Greek) and Veda (Sanskrit) both mean "The Knowing."
Now we ponder zero, infinity (two zeros side-by-side, touching), and
eight (two zeros, one on top the other). Seems East and West meet...soon to
follow, North and South! You think we drink too much Zinfandel? See you down
the lines...
Echelon, Inc.
101 First Street
Los Altos, CA 94022
Telephone: 415/948-3820
Z-Node Central: 415/489-9005
Trademarks: SB180, COMM180, TKBBS, Micromint; HD63484/64180, Hitachi;
Z80/800, Zilog; NSC800, National; WY-50/75/85/350, Wyse Technology; PUBlic,
PluPerfect; Z-System, ZCPR3, ZRDOS, Z-Tools, Z-Com, Zas, Zlink, ZDM, REVAS, Z-
Msg, DSD, TERM III, Term3, Lasting-Value Software, Echelon and their
respective owners and authors; Unix, AT&T; MOSART, XE1201/03, Xecom; PropStar,
Civil Computing; WordStar, MicroPro.
small
+ eagle here
Z s e t s y o u F R E E !
+ +
Z-News 304 is Copyright 1985 Echelon, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Permission
to reprint, wholly or partially, automatically granted if source credit is
given to Echelon.
