INTRO, A Gentle Introduction to TOPS-20
The goal of this series of introductory guides is to ease users with
prior CP/M, DOS, Unix, Linux, or other OS experience, into the basic
usage of a TOPS-20 system. The writer of these guides is not an
expert, and does not expect you to become one from reading these
guides. The methods herein are very simple and basic.
For those who would prefer to learn more in-depth, comprehensive, or
historical concepts, manuals for the TOPS-20 system are available,
such as the Command Manual and Operator Manual. See 'HELP INTRO' for
further suggestions.
PRESSING ? FOR HELP
If you have questions, it pays to use the "?" key. ? is interpreted
immediately in exec, so that pressing it will give you immediate
assistance. Try pressing ? at the @ prompt, or right after typeing a
command. You will be returned to a prompt to complete your command,
after the help is provided.
Example output:
@? Command, one of the following:
ACCESS ADVISE APPEND ARCHIVE ASSIGN
ATTACH BACKSPACE BLANK BREAK BUILD
CANCEL CD CLOSE COMPILE CONNECT
... (output truncated for this guide, try it out for the full list)
or system program name
@info ? one of the following:
ADDRESS-BREAK ALERTS ARCHIVE-STATUS
AVAILABLE BATCH-REQUESTS CLUSTER
COLUMNS COMMAND-LEVEL DECNET
... (output truncated for this guide)
GETTING YOUR FOOTING
You ought to know "where you are" at all times. After logging in,
begin by finding out your location in the file structure with "info
dir" (short for INFORMATION DIRECTORY). This will give you valuable
information about the folder that you are "connected" to presently:
@info dir
Name TOPS20:<BOB>
Working disk storage page limit 500
Permanent disk storage page limit 500
... (output truncated for this guide)
Next, get a feeling for the "pages" described here, by seeing how many
pages are in use on the system with "info disk", which will return
something like:
@info disk
TOPS20:<BOB>
0 Pages assigned
500 Working pages, 500 Permanent pages allowed
82710 Pages free on TOPS20:, 133666 pages used.
Compare files you find later and the pages they take.
Now that you know where you are, have a look at the files in your
current connected folder with "dir" and "vdir."
@dir
TOPS20:<BOB>
HELP.TXT.1
LOGIN.CMD.1
MAIL.CPY.1;T
.TXT.1;P
@vdir
TOPS20:<BOB>
HELP.TXT.1;P777700 1 11(7) 31-Jan-2019 21:12:38 BOB
LOGIN.CMD.1;P777700 1 383(7) 31-Jan-2019 21:10:39 BOB
MAIL.CPY.1;P770000;T 1 14(7) 31-Jan-2019 21:11:13 BOB
.TXT.1;P770000;P 1 345(7) 31-Jan-2019 21:12:27 BOB
Total of 4 pages in 4 files
It's nice to be able to browse, so let's have a look at some other
files and directories using the "dir" command (note some additional
syntax.)
@dir <documentation>
TOPS20:<DOCUMENTATION>
5221BM.MEM.1
ACJ.MEM.1
ACTGEN.DOC.1
... (output truncated for this guide)
@dir <root.bin>*.exe
TOPS20:<ROOT.BIN>
AR..1
CHGRP.EXE.1
CHMOD.EXE.1
... (output truncated for this guide)
@dir sys:*.exe
TOPS20:<SUBSYS>
ACJ.EXE.158
ACJDEC.EXE.1
ACJLOG.EXE.1
... (output truncated for this guide)
Finally, you should know where the system is picking up the programs
that you type in on the command line, so test out "info logic sys" or
"INFORMATION LOGIAL-NAMES-SYSTEM"
@info logic sys
ACCOUNT: => TOPS20:<ACCOUNTS>
BLI: => SYS:
BS: => TOPS20:
... (output truncated for this guide)
CONTINUE LEARNING
If you desire, you may continue learning basics of TOPS-20 by reading
in the following INTRO files:
<REDCON.HELP>INTRO.HLP This quickstart
<REDCON.HELP>INTRO1.HLP Getting help, filesystem basics, etc
<REDCON.HELP>INTRO2.HLP
<REDCON.HELP>INTRO3.HLP
<REDCON.HELP>INTRO-TIPS.HLP Additional quick tips
<REDCON.HELP>INTRO-CMDS.HLP UNIX command comparison chart
<REDCON.HELP>INTRO-EXAMPLES.HLP All command examples from INTRO*.HLP
You may TYPE any of these files directly, or use 'HELP INTRO2'
to access the next intro file in the set.
---> FOR NEXT INTRO, TYPE 'HELP INTRO2'
