Library Files and Utilities      Jun. 16, 1983

     Many of the public domain utilities found on the RCPM sys-
tems are starting to appear in library form. This is an introduc-
tion to this form and the utilities available here to support 
this type of file.

     Libraries as found on RCPM systems are files that consist of 
several other files, combined with a directory that enables 
access to the individual members of the collection. They have a
type of .LBR, not to be confused with .LIB files, which are usually
assembler "include" files.  They are made and maintained by a
utility LU, written by Gary Novosielski. 

     Some advantages of libraries are the ability to collect all 
the related files for a particular program in one place. They may 
all be transferred as a single file, without concern that you 
might overlook one by accident. Also, when the library contains 
many relatively small files, the library takes less total disk 
space than the separate files would.

     On the other side, you may not want all the files, so it is 
a drawback to get more than you need. Some of the utilities here 
are intended to address this problem

     Utilities LDIR, LCRCK, LTYPE, and LMODEM may be used from 
anywhere in the system. LDIR will print the directory of the 
library, including file sizes. LCRCK acts like the regular CRCK 
utility, but gives the check for a particular member. LTYPE will 
permit looking at the beginning of any text member, so you can 
decide if that's what you're after. Finally, LMODEM will extract 
and send an individual member from the library.

     None of these utilities accept "wild characters", and all 
will give help messages if invoked without arguments. Of course, 
the whole library may be sent with XMODEM, and separated at your 
end with the LU program.

     One problem may exist for those limited to 300 baud usage. 
Some of the libraries are large enough that they can't be sent 
within the system time limit at this speed. I'm afraid you have 
no choice but to extract and send one member at a time with 
LMODEM. So far, no member is large enough to run into that prob-
lem, but some are creeping up close.

                              Bill Earnest, Allentown SYSOP

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                   BYEII

ByeII is a revolution in the Bye program.
It is a new version of Bye that has all of the modem dependant stuff
in one small file that just needs to be YANKED into the main ASM file
using Mince (yea!) or WordMaster or WordStar, or whatever your favorite
editor is.

Modules currently exist for the following modems:

	D.C. Hayes MM100/82-103A
	PMMI
	D.C. Hayes Micromodem
	CompuPro Interfacer 3/4 with external modem
	WD8250 with external modem
	IN8251 with external modem (this module will need work)
	Novation AppleCat
	and some others too.

All modifications should PLEASE be sent to me, so that I can keep up
the library of modem files.

				Paul Traina - Sysop
				OxGate-001 San Jose
				weekdays 6pm to 8am
				weekends 24 hours
				(408) 287-5901