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 [para- meters]. 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 south 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.