========================= SSCC News, December, 1997 ========================= Inside this issue... Holiday Closings for Computer Room and Consulting VMS Changes: Updates Evaluating the Contents of 9-Track Tapes and Copying to Other Media PC for Backing Up Files Available in 7413 Public Terminal Room SSCC SunOS Computer, WALT, Retired Logging in to the LAN After SSCC Staff have Serviced Your PC New or Updated SSCC Publications ------------------------------------------------- Holiday Closings for Computer Room and Consulting ------------------------------------------------- SSCC consulting will be closed December 24, 25, 26, 31, and January 1 and 2. No operators will be on duty these days as well. Use one of the self-serve printers in the I/O Room or either Public Terminal Room (Social Science 2470 and 7413) if you need print out when no operator is on duty. Refer to How-to #9, "How to Use the SSCC Laser Printers" for details on how to print to these printers. -------------------- VMS Changes: Updates -------------------- Everyone should have received an e-message last month from SSCC's director, Jim Sweet outlining upcoming changes to VMS. Below are a few important updates: o All commercial application software except SPSS will be removed from SSCB and SOC3 on June 30, 1998. This includes SAS, LISREL/PRELIS, LISCOMP, and WORDPERFECT. These programs (except LISCOMP, which is no longer available for VMS) will continue to run on EAGLE. SPSS will be removed October 31, 1998, the date its license expires. (In the original mailing, the date for the removal of SPSS was June 30.) o Operator assisted/batch procedures for mounting and reading 9-track tapes will be eliminated on October 31, 1998. After that time, all 9-track tape processing will be interactive and self-serve from the I/O room. (In the original mailing, the date was June 30.) o You need to convert version 3 SPSS system files created on a VAX computer to either ALPHA EAGLE SPSS system files or to SPSS portable files by October 31, 1998 when the SPSS license expires. Note that the ALPHA version of SPSS (on EAGLE) can read VAX architecture SPSS system files created with version 4 of SPSS directly, i.e., no conversion is necessary. We currently have version 4.1 of SPSS on SSCC VAX computers. Refer to How-to #49 for instructions on converting version 3 system files from VAX to ALPHA format. Note that any SPSS system files created with SPSS prior to version 3 are not readable on any SSCC computer. o The ALPHA version of SAS (on EAGLE) can convert VAX architecture SAS data sets, i.e., SAS on SOC3 and SSCB is not needed to make the conversion so no deadline applies. Refer to How-to #34 for instructions on converting SAS data sets from VAX to ALPHA format. See SSCC's web pages (https://www.ssc.wisc.edu) for up-to-date information on upcoming changes planned for VMS. Broadcast contains a message indicating when the pages get updated. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Evaluating the Contents of 9-Track Tapes and Copying to Other Media ------------------------------------------------------------------- By the beginning of Spring Semester, 1998, all 9-track tapes currently stored in the Computer Room will be boxed and returned to their group leader. (Group leaders who have more than 20 tapes stored in the Computer Room will be contacted via e-mail to work out a time schedule for taking delivery of these tapes.) You can still submit batch tape jobs to the operator until October 31, 1998, but the tape will be released from the Computer Room if it stays in the Computer Room for a month without being mounted or on November 1, 1998, whichever comes first. We highly recommend that you take this opportunity to evaluate these 9-track tapes and decide if they are needed. This especially applies to those of you who may have version 3 SPSS system files on these tapes. After October 31, 1998, any version 3 SPSS system file that has not been converted to portable or ALPHA format will no longer be readable. To assist you in evaluating your 9-track tapes, we are placing a 9-track tape drive with an X-terminal in the I/O room for interactive processing. Interactive tape processing allows you to take advantage of utility programs on VMS for determining the format and tables of tapes that are not well documented. These programs include TAPESCAN, ODH, and TCRACK. Other programs like ODH and COPYTAPE, can be used to copy the tables of a 9-track tape to an 8mm tape using an 8mm tape drive that will also be available in the I/O room. We expect to make interactive tape processing available later this month. The following SSCC handouts are available to assist you in evaluating your 9-track tapes and copying files to other media: This Old Tape: What is it? (#2-10) Using TCRACK to Determine the Contents of a 9-Track Tape (#3-10) Data Storage Alternatives at SSCC (#2-9) ODH Commands and Qualifiers (#2-5) ODH Examples (#2-6) How to Transfer ASCII Files between 3480 and Disk (#20) How to Transfer ASCII Files from 9-Track to 3480 (#21) How to Transfer SAS and SPSS System Files between 3480 and Disk (#23) How to Transfer SAS and SPSS System Files from 9-Track to 3480 (#24) How to Calculate Storage Capacity of Media Available at SSCC (#46) How to Convert SAS Data Sets from VAX to ALPHA Format (#34) How to Convert Ver. 3 SPSS System Files from VAX to ALPHA Format (#49) -------------------------------------------------------------- PC for Backing Up Files Available in 7413 Public Terminal Room -------------------------------------------------------------- An additional PC for backing up files will be added to the Public Terminal Room in 7413 next week. With this PC, you can back up UNIX, VMS and networked-PC files. The PC uses the same 4mm DAT tapes that the PC in the I/O Room uses. 4mm DATs are available from DoIT Customer Service, 1210 W. Dayton St. ---------------------------------- SSCC SunOS Computer, WALT, Retired ---------------------------------- WALT, a SunOS computer, was retired on December 1. WALT was an older UNIX computer that was mostly used for LaTeX and TeX in recent years. LaTeX, TeX, and XFig are now available on all Digital UNIX computers. (See last month's SSCC News for details about LaTeX, TeX, and XFig.) ------------------------------------------------------------ Logging in to the LAN After SSCC Staff have Serviced Your PC ------------------------------------------------------------ The Consultant frequently receives calls like: "Somebody named dsonetti has logged into my PC!" Or, "The PC network will no longer accept my password and I know I've typed it right." In both of these situations, what has happened is that SSCC staff have logged in to SSCC's LAN using the person's PC as a result of an office visit in order to carry out a service request. When SSCC staff visit an office to work on a PC, they leave a card with the staff person's name and a few words about the purpose of their visit. So, the card should be the first clue. Then when you log in to the LAN, first check the "User Name" field on the login dialog box to see whose user name is there. If the user name is not yours, check to see if it's the SSCC staff person who signed the card. In any case, you may need to retype your user name in the dialog box. Then once you type your password in the login dialog box, you should get logged in to the LAN. -------------------------------- New or Updated SSCC Publications -------------------------------- The following documents are either new or recently updated: Converting a Code Book to a SAS FORMAT Library (#4-4) This Old Tape: What is it? (#2-10) Using TCRACK to Determine the Contents of a 9-Track Tape (#3-10) Data Storage Alternatives at SSCC (#2-9) How to Convert SAS Data Sets from VAX to ALPHA Format (#34) How to Convert SPSS System Files from VAX to ALPHA Format (#49) All of these documents are available in either printed form or online. Printed documents may be obtained from the Consultant or either Public Terminal Room. Online documents may be found at SSCC's web pages: https://www.ssc.wisc.edu.