======================== SSC News, August, 1995 ======================== This is the SSC News. This monthly electronic newsletter will keep you informed about recent changes on the SSC computer networks. We hope this information will help improve communication between the SSC computing staff and all of you computer users out there. Inside this issue... VMS and UNIX Downtime Scheduled for August 21 New Version of SPSS 5.0 Prerelease for EAGLE Installed Requesting After-hours Access to the Public Terminal Room and I/O Room VMS and UNIX Downtime Scheduled for August 21 --------------------------------------------- The memory for VMS and the disks we ordered on the capital equipment exercise have arrived! Our DEC representative will be here on August 21 to install this hardware. The machines should only be down a portion of the day but we cannot predict times for a particular machine. Below is a list of some of the items to be installed: o 128 mb memory addition for EAGLE, giving it a total of 256 mb. o 64 mb memory addition for ROBIN, giving it a total of 128 mb. o 32 mb memory addition for SSCB, giving it a total of 105 mb, its physical limit. o 3 2.1 gb SCSI disks destined to become user disks on UNIX. o 4 2.1 gb SCSI disks to replace all 16 of our older 400 mb DSSI disks on VMS. The additional memory we are installing on VMS should eliminate most of the memory errors SAS and SPSS users have reported since we upgraded the VMS operating system last January. The error messages are usually either "process or global sections table full" or "insufficient virtual memory". We will use the three new UNIX disks to help alleviate user disk space problems; especially on the following user disks: d7, d8, d9, and d10. New Version of SPSS 5.0 Prerelease for EAGLE Installed ------------------------------------------------------ We just installed a new version of SPSS 5.0 PRERELEASE on EAGLE. SPSS Inc. received a lot of criticism from its customers (including us) about the fact that SPSS 5.0 could not read SPSS system files that were saved on SPSS 4.1 for VAX/VMS and so they shipped a new version which fixes this problem. This version also provides a fix for a serious bug which caused files to be saved incorrectly in compressed mode. Remember, this is PRERELEASE software so there are no guarantees on results. Several of us are testing this new software and we will post results in bulletin. A couple of things we have discovered just from preliminary testing: 1) Files are not saved in compressed format by default as they are with SPSS 4.1 so system files take up a lot more space when created with SPSS 5.0. 2) One benchmark regression program which took less than a minute of CPU with SPSS 4.1 had to killed because it had used over 10 minutes of CPU and had not finished. This could just be another symptom of the memory problems we've been experiencing on EAGLE and not a problem with SPSS 5.0. One note of caution: Even though SPSS 5.0 on EAGLE can now read SPSS system files that were saved on SPSS 4.1 for VAX/VMS, the reverse is NOT true. SPSS system files created with SPSS 5.0 on EAGLE are read INCORRECTLY with SPSS 4.1 on VAX/VMS. It is not surprising that SPSS 4.1 cannot read SPSS 5.0 system files without first making an EXPORT file. What is surprising is that you get no error message when you attempt to read these files. In fact, you even get a data set - which is full of garbage. Requesting After-hours Access to the Public Terminal Room and I/O Room ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a good time (before the fall rush) to get authorization for after-hours access to the Public Terminal Room and the Computer I/O Room, if you haven't already. All you have to do is fill out an "After-hours Request Form" which is available in the Public Terminal Room, the I/O room, and outside of Social Science 4403. Just drop off the filled out form in the mailbox across from the 4th floor elevators labeled "After-hours Request". Your request will be processed within two business days. We will contact you only if we have problems with your authorization. TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS NEWSLETTER, just reply to this mail message indicating you want to unsubscribe. We will remove you from the distribution list for future electronic mailings. If you ever change your mind, just notify the SSC Consultant or send mail to SSCNEWS asking to get back on the list.