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SSCC News, February, 1997
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Inside this issue...
Change to Method of Connecting to VMS-hosted Network Shares
BROADCAST Messages to be E-mailed to POP Users
SSCC Training Schedule for Spring Semester
Windows Software Available on X-terminals in Public Terminal Rooms
New SSCC Publications
SAS Upgraded on SunOS
UNIX Home Directories Move Completed
Beware of Hype about 56 kbps Modems
Interested in Learning how to Read E-mail Attachments?
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Change to Method of Connecting to VMS-hosted Network Shares
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For the last year and a half or so PC users who needed connections to
network disk shares hosted by a VMS computer have been using an
implementation of PC-NFS called Interdrive95. This was intended and
stated to be an interim solution before the availability of a VMS file
server that uses the same protocol as Pathworks, which had become too
expensive for us to support.
We have now fully tested the VMS implementation of "samba", a file
serving protocol that mimics the one used by Microsoft computers. We
have been using samba for connectivity to Unix-hosted resources for some
time. Beginning very soon we will be shifting all PC network clients to
samba for their connections to VMS disks.
We have documented the procedure that users will need to follow in order
to redefine their connections to VMS-hosted disks. Refer to the list of
new and updated SSCC Publications later in this issue. Users are invited
to make these changes to their own systems if they wish to do so. The
Co-op's desktop support staff will also be glad to come to offices in the
building to help.
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BROADCAST Messages to be E-mailed to POP Users
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PC LAN users who use POP mail may never or only infrequently log on
to UNIX or VMS where we post BROADCAST messages about important
system information including downtimes and e-mail problems. In
order to ensure that these people get this important information,
effective next Monday, we are going to distribute the BROADCAST via
a listserv to POP mail users on a daily basis (unless the BROADCAST
is not updated).
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SSCC Training Schedule for Spring Semester
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Note: All SSCC training sessions require preregistration. If at least
five people have not preregistered for a course one week prior to its
start date, the class may be canceled. To preregister for a class, send
mail to SSCCLASS indicating which class(es) you plan to attend. You will
be reminded about your preregistration through e-mail a day or two before
the class begins. Descriptions for each of the training sessions listed
below may be found in SSCGOPHER.
If no training session is offered for a topic you are interested in, please
send mail to SSCCLASS requesting a session. We will schedule a session
if a minimum of five people request training on a topic.
Date Time Topic Room
---- ---- ----- ----
2/10 12:05-1:00 Using PC Windows Applications from X-terms 2470
2/12,2/14 2:25-4:00 Intro to SPSS 4452
2/13 2:30-3:45 Configuring the UNIX Shell&File Permissions 4308
2/17 12:05-1:00 Windows 95 Basics 4452
2/20 12:30-2:15 Windows 95 Network Fundamentals 4452
2/21 12:05-1:00 Intro to the EUDORA Mailer for PC Users 3432
2/25 2:30-3:45 Filtering Data with UNIX Tools 4308
2/27-3/18 2:30-3:45 Introduction to SAS (meets T/U) 4308
3/5 12:05-1:30 Hands-on Intro to te Web using Netscape 2470
3/6 3:00-3:45 Managing Source Code under UNIX 4308
3/20,4/1 2:30-3:45 Producing Reports with SAS 4308
4/3,4/8 2:30-3:45 Analyzing Data with SAS 4308
4/15-4/22 2:30-3:45 SAS Programming Techniques&Efficiencies 4308
4/18 1:20-3:15 Extracting Data Interactively w/ BADGER 2470
4/24 2:30-3:45 Table Lookup Techniques in SAS 4308
4/29,5/1 2:30-3:45 Concatenating and Merging in SAS 4308
Note: Classes scheduled in Soc. Sci. 4308 meet concurrently with
Sociology 365 on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays. Anyone is welcome to come
but preregistration is still required so that we have enough handouts.
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Windows Software Available on X-terminals in Public Terminal Rooms
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The X-terminals in the Public Terminal Rooms can run programs on a
Windows NT server. Since this was first announced about a year ago,
we have added several applications programs, some just recently.
These include STATA, SPSS, AMOS, MLN, STAT/TRANSFER, CITATION,
Microsoft Office, and WordPerfect. For more information on using
X-terminals to run Windows programs, refer to SSCC Publication 5-9.
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New SSCC Publications
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The following publications are either new or have undergone a major
revision:
UNIX Introductory Handbook
Accessing Disk Shares from the LAN with Windows (5-8)
Using PC Windows Applications from X-terminals with WinCenter (5-9)
Accessing AMOS from X-terminals in the Public Terminal Room (5-11)
Accessing MLN from X-terminals in the Public Terminal Room (5-12)
How to Convert Files to PostScript Files for Printing (#8)
How to Forward Your Mail to another Electronic Address (#36)
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SAS Upgraded on SunOS
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SAS has been upgraded on SunOS computers to version 6.12. Consulting
has a copy of the Changes and Enhancements you are welcome to browse.
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UNIX Home Directories Move Completed
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As most SSCC members now know, Unix home directories were moved from
/users to /home during January. This move went quite smoothly, with
few complaints and no known problems. Now, instead of using about two
dozen file systems on six different computers, we are using three file
domains on one computer. This will increase the reliability of the
system and decrease computer down time.
Below is the space available on each file domain. The file sets are the
letters of the alphabet in /home.
File Total Available Percent File Sets
Domains Space (KB) Space (KB) Free in Domain
home1 8388304 2015704 24% f i j m n p q s w x y
home2 8388304 4373296 52% a b c g k l o t
home3 8388304 4665984 56% d e h n r u v z
Over 10 GB of free space is available for home directories, distributed
as shown above. If SSCC members manage disk space carefully, these 10
GB should last for a long time.
To determine your disk space usage, go to your home directory and
execute the du command:
cd
du -sk .
(On a SunOS system, do not use the k option.)
This will report the amount of space that you are using in your home
directory. The unit are kilobytes. If this number exceeds 100,000
(about 100 MB), please review your use of disk space.
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Beware of Hype about 56 kbps Modems
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There is much loud hype in the computing press and soon in the popular
press about the imminent coming of 56 kbps modems. You'll be able to
browse the web, it says, at twice the speed you thought was impossibly fast
just last week. Some vendors will be selling 56 kbps modems as early as
March. Don't buy them yet. There are at least two competing commercial
implementations of 56 kbps service and no general standards have yet been
adopted. Until standards exist the maintainers of modem pools (DoIT, SSCC,
commercial providers) won't be buying 56 kbps modems, so you won't benefit
from your faster modem anyway. And once standards are settled you may find
that you made the wrong choice. If you normally dial into the SSCC or DoIT
modem pools wait until they announce that 56 kbps service is available.
We're betting that will be next year.
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Interested in Learning how to Read E-mail Attachments?
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A lot of users are having difficulties reading e-mail attachments.
If you are one of these people and would like to learn more about
this topic, contact Sandra Wald (265-4922 or e-mail to SWALD) and
she'll organize a session demonstrating in EUDORA, PINE, and PMDF
Mail on VMS.