Technology and Tools
January 31, 1978
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
FINAL ALTO II SPARES BUILD·
spa
is now taking orders for the final Alto II Spares Build. This is for Alto II boards excluding accessories such as Orbit and Trident. TI,e closing date for this build is March 1, 1978. Contact Terry Haney, SPG.WHOLE ALTO 'VORLD MEETING· The next Whole Alto W orId meeting is scheduled to be held from 9AM to 3:30PM February 7,1978, in the Green Room at XEOS, Pasadena. Liz Bond is our hostess. The topics discussed will include maintenance, build activity, protection of intellectual property, software, and a demonstration of Smalltalk.
GENERAL NOTES
SUBSYSTEMS CATALOG . The Subsystems Catalog has been revised to include new subsystems and a functional cross reference. The latter aids in locating a program to perform a gi ven task. When a program has been located, the alphabetical listing can be used to obtain a more complete description and direction to the documentation.
ALTO NETWORK DIAGRAM· This diagram, illustrating server location by Ethernet, has been revised to include the servers' names and addresses. A copy is attached.
TOOLS HARD\VARE
ALTO II WORKSTA lION MULTIPLEXER ADAPTER· An Alto II Keyboard Buffer is now available that permits the Workstation Multiplexer to be used with Alto II keyboards.
(The multiplexer itself is used to build a 4X4 arrangement of Altos and workstations such that any workstation may be manually switched to any Alto for exclusive use.) Cost of the keyboard buffer is $275 plus $125 per workstation interface (one per Alto II workstation).
Also required are cables and the tllultiplexer (total cost is $2.5K to $3K depending on exact configuration).
TRIDENT MULTIPLEXER . The following was excerpted from a message by Ron Freeman, SPG:
The 74161s used for the sector counters on the Trident Multiplexer boards are being used improperly resulting in erroneous operation of the sector counters unless the 74161 happens to be manufactured by National Semiconductor ...
As this problem does not exist in the design of the 74LS161. an E.O. is being written to use the LS device for this design.
Several of these modules have been delivered and installed in Alto lIs, all apparently with the National part used. You can suit yourselves as to the desirability of replacing the 74161s on these units;
however, should theY' be returned to spa for repair in the future, the 74161s will be replaced at that time with the 74LS161s.
Whole ALTO World Newsletter
SOFTWARE
In general, the subsystems, packages, and documentation indicated here will be available from your local IVY server under the directories < Alto> and < AltoDocs>. If they are not available, or if you are in doubt as to the version, they Inay be retrieved from [MAXC]
(same directories). Files stored under other directories are on [MAXC] unless otherwise indicated, e.g. [XEOS].
ReReleases • Subsystems
CHA T • Minor fixes have been made and a curve displaying protocol added. Retrieve
< Alto>Chat.run. The documentation is unchanged.
FIND . Enhancements to this subsystem include switches to distinguish upper and lower case, to print the entire Bravo paragraph containing a match, and to print all text between blank lines containing a match. Retrieve <Alto> Find.run. Updated documentation is available from < AltoDocs> Find.tty.
FRED· The restriction limiting the range of character codes to 7- bit ASCII has been lifted.
Load < Alto> Fred.dm. The documentation is unchanged.
MADTEST· The nature of the changes are unknown to me. This subsystem is available from the bootserver or retrieve < Alto> Madtest.run. There is no documentation.
OEDIT· This subsystem has been extended to provide a simple search command and to display a range of values for rapid browsing. Retrieve < Alto>Oedit.run. New documentation is on < AltoDocs>Oedit.tty.
SCA VENGER . Changes involve improved DiskDescriptor reconstruction.
< Alto> Scavenger.tty. The documentation is unchanged.
Retrieve SETTIME . If this subsystem is unable to obtain the date and time from a time server, it will now display an appropriate message and prompt you to type in the date and time. It has also been altered for the new time standard. Retrieve <Alto>SetTime.run. The updated documentation is on < AltoDocs> SetTime.tty.
TYPE . This version fixes the bug that caused long lines to scroll off of the top of the screen. Retrieve < Alto> Type.run. The documentation is unchanged.
ReReleases . Packages
ETHERBOOT· This new version conforms to the new time standard, can direct its boot-load request to a specific address, and can take alternative action if a boot-boot-load request fails to be honored. The documentation, < AltoDocs> EtherBoot.tty, has been updated.
GP . This package for parsing command lines deletes the DefaultArg routine and slightly alters the ReadParam routine. The revised documentaion may be retrieved from
<
AltoDocs> GP.tty.2
Whole ALTO World Newsletter
DOCUMENTA 'fION DISCREPANCY • It has been reported that there is a discrepancy between the documentation and implementation of the UtilStr package. For the routine DblSub, the parameters DblMinuend and DblSubtrahend are reversed. Also, the DblDiv routine returns the remainder in the first word and quotient in the second, not a 32- bit quotient as some have understood the documentation to say.
TECHNOLOGY
The topic of this month's paper is the emergence of an applied psychology that can be used by designers to develop user interfaces, to predict user performance on various design alternatives, and, in some cases, to compare it to the theoretical limit. While a substantial theory does not yet exist, the authors present a view of what an applied psychology might be like and assert that a sufficient amount of knowledge exists now to begin impacting the human side of Office Information Systems.
The Whole Alto World Newsletter is a monthly publication for Xerox employees that use the Alto. It is not to be shown to non- Xerox people. Copies are available on [MAXC] < AltoDocs) WAWnews.press or may be obtained from the editor, Frank Ludolph, XEOS, by messaging <Ludolph) or calling Intelnet 8*923-4356.
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