OpenVMS (zaibatsu.circumlunar.space), 03/20/2020
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Do you OpenVMS? When I login and use the LCM+L's system (rosencrantz),
I can't help feeling like very few people must use it. It just doesn't
*feel* like something  people would want to use. It  doesn't feel like
it has evolved into that.

I know very little about it. Mostly, I login to play around and learn.
I've read some  docs, programmed a few things, and  scoured the system
for discoveries. It's fun enough to pass the time.

One thing I have noticed, in playing with OpenVMS and with TOPS-20, is
that  a  system  that  feels  entirely unusable  at  first,  can  feel
reasonable after  getting used  to it. Coming  from *nix,  TOPS-20 and
OpenVMS (sorry  to lump them together,  but they both prompt  the same
feelings) are like walking around blind.  With a tiny bit of searching
for help,  it gets better, but  still *feels* wrong. After  spending a
few days in either one, things  improve; it's more like walking around
while looking through a toilet paper roll.

Of course,  I'm sure  the experts  would be able  to outline  in great
detail why  either system  is quite excellent.  They might  even argue
that either  is better than *nix.  Perhaps they'd be right,  I have no
idea. But for end user usability, they suck.

(Side story:  I went to an  Atari swap meet  once, in the days  of the
Pentium. The folks there were dead  set on arguing that the throughput
of an atari CPU ran circles around the Pentium, and that the atari CPU
was therefore superior.  I have no idea what they  were talking about,
but it was quite amusing.)

Anyway, here's  a DCL command  script I  put together. It  lists "new"
users on rosencrantz... that is to say, users with a number newer than
the one in the  script. I don't know if it  really works properly, but
it seems to.  I suppose the number  could be stored in  a file, rather
than manually  updated, but this suits  me. I'm curious if  there is a
better way to get this info, but searching through openvms docs/forums
is not always fun (and I'm doing this for fun!)

contents of new_users.com:
$! adapted from malcolmb's "find_new_user"
$! to find all usernames on system, I think
$! use /output=filename to save results
$! provide N as a starting user number
$! 04/15/20 - 1574427
$ N = 1574426
$ I = 0
$NEXT:
$ N = N + 1
$ USER = F$IDENT(N,"NUMBER_TO_NAME")
$ IF USER .EQS. "" THEN GOTO NOUSER
$ I = 0
$ WRITE SYS$OUTPUT F$FAO("!SL !AS",N,USER)
$ GOTO NEXT
$NOUSER:
$ I = I + 1
$ IF I .GT. 10 THEN EXIT
$ GOTO NEXT

If you  want another openvms  script to peek at,  have a look  at user
papa's GRFFTI script (social media for openvms!)[1].

If you happen  to be on gopher  AND on rosencrantz, drop me  a line at
tfurrows@sdf.org


[1] gopher://zaibatsu.circumlunar.space:70/1/~tfurrows/openvms/