FMD RED CONSENSUS TOPS-20 SURVIVAL GUIDE ======================================== Greetings citizen! Due largely to the untimely demise of our last system operator, we have produced this TOPS-20 survival guide using wetware final-consciousness extraction on said operator's brain tissues. It is hoped that future operators will benefit from the scattered information we were able to retrieve, as first they begin their adminstrative duties. The extrated information has been organized into several topics. Our last operator was frequently inebriated (a contributing factor to his life-ending airlock accident,) so the info is of dubious quality. We present it nonetheless for your instruction. DOCUMENT CONVENTIONS ==================== Any time a command is referenced, it will appear on its own line and will be indented. TOPS-20 commands will be represented with a "@" prompt (for non-ENABLEd commands) or a "$" prompt (for ENABLEd commands.) Pressing after a command is usually implied, but is sometimes specified (especially when is required at a prompt.) Comments after a command (not associated with the command, its output, or its arguments) will be after the command, some space, and the # character. Abbreviated commands will be used in this document. The ubiquitous "dir" command is a good example; in its full form, the command is "DIRECTORY (OF FILES)." If you wish to see a full version of an abbreviated command, simply press after an abbreviated portion, as in "dir." This will auto-fill the command. The key can be used multiple tiles while filling out commands and options. The key can be used for filename completion in most cases as well. A theoretical user name "mavrides" will be used in all examples requiring a system username. Substitute your own username, or another active username, as needed. Be careful, The <> characters around usernames are not inidcators of substitution, they are part of the commands. Do not attempt to contact user mavrides on the live system, as her account has been deleted. LOGGING IN ========== To connect to the FMD REDCON mainframe, use the following bridge: ssh -p 2320 twenex@consensus.circumlunar.space At the @ prompt, enter your username. Do not be alarmed by the \ results if you need to use the backspace key; this is expected behavior, you are being shown the character that is removed from the buffer. After entering your username, you will be prompted for your password. Upon successful login, your personal LOGIN.CMD file will be executed, and you will be presented with a @ command prompt. After you first login, you may wish to change your password with something like the following (substituting your own username, of course): @set directory password You may also want or need to set terminal options. The TSIZE command will let you adjust your terminal size (tsize cols rows), or: @set terminal ? @terminal ? to view help on additional terminal-related options. GETTING HELP =========== The operating manuals are exceptionally written. For online help while logged in, try: @? @HELP NAVIGATING THE FILESYSTEM ========================= You will start in your directory at login. To see some information on your current directory: @info dir You will note that your "home" directory is named after your username, as in this example output from the above command: @info dir Name TOPS20: Working disk storage page limit +INF Permanent disk storage page limit +INF WHEEL Number of directory 643 Account default for LOGIN - none set Protection of directory 774040 Maximum subdirectories allowed 10 Last interactive login 10-Apr-2019 10:16:25 TOPS10 project-programmer number - none set The primary disk device on the RED CONSENSUS is "TOPS20:" Additional logical devices are setup to make things easier. You may view all of the logical pointers with: @info log sys View the files in your directory with any of the following commands: @dir # for a normal directory listing @vdir # for a verbose listing @tdir # for a listing sorted by write date Also consider the following commands, which will give the same info as the first command above: @dir @dir tops20: @dir tops20:*.*.* And finally, consider the following command, which will output a customized list with self-evident information: @dir, @@size @@times @@user @@ You may also want to try: @dir, @@? for a full listing of the 33 available output options. Now you can: 1) find info on where you are current located in the filesystem; and, 2) show a listing of files and directories in your current location. To create a directory in your home directory, first make sure "info dir" shows a Maximum subdirectories value; if it does not, contact the operator to have them add this capability. We'll use the "build" command to create a new directory: @build [New] @@work 100 @@perm 100 @@list Name Working disk storage page limit 100 Permanent disk storage page limit 100 FILES-ONLY Account default for LOGIN - none set TOPS10 project-programmer number - none set @@ It is highly recommended that you read the appropriate operating manaul for the BUILD entry, but the above demonstrates how to create a simple directory with 100 pages of available space. Let's look at the directory, enter the directory (or "connect" to the directory,) and then return to our home directory and kill/delete our test directory: @dir testing.* TOPS20: TESTING.DIRECTORY.1 Total of 0 pages in 1 file @conn <.testing> @info dir Name TOPS20: Working disk storage page limit 100 Permanent disk storage page limit 100 FILES-ONLY Number of directory 255 Account default for LOGIN - none set TOPS10 project-programmer number - none set @conn # conn alone will return to home @info dir Name TOPS20: Working disk storage page limit +INF Permanent disk storage page limit +INF WHEEL Number of directory 643 Account default for LOGIN - none set Protection of directory 774040 Maximum subdirectories allowed 10 Last interactive login 10-Apr-2019 10:16:25 TOPS10 project-programmer number - none set @build [Old] @@kill [Confirm] @@ Finally, look at a few interesting directories and files that you should have access to: @dir @dir @dir @dir @dir @dir *.exe @dir *.txt @dir fun:*.exe CREATING AND EDITING A TEXT FILE ================================ The RED CONSENSUS has EMACS, and a few other editors (along the ED and TECO lines.) Use "edit" to load emacs. We'll start it with a filename specified: @edit test.txt (For help type _ and then press "?", or look online.) Enter some text into your file. Here are a few primer keys: f move forward one character b move back one character p move to previous line n move to next line xs save xc exit Save and exit. Look at the contents of your text file: @type test.txt If your text file has escape sequences, you might want to type it with those intact: @type test.txt, @@unformatted @@ If your text file was C code, saved as hello.c, you may want to run it with: @execute hello and save it by: @load hello.rel LINK: Loading @save hello.exe HELLO.EXE.1 Saved @hello.exe Hello World @ If you run out of file space while working (which may occur if you're in a directory with limited space and you're compiling C programs with the inefficient KCC compiler), then you might want to: @del hello.* HELLO.C.1 [OK] HELLO.EXE.1 [OK] HELLO.REL.1 [OK] @expunge TOPS20: [80 pages freed] @