2                Introduction to BULLETIN on the Vax9                                                   2/88 AW   A PUBLISHED BY THE DREW UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC COMPUTER CENTER. MAY BE 4 COPIED WITH WRITING CREDIT GIVEN TO DREW UNIVERSITY.  A BULLETIN was written for the Public Domain by Mark London at MIT.   ?      The BULLETIN utility permits a user to create messages for > reading by other users.  Users may be notified upon logging on< that new messages have been added, and what the topic of the@ messages are.  Actual reading of the messages is optional.  (SeeA the command SET READNEW for info on automatic reading.)  Messages @ are automatically deleted when their expiration data has passed.<      The program runs like VAX mail.  The different interest8 groups or BULLETIN boards are implemented in the form of@ 'Folders', just like a filing cabinet.  A Folder contain variousA messages on the same general topic.  A message is a piece of text ; written by a user or staff person and added to a particular > folder.  All users are not permitted to submit messages to all folders.  =      A message consists of an expiration date, a subject line ? and the text of the message.  BULLETIN will prompt the user for + these things when a message is being added.   7      Several different folders are currently defined to > BULLETIN.  The General Folders will be used by Computer Center@ Staff to post messages of general interest concerning the VAX to? the user community.  If something is of an important nature, it ; will be posted in the General folder as a 'System' message. = This is a special message type.  It will be displayed to each : user  as they log in the first time after that message was> posted.  This will be done automatically by BULLETIN on login.@ Once a particular system message has been displayed, it will not0 be displayed for that user on subsequent logins.   Folders   ?      Different folders have been created to contain messages on : different topics.  Folders may be public, semi-private, or@ private.  The majority of the folders will be public.  However a< few will be semi-private, which will mean that all users may? read messages in the folder but not all will be able to post to 2 it.  Currently, there are several folders defined:   GENERAL -- system messages  > PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS -- Can be used by anyone to post messages of interest to the public    On Beta:< AIDE STATION -- Private folder for Computer Center Employees  > In addition on Alpha there are folders that receive electronic magazines, such as: 8 NETMONTH --  The monthly magazine of BITNET information.; RISKS -- Identifying the risks involved in using computers. : INFOIBMPC -- Information about the IBM personal computers.* INFOVAX -- Information on the Digital VAX.= PROGRAMMING_JOURNALS-Includes MINIX, UNIX and C, Modula-2 and  Prolog journals  watch for new ones being added.    Using BULLETIN  A      BULLETIN is invoked by type the command 'BULLETIN' (or BULL, ? for short) at the '$' prompt.  BULLETIN will display its prompt A 'BULLETIN>'. Help is available from DCL command level ($) or from A within the BULLETIN program itself by typing the word 'HELP'.  To ( leave the BULLETIN program, type 'EXIT'.   To see what is there  8      In order to see message and folders, on can use the> 'Directory' command. Upon entering BULLETIN, the user is place? in the General folder.  If the user wishes to see which folders : exist, the directory/folders command is used. for example: typing:          BULLETIN> directory/folders   will make a display like:   (       Folder                       Owner)      *GENERAL                      SYSTEM )      *PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS         BBEYER )       NETMONTH                     BITNET )      *VAX_SIG                      BBEYER   A An asterisk (*) next to the folder name indicates you have unread  messages in that folder.  A The command 'DIRECTORY/FOLDERS/DESCRIBE' would list all available 0 folders, along with a brief description of each.  >      To switch from one folder to another folder, the user may9 execute the 'SELECT' command.  For example, the following ? command would show what a user would do to switch to the folder  called PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS:  % BULLETIN> SELECT PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS    and BULLETIN would respond: 0      Folder has been set to PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS  ?      Now the user may get a list of the messages in this folder 4 by issuing the directory command with no qualifiers. This command, for example: BULLETIN> DIRECTORY  would have bulletin respond:  ;  #     Description               From                  Date @  1     CHRISTMAS PARTY           oleksiak              26-JUN-88@  2     Learning about BULLETIN   oleksiak              26-JUN-87@  3     VAX MAIL                  LLLOYD                01-Jan-87  :      The command 'DIR/NEW' will list just unread messages.     Reading messages  =      In order to read messages in a folder, the user may type < the read command or he/she may simply type the number of the? message he wishes to read.  The message numbers can be acquired > by doing the 'DIRECTORY' command.  If the user hits a carriage> return with no input whatsoever,  BULLETIN will type the first? message in the folder, or if there are new messages present, it . will type the first new message in the folder.  <      If a folder contains the above messages (as seen by the8 'Directory' command) then these messages can be read by:   BULLETIN> READ and BULLETIN would respond:   = Message number:  1                       PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS  Description: CHRISTMAS PARTY: Date:  26-JUN-1988 8:08:40   Expires:  1-JAN-1989 08:08:40   ...Body of message.....   >      Should the user only wish to see message number 3, he can@ enter the 'READ' command with the message number as a parameter. for example:   BULLETIN> READ 3  >      There are three other useful commands that can be used at8 the 'BULLETIN>' prompt when reading messages. These are:  = BACK - Read the message preceding the message currently being  read.   @ CURRENT - Start reading the current message at the top.  This is@ useful for someone who is reading a message and wishes to reread it from the beginning.  < NEXT - Start reading from the beginning of the next message.< This is handy if the user is reading a very long message and wants to skip to the next one.   Saving the interesting stuff.   =      If the user sees something which he/she wants a copy of, < the extract command can be use to write an ASCII copy of the? message into a file.  This command works on the current message @ being read.  It requires the name of the file into which to save= the message.  If the file name is not given, the user will be  prompted for it.  For example:   BULLETIN>  Read 2   % ********** Message on Screen ********    A person could then type BULLETIN> extract 
 file:  FV.TXT 	 BULLETIN>   @ BULLETIN has now saved the contents of message number 2 into the file name 'FV.txt'. =      If the file to which the user is writing already exists, ; BULLETIN will append the message to the file.  The user can > force BULLETIN to write a new file containing only the message: being saved by using the '/new' qualifier in the 'extract'< command.  These messages can then be sent to other users, or> downloaded for use in Wordperfect.  (See "Mail on the Vax", or0 "Transferring a file between a PC and the VAX").  A This command may be useful if you wish to transfer the message to A your PC, perhaps using a BITNET journal message as a reference in ? a paper. Once the file is saved, you can transfer it to a PC by = following the instructions in the handout 'Transferring files 0 from the PC to the VAX of from the VAX to a PC".   Adding messages :      A user may add a message to a folder by selecting the? folder and then using the 'ADD' command.  This is provided that @ the user is adding the message to a public folder.  The user hasA the option of giving the 'ADD' command and typing a message using 7 the VAX editor or uploading a message from your PC (see < documentation), or add a message you have extracted from VAX? mail.  BULLETIN will prompt for the expiration date and subject ? line.  It will then add the text of the file as the body of the @ message. To add a message that is stored in a file (from MAIL or  from your PC, for example) type:             ADD filename  8 If the user does not specify a file name, he/she will be= prompted to enter the body of the message.  The user may also 7 use the EDT text editor by issuing the command with the  '/EDIT'option.   For example:" BULLETIN> sel PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS5           folder has been set to PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS  BULLETIN> ADD MESS.TXT  ? IT IS 10-JUL-1988 12:41:06.15.  SPECIFY WHEN THE MESSAGE SHOULD = EXPIRE:  ENTER ABsolute TIME:  <DD-MMM-YYYY]HH:MM:SS OR DELTA  TIME: DDD HH:MM:SS  > A user then type the date of expiration and press the 'return'< button.  The time input may be ignored. For example, typing:6 20-JUL-1988 or type "10" - for ten days in the future.   BULLETIN responds:9 ENTER DESCRIPTION HEADER.  LIMIT HEADER TO 53 CHARACTERS.   2 Now the user may enter the subject of the message.  	 BULLETIN>   = The above session adds the text in the file 'mess.txt' as the = next message in the PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS Folder.  The message > will be deleted automatically on the 20th of July as requested by the user adding the message.   > Asking BULLETIN to notify you of new messages upon logging in.  =      If the user wishes to get notification on login when new = messages are in a folder, he should use the 'READNEW' option. ? This command does not force the reader to reading new messages, > only gives notification.  To do this, 'SELECT' each folder you= are interested in and do a 'SET READNEW' command while set to  that folder.   Example:  % BULLETIN> Select PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS + folder has been set to PUBLIC_ANNOUNCEMENTS  BULLETIN> SET READNEW   ? Alternately, you may type SET SHOWNEW. This will just display a 2 message notifying you that there are new messages.   Mailing a BULLETIN message  A      A user may directly mail another user a message found in the A BULLETIN.  While reading the message that he/she desires to send, > at the 'BULLETIN>' type 'MAIL'.  The Vax will then ask to whom% you wish to send the information too.   @ Check the BULLETIN DISCUSSION folder on ALPHA for new additions.< If you have comments or questions about BULLETIN, leave them there.