VMS Usernote 46

An Introduction to Vax NOTES

CONTENTS

Introduction
Access
Conferences
Document History
________________________________________________________________________________

1. INTRODUCTION

Information frequently exchanged between computer users may include:

Existing approaches include the following:

All of the above approaches have their uses. For example, Mail is particularly useful in Program Advisory applications. On-line documents (self help) are available to match much of the printed documentation. This allows access when the printed manuals are not accessible and offers the possibility of getting local hardcopies. It also enables selective retrieval of material based on keyword searches.

Electronic conferencing

Specialised computer knowledge is sometimes restricted to a small group of people who are not necessarily systems staff. There is a need for a more general any to any rather than one to one (support desk or e-mail) or one to many (local mailing lists) form of communication. This can be accomplished by means of an electronic noticeboard in which any user can write or read messages. This has the advantage that the requestor does not need to identify a recipient.

Vax Notes is the name of an electronic conferencing program that is designed to meet a range of information exchange needs. It is available on a number of VMS machines on campus. The program is invoked by typing $NOTES

The response should be Notes>

Best results are obtained on a VT-compatible terminal or window.

2. ACCESSING INFORMATION

Before you can read the notes in a conference, you must first add the conference to your Notebook, then open the conference. To see a listing of the conferences that are available, type:

Notes> DIRECTORY/CONFERENCES

The name of each conference appears in capital letters. The title briefly describes the subject of the conference. To add a conference to your Notebook, use the ADD ENTRY command. This only needs to be issued once. For example, to add the GENERAL conference to your Notebook, type:

Notes> ADD ENTRY GENERAL

To open a conference, use the OPEN command. For example, to open the GENERAL conference, type:

Notes> OPEN GENERAL

A conference is organized into discussions. Each discussion begins with a TOPIC, each having any number of REPLIES. Topics are numbered consecutively, starting with 1. Replies are also numbered consecutively, by topic, starting with .1. For example, if there are three replies to topic 4, they are numbered 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3.

To see a listing of the topics in a conference, type:

Notes> DIRECTORY

To include replies, as well as topics, in the listing, type:

Notes> DIRECTORY *.*

To read a specific topic or reply, type the note-ID number at the Notes> prompt. For example, to read the third reply to topic 6, type:

Notes> 6.3

Use the RETURN key to page through the replies in a discussion.

To add a reply to a discussion, use the REPLY command. You must be reading a reply (or the topic) in the discussion before you issue the REPLY command. For example, to add a reply to the discussion on topic 10, type:

Notes> 10

Notes> REPLY

To start a discussion on a new topic, type:

Notes> WRITE

To print notes, use the PRINT command. If you do not specify a range of notes to print, VAX Notes assumes you want to print the note you are currently reading. For example, to print topic 3 and all replies to that topic, type:

Notes> PRINT 3.*

To leave a conference, use the CLOSE command. You can also press CTRL/Z in place of the CLOSE command. For example, to close a conference:

Notes> CTRL/Z

To end your VAX Notes session, use the EXIT command (or press CTRL/Z). For example, to exit VAX Notes, type:

Notes> EXIT

The following table shows introductory commands and gives a brief description of each command.

  Command                  Description
  -------                  -----------
  ADD ENTRY                Adds a conference to your Notebook.
  CLOSE (or CTRL/Z)        Leaves a conference and returns you to 
                           your Notebook.
  DIRECTORY                Lists notes in a conference.
  DIRECTORY/CONFERENCES    Lists available conferences.
  EXIT (or CTRL/Z)         Ends a VAX Notes session.
  EXTRACT                  Creates a text file containing the 
                           notes you specify.
  HELP                     Accesses online HELP about VAX Notes 
  NOTES                    Invokes VAX Notes from DCL level.
  OPEN                     Opens an existing conference
  PRINT                    Prints notes.
  READ                     Displays a note.
  REPLY                    Enters a reply to a topic.
  SHOW ERROR               Displays more information after an error.
  SHOW PROFILE             Displays default profile settings.
  SET PROFILE/EDIT=EDT     Select default editor.
  SET PROFILE/AUTO=DIR     Select action for unseen messages.
  UPDATE                   Updates the unseen count in the Notebook 
                           directory.
  WRITE                    Enters a new topic.

Remember that, whilst you are reading Notes, other users may be concurrently writing or deleting information. The unseen message count may therefore vary accordingly.

3. AVAILABLE CONFERENCES

The following conferences are generally available on LEVA:

GENERAL, TECHNOLOGY, SOFTWARE, SYSTEM, TEXT_PROCESSING

Others will be added from time to time. Not all of these will be relevant to all readers. The most useful conferences are likely to include SOFTWARE and GENERAL.

The SOFTWARE conference has a very general title but this reflects the fact that software problems and discussions are often multi-topic. It includes language-specific sections if necessary. Possible topics include, but are not restricted to the following:

The TEXT_PROCESSING conference is for the exchange of information about text-processing software available Vax. In particular, the LaTeX package is discussed.

Items that did not fall readily into other conferences are included in GENERAL. These includes the following topics:

4. Document History

Introduction to Vax NOTES

Created as Runoff file: 3 January, 1988 Revised: 4, 5, 9 January 1988, 12 October 1993 Converted to HTML format: 5 November 1993
Please send comments and corrections to:
Ted Allwood support@leva.leeds.ac.uk

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