3000 Newswire Tech Features

June 2005

net.digest — Internet advice on reading mystery reel-to-reel tapes, what do to before you upgrade to the 7.5 release, the deal that’s improving to link disks to 3000s, moving VFORMS, as well as a possible pivot for MPE’s end-date

Robelle Tech — Users and developers share their tips and experience on using IMAGE logging in part 2 of Robelle’s report, and the new Suprtool 4.9 release improves $Clean and $Number functions as well as Oracle support

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Tips on parsing options for HP 3000 compilers, terminal emulators and the options to dump them, exporting DTC configurations and how to ensure that files built in this subdirectory use user volume space, not system volume space.

May 2005

net.digest — The 3000 experts and vets who offer MPE instruction on the Internet teach validation’s nuances, ID IMAGE types and show use for perl

Robelle Tech — Now that logging has gained a genuine mission in meeting SOX requirements, Bob Green explains the IMAGE logging process and how to make it work to serve your outside auditors. Robelle’s staff also show how to use Qedit’s functions to work with HP 3000 files that include unprintable characters

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Tips on discovering memory sizes on 3000s, installing FTP patches, using the modem ports, forcing a dataset to unlock without a reboot, and more.

April 2005

Inside Vesoft: That Redo You Do, by Steve Hammond — Use the REDO command to save time and conserve your energy

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Internet advice on the improvements in the 3000’s telnet, handling system aborts, RAID, sorting out which SYSSTART module executes on various reboots, and a drawer full of Quick Cuts

Robelle Tech — A Ken Robertson tutorial explains the 3000’s shell scripts and how they differ from Unix scripts; Robelle staff shows how to use Suprtool to find out which detail dataset has bad data when an automatic master bugs out

March 2005

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Internet advice explains how to move groups and accounts between volume sets, wonders how to move data across arrays, and delivers Quick Cuts on concise tips to improve your 3000

Robelle Tech — Bob Green explains everything you need to make the MPE/iX FTP server connect your HP 3000 to the rest of the world. Robelle experts show the steps on how to specify a Qedit line range without using line numbers

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Completing a Posix recovery from a disk crash, how to copy info from a CD-ROM to the 3000, max memory supported for the Series 900, converting an SL to an XL, and detecting if a Series 900 system has multiple CPUs — from a CI script

February 2005

Inside VESoft, by Steve Hammond — With the deadline looming, our reliable columnist opens his mailbag to solve the problems of desperate readers

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Internet advice explains what transient disk space in on the HP 3000, and how to use it; how to make use of SHUT 6 during shutdown; the 3000 uses its MIB to respond to SNMP requests

Robelle Tech — Neil Armstrong shows to to use Suprtool to fine-tune performance on both Eloquence for HP-UX and IMAGE under MPE/iX. He also shows how to use Suprtool to make a record or table key match on two values

Hidden Value — How to load patches and force them to qualify, processing MPE files with lockwords using Posix names, and how to run telnet on two different ports on HP 3000s and HP 9000s

January 2005

net.digest, edited by John Burke — See how Internet advice highlights the opportunites to enhance the 3000, including documenting the EDITOR command for 250-character lines, open source MPE additions, discovering STORE tape creation dates — and another bounty of first-rate 3000 tips in Quick Cuts —

Inside VESoft, by Steve Hammond — Losing sleep? Turn to MPEX and its related JCWs to stop your tape habits and avoid the midnight phone calls

Robelle Tech — Bob Green continues his excellent primer on using MPE with instructions for examing file content, while Robelle’s experts give examples of how Qedit can be used to deal with trailing blanks in data files

Hidden Value — How to build your own cable for Series 900 video output, understanding the wisdom of log type 205, how to make LTO tape drives work with the HP 3000, and how to install a laser network printer on a remote network

December 2004

Inside VESoft, by Steve Hammond — Check out the MPEX manual and you’ll find almost 20 different parameters you can use in conjunction with PRINT

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Internet advice on precautions to take when you modify FASTSIZE, misleading examples in the 3000’s help files, running scripts with IO redirection, ensuring the Posix environment gets restored so it continues to operate — and a torrent of first-rate 3000 tips in Quick Cuts

Robelle Tech — Bob Green explores the nuances of the world of HP 3000 files for Unix and Windows admins, while Green and Neil Armstrong show how Speedware’s AMXW plays well with Suprtool in emulated environments

Hidden Value — Advice on keeping the directories clean after restoring the SYS account, how long it's safe to work in START RECOVERY, how to test for the presence of a mounted tape with write enabled, and how to limit connections coming from the network to a range of LDEVs.

November 2004

Disaster Recovery Plans for Homesteaders, Part 2, by Paul Edwards — A roundup of agreements and site types gives a good grounding in DR safety

Robelle Tech — Bob Green offers a primer on the HP 3000’s login and account structure for Unix and Windows admins, while Robelle’s support team relays a dialog with a customer on Suprtool batch jobs, datestamps, and using FTP

Inside VESoft, by Steve Hammond — MPEX has searching capabilities to help even the most dedicated pack rat. See how to find what you’re seeking

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Internet advice on backing up IMAGE logfiles, HP’s Halloween homesteader treat, executing Windows commands from the HP 3000, a new indispensable tool that’s free, and how to secure programs

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Tips from MPE experts on how to fix a Stage/iX staging area, get a hardware map using the STM, see if SuperDLT is supported on your HP 3000, and determine what counts against your user license.

October 2004

Data Manipulation Off the 3000, by Roy Brown — Migration Blues Verse 3 shows how to make Microsoft products put the 3000’s data in shape

Disaster Recovery Plans for Homesteaders, by Paul Edwards — Get started on protecting the 3000 homestead resource with this planning advisory

Robelle Tech — A handy list of MPE commands for Unix administrators managing 3000s, and more tips on the wide world of Suprtool’s date functions

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Advice on getting Store to Disk running, using grep, which MPE/iX to park on, perl’s promise, and HP gone fishing

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Tips from MPE experts on how to find out security information for an IMAGE database, setting up RJ-45 connections to a 3000, downloading fonts from the 3000 to a LaserJet, ruesuming system logging after it's been suspended, nuances of SHOWVAR in CI scripts, and how to fix trouble with 3000 network transports.

September 2004

Migration Blues Verse 2: We Don’t Support That, by Roy Brown — Migration often identifies something in your systems your new vendor needs you to lose. Implementation quirks in systems can prompt a verse of migration blues

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Internet chatter about a device limit still not fixed in MPE, how BEGIN-END protect databases, logging’s new regulatory friends, DR that prompted a 9000 conversion, and a great white paper

Robelle Tech, by Bob Green — Core Migration makes a case for PowerHouse migrations, and the first in a series of tips about Suprtool’s date functions

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Tips from MPE experts on how to know if a tape drive is going bad or a tape is getting too old, keeping Glance reports up to date with Samba, JINETD setup information for use with newlink commands, displaying symbolic links and target files in "pure" MPE, updating sendmail for MPE/iX 6.5, and the rules for DLT library support under MPE.

August 2004

Migration Blues: Coding for Conversion, by Roy Brown — Maintaining applications scheduled for migration? You’re not alone. See how to get the work done without breaking what’s already supporting your company

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Internet chatter about file limits, hardware water torture, CI programming, FSCHECK and community storage

Robelle Tech, by Bob Green — Consultants report on their view of the 3000 world, and debugging Qedit for Windows is more interesting

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Tips from MPE experts on using bytestream files in MPE, setting a prompt in a startup script, tricks on running SYSINFO, discovering SCSI addresses being used,and testing config groups for disaster recovery.

July 2004

Inside VEsoft: But Wait, There’s More, by Steve Hammond — The VECSL account helps you better manage your e3000 and make your job easier

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Analysis and commentary on 3000-related Internet discussions about the community’s ability to mount a meeting, forthcoming CI enhancements and what HP should do, 3000-L’s patron saint, and the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley laws on outsourcing HP 3000 operations

Robelle Tech, by Bob Green and Neil Armstrong — A front line report shows how to integrate the 3000 with RAID storage; a weird Oracle error shows how errors aren’t always related to the application generating the error

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Tips from MPE experts on using SYSGEN to create an SLT, reinstating network config files while changing a disk, managing passwords on a tape library, and getting rid of the page eject when RUN is used

June 2004

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Internet discussions on getting rid of the DDS drives bogging down a 3000, how to make Google the best friend for 3000 searches, and tips on accounting structure and store-to-disk features

Inside VEsoft: Do It Yourself with LISTF, by Steve Hammond — Create your own LISTF formats with MPEX with just a little bit of programming skill

Robelle Tech, by Bob Green — Bob Green reports from the front lines to track the the plans of 3kassociates.com and 3k Associates' Chris Bartram; Neil Armstrong recaps a very busy year of Suprtool’s improvements

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Tips from MPE experts DLT support for 6.5 3000s; determining accounts and groups on a user volume that has failed; setting a prompt like a Unix .profile; setting TurboIMAGE passwords; and what obstacles stand in the way of using the 3000 for another 23 years.

May 2004

Inside VEsoft: The Dating Files, by Steve Hammond — MPEX uses ALTSPOOLFILE to let you deal with dates better than my college roommate

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Internet discussions include advice on the deal on conversions, capacity options for backups, a better understanding of BUFFSPECS, and help with network restart procedures on the 3000

Robelle Tech, by Bob Green — In the first of a series of interviews, Bob reports from the migration and homesteading front lines of the Ecometry world, and then recaps a very busy year for enhancements in Qedit

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Tips from MPE experts using Model 10 disk arrays, secrets of the MPE intrinsic FPOINT, receiving FINFO results across DSLINE, current device class limits, whether to re-index MIAGE B-Trees, and commands that show the applications using a particular report

April 2004

Inside VEsoft: Altered States with ALTs, by Steve Hammond — Other than ALTFILE, MPEX has several other ALTs out there to play with. Probably the most popular of these is the ALTSEC command

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Our monthly summary of Internet discussions includes advice on hardware mirroring and user volumes, an error message that simply has got to be joking, workarounds for the un-bootable problems of a completely full LDEV 1, and all you want to know about XM

Robelle Tech, by Neil Armstrong and the Robelle Staff — Neil Armstrong highlights the distinctions between the HP 3000 and HP 9000 versions of Suprtool, while the Robelle staff and friends nominate the best enhancements ever for the HP 3000, as well as a few of the worst ever

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Tips from MPE experts on using DDS tapes of differing lengths and versions, how to abort all user sessions in a controlled way, changing IP addresses through NMMGR, JINFO advice and store-to-disc and text2pdf instructions.

March 2004

Inside VEsoft: Light of the Silvery SPOON, by Steve Hammond — MPEX users have their own SPOONFEED command that make running other programs or utilities easier. And it even has some already built in!

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Our monthly summary of Internet discussions includes three hard questions for HP and OpenMPE, details on the newest feature for the 3000, generic device IDs, and advice on how to make contiguous disk space on a system when it seems like the 3000 doesn’t want to.

Robelle Tech, by Bob Green and François Desrochers — Bob Green offers a helpful list of programming laws, and Qedit users can see how the new features variable substitution, horizontal line merges and trailing space handling works

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Tips from MPE experts on how use FCLOSE and FOPEN, BIGPIN and MPE/iX 7.5, reading real numbers on the HP 3000 and how they behave, and determining when a user last logged on.

February 2004

Inside VEsoft: A State of SHOW Me, by Steve Hammond — Just like the storied guides led Lewis and Clark through the new land, MPEX has learned that it needs to show the way to help its followers and it has enough SHOW commands to lead you through the wilderness

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Our monthly summary of Internet discussions provides the details about a critical patch for fixing the 3000’s built-in backups, how hard it’s become to get an HP patch into general release, a tutorial on MPE date capabilities, and the current state of password and diagnostics that customers must master to change firmware in peripherals

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Tips from MPE experts on how to find all IMAGE databases on a system, configuraing an N-Class system for the VA7110, and a command to kill a session that refuses to die.

Robelle Tech, by Bob Green and Neil Armstrong — Bob Green serves up a trivia quiz that will challenge the long-time HP 3000 advocate, while Neil Armstrong reports on the latest in performance notes about Suprtool and the fastest generation of HP 3000s

January 2004

Homesteading: Plan for the Future, by Paul Edwards — You still have work to do on the HP 3000 even if you’re going to homestead on the system instead of migrating. A detailed checklist shows what system management tasks and information you need to maintain to keep your system humming

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Advice on automating FTP logins and working around a bug in ONEXITERROR; an update from HP on its latest CI improvement project from the SIB request list; and everything you need to know to get value from using the affordable Nike 20 disk arrays with your 3000

Robelle Tech, by Bob Green and François Desrochers — Bob Green shows how software suppliers can manage to deflect all reports of failures with a pair of bromides you’ve heard too often in support calls. François Desrochers outlines the marvels of Qedit’ s many line number handling abilities

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Finding an IP address for a particular login, the source of console UDP messages, what chkptstat does, limits on the CI buffer and which MPE versions have Store to Disk

December 2003

Inside VEsoft, by Steve Hammond — The mailbag is opened and the questions answered about how to make MPEX JCWs test the success or failure of operations on files; how to let ALTFILE help on compiling programs; and putting ERASE to work. Also, advice on relationships with programmers

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Advice on how to ensure your 9x7, 9x8 and 9x9 systems can get replacement peripherals; and how make Samba a better-performing player in your migration project or homesteading work

Robelle Tech, by Bob Green and Neil Armstrong — In the second part of PA-RISC history Bob Green marks the end of sales of the HP 3000 by recounting the spin and warts of the Spectrum project. Neil Armstrong then shows how Suprtool UX works with iMaxSoft’s call conversion libraries in migration

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — DAT72 use with HP 3000s, how to specify home, how to erase, reformat, and re-initialize DLT tapes, seeing a file label’s create and modify times down to the second, and how to retrieve the local node name programmatically

November 2003

Inside VEsoft, by Steve Hammond — If you are clever enough, you can let MPEX hook up with a multitude of programs on your e3000

Robelle Tech — Bob Green marks the end of sales of the HP 3000 by recounting the history of the Spectrum project, then shows how Qedit keeps getting enhanced to expand the platform’s capabilities with the new XX indicator for Visual Mode

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Advice on updating firmware, a tutorial on two ways of repacking, and how to clean up files without locking up the HP 3000

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Tips include how to delete pages from a spoolfile area, fix tape devices not responding, enable DNS on the 3000, compare the performance of backups and much more.

October 2003

Robelle Tech — It’s an unusual time for a new 3000 book, but these are unusual times for the computer; Suprtool has gained numeric formatting in its latest version

net.digest, edited by John Burke — A homesteader’s guide to installing new drives; using Easytime to go headless; a refresher on IMAGE by master Fred White

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Tips include how to chat on HP 3000s, enabling B-trees on TurboIMAGE; moving groups onto and off of mirrored drives, purging databases, and configuring device numbers out of use.

September 2003

What an Organization Committed to the 3000 Should Do, by John Burke — In the second of three parts, see the nuances between buy, build, port or stay options

Robelle Tech — Bob Green shows how to migrate empty date values from TurboIMAGE, while Colcopy and Colmove commands give Qedit new column-handling capability

net.digest, edited by John Burke — An update from HP World on HP’s peripheral support, and Internet threads on understanding PINs, MPE compatibility and FTP upgrades

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Tips include how to make a third-party print server work with a 3000, test a user in a job stream for IA capability, modify the contents of a “;SYSTEM” UDC file without kicking everyone off the 3000, see the difference between JCWs and variables, and learn what's required to run XP disk arrays with a 3000.

August 2003

Inside VEsoft: How to Get the Numbers, by Steve Hammond — See how one of Steve’s favorite MPEX commands can be enhanced by a few simple numbers

Robelle Tech — Bob Green shows how independents have always existed and provided a reliable alternative to HP, and Qedit shows off its ability to move columns

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Our newsgroup summary offers a better understanding of the REPORT command, where to find the lost MPE documentation, how to get BULDACCT fixed, creating the perfect CSLT and adding SHUTDOWN to 6.5

Choose A Winning Strategy for Your 3000 Transition, by John Burke — A combination of approaches offers the best overall solution to the transition dilemma

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — How to get a 7890 reel tape working with 7.0; set up job streams using PAUSE; removing DTCs but keeping non-HP printers in the 3000's network; see differences in speed and capacity between DDS-2 and DDS-3; find parameters for the npconfig.pub.sys file; fix a problem with Samba truncating files.

July 2003

Inside VEsoft: Heavy lifting with a harbinger, by Steve Hammond — That deal on a disk was no bargain, but MPEX and some heroic tactics came through to rescue

Robelle Tech — Bob Green shows why paths are a way to divide databases up for the people; see how $stddate deals with non-standard date formats in Suprtool

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Our newsgroup summary examines why you should come to HP World for MPE, how things are changing there for talks and speakers, and why SIB results and CI fun and games are worth more than a few WORDs

TestDrive: BridgeWare Makes Data Liquid, by John Burke — Take a tour to see how the ultimate TurboIMAGE migration tool works, using an experienced engine

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — How to purge K files globally, hooking up a 3490 tape to a 3000, accessing HP system variables from SPL, converting dates, advice on DDS-3 tapes, CSTM memory commands, and a command that shows how much disk space is available per account

June 2003

How to Simplify Your Patch Management, by John Burke — Stage/iX and Patch/iX are little understood gems that can keep your homesteading site running smooth —

Robelle Tech — Bob Green shows us when zero secondaries can be bad news in a database, and Neil Armstrong delivers tips on better programming with Suprtool

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Our newsgroup summary shows what kind of power lies in your IMAGE root file, how to get HP to fix your bugs, tricks you can play with a JSMAIN parameter, and PASSWORD and FTP improvements in your 3000

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Setting up a VT connection through the Internet from a remote location; parsing showproc output looking for CPU data; putting DLT4000 tape on a 6.0 system; making REPORT track CPU usage for groups;how to get a listing of what's installed on an HP 3000

May 2003 Tech Features

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Our newsgroup summary shows where to get the Unix-Hater’s Handbook for free, HP support of DAT72, PHP and RSS on the 3000, tales of declining HP support quality for the 3000, and PAUSE and FINFO tips

Robelle Tech — See how Suprtool can accept free-form “numbers” as display data types; get all your Eloquence questions answered in a fascinating FAQ from Bob Green

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — How to un-stall a backup job, using NTP in time zone changes, penalties of using DDS-2 drives, installing disks greater than 9Gb on 6.0, and using Apache for on-line access to reports

April 2003 Tech Features

SCSI is SCSI, by John Burke — How to keep your older HP 3000s running like new: get the latest disk drive technology into them, and forget the magic of HP devices

Inside VEsoft, by Steve Hammond — Security monitors passwords at the door

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Samba updates, performance tips, Linux access, filecodes explained and why older 3000’s parts are not in short supply

Robelle Tech — Tips on C and Security, and advice on moving data from Excel to Suprtool

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Advice for HP 3000 managers and developers includes finding paths for network cards, how much help Google can be on FTP errors, using Virtual Named Hosts on Apache's configurations, comparing NMCONFIG files, and a script that calculates the week number of the year

March 2003 Tech Features

Inside VEsoft, by Steve Hammond — How Security/3000 watches and warns you

Test Drive, by John Burke — Speedware’s DBMotion gives HP 3000 customers a new tool to point, click and get those IMAGE databases migrated

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Read between the lines on support contracts, get new disk into old 3000s, and configuring NMMGR for robust FTP

Robelle Tech — How to use CI programming for nifty quick and dirty solutions, and a primer on using a new version of Suprtool for many-to-many links

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Advice on using the log options of VOLUTIL, running Apache/iX, recovering from a crash, detriming the physical address of a LAN controller, support for HSC cards on HP 3000s and sorting large variable-length record file, and nondestructively reading a record in a message file

February 2003 Tech Features

Inside VEsoft, by Steve Hammond — A series of questions keeps your users from turning to Post-It Notes, provided you’re working with Security/3000

net.digest, edited by John Burke — 3000 experts discuss the many ways to control performance through queue management, and notice that 9x7 customers can still get HP support. And our columnist wants to vent about HP’s statements

Robelle Tech — Bob Green’s full roundup of the online information resources for 3000 homesteaders, and the latest improvements to Qedit and Suprtool

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Guidance on using SETCOUNTER, how MDX and Jumbo datasets interact, adding more network cards, Query's limits on REPORT, preventing update access to datasets without preventing read access, and stripping away nulls from a file using Quad.

January 2003 Tech Features

Inside VEsoft, by Steve Hammond — Like the holiday pageant biographies, profiles are one of the fundamental keys to getting started using Security/3000

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Internet advice on how to create a scratch pad area for your 3000, adjusting TCP timers, sizing HP-UX systems to replace 3000s, and a surprising number of ways to do a remote reboot of a 3000

Robelle Tech — New tax rules in Europe draw a report from Robelle’s distributor showing how homesteading 3000s might be the only way to comply; a new version of Suprtool has new features for cleaning your data and a $counter function

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Recommended upgrade paths through MPE versions, flashing lights on A-Class systems, determining capacity of DLT8000 tapes, configuring XP to communicate with Samba/iX, and how to put two DTCs on their own LAN card

December 2002 Tech Features

net.digest, edited by John Burke — See how to set up an HP 3000 in an Internet link from home, and debunk IMAGE myths about primes and DDX

Inside VEsoft, by Steve Hammond — New to the 3000? If you’ve got MPEX, here’s a group of functions rookies to the system will find most helpful

Robelle Tech — Bob Green explores detail datasets and their performance factors, and shows how Suprtool’s Dbedit finds masters’ invalid key values

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Tips on what to do with a Bad UFID, pin configurations for DTCs, supporting external DLT4000 drives, getting serial printers online after a power outage, and making Predictive work with the new STM diagnostics

November 2002 Tech Features

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Internet chats reveal tips on moving MPE files to other systems, 3000 history, FTP passive mode, file codes and SETCLOCK snarls

Inside VEsoft, by Steve Hammond — MPEX can help you remember appointments and alert others logged on to the 3000 with a pair of little-known commands

Robelle Tech — Bob Green explains why increasing the capacity of a master dataset can sometimes slow down a 3000, while François Desrochers shows how Qedit can list and search through multiple files

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Tips include making old 9000 drives work in a 3000, using PURGELINK instead of PURGE, undocumented OS variables in TurboStore and converting a string variable to a number and then back again, quickly

October 2002 Tech Features

net.digest, edited by John Burke — A trek to the halls of HP World takes precedence over the news from the Internet, since HP finally addressed the needs of its customers remaining on the platform. While half a loaf is a good start , our columnist is holding out for a fully baked response to the OpenMPE Gang of Six requests, as well as full press reporting from future HP World sessions

Inside VEsoft, by Steve Hammond — MPEX gets highest marks for working and playing well with TurboIMAGE, a database good enough to merit a dope-slap

Robelle Tech — While Bob Green reports notable sessions and news from HP World , Neil Armstrong profiles a superior support source for homesteading

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Tips on how to manage DBEs in 3000 databases, what the rules are for shadowing systems, slow running clocks and the latest Samba support

September 2002 Tech Features

Inside VEsoft, by Steve Hammond — A pair of MPEX commands and programmer’s curious heart lead to elegance in system UDC housecleaning chores

TestDrive: SqlLink3000, Reviewed by John Burke — A new software facility is both a migration tool and a way to extend the life of 3000 applications

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Our 3000 listserver observer makes a case for why it’s time for HP to get on with homesteading help, adds a few items to the Gang of Six homesteading requests, and then moves on to knowing the rules of PH capability, why HP’s usernames are on 3000s, and how to do implied runs

Robelle Tech — Bob Green provides tips on understanding CCTL use in applications, and how Suprlink can make a serial read outperform on HP 3000s

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Advice on order of upgrading MPE, loading memory to avoid errors, using CD burners on HP 3000s, running COBOL from Posix and the polite way to stop psmon

August 2002 Tech Features

Inside VEsoft, by Steve Hammond — Gems from the mailbag show how to make best use of the LISTREDO command and remain as lazy as you like.

Robelle Tech — Neil Armstrong talks with a third-party MPE support provider among the longest in the market; Aaron Holmes on loading data into PostgreSQL

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Our Internet columnist notes that no merger or EOL discussions dominated the 3000-L list, but tips on testing patches, Linux, making CAT 5 cables for 100-base-T, and PURGELINK quirks lead our roundup

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Feeding a new 3000 information from an old DTC, getting Posix directories back to correct permissions from the defaults, how to delete a database, setting anonymous FTP on the 3000, and advice about using SNMP on the 3000, if you must.

July 2002 Tech Features

Inside VEsoft: Change is Good, by Steve Hammond — Options on ALTFILE, your Phillips head screwdriver, are important tools for any system manager

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Our Internet columnist takes note of the silence from the entity that was CSY, looks at online backup options from his iSeries report, and what you can do with SHOWVAR’s :JOB= parameter

Robelle Tech — Francois Desrochers gives a report on one source of Web-based training, and Bob Green outlines steps to moving IMAGE data to SQL Server

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — How to handle Apache's httpd.conf file on 7.0 to keep the Web server running, a tip on using the rec= parameter in BUILD, advice on DLT compression and making SLTs with the devices, and how to find all IMAGE databases on a 3000

June 2002 Tech Features

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Our columnist explains the prospective dangers in taking CSY to virtual status and using NSCONTROL KILLSESS=#S, as well as a way of closing an FTP security loophole, understanding new DDS media options in HP’s new era, and the mounting, unanswered questions about the 3000’s future that are popping up on the Internet

Robelle Tech — Bob Green explains all the details needed to begin a migration of your HP 3000 TurboIMAGE data to Oracle, then adds tips on how Suprtool can take action based on exceptions to keep your batches in balance

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — How to tell if a spoolfile is stdlist or not, UDC and CI command precedence, comparing line counts from files to a user defined variable, and whehter adding a processor to an N-Class requires more memory

May 2002 Tech Features

COBOL Migration: What You Can Do Now, by Wayne Boyer — Even if you won’t be moving for years, there are things you can do to get your 3000 COBOL ready

Making Emulation Serve Migration, By Charles Finley — Call-compatible subroutines and emulation software can help Unix behave like the MPE environment

Inside VEsoft: COPYing History, by Steve Hammond — The command has changed much over the years. Take a look at being all you can be using COPY in MPEX

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Our columnist recaps his Internet report from the Solutions Symposium, getting FTP un-hung after it encounters bad IPs, using Samba to help in editing bytestream files, and a Plan B offered in lieu of migrating from MPE

Robelle Tech — Bob Green reports on interesting technical problems that occurred in porting Qedit from MPE to HP-UX and how Qedit Windows now colors source

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Use the tar utility to put data onto tape. understand how the NEWJOBQ statement works, abort a hung session, get information on the HP software installed, and sync the time on your 3000 with an NT network

April 2002 Tech Features

TestDrive: Exploring HP’s System Inventory Utility, by John Burke — The free tool just released by HP will tell you a lot about what’s on your HP 3000s. How you apply the information to your Transition plans — to Homestead or Migrate — is up to you

Migration of IMAGE Data, By Charles Finley — Here’s a list of strategies to consider if you’re thinking of migrating your HP 3000 data to another platform

Inside VEsoft: Full Sets and Inducing Sleep, by Steve Hammond — Use the MPEX DBSETFULLNESS attribute to make things happen while you’re off duty

Robelle Tech — Learn how to decode the many HP 3000 filecodes, and see how Suprtool handles strings in columns from Bob Green and Neil Armstrong

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Identifying problems with HP's MPE/iX tapes on new DDS-4 tape drives, how to change the OUTCLASS= parm on every JOB card, comparing files across two 3000s using DS, and how to get the 3000 to support Passive mode in FTP

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Our columnist offers Internet advice on the return of an advanced Telnet feature, new disk capabilities, a list of CI enhancements over the last seven MPE/iX releases, and a Transition stand from an Interex board member

March 2002 Tech Features

Cooking with Python on MPE, by Curtis Larsen — A language named after a Monty Python troupe can draw smiles from HP 3000 managers for its straightforward and elegant problem solving capabilities — and ample entrees of applications available

Moving COBOL II Applications to Unix, By Charles Finley — How migrating existing COBOL applications to Unix can make sense, even without rewriting them

Inside VEsoft: The Meaning of Is, by Steve Hammond — It’s not politics, it’s MPEX verbs at the heart of this month’s column, and how IS gets used in file attributes

Robelle Tech — A primer on HP Eloquence capabilities and Suprtool/UX support for the IMAGE-workalike database make up this month’s techniques from Bob Green

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — How to identify a 3000 node name, sort a text file by alpha using the content of each line, what to do when the N-Class attention light turns on after a power failure, using "Big PIN" on 7.0 and later to run more processes, and other tricks for your 3000 manager

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Internet advice on what to do with LP printer definitions after HP-IB, extracts between IMAGE, and dot matrix networked printers

February 2002 Tech Features

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Internet advice on playing nice with Unix/NT, why a switch is more desirable than a hub and why nulls are a bad thing to put in X fields

Using C++ to Develop Posix-Compliant Apps, by Curtis Stordahl — Mitigate the risk of making a transition to another platform by making your HP 3000 applications Posix compliant, using a free and proven C++ compiler and new IMAGE Class library

Experimenting? Do a Virtual Setup for Linux — How to put the alternative operating environment in a virtual space on your PC or laptop

Inside VEsoft: Powerful Definitions, by Steve Hammond — Unleash the power of MPEX by learning its tools to help define filesets

Robelle Tech — Tales of the 3000’s beginning and a permanent Qedit redo stack in articles by Bob Green

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — How to create host names of more than 8 characters, tips on HPFOPEN and FOPEN intrinsics, how to locate how many memory modules you're running, and whether NETTOOL has a DELROUTING command

January 2002 Tech Features

MBF-UDALink TestDrive, by John Burke — DataExpress has evolved into a Swiss Army Knife of utilities designed to move 3000 data with .NET compliance

Inside VEsoft: Sticking Around, by Steve Hammond — VEsoft’s founders plan to carry on, providing tricks like HOOK to keep 3000 users sticking around

Robelle Tech — Get basics and resources for using Perl on your HP 3000, and how to pass commands to Suprtool via Perl in articles by Dave Lo and Bob Green

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — How to view console logs, changing an HP 3000's IP address without rebooting it, how to allow commands to users not logged on, and other tips on managing your system

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Internet advice on STORE’s parameters, utilizing symbolic links, unhanging Secure Web Consoles and retraining COBOL gurus

December 2001 Tech Features

A Beginner’s Guide to Linux, by Shawn Gordon — If you’re now faced with investigating alternatives to MPE/iX, get to know distros and how to choose one for free in the first part of a Linux world tour, led by a long-time HP 3000 developer

net.digest, edited by John Burke — After Black Wednesday, ample advice on using the 3000’s Posix and getting a low-cost Linux platform online came up on the ‘net

Robelle Tech — Get a quickstart on Unix commands from MPE masters, and learn about an old friend ready for HP-UX

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Sorting out how to use remsh and quotes, checking to see if a DAT drive has a tape in it, programmatically, tips on FTP use in the 3000, and building a single job to check a file's existance then execute FCOPY commands either way

November 2001 Tech Features

iJobSched TestDrive, by John Burke — It’s a job scheduler built on the back of the Internet advances for the HP 3000, using products from the Open Source arena that have been ported to MPE/iX to handle batch jobs through Web pages

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Everything you ever wanted to know about gateways and the HP 3000, and how to slay a monster of more than 40,000 files

Inside Vesoft, by Steve Hammond — Learn how to make MPEX and Qedit take advantage of playing together.

Robelle Tech — Learn a new language, PHP, from Bob Green’s primer, and see how a classic catalog company uses Suprtool to set up selects for Oracle SQL-Loader

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Advice on using the FTP SITE command, verifying INPUT variables conform to specific formats, how blocking UDC files impacts disk IOs, and the fastest way to RESTORE after replacing disk drives

October 2001 Tech Features

De-Frag/X TestDrive, by John Burke — Nothing less than the Swiss Army knife of disk space management, it can probably be said that if you don’t see what you want in the Lund Performance Solutions product, chances are it cannot be done

net.digest, edited by John Burke — The Internet discussion reviews the many neat tricks in using Samba, another wrinkle in the proposed capabilities of SYSSTART, and the new Guardian Service Processor, a console of the future on the new 3000s

Robelle Tech — XML might be just a buzzword to the e3000 administrator, but it can be so much more. Bob Green and Neil Armstrong show XML organizing headlines for the Robelle Web site, and how Suprtool can export in the markup language format

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Advice on understanding LVD and HVD interfaces for new disk drives, checking on whether listener jobs are accessing a database, why SYSGEN's configuration should reflect reality, and using FTP to move zip files from Nt to MPE

September 2001 Tech Features

Inside VEsoft, by Steve Hammond — See how MPEX starts in Sopranos-style

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Internet discussions about how soon sockets can be reused, how to avoid shooting yourself in the foot while rummaging in NMMGR, when a file gets written to a disk for sure, and whether doing an ABORTJOB on a program causes broken chains, and how many PINs are enough in 6.5 and 7.0

Robelle Tech — Putting Job Queues to good use, and how to make use of Favorities to Organize project files in Qedit

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Advice on freeing up disk space and LDEVs, trapping DBUTIL errors in batch jobs, splitting a single HP 3000 into two different OS versions with two sets of disks, and why you should forget the LISTF command altogether

August 2001 Tech Features

LDAP? What’s That, by Curtis Larsen — See the good the new MPE/iX feature does in keeping your e3000 connected

Inside VEsoft, by Steve Hammond — SET a spell in MPEX to automate administration

Reflection for the Web TestDrive, by John Burke — You can Webify applications in man-minutes, not man-hours, with the new connectivity software for the HP 3000

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Talk of a $CONSOLE enhancement, determining a BUILD command’s block size, and a plea for a return to yesteryear’s contributions

Robelle Tech — Build better software, and use Qedit as a Window to Suprtool

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Advice on converting Jamaica enclosures to use SE drives, the syntax for continuing a command line in a jobstream, how to have one printer with the same name and two different LDEVs, and building Posix directories on the fly within the CI

July 2001 Tech Features

Inside VEsoft, by Steve Hammond — Learning how to use REPEAT...FORNUM for repetitive processes

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Internet talk revolves around how to start the 3000 network, Twilight Zone HP-IB support, reactive patch tapes, and whether to “.”

Programmer’s Studio TestDrive, by Shawn Gordon — It’s gone beyond projects and on to changing lives, says our reviewer of this version of the developer’s suite

Robelle Tech — See how to look into IMAGE internals to make your datasets more tidy, and try out the most requested enhancement for Suprtool in its 20 years

Hidden Value, edited by John Burke — Advice on using the ALLOW command without a reboot, clearing Samba log files, setting dip switches on a Jamaica disk device and determining when the e3000 was last rebooted

June 2001 Tech Features

Inside VEsoft, by Steve Hammond — A new writer saddles up for explaining the best of MPEX, using experience to expose the power of REPEAT...FORFILES

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Internet discussions show what really happens when the lights go out. using examples of the HP 3000’s powerfail details, an explanation of how AUTOSTART works, and nuances of SYSSTART’s behavior

ADBC and Web/iX TestDrive, by John Burke — This definitely isn’t your father’s HP 3000 anymore, if you can connect TurboIMAGE databases to Java, anywhere and anytime. See the power a set of Java classes and an application server provide

Robelle Tech — HP 3000 experts show how to make a pipeline that carries IMAGE data into HTML pages, and choosing between Input and Link files in Suprlink

Hidden Value — Advice on mandatory stops between MPE/iX 5.0 and 6.5 during upgrades, making Samba shares work with Windows 2000, and how to clear Apache log files on the e3000.

May 2001 Tech Features

net.digest, edited by John Burke — Internet discussions show what really happens when using a Posix shell script, using ‘tail -f’ on a job’s $STDLIST to display results of an executing program, and impact of the CM parser on commands

Putting XML to work in your applications, by Mark Wonsil — Beyond the hype, XML can offer cutting-edge connectivity for 3000 applications. See samples in COBOL and Java to find out how you can get started using this Web-friendly markup language with your programs to put data on cell phones, Web pages and more

Robelle Tech — Paul Gobes and Bob Green kick off this new how-to column for the 3000 with help on using tools to manage memory, and buying more to improve your system performance, as well as details on using Qedit for rectangular editing

Hidden Value — Help on new network cards for e3000s, the relationship between hardware and software clocks, creating basic Samba shares, and more

April 2001 Tech Features

Tackling Enhydra: A Developer’s First Look — A Web developer reports that Enhydra might help many 3000 programmers create more disciplined Web applications

TestDrive: ScreenJet drives VPlus into the GUI era — Designer is the extra-cost option that makes the free emulator from Millware bring 3000 apps up to date

net.digest — Internet discussions show how to download patches safely from HP’s online sources, undocumented printer tricks, and why you should beta test HP's patches

Hidden Value — Tips on how to back up spoolfiles by job number, advice on compressing files locally on the 3000, a cheat sheet on adding drives to a HASS enclosure, and a way to test in a job to see if a tape is online or not

March 2001 Tech Features

Routers and Switches and Hubs, Oh My! — Take a trip down the Yellow Brick Road of network hardware for your e3000, and learn how to find your way back home

Inside COBOL: Where you go from learning COBOL, from a departing COBOL columnist

TestDrive: So Much More Than a GUI Interface — GUI3000 is a toolbox full of toolboxes, a rich collection of functionality, some you can’t find anyplace else

net.digest — Internet list discussions showed how to make incremental STOREs behave as expected even though TurboIMAGE behavior is counter-intuitive, what’s up with the new SIB, and the promise of good things to come from tracert

HiddenValue — Technical tips include a refresher on installing HASS drives, remote rebooting a 3000 using a modem dialup connection, and whether it's safe to leave HP-IB cards in your 9x7 systems

February 2001 Tech Features

Inside COBOL: Scanning Speedware with COBOL — Speedware keeps an entire system in a single file that gets pseudo-compiled, so you have screens, reports, logic sections, menus, jobs, everything in this single file. Some people find this daunting, but it has a lot of advantages

Inside VEsoft: More on Multi-CPU Security — Learn how to use the network security features of Security/3000 for large network models

TestDrive: DiskPerf delivers the real deal on 3000 drives — Disk caching and virtual page storage may mask disk problems, specifically performance issues. DiskPerf avoids those pitfalls by talking directly to the IO subsystem, so it gives us the ‘real deal’ on the drives. Vendors will make claims, but DiskPerf can determine the veracity of those claims.

net.digest: — Our Internet roundup shows how to avoid making program files vanish when using the Posix shell; where to find training online on the Posix shell; fixes for a Y2001K bug on the 3000; problems with creating variables beginning with HP; and what happens when you remove the user OPERATOR.SYS

HiddenValue — What to do when the AUI receiver falls off the back of your 3000, how to determine how much memory is on the system, creating a temp input file for a script, and a script that delivers the inverse of the SHOWDEV CLASS command

January 2001 Tech Features

Inside COBOL: Making Speedware faster with COBOL — The famous 4GL treats everything as a database for efficiency, but that means its flat-file IO leaves something to be desired. Here’s how you can use COBOL to speed up Speedware’s flat-file handling

Inside VEsoft: Multi-CPU Security — Learn how to use the network security feature of Security/3000, one that has gotten a bit easier because of the use of the BACKG background job for the push and pull processes

TestDrive: Adding New Web Dimensions to Workhorses — Minisoft’s Web application suite provides a fast and efficient way to get legacy programs working remotely from the Web, using Java and low-cost client development tools

net.digest: — Our Internet roundup shows off how a 6.0 patch jam-packed with useful upgrades is making the transition to 6.5, how you can be making the HFS filespace your friend, and ways to make multiple files copy easier with Posix commands

HiddenValue — How adding an extra processor changes your HPSUSAN number and CPU name, and other fine points of managing your e3000

December 2000 Tech Features

Inside COBOL: Sorting tables — The new COBOL standard has a verb to allow you to sort tables (finally), but it will be some time before you get to use it

Inside VEsoft: Job Scheduling — Some time back there were some pretty sophisticated job scheduling abilities put into MPEX/Streamx. They don’t get talked about often, but they are really very cool to use if you don’t already have a scheduler, and you have MPEX/Streamx.

TestDrive: Delta can reduce the cost of confidence — ORBiT’s Delta option for Backup+ adds a new weapon in your arsenal for improving uptime on the 3000

net.digest: Telnet and other network tools — A series of Internet discussion questions throws light on the current state of Apache, networking, but not the election

HiddenValue — Declaring a DTC modem card, insights on the ASSOCIATE command, hitting default limits on user logging in IMAGE, when to tune memory management, replacing FTP jobs' IP addresses with file server node names. and more tips on 3000 tech

November 2000 Tech Features

Inside COBOL: Looking at Python — A new language for the HP 3000 gets compared to the commonplace alternative, so you can see what it does better, like strings

Inside VEsoft: Job Scheduling — Some time back there were some pretty sophisticated job scheduling abilities put into MPEX/Streamx. They don’t get talked about often, but they are really very cool to use if you don’t already have a scheduler, and you have MPEX/Streamx.

TestDrive: Outer Banks Solutions’ SMS — Do you know what your 3000 is doing? A new tool monitors key 3000 metrics, alerts managers, and tracks logon security

net.digest :Things to consider before 6.5 — In a month with a record number of postings, the Internet discussion included specifics to watch while moving to 6.5

HiddenValue — How the LIMIT command relates to your user license limit, giving super users access to spooler commands without OP or SM, tips on doing a system install replacing all disk drives, resetting spoolfile numbers, and keeping mirrored disks from getting interrupted

October 2000 Tech Features

Inside COBOL — Learn how to fix your System Clock with COBOL

TestDrive: eFORMz brings Java's potential to 3000 forms — A new application leverages language to make design and data delivery simple

Ploticus: an HP 3000 data display engine — Graphs out of the Scope data collection can be created out of an HTML form using the freeware Ploticus.

net.digest — HP World notes, on whining and good business, and the new language wars and a good news story for the e3000

HiddenValue — How to change the system logon prompt from the default, understanding DISC LIMIT, setting up jobs to WAIT, connecting the telnet port to port 25, understanding LISTFILE,6 options, and where the autocapacity increase features work in IMAGE

September 2000 Tech Features

Inside COBOL — Learn how to retrieve the actual message from the system catalog for the error that is returned from various commands

Inside VEsoft — Here's how to implement background jobs from the VEsoft products

TestDrive: Autobahn puts Web development in high gear — The Dynamic Page Wizard leads this Speedware application suite to new level

New FTP transfers enable 3000 shadowing — Included software in MPE/iX and a tested job offers some disaster recovery

TestDrive: A New Window on Your World — The latest Qedit for Windows delivers scripting, host command interface for editor

Ploticus: an HP 3000 data display engine — This free solution can paint graphic pictures of MPE data

net.digest — Advice on a new attitude for development at CSY, when to enable checksum, and how to get batch telnet working on your 3000

HiddenValue — How to run the Posix shell from a batch job stream, advice on how well partial backup stores work, turning Predictive Support off, the secrets of the enable database for dumping flag, re-enabling terminals connected to a DTC, and how to see how many TCP connections are running

August 2000 Tech Features

Inside COBOL — Many people don’t realize that there are some built-in facilities for debugging a COBOL program.

Inside VEsoft — One of the more overlooked aspects of VEAUDIT is its ability to work with UDC files.

TestDrive: byRequest puts report delivery into overdrive — Electronic distribution is easy, flexible and accommodates many file formats

Two-Factor Token Authentication on e3000 — Get a hands on guide to make state-of-the-art security possible using tokens, agents and RSA secure servers with MPE/iX

net.digest — See if there is any way to use a non-HP (and therefore most likely non-PCL) impact printer as a network printer.

HiddenValue — A better way to recover from a down gateway, how to view current software loaded on a system, making RESLVCNF and Samba get along better, and create a “startup” file with commands to be executed whenever the system starts

July 2000 Tech Features

Inside COBOL — See how to call MPEX from inside a COBOL program

Inside VEsoft — Take a tour of the many looping constructs in the product line

TestDrive: Discover/3000 uses fuzzy logic to sharpen MPE programmers’ results — A new tool uses pretty slick fuzzy logic to sharpen MPE programmers’ search results of code and files for maintenance and development

net.digest — Networked printing secrets lead off our monthly Internet summary

HiddenValue — Making default routers active without rebooting, resetting VOLID, tricks to defining detail datasets prior to masters, and IMAGE/SQL environment tips

June 2000 Tech Features

Inside COBOL — Learn how to strip leading spaces, and do a bubble sort

How to Handle HP-IB's Demise in 6.5 — The newest version of MPE/iX doesn't support HP-IB tape or disk systems. Here's what you should do if you're using any HP-IB befor you upgrade

Inside VEsoft — MPEX has implemented all sorts of nifty commands and file objects to manage spool files a number of years ago, but many people are still unaware of the bulk of them.

net.digest — John Burke's summary of 3000 Internet discussions includes tips on using the new jumbo datasets, tracking the last time a user logged on, and the art of DTC configuation on 3000 networks

HiddenValue — building HFS files from within a script are among our many tips, formatting DLT tapes for use on the 3000, advice on restricting access to subnets, and how to modify SYSSTART are among the many HP 3000 management tips this month

May 2000 Tech Features

Inside COBOL — Loading up function keys is easier with these tips

TestDrive: Gauge your application success with DBGauge — Look inside applications with this new database tool

Inside VEsoft — There may be officially three bazillion commands and possibilities in the VESOFT suite of products, so it can be easy to miss some feature that you would find useful. This month’s column sharse some of the more esoteric commands.

net.digest — Your Mileage May Vary on the new AutoRAID storage devices, and the impact and potential of new larger file sizes gets discussed online on the Internet

HiddenValue — Restricting VT-MGR access, finding CPU connect and diskspace usage, checking if a previous command ended correctly in a shell script and printing from a 3000 to a non-JetDirect printer are among our many tips

April 2000 Tech Features

Inside COBOL — Learn some simple tricks that escape sequences can do for you

TestDrive: Latest Adager Masters MDX, cranks up speed — Its latest version tames the complexities of using master dataset expansion, and provides blistering speed increases

Inside VEsoft — Some of the more fascinating aspects of the VESOFT products are the expression programs that implement almost all of the functionality.

net.digest — How much memory will 6.5 really need; Practical Apache/iX; and is choosing a blocking factor an exercise in futility?

HiddenValue — Understanding password displays on consoles, using the MGET command in FTP/iX, making DISKUSE help in seeing things clearly, and getting definitions of all HP 3000 file codes

March 2000 Tech Features

Inside COBOL — In collaboration with Inside VEsoft, see how you can run a report through a translation step into HTML, and then send the results through the Sendmail/iX program.

Inside VEsoft — Create a unified solution that lets a report e-mail its results via Sendmail/iX at completion.

TestDrive: Intact D/R — Lund’s Dynamic Rollback utility protects 3000 databases by lays down a safety net for transactions with some pretty nifty traps

net.digest — Our Internet discussion summary covers how RESTORE really works in purging files, what the new DDS-4 will mean for backups and media recognition, and how to make CI variables behave more Unix-like

HiddenValue — Tips on the erasing the 3000's REDO stack, adding security based on IP addresses for Apache, fixing setcatalog full errors, using OPTION LOGON UDCs, printing a PC's bit-mapped image to a LaserJet using the HP 3000 spooler, and more

February 2000 Tech Features

Inside COBOL — See examples of how you can programmatically deal with file transfers through terminal emulators such as MiniSoft/92 and Reflection

TestDrive: Command Center 2000 — Bradmark’s suite combines a GUI that interfaces to MPE commands with a facility to track alerts and warnings from 3000s

Inside VEsoft — MPEX comes with a rich collection of database access features

net.digest — Our Internet discussion summary covers how to move a large system from one machine to a completely new system, including disk drives, in the quickest way possible and minimize downtime, and tracks bugs in the 3000’s FTP service

HiddenValue — Tips on the 3000's echo, resetting spool file numbers, running grep on a fileset without going into the Posix shell, assigning more than one class name to an LDEV, getting a spool file ID for a job number whether it's executing or not, CI and string variables, and more

January 2000 Tech Features

Inside COBOL: putting your COPYLIB on the Web — All the source code you need to create a hypertext table of the contents of a COPYLIB at the front of the file

TestDrive: OpenPDF — This new tool gives 3000 sites a way to turn those printed reports into Acrobat documents that can be hosted on Web sites, or e-mailed

Inside VEsoft: Searching for strings — There are three distinct PRINT commands within MPEX that support searching for strings (among other things), and several functions that will work within the context of other commands. Most people know how to use %PRINT@.SOURCE;SEARCH=
”VARIABLE”, but we can get much more sophisticated than that.

net.digest — Three ways to read records from a file into a variable, and a map on how your HP 3000 searches network addresses, fill our Internet summary column

HiddenValue — SORT/XL scratch files, understanding IDs in IOMAP, screening out irrelevant output of STDLIST, resetting UDCs prior to purging, and more

December 99 Tech Features

Inside COBOL — See how HP's compiler plans impact Object Oriented COBOL, and how to manipulate tables

TestDrive: e-reporter deploys 3000 reports to the Web — A new utility gives HP 3000 managers an easy to use package that puts your application reports onto your Web sites automatically

Demystifying Regular Expressions — Go ahead, think of them as pattern matching on steroids. You can use regular expressions with Robelle’s Qedit. Here’s how

Dynamic Dataset Expansion — Fred White gives guidelines for the use of both master and detail dynamic dataset expansion for effective use of database resources

net.digest: Patch management and array performance — A new tool helps manage patching for HP 3000s, and tips on how to deploy the new 12H arrays for use as LDEV 1 for maximum performance

HiddenValue — DDS-2 and DS-3 tape swapping tips, using the new job queue feature of 6.0, mixing disk drive sizes on arrays, and more

November 99 Tech Features

Inside COBOL — Find out the fundamentals behind object oriented COBOL with our Frequently Asked Questions

Inside VESOFT — Use MPEX to get a quick file count from a group or an account

TestDrive: EnterView — TestDrive: WRQ's view of 3000 apps in browsers looks sexier, but docs feel less in tune with HP 3000

net.digest: Find out what goes into your SLT, and what HP says should be in there

HiddenValue — Learn about the !HPYEAR variable, suppressing those pesky express results messages, using CONTINUE in command files and tricks for configuring DTCs while users are still online

October 99 Tech Features

Inside COBOL — Here's what you can expect from COBOL 2000, the standard that's been long on the horizon

Sharing Instant Information via Samba/iX — Step by step instructions show how to use the networking tool to share the HP 3000’s CD docs across your workgroups

Inside VESOFT — Our new column offers insight on using VESOFT utilities

TestDrive: Javelin — Minisoft’s Java-based emulator brings secure access for HP 3000 programs through a thin applet, and opens up user connectivity options

net.digest: Here a patch, there a patch — Our summary of Internet chat shows serious attempts to discover or explain the mysteries of patching.

HiddenValue — Learn about supporting jumbo master sets, changes in the way lockwords work since 5.5, recovering databases which have missing root files, and more

September 99 Tech Features

Inside COBOL — See how Java looks from a COBOL programmer's perspective

TestDrive: The Difference Between Success and Failure — Omnidex's powerful indexing produces jaw-dropping performance

How to Deal with Mirrored Disks — HP’s add-on product provides vital disaster recovery, but you’ll need advice on set-up, disk errors and split-volumes

net.digest: We don't need no stinkin' certification test, say some veteran 3000 managers on the 3000-L Internet newsgroup. Others see some merits in the idea, if not the initial execution.

HiddenValue — Learn about how to view too wide spoolfiles, putting DDS drives back online without ejecting a tape, a cookbook recipe for enabling telnet on 5.5, migrating data from system volume sets to a user volume, and more

August 99 Tech Features

Inside COBOL — Tricks of perception can reduce complaints from your end users

TestDrive: Driving Info Across the DataBridge— Moving data between databases is easy with this tool

Freedom to mail from the 3000, for free — Shareware solutions and included software in MPE/iX let you send and receive Internet e-mail. See how to get the mail

net.digest: Why Do I Always End Up in the Longest Queue? — Our summary of Internet chat shows how you can keep the right jobs in the right priority on your 3000.

HiddenValue — Learn about controlling printers attached to DTCs, converting text to uppercase in a command file, how to manage the heartbeat of the HP 3000, and more

July 99 Tech Features

Inside COBOL — Check out the latest list of Web-based resources for COBOL users

TestDrive: Programmer Studio — Programmer Studio is extensible, powerful and the law at this reviewer's shop

Serving 3000 Web pages with Apache/iX— Your HP 3000 can now do as much as other systems on intranets. Learn how to set up your system for Web services

net.digest: It's a fair price, really — Our summary of Internet chat includes HP's explanation of why it has raised a few prices in the 3000 product line

HiddenValue — Learn about compressing IMAGE databases, clearing out old log files, PING on HP 3000s, updates to the RENAME and LISTF commands and more

June 99 Tech Features

Inside COBOL — Learn to manipulate strings in COBOL with tested macros

TestDrive: TelaConsole tracks consoles, devices in 3000 shops — Eliminate the need to constantly scan all consoles and devices in your computer center

Get more performance: multiply costs times knowledge — Graduate to better performance with Mike Hornsby’s set of tips for HP 3000 system managers

net.digest: Locking up users, and account management — Our summary of Internet chat includes tips on keeping users secure and resource accounting

HiddenValue — Learn about disabling outbound telnet, copying Web pages using FTP, getting a file list off a STORE tape, discovering LANIC MAC addresses and more

May 99 Tech Features

Inside COBOL How to stay safe when COBOL initializes fields, and a Y2K tip

TestDrive: Probe/iX for Performance Analysis It takes overhead through its MI use, but this tool delivers great English-like analysis and ample 3000 details

net.digest: The return of John Burke Our founding columnist kicks off a new stretch of tips from the 3000 Internet chat: transfer tools, DTC savvy, and more

HiddenValue Our collection of techniques for 3000 managers includes advice on LDEV1 loads, random passwords, Apache ports, and using PAUSE on batch jobs

April 99 Tech Features

The Full Report: Report Tools for HP 3000s Make your data work harder by improving your reports: choose a tool from analyst Cortlandt Wilson’s roundup

TestDrive: FlexForm serves up custom forms MiniSoft’s program overlays data onto high-quality forms that can be printed from a 3000 onto any laser printer

HiddenValue DDS tape tips, confining users to run only a few commands, communicating with IBM mainframes, mounting CDs, and the mysteries of lex and yacc on the 3000

March 99 Tech Features

TestDrive: Shadow/DR eases IMAGE disaster recovery — Lund's replication tool uses IMAGE logging for an elegant alternative to shadowing HP 3000 databases

Inside COBOL: Verb Performance — Processing a large number of records with verbs like INSPECT, STRING and UNSTRING can leave your applications dealing with performance hits.

HiddenValue Resetting TYPEAHEAD, running MPE commands from the Posix shell, understanding capabilities in changing permanent files to temporary, undeferring jobs in SPSAVE state, using mv in Posix, and configuring LaserJets to be 3000 network printers

net.digest: HP's IA-64 timeframe for 3000s revealed, what's really outdated about HP 3000s (consultants' facts), comments on pricing, Cognos-style, and how to identify sessions by IP address

Internet Services in 5 Minutes — Learn how to deploy the Internet capabilities in release 5.5 with our step by step guide to better network your 3000

February 99 Tech Features

TestDrive: Interact for Managing Text This novel application for HP 3000s gives your users a way to search free-form text files. Uses for it should be easy to find

Inside COBOL: Sort Procedures — Understand how to use RELEASE and RETURN in a SORT statement, faster than COBOL's SORT

HiddenValue Enabling new LISTFILE features, searching on a 3000 using Posix, limiting a user's number of sessions and restoring a private volume set's files to new system volumes

net.digest: — Determining datasets' MPE file names, system OS upgrade tips and warnings, a way to move databases to disk and whether Oracle is a friend to the HP 3000

Introducing User Job Queues The newest MPE/iX 6.0 feature gives you granular control of jobs. Here ?s how to start using this free feature in the latest release

January 99 Tech Features

Inside COBOL: B-tree Gotchas A year of experience using the new power of indexed IMAGE with COBOL yields tips in our column

HiddenValue Resetting network gateways without stopping the network, LISTFILE to select specific file types, printing paths and devices from SYSGEN and configuring session queues on a global level

net.digest: Emulation across the Internet, plugging telnet security holes, and how to get hundreds of users on and off a 3000 quickly

Plug and Play Posix on 5.5 Use this complete guide to open up the bounty of the Posix tools and programs on your 3000

December 98 Tech Features

Test Drive: A Golden Performance Picture Box Performance Gallery Gold proves that a picture is worth 10,000 words, and sometimes as many dollars saved

Inside COBOL: Trivia and COBOL Gotchas Find out what the 66-level can be best used for and learn a function that will sum an entire table in our HP 3000 COBOL column

HiddenValue Keeping menu based terminals under control for user limits, controlling CIERROR displays, listings with the Posix ls command and managing PIB utilization in MPE/iX 5.5

net.digest: Avoiding user license upgrades, understanding MPE version numbering, 9000 coexistence, and graceful shutdown help though a free command file

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October 96 Tech Features

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August 96 Tech Features