TOPS-20 User's Guide
Chapter 1 Getting On And Off The System
This chapter describes:
1.1 Recognizing Keyboard Symbols
You use a terminal to communicate with the system. Although many different types and models of terminals exist, they all have similar keyboards, which resemble typewriter keyboards.
Before you begin using the system, become familiar with the keyboard on the terminal. In addition to the standard characters (letters, numbers, and punctuation) and the space bar, there are keys that perform special functions. Table 1-1 describes these keys and their functions.
| Key | Function |
|---|---|
| CTRL (Control) |
The CTRL (or control) key initiates a number of system functions when it
is used in conjunction with another character.
To type a control character, hold down the CTRL key, and at the same time press the character you want. For example: to type a CTRL/C, hold down the CTRL key and at the same time press the letter C. In most cases this prints (echoes) on your terminal as ^C. |
| DELETE | The DELETE key erases characters. On some terminals this key is labeled DEL, RUBOUT, RUB CHAR OUT, or with a special symbol. |
| ESC (Escape) |
The ESC (or escape) key initiates a variety of different functions.
At TOPS-20 command level, the ESC key
At system program level, depending upon the program you are running, the ESC key sometimes echoes on the terminal as a dollar sign. On some terminals this key is labeled ESCAPE, ALT, or ALTMODE. If there is no escape key on your terminal, use CTRL/[ (press the CTRL and the left square bracket keys at the same time) to duplicate the function of the escape key. |
| RETURN |
The RETURN key confirms to the system that you have completed a line and
causes the terminal's cursor or printing head to go to the beginning of the
next line.
Unless you are told otherwise, terminate all command lines by pressing the RETURN key. On some terminals this key is labeled CR or RET. |
| SP (Space Bar) | Creates a blank space by moving the terminal printing head one space to the right. |
| TAB |
The TAB key causes the cursor or printing head to move to the right to the
next tab stop. Tab stops are normally every eight spaces. This is useful
for aligning columns of data and for formatting programs.
If there is no TAB key on your terminal, use CTRL/I to duplicate the function of the TAB Key. |
Some terminals are connected to the computer by telephone. If you are
using such a terminal, find out the computer phone number and use the
following procedure:
Your terminal is now connected to the computer. The system prints a
system identification message similar to the following:
The @ character, which is the TOPS-20 prompt, indicates that TOPS-20 is
ready to accept a command.
Press any key on the keyboard to signal the system that you want to log
in. After you press a key, a system identification message and the TOPS-20
prompt, @, are printed on the terminal.
If you do not receive the system identification message, one of the
following conditions exists:
If the system is not available for your use, you receive
a message similar to the following:
This message means that the operator has set the system
to prevent timesharing. The system notifies you when it
resumes its timesharing operation by printing a message
similar to the following:
Wait a few minutes; then press a key. Repeat this until you receive the
system identification message. The explanation that follows ?FULL is
meaningful to the system manager and to system programmers. If you must
wait an excessive length of time before successfully logging in, you might
want to bring the error message to the attention of one of these people.
Terminals have different characteristics for printing information,
depending on their type and speed. Because you have not yet told the
system the kind of terminal you are using, the system automatically sets
defaults for the terminal. These defaults are based on the most common
type of terminal at your site. The defaults set parameters such as the
terminal page length at 66 lines and the line width at 72 characters, in
addition to setting lowercase and tabs. The INFORMATION TERMINAL command
displays the settings of these parameters or values, along with other
characteristics of your terminal.
After the system prints the system identification message and the
TOPS-20 prompt (@), you are at TOPS-20 command level and you can give
commands to the system. Type the TOPS-20 command INFORMATION TERMINAL-MODE
and press RETURN. The system prints the information about your terminal.
Note that you can specify a terminal line number after the (FOR
TERMINAL) guidewords. This allows you to obtain information about another
user's terminal. The system uses your terminal line number as the default
when you do not specify one. The SYSTAT command (discussed in Section 3.1) shows the line numbers for all users on
the system.
To declare the terminal type, give the TERMINAL command,
and type in the type of your terminal. In this example, the
terminal type is a VT100.
After you identify the terminal type to the system, all
subsequent output conforms to preset terminal parameters for
that type. The terminal type specifies the proper values
for:
If you do not set the proper parameters for the terminal,
you may find the output format undesirable for your work.
After you identify the terminal type, you can again give
the INFORMATION TERMINAL-MODE command to see the parameters
that were set as a result of your TERMINAL command.
Tell the system you are using a VT100 by giving the
TERMINAL command; then give the INFORMATION TERMINAL-MODE
command.
Setting the terminal type changes only the following
parameters: terminal type, length, width, lowercase,
formfeed, and tab. Therefore, when you identify the
terminal as a VT100, the output conforms to the parameters
for that type of terminal, that is, a page length of 24
lines, a line width of 80 characters, lowercase letters, no
mechanical formfeed, and no mechanical tabs.
Identifying the terminal type for a video terminal
additionally allows more effective use of the DELETE key.
The system erases the last character you typed on the screen
rather than print the character followed by a backslash, as
it does on a hard-copy terminal.
The following commands control output to terminals:
The TERMINAL PAUSE COMMAND allows you to stop output to
the terminal at any time by typing CTRL/S, and continue
output by typing CTRL/Q. This command is the default for
all terminal types. You can define your own characters to
stop and continue output with the TERMINAL PAUSE CHARACTER
command discussed below.
TERMINAL PAUSE END-OF-PAGE automatically stops output to
the terminal when the output is equal to the current page
length set for the terminal. When the system stops the
output, it rings the terminal bell and waits for you to type
CTRL/Q. The CTRL/Q resumes the output. This prevents the
output from rolling off a video terminal screen so rapidly
that you cannot read it. However, if you want to stop the
output before the end of the page, type CTRL/S. This
command is the default if you declare your terminal to be a
video terminal, for example a VT100.
TERMINAL NO PAUSE END-OF-PAGE prevents the output from
stopping at the end of the page. This command is the
default if you declare your terminal to be a hard-copy
terminal, for example an LA36.
If TERMINAL PAUSE END-OF-PAGE is not set, and you need
the terminal output to stop at the end of a page, give the
following command:
If TERMINAL PAUSE END-OF-PAGE is set, and you do not want
the terminal to stop output at the end of the page, give the
following command:
TERMINAL PAUSE CHARACTER x y allows you to choose your
own pause and continue characters. These characters are
alternatives to the CTRL/S and CTRL/Q default characters.
(To specify your own pause and continue characters, TERMINAL
PAUSE END-OF-PAGE and TERMINAL PAUSE COMMAND must be in
effect.)
You can specify the pause and continue characters in
several ways. Some of the more common forms are:
Octal ASCII codes for the keyboard characters are listed
in several TOPS-20 manuals. The TOPS-10/TOPS-20 Batch
Reference Manual, for example, lists these codes.
To specify the space bar as both the pause and continue
character, give the following command:
To see the characters that you may have specified in the
TERMINAL PAUSE CHARACTER command, give the INFORMATION
TERMINAL-MODE command:
In this example, the continuation character is not
displayed, because it is the same as the pause character
(SPACE). Also, if you specify the TERMINAL NO PAUSE COMMAND
or the TERMINAL NO PAUSE END-OF-PAGE command, or if the
system default characters, CTRL/S and CTRL/Q, are in effect,
the TERMINAL PAUSE CHARACTER line does not appear in the
information display.
Several terminal types require that you change the pause
and continue characters to something other than CTRL/S and
CTRL/Q. For example, the VT125 and the VT100 with the
printer port option do not recognize these characters.
When you use the SET HOST command to log in to a
remote system, CTRL/S and CTRL/Q are reserved by your
host system; they are not passed to the remote system.
CTRL/A is the default character for pausing and continuing
output coming from a remote system.
Terminals can transmit and receive data at various
speeds. This rate of speed is called a baud rate. Baud
rates range from 10 to 960 characters per second: 10
characters per second is 110 baud; 960 characters per second
is 9600 baud.
There are actually two different speeds: terminal speed
and line speed. The terminal speed is the speed at which
your terminal receives characters from and transmits
characters to the system. This speed is set by switches or
keys that are physically located on your terminal. The line
speed is the speed at which the system receives characters
from and transmits characters to your terminal. The line
speed is set with the TERMINAL SPEED command. The terminal
speed and the line speed must match for your terminal to
communicate with the system.
Your system can have two types of terminal lines, those
that are set to a certain speed and "autobaud" lines. An
autobaud line automatically sets a line speed that matches
the speed of your terminal when you initially type any key
on the keyboard.
Your system manager presets line speeds when the type of
terminal connected to the terminal line is constant. For
example, a terminal line connected to a VT220 video terminal
may be set to 9600 baud while a line connected to a slower
LA100 hard-copy terminal may be set to 300 baud. Terminal
lines are autobaud when the line can be connected to various
types of terminals. For example, terminal lines which are
reserved for telephone connections to the computer are
usually autobaud.
If your terminal is connected by telephone to an autobaud
terminal line, an initial character enables the system to
determine your terminal's baud rate, provided the rate is
300, 1200, 1800, 2400, or 9600. If the baud rate is 110 or
150, type a second character. If you press a character and
fail to get the system identification message, press the
BREAK key twice followed by another character.
Do not set the line speed to a speed your terminal (or
modem) does not support. If you should do this by mistake,
contact the operator for assistance.
To change your terminal and line speeds, first change
your line speed with the TERMINAL SPEED command. Then,
manually change the speed settings on your terminal.
For example, to change the line speed for input and
output to 2400 baud, give the TERMINAL SPEED command:
On some hard-copy terminals, the switch to change the
baud rate is located at the left of the keyboard.
On some video terminals, the switch to change the baud
rate is located on the underside or the back of the
terminal. On others, special keys on the main keyboard are
used to change the baud rate.
If you set only the input speed for the line and do not
specify the output speed, the system assumes that the output
speed is the same as the input speed.
If you are using a hard-copy terminal and accidentally
set a line speed incompatible with your terminal, you cannot
correct it. Contact the operator, give your terminal line
number, and ask him to set your line at the speed you want.
If you are using a video terminal and accidentally set an
incorrect line speed, you may be able to correct the speed
by setting the terminal speed to the current line speed and
then, resetting the line and terminal speeds.
After you start a job on the system, you may find there
are more terminal parameters you need to set in addition to
those already described. Section 1.6
describes starting a work session with LOGIN. Section 1.9 explains the additional
parameters you can set.
Before using TOPS-20 for the first time, you must obtain
the following from the staff at your installation.
Your user name, password, and account identify you so
that you can use the computer and be charged appropriately.
To start working on the system, you must first identify
yourself to the system by typing the LOGIN command, which
validates you as a user, creates your job, and begins
charging your account. The LOGIN command requires your user
name, password, and account. The command also allows you to
add remarks concerning the work session. This
identification procedure is called logging in. After you
give the LOGIN command, the system creates a job and prints
a line containing the job number, the terminal number, the
current date and time and the date and time of your last
login. The system prints an @ on the next line; you are now
at TOPS-20 command level.
If, in the process of logging in, you make a typing
error, type CTRL/U. This tells the system to ignore
everything you have typed on that line, because you have
made a mistake and want to start the line over. After you
type a CTRL/U, the system prints XXX and then prints @ on
the next line.
After the @ prompt, do the following:
On some terminals, the guideword (PASSWORD) may be
followed by a nonsense word or message. If this is the
case, when you type your password over this word, your
password is illegible.
Some systems do not require you to enter an account when
logging in. If you don't have an account, press the RETURN
key after you type your password. You will be logged in.
The following example shows the entire logging-in
process:
You do not have to use the ESC key when logging in.
However, the ESC key provides guidewords that prompt you for
user name, password and account. Spaces between arguments
are sufficient if you do not need the help of guidewords.
For example: LOGIN SARTINI password 341.
Your user name identifies you to the system and to other
users. A user name may contain up to 39 alphanumeric
characters, as well as period (.) and hyphen (-). Your user
name is also the name of your login directory.
To provide security, you must give a password when
logging in. Depending on the procedures at your site, you
may be assigned a password or allowed to select one for your
first login. When you type your password, it is not
displayed on the terminal; this prevents others from
learning it and logging into your area without your
authorization.
1.6.2.1 Selecting Secure Passwords - Use these guidelines
in selecting a password:
1.6.2.2 Keeping Your Password a Secret - Often illegal
system accesses involving the use of a correct password can
be traced to disclosure of the password by its owner. Do
not be unconcerned about protecting your password because
you do not keep any sensitive information on the system. A
system breaker could use your password to gain more
information about the system and break into other areas, or
a malicious user could destroy your files or steal computer
time.
Use these guidelines to prevent others from learning your
password:
To log in to the system, you must give a valid account.
Your account is billed for central processor unit (CPU)
usage and for file storage.
Once you log in, all charges are made to the account you
give in the LOGIN command unless you specify otherwise. If
your login directory has a default account, you do not have
to specify an account when you login. If you must change
your account during a job, give the SET ACCOUNT command or
include the ;A attribute in the file specification. (Refer
to Section 4.2.7, file
attributes.) However, you can change it only to another
valid account.
The LOGIN command allows for an optional argument
following your account. If you press the ESC key after
typing your account, the system prints the guidewords
(SESSION-REMARK). You can then type one line of text to
identify a specific work session for accounting purposes.
This session remark cannot exceed 39 alphanumeric
characters, including hyphens and spaces. If you need to
change the SESSION-REMARK during a job, give the SET
SESSION-REMARK command.
You can see the current session-remark for your job when
you give the INFORMATION JOB-STATUS command.
You can create a LOGIN.CMD file that contains the TOPS-20
commands you want executed when you log in. The system
automatically reads this command file every time you log in.
After executing these commands, the system prints any output
from the commands followed by the message End of LOGIN.CMD
and the TOPS-20 prompt (@).
For example, if you always use a VT100 terminal, you can
include a TERMINAL VT100 command in a LOGIN.CMD file. Every
time you log in, the system reads the LOGIN.CMD file and
recognizes the terminal as a VT100. All output to the
terminal conforms to the parameters set for a VT100. Below
is an example of a typical LOGIN.CMD file. Note that
comments are preceded by an exclamation mark (!). (Refer to
Section 2.6 for
information on adding comments.) The commands in this file
are discussed in the following chapters.
If there is an error with one of the commands, the system
processes the commands up to the one in error. When the
system encounters the error, it stops reading the file and
prints the following message:
You can also create a COMAND.CMD file that contains any
TOPS-20 commands you want executed when you log in. The
COMAND.CMD file differs from the LOGIN.CMD file because the
system automatically reads the COMAND.CMD file whenever you
give a PUSH command as well as every time you log in.
(Refer to Section 8.6
for an example using the PUSH command.) After executing the
commands in the COMAND.CMD file, the system prints any
output from the commands followed by the message End of
COMAND.CMD and the TOPS-20 prompt.
Note that the system reads the LOGIN.CMD file before it
reads the COMAND.CMD file. If there are conflicting
commands in the two files, the last command executed (that
is, the one in the COMAND.CMD file) takes precedence.
The system processes the LOGIN command line or the PUSH
command before it reads the LOGIN.CMD file or the COMAND.CMD
file. Therefore, you are still successfully logged into the
system or the PUSH command is still in effect, even if the
command file contains an error.
Your system manager can create system-wide LOGIN.CMD and
COMAND.CMD files. Like your own command files, the system
LOGIN.CMD and COMAND.CMD files are executed automatically
when you login. Each system command file is executed before
your own file of the same name:
If your site has system-wide LOGIN.CMD and COMAND.CMD
files, you should examine the commands in these files to
avoid putting duplicate commands in your own command files.
To display the system LOGIN.CMD file give the command:
When you want to leave the system, you should not just
turn off your terminal and walk away; you should tell the
system you are leaving. To leave the system, type LOGOUT
after the @, and press the RETURN key. This terminates your
communication with the system. This procedure is called
logging out.
This message indicates that you have successfully logged
off the system. Your job number was 57, your user name was
SARTINI, your account was 341, the terminal you were using
was connected to terminal line 127. You left the system at
09:49:36 on March 23, 1988. The last part of the message
indicates how long the system actually worked for you (14
seconds) and how long you were logged in (1 hour, 25
minutes, and 56 seconds).
If you do not log off the system, your terminal will not
be free for another user. Also, someone can come along and
do work on the system under your identification, and you
will be charged for the computer use.
If you type a character to get the system's attention and
fail to log in within 5 minutes, the system automatically
logs you off the system and prints the LOGOUT message. This
message is similar to the following:
1.2 Dialing In
KL2102, TOPS-20 Development Sys., TOPS-20 Monitor 7(7)
@
1.3 Getting The Attention Of The System
?LOGGING IN ON LOCAL TERMINALS IS CURRENTLY NOT ALLOWED
SYSTEM RESTARTING, WAIT...
and after a pause,
[FROM OPERATOR: SYSTEM IN OPERATION]
If the system is full, you receive the following message:
?FULL reason
1.4 Getting Information About Your Terminal
@INFORMATION (ABOUT) TERMINAL-MODE (FOR TERMINAL)
TERMINAL SYSTEM-DEFAULT
TERMINAL SPEED 9600
TERMINAL NO INHIBIT (NON-JOB OUTPUT)
RECEIVE LINKS
REFUSE ADVICE
RECEIVE SYSTEM-MESSAGES
RECEIVE USER-MESSAGES
TERMINAL PAUSE (ON) COMMAND
TERMINAL NO PAUSE (ON) END-OF-PAGE
TERMINAL LENGTH 66
TERMINAL WIDTH 72
TERMINAL LOWERCASE
TERMINAL RAISE
TERMINAL NO FLAG
TERMINAL INDICATE
TERMINAL NO FORMFEED
TERMINAL NO TABS
TERMINAL NO IMMEDIATE
TERMINAL FULLDUPLEX
NOTE
Installations can add other terminals to their
individual systems.
Recognized by the System
HARD COPY
VIDEO
MODEL 33 H19 MODEL 35 TERMINET MODEL 37 TI EXECUPORT (TI) VT05 LA30 VT50 LA36 VT52 LA38 VT100 LA120 VT102 VT105 VT200-SERIES VT300-SERIES
@TERMINAL (FEATURE OR TYPE) VT100
@TERMINAL (FEATURE OR TYPE) VT100
@INFORMATION (ABOUT) TERMINAL-MODE (FOR TERMINAL)
TERMINAL VT100
TERMINAL SPEED 9600
TERMINAL NO INHIBIT (NON-JOB OUTPUT)
RECEIVE LINKS
REFUSE ADVICE
RECEIVE SYSTEM-MESSAGES
RECEIVE USER-MESSAGES
TERMINAL PAUSE (ON) COMMAND
TERMINAL NO PAUSE (ON) END-OF-PAGE
TERMINAL LENGTH 24
TERMINAL WIDTH 80
TERMINAL LOWERCASE
TERMINAL NO RAISE
TERMINAL NO FLAG
TERMINAL INDICATE
TERMINAL NO FORMFEED
TERMINAL TABS
TERMINAL NO IMMEDIATE
TERMINAL FULLDUPLEX
1.5.1 Controlling Terminal Output
@TERMINAL PAUSE (ON) END-OF-PAGE
@TERMINAL NO PAUSE (ON) END-OF-PAGE
@TERMINAL PAUSE (ON) CHARACTER SPACE (AND UNPAUSE ON) SPACE
@INFORMATION (ABOUT) TERMINAL-MODE (FOR TERMINAL)
TERMINAL VT100
.
.
.
TERMINAL PAUSE (ON) COMMAND
TERMINAL PAUSE (ON) END-OF-PAGE
TERMINAL PAUSE (ON) CHARACTER SPACE
.
.
.
1.5.2 Setting the Terminal Speed
@TERMINAL (FEATURE OR TYPE) SPEED (OF INPUT) 2400
1.6 Starting A Job With Login
<ESC>
|
@LOGIN (USER)
<ESC> <ESC>
| |
@LOGIN (USER) SARTINI (PASSWORD)
<ESC> <ESC> <ESC>
| | |
@LOGIN (USER) SARTINI (PASSWORD) (ACCOUNT)
@LOGIN (USER) SARTINI (PASSWORD) (ACCOUNT) 341
Job 40 on TTY127 6-Feb-88 08:42:47
@
This message gives you:
AURORA, Research and Development, TOPS-20 Monitor 7(7)
@LOGIN (USER) SARTINI (PASSWORD) (ACCOUNT) 341
Job 57 on TTY127 23-Jul-88 09:48:40, Last Login 22-Jul-88
09:30:27
@
1.6.1 User Names
1.6.2 Passwords
@SET DIRECTORY PASSWORD <login-directory-name>
1.6.3 Accounts
1.6.4 Session-Remark
1.7 Executing Commands Automatically During Login
TERMINAL VT100 !Set the parameters for a VT100
TERMINAL PAUSE CHARACTER SPACE SPACE !Set the space bar to stop and
! start terminal output
TERMINAL PAUSE END-OF-PAGE !Stop scrolling output at end
! of page
DEFINE WK: WORK:<LEOPOLD> !Define a logical name for a
! directory
DEFINE EDITOR: SYS:EDT.EXE !Define a logical name for
! an editor
DEFINE PB: PS:PHONE.BOOK !Define a logical name for a file
INFORMATION LOGICAL-NAMES !Display the logical names defined
! in the three previous commands
MOUNT STRUCTURE WORK: /NOWAIT !Mount the structure WORK:
SET PROGRAM DSR KEEP CONTINUE !Keep program DSR when it's
! started
SET ALERT 16:25 VANPOOL IN 5 MINUTES !Set a daily reminder
DAYTIME !Display the date and time
%Error while reading LOGIN.CMD.1, file aborted.
followed by the message produced by the command in error.
@TYPE SYSTEM:LOGIN.CMD
Refer to Chapter 5 for information on how to create files.
1.8 Ending A Job With Logout
@LOGOUT
After you press the RETURN key, you will see a message similar to:
Killed Job 57, User SARTINI, Account 341, TTY 127,
at 23-Mar-88 09:49:36, Used 0:0:14 in 1:25:56
Autologout
Killed Job 8, TTY 26,
at 23-Mar-88 10:50:35, Used 0:0:0 in 5:15
If you are on a dial up line, the system hangs up the line.