Recent News and Tips
The Indiana Regional Users Group announces that
April 22-24, 2002 are the dates for the 11th Annual Midwest HP Users Training Symposium.
Location: the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza Hotel, downtown, Union Station.
12/31/2001
From Robelle's Encyclopedia for HP Users: if you are writing software for UNIX, you must get this book by Richard Stevens ( Addison-Wesley, 1992, Amazon link). It is jam-packed with readable and illuminating programming examples.
12/28/2001
On their web site,
Adager now has a survey of various terminal emulators for the HP 3000 system.
Click the link to see if you know them all!
12/27/2001
On November 14th HP announced changes to the future of the HP 3000 platform that will impact all of us.
Although I am confident that 3rd party support for 3000 hardware and software will last long
past 2006, HP-UX will no doubt attract many 3000 sites. The Robelle products already run on the HP-UX platform, if you should decide to migrate some of your apps to HP-UX.
Getting Used to UNIX: This Robelle Tech column from the
December issue of the 3000 NewsWire,
relates the MPE commands and concepts that you are familiar with to similar commands and concepts on HP-UX. This will not be a debate on the merits of MPE/iX versus HP-UX. It is intended to assist the MPE user, programmer, and operator to navigate and use commands on the HP-UX operating system.
12/26/2001
Authorized SUPRTOOL Training partner Kubler Consulting, Inc. is offering a two-day SUPRTOOL Training course in Hagerstown, Maryland. This course is being offered by popular demand at an east coast site and is being hosted by the TECHGROUP UNIVERSITY. The dates are January 17th and 18th. Cost of the training is $1,200.00. If you have an interest in the training please send email to jeff@kublerconsulting.com or call 541-745-7457. Further information including the topics covered, detailed location and training references, etc. are available upon request. Seating is limited so sign up soon!!!
Additional information on travel arrangements and registration can be found at
www.techgroupmd.com
or at www.kublerconsulting.com
One student had this to say, "Attending SUPRTOOL Training at the TechGroup University conducted by Jeff Kubler of Kubler Consulting really helped me in understanding certain aspects of Suprtool about which I had no prior knowledge. I highly recommend Jeff Kubler's teaching along with the convenience of TechGroup's facility to better enhance one's knowledge of Suprtool. Its a business trip worth taking!"
Jason Harris , Classroom Direct
12/24/2001
Since most of us at Robelle have multiple PCs at home,
when we started installing high-speed Internet at home, we used inexpensive router/firewalls such as
the Linksys. These connected to the Internet via a single IP address, then asked us
to configure our workstations to use DHCP to dynamically assign an internal IP address for
each user.
But when the users access the Internet, they all appear to live at the same
IP address. They can pick up their email, surf the web, run Qedit for Windows
(this did require using the Qwin/firewall option on MPE), even Instant Messaging.
This seems like magic. How can answers come back to the correct PC, when they all
look like they same came from the same place?
The link above is to an article that explains the answer: Network Address Translation,
also known as IP Masquerading.
12/21/2001
The December 2001 issue of Robelle's What's Up DOCumentation newletter is
now available. Some of the highlights from this issue:
* Suprtool Tips: Exchange data between Image and Oracle
The Robelle Tech columns in the November issue of The 3000 NewsWire shows
how the Ecometry site Hammacher Schlemmer exports data from IMAGE on the
3000 to be imported by Oracle SQL-Loader on Windows NT.
Another case study shows how Alliant Foods is using Suprtool to
synchronizing IMAGE and Oracle databases on HP-UX.
* Use Suprtool to check business rules in your database
Business rules are usually included in the data entry programs but sometimes
'stuff happens' and the data gets messed up. Suprtool's IF command can help
find these problem records.
* Future of the HP 3000
After HP's announcement of the five-year plan for the HP3000, the HP3000
community responds with commitments and plans.
These are just some of the informative articles in this issue. Read the
complete issue to learn more!
Browse the HTML issues at
http://www.robelle.com/library/newsletter/w2001-08.html
Download the PDF issues at
http://www.robelle.com/library/newsletter/w2001-08.pdf
Hope you enjoy this issue.
12/17/2001
You've got a Web server running on an HP-UX or MPE/iX machine. Your users are clamoring to get their data and reports from their Intranet. You remember hearing, "If it's on paper it's dead", so you need to come up with a solution that is dynamic, easy to maintain and implement, cost effective, and alluring. You may already have all the parts to your solution!
The Common Gateway Interface (CGI) feature of your Web server allows you to execute custom programs or scripts, and to dynamically display Web pages. These custom programs and scripts can be written in almost any programming language. Perl is probably the most commonly used language, but you can use C or C++, COBOL, SPL, FORTRAN etc.
Click the link above for an application note.
12/14/2001
David Mason (dmason@atserve.com) points out that
Atlantic Tech Services (ATS) is a hardware maintenance
company and has been servicing the 3000 line since 1984 and will
continue to do so.
ATS is located in NE Ohio, between Akron and Cleveland. It started
as a regional maintenance company, but has grown into a multi-office company with coverage extending throughout the United States.
Add them to your list of alternatives to HP for maintaining your HP 3000 hardware.
12/12/2001
Shawn Gordon of HP 3000 fame now works at a Linux software company that makes desktop
applications such as personal financial system, database, flowcharting,
development studio, web tools, etc.
12/11/2001
This article in CRN investigates the feasability of "Constructing A Windows-Less Office", from
the point of view of the IT manager. Here is the conclusion, which might make you
want to read the article:
After constructing a practical solution, the Test Center reached the following conclusion: Linux and associated Linux applications can accomplish many of the same tasks as the Wintel standard at a much lower initial cost,in this case, for 93 percent less than the software cost of a similar Windows-based network,and without many of the licensing hassles presented by traditional software platforms.
12/11/2001
Suprtool, our incredibly useful database handyman, works on the HP 3000 and the HP 9000.
And the manuals for Suprtool/UX (the HP-UX version) are now available for download
on our web site, in PDF format and also
in HTML Help format.
12/10/2001
Interex has announced a new date for HPWorld 2002 in Los Angeles: Sept. 23-27.
The old dates were Sept 9-13.
12/07/2001
The November issue of the 3000 NewsWire has a great
article by Steve Hammond, "Playing Well Together", about using Host-Based Qedit with the MPEX
product with VESOFT:
I like to think of MPEX as an old friend. Up until about a year ago, I still had one of the original manuals we got from Vesoft — the address was on Mockingbird Lane. Many is the time this old friend has come to my rescue.
An even older friend is Robelle’s Qedit. It was the first editor I used other than Editor/3000. When I changed jobs to a TDP-using site about 15 years ago, within a year I had everyone using Qedit. These two old friends can work together to make your tasks complete faster and easier — and isn’t that what friends are for? They qualify for the “Plays Well with Others” award.
12/07/2001
This clever application note shows two methods for generating passwords
with Suprtool. The advantage of using a program to generate new passwords
is that no personal bias can slip into the password, making it easier for
an intruder to guess.
12/06/2001
The ICS Group announces continued independent maintenance for HP 3000 systems:
We will continue to provide hardware support for our beloved 3000 and partner with the gurus at Allegro to provide software support.);
12/05/2001
Adager's position: We respect HP's announcement and
we look forward to the survival (and prosperity) of MPE/Image
as independent and worthy software entities in their own right.
Adager's development and support continue with full vigor.
12/04/2001
Links to some of the best MPE freeware (Apache, Sendmail, Perl, Python,
Equater and more,
including ZIP and UNZIP, which are ports of PKZIP and PKUNZIP to the 3000. They were
ported by Neil Harvey & Associates (http://nha.co.za/):
"ZIP 2.1 is a compression and file packaging utility. It is compatible with
PKZIP 2.04g (Phil Katz ZIP) for MSDOS systems. There is a companion to zip
called unzip (of course)."
12/03/2001
Archived News and Tips...
HP 3000 Book
HP 3000 Evolution:
Edited by
Bob Green of Robelle, from articles written by Robelle,
by The 3000 Newswire, and by other
experts in the HP 3000 field.
This 300-page book contains the latest information on three important
topics:
Homesteading
HP 3000 Tune Up
Migrating a 3000 application.
An essential reference for every desk!
Order your copy on-line for US$25.
