%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% %% %% What's Hacking? %% %% A series by David Lightman %% %% %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%-SPECIAL ISSUE-%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% %% %% VAX COMPUTER SYSTEMS %% %% %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% This is a requested discussion from Jolly Bardsman's Pub & Tavern at (XXX) XXX-XXXX. If you have any requests, send me mail at any address listed below: USENET: bdunn@attctc.dallas.tx.us ... or ... {texsun..texbell..}!attctc!bdunn TELEMAIL: csupport/a755.cc3556/tech.services/credit.data/isg/trw BBS's: Elm Street Jolly Bardsman's Pub & Tavern Channel Z Spyder's Web Dead Zone Abyssal Plane Oblivion (if AO gets the damn thing off the ground) By 03/06/90, you may connect to a beta Twilight Zone at XXX- XXX-XXXX. You may also reach me voice at 214-660-6054. Limit the calls to an EXTREME minimum! If I get multiple requests about a topic (as I did with VAX), I will put something online the WHAT'S HACKING? subboards and the beta system Twilight Zone ]I[. ----------------------------------------------------------------- VAX: The VAX acronym is derived from Virtual Address eXtension. The VAX computer is designed to use memory addresses beyond the hardware's actual limits, enabling it to handle pro- grams that are too large to fit into physical memory. The VAX computer system is a member of the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) computer family. Currently the VAX series includes models spanning the desktop VAX station to mainframe class multi-CPU VAX processors. These vary from the superminis, like MicroVAX, to the older, moderate sized 11/7XX series, to the newer 6000 series. These computer systems commonly use an operating system known as VMS. VMS: The VMS acronym is for Virtual Memory System. The operands of VMS are very similar to other operating systems. Back in the days of stand-alone computer systems, DEC had the idea for streamlining the operation of their computers for business and engineering. It conceived VMS as a way of allowing the basic computer management to be done by a user familiar with any of the multiple systems it made. DCL: The DCL acronym is for Digital Command Language. It is the fundamental language of the VMS. Those of you who have an IBM system, you can think of a DCL program like a batch file. You can do a lot with it (much more than a PC-DOS or MS-DOS batch) but it work basically the same way. One difference is that when you want to execute anything as if you were typing it in at the command prompt, you first must put a "$" in front of the command in the DCL program. DCL programs are commonly called COM files as well. When you are not executing a COM or DCL program file, you are almost always typing things into the DCL processor.