Archive-name: NEXTSTEP-Utilities-FAQ Last-modified: Fri Aug 27 01:27:51 EDT 1993 Version: 3.0 Every four weeks (depending on the phase of the moon) a number of postings are made to comp.sys.next.announce which are a compilation of answers to frequently asked questions in the comp.sys.next.* Usenet newsgroups. The FAQ list is broken into sections and posted separately. These sections focus on various aspects of NEXTSTEP and NeXT machines. Items that appear within sections are not in any particular order, and get added and removed over time. Posting the sections separately allows people to find the sections interesting to them quickly. Within each section each question will be preceded by a "Subject:" field, allowing news readers to break up the file into separate questions. Each question has its own unique number. The FAQ is kept on-line at several ftp sites, including: cs.orst.edu sonata.cc.purdue.edu srawgw.sra.co.jp [133.137.4.3] Many FAQs, including this one, are available via FTP on the archive site rtfm.mit.edu in the directory pub/usenet/news.answers. The name under which this FAQ is archived appears in the Archive-nameline above. Questions marked with a "+" are new to this issue, and questions with changes since the last issue are marked by a "!". Submissions, corrections, comments, input, etc., should be directed to Nathan Janette . Disclaimer: We are not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned in this posting. If you have any corrections, additions, questions, or answers to add to this list, please send email to: This compilation is meant primarily as a service to the comp.sys.next community. Newsletter editors wishing to excerpt from this work for publication should consider using local electronic bulletin boards to disseminate this information rather than preparing hardcopies. This allows for readers to access the most recent information, and perhaps save a couple of trees. We do not collect any royalties, charge any fees, or compensate anyone in connection with this endeavor. TABLE OF CONTENTS: ------------------ I1. Where can I obtain the most recent version of Kermit? I2. Where can I obtain a NEXTSTEP version of SLIP or PPP? I3. Where can I obtain a version of Larry Wall's patch for NEXTSTEP? I4. Where can I get a NEXTSTEP Usenet reader? I5. Where can I get plotting software? I6. Where can I get objective-c mode for emacs? I7. Is there a backup utility for multi-volume dumps (gnu tar)? I8. What are these ".z" files which appear all over the archives ? Should I just rename them to ".Z" so that compress can uncompress them ? I9. How do I decompress a file with the extension .compressed? I10. How do I change the Workspace compression app? ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: I1. Where can I obtain the most recent version of Kermit? The source for the latest version is available via ftp from: cs.dartmouth.edu kermit/sw. Get the file ckaaaa.hlp to get started and see what files are required. Note that this version of Kermit does have a NEXTSTEP specific compile option. Kermit can also be found on... The Purdue archive: pub/next/2.0-release/source/ pub/next/2.0-release/binaries/ The Oregon archive: pub/next/sources/comm/ pub/next/binaries/ ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: I2. Where can I obtain a NEXTSTEP version of SLIP or PPP? The free version of SLIP available from purdue was written by Louis Mamakos and is an excellent implementation. Basic SLIP is free, but VJ TCP header compression requires a license which is available inexpensively from Mr Mamakos. Morning Star Technologies offers a commercial version. For more information: email: marketing@morningstar.com ftp: ftp.morningstar.com (anonymous FTP archive of docs & literature) phone: +1 614 451 1883, +1 800 558 7827. [From: sanguish@digifix.com] Louis is not currently shipping an Intel version, although hopefully soon. Morningstar PPP is now available for Intel. ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: I3. Where can I obtain a version of Larry Wall's patch for NEXTSTEP? Patch is a utility that allows people to distribute updates to sources without resending the whole packages. This is done by detecting changes between the last release and the new one and creating a file of differences to each source file in the release. Patches need to be applied sequentially. The distribution can be found on the Purdue NeXT archives. ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: I4. Where can I get a NEXTSTEP Usenet reader? By far the most versatile NEXTSTEP-specific newsreader application is NewsGrazer by Jayson Adams, formerly of NeXT. It is on the archive servers. [From: sanguish@digifix.com] NewsGrazer is not available as an MAB. NewsGrazer Pro will be released this fall as a commercial product. Many non-NEXTSTEP-specific newsreaders have been ported to the NEXTSTEP environment providing the flexibility and familiarity existing on other platforms. Most of these may be obtained via anonymouse ftp: ftp.uu.net:~ftp/news ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: I5. Where can I get plotting software? nxyplot by Tom Pulliam is available from cs.orst.edu graph is available in source form from 4.3BSD systems. It is useful for dealing with pairs of numbers that need to be viewed. psplot comes with NEXTSTEP, it takes the output of the graph program and generates a .ps file that can be previewed with Preview or Yap. gnuplot is available from prep.ai.mit.edu. Very useful patches for gnuplot are available from Purdue which allow it to open NEXTSTEP windows and output its graphs on them. jsplot clone of graph that generates ps files directly. plplot is a library of c routines that generate 2D, 3D and contour plots. It is available on purdue archive, plplot.tar.Z contains the source, and NXplplot.tar.Z contains the library, example programs and documentation. Mathematica The ReadList command will bring in files containing sample values and produces a plot on the fly. ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: I6. Where can I get objective-c mode for emacs? You can get ObjC mode for Emacs, by Douglas Worthington and Kenneth Persson from cs.orst.edu ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: I7. Is there a backup utility for multi-volume dumps (gnu tar)? GNU tar has a number of features not found in the tar delivered with NEXTSTEP, and in some cases it may be a better choice for backups than rdump and rrestore. The NEXTSTEP supplied rdump/rrestore don't work when using multiple volumes to non-NEXTSTEP systems (see the man page for rdump/rrestore). GNU tar will also allow a dump of a portion of a file system as well as an entire file system. Other useful features of GNU tar include: incremental dump capability like BSD dump/restore, scripts for backing up heterogeneous workstations across the network automatically, multivolume tape and floppy disk support (it can't do multivolume compressed unfortunately), long filename support, and scripts for integrating floppy disks into a three level backup scheme. Source and binary for NEXTSTEP is available on the purdue and orst archives in tar-1.10.tar.Z. [From: Carl Edman ] GNU tar 1.10 (which lacks many bugs which 1.11 introduced) is also shipped with NEXTSTEP 3.0. Just look in /usr/bin/gnutar. An inexpensive commercial application for backup to DAT and SCSI tape is available from Impact Software publishing. The app automatically configures your tape drive and gives a NEXTSTEP browser interface for selecting files to save or restore. The program is distributed electronically, and a demo version can be obtained from nova.cc.purdue.edu or sonata.cc.purdue.edu under theUse of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at E:\listplex\SYSTEM\SCRIPTS\filearea.cgi line 455, line 287. pathname: /pub/next/2.0-release/demos/enTar1.4.tar.Z [From: sanguish@digifix.com] SafetyNet. It is commerical, but an excellent app. ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: I8. What are these ".z" files which appear all over the archives ? Should I just rename them to ".Z" so that compress can uncompress them ? [From: Carl Edman ] These files were created with GNU gzip. Gzip is a replacement for compress which achieves about 30% better compression rates and uncompresses faster. Gzip can also uncompress ".Z" file. Unfortunately compress can not uncompress ".z" files, so you will have to get and compile gzip on your machine before you can read any ".z" files. Gzip is available via anon ftp from prep.ai.mit.edu and should configure, compile and install without problem on any NEXTSTEP system. [From: sanguish@digifix.com] Needs to be updated to address the .gz file change. There are also precompiled MAB versions of gzip available on cs.orst.edu. ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: I9. How do I decompress a file with the extension .compressed? [From: sanguish@digifix.com] .compressed files have been compressed in the Workspace Manager. Basically, they are just .tar.Z files. Even single files are tarred as well as compressed. There are several methods of decompressing these files. -They can be decompressed by selecting them in the Workspace, and Selecting uncompress from the file menu. -They can be decompressed by selecting them in the Workspace, and bringing up the Workspace Inspector. (You can double click to get there faster) -You can rename them to be .tar.Z and handle them the way you do them. ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: I10. How do I change the Workspace compression app? [Stephen Peters ] You can change the tools that the Workspace uses to create and read its .compressed files by using, for example: Workspace compress /usr/bin/gzip Workspace uncompress /usr/bin/gunzip Workspace AlwaysTarForCompress YES ____________________________________________________________________________ Editor: nathan@laplace.csb.yale.edu -- Nathan Janette Voice: 203 432 5065 Systems Manager Fax: 203 432 3923 Brunger Lab Internet: nathan@laplace.csb.yale.edu Yale Univ Dept MB&B/HHMI "I'm a NeXTstep Man, I'm a NeXTcube Guy"