HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
Lesson 6 Communicating with Other Users
Lesson 6 presents commands to communicate with other users.
* commands that send messages:
* TELL
* TELLOP
* blocking and unblocking messages:
* SET;MSG= blocks or unblocks messages
* the Quiet mode.
Sending and receiving messages
You can send messages to other users on your system and receive messages
from them:
* To send a message to another user on your system, use the TELL
command.
* To send a message to the system operator, use the TELLOP command.
NOTE In order to take full advantage of the exercises presented in this
module, arrange to work with a partner who also logs on to your
system.
Sending a message to another user
The TELL command allows you to send a message to another user (actually
to another session) who is logged on to the same MPE/iX system.
First find the session number (#Snnn) or the logon identity of the person
to whom you want to send the message.
Enter:
SHOWJOBReturn
You should see something like this on the screen:
________________________________________________________________________
| |
| |
| :SHOWJOB |
| |
| JOBNUM STATE IPRI JIN JLIST INTRODUCED JOB NAME |
| |
| #S116 EXEC 101 101 FRI 9:57A NORMA.DESMOND |
| #S118 EXEC 107 107 FRI 3:57P MILDRED.PIERCE |
| #S119 EXEC QUIET 109 109 FRI 4:02P LEDGER.ACCNTNG |
| #J13 EXEC 10S LP FRI 3:00P JIM.HARINGTN |
| #J10 EXEC 10S LP FRI 6:00A OPERATOR.SYS |
| |
| 5 JOBS: |
| 0 INTRO |
| 0 WAIT; INCL 0 DEFERRED |
| 5 EXEC; INCL 3 SESSIONS |
| 0 SUSP |
| JOBFENCE= 7; JLIMIT= 60; SLIMIT= 60 |
| |
________________________________________________________________________
Norma Desmond is using session 116. You could send a message to her in
two ways, both using the TELL command:
* to her session number:
TELL S116 A NOTE TO YOU.Return
or
* to her logon identity (often--but not always--a person's name):
TELL NORMA.DESMOND CAN YOU GET ME THE JAMES FILE?Return
Use either method to send a message to your partner.
NOTE You cannot send a message to a job.
What the receiver sees
The person who receives the message sees something like this on the
screen:
________________________________________________________________________
| |
| |
| FROM/S118 MILDRED.PIERCE/CAN YOU GET ME THE JAMES FILE? |
| |
________________________________________________________________________
Notice that the sender's session number and logon appear on the screen
indicating the sender of the message. In this example, the sender is
Mildred Pierce, working in session 118.
NOTE TELL messages are transmitted when the Return key is pressed.
Lengthy messages that are longer than a terminal screen line wrap
around (automatically continue) to the next line (you can type as
many as 276 characters, including spaces, after the TELL command).
Have a partner send a message to you.
Blocking messages
There might be times when having a message appear on the screen is
annoying. In some circumstances, the message might actually interfere
with your work.
You can tell the computer to prevent messages from appearing on your
terminal.
To block messages, use the SET command. Be sure to enter the command
exactly this way:
SET;MSG=OFFReturn
Try it.
Enter:
SHOWJOBReturn
________________________________________________________________________
| |
| |
| :SHOWJOB |
| |
| JOBNUM STATE IPRI JIN JLIST INTRODUCED JOB NAME |
| |
| #S116 EXEC QUIET 101 101 FRI 9:57A NORMA.DESMOND |
| #S118 EXEC 107 107 FRI 3:57P MILDRED.PIERCE |
| #S119 EXEC QUIET 109 109 FRI 4:02P LEDGER.ACCNTNG |
| #J13 EXEC 10S LP FRI 3:00P JIM.HARINGTN |
| #J10 EXEC 10S LP FRI 6:00A OPERATOR.SYS |
| |
| 5 JOBS: |
| 0 INTRO |
| 0 WAIT; INCL 0 DEFERRED |
| 5 EXEC; INCL 3 SESSIONS |
| 0 SUSP |
| JOBFENCE= 7; JLIMIT= 60; SLIMIT= 60 |
| |
________________________________________________________________________
In this example, both NORMA.DESMOND and LEDGER.ACCNTNG have used the SET
command to block messages from appearing on their terminals. Both users'
terminals are now in Quiet mode.
Your terminal should be in Quiet mode. Does SHOWJOB confirm this?
If you try to send a message to someone whose terminal is in Quiet mode,
you get a message from the system:
________________________________________________________________________
| |
| |
| S116 NORMA.DESMOND NOT ACCEPTING MESSAGES. |
| |
________________________________________________________________________
Unblocking messages
To permit messages to get through to your terminal again, enter this:
SET;MSG=ONReturn
The ;MSG=ON part of this command line takes your terminal out of Quiet
mode.
Practice the TELL command with a partner on your system. Get in and out
of terminal Quiet Mode. Send messages to one another while in each mode
(on and off). Use the SHOWJOB command to keep track of which mode you
and your partner are in.
Message to the system operator: TELLOP
There may come a time when you need to send a message to the system
operator who supports your HP 3000. The TELLOP command sends a message
to the system operator's terminal (| system console|) and to nowhere
else. For that reason, you do not have to specify a session number or a
logon identity when you use TELLOP.
NOTE Your system operator is obliged to respond to TELLOP messages.
That takes up the operator's time. Do not send messages to the
operator unless you really need to do so.
Instead, just study the examples below.
If you enter at the prompt:
TELLOP WHAT TIME IS SYSTEM BACKUP TONIGHT?Return
what the system operator would see on the console screen is something
like this:
________________________________________________________________________
| |
| |
| 16:47/#S116/19/FROM/NORMA.DESMOND/WHAT TIME IS SYSTEM BACKUP |
| TONIGHT? |
| |
________________________________________________________________________
TELLOP supplies more information to the receiver than the TELL command:
16:47 The time the message was sent (in 24-hour time).
#S116 The session from which the message was sent. (A
message can be sent from a job, and then it might
be #Jnnn.)
19 The sender's identification number, also called
process identification number (PIN).
Your system operator can also use the TELL command to send a message to
you. If you get one, it will look something like this:
________________________________________________________________________
| |
| |
| FROM/S581 CONSOLE.SYS/SYSTEM BACK UP AT 8:00 PM. |
| |
________________________________________________________________________
On the lookout
At any time, the operator can deliver a terminal screen message to all
users logged on to the system. These messages usually contain important
information regarding your use of your MPE/iX system.
Warning messages.
The system operator can send you an urgent message at any time. A
warning message appears on the screen no matter what. Using SET;MSG=OFF
does not block a warning message from the operator.
If you get a warning message from the operator, it will look something
like this:
________________________________________________________________________
| |
| |
| OPERATOR WARNING: SYSTEM COMING DOWN IN 15 MINUTES. PLEASE LOG |
| OFF. |
| |
________________________________________________________________________
Always pay close attention to messages from the system operator. If you
ignore messages from the operator, you risk losing or corrupting some or
all of your work in progress.