plato:dev.notebook:l1pp:phase.5

Phase 5 - Documentation

— Dale Sinder and Steve Zoppi 2025/05/09

Tutorial Phases

Tip

The tutorial phases are arranged in a prescribed order, wherein each phase builds upon the previous. Performing these activities out of order will leave the installation in an inconsistent, or perhaps inoperable state.

  1. Phase 0 - Prepare Work Environment
  2. Phase 1 - Define Terminal Capabilities
  3. Phase 2 - Set the 'Capabilities' Values
  4. Phase 3 - Add CONDEN, PLATO, FORMAT Support for L1P Terminals
  5. Phase 3A - Differential Backup
  6. Phase 4 - Add More Support for L1P Terminals
  7. Phase 5 - Documentation

The primary documentation system for PLATO is either AIDS, AID, INFO depending on the generation of the system with which you might be familiar. In any case, the online help system was the principal reference for TUTOR programmers, systems programmers and students for decades. Comprised of specially-crafted lessons and a “concept” oriented navigation, this very versatile utility continues to serve as the primary reference within the PLATO environment.

Overview

Modifications to INFO are not without their own challenges. In developing these Level One PLATO Protocol enhancements, several features were added. Adding the corresponding documentation exposed some of the limits in the CYBIS configuration at Release 2.

  • The first of which needed to be overcome is that of the common upon which the INFO system relies.
  • The second is that the INFO system relies on a solitary common and, not unlike many of the system lessons, does not adapt itself to using a different common for testing (a.k.a. “new” versions) versus the “main” (operational) common. So the new→current→old workflow helps us primarily for testing the functionality of lesson code only.

As documented in file a0aids1:

TEXT BLOCK 3-a = common doc SPACE = 236 1 If you need to change the length of common "aids" 2 the following things must agree: 3 4 1. "(n)aids" has -syscomx- with length parameter. 5 2. "a0aidsvoc" has -common-. 6 3. "a0usedaids" has -common-. 7 4. "ainfo" has -commonx- with no length parameter so disk 8 common length must agree with 1 through 3. 9 5. "ainfo" has a define called "tbllth" which is the 10 maximum length of the concept list in the common. 11 This is now 1300 and should be set to the common 12 length minus the start of the concept list. The 13 way "ainfo" works limits "tbllth" to an absolute 14 maximum of 1499.

Objectives

The objectives of this phase are:

  • Expand the INFO System Common (a0aids1)
  • Add two INFO “Lessons” 1):
    • a0asciidev
    • a0style
  • Modify one INFO “lesson”:
    • a0display2
  • Modify the INFO System Vocabulary (a0aidsvoc)
  • Modify the files which use the expanded common using the copyover function in lesson operator:
    • aids
    • a0aidsvoc
    • a0usedaids
    • ainfo

Procedure

  1. Quiesce CYBIS Normally.

    Take CYBIS Down

    Although in this specific circumstance, the following steps can be completed by cdc.io on a running CYBIS system. You are never encouraged to do so.


  2. From Phase 0 - Prepare Work Environment, we obtained and applied the modifications used in Phase 3 - Add CONDEN, PLATO, FORMAT Support for L1P Terminals. Returning to the directory l1ppmods.20250527, the WINDOWS command file cdc.io.copyover.cmd or LINUX shell script cdc.io.copyover.sh may now be used to import the m002.sinder.mods.c patch set. :

    Re-verify the modification set: (Windows Example) cdc.io.copyover.cmd ^ "m002.sinder.mods.c" ^ "C:\Path\To\DtCyber\disks" ^ test :: Processing "m002.sinder.mods.c\a0aids1.system.txt" :: Processing "m002.sinder.mods.c\a0asciidev.system.txt" :: Processing "m002.sinder.mods.c\a0display2.system.txt" :: Processing "m002.sinder.mods.c\a0style.system.txt" :: Processing "m002.sinder.mods.c\na0aidsvoc.s0nver.txt" :: Processing "m002.sinder.mods.c\na0usedaid.s0nver.txt" :: Processing "m002.sinder.mods.c\naids.s0nver.txt" :: Processing "m002.sinder.mods.c\nainfo.s0nver.txt" :: Processing the Results ... ---------- (STDOUTPUT).TXT ---------- (ERROUTPUT).TXT :: :: TEST COMPLETE: :: You may proceed if the only lines that appear above resemble: :: ---------- (STDOUTPUT).txt :: (or) ---------- (ERROUTPUT).txt :: When everything looks correct - you may apply the changes by supplying the "write" option: (Windows Example) cdc.io.copyover.001.cmd ^ "m002.sinder.mods.c" ^ "C:\Path\To\DtCyber\disks" ^ write :: Processing "m002.sinder.mods.c\a0aids1.system.txt" :: Processing "m002.sinder.mods.c\a0asciidev.system.txt" :: Processing "m002.sinder.mods.c\a0display2.system.txt" :: Processing "m002.sinder.mods.c\a0style.system.txt" :: Processing "m002.sinder.mods.c\na0aidsvoc.s0nver.txt" :: Processing "m002.sinder.mods.c\na0usedaid.s0nver.txt" :: Processing "m002.sinder.mods.c\naids.s0nver.txt" :: Processing "m002.sinder.mods.c\nainfo.s0nver.txt" :: The contents of (STDOUTPUT).txt and :: (ERROUTPUT).txt :: Should be evaluated for any possible errors :: :: If you mis-allocated a file - those errors will appear here. :: :: (ERROUTPUT).txt contains the following: :: :: :: [End Of Output]

  3. Bring CYBIS back up.

  4. VERIFY that all files copied correctly.

  5. Condense the following files:
    1. naids
    2. na0aidsvoc
    3. nainfo

  6. If the above condense correctly, user the lesson operator and function g. copyover contents/n) Install new version to install:
    1. a0aidsvoc
    2. a0usedaids This file is used by other lessons and does not condense. 2)
    3. aids
    4. ainfo

  7. Condense the following files:
    1. aids
    2. a0aidsvoc
    3. ainfo

SUCCESS!!

Updates to the INFO system are complete!

Take some time to study each of the changed files and fully understand their contents.

DO ANOTHER BACKUP

Practice backing up your incremental changes.

See Phase 3A - Differential Backup

1)
These two lessons should have been created during Phase 0 - Prepare Work Environment.
2)
This 10 character name is copied from the file na0usedaid and saved to oa0usedaid automatically by operator.
  • plato/dev.notebook/l1pp/phase.5.txt
  • Last modified: 2026/01/25 06:57
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