ND-60.264.1 EN

Preface

Note: The name of this manual resembles the name of an earlier Norsk Data manual, the SINTRAN III User's Guide (ND-60.050.08), which was last printed in 1978. These are two quite different manuals, and they should not be confused. This manual is a translation of a Norwegian manual, SINTRAN III Sluttbrukerveiledning, ND-60.264.1 NO. Norwegian speakers may wish to use the Norwegian version.

The products

The product which this manual focuses on is the SINTRAN III operating system for Norsk Data computers. The product numbers for this product are as follows:

The manual also describes some features of the following products:

The Manual

The SINTRAN III User Guide is a recommended starting point for acquiring some familiarity with the range of tasks possible via the SINTRAN III operating system, and via a number of programs closely connected to it, e.g. the Backup System.

The manaual describes the commands in the operating system SINTRAN III which are most useful for general users, i.e. those users who are neither programmers nor supervisors, and who typically use a variety of application programs, such as those in the NOTIS family of products. In this context it explains key concepts like user, file, directory, access rights, etc. , and explains how to carry out tasks such as printing files, running batch jobs, etc.

The manual also includes introductory descriptions of some useful programs such as the Backup System and Transfer File, which permit the user to perform a number of tasks, such as taking backups and transferring files between systems.

The notation conventions used in the manual is described on page 7.

A glossary of the technical terms used in the manual is included in Appendix A.

The Reader

The reader should be a general user (i.e. not a programmer or operator, but rather someone who principally uses Norsk Data's NOTIS family of programs) , who desires an overview of the capabilities of the SINTRAN III operating system, and of a number of closely associated programs.

Prerequisite Knowledge

No prerequisite knowledge is necessary, but some prior familiarity with the SINTRAN III Operating System, at the level presented in the manual Introduction to SINTRAN III (ND-60.141) is an advantage.

Related Manuals

The File System

Information is stored by a computer in manageable pieces called files. The file system is the part of the operating system which is concerned with the storage and retrieval of this information.

Files

A file is a collection of information which has been given a name (the file name). A file can contain text, data, or program code.

The files which an ordinary user uses are stored on mass storage media, such as disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tapes. These files are called mass storage files. Space on mass storage files is allocated in pages, where one page = 1024 words = 2048 characters (bytes). Note that this unit "one page" has nothing to do with a page of text in NOTIS-WP. One page (the unit of storage allocation) is roughly equivalent to 26 lines of 80 characters.

The information on a file is stored in increments of one page. This means that, even if there were only one character on a page, a whole page would be allocated to store that character.

General information on the File System

There are two different file systems where you can store information. They are the SINTRAN III File System, and NOTIS-DS. The latter stores information as "documents," rather than as files (this is only a different naming convention). NOTIS-DS is very useful, but it will not be treated here. For information on NOTIS-DS, see the manual NOTIS-DS Introduction (ND-63.017).

The SINTRAN III File System is designed to manage mass storage files (i.e. files on disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape), and printers.

All files in the file system have an owner. The owner is one of the SINTRAN users on the computer. Every file is stored on a SINTRAN user area. The name of a SINTRAN user area is the name of the SINTRAN user who owns the files on that user area. 'Note that the SINTRAN user name is not the same as the UE user name.'

To maintain security, the File System gives you the ability to decide the level of protection:

• individually for each file, and
• for three groups of users (yourself, friends, and the public).

Each hard disk or floppy disk has at least one directory. A directory is information the computer needs in order to be able to find users' files, and the individual pages which constitute the files, on a direct access storage medium (i.e. floppy disk or hard disk). You can think of a directory as being very much like a telephone directory. There is typically one directory per disk. A directory refers to the user areas on the disk (it is often said that a directory "contains" user areas, which is an easier way of thinking about it, though it is not completely correct technically). The relationship between a directory, user areas, and files can be pictured as shown on the facing page.