- Ed Stephenson, 7/2/03
Status
Until recently, the only IUCF machine running Speakeasy was VENUS operating under VMS. This version is old and no longer supported. We have installed a new version on the HERA computer (LINUX operating system) that we expect will be useful for some time into the future, and we encourage Speakeasy users to switch to the new system. At some point IUCF will no longer support general computing on VENUS, and license fees are such that we need to phase out Speakeasy under VMS relatively soon. Below you will find notes on migrating files that you have saved from VMS to LINUX, as well as some comments on the new system.
Saving old work
Old work with Speakeasy is usually archived using the CHECKPOINT command (or EXITing at the end of a session), resulting in a *.sav file being created on disk. This file is a binary image of the Speakeasy scratch space. It cannot be interpreted under other operating systems. In order to move this information to the new system, use the following steps.
Check your VENUS account for other files that may be associated with this project. Often data files or other items were stored as *.spk files. These can be copied to LINUX. Data files that are read using the GETDECK command should have their extension changed to *.deck.
It should come as no surprise that there are a few new twists to running Speakeasy under the LINUX system. Here are some notes on things that might crop up.
Getting started
To get the processor started, used the speakez command. You might want to follow with an ampersand (speakez &) just in case you want to still have access from the calling window. This should open an new window for the processor. To start in text or dialogue mode, begin with speakez -e.
If you intend to be working on programs, then
before starting the processor you need to declare an editor. So at the
LINUX prompt
$ export SPK_FSEDITOR=editorname
where the editorname should point to an editor that is
available on
the LINUX system (e.g. xedit).
The commands QUIT and EXIT work as before.
On-screen graphics
If you
have entered in windows mode, then you can open a graphics window on your
terminal using
:_GRAPHICS XWINDOWS
and then move the
window to some convenient spot. If you wish to switch to some other
graphics mode, such as writing to a Postscript file, good practice would
suggest that you terminate this window with the ENDGRAPH command.
Postscript graphics
You may open a Postscript graphics
output file in the usual way with
:_GRAPHICS(POSTSCRIPT,OUTPUT=FILENAME)
where
FILENAME refers to the output file. The usual graphics commands
are operative. Again, close with the ENDGRAPH command. Color
and landscape modes are available.
Adding text to a plot is now done
with the command
:_TEXTOUT("text",VVV,HHH:options)
where
text is printed onto the plot. VVV and HHH are
the vertical and horizontal positions for the text, beginning in the lower
left-hand corner. The options list can help you choose a scaling format;
consult the online help.
Type fonts are controlled as before with
:_SETFONT("Fontname")
and Fontname is
an
approved Postscript font such as "Times-Roman," "Symbol" or "Helvetica".
Character
sizes are controlled through
CHARSIZE=0.22.
There is a new command for controlling the width of lines. See the
LINEWIDTH documentation for details.
Calling Speakeasy from within a Script
If you are using Speakeasy as part of a larger program, you will need
to be able to call it from within a script. This is accomplished with
speakez -e≤≤speak.eof
COMMAND
COMMAND
...
speak.eof
Tests have shown that numerical precision is the same under LINUX and
VMS.
For further help are advice on the use of Speakeasy, please see Ed Stephenson.