The Technology Newsletter for the University of Hawaii Community

In This Issue

Our mission is to communicate and serve as a forum to share ideas on information systems and computing at the University of Hawai`i. We want to make this your newsletter. We can report on what we THINK you want to hear, but we need your input to KNOW if we are on target and exploring the issues and projects you are interested in. Let us know. Please send any comments, commendations, complaints, or questions to Nancy Roth, Editor-In-Chief, ITS Newsletter, Sinclair Library Room 10, Honolulu, HI 96822 or electronically mail these to editor-l@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu.

We are excited to present to you our premier issue of the ITS Newsletter. Our next issue will be at the beginning of the fall semester. Happy reading.

Regards,

Nancy Roth, 956-7433
editor-l@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu

Welcome from the Director

This newsletter will replace the three separate newsletters many of you have received in the past. In many ways, it typifies the benefits we expect from our reorganization: It will provide you with a single concise source of information about information technology at the University, and it will let us improve our efficiency by writing, editing, laying out, printing and distributing just one newsletter instead of three. Similarly, much of the work of our four offices is duplicated, from consulting and networking to operations and administration. Through a complete internal realignment we will develop a unified information technology support organization with greater efficiency and effectiveness than was ever possible with four completely separate units.

You should expect change from us. With shrinking resources, even the gains in efficiency we expect from our reorganization will not be enough to let us meet the exploding demand for technology support we face or provide the new services now possible. We simply cannot continue to do everything we have done before in the same way we have done it. Nor should we. In information technology, perhaps more than in any other field, change is constant. We are committed to working with you throughout the change process, gathering your input and supporting you through whatever shifts take place.

Since this newsletter is sent to all faculty and staff in the University system, we will try to keep it of as much interest to as many of you as possible. The newsletter will focus less on detailed and complex "how-to" information and more on short tips, what's happening, how you can take advantage of it and where to look for further information or guidance. Its "look and feel" will develop over the next few issues, so please let us know what you think. Is the content of interest? What would you like to see more about? Less about? Any ideas for a catchy name or new logo?

Best wishes, and we look forward to working together with you!

David Lassner
Director, Information Technology Services

Tips and Techniques

1. Create and send a message to more than one person.
   
2. Forward a message.
   
3. Make an internal call without disconnecting from voice mail.
   
4. Set a date and time for message delivery.
   

If you receive a Voice Mail message that you want someone else to hear, the Forwarding Message command allows you to forward the message as is, or to record an introduction that the recipient hears prior to listening to the forwarded message. For example, a staff member that receives a message for a faculty member can forward the message to the faculty member's mailbox, along with a brief personalized introduction as to why the message is being forwarded. You can even forward the message to yourself if you want to keep the message in your mailbox past the midnight deadline when messages are automatically erased. If Voice Mail doesn't allow you to forward a message, it means that your mailbox has reached its maximum capacity and you will have to delete other messages before you can forward a message. For specific instructions, please refer to the Forwarding Messages section in the MMVM user guide.

The Call Sender and Thru-Dial commands allow you to make an internal call without disconnecting from Voice Mail. As you are retrieving your voice mail messages, the Call Sender command will allow you to call the person at the line number where the call originated. If you wish to call the person at a different line number from where the call originated, the Thru-Dial command will be applicable. Both commands are especially helpful when you are retrieving Voice Mail messages from a pay phone and you're down to your last quarter! For specific instructions, please refer to the Call Sender and Thru-Dial sections in the MMVM user guide.

Voice Mail for Announcement Only

Check Voice Mail Message

For further information about these or other voice mail features, please do not hesitate to call Telecommunications at 956-6033.

Part I: Basic Telecomputing

What's "telecomputing?"

I'm glad you asked that. The first part, tele, is from ancient Greek, meaning "to operate from a distance." Same thing as in telephone and television. The last part, "computing" is from the Latin computare, "to calculate or reckon."

Gee, that's interesting. But what is it?

The point is that "telecomputing" is computing from a distance. What it all boils down to is using the services and resources that are available on a computer from somewhere else, for example from your home. Many people telecompute from home with a modem.

What's a "modem"?

A modem is a device which lets computers communicate with each other over phone lines. If you have a computer, modem, and phone line at home, you can call one of our modems (we have over 100 of them) to login to any of the big UH computers. What that means is you can log in from home anytime to send and receive e-mail, use Gopher, Archie, Veronica or read USENET news.

A scenario:

Your daughter needs information on the entry requirements for Paraguay for a report that's due the very next morning. The library is closed. Your child is nearly in tears; she has done a great job on the cultural and historical sections of her report. So you ask yourself, "If this is the Information Age, and I've got access to the Information Highway, then why don't I use my modem to save the day?" You turn on your trusty personal computer, start your modem software, and dial in to UH. After logging into UHUNIX, you type:

which, after a few moments, yields something similar to what's in Figure 1.

You quickly ftp to "ftp.uu.net " and retrieve the file named "paraguay." Voila! You get the information like that in Figure 2.

The kid thinks you're a genius or something.

So you can see how a modem might not only affect the way you use your account at UH, it might also affect the way you work and live. It can bring the unfathomable amount of information that's available on the worldwide Internet right into your home.

What should I look for in a modem?

Like almost anything else, there are many types of modems, with many different features. Let's look at a few:

1. Speed. You'll see speed in units of "baud" or "bps" (bits per second) which are generally used to mean the same thing. There are modems which work at speeds of 300, 1200, 2400, 9600, and 14,400 bps. A simple rule applies in matters of selecting a modem speed; buy as high a speed as you can possibly afford. A speed which seems adequate today will be achingly slow tomorrow. Speeds of 9600 baud and above are becoming very affordable.

2. Error correction. You'll see such terms as "V.42", "MNP2", "MNP3" and "MNP4". Error correction means that each modem keeps track of whether the data that was sent by the other modem was received correctly. A common cause of incorrect modem-to-modem transmission is noise on the phone line. Get error correction. It's worth it. Otherwise, if the phone line you use is noisy, you'll see characters on your screen that you didn't type. Unless back-spacing over gunk on a computer screen is one of your hobbies, get error correction.

3. Compression. You'll see "V.42bis" and "MNP5". Compression is a process by which your modem reduces the amount of data it must transmit in order to deliver the information to the other side. For instance, if you're transferring a text file that contains 10 spaces in a row, the sending modem could just send codes which say "spaces; 10 of them" rather than sending all 10 spaces. The idea is that the codes would only require 2 characters, whereas the actual spaces would have required 10. Actually, the technique really used are more sophisticated than that, but there are books available if you really want to know more. If you're only going to log in to read news or e-mail, compression isn't really very important. However, like everything else, compression is becoming too cheap to pass up. If you have a choice, buy V.42bis compression over MNP5.

4. Other features. If you go modem shopping, you will undoubtedly see modems which will send and receive fax. Yes, fax-modems really do work with regular fax machines. Take care to note, however, that some modems only send fax, whereas others can send and receive.

Note that among the "other features" in number 4 above, none are supported by the UH modem pool. The UH modem pool does support all of the features mentioned in 1, 2, and 3 above.

The cost?

If you shop judiciously, you should be able to find a high performance modem (14,400 bps, error correction, compression) for less than $200. Many come with communications software. External modems can be used on most desktop and portable systems and require a cable. Internal modems are also available; most are manufactured for IBM PC compatibles and need no cable. Fax-modems can be purchased and are usually packaged with special Fax software for your particular machine type.

Now I have my modem software and I want to read my e-mail. What do I do?

Assuming you've got your software loaded, your modem connected to your computer as well as to the phone line, everything's turned on, and you've read the directions -

Set your modem software parameters to No parity, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit.

On Oahu, have your software dial 956-5080. If your modem has a speaker, you might hear a ring signal, followed by a series of tones, which is what modems do when they first meet, a mating ritual of sorts. If the modems agree on a speed, error correction, and compression, they will connect and be quiet. You will probably see your modem print the word "CONNECT" on your screen. Wait a moment and press RETURN and you should see something like what's in Figure 3.

At this point, just select the number of the host you want to log into, and you will be asked for your login and password. Enter them correctly, and then you're in!

The above is the way things work with Pearl, the new Annex III terminal server which operates the modem pools. You may have used modems attached to the Starmaster, but Pearl offers higher performance, as well as some new options...

What kind of new options?

You'll have to wait until the next issue. Until then, most of your questions can be answered by reading the newsgroup uhawaii.network.

CWIS? Gopher? -- What Does It All Mean??

Gopher Use is Growing

Forerunners

Where Do I Sign Up?

You will then be contacted by a Gopher Team member to set up a meeting to discuss logistics of "gopherizing" your information.

Common "Gopherizing" Techniques

1. JUST TYPING
   Sometimes Gopher Team members just type popular information that may not be readily available in an electronic format. Gopher Team members update the Consolidated Movie listings weekly from the newspaper and the On-Call Talking Yellow Pages recording. Marriott menus are updated monthly from flyers available in the main dining room. Sport schedules are input from information provided by University Relations and updated with scores from various new sources. Given the limited amount of manpower resources, the Gopher Team would like to minimize use of this alternative.

2. SEND CALENDAR EVENTS by E-MAIL
   Any special events or happenings you would like others to know about can be publicized through the ,b>News and Events/UH Happenings section of UHINFO. The Calendar of Events from the University Bulletin is automatically entered into UH Happenings. For additional events, you may send email messages with the date and event information to uh-cal@gopher.hawaii.edu . For further information on how to add, modify, or delete email events to the events calendar read the About UH Happenings item within the UH Happenings section.

3. SERVE UP THE DATA
   If your data is already in an electronic format in a word processing file, the Gopher Team can upload strictly ASCII text versions of your files to UHINFO. Microsoft Word files use the Save As...Text with Layout filter to convert tabs to spaces and strip special formatting characters used for centering, underlining, bolding, and italics. WordPerfect DOS files can similarly be converted using the Text Out/DOS Text feature. Word Perfect for Windows has a Save As ASCII Text (DOS) filter that can be used. Before saving the files to text, make sure you are using a mono-spaced font such as Monaco or Courier 12 point with at least a 1.25 inch right margin so that there will be no more than 80 characters per line. This should give you a good preview of how your file will look once it is in UHINFO. Be sure to edit your files for characters that do not have ASCII text equivalents such as the okina, kahako, curly quote, and accent characters.

   You can send your files either via email or by diskette to: Information Technology Services, On-Line Information Services, 1630 Bachman Place, Room 11-2. The Center for Instructional Support, Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Committee on Viable Constitutionalism are some of the organizations that are currently entering their data via this method. The need for Gopher Team intervention will be minimized once a separate gopher server becomes operational later this year. This gopher server will allow information providers to log into separate accounts and directly manipulate only their own data files without having to each run individual servers.

4. DOING IT SOLO
   Campuses and departments that have chosen to run their own servers are usually featured in the UH College Information Services section. Gopher or World Wide Web servers currently include the College of Education, the College of Engineering, Honolulu CC, Maui CC, and the School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology. If you would like to have your server linked into UHINFO or would like further information about starting up your own server, send email to gopher@gopher.hawaii.edu.

   If you have questions or need help getting your information on UHINFO, feel free to contact the Gopher Team at gopher@gopher.hawaii.edu. We will be more than happy to assist you in becoming a regular information provider to UHINFO.

In order to make the change locally, GTE Hawai`ian Tel will implement a new dialing procedure for inter-island toll calls effective July 1, 1994. Callers will have to dial 1 + 808 and then the seven digit telephone number for direct dial calls to the neighbor islands, as is required now for calls to different area codes. For operator assisted or calling card calls, callers will have to dial 0 + 808 and then the seven digit number. To allow callers time to get used to the change, callers will be able to use the new or the current method of dialing until October 31, 1994. Thereafter, the area code must be dialed or callers will get a recording asking them to re-dial correctly.

We will update you of changes on the North American Numbering Plan as we receive more information.

MicroAge Computer Centers has been designated the Large Account Reseller for the DOE and UH by Microsoft. All purchase orders will be issued to MicroAge. This agreement is in the process of being converted into a University contract. However, until the contract is in effect, you will need to follow standard procurement procedures.

For a copy of the Microsoft price list from MicroAge or any related questions, please contact:

Ed Krol, author of The Whole Internet User's Guide and Catalog, is the featured presenter in this videoconference that provides an introduction to navigating the Internet's vast resources. Included in the program are on-air demonstrations and advice on taking advantage of the Internet's libraries, news groups, files, electronic messages, and free software.

By mid May, taped copies of this program will be available to be borrowed from the Workstation Lab (Keller 204) and the Wong AV Center (Sinclair Library).

We are encouraging VAX 8550 VMS users to move to uhunix or the new Alpha AXP 3000 now being acquired. We will also have a small VAX 4000 to aid in the migration by accommodating software that does not run under VMS on an Alpha.

The group has also been working on a number of projects involving the Sun-based UNIX systems. Foremost among these is a new electronic mail (e-mail) configuration. The new mail system will involve new e-mail delivery software and several UNIX servers working together to provide improved e-mail service. This is tentatively scheduled to be put into place by this summer. Customers, of course, will be informed several weeks ahead of the event so that they can prepare if necessary.

As a temporary measure to help improve response time on uhunix, another mail server, uhunix4 has been installed. There should not be any changes in the way mail is read or sent. However, the BITNET and DECnet commands--such as rdr, netcopy, netwrite, dcp, dlogin--will no longer work from uhunix. For information on how to use these commands during this temporary situation, please log onto one of the UNIX machines and type `news'. If there are additional questions, send e-mail to: consult@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu.

Contact me, Nancy Roth, at 956-7433 for assistance in converting your documents, learning WordPerfect, or any other information.

Nancy Roth 956-7433
mso_roth@mvax.mso.hawaii.edu

It was impossible to include all of the capabilities of HRIS in Phase One. The next phases include enhancements to and addition of reports; installation of Version 2.1 of HRIS which includes enhanced security and the availability of a graphical user interface; an interface with new Fiscal Management Information Systems; and downloading of authorized information to PCs for manipulation and reporting.

Refinements will continue throughout the life of the HRIS. The project team appreciates all of the support provided during this implementation phase and looks forward to continuing support.

The Integrated Student Information System (ISIS), Financial Aids Information System (FAIS), and Fiscal Information System (FIS) will be available all hours of the week including Saturday and Sunday, EXCEPT for the following backup and maintenance periods:

Monday through Friday

6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

For additional times outside the scheduled hours, call the HRIS hotline (956-4747).

Financial Aid Information System (FAIS)

University of Hawai`i-West Oahu Student Information System

Financial Management Information System

Touch-tone Registration

Degree Audit System

Last, but not Least

Also, a number of other projects are getting underway or in various stages of planning. Some of these include: student-right-to-know tracking, alumni affairs, longitudinal tracking, Student Information Management System (SIMS), improved data access, and new and improved security.

Drue McGinnes, 956-8155
its_drue@mvax.mso.hawaii.edu