---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash Sunergy Newsletter 2 SunFLASH Vol 36 #21 December 1991 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEWSLETTER 2 December, 1991 Distributed by Technical Market Development Group, Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation; all rights reserved. Director of Marketing: Mario Dal Canto Sunergy Program Manager: Tony Allsop Newsletter Editor: Miyong Byun Contact Sunergy by email: sunergy_information@Sun.COM. ====================================================================== = CONTENTS - ISSUE #2 = ====================================================================== ANNOUNCEMENTS *1* Satellite Conference Recap *2* SUGS, SLUGS, LUGS -- What's What? *3* Brazil Internet Addresses *4* Upcoming Satellite Broadcast ROADMAPS TO SUN *5* Changes to Public Domain Software List INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS *6* Commercial Offerings of UUCP, WAN, and Internet INDUSTRY OUTLOOK *7* DBMS & Tools Vendors Port to SPARC *8* SunWorld TECHNICAL TOPICS *9* Globalizing Your Keyboard *10* Tips -N- Tricks: Getting Something EXTRA From The Extra Menus *11* Correction To Newsletter Issue #1 *12* Whitepapers *13* Book List SUNANSWERS *14* Q & A UPCOMING EVENTS *15* Tradeshow Calendar ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ANNOUNCEMENTS - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ********************************** *1* Satellite Conference Recap * ********************************** The satellite broadcasts are really taking off! Thanks for all the great feedback. We now have even more downlinks established and more than 15,000 people viewed the most recent telecast. The second broadcast aired in September. In case you are still deciding about whether or not to establish a downlink, we summarize the last broad- cast here. This is intended to give you an idea of what you will view on future broadcasts; we can't possibly summarize the actual two hours worth of talks in this newsletter format. * Scott McNealy gave a quick business update. In addition to the impressive numbers (record-breaking 35% growth in revenues and profits compared with the same quarter in the last fiscal year), Scott updated everyone on the international side of the Sun profile. Scott also summarized the recent product announcements to make sure that everyone knows what to watch for in coming months. * John Gage presented SunNews -- hot topics in the industry. At the top of his list was the SUCESCU Conference in Brazil. John explained that Brazil's largest computer show was indicative of many of the international trends in our industry with the hot topics of the day all being discussed. These included further discussions of the Object Management Group standardization effort, recent standardization efforts on RISC chips, and phone-related security problems for computer networks. John later participated by interviewing Bill Joy during one of the technical sessions. * Michael Majdalany, Sun's Manager of Education and Research, overviewed the changes in this community and Sun's respective shift in program goals. Sun now aims information exchange programs, grants, and collaborative works at internationally-represented project teams. * Keith Erskine presented another technical advice session. See the TECHNICAL TOPICS column for a summary of his talk about globalizing your keyboards. * Bill Joy once again stole the show. His 20-minute talk covered a gamut of computer-industry topics. He commented on recent activities surrounding the Object Management Group (perhaps the key programming trends for the 90's), networking, benchmarking, operating system philosophies and directions, and even the new pen-top systems. Bill referenced several papers and books as recommended reading for anyone following these trends in our industry. The papers are listed in the Whitepaper article and the books in the Book List article, both in the Technical Topics column of this newsletter. * Q&A - The broadcast wrapped up with an hour session of questions and answers. If you missed the broadcast, but would like to view it in its entirety, request a video of the September broadcast by sending your mailing address to the Sunergy office via email. ***************************************** *2* SUGS, SLUGS, LUGS -- What's What? * ***************************************** On the last Sunergy Broadcast a request was made by Frank Greco, a Sun user from New York. Mr. Greco requested that we differentiate for the masses: SUG, SLUG, LUG, SUG Conference, Catalyst Support, Sunergy, SunFlash, 800 Support, SunSoft Developers Conference, sunspots and comp.sys.sun. We would like to take a moment to clear up some of the understandable confusion with these many differing bodies and events. The first four listed -- SUG, SLUG, LUG, SUG Conference -- are related functions of the Sun User Group, Inc.(SUG). The Sun User Group, Inc. is an international not-for-profit technical and professional association. The Sun User Group encourages communications about innovative research and the development of technology via its conferences, exhibits, and publications. The Sun User Group also serves as a distribution point for contributed software in tape and CD-ROM formats. The Sun User Group is incorporated in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a not-for-profit, educational organization. Sun User Group, Inc. lab@sug.org +1 617 232 0514 (voice) +1 617 232 1347 (fax) Sun Local User Groups (SLUGs) and Local User Groups (LUGs) are actually the same organizations that use variations on the "LUG" theme. These local user groups range from very informal meeting groups that meet on an ad hoc basis to more formal organizations with bylaws and operating committees. For a full listing of these groups and further information, contact the Sun User Group Office listed above. SUG Conferences are also Sun User Group functions. These events bring worldwide Sun users together for 1-3 days of sessions, exhibits and keynotes. The Sun User Group Conference Office can be contacted at: +1 415 948-0998 (voice) +1 415 948-6802 (fax) Catalyst Support is a function of SunSoft, one of Sun's most recent "planet" companies. The goal of the catalyst program is to help developers create better products and get them to market faster. Catalyst provides developers with technical and marketing support to help create and market SPARC-compatible products. Catalyst Information Center +1 415 336-4252 +1 800 227-9227 (toll free) SunSoft Developers Conference was an event held this fall in San Jose, CA. The conference offered an opportunity for catalyst members to share in the launch of SunSoft, a new Sun Microsystems company, and see a presentation of the product roadmap and a significant product introduction - Solaris. Phone the Catalyst Information Center (listed above) for information on future events. 800 Support is Sun's U.S. Solution Center. The center handles calls involving: warranty coverage, software contract support and hardware contract support. Support hours are 8:00-5:00 P.M. Pacific time, Monday to Friday. Extended hours, weekend, and holiday coverage are available. Call your Sun sales representative for more information. +1 800 USA-4SUN (+1 800 872-4786) Sunergy is a series of program deliverables with a charter to supply Sun customers, users and Sun partners, the lastest information about Sun, it's products and directions. Included in these deliverables are quarterly satellite television broadcast downlinked directly to customer sites (if they own a movable satellite dish), and a newsletter (like this one) distributed to customers worldwide, via email and internet channels. The Sunergy Program can be contacted at: +1 415 336-0609 (voice) +1 415 969-9131 (fax) email: sunergy_information@Sun.Com The Florida SunFlash is an electronic news service for Sun Microsystems computer users. It is distributed by more than 80 Sun offices and by about 40 Sun Local Users Groups in more than 30 countries. The Florida SunFlash has a subscription base of more that 30,000 Sun users. Included in this news service are Sun press releases, new product announcements, quarterly financials and other general information about Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC). To join the SunFlash alias send email to: flash@sunvice.East.Sun.com comp.sys.sun and sunspots are two, of many, newsgroups that are available on the network. If you have UUNET or Internet access, check with your systems administrator about subscribing to these free services. ********************************* *3* Brazil Internet Addresses * ********************************* 1. Eduardo Kerr - Telebras CPqD AI & Bibliotechnical databases. rrkerr@cpqd.ansp.br Artificial Intelligence & Linking Worldwide 2. Carlos Mario Hugueney - Telebras CPqD Brasilian Sun User Group - Dlmarinho@cpqd.ansp.br 3. Tadao Takahashi - Univ. of Campinas Object Oriented BBMS - Ethos tadao@ethos1.ansp.br 4. Wilson Ruggiero - Univ. of Sao Paulo CPU Architecture & MP wvruggiero@brusp.bitnet slrm@ufpedi.ansp.br 5. Silvio Meira - Univ. of Pernambuco Benchmarking Workstations slrm@ufpedi.ansp.br 6. Antonio Palma Neto Telebras CPqD Compiler Design for Telecom Switches Chill II Compiler per Telecom Switch Design chpalma@cpqd.ansp.br ECO'92 or Rio'92. ECO92@Sun.COM. Environmental Congress in Brazil United Nations Environmental Program. *********************************** *4* Upcoming Satellite Broadcast * *********************************** The next Sunergy satellite broadcast is slated for Spring, 1992. Please stay tuned for further announcement. If you would like information to set up a broadcast downlink in your area, or need a videotape of a previous broadcast, please contact the Sunergy Office at (415) 336-0609 or send us e-mail. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ROADMAPS TO SUN - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ********************************************** *5* Changes to Public Domain Software List * ********************************************** Please correct your listing as follows from your first Sunergy Newsletter: - Under item #5, SunNet (TM) should be Sun-Nets without a trademark. - SunTOPS (TM) should be simply TOPS. This is not a Sun trademarked product. We will try to hold our (TM)s and (R)s in check from now on. Thanks for your patience as we work the kinks out of our process. In addition to these details, we are investigating some other feedback that we received about some of the organizations listed as public domain software sources. We will keep you posted in future newsletters about any resulting updates to this list. Thanks for your feedback! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *************************************************** *6* Commercial UUCP, WAN, and Internet Services * *************************************************** Below is a list of some commercial companies who offer UUCP, WAN & Internet services to customers who need to communicate with the outside (non-Sun) world. 1. UUNET Communications Services, Inc. Falls Church, VA 22042 (703) 876-5050 (voice) UUNET Technologies, Inc., located in Falls Church, VA, provides a range of communications services including high speed TCP/IP OSI based internetworking, dialup electronic mail and source and or documentation archive access. UUNET Technologies is also an authorized distributor for several brands of communications related equipment. 2. Performance Systems International, Inc. Reston, VA (800) 82P-SI82 PSI, headquartered in Reston, Virginia, is a value-added inter- networking services provider with a wide spectrum of services for individual and corporate users of electronic information. Their services range from electronic mail to turnkey integration of local area networks into the PSINet wide area network system and the Internet. 3. Portal Communications, Inc. Cupertino, CA (408) 973-9111 4. Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link Sausalito, CA (415) 332-4335 5. CSNET Coordination and Information Center (CIC) BBN Systems and Technology Corp. 10 Moulton Street Cambridge, MA 02138 (617) 873-2777 cic@sh.cs.NET 6. NSFNET (two addresses): NSF Network Services Center BBN Systems and Technology Corp. 10 Moulton Street Camberidge MA 02138 (617) 873-3400 nnsc@nnsc.nsf.NET -OR- Merit Computer Network 1075 Beale Avenue Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2112 (323) 936-3000 NSFnet-Info@MERIT.EDU 7. Milwaukee Information Exchange (Mix Communications) P.O. Box 17166 Milwaukee, WI 53217 (414) 962-8172 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - INDUSTRY OUTLOOK - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ****************************************** *7* DBMS & Tools Vendors Port to SPARC * ****************************************** To establish common, enterprise-wide networked environments, many companies are "downsizing" their mainframe and minicomputer systems to more streamlined, cost-effective, client-server models for computing. Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC) provides a smooth migration path from proprietary to open systems, while maintaining current software and training investments. Through its partnerships with the industry's leading DBMS and development-tool software suppliers, SMCC delivers essential tools and technologies. Key database and tools vendors that have recently ported to Sun SPARC systems include: Cincom Contact: Tom Morrison, (513) 662-2300 Cincom has ported its SUPRA relational database product and its application development system MANTIS, to the Sun platform. This lets IBM mainframe users develop applications on the most effective platform for the appropriate task. Cognos Contact: Gerard Sweeney, (617) 738-1440 Cognos' PowerHouse, a fourth-generation language for professional programming environments, and PowerHouse Starbase, a relational database management system, are now available on Sun SPARC(R) systems. Customers that have used Cognos on proprietary platforms from HP, DEC, DG, and IBM can now move their existing applications to an open UNIX environment. Software AG Contact: Lana Kaminski, (703) 391-8311 Software AG is porting to Sun SPARCsystems its core products -- ADABAS, a high-performance database management system; NATURAL, a fourth generation toolset for OLTP application development; and NET-WORK, a communications package for distributed processing. The availability of Software AG products on Sun in the first quarter of 1992 continues the roll out of ENTIRE, Software AG's recently announced distributed- computing strategy. ENTIRE provides an evolutionary bridge from mainframe-based systems to heterogeneous client-server environments. XDB Systems Contact: Steve Plotnick, (301) 317-6800 XDB Systems is porting its XDB SQL database server, which offers customers 100% compatibility with IBM's DB2 SQL standard, to Sun. Traditional IBM mainframe customers with DB2 applications will now be able to move their data to Sun with few or no modifications. XDB Systems is also porting its entire workbench for application development to the Sun platform. *************** *8* SunWorld * *************** SunWorld magazine, published in San Francisco by the International Data Group (IDG), announces the SunWorld Advanced Systems Test Center. The Test Center is the first in-house test center dedicated to the advanced systems market. "Sun has not only asserted its clear leadership position in the workstation market, but is becoming a major player on the desktop through its own hardware, SPARC licensees, and the Solaris operating environment," said SunWorld magazine Publisher Roger Strukhoff. "The SunWorld Advanced Systems Test Center will be a unique facility dedicated to providing objective testing of computers, software and peripherals in this market." SunWorld Advanced Systems Test Center results will premier in the January 1992 issue of SunWorld. Scheduled for review in this issue will be four Sun systems, as well as applications and networking software. SPARC machines will be reviewed in February. In succeeding months, reviews of systems from companies such as Next, Apple and Silicon Graphics will be featured, as well as reviews of high-end Intel 386/486 machines running Solaris OS. Also scheduled for review in the first half of 1992 are environments such as Visix Looking Glass and major applications from companies such as Informix, Oracle and Lotus. The SunWorld Advanced Systems Test Center was announced at Fall Comdex in October. Dave Taylor, longtime columnist for SunWorld, has been appointed the full-time test center director. Taylor is currently assembling an advisory board for the center. A charter member of the advisory board is Kaivalya Dixit, president of SPEC. SunWorld will have a products orientation effective with the January issue. In addition to Test Center results, SunWorld will feature monthly buyer's guides to products and services, and an expanded new products section. A section dealing with system administration issues will also be featured starting in January. FREE Admission to SunWorld Expo Exhibit! If you are involved with the purchase, management, development, or use of Sun and SPARC workstations, servers, hardware, software, and peripherals, there's a NEW tradeshow you should know about. SunWorld debuts April 6-9, 1992 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California. While there are a number of smaller, Sun- specific shows already in existence, Sun Microsystems, Inc. has selected SunWorld as their annual showcase for SPARC and Solaris products. "Sun Microsystems is pleased to announce our teaming up with World Expo Corporation, to produce a series of SunWorld events worldwide. We are committed to supporting SunWorld, which we believe will be the premier tradeshow in the industry. We are asking all of our partners and friends in the industry to join us in supporting SunWorld." Scott McNealy, President & CEO, Sun Microsystems, Inc. For FREE Admission to SunWorld Expo Exhibit, please send e-mail to sunergy_information@Sun.COM or fax 415 336-0643 with your full physical mailing address. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - TECHNICAL TOPICS - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ********************************* *9* Globalizing Your Keyboard * ********************************* by Keith Erskine, keith.erskine@sun.com Around the world, SPARCstations are mostly the same -- same monitors, same computers. The keyboard is what sets them apart. Some of you may want to work in two or more languages. You can do this by changing the switches located on the bottom of your keyboard. Then just restart OpenWindows and use the new layout. Some new key caps complete the transformation, but they are not required. Maybe you don't type in other languages all day, but you want to type characters that aren't on your current keyboard. For example, when you are doing an expense report for an international trip, you need to type some foreign currency characters. Here are two tricks that you can use to type the characters that you want. The Compose Key For typing an occasional character from another keyboard character set, use one of the compose-key combinations. These are listed in the "OpenWindows Version 2 Installation and Start-up Guide". The compose key is located on the lower right of your keyboard. To type the desired character, its as simple as three key-strokes. The Xmodmap Command Alternatively, you can program keys on your keyboard to produce characters from another keyboard character set. This technique involves an X11 command -- xmodmap. Xmodmap remaps keys by simply swapping the key name. References You have a lot to try out. For more information about keyboards, refer to the OpenWindows 2 Reference Guide, and the X11 Reference Manuals from O'Reilly. Both are available on the System Software AnswerBook. ********************************************************************** *10* Tips -N- Tricks: Getting Something EXTRA From The Extra Menus * ********************************************************************** by John Lewis II The "Extras" Menu shows up in the Mail Tool, Text Editor, and Command Tool. Below, we see the default Extras Menu on the left, and on the right we see the contents of the file that determines what will show up on the Extras Menu. __________ /usr/lib/.text_extras_menu file | | --------------------------------- | File > | | | "Format" fmt | View > | | | "Capitalize" MENU | Edit > | "abcd -> ABCD" capitalize -u | | "ABCD -> abcd" capitalize -l | Find >_|__________________ "abcd -> Abcd" capitalize -c | | | "Capitalize" END | Extras >| Format | |_________| | "Shift Lines" MENU | Capitalize > | "Right" shift_lines -t 1 | | "Left" shift_lines -t -1 | Shift Lines > | "Shift Lines" END | | | Pretty-print C | "Pretty-print C" indent -st | | | Insert Brackets > | "Insert Brackets" MENU | | " ( )" insert_brackets ( ) | Remove Brackets > | " [ ]" insert_brackets \[ \] |___________________| " { }" insert_brackets { } "`` ''" insert_brackets \" \" "Insert Brackets" END "Remove Brackets" MENU " ( )" remove_brackets ( ) " [ ]" remove_brackets \[ \] " { }" remove_brackets { } "`` ''" remove_brackets \" \" "Remove Brackets" END MAKING CHANGES Since the .text_extras_menu file is in the /usr/lib directory, you will have to become root to modify it directly. Or, you can copy it to your home directory and put this line in your .cshrc file: setenv EXTRASMENU $HOME/.text_extras_menu After logging out and back in, the system will use the file in your home directory to determine what to display for the Extras Menu. WHY MAKE CHANGES Everyone knows that UNIX has a lot of powerful commands, but sometimes it's difficult to make use of those commands, either because you can't remember them, or because you don't want the command to affect an entire file. If you add to your Extras Menu, you will have menu-selectable access to powerful commands, and it will only affect the text you have highlighted, not the entire file. A SIMPLE EXAMPLE Suppose you are working on a list of names or numbers, and would like to sort them alphabetically. After they are sorted, you may want to remove any duplicate lines, and finally, you would like to add line numbers to the beginning of each entry in the list. You may be aware that there are UNIX commands that can easily accom- plish these tasks, but you don't want to affect the entire file, just a portion. If you add the following lines to your .text_extras_menu file, then just the text you highlight will be affected by your menu selection: "Sort Lines" MENU "Sort Normal" sort -dbif "Reverse Order" sort -dbifr "Sort ascii" sort -dbi "Sort 2nd Word" sort -dbif +1 -2 "Delete Duplicates" uniq "Add Line Numbers" MENU "1-99 # TAB" nl -w2 "1-99 #. TAB" nl -w2 -s'. ' "1-99 # - TAB" nl -w2 -s' - ' "1-99999 # TAB" nl -w5 "1-99999 #. TAB" nl -w5 -s'. ' "1-99999 # - TAB" nl -w5 -s' - ' "Add Line Numbers" END "Sort Lines" END ADVANCED EXAMPLES In the simple example above, we used the sort, uniq, and nl commands to pass text through to be processed by that command. We call commands "filters" when they are used this way because they receive the text, modify it, then pour the output back over top what was highlighted. Suppose you want to highlight some text and spell-check it, with any misspelled words being displayed in the console window. There is already a "spell" command that you can use in a shell. Simply type "spell filename" and the spell command will read the file name given, and then display any misspelled words. But we can't use the spell command as a filter because: We would highlight some text, select the "spell check" option from our new Extras Menu, then the text would be deleted and be replaced by any misspelled words. In cases like this, we have to send the highlighted text to a temporary file, where it is then filtered but leaves the highlighted text untouched. Here is the code needed to do just that: "Spell Checker" csh -cf "cat | tee ~/.extraz;echo ' ' >> ~/.extraz; echo '' >/dev/console;echo '*** START SPELL-CHECK ***' >/dev/console; spell ~/.extraz >/dev/console;echo '**** END SPELL-CHECK ****' >/dev/console" (Note that this must be one continuous line without returns) Now you can highlight some text, select "Spell Checker" from the Extras Menu, and misspelled words will show up in the console window. Using these techniques, you can access powerful commands like "cut", "paste", and "nroff" to perform outstanding text processing capabilities. Some examples include centering, right justifying, automatic page-break insertion, and moving or deleting a specific column of text. THE COMMAND TOOL Even with the DeskSet Productivity Tools making UNIX a lot easier, there are still some times when we need to type in commands. Since the Extras Menu shows up inside the command tool, we can create a special file that will allow us to have menu-driven commanding. You won't have to remember any commands again! SETTING UP The Extras Menu that shows up inside the command tool is the very same one found in the mail tool and text editor. The text processing capabilities don't usually do us any good. So, what we want is to have the command tool come up with its own special Extras Menu that will have commands on the menu instead of text filters. Let's start by putting this line in your .cshrc file: alias commandtool 'setenv EXTRASMENU $HOME/.extras.cmd; cmdtool' After you "source .cshrc", you can type "commandtool &" and you will get a command tool that will use the contents of the .extras.cmd file for the Extras Menu. The only problem is, you don't have a .extras.cmd file yet... THE EXTRAS FILE FOR COMMANDING Create a file in your home directory called ".extras.cmd", and put the following text in it: # # Extras Menu for Command Tool # "General Information" MENU "Today's Date/Time" sh -c 'echo "date"' "Current Month" sh -c 'echo "cal"' "Command History" sh -c 'echo "history"' "Command Help" sh -c 'echo -n "man ";echo "Which Command?" > /dev/console' "User Name" sh -c 'echo "whoami"' "Machine Name" sh -c 'echo "hostname"' "General Information" END "System Information" MENU "Diagnostic" sh -c 'echo "dmesg"' "Disk Space" sh -c 'echo "df"' "Disk Blocks" sh -c 'echo "du"' "Swap Space" sh -c 'echo "pstat -s"' "Last 10 Logins" sh -c 'echo "last | head"' "System Information" END "User Customizations" MENU "Display Environment Variables" sh -c 'echo "env"' "Display Command Aliases" sh -c 'echo "alias"' "Shell/Command Tool Defaults" sh -c 'echo "textedit $HOME/.cshrc &"' "Mail Tool Defaults" sh -c 'echo "textedit $HOME/.mailrc &"' "Change PassWord" MENU "MESSAGE ..." MENU "You should change your" sh -c '' "password about every six" sh -c '' "months, and use at least" sh -c '' "six characters in the" sh -c '' "password. (preferably 8)" sh -c '' "MESSAGE ..." END "Change PassWord" sh -c 'echo "passwd"' "Change PassWord" END "User Customizations" END # # END OF FILE After saving this file, you should be able to bring up a command tool (by typing "commandtool &") that will have this special Extras Menu. You can then menu select a function from the Extras Menu, and the desired command will be displayed and executed at the system prompt. After a while, you will start learning the commands that are being entered, and it may be faster to just type them in. This might be an excellent way to learn UNIX! CONCLUSION With a little work, creativity, and UNIX knowledge, you can incor- porate your organization's most-used (or most-required) text filters and commands into custom Extras Menus. This useful ability will enhance the knowledge and productivity of your entire team! ****************************************** *11* Correction To Newsletter Issue #1 * ****************************************** Please note the following correction to article *9* of Sunergy Newsletter #1 Paragraph 3, under Security Tips, originally read: > The next line of defense consists of two files that can >challenge a person trying to access your system. The first is >the /etc/passwd file. By removing the last line, your system >will ask anyone trying to log into your machine for a password. >The other file to change is the /etc/host.equiv file. Again, >by removing the last line, this will challenge anyone using the >"super user" method of access for a password. Keith Erskine writes what should have been said: This paragraph should have read: The first file you may want to change is the /etc/hosts.equiv. Removing the "+" sign will challenge anyone for a password, even someone using the "su username" method of access. If you use any .rhosts files, make sure they specify a host and user pair. Like hosts.equiv, there shouldn't be a plus sign in the file. If more security is desired, then .rhosts should be removed outright. One more line of defense is the /etc/passwd file. If your running NIS and want to restrict your YP Master for example, removing the plus sign will disable all outside access except those users specified in the machine specific passwd file. Sorry for the confusion. ******************** *12* Whitepapers * ******************** As a follow-up to the satellite broadcast, the Sunergy office is distributing three whitepapers that provide further depth for some of the presentation topics. Request any of the following from the Sunergy office by sending an email message including the desired titles and your mailing address (these are hardcopies; not on-line versions): Logical Effort: Designing for Speed on the Back of an Envelope, by Ivan E. Sutherland and Robert F. Sproull. Micropipelines, by Ivan Sutherland (ACM Turing Award Paper). The Common Object Request Broker: Architecture and Specification, OMG Document Number 91.8.1, Draft 26, August 1991. SPARC International, Inc., is currently distributing three white- papers that you may want to request: SPARC Compliance Definition, June 1990. SPARC MBus Overview, by Ben Catanzaro. An MBus Tutorial, by Kevin Kitagawa. To request a copy of any of these, call SPARC International at (415) 321-8692, or write to them at 535 Middlefield Road, Suite 210 Menlo Park, California 94025. ****************** *13* Book List * ****************** If you have read books about Sun technology that you would like to recommend, send us an email message that includes the title, author, publisher, and a brief synopsis. Here are some that you may be interested in. In the recent satellite broadcast, Bill Joy referenced the following books as recommended reading: Object-oriented Software Construction by Bertrand Meyer An excellent reference about the philosophies of object-oriented programming languages. Innovation: The Attacker's Advantage by Richard Foster, ISBN# 0-671-64224-3 Strategies for successfully out-maneuvering your competition. The Art of the Long View by Peter Schwartz Another must-read for strategic planning. The Power of the Penpoint by Robert Carr, ISBN# 0-201-57763-1 A good discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the new pen-top systems. The Culture of Time and Space: 1880 - 1918 by Steven Kern, ISBN# 0-674-17973-0 In this analysis of a period of major technological change, we can find many parallels to the current times of technological change. It offers us a historical perspective from which to look to our future. In addition to those mentioned by Bill, we include these other Sun-related books: Springer-Verlag Book Series on Sun Technology NEW System Administrator's Guide to Sun Workstations by George Becker and Kathy Slattery This guide is a reference manual written by Sun administrators for Sun administrators. It is not intended to be a complete guide to UNIX system administration; instead it concentrates on the special issues involved in managing Sun OS 4.0 through 4.0.3 than is currently available. The reader is lead through the basic steps to install and maintain a network of Sun computers. 1991/Approx. 300 pages/Hardcover $39.95/ISBN 0-387-97250-1 NEW The SPARC Technical Papers by Ben Catanzaro With SPARC, Sun Microsystems' RISC high-speed processor, desktop workstations exceeded the capabilities of mini- computers. SPARC, which stand for Scalable Processor Architecture, has a unique design. SPARC machines can run a variety of identical software packages simultaneously. In this book are collected the most advanced work from designers and implementors of SPARC technology. System designers, computer scientists, and students of RISC technology will benefit from using this book. 1991/259 pp./Softcover $35.00 (tent.)/ISBN 0-387-97634-5 The New User's Guide to the Sun Workstation by Michael Russo The Sun workstation is one of the most popular desktop computers in the world because of its features, performance, and capabilities. To get the most from such a powerful machine, you can either read the thousands of pages of documentation from Sun, or The New User's Guide to the Sun Workstation by Michael Russo, a leading Sun Microsystems' system administrator. 1991/230 pp./Hardcover $34.95/ISBN 0-387-97249-8 The Art of Distributed Applications: Programming Techniques for Remote Procedure Calls by John R. Corbin John Corbin, a senior engineer in Sun Microsystems networking group, describes his work with RPC (Remote Procedure Call), a technique for programming communication processes in UNIX environments. A professional reference book as well as a textbook on RPC programming techniques, The Art of Distributed Applications is for the working programmer who wishes or needs to explore the possibilities of designing distributed networked applications. 1991/290 pp./Hardcover $39.95/ISBN 0-387-97247-1 To order any of the above books, call 1-800-SPRINGER. Your reference number is S916 (the operator will ask for this number). Also recommended: Virtual Reality, by Howard Rheingold Le Technologies de L'Intelligence, by Peter Levy Published by Le editions la decouderte, 1991. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - SUNANSWERS - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ************** *14* Q & A * ************** These are the questions from the September Broadcast and responses from Sun Microsystems (not from executives). Question #1: Directed to Scott or Bill OPEN LOOK is the Sun supported GUI, however it appears that Motif is more popular, especially globally. What will it take for Sun to support Motif (in addition to OPEN LOOK)? Response #1: Several years ago we decided that providing a system with which technical and non-technical users could be successful would be key to the future of Unix. Since then we have spent considerable time talking with our customers about how they want to interact with their systems, and from these conversations came the initial specification for the OPEN LOOK GUI. The OPEN LOOK GUI provides a completed desktop metaphor, drag and drop capability and pinable menus. It is currently the only GUI specification that provides structure and guidelines for a networked environment, including how applications should interact among themselves and how users interact with the file environment. These are ease-of-use issues which we believe are very important in a computing environment. Sun believes the environment is key. The GUI must provide the user an intuitive environment with consistent application interaction. OPEN LOOK does this. Motif looks consistent within an application but not in an environment. The GUI should also look consistent between SPARC and Intel-based platforms. We know of at least one vendor who today offers an OPEN LOOK implementation for the PC. In the second half of 1992 SunSoft plans to release Solaris 2.0, Unix V.4 with OpenWindows 3.0 for Intel-based platforms. We feel these solutions provide environments for the different platforms which are at least as similar as are Motif and the various PC environments. For developers the key issue is the API. Sun provides a full intrinsics interface, OPEN LOOK Intrinsics Toolkit (OLIT), which has facilitated the migration of several major developers to OPEN LOOK. Migrations will be even smoother in the future because of upcoming release of DEVGuide; it will support OLIT code. Sun employees have found from their experiences providing porting assistance that OPEN LOOK and Motif have essentially common functionality. Sun is 100% committed to the OPEN LOOK GUI because we believe it is superior technology and it is crucial to helping UNIX meet the requirements of both technical and non-technical users. We expect OPEN LOOK and Motif to coexist in the marketplace, which the X environment allows. For those among our customers who feel OPEN LOOK may not be an appropriate solution, we encourage them to pursue third-party Motif solutions. Question #2: We are building systems in a client-server environment. The server is required to do a lot of the work. What percentage of Sun's business is for "large servers?" How much of a commitment does Sun have to large servers? Response #2: Sun's fundamental product strategy is to supply complete solutions for client-server computing. To do this we not only need to be leaders in providing workstation solutions, but in server capabilities as well. We are investing a very significant portion of our development dollars to ensure our leadership in the UNIX server market; this means supplying systems that span a range from entry level workgroup servers to highly expandable enterprise/large departmental servers. Our recent introduction of the SPARCserver 600MP series servers-- which deliver industry leading servers throughput and feature multiprocessing, large system expandability, and a simple, low cost strong evidence of Sun's commitment to the server market. And while Sun doesn't release data on the specific mix of products it sells, recent data published by Dataquest shows Sun to have >30% share of the workstation server market. Mark Stahlman, a respected financial analyst of Alex Brown and Sons was quoted as follows in the Investor's Business Daily, " There is a high probability that a year from now, Sun will have more multiprocessing systems installed than all their competitors put together." The server business is extremely important to Sun. It's fundamental to our growth strategy for the 1990's. Sun is committed to servers. About 90 plus percent of server sales are being used in client server environments. Sun server sales in fiscal year 1991 totaled close to $1 billion. Over 5,000 Sparcstations 470s and 490s were sold in client-server environments in fiscal year 1991. Question #3: What are Sun's views on customer satisfaction/service? Response #3: Customer satisfaction is a top priority at all levels within Sun. Every employee from executive management on down realizes how important it is to retain customers and treat them well. To this end, Sun has implemented a Quality Customer Skills class for its employees. The class reinforces the importance of treating customers well in order to maintain their loyalty. In addition, Sun has developed a process of measuring Customer Satisfaction on a monthly basis by getting direct feedback from the customers. This information is disseminated to Sun executives and used to improve current programs and services and to help plan future support programs. As we move into the 90s, Sun will put all of its wood behind the customer satisfaction arrow. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - UPCOMING EVENTS - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *************************** *15* Tradeshow Calendar * *************************** Although Sun does not participate in all of the following shows, we present this list of computer industry tradeshows for your planning purposes. If you know of other shows or events that would be of interest to our readers, please send your suggestions to the Sunergy staff. SHOW DATES (92) SHOW NAME LOCATION Jan 21-23 Uniforum San Francisco,CA Feb 4-6 Buscon West Long Beach, CA Feb 9-Mar 5 Connectathon San Jose, CA Feb 19-21 Sun Expo Chicago, IL Mar 23-27 AFUU Paris, France ************************************************************************** If you'd like to join Sunergy, simply fill out return the attached sign-up form. --------------------------------cut here---------------------------------- *****SUNERGY SIGN-UP FORM***** NAME:__________________________________________________________ Title:__________________________________________________________ COMPANY:__________________________________________________________ ADDRESS:__________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ CITY:__________________ STATE:_______ ZIP/POSTAL CODE__________ COUNTRY:___________________________ PHONE:___________________________ FAX:_________________________ E-MAIL:___________________________ RETURN COMPLETED FORM TO: Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation Attn: Sunergy Support Center 2550 Garcia Avenue, M/S PAL1-332 Mountain View, CA 94043-1100 sunergy_information@Sun.COM 415/336-0609 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For information send mail to info-sunflash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Archives are on solar.nova.edu and paris.cs.miami.edu. All prices, availability, and other statements relating to Sun or third party products are valid in the U.S. only. Please contact your local Sales Representative for details of pricing and product availability in your region. Descriptions of, or references to products or publications within SunFlash does not imply an endorsement of that product or publication by Sun Microsystems. John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770.