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OS-9 Users Group FAQ

Delphi — Mon, 29 Aug 1994 00:20:00 +0000

89635 29-AUG 00:20 Users Group
OS-9 Users Group FAQ
From: MITHELEN To: ALL

The following is the OS-9 Users Group, Inc. Frequently Asked Questions file.

04 August 1994
* DRAFT *

OS-9 Users Group Frequently Asked Questions List
————————————————
16 July 1994 Edition

Q. What is the OS-9 Users Group?

A. The OS-9 Users Group, Inc., is a non-profit organization established
with the goals of:

a. Stimulating and sustaining interest in the OS-9 operating
system in all its forms (OS-9 6809, OS-9 68000, OS-9000);
b. Promoting the cooperation and exchange of information
concerning OS-9 betweens its members;
c. Conducting programs and activities which promote
fraternalism and advance the general interest and knowledge
of its members; and
d. Supporting, where practical, the activities of other
organizations which promote OS-9.

Q. How do I contact the OS-9 Users Group?

A. Any of the following addresses may be used to contact the Users
Group:

By Mail: The OS-9 Users Group, Inc.
6158 W. 63d St. Suite 109
Chicago, IL
USA
60638

By Internet: os9ug@sandv.chi.il.us

Officers of the Users Group are as follows:

Position Name EMail Address
——————— —————- ———————-
President Carl Boll cbj@delphi.com
Executive VP Colin McKay cmckay@uuisis.isis.org
Director Ed Gresick edelmar@delphi.com
Director Eddie Kuns ekuns@pisces.rutgers.edu
Director Ken Scales kscales@delphi.com
VP Communications Paul Jerkatis mithelen@sandv.chi.il.us
VP OS-9 (6809) * Brian Goers briangoers@delphi.com
VP OS-9 Brian Goers briangoers@delphi.com
Secretary Howard Luckey luckyone@delphi.com
Treasurer Br. Jeremy revwcp@delphi.com
Librarian Zack Sessions colorsystems@delphi.com
MOTD Editor Joel Hegberg joelhegberg@delphi.com

* Acting pending appointment of a replacement.

Q. How much does membership cost?

A. Annual Membership Dues: United States & Canada Other Countries
25.00 US 30.00 US

Q. Why should I join?

A. There are many reasons for joining the Users Group. Why you join
is entirely up to you, but here are some reasons:

o Support. OS-9 is a great Operating System, but it also can be
difficult to learn. The Users Group can help ease the
learning curve, and suggest sources for additional help.
A project that you are working on may already have been
completed by someone else. The Users Group can help put you
in contact with them.

o The MOTD Newsletter.

o The best reason for joining is that you want to.

Q. What is the MOTD Newsletter.

A. MOTD, or Message Of The Day, is the OS-9 Users Group Newsletter.
It is published four times per year or more often if required.

It contains news of interest to UG members, as well as contacts,
and several regular features.

These include the “President’s Column”, and “Straight From the Horse’s
Mouth”, about the use of OS-9 by Industrial, Scientific and Educational
Institutions. A new column by Joel Hegberg will be starting shortly.

*********************************************************
* The OS-9 UG FAQ is maintained by the OS-9 Users Group *
* Executive Vice President, Colin McKay. Updates, *
* questions, and comments may be sent to him at: *
* *
* cmckay@northx.isis.org or by mail at the ug address *
*********************************************************
–
Paul Jerkatis
VP. Communications
OS-9 Users Group, Inc.

New Ug Project

Delphi — Sun, 28 Aug 1994 18:46:00 +0000

89622 28-AUG 18:46 Users Group
New Ug Project
From: CPERRAULT To: ALL

I am currently in the process of compiling a nationwide list of
Computer shows/fairs for the OS9 Users Group. If anyone would like to
help out with collecting information regarding shows in your area,
please leave me some email.
I will be seeking out shows that will be held in the Boston/New
England area, but will need help from people in other states. If you
can provide information about shows held annually each year upcoming one time events> in your area, please send me a message with
the details and I will add it to a Database. Once I have enough
entries, I will send the list off to the UG, and will keep it updated
regularly.
This will be a great help for the UG so that we can keep a
regular record of shows coming up, should the exec plan to send a
representative to these general computer shows to inform the people
there of OS-9 and the UG. The vendors could also send attend with OSk
hardware and software. Being present at general PC shows may be one of
the better ways currently to promote OSK, and while it won’t show
right off, I would not be surprised to see a decent upsurge in sales
after a regular attendance of these shows throughout the country.
Eventually enough interest will emerge that people will look forward
to seeing OSK Machines when they attend. The more they see of OSK and
understand, the more they will get comfortable with it, and be willing
to be such a machine. We all know who likes to attend Computer
fairs…PROGRAMMERS!!!

If anyone wants to jump in on this with me, please leave me mail.
I would like to compile as thorough a list as possible, covering as
much of the country as possible, before sending
the first edition off to the UG. Hopefully MW will find this usefull
also.

What I need for info is:

The Name of the show
The name of the people who are running it, as well as who to get
in touch with for info regarding it,and a phone number/mail address.
Date the event will be on.
The location of the the event itself possible>

And any more info you can come up with is welcome.
This project is open to anyone who wants to participate, be you
Level II or OSK
>Chris<

OS-9 Demonstration

Delphi — Thu, 06 Jan 1994 19:58:00 +0000

84698 6-JAN 19:58 Users Group
OS-9 Demonstration
From: THETAURUS To: PAGAN

Hi Stephen. I don’t know if you have been reading the thread
between Ed Gresic and I, but here is the scoop. In the somewhat near
future I will be organizing a demonstration
of OS-9000 and maybe even a System V will be there Ed with it >. This will be a demonstration to a local IBM Users
Group, which is a branch of the Boston Computer Society. Ed reminded
me that you were the one who organized a similar demo at the San Diego
Show. Is there any insight you can offer about pulling off such an
event? What was the mentality of the IBM users you dealt with and what
interested them most? How was the reaction from them? I think I
remember there is a document file describing this show in the DB
somewhere, can you remember where it is the DB’s after posting this>? Any comments and advice will be welcome

>Chris<

Standards, et al

Delphi — Sat, 11 Dec 1993 09:54:00 +0000

83945 11-DEC 09:54 Users Group
Standards, et al
From: BOISY To: EDELMAR (NR)

By coding techniques, I meant using #define’s that are already agreed
upon when coding for multiple machines and platforms. MW already
has a number of these predefined in Ultra C, such as:

_OSK < -- OS-9/68000 target systems
_OS9000 < -- OS-9000 target systems
OSK < -- same as _OSK, but obsolete
mc68000 < -- 68000 family target processors, obsolete
_MPF68K < -- 68000 family 16-bit target processors
_MPF68020 < -- 68020/30/40 family 32-bit target processors
_UCC < -- Ultra C being used
_MPF386 < -- 80386/486 family target processors
_FPF881 < -- 6888x floating point unit
_FPF387 < -- 80387 floating point unit
_BIG_END < -- Most significant byte first ordering
_LIL_END < -- Least significant byte first ordering

For the most part programmers use these. Below are some I would
suggest for 6809/6309 OS-9 code:

_OS9 < -- OS-9/6809
_M6809 < -- 6809 micrprocessor
_H6309 < -- 6309 microprocessor

I’m sure there are other suggestions that would warrant discussion.

In addition, there is a problem with standard header files. This
problem exists solely on OS-9/6809 systems. When I download a
software package from a BBS and want to compile it, I find myself
constantly having to twiddle with my header files in order to
have TRUE and FALSE defined. Or, the programmer will pull in
header files that aren’t even on my system. I think this has
resulted from confusion using the Kreider headers vs. the
MW headers. Still, there’s confusion even on Kreider’s stuff.

What we need is to sit down and reengineer our header files and
make them closer to ANSI standards. While the 6809 compiler is not
an ANSI compiler in and of itself, we could at least update our
header files to include things like TRUE, FALSE and define void
as an int, etc.

How many different MAKE programs for OS-9 exist? I know of MW’s make,
Poly MAKE (which MW sells) and no more. If such a tutorial were to
be written, it would have to be decided which make program to use.

Standards, UG et al

Delphi — Thu, 09 Dec 1993 23:46:00 +0000

83903 9-DEC 23:46 Users Group
Standards, UG et al
From: BOISY To: ALL

A lot of talk has been going on about standards committees and the
OS-9 Users Group’s participation in such.

From a programmer’s perspective, I would like to see such a committee
address issues like makefile construction, porting issues (porting
between OS-9/68K, OS-9000 and OS-9/6809) and coding techniques.

Microware has a new MWOS directory structure which a standards
committee should probably suggest and publish. Perhaps this could
be published in the MOTD.

I don’t know the timetable involved with the Users Group’s implementation
of such a committee, but when it happens, it will be much welcomed.
Those who wish to create such a committee should do so under the
guise of the OS-9 Users Group. I’m optimistic that we’ll see
some exciting things from the new leaders in the coming year.

OS-9 Users Group Announcement – New Offi

Delphi — Sun, 31 Oct 1993 22:08:00 +0000

82624 31-OCT 22:08 Users Group
OS-9 Users Group Announcement – New Offi
From: MITHELEN To: ALL

This is an Official OS-9 Users Group, Inc. corespondance, announcing the
new Board members and Officers that were instated at the OS-9 Users Group
meeting at the 1993 Atlanta CoCoFest.

OS-9 USERS GROUP BOARD MEMBERS AND OFFICERS
Verson 1.00
October 29, 1993

Board of Directors:

Carl Boll, president of the OS-9 Users Group and chairman of the
board

Colin McKay, executive vice president of the OS-9 Users Group and
member of the board.

There are three Directors-At-Large who are board members:

Ed Gresick,
Mark Griffith, and
Steven Weller.

The officers of the organization and their offices are:

NAME OFFICE

Carl Boll, president
Colin McKay, executive vice president
Brian Goers, vice president OS-9 6809
Eddie Kuns, vice president OS-9
Paul Jerkatis, vice president communications
Brother Jeremy, treasurer
Howard Luckey, secretary
Zack Sessions, software librarian
Joel Hegberg, publication editor

Howard Luckey
Secretary
–
Paul Jerkatis – OS-9 Users Group, Inc.: V.P. of Comunications
SandV BBS (708)352-0948: Chicago Area OS-9 Users Group
UUCP …{balr|tellab5}!vpnet!sandv.chi.il.us!sysop
Internet: MITHELEN@Delphi.com