The DeVIAS Letter

This document is the June 1984 issue of The RSX Multi-Tasker, a newsletter published by the DECUS U.S. Chapter for users of RSX-11 systems.

Key contents include:

• Editor's Notes: Discussion regarding the transition of many users from RSX-11 to VAX systems, a call for machine-readable article submissions, and legal/copyright information.
• "Speak Out": A reader's response to an article about the future of the RSX Special Interest Group (SIG), acknowledging the shift toward VAX while emphasizing the ongoing utility of RSX-11 for specific applications.
• Help Yourself: Technical questions and solutions, including troubleshooting "Virtual Program Section" (VSECT) errors, addressing power failure recovery issues on RL02 disks, and locating drivers for MAP array processors.
• It's on the SIG Tape: Documentation for the "TAT" (Task Attribute Utility) and "VTM" (Video Terminal Message) programs, which are distributed via the SIG tape.
• Working Group News: Status updates from various working groups, including DECUS Library, SIG Tape Collection, and ongoing efforts regarding Runoff and real-time development.
• Hints & Things: A technical guide on how to rename the "QUE" utility via Zapping the task image to avoid conflicts with custom user applications.
• Disk Optimization: A panel report detailing guidelines for improving ODS-1 disk performance through command switches and proper ACP management.
• Sorting Routine Comparison: An analysis comparing the performance of Bubble, Insert, Select, Shell, and Tree sorting routines on a PDP-11/70.
• History of the RSX SIG: A retrospective on the first ten years of the RSX SIG, covering significant milestones, leadership, and shifts in symposium focus.
• VMS to RSX Migration: A discussion on the technical and operational considerations for moving from VMS back to RSX-11.
• Abort ASTs in Fortran: A technical article providing a solution for handling ASTs (Asynchronous System Traps) in Fortran programs to allow for proper cleanup during task termination.