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Section C:
c.
Utility Programs
Utility Programs
*******************************
*
Utility Programs
*
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In order to make full use of EOS,
you need something more than the bare
operating
system itself:
You need a number of small auxiliary routines
for
those little every-day jobs,
as there are erasure and renaming
of
files,
initializing
diskettes,
and the like.
All these routines
are
called "utility programs
11
or for short, "utilities
11
•
All EOS utilities have one feature in common: their names all begin with
a dollar sign
11
$''.
But this is where the similarity ends: the utilities
can
be classified into two groups.
The members of the first group
are
simply
called by typing their name.
Then,
they display a nice
screen
mask with a menu to select the desired function from.
On the
contrary,
the
others
are started by typing a complete command line.
Should
the
command line miss or contain errors,
a brief explanation is written
on
the screen showing how the command line should look like.
In the oncom-
ing
chapters,
we are going to do a closer look on both these kinds
of
utilities.
C.l. Menu Programs
The
first category of utilities are the so-called
menu
programs.
You
call them by just typing their name.
They then appear with an auxiliary
menu on the screen. The most essential feature of a menu program is that
you
can do all your input with the arrow keys between the
alphanumeric
keyboard and the numerical keypad.
You see that in most cases, one line
of
the
menu is emphasized by inverted video mode.
We shall call
this
line the "window".
Using the arrow keys, you may move the window to any
desired line. Just try!
When
a line is lit up which is of interest to you,
press
the
11
ENTER"
key.
In most cases,
you will select one item from a list of several by
typing
"ENTER''.
You
may also activate
a
command
this
way.
Commands
usually
appear
on
the rightmost side of the menu and are
written
in
capital letters.
Presumably,
the command most often used is the "QUIT"
command, by means of which you leave the program.
There
is another way to leave a program:
simply press CONTROL-C or the
other BREAK character you have defined by means of the
=>
$CONFIG utili-
ty. In most cases, this will abort the program.
EOS User's manual
Daeumling & Zimmermann
Page 45
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