I've run the converter too that was in the DECUS collection and there
are plenty of errors/warnings but you do get output - I've put the
resulting doc files here (they are terminal formatted so you can open
them in a text editor to view):
http://wickensonline.co.uk/static/files/mscp/
Regards, Mark.
On 06/06/15 13:36, Robert Jarratt wrote:
I have had a go with some of Tom's files but I have encountered some
problems. It seems the files have some commands in them that are not
recognised by any of the versions of runoff that I have. I have tried on VMS
5.5-2, 7.3 and 8.4.
The commands that are not recognised include (not a full list):
.style header
.autotitle
.ebb
.fta
.referencepoint
I have a vague recollection that DEC had some other internal version of
runoff, and I wonder if these commands are for such a version.
Anyone know?
Regards
Rob
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Tom
Gardner
Sent: 06 June 2015 00:55
To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
Subject: RE: DEC Runoff to any modern format conversion - MORE INFO
Hi
Thanks for all the ideas.
Apparently there is nothing off the shelf; I have sent copies of one of
the two
manuals to three of us who indicated they would try something and will be
happy to do the same for anyone else.
AFAIK, DEC RUNOFF is only similar to other runoffs in that it uses a
period
"." at the beginning of a line to designate a command. Most . commands
span the single line but some have multi-line and/or multi file
implications. E.g.
Something like
.HL 1 Overview of MSCP Subsystem
Converts to
<h1 style="text-align:left;"> Overview of MSCP Subsystem</h1>
Most of the conversions are obvious but some are a bit more complex, in
particular the
.require command which apparently assembles the chapter files into a book.
.referencepoint command which is some form of anchor, perhaps for an index
since so far it always seems to follow a HL command so maybe
.HL 1 Overview of MSCP Subsystem
.referencepoint overvw_mscp_sub
Converts to
<h1 name="overvw_mscp_sub" ID="overvw_mscp_sub" style="text-align:left;
"> Overview of MSCP Subsystem</h1>
With the ID being called from a Table Of Contents built to include the
full name
and page number
It looks like a multipass converter would be the way to go. Anyhow this
is a bit
beyond my current coding skill but if anyone else wants to try a converter
I'd
like to work with them
Tom
-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Gardner [mailto:t.gard...@computer.org]
Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2015 10:47 AM
To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
Subject: DEC Runoff to any modern format conversion or DEC MSCP protocol
specs
Hi
I have multiple DEC Runoff (.rno extension) files for the manual on DEC's
MSCP
protocol. I'd like to convert them to a modern format. The manual is
dated
circa 1992 incorporating ecos thru MSCP23-4 and is revision 2.4 (or
later) of MSCP. What appears to be an early version (Apr 1982 rev 1.2) is
at
<http://www.textfiles.com/bitsavers/pdf/dec/disc/UDA50/AA-L619A-
TK_MSCP_basF
n>
http://www.textfiles.com/bitsavers/pdf/dec/disc/UDA50/AA-L619A-
TK_MSCP_basFn
s_82.pdf
I've searched for a convertor without much luck, there is a VMS Pascal
converter at <https://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/support/rnototex>
https://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/support/rnototex which converts to LaTex
which can then be converted to pdf, but I don't have any DEC equipment.
Anyone know of a converter or perhaps other already converted manuals at
other revision levels (e.g. rev 1.2 at link above)?
If not, anyone running VMS Pascal or OpenVMS v6.1 (or later) willing to
try a
conversion to LaTex?
DECs Runoff is a markup language that sort of looks like an early HTML, so
I
suppose I could try a grep conversion to HTML, or just strip out the
markup.
Any other ideas?
Tom
