Dear Folks,
Sam Golob's current (snail mail) mailing address has changed.
It is now: Sam Golob, P.O. Box 702, Pomona, NY 10970
I am trying to change all occurrences of the old address on the CBT
Tape, but it is difficult. Therefore this notice.
Thanks.
All the best
Correction to Xephon's former website address:
www.xephon.com
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Dear Folks,
As you may know, the Xephon magazines (from 2005 and previous) are
back online at www.cbttape.org. The VM stuff was courtesy of SDS (who
had bought the VM rights from Xephon and had given us permission to post
the magazines with attribution to them) and the rest of it was
Dear Folks,
It is with great pleasure that we are able to announce that CBT
Version 506 has been cut. Many thanks to the Creator of the world that
many people were able to contribute to this update, in many ways. There
were at least 50 file updates in this version. All updates (on the
Dear Folks,
Sorry for the mixup, but I moved my System Programming articles on
the CBT Tape Web Site (www.cbttape.org) to their own directory. The CBT
Tape home page has been changed to reflect this.
To find my articles now, please go to www.cbttape.org/articles .
There are about
Dear Folks,
Recently I received a request to put my (over 230) articles about
MVS Systems Programming, directly online. They had previously resided
(and still reside) on CBT Tape Files 014 and 120, which are in zipped
XMIT-format, and therefore they are not so readily accessible. So I
Dear Folks,
I'm not sure if it is well-known, but a great many XEPHON magazines
can now be found on the CBT Tape website, at www.cbttape.org/xephon ,
and all that material may be used in good conscience by anyone, since
Xephon has been defunct for a long time. The VM and VSE magazines
Dear Folks,
Does anyone know how to get in contact with Steve Myers? Please contact me
off list if you can get in touch with him or you know how to contact him.
Thanks much.
All the best of everything to all of you.
Sincerely, Sam Golob. www.cbttape.org
Dear Folks,
The CBT Tape Version 503 has been cut. Its "official" date is July
20, 2022.
All the best of everything to all of you.
Sincerely, Sam
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Dear Folks,
I have been laid up since Feb 22,2022 and did not have access to my
emals (which are overloaded with Spam). If you have sent any CBT
contributions between then and now, please resend them, if you want them
to be posted. Thanks. Sorry for any inconvenience.
All the best
Dear Folks,
CBT Tape Version 502 has been cut. It is a large incremental
change from V501. Please enjoy
All the best of everything to all of you
Sincerely, Sam
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Dear Folks,
There is now a new ISPF dialog which makes it much easier to find
and download materials from the CBT Tape. The dialog is called CBTVIEW,
and it can be found on File 043 of the Updates Page of the CBT Tape
(www.cbttape.org/updates.htm).
When this dialog is working,
Dear Folks,
I have a dilemma. The dilemma is: How often should I make new CBT
Tape Versions?
We make about 2 or 3 CBT Tape Version updates per year, and we have
been doing that for the past 16 or 17 years now. This is in contrast to
when Arnie was doing the CBT Tape. Arnie
, and the tape labels. I don't care about
the particulars of the data.
Please attach the data to an email to me. If you have any
questions, please write to me off-list.
THANK YOU...
Sincerely, Sam Golob
P.S. The COPYMODS program, even as it is now, can do many things
Dear Folks,
I think I've finished updating the website www.cbttape.org with
the proper changes for Version 501.
Use it in good health and happiness.
All the best of everything to everyone
Sincerely, Sam
Dear Folks,
The CBT Tape Version 501 has been cut, and the www.cbttape.org
website has been partially updated. I hope to finish the update of the
website tomorrow.
Meanwhile, all the new files have been loaded into the CBT
directory, so you can get to them now. Also, File 001,
Dear Folks,
Is there a FREE tool to disassemble an object deck directly
(without linkediting it first)? I know that STARTOOL READOBJ can do it,
but that's an expensive "pay product".
Thanks much for any ideas or programs.
All the best of everything to all of you.
Sincerely,
Dear Folks,
I just put up an old tape mapping program named PRECIS from "UNC",
which I presume is the University of North Carolina. The load module
was linkedited in 1986, so it is old. But it works beautifully, the
report is concise, and it displays the beginning of each data block,
y you want.
I hope this helps. Please note that (we hope) all auxiliary
programs needed or called by the PDS program, are included in File 182
under the member UTILXMIT.
All the best of everything to all of you...
Sincerely, Sam Golob (on behalf of John Kalinich, who di
Dear Folks,
I was just reviewing an article I wrote in 1988 (a long time ago)
that encapsulates and summarizes my original efforts to learn SMP/E.
Many of us systems programmers don't have a chance to do system
maintenance, leaving it to "the designated person (or people)". And
Dear Folks,
I am just trying to get a very old program to work. It is so old,
that it mucks with the TSB password field, and I don't want to deal with
that. I don't care to reveal the password anywhere. I just want the
user to enter a password, and the security system should say "GO"
Dear Folks,
Does anyone have user-written code for RACF, so that if the user
types in a password, the code will verify if it is the user's actual
LOGON password?
I'd like to see code that does this, for ACF2 and Top Secret as
well, but I'm primarily interested in RACF.
Thank
Dear Folks,
There is an additional zap for TASID that is necessary in the
initiator display (option 4). After applying the previous zaps, another
zap has to be applied, to show the jobclass for a running job, in the
initiator display. The reason for this is that in z/OS 2.1 (we think)
Dear Folks,
I am pleased to announce that someone has come up with an
additional zap to TASID, so the initiator display works for z/OS 2.4,
and it also works correctly on 2.2 and 2.3. CBT Tape File 980 has been
updated accordingly.
Many thanks to the contributor.
All the best
Dear Folks,
CBT File 980 contains a zap for TASID 5.21, so that the initiator
display (option 4) is made to work. I think that the zap is good for
z/OS 2.2 and 2.3, but I tried it on z/OS 2.4 and it doesn't seem to work
anymore. Does anyone have a fix for z/OS 2.4, or can someone
Dear Folks,
CBT Version 500 has been released as of today, at
www.cbttape.org. Please note some of the big updates in the "Changes
Section". Again, since we have the Updates page for intermediate
updates in-between "tape" version releases, we only have to make full
"version updates"
Dear Folks,
Thanks to Joe Monk for getting me the correct information. First
of all, the parameters, which have to be in "=" format, and not TSO
format with parentheses, must PRECEDE the comments, and all of them,
except the last one, have to be followed by a comma. For example:
Dear Folks,
Clark understood my question correctly. (Hi Clark--haven't heard
from you in a while.)
The PARMLIB command deals with the IKJTSOxx member of PARMLIB. I'm
interested in the TSOKEYxx member of PARMLIB which deals with TCAS.
There doesn't seem to be any member in
Hi Folks,
The TSOKEYxx parmlib member is supposed to have a whole set of
parameters that can (supposedly) be changed for TCAS. I was not
successful in being able to change ANY of them using the TSOKEYxx
PARMLIB member. The defaults always came back, no matter how I changed
the TSOKEY00
Dear Folks,
Question. Can you set a FIXED dispatching priority in WLM, like in
the old IPS, ICS, OPT days?
Thanks
All the best.
Sincerely, Sam
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Hi Folks,
Hope you're all well. Stay safe.
This is just a suggestion, but it may help people to find some
tools they might need, on occasion.
CBT Tape File 874 (www.cbttape.org) - always check the Updates page
first - has a collection of TSO HELP members for a sizable
Hi Folks,
Just wanted to say that I've posted David Spiegel's Assembler
program and REXX to File 836 on the Updates page, as 3 members:
RACROUTE (assembler program), RACRAUTH (rexx), and RACROUT$ (assembly
JCL). I would recommend renaming the RACRAUTH rexx to something like
DSAUTH, but
Hi Folks,
At www.cbttape.org we have loaded CBT Version 499. Please enjoy.
Remember to refer to the Updates Page first, in between version releases.
Sincerely, Sam
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Hi Folks,
There's another article in CBT File 120 (Updates Page) on
www.cbttape.org. The title is:
BM2003MA : Using z/OS System Services Macros, or not
I hope you enjoy it.
All the best of everything to all of you.
Sincerely, Sam
Hi Folks,
Just to mention that I can revise my articles at any time. It's a
nice luxury to have.
It used to be, when I wrote for the magazine, that once I submitted
an article to the editor, I had no further control or say, as to the
content. I didn't have a chance to correct any
Hi Folks,
Just to let you know there's another article on CBT File 120
(Updates page).
The article is:
BM2002FE : ONLCLIP - Changing the VOLSER of a disk pack
(while the pack remains online)
It isn't needed often, but sometimes it's very useful. The article
goes
Hi Folks,
I once wrote a package to audit tape differences between the IBM
3494 VTS and CA-1. It is on CBT Tape File 519. www.cbttape.org CBT
file. It converts the tape inventory of CA-1 and the VTS to a common
format, and compares them, reporting discrepancies. Hope it helps.
This
Hi Folks,
I just wrote another article for the "system doctors" about how to
alter, cancel, or change the status of jobs, when necessary, and when
the IBM methods might not be working for you. It's nice to have a tool
in your pocket when you need it.
This article, together with the
Hi Folks,
Regarding my new article, please download File 846 from the Updates
page of www.cbttape.org. When writing the article, I made several fixes
to the file. So please use the Updates page for Files 846 and 312, as
well as for File 120.
All the best of everything to all of
Hi Folks,
This is to announce a new article, member BM2001JB, which is about
a new technique of backing up and restoring and loading IPL text. The
technique is based on CBT File 846 and it comes from two programs
written by our friend somitcw, and two other programs written by me. A
Hi Folks,
I've written another article. It's about the impact of the
8-character TSO userid change in z/OS 2.3. I hope you enjoy it. The
member name is BM2001JA.
Thanks to all the people who appreciate my concern for the
appropriate audience here. This stuff is intended for
Dear Folks,
Please leave the distribution of my articles as is. If you want to
see more of them, please think responsibly and don't post them. Get
them from where they are. Thanks much.
Sincerely, Sam
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Hi Folks,
I've just completed a new article which you might find interesting
to read. It is on the Updates page of www.cbttape.org on File 120, as
member BM1912DE.
The article talks about some newer programs, many of which I have
had a part in writing. In all likelihood, you have
Hi Folks,
If and when I write more articles for CBT File 120, I promise to
post the notice about them here.
The naming convention for the articles will be BMyymoMO. Example:
BM1911NV which means BM year 19, month 11, NV for November.
So that's the pattern, and you can look
Hi Folks,
Correction. The new article is member BM1911NV. Sorry about the
error.
All the best of everything to all of you.
Sincerely, Sam
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Hi Folks,
I've started writing articles again, but this time it isn't for
"Technical Support" magazine. Rather than make a blog, I decided to
just put them out in CBT File 120, because the (interested) audience
would most likely be systems programmers, software developers for z/OS
and
Hi Folks,
I'm happy to announce that CBT Version 498 has been cut, dated
12/01/19.
Please note the following announcement:
In between version changes, please download files from the "Updates
Page" to get the latest software. If your file number is not in the
Updates Page, ONLY
Hi Folks,
Just to let you know about this program. The ACTIVE part does not
work on XA systems and above, without some tweaking, because the CSCB
control block (mapped by the IEECHAIN macro) was moved above the 16M
line, and that is what contains most of the information about currently
Hi Folks,
Thanks to all who have helped me so far (especially Frank).
I am trying to locate original source code for a program I have
that displays TSO USERS, and also TSO ACTIVE jobs. I only have a
disassembly, and it is a somewhat complex program. From looking at the
IKJPARMs in
Hi Folks,
Almost ever since I started using TSO, if I wanted to see who else
was logged on, I would use the USERS command. It was second nature.
At one point, maybe ten years ago, I started looking around for the
source code for USERS. And I couldn't find it. It wasn't on the CBT
Hi Folks,
Just want to make aware of a new tool that I stumbled into
writing. But it looks to be more useful than I originally thought. So
I figured to mention it and maybe some people will get mileage out of
it. It is called LISTMOD and it is on File 994 of the Updates page of
Hi Folks,
For almost 20 years, I wrote a monthly column for NaSPA's magazine
"Technical Support", which was entitled "MVS Tools and Tricks of the
Trade". The administrators of NaSPA had kindly allowed me to distribute
these articles on File 120 of the CBT Tape. (See www.cbttape.org
Hi Folks,
CBT Version 497 is now available on www.cbttape.org. Over 60 files
changed. (They were available on Updates before.) Use it well...
All the best of everything to all of you.
Sincerely, Sam
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Hi Folks,
I guess I have to clarify the situation about the LOOK program.
It's intent is to help in system-level code development, and as such,
I'd probably say that it shouldn't be installed in any place where there
might be a problem of an "unauthorized" person "snooping" at what's in
Hi Folks,
It worked out well that we had the previous problem when incorrect
ASID's were over-typed in LOOKN. Turns out that LOOKJ (the 31-bit
version) had the same issue, and we just fixed it there, too.
I just reloaded File 264 to the www.cbttape.org Updates page, and
also File
Hi Folks,
I think we fixed the problem. We were checking the validity of the
over-typed ASID, and when it was wrong, it was possible to feed a wrong
ASID into the SRB that gets the data from the other address space. The
fix was, that in the case of an error when the ASID was being
Hi Folks,
For now, LOOKN is in Beta status. It seems to work fine in regular
operation, but for now, don't try to switch to an invalid or inactive
ASID. We'll try and fix the issue as soon as we can.
Thanks for bearing with us.
Sincerely, Sam
Hi Folks,
I'm happy to announce that the 64-bit version of the LOOK program
from CBT File 264 is finally out, on the Updates page of
www.cbttape.org. It has been a long time in coming.
Now you can browse virtual storage and and navigate control blocks
in all three: 64-bit, 31-bit,
Hi Folks,
I have been working on updating some old programs to run on z/OS.
Origin of these programs is CBT Tape File 830 (use the one on the
Updates page). These are old Xephon program contributions written from
the mid-1980's thru the mid-1990's. There are a lot of them, and many of
on the
list, or off-list, and let me know.
Thank you very much.
All the best of everything to all of you.
Sincerely, Sam Golob sbgo...@cbttape.org
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Dear Folks,
Sorry to bother you about this kind of thing. I have had to modify
several items on CBT File 483 from Thomas Ramseier, and since it is "his
file", I would like to contact him. Last I heard from him was in 2001,
when he worked for the Swiss Federal Office of Information
Hi Folks,
The CBT Tape web site, www.cbttape.org, has just been updated with
CBT Version 496. The updates will (hopefully) now go to Version 497.
Please check the site to make sure things were done correctly, and all
the updates that were supposed to be there, are there. Thanks much
Hi Folks,
I hope this post isn't considered a waste of everyone's time. I
came across this "design element" (so to speak) in my work concerning
the Broadcast Dataset (aka SYS1.BRODCAST, in its more restrictive sense).
Question: When you are reformatting the active Broadcast Dataset
Hi Folks,
Just a handy thing (in one place) that can make life easier. I
wrote it as a CLIST to keep it really simple: It is called LASTT (you
can name it more appropriately, e.g. TIMES)
PROC 0
LOGTIME /* CBT FILE 133 */
LASTIPL /* CBT FILE 300 */
LASTCLPA /* CBT
Hi Folks,
Just a handy thing (in one place) that can make life easier. I
wrote it as a CLIST to keep it really simple: It is called LASTT (you
can name it more appropriately, e.g. TIMES)
PROC 0
LOGTIME /* CBT FILE 133 */
LASTIPL /* CBT FILE 300 */
LASTCLPA /* CBT
Hi Folks,
Lionel Dyck's program to report on which disk volumes contain IPL
text, in CBT File 312, has been renamed from IPLCHK to IPLTCHK (IPL Text
Check). Since this problem was discussed on IBM-Main about a week ago,
and Lionel's solution was reported here, I just needed to say that
Dear Folks,
It is with great sadness that I must inform you of the passing of
our dear friend, Ken Tomiak. As a tribute to him, and I think this is
the best tribute we can offer him, I am making available his very
considerable amount of work, which he did in his last couple of years.
Hi Folks,
Lionel Dyck posed the question of how you can determine which of
your disk packs have IPL text on them, and what IPL text do they have?
Lionel solved his own problem (with Bob Richards' help). Please see
his exec called IPLCHK on CBT File 312 on the UPDATES page. If you
Thanks for the suggestion, Mike. I updated the $MOSHIX member (doco)
with this URL, but with the explanation that sometimes a URL accessed by
a web page, does not include all possible (in this case) videos. So we
have to access the video with a direct URL in order to find it.
All the
Hi Folks,
CBT File 977 is only on the Updates page of www.cbttape.org. Sorry
I omitted that information.
All the best of everything to all of you.
Sam
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Hi Folks,
I have created File 977 on the www.cbttape.org which contains a
table of all the URL's of the current MOSHIX mainframe videos. It is
member MOSHIXT in the pds, and it contains printable EBCDIC characters
only. The member should be downloaded with ASCII to the PC and looked
at
Hi Folks,
I hope that this message will be useful to a large number of
people, and will make communication between logged-on TSO users easier.
We have just resurrected an old TSO command to conveniently send
messages to another TSO user. The "TO" command is much easier to use
than
at mar...@us.ibm.com.
All the best of everything to all of you
Sincerely, Sam Golob
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Hi Folks,
I was very heartened by the response to my previous post about our
writing the EMPTYTST program (CBT Tape File 971 on the Updates page,
www.cbttape.org). This is a batch program which was designed to run in
a jobstream where some data in a dataset may, or may not, have been
Hi Folks,
Because of some interest on this list, we just wrote a tool that
might help people in long jobstreams. It is called EMPTYTST and it is a
batch program which can tell if a PS dataset or a PO member is empty or not.
EMPTYTST uses SYSUT1 for the input dataset, and returns a
Hi Folks,
If you are using PDS86 on a z/OS 2.3 system, please install the
latest version from CBT Tape File 182, if you plan on turning on the
8-character userids and prefixes. The latest release has been fixed for
that. It has also been fixed for ISPF userid's of length 8.
Thanks
Hi Folks,
Most people know the URL for the CBT Tape, but in case somebody
doesn't know it, it's www.cbttape.org. There may be some people who are
new to this list, and who don't (yet) know that they can get many
marvelous tools for z/OS there (all for free). (Of course, all
disclaimers
Hi Folks,
The CBT Tape Version 495 has been cut (finally). There have been
over 60 file changes made since the last version was cut last March. I
believe that this is the single biggest increment in changes between
file versions.
The tape was cut yesterday, and the website updates
Hi Ed,
Ah, nostalgia!!!
Funny thing is, UADS was studied in depth by Jim Marshall in the
early 90's. And although it's not too wise to use it (via the ACCOUNT
command) to define working userids in a production system, but on a
development system the knowledge of SYS1.UADS can
Hi Folks,
I'm commenting on Ed Gould's comments. Thanks Ed. Much obliged.
I've used MVT in the old days, but I'm not an expert from then. A
few years ago, I was experimenting with the ACCOUNT command to create
new userids in SYS1.UADS (on z/OS), and I noticed that the size of each
Hi Folks, (I'm sorry that my previous post was sent incomplete--pressed
the wrong key)
As you probably know by now, z/OS 2.3 has introduced the possibility
of having 8-character TSO userids and 8-character TSO prefixes. These
name fields were previously limited to 7 characters, ever since
Hi Folks,
As you probably know by now, z/OS 2.3 has introduced the possibility
of having 8-character TSO userids and 8-character TSO prefixes. These
name fields were previously limited to 7 characters, ever since TSO came
into existence. (I think the reason for the limitation was that
Hi Folks,
I forgot to mention that IBM did supply a compatibility PTF for
older systems, to tolerate some of the 8-character id stuff. So at a
fairly recent PTF level, z/OS 2.2 and 2.1 users can have some tolerance
for sharing with 2.3 systems having the 8-character ids and prefixes.
Hi Folks,
I'd like to just clarify my point of view, as opposed to Ed
Jaffe's. It seems to me that his view, as a vendor, is to make his code
compatible with IBM's new operating system. When he supplies a version
of (say) EJES for z/OS 2.3, it was coded especially to work for z/OS
Hi Folks,
z/OS 2.3 is here. 8-character TSO userids are here. And
8-character TSO dataset prefixes are here too. How do we prepare for
them, and fix our programs?
Part of the problem is that the PSCBUSER field (7 bytes) and the
UPTPREFX field (7 bytes) have been around for
Hi Folks,
Sorry to bother you with administrivia, but people do want to write
to me about the CBT Tape, and I felt it was important enough to make
this announcement here.
sbgo...@attglobal.net seems to be gone forever. In its place, is
sbgo...@att.net.
My main email address
Hi Folks,
To write to me about CBT Tape information, the proper email address is:
sbgo...@cbttape.org.
My attglobal.net email went away, and all emails sent there, are
now lost. But I was able to replace it with:
sbgo...@att.net.
So both the sbgolob.cbttape.org and
Hi Folks,
When writing to me (Sam Golob), please do not use my attglobal.net
email address. It has disappeared, and it isn't coming back. Instead,
please use sbgo...@cbttape.org to write to me.
I now have the large job of removing this address from the entire
CBT Tape. I'll let
Hi Folks,
The CBT STEPLIB from File 452 has not only been tested on z/OS 2.3,
but it has been running for a long time on that company's z/OS 2.3
advanced system (that is available to that company). It has heavy use
on that system.
Sam
...
Ze'ev is available for feedback at:
zatl...@yahoo.com
Sincerely, Sam Golob
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Hi Folks,
A while back, there was a discussion on IBM-Main about how to
access the ECT (Environment Control Table) which is a TSO control block
pointed to by the CPPL (Command Processor Parameter List) pointed to by
Register 1 when a TSO command gets control.
Binyamin Dissen pointed
Hi Folks,
We've been quietly trying to get a bunch of old programs (that used
to work) to work now, under z/OS 2.2. I've got a list below, and you
are welcome to explore them, on the UPDATES page of www.cbttape.org,
File 300. This list may not be complete. Try to look at the latest
Hi Folks,
As a result of the recent discussion about finding the TSO ECT
control block, and because of the fact that the ECT address can be found
after the end of the TSO Relogon Buffer (pointed to by PSCBRLGB), we
came up with a set of programs to display and manipulate the TSO Relogon
Hi Folks,
I just wish to thank all the contributors to this thread. I feel
that every single contribution added to our general knowledge. Thank
you all.
This is what the IBM-Main forum is all about.
All the best of everything to all of you.
Sincerely,Sam
Hi Folks,
I want to point out that not all versions of CNCLPG on CBT File 826
have BURN or KILL capability for JOBs or STCs. The earlier versions of
the program (included in the file) have less power.
You have the choice of installing one of the earlier versions of
the program
Hi Folks,
I just want to tell you that I very much appreciate this
discussion. Very much depends on POINT OF VIEW, and when all the points
of view get together, real progress is made, and everybody becomes wiser.
There are at least three separate points of view here on this forum:
Hi Folks,
Of course, you're right, Peter. Jobs or STCs are marked
NON-CANCELABLE for a very good reason. Under normal circumstances, they
should not be cancelled, because it would endanger the system. That's
what the PPT is for. Almost always, the safeguards that are there, are
there
Hi Folks,
Hopefully this info will help get you out of a jam sometime..
Sam
GETTING RID OF AN ADDRESS SPACE (or WHACKING A JOB)
In my career as a system doctor, I've had trouble, more than
once, in getting rid of an address space that was malfunctioning, and
starting
Hi Folks,
Consistent with Ze'ev Atlas' announcement of yesterday, I have
posted File 939 on the Updates page of www.cbttape.org which contains
Version 10.23 of PCRE (Perl-Compatible Regular Expressions), ported to
z/OS. You can now find it there.
Please remember to go to the
After almost a day out, the www.cbttape.org website is back. Sam Knutson
and HIS tech support worked on it. Good news.
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