Maxey Systems, Inc. 2210 Line Ave Suite 102 Shreveport, LA 71104 (318) 678-1234 [email protected] GASS Thanks you very much for using MSI. GASS I. GASS Overview II. Multiterminals III. Configuration IV. Getting Started I. GASS Overview The General Accounting Scientific Switching (GASS) operating system is a multiterminal, multitasking operating system that uses "dumb terminals" off the IBM PC and clones to manage data into and out of data bases. GASS has been in existence since 1976 when it was first implemented on Computer Automation's LSI 2 series mini computers. The copyright was obtained in 1979. GASS has its own language and is, like most data base systems, field and row oriented. On hard disks, GASS is implemented beyond the last cylinder of PC DOS. FDISK is used to set up the volume for PC DOS and the GASS CONFIG program is used to allocate the GASS volume(s). If GASS is to use all of the hard disk(s), FDISK is not used. GASDOS is a DOS based version of the GASS System and has all of the capabilties of GASS as an operating system except that it will run under DOS and Windows (3.1 through 98). Under Windows 95 and 98 we have a multi- tasking, multi-terminal, real time system (GASS), running under a multi- tasking operating system (Windows 95/98) making the combination the first multi-terminal, multi-tasking, real time multi-operating system. GASS is normally implemented as a 3-terminal system consisting of a PC console, COM1 and COM2. LPT1, LPT2 and LPT3 are real time printers to GASS. GASS also has an 11 terminal capability and uses COMTROL's 8 channel Hostess board along with the PC console, COM1 and COM2. LPT1 - LPT3 are real time printers. There are 3 things you must do before using the GASS system. First you must wire your terminals if there are any. This is covered in section II (Multiterminals). Second, if you have any hard disk drives they must configured as shown in section III, Configuration. Finally, all files must be initialized. The language of GASS is number-oriented and requires a manual to be nearby. The system was implemented using subroutines called out by number. There are more than 200 operations and the number is increasing so it is practically impossible to memorize all operations. The operations are of such high order that we feel a compiler is not needed. II. Multiterminals Terminals used in GASS should be "dumb", meaning they conform to the characteristics of inexpensive terminals such as Lear Siglear's ADM3 or the Televideo TV-910. The IBM PC keyboard under the GASS operating system conforms to dumb terminal cursor loading and most control codes are the same. When GASS loads, you may notice the following characteristics of the IBM PC (or clone): . YOU ARE IN UPPER CASE . YOU ARE IN NUM LOCK MODE . THE "+" KEY TO THE RIGHT OF THE NUMBER PAD IS A SECOND ENTER KEY . F1 IS CONTROL H *** THESE KEYS ON DUMB TERMINALS *** . F2 IS CONTROL J *** ARE USED TO POSITION THE *** . F3 IS CONTROL K *** CURSOR AND ARE THE SAME IN *** . F4 IS CONTROL L *** IBM GASS. *** You may buy ADM3's, ADM5's (same as the ADM3 with a number pad), Televideo 910's and many other inexpensive terminals mail order for less than $ 200.00 each if you don't mind used equipment. Look in a magazine called "The Processor" for advertisements of good used equipment. A very good terminal made by ITT is the QUME 101 which sells for less than $ 500.00 each new. You may use an emulator program and use PC's as terminals. We have written an emultor program (MAXCOM) and is available. The IBM PC was built to use two asychronous adapters (COM1 and COM2) and 3 printer adapters (LPT1 - LPT3). The asynchronous adapters use a standard RS232 cable and the printer adapters use the standard parallel cables. These two items may be purchased from any computer store and the adapters may be purchased there also. If you want to make your own asychronous cables, you will need the following items: . 2 DB25S connectors (female connector that plugs into COM1 and COM2) . 2 DB25P connectors (male connectors that plugs into the terminal) . 4-conductor cable (each conductor 22 or 24 AWG) long enough to reach your terminals. The IBM technical manual indicates a maximum length of fifty feet, but I have some that are 250 feet long. Short haul modems can increase the distance to 5 miles at 9600 baud at a price less than $100.00 each. The cables should be soldered to the connectors as follows: IBM PC DUMB TERMINAL -------- --------------- DB25S DB25P PIN NO. PIN NO. ======== =============== 2 ->-TD->------------>------------->--RD->----- 3 3 -<-RD-<------------<--------------<-TD-<----- 2 5 CTS-I I (handshake line) 6 DSR-I-<------------------------<----DTR-<--- 20 I 8 CD--i 7 -------------(GROUND)------------------------ 7 In GASS each terminal (Keyboard Send Receive [KSR] or printer) is a printer to every other terminal and so are called PR devices and are numbered from 1 to 6. The device numbers are: Standard Configuation Hostess Configuration ---------------------------------------------- ---------------------- PC Console PR 1 PR 1 COM1 PR 2 PR 2 COM2 PR 3 PR 3 LPT1 PR 4 PR 12 COM1 PR 5 (alternate use for this port) PR 13 LPT2 PR 6 PR 14 LPT3 PR 7 PR 15 PR 4 COM3 PR 5 COM4 PR 6 COM5 PR 7 COM6 PR 8 COM7 PR 9 COM8 PR 10 COM9 PR 11 COM10 A very important characteristc of GASS is that each control character is echoed back as an *, but it is entered into the computer as the control character. This is done for several reasons, one being that menus can be entered without the cusor moving wildly. This characteristic is disabled with operation 156. III. Configuration GASS is set up to handle 4 diskette drives and up to 5 hard disk drives. The drives are called by "UNIT" in GASS and within each UNIT are contained "FILES". UNIT 0 is the set of all diskette drives and must be double sided and double density. The diskette drives are (and the co-relation of PC DOS is given): PC DOS GASS GASDOS ------ ------------------- ----------------------- Drive A UNIT 0, File 1 UNIT A, FILE 1 - 4 Drive B UNIT 0, File 2 UNIT B, File 1 - 4 UNIT 0, File 3 UNIT C, File 1 - 4 UNIT 0, File 4 Unit D, File 1 - 4 Unit E, File 1 - 4 Unit F, File 1 - 4 IV. Getting Started Now you are ready to get into the GASS system. If you have our develop- ment system, you may want to look over some of the reports. GASS is functionally similar to RPG and it makes the PC appear to be a main frame. Read the GASS manual up to appendix A and follow the instructions. Total turnkey, multiterminal real timeapplications have been written using GASS in such fields as hospital patient accounting, banking, multi-physician clinics, hospital medical records, oil and gas, industrial fabrication, and many more.