From: music@pubff1.triumf.ca (FRED W. BACH)
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: Suggestions for VMS/DCL manuals
Date: 26 Jan 1993 17:59 PST
Organization: TRIUMF: Tri-University Meson Facility
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: pubff1.triumf.ca
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    

In article <1993Jan24.085654.1@tango.cchs.su.oz.au>, brennan@tango.cchs.su.oz.au (Luke Brennan) writes...
#In article <153@mccoy.dbaccess.com>, steve@dbaccess.com (Steve Suttles) writes:
#> tshin@husc8.harvard.edu (Tae Shin) writes:
   [stuff deleted]
#> treasures you will find a six-foot-tall bookcase full of grey binders.  Start
#> at the one marked "Intro to Documentation".
# 
#	not at this site.. :-(
#	Thank God I had access to the Orange Wall at a site a few years ago!
# 
#   [...]
#> You are the systems administrator.  Remove the power cord from the back of the
#> system unit.  Hide it.  Go back to whoever told you you had a complete system
#> and inform them that there are a great number of parts missing, and the system
#> is completely inoperable.  Don't plug it back in until you get some
#> documentation.
# 
#	so what do I do about the 100+ students/lecturers expecting to
#	use the machine(s)?
# 
#> Everything's fine where the documentation is, but you're not there.  It is not
#> a matter of another office, it is a county away.  Your options (actually, the
#> options belonging to whoever holds the checkbook) are to get additional
#> documentation for the new site, or get a quantity discount on telephone calls
#> to the office of the guy who has the documentation.  Or do without or update
#> your resume, as before.
# 
#	all our documentation is at main campus - 26 miles away..
#	place a request.. wait for a few days.. go to the FAX machine..
#	read the _minimum_ info they've sent to you..
# 

     Here lies your problem.   Your administration needs to know that this
 is a real problem and you are not making it up.  You can't do cross-ref'ing
 like this.

#> I have never understood the kind of people who buy computers but no
#> documentation, but when they buy puzzles, they pay extra for instructions on
#> how to solve it.  Why would someone get a tool, whether a computer or a
#> chainsaw, without getting a handle on it?  (and this is a VERY close analogy).
# 
#	poverty is a good reason...
# 
#	funding streams (in this campus) take many strange turns..
#	a school can have $50,000 to spend on just about anything, yet
#	the EDP unit isn't allocated enough for VMS manuals..
#	I had to rant/rave/scream to get a MAC LC-II - so that we could
#	at least have *some* idea about the Deans problems with her
#	MAC network amongst those 'On High'..  (!)
# 
#	pulling the plug won't get us manuals - it'll get us a one-way
#	ticket...
# 
#	Now (after 3 months) I hope to soon have enough for X software
#	on a MAC or PC.. *then* I'll be able to access the CD-ROM
#	bookreader stuff!!! (I piously hope!)
# 
#	Not all the world works the way we'd like it to... :-}
# 
#	I haven't even mentioned the lovely SPARCstation 1+ sitting there
#	doing its business - sans manuals - that was 'allocated' to us!!!
# 
#	Just a view from a twisted little backroom of a minor campus of
#	a huge (and seriously twisted) university...
# 
#	go figure..  (yet I have a sinking suspicion I am not alone in
#	this kind of madness!)
# 
#	Luke.
#+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
#+ Luke Brennan                             e-mail:   L.Brennan@cchs.su.EDU.AU +
#+ EDP Unit, S209                       L.Brennan%cchs.su.edu.au@cunyvm.BITNET +
#+ Cumberland College of Health Sciences,                              ,-_|\   +
#+ The University of Sydney                  voice: +61 2 646 6402    /     \  +
#+ East Street, Lidcombe, NSW 2141             fax: +61 2 646 4853    \_,-._*  +
#+ AUSTRALIA                                                               v   +
#+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Luke, 

     From the conversation on the net, I thought this was only a
 problem in poor countries of the third world.  The administration needs
 to be told in no uncertain terms that you cannot manage a VAX system
 without reasonable access to the manuals.  It is not fair to use the
 rest of the net as a personal resource in this way, as far as I can
 see.  I can maybe understand this problem happening in Egypt, but
 in Australia?  

    Can you relay to us the responses of the bosses when you go back and
 tell them the facts of life re computers?  I would like to hear some of
 their answers.  Oughta be good for a few giggles.

   Or, now for a completely different answer:  how expensive is microfilm
 or video tape over there?

   Say, has anyone ever video-taped a manual?? This does work if you have
 good freeze-frame on your VCR and you can carry around a lot on a small
 tape right in your pocket.  With a good video camera you can shoot all
 the books and read them on a good-quality VCR/monitor.  Of course, very
 fine print might not show up.  But you probably wouldn't want to do this.
 And it's sort of tedious to video-tape the books in the first place, but
 it's not impossible and it is cheap since you can probably rent or borrow
 the equipment.   I wonder what DEC has to say about this.  I don't know
 if it violates any regulations in Aussieland....

   All the best...

 Fred W. Bach ,    Operations Group        |  Internet: music@erich.triumf.ca
 TRIUMF (TRI-University Meson Facility)    |  Voice:  604-222-1047 loc 278/419
 4004 WESBROOK MALL, UBC CAMPUS            |  FAX:    604-222-1074
 University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., CANADA   V6T 2A3

 These are my opinions, which should ONLY make you read, think, and question.
 They do NOT necessarily reflect the views of my employer or fellow workers.