            INTRO, A Gentle Introduction to TOPS-20

The goal of this series of introductory guides is to ease users with 
prior CP/M, DOS, Unix, Linux, or other OS experience, into the basic 
usage of a TOPS-20 system. The writer of these guides is not an 
expert, and does not expect you to become one from reading these 
guides. The methods herein are very simple and basic.

For those who would prefer to learn more in-depth, comprehensive, or 
historical concepts, manuals for the TOPS-20 system are available, 
such as the Command Manual and Operator Manual. See 'HELP INTRO' for
further suggestions.


PRESSING ? FOR HELP

If you have questions, it pays to use the "?" key. ? is interpreted 
immediately in exec, so that pressing it will give you immediate 
assistance. Try pressing ? at the @ prompt, or right after typeing a 
command. You will be returned to a prompt to complete your command, 
after the help is provided.

Example output:

 @? Command, one of the following: 
  ACCESS        ADVISE         APPEND         ARCHIVE        ASSIGN
  ATTACH        BACKSPACE      BLANK          BREAK          BUILD
  CANCEL        CD             CLOSE          COMPILE        CONNECT
  ... (output truncated for this guide, try it out for the full list)
   or system program name

 @info ? one of the following:
  ADDRESS-BREAK           ALERTS                   ARCHIVE-STATUS
  AVAILABLE               BATCH-REQUESTS           CLUSTER
  COLUMNS                 COMMAND-LEVEL            DECNET
  ... (output truncated for this guide)


GETTING YOUR FOOTING

You ought to know "where you are" at all times. After logging in, 
begin by finding out your location in the file structure with "info 
dir" (short for INFORMATION DIRECTORY). This will give you valuable 
information about the folder that you are "connected" to presently:

 @info dir
  Name TOPS20:<BOB>
  Working disk storage page limit 500
  Permanent disk storage page limit 500
  ... (output truncated for this guide)

Next, get a feeling for the "pages" described here, by seeing how many 
pages are in use on the system with "info disk", which will return 
something like:

 @info disk
  TOPS20:<BOB>
  0 Pages assigned
  500 Working pages, 500 Permanent pages allowed
  82710 Pages free on TOPS20:, 133666 pages used.

Compare files you find later and the pages they take. 

Now that you know where you are, have a look at the files in your 
current connected folder with "dir" and "vdir."

 @dir

    TOPS20:<BOB>
  HELP.TXT.1
  LOGIN.CMD.1
  MAIL.CPY.1;T
    .TXT.1;P

 @vdir

    TOPS20:<BOB>
  HELP.TXT.1;P777700         1 11(7)      31-Jan-2019 21:12:38 BOB       
  LOGIN.CMD.1;P777700        1 383(7)     31-Jan-2019 21:10:39 BOB       
  MAIL.CPY.1;P770000;T       1 14(7)      31-Jan-2019 21:11:13 BOB       
    .TXT.1;P770000;P         1 345(7)     31-Jan-2019 21:12:27 BOB       

  Total of 4 pages in 4 files

It's nice to be able to browse, so let's have a look at some other 
files and directories using the "dir" command (note some additional 
syntax.)

 @dir <documentation>

    TOPS20:<DOCUMENTATION>
  5221BM.MEM.1
  ACJ.MEM.1
  ACTGEN.DOC.1
  ... (output truncated for this guide)

 @dir <root.bin>*.exe

    TOPS20:<ROOT.BIN>
  AR..1
  CHGRP.EXE.1
  CHMOD.EXE.1
  ... (output truncated for this guide)

 @dir sys:*.exe

    TOPS20:<SUBSYS>
  ACJ.EXE.158
  ACJDEC.EXE.1
  ACJLOG.EXE.1
  ... (output truncated for this guide)

Finally, you should know where the system is picking up the programs 
that you type in on the command line, so test out "info logic sys" or 
"INFORMATION LOGIAL-NAMES-SYSTEM"

 @info logic sys
 ACCOUNT: => TOPS20:<ACCOUNTS>
 BLI: => SYS:
 BS: => TOPS20:
 ... (output truncated for this guide)


CONTINUE LEARNING

If you desire, you may continue learning basics of TOPS-20 by reading 
in the following INTRO files:

<REDCON.HELP>INTRO.HLP            This quickstart
<REDCON.HELP>INTRO1.HLP           Getting help, filesystem basics, etc
<REDCON.HELP>INTRO2.HLP           
<REDCON.HELP>INTRO3.HLP           

<REDCON.HELP>INTRO-TIPS.HLP       Additional quick tips
<REDCON.HELP>INTRO-CMDS.HLP       UNIX command comparison chart
<REDCON.HELP>INTRO-EXAMPLES.HLP   All command examples from INTRO*.HLP

You may TYPE any of these files directly, or use 'HELP INTRO2'
to access the next intro file in the set.


---> FOR NEXT INTRO, TYPE 'HELP INTRO2'
