GEnie On 25 Cents/day by Dennis Ruffer Lead Sysop Forth Interest Group RoundTable GE Network for Information Exchange ABSTRACT Last September, we opened the Forth Interest Group RoundTable on the GE Network for Information Exchange, better known as GEnie. Through this paper I will introduce you to the system, and show you the fastest way to stay in communication with the rest of the Forth industry. BACKGROUND GEnie [1] is an information service provided by the General Electric Information Services Company (GEISCO) and has proven to be an aggressive competitor to the "better known" services such as the Source [2] and CompuServe [3]. GEnie provides services competitive with these others, and costs less during non-prime hours [4]. There has been a lot of discussion about why we chose GEnie over all the other alternatives, but basically it came down to the fact that they were willing to accept us, and that it made the most sense economically, both for users and for the Forth Interest Group. Besides, this is not the first system supported by FIG, nor will it be the last. The Forth Interest Group has arranged a special signup deal for its members. By using our signup account number, your new account will be credited with 3 extra free hours (a $15.00 value). I should point out that our advertising has said the signup fee was $18.00, but presently it costs $29.95 to join GEnie and they give you 2 free hours in addition to the 3 we have arranged for you to get. Thus for $29.95, you get $25.00 worth of non-prime usage credits. After you've used up your credits, you are charged $5.00/hour for non-prime use, and beware of this one, $35.00/hour for prime time use. In other words, use your time sparingly, and don't sign on before 6:00 at night. That is what this paper is about, how to conserve your time on GEnie. That is one of the more important jobs a sysop (SYStem OPerator) has, and Scott Squires (S.W.SQUIRES), Gary Smith (GARY- S), Leonard Morgenstern (NMORGENSTERN), and I (D.RUFFER) are there anytime you need assistance. GEnie is somewhat different than other systems of its type. One difference is that it is not listening to you when it is not asking you for something. Thus, wait for the prompts before you try to type. Another major difference is the way it organizes the Bulletin Board messages. If you have used other Bulletin Board systems, or other GEnie On 25 Cents/day by Dennis Ruffer Page 2 Information Services, you may have some re-learning to do. However, once you learn a few basic commands, the rest is really straight forward, and there is always on-line help that will explain the more complex combinations. GEnie is a very large system, with services that will intimidate the uninitiated. I encourage you to investigate all the services that are available to you, but I caution you to be aware, that some services cost extra. Generally, they are well marked with a $ before the menu item. You will be charged more if you select that item. Also the uninitiated should be aware the clock is ticking whenever they are on-line. Minutes quickly turn into hours when you are trying to read everything that flashes across your screen, so I encourage you to not read everything on-line, but to capture the text to your printer or to a disk file. You should keep you trips on-line short and read what you have captured after you log off, and you should program you communication software so that it does as much of the job as possible. I will not go into all the various ways to set up your hardware except to say that all it takes is a modem and a terminal. The modem is set up with 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity, use half duplex mode, and be capable of sending a BREAK signal. If you don't know what all this is, or can not implement your hardware this way, I'd be glad to help you individually to explain it or tell you how to get GEnie to do it differently. What I'd rather do right now is tell you how to keep your costs as low as possible. If you follow this procedure, you can keep in touch with everything that is going on, on-line in the FIG RoundTable. THE PROCEDURE The sequence that starts on page 5 of this paper was captured from an actual log in. I've underlined the things that I typed, and added numbered notes on the right hand side of the page. Also each of my entries are finished by hitting my carriage return key. Follow along as I explain the steps. Starting with <-1, this is the command you give a Hayes [5] compatible modem to dial the phone. The 800 number I give you there, as well as the account number given in <-3 are used for initial signup. During the initial signup, you will be asked to supply billing information and they will give you a local phone number, your own account number and password. Substitute the numbers they give you for these numbers. After your modem makes the connection (indicated by the CONNECT), you type HHH as in <- 2. Remember to pause about 1/10 of a second between each H. GEnie will respond with U#= or some gibberish. If you get gibberish, type a carriage return and GEnie will ask for the number again, hopefully so you can read it. GEnie On 25 Cents/day by Dennis Ruffer Page 3 At the U# prompt, you type your password. For the initial signup, when you will be using the 800 number, use the account number and password that I give on line <-3, but do not add the numbers after GENIE. Those extra numbers are the page and menu item you will need to go to the FIG Bulletin Board. Once you have your own account number and password, substitute them for the XJM11849,GENIE and use the ,710;1 to avoid all the intervening menus. GEnie is organized by menu "pages" and each "page" has a number at the upper right corner. We are located on page 710 and menu item 1 is the FIG Bulletin Board. Within GEnie you can use m710;1 to do the same, or type FORTH to go to our main menu (both of our menus can be seen on page 7 of this text). After you have entered your account number and password, the initial signup will start asking you questions. Ignore the fact that they do not mention the extra 3 hours, your account will be credited properly. Once your account information has been validated, you will be able to sign in with your new account number, and see text similar to what I've included here. Notice <-4 points out one of our advertisements for the Johns-Hopkins conference we had May 4th. These signon messages let you know what is going on through out GEnie. At <-5 GEnie checks your mailbox and tells you if there is anything in it. Make a note if you had any, and we'll get back to reading it later. Now, you enter the FIG RoundTable, and are greeted with various messages. You are capturing this aren't you, because we will occasionally give you more details about important events, and you will want to read about them later. On my next page, we enter the Bulletin Board and enter Category 1. You will see a more complete menu than I show at <-6, but once you've seen it a few time, you can turn it off by typing PROmpt NONe. The capital letters are all that GEnie requires you to type. BRO ALL NOR will read all the new messages in all Topics and Categories without asking you to reply on-line. You may want to play around here to see what's in all the Topics and Categories, but remember, I'm showing you the quickest way. After the latest messages have flashed by, we return to the prompt (1 ?) in <-7. Here I use the move command to go to page 711 and choose item 11. 711 is our Software Library page and item 11 lets you see what files have been uploaded since you last used this command (i.e. when you were last on). You then see the file listing, but again, I urge you to just move on and look at the listing later. This command has been recently (880707) added to the Library menu, and needs some initial setup. The first time you use it, it will produce the same listing as menu item 2 (i.e. a full directory listing). If you hit your BREAK key [6] the file pointer will get updated properly and you will not have to see the entire list next time you use it. GEnie On 25 Cents/day by Dennis Ruffer Page 4 After the file listing, you are presented with the Software Library menu. At this point, we have completed our tour of the FIG RoundTable and it is time to check your personal mail. If you remember what message you got when you signed on, you can decide whether you need to do this step or not. I had some mail in my box, so at <-11 I tell GEnie that I want to read it. It starts with a listing of the mail queue, then begins listing your mail. After the mail, you are returned to the RoundTable menus. Normally, you would get the Software Library menu, but to show you what our main menu looks like, I showed it returning there. We are done, so at <-12 I type BYE. GEnie tells me to "Have a nice day!", and tells me how long I was on-line at <-13. Finally, at <-14 we hang up the phone. SUMMARY The bottom line is at <-13. It only cost 23 cents to take this trip. This was an actual login, included the full text from a message in the Bulletin Board, and the complete letter sent from Dan Miller. Your cost may vary, depending on how long you've been away and how popular you are. Messages are added to the Bulletin Board daily, and you may have a lot of friends who want to communicate with you electronically, and of course, these estimates will be higher in California. However, if we look at the cost per minute (8.3 cents), or the cost per character (at 1200 baud you can send 864 characters for 1 penny) [7], I know of very few other mediums that are cheaper to use. So why don't you give us a try? We're as close as your nearest telephone. Reach out and touch, the Forth community. GEnie On 25 Cents/day by Dennis Ruffer Page 5 ATDP1(800)638-8369 <-1 Modem commands to dial GEnie Use your local node's number CONNECT HHH <-2 Type pauses between H's U#=XJM11849,GENIE,710;1 <-3 Your account, password, and go to FIG Bulletin Board ** Thank you for choosing GEnie ** The Consumer Information Service from General Electric Copyright (C), 1988 GEnie Logon at: 21:18 EDT on: 880503 Last Access at: 20:34 EDT on: 880503 * See Religion & Ethics RoundTable * Explore & share. Type "RELIGION" * Who wrote poetry in the nude!! * Check "WRITERS" Trivia for answer. * Guests from: Johns-Hopkins Applied * <-4 Notice our ad Physics Lab. "FIG" RTC 5/4 9PM EDT You have 1 LETTER WAITING. <-5 Notice mailbox check Welcome Dennis A. Ruffer Last visit at: 20:34 on: 880503 Welcome to the Forth Interest Group RoundTable Your hosts on this RoundTable are: FIG The FIG Business Offices Sysops - D.RUFFER Dennis A. Ruffer S.W.SQUIRES Scott W. Squires GARY-S Gary L. Smith NMORGENSTERN N. Leonard Morgenstern For on line help, Enter: MANUAL or M10;5 or M625;6 Mark your calendar: THE FIGGY BARS Thursday night 9:30 EDT and Sunday night 8:30 EDT Architecture of a 32-bit Forth Engine May 4th 9:00 EDT No Members in Conference GEnie On 25 Cents/day by Dennis Ruffer Page 6 GEnie FIG Software Bulletin Board Hello Dennis A. Ruffer Last On: Tue May 03, 1988 at 20:35 EDT Category 1 Introduction to FIG On-Line 1 ?BROwse ALL NOReply <-6 Read all messages Category 6 Applications in Forth ********** Topic 15 Wed Sep 16, 1987 DANMILLER at 18:19 CDT Sub: Forth Engines / Harris This topic will be devoted to discussion of Harris Semiconductor 's Forth Processor Family: applications, development and information. 1 new messages ********** ---------- Category 6, Topic 15 Message 32 Tue May 03, 1988 DANMILLER at 19:40 CDT "You are invited to a Forth-based 15 MIPS Real Time Microcontroller Premier" . . . ---------- 1 ?M711;11 <-7 List new files ALL Libraries No. File Name Type Address YYMMDD Bytes Access Lib ----- ------------------------ - ------------ ------ ------- ------ --- 1035 BAR0501.ARC X D.RUFFER 880502 10080 0 1 Desc: The FIGGY BAR II, 05/01/88 1036 DECOMP.BQY X M.LONG4 880502 2520 1 6 Desc: Decompiler for Apple // Uniforth End of Directory. GEnie On 25 Cents/day by Dennis Ruffer Page 7 GEnie Page 711 FIG Software Library Library: ALL Libraries 1. Description of this Library 2. Directory of files 3. Search File Directory 4. Browse through files 5. Upload a new file 6. Download a file 7. Delete a file you own 8. Set Software Library 9. Save Current Software Library 10. Instructions for Software Exchange 11. Directory of New Files Enter #,

revious, or elp?READ <-11 Read your mail Queue# Item From Length Sent Subject 1 2901221 DANMILLER 8 88/05/03 rochester Item 2901221 88/05/03 19:46 From: DANMILLER Daniel L. Miller To: D.RUFFER Dennis A. Ruffer Sub: rochester I reposted the harris inv. . . . =END= GEnie FORTH Page 710 Forth Interest Group RoundTable Library: ALL Libraries 1. FIG Bulletin Board 2. FIG Real Time Conference 3. FIG Software Library 4. About The RoundTable 5. RoundTable News 880421 6. Take a Survey Enter #,

revious, or elp?BYE <-12 Sign off Thank you for choosing GEnie. Have a nice day! Online: 2 minutes, 40 seconds. <-13 Cost = 23 cents GEnie On 25 Cents/day by Dennis Ruffer Page 8 OFF AT 21:21EDT 05/03/88 <-14 Hang up GEnie On 25 Cents/day by Dennis Ruffer Page 9 REFERENCES 1. General Electric Network for Information Exchange, General Electric, GEnie Services Box 02B-C, 401 N. Washington Street, Rockville, MD 20850, (800) 638-9636 2. Source Telecomputing Corporation, 1616 Anderson Road, McLean, VA 22102, (703) 734-7500 3. CompuServe Information Services, P.O. Box 20212, 5000 Arlington Centre Blvd., Columbus, Ohio 43220, An H&R Block Company, (800) 848-8990 4. Non-prime hours are 6:00pm to 8:00am in whatever time zone you live when you signed up. In other words, if you sign up in Boston, but move to LA, you would be charged non-prime rates from 3:00pm to 5:00am PST. 5. Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc., 5923 Peachtree Industrial Blvd., Norcross, Georgia 30092, (404) 499-8791 6. The BREAK key is set on the SET Terminal features menu. Type SET and follow the prompts to see what your setting is. A zero indicates that your software and modem can send a "true BREAK", which is a unique bit signal that can not be confused for any other character. If your software can not send one (check you software and hardware manuals), you can change it to some other character (03 = Control C). 7. At $5.00/hour and 1200 Baud (which is approximately 120 characters per second): $5.00/hour = 8.333 cents/minute = .13889 cents/second = 1 cent/7.2 seconds = 1 cent/864 characters.