Updated: 31-Mar-87 This is my first attempt at this HELP database. It could use some work. I would appreciate comments and suggestions on how it could be improved (MAIL OPR). Topics and subtopics may be abbreviated to any unique abbreviation. Help is available on the following: CommandsPeking-ravsRSTSSpamTalk-to-meThe-QuestionBelow are the possible commands which may be typed in response to the '@' prompt. All commands may be abbreviated to 2 characters. bboardbyefilesgameshelpinfomailpasswordreadsystatusernameThe BBOARD system is the main bulletin board database. I haven't written it yet, or if I have, I haven't gotten around to updating the HELP file. It'll be done Real Soon Now. The BYE command is used to terminate the session; it performs some job cleanup, outputs an informational message showing what job number you were, when you logged out, and how much CPU and connect time you used, and hangs up the dataset. Although Digby can survive being hung up on, he does not always log you out, which means one more task running to slow things down even more, so PLEASE type 'BYE' before you hang up! When you type 'BYE', Digby will ask you to confirm the command, in case you typed it (or ^Z) by accident. Type 'Y' to confirm or 'N' to abort. The confirmation may be included as part of the command in the form 'BYE Y' or 'BYE/Y'. Synonym: CTRL/Z *** Preliminary background information only *** The FILES command does not work yet! It'll be done Real Soon Now. The FILES command is used to access the file upload/download system. The file transfer protocols currently supported are Kermit and ASCII stream. XMODEM is not supported because it sucks bigtime (at least compared to Kermit), but if enough people whine about it, I may add XMODEM. MTS has versions of Kermit for most PCs (and a couple of minis) in 'PC$.', OCS distributes it on the IBM PC Trinket disk, and V2.29 is in 'E9N3'. The GAMES command is used to play games. Tragically, all of the games' run files were destroyed last year when a bad block developed in the GAMES: UFD, and I haven't gotten around to figuring out what's really there and what isn't. GAMES tries to figure out what kind of terminal you are using by sending a DEC what-are-you (WRU) sequence to your terminal; if your terminal is not VT100- or VT52-compatible, you get an abusive message and are asked to guess your terminal type. Very few of the games make any serious attempt to support anything other than a VT52 or a VT100, other than treating it as a hardcopy terminal. GAMES will let you run only programs which work with the terminal it thinks you're using; that's why a lot of the games disappear when you switch from a VT100 to a VT52. Most of the games were written in BASIC-PLUS at Concord Academy by various random hackers. Thanks to the new disk drives (DM0 and DM1), the games are now back. Anyone want to buy an RL01 with a trashed spindle? Obviously, you have already figured out what the HELP command does. You can enter the topic and subtopics as part of the original command line by typing 'HELP topic subtopic ...'. In response to any 'Topic?' or 'Subtopic?' prompt, you may enter a subtopic, several subtopics separated by spaces (to move through several levels at once), a question mark ('?') to redisplay the last help frame and list of subtopics, or just RETURN to back up to the previous level. To exit from HELP, type CTRL/Z. The INFO command lists a file containing random information about the system. It should be self-explanatory. The MAIL command is used to send mail to other users. You can type 'MAIL username' or just 'MAIL' (in which case you will be prompted for the username). In response to the 'Subject: ' prompt, you may either enter a brief comment which will appear in the message's header, or a blank line for no subject. If you are logged in anonymously (using a blank username), mail will prompt you with 'From:' for your name. This is just so the recipient will have some clue who sent the message. Obviously, you can use a pseudonym or just press return if you don't want to give your real name. The message itself consists of an arbitrary number of lines, ended with an escape or CTRL/Z character. Blank lines are OK, you don't need to put spaces in them (MTS sucks). A typical dialog with MAIL follows: @mail To: Opr Subject: a good joke Msg: (end with escape or ^Z) I hear Digby *might* be getting access to CSnet mail through the CS VAX. Is this true? J. R. Loser ^Z Queued: OPR @ The PASSWORD command is used to change your password (which you use to log in). Its usage should be pretty obvious. The READ command displays your mail, if you have any, and allows you to reply to it. For obvious reasons, the READ command will not work if you are logged in anonymously (blank username). After displaying each message, READ will prompt you with (A)gain/(R)eply/(N)ext ? The Again command displays the last message again. The Reply command sends a reply message to the originator of the current message. If the originator's account has been deleted, or if the originator was logged in anonymously, a message will be issued and you will be prompted for the recipient's username. If the current message has a 'Subject' field, it is used as the subject for the reply; otherwise you are prompted for the subject. Otherwise, Reply is just like MAIL. The Next command deletes the current message and advances to the next incoming message, if any. Next is the default command, so you can press return instead. IMPORTANT: To conserve Digby's rapidly evaporating disk space, mail is deleted after it has been read once, so pay attention! The SYSTAT command is used to show Digby's system status. It will probably mean nothing to you, but could be mildly amusing if you know anything about RSTS and want to know what other users are doing. The USERNAME command is used to create a new username. This is used only for sending and receiving mail, and for posting messages on the BBOARD system; Digby really doesn't care whether you have a username or not, so if you're just here to play games (if you are, you have bad taste in games, but that's your problem), you don't really need a username. This recipe was downloaded from OZ:PEKING-RAVIOLI.HLP.1 on MIT-OZ. 4-Jun-84 17:00:01-EDT,5255;000000000000 Received: from MIT-MC by MIT-OZ via Chaosnet; 4 Jun 84 16:59-EDT From: Christopher A Kent Message-Id: <8406041911.AA24396@merlin.ARPA> Received: by merlin.ARPA; Mon, 4 Jun 84 14:11:54 est Date: 4 Jun 1984 1411-EST (Monday) To: michelle@gymble.ARPA (Michelle McElvany) Cc: bandykin%mit-oz@mit-mc.ARPA, milazzo@CSNET-DEV.ARPA, Sjobrg.Bandy%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA, cak@CSNET-DEV.ARPA Subject: Re: Meal III: The Search for Ravs In-Reply-To: Your message of Sat, 2 Jun 84 15:58:54 edt. <8406021958.AA02866@gymble.ARPA> The folks on the West Coast call them pot stickers, because they stick to the pot when you pan-fry them. They are utterly wonderful. They're also not very hard to make! Here's a recipe that I have had a lot of luck with: Chef Chu's Potstickers Recipe (From "Chef Chu's Distinctive Cuisine of China", p. 185) "Here's a typical Northern Chines pastry that's well-known and prepared throughout the world. Though eaten as a snack in China, I find that most Americans serve potstickers as an appetizer." Makes: about 2 dozen Cooking time: 15 minutes Prep time: 35 minutes Dough Ingredients ----------------- 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup water Filling ------- .5 lb ground pork .5 small head Chinese (Napa) cabbage, cored and chopped 1 green onion, coarsely chopped 2 thumb-sized slices fresh ginger, minced 2 water chestnuts, chopped 1 teaspoon salt .5 teaspoon sugar Pinch white pepper 1 teaspoon sesame oil For cooking ----------- 5 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 cup water Sauce ----- Hot chili oil Red rice vinegar Soy Sauce In a bowl, combine flour and water, mixing to form a ball. Remove to a floured board and knead with palm of hand for about 3 minutes. Shape into a ball, cover with damp towel, and let stand for about 10 minutes. To make filling, combine FILLING ingredients well and refrigerate until ready touse. To shape and assemble, knead dough for about 3 minutes. Roll into a cylinder that is about 1 inch in diameter. Cut off ends, then cut into about 24 pieces, each 3/4-inch wide. With cut side up, press dough down with palm to flatten. Roll out with a rolling pin to make pancakes about 2-1/2 inches in diameter. Spoon 1 tablespoon filling into center of each pancake. Fold dough over to make half circle and pleat edges firmly together. To pan-fry, heat cast-iron or other heavy-bottom skillet over moderate heat. Add 3 tablespoons oil swirling to coat bottom. When oil is hot, place potstickers, seam side up, in skillet and agitate (shake) for 30 seconds. Pour in water, cover, and gently boil over moderate heat for 7 to 8 minutes. When oil and water start to sizzle, add remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Tip skillet to distribute oil evenly; watch carefully (uncovered) to prevent sticking. When bottoms are brown, remove from heat and carefully lift out potstickers with spatula. To serve, turn potstickers over (dark side up) and arrange on serving platter. Combine chili oil, vinegar, and soy sauce in proportions to suit your taste and offer sauce for dipping. -- Notes -- 1. You can freeze uncooked potstickers for later use, but remember to squeeze out the water from cabbage during preparation (in a colander or cheesecloth). Freeze potstickers separately on cookie sheets until firm, then put them in plastic bags. 2. When rolling out the pancakes, leave the centers slightly thicker than the edges. A thicker center will hold up better during the browning. 3. If you prefer, steam potstickers for about 12 minutes over boiling water instead of pan-frying. -- cak's coaments -! These are really not hard to make, and come out quite nicely! Following the dough recipe above leads to a fairly dry and floury dough; this makes it hard to roll out and pleat. Feel free to add a little more water. There is no way that a tablespoon of filling fits into a 2-1/2 inch pancake; four inches is more like it. This makes the pancakes quite thin, but that's what you want, anyway. The first time I cooked these, I was really surprised by the reaction when I added the water to the oil; it sizzles quite a bit. This is, of course, to be expected, but I didn't realize it until after I had been startled by it. I haven't been able to get my potstickers to come out uniformly brown with a thick brown area on the bottom, the way Cho's does, but I'm getting there. I tend to fry both sides a bit before adding the water; this helps. Beware of too much heat; the bottom will bubble and crack. This doesn't taste any different, but doesn't look as nice. I find that several minutes usually elapse after adding the last oil; the recipe reads as if you might have to remove the things almost immediately. If you don't cook the whole batch at once, try to store the potstickers so that they don't touch; the dough tends to stick to itself, so the potstickers may tear as you remove them. I didn't have much luck with the suggested sauce recipe; I usually take a hot chile pepper and cut it up into white vinegar (I haven't bought the red rice vinegar yet -- that might be better). This approximates the sauce I'm used to. -- Digby's comments -- Ground pork is available at the Arrow Cash Market on 15th street. You can get pretty much everything else at Chopper. As far as we can tell, when they say 'thumb-sized slice of ginger', they mean a small slice the *diameter* of your thumb, not a hunk the *size* of your thumb - that's definitely too much! Digby is a PDP-11/34a running under RSTS/E V7.0-07. He can supposedly support 16 users at once, although they had better not be in any hurry. Even so, he is at least somewhat useful as a general computer, not just a BBS, and I like to get as many random people using him as possible because being the System Manager for an active system gives me a nice ego boost. If you are interested in getting a regular RSTS timesharing account, talk to me (MAIL OPR). Chopped pork shoulder meat with ham meat added and salt, water, sugar, sodium nitrite. When I say "talk to me", I mean either 1. type 'MAIL OPR' or 2. call 271-7193 and ask for John I just thought I should clarify that. The answer to The Question is, "man, if you gotta ask, you'll never know."