Date   : Wed, 21 Mar 1984 20:01:00-PST
From   : ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA
Subject: AUTODIN Protocols

NetLandians,

Hokay, this is a good one (and I can hear screams of anguish from anyone
connected with Army Communications Command and higher/related echelons)..

I have a real and valid requirement to construct LEGAL and COMPLETE AUTODIN
headers and message/text formatting on a micro -- namely a (ugh, yeccchhh)
Apple II running Pascal.

I'm looking at Mode 1, teletype protocols.  If you all aren't familiar with
AUTODIN (the world-wide Defense Department communications net), forget you
ever heard of it!

This is gonna be a kind of toughie, since the protocols are VERY demanding
and strict, and the whole idea is one of those "Sacred Cows" you mustn't
consider without a multi-megabuck project and 10 years in the making...

But I'm gonna do it anyway.  Would like pointers to software (Pascal, BASIC
(any dialect), C (hooo boy, just starting in C), 8080/Z80 assembler (my
favorite, but would have to translate), even (bleaugh) 6502 assembler.

Cobol?  Naw, please, anything but Cobol!

Any ideas at all (beside a probably justly deserved "Forget it!") would
be sincerely appreciated.  I know the format, just hope I can find the
code to simplify the construction of the bloody thing.  I can do it either
from operator prompting, a menu, or parsing strings of text -- but maximum
automation of repetitious stuff.

Regards, and thanks in advance.
David Kirschbaum
Toad Hall
ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID