Date   : Fri, 03 Aug 1984 06:52:00 MDT (Fri)
From   : Richard Conn <RCONN@Simtel20.ARPA>
Subject: ZCPR3 Utilities

       I have been receiving some reports recently stating that
people are reassembling the utilities rather than simply installing
them.  To date, I know of only one utility for which this is necessary
-- ZEX.  Problems have been reported with ALIAS and LDR in this
regard, and I have verified that this is unnecessary with LDR and I
have not checked ALIAS yet.

       Each ZCPR3 utility contains a pointer to the ZCPR3 Environment
Descriptor, and this pointer is the ONLY system-dependent part of the
utility.  To prove the point, I edited my Z3BASE.LIB file, changing
every value therein, and reassembled LDR.  Upon running DIFF, only one
byte was different -- the value of the pointer to the Environment
Descriptor.  It is this pointer that is altered when Z3INS is run.
Note that Z3INS has to be run on EVERY utility in order for it to be
installed.  If you think you have found a utility which this is not
the case for (ie, you have to reassemble it in order to get it to
work), then run my little test.  Assemble it with two different
Z3BASE.LIB files and compare the two resulting COM files.  If they are
different in any place other than the pointer at locations 109H and
10AH (from org 100H), please let me know.  This rule, of course, does
not apply to ZEX and you may find two pointers in ALIAS -- I will be
checking ALIAS this weekend.

       I have yet to duplicate Ted's reported problem with LDR,
having installed ZCPR3 six times so far with two different Environment
Descriptor locations.  Am working with Ted to see if the problem shows
itself to me.  Until then, I'll assume that the problem is not in LDR
but in his SYS.ENV or some other place.

       Frank Gaude has reported that ZCPR3 is now installed on over
60 different types of systems with, supposedly, 60 different
configurations.  In providing support, he has noted that most of the
questions from the people trying to install the system were already
answered in the Installation Manual.  You just had to find the
answers, and people were evidently a little overwhelmed by the size of
the manual and didn't read the whole thing before trying to install
the system.   May I recommend that the installers be sure to read the
manual over at least once before making the attempt?  This could save
you a lot of frustration in the long run.  Now that the autoinstall
Z3-dot-com is running in beta test satisfactorily (so I am told), it
should not be long before anyone can install ZCPR3 on whatever system
they may have.  Under Z3-dot-com, the installation procedure is
drastically simplified.  I should be able to review it soon (in a week
or so).

       I have seen four ZCPR3 newsletters so far from Echelon.  They
are coming out every two weeks now.  The last two addressed and
clarified several installation questions.  Frank has offered to send
me copies on disk so I can put them on SIMTEL20 for you to see.  I'm
not sure if I'll be doing this for many newsletters, so if you are
really interested in keeping up with Echelon, you might want to
subscribe.  If you purchased your ZCPR3 from Echelon, you are
automatically on the list.

       The book, which is going to the publishers on Monday for final
edit, will have a whole package on installation, and I am including
more than the original installation manual had.

       More later.

               Rick