From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!npois!ucbvax!info-vax
Newsgroups: fa.info-vax
Title: Re: VMS-Unix tape exchange
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.7245
Posted: Tue May 18 20:01:10 1982
Received: Thu May 20 02:05:12 1982

>From RWK@SCRC-TENEX@MIT-AI Tue May 18 19:53:09 1982

    Date: Tuesday, 18 May 1982 14:56-PDT
    From: greep at RAND-UNIX
    I'm not sure what you mean by "the obvious thing".  Unix text files are
    stored with line-feeds but no carriage-returns.  I have a very simple
    program which adds carriage returns which I will be glad to send you if
    you want.  Its output can be directed right to /dev/mt0, or you can
    pipe it through dd if you want to select the tape block size.

    Going the other way, carriage returns can be deleted with the tr
    program.

I'm confused.  What's wrong with just writing an ANSI standard format
tape?  Software exists for reading and writing ANSI standard format
tapes from UNIX.  Then your tapes can be read on VMS, TOPS20 (software
for ANSI tapes exists at MIT (ANSIWRITE & ANSIREAD on XX, complete with
HELP file), Multics, IBM, etc.).  I will carefully abstain from flaming
about how Unix has historically been oblivious to how the rest of the
world communicates.

If the software to handle ANSI tapes isn't on your Unix, I'll ask around
to find it.  A copy was sent to Fateman at Berkeley to facilitate
shipping MACSYMA sources from MIT to Berkeley.  If it didn't make it
into 4.1 BSD there's no good reason for it.