Learning MPE/iX

Tools/articles to help learn about MPE/iX and the HP 3000:

  1. On-line HELP (contributed by Wirt Atmar)
    HP 3000 on-line help is surprisingly good. In fact, you may not need anything
    else. Sign on to any account that you can and then type:

       :HELP

    and then type:

       >HELPSTUDY

    and when finished with that, type:

       >CLASS

    to review the HP 3000’s command, grouped by class.

     

  2. On-line POSIX training
    There is an on-line tutorial covering the Hierarchical File System (and some
    related POSIX topics:

       :XEQ POSIXCBT.LSN.SYS
  3. POSIX Help
    When in the POSIX shell, you can type

       $man posixcmd

    (of course, replace “posixcmd” with the name of the command you want help on)
    to get help on POSIX commands. You may need to set the MANPATH environment
    variable to something like

       $export MANPATH="/usr/man:/usr/contrib/man:/usr/local/man"

    From the MPE CI (the “:” prompt), you should be able to get help via

       :setvar TERM="hp2392a"
       :man posixcmd

    (If “HPBIN.SYS” isn’t in your path, try “:man.hpbin.sys posixcmd”).
    There is also a “HELP.HPBIN.SYS” command, which you can use by typing
    something like

       : xeq help.hpbin.sys posixcmd

    (It looks in /usr/man/man1/command.1, then in /etc/helpfile, and finally in
    $HELP/helpfile.)

     

  4. Manuals
    The MPE reference manuals are available on CD, and via the web.
    If you want to use the CD’s, make sure you have both the MPE/ix 5.5 and the
    MPE/iX 6.0 (or 6.5, 7.0 or 7.5) CD’s. Not all manuals have been converted to
    the new format yet, so you may need to search both.
    On the web, point you browser at www.docs.hp.com
    Just like the CD’s, make sure to check both the 5.5 and 6.0/6.5/7.0/7.5 manuals.
    There are a bunch of “Getting Started” manuals on the CD’s, including

     

    • Getting Started as an MPE/iX Programmer
    • Getting Startd with HP IMAGE/SQL
    • Performing System Management Tasks
    • Performing System Operations Tasks
    • Using the 900 Series HP 3000: Fundamental Skills (8 modules)
    • Using the 900 Series HP 3000: Advanced Skills (8 modules)

     

  5. The SMUG Book
    An excellent collection of papers on many topics is the “SMUG Book”, from
    Robelle Solutions Technology, at

    www.robelle.com/library/smugbook

     

  6. HP Training
    Visit the HP IT Resource Center
    to find out about on-line seminars, self-paced web-based training,
    and classroom courses.

     

  7. On-line “libraries”
    There are a lot of sites with collections of excellent papers and tutorials on
    various HP 3000 topics. Here is a list:

     

     

  8. Email lists 
    • HP 3000-L (echoed to the newsgroup comp.sys.hp.mpe)
      To subscribe, send a message to LISTSERV@RAVEN.UTC.EDU
      with a body of

         subscribe HP 3000-l Your Full Name

      To post, write to: HP 3000-L@RAVEN.UTC.EDU
      Web-based access to HP 3000-L is available in the following locations:

       

     

  9. Books 
    • Beyond RISC!
    • The IMAGE Handbook
    • The IMAGE Textbook
    • The Legacy Continues
      by Mike Yawn, George Stachnik, Perry Sellars
    • Thoughts and Discourses on HP 3000 Software (4 editions)
      by Eugene Volokh
    • Taming the HP 3000
      by Robert A. Lund