ICL 1900 Series George 3 Operating System Commands

REPERTOIRE (RR)

Function

Allows a central operator either to specify, or to discover the current specification of, the effective print width or stationary page length of a central printer. For a train printer it can also specify or discover the current specification of the character set.

Format

REPERTOIRE peripheral description, CHARSETnumber, WIDTHnumber, LENGTHnumber

The peripheral description is mandatory, and must refer to a central printer. The other three parameters are all optional, and may be abbreviated to CH, WI and LE respectively. The parameters may appear in any order.

CHARSETnumber can only be specified for a train printer; it defines the character set to be assumed by GEORGE in preparing output for the printer. number may be 48, 64, 96 or null, which is taken as 64.

WIDTHnumber defines the effective width in print positions to be assumed by GEORGE. Long records will be dealt with as usual, and headings which cannot fit into the effective width will be truncated. number may be in the range from 20 up to the number of hardware print positions assumed by EXECutive for the relevant printer; if number is null the upper limit is assumed.

LENGTHnumber defines the effective stationary page length to be assumed by GEORGE when dealing with restarts governed by the PAGES command. number may be in the range 20 to 4095, and if null is taken as 65.

Forbidden contexts

NOT OPERATOR, REMOTE

Execution

  1. The peripheral description parameter is the only parameter; in this case the command is treated as an interrogatory and the following messages output, in the order given to the central operator's console:

        UNIT peripheral description: number CHARACTER SET ASSUMED
        (The above message is only output if the peripheral is a train printer

        UNIT peripheral description: number LINE PAGELENGTH ASSUMED

        UNIT peripheral description: numberPRINT POSITION WIDTH ASSUMED

  2. At least one valid optional parameter was specified; in this case the effect of the command is to inform the system that the printer referenced should be actioned by the off-line listing routines according to the value of the parameter specified. A message from the set defined above is output if, and only if, the particular parameter concerned is specified.

The interrogatory form of the command may be issued in any situation; the imperative form will only be accepted if the printer concerned is free, or is waiting for a change of property attribution.

Examples

REPERTOIRE 14, CH48, LENGTH244, WI59 Informs GEORGE that a 48-character set cartridge is loaded on unit 14. For this printer, the off-line listing routines will assume that the stationary page length is 244 lines, and the print width is 59 print positions
REPERTOIRE LE,15 For unit 15, resets the page length to the default of 65 lines
REPERTOIRE 12 Interrogatory form of the command; results in GEORGE informing the operator what character set (if a train printer), print width and page length is assumed for unit 12

Notes

  1. The default setting of printer character set, width and length are initialised at Early Morning Start.

  2. It is advisable to ATTRIBUTE an exclusive property to a train printer with a reduced (48 character) set, to ensure that only files requiring the reduced set will be output on such a device.

Error Messages

PERIPHERAL DESCRIPTION PARAMETER MISSING
NO PARAMETERS
UNIT n IS NOT A CENTRAL PRINTER
UNIT n IS NOT A TRAIN PRINTER
ILLEGAL CHARACTER SET
UNIT n NOT IN REQUIRED STATE
SPECIFIED VALUE TOO SMALL
SPECIFIED VALUE TOO LARGE
SPECIFIED VALUE EXCEEDS PRINTER CAPABILITY