Updated: 31-Mar-87

This is my first attempt at this HELP database.
It could use some work.  I would appreciate comments
and suggestions on how it could be improved (MAIL OPR).

Topics and subtopics may be abbreviated to any unique abbreviation.

Help is available on the following:
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Commands
Peking-ravs
RSTS
Spam
Talk-to-me
The-Question
Below are the possible commands which may
be typed in response to the '@' prompt.
All commands may be abbreviated to 2 characters.
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bboard
bye
files
games
help
info
mail
password
read
systat
username
The BBOARD system is the main bulletin board
database.  I haven't written it yet, or if I have,
I haven't gotten around to updating the HELP file.
It'll be done Real Soon Now.
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The BYE command is used to terminate the session;
it performs some job cleanup, outputs an informational
message showing what job number you were, when you
logged out, and how much CPU and connect time you used,
and hangs up the dataset.

Although Digby can survive being hung up on, he does
not always log you out, which means one more task
running to slow things down even more, so PLEASE type
'BYE' before you hang up!

When you type 'BYE', Digby will ask you to confirm
the command, in case you typed it (or ^Z) by accident.
Type 'Y' to confirm or 'N' to abort.  The confirmation
may be included as part of the command in the form
'BYE Y' or 'BYE/Y'.

Synonym: CTRL/Z
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*** Preliminary background information only ***
The FILES command does not work yet!
It'll be done Real Soon Now.

The FILES command is used to access the file upload/download
system.  The file transfer protocols currently supported
are Kermit and ASCII stream.  XMODEM is not supported
because it sucks bigtime (at least compared to Kermit),
but if enough people whine about it, I may add XMODEM.
MTS has versions of Kermit for most PCs (and a couple
of minis) in 'PC$.', OCS distributes it on the IBM
PC Trinket disk, and V2.29 is in 'E9N3'.
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The GAMES command is used to play games.  Tragically,
all of the games' run files were destroyed last year
when a bad block developed in the GAMES: UFD, and I
haven't gotten around to figuring out what's really
there and what isn't.

GAMES tries to figure out what kind of terminal you
are using by sending a DEC what-are-you (WRU) sequence
to your terminal; if your terminal is not VT100- or
VT52-compatible, you get an abusive message and are
asked to guess your terminal type.  Very few of the
games make any serious attempt to support anything
other than a VT52 or a VT100, other than treating it
as a hardcopy terminal.  GAMES will let you run only
programs which work with the terminal it thinks you're
using; that's why a lot of the games disappear when
you switch from a VT100 to a VT52.

Most of the games were written in BASIC-PLUS at
Concord Academy by various random hackers.

Thanks to the new disk drives (DM0 and DM1), the
games are now back.  Anyone want to buy an RL01
with a trashed spindle?
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Obviously, you have already figured out what the HELP
command does.  You can enter the topic and subtopics
as part of the original command line by typing
'HELP topic subtopic ...'.  In response to any
'Topic?' or 'Subtopic?' prompt, you may enter a
subtopic, several subtopics separated by spaces
(to move through several levels at once), a question
mark ('?') to redisplay the last help frame and
list of subtopics, or just RETURN to back up to
the previous level.  To exit from HELP, type CTRL/Z.
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The INFO command lists a file containing random
information about the system.  It should be self-explanatory.
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The MAIL command is used to send mail to other users.
You can type 'MAIL username' or just 'MAIL' (in which
case you will be prompted for the username).

In response to the 'Subject: ' prompt, you may either
enter a brief comment which will appear in the message's
header, or a blank line for no subject.

If you are logged in anonymously (using a blank username),
mail will prompt you with 'From:' for your name.  This is
just so the recipient will have some clue who sent the
message.  Obviously, you can use a pseudonym or just press
return if you don't want to give your real name.

The message itself consists of an arbitrary number of
lines, ended with an escape or CTRL/Z character.  Blank
lines are OK, you don't need to put spaces in them (MTS
sucks).

A typical dialog with MAIL follows:

@mail
To: Opr
Subject: a good joke
Msg: (end with escape or ^Z)
I hear Digby *might* be getting access to CSnet
mail through the CS VAX.  Is this true?

            J. R. Loser
^Z
Queued: OPR
@
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The PASSWORD command is used to change your password (which
you use to log in).  Its usage should be pretty obvious.
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The READ command displays your mail, if you have any,
and allows you to reply to it.

For obvious reasons, the READ command will not work if you
are logged in anonymously (blank username).

After displaying each message, READ will prompt you with

(A)gain/(R)eply/(N)ext <N>?

The Again command displays the last message again.

The Reply command sends a reply message to the originator
of the current message.  If the originator's account has
been deleted, or if the originator was logged in anonymously,
a message will be issued and you will be prompted for the
recipient's username.  If the current message has a 'Subject'
field, it is used as the subject for the reply; otherwise
you are prompted for the subject.  Otherwise, Reply is just
like MAIL.

The Next command deletes the current message and advances
to the next incoming message, if any.  Next is the default
command, so you can press return instead.

IMPORTANT:
To conserve Digby's rapidly evaporating disk space, mail is
deleted after it has been read once, so pay attention!
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The SYSTAT command is used to show Digby's system status.
It will probably mean nothing to you, but could be mildly
amusing if you know anything about RSTS and want to know
what other users are doing.
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The USERNAME command is used to create a new username.
This is used only for sending and receiving mail, and for
posting messages on the BBOARD system; Digby really
doesn't care whether you have a username or not, so if
you're just here to play games (if you are, you have bad
taste in games, but that's your problem), you don't really
need a username.
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This recipe was downloaded from OZ:<HELP>PEKING-RAVIOLI.HLP.1 on MIT-OZ.

 4-Jun-84 17:00:01-EDT,5255;000000000000
Received: from MIT-MC by MIT-OZ via Chaosnet; 4 Jun 84 16:59-EDT
From: Christopher A Kent <cak@Purdue.ARPA>
Message-Id: <8406041911.AA24396@merlin.ARPA>
Received: by merlin.ARPA; Mon, 4 Jun 84 14:11:54 est
Date:  4 Jun 1984 1411-EST (Monday)
To: michelle@gymble.ARPA (Michelle McElvany)
Cc: bandykin%mit-oz@mit-mc.ARPA, milazzo@CSNET-DEV.ARPA,
        Sjobrg.Bandy%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA, cak@CSNET-DEV.ARPA
Subject: Re: Meal III: The Search for Ravs
In-Reply-To: Your message of Sat, 2 Jun 84 15:58:54 edt.
             <8406021958.AA02866@gymble.ARPA>

The folks on the West Coast call them pot stickers, because they stick
to the pot when you pan-fry them.  They are utterly wonderful.  They're
also not very hard to make!  Here's a recipe that I have had a lot of
luck with:

Chef Chu's Potstickers Recipe

(From "Chef Chu's Distinctive Cuisine of China", p. 185)

"Here's a typical Northern Chines pastry that's well-known and prepared
throughout the world.  Though eaten as a snack in China, I find that
most Americans serve potstickers as an appetizer."

Makes: about 2 dozen	Cooking time: 15 minutes	Prep time: 35 minutes

Dough Ingredients
-----------------
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup water

Filling
-------
.5 lb ground pork
.5 small head Chinese (Napa) cabbage, cored and chopped
1 green onion, coarsely chopped
2 thumb-sized slices fresh ginger, minced
2 water chestnuts, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
.5 teaspoon sugar
Pinch white pepper
1 teaspoon sesame oil

For cooking
-----------
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup water

Sauce
-----
Hot chili oil
Red rice vinegar
Soy Sauce

In a bowl, combine flour and water, mixing to form a ball.  Remove to a
floured board and knead with palm of hand for about 3 minutes.  Shape
into a ball, cover with damp towel, and let stand for about 10 minutes.

To make filling, combine FILLING ingredients well and refrigerate until
ready touse.

To shape and assemble, knead dough for about 3 minutes.  Roll into a
cylinder that is about 1 inch in diameter.  Cut off ends, then cut into
about 24 pieces, each 3/4-inch wide.  With cut side up, press dough down
with palm to flatten.  Roll out with a rolling pin to make pancakes
about 2-1/2 inches in diameter.

Spoon 1 tablespoon filling into center of each pancake.  Fold dough over
to make half circle and pleat edges firmly together.

To pan-fry, heat cast-iron or other heavy-bottom skillet over moderate
heat.  Add 3 tablespoons oil swirling to coat bottom.  When oil is hot,
place potstickers, seam side up, in skillet and agitate (shake) for 30
seconds.  Pour in water, cover, and gently boil over moderate heat for 7
to 8 minutes.  When oil and water start to sizzle, add remaining 2
tablespoons oil.  Tip skillet to distribute oil evenly; watch carefully
(uncovered) to prevent sticking.  When bottoms are brown, remove from
heat and carefully lift out potstickers with spatula.

To serve, turn potstickers over (dark side up) and arrange on serving
platter.  Combine chili oil, vinegar, and soy sauce in proportions to
suit your taste and offer sauce for dipping.

-- Notes --

1. You can freeze uncooked potstickers for later use, but remember to
squeeze out the water from cabbage during preparation (in a colander or
cheesecloth).  Freeze potstickers separately on cookie sheets until
firm, then put them in plastic bags.

2. When rolling out the pancakes, leave the centers slightly thicker
than the edges.  A thicker center will hold up better during the browning.

3. If you prefer, steam potstickers for about 12 minutes over boiling
water instead of pan-frying.

-- cak's comments --

These are really not hard to make, and come out quite nicely!  Following
the dough recipe above leads to a fairly dry and floury dough; this
makes it hard to roll out and pleat.  Feel free to add a little more
water.

There is no way that a tablespoon of filling fits into a 2-1/2 inch
pancake; four inches is more like it.  This makes the pancakes quite
thin, but that's what you want, anyway.

The first time I cooked these, I was really surprised by the reaction
when I added the water to the oil; it sizzles quite a bit.  This is, of
course, to be expected, but I didn't realize it until after I had been
startled by it.
I haven't been able to get my potstickers to come out uniformly brown
with a thick brown area on the bottom, the way Cho's does, but I'm
getting there.  I tend to fry both sides a bit before adding the water;
this helps. Beware of too much heat; the bottom will bubble and crack.
This doesn't taste any different, but doesn't look as nice.  I find that
several minutes usually elapse after adding the last oil; the recipe
reads as if you might have to remove the things almost immediately.

If you don't cook the whole batch at once, try to store the potstickers
so that they don't touch; the dough tends to stick to itself, so the
potstickers may tear as you remove them.

I didn't have much luck with the suggested sauce recipe; I usually take
a hot chile pepper and cut it up into white vinegar (I haven't bought
the red rice vinegar yet -- that might be better).  This approximates
the sauce I'm used to.

-- Digby's comments --

Ground pork is available at the Arrow Cash Market on 15th street.
You can get pretty much everything else at Chopper.  As far as we
can tell, when they say 'thumb-sized slice of ginger', they mean
a small slice the *diameter* of your thumb, not a hunk the *size*
of your thumb - that's definitely too much!
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Digby is a PDP-11/34a running under RSTS/E V7.0-07.  He
can supposedly support 16 users at once, although they
had better not be in any hurry.  Even so, he is at least
somewhat useful as a general computer, not just a BBS,
and I like to get as many random people using him as
possible because being the System Manager for an active
system gives me a nice ego boost.  If you are interested
in getting a regular RSTS timesharing account, talk to me
(MAIL OPR).
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Chopped pork shoulder meat with ham meat added and salt,
water, sugar, sodium nitrite.
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When I say "talk to me", I mean either

1. type 'MAIL OPR'
 or
2. call 271-7193 and ask for John

I just thought I should clarify that.
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The answer to The Question is, "man, if you gotta ask, you'll never know."
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