IBM, HONEYWELL OCTAL CODES TO UNIX PROBLEM

[Charles F. Ashley]

PROBLEM : UNISYS 5000/80 INTERFACING WITH IBM/HONEYWELL.

Here's a challenge to the UNIX professionals. My agency has hit a
programming snag in rewriting our programs from the HONEYWELL to
the Army's UNISYS 5000. On this side of the ocean, we are baffled
as to a solution:

Problem Definition:

THE PROBLEM OCCURS WHEN UPLOADING OR DOWNLOADING VARIABLE-LENGHT RECORD
FORMATS USING 9 TRACK MAGNETIC TAPES. THE IBM AND HONEYWELL USE A FOUR-BYTE
RECORD CONTROL WORD (RCW) THAT SUPPLIES THE LENGHT OF THE RECORD AND A
FOUR-BYTE BLOCK CONTROL WORD (BCW). IN SHORT, UNISYS READS BOTH BCW AND RCW
AS THEIR ACTUAL OCTAL REPRESENTATION CAUSING THE TAPE TO APPEAR AS ONE
CONTINUOUS HUGE RECORD WITHOUT INDIVIDUAL RECORDS.

Question: HOW CAN AN IBM OR HONEYWELL RECORD WITH OCTAL CODES BE READ INTO
THE UNISYS 5000 SYSTEM? LISTED BELOW ARE BOTH UNBLOCKED AND BLOCKED
PICTORIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE RECORDS FORMAT.

EXAMPLE 1:
UNBLOCKED RECORDS +-----------------------------------------+
                  | BCW | RCW | RECORD | BCW | RCW | RECORD |
                  |  4  |  4  |  300   |  4  |  4  |   200  |
                  | 308 | 304 |record 1| 208 | 204 |record 2|
                  +-----------------------------------------+
THE RCW CONTAINS THE LENGHT OF THE RECORD PLUS ITS OWN LENGHT OF 4.
THE BCW CONTAIN THE LENGHT OF THE RCW PLUS ITS OWN LENGHT OF 4.

EXAMPLE 2:
BLOCKED RECORDS   +--------------------------------------------------+
                  | BCW | RCW | RECORD | RCW | RECORD | RCW | RECORD |
                  |  4  |  4  |  300   |  4  |  200   |  4  |  250   |
                  | 766 | 304 |record 1| 204 |record 2| 254 |record 3|
                  +--------------------------------------------------+

THE RCW CONTAINS THE LENGHT OF THE RECORD PLUS ITS OWN LENGHT OF 4. THE
BCW CONTAINS THE TOTAL LENGHT OF THE RCWS AND RECORDS PLUS ITS OWN
LENGHT OF 4.

THESE 4-BYTE WORDS (BCW OR RCW) ARE USUALLY IN THE OCTAL FORM. OUR COBOL
COMPILER (FAST/PHILON) DOES NOT SUPPORT 9 TRACK (OR IS NOT DOCUMENTED) AND I
HAVE FOUND NO OTHER SYSTEM UTILITY TO DUPLICATE THIS. I NEED YOUR
HELP / ASSISTANT / GUIDANCE.

If possible send replies both to the bboard and logsams. Time for us is short. 

Charley F. ?Ashley, US ARMY
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