CSL Introduction

History of INTEREX and the CSL

The Contributed-Software Library (CSL) contains an accumulation of software contributed to INTEREX since at least 1971, many years before the marketing of the HP3000 series III or the formation of INTEREX. In 1990, INTEREX produced its first volume of 81 user-contributed programs for the MPE XL operating system.

Each year since at least 1971, INTEREX (known then as the Contributed Software Center; followed by Hewlett-Packard General Systems User Group, or HPGSUG; followed by the Hewlett-Packard International User Group, or HPIUG) distributed a tape of software, first for the HP2000 and then for the HP3000, collected from users of Hewlett-Packard computers.

At first the user group now known as INTEREX was part of Hewlett-Packard, and was handled by Hewlett-Packard employees. In 1975, the user group separated from Hewlett-Packard control and became independent. From 1977 until 1982, the software library was in the hands of students at Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington. After this, INTEREX had offices in Los Altos and Sunnyvale, California.

The 1982 release, cumulative for some time, became so large that the KSTORE tape compression being used by Whitman College in making the library release filled the entire tape. The cumulative library format reached an early end. That library release, renamed to Rel. 1982, but known then as Release 09, contains 696 contributions and remained the largest release INTEREX produced until a LaserRelease CD was produced in September 1989 containing all library releases prior to 1989.

For many years after Rel. 1982, a group of programs repeated every year on each library release. That group, known as the CSL3000 account, was repeated because the library staff wanted to be sure each library release had some known-good programs. The new material was placed in accounts such as INTX1 and INTX2. The tape was now written using MPE STORE format, not KSTORE, but the size of the library release meant that the files needed to be compressed to fit.

Starting in 1988, only new or enhanced material was placed on the library release. Also in 1988, a best-of tape (a 1200' tape containing a collection of programs members had voted for in 1987), was sent to all site members.

New library for MPE XL:

When Rel. 1989 (Release F0) was distributed, the letter enclosed with the tape was notification that the library release was to split into two separate library releases, Rel. 1990 and 1990XL, the following year, allowing the choice of which library release to receive. Having two releases became essential: the MPE XL account was growing too large to coexist with the MPE account on the same 1600 bpi 2400' reel. With many of our members still needing 1600 bpi, INTEREX could not afford sending two reels; and INTEREX needed to protect users from the programs that could potentially cause damage to the operating system they were not designed for.

The current releases:

Only the material gathered during the previous year --- from any of the conference swap tapes or sent directly into the INTEREX office --- is included in the CSL3000 and CSLXL accounts on the current releases. The best-of tape has been replaced with a pick-ten, or custom, tape, whose order form is included in the forms section. Members are encouraged to look through the entire list of software and choose those programs they want but do not yet have, and either request them to be sent on magnetic tape, or transfer them electronically using INTEREX's dial-in service. Many prefer to just purchase past library releases (call INTEREX for details). Also available is the ALLCSL/DAT tape, containing the complete MPE/CSL. At the present, these are the only ways INTEREX has of allowing access to the complete library, but in the future, this may again change to a complete annual library distribution.

The past releases were named in an alphanumeric sequence that was not based on the year. Starting in 1990 the releases are named according to the year.

The listings:

The index menu provides for printing a guide for new users of the library, giving more history of the user's group, and additional insights in using the library, so the introduction stops here. Immediately following are short descriptions of the current release, followed by a large section detailing the entries for this current library release. Then following is the complete CSL/MPE listing sorted by name, and another complete listing sorted by name within keyword. More information about the CSL follows the listings, including examples of the library utilities, forms for entry submissions, bug reports and others.