News about NAPLPS North American Presentation-Level-Protocol Syntax ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Newsgroups: comp.protocols.misc,news.groups,comp.terminals,comp.protocols.iso,comp.bbs.misc,comp.graphics Followup-To: comp.protocols.misc Message-ID: References: Organization: University of Tennessee, Knoxville--Dept. of Computer Science Date: 28 Aug 1992 02:35:31 GMT Keywords: NAPLPS Summary: BYTE ran a series of articles in 1983 From: shuford%cs.utk.edu (Richard Shuford) Subject: Re: looking for NAPLPS discussion In article , Michael Dillon asked where to find information on NAPLPS, as used in Prodigy, ALEX, and Telidon. Back in 1983, BYTE magazine ran a series of four articles about NAPLPS, the "North American Presentation-Level Protocol Syntax", a protocol developed for encoding videotext graphics. The first article was "NAPLPS: A New Standard for Text and Graphics, Part 1: Introduction, History, and Structure" by Jim Fleming and William Frezza. BYTE, volume 8, number 2, February 1983, pp. 203-254. The articles presented a large amount of detail about how NAPLPS works and how it may be used; the series of articles continued in the March, April, and May 1983 issues of BYTE. NAPLPS, pronounced like "nap-lips", fits in at approximately level 6 of the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) reference model, but it bears only slight resemblance to the ASN.1 (Abstract Syntax Notation 1) and BER (Basic Encoding Rules) that constitute the official OSI level 6. NAPLPS defines a methodology of representing graphics primitives within a 7- or 8-bit code set built around the model of ASCII. (If you are fully OSIfied, you may prefer to say "built around the model of International Alphabet number 5".) (Devotees of computer-industry history will note that the cover of the February 1983 issue of BYTE featured a newly announced computer system which promised to change the way people used computers--the Apple Lisa. And I happen to think that the editorial on page 6 was well written. :-) -- ....Richard S. Shuford | "When the righteous triumph, there is great elation; ....shuford%cs.utk.edu | but when the wicked rise to power, men go into ....BIX: richard | hiding." Proverbs 28:12 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Newsgroups: comp.protocols.misc,news.groups,comp.terminals,comp.protocols.iso,comp.bbs.misc,comp.graphics Message-Id: <9209140341.AA24634@netcom.netcom.com> In-Reply-To: References: Organization: Netcom--posted from Andover, Mass. Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 20:41:26 PDT To: shuford%cs.utk.edu From: vancleef%netcom.com (Henry van Cleef) Subject: Re: looking for NAPLPS discussion The real tout for naplps graphics is Dave Hughes who runs oldcolo [BBS] in Col. Sprints (see the nixpub listing). The old ATT7300/UnixPC comes with GSS software which is naplps. It is also the sofware that Prodigy uses for their graphics. -- Hank van Cleef---The Union Institute---History of Science and Technology Unix, X11, networked systems vancleef@netcom.com, vancleef@tmn.com .............................................................................. UUCP Map entry for site "oldcolo" as of December A.D. 1992 #N oldcolo #S SVC 386, SCO XENIX SYS V 2.2.3 #O Old Colorado City Communications #C David Hughes #E oldcolo!dave #T 1 719 632 4848 #L 38 55 N / 104 50 W #R Conferencing, Foxbase Data Base, Naplps Graphics, Packet Radio #W oldcolo!dave (Dave Hughes); Thu Mar 7 15:00:00 MST 1991 #U csn.org hp-lsd bigsky spacenet # oldcolo csn.org(DAILY), hp-lsd(DAILY), bigsky(DAILY), spacenet(DEMAND) ------------------ It is possible that queries may be sent from SMTP Internet mail to this address: oldcolo!dave@csn.org There is some chance that you may be able to contact Mr. Hughes by sending to hughes%nerus.pfc.mit.edu ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Newsgroups: comp.archives.msdos.announce Path: cs.utk.edu!darwin.sura.net!haven.umd.edu!uunet!tacom-emh1.army.mil!msdos-ann-request Message-ID: <9305120811.kp11521@tacom-emh1.army.mil> Organization: The SIMTEL20 Archives Followup-To: comp.archives.msdos.d Summary: Reposted by Keith Petersen Sender: msdos-ann-request@tacom-emh1.army.mil Approved: w8sdz@tacom-emh1.army.mil Date: Wed, 12 May 1993 08:11:29 GMT From: mpdillon@halcyon.halcyon.com (Michael Dillon) Subject: SHOWPLP.ZIP - Add NAPLPS support to any BBS program I have uploaded to WSMR-SIMTEL20.Army.Mil and OAK.Oakland.Edu: pd1: SHOWPLP.ZIP Add NAPLPS support to any BBS program SHOWPLP is a program which follows a plain text script and transmits NAPLPS graphics files to a BBS user's terminal program. This door program can be used to add NAPLPS support to any BBS such as Maximus and Remote Access. The caller must be using a NAPLPS capable terminal program such as PP3 or Turmodem to see the results. Michael Dillon mpdillon@halcyon.halcyon.com ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Newsgroups: comp.terminals, comp.graphics.misc Message-ID: References: <3581A661.FF6@cs.hongik.ac.kr> Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 12:39:52 -0400 From: "Richard S. Shuford" Subject: Re: HELP: NAPLPS supported terminal on workstations In msg , Scott Dorsey wrote: > >In article <3581A661.FF6@cs.hongik.ac.kr> Jihun Park : > > > > > > I am developing a simple program to get NAPLPS data from > > workstations. I realize that there are protocols handshaked > > between a NAPLPS server and a client terminal. I do not need to > > draw pictures.but want to get down load data only. Please give me info > > on what kind of commands are passed between them. I downed > > a naplps.zip doc file from the internet, but it did not help me. > >Your best bet might be to get a VT240 manual. Alas, the DEC VT240 terminal has *nothing* to do with NAPLPS. You must be thinking of the ReGIS protocol, which the VT240 does support. It is not clear to me exactly what Mr. Jihun Park is trying to do. The only reason I know, why one would want to use NAPLPS (the North American Presentation-Level-Protocol Syntax), would be to draw pictures of some type. (Did you ever take a network class in which the instructor drew the 7-layer tower of the OSI Reference Model? NAPLPS is supposed to fit at layer 6, just below the "application" layer.) > > between a NAPLPS server and a client terminal. I do not need to > > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > > draw pictures.but want to get down load data only. Please give me info ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ If you just want to transfer data between machines, without looking at it on a screen, you do not need to have any NAPLPS implementation. Maybe Kermit is what is needed? Have a look at: http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ ...RSS ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Newsgroups: alt.graphics,alt.graphics.pixutils,comp.protocols.misc Followup-To: comp.protocols.misc Message-ID: <1991Feb19.043620.12415@cs.utk.edu> References: <70560@microsoft.UUCP> <1991Feb10.065345.5883@riacs.edu> Organization: University of Tennessee, Knoxville--Dept. of Computer Science Summary: BYTE magazine article references Keywords: NAPLPS graphic protocol BYTE videotext teletex Lines: 72 Date: 19 Feb 1991 04:36:20 GMT From: shuford(at)cs.utk.edu (Richard Shuford) Subject: Re: info needed on "NAPLPS" The BYTE article series about the North American Presentation-Level-Protocol Syntax (NAPLPS--which may be pronounced like "nap-lips"): NAPLPS: A New Standard for Text and Graphics, Part 1: Introduction. Jim Fleming and William Frezza. BYTE, February 1983, Vol. 8, num. 2., p. 203. NAPLPS: A New Standard for Text and Graphics, Part 2: Basic Features. Jim Fleming and William Frezza. BYTE, March 1983, Vol. 8, num. 3., p. 152. NAPLPS: A New Standard for Text and Graphics, Part 3: Advanced Features. Jim Fleming and William Frezza. BYTE, April 1983, Vol. 8, num. 4, p. 190. NAPLPS: A New Standard for Text and Graphics, Part 4: More Advanced Features and Conclusion. Jim Fleming and William Frezza. BYTE, May 1983, Vol. 8, num 5., p. 272. (I was working for BYTE at the time, and I served as the theme editor for that February 1983 issue on standards.) It may be fair to say that the North American Presentation-Level-Protocol Syntax (not "standard") grew out of the efforts in the early 1980s to create a mass market for what was variously called "teletex" or "video- text" (although at the time nobody could agree on what these terms really meant). The basic idea was for delivery of information to a nontechnical user base who were nonetheless familiar with video games and wanted to see pretty graphics. As I recall with some memory haze, there were two general graphics schemes developed for teletex. One was used in the British Prestel system, and I think it was called "alpha-mosaic". The other, somewhat more sophist- icated technology was pioneered in Canada with Telidon, an "alpha- geometric" protocol. A key feature is the extension of the ASCII-type codes to include Picture-Description Instructions (PDIs). Some of the advanced features of Telidon were incremental lines, macros, dynamically redefinable characters, chain-encoding of shape edges, and various types of display fields. AT&T added some features to Telidon and handed NAPLPS to the ANSI- accredited standards committees and said, "Here. Bless our standard," so the X3L2 (technical) Committee on Character Sets and Coding worked on it for some time. The draft document was BSR X3.110-198x; I don't know the numbers of any successor documents. Fleming and Frezza, who worked with the protocol for AT&T, were on this committee. In my opinion, a major handicap for NAPLPS was that for a long time the only equipment available for encoding the images was a special computer sold in the United States only by AT&T, costing tens of thousands of dollars. This major capital start-up expense delayed or killed a lot of creative ideas for using the NAPLPS protocol and/or teletex. Eventually there were some cheaper encoding products, based on an Apple or IBM PC-type platform, but the initial enthusiasm had already declined. The significance of the "presentation-level" part of the protocol's name has also been changed by events. The real OSI protocol stack, which was amorphous indeed back in 1983, now has a pretty firmly defined Presentation Service. So the Abstract Syntax Notation 1 (ASN.1) and its Basic Encoding Rules (BER) now occupy that slot. I suppose that somebody could adapt NAPLPS as an alternate to ASN.1/BER for certain applications, but the effort to make it mesh with the other OSI layers would be nontrivial. The CoSy conferencing software used by BIX (the BYTE Information eXchange) contains support for transmitting NAPLPS images to its users, but this feature has been rather neglected in recent years. There used to be some NAPLPS-encoded images in one of the BIX graphics conferences, but I don't know if these are still online. I was not aware that Prodigy is using NAPLPS. The concept certainly makes sense. It could be the beginning of a revival of interest in this unique protocol. -- ....Richard S. Shuford | "Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke ....shuford%cs.utk.edu | a wise man and he will love you. Instruct a wise ....BIX: richard | man and he will be wiser still." Proverbs 9:7 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Posted: Sun Mar 4 16:52:17 1990 X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 143, Message 5 of 8 Lines: 69 Message-ID: <4727@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 4 Mar 1990 15:52:17 GMT From: wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (David Lesher) Subject: ALEX Service Starting in Toronto, Montreal Bell Canada expects to start the Alex system up in Toronto at the end of April. This is basically a line that can be called via modem to access a variety of "service providers" that are online. It works with the NAPLPS videotext format to transmit data and diagrams. It all started with a market trial in Montreal, where 20 000 subscribers were expected during the two-year trial period. They reached 20,000 in six months, although the turnover (they call it "churn") was quite high. Services such as banking, home shopping could be provided through the Alex system. Bell plans to put its white pages on line (yellow pages cannot be provided because of some technicalities with the act under which Bell Canada was incorporated; the CRTC denied them a modem "yellow pages" service). Alex will work on a number of service levels. These are: 1) Customer gets service for free. The service provider pays 10c/min for a subscriber's on line time. 2) Customer and service provider each pay 5c/min 3) Service provider pays 10c for the first three minutes. After that, it's the customer who pays the 10c/min. [This level will be used for the "white pages" service; that is, get the first three minutes of white pages for free.] 4) Customer pays 10c/min. The service provider may bill separately, however (ie. if you pay for extra service using a credit card or whatever). 5) Customer pays 15c/min, while service provider pays 10c/min. There is a 10% of customer charge levied for an Accounts Receivable Management (presumably a way to bill the customer further through the Alex service). 6) Customer pays 20c/min. Service provider pays as in 5). 7) Variable. Customer will pay at least 25c/min (cost will be a multiple of 5c/min). This is Alex's version of 976 service. Bell will rent an ALEXTEL video terminal for $7.95/month for residence customers. There will also be PC software that can connect to Alex (though this would be determined by other manufacturers and market demand. Access will be through a single number (in the Montreal test, separate numbers were used for each level of Alex service). Login will be by userid and password. Initial registration is expected to be done via an 800 number where name, address, other details are collected before account access is given. Bell has promoted the upcoming service by placing "smart alex" ads in various places (without reference to Bell, or what the Alex product is about). They consist of pictures of people that have fluorescent features written over their faces (glasses, beards, etc). The service should be ready to go on 30th April according to their timetable (in Toronto and Montreal). Other localities will eventually have service, but Bell is secretive about that for some reason what with their timetable of implementation showing a big whited-out gap below the mention of Toronto and Montreal. There are also plans to link up with other data services like Datapac or Dataroute and that in the future. -- || David Leibold "Morals are one thing. Ratings are everything." || djcl@contact.uucp - from _Max_Headroom_ TV series ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Posted: Tue Mar 6 13:52:32 1990 X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 151, Message 5 of 8 Organization: Xenix Support, FICC Lines: 18 Message-ID: <4862@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 6 Mar 1990 12:52:32 GMT From: peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) Subject: Re: ALEX Service Starting in Toronto, Montreal > Bell Canada expects to start the Alex system up in Toronto at the end > of April. This is basically a line that can be called via modem to > access a variety of "service providers" that are online. It works with > the NAPLPS videotext format to transmit data and diagrams. Sounds like SourceLine, which is a service Southwestern Bell tried to make a go of down here in Houston. Remember the stuff a while back about SWBell versus BBS operators? That was Ma trying to kill off her competition. They just gave up on SourceLine and left the field to U.S.Videotel. Whether any of their associated lawsuits and rate change stuff with the PUC follow it into the bit-bucket is another question. _--_|\ Peter da Silva. +1 713 274 5180. . / \ \_.--._/ Xenix Support -- it's not just a job, it's an adventure! v "Have you hugged your wolf today?" `-_-' ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// [4 years later...] Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Organization: FidoNet Nameserver/Gateway Sender: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Approved: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 14, Issue 210, Message 8 of 22 Lines: 80 Message-ID: Date: 10 May 1994 21:54:54 -0500 From: Dave.Leibold@f730.n250.z1.fidonet.org (Dave Leibold) Subject: Bell Canada Alex Videotex Service Officially Closing Bell Canada received official approval to discontinue the controversial Alex videotex service. From a check of the list of new and deleted services on Alex itself, it appears no new services have been added since 1991, and services were being deleted, at least as of last fall. It seemed the home shopping and commerce offerings were few, and the chat/dating lines plenty (the latter being done with less cost and more finesse on the regional BBS scene). The most useful service left on Alex (IMO) is the electronic white pages, complete with an automated long distance call rate calculator. The following eulogy just arrived in the [physical] mail: .............................................................................. [Bell Canada letter to Alex service customers follows ...] T.E. Graham T/Director - Business Planning, Bell Advanced Communications 160 Elgin Street, Floor 12, Ottawa, Ontario K1G 3J4 April 29, 1994 Dear Customer, Some five years ago, Bell Canada launched an innovative service that, after its initial trial run, logged more than a million calls from interested people like you. We then decided to go ahead and introduce this exciting, new concept to enable customers to access home-based interactive and transactional services. Though it was risky, we heard your call and answered it. The ALEX service was born. Our early success in Montreal eventually led us to expand into the Toronto Market and become a leader in the Canadian videotex industry. Although our role was primarily one of a carrier providing technical support, we helped our Service Providers develop applications -- from home shopping and personal banking to financial news and learning programs -- in order to keep you on the leading edge of the information explosion. However, while the ALEX service continued to grow and attract interest, the inconsistent rate of development of the videotex industry coupled with Canada's declining economic fortune has made the service difficult to justify. We are faced with having to drastically cut our costs, yet have resisted laying off employees or raising customer prices. So we have been forced to make a painful decision and terminate the ALEX service. This is a difficult decision, and one that must be weighed against the reality of today's tough economic climate. Quite simply, the ALEX network is not the right vehicle, nor the appropriate technology, at this time to deliver the information goods needed in our fast-paced society. We filed on December 30th, 1993 for the de-tariffing of the ALEX service with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the federal telecommunications regulator. On April 18th we received their approval, and will discontinue the ALEX service effective June 3rd, 1994. The ALEXtel terminal will also be withdrawn from the marketplace and cease to be supported. Bell has always tried to meet the needs of its business and residential customers by offering the best and latest in communications technology. We will keep trying to bring you innovative telecommunications products and services that best fit your needs. As the pace of technology quickens and opportunities begin to unfold, we will be there again ... listening. We will also be ready to serve you, knowing full well that such advances must be balanced by your wishes. Thank you for doing business with Bell. If you have any questions about this matter, please call 1 (800) 267-8480. Sincerely, T.E. Graham ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Excerpts from _Canadian Journal of Communications_ Volume 16, Number 3/4, 1991 "The Videotex Industry in Quebec: The Difficulties of Mass Marketing Telematics" by Serge Proulx, University of Quebec, Montreal http://www.wlu.ca/~wwwpress/jrls/cjc/BackIssues/16.3/proulx.html ... The first serious attempts to adapt the Telidon format to effective technical systems coincided with a $10 million deal signed on August 28, 1979, between the Canadian government and Bell Canada, for the realization of the Vista project. The initial goals of this project, to produce 100,000 screen-pages and install 1,000 terminals, were later made less ambitious. The project was finally abandoned by Bell Canada in 1983. As for the Telidon experience as a whole, after a five-year period of field experiments where the government invested $65 million and private enterprise just as much, the Minister Marcel Masse announced its official demise in March 1985. Bell Canada, for its part, having first hesitated, then abandoned the idea of importing Minitel into Canada [6], decided in 1987 to develop its own videotex system, Alex, that functions according to an alphageometrical format that is a subdivision of the NAPLPS one. [North American Presentation Level Protocol Syntax] ... Bell Canada's Alex Project With the agreement of the federal Department of Communications, Bell Canada, the largest telephone company in the country, has put the Alex system into effect and has been attempting to popularize it in Quebec since December 1988. This network allows its subscribers (provided with an ALEXtel terminal rented at $7.95 per month or a microcomputer equipped with simulation software and a modem) to have access to many services: home banking, leisure, compushopping, travel and transportation, current events and information, sports, education, games and lotteries, electronic billboards and party lines, and so on. Billing adjusted to use and activity is in effect. In January 1989, Alex had 110 services originating from about 40 suppliers. In November 1989, Alex offered almost 450 services provided by 120 suppliers (La Salle, 1989). Bell Canada has invested $60 million into this project and expects that service suppliers will add about $50 million. The launching of the project was well publicized. In December 1988, it was announced that the objective was to quickly attain 20,000 subscribers in Greater Montreal. As of April 23, 1989, ALEX had 10 477 subscribers using 5,414 Alextel terminals and 5,063 microcomputers equipped with emulators. The number of calls had passed 400,000, with an average duration of 7.5 minutes per call. (Bernatchez, 1989, p. 18) However, one can observe that: (a) Most first-time users, after a free two-month trial period, returned their terminals to Bell Canada, which means that there has been a very quick turnover among new users. (b) After receiving their first phone bills, which showed prohibitive costs for the Alex service [8], many subscribers gave up on the very idea of using this type of service, while others formed the Association of Users of Alex Services to encourage Bell to lower its rates [9]. (c) The suppliers have too few clients (there is an average of 5,000 hours of connections per month, which is insufficient to make the network profitable [La Salle, 1989]); as a consequence, they lack the financial resources to improve service: it becomes hard in turn to attract new subscribers. A vicious circle is created that hinders the development of the system. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////