The GNO Multitasking Environment

GNO is a UNIX-like software package for the Apple IIgs, which runs on top of the native operating system, GS/OS.

This is master documentation site for GNO. It consists of the following sections:

Frequently Asked Questions
Reference Manuals
Manual Pages
GNO-Related Web Links
Old Documentation (August 1996 Revision for GNO v2.0.4)

NEW! A set of updated libraries, header files, and manual pages are available for anyone who is trying to use ORCA/C v2.1.x with either GNO v2.0.4. See http://www.gno.org/pub/apple2/gs.specific/gno/base206 for details, or the same directory via anonymous ftp from ftp.gno.org. Ensure you read the README file. There may be more than one update in that directory, so ensure you read the index files for that directory.

Remember:
If someone comes up to you on the street and offers you some Windows (95, NT) ... Just say GNO!

Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers)

The newsgroup comp.sys.apple2.gno is the primary source for GNO information on USENET. The FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions list) for this newsgroup is recommended reading and contains information that is not covered in the manuals, or that supercedes the manuals. The FAQ is posted monthy on comp.sys.apple2.gno, and is also available online.

A summary of the most recent changes (typically since the previous monthly posting) may be obtained from the (abbreviated) Change Log.

The online html version of these documents may be found at:

%%FAQ%% (FAQ)
%%FAQLOG%% (Change Log)

The text version of these documents are available via ftp at the following locations:

%%FAQ_TEXT%% (FAQ)
%%FAQLOG_TEXT%% (Change Log)

Reference Manuals

These are based on Procyon's August 1996 v2.0.4 documents, but have been updated and enhanced. These manuals are still being revised; if you find errors or omissions, please contact the maintainer (Devin Reade) at the address at the bottom of this page.

Overview and Installation

This document contains introductory information, installation instructions, a list of hardware requirements, suggested readings, and similar material. It is a good starting point for those new to GNO. It is also available for download in various formats:

Compressed Postscript (Letter): %%FTP_INTRO%%.ltr.ps.Z
Compressed Postscript (A4): %%FTP_INTRO%%.a4.ps.Z
See the note on the A4 paper format, below.
Compressed DVI: %%FTP_INTRO%%.dvi.Z
Appleworks (Classic) in a NuFX archive: (not yet available)
Text (ASCII) in a NuFX archive: (not yet available)

Kernel Reference Manual

This is a technical introduction and reference to the GNO Kernel, which is the heart of the GNO system. It can be heavy reading for the new user, but is a must for the application programmer. It is also available for download in various formats:

Compressed Postscript (Letter): %%FTP_KERN%%.ltr.ps.Z
Compressed Postscript (A4): %%FTP_KERN%%.a4.ps.Z
See the note on the A4 paper format, below.
Compressed DVI: %%FTP_KERN%%.dvi.Z
Appleworks (Classic) in a NuFX archive: (not yet available)
Text (ASCII) in a NuFX archive: (not yet available)

GNO Shell User's Manual

This is the reference manual for the GNO Shell, otherwise known as gsh. The current version is more of a tutorial than a true reference manual. It is also available for download in various formats:

Compressed Postscript (Letter): (not yet available)
Compressed Postscript (A4): (not yet available)
See the note on the A4 paper format, below.
Compressed DVI: (not yet available)
Appleworks (Classic) in a NuFX archive: (not yet available)
Text (ASCII) in a NuFX archive: (not yet available)

Note on A4 Paper Formats

Since I do not use the A4 paper format, I would be interested in feedback on how the formatting turns out. Currently, the DVI files are created for the the letter paper size, and only in the DVI to Postscript conversion is the A4 paper size taken into account. While this greatly simplifies the document "build" process, it might result in less than desirable output. Please email your observations to me at the address at the bottom of this page.

Manual Pages

This is the set of manual pages for the GNO base distribution. It does not include manual pages for utilities and libraries that are considered to be GNO "add-ons". Note that these are for GNO v2.0.6, are under active development, and are subject to change. Some of the documented functions, programs, and files are not available for GNO v2.0.4.

Each of the chapters has an introductory page, titled intro. For a brief introduction to the manual pages in general, see the Introduction to Chapter 1.

Chapter 1 Commands and Applications
Chapter 2 System Calls
Chapter 3 Library Routines
Chapter 4 Devices
Chapter 5 File Formats
Chapter 6 Games
Chapter 7 Miscellaneous
Chapter 8 System Administration

These manual pages are part of the GNO base distribution and are therefore not available at this time in any other format. They may be published in Postscript form after GNO v2.0.6 is released.

GNO-Related Web Links

The following links are also likely to be of interest to GNO users and programmers.

The Describe Database Page. This is a database containing information on current GNO and ORCA/Shell utilities, including version numbers and from where they can be obtained.
Procyon Enterprises Inc
Soenke Behrens' ORCA/C Bug List
Leslie Barstow's GNO Utilities Page. (This is an sorted version of the describe(1) database.)
FreeBSD ftp site list
GS/TCP
Marinetti
Eric Shepherd's ToolBox Reference

The following links have a less direct relevence to GNO, but may still be useful:

The File System Hierarchy "standard". This is not a true standard in the ANSI/ISO sense, but still contains a lot of useful information. NOTE: GNO is based on 4.4BSD which does not, at this time, completely follow the suggested hierarchy. GNO sites should use the hierarchy specified in the FAQ.

Old Documentation

Reference Manuals (August 1996 Revision)

These are the reference manuals that shipped with GNO v2.0.4, translated into html source.

Introduction and Installation
GNO Kernel Reference Manual
GNO Shell User's Manual, Chapters 1 and 2
GNO Shell User's Manual, Chapter 3
GNO Shell User's Manual, Chapter 4
GNO Shell User's Manual, Chapter 5 and Appendices

The original MS-Word versions of these documents are also available for download via ftp:

Introduction and Installation: %%FTP_ROOT%%/doc/refs/aug96/install.zip
Kernel Reference Manual: %%FTP_ROOT%%/doc/refs/aug96/kernel.zip
GNO Shell Reference Manual: %%FTP_ROOT%%/doc/refs/aug96/gsh.zip

Manual Pages (August 1996 Revision)

There are also selected manual pages available. (Be sure to check the ones installed on your system as well.) Unfortunately, this set of manual pages is not divided along chapter boundries.

Part 1 Chapter 1: Commands and Applications (intro(1) and binprint(1) to sum(1))
Part 2 Chapter 1: Commands and Applications (sz(1) to tar(1))
Part 3
- Chapter 1: Commands and Applications (tee(1) to yes(1))
- Chapter 2: System Calls (alarm(2) to statfs(2))
Part 4
- Chapter 2: System Calls (truncate(2) to wait(2))
- Chapter 3: Library Routines
- Chapter 4: Devices

The original MS-Word versions of these manual pages are also available for download via ftp at %%FTP_ROOT%%/doc/refs/aug96/manpages.zip

Devin Reade gdr@trenco.gno.org