1 Restoring_Dipso_Stacks_on_Unix

 This note descibes how to convert your old DIPSO stacks in VMS backup 
 savesets into the new machine independent format used by DIPSO V3 on Unix.


 If you are reading your stacks from a VMS backup tape directly onto
 a UNIX machine (using the recommended utility `vback' ) then you MUST 
 invoke 'vback' with the -Q option (raw data mode) as in the following 
 example:

      % vback -xlQf /dev/nrmt0h -s'*.*'

 The example here extracts files (x) with logging on (l) from device (f)
 /dev/nrmt0h in raw mode (Q) selecting save-set (s) *.*  

 You can then type

      %	cnv_stacks *.stk > convert_stacks.cmd

 This creates a DIPSO command procedure which you invoke by
 starting DIPSO and typing:

      > @convert_stacks


 DIPSO V3 stacks are stored in STARLINK standard NDF files and have names
 of the form:

		stackname_STK.sdf

 These can be processed using packages such as KAPPA which read
 NDF format files. NDF file are machine independent and can 
 be copied between different machines without any conversions.

 The `_STK.sdf' part of the filename is processed automatically by
 DIPSO and will only need to be specified if you are processing
 the stacks with other packages.


 *****NOTE:******

  If you are transferring stacks from a VMS machine (using NFS or FTP)
  then you MUST do the following (before transferring them):

	$ @PREP_STACKS

  in the directory where your stacks are located.