****************************************************************************** * * * C O S M O S * * * *************** C O P Y R I G H T 1 9 8 4 D O C T O R W H O *************** COSMOS SERIES PART 1 - THE MANUAL MAY 1, 1984: IN THIS SERIES OF ARTICLES WE WILL DEAL WITH COSMOS, THE BELL SWITCHING COMPUTER, HOW IT WORKS AND HOW TO USE IT TO YOUR OWN BENEFIT. FIRST IN THE SERIES IS PART OF THE ACTUAL COSMOS MANUAL. IT IS NOT THE WHOLE THING, BUT THE BEST PART..IT MAY BE DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND, BUT IT IS A VALUABLE REFERENCE MANUAL. NOTE: THIS IS IN 80 COLUMNS AND LOWER CASE. BELL ISSUE: OPA-1Y632-01 ISSUE 2, JANUARY 1983 5. PERMANENT ASSEMBLIES 5.1 Create a Permanent Assembly (CAY) Transaction CAY associates a group of facilities as an assembly. Permanent Assemblies may be created from facilities which have spare (SF), reserved (RS), avaliable (AV), miscellaneous (MS), official (OF), trunk injector (TJ), test (TS) or working (WK) status. Facilities that have an excluded (EX), left-in (LI) or unknown (UK) status, may not be part of a Permanent Assembly. When a Permanent Assembly is created, the status of non- working facilities will be changed to reserved and will be assigned an assembly code will be assigned to the facilities. Although Permanent Assemblies may be created using a combination of working facilities and spare facilities, service orders that are issued against such assemblies are blocked. Therefore, it is recommended that Permanent Assemblies using a combination of working and spare facilities not be created. In an operational wire center, if an assembly is to be made permanent in COSMOS, an assembly catagory (AC) of "PERM" must be specified on the CAY input. In a data conversion wire center, Permanent Assemblies are assumed, so the input of "AC PERM" is not required. System generated codes identify Permanent Assemblies on output by one alphabetic character. All alphabetic characters are randomly assigned except S, T, and Z. When associated with a facility, these alphabetic characters indicate: S = Suspended Cricuit T = Reserved for TIRKS (Trunk Inventoried Record Keeping System) Z = Assembled facilities that have been suspended. More than one group of assembled facilities may show the same assembly code tag. This does not imply that all facilities with the same tag are assembled to each other; they must also be in the same circuit to be assembled to each other. Each code may be used more than once. When a Permanent Assembly is deleted, the assembly code tag is removed from the facilities. Non-working facilities will return to a spare status. Equivalent working facilities will retain their present status. Permanent Assemblies can be created from any combination of the following facilities: Telephone Number (TN) Line Equipment (OE) Cable Pair (CP) Tie Pair (TP) Bridge Lifter (BL) Trunk (TK) Concentrator (CON) Message register (MR) Special Equipment (SE) Automatically Assigned Relays - Advanced (AR), Sleeve- Connect (SC), Tens Block Auxiliary (TBA), and Tens Block Screening (TBS) types Non-Inventoried Relays (RLY) Terminal (TER) X-Number (XN) Private Lines (PL) Transimission Equpitment (TRE) At least one inventoried facility, PL or TER must be entered into the assembly before any SEs, non-inventoried TKs, or CONs. ---------- * When a working relay, (both inventoried and non- inventoried) which os part of a Permanent Assembly is disconnected, COSMOS does not presently have the capability of updating the relay files and table to reflect this disconnect. Coordination between the LAc and the FCC (Frame Control Center) is required to establish Permanent Assemblies on both spare and working facilities. The following examples illustrate various functions of transactions CAY (Create an Assembly) and ISH (Circuit Inquiry). Example 1: Create a Permanent Assembly associating a spare CP and SE with voice repeater information. EL% CAY I CP 2-1010/TP TM03-606/SE VR-330(F04001)/AC PERM _. **CAY COMPLETED Example 2: An inquiry (ISH) on the above assembly. The inquiry shows that the alphabetic (permanent) assembly code is assigned to each facility that is part of the assembly. Also note that the tie pair and points have been populated. EL% ISH H CP 2-1010 _. CP 2-1010 ST RS AY M DATE 01-18-83 LOC WF02005 TP TM03-0606 ST RS AY M DATE 01-18-83 LOC F02005 LOC F04001 FROM FAC CP 2-1010 TO FAC SE VR-330 SE VR-330 ST RS AY M LOC F04001 **ISH COMPLETED Example 3: An ISH on a working circuit without an assembly. EL% ISH H CP 2-1010 _. SE VR-330 ST WK LOC F04001 TP TM03-0606 ST WK DATE 01-18-83 LOC F02005 LOC F04001 FROM FAC CP 2-1010 TO FAC SE VR-330 CP 2-1010 ST WK DATE 01-18-83 RZ 13 LOC WF02005 OE 000-026-015 ST WK DATE -1-18-83 CS IFR US 1FR FEA TNNL LOC WF02007 TO TM01-0741 ST WK DATE 01-18-83 LOC F02007 LOC F04001 FROM FAC OE 000-026-015 TO FAC SE VR-330 TN 833-7328 ST WK DATE 01-18-83 TYPE X **ISH COMPLETED Example 4: Create a Permanent Assembly associating a working CP, TP and SE from the circuit in Example 3. EL% CAY I CP 2-1010/TP TM03-606/SE VR-330/AC PERM _. **CAY COMPLETED Example 5: An ISH of the circuit. The inquiry identifies the Permanent Assembly linking the CP, TP and SE. This information will remain linked even after the circuit is disconnected. EL% H CP 2-1010 _. SE VR-330 ST WK AY G LOC F04001 TP TM03-0606 ST WK AY G DATE 01-18-83 LOC F02005 LOC F04001 FROM FAC CP 2-1010 TO FAC SE VR-330 CP 2-1010 ST WK AY G DATE 01-18-83 RZ 13 LOC WF02005 OE 000-026-015 ST WK DATE 01-18-83 CS 1FR US 1FR FEA TNNL LOC WF02007 TP TM01-0741 ST WK DATE 01-18-83 LOC F02007 LOC F04001 FROM FAC OE 000-026-015 TO FAC SE VR-330 TN 833-7428 ST WK DATE 01-18-83 TYPE X **ISH COMPLETED 5.2 Modify a Permanent Assembly Transaction MAY is used to modify a Permanent Assembly (in instances when a service order is being changed, etc. ). The assembly to be modified must be identified by an inventoried facility (other than AR, SC, TBA), a PL or a TER on the H- line. Facilities to be added are entered on I-Lines. Facilities to be deleted are entered on 0-Lines. The input of assembly category (AC) PERM is not requied on the H-line input for MAY. The Permanent Assembly tag will be removed from the outgoing facility and transferred to the incoming facility at the completion of the MAY transaction. When MAY is completed, the outgoing facility (s) that had a reserved status will be changed to "spare" status. If the outgoing facility is presently working, the status will remain the same. Incoming facilities that are spare will be changed to a "reserved" status. Incoming facilities that are working will retain that status. The following examples illustrate various functions of transactions MAY (Modify an Assembly) and ISH. Example 6: An inquiry (ISH) of a Permanent Assembly. TA% ISH H CP 2-1365 _. CP 2-1365 ST RS AY G DATE 01-20-83 LOC F02006 TP TM01-1151 ST RS AY G DATE 01-20-83 LOC F02005 LOC F04001 TRE DLXREG0401 RR104,06-037 ST RS AY G DATE 01-20-83 LOC F04001 **ISH COMPLETED Example 7: Modify a Permanent Assembly changing the transmission equipment. TA% MAY H CP 2-1365 _O TRE RR104.06-037 _I TRE RR104.06-038 _. OUT: TRE DLXREG0401 RR104.06-037 IN: TRE RR104.06-038 **MAY COMPLETED Example 8: An inquiry (ISH) on the modified assembly. The inquiry shows that TRE RR104.06-038 has become part of the assAS TRANSMITTED IN THE MIDBAND OR SUPERBAND MODE, HE WAS UP SHIT CREEK, BECAUSE HE HAD NO WAY TO GET THE SIGNAL DOWN TO A FREQUENCY HIS TV OR VCR COULD RECIEVE. BUT IF HE HOOKED UP HIS LITTLE RADIO SHACK CONVERTER, PRESTO! HE WAS SET. 2. NOW IS A GOOD TIME TO MAKE CLEAR AN IMPORTANT POINT. CABLE CONVERTERS DO !NOT! UNSCRAMBLE A SCRAMBLED SIGNAL, THEY MERELY MOVE IT TO A FREQUENCY THE TV/UNSCRAMBLER/VCR/WHATEVER CAN GET A HOLD OF IT. THERE IS LOTS OF SPACE BET- WEEN CHANNELS 13 AND 14-IT IS THE DIV- IDING LINE BETWEEN VHF AND UHF. THERE ARE PLACES IN THERE YOUR TV JUST CAN'T GET TO. 3. HERE COMES ANOTHER POINT: THOSE OF YOU WITH 'CABLE READY' TVS THINK YOU'RE HOME FREE NOW, EH? NO. WHILE A CABLE READY TV WILL LET YOU VIEW ANY MID AND SUPERBAND CHANNELS THAT YOU MAY UNKNOWINGLY RECIEVE, THE SCRAMBLED ONES ARE STILL SCRAMBLED. SO WHAT DO YOU NEED NOW? AN UNSCRAMBLER, OF COURSE. *************************************** 4. IT MAY BE NECESSARY TO EXPLAIN WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING IN YOUR BOXES THAT YOU RENT FROM THE CABLE CO. THUS: ----- IF YOU HAVE BOTHERED TO PAY EXTRA FOR ANY SCRAMBLED CHANNELS, YOU ARE GIVEN AN UNSCRAMBLER AND CONVERTER BY THE CABLE CO. FOR WHICH YOU GLADLY PAY RENT IN ADDITION TO YOUR CABLE FEE. THIS IS USUALLY A BROWN BOX THAT COMES IN SEVERAL STYLES, EXPOUNDED UPON BELOW: DIGITAL WITH REMOTE: A SMALL BOX UPON YOUR TV, WITH A DIGITAL DISPLAY OF THE CHANNEL YOU ARE WATCHING. YOU HAVE A TRUSTY REMOTE, AND ZAP AWAY AT WILL. KNOB STYLE: A BOX OR NON-WIRELESS REM- OTE WITH A LARGE KNOB ON IT. IT, OF COURSE, SELECTS WHAT CHANNEL YOU ARE WATCHING. SWITCHBOARD STYLE: A 9" X 5" (OR SO) BOARD WITH SEVERAL 3 POSITION VERTIC- ALLY MOVING SWITCHES. WHAT THE HELL DO THESE DO? YOU'LL NEVER GUESS. THE KIND WITHOUT ANY SWITCHES: (NOW HOW WILL I OPERATE MY DIGITAL WATCH?) THIS IS CALLED A BLOCK CONVERTER. MORE ON THESE LATER. *************************************** WHAT IS GOING ON: AHHH, THE GOOD PART. WHAT HAPPENS HERE IS THIS: NOW MATTER WHAT SYSTEM YOU HAVE (EXCEPT FOR THE LAST- IGNORE THAT FOR NOW.) IN SOME WAY YOU SELECT A CHANNEL. THE CABLE CONVERTER RUNS OFF, FINDS THIS CHAN- NEL, AND YANKS IT DOWN TO CHANNEL 3 (OR 2, OR 4, WHATEVER YOUR CABLE CO. USES.) WHERE YOUR TV IS WAITING FOR IT. (YES, THATS WHY YOU PUT YOUR TV ON THE SAME CHANNEL AND CHANGE CHANNELS WITH THE KNOB, REMOTE, OR WHATEVER.) NOW, IF IT'S A SCRAMBLED CHANNEL, AND YO ARE AUTHORIZED TO RECIEVE IT, THE SIGNAL IS REROUTED THROUGH A SMALL UN- SCRAMBLER. (A NOTE: CABLE SCRAMBLING METHODS ARE PIDDLY LITTLE HINDRANCES; FOR A REAL BITCH OF A SCRAMBLER SEE THE SSAVI SYSTEM, EXPLAINED IN PART 2.) THE SIGNAL IS AGAIN SPAT OUT AT CHANNEL 3, AND YOUR TV GLOWS HAPPILY AWAY, DIS- PLAYING YOUR MID OR SUPERBAND CHANNEL. 5. AT THIS POINT, A QUESTION MAY BY NUDGING AROUND YOUR TEMPORAL LOBES NOW. SOMETHING ALONG THE LINES OF " HOW DO I GET CABLE TV WITHOUT PAYING FOR IT, DAMMIT??" WELL, HERE WE GO. YOU LOOK UP THAT PLACE I MENTIONED IN PART II. (ADDRESS & PHONE# AT END) JUST FORK OVER YOUR $30 (OR SOMEONE ELSE'S CREDIT CARD) AND GET ONE OF THESE NIFTY LITTLE UNSCRAMBLERS. NOW, MIND YOU, THE CABLE CO. WANTS IT'S (YOUR?) MONEY MORE THAN YOU THINK, AND WILL BE RATHER UPSET IF THEY FIND YOU DOING ANY OF THIS SHIT, SO TAKE CARE. HERE'S HOW TO HOOK UP YOUR UN- SCRAMBLER: FIRST, ADJUST THE U