II

Roadway

Roadny

'J)continued on p. 7

DISK ORGANIZATIONToday's computers can have large hard

drives containing more than 300 millionbytes (300 megabytes) of information.That's the equivalent of 240,000pages ofwritten text. Even the relatively common 40megabyte drives, found in many of ourmunicipalities, contain about 32,000 pagesof information. Managing that amount ofdata requires the same care as you wouldtake to organize your office files. In manyrespects, the procedures are the same.

The root directory on the disk is muchlike a file room. It represents the largestunit available. Many people put all filesinthis directory. This is like throwing all ofyour files in the middle of the floor. Itrapidly becomes impossible to find anything.An office filing system organizes office filesinto file cabinets, file drawers, and filefolders. The design for disk drive manage-­ment is much the same. Directories are thefile cabinets, and subdirectories are the filedrawers.

Subdirectories allow one to organizesoftware into different categories or types.For example, you may create a subdirectoryfor word processing, another forspreadsheets, another for databases, etc.Each of these can be subdivided intoadditional subdirectories. Your word

Scrambled Disksand Fried Drives

Many New Hampshire municipali­ties are beginning to use comput­ers to help them in their work.Not only are computers beingfound in the town office assistingwith payroll, taxes, and othermunicipal accounting operationsbut we are beginning to see aninflux of computers into publicworks and highway departments.The following article discussesinformation necessary to effi­ciently operate an MS-DOSmicrocomputer equipped with ahard drive (MS-DOS machinesare the most common computerson the market -- sometimesreferred to as an IBM or IBMclone).

Understanding Disk Organizationand Protection from Data LossOne of the more pesky problems a road

agent or highwayworker has to deal with isfrozen culverts. Culverts with slow runningwater have a tendency to freeze when weexperience an open winter - a cold seasonwith little snow. When a culvert freezes itcan no longer do the job it was designed todo and trapped water on the inlet side willbegin to cause one problem after anotherwith your roadway. Ifyou can keep aculvert from freezing, your job will be madea lot easier and your budget should reflectthe improvement. I'm sure that the personwho finds an effective low cost solution tofrozen culverts will also become very rich.In the mean time, there may be somethingthat you can do to help prevent freezing.

Walter Somero, Road Agent for theTown of Sharon, New Hampshire, has beenusing an old time solution . "I have hadgood luck with my method which I learnedmany years ago from John Crosby, a formerroad agent from the Town of Rindge, NewHampshire." Walter (most of his friendscall him Butch) explained, "I put spruce orhemlock limbs or pieces of hardwood cut towhatever length I need against the culvertend. Ifyou've got snow take and shovel thesnow on the top of the boughs. I also haveused pieces of blanket insulation if no snowwas available." (see the figure below on thispage)

The culvert usually freezes from theoutlet end into the culvert and then theproblem begins. A steam jenny is usuallythe quickest way to get the water to runagain after the culvert has frozen. However,according to Butch, the insulation of limbsand snow on the end of a culvert preventscold winds from going up the pipe andfreezing the water . "I have used thismethod for many years. Ifwe have snow tocover up the end these problems do nothappen." •

An old tim! remedy for reducing frozenculvert problems

Frozen Culverts

Cu.1 ver t.............•....................•.

Preventing culvert freezingusing hardwood boughs

...­.-..

FIGURE 1:

Reprinted from Crossroads, Summer1990 •

Thawing a Culvertwith a Tar Kettle

When the safety inspector told Wauke­sha County (Wisconsin) its 30-year-old cul­vert steamer was close to retirement, FleetManager Joe Gorski started looking for areplacement. New steamers cost about$35,000, he found.

"It's the kind of thing that can standaround for years and never be used," saysGorski, "then suddenly you're running it 24hours a day."

When a friend at an antique steamengine club remarked on Minnesota's strin­gent boiler requirements, Gorski wonderedhow that state's highway crews openedfrozen culverts. With a little detective workhe discovered a thawing device that usedhot water - available for about $5500 froma Green Bay dealer.

But Waukesha's inventory of unusedtar kettles gave him an idea. For about$2000,they mounted a 7 hp gas engine anda small water pump on a tar kettle and fittedit with a 60 foot wand. The pump isreversible, so it can refill the kettle from anearby ditch. Crews used it this spring, andfound it actually works faster than steam.

One problem was the leftover tar. Thehot water loosened it and it plugged thecomponents. The kettle had to be com­pletely cleaned with repeated applications ofsolvent and steam.

For more information about the hot waterculvert opener, contact Joe Gorski, FleetManager, Waukesha County Transporta­tion Department, (414) 548-7740

Freeze EndCold~Enters

page 6

BATCH FILES

page?

The AUTOEXEC.BAT is a specialbatch file which must be located in the rootdirectory. The computer looks for this filewhen you turn it on. For example, you maywant the computer to bring up a menu everytime you turn the machine on. You willprobably want the computer to set severaloperations such as the screen color or wherecertain files can be found, etc. You mayalready have an autoexec.bat file. You cancheck to see if you have such a file byentering the following command from yourdrive C: root directory: "TYPEAUTOEXEC.BAT". If it is there, review itand compare it to the following example.

ECHO OFFPROMPT$P$GPATHC:\;C:\DOS;C:\BATCH;C:\UTILITYCLS

continued on p. 8

"PROMPT $P$G" sets prompt to displaythe disk drive and the directory at thebeginning of each command line. Th iscommand line can also be used to set thescreen color.

"ECHO OFF" keeps the computer fromprinting the command on the screen.

AUTOEXEC.BAT

The command COPY CON SS.BATinitializes (creates) a file and names itSS.BAT. All executable files must have afile extension of ".COM",".EXE", or".BAT" (the file extension consists of thethree characters after the "."), Batch filesuse the".BAT" extension. The secondcommand line changes to the drive wherethe program is stored. The third linechanges the directory to the Root Directory,the forth line changes to the directory thatcontains the spreadsheet, the fifth line tellsthe computer to run the program, the sixthline returns you to the root directory afteryou exit from the spreadsheet program, theseventh line makes sure you return to yourdesired hard drive partition, the eighth lineensures you are in the root directory of thisdrive, and the ninth lin~llears the screen.The <F6> tells the co~puteryou are doneentering commandsinto the batch fileSS.BAT (note: you will see a "'Z on thescreen after pressing the < F6> key). Fromthis point forward all you need to do is type"SS" or "ss" to run your spreadsheet.

You can create much more compli­cated batch files if you wish. Review yourDOS manual for further details .

100S COMPUTER

COPY CON SS.BATC:CD\CD SPREADRUNSSCD\C:CD\CLS<F6><ENTER>

C:\>CD\.C:\>CD WORDPROC\TEXTC:\>C:\WORDPROC\RUN

C:\) ~K. ~aT'l

CDLUMN

••• • • • •••••••• ••• • • ••• • • • • • 1 111 • • • • ••••••••• • • • •• 1 ••••• • • • • • • •• •• , . , . . . . . •.. ... .... . . . . . . . 11. .. . . .. . .

•• • • • • 11 •••• ••••• ••• •• ••• • • • • • •• • •••• •

Batch files eliminate this type of repeti­tive typing sequence. Batch files are simplya list of commands you would routinely typein from your keyboard to run a programsuch as your word processor. The only dif­ference is that you can convince thecomputer to do the work for you onceyou've taught it how. You can use severalmethods to do so. The Disk OperatingSystem (DOS) provides a simple procedureusing COPY CON. This command allowsyou to create a batch file right from yourkeyboard. At the prompt type in COPYCON. Then type in the command sequenceyou would normally use [Note: COPY CONprovides no prompt] . For example, to runyour spreadsheet program, you may useCOPY CON to enter the following file:

Batch files reduce the extra typingrequired when using subdirectories. For ex­ample, to use a word processing program itis often necessary to use a redundantsequence of commands:

DOS commands to backup files call theTechnology Transfer Center and we can getyou on the right track in about five minutes.

There are three card inal rules ofcomputing. They are Back-it-up, Back-it-up,and Back-it-up. The idea of "backing-it-up"means you should regularly copy all of yourvaluable data onto another disk or tape.Think of the most important project youhave. If a fire destroyed all of your records-- or more likely your hard drive fails - youwould feel devastated. Days, weeks, evenmonths of work could be lost.

Hard drives FAIL. It is only a matterof when. The average life of a hard drive isabout three years. There are companiesthat will recover data from a damaged diskat a cost of about $10 per megabyte with aminimum of $40. However, they usuallytake a couple of weeks.

Proper disk organization greatly simpli­fies disk backup. There is no need tobackup commercially available softwaresince you already have the original disk.Usually, commercial software consumes thegreatest portion of the available space onyour hard drive. Therefore, only your workdirectories need backing up. If you areusing floppy disks as a backup media, thenumber of disks required is minimal.

How often should you backup yourfiles? That really depends upon how impor­tant they are. The greater the loss, the moreoften you should back them up. Some firmsalso store their backups at a separatelocation or in a fireproof vault. You need todecide on a schedule and stick to it.

You can use DOS copy commands todo your own backups, and there are alsoseveral good backup programs available .Each program has advantages and disadvan­tages. You should consult your local vendorand/or computer user groups for input . Ifyou would like to learn how to use your

DISK BACKUP

processing directory can contain asubdirectory for the software, another forreports, another for in-house memos andstill another for outside correspondence.This allows both you and the computer tomore easily search for specific files. It alsoprovides for easy updating of your softwareas new releases come out.

There are utility programs that you canbuy to help you organize your disk, but ifyou want to do it in DOS (Disk OperatingSystem), it's pretty easy. The next issue ofRoad Business will go into more detailabout creating and managing directories andsubdirectories, however, if you need someassistance now just give us a toll free call (1­800·423.0060) and we can probably set youup fairly well over the phone.

Disks and Drives...continued from p. 7

One of the mosthazardous jobs in the United States is thatof the road worker. Thissummer I asked about 80 New Hampshire roadway workers if they had ever seen a workzone accident or if they hadever experienced a close call. 1()(JJ1o of them hadexperiencedat least oneclose call.

Disks and Drives...continued from p. 8

"PATHC:\ ;C:\ DOS;C:\ BATCH;C:\ UTILITY"provides the order which DOS searches forfiles. More about this later.

"CLS" clears the screen before continuing.

--Set Up A Work Zone

NOT An Accident Zone

[Again, review your DOS manual or one ofthe many third party books now on themarket for more information about"AUTOEXEC.BAT" and other ".BAT"files. Also, you can always give us a call andwe'd be happy answer any questions orprovide you with the necessary explana­tions.]

THE PATH COMMAND

The path command tells the computerhow to look for files. For example, if youtype "SS" to run your spread sheet, thecomputer with the autoexec.bat me listedabove would look into the current directoryfor SS.BAT. It then looks at C:\DOS, thenat C:\BATwhere it is stored (Note: it is agood idea to keep all of your batch files in asubdirectory called BATCH - this will allowyou to run your program from any driveldirectory on your computer). The order istherefore the same as you enter it into thepath command, so conflicts may arisebecause files can potentially have identicalnames. It is best to limit the path commandto those directories that provide your com­monly used files.

If you need to know what the currentpath is, simply enter the path command bytyping PATH and pressing <ENTER>. Ifyou want to see the current subdirectoriesnow on your drive just type TREE at theprompt and press < ENTER> .

IN SUMMARY

There have been three basic conceptspresented:

- Use subdirectories in the samemanner that you would organize youroffice files. Create new ones asnecessary to group files in a logical

It is your responsibility to set up a workzone that will ensure safety for both theroad crew and the public. The way to dothis is to think of a work zone in sectionsrather than as a single area. To do thisthink of the two most important words:

Warn and Guide!

Often , I have been surprised to findmyself approaching a work zone area .Usually this happens when I'm coming overthe crest of a hill or traveling around acomer. The public should never besurprised. They should be warned . Also, Ihave frequently been confused as to how Ishould actually maneuver through the workzone. Again, the public should never haveto second guess their travel route. Theyshould be guided.

Most of the time, whatever causes aclose call can be avoided. The best way toavoid work zone traffic problems is to learnhow to set up a work zone the right way.The first thing you need to know is that thestate of New Hampshire has adopted theMUTCD (Manual on Uniform TrafficControl Devices) and this manual has acomplete chapter (chapter IV) devoted towork zone traffic control (for moreinformation on the MUTCD and chapter VIcall the Technology Transfer Center at 1-

manner.- Back up your work files regularly to

protect against accidental loss. Don'twait until you get burned to realizehow important this is.

- Use batch files to speed up yourwork.

Each of these concepts will help youincrease your productivity with the com­puter. There are several numerous goodbooks on DOS and disk management thatyou can get at any good bookstore. Arudimentary knowledge of DOS will helpsort out many potential problems and helpto increase your productivity.

The above article was adapted from theAlaskan Transportation newsletter, Winter1989, Vol. 14, computer notes insert •

page 8

800-423-0060: we would be happy to sendyou a handbook with a copy of chapter VI ifyou don't have one already or if you need anextra to go into a truck's glove compart­ment).

There are five essential sections orseparate areas of a work zone that you needto be aware of:

• Advance WARNing Area­WARNs traffic what to expectahead

• Transition Area - begins toGUIDE traffic out of its normalpath

• Buffer Space - provides protectionfor traffic and workers

• Work Area• Termination Area - GUIDEs

traffic so the public can resumenormal driving

TERMINATION AREAleIS traffic resume normal driYklg

WORK AREA

BUFFER SPACEprovides protection lortraffic and

workers.

TRANSITION AREA

:\I\JM.ftJMt \ I ADVANCE WARNING AREA.~I/ \ U:I::{.'\ .JL !ells traffic whallo expect ahead.

:it.J\jfi:il,J\! JL t