well, i guess it is about time that someone spearhead the effort to NOT let the use of minitab commands die ... so, for the time being, that person will be me. today, i have created a new list ... out of the lists.psu.edu system at penn state, called [EMAIL PROTECTED] PLEASE PASS THIS INFORMATION ALONG TO ANY INSTRUCTORS AND/OR STUDENTS THAT YOU MIGHT KNOW ... "ANYONE" who is interested in joining, please feel free to browse the site http://f05n16.cac.psu.edu/archives/mtbcommands-l.html here you can sign up ... (you will need to go through the "rigamarole" once of getting an id and password) ... once that is done, you can use this link to posts posts ... or access the (i am sure will be mushrooming) archives ... if you have ANY problems with this, let me know ... since i am the list owner, i can help IF you are running into a problem of course, once subscribed ... you can post notes to the list in the usual way by sending something to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ========= the MAIN purpose of this new list is to allow for discussions about the use of the COMMAND LANGUAGE while using minitab. as you know, the current releases of minitab, and the corresponding documentation, essentially ignore using commands for doing work in minitab. in addition, new buyers and users of minitab, find it nearly impossible (unless someone shows them) to know that commands can be used AND, even if they "find that out", the amount of guidance within minitab's documentation TO using commands is trivial, AT BEST. this list is meant to be a small voice in the forest ... to reverse this state of affairs. however, it is NOT the intent of this list to try to persuade users TO use the command approach ... rather, the main focus is on making sure that users of minitab DO KNOW ABOUT THE FACT THAT USING COMMANDS is a functional way to operate within the environment of minitab. my goal is to try to introduce commands, in a rather introductory way ... and build on this as time goes on ... in some systematic way. thus, the emphasis will be on making this more like a mini course ... where we start off and ease into using commands ... and then continuing on to the use of commands in more complex ways ... for example, one of the first things i will talk about is HOW YOU GET THE PROMPT ACTIVATED ... since when you buy minitab, it comes from the "factory" DISabled as postings continue and as they might be relevant ... i will also be posting "graphics" and "other images" to my server ... like i have done on my other list ... introstat-l ... for the current list, this link will be (but nothing is there yet): http://roberts.ed.psu.edu/users/droberts/mtbcommands/ if you have any questions and/or suggestions about this list, please let me know at <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> thanks ... and please help me make this list a useful addition to the genre of using minitab to do one's analytical work! _________________________________________________________ dennis roberts, educational psychology, penn state university 208 cedar, AC 8148632401, mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://roberts.ed.psu.edu/users/droberts/drober~1.htm ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list and remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES are available at http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ =================================================================