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LITES.DOC
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1990-02-10
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168 lines
LITES -- Software Breakout Box
from
PC Magazine ..... March 14, 1989
--------------------------------
Purpose: Replaces an RS-232 breakout box by displaying the status of the
DTR, DSR, RTS, CTS, DCD, and RI pins; also indicates the data
rate, parity, number of data bits, and number of stop bits of
the serial port being monitored.
Format: LITES [comport] [U]
Remarks: LITES is a memory-resident utility that may be loaded either
at the DOS prompt or as part of an AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If no
commmunications port is specified, LITES defaults to COM1:.
The default hotkey is Alt-L, which alternately pops up and
cancels the on-screen display. Default display position is
the upper-right-hand corner of the screen. LITES can be
deinstalled by entering the optional u (or U) parameter.
DO NOT precede the u (or U) with a slash.
The various default options of LITES can be changed with
DEBUG.COM, as explained below. The available patch points, the
number of bytes allocated, and the default values are listed
below, as well.
Patch Points
------------
Function Address Bytes Default
-------- ------- ----- -------
Hotkey ID String 0155h 8 Alt-L
Hotkey Scan Code 0160h 1 26h
LITES Video Attribute 0161h 1 70h
LITES Display Row Number 0162h 1 0
LITES Display Column Offset 0163h 1 0
Refresh Frequency Counter 0164h 1 2
Default COM Port Designator 0165h 1 0
Hotkey Shift Mask 01A0h 1 8
Keyboard Scan Codes for Alternative Hotkeys
-------------------------------------------
+---+ +---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+
|Esc| |F1 |F2 |F3 |F4 | |F5 |F6 |F7 |F8 | |F9 |F10|F11|F12| |PSc|ScL|SyR|
| 01| | 3B| 3C| 3D| 3E| | 3F| 40| 41| 42| | 43| 44| 57| 58| | 37| 46| 54|
+---+ +---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------+ +---+---+---+---+
|~` |!1 |@2 |#3 |$4 |%5 |^6 |&7 |*8 |(9 |)10|_- |+= |BkS | |NLk|/ |* |- |
| 29| 02| 03| 04| 05| 06| 07| 08| 09| 0A| 0B| 0C| 0D| 2B| | 45| 35| 37| 4A|
+---+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-----+ +---+---+---+---+
|Tab |Q |W |E |R |T |Y |U |I |O |P |{[ |}] ||\ | |Hm7|8 |PU9|+ |
| 0F| 10| 11| 12| 13| 14| 15| 16| 17| 18| 19| 1A| 1B| 2B| | 47| 48| 49| |
+-----++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--+-----+ +---+---+---+ |
|CpL |A |S |D |F |G |H |J |K |L |:; |"' |Ent | |4 |5 |6 | |
| 3A| 1E| 1F| 20| 21| 22| 23| 24| 25| 26| 27| 28| 1C| | 4B| 4C| 4E| 4E|
+------++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--+--------+ +---+---+---+---+
|Shf |Z |X |C |V |B |N |M |<, |>. |?/ |Shf | |E1 |2 |PD3|Ent|
| 2A| 2C| 2D| 2E| 2F| 30| 31| 32| 33| 34| 35| 36| | 4F| 50| 51| |
+-----+-++--+--++---+---+---+---+---+---+--++---+-+--+------+ +---+---+---+ |
|Ctl | |Alt |Spc |Alt | |Ctl | |In0 |Del| |
| 1D| | 38| 39| 38| | 1D| | 52| 53| 1C|
+-----+ +-----+----------------------------+-----+ +------+ +-------+---+---+
Shift_Mask Value Table
----------------------
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
Alt.............................o..o..o..o..o..o..o..o
Ctrl................o..o..o..o..............o..o..o..o
LShft.........o..o........o..o........o..o........o..o
RShft......o.....o.....o.....o.....o.....o.....o.....o
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
o = key pressed
(Use the scan codes and shift masks shown here to modify LITES.COM
as described on the following pages.)
Using DEBUG.COM to change the Hotkey Scan Code and Shift Mask
-------------------------------------------------------------
The default hotkey, Alt-L, may conflict with other applications. To change
the hotkey FROM "Alt-L" to, say, "Cntl-F1", follow this DEBUG script:
DEBUG LITES.COM (invokes debug and loads LITES.COM)
E 0160 3B (sets hotkey as F1)
E 01A0 4 (sets shift mask as "control")
E 0155 "Cntl-F1" (changes installation display)
W (writes file back to disk)
Q (quits DEBUG)
IBM PC Color Codes
------------------
Code Color Code Color
---- ----- ---- -----
0 Black 8 Gray
1 Blue 9 Light Blue
2 Green A Light Green
3 Cyan B Light Cyan
4 Red C Light Red
5 Magenta D Light Magenta
6 Brown E Yellow
7 White F Bright White
Use DEBUG to change the byte at address 0161h; for example, changing that
byte to 4F produces bright white characters on a red background. Background
colors can have any value from 0 to 7, and foreground colors, any value from
0 to F.
To change the row in which the LITES display appears, change the byte at
address 0162h. The value may be from 0 to 24, representing rows counted
from top to bottom. The column offset at address 0163h moves the display
the designated number of columns away from the right edge of the screen.
To be ridiculous, the following DEBUG script puts the display in the center
of the screen:
DEBUG LITES.COM
E 0162 12
E 0163 40
W
Q
The default refresh frequency counter updates the LITES display every other
timer tick, or about 9 times per second. The freqency can be dropped to 1,
producing a refresh about 18 times per second, but the overhead is high. A
value in the range of 2 to 9 is about right. Use this DEBUG script to change
the refresh frequency to (approximately) 4 times per second:
DEBUG LITES.COM
E 0164 5
W
Q
If no [comport] parameter is entered on the command line, LITES defaults to
the value stored at 0165h. Unlike the command line, on which COM1 would be
designated by ASCII 1, the BIOS thinks of COM1 as port number 0, COM2 as port
number 1, and so forth. To change the default communications port to COM2,
use this DEBUG script:
DEBUG LITES.COM
E 0165 1
W
Q
Putting it all together, then, the following DEBUG script modifies LITES.COM
in the manner shown:
DEBUG LITES.COM (invokes debug and loads LITES.COM)
E 0155 "Cntl-F1" (changes installation display)
E 0160 3B (sets hotkey as F1)
E 0161 4F (Bright white on red display)
E 0162 0 (Display in Row 0 - top of screen)
E 0163 0 (Display at 0th column from right edge)
E 0164 9 (Display refresh every 9/18 second)
E 0165 1 (Defaults to COM2:)
E 01A0 4 (sets shift mask as "control")
W (writes file back to disk)
Q (quits DEBUG)
-------------------------- Information from PC Magazine -----------------------
-------------------------- March 14, 1989 pp 315ff -----------------------