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Text File | 1984-09-27 | 31KB | 697 lines

INTRUCTION/USERS MANUAL BRAND CONSULTANTS COMMUNICATION DIVISION BCOM VERSION 1.21, BETA RELEASE 1.00 COPYRIGHT (C) JULY 10, 1983 by: BRAND CONSULTANTS RFD 2, Box 123 Brattleboro, Vermont 05301 All Rights Reserved **************** F R E E W A R E ************************* * * * If you use this program and find it useful, a $30 * * donation is requested. If a corporation, and require * * an invoice, please ask, and one will be prepared * * according to your instructions. * * * ***************** L I C E N S E ************************** .PA * FORWARD * This is a new communications program designed for both novice and experienced communications people. It may not have all of the desired features for professional systems but will satisfy a broad base of those who need the more "everyday" type of program that can communicate with data services of all types including The SOURCE, CompuServe and the Freedom Network, or any services accessed by networks such as Tymnet and Telenet. We hope you find it an enjoyable experience using this program and are always willing to listen to your comments good, or bad, and will make every effort to solve your problems and make revisions to the program that will serve the best interests of all users. EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS 1) IBM-PC/XT Or Compatable computer that has the following accessories. 2) Asynchronous Communications Adapter Board 3) At least 128k RAM memory 4) Hayes Smartmodem or Similar modem (Bell 212A) 5) Either Color or Monochrome monitor 6) MS-DOS Ver. 1.10, 2.00 or 2.10 .pa FEATURES Up to 1200 baud operation with Odd, Even or No parity and 7 or 8 bit words, and 1 stop bit. Also supports a non standard speed of 450 baud, which has become common on some of the private Bulletin Boards in operation. This speed is possible with the Hayes 300 baud modem. Send and receive ASCII files from disk. Send and receive binary or interpreted BASIC programs using the verify or XMODEM protocol with line by line checksum & re-transmission of lines with detected errors. Automatic answer mode, with password protection. Chat or other operations such as upload/download from remote without operator attention. Self test for both Answer and Originate modes. Tests both the program and modem. Dialing directory with capacity of 45 numbers and 3 long- distance access codes and parameter setting for each number. Can also be used to dial voice lines and have the modem go off line after dialing is complete. Manual dialing is also included. Automatic redial of last number dialed, every 30 seconds. User definable Alt + key entries, with up to 40 character entries plus a carriage return, for passwords...etc. In-program stripping of Line Feeds and Form Feeds plus additional user definable strip and replace functions. Menus for Alternate keys, Dialing Directory, Mode Control and Files Upload and Downloading are presented on Screens other than the "On-line" screen, so you never lose your place while on-line. Log of calls made, to whom, phone numbers, parameters with time, date and length of call recorded on disk. This can be printed to the screen or to a printer. .pa STARTING THE PROGRAM Before we get to the point of actually starting the program there must be some consideration to the modem, its RS-232 cable, and switch settings. The built in modem instruction commands, make the modem ignore most switch settings, and for the experienced, these can be changed in the program to suit your particular needs. We suggest the following settings for the Hayes 300 or 1200 modems. Switch # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Set U U D D D U U D (Up or Down) Some dealers will sell you an RS-232 cable, that has jumpers across some of the pins. This is commonally used with some types of serial input printers, that do not support all of the terminals in the serial port. These cables may or may not work with this program. Our suggestion is to use a pin for pin wired cable, using the 8 or 9 pins according to the modem instruction manual. If you have any problems with the program, particularly in the Automatic Answer Mode, the cable is the place to start looking for the solution. STARTING UP On your disk there are 4 files: 1) BCOM121.EXE - This is the main program 2) BCOM121.OVL - Binary Screen file 3) BCOMANS1.EXE - Auto Answer program 4) BCOM121.DOC - This document The following will be written to your disk: 1) LDCODE.DAT - Long distance access codes and modem dial command code file. 2) DIALCOM.DAT - File of Telephone numbers 3) COMCODE.DAT - Alt + key entries you make. 4) ANSCOM.DAT - When using Auto-Answer mode. 5) MESSAGES.TXT - Should someone leave a message. A sixth file CALLOG.DAT will be written to the disk if you use the Call Logging feature. To get started, format a disk and transfer the System, COMMAND.COM and FORMAT.COM files to the formatted disk. Then using COPY *.* copy all files from the BCOMM disk to your newly formated disk. This is the disk you will use for everyday work. Put the BCOM disk away, and only use it to make new "everyday" disks when required. .pa Create an AUTOEXEC.BAT file (See IBM BASIC manual) to allow your program to start automatically. Now with your everyday disk in A drive, press Ctrl + Alt + Del keys all at once and the program will "boot". You will be asked to enter the Date and Time. If you have a Real Time Clock feature, you may want to re-do the AUTOEXEC.BAT file to enter the command to automatically enter Date and Time. If you do not enter correct time and date, when asked, the Log of Calls made, will not be correct, but the program will not otherwise be affected. At this point you will want to explore the features of the program, so we will give you a Key by Key description of what happens. You will notice that when the program has finished booting, there is a Blue border and the line at the top of the scree will say, "Ready to Run" "CAPS LOCK ON" This is telling you that your communications file is open and you may give commands to the modem. It also has forced the Caps Lock state On so that no matter what state it was in, it now will print all Capitols, since this is the only language the Modem will understand. You will not see anything on the screen if you type, as the Terminal Echo is off, and the Modem Echo is off if you have not changed the Defaults as shipped from the factory. More on this later. .pa QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE Detailed Description Page <F1> DSAVE - This allows either ASCII or XMODEM download........7 <F2> DSEND - This access the ASCII or XMODEN upload section.....9 <F3> PRNTR - Toggles printer On or Off line.....................9 <F4> PRTY - Allows on-line change of Parity settings...........9 <F5> BAUD - Allows on-line change of Baud rate.................9 <F6> DIAL - Accesses Dialing Directorys.......................10 <F7> RDIAL - Causes Re-dial of last number dialed..............11 <F8> ALTRN - Displays Alternate Key Listings...................12 <F9> MODE - Use to change mode. Display Call log..............13 <F10> EXIT - Permits exit to DOS or restart BCOM121............14 Alt + B - Send true spacing break down line....................12 Alt + E - Toggles Terminal Echo On/Off.........................12 Alt + S - Selects Stripping Options (NOT OPERATIONAL)..........13 Home - Send Bell (Beep or CHR$(7)) down line................13 End - Causes modem to hang-up, Records call in Call Log....13 Exits Self Test modes - Nothing entered in Call Log. NOTE: The function keys are disabled as soft keys in this program, and therefore will only function when the key list is displayed at the bottom of the screen. This is only while the On-line screen is up on the screen. .pa <F1> DSAVE Function key F1 has the above description located on line 25 of your screen. This key will start the Save to Disk feature. When pressed you will be asked for the filename under which you wish to save the downloaded file or data. The default disk is always "B:" but you can change this by simply specifying the disk to be used,in the file- name you enter. If you decide not to download or pushed this function key by mistake, just press <ENTER> and you will be taken back to the On-Line screen. Otherwise enter the file- name, followed by the <ENTER> key, and then you will be asked for the method you wish to use for download. You have three choices in this version: ENTER: 0 to quit download. 1 for ASCII download. 2 for XMODEM download. If you enter the name of a file, that already exists you will be asked if you want to Append that file: Overwrite the file: or enter a New file name. In XMODEM you should never try to Append a file. If you enter the name of an existing file, you will be given a chance to list the files on any of your disks, so that you may choose a unique filename. ASCII DOWNLOADING Before you left the on-line screen, you should have at least mentally stored the instructions from the host machine on what characters are to be used to pause or stop the host from sending. The program will take care of sending XOFF and XON characters while it is running, but because of its speed, this should never be needed. Once you have entered the filename, you will see the message on line 25, that ASCII File [filename] is open to receive - <F1> to Abort. There will also be a message that tells you to press a Carriage Return to start the download. Press the Carriage Return key, and you will then begin to see the file you are downloading listed on your screen. When the file is complete, press F1 to close the file and return you to the On-Line screen. You may or may not need to enter another sequence to cause the host to stop or continue. If you want to stop or abort the transfer before it is complete, press F1 anytime. But be ready to enter what- ever Control sequence the Host computer needs to stop sending, as soon as you are back with the On-Line Screen. .pa XMODEM DOWNLOAD XMODEM is used when you want to be sure that data is received as accurately as possible. It is similar to CPM-Modem, or binary transfer. In short data is sent in blocks of 128 characters with 3 heading characters and a checksum character at the end, for a total of 132 characters. The receiver checks the 3 heading characters to be sure they agree, then adds the ASCII value of all characters and checks against the checksum transmitted. If they all agree, the receiver then sends and acknowledgement to the transmitter for the next block. If they don't agree, then the receiver asks for re-trans- mission of the last block. This can be done up to 10 times before the program aborts. This is a safety to warn you that a bad connection exists and further time on the line will probably be wasted. When you are sending or receiving in XMODEM you will not see the data on the screen. Instead you will see a message telling you that block #... has been sent or has been received and verified. There are a number of errors that can occur while XMODEM is in operation, and each type of error has its own message ie; Short Block Error - means less than 128 characters have been received. Long Block Error - means more than 128 character have been received. Checksum Error - means the checksum calculated by your system is different than sent. Block Number Error - the block number in the heading is not what it should be. Complement Error - this heading character is the binary complement of the Block Number. Just a double check against incorrect data. Heading Error - the first character in the heading is not correct. Normally there is nothing to worry about if one or more of these errors occurs, but if they continually repeat or you get more than one or two during a file, you would be better to terminate the transfer, and re-dial for a better connection. XMODEM downloading is entirely automatic, once you have opened the file under the name you desire. The closing of the file and return to the ON-line screen will be done by the computer - go have a cup of coffer or...! Starting the download is the same as ASCII, except enter option #2, and then the file name for the file to be saved under. Include the drive desiginator if you want to save it to a disk other than the default disk. .pa <F2> DSEND F2 is used when you want to upload or transmit a file to another computer, bulletin board or...? Operation of transmitting is exactly the same as receiving except you must know the name of the file you want to send. If you can't remember, just enter a non- sense name, and the program will give you a chance to list the files on any disk. ASCII files will start sending as soon as you enter the filename, and your file will be closed automatically when it reaches the end. You will be returned to the On-line screen, where you can follow the instructions of the host to close its file and continue. XMODEM upload is automatic the same as XMODEM download, and requires no attention from you until it is complete. <F3> PRNTR F3 will toggle output to your printer ON or OFF. You will not leave the ON-LINE screen, but a message saying PRINTER ON or PRINTER OFF will be printed. You can use a print spooler program with this if you want to run your printer will on-line. If you have a high speed dot matrix printer such as Epson MX-80 you will find that you can run it on line with no spooler at 300 baud and it will keep up with the pace. This is because the data is dumped a line at a time to the print buffer. <F4> PARITY This allows you to switch parity while on-line. You will be switched to an off-line screen, and be given the choice of Even, Odd or No parity. If you select Even or Odd you will then be asked for the number of Data bits. If you select N or No parity, the program will automatically give you 8 data bits. One stop bit is default for all situations, as this is the most common configuration for most communications. <F5> BAUD This allows you to change baud rate while on-line. Like the parity, you will be switched to an Off-line screen where the baud rates from 300 to 1200 are listed by number. Simply press the number in front of the rate you want. The change is almost instantaneous, and you will be returned to the ON-LINE screen. Since the communications file is not closed to do this, there is no loss of signal and you can stay on line all the time. .pa <F6> DIAL F6 gives access to the dialing function Main Menu, and from there to the 3 lists of phone numbers. Here you will be switched to an off-line screen for the menu, and a different screen for the phone lists. This is so that the last list you used remains on that screen, and will be returned immediately when selected. This is the Main Dialing Menu: DIALING ADD/REVISE MENU # MENU # ----------- -------------------- 0) Cancel 5) Long Distance Codes 1) Menu 1 6) Menu #1 2) Menu 2 7) Menu #2 3) Menu 3 8) Menu #3 Press number - of desired operation The Main Menu also allows you to change the Long Distance access codes #2 and #3. This is the layout for the Long Distance codes. Select #5 to Add/Change codes 2 & 3, the others are fixed. Long Distance code 0 is for local dialing. Long Distance code 1 is 1 and cannot be changed. code 2 is your choice code 3 is your choice If you use a modem with delay symbols, such as a comma used by Hayes, then this is the place to insert these for access to systems such as MCI or SPRINT. You may enter up to 40 characters in codes 2 and 3. Example: 9994567,,,,,56545 901 5551212 ------- --- ----- --- ------- | | | | |_ Phone number | | | |_ Area Code | | |_ MCI/Sprint access code | |_ Hayes delay (2 seconds per comma) |_ Local phone number for MCI or SPRINT access The spaces are not needed and do nothing for the modem but you may want to include them for readability. .pa To add or change numbers, press 6,7 or 8 for the dialing directory you wish to change. The directory will then be called up on the screen, and at the bottom, you will be asked if you want to Revise/Add: (N)ame (L)ong Distance code (P)hone # (S)ettings (A)ll (E)rase If you are just entering for the first time, press A for All, the program will then ask each one of the questions, Name,Long Distance code, Phone #...etc. (S)ettings is the Baud,Parity,Word size,Stop bits you will use to comm- unicate with the party called. Enter each, with a comma between (if you use less than 1200 baud, the comma's in the guide line, will be out of place..don't worry about that, just enter your own commas, as the ones in the guide line will not be copied to the list.) When you are through, enter 0 and the program will then switch to a different screen, and ask if you want the changes to be made permanent. Enter P if you want them permanent,and the entries will be stored on disk. If you just press ENTER, the entries will be in effect only until you exit the program. This permits you to make temporary changes, without affecting the values you have saved on your disk. Once you have made your entries, it is not necessary to change or re-write the whole line, just press the key for the item you wish to change, such as S for Settings. Erase will delete the whole line. <F7> RDIAL Function key F7 will re-dial the last number you dialed with the dialing menu selected with F6. It will continue re-dialing every 30 seconds, until connection is made or you press any other key. If you were connected to a system, and changed baud or parity while connected, the re-dial will cancel that setting and return to the settings you have entered on the dialing directory, or are using as a temporary command. This will prevent you from re-dialing into a system at a non-standard setting, such as 450 baud. .pa Once the modem returns a CONNECT, the re-dial will terminate automatically, and will send a single carriage return (CHR$(13)) down the line. If you have entered a semicolon (;) after the phone number you are dialing or re-dialing. The program will wait 15 seconds and then cause the modem to hang-up. This is to allow you to enter voice lines into the directory, and use the program to dial (or re-dial) those numbers. Once the number is dialed, you may pick up your phone, and the program will shut down the modem so that you will not have to pay any attention to it. Dialing and Re-dialing take place on the On-line screen. <F8> ALTRN Pressing F8 will bring the Alternate Key list to the screen. This may be done anytime, the key list is on the bottom of the screen, and will not affect what is going on with the on-line screen. Once the Alternate key list is on the screen, pressing the space bar will return to the on-line screen. To enter definitions for the Alternate keys, press R when the Alternate Key list is on the screen. At the bottom an instruction will tell you to press Alt+Key you want to define. Then a guide line will be printed on the bottom, and you may type in the definition you want for that combination. Putting a back-slash (\) at the end will cause the program to enter a carriage return after the entry. To delete and entry, select the entry as if you were going to put data into it, then type enough spaces to blank out the current entry, or if you are changing an entry, type in the new data plus enough spaces to blank out the current data. When these are stored (if you make them permanent, same as the dialing directory) then the existing data will automatically be deleted when it is stored. At the right you will see that some keys have fixed definitions. You cannot change these. Alt + B - Sends a true spacing break as required by some mainframe machines. Alt + E - Turns terminal Echo ON or OFF. This is terminal Echo, and not a modem Echo. This is normally only used in Half Duplex connections or where the host machine does not echo your transmissions back to you. This may be done at any time and a message will be printed on the screen indicating ECHO ON or ECHO OFF. Home - Pressing the Home key (on the number pad) will send a Beep (Bell) down the line. This is commonly used when Telex or TWX information services are accessed to tell one another, that you are through typing. This can also be used in the Chat mode, when you are typing to another person, and wish to indicate you are through, and it is his turn. End - Pressing the End key (on the number pad) will cause the program to send the sequence of commands to the modem to return to command state and hang-up the line. It also tells the call log to record the time to disk. (more on this later) <F9> MODE Key F9 brings the Mode selection menu to the screen. This allows you to select several different modes of operation. The most commonly used is Originate Mode, and is the Mode that the system boots-up. AUTOMATIC ANSWER Auto-Answer operates at one parity set only: N - No parity 8 - 8 Data bits 1 - 1 stop bit It will sense your baud rate and match either 300 or 1200 baud. Automatic Answer Mode allows you to set the computer on- line waiting for a call. It will ask you to enter the number of rings to wait, before answering, followed by a question as to what password you wish to use. Entering 0 will eliminate use of any password. There is no limit to size of the password or characters used. Just remember that, to gain access, the caller must enter the same upper/lower case letters, that you enter here. Both the number of rings and the password are saved in the file ANSCOM.DAT, so that if you want your machine to stay on line for long periods of time, and wish it to re-boot after a power failure, this can be accomplished by writting an AUTOEXEC.BAT file specifying BCOMANS1.EXE as the file to start running. ANSCOM.DAT is prohibited from download by any caller. Once a carrier is returned, the caller will be asked for a password (if you specified one). If the password is correct the Main Menu will be listed. The caller will be given three chances to enter the right password before the system hangs-up on him. Once the correct password is entered, the caller will be shown a menu of functions available. These functions are: A) List files on Disk A B) List files on Disk B C) List files on Disk C D) Download a file U) Upload a file M) Leave a message O) Page the Operator G) Quit the call (Goodbye) The letters A,B...G must be entered in capitals by the caller, and no Carriage Return is necessary. PLEASE NOTE: This is not meant to be a Bulletin Board system. It allows more freedom to the caller, than most bulletin board systems, and suggest you don't use it as such. The caller has unlimited access to all files on all disks (except the ANSCOM.DAT file) and can overwrite an existing file. AUTOMATIC TEST (Hayes Modems Only) This mode issues a command to the modem, that puts it into a loop-back state. That is, what you type is sent to the modem, that turns it around and sends it back to the computer. This allows you to test both the modem and the communications port, as well as the program for proper operation. The transmission will be at the Baud and Parity you select, so that you may test different rates if you suspect a problem. PRINT CALL LOG TO SCREEN When you are in the Originate mode, the program stores data on who you called the time and date of the call, and if you pressed the End key, when you are done, saves this data as well as the length of the call to disk. To view the entire log to screen, select this number, and the log will be printed on the screen. PRINT CALL LOG TO PRINTER This is the same as the printing the call-log to the screen except it will be printed to the printer. It is not necessary to turn the printer on with F3, but you must have your printer On or nothing will be printed, and the program may display an error message. From the BCOMANS1.EXE program, messages left by callers can be listed to the screen or printer, the same as the Call Log data, as above. <F10> EXIT F10 will shut down the modem, and ask if you want to exit to DOS or Re-start the BCOM121 program again. Simply select the number in front of the routine you wish. PLEASE NOTE: If you have added data to your dialing menu or changed or added anything to your alternate key menu you should exit the program by pushing F10 as this will save the correct screen data to the BCOM121.OVL file. ----------------------------------------------------------- .pa The BCOM programs are available only in compiled form, as the source code is written in structured basic for the compiler, and will not run as an interpreted program. We have purposely "locked" the defaults for the program so that it will be easier to use. We have used it with a wide variety of systems, Compuserve, Source, many Bulletin Boards, Graphnet, Telex, just to name a few, and have had no problems with the default settings. If you experience difficulty in downloading a correct version of the main programs, send one formatted disk to BRAND Consultants, at the address listed in the beginning, and we will write the programs to the disk for you. Bruce D. Anderson