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Text File | 1995-09-08 | 78.1 KB | 1,454 lines

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │░ │ ──────────────────────────────────────── │░ │ │░ │ RIPterm Pro Test Drive v2.11.00 │░ │ │░ │ ──────────────────────────────────────── │░ │ │░ │ │░ │ September 7, 1995 │░ │ │░ │ │░ │ Copyright (c) 1992-95, TeleGrafix Communications, Inc. │░ │ All Rights Reserved │░ │ │░ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒▒ Program Requirements ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ RIPterm requires that you be using an 80386 or higher IBM-PC compatible computer system running MS-DOS version 3.0 or higher. You must have at least 2Mb of memory in the system configured as XMS memory (EMS memory is not recognized). A hard disk is also required. You must have an EGA or greater video adapter and a modem connected to serial port COM1 through COM4. A mouse and a color monitor are not required, but are strongly recommended. This software is a 32-bit protected mode application that takes advantage of the 80386 microprocessor's features and capabilities. It requires and makes use of extended memory. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒▒ RIPterm Test Drive Installation ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ RIPterm Test Drive must be installed via the INSTALL.BAT program provided. It may not run correctly if it is just UNZIPped. Just type INSTALL and press ENTER. RIPterm is installed into the C:\RIPTERM directory ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒▒ Changes in This Release ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 09/07/95 - Release v2.11.00 Changes: Basic Terminal Changes and Bug Fixes ------------------------------------ - Increased the speed of JPEG displays by about 20%!!!! - Fixed a major problem with the audio board detection system. In previous releases, there were all sorts of problems properly recognizing Sound Blaster 16, ASP-16 and AWE-32 boards. Now they should be properly recognized under nearly all circumstances. - Fixed a problem with the saving of keystroke macros. For some users, they were getting crashes whenever they saved keystroke macros to a macro file. This should now be fixed. - Made a slight change to the DOS shell system - when shelled to DOS, it no longer modifies the DOS prompt with the [RIPterm] message. This should help out people who lose their environment variable settings when they're shelled to DOS (e.g., losing the PATH, PROMPT and other environment variables). - Fixed a slight annomoly with the main terminal screen. If you did an ATDT to connect to a RIPscrip system, the graphics could be incorrectly displayed in the upper-left hand corner, when they should have been full screen. - When using the TAB button to navigate through the mouse fields, you can now see them considerably easier than before - the colors aren't so "blended" with the background image. - Added a new debug option which used to be present in RIPterm 1.54, but was a "hidden" option. The new option is the "Show Mouse Fields" option. When you activate this option, all mouse fields that are currently defined on the screen are highlighted, showing their host commands, what type of mouse field they are, the field number, and if defined for the mouse field, the mouse field's ID value. - Added an option to the modem settings dialog to control whether a 16550 UART is used. Normally, RIPterm will auto-detect a 16550 and use it if it finds it. If you want to disable this normal behaviour though, you may turn "Use 16550 UARTs" off in the modem settings dialog to disable this functionality. - Fixed a problem with ASCII-encoded binary data objects. When receiving a binary file without a 16550, in a previous edition of RIPterm you could get errors quite easily. Now, it waits until the file is complete before it processes it (only without a 16550 UART). Changes and Bug Fixes to RIPscrip --------------------------------- - Fixed a major problem with buttons and world coordinates. If a graphics screen was created with RIPaint 2.0 (1.99+), everything was displayed at a world coordinate system of 1280x960, and at the end of the screen, the world coordinate system is reset back to 640x350. However, if you have buttons on that screen (i.e., a menu), it was possible that when you clicked on one of the buttons, the world coordinate system would get reset back to 1280x960 when it really shouldn't have been. This was due to the fact that buttons have to remember the world coordinate system that was in use at the time that they were created (for the fonts and the drawing of the button itself). When you clicked on the button, the world coordinate system had to be restored back to what it was when the button was created so that the fonts are properly displayed (at the correct point size). The problem with 2.10.00 and earlier versions was that the world coordinate system wasn't being restored BACK to the 640x350 settings when the button click was complete! This caused things like scenes displayed after the button click to appear in the upper-left hand corner of the screen. Sorry 'bout this folks, 'tis fixed now. - The RIP_COPY_BLIT command was broken in 2.10.00. It was not properly copying the requested graphics data from one location to another. Now it does. - Improved the functionality of the "resident queries". Now resident queries are not "pre-empted" by heavy serial port activity. If a large amount of data is being received, resident queries and mouse fields that are currently on the screen will get a "shot" at being clickable (i.e., mouse clicks are not "ignored" during this time period like the used to be). - Added the ability to give mouse fields and button mouse fields an ID value from 0-32767. This, coupled with a new text variable named $FIELDID$ should give application developers the ability to quickly determine exactly which mouse field was clicked (without having to make heads or tails of the return string). This new feature is primarily targetted at the next feature. - Added two new resident query modes - mouse entry and mouse exit. These two queries are activated when the mouse moves into or out of a mouse field that has an ID value associated with it. Want to do something with your host that updates a display when the mouse moves into or out of a mouse field (like a status bar)? If so, then this is the ticket for you. - Added two new options to the $RESET(QUERY,...)$ text variable. The two new options are ENTRY and EXIT to reset any resident queries for the mouse entry or mouse exit queries respectively. - Fixed a problem where the RIP_VIEWPORT command would reject any coordinates greater than the resolution of the screen. In other words, this command didn't properly recoganize large world coordinate systems where an X or Y value could be greater than the resolution of the screen in the same direction respectively. - Fixed a bug with RIP_ENTER_BLOCK_MODE when displaying images. When an image is displayed with the block mode, and the image style says to delete the file when its finished, RIP_ENTER_BLOCK_MODE wasn't deleting the file. Now it is. - Added a new "wallpaper" mode to the RIP_LOAD_BITMAP and the RIP_IMAGE_STYLE commands. When in these modes, any image displayed will automatically "wallpaper" the currently defined viewport. An optional flag allows you to stagger the images so that you don't build up a repeating pattern (wallpapers the viewport like a brick wall). - Added two new keywords to the $IMGSTYLE$ text variable - WALLPAP to enable wallpapering, and STAGGER to activate a staggered wallpapering scheme. - Fixed a problem when viewing JPEGs when the color palette has been modified. In prior releases, the JPEG image was displayed with its colors completely corrupted. Now, it displays as best it can in whatever color palette might be in use at any given moment in time. - Fixed a problem with the $RESET(PAL)$ family of text variables. If the palette you are trying to reset happens to be the currently active palette, now the actual palette used by the video card is reset, not just the data table. - Added a new capability to the $RESET(MOUSE,...)$ command. You can now specify a number to reset a specific mouse field ID number (e.g., $RESET(MOUSE,513)$ to delete mouse field with the ID number of #513). - The RIP_TEXT_METRIC command now recognizes $TEXTDATA$ as the source for its statistics. Miscellaneous Changes and Bug Fixes ----------------------------------- - Significantly sped up the performance of list boxes throughout the software. This includes the list of systems in the dialing directory, keystroke macro list, video board list, printer list, and every other location where there's a scrolling list of items to choose from. In previous editions of the software, clicking on one of the items would redraw the entire list box. Now, only the affected item(s) are updated - the bottom line with this is that if you open up a dialog with a list box on it, and click on one of the items quickly (you don't hold down the mouse pointer very long), the mouse click should now register the click on the item you clicked on. On a performance level, the updated performance of the list box system is probably over 1000% faster! - Fixed a problem with "Spin Buttons" in the dialog system. These controls are the number fields that have the up and down arrows on them to adjust the values. If you were editing a value with the keyboard, and hit TAB/SHIFT tab to jump to another field, the field would reset back to the previous value. Not anymore. - Fixed a couple of other bugs with Spin Buttons in the GUI. Under certain circumstances, a Spin Button that was highlighted, wouldn't allow you to type in numeri digits. Under similar situations, when you were actually editing the numbers with the keyboard, it wouldn't accept the PGUP, PGDN, UP or DOWN arrow keys. Now these circumstances work the way that you'd think they do. Also, you can hit ENTER after editing the number and have the dialog box not close itself. - Changed the appearance of most arrows used in the windowing and dialog box system of RIPterm. What used to appear as "sunken" gray arrows in scrollbars and in dropdown menu boxes are now "crisp" looking black arrows. No more clunkly looking arrows. - Made it so that you can now click anywhere inside of a pop-down menu box - not just on the down-arrow button. This makes the GUI more like Microsoft Windows. 08/13/95 - Release v2.10.00 Changes: Basic Terminal Changes and Bug Fixes ------------------------------------ - Added a warning system into RIPterm when you attempt to set the software to a baud rate above 19,200 without a 16550 UART serial port present. If you don't have a 16550 UART, using the software at baud rates exceeding 19,200 will cause erratic behaviour with the communications. - Added a new feature to the General Settings dialog. The new option is a data field for "extra icon directories". This let's you instruct RIPterm to search additional directories for its icon, sound, photo and RIP files. This is most often used with online services that provide CD-ROMs with all of their resources on it (huge WAVE files, mounds of icons, etc). Consult RIPTERM.DOC for more information on this new option. - Fixed a problem where a 16550 UART chip wasn't being properly detected in all situations. - Updated sound drivers have been added to the software. The new sound drivers should clear up a lot of problems with the Sound Blaster series of audio board, as well as a number of compatible cards. Specifically, lock-up problems with the Sound Blaster 16 series of boards. Some auto-sensing problems with various other Sound Blaster series boards was also resolved. Some memory problems were also resolved with the audio drivers. Some Pro Audio Spectrum 16 boards (set in stereo mode) were playing back at the wrong speed, making audio sound like it's being played in fast forward, or in slow motion. Also some Sound Blaster problems were resolved after running the software in a DOS box of Windows or OS/2. - Added some new command line options to make RIPterm go into setup mode. The new option is -U to force RIPterm into full setup mode. This makes RIPterm appear as if you're installing from scratch and asks you to enter information for video mode, COM port, printer and your audio board. The benefit of this mode is that you don't have to delete your RIPTERM.CNF in order to reconfigure the software. There are some additional options if you only want to configure one piece of RIPterm. The following options may be specified after the -U option: V ... Perform video setup C ... COM port setup P ... Printer setup A ... Audio setup To go into a particular setup mode, choose the -U option followed by one of the above characters (e.g., -UV for video setup, -UVC for video and COM port setup). - Created a SETUP program that should automate the process of running through RIPterm setup. This should make life a bit easier to get into setup. - Implemented the SORT option in the dialing directory. When you choose this option, you are presented with five different ways to sort your directory: 1. By system name 2. By system phone number 3. By the notes field 4. By the last call date 5. By the total number of calls In addition, you can control whether the sorting should be in ascending order, or in descending order. - Removed the CONFIG button from the dialing directory (it didn't do anything anyway). Replaced it with a new button which does perform an operation - it swaps the positions of two entries in the dialing directory. This allows you to re-arrange entries in your dialing directory quickly and easily. - Added a new command line option, the -X option. When you use this option, RIPterm will exit to DOS as soon as a connection with the BBS is lost (i.e., when carrier detect goes from high to low). This is most useful when combined with the -D option which dials a specific dialing directory entry upon bootup. Used in this way, you bootup RIPterm which dials the host system, and when the connection is broken, RIPterm immediately exits to DOS. - Fixed a bug with the DOS shell system. If your COMMAND.COM could not be found when searching your DOS PATH, the DOS shell system would fail with a message saying "Bad command or file name". Now, the DOS shell system properly checks the COMSPEC environment variable to determine the location of COMMAND.COM. - Completely re-engineered the printer system of RIPterm. The new printer system has built-in drivers for 142 distinctly different types of printers, covering well over 1000 unique brands and models of printers. With "compatible" printers (e.g., Epson FX compatible, HP Laserjet, Postscript, etc), the list of compatible printers goes into the many thousands. The new printer system supports full color printing, arbitrary sizing for printed images, serial printers, brightness adjustment, numerous dithering methods for custom output alteration, different printer I/O methods for those troublesome printers (e.g., network printers, "not quite compatible" printers, etc). Also added are the options for changing the printer's resolution (if allowed by your printer) and many other such options that make your world of printers easier to manage. Consult the section on Printer Setup in the documentation RIPTERM.DOC. - Fixed a problem when RIPterm dials the modem. If the carrier detect signal was already high before dialing started, the dialing system would see this as a successful connection and clear the dialing window immediately. This could cause you not to get logged on by missing the CONNECT message or other such things. Now, if the carrier detect signal is on before the phone number is sent to the modem, RIPterm will rely solely on a CONNECT message to determine if you connected successfully. If RIPterm is set up to use a direct serial link instead of a modem (i.e., a Null Modem configuration), RIPterm will always check the carrier detect signal since many serial links keep the carrier detect signal high at all times and ignoring it would make it so that you never connect. - Fixed a small problem with dialing the modem when using serial port configurations. In older versions of RIPterm, it would send "ATDT", followed by the phone number, then a carriage return (or your current prefix and suffixes). Now, it only sends the phone number followed by a carriage return (always). No prefix or suffix settings are used in direct serial connections. - Removed the OK button from the dialing status window. Its use was confusing to the user. The CANCEL button does everything you need in this situation, it aborts the dialing process. The concept of OK in the dialing status window was redundant. - Added a command line option (-V), which when specified will instruct the software not to scan for files that are "out of place". This makes it so that if there's a .BMP file in the RIPTERM directory that isn't RIPTERM.BMP, the system won't prompt you every time you load the software to move the file to the icons directory. - When RIPterm displays the command line format screen or exits with some kind of error, the shutdown banner showing TeleGrafix information is no longer shown. It is only shown during a normal error-free shutdown. - Moved all of the .IMG files from the FONTS\ sub-directory into the resource file. - Fixed a problem with RIPterm's use of temporary files. Temporary files are created when large portions of memory are needed in the JPEG system and the dialog/windowing system. In previous versions, the software would first look for environment variables TMP and TEMP for directory locations to store the files. One of the things fixed is that if the software crashed, the next time it was loaded, it didn't delete any temporary files in these directories created in the last session of RIPterm. Another bug fix happened when the location where temporary files was low on disk space. If the disk ran out of space while trying to create the temporary file, RIPterm did not correctly detect this and things like dialog boxes would not display or erase properly. Now, if it runs out of disk space, the dialog shouldn't be displayed at all - but rather, an error message should be displayed. This out of disk space problem happened very easily if you have TMP or TEMP pointing to a RAM disk where the RAM disk usually only has a relatively small amount of disk space associated with it, and consequently the temporary files could easily fill up the drive (especially in higher resolutions)! - RIPterm now looks for an environment variable named RIPTEMP to store its temporary files for JPEG and virtual memory. It looks for the RIPTEMP environment variable before it checks TMP and TEMP. This allows you to point RIPterm to a temporary directory on a hard disk with plenty of disk space in the event that TMP or TEMP are pointing to a RAM disk with little remaining disk space. - Made it so when a dialog box or window is being shown or erased, the mouse cursor (if any) is changed to an hourglass shape to show the user that something is happening. When RAM is abundant, the mouse shouldn't be changed for more than a brief moment. If on the other hand, disk memory must be used to save the window/dialog's background, the hourglass shape is a good reminder that something is actually happening. - If you have a custom color palette, and a pop-up message or dialog appeared to query you for a simple thing like a string of text or a number, it was very possible for the dialog to be displayed in the wrong colors (i.e., not in grays, whites and blacks). This is now fixed. - Fixed a problem with the dialog system. If there was insufficient memory or disk space to show a dialog on the screen, the RIPterm used to show the options on the dialog (superimposed on the normal graphics screen). Now, you properly receive an insufficient memory error message. - Fixed a problem with data entry fields in the dialog system. If a data field was selected, and no data was in it, you wouldn't get the blue highlight around the data and you didn't get a cursor. In other words, there was no visual indication that you were currently inside that data entry field and that it was active. Now you can tell because the cursor should appear properly. - All "pop-down" option boxes in the RIPterm now accept hotkeys for "quick selecting" the options in the pop-downs. This also means that the list of protocols displayed when choose PGDN or PGUP (i.e., upload or download a file) also has hotkey support now). - There were four separate ways of changing the Mouse Field Select option in RIPterm - General Settings, the Options menu, the $TABON/OFF$ text variables, and the $OPTION(TAB,ON/OFF)$ variable. Each of these ways of changing this option did not properly modify the internal mouse field select setting. Now it does. Also, mouse field select wasn't properly being read-in from setup during bootup. Now it does. - Removed the "ghosted" options "Hide User-ID/Password" and "Restricted access" in the dialing directory editor. They were ghosted and haven't been implemented yet. They were removed to not confuse new users (thinking to themselves, how do I turn these things on?) - Removed the "BIOS INT 14" option from the Modem Settings dialog. This option was ghosted because the functionality of INT 14 support is currently not available in the serial drivers used by RIPterm. When RIPterm was originally released (e.g., v2.00.00), it was thought that the manufacturer of the serial drivers would have it implemented by now, but alas, they haven't. We've removed it from the configuration so it doesn't make people think that it is actually a part of the standard software. NOTE: We are still bugging the serial driver manufacturer to death to implement this much needed option!!!!!! - Removed the "external protocol" options on the External Application editor dialog. When these options are actually implemented, they will be returned to this editor dialog box. - Moved the VT-102 on/off checkbox option to the Modem Settings dialog. It truly belonged "grouped" together with the "Destructive backspace" and the "Backspace sends Del" options. - Toggling VT-102 on and off now automatically changes the status of the "Destructive backspace" and "Backspace sends DEL" options. This is because 99% of all systems that don't use VT-102, need a destructive backspace and need the backspace key to send a ASCII 8 character (backspace), whereas VT-102 compliant systems traditionally require non-destructive backspacing, and for the backspace key to act as the delete key. Changing these options doesn't mean that you can't get a custom configuration of backspace options, you just have to set them AFTER you adjust the VT-102 settings! - Changed the extension of the font file used for the ANSI text window. This file used to be called RIPTERM.FNT in previous releases, but now it is called RIPTERM.MAF (for Micro Ansi Font). This was done for technical support reasons. If the user mistakenly downloads the RIPterm test drive and unZIPs it without the -d option, all files are "lumped" into the current directory - including all .FNT files normally stored in the FONTS\ sub-directory. This caused a problem if the user wanted to manually fix things by copying the correct .FNT files into the FONTS\ directory. We changed the text window file to .MAF so it isn't confused with the other font filenames. - Made a change to the keystroke macro system - when you save your macros to a file, you are no longer presented with a couple of confusing and misleading questions about macro types and emulation modes. Now, you enter the filename, and if it exists, it prompts you to overwrite the file. This is all that's necessary to save your macros to disk now. - Fixed a minor problem when removing temporary files at startup or shutdown of RIPterm. At either of these times, all temporary files that are created by RIPterm are supposed to be removed. A couple less frequently created temporary files weren't being deleted though. The following temporary files weren't being removed at all (they are now): Filename Description ------------------------------------------------------------- POSTSCRP.$$$ Used when writing text to a postscript printer PRINTPS.$$$ Used when printing dialing directory entries to a postscript printer TEMP.$$$ Used when converting RIPterm 1.54 dialing directories or external application files to 2.0 format. APIBUFFR.$$$ Used during a DOS shell to save the contents of the graphics screen while shelled. - Fixed a minor problem with the scrollback system. If the text window is currently "disabled", text didn't used to go into the scrollback buffer. Now it does (like RIPterm 1.54 handled it). - Fixed a problem if you have your video mode set incorrectly. In previous versions, this used to cause an endless "loop" with the software starting "over and over". This no longer happens. If this kind of situation happens, you will be presented with a warning dialog and you'll be placed into video setup automatically to correct the problem. - Reorganized the help system's table of contents. Now the available subjects are alphabetized for quick access in the list. Also, the setup options have all been grouped together. - Fixed a small bug in the help system. When you had keywords on the screen and you tried to move around with your arrow keys, it was sometimes possible for the UP or DOWN arrow keys to skip over a keyword that it shouldn't have (ones directly above or below the currently highlighted keyword). This is now fixed. - Added a feature to the file menu's "Local RIPscrip Query" command. If any of the text variables you use in one of these queries gets an error condition, now it will display an error message. These error messages are only displayed when a text variable operation fails in this mode of operation - not when they're received from the host system! - Fixed the CompuServe Quick B+ protocol. This protocol wasn't working correctly in 2.00.03 and earlier versions. It also has been tested at 7E1 connections as well. - Enhanced all of the file transfer protocols. All of the protocols now support file transfers over a 7E1 connection, as well as an 8N1 connection. This allows things like Zmodem transfers over the internet via 7E1 connections, Ymodem transfers with CompuServe, and other such environments. - Upgraded the internal serial port drivers in RIPterm 2.1. This version of the drivers cleans up some reliability problems with general communications. One key issue that was resolved, is that Zmodem file transfers are more reliable, and also if a Zmodem file transfer fails, memory is properly restored back to the system. - Fixed a problem where the PGUP, PGDN, UP, DOWN, HOME and END keys weren't working consistantly in the dialing directory. Changes and Bug Fixes to RIPscrip --------------------------------- - Added a new RIPscrip command called RIP_POINT. This command is identical in nature to the RIP_PIXEL command, except that it draws the pixel to the screen in the current line thickness. In all other respects, it is identical in nature to the RIP_PIXEL command (which only draws a single pixel on the screen - it ignores the current line thickness). - Fixed a problem with the RIP_POLY_BEZIER and RIP_FILLED_POLY_BEZIER commands. If the last segment of the object was a curve, the end point was being drawn improperly. Now it draws properly. - Fixed a problem when drawing filled obects. If the filled object had its borders enabled, and the line style for those borders said to draw the "odd" line pattern dashes in the background color, they were not drawing at all. This bug affected all filled objects that supported the "borders" feature of RIPscrip. They all now properly handle borders and line patterns as they're supposed to. - Fixed a couple of problems with button labels. When the highlight flag is off but the hotkey is specified (and present), the hotkey was still highlighted in the highlight color (it shouldn't have been highlighted at all though). In addition, labels using the "default" font, or one of the outline fonts had a problem when the "underline hotkey" attribute was enabled. In this situation, the underline was being drawn in the label's foreground drawing color and not the "underline" color. Now corrected. - Fixed a problem with icon buttons when the bevel attribute is enabled. When these two situations happened for the same button, the lower-right corner of the icon didn't align with the inner edge of the bevel attribute. - Fixed a problem with the RIP_SET_BASE_MATH command in RIPscrip. In previous versions (i.e., v2.00.03 and earlier), the command was associated with command character "b" - but this was already in use with the RIP_EXTENDED_TEXT_WINDOW command. Because of this duplication, we changed the command character for the RIP_SET_BASE_MATH command to "J". - Fixed a minor problem with icon buttons. After an icon button had been displayed, and when the user clicks on one, the lower-right corner of the button could be "off" a little bit if a bevel is also present around the button. Now fixed. - Fixed a problem with the TAB-key method of selecting mouse fields and buttons via the keyboard. In previous versions of RIPterm 2.0, the TAB mouse field navigation would operate even if the Mouse Field Select option was disabled. Now it works properly. - Fixed a problem with the RIP_MOVE command (a very infrequently used command) where it wasn't properly obeying the world coordinate system. Now it properly adheres to world coordinates and places text where it's supposed to go. - Fixed a bug with buttons using the default font or extended fonts. If a hotkey was provided with a button, and the hotkey character's ASCII value didn't match exactly one of the characters in the button's label, the hotkey wouldn't be shown. It would still work, even though you couldn't see it. Now though, the hotkey is displayed properly like it used to in v1.54 and prior versions. - Fixed a minor problem with buttons using extended fonts or the default font. When the hotkey is underlined and dropshadowing is enabled, the underline wasn't dropshadowed. - Fixed a problem with the default font and the extended font system. When text is displayed with the underline or the strikeout attributes set, neither attribute showed the dropshadow (if dropshadows are enabled). - Fixed a problem when executing a RIPscrip file in RIPterm from the command line via the -rFILENAME.RIP option. If you had buttons in this file that used the default font or one of the extended font systems, you could get intermittent results ranging from the button's label not appearing correctly on the button, or even lock ups in some of the more obscure cases. - Fixed the problem where button labels using the default font or the extended font systems would show the button's label off-center the first time it was drawn. This was related to the previous note. - Fixed a problem with BMP viewing when viewing an 8 bit (256 color) BMP file in non-dithered mode - when viewing these types of files and displaying them exactly as wide as the original file (the height didn't matter), the image wouldn't display correctly. If the horizontal size displayed was different in any way, the image would display correctly. - Made a slight performance increase to the BMP display code when the image is not dithered in any way. The actual performance increase is probably around 5% - Fixed a problem with text variables where some text variables that began with $Pxxxxx$ and higher would not operate properly (if at all). - Fixed a problem with a couple of the text variables. The $PORTxxx$ text variables weren't working properly. - If you instruct RIPterm to dial a system from the command line (i.e., via the -D<num> option), it now initializes the modem before dialing. - If you instructed RIPterm to playback a local RIPscrip file from the command line (i.e., with the -rFILENAME.RIP option), it will display the TeleGrafix copyright notice first, then playback the local RIPscrip file. In the last version, the order was reversed causing the scene to be overwritten by the copyright notice. - Several text variables have been fixed that didn't work properly. Specifically, the following variables were fixed: Variable Description of Problem ------------------------------------------------------------ $RESX$ Didn't send anything back to the host system $RESY$ Didn't send anything back to the host system $TWFONT$ If slot # was out of range, erroneous results $PORTX0$ This variable was failing always $PORTY0$ This variable was failing always $PORTX1$ This variable was failing always $PORTY1$ This variable was failing always $PORTH$ This variable was failing always $PORTW$ This variable was failing always $TWX0$ This variable was failing always $TWY0$ This variable was failing always $TWX1$ This variable was failing always $TWY1$ This variable was failing always $TWH$ This variable was failing always $TWW$ This variable was failing always - Fixed a problem with user-defined text variables. When the host system asked the terminal's user to enter a piece of data for a text variable, the dialog wouldn't appear on the screen if an X and Y coordinate wasn't provided. In other words, nearly every data text variable request for the user was showing the data entry dialog "off the edge of the screen". The user couldn't see the dialog so they didn't know what to do. Now fixed! - Enhanced the user text variable data entry dialog. It is now much more appealing to the eye, and has a description of the "protected access" option on the dialog itself (no need to refer to the help system). Also, the 32 help screens associated with this dialog have been "filled in" with valid documentation. - Fixed a problem with "resetting" the screen. When the screen is reset, it is erased, as well as deleting all mouse fields, and many other things. In previous versions, the current color palette was being reset to the default palette before the screen was erased. If an image was on the screen before this happened, the act of resetting the screen could cause a "flash" of colors to appear. Now, resetting the palette is done after the screen is erased, causing a much more pleasing effect when graphics are already on the screen (prior to erasure). - When playing back a local RIPscrip file from your hard disk (whether the host system tells RIPterm to do it, or you do it manually), you can now hit the ESCAPE key to abort the processing of the file. This will cause control to return to RIPterm immediately, so that you don't have to wait through a potentially "lengthy" RIPscrip scene (e.g., like the RIPscrip demo scenes included with the standard RIPterm software). - Fixed a problem with text windows. When using the RIP_TEXT_WINDOW command with all parameters set to 0 (e.g., disabling the text window), a subsequent text window command with the exact same coordinates as when the window was created didn't correctly re-activate the text window. Now it does. So, the following RIPscrip sequence will once again work properly: !|w0000200B10|! ... Create text window !|w0000000000|! ... Disable text window !|w0000200B10|! ... Re-activate window, don't move cursor - Fixed a problem with defining text windows. If the cursor was off when a text window is moved or redefined in any way, the cursor was forced back on. This was unlike the previous RIPterm v1.54 and earlier editions where the cursor did not get re-activated. Now RIPterm v2.00.04 adheres to this method. This works for both standard text windows and extended text windows. - Fixed a problem with the extended text window definition command RIP_EXTENDED_TEXT_WINDOW. When the new window was defined, the cursor in the old window was erased incorrectly. This would cause only part of the old cursor to be erased, leaving part of it on the screen. This only happened when the new font number was different than the old font number. - Added a new flag to the RIP_EXTENDED_TEXT_WINDOW - its value is 64 and forces the cursor to be "enabled" when the text window is defined. This complements flag value 2 which disabled the cursor immediately when the window is created. By default, the cursor doesn't change status with an extended text window command unless one of these two flags was active. - Fixed a problem with the RIP_EXTENDED_TEXT_WINDOW command when the desired width and/or height was too big to fit in the bounding rectangle for the window. In these cases, the window was appearing as one row and one column in size, even when a much larger window was possible in the given bounding box. This only affected the text window if the "ignore font parameter" flag was NOT specified (i.e., font auto-sensing is not enabled). - Very large filled polygons and filled poly-bezier curves with complicated shapes should now draw the interior filled areas more reliably. - Fixed a problem with line continuation inside string parameters. When a backslash character is used in RIPscrip to perform line continuation of a string parameter, RIPterm was not removing the backslashes from the input data stream and consequently they were included as part of string parameters. When this situation interacted with the pop-up picklist portion of RIPscrip, or with templates, text variables, local playback directives, or other such things, the backslash which was meant as a line continuation character, was in fact "escaping-out" the next character following it, which could cause problems with pick-lists, etc. Consider this example: !|1<ESC>0000((This is a pop-up pick list::line #1\ ,line #2)) The pop-up pick list code was seeing this final string: ((This is a pop-up pick list::line #1\,line #2)) In this example, the \, is interpretted as the comma (,) being escaped out, yielding a pick list with only one line which appeared like this in the pick-list: line #1,line #2 This problem is now fixed and should no longer affect pick lists, local playback directives, text variables, or templates any longer. - Added hotkey support to the pop-up pick-list feature of RIPscrip. This was implemented in v1.54 and previous versions, but had not as of yet been implemented in the 2.0 terminal. Now it is. This consitutes the last feature of RIPscrip that needed to be implemented in RIPterm! - Fixed a problem with the RIP_MOUSE command. If any of the X/Y coordinates were in any way "out of range", the entire command was ignored. Now, RIPterm "truncates" the coordinates to fit inside the current world coordinate frame. This became important because the older RIPterm v1.54 and previous versions did this. Searchlight BBS reported this problem with one of their data entry fields where they were placing mouse fields on top of the screen, but where the mouse field was considerably wider than the screen - RIPterm v1.54 worked properly but 2.0 didn't - now it does. - Fixed a problem with vertical system fonts (via the RIP_FONT_STYLE command) when using fonts 1-10 (not font 0 "default). When using these stroke fonts in vertical mode with "bottom" justification, the justification was showing up something similar to baseline justification. Now it properly does the bottom justification. - Fixed a problem with the RIP_BAUD_EMULATION command. The RIPscrip specification stated that the command takes one single 4 byte parameter (the baud rate), but RIPterm v2.00.03 and previous versions only recognized 2 bytes for the parameter. This is now fixed. - Fixed a problem with the RIP_ROUNDED_RECT and RIP_FILLED_ROUNDED_RECT commands. These commands were improperly handling the curvature of the "rounded" corners. In the RIPscrip specification, the curvature of the rounded corners was supposed to be based on a "radius" factor. In v2.00.03 and previous versions, the value specified in the RIP_ROUNDED_RECT and RIP_FILLED_ROUNDED_RECT commands was being interpretted as the "diameter" of the corners, not the radius. Now it is properly handled as the radius. This will have the side effect that any rounded rectangle commands used with prior versions of the terminals will have corner curvatures twice as large as they used to have. Since this was a bug in prior versions, nothing can be done about it now - because now it is handled correctly! - Fixed a minor problem with the polygon and polyline drawing commands. If the mouse cursor was on top of one of the line segments making up a polygon/polyline when it was drawn, the area underneath the mouse cursor was improperly drawn. Now fixed. - Fixed a problem with the Default font and all vector fonts drawn with the RIP_EXTENDED_FONT command. When these fonts were drawn in a mode other than COYP (e.g., AND, XOR, OR, and NOT), the fonts were not being drawn in the proper mode, but were always being drawn in COPY mode. This is now corrected. - Fixed a problem with the RIP_HEADER command. The "environment" block portion of this command was not correctly processing its parameters, and when this block was present, the command would be considered a syntax error and ignored entirely. Now fixed. - Fixed several problems with the RIP_KILL_ENCLOSED_MOUSE_FIELDS command. The problems fixed are as follows: 1) If you specified to clear the affected region(s) with the current fill pattern (flag 64), they were only being erased to black - not the current fill pattern. 2) According to the RIPscrip specification, erasing with the current fill style should take precedence over erase the affected region(s) to black. In earlier versions, this was backwards. This is now corrected so that it properly works the way the RIPscrip specification says it should. 3) Fixed a problem when erasing the "affected regions", not the affected mouse fields (e.g., flag 128). In previous versions, the specified area wasn't being filled with the current fill style at all - only the affected mouse fields were being filled (contrary to flag 128). This is now fixed. 4) Fixed a problem when the area to be erased is outside the bounding rectangle. In previous versions, the area was not cleared properly (either to black, or in the current fill pattern). Now, the exterior area is erased the way that is should be with no "gaps" in the erased areas, or any other annomolies. - Fixed a problem with any text variable that saved information to one of the data backup areas. If you called two of these save commands in a row (without an intervening restore operation), the data file residing on disk from the first save was not being removed as it should have been. The following text variables were affected by this bug: Saving Restoration Description ------------------------------------------------------------ $SAVE$ $RESTORE$ Graphics screen $SAVE0-9$ $RESTORE0-9$ Graphics screen (slots only) $SAVEALL$ $RESTOREALL$ Everything $STW$ $RTW$ Text window $SGS$ $RGS$ Graphics style $SCB$ $RCB$ Clipboard $SCP$ $RCP$ Color palette $SBS$ $RBS$ Button style $SENV$ $RENV$ RIPscrip environment - Fixed a small problem with the $BACKSTAT$ text variable. When executed in "USE" mode, this variable was responding with an inaccurate count of the "slots" field. It was reporting how many slots AND stack entries were in use, which is not what it was supposed to do. - Fixed a problem with the $BLIP$ text variable. If used with no parameters, it wasn't issuing a sound of 50 Hz for 25 milliseconds, it was issuing a sound at 1000 Hz for 25 milliseconds. This has been corrected. - Fixed a problem with the $COORDSIZE$ text variable. If you tried to "set" the coordinate size with this command, you used to only get a syntax error. Now the coordinate size gets set correctly. - Fixed a problem with the $COPY$ text variable. If you tried to copy one data table entry to another entry in the same data table (intra-table copying), RIPterm got confused and sometimes locked up. This is now fixed. Also fixed a couple of other glitches with identifying correct parameter types. - Fixed some problems with the $IMGSTYLE$ command. When no parameters are specified, its supposed to return the current image style settings for the current port. If the image style hasn't been set yet, it was responding with the incorrect sequence. - Fixed a problem with the $TWGOTO$ text variable. This variable was rejecting all attempts to work. Now it does what its supposed to. - Fixed some problems with the $TWH$ and $TWW$ variables. These variables weren't recognizing a TYPE parameter of CELL like they were supposed to. Now they do. - The following text variables were working improperly. When checking their parameters, they were being "case sensitive" when they shouldn't have been. These are the variables affected: $WORLDH$ $WORLDW$ - Fixed a problem with the $RESET$ text variable where it was rejecting reset requests for particular data backup area slot numbers (e.g., S0-S9). Also resolved a problem when trying to reset data table entries directly (e.g., 0-35). There was a bug that wouldn't let you reset data table entries 10 or higher. This has now been fixed. Fixed a couple other problems where many of the object types that could be reset were generating syntax errors. Now it should properly recognize all reset options. - Added a new command called RIP_TEXT_METRIC for returning width and height information about fonts to the host system. Currently, it works only with horizontal fonts in 0°/0° orientations, but will be expanded in future releases to support all orientations of fonts. - Fixed a problem with the RIP_ENTER_BLOCK_MODE command. Uploads weren't working properly, no matter how you set the command up. Also, when they did work, you were prompted with an incorrect "data security" message. These things are all fixed now. Miscellaneous Changes and Bug Fixes ----------------------------------- - Fixed a couple of major problems with playing back WAVE files on the terminal. These are the problems that were fixed: 1) If a WAV file had multiple "data blocks" in it, some of which aren't audio data (e.g., general information data blocks, etc), RIPterm used to have popping and squealing sounds when it tried to play this invalid data. Now it properly skips over this data and plays only valid audio data blocks inside a WAV file. 2) If your machine was bogged down, or you're on a network with a lot of disk activity, it was possible for RIPterm's scanning of a WAV file to "fall behind", compared to the audio board's playback of the data. When the audio board "caught up" with where RIPterm was in reading the file, all sound would stop dead in its tracks! There was no way to get that sound to contininue where it left off. The only solution was to start the sound over from scratch (and even this didn't always work). This is now fixed - RIPterm will pick up where it left off as quickly as possible - after whatever delay in your system that caused the problem is done with what it's doing. - Fixed some alignment problems with the fonts used in the graphical user interface system at all resolutions. Now you should get much better boxes and other line drawings in the help system at 800x600 and 1024x768 resolutions. - Fixed a problem with list boxes. If there were were exactly as many lines in the list box as the list box can visually hold, the software would crash with a GP error. Now it properly handles this situation and only shows the scroller knob on the right when there is one or more entries above this limit. This affected a number of areas in the software: 1) Keystroke macro edtior 2) Scrolling pick-list commands 3) Scrollback system 4) Some combo boxes on dialog boxes in certain resolutions - Fixed a minor problem with ANSI and the DELETE key. In ANSI mode, the DELETE key used to send ASCII 127 to the host, but didn't in version 2.0. Now it does. - Fixed a problem with the ANSI mode, specifically with the delete character at the current cursor position command (i.e., ESC[nnP). This command was causing unusual things to happen like lockups, GP errors and other such things. At other times it would erase the screen improperly. Now fixed. - Fixed a problme with the ANSI mode, specfiically with the insert character at the current cursor position command (i.e., ESC[nn@). This command was causing unusual things to happen like lockups, GP errors and other such things. At other times it would insert characters improperly. Now fixed. - Fixed a problem with the ANSI erase to end of line command. If you tried to use this command when a custom color palette was in use, the area erased wasn't erased to the correct color (the closest color in the palette to the real ANSI background color). - Fixed a problem with the ANSI mode of RIPterm. When using the TAB key and tab stops in ANSI, the standard is that the area "jumped over" by the TAB'ing is to be erased to the current ANSI background color. This was not being done before - the cursor was simply moved to the new tab stop in older versions. Erasing the underlying areas only applied to ANSI mode, not VT-102 mode (in VT-102 mode, no erasing is performed - the cursor is simply moved). - Fixed a problem with the ANSI vertical scrolling margins command. This command was not correctly processing obscure sequences like "ESC[;0r", or "ESC[;r". Thanks to Mark Seger at DEC for finding this one - it affected DEC text editors quite a bit it would seem. - When in Doorway(tm) mode, RIPterm used to permit keystroke macros, pulldown menu "hotkeys" and other such keyboard events to act normally. This was causing some problems in Doorway where things like F1 (which is a macro to run the RIPscrip 2.0 demo) wouldn't get handled properly. This also happened with things like the INSERT key which is an ANSI keystroke that sends an escape sequence. In Doorway mode, this should send the special Doorway code instead. This version of RIPterm properly handles the Doorway mode in this manner. - The first time that you start up RIPterm, the database file for the text variable system is created (its also created whenever it doesn't exist). In previous versions, this file would be "corrupted" if the software locked up during the RIPterm session when the file was created. Now, RIPterm properly creates the file this first time and even if the software locks up, or the user reboots from inside RIPterm, the file will no longer be corrupted. - The following files have been moved into the RIPterm resource file (RIPTERM.RES) to make starting the software easier (explanation below): Filename Description ------------------------------------------------------------------ CHK350.IMG Checkmark image for pulldown menus (640x350) CHK480.IMG Checkmark image for pulldown menus (640x480) CHK600.IMG Checkmark image for pulldown menus (800x600) CHK768.IMG Checkmark image for pulldown menus (1024x768) CHK1024.IMG Checkmark image for pulldown menus (1280x1024) CK350_1.IMG Checkbox image (unselected) for GUI (640x350) CK350_2.IMG Checkbox image ( selected) for GUI (640x350) CK480_1.IMG Checkbox image (unselected) for GUI (640x480) CK480_2.IMG Checkbox image ( selected) for GUI (640x480) CK600_1.IMG Checkbox image (unselected) for GUI (800x600) CK600_2.IMG Checkbox image ( selected) for GUI (800x600) CK768_1.IMG Checkbox image (unselected) for GUI (1024x768) CK768_2.IMG Checkbox image ( selected) for GUI (1024x768) CK1024_1.IMG Checkbox image (unselected) for GUI (1280x1024) CK1024_2.IMG Checkbox image ( selected) for GUI (1280x1024) RD350_1.IMG RadioBut image (unselected) for GUI (640x350) RD350_2.IMG RadioBut image ( selected) for GUI (640x350) RD480_1.IMG RadioBut image (unselected) for GUI (640x480) RD480_2.IMG RadioBut image ( selected) for GUI (640x480) RD600_1.IMG RadioBut image (unselected) for GUI (800x600) RD600_2.IMG RadioBut image ( selected) for GUI (800x600) RD768_1.IMG RadioBut image (unselected) for GUI (1024x768) RD768_2.IMG RadioBut image ( selected) for GUI (1024x768) RD1024_1.IMG RadioBut image (unselected) for GUI (1280x1024) RD1024_2.IMG RadioBut image ( selected) for GUI (1280x1024) TELEGRFX.IMG TeleGrafix wavey-line image for system menu 0640X350.FNT System font used in GUI (640x350) 0640X480.FNT System font used in GUI (640x480) 0800X600.FNT System font used in GUI (800x600) 1024X768.FNT System font used in GUI (1024x768) 1280X1_K.FNT System font used in GUI (1280x1024) These files used to be stored in the FONTS\ directory, and the appropriate files were loaded at startup of RIPterm. If you had RIPterm setup to run at 800x600, then only the files designated for 800x600 would be loaded. If however, you unZIP'd the RIPterm software without the -d option, the files wouldn't be located in the FONTS\ directory, they'd be in the RIPTERM\ directory. By placing all of these "critical" files in RIPTERM.RES (which must be in the RIPTERM\ directory), this ensures that improperly installing the software will at least permit RIPterm to startup (so it can perform more automated cleanup of screwy installations). This should reduce the need for technical support calls for improper installations. - Fixed a problem with RIPterm's startup system that looks for files that are in the wrong place. When in this mode, RIPterm looks for files to move to proper directories (.BMP, .WAV, .FNT, etc). It is intelligent though not to move files that are used by RIPterm itself (e.g., RIPTERM.BMP, RIPTERM.WAV, etc). Extra intelligence was also added to make sure that it doesn't prompt for files used in RIPaint either! Therefore, if you have RIPaint 2.0 installed in the same directory as RIPterm 2.1 or later, it will not prompt you to move files like RIPAINT.BMP, etc. Earlier versions of RIPterm (2.00.04 and earlier), didn't deal with this situation. - Added a new column to the "drawing port" debug listing. The new column indicates whether or not the viewport is "Active". - Fixed a minor problem with the "Debug Image Style" options. If an image style was listed, but it wasn't in use (i.e., "n/a"), the output was corrupted. Not anymore. - Fixed a super-minor problem where the highlight bar in the pulldown menu system wasn't displaying the menu descriptions correctly in 800x600 and 1024x768 resolutions. Release 2.00.03 changes: - A problem was discovered in the external application system. If you tried to link a program to a specific downloaded filename extension (e.g., ".GIF"), the application wouldn't run if you omitted the period (.). Now, RIPterm is intelligent to run the program whether you specify the period or not. - Found a problem with the "resident query" portion of RIPscrip. The problem was that resident queries were being processed before mouse fields were. In versions of RIPterm prior to v2.0, mouse fields were always processed first. In this release, we returned to the old method of processing queries. This caused mouse fields and buttons used with Remote Access BBS to not be clickable. It could also have contributed to some annomolies with Wildcat and Searchlight. - If for some obscure reason the terminal crashed the first time you ran it, some files couldn't be opened correctly the next time you try running the software (i.e., RIPTERM.DB, RIPTERM.APP and possibly RIPTERM.PHO). Now RIPterm understands how to properly handle these situations. - A problem arose when downloading files from non MS-DOS systems (e.g., Macintosh, UNIX and Windows NT platforms mostly). The problem arose when you attempted to download a file with a filename longer than 12 characters as used in MS-DOS. This version will now properly "truncate" the filename and not crash the system. - A new screen wipe was added to the initial startup of RIPterm. Can you guess which one it is? Release 2.00.02 changes: - A RIPscrip demo is now included with RIPterm. Press F1 to check it out. To change this key, use the Keystroke Macro Editor. - Status Bar is now clickable! - The banner screen that is displayed in the terminal window immediately before modem initialization has been removed due to popular demand. - A text display is shown at exit time showing information on how to contact TeleGrafix. - Display of BMP files (RIPscrip icons) is considerably faster. Performance tests shows that display is nearly 100% faster (in some circumstances, even faster). - Default font in RIPscrip was unable to display characters above ASCII 127. Now fixed to support the international character set of the extended ASCII system. - Status bar wasn't being disabled upon bootup if your setup had it disabled. - Changing the status bar setting in general settings wouldn't actually change the status bar's on/off status. - The RIPscrip RIP_IMAGE_STYLE command wasn't being obeyed correctly. The first image style would basically take precedence some of the times and act as the only image style available. - Bitmap buttons (e.g., RIP_BUTTON) can now be scaled to any arbitrary size. If the RIP_BUTTON command has lower-right X and Y values then that will be used in combination with the upper-left corner to extrapolate the button's size. If these lower-right values are zero then the last RIP_BUTTON_STYLE is checked and if its width/height options aren't set to 0 then they are used as the width and height of the button (in world coordinates). If those are set to zero as well, then the icon is displayed as if it were a 1.54 icon (backwards compatibility mode). - When scaling icons "wider", sometimes a black line would appear on the very far right of the image - now fixed. - Added hotkey support to simple mouse fields (i.e., the RIP_MOUSE command). - Added an "abort" flag to both the RIP_BUTTON and RIP_MOUSE commands. This allows a button or mouse field to be triggered if the user hits the ESCAPE key (just like the "default" flag executes the button if the user hits ENTER). - Fixed a problem with the RIP_MOUSE command when the reset attribute was enabled - when the user clicked on that mouse field, the reset option was sometimes clobbering memory leaving the machine in a potentially unstable state. - The reset flag of the RIP_BUTTON command was acting unusual in that it was sometimes not resetting the screen and sometimes it was. - Made it so that when you connect to a host system with either manual dialing or the dialing directory, the screen is cleared. This causes the host system to have a "blank" screen when the connection is established. This should clear up some auto-sensing RIPscrip problems. The problems arose from some computers using RIPterm in VESA video modes where the VESA support on the video card was fairly slow. This frequently caused the scrolling to be too slow to allow the computer to respond to the host system rapidly enough. This would show things like "RIPSCRIP020000" on your terminal screen (you should never see this normally). - Made it so that when a connection is established via manual dialing or via the dialing directory, the alarm sound that you hear may get cut short if additional modem activity is encountered after the CONNECT message. This should make auto-sensing RIPscrip more reliable. - Fixed a couple of bugs with the RIPscrip text variable database system RIPTERM.DB. Under some circumstances, this database file was becoming corrupted causing permanent database text variables to be saved only to memory. The database software refuses to add/modify/delete records from the database if the database is corrupted. If there are any database problems, it will report them in pop-up display messages now. - A new "debug" option is available from the debug menu, "Debug Database". Most of the information in here is of a highly technical nature and should is of primary use only to TeleGrafix for technical support purposes. - Added a new "debug" option to the debug menu, "Debug Image Styles". This option will display all image styles currently defined in the drawing port data table of RIPscrip. This lets you find out what images will be displayed and how they will be displayed. - Changed the functionality of the "data security" option in General Settings. When data security is enabled, you will be prompted when a host system attempts to force your terminal to upload files to it (data security defaults to on). The original design purpose of data security was to allow the user to control access to the permanent text variable database. For many uses of text variables though this was too restrictive of a policy. Now, each permanent text variable may have its own "protected" attribute. Now you can create variables that have protected access rights, but others that the host can work with without your involvement. This makes things like auto-logon sequences possible where you can logon to a system without typing a keystroke. - Added a small RIPterm Tutorial in the help system. The first time you install RIPterm, or any new upgrades, the tutorial will be invoked. This is designed so that a first time user can see how to use RIPterm without having to search around and get easily frustrated. - All pop-up dialog boxes of a yes/no or ok/cancel nature had help buttons associated with them. However, those help buttons didn't function. Now they do. - The pop-up picklist system of RIPscrip has been enhanced to support X/Y placement of your pop-up list. This gives you control over where it appears on the screen. Here is an example showing how to generate a pop-up picklist at (20,30) in world coordinates: ((20,30:Question::option1,option2,option3)) - When in the help system, the "Contents" button becomes unavailable when you are at the table of contents. In addition, the "Back" button becomes unavailable when you cannot move back anymore (at the top of the list). - Changed the help table of contents so that it is more clear how the user is to navigate through the help system (i.e., it talks about what "links" are and how to recognize them). - Fixed some problems with icon conversion. Under some circumstances, icon files may not have been able to be converted. This is now fixed some that conversion of 1.54 icons to 2.0 format should now be accurate. - Upgraded the protected mode loader program DOS4GW.EXE included with the software. - Made it so that if you custom directories setup for host system icons, that those directories are checked for old 1.54 icons and are automatically converted if any are found. Previously, only the icons directory was checked. - RIPscrip buttons now handle vertical centering of text better than it did in the previous 2.0 releases. - When saving macro files, the last filename entered for the macro file will be displayed so that you do not have to type it in over again. - Enhanced the RIPscrip command that starts an audio sound to play. This command now has the ability to make the sound "loop" over and over again until something tells the terminal to stop looping. - Fixed a problem with the RIPscrip parser. It had problems when the host system had a "tap any key" type message. When this happens, the host typically backspaces over the message and usually RIPscrip graphics comes over immediately (without a carriage return before it). RIPscrip strictly says that for the !| part of a RIPscrip command to be recognized, it must begin at the beginning of a line. When backspacing, it was possible to trick the terminal into thinking that it wasn't at the beginning of a line when it actually was. Now the terminal properly tracks these situations and works correctly. - Fixed a problem with the dialing function. When performing a dialing directory dial or a manual dialing operation, the dialer function would sometimes "hiccup" and say that a connection wasn't established when the system hasn't even started to ring yet, or anything. - Fixed a problem with the file transfer protocols where if you were in the process of receiving a file with a very long filename (e.g., aVERYlongFILENAMEindeed.ZIP, etc) it would cause the terminal to crash to DOS (i.e., a GP error). Any filenames longer than 12 characters (including the extension) would cause this error to occur. - Eliminated a single pixel "gap" at the bottom of the status bar. This was very noticeable when full-screen photos were displayed and the status bar was turned on "over" the photo. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒▒ Extra Utilities Included ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ For diagnosing modem configuration problems, there is a utility called RIPTECH.EXE, located in the RIPTERM directory. See the second paragraph below under Technical Support. There is also a utility for viewing the FF1 outline font files used by RIPterm v2.0. This program is called DEMO_ONE.EXE, and is located in the FONTS directory under the RIPTERM directory. The utility DIALCONV.EXE has not changed from RIPterm version 1.54. It still converts Telix and TeleMate dialing directories into RIPterm v1.54 dialing directory files. RIPterm v2.0 will automatically convert a RIPterm 1.54 dialing directory into a v2.0 dialing directory at startup. Just put the file in the RIPterm v2.0 directory, and name the file RIPTERM.PHO. It will be updated to v2.0 automatically. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒▒ TeleGrafix Technical Support ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ RIPterm Test Drive comes with NO tech support from TeleGrafix. To troubleshoot problems, you can reference the TeleGrafix Technical Bulletins, the program RIPtech (included with the Test Drive), and whatever help can be gleaned from the message forums on The Vector Sector. -- OR -- You can purchase RIPterm Professional for the retail price of $19.95 and get 30 days free technical support, plus have all the features of the RIPterm Professional program, such as a Dialing Directory, External Applications, etc. RIPterm Professional version 2.0 comes with 30 days unlimited technical support from your date of purchase. After this time has expired, you will fall under our new paid Technical Support plan. There will be options for paying as you go, 900 number technical support access, and yearly support contracts that can optionally include software updates. Contact TeleGrafix for more information on this program. We expect it will be in place in March 1995. TeleGrafix has a new phone numbers just for Sales and Technical Support. This will help those who need assistance from getting mixed in with the calls for sales or the business office. Before contacting Technical Support, please use the Troubleshooting Guide in Appendix A to see if your question is discussed. TeleGrafix has found that most of the tech support questions are on the same issues, and we have documented them here for your convenience and to save you (and us) time. You can also download the latest technical bulletins from TeleGrafix's BBS (The Vector Sector) at the number listed below. This program is thoroughly tested by a large team of beta-testers, and is as bug-free as possible. However, there are most likely some bugs that have not been discovered. If you find any, please report them to TeleGrafix right away at the following address: ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ TeleGrafix Communications, Inc. │ │ 16458 Bolsa Chica #15 │ │ Huntington Beach, CA 92649 │ │ │ │ Sales / Orders ..... (714) 379-2141 │ │ Technical Support .. (714) 379-2130 │ │ Main Office ........ (714) 379-2131 │ │ Fax (Office/Tech) .. (714) 379-2132 │ │ TeleGrafix BBS ..... (714) 379-2133 │ │ │ │ Internet mail: rip.support@telegrafix.com │ │ World Wide Web: www.telegrafix.com │ │ FTP: ftp.telegrafix.com │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── # # # ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────