The Atari Compendium/The Atari Compendium (Toad Computers) (1994).iso/files/umich/telecomm/fnordadl/fn132src.zoo/ref-man/misc.tex

Text File | 1991-09-02 | 44KB | 1,113 lines

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@node Miscellaneous, Fnordadel Support, File Transfers, Top
@chapter Miscellaneous

Yup, this is the good old "miscellaneous" chapter, that place
where we put stuff which either didn't seem to fit into any other chapter,
or which we figured didn't deserve a chapter of its own.  So here we go.

@node Things to Make Fnordadel Work or Work Better, Logging and Debugging, Miscellaneous, Miscellaneous
@section Things to Make Fnordadel Work or Work Better
@cindex Speedups
@cindex Efficiency improvements

Most of the programs we mention in this section are available on RT and
secret.  If you can't find them anywhere else, phone one of our systems.
@xref{Fnordadel Support}.

Here are a few things you will @emph{absolutely need} to avoid trouble:

@itemize @bullet
@item
If you have a hard drive, @sc{tos} 1.4 (or greater, like @sc{tos} 1.6 in the
STE), or both, make sure you have @code{foldr100.prg} installed in your
AUTO boot folder.  You may not need @code{foldr100.prg} if you have access
to another program that does a similar function, for example
Revolver from Intersect Software or the hard drive boot handler
supplied with newer ICD host adaptor-based hard drives.  Both of
these products allow you to allocate buffers for extra folders,
a necessary thing due to bugs in @sc{tos}.  Even if you don't have a
hard drive, @sc{tos} 1.4 and 1.6 will need these extra buffers because of
bugs they have.

@item
If you have @sc{tos} 1.4 or greater, you must also have @code{poolfix3.prg}
installed in your @file{auto} boot folder.  These versions of @sc{tos} have
some bugs that are corrected by the @code{poolfix} program, so make sure
it is correctly installed before going any further.  We also include
@code{poolfix4}, which is a version of @code{poolfix3} with hacks to
permit it to run in any position in your auto folder.  (@code{poolfix3} likes
to be first, but so do some other auto programs.)  @code{poolfix4} is
@emph{NOT} from Atari; it was done by somebody else.  Therefore, use it at
your own risk.

@item
If you have @sc{tos} 1.4 or greater, and wish to run your system with a
high-speed modem, you will need to install @code{tos14fx2.prg} in your
AUTO folder.  This Atari fix solves a glitch with @sc{rts}/@sc{cts} flow
control, something fairly necessary at speeds of 9600 bps and higher.

@end itemize

Here are some things you will probably want, to make life nicer:

@itemize @bullet
@item
If you only have 512K of @sc{ram}, you might want to consider getting an
upgrade to 1MB, especially if you do not own a hard drive.  There
are a lot of things that can make running your system easier and
more enjoyable, such as @sc{ram}disks and command shells.  But they need
memory to run.  Pretty well all models of ST lose about 100K of
@sc{ram} to @sc{gem} and @sc{tos}.  Fnordadel itself needs another 200K or so.
On a machine with 512K tops, memory can disappear pretty quickly,
leaving little or no room for the niceties.

@item
No matter what model of ST you have, and whether you have a hard
drive or not, if you do not have a new version of @sc{tos} (1.4 or 1.6,
the latter available standard [and only] on the STE machines),
then we @emph{highly} recommend getting a @sc{tos} upgrade.  Disk performance is
@emph{much} improved under newer versions of @sc{tos}, although if you are
running on floppy disks you won't notice it much due to their
inherently slow access times and data transfers rates.  The new
versions of @sc{tos} also provide a lot of other enhancements and fixes
that are worth having, especially if you use the @sc{gem} desktop a lot.

@item
A display ``accelerator'', such as the excellent Quick ST, from
Branch Always Software, is a useful addition.  Early versions of
Quick ST are available
in the public domain, so try to get ahold of a copy and try it
out.  If you like it, you can pick up the commercial version for
about $20.  Quick ST provides a very nice speed-up to all screen
display operations used in Fnordadel, and many operations used
in @sc{gem}-based programs as well.
@end itemize

@node Logging and Debugging, Help Files, Things to Make Fnordadel Work or Work Better, Miscellaneous
@section Logging and Debugging
@cindex Logging

Fnordadel has various ways of logging its actions for your later
perusal.  They include the call-log and the net-log.  In addition, there
are both normal and network-specific debugging flags for still more useless
information.

@node The call-log, The Net-Log, Logging and Debugging, Logging and Debugging
@subsection The call-log
@cindex Caller activity log

The call-log is kept in the file @file{calllog.sys}, which is
stored in your @code{#auditdir}.  It records information about callers,
@vindex auditdir
file downloads that may occur, and system up/down times.  It can
be defined to document any or all of these things; see @file{ctdlcnfg.doc}
for precise directions on how.  Suffice it to say that if you
define the @file{ctdlcnfg.sys} variable @code{call-log} to be @samp{1}, it will
@vindex call-log
cause a call-log to be kept, documenting system up/down times as
well as caller information, but not file downloads.

When the system is brought up, a line of the form

@example
System brought up @var{<date>} @@ @var{<time>}
@end example

@noindent
will be written to @file{calllog.sys}.  When the system is taken down,

@example
System brought down <@var{date}> @@ <@var{time}>
@end example

@noindent
will be written.  And when a user has called, you'll see a line
of this form:

@example
<@var{username}>          :  <@var{date}> <@var{in}> - <@var{out}> (<@var{baud}>) [@var{flags}]
@end example

@noindent
The meanings are as follows:

@table @var
@item username
is the name of the user;
@item date
is the date on which he/she called;
@item in
is the user's login time;
@item out
is the user's termination time;
@item baud
is the baud rate at which the call was made, or
``console'' if the login was from the Console;
@item flags
@cindex Caller activity flags
documents anything unusual about the call.  The
following flags are defined:
@table @code
@item +
New user.
@item R
User was denied access to the system due
to a login restriction (@pxref{Login restrictions}).
@item P
The user was punted off by the use of the
@code{[P]oll} command from the Sysop's Net menu.
@item e
An event punted the user off (@pxref{Events}).
@item t
The user timed out (meaning that he went
for about 3 minutes without hitting a key).
@item k
The user was Killed while online (see @code{[K]ill user} in
@ref{User Status Commands}).
@item p
The user did a @code{.T(erminate) P(unt)}, which
restores all of his non-vital settings to
their pre-call state.
@item s
The user did a @code{.T(erminate) S(tay)}.  This
means that he logged off without hanging
up; this is a good clue as to the identity
of the next person to login.
@item G
A user on the Console was kicked off when
carrier was detected; this happens if
you're on the Console and you use @samp{^L M} instead
of @code{[T]erminate}.
@item D
The user unceremoniously disconnected
without using @code{[T]erminate}.  This doesn't
hurt anything, but it's bad style.
@item E
The user was an ``EVILE'' user; he entered
more than a tolerable number of consecutive
bad commands, meaning that either
@enumerate
@item
he's @emph{really} clueless, or
@item
he had extreme line noise problems.
@end enumerate
@item r
The user was punted by having the modem
reinitialised on him; this is accomplished
by using @code{[R]einitialise} from the Sysop menu.
@item c
The user called, but was denied access to
the system due to exceeding the @code{maxcalls}
limit; see @ref{Calls per day}.
@item T
The user was denied access due to having
exceeded the @code{maxtime} limit; see @ref{Connect time per day}.
@item C
The user was denied access due to having
exceeded the @code{maxclosecalls} limit; see @ref{Close calls per day}.
@end table
@end table

The call-log is one of the few things in Fnordadel that
are not self-maintaining; it will continue to grow indefinitely,
so it needs to be periodically deleted.  You may wish to use the
utility program @code{c