Cream of the Crop 1

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--------------------------------------------------------------------------- EXIS Inc., Post Office Box 130, West Hill, ON, Canada M1E 4R4 (416)-289-4641 voice, (416)-289-4645 FAX, (416)-439-9399 BBS Telix Copyright (C) 1986,87,88,89,90,91 by Exis Inc. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- April 2, 1991 -- Notes on Telix v3.15: o The main purpose of the 3.15 release is not to introduce new features but rather to fix a few bugs, to allow us to make some changes to the documentation needed to account for changes in our overseas distribu- tion, and to update our order forms to allow for the new GST value- added tax on sales in Canada. We are still hard at work on our next major update of Telix, and most people presently using Telix 3.12 will not want or need to upgrade to Telix 3.15. o The Telix Support BBS now has three lines, all running US Robotics HST Dual Standard modems, which support the standard formats at 300 to 2400 bps, and both HST and v.32 formats at 9600 bps. The base number for the BBS hunt sequence is 416-439-9399. o When mailing us an order or inquiry, please note that our address is in Canada. As of February 1991, postage from the US to Canada is 40 cents. 'F' stamps are not valid to Canada. o MODEMCFG.EXE, a modem configuration program, is now included with Telix to make setting up your modem easier. Simply run MODEMCFG and select your modem brand and model to set up Telix with the proper strings and initialize the modem's non-volatile ram (if it has any). o When editing a dialing directory entry you may now use Tab and Shift- Tab to move up and down in the list of items, instead of being forced to go forwards only. o The status line may be cycled on/off directly from Terminal Mode by pressing Alt-8. o BRANDTLX previously needed about 320k free memory to run, which was a lot more than Telix itself needs. It should now run in much less mem- ory, generally less than 100k free. o As most people are now using a '101' style keyboard, the default key layout for the VT102 terminal has been changed to one suitable for this keyboard. Older versions of Telix by default used a layout better suited for the older style keyboard. If after installing v3.15 your VT arrow and function keys don't work as they should, the older layout can be brought back by entering the following at the DOS prompt: ren VT102.KEY VT102101.KEY ren VT102OLD.KEY VT102.KEY o In an attempt to help users debugging SALT scripts, 4 predefined 'macros' or variables have been set up in CS, the script compiler. The word __LINE__ will be replaced in the compiled script by an integer constant representing the current line number in the script. __FILE__ will be replaced by a string constant holding the current filename. __DATE__ and __TIME__ will be replaced by string constants of the cur- rent date and time. So for example, a script could have the sequence: printsc ( "This is file " ); printsc ( __FILE__ ); prints ( " and line number " ); printn ( __LINE__ ); which if compiling TEST.SLT would print something like: This is file TEST.SLT and line number xx where 'xx' is the line number that __LINE__ occurred on. Note that these macros get replaced by whatever they represent right as CS is compiling the script file, Telix itself knows nothing about them. o When CTS/RTS hardware handshaking is on by default, but the CTS line is low at Telix start-up, Telix will now give a message to that ef- fect, while waiting up to 10 seconds for the signal to come on. During this time the user may press Space to continue with handshaking on anyway, or any other key to continue with it off. o In VT-102/ANSI, if the remote system defined a scrolling region and the cursor was outside of this region, text in scrolling region would scroll on a received Line Feed. o Some new keys (e.g. Alt-\) available with enhanced keyboard were rec- ognized by Telix, but Telix could not display their names (it showed only a blank). All show properly now. o On exit from Telix the border is now reset to black. o If there was a status line at the top of the screen and it was re- moved, Telix would lose the use of that line. o The SALT 'run' function with a parameter of 1 (pause and wait for a keypress) would not always properly display the prompt. o Destructive/Non-Destructive Backspace key setting can now be saved to disk. o The 'frename' script function would move file being renamed to current directory, if it was in another directory on the same drive. o Telix now treats color codes in Avatar exactly as described in George Stanislav's Avatar specs. Note that Telix only supports Avatar Level 0, not Level 1... o The inkey() and inkeyw() SALT functions returned negative values for a few keys (such as Alt-0). o On a few individual PCs that we know of, Telix's routines to detect an enhanced keyboard BIOS thought that there was one, when there wasn't, leading to very strange results. This was more likely caused by misbe- having keyboard related resident programs, rather than a Telix bug. If the keyboard is thus completely unrecognized by Telix, the way to get Telix running is to add the line 'ENHKB=OFF" in the TELIX.CNF file (or change the existing line with this parameter). Telix now has this op- tion off by default. o In ANSI or VT102 mode, the escape code 'ESC [ L', which is used to scroll lines down, would sometimes clear the first or first few en- tries in the translate table on systems running in 43 or 50 line mode. o The Host Mode Remote Shell did not work properly on some systems. The symptom is the shell just exiting as soon as it was entered. o Some time ago code was added to emulate (for conformity) a bug in the MS-DOS ANSI.SYS driver in Telix's own ANSI terminal, but the new code slightly messed up VT-102 terminal. The ESC[J and ESC[J1 terminal es- cape sequences would reset part of the current line to Gray on Black instead of the proper default colors. Dec 1, 1989 -- Notes on Telix v3.12: o For the most part, this is a maintenance release of Telix. It has been some time since the last release, and will be some months more before the next major release, so we felt it was important to fix the half dozen or so bugs that have been found, add a few minor features, and notify users of some changes. While the Telix documentation has been fully updated to reflect new features, this file lists all changes from v3.10 up, so if you have printed out the docs from Telix v3.10 or 3.11 you do not have to print them out again. o We can now take VISA card payments for registrations. You may use your card with the mail-in form listed in the LICENSE.DOC file or main doc- umentation, by calling our voice number listed above, or by calling our support BBS with your modem and answering the online registration script. We expect to be able to take Mastercard payments shortly after the new year; please call for availability. o The number for our support BBS has changed (since April) to 416-439- 8293. Please change your dialing directory entry to the new number, as the old one will only call-forward to the new one for another month or so. o Since April of 1989, due to user requests, there have been two ver- sions of Telix, 'registered', and 'unregistered'. The two versions are almost identical except that the former does not include a 'Shareware' title screen, has an embedded serial number, and may not be given to others to try out. This is what is sent out to people when they regis- ter. A previously registered user of Telix may use the (fully func- tional) unregistered version of 3.12 without charge, or may obtain a disk with the registered version by sending $8 (to cover our costs) to us at the address above, c/o "3.12 Update". Please include your full name and address as entered on the original registration form, the se- rial number from your Telix disk if the registration was from April '89 or later, and if possible the invoice number from your receipt. Note that a site may update any number of registered copies from this one disk. Note that we can not take credit card payments for this up- date fee. o The registration price for Telix is now $39 US, but remains at $44 CDN. Due to changing currency values, the old prices became quite un- fair (unequal) during the last year. o Copies of Telix received on disk from us (registered and unregistered) now include an automatic installation program. Just run 'INSTALL.EXE' on the disk to execute it. Copies of Telix posted on our BBS and other BBSes do not include this program, since the BBS caller can simply de- compress the distribution archive files onto his/her disk as needed. o Enhanced (101) keyboards are now directly supported without having to load a 're-mapper' TSR. Note that there are a few (older) PCs out there which have a ROM BIOS not capable of recognizing these key- boards' extra keys. To use F11, F12, and other new keys on these PCs you still need a TSR which provides the necessary BIOS functions. o Telix is now DESQview aware. This means that you can run Telix from within DESQview without having to use BIOS screen writes. You may in- stead use the much faster direct screen writes (this is set on the 'Screen and colors' page of the Configuration Menu in Telix). For best performance with DV, on the DV 'Change Program' screen for Telix, re- ply 'N' to the question, "Writes text directly to screen?", and 'N' to, "Virtualize text/graphics (Y,N,T)?". Note that Telix has no con- trol over external protocols or programs you run in the DOS shell, so these will bleed through if run when Telix is in the background... o DOORWAY mode is now supported, and can be toggled on/off by pressing Alt-= in terminal mode. In DOORWAY mode, Telix sends out the raw scan code returned by the PC's BIOS, when a key is pressed. This mode is used with the DOORWAY program, and some BBS doors. o You may now specify a default screen size of 80x43 or 80x50, for EGA/VGA cards, in the 'Screen and color' page of the Configuration Menu. Note that many EGA cards can not do 80x50, and some VGA cards can not do 80x43. Most enhanced cards can do both. o No matter what screen write mode you are using, Telix will now on EGA or VGA systems recognize the exact screen size that is currently set when Telix is run and stay in that mode (unless you specify 80x43 or 80x50 as a default). Previously Telix would work with screens wider than 80 columns only when using BIOS writes, though it did allow taller screens in any screen write mode. Therefore, if your video card supports some non-standard screen sizes which you wish to use with Telix, just switch into that mode before running Telix. o Terminal mode screen writes are now direct when window screen writes are direct, instead of using the video BIOS. This is slightly faster and resolves some problems with a few buggy video boards (AST VGA) and TSRs. o Date format, date separator, time format, and time separator may be specified in 'General options' page of the Configuration Menu. o Telix now supports both normal cursor mode and application cursor mode in VT102 or ANSI emulation. The setup of the keyboard routines in pre- vious version of Telix allowed only one piece of ASCII text to be as- signed to a key. The VT102.KEY, VT102ALT.KEY, and ANSI.KEY files are set up along with new routines in Telix so that Telix automatically sends the proper sequence for the four arrow keys when the remote se- lects the mode. The VT102ALT.KEY file also sends one of two sequences (numeric or application) for keys on the numeric keypad (when the NUM- LOCK key is pressed down), as a real VT does. o In the 'General options' page of Configuration Menu, you may now spec- ify that the buffer of the 16550a comm chip, which Telix normally en- ables at all times, should be disabled during a DOS shell. o In the 'Protocols' page of the Configuration Menu, you may now specify the size in kilobytes (1k to 10k, 4k default) of the disk buffer that Telix should use for reading and writing to disk during file trans- fers. Larger values are good for floppy disk systems, while smaller values may eliminate problems on hard disk systems with defective hard disk controllers or systems using Extended memory ramdisks or caches, both of which can lose interrupts and interfere with communications. o In the 'Protocols' page of the Configuration Menu, you may now specify a 'window' size for the Zmodem protocol, in kilobytes. Normally, Zmo- dem sends data in streaming mode, never pausing unless the remote sys- tem indicates an error has occurred. If a window size is defined, the protocol will never send more than that many bytes before pausing for an acknowledgement. In some (data network) environments, this can lead to better results. o In the 'Protocols' page of the Configuration Menu, you may now specify whether the file being transferred with the Zmodem protocol is 'Binary', 'ASCII', or 'Either'. Binary means that Telix will make sure no end-of-line conversion is done on files received or sent. ASCII means that on a download, as long as the other side doesn't override this, Telix will assume the file being received is a text file and will make sure the end of each line has a Carriage Return followed by a Line Feed, by adding the CR if the file has only LFs at the end of each line. An ASCII setting when sending will make Telix tell the other system to do end-of-line conversion, although the other system may override this. Finally, a setting of Either (the default), will make Telix assume the file is binary, unless the other system indi- cates otherwise. DO NOT use a setting of 'ASCII' for file that are not ASCII text files, as binary files will be corrupted by this option. o The Zmodem protocol now sends the filename in lower case, which is preferred when files are being sent to a UNIX system. o In the 'Terminal options' page of the Configuration Menu, an option has been added to save the default state of the Backspace key, which may send either Backspace or DEL. Pressing Ctrl-Backspace will always send the other value. o Configuration (TELIX.CNF) file reading routines have been speeded up quite a bit. o A bug in Chat Mode has been fixed. Remote input appeared in the bottom section until Return was pressed. Chat mode also turns off Zmodem autodownloads while you are in chat mode, since loading protocols at this stage would result in a hang after the transfer (due to the fact that the chat routines are also overlaid). o The 'Find' command in the dialing directory would not work after some- thing in the last entry in the dialing directory was found, due to a logic flaw. o Telix 3.11 and earlier simply set the color to blue when a VT10x/ANSI Escape code for underline was received. This produced an underline on mono video cards, but produced blue on color cards, which is very hard to read on a black and white composite monitor. Telix now only does an underline in mono mode, and leaves things alone with a color card. A future version of Telix will allow you to specify an underline color. o Markers are now updated properly when doing insert or delete in the dialing directory. o Host mode now uses another way to do a Remote Shell, by creating a temporary batch file which is run to do a CTTY command. o The SALT 'redirect_dos' function now doesn't lose file handles. o The SALT 'dial' function now returns the proper result code (as indi- cated by the manual) on unsuccessful dials. o The SALT 'dos' function now returns the proper result code. o A half dozen or so other very minor bugs have been fixed. o The following notes all deal with enhancements to Telix's SALT script language, and may be skipped by users not creating scripts: o A SALT function called 'fdelete' has been added. For example: fdelete("HELLO.DOC"); would delete the file "HELLO.DOC". A full drive and path may be speci- fied before the filename, and case is not significant, but wildcard characters (* or ?) may NOT be part of the filename. o A SALT function called 'frename' has been added. For example: frename("NAME.OLD", "NAME.NEW"); would rename the file "NAME.OLD" to "NAME.NEW". A full drive and path may be placed before the original name, but should not be placed be- fore the new name. The renamed file will stay in the original direc- tory. Case is not significant. o A SALT function called 'getenv' has been added. This is similar to the C getenv function, and can be used to search for a DOS 'environment' variable and get what is assigned to it. The format is: getenv(variable, value); where 'variable' is a string representing the environment variable to search for, and 'value' is a string variable where whatever is as- signed to the environment variable should be put. For example: getenv("TELIX", s); would search the DOS environment for the variable "TELIX" and would place whatever is assigned to it in a SALT string variable called 's'. o Four SALT functions have been added which make it easier to read/write multiple characters from/to the screen. They are: 'vgetchrs', vgetchrsa', 'vputchrs', and 'vputchrsa'. The first two are used to read multiple characters from the screen, while the last two are used to write multiple characters on-screen (perhaps previously saved by the first two functions). For example: vgetchrs(20, 15, buf, 0, 10); would read 10 characters from the coordinates 20,15 on the screen. These characters would be placed into the string variable represented by 'buf', at offset 0 (the beginning) in 'buf'. Only the characters are read and saved into the string, without the color attributes. vgetchrsa(20, 15, buf, 0, 10); would read 10 characters from the coordinates 20,15 on the screen. These characters would be placed into the string variable represented by 'buf', at offset 0 in 'buf'. Both characters and attributes are read, so each character on the screen will take up TWO character when placed into 'buf'. Therefore, in this example, buf would have to be a string variable at least 20 characters long (10 * 2). Note that nei- ther of these functions place a 0 (end of string) character at the end of the sequence of characters written to the string. vputchrs(20, 15, buf, 0, 10, attr); would place 10 characters from offset 0 in the string variable repre- sented by buf, at coordinates 20,15 on the screen, using a color at- tribute of 'attr' (possible values of 'attr' being as per the doc- umentation for the 'pstra' function). vputchrsa(20, 15, buf, 0, 10); would place 10 characters from offset 0 in the string variable repre- sented by buf, at coordinates 20,15 on the screen. Note that each character in buf is expected to be followed by a color attribute byte, so in all, 20 character would be read from 'buf'. o For those creating extremely large scripts, the script compiler can now handle compiled scripts up to 64k in length. The old limit was 32k. Script source files can as before be any length. o A option has been added to the SALT script compiler CS.EXE to specify a 'stack' size for the compiled script. CS normally assigns a stack of 1024 (1k) bytes per script. The stack is where all local variables in a script are allocated, as well as where the return addresses are stored when a function calls another. In some scripts, a larger stack may be desired, while in others, 1024 bytes is overkill. For example: cs -s2048 test would compile the script called TEST.SLT, and would allocate a stack for TEST of 2048 bytes. Allowable stack sizes are 64 bytes to 32767 bytes. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oct 30, 1988 -- Notes on Telix 3.11: o This is basically a maintenance release, which fixes a few bugs that have been discovered over the last few weeks, as follows: - The numeric keypad was not recognized during string entry. - If multiple filenames were specified for a batch upload, the upload directory (if one was defined) was only applied to the first file- name. - Long Distance Codes did not work properly everywhere. - The Compuserve Quick B protocol _still_ didn't work properly on all PCs. - A few other small glitches... o The documentation files have not changed from v3.10 to v3.11, so you do not have to print them (or even download them in the first place, if you got Telix from a BBS), if you have printed the v3.10 documenta- tion files. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oct 10, 1988 -- Notes on Telix 3.10: o We are now 'Exis Inc.'. For many reasons, it was definitely time to incorporate. o The dialing directory now has a highlight 'scroll-bar', which can be moved with the up and down arrow keys, as well as the cursor keys available before. Pressing Space will mark/unmark the currently high- lighted entry. Selecting the 'Dial' function will dial all the marked entries in sequence. There is no limit to how many entries may be marked and dialed in this way. A user entered list of entries may still be dialed in the old fashion with the 'List' function. o A 'Strip high bit' field for each entry has been added to the dialing directory. o Telix now support 43 line and 50 line mode, for EGA and VGA users, re- spectively, accessed through the Alt-M (Misc. Functions) menu. The di- aling directory and Scroll-Back take advantage of the larger screen size. o When prompted for file(s) to upload, you may now specify multiple filenames separated by spaces. Filenames may include a full drive/directory path, and may use the DOS wildcard characters, * and ?. All matching files are sent. o Zmodem Crash Recovery for both uploads and downloads may be toggled in the 'Protocol settings' page of the Configuration Menu. This option may be used to resume aborted transfers. For downloads, if this option is on and a file to be received already exists at the receiving end and is shorter than the sender's copy, only the extra bytes will be sent. For uploads, if this option is on, Telix will try to tell the other side that files it is sending are to be resumed if they exist. o An alternate key arrangement for the VT102 terminal emulator may be used, as described in the Telix manual. This second arrangement is better suited for some keyboards. o An outgoing translate table may now be defined in the Translate Table facility (Alt-W). o An 'Answerback' string may now be defined in the 'Terminal options' page of the Configuration Menu. If this string is defined, and CIS B transfers are disabled, it will be sent when an ENQ (Ctrl-E) character is received from the remote while in terminal mode. o The Capture file disk buffer size may be set in the 'General settings' page of the Configuration Menu. o The descriptions of the copychrs, copystr, curtime, redirect_dos, and time functions were accidentally left out of the v3.00 SALT documenta- tion. o New SALT functions include capture_stat, delchrs, printer, printsc_trm, strchr, status_wind, usage_stat, vgetchr, vputchr, vrstrarea, and vsavearea as described in the SALT.DOC file. o Many new SALT system variables were added. o The Compuserve B and Scroll-Back problems described in the BUGS.DOC file included with Telix 3.00 have been fixed. o The Auto-baud detect, which could be toggled on or off in v3.00 but was not implemented, has been put in. Do not have this feature on if you are using an MNP or other error correcting modem, as you want Telix and the modem to both stay at the baud rate dialed at. o Many little bugs and glitches have been fixed (including a couple in the Host Mode script file). o The documentation has been cleaned up. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- EXIS Inc., Post Office Box 130, West Hill, ON, Canada M1E 4R4 (416)-289-4641 voice, (416)-289-4645 FAX, (416)-439-9399 BBS Telix Copyright (C) 1986,87,88,89,90,91 by Exis Inc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------