Boldly Go Collection

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Boldly Go Collection / version40.iso / TS / 05B / OZCIS4.ZIP / MISC.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1992-03-08 | 44.5 KB | 1,023 lines

File: MISC.DOC -- OTHER INFORMATION ABOUT OZCIS This section contains information not covered in the other sections. MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR CIS DOLLAR No one ever said using CIS was cheap. The fact that you are looking for or using an automated navigation program like OzCIS is most likely motivated by a desire to save some of your hard-earned bucks. Saving money when using CIS requires, much more than anything else, careful planning and thought by YOU, before you ever go on-line. Your patterns of accessing the service, what areas you frequent, and how you spend time in those areas, will play a major role in your bill. Right out of the box, let's dispell a common myth: USING A NAVIGATOR MAY *NOT* SAVE YOU MONEY. That's right. A navigator makes your on-line time far more productive. It reduces the time you WASTE on-line to a minimum and helps you get the most out of each connect-minute; the value of the time you spend connected to CIS rises dramatically. However, many people find that because the time they spend on-line is more productive, they can do MORE - and end up spending just as much time on-line, albeit covering a lot more ground in the process. As long as you take control of your access, limit yourself to those areas that you would use had you not decided to use an automated program, you will save a substantial amount on your CIS bills. If you start keeping up with several new forums, or grabing the weather reports every time you log on, or making trips to the stock quotes areas three or four times a day instead of once at the end of the day, your CIS bill will reflect it. A little restraint can go a long way. HELPFUL INFO The best defense against surprising bills is a knowledgable consumer. the following information will explain some areas of CIS billing, charges and services that most new users don't completely understand. Do note that the following is gleaned from my 8 years on the service as user and sysop, from conversations with other "old hands" and CIS Customer Service personnel, and careful reading of on-line and paper CIS information; it is neither "the official word" nor guaranteed to be 100% accurate. If in doubt, contact CIS Customer Service (GO FEEDBACK) for the latest official position or information. ------------------------------------------------------------------ OzCIS 1.0 Copyright 1992 Steve Sneed Page 125 CONNECT CHARGES VS. NETWORK SURCHARGES: CIS charges at least two fees: a flat per-hour rate for your access to CIS, as the cost of the computer time and providing the various services; and one or more "network surcharge(s)" to cover the cost of connecting to the CIS computers. The flat connect rate is based strictly on the BAUD rate at which you connect, and while the rate is expressed per hour it is calculated by minute - and rounded up to the next whole minute. In some cases the connect charge varies by time of day; connect-time at a given BAUD rate during "prime time" hours (weekday business hours) will have a higher per-hour charge than connect-time at the same BAUD rate made during "non-prime time" hours. Network surcharge rates vary depending on what network you use to access CIS and where you are located in the U.S. or abroad. CIS operates its own network, and most U.S. nodes are on that network. Other U.S. and/or foreign nodes are operated by "supplemental carriers" such as TYMNET, SprintNet, DataPac, Datex-P and others; on these carriers the network surcharge pays the supplemental carrier, with CIS just doing the billing. In either case, many network surcharges are based on time OR connect - in other words, you are charged a flat rate per connect whether you are on-line 1 minute or 59 minutes. I mentioned early in this documentation that there is no "right" way to set up OzCIS for forums access; the above is one reason why. I discussed that many users find it more convenient to quick scan message headers, retrieve just the messages that interest them, and then reply. Note that doing so means you must connect to CIS THREE times: Once to retrieve the headers, once to retrieve the full messages selected from the quickscan list, and once to send replies. Depending on the network in use and the way its rates are structured, and the activity level of the forum(s) in question, this extra connect experience may end up costing you more than it would have cost to just retrieve all new messages on the first pass and send replies on the second. On the other hand, scanning headers can save you money when used regularly in forums where you may not pick up much traffic. As I mentioned, these rates vary from network to network, and change periodically. You can always find out the current rates for your network in the RATES area (GO RATES). TIP: If you use a non-CIS-network node to access the service, it's a good idea to periodically visit GO RATES and capture the current rate information to a file for offline review. ------------------------------------------------------------------ OzCIS 1.0 Copyright 1992 Steve Sneed Page 126 SURCHARGED SERVICES: Some areas of CIS are special areas provided by other contractors, such as some of the stock trading information areas, the airlines areas, and others. Many of these are surcharge areas, meaning you pay an extra fee for using them. Some are charged per-access while others charge per minute/quote/look-up/etc. Again, the GO RATES area details what services are surcharged and what those charges are. A few "custom" service packages, like the Executive Service Option package CIS offers, add a single fixed monthly surcharge to your bill. TIP: Again, if you use any of these surcharged areas, GO RATES periodically to stay abreast of the current rates. "THE CHEAP SEATS" - BASIC SERVICES PACKAGES: CompuServe has for some time offered a package deal for users called "Basic Services". (As of this writing they are finalizing an updated version of the BasSrv package that provides users with extra value.) The BasSrv package, for a fixed monthly charge, gives you unlimited access to several areas of CIS, such as Weather and the Weather Maps, the Electronic Mall and others. HOWEVER... access to areas not included in the BasSrv group are charged at the normal rate! No forums are included in BasSrv other than the PRACTICE forum and the special forums that support the CompuServe CIM products for PC's and Macs. Additionally, CISMail is handled on an "allowance" basis; you are given a credit allowance of a fixed amount per month and then charged a fixed fee per message. When you exceed that allowance you incur the per-message charge in your bill. (Starts to sound like some of the billing packages offered by the phone companies, doesn't it?) The exclusions, conditions and restrictions on the BasSrv package should be reviewed carefully. BasSrv can save you money, but how much depends on how you use the Service. If you tend to handle a lot of forum traffic each month but don't do a lot in other areas, BasSrv may not save you much. But for some users it can be a real money-saver, and should not be overlooked as a means of reducing the monthly hit to your wallet. Note also that all new members signed up after 1 April 92 will be under the Basic Services billing plan; current members get to choose which billing plan they prefer. TIP: Not being a BasSrv user, I am not familar with all the intricacies of its billing. However, it has been reported to me that the smart BasSrv user groups access areas carefully, putting all BasSrv areas together at the start or the end of the ------------------------------------------------------------------ OzCIS 1.0 Copyright 1992 Steve Sneed Page 127 on-line session. This reduces potential costs when moving to/from BasSrv areas and other services such as forums. HIGH-SPEED ACCESS: That new 9600bps modem is just the ticket to help save you big bucks on CIS, right? Not nessessarily! If you do a lot of file transfers, high-speed access will certainly save you a substantial amount of money. If your use of CIS is geared more towards messages in the forums, the issue becomes more complicated. As you've probably noticed, time spent on-line with CIS consists of time spent receiving or sending data, and periods of time waiting while CIS processes the most recent request (as when moving between forums after a GO command). The time required to move between forums or process commands remains fairly constant regardless of the BAUD rate at which you connect, while the time required to send or receive a certain amount of data decreases as BAUD rate increases. As you increase the BAUD rate, the percentage of the total on-line session devoted to "waiting" becomes Larger and has a more noticable effect on the overall connection. This can be expressed as an overall characters-per-second efficiency figure - the higher the c.p.s.-figure relative to the connect BAUD rate, the more efficient the session; the lower the c.p.s.-figure, the more time you spent waiting while CIS processed your requests. An "average" 2400bps session, with a typical mix of CISMail and a half-dozen forums, will usually return an efficiency in the 80 to 100 CPS range (notice this is less than half of the theoretical maximum of 240 CPS.) However, if the forums are all or mostly "small" (have a small number of new/waiting messages to be retrieved or sent, and little other data to be retrieved), the efficiency will be dramatically less, sometimes down in the 40 c.p.s. range - much of the total connect time is spent "waiting on CIS". On the other hand, a session spent mostly in "busy" forums with a large number of messages to capture, or time spent transfering files, will have a substantially higher efficiency, sometimes approaching or even exceeding 200 c.p.s. But, as mentioned above, at 9600bps the "waiting" time becomes a much larger factor. If the forums you visit are small, it is not uncommon to see 9600bps efficiencies be only 10%-20% higher than 2400bps efficiencies. If the forums you access are busy, that difference becomes quite a bit larger. 9600bps connect time costs almost twice as much as 2400bps access, and at present it carries an additional $10 hourly surcharge above the normal 30 cent network surcharge if you call via the 800 number. While 9600 theoretically provides 4 times the throughput of 2400 access, in practice it provides somewhat less (in some cases substantially less, ------------------------------------------------------------------ OzCIS 1.0 Copyright 1992 Steve Sneed Page 128 depending on network traffic load and other factors.) With the increased cost of 9600 access, you need to see somewhere between two and three times the efficiency CPS in order for 9600 to "pay for itself." Generally a noticeable increase in efficiency will occur only when you do a lot of file transfers or library scans, and/or if all the forums you visit are busy. Only you can determine if 9600bps will save you money over 2400bps. In addition to what I've mentioned already, you have to factor in any long distance charges that might be associated with your access, and/or any extra network surcharges. The only way to know for sure is to keep careful track of your usage at both BAUD rates, and calculate which is best for you. TIPS: Use OzCIS' access logs (and the accessory OzLOG program) to help you keep close track of your on-line times and efficiencies. Never do interactive manual work at 9600bps unless you're only transfering files; you're sure to be wasting money otherwise. Do large library scans at 9600; like file transfers they will almost always be more efficient. Plan your access times; because heavier network loading during the day and early evening slows down 9600 access by a larger percentage than it does 2400, save your 9600 sessions until later in the evening or early morning hours. Take advantage of OzCIS' ability to "hold" files (pending downloads in CISMail) by doing your normal mail access at 2400, then logging back on at some other time at 9600 to get the actual files. CONFERENCING: Conferencing can be the most expensive time you spend on-line. I'm not discouraging conferencing; it can be a wonderful way to meet people, learn new things, familarize yourself with a forum's membership and "spirit," or just spend some time chatting with friends. But in terms of raw data throughput, no use of CIS will give you less per-minute return on your dollar. If your bill is important to you, make sure you limit your conferencing to those areas and things that will give you a return on your investment. Tip: ALWAYS conference at 300 BAUD. Real-time conferences run at typing speeds; few people can type 30 characters per second, so conferencing at 300 BAUD gives you the cheapest connect rate while still being plenty fast enough to keep up. USING CIM: The CompuServe Information Manager (CIM), for simplifying access to the Service, is a program written and sold by CIS itself. While it is quite limited in its automation capabilities compared to OzCIS and the ------------------------------------------------------------------ OzCIS 1.0 Copyright 1992 Steve Sneed Page 129 other navigator programs, it excels in interactive on-line operation, especially in certain areas like the Executive News Service and the Airlines areas, and in conferencing. Its user interface is quite similar to that of OzCIS in several ways, although the two cannot share files such as messages or forums lists. I cannot recommend CIM for regular CISMail or forum traffic or file transfers, but I do recommend it for conferencing and some other manual on-line chores. CIM can be ordered on-line (GO ORDER). The cost is $25, but an included $20 usage credit means the net cost is $5 - well worth it. CIM can be installed as an external in OzCIS for easy access. THE "PRACTICE" FORUM: Becoming familar with CIS, even when using an automated program, can be an expensive process. CIS provides a free forum called PRACTICE, where connect time charges are waived (but network surcharges still apply!) and in which you can "play." The sysops are friendly, knowledgable people, ready to answer any question and understanding of people who don't know the ropes and get confused over the multitude of commands, etc. If you're unsure about doing something on the service, stop by the PRACTICE forum and try it out on CompuServe's nickel - instead of your own. SAVING MONEY WITH OzCIS As mentioned throughout the preceeding section, YOU are the primary determining factor in how your CIS bill looks at the end of the month. However, OzCIS provides several things that can be used to your advantage. 1) As mentioned in the discussion of 9600bps access, using the access log files generated by OzCIS to keep track of the on-line time you spend and where you spend it can be very helpful in determining ways to save money. The OzLOG utility included with the program can help you quickly make sense of the logs. (See below for more information.) 2) Keep your access limited to later evening and weekend hours as much as possible, especially when doing file transfers or library scans; you'll get higher efficiency. Avoid Monday early evenings if possible; this is traditionally the highest-access time for the Service. By the same token, don't start long scans or downloads in the wee hours of the morning unless you are familar with the down-for-maint. schedule for that forum. All forums are taken down for a short time every day, to do a complete backup ------------------------------------------------------------------ OzCIS 1.0 Copyright 1992 Steve Sneed Page 130 and freshen programs as needed; usually this is done between 2AM and 5AM EST, but some forums come a bit earlier or later. 3) Short-format scans of forum libraries take MUCH less time to retrieve than do long-format scans. If you are investigating a new forum's libraries, do a short-format scan first - then use the Retrieve option from the short-list display to get the full abstracts for only the files that interest you. 4) By the same token, never re-scan a complete long catalog unless you have to; use the Update option to retrieve only new files. Or use the Custom Library Scans facility to reduce the scan list even further. 5) Looking for a file, but aren't sure what forum it's in? Never just start hopping from forum to forum browsing the libraries! GO IBMFF instead; use the FileFinder to zero in on the file you're looking for rapidly. If the file is a graphics image, use GO GRAPHFF. Other FileFinders exist for other computer types, such as MACFF. 6) If you access a non-forum area regularly, look into writing or acquiring a script to automate it as far as possible rather than always doing it manually. 7) Never send a mail message "Receipt requested" unless it's REALLY nessessary. Those 25-cents-per-receipt charges can add up quickly when you RR most or all of your mail messages. 8) Ditto for CC'ed messages. Hint: if you only have a few addressees for a given message, create the first copy and then call up the CISMAIL.MES file in the General Editor, block-copy the duplicate messages and edit the address info to suit. The break-even point for this technique is about 5 smaller messages; if the message is long or you have more than 4 or 5 people to send it to, the time spent sending all the extra text will equal or exceed the per-copy costs for CC'ing a message. 9) When setting up or sorting your forums, if you have one or more forums in a different "gateway" (such as ZiffNet), group those forums together and put them at the end of your forums list. Doing so reduces the "dead" time CIS spends switching thru the gateway. 10) Never start a file transfer and walk away, especially if you don't use an error-corrected modem and the line has been showing symptoms of being noisy or problematic. If a download is visibly slow due to high network loading, or is getting a number of errors, abort the transfer and try again later (taking advantage of the B+ protocol's "resume" feature.) ------------------------------------------------------------------ OzCIS 1.0 Copyright 1992 Steve Sneed Page 131 11) Unless it's your primary reason for using CIS, never set up areas such as Weather or ENS to be processed each and every time you log on. These areas generally are slower processing than the forums and CISMail, and can sometimes result in a large amount of data being re-captured. 12) Save processing of Weather Maps until mid- to late-afternoon if possible. Some of the maps do not become available until the afternoon, so requesting one of these maps before they are available means a deadhead pass thru the AWM area. ACTIVITY LOGS OzCIS generates and maintains an activity log of all on-line sessions. This log contains both timing information for accounting purposes, and reports of file transfer success or failure. Activity log files are named MMM-YY.LOG, where "MMM" is the three- letter identifier for the current month, and "YY" is the last two digits of the current year. A new log file is created the first time you log on (or after the first of each month) and is stored in the directory where OzCIS itself is stored. These log files can grow quite large, depending on the frequency with which you log onto CIS, how many forums you visit, how often you run scripts, and how often you operate in manual terminal mode. Once you are finished with activity log files that are no longer current, I recommend you archive them off to floppy disk or otherwise store them away. The OzCIS distribution set contains a small utility program called OzLOG. This program will read the session log file and generate a tabular report by host, session and forum, showing on-line time by host in each forum and time spent performing non-OzCIS work. It also provides approximate costs for the time you spent on-line. This utility is quite handy for getting an idea of how much you're spending on CIS access, but it should not be construed to be an accurate representation of charges - it has no knowledge of areas that are free of charge or surcharged. See the file UTILS.DOC for information on using OzLOG. OzCIS COLOR CONFIGURATION The colors configuration area (CONFIGURATION > COLORS CONFIG) allows you to change the colors OzCIS uses for display. While we have tried to set up a colors scheme that most users will find pleasing, to each his own! ------------------------------------------------------------------ OzCIS 1.0 Copyright 1992 Steve Sneed Page 132 OzCIS maintains two sets of colors, one for the editor/viewer windows and their related fields, and one for the menus, picklists and entry dialogs. (It also maintains a set of colors for error alerts and dialog boxes, but these are not currently configurable.) Within each color set are two subsets, one for color systems and one for monochrome systems. All screen element types will have one each of the two types of attributes. The "Color Map" window on the left side of the screen shows the available attributes. Each attribute's value is composed of two numbers, the top number and the side number in the matrix. When entering an attribute value, use the top number first and then the side number to create the actual attribute. (Some users will instantly recognize this as standard hexidecimal attribute notation, but some users may not be familar with it.) For example, find the attribute in the matrix for white text on a blue background (close to the lower-left corner.) The value above that attribute's column is "1", and the value for that attribute's row is "F". Therefore, the attribute value you would input in a field if you wanted white text on a blue background would be "1F". Yellow on blue (just above white-on-blue) would be "1E", and so forth. OzCIS SVGA VIDEO TYPES SUPPORTED OzCIS supports the following SuperVGA types when displaying GIF images on-line: Standard VGA - IBM-compatible VGA with no SVGA support. Should be used if your card does not support SVGA modes or does not fall in the group below. AutoDetect - OzCIS will attempt to detect which type of video hardware is available. VESA Driver - Any SVGA card that is using a VESA driver. This is the recommended setting if at all possible. Tseng Labs ET3000 - All SVGA cards using the ET3000 chipset with 512K of video memory. Tseng Labs ET4000 - All ET4000-based cards with 1Mb of video memory. Trident 88/8900 - Trident 8800- and 8900-based cards with max memory. The three above chipsets comprise the vast majority of both "brand-name" and "no name" cards that are not made by one of the mfgrs below. Paradise - Most recent Paradise and AST cards. Includes some motherboard-mounted video. Video7 - Vega, VRAM and FastRAM cards with max memory. ------------------------------------------------------------------ OzCIS 1.0 Copyright 1992 Steve Sneed Page 133 ATI - ATI VGA Wonder and Small Wonder cards only, with max memory. Chips&Tech - The C&T "451" chipset-based cards. Ahead - "A" and "B"-based cards with max memory. Everex - Most Everex cards, including some that actually use the Trident 8800 chipsets. If you're unsure about the chipset used by your video card, look at the card itself or consult your dealer/vendor. OzCIS provides a small external program call OZGIF.EXE for viewing GIF images off-line. The program must be installed in the same directory as OzCIS in order for the main program to find it. You can then select WINDOW > VIEW GIF from the main screen to view GIF files off-line. OZGIF is a small and simplistic program that will display GIFs but does not provide many of the advanced features of some of the available offline graphics viewers available. Many of these other programs can resize, pan and zoom images, handle other formats such as BMP, PCX and TIFF, and allow editing color palettes and other image manipulation. Some will also support a wider range of video hardware than OZGIF as well. There is a wide selection of such programs available in the PICS Forum, library 3. My favorites are CSHOW and VPIC, but many others are just as good. A few that work with Microsoft Windows are also available. If you prefer to use one of the other programs to view GIF images, hooking it into OzCIS is fairly simple. Create a batch file called OZGIF.BAT which executes your preferred offline viewer, and put it in the same directory as the main program. OzCIS will note the existance of that batch file and execute it rather than OZGIF.EXE if it is found. ERROR CODES OzCIS has a number of error codes that may be reported during the operation of the program. Most of these are internal errors that you will never see unless there is a system conflict or out-of-memory condition. Some are DOS errors that you may see, and these are listed below. Note that error codes are broken into "classes", where a class has a hundreds prefix indicating error class (such as the 29xx and 89xx errors for comm-port-related errors below.) ecFileNotFound = 2; {File not found} ecPathNotFound = 3; {Path not found} ecTooManyFiles = 4; {Too many open files} ecAccessDenied = 5; {File access denied} ecInvalidHandle = 6; {Invalid file handle} ecOutOfMemory = 8; {Insufficient memory} ecInvalidDrive = 15; {Invalid drive} ------------------------------------------------------------------ OzCIS 1.0 Copyright 1992 Steve Sneed Page 134 ecNoMoreFiles = 18; {No more files} ecDiskRead = 100; {Attempt to read past EOF} ecDiskFull = 101; {Disk is full} ecNotAssigned = 102; {File not Assign-ed} ecNotOpen = 103; {File not open} ecNotOpenInput = 104; {File not open for input} ecNotOpenOutput = 105; {File not open for output} ecWriteProtected = 150; {Disk is write-protected} ecUnknownUnit = 151; {Unknown disk unit} ecDriveNotReady = 152; {Drive is not ready} ecUnknownCommand = 153; {Unknown command} ecCrcError = 154; {Data error} ecBadStructLen = 155; {Bad request structure length} ecSeekError = 156; {Seek error} ecUnknownMedia = 157; {Unknown media type} ecSectorNotFound = 158; {Disk sector not found} ecOutOfPaper = 159; {Printer is out of paper} ecDeviceWrite = 160; {Device write error} ecDeviceRead = 161; {Device read error} ecHardwareFailure = 162; {General failure} Other errors you may see refer to problems with the serial port, such as parity, framing or overrun errors or errors during protocol sessions. These include: ecNoMorePorts = 2900; {Can't open port} ecOverrunError = 2901; {UART receiver overrun} ecParityError = 2902; {UART receiver parity error} ecFramingError = 2903; {UART receiver framing error} ecBlockIncomplete = 2920; {Block shorter than requested} ecBufferIsFull = 2921; {No room for new char in buffer} ecBufferIsEmpty = 2922; {No characters to get} ecTimeout = 2923; {Timed out waiting for something} ecStringIncomplete = 2924; {String shorter than requested} ecStringOverrun = 2925; {String longer than 255} ecUserAbort = 2926; {User aborted during "wait"} ecBadPortNumber = 8900; {Out-of-range port number} ecOutofRange = 8901; {General out-of-range error} ecPortNotOpen = 8902; {Port not open} ecInvalidBaudRate = 8903; {Bad BAUD rate for this device} ecInvalidArgument = 8904; {General programming error} ecNoDevice = 8905; {No device layer installed} ecNotaUart = 8906; {Couldn't find a uart} ecInvalidParity = 8907; {Bad parity option} ecBadFileList = 8909; {No end of list marker found} ------------------------------------------------------------------ OzCIS 1.0 Copyright 1992 Steve Sneed Page 135 ecInitFail = 9900; {init failed} ecInitCancel = 9901; {init was canceled on request} ecCancelRequested = 9902; {Cancel requested} ecDuplicateBlock = 9903; {Duplicate block received} ecSequenceError = 9904; {Wrong block number received} ecDirNotFound = 9905; {Directory not found} ecNoMatchingFiles = 9906; {No matching files} ecLongPacket = 9907; {Long packet received} ecEndFile = 9908; {End of transmitted file} ecHandshakeInProgress = 9909; {protocol handshake in progress} ecFileRenamed = 9910; {Incoming file was renamed} ecFileAlreadyExists = 9911; {Incoming file already exists} ecInvalidFilesize = 9912; {Ymodem header bad file size} ecInvalidDateTime = 9913; {Ymodem header bad date/time} ecUnexpectedChar = 9914; {Unexpected char during protocol} ecBlockCheckError = 9915; {Incorrect CRC/checksum received} ecNoSearchMask = 9916; {No search mask specified} ecNoFilename = 9917; {No filename specifed} ecAsciiReceiveInProgress = 9918; {Ascii receive in progress} ecFileRejected = 9919; {Receiver rejected file} ecTooManyErrors = 9920; {Too many errors received} The other possible codes are internal errors. If you see one of these, please report it to me, including the sequence of commands or operations that lead up to the error. In general the 7xxx class of errors are recoverable and the program will continue, while the 8xxx class of errors are "fatal". ecFieldRequired = 7000; {field is required} ecBadFormat = 7001; {bad format (number/date/time, etc.} ecOutOfRange = 7002; {value entered is out of range} ecBlanksInField = 7003; {field contains blanks} ecPartialEntry = 7004; {field contains a partial entry} ecBadCharacter = 7005; {field contains an illegal character} ecStringNotFound = 7100; {search string not found} ecNotToScreen = 7101; {cannot write output to screen} ecInvalidNumber = 7102; {invalid number entered} ecBufferFull = 7110; {edit buffer is full} ecLineTooLong = 7111; {line too long, CRLF inserted} ecTooManyLines = 7112; {max line limit would be exceeded} ecOverLineLimit = 7113; {max line limit already exceeded} ecFileTruncated = 7114; {file truncated} ecFileTooLarge = 7115; {file too large to fit in buffer} ecNoBlock = 7116; {block not marked or hidden} ecWinCoordsBad = 8100; {bad coordinates specified} ecWinNotActive = 8101; {window must be active} ecWinNotCurrent = 8102; {window must be current} ------------------------------------------------------------------ OzCIS 1.0 Copyright 1992 Steve Sneed Page 136 ecWinIsActive = 8103; {window must be inactive} ecWinInaccessible = 8104; {stacked window not accessible} ecWinIsZoomed = 8105; {zoomed window cannot be zoomed again} ecWinBadIndex = 8106; {invalid header or hot spot index} ecWinNotSizeable = 8107; {window must be sizeable} ecNoProcessor = 8108; {no command processor is available} ecWinIsChild = 8109; {operation is not valid on child window} ecNoPickItems = 8200; {attempt to pick from empty list} ecBadPickOrient = 8201; {invalid pick orientation} ecBadPickHandler = 8202; {invalid pick command handler} ecHelpInvalid = 8220; {invalid help file format} ecNoHelpForTopic = 8221; {no help for specified topic} ecNoBoundHelp = 8222; {pointer for help not registered} ecTooManyFields = 8300; {too many fields in a entry screen} ecBadCoordinates = 8301; {bad coordinates for a field} ecNotScrollable = 8302; {virtual screen not allocated} ecNoFields = 8303; {selector/entry screen has no fields} ecFieldNotFound = 8305; {attempt to move to non-existent field} {reported by various units} ecNilPointer = 8500; {nil pointer where one shouldn't be} ecBadParam = 8501; {bad parameter to a procedure} COMMAND LINE SWITCHES OzCIS provides several command line switches that can make using the program, or debugging problems with on-line operations, much easier: /? or ? - Display a list of available command line switches, then exit at once. /S - Create a log file of the entire on-line session. The first time you log on after starting OzCIS, the file SESSION.LOG is created (overwriting any existing file with that name). All com-port activity is captured into this file as well as into the program itself. If you log off and then log back on later, without exiting OzCIS completely, the file is appended to. NOTE: session log file can get very large, especially if you do larger library scans, etc.; using this switch all the time is not a good idea. /M - Force the use of monochrome video attributes. This switch is handy for those with mono video or laptop type displays connected to color video cards. ------------------------------------------------------------------ OzCIS 1.0 Copyright 1992 Steve Sneed Page 137 /1 - Force a 1st Pass to be executed immediately upon startup. /2 - Force a 2nd Pass to be executed immediately upon startup. /X - When used with either the /1 or /2 switch, forces the program to exit once the automated pass is complete. Otherwise ignored. /43 or /50 - Use 43-line mode on EGA or 50-line mode on VGA. COMMON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Q. My system gets a little way into the Profile Configuration pass and stops. What's up? A. The most likely problem is that you have the CIS config option "BRIEF Prompts" set to [NO]. The fix: log on manually and issue GO PROFILE. Select "User Profile", then "Terminal Settings", then "General Options", then item 2 ("BRIEF Prompts") and set this option to [YES]. Exit the area, saving your changes. Log off, then give the Profile Config pass command again. Q. My system gets a little way into on-line processing and locks up, always in a different place, at 9600bps; at 2400 everything works fine. Bug? A. The single most common cause of lockups at 9600bps and higher port speeds, for _all_ comm programs, is having a slow disk cache or other TSR or driver running that takes a lot of time processing its interrupts. This can include programs like Stacker and other runtime disk compression programs, EMS/XMS drivers, TSR's that sit on a regular interrupt like the clock-tick interrupt, etc. To find out if this is your problem, un-install as needed all TSR's, EMS/XMS device drivers, Stacker, etc., and run the program (it should work fine.) Then add back one driver or TSR at a time and retest, until you hit the one causing the problem. (Note: load order can also be important.) Consult the documentation for the TSR, driver or tool causing the problem, or contact that company's tect support line. Many disk cache and other programs have specific sections in their documentation on this problem, because it is so common. NOTE: DR-DOS 6.0's XMS driver has a known serious bug that can cause problems. DRI is aware of the problem and is supposedly working on a fix; until such time as a fix is generally available, do not use DR-DOS' XMS driver with OzCIS. ------------------------------------------------------------------ OzCIS 1.0 Copyright 1992 Steve Sneed Page 138 One other MAJOR help: install a 16550AFN UART chip if you can. This kind of serial chip provides an internal 16-byte buffer than can eliminate the vast majority of such problems. OzCIS automatically detects and takes advantage of a 16550AFN is one exists. Consult your hardware vendor for more information. Q. I just switched to the new Basic Services option; will this cause problems for OzCIS? A. No. The changes to menus, etc., for Basic Services are transparent to OzCIS. Q. The reported on-line costs by OzLOG don't come close to matching the reports I get when I do a GO BILL. Why? A. OzLOG has no way to know which areas are free, which are part of Basic Services, and which are surcharged services. All it knows is how long you were on-line, and where. It therefore cannot adjust billing info to account for those increases or decreases in per- area costs. OzLOG is intended to be a simple helper to give you a general idea of your on-line time and billing, not as an accurate report; for an accurate report you should GO BILL. Q. My CPS readings at 9600bps seem awfully low, often less than 300 characters per second. Shouldn't 9600 access be much faster than this? What's wrong with OzCIS? A. See the section on 9600 access above. OzCIS can handle data at any speed CIS will send it; the program is not slowing down CIS. CIS itself slows down when host computer and/or network traffic is high, and this slow-down is more appearent at 9600 than at 2400. Review your 9600 access per the guidelines above - you may well find that using 9600 is not economical for your access patterns. Q. My modem won't connect. I've juggled the init string, but it still balks. Why? A. Different modems work differently; while the Hayes "AT" command set _style_ is pretty much universal today, there are a lot of variations. For example, some modems don't use the standard "ATZ" command to reset the modem, they add a numeric parameter such as "ATZ1". OzCIS allows flexibility in how you configure the modem. Here are some general tips: 1) You can control whether OzCIS resets the modem on initialization via the "Reset Modem?" switch in the Host config. OzCIS resets the ------------------------------------------------------------------ OzCIS 1.0 Copyright 1992 Steve Sneed Page 139 modem by sending the standard "ATZ"; if your modem needs something different, try turning off the auto reset and include the reset in the initialization string (see next.) 2) OzCIS allows you to embed special characters for 1/2-sec delay (~) and carrage-return (|) in the init string. You should never _end_ the init string with the CR character, but otherwise it's acceptable to use in the string itself. For example, an init string might include a reset sequence, like so: ATZ1|~~~~AT\M3 where the string resets the modem, waits 2 seconds and then sends the init string. 3) Probably the most common error is to include a "DT" or "DP" (or just the "D" command) as part of the init string. Don't! OzCIS does it for you, so duplicating the command will usually confuse the modem. 4) The second-most-common error is to confuse the init string as being just a reset string - in other words, putting only "ATZ" in the init string field. This also will confuse some modems. Q. Everything works OK except for Forum downloads; I can't get the program to get past the "Lib xx" prompt. What can I do? A. The most common cause of this is having the "BRIEF Prompts" option in the Profile Config area set to NO. The give-away on this problem is when OzCIS sends the "LIB 1" command, CIS sends back something like "LIB 1 - Customer Files !"; OzCIS expects the brief format prompt in response, which would be just "LIB 1 !" Another common mistake is prepending a 0 on a library number, so that OzCIS sends "LIB 01" but gets "LIB 1 !" back. To correct the brief prompts problem, perform a Profile Config pass. Q. "Fast Logon" doesn't work, it hangs at the ^P... but it works OK when I call at 2400bps. A. Fast Logon often does not work at 9600bps, because the CIS network swallows the following prompt at these high speeds. Never use Fast Logon at 9600bps. Q. I can't find a way to make OzCIS always scan a library for new files each time I enter that forum. Can this be done? A. Yes and No. No, because there is no way to do it 100% automatically from within the program. Yes, because you can easily create a ------------------------------------------------------------------ OzCIS 1.0 Copyright 1992 Steve Sneed Page 140 script to scan your chosen libraries, and then install the script as the "Permanent Script" in the forum configuration dialogue. See TERMINAL.DOC for info on the script language and example scripts. Q. I've grown accustomed to using RECON and TAPPET to manage my forum messages and threads, and scan headers. Can I use these tools with OzCIS? How about CATSCAN? A. Yes to RECON and TAPPET, with a couple of notes. You can use RECON with OzCIS for all forum messages (sorry, not CISMail messages) by doing the following things: 1) In the Pass Options window for the forums you wish to manage with RECON, set "Purge Type" to NEVER. 2) Install RECON as an external program. 3) Included in the OZCIS3.EXE archive are two files: RECONVRT.EXE and PARAMS.OZ. RECONVRT is a utility to convert RECON's outbox file (replies and new messages to be sent) to OzCIS' format; you will need to run this program on the outbox files before OzCIS can send them. Creating a batch file to do this is the easiest way. PARAMS.OZ is a special params file for RECON when used with OzCIS; you will need to edit it for your Name, User ID and path information. The message file format OzCIS uses, and its QS (quick-scan) headers file format, works fine with TAPPET. TAPPET's output files work with OzCIS. The only problem is file names; TAPPET expects TAPCIS filename conventions. To use TAPPET with OzCIS, you will need to create a batch file something like the following: rename *.mes *.msg rename *.qs *.qsn tappet /r rename *.msg *.mes rename *.thd *.get del *.qsn This renames all OzCIS received-message and QS-headers files to the names TAPPET expects, and runs TAPPET. It then renames the messages files back to OzCIS' names and renames the TAPPET output files to the names OzCIS expects, then deletes the now-unneeded QS headers file. If you have created separate directories for your forums, you will of course need to account for that in your batch file. Install this batch file as an "external." At this writing, CATSCAN has not been tested with OzCIS. I personally have no idea what would be required to make CATSCAN work with OzCIS. # # # ------------------------------------------------------------------ OzCIS 1.0 Copyright 1992 Steve Sneed Page 141