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COMMIX NETWORK SOFTWARE CABLE/MODEM VERSION FOR MS-DOS 2 OCTOBER 1987 ITRON A DIVISION OF INFOTRON SUITE 116 130 GAITHER DRIVE MOUNT LAUREL, NEW JERSEY 08054 (800)423-8044 (609)722-5575 INDEX 1. INTRODUCTION General Description CNS Functions Files Manual Outline 2. INSTALLING CNS ON YOUR PC Copying CNS to Your PC Boot Disk Modifying Autoexec.bat COMMIX Network Software Menu Structure Setting up a Modem Cabling PC's Back to Back 3. CONFIGURING CNS FOR YOUR NETWORK Configuration Sub-Menu Printer Setup File Transfer Method File Service Access Serial Port Configuration Terminal Emulation Destinations Save Configuration 4. USING COMMIX NETWORK SOFTWARE Introduction File Transfer File Service Printer Control Terminal Emulation 5. TROUBLESHOOTING Hayes is a trademark of Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc. VT100 is a trademark of of the Digital Equipment Corporation. COMMIX, COMMIX 32 and COMMIX Network Software are trademarks of Infotron Systems Corporation. Lotus 123 is a trademark of the Lotus Development Corporation WordPerfect is a trademark of the WordPerfect Corporation IBM and IBM PC are trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation. MS-DOS is a trademark of the Microsoft Corporation. Leading Edge is a trademark of Leading Edge Hardware Products, Inc. Sidekick is a trademark of Borland International, SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION GENERAL DESCRIPTION COMMIX Network Software (CNS) permanently resides in the memory of a PC and provides seamless and transparent COMMIX and Hayes-compatible modem functionality to PC users. CNS transfers files, manages printers, and performs terminal emulation. CNS is normally used with one of three hardware configurations: 1) HARDWIRE. Two PC's are directly cabled together through their serial communications ports. A printer may be connected to the PC via a serial connection. CNS allows software written to communicate with parallel printers to work with serial printers using XON/XOFF flow control. 2) MODEM. A PC communicates with another PC, printer, or host computer via a modem connection. 3) COMMIX 32. Several PC's, modems, printers, and host ports are cabled to COMMIX 32 ports. (The file READ.ME on this diskette will tell you more about the COMMIX 32.) In a COMMIX network, CNS automatically makes and breaks connections through COMMIX to provide these services. COMMIX Network Software works across COMMIX Ethernet Links as well as within a single COMMIX node. COMMIX Network Software resides in the background memory of a PC and will not interfere with most other PC application software. A user can be working with Lotus 123(c) or WordPerfect(c) at the same time CNS is transferring a database. COMMIX Network Software is controlled and set up via a pop-up menu system. The menus can be accessed at any time by pressing the ALT and period key at the same time. This is known as a "hot key." For example, a user in the middle of working on a spreadsheet, simply presses ALT-period and the menu appears. When the user is done, the screen and application are completely restored. As menu options are chosen, new menus overlay previous ones. The ESCape key moves to previous menus. Pressing ESCape at the initial menu returns to an application or DOS prompt. CNS FUNCTIONS FILE TRANSFER -- user selects a system from the pop-up menu and a file to send or receive from that system. CNS makes the connection, transfers the file, then breaks the connection. The transfer happens in background so the user can work on other tasks during 1-1 the transfer. The File Server capabilities allow a user to do file transfers with no user intervention on the remote system. FILE SERVICE -- sets up your PC to permit easy file transfer access to other users. Several directories can be set up with combinations of READ, CREATE, OVERWRITE, or NO access. The actual transfer itself is initiated by a user on the network via the File Transfer options of CNS. CNS is a two-way street; it can both initiate file transfers and respond to transfer requests from a distant machine. PRINTING -- redirects all print jobs from a parallel port to a serial port. If required, CNS can make a connection through COMMIX to a printer or dial a call to a printer through a modem (the modem must be configured for auto-answer). It initializes the printer, prints the job, then breaks the connection. The pop-up menu allows the user to select from six different printers, each with their own set of configuration parameters. If less than six printers are used, the same printer can be used as several logical printers, each with its own set of characteristics. For example, printers DRAFT and LETTER can be the same dot matrix printer. When printer DRAFT is chosen, the initialization string causes the printer to work in draft print mode, printer LETTER tells it to print in near letter quality mode. TERMINAL EMULATION -- pops up an ASCII terminal and automatically makes a connection through COMMIX or dials a call through a modem. Four predefined destinations can be chosen. User can also start terminal emulation without making a connection or a call. FILES There are four files on this diskette: CNSMC.COM -- The COMMIX Network Software program. CNS.CFG -- Configuration file for CNS. CNS.DOC -- The users manual for CNS READ.ME -- An quick introduction to CNS and this diskette, as well as an introduction to ITRON's COMMIX 32 office network system. Section two of this manual will tell you how to install CNS on your PC. 1-2 MANUAL ADDENDUM OUTLINE This manual addendum is divided into five parts: INTRODUCTION INSTALLING CNS ON YOUR PC CONFIGURING CNS FOR YOUR NETWORK USING CNS consisting of information on File Transfer File Service Printer Control Terminal Emulation TROUBLESHOOTING 1-3 SECTION 2 INSTALLING CNS ON YOUR PC There are four phases of installing COMMIX Network Software on your PC: 1) Copying the software from the ITRON distribution diskette to your hard disk, or the floppy from which you boot your system. 2) Placing commands in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file which places CNS in memory whenever you boot your system. 3) Learning the CNS menu structure. COPYING CNS TO YOUR PC BOOT DISK To copy the files on to your hard drive or floppy from which you boot your PC, place the ITRON CNS distribution disk in one of your floppy disk drives. Then set your default directory to the directory you wish the CNS files to reside. It doesn't matter where you place the CNS files, so put them in a directory which suits your needs. Finally, use the DOS COPY command to copy the files named CNS.COM and CNS.CFG to the hard drive or boot disk. For example, to install CNS in a directory called \SYS\COMMAND on drive C:, place the ITRON distribution disk in drive A: and type the following commands at the DOS prompt: C: MD \SYS\COMMAND (unless directory already exists) CD \SYS\COMMAND COPY CNS.* MODIFYING AUTOEXEC.BAT Once the CNS files have been placed on your boot disk, you should add the following commands to a file called AUTOEXEC.BAT: CD \SYS\COMMAND CNS PATH \SYS\COMMAND These commands will place COMMIX Network Software into your PC's memory whenever you start your system. Once installed, COMMIX Network Software is ready to serve you. Simply press the ALT-period "hot key" to activate the pop-up menu. 2-1 COMMIX NETWORK SOFTWARE MENU STRUCTURE The main menu shows several options. To select an option, use the up and down arrows to move to highlight bar to the desired option. You may also type the first letter of the option to select it. Once the option is selected, press the RETURN or ENTER key to activate it. The FILE SERVICE option allows you to enable or disable a feature. Selecting the other features will take you into sub-menus. Sub-menu options are selected and chosen in the same manner as they are in the main menu. To leave a sub-menu and return to a higher level menu, press the ESCape key. To return to DOS or your application from the main menu, press ESCape. If you select an option by mistake, simply press ESCape and you'll go back to the menu from which you selected the option. The COMMIX Network Software menus and their functions are discussed in more detail in the next two sections of this manual. DOS AND MACHINE COMPATIBILITY The CNS software should operate correctly with all 99% IBM PC clones running PC-DOS or MS-DOS version 2.0 or later. The software will automatically support monochrome, Hercules, CGA, EGA and VGA displays while in text mode. The software is known to operate correctly on the following machines: IBM PC: XT, AT, ATX IBM PS/2: 30, 50, 60 Amstrad: 1512, 1640 (mouse driver not installed) Zenith: Z-181, Z-183 Leading Edge: Model D The CNS software will not run correctly if the machines system clock "tick" is not 18.2 per second. For example CNS will not work correctly with the Amstrad range of machines if the mouse driver is installed. The software will NOT normally operate with the "DOS compatible" operating systems because the program may be swapped out of memory while communicating in the background, or the screen may be in graphics mode. (For the same reasons CNS should NEVER be swapped out of memory using some TSR program selectors as CNS may have a file open and serial data being transmitted). Systems to avoid include: PC-MOS 386 DosMerge 386 Microsoft Windows (1.x or 2.x) OS/2. 2-2 Alternate versions of CNS will be available to support some of these other operating systems in the future. INTERACTION WITH OTHER PROGRAMS The CNS software occupies less than 40K of memory when loaded and provides all the functions outlined in section 1. The whole package must be loaded, it is not possible to selectively load functions. During file transfers the CHKDSK command must be avoided. The program assumes that no files are currently being accessed, and will report any partially written file from CNS an error. * NEVER RUN CHKDSK/F WITH CNS ACTIVE. * If a file is "typed" and the scroll lock or CONTROL-S entered in the middle of the file, then any current file transfer may fail due to timeouts. This will only occur if the screen is held stationary for more than 60 seconds. The CNS software may be loaded with Borland's Sidekick. Sidekick, as usual, must be loaded last. The CNS software should coexist with most other popup software which does not access the selected serial port. SETTING UP A MODEM If you are using COMMIX Network Software with a modem, the modem must be configured to hang up the call when your PC drops DTR. You'll need to consult your modem documentation to see how this is done. Some modems (such as the Hayes 1200) require you to set hardware switchs on the modem, others (like the Hayes 2400) allow you to set this through software. On a Hayes 2400 or full compatible you would use CNS to enter terminal emulation without dialing a call (see section 4 for details). You can now enter "AT" commands directly to the modem. Then type: AT&D2&W <RETURN> This will set the modem. Then press FUNCTION KEY 9 to leave terminal emulation. CABLING PC'S BACK TO BACK If you are connecting two PC's back to back you must use what is known as a "cross-over" cable. This can be purchased from a data 2-3 communications equipment distributor or computer store. If you wish to make your own cable see the use the following instructions: DB-25 CONNECTOR Pin 3 to pin2 Pin 2 to pin3 Pin 7 to pin7 Pin 6 to pin20 Pin 20 to pin6 DB-9 CONNECTOR Pin 2 to pin3 Pin 3 to pin2 Pin 5 to pin5 Pin 1 to pin6 Pin 6 to pin1 2-4 SECTION 3 CONFIGURING COMMIX NETWORK SOFTWARE FOR YOUR NETWORK Once you have installed CNS software on your PC, you'll need to tailor CNS to your particular network. In many instances the default settings will be sufficient for your network. You can make a standard CNS configuration and distribute it to your PC users, or you can configure CNS separately on each PC. There are seven steps to properly configuring COMMIX Network Software: 1) Enter the configuration sub-menu of CNS and perform the following seven steps. 2) Set up printer name, telephone number or COMMIX port, and initialization strings for each printer. 3) Define file transfer method. 4) Define file service access. 5) Set serial port number and speed. 6) Define four predefined terminal emulation destinations. 7) Save all configuration settings to a configuration file so that the settings will be active when you turn on or reset your PC. CONFIGURATION SUB-MENU Once you have drawn your network, you are ready to begin software configuration. Press ALT-period to bring up the COMMIX Network Software menu. Use the arrow key, or press "C" to select configuration. Press RETURN and you'll see the configuration menu. Once in the Configuration sub-menu, use the arrow keys or first letter of the option to select the option. Press RETURN to go into the sub- menu for that particular configuration option. Once you are done configuring select SAVE CONFIGURATION from the configuration sub-menu to save all configuration settings to a configuration file so that the settings will be active when you turn on or reset your PC. PRINTER SETUP Use the arrow key, or press "P" to select PRINTER. Press RETURN and you'll see the printer configuration. For each of the six possible printers, there are three options to be set: 1) The printer name which appears in the printer sub-menu. 2) The printer destination. If the printer is cabled directly to your PC, leave this blank. If you are communicating with the 3-1 printer through a modem, this should be the telephone number of the modem to which the printer is attached. If you are networking through a COMMIX 32, this should be the COMMIX port number or name to which the printer is attached. 3) The initialization string to be sent to the printer whenever a print job is sent. Consult the documentation supplied with the printer to see what these codes are, as they vary with printer. Control characters can be included by using the tilde (^) character before a letter. For example control-O is represented as ^O. The escape character is ^[. One physical printer can serve as several CNS printers. For example, a Star(c) printer could be cabled to COMMIX port 12 with a port name of "STAR" . You could then configure two CNS printers, "STAR DRAFT" which prints on the Star printer in draft mode, and "STAR LETTER" which prints in letter quality mode. Both CNS printers would send print jobs to the same COMMIX port, but would send different initialization strings to the printer. To select a printer to configure enter the number of the printer, or use the arrow to move the highlight bar. Press RETURN and you'll see the configuration options for that printer. Select an option by typing its first letter or using the arrows, then press enter. You can now type the printer name shown on the menu, the printer destination, and the initialization string. Press RETURN when finished typing each option. Besides setting up six printers, you can also write a banner to be printed with each printout. A good idea would be to have the banner different for each PC so that printouts can be easily distributed to the requesters. Type "B" or use the arrow to move the highlight to the banner option. Press RETURN and type the banner followed by another RETURN. If no banner is specified, then the banner page is not printed. FILE TRANSFER METHOD COMMIX Network Software allows you to exchange files with another PC using CNS, or with another system (including PC) using the Kermit file transfer protocol. You will need to configure CNS accordingly. Selecting FILE TRANSFER OPTION from the configuration menu allows you to set to options: 1) Whether to use seven or eight bit bytes during file transfer. If you are using a modem which only passes seven bit characters, choose seven bits; otherwise, use eight bits. 2) Default directory for file transfers. This is only important if Kermit is calling CNS. Since Kermit can not change the 3-2 remote directory, you must pre-set it in CNS. With CNS to CNS file transfers, you can set the remote subdirectory with local CNS. Use of Kermit programs and terminal emulations not written by ITRON with the CNS file service is not supported and is done at the your own risk. Select FILE TRANSFER OPTION SELECTION from the Configuration menu to change these settings. To change the number of bits select HI-BIT CONTROL and press RETURN to toggle between seven and eight bits. To change the default directory select DEFAULT DIRECTORY from the Configuration menu, press RETURN, type the default directory, then press RETURN. FILE SERVICE ACCESS File Service Access Control allows you set file transfer access to DOS subdirectories on your PC. This controls the access of users on other PCs. COMMIX Network Software will not interfere with your access to files on your PC. You can set access for up to seven subdirectories. You can also set default access for the remaining subdirectories not specifically given access. A password prevents unauthorized people from seeing or modifying your file service access settings. Four levels of access can be granted: 1) READ ONLY -- remote users may only receive files from that subdirectory. They cannot send to it. 2) WRITE ONLY -- users can send files to the subdirectory, but cannot receive for it. 3) READ/WRITE -- users can both send and receive files from the subdirectory. 4) NO ACCESS -- users can neither send nor receive files from the subdirectory. The configuration options for file service access is split between two sub-menus within the configuration menu. Menu one sets access for four subdirectories; menu two sets access for three menus, as well as the default access and the password for using the File Service Access sub- menus. To view or modify file service access select File Service Access Control 1 or 2 from the configuration sub-menu. After you press RETURN 3-3 you will be asked for a password. The initial password on a new installation of CNS is "ITRON." You may change the password in the File Service Access Control 2 menu. After entering the correct password you'll see File Service Access Control menu. To add or modify a subdirectory, select a directory, press RETURN, type the subdirectory name, then press RETURN. To remove a subdirectory from the list, select it, press RETURN, and press the space bar followed by another RETURN. To modify access, select the access option for the subdirectory, and press RETURN until the access you desire is displayed. The password for the File Service Access Control menus can be modified in the File Service Access Control 2 menu. Select Password, press RETURN, type the new password, and again press RETURN. Since the access list is always scanned from entry 1 to entry 7, and the scanning stops at the first match, a very powerful file control system can be setup. For example if a user wished to exclude access to all of drive 'C:' except for a directory "\external" where users may read files, and a directory "\external\write" where users might read and write files, the following setup would be used: C:\external\write Read/write access C:\external Read only C: No access The order is important. If the entry for "C:" was first then the whole disk would be protected. SERIAL PORT CONFIGURATION The serial communications port, speed and dialing used by COMMIX Network Software is set in the COM PORT SELECTION AND SPEED sub-menu of the Configuration menu. Select COM Port used, and press RETURN to toggle between COM1: and COM2: of your PC. If you do not know which COM: port to use, you'll need to consult with the person who sold you your PC or installed the hardware. If your PC has one serial port it is most likely COM1:. Select Baud Rate Used, and press RETURN to choose a speed between 1200 and 19,200 bps. The dialing method allows you to tailor CNS to the type of telephone service your modem uses. The following options are available: 1) Touch-tone for telephone circuits with that capability. 3-4 2) Pulse Dialing for those without touch-tone capability. 3) COMMIX port name. This is used when your PC is cabled to a COMMIX 32 unit rather than a modem or another PC. 4) Disabled when you don't wish CNS to place calls. To choose a dialing method, select DIALING and press RETURN until the desired setting is displayed. TERMINAL EMULATION DESTINATIONS The Terminal Emulation Destinations and Terminal Type sub-menu of the Configuration menu allows you to set auto-dial destinations. These destinations can be telephone numbers if your PC is connected to a modem, or COMMIX port names or numbers if your PC is connected to a COMMIX 32. You can set up to four auto-dial destinations. When you choose Terminal Emulation in the main menu, these four destinations are shown. You can then simply choose one and a connection will be automatically dialed through your modem or made through COMMIX. This will be explained in greater detail in Section 4 of this manual. The auto-dial destinations are set by selecting one of the preset destinations in the Terminal Emulation sub-menu, pressing RETURN, typing a telephone number, or a COMMIX port number or name, and again pressing RETURN. To remove a destination from the list, select the destination, press RETURN, press the space bar, then press RETURN again. SAVE CONFIGURATION Once you have configured your CNS system it is active during the current session. If you want the information to be active after you reset your PC or toggle power, you must Save Configuration. ITRON RECOMMENDS THAT YOU SAVE CONFIGURATION WHENEVER YOU CHANGE YOUR CNS CONFIGURATION. To Save Configuration, simply select the Save Configuration option from the configuration sub-menu, and press RETURN. The configuration is kept in a file called CNS.CFG which is in the same directory as the CNS program itself. Do not place them in different subdirectories. When you Save Configuration you DO NOT have to be in the directory holding CNS.COM and CNS.CFG. When you first load CNS, normally via commands in AUTOEXEC.BAT during system boot, the default directory must be set to the directory holding these files. See section 2 of this manual for more details. 3-5 SECTION 4 USING CNS INTRODUCTION Now that you've configured COMMIX Network Software, you are ready to put CNS to work. When ever you wish to use CNS, simply press ALT-period key. The CNS main menu will pop up on your screen as shown in figure 4-1. It will not interfere with whatever else you are doing. You can pop it up while using a spreadsheet, a word processor, or any other application. You can, of course, pop it up while at the DOS prompt. Throughout this section, we'll talk about "selecting" and "choosing." "Selecting" means moving the highlight bar on a menu to an option. You can use the up or down arrows to move the highlight bar. You can also type the first letter of the option and the highlight bar will jump to it. If more than one option start with the same first letter, you may have to press the letter more than once. "Choosing" means pressing the RETURN or ENTER key when the highlight bar is on the desired option. Depending on the option, choosing will either take you to a sub-menu, toggle a setting, or cause an action to occur. FILE TRANSFER File Transfer allows you to send and receive files from another PC. The other PC may be connected to a modem which CNS will dial, or it may be part of a COMMIX network to which your PC is attached. You can also transfer files between two PC's hard wired to each other. All control is from the PC on which you are working. We'll refer to this as the "local PC." The other PC will be referred to as the "remote PC," and must have COMMIX Network Software installed. File access control must be set on the remote PC as discussed in section 3 of this manual. The start file transfer, select and choose File Transfer from the main COMMIX Network Software menu and you'll see the file transfer menu as shown in figure 4-2. Before transferring a file you need to set three things: REMOTE MACHINE -- If your PC is cabled to a modem, this is the telephone number of the remote machine. If it is cabled to a COMMIX 32 this is the COMMIX port name or number of the remote PC. If two PC's are directly cabled to each other, no REMOTE MACHINE should be specified. READ FILE -- The name of the file to transmit. The read file is on the local machine if you are sending from local to remote. It is on the remote machine if 4-1 you are receiving from the remote and sending to local. WRITE FILE -- The name the file is to have on the target machine. You can use the asterisk as a wildcard character just as you would with DOS. The question mark can also be used as a wildcard for a single character as it is in DOS. For example you wish to send all files in the \FINANCE directory of your PC with a file extension of ".WKS" to another PC with the telephone number 722-1234. On the remote machine you'd like the filenames to have the extension ".BAK" and be in the \BACKUP subdirectory. Set the REMOTE MACHINE to "7221234" . Set READ FILE to "\FINANCE\*.WKS" and the WRITE FILE to "\BACKUP\*.BAK" . Now you're ready to transmit, that is, to send from the local to the remote machine. To begin the transmission, select and choose the field labelled: Send file(s) to remote: A status screen will automatically "pop up". This screen will let you see COMMIX trying to establish the connection to the remote machine. The status screen provides a field at the bottom that allows users to cancel the dial attempt. Once the connection is established, a new pop-up will appear to let you know how the file transfer itself is taking place. This file transfer status screen will also allow users to abort the file transfer if necessary. When the transfer is complete, a final pop-up will appear to verify that the transfer was successful. You can receive files from the remote machine in much the same way. To begin the transfer from the remote machine, select and choose the field labelled: Receive file(s) from remote: Again, a set of pop-up screens will appear to keep you informed of the status of your transfer. FILE SERVICE When setting up the configuration menu of CNS as described in section 3 of this manual, you were able to establish a series of access 4-2 privileges (read only, write only, read and write, no access) to the files on your PC. While the configuration menu allowed you to establish these parameters, CNS does not automatically implement them. These access parameters are implemented only when the File Service field is set to ENABLED. Select this field and press RETURN to toggle between ENABLED and DISABLED. If File Service is DISABLED, there will be no access available to remote users for files on the local PC. PRINTER The Printer option of CNS allows users to divert a printout request from a parallel printer port (LPT1, LPT2 or LPT3) to a serial port which could be connected directly to a printer with a serial interface, to a modem which will dial a connection to a printer at a remote location, or connected to a COMMIX 32 network. The printer field of the CNS menu allows users to do the following: 1. Define the parallel printer port (LPT1, LPT2 or LPT3) to which the PC typically directs printer output. 2. Choose from one of a maximum of six printers defined in the Printer Setup field. As explained in the configuration section, the six choices can be different printers, or several printers with different logical names to define initialization strings that set different print modes or any combination of the above. CNS will divert the printed output from the designated parallel port and to divert it to the serial port named in the COM PORT SELECTION AND SPEED field of the Configuration menu. To define the parallel port from which CNS will divert data, select the PRINTOUT FROM: field of the Printer menu screen. The RETURN key allows you to select LPT1, LPT2 or LPT3. If you want to keep CNS active, but disable the printout diversion, choose DISABLE. If the feature is enabled, select and choose the logical printer name, from the list of six, to which you want CNS to redirect the printout. Once users choose the printer, the DIVERTED TO: field should indicate the change. To double check that CNS recognized the change, go back to the Main CNS screen. The PRINTOUT FROM: and the DIVERTED TO: fields should show the same selections as the printer menu screen. The COMMIX Network Software printer setup required is simpler than that for DOS (no need to use the DOS MODE command). Only three wires need be used: transmit and receive data and ground. None of the control lines need be connected on the IBM, and the printer should be set up for 4-3 XON/XOFF (DC1/DC3) software flow control. TERMINAL EMULATION The terminal emulation menu causes your PC to emulate a DEC VT100 terminal via one of three services: 1. Select one of the four destination addresses that were entered into the program in the Preset Dial Numbers section of the Configuration menu. 2. Define and connect to a temporary destination address. 3. Have your PC enter terminal mode with no preset destination address. To access the Terminal Emulation menu, select and choose the TERMINAL option of the main CNS menu. The Terminal menu screen will appear. This screen will display the destination addresses (up to 4) stored in the configuration menu. This screen will also display the fields that allow you to define and connect to a temporary destination and to go into terminal emulation mode without defining a destination. To connect to one of the stored destinations, just select and choose the destination address to which you would like to connect. CNS will display another pop-up screen which will display status information as CNS attempts to make the connection. The display allows you to cancel the connection request simply by entering RETURN. The CNS program allows users to define a temporary destination address. This feature is when you want to request connection to a specific destination several times during the course of a day but will not be connecting to the destination often enough to warrant it being placed in the CNS configuration file. To enter the temporary destination, select and choose the TEMP DESTINATION field of the Terminal Emulation pop-up. CNS will then display a window that allows users to enter the temporary destination. The destination may be a maximum of 18 alphanumeric characters and is a telephone number or COMMIX port name. Once the temporary address is placed in CNS, you can connect to it by selecting and choosing the Connect to Temp field. Once this field is chosen, CNS will deal with the connection request in exactly the same way as it does for permanently stored destinations. You can also turn your PC into a VT100 compatible terminal without connecting to a pre-defined destination by selecting and choosing the Direct Terminal (No Dial) field. Once your PC is in terminal emulation mode, the monitor screen will 4-4 clear and a bar will appear across the bottom of the screen giving you three special options: 1. DISCONNECT AND EXIT. Pressing Function Key 9 causes a modem or COMMIX 32 connection to be broken, CNS leaves terminal emulation and returns to the main CNS menu. 2. Break the connection but stay in terminal emulation mode by pressing Function Key 10. 3. Hold. Pressing Function Key 5 will toggle between screen scroll and no screen scroll. You PC's keys will act like those of a VT100 in the following manner: VT100 KEYPAD KEYS PC KEYS 1 through 9 Keypad 1 through 9 Function keys 1 through 4 Function keys 1 through 4. Arrows Arrows Minus Minus Comma Keypad asterisk Period Period Enter Keypad Plus 4-5 SECTION 5 TROUBLESHOOTING GENERAL CONCERNS This section will describe several potential difficulties you may have using COMMIX Network Software and will tell you how to solve them. Most often these problems are caused by improper configuration of CNS. Here are some general settings you should check before going into more detailed troubleshooting: 1) Make sure that CNS is set to the proper speed for the devices you are using, such as printer or modem (COM Port Selection and Speed sub-menu of the configuration menu). 2) Verify that CNS is using the proper COM port of you PC, such as COM1: or COM2: (COM Port Selection and Speed sub-menu of the configuration menu). 3) If you are communicating with another PC verify that it is also using a properly configured CNS. 4) If you are cabled directly to another PC, use a cross-over cable as discussed in section 2 of this PC. 5) Verify that your modem is a Hayes-compatible modem using the "AT" commands and is properly configured to operate with your PC. (See modem documentation.) MENU DOESN'T POPUP WHEN YOU PRESS ALT-PERIOD Check your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The first set of commands should load CNS as described in section 2 of this manual. CNS should be loaded into your system before any other memory resident utilities. If CNS 'beeps' when you press alt-period then CNS is correctly loaded, but is unable to popup. There are two common reasons for this: the operating system is busy (e.g. a disk format), or graphics are being displayed. WON'T DIAL CALLS Verify the dialing procedure is correct for your application (touch- tone, pulse, COMMIX port name). See section 3 of this manual for details. Verify that your modem is configured properly for your PC. Check your modem documentation for more details. 5-1 GARBAGE PRINTED ON PRINTER If operating via direct wire or modem, verify that CNS and your printer are operating at the same speed, and that the printer is set for eight bits, no parity, 1 stop bit. If you are going through COMMIX 32, speed and parity conversion will be performed. Consult your printer manual to see if any special initialization string must be sent to the printer. If this is so, place this string in the INIT STRING printer parameter of CNS as described in section 3 of this manual. WON'T TRANSFER FILES CNS must be operating in both PC's. If you are operating through a modem, the REMOTE MACHINE NAME must be the telephone number of the modem cabled to the remote machine. NOTHING HAPPENS OR MUTILATED DATA IN TERMINAL EMULATION If operating via direct wire or modem, verify that CNS and the host machine are operating at the same speed, and that the host machine is set for eight bits, no parity, 1 stop bit. If you are going through COMMIX 32, speed and parity conversion will be performed. LARGE LETTERS FAIL TO APPEAR ON PRINTER BANNER If the printer banner appears as six lines of your banner text in small letters then CNS has failed to find the character generator tables used by the machines. This should only happen on poor "clones" of the IBM PC. 5-2