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Text File | 1993-10-31 | 23.7 KB | 480 lines

HamlET - A Ham Radio terminal Program By Paul B. Schou - KE6ET Copyright (c) 1991-93 HamlET v 3.3 is Shareware. Use it and share it (noncommercially) freely. A Twenty Dollar ($20.00) contribution will entitle you any HamlET updates or, heaven forbid, bug fixes developed during the following year. Please indicate what size floppy you use. Updates will be mailed to you. Please mail checks to the author: Paul B. Schou 501 Tayman Drive Annapolis, MD 21403 Equipment Requirements HamlET will run on any PC compatible computer using DOS 3.0 or higher. It will probably run on earlier DOS versions but has not been tested with earlier DOS's. HamlET will run with a minimum of 128K of RAM. If you use the optional shelling or program calling procedures enough memory must be available for them. HamlET requires a serial port. Features: I wrote HamlET because I wanted some things I couldn't find in other packet terminal programs. I wanted a small program that would run on a single floppy and still have room to save data. I wanted a program that would run when called without having to bother with "Press any key to continue." or other intermediate steps. I also wanted the ability to run under DESQview or other multitasking software. Lastly I wanted the ability to use Comm ports one through four and to select IRQ's for ports three and four. HamlET does those things on an uncluttered split screen display. It also can save or send ASCII files, print received stuff, set the TNC clock and scroll the receive window. HamlET can also be configured to call your favorite editor or other programs. HamlET uses the SHIFT-F and CTRL-F keys to send sets of user definable commands or messages to the TNC. This feature is especially useful with multimode TNC's. HamlET will select and run in mono, CGA, EGA VGA or SVGA. HamlET is compatible with WB4APR's Automatic Position Report System (APRS). It will automatically respond to APRS position report requests when the APRS mode is active. HamlET has two distinct personalities. For the Ham new to packet or computers, it is a very simple terminal program that requires minimal knowledge. For the experienced packet user it is a fully customizable program with multiple configuration profiles that will run in multitasking environments. HamlET does not mess with your TNC! Commands will not be sent to the TNC that you do not specify. There is one exception but you can override it. HamlET uses the default settings of most TNC's except the few commands explained below. For The Impatient: Switch to the drive/directory where HAMLET.EXE is located and type hamlet If you are using 1200 Baud between the TNC and the computer and your TNC is connected to Comm 1, HamlET will run. If it doesn't read on. The Configuration File: HamlET allows the user to select a configuration file. The configuration file allows the user to select Comm ports and Baud rates and to send commands to the TNC. This file must be in the same Drive/Directory as HAMLET.EXE. The default configuration file name is HAMLET.CFG. If the program doesn't find HAMLET.CFG on start up it will tell you so and will default to COMM 1 and 1200 Baud. The same defaults will be used if the program doesn't like the numbers in the HAMLET.CFG file. You'll be told if the numbers are wrong. If you want to use a config file other than HAMLET.CFG simply type hamlet urfle.cfg when you start the program. urfile.cfg can be any file name. A configuration file has lines of information: A typical file looks like this: 1 [Line 1 - Comm Port] 1200 [Line 2 - Baud Rate] 4 [Line 3 - IRQ] \ted.com + Xflow Off + MY YOURCALL = [Time] - CT The terminal is off. + CT The terminal is on. Use CTRL-G to ring my bell. * 3856.00N 07659.79W Put your Lat/lon here for APRS. [LAST LINE] The wording of the comments inside the brackets [ ] is optional as are the brackets BUT there must be something there. Anything will work as long as its separated from the number by a few spaces. This applies to the first three lines and the Equal (=) sign line. The last line must have something in it that isn't a + - * or = sign. The first line designates the Comm Port. 1, 2, 3, or 4 are acceptable. If you use ports 3 or 4 be sure to read the discussion in the Comm Port paragraphs. The second line selects the Baud rate between the computer and the TNC. HamlET will operate with Baud rates of 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600 or 19200. Most users will find that 9600 Baud works fine. Some TNC mailboxes may not support hardware hand-shaking. If you get garbled data when reading long messages (3K+) from your mailbox, reduce the Baud rate to 4800 or less. The third line selects the IRQ or Interrupt Request. This should be set to 4 if Comm Port 1 is used and 3 if Comm Port 2 is used. See the discussion in the Comm Port paragraphs for more detail on the IRQ's for Comm Ports Three and Four. The fourth line is used to identify an Editor or other program that can be called while in HamlET. Put the program name in this line. Be sure to include the .COM or .EXE extension. If the program is not in the Path include the full pathname. If you plan to use an Editor to prepare packet messages make sure you use an ASCII editor. DESQview users should read the DESQview paragraphs. NOTE: IF YOU DON'T USE THIS FEATURE LEAVE THE FOURTH LINE BLANK. The fifth line is used to identify a Logging or other program that can be called while in HamlET. Put the program name in this line. Be sure to include the .COM or .EXE extension. If the program is not in the Path include the full pathname. DESQview users should read the DESQview paragraphs. NOTE: IF YOU DON'T USE THIS FEATURE LEAVE THE FIFTH LINE BLANK. The rest of the file lines are sent to the TNC when the program is started or exited. If you want your TNC clock set to the computer clock on start up, put this line in the .CFG file; = Time The APRS mode is activated by including a line, preceded by an * containing your Latitude, longitude and comments. Including this information will start HamlET in the APRS mode. The Lat/lon format must be followed exactly. The numbers are in degrees followed by minutes and decimal minutes and the hemisphere. Include leading zeros to pad the degrees and whole minutes of longitude to 5 places and Latitude to 4 places. Be sure to use upper case for the N, S, E, and W indicators. The sample line: * 3856.00N 07629.79W KE6ET's Home QTH Indicates 38 degree 56.0 minutes North Latitude and 76 degrees 29.79 minutes West longitude. The phrase "KE6ET's Home QTH" will be added to the APRS formatted Lat/lon info in the position report and BText information. See the APRS section for more info. On start up any TNC command may be sent by preceding the command with a plus sign (+). Thus the line; + CT The terminal is on. sets CText to "The terminal is on." When you exit the program any line preceded with a minus sign (-) will be sent to the TNC. Thus; - CT The terminal is off. sets CText to "The terminal is off." Any number of + and - lines may be included in the HAMLET.CFG file as long as they are after the fifth line. The +, - and * lines may be intermingled. A sample HAMLET.CFG file is included in HAMLET.ZIP. Edit the file with any ASCII editor or word processor to reflect your configuration. If you use a non ASCII word processor to create or modify the .CFG file be sure to save it as an ASCII file. Setting the TNC parameters: HamlET is designed to work with the default parameters of most TNC's. These settings are changes from typical default settings. Xflow OFF is mandatory. The next three are highly recommended. The others are suggestions. Parameter Setting Xflow OFF HamlET uses hardware flow control. Xflow must be off to avoid conflicts. The serial cable must be a standard cable. A three wire cable might not work in overflow situations. Echo OFF Turning Echo OFF prevents what you send from appearing in the receive window. Flow OFF Turning Flow OFF allows incoming data to be received while you are typing. HamlET will separate the send and receive data. LFIgnore ON HamlET works with this OFF or ON unless sending an ASCII file. Turn it ON to be sure. CMSg ON If you want CT messages sent when someone connects, this must be ON. NEwmode ON Personal preference. I would rather let the TNC switch back to Command mode after a disconnect. PIdcheck OFF If you get a lot of ASCII stuff from Nodes turn this OFF to eliminate the trash. STREAMCall ON If you allow multiple users, turn this ON to help sort them out. USers 2 - 10 Allow as many users as you want, up to your TNC's limit. Using HamlET HamlET features a split screen display. The top 18 lines are used for the Receive window The lower part of the screen has five lines dedicated as the Send window. The windows are separated by a double line with the computer clock time running on the right side. If the APRS mode is active a will appear to the right of the clock. The bottom line or Prompt line shows what some function keys do. Any incoming data will appear in the Receive window. The TAB is set to eight spaces. When the clock is running, HamlET is ready for use. Data that has scrolled off the receive window can be reviewed by using PgUp to enter the scroll mode. The PgUp and PgDn keys then allow scrolling through the last 10 screens. A flashing prompt will appear on the prompt line while scrolling is active. Pressing End returns from the Scroll mode to the normal Receive mode. Anything typed in the five line Send window is sent immediately to the TNC. Limited editing capabilities are available by using the Backspace key. F1-Help F1 Brings up a help menu that shows information about the special keys and shows some configuration data. You probably won't need this too often. F2-Print If a printer is connected to printer port 1, F2 will start the printer. If the printer is not on or if the program detects a printer error you will hear a beep. If the printer is OK the word "Print" in the prompt line will flash. Anything received from the TNC will now print and appear in the Receive window. Pressing F2 a second time will turn the print function off and "Print" will stop flashing. F3-Save F3 is used when you want to save incoming information to an ASCII file. Pressing F3 will open a small window that asks you to name the file that information is to be saved to. You may include a full path and file name. If you just input a file name the file will be saved in the current directory. If the file exists HamlET APPENDS data to the end of the file. If the file doesn't exist HamlET will create a new file. The word "Save" in the Prompt line will flash while data is saved. Press F3 again to stop the save function. F4-Send F4 is used to send prepared ASCII text files to the TNC. The files can consist of commands for the TNC or text to be sent to another station. Pressing F4 will open a small window that asks you for a file name. Enter the file name that you want to send. This feature is useful for sending prepared messages or for sending brag tapes. For instance a file named QTH could send your name and address. You may also prepare messages or a series of messages to be sent to your local bulletin board. When you send a file using F4, the transmitted text will appear in the Send window and the flashing words "Any Key" will replace "F4-Send" on the prompt line. Pressing any key but the Escape key will abort transmission of the file. The Escape key will also abort the file transmission but it will also close the HamlET program which probably is not what you want to do. If the file length exceeds the TNC transmit buffer size, transmission from the computer to the TNC will pause. The text in the Send window will also pause. Transmission to the TNC and the Send window will continue when the TNC buffers are empty. This is done automatically by the programs hardware flow control. Transmission from the TNC to the other station can be monitored by observing the TNC status lights. XFLOW must be OFF for hardware flow control to operate properly. F5-Set TNC Time Pressing F5 will set the TNC clock to the computer time. This feature is an alternative to using the "= Time" line in the HAMLET.CFG file. The F5 command is not shown on the prompt line but is in the help menu. F6-Editor Pressing F6 will bring up the editor or other program that you named in line four of the hamlet.cfg file. You may use this function to access your favorite editor or use it to bring up a DOS shell. HamlET users have found that naming Vern Buerg's LIST.COM in line four, to access an editor, provides a powerful tool that can be used for editing or file manipulation. LIST is shareware and Copyright (C) 1983-1991 by; Vernon D. Buerg 139 White Oak Circle Petaluma, CA 94952 LIST is available from the author and many land line BBS's including: (707) 778-8944 VOR 24-hour bulletin board (707) 778-8841 MB 24-hour bulletin board (415) 994-2944 VOR South 24-hour BBS TED.COM a Tiny EDitor developed by Tom Kihlken of PC magazine is included in the HAMLET.ZIP file. This is a very efficient editor that uses less than 4K of disk space. The documentation for it is also included. F7-Log Pressing F7 will bring up the Logging or other program that you named in line five of the hamlet.cfg file. You may use this function to access your favorite logger or any other program that you might want to use. F8-APRS Pressing F8 will toggle the Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS) compatibility mode on or off. When the APRS mode is ON, a happy face will appear to the right of the clock. See the APRS section for detailed information. F10-Temporary exit to DOS Pressing F10 will cause a temporary exit to DOS. HamlET will remain in memory as a TSR. Any DOS program can then be run. To return to HamlET, type exit. Using F10 in a multitasking mode is not recommended unless adequate memory has been allocated for HamlET plus any DOS programs that you call with F10. PgUp-Scroll Pressing the PgUp key switches the Receive screen to the Scroll mode. Subsequent PgUp or PgDn key presses allow scrolling through the last ten pages. Pressing the End key returns to the receive mode. In Scroll mode the Send window remains active. SHIFT-F1 through SHIFT-F10 and CTRL-F1 through CTRL-F10 These keys allow access to prepared files. You may prepare up to 20 files named SF1.TXT through SF10.TXT and CF1.TXT through CF10.TXT. The content of these files will be sent when the corresponding F key is pressed while holding the SHIFT or CTRL key. This feature is especially useful when using a multimode TNC. A series of commands can be sent to configure the TNC for the desired mode. Comm Ports The PC and it's clones were originally designed to handle only two comm ports. When the need for more serial capability was recognized most PC's or I/O cards added Comm 3 and Comm 4 at the addresses and using the Interrupt Requests (IRQ's) as shown. Most software that uses Comm 3 and 4 also expects these addresses and IRQ's. Port Base Address IRQ Comm1 03F8 4 Comm2 02F8 3 Comm3 03E8 4 Comm4 02E8 3 Unfortunately this causes an immediate conflict between ports 1 and 3 and between ports 2 and 4. If a modem is connected to port 1, a mouse to port 2 and a TNC to port 3 the modem and the TNC will conflict since they share the same IRQ. The associated software cannot tell wich port generated the IRQ. At best the program in use will cause problems and at worst the computer will hang up. There is a way to solve the problem. HamlET allows you to select other IRQ's for comm 3 and 4. If your serial I/O board also allows selection of other IRQ's (many of them do) all you have to do is pick a number and go. Be careful picking the number. Stick to 2, 5 or 7. IRQ 2 is usually for a second parallel port. If you are using two printer ports don't use IRQ 2. IRQ's 5 and 7 are normally safe if other add-on boards have not usurped the IRQ's. HamlET accepts only IRQ's 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7. Any other IRQ numbers will cause an error when the HAMLET.CFG file is read. To make HamlET respond correctly first set the I/O board to the desired IRQ and Comm Port. Then edit the first and third lines of the HAMLET.CFG file to reflect the Port and IRQ numbers. This procedure applies only to Comm Ports 3 and 4. The IRQ's for Ports 1 and 2 are fixed by the program and are not affected by line three of the HAMLET.CFG file. APRS Compatibility Mode The APRS software developed by Bob Bruninga WB4APR, uses unconnected frames containing position information to plot station locations on a map. The position information can contain time, latitude, longitude, course, speed altitude, weather, comments and other data. HamlET can generate BText lines and special transmissions containing time, latitude, longitude and comments in the APRS format. HamlET can also respond automatically to requests for position information from other stations using APRS or HamlET. The APRS VHF mode coverage depends on the number of stations participating and on the same frequency. In the Baltimore/Washington area 145.79 mHz is used by most APRS compatible stations. All stations are encouraged to set their alias (MYA) to RELAY, and their UNprotect to APRS V RELAY. If wider coverage is warranted UN can be set to APRS V RELAY,RELAY or even V RELAY,RELAY,RELAY. If you want your position data to be sent at regular intervals set your Beacon time accordingly. Times in the order of every 30 minutes or more are usually adequate. The APRS mode is activated by including a line, preceded by an * containing your Latitude, longitude and comments in your configuration file. The line will start HamlET in the APRS mode. The Lat/lon format must be followed exactly. The numbers are in degrees followed by minutes and decimal minutes and the hemisphere. Include leading zeros to pad the degrees and whole minutes of longitude to 5 places and Latitude to 4 places. Be sure to use upper case for the N, S, E, and W indicators. The sample line: * 3856.00N 07629.79W KE6ET's Home QTH Shows 38 degree 56.0 minutes North Latitude and 76 degrees 29.79 minutes West longitude. The phrase "KE6ET's Home QTH" will be added to the APRS formatted Lat/lon info in the position report and BText information. The program will start in the APRS mode and a "Happy Face" will appear on the splitline to the right of the clock. Your BText will be set to an APRS format containing the time you started HamlET, latitude, longitude and any comments as specified in the configuration file. The following special keys and subroutines will be active while you are in the APRS mode and not connected to another station. F8 - Toggles the APRS mode on or off. The indicates that APRS is active. CTRL Q - Transmits the special APRS position report (Q)uery. Any station, with APRS compatible software, receiving the (Q)uery will respond with their latitude and longitude. CTRL T - (T)ransmits your computer time, followed by your latitude, longitude and comments in an APRS format. CTRL A - Allows you to (A)dd to or change the lat/lon and/or comments information. A small window will appear with prompts. Press just Enter at the prompt to retain the present settings. Be sure to enter the data correctly. There is no error checking incorporated in this function. Limit the length of the comments to less than 25 characters. TAB - APRS provides a method of sending one-line messages to stations within the digipeat range. The format of the messages is the TO call sign padded to nine spaces followed by a Colon and the message. To send a one line message type the callsign and press the TAB key. HamlET will do the padding and insert the Colon. Type the one line message and press ENTER. Stations running the APRS software generate and expect acknowledgements to one-line messages. To send an acknowledgment, type the senders call, press TAB, then type ack and press ENTER. When you exit HamlET the BText message time will be reset to the exit time. The lat/lon data will be followed by a "TNC Only" and whatever comments that are specified. The BText message can be over written by adding a -BT line in the configuration file with the text of your choice. DESQview HamlET will run in DESQview without problems. Set the memory required to 66k. If you use the F6, F7 or F10 functions when running in DESQview make sure you set the DV memory required high enough to accommodate the additional programs. The best practice is to open additional programs as other DESQview applications. Be sure to configure the serial ports in the DESQview PIF file to reflect your configuration. Microsoft Windows Several Beta testers have run HamlET in Windows without problems. I cannot verify this from personal experience. Usual Notices. HAMLET.EXE, HAMLET.CFG and this document (The Software) is copyrighted by Paul B. Schou. The copyright owner hereby licenses you to use and distribute the software with these restrictions: The program shall be supplied in its original, unmodified form, which includes this documentation; For-profit use without a license is prohibited; The program may not be included, or bundled with other goods or services. Exceptions may be granted upon written request only. No fee is charged; An exception is granted to non-profit user's groups, which are permitted to charge a small fee (not to exceed $5.00) for materials, handling, postage, and general overhead. No other organization is permitted to charge any amount for distribution of copies of the software or documentation, or to include copies of the software or documentation with sales of their products. There is no warranty of any kind. The copyright owner may not be held liable for any damages, including any lost profits or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of or inability to use the software. By using the software, you agree to this.