PSION CD 2/PsionCDVol2.iso/Programs/137/POCPAC.TXT

Text File | 1998-08-23 | 12.9 KB | 323 lines

Pocket Packet for the Psion Series 5
Version 5.04, August 1998.

Installation

This version of PocPac is supplied as a SIS file.

Installation of a SIS file is very simple. If you are using PsiWin 2.1 or
later, simply couple up your Series 5 to your PC, and double click PP.SIS
in Windows Explorer. If you do not have SystInfo.opx installed to your
Psion, you must add this in the same way. If you are not sure about this,
it is quite safe to install both PP.SIS and SystInfo.SIS.

If you have PsiWin 2.0, the install application can be installed to your
PC easily, I can supply the setup file if required. If you do not use
PsiWin, e.g. you have a Mac, Amiga, etc., or a DOS PC, you can copy the
SIS files to your Series 5 (I recommend you create a c:\Install folder)
and install them using the Add/Remove item in the Psion Control Panel.
If you don't have this item, it can easily be added, a program to do
this is freely available. I can supply this if required.

PsiWin 2.1 is freely available from Psion's web site (about a 16 meg
download), and can also be found on the 3lib and Palmtop magazine CD.
The files to set up Psion Install and the Add/Remove Control Panel
item are also freely available on the web. Try http://www.rmrsoft.com
or http://3lib.ukonlike.co.uk

At this point it is probably a good idea to decide where you wish to keep your
captured data, and any files you wish to keep. For example, you could make a
directory called C:\Packet to keep all your captured files.

You can then start PocPac by tapping the Extras icon and selecting PocPac.

The first time PocPac is run, it will write a file called PP.INI in the folder
it is run from. It is possible that you will see a dialog asking for a path
for sending files from (the send path), and a further dialog requesting the
path to capture data to (the capture path). You can use these file selectors
in the usual manner, e.g. pressing the left and right arrow keys will cycle
through all the possible folders. As I said above, it is a good idea to keep
a special folder(s) for captured data and files you wish to send. If you have
not created these yet, select any folder, e.g. \Documents - you can change
this setting later.
When PocPac has configured itself, you will see a message like:

PocPac Ready!

What is PocPac?

PocPac is a simple split screen terminal for driving a Packet Radio TNC. It
requires a TNC with Command and Converse modes, e.g. a Tiny 2 or KPC3 or
similar. It does not work in HOST or KISS mode.

It is able to capture incoming text and send text files. It doesn't do YAPP,
although it should handle near-binary files like 7plus with no problems. For
the latter, the communication between PocPac and your TNC should be set to 8
bit no parity, preferably RTS,CTS handshaking, which are preferable settings
anyway.

The facilities provided here are broadly similar to those available in PocPac
3.xx for the Series 3a/c. The hot keys are different, although the addition
of a menu should make things easy to find. There may be some features missing,
although there are some extras - for example there are built-in editors and
viewers, and all configuration is now possible from inside PocPac.

Connection to the TNC

The first point to mention is that is is a good idea to run your Series 5
from the mains adaptor while using packet. Of course this is not essential,
but it enables you to use the most beneficial auto switch-off setting, which
is "If No External Power" (this is selected from the Series 5 Control Panel).
Otherwise it is probably a good compromise to set the auto switch-off to
about 10 minutes or more, the idea being to avoid the Series 5 turning off
during a packet session.

If it does turn off, just turn it on as usual. In some instances there may be
garbled text, in such cases select Restore from PocPacs File menu, which
should reset the comms port.

The Psion serial lead is terminated with a 9 pin D type female connector, and
TNC's are usually fitted with a 25 pin D type female connection. This means
an adaptor is required, which should be a "null-modem" type. If you make up
your own, the wiring should be something like this:

    Name    Psion    TNC
    RxD        2        2
    TxD        3        3
    RTS        7        5
    CTS        8        4
    GND        5        7

Your TNC may be slightly different, so remember that the Psion connection is
designed to plug into a PC serial port, so you will to reverse the data and
handshake connections compared to that required to wire a TNC to a PC.

The Keys

PocPac 5 functions are operated from both the keyboard and the menu, mostly
the latter. Since there is no Psion key (as on the Series 3a/c), the Control
key is used as a modifier. This clashes with some packet commands, but is
consistent with Series 5 practice.

The following "Hot Key" commands are available from the keyboard:

Ctrl-B    Sends "C station" where station is the first callsign in the connect
    directory.

Ctrl-C    Sends Control-C straight to the TNC to select command mode. Any text
    in the type-ahead buffer is not affected.

Ctrl-D    Brings up the Connect directory, and sends "C station" to the callsign
    selected.

Ctrl-E    Exits PocPac.

Ctrl-L    Opens or closes the capture file. This is a toggle. If there is no capture
    file, one is created in the form MMMDD.CAP where MMM is the month, and DD
    the day. If such a file for the current date exists, any  subsequent use of
    Ctrl-L will append text to this file. There is a maximum size of data which
    can be captured in one PocPac session, this is set to about 500 kbytes. This
    can be exceeded by stopping and starting PocPac on the same day. The
    intention of a limit is to prevent the accidental filling of the Series 5
    memory due to leaving capture active.

    The status bar shows whether text is being captured or not.

Ctrl-T    Brings up the Send File dialog. Here you may select whether to send a
    footer file or not. If you choose to send a footer, a Ctrl-Z will be
    appended (to terminate a BBS transfer).

Ctrl-U    Sends a DA command to the TNC to synchronise Series 5 and TNC clocks.

Ctrl-Y    Clears the type-ahead buffer.

Ctrl-Z    Puts a Control-Z in the type-ahead buffer, like any other text character.
    Unfortunately the Psion fonts do not show this character, so it may remain
    invisible.

The following editing keys work on the keyboard buffer:

Home        Moves cursor to the "home" position.
End        Moves cursor to the "end" position.
Left Arrow    Moves cursor one character left.
Right Arrow    Moves cursor one character right.
Up Arrow    Scrolls through the history buffer.
Down Arrow    Scrolls through the history buffer.
Ctrl-Y        Clears the current line.

The Menu

The following menu commands are available if the Menu key is pressed. (Note
that the shortcuts shown do not necessarily work unless the menu is displayed,
only those shown in the section above work from the terminal.)

File menu:

Save    Saves the current configuration settings.

Use    Uses the current settings, without saving them.

Restore    Restores the settings in the PP.INI file, and resets the serial port.

Quit    Exits PocPac.

Edit menu:

Footer    Edits the footer file, which is called PPFOOTER and kept in the
    Send Path folder.

Create Text File    This prompts for a file name, creates the file, and
            opens the editor.

Open Text File        This opens an existing text file for editing.

Connect Directory    This allows the connect directory to be changed.
            Pressing Enter saves the directory.

Capture Path        Here a file selector allows you to choose an existing directory
            in which your captured text is kept.

Send Path        As above, except this is where your files for sending are kept.

Set Word Wrap    This sets the length at which automatic wrap occurs. At
        the first space after this, the current text is sent, and the
        cursors starts a new line.

Port menu:

Baud Rate
Word Length
Parity
Handshake

A bullet marker selection of the most common parameters are provided. While
these settings are chosen, the menu will not disappear until Save or Use is
selected.

Connect menu:

Connect "BBS"    Here a connect to the station shown as "BBS" is initiated.
        Identical to Ctrl-B.

Connect Directory    This enables you to choose a station to connect to.
            Identical to Ctrl-D.

Transfers menu:

Capture Data    Here you can select text capture, identical to Ctrl-L.

Send File    This brings up the send file menu, identical to Ctrl-T

View Text File    A viewer which enables files up to 30k in the Capture folder
        to be read. Pressing Esc exits the viewer.

Special menu:

Echo On        When selected (marked with a tick), PocPac echos the text sent
        to your TNC.

The Text editor and viewer.

These are simple affairs which allow text files to be created, edited or viewed.
For the footer, there is a limit of 1,000 bytes. For the creation and editing
of text files for sending, there is a limit of 5,000 bytes (the normal maximum
for packet). The viewer allows files of up to 30,000 bytes to be viewed (not
edited).

Most normal editing controls work in the editors/viewer - also you can cut
and paste between the editor/viewer and other applications. The editor/viewer
wraps between about 60 and 70 characters without inserting CR/LF characters,
so you can press enter at the end of each line if you wish to create lines
of fixed length (not essential for packet).

You save the text in the editors by pressing the Save button. Pressing the
Cancel button, or the Esc key will exit without saving. The latter applies
to the viewer.

The editors are very simple, and take varying times to load. This is not
related to file size, and seems to be a characteristic of the dialog used
for this purpose. For example, a 1,300 byte file takes longer to load than
a 2,000 or 28,000 byte file!

The Display

Firstly note that PC line graphics are not displayed by the built-in fonts.
To view these graphics, you will have to transfer the file to a PC and use
a DOS font, or MS LineDraw font to view them. Later versions of PocPac may be
able to load a custom font to display these graphics. Also note that Ctrl-Z
does not always show up on the display, although the character works normally!

The author feels that any packet terminal should show only data from  the
TNC, i.e. the TNC should be set to ECHO ON. However PocPac can be set to echo
text sent to your TNC. This can be achieved by setting Echo On from the
Special menu.

TNC Settings

The communications settings may be set from the Port menu.
PocPac does not send any line feeds to the TNC, which does not require them.
Also it does not add them to incoming text.  Set LFADD OFF and AUTOLF ON.
Check that the TNC filters out incoming line feeds, you may need to set
LFSUP ON to remove these.

Type-ahead

PocPac uses a type-ahead buffer - text you type will appear in the lower
window and will not be sent to the TNC unless you either press Enter, or
PocPac wordwraps.  Word wrap will occur when you press the space bar after
68 letters have been typed.  This threshold can be altered if desired, using
the Edit menu.

If wordwrap occurs, a CR will be appended to the text sent to the TNC.  Some
BBSs cannot handle long lines of text. If you press Control-C (for TNC Command
Mode) this command bypasses the type-ahead and goes straight to the TNC.

The last 5 lines sent (using Enter) are saved, and can be recalled by
pressing Up or DownArrow.  They can be edited and sent again if required.

Control-Y deletes all you have typed on the current line.

You can edit the current line using the arrow and delete keys - you can
alter text anywhere in the current line.  HOME and END have their usual
WP meaning.
Scrollback.

Press PgUp to activate the scrollback windows.  You can then move between
the pages using UpArrow and DownArrow (or PgUp and PgDn).  Press Esc to exit
scrollback.

While you are viewing scrollback, you can still type into the type-ahead. All
letter keys and editing keys still work, as does Enter.  Thus you can view a
list from a BBS and type the message numbers you wish to read.  When you press
Enter, the line is sent, but scrollback is still active.  Press Esc to return
to the main window.

If you leave scrollback active for 2 minutes without doing anything, it will
cancel automatically.


Problems

When you have finished using PocPac it is wise to quit the application.
Do not leave PocPac running in the background with your TNC disconnected
or switched off.


Changes since 5.03
Sysinfo1.opx has been replaced by SystInfo.opx.

Registration

There is no charge for using PocPac, but I would be grateful if users send me
a message by packet, internet, or post, telling me that they are using the
program.

Pocket Packet can normally be found at http://www.cix.co.uk/~hzk/
Registrations, bug reports, wishlists, etc. to:-

Roger Muggleton
Internet:     [e-mail]
Packet:        G0HZK @ GB7WIR.#42.GBR.EU
Post:        I am Qthr.
Phone:        [phone]  (1900-2100 UTC only!)