SPACE 2/SPACE - Library 2 - Volume 1.iso/demos/74/general/flash.hnt

Text File | 1986-11-21 | 10.5 KB | 200 lines

       Common Questions and Answers about FLASH terminal program

      1. I have a touch tone line. How do I tell FLASH to dial using touch tone?

      Answer: Go to the menu-bar and select DIAL DIRECTORY from the EDIT
section. Click on the button that says 'ALTER SETTINGS' and change the Prefix
to ATDT. Then hit return to exit the dialog and select SAVE from the
FILE section. When the File Selection dialog box appears, click on
"Configuration" and save the configuration as the default name FLASH.CNF.
This makes sure that the dialer prefix will stay as ATDT the next time FLASH
is run.


      2. I'm trying to upload a message to CompuServe using Ascii upload but
the text appears scrambled and there are missing characters.

      Answer: Change the ASCII upload setting to set METERING on. If you are
using the SIG editor that gives you line numbers, then set PROMPTING on and
enter ':' as the prompt character.


      3. All of a sudden the cursor is moving on the screen, but I can't
see any text being displayed. What's happened and what can I do to fix it?

      Answer: Line noise has resulted in FLASH being sent an escape sequence
that has changed the text color to the white. The same error can cause text
and background colors to become reversed or the cursor to disappear entirely.
If you are using a color monitor then you may see strange combinations of text
and background color e.g. red text on a black background.
      The solution is to use the MODE command to reset the terminal emulation
mode. Press on ALT-M and hit enter. This will reset the colors to their
default values while leaving the terminal emulation type unchanged.


      4. While uploading or downloading a file using Xmodem I see error
messages on the bottom line of the screen. Does this mean the file transfer
was bad?

      Answer: Xmodem is very good at recovering from errors due to line noise
and it's quite normal to see occasional error messages such as Checksum error
or Sector number error. If a fatal error occurs, FLASH will always put a
message on the bottom of the screen which includes the phrase 'Xmodem Aborted'.
In addition, the other computer will usually realise that a fatal error
occurred and also display an error message. FLASH will typically try at least
ten times to send/receive each block of the file before giving up. It is
important to set timing to LOOSE in the Flash XMODEM PARAMETERS dialog to
allow for network delays. To access the Xmodem dialog in Flash, either
select Xmodem Param. from the EDIT part of the menubar or type XM on the
Flash command line and hit return. (It's the same dialog box in either case).


      5. How do I edit the FLASH DO files?

      Answer: Simple! Just load them into the FLASH capture buffer and edit
them in place then save them back to disk. To embed control codes in a DO
file, simply hold down the control key and press the appropriate key, e.g.
control-C shows up as an arrow facing right.
      To load a file into the FLASH capture buffer, select LOAD from the
FILE heading of the menu bar and select CAPTURE from the dialog box that
appears. To save the entire capture buffer, select SAVE from the FILE heading
of the menu bar and click on the CAPTURE box. You can save just a part of
the capture buffer by marking out a block and saving it. The block commands
are all under the BLOCK heading of the menu bar.


      6. I would like to send a setup message to my modem each time I run
FLASH. How can I do this?

      Answer: You can do this using the FLASH AUTO command. From the terminal
screen (the one without the menu bar) press the insert key and type AUTO
PA 1|ATDX6 and hit return (substitute your own setup message in place of ATDX6).
Then press <Insert> again and type SA CONFIG and hit return. When the file
selector appears it should have FLASH.CNF as the filename. If not, type
in FLASH.CNF as the filename. Hit <Return> to save the new configuration
file.
      Note: the setup message is limited to 15 characters using this method.
If you want to send a longer setup string or send a bunch of setup commands
to FLASH, then type in an auto command like AUTO DO SETUP.DO then create a
DO file called SETUP.DO containing the desired commands.
      The way FLASH uses the AUTO command it takes what you have typed in
as the auto command and puts a '>' at the beginning and adds a '|' at the
end. Normally this turns what you have typed in into a single command, but
there is nothing to prevent you from having several commands e.g.
AUTO BA 2400|>DI BBS gets turned into >BA 2400|>DI BBS| when FLASH actually
does the AUTO command. Just remember that the AUTO command is limited to 20
characters maximum. You can check your AUTO command using the status
command (SS) from the terminal screen OR the STATUS selection from the
OPTIONS heading of the menu bar (look under Miscellaneous in the Status
display dialog).


7. I want to run FLASH, then switch automatically to another drive/folder.
I tried setting the default pathname to the one I wanted to use and then save
the configuration, but that didn't work.

      Answer: Use the AUTO command (explained above) to change the pathname.
(Note: pathname = drive + folder name e.g. A:\FLASH\)
If you want to keep the dial directory and function key files in the new
folder then you should use a DO file called from the AUTO command that will
load in the dial director and function key definition. e.g.
>LO DI DIAL.DIR|>LO FK FUNCKEY.DEF|


8. How big is the capture buffer in FLASH?

      Answer: The size of the capture buffer depends on whether you have a
520 or 1040, whether you have a ram-disk or not, and what desk accessories
you have loaded. It uses whatever memory is available when FLASH is run, so
depending on the factors listed above, you could have a capture buffer ranging
from 10,000 bytes or less to over 700,000 bytes! To find out the size of the
capture buffer, select the 'STATUS' selection from the 'OPTIONS' part of
the menu bar. Information about the capture buffer is in the box labelled
'Capture' in the upper left corner.


9. How do I edit the FLASH configuration file? How do I create one?

      Answer: You don't edit the configuration file as it is not in text
format. The configuration file is a record of all the important FLASH settings.
Almost everything you see in the 'STATUS' display is recorded in the
configuration file, including the AUTO command, the dialer prefix, suffix, and
other dialer parameters. To change the configuration, just set FLASH up the
way you would like to run it, then select 'SAVE' from the FILE heading of the
menu bar, then click on 'Configuration' in the File Selection dialog box
that appears. The default configuration file, FLASH.CNF, is loaded when FLASH
is initially run. You may use another name for the configuration file, but
then you will have to load it manually.

10. I can't seem to download or upload using Xmodem. All I get is ten
consecutive errors on the first block.

      Answer: You must wait until the system prompts you to start before
you begin Xmodem. If you start while the system is still printing the
prompt message you may get this error.
      Another common cause of Xmodem problems is the Datapac network (Canada
only). To use Xmodem through Datapac you must go through a special setup.

      When you are in a DL, and ready to D/L, type
      CNTRL-P PROF 1 <CR>
Then type
      SET 3:0,4:4,5:0,6:0 <CR><CR>
      Note: 'CNTRL-P' means hold down the control key (on the left side of
the keyboard) and, while holding it down, press P. <CR> means the return key
on your keyboard. Once you have done that you may notice that you no longer
see anything when you type on your keyboard. This is desirable for good xmodem
downloads, but not good for issuing commands. Hitting ALT-P in FLASH will
set you into half duplex so you can see what you are typing. An interesting
oddity is that once you finish a download, or even go to another area of
CompuServe, you no longer need to use half-duplex.
      Oonce you have finished your download, you can reset Datapac to normal
with
      Control-P PROF 2 <CR> SET 2:1 <CR><CR>

      It is necessary to use 8-bits, no parity for Xmodem transfers on
CompuServe. Flash and the CompuServe network automatically go to 8-bits
no parity (if needed) for you. I don't know if other networks do this for
you, so when in doubt, type GO PROFILE and set your terminal parameters
on CompuServe to no parity.


11. I can't seem to get Flash to redial numbers. It just sits there after
the first try and after about 30 seconds I get the message 'Dialer aborted
or timed out'.

      Answer: In order for Flash to tell whether you have connected
successfully to another computer it relies on getting particular messages
back from your modem. The default messages are 'CONNECT' to indicate success
and 'NO CARRIER' to indicate no connection was made. Some modems send 'BUSY'
instead of 'NO CARRIER' and if you want to redial using Flash with these
modems you have to tell Flash what to expect. To do this, select 'Dial
Directory' from the 'Edit' heading of the menu bar. You will see a small
box labelled 'Dialer Settings' with a button inside it labelled 'Alter
Settings'. Click on the button and the box will change so that the text
in it is no longer shadowy. Change the MConnect and MFailed entries to
reflect the messages your modem sends. To make the changes permanent you
will have to save a new configuration file. See question #s 1 and 9 on
how to save configuration files.

      Note: There are a few modems that send 'COMPLETE' or 'DIAL COMPLETE'
once they have finished dialing. A bug in Flash 1.0 would allow it to confuse
the 'COMPLETE' with 'CONNECT'. To fix this, it is necessary to change the
MConnect message to 'ONNECT'

12. How do I hang up the modem using Flash?

      Answer: There is no special command to hang up the modem using Flash.
Many Hayes compatible modems will let you type +++, then at the OK prompt
type ATH. You can automate this in a function key as:
      >PA 1|+++>WA OK|ATH|

      On modems that do not allow this, you will have to consult the manual.
Some of these modems have a VOICE/DATA switch which you can press to drop
the carrier signal. Other modems will require you to switch the modem on
and off. Most BBS's will hang up the phone your end it you wait for a
while.

      Alan Page

Aug. 24, 1986 (Revised and expanded Oct. 4, 1986)
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