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  1. 0660103030566
  2. 9[....................................................]
  3. Ç
  4. äMontreal,Juneü2ändü1986Ç
  5. üFlash!Ç
  6. ------
  7. äAReviewbyàAälanàPäollockÇ
  8. [Nexus]
  9.  
  10. üFlashÇisanewterminalprogramfortheüSTÇseriespublished
  11. byàAnticÇ,andwrittenbyMontrealerüJoeChiazzeseÇandTorontonian
  12. üAlanPageÇ.ItisbyfarthebestterminalprogramIhaveever
  13. used.Thereareamplereasonsforthis.
  14.  
  15. ForseveralyearsnowI'vebeenfrustratedbythemodem
  16. programsonthemarket,firstfortheüSinclairÇ,thenontheü800Ç,
  17. andstartinglastsummeronmyüSTÇ.Theyalwaysseemedeither
  18. incomplete,orawkwardtouse.üFlashÇisneither.Itisthemost
  19. completeterminalprogramfortheüSTÇseries,andquitepossibly
  20. foranypersonalcomputerinthemarketplace.
  21.  
  22. üFlashÇusestwobasicscreens.TheäîEditorÇScreen,whichholds
  23. allthedrop-downmenusandyourDeskAccessories,andthe
  24. îTerminalÇScreen,fromwhichyoumodemize,andfromwhichthepower
  25. ofüFlashÇisalsoatyourfingertips.
  26.  
  27. üFlashÇ'sversatilitybeginswiththecommandstructure.üFlashÇ
  28. isarealworkhorse,andusingallitsfeaturesisabreeze.All
  29. commandscanbeaccessedbyusingoneormoreofthreemethods:1)
  30. äALTÇ+letterornumber,2)Drop-downmenusfromtheäEditorÇscreen,
  31. or3)TheäINSERTÇcommands.
  32.  
  33. TheäINSERTÇcommandsareaccessedbyhittingäINSERTÇfromthe
  34. terminalscreen.Youthenjumptoacommandbaratthebottomof
  35. thescreenwhereyoucandopracticallyanythingyouwant,from
  36. creatingatype-ahead,tokillingafileondisk,tochanging
  37. defaultpathway(todriveBforinstance),orsimplytochange
  38. yourbaud-rate.Allyouneedtotypeisthefirsttwolettersof
  39. whatyouwanttodo.Someexamples:
  40.  
  41. üba1200Ç=baud1200,changesyourbaudrateinstantly.
  42. ühi onÇ=high-resflipflopon,ifyouhavethe
  43. üÇmonochromemonitor.
  44. ükiwrite.docÇ=kill'write.doc'onyourdefaultdrive.
  45. ücaonÇ=captureon.
  46. ücaofÇ=captureoff.
  47. üulcaasÇ=uploadcaptureinAsciimode.
  48. üulblxmÇ=upload(selected)block(incapture)using
  49. Xmodem.
  50.  
  51. Andsoon.TheäALTÇcommandsletyoudomanyofthesame
  52. thingsandthensome.äAlt-VÇletsyouVIEWanytextfileonyour
  53. diskbyjumpingtoaüGEMÇSelectorbox.Youclickthefileyouwant
  54. toseeand,presto!äAlt-MÇallowsyoutochangeTerminalModes.The
  55. presentselectionsareêAtariÇ(VT-52),êAnsiÇ(VT-100)andêVidtexÇ.
  56.  
  57. Thedrop-downmenuscanbeaccessedfromyouräEditorüÇ
  58. Screen,andincludethingslike'uploadblockxmodem','uploalblock
  59. ascii'andmuch,muchmore.üFlashÇallowsyoutoeitherdownloada
  60. textfileorcreatetextonoroff-line,selectablock,andthen
  61. uploaditthewayyouwantto.Thereisevenatranslationtable
  62. thatallowsyoutoconvertanyincomingoroutgoingcharacterto
  63. anythingyouwantto,ensuringmaximumcompatibilitywithmost
  64. systemsyoucanthinkof.
  65.  
  66. TheäEditorüÇcouldbetermedüFlashÇ'sbestfeature.IsayCOULD,
  67. becausethewayIseeit,üFlashÇissowelldesignedthatitall
  68. fitstogetherasawhole.Therearenobestfeatures...theyare
  69. äALLÇgood.ButtheäEditorüDOESÇshine.Onlineeditingandtext
  70. creationopensupawholeuniverseofpossibilities.Nomore
  71. quittingyourterminalprogramtocorrectonetinyspelling
  72. mistake.GotoyouräEditorÇinüFlashÇ,hitF5forstringsearch,or
  73. manoeuvrethescroll-bar,andyou'retheretochangeasyou
  74. please,fast.InmanycasesIusetheüFlashÇEditorinsteadof
  75. üFirstWordÇtogeneratetextwhenI'minahurry,especiallyifI
  76. intendtouploaditafterwards.
  77.  
  78.      Thentherearethelittlethingslikebeingabletogeta
  79. completeandinstant(noloadingcommandprogramshere!)disk
  80. directorywithfreebytesdisplayedsimplybyhittingAlt-1(for
  81. driveA:)orAlt-2(driveB:)fromyourterminalscreen.
  82.  
  83.      Haveaclearphoneconnectiontoyourfriends?Transfera
  84. lot?Thenselectü1KÇblockXmodemratherthantheü128byteÇkind.
  85. MakeitCRC,forit'sfarmorereliablethantheoldmethod
  86. (Checksum)foundonmostotherterminalprogramsfortheüSTÇ.And
  87. it'sstandardintheworldofüMSDOSÇandüCP/MÇ.Noneofthisin-
  88. housespecialitytransferstuff.ü1KÇBlocktransferisjustthat
  89. muchfaster...enoughtomakeadifference.WithäAsciiÇtransfers
  90. üFlashÇallowsyoutouseprompting,andspecifythepromptused,
  91. usuallythe>signonmostboards.Meteringisalsoavailable,and
  92. youcandelaybyasmuchasyouwant.
  93.  
  94.      ThentherearetheäDOÇfiles.Createfileswithmacrosin
  95. them,andusingüFlashÇ'sclock,haveyourüSTÇcallboardswhile
  96. you'reout,haveitdownloadfiles,uploadbullsormailthat
  97. you'vealreadywritten,logoff,andrepeattheprocessinany
  98. manneryouchoseonanotherboard.Isthatversatileenoughfor
  99. youyet?
  100.  
  101. WhatI'vefoundwithüFlashÇisthatdespiteitsawesomepower,
  102. it'seminentlyeasytouse.Ergonomicisthebuzzwordhere,I
  103. think.Betteryet,üFlashÇisNATURAL.Thecommandstructureis
  104. logicalandclear.Morethanthat,üFlashÇletsyoudowhatyouwant
  105. withaminimumofdelay.YoucandoeverythingFAST.Thedial
  106. directoryforinstance.Justdoubleclickonthenameoftheboard
  107. youwanttodial.üFlashÇletsyouauto-redialupto99times.Flash
  108. alsoletsyoucustomizeyourdialingmethodbyusingaDOfileto
  109. sendtoyourmodem.YoumaywanttochangetheS7andS11
  110. registersforafasterredial.JustcalluptheDOfileandit's
  111. done.Thenclickawayandsitbackforguaranteed-logonnomatter
  112. howbusythatparticularboardis.
  113.  
  114.      EverhadtroublefindingoutexactlyWHATyourparameters
  115. wereinaterminalprogram?üFlashÇhasaneasy-to-get-toäSTATUSÇ
  116. screenthatshowsyoueverything...fromwhattypeofXmodemyou
  117. areusing,tohowmuchspaceisleftinthebuffer.Allataquick
  118. glance,andbacktoterminalmodeinaflashifthat'syour
  119. intention.Thereisastatuslineoverthecommandbarinterminal
  120. modeaswellofcourse,butnotascompleteforlackofspace.
  121.  
  122.      YourFunctionKeys,all20ofthem(shiftedandunshifted)
  123. allowyoutocreateoft-usedphrasesandnames,oranythingyou
  124. wish.Theycanalsobechained.Onlinehelpiscomplete.By
  125. hittingtheHELPkeyfromtheTerminalscreen,foursuccessive
  126. helpmenusappear,andpracticallyeverythingyouneedtoknowis
  127. there.
  128.  
  129. EvenwereüFlashÇtocost$100.00I'dhavetoqualifyitasa
  130. gooddeal....butüFlashÇisputoutbyàAnticÇataverylow
  131. price.Buyit!Thedocumentationisapleasuretoread,and
  132. üFlashÇwillbetheonlyTerminalprogramyou'lluseonyour
  133. fabulousüAtariSTÇ!Ihaven'tusedanythingelsesincetheday
  134. Igotit;itdoesmuchmorethantheothersdo,anddoesit
  135. better,faster,andmorenaturally.OntopofthatüFlashÇhas
  136. itsownbuilt-intexteditoryoucanuseonoroffline,
  137. completewithblock-selectandstringsearch.Whileit'snot
  138. afull-fledgedWordProcessor,itdoeswhatitwasdesigned
  139. todowell,andcansaveyoulotsoftroublefiddlingaround
  140. withdisksandprograms.TheXmodemandAsciiparametersmean
  141. thattheüAtariSTÇisfinallycompatiblewiththeuniversal
  142. standardsoffiletransfer....somethingtheotherterminal
  143. programsonlyapproached,andonlyinsomecases.Nolonger
  144. amIfrustratedwhenonline.üFlashÇhasitall.I'mimpressed!
  145. Ithinkyouwillagree.
  146.  
  147. ..................................................................
  148.  
  149.      (Editor'sNote:)AllanPollockisaveryactivememberofthe
  150. MontrealAtaricommunityandiscurrentlytheSysOpofthe
  151. longestablishedüWaldenÇ'üsCommuneBBSÇ.Youcanreachitat:
  152. ü(514)-335-6618Ç,online24Hrs.300Baud.
  153.  
  154.