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UserManual
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Text File
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1991-04-03
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200KB
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5,672 lines
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Version 1.02
Copyright (C) 1988-91 by John P. Radigan
A Shareware telecommunications tool for the Amiga personal computer.
DEDICATION
----------------------
In memory of James E. Spessard
COPYRIGHT
-------------------
All versions of JR-Comm are copyrighted. All rights reserved. It has
never been, nor will it ever be in the "Public Domain".
SHAREWARE
-------------
This program is made available through the concept of "Shareware"
which is a form of distribution different from the traditional commercial
method. With shareware, you are able to "try before you buy".
LICENSE
-------------------
A limited, 30 day license is granted to anyone for the express purpose
of program evaluation only. Commercial or governmental use is limited to
one person during this period. Registration is required for any use after
the expiration of this license.
Site licenses are available for eleven or more copies per order. They
are distributed as one master disk to one contact person. This person is
required to limit the number of active copies in circulation equal to or
less than the quantity registered. Please refer to the registration form
for a schedule of site license discount rates
Multiple licenses may be purchased as they are needed, but each one is
treated as a separate entity. Prior licenses do not apply towards the
computation of the discount rate for a license application.
Amiga User Groups may use the site license discount rates for their
members. The group must be registered with Commodore in order to qualify
for this offer. Submission of a user group site license application is the
responsibility of the Treasurer for the group and is accomplished by
filling out a JR-Comm registration form. Please check the box marked "User
group site license." The order must be addressed to the Treasurer of the
user group and must also include a list of the firstname, lastname and
addresses of each member who is registering JR-Comm. The list must be
printed on user group letterhead.
DISCLAIMER
----------------------
No warranties are implied or expressed with regard to the fitness or
merchantability of JR-Comm for any particular purpose. All risks and
damages, incidental or otherwise, arising through the use or misuse of
JR-Comm are entirely at the responsibility of the user.
While considerable effort has been made to provide you with a reliable
product, there is no guarantee that this program is 100% "bug-free". Any
problems that do arise will be corrected when and if feasible. Maintenance
releases will be made available in order to correct potentially hazardous
malfunctions within the program. Fixes for benign problems, usually
cosmetic in nature, will most likely be deferred until the next major
release.
This disclaimer does not guarantee future versions of this product,
only a prescribed method of dealing with possible errors, and their
corrections, to this program.
DISTRIBUTION
------------------------
Distribution is limited to the original shareware distribution archive
file only. None of the member files may be omitted. Furthermore, no
profit or other material gain may be realized for distributing JR-Comm with
the sole exception of recovery for media and postage. Bundling JR-Comm,
the distribution archive or any member files, with any commercial product
is expressly prohibited prior to obtaining a "Commercial Distribution
Agreement". Contact the support BBS for details if you wish to obtain this
agreement.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
----------------------------
Michael Cox for his permission to include the SkyPix terminal
protocol.
Chuck Forsberg for his X/YMODEM and ZMODEM protocol specifications and
for his public domain rz.c, sz.c & zm.c source files.
Russ Ranshaw for his CompuServe B Plus protocol document.
Paul Resch for his BPLUS.C source file, converted from the Pascal
source BPLUS.PAS by Russ Ranshaw.
Peter Boswell for his WXMODEM protocol document.
Special thanks to:
Earle Ake, Pete Allen, Nathan Barbar, Jon Boulle, Dan Browning, Jim
Burwell, John Campanella, Henry Colonna, Deb Christensen and the folks
on Genie, Glenn Edgar, Fintan Farrell, Chuck Henrich, Doug Keller,
John Kempf, Steve Kratz, John Norman, Tony Preston, Benjamin Reich,
Tom Robinson, Dennis Rauschert, Bruce Schoenberger, Greg Smith, Chet
Solace, Bob Suess, Alex Tsopeis, Mike West, Steve Winokur, Joe Wolfe,
John Yeager and anyone else forgotten.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 OVERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Display features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 File transfer protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Phonebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.4 Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 SETUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.1 System requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Default data files directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3 JR-Comm data files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.4 File search logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.5 Limitations in 512k environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.6 No fast ram limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.7 Starting JR-Comm for the first time . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.7.1 Terminal parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.7.2 Serial parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.7.3 Modem parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.7.4 General parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.7.5 Saving your defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.8 Modem setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.8.1 Carrier detect signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.8.2 Data terminal ready signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.8.3 The initialization command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.8.4 Modem response codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.8.5 Dialer auto-baud feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.8.6 Additional information for MNP and V.42 modems . . . . 11
2.9 Specific instructions for different modems . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.9.1 Supra Modem 2400 (external) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.9.2 MultiTech 224EH (external) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.9.3 USRobotics Courier HST (external) . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3 SYSTEM BASICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.1 The display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2 Status line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.3 Connect timer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.4 Time-of-day clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.5 Terminal emulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.5.1 TTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.5.2 Amiga ANSI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.5.3 IBM color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.5.4 IBM mono . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.5.5 VT-100/102 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.5.6 SkyPix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.6 Review buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.7 Capture file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.8 Chat mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.9 File transfers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.10 Gadget types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.10.1 String gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.10.2 Option gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.10.3 Control gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.10.4 Intuition gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.11 Special keyboard attention sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4 SPECIAL REQUESTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.1 File requester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.1.1 Functional description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.1.2 File lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.1.3 SELECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.1.4 PARENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.1.5 UNSELECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.1.6 Filename . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.1.7 Pathname . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.1.8 OK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.1.9 CANCEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.2 Query requester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
5 MENUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
5.1 Project menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
5.2 Phonebook menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
5.3 Buffer menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
5.4 Transfers menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
5.5 Options menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
5.6 Misc menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
5.7 Modes menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
6 PHONEBOOK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
6.1 Phone Directory requester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
6.1.1 DELETE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
6.1.2 EDIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
6.1.3 DIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
6.1.4 UNSELECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
6.1.5 ADD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
6.1.6 SORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
6.1.7 LOAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
6.1.8 SAVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
6.1.9 Master password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
6.2 Phone entry editor requester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
6.2.1 Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
6.2.2 Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
6.2.3 Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
6.2.4 Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
6.2.5 Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
6.2.6 Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
6.2.7 Dial prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
6.2.8 Cents/min . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
6.2.9 Password type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
6.2.10 Reset timer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
6.2.11 Parameter requester gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
6.2.12 CANCEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
6.3 Dialer operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
6.3.1 Response codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
6.3.2 Dialer window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
6.4 Master password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
7 TRANSFER PARAMETERS REQUESTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
7.1 Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
7.1.1 Some notes on flow control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
7.2 ZMODEM send modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
7.2.1 Skip if absent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
7.2.2 Newer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
7.2.3 Newer/longer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
7.2.4 CRC different . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
7.2.5 Append files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
7.2.6 Overwrite files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
7.2.7 Protect all files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
7.2.8 Don't care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
7.3 ZMODEM options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
7.3.1 Resume transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
7.3.2 Auto download . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
7.3.3 Auto d/l challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
7.3.4 Escape ctrl chars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
7.3.5 32 bit CRC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
7.3.6 Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
7.4 ASCII send options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
7.4.1 Expand blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
7.4.2 Prompt char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
7.4.3 Char delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
7.4.4 Line delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
7.5 Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
7.5.1 Binary mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
7.5.2 Save aborted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
7.5.3 Relaxed timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
7.5.4 Auto chop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
7.5.5 Overdrive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
7.5.6 X/Y pre-ack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
8 SERIAL PARAMETERS REQUESTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
9 MODEM PARAMETERS REQUESTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
9.1 Modem commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
9.1.1 Init command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
9.1.2 Hangup command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
9.1.3 Dial prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
9.1.4 Dial postfix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
9.2 Alternate dial prefixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
9.3 Modem response codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
9.4 Intelligent dialer parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
9.4.1 Redial delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
9.4.2 # of retries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
9.4.3 Dial timeout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
9.4.4 Dial pacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
9.5 Miscellaneous options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
9.5.1 Ignore No Carrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
9.5.2 Ignore Carrier Detect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
9.5.3 Hangup on dialer exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
9.5.4 Drop DTR to hangup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
9.5.5 Flush with a BREAK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
9.5.6 Dialer auto-baud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
10 TERMINAL PARAMETERS REQUESTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
10.1 Screen type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
10.2 Emulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
10.3 Text size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
10.4 Capture filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
10.4.1 ANSI codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
10.4.2 CTRL chars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
10.4.3 Backspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
10.5 CR xlate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
10.6 LF xlate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
10.7 EOL out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
10.8 Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
10.8.1 Strip high bit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
10.8.2 Custom palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
10.8.3 Destructive BS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
10.8.4 Swap DEL & BS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
10.8.5 Smooth scroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
10.8.6 Chat line on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
10.8.7 Wrap lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
10.8.8 IBM Doorway mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
10.8.9 Cursor blink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
10.8.10 Optimized scroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
10.8.11 Insert char mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
10.8.12 Force 80 x 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
10.9 Answerback message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
10.10 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
10.11 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
10.12 Cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
10.13 Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
11 FUNCTION KEY MACROS REQUESTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
11.1 Macro escape codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
12 PALETTE REQUESTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
12.1 Red Green and Blue proportional gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . 57
12.2 Color selection gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
12.3 RESET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
12.4 UNDO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
12.5 Palette usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
12.5.1 Default palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
12.5.2 Phonebook entry palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
13 GENERAL PARAMETERS REQUESTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
13.1 Status line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
13.1.1 Status line active . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
13.1.2 Time of day clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
13.1.3 Connect timer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
13.1.4 24 hour mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
13.1.5 Audible beep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
13.2 Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
13.2.1 CTS/RTS handshake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
13.2.2 Immediate exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
13.2.3 Logfile active . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
13.2.4 Split review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
13.2.5 File saver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
13.2.6 Disk check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
13.3 GMT offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
13.4 Task priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
13.5 Chat history size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
13.6 Review buffer size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
13.7 Transfer buffer size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
13.8 Filenames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
13.9 Font name & size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
13.10 Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
13.11 Keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
13.12 Serial device & unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
14 MISC MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
14.1 Timer reset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
14.2 Send break . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
14.3 Hangup modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
14.4 Clear screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
14.5 Print screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
14.6 Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
15 MODES MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
15.1 Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
15.2 Chat line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
15.3 HEX output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
15.4 IBM Doorway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
15.5 Screen title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
16.1 Directory not found . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
16.2 User font not found . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
16.3 Can't load file, wrong version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
16.4 Can't open log file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
16.5 File already exists, resume d/l? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
16.6 File already exists, overwrite? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
16.7 Really quit JR-Comm? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
16.8 Unable to open printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
16.9 Review buffer is empty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
16.10 Print registration form? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
17 WARNING MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
17.1 Directory read error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
17.2 Could not open screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
17.3 Could not open window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
17.4 Capture file currently open! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
17.5 Couldn't open capture file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
17.6 CTS disabled, no CTS present . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
17.7 CTS disabled, no DSR present . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
17.8 CTS disabled, shared mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
17.9 Session will expire in 5 mins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
18 FATAL ABORT MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
19 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
20 SUPPORT INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
20.1 JR-Comm Support BBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
20.2 Genie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
20.3 CompuServe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
20.4 People Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
20.5 BIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
20.6 USENET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
20.7 If you have problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
JR-Comm 1.02 Users Manual Electronic Edition
1 OVERVIEW
1.1 Display features
- JR-Comm automatically adjusts itself to either NTSC or PAL
displays. Interlace and overscan is supported as well.
- Terminal emulations for TTY, Amiga ANSI, IBM ANSI (color and
monographic modes), VT-100/102 (monochrome only) and SkyPix.
- An optional status line with hidden gadgets for easy
adjustment of file transfer protocol, duplex, XON/XOFF flow
control, data length, parity, stop bits, baud rate and
resetting of the connect timer.
- 40 user definable function key macros per macro file. Each
macro can contain a maximum of 160 characters. Several
macro primitives are available, like chaining to another
macro or loading phonebook and macro files.
- A special DOORWAY keyboard mode for IBM scan codes. Allows
100% compatibility with MS-DOS programs via the popular
remote DOS program, DoorWay, which is used by most MS-DOS
based BBS installations.
- Split screen review buffer option that allows simultaneous
terminal I/O while viewing the contents of the review
buffer.
- Chat mode provides line editing and history features.
Natural control codes are immediately sent whereas escaped
control codes are inserted in the chat line buffer.
- Optimized scrolling option for boosting throughput of
multiple bit-plane displays.
- Smooth-scroll option available.
- User definable font available.
- User definable keymap available.
- Full dead and double-dead key support.
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Copyright (C) 1991 John P. Radigan Printed 04/03/91
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1.2 File transfer protocols
- CIS B+, XMODEM, XMODEM-1k, WXMODEM, YMODEM, YMODEM-1k,
YMODEM-g, ZMODEM and ASCII file transfer protocols are
present. All implementations adhere strictly to their
respective specifications. JR-Comm provides file transfer
throughput that exceeds most every telecommunications
product that is currently available for the Amiga computer.
- JR-Comm has the most complete ZMODEM implementation of any
currently available Amiga telecommunications product. Auto-
downloads and a full set of upload send options are a few of
the available functions for this protocol.
- All file I/O is handled asynchronously to provide floppy
disk users with throughput figures that are simply
unobtainable with lesser telecommunications products.
- Upload overdrive option for ZMODEM and YMODEM-g protocols
that provide the absolute maximum in throughput speed for
users with high-speed modems.
- X/YMODEM pre-ack option to boost performance of these
protocols at the expense of error correction.
- Intelligent auto-chop for XMODEM, XMODEM-1k and WXMODEM
protocols.
- ASCII send has options for character and line delays as well
as prompt mode for line oriented editors. Blank line
expansion is also available.
1.3 Phonebook
- Each phonebook file can contain up to 9999 entries. Each
entry is capable of completely re-configuring JR-Comm.
- Ability to generate a unique password for each directory
entry based upon a master password for each phonebook file.
- Sort options available for name, phone number or user
selected ordering.
- An intelligent dialer that monitors the result of each
attempt and is capable of multiple entry dialing in the
order of selection.
- Automatic baud rate detection option for Hayes compatible
modems that return extended result codes.
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1.4 Miscellaneous
- A powerful FILE requester that maintains several lists of
files, devices and directories rather than hardcoded
selections that may not exist on your system, or even worse,
may not include devices/volumes unique to your environment.
- A batch selection facility unique among other Amiga
telecommunications products which enables you to select
files from any number of directories and devices in a simple
manner.
- User adjustable task priority, chat history, review and
transfer buffer sizes.
- User definable serial device for third party multi-port
boards.
- "Quiet" and "shared" serial port access for peaceful
coexistence with applications that also use the serial
device.
- Optional file saver to prevent complete loss of file if a
system crash occurs during a download.
- Free space check during downloads for those users with
limited disk space (excluding Ram:).
- Special keyboard sequence which will release the
serial.device in the event of a lock-up when an XOFF
character is received while XON/XOFF handshake is active.
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Copyright (C) 1991 John P. Radigan Printed 04/03/91
JR-Comm 1.02 Users Manual Electronic Edition
2 SETUP
2.1 System requirements
Version 1.2 Workbench or later is required. JR-Comm is also
fully compatible with the 2.02 system release. Future versions
of JR-Comm will incorporate many of the new features that the
2.02 system has to offer.
Although JR-Comm can be run in a 512k system, 1Meg is highly
recommended to take advantage of several features JR-Comm
incorporates.
The recently released 1.3.2 update to the Amiga Workbench
disk contains a new version of the "serial.device" device driver.
It will provide you with somewhat better performance although the
original driver works just fine.
A Hayes compatible modem that reliably detects busy signals
is recommended in order to take full advantage of the intelligent
dialer within JR-Comm. Also, in order to use the auto-baud
feature, your modem must be able to return extended result codes
such as "CONNECT 2400". Additionally, the modem should have a
functional carrier detect (DCD) signal so that the connect timer
can operate. Finally, in order to use the quick hangup option,
your modem must have the ability to sense the Data Terminal Ready
(DTR) signal.
JR-Comm was written with high-speed modems in mind. Tests
have been conducted locally during development with several
versions of US Robotics HST and Dual Standard modems (including
the recently released DS w/V.32bis), Telebit Trailblazer, and a
MultiTech 224EH MNP 2400bps modem. Please see the section below
on modems for more information.
The discussion that follows assumes a certain level of
familiarity with the AmigaDOS CLI. "The AmigaDOS Manual", 2nd.
edition, from Bantam Computer Books is a valuable book to have
and is highly recommended.
2.2 Default data files directory
JR-Comm uses a single directory path for saving and loading all
of its data files during operation. When you first start the
program, it will look for the assigned directory or floppy disk
volume name "JRCOMM:". If this assignment/volume name exists, it
will be copied to the "JR-Comm data files" directory string
gadget in the GENERAL PARAMETERS requester. However, JR-Comm
will fall back to the logical assignment "S:" if "JRCOMM:" is not
found.
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NOTE: Although JR-Comm will set the default data files
directory to one of these two assignments/volume names
when it is first started, it may be changed to a new
directory when loading a defaults file that contains a
different pathname.
2.3 JR-Comm data files
There are four data files that JR-Comm creates and maintains for
its own use. Their postfixes are:
.def The default parameters file. JR-Comm will search
for a file named "jrcomm.def" when it is first
started. Refer to section 2.4 on file search
logic for more details on finding and loading this
file.
.phones Phonebook file. Contains a list of phonebook
entries which are used by the intelligent dialer.
An attempt to load the phonebook defined in the
"jrcomm.def" file will be made when JR-Comm is
first started.
.macros Function key macros file. Holds up to 40 separate
160 character macros. JR-Comm will attempt to
load the macros defined in the "jrcomm.def" file
when it is first started.
.log This is an output only file. It will be created
if the "Logfile active" option is selected in the
GENERAL PARAMETERS requester. JR-Comm writes
status entries to this file only when this feature
is active.
2.4 File search logic
After JR-Comm has determined the initial data files directory, it
will attempt to load its initial default parameters file which is
hardcoded with the filename "jrcomm.def". This is the ONLY
defaults filename that JR-Comm will look for when it is first
started. You cannot change this.
The current directory that JR-Comm was started from will be
searched first for the "jrcomm.def" file. JR-Comm will then
attempt to find the file in the data files directory that was
assigned in section 2.2. JR-Comm will use a internal set of
default parameters if the "jrcomm.def" is not located in either
directory.
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The next two files loaded will be the default phonebook and
macros files. These two files are initially set to "jrcomm.xxx",
where ".xxx" is ".phones" for the phonebook file and ".macros"
for the macros file. But, and this is important, the directory
used for these two files will depend on the pathname that was
saved in the "jrcomm.def" default parameters file when it is
loaded.
Allowing you to change the data files directory in this
manner gives you the ability to create multiple "jrcomm.def"
files for special purpose environments as needed and yet have a
"global" defaults file located in either the "S:" or "JRCOMM:"
directory that is loaded when a "jrcomm.def" file is not found in
the current directory.
All this flexibility is primarily of value to a hard disk
based Amiga system. Floppy disk users will find it easier to
just make multiple copies of their JRCOMM: master disk and
configure each for the different environments needed.
2.5 Limitations in 512k environments
You must use a 2 color screen with this set-up. This leaves
you with about 100k of free memory once JR-Comm is loaded.
This extra bit of free memory gives you enough room to open
the various requesters used in the program. A worst case
example would be the TERMINAL PARAMETERS requester being
open when editing a phonebook entry. This situation has
three requesters open simultaneously which uses about 40k of
additional memory.
If you decide to use a different depth screen you will
find that some, if not all, of JR-Comm's requesters cannot
be opened due to a lack of free memory. If you encounter
this situation, exit JR-Comm via the <RAMIGA>Q sequence and
delete your jrcomm.def file to reset JR-Comm to its internal
defaults.
You may also have to remove any additional floppy
drives past DF1: as each drive requires 26k of chip ram for
disk buffers. The same goes for the AmigaDOS "AddBuffers"
command, you may find that you will have to trim down the
number of buffers assigned to each floppy with this command,
if not having to eliminate this command from your "Startup-
Sequence" batch file entirely.
Users running a PAL display will have somewhat less
memory due to the additional scan lines a PAL display has.
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Copyright (C) 1991 John P. Radigan Printed 04/03/91
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2.6 No fast ram limitations
The 1.02 release of JR-Comm incorporates logic that prevents
the use of a 16 color screen with baud rates above 4800bps
when there is no fast ram present. This feature was added
so that data loss due to chip ram DMA contention is
minimized.
2.7 Starting JR-Comm for the first time
JR-Comm will use its internal defaults the first time you start
it. You can save any changes you make so that JR-Comm will
configure itself to these settings every time it is used
afterwards by writing the defaults to the file "jrcomm.def".
The internal defaults are aimed at giving the new user the
most common configuration to "plug-n-play" with a minimum of hand
holding, but you may want to browse over the various options that
JR-Comm has to offer (it is VERY configurable!) after having used
it a few times so that you can personalize the way it operates.
2.7.1 Terminal parameters
Users with only 512k of memory should immediately open the
TERMINAL PARAMETERS requester via the OPTIONS menu to set a
two color screen prior to doing anything else. Otherwise
you will eventually not be able to open any of the other
requesters in JR-Comm. See section 10, TERMINAL PARAMETERS
for additional information of the options available in this
requester.
2.7.2 Serial parameters
Open the SERIAL PORT PARAMETERS requester by selecting the
SERIAL menu item in the options menu. Set the appropriate
parameters for your set-up. The defaults provided are
usually sufficient.
2.7.3 Modem parameters
The MODEM PARAMETERS requester is accessed via the MODEM
menu item of the OPTIONS menu.. It provides you with many
options that enable you to tailor JR-Comm to the modem you
are using. See sections 2.8 and 9 on modem installation and
on the MODEM PARAMETERS requester for additional
information.
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2.7.4 General parameters
The GENERAL PARAMETERS requester (opened by selecting the
GENERAL menu item of the OPTIONS menu) contains options that
are global to the operation of JR-Comm. Notice the string
gadget labeled "JR-Comm files". It should contain either
JRCOMM: or S: if you have started JR-Comm for the first
time. If you wish to use the current directory exclusively
for all JR-Comm files, then you must delete the contents of
this string gadget. Refer to section 2.4 for information on
the use of this particular pathname.
If you are using a third party multi-port serial board
or an alternate serial device driver, please enter the
proper information in the lower right string gadgets. You
will have to save the initial defaults to the "jrcomm.def"
file if you wish to use this alternative device for all
future use.
If you are using an MNP or other high-speed modem that
requires a fixed baud rate you will have to set the CTS/RTS
handshake option. Please see section 2.8.6 prior to
activating this handshake mode or you may find that JR-Comm
can no longer communicate with your modem.
European users may want to set the keymap and font file
to something that will suit the systems they intend to call.
Please read section 13.11 for details on how to use the
keymap feature.
2.7.5 Saving your defaults
At this point you can save your settings by selecting the
WRITE DEFAULTS menu item in the PROJECT menu. A FILE
requester will open and the filename shown should be
"jrcomm.def". Select the "OK" button or press <RETURN> to
write the defaults.
2.8 Modem setup
Hayes compatible modems are preferred for use with JR-Comm.
Fortunately, almost every modem made today is Hayes compatible.
The specific features the modem should have are discussed below.
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2.8.1 Carrier detect signal
The modem should have a functioning carrier detect (DCD)
signal on pin 8 of the serial port. The DCD signal goes
true once your modem has established a connection with the
modem of a remote system that you have called. This signal
needs to be working if you intend to use the connect timer
in the status line. It is also used by the dialer for early
detection of a connection.
Most Hayes compatible modem manufacturers default the
modem to permanently set this signal true. You can easily
determine if DCD is active with the connect timer. If it
begins to increment immediately after starting JR-Comm, it
is in an active state. If so, please refer to your modem
users manual for instructions on how to set it so the DCD
signal works properly.
If you cannot get the DCD signal to function correctly,
you must activate the gadget button labeled "Ignore carrier
detect" in the MODEM PARAMETERS requester. This will also
deactivate the connect timer.
2.8.2 Data terminal ready signal
This signal (DTR) on pin 20 of the serial port tells the
modem when the data terminal, (JR-Comm) is ready. JR-Comm
also uses this signal, if the modem recognizes it, to force
the modem to hang up or go on hook. As with the DCD signal,
many manufacturers will assert this signal permanently true.
Check the modem users manual for the proper command which
will cause the modem to go "on hook" (hangup) and also
return to its command state whenever the DTR signal is
dropped and then raised again. If the modem is able to do
this you can activate the button gadget in the MODEM
PARAMETERS requester that is labeled "Drop DTR to hang up"
so that JR-Comm can use it to hangup the modem.
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2.8.3 The initialization command
The MODEM PARAMETERS requester has a string gadget that is
initially set to the following Hayes compatible modem
command when you run JR-Comm for the first time.
"ATZ^M~~~ATE1 Q0 V1 X4^M"
This command is probably fine for most Hayes compatible
modems. But, you may have to modify it to your needs for
your particular modem. The '~' character inserts a one half
second delay. It is not sent to the modem. To send a
control character, like a carriage return, precede the
desired control character with the '^' character. A "^M"
will send the same character as if you had pressed the
<RETURN> key on the keyboard of your Amiga. To send the '^'
character itself requires two of them in the string gadget.
Although these two special characters are also used by
function key macros, the additional escape sequences they
use are not available to any of the commands in the MODEM
PARAMETERS requester, so do not use them.
2.8.4 Modem response codes
The set of response codes available in the MODEM PARAMETERS
requester should not need to be changed unless your modem is
not fully Hayes compatible. Notice that the labels for each
of the response codes matches the default setting exactly,
if you do need to change them, use the associated response
code returned by your modem for each action listed in this
group.
Leaving or setting a response code blank will result in
JR-Comm disabling that particular function in the
intelligent dialer. See section 6.3 for details of its
operation.
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2.8.5 Dialer auto-baud feature
The dialer has the ability to automatically adjust JR-Comm's
baud rate to that of the connection. To do this properly,
your modem must be able to send extended CONNECT responses
that have a numeric value equivalent to the baud rate at
which the connection was established. The default response
of CONNECT without a value attached to it will result in a
baud rate setting of 300. The X4 command should activate the
extended response mode.
NOTE: Some modems deviate from the Hayes standard of
using the CONNECT response without a numeric value
appended to indicate 300 baud. If your modem does
not follow this method you will not be able to use
this feature. In this case you will have to
determine the proper baud rate for the system
you're calling before hand and set the SERIAL
PARAMETERS for the associated phonebook entry to
the correct baud rate for future calls.
2.8.6 Additional information for MNP and V.42 modems
MNP and V.42 modems incorporate hardware error correction to
eliminate the corruption of data due to the effects of noise
on the phone line.
A byproduct of these modems is that they can send data
faster than the actual connect rate because they reformat
the individual bytes into "packets" before they are sent.
This results in a 10-19% increase in throughput.
In order to obtain this increase in performance, the
connection between the computer and the modem needs to be
fixed at a baud rate that is higher than the fastest rate
that the modem is capable of sending data so that the
additional time needed to reformat the outgoing (and
incoming) data does not degrade throughput performance. The
baud rate used is often twice to four times the maximum
connect rate. For example, a 2400bps error corrected modem
would use a 4800 or 9600bps fixed rate connection between
the modem and computer.
Since the computer is now capable of sending data to
the modem faster then what the modem can send, some way of
controlling the flow of data is needed. This is called
"handshaking". The most common form used is CTS/RTS or
hardware handshake.
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The Amiga's internal serial device requires the Data
Set Ready (DSR) signal (pin 6) to be active when it is first
opened or it will not activate the CTS/RTS handshake mode.
In addition to the DSR signal having to be permanently
asserted, your modem must have CTS true when the modem is
not online. Check the manual for your modem to insure that
these two signals are set up correctly or JR-Comm will
notify you that it was unable to honor your request for
CTS/RTS handshaking and will open the serial device in
normal mode instead.
2.9 Specific instructions for different modems
The three following modems are representative of some of the most
common modems in use today. The Supra 2400 is your average Hayes
compatible modem. It is quite reliable and is very close to a
real Hayes 2400bps modem in commands and operation. It is quite
affordable and should accommodate most telecommunications
situations a casual user may encounter.
The next modem described is the MultiTech 224EH. Although
Hayes compatibility is very high, it deviates from the normal
2400bps modem by including the MNP error correcting protocol. As
with most MNP modems, it contains an almost overwhelming list of
parameters. The MultiTech series of modems represent the high-
end in 2400bps price, features and quality. It is truly
"industrial strength" and can be easily adapted to nearly any
communications situation that might arise.
The last modem is the ultra fast US Robotics Courier HST
(High Speed Technology) 14.4kbps modem. Like the MultiTech, it
is armed with an enormous array of configuration options due to
the addition of MNP and V.42 error correction and data
compression. A more expensive variation of this modem, the Dual
Standard, is available which adds the 9600bps V.32 (and 14.4kbps
V.32bis) CCITT specification for full duplex connections.
Although the modem you have may not be listed here, it will
most likely share many, if not all, of the same features and even
commands as those listed below. First, categorize your modem
against the basic features of each of these modems to determine
which one your modem most closely resembles. Then try to match
the options listed against similar options in the users manual
for your modem.
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2.9.1 Supra Modem 2400 (external)
The sequence of modem commands to configure this modem
for use with JR-Comm are as follows:
1. AT&F (reset modem to factory defaults)
2. AT&C1&D2&W
&C1 - Carrier detect functions normally.
&D2 - Hang-up and return to command mode.
&W - Write settings to NVRAM.
3. Set modem init string in MODEM PARAMETERS
requester to "ATZ^M".
Carrier detect and DTR will operate as expected and you can
use the DTR to hang up option with this configuration.
2.9.2 MultiTech 224EH (external)
The 224EH is a 2400bps Level 5 MNP modem. It should be
representative of most Hayes compatible MNP modems that are
available today.
Configuration sequence for this modem is:
1. Set switches to:
12345678 1234
11010110 0110 (0 - OFF 1 - ON)
1 - Forced DTR off.
2 - Verbose responses.
3 - Enable response codes.
4 - Enable command echo.
5 - Disable auto-answer.
6 - Forced CD/DSR off.
7 - RJ11 phone jack.
8 - Enable command mode.
1 - Forced CTS off.
2 - Dial-up line.
3 - Call progression.
4 - Async mode.
2. AT&F (reset modem to factory defaults)
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3. ATB1X4&E1&E4&Q1$BA0&C1&R2&S0&W0
B1 - Wait-for-dialtone dialing.
X4 - Hayes dialtone and busy detection.
&E1 - Enable MNP auto-reliable mode.
&E4 - CTS/RTS flow control.
&Q1 - Hayes Smartmodem 2400 responses.
$BA0 - Baud adjust off.
&C1 - Carrier detect functions normally.
&R2 - CTS drops for 2 seconds on disconnect.
&S0 - DSR permanently asserted.
&W0 - Write settings to NVRAM.
4. Set init string to "ATZ^M".
5. Set dial prefix to "AT&E1&E14DT"
6. Set alternate dial prefix #1 to "AT&E1&E15DT".
7. Set alternate dial prefix #2 to "AT&E0DT".
The three different dial prefixes are needed to enable and
disable the MNP mode before dialing. This is needed due to
the inability of a true Hayes modem to successfully complete
a connection when an MNP modem calls it.
The default dial prefix enables MNP without data
compression. This should be used when there is the
possibility of transferring an already compressed file since
MNP level 5 compression will degrade throughput.
Alternate dial prefix #1 will enable both MNP and data
compression which will greatly increase throughput for text
only transfers.
The last prefix will disable MNP for calling true Hayes
modems. If the connection is made, but no data is seen, you
should try calling back with MNP disabled to see if it
works. If it does, the system you are attempting to call
most likely has a true Hayes modem attached. You should use
this prefix for all future calls.
2.9.3 USRobotics Courier HST (external)
The Courier HST is an example of the latest in high-speed
modem technology. The version discussed here is the newer
14.4kbps HST without the V.32 option.
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Configuration sequence for this modem is:
1. Set switches to:
1234567890 1
1101011001 1 (0 - OFF 1 - ON)
1 - Forced DTR off.
2 - Verbal result codes.
3 - Result codes displayed.
4 - Echo commands.
5 - Auto-answer disabled.
6 - Forced DCD off.
7 - Result codes for orig/ans modes.
8 - AT commands enabled.
9 - Does not drop carrier after "+++"
10 - Load NVRAM settings on power up.
1 - Normal send/receive operation.
2. AT&F (reset modem to factory defaults)
3. ATB1X6&B1&H1&K0&R2&S0&Y1&W
B1 - HST mode.
X6 - Enable VOICE response.
&B1 - Fixed DTE rate.
&H1 - CTS/RTS flow control.
&K0 - Disable data compression.
&R2 - Pass data on RTS high.
&S0 - Set DSR high permanently.
&Y1 - Destructive break signal.
&W - Write settings to NVRAM.
4. Set init string to "ATZ^M".
5. Set the "Ring" string to "RING^M".
6. Set the "No dialtone" string to "NO DIAL TONE".
7. Set dial prefix to "AT&M4&K0DT"
8. Set alternate dial prefix #1 to "AT&M4&K1DT".
9. Set alternate dial prefix #2 to "AT&M0&K0DT".
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Although the HST is capable of returning a VOICE
response if a human answers the call, it is somewhat
unreliable with certain phone systems and long distance
calls, so you may want to disable it by replacing "X6" in
step 3 above with an "X4".
Since the RINGING response is enabled with the "X6"
command, you have to change the RING response so that the
dialer does not think that an incoming call has occurred.
The HST returns a slightly different response for a no
dialtone condition from the default setting so it must also
be changed.
The dial prefixes function exactly like the ones for
the MultiTech 224EH modem discussed in the previous section
with one notable difference with regard to V.42bis data
compression. Unlike MNP level 5 data compression, the
V.42bis method does not adversely affect the performance of
file transfers when transmitting already compressed files,
it also offers a 4:1 compression ratio versus the 2:1 that
MNP level 5 employs.
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3 SYSTEM BASICS
3.1 The display
The default display used by JR-Comm when it is first started is a
borderless Workbench window. Depending on the version of
Workbench you are using, there will either be one or two depth
gadgets in the same location as they are found in other Workbench
windows but these gadgets are hidden so that you still have the
pair of text lines that would be lost with a window title
present.
Optional displays include borderless windows on a 2, 4, 8 or
16 color custom screen. A pair of hidden depth gadgets are also
present so that the screen may be pushed to the back or brought
to the front of your Amiga's display. A menu item is available
which toggles the display of the screen title if you prefer to
use the Intuition screen drag feature instead. This title bar is
always present during a dialing or file transfer operation and
will be removed at the completion of that function.
The PALETTE requester allows you to modify the colors for
each phonebook entry that uses a custom screen. The PALETTE
requester is disabled when using a Workbench window. There are
three hard-coded palettes for IBM color, VT-100/102, (or IBM
mono) and SkyPix emulations. There is also a user defined
default palette that is initially set to the same colors as the
IBM color palette. See section 12 which details the PALETTE
requester and the operation of the user defined default palette.
JR-Comm uses a custom display driver which is much faster
than the internal console device used by the Amiga for the CLI
and other text based displays. A good portion of the speed
increase is due to the way the cursor is implemented by JR-Comm
which is entirely different from the block cursor that is used by
the Amiga's console device.
JR-Comm uses a system sprite for the cursor. An underline
is used instead of a block style cursor because sprites are not
transparent, therefore, the character "underneath" would be
obstructed. Unfortunately, using a sprite as a cursor has an odd
side-effect in that it doesn't "behave" well with Amiga's
Intuition User Interface. This is why the cursor is still
visible when switching screens prior to activating another
window. It is hoped that you understand that this inconvenience
is necessary so that you may benefit from the faster text
throughput that it gives you.
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An optimized scroll mode is available to boost average
throughput of 8 and 16 color displays. With this feature
enabled, JR-Comm will use the minimum horizontal width and number
of bit-planes needed to satisfy a scroll operation. This option
greatly reduces DMA utilization when the smooth scroll feature is
active.
Several external fonts are provided for use with the IBM,
Amiga, VT-100/102 and SkyPix terminal emulations. Double-height
versions of these fonts are also included for use with interlaced
displays. Additionally, you may select a font of your own
choosing via the GENERAL PARAMETERS requester if you so desire.
The ability to change the default keymap is also provided
for European users who may need to use more than one keymap
and/or font due to differences between countries. See the
description of the keymap string gadget in the GENERAL PARAMETERS
requester for a detailed discussion on the recommended way to use
this feature.
3.2 Status line
The status line in JR-Comm is normally displayed as follows.
......(status/chat).......... * X FX 8N1 9600 00:00:00 7:30 pm
| |||| ||| | | | | | |
Printer ---------+ |||| ||| +--+ +------+ +-----+
Protocol @! -----------+||| ||| | | |
(VT-100/102 use only) @ ------------+|| ||| | | |
Duplex @! -------------+| ||| | | |
Handshake @! --------------+ ||| | | |
Data bits ! ----------------+|| | | |
Parity ! -----------------+| | | |
Stop bits ! ------------------+ | | |
Baud rate ! --------------------+ | |
Connect timer ! ---------------------------+ |
Time of day ! -------------------------------------+
The items above that are marked with an exclamation point
have invisible gadgets associated with them which allow you to
toggle through the available values for that particular item.
The handshake item will only enable and disable XON/XOFF flow
control. Hardware or CTS/RTS flow control can only be selected
while off-line from the GENERAL PARAMETERS requester. The
connect timer will be reset when its gadget is selected. The
time-of-day clock will toggle between 12 and 24 hour modes.
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Items marked with a '@' symbol are replaced by periods when
using the VT-100/102 emulation. These four dots represent the
four software controlled LED indicators that are found on a real
VT-100/102 terminal. When the indicator is "on", it is signified
by an asterisk. All the status line gadgets are disabled while
the VT-100/102 emulation mode is active.
The dotted line to the left of the above status line
indicates the status message and chat line area. ASCII send and
capture filenames are displayed here while the chat line mode is
inactive. Three special character sequences are used to describe
the type of file being processed. They are:
< The left angle bracket character indicates that an
ASCII send is in progress.
> A single right angle bracket character signifies a new
or cleared capture file is open.
>> A pair of right angle brackets are used when the
capture file is opened in append mode.
3.3 Connect timer
The connect timer will increment while a carrier detect signal is
present from the modem (the DCD signal of your modem must be
functional for this feature to work properly). If the cents/min
option is set to a non-zero value in a phonebook entry, the
connect timer will toggle every four seconds between total
connect time elapsed and the accumulated cent total for this
connection.
3.4 Time-of-day clock
The clock is capable of displaying the time-of-day in either 12
or 24 hour mode. It may also be turned off via the associated
gadget in the GENERAL PARAMETERS requester.
3.5 Terminal emulations
3.5.1 TTY
The TTY emulation is a basic, line oriented, "dumb"
terminal. The high bit of every incoming byte is reset as
there are no graphics characters possible when using this
emulation.
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3.5.2 Amiga ANSI
Although this mode seems redundant, it is included so that
you can utilize the greater speed of JR-Comm when Amiga
specific console sequences and text are needed.
3.5.3 IBM color
Excepting the lack of a blinking attribute, this emulation
provides you with a 100% accurate IBM ANSI terminal.
JR-Comm is intelligent enough to prevent "invisible"
text when using an 8 color screen. If the same color is
used for both foreground and background (hi-intensity on
low-intensity), JR-Comm will set the background to the
default background color of the display so that text
information is not lost.
3.5.4 IBM mono
This emulation provides both the hi-intensity and blinking
attributes of IBM monochrome displays. Amiga display
limitations prevent having these two attributes available
with the color emulation, so this mode was provided in the
situations where you must have the blinking attribute
present.
3.5.5 VT-100/102
This emulation provides you with an almost complete VT-
100/102 terminal. The feature it does not implement is 132
character line mode. The keypads on the A500 and A2000
keyboards fully represent the VT-100/102 keypad with the top
row of keys on the Amiga being the PF keys. The <F1-4>
function key sequences will produce PF key equivalents for
the A1000 keyboard if macros have not been defined for these
keys.
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3.5.6 SkyPix
This emulation provides a unique graphics and sound terminal
capability for use with the Atredes and SkyLine bulletin
board systems. Please be aware of the silent file transfer
capability of this emulation. It sends sound and brush
files without bringing up a FILE TRANSFER STATISTICS
requester. A prompt of the filename being received is shown
in the status line area so that you are aware of the
transfer taking place. The receive indicator on your modem
will also flash in the same manner as an XMODEM transfer
because that is what is used for this emulation.
3.6 Review buffer
The review buffer is a circular mechanism that holds the most
recently received portion of data. The size of the review buffer
is user defined but defaults to 16k. If the status line is
enabled, it will display a message indicating when JR-Comm is in
review mode. When the review mode is first entered, it will fill
the screen with the most recent data received. The review buffer
is controlled by the following key sequences.
<CTRL><UP> Move to the beginning of the buffer.
<SHIFT><UP> Move up one display page.
<UP> Move up one line.
<CTRL><DOWN> Move to the end of the buffer.
<SHIFT><DOWN> Move down one display page.
<DOWN> Move down one line.
<ESC> Exit review mode, return to the terminal.
If you plan to continue receiving data for extended periods
of time while reviewing data you should increase the size of the
buffer to prevent unwanted data overwriting. It is also
recommended that you use the split screen review buffer mode so
that you can maintain keyboard I/O with the remote system.
3.7 Capture file
The capture file option allows you to save any incoming data
received by JR-Comm. There are four ways the capture file can be
opened. The first two open a new file, deleting the contents of
any existing file. The second two open an existing file in
append mode. Each major mode has a sub-mode that will save the
contents of the review buffer too.
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At the start of a file transfer, JR-Comm will automatically
close the capture file so that you may access that file from
outside JR-Comm. When the transfer completes the capture file
will be reopened in append mode again. The full pathname is
retained during the file transfer operation so that a change in
download paths does not interfere with reopening the proper
capture file.
The capture buffer is operated in asynchronous file I/O mode
so that maximum throughput is achieved when capturing large
amounts of data.
Refer to section 10 for descriptions of the capture filters
available.
3.8 Chat mode
Line editing is available while in the chat mode. The left and
right cursor keys move through the current line. The delete key
has two functions. Alone, it deletes the character underneath
the cursor. When pressed while the shift key is down, it will
insert a space at the current cursor position. The <BACKSPACE>
key works as expected. If the return key is pressed while in the
middle of the chat line, the complete line will be transmitted to
the modem.
Several other editing functions are available with the left
and right arrow keys when used with the <ALT>, <SHIFT> and <CTRL>
keys. They are:
<ALT> Move cursor to left or right of chat line display.
<CTRL> Move cursor to start or end of the chat line.
<SHIFT> Move cursor left or right one word.
The chat mode also has a history buffer which can be
accessed via the up and down cursor keys. The default size of 50
lines is used unless you have increased or decreased it.
Natural control characters are sent to the serial port
immediately while in chat mode. This is convenient when you need
to stop and re-start the display via the <CTRL>-S and <CTRL>-Q
sequences.
Finally, the '^' character can be used to imbed control
characters within the chat line. Two '^' characters in a row
will send the '^' character itself.
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3.9 File transfers
When you initiate a file upload or download you are first greeted
with the FILE requester. Select the desired file(s) for an
upload or enter the new filename for a download when using a
protocol other than CIS B+, YMODEM(1k/-g) or ZMODEM. These
protocols send the filename in a special header block, so the
FILE requester isn't opened when downloading via these protocols.
The transfer status window is then opened. The information
this window displays is as follows:
Filename Filename being transferred.
Size Size of file being transferred.
Remaining Shows estimated time at start of
transfer. Shifts to adjusted time
remaining during transfer.
Actual time Self explanatory.
Total xfer'd or Block Block or percentage of file transferred.
Chars/sec Throughput figure, does not include
protocol overhead data in computation.
Total errors Received during the transfer.
Errors this block For this block only.
Last response Error/status line.
Selecting the close window gadget will abort the transfer.
Please be patient when aborting as JR-Comm attempts to purge any
remaining data before returning to the terminal.
If the abort seems stuck, click on the close window gadget
a second time to force it to finish immediately. You may
experience garbage on your screen if you do this.
The efficiency table is a set of figures used by JR-Comm to
compute the estimated time at the start of a file transfer. It
is an estimate of how long the transfer should take under a best
case condition. When an MNP modem is being used, the estimates
will be longer than the actual transfer due to the increased
throughput these modems deliver.
During the transfer JR-Comm will update the actual time
remaining based on the current chars/sec figure. Errors or other
delays can result in this time increasing as the chars/sec rate
drops. Both the cps and remaining indicators will fluctuate a
good bit during the early stages of the transfer. They require
upwards of 20 kilobytes to settle down, more for high speed
modems.
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At baud rates above 2400bps you should be aware that file
transfer throughput begins to be affected by the method used for
transmitting data by the sending program. If a byte-by-byte
method is used, efficiency is going to drop off rapidly. If,
instead, the sender uses several different optimized methods, the
rate will stay somewhat the same as baud rate increases.
The table listed below is for a file with an equally
distributed profile of data, such as a file than has been
compressed. The CIS B+ and ZMODEM protocols can experience
higher throughput rates than listed here when a text file is
transferred, but since you are sending more total data than when
the text file is compressed, the net result is more time spent
sending the file.
PROTOCOL EFFICIENCY
-------------------------
CIS B+ 92%
WXMODEM 90%
XMODEM 77%
XMODEM-CRC 75%
XMODEM-1k 92%
YMODEM 75%
YMODEM-1k 92%
YMODEM-g 99%
ZMODEM 96%
3.10 Gadget types
JR-Comm uses several types of gadgets. Their functions are
described as follows.
3.10.1 String gadgets
These gadgets use the familiar Amiga rectangle with a label
to the immediate left. JR-Comm enhances the string gadgets
by range checking integer input for validity and by looking
for appropriate filename postfixes when required, if the
requisite postfix is absent, JR-Comm will append it. The
list of possible postfixes are:
.def defaults file.
.phones phonebook file.
.macros macros file.
.log log file.
.font font file.
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3.10.2 Option gadgets
These gadgets are likened to a button or switch. If the
gadget is selected, the inside dot will be present.
Otherwise, it shows only the outer circle. Some groups of
option select gadgets are mutually exclusive. For instance,
only one terminal emulation or file transfer protocol can be
active at a time (excluding ZMODEM auto-download, which can
be active in addition to another protocol being selected).
3.10.3 Control gadgets
These gadgets select functions within a requester and are
filled rectangles with rounded corners, the gadget label is
centered inside the gadget in capital letters. Control
gadgets perform an immediate action and/or open an
additional sub-requester.
3.10.4 Intuition gadgets
The default Intuition close window, depth and drag gadgets
work as expected. JR-Comm retains the position of any
requester for future use if it is dragged to a new location
from the default centered position. New positions are saved
to the jrcomm.def file for use in future JR-Comm sessions.
3.11 Special keyboard attention sequences
The following keyboard sequences and their actions are:
<SHIFT><TAB> - Sends an <ESC><TAB> sequence.
<CTRL><HELP> - XON/XOFF handshake release. Use this
when the program seems to freeze up.
JR-Comm will also release itself
automatically after 10 seconds have
elapsed without receiving an XON
character from the remote system.
<SHIFT><RETURN> - Will toggle between the filename and
pathname string gadgets of the FILE
requester. It is ignored otherwise.
<CTRL><LSHIFT><LALT>
<LAMIGA><HELP> - Generates diagnostic information to the
file "Ram:jrc.diag".
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4 SPECIAL REQUESTERS
4.1 File requester
YAFR...? (Yet Another File Requester... Why?)
Well, simply put, it was needed for one reason; selecting
multiple files for batch transfers. However, the primary
advantage offered by this requester is the ability to select
files from multiple directories and across different volumes
and/or devices simultaneously.
4.1.1 Functional description
The FILE requester opens up in one of two modes as indicated
in the title. One mode is a "SINGLE FILE REQUEST", which
will allow you to select only one file at a time. The other
mode is "BATCH FILE REQUEST", which allows you to select any
number of files.
In either mode the FILE requester is dynamic. This
means that it can process gadget selections while building
the current directory files list.
The large rectangle is the familiar file selection
array, which displays up to 15 files and/or directories at a
time. Directories are prefixed with the string "(dir)". The
righthand side of the list shows the size in bytes of each
file.
Below the selection rectangle there are two size
indicators. The one on the left, labeled "Free:", shows the
amount of free space left on the current device for the
current directory. The right side shows the total number of
bytes for the files selected.
To the left of the selection rectangle is the
proportional scroll gadget which enables the user to scroll
through a list of filenames. The knob, or smaller rectangle
inside the scroll gadget indicates what percentage of the
list is displayed at any time.
The special keyboard sequence <SHIFT><RETURN> will
toggle between the filename and pathname string gadgets.
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4.1.2 File lists
The FILE requester creates five separate lists that you can
browse through for selecting files or for changing
directories. The lower middle control gadget enables you to
toggle through each list. The currently displayed list is
indicated by the label of the gadget itself. These labels
are:
FILES The files and directories of the current
directory. Selected files are displayed
in inverse video.
DEVICES The list of devices known to AmigaDOS.
DIRECTORIES Assigned directories.
VOLUMES Floppy and/or hard disk volume names.
SELECTED The current list of user selected files.
Files selected from this list will be
removed from the selection list.
4.1.3 SELECT
This gadget is functional only while the current directory
list is being displayed and the FILE requester was opened in
batch file mode. It will select every file in the current
directory.
4.1.4 PARENT
This gadget will change the current directory to the parent
of the current directory. The pathname string gadget will
also be updated to reflect this change.
4.1.5 UNSELECT
This gadget is functional while the current directory or the
selected files list is displayed. Any matching files from
the selected files list will be removed. In the case of the
selected files list, all files will be deselected.
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4.1.6 Filename
The FILE requester will open with this string gadget set to
a suggested filename for phonebook, macro, defaults, capture
and log files. It also displays the last filename selected.
You may enter a filename of your choosing instead if you so
desire.
Pressing a <SHIFT><RETURN> sequence will toggle the
activation between this string gadget and the pathname
string gadget.
4.1.7 Pathname
This string gadget contains the pathname of the current
directory. JR-Comm will remember your pathname selection
for future use if you change it from the pathname that was
used when the FILE requester was first called. Be careful
when saving your defaults after changing a pathname, check
the GENERAL PARAMETERS requester to insure that the proper
pathnames are in effect whenever you save the defaults file.
4.1.8 OK
This gadget instructs JR-Comm to accept your file
selection(s). It is the same as pressing return after
entering a filename in the filename string gadget.
4.1.9 CANCEL
This gadget will clear the selected files list and abort the
function that opened the FILE requester. The close window
gadget for the requester produces the same result as the
CANCEL gadget.
4.2 Query requester
This requester is used similarly to the AmigaDOS SYSTEM REQUEST
requester. The basic difference being that the first character
of each possible response, such as 'Y' and 'N' for YES and NO,
indicates which key you can press on your keyboard to respond to
the QUERY requester.
Depending on the type of question being asked, your response
will either be YES/NO or OK/CANCEL.
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5 MENUS
The character in square brackets to the right of each menu item name
listed below will select that item when used in conjunction with the
right Amiga key.
Any item with a numeric key assignment will open a requester.
See the respective chapter for a more detailed description of each
one.
The MODES menu contains items that are checkmarked when active to
indicate that the respective mode for each item is or is not active.
5.1 Project menu
[?] About Displays useful information about
JR-Comm and contacts for support.
[L] Load defaults Load a default parameters file.
[W] Write defaults Write a default parameters file.
[Q] Quit JR-Comm Exits program.
5.2 Phonebook menu
[1] Directory Phonebook requester.
[R] Redial Restarts the intelligent dialer.
[Z] Send password Sends the password for the active
phonebook entry.
5.3 Buffer menu
[K] Kill buffer Clears the entire review buffer.
[V] View buffer Activates review mode.
[O] Open capture Open a new capture file (clears an
already existing file).
[F] Open w/save Opens a new capture buffer and saves the
contents of the review buffer.
[A] Append capture Append capture to an existing file.
[I] Append w/save Appends to an existing file and also
saves the contents of the review buffer.
[C] Close capture Close the capture file.
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5.4 Transfers menu
[2] Parameters Parameters requester.
[U] Upload Initiate a file upload (from your
system).
[D] Download Initiate a file download (to your
system).
[S] ASCII send Send a text file.
5.5 Options menu
[3] Serial Serial requester.
[4] Modem Modem requester.
[5] Terminal Terminal requester.
[6] Macros Macros requester.
[7] Palette Palette requester (not active with
Workbench screen).
[8] General General requester.
5.6 Misc menu
[T] Timer reset Reset connect timer.
[B] Send break Send a break signal to the modem.
[H] Hangup modem Hangup modem (via command or DTR).
[X] Clear screen Clear the screen.
[E] Print screen Prints text of current screen.
[0] Print registration Print user registration form (not
present in a registered copy of JR-
Comm).
5.7 Modes menu
[P] Printer Toggles the printer on or off.
[Y] Chat line Toggles chat mode on or off.
[J] HEX output Incoming data displayed as hexadecimal
data in columns of 16 with ASCII along
the right-hand side when this mode is
active.
[M] IBM Doorway Toggles IBM Doorway keyboard mode.
[N] Screen title Toggles screen title on/off (not
available in Workbench screen).
[!] Serial quiet JR-Comm will ignore all incoming data
when this mode is active.
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6 PHONEBOOK
6.1 Phone Directory requester
The PHONE DIRECTORY requester is a control panel for adding,
editing and deleting phonebook entries. It also allows you to
select one or more entries for use by the intelligent dialer.
The string gadget labeled "Master password:" contains the
character string that is used by JR-Comm to automatically
generate passwords for each directory entry.
6.1.1 DELETE
Selecting this gadget will place the phonebook into delete
mode, which is signified by this gadget being highlighted
and all the other control gadgets ghosted. You must
double-click an entry in order to delete it from the
phonebook. Entries that are selected for dialing may be
deleted too. In order to save your deletions, you must save
the phonebook again.
6.1.2 EDIT
This gadget functions like the DELETE gadget above, with the
only difference being that a single click on an entry is all
that is needed to edit it.
See section 6.2 for a discussion of the PHONE ENTRY
EDITOR requester.
6.1.3 DIAL
JR-Comm is capable of multi-dialing any number of directory
entries. Just select the entries you want dialed first.
You then start the dialer by either double-clicking the last
selection or by selecting this gadget. You can also dial
one entry alone by double-clicking it.
Refer to section 6.3 for intelligent dialer operation.
6.1.4 UNSELECT
This gadget will unselect all entries in the phonebook.
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6.1.5 ADD
Add a new phonebook entry by selecting this gadget.
See the discussion about the PHONE ENTRY EDIT requester
below.
6.1.6 SORT
Opens the SORT requester for the type of sort you want done
to the directory. The options available are:
NAME Alpha sort of entry names.
NUMBER Alpha sort of entry phone numbers.
SELECT Sorted in order of selection.
Again, you must save a newly sorted phonebook in order
to keep it sorted.
6.1.7 LOAD
Loads a phonebook file via the FILE requester.
6.1.8 SAVE
Save the current phonebook via the FILE requester.
6.1.9 Master password
This feature gives you a very easy way to maintain unique
passwords for each system you call. The master password is
combined with the name in a phonebook entry to form a unique
string of nonsense characters when the entry is first
created or again whenever you select a password type option
in the PHONE ENTRY EDIT requester.
See section 6.4 for a discussion of the master
password.
CAUTION! It is strongly recommended that you change this
from the default value of "jrcomm-pw" or someone
of a malicious nature could cause you untold
grief!
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6.2 Phone entry editor requester
The PHONE ENTRY EDIT requester is accessed whenever you
select ADD or an existing phonebook entry when in EDIT mode
from the PHONE DIRECTORY requester.
6.2.1 Name
The phonebook entry name is entered here. If this is left
blank the entry will be discarded regardless of any other
information entered into the requester. You MUST enter some
sort of name in order to have the new entry entered into the
phonebook. You must then save the phonebook itself in order
for this entry to be available for future use.
6.2.2 Phone
Enter the phone number here. Up to 36 digits are allowed.
6.2.3 Macros
Although the macros filename is optional, you must enter one
in order to open the FUNCTION KEY MACROS requester via the
Macros control gadget along the bottom of the PHONE ENTRY
EDIT requester. JR-Comm will automatically add the postfix
".macros" to the name you have entered so that you can
differentiate it from other JR-Comm files located in the
default files path.
6.2.4 Capture
Another optional entry. If you enter a filename here it
will be opened in append mode once the dialer establishes a
connection. The review buffer will be cleared prior to
opening the capture file when a connection is established.
As with the macros file described in the previous section,
the capture file you enter here will have the postfix ".cap"
appended to it automatically by JR-Comm.
6.2.5 Password
The password for the current entry can be manually entered,
or you can have JR-Comm create one for you instead. See
section 6.2.9 on password types for additional information.
The length of the password is limited to 20 characters.
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6.2.6 Length
Used in conjunction with the password type gadgets described
in section 6.2.9. Only a decimal number from 1 through 20
will be accepted.
(default: 8)
6.2.7 Dial prefix
Selects the desired alternate dialing prefix which is used
during the dialing of an entry.
(default: "None")
6.2.8 Cents/min
Optional. Enter the decimal number of cents per minute (100
= a dollar) which will be displayed in the status line while
connected. The carrier detect signal must function properly
on your modem for this feature to work correctly. Values
from 0 to 99999 will be accepted.
(default: 0)
6.2.9 Password type
Selecting any gadget other than the one labeled "Fixed"
results in a generated password of that type once the PHONE
ENTRY EDIT requester is closed. The password length is
determined by the value in the length string gadget
described in section 6.2.6.
Whenever you edit an existing phonebook entry, the
"Fixed" gadget will again be set. This is to prevent a new
password from being generated until you are ready to do so
by selecting one of the password type gadgets again.
(default: "Fixed")
6.2.10 Reset timer
This option causes JR-Comm to reset the connection timer
when a connection is first established by the dialer.
(default: ON)
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6.2.11 Parameter requester gadgets
The five control gadgets along the bottom of the PHONE ENTRY
EDIT requester will open the associated parameters
requester. All parameters are initially set to the ones in
effect when the entry is first added.
See the discussions on each of these requesters for
more details of their contents.
6.2.12 CANCEL
This gadget will abort the current edit and return to the
phonebook. If the PHONE ENTRY EDIT requester was opened via
the ADD gadget the entry will be discarded.
6.3 Dialer operation
The dialer is controlled by four parameters in the MODEM
PARAMETERS requester; number of retries, dial timeout, redial
delay and dial pacing. The number of retries defaults to 15 and
applies to each entry that is selected when the dialer is
started. The dial timeout refers to how many seconds the dialer
will wait for a connection after dialing, it defaults to 30
seconds. The redial delay is also in seconds, defaults to 60 and
is the amount of wait time at the end of the list before re-
starting again. The dial pacing is in tenths of a second and
defaults to 0. It is used for modems that have trouble with dial
commands being sent with little delay between each character.
When the dialer establishes a connection it will re-
configure JR-Comm and load a macros file if one exists for that
entry. It then clears the review buffer and screen. A capture
file will be opened in append mode if one has been defined for
this phonebook entry. The dialer will then display the name of
the entry that it connected with plus the connection result
string from the modem in the form "PBE: CCC". PBE refers to the
phonebook entry and CCC is the modem connection result string.
A menu item is also provided to re-start the dialer from
where it left off after making the last connection. This is not
an auto-start type feature; you must restart the dialer yourself
via the menu item or <RAMIGA><R> key sequence.
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6.3.1 Response codes
The dialer has a degree of intelligence by responding to the
different codes that the modem is capable of returning. The
codes and their effect on dialer operation is as follows:
BUSY Dialer skips to next entry.
*RING An incoming call is being made, the
dialer will terminate immediately.
ERROR Causes dialer to exit immediately.
*VOICE Entry is de-selected.
CONNECT Entry is de-selected and dialer exits
after re-configuring all JR-Comm
parameters to the settings in the
phonebook entry.
*NO CARRIER Entry is de-selected after receiving
this response 3 times for the same
entry.
*NO DIALTONE Three of these responses will cause the
dialer to exit.
NOTE: The "RING" response code is not defined in the
internal JR-Comm defaults. You must enter the
proper response code in order to activate incoming
call detection.
Features with an asterisk can be disabled by clearing
the respective string gadget in the MODEM PARAMETERS
requester.
The other response codes in the MODEM PARAMETERS
requester are included for completeness and will be utilized
in a future release of JR-Comm that supports a host mode.
6.3.2 Dialer window
The dialer will open the DIALER requester while dialing.
There are three keys that are assigned functions to control
the operation of the dialer. They are:
<ESC> Exits the dialer immediately.
<DEL> Removes entry from the selected list.
<SPACE> Skips to next entry or re-dial delay, as
necessary.
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6.4 Master password
The idea behind this feature is to make it simple to create and
maintain unique passwords for each system you have an account on.
Common sense tells you that having a unique password for each
system is safer than using the same password on many of them.
Changing them every so often is also another good habit to
develop in order to prevent unauthorized access of your accounts.
The problem, up until now, was the easy maintenance and orderly
changing of a list of passwords without losing them.
JR-Comm makes the maintenance of passwords easy by keeping
the password in the phonebook entry. It makes the creation of
new and unique passwords just as simple by using a rather simple
algorithm that combines the master password for the phonebook
with the name of the entry. You can tailor the password a bit
more by altering the password length and by declaring what type
of password you wish JR-Comm to create.
By changing the master password, you then have the option to
create a new password for an entry whenever you need to by simply
editing an entry and selecting a password type in the PHONE ENTRY
EDIT requester.
The sequence of steps required to accomplish this should go
something like this:
1. Change the master password.
2. Do not change any entry passwords yet, you must call
the system with the old password still intact.
3. After you've logged in you can now open the PHONE
DIRECTORY requester and select the EDIT gadget to edit
the entry of the system you're connected with. Select
one of the password type options and close the PHONE
ENTRY EDIT requester.
4. The new password can now be used to update the password
on the system.
5. After insuring that the system has accepted the
password change you should save the phonebook to update
the password in the file.
Having the password placed in the phonebook entry itself
eliminates the possibility of losing it as long as the phonebook
file isn't destroyed. Backup your phonebook often if you plan to
use this feature.
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7 TRANSFER PARAMETERS REQUESTER
This requester contains all the options for the file transfer
protocols available in JR-Comm.
7.1 Protocol
All the file transfer protocols in use by JR-Comm strictly adhere
to the specifications outlined in the various documents that are
available for each protocol. The following is a short
description of the protocols available.
(default: XMODEM)
CIS B+ CompuServe's B+ file transfer protocol. This
protocol is entirely controlled by the
CompuServe host computer, no FILE requester
will be opened for uploads or downloads. The
host will prompt you for the filename when
ready to start the transfer. All files will
normally be received to or sent from the
associated file transfer pathname. In order
to override this default you must enter a
fully qualified pathname that contains a ':'
character. For example, "SYS:foo/bar".
Entering a partially qualified pathname such
as "foo/bar" will result in the file "bar"
being placed in or sent from the respective
default transfer pathname. A future release
of JR-Comm will allow for directory creation
which is needed for partially qualified
filenames.
WXMODEM A variant of the XMODEM protocol which gives
you better throughput performance over packet
switched networks. This protocol is quite
popular on the PeopleLink commercial
information service.
XMODEM The grandfather of most every protocol in use
by personal computers today. The XMODEM
checksum protocol was created by Ward
Christensen back in 1977.
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XMODEM-CRC The original XMODEM protocol modified with a
16 bit CRC polynomial for better error
detection. JR-Comm will "step down" to
XMODEM checksum if the sender does not
recognize the initial CRC-16 handshake.
XMODEM-1k A variant of XMODEM-CRC that uses 1024 byte
blocks which gives you higher throughput than
the original XMODEM protocol. Some systems
incorrectly call this YMODEM. As with
XMODEM-CRC, JR-Comm will "step down" to
XMODEM checksum if necessary.
YMODEM This is TRUE YMODEM(tm), which is a batch
transfer protocol. The filename, date and
file size are transferred in a separate
header block at the beginning of each file
that is transferred. This protocol also
preserves the correct file size; the XMODEM
and derivative protocols described above pad
characters at the end of the file. Uploads
using this option are restricted to block
lengths of 128 bytes.
YMODEM-1k TRUE YMODEM(tm) except that it will force
uploads to 1024 byte blocks. It is
recommended that this version be selected
except in cases where the system you are
calling will only accept the smaller 128 byte
block of the early versions of YMODEM.
YMODEM-g This variation of YMODEM is intended for
error correcting modems and hard-wired
connections. Because this protocol does no
error correcting, it can dispense with the
need for an acknowledgement of each
transmitted block of data. The file is
transferred with little delay and can achieve
some of the highest throughput of any of the
protocols listed here. If an error is
detected, the transfer will be aborted, hence
the need for an error-free connection in
order to use this protocol with confidence.
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ZMODEM This is one of the newest and most powerful
protocols available. It is capable of batch
transfers, automatically initiated downloads,
32 bit CRC error checking, and a unique
ability to resume a transfer that had been
partially completed. JR-Comm supports one of
the most complete implementations of the
ZMODEM protocol as defined by the
specification document written by ZMODEM's
author, Chuck Forsberg.
7.1.1 Some notes on flow control
ZMODEM and YMODEM-g are known as full-flow protocols due to
their ability to send data without interruption. For ZMODEM
transfers, you can use either CTS/RTS handshake (hardwire)
or you can use XON/XOFF handshake.
YMODEM-g requires a modem that supports CTS/RTS
handshake due to its need for full 256 byte transparency.
YMODEM-g does not have the ability to correct for errors, so
it needs an error-corrected modem. Since almost every
error-correcting modem supports CTS/RTS handshaking, this
should not be a problem.
7.2 ZMODEM send modes
The following modes are applicable to ZMODEM uploads only. They
have no effect on ZMODEM downloads. All comparisons reference
the file on the remote system to the file on your system. These
options are mutually exclusive, which means that only one of the
available options can ever be selected.
(default: "Don't care")
7.2.1 Skip if absent
Instructs the remote system to skip any files that are not
present.
7.2.2 Newer
Transfer if file date is newer or not present.
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7.2.3 Newer/longer
Transfer if the file is newer, longer or not present.
7.2.4 CRC different
Transfer if the file has a different CRC or is not present.
7.2.5 Append files
Append data only if remote file is shorter than the file
locally. If the file is not present, create it.
7.2.6 Overwrite files
Overwrite any files that are present. Also known as
"clobber" mode.
7.2.7 Protect all files
Protect all files unconditionally. Will not receive files
of the same name as a file already on your system.
7.2.8 Don't care
Disables send checking for use with problematic ZMODEM
implementations. If a file that already exists on your
system is sent, JR-Comm will query you as to if you want to
overwrite it. It will create a unique file otherwise.
7.3 ZMODEM options
These options are specific to the ZMODEM file transfer protocol
only.
7.3.1 Resume transfer
If the requested file already exists, JR-Comm will make an
attempt to resume the file transfer. A check is made by the
receiving system to determine if the file that is about to
be transferred is shorter than the one the sender has. The
file will be skipped otherwise
(default: OFF).
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7.3.2 Auto download
When this gadget is active it allows JR-Comm to start a
ZMODEM download automatically when a ZMODEM auto-d/l header
is received.
(default: OFF).
7.3.3 Auto d/l challenge
This feature, when selected, instructs JR-Comm to perform a
challenge to the remote system so that it can determine if
the remote really intended to initiate an automatic
download. This gadget is activated when the auto-download
gadget is selected, but may be independently de-selected in
case a certain remote system does not support the challenge
option.
(default: OFF).
7.3.4 Escape ctrl chars
Instructs JR-Comm to do an escape of all control characters
to prevent interference with the operation of packet-
switched networks.
(default: OFF).
CAUTION! This option will slow down the file transfer
considerably if binary data is being sent. Do not
enable this option unless it is absolutely
necessary!
7.3.5 32 bit CRC
Instructs JR-Comm to use the newer 32 bit CRC mode of error
detection if possible. A 16 bit CRC will be used if the
remote system does not support 32 bit CRC. File transfers
using this option have a much higher degree of catching hard
to detect errors at the expense of slightly slower
throughput.
(default: ON).
NOTE: Turning this option off will increase throughput
performance somewhat at the expense of slightly
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7.3.6 Window
This option is used to force the receiver to acknowledge
when it has received multiples of 1/4 the value that this
option is set to. For example, a setting of 2048 would make
the receiver send an acknowledgement every 512 bytes. The
sender will wait for the receiver to acknowledge before
continuing. Although normally set to zero, you may need to
set this option to prevent data loss on packet switched
networks such as Tymnet and Telenet. The example of 2048 is
a good value to start with although some experimentation may
show that a different value gives better throughput.
The allowed range is zero to 32768 in multiples of 64.
JR-Comm will automatically round off to an even multiple if
necessary.
(default: 0)
7.4 ASCII send options
The ASCII send mode of JR-Comm is very flexible and should be
able to adapt to just about any possible situation by modifying
the following parameters whenever a text file needs to be sent
with the minimum of time.
7.4.1 Expand blanks
When this feature is selected, JR-Comm will send one space
character for lines which contain only an end-of-line
character. Use this option when the on-line text editor
you're using exits its input mode whenever a carriage return
is received without any text preceding it.
(default: ON).
7.4.2 Prompt char
Instructs JR-Comm to wait for a specific character after
transmitting a line of text. If blank, text is sent
continuously without interruption for the duration of the
transfer.
(default: blank).
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7.4.3 Char delay
A numeric value in milliseconds which causes JR-Comm to wait
(also called "pacing") before transmitting each character.
Values between zero and 60,000 (one minute) are valid.
(default: 0).
7.4.4 Line delay
Milliseconds to wait between the transmission of each line
of text. The same limits of the character delay option
described in the previous section apply here.
(default: 0)
7.5 Miscellaneous
The following options are related to all the protocol transfer
modes in JR-Comm.
7.5.1 Binary mode
Binary mode sends the file as a binary image. Text mode is
implied if this gadget is not selected and results in
sending a file with end-of-line conversion according to the
"EOL out" option in the TERMINAL PARAMETERS requester.
(default: ON).
7.5.2 Save aborted
Determines if a partially received file is retained whenever
a download is aborted. It will be deleted otherwise.
(default: ON).
7.5.3 Relaxed timing
Set this gadget if a file transfer fails or gets an
excessive number of timeouts. Useful for packet switched
networks.
(default: ON)
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7.5.4 Auto chop
File transfers using the XMODEM, XMODEM-1k & WXMODEM
protocols pad data to the end of the file if it is not an
even multiple of 128. The Amiga operating system will not
run a program that has been modified in this way. This
feature will attempt to remove this data from a binary file
transfer to enable it to be used by your Amiga.
(default: OFF)
7.5.5 Overdrive
This gadget enables overdrive mode for ZMODEM and YMODEM-g
uploads. Double-buffered transfers are used which greatly
increases transfer throughput.
(default: OFF)
CAUTION! At baud rates below 9600bps you may experience
increased error recovery times. It is recommended
that you do not use this mode for slow baud rates
or over phone lines that have a high probability
of noise occurring.
7.5.6 X/Y pre-ack
This feature can give you a 15% or higher boost in
throughput for XMODEM, XMODEM-1k, YMODEM and YMODEM-1k
protocol transfers. Like YMODEM-g, this option does not
support error correction, only error detection. If an error
occurs during a transfer with this feature enabled, it will
be aborted immediately.
(default: OFF)
CAUTION! You should not use this feature in situations
where there is a probability of line noise. MNP
or other error corrected connections are
recommended for use with this feature.
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8 SERIAL PARAMETERS REQUESTER
The serial port parameters are located in this requester. Options
available are listed below.
Baud rates from 300 to 57,600bps are supported.
(default: 2400)
Data lengths of 7 and 8 bits.
(default: 8)
Stop bits of 1 or 2.
(default: 1)
Parity types available are: NONE, EVEN, ODD, MARK and SPACE.
(default: "None")
Duplex modes of FULL, HALF and ECHO.
(default: "Full")
Enable and disable XON/XOFF flow control. Remember that the
<CTRL><HELP> keyboard sequence will release XOFF freeze-ups.
(default: OFF)
Break length in microseconds. Valid values allowed from 1,000 to
5,000,000.
(default: 250,000)
Hardware or CTS/RTS flow control and alternate serial device
parameters are located in the GENERAL PARAMETERS requester.
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9 MODEM PARAMETERS REQUESTER
This requester contains all the necessary items needed to enable JR-
Comm's intelligent dialer to interact with your modem properly. All
strings default to standard Hayes compatible modem commands and
responses.
9.1 Modem commands
Modem commands are sent to the modem for initialization, hanging
up, and dial prefixes/postfixes. Control codes are inserted in
the command by proceeding the desired control character with a
'^'. A "^M" sequence would send the equivalent of a carriage
return. The '~' character will insert a one-half second delay
before sending the rest of the string.
NOTE: The additional escape sequences that are available for
function key macros are NOT supported for these
commands.
9.1.1 Init command
Sent to the modem when JR-Comm is first started, but only if
a carrier signal is not present.
(default: "ATZ^M~~~ATE1 Q0 V1 X4^M")
9.1.2 Hangup command
Used to hangup the modem if the DTR gadget is not active.
(default: "~~~+++~~~ATH^M")
9.1.3 Dial prefix
This is the default dialing prefix that the dialer sends to
the modem before the phone number for the phonebook entry is
sent.
(default: "ATDT")
9.1.4 Dial postfix
This is sent after the dialer has transmitted the phone
number.
(default: "^M")
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9.2 Alternate dial prefixes
JR-Comm provides you with three alternate dialing prefixes that
can be used instead of the default dialing prefix described
above. This is useful for enabling/disabling MNP modes and for
using alternate phone services.
9.3 Modem response codes
The eight response codes and their Hayes defaults are:
OK The usual modem response to a command.
BUSY Sent when a busy signal is detected.
RING Sent when the modem detects a ring signal.
ERROR Sent when the modem detects an error.
VOICE Not all modems are capable of sending this.
CONNECT The modem has connected to another modem.
NO CARRIER The remote system did not respond.
NO DIALTONE Sent if no dialtone signal was present.
NOTE: The "RING" response is not defined in the internal JR-
Comm defaults. You must enter the proper response code
in order to activate incoming call detection.
9.4 Intelligent dialer parameters
The following parameters control how the intelligent dialer
operates. See section 6.3 for details of its operation.
9.4.1 Redial delay
Indicates how many seconds JR-Comm will wait before re-
starting after it has dialed the last selected entry in the
list. Values between 0 and 999 will be accepted.
(default: 60)
9.4.2 # of retries
Controls how many times JR-Comm will loop through the list
of selected entries before exiting the dialer. Valid values
range from 1 to 999.
(default: 15)
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9.4.3 Dial timeout
How many seconds JR-Comm will wait for a carrier after
dialing the phone number for the current entry. Values
between 1 and 999 are allowed.
(default: 30)
CAUTION! Your modem may have an internal timeout for this
as well, make sure that it is set to a value in
seconds that is shorter than the value entered for
this option if you wish to allow the intelligent
dialer to automatically deselect entries that
return a NO CARRIER response three times. If the
modem is set to a longer value you will have
disabled this feature of the dialer.
9.4.4 Dial pacing
How many milliseconds to wait between characters when
sending the dial command string during dialer operation.
Values between 0 and 10000 are valid.
(default: 0)
9.5 Miscellaneous options
The following options also are used to tailor the dialer to your
modem. All default to not selected in order to be compatible
with most any modem in existence.
9.5.1 Ignore No Carrier
Set this option if your modem does not reliably detect a
busy signal, or if it is not capable of detecting a busy
signal at all. Otherwise, the dialer will deselect an entry
after three attempts have been made.
(default: OFF)
9.5.2 Ignore Carrier Detect
Set this gadget if your modem does not have a functional
carrier detect signal. The connect timer will be turned off
since it is no longer functional.
(default: OFF)
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9.5.3 Hangup on dialer exit
Set this if you wish to have JR-Comm hang-up the modem when
you exit the dialer via the <ESC> key or close-window
gadget.
(default: OFF)
9.5.4 Drop DTR to hangup
Select this option if your modem is capable of disconnecting
when the DTR signal is dropped.
(default: OFF)
9.5.5 Flush with a BREAK
Some MNP modems (the Courier HST is one) are able to clear
their internal data buffer when a BREAK signal is sent to
the modem. This shortens the time needed to recover from an
error during a file transfer.
(default: OFF)
9.5.6 Dialer auto-baud
If your modem is capable of indicating connected baud rate
by sending a numeric string after the CONNECT message and
you wish to have JR-Comm adjust itself automatically, set
this gadget. Your modem MUST use these extended response
codes correctly in order for this feature to work properly.
(default: OFF)
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10 TERMINAL PARAMETERS REQUESTER
This requester provides you with a multitude of options for the
terminal emulations it supports.
10.1 Screen type
Select the type of screen you wish to use. Defaults vary
depending on the type of terminal emulation selected. Interlace
is not available when using the Workbench screen, JR-Comm will
inherit the current Workbench screen parameters when it opens its
terminal window.
(default: depends on emulation selected)
CAUTION! On some systems, 8 & 16 color screens can degrade file
transfer performance. Using 16 color screens with
WB2.0 will have a greater performance penalty due to
not being able to use a trick to disable bitplane DMA.
10.2 Emulation
Select one of TTY, Amiga ANSI, IBM color, IBM mono, VT-100/102 or
SkyPix terminal emulations.
(default: TTY w/Workbench)
CAUTION! Depending on the configuration of your system, you may
find the 16 color screens require too much of the
available system resources. Dropping down to an 8
color or lower screen may be required. JR-Comm will
disable the 16 color option if it detects the lack of
any fast ram (other than $C00000 "slow" ram) and a baud
rate above 4800bps is in use.
10.3 Text size
When using interlace you can select normal or small font sizes.
Non-interlace displays can only use the normal font size.
(default: "Normal")
10.4 Capture filters
These filters, when selected, will filter data from the incoming
data stream before saving it to the capture file.
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10.4.1 ANSI codes
Turn this filter on if you do not want ANSI control code
sequences captured. The codes will still affect the screen
though. No sequences will be in the review buffer.
(default: OFF)
10.4.2 CTRL chars
Removes all control characters except for carriage returns,
line feeds, form feeds, tabs and backspaces.
(default: OFF)
10.4.3 Backspaces
If this filter is active, any backspace characters that are
received will remove the previous character received from
the capture file too. This results in the capture function
operating in the same manner as the display.
(default: OFF)
10.5 CR xlate
The three options available determine how an incoming carriage
return is to be handled. You can either do nothing via the
"None" option, strip it or add a linefeed <LF> character to it.
(default: "None")
10.6 LF xlate
Like the CR xlate feature described in the paragraph above, you
can also select how a linefeed <LF> character is to be
translated. As above, you can leave it alone, strip or add a
carriage return <CR> character to it.
(default: "None")
10.7 EOL out
Select either a carriage return, linefeed or CR/LF pair to be
output when you press the return key.
(default: "CR)
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10.8 Miscellaneous
There are a considerable number of options that can further
modify how the display works within JR-Comm.
10.8.1 Strip high bit
Use this option if you want the high bit of each character
reset that is received when using 8N1.
(default: depends on emulation selected)
10.8.2 Custom palette
Use the custom palette instead of the default palette for
the selected terminal emulation.
(default: OFF)
See section 12 for a discussion about the PALETTE
requester and for more information about the palettes used
in JR-Comm.
10.8.3 Destructive BS
Causes JR-Comm to delete any text that is backspaced over
when set. Leaves text on screen otherwise.
(default: ON except for VT-100/102 emulation)
10.8.4 Swap DEL & BS
When this gadget is selected JR-Comm will reverse the action
of the <DEL> and <BACKSPACE> keys.
(default: OFF)
10.8.5 Smooth scroll
This option will scroll the screen smoothly, rather than in
one line chunks.
(default: OFF)
NOTE: This option requires considerable system resources
due to the nature of the way it scrolls text. It
is not recommended for use with baseline Amiga
systems.
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10.8.6 Chat line on
The chat line is a 256 character line displayed along the
left side of the status line. The line will automatically
scroll left as data is entered into the line.
(default: OFF)
Refer to section 3.8 for details on the chat mode.
10.8.7 Wrap lines
Set this gadget and JR-Comm will force a carriage
return/linefeed whenever text reaches the right most column.
(default: ON except for VT-100/102 and SkyPix emulations)
10.8.8 IBM Doorway mode
JR-Comm will mimic an IBM keyboard when this gadget is
selected.
(default: OFF)
10.8.9 Cursor blink
Enable and disable the blinking characteristic via this
gadget.
(default: ON)
10.8.10 Optimized scroll
When this mode is active JR-Comm will try to reduce all
display scrolls to a minimum screen width and number of bit-
planes in order to accomplish the scroll in less time then
brute force scrolling. Quite helpful for VT-100/102 with
smooth scroll in effect or when using the IBM 16 color
emulation.
(default: OFF)
10.8.11 Insert char mode
This mode is only active when the VT-102 emulation is in
use. It is also under software control via ANSI sequences
from the remote system.
(default: OFF)
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10.8.12 Force 80 x 25
This option allows you to force an eighty character line by
twenty-five line display for instances where the current
screen in use would let JR-Comm create a larger-than-normal
display. It is best used for SkyPix and IBM emulations as
they only "know" a fixed size display.
(default: depends on emulation selected)
10.9 Answerback message
This is used with the VT-100/102 emulation. The string contained
within this gadget will be sent whenever a <CTRL><E> (decimal 5)
is received.
(default: blank)
10.10 Text
Set this to the color you wish to use for the display. The
number will correspond to those displayed in the PALETTE
requester. Valid values range from 1 to 15.
(default: 1)
10.11 Background
Sets the background color of the display. Valid values range
from 1 to 15.
(default: 0)
10.12 Cursor
Sets the color of the underline cursor. Values from 1 to 15 are
allowed.
(default: 1)
10.13 Status
Color of status line data. JR-Comm will modify this value
depending on which emulation is set, so be sure to modify this
value after setting the emulation or your entry will be
overwritten. Values can range from 1 to 15.
(default: depends on emulation selected)
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11 FUNCTION KEY MACROS REQUESTER
Up to 40 macros of 160 characters can be defined for each macros file.
Select the appropriate modifier gadget in order to edit the desired
set of macros for function keys <F1> to <F10>.
11.1 Macro escape codes
A simple set of escape codes are included. They are listed as
follows.
~ Pause one half second.
^^ The '^' character itself.
^~ The '~' character itself.
^! The '!' character itself.
^char (A-Z) Send char as a control character.
!%decimal Character pacing, in decimal tenths of
seconds.
!@filename Load a new macros file from the default
directory.
!*filename Load a new phonebook file from the default
directory.
!$hex Send a hex character.
!#decimal Chain to macro where decimal equals:
0-9 Function keys 1-10 alone.
10-19 " " " w/CTRL
20-29 " " " w/SHIFT
30-39 " " " w/ALT
For example, a macro such as "~~^mHello !%2There!$d!#4" would wait one
second then send a carriage return. The string "Hello There" is then
sent with the characters in "There" each paced by two tenths of a
second. Another carriage return is sent and it will finally chain to
the macro defined for <F5>.
JR-Comm supports "stacked" macros. It will push macro sequences
onto an internal stack if one is currently being executed. If the !@
escape sequence is present in any macro scheduled for execution, it
will clear the macros stack once JR-Comm loads the new macros file.
Any macro that is chained via the !# escape sequence will be
executed prior to the macros on the stack.
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12 PALETTE REQUESTER
Works like most any color palette requester found in other Amiga
applications.
12.1 Red Green and Blue proportional gadgets
These sliders adjust the associated color component of the
selected color.
12.2 Color selection gadgets
Depending on the screen type, there can be from 2 to 16 color
selection gadgets available on the right hand side of the PALETTE
requester. Select the color you wish to adjust.
12.3 RESET
This gadget will reset the palette to the default for the active
terminal emulation.
If you are familiar with the IBM color palette you will
notice that the colors do not follow normal IBM ordering. A
color index is used by JR-Comm so that the terminal emulation
displays the correct color while still presenting a consistent
color scheme for all requesters in any type screen.
12.4 UNDO
Restores palette to initial setting when the requester was first
opened.
12.5 Palette usage
12.5.1 Default palettes
JR-Comm has four default color palettes built-in for use
with the various terminal emulations. Three of them are
hard-coded; one for the TTY, Amiga ANSI and IBM color
emulations, one for the IBM mono and VT-100/102 emulations
and one for SkyPix.
When the IBM mono or VT-100/102 emulation is selected,
the palette will behave somewhat differently. This was done
so that the hi/lo intensity and blink attributes are
properly maintained.
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The last palette is the custom default palette. The
very first time you run JR-Comm, or when it is started
without a defaults file present, this palette is set to the
same values as the IBM color palette. It is then saved in
your defaults file.
12.5.2 Phonebook entry palettes
Each phonebook entry contains its own palette. When the
entry is created, or whenever its terminal emulation type is
changed thereafter, this palette gets set to the
appropriate palette as described above. Set the custom
palette gadget in the TERMINAL PARAMETERS requester if you
modify this palette, this prevents JR-Comm from over-writing
it.
In order to set the palette in a phonebook entry to the
custom default palette you must have the custom palette
gadget set before adding the entry to the phonebook.
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13 GENERAL PARAMETERS REQUESTER
The GENERAL PARAMETERS requester contains the options, filenames and
pathnames of parameters that are global to the JR-Comm environment.
13.1 Status line
The following options control the JR-Comm status line.
13.1.1 Status line active
Toggles the status line on and off.
(default: ON)
13.1.2 Time of day clock
Turn on or off the time-of-day clock.
(default: ON)
13.1.3 Connect timer
The connect timer is displayed when this gadget is selected.
(default: ON)
13.1.4 24 hour mode
Enables 24 hour mode for the time-of-day clock when
selected.
(default: OFF)
13.1.5 Audible beep
This gadget, when selected, will cause JR-Comm to sound a
beep whenever an action occurs which the user should be made
aware of. If this gadget is not selected, JR-Comm will use
the Amiga Intuition system function of DisplayBeep(). This
allows JR-Comm to either flash the display or to use the
beep defined by one of many available install beep programs.
(default: ON)
13.2 Miscellaneous
The following options effect various global features available in
the JR-Comm environment.
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13.2.1 CTS/RTS handshake
Activates hardware handshaking when selected. Your modem
must have DSR active, or JR-Comm will disable this mode
automatically.
(default: OFF)
13.2.2 Immediate exit
If selected, this option will disable the QUERY requester
when exiting JR-Comm, allowing you to quit immediately. No
check to see if you're still online is made, so be careful
with this one.
(default: OFF)
13.2.3 Logfile active
This option allows JR-Comm to log transfer and session
activity. The following actions are presently recorded:
- JR-Comm session start and end.
- Connection to a system via the dialer.
- Modem hangup command.
- Carrier drop if the "Ignore Carrier Detect" option
in the MODEM PARAMETERS Requester is not active.
- Successful downloads with file size, total error
count and cps rate.
(default: OFF)
NOTE: An active logfile will slow down batch file
transfers due to a write to the logfile being
performed at the end of each file transfer.
13.2.4 Split review
Activates split review buffer mode when selected. This mode
allows you to review the contents of the buffer while still
being able to converse with the system you're connected to.
(default: OFF)
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13.2.5 File saver
When enabled, this feature closes and then re-opens a file
being downloaded each time the transfer buffer is written to
disk. This prevents the total loss of a file if a system
crash occurs during the transfer.
This option is not recommended for use with floppy
disks due to the time required to seek to the end of the
file every time it is re-opened.
(default: OFF)
CAUTION! This option imposes a heavy throughput penalty on
file downloads, especially with high speed modems!
13.2.6 Disk check
This option is included for floppy disk or other users that
have a limited amount of free disk space available for
downloading. The free space computation is based on the old
filing system of 488 bytes per sector.
It is also only functional for the protocols that send
file size information. These protocols are CIS B+, YMODEM,
YMODEM-g and ZMODEM.
It is best to use an assigned directory or volume label
for a floppy disk so that you can change the directory
assignment or change disks if the QUERY requester is posted
during a file transfer. If, after 15 seconds, you have not
responded to the QUERY requester, JR-Comm will abort the
transfer.
Respond with a 'YES' to have JR-Comm recalculate the
free space after changing disks or directories, if the
calculation again fails, the sequence will be repeated.
A 'NO' response will result in an abort of the file
transfer.
(default: OFF)
NOTE: This option is automatically overridden when
"ram:" is the destination. Also, disk check
correctly computes the portion already on disk
whenever a resume transfer (ZMODEM and CIS B+) is
initiated.
Also, this option will slow down the
throughput performance of batch file transfers.
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13.3 GMT offset
This value is used for YMODEM and ZMODEM file protocols so that
the true file date can be preserved. To do this requires that
the filedate be converted to Greenwich Mean Time by the sender
and then modified again for the timezone the receiver is located
in. Valid values range from -12 to 13.
The value 13 is special, it will signal JR-Comm to bypass
adjustment of a downloaded files timestamp.
(default: 0)
NOTE: An offset value for North American Eastern Standard
Time (EST) would be -5. Use -8 for Pacific Standard
Time (PST). You will have to add 1 to these figures
when Daylight Savings Time is in effect (-4 & -7).
13.4 Task priority
JR-Comm will adjust its task priority to this value when non-
zero. Valid priorities range from -5 through 15.
(default: 0)
NOTE: You rarely, if ever, have to change the task priority
of JR-Comm. Be aware that if you do, you should not
use a priority that is higher than the priorities of
any filesystem processes, like hard disk device
drivers.
13.5 Chat history size
This value determines how many lines of chat history are
available. Permissible values are from 10 to 100.
(default: 50)
13.6 Review buffer size
Size of the review buffer in blocks of 2,048 bytes. Valid values
are from 2 to 250.
(default: 8)
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13.7 Transfer buffer size
Size of the transfer buffer in blocks of 2,048 bytes. Used for
file transfers and for ASCII sends. Allowable values are 4 to
16.
(default: 8)
NOTE: A larger buffer is not necessarily better. On some
systems large buffers may actually degrade the
performance of a file transfer. Always start with a
low value and work up to a larger one to find the best
setting for your system.
13.8 Filenames
There are four default filenames used by JR-Comm to load a
phonebook and macros file when first started and for the capture
and log files. All four default to the string "jrcomm" with
appropriate postfixes.
13.9 Font name & size
This pair of string gadgets enables you to set JR-Comm to a font
of your choosing. JR-Comm will only look in the FONTS: directory
for this font.
13.10 Paths
JR-Comm uses these three pathnames to locate and place files as
necessary. The pathname defined in the JR-Comm files string
gadget is initially set to S: or JRCOMM: when the program is run
for the first time, but it can be set to a different path to give
you re-direction capabilities.
See the discussion on the pathnames in the sections 2.2
through 2.4.
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13.11 Keymap
If you wish to use an alternative keymap to the default used by
the system, enter its name here.
The most logical way to set up your environment, if there
are multiple keymaps and/or fonts that you need to use, would be
to save separate .def files, each set to a different keymap
and/or font along with a phonebook file so that you can group
phonebook entries according to keymap and font desired.
For example, German users will probably have the 'd' keymap
set as their default, so "jrcomm.def" and "jrcomm.phones" would
be set for all German oriented systems that they want to call.
In a separate "gb.def" file, they could set the keymap to 'gb'
for Great Britain. The "gb.def" would also set the phonebook to
"gb.phones". You would now be able to simply load the "gb.def"
file with the LOAD DEFAULTS menu item of the PROJECT menu. The
associated phonebook (and macros file if defined) would be loaded
automatically.
NOTE: JR-Comm gives you full dead/double-dead key support for
accents and the like. It also supports string output
as well.
13.12 Serial device & unit
These string gadgets allow you to use a custom serial device.
Set the strings to their appropriate values. When the GENERAL
PARAMETERS requester is closed, JR-Comm will attempt to open the
new serial device you have entered.
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14 MISC MENU
The following are descriptions of the menu items available.
14.1 Timer reset
This item will reset the online timer.
14.2 Send break
Causes the serial device to send a break signal of the length
specified in the SERIAL PARAMETERS requester.
14.3 Hangup modem
JR-Comm will hangup the modem, either by dropping DTR or by
sending the hangup command string as defined in the MODEM
PARAMETERS requester.
14.4 Clear screen
JR-Comm will clear the screen and home the cursor. In Amiga ANSI
emulation mode it will also reset the alternate character set.
In VT-100/102 emulations it will reset both character sets.
14.5 Print screen
This item will send each line of text on the screen to the
printer. This is not a graphics printout, so it is disabled in
SkyPix emulation mode due to the ability of this emulation to
change fonts on the fly.
14.6 Registration
The REGISTRATION INFORMATION requester allows you to print out a
completed JR-Comm user registration form. All information must
be entered in order to proceed to the PRINT REGISTRATION QUERY
requester.
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15 MODES MENU
The following modes are available from this menu.
15.1 Printer
Turns printer output on or off. This is a checkmarked item when
active. An asterisk will be placed to the left of the protocol
indicator if the status line is on.
15.2 Chat line
Enables and disables the chat line. Checkmarked when active.
15.3 HEX output
Displays input from the modem as lines of hexadecimal bytes with
text to the right. Checkmarked when active.
15.4 IBM Doorway
Enables IBM Doorway mode. Keys will be sent as IBM scan codes
instead of ASCII. Checkmarked when active.
15.5 Screen title
Turns on the screen title. Checkmarked when active.
15.6 Serial quiet
This mode will disable the serial read activity within JR-Comm so
that it will coexist with other programs that also require access
to the serial port.
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16 INFORMATIONAL MESSAGES
These messages are displayed via the JR-Comm QUERY requester. YES/NO
or RETRY/CANCEL are valid responses where appropriate.
16.1 Directory not found
The FILE requester couldn't find the requested directory.
16.2 User font not found
The font requested by the user was not located. Check the
filename entered for the font and/or font height.
16.3 Can't load file, wrong version
JR-Comm located a file, but it was created by a different version
of JR-Comm, so it refused to load it. Valid for .def and .phones
files only.
16.4 Can't open log file
JR-Comm couldn't open the log file. Check for a disk full
condition.
16.5 File already exists, resume d/l?
Posted during the start of a ZMODEM or CIS B+ download due to
finding a file of the same name as the one the sender is
attempting to download to you. A no response will cause JR-Comm
to start the transfer from the beginning of the file.
16.6 File already exists, overwrite?
Also posted during a download where a file already exists, a no
response will cause JR-Comm to create a filename of the same
name, but will also append a numeric postfix to it.
16.7 Really quit JR-Comm?
If the immediate exit option is not set, JR-Comm will post this
QUERY requester to ensure that you really wanted to exit JR-Comm.
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16.8 Unable to open printer
JR-Comm could not open the printer device.
16.9 Review buffer is empty
Review mode cannot be entered if there is nothing in the review
buffer.
16.10 Print registration form?
Self explanatory.
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17 WARNING MESSAGES
These are messages that indicate something that requires user
interaction to correct.
17.1 Directory read error
An AmigaDOS read error has occurred while attempting to read the
directory list into the FILE requester.
17.2 Could not open screen
JR-Comm could not open the requested screen. Check free memory.
17.3 Could not open window
Same as for screen above.
17.4 Capture file currently open!
Two capture files cannot be open simultaneously. Close the
current capture file first.
17.5 Couldn't open capture file
Self explanatory.
17.6 CTS disabled, no CTS present
CTS handshaking is disabled. A CTS signal from the modem is
required in order to activate this handshaking mode.
17.7 CTS disabled, no DSR present
CTS handshaking disabled due to a lack of a DSR signal being
active from the modem.
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17.8 CTS disabled, shared mode
CTS handshaking can only be active if JR-Comm is able to open the
device in exclusive access mode. Do not have anything else
running that is using the serial device.
17.9 Session will expire in 5 mins
Posted at the end of the 3 hour session limit for unregistered
versions only.
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18 FATAL ABORT MESSAGES
The following messages are posted prior to JR-Comm terminating. These
are ALWAYS fatal abort conditions.
- Out of memory.
- Serial device error.
- Need newer OS.
- Timer device error.
- Couldn't start child task.
- Console device error.
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19 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
- MY FILE TRANSFERS ARE MUCH SLOWER THAN THOSE WITH OTHER PROGRAMS. WHY?
There are several causes of this happening. If one or more are
present, you will get very slow transfer rates as their effects are
cumulative. Most of this discussion pertains to ZMODEM downloads,
which is by and large, the most common type of transfer performed with
JR-Comm.
There are three options that standout above all others in terms
of slow file transfer performance. One, the "Escape ctrl chars"
option in the FILE TRANSFER PARAMETERS requester effects ZMODEM file
transfers only, but tremendously. DO NOT USE THIS OPTION UNLESS YOU
ABSOLUETLY NEED TO!!!
The second option, "File saver" in the GENERAL PARAMETERS
requester effects any type of download. What this causes JR-Comm to
do is to close and then reopen the file each time a disk write
operation is performed. By doing this, the file is gauranteed to
contain some data if a system crash occurs during a file download.
What this also means is that the file transfer is going to be slowed
down significantly since there is additional overhead needed to reopen
and reposition the file pointer each time an access occurs. You have
to determine if the throughput penalty this option imposes is less of
a factor then possibly losing a file.
The last reason for slower transfers has to do with high-speed
ZMODEM and YMODEM-g uploads only. If the "Overdrive" feature is not
enabled, JR-Comm will not do a burst mode send of data out the serial
port. Although it can speed up throughput by a good margin, it has
the drawback of increasing error recovery time. It is not recommended
for noisy connections or for baud rates below 9600bps.
Although not a severe, having XON/XOFF handshake active when
starting a ZMODEM file transfer will also slow it down somewhat. The
confusion with XON/XOFF arises from the fact that JR-Comm does not
deactivate it when a ZMODEM transfer is initiated like most of the
other Amiga communications programs that are out there. This is not
correct though because, unlike XMODEM technology protocols, ZMODEM is
a full streaming protocol designed for packet switched networks that
may overflow portions of a busy network without XON/XOFF handshake
active to regulate data flow.
The "Disk check" option will slow down the beginning of a file
transfer due to JR-Comm performing a free space check before
proceeding with the transfer.
The "Logfile active" option will also slow down batch transfers
since a write to the logfile performed at the completion of each file
transfered.
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- I'M GETTING DOWNLOAD ERRORS AT OR ABOVE 9600BPS WITH AN MNP MODEM.
Since an MNP modem is an error correcting device that gives you an
error free connection, any errors at high baud rates can only mean one
thing; data being lost between the modem and computer. The cause of
this is due to the cpu getting locked-out long enough for the most
recently received data byte to be overwritten by the next incoming
byte. Unfortunately, the internal serial port does not buffer these
bytes like some of the more advanced UARTS (Universal Asynchronous
Receive Transmit device) available these days. Thus, the cpu has a
fairly critical "window of opportunity" in order to successfully fetch
data as it is received.
Unlike the IBM style computer, the Amiga does not have the
ability to simply pop in an alternate (and more powerful) UART that
would eliminate this problem. Do not despair however. There are a
few simple things that you can check to determine the cause of these
bytes getting lost.
Using an 8 or 16 color screen can have a direct effect on these
problems, try dropping down to a Workbench or 2 color screen to see if
this eliminates the errors.
Next, are you running JR-Comm or any other task with an
excessively high priority? Do you have any device drivers (hard disk
drivers are a common one) that run at an unreasonably high priority?
Is the hard disk controller you're using a programmed I/O version? If
it is, contact the manufacturer for help. Use the diagnostic key
sequence in JR-Comm to create a ram:jrc.diag file and examine its
contents or contact the support BBS for additional help.
If the task priority in the GENERAL PARAMETERS requester hasn't
been modified, you may want to bump it up one or two at a time and see
if this cures the problem.
Having more than two floppy drives connected (one internal and
one external) will definitely give you problems with the internal
serial port. This is due to AmigaDOS checking for a changed disk once
every second or so for each drive. The same holds true for certain
hard disk controller devices that have more than two or three
partitions active. Believe it or not, AmigaDOS also checks each
partition once every second to see if it too has been changed!
Finally, check if you are running any cpu intensive tasks in the
background while you're downloading.
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Although the Amiga is a multitasking machine, the resources
available are finite, especially when you're running JR-Comm (or any
communications program) at 9600bps or 19.2kbps (anything higher than
19.2kbps is definitely not recommended with the internal port).
Remember that the internal port can't buffer the data it receives, so
don't bog down the cpu or it won't be able to respond to the data fast
enough to prevent it from being overwritten.
If you still continue to receive errors contact the support BBS
for any additional help that may have been discovered since the
printing of this manual.
As an aside, you may wish to look into a third party serial board
for the A2000 and A3000 series of Amiga computers. These boards can
greatly reduce the problems you may be having, especially if you can't
completely eliminate them.
- WHY DOESN'T JR-COMM HAVE A YMODEM-batch PROTOCOL?
It does. YMODEM is a batch protocol, thus calling it "batch" would be
redundant. There are really only two variations of TRUE YMODEM(tm).
The first is YMODEM and the second is the YMODEM-g protocol for use
with reliable data connections, such as an MNP modem.
The trouble lies in the fact that some telecommunications
software authors took it upon themselves to implement only some of the
features of YMODEM and still call it YMODEM. The most common variant
being what is now properly called XMODEM-1k. Later, after realizing
the errors of their ways, they added YMODEM-batch, but called it that
to save face with their users.
If the protocol that calls itself YMODEM does not send filename,
size and date information (JR-Comm will tell you this by "stepping
down" to XMODEM), it is really XMODEM-1k.
There are some other versions that will send this information,
but will not support batch operation. You can still use JR-Comm's
YMODEM in these instances too.
Finally, there are some very old versions of YMODEM that you may
run into that cannot handle the 1024 byte block that is in widespread
use today. This is the reason for the YMODEM and YMODEM-1k options in
the FILE TRANSFER PARAMETERS requester. In almost all cases, leave
the 1k version selected. Only use the other for instances where the
receiver must have 128 byte blocks sent.
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JR-Comm has enough intelligence built-in to handle almost any of
the mutant versions of this protocol that you may run into. If you do
run into an especially uncommon strain of this protocol, please report
it to the BBS so that it can be modified to deal with it in a future
release.
- WHY DOES JR-COMM SOMETIMES TAKE SO LONG TO ABORT A FILE TRANSFER?
JR-Comm tries very hard to prevent leftover data from an aborted file
transfer from splattering all over your display. If the wait is
extraordinarily long you can click on the close window gadget a few
times to cause a hard abort to occur regardless of what data is left
in the pipe.
Although ZMODEM transfers will generally abort faster, the XMODEM
technology protocols can take a good deal of time to abort. The main
reason for this is that the receiver can only detect an abort sequence
at the start of a block. It cannot determine this while receiving the
data portion of the block. So, you may have to wait for as many as
1,028 bytes to be sent or received before it will begin the abort
sequence. The "Overdrive" option will aggravate this delay
substantially for low baud rates.
- ALL FILE TRANSFERS IMMEDIATELY ABORT WITH "Carrier not detected..."
This is related to the previous problem except that the carrier detect
signal (DCD) is never active, even when it should be. The two most
likely causes for this occurring would be a defective serial cable or
modem. Check the modem manual to verify that your modem does have a
functioning DCD signal and that the serial cable passes this signal.
- ATREDES BBS ZMODEM DOWNLOADS SOMETIMES HAVE "WEIRD" FILE SIZES.
Some versions of the Atredes BBS system had a bug that gave incorrect
information for this protocol. The file will be received correctly
though. Inform the sysop of that system to upgrade to a newer
version.
- FILE TRANSFERS WITH A BBS-PC! SYSTEM <INSERT YOUR PROBLEM HERE>.
Unfortunately, there is no easy way to determine which version of
BBS-PC! you are really dealing with. Although it may "say" that it is
version 4.20 (or whatever), it could be any one of a number of
releases due to the publisher of this product not bumping the version
number as they fix things. The only certain way is to know the file
size of the executable for this program and, as a caller to the
system, you cannot find this out.
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Contact the sysop of the system in question to determine what is
the best way to correct the problems you're experiencing with this
BBS.
- WHY DO DOWNLOADS SOMETIMES TAKE LONGER THAN UPLOADS TO THE SAME SYSTEM?
This is not a problem. It is simply that any download, regardless of
the protocol being used, is entirely dependent on the speed of the
sending system. You can only receive a file as fast as it is being
sent to you.
- JR-COMM WILL NOT ENABLE CTS HANDSHAKE.
In order to use CTS/RTS handshake, your modem must have the DSR and
CTS signals active. Check your manual so that you can set the modem
to always have DSR active and have CTS remain active (but not set high
permanently) when offline.
- THE ONLINE TIMER IS ALWAYS COUNTING, EVEN WHEN OFFLINE.
-and-
- THE DIALER REFUSES TO DIAL, REPORTS: "Exiting, carrier present."
These two problems are due to the carrier detect signal (DCD) always
being active. Check the manual to the modem for the proper command
and/or hardware switch in order to set the modem so that this signal
is only active when a carrier signal is present.
If the modem (or cable) doesn't allow you to correct this
problem, you will have to disable the carrier detect logic in JR-Comm
by setting the button gadget "Ignore carrier detect" which is located
in the MODEM PARAMETERS requester.
- THE DIALER ALWAYS REMOVES AN ENTRY AFTER THREE DIAL ATTEMPTS.
You modem must be able to RELIABLY detect a busy signal or it will
return a NO CARRIER response. If three of these responses are
received for a selected entry the dialer will deselect it.
If your modem does not detect busy signals, also known as "blind
dialing", or it is not reliably detecting them, you must activate the
"Ignore No Carrier" option in the MODEM PARAMETERS requester to
deactivate this feature of the dialer.
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- THE DIALER ALWAYS SETS THE BAUD RATE TO SOMETHING OTHER THAN THE
SELECTED OR CONNECTED RATE, WHY?
There are two reasons why this would happen. The most common one
would be have the "Auto-baud" option in the MODEM PARAMETERS requester
active while your modem is not set (or capable) of returning extended
result codes for the "CONNECT" message. The second reason is if your
modem does not adhere to the Hayes standard for these extended result
codes. Please refer to section 2.8.5 for more details about the auto-
baud feature.
- THE MODEM SOMETIMES "MISSES" THE DIAL COMMAND SENT BY THE DIALER.
Some modems have trouble decoding an "AT" command sequence when the
characters are sent too fast. Set the "Dial pacing" parameter in the
MODEM PARAMETERS requester to a value that allows your modem to
reliably receive the dial command. This value represents tenths of a
second delay between each character in the command string.
- MY MACROS ARE SENDING INCORRECT DATA WHEN USING THE IBM DOORWAY MODE.
This is normal. Function key macros are disabled during Doorway mode
due to JR-Comm emulating the hexadecimal scan key codes that are sent
whenever a key is pressed while this mode is active. For this reason
you cannot have macros when using this mode.
- JR-COMM SOMETIMES REPORTS THAT IT COULDN'T OPEN A WINDOW.
You're running JR-Comm on a system that has little free memory. Use a
screen with less colors.
- I'M USING JR-COMM TO DIAL OUT ON A BBS LINE. HOW DO I PREVENT IT FROM
EXITING AFTER RECEIVING A "RING" OR 3 "NO DIALTONE" MESSAGES?
The "RING" message in the MODEM PARAMETERS REQUESTER will have to be
deleted in order to disable that feature. The "NO DIALTONE" feature
of the dialer can't really be disabled, but a work around has been
developed that will "fool" the dialer.
What you need to do is first delete the "NO DIALTONE" string.
Now, change the "NO CARRIER" to "NO DIALTONE". Lastly, set the
"Ignore no carrier" option in the MODEM PARAMETERS requester.
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What this accomplishes is that the dialer will treat the "NO
DIALTONE" response as if the modem was a dumb Hayes that was using
blind dialing. Although an intelligent modem that has a call
progression feature can still return a "NO CARRIER" response if the
modem times out without the remote system picking up or if it fails to
detect a "BUSY" signal, the "Ignore no carrier" feature will prevent
the dialer from removing the phone entry from the selected list.
- WHY DO 4 DOTS APPEAR IN THE STATUS LINE WHEN USING VT-10x?
These dots represent the four LED indicators on a real VT-10x
terminal. They are software controlled by the remote system during
operation. An '*' character is used to indicate that the LED is "on".
- JR-COMM HAS TROUBLE KEEPING UP WITH 16 COLOR ANSI. WHY?
If you're using an Amiga that only has chip ram or "pseudo-fast" ram
instead of "true" fast ram, the cpu is going to be locked-out during
display and scroll functions. An 8 color screen should help eliminate
the slow operation that occurs on systems with no true fast ram.
True fast ram is different than ram expansion that resides at the
hexadecimal $C00000 address, such as the 512k A501 expansion for the
A500.
A 16 color screen also is limited to 2400bps operation. Somewhat
less for PAL screens, even if fast ram is installed. If you're using
a high-speed modem, you should drop down to at least an 8 color
screen, or risk serial data loss. See the next problem discussion
which is closely related to this one.
- WHY ARE THE COLORS ORDERED DIFFERENTLY THEN A TRUE MS-DOS MACHINE?
JR-Comm uses a translation table to convert the ANSI sequences that
change color to the correct hue. This was done to make the various
requesters and default white on black text look "right" on the Amiga.
If the "correct" color ordering was used, the default text would have
been red for both the terminal and the string gadgets in the
requesters.
The color scheme was further designed to allow the gadgets and
their labels to be readable from a 2 color to 16 color screen.
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Copyright (C) 1991 John P. Radigan Printed 04/03/91
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- BUT, DID IT HAVE TO EMULATE THE "FLICKER" OF THE OLD CGA MONITORS TOO?
The slight flicker you see as colored text scrolls up the screen is a
result of the blitter scrolling each of the four component bitplanes
that make up a 16 color screen one at a time. Since the total scroll
operation takes longer than the time to refresh and paint the bitplane
data once or twice, you see a small flicker. Some of the colors are
more prone to this than others. The color scheme of the palette was
also modified to take this into account by separating some of the more
offending colors to minimize this effect. Unfortunately, this wasn't
completely successful.
A future version of JR-Comm may have a better solution to this.
Only authorized system calls and methods were used to prevent problems
from occurring with the new version(s) of Kickstart and Workbench that
were still under development when JR-Comm 1.02 was released.
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Copyright (C) 1991 John P. Radigan Printed 04/03/91
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20 SUPPORT INFORMATION
Support for JR-Comm is available through several networks. The most
reliable is to call the JR-Comm support BBS directly. You will also
receive a response here faster than through any of the other networks
as I use it the most.
20.1 JR-Comm Support BBS
The support BBS is attached to the FidoNet BBS network and
receives the international Amiga echomail conference, twenty-four
hour crashmail is supported via the MS-DOS version of Binkley.
The BBS is also a member of the RIME PCRelay network and receives
the Amiga conference there too.
A private support conference is provided for registered
users, although the system is open to anyone who calls. The most
recent version of JR-Comm will be available for download and for
FidoNet file requesting via the "magic" name "JRCOMM".
Atlantic County Amiga BBS - (609) 625-2453
Baud rates supported: 3/12/24/96/14400 HST/V.32bis
FidoNet address: 1:266/61
RIME network address: AMIGA
20.2 Genie
Deb Christensen, the head sysop in charge of the Amiga
roundtable, has graciously provided a private support conference
for registered users of JR-Comm. The conference is #24 at page
555;1.
If you need to contact me via email, my ID is JRADIGAN.
20.3 CompuServe
I try to access the AmigaTech conference two or three times a
week to keep up on the Telecom area (4). My ID for Easyplex
email is 76545,201.
20.4 People Link
I also try to access this network a few times a week to stay
abreast of the conversation in the Amiga Zone, section 8. My ID
here is JRADIGAN for email purposes.
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20.5 BIX
Same goes for BIX; my ID is also JRADIGAN here for email.
20.6 USENET
I currently maintain an account at jprad@faatcrl.UUCP for netmail
and I also frequent the comp.sys.amiga(.hardware/tech)
newsgroups.
For those without smart mailer access, my bang path is:
...!rutgers!faatcrl!jprad
20.7 If you have problems
The need for a complete and detailed description cannot be
emphasized enough, statements like "The dialer doesn't work" or
"It won't upload/download" do neither of us any good. Also,
don't give up immediately. If something seems wrong ask the
sysop of the system you're connected to first. Since his/her
system is more than likely to be less expensive to call than the
support BBS (and probably less busy too), it makes sense to see
if he/she can help you out first.
If you do post a problem report, please be sure to include
the name and number of the system you had a problem with, how you
created the problem (so that I can recreate it) and anything else
that is related to the problem. A short description of your
system may also be helpful. Hard disk users should include the
type of controller and how many partitions you're using.
You may also want to include a capture file of what happened
if it is terminal related (make sure that no capture filters are
on when you do). You may also want to send a snapshot of your
JR-Comm setup (save a .def file using the initials of your name,
like "jpr.def") and archive it along with the capture file so
that you can upload it for me to examine.
Providing as much information as you can gather the first
time will usually result in a faster resolution of the problem
and will eliminate your having to call several times only to find
me asking for more information.
In any event, good luck and happy modeming!
Jack Radigan
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Copyright (C) 1991 John P. Radigan Printed 04/03/91
