home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
-
-
-
- Date: 930626
-
- File: First Hints
-
- Welcome to the Commodore 64/128 RoundTable
-
- Looking for Help?! You found it!
-
- The SURVIVAL KIT was prepared by the Commodore Sysops specifically to answer
- your most frequent questions about using the RoundTable and GEnie. All
- Hint/Help articles in the Survival Kit are written in clear and easy to
- understand language for your first trips in this new world called GEnie!
-
- If you need any further help or clarification of these things, please bring it
- to the immediate attention of one of the Sysops! You will find a list of the
- Commodore staff members in "About the RoundTable" on the first Commodore menu.
-
- We are a bunch of nutty Commodore enthusiasts who, like yourself, enjoy
- computing and communicating with our Commodores! These first hints are for
- anyone who needs help in setting up their own terminal parameters or GEnie
- parameters. Each of the hints and tips files in the Survival Kit deals with
- other specific aspects of using the Commodore RoundTable. To make the best use
- of your online time, open your buffer and capture this important information so
- that you can print it after you log off and keep it for reference.
-
-
- Open Your Buffer Now!
-
-
-
- #############################################################################
-
- Important!!
- ___________
-
- To STOP the screen from scrolling press Control and S keys together. To START
- the screen scrolling again, press CONTROL Q, together.
-
- To return to the previous menu prompt, press CONTROL and C, together!
-
- ##############################################################################
-
-
- Common Questions:
-
- How do I pause the characters?
- ------------------------------
- Use a CONTROL S to pause during any listing of files, messages, mails or any
- text on GEnie. A CONTROL Q will resume the incoming text.
-
- To use any control keys, hold down the CONTROL key on the left of your
- keyboard, keeping it depressed like you would use a SHIFT key. Then press once
- on the S key, and you have sent a CONTROL S.
-
- In many terminal programs, the HOME key <not shifted> can also be used for a
- CONTROL S.
-
- Note to 128 users:
-
- The C-128 uses a CONTROL S to HALT all I/O, including what appears on the
- screen and what comes and goes to your modem. Unless this operating system
- feature has been trapped out by the terminal program author, using a CTRL S or
- the NOSCROLL key will halt all text on your screen, but the key will never be
- sent to the host computer. Use the HOME key as an alternative if you find that
- your 128 causes you to miss things after using a CTRL S and trying to restart
- it with a CTRL Q.
-
-
- How do I set up my Terminal Program?
- ------------------------------------
-
- Your SOFTWARE should be set to Half Duplex or Local Echo.
- (Not your MODEM...modems which are set to Half Duplex will not allow proper
- file transfers of programs!)
-
- Your Modem or Communications Parameters should be set to:
- 8 word length (bits)
- No Parity
- 1 Stop Bit
- You will see this abbreviated as: 8N1 sometimes
-
- For some SCRIPT Users, 7n1 will work, as long as your terminal program switches
- to 8 bit word length when uploading or downloading (most do this).
-
- For best results, use a common TTY (ASCII) terminal program rather than a full
- screen emulation like VT100. Using VT100 on any system which does not
- recognize it can cause garbage to appear in your messages and mails which you
- type if you accidentally hit your cursor control keys or your function keypad.
-
- GEnie recognizes a BACKSPACE, CTRL H as a delete character. Make sure that
- your terminal software translates the INST/DEL key into an ASCII 8 value rather
- than another one. Some programs like VT100 and AutoComm do not use a standard
- BACKSPACE value of ASCII 8, or CTRL H. See your software documentation for
- instructions on how to change that.
-
- WIZARD 64 and WIZARD 128 users must type M900;3 to set their terminal
- parameters to the Icon protocol, which WIZARD uses.
-
- What do I use for my SETTINGS on GEnie?
- (I just guessed at them when I joined)
- ----------------------------------------
- Backspace, BREAK, and more:
-
- To accommodate all the different kinds of computers and terminals that everyone
- using Genie may own, there are a number of different 'settings' which can be
- made to customize the way certain things work.
-
- You can tell GEnie how many letters will fit on one line of your screen, and
- how many lines your screen will hold. You can choose what you want the prompt
- character to be, and you can tell GEnie what code your Backspace key sends. If
- your Terminal Program does not send a 'true BREAK' signal, you can choose a key
- which will simulate a BREAK, which will allow you to signal GEnie to stop what
- it's doing, or interrupt.
-
- When you first logged onto GEnie, you were taken through this selection
- process, but at that time you may not have known just what would be the best
- settings to choose.
-
- If you're having problems, like not being able to escape from long directory
- listings, or having your messages in Mail or the Bulletin Board come out
- looking garbled, it would be a good idea to go over your settings and correct
- them if necessary.
-
- To get to the settings section on GEnie, simply type M900;3 at any of the main
- Commodore RoundTable menus.
-
- Let us take a brief tour of your settings page on GEnie:
-
-
- Type M900;3
-
- Terminal Settings
- 1. Prompt Character 63
- 2. Break Char. (0=True Break) 3
- 3. Character Delete Character 8
- 4. Line Delete Character 21
- 5. Terminal Type 6
- 6. Host echo On/Off OFF
- 7. Page Width (# of chars) 80
- 8. Page Length (# of lines) 24
- 9. Command Mode On/Off OFF
- 10. Save changes and return
- 11. Return, no save
-
- What it means:
- 1. Prompt Character 63 <--Prompt Character is '?'
- 2. Break Char. (0=True Break) 3 <--BREAK is now CONTROL C
- 3. Character Delete Character 8 <--Backspace Key (Inst/Del)
- 4. Line Delete Character 21 <--CONTROL U will be delete current line
- 5. Terminal Type 6 <--Standard TTY ASCII Terminal
- 6. Host echo On/Off OFF <--Will expect you to ECHO locally
- 7. Page Width (# of chars) 80 <--Screen width (40 for the C-64)
- 8. Page Length (# of lines) 24 <--Number of Screen lines displayed
- 9. Command Mode On/Off OFF <--Short GEnie Menus
- 10. Save changes and return <--Choose #10 to SAVE changes
- 11. Return, no save <--Exit without changing anything
-
- Enter #, <P>revious, or <H>elp?
-
- - 1 - PROMPT Character
- You can choose any character for the Prompt that GEnie sends at menus. If
- you have an automatic macro which requires some character other than a Question
- Mark, change #1 to the ASCII value of the character you want. For instance, the
- ASCII value of another popular "custom-made" prompt like a > symbol is 62, a
- colon: is 58. GEnie defaults to the question mark symbol for all prompts at
- menus, ASCII character 63. Wizard users will want 31.
-
- - 2 - BREAK Character
- If your Terminal Program does not send a TRUE BREAK signal, you should set
- #2 to a key combination you can use instead. Typically, this is CONTROL C,
- (although any other key combination could be used). Set #2 to the ASCII value
- of the BREAK key you want to use. This will allow you to escape from directory
- listings, for example, by pressing CONTROL C. Some CBM Terminal programs use
- the RUN/STOP key for this BREAK signal. Check your software manual. The ASCII
- value of a CTRL C is 3, so you enter 3 when the prompt asks you.
-
- - 3 - Character DELETE
- This is a VERY IMPORTANT setting! #3 is the character code your BACKSPACE
- key sends. If it is set incorrectly, your messages will be garbled (unless
- you're a perfect typist!). The ONLY correct setting for #3 is 8. If yours is
- set to ANYTHING else, PLEASE change it to 8. Be sure to use your BACKSPACE
- key, not your DELETE key, and make sure that your terminal software is set to
- send an ASCII 8, BACKSPACE, CTRL H when you press the INST/DEL key.
-
- - 4 - LINE Delete
- This is the key which will delete the entire line you are currently typing
- on GEnie. If you decide you don't want a line, you can use this key instead of
- backspacing all the way to the beginning. The typical setting for this key is
- CONTROL X, although many people use a CTRL U also. The ASCII values for these
- characters are:
- CTRL X 24 (my favorite)
- =OR=
- CTRL U 21
-
- - 5 - Terminal Type
- The Terminal Type tells GEnie if you're using a special communications
- terminal, or terminal emulator, such as a printing terminal. For almost all
- personal computers, this choice should be 6, TTY (most PC's). WIZARD users will
- have this set to 8 which is the ICON protocol.
-
- - 6 - Host echo On/Off
- Host echo is for those terminal programs that do not have a local echo
- feature. Usually this setting is OFF and in order to 'see' what you are typing
- while on-line, you must have your Terminal Program's Local Echo turned on. You
- may wish to have this setting ON. If you do, then turn your terminal programs
- local echo off or you will see 'double echos' such as: 'hheelloo!!''. The
- double echoing means that both your local software and GEnie is echoing your
- screen characters.
-
- - 7 - Page WIDTH
- Page Width is the number of letters a line on your screen can hold. For the
- C64, this would normally be 40, for the 40 column displays. For the C128 in 80
- column mode, you can set it to 80. Please note that if you routinely print out
- captured information it will be formatted to the value you place in this
- setting. Therefore, many people, even with a 40 column terminal program will
- set this value to 80 so that their printouts of captured information and texts
- will not waste printer paper.
- NOTE:
- Some areas of GEnie will be displayed in 80 columns, only!
-
- - 8 - Page LENGTH
- Page Length tells GEnie how many lines to print out before pausing and
- asking you to press RETURN, so you won't miss any text. Most Commodore Terminal
- programs will allow 24 lines on the screen. If you would like to ELIMINATE the
- pauses caused by the 'Press RETURN' prompts, and let the text scroll
- continuously, you can set this number to 0, and use CONTROL S to stop the text
- scrolling, and CONTROL Q to re-start it. Setting to 0 and thereby ceasing all
- 'Press RETURN' prompts is not recommended for novice users. Many people like
- to have the text flow pause long enough for them to catch up reading.
-
- - 9 - Command Mode
- This turns off GEnie's full menus and makes moving around GEnie quicker once
- you know what you are doing and where you are going. You can get a list of all
- available menu options in Command mode by typing a question mark (?) at any of
- the system prompts.
-
- - 10 - SAVE changes and return
- Once you've made any changes, and are satisfied with your selections, choose
- #10 to SAVE the changes for future sessions on GEnie. If you do not select
- SAVE and return, any changes you made will never become effective.
-
- - 11 - Return, No Save
- You can exit without changing anything by selecting #11.
-
-
-
- Where can I find Help on?
-
- More helpful hints can be located in other areas of both the Commodore
- RoundTable and GEnie. Please see the Commodore Bulletin Board, Category #8,
- for any information or questions you don't see listed in this file or the
- Survival Kit menu. This Survival Kit has been written specifically for
- Commodore 64 and 128 users.
-
-
- ###############################
-
- Back to the Survival Kit Menu
-
- ###############################
-