Wildcat Gold - The Optical BBS/Wildcat Gold - The Optical BBS (The Golden ROM Series)(Volume 4 Number 1)(The Digital Publishing Company)(1992).ISO/sdn/tfig312e.sdn/FEATURES

Text File | 1991-03-15 | 22KB | 478 lines

Hang-Up

Pressing Alt-H will make Telix attempt to hang-up the modem. Unless this is
disabled in the configuration Menu, Telix first attempts to hang up the modem
by turning off a signal on the RS-232 port called the DTR line. This works
with most modems. If this doesn't work, Telix then sends the hang-up string
defined in the Configuration Menu to the modem. If this still doesn't work and
Telix detects that you are still online, Telix will warn you. If Telix is
consistently telling you that hang-ups fail even when they work, your modem is
almost certainly overriding the Carrier Detect signal. See the appendix on
common problems for the solution to this.


Capture File

Telix allows you to capture (record) data coming in from the comm port and
printed on the terminal screen, to a disk file. To open the capture file,
press Alt-L. You will be prompted for the filename to save the log to. Press
Return to use the default filename. All data is added to the end of the file
if it exists already. To turn off the log press Alt-L again and select the
"Close" option. To temporarily pause capturing data to the file, press Alt-L
and select the "Pause" option. While capturing is paused, any characters
received are not saved to the file. To then un-pause capturing, press Alt-L
and select the "Unpause" option.



Printer

The printer may be toggled on and off by pressing Ctrl-@ to record information
coming in from the comm port and printed on the terminal screen. If Telix
hangs when printer logging is turned on, the printer is turned off, and should
be turned on to proceed.


Usage Log

Telix allows a usage log to be opened, which keeps track of calls you make and
file that you transfer. This is handy for keeping a record of your long
distance calls, for example. The Usage Log is toggled on and off with the
Alt-U key. If it is currently closed, you are prompted for the name to open it
to (TELIX.USE is the default). If it is currently opened, then it is closed.
You may also set the Usage Log to be opened by default at Telix start-up (via
the Configuration Menu).






Following is a sample portion of a log:

              88-05-17  00:12:41  Telix Usage Log Created.
              88-05-29  00:12:41  Telix Usage Log Opened.
              88-05-29  00:13:06  Connected with : TBoard
              88-05-29  00:13:06  ++ At phone #  : [phone]
              88-05-29  00:13:06  ++ Settings    : 2400,N,8,1
              88-05-29  00:14:53Hangup command selected.
              88-05-29  00:16:25  Connected with : Joe's BBS
              88-05-29  00:16:25  ++ At phone #  : [phone]
              88-05-29  00:16:25  ++ Settings    : 2400,N,8,1
              88-05-29  00:17:17  Download using Telink protocol.
              88-05-29  00:17:19  ++ File : D:\DL\ZTC100.ARC
              88-05-29  00:41:09  ++ Chars per second : 165
              88-05-29  00:41:11  ++ File : D:\DL\SRC100.ARC
              88-05-29  00:58:26  ++ Chars per second : 165
              88-05-29  00:58:28  ++ File : D:\DL\OPT100.ARC
              88-05-29  01:22:54  ++ Chars per second : 165
              88-05-29  01:23:11  Hangup command selected.
              88-05-29  01:23:12  Exiting Telix.
              88-05-29  01:23:12  Telix Usage Log Closed.




The log is quite simple in form and easy to understand. Lines that start with
'++' are a continuation of the previous line. Following is a listing of
possible entries:

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│    Key       Log Entry                                                     │
╞════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╡
│ Alt-U     Telix Usage Log Created.                                         │
│           Telix Usage Log Opened.                                          │
│           Telix Usage Log Closed.                                          │
│                                                                            │
│ Alt-D     Connected with : (entry name)                                    │
│           ++ At phone #  : (phone number)                                  │
│           ++ Settings    : (comm settings)                                 │
│                                                                            │
│ Alt-R     Download using (name) protocol.                                  │
│           ++ File : (pathname)                                             │
│           ++ Chars per second : (CPS)                                      │
│           ++ Transfer aborted.                                             │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘





┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│    Key       Log Entry                                                     │
╞════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╡
│                                                                            │
│    Alt-S     Upload using (name) protocol.                                 │
│              ++ File: (pathname)                                           │
│              ++ Chars per second : (CPS)                                   │
│              ++ Transfer aborted.                                          │
│                                                                            │
│    Alt-H     Hangup command selected.                                      │
│                                                                            │
│    Alt-X     Exiting Telix.                                                │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

The entries on the right are related to the commands shown on the left. Note
that a script file has the ability to stamp text into the Usage Log, so other
entries are possible.






Scroll-Back

To review past screens of characters press Alt-B. You will be in the
Scroll-Back display. You will be able to move through the last one thousand to
64 thousand characters received (depending on the setting in the Configuration
Menu) by using the arrow keys to scroll line by line, the Home and End keys to
go to the beginning and end of the buffer, and the PgUp and PgDn keys to
scroll through the buffer a page at a time.

To find a certain string in the buffer press 'F'. Telix will prompt for the
string to search for. If the string is found the line containing it will be
placed at the top of the screen. To search for the same string as last time
press Return when asked for the search string.

To save the screen image to a file press 'I'. Telix will prompt you for the
file to save the image to. If the file already exists, the screen image will
be appended to it. To print out a screen image to your printer press
Shift-PrtSc.







Keyboard Definitions/Macros

Telix will let you assign text to a key so that it is sent to the comm port
when that key is pressed. This is usually called a keyboard macro, and is
useful in saving keystrokes (for example, you can assign your name to a key).
Telix actually keeps two key definitions tables in memory at all times (each
table holds the text assigned to each key), the user table and the terminal
table. The terminal table is used for terminal emulation key assignments. When
Telix is told to start emulating a certain terminal, it loads into this table
definitions specific to that terminal. Therefore, for each terminal there is a
key definition file which is loaded as needed. The user table on the other
hand is relatively constant. You might want to assign your name to the Alt-1
key for example. This kind of definition would be put in the user table.

When a key is pressed, Telix follows this procedure: If there is a definition
for that key in the terminal key table, send that text; otherwise if there is
a definition in the user table for that key, send the text; otherwise if the
key represents an ASCII value, send that value; otherwise if the key is a
Telix command (like Alt-D), perform that command.



The keyboard definition/macro editor is entered with the Alt-K key sequence
from terminal mode. Telix will ask you if you want to access the user or the
terminal key definition table. Unless you wanted to modify the keys for a
specific terminal, you would always select the user table. Telix will present
the following menu:

              Load  Save  Clear  Display  displayKey  Edit  eXit

To load definitions from a previously saved key definition file into memory,
select the 'Load' option. Telix will ask for the name of the key definition
file (and use the extension '.KEY' if none is specified). Current key assign-
ments will be cleared. The standard key definition file is "TELIX.KEY" and is
loaded at start-up if it exists.

To save the current key definitions to a disk file, select the 'Save' option.
Telix will ask what file to save them to, and use the extension '.KEY' if none
is specified.

Selecting 'Clear' will clear all the current key definitions in this table.

Selecting 'Display' will show what text is assigned to each key.




Selecting 'displayKey' will allow you to look at what is assigned to one
specific key, by pressing it when prompted.

To actually enter or edit the text assigned to a key, select 'Edit'. Telix
will print the existing definition and allow you to edit it. Enter the
characters that you want the key to send when pressed. Control characters and
pauses can be included in the definition in the manner described previously in
the manual under Output String Translation. Remember that if you make any
changes they will be lost when you exit Telix unless you use the 'Save' option
as described above, to save them to disk.

Telix also allows you to run a script file when a certain function key is
pressed. If a function key definition has an '@' character as its first
character Telix will assume the rest of the definition is the name of a script
file, and will try to execute it. For example pressing the function key whose
definition is '@logon' would run the script file called 'LOGON.SLC'. If you
really want to send out an '@' character as the first character in the key
definition, then use two of them instead. e.g., the definition '@@Hello' would
send out '@Hello'.





DOS Shell

Pressing Alt-J will let you jump to a DOS shell. You will see the DOS prompt
and will be able execute any DOS command, for example 'dir'. If there is
enough memory left, you can even run programs. To exit the DOS shell type
'exit' and press Return. You will be back in Telix with the screen undisturbed
from before your jump to the shell. In order to run the DOS shell, there must
be enough memory left, and Telix must be able to find the file called COM-
MAND.COM. If either of these requirements is not met, Telix will tell you so.
(The file COMMAND.COM is the DOS command interpreter. It is usually pointed to
by the DOS environment variable COMSPEC. See your DOS manual for more informa-
tion). If you run a serial port related program in the shell, there is a good
chance that it will re-initialize the com port and another piece of informa-
tion called the com interrupt vector. If this happens, Telix will notice and
re-initialize the port to the old values when you return from the shell.






DOS Command

Pressing Alt-V allows you to enter one DOS command or filename to run. This
command is then executed and control is returned to Telix. As can be seen this
is similar to the DOS shell, but is useful when you have only one command to
enter. There are many uses for this command. For example, if your file viewing
utility is called 'List', you could press Alt-V and then enter 'List
TELIX.DOC'. This would load your file view utility and let you look at the
TELIX.DOC file. After you terminated this program you would be back in Telix.
Any DOS command is legal, for example 'copy a:*.arc c:', or 'ren data dat1'.
If for some reason you might want Telix to pause after the command is fin-
ished, add a ';' character to the end of the command string, for example 'type
TELIX.DOC;'. This stops the last screen-full typed from scrolling by too
quickly when control returns to Telix.


Editor

Pressing Alt-A will allow you to run your favorite editor from within Telix.
In order to do this you must go to the Configuration Menu and supply the full
name and path of your editor in the 'Filenames and paths' area. As well, there
must be enough memory left, and if you specified a batch file to be run, Telix
must be able to find the DOS command processor COMMAND.COM.





DOS and File Functions

Pressing Alt-F will display a menu of some common DOS operations. For conve-
nience, a few commands available elsewhere have been included.



                          ╔   DOS Functions  ══════╗
                          ║                        ║
                          ║ Jump to DOS shell      ║
                          ║ Files directory        ║
                          ║ Change drive/directory ║
                          ║ Delete file            ║
                          ║ DOS command            ║
                          ║ Run editor             ║
                          ║ Exit                   ║
                          ║                        ║
                          ╚════════════════════════╝




1:   Jump to DOS Shell. This performs the same function as the Alt-J command.

2:   Files directory.  Telix will prompt you for the optional filespec, for
     example '*.doc'. If you want to list all the files in the current
     directory then just press Return. Telix will then do one of two things.
     If you have defined a directory program to use (in the Configuration
     Menu), Telix will run it. Otherwise Telix will use its own internal
     directory program, which is similar to the DOS 'dir' command but also
     displays the time it would take to transfer each file shown. The time is
     correct for the current default upload file transfer protocol.

3:   Change drive/directory. The current directory is displayed and you are
     asked to enter a new one. You can enter a new drive, a new directory, or
     both. This will become the current directory. Note that this is slightly
     different from the DOS 'chdir' command.

4:   Delete file. You are asked to enter the filename of the file to delete.

5:   DOS command. This performs the same function as the Alt-V command.

6:   Run editor. This performs the same function as the Alt-A command.




Screen Image

Pressing Alt-I saves an image of the screen to the Telix Screen Image file.
This file is usually called TELIX.IMG, but can be renamed in the Configuration
Menu. If the file exists, the image is added to the end of it.


The Translate Table

Sometimes it is necessary for certain incoming or outgoing characters to be
changed to another value or stripped altogether. For this purpose, Telix keeps
in memory and incoming and an outgoing character 'translate table'. For every
character in the ASCII set, the table defines what it should be changed to. By
default, no character translation is performed, as for each character, the new
value is defined to be the same as the old one. The translate table facility
is entered by pressing Alt-W while in terminal mode. Telix will ask whether
you want to work with the incoming or outgoing table, and then display the
translate table screen with the following menu at the bottom:

                     Load  Clear  Save  Edit  Other  eXit




Most of the screen is used to display translation values. Each column holds on
the left the original character (ASCII value), and on the right the new
character. Only half the ASCII set can be displayed on one screen. Select the
'Other' option to toggle the display to show the other half of the character
set.

The 'Load' option is used to load a previously saved translate table defini-
tion file. Telix will ask for the filename, including extension.

The 'Clear' option is used to reset all values in the translate table in
memory, so that no translation is performed.

The 'Save' option is used to save the current translate table definition to a
disk file. Telix will ask for the file name to save the table to. You must
include the extension if needed (a common extension for this purpose is
'.XLT").

The 'Edit' option is used to actually edit the translate table. Telix will ask
for the old ASCII value, and the new one. If the new value of a character is
defined as 0, that character is completely striped.







It is sometimes useful to have an incoming and/or outgoing translate table
load automatically when Telix is run. If the file TELIXIN.XLT exists at Telix
start-up, it is assumed to be a default incoming character translate table,
and is loaded into that slot. Similarly, if the file TELIXOUT.XLT exists at
start-up, it is assumed to be the default outgoing translate table, and
loaded.


Chat Mode

Normally while using Telix with a remote host, your characters are not echoed
by Telix. When you type a character, it is sent to the remote host, which
checks it and then sends it back to you, and only then is it printed on your
screen. However if two users want to chat with each other this becomes a
problem, because each user's software expects the other side to echo the
characters back, and since it doesn't, nothing is printed. Telix has a special
Chat Mode to deal with this.


When you press Alt-Y Telix enters Chat Mode. Any characters you type are
printed on your screen immediately, without having to be echoed by the other
side. As well, it takes only a Carriage Return to advance to a new line, a
Line Feed character is not needed immediately afterwards. Telix also splits
the streams of text. Any characters you type are displayed on the bottom half
of the screen, while the characters coming from the remote side are displayed
on the top half of the screen. When you wish to exit Chat Mode, press the Esc
key.

Clear Screen

To clear the screen press Alt-C. The screen will be cleared to the default
colors, and the cursor will be placed in the upper left-hand corner.

Local Echo

Pressing Alt-E will toggle local echo on and off. If local echo is on,
characters you type are printed on the screen. If local echo is off characters
you type are not printed on the screen, they must be sent back to you by the
remote host to be printed by the screen. Most hosts are set up so that local
echo should be off; they will do the echoing. This is called a full duplex
host. Often however when talking to another user, or when talking to a half
duplex host, local echo must be turned on to see the characters you type.



Add Line Feeds

When a line of characters is received from a remote system, it is usually
terminated by a Carriage Return followed by a Line Feed character. If the Line
Feed character is missing lines will overwrite each other. If this seems to be
happening when you are connected to a remote host then you must make Telix add
Line Feeds to each incoming Carriage Return. Pressing Shift-Tab will toggle
the adding of Line-Feed characters. If this option is on, every time a
Carriage Return is received, a Line Feed is added immediately after it.


Break Signal

Some hosts require the use of a special modem signal called a Break signal, to
do certain tasks like end transmissions. To make Telix send a Break signal to
the remote host press Ctrl-End.





DOORWAY Mode

Pressing Alt-= while in Terminal Mode will toggle DOORWAY mode on/off. DOORWAY
mode is used by the DOORWAY utility, and several other applications. While in
DOORWAY mode, when a key is pressed Telix simply sends its raw scan code out
the serial port, as returned by the PC's BIOS keyboard function. Note that
since for any key except Alt-=, Telix just sends the value to the serial port,
you must first switch out of DOORWAY mode to perform any Telix function.

Miscellaneous Functions

Pressing Alt-M while in Terminal Mode will cause Telix to display the Misc.
Functions menu

                          ╔═  Misc. Functions  ═════╗
                          ║                         ║
                          ║ Send Modem Init string  ║
                          ║ Send Auto-Answer string ║
                          ║ 80x25 screen            ║
                          ║ 80x43 screen            ║
                          ║ 80x50 screen            ║
                          ║ eXit                    ║
                          ║                         ║
                          ╚═════════════════════════╝



Sending Modem Strings

To re-send the Modem Init string defined in the Modem and dialing page of the
configuration Menu, select the first option of the Misc. Functions Menu.

To send the Modem Auto-Answer string defined in the Modem and dialing page of
the configuration Menu, select the second option of the Misc. Functions Menu.
If this string is properly defined, the modem will be placed in auto-answer
mode.

Setting the Screen Size

The third through fifth options of the Misc. Functions Menu deal with setting
the screen size (height). These options are valid only on EGA and/or VGA
systems. Note that a standard EGA system can switch only between 25 and 43
lines, and can not handle 50. Note that some VGA cards can switch only between
25 and 50 lines, and can not handle 43. Trying to use one of these options on
a system not equipped with an EGA or VGA video card is not allowed.