home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
OS/2 Shareware BBS: 3 Comm
/
03-Comm.zip
/
OSXBBS.ZIP
/
MANUAL.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1991-06-02
|
11KB
|
285 lines
OS/X User manual - Copyright Giles Rider 1991
OS/X is intended for use as a Remote Control tool. To
do that, it encompasses five functions as follows:
a. Dial-up access to the
remote machine's command interpreter, giving you
the ability to execute any OS/2 command (except
Presentation Manager commands).
b. File transfer. (not in BBS version)
c. Terminal emulation. (XTERM)
d. A programmer's editor, designed for use with the
terminal emulator, that runs on the remote
system. (XEDIT)
This version, the BBS version, is a working copy with certain
limitations. You are encouraged to distribute it, but patching,
monitoring or dis-assembly and reverse engineering is prohibited.
If you register with the current license fee of $35, you will receive
the most recent version, and be treated as a registered user for
Upgrades. In addition, the version that you get will include the
configuration file capabilities, which automate modem control and
allow speeds to 19.2 KB.
For $100, you get all of the above, plus file transfer.
For $150, you get all of the above, plus the security scripting
package (BYE4).
Source licenses are available. Site Licenses are available.
###############################################################################
DISCLAIMER
I hereby disclaim all waranties relating to this software, whether
express or implied, including without limitation any implied
warranties of merchantability or fitness for any purpose. I will
not be liable for any damages even if I have been advised of the
possibility of such damages. The person using the software bears
all risks as to the quality and performance of the software.
#############################################################################
The BBS version is set up to run OS/X on COM 1 at 2400,8,N,1 and
to run XTERM on COM2 with the same settings. This is so that you
can try it out by hooking the two ports together on one machine, via
a "null-modem" cable.
You install OS/X on your system, and use XTERM to call
the remote system. The remote system must also have OS/X
installed, so that when you call, its copy of OS/X will
answer your call to the modem, and connect to the remote
system. You will see the OS/2 command prompt appear on your
screen when connection is established.
Once you are connected, you can use XEDIT (running on
the remote machine) to edit files, or to execute other
OS/2 commands. When you are done, use either the OS/X BYE
command or the OS/2 EXIT command to terminate OS/X. BYE
uses a password-controlled scripting system that allows
remote execution of programs, while EXIT kills OS/X.
XTERM can also be used as an ANSI terminal emulator to
dial into bulletin boards or to hook up to other systems.
2. Getting Started.
a. Installing OS/X
The OS/X ZIP file has in it a file named
INSTALL.CMD. This file creates an OS/X directory on your C:
drive and copies the Zipfile contents into this directory.
You need to edit your CONFIG.SYS file before using OS/X
or XTERM, as follows:
Add a line to the CONFIG.SYS that says:
IOPL=YES
This is to enable port access.
Remember that changes to the CONFIG.SYS file require you
to reboot the system before they take effect.
Hook up your modem to the COM2
Set the modem so that it
does not echo, and turn off flow control.
3. Configuring the remote system.
Add a line to the CONFIG.SYS file that says:
IOPL=YES
This is to enable port access.
Remember that you will have to reboot the system before
this change take effect.
Connect the modem to COM1. Set it to Auto-
answer, and to No-echo. Turn off flow control.
To have OS/X started automatically at boot time, you need
to set up the STARTUP.CMD file that OS/2 uses when it boots.
Add this line to STARTUP.CMD:
START "OS/X" /K C:\OSX\OSXB.EXE
Be sure to tell your users not to kill this session, and
to stay out of it (they can't get in, anyway).
If you don't need to have unattended access to the
Remote machine, then don't do anything with the STARTUP.CMD
file; instead have your user start OS/X when you want to
access the machine.
If you are using Microsoft OS/2 , you can set
AUTOFAIL=ON to disable error pop-ups on the remote system.
Adding a call to DosError in your programs is another way to
disable error popups.
4. Using XTERM to connect to a remote system
At the command line, change directories to C:\OSX.
Type in XTERM and hit the enter key.
XTERM will connect you to your modem. If you need to send
capital letters to your modem, ALT-A toggles XTERM's shift
status reporting on and off. Turn it off to set up the
modem; XTERM starts up with shift reporting turned on.
Once XTERM connects to your user's machine, you will see
the OS/2 command line displayed.
When the command line is displayed, you can use any OS/2
command, except for Presentation Manger commands. Avoid them
as they will hang the remote system, and you will have to get
your user to reboot for you.
OS/X provides additional utilities. XEDIT, discussed in
the next section, is a text editor that allows you to inspect
and alter files on the remote system.
XTERM runs as a VT100 (almost) so you are able to call
a BBS with it, too. Remember to use ALT-A to turn off shift
status reporting.
5. XDEDIT - OS/X Programmer's Editor
XEDIT is a full-screen editor, designed for remote
operation with OS/X. It uses the standard edit commands that
everyone is familiar with, like up-arrow and down-arrow. It
reads files in 50,000 byte segments.
Format: XEDIT <filename>
The commands are:
<Up-arrow> = Move the Cursor up one line.
<Down-Arrow> = Move the Cursor down one line.
<Home> = Move the Cursor to the top of the file.
<End> = Move the Cursor to the End of the file.
Hit it twice to go on to next segment.
<Del> = Delete the character at the Cursor.
<PgUp> = Scroll up one page.
<PgDn> = Scroll Down one page.
<F8> = Quit; will ask you for a filename if the
file has been changed.
<Ins> = Toggles insert mode; a blue 'I' is
displayed on the top line of the screen
when insert mode is on.
<Ctl-RtArrow> = Scroll right 16 spaces
<Ctl-LtArrow> = Scroll left 16 spaces
Error Messages:
Can't Open... Can't open your file; try again.
Read Error.. Dos Error reading file.. file's bad.
<Beep>... invalid command.
6. Known Unsolved problems and bugs 05/07/91
XTERM -
Logging records control chars; use Alt-A.
Logging has a problem with modem echos.
OSX - It can't pass a CONTROL-C on to an application to
kill it.
DOS edits don't work on strings.
VioWrtNCell causes problems.
7. Miscellaneous technical notes.
OS/X works by intercepting the VIO calls and sending
them out to a COM port, via the OSXA2.DLL Dynamic Link
Library. OS/X only intercepts VIO calls that write to the
screen, so programs that directly address the Logical or
Physical screen buffers will not work properly with OS/X.
Vio calls trapped: Vio calls ignored by OS/X:
1. VioGetConfig 1. VioAssociate
2. VioGetCurPos 2. VioCreateLogFont
3. VioScroll 3. VioCreatePS
4. VioSetCurPos 4. VioDeleteSetID
5. VioWrtCellStr 5. VioDestroyPS
6. VioWrtCharStr 6. VioGetBuf
7. VioWrtCharStrAtt 7. VioGetCP
8. VioWrtNAttr 8. VioGetDev
9. VioWrtNCell 9. VioGetDeviceCellSize
10. VioWrtNChar 10. VioGetFont
11. VioWrttty 11. VioGetPhysBuf
12. VioSetCP 12. VioMode
13. VioSetCurType 13. VioPopup
14. VioRead
Keyboard calls are trapped in the same way, and sent to
the COM port to go to the remote system. Keyboard calls
trapped include KbdStrgIn, KdbCharIn, KbdPeek and
KbdFlushBuffer. Other keyboard calls are ignored by OS/X.
OS/X uses KbdRegister and VioRegister commands to set
itself up to do this trapping; if your application calls
either of these API's, trouble is guaranteed. Either your
application will fail, or OS/X will die.
Kinds of programs that should work with OS/X include
most data entry-type applications. Graphics applications
usually don't work, because they access the LVB directly,
rather than by VIO calls. The same seems to be true of word
processing programs, so I haven't yet found one that works
with OS/X. (that's also one reason why I wrote XEDIT...)
OS/X assumes that it is working with XTERM, and sends
some rather strange character sequences to control XTERM.
If you are working with some other terminal emulator, or with
a dumb terminal, use ALT-A (in XTERM) to turn off shift state
reporting, and run the program YBR.EXE to turn off the remote
procedure calls that will show up. OS/X then will sort of
work with your setup. Let me know what problems appear...
12. Dumb Terminals
YBR.EXE tells the DLL to use ANSI cursor control, rather than
the Remote Procedure Calls used by XTERM.
YBR.EXE is a toggle; invoking it a second time turns off
dumb terminal mode, and turns XTERM mode back on.
While in XTERM mode, OS/X sends lots of strange-looking
stuff to XTERM. If you start seeing strange stuff, chances
are you need to run YBR again.
XEDIT won't work with dumb terminals.
;++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Features of the full-scale version not present in the BBS version.
File transfer - with CRC.
Scripting.
Configuration files.
Port Speeds to 19.2