home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
World of Ham Radio 1997
/
WOHR97_AmSoft_(1997-02-01).iso
/
packet
/
pak_27
/
amsoft.iii
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1997-02-01
|
96KB
|
2,090 lines
╒══════════════════════════════╕
│ PHS - PK-232 Hostmode Server │
╘══════════════════════════════╛
HB9CVV
October 1989
Version 3.00
PHS is a Packet Radio terminal program for the IBM-PC to controll a PK-232
multi-mode terminal node controller (TNC). The eprom of the PK-232 software must
be dated 30.DEC.88 or later.
Major features of PHS
═════════════════════
* support of packet, amtor, rtty, ascii, morse and signal modes.
* user configurable comm-port, colors and texts.
* split screen operation.
* command and parameter entry in mode sensitive dialog windows.
* extended help functions.
* review of received text (backscrolling).
* printing and snapshooting the review-buffer.
* logging (capturing) to file.
* online printer support.
* send text from file.
* binary file transfer using YAPP protocol (packet mode).
* multi-channel operation (packet mode).
* heard list showing the path (packet mode).
* Net/Rom frames are decoded (packet mode).
* wordwrapping is available (packet mode).
* temporary exit to DOS.
* built-in message editor.
* support for screens up to 80*60.
* 16550A Chip support with FIFO.
PHS has been derived from THS V2.50 (my TNC Hostmode Server for TNCs with the
WA8DED software or for the PC*Packet Adapter from DRSI). By this, the
initial version number of PHS is 3.00.
PHS has been developped on a PC/AT under IBM DOS 4.0. PHS may run or may not run
on other hardware, and on earlier (pre 3.3) or other versions of the operating
system.
For slower PCs the maximum usable serial line speed is limited to 4800 or 2400
baud unless the 8250 or 16450 UART chip of the async adapter has been replaced
by a 16550A chip. The replacement is highly recommended for faster machines as
well.
The memory requirements of PHS are about 360 kB. If you can start PHS, but get
once the message "TERMINAL ERROR: cannot open a window" you do not have enough
memory to run PHS. It is possible to reduce the memory requirements of PHS by
reducing the window sizes. The minimum requirements will be about 250kB.
PHS is a hobby project and covers my needs, so I implemented the features which
I wished to have, and did not bother to fit all tastes and to match all
possibilities. PHS may well be not adequate for your requirements, please
remember however that you are not forced to use it, nor did you have to pay for
it.
PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION
═══════════════════════
PHS runs the PK-232 software exclusively in HOST mode, which permits a maxiumum
of control and cooperation. PHS is written in TURBO-C and uses a realtime kernel
called CTASK. CTASK is public domain software written by Thomas Wagner, Berlin,
West-Germany and which is found on BIX (a truly remarkable piece of software!).
The internal implementation of PHS in form of several concurrent tasks. This
permits full parallel service of communications control, screen, and keyboard -
you will never notice delays when you type (opposed to other similar programs).
The windowing system is implemented using the VITAMIN C library (with
modifications), a commercially available software library. Vitamin C permits
writing to non-active windows, so scrolling in an underlying window is possible.
This feature, together with the real-time operation, permits to continue the
receiving and displaying of received packets even when support windows (e.g.
help windows or parameter dialog windows) are opened.
The PK-232 device is also called "device" or "TNC" in this document.
INSTALLATION
════════════
It is expected that you are familiar with the operation of the PK-232 and with
the documents describing that software.
PHS consists of the following files:
PHS.EXE PK-232 Hostmode Server.
PHS.CFG Configuration file.
PHSHELP.MSG Help file.
PHSHELP.IDX Index file.
PHS.DOC Document file
PHSCOLOR.EXE Utility to determine the PHS colors
The first four files must reside in the same directory. Before you can run PHS,
you MUST edit the configuration file PHS.CFG to reflect YOUR environment, and
possibly you might have to configure your PK-232 also. Please refer to the
description of the configuration file at the end of this manual.
The syntax to call PHS is: "PHS [filename]" where filename is the name of a
configuration file. If filename is omitted, PHS will use the default, PHS.CFG.
The PK-232 has a support battery to buffer the parameter values. If you use this
battery, some PK-232 parameter must be preset to values which allow PHS to
communicate with the PK-232. The communication line parameters of the PK-232
must be set to 8 bits, no parity, and the line speed must match the selected
line speed for PHS.
Alternatively, when no battery is connected, PHS will switch the PK-232 to the
selected line speed of PHS.
Though not neccessarily required for hostmode operation PHS requires the
standard 8-wire connection (lines 2-8 and 20) for the RS-232 communication line.
You can however override this requirement by a parameter in the configuration
file.
PHS OPERATION
═════════════
After you invoked PHS, you get the PHS opening screen:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒══════════════ PK-232 Host mode Server V3.00 - HB9CVV ═══════════════╕
│ │
│ COM Port parameters - Address: 0x3E0, IRQ: 3, Baud: 9600 (8N1) │
│ Initializing COM Port - DSR: on, CTS: on, CD: on, FIFO: yes │
│ Initializing TNC - please wait........done. │
│ PK-232 eprom date is: 30-DEC-88. │
│ Loading TNC parameters: done. │
│ Loading "%" parameters: done. │
│ READY - 137 kb free. Use ESC for help. │
│ │
╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
│ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
PHS will read the number-of-lines of your current video mode from the system and
adjust its windows accordingly. For the screendumps, the standard of 25 lines
has been used.
The single line with the date and time is the statusline, which is normally
invers - you cannot see this in this printout. You also see that PHS divides the
screen into the upper receive window and the lower transmit window which are
seperated by the statusline. The statusline is different for each mode. During
initialisation and for a short time during the PK-232 mode switching the
statusline is blanked in the left part.
You can change the colors of all windows (this includes the statusline) by
editing the associated values in the configuration file.
When this opening screen disappears, PHS switches the PK-232 into the initial
PK-232 mode, which is also specified in the configuration file.
You will realize that PHS temporarily switches the PK-232 into the morse mode
during the initialisation phase. Also, when you exit PHS, the PK-232 is left in
the morse mode.
"FIFO: yes" indicates that PHS has detected an NS16550A asynchronous
communictions chip and has enabled the fifo-buffer operation of this chip.
THE GENERAL KEYS
────────────────
The ESC key is the general help key to call the help window. If you press ESC in
packet mode, then the packet-mode help screen pops up:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒═══════════════════════════════ PACKET MODE ═══════════════════════════════╕
│ ║ │
│ ALT/P TNC mode param setup menu ║ ALT/I TNC text-param setup menu │
│ ALT/T PHS parameter setup menu ║ ALT/V View DOS directory │
│ ALT/W Command string directory ║ ALT/J Toggle printer on/off │
│ ALT/F View function-key setup ║ ALT/L Logging (capture) on/off │
│ ALT/R or î Review (scrollback) ║ ALT/S Send an ASCII file │
│ ALT/K Call Editor ║ ALT/E Temporary exit to DOS │
│ ALT/B Enter urcall (remote call) ║ CTRL/U Erase TX-window │
│ ALT/X Exit PHS ║ CTRL/X Erase RX-window │
│ ALT/M Switch TNC modes ║ CTRL/ESC Direct command entry │
│ ─────────────────────────────────── ║ ─────────────────────────────────── │
│ ALT/C Connect menu ║ ALT/H Show formatted heard list │
│ ALT/D Disconnect ║ ALT/G Show raw heard list │
│ PgUp Binary file upload (YAPP) ║ INS Toggle status line display │
│ PgDn Binary file download (YAPP) ║ <- -> Select Channel │
│ ║ │
╘═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
M1234 ║ VHF ║ UA:00 RTY:00 │ DISCONNECTED │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The help window called by ESC is mode sensitive. The upper half of the help
window (down to the seperator) is identical for all modes because the keys are
valid in all modes and are called general keys. The lower half presents the keys
which are mode specific, and are called mode keys.
We will now discuss the actions and the support windows caused by the general
keys presented in the upper part of the help window, followed by a discussion of
the individual modes and the mode-related keys and windows.
Note that when any support window is open and you want to cancel it, press ESC
and the window will disappear. If there is no action from the keyboard, any of
these windows will also disappear after some time.
You will also notice that the activity in the receive window will continue when
any of the support windows is popped up.
ALT/P is a general key and available for all modes. It pops up a window and
shows the PK-232 parameters which are related to the currently selected mode.
Consequently, the ALT/P window is discussed individually for each mode later.
ALT/I pops up the PK-232 text parameter setup window:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒═══ SELECT ═══╕
│ │
│ (A) CFROM │
│ (B) DFROM │
│ (C) MFROM │
│ (D) MTO │
│ (E) UNPROTO │
│ (F) BTEXT │
│ (G) CTEXT │
│ (H) AAB │
│ │
╘══════════════╛
M1234 ║ VHF ║ UA:00 RTY:00 │ DISCONNECTED │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
To select the command parameter for inspection or change, you can either press
the marked character (A, B, C etc), or move the scroll bar up and down and then
press ENTER (the bar is just not visible in this printout). This window will
then disappear and the associated parameter entry window will pop up.
This window will pop up regardless of the current PK-232 mode.
When you select CFROM, DFROM, MFROM or MTO then the associated parameter entry
window pops up - for example:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒═══ CFROM ════╕
│ │
│ ALL │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ <F1> HELP │
│ <ESC> ABORT │
│ <F10> ACCEPT │
│ │
│ │
M1234 ║ VHF ║ UA╘══════════════╛CONNECTED │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
Valid entries are: ALL / NONE / YES / NO
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
You can enter a qualifier (ALL, NONE, YES or NO) and a list of callsigns.
Operation of Support Windows
────────────────────────────
For all support windows which show the parameter values of commands, PHS always
READS the current parameter values first so you can inspect the actual values
and then apply changes. The cursor is the positioned on the first input field,
and the size of each input field is visible on the screen (which is not visible
in the printouts here). You move to another commands input field with the
down-arrow and up-arrow keys. For each command you will always get a short help
line on the bottom of the screen. If you need more help about the command and
the parameters, press F1.
With kind permission from AEA, the help texts for the PK-232 commands have been
derived from manual files supplied by AEA and is copyrighted material.
Finally you may press either F10 to accept the data and apply the parameter
values, or ESC to discard it, in case you changed your mind.
You must follow the rules for the parameters of a command as described in the
PK-232 manual. In case of the CFROM window - if you enter ALL, followed by a
callsign list this makes no sense, and you will get an error message from the
PK-232:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒═══ CFROM ════╕
│ │
│ ALL │
│ │
╒═══════════════════ TNC: ════════════════════╕
│ CFROM - msg from device: "Too many params" │
╘═════════════════════════════════════════════╛
│ HB9DDD │
│ HB9EEE │
│ HB9FFF │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ <F1> HELP │
│ <ESC> ABORT │
│ <F10> ACCEPT │
│ │
│ │
M1234 ║ VHF ║ UA╘══════════════╛CONNECTED │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
MFROM and MTO is preset to "NO", followed by your callsign. The reason for this
is that PHS monitors when connected, and this excludes your own packets from the
monitor screen. You should not change this if not absolutely neccessary.
Here is an example of the UNPROTO parameter entry window:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒══ UNPROTO ═══╕
│ │
│ To: │
│ DB0CZ │
│ via │
│ HB9PD-7 │
│ DB0HP │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ <F1> HELP │
│ <ESC> ABORT │
│ <F10> ACCEPT │
│ │
M1234 ║ VHF ║ UA╘══════════════╛CONNECTED │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
Callsign and SSID of a digipeater
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
In this example the cursor is positioned somewhere in the "via" list of
callsigns.
If you selected the BTEXT window, you will get this screen:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒══════════════════════════════ BEACON TEXT ═══════════════════════════════╕
│ │
│ *** Peter, Qth: Port/Biel - JN37OC │
│ │
│ <F1> HELP <ESC> ABORT <CR> or <F10> ACCEPT │
│ │
╘══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
M1234 ║ VHF ║ UA:00 RTY:00 │ DISCONNECTED │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
Enter beacon text. Use % to clear it
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The initial beacon text has been sent from the beacon string in the
configuration file during the initialisation phase of PHS. It is read from the
TNC for presentation, so you will always see the actual beacon text. Note
however that PHS limits the length of the beacon string to 72 characters.
You will get a similar window for the CONNECT message (CTEXT), and for AAB. The
input field for CTEXT is also 72 characters, for AAB it is 16 characters.
The ALT/V key pops up this window which allows you to specify a DOS directory
for viewing, e.g.:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒═════════════════════ Directory ══════════════════════╕
│ │
│ C:\DOS\*.* │
│ │
╘══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
────────────────────────────────── .... ───────────────────────────────────────
Next you will get something like this:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒═════════════════ DIRECTORY ═════════════════╕
│ │
│ ANSI .SYS 9172 29-MAR-89 12:00 │
│ APPEND .EXE 11186 03-AUG-88 12:00 │
│ ASSIGN .COM 5785 17-JUN-88 12:00 │
│ ATTRIB .EXE 18247 17-JUN-88 12:00 │
│ BACKUP .COM 33818 11-NOV-88 12:00 │
│ CHKDSK .COM 17771 17-JUN-88 12:00 │
│ CMOSCLK .SYS 878 19-SEP-88 12:00 │
│ COMMAND .COM 37652 11-NOV-88 12:00 │
│ COMP .COM 9491 17-JUN-88 12:00 │
│ CONFIG .SYS 99 21-SEP-88 14:38 │
│ COUNTRY .SYS 12838 17-JUN-88 12:00 │
│ DEBUG .COM 21606 17-JUN-88 12:00 │
│ DISKCOMP.COM 9889 17-JUN-88 12:00 │
│ DISKCOPY.COM 10428 17-JUN-88 12:00 │
│ DISPLAY .SYS 15741 11-NOV-88 12:00 │
│ DRIVER .SYS 5274 17-JUN-88 12:00 │
│ ...more... │
M1234 ║ V│ ││ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
╘═════════════════════════════════════════════╛
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The ALT/E key suspends PHS and temporarily exits to DOS:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
IBM DOS Version 4.00
(C)Copyright International Business Machines Corp 1981, 1988
(C)Copyright Microsoft Corp 1981-1986
Enter 'EXIT' to return to PHS
D:\PHS> mem
655360 bytes total memory
655360 bytes available
133792 largest executable program size
393216 bytes total EMS memory
393216 bytes free EMS memory
3145728 bytes total extended memory
1572864 bytes available extended memory
Enter 'EXIT' to return to PHS
D:\PHS> EXIT
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
After you typed EXIT at the DOS prompt, PHS will return on the screen. Note that
PHS is completely suspended when you exited to DOS. The PK-232 will continue to
receive data which are not called by PHS during the suspension. You will loose
data if you do not return to PHS timely.
ALT/W pops up the command string directory:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒══════════ COMMAND STRINGS ══════════╕
│ │
│ (A) C DK1SL VIA HB9F │
│ (B) C HB9SDD │
│ (C) C HB9PD │
│ (D) C HB9BRC │
│ (E) C 4U1ITU-8 VIA HB9PD-7, HB9X... │
│ │
╘═════════════════════════════════════╛
M1234 ║ VHF ║ UA:00 RTY:00 │ DISCONNECTED │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
You will see the command string lines from the configuration file (these are the
lines with '$' in column one). The number of command strings is limited to 20,
and the length of each line is limited to 72. Because the width of this window
is far less than 72, all lines which are too long to fit are truncated for
presentation, which is indicated by the "...".
Again, to select a command for execution, you can either press the marked
character (A, B, C etc), or move the scroll bar up and down and then press ENTER
(the bar is just not visible in this printout).
Quite obviously, a line must contain a valid PK-232 command or you will get an
error message when you try to execute it. PHS not allow the execution of all
PK-232 commands - it will refuse to send commands which would interfere with its
operation. Please refer to the discussion of CTRL/ESC key.
ALT/F lets you inspect your function key setup:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒════════ FUNCTION KEY SETUP ═════════╕
│ │
│ F01 Name & Qth │
│ F02 Rig SHORT │
│ F03 Rig LONG │
│ F04 FEC CQ │
│ F05 RYRYRY │
│ │
╘═════════════════════════════════════╛
M1234 ║ VHF ║ UA:00 RTY:00 │ DISCONNECTED │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
You will get the function key title string, not the function key text which can
be much longer than the title, and even contain several lines.
The function key title strings as well as the function key text strings are
defined in the configuration file.
This window also pops up should you press a function key which has not been
loaded with a string. Whenever you press a 'loaded' function key, then the
associated function key text is inserted in your output to the PK-232.
ALT/T in any mode pops up the PHS parameter setup window:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒═ PHS Parameters ══╕
│ │
│ BELL 1 │
│ CBELL 1 │
│ YPKLEN 254 │
│ WORDWRAP 1 │
│ MWINDOW 0 │
│ FILTER 1 │
│ │
│ <F1> HELP │
│ <ESC> EXIT │
│ <F10> SET PARAM │
╘═══════════════════╛
M1234 ║ HF ║ UA:00 RTY:00 │ DISCONNECTED │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
Enable the BELL (1/0)
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The cursor is positioned at the input field of the first parameter (BELL). With
any such setup window, you use the up- and down-arrows to select the parameter
which you want to change.
As with the ALT/P parameter entry windows, PHS reads the actual values, lets you
apply changes, writes the parameters and then re-reads them again. If you
violated a given range for a parameter, then no change is done, and this is
immediately visible after PHS reread the parameters.
The PHS parameters are parameters for PHS rather than for the PK-232, and allow
you to:
- enable or disable if you want to hear 'bells' sent to you from a connected
station (you will never hear bells from monitored stations) (BELL). This
parameter is effective in the packet modes only.
- enable or disable if you want to hear a bell (warble) when you get a connect
(CBELL). This parameter is effective in the packet modes only.
- set the packet frame length for binary transfers (YPKLEN). This parameter is
effective in the packet modes only.
- enable or disable input word wrapping (WORDWRAP). This parameter is effective
in the packet modes only where the entered text is not sent before the ENTER
key is pressed and may contain more than one line.
- define the window which gets the monitored frames (MWINDOW). By default,
this is window zero (because channel zero is the monitor channel). You can
however route all monitored frames to another channel window of your own
choice. This parameter is effective in the packet modes only.
- filter out non-printable charcters (MFILTER). If this is enabled, only BELL,
HT, LF, VT, FF, CR and the characters with ASCII values from 0x20 to 0x7E are
displayed as is, the filtered charcter are shown as a small solid rectangle.
If you use a national character set, MFILTER should be disabled.
The initial setting of MFILTER is defined in the configuration file's PHS
parameter definition line (the "}" line).
YPKLEN needs an explanation. For binary sends, PHS switches the PK-232 into the
transparent mode and the packet length is defined by YPKLEN. That is, PHS will
read YPKLEN slices from the file, add the YAPP protocol layer and send it to the
PK-232 (the PK-232 parameter PACLEN remain always preset to the maximum value of
256 bytes).
ALT/K invokes the online editor of PHS. You are first asked for a filename of a
file which you want to edit. If the filename does not exist, PHS asks you if you
want to create the file. If you confirm, you can start editing. In the example
the filename "ROLF.MSG" was given and because such a file did not exist, PHS was
told to create the file. Pressing F1 pops up a series of help windows for the
editor:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╔═════════ File: "ROLF.MSG" Line:005 Col:14 Free=7838 Insert ═════════╗
║Hallo Rolf, ║
║ ║
║i╒═══════════════════════ HELP - Use F2 to exit ═══════════════════════╕ ║
║s│ │ ║
║a│ │ ║
║ │ ESC Exit the editor. You get the option to save the │ ║
║ │ file to disk. If you don't, calling the editor │ ║
║ │ again will place you exactly where you left. │ ║
║ │ INSERT KEY Toggles insert and overwrite modes │ ║
╚═│ F8 Toggles whether carriage returns are symbolically │═══╝
│ displayed in the edit window │
│ F9 Toggles editor display from 128 ASCII characters │
│ to 256 IBM characters │
│ UP-ARROW Moves cursor up a line │
│ DOWN-ARROW Moves cursor down a line │
│ LEFT-ARROW Moves cursor left a space │
│ RIGHT-ARROW Moves cursor right a space │
│ more... │
╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
M1234 ║ VHF ║ UA:00 RTY:00 │ DISCONNECTED │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
After you finished editing you will save the file to disk. This file can then be
sent by pressing the ALT/S key in any PK-232 mode. You cannot send an unsaved
file. At any time you can edit the saved file again.
You will not save the file to disk (but keep the text it the editors buffer) if
you temporarliy want to exit the editor and want to continue editing later. If
the editor is called with a previously unsaved buffer, it pops up with
the cursor positioned excatly where you left before.
When you edit, just realize that the Amtor and RTTY modes do not support the
full ascii character set.
The editor buffer is limited to 8000 bytes which is sufficient for message
editing.
Printing and Logging
────────────────────
ALT/J toggles the printer on or off. In packet-mode, printing is possible for
one channel at a time only in order to avoid a mixup of different channel
outputs on the printer.
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
M1234 ║ VHF ║ UA:00 RTY:00 │ DISCONNECTED │ P ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
If printing is on, this is indicated by the print-flag "P" in column 60 of the
statusline. If printing is on for one channel, and you shift to another channel
and press ALT/J there, then the printing of the previous channel ends and the
printing of the current channel begins. PHS cannot print because the printer is
offline, or out of paper, then PHS will silently stop printing and remove the
printing indicator.
Everything which appears on the receive window of a channel will go to the
printer if printing is enabled for that channel.
ALT/L toggles the logging to a file. Logging can be enabled individually for
each channel which will go to different files. When you press ALT/L then a
window pops up and asks you for the filename of the file which will receive the
logged data. You cannot specify anything else but the filename, the extension is
always "CAn" where 'n' is the channel number. The logfiles will be created in
the current DOS directory.
You are offered a filename which is constructed from the current date and time
but you are free to select another filename. The filename which is offered has
the format "MDD_hhmm.CAn" where 'M' is the hexadecimal number of the month (i.e.
1 to 9 for january to september, and A, B and C for october, november and
december). 'DD' is the day of the month, 'hh' is the hour and 'mm' is the
minute. A logfile started October 23, at 12:34 for channel 3 would be given the
filename "A23_1234.CA3". Furthermore, if a subdirectory "LOG" exists in the
current directory, then the file is opened in the LOG subdirectory, otherwise
in the current directory.
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
M1234 ║ VHF ║ UA:00 RTY:00 │ DISCONNECTED │ L ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
If logging is on for a channel, this is indicated by the logging-flag "L" in
column 61 of the statusline.
When logging is already switched on for the channel and you press ALT/L then you
are asked if you want to stop logging.
Everything which appears on the receive window of a channel will go to the
logfile if logging is enabled for that channel.
You can have both printing and logging enabled for a channel.
ALT/S permits to send any file containing Ascii text. You are asked for the
filename of the file to be sent. This filename is preset to the filename you
specified for editing (if you did edit before) but can be overwritten.
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
KANALZUTEILUNG
*** Bulletin-ID: 158902HB9PD ***
╒═══════════════════════ ASCII FILE SEND ════════════════════════╕
de HB│ │
│ Filename: PRIGCHAN.TXT │
Als B│ Sending line 22 of 37 - ALT/A to abort │
"USER│ │
ausre╘════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
abgerufen.
Interessant dabei duerfte neben dem Call der USER auch sein auf
welcher Frequenz der jeweilige Benutzer die Box erreicht hat.
Die Kanalzuteilung ist wie folgt organisiert:
Total 18 Kanaele
****************
Kanal 1-4 Direktzugang auf 70cm Freqq. 430.675
Kanal 5-9
Store und Forward mit HB9AJ, HB9XC und DB0CZ
M1234 ║ VHF ║ UA:05 RTY:00 │ INFORMATION TRANSFER │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Note that the line number which is sent refers to the line which is currently
sent to the PK-232, not the line which is actually transmitted by the PK-232.
In the packet modes, the text scrolls behind the ASCII FILE SEND window when it
is sent. In the other modes, the text scrolls in the transmit window, and in the
receive window the echo will appear from the PK-232 when the text is
transmitted.
CTRL/ESC pops up the direct command input window:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒═════════════════════════════ TNC COMMAND ENTRY ══════════════════════════════╕
│ CMD> MYSELCAL ╒═══ RESPONSE ════╕ │
╘═════════════════════════════│ MYSELCAL: HCVV │══════════════════════════════╛
╘═════════════════╛
RECEIVE ║ AMTOR LISTEN │ Phasing ║ │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
You use the 'normal' command mnemonics of the dialog mode of the PK-232. PHS
translates this into hostmode commands, and also translates the host-mode
response back to the dialoge mode mnemonics.
In the CMD entry window you can inspect ALL parameters and modify most of them.
Writing of some parameters is disabled however because a direct execution would
interfere with the operation of PHS. In either case you will get a message like
one of the following:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒═════════════════════════════ TNC COMMAND ENTRY ══════════════════════════════╕
│ CMD> PA ╒════════════════════ INFORMATION ════════════════════╕ │
╘═══════════│ PACKET: disabled - use ALT/M to switch device modes │════════════╛
╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒═════════════════════════════ TNC COMMAND ENTRY ══════════════════════════════╕
│ CMD> MF╒═══════════════════════ INFORMATION ═══════════════════════╕ │
╘════════│ MFILTER: disabled - this parameter must remain unchanged │═════════╛
╘═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
ALT/M in any mode pops up the device mode select screen:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒══ DEVICE MODE ══╕
│ │
│ Packet (V)HF │
│ Packet (H)F │
│ Amtor (L)isten │
│ Amtor (S)tandby │
│ (R)TTY Baudot │
│ (A)SCII │
│ (M)orse │
│ S(I)gnal │
│ │
╘═════════════════╛
M1234 ║ HF ║ UA:00 RTY:00 │ DISCONNECTED │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
To select the PK-232 mode, you can either press the marked character, or move
the scroll bar up and down and then press ENTER. The bar is not visible in this
printout.
The two different modes for packet just use different values for some PK-232
parameters.
Packet VHF uses: "VHF Y", "HBAUD 1200", "FRACK 3" and "MAXFRAME 4".
Packet HF uses: "VHF N", "HBAUD 300", "FRACK 8" and "MAXFRAME 1".
The different packet modes are indicated in the statusline. You will see "VHF"
in place of "HF" if the PK-232 is in packet-VHF.
The FAX and NAVTEX modes are not supported.
The remainder of the general keys will be discussed after the discussion of the
individual modes.
PACKET MODES
────────────
There is one difference between the packet-modes and the other modes: in packet
you are offered one monitor channel window and four connectable channel windows
(for all other modes there is just one receive window). The channels numbers are
from zero to four, but channel zero is marked with an "M" to remind you that
this is the monitor channel. You use the left-arrow and right-arrow keys to
switch the channels. When you switch to a new channel, the full (upper) receive
window is completely replaced by the new channel window. The status line changes
also, reflecting the status of currently selected window.
The channel indicator is on the leftmost side of the status line. The current
channel is indicated by a reverse letter, that is, one of the letters of the
M1234 string - which is normally (like the rest of the statusline) dark on cyan
- is cyan on black. Also, if you selected one channel - this is called the
active channel and the active (receive) window - and ANOTHER channel gets input,
then the indicator of that channel changes to white on cyan. Once you selected
that window for inspection, the indicator returns to its normal color.
The monitored channel gets all monitored packets and you cannot connect on this
channel. The statusline for the monitored channel is:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
M1234 ║ VHF ║ ─── MONITOR CHANNEL ─── │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
However you can redirect the monitored input to one of the connectable channels
if you want to see the monitoring there. Please refer to the MWINDOW command in
the ALT/T window.
For the channels 1 to 4 the status line is like this:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
M1234 ║ VHF ║ UA:03 RTY:00 │ INFORMATION TRANSFER │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The number after the "UA:" is the number of unacknowledged frames, RTY displays
the number of retries so far. The next field is the link state.
Pressing the INS key toggles the status line to the other display format:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
M1234 ║ VHF ║ HB9PD via HB9PD-7 │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The UA/RTY and linkstate field is replaced by the connectee. If you use several
digipeaters and the string is gets too long, the connectee string is truncated
on the right hand side.
ALT/P in packet mode pops up the packet mode PK-232 parameter setup window:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒═════════════════════ TNC Parameters ══════════════════════╕
│ │
│ AUDELAY 0 MCON 6 RETRY 10 │
│ AXDELAY 0 MDIGI Y SLOTTIME 10 │
│ AXHANG 0 MID 0 SQUELCH N │
│ AX25L2V2 Y MONITOR 6 TRIES 0 │
│ BEACON E 0 MRPT Y TXDELAY 40 │
│ CHECK 25 MSTAMP N USERS 4 │
│ CMSG N MYALIAS BIENNE XMITOK Y │
│ CONPERM N MYCALL HB9CVV-1 │
│ DWAIT 16 PASSALL N <F1> HELP │
│ FRACK 4 PERSIST 64 <ESC> EXIT │
│ FULLDUP N PPERSIST Y <F10> SET PARAM │
│ HID N RELINK N │
│ MAXFRAME 4 RESPTIME 5 │
│ │
╘═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
M1234 ║ VHF ║ UA:00 RTY:00 │ DISCONNECTED │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
Audio delay in 10mS (range 0-120)
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
PHS always reads the parameters from the PK-232, so you get the actual PK-232
parameters. You can now move the cursor to a command and change the parameter.
To apply the changes, press F10. PHS then writes the parameters to the PK-232
and re-reads them again. If a parameter which you have changed again gets the
old value, then you have violated a range check and the PK-232 refused to accept
your value. The process of reading, writing, and re-reading is indicated in the
window. It also takes a few seconds, even when the communiation line to the
PK-232 is operated at 9600 bauds.
You will see all parameter which are valid for the packet mode, and which you
may change. You may miss some packet mode commands here - but the parameters of
such commands must remain unchanged at preset values for a proper operation of
PHS.
There are some commands like MRPT and PASSALL which should be changed only if
neccessary, because there is still a possible interaction. For example, quite
obviously, if you surpress the indication of digipeaters in monitored frames
then the HEARD-List of PHS will not contain only incomplete information. Also,
if PASSALL is YES, you can get 'clobbered' callsigns in the heard-list.
For some commands (BEACON, MCON and MONITOR) you will get a secondary selection
window which offers you discrete choices.
A typical screen from the monitored channel is like this:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
HB9X-7*>HB9X-9 [I;3,3]:
NON - Bid 21A90BHB9X deja recu
8>
HB9X-6*>4U1ITU-8 (RR;3)
HB9X-6*>4U1ITU-8 [I;3,2]:
SB ALL < OH1HS @ EU $787_ON4HU
HB9X-7*>HB9X-9 (RR;4)
HB9X-6*>4U1ITU-8 (RR,F;3)
HB9X-7*>HB9CED [I;3,2]:
MOL:HB9X-7} Invalid command (CONNECT CQ IDENT NODES PARMS ROUTES USERS)
HB9X-7*>HB9DIG>HB9DIG-7 [RR,P;6]
HB9X-6*>4U1ITU-8 (RR,F;3)
HB9DIG-7>HB9DIG*>HB9X-7 [I;1,6]CF:
■NET/ROM frame: orgin node DB0FRG-2 to dst node HB9X-7, ttl: 24
INFO ACK: ckt 0/238, rxseq 2
HB9X-7*>HB9X-9 [I;4,4]:
NON - Bid 21A90BHB9X deja recu
8>
HB9X-7*>HB9CED [RR,P;3]
HB9X-7*>HB9CED (RR,F;3)
HB9X-6*>4U1ITU-8 (RR;4)
M1234 ║ VHF ║ ─── MONITOR CHANNEL ─── │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
If something is scrolled off-screen, press ALT/R or Up-arrow to review it again.
Reviewing is possible individually for all channels on packet (and for the
single channel of the other modes). The lower (transmit) window will be
superseded by:
────────────────────────────────── .... ───────────────────────────────────────
REVIEWING - all channels with input to this window are halted
Use: ^ v PgUp PgDn, ESC to exit
ALT/J - Snapshot to printer ALT/L - Snapshot to file
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Use the indicated keys for moving, and ESC to leave the reviewing. The number of
lines which you have for reviewing depends on parameters in the configuration
file. The minimum is 50, the maximum is 200. These values can be set
individually for each channel.
Use ALT/J to print the window. Note that all lines (i.e. up to the number of
lines of the channels virtual window) are printed, not just the currently
visible part. ALT/L lets you snapshot the virtual window to a file in the
current DOS directory. The filename is generated from the date and time and the
extension is always "SNP". For the 23 October at 12:34:56 the generated filename
will be "A23_1234.SNP" (see "Logging and Printing" for a discussion of the
generated filenames). Furthermore, if a subdirectory "LOG" exists in the
current directory, then the file is opened in the LOG subdirectory, otherwise
in the current directory.
You press ALT/H to get the heard list formatted and sorted last heard first:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
BBS H╒═══════ HEARD LIST (entries: 10) - XXXX - <Enter> to connect ════════╕
│ 1. 23-OCT 12:34:56 HB9X-7 │
Enreg│ 2. 23-OCT 12:34:56 HB9CED-15 │
Enreg│ 3. 23-OCT 12:34:56 HB9DIG-7 via HB9DIG │
│ 4. 23-OCT 12:34:56 HB9AC-8 via HB9DIG HB9AC │
Pas d│ 5. 23-OCT 12:34:56 DG7KAR-8 via HB9DIG DB0DQ DB0GE-2 │
HB9CE│ 6. 23-OCT 12:34:56 HB9X-6 │
DG7KA│ 7. 23-OCT 12:34:56 HB9X-9 │
HB9AC│ 8. 23-OCT 12:34:56 DG7KAR-7 │
HB9CE│ 9. 23-OCT 12:34:56 HB9X-14 │
HB9X-│ 10. 23-OCT 12:34:56 DB1EC-15 │
HB9X-╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
HB9DIG-7>HB9DIG*>HB9X-7 (RR,F;1)
HB9X-7*>HB9CED [I;1,2]:
tion pour l'instant.
(H)elp (C)heck (L)ist (R)ead (S)end (E)rase (D)ir (U)sage (SP)eak (Q)uit
HB9CED de HB9X>
HB9CED-15*>HB9X [I;2,0]:
C HB9N-7
HB9X-7*>HB9CED (RR;2)
M1234 ║ VHF ║ ─── MONITOR CHANNEL ─── │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
If you select the raw heard list, you get the original frames unformatted but
still sorted by time:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Enreg╒═══════ HEARD LIST (entries: 10) - XXXX - <Enter> to connect ════════╕
Enreg│ 1. 23-OCT 12:34:56 HB9CED-15*>HB9X (RR;3) │
│ 2. 23-OCT 12:34:56 HB9X-7*>HB9CED (RR,F;2) │
Pas d│ 3. 23-OCT 12:34:56 HB9DIG-7>HB9DIG*>HB9X-7 (RR,F;1) │
HB9CE│ 4. 23-OCT 12:34:56 HB9AC-8>HB9AC>HB9DIG*>HB9X-9 [C,P] │
DG7KA│ 5. 23-OCT 12:34:56 DG7KAR-8>DB0GE-2>DB0DQ>HB9DIG*>HB9X-7 (RR,F;4) │
HB9AC│ 6. 23-OCT 12:34:56 HB9X-6*>4U1ITU-8 (DM,F) │
HB9CE│ 7. 23-OCT 12:34:56 HB9X-9*>HB9X-7 (DM,F) │
HB9X-│ 8. 23-OCT 12:34:56 DG7KAR-7*>4U1ITU-8 (RR;4) │
HB9X-│ 9. 23-OCT 12:34:56 HB9X-14*>HB9DIG>HB9AC>HB9AC-8 [I;2,1]: │
HB9DI│ 10. 23-OCT 12:34:56 DB1EC-15*>4U1ITU-8 [D,P] │
HB9X-╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
tion pour l'instant.
────────────────────────────────── .... ───────────────────────────────────────
The heard list will contain a maximum of 50 different stations. If more than 50
stations have been heard, the oldest call is superseded. You use the arrow keys
to scroll within the heard list. A scroll bar, which again is not visible here
is moving - you can position the bar on an entry on the heard list and simply
press the ENTER key to try a connect. You must first select an unconnected
channel, pop up the heard-list by ALT/H, select the entry and press ENTER.
The arrows are visible in place of the "XXXX" which you see here in the heard
list title. These little arrows cannot be used in this printout and had to be
substituted.
ALT/C pops up the Connect window, this has the same look-and-feel like the
UNPROTO window which we discussed before. To summarize, if you want to
initialize a connection, you have three choices:
- the Connect-window by ALT/C
- by a selection of the heard-list
- by an entry in the command directory (ALT/W), provided you have
preset connect commands there.
ALT/D is used to initialize a disconnect.
If someone is connecting you, PHS will give a sound (warble). For incoming
connects the PK-232 selects the lowest unconnected channel, which might not
necessarily be the channel which you have currently selected for display. You
will still realize such a connect because of the warble, and because the
channels indicator is highlighted.
Any text which you type will appear in the lower transmit window. If
word-wrapping is on (which is the default, see ALT/T), your text will wrap. The
input text is sent to the PK-232 when you press the ENTER key. It is then
removed from the transmit window and inserted into the receive window.
Additionally the text is highlighted in the receive window, so you can easily
distinguish between your text and the received text.
Note that the transmit buffer of PHS is 250 characters. You will get the warning
"At end of TX-buffer" if you reached the end of the buffer. You will get the
warning "At beginning of TX-buffer" when you erase characters and no more
characters are available for deletion.
BINARY FILE TRANSFERS
─────────────────────
The next and last chapters for the Packet-modes show how binary transfers are
done. PHS implements the YAPP protocol as defined by Jeff Jacobson, WA7MBL.
Care should be exercised when employing binary transfers because upon entry of
the yapp transfer mode, PHS will change the PK-232 parameters to obtain maximum
throughput. These parameters are reset to the previous values when you leave the
yapp transfer mode. To keep friends, yapp-transfers should not be done on qso
channels - use a free channel. You also CANNOT change channels during a binary
transfer, you will have to finish or abort the transfer first. Consequently you
can invoke a binary transfer on ONE channel only. Again, this is optimized for
throughput and is intended to provide fast transfers.
Yapp uploading (sending of a binary file) is invoked with the PgUp key,
downloading (receiving) with the PgDn key. PHS will ask you for a filename
first, and then enter the yapp transfer mode. Note that when you are receiving,
you will also have to specify the filename of a file which will get the data.
When sending a binary transfer, you get a window like this:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒═════ Uploading (YAPP) - ALT/A: Cancel - ALT/K: Kill ═════╕
23-Oct-89 12:29:32 │ │
│ FILE: PHS.EXE │
│ Size: 198583 │
│ Date: 23-OCT-89 20:41 │
│ │
│ Header: PHS.EXE 198583 bytes, 23-OCT-89 20:41 │
│ Bytes: 11938 read, 10414 sent │
│ Rate: 95 bytes/sec, time to go: 33:00 │
│ │
│ STATE: Sending DATA │
│ │
│ TNC buffer full, waiting. │
│ │
╘══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
M1234 ║ VHF ║ UA:06 RTY:00 │ INFORMATION TRANSFER │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The bytes read indicate the number of bytes read from the file, the bytes sent
is the number of acknowledged bytes. The message "TNC buffer full, waiting."
indicates that the PK-232s buffer are full and that PHS is waiting for the
PK-232 to become ready for another slice of data.
Unfortunately the PK-232 does not buffer more than MAXF frames, which reduces
the maximum obtainable troughput to below 100 bytes per second. With other
devices like TNC-2 or the PC*Packet Adapter it is possible to reach up to 125
bytes per second. Yes, the link is 1200 bauds, but AX-25 is a syncronous
protocol, so a single data byte is not framed with start and stop bits as on
asynchronous RS-232 links. The theoretical maximum is 1200/8 bytes per second,
and the AX-25 protocol overhead reduces this number then by at least 15%.
If you want to abort a transfer, you can use ALT/A to cancel it, which uses the
cancel mechanism of the yapp protocol. If you got a bad link however you will
have a TNC full with untransmitted frames and the frame with the cancel request
queued behind. Unfortunately the only way to flush the untransmitted data in the
PK-232 is a disconnect.
This is why ALT/K has been introduced: ALT/K will kill the transfer by
disconnecting the link and then will re-connect. All of this is accompanied by
messages on the screen.
The YAPP-download window is similar to the upload window. Note however that the
number for the troughput (bytes/sec) will always differ slightly between
receiver and sender - there are always some data packets on the air.
AMTOR MODES
───────────
ESC in the amtor modes pops up the amtor-modes help screen:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒═══════════════════════════════ AMTOR MODES ═══════════════════════════════╕
│ ║ │
│ ALT/P TNC mode param setup menu ║ ALT/I TNC text-param setup menu │
│ ALT/T PHS parameter setup menu ║ ALT/V View DOS directory │
│ ALT/W Command string directory ║ ALT/J Toggle printer on/off │
│ ALT/F View function-key setup ║ ALT/L Logging (capture) on/off │
│ ALT/R or î Review (scrollback) ║ ALT/S Send an ASCII file │
│ ALT/K Call Editor ║ ALT/E Temporary exit to DOS │
│ ALT/B Enter urcall (remote call) ║ CTRL/U Erase TX-window │
│ ALT/X Exit PHS ║ CTRL/X Erase RX-window │
│ ALT/M Switch TNC modes ║ CTRL/ESC Direct command entry │
│ ─────────────────────────────────── ║ ─────────────────────────────────── │
│ ALT/C Start ARQ call ║ GRAY + Start FEC transmit │
│ ALT/Y Start SELFEC call ║ GRAY - FEC: Receive - immediate │
│ INS Amtor-Listen: Resynchronize ║ GRAY - ARQ: Break Link - immediate │
│ INS ARQ: Force changeover ║ GRAY * Clear TNC transmit buffer │
│ DEL Force LETTERS case ║ <- -> Toggle LISTEN <--> STANDBY │
│ ───────────── in text ───────────── ║ ───────────── in text ───────────── │
│ CTRL/D FEC: Switch to receive ║ CTRL/O Send LETTERS character │
│ ARQ: Break link ║ CTRL/N Send FIGURES character │
│ CTRL/F Like CTRL/D, add CW-id ║ CTRL/B Send "urcall de mycall" │
R│ CTRL/T Send date+time ║ END Send "+?" │
│ ║ │
╘═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The single 'R' visible on the left side is from the covered status line. If you
had setup another screen size before calling PHS (e.g. 80*43), then the
statusline would not be covered by the window and would be visble.
The status line in the Amtor modes is like:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
RECEIVE ║ AMTOR LISTEN │ Phasing ║ │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
where the first field will indicate either "RECEIVE" or "TRANSMIT", and the
second field will show "AMTOR LISTEN", "AMTOR STANDBY" "AMTOR QSO", "FEC" or
"SELFEC". The third field indicates the current PK-232 status and closely
follows the LED indicators of the PK-232. The forth field is always empty. The
fifth field will contain the "P" and "L" indicators, when printing or logging is
on.
Opposed to the packet mode, where your text is sent to the PK-232 when you press
the ENTER key, in non-packet modes your text is sent to the PK-232 on a
word-by-word basis, and is buffered in the PK-232. The text is not cleared in
the lower transmit window but instead it will scroll there. It is echoed in the
upper receive window by the PK-232 whenever it is sent out (echo-as-sent). The
wordwise operation allows you to correct only the current word. It is not
possible to correct text which has already been sent to the PK-232. For an
indication about what has already been sent to the PK-232, the already-sent text
is highlighted. So if you typed in:
Did you have to apply any modificatio
and the cursor is positioned after the 'o', then all previous lines, and this
line up to and including the word 'any' is highlighted, but 'modificatio' is
not, because it has not yet been sent.
You start a FEC transmission with the GRAY PLUS key (on the keypad). Normally
you will not stop the transmission with the GRAY MINUS key because the PK-232
will then immediately switch to receive, regardless of still untransmitted text.
If you switch to receive with untransmitted text, you will get a warning message
from PHS ("transmit data remaining"). This data will be sent the next time when
you switch to transmit. However you have the option to flush the data by
clearing the PK-232's transmit buffer with the GRAY-* key.
Anytime you can insert a CTRL/D or CTRL/F into the text which you input. The
PK-232 will switch to receive whenever it detects such a character (refer to the
PK-232 manual) in the transmit data stream. Just a note: when you insert a
CTRL/D followed by a carriage return (Enter-key), then you will get the
transmit-data-remaining warning, because after switching to receive by the
CTRL/D, the carriage return is still untransmitted.
To start a Amtor QSO, press ALT/C and you will get a small window which lets you
enter the other stations selcal. For a SELFEC transmission, press ALT/Y.
You may use ALT/B to pop up a window which lets you enter the remote stations
callsign, and once you did, whenever you insert a CTRL/B into the transmit text,
it is replaced by PHS with the string " <remote-callsign> DE <my-callsign> ".
My-callsign is from line one in the configuration file (a possible packet-SSID
is removed).
For convenience, in ARQ, the END key inserts the Amtor-changeover signal "+?"
into the transmit text.
If you are in Amtor-Listen mode and you have difficulties to monitor an
Amtor-qso use the INS key to force a resynchronisation. If you are in an ARQ
qso, the INS key forces a changeover.
ALT/P in the amtor modes pops up the amtor-modes PK-232 parameter setup window:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒═ TNC Parameters ══╕
│ │
│ ACRRTTY 72 │
│ ADELAY 4 │
│ ARQTIMO 90 │
│ MYALTCAL HCVV │
│ MYSELCAL HCVV │
│ RFEC Y │
│ RXREV N │
│ SRXALL Y │
│ TXREV N │
│ WIDESHFT N │
│ WRU N │
│ │
│ <F1> HELP │
│ <ESC> EXIT │
│ <F10> SET PARAM │
│ │
╘═══════════════════╛
RECEIVE ║ AMTOR LISTEN │ Phasing ║ │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
Auto CR column in RTTY (range 0-255, 0 disables)
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
RTTY MODE
─────────
ESC in rtty mode pops up the rtty-mode help screen:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒════════════════════════════════ RTTY MODE ════════════════════════════════╕
│ ║ │
│ ALT/P TNC mode param setup menu ║ ALT/I TNC text-param setup menu │
│ ALT/T PHS parameter setup menu ║ ALT/V View DOS directory │
│ ALT/W Command string directory ║ ALT/J Toggle printer on/off │
│ ALT/F View function-key setup ║ ALT/L Logging (capture) on/off │
│ ALT/R or î Review (scrollback) ║ ALT/S Send an ASCII file │
│ ALT/K Call Editor ║ ALT/E Temporary exit to DOS │
│ ALT/B Enter urcall (remote call) ║ CTRL/U Erase TX-window │
│ ALT/X Exit PHS ║ CTRL/X Erase RX-window │
│ ALT/M Switch TNC modes ║ CTRL/ESC Direct command entry │
│ ─────────────────────────────────── ║ ─────────────────────────────────── │
│ GRAY + Transmit ║ GRAY * Clear TNC transmit buffer │
│ GRAY - Receive - immediate ║ DEL Force LETTERS case │
│ ───────────── in text ───────────── ║ ───────────── in text ───────────── │
│ CTRL/D Switch to receive ║ CTRL/O Send LETTERS character │
│ CTRL/F Like CTRL/D, add CW-id ║ CTRL/N Send FIGURES character │
│ CTRL/B Send " urcall de mycall " ║ CTRL/T Send date+time │
│ ║ │
╘═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
RECEIVE ║ RTTY ║ │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
ALT/P in rtty mode pops up the rtty mode PK-232 parameter setup window:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒═ TNC Parameters ══╕
│ │
│ ACRRTTY 72 │
│ CCITT N │
│ CODE 0 │
│ CRADD N │
│ DIDDLE Y │
│ RBAUD 45 │
│ RXREV N │
│ TXREV N │
│ USOS Y │
│ WIDESHFT N │
│ WRU N │
│ │
│ <F1> HELP │
│ <ESC> EXIT │
│ <F10> SET PARAM │
│ │
╘═══════════════════╛
────────────────────────────────── .... ───────────────────────────────────────
ASCII MODE
──────────
ESC in the ascii mode pops up the ascii-mode help screen:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒═══════════════════════════════ ASCII MODE ════════════════════════════════╕
│ ║ │
│ ALT/P TNC mode param setup menu ║ ALT/I TNC text-param setup menu │
│ ALT/T PHS parameter setup menu ║ ALT/V View DOS directory │
│ ALT/W Command string directory ║ ALT/J Toggle printer on/off │
│ ALT/F View function-key setup ║ ALT/L Logging (capture) on/off │
│ ALT/R or î Review (scrollback) ║ ALT/S Send an ASCII file │
│ ALT/K Call Editor ║ ALT/E Temporary exit to DOS │
│ ALT/B Enter urcall (remote call) ║ CTRL/U Erase TX-window │
│ ALT/X Exit PHS ║ CTRL/X Erase RX-window │
│ ALT/M Switch TNC modes ║ CTRL/ESC Direct command entry │
│ ─────────────────────────────────── ║ ─────────────────────────────────── │
│ GRAY + Transmit ║ GRAY * Clear TNC transmit buffer │
│ GRAY - Receive - immediate ║ │
│ ───────────── in text ───────────── ║ ───────────── in text ───────────── │
│ CTRL/D Switch to receive ║ CTRL/F Like CTRL/D, add CW-id │
│ CTRL/B Send "urcall de mycall" ║ CTRL/T Send date+time │
│ ║ │
╘═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
RECEIVE ║ ASCII ║ │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
ALT/P in ascii mode pops up the ascii mode PK-232 parameter setup window:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒═ TNC Parameters ══╕
│ │
│ ABAUD 300 │
│ ACRRTTY 72 │
│ DIDDLE Y │
│ RXREV N │
│ TXREV N │
│ WIDESHFT N │
│ WRU N │
│ │
│ <F1> HELP │
│ <ESC> EXIT │
│ <F10> SET PARAM │
│ │
╘═══════════════════╛
────────────────────────────────── .... ───────────────────────────────────────
MORSE MODE
──────────
ESC in the morse mode pops up the morse-mode help screen:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒═══════════════════════════════ MORSE MODE ════════════════════════════════╕
│ ║ │
│ ALT/P TNC mode param setup menu ║ ALT/I TNC text-param setup menu │
│ ALT/T PHS parameter setup menu ║ ALT/V View DOS directory │
│ ALT/W Command string directory ║ ALT/J Toggle printer on/off │
│ ALT/F View function-key setup ║ ALT/L Logging (capture) on/off │
│ ALT/R or î Review (scrollback) ║ ALT/S Send an ASCII file │
│ ALT/K Call Editor ║ ALT/E Temporary exit to DOS │
│ ALT/B Enter urcall (remote call) ║ CTRL/U Erase TX-window │
│ ALT/X Exit PHS ║ CTRL/X Erase RX-window │
│ ALT/M Switch TNC modes ║ CTRL/ESC Direct command entry │
│ ─────────────────────────────────── ║ ─────────────────────────────────── │
│ GRAY + Transmit ║ INS Unlock receive speed (WPM) │
│ GRAY - Receive - immediate ║ DEL Lock receive speed (WPM) │
│ GRAY * Clear TNC transmit buffer ║ │
│ ───────────── in text ───────────── ║ ───────────── in text ───────────── │
│ CTRL/D Switch to receive ║ CTRL/B Send "urcall de mycall" │
│ CTRL/T Send date+time ║ │
│ ║ │
╘═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
RECEIVE ║ MORSE │ 20 WPM ║ │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
ALT/P in morse mode pops up the morse mode PK-232 parameter setup window:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒═ TNC Parameters ══╕
│ │
│ MSPEED 20 │
│ MWEIGHT 10 │
│ │
│ <F1> HELP │
│ <ESC> EXIT │
│ <F10> SET PARAM │
│ │
╘═══════════════════╛
────────────────────────────────── .... ───────────────────────────────────────
SIGNAL MODE
───────────
ESC in the signal mode pops up the signal-mode help screen:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
╒═══════════════════════════════ SIGNAL MODE ═══════════════════════════════╕
│ ║ │
│ ALT/P TNC mode param setup menu ║ ALT/I TNC text-param setup menu │
│ ALT/T PHS parameter setup menu ║ ALT/V View DOS directory │
│ ALT/W Command string directory ║ ALT/J Toggle printer on/off │
│ ALT/F View function-key setup ║ ALT/L Logging (capture) on/off │
│ ALT/R or î Review (scrollback) ║ ALT/S Send an ASCII file │
│ ALT/K Call Editor ║ ALT/E Temporary exit to DOS │
│ ALT/B Enter urcall (remote call) ║ CTRL/U Erase TX-window │
│ ALT/X Exit PHS ║ CTRL/X Erase RX-window │
│ ALT/M Switch TNC modes ║ CTRL/ESC Direct command entry │
│ ─────────────────────────────────── ║ ─────────────────────────────────── │
│ INS Ok - accept & switch ║ │
│ ─────────────── NOTE ────────────── ║ │
│ DO NOT SWITCH TO FAX or NAVTEX ║ │
│ ║ │
╘═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
RECEIVE ║ SIGNAL │ ║ 23-OCT 12:34:56
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Please do not switch to an unsupported mode (FAX or NAVTEX), it will not work.
There is no signal mode PK-232 parameter setup window.
Finally, the secret ALT-key:
Whenever you give ALT/A, any incoming message to the currently selected window
is accompanied by a deep summing tone. Another ALT/A disables the sound. There
is no visible indication of ALT/A, because obviously there is an audible one. I
often use ALT/A when my partner says "wait a minute", because I have no klicking
relais in my TRX which would attract my attention after that minute. Obviously,
ALT/A should be avoided in non-packet modes...
THE CONFIGURATION FILE
══════════════════════
PHS reads the configuration file whenever you start PHS. The configuration file
contains information about hardware and software parameters. If this information
is not accurate, PHS will be unable to proceed.
NOTE: PHS does not do much consistency checks or range checks when reading from
the CFG-file. You must not omit lines, or use parameters with values other than
specified in this chapter.
You must edit the file PHS.CFG to reflect your hardware configuration, callsigns
and texts. If you are not able to edit a text-file you cannot operate PHS.
Here is an example of a configuration file:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
HB9CVV-1
HCVV My Selcall
0x3E0 Address of TNC COMPORT
3 Interrupt of TNC COMPORT
9600 Baudrate
1 Printer number
1 direct video i/o
Operator is OFFLINE, this message is recordedt - 73 de Peter
*** Peter, Qth: Port/Biel - JN37OC ***
07,00,07,00,00,02,01,15,07,00 Receive (upper, permanent)
07,00,07,00,00,02,01,15,07,00 Transmit (lower, permanent)
04,07,07,04,03,00,07,00,04,15 Statusline (middle, permanent)
01,11,01,11,01,11,01,02,07,04 Immediate command entry
01,15,01,15,07,00,00,14,01,14 Opening, THS-Help, Review
01,11,01,11,03,00,03,01,07,00 Parameter Dialogs
01,11,01,11,01,15,01,11,07,00 Activity during YAPP xfer
00,02,00,02,01,14,00,00,07,00 Parameter Dialog Help Line
01,11,01,11,01,15,01,11,07,00 Parameter Dialog Extended Help (File)
01,11,01,11,01,15,01,11,07,00 Other
00,11,03,11,00,00,00,00
#Name & Qth
My name is Peter, the QTH is Port, 20 miles west of Berne City.
#Rig SHORT
The rig here is: a PC/AT, PK-232, Ten-Tec Paragon with 100W to a GP.
I am using my own PK-232 Hostmode Server (PHS) program.
#Rig LONG
The rig here is:
-----------------------------------------------------------
Programs : THS (TNC Hostmode Server) 2.50
PHS (PK-232 Hostmode Server) 3.00
Computers : PC/AT, 4MB RAM, 109MB disk.
386AT, 5MB RAM, 150MB disk, 44MB removable disk
Toshiba T-5100
TRX : Ten-Tec Paragon, 100W
IC-271H, 100W
TW-4100E, 45W
Antenna : Remotely tuned GP for HF
2 * 11 element Yagi (2m)
19 element Yagi (70cm)
X-300 2m/70cm vertical
TNC : TNC-1 with WA8DED V1.3
TNC-2 with WA8DED V2.3
DRSI PC*Packet Adapter
PK-232
-----------------------------------------------------------
In use: PHS, PC/AT, PK-232, Paragon, GP.
#FEC CQ
CQ CQ CQ CQ CQ DE HB9CVV HB9CVV HB9CVV (HCVV)
CQ CQ CQ CQ CQ DE HB9CVV HB9CVV HB9CVV (HCVV)
CQ CQ CQ CQ CQ DE HB9CVV HB9CVV HB9CVV (HCVV)
CQ CQ CQ CQ CQ DE HB9CVV HB9CVV HB9CVV (HCVV)
SELCAL HCVV HCVV HCVV - PSE KKKKK
(
#RYRYRY
RYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRY
$C DK1SL VIA HB9F
$C HB9SDD
$C HB9PD
$C HB9BRC
$C HB9PD VIA HB9PD-7
%MYALIAS BIENNE
%TXREV NO
%RXREV NO
%ABAUD 300
%ADELAY 4
}1,200,200,200,50,50,2,0,0,1,-1
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The first line
contains your callsign and optionally the SSID. No comments are possible on this
line.
The second line
contains your Amtor selcal.
The third line
defines the address of your communications port. You must specify it in this
hexadecimal presentation (0xhhh). PHS will detect and report the access of a
non-existent commport. (Standard values are 0x3F8 for COM1 and 0x2F8 for COM2).
You can specify any address here, PHS has a built in communications driver and
is able operate communication ports at non-standard addresses.
The forth line
defines the interrupt number of your communications port. (Standard values are 4
for COM1 and 3 for COM2).
The fifth line
defines the baud-rate for the communications port. It must of course match the
baudrate you selected for the PK-232.
*** NOTE: If PHS is unable to contact the PK-232, then a wrong commport address
and/or interrupt, or a wrong baudrate could be the cause. The same is true if
you get permanent RS-232 error reports from PHS after startup.
The sixth line
defines the printer number (printer port). Legal values are 1 to 3, for LPT1,
LPT2 and LPT3. Printer output to printers connected to serial lines is not
possible.
The seventh line
defines the video access. A '1' is used for direct video i/o, and should be used
for all video cards other than CGA. If a value of 1 causes snow or other visual
effects, switch to a value of 2. This changes PHS to use retrace synchronisation
- which is requred for older CGA cards.
The eighth line
contains your connect message. The line may not exceed 72 characters, if it
does, then the line is truncated. This line is loaded into the PK-232 whenever
PHS is started. You can however alter your connect message any time online.
The ninth line
contains your beacon text. The line may not excced 72 characters, if it does,
then the line is truncated. You can alter the beacon text online.
The next TEN lines specify the color attributes of all windows. The scheme is:
+------------------------------------ Border, background
| +--------------------------------- Border, foreground
| |
| | +------------------------------ Title, background
| | | +--------------------------- Title, foreground
| | | |
| | | | +------------------------ Text, background
| | | | | +--------------------- Text, foreground
| | | | | |
| | | | | | +------------------ Inactive Input field, background
| | | | | | | +--------------- Inactive Input field, foreground
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | +------------ Active Input field, background
| | | | | | | | | +--------- Active Input field, foreground
| | | | | | | | | |
07,00,07,00,00,02,01,15,07,00 Receive (upper, permanent)
07,00,07,00,00,02,01,15,07,00 Transmit (lower, permanent)
04,07,07,04,03,00,07,00,04,15 Statusline (middle, permanent)
01,11,01,11,01,11,01,02,07,04 Immediate command entry
01,15,01,15,07,00,00,14,01,14 Opening, PHS-Help, Review
01,11,01,11,03,00,03,01,07,00 Parameter Dialogs
01,11,01,11,01,15,01,11,07,00 Activity during YAPP xfer
00,02,00,02,01,14,00,00,07,00 Parameter Dialog Help Line
01,11,01,11,01,15,01,11,07,00 Parameter Dialog Extended Help (File)
01,11,01,11,01,15,01,11,07,00 Other
The numers are decimal. PHS does not validate the range.
Number Foreground Background
00 BLACK BLACK
01 BLUE BLUE
02 GREEN GREEN
03 CYAN CYAN
04 RED RED
05 MAGENTA MAGENTA
06 BROWN BROWN
07 LIGHTGRAY LIGHGRAY
08 DARKGRAY |
09 LIGHTBLUE |
10 LIGHTGREEN |
11 LIGHTCYAN |- as above, blinking
12 LIGHTRED |
13 LIGHTMAGENTA |
14 YELLOW |
15 WHITE |
You can run the PHSCOLOR program which comes with PHS to see the foreground -
background combinations. If this is confusing, use the supplied values until you
are familiar with PHS.
Line twenty
must contain eight numbers. The first four numbers defines the attributes for
the channel indicator. Please refer to the discussion of channels below. The
first two numbers in this line define the color attributes of the on-screen
channel, the next two numbers define the attributes for an off-screen channel
which has received data. Of the two number pairs, the first is the background
attribute, the second is the foreground attribute. In the example, the
statusline text attributes are "03,00" which means 'black on cyan'. The example
line 20 is:
00,11,03,11,02,00,00,00 Channel indicator attributes & echo text
which reads: the number of the on-screen channel is 'lightcyan on black' (00,11)
- and the number of a off-screen window which has received data is 'lightcyan on
cyan' (03,11).
The third number pair defines the attributes for the transmitted text in the
receive window for the packet modes. To keep the defaults, insert 00,00 here.
In all modes, the text you type is echoed in the lower (transmit) window. In
the packet mode, when you send the text by typing a carriage return, then the
text is moved to the upper (receive) window, and the transmit window is cleared.
PHS uses different attributes so you can easily distinguish the text which you
sent from the text you receive. By default, the text sent has the same text and
background color as the received text, but is intensified. This is what you get
if you do not specify the third number pair. If you do, PHS will use these
attributes.
Example: if you have defined 'green on black' for the text- and background
color of the receive window, which is the number pair 00,02 and you want your
text reversed, not intensified, then define 02,00 here.
In the non-packet modes, the entered text for transmission is sent to the PK-232
word-by-word and you get the echo in the receive window from the PK-232
(echo-as-sent). For to get an indication up to which part of your text has
already been sent to the PK-232, that part is highlighted when you use the
default pair of 00,00. If you prefer another presentation, you can experiment
with other values.
The next lines
are optional and are composed of four different types of strings:
- (#) function key text strings and titles.
- (%) initialisation command strings.
- ($) online command strings.
- (}) PHS parameters
#-lines: The function key texts
The function key text strings are assigned to the function keys F01 to F10 in
the sequence in which they appear in the configuration file. When you press such
a function key, PHS sends the associated text string to the PK-232. By pressing
ALT/F PHS shows the titles of the text strings in a window box.
The line with a hash-sign (#) in column one defines the title which can contain
up to 30 charcters. Everything exceeding 30 characters is cut off. The lines
following the title line until the next title line, or the end of the file form
the text string. The length of all text strings together is limited only by the
available memory space. The text strings are intended for reasonable sized
texts like station descriptions or cq calls.
The function-key text must contain only printable characters, and two characters
have a special meaning: The '(' character at the end of a line (and only at the
end of a line !) is translated into CTRL/D when PHS reads the line. The '<'
character is translated into CTRL/F (if at the end of a line). CTRL/D and
CTRL/F are used by the PK-232 to switch to receive when embedded in text.
In the sample CFG-file you find a FEC-cq call. The single line with the
opening-bracket character (which is at the end of that line) is translated into
CTRL/D and the PK-232 will switch to receive at the end of this cq-call.
Up to ten #-lines are possible. If you specify more that ten #-lines, they are
ignored.
%-lines: Initialisation command strings
You can specify up to 10 lines with percent (%) sign in column one. The text
following the percent sign must not exceed 40 characters and is sent as a
command to the PK-232 when PHS loads the PK-232 parameters during startup. This
is done after PHS has sent the default set of parameter commands and so allows
the user to override the default parameter set of PHS. You should however take
some care - the contents of the %-lines are sent unconditionally to the PK-232
and must be a valid command to be effective. A %-line can only contain a command
which does not interfere with PHS operation. The non-interfering commands which
appear in the ALT/P windows.
$-lines: online command strings.
The $-lines must also contain valid PK-232 commands. Up to 20 lines not
exceeding 72 characters are possible. They are stored by PHS and presented
together with a selection character when you press ALT/W. When you press the
selection character or move the bar to the desired entry, then the associated
string is sent as a command to the on-screen channel. The $-lines are intended
to build a call-sign directory for connects, you may however use other commands
there as well, so it is called "Command String Directory".
}-line: Changing the default PHS parameters
The }-line allows you to modify the default PHS configuration. This line is
optional. The format is:
}a0,b0,b1,b2,b3,b4,c0,d0,d1,e0,f0
RS-232 control line usage: a0
If a0 is zero, then PHS ignores the RS-232 control-lines (DCD, RTS, CTS). This
allows just a 3-wire (TXD, RXD & GND) connection to the PK-232. Note however
that in this case PHS cannot detect if a PK-232 is offline, and will always
enter the PK-232-initialisation routine. The default is non-zero.
Column size of the virtual receive windows: b0 to b4
b0 to b4 define the number of lines in the virtual receive windows for channels
zero to four. This defines how many lines are available for reviewing. The
minimum value is 40, the maximul value is 200. The default is the maximum for
all windows.
The initial PK-232 mode: c0
You can select the initial PK-232 mode here. The mode numbers are 0 to 7 for
Packet-VHF, Packet-HF, Amtor-Listen, Amtor-Standby, RTTY, Ascii, Morse and
Signal mode.
Editor window size: d0, d1
d0 and d1 define the editor window size, columns and rows. The range for d0
(column) is 64 to 79, and includes the window border. If a given value exceeds
one of the limits, then the according limit value is taken. If you omit this
parameter, or specify a zero, then the default value of 76 is taken. The range
for d1 (row) depends on the size of the (upper) receive window, which itself
depends on the number of lines of your current video mode. The range if from
half that window to full size minus one. For the standard 25 line mode, the
range is 10 to 20, also including the border. The default here is the lowest
value, i.e. half the size of the receive window.
Filter received characters: e0
e0 determines the initial value of the MFILTER variable, see the description of
the ALT/T command. A zero disables the filtering, a one enables it. The default
(e.g. if omitted) is zero.
Time-offset for UTC: f0
During startup, PHS gets the current system time of your PC, adds f0 hours, and
loads this date and time into the PK-232. The intention is to have the PK-232
loaded with the UTC rather than with the local time - in case you want to use
the CTRL/T feature of the PK-232 to send date and time. Note however that if
there is a non-zero UTC offset specified, then the link status messages (e.g.
"CONNECTED to") are always time-stamped by the PK-232 and will consequently show
the PK-232s time. This time differs by f0 hours from the time on the status line
of PHS.
The date/time of the PK-232 is refreshed every full hour by PHS because the PC's
clock is more accurate that the PK-232 clock.
ERROR REPORTS
═════════════
Whenwever PHS detects an error, it will open a window and display an error
message and optionally parameters. Note that it is not always possible to
recover from these errors. The message types are
RS-232 Port Overrun error
RS-232 Port Parity error
RS-232 Port Framing error
RS-232 Port BREAK interrupt
Hostmode waiting for SOH: timeout
Hostmode waiting for databyte: timeout
Hostmode excessive input, no ETB
Unknown error during input, code: nnnn
The RS-232 errors (besides timeout) are signalled by the ACE chip (8250/16450),
i.e. hardware error reports or faults.
Parity and framing errors, or break interrupt indicate a chip problem, this
could however be on either end of the serial line. Try to use another port on
the PC, and/or reduce the transmission baud rate.
Whenever you get an overrun error this indicates that the your PC is not fast
enough to process the incoming characters. This can be solved by either reducing
the frequency in which the incoming characters appear, i.e. by reducing the
communications baudrate, or by using a more sophisticated serial communications
controller chip, or by increasing the CPU speed.
Unfortunatly if the System has not enough time to process an incoming character
timely this may be caused by other code which executes concurrently and which
disables the interrupt recognition for a too long time period. ALL keyboard
drivers from a DOS version higher than 3.20 exhibit this problem. You could
disable this driver by CTRL/ALT/F1 which gives you the US keyboard layout, or
try drivers from older or other DOS versions.
Possibly the best solution is to replace the standard serial controller chips by
a 16550A chip which has a built-in FIFO (a 16 byte hardware data stack). PHS
supports this chip, and the use of this chip generally solves all overrun
problems. If PHS detects such a chip, then you will see the string "FIFO:yes"
in the opening window, otherwise a "FIFO:no" is printed.
The "hostmode" errors signal a problem with the PHS-PK-232 hostmode
communication. Up to now I have ever only seen the first one (timeout waiting
for SOH), and only during startup of PHS. A hardware reset of the PK-232 and or
a hardware (!) reset of the PC cured it (on the PC side, a CTRL-ALT-DEL will not
help).
DECODING OF NET/ROM FRAMES
══════════════════════════
PHS decodes Net/Rom routing broadcast messages and the inter-node frames into a
plain English text format. For an interpretation of the various variables shown,
please refer to "Net/Rom Version 1.3 Documentation" from Software 2000 Inc.
FINAL REMARKS
═════════════
I will be interested in your proposals and comments. Please note however that I
will feel no obligation of any kind. I am a professinal software designer, but
THIS is a hobby project.
My address is: Peter H. Heinrich
HB9CVV
Allmendstr. 25
CH-2562 Port
Switzerland
You can also contact me on CompuServe [71470,32].
REVISION HISTORY
════════════════
3.00 October 1989 Initial release
───────────────────────────── end of file ─────────────────────────────────────
so far.