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User Manual Telix for DOS Version 3.5x Telix_ User Manual Version 3.5x for use with MS-DOS 3.1 or higher Copyright Copyright(c)1986-1996 deltaComm Development, Inc. Portions Copyright(c) 1996 ELSA GmbH. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any other language in any form by any means without the written permission of deltaComm Development, Inc. Software License Notice Your license agreement with deltaComm Development, Inc., which is included separately with the product diskettes, specifies the permitted and prohibited uses of the product. Any unauthorized duplication or use of Telix, in part or in whole, in print or in any other storage and retrieval system is prohibited. Government Restricted Rights Legend Use, duplication, or disclosure by the US Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013 and paragraph (d) of the Commercial Computer Software _ Restricted Rights at FAR 52.227 - 19. Subcontractor/Manufacturer is deltaComm Development, Inc., Post Office Box 1185, Cary, NC 27512, USA. Licenses and Trademarks Telix, the Telix Logo, deltaComm Development, Inc., the distinctive deltaComm logo, SALT, SIMPLE and HostPlus_, are trademarks of deltaComm Development, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Microsoft Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Other product names, corporate names, or titles used within this document may be trademarks or registered trademarks of other companies, and are mentioned only in an explanatory manner to the owners' benefit, and without intent to infringe. This document was created using Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0 Printed in the United States of America Table of Contents BEFORE YOU BEGIN .............................................VII Typographical Conventions ...................................vii Keyboard Conventions ......................................vii Mouse Conventions ........................................viii TELIX CUSTOMER SERVICES .....................................VIII Product Support Within the United States .....................ix Electronic Services ........................................ix Voice Telephone Support .....................................x Product Support Worldwide .....................................x WELCOME TO TELIX FOR DOS .......................................1 Program description ...........................................2 New Features of Version 3.5x ..................................3 The Telix Philosophy ..........................................3 Machine Requirements ..........................................4 Start-Up Directory ............................................5 GETTING STARTED ................................................6 Configuring Telix with MODEMCFG.EXE ...........................6 Starting a Telix Session ......................................8 INT14/FOSSIL Mode ..........................................11 Important Note for Network/Multi-tasking Operation .........11 Terminal Mode ................................................12 Command Entry ..............................................12 Sending Characters and Words with the Mouse ................13 The Help/Status Screen .....................................13 The Status Line ............................................14 Communications Parameters ....................................14 Entering and Editing Strings .................................15 Output String Translation ....................................16 Ending a Telix Session .......................................16 PROGRAM FEATURES ..............................................17 Hang-Up ......................................................17 Capture File .................................................17 Printer ......................................................17 Usage Log ....................................................18 Scroll-Back ..................................................20 iv Table of Contents Keyboard Definitions/Macros ..................................21 DOS Shell ....................................................23 DOS Command ..................................................23 Editor .......................................................24 DOS and File Functions .......................................24 Screen Image .................................................25 The Translate Table ..........................................26 Chat Mode ....................................................27 Clear Screen .................................................27 Local Echo ...................................................28 Add Line Feeds ...............................................28 Break Signal .................................................28 DOORWAY Mode .................................................29 Miscellaneous Options ........................................29 Sending Modem Strings ......................................29 Setting the Screen Size ....................................29 THE DIALING DIRECTORY .........................................31 The Display ..................................................31 Editing an Entry .............................................34 Adding Entries ...............................................34 Clearing Entries .............................................34 Finding an Entry .............................................35 Dialing ......................................................36 Automatic Queue Redial .....................................37 The Quick Dialing Bar ........................................38 Long Distance Codes ..........................................38 Other Functions ..............................................39 Inserting Blank Entries ....................................39 Deleting Entries ...........................................39 Revising Long Distance Codes ...............................40 Creating a Dialing Directory ...............................40 Loading a Dialing Directory ................................40 Printing the Dialing Directory .............................41 Sorting the Dialing Directory ..............................41 Moving Entries .............................................41 FILE TRANSFERS ................................................43 Downloading (Receiving) Files ................................43 Uploading (Sending) Files ....................................45 File Transfer Protocols ......................................47 Which One to Use .............................................51 Table of Contents v CUSTOMIZING TELIX .............................................53 Screen and Color Settings ....................................53 Terminal Options .............................................55 General Options ..............................................59 Modem and Dialing Settings ...................................62 Filenames and Path Settings ..................................66 ASCII Transfers ..............................................68 Protocol Options .............................................70 Kermit Transfers .............................................74 Comm Port Setup ..............................................74 INT14/FOSSIL Mode ............................................74 Language Setup ...............................................75 Saving Changes and Leaving ...................................75 TERMINAL EMULATION ............................................77 TTY ..........................................................77 ANSI-BBS .....................................................77 ANSI .........................................................78 VT102 ........................................................78 VT52 .........................................................79 AVATAR .......................................................79 USING SCRIPT FILES ............................................81 Creating and Compiling Scripts ...............................81 Executing a Script ...........................................83 SIMPLE .......................................................83 Learning a Script ............................................84 HOST MODE .....................................................87 APPENDICES ....................................................95 A Keyboard Command Summary ...................................95 B Troubleshooting ............................................97 C External Protocols ........................................109 Batch File Method .........................................109 Script File Method ........................................110 D File Formats ..............................................111 Index .......................................................112 Before You Begin vii Before You Begin This Telix User Manual describes the operation and use of Telix. For economy of words, this manual will refer to Telix for DOS as simply Telix. Typographical Conventions This manual uses several standard notations throughout its text to identify important information. Keyboard Conventions All key names are shown in capital letters. For example, the Control key is shown as CTRL. Your keyboard's keys may not be labeled exactly as they are in this manual. Keys Comments Shortcut keys Keys are frequently used in combinations or sequences as shortcut keys. For example, CTRL-X means to hold down the CTRL key while pressing the X key; F10, F, O, means to press and release each of these keys in order. RETURN/ENTER keys These keys usually perform the same action in Telix. In this manual, _Press ENTER_ means that you can press either the ENTER or RETURN key, unless specifically instructed otherwise. viii Before You Begin HOME, END, PGUP These keys indicate that the specific key is to be pressed. Often these keys will be used in combinations, such as CTRL- END. Mouse Conventions - If you have a multiple-button mouse, the left mouse button is the primary mouse button unless you have it configured differently (for example, you may have Telix configured to reverse the mouse buttons if you are left- handed). Any procedure that refers to the _left mouse button_ within this manual will mean the primary mouse button, or the button you normally press with your index finger. _Right mouse button_ will always refer to the secondary button. - _Point_ means to position the mouse pointer until block cursor rests on whatever you wish to point to on the screen. - _Click_ means to press and then immediately release the mouse button without moving the mouse. Telix Customer Services If you have a question about Telix, first look in the printed documentation. We have tried to anticipate all of your questions, and have included the answers to many of them within these pages. If you cannot find the answer in the manuals, contact Customer Services. Before You Begin ix Product Support Within the United States Electronic Services Assistance is available from several online sources, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. CompuServe Assistance is available on CompuServe in the Telix section of the PC Vendor Forums. In addition, the file libraries within this forum contain a wealth of third party add-ons for Telix, as well as the latest patches and fixes for Telix. At any CompuServe ! prompt, type go telix to access the PCVEN forum that contains the Telix support section. You will need to select _Telix_ from the message menu to access the Telix message section and file library within this Forum. An introductory CompuServe membership kit is included with Telix. Internet Assistance is available by addressing Email to _support@delta.com_. Hobbyist Networks deltaComm representatives maintain a presence and offer basic support on the following networks: RIME, FidoNet, and ILink. deltaComm Online deltaComm Development, Inc. maintains a 24 hour customer service bulletin board that you can access with your modem at (919) 481-9399 or telnet to bbs.delta.com. This system supports speeds of up to 28,800 bps with settings of 8 data bits, no parity, and one stop bit. Once connected, you will find a large library of third party add-ons, and will be able to address questions directly to the Telix developers. In addition, deltaComm Online offers our customers many extra information services not related to Telix. x Before You Begin Voice Telephone Support Unlimited no-service-charge support is available from our customer service engineers by placing a toll call between 9:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M. Eastern time, excluding holidays. For Technical Support, call (919) 460-4556 to speak to a software engineer. Before calling, please make sure you have the following information available: - Telix' version number from the ALT-Z screen - Your serial number from the Alt-6 command on the program menu - The brand and model of your modem, and whether it is internal or external - The exact wording of any error messages that have appeared on your screen. Product Support Worldwide If you have purchased your copy of Telix outside the United States, you may be able to obtain support at one of several worldwide support centers, either electronically or via voice. Support availability and cost may vary from site to site outside North America, and may require you to have purchased your copy from the specific support site to qualify for support from that site. Before You Begin xi Area Contact Australia & My Computer Company New Zealand (02) 565-1044 BBS (02) 550-4459 fax (02) 565-1991 voice Germany Connect GmbH (0241) 9177981 BBS (040) 511 7074 fax (040) 511 7073 voice Great Britain S.C.S. (0493) 748904 voice (0493) 748876 fax Netherlands The Owl's Nest (035) 6028631 voice (035) 6026527 fax (035) 6023219 BBS Welcome to Telix For DOS 1 Chapter 1 Welcome to Telix for DOS Welcome! We know you are eager to begin using Telix! If you are like most people, you want to jump right in and start using your new program, but we encourage you to at least skim through this chapter first. This chapter will ease you into Telix and have you placing your first call within minutes. One more thing before you start.... If you bought your package from a dealer, send in your registration card. Without it, we cannot tell you about the next new widget we add to the program. If you bought your copy directly from deltaComm Development, Inc., you are already registered. In This Chapter - Program Description - What's on the Screen - Program Requirements - Using the Help System - Installing Telix - Your First Connection - Starting Telix 2 Welcome to Telix for DOS Program description Telix is a full-featured communications program for PCs running the PC/MS-DOS operating system, that is able to meet the needs of almost any user. Telix features include: - An extensive range of built-in file transfer protocols, including Zmodem, CompuServe Quick B, Xmodem, Xmodem-1k, Xmodem-1k-g, Ymodem (TRUE), Ymodem-g, Kermit, SEAlink, Telink, Modem7, and ASCII. Telix allows up to five 'external' protocols to be defined and called from within Telix. In this way, almost any kind of file transfer is possible from within Telix. - Powerful multiple dialing directories, holding up to 1000 entries, each containing many pieces of information required for communicating with remote services, such as phone numbers and communications parameters. - Automatic queue redialing for hard-to-reach numbers. - Reliable DEC VT100/102 and VT52 terminal emulation. Keys may be redefined by the user. - Full access to DOS including a DOS shell, a DOS Command option, and full path support. - A Host Mode featuring file transfers, password-protected DOS shell, and two access levels. - A Chat Mode, keyboard macros, a scroll-back buffer, session capture, usage log, translate table, and a variety of other features, detailed in this manual. Above all, Telix is fast, and has a powerful, friendly user interface. As a supplement to Telix, an extensive SALT script language is available, which allows Telix to perform automated logons and many more complicated functions. As an example of the power of script files, the Telix Host Mode is written in the SALT script language. Welcome to Telix For DOS 3 New Features of Version 3.50 With version 3.50, Telix has been greatly improved and extended. The most important additions are listed below: - Mouse-controlled user interface with pull-down menus, scrollbars in listing windows and in the scroll-back mode, and sending of words or characters by a mouse click. - Selectable language for the user interface, which can also be changed during a Telix session. - Built-in INT14 mode for using Telix within networks (via a modem sharing software) or with FOSSIL drivers (e.g. for passive ISDN boards). - Support of higher interrupts (IRQ8 to IRQ15) and higher addresses (above $7FFF) for the COM ports. - Convenient editing and compiling of script files from within Telix via Script menu or hotkeys. - Extended status windows for Zmodem batch file transfers (GSZ/DSZ compatible). - Telix now provides CPU resources for other applications in multi-tasking environments (such as Windows, OS/2 etc.). The Telix Philosophy When Telix was written, a basic idea was kept in mind. It was felt that a powerful program could be simple to operate, with no loss of speed in order to achieve this ease of use. 4 Welcome to Telix for DOS Machine Requirements Telix will run on an IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, or true compatible with one hard drive and one floppy drive, or two floppy drives, and with at least 380 KBytes of free memory. This is memory available after DOS has been loaded. For a few functions, such as the DOS Shell, more memory is helpful. Telix will support up to 8 defined comm ports (COM1 through COM4 are predefined), any number of disk drives, and a printer connected to the parallel port. To get full use of Telix your modem must meet certain standards as well, especially for the Host Mode script. The Carrier Detect signal should not be forced high (on) by the modem, so that Telix can tell when you are online. This is usually controlled by the setting of a DIP switch on the modem, or a modem command (often &C1). The DTR (Data Terminal Ready) signal should not be ignored by the modem (&D2 in many cases, or switch controlled). Telix comes with a number of files and creates more in its normal operation. Files included in the Telix package are: TELIX.EXE The Telix program itself QDHOST.SLC The QDHost Mode script file (compiled) QDCONFIG.SLC QDHost Mode configuration script (compiled) *.KEY The various key definition files for the terminals supported by Telix TELIX*.LNG The various Language files for the multi-lingual user interface TELIX.PIF Program Information File for Microsoft Windows Files (optionally) created and used by Telix include: TELIX.CNF The Telix configuration file TELIX.LNG The default Language file (after installation) TELIX.FON The default Dialing Directory file TELIX.LD The Long Distance Codes file TELIX.CAP The default session Capture File TELIX.USE The default usage log file TELIX.IMG The screen image save file TELIX.KEY The default user key macros definition file TELIX.SWP The temporary swap file for Telix during DOS shell calls QDHOST.CNF The Host Mode configuration file Welcome to Telix For DOS 5 If you have purchased the full version of Telix including the script language compiler SALT, the disk will also contain the following files: CS.EXE The SALT script language compiler CSS.EXE The SIMPLE script language compiler QDHOST.SLT The QDHost Mode script file (source) QDCONFIG.SLT QDHost Mode configuration script (source) HOSTPLUS.DAT Compressed HOSTPLUS advanced BBS HOSTPLUS.DOC The HOSTPLUS program reference manual HINSTALL.EXE The HOSTPLUS installation program *.SLT Several SALT source examples (e.g. log-on scripts for different BBS systems) MODEMCFG.EXE The Telix modem configuration program TELIX.MDM Data file for MODEMCFG Telix at one time or another can have a number of files open, especially during Host Mode and a few other instances. If Telix tells you it is having problems opening files then it is probable that including the line files=20 in your CONFIG.SYS file could clear up the problem. This allows DOS to open more files (the default is files=8). For more information on the CONFIG.SYS file see your DOS manual. Start-Up Directory When you run Telix it will remember the disk directory you ran it from. After this point, even if you have changed the current directory with the change directory (cd) command, Telix will know that it should look for its program files on the start-up directory. Some files will also be written on this directory unless you specify another. 6 Welcome to Telix for DOS If you set the environment variable TELIX, Telix will have another (even better) way of knowing where to look for its files. The command form at the DOS prompt is: set TELIX=pathname where pathname is a the legal DOS pathname of the directory in which the Telix files are located. Do not leave any space between the = and the arguments. For example, if you used set TELIX=C:\TELIX\, Telix would know to look for its files in the Telix directory on drive C. This way, no matter where you run it from, Telix will always be able to find its files. To reset this environment variable to nothing the command is: set TELIX= For more information on environment variables see your DOS manual. Getting Started Configuring Telix with MODEMCFG.EXE Telix comes with a complete installation program called INSTALL.BAT that will walk you through a complete setup, including creating or modifying your existing configuration to work best with your modem; it will modify your modem settings to work best with Telix. To run the modem configuration program at any time after the installation (for example, when you install a new modem), from the DOS prompt type: MODEMCFG The files TELIX.MDM and MODEMCFG.EXE must be in the same subdirectory as TELIX.EXE for proper use. The TELIX.MDM modem information file will be updated regularly on the support BBS's listed in the Product Support section of this manual. These updates will handle changes in modem strings, add new modems, and will add new models as information about them reaches us. Welcome to Telix For DOS 7 Throughout the menus of MODEMCFG.EXE, you may use the arrow keys to move in a given direction, <Tab> and <Shift><Tab> to move right or left, <Home>, <End>, <PgUp> and <PgDn> to move up or down, or press the first letter of the menu item to move to the next item beginning with that letter. A menu will be shown from which you should select the manufacturer of your modem. Under each manufacturer is a list of their modems. Again pick the appropriate modem. If your modem is not listed, it is likely because the modem manufacturer has not supplied the proper data for its addition. Each modem is different, and for a modem to be listed, the modem manufacturer must supply complete data about the command set and functionality of the modem. The modems listed as "Generic" or "Unlisted" will usually work for modems that are not in the current data file as posted on the support BBS's. You will be shown a list of the settings for the modem itself, including any switch settings if known. Please write down the switch settings as you will need them later. When asked if you wish to configure your modem, answer by pressing the <Y> key. MODEMCFG will ask you for your comm port as well. Please refer to your modem manual for this information. If all goes well a successful configuration message will be shown. If there is a problem, ensure the proper comm port is specified and try again. A similar setup procedure will take place for TELIX.CNF, the configuration file for Telix itself. MODEMCFG will only change the values pertinent to the performance of the modem in existing configurations. Any existing color values or preferences will be left intact. If TELIX.CNF does not exist, MODEMCFG will create it. The exit screen of MODEMCFG contains final instructions on how to make best use out of the setup that has been written for you. Please make a note of these for later referral. You are now ready for your first Telix session. 8 Welcome to Telix for DOS Starting a Telix Session To start the Telix program type the following while at the DOS prompt: Telix [?] [B] [D] [O] [Q] [Cfilename] [Ffilename] [Sfilename] [COM] [INT14] [NOMOUSE] [TOFF] The letters in the [square brackets] are optional command line switches affecting what Telix will do upon start-up. The square brackets should not be entered. The order and case of the options does not matter but they must be separated by at least one blank. ? This parameter takes precedence over all other parameters. It displays the possible command line options of Telix without starting Telix itself. B Specifying 'B' in the command line forces Telix to use the PC's BIOS for all screen write operations and keystroke handling, whatever the default setting for these operations might be. This is useful when you want to run Telix in a multi-tasking environment such as Topview or MS Windows for just one session. Note that Telix is DESQview aware, so you do not have to use this mode for DESQview. D The 'D' option forces Telix to drop the RTS signal during disk writes for those systems exhibiting frequent CRC errors at rhythmic intervals while downloading. This is called slow handshaking. O Specifying the 'O' option upon start-up tells Telix that you are already online (connected to a host system), and that it should not try to initialize the modem. Welcome to Telix For DOS 9 Q The 'Q' option in the command line chooses quiet mode for the current session. When quiet mode is on Telix will not sound any alarms (e.g., when a file transfer is over), no matter what the default setting for alarms is. This is useful for those late night sessions. Any bell characters sent by the remote system are still sounded however. C The 'C' option indicates that a Telix configuration file other than the standard TELIX.CNF should be used. If it doesn't exist, it will be created. In this way, you may have multiple configurations for Telix. The name of the configuration file should immediately follow the 'C', and should include the extension. F The 'F' option indicates that a Dialing Directory (*.FON) file other than the default TELIX.FON should be loaded at start-up. The name should immediately follow the 'F'. Note that another Dialing Directory file may also be loaded from within Telix (in the Dialing Directory screen). S The 'S' option indicates that a script file (explained elsewhere) is to be run immediately upon start-up. The 'S' should be followed immediately (no blanks) by the name of the script file to execute. COM 'COM' forces Telix to work in the standard communications mode (direct communications via a physical serial interface) in this session, regardless of the setting in the configuration file TELIX.CNF. INT14 'INT14' forces Telix to work in the INT14 communications mode (communication via the interrupt 14h or a FOSSIL driver), regardless of the setting in the configuration file TELIX.CNF. 10 Welcome to Telix for DOS NOMOUSE 'NOMOUSE' completely disables the mouse support (default setting is on, if a Microsoft compatible mouse driver has been loaded and detected before Telix is started). TOFF The 'TOFF' parameter forces Telix not to provide CPU time for other applications in multi-tasking environments (Windows, OS/2). By default, Telix provides CPU resources. XMS Forces Telix to load much of its data into extended memory. If extended memory is available, then the memory footprint of Telix in main memory will be about 40k less than normal when this switch is used. When you start Telix for the first time, you will be asked to select a language for the user interface. If no language files (TELIX*.LNG) are found in the directory Telix is launched from, an error is reported and Telix cannot be started. Telix will create a copy of the selected language file and name it TELIX.LNG. If you are sure that you will never use a different language, you may then delete all .LNG files except for TELIX.LNG. As long as the language files are present, you can change the language at any time you wish. Upon starting, Telix will display a title screen for a period of 25 seconds or until you press a key. Please read the message on the title screen carefully. After you are past the title screen, you will be in 'Terminal Mode' unless Telix can't find the configuration file (usually TELIX.CNF), in which case it will ask you a few questions about your machine and modem, and then will write a configuration file for you. Welcome to Telix For DOS 11 INT14/FOSSIL Mode Unlike the standard communications mode, where Telix directly communicates with an external modem or ISDN adapter via a serial interface, Telix can also communicate via the BIOS interrupt 14h in connection with a modem sharing program in a network or with a FOSSIL driver (such as ATCAPI for passive ISDN boards). In this case the modem sharing software or the FOSSIL driver must be loaded before Telix is started. When creating the configuration file during the first start, Telix will ask you which COM port is to be used in INT14 mode. Specify the port used by your external program or driver (in INT14 mode the virtual ports COM1 to COM4 are available). This setting can be easily changed later. If Telix is started in INT14 mode (via the command line parameter INT14 or the corresponding setting in the configuration file), and no appropriate modem sharing software or FOSSIL driver has been loaded before, Telix will report this and switch to the serial INT14 routines of the PC BIOS. The bit rate in Telix will be automatically set to 9600 bps in this case, since higher rates are not supported by the BIOS. If you want to operate a modem in this mode, disable the hardware handshake (CTS/RTS) of the modem, as it is not supported as well. In general, the use of the BIOS INT14 routines is not recommended because of their poor performance and reliability. While Telix is running, you can switch between the standard communications mode (direct use of a serial port) and the INT14 mode at any time, if a suitable modem sharing program or FOSSIL driver has been loaded before Telix was started. In INT14 mode Telix will display INT14 in the status line (or FOSSIL, if a FOSSIL driver has been detected). Important Note for Network/Multi-tasking Operation When Telix is used in a network or in a DOS multi-tasking environment (such as DESQview) and the program SHARE.EXE is active, "Sharing Violation Errors" may occur if several users try to access TELIX.EXE at the same time. To prevent such errors, the "Read Only" flag or the "Protectable" flag (Netware) of the TELIX.EXE file should be set. 12 Welcome to Telix for DOS Terminal Mode Immediately after starting Telix, and for most of the time while using it, you will be in Telix's Terminal Mode. While in this mode any characters you type will be sent to the communications port, and any incoming characters will be printed on the screen. It is from the Terminal Mode that most Telix commands are initiated. Command Entry Unless the mouse control has been disabled with the command line switch NOMOUSE, all Telix functions can be accessed via mouse- controlled menus. To use the mouse, a Microsoft compatible mouse driver must be loaded before Telix is started. (Note: The functions of the left and right mouse button can be reversed via the Left-handed mouse function in the Miscellaneous menu. However, we will refer to the primary mouse button as the "left" button and the secondary button as the "right" button in this manual. The term "clicking" always refers to the primary, i.e. normally the left mouse button.) The menu bar at the top of the terminal screen can be toggled on and off with a double-click of the left mouse button, by pressing <Alt><5> or selecting Menu line toggle in the Configuration menu (the desired setting can also be permanently saved in the configuration file). To select a function with the mouse, click on the appropriate menu (e.g. Actions) and then on the desired function (e.g. Hang-up modem) with the left mouse button. You can also select menu items with the keyboard: Activate the menu bar by pressing and releasing the <Alt> key and select the desired menu and command by pressing the respective highlighted letter, or move through the menus with the arrow keys. The highlighted command is executed by pressing <Return>. Any menu can be exited with <Esc>. The menu bar can be deactivated by pressing <Alt> again (or <Esc>, if no menu is opened) or with a single mouse click in the terminal screen. As long as the menu bar is active, keyboard entries are not passed to the communications port. Welcome to Telix For DOS 13 Some menu commands open additional menus, where you can select fuctions or values with the mouse, with the arrow keys or by pressing the highlighted letter, in the same way as described above. Most commands can also be selected directly from the Terminal mode by pressing the shortcut keys given behind the respective menu item. For example, to access the Dialing Directory, you would press <Alt><D>. That is, while holding down the <Alt> key, you press the <D> key. Sending Characters and Words with the Mouse If the mouse control is enabled and a connection exists, clicking with the left mouse button in the terminal screen (not in the menu or status line) will send the word or character under the mouse cursor to the communications port. If the menu item Miscellaneous / Send word is checked (i.e. a checkmark appears behind the menu item), the entire word is sent. If it is not checked, only the character directly under the mouse cursor is sent. Any string consisting of the characters a to z, A to Z, 0 to 9, the ASCII characters 128-165 (e.g. a, o, u) and $, #, &, @, !, -, _, ~, \, ., :, * and ? is regarded as a word. All other characters are regarded as word limits. If Send word is not checked, any printable character is sent. Clicking with the right mouse button in the terminal screen during an existing connection will always send a Carriage Return character (<Return>, <Enter>, ASCII value 13). The Help/Status Screen While in Terminal Mode, selecting Help / General help or pressing the <Alt><Z> sequence will switch you to a help screen showing you a summary of all the available commands. If the key for a command is pressed while the help screen is still on, the screen will be turned off and the command will be executed. On the bottom of the help/status screen is some information regarding some current settings and the status of the current connection. 14 Welcome to Telix for DOS Items included are: the current time and date, the connect status, the elapsed time for the call in progress, the current communications parameters, the state of the Capture File and printer, the currently executing script file (if there is one), the current Dialing Directory, the current keyboard macro definition file, and a few other items. Selecting the menu item Help / Command line options or pressing <Ctrl><F1> will display a list of possible command line parameters as described in section 2.2. The Status Line Telix has an optional status line which may be displayed at the bottom or top of the screen. Its position can be selected under Configuration / Preferences / Terminal options. The status line can be toggled on/off by selecting Configuration / Status toggle or pressing <Alt><8> in Terminal Mode. The status line displays the current communications settings such as baud rate and parity, the state of the Capture File, whether or not the printer is on, the currently executing script file (scripts are explained elsewhere), and whether Telix is Online or Offline. In INT14 mode, INT14 is displayed in the status line (or FOSSIL, if a FOSSIL driver has been detected). During a file transfer, information about the data flow control status (such as Flow or Xoff) may appear in the status line as well. Communications Parameters Selecting Configuration / Comm parameters or pressing <Alt> allows you to change the communications parameters. This is the format in which Telix sends data over the modem, and expects to receive it in. After pressing <Alt> a window is displayed with the current parameters at the top, and the options in the rest of the window. To change a value press the letter or number of the setting you want, or click on the desired value with the mouse. Welcome to Telix For DOS 15 There are a number of parameters that can be changed. The speed is the bit rate (bps rate, bps = bits per second) that Telix uses to communicate with your modem (sometimes also referred to as baud rate, which is not quite correct). It should normally be set to a higher value than the line bit rate of your modem (see also Appendix C). All common bit rates up to 115,200 bps are supported, however, for bit rates of 19,200 and higher, a fast serial port with a 16550 UART chip is required (see also Appendix C). Parity is a form of error checking. Allowable parities are None, Even, Odd, Mark and Space. Data bits is the number of bits (a bit is a one or a zero in a computer) in each character. Allowable values are 7 and 8. Finally, the number of stop bits parameter can be set to either 1 or 2. The most common format for BBS use is 8 data bits, no parity, and 1 stop bit (8N1). On many large networks such as CompuServe, the data format used is 7E1. The communications parameters menu also allows you to select the communications port you want to use. Note that by default only the first four comm ports are defined. In INT14 mode, only four (virtual) COM ports are available. Important: Changing any parameters changes them only for the duration of the current communications session. If you want a set of parameters to be the default when you start Telix, select Terminal options under Configuration / Preferences or <Alt><O>. Entering and Editing Strings In the submenus and dialog windows of Telix you will often have to enter a string of characters, for example a filename, or a list of numbers to dial. Telix gives you full editing powers when you enter a string. As you type characters, you may use the <Backspace> key to delete previously entered characters. The <Left> and <Right> arrow keys allow you to move back and forth in the string to edit what you have entered. By default, any characters you enter overwrite any that are already there. Pressing the <Ins> key will place Telix in insert mode, and any existing characters are pushed ahead as you type. Pressing <Ins> once more places you back in overwrite mode. <Home> and <End> place the cursor at the beginning or end of the string, respectively. 16 Welcome to Telix for DOS Output String Translation In quite a few instances while using Telix, the user must specify a string to be sent out over the modem port. Sometimes this string must contain characters which can not be printed on the screen, for example, control characters, and even pauses. There has to be a way of indicating these special characters, and it is done through the use of special characters called translation characters. When these translation characters are encountered in an output string they are translated into other characters. The default translation characters are: ^ When this character (called a karat) is encountered in an output string it will make the following character a control character. For example, ^A will send out the code for <Ctrl><A>. A few common control characters are ^M, which is the Carriage Return character, ^J, which is the Line Feed character, and ^[, which is the Escape character. To send out the ^ character itself, use two ^ characters, as explained above. ~ When this character (called a tilde) is encountered it will make Telix pause for 1/2 a second. Note that the only way to send a ~ character out is to use the sequence ^~. Using two ~ characters in a row will simply make Telix pause twice. Ending a Telix Session To exit the Telix program, select File / eXit Telix or press <Alt><X>, or double-click in the terminal screen with the right mouse button. Telix will ask you if you really want to exit. Press <Y> to confirm the exit, <N> or <Esc> to return to Telix. If Telix detects that you are still on-line (connected to another computer), it will also present a third option, Hang-Up. If this option is selected, Telix will make sure that the connection is broken before exiting. Attention: If you select Yes rather than Hang-Up, the connection will remain even after leaving Telix! Program Features 17 Program Features Hang-Up Selecting Actions / Hang-up modem or pressing <Alt><H> will make Telix attempt to terminate the existing connection. 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 Appendix C 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, select File / Capture toggle or 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, select the menu item or press <Alt><L> again and select the Close option. To temporarily pause capturing data to the file, select the menu item or 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, select the menu item or press <Alt><L> and select the Unpause option. Printer Selecting File / Printer on/off or pressing <Ctrl><@> enables or disables the Printer Log function of Telix. While the Printer Log is active, information coming in from the comm port and printed on the terminal screen is recorded on the connected printer as well. 18 Program Features Usage Log Telix allows a usage log to be opened, which keeps track of calls you make and files 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 File / Usage log toggle or the <Alt> 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 (under Configuration / Preferences / General options). Following is a sample portion of a log: 95-03-17 00:12:41 Telix Usage Log Created. 95-12-24 00:12:41 Telix Usage Log Opened. 95-12-24 00:13:06 Connected with : TBoard 95-12-24 00:13:06 ++ At phone # :241-0241 95-12-24 00:13:06 ++ Settings : 57600,N,8,1 95-12-24 00:14:53 Hangup command selected. 95-12-24 00:16:25 Connected with : Telix Support BBS 95-12-24 00:16:25 ++ At phone # : 1-919-481-9399 95-12-24 00:16:25 ++ Settings : 57600,N,8,1 95-12-24 00:17:17 Download using Zmodem protocol. 95-12-24 00:17:19 ++ File : D:\DL\ZTC100.ZIP 95-12-24 00:41:09 ++ Chars per second : 2566 95-12-24 00:58:28 ++ File : D:\DL\OPT100.ZIP 95-12-24 01:22:54 ++ Chars per second : 2612 95-12-24 01:23:11 Hangup command selected. 95-12-24 01:23:12 Exiting Telix. Program Features 19 Lines that start with ++ are a continuation of previous lines. Here is a listing of possible entries: Menu command Key Log Entry File / Usage log <Alt> Telix Usage Log Created. Telix Usage Log Opened. Telix Usage Log Closed. Phone / Dialing Dir <Alt><D> Connected with: (entry) ++ At phone # : (phone #) ++ Settings : (settings) File / Receive file <Alt><R> Download using (protocol) ++ File : (pathname) ++ Chars per sec : (CPS) ++ Transfer aborted. File / Send file <Alt><S> Upload using (protocol) ++ File: (pathname) ++ Chars per sec : (CPS) ++ Transfer aborted. Actions / Hang-up modem <Alt><H> Hangup command selected. File / eXit Telix <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. 20 Program Features Scroll-Back To review past screens of characters, select Actions / Scroll Back or press <Alt>. 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) 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. You can also scroll through the buffer with the mouse: To scroll the text line by line, hold the left mouse button down on one of the arrow symbols at the top or bottom of the vertical scrollbar at the right screen border. To scroll one page up or down, click on the scrollbar area above or below the slider, or click directly on the slider and move it with the mouse button held down. 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. The search is always performed in downward direction, starting at the current cursor position. To save the screen image to a file press . 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 save the entire Scroll-Back buffer press <S>. To print out a screen image to your printer press <Shift><PrtSc>. All functions of the Scroll-Back buffer can also be selected directly by clicking on the desired function on the bottom of the screen with the mouse instead of pressing the shortcut keys described above. Program Features 21 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 regular 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 regular table on the other hand is relatively constant. You might want to assign your name to the <F4> 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 regular 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 Configuration / Key defs./macros or by pressing <Alt><K> in Terminal Mode. Telix will ask you if you want to access the regular or the terminal key definition table. Unless you wanted to modify the keys for a specific terminal, you would always select the regular table. Telix will present the following menu: Load Save Clear Display displayKey Edit eXit Load 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 assignments will be cleared. The standard key definition file is TELIX.KEY and is loaded at start-up if it exists. 22 Program Features Save 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. Clear Selecting Clear will clear all the current key definitions in this table. Display Selecting Display will show what text is assigned to each key. displayKey Selecting displayKey will allow you to look at what is assigned to one specific key, by pressing it when prompted. Edit 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. eXit To leave the keyboard definition/macro editor, select eXit. Program Features 23 DOS Shell Selecting File / DOS shell or 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. There is an option described later in the configuration section that allows you to free up most of the computer's memory when shelling to DOS. 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 COMMAND.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 information). 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 confuse Telix. If this happens, Telix will notice and re-initialize the port when you return from the shell. DOS Command Selecting Actions / DOS command or 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 MYFILE.DOC. This would load your file view utility and let you look at the MYFILE.DOC file. After you terminated this program you would be back in Telix. Any DOS command is legal, for example copy a:*.ZIP c:, or ren data dat1. If for some reason you might want Telix to pause after the command is finished, add a ; character to the end of the command string, for example type MYFILE.DOC;. This stops the last screen- full typed from scrolling by too quickly when control returns to Telix. 24 Program Features Editor Selecting File / Run Editor or pressing <Alt><A> will allow you to run your favorite editor from within Telix. In order to do this you must supply the full name and path of your editor in the Filenames and paths area under Configuration / Preferences. 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 Selecting Miscellaneous / DOS functions or pressing <Alt><F> will display a menu of some common DOS operations. For convenience, a few commands available elsewhere have been included. The individual functions and the letters to execute them are: S: Jump to DOS Shell. This performs the same function as File / DOS shell or <Alt><J>. I: 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 calculated for the current default upload file transfer protocol. However, the estimated time will only be correct if a connection exists and Telix knows the actual line bit rate, i.e. the connection has been established from the Dialing Directory and the modem has reported the correct bit rate. Program Features 25 W: 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 cd command. L: Delete File. You are asked to enter the filename of the file to delete. D: DOS Command. This performs the same function as Actions / DOS command or <Alt><V>. E: Run Editor. This performs the same function as File / RuN Editor or <Alt><A>. Screen Image Selecting File / Screen Image or pressing <Alt> saves an image of the screen to the Telix Screen Image file. This file is usually called TELIX.IMG, but can be renamed under Configuration / Preferences / Filenames and Paths. If the file already exists, the image is added to the end of it. 26 Program Features 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 an 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 selecting Configuration / Translate table or 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. Load The Load option is used to load a previously saved translate table definition file. Telix will ask for the filename, including extension. Clear The Clear option is used to reset all values in the translate table in memory, so that no translation is performed. Save 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). Edit 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 stripped. Program Features 27 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 select Actions / Chat Mode or 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 <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 or the left mouse button. Clear Screen To clear the screen, select Actions / Clear screen or press <Alt><C>. The screen will be cleared to the default colors, and the cursor will be placed in the upper left-hand corner. 28 Program Features Local Echo Selecting Actions / Local echo or 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 (or your modem) to be printed on 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 (this mode is indicated by FDX in the status line). 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 (in this case, HDX appears in the status line). 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. Selecting Actions / Toggle Linefeed or 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, select Actions / Send BREAK or press <Ctrl><End>. Program Features 29 DOORWAY Mode Selecting Actions / DOORWAY mode or pressing <Alt><=> while in Terminal Mode will toggle DOORWAY mode on/off. DOORWAY mode is used by the DOORWAY utility by Marshall Dudley, 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 with the keyboard. Miscellaneous Options Selecting Miscellaneous / Misc. functions or pressing <Alt><M> while in Terminal Mode will cause Telix to display the Misc. Options menu, which contains the following features: Sending Modem Strings To re-send the Modem Initialization string, select the first option of the Misc. Options Menu. To send the Modem Auto-Answer string, select the second option of the Misc. Options Menu. If this string is properly defined, the modem will be placed in auto-answer mode. The strings sent by these functions are defined under Configuration / Preferences / Modem and dialing. Setting the Screen Size The third to fifth options of the Misc. Options 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. Inside The Dialing Directory 31 The Dialing Directory Telix allows you to keep telephone numbers in files called dialing directories. A Dialing Directory is variably sized and can hold from 1 to 1000 entries. Besides the number, many other fields of information are stored, such as the communications parameters needed to talk to the service. All the fields are described below. The default Dialing Directory file is called TELIX.FON, but you can have as many directories as you want and load them as needed. To access the Dialing Directory, select Phone / Dialing Directory or press <Alt><D> while in Terminal Mode. If the Use of Quick Dialing bar option is enabled under Configuration / Preferences / General options, a small window will appear, asking you to enter the entries to dial or to press <Return> to see the Dialing Directory. This first window is simply a very quick way to dial your most commonly called numbers. In this case you must press <Return> again to make the Dialing Directory itself appear. The Display Most of the screen is taken up by a window showing 15 (or more, depending on the screen mode) of the possible 1000 entries in the Dialing Directory. 32 Inside The Dialing Directory On the bottom of the screen is a menu of options. This menu works in a similar manner to the other menus found in Telix. In addition, since dialing is such a common function, if any numeric key is pressed, it is assumed that the List function is wanted and this number is carried over as the first digit entered for that function. To scroll through the directory one entry at a time, use the <Up> and <Down> arrow keys. Use <PgUp> to go back one page, and <PgDn> to go forward one page. Press <Home> to go to the beginning of the directory, and <End> to go to the end of the directory. It should be emphasized that whenever the line Scroll with Up, Down, Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn is displayed, you may scroll through the directory. You can also select an entry by clicking on it with the mouse. A double-click with the left mouse button on an entry directly executes the Dial function, even if it is not highlighted in the menu. For each entry, many items are stored. All the fields can not be displayed at the same time; you may toggle which fields are shown on the screen by selecting the Toggle command. Each entry contains: Name: The name of the remote service (i.e. CyberCity, CompuServe, ELSA ONLINE, etc.). Number: The phone number which Telix should dial to reach the remote service. Line Format: The communications parameters (such as baud rate, parity, etc.) needed to talk to this service. Script: A script file may be linked to each entry in the Dialing Directory. When Telix connects to this service, that script file is then run, and may for example automatically log-on, entering your name and password as needed, for greater convenience and speed. LastCall: The date of the last successful call you made to this remote service. Total: The total number of successful calls you've made to this number. Terminal: The terminal Telix should start emulating when a connection has been reached to this number. Inside The Dialing Directory 33 P: The first letter of the Protocol which should be set as the default if a connection is reached to this number. E: Whether local Echo should be on or off when a connection is reached with this number. L: This controls whether the Add Line Feeds setting should be on or off when a connection is reached with this number. H: Whether Telix will strip the High (most significant) bit of incoming characters in Terminal Mode. BD: Whether a received Backspace sequence is Destructive (that is, if the character backspaced over should also be erased). BK: What value the Backspace Key sends, either Backspace, or Del. DP: This (advanced) setting is used to tell Telix what Dialing Prefix to use when dialing this entry. The dialing prefixes are defined under Configuration / Preferences / Modem and dialing. They can for example be used to dial out of a private branch exchange or to turn on or off MNP (error correcting) support in modems, to avoid delays when the number called does not support it anyway. Password: This field may hold a password for the remote service represented by this entry. The password may be used by a script file to automatically perform a log-on operation. Please note that this field is not encrypted, so if security is a problem, do not store your passwords in the Dialing Directory! 34 Inside The Dialing Directory Editing an Entry To edit the currently highlighted Dialing Directory entry select Edit from the Dialing Directory menu. A window will appear with the old contents of the entry. You can move through the list with the arrow keys, or click directly on a field with the mouse. To edit the currently highlighted field, press <Return>, enter a new text or select the desired value from the presented menu, and press <Return> again. You may also move up and down in the list of fields by using the <Tab> and <Shift><Tab> keys. Pressing <Esc> one or more times will get you out of the edit window without any changes being made. When exiting the window, Telix will ask you if the Last Call and Total Calls fields should be cleared. Answer Yes or No as needed. If any data in one or more of the fields has been changed, Telix will ask for confirmation before writing any changes to disk. Adding Entries To add a blank entry to the end of the Dialing Directory, select Add from the Dialing Directory menu. A Dialing Directory may hold up to 1000 entries. Clearing Entries To clear an entry or a range of entries select Clear from the Dialing Directory menu. Telix will ask you to select the range of entries to clear, by moving the highlight bar and pressing <Return>. After confirming your choice, Telix will clear the selected entries back to empty entries. Inside The Dialing Directory 35 Finding an Entry To search for a particular entry in the Dialing Directory select Find from the Dialing Directory menu. You will be asked to give the string to search for. If Telix finds the entry with that string in it, that entry will be highlighted. If while searching for the string Telix reaches the end of the directory, it will wrap around to the beginning and continue the search. If the string still can not be found Telix will say Sorry, string not found. If you want to search for the same string as last time, just press <Return> when asked for the search string. 36 Inside The Dialing Directory Dialing Telix allows you to dial a group of Dialing Directory entries repeatedly until a connection is established, or you abort the attempt. Selecting the Dial function from the Dialing Directory menu or double-clicking on an entry with the left mouse button will make Telix commence dialing in sequence all the currently marked entries. An entry is marked or unmarked by moving the highlight bar on it and pressing <Space>, or pressing the right mouse button while the mouse cursor is on the currently highlighted entry. If no entry is marked, the Dial function will dial the currently highlighted entry. You may also dial a user-entered list of entries, by selecting the List function from the Dialing Directory menu. Telix will ask you to enter up to 10 entries to dial in sequence (to make List dialing even more convenient, you may also select the List function by pressing a numeric key while in the Dialing Directory menu; this number is then carried over and entered as the first digit in the string you are asked to enter). While you are entering the list of entries to dial you may also scroll through the directory as described above. If you specify more than one entry to dial, each should be separated by a space. Selecting Phone / Queue redial #s or pressing <Alt><Q> while in the Terminal Mode or selecting Redial from the Dialing Directory menu will allow you to redial one or more numbers that you entered previously using the List command, so that you do not have to re-enter them. When using Phone / Queue redial #s or <Alt><Q>, you will be shown the list and asked to edit it until you are satisfied, and then to press <Return>. Sometimes you may want to dial a number that is not in the Dialing Directory. To do this select the Manual option of the Dialing Directory menu, which stands for 'manual dial'. You will be asked to enter a number to be sent to the modem. Whatever you supply will be sent out exactly as it is, except for Long Distance Codes (see below), which are still valid. Inside The Dialing Directory 37 Automatic Queue Redial When Telix has one or more numbers to dial, it redials repeatedly until a connection is made. To keep you informed of the status of the redial Telix displays a status window, and alerts you when a connection is established. Information included in the status window is the time redial was started, the time the current attempt was started, the status of the last attempt, the status of the current attempt, and a countdown timer for the current attempt. If you are dialing all the marked entries with the Dialing Directory Dial command, when a connection is reached, the mark is taken off the entry connected to, so that when you later select the Dial function again, only the remaining entries are dialed. If you are dialing a list of entries selected with the List Dialing Directory command, when a connection is established the entry connected to is taken out of the list (i.e. it is unmarked), so that when you later select the Redial command from the Dialing Directory or the Phone / Queue redial #s or <Alt><Q> command from Terminal Mode, only the remaining entries will be dialed. While redialing, you have the option of changing the time that Telix waits for a connection, and also the option of deleting a number from the list to dial, by pressing T and D respectively. Pressing <Esc> or the left mouse button will abort the current dial attempt. Normally, when a connection has been reached, Telix sounds an alarm to alert you of this (if alarms are enabled under Configuration / Preferences / General options). If a script file is linked to the entry however, the alarm is skipped so that the script may immediately proceed. It is thus the responsibility of the linked script to alert the user of the fact that a connection has been reached. 38 Inside The Dialing Directory The Quick Dialing Bar If the Use of Quick Dialing bar option is enabled under Configuration / Preferences / General options, after selecting Phone / Dialing Directory or pressing <Alt><D> first an inverse bar is displayed on the bottom of the screen, asking you to select the entries to dial or press <Return> to see the Dialing Directory. This bar is a quick way to dial commonly called directory entries whose numbers you have memorized. You may enter a list of entries to dial just as if you had used the List command of the Dialing Directory menu. This saves the Dialing Directory from having to be displayed on the screen if you already know the entry or entries you want to dial. The Quick Dialing Bar can also be used to dial a number manually. To do this just preface the number with an m. For example, m1-919-460- 4556 would dial 1-919-460-4556, just as if you had used the Manual dial option of the Dialing Directory. Either lowercase or uppercase m is accepted. Long Distance Codes A Long Distance Code is an advanced dialing option which adds some flexibility. There are four Long Distance Code characters: !, @, $, and +, which when encountered while dialing expand to user-defined strings. If Telix is dialing a number from a Dialing Directory entry, and one of the Long Distance Code characters is encountered in the number, Telix will instead send whatever string has been assigned to that code. For example, a Dialing Directory entry could contain the phone number !967-1111. If the string 9,, was assigned to the ! LD code character, Telix when dialing this entry would first send the 9 followed by the commas, and then send the rest of the digits. Refer to your modem manual for information on what characters can be used in a dial string. LD codes may also be used with the List dial function. When you place one of them in front of or behind an entry number to dial, it will be expanded to a string. For example you could have the exclamation sign !, be expanded to 9,, or any string you specify. Inside The Dialing Directory 39 You may place up to 3 Long Distance Codes in front and one Long Distance Code after each entry number. For example, specifying the entry +21! would send the string for the + Long Distance Code, followed by the number from entry 21, followed by the string for Long Distance Code !. The string 10 +15 20! entered at the prompt would dial entry 10, then entry 15 with a Long Distance Code in front of it, and finally entry number 20, with a Long Distance Code after it. These numbers are redialed repeatedly until a connection is reached, as explained above. Other Functions Selecting Other from the Dialing Directory menu will present a menu of secondary functions, dealing with the deletion or insertion of entries in the Dialing Directory, with revising Long Distance Codes, and with the handling of dialing directories (Telix allows you to have as many dialing directories as needed and switch among them at will by loading the respective dialing directory file). Inserting Blank Entries To insert blank entries in the Dialing Directory, select Insert from the Dialing Directory Other menu. Entries will be inserted at the current position of the highlight bar. Telix will ask how many entries to insert and will ask for confirmation before proceeding. Deleting Entries To delete an entry or a range of entries in the Dialing Directory select the Delete option from the Dialing Directory Other menu. The range to delete is selected by moving the highlight bar. After confirming your choice, the entries will be deleted and any following entries will move up to where the deleted entries were. 40 Inside The Dialing Directory Revising Long Distance Codes To revise the Long Distance Codes, select the option called Edit_LD from the Dialing Directory Other menu. There are four Long Distance Code characters: ! @ $ +. As described in the section on Long Distance Codes on the previous page, when you place one of them in front of or behind a number to dial, it will be expanded to a string. After selecting this option you will be shown a menu of the available Long Distance Codes. Selecting an LD Code will let you modify the text currently assigned to it. After you have made your changes, you must save them to disk with the Save Changes option, if you want to use them every time you run Telix. Creating a Dialing Directory To create a blank Dialing Directory (which can later be modified), select the option called Create from the Dialing Directory screen's Other menu. Telix will ask you for the name the new directory should use. Any legal DOS filename is suitable, and there is no default extension. Telix will then create the blank directory on disk. The current Dialing Directory is not be affected and will stay in memory. Loading a Dialing Directory To load another Dialing Directory select the Load option form the Dialing Directory screen's Other menu. Telix will ask for the name of the new directory and then load it into memory. Telix assumes a default extension of .FON, so if the directory you want to load does not have one, include a period at the end (e.g., TELIX.) The new directory becomes the default directory for the rest of the session or until you load another one. Inside The Dialing Directory 41 Printing the Dialing Directory Selecting the Print option from the Dialing Directory screen's Other menu allows you to print out the current Dialing Directory, to the printer, the serial port, or any device or disk file. Telix will ask you for the device or file to print to. Enter the name or press <Return> to use the PRN device (printer). Since these are DOS devices, Telix has no way of knowing, for example, things such as whether or not your printer is online. So if Telix seems to lock-up here, make sure your printer is on and it is set to online. Sorting the Dialing Directory To sort the entries in the Dialing Directory select the Sort option from the Other menu. You will be asked by which of four possible criteria the entries should be sorted - System Name, Telephone Number, Number of Calls, or Date of last Call - and if they should be sorted in ascending or descending order. Moving Entries Select the Move option from the Others menu to move a range of entries within the directory list. Use the highlight bar to select the range of entries to be moved, and then indicate the target position the entries should be moved to using the highlight bar. File Transfers 43 File Transfers Sending files from one computer to another is one of the most useful things you can do with your modem. Telix supports a full assortment of the most popular file transfer protocols, including Xmodem, Xmodem-1k, Xmodem-1k-g, Zmodem, CompuServe Quick B, Kermit, Ymodem, Ymodem-g, SEAlink, Telink, Modem7, and ASCII. Telix's file transfers are very fast, surpassing most programs in speed by a respectable margin. All file transfers use a 10 Kbyte write or read buffer, and full error detection and correction is standard. Telix allows you to define up to five external protocols, which are completely integrated into the file transfer menus. When you select one of these protocols, Telix executes a DOS batch file or Telix script file, which must then call the appropriate external driver for the protocol. In this way, you may add virtually any file transfer protocol to Telix. Adding external protocols is defined in the chapter on customizing Telix. Downloading (Receiving) Files To start downloading (receiving) a file from a remote host, you must usually inform the remote host of the files that you want it to send to you before starting the transfer on the Telix side. You must then start the download on the Telix side, unless you have selected Zmodem as the transfer protocol and Zmodem auto- downloads are enabled under Configuration / Preferences / Terminal options. In this case the download starts automatically. In all other cases, selecting File / Receive File or pressing the <Alt><R> or <PgDn> key will display a menu asking which file transfer protocol you would like to use. 44 File Transfers If any external protocols are defined, they are also shown as part of the menu. If you have selected Xmodem, Xmodem-1k, Xmodem-1k-g, or ASCII as the protocol, Telix will ask you for the filename to save the file to. Telix always watches what you type while online, and will often guess the name of the file you want to transfer, in which case this name will be displayed and all you have to do to accept it is press <Return>. Any legal DOS filename is valid, including a path. If the filename you supply already exists, Telix will ask you to confirm your choice or give another filename. If you select any other protocol, the remote sender of the file will supply the name to save the file to. If you have entered a download directory name under Configuration / Preferences / Filenames and Paths, Telix will automatically save download files there if you don't specify another path. Telix has automatic incoming file protection. If the name is supplied by the host and exists already the file is renamed by using numerals in the extension, as needed. During the transfer, a status window of the following type is displayed. The status window shows the elapsed time, the number of bytes received, and an approximate Character Per Second rating, which can give an idea of the effective speed of the transfer. Batch protocols (such as Zmodem) will also display the expected file size and file transfer time. The displayed values and the percentage bar always refer to the file currently being transferred. If the Zmodem protocol of the remote host sends a GSZ/DSZ or Telix 3.50 compatible extended protocol header and several files are sent (batch transfer), a second set of information and a second percentage bar are displayed to indicate the overall amount of data transferred so far. For ASCII transfers, a status window is not displayed, only a single status line at the top of the screen. To abort a file transfer at any time press the <Esc> key. File Transfers 45 Uploading (Sending) Files To start uploading (sending) a file to a remote host you must also usually inform the host of the file you will be sending it before starting the upload on the Telix end. To start the upload on the Telix end, select File / Send File or press the <Alt><S> or <PgUp> key. This will display a menu asking you which file transfer protocol you want to use to send the file. After you have selected the protocol, you will be asked for the file(s) to send by a dialog box. This is a complex dialog, and deserves detailed attention. Once mastered, this dialog will greatly streamline the uploading process. There are four separate windows and a menu with options in the dialog. The selected window will have a bar at the top, highlighting the name of the window. You may move from one window to the next using <Tab> and <Shift><Tab> to move forward or backward, respectively, or you can select a window with the left mouse button. In any window, pressing <Up> Arrow or <Down> Arrow move the highlight bar in that direction if possible. You may also scroll through the lists with the mouse scrollbars on the right window borders and select list entries with the left mouse button. Pressing <F10> or clicking on Upload in the menu closes the dialog and uploads the files selected. Tagged Files: This window contains a list of all of the files Telix is to upload. It will be blank when the dialog first appears. You may select files to be included in this list as described below. Files already listed may be removed from this window by highlighting the file and pressing <Return> or <Space> or clicking on the highlighted entry with the mouse. 46 File Transfers Path/Dir: This window is where the currently displayed upload path will be displayed. You may add files to the Tagged Files List from this window by typing in the exact name of the file and pressing <Return>. You may use the wildcard characters ? and * (see your DOS manual for more information about wildcard characters). You may change the currently displayed upload path by entering a new path here. Filelist: This window contains the files in the currently displayed upload path. This window may contain a maximum of approximately 700 files. Files listed in this window may be added to the Tagged Files List by highlighting the file and pressing <Return> or <Space>, or clicking twice on a file with the left mouse button. If you wish to add or remove all files in this window (both those on and off the screen) to or from the Tagged Files List, press <F3> or <F4> respectively, or click on the corresponding menu options (Tag All or UnTag All). Drives: This window contains a list of all available disks in your system, except for floppy drives. Users of removable disks such as Bernoulli boxes may have to load a cartridge to upload a file. You may change the drive on which the Filelist is read from by selecting a new drive from this window. NOTE If Telix does not automatically recognize one of your drives, you may expressly specify the drives to appear in the list under Configuration / Preferences / General Options. File Transfers 47 During the file transfer, a full status window is displayed, unless you are using ASCII protocol, in which case only a status line is displayed. Information shown is the expected time the transfer will take, the time remaining, the number of bytes to send, the number of bytes left, and an approximate Character Per Second rating, which can give an idea of the effective speed of the transfer. This information always refers to the file currently being transferred. If several files are transferred with Zmodem, a second set of information and a second percentage bar are displayed to indicate the overall amount of data transferred so far. To abort a transfer at any time press the <Esc> key. File Transfer Protocols Xmodem Xmodem is often called the "lowest common denominator" protocol, and is the father protocol of many others. Xmodem sends files in blocks of 128 characters at a time. When the receiving computer is satisfied that the block has arrived intact, it signals so and waits for the next block. Error checking is a checksum or a more sophisticated Cyclic Redundancy Check. Telix supports both and will automatically use the right one. During a download, Telix will attempt to use the CRC, but will switch to checksum if it seems the host does not support CRC. The Xmodem protocol also needs a setup of no parity, 8 data bits, and 1 stop bit. If your communications parameters are different from these when you start an Xmodem transfer, Telix will switch to the required setup for the transfer, and back to the original setup after it is finished. In the Configuration Menu, you may enable Relaxed Xmodem timing. This is for use with remote services that can not tolerate strict timing during Xmodem transfers. 48 File Transfers Xmodem-1k This is a small variation of the above that uses blocks that are 1 Kilobyte (1024 bytes) in size. This protocol is still mistakenly called 'Ymodem' by many programs, but people are gradually moving over to the proper name. Xmodem-1k-g This is a variation of the above that is meant for error-free channels such as error correcting modems or null modem cable links between two computers. It achieves great speed by sending blocks one after another without waiting for acknowledgment from the receiver. Because of this however, it can not re-send blocks in case of errors (and thus the need for an error-free link). If an error is detected by the receiver, the transfer is aborted. This protocol is still mistakenly called 'Ymodem-g' by many programs, but people are gradually moving over to the proper name. CIS Quick B This protocol is used only on the CompuServe Information Service. It is quite fast and specially suited for the networks used in accessing CIS, which have large turnaround delays. This is a windowed protocol, which basically means that unless errors are detected, data is being sent at all times. A CIS Quick B transfer is totally controlled by CompuServe. After telling CIS what file(s) to send, the user does nothing. Telix, in Terminal Mode, then detects the command from CIS which tells it to start the transfer (note that CIS Quick B transfer must be enabled under Configuration / Preferences / Terminal options, or they will not work). File Transfers 49 Zmodem This advanced protocol is very fast and very reliable, and offers many features. It can arguably be called the most popular protocol in use today. Zmodem can transfer a group of files in one batch, and keeps the exact file names, sizes and dates. Zmodem can detect and recover from errors quickly, and can resume an interrupted transfer at a later time (this feature, called Crash Recovery, may be toggled in the Protocol options page under Configuration / Preferences). Zmodem is also very well suited for satellite links and packet switched networks. SEAlink SEAlink is an advanced version of Xmodem developed by System Enhancement Associates. It is a sliding window protocol. SEAlink is 15 to 25 percent faster than regular Xmodem. SEAlink passes a file's name, size, and date when transferring it, and can be used to send more than one file at a time. ASCII In an ASCII transfer, it is as if the sender is actually typing the characters and the receiver is just recording them. There is no form of error detection used. Usually only ASCII files can be sent in this way, as binary files contain characters which would foul up the screen. The ASCII protocol is used, for example, to upload prepared messages to the message editor of a BBS instead of typing the text online. Ymodem This protocol is a variation on Xmodem, which allows for multiple files to be sent per transfer. While transferring files, it keeps the correct name, size, and date, and may use 128 or 1024 byte block sizes. 50 File Transfers Ymodem-g This protocol is a variation on the above, which achieves very high transfer rates by sending blocks one after another without waiting for acknowledgment. This however means than an error- free link such as an error-correcting modem or null modem cable between two computers is needed. If an error is detected by the receiver, the transfer is aborted. Telink This protocol is mainly found on Fido BBS systems. It is basically the Xmodem protocol using CRC checking with an extra block sent ahead of the file telling its name, size, and date. This protocol allows more than one file to be sent at a time. Modem7 Modem7 is a close cousin to Xmodem that passes the filename before starting the transfer, thus taking away some of the user's work. It is common on CP/M systems. This protocol allows more than one file to be sent at a time. Kermit The Kermit protocol was developed to make it easier for computers of different types to send files to each other. Almost any computer using Kermit can be set up to send files to another computer using Kermit (the same can be said of Zmodem however). Various options in the Kermit protocol implemented in Telix can be tailored to the user's needs under Configuration / Preferences, option Kermit transfers. This implementation of Kermit does not include a Kermit "server" function, and cannot use SEND, GET, or other server commands. File Transfers 51 Which One to Use Telix supports a large number of built in file transfer protocols. To this can be added external protocols. It can get confusing to decide which one to use. When both sides of the connection only support one protocol, then obviously that is the one to use, no matter what its deficiencies. Otherwise some protocols are a better choice than others. On CompuServe, CIS Quick B should be used. For most purposes, Zmodem is the best all around protocol. It is very fast and very reliable. Ymodem-g and Xmodem-1k-g are slightly faster. However these two protocols need an error-free link. After that, Ymodem, SEAlink, and Xmodem-1k are quite fast and pretty reliable. The last choice would be Xmodem and its close cousins Telink and Modem7. ASCII transfers are suitable only for text files and do not perform any error detection or correction, so they should only be used as a substitute for directly typed text (uploading a prepared message to the message editor of a BBS). Customizing Telix 53 Customizing Telix Telix has many features which can be customized. These include things like the screen setup, the communications parameters, filenames and paths, and many other items. The default values for these parameters are stored in a file called TELIX.CNF, the configuration file. Telix will automatically read this file upon starting up. The first time you use Telix, this file is created for you with some standard default values. Selecting Configuration / Preferences or pressing <Alt><O> while in Terminal Mode brings up the Telix Preferences menu, which allows you to change all these default settings. The first eleven options are parameter screens, the last two deal with leaving the Configuration Menu. Screen and Color Settings This screen allows you to set various video related options. You will be shown a menu listing the various parts of the screen displays (such as menu foreground colors). If you pick one of these items you will be allowed to scroll through the possible colors for it by using the arrow keys. Press <Return> to select the currently highlighted color, or click on the desired color with the mouse. If you want to leave the colors menu without selecting one press <Esc> or click outside the colors menu. 54 Customizing Telix Another setting on the Screen and color menu is the Screen write mode. If you pick this option you will be asked in which way you want Telix to write to the screen. This depends on the video adapter present in your system. The first option is a direct screen write. This is the fastest mode, and should be used if you have a monochrome adapter, an EGA adapter, or another video adapter that never gets snow. The second option is a direct screen write with port checks. This method is slightly slower. You should use this method if your screen gets snow on it or it flickers while executing the DOS dir command. One card with which you should use this is the color/graphics adapter. Don't use this option if your video card doesn't need it, as it may interfere with communications. The final method is a screen write with BIOS calls. You should use this method with applications like Windows, Topview or DoubleDOS. This method is quite slow however. Note that you do not need this mode to run Telix under DESQview, since Telix is DV aware. Another setting on this menu is Default screen size. This allows you to pick an alternate default screen size of 80x43 or 80x50. Note that these modes require an EGA or VGA card. Note also that many EGA cards can not do 80x50, and some VGA cards can not do 80x43. When you have finished picking the colors, select the Keep changes & exit option if you want to keep the color changes you have made, or the Exit option if you want to discard them. Customizing Telix 55 Terminal Options This screen contains settings related to Telix operation while in Terminal Mode (with some extending to other areas of Telix). To select a setting to change, click on it with the mouse or type the letter beside it. Telix will then allow you to change the old setting. Press <Esc> at this point or click outside the menu to exit without changing anything. Options include: A: Default Communications Parameters. These include comm port, bps (baud) rate, data bits, parity, and stop bits. Note that the current settings will not change, only the defaults for the next time you load Telix. To change the settings for the current session only, select Configuration / Comm. parameters or press <Alt> while in terminal mode. B: Emulate Before Translation. Some European systems override characters used by many terminal emulations to signal color changes and other items that don't show up on the screen as characters. Normally a received character is passed through the translation tables before being examined to see if it is such a character. This option allows the emulation to occur first, and then only translates those characters not seen as emulation commands. C: Default Terminal Type. Allowable terminals are "TTY", "ANSI-BBS", "VT102", "VT52", "ANSI", and "AVATAR". Note that the current terminal will not be changed, only the terminal used the next time you run Telix. To change the current terminal, select Configuration / Terminal Emulation or press <Alt><T> while in terminal mode. 56 Customizing Telix D: Status Line. Telix allows a status line to be displayed at the top or bottom of the screen. The status line shows some useful information. Valid options are Top, Bottom or None. While in Terminal Mode the status line may also easily be toggled on or off by selecting Configuration / Status toggle or pressing <Alt><8>. E: Default Local Echo. This controls whether or not Telix should echo on the screen any characters you type while in Terminal Mode. This is usually off for BBS use. Local echo on is often also called Half Duplex (HDX), while local echo off is called Full Duplex (FDX). F: Add Line Feeds. This controls whether or not Telix should add Line Feeds to incoming Carriage Return characters while in Terminal Mode. If you are connected to a remote system and lines are overwriting each other, this should be on, otherwise it should be off. G: Strip High Bit. Telix can strip the high (most significant) bit from incoming data bytes while in Terminal Mode. This is sometimes useful because it allows the high/parity bit of incoming text to be ignored. H: Received Backspace Destructive. This setting controls how Telix treats incoming backspace characters. If backspace characters are destructive, Telix backs up over the previous character and erases it, otherwise the existing character is not erased. I: Backspace Key Character. Normally, Telix sends Backspace when the <Backspace> key is pressed, and DEL when <Ctrl><Backspace> is pressed. This option allows these settings to be swapped. Customizing Telix 57 J: XON/XOFF Software Flow Control. This controls whether or not Telix should use the XON/XOFF software handshaking protocol while in Terminal Mode and during ASCII file transfers. This should usually be off, as most systems nowadays use hardware handshake. However, some large data services use the characters XON and XOFF to control data flow. K: CTS/RTS Hardware Handshaking. Hardware handshaking is used with high speed modems and null modem cable links to regulate the flow of data. If the modem supports Hardware handshaking this should be on. If a null modem cable is being used and these signals are valid over the cable, this should be on. If CTS/RTS handshaking is enabled by default, but the CTS signal is found off when Telix is started, Telix will report this and wait ten seconds for CTS to be turned on. Within these ten seconds you can press Space to keep CTS/RTS handshaking, or any other key to turn it off. If nothing happens in these ten seconds, the handshaking is turned off as well. The same happens if the PC BIOS is used in INT14 mode. In this case, Telix switches to XON/XOFF handshaking, since CTS/RTS is not supported by the BIOS routines. L: DSR/DTR Hardware Handshaking. Hardware handshaking is used with high speed null modem cable links to regulate the flow of data. If a null modem cable is being used and these signals are valid over the cable, this should be on. Often a null modem cable will allow one type of hardware handshaking to be used, but not the other. 58 Customizing Telix M: Compuserve Quick B Transfers. CompuServe Quick B file transfers are initiated by CompuServe, which sends a few special characters (<Ctrl><E> and <Ctrl>). Telix, upon detecting these characters while in Terminal Mode, starts the transfer. If another Host is sending these characters and causing problems, this option allows CIS Quick B recognition to be turned off. N: Zmodem Auto-Downloads. Telix, while in Terminal Mode, can detect the packet from another computer sending files using the Zmodem protocol, and automatically begin a Zmodem download on the local end. This option allows this feature to be disabled. O: Drop RTS during Disk Writes. This option forces Telix to drop the RTS signal line during disk writes for those systems exhibiting frequent errors at rhythmic intervals while downloading. This is called slow handshaking. This option corresponds to the command line switch D. P: Answerback String. Some systems require that the terminal program send an identification string when an ENQ (<Ctrl><E>) character is received. You may define such an 'answerback' string here. If this string is empty, nothing is sent. As well, note that the answerback string is not sent if CompuServe Quick B transfers are enabled (above), as <Ctrl><E> is used as part of that protocol. Customizing Telix 59 General Options This screen allows you to change some general settings, including: A: Sound. If this is off Telix will not make any sounds. B: Alarm Sound. If this is off Telix will not make any alarm sounds, but will still beep when it receives the bell code from the remote host, unless the Sound option is also off. C: Keep Aborted Downloads. If this is on, Telix will keep files which were aborted during a download. Otherwise Telix will delete these files. D: Show Free Space for Downloads. This setting controls whether or not Telix will display the free space on the disk when you start a download. The option to turn it off is provided because the free space display takes a few seconds for large hard disks. E: Use of Quick Dialing Bar. When this option is on and you select Phone / Dialing Directory or press <Alt><D> to access the Dialing Directory, Telix first displays the Quick Dialing Bar at the bottom of the screen, which allows you to dial entries without having to view the Dialing Directory. If you would rather go directly to the Dialing Directory, set this option to off. F: Confirm Hang-Up. Setting this option to on will make Telix ask for confirmation before hanging up, when Actions / Hang-up modem is selected or <Alt><H> is pressed. 60 Customizing Telix G: Default Usage Log Setting. If this option is set to on, Telix will open the default Usage Log (as specified on the Filenames and Paths screen) at program start up. Otherwise the usage log must be manually turned on if needed. H: Scroll-Back Buffer Size. This setting controls the size of the Telix Scroll-Back buffer (in kilobytes). For changes to this setting to take effect you must save the changes to disk and restart Telix. The maximum is 64K. I: Capture File Buffer Size. This is the size of the disk buffer that Telix should use for the Capture File when it is opened. Values from 0 to 4 Kilobytes are allowed. A larger buffer size means the disk is accessed less often. J: Date Format. This is the format that Telix should use when displaying dates. Allowed formats are MMDDYY, DDMMYY, and YYMMDD. K: Date Separator Character. This is the character that Telix will print between parts of the date when displaying a date. The default character is the hyphen (-). L: Time Format. This is the format that Telix should use when displaying times. Allowed formats are 12-hour and 24-hour. M: Time Separator Character. This is the character that Telix will print between parts of the time when displaying a time. The default character is the colon (:). N: Enhanced Keyboard Support. This option allows you to turn off Telix's support for the enhanced (101) keyboard. This should normally be left on, unless there seems to be a keyboard problem. Customizing Telix 61 O: Shell: 16550 Buffer. This option allows you to specify whether the buffer on the 16550a comm chip should be left on or off during a DOS shell. If it is installed in your PC, Telix normally recognizes and enables the buffer on this chip at all times, for greater efficiency, but there are still a few comm application that users might want to run from the shell which can not handle the chip with the buffer turned on. P: Shell: Swap to EMS/XMS/Disk. This option allows you to specify whether Telix will attempt to remove most of itself from the conventional memory when executing DOS function calls. The default is off for backwards compatibility, but most users should be able to turn this on without problems. If therere is not enough EMS/XMS memory available for swapping, Telix is swapped to a temporary file named TELIX.SWP on the hard disk. Q: Disk Drives installed. Here you may expressly specify the drive letters of those drives to appear in the dialog box for file uploads. This option is of interest to users of removable drives (Bernoulli, device driven floppies etc.), which are sometimes not automatically recognized by Telix. Attention: Telix will not check for the existence of a drive listed here before it is actually selected in the dialog box. R: Menu line. Here you can choose whether the menu bar should appear on the screen at program start up. Regardless of this setting, the menu line can be toggled on and off at any time from within terminal mode by pressing <Alt><5> or double- clicking with the left mouse button. 62 Customizing Telix Modem and Dialing Settings This screen contains settings that Telix uses to control the modem and its output. The default configuration that Telix comes with is set up for Hayes compatible modems. These modems use the AT command set. By changing these settings Telix can work with almost any modem. The parameters are: A: Init String. This string will be sent to the modem when Telix first starts. Different modems might need different strings. The default string is set up for Hayes compatible modems. It is: ATZ ^M ~~~ AT S7=45 S0=0 V1 X4 ^M, where AT is the modem attention code, Z resets the modem to default state, ^M sends the terminating Carriage Return character to the modem, ~~~ pauses for 1.5 seconds to give the modem time to perform the ATZ command, AT is the modem attention code, S7=45 makes the modem wait 45 seconds for a connection after dialing, S0=0 turns off auto answer, V1 makes the modem respond with words, X4 makes the modem wait for a dial tone and evaluate busy tones when dialing, ^M sends the terminating Carriage Return character to the modem. Customizing Telix 63 To make full use of all features of your modem, you will normally have to modify the init string according to the manual of your modem. For most modems normally AT&F^M is a sufficient init string which loads the factory default settings of the modem. B: Dialing Prefix 1. A Dialing prefix is what Telix sends to the modem when dialing, before the number, for example, ATDT for Hayes compatible modems and tone dialing (ATDP for pulse dialing). There are three dialing prefixes allowed, and in the Dialing Directory you may choose which one to use for each entry. One use for this is if your modem supports MNP, to define two prefixes which turn MNP support on and off, thus avoiding the delay when you call a system that doesn't support MNP. If you are dialing from within a private branch exchange (PBX), you may specify a prefix for internal calls and another for external calls (the latter might for example be AT X3 DT 0w, if zero is the escape digit and w is the modem command to wait for a dial tone). C: Dialing Prefix 2. D: Dialing Prefix 3. E: Dialing Suffix. The string Telix should send after the number when dialing. On Hayes compatible modems this is just a Carriage Return character, ^M. F: Connect String. To make Telix detect a connection, you should enter here the string which your modem sends upon establishing a connection; e.g., CONNECT. G: No Connect Strings. To make Telix detect a connection failure, enter here up to four strings which your modem sends when it has failed to make a connection while dialing, for example NO CARRIER, BUSY, etc. 64 Customizing Telix H: Hang-Up String. This is the string Telix should send to the modem to make it hang up. The default string works for Hayes compatible modems and is: ~~~+++~~~ATH0^M where ~~~ pauses Telix for 1.5 secs, +++ escapes the modem into command mode, ~~~ pauses Telix for 1.5 secs, AT is the modem attention code, H0 tells the modem to hang up, ^M sends the terminating Carriage Return character to the modem. Before sending this string to the modem Telix always tries to hang-up the modem by a faster way that works with MOST modems. This is done by dropping (turning off) a special signal called the DTR (Data Terminal Ready) line on the RS-232 port. If dropping the DTR makes the modem hang-up then the hang-up string is not sent to the modem. I: Auto Answer String. This is the string that Telix should send to the modem upon entering Host Mode. This string should allow the modem to automatically pick up the phone when it rings, and initialize it in any other ways that might be necessary. J: Dial Cancel String. The string Telix should send to the modem to cancel the current dialing attempt. On most modems all that is necessary is a Carriage Return character, ^M. K: Dial Time. The amount of time Telix should wait for a connection while dialing. This should usually be set to be greater than the amount of time the modem waits for the connection. Customizing Telix 65 L: Redial Pause. The number of seconds Telix should wait between attempts while redialing. M: Auto Baud Detect. If this option is on and Telix dials a number from the Dialing Directory, it will check the modem connect message for a bit rate indication. If the bit rate is different than was specified for the entry being dialed, Telix switches to the new bit rate. This option only works with Hayes compatible modems. This option must not be enabled when you have told the modem to maintain a constant or locked baud rate between the computer and the modem, as is done with nearly all modern high-speed, error correcting modems (such as ELSA MicroLink 28.8TQ, USRobotics Sportster, Hayes V-Series, etc.). N: Drop DTR to Hangup. If your modem is not capable of terminating a connection by dropping DTR, you should set this option to off, so Telix won't try that way and will immediately send the Hang-up String (see H above) instead. 66 Customizing Telix Filenames and Path Settings This screen allows you to change several filename and pathname defaults, including: A: Download Directory. The disk directory in which Telix should save files which are downloaded (received). The user can override this by giving a full pathname when prompted. B: Upload Directory. The disk directory where Telix should look for files to be uploaded. The user can override this by giving a full filename when prompted. C: Script Directory. The directory in which Telix should look for script files when trying to execute them. The user can override this by using a full pathname in front of the filename when specifying it. D: Default Startup Script. Here you can specify a script file that will be automatically executed each time Telix is started, unless a different script file was specified using the command line switch S. Note: The Telix title screen will not appear when a startup script file is executed. E: Default Capture File. The default name Telix should use when opening the Capture File (normally TELIX.CAP). The user can override this. F: Default Usage Log. The default name Telix should use when opening the Usage Log (normally TELIX.USE). The user can override this. Customizing Telix 67 G: Directory Program. The name of the disk directory program that Telix should run when you select Files directory command (<Alt><F>) under Miscellaneous / DOS functions. If you do not specify a program here Telix will use an internal routine that also displays the amount of time it will take to transfer each file in the directory. An example of a program you could specify here is dir/p, which would use the DOS dir command with pauses at each page full, to display the directory. H: Screen Image File. The file that Telix should save screen images (generated with File / Screen Image or <Alt>) to. The default name is TELIX.IMG. I: Editor Pathname. The name of your editor, including the extension of the name (.EXE, .COM, or .BAT for batch files), for example, C:\DOS\EDIT.EXE. The indicated file must either be in the current directory, in a directory included in the DOS Path, or the name must include the full path. You need to set this parameter only if you want to run your editor using the File / RuN Editor or <Alt><A> command. 68 Customizing Telix ASCII Transfers This screen allows you to customize Telix ASCII file transfers to your needs, so that Telix may work with almost any system. Available settings are: A: Strip High Bit. If this parameter is on, the high (most significant) bit of each character sent for uploads, or received for downloads, is stripped. This can be used to ignore parity. On the other hand, the upper 128 characters in the IBM extended ASCII character set (128..255) are then converted to the lower value (0..127) and therefore not displayed correctly. B: Remote Abort Character. This is the character which when received during an ASCII upload or download, is taken to mean that the remote end wants to abort the transfer. One possible value might be 24 (<Ctrl><X>). C: Local Echo. If this is on, Telix will echo characters locally while uploading. This should normally be off. D: Expand Blank Lines. If this is on, when Telix is sending a file and it encounters a blank line, it will add a space to that line. This is very useful for systems that assume a blank line means "end of file", or for uploading a message on most bulletin boards, which often regard a blank line as the end of a text entry. E: Pace Character. This is the ASCII value of the character that Telix should wait for before sending each line. If this value is 0, Telix will not wait for any character. F: Line Pacing. This is the amount of time (in 1/10 seconds), that Telix should wait before sending each line. This delay is often not necessary, but for some BBS's for example, it's vital. Customizing Telix 69 G: Character Pacing. This is the time delay (in milliseconds) that Telix should wait between each character. As the PC's hardware clock does not have enough resolution, this is a software loop based delay. Therefore, a value of 1 here will delay a 4.77 MHz XT approximately 1 millisecond, and faster PCs for a proportionally smaller time period. H: Upload CR Translation. This is what Telix should do with Carriage Return characters when uploading ASCII files. The three options are to do nothing, to strip them, or to add a Line Feed character afterwards. I: Upload LF Translation. This is what Telix should do with Line Feed characters when uploading ASCII files. The three options are to do nothing, to strip them, or to add a Carriage Return before each. J: Download CR Translation. This is exactly the same as setting H (above), but applies when downloading ASCII files. K: Download LF Translation. This is exactly the same as setting I (above), but applies when downloading ASCII files. 70 Customizing Telix Protocol Options This screen allows you to configure external protocols, as well as a few other settings. An external protocol is simply a file transfer protocol that is implemented outside of Telix. You specify the name of the protocol, the key used to select it on the file transfer menu, and define how it is to be called. You may optionally define a string which will trigger an automatic download much like the auto Zmodem transfer capability built into Telix. Items A through E are the definitions for the five external protocols allowed. When you select a definition to edit, Telix will ask a series of questions: Key: The key that should be pressed to select this protocol when the file transfer menu is displayed. Protocol Name: The name Telix will display on the file transfer menu for this protocol. Upload name: This is the name of the DOS batch file or Telix script file to call when the user selects an upload using this protocol. If this filename begins with an @ symbol, Telix will create an ASCII text file FILELIST containing the list of specified or tagged files, one file per line. Many external protocols can accept such a file as a parameter, and thus limits on the number of files that can be passed on a DOS command line may be circumvented. Download name: This is the name of the DOS batch file or Telix script file to call when the user selects a download using this protocol. BAT or Script: This controls whether the above two filenames are DOS batch files or Telix script files. Customizing Telix 71 DL Name: This option controls whether or not Telix should ask for the name of the file when performing a download using this protocol. In many protocols, the sender passes the name of the file(s) to the receiver, so Telix shouldn't ask for the download name. Trigger String: This option is a place to enter a string which when received is indicative of a file being received by the protocol. Telix can thus automatically detect an incoming file and move to download it without need of your intervention. This string must be consistent, unique, and positively identify the occurance of an incoming file. Check your external protocol documentation to determine if the protocol supports a trigger string. This option should be left blank if there is no trigger available for the protocol. See Appendix D (External Protocols) for information about what information is passed to the batch or script files when an external transfer is selected. Other settings on this page are: F: File Transfer Disk Buffer Size. This allows you to set the size of the disk buffer used by Telix during file transfers from 1k to 10k (kilobytes) in size. A larger value is more efficient with floppy disk systems, while a smaller value can get around problems with disk controllers or Extended Memory use on some hard-disk systems. G: Relaxed Xmodem Timing. This option controls whether or not Telix should use relaxed timing when performing an Xmodem transfer. When calling some services, this option must be turned on because they can not tolerate strict timing. 72 Customizing Telix H: Filename Guessing. This option controls Telix's use of filename guessing. When you selected a file transfer to be performed, telix can often guess the name of the file to be transferred, based on your past keystrokes. This option may be turned off here. As well, you may specify that Telix gives only guesses which it is almost certain are filenames, or gives its 'Best try', which may include guesses with extra characters which are not necessarily part of the filename. I: Zmodem Receive Crash Recovery. When an aborted Zmodem transfer must be resumed, this option should be turned on. While this option is on, if a file being downloaded using Zmodem already exists on the disk (and is shorter than the file the sender has), Telix will tell the sender to send only the bytes needed to complete the file. This option should be used with care. The possibility exists that a file with the same name but different contents exists on each system, in which case you do not want only some of the data transferred. J: Zmodem Send Crash Recovery. When this option is on, during a Zmodem upload of files, Telix will try to tell the sender to resume aborted transfers. This option should be used with care, as some systems do not support crash recovery, and will behave unpredictably. K: Allow Zmodem 32 bit CRCs. Real speed freaks may turn off the use of 32 bit CRC error checking (still quite reliable 16 bit CRCs are used instead), to get on the order of a quarter to a half of a percent speed increase in Zmodem transfers. Customizing Telix 73 L: Zmodem Window Size. Zmodem normally sends data in streaming mode, never pausing unless the other side requests a re-send due to an error being detected. In some environments, a pause for acknowledgments can be more efficient. The window size (in kilobytes) is the maximum amount of data the protocol should send before waiting for a reply. A value of 0 indicates streaming mode should be used. M: Zmodem File Type. This option allows you to specify whether the file being transferred with the Zmodem protocol is Binary, ASCII, or Either. Binary means that Telix will make sure no end-of- line conversion is done on files received or sent. ASCII means that on a download, as long as the other side doesn't override this, Telix will assume the file being received is a text file and will make sure the end of each line has a Carriage Return followed by a Line Feed, by adding the CR if the file has only LFs at the end of each line. An ASCII setting when sending will make Telix tell the other system to do end-of- line conversion, although the other system may override this. Finally, a setting of Either (the default), will make Telix assume the file is binary, unless the other system indicates otherwise. Do not use a setting of ASCII for files that are not ASCII text files, as binary files will be corrupted by this option. 74 Customizing Telix Kermit Transfers This screen allows you to configure Telix's implementation of the Kermit protocol to your needs. The options will not be described here, due to the fact that the Kermit protocol is relatively complicated, and if you must change one of these parameters, you should generally already know what it means. Comm Port Setup This screen allows you to configure/define the communications ports for the standard communications mode, i.e. the direct use of a serial interface. In INT14 mode, these settings have no meaning! Telix supports definitions for 8 comm ports. By default, the first four comm ports are defined to the standards for COM1 to COM4. The last four comm ports are by default duplicates of COM1. For each port you may define the base address (in hexadecimal) of that port, as well as the interrupt request number (IRQ) to use. Unless you are absolutely sure about your information, do not modify these values! Wrong values could cause unexpected and possibly disruptive results. INT14/FOSSIL Mode This option allows you to set Telix to the INT14 mode, where data are not sent directly over a serial interface, but via the BIOS interrupt 14h, which is used for example by modem sharing programs in networks and by FOSSIL drivers (e.g. for passive ISDN adapter boards). A suitable program of this type must be loaded before Telix is started. If Telix does not detect a suitable driver software, it will report this and switch back to the standard communications mode. If a driver is found, Telix activates the INT14 mode and attempts to initialize the driver. If this fails, Telix will ask you to select a different INT14 communications port and retry to initialize the driver. If you select "none" or press <Esc>, Telix returns to the standard communications mode. Customizing Telix 75 Language Setup This menu option allows you to select the language for the Telix user interface, i.e. for the menu commands and dialog texts. Telix presents you a menu with all available languages, i.e. those languages for which a language file with the extension .LNG (e.g. TELIXGB.LNG for British English) is found in the Telix startup directory (the directory where Telix looks for the configuration file TELIX.CNF). NOTE When the language is changed, certain shortcut keys for Telix commands might change as well, since they may be differently defined to meet the different national keyboard layouts. For example, the German version uses <Alt><N> instead of <Alt><9> for the script recording function. Saving Changes and Leaving Any modified settings can be saved to the configuration file (so that they will be remembered when you next use Telix) by selecting the Write setup to disk option. If you want to keep any changes just for the current session, then exit the Preferences Menu using the Exit option. Terminal Emulation 77 Terminal Emulation A video display terminal is basically a relatively dumb computer which is linked up to another computer (over a cable or modem link) and displays what that computer sends to it. A mainframe or mini computer has a large amount of processing power and can drive a number of terminals at the same time. There are many different terminal types. Each one follows its own codes for controlling how information is displayed on the screen. For example, there are sequences to clear the screen, move the cursor, scroll the display, and so on. Most terminals also have special keys which send special sequences back to the main computer. Telix can emulate several terminals (i.e. react to certain control sequences in the same way as the respective terminal). While in Terminal Mode, you may change the terminal type Telix is currently emulating by selecting Configuration / Terminal Emulation or pressing <Alt><T>. The default terminal can also be set in the Terminal Options page under Configuration / Preferences. Following are the choices Telix offers: TTY A TTY (Teletype) terminal is very stupid. It basically displays all the values it receives, except for about 5 or 6 Control codes (such as Carriage Return), which move the cursor and ring the bell. Telix does not have any special key definitions for this terminal type. ANSI-BBS This is a subset of the real ANSI terminal type defined by the American National Standards Institute. Many BBS programs, when told to do so, can send sequences supported by this terminal to make screen display more interesting and colorful. This emulation supports some known bugs in the DOS ANSI.SYS driver that are not part of the ANSI standard per se. 78 Terminal Emulation The ANSI.KEY file contains definitions for the arrow keys, and is automatically read when this terminal is selected. These definitions are supported by some full screen editors, for example. ANSI This is the real ANSI terminal type defined by the American National Standards Institute. Many BBS programs, when told to do so, can send sequences supported by this terminal to make screen display more interesting and colorful. This conforms to the ANSI committee definitions of ANSI. VT102 The DEC VT102 terminal is one of the most popular (and most emulated) terminals in existence. It was developed by Digital Equipment Corporation. The VT102 terminal has a large number of functions. Telix supports all of these except for 132 column mode and double height mode. As well, Telix only emulates double width mode, by adding a space after every character. Telix fully supports both normal and application cursor mode in VT emulation. The VT102 keyboard layout used by Telix is stored in the VT102.KEY file, which is automatically read by Telix when VT102 terminal emulation is selected. Once Telix has loaded this into memory, the definitions can be edited through the use of the Configuration / Key defs./macros or <Alt><K> function. The default keyboard layout is best suited for the (newer) 101- key style keyboards with separate arrow and numeric keypads, and functions keys across the top. In this layout, press <F1> to <F4> to simulate the VT's <PF1> to <PF4>. With the <NumLock> key down, the PC's numeric keypad will simulate the VT's numeric keypad, while the arrow keys on the PC's numeric keypad (with the <NumLock> up) or the separate arrow keypad (at all times) will simulate the VT's arrow keys. Note that Telix will only recognize the separate arrow keypad if you turn on the Enhanced Keyboard setting on the General Options screen of the Configuration Menu. Terminal Emulation 79 Another keyboard layout is available that is possibly better suited to older style keyboards with function keys on on the left side and no separate arrow keypad and numeric keypad. To make use of this alternate layout, while at the DOS prompt type: ren VT102.KEY VT102OLD.KEY ren VT102ALT.KEY VT102.KEY This layout is similar to one used by many comm programs, in which the normal function keys (<F1> - <F10>) represent the left side of the VT's numeric keypad, while the shifted function keys (<Shift><F1> - <Shift><F10>) represent the right side. The arrow keys are also defined to send the proper sequences. VT52 The DEC VT52 is another relatively common terminal type, that is considerably simpler than the VT102. Telix's key definitions for the VT52 are stored in the VT52.KEY file. AVATAR AVATAR is another terminal emulation, which assigns escape sequences to some of the keys of the cursor keypad. The key definitions are stored in the AVATAR.KEY file. Note that Telix only supports AVATAR Level 0. Using Script Files 81 Using Script Files Available to supplement Telix is a pair of incredibly powerful 'script' or command languages, called SALT (Script Application Language for Telix) and SIMPLE (SALT Implementation). In the simplest terms, a script file is a sequence of commands for Telix to follow, written using a certain format. Script files can do many useful things like automatically logging on to a host, setting up special parameters, performing unattended file transfers, and many other tasks. A script file can be linked to a Dialing Directory entry so that it is run automatically when that entry is connected to, and supplies the needed logon information. Like any real programming language, SALT has a large number of features. Because of this, programming in SALT is not easy for the beginner who has no knowledge of any programming concepts. However, SALT scripts can be used to different degrees. The advanced user can program complex applications, while even a novice can modify the sample scripts included with Telix, and run scripts supplied by others. For advanced users, a separate manual describes SALT and its syntax. The rest of this section describes how to create, run and compile the various forms of scripts. Creating and Compiling Scripts SALT scripts are created as text files with any ASCII text editor (such as the DOS editor) and are normally saved with the extension .SLT. You can edit a script directly from within Telix by selecting the Script / Edit command or pressing <Shift><F1>. Telix will ask you for the filename of the script to be edited and automatically start the editor program specified under Configuration / Preferences / Filenames and Paths. If no filename extension is given, Telix will assume .SLT. 82 Using Script Files Before a SALT script can be used, it must be 'compiled'. The CS.EXE program included with Telix takes the ASCII 'source' scripts that the user writes, and compiles or converts them to a form that is easier for Telix to process, usually takes less space, and loads more quickly. You can call the SALT compiler at the DOS prompt by entering CS, followed by a blank and the filename of the script to be compiled. However, you can also compile a script directly from within Telix by selecting Script / Compile or pressing <Ctrl><F9> and entering the name of the script file to be compiled (for this function, CS.EXE must be present in the Telix directory or in the default script directory). In both methods Telix will assume .SLT if no extension is given. CS will scan through the source file and produce the compiled version, using the same base name but the extension .SLC. If a syntax error is discovered while compiling the script file, CS will report it and abort. In that case the error should be fixed and CS run again. Remember, every time you make a change to the source file, you must re-compile it, otherwise Telix will still run the old compiled version. This sounds tedious, but in practice once a script is developed it doesn't change very often. NOTE For Telix 3.50 or newer, version 1.51 or newer of the SALT compiler CS.EXE should be used. Using Script Files 83 Executing a Script If you have an already compiled SALT script (ending with the extension .SLC (for example, the QDHOST.SLC Host Mode script file), it is very easy to execute. While in Terminal Mode, press <Alt><G> or select Script / eXecute. Telix will ask for the name of the script file to run. If you supply no extension, .SLC is assumed. If a special directory where script files are to be found has been defined, Telix will look there for script files, unless a path is given. This script directory can be defined under Configuration / Preferences / Filenames and Paths. Telix will then load the script file and follow its instructions. To abort a script while it is executing, press the <Esc> key or select Script / Abort (however, the abort function may be disabled in the script itself). Sometimes you may have to press <Esc> twice, the first time to abort the current function, and the second time to abort the script itself. A script can also be linked to an entry of the Dialing Directory, so it will be executed automatically each time a connection to this entry has been reached. Furthermore, a startup script can be defined, which is executed automatically each time Telix is started. SIMPLE For those users not comfortable in a structured programming environment, Telix provides a SALT Implementation, or SIMPLE scripting language. SIMPLE is a non-structured language that is converted to the more complex SALT for the user prior to actually compiling it. SIMPLE scripts need to be compiled with the CSS.EXE program. To compile a SIMPLE script at the DOS prompt, type CSS, followed by a space and the name of the SIMPLE script file you want to compile. The extension .SIM is assumed if none is given. 84 Using Script Files If you use the Script / Compile command (or <Ctrl><F9>) from within Telix instead and enter a filename with the extension .SIM, CSS is called automatically (for this function, CSS.EXE must be present in the Telix directory or in the default script directory). In this case, it is important to expressly supply the extension .SIM, since otherwise Telix would look for a .SLT file and attempt to call the SALT compiler CS instead. CSS will scan through the source file and produce a compiled .SLC file. If a syntax error is discovered while compiling the script, CSS will report it and abort. SIMPLE scripting is described in detail in the Scripting Reference guide. Learning a Script Some operations you will perform in Telix are highly repetitive, such as logging onto an online service. The user name, password, and other information is always entered in the same order, the same way, every time you call. You can use the Script Learn function to create an automatic log-on script to do this for you each call (the script should be linked to the respective Dialing Directory entry). To learn a sequence of responses to prompts, toggle the learn mode on from Telix Terminal Mode by pressing <ALT><9> or selecting Script / Learn. Enter the name of the script to learn when prompted. .SLT is assumed to be the filename extension if none is given. Telix will record your responses to the various prompts of the online service until learning mode is turned off with <ALT><9> (or Script / Learn) again. When turned off, Telix saves the learned script. Remember, the learned script must be compiled prior to use. It is important while learning a script to remember to wait for the complete prompt to be displayed before responding. Unpredictable results can be exhibited if a fast typist or a user familiar with a service types ahead of the prompts. Using Script Files 85 Learned scripts, while useful, are not always completely accurate, and may not work without editing. If the prompt being responded to contains information that can vary (such as the number of minutes left online), then the .SLT file may need to be edited prior to being compiled. An example is the following prompt on a BBS, which might read: (4 used, 86 left) Main Board Command? If there are not exactly 86 minutes remaining on your next call, a learned script containing this prompt will not function properly. The line in the learned script: waitfor("(4 used, 86 left) Main Board Command?", 30); should thus be edited to read: waitfor("Main Board Command?", 30); for proper operation of the learned script. Host Mode 87 Host Mode Telix allows you to set up your computer as a remote host, so that others may call your system and perform operations like transferring files and chatting. In short it is like having a small BBS on your system, without all the setup work. Telix provides two such host modes, both implemented in Telix's powerful SALT script language. QDHost is a 'Quick and Dirty' Host Mode containing the basic features of a remote host, including password security and remote shells to DOS. If you have purchased the SALT compiler, a more powerful host, HOSTPLUS, is also provided, offering the functionality of a full-featured BBS with multiple message bases and file areas, multiple security levels and individual password security and user levels. The operation of HOSTPLUS is described in the text file HOSTPLUS.DOC. There are a few requirements to running Host Mode. Your modem must be able to pick up the phone when it rings. Your modem must not be set to override (always keep on) the Carrier Detect signal it supplies, so that Telix can tell when it is connected to a caller. Telix must also be able to hang up the modem by dropping (turning off) the DTR line on the RS-232 port. If one of these requirements is not met you probably cannot run QDHost. To run the QDHost script, select Script / eXecute or press <Alt><G> while in Terminal Mode, and then enter QDHOST as the script file name. The script QDHOST.SLC will then be run. Several Host Mode configuration settings are kept in a file called QDHOST.CNF. The first time you run the Host Mode script, it will not find this file, and automatically run the Host Mode configuration script QDCONFIG.SLC, which will create the needed file and allow you to change the default values. You should run QDCONFIG should you need to configure the Host Mode at any time in the future. QDCONFIG will present you with the following parameters: A: Level One Access Password. The password that callers must successfully enter to be admitted to the Host Mode and have Level One access. Level one access allows only files contained in the specified QDCONFIG download directory to be downloaded. 88 Host Mode B: Level Two Access Password. This is the password that callers must successfully enter to be admitted to QDHost and have Level Two (Sysop) access. Level two access allows the caller to download any file on the system by giving the path. C: DOS Shell Password. This is the password that users of QDHost have to enter to use the Remote DOS Shell option. D: Shut Down Host Mode Password. This is the password that callers must enter to shut down QDHost, when they press <Ctrl><Z>. E: Host Download Directory. Level 1 access callers will only be able to download (have Telix send them) files that are in this directory. As well, the Files command will show them only the contents of this directory. Do not under any circumstances define this directory to the same name as the directory you run Telix in. If you did that, callers could download the QDHost configuration file, which is stored there, and see your passwords. Level 2 access callers may specify any download path, but this is the default. F: Host Upload Directory. Level 1 access callers will only be able to upload (send to Telix) files into this directory. Level 2 access callers can specify any path, but files will go here by default. G: Connection Type. This can be either Modem or Direct. Use Modem if your host system is being accessed through a modem, or Direct if two computers are hard-wired. This stops Telix from trying to initialize a non-existent modem. or trying to determine the caller's baud. Host Mode 89 H: Locked Modem Rate. For error correcting modems, QDHost needs to know if the DTE rate (the speed Telix communicates with your modem) is constant from call to call, no matter what speed the user calls in at. Set this value to the fixed DTE rate (usually 9600 for 2400MNP modems, and 19,200 to 57,600 for 9600+ baud modems). If your modem is not error correcting or you are unsure what the value should be, set this value to zero. There is one other important parameter which must be properly set for QDHost operation. This is the Auto Answer string, which is defined under Configuration / Preferences / Modem and dialing. This string is sent to the modem when Telix enters QDHost, and should make the modem able to pick up the phone when it rings. The default string is set up for Hayes compatible modems. It is: AT S0=1 ^M AT is the modem attention code, S0=1 tells the modem to answer after one ring, ^M sends the terminating Carriage Return character. NOTE If you want to disable the automatic answering after the host mode is terminated, insert S0=0 in the modem init string defined under Configuration / Preferences / Modem and dialing. There are two optional text files which are displayed to callers if they exist, called LOGO.MSG, and WELCOME.MSG. They are described below. 90 Host Mode Once QDHost has been configured, it can actually be run. Telix will make a note in the QDHost audit file QDHOST.LOG and then will immediately send the Host Mode init string to the modem. Telix then waits for a caller. While in QDHost on the local side, the user can always press <Esc> to exit Host Mode, or <End> to terminate the current caller. He can also enter commands for the remote caller, so that a novice caller can be helped along by the host operator. Also, at any time, the current caller will be automatically terminated if there is inactivity for five minutes, or the connection is lost. This is all noted in the host audit file. If the caller has only access level one, references to other disk directories than the ones defined in QDCONFIG are ignored, and all operations take place in those directories. As well, Telix protects your files from being accidentally overwritten by the caller. When the Carrier Detect signal turns on Telix knows a caller is online. At this point Telix will try to determine the caller's baud rate. Most Hayes compatible modems can be initialized to send the string CONNECT baud where baud is the baud rate of the caller, when they sense a connection. If Telix sees this string it will switch to the appropriate baud. If this string is not received within a few seconds of the connection, Telix will leave the baud rate at whatever it was. Also, it should be mentioned that Telix can not determine the caller's other settings like parity, data bits, and stop bits. These must already be matching Telix's settings. At this point, if the file LOGO.MSG exists in the Telix directory, it is displayed to the caller. It should basically identify the system. Then Telix will ask the caller for his/her name. The name must be at least five letters long and is only used when indicating the caller in the Host Mode audit file. If a password has been defined Telix will ask the caller for it. The caller has three tries to complete the password. All password attempts, successful or failed, are written to the Host audit file. If the caller enters the Level One access password, he may manipulate only the disk directories defined in QDCONFIG. Any other directories can not be accessed. If he enters the Level Two access password, the caller may use full pathnames in all file specifications. The level 2 password should only be kept for yourself or those you completely trust, as a Level 2 caller can access any files on your system. Host Mode 91 If there is a file called WELCOME.MSG in the Telix directory, it is then shown to the caller. This file can contain further identification or news, that you only want valid callers to see. After each 23 lines the caller is prompted to press any key to continue. As well, the caller may press <Ctrl><S> to pause at any time, and <Ctrl><C> or <Ctrl><K> to abort the listing. After the WELCOME.MSG file is displayed the caller is presented with a menu of options: Files Type Upload Download Shell Chat Goodbye The action to be taken is selected by entering its first letter. Case does not matter. As mentioned already, the host operator is free to enter any keystrokes for the caller. Help The Help option prompts the caller to enter the first letter of a menu option and then displays a help text describing the function of the respective option. Files The Files option allows the caller to list the files in the current disk directory. The caller must press a key after each screen. The output is not echoed on the local screen. If the caller has access Level 2 he/she is prompted for a filespec, which may include the * and ? wildcard characters (see your DOS manual), so that the contents of other directories than the Host Download Directory may be listed. Type The Type option allows the caller to view any ASCII file in the Host Download Directory, or in any directory for access Level 2 callers. The same format and commands are available during this command as for the displaying of the optional message file WELCOME.MSG. 92 Host Mode Upload The Upload option allows the caller to send a file to the host. The caller is shown the following menu (here slightly reformatted so it could fit): Modem7 SEAlink Xmodem 1k-Xmodem G-1k-Xmodem Ymodem YmodEm-g Zmodem Which protocol? and should select the appropriate protocol by its first letter (or <E> for Ymodem-g). If appropriate the caller is also asked for the filename. The transfer is then initiated. Level 1 callers may only upload files into the Host Upload Directory defined with QDCONFIG. Download The Download command allows a caller to receive a file from the host. The caller must select the protocol as described above, and then must tell Telix the file(s) to send. The transfer is then initiated. Level 1 access callers may only download files from the Host Download Directory defined with QDCONFIG. Shell The Shell command is a very powerful but also very dangerous command. It allows the caller to run a DOS shell on your system, except that the caller receives the output, and the caller enters the keystrokes. This command is basically similar to entering CTTY COMx at the DOS prompt. The remote side has complete control of your system. This is obviously very dangerous, as the caller can format disks, delete files, or perform any other operation. To provide security, a password must be entered to use the remote DOS shell. Be very careful of whom you give this password to, as they can do anything they want with your system. As well, don't leave it at the default that Telix comes with. Host Mode 93 There are a few limitations in the remote DOS shell. The caller will see program output only if the programs use standard DOS output. Programs that write directly to the video screen will work, but will not be seen by the remote caller. As well, programs that use non-DOS methods of getting keystrokes will not receive the caller's keystrokes. Finally, under some systems, if the caller presses Backspace at the DOS prompt when the current line is empty, DOS will hang on the Host machine. As these are functions of DOS, there is nothing that can be done about these limitations. The remote shell also only supports COM1 and COM2 when using CTTY. A potentially powerful feature of the shell function is the ability to override the use of CTTY and use your own redirector, such as Marshall Dudley's DOORWAY.EXE. Do not confuse DOORWAY.EXE with Telix's DOORWAY mode. If the file RSHELL.BAT exists in the same directory that QDHOST.SLC is in, QDHost will run that batch file instead of using CTTY, and return to QDHost when it is complete. DOORWAY.EXE is an excellent alternative to CTTY when both users need to see the screen, or when programs that write directly to the screen (such as Word Perfect) must be run from remote. The following is a sample RSHELL.BAT for use with the Doorway program: DOORWAY com1 /M:100 /O: /V:D^U /C:DOS Note that the com port must specified by number in the batch file. However, CTTY only supports COM1 and COM2, while Doorway can support up to COM4. If you receive the message that you cannot shell due to DOS limitations, DOORWAY.EXE can be used as an alternative. Chat The Chat command allows the caller to chat with the host operator. When the caller presses <C> the host operator is paged for 20 seconds. Press the Space bar to chat with the caller, or any other key not to. Accepting the chat will place you in Chat Mode, exactly as if you had used the <Alt><Y> command. The caller's keystrokes are echoed back to him/her however, so that he/she can see them. 94 Host Mode Goodbye Finally, the Goodbye command allows the caller to log off the host. An entry noting the time and date is made in the host audit file, and Telix then waits for a new caller. The caller may also use one other command that is not displayed in the menu. This is to shut down QDHost Mode. If the caller presses <Ctrl><Z> and successfully enters the shut down Host password defined with QDCONFIG, the QDHost Mode is shut down and Telix returns to whatever it was doing before QDHost was initiated. Appendices 95 Appendices A Keyboard Command Summary <F1> Display Help/Status Screen <Ctrl><F1> List Command Line Options <Alt> Activate Menu Bar <Alt><A> Run Editor <Alt> Scroll Back <Alt><C> Clear Screen <Alt><D> Dialing Directory <Alt><E> Local Echo on/off <Alt><F> DOS and File Functions <Alt><G> Run Script File (Go) <Alt><H> Hang-up Modem <Alt> Screen Image <Alt><J> Jump to DOS Shell <Alt><K> Keyboard Definitions <Alt><L> Capture File <Alt><M> Misc. Options <Alt><O> Preferences Menu <Alt> Comm Parameters <Alt><Q> Queue Redial Last Numbers <Alt><R> Download (Receive) Files <Alt><S> Upload (Send) Files <Alt><T> Terminal Emulation <Alt> Usage Log <Alt><V> DOS Command <Alt><W> Translate Table <Alt><Y> Chat Mode <Alt><X> Exit Telix <Alt><5> Toggle Menu Bar on/off <Alt><8> Toggle Status Line on/off <Alt><9> Learn a Script <Alt><F9> Edit a Script <Ctrl><F9> Compile a Script <Alt><=> Toggle DOORWAY Mode on/off <Ctrl><@> Printer Log on/off <Ctrl><End> Send Break Signal <Shift><Tab> Add Line-feeds on/off <PgUp> Upload (Send) Files <PgDn> Download (Receive) Files Appendices 97 B Troubleshooting Problem: Telix and the modem do not seem to be able to detect busy signals. Solution: Some modems (especially older 1200 bps units) do not have the capability to detect busy signals. Assuming yours does, you'll still probably have to edit the default modem Init String. The X1 that some modems use by default does not enable busy detection in most modems. Use a value like X3, X4, or higher in the init string. Problem: When the QDHost mode script is run Telix always thinks that a caller is online and immediately asks for the caller's name or Telix always says that a Hang-up operation failed even when it did in fact successfully hang-up the modem. Solution: Your modem is almost certainly overriding the true state of the Carrier Detect signal. This is the factory default on most modems, but should be disabled. For proper operation, Telix needs to see this signal on when connected to another computer, and off when not. If your modem has dip switches, as do most 1200 bps units and all US Robotics external Couriers, switch number 6 usually controls this and must be in the up position. If your modem does not seem to have any dip switches (look carefully, sometimes the front needs to be popped off), it is probably controlled solely by software commands, as are most 2400 bps or faster units. Just a few examples of these are the Hayes 2400, ATI 2400etc., GVC 2400, and many others. For these modems, adding &C1 in the modem Init String (before the final ^M (Carriage Return) is a good spot) will configure the modem properly. 98 Appendices Problem: When trying to use a multi-tasking system like MS Windows, Topview, or DoubleDOS, with Telix in the background, window displays bleed through to the active partition. Solution: Under Configuration / Preferences, select the Screen and colors settings option, then select as the Screen Write mode, BIOS calls used for writes. Screen updating will be slower but will not bleed through. Problem: When redialing Telix does not seem to know when a connection has been reached. Solution: Telix knows when a connection has been reached in one of two ways: when it receives a Connect string from your modem, or when the Carrier Detect signal turns on (if it was off). Make sure that the Connect string is properly defined in the Configuration Menu, or check if your modem does turn on the Carrier Detect signal regardless of whether or not there is a connection. Problem: Telix doesn't work with a certain modem. Solution: Telix is set by default to use the Hayes 'AT' modem command standard. There are modems that are not Hayes compatible however, and use other commands to dial, hang up, and perform other tasks. Make sure that if your modem is not Hayes compatible Telix has been properly configured to its commands. Appendices 99 Problem: When trying to use the DOS Shell, or another function that uses DOS, Telix warns that it cannot find a file called COMMAND.COM, and aborts the function. Solution: The file COMMAND.COM is the DOS command interpreter. Telix must be able to find it to use many DOS functions. The location of COMMAND.COM is stored in an environment variable (explained in your DOS manual) called COMSPEC. COMSPEC is set at boot-up, but if you boot of a floppy and then change to another floppy or a hard disk, it will not point to the right place anymore. In short, make sure that COMSPEC always points to the location of COMMAND.COM, or that COMMAND.COM is in the current directory. Problem: When calling some systems, especially large ones such as CompuServe or The Source, all incoming characters look like garbage. Solution: The communications parameters are probably wrong. Most of these systems need a setting of Even parity, 7 data bits, and 1 stop bit. This is different from the normal standard of N81 used for most bulletin boards. 100 Appendices Problem: During transfers with a high speed modem, many CRC and/or timeout errors occur. Solution: First ensure that CTS/RTS hardware flow control is enabled and that DSR/DTR hardware flow control is disabled both in Telix in the Terminal Options section of the Configuration / Preferences menu and in your modem (refer to your modem manual for instructions on setting up your modem properly, or use the supplied MODEMCFG.EXE program). If this fails, it may simply be hardware limitations. Sometimes such hardware limitations can be circumvented by setting Drop RTS during disk writes in the Terminal Options section of the Configuration / Preferences menu. Many high-speed modems, especially in a multi- tasking (Windows, DESQview, TopView, etc.) environment or on XT or slower AT-class machines are simply too fast for the hardware, and may need some help to prevent lost characters. A UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter) is a chip found on every serial card or internal modem. Most serial cards or internal modems come stock with 8250 or 16450 chips that are not rated for high speed modems. A replacement chip called the 16550 will likely eliminate such problems. Problem: When I run Telix from my menu program it tells me Unable to find/open ANSI.KEY and goes back to the menu program. Solution: ANSI.KEY is a file required for Telix operation, but due to the menu not changing to the Telix directory, Telix cannot find this file. Telix expects to find all of its system files in the current directory or in the directory pointed to by the TELIX environment variable. By placing the command: SET TELIX=C:\TELIX in your AUTOEXEC.BAT (modified for your own Telix path, of course). Telix will then know to look there for all of its files if they are not in the current directory. There should be no spaces in the command as above, other than between SET and TELIX. Appendices 101 Problem: I have a new 28,800 or 14,400 bps modem, but Telix doesn't support 28,800 and 14,400 as speed options. Solution: This is one of the great misconceptions about high speed modems, so you're not alone in wondering this. Let us try to detail why it doesn't matter, and at the same time give you a bit of an idea what's going on behind the scenes when you call another modem... The link to get from your computer to the other computer looks much like this: Your Computer <--> Your modem <--------> Their modem <--> Their computer DTE rate DCE rate DTE rate 38,400 14,400 57,600 As you can see, it is really a series of three links; one between your computer and your modem, one between the two modems, and one between their modem and their computer. What might surprise you is that each of these three rates can be, and often are, completely different, as above. So you know, DCE stands for Data Communications Equipment (i.e. a modem to modem link) and DTE is Data Terminal Equipment (i.e. terminal to modem link). You are not concerned with the final link, the remote DTE rate. That is up to the remote site, and does not matter at all to you. Once the data leaves your modem, and is received by theirs, it is out of your hands. 102 Appendices Your modem likely has either MNP5 or V.42bis data compression built in. For transferring uncompressed files, these modems can be extremely efficient in compressing the data before sending it - sometimes as much as 4 times compression (25% of the original size). Even a simple error correction (MNP4, V.42) already reduces the actual amount of data to be transferred by removing the start and stop bits of each character before it is sent, since they are not needed in error-corrected connections. If the modems can take 1000 characters from Telix, and then turn it into perhaps as little as 250 characters with compression, your modem still transmits, for example at 14,400 bps and would need 1000 characters from the comm program to transmit a mere 250 characters. In order to keep the DCE link flowing with data non- stop, Telix has to send data to your modem at 4 times the speed the modem is talking to the other modem (in the best case, which almost never happens). Thus, the DTE (Telix to modem rate) must be higher than the DCE (modem to modem rate) by a good margin, or the modems will sit idle frequently, waiting for the comm program to supply it with enough data. Since you have no way of knowing how much the data will be compressed, or at what speeds the two modems will actually connect up at, you should ALWAYS leave the DTE rate on your end (the link between Telix and your modem as specified in the Telix configuration) locked in, or fixed, at that high rate that can accommodate the most efficient case, since that most efficient case can occur at any time. As long as it does not occur, the data flow control (CTS/RTS or XON/XOFF) saves your modem from being flooded with more data from the computer than it can buffer. That's why you're always advised by MODEMCFG.EXE to set the comm program's speed, as well as all Dialing Directory entries (no matter how fast the board actually is), to a speed higher than the 9,600 or 14,400 you really have. Typically, you'll be told to use 19,200 or 38,400 (nowadays, typically 38,400, and even some will say 57,600 or 115,200). But the important thing is, that speed is constant. Your DTE (program to modem rate) always stays the same, so that when that most efficient case comes along, you're ready. Remember that you might need a fast UART (see above, typically for rates greater than 19,200). Appendices 103 Problem: When trying to transfer a file, Telix just sits there saying Waiting to send or Waiting to receive but nothing ever happens. Solution: When a user is downloading, the other system is by definition uploading to him. Both systems must know exactly what is happening at every given moment, and this is especially true at the beginning of the transfer. First the downloader must tell the remote system (the one to be downloaded from) that he/she requests a download. On most systems, this is accomplished with a "Download" command. The sending system will then ask the downloader to choose a protocol. You may choose any one that Telix supports, but we recommend Zmodem if it is available, and 1K-Xmodem (sometimes labeled Ymodem) if Zmodem is not available. In any case, the important thing to remember is that both the sender and the receiver must be using the same protocol, and it must be agreed upon in advance. Perhaps before choosing a protocol, you will be asked what files you wish to download. Then the system may tell you that it is ready to send the files. If you have selected Zmodem, and have Zmodem autodownloads on in Telix (the default) you should not have to do anything more. Telix will sense the Zmodem transfer coming and go into Zmodem receive mode. Sometimes this will appear as "garbage" like an up arrow, a bunch of asterisks, and numbers like 0's and 8's. This is a signal to start! 104 Appendices The most important thing to remember when downloading is that first you have to tell the other system what to send and how to send it, and let it get started. As soon as the other system starts, you generally have about 30 to 60 seconds to start your receive with the same protocol. It is crucial that both sides know that a transfer is taking place. You cannot start yours early, or the other side will never send the file. Thus, don't hit <Alt><R> (or <PgDn>) until you are sure the other side is ready to send, and ready for you to tell it that you are ready to receive (<ALT><R> does this automatically). Problem: When trying to compile a script I get the message "Unable to open file" even though I know the script is present. Solution: Some OEM versions of DOS 2.11 (notably, the Tandy DOS burned into the 1000 HX) are incompatible with the compiler used in these cases. This does not apply to Telix itself. It is highly recommended that you upgrade your DOS if possible. For users with the DOS burned into the ROM of the machine, you may boot from a system floppy of a higher DOS system to compile scripts. Problem: When I transfer a file, sometimes letters (like Flow or Xoff) flash in the status line, where normally the status of the Capture Log is displayed. Solution: This is completely normal, and signifies a "flow" control, or a signal to Telix or the modem to slow down or stop momentarily to save the modem from being flooded with too much data. It signifies that things are in good working order. After the end of the connection, the Capture Log status is displayed again. Appendices 105 Problem: How do I make Telix operate reliably under Microsoft Windows? Solution: TELIX.PIF included with Telix is a Program Information File for Windows that should allow best operation of Telix under Microsoft Windows. Windows doesn't offer the best of communications handlers, though, and for best communications results under Windows, we recommend Telix for Windows, which reliably supports transfer rates up to 115,200 bps under Windows and offers many additional features. Problem: My modem requires compatible software to use the MNP features of my modem, or it says it needs RPI compatible software.Is Telix compatible for this? Solution: No, it is not, and there is little likelihood that we will support RPI or software MNP in the near or distant future. RPI is an attempt by Rockwell and the modem manufacturers to create a cheaper modem (by about $5) by pushing off some of the hardware implementation into software. We disagree with this for the sole reason that software cannot be as efficient as hardware (esp. when coprocessed), and that these functions truly belong on the hardware for efficiency and speed. Most comm developers we know feel the same way and without our support the manufacturers will have to go back to putting these functions on the hardware - where they belong. 106 Appendices Problem: When I run QDHost it says Either the upload or download directory as defined in the Host config does not exist and then aborts. What now? Solution: If you receive this message when running the QDHost Mode then you need to do the following: From Telix Terminal Mode (the blank screen that you are at after the opening screen goes away), press <ALT><G> (or select Script / eXecute from the menu) and type QDCONFIG. The QDCONFIG.SLC script must exist in the same directory as QDHOST (i.e. in the script directory as defined under Configuration / Preferences / Filenames & Paths). You will then see a menu that pops up something like this: A: Level 1 password : pass1 B: Level 2 password : pass2 C: Remote Shell password : shell D: Shut down host pass : shut E: Host download directory: C:\TELIX\HSTFILES\ F: Host upload directory : C:\TELIX\HSTFILES\ G: Connection type : Modem H: Modem locked at >= 9600: No I: Exit without saving changes. J: Exit and save changes to disk. The options E and F are the ones that need to be changed. You can either Exit without saving and then do MKDIR with the above paths: MKDIR C:\TELIX\HSTFILES or, better, is to change options E and F above to paths that you know already exist (NEVER set these equal to your Telix subdirectory!), and then Exit and save changes to disk. For more information concerning DOS paths, please consult your DOS manual. Appendices 107 Problem: Why does the estimated length of a file transfer fluctuate for some seconds before a constant value is displayed? Solution: Up to version 3.22, Telix estimated the length of a file transfer by means of the bit rate reported by the modem upon successful connection (e.g. CONNECT 14400) when dialing from the Dialing Directory) or by means of the bit rate set in Telix when dialing manually (with ATDT od ATDP). However, since this method does not regard factors like line quality and data compression and Telix had to rely on a correct modem result code in the first case, Telix 3.50 now uses a new method: At the beginning of a file transfer, Telix measures the actual number of characters transferred per second and calculates the estimated transfer time from this value. Since this value often fluctuates at the beginning of a transfer, Telix measures the throughput for several seconds and then uses an average value for the estimation. The estimated transfer time must not be regarded as an exact value, but is normally more exact than an estimation based on the bit rate reported by the modem or the DTE rate set in Telix. Appendices 109 C External Protocols While Telix supports a very large number of protocols internally, it also allows users to define up to five external protocol implementations, for the utmost in flexibility. External protocols are defined under Configuration / Preferences / Protocol options. Basically, based on this configuration, when the user selects a transfer with this protocol, Telix will either run a specified DOS Batch file, or a TELIX SALT script file. Batch File Method If a Batch file has been configured to be executed when the external protocol is selected, TELIX will execute it and pass to it 3 parameters (with the third sometimes being blank). The first parameter is the baud rate. This is accessed within the DOS batch file as %1. The second parameter is the comm port number. This is accessed as %2. The third parameter is the reply the user gave when asked what file(s) to transfer. If this is a download and this protocol has been defined to not need a download name, this parameter will be blank. If this is an upload via an external protocol defined as an @ protocol (see Configuration, Protocols), this parameter will be FILELIST, otherwise, will be the list of files to send. This parameter is referred to as %3 in the Batch file. It is now the responsibility of the Batch file to call a driver program for the protocol, using the supplied info. For example, assuming Telix didn't have built-in Zmodem support, a batch file called SZB.BAT could be defined to perform Zmodem uploads using the commonly available DSZ program with the following command in it. DSZ port %2 speed %1 sz %3 This would tell DSZ what files to transfer, and also would specify the proper baud rate and comm port. 110 Appendix: External Protocols Script File Method Alternately Telix can run a SALT script file when the user selects an external protocol. The script should be compiled ahead of time (as explained elsewhere in this manual). The user's reply to the question of what files to transfer is stored in the system variable _ext_filespec. The script file is free to implement the protocol in whatever way it wants to, such as calling an external driver program using the RUN function, or by actually performing the transfer itself. Appendices 111 D File Formats For programmers who wish to write Dialing Directory handling utilities, a text file describing the Dialing Directory format used by Telix is available in the Telix forum of the Support BBS. 112 Index Index 14,400 bps ...................................................101 16550 UART ...........................................15, 61, 100 28,800 bps ...................................................101 7E1 ...........................................................15 8N1 ...........................................................15 Abort character ...............................................68 Aborted downloads .............................................59 Adding entries ................................................34 Alarm .........................................................59 ANSI ..........................................................78 ANSI BBS ......................................................77 ANSI.KEY .....................................................100 Answerback string .............................................58 ASCII .....................................................49, 73 ASCII transfers ...............................................68 AT ................................................62, 64, 89, 98 Auto baud detect ..............................................65 Auto-answer string ........................................29, 64 AVATAR ........................................................79 Backspace .................................................33, 56 BAT ...........................................................70 Batch file ...................................................109 Baud rate .....................................................15 BBS script ....................................................87 BIOS ...........................................................8 BIOS INT14 routines ...........................................11 Bit rate ......................................................15 Blank lines, expand ...........................................68 bps rate ......................................................15 Break signal ..................................................28 Busy signal ...................................................97 Capture file ..........................................17, 60, 66 Carriage Return .......................................16, 56, 69 Carrier Detect ................................17, 87, 90, 97, 98 Character pacing ..............................................69 Chat ..........................................................93 Chat mode .....................................................27 CIS Quick B ...................................................48 Clear screen ..................................................27 Clearing entries ..............................................34 Index 113 Color settings ................................................53 COM parameter ..................................................9 Comm port setup ...............................................74 Command entry .................................................12 Command line options ...........................................8 Command summary screen ........................................13 Command line options ..........................................14 COMMAND.COM ...............................................23, 99 Communications parameters .............................14, 55, 99 Communications port .......................................15, 74 Compiling Scripts .............................................81 Compuserve Quick B ........................................48, 58 COMSPEC .......................................................23 CONFIG.SYS .....................................................5 Configuration ..................................................6 Configuration file .....................................9, 10, 53 Connect string ................................................63 Connection type ...............................................88 Control character .............................................16 CR translation ................................................69 Crash recovery ................................................72 CRC errors ...................................................100 CS.EXE ........................................................82 CSS.EXE .......................................................83 CTS ...........................................................57 Customizing Telix .............................................53 Data compression .............................................102 Date format ...................................................60 DCE rate .....................................................101 Deleting entries ..............................................39 DESQview ...............................................8, 11, 54 Dial cancel string ............................................64 Dial time .....................................................64 Dialing .......................................................36 Dialing Directory ..........................................9, 31 Dialing Directory format .....................................111 Dialing Directory, creating ...................................40 Dialing Directory, loading ....................................40 Dialing Directory, printing ...................................41 Dialing Directory, sorting ....................................41 Dialing prefix ............................................33, 63 Dialing settings ..............................................62 Dialing suffix ................................................63 114 Index Directory program .............................................67 Disk buffer ...................................................71 Disk drives ...................................................61 DOORWAY mode ..................................................29 DOORWAY.EXE ...................................................93 DOS command ...............................................23, 25 DOS functions .................................................24 DOS shell .....................................................23 Download .....................................43, 58, 59, 92, 103 Download directory ............................................66 DSR ...........................................................57 DTE rate .....................................................101 DTR ...................................................17, 57, 65 Echo ..................................................28, 56, 68 Editing an entry ..............................................34 Editing strings ...............................................15 Editor ................................................24, 25, 67 EMS ...........................................................61 Emulation .....................................................77 Ending a Telix session ........................................16 Enhanced keyboard .............................................60 Escape character ..............................................16 Estimated file transfer time .................................107 Executing a script ............................................83 Exiting Telix .................................................16 External protocols .......................................70, 109 File functions ................................................24 File transfer protocol ....................................43, 47 File transfer time ...........................................107 File transfers ................................................43 Filename guessing .............................................72 Filenames and Path Settings ...................................66 Files directory ...........................................24, 67 Finding an entry ..............................................35 Flow control ..................................................57 FOSSIL driver .................................................11 Garbage .......................................................99 General help ..................................................13 Goodbye .......................................................94 Handshaking ...................................................57 Hang-up ...................................16, 17, 59, 64, 65, 97 Hayes compatible ..............................................98 Help/Status screen ............................................13 Index 115 High bit ..............................................33, 56, 68 Host download directory .......................................88 Host mode .....................................................87 Host upload directory .........................................88 HOSTPLUS ......................................................87 Init string ...................................................62 Inserting blank entries .......................................39 INT14 parameter ................................................9 INT14/FOSSIL mode .........................................11, 74 Kermit ....................................................50, 74 KEY ...........................................................79 Keyboard commands .............................................95 Keyboard definitions ..........................................21 Language setup ................................................75 Learning a script .............................................84 Left-handed mouse .............................................12 LF translation ................................................69 Line Feed .....................................16, 28, 33, 56, 69 Line pacing ...................................................68 List dial .....................................................36 LNG .......................................................10, 75 Local echo ............................................28, 56, 68 Locked modem rate .............................................89 Log ...................................................18, 60, 66 LOGO.MSG ......................................................90 Long distance codes .......................................38, 40 Machine Requirements ...........................................4 Macros ........................................................21 Manual dial ...................................................36 Manual dialing ................................................38 Menu bar ..................................................12, 61 Menu line .....................................................61 Miscellaneous Options .........................................29 MNP ..........................................................105 Modem initialization string ...............................29, 62 Modem settings ................................................62 Modem sharing program .........................................11 Modem7 ........................................................50 MODEMCFG.EXE ...................................................6 Mouse support .................................................10 Moving entries ................................................41 Multi-tasking ....................................10, 11, 98, 100 Network operation .............................................11 116 Index No connect strings ............................................63 NOMOUSE parameter .............................................10 Online .........................................................8 Output string translation .....................................16 Pace character ................................................68 Pacing ....................................................68, 69 Parity ........................................................15 Password ..............................................33, 87, 88 Path Settings .................................................66 Pause .........................................................16 Pause capturing ...............................................17 Preferences menu ..............................................53 Prefix ........................................................33 Printer log ...................................................17 Protocol ..............................................33, 43, 47 Protocol options ..............................................70 QDCONFIG .........................................87, 90, 92, 106 QDHost ...............................................87, 97, 106 QDHOST.LOG ....................................................90 Queue redial ..................................................37 Quick dialing bar .........................................38, 59 Quiet mode .....................................................9 Receiving files ...............................................43 Recording a script ............................................84 Redial ........................................................37 Redial pause ..................................................65 Registration Card ..............................................1 RPI ..........................................................105 RSHELL.BAT ....................................................93 RTS ....................................................8, 57, 58 SALT ..........................................................81 Screen image ..............................................25, 67 Screen settings ...............................................53 Screen size ...................................................29 Script ........................................9, 70, 81, 84, 104 Script directory ..............................................66 Script learning ...............................................84 Script, executing .............................................83 Script, linked ................................................32 Scripts, creating and compiling ...............................81 Scroll-back ...............................................20, 60 SEAlink .......................................................49 Searching for a string ........................................20 Index 117 Sending files .................................................45 Sending words/characters with mouse ...........................13 Serial Number ..................................................x SHARE.EXE .....................................................11 Sharing Violation Errors ......................................11 Shell .........................................................92 SIMPLE ........................................................83 Sound .........................................................59 Speed .........................................................15 Standard communications mode ...................................9 Start-up directory .............................................5 Startup script ................................................66 Status line ...............................................14, 56 Strings, entering and editing .................................15 Support ....................................See Technical Support Swap ..........................................................61 System Requirements ............................................4 Technical Support .............................................ix Australia ....................................................xi CompuServe Forum .............................................ix Germany ......................................................xi Great Britain ................................................xi Internet Email ...............................................ix Outside the United States ....................................xi Support BBS ..................................................ix Voice Support .................................................x Teletype ......................................................77 Telink ........................................................50 Telix for Windows ............................................105 TELIX*.LNG ....................................................10 TELIX.CAP .....................................................66 TELIX.CNF ...........................................7, 9, 10, 53 TELIX.FON ..................................................9, 31 TELIX.IMG .................................................25, 67 TELIX.KEY .....................................................21 TELIX.MDM ......................................................6 TELIX.PIF ....................................................105 TELIX.SWP .....................................................61 TELIX.USE .................................................18, 66 Terminal ..............................................32, 55, 77 Terminal mode .................................................12 Terminal options ..............................................55 Time format ...................................................60 118 Index TOFF parameter ................................................10 Transfer protocol .........................................43, 47 Translate table ...............................................26 Trigger string ................................................71 Troubleshooting ...............................................97 TTY ...........................................................77 UART ....................................................100, 102 Upload ...........................................45, 61, 92, 103 Upload directory ..............................................66 Usage log .............................................18, 60, 66 V.42bis ......................................................102 VT102 .........................................................78 VT52 ..........................................................79 WELCOME.MSG ...................................................91 Windows .............................................98, 100, 105 XLT ...........................................................27 Xmodem ....................................................47, 48 Xmodem timing .................................................71 XMS ...........................................................61 XON/XOFF ......................................................57 Ymodem ........................................................49 Ymodem-g ......................................................50 Zmodem ............................................49, 58, 72, 73 Zmodem auto-downloads .........................................43