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A Quick Reference CONEX VERSION 6.2D Mon 06-14-1993 10:35:35 Copyright (C) 1991-93 Erhard Hilbig CONEX (Latin connection) is used to communicate between IBM personal computer and a mainframe or between two IBM PCs. These are the highlights of the program: - The IBM PC can be used as terminal via COM1 - COM4, via Interrupt 14, DECNET LAT, FTP TCP/IP and B&W TCP/IP at a mainframe. - Parameters like baudrate (50-115200), parity, full/half duplex, xon/xoff or hardware handshake can be set in CONEX. - Files can be transferred without protocol, e.g., to save a session to disk. - Several DOS commands can be used inside CONEX, such as "dir", "cd", "del" or a DOS shell can be entered. - All incoming characters can be sent to a printer. - You can transfer files to and from the mainframe via KERMIT protocol using long packets and sliding windows. - Tektronix 4010/4014 and DEC VT100 - VT320 can be emulated. The crosshair in GIN mode can be moved by a mouse. - Graphical output can be displayed on a HPGL plotter or transferred to other programs. - Up to 10 pages of screen output can be scrolled back to screen and edited. - All keys including the numerical keypad can be programmed. - Incoming characters from the port can be remapped by the user. - The configuration of CONEX can be saved to an ASCII file, which can be protected by a password or CONEX can be patched by itself. - Several sessions, especially net sessions, can be opened concurrently. - CONEX is completely written in assembler and therefore very quick and small. The only file necessary to run CONEX is "conex.exe". ╒══════════════════════╕ │ How to start CONEX │ ╘══════════════════════╛ Simply start CONEX version 6.2d with conex [<host name>|<number>] [<options>] parameters ---------- <host name> - connect to name of host in a network (must have been set with Alt-I before!) <host number> - enter session 0 - 9 (default: 0) options ------- /i<filename> - load different ini file (default: conex.ini) ╒════════════════╕ │ DOS Commands │ ╘════════════════╛ DOS commands can be executed nearly at any time using the alternate keys. => <Alt-D> - list Directory When asked for "Dir mask:" you can enter filenames using wild cards ? and *, e.g. you get all files ending with .asm if you enter "*.asm". You can scroll the filenames using the cursor keys. If you are to enter a filename e.g. with <Alt-E> or <S> in kermit mode, you can switch to this screen with <Page up>/<Page down>. Multiple files may then be selected with the keys <Ins> or <Del> or a single file simply with <Return>. => <Alt-C> - Change to another drive/directory You can change to a new drive by adding "<drive>:" to your pathname. => <Alt-E> - Erase file Wild cards cannot be used when entering the filename, but you can switch to a selection menu with <Page up>/<Page down>. => <Alt-X> - eXecute DOS commands Any valid DOS commands can be executed. But if you want to enter the DOS shell completely give <Return>. You return to CONEX with "exit". ╒═══════════════════╕ │ Port Parameters │ ╘═══════════════════╛ => <Alt-I> - Initialize connection The following parameters can be modified Host: name of the host to which you are connected. It is only important if you are working on a network with LAT, PC/TCP or BW/TCP. Changing this parameter will automatically close the old session. Port: Com, interrupt 14, LAT, PC/TCP or BW/TCP Bits/parity:7 space, 7 even, 7 odd, 7 mark, 8 odd, 8 even, 8 none Duplex: half - all entered characters are immediately displayed. full - the host echoes all received characters. more ...: This allows you to change more parameters which are less important. These are: Prompt: You can enter part of the prompt of the connected machine here. When you enter "return" in "edit mode" all characters following this prompt are transmitted. Answer: This string is transmitted, if the host sends ENQ (decimal 5). COM PORT and INT 14 ───────────────────── Portnumber: 1, 2, 3, 4 COM1 ... COM4 if they exist. COM3 and COM4 can only be used if they are defined in BIOS, otherwise you have to set IO-ports and interrupts for these ports in conex.ini. (See tech.ref for more details) Baudrate: 50, 75, 150, 200, 300, 600, 1200, 1800, 2400, 3600, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600, 115200 bits/second Shows the speed at which characters are transmitted. Stopbits: 1, 2 - Number of stop bits that follow the end of a character on a serial line. Normally this has not much influence on the transmission. Handshake: none - no handshake hardware - Characters are only transmitted if pins CTS or DSR are set. xon/xoff - XOFF=^S stops transmission XON=^Q starts transmission again PC/TCP and BW/TCP ─────────────────── Telnet port: Default port is 23, some hosts use different ports for special purposes. Telnet timeout: How long do we wait for an answer during initial connection in milliseconds? This value may be increased for long distance connections. Some networks offer interrupt 14 as a link. LAT (Local Area Transport) is used to connect PC and mainframe via DECNET. A resident program called "lat" must be loaded before using this option. LAT is contained in DECnet-DOS which is available from DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation). This software has been tested with DECnet-DOS version 2.1. With PC/TCP you can make a telnet connection on ethernet. The PC/TCP kernel ("ethdrv") from FTP Software Inc. must be loaded before, it is not public domain. The program has been tested with version 2.04, 2.05 and 2.1. PC/TCP is a registered trademark of FTP software, Inc. anonymous file server 26 Princess Street vax.ftp.com (128.127.2.100) Wakefield, MA 01880 (617) 246-0900 BW/TCP has the same features as PC/TCP. The internet number can be entered directly as hostname or the hostname can be resolved with a host file. Enter its location in <Alt-Y>. Hostname resolution with a name server is not supported. BW/TCP is a product from Beame & Whiteside Software Ltd. Beame & Whiteside Software Ltd Tel + Fax: P.O. BOX 8130 (416) 648 6556 Dundos, Ontario CANADA L9H 5E7 => <Alt-S> - Save all current parameters or Patch conex The parameters are normally written to the file "conex.ini" and are automatically read again when you start CONEX. If you select a different name as save file you have to activate it with the command line option "/i<filename>". The following parameters are saved: port parameters (<Alt-I>), packet parameters (kermit mode <I>-command), VT320-emulation (<Alt-M>), graphics enabled (<Alt-G>), plot parameters (<Alt-P>) and status line (<Alt-L>) in the different sessions 0 ... 9 and the keyboard macros. The save file is an ASCII file which can be altered by a normal editor, see "tech.ref" for more details. It can also be encrypted with a password especially to protect the keyboard macros. Replacing the ini-file by the exe-filename (normally "conex.exe") will save parameters to conex.exe itself. Afterwards the INI-file is not automatically read, lest you force CONEX to read it with the /i-option. Password protection is not supported then. => <Alt-0> ... <Alt-9> - change to another session Up to 10 different network sessions can be opened concurrently depending on the limit of the resident network software. Port and kermit parameter can be set differently in each session, the screen is saved and restored, too. These sessions can be directly selected with <Alt-0> to <Alt-9>. => <Alt-N> - change to another session with host Name All sessions are listed and can be selected with the cursor keys. Open sessions in a network are marked with an arrow. => <Alt-B> - send Break Sends a break over the serial line (short break), if <Alt-B> is pressed twice, the signals RTS and DTR are dropped for a short time (long break). These commands are normally used to interrupt the connection between mainframe and PC. In the networks NOVELL, DECNET or TELNET a break is sent according to network standards. ╒══════════════════════╕ │ Terminal Emulation │ ╘══════════════════════╛ The PC can be used as a normal terminal. The following modes can be selected with function keys: => <F7> - normal mode All input characters are immediately sent to the mainframe. => <F8> - edit mode, scroll back In this mode the screen can be scrolled back and modified with the cursor keys (<Home>, <End>, <Left>, <Right>, <Up>, <Down>, <Page up>, <Page down>, <Del>, <Ins>, <Ctrl-End> = delete to end of line). You can scroll back up to 10 screen pages. You can enter this mode with <Shift-Cursor keys>, too. With <Return> the cursor line is sent to the mainframe and CONEX is switched back to normal mode. If a prompt has been defined with <Alt-I> for this session it is stripped off. With <Esc> or <F7> you return to normal mode without transmitting anything. => <F9> - kermit mode Kermit must be started on the mainframe to transfer files. (see below) => <Alt-M> - change eMulation, character set The following DEC terminals can be emulated: VT100, VT102, VT220, VT320. Actually these different emulations only differ in the response to the terminal identification, nearly all ESC sequences of a VT320 terminal are interpreted and the keyboard is set up accordingly. The keyboard corresponds to a DEC terminal like this: Dec VT 100/200/300 series function keys ┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬─────────────┐ │ F6 │ F7 │ F8 │ F9 │ F10 │ │ <Shift-F6> │ <Shift-F7> │ <Shift-F8> │ <Shift-F9> │ <Shift-F10> │ └────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴─────────────┘ ┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬─────────────┐ │ F11 │ F12 │ F13 │ F14 │ Help │ │ <Alt-F1> │ <Alt-F2> │ <Alt-F3> │ <Alt-F4> │ <Alt-F5> │ │ │ │ │ │ <F11> │ └────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴─────────────┘ ┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬─────────────┐ │ Do │ F17 │ F18 │ F19 │ F20 │ │ <Alt-F6> │ <Alt-F7> │ <Alt-F8> │ <Alt-F9> │ <Alt-F10> │ │ <F12> │ │ │ │ │ └────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴─────────────┘ edit keys numerical keypad ┌──────────┬──────────┬────────────┐ ┌──────┬──────┬──────┬───────┐ │ Find │ Insert │ Remove │ │ PF1 │ PF2 │ PF3 │ PF4 │ │ │ Here │ │ │ <F1> │ <F2> │ <F3> │ <F4> │ │ <End> │ <Ins> │ <Del> │ ├──────┼──────┼──────┼───────┤ ├──────────┼──────────┼────────────┤ │ 7 │ 8 │ 9 │ - │ │ Select │ Previous │ Next │ │ <7> │ <8> │ <9> │ <-> │ │ │ Screen │ Screen │ ├──────┼──────┼──────┼───────┤ │ <Home> │ <Pageup> │ <Pagedown> │ │ 4 │ 5 │ 6 │ , │ └──────────┴──────────┴────────────┘ │ <4> │ <5> │ <6> │ <*> │ ├──────┼──────┼──────┼───────┤ │ 1 │ 2 │ 3 │ │ │ <1> │ <2> │ <3> │ │ ├──────┴──────┼──────┤ Enter │ │ 0 │ . │ <+> │ │ <0> │ <.> │ │ └─────────────┴──────┴───────┘ In 8 bit mode codes between 128-159 have special meanings and the above function keys send 8 bit codes. 8 bit can only be selected with VT220 or VT320. Character set 1 (characters 33-127) and character set 2 (characters 160-255) can be selected from ASCII, UK, graphic, German, multinational and user. The user character set is defined in CONEX.INI. <Alt-M> always resets VT320 emulation to default values. => <Alt-L> - change status Line You can select from the following items: 1. normal status line, 2. empty status line, 3. status line with column numbers, 4. no status line. The selection can be saved with <Alt-S>. => <Alt-H> - Help This gives a list of all possible commands in CONEX, of modified keys and last not least my address. Keys which have been replaced by a single key are marked with an arrow. Pressing a function key or Alt-combination will execute this command, normal keys quit the help screen. => <F10> - quit CONEX DTR and RTS can be dropped when you leave the program. If you changed any important parameters you are asked to save them. Network connections are always closed. => <Ctrl-Backspace> = DEL, <Ctrl-Return> = LF An unknown fact is that DEL (127) and LF (10) can be produced this way. Another way is to redefine keys using <Alt-K> or define <Backspace> in <Alt-M>. => <Ctrl-Num Lock> or <Pause> Stop output to screen, any other key resumes output to screen again. This command is executed by the normal keyboard device driver. ╒══════════════════╕ │ Graphic Screen │ ╘══════════════════╛ The program can switch automatically into graphic mode when it receives a graphic command and behave as a tectronix 4010 or 4014. The following graphic cards are supported: hercules, CGA, EGA and VGA. The graphic card is automatically detected on entry to CONEX. This mode is only used to view graphics, so it is not as comfortable as normal text mode. Some keys like Alt combinations will not work any more in this mode. => <F5> - enter graphic mode Switch into graphic mode manually. The last graphic picture will be restored. => <Alt-G> - enter Graphic mode automatically When a graphic command GS, FS, US or ESC ENQ, ESC FF, ESC SUB is received CONEX will automatically switch into graphic mode. You can switch back to normal by pressing <F7>. In GIN mode the crosshair can be moved using the cursor keys; the shift key speeds up this movement. If a Microsoft compatible mouse is connected and the mouse driver loaded you can move the crosshair with the mouse as well. => <Alt-P> - write a Plot file The graphics can be written to a file in HPGL format and plotted on a HPGL compatible plotter later on. Pagewidth, margins and velocity of the pen can be selected as well. Plots use the original resolution of a Tektronix 4014 screen. ╒══════════════════════╕ │ Writing Key Macros │ ╘══════════════════════╛ => <Alt-K> - write Key macro Enter key All keys can be programmed, if they are detected by BIOS (Int 11h) calls. Press <F4> and the key you want to redefine. Simple ASCII characters must be entered without <F4>, otherwise you will get an error message. There also exist some virtual keys ■IN0 ... ■IN9, which must be entered using <F4>, <I>, <N>, #. When a new connection is opened the corresponding macro IN# is automatically started. On com ports a new connection is determined from the presence of DTR and CTS. Macro Characters in a macro are sent out at a rate of 10 characters/sec. Function, Alt and Control keys must be entered by <F4><key>. The following combinations have special meanings in macros: «W#» Wait for # seconds. # = 1...9 «R<string1> │ <string2> │ ...» Wait until the mainframe sends <string1> or <string2> or ... The strings must be seperated with key <F3>= "│". «D#1 │ #2 │ ...» Dial telephone number #1, if it is occupied try next number #2 ... The special string sent before or after the phone number must be set with Alt-Y, especially prefix (string before number), suffix (string after number) and connect|fail (answer of mainframe if connected or connection failed). - Function keys <F1>="«", <F2>="»", <F3>="│" can be used to enter special characters in macros. - A memory region of 10000 bytes is reserved for keyboard macros. - During the execution of a macro inputs from the keyboard can be done, only ESC stops the macro. Label <Alt-H> lists the labels of all defined user keys. During the execution of a macro this label is also displayed in the status line. Labels are ignored if you replace a key by a single key. => <Alt-Y> - configuration of CONEX page length If > 0, page numbers are printed at the top with <Ctrl-print screen> prefix dialing This string goes before the phone number suffix dialing This string comes after the phone number connect│fail First string is the answer from the modem when connected successfully all other strings which are seperated by │ mean connection failed. If a connection could not be established, the next number is dialed. host name (BW) Name of host table, only used with BW/TCP default port When the program is started in a network with "conex <host>" and a session <host> has not been defined, this port is taken by default. When set to "automatic", the networks LAT, PC/TCP, BW/TCP and Netbios can be detected. ╒══════════════════════════════════════════╕ │ Transfer of Files without any Protocol │ ╘══════════════════════════════════════════╛ => <Alt-W> - Write file Use this command to save all incoming characters to a file either to remember what you were doing or to transfer files. The transfer may be interrupted with the <Alt-W>. => <Alt-R> - Read file The file is transferred to the mainframe as it is, especially CR and LF at the end of line are sent. The transfer can be interrupted with <Alt-R>. => <Ctrl-Print Screen> - print incoming characters All incoming characters are transferred to the printer. If a page length is defined with <Alt-Y>, the printed pages will be numbered. Pressing <Control-Print Screen> twice produces a form feed and page numbering begins anew. ╒═════════════════════════════════╕ │ Transfer Files in Kermit Mode │ ╘═════════════════════════════════╛ You must start kermit on the mainframe and enter "server", "receive" or "send", then press <F9> to enter local kermit mode to start the file transfer. => <I> -Init parameters ASCII/binary file type - Binary files (files with characters over 127) should be transferred with file type binary. The mainframe must be set to this mode, too, normally with "set file_type binary". Sometimes binary files can also be transferred with "parity none", which is quicker. packet length - length of a transmitted packet including packet number, type and checksum. (default 2000) Values above 94 are ignored if the host does not support large packets. window size - Size of a window. (default 1) Values different from 1 are ignored if the host does not support windowing. - If you want to speed up the transmission rate enlarge packet size <-- reliable connection enlarge window size <-- unreliable connection Enlarging both packet and window size does not make much sense. type of checksum - CONEX supports 3 kinds of checksums, which consist of 1, 2 or 3 bytes. (default 1) It might be a good idea to select a more exact checksum with large packet sizes and unreliable connections. more... - Change more parameters, which are less important. padding character - characters sent before any packets to synchronize transmission. (normally not necessary) quote control character - control character are quoted with this character, Control-A is coded as '#A'. (default #) quote 8-bit character - characters whose 8th bit is set are quoted with this character, hex A8 is coded as &H. (default &) Repeating - repeated characters are compressed in a packet. repeat character - 8 characters 'HHHHHHHH' is shortened to 3 characters ~'H, 8 is coded as '. (default ~) packet terminator - Every packet is terminated with this character. (default = CR) Max number of retries - number of trials to resend a packet, which has been refused by the mainframe. (default 5) Time out in secs - If the PC did not answer for the specified time the last packet is resend. (default 5) => <S> - Send files Multiple files seperated with blanks and "wild cards" can be entered. If you want to select from a file list, press <page up>/<page down> and select with <Ins> or <Del>. => <R> - Receive files This command is used to get files from the mainframe. If this file already exists on the PC the old one is renamed to ".bak". If the sender has already been told the name of the file ("send foo"), simply press return when asked for "receive file". It is also possible to enter "wild cards" which are understood by kermit at the mainframe. => <O> - lOg packets to disk If log is on, all sent and received packets are written to the file "conex.log". This feature is mainly used to trace down any bugs. => <F> - Finish server on the mainframe Kermit on the mainframe is terminated and CONEX changes back to normal mode. => <L> - Logout on the mainframe Like "finish" but terminate session, too. => cursor keys Scroll the messages at the bottom of the screen. => <C> - Change directory on the mainframe This and the following commands only work, if kermit on the mainframe supports generic commands. => <D> - list Directory on the mainframe => <E> - Erase file on the mainframe => <N> - reName file on the mainframe => <U> - query disk Usage => <M> - send a short Message => <Q> - Query server status => During a file transfer the following commands can be used. <Esc> - interrupts transmission completely. This should be the last resort if nothing else works. <^F> - interrupts the transfer of current file, the transmission proceeds with the next file. <^G> - interrupts file transfer completely. <CR> - resend last packet, if transmission stopped ╒════════════════════╕ │ error characters │ ╘════════════════════╛ Some characters, which are output to screen, have special meanings: Blinking character - Parity or Framing error: A bad character was received. Alter bits/parity, if all characters are blinking. rubout (dec 178) - Overrun error at COM port. Too many characters have been received at the port. up arrow (dec 24) - Sender time out: Characters could not be sent out. In a network environment the connection is interrupted. down arrow (dec 25) - Receiver time out: Characters could not be received from remote host. The connection is interrupted. ╒═════════════════╕ │ Tips and Tricks │ ╘═════════════════╛ Redefine Backspace to DEL ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This is what you should do 1. Enter macro definition: <Alt-K> 2. Select key to redefine: <F4> <Backspace> <Return> 3. Delete old definition: <Delete> several times 4. Insert new definition: <Ctrl-Backspace> <Return> Redefine enhanced IBM numerical keypad to look like DEC VT100/VT220 keypad ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The positions of the EDIT keys on a VT220 keyboard are not the same as on the IBM keyboard. Dec VT 200/300 series PC AT extended keyboard ┌──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐ ┌──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐ │ Find │ Insert │ Remove │ │ Insert │ Home │ Page │ │ │ Here │ │ │ │ │ Up │ ├──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤ ├──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤ │ Select │ Previous │ Next │ │ Delete │ End │ Page │ │ │ Screen │ Screen │ │ │ │ Down │ └──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘ └──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘ If this is what you want redefine them as follows directly in conex.ini using <Alt-K> "■INS",,"■END"! <F4><Insert> --> <F4><End> "■HOM",,"■INS"! <F4><Home> --> <F4><Insert> "■PUP",,"■DEL"! <F4><Page up> --> <F4><Delete> "■DEL",,"■HOM"! <F4><Delete> --> <F4><Home> "■END",,"■PUP"! <F4><End> --> <F4><Page up> - more - ! Sorry, some keys on the numeric keypad, like </>, <Enter> cannot be redefined in this version. Coming in 6.3! ╒════════════╕ │ Problems │ ╘════════════╛ 1. Interrupt numbers >7 on COM have not been tested. 2. VT320 emulation is not yet complete. If you encounter any problems contact me, so I can enhance the implementation. ╒═══════════════╕ │ Past history │ ╘═══════════════╛ 6.0 1st Public Domain Version in comp.binaries.ibm.pc 6.1 default COM3/4 Interrupt = 4 and 3 COM3/4 Interrupt + IO address configurable up to 4 LAT sessions ESC FF, ESC SUB, ESC ENQ automatically switch into graphic mode (Alt-G) support extended keyboard (esp. F11, F12) rotate interrupts configurable in conex.ini format of CONEX.INI changed!!! dial sequences are saved in CONEX.INI start initial macro at 1st opening of a session (<Alt-K>, ■IN#) characters from port can be remapped (<Alt-M>, character set: user) conex can be patched (<Alt-S>, file name: conex.exe) support B&W TCP/IP (<Alt-P>) ESC stops macros only in normal or graphics mode alphabetically sorted output in directory listing alphabetically sorted output of macros in help screen multinational supplement character set implemented ESC ENQ supported in graphics mode hercules graphic screen increased to 720 X 360 pixels 6.2 default setting changed to bits/parity: 8 none, emulation: VT320-7 single key replacement is shown with <Alt-H> support sliding windows/long packets in kermit file transfer default kermit packet size = 2000 bytes (long packet) "ESC [" switches back from graphic mode to text mode Cursor type changes according to insert/overwrite mode Numbers can be entered directly in windows <Shift-TAB> can be programmed support printer command under VT... emulation features from VT320 emulation support UART 16550A FIFO Answerback message implemented (<Alt-I>, more=yes) support line drawing patterns in Tek mode (ESC `, ..., ESC e) "ESC [ ? 38 h" switches into graphic mode Characters in Tektronix mode are transmitted to HPGL file telnet port and timeout made configurable (<Alt-I>) ╒════════════════╕ │ Future plans │ ╘════════════════╛ - NETBIOS support - enhance macro language - more rows, columns on EGA/VGA card - FTP file transfer - direct access to packet drivers - emulate tektronix 4105 - support other file transfer protocols esp. z-modem ╒══════════╕ │ Author │ ╘══════════╛ Erhard Hilbig Hochschulrechenzentrum Universitaet-Gesamthochschule Paderborn Postfach 1621 W-4790 Paderborn (Germany) e-mail: zahilb@pbhrzt.uni-paderborn.de zahilb@hrz.nw.uni-paderborn.de phone: +49 5251/60-2433 room: N2-316 FAX: +49 5251/60-2519 This program has been developed by me and can be distributed freely. There is also a more detailed documentation in German available, which is written in LaTeX. You can have it as LaTeX DVI file or as a print file, which must be output using "copy conex.lst prn/b". If you find any bugs or have an idea how to improve the program, send me a message!