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C/C++ Users Group Library 1996 July
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C-C++ Users Group Library July 1996.iso
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422_02
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laptalk
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laptalk.doc
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1994-03-20
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L A P T A L K
A
Tiny
Telecommunications
Program
for
Laptop Computers
Release: 1.1
Revised: 30-Aug-93
Copyright 1991-1994 Dave Dunfield
All rights reserved.
LAPTALK Users Guide Page: 1
1. INTRODUCTION
I first conceived of LAPTALK when I did a great deal of traveling
with a small 8088 dual-floppy (no hard disk) laptop computer. Being a
shareware author, I try to log into local BBS's wherever I travel, to
upload the latest versions of my software.
Some of my archives are quite large, requiring up to 1/2 hour to
transfer (at 2400 bps). Using the floppies was unacceptable, since
the drives just sat there starting and stopping.... The obvious
solution was to define a RAMdisk, allowing smooth, quiet and
non-destructive operation.
Then I ran into a small problem.... The telecomm packages which
contained the features I used were all very large, typically 200-300
Kbytes in size. This not only used up a good portion of the 640K ram
on my laptop (thereby reducing the size of my RAMdisk), but it took
lot of space on the 720K floppy drive, and took FOREVER to load.
There just had to be a better solution...
I decided to write my own very small "no frills" terminal program,
which would still have the features I needed, which were:
1) Reasonable subset of ANSI (VT100) terminal emulation
2) Built in capture and upload of ASCII files.
3) Ability to link to external transfer protocols
4) Powerful "command" language to automate uploads etc.
5) A simple "host" capability for remote access.
The results of my effort was LAPTALK, a ".COM" file which
addresses the above requirements, and weighs in at just over 20K.
The complete source code to LAPTALK is distributed with my MICRO-C
compiler as an example program. See the enclosed CATALOG file.
LAPTALK Users Guide Page: 2
2. USING LAPTALK
When you first run LAPTALK, it will attempt to open the file
LAPTALK.CFG in your current directory. If found, it will read its
configuration from it. If the configuration file is not found,
LAPTALK will display a warning message, and assume various defaults.
Once started, LAPTALK will present you with a terminal emulation
screen. The top 24 lines are the actual data window, and the 25th
line is a status line. You may now type on the keyboard to send data
to the serial port, and see any incoming data in the terminal window.
2.1 Command Line Options
The format of the LAPTALK command line is:
LAPTALK [-i c=file] [script command]
The '-i' switch tells LAPTALK to NOT enter an interactive
session. This is most useful when used with a command line script
file, so that control will return to DOS when the script is
finished.
The 'c=<file>' parameter allows you to specify a different
configuration file which is to be used instead of the default
"LAPTALK.CFG".
If [script command] is given, LAPTALK will execute the named
script and pass it any additional arguments BEFORE the main
interactive mode is entered.
2.2 LAPTALK Functions
To access LAPTALK's functions, press CTRL-HOME or CTRL-END. You
will be presented with this menu:
+--------------+
|Function menu |
|Download file |
|Upload file |
|Kill capture |
|Perform script|
|Hangup modem |
|Clear screen |
|Configuration |
|Shell to DOS |
|Exit to DOS |
+--------------+
You may activate a function by moving the highlighted cursor
bar to it (with the UP and DOWN arrow keys) and pressing ENTER. To
quickly move the cursor bar to a particular entry, type the first
letter of the entry.
LAPTALK Users Guide Page: 3
2.3 Function menu
This function presents you with a list of "functions" that have
been configured. Each function represents a "script" (command)
file, complete with arguments, that will run when that function is
selected.
This is a convienent way to set up automatic dialing lists etc.
2.4 Download file
This function will prompt with a menu of available protocols,
and then for the name of the file to be transferred. If you
specify a filename which contains wildcard character ('*' or '?'),
LAPTALK will show you a list of matching files, and allow you to
pick one.
Once the filename is selected, LAPTALK will invoke the selected
protocol, and attempt to download the file from the remote system
to your PC.
2.5 Upload file
This function is similar to "Download file", except that the
file is transferred from your PC to the remote system.
2.6 Kill capture
This function is used following a download using "ASCII"
protocol, to stop LAPTALK from capturing the terminal session to
the file. When an ASCII download is in effect, you will see the
string "cap" in the status line at the bottom of the screen.
Selecting this function will stop the data capture, and remove
that indication from the status line.
2.7 Perform script
This function prompts for a script filename and arguments.
Unless you specify otherwise, the file is assumed to be located in
the LAPTALK home directory, and it is assumed to have the
extension ".SCR". LAPTALK will process the file as a "script"
program.
This method of running a script program is useful for those
files which you do not use frequently enough to have in your
"function menu". It is also useful in that you may enter
parameters to the program when you specify its name.
If the filename you supply contains wildcard character ('*' or
'?'), LAPTALK will show you a list of the matching script files,
and allow you to select one.
LAPTALK Users Guide Page: 4
2.8 Hangup modem
This command drops the DTR and RTS signals to the modem for a
brief period of time, causing most modems to go offline and hang
up any calls which are in progress. See you modem manual