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1993-05-14
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25.04.1993
VOICEMAN Version 2.3
Hardware needed:
- "IBM-compatible" PC (it's almost a joke or have you ever seen
a clone compatible to a PS/2?)
- ZyXEL with ROM-version 5.02 or above
- a telephone of course
if possible:
- serial port with UART 16550
First I want to appologize for the state this manual is in. My parents and
their ancestors chose to make me a German, so I find it quite difficult
translating this document to English. But since there were some requests
and I failed finding someone else, I'll do my best. The english version
therefor will become slightly shorter, but I hope it will fit your needs...
I. Shareware
II. Features
III. Installation
1. operating instructions
1.1 Command line options
1.2 The menu
1.2.1 Answering
1.2.2 Messages
1.2.3 Recorder
1.2.4 Fax
1.2.5 Options
1.3 Remote control
1.3.1 Command overview
2. Table of voicefiles
3. Windows, messages and logging
4. Events
5. Who am I?
I. Shareware
This program is shareware and only nearly for free!!!!
You are encouraged to copy it and spread it all over - well wherever...
BUT! After trying and testing the program for a period of not more than
4 weeks you'll have to pay for it, or dump it.
Registration costs 40.- DM. That's a fair price, I'd say. People from
abroad: you just have to make sure, that the above amount get's here. There
is one thing to consider though: my bank keep's 10.- DM as commission.
Cheques seem to be less a problem.
After having received the money, I'll send you the newest "real" version.
Updates can be downloaded from my mailbox.
This mailbox is only running from 6:00pm to 8:30pm german time!!!!!!
Whoever tries to call to some other time get's me running to the phone
myself. And I'm usually quite angry when I here silence on the phone
(again...). The Number is: +49-7152-46047
Since it's Voiceman who should pick up the phone then (I usually refer to
Voiceman as a human being - well, at least he can talk), you can send a fax
or leave a voicemessage as well. You should allow a timeout of at least
70 seconds for your terminal program (because of the greeting message).
This timeout should be granted to you ZyXEL as well (ATS7=70).
Everybody can get the newest shareware-version from here. Registered
users should call the sysop first and let him set the appropriate
userlevel.
II. Features
- Answeringmachine (believe it or not..)
- automatic fax detection
- up to 10 greetingmessages to choose from (even remote!)
- these 10 messages can be recorded remotely.
- callback feature (Voiceman calls you back)
- the callback number can be entered by DTMF.
- records and plays any ZyXEL-Voicefile.
- up to 10000 voicemessages a day can be recorded
- screensaver
- different ring counts (message available / no message available)
- VOICE/FAX/MAILBOX in one!
- Automatic printing of incoming faxes.
- remote-starting external programs.
- Sectretary function. Voiceman calls people for you.
III. Installation
Make a directory for Voiceman. Change into this directory and unpack
Voiceman:
arj x [path]voicem24.arj
the x is essential for the example-voicefiles will be extracted in to a
subdirectory. Whoever is reading this manual might find it useless copying
german examplefiles, but at least you know what you need then.
Create two additional subdirectories RECORD and FAX.
Now the installation is almost complete. There are two ways of choosing
a COM-Port. First you can start the program (set up for COM1 at first).
After unsuccessfully trying to initialize your Modem it will come up
with the Response "Modem not responding" (after trying for about 5 Seconds).
No problem - you just go straight to Options/Modem and change the Port.
Somtimes the computer hangs. Then you'll have to change the COM-number
by editing VOICEMAN.CFG. The entries
COMPORT
COMIRQ
and
COMBASE
have to be entered correctly. Common values are:
COM1 COMIRQ 4 COMBASE 3F8
COM2 COMIRQ 3 COMBASE 2F8
COM3 COMIRQ 4 COMBASE 3E8
COM4 COMIRQ 3 COMBASE 2E8
If you have a machine slower than, say, a 80386-20, a UART 16550 is
strongly recomended. A lot of Voiceman-users come up with the question
"I never had problems with highspeed transmissions with my 80386sx-16, why
are there problems with Voiceman????"
The answer is easy: when you log in to a mailbox, your terminal program
tells the modem, when its buffers are full, so the modem in turn tells
the other modem to wait with transmission until your slow computer is ready
again. This slows down communications slightly but ensures that nothing gets
lost (well almost nothing - sometimes the one or the other character is
missing).
Transmitting voicedata is totally different. Since you can't tell anybody
to stop speaking until the computer is ready to process data, there has
to be a continuous flow (effective flow is 28.800bps with ADPCM/3!).
This was almost it. Now you just have to record your own messages as listed
in chapter 2.
1. Operating instructions
To start the program, simply enter
VOICEMAN
at the DOS-prompt. It is possible to set a PATH to VOICEMAN so you can
start it from "anywhere". I think I don't have to say anymore about
the SAA-Standard known from MS-Windows...
1.1 Command line options
There are 3 options available:
/F tells Voiceman to use a fossil driver instead of the built-in
communications routines.
/A tells Voiceman to answer immediately (without waiting for a RING).
After processing the caller, the program ends. This switch is useful
for starting Voiceman from a batch. It won't work to well in the
shareware version, because of the shareware message at the beginning.
Isn't that a good reason to pay????
/H only in combination with /A. Tells Voiceman not to hang up.
1.2 The menu
1.2.1 Answering
a) Start
or F8
To start the answering machine. Voiceman is already active, when started.
b) Stop
or F9
To disable the answering machine.
!!!! When the answering machine is disabled, it will automatically restart
after counting 15 successive RINGs.
c) Manual answer
or F5.
Voiceman starts answering a call immediately.
d) Dial...
or F7
Voiceman will prompt you for a phonenumber to dial. The number will be
repeatedly called until a voice-connection is made (this reqires at least
ROM-Version 6.00 to be somewhat reliable). As soon as the connection is made
Voiceman will play PLWAIT.ZVD ("One moment please....") and the computer
will beep continuously. Then you can pick up the phone and take over
the line by pressing a key...
e) Exit
or Alt-X
No comments....
1.2.2 Messages
a) Play new messages
or F2
All messages you haven't heard yet will be played and marked as heard.
This procedure can be stopped by pressing the ESC-Key. To skip messages,
just press the '+'-key.
b) Play old messages
All messages you already have heard (and only those) will be played.
c) Browse messages
or Shift-F2
All messages available are shown in a window. You can add comments, delete
or play your messages.
1.2.3 Recorder
a) Record
or F4
A voicefile will be recorded. First you will be prompted for a Filename.
b) Play
or F3
Any desired voicefile will be played.
1.2.4 Fax
a) View fax
or F6
Starts the view-fax-program given in Options/Paths adding the chosen
file as a parameter.
b) Print fax
Starts the print-fax-program given in Options/Paths adding the chosen
file as a parameter.
1.2.5 Options
All changes you make here will be recorded in VOICEMAN.CFG, so they will
automatically stay in effect when restarting the program.
I will only explain those options, that are not self-explanatory.
=Options/Modem
-Silencestring
is a command, that is sent every time before
recording a voicefile. It should normally be something like AT+VSD=...
and tells the ZyXEL how to deal with the silence-detection. Please refer
to your modems manual for details.
-Dialstring
The command that make your modem dial. This should be ATDP for pulse dial
and ATDT for tone dial.
=Options/Answering
-Detect busy
selects whether Voiceman should react on the busy-signal or not. This is
because some ROM-Versions are VERY unreliable in detecting busy in Voicemode
(not to be confused with the datamode!).
-Local output
selects how to play voicefiles locally (eg. F2 or F3).
- Internal speaker selects the built-in ZyXEL speaker (sounds awful)
- Phone line selects - well - the phone line
- External program invokes an external program (Voice prog.) and
adds the voicefilename to the commandline. This makes it possible
to play files using a soundcard by starting a batchfile, that
first converts the ZyXEL-file to a VOC-file and then plays it.
An example:
---------------------------------------------------------------
@echo off
vcntvt 0 %1 temp.voc
vplay temp.voc
del temp.voc
---------------------------------------------------------------
VCNVT.EXE is included with ZFAX 2.2 or above.
VPLAY.EXE is included with the standard Soundblaster-software
-Greeting msg.
selects the greeting message to be played. A 0 will cause GREET0.ZVD to
be played, a 1 -> GREET1.ZVD .....
-Callback count
is the number of new messages that will cause Voiceman to call the
callback number. A 0 will disable this feature.
-Screensaver
...can be disabled by entering a zero
-Message timeout
Enter the number of seconds, a human caller is allowed to speak.
-Need passwd.
selects whether a password must be entered when calling back. If not,
Voiceman calls back and automatically starts playing new messages.
-Silence action
Tells Voiceman what to do, when nothing is spoken.
-None do nothing
-Receive fax reveive a fax. This is useful for receiving
faximiles from an older type fax with no CNG-tone.
-Exec Executes the "Exec program". This can be a
mailbox program. Registered users will receive
utilities that help firing up a mailbox with
Voiceman.
=Options/Paths
The following programs should be entered with a full path
-Receive fax prog. the program to be invoked when receiving a fax.
At this time there are not many alternatives
to RCVFAX, so I'll give an example:
C:\ZFAX\RCVFAX 1 /p:0 /r:0 /w:#PATH#
where /p chooses the COM-Port (0=COM1)
/w chooses the path, where fax-files should be
dropped in. The macro #PATH# tells Voiceman to
replace #PATH# by the chosen Fax-dir.
-View fax prog. this program is invoked, when viewing a fax.
Usually you will enter something like:
C:\ZFAX\ZFAX 4
The fax-filename is automattically appended
-print fax prog. as above, but for printing:
C:\ZFAX\ZFAX 2
-startup prog. a program to be invoked at the beginning of
each incoming call. Some laptops have harddisks
that can be shutdown, when not in use. Here you
can enter a utility that starts it up again.
-End sess. prog. a program to be invoked AFTER an incoming call.
=External progs.
-Swap to
Voiceman can swap out used memory when shelling to another program. This
leaves something like 2K in memory. You can choose, where Voiceman is to
swap to. If all three checkboxes are active (XMS/EMS/DISK), Voiceman will
first try XMS, then EMS, then disk. Of course swapping to disk is the
slowest possibility, so you might choose not to swap at all, but you'll have
to keep in mind, that this might not leave enough memory for other programs.
There are 10 slots where you can enter programs that can be launched remotely
(see description later on). To the right of each entry there are three
radiobuttons (before/after/don't). Here you can decide when or if Voiceman
should hang up when executing an external Program.
=Dialing
Here you can enter options that affect the dialing behaviour of Voiceman.
-No. of retries how often Voiceman should retry after detecting
the busy-tone.
-Time between retries as you probably already have guessed, this is
the time Voiceman waits between retries.
-Dialing message loop if selected, lets Voiceman play PLWAIT.ZVD
several times. This only affects the manual
dialing option (see above).
1.3 Remote control
Remote control requires a password. The procedure is the following:
You call Voiceman. When you hear the greeting message you just type in a
'*'. The greeting message will be interrupted (otherwise try again -
depending on how deaf your ZyXEL is you might have to try 3 times, but it
works as well, when typing 3 times in a row without waiting).
Then Voiceman will ask you to enter a password
(see Options/Answering/Password). You have 10 Seconds time after each pressed
key (tone). After this time has elapsed or after pressing more than 20
wrong keys Voiceman will hang up.
1.3.1 Command overview
'1' Play new messages
'2' Play old messages
'3' enter number of greeting message
You will be asked to type the number of the greeting message that
will become active
'4' record greeting message.
The selected greeting message will be recorded.
'5' End. Voiceman will hang up immediately.
'6' enter callback number.
Voiceman will ask you to enter a callback number. If the callback
feature is deactivated, the callback count will be set to 1.
!!! The digits should be entered slowly, because they will be
repeated vocally. After having entered the whole number, enter a '#'
and Voiceman will repeat the callback number for you (just to make
sure...)
'7' enter callback count. This is the amount of new messages that make
Voiceman call you back. 0 to disable this feature.
'8' Stop the answering machine. Voiceman will not answer any calls until
receiving 15 succesive RINGs. You will be asked
to confirm ('#') first.
'9' End Program. Voiceman will be shut down completly. You will be asked
to confirm ('#') first.
'0' Start external program
You will be asked to enter the number of the program (0-9) to execute.
See chapter 1.2.5 "External programs" for details.
2. Table of voicefiles
0.ZVD to 9.ZVD These are the spoken digits (for repeating the callback
number.
CBMESSG.ZVD will be played when calling back.
"Hello! This is my answering machine. There are new
messages..."
CBNUMBER.ZVD will be played when repeating an entered callback
number.
"The number you entered is:"
CONFIRM.ZVD will be played whenever you're asked to confirm an
action.
"Please confirm..."
ENTPASSW.ZVD "Please enter password"
GOODBYE.ZVD After recording a voice message from a caller.
"Goodbye..."
GREET0-GREET9.ZVD greeting messages
HELLOQ.ZVD This one is played, when silence is detected.
It could be something like "Hello? Anybody there?".
Delete this file if you don't want this to happen.
NOMESS.ZVD This means that there is no mess on your computer.
It could also be interpreted as "no messages available"
PASSOK.ZVD is played after having entered a correct password.
"Please enter command"
RCB.ZVD "Please enter callback number"
RCBN.ZVD "Please enter a number"
ERROR.ZVD "Error"
EXECEXT.ZVD "Starting external program..."
EXTPRG.ZVD "Enter the number of the external program to be played"
PLWAIT.ZVD "One moment please"
For manual dialing. Is what the called person will hear
first.
3. Windows, messages and logging
The Status-window
-----------------
Rings Shows you how many RING-messages will force Voiceman to
pick up the phone. The first value is the number of RINGs
when no new messages are available. The second one....
well you probably guessed that one.
Callback count Shows how many messages have to come in, until Voiceman
calls you back. This is show in a sort of countdown-manner.
Callback num. the number to be called back or disabled if disabled.
New messages Number of new messages. The first value in brackets refers
to the number of callers who have actually spoken. The
second number is the total number of calls excluding
the sysop- and faxcalls.
Greeting msg. the number of the currently selected greeting message.
Faxcalls the number of fax-calls.
The Modem-window
----------------
All readable characters being received from the modem are displayed here.
The Message-window
------------------
Any error- or statusmessages are displayed here. Additionally they are
logged to a file called VOICEMAN.LOG.
5. Events
Options/Events or Alt-E opens an edit window, where you can edit the file
EVENTS.DAT.
This file contains your events:
<time>, <event-type>[,options[,options]] [;comment]
The time entry can look like follows:
-just daytime
HH:MM[:SS] (seconds optional)
e.g. 16:10:05
such events will get stzartet daily at the given time.
-day daytime
MM-DD-YY HH:MM[:SS]
e.g. 10-16-93 17:00
When using a '.' instead of '-' as separator, the german format
will be assumed:
DD.MM.YY
These are events that only occur once
-Weekday daytime
WW HH:MM[:SS]
e.g. Mo 14:00 (monday 14:00)
Just enter the first two letters of the weekday. German and
english abbreviations are possible likewise (Tu = Di).
These events are started once a week.
The <event-type> is given in digits.
The following events are currently possible:
1 Start external program.
An additional parameter is needed. In case it is a number,
the corresponding program entered in Options/External prgs.
will be started.
Otherwise this parameter has to be a fully specified
Path of a program (or batch) to be started.
Example:
We 14:00:10, 1,c:\test.bat
starts test.bat wednesday at 14:00:10
2 Quit Voiceman
Example:
18:00, 2
Ends Voiceman every day at 6pm.
3 Start Voiceman
Example:
15:00, 3
Starts the answering machine every day at 3pm (same as F8)
4 Stop Voiceman
Example:
18:00, 4
Stops the answering machine every day at 6:00pm
5 Send voicefile to phonenumber
Example:
12-15-93 23:00, 5,c:\voiceman\test.zvd,071112345
Sends the voicefile test.zvd to 071112345.
6 Send fax to phonenumber
Example:
Tu 12:00, 6,c:\Test.txt,0911454545
Since ZFAX can send ASCII-Files, you can send any ASCII-
files to any other fax-machine.
7 Do callback
Example:
17:45:06, 7
Does a callback every day at 5:45:06pm whether there
are new messages or not.
I suggest that every entry in the file EVENTS.DAT is followed by a
comment, since ths makes it a lot more readable. Comments are preceded
by a ';'
The succession of the entries doesn't matter since Voiceman always finds
the next event by itself. But you do have to make sure that two events
never start at the same time - one of them will be lost. At least leave
1 second in between. Voiceman of course is smart enough to do an event
which is overlapped by any preceeding one. This means if you have an
event at 10:00:00 that takes 2 minutes to complete and another one at
10:00:01, the second one will be started at 10:02:00 - but it will be
started.
Example for a typical EVENTS.DAT:
17:50, 1,startbox ;start mailbox
20:40, 1,startnor ;stop mailbox
6:00, 1,g:\mailer\frodo\mailer ;get FIDO-Mail
Mo 18:00, 5,c:\voiceman\trek.zvd ;Startrek!!!
Di 18:00, 5,c:\voiceman\trek.zvd ;Startrek!!!
Mi 18:00, 5,c:\voiceman\trek.zvd ;Startrek!!!
Do 18:00, 5,c:\voiceman\trek.zvd ;Startrek!!!
Fr 18:00, 5,c:\voiceman\trek.zvd ;Startrek!!!
Description:
Line 1: Daily at 17:50 startbox.bat is executed. This batch does
nothing but to copy a different VOICEMAN.CFG to make mailboxing
possible.
Line 2: Daily at 20:40 the mailbox gets shut down again.
Line 3: Daily at 6:00am Frontdoor gets started and collects my Fido-email
Lines 4-8: Monday to friday Voiceman calls Norbert to remind him that
Startrek is on Sky-One.
The next event is always displayed in the status-window.
5. Who am I?
Michael Pflug
Neue Ramtelstrasse 66
7250 Leonberg
Fido: 2:244/21.8
Bank:
Kreissparkasse Böblingen
BLZ 603 501 30 (the bank-code
Account number:
3255072
Registration costs 40.- DM. That's a fair price, I'd say. People from
abroad: you just have to make sure, that the above amount get's here. There
is one thing to consider though: my bank keep's 10.- DM as commission.
Cheques seem to be less a problem.