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NTM technologies Documentation file For version 9.0 Zygote Telecommunication (TM) (C) Copyrighted 1989-95 My Nguyen, All rights reserved Distributed since 1989 ▌ Introduction ▌ NTM technologies offers the next generation of telecommunication software for the personal computer. It was developed and began distribution in 1989. Zygote is a complete telecommunication package that can emulate ANSI, AVATAR, and VT100 terminals at excess speeds of 57600bps. The design of this program features an array of extra features not found in more standard commercial programs. The emphasis of this program is to provide the user with ease of use, flexibility, little memory requirement, and stable high speed performance. Some features are: - 1.7meg scrollback buffer - full ansi hostmode - encryption email - individual notepad for each entry - complete configuration of keyboard - grab/paste - keyboard lock - string macros - screen and text capture - toll reporter ▌ Disclaimer ▌ NTM technologies and its associates shall not be held responsible for any unforseen damages on hardware and/or other software, or other consequential damages arising out of the use of this program. By continuing to use this program, the user agrees to all terms written and unwritten. In short, use at your own risk. ▌ Distribution concept ▌ NTM technologies is distributing Zygote as a Shareware product. Shareware allows you to "try before you buy." You are authorized to use this program for 14 days. After this evaluation period you must register the program if you decide to continue to use it. Fill out the REGISTER.TXT file and send it in. Please help distribute the program by sending it to the bulletin boards that you frequent. Give out a copy to your friends but don't modify anything. The quality of the program will speak for itself. The copy of the program you are using now is an UNREGISTERED version. Registration insures future developments. Registered users will have access to more advance features, and removal of unregistered-tags. Help keep software prices low by taking part in Shareware; register your Shareware programs. ▌ Table of content ▌ Topic Page # ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── System requirement................................... 1.0 Terminal mode........................................ 2.0 Internal protocols................................... 3.0 Keyboard configuration / Disk Swap................... 4.0 Dialing menu......................................... 5.0 Script system........................................ 6.0 Remote control access................................ 7.0 Area locator and toll call reporter.................. 8.0 List of runtime errors............................... 9.0 New features & Bug fix............................... A.0 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ▌ Page 1.0 - System requirement ▌ - DOS v3.0 or higher - a modem supporting the AT command set, 300-57600bps - updated external protocols - 185K of primary memory. - 2.0megs of secondary storage. The cities data files require much space. These files are optional. If you do not wish to know the city of the bulletin boards that you call to, then simply delete the following data files from your Zygote directory: Z_AREA2.DAT Z_AREA3.DAT Z_AREA4.DAT Z_AREA5.DAT Z_AREA6.DAT Z_AREA7.DAT Z_AREA8.DAT Z_AREA9.DAT These files combine for a total of about 1.5Mb (75%). Read the "AREA LOCATOR AND TOLL CALL REPORTER" section if you would like to take advantage of these files. ▌ Page 2.0 - Terminal mode ▌ In the terminal mode, a single character (such as the letter 'a') pressed on the keyboard will be sent to the local modem, and from there across the phone line to the receiving modem. A combination key (such as Alt-A) or a function key (such as F1) will bring up a Zygote function if that combination key or function key has been assigned a function. The terminal mode is distinguished by the status bar at the bottom of the screen. Here is the complete listing of the default setting for Zygote functions. Each Zygote function is assigned a "function name". You will need to know this "function name" further down the line, if you wish to modify the default keyboard setting. If you want to change these settings then read the section 'KEYBOARD CONFIGURATION / DISK SWAP'. Key Title Function name ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Alt-A : Ascii chart @ASCIICHART This function displays a set of extended ascii characters. Choose a character by using the arrow keys. Once you have decided which one you want, press <ENTER> to accept it else press ESCape to exit. This function is global. That means you can also use it in other places. You may use it in places where editing is permitted, such as the notepad, dialing menu, macro menu, etc. Alt-C : Capture toggler @CAPTURETOGGLE Use this function to buffer the modem text into a file. You may also wish to capture graphics codes as well as "pure" ascii. To include graphics codes, answer "Accept" to "Keep emulation codes". To activate the capture, move the hilight bar to the top and press <ENTER>. To deactivate the capture, press the key combination once again. This key combination toggles the capture mode on and off. If capture is currently active, then Zygote will automatically toggle it off and vice versa. Alt-D : Dialing menu @DIAL_MENU The dialing menu is the phonebook of every term programs. This is the place where phone numbers to the bulletin systems are stored and dialed. The phone entries are created and modified here. To return to the terminal mode, just press the "escape" key. Alt-F : File directory lister @DIR_LISTER Use this function to list the files in a directory. Use the up and down arrow keys to slide through the listing. If the hilight bar is on a directory entry, simply hit the carriage return to go into that directory. Press the "escape" key to return to the terminal mode. Alt-G : Grab text @GRABTEXT This function "grabs" a string of text on the current screen and stores it in a buffer. You can print out this buffer by using the "stamp text" function. Unlike other functions where you are limited to the terminal mode, you can use this function wherever you are allowed to edit a string. For instance, you can use this function while you're editing in the macro menu or editing in the dialing menu. The buffer initially is blank. The buffer does not change until the next grab text function is called. After the grab function is activated, use the up,down,left, and right arrow keys to move the cursor about the screen. Move the cursor to the head of the text you wish to grab. When you are ready to start grabbing text, press the space bar. You will notice that the text under the cursor will be hilighted by a different color. The cursor disappears momentarily. Use the right arrow key to move the hilight over the text you wish to grab. Notice, you will not be allowed to move the hilight left, just right. So place the cursor at the leftmost position of the text. If you wish to store the hilighted text in the buffer, then press the carriage return else if you wish to capture a different piece of text on the screen, then toggle the hilight off by pressing the space once again. The hilight will now be the cursor you started out with. You will now be allowed to use the up,down, left, and right arrow keys to once again move the cursor around the screen. If you wish to leave the grab text function, press the "escape" key. Zygote will return you to the task you were performing before calling the grab text function. Alt-H : Hangup @HANGUP Use this feature to take the modem off hook. Zygote will ask if you would like to drop carrier. You will be prompted for two modes of disconnect. Make your choice and then press enter. Press escape to cancel. Alt-J : Jump to DOS @DOSSHELL This function temporarily drops the user to the DOS level. Zygote is still available in memory. To return to Zygote, the user must type 'exit' followed by a carriage return. Alt-K : Keyboard Lock @KEYLOCK When activated, this feature provides a temporary password protection for access to the keyboard. If a button on the keyboard is pressed while the lock is turned on, it will prompt for the password. You must have the correct password to proceed. If the lock is off and you activate the keyboard lock, it will prompt you for a password to use. Just don't forget the password. Alt-L : Load script @LOADSCRIPT This feature does just what it says. It will prompt you for the name of a script file. Enter a filename and press enter. Press escape to abort. Alt-M : Macro menu @MACRO_MENU Use this function to write string macros. Zygote supplies the user with 10 different macro menus (numbered from 0 to 9). Each macro menu has 6 entries. Each entry is 250 bytes long. To switch between the macro menus, use the page up and page down keys. To scroll through the 6 entries in each menu, use the up and down arrow keys. To slide through an entry, use the left and right arrow key. To exit the macro menu, press the escape key. The macro menu that is currently on the screen when you press escape is the macro set (6 entries) that Zygote will use. Alt-N : Notepad @NOTEPAD A notepad is a space set aside for the user to enter pertinent information about the current bulletin board system. Each phonebook entry is allocated a notepad entry. if you activate the notepad, Zygote will check to see if that current bulletin board entry already has a notepad. If it doesn't, Zygote will create a blank notepad. If it does, Zygote will display the old notepad. You may then edit the notepad. So when the phonebook file is created, there are no notepad entries. Notepad entries are created as needed. Use the up,down,left and right arrow keys to maneuver the cursor around. If you would like Zygote to display the notepad on connection to the bulletin board system then toggle the 'Toggle notepad' on in the dialing menu editor. Press 'escape' to exit and save. When you are connected to a bulletin board, Zygote will check to see if you had toggled the 'Request' on. If so, it will display the notepad. Then press the 'escape' key to exit and save. Alt-O : Setup @SETUP_ZYGOTE Zygote uses the information (such as the com port, speed, parity, stop bit, and data bit) set in the configuration to startup Zygote. This section has a one-line help for each edit field. So it will be very easy to setup. Alt-P : Parameter change @CHANGEPARMS This function temporarily changes the terminal parameters such as the graphics, speed, parity, data bit and stop bit. It is temporary because once Zygote exits, the parameters set by this function is void. Zygote uses the parameters set in the configuration file as the startup parameters. Also, when Zygote dials a phone entry in the dialing menu, it overrides the parameters set in this function by using the parameters set in the dialing menu entry. Alt-Q : Quick binary file reader @BINARY_READER You may capture the screen into binary files by using the Screen Dump feature (will mention later). The files created by that function can be viewed by this function. When this function is activated, a menu will be displayed on the screen with the name of the file created by the Screen Dump function. Use the up and down arrow keys to choose the file you want. Press enter when you want to view it. If you would like to exit, then press the 'escape' key. Note, if there are no files created by the Screen Dump feature then Zygote will not load up the binary reader. Alt-R : Toll reporter @TOLLREPORTER Enter a phone number then the program will determine the city it is in and whether it is toll or non-toll from your area code. To make this work, however, you must have the Z_AREA?.DAT and Z_LOCAL.DAT files installed in your AREADATA directory (off of the main zygote directory). Also you will need to know how to operate the grab text feature. If you don't, now is a good time to learn it. You can read about it in this section under "Grab text" sub-entry. Alt-S : Stamp text @STAMPTEXT The text saved by the Grab Text function can be printed by this function. If you are in the terminal mode, Zygote will send the text directly to the modem. This function can also be used globally. If you are editing something (such as the notepad, a bulletin board entry, or a macro entry), then Zygote will paste the text to the current line. Note, this is not the same thing as sending the text to the modem. Alt-T Text search @TEXTSEARCH Use this function to search for a word or phrase match while in the terminal mode. The program searches for the match phrase in the current screen. All successful matches will be highlighted. You can also use this function while viewing the scrollback. Alt-W : Clear screen @CLRSCREEN Simply put, clears the screen. Alt-X : Exit Zygote @EXITWINDOW Do you want to quit Zygote? If so, you can use this function. Move the hilight bar to the appropriate choice and press enter. If you wish to cancel then press the escape key. Alt-Y : BBS stripper @BBS_STRIPPER This function reads a text-formated file containing the names and phone numbers of bulletin board systems, and strips from it all the systems that are local to your calling area. Local-call determination is done via the information stored in your Z_LOCAL.DAT file. If you haven't created this file for yourself, please read the documentation file now. The output will be stored in the BBSLIST.ZYG file, which will be placed in the TEMP directory. This TEMP directory resides off of your Zygote directory (i.e C:\ZYGOTE\TEMP). Note that this function will not work if you do not have the Z_LOCAL.DAT file installed on your system. The format of the output file BBSLIST.ZYG will also be in text format. You can use a text editor to view it, or DOS-command TYPE. Alt-Z : Send break @SENDBREAK Zygote will send a break signal to the remote system for a break in transmission. There will be about a 1/2 second delay. This will allow the remote system to notice it. Alt-- : Encrypt messsage @ENCRYPTMSG This function allows the user to send "private" email. The algorithm used in the encoding/decoding of these "private" emails is very simple. It was designed with the intention that it would annoyed prying eyes rather then to really protect top secret information. It probably wouldn't take someone with a little experience very long to break the code. You will be asked if you would like to also assign a password to the message. If you answer yes, then you will be prompted for one. Note that the person who is to receive your email must also know this password. This feature works best on bulletin boards that have full screen editors. It might not work with single line editors. But then it might, who knows? Alt-= : Host mode @HOST_MODE A host mode is a simplify BBS system. I do emphasize the word "simplify." You can send messages, and transfer files. The host mode is set up for ANSI graphics. If the user who logs on to the host mode does not support graphics, you will still be able to viewer it in color. The host mode is relatively easy to use (just as everything else in this program). You just need to play around with it. Ctrl-2 : MiniDOS system @MINIDOS A MiniDOS is just as it sounds, a "mini" DOS. Once you activate it and you need help, press "?" and hit enter. A MiniDOS is different from the true DOS shell because you are limited to the commands found in the real DOS shell. Also you will not be able to run any other program in it. So why have it? Well it does allow you and a remote user to view your system. The MiniDOS uses ANSI graphics. If the remote user does not support ANSI then you can toggle the ANSI off by issuing this command "TOGGLE ANSI" follow by a carriage return. Note, this command is issued once you are in the MiniDOS. Do not activate this feature when you are connected to a BBS. You may be trapped in a loop. F1 : Send user name $%Ua Sends the name you want to use for the current BBS. Use the dialing menu editor to change your setting. F2 : Send user password $%Ub Sends the password you want to use for the current BBs. Use the dialing menu editor to change your setting. F3 : Send your LFD $%Uc Sends the last four digits of your phone number. Use the dialing menu editor to change your setting. F4 : Send the NUP $%Bd Sends the New User Password for the current BBS. Use the dialing menu editor to change your setting. F5 : Send macro string 1 $%Ma F6 : Send macro string 2 $%Mb F7 : Send macro string 3 $%Mc F8 : Send macro string 4 $%Md F9 : Send macro string 5 $%Me F10 : Send macro string 6 $%Mf Sends macro entry 1 through 6. Use the macro editor to change your setting. Alt-F1 : Screen dump @SCREENDUMP This feature captures the screen to a file and places it in an assigned directory. The format for the file will be binary form. To view the files you can use the quick viewer option discussed above. This feature is global. That means that you can use it either in the terminal mode, or wherever editing is allowed. There are other places but you will need to experiment. Alt-F2 : Cancel autologon and script @CANCELAUTO This feature toggles both the autologon system and script system off. Alt-F3 : Chatmode @CHATMODE When activated, the screen will be split into two sections. There will be an upper section and a lower section. The upper section will display incoming text. The lower section will display outgoing text. This makes it easier to read when you are having a conversation with your friend using the modem. This feature is only useful when you are connected to a source that does not echo back the characters that you sent. To exit the chatmode press the escape key. Alt-F4 : World time @WORLDTIME This displays the time for various locations around the world. Make sure that you enter the time difference in the system configuration, and toggle daylight saving if appropriate. Alt-F5 : View background @BACKGROUND This does just what it says. For example when you do a DOS shell, before you return to the program Zygote saves the screen. So when you issue this command you can view the screen prior to the return to the program. Alt-F6 : History @HISTORY When you do a grab text command, information is saved in a buffer allocated for 10 different slots. Use this command to move the pointer to which slot you want. The slot you move to will be the next slot text will be written to or read from. Press enter to accept the slot, or ESCape to leave the history unchanged. Alt-F7 : 4F calculator @CALCULATOR This is a simple 4 function calculator. So what's 2+3? Alt-F8 : Doorway mode @DOORWAY This toggles the doorway mode. When you toggle the doorway mode on, you will be not able to use the alternate keys and function keys. Instead, what the program does instead is send the scan code for the key that you press. You can toggle the doorway mode off by pressing Alt-F8 again. Alt-F9 : Board help @BOARDHELP Use this feature to save and restore help screens of the remote system. Here is how it works: first issue a request for help on the remote system, usually '?'. Now activate this feature. What section of the system are you at? Main : press 'M" to save File : press 'F' to save Messg: press 'E' to save Other: press 'O' to save Make sure you use upcase. The program will save whatever is on the screen to the appropriate files. If you want to restore a help screen, then use the same letters (except this time use lower case) to choose the appropriate screens to restore. Alt-F10 : Printer toggle @PRINTER This function toggles the printer on and off. Make sure you have the system configuration setup to the correct LPT port. Ctrl-F1 : Anti-logoff @ANTIOFF Use this function when you leave your terminal unattended and don't want the remote system to quit the session because of "keyboard inactivity." Zygote prevents the system from hanging up by tricking it. By default Zygote will send an escape character every 30 seconds to make the system believe that you are still sitting at the terminal. You can change the character setting and the frequency setting in the system setup. To turn this function off, simply hit the same key combination. Ctrl-F2 : Send time and date $%T %D Sends the time and date to the remote modem. Ctrl-F3 : Modem commands @MODEMCOMMAND Sends predefined modem commands to the modem. You can define these modem commands from within the system configuration option. Ctrl-F4 : Ring monitor @RINGMONITOR When activated, the program monitors the phone line for the 'RING' signal. The status window displays the last twenty sets of calls. It displays the number of rings and time and date for each sets. Use this function when you want to know when someone calls while you are away. You can also use this function to execute a program by a sequence of rings. In the agenda window, the first definition will be displayed as toggle sequence action 1 A Press 1 to edit. First you will have to edit the sequence field. And then followed by the action field. After you finish editing both fields, press A to toggle this definition on/off. Example: 1 A 323 myprogram.exe This definition tells the program to wait for the phone line to ring a total of 3 sets. The reason it is three sets of rings is because there are 3 digits in the sequence. The set '323' tells the program to wait 3 rings for the first set, followed by 2 rings for the next set, and finally 3 rings again for the latest set. You have to toggle this definition on for the program to check the sequence. You know that the definition is toggled on by the '!' char printed next to the 'A.' Ctrl-F5 : Big clock @BIGCLOCK Displays a big time and date clock on the screen. Ctrl-─ : Send string backward @BACKWARDSTEXT A window will pop up and ask for a line. Enter it and press enter. The line that you entered will be sent to the modem in reverse order. If you want to cancel then press escape to exit instead. Ctrl-─ : Scrollback @SCROLLBACK A scrollback is a buffer that stores all the text that is received from the remote system for later viewing. Once you are in the scrollback, use the up arrow, down arrow, page up, page down, home, and end keys to scroll through the buffer. Press the escape key to exit the viewing. The grab text and screen dump features also work while you are in the scrollback. Shft-F1 : Send real name $Uf Shft-F2 : Send address $Ui Shft-F3 : Send city/state $Uj Shft-F4 : Send voice phone number $Ug Shft-F5 : Send data phone number $Uh Shft-F6 : Send birthday $Ue Shft-F7 : Send comment $Ud Shft-F8 : Send internet address $Ea Shft-F9 : Send fidonet address $Eb Shft-F10: Send other net address $Ee Page Up : Activate upload sequence @UPLOAD_FILE Activate this when you are about to start a transfer. A window will pop up with a list of protocols. Choose a protocol to use and press enter. After the protocol selection you will be prompted for the file(s) to send. Page Dn : Activate download sequence @DOWNLOAD_FILE Activate this when you are about to start a transfer. A window will pop up with a list of protocols. Choose a protocol to use and press enter. After the protocol selection you may be prompted for the file(s) to receive. If you are prompted then enter the appropriate request and press enter. Press escape if you want to abort. ▌ Page 3.0 - Internal protocols ▌ Protocols seem to be updated daily. That is the reason that I favor external protocols over internal ones. People who write external protocol programs can spend a greater amount of time on them than I can ever on internal ones. Therefore the quality of their program will be much higher. With external protocols you get flexibility and new algorithms that will enhance transfers. However, I decided to include in the program two of the most common protocols. They are the industry standard Xmodem and the widely used Zmodem. Xmodem is the basic of all the protocols. It uses a checksum algorithm to detect errors. It transfers in 128byte blocks. It is very slow compared to, say, Zmodem. The reason I decided to include Xmodem is because most likely every bulletin board system that you call will have it. It's simplicity is the reason it has survived all these years. Zmodem is the most efficient protocol in the market. It has batch transfers. That means you can send/receive more than one files in one session. It uses a CRC error detection method. CRC is a billion times better than checksum. Also with Zmodem you can resume aborted transfers unlike that of Xmodem. Zmodem transfers data in 1024byte blocks. If you can, use Zmodem before resorting to Xmodem. Here is how to tell Zygote that you want to use these internal protocols. First go into the system configuration, select the 'PROTOCOL OPTIONS' section by using the up and down arrows and then press enter. Once you are in the protocol options section, move the new hilighted bar down to the field where it asks you for the file name of the protocol program and press enter. The field should read something like '[DIR] + FILE'. If you were defining an external protocol you would enter something like 'C:\PATH\PROTOCOL.EXE' But if you want to tell the program that you want to use the internal protocols then you have to enter one of these names (without the single quotes of course): '//XMODEM' ; for Xmodem or '//LXMODEM' ; for Xmodem w/ leech capability or '//ZMODEM' ; for Zmodem or '//LZMODEM' ; for Zmodem w/ leech capability So if you wanted to use Xmodem then enter it like this at the appropriate prompt: [dir] + File : //XMODEM Easy right? But wait a minute. What is a leech Xmodem or a leech Zmodem? I'm glad you asked. They are just what they sound like they are. Zygote is the only program to introduce the first generation of these leech protocols. Leech protocols behave just like normal protocols, except for one thing; they abort transfer when the file(s) have been received. Of course, leeching is only useful when you are downloading files. So if you specify '//LXMODEM' and you use this protocol to do an upload, it will not abort your transfer. Leech protocols only abort during receiving sessions never during sending ones (obviously). Since Xmodem can only transfer one file at a time, there is only one method of cancellation; tell the remote Xmodem the local Xmodem wants to CANcel the transfer. But with Zmodem batch transfer is allowed. When batch transfer is in progress, the local Zmodem cannot simply tell the remote Zmodem to CANcel the transfer. This would stop the transfer immediately. There might still be more files to be received. The only way to get around this is to tell the remote Zmodem that the local Zmodem wants to SKIP the current file and move on to the next one until the end of the transfer list. In the system configuration, you have an option for the Zmodem leech. Choose 'S'ingle file cancellation when you plan to only receive one file in a session (not batch). If you plan to do a batch transfer then choose 'B'atch cancellation. The 'B'atch cancellation can also be used when you are transferring a single file. But sometimes the remote Zmodem doesn't recognize the request to SKIP for a single file transfer. 'S'ingle cancellation works better with single file transfers than 'B'atch cancellation. It is a better idea to tell Zygote that you want the 'B'atch cancellation method because you can't use 'S'ingle cancellation when doing a batch transfer. Besides 'B'atch cancellation more often than not also works with single file transfers. Don't expect the leech protocols to work on every single bulletin board system. There are some Xmodem and Zmodem protocols that don't recognize your request to SKIP or CANcel. Also, I wouldn't suggest that you leech too often. That would certainly piss off the system operators. Actually I wouldn't even advocate the use of these protocols on any respectable system. But hey, feel free to use it on your friends. The leech protocols have been tested on some of the local systems in the area and they have performed wonderfully. So give them a test drive. ▌ Page 4.0 - Keyboard configuration / Disk Swap ▌ Every aspect of the system configuration is provided with a help line at the bottom of the screen. You won't need any other source of help. The configuration options are self-explanatory. However there is one part of the configuration that may need some explanation. It is the configuration of the keyboard (Alternate keys and Function keys). Configuration of the keyboard allows you to change the operation of the alternate keys and function keys. An alternate key combination or a function key can be assigned a Zygote function (such as DIALING MENU), a hot key (such as a call to run a program name EDIT), or a string macro (such as "I'm using zygote.^m"). When reconfigurating the keyboard there are four symbols you should familiarize yourself with: '!', '@', '#' and '$'. The '@' symbol denotes a Zygote function call. The '!' symbol denotes a DOS call. The '$' symbol denotes a string macro. The '#' symbol denotes a system halt with error level number When you enter the system configuration move the hilight bar to the Keyboard edit option and press enter. Once you are in, you will be shown an 18 by 6 matrix. Use the arrow keys to move the bar around the matrix. Press enter to choose the key combination that is hilighted or press escape to exit. Now pick a key combination you want to change. We will use Alt-A as our example. What do you want the Alt-A key to do? Do you want it to call a Zygote function (such as the ones listed in the TERMINAL section)? Do you want it to run a program in DOS (hotkey)? Do you want it to send a defined string to the modem? Well here's what you do. If you want Alt-A to call a Zygote function then it must start off with a '@' character, followed by the name of the function. For instance, if you want Alt-A to bring up the DIALING MENU then enter '@DIAL_MENU' Of course, don't include the single quotes. The function name is listed next to the title of the function above in the 'TERMINAL' help section of this document. If you want Alt-A to call a DOS program then it must start off with a '!' character, followed by the file name of the program. For instance, if you want Alt-A to run a program named EDIT then enter '!C:\PATH\EDIT' Of course, don't include the single quotes. Zygote will attempt to run the program. If the program is in your DOS PATH directory then you will not need to enter the name of the directory. If you would like to enter a command line parameter than include a '%F' in the line. For example, '!C:\PATH\EDIT %F' would cause the program to allow you to enter a command line parameter for your external program EDIT. Continue reading for more information about other global variables. If you want Alt-A to be assigned a string macro then it must start off with a '$' character, followed by the text you want assigned. For instance, if you want Alt-A to be assigned 'Hello' then enter '$Hello^m' Of course, don't include the single quotes. So now whenever Alt-A is pressed, Zygote will send the text 'Hello' + CR to the modem. When defining Alt-A as a string macro you may want to take advantage of global variables. Here is a list of them. %Ma - macro entry #1 %Ea - Internet address %Mb - macro entry #2 %Eb - FIDOnet address %Mc - macro entry #3 %Ec - WWIVnet address %Md - macro entry #4 %Ed - Virtualnet address %Me - macro entry #5 %Ee - Other address %Mf - macro entry #6 %P - current modem comport %Ba - BBS name %S - current modem speed %Bb - BBS phone %D - current date %Bc - comment %T - current time %Bd - NUP %Ua - your user name %Uf - your real name %Ub - your password %Ug - your home phone %Uc - your LFD %Uh - your data phone %Ud - your comment %Ui - your address %Ue - your birthdate %Uj - your city, state I will use %Ma as an example. When you use the macro editor, (read the TERMINAL section for more details) next to each field entries is %Ma through %Mf. There are six entries (a-f). %Ma represents entry #1, %Mb represents entry #2, and so on. So if you define Alt-A as, '$%Ma' then Zygote will replace '%Ma' with what ever is in field #1 of the macro editor. So if the entry #1 of the macro editor happens to hold 'Hi there.' then the program will convert '$%Ma' to '$Hi there.' There are many global "variables" throughout the program. If a variable is listed next to an editable field, then you can use that variable to represent that particular field. Take note that these global "variables" are case sensitive. Probably not many people will need to use the '#' symbol command. Using '#' will allow you to "swap" Zygote out of memory so that you can run another program, and then return to Zygote afterwards. If a keyboard key combination setting (such as Alt-A in our example) starts off with '#', Zygote will stop execution of the program and return the error code that follows it. So how does this allow you to run a different program and then return to Zygote? Well you need a little help from DOS. You will need to create a batch file. It won't be hard to create or even understand it. Pretend you have a text editing program named EDIT.EXE. You will need this EDIT.EXE program to create your text batch file. Here is an example of what it should look like. C:\ZYGOTE\> edit zswap.bat ; we'll call the file zswap.bat --------------------- Once in EDIT.EXE ------------------------- Echo off ; don't echo anything to the screen :startup ; create label so we can return to it later c: ; just in case we are not in drive C cd\zygote ; just in case we are not in C:\ZYGOTE zygote /n ; run ZYGOTE.EXE without opening screen ; if Zygote returns an error value ; we should check it. That is exactly ; what we do in the next few lines. if errorlevel 5 goto prog5 ; if error no. = or > 5 do program prog5 if errorlevel 4 goto prog4 ; if error no. = or > 4 do program prog4 if errorlevel 3 goto prog3 ; if error no. = or > 3 do program prog3 if errorlevel 2 goto prog2 ; if error no. = or > 2 do program prog2 if errorlevel 1 goto prog1 ; if error no. = or > 1 do program prog1 goto end ; if NO error then go to the end ; error no. 0 means we want to exit ; the program cleanly. :prog1 ; create label for program 1 cd\games ; this is the block for our game.exe ; prog1 label goto startup ; return to Zygote :prog2 ; create label for program 2 cd\test ; this is the block for our dir ; prog2 label goto startup ; return to Zygote :prog3 ; create label for program 3 cd\util ; this is the block for our show.exe ; prog3 label goto startup ; return to Zygote :prog4 ; create label for program 4 cd\temp ; this is the block for our del *.bak ; prog4 label goto startup ; return to Zygote :prog5 ; create label for program 5 c:\command.com ; this is how you make a "DOS SHELL" goto startup ; return to Zygote :end ; there must be no errors ; so we continue with exit ---------------------------------------------------------------- VERY IMPORTANT: notice how the errorlevel checking, checked from highest value to lowest value? Well guess what? You have to do it that way. "ERRORLEVEL number" returns TRUE if and only if the exit code is equal to OR greater than the value in 'number.' So if you did an error level check for 2 ("ERRORLEVEL 2") and the exit error code is 3, the statement "ERRORLEVEL 2" would become true and then continue to execute the following "GOTO" command. Of course an "ERRORLEVEL 1" would also return TRUE if the exit code value is 3. This is the reason for the reverse order errorlevel check. Don't forget this now! So if you want to be able to "swap" Zygote out of memory than run ZSWAP.BAT instead of ZYGOTE.EXE. This method of "swapping" is much better than the methods adopted by other programs because you actually get all the memory back. And since Zygote doesn't require much memory to run, it will startup and exit very quickly. You can also call another batch from within this batch file but you have to use the CALL command. Here is an example of what you need to do: "call c:\where\it\is\mybatch.bat" What DOS does is 'call' your MYBATCH.BAT file and then return command back to ZSWAP.BAT when it completes execution in MYBATCH.BAT. You should consult your DOS manual if you are not comfortable with batch file programming. So how do you tell Zygote to stop execution and return an error number? Well that's easy. If you want Alt-A (for example) to return a number 3 exit error code so that you can run an offline mail reader, here's what you do: '#3' ; That's it. The format is: '#' at the absolute beginning, followed by the error value you want Zygote to return. '#11' would return error level of 11, and so on. You need to know that any key combination must start off with one of the four characters. If not, then the help screen for Zygote will be shown. So if Alt-A is left blank and you execute it, Zygote will bring up the help screen. ▌ Page 5.0 - Dialing menu ▌ The dialing menu and its options are basically self-explanatory with the exception of: 'execute' field in each entry. The 'execute' field tells zygote to perform an operation right after connection to a system has been established. The operation might be: (1) loading a program from DOS (perhaps a RIP emulator) (2) send a string (3) load a zygote function To disable this feature, leave it blank. This feature configures just like a keyboard definition as described in the section just above. That is it uses the prequalifiers '!','@','#','$'. So read the section above if you would like to learn how to configure it. examples: $^[^[ <---- sends 2 escape characters $^m^m <---- sends 2 carriage returns !ripcomm.exe <---- runs program called ripcomm.exe !dir <---- directory listing @HOST_MODE <---- loads hostmode feature of Zygote @MINIDOS <---- loads minidos feature of Zygote ▌ Page 6.0 - Script system ▌ My intention for the Zygote script system is to make it as easy and as simple as possible, yet still operational. I've used some of the "powerful" script systems, and found them hard as hell to use. Usually when I write a script file, all I want it to do is log on to the remote system, do a few functions and log off. These script languages are so "powerful" I bet you could write your own program with them. I have very little time to read the documents to find out how to program in these "powerful" languages. So, now I will present Zygote's simplified script language. I will surely include more commands in the future as I see fit. ─────────────────────────────── Here is a list of the commands: ─────────────────────────────── GLOBAL="[PAUSE]","^m "; : GLOBAL defines a seeker and sender that will remain active for the life of the script file. This example seeks for the string [PAUSE] and then sends a carriage return when it finds it. You are granted five (5) of these global statements. Define these before the commands below. CONST=[$EXIST$],[APPEND]; CONST=[$KEEPEMUL$],[TRUE]; : Use these CONSTant commands in conjunction with the capture command. The first CONST statement says to append a file that exists. The second CONST statement says to keep the emulation codes. exec("DIR /W /P"); : EXEC is used to execute the program that is specified inside the quotes. Then do the next command. goto("STOP"); : GOTO is used to jump to the line where the label STOP was defined by the command LABEL. send("Your name"); : SEND is used to send whatever is defined between the quotes. Then do the next command. quit("YES"); : QUIT is used to quit the program. You must specify YES between inside the quotes. This is just a precaution. Then do the next command. wait("Name?"); : WAIT is used to wait for a particular string, defined between the quotes, to be sent from the remote system. When the string has been intercepted, then do the next command. Note that WAIT is case sensitive. label("STOP"); : LABEL is used to mark a line. Use this command in conjunction with the GOTO command. Label marks a line for GOTO to jump to. Then do the next command. print("something in here"); : PRINT is used to write text to the screen only. Define what you want to print between the quotes. Then do the next command. hangup("YES"); : HANGUP is used to drop carrier on a system. You must specify YES inside the quotes. This is only a precaution. Then do the next command. iffind("something in here"); : IFFIND is used as a string seeker. If the string is found then do the next command else skip the next command and perform the one after that. capture("c:\path\text.ext"); : CAPTURE opens a file to save incoming text from the remote system. You must specify the file to save to between the quotes. Retype CAPTURE to turn the capturing off. ───── Note: ───── Only put one (1) command on a single line. The program will only read one command for each line. A blank line will be ignored. You may indent to beautify the text. Make sure you don't put SPACEs between the name of the command and the parentheses and the quote. For example, if you want to use the command SEND then write it as send("send my name"); DO NOT write it as send ("send my name"); send( "send my name"); send("send my name" ); send("send my name") ; Keep the (, " and ; characters intact. The whole idea behind the script system is to perform a command, then jump to the next command and perform it. This continues until the whole script file is completed. ───────────────── Here is a sample ───────────────── GLOBAL="[Y,n]?","^m"; CONST=[$EXIST$],[APPEND]; CONST=[$KEEPEMUL$],[TRUE]; capture("e:\zygote\script\test.cap"); wait("for RemoteBBS"); send("^[^[^["); wait("name:"); send("%Ua^m"); wait("Password:"); send("%Ub^m"); wait("Main Menu:"); capture("e:\zygote\script\test.cap"); ▌ Page 7.0 - Remote control access ▌ This feature allows you to access Zygote from a remote computer. Here is what you need to do. First you need to have the SCROLL LOCK turned on (on the local system of course). This is a secondary protection from unwarranted access to your system. Now from the remote system, send this command "#SYSTEM¡' (without the quotes of course). This will initiate the remote access control. The ascii value for '¡' is value 173. Make your life easier by using the ascii chart feature described above in the 'TERMINAL' section. Once the local Zygote has received '#SYSTEM¡' and the SCROLL LOCK is on then it will prompt you for a password. The password is the one you define in the system configuration. It is listed under 'SYSTEM CODE'. If you enter the password correctly then a message will confirm that you have access to Zygote. Then there will be a 'EXEC:' prompt. This is where you tell the program what you want to do. The input is the same as if you are defining the keyboard setup. So if you haven't read the 'Keyboard configuration' section yet, you need to do that now. Here are some examples of what you might do at the 'EXEC:' prompt. EXEC : @HOST_MODE ; this executes the hostmode EXEC : !myfile.bat ; this executes a batch file EXEC : @MINIDOS ; this executes the MiniDOS system ▌ Page 8.0 - Area locator and toll call reporter ▌ The area locator tells you the name and state of the bulletin board that you are calling to. The locator only identifies cities residing in the United States. Since there are many cities across the US, the files holding the names are extremely big. There are eight (8) files altogether. File Size Description xx = denotes some digits ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Z_AREA2.DAT 254976 Cities residing in the 2xx area codes Z_AREA3.DAT 204928 Cities residing in the 3xx area codes Z_AREA4.DAT 202912 Cities residing in the 4xx area codes Z_AREA5.DAT 185280 Cities residing in the 5xx area codes Z_AREA6.DAT 188896 Cities residing in the 6xx area codes Z_AREA7.DAT 164736 Cities residing in the 7xx area codes Z_AREA8.DAT 170336 Cities residing in the 8xx area codes Z_AREA9.DAT 126112 Cities residing in the 9xx area codes ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1,498,176 bytes So if you never call to cities located in a particular area code then just erase the appropriate file from your directory. If you don't care to know the location to where you are calling then erase all the files. Zygote will function correctly regardless. But if you want to use these data files, you have to put them in a directory name AREADATA. AREADATA must reside in your Zygote directory (the directory which ZYGOTE.EXE is in). Zygote can also report if a phone number you are calling to is local. That is, is it a non-toll call from your area? To take advantage of this feature, you must create a text file named Z_LOCAL.DAT and place it in the same directory as the area locator files. Put the Z_LOCAL.DAT file in the AREADATA directory. Here's what you have to have in the file. ────── Sample ────── If you live in Simi Valley, CA (area code 805) then you are allowed to call to certain 805 prefixes and certain 818 area code prefixes without toll charges. But If you also have a home in La Jolla, CA (area code 619) then you are limited to certain 619 prefixes. "AC 805,805" and "AC 805,818": for when you are in Simi Valley "AC 619,619" : for when you are in La Jolla Remember to enter your current area code in the Zygote configuration. Zygote needs to know which area code you are calling from. So when you live in La Jolla tell Zygote that your area code is 619. And when you return to Simi Valley tell Zygote that your area code is 805. This is very important since this feature requires the correct area code. Note: You don't need to know the names of the cities of the prefixes. i.e. (* Newbury Park *) ┌───────── You need this header notation for each section (started at column 0) │ ┌───── The area code calling FROM ┌┬┬┬ These PREFIXES are local to the │ │ ┌─ The area code calling TO │││├ "FROM" area code when calling into the "TO" area code. AC 805,805 375,376,498,499 (* Newbury Park *) 521 (* Piru *) 491,492,493 (* Conejo *) 378,523,529,531 (* Moorpark *) 520,522,526,527,581,582,583,584,629 (* Simi Valley *) 371,372,373,374,377,379,494,495,496,497,976 (* Thousand Oaks *) AC 805,818 597,706,707,879,889,991 (* Agoura *) 222,340,346,347,348,586,587,591,592,593,594,595,596,702,703,704,710,712 713,715,716,719,880,883,884,887,888,992,999,610,876,878 (* Canoga Park *) 341,349,407,700,701,709,717,718,772,773,775,882,885,886,993,998 AC 619,619 259,481,755,792,793 (* Del Mar *) 270,272,273,274,450,452,453,454,455,456,457,458,459,483,488,490,534,535,539 546,551,552,554,558,581,587,597,622,625 (* La Jolla *) 484,538,672 (* Rancho Penasquitos *) 268,277,278,279,292,467,492,493,494,495,496,541,560,565,569,571,573,576,627 694,972,974 (* San Diego/Linda Vista *) 271,530,536,537,547,549,566,578,586,621,689,693,695 (* San Diego/Mira Mesa *) 221,222,223,224,225,226,229,230,231,232,233,234,235,236,237,238,239,260,262 263,264,265,266,275,276,280,281,282,283,284,285,286,287,288,290,291,293,294 295,256,297,298,299,338,491,497,521,523,524,526,527,528,529,531,532,533,542 543,544,553,556,557,563,570,574,580,582,583,584,594,595,685,686,687,688,692 696,699,926,965,968,969,973,975,978,979,982,983,984,986,989 (* San Diego *) ▌ Page 9.0 - List of runtime errors ▌ If Zygote ever halts execution because of a problem, it will give a runtime error number. Here is a list of the possible runtime errors Zygote might run into. Report the problem to the author directly. Be sure to include as much detail as you can. This will make life easier for both you and the author. Value The problem ─────────────────────────────────────────── 1 Invalid DOS function 2 File not found 3 Path not found 4 Too many open files 5 File access denied 6 Invalid file handle 8 Not enough memory 12 Invalid file access code 15 Invalid drive number 16 Cannot remove current directory 17 Cannot rename across drive 100 Disk read error 101 Disk write error 102 File not assigned 103 File not open 104 File not open for input 105 File not open for output 106 Invalid numeric format 200 Division by zero 201 Range checking error 202 Stack overflow error 203 Heap overflow error 204 Invalid pointer operation 205 Floating point overflow other Unknown error ▌ Page A.0 - New features & Bug fix ▌ [Version 7.0] ■ Added support for VT100 emulator ■ Assigned directories TEMP\ holds temporary stuff HOST\ holds the files for the hostmode NOTEPAD\ holds the notepad files CAPTURE\ holds the files used for capture SCRIPT\ holds the script system files BINARY\ holds the screen dump files PHONE\ holds the phone directory files AREADATA\ holds the area locator/toll reporter files ■ Fixed runtime error #4 at startup ■ Added AVATAR w/ ANSI fallback ■ Fixed runtime error for area locator ■ Added ascii chart feature ■ Added enhance phone directory editor ■ New directory lister ■ Added 10 allocated slots for grab text feature ■ Added history feature ■ Fixed flow control problem RTS/CTS ■ Added local load script feature ■ Changed notepad format (data stored in single files) ■ Changed terminal parameter editor ■ Fixed host mode heap overflow problem ■ Changed host mode opening menu ■ Added chatmode ■ Added worldtime ■ Added calculator ■ Added doorway mode support ■ Added board help feature ■ Added internal Xmodem w/ leech capabilities ■ Added internal Zmodem w/ leech capabilities ■ Fixed heap overflow problem in translation table edit ■ Extended capture buffer to 1024 bytes ■ Added ANSI music support (background) ■ Added FAX support ■ Changed scrollback format ■ Reworked script system, maybe more in the near future ■ Added support for printer ■ Added memory swapping [Version 7.5] ■ Fixed VT100 "D" command ■ Fixed VT100 "E" command ■ Added Anti-logoff system w/ char & counter specify ■ Fixed scrollback size limit problem, now allows 9999 ■ Fixed elapse time counter error ■ Fixed scrollback save mechanism ■ Added key assignment for other string variables ■ New preset modem command [Version 8.5] ■ New ring monitor ■ Fixed freeze problem at creation of zygote.scl file ■ New big clock ■ Added callwaiting disable/enable toggler ■ Added preset protocol definitions ■ Added auto-answer off preset ■ Added defineable dtr delay ■ Moved translation table edit into system setup ■ New text search command ■ New format for .DIR files (includes converter) ■ Added support for 28,800bps connections [Version 8.6] ■ Needed to initialize 'execute' field in dial menu [Version 8.7] ■ Added support for BATCH.LST file, tagged files ■ Fixed problem with toll charge reporter in dial menu ■ New TOLL-REPORTER feature added, ALT-R (default) [Version 9.0] ■ Added support for 16550 FIFO buffer ■ Fixed hang up problem while using VT100 emulation ■ Program now autoscans for modem port during initial setup ■ The help screen will now update itself after a keyboard redefinition in system setup ■ Added a function that will strip out local numbers from a bbslist text file. ▌ Aside ▌ NTM technologies has been actively developing software for the personal computer since 1989. 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