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1994-01-24
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┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ WEATHER (a la Weather Information Download Service) │
│ │
│ by Blaine William Schmidt │
│ at Moobasi Optics, Ink. Software │
│ Copyright (C) 1993-1994 │
│ ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
INTRODUCTION
WEATHER is a full-featured, non-crippled piece of Shareware. Its
purpose is to download weather forecasts from a weather service to
a local system. It has no key files, no enforced registration, and
none of the associated techniques that Shareware authors have been
using of late to turn their Shareware into PurchaseOrLoseItWare.
What this means for you: As a System Operator (SysOp), you can
provide up-to-date, accurate weather information for your users,
making your BBS a more useful, interesting place to call in. As an
individual, this allows you to download weather information and have
it available on a 24-hour basis.
WEATHER is Shareware. Shareware is a reasonable concept - being that
you may try out this product for 30 days - decide if you want to keep
it, and, if you do, then send a check, cash, or other forms of
payment (and no, I do not accept uncooked chickens <grin>) to the
author (me).
The cost for WEATHER is $10. It may be used for personal, business,
or any other form of use - all for the same low price. If you want to
have modifications to the software written especially for you, contact
the author.
Our policy towards distribution is simple - please do it! We rely on
you to distribute WEATHER because we simply do not have the time nor
resources to transfer WEATHER throughout the United States. At the
time of writing this version's docs, WEATHER is being run in:
* California
* Connecticut
* Florida
* Minnesota
* New Jersey
* North Carolina
* Pennsylvania
* Texas
* Virginia
* Wisconsin
If you like WEATHER - make sure to send it to another system so that
they can enjoy the features and functionality of a Shareware package
that is not crippled in any way...and a package in which you get what
you pay for.
WEATHER represents more than a few hours of (fun) work that have turned
into a little larger project than initially planned. Since starting
WEATHER, there have been MORE than a FEW requests, comments, gripes,
suggestions, and just plain good ideas. Thanks for the interest!
---------------------- NOTES, CAVEATS, ET AL... ----------------------
*** A note here! We have received a number of requests that RADAR
maps be added to the capabilities of WEATHER, and although we would
LOVE to add the functionality into WEATHER, we CANNOT - due to the fact
that the RADAR screens that are made available through the weather
service are copyrighted by a company...and are very prominently
displayed with:
"UNAUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTION PROHIBITED."
As the programmer's at Moobasi Optics, Ink. are not out to break
laws, we have to regretfully decline until such a time that we can
convince the company to release the rights to display the radar maps to
the general populace. The weather information itself is public domain
(to the best of our knowledge).
*** Another note! Various people in Canada requested that WEATHER be
able to generate Canadian weather. Well, after talking with the
people at the DUAT weather service, we have discovered that Canadian
weather is not available EXCEPT for 50-100 miles into Canada that
affects the United States - sorry folks! We did try...and if anyone
knows of a number to call for Canadian weather, please let Blaine
Schmidt at Moobasi Optics, Ink. know - he will do his best to work it
into a future revision of WEATHER.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FEATURES
* Since WEATHER uses a 1-800 telephone number, it costs you
nothing in phone charges (other than those normally incurred for
using the local service)!
* As a external package, WEATHER can be used with any type of
BBS software (for BBS packages which do not support doors,
WEATHER can be included at the beginning/end of the batch file
that calls the BBS).
* Uses COM1-COM4. Also allows users of DIGIboards (4, 8, 16-port)
to call out - a great feature!
* Changeable IRQ and Base Address values...for those of you who
use non-standard values...a non-standard option! (for DIGI-board
users, a special version has been written for your systems...)
* Dials out at speeds of 1200-115200 (if your port can support it).
* Tone AND Pulse dialing supported.
* Extended memory is utilized.
* Allows you to specify a header and footer to be
appended/prepended to all of the weather information captured.
This is useful for BBS Sysops, enabling them to set the color of
the text, clear the screen, or just generally create the right
"impression" with the weather information that is desired. The
header and footer files can be created in an ANSI or RIP draw
program...because they are added AFTER the fact!
For example, on Moobasi Optics, Ink. (704-541-9842), the header
is used to set the color of the text, clear the screen, and
display a textual header "Moobasi Optics, Ink. Weather
Information Service" and a footer of "Brought to you by Moobasi
Optics, Ink." and then pauses the screen, using the Wildcat!
color and cursor codes. Wildcat!, PCBoard, WWIV and other BBS
softwares allow you to include cursor positioning and pausing
codes...so take advantage of them...
* Allows the operator to combine the seperate weather reports for
each location through the use of a single line in the calling
batch file.
* Uses a menu-driven approach to setup, requiring no previous
knowledge of the system. Or, as an alternative, command-line
parameters can be used, allowing quick/temporary changes to the
normal setup.
* Allows automatic redial attempts.
* Returns errorlevel so that a batch file can determine if the
weather information download was successful.
* Multiple locations selectable. Download information for up to
ten (10) locations at once!
* Can hold DTR high even upon exit of WEATHER...allows the Sysop
(or whomever wishes to use WEATHER) to keep the modem line
"busied-out" so that callers do not think that the line is down
during WEATHER processing.
* Is faithfully supported by the author. Since the program was
first written, the author has instituted a variety of new
modifications, with most of them at user request. To date,
approximately 30 modifications/requests have been made, with
only two being uncompleted - both of them for legal/service
limitations.
* RIP support. Two of the users of WEATHER have asked that RIP
support be added into the header/footer capabilities...a user
was kind enough to send in a RIP screen that can be used with
WEATHER...we are including it in this version - enjoy!
Although this is not directly supporting RIP...it does show
what can be done...and we are still working towards integrating
RIP into the WEATHER program!
* SEVERE WEATHER REPORTS. Now you can download severe weather
information when it matters most.
* ZONE WEATHER REPORTS. Several users had been asking for both
the Severe Weather and the Zone Weather reports...so they are now
made available - just going to show you that we ARE responsive
to customer demand... :)
FUTURE FEATURES
* Multiple configuration files...allowing you to call out for
different weather at different times of the day.
* Log file of communication sessions...allowing the user to
debug possible causes of hangups when using WEATHER.
* Individual header/footer files for daily, extended, zone, and
severe weather forecasts.
INCLUDED FILES
The files that are in the WEATHER package after configuration and
first-time operation are:
README .1ST - Notification of changes in version 1.15
---> IMPORTANT! Please read before continuing.
WEATHER .CFG - Default Configuration file
WEATHER .DIC - Dictionary file for "casing"
WEATHER .DOC - This information file
WEATHER .FTR - Default Footer file
WEATHER .HDR - Default Header file
WEATHER .EXE - Main executable
WEATHER .LOC - Location of aiport codes
WEATHER .ORD - Order form for WEATHER
WEATHER .SIT - Site file - locations to download
WT-xxxxx.DLY - Local/Daily Forecast text
WT-xxxxx.EXT - Extended Forecast text (xxxxx represents the
aiport site where the information was downloaded
for [i.e. CLT is for Charlotte, etc...])
WT-xxxxx.ZON - Zone report text.
WT-xxxxx.SEV - Severe weather report text.
OPERATION
To execute WEATHER, simply type in WEATHER at the DOS prompt. WEATHER
will build several files during normal operation, so it is a good idea
(but not necessary) to put WEATHER in a subdirectory of its own.
F10 quits WEATHER at any point in time - whether during download or
during configuraton. WEATHER will close it's modem port in a
proper fashion - even if in the middle of the download.
For use under a BBS, such as Wildcat!, a batch file is also a good
idea. A sample batch file could look like:
┌────────────────────── SAMPLE BATCH FILE ─────────────────────────┐
│ @ECHO OFF │
│ C: │
│ CD\WEATHER │
│ WEATHER │
│ COPY WT-CLT.DLY D:\WC30\BULL\BULL6.BBS │
│ COPY WT-CLT.EXT D:\WC30\BULL\BULL7.BBS │
│ CD\ │
│ D: │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
WEATHER creates two files upon successful download of the desired
weather information: WT-xxxxx.DLY and WT-xxxxx.EXT (where the xxxxx
is the airport location code [i.e. CLT equals Charlotte]). If you
decide to enable the Zone or Severe weather reports, there may also
be two other files WT-xxxxx.ZON and WT-xxxxx.SEV.
WT-xxxxx.DLY is the daily/local forecast text. WT-xxxxx.EXT is the
extended forecast. If desired, a Sysop could easily copy the two
files together to create a single bulletin or textfile. WT-xxxxx.ZON
is the Zone weather text. WT-xxxxx.SEV is the Severe weather report
text.
For those of you who want to use WEATHER in a batch file, catching
the errorlevel upon exit, here's a sample batch file:
┌────────────────────── SAMPLE BATCH FILE ─────────────────────────┐
│ @ECHO OFF │
│ C: │
│ CD\WEATHER │
│ WEATHER │
│ IF ERRORLEVEL==255 GOTO ERROR │
│ COPY WT-CLT.DLY D:\WC30\BULL\BULL6.BBS │
│ COPY WT-CLT.EXT D:\WC30\BULL\BULL7.BBS │
│ COPY WT-CLT.ZON D:\WC30\BULL\BULL8.BBS │
│ COPY WT-CLT.SEV D:\WC30\BULL\BULL9.BBS │
│ CD\ │
│ D: │
│ GOTO END │
│ │
│ :ERROR │
│ ECHO Download failed...no copy performed! │
│ │
│ :END │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
HELP
If WEATHER is run without parameters and there is no WEATHER.CFG file
in the current subdirectory, a short help screen is displayed.
┌─────────────────────── WEATHER USAGE ───────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ WEATHER.EXE [nPort nSpeed nRetries] [CONFIG] │
│ │
│ Where: nPort is COM port (1-4) │
│ and nSpeed is modem speed (1200-115200) │
│ and nRetries is redials (1-255) │
│ or run WCONFIG to configure WEATHER.EXE │
│ │
└───────────────── PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE ─────────────────────┘
CONFIGURATION
To configure WEATHER, simply run WCONFIG.EXE as shown above:
WCONFIG
WCONFIG will prompt you for the following information:
* What type of serial port (COM or DIGIboard)
* COM port (which serial port to dial out on)
1,2,3,4 are accepted (COM8-COM16 are accepted if it is a 8 or
16-port DIGIboard)
* IRQ and Base Address which modem will use. The defaults are
provided - so if you don't know or do not understand this, just
hit ENTER twice to continue. (IRQ and Base Address are two
parameters that the system uses to define where the modem port
[i.e. serial port] is located in memory and how it can be
controlled - if changed to the wrong values, could easily stop
modem from successfully dialing out)
(Additionally, for DIGIboard users, you are prompted for extra
information at this point: Interrupt Register ID Address,
MAP Table Array Value, and Type Array Value)
* BAUD RATE (what speed to dial out at)
1200,2400,9600,14400,16800,19200,38400,57600,115200 are accepted
(the weather service currently only has 2400 baud modems...so
even if you lock your port...don't be surprised by the 2400/ARQ)
* RETRIES (how many times to try to redial)
1-255 are accepted (in some areas, the phone company may limit
the number of retries you may make...check with your local
phone service to find out - we recommend something sensible...
like 15)
* LOCATION (which AIRPORT location to get weather from)
Only locations from a scrollbox menu are accepted. All available
locations are displayed. Up to five (5) locations may be tagged
using the SPACE BAR - at least ONE needs to be tagged to call
out - IF ONE IS NOT TAGGED WHEN YOU PRESS ENTER, THE WEATHER.SIT
FILE WILL BE EMPTY AND WILL HANG UP IMMEDIATELY UPON CONNECTING
WITH THE WEATHER SERVICE.
* PRE/POST modem setup strings. These are commands that are
send to the modem before/after the dialing is started/completed.
For example - if your modem typically "ignores CD," you may wish
to type in a command such as ~~AT&C1~~ (for US Robotics Dual
Standards at least) to ensure that the modem pays attention to
Carrier Detect - because WEATHER DOES use CD as a method of
determining whether or not you are still online (although, as
of version 1.14, you can ignore CD and still call out properly).
* PRE/POST dialing strings. Use a "1-" for the pre-dialing string
if you are in the U.S. and using a home telephone. The use of a
",9" in the post-dial string will be common for those people
dialing out through a PBX system.
* EFFECTS - whether or not WEATHER should "explode boxes" and
make sounds during operation.
* COMBINE - whether or not WEATHER should take the two reports
for any given location and format them so that they may be
combined in the calling batch file.
* TIMER - how long WEATHER should wait before logging off of
the weather service in case of problems.
* ZONE REPORT - whether or not WEATHER should download the
Zone report when it calls out. The Zone report is a weather
report on the area(s) around the locale currently being
checked on. For example, when downloading weather information
for Charlotte, NC and requesting the Zone report, a brief
weather report is given for Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham,
Greensboro, etc...
* SEVERE REPORT - whether or not WEATHER should download
Severe weather reports. This was an option requested by many
of the users of WEATHER - so enjoy!
* HEADER (text to display at top of weather information)
Text up to 32,000 bytes (32k) is accepted. Word wrap is
automatic. The header file is now seperated entirely from
the configuration file...so you can build the header file
in your favorite ANSI/RIP editor!
* FOOTER (text to display at bottom of weather information)
Text up to 32,000 bytes (32k) is accepted. Word wrap is
automatic. The footer file is now seperated entirely from
the configuration file...so you can build the footer file
in your favorite ANSI/RIP editor!
After the information is entered, it is automatically saved to
WEATHER.CFG. To abort the configuration during entry, simply press
the ESC (or F10) key.
WEATHER.CFG is a straight ASCII text file, so any text editor can edit
it. The layout of the file is:
Line 1: COM port
Line 2: BASE address, IRQ value, [Interrupt Register ID Address,
Map Table Value Address,
Type Array Value]
Line 3: BAUD rate
Line 4: REDIAL attempts
Line 5: TONE or PULSE (T/P) dialing type
Line 6: PREDIAL modem initialization string
Line 7: POSTDIAL modem initialization string
Line 8: ACCESS CODE for telephone number (i.e. the "1-" in the
1-800-xxx-xxxx telephone number)
Line 9: NUMBER to APPEND to the 1-800-xxx-xxxx (i.e. ",9" in the
1-800-xxx-xxxx,9 telephone number)
Line 10: EFFECTS status
Line 11: COMBINE reports status
Line 12: DTR status after logging off of weather service
Line 13: DIGIboard type (0=NONE, 4,8,16=DIGIboard types)
Line 14: TIMER
Line 15: ZONE weather report status
Line 16: SEVERE weather report status
WEATHER.HDR/WEATHER.FTR are both text files that are able to be
edited by any text editor capable of saving text in a raw ASCII
format (for example, WordPerfect in native mode is not, but
WordPerfect DOES have an ASCII save function...using that WILL
work). If you wish to add some color, try using an ANSI or RIP
editor for the header and footer files.
WEATHER.SIT is also created at CONFIG time. WEATHER.SIT contains
the names of the state, city, airport code, and filename for every
location available to WEATHER. If anyone has more airport codes,
or more accurate city/state names, please let us know...always on
the lookout to improve WEATHER!
The layout of WEATHER.SIT is (this is the exact spacing as well,
so if you need to create a WEATHER.SIT file, simply copy the line
containing the WT-CLT and remove all of the leading spaces):
State City Airport Code Filename
vv ----v---- -v- --vv--
NC Charlotte CLT WT-CLT
WEATHER.SIT is an ASCII text file that is able to be edited by
any text editor capable of saving text in a raw ASCII format
(for example, WordPerfect in native mode is not, but WordPerfect
DOES have an ASCII save function...using that WILL work).
WEATHER.DIC is an ASCII dictionary file for WEATHER that can be
added to/subtracted from to "case" words differently in the weather
text. Currently, when a word is put into the dictionary, the word
will be cased in the EXACT same style as in the dictionary file...so
beware - if you type something in all UPPERCASE, WEATHER will
UPPERCASE that word throughout the entire text. This feature was
added so that cities, states, and place names could be properly cased.
Use a text editor that saves in PLAIN ASCII mode to modify the .CFG
and .DIC files.
The PREDIAL and POSTDIAL options were added to accomodate modems
who did not reset properly after using WEATHER.
The ACCESS CODE and NUMBER APPEND were added for people who wanted
to dial out from a PBX system (Public Branching System) or from
outside of the United States (such as Canada).
COMBINE reports status allows the operator to specify that the two
reports that are generate for a location are to be formatted so that
they may be combined together via a line in a batch file - such as:
┌────────────────────── SAMPLE BATCH FILE ─────────────────────────┐
│ @ECHO OFF │
│ C: │
│ CD\WEATHER │
│ WEATHER │
│ IF ERRORLEVEL==255 GOTO ERROR │
│ COPY WT-CLT.DLY+WT-CLT.EXT D:\WC30\BULL\BULL6.BBS │
│ CD\ │
│ D: │
│ GOTO END │
│ │
│ :ERROR │
│ ECHO Download failed...no copy performed! │
│ │
│ :END │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The header is included in the WT-xxxxx.DLY file and the footer is
included at the end of the WT-xxxxx.EXT file. Thus, a Sysop may
create a single bulletin/news item out of all of the weather
information.
DTR status allows the operator to specify that WEATHER should hold the
DTR signal HIGH on the modem when it is processing the received
weather information AND upon exit. This is useful if you run a BBS
and do not wish your users to get a NO ANSWER during weather download
and processing. Also useful if you perform more than one task at
night - say a night-time procedure that has WEATHER as the first task.
TIPS, TECHNIQUES, AND TROUBLESHOOTING
(or, how I managed to fix the durn thing...)
This section is being included to help people out with running the
WEATHER program under various environments.
Problem : WEATHER calls out, connects, collects the weather
information, displays the Processing Weather Information
screen, and then appears to hang. How can I solve this?
Solution: WEATHER 1.15 *should* take care of that problem. However,
if you are reading this, it is likely that it did not.
Try rebooting and calling out to the weather service
again...if it hangs again, contact us Moobasi Optics, Ink.
to report the problem and receive personal help.
Problem : Running WEATHER as an event under FrontDoor, I have had
occasional problems with WEATHER locking up during the
the processing of the weather information. What's the
problem?
Solution: Once again, version 1.15 should take care of this. There
have been people reporting that WEATHER locks up when
used as an event under FrontDoor - possibly due to the
FOSSIL driver that is being used. Either try to
disable the FOSSIL driver (XU for X00.SYS, etc.) or try
running WEATHER as an event from the BBS instead. If
the problem persists under FrontDoor, please contact us
at Moobasi - we will do our best to remedy the situation!
Problem : WEATHER calls out, connects, then drops to DOS.
Solution: Check the WEATHER.SIT file. If it is empty, either create
a new WEATHER.SIT based on the layout detailed in this
DOC file, or make sure to grab the latest version (as of
this release...v1.14).
Problem : When I run WEATHER, I get a message that says something
like "MEMORY EXHAUSTED" - why? What can I do to get
around the problem?
Solution: Make sure to use version 1.14 or above of WEATHER. :)
Starting with WEATHER v1.14, we made sure to cut down on
use of conventional memory as much as possible.
Problem : When I run WEATHER in a Desqview window, it "eats" all of
the available extended/expanded memory. What can I do to
limit the amount of EMS/XMS it uses?
Solution: Go into Change Program (under the Open Window option)
and then go into Advanced Options by pressing F10. On
the option that says "Maximum EMS," type in the amount of
XMS memory to limit WEATHER to.
Problem : Even after making sure that WEATHER.SIT has information in
it, WEATHER calls out, connects, then immediately does a
disconnect. What can I do this time?
Solution: Try forcing your CD (Carrier Detect) signal high when
calling out. To do this with a US Robotics Dual Standard,
you would type in something similar to ~~AT&C0~~ in the
Pre-Dial Modem Setup String in the CONFIG option for
WEATHER.
Problem : Using a DIGIboard, you are calling out at 38400...yet
the modem is not dialing. What can be done?
Solution: Set the COM port speed a little lower on the DIGIboard
using the COMSET program that comes with the DIGIboard
(they recommend using 19200 or below).
Problem : You decide, after checking out WEATHER, that $10 is not
enough money to pay for such a well-supported program...
what can you do?
Solution: Just send in the $10 and receive the heart-felt thanks of
the author...he is trying to keep the price of WEATHER
down to encourage other Shareware authors to do the same!
:)
ORDERING INFORMATION
To order WEATHER, send a $10 payment to the author at:
Moobasi Optics, Ink.
ATTN: Blaine William Schmidt
10305-D Plum Creek Lane
Charlotte, NC 28210-8263
To report problems with WEATHER, or to suggest improvements, contact
the author at one of the following:
(704-541-9842) Data Line - Moobasi Optics, Ink. (data line)
(704-542-3725) Voice Line - Business
FIDOnet address: 1:379/50
WGAnet address: 40:113/50
Internet address: Selin@char.vnet.net
When you pay the $10 registration fee, include an electronic address
that the registered version can be sent to (i.e. Blaine Schmidt at
Moobasi Optics, Ink. [704-541-9842]) if available. If no electronic
addresses are available, include your address and $1 extra so that it
can be sent via U.S. Mail.
In addition to receiving the registered version, you will also have an
account created on Moobasi Optics, Ink. for you (with your real name
and telephone number). This will give you access to the public line
of the BBS for personal pleasure or for reporting problems or
suggestions.
CREDITS/KUDOS/ET AL...
Credits for the program go out to the following people:
* The PEOPLE who have registered WEATHER thus far. Their names
are not mentioned here to protect them from the hordes of
Shareware authors who would want them to register all of their
work too! :)
* Jennifer "JABBER" Schmidt - she keeps the projects going that
would otherwise fall by the side of the road.
* Steve "Dark Elf" Gilbert - for continuing to share himself in a
gastrological way, eating out with me weekly and discussing
computers with me in a way that frustrates many others <grin>.
Steve runs the Red Room (704)566-9927. BTW - congratulations
Steve - I'll be glad to see another join the ranks of the
married (I need some company)! :)
* Ron Alspaugh of the Exchange (704)342-2333 for helping me beta
test (read that as bug-swat) all of the versions thus far,
making many astute observations that have led to a more robust
program. Ron - keep it up! I *LIKE* your comments!
* Mark Williamson and Gordon Malone - two guys who have sent in
MORE than their share of comments... :)
* Rob Rosenhouse for letting me know that Newark, NJ (EWR) exists!
Thanks also go to him for an excellent suggestion which will be
included in v1.15...the ability to add weather sites to the
WEATHER.LOC file.
* Kevin Day for getting New York back on the map. :) He has also
contributed much in the way of good bug notifications...
* Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN and Charlotte, NC BBS communities - for
providing me with good times, good friends, and great ideas!
* All of the people who have taken the time to either download
or FREQ WEATHER from Moobasi Optics, Ink....I sincerely hope
you enjoy it...or let us know...WE WANT to make YOU HAPPY!
* Nantucket/Computer Associates - although Clipper has yet to rid
itself of some pesky problems, Clipper is still one of the best
products out on the market today.
REVISIONS
(01/17/94)
- Added feature where user can specify number of minutes after
which WEATHER will hangup - regardless of what is happening
at the time. Was added to allow users who download more
locations to extend the timeout feature. NOTE: The default
of 10 minutes IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED as the one to use. The
ten minute limitation previously branded into WEATHER was to
ensure that the weather service was not tied up with someone
using the line and not matching a prompt (possibly causing
a condition where WEATHER could sit on the telephone line
the entire time specified.)
(01/16/94)
- Fixed bug which allowed users to only download 5 locations of
weather information - even though they were able to tag 10
locations through the CONFIG option.
- Changed NEW YORK CITY to NEW YORK so that users in New York could
actually obtain weather information! :)
- Added EWR (Newark, NJ) as a valid weather site.
(01/11/94)
- Added a brief pause after connecting - some modems were not raising
CD (Carrier Detect) fast enough - and were hanging up immediately
upon connection.
- Finished the DIGIboard programming. The IIRA value was being
converted to hexadecimal, which led to the DIGIboard looking at
a location approximately 600 bytes away from where it should.
(01/10/94)
- Finished DIGIboard support (I think). No one to really test it out
for me, so I will have to assume it works for right now.
- Number of locations to download has been raised to 10, due to the
fact that we have rarely passed the five minute mark of time on
the weather service, even with downloading information on 5
unique sites.
(01/08/94)
- Added DIGIboard support. A) This was a time-consuming, and
somewhat oblique task as we did not have ready access to a
DIGIboard of ANY variety! We will be testing more extensively
in the near future and we request that if ANYONE sees something
incorrect in the way that WEATHER uses a DIGIboard...please let
us know.
- Seperated the HEADER and FOOTER from the WEATHER.CFG file. Now
anyone can design their own headers and footers in their favorite
editor (whether ASCII/ANSI/RIP or otherwise).
- Added extended memory support. WEATHER will now use available
extended memory to speed up operations.
- DTR option added so that Sysop(s) can make sure that the line
calling out and processing using WEATHER is "busied-out" during
the processing until the return to the BBS.
- GSO (Greensboro, NC) was added to the Airport Location file
(WEATHER.LOC)...next release will include a more comprehensive
listing of valid airport codes.
(01/04/94)
- Wow! A new year - and new possibilities for WEATHER!
- Added the option to combine reports. Now the DLY and EXT file(s)
can be combined into single reports for any given location...a
good modification for those people who don't want the weather
information taking up two bulletins.
- Added pre/post-dialing string support. Now people can dial out
to the weather service from anywhere - within PBXes, outside of
the country, etc....
- Improved F10 "breakout" key. F10 will now behave more responsively
when WEATHER is dialing or capturing text.
- Reworked dialing so that WEATHER exits at maximum number of redial
attempts, rather than locking up (others reported this - we never
experienced it - but the fix is solid).
- Updated the revision number to the correct revision :) ...
- Lengthened the DTR drop/raise time so that the phone company has a
chance to catch up with WEATHER...
- Added a absolute dropout time of 12 minutes so that if all goes to
"bonko," WEATHER will automagically press the F10 key and interrupt
the running process and hang up...this was done to ensure that no
one reports WEATHER hanging their system all night attempting to
answer the same prompt over and over and over and over and over...
(12/26/93)
- WEATHER was sending the airport ID to the weather system when they
requested a airport code. This code is used by the FAA to keep
track of "emergency situation aircraft" (or something similar)...
so, in order to conform to FAA regulations for the weather
service, WEATHER has to send a code, starting with an alphabetic
character, followed by any alpanumeric sequence (up to 7
characters).
The weather service was consulted on this item - WEATHER was
calling and being told that the code CLT had been used too many
times and could not download any more information (due to
Charlotte using the WEATHER program the most currently). Now,
WEATHER uses a code of MWxxxxx (where MW stands for MOOBASI
WEATHER and the xxxxx is a number between 1 and 99999). The
weather service stated that all codes entered are tracked for 15
days before they are removed from the system...hence, CLT will
work roughly two weeks after the release of this version of
WEATHER. However, due to the new style of requesting weather
information, you can call now and still receive weather
information for across the country.
A note of thanks and gratitude to the folks at DUAT - who provide
the weather service we all use for downloading purposes. We
called DUAT late at night when we learned of the error in the
downloading process - and they were fast, efficient, courteous,
and EXTREMELY HELPFUL in finding an alternative method of working
out a download solution. Once again - thanks to all of the fine
folks at DUAT! (BTW - we once again confirmed that the weather
download information is PUBLIC, and as such, may be freely
posted on a BBS system - as long as there is no charge for
viewing the weather information.
(12/22/93)
- Fixed a problem with WEATHER not converting the first .DLY file
into capitalized text. Was capturing the text perfectly, but due
to a file handle remaining open, WEATHER was never able to access
it during the capitalization stage.
- Checked out dialing and connecting - everything working on the
three seperate modems tested.
(12/21/93)
- *** NOTE ***
The structure of the WEATHER.CFG and WEATHER.LOC have changed.
WEATHER.SIT is new. Unfortunately, WEATHER v1.10 is NOT
directly compatible with version v1.03 - if you want to upgrade
it, simply install it to a different directory, WEATHER CONFIG,
and then using a text editor, copy over your headers and footers
from the v1.03 WEATHER.CFG.
- Information screen is now available for registered users. All
the info display is for is to report on the revision level, date
and name of person who registered the software...not applicable
to the unregistered version.
(12/20/93)
- Added changeable IRQ and Base Address values. Many people were
calling and saying that WEATHER would not work with COM3 or COM4.
Strange thing - after investigating, the library being used for
modem control left COM3 and COM4 with values of 0 for both IRQs
and Base Addresses - needless to say, the modem WOULD NOT dial
out under those conditions. COM3 is now defaulted to IRQ 5, and
COM4 to IRQ6, with any of the COM port IRQ values being
changeable through the CONFIG option.
- Added multiple sites. A maximum limit of five (5) locations was
decided on for two reasons. 1) The weather service that is
supplying the information only gives a eight minute logon...and
although the method used by WEATHER bypasses this limitation, we
felt it was prudent to follow their wishes regarding time logged
on...we would recommend it to those using WEATHER too.
- Filename scheme had to be changed to accomodate multiple sites.
The filenames now are comprised of WT-xxxxx, with the xxxxx
being the AIRPORT ID for each station downloaded (i.e. when you
download Charlotte's weather inforamtion, WEATHER creates a file
titled WT-CLT.DLY and WT-CLT.EXT).
- Tone OR Pulse methods of dialing are now supported. One or two
of the users of WEATHER requested it - they now have it.
- Changed the reception of characters to string-based versus the
character-oriented method used previously. Although it does not
appear any faster, it is, and results in a more stable approach
to error-handling.
- Cut wait time for inter-string delays down to 1 second...should
speed up processing incrementally. If anyone experiences WEATHER
timing out a significant portion of the time, let me know and we
can change it to a higher value again.
- Improved recognition of loss of carrier - whether through normal
termination or otherwise...users should notice a significant
increase in responsiveness from when the call is complete to when
the text processing begins.
(12/16/93)
- Changed the dates in the revision history in WEATHER.DOC. <grin>
They were incorrectly reflecting the dates of changes.
- Changed the fashion in which the results were obtained from the
modem. A user stated that when he unplugged the modem from the
wall (why he did this is anyone's guess :) ), WEATHER was
incorrectly assuming that it had connected after the number of
retries had been reached. A review of the result code capture
resulted in a significant change in the capture method.
- Ensured that when number of retries are reached that WEATHER kicks
out to DOS.
- Changed the method which the pre/post-dial strings are sent to the
modem - much more stable.
(12/15/93)
- Due to a slight miscalculation in eyesight and textual clarity on
the terminal, the modem port was never being closed.
- Added ERRORLEVEL support for the people who requested it. WEATHER
returns a 0 for normal completion - and a 255 for all errors.
- Added POSTDIAL string for modems that need to be reset after
WEATHER completes.
(12/14/93)
- Added capitalization of text. Needs a little work - but is nearly
correct. If anyone has a good, solid set of rules regarding the
capitalization of WEATHER text, please let me know! <grin>
(12/13/93)
- Initial beta (alpha/zeta too!) release!
OFFICIAL DISCLAIMER OF RESPONSIBILITY
This is the part that we all love to read. This section is merely
included to protect ME, the author, from being sued by someone who
thinks that it is the software company's responsibility to keep their
software from blowing up another person's hard drive.
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Moobasi Optics, Ink., or any other agent of Moobasi Optics, Ink. │
│ (such as Blaine William Schmidt) assumes no responsibility for │
│ the misuse and/or incorrect operation of The Software (hereby │
│ known as WEATHER). │
│ │
│ WEATHER, as provided, is in a "as is" state, where the user │
│ assumes any and all responsibility for reparation of any damage │
│ that may occur through use/misuse/operation/incorrect operation │
│ of WEATHER. │
│ │
│ To the best of our knowledge, the weather information provided │
│ and downloaded using WEATHER is public domain, and may be freely │
│ dissemenated. │
│ │
│ In no event will Moobasi Optics, Ink. software be held liable │
│ for any damage arising from use of WEATHER. │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Now that that portion is complete, let me personally state that
WEATHER is an operational program that has no bugs (that I know of)
that would cause anyone's hard drive to start to whir menacingly, or
make their printer shoot out reams of paper at the speed of light.
If an "undocumented feature" (i.e. a bug) is discovered, please contact
me (Blaine William Schmidt). See the ordering information above...it
contains my name and address for contacting me regarding errors. The
programmers at Moobasi Optics, Ink. strive to make their products
solid ones...and that can onle be achieved through a lot of hard work
and testing...which sometimes comes from you...the end user...
END-OF-INFORMATION-FILE