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Night Owl 6
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Night Owl's Shareware - PDSI-006 - Night Owl Corp (1990).iso
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001a
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rngbck.zip
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RHOST.DOC
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1991-02-14
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7KB
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144 lines
┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│ RingBack For PcPlus Version 2.0 │
├─────────────────────────────────┤
│ Rick von Glahn 71545,1760 │
└─────────────────────────────────┘
Freeware Placed in the Public Domain
------
Files
------
RHOST.ASP - The script file in ASCII so you can modify and compile.
RHOST.DOC - This file.
For a long time I've been waiting for the enhancements that PCPLUS V 2.0
has incorporated.
I've got one phone line and I want to leave both my answering machine
and PCPLUS in the HOST mode active while I'm out of the house.
Previeously, if I left host active, anyone who called my house by voice
would get that annoying modem answer tone and couldn't leave messages on
my answering machine. Some BBS programs offer something called a
RINGBACK (not CALLBACK) feature. With this feature activated, a one
phone line household can have both an answering machine and a computer
online at the same time. Here's how it works.
When someone wants to call your HOST system they place a call and let
the phone ring at least one time. This first call alerts the computer
that someone MAY want to talk to it. But it doesn't do anything yet. As
soon as the phone STOPS ringing, a timer goes on. If that someone calls
back within a specified period of time (I've set it to one minute but
you can edit the script) then the script loads the HOST mode and answers
the phone. However, if the phone doesn't ring again within that one
minute period the script file resets and goes back to waiting for that
first ring.
If someone calls to leave a voice message, the answering machine will
answer and the caller can leave a message. Meanwhile, once the ringing
has stopped, the computer starts a 1 minute countdown. Your caller
leaves a message and hangs up (knowing nothing about the computer in the
background).
The only time you'll run into a problem with a system like this; someone
manages to call and leave a message, hangup and within one minute of the
first call a second call comes in. It's pretty unlikely. But, if it
happens, the computer answers. If that person hangs up and immediatly
calls back they will get the answering machine as the script will reset.
To make this script work place it in your PCPLUS directory. You can
either start it from within PcPlus or enter the command
PCPLUS /Frhost
at the DOS prompt.
The new HOST mode of PCPLUS V2 has a nifty screen that appears in
between calls. It lets you know who called last and gives other
information about that call.
With this script, you're usually not actually in the host mode and so
that screen is not available. But, I liked this information and so added
a similar info screen into the script. If there is no caller information
in the box it means no one has called. Otherwize, it will show
information on the last person who called your system. I couldn't get a
clock to run on this screen properly, so there's something you aspect
pros can add. I found that the addition of the date of the last call
helpful as I sometimes leave the system running for days at a time.
┌────────────────────┐
│ Potential Problems │
└────────────────────┘
-----------------
HOST WON'T ANSWER
-----------------
Many answering machines have a toll saver feature. If no one has called,
the machine answers on the 4th ring. But, if this feature is active and
someone HAS called, the answering machine will answer on the 2nd ring.
In this way, if you call in to check your messages and the phone rings
three times, you know you don't have any messages waiting and can
hangup. This saves you long distance charges.
When the caller trying to access the HOST places his second call to the
system, the script file must wait for the phone to ring at least one
time. Then it loads the HOST mode. The HOST mode must then wait for one
ring before it will auto answer the phone. So, this means the answering
machine may beat the computer to the phone and you won't get your host
mode to connect. Because of this delay, I set my answering machine to
only answer the phone on the 4th ring.
---------------
SYSTEM LOCKS UP
---------------
I call the system remotely and use the SHELL option frequently. Because
I often seem to enter wrong keys or do something else that locks up the
computer, I set option J (USE SHELLBOOT) in the HOST Mode setup section
to YES. If I inadvertantly enter an incorrect command while shelled in
the remote mode and lock up the system, this feature will save me from
minor disaster. SHELLBOOT monitors the carrier and when it drops (in
shell mode only) it will do a reboot of my computer. You must create an
alternate AUTOEXEC.BAT file that will boot your system and place you
back into the host mode of PCPLUS. Otherwize, when the system reboots
you won't have the host mode active and so can't access your system
remotely. You'll need to enter the commands
CD\subdir\subdir - where the indicated path moves you to the subdir you
want to start the host mode from.
PCPLUS /FRHOST
at the bottom (last commands) of your autoexec.bat file. I recommend
creating a simple subset of your normal AUTOEXEC file deleting all TSRs.
Here's mine. You'll need to edit it for the proper subdirectories and
drives you load PcPlus on.
@ECHO OFF
SET COMSPEC=C:\COMMAND.COM
set pcplus=c:\com\pcplus\
PATH=C:\;C:\DOS;C:\BATS;C:\UTIL;
prompt $p$g
cd \com\pcplus
pcplus /frhost.asx
Naturally, this autoexec is optional and really only needed if you use
the system remotely and shell to DOS. If you do operate that way, you'll
really appreciate PCPLUS' ability to recover from a lockup. Nothing is
more frustrating than being over at a friends 20 miles from home while
you're trying to get some files into his system that you think will make
his life easier and you shell to DOS and inadvertantly lock up your
system and find you can't get back into it. This only happened to me
once then I was on a batch file rampage trying to figure out how to
overcome it. With PCPLUS 1.xx it was a cumbersome procedure involving
the use of TSRs operating outside of PCPLUS. Now it's easier than ever.
* note: This script utilizes several commands unique to the expanded
version of the ASPECT language for PCPLUS V2.0. It will NOT work for
any prior versions of Procomm.
-end-