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Night Owl's Shareware - PDSI-006 - Night Owl Corp (1990).iso
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1991-04-24
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176 lines
OffHook 1.0
Modem off-hook/Delay Utility
by Lester B. Kooyman
Caffeine-Free Software
1:204/501.0
0. PACKING LIST
---------------
The archive OFFHOOK.LZH should contain:
OFFHOOK.DOC This document file
OFFHOOK.EXE The executable program
OFFHOOK.286 Use for 286s, 386s and above (rename
to OFFHOOK.EXE)
MODEMON.EXE Program to go ON-hook
1. WHY IT EXISTS
----------------
OffHook is a simple little program written to meet a need on my BBS - take
the modem off hook (so that callers receive a busy signal rather than a
ring-no-answer) and delay a user-specified number of minutes before
terminating.
I wrote this program because I don't agree with the way Fido handles the
telephone line whenever it decides for one reason or another not to answer
the phone (modem). One example of this is the IDLE event. During Fido's
IDLE event, Fido will sit idle, but will not answer the phone. This gives
callers the impression that something may be wrong with your system - it
was not answering the phone, so it must be broken, right? Better for the
caller to receive a busy signal - this is an indication of life, rather than
the nobody home approach of ring-no-answer.
This was never an issue for me until I converted my BBS to multiline
operation. Now continuous mail gets a whole lot trickier! It's OK to
receive mail on one line while callers are reading and entering messages
on the other lines, it's just not OK to *toss* the mail while there are
callers online! For this reason the additional lines of the multiline
BBS will probably shut down once or twice per day for mail tossing. (The
only alternative is BBS software that interacts with an active mail
tosser, but I haven't seen software sophisticated enough to handle
that as yet.) While one line will toss the mail, the other lines will
wait, hopefully with their phones off-hook, a specified number of
minutes. This program does that.
2. HOW TO USE IT
-----------------
To use OffHook, put it in the batch file that runs the Fido line you
wish to control. At the time you wish the offhook event to occur, exit
with a specified errorlevel. This errorlevel will, in the batch file
that runs Fido, cause the OffHook program to be run, with an optional
wait. The syntax is:
offhook /fp /wm
Where -
fp = fossil port number (legal values are 0 through 7)
wm = wait minutes
So, to go offhook on fossil port 0 (usually COM1:), and delay for 15
minutes, you would type:
offhook /0 /15
Leaving off the number of minutes to wait causes no wait at all. The
fossil port number must be the first parameter, and must be present.
Before returning to Fido, run the program MODEMON.EXE, with a single
parameter of the fossil port. This will put the modem line back onhook
before Fido tries to initialize the modem (Fido would leave it offhook
if we didn't put it back onhook ourselves).
Here is a sample of a batch file to run a mythical Fido system using
OffHook to simulate IDLE events. Note that Fido specifies comm ports
differently. In the example, fido is initialized for COM2: with the
"/2" switch. However, OFFHOOK and MODEMON specify the same port in
terms of Ray Gwinn's X00 numbering scheme; that is, 0 to 7. So subtract
1 from the number you use for Fido; in this case, COM2: is the second
FOSSIL port, so is specified as "/1" (the first is "/0").
/*--------------------Begin Batch file example------------------------*/
@Echo Off
:START
cls
D:
Cd \FIDO2
modemon /1
goto loop
:RELOGIN
relogin
:LOOP
cls
E:FIDO /2 2/I
if errorlevel 15 goto wait2
if errorlevel 10 goto wait1
if errorlevel 6 goto esp
if errorlevel 5 goto exit
goto exit
:WAIT1
rem the following means go offhook for 45 minutes
offhook /1 /45
rem this puts the line back on hook for Fido.
modemon /1
goto loop
:WAIT2
rem the following means go offhook for 60 minutes
offhook /1 /60
rem this puts the line back on hook for Fido.
modemon /1
goto loop
:ESP
userdesc /1 /end /share /udspath=d:\fido /callerpath=d:\fido /fidopath=d:\fido2
if errorlevel 2 goto loop
goto relogin
:EXIT
cls
be ask "End Fido operation for line 2? Y)es [N)o] ",yn default=N timeout=2 black on white
if errorlevel 2 goto loop
if errorlevel 1 goto byebye
goto loop
:BYEBYE
offhook /1
exit
/*--------------------End Batch file example--------------------------*/
Oh, one more thing. If you change your mind and want to terminate
OFFHOOK's wait before it ends, type a control-C at the console and
OFFHOOK will terminate.
3. REQUIRED TO USE IT
-----------------------
An MSDOS computer running a FOSSIL communications port driver. Fido
BBS software or equivalent. A modem that honors the "AT" command set.
4. GOODIES YOU ALSO GET!
-------------------------
The program will detect it is running under DesqView and release its
time slice, like a good multitasking citizen, while waiting. This means
you won't burn your BBS machine's cycles on this program while it is
watching the clock. Also, it does watch the clock. Because the program's
wait routine is based on the system time of day clock rather than an
artificial timing loop, it is independent of machine speed in timing,
and will also time accurately under DesqView. All video I/O is done
via DOS, and thus is well-behaved on non-386 machines under DesqView.
(In this situation, DesqView cannot virtualize video, so ill-behaved
applications would bleed over other windows.)
5. YOU WANNA TALK?
------------------
This thing isn't guaranteed at all. If it works for you, great! I felt
the need for it and it works for me. Should you want to correspond for
some reason, you can most easily netmail me at 1:204/501.0. You can also
send US Mail to me at:
Les Kooyman
Caffeine-Free Software
2228 S. El Camino Real # 124
San Mateo, California 94403
This program is copyrighted, and I retain all rights to it. You may use
and freely copy the program as long as you don't change or modify the
program in any way, or charge for providing copies.