--------------------------------------------------------- Document Revision Date : Saturday December 18 (05:50) --------------------------------------------------------- Textmanual for NeoCom 2.xx NEOCOM¿ TERMWIND¿ ½1992/93 ½1993 By Michael Lundgren, By Ulf Ronald Andersson Griffon SoftWare Gillbostr†ket 55 191 76 Sollentuna Sweden PostGiro: 466 89 46-9 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Version 2.42 Multi Version 1.00 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Foreword -------- First & most I would like to thank everybody who has been involved i my development of NeoCom, Beta Testers, Registrated users, friends, etc. When I begun a hobby-project called 'AutoTerm' I never expected it to to become what NeoCom is today. I has been many long hours of programming to get NeoCom to this point. When I started on AutoTerm, I had almost NO experience at all, but every- thing I've learned along the way, has contributed to my knowlegde and understanding for the Atari & programming. One of the main reasons to begin, was the lack of good, easy-to-use terminal program for the Atari. There were a few, but no one satisfied the need I had. When I started 'AutoTerm' back in 89/90, there was very few GEM-based terminal program on the scene. That was one of the reasons for NeoCom. Since then, there's has been some good programs, mainly from Gearmany. But I do NOT read or speak Gearman, and I think that most of you feel the same as me. The german programs also has a tendancy to be quite complex. The early versions of NeoCom depended heavely on the built-in VT-52 emulat. With the new (?) TT-series and the Falcon, I had to make some changes. The most difficult bit was to enable NeoCom to work within a window. Also, I had to make my own VT-52 emulation and ANSI. All this together was way to slow to accept. My solution to this problem was to contact one of Neo- Com's faithful user : Ulf Ronald Andersson. We agreed that the best solu- tion for NeoCom was to optimize the window and emulation in pure assembler. So, after many nightly calls, he came up with a package consisting of a window/Emulation object code, ready to link with NeoCom. So, this is were we stand today, with a higly competent terminal program for the Atari ST/STE/MEGA/TT/Falcon. To registrate NeoCom, all you have to do is send œ12, $18 ,130 swedish crowns or 110 French Franc to the address above or use the swedish PostGiro: 466 89 46-9 * Please Make sure NOT to send any cash if you live outside Sweden. * For this you will allways recieve the latest version of NeoCom if you send an emty disk. Registrated users do NOT have to register again to get new updates. all you have to do, is to send an emty disk along with international reply coupons. Another option is to logon to NeoCom Support BBS in Scandinavia - BURNING CHROME BBS. You will always get the latest version here. This program is S H A R E W A R E and nothing else. It has never been or will be Public Domain (PD) Michael Lundgren is the owner of all right of NeoCom, AutoTerm. Ronald Andersson is the Copyright owner of TermWind. Registrated user has the right to USE the program, but NOT modify, copy or spread their version in ANY way. If more than one user is using this program, a registration from all users will be nessecary. Michael Lundgren First I would like to point out some of the things that is not part of the NeoCom package. NO script handling. NO pure VT100/102/200/220 NO Capture editor. NO View function for Capture or text. (Ascii upload with echo, could do this to a certain extent.) Some of the thing NeoCom DOES have! * One of the best ANSI emulations on the Atari ST. * Mouse-handled Macro functions. * Advanced Window handling. * 7 or 8 bit ASCII/VT52/ANSI Emulation. * A NEW BBS-menu interface (BMI) * Translation (Edit this with a seperate program!) can be very useful for those of us living outside UK or USA. * Capture (Full or partial) * Logfile for all calls. * External Protocol handling. * External programs. * ASCII Uploads. * Seperate Macros for every BBS. * Sepearte INIT/PREFIX/BAUDRATE/NAME/PASSWORD etc for every BBS-entry. * Echo (Normal or BBS) * Cost Counter. * Multi language. * and much, much more. If you intend to use NeoCom with ANSI emulation, I STRONGLY recommend you to use the STANSI_F.* package distributed along with NeoCom, this is needed for NeoCom to work properly in ANSI mode. Without this GDOS font, the ANSI graphic will not be displayed correctly! Since NeoCom can be very complex to use, I will try to explain some of the features here. To get the program to use english language, you just rename NEOC_Exx.RSC to NEOCOM.RSC. If you intend to use the swedish language, rename the file NEOC_Sxx.RSC to NEOCOM.RSC. NEOCOM About NeoCom Here you will find information about the program, the current version, free RAM etc. SYSTEM Dial Directory If you use this meny, you will get a dialog, editable if you use the EDIT DIAL DIRECTORY. Here, you can double-click on a BBS-entry. This will make NeoCom to dial that specific BBS for you with the settings specified under EDIT DIAL DIRECTORY. To make a manual call, enter the number you wish to dial on the row named 'DIAL' Press OK, and NeoCom will dial that number for you. *NOTE* NEOCOM.MAC is default if manual dial is used. SYSTEM Load *.TRN Here you can choose the translation file to be used. to edit these, use the seperate program, NEOTRAN. SYSTEM Load *.NUM This will load a choosen *.NUM file. This file holds the information entered under EDIT DIAL DIRECTORY. SYSTEM Load *.ZYZ This will load any previous stored *.ZYZ file. This file contains all the settings for NeoCom such as Window size, emulation, Init, Baudrate, paths,external protocols etc. SYSTEM Save *.NUM Will save the current *.NUM file. SYSTEM Save *.ZYZ Save all your settings for NeoCom. SYSTEM Hang-up You will get a dialog, asking you to Hangup on remote. If you choose OK, the call will be disconnected. Use this function ONLY if there has been som failure. This way of disconnecting a BBS is NOT popular with the SysOps! SYSTEM Auto Answer This will enable your modem to answer an incomming call. All that NeoCom is doing is to send a 'ATA'. SYSTEM Info Some short information about NeoCom. SYSTEM Help Short summary of NeoComs keykommands. You will find all the ALT key currently in use here. SYSTEM Quit You will get a dialog, asking you to quit. If the capture is on, this will be closed, before NeoCom is terminated. Same goes for NEOCOM.ZYZ/NUM if that setting has been choosed. EDIT Catalog This is one of the powerful functions. To choose a BBS to edit, use the catalog in the same way as when you dial, just click on the BBS you want. You will also see two other boxes to click on. LOAD*.NUM file Loads a presaved *.NUM file. In this way you can have several seperate number files. Each file can hold up to 50 different entries. SAVE*.NUM file Save the current number file. Both of these functions can also be reached from the Main menu. To choose a BBS to edit, use the catalog to find the BBS you wish to edit. You will get a new dialog. BBS NAME Here you enter the name on the BBS. (Max 30 Chars.) PHONENUMBER Enter the phone number to use. USER NAME (Macro function) Enter the name you wish to use on the current BBS. Here you can use the CONTROL-M (CR) after the name, this will send a carriage Return after the name. PASSWORD (Macro Function, can be reached by pressing the right mousekey!) Enter the password of your choice. CONTROL-M can be used as above. MACRO BOX FILESELECTOR With this you can choose a macrofile to be used with the current BBS. MACROS Here the name of the choosen macro will appear. You can edit by hand. When you call, this file will be loaded and be used as macros for NeoCom. You can reach them either from the function-keys or the pop-up menu if you are online. INIT STRING This is the init string to be used with your modem. ATX4 is default, and so is the 'ATH0E0S11=55' If you are unsure of what Init to use for you specific modem, take a look in the manual of your modem. PREFIX STRING Prefix is the code preceding an outgoing call. In Sweden and most other european countries, ATDT is the most common (ATDP can occur!) See your modem manual. RESET Is used to reset your modem to the factory settings. This command will be sent BEFORE the INIT string. BAUDRATE A number of boxes to choose the desired baudrate for the current BBS entry. EMULATION Here you can pick the emulation you want for the BBS. Currently, there is 6 different emulations. 1. - 7 bit ASCII 2. - 8 bit ASCII 3. - 7 bit VT52 4. - 8 bit VT52 5. - 7 bit ANSI 6. - 8 bit ANSI In the last box you accept the setting made by you, and will be returned to choose a new entry to edit. EDIT RS232 Here you can edit the modem setting. Note! The baudrate will NOT affect the baudrate you have specified for a certain BBS. They have a higher priority than this one. This is mainly used when you are dialing manually. There is 7 baudrates. 110 300 1200 2400 4800 9600 19200 You should choose the one best suited for your modem. PARITY On an Atari, this should be NONE STOPBIT Default is 1. DATABIT Default is 8 FLOW Default is NONE. If you have a highspeed modem, this should be CTS/RTS or XON/XOFF. MODEM 1 This one is default. It's the ST:s usual RS232 port. You should use this one if you are using an ST/e MIDI PORT With this, you can send and recieve characters via the Midi port. This should only be used with a NUL-Cable. MODEM 2 and SERIAL 1 & SERIAL 2 This is mainly for the Mega ST/e and TT. (Currently unavailable) EDIT Protocol This is where you edit the external protocols. There is entries for up to 5 different protocols. Note that the 1:st protocol is default to ALT-Z and the 2:nd to ALT-Y At your left there is a box. If you click in the box you will get a fileselector. Use this to pick the path to the external program you intend to use. If you click OK in the fileselector, the name of the program (TTP) will appear to the right. This field can be edited to name the protocol. This name will appear in the menu bar. If you for exampel, have choosen the XYZ.TTP, edited the name to Zmodem, It's time to put some parameters for the program. In this example, we want the Zmodem. So, on the row for UL, we will put : -U -Z and for the DL row : -D -Z If you want Ymodem, use -Y instead. For more information on the parameters required, take a look in the manual of the program you wish to use. EDIT Window This is one of the most difficult bits with NeoCom, and can be quite tricky. The reason for this was to as flexibel as possible. At the top you will find SIZE of the window. With this you can choose wether you want a RESIZEABLE window. With this, you will get a window with ALL attributes on. If you choose a INFO WINDOW, the window will only have a Inforow and the possibility to be moved. One of the advatages with this mode is, that you will get more characters on the screen. If you choose FULL WINDOW, you will get a window without ANY attributes. This window cannot be moved or in any other way manipulated. This mode also have space for more characters than the resizeable window. FIT WINDOW This option enables the terminal to fit the window. ie. you will get as many rows & columns as there is room for in the window. If this option i OFF you can edit the number of rows & columns by yourself. *NOTE!* The maximum Rows & Columns are 255. FONTSIZE This defines the size of the font to be used. This will also affect the number of rows & columns. The best way to get a grip with the window handling, is to experiment until you get used to it. If the setting SHOULD go wrong, the window will use default values. EDIT Emulations This is the terminalemulation department. In here you can choose the emulation you wish to use. NOTE! This is overruled by the emulation settings in the Auto- dilaing, and is only used for manual dialing. NeoCom has 8 bit VT52, as default emulation. This is the most common emulation on the Atari systems. ANSI should only be used with systems using a PC, since the Atari Systems has a very poor ANSI emulation. My advice is to use a PC-font available for GDOS or the more advanced NVDI. I Recommend the use of STANSI_F developed speacially for NeoCom. If you are using ANSI, there on other option. ANSI colour differentation This will prevent the text to have the same colour as the background. It is very useful if you are running in medium or high resolution. Other options are : Hide the cursor while the text is displayed in the window, this speed up the output. Option to lock the output to the window. This will only output the text when the RS232 buffer is emty or 80 characters has been recieved. This will also speed up the output alot! If this option is OFF, the output will be as soon as a characters enters the buffer. This vill be very slow. EDIT Settings Here you can edit the settings for NeoCom. NOTE! These settings are mostly used with manual dial. The autodial settings will overule these settings. However, there is some setting wich is universal. DEFAULT PATH for UPLOAD This is the default path for upload, if you click on the row, you will get a fileselector. Pick a path were you want your uploads to go. NOTE! Do NOT enter any filenames! DEFAULT PATH FOR DOWNLOADS As above. SAVE NEOCOM.NUM AT EXIT. If this is ON, NEOCOM.NUM will be saved when you exit NeoCom. Can be useful to people with a short memory. SAVE NEOCOM.ZYZ As above, exept it is the NEOCOM.ZYZ file. EDIT F-KEY In here, you can edit all your Function Key's. Note! There is NO need to put any Name or password in here. To use any Macro, press F1 to F10, or use the right Mousekey. LOAD *.MAC Load previously saved Macros. SAVE *.MAC Save the current macros. You can save different macros under different names and use them with the Autodial. (Se EDIT DIAL DIRECTORY) EDIT Cost Edit the call cost. You can enter a cost for every CONNECT, use the box to the right, to activate the function. When this is activated, NeoCom will add this cost as soon as you get a connect. This will only happen once a call. There is also a Minimum Cost for the call, to activate this function, use the righthand box. If the normal cost is BELOW this value at the end of your call, this sum will be added to your total sum instead. The last function to activate is the Cost. Use the box to activate it. This sum will be added every x minute, specified by the 'UPDATE EVER _ MINUTE.' You can also see the total cost, and delete it. EDIT REDIAL Here you enter the amount of time NeoCom should wait before attempting a redial. 10 Second 30 Second 60 Second (1 Minute) 120 Seconds (2 Minutes) Default is 30 Seconds. EDIT Capture Choose the capture type you will be using. FULL CAPTURE - You will get ALL the characters, even control codes and escape codes. Useful if you wish to capture an ANSI animation etc. PARTIAL CAPTURE - Only capture the pure ASCII chars. Useful if you intend to look att the capture in an text editor. EDIT Echo Choose the type of echo mode. NORMAL ECHO With this you will se everything you and the remote writes. The remote will only se what you write, unless he has Halfduplex on his side. NOTE! This kind of echo and Echo mode ON, you are able to se any text file sent via ASCII UPLOAD. BBS ECHO This is the type of echo used by Bulletin board systems. This could be used terminal to terminal. Everything you write will go through the modem and to your window. All the text the remote is writing will be seen by you AND him. NOTE! This echo mode should only be used by ONE of you. LINEWRAP This function will wrap anything you write to the next row if you exceed the number of columns specified. EXTRA Time & Date Set the time and date right. EXTRA Translation If this function is ON, all the incomming and outgoing characters will be translated. To change translation, se SYSTEM To edit these tables, use the external program included in the NeoCom package : NEOTRAN2 VERY useful if you not living in the UK or USA. EXTRA Echo If this function is ON, characters vill be echoed to your window. The type of echo to be used, is edited under EDIT ECHO. NOTE! Echo mode is automatically switched off during an outgoing call, just to prevent mistakes. EXTRA Redial If this function is ON, NeoCom will automatically try to redial a BBS if the BUSY tone is detected. Redial is activated after the amount of time specified under EDIT REDIAL. EXTRA Normal/ Reversed video Here you can toggle the white or black background. EXTRA Sound Toggles the sound ON/OFF EXTRA Open/Close Log file With this you open, or if the file is already opened, closing a logfile. The only thing this function does, is to open create or close a file. EXTRA Log ON/OFF With this function you decide when and if you want to log every call. EXTRA LINEWRAP This function will wrap anything you write to the next row if you exceed the number of columns specified. CAPTURE Open/Close capture file Same as for the logfile. It ONLY open, creates or closes the capture file. CAPTURE Capture This function decides if and when you wish to capture any text. The type of capture is edited under EDIT CAPTURE. PROTOCOL Protocol 1 If this one is checked, this protocol will be the activ protocol when using UPLOAD or DOWNLOAD. PROTOCOL Protocol 2 If this one is checked, this protocol will be the activ protocol when using UPLOAD or DOWNLOAD. PROTOCOL Protocol 3 If this one is checked, this protocol will be the activ protocol when using UPLOAD or DOWNLOAD. PROTOCOL Protocol 4 If this one is checked, this protocol will be the activ protocol when using UPLOAD or DOWNLOAD. PROTOCOL Protocol 5 If this one is checked, this protocol will be the activ protocol when using UPLOAD or DOWNLOAD. PROTOCOL ASCII Upload With this function you can send a prewritten textfile to a BBS. The text file will be sent character by character to the remote. If you have echo ON, and the NORNAL echo type on, the text will be sent to the window. NOTE! ------------------------------------------------- If you send an ascii file to a BBS using the QuickBBS, it's VERY important NOT to use more than 75 chars. This ALSO includes the CARRIAGE RETURN character. This applies to ALL BBS systems that is using 2 CR to bring you the message edit commands. ------------------------------------------------------- PROTOCOLS Parameters  In this dialog you can choose if you wish to send an CONTROL-Z to mark a end of file (EOF). This is used on among others, MICHTRON BBS systems. Use this if you know your file does NOT end with an CONTROL-Z. You can also choose to translate the file wit the curr- ent translation table. You can also opt to strip the Linefeed. This can be important sometimes. The last alternative is to put a SPACE instead of a LINEFEED after a CR. This is MOST useful on systems like QuickBBS. This is also default. PROTOCOL Upload Here you will get a fileselector to choose the file you wish to send. The protocol used will be the predefined protocol above. PROTOCOL Download Here you will get at fileselector to choose a PATH for files you are about to download. The default path will be the one you defined under EDIT SETTINGS. NOTE! You should NOT specify ANY filename here, just the path. Unless you are using Xmodem, then you have to specify a filename also! EXTERNAL Program Here you can define all the external programs you wish to use, there is room for up to 10 different predefined programs. To choose a program, use the box marked with an 'F' next to the program row. You will get a fileselector to point out the file you want to use. If you click OK, the file you have choosen, will appear on the row next to the box. The filename can be edited to any desireable name. At the bottom there is a row. Use this to send any parameters needed for the program you are about to use. To make life even more simple, there is also a box, marked with an 'F' beside the parameter row. Use this if you should need a path along with tha parameters. To start any of the above programs, just click on the row with the name on. UNLOAD NEOCOM This function will tell NeoCom to unload before the external program is called. EXTERNAL PROGRAMS This function is most usable if you have run a program that has not been listed above, application not comm- only used for example. INSERT KEY ---------- INSERT will get you a dialog where you can type some text to send to the modem, useful to make sure the spelling is right etc. This is a form of directedited macros. SOME LAST WORDS --------------- NeoCom is not a program for a beginner, unless you have SOME idea of what modem kommunikation is. NeoCom is best suited for anyone with some ex- perience, who does not have the need for some of the more extreme and obcure functions in some of the terminal programs available on the market. NeoCom is at current in the lead of a new generation of terminal programs, with functions ONLY available with the use of windows. One of the NEW functions in NeoCom is the unique BMI-handling. BMI --- BMI stands for BBS Menu Interface. This interface makes it possible to use your mouse most of the time, except when you have to write something. If you point the mousearrow on a character on the screen and click the left mousebutton, this character will be sent to your modem. NOTE! SPACE will not be used as legitable character. To make things even more simple, the right mousebutton will bring you a pop- up dialog, where you can reach every macro you have predefined. There is also 4 other buttons : NAME (send the name you have specified for the current BBS) PASSWORD (send the password you have specified for the current BBS) SPACE RETURN So, with BMI and this menu, you can reach almost every command in the BBS without touching the keyboard. Keyboard commands available is : ALT-Z Default external protocol 1. ALT-Y Default external protocol 2. ALT-V Pil Your userNAME for current BBS. ALT-H Pil PASSWORD for current BBS. CLR/HOME Clear the window. INSERT Type ahead F1-F10 Function Macros. SYSTEM ALT-H = Hang-Up ALT-A = Auto-Answer ALT-I = Information HELP = Help ALT-Q/UNDO = Terminate NeoCom EDIT ALT-M = Dial Catalog ALT-N = RS232 ALT-W = Window ALT-L = Emulation EXTRA ALT-T = Translation ON/OFF ALT-E = Echo ON/OFF ALT-R = Redial ON/OFF ALT-V = Video normal/reversed ALT-S = Sound ON/OFF CAPTURE ALT-O = Open capture file ALT-C = Capture ON/OFF PROTOKOL ALT-1 = Protocol 1 ALT-2 = Protocol 2 ALT-3 = Protocol 3 ALT-4 = Protocol 4 ALT-5 = Protocol 5 ALT-U = Upload ALT-D = Download EXTERNAL ALT-X = External Programs SOME EXTRA HINTS ---------------- 1. Use the fonts supplied with NeoCom (GDOS/NVDI). 2. USE TURBOCTS/SERFIX20 or some other program fixing the Highspeed modem bug in Atari's TOS. 3. USE NVDI or any other program that will speed up the screen. This will make NeoCom alot faster! NOTE! NeoCom is using it's own BLITTER, so you will have this even with an old STFM or any machine without built-in blitter operations. The latest version of NeoCom is always available on NeoCom Support BBS - BURNING CHROME - 046-8-6268886 14400Bps 24H/day. Have a nice day! Michael Lundgren - END OF FILE-