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README.16
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1990-12-15
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GT POWER 15.50 - Terminal Mode 4-15-90
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. The number of external protocols supported has been expanded from 10
to 15 protocols.
2. ENQ answer back. For systems requiring a response to the ^E
character. If you need to use an answer back to ^E, please
look under the Alt-I Misc. options and fill in the needed
response, use the same syntax as a macro key. For example, '|' for
carriage return, and '~' for a 1 second delay.
3. A new entry has been added to the phone directory, the DIAL SCRIPT.
The DIAL SCRIPT is used to handle complex requirements needed to
dial some numbers, i.e. when the built-in dialing routines can't
handle the job.
In a DIAL SCRIPT, the script writer must use the new command DIALER to
dial the modem. DIALER automatically works with the number selected
from the phone directory and will set the %FAIL variable to reflect
whether the connection can be made. If the DIAL SCRIPT is successful
in reaching the indicated system, a new command is available to signal
the results to GT POWER.
SET ONLINE true|false
For example: SET ONLINE TRUE
Would cause the program to do logging and exit the DIAL SCRIPT. If
one is specified, GT POWER will chain automatically to the LOGON SCRIPT.
The DIALER command has no parameters, please refer to the example
below:
; The %NAME variable is passed in
; from the phone directory selection.
writeln "Attempting to dial '" %name "' !!!"
; The DIALER command dials the selected
; entry automatically. You may issue
; SENDLN and GETLN commands prior to using
; the DIALER for handling PC Pursuit, etc.
; DIALER will issue the "ATDT123-4567" to
; the modem.
dialer
case %FAIL
TRUE
goto BUSY
esac
writeln "Success!"
twait 1000
; The SET command quits the script.
; The SET command must be used to exit
; from a DIAL SCRIPT.
set online true
:BUSY
case %BUSY
TRUE
writeln "The line is busy..."
twait 1000
set online false
esac
writeln "Failed to make connection..."
twait 1000
set online false
4. New Script Variables
%NUM .......... String variable. The phone number, ready to be dialed,
from the phone directory. For example: "ATDT123-4567".
Set by the new script command, FETCH, or set auto-
matically by GT POWER in the new DIAL SCRIPTs.
%DELETED ...... Boolean variable. Set to reflect the status of the last
FETCHed entry from the phone directory.
%CITY ......... String variable. Set to the PCP CITY field from the
last FETCHed entry from the phone directory.
%MARKED ....... A boolean. Added so that a script can determine when a
directory entry is marked for circular dialing. This is
especially useful in conjunction with the FETCH command.
%BUSY ......... A boolean. It works with the new DIALER command. If
the DIALER command fails to connect, i.e. %FAIL is TRUE,
then the script can examine the %BUSY variable to see if
the failure was due to a busy result. If a busy result
was found, then the script can choose to redial after a
small interval via the DIALER command.
5. The number of dialing prefixes has been expanded from 4 to 6. The new
prefixes are '?' and '&'.
6. Different versions of the DOOR.EXE program must now be used, as follows:
DOOR.EXE ...... for use with GR and GRO versions.
TDOOR.EXE ..... for use with the GT and GTO versions.
FDOOR.EXE ..... for use with the GTF and GTOF versions.
7. Several screens have been removed from the program and placed into a
seperate file, GT.WIN. This file is not user modifiable, but has been
created for technical reasons. (To free up space on the "near heap").
WARNING: You must put the GT.WIN file into the GTPATH directory to
run this release. The GT.WIN file is not user modifiable,
if you change it, GT POWER will not run.
8. NOTE: To users of the SPAWN command, who reported it was failing. I
have not been able to reproduce the failure, but note that you must
specify the FULL pathname when doing a SPAWN, including the extension.
SPAWN c:\dos\edlin.com
9. New keyboard macro substitutions.
%N1 ...... Comment #1 substitution
%N2 ...... Comment #2 substitution
Picks up the comment fields from the entry in the phone directory for
the currently connected BBS. This is very useful for passing secondary
passwords or other information via macro key.
10. When the Alt-H help screen is invoked, it no long erases the contents of
the screen it overlays.
11. The (E)xchange command in the phone directory now allows you
to call up a pick list. Select the desired directory with the CR
or SPACEBAR, then press ESC to put it into effect.
12. The EXCH script command has been expanded. Previously, it was able
to swap phone directories and macro files, now it is able to load
different config files. Here is the syntax for the EXCH command:
EXCH DIRECTORY file_name
EXCH MACROS file_name
EXCH CONFIG file_name
In all cases, the extension must not be given, GT POWER will supply
.DIR for phone directories, .KEY for macros, and .CNF for config
files.
13. The maximum line length of the Alt-A command, ASCII Transmit, has been
increased from 255 bytes to 512 bytes.
14. Transparent Mode.
The Ctrl-Down key is used to toggle the terminal mode of GT POWER into
Transparent Mode. This mode is used when calling out to a BBS
and executing DOOR programs that require the usage of special keys,
such as the Alt or Fn keys. In Transparent Mode, GT POWER will ignore
all command keystrokes, instead it will send them to the host computer
for processing.
During Transparent Mode operation, the Status Line will be removed from
the screen, so that the host computer can have access to all 25 lines.
15. Support for F11 and F12!
The support for F11 and F12 will work only on IBM compatible computers,
since GT POWER must supply an ISR to handle the keyboard. This ISR
filters the scan codes from the keyboard, looking for 0x57 or 0x58 -
those are the scan codes for the F11 and F12 keys, then it stuffs them
direct into the BIOS key buffer. Works pretty good. Soooo, GT now
supports 48 function keys, but you must have an enhanced keyboard to use
them!
For users of multi-tasking operating systems (or where conflicts exist
with TSR programs), a BIOS keyboard option is provided under the Alt-I
setup, Misc. Options. This option should be set to TRUE when operating
under a multi-tasking operating system, or if a conflict with a TSR
develops.
16. Point 'n Shoot Setup Screens.
The new GT POWER introduces a new style of screen to the Alt-I and Alt-M
setup. It is point 'n shoot. Use the arrow keys to move the highlight
bar, then press CR to select an item for change. Data entry can be
be terminated by a CR or ESC character. To exit from any of these
screens you must press ESC. In addition, each entry may be selected
by number, so previously written macros used to update the config
will continue to function.
17. Configurable IRQ.
The IRQ number can now be set between 0 and 7. Here are the default
values for port addresses and IRQs:
COM # 1 2 3 4
------ ------ ------ ------
Port Address 0x03F8 0x02F8 0x03E8 0x02E8
IRQ 4 3 4 3
The command line parameter to change the port assignment for a particular
COM # looks like this:
/2 $03C2
This says, reassign COM #2 to hex address 03C2.
Now, to also reassign the IRQ, one would add a colon and the IRQ number,
like this:
/2 $03C2:2
This says, reassign COM #2 to hex address 03C2 and instead of
the normal IRQ3, use IRQ2.
18. New versions of GTBIMOD, DOOR and TDOOR are being introduced to
accomodate the new IRQ and port addressing.
The command line of GTBIMOD looks like this:
GTBIMOD port baud bipath\
You may now specify 'port' as 'x:yyyy:z', where:
x ........ COM port number
yyyy ..... COM port address
z ........ IRQ number, 0-7
If you use non-standard port configurations with BIMODEM, you will need
to hard code the port configuration into the BI??.BAT files and use the
BIMODEM setup programs to config BIMODEM separately.
19. The phone directory has been expanded. The Phone Number has been
widened to 24 characters, and the Hours Of Operation field has been
widened to 11 characters. Two new fields has been added - PCP CITY
and DIAL SCRIPT. The PCP CITY is interfaced to the script language, so
that PC Pursuit scripts can be polished up. The DIAL SCRIPT entry is
used for entries that require special instructions to dial, for example
PC Pursuit and Starlink. (See examples above).
The GT_UTIL program has had two significant features added:
(1) Nodelist import to phone directory format.
(2) The conversion from 15.01 to 15.50 format will allow
wildcard specification, so that multiple directories can
be converted easily.
WARNING: The GT_UTIL program must be used to convert the phone directory
to the 15.50 format.
20. VT-52 emulation has been added. To set this mode, you place 'VT52' into
the emulation parameter under Alt-I setup. TRUE will enable VT100.
FALSE will disable emulation - which gives BBS mode.
21. The Quiet Mode may now be toggled while the phone directory is on screen
without having the screen disappear.
22. Scripts may be linked to entries in the phone directory that lack phone
numbers. When those entries are selected, the associated LOGON SCRIPT
will begin execution. This acts as a menu for scripts.
23. A new script command has been added. It allows script processing to be
done 1 command at a time. The new command is SINGLE STEP.
The syntax: SINGLE STEP on|off
For example:
SINGLE STEP on
When in SINGLE STEP mode, the script will pause after the execution
of each line of code and display the '~' prompt. To resume execution,
any key may be pressed. The '~' will be erased and execution continues
with the next command.
24. A new script command has been added. It allows the script language to
retrieve information from the phone directory, i.e. BBS name, PCP CITY,
Baud Rate, Phone Number, etc. The new command is FETCH.
The syntax: FETCH n
Where 'n' is the entry number in the phone directory. From 1 to
the maximum number of entries.
If a value higher than currently available is requested, then the
variable %FAIL will be TRUE. If a value for a deleted entry is
selected, then the new variable %DELETED will be TRUE. If a value
for an entry marked for the Circular Dialer is selected, then the new
%MARKED variable will be TRUE.
Here is an example script showing the usage of some of these new items.
v3 = 0
:loop
v3 add %3 1
v4 str %3
case %4
= 100
quit
esac
fetch %4
case %fail
TRUE
quit
esac
case %deleted
TRUE
goto loop
esac
writeln %4 = %name
goto loop
25. More new script commands:
DELAY n
The DELAY command does NOT cause an immediate delay. Rather
it sets a delay in milliseconds to be associated with the ECHO
command. This will allow script writers to slow down the
execution of commands so that they may be more easily followed
on the screen.
For example:
DELAY 100
Causes a 100 millisecond delay whenever a line is echoed to the
screen under control of the ECHO command.
CURSOR on|off
The CURSOR command allows the script writer to make the cursor
disappear and reappear.
For example:
CURSOR OFF
Causes the cursor to disappear from the screen.
26. Full fifo buffering in 16550A UARTs is now supported! This feature is
very nice for use with high speed modems, LANs and/or multi-tasking
operating systems. Data loss errors are virtually eliminated through
the usage of this advanced UART.
Please note that the standard 8250 type UART is still supported. The
presence of the 16550A UART is detected automatically.
27. 25-line mode.
The Ctrl-Home key is used to toggle the 25-line mode. In 25-line mode,
GT POWER removes the Status Line from the screen, and allows all 25 lines
for the display of information. Unlike Transparent Mode, all the command
keys of GT POWER will continue to function normally.
28. The /L command line option has been expanded, so that the user may now
vary the duration of each beep. The format of the new command is:
/Lm:n
Where the ":n" is optional.
m ..... A value from 0 to 9 which will vary the frequency
of the beep, 0 is the lowest and 9 the highest.
n ..... The duration of the beep in milleseconds. This
is optional and defaults to 225 milliseconds.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GT POWER 15.50 - Host Mode 4-15-90
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Two new options have been added to the ^U line in host mode
screens:
A ...... The DTE baud rate.
B ...... The DCE baud rate.
2. SYSOP.BBS
A lot of stuff has been added to the SYSOP.BBS file. The program will
no longer build a default SYSOP.BBS (i.e. you must have a SYSOP.BBS
file to run the program properly). A default SYSOP.BBS file is included
with the distribution package. Please refer to it as a starting point
for any customization you might want to do. Each item is contained on
a **SINGLE** line, with the maximum allowed length of 256 characters,
although many entries may not exceed 80 characters, for logical reasons.
Carriage returns may be embedded in each item by using the \r notation.
See the SYSOP.BBS file for examples. The items in this file may custom-
ized, but no great change in length is recommended.
In general, items originally less than 80 characters, may be expanded up
to 80 characters. Items originally greater than 80 characters, may be
expanded up to 160 characters.
3. A new version of GT POWER is being introduced, dubbed GT Rapid. You
will know you have the "Rapid" version, if the name of the EXE begins
with GR or GRO. If you can use the "Rapid" version (it has been found
incompatible with some older XT systems with ancient BIOS chips), it
offers several advantages.
It is compiled with a new C compiler, TopSpeed C by Jensen and Partners
International. The new compiler produces very tight and fast code. The
"Rapid" version also handles the /V overlay process without need of the
old "errorlevel 255" procedure. Since the new compiler handles overlay
of external processes better than the old compiler (i.e. it does not
"eat" memory), the '-' option of the /V command is the default with the
"Rapid" version. If you want GR to do a quit with errorlevel 255 after
each logoff (when an overlay of GR has occurred during the session) you
must now use the '+' option to force it to do so:
/V:E+
The new compiler will not allow GT POWER to change the DOS PROMPT during
execution of the (S)hell command from host mode. This means that if
you want to have this display in the prompt during host mode shells,
you must modify the pertinent batch files to include a "PROMPT=Exit to
GT POWER$_$p$g" or whatever you prefer. This prompt setting will not
affect your setting in the master DOS environment, so you don't have
to worry about resetting it at the end of the batch file.
GT POWER will still be able to change the prompt during terminal mode
operation. This is done by GT POWER changing the master DOS environment
and when the shell is finished, GT POWER will reset the master environment
automatically.
4. A new path has been added to the GT POWER pathname setup. It is called
the BBS/CBS Path. If it is set, GT POWER will search that path for
BBS/CBS files. GT POWER will also search the GTPATH directory for these
files. The order of search is GTPATH first, then the BBS/CBS path. This
feature will be of great interest to LAN users, who are advised to become
familiar with the DOS "subst" command, which will allow GTMDIR.BBS and
GTDIR.BBS to be common across a LAN.
subst e: c:\
This command on the server would allow all nodes to address drive E:
and drive C: as the same logical drive. Please note that the door
batch files may also take advantage of the BBS/CBS path.
It would be wise for any LAN operator to make shared .BAT files Read-
Only, otherwise they can cause SHARE violation, as DOS does not open
them is shared read mode. The proper command is:
attrib +r *.bat
Assuming, of course, that the .BAT files are in the current directory.
5. A new FILES.BBS format is being introduced! This new format allows for
multiple line descriptions, up to 10 lines. Here is a sample:
QEDIT21.ZIP 126966 03-07-90 03-07-90
| Latest version of Qedit. Has some New Features. Great Editor!
PZB102-H.ZIP 86686 03-08-90 03-07-90
| ZIPBAT.EXE The easiest and fastest shell for PKZ102.EXE
PKZ102.AXE 136192 03-08-90 10-20-89
| PKware's latest file compression program ( change to PKZ102.EXE
TREEVU11.LZH 125952 03-11-90 03-11-90
| Current version of TREEVIEW ... A good Dos Shell.
Among other things, please notice that there are two dates recorded,
the first is the upload date, the 2nd is the file date. The new
format actually has more features than shown here (this is what it
looks like when GT POWER records an upload description) - for a full
description of the new layout, please refer to the SYSOP TOOLS docs.
Special attention should be given to the SYSOP TOOLS File Validate
routine, which can reformat the FILES.BBS listing into a form that you
like better.
6. GT POWER now limits the number of attempts to initialize the modem upon
entry to host mode to 3 tries. After that, GT POWER assumes that the
modem is okay and leaves it at that.
7. Messages addressed to "All" may no longer be made private.
8. A new permission is available for usage in the GTPASSWD.BBS file: NP.
If "NP" is specified for a CLASS of caller, that CLASS may not issue
a sysop page.
9. For callers doing long uploads, GT POWER now makes an attempt to give
them a 5 minute grace period to enter a file description. GT POWER may
not be successful due to conflicts with the schedule, which will override
any grace period.
10. A new main menu command, "DG", is available. This is (D)ownload +
(G)oodbye all in one command. So callers can begin a D/L and go to
bed, confident that the line will disconnect at the end of the transfer.
11. Callers who issue a sysop page command will be asked to enter a PAGE
REASON. The reason may be up to 3 lines long and will be logged, if
the page is not answered.
12. CB Simulator.
The CB Simulator is an online conferencing feature that is intended
for use on multi-node BBS systems that have a NetBIOS emulator
installed. The CB Simulator checks for the presence of NetBIOS before
allowing callers to get stuck in that mode.
When the host mode enters the CB Simulator locally, it automatically
enters Split Screen Mode (which is inherently half-duplex). You should
advise your callers to manually invoke Split Screen Mode on their end
when going into the CB Simulator, otherwise they will not see what they
type (remember, the CB Simulator is half-duplex).
A new authorization may now be placed into the GTPASSWD.BBS file: CB.
The "CB" permission is required to allow callers to participate in the
CB Simulator.
A caller may now escape from the CB Handle entry process by erasing the
handle, if it is visible, and pressing return (remember that the ESC key
will automatically erase things like this).
The letter (Z) is used to invoke the CB simulator from the main menu.
When setting up the CB simulator, please make sure that you have allocated
adequate NCBs. I have setup the following command for my NetBIOS startup:
lanbios irq=5 address=2 ncbs=35 sessions=15
I am not sure if 35 NCBs are enough, but it seems to work fairly
well on a three node LAN. On the server, if it is not dedicated,
you should insure that the server can manage sufficient simultaneous
tasks - my server was set for 2 simultaneous tasks, but I now have
it setup for 5. This does consume memory, to be sure, each extra
task requires considerable buffer space, but it is required for the
CB simulator to work alongside the other network tasks. On my server,
I have found it necessary to overlay all external protocols due to the
lack of free memory above GT POWER.
Three BBS files are required:
CBWELCOM.BBS ...... Welcomes callers to the CB simulator
CBHELP.BBS ........ Displayed in response to the "@help" entry.
CBPAGE.BBS ........ Displayed to a caller who receives a page.
Currently these are the CB commands supported: (one must be in the
CB simulator to issue these commands).
@help ........ Produces the help screen.
@ignore ...... Ignore further pages.
@page ........ Invite another caller, by handle, into CB mode.
Ex: @page foxy
Where 'foxy' is the handle of the caller you are
paging. The handle is obtained by running the
'@who' command (shown below).
@quit ........ Quit from CB mode to the main menu.
@tune ........ Tune the CB to channels 1 through 98.
Ex: @tune 5
@who ......... Find out who else is on the system and which
channel they are tuned to.
@sys ......... For sysops only. Allows broadcast messages or
messages directed to individual pids.
Ex: @sys 5 Hello Mike!
Ex: @sys The system is going down in 5 minutes!
The first example sends a message to pid 5, where
Mike is logged on. The second example sends a
broadcast message, to all pids, telling them that the
system is going down soon. Please note, that these
pids do not have to be in the CB simulator to get these
messages. The messages will interrupt most things,
except file transfers.
Note: A "pid" corresponds to a "position" or "workstation" on the
LAN. GT POWER supports up to 10 pids.
The CB simulator uses the NetBIOS Datagram feature to pass the
messages between pids on the LAN. The Datagrams are sent to the
group name 'GT_POWER_CB_SIM' (the 16th byte is 0x00). GT POWER now
registers this group name whenever it is brought up under NetBIOS
in a LAN situation. The Datagrams used by GT POWER are of a particular
format, as follows (for those of you that want to try their hand
at NetBIOS programming):
Maximum length: 128 bytes
Byte Offset Description
----------- -----------
0 'S' for special messages, such as '@sys'.
'C' for normal CB simulator messages.
1-2 The channel number the message is addressed to.
Channels 1-98 are normal CB channels. Channel 99
is used for broadcast message usage.
3-4 The originating pid number. This is used to keep a
pid from processing messages that he originates.
Datagrams are received by all stations that have the
group name registered.
5-6 Transaction code number:
'00' - Normal messages. All 'C' type datagrams.
'01' - Who inquiry. 'S' type datagram.
'02' - Who reply. " " "
'03' - Page inquiry. " " "
It is anticipated that the transaction code will be
used for other things in the future. I anticipate that
'04' will be used to submit DOS commands to other pids
and '05' will be used to submit a shutdown command to
the other pids. I am reserving code numbers up to '50'
for use by GT POWER, values above that will not be used
by GT POWER and conceiveably could be used by other
software.
7 Reserved.
8 ',' constant.
9-16 Handle of the sender. If does not have handle, then
the first name of the sender.
17 ',' constant.
18-127 Text. In '@page' transactions, this is the handle of
the caller that is being paged. In other transactions,
this may be blank or contain a regular message. It is
variable length, only the amount of data required is
transmitted, up to the maximum of 128 bytes.
13. The GTPASSWD.BBS file now accepts comment lines. This is done
by placing a semi-colon in the first column of the line. Like
this:
01 [23:00,1000,24:00,C:\GT] CLASS SY
; this is a comment!
B1 [1:00,1000,2:00] CLASS UP,DN,MS
E1 [2:00,1000,2:00] CLASS UP,DN,MS
14. The (T)ype command now checks to make sure that binary files
are not typed by callers. GT POWER might make a mistake, because it
examines the file to determine the percentage of alpha characters
in the file. If the percentage is 85% or above, then the (T)ype
command is allowed (only the first 128 characters of the file are
examined).
15. In Host Mode, Alt-H now displays the DTE and DCE baud rate, so that
sysops can determine the caller's baud rate without alerting the caller
(i.e. without using the (Y)our info command).
16. The new compiler will not allow GR (the new "Rapid" version) to change
the DOS PROMPT during execution of the (S)hell command from host mode.
This means that if you want to have this display in the prompt during
host mode shells, you must modify the pertinent batch files to include
a "PROMPT=Exit to GT POWER$_$p$g" or whatever you prefer. This prompt
setting will not affect your setting in the master DOS environment, so
you don't have to worry about resetting it at the end of the batch file.
17. The bug in the ^N command that caused it to ignore the schedule in
assigning new time limits has been fixed.
The bug in the ^N command that caused it to continue to show the old
bulletins is now fixed.
18. It is now impossible to stack commands after a unsuccessful page.
This makes it impossible to enter "p p p p p p p p p" at the main
menu in host mode. Only the first page will be done, the others
will be discarded.
19. The format of the GTUSER.BBS file has changed. The two changes being
made are:
a. The baud rate field will now be composed of two baud
rates seperated by the ',' character. For example:
19200,2400
This would indicate that the DTE rate = 19200 and the
DCE rate = 2400.
b. The name field will have a placeholder added in the case
of single name callers. For example:
A Paul ; SY 19200,2400 ANSI 1-30-90 1380 388 18:27
This caller has no last name, indicated by the ';' where
that name would otherwise appear. The ';' character was
chosen, since it is one of the few illegal characters in
a caller name.
Versus the old way:
A Paul SY 19200 ANSI 1-30-90 1380 388 18:27
20. The GT.LOG will now contain an entry that will indicate that a caller
PAGED without receiving a reply. This entry is made in the log when
the caller logs off (and will not be made if the sysop chats with the
caller prior to logoff).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New stuff in GT POWER 15.01 9-20-89
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GT POWER 15.01 represents a bug fix release. Very few feature
changes are included. Changes worthy of a seperate mention follow:
1. Crash Mail calls are now logged in the GT.LOG file. The entry
appears as:
CRASH ANSWER nnnn
Where 'nnnn' is the DCE baud rate of the caller.
2. The command used to quote messages, (R)ead, now defaults to the
previously read message in the current area. The ESC key can be
used to choose a different value.
3. The macro {^PRT} has been fixed so that it works properly.
4. The macro {^END} has been fixed so that it works properly.
5. The RG command would not allow you to stack commands after a 'Q'. For
example, "q;g", would not work. It is now fixed.
6. Under GTO the pathname setup screen has had cosmetic bug fixed.
7. Phone directory. Entries with dates with leading zeros now sort into the
correct sequence.
8. The upload description problem with external protocols is fixed. Also
the files are not left in GT$WORK$ any longer.
9. The USER_MSG.IDX files were not expanding! This is fixed. This is a
very bad bug. My USER_MSG.IDX file on my main message base in Phoenix
had over 570 entries, BUT there was only room for 503! Not good, huh?
10. A problem with the loss of the 'millisecond loop count' has been cleared
up with the introduction of a seperate delay mechanism for macro keys.
Under ASCII/Macro Setup, a new field, "Macro char delay in ms" has been
added. This had been done by the "ASCII char delay in ms" prior to this
time.
11. The FOSSIL version did not run on Tandy 2000, due to a quirk of the
Standard Library function "delay()". I have recoded the "delay()"
function to use portable DOS calls. Also, the /V:S option has been
added to the FOSSIL version, this will allow FOSSIL users to overlay
the (S)hell and Alt-1 commands during host mode - on the Tandy 2000
the overlay mechanism does not work, so this option will allow non
Tandy 2000 FOSSIL users to avail themselves of the overlay feature.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New stuff in GT POWER 15.00 6-20-89
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
o 1. Due to the problem of overlay shells causing a small amount of
memory to be eaten each time a shell is executed, a "QUIT 255" will be
automatically executed after any call that has executed such a shell,
either as a door, external protocol or remote shell. To accomodate
this new feature, the HOST.BAT file should be constructed in the
following manner:
:HOST
GT1500 ...
if errorlevel 255 goto HOST
Other errorlevels and housekeeping stuff need not be changed.
Please note that an 'errorlevel' of 1 is used for many error exits
from GT. It may be trapped and appropriate action taken (like the
reboot of the computer or restart of the HOST.BAT file.
o 2. A new status line indicator "SCR", shows when a script is
executing.
o 3. New option for BBS files. The ^U, variable substitution line.
You can now begin a line in one of your BBS/CBS files with a Ctrl-U
and then get the following substitutions for the remaining part of the
line.
M ....... Current message base description.
S ....... Current file section description.
Wn ...... Set the width of the following paramter to 'n'
positions.
X ....... Xmit stats. The X alone would show the D/L amount in K.
XF ...... The XF would show the D/L amount in files.
R ....... Recv stats. The R alone would show the U/L amount in K.
RF ...... The RF would show the U/L amount in files.
C ....... The caller number.
F ....... First name of the caller.
H ....... Home of the caller - city & state.
L ....... Time remaining in minutes.
N ....... Caller's name.
T ....... Current time.
D ....... Current date.
n ....... 'n' Number of blank columns.
And quoting, "...", of course! Put any other text within
quotation marks and it will be printed as is.
o 4. Two color chat mode. Works only in ANSI graphics mode.
o 5. Variable keyboard timeout in host mode. It is set to default to
10 minutes now, but this parameter, if given on the command line can
override it.
For example: /T8
Would cause the keyboard timeout to be reduced to 8 minutes.
o 6. The "Read Global" mode is introduced. This will take you thru
the entire set of joined areas without a break. And you can follow a
thread the whole way!
o 7. Due to popular demand, I am introducing an undocumented feature,
against my better judgement (but I am writing this for you, sooo...)
If you specify the '-' with the /V option, the automatic QUIT 255 will
not be done. For example:
/V:ED-
If you used this option, then the QUIT 255 would be eliminated and the
program would consume memory in the same fashion as 14.03 did.
I believe this to be inherently dangerous, hence I do not plan to
document it. However, I will advise anyone who complains about the
QUIT 255 of its existence. So you are NOT sworn to secrecy over its
existence.
(I don't consider the README file to document these things.) :-)
o 8. The dialing directory sort routine has been expanded to a 7th
option, i.e. to sort the directory ascending on the new comment
fields.
o 9. The upload/download stats are now being accumulated by GT in the
USER.CTL file. They are displayed on the (Y)our info display for the
caller. This display has been redesigned so that it looks more
organized.
o 10. The (M)essage to sysop function will now insure that the caller
is JOINed to the sysop message base, so the response from the sysop
will be caught by the "Check for personal mail?" function.
o 11. There is a new command line option, the /M option:
/M ..... Suppress the "Check for personal mail?" prompt.
/MN .... Allow the "Check for personal mail?" prompt, BUT default
the caller's response to [y/N] instead of the normal
[Y/n].
o 12. Whenever a message is addressed to Sysop, the program will now
replace "Sysop" with the contents of the 3rd line of the SYSOP.BBS
file. Which should now contain the name of the Sysop. The
translation will not occur in netmail areas.
o 13. Zmodem auto-download now available. This means that the
terminal mode of GT will now look for the DSZ signature and
automatically drop into ZMRX.BAT whenever detected. The signature is
"rz\x0d**\x18". Of course, if this signature changes, then the auto-
download will not work, and the PgDn method will have to be used.
o 14. The Alt-I config has been changed. The pathname setup has been
moved to the top screen, and the CTS, RTS & DTE options have been
placed onto the misc. screen.
o 15. More script changes. New built-in variables:
%TIME .... The current time.
%DATE .... The current date.
New command, TDIFF, calculates the difference between two times and
stores the result in minutes in integer format.
For example:
V1 = %TIME
V2 = %DATE
WRITELN "The current date/time is: " %1 " " %2
ONLINE
V3 TDIFF %TIME %1
V4 STR %3
WRITELN %4 " minutes spent ONLINE on this date " %2
The GOTO command has been added to the script language. Here is
an example script:
V1 = 0
:LOOP
V1 ADD %1 1
V2 STR %1
WRITELN "VALUE = " %2
CASE %2
= 100
WRITELN
WRITELN "DONE!"
QUIT
ESAC
GOTO LOOP
Please note the a label must be on a line by itself, and that the
first character of the label must be a ':' and it must appear in
column 1. This loop will add 1 to variable 1 a 100 times, printing
the result of the addition on each loop.
o 16. The speed of execution of scripts has been improved. Please
check any timing dependent scripts you have available.
o 17. The (L)ocate function of the dialing directory has been expanded
to search the script name entry, the telephone number and the new
comment fields.
o 18. The format of the Capture Review window has been altered to
eliminate the vertical window frame lines, thus allowing a full 80
columns to be viewed.
o 19. The WELCOME.BBS for use with message bases has been re-worked.
If there is no MBULLETn.BBS file in the area, then the WELCOME.BBS
will not pause after display. If there is a MBULLETn.BBS file, then
there will be a "Press RETURN to continue:" between the two screens,
but after the MBULLETn.BBS is finished, control will transfer directly
to the read sub-menu.
Also, the "A;1;R" command can now be entered as simply "A;1", as GT
will now force an R automatically after a change to an area is
performed. And, although it does not appear on the menu, it is now
possible to perform the (A)read change command from the read sub-menu
(so you don't have to (Q)uit first.
o 20. On the (R)ead Messages sub-menu, there is a new item, the "Msg
Area(+,-)" command. This function provides the equivalent function to
"q a 2 r", except that you move +1 or -1 from the current message
area.
o 21. Color bulletins. You may now have colored bulletin files
available from the GTBMENU.BBS! Regular bulletins would be called, as
they are now, simply by the number, for example file '1' would be
bulletin #1, file '2' would be bulletin #2, but the color versions
would be '1.CBS' and '2.CBS', etc.
o 22. The Circular Dialing function will now begin dialing from the
point in the phone directory where the lite bar is located. In prior
releases, the Circular Dialing function always began at the beginning
of the phone directory.
o 23. The message edit sub-menu has been expanded to include a (R)ead
function. This will allow a caller to quote other messages, and it
will allow sysops to include other documents inside messages.
o 24. During the listing of areas available for the (A)rea change or
(C)hange section commands, when a 'More?' appears, it is now possible
to stack input. During message entry, when a message is being listed
thru either the (R)eview or (L)ist options, when a 'More?' appears, it
is now possible to stack input.
o 25. During message entry, if the caller enter an .ORIGIN line, the
line will be converted to an *ORIGIN line (which will not be harmful
to the netmail programs).
o 26. Another new version of DOOR.EXE is released. It makes some
additional tweaks to the stack length, to improve reliability.
o 27. You may now begin lines in screens (such as the bulletins) with
a ^F (ASCII 6) character. Following the ^F character will be the name
of a file to display. This file will be displayed in a nested
fashion, i.e. as if it were a part of the main file containing the ^F
character. A nice way to arrange bulletins, so that multiple CLASSes
can be sent a collection of items to read. Please do not nest screens
more than two deep! For example:
^FC:\GT\FOO.BAR
o 28. A time limit to enter the password has been setup. The time
limit is 15 minutes. If the caller cannot get the password entered in
15 minutes he will be terminated.
o 29. If a caller calls the system within 10 minutes of a scheduled
event, the system will allow him to "bail out" with no charge against
his daily call limit.
o 30. The message headers now contain the "Day of the week". The
WEEKDAY.COM program is provided to convert message bases to the new
format. To run WEEKDAY.COM, the message bases must have _already_
been converted to the 15.00 format.
o 31. The new USER.CTL file is indexed for rapid access. And there
will be only one USER.CTL, instead of the many GTMAIL.CTL files that
existed prior to level 15.00.
o 32. The system will now request confirmation before aborting the
entry of a message.
o 33. Attempts to gain entry to the system, by banned users, are now
logged.
o 34. When the sysop enters the local shell (Alt-1) the caller will be
sent a notice telling him the fact, so that he will not wonder why his
keyboard is "locked".
o 35. The local shell (Alt-1) is now available from more places,
instead of just at the main menu. However, upon return from the local
shell, the return is made to the main menu.
o 36. Private message areas are now possible by placing a '$'
character before the pathname in the GTMDIR.BBS file. This feature
cannot be used with the default message area. A private message area
is an area where only PRIVATE messages are allowed.
o 37. Read-Only message areas are now possible by placing a '<'
character before the pathname in the GTMDIR.BBS file. This feature
cannot be used with the default message area. A read-only message
area is an area where no one is allowed to enter message (except the
Sysop, I guess, since he can do most anything).
o 38. The (L)ist message command, used during message entry process,
requests the starting line number (which may be stacked ahead of
time), so that the complete message need not be listed.
o 39. The (D)elete line command, used during the message entry
process, can now accept a range of lines. It will still accept single
line deletes. For example, both of these are valid syntax:
d;1 or d;2-4
Please note that the range _must_ be specified with the '-' character
as the delimiter.
o 40. The message edit function now allows the Topic of the message to
be changed, prior to the saving of the message. Also the Topic is not
automatically converted to uppercase letters, as it was in the past.
o 41. The Ctrl-X Sysop command now requests confirmation, prior to
disconnecting the caller.
o 42. There are now LAN setup parameters which must be addressed if
you hope to run GT POWER 15.00 on a network. They are:
PID Number ..... Must be a unique number between 0 and 9. GT will
support LANs of up to 10 GT POWER host systems
(PIDs).
PID Name ....... This should be the resource name that this node is
known by on the network.
LAN Path ....... This _must_ be the home directory for GT POWER on the
network server (it need not actually run GT). The
LAN Path directory will contain the USER.CTL,
USER.IDX and PID_FILE.BBS (at the very least). These
are created automatically. It is assumed that these
files will be shared among a number, if not all,
systems on the LAN.
The LAN Path *must* be specified to get file and message sharing fully
enabled. Without a LAN Path, GT will assume that a non-sharing
environment is established (like a regular single node BBS).
File sharing is implemented using the record locking facilities of DOS
3.1+ SHARE. It is recommended that you give this program adequate
facilities to do its job. I have found this command line works well
for me:
SHARE /F:6144 /L:60
If you give SHARE too little trouble is sure to occur!
o 43. New doors!
GTNLOGON.BAT ..... New-user logon door. Runs just prior to the
regular logon door.
GTNLOGOF.BAT ..... New-user logoff door. Runs just prior to the
regular logoff door.
Naturally, if these files are not found in the GTPATH directory, the
doors will not execute.
o 44. New message threading option!
You can now specify a textual search thread. The program will display
all messages containing the indicated search string. The '?'
character can be used as a wildcard character (that will match any
character from the text.
o 45. The SYSOP.BBS file now has 3 lines. The 3rd line should contain
the name of the sysop of the BBS. This name will be used on messages
sent to SYSOP. The first two lines on this file contain the (1)
greeting to chat mode and (2) the city-state prompt for new users.
o 46. The KL permission is now available in the GTPASSWD.BBS file. A
CLASS of user with this permission can (K)ill messages, as if he were
the Sysop. This is a handy permission for Assistant Sysops. It
should not be given to the regular callers.
o 47. The FA permission is now available. It must be granted before
anyone can perform File Attaches from your system. This eases the
overload on the FR permission, which now controls File Requests only.
o 48. Major news! The (UN)join command is now included. This command
must be executed by typing UN at the main menu. A list of conferences
will be presented to the caller, and he may select a conference to
UNjoin. The effect of unjoining will be to eliminate the mail scan
for that conference at the next logon. The (A)rea change command can
be used to re-join a previously unjoined conference.
o 49. A macro key can now send the NUL character, binary zero, by
including the following in the key:
{NUL}
o 50. Due to the many questions from users, the Modem Speaker strings
will now default to the empty state.
o 51. The limit on the number of doors has been raised to 999. The
names of the door files above 99 will be changed to accomodate the
bigger number.
GTDOORnn.BAT ----- Doors 1..99
GTDORnnn.BAT ----- Doors 100..999
o 52. Door sub-menus are now possible. For example, if your
GTDOORS.BBS had something like this:
Main DOOR menu
==============
A. Game Doors
B. Database Doors
C. Utility Doors
Then if the caller selected 'A', he would be shown a sub-menu named
GTDOOR-A.BBS, or he if selected 'B', he would be shown GTDOOR-B.BBS,
etc. Whenever the caller made a numeric entry, he would be put into
the selected door. A 'RETURN' will take the caller back to the main
door menu, GTDOORS.BBS.
o 53. New ASCII Transmit parameter adds the ability to specify an end-
of-line delay time in milliseconds.
o 54. New flow control option has been added. It is now possible to
specify RTS flow control. This is useful with high-speed operations.
When doing disk I/O during a file transfer, GT should now first lower
RTS and then raise it again afterwards.
o 55. New command line parameter, /S, is intended as a selective
override of the "QUIET" mode, so that the Sysop page can be heard (but
nothing else) while the system is in "QUIET" mode.
o 56. Parameterized external protocols are now supported. Ten slots
are provided for this purpose. The first five slots come pre-
configured for Jmodem, Kermit, Zmodem, Ymodem-G and BiModem. The
remaining five slots are totally open. Any or all of these slots can
be fully modified. This change has required a change in the interface
to external protocols, so that a consistent interface is employed.
Thus new batch files for Kermit must be installed. They are included.
The interface to the external protocol is as follows:
1. The two character batch file initials are taken from the table
in GT and combined with TX and RX to make the name of the file.
For example, the table shows KR for Kermit, therefore the two
batch files are KRTX.BAT and KRRX.BAT.
2. The command line for the batch file is as follows:
KRTX port speed filename1 filename2 ...
When translated to the command line for the external driver
%1 = COM port number
%2 = Baud rate
%3 and following are the filenames to process.
For example this is my ZMTX.BAT file:
dsz port %1 speed %2 handshake both sz %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
A new program, GTBIMOD.EXE is available to interface with BiModem ---
a super new protocol. To get logging to work properly, with BiModem,
you should:
(A) Install BiModem to do full logging, i.e. both summary and
detail logging must be enabled.
(B) Install BiModem in a separate directory, I have mine in
C:\GT\BIMOD\ and then make sure that the command line for
GTBIMOD includes the correct pathname.
(C) After the transfer is complete, GT POWER will read the
BIMODEM.LOG from the indicated directory and format entries in
the GT POWER style for the GT.LOG. Here are samples of both
logs:
GT.LOG
------
4-20 16:22 BIMODEM LOG
4-20 16:22 TX: GT1500.C 1834
4-20 16:22 TX: OVR5A.C 8122
4-20 16:22 TX: OVR5B.C 9639
4-20 16:22 TX: OVR5C.C 25578
4-20 16:22 RX: ADV.ZIP 51624
4-20 16:22 BIMODEM: 5 FILES 96797 BYTES 0:04.02 TIME 399 CPS
BIMODEM.LOG
-----------
Connected to: ...
17:56:57 S 31402 2:12 237.8 BPS C:\GT\GT1.C
17:59:10 S 1886 8 235.7 BPS C:\GT\GT1500.C
17:59:19 S 9508 40 237.7 BPS C:\GT\GT2.C
17:56:58 R 51624 3:37 237.8 BPS C:\GTBBS\GENERAL\ADV.ZIP
18:00:00 S 11221 47 238.7 BPS C:\GT\GT3.C
18:00:48 S 3023 13 232.5 BPS C:\GT\GTBIMOD.C
Disconnected @ 18:01:04
Please note that the "Overlay" option of the External Protocol table
will not take any effect unless you use the /V:E option on the GT
command line.
The command line for GTBIMOD.EXE is as follows:
GTBIMOD port baud bipath
Where: port ....... the com port in use, you can use %1.
baud ....... the baud rate in use, you can use %2.
bipath ..... the path where to locate the BIMODEM.CFG
and BIMODEM.LOG files.
o 57. The door interface given in the GTDDIR.BBS file has been altered
to allow for selective overlay of door programs. To enable this
feature the sysop must use the /V:D option on the GT command line,
then use the '&' char to selectively choose which doors are not to be
overlaid. For example:
E [EDLIN_Door_#1] &Enter Filename:
This shows how to setup an entry for a door that is _not_ overlaid.
If there is no prompt string, then you can simply give the '&' char by
itself, as follows:
E [EDLIN_Door_#1] &
Again, the '&' char allows selective override of the /V:D command line
switch.
o 58. The phone directory has been redesigned. The structure has been
changed from the ground up, to one that is more conducive for use with
the C compiler now in use and to allow comments to be added for each
entry in the directory.
o 59. A minimum baud rate is now supported. At this time, it is only
used in connection with the "Dialing Directory", that is it overrides
the baud rates so that no connection should be made below a stated
rate. This functions much the same as the pre-existing maximum baud
rate.
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