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1986-09-11
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Comm 1.34
A terminal program for the AMIGA
Send suggestions for improvement or bug reports to:
DJJAMES Plink
70320,124 CIS
ICONS from the Swilling collection -- courtesy Frank Swilling (Minotaur)
File Input requester from C.Heath.
---------------------------------------------
Features:
ASCII send and capture modes.
XMODEM send/receive with checksum and CRC modes and AUTOCHOP on
receive files.
Windowed XMODEM up and downloading.
Screen I/O greater than 2400 baud.
Baud rates up to 19200 baud supported.
20 keyboard macros using Function keys.
44 entry phone library with support for non-Hayes type modems
Hot Key dialing for 10 phone numbers.
An alternate long distance service number (MCI, SPRINT etc)
can be used.
Split screen mode for conferencing.
Interlaced screen optional.
Serial port parity, bit length and stop bit control also
Full/Half duplex, send line break and control of End Of Line
characters
DOS 1.2 support.
Menu driven.
---------------------------------------------
Preparation:
Comm initializes using the baud rate set in Preferences. If you
have not set a default baud rate, DO IT NOW.
Create a phone library file (if desired) named Comm.Phone.
Create a keyboard macro file (if desired) named Comm.Keys.
From CLI type: comm [ filename ] [-i]
where filename is the name of a phone number library. If not
given, the default filename COMM.PHONE will be used.
If -i is given, Comm will use an interlaced screen.
From WorkBench, just click on the COMM icon.
NOTE: WorkBench users can specify the default Phone library, Key
Macro files and interlaced mode by using the TOOL TYPE entry in the
ICON structure.
To enter these defaults, click once on the Comm icon and select
the INFO entry from the WORKBENCH menu. When the INFO window opens,
you will see a STACK gadget and a TOOL TYPES gadget. Click in the
stack gadget and enter a value of 8000.
Because of a bug in DOS 1.1 Workbench, you will have to follow
these instructions to enter the strings. This bug has been fixed
in DOS 1.2.
To enter the phone library:
Select the ADD gadget next to the TOOL TYPES gadget. Then click
in the TOOLTYPES gadget and type PHONE=filename
( where filename is the name of the default phone directory to be
associated with this icon ) and hit return.
Select ADD again, click in the box and hit return. (DOS 1.1 only)
To enter the key macro file:
Select the ADD gadget next to the TOOL TYPES gadget. Then click
in the TOOLTYPES gadget and type KEYS=filename
( where filename is the name of the default key macro file to be
associated with this icon ) and hit return.
Select ADD again, click in the box and hit return. (DOS 1.1 only)
To enter the interlace option:
Select the ADD gadget next to the TOOL TYPES gadget. Then click
in the TOOLTYPES gadget and type INTERLACE=ON
Select ADD again, click in the box and hit return. (DOS 1.1 only)
Then select the SAVE option in the INFO window. The defaults will
be active whenever you select Comm via this icon.
ICONS from the Swilling collection -- courtesy Frank Swilling (Minotaur)
---------------------------------------------
MENUS:
When in Comm, the following menu topics are available:
1) FILE -- This is the file transfer menu. From here you can select
the name of a file to be transfered, the direction of the transfer
( to your disk or from you disk ) and whether an error detecting
protocol ( XMODEM ) will be used.
When one of these entries is selected, a file input requester will
appear in the center of the screen and a directory listing of the
current selected directory will appear in the window. You may
select a filename for transfer or capture by positioning the cursor
over the filename in the window then selecting the OK gadget.
You may also type the name of the desired file in the input box
marked `File'.
NOTE: when the file requester is on screen (active) you can still send
and receive data. Since sorting and displaying the files on a nearly
full floppy disk takes a bit of time, you may want to bring up the
requester early, and continue talking to the remote system while the
directory is being sorted.
The sub-entries of the FILE menu are:
Start ASCII Capture
All data received from the serial port is also saved into
the named file. The text is buffered and written to the disk
in 8K blocks.
When this mode is selected, the text in the MENU entry is
changed to "Stop ASCII Capture". Selecting this entry will
flush the data buffer to the disk and close the file.
Once the capture mode has been selected and a filename has
been entered, you can use the LEFT AMIGA C key sequence to
suspend or enable (toggle) the capturing of data. Capturing
is enabled when the file is first selected. Suspending the
data capture does not close the file, it simple does not
buffer the text. When capturing is enabled, the word "ON"
will be visible in the lower right hand corner of the screen.
When capturing is suspended, this will change to "SUS".
When entering a filename for data capture, Comm will check
to see if this file already exists. If it does, a requester
will appear advising you of that fact. You have the option
to CONTINUE using the filename entered or CANCEL and enter
another filename. If you choose to CONTINUE, you will be
presented with another requester giving you the choice to
APPEND data to the existing file or DELETE the existing data
and start a fresh file. Under DOS 1.2, the CONTINUE and
APPEND options can be answered with the LEFT AMIGA V key.
The CANCEL and DELETE options can be answered with the
LEFT AMIGA B key. Of course, you can click the left mouse
button over these selections as well.
If you hit Left Amiga C (toggle capture) without first
opening a capture file, a default file "RAM:Capture.txt"
will be opened for you. You are not given the above options
to CANCEL, APPEND or DELETE when this short cut is used.
The old file (if it exists) is always deleted and a new
file is created.
The HELP key can also be used to view the current state of
the capture mode.
See also: HOT KEYS, HELP KEY
Start ASCII Send
The named file will be read and sent to the serial port.
If the file does not exist, a warning message will be
printed.
When this mode is selected, the text in the MENU entry is
changed to "Stop ASCII Send". Selecting this entry will
stop the transfer and close the disk file.
Pressing the HELP key will bring up a status display
containing (among other items) a slider gadget marked
`Send Delay'.
You can select a time to delay after transmitting each
character by using this slider gadget. The gadget can
be adjusted from approx 10ms (Fast) to 3/4 second (Slow)
delay between transmitted characters. The slider can be
adjusted while a file is being sent to allow for fine
tuning the send speed.
With the slider in the (default) far left position, there is
no delay. The far right position will produce about 3/4
second delay after transmitting a character. Clicking within
the slider body, will cause the knob to move in about .1
second intervals.
See also: INPUT WINDOW
XMODEM Receive
The named file will be created on the disk and the
XMODEM protocol will be started using the error checking
method (CRC or Checksum) selected in the MODE menu.
If the specified file already exists, a requester will
appear giving you the option to CONTINUE or CANCEL the use
of that filename. Selecting CONTINUE will overwrite the
old existing file with the new one. Selecting CANCEL will
bring up the INPUT WINDOW allowing you to enter another
file name. Under DOS 1.2, LEFT AMIGA V is the same as
CONTINUE while LEFT AMIGA B is the same as CANCEL.
The transfer can be aborted by hitting the ESC key.
The serial port parameters will be saved and changed to
8 bits, no parity, 1 stop bit for the XMODEM transfer.
Upon completion, the old settings will be restored.
The status line (bottom of screen) will display the name
of the file being transferred, a running total of the bytes
received, the number of NAKS and the last block to be NAKed
(in square brackets).
See also: MODE menu, Chop Files
WXMODEM Receive
The named file will be created on the disk and the
Windowed XMODEM protocol will be started.
If the specified file already exists, a requester will
appear giving you the option to CONTINUE or CANCEL the use
of that filename. Selecting CONTINUE will overwrite the
old existing file with the new one. Selecting CANCEL will
bring up the INPUT WINDOW allowing you to enter another
file name. Under DOS 1.2, LEFT AMIGA V is the same as
CONTINUE while LEFT AMIGA B is the same as CANCEL.
The transfer can be aborted by hitting the ESC key.
The serial port parameters will be saved and changed to
8 bits, no parity, 1 stop bit for the WXMODEM transfer.
Upon completion, the old settings will be restored.
The status line (bottom of screen) will display the name
of the file being transferred, a running total of the bytes
received, the number of NAKS and the last block to be NAKed
(in square brackets).
Windowed XMODEM is a recent improvement on the original
XMODEM protocol. Not all services offer WXMODEM.
WXMODEM can offer up to a 50% reduction in file transfer
time when used over public data networks such as Telenet
and Tymnet.
As of this writing, the only service offering WXMODEM
transfers is the American People Link (PLINK). They have
an active Amiga section. 800-524-0100 until 10 PM CST
for info.
XMODEM Transmit (WXMODEM Transmit)
Use this selection for either XMODEM or WXMODEM transfers.
The named file will be opened on the disk and the
XMODEM (or WXMODEM) protocol will be started using the
error checking method (CRC or Checksum) selected by the
receiving end.
If the specified file does not exist, a requester will
appear advising you of that fact. You only have the option
to CONTINUE, which will bring up the INPUT WINDOW allowing
you to re-enter the filename or CANCEL the upload.
The transfer can be aborted by hitting the ESC key.
The serial port parameters will be saved and changed to
8 bits, no parity, 1 stop bit for the XMODEM transfer.
Upon completion, the old settings will be restored.
The status line (bottom of screen) will display the name
of the file being transferred, a running total of the bytes
received, the number of NAKS and the last block to be NAKed
(in square brackets).
Windowed XMODEM is a recent improvement on the original
XMODEM protocol. Not all services offer WXMODEM.
WXMODEM can offer up to a 50% reduction in file transfer
time when used over public data networks such as Telenet
and Tymnet.
As of this writing, the only service offering WXMODEM
transfers is the American People Link (PLINK). They have
an active Amiga section. 800-524-0100 until 10 PM CST
for info.
See also: XMODEM Text Send
XMODEM Text Send
Read the text for XMODEM transmit above. Use this option
for text tranfers using the WXMODEM protocol as well.
In addition to the above text, when this entry is selected,
any LF characters in the transmitted file will be converted
to CR characters. This option should be selected when
sending an AMIGA created file to another type of machine.
Failure to use this option when sending a text file may
produce an unusable file on the remote machine.
See also: XMODEM Transmit
Quit Comm
Selecting this entry will close all open files and
windows and exit back to the operating system.
The same effect can be achieved by hitting the close
gadget in the TRANSMIT window.
See also: Window gadgets
---------------------------------------------
2) System
Split Screen
Select 'Split Screen' from the system menu. The screen
will divide into two windows, a small one ( 4 lines ) for
your typed characters and a larger one ( 19 lines ) for
characters received from the modem.
You should select the half-duplex mode on the host system
to prevent your typed characters from being echoed back into
the receive window.
To exit the split screen mode, either use the RX window
close gadget or select 'Split Screen' from the system menu
again.
Using the close gadget in the TX window will exit Comm.
Split screen mode may not operate in interlaced mode on a
512K or less machine due to lack of memory.
CAUTION: If you login to a system while in the split screen mode
your password will be echoed in the TX window. It's best
to login in the single screen mode.
View Transfers
Select the 'View transfer' mode from the system menu.
This option will output the file data to a view window
while transfering data. It is wise only to view files
you know to be ASCII because binary files will look like
Greek. No harm will be done, but it is distracting.
Chop Files
XMODEM file transfers will increase the size of a file
to the next largest multiple of 128 bytes. The CHOP FILES
option -- when checked -- will remove the padding on the
end of the file. This is usually desired and always
required when transfering executable binary files. CHOPing
files is the default mode.
NOTE: It is not desireable to CHOP an ARC file. Since I
always forget to turn off the CHOP mode for ARC files, Comm
will check the file extent of XMODEM receive files looking
for .ARC or .arc If found it will temporarily disable
CHOPing for this file, and restore the state of the CHOP
flag after the file has been received.
End of Line
You can select how End of Line characters are handled on the
screen and when sent out the serial port. By default, EOL is
just a RETURN character, but you can change this to RETURN
and LINEFEED pairs.
Use this option if all text seems to be printed on one line.
Key Macro
This item allows Loading or Saving the Key Macro file.
You can add/change keyboard macros using the "Edit Key Macro"
selection in the SYSTEM menu. When the ASCII window opens on
this option, click the mouse in the requester text input box
and enter the new keyboard macro in the same format as the
key macro file:
f9This is a new macro\r
Enter the text and hit return (or select the OK gadget ) to
install the new macro.
Phone Dir
This entry allows loading or editing a phone library.
The EDIT option will bring up the Amiga screen editor ED with
the contents of the phone library file ready to be changed.
Exit ED as usual with ESC X to return to Comm.
NOTE: The EDIT option can only be used if Comm has been
invoked from the CLI. If invoked from WorkBench, this option
will be disabled. ED must be in the C: directory.
The SAVE option is not implimented.
---------------------------------------------
3) Mode -- this menu selects the type of error ckecking to be used with
XMODEM file downloads.
Checksum
The original Christensen protocol used an 8 bit checksum
for error checking. It is about 97% effective in catching
errors. All implimentations of XMODEM can use the
checksum method. When in doubt, select this method.
CRC
A later addition to the protocol was the 16 bit (two byte)
Cyclic Redundancy Check ( CRC ) which is about 99.997%
effective in detecting errors. Not all implimentations of
XMODEM use the CRC method. If you select this mode and the
sending computer can not transmit CRC mode, Comm will detect
this fact after 5 timeouts ( about 50 seconds ) and switch
to the Checksum method.
---------------------------------------------
4) Serial -- serial device parameters are changed here.
Baud
Baud rates from 300 to 19200 baud can be selected.
Comm will start out with the baud rate selected by the user
in Preferences.
Note that this selects the serial speed of the port, the
actual data throughput rate depends on whether the capture
buffer is active, the printer capture is selected and the
speed of screen I/O. With no printer or file capture, the
throughput rate depends on the screen I/O speed. This will
be greater than 2400 baud but less than 4800 baud in this
release of Comm. This means, that if you select a baud
rate of greater than 2400 baud, you will drop characters
unless the Automatic XON feature has been selected from
the SERIAL menu.
This entry can be overridden by the default baud rate
field in the phone library.
See also: XON / XOFF
Parity
Selects ODD, EVEN or NO parity. Default is NO parity.
Note that during XMODEM transfers, serial port parity is
set to NO parity and restored to the previous value on
completion.
Most computer systems today will operate with NO parity.
Data Length
Selects the length of a data word as 7 or 8 bits.
Default is 8 bits.
Note that during XMODEM transfers, serial port data length
is set to 8 bits and restored to the previous value on
completion.
Most computer systems today will operate with 8 bits.
Stop Bits
Selects the number of stop bits transmitted as 1 or 2 bits.
Default is 2 bits.
Note that during XMODEM transfers, serial port stop bit
length is set to 1 bit and restored to the previous value on
completion.
The Amiga hardware does not allow 2 stop bits to be used
with an 8 bit data word length.
Most computer systems today will operate with 1 stop bit.
Duplex
Selects whether Comm or the remote system echo your key
strokes to the screen. Defaults to FULL duplex.
Select FULL duplex when the remote machine will echo your
key strokes.
Select HALF duplex when the remote system does not echo
your key strokes. That is when the remote system seems to
be responding to your commands, but you can't see what you
type.
XON / XOFF
Enables or disables the serial driver check for XON / XOFF
flow control characters. Defaults to OFF.
Select TURNED OFF when you do not wish to use this type of
flow control.
Select AUTOMATIC when you wish the driver to use this type
of flow control. Normally used at baud rates greater than
2400 baud to prevent dropped characters.
NOTE: In some cases, when the AUTOMATIC mode is selected,
Comm may receive an XOFF character ( noise or otherwise )
and appear to be hung -- that is, no characters appear on the
screen yet the menus still function. Whenever Comm appears
to be hung, typing a CONTROL Q will re-start the serial line.
If the problem was due to an XOFF character received, this
will restore everything to normal.
ALSO NOTE: A number of people have reported that Comm gets
hung when they use Telenet, have AUTOMATIC selected and
type keys rapidly. This seems to be due to Telenet sending
XOFF characters. It may be wise to select TURNED OFF when
using Telenet.
Send Break
Sends a 250 ms break signal. Right Amiga B will also send
the break character.
---------------------------------------------
5) Phone
Dial a phone number or hang up the phone.
If a phone library of the proper format was loaded when Comm
started, you will see the NAME fields of the phone entries in this
menu. Simply move the select box over the desired name to be
called and release. Comm will then compose a dialing entry
consisting of:
DIAL STRING+ALTERNATE LONG DISTANCE NUMBER+PHONE NUMBER+DIAL TERMINATOR
and send this to the modem.
You may also dial any of the first 10 numbers in the phone
directory by using the RIGHT AMIGA # key sequence, where # is
one of the keys 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0.
The dial string fields default to HAYES types, but can be changed
by an entry in the phone library.
Hang up
Selecting this entry will send the HANGUP command string
to the modem. This string defaults to a HAYES compatable
string, but can be changed by an entry in the phone library.
You may also use RIGHT AMIGA H to select this option.
Alt Service
This entry will prepend an alternate long distance dial
code to the phone number you select. Useful for selecting
MCI or SPRINT or any of the dozen other phone services.
The dial string is taken from a phone library entry.
You may also use RIGHT AMIGA A to select this option.
---------------------------------------------
Hot Keys
Left Amiga C -- will open/close the capture buffer. The capture
mode must first be selected through the FILE menu. Then use
the hot key to enable or disable text capturing into the
buffer. Capturing is enabled when first selected.
Use the HELP key to see the state of the capture mode.
If you hit Left Amiga C without first opening a capture
file, a default file "RAM:Capture.txt" will be opened for
you.
Left Amiga P -- toggles the printer ON/OFF. When ON, text
received from the serial port will also go to the printer
via the PRT: device.
Right Amiga # -- where # is one of the keys 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0
This sequence will dial one of the first 10 entries in the
phone library.
Right Amiga H -- Hang up the phone.
Right Amiga A -- select the Alternte Long Distance dialing
service. This is identical to using the mouse to select
the Alt. Service option in the PHONE menu.
---------------------------------------------
Help Key
Pressing the HELP key will bring up a status display showing the
amount of memory available, the state of the printer and capture
buffer toggles and the version of Comm.
The SHIFT HELP key can be used to view the KEYBOARD MACROS that
have been defined.
---------------------------------------------
Input Window
When a menu item is selected that requires a filename input,
the INPUT WINDOW will appear in the upper left hand corner of
the screen. This window will contain an informative message
relating to the operation selected, a string gadget for text
input and two select gadgets.
The large string gadget in the center is used for entering
filenames. Position the pointer inside the blue select box
and click the left mouse button to activate this gadget. When
the cursor appears inside the gagdet, enter the filename desired.
Hitting return will enter the filename and remove the INPUT
WINDOW. You can also click the left mouse button over the text
in the lower left hand corner to complete the operation.
Selecting CANCEL will abort the operation.
Under DOS 1.2, the INPUT WINDOW string gadget will be active
when the INPUT WINDOW opens. You will not have to click in it
to activate it.
---------------------------------------------
Window Gadgets
The screens contain hidden gadgets for closing and depth
arranging the Comm screen. The CLOSE gadget is in the upper
left hand corner. The depth gadgets are in the upper right
hand corner.
The operation of the depth gadgets differs slightly
from what you may expect. The left hand depth gadget will send
the Comm screen to the back to allow access to the WorkBench
or other screen. The right hand depth gadget will bring the
View Window to the front -- if it was pushed to the rear.
The close gadget also operates differently depending upon
which mode Comm is in. In the single screen mode, the close
gadget can be used to EXIT Comm.
In the split screen mode, there is a close gadget in the
corner of both screens. The gadget in the large window will
cancel the split screen mode. The gadget in the small screen
will exit Comm.
---------------------------------------------
Phone library: (sample phone library is at end of this file)
When loaded, Comm looks first on the default drive for a file called
comm.phone. If not found, it then looks on the SYS: device for this
file. If not found, Comm will operate with out the phone library
but you will not have the auto dial options.
If called from the CLI, you can specify another file for the phone
library on the command line such as:
Comm business.numbers
Comm will try the above mentioned search pattern looking for the
file 'business.numbers'.
The phone libraries are ASCII text files (created with ED) with fixed
format records as follows:
17 characters for a BBS name ex. Plink
17 characters for the phone number ex. 1-800-555-1212
9 characters for default baud rate for number
32 characters for any user comment ex. Tymnet, enter A
This looks like the following:
| 17 | 17 | 9 | 32 |
|----- name -----|---- number ----|- baud -|--------- comment ------------|
amiga talk 1,602-846-3901 1200 ???
amiga/128 1,213-662-2424 1200 CA amiga and 128 stuff
> 555-1212,,01234 MCI gateway and account number
Note that lines starting with | are ignored when the file is read in
and are used for comments. The bars (|) also mark the field widths
for alignment purposes.
One entry ( > in the name field ) can be an alternate long distance
service access number and account number. When this feature is
desired the contents of the number field will be sent before the
phone number selected.
The modem dial commands can also be specified in the phone library
using one of the following command sequences:
<D sets the dial PREFIX string.
<T sets the TERMINATOR string.
<H sets the HANGUP string.
<I sets the initialization string
<E sets the exit string
These sequences must start in col. 1 and are limited to 32 characters.
Any of the KEY MACRO special symbols (such as delay, line break or
control codes) may be included in any of thses strings.
The following are the default HAYES modem setup strings used by Comm if
not changed by the user.
<DATDT DIAL Prefix command (ATDT)
<T^M DIAL terminator ( CR )
<H\w\w+++\w\w\w\wATH^M HANGUP command (1 sec +++ 2 sec ATH CR)
<I Initialization -- none
<E Exit -- none
The initialization string will be sent to the modem soon after Comm
opens the serial device and before keyboard input is accepted.
The exit string is send just before the serial device is closed when
exiting Comm.
---------------------------------------------
Keyboard Macros:
On entry, Comm will look on the default drive for the file
comm.keys. If not found it will look for SYS:comm.keys. This
file is an ASCII file (created with ED) containing the macros to
be expanded whenever a function key is pressed. In this release
the function keys definable are F1 through F10 and SHIFT F1 thru F10.
A sample comm.keys file follows:
f1/clubs;/sel commodore\r
f2/not;for;/read new^m
f3/lib;rev;qsc all\r
F4/dlo;fil;xmo;\r\r
S10/off
Notice that each definition starts in column 1 with an 'f' or 's'
followed by the number of the key to be defined. Entries beginning
with F belong to F1 thru F10, those beginning with S belong to
SHIFT F1 thru SHIFT F10.
The body of the macro follows the number. Do not separate the
key number from the body with spaces unless you desire spaces to be
output. A macro definition must be contained on 1 line (127 bytes
maximum). The macros can be defined in any order and not all keys
have to be defined. Duplicate definitions overwrite the previous
definition, that is, only the last definition sticks. The first one
is overwritten.
The macros can contain control characters which can be represented
in two ways -- using C slash conventions ( \n \r etc) or by using
the caret followed by a letter ( ^C ^L etc.). The only C types
supported in this release are \n, \r, \t, \f and \\. Also, \n is
equivalent to \r, both meaning CR. If you need the line feed
character, use ^J instead.
A 500 millisecond delay can be generated by using \w. Multiple \w's
can be used to get a longer delay.
A 250 ms LINE BREAK can be generated with the sequence \l.
You can cause one macro to be included inside of another macro by
using the \m## option, where ## is a number from 1 to 20 - with 1
representing macro F1 and 11 and 20 representing S1 and S20.
For example:
F1 is defined as cc testfile\r
F2 is defined as link testfile^M
F3 is defined as \m1\m2run testfile\r
Pressing F3 will emit the string:
cc testfile\rlink testfile^Mrun testfile\r
Once the comm.keys are loaded, press the SHIFT HELP key to list the
macro definitions to the screen.
Errors are detected while loading the .keys file and displayed on
the screen.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUGS:
When the Status requester is active, the other window gadgets
will not function. Same is true of the file input requester.
If another program 'steals' all of the audio channels, Comm will
lose it's bell.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sample phone library:
| The following entries are the Dial, Terminating and Hangup strings
| for a Hayes modem. These can be changed for other modem types.
<DATDT
<T^M
<H\w\w+++\w\w\w\wATH^M
| 17 | 17 | 9 | 32 |
|----- name -----|---- number ----|- baud -|--------- comment ------------|
amiga talk 1,602-846-3901 1200
amiga/128 1,213-662-2424 1200 CA
amuse 1,212-269-4879 1200 NY fido node 107/34
amy bbs 1,303-693-4735 1200 CO
amy palace 1,201-446-1424 1200 NJ
casa mi amy 1,904-733-4515 1200 FL
connection 1,615-868-7860 1200 TN
dragon 1,402-291-8053 1200 NE rpg board
guest 1,618-378-2133 1200 IL "Username:GUEST"
micro systems 1,305-737-1590 1200 micro systems
developer exch 1,408-372-1722 1200 maxi corp
amigaboard 1,513-898-0702 1200 OH
technisoft 1,801-264-8290 1200 UT fido, mostly MS-DOS
vivid xpres 1,714-493-6094 300 CA
Here is the patch file for use in customizing Comm 1.34. There are actually
two versions of Comm 1.34 floating around, so you will have to check the
size of your particular version and apply the patches as appropriate.
The two correct sizes are 49144 bytes and 49152 bytes. If your version
is not either one of these sizes, then it isn't an `official' version.
Djj
---------------------
Comm version 1.34 patch info. 5/9/87
NOTE: The sector numbers and byte offsets given in this file are those
supported by the NEWZAP 3.0 program by John Hodgson.
---------------------------
If your file is 49144 bytes
---------------------------
sect offset size default value function
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
72 1F5 40 RAM: Default Drawer in file requester
73 01E 40 SYS: Default dir for Phone & key files
73 048 2 0000 screen color_0
73 04A 2 0000 screen color_1
73 04C 2 0000 screen color_2
73 04E 2 0000 screen color_3
73 050 40 RAM:Capture.Txt Default capture file
73 07D 1 01 Run at this priority
73 07E 1 01 Use baudrate found in preferences
73 087 1 01 Default to interlace mode
73 088 2 0080 Number of buffered XMODEM sectors
73 08A 2 00C8 Beep period
73 08C 2 0040 Beep volume
73 08E 2 00C8 Beep cycles
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If your file is 49152 bytes
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sect offset size default value function
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72 1FD 40 RAM: Default Drawer in file requester
73 026 40 SYS: Default dir for Phone & key files
73 050 2 0000 screen color_0
73 052 2 0000 screen color_1
73 054 2 0000 screen color_2
73 056 2 0000 screen color_3
73 058 40 RAM:Capture.Txt Default capture file
73 082 4 00000001 Run at this priority
73 086 1 01 Use baudrate found in preferences
73 08F 1 01 Default to interlace mode
73 090 2 0080 Number of buffered XMODEM sectors
73 092 2 00C8 Beep period
73 094 2 0040 Beep volume
73 096 2 00C8 Beep cycles
73 09A 2 0000 Load key file when dialing
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Notes:
For directory names, do not exceed the length allocated (40 bytes) or
very strange things will happen. Also, as per C string convention,
you MUST place a zero byte after the last character in the string.
Comm checks the screen color fields. If any value is non-zero, then
all 4 values are treated as valid colors -- so if you change one,
change them all. See color examples below.
Enter the priority you wish Comm to run at as a signed long integer.
That is, negative priorities must be sign extended. Example,
a priority of -2 should be FFFFFFFE.
If you wish Comm to initialize at 1200 baud instead of the value set by
preferences, patch the 01 to a 00.
If you wish Comm to startup in the interlace mode, patch the 01 to 00.
Comm will attempt to allocate a data buffer as large as the value in the
buffer field. If there isn't enough memory for this many buffers,
Comm will decrease the value by 8 and try to allocate the buffers
again. This will continue until either the requested memory can be
allocated, or the size is less than 16 sectors. Comm will abort if
it can't allocate at least 16 sectors of buffer space for XMODEM
transfers.
Change the beep period value to a larger number for a lower pitched
beep.
Change the duration of the beep by patching the beep cycles field - a
larger number gives a longer duration.
These two parameters interact somewhat so some experimentation is in
order.
------------------
xRGB Usage (standard WB color)
color_0 0000 Screen background color. (BLUE)
color_1 0000 Text color. (WHITE)
color_2 0000 Not used. (BLACK)
color_3 0000 Status line and Cursor color. (ORANGE)
The RGB values are specified in the standard Amiga fashion. Some
examples:
xRGB color xRGB color xRGB color
0FFF White 0D00 Brick Red 0F00 Red
0F90 Orange 0FF0 Lemon Yellow 08E0 Lime Green
00F0 Green 02C0 Dark Green 00BB Blue Green
06FE Sky Blue 000F Blue 006D Dark Blue
091F Purple 0C1F Violet 0F1F Magenta
0FAC Pink 0DB9 Tan 0C80 Brown
0A87 Dark Brown 0CCC Light Grey 0999 Medium Grey
0000 Black
-----------------------
Comm 1.34 has the ability to load a Key Macro file associated with a phone
library entry. To use this feature, you need to create a key macro file
with the same name as the phone library name entry. For instance, if you
had a Phone library entry such as:
A good BBS 555-1212 1200 a comment
when you select this from the phone menu, a file named "A good BBS" will be
searched for and if found, will be interpreted as a key macro file. The
search path is the same one normally used by comm. That is, it will look
in the current directory first, then it will search the default directory
as set above. (defaults to SYS:)
To disable this feature, patch Comm 1.34 as follows:
For file size 49144 -- your file has this option installed. To remove the
option, at sector 8 offset 148 change 4EBA 199E
to 4E71 4E71
For file size 49152 -- you don't have the option installed. To activate the
option, at sector 73 offset 9A, change 0000 to 0001
--------------------
