Presumably, you already know what a computer is. TOPS Terminal lets your Macintosh talk to other computers; to ease comuunication, TOPS Terminal remembers brief descriptions of those computers.
The most important parts of remembered computer descriptions are the computer's name, and the TCP/IP address or phone number of the computer.
You use the computer name to tell TOPS Terminal what computer to call. The name of a computer may have at most sixteen characters.
TOPS Terminal extracts the IP address or phone number from the computer description to start a TCP/IP connection or to dial the modem. If a computer has both a TCP/IP address and a phone number, the TCP/IP address will be used if the Mac is connected to Appletalk or Ethernet using TOPS TCP/IP; otherwise the modem is used.
A computer contains a binding to a description of an operating system. This allows use of automatic identification and the operating system independent features of the Commands and Controls menus.
A computer may contain a location name. This is used to make sign-up files more informative, and has no other purpose. If you wish, you may omit it in any computer descriptions you create.
There are some phone line settings in a computer description, but you only see them if you have told TOPS Terminal that a modem is connected to your Macintosh. You can so inform TOPS Terminal by giving the Modem command in the Settings menu.
These modem settings are largely "magic numbers": that is, you don't need to know what they mean, but you do have to know what they are. This applies to stop bits, data bits, and parity.
The line speeds supported by a computer must be indicated if you are to call it using a modem. Multiple selections may be made using the Macintosh Shift-Click and Clover-Click conventions. Shift-Click selects a whole range; Clover-Click selects individual entries.
Over a modem, it is often neccessary to send a break, or some ^C's or carriage returns, to get the computer's attention. If this is required, specify break, ^C, or carriage return using the buttons marked "Attention", and fill the "Repeat" box with the number of times the action should be repeated.
A computer description's phone settings contain a "startup script", which is hidden. To access it, Option-Click on the phone icon in the description window.
The startup script indicates some action which should be performed immediately upon connecting to the computer. It is particularly useful if calling through some front-end, such as a port selector.
