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FrontDoor 2.20 Update notes This document contains information regarding the use of FrontDoor version 2.20. For information regarding configuration options and functions for supervisors and administrators of FrontDoor systems, please see the file TECHREF.FD. ===================================================================== Table of Contents: Upgrading Your System Step-by-Step Procedure Original Program Diskette(s) Packing List The Terminal Phone Directory VT-100 Emulation The Nodelist Script files Using a Fax-Modem ZyXEL CONNECT FAX The Editor Toggle Message Attributes File Attribute on a "Local" Message External Document Viewer Exit from a DOS Shell Gateway PCs and "Division by Zero" Errors Erratum The Operator Guide The Administrator Guide ===================================================================== Upgrading Your System Welcome to FrontDoor 2.20! In case you are a new user and not upgrading from a previous version, or if you have obtained a new diskette with 2.20 and are using the INSTALL program to update 2.10, please skip to the next section. The upgrade you have received consists of more than new program files. For reasons further described in this and the TECHREF.FD files, changes are required in the following system configuration files: ROUTEn.FD to place % in front of nodelist flags TERMPHON.FD to make room for a password field SETUP.FD to extend the range of baudrates for minimum file request speed limit These changes can be carried out for you by taking the Step-by- Step Procedure outlined below. CAUTION! This procedure will replace and modify your FrontDoor program files and system configuration files. If the upgrade fails for some reason, you are likely to find a fresh backup very useful! Therefore: 1. Backup your complete FrontDoor 2.10 system! Should you chose to ignore the above, at least copy the three system configuration files mentioned above. 2. Copy the FD210220.RTP and PATCH.EXE files, supplied herein, to the directory where your original (FrontDoor 2.10) copies of FD.OVR, FM.OVR and FDNC.OVR are stored. This directory is hereafter referred to as the BINDIR. Note: if you don't have copies of original and unmodified FrontDoor 2.10 files, this upgrade procedure MUST be aborted and you need to contact your dealer! 3. Change the current directory to the directory to where you copied the FD210220.RTP and PATCH.EXE, and execute the patch utility by typing: PATCH FD210220<Enter> Upon successful completion, you should delete FD210220.RTP and PATCH.EXE. Note: if BINDIR resides on a virtual disk (i.e. RAMdisk), you must also replace the "hard" copies of the *.OVR files with the new ones. 4. Copy the new FD.EXE, FDNC.EXE, FDSETUP.EXE and FM.EXE to the directory where your FrontDoor 2.10 program files are stored. By doing so, you will effectively replace the old files with those supplied herein. 5. Change current directory to where SETUP.FD is located, in case you do not have the FD environment variable set to that directory. Execute the UPDTO220 update utility program supplied herein (UPDTO220.EXE). 6. Repeat step five (5) for all occurrences (tasks) of SETUP.FD in your system, before deleting the UPDTO220.EXE file. Since this upgrade is distributed as program patches via modem, to be applied on already installed copies of the FrontDoor 2.10 program files, you will not have Original Program Diskette(s) for the upgraded software. Be sure to make a backup of your new installation! Please, contact your dealer if you wish to receive an offer to update your original diskette(s). Note: You should store PATCH.EXE somewhere, it is likely that it will be used for future program updates. ===================================================================== Packing List The most basic installation of FrontDoor will consist of the following files: Binary Files: FD.EXE FrontDoor Mailer and Terminal program FD.OVR Overlay file to FD.EXE FM.EXE FrontDoor message Editor program FM.OVR Overlay file to FM.EXE FDSETUP.EXE Configuration utility program FDNC.EXE FrontDoor nodelist compiler and control file editor program FDNC.OVR Overlay file to FDNC.EXE X00.EXE Serial input/output device driver (FOSSIL) XU.EXE Utility program for X00 System Files: RUNFD.BAT Batch file for loading FD FD.KEY Serialized key file SETUP.FD Main configuration data ROUTE.FD Routing definitions for your mail EVENT.FD Event definitions for the Mailer NAMES.FD Macro definitions for destinations TERMPHON.FD Phone directory for the Terminal Nodelist Files: FDNET.PVT Nodelist FDNODE.CTL Control table Message Base Files: MSGTXT.BBS Message texts MSGHDR.BBS Message headers MSGINFO.BBS Index MSGIDX.BBS Index MSGTOIDX.BBS Index Text Files: SETTINGS.FD How to complete the installation (created by INSTALL) README.FD The file you are viewing now TECHREF.FD Additional technical reference NEWS.220 Brief summary of new features in version 2.20 FAQ.TXT Frequently Asked Questions with answers CUSTOM.VID Settings for the Custom video options PCP.DAT How to reach PC Pursuit with FrontDoor PCP.SCR Scripts for PCP.DAT FDNET.NET Nodelist F10_EXIT.ANS ANSI keyboard redefinition Several more files will be created as you use FrontDoor. When the nodelist has been compiled (with the command FDNC /F), the following files are created: FDNODE.FDA, NODELIST.FDX, PHONE.FDA, PHONE.FDX, and USERLIST.FDX. Semaphore files, packet files, and memory swap files are created during operation of FD and FM. These files are removed when the programs terminate normally. ===================================================================== The Terminal If you have updated your FrontDoor system, the file TERMPHON.FD will have been converted. A separate Password field for IEMSI-sessions has been added to each entry in the Terminal's Phone Directory. This will override the password as defined in the IEMSI-profile for an entry. This is used when sending the initial handshake during an IEMSI-session which has been called from the Phone Directory (see also the ~P macro command in the TECHREF.FD file). This feature will allow the same IEMSI-profile to be used for several different interactive hosts, while retaining the integrity of your passwords. The password, as defined in this new field, shall not contain any tilde (~) character. When using VT-100 Emulation, note that the backspace and delete keys are swapped in function to mimic the lay-out of keyboards for terminals made by Digital Equipment Corp. ===================================================================== Using a Fax-Modem FrontDoor has enhanced support for modems with capability to receive fax transmissions, notably those with adaptive answering allowing incoming calls to be distinguished between originating from a modem or from a fax. The menus for Mailer, Editor and Modem (see above) in FDSetup have been extended with Fax options. If you have a modem which is of the ZyXEL-brand or fully compatible, the receive fax procedure can be handled by internal routines of the Mailer. On some systems, it has been found that the FOSSIL's receive buffer requires a minimum size of 1 kB for the internal routines to work. Using X00, this is accomplished with the parameter R=1024. When the internal routines are enabled under the FDSetup.Mailer.Fax menu, the Mailer will create a file attach message in the primary NetMail folder, destined to the specified user. The message will contain some information about the fax transmission. Current ZyXEL firmware has a bug which will truncate the phone number two characters too short. It is believed that a future EPROM upgrade from ZyXEL will address this problem. The Editor can be configured to automatically invoke a program to show the fax image (see below). An alternative to using the internal Mailer routines is to use an external (third-party) program to receive and store the fax image. It is required of such a program to accept that the call is already answered, and that fax-carrier has been established. In other words, it will be loaded "hot". The configuration is similar to that of handling human callers for a BBS-program. The "CONNECT FAX" modem message can be configured to cause the Mailer to exit with an errorlevel, and write an appropriate DOBBSn.BAT file. Please refer to the section on this file in TECHREF.FD for further information. ===================================================================== The Nodelist If you are using PC Pursuit, to establish a session with one or more system, in conjunction with the PCP.DAT and PCP.SCR files supplied with FrontDoor 2.10, you must recompile the nodelist. To do this, type: FDNC /F<Enter> from the DOS command-line. You can also invoke the nodelist manager/compiler via the Mailer with <Alt-N> and then choose to compile the nodelist. ===================================================================== The Editor <Ctrl-Z> (No status) in the message Status Menu can be used to Toggle Message Attributes. The first time you press <Ctrl-Z>, the current status is saved. To restore it, simply press <Ctrl-Z> again. This is helpful for recovering from typos, and when making copies of a message with variations of message attributes. You can set File Attribute on a "Local" Message, which allows FM to be used when writing a file attach to a user of the interactive host (BBS). For instance, RemoteAccess supports this, and will prompt the remote user to download the attached file when reading your message. This is only a status toggle under <Alt-S>; no file pick-list is presented. If enabled with proper settings in FDSetup (under the Editor.Fax menu), you can use <Ctrl-F3> in the Editor to invoke an External Document Viewer. You can use this option with any DOS command, and it will pass the file name as a parameter when you press <Ctrl-F3> when positioned on a file attach message in the Editor's read mode. ===================================================================== Exit from a DOS Shell With these files, you will find the small F10_EXIT.ANS file. If you use an ANSI console driver that permits the keyboard to be redefined (such as ANSI.SYS supplied with DOS), this file will come handy. Simply include the following line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT: TYPE path\F10_EXIT.ANS and whenever you press <F10>, the command EXIT followed by <Enter> is invoked. This is useful for quickly returning from any DOS shell, and will not conflict with application programs (with a possible exception for some archaic ones). CAUTION! Allowing keyboard redefinition through ANSI codes makes your system vulnerable to malignant ANSI Bombs (sic). Besides being placed in a file that you TYPE (such as F10_EXIT.ANS), ANSI codes can be hidden in the headers of file archives (which may contain mail to be processed automatically by your system). If you enable this feature, you also need to consider that files could be sent to your system with the only intention to sabotage and cause damage! A case in point is a user who received an "ANSI bomb" that redefined his <Enter> key to format the C: drive (this would not have been possible if the disk had been issued a LABEL). The only certain recourses are either to not use an ANSI-driver, use one which doesn't support keyboard redefinition, or reboot the computer before using the keyboard at the DOS prompt. Of course, you can safely use F10_EXIT.ANS on any computer which is not used for processing of any unknown file archives. ===================================================================== Gateway PCs and "Division by Zero" Errors If you are using a PC of the Gateway brand and experience problems with intermittent lockups after saving new messages in the Editor, while another task running the Mailer processing the NetMail folder; or if you get "Division by Zero" error messages; set or modify the FDOPT environment variable to include the NOICA parameter. If you don't have FDOPT set already, you can accomplish this by inserting the following line near the beginning of your AUTOEXEC.BAT: SET FDOPT=NOICA Further reference on the NOICA parameter can be found in the TECHREF.FD file. ===================================================================== Erratum Page Op-v in the preface to The Operator Guide incorrectly states that you can drop a marker with <Alt-D> followed by a number (1 through 9). The correct way to drop a marker is to use <Ctrl-D> followed by marker number. The remainder of this section deals with clarifications and corrections of The Administrator Guide: To clarify the rules regarding event behavior, routing, and message attributes (page 5-27): FD will not send messages marked Crash if the destination system is listed without the CM nodelist-flag during events in which you have enabled the behavior option "Send to CM systems only". FD is forced to send any message with the Immediate-attribute, regardless of event behavior settings. FM will warn the user if a system is not Continuous Mail capable before marking a message as Crash or Immediate. The information regarding DOBBSn.BAT (page 5-48) is obsolete. Please, refer to the corresponding section in TECHREF.FD for the correct contents of this file. Notice that the specification in FDSETUP at the Mailer.Errorlevels.Received mail option will take precedence over the specification in a Xe command-line parameter (page C-2), if compressed mail is received and the Mailer is configured to exit when such mail is received. The Xe command-line parameter will always work as expected, if the Mailer is not configured to exit upon the receipt of mail or if the FDNOEXIT.NOW semaphore file (page C-8) is present. A page break error is found in Appendix C. The top section of page C-4 incorrectly states "on the following page", when the parameters in question are listed immediately below. If the FD environment variable (page C-5) is not defined, the default behavior of FDSETUP is to ask the user if SETUP.FD should be created if it is not found in the current directory; while FD, FDNC, and FM defaults to searching the directory where the program files are located, before searching the current directory. The presence of the semaphore file FDNOSCAN.NOW (page C-7) is indicated with the letters NR in the lower right hand corner of the Mailer's main screen. The file NODIAL.FD (page C-8) is edited through the Undialable Manager. Press <Alt-V> in the Mailer to invoke this function. ===================================================================== Thanks to Tomas Bremin and Advanced Engineering sarl for writing the major part of this file. Copyright 1993 Joaquim Homrighausen; All rights reserved. All information herein is provided "as is", and is subject to changes without any prior notice. All brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Absolute Solutions // end of file "readme.fd"