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-
- Documentation for TMODEM
-
- TMODEM is short for Turbo Modem. A communications program for IBM
- Personal Computers and compatible units. The author, Paul Meiners,
- and his company, P & M Software, reserve the copyright to this program
- and all related materials. The user is granted a license to use the
- program and is encouraged to make a donation if the program is found to
- be useful. $20 is recommended. Send donations to the following address:
-
- P & M Software Company
- 9350 Country Creek #30
- Houston, Texas 77036
-
- In addition, the user is granted the right to make unlimited copies
- of the program and to distribute these copies as he desires, except
- that the author reserves the sole right to distribute the program
- for profit. The user may ask for a duplication charge, not to exceed
- $5 per copy.
-
-
- Features:
-
- 1. Limited VT-100 emulation.
- 2. ANSI.SYS style color graphics.
- 3. BASIC style PLAY for single voice music. Nice, but due
- to PASCAL's limited sound capability, it plays in foreground,
- so the serial input buffer may wrap around while the music
- plays. The serial input buffer contains 5k bytes.
- 4. Fully buffered, interrupt driven, serial I/O.
- 5. XMODEM file transfer.
- 6. Removable window subsystem.
- 7. Telephone directory, with up to 999 entries.
- 8. File capture, limited ONLY by the amount of available
- memory.
- 9. ASCII file transmission, using XON/XOFF protocol.
- 10. Utility package of BASIC style procedures and
- functions.
- 11. Full control of all communication parameters.
- 12. 40 macro keys, to store logon, passwords, etc.
-
-
- Most of the features of the program are self-documenting, however
- for the sake of the novice user, some explanation is necessary.
-
- The program is distributed in .COM, which can be executed
- immediately by placing your disk into drive A, changing the
- default drive to A, if not already, then typing the name of the
- program, TM.
-
- Once the user has successfully executed the program, the copy-
- right notice will appear, and the user will be asked if music
- is wanted, strike a "y" if you want music, if not, then strike
- any other key. The on-line screen will then appear. At the
- bottom of the online screen appears a reminder of the most
- frequently used commands. These commands may be selected by
- depressing and holding the ALT key along with the indicated ALPHA
- key. If the user needs a command that does not appear on the screen,
- a complete list of available commands can be obtained by selecting
- ALT-H. Commands may be selected while the HELP screen is still on
- screen, so that the user does not need to call up the HELP screen
- repetitively. Here is a brief description of each command:
-
- ALT-T .... Terminate and return to DOS.
- If other windows are open on the screen, this command
- will be deferred until all windows have been closed.
-
- ALT-R .... Receive a file using XMODEM protocol.
-
- ALT-X .... Transmit a file using XMODEM protocol.
-
- ALT-A .... Transmit a file using the ASCII XON/XOFF protocol,
- where the DC1 character is used for XON and the
- DC3 character is used for XOFF.
-
- ALT-C .... Turn capture mode ON if it is OFF, or OFF if it is ON.
- When this mode is turned OFF, either thru the ALT-C
- command or with the ALT-T command, the user will be
- prompted for a file name wherein to save the contents of
- the capture buffer. During capture mode operations, a
- '*' or 'W' will appear in the lower left corner of the
- screen. The '*' reminds the user that capture mode
- is ON, the 'W' warns the user that memory space is
- short. Capture mode will make use of all available
- memory. Capture mode is useful for recording complete
- sessions for review later, so you don't read so much
- on those long distance phone calls.
-
- ALT-L .... Display disk directory, under a user supplied mask.
- For example, to see all files on the logged drive
- and current directory, the user would enter the mask
- "*.*", when prompted. Or see just the files with an
- extension of .PAS by entering the mask "*.pas", when
- prompted.
-
- ALT-N .... Allows the user to change to a new logged drive and/or
- new current directory.
-
- ALT-V .... View the contents of a file, uses the same style as
- MORE, the DOS utility. Use the "End" key to stop the
- command.
-
- ALT-K .... Kill a file. Delete a file from the disk.
-
- ALT-Y .... Copy a file. This procedure will copy any unprotected
- file, however it copies in multiples of 128 bytes, so the
- resultant file may be a little longer than the original.
- This is OK for most applications, but some programs are
- sensitive to the lengths of files, in which case this
- procedure, probably, will produce unusable output.
- Also, filenames must be fully specified. No wildcards
- are allowed, ONLY the current drive and directory need not
- be specified.
-
- ALT-M .... Macro key management. Allows the user to define the
- contents of the function keys F1 thru F10, and all
- combinations of the function keys and shift, Ctrl or
- Alt. This gives the user 40 different macro keys.
-
- ALT-H .... Produces the HELP screen for the user.
-
- ALT-I .... Reconfigure the program, without exiting to DOS.
- The parameters listed below for the .CNF file can be
- changed via this command.
-
- ALT-S .... Switch communication parameters. The program starts
- with these default values: 1200 baud, No Parity,
- 8 data bits, 1 stop bit. Permissible values for the
- baud rate are: 300, 1200, 2400.
-
- ALT-D .... Modem dialing and phone directory management.
- The phone directory may have up to 999 entries,
- if there is enough disk space. The directory screen will
- automatically disappear whenever carrier is detected,
- unless the Forced Carrier config param is "TRUE".
-
- ALT-O .... Sort the dialing directory into ascending sequence
- by name or number. Performs a IN MEMORY sort, so
- there must be enough memory to hold all the phone
- directory entries.
-
- ALT-G .... Redial the last number dialed. This command will loop
- continuously until carrier is signaled by the modem, the
- Forced Carrier config param is 'TRUE', or the user
- presses a key.
-
- ALT-E .... Turn Half Duplex ON if it is OFF, or OFF if it
- is on. If Half Duplex is ON, then a 'H' will
- appear in the lower right corner of the screen to
- remind the user.
-
- ALT-Q .... Hang-up the phone line, put the modem "ON HOOK".
- Drops the terminal ready signal to the modem for 3
- seconds and resets the UART.
-
- ALT-W .... Clear the screen.
-
- ALT-P .... Play a tune, at random, from the several tunes
- prestored in the program.
-
- ALT-F .... Fix time. That is, mark the current time
- so that you can measure time used, with the
- ALT-U command.
-
- ALT-U .... Used, time. Report the time used since the
- the last ALT-F command and the last dial of the phone
- or the start of the program, whichever occured last.
- Total elapsed time in hours, minutes and seconds,
- is reported.
-
- ALT-Z .... Toggle monitor mode on/off.
-
-
- The dialing management sub-section has a list of commands also:
-
- A = Add an entry to the dialing directory.
- C = Change an entry in the dialing directory.
- K = Kill an entry in the dialing directory, a sort of the
- directory is recommended after this option or the Add option.
- M = Dial a number not in the directory.
- D = Dial a number that is in the directory.
- S = Stop the modem, after it has dialed, but before it goes online.
- This allows you to dial another number when a previous number
- is busy, without waiting for the modem to timeout waiting for
- carrier.
- F = Display the next page of the directory.
- B = Display the previous page of the directory.
- Q = Quit, returns to the online screen.
-
- Note: When editing Phone Directory entries or Macro Key definitions,
- the program responds to the following editing keys as indicated:
-
- Backspace .... Delete character to the left of cursor.
- Del .......... Delete character under the cursor.
- End .......... Move the cursor to the end of the field.
- ^End ......... Erase from the current cursor position to the
- end of the field.
- Home ......... Move the cursor to the start of the field.
- Ins .......... Toggle between insert and overwrite mode.
- When in insert mode the cursor becomes fat.
- Left Arrow ... Move the cursor to the left 1 position.
- Right Arrow .. Move the cursor to the right 1 position.
- RETURN ....... Finish the current field and move to the next.
-
- There are several files associated with the system. Here is a
- description of each:
-
- TM.COM ......... Absolute program. The one to execute.
- TM.DOC ......... This file.
- TMODEM.DIR ..... The phone directory, data file.
- TMODEM.KEY ..... Macro key definitions, data file.
- TMODEM.CNF ..... The configuration, data file. You may need
- to edit the configuration file, using EDLIN or
- other DOS compatible editor, so here is a detailed
- examination of the file:
-
- In position 1-3 of each record in the configuration
- file is a code to identify a parameter. After the
- "=" the value of the parameter appears.
- The codes are:
-
- ST= Stopbits
- DA= Databits
- PA= Parity. 0=None,1=Even,2=Odd
- BA= Baud Rate. 300,1200 or 2400.
- WA= Number of ticks in 1/3 of a second,
- at 4.77 MHz clock. The value should be
- larger if the clock is faster.
- The units for the value is milleseconds,
- and it is used for waiting, hence the WA=.
- PR= Dialing Pre String.
- PO= Dialing Post String, use the | character
- where a RETURN is needed.
- MI= Modem initialization string.
- The default value, AT S0=0|, will cause the
- modem not to answer the phone. Again, use
- the | character where a RETURN is needed.
- SY= Modem command string to turn the speaker ON.
- SN= Modem command string to turn the speaker OFF.
- RT= After carrier timeout has occured, this is
- the time between redials, in seconds.
- FC= Forced Carrier. Some modems force carrier
- even when a call is not in progress, if this
- is the case, set this parameter to TRUE.
- CT= Timeout time for carrier to appear, in seconds.
- DP= Directory PATH. This variable tells the program
- where to look for the phone directory. This param
- is provided mainly for people who wish to put the
- dialing directory on a RAM-disk.
- XO= The decimal value of the XON character. Used to
- control data flow. Starts data flow after XOFF has
- been issued.
- XF= The decimal value of the XOFF character. Used to
- control data flow. Stops data flow when issued.
- Helps insure that buffer overflow does not occur.
- VT= Turns on limited VT-100 emulation, using the
- ANSI escape codes. Note: if VT-100 emulation is
- requested, music will not be played, and will show
- on the screen as text. This happens becuase of a
- conflicit between the full ANSI definition and the
- musical notes.
- * = Comment lines.
-
- Note: these entries may also be changed via the ALT-I command.
-
- For Example: ST=1 |
- DA=8 |
- PA=0 |
- BA=1200 |
- WA=333 |
- PR=ATDT |
- PO=| |
- MI=AT S0=0| |
- SY=AT M1| | The DEFAULT defaults!
- SN=AT M0| |
- RT=60 |
- FC=FALSE |
- CT=35 |
- DP=A:\ |
- XO=17 |
- XF=19 |
- VT=FALSE |
-
-
- If the program is used without a modem, using a direct cable connection,
- all the dialing and modem control strings in the config file should
- be set to empty strings, for example the line with the MI parameter
- should read, "MI=". Also, when using a direct cable connection, the FC
- parameter should be set to TRUE.
-
- The program has been written to use Hayes compatible commands
- with the modem. Because the program controls the modem via the
- DTR signal, Data Terminal Ready, the cable between the computer
- and modem must provide a connection for pin 20 and the modem should
- have the internal switches set so that the DTR signal is monitored.
-
- The program uses the Carrier Detect signal from the modem to
- detect when a call has been connected and when to stop redialing,
- for this reason the modem should have it's switches set so that
- the Carrier Detect signal is ONLY sent when present on the phone line.
- If this is not possible, set the FC= parameter, to TRUE.