home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Turnbull China Bikeride
/
Turnbull China Bikeride - Disc 1.iso
/
ARGONET
/
PD
/
ARGO_RELATED
/
CALLWAIT.ZIP
/
ReadMe
< prev
Wrap
Text File
|
1997-08-06
|
5KB
|
138 lines
CallWait 1.02 for !Voyager
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a VIX module which automatically disables BT's 'Call waiting' facility
when you connect to the Internet via !Voyager, and re-enables it when you
disconnect. If you subscribe to the 'Call waiting' service, and it is in
operation during a call to your POP, the beeping on the line which happens when
someone else tries to call you can break your connection, or cause other more
obscure problems.
Installation
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Drag the attached VIX data file to the downward pointing arrow in the VIX
Manager window, accessed through Preferences->VIX. Quit !Voyager and reload.
CallWait is now installed and running.
What it does
~~~~~~~~~~~~
When you click on !Voyager's 'Connect' icon, CallWait intercepts the click
and sends the codes to disable the 'Call waiting' service to your modem. It
then passes control back to !Voyager, and your connection proceeds in the
normal way.
When !Voyager has logged off, it broadcasts a Wimp Message to that effect.
CallWait intercepts this, and sends the necessary codes to disable 'Call
waiting' to your modem.
Note that CallWait does not rely on a click on 'Disconnect' as an indicator,
so connections made using QuickFetch ('Adjust' click on the 'Connect' icon)
are also handled correctly.
I was anxious to avoid cluttering the !Voyager tool bar with yet another icon,
so CallWait uses !Voyager's time icon as an indicator. When 'Call waiting'
has been disabled, you will briefly see the text 'CW off' in the icon, in red.
The time icon then resumes its normal function, but remains red for the
duration of the connection. On disconnection, the icon will revert to its
normal colour, and briefly display the text 'CW on', before returning to
display the duration of your last connection.
If you change Modem preferences, perhaps to select a different serial port,
CallWait is aware of this, and will re-initialise itself to use the appropriate
serial driver. So it is not necessary to quit and re-load !Voyager. If you
change your serial port connection (while your machine is switched off,
naturally!), and forget to alter Preferences->Modem to reflect this, CallWait
will send it's codes to the 'old' driver and display 'CW off', and then
!Voyager will give you an error message to the effect that the modem is not
responding. Altering Preferences->Modem to the correct setting will allow
you to connect as normal without re-loading !Voyager.
What it works with
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1) CallWait only works with the BT 'Call waiting' service. If there is any
interest, I might be prepared to adapt it, if that is possible in a not too
complicated way, for use with other telephone service providers. Contact me
if you are interested.
2) CallWait works with incomplete logons, that is, when you click 'Connect',
and then 'Disconnect' before the logon has completed, or indeed before the
remote number has answered. If it didn't, it would have been rather
expensive to test..:)
3) CallWait has been tested by me with both the internal serial port and the
AtomWide serial card, and very kindly by Malcolm Davies with the Intelligent
Interfaces serial card. These were all using the so-called 'PC' type cable.
It has not been tested with setups using an 'Acorn' cable, but should work in
the same way. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who uses an Acorn
type cable and has the BT 'Call waiting' service.
What it doesn't work with
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1) Non-BT connections - currently.
2) Retries....
There is an option in !Voyager's Preferences->Connect configuration window
labelled 'Retries'... The purpose of this is to allow !Voyager to redial
automatically a number that is either engaged or doesn't answer. For secure
operation of CallWait this should be set to 0. The occasions on which the
POP number is engaged or doesn't answer are few (though we had a sudden
increase in them over a period of a week recently). It is not arduous to
click 'Disconnect' and then try again.
Drivers
~~~~~~~
CallWait should work with the version of Hugo Fiennes' !SerialDev application
which comes with !Voyager. In my case, this is quite an old one. It is
possible that Argo currently supply a later version. However the later serial
drivers are better - !ArgoFax comes with a later version - and I can do things
more efficiently with these later drivers. I considered including a copy of a
later !SerialDev with the archive - it is freely distributable - but decided not
to complicate the installation process. Later versions, if there are any, may
include or require, these.
Grateful thanks to....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Malcolm Davies for his time and trouble in testing CallWait with the II
serial card, and for his encouragement, and many helpful suggestions as to how
to get it working.
Scott Inwood for his BASIC call waiting enable and disable routines, based on
Hugo Fiennes' !SerTest program, and for his pointers to a novice inhandling
serial drivers.
Finally....
~~~~~~~~~~~
Obviously you use this software at your own risk. If you have any problems
with it, or suggestions as to how it could be improved, Email me.
Christina West
6th August 1997
xina@argonet.co.uk