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CMS Communication System User's Manual V2.05 Copyright (C) 1993 by MTH Software Contents 1. Installation 1.1 Hardware installation 1.2 Software installation 1.3 Configuration 1.4 Activate Communication Manager 2. Send 2.1 Send file 3. Download 3.1 Download file 4. Receive 4.1 Receive file 4.2 Show received files 5. Utilities 5.1 Show outgoing files 5.2 Stop outgoing files 5.3 Restart outgoing file 5.4 Delete file 5.5 Sendlog 5.6 Mailboxlog 5.7 Mailboxdirectory 5.8 Phonedirectory 5.9 Create text files Appendix A: User defined modem configuration B: Compatibility C: Protocol 1. Installation 1.1 Hardware installation Connect your modem with a modem cable to the first free communication port of your computer. CMS for DOS can use one of four predefined port addresses: COM1 0x3F8 INT 4 COM2 0x2F8 INT 3 COM3 0x3E8 INT 5 COM4 0x2E8 INT 5 CMS for Windows uses the Windows communication driver. The addresses can be selected at the Windows system configuration panel. If you are using an internal modem card, be sure it is configurated to one of these port addresses and interrupt number and there is no other device using the same address or interrupt level. Connect your modem to the phone line and switch your modem on. Internal modem cards do not need to be switched on. 1.2 Software installation If you are using a harddisk, we recommend to copy all the files from the CMS masterdisk to a subdirectory of your harddisk. Insert the CMS floppy disk into drive a: and type the following commands: C: (Enter) CD\ (Enter) MD CMS (Enter) CD CMS (Enter) COPY A:*.* (Enter) 1.3 Configuration Here you will give CMS informations about your modem and computer hardware. Start CMS by typing: CMS (Enter) Select "Configuration" in the "Utilities" menu and fill in the following fields. Modemtype --------- Press (F1) and select your modem in the listbox. If you don't find your modem in the modem list, you have to make a user defined modem installation as described in Appendix A: Communication port ------------------ The number of the communication port used by your modem. 1 = COM1 2 = COM2 3 = COM3 4 = COM4 DOS: CMS will used predefined port addresses and interrupts. WINDOWS : CMS will use the windows communication ports. Incoming rings -------------- After this number of rings CMS will answer the phone. e.g. If you put a 2 here CMS will answer the phone after the second ring. WINDOWS: CMS will always answer after the first ring. Dialprefix ---------- Here you put the dialprefix commands, your modem needs to get a dialtone and to dial. e.g. T Tonedial. P Pulsedial. T0W Tonedial, dial a 0, wait for dialtone. P0W Pulsedial, dial a 0, wait for dialtone. Number of retries ----------------- This is, how many times CMS will try to send the file in case of line busy or interrupted transmission. Printertype ----------- Put a 1 if you use a dot matrix printer, a 2 if you use a HP-Laserjet compatible laser printer. Editor ------ The name of your ASCII text editor you want to use to prepare textfiles. 1.4 Activate Communication Manager The CMS Communication Manager is called once and stays in the background to wait for incoming calls or transmission orders. DOS: Type CMSR (Enter) at the DOS command line. WINDOWS: Start CMSW.EXE by clicking on it from the file manager. Note: CMSR.EXE may not be used under Windows. If a message shows that the modem setup failed, you have to check again your modem configuration. CMS is now ready to receive or transfer files. You can test the configuration by being called at the phone number where your modem is connected. After the first ring the CMS Communication Manager window will appear and the modem will answer the phone. DOS: If necessary you can remove CMSR from memory by typing CMSR -R (Enter) 2. Send 2.1 Send file Start CMS by typing CMS (Enter) at the DOS prompt. WINDOWS: When sending files CMS.EXE should be used in a DOS Box set to window mode instead of fullscreen mode to avoid transmission delays. Usually DOS boxes can be used always in fullscreen mode, if the modem receives an incoming call Windows will switch out of the DOS box into Windows and CMSW will answer the call. Select SEND FILE and enter the name of the file in the FILENAME field. e.g. C:\LETTERS\TEST.DOC (Enter) You can send any kind of file, including binary and graphic files. If you want to send textfiles as electronic mail, you should use the file extension .DOC for files using the IBM-ASCII character set, and .TXT for files using the ANSI character set. These are the standard file extensions for CMS electronic mail text files. Future versions of CMS will use this extensions for automatic conversion of character sets. In the next field you have to type the phone number of the destination CMS computer. If you have already created a phone directory you can select phone numbers by pressing F1. How to create a phone directory is described in chapter 5.8. You can also select , without using F1, by typing the shortname of the CMS destination. The field REMARKS should be completed with the filename and the name of the sending station. e.g. TEST.DOC FROM FASTWORK INC. Now you set the time when the file should be transmitted. (e.g. 20.30) or type (Enter) to transmit immediately. The speed menu is used to adapt the transmission speed to known bad line conditions. You reduce the speed if you want two highspeed modems to connect at a lower speed. This can be necessary at long distance connections. If you would not reduce the speed of a highspeed modem on a bad phone line the modems would try to connect always at maximum speed which would always result in an interrupted transmission. Select the desired transmission speed and press (Enter). Now you will be asked if you want to use high compression. If you press (Y) the file will be compacted using high compression. If you press (N) the file will be compacted in shorter time using normal compression. Now your file has been transfered to the CMS Communication Manager. After 5-20 seconds the CMS window will appear and the modem will start dialing. If it was not possible to send the file, the Communication Manager will try to send the file after 30-70 seconds again. The maximum number of retries has been defined in the configuration screen. If you do not want CMS trying to send the file select STOP OUTGOING FILES at the UTILITIES menu. Using the option RESTART OUTGOING FILE you can activate sending of the selected file again. 3. Download 3.1 Download file Downloading a file means to copy a file from another computer to the own computer. To download a file you select DOWNLOAD FILE and type the name of the desired file. Every CMS Mailbox should have a file named INFO.DOC which shows filenames and other information. Now you type or select the phone number of the CMS mailbox. If the mailbox requires a password for downloading files type your password into the field PASSWORD, otherwise leave it empty. Select transmission time and speed as described in chapter 2.1. New: Our Service Mailbox Download the file INFO.DOC (without password) for more infor- mation. CMS Service Mailbox: (++49) 69-648 257 68 (300-14400bps) 4. Receive 4.1 Receive files Receiving of files is done automatic by the CMS Communication Manager (CMSR.EXE or CMSW.EXE). If loaded, calls will be answered and incoming files stored on your disk. 4.2 Show received files To see received files select RECEIVED FILES at the CMS menu. You will see all received or downloaded files, where downloaded files are marked with <-. All files are sorted in order of reception and new files are marked with *. This * stays until you view or uncompress the file. New files always stay at the end of the received file list. You select a file by using the cursor keys and press (Enter). Now you will be asked, if you want to view the file. Press (Y) to view the file. Only textfiles with max. 80 chars. per line will be shown in a useful manner. After this you have the possibility to print the file. To uncompress and copy the file into a directory of your disk type the desired filename. If a file with this name already exists, a warning appears and you can decide to overwrite the old file. After this you will be asked if you want to delete the received file, press (Y) if you are sure you don't need the file anymore. 5. Utilities The utility functions can be found at the UTILITIES menu. 5.1 Show outgoing files This function shows send and download orders which have not been processed. The listbox shows date, time, remarks and the number of remaining dial retries. 5.2 Stop outgoing files If you want to set the retry count of outgoing files to 0, use this function. This function sets the dial retry count of all outgoing files to 0 and no more dialing occurs. If the Communication Manager window already controls the screen press (ESC) to interrupt the transmission. WINDOWS: If using CMSW.EXE the transmission can not be inter- rupted by pressing (ESC). Mouse and keyboard are disabled during transmission. 5.3 Restart outgoing file If you want the Communication Manager to start sending a file again, select the file with the RESTART OUTGOING FILE option and press (Enter). The dial retry count will be set to the number given in the CMS configuration and the Communication Manager will start dialing again. 5.4 Delete file With this selection you can delete received files, outgoing files and download orders. 5.5 Sendlog The sendlog shows you previous send and download activities. Send activities are marked with ->, download activities are marked with <-. It shows you date, time, phone number, transmission time, filename and OK or ERR. You can also print or delete the sendlog file. 5.6 Mailboxlog The mailboxlog shows you which files have been downloaded from your CMS mailbox by other users. It shows date, time, password and filename. You can also print or delete the mailboxlog file. 5.7 Mailboxdirectory If you want to use your computer as a CMS mailbox, you can use this functions to add files to your mailbox, to delete files from your mailbox and to view a list of your mailbox files. SHOW FILES shows the files in your mailbox, listing name, text and size. ADD FILE asks you for the file to add to your mailbox, the compression type and copies the file to the MAILBOX directory. To give other users access to your CMS mailbox you have to create a file named USER in the CMS directory. It has to be an ASCII file with the passwords to use for downloading files. A password line in this file consists of 8 characters or spaces and (;) e.g. GRISWOLD; FREDTEST; ROGER ; If you want your CMS mailbox to be open for all callers without password, create the USER file with 8 spaces and (;) e.g. ; In any case you have to create a USER file for permitting download of files from your mailbox. Without this file no download is possible from your mailbox. Note: In any case callers have only access to the files in your MAILBOX directory. All other files of your computer are inaccessible to callers. This assures complete security of your computer. All files in your mailbox directory are compressed CMS files which use the orginal filename. 5.8 Phone directory Using an ASCII text editor you can create a file with the name PHONE in your CMS directory. In this file you put CMS phone numbers with a shortname. With this shortname you can select the number or use (F1) when sending files. Each line has to have the following format: shortname,phone number e.g. griswold,2034568793 WebbInc,4042345743 5.9 Create text files If you have specified an ASCII text editor in the CMS configuration, you can create text files by pressing (F10) at the CMS menu. Please use the file extensions .DOC and .TXT as described in appendix B: for electronic mail files. Appendix A: User defined modem installation A user defined modem installation is necessary, when your modem does not work with any of the modemtypes in the modemlist. Press (F1) to call the modemlist and select USERDEFINED. Now you can input your individual modem configuration. Speed ----- Here you put the maximum speed your modem can use to transfer data between modem and computer. e.g 2400 for V.22bis modems without error correction. 9600 for V.22bis modems with error correction (MNP4/V.42). 19200 for V.32bis modems with error correction. Modem setup string ------------------ To work with CMS your modem has to be set to the following configuration by typing commands into the modem setup string. Transmission mode V.21, V.22, V.22bis, V.32, V.32bis Responses in verbose form CMS will understand the following modem responses: CONNECT CONNECT 300 CONNECT 1200 CONNECT 2400 CONNECT 4800 CONNECT 9600 CONNECT 14400 IMPORTANT: The CONNECT response has to show the modem to modem speed (Link speed), not the modem to computer speed, which is already known. Extended response codes and call progress responses (CARRIER, PROTOCOL, COMPRESSION) will create errors and should not be activated. RING RINGING BUSY DIALTONE DIAL TONE NO DIALTONE DIAL LOCKED Modem speed independent of line speed (speed conversion ON) Error correction (MNP4/V.42) activated CTS/DTS flow control DTR OFF causes hangup (&D2) No auto answer (S0=0) Wait time until CONNECT 60 seconds (S7=60) As this configuration is already used by many modems it is possibly you do not have to enter any command into the modem setup string. Most of the modems have only to be configurated not to show call progress responses (CARRIER, PROTOCOL, COMPRESSION) and to show the link speed (modem to modem speed) after the CONNECT response. If you want to view modem commands and responses during dialing and transmission, use the option -D as described below. Note: If your modem has no speed conversion and error correction it is also possible to use it with CMS. You only have to use the options -B (always) and -N (seldom) as described below in the options line. Using build-in error correction and data compression CMS garanties fast and reliable transmission also with non-error correction modems. If you still have problems configurating your modem, call us, we will try to help you. If you have created successfully a modem setup for a new modem send us the configuration, we will add it to our modem list. Answercommand ------------- The command to answer an incoming call is usually A, but it can be necessary to use another command. If you leave this field empty, CMS will use A to answer calls. Limit2400-9600 command ---------------------- These are commands used to direct the modem to establish a connection at a limited speed. They are only necessary when using V.32 or V.32bis modems if you have problems connecting at high speed and you want to limit the connection speed. The commands are sent to the modem before dialing if you have selected a lower than the maximum speed when sending the file. Maximum speed command --------------------- This command is sent to the modem after each transmission to reset the modem to the maximum speed. Options ------- Some options may be necessary to configurate CMS to use your modem efficiently. An option command consists of a (-) and a character to type into the options line. By giving an option command you activate the option. Possible options are: -B Baud adjust ON If your modem has no speed conversion, type -B into the options line and CMS will automatic adapt the computer port speed to the speed indicated by the CONNECT response. This option is usually necessary for non-error correction modems. -N This option is only necessary for non-error correction modems. Usually CMS filters MNP/V.42 protocol requests of calling error correcting modems. But if error correcting modems have problems connecting to your non-error correcting modem, use this option and during the first 10 seconds all requests will be ignored. -D This option is very helpful if you want to see the commands and responses to and from the modem. If you type -D into the options line all normally not visible commands will be shown on the screen. Appendix B: Compatibility 1.) To asure compatibility of electronic mail messages, you should use the following file extensions for E-Mail text files. .DOC for text files using the IBM-Extended ASCII character set. Text files created under DOS usually use this character set. .TXT for text files using the ANSI character set used under Windows. Text files created with Notepad under Windows use this character set. Future, CMS based, E-Mail systems will use this extensions for automatic conversion of character sets. 2.) If you are using CMS as a mailbox system, put always an INFO.DOC file with some information into your mailbox directory. Somebody who has only the phonenumber of your computer will always try first to download this file. Appendix C: Protocol Starting with Version 2.05, CMS uses a new, faster transfer protocol. When you see the messages "Framesize" and "Blocksize" at the beginning of the transmission the new protocol has been activated. Fastest transmission speed is possible between two Windows programms, because CMSW can use a larger blocksize than CMSR. The new protocol is 100% downward compatible, so there are no problems to communicate with previous versions of CMS.