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╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE
Version 1.50
(c) D.Carroll, M.Dickson Opus Programs 1992
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE
Version 1.50
(c) D.Carroll, M.Dickson Opus Programs 1992
TABLE OF CONTENTS
-----------------
Copyright Notice and Disclaimer..............................page 3
Introduction.................................................page 4
Installing Cosworth..........................................page 7
Command Line Switches........................................page 12
Configuring Cosworth.........................................page 14
The Dialling Directory.......................................page 28
Script Files.................................................page 44
Keystroke Macros.............................................page 54
Auto Dialler.................................................page 57
Terminal Mode................................................page 66
Ancillary Files..............................................page 69
About Cosworth...............................................page 71
Appendix One - Troubleshooting...............................page 72
Appendix Two - Error Messages................................page 75
Appendix Three - XCos File Transfer Protocol.................page 83
Appendix Four - Glossary.....................................page 87
Appendix Five - Acknowledgements.............................page 91
COPYRIGHT NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER
COSWORTH is not "public domain" software. It is distributed as
"freeware", whose meaning is that although no charge is made by Opus
Programs for this present version, sole and exclusive copyright and
ownership of COSWORTH is retained by Opus Programs.
Opus Programs grant you, without charge, the right to reproduce,
distribute and use this version of COSWORTH on the express condition
that you do not receive any payment, commercial benefit or other
consideration for any such act, and that the wording of this copyright
notice and disclaimer is not changed in any way within the
documentation, software or magnetic media.
This product is licensed 'as is' without any warranty of fitness for a
particular purpose, performance or otherwise. All warranties are
expressly disclaimed. By using COSWORTH you agree that neither Opus
Programs nor any related parties will be liable to you or any third
party for any use of (or inability to use) or performance of this
product, any damages whatsoever incurred by the use of this product OR
ANY FINANCIAL LIABILITY INCURRED BY THE USE OF THIS PRODUCT, even if
such possibilities are mentioned in advance.
In particular, we wish to draw your attention to the Auto Dialler
procedure found within COSWORTH. This process allows the unattended
dialling and connection by telephone line communication to a remote
system or computer. This facility is employed entirely at the users
own risk and Opus Programs will neither incur nor bear nor sustain any
financial damages or limitations of any nature as a result.
The rights to modify COSWORTH or employ its component parts in any
other work are exclusively retained by Opus Programs. You may not
reverse-engineer, disassemble, modify, decompile or create derivative
works of this product. You also acknowledge that COSWORTH remains the
intellectual property of Opus Programs.
By using COSWORTH you give your express agreement to the above
copyright and disclaimer notice.
INTRODUCTION
------------
Thank you for using COSWORTH Communications Software.
COSWORTH is a multi-featured communications software package
containing many features common to a number of other comms
applications, together with a number of additional features which no
one seems to have thought of yet, as far as we know! It was really
written by us since we couldn't find another comms package that had
all the features in it we wanted. This being the case, it has been
written by two users FOR other users. We hope this fact comes through
in the software. The main features of COSWORTH are;
- COSWORTH is issued as FREEWARE. No payment is expected to be
made by anyone using the software. As far as we are aware, this
is a first for comms software of any substance.
- It directly supports connections through Mercury
Communications.
- Has a full featured yet simple script language which is read
from standard ASCII text files created on just about any text
editor. In addition, script files can be automatically
'learned' by COSWORTH itself. Even if your script file 'goes
wrong', a 'smart script' feature will automatically attempt to
correct the situation!
- Has an 'Auto Dialler' facility which allows unattended dialling
using a built-in timer, together with a number of 'safety
features' which ensure that you aren't on line any longer than
you wish.
- Up to twenty user-defined keystroke macros featuring an
internal delay facility.
- Support for the FIFO 16550A UART chip.
- When executing an external program (either a DOS session or an
external file transfer protocol program) then COSWORTH will
swap its code out to Expanded Memory, Extended Memory or Disk,
allowing far more available memory for the child program.
Typically, COSWORTH leaves less that 5K of itself in
conventional memory.
- Configuration of up to twenty external file transfer protocols,
five dialling prefixes and up to one hundred entries in each
dialling directory.
- Full internal ANSI emulation.
- Automatic deletion of user-defined files once uploaded.
- Automatic modem detection on serial port.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Introduction page 4
- Supports a wide variety of baud rates from 300 up to 38400
baud.
- An easy to use installation program which creates all the
necessary support files as well as specific Microsoft Windows 3
PIF files and icons. It also detects whether you are running JP
Software's 4DOS and modifies the installation accordingly. It
even writes out a batch file onto your PATH so you can run
COSWORTH from any directory!
- Complete Quarterdeck DESQview awareness.
- Context-sensitive help.
There are other features but you'll see them as you go along!
HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS AND ADDITIONAL SET UP INFORMATION
-------------------------------------------------------
In order to run COSWORTH you will require an IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2 or
true compatible with a hard disk with at least 500K of free space.
However, like other communications software systems, COSWORTH gives
you the ability to download files from remote systems and, as such,
will almost certainly require more free storage space.
When COSWORTH executes an external program, either a DOS shell or an
external protocol, it swaps itself out to EMS, XMS or disk (in that
order) to allow more memory for the child process called. If there is
no EMS or XMS then COSWORTH will revert to dumping the memory contents
of your PC out to disk and then reload it when the child process has
been completed. If your PC only has floppy drives then you will almost
certainly find that COSWORTH will not be able to run external programs
since there will be insufficient disk space to create the memory dump
file. If COSWORTH has to swap itself out to disk then it will attempt
to place the swap file in the directory specified by the MSDOS
environment variable TEMP. If this variable has not been declared then
the swap file will be created in the root directory of the current
disk. As a result, you *may* be able to get away with running COSWORTH
on a dual floppy drive with the TEMP variable pointing to the second
disk drive, although any program executions will necessarily be very
slow due to the greatly reduced access speeds on floppy drives.
However, the authors do not regard this as a major drawback as disk
space must already be available for a file download. For this reason,
we recommend COSWORTH is run from a hard disk.
COSWORTH also requires a machine with *at least* 512K RAM after DOS
has been loaded. In order to run some external protocol programs or a
DOS shell, extra memory up to the full 640K level would be an
advantage. COSWORTH supports up to a maximum of four serial ports
(COM1, COM2, COM3 and COM4), as many disk drives as you can fit to
your machine and a parallel printer.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Introduction page 5
You will also require a modem with certain capabilities. The modem
must not operate with a forced (high) Carrier Detect signal and must
not override or ignore the Data Terminal Ready signal either. Baud
rates between 300 baud to 38400 baud are supported.
ASSISTANCE
----------
If you require any assistance in using COSWORTH then contact ALMAC
bulletin board in Scotland on 0324-665371 (Running PC Board BBS, 24
hours a day) where both authors can be found regularly. The authors
may also be contacted on the Ilink International Echomail system in
the SHAREWARE conference or through Usenet on mike.dickson@almac.co.uk
or derek.carroll@almac.co.uk. Any suggestions for future versions of
the software will be gratefully received.
We hope you enjoy using COSWORTH.
Mike Dickson
Derek Carroll
Opus Programs, 1992
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Introduction page 6
INSTALLING COSWORTH
-------------------
When you receive COSWORTH it is most likely that you have either
obtained it from a friend or have downloaded it from a Bulletin Board
(using inferior comms software, of course!) in a compressed archive
format.
It's assumed that you have unpacked this archive file by now (after
all, how else would you be reading this?) and have the following
files;
COSWORTH.EXE - The main program
COSWORTH.DOC - This file
XCOS.EXE - An Xmodem protocol written specially for COSWORTH
INSTALL.EXE - The COSWORTH installation program
READ.ME - Installation information
You will not be able to run COSWORTH without first running
INSTALL.EXE. If you try this, be prepared to experience some
interesting error messages! INSTALL asks you some simple questions
about your telephone service, your modem and your computer and will
detect a few things about your hardware. It will then write out all
the files that COSWORTH requires into the appropriate subdirectories.
Installation of COSWORTH is entirely automated. To install, first
create a subdirectory in which you wish to store COSWORTH. (We use and
recommend \COSWORTH off the root directory but you could put it
anywhere!) The DOS command to do this is
MD \COSWORTH
Then, copy all the above files into that directory with
COPY *.* \COSWORTH
and then change to that directory with
CD \COSWORTH.
Now that you are 'in' the COSWORTH directory, run INSTALL.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Installing Cosworth page 7
THE INSTALLATION PROGRAM
------------------------
The first thing that appears is a text window telling you what is
about to happen...
╔════════════════════╣ COSWORTH Installation Program ╠════════════════════╗
║ ║
║ WELCOME TO THE COSWORTH INSTALLATION SERVICE ║
║ ║
║ This program will request you to enter the DOS directories that ║
║ COSWORTH will use, as well as some basic information regarding ║
║ your telephone service. It will create any directories you ║
║ specify that do not already exist and will create some example ║
║ files in the process. It will also create a batch file called ║
║ COSWORTH.BAT which will be placed in the first directory in ║
║ your DOS PATH and which will allow COSWORTH to be run from any ║
║ directory. This program will neither examine nor modify your ║
║ CONFIG.SYS system file. ║
║ ║
╚═══════════════════════╣ ESC ABORTS INSTALLATION ╠═══════════════════════╝
Notice the bit about COSWORTH 'neither examining nor modifying your
CONFIG.SYS system file.' It's important to realise that this is a
well-behaved installation program which doesn't go tampering with
things it really ought to leave well alone. However, a recommendation
is to include AT LEAST 20 file handles in your CONFIG.SYS file with
the directive
FILES=20
at some point within it. Any fewer than this and COSWORTH may
experience problems opening all file handles it requires. If you don't
have this line (at least) in your CONFIG.SYS then it's a good idea to
include it anyway.
Pressing any key takes you onto the next screen. This screen asks you
to enter the names of all the DOS directories where COSWORTH will
store and look for files...
╔══════════════════════╣ COSWORTH Installation ╠══════════════════════╗
║ ║
║ Please specify the directories for installation of COSWORTH ║
║ ║
║ MAIN DIRECTORY C:\COSWORTH ║
║ UPLOAD DIRECTORY C:\COSWORTH\UPLOAD.......................... ║
║ DOWNLOAD DIRECTORY C:\COSWORTH\DOWNLOAD........................ ║
║ SCRIPT DIRECTORY C:\COSWORTH\SCRIPTS......................... ║
║ PROTOCOL DIRECTORY C:\COSWORTH\PROTOCOL........................ ║
║ ║
║ This is where file uploads will be made from ║
║ ║
║ ║
╚══════════════╣ F10 TO SAVE, ESC ABORTS INSTALLATION ╠═══════════════╝
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Installing Cosworth page 8
You can move the highlight bar up and down using the arrow keys and
can edit the names of the directories as you wish. The entries are
already filled in with default values and we recommend you do not
change them unless you have good reason to. The entry for MAIN
DIRECTORY will reflect the current directory and cannot be changed.
Once you are happy with the directories, press F10 to continue. ESC
aborts the installation process completely. If you press F10 then up
comes the next screen...
╔════════════════════════╣ COSWORTH Installation ╠════════════════════════╗
║ ║
║ ║
║ What is the fastest baud rate your modem supports? ║
║ 300 1200 2400 4800 9600 14400 19200 38400 57600 ║
║ Does your exchange support tone or pulse dialling? Tone Pulse ║
║ What serial port is your modem connected to? COM1 COM2 COM3 COM4 ║
║ What's your name? JOE BLOGGS........................................ ║
║ Are you a Mercury subscriber? YES NO ║
║ Enter your Mercury code 131,1234567890...... ║
║ (with prefix - eg 131,1234567890) ║
║ ║
║ ║
╚═══════════════════════╣ ESC ABORTS INSTALLATION ╠═══════════════════════╝
The questions will appear one at a time from the top of the screen, as
you answer them. The first three are of a 'multiple choice' variety
and require you to choose one of the responses on the screen by moving
the highlight block along the screen with the left or right arrow
keys.
The fastest baud rate your modem supports will be given in your
modem's manual.
If you are unsure whether you have tone or pulse dialling, choose
pulse. (Tone dialling plays 'notes' for every number you dial on your
telephone)
You'll need to enter your name in order to let COSWORTH use it in its
script files (more of which later!)
If you subscribe to Mercury Communications then you can set up
COSWORTH to use the cheaper Mercury connections. In order to connect
with Mercury, you'll have to let COSWORTH know what your authorisation
number is. Enter it in this box. You'll also have to enter the
preceding code (which is 131 at the time of writing) and maybe a
separating comma (,) to pause the modem prior to sending out your
personal code. If you don't subscribe to Mercury then enter 'N' at the
'Are you a Mercury subscriber? (Y/N)' prompt.
Once you have completed all these questions, INSTALL will go ahead and
create all the directories (if it has to) and files that you have
specified and that it requires. If INSTALL encounters any problems
then it will abort with an error message, telling you which action to
take.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Installing Cosworth page 9
Once INSTALL has run its course it will flash up a small message
advising you as to what has happened. INSTALL will create the
following files (following on from our sample default directory
structure)...
DOWNLOAD - The directory into which files will be received.
UPLOAD - The directory from which files will be sent.
PROTOCOL - The directory where you will put your external
protocol programs.
SCRIPTS - The directory where your script files are stored and
read from.
COSWORTH.ICO - COSWORTH icon for Microsoft Windows
COSAUTO.ICO - COSWORTH Auto Dialler icon for Microsoft Windows
COSWORTH.PIF - COSWORTH Program Information File for Microsoft Windows
COSCOST.ICO - COSCOST icon for Microsoft Windows
CW-PIF.DVP - COSWORTH Program Information File for DESQview
COSWORTH.CFG - COSWORTH configuration file
COSWORTH.CAP - COSWORTH capture file
COSWORTH.ERF - COSWORTH error file
COSWORTH.LOG - COSWORTH log file
COSWORTH.MAC - COSWORTH macro file
COSWORTH.PHN - COSWORTH dialling directory
COSWORTH.PTL - COSWORTH protocol definition
COSWORTH.SNP - COSWORTH snapshot file
The SCRIPT directory will contain the following files...
ALMAC.SPT - COSWORTH script for Almac BBS
EAZIHOST.SPT - COSWORTH script for Eazihost BBS's
MISSPOSS.SPT - COSWORTH script for Mission Impossible
OPUS.SPT - COSWORTH script for Opus BBS's
PC-BOARD.SPT - COSWORTH script for PC-Board BBS's
REMOTEAC.SPT - COSWORTH script for Remote Access BBS's
PISTON.SPT - COSWORTH script for Piston Poppers BBS
BLUELBL.SPT - COSWORTH script for Blue Label BBS
In addition, INSTALL will trace your operating system PATH and will
pick out the first directory in it. It will then write out a DOS
batch file into that directory called COS.BAT which will allow you to
run COSWORTH from any directory on your disk.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Installing Cosworth page 10
COSWORTH will also detect whether you are running JP Software's
excellent 4DOS and will DESCRIBE (a 4DOS command) all the files and
directories it creates, as well as writing out COS.BTM instead of
COS.BAT. The contents of the batch files are as follows...
COS.BAT (for MS-DOS)
@Echo Off
REM Batch file to launch COSWORTH
CD C:\COSWORTH
COSWORTH.EXE %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
COS.BTM (for 4DOS)
@Echo Off
REM Batch file to launch COSWORTH
PushD
Cdd C:\COSWORTH
COSWORTH.EXE %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
PopD
And that's it! From now on, just run
COS
followed by any command line arguments you need from the DOS command
line and you're away!
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Installing Cosworth page 11
COMMAND LINE SWITCHES FOR STARTING UP COSWORTH
----------------------------------------------
There are three command line switches which can be used in starting up
COSWORTH. These are;
AUTO <=FileName> - Invoke Auto Dialling facility straight away without
running through menus. You may wish to use this
switch if you are planning on Auto Dialling more
than 24 hours in advance and are using a time
switch or other software to do so, or if you wish
to Auto Dial over several control files. The
argument <=FileName> is used to cause COSWORTH to
Auto Dial using whatever Auto Dialler Control File
is specified. The '.AUT' extension is optional. If
the file name is not specified then the file
COSWORTH.AUT is used.
For example, to AUto Dial from the command line
using the LONGDIST.PHN Dialling Directory you would
use the command line
COSWORTH AUTO=LONGDIST
DIR <=FileName> - Cause Cosworth to start up using an alternative
dialling directory to the default COSWORTH.PHN. The
'.PHN' extension is optional.
For example, to start up COSWORTH to use the
LOCAL.PHN Dialling Directory you would use the
command line
COSWORTH DIR=LOCAL
NOCHECKING - Disables checking for presence of modem on port
prior to its use. When entering Auto Dialler,
Terminal Mode or when commencing dialling from a
directory, COSWORTH checks to see if there is a
working modem on the port in question. If it cannot
detect one then an error is issued. The method
COSWORTH uses to detect the modem may not be
compatible with older modems and is noticed not to
be completely reliable when running COSWORTH under
Microsoft Windows. If you experience difficulties
in this, try starting up COSWORTH with
COSWORTH NOCHECKING
Although these switches can be used in combination without a problem,
it makes no sense to start up COSWORTH with both the AUTO and DIR
switches as COSWORTH will immediately exit back to the operating
system on completion of the command line Auto Dialler sequence.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Command Line Switches page 12
EXIT CODES
----------
When exiting, COSWORTH will leave a DOS ERRORLEVEL of 1 if a fatal
error caused COSWORTH to terminate, otherwise a nominal ERRORLEVEL of
zero is left.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Command Line Switches page 13
CONFIGURING COSWORTH
--------------------
COSWORTH has been designed to allow the user to configure it in the
way that best suits his or her needs. Configuration is completely
automated and is controlled though the Configuration entry in the main
menu.
THE COSWORTH CONFIGURATION FILE
-------------------------------
The way in which you use and have set up COSWORTH is saved into a
configuration file called COSWORTH.CFG which MUST reside in the main
program directory.
Obviously, this file is very important. If it gets lost or corrupted
then COSWORTH will have no way of knowing how you want it to work. To
this end, certain protection measures have been built into COSWORTH to
ensure that a configuration file is always at hand.
When COSWORTH starts up, the first thing it does is read in the
configuration file. If it cannot find COSWORTH.CFG on the main program
path,or if it is the wrong size (implying that it has become
corrupted) then it generates an error message and creates a
configuration file out of defaults. NOTE - these are NOT the defaults
you specify in the configuration (obviously!) since they have been
lost. COSWORTH will then inform you of what it has done and will then
launch you straight into the configuration menu to change the settings
to those which you prefer. Quitting from the configuration menu will
automatically save the COSWORTH.CFG file (only under these
circumstances) and will put you back into COSWORTH as normal.
If COSWORTH finds that the configuration file is the right size, but
that it cannot find COSWORTH.EXE on the path defined as the 'program
path' (see below) then it generates another error message and again
launches you into the configuration menu. This time, since the file is
the right length, it uses the settings it has found, thereby saving
you from re-entering them all again. (The failure to detect
COSWORTH.EXE may be attributed to third party DOS software which
allows you to rename directories. If you rename the main COSWORTH
program directory then you'll get this kind of error.)
However, this kind of error is rare. You'll probably find that
COSWORTH reads the configuration file every time, but these safeguards
are there 'just in case'! Now who says that programmers don't care?
(Okay, okay, hands down...)
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Configuring Cosworth page 14
HOW TO CONFIGURE COSWORTH
-------------------------
COSWORTH has been designed to allow the user to configure it in the
way that best suits his or her needs. Configuration is completely
automated and is controlled though the Configuration entry in the main
menu.
Selecting this brings up a further sub menu which looks like this;
┌───────────────────────────────────┐
│ CONFIGURATION MENU │
│ Select Choice or ESC to Quit │
│ │
│ >F1 Port │
│ F2 Modem Strings │
│ F3 Colours │
│ F4 Protocols │
│ F5 Paths │
│ F6 Program Settings │
│ F7 Directory Defaults │
│ F8 Save Configuration │
│ F9 EXIT │
│ │
└───────────────────────────────────┘
Each choice can be selected by either pressing the associated
function key or by moving the scroll bar up and down using either the
arrow keys, mouse or space bar and then pressing enter over the
required choice. We'll examine each of these choices in turn.
PORT
----
This brings up yet another scrolling menu which offers you the choice
of which port to use.
┌──────────────────┐
│ Set Serial Port │
│ │
│ >COM1 │
│ COM2 │
│ COM3 │
│ COM4 │
│ │
└──────────────────┘
Note that there is no need to run any program prior to COSWORTH to
locate the addresses of ports COM3 and COM4 in your machines memory -
COSWORTH does this for you.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Configuring Cosworth page 15
MODEM STRINGS
-------------
This brings up a larger screen which invites you to enter the strings
which control the use of your modem. Some modem control strings will
require the use of a terminating return character or other control
characters. This is difficult to enter in a data entry format like
that which COSWORTH uses, so a '#' character is used in place of a
return character. Once you save the modem strings then the character
is interpreted and, if you re-examine the strings, you will see that
the '#' characters are replaced by the 'musical note' character, being
ASCII 13 - the return character.
To insert control characters into your modem strings use the caret
notation. For example, ^M is interpreted as CTRL-M, which would insert
a return character. To insert a caret into your strings use two carets
together, as in ^^. Some of the more familiar control characters are
^M CR Carriage Return
^J LF Line Feed
^L FF Form Feed
^[ ESC Escape
The illustration below gives some examples.
┌───────────────────┤ ENTER MODEM CONTROL STRINGS ├────────────────────┐
│ RESET ATZ^M............................................. │
│ INITIALISATION AT S7=60 S0=0 V1 X3^M............................. │
│ HANG UP ~~~+++~~~AT H0^M.................................. │
│ MODEM OK OK............. MODEM ERROR ERROR.......... │
│ PREFIX 1 ATDT.............................................. │
│ PREFIX 2 AT&M0DT........................................... │
│ PREFIX 3 ATB0DT............................................ │
│ PREFIX 4 AT&N3DT........................................... │
│ PREFIX 5 .................................................. │
│ BUSY STRINGS NO CARRIER, BUSY, RINGING......................... │
│ PORT LOCKED? N │
│ │
│ CONNECT 300 CONNECT^M...... CONNECT 1200 CONNECT 1200... │
│ CONNECT 2400 CONNECT 2400... CONNECT 4800 CONNECT 4800... │
│ CONNECT 7200 CONNECT 7200... CONNECT 9600 CONNECT 9600... │
│ CONNECT 12000 CONNECT 12000.. CONNECT 14400 CONNECT 14400.. │
│ CONNECT 19200 CONNECT 19200.. CONNECT 38400 CONNECT 38400.. │
│ CONNECT 57600 CONNECT 57600.. │
│ │
│ MERCURY PREFIX 131,1234567890.................................... │
└─────────────────┤ F1 HELP, F10 ACCEPTS, ESC ABORTS ├─────────────────┘
For the exact strings required by your particular modem, consult your
modem manual. The installation program will fill this table out with
default values, but they may not be suitable for your modem. Please
check them prior to attempting to dial out using COSWORTH!
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Configuring Cosworth page 16
If you need further help then pressing F1 will bring up a help screen
summarising the meanings of the individual strings. The modem control
strings above are specified as;
RESET - This string is sent to your modem when first starting to dial
or when starting up in terminal mode, resetting your modem
back to it's default settings. Notice that this string (in the
above case) is terminated with the interpreted '#' for a
return character.
INITIALISATION - This is sent to your modem AFTER the RESET string has
been received. It is generally used for initialising
various 'S' registers in your modem, the verbal or
numeric result codes and the result code options,
although it can contain any other modem controls you
wish. Notice that this string (in the above case) is
terminated with the interpreted '^M' for a return
character.
HANG UP - This is the string that COSWORTH will fire at your modem to
make it hang up and drop the carrier. However, before doing
so, COSWORTH will always attempt to hang up by a faster
method; it will attempt to lower (that is, turn off) the DTR
bit on the selected serial port. This usually drops the
lines with most modems. If this fails, however, the HANG UP
string will be sent (up to ten times, if necessary!) to drop
the line. If this also fails then an error is produced.
MODEM OK - This is the string that will be returned by your modem on
successful completion of the last command sent. On most
Hayes-compatible modems this string will simply be 'OK' but
it is best to check with your manufacturer's manual first.
Note that you *must* enter something in this field - you
cannot just leave it blank. This is to ensure that all
commands sent to your modem from the dialling directory are
being processed properly.
MODEM ERROR - This is the string that will be returned by your modem
on UNSUCCESSFUL completion of the last command sent. On
most Hayes-compatible modems this string will simply be
'ERROR' but it is best to check with your manufacturer's
manual first. Note that you *must* enter something in
this field - you cannot just leave it blank. This is to
ensure that all commands sent to your modem from the
dialling directory are being processed properly.
PREFIX 1..5 - These are the dialling prefixes which are sent prior to
the telephone number selected in the dialling directory.
For instance, in the above example, PREFIX 1 is set to
'ATDT' which will enable tone dialling. Five prefixes
are permitted in all, allowing you different
configurations for connecting to systems with a wide
variety of specifications, without having to reconfigure
COSWORTH each time.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Configuring Cosworth page 17
BUSY STRINGS - These are the strings returned by your modem should a
connection fail to be made at all. They ought to be
entered in the above table separated by commas.
PORT LOCKED? - If you specify 'Y' to PORT LOCKED? then your modem will
not renegotiate the baud rate returned by the incoming
connect string. If you specify 'N' then your modem will
be reinitialised to the actual connect speed. You ought
to select 'Y' to this option if your modem is either
working at high speed (ie, over or equal to 9600 baud),
is error correcting or supports MNP error correction.
Otherwise, select 'N'.
CONNECT 300 - These are the strings that your modem returns on
CONNECT 1200 making a successful connection. They may vary from
CONNECT 2400 modem to modem, but generally ought to be similar to
CONNECT 4800 those entered by the installation program. Notice that
CONNECT 7200 the 'standard' connect string for 300 baud is just
CONNECT 9600 'CONNECT'. Since every connect string is likely to
CONNECT 12000 contain this word, care should be taken to ensure that
CONNECT 14400 the 300 baud string is terminated with a return
CONNECT 19200 character (either # or ^M) in order to prevent all
CONNECT 38400 connections from being recognised as being at 300 baud.
CONNECT 57600
MERCURY PREFIX - If you are a subscriber to Mercury Communications
then you can force a Mercury connection by preceding
the telephone number entry in the dialling directory
with an 'M'. In order to connect with Mercury, you'll
have to let COSWORTH know what your authorisation
number is. Enter it in this box. You'll also have to
enter the preceding code (which is 131 at the time of
writing) and maybe a separating comma (,) to pause
the modem prior to sending out your personal code.
To edit an entry, move the highlight bar down to it and type in what
you wish. If the first character you press is a letter or number key,
then the entry will be erased and you can re-enter the whole string.
If you don't wish to retain the entry then press the up or down arrow
keys and the original string will reappear, otherwise, press [RETURN]
to 'keep' your modifications to each string.
Once you are satisfied with your entries, press F10 to keep them.
Pressing ESCape aborts the editing procedure, although you will be
asked to confirm that you want to abort.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Configuring Cosworth page 18
COLOURS
-------
You are free to change the colours in COSWORTH to suit your tastes.,
After all, you might not like our choice! The colour configuration
menu looks like this;
┌─This is a menu──────────────────────┐ SELECT ITEM TO ALTER
│ This is the header colour │ ┌────────────────────────────────────┐
│ F1 This is an unselected choice │ │ A - Main Menu Foreground │
│ F2 This is a selected choice │ │ B - Main Menu Background │
│ F3 This is an unselected choice │ │ C - Main Menu Border │
│ F4 This is an unselected choice │ │ D - Main Menu Emphasised │
│ This is emphasised text │ │ E - Hot Key Menu Initial │
│ Hot Keys Menu │ │ F - Hot Key Menu Text │
│ Field Prompt Field Input......... │ │ G - Field Prompt Text │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘ │ H - Field Input Foreground │
┌─This is a help screen───────────────┐ │ I - Field Input Background │
│ This is the help screen text │ │ J - Main Menu Header Message │
│ This is a help screen message │ │ K - Bar/Error Message Foreground │
│ This is a help screen instruction │ │ L - Bar/Error Message Background │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘ │ M - Advisory Message Foreground │
┌─This is a directory─────────────────┐ │ N - Advisory Message Background │
│ SCRIPTS <DIR> 20:8:91 12:48p │ │ O - Help Screen Foreground │
│ COSWORTH.EXE 73546 20:9:91 5:23a │ │ P - Help Screen Background │
│ COSWORTH.CFG 1358 23:9:91 9:14p │ │ Q - Directory Border Foreground │
│ COSWORTH.SNP 13776 24:9:91 2:34a │ │ R - Directory Border Background │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘ │ S - Style of Menu Borders │
This is an advisory message └────────────────────────────────────┘
This is an error message
ESC Abort : F1 Help : F2 Restore : F3 Colour : F4 Mono : F10 Save
The menu on the RIGHT controls which attributes to change. Selecting
any but the last entry brings up a (coloured) list of colours for you
to choose from. Select the colour you wish and the dummy menus on the
LEFT will be updated to reflect that choice. The last 'Style of Menu
Borders' menu selection will call up four different box styles for you
to choose from.
Pressing F2 will restore the altered colours to those which you
started off with (just in case you get carried away!), F3 will reset
the colours to the COLOUR default and F4 will reset them to the
MONOCHROME defaults. F10 saves the colour set up and ESC aborts, with
confirmation.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Configuring Cosworth page 19
PROTOCOLS
---------
Selecting this option brings up the main protocol menu. Move the
scroll bar up and down the menu using the arrow keys, space bar or
mouse and either select the required protocol to edit using the return
key, delete a protocol from the menu by pressing DEL or abort the
process by pressing ESC. Selecting the blank entry at the end of the
menu will append a new protocol definition to the end of the menu. You
can have up to 20 protocol definitions at any one time - more than
enough for most people!
┌─────Select Menu ─────┐
│>X - Xmodem <│
│ C - Xmodem - CRC │
│ Y - Ymodem │
│ Z - Zmodem │
│ - │
└──────────────────────┘
In the above example, lets assume you have selected Xmodem and wish to
edit the settings for that external protocol. You will then be
presented with the protocol configuration menu which looks like this;
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│Hotkey : X │
│Protocol Name : Xmodem......... │
│Upload Command : xmod.com port *comport speed *baud sx *fname................│
│Download Command: xmod.com port *comport speed *baud rx *fname................│
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
You can move about the fields using the arrow keys, mouse or return
key. The meanings of each field are as follows;
HotKey - This is the character which will appear on the left of the
protocol menu when it is called up. (as in the example above)
You can quickly select to use this protocol by simply
pressing the hot key rather than moving the scroll bar about.
Protocol Name - This is the name of the protocol (not necessarily the
name of the protocol file - it can be anything you
like) as it will appear in the dialling directory
information box.
Upload/Download Command - These are the full DOS commands to start
uploading or downloading files using this
particular protocol. The command MUST start
with the file's name (just as if starting it
from DOS) and can then take any arguments it
requires.
The protocol menu will NOT allow you to save upload and download
commands lines unless the actual protocol program exists within the
protocol menu!
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Configuring Cosworth page 20
In order to assist you in setting up the protocols menu, and to
accommodate any configurational changes to COSWORTH, there are four
COSWORTH system variables which you can include in the command line;
*COMPORT - This returns the current serial port being used. For
example, if you are set up to use COM1 then *COMPORT
will return "1"
*BAUD - This returns the current baud rate that the connection
is at. If connected at 2400 baud then *BAUD will
return "2400".
*FNAME - This is the name of the file(s) you are uploading or
downloading.
*PATH - This is the path from which either files are being
uploaded from or downloaded into, depending upon
which (uploading or downloading) you are currently
doing.
*LINESPEED - This will return the actual speed of the connection,
irrespective of the baud rate that the port is set at.
This may be useful in circumstances where a protocol
will return an accurate estimate of the transfer time
but where the port is set to a higher rate than the
connection speed.
For further advice in setting up your protocols, refer to your
protocol's documentation.
One of the most popular file transfer protocol programs is Omen
Technology's DSZ. As an example, here are the settings we recommend
you use for Zmodem, Ymodem and Ymodem-g. (NB - your copy of DSZ may be
called dsz.exe!)
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│Hotkey : Z │
│Protocol Name : Zmodem......... │
│Upload Command : dsz.com port *comport speed *baud p sz *fname...............│
│Download Command: dsz.com port *comport speed *baud p rz -mr *path............│
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│Hotkey : Y │
│Protocol Name : Ymodem......... │
│Upload Command : dsz.com port *comport speed *baud sb *fname.................│
│Download Command: dsz.com port *comport speed *baud rb *path..................│
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│Hotkey : G │
│Protocol Name : Ymodem-g....... │
│Upload Command : dsz.com port *comport speed *baud sb -k *fname..............│
│Download Command: dsz.com port *comport speed *baud rb -g *path...............│
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Configuring Cosworth page 21
PATHS
-----
Select this option to set up the file paths to the various files which
are required by COSWORTH. A menu will appear in th centre of the
screen showing your current file path settings.
┌─────────────────────┤ ENTER DIRECTORY PATHS ├─────────────────────┐
│ PROGRAM PATH C:\COSWORTH\...................................... │
│ UPLOAD PATH C:\COSWORTH\UPLOAD................................ │
│ DOWNLOAD PATH C:\COSWORTH\DOWNLOAD.............................. │
│ PROTOCOL PATH C:\COSWORTH\PROTOCOL\............................. │
│ SCRIPT PATH C:\COSWORTH\SCRIPTS\.............................. │
└───────────────────┤ F10 TO ACCEPT, ESC ABORTS ├───────────────────┘
Move between the fields using the arrow keys, return character or tab
key. The paths ought to be as follows;
PROGRAM PATH - This is where COSWORTH.EXE resides, along with
all its support files.
UPLOAD PATH - This is where files will uploaded from, by
default.
DOWNLOAD PATH - This is where files will downloaded into, by
default.
PROTOCOL PATH - This is where your external protocol programs
reside, along with any support files that they
require.
SCRIPT PATH - This is (guess what?) where your script files
are.
If you leave the program path blank then it is assumed that
COSWORTH.EXE is in the current directory. Leaving any other field
blank assumes that the file path lives directly 'off' the program
path, in its 'default' name. The upload directory defaults to
'UPLOAD', the download directory defaults to 'DOWNLOAD', the protocols
directory defaults to 'PROTOCOL' and the script file directory
defaults to 'SCRIPTS'.
Once you have entered the names to your satisfaction, press F10 to
keep them, otherwise press ESC to abort the process. (with
confirmation)
If any of the directories that you specify does not exist then
COSWORTH will create them accordingly, however, in the case of the
protocol directory, ensure that the protocol programs themselves are
physically in the directory before attempting to make any connection.
If, when you press F10 to keep the settings, you have specified a
non-existent program path (that is, if COSWORTH cannot find its own
EXE file in it!) then you will receive an error message and will be
prompted to re-enter the program path name again.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Configuring Cosworth page 22
PROGRAM SETTINGS
----------------
This menu sets up some of the 'miscellaneous' settings used by other
aspects of the program, most notably your script files. Calling this
option brings up the following menu;
┌───────────────────────────────────┐
│ PROGRAM SETTINGS │
│ Select Choice or ESC to Quit │
│ │
│ >F1 Sound is ON │
│ F2 Log file is ON │
│ F3 Users Name │
│ F4 Auto Dialler Time Out │
│ F5 Define Mail Files │
│ F6 Default Script Timeout │
│ F7 Exit │
│ │
└───────────────────────────────────┘
Move the highlighted scroll bar with the arrow keys, mouse or space
bar and select the option you wish by pressing return, pressing the
associated function key or by clicking the mouse once. Each option has
a slightly different usage.
Sound Toggle - Selecting this option 'toggles' the usage of sound (on
connection to remote systems or on errors). For
example, in the above illustration, if you were to
press F1 then the menu entry would change to 'Sound is
OFF'. Pressing it once again would change it back to
'Sound is ON', and so on.
Log File Toggle - Selecting this option 'toggles' the usage of a
detailed running log file of all connections made.
(COSWORTH.LOG, found in the main program directory)
For example, in the above illustration, if you were
to press F2 then the menu entry would change to 'Log
file is OFF'. Pressing it once again would change it
back to 'Log file is ON', and so on.
Users Name - This one will simply ask you for your name! This is
needed in order to allow script files to use the script
variables *NAME, *FIRST and *LAST properly.
Auto Dialler Time Out - You will be prompted to enter the time (in
minutes) that the Auto Dialler will time out
after if no data is received from the remote
system, usually a sign that your script file
has gone awry or that the remote system has
hung. The value entered must be between 1 and
99, though anyone selecting anything like 99
minutes for an Auto Dialler time out needs to
have a good talking to!
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Configuring Cosworth page 23
Define Mail Files - One of the problems facing users of all kinds of
PC Communications is the use of electronic mail.
Mail can be read offline (thereby saving your
phone bills) by downloading 'mailbags', replying
to them using an offline mail editor, then
uploading your replies to the remote system the
next time you log on. The theory is that you then
delete your replies and then edit the replies to
the mailbag you have just downloaded. Great, eh?
Unfortunately, there is a problem; what if you
forget to delete the uploaded replies from your
upload directory. You will probably at some time
forget what you have done and upload the same
replies twice. Not all host systems have
intelligent enough mail routines to detect whether
you've already uploaded replies and will gaily
sort them as if they were brand new, thereby
duplicating all your messages, making you look a
complete fool and incurring the wrath of the
System Operator whose hard disk has to hold all
this duplicated stuff. Okay, so what if it's only
one or two messages? But what if it were a dozen?
Or six hundred? More problems...but COSWORTH comes
to the rescue!
If you select this option you will be presented
with the following line;
Enter file masks : *.REP FORTH*.*......................
You can then enter up to TEN file 'masks' (that
is, filenames using the DOS wildcards '*' and '?',
if you wish) which specify the file names of all
your mailbag replies. The installation program
puts in the above entries, where for example
'*.REP' is the name of the reply mailbag generated
by QWK compatible offline mailers. If you upload a
file which falls into any of the (maximum of) ten
file masks you specify, then you will receive a
prompt asking you if you wish to delete the
mailbag. Simply tell COSWORTH that you wish the
file to be deleted, and wave bye bye to
duplicated, mail uploads forever more!
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Configuring Cosworth page 24
Well...almost forever more. You will only receive
the file deletion request IF YOU RECEIVE BACK A
ZERO DOS 'ERRORLEVEL' FROM THE PROTOCOL PROGRAM
DOING THE UPLOAD! If the protocol program returns
anything other that a zero ERRORLEVEL then it
generally means something went wrong somewhere
along the line and the upload never took place.
Fair enough? Almost. However, some protocol
programs return non-zero ERRORLEVELs even when
everything went fine! So you will *probably* not
ever have duplicated mailbags again!
Default Script Timeout - This will prompt you for the time (in
seconds) that COSWORTH will wait after
waiting for a script file prompt specified by
a script RECEIVE command. That is, if
COSWORTH is has got to this point in a script
file...
RECEIVE "This is a prompt!"
...then it will allow a certain length of
time to receive this prompt before timing the
script file out (and aborting it and, if you
are using it, dropping the carrier in Auto
Dialler Mode). That length of time is the
default script timeout. You can enter
anything you like between 1 (which is
probably just a tad too fast!) and 9999
seconds.
Selecting EXIT from the main menus presents you with confirmation as
to whether you wish to keep any of the changes you have made. You will
then be taken back to the main configuration menu.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Configuring Cosworth page 25
DIRECTORY DEFAULTS
------------------
This menu will ask you for the default settings for your dialling
directory entries. When you add a new dialling directory entry, it
will be pre-filled out with the settings read from the directory
defaults, thereby saving you having to type them all in, although you
can obviously change them if you wish to.
These are also the default values used to initialise the port when in
COSWORTH's Terminal Mode, although they can be overridden by issuing
other commands from the terminal itself.
The default entry table looks like this;
┌───────┤ ENTER DEFAULT DIRECTORY SETTINGS ├────────┐
│ │
│ BAUD 19200 │
│ PARITY None │
│ DATA BITS 8 │
│ STOP BITS 1 │
│ HANDSHAKING RTS/CTS │
│ PREFIX 1 │
│ TERMINAL ANSI │
│ PROTOCOL Zmodem │
│ DIAL TIME 99 │
│ LOCAL ECHO NO │
│ LINE FEEDS NO │
│ DEST BS YES │
│ │
└──────────────────┤ ESC TO QUIT ├──────────────────┘
Enter baud : 300 1200 2400 4800 7200 9600 12000 14400 19200 38400 57600
The current position is highlighted and the valid choices are at the
foot of the screen. To change each setting, use the left and right
arrow keys to move the highlight block on the lower (strip) menu and
press return on the entry you wish to select. If you want to move to
another entry in the upper (vertical) menu then use the up and down
arrow keys until you reach the point you are after. Most selections
are presented as either multiple choice (as in the BAUD example above)
or as Yes/No choices (for example, in the LOCAL ECHO) entry.
If you wish to alter the default protocol to be used then select YES
from the 'Change Protocol? (Y/N)' prompt and you will be presented
with the protocol menu, allowing you to select the default protocol
from all those installed into COSWORTH.
For explicit descriptions of the meanings of all these fields, please
consult the documentation regarding the dialling directory itself.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Configuring Cosworth page 26
SAVE CONFIGURATION
------------------
Once you have made all the amendments you wish to COSWORTH's
configuration then you are free to carry on and use them. However,
unless you explicitly SAVE the configuration then the changes you have
made will be lost when you quit the program. To make the changes
permanent, select Save Configuration from the menu and the
configuration file COSWORTH.CFG will be rewritten to reflect your
changes. This way, all your changes will be preserved the next time
you start up COSWORTH.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Configuring Cosworth page 27
THE DIALLING DIRECTORY
----------------------
The COSWORTH dialling directory has been designed to be both easy to
use and informative.
Dialling directories are saved using the file extension PHN. By
default, when starting up COSWORTH the dialling directory COSWORTH.PHN
is loaded, although this can be over-ridden by using the DIR= command
line directive to load another directory.
Once you have installed COSWORTH onto your system a sample dialling
directory is created which contains the dialling details for four
popular bulletin board systems. This is how the dialling directory
may look, depending upon the choices you made in the installation
program;
┌──────────────────────┤ Dialling Directory COSWORTH ├─────────────────────────┐
│ Name of Remote System Telephone Number Baud Port Script │
├────┬──────────────────────────────┬────────────────────┬──────┬─────┬────────┤
│ 1│ALMAC BBS │0324 665371 │2400 │8-N-1│ALMAC │
│ 2│FORTH VIEW BBS │031 660 6680 │2400 │8-N-1│PC-BOARD│
│ 3│BLUE LABEL BBS │0224 827166 │2400 │8-N-1│BLUELBL │
│ 4│PISTON POPPER BBS │0424 853361 │2400 │8-N-1│PISTON │
│ 5│MISSION IMPOSSIBLE │0602 654329 │2400 │8-N-1│MISSPOSS│
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
├────┴──────────────────────────────┴────────────────────┴──────┴─────┴────────┤
│ System Name ALMAC BBS Number Of Calls 0 │
│ Password Prefix # 1 Dialling Time 60 seconds │
│ Handshaking XON/XOFF Terminal ANSI Protocol XCos (Xmodem) │
│ Total Time Spent On Line 0 minute(s) and 0 seconds │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Dial Insrt Create Edit Copy Manual Remove Sort Print New Load Zero Tag Untag │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The upper section of the directory display consists of a window with a
highlighted entry, indicating the current selection. If there are more
than ten entries in each directory then these can be shown by moving
the highlight bar. The highlight bar can be moved using the PageUp,
PageDn, Home, End and arrow keys as well as by using a mouse. The
lower panel shows more detailed information about the settings for the
currently selected entry. (In the case of the sample directory, this
information is based upon your responses to the questions posed in the
INSTALL.EXE program)
Several connections can be made in succession by selecting the current
entry by using the space bar. Once selected in this manner a marker
will appear on the right hand side of the dialling entry indicating
that that entry has been selected. To deselect an entry, move the
highlight bar back to it and press the space bar again. You can select
any number of entries in this manner, causing a queue of entries to be
connected at any one time.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - The Dialling Directory page 28
The upper window shows the name and telephone number of each entry in
the directory followed by the baud rate, summarised port settings and
the name of any script file associated with that particular entry.
The lower panel shows the number of calls made, the password (if
specified) for the current entry, the required dialling prefix, the
dialling time for each attempt to connect to the current entry, the
handshaking protocol, the kind of display that is used, the default
file transfer protocol plus the total length of all successful
connections made.
Along the bottom of the directory display is a list of the possible
commands that you can issue by pressing the initial (highlighted)
letter of each. We will deal with these one at a time;
Dial
This causes COSWORTH to start dialling (surprisingly enough!) the
currently selected entry. On doing so, the dialling directory will be
replaced with the dialling screen which will show all command strings
being sent to the modem. A status line will appear at the bottom of
the screen showing the remaining dial time for each connection at the
lower right corner. More about dialling and being on line in a
minute... You can also start dialling by pressing the return key when
the scroll bar is over the entry for the remote system you wish to
contact. Incidentally, if you attempt to dial a blank entry which has
just been created with the Insert or New commands then you will be
forced to edit that entry instead. But more about editing dialling
directories in a minute as well..
Insrt
This will insert a blank entry into the dialling directory at the
point currently highlighted by the scroll bar. You can also select
this with the insert key.
Create
A new blank dialling directory will be created on your disk.
Edit
This will cause you to edit the dialling directory entry currently
highlighted. We'll cover this in detail in a minute!
Copy
A new entry will be inserted immediately after the current entry and
the current highlighted entry will be copied into the new entry. This
may be useful where you wish to associate numerous script files with
one remote system.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - The Dialling Directory page 29
Manual
If you select Manual dialling, a box will appear at the bottom of the
screen asking you for a telephone number. Simply enter the telephone
number into the box and press return. The number will then be dialled
using the defaults as set up in the Directory Defaults section of the
configuration section.
Remove
This will delete the entry currently highlighted by the scroll bar.
You can also select this by pressing the delete key.
Sort
This will sort the dialling directory along one of three criteria; it
can be sorted according to the names of the remote systems, the total
time spent on line (with the longest first) or by the number of calls
made to each system (again with the highest first). Alternatively, if
you do not wish to sort the directory, select 'QUIT' or press escape.
Print
Unbelievable as it may seem, this option actually prints the dialling
directory out onto paper. The print out will show each entry with all
of its settings, together with a note of the total number of calls you
have made and the total length of time you have been on line. Scary.
Please ensure you have a printer attached to your computer first! If
you don't, or if you have some other problem with the printer, then an
error message will occur advising you that the printer is either out
of paper, off line or busy, depending upon the circumstances.
New
This will append a blank entry to the end of the dialling directory.
Load
Selecting this option will bring up a scrolling directory box showing
all the dialling directories on your disk. Simply move the highlight
bar to the directory that you want to load and press return. The
selected directory will then be loaded up.
Zero
This will reset the number of calls and total time on line back to
zero. If you select this option you will be greeted a prompt saying;
'Zero the highlighted entry, all entries or none? (H/A/N)'
Pressing 'H' will cause the entry currently highlighted to be zeroed.
Pressing 'A' will zero all entries in the dialling directory. Pressing
'N' is effectively the same as pressing escape.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - The Dialling Directory page 30
Tag
This will 'tag' the currently highlighted entry. A small marker will
appear in the left hand margin showing that the entry has been tagged.
By tagging entries in this manner you can cause COSWORTH to dial out
to multiple systems in a queue, one after the other. You can also tag
entries with the space bar.
Untag
Selecting this option will untag all tagged entries in the current
directory.
EDITING THE DIALLING DIRECTORY
------------------------------
If you select 'Edit' from the main dialling directory, a window will
pop up on the screen showing the settings for the current entry. The
window looks like this;
┌───────────┤ EDIT CURRENT DIRECTORY ENTRY ├────────────┐
│ │
│ Name ALMAC BBS │
│ Number 0324 665371 │
│ Password │
│ Script File ALMAC │
│ Dial Time 60 │
│ Baud 2400 │
│ Parity None │
│ Stop Bits 1 │
│ Data Bits 8 │
│ Handshaking XONXOFF │
│ Prefix 1 │
│ Terminal ANSI │
│ Protocol Xmodem CheckSum │
│ Local Echo NO │
│ Add Line Feed NO │
│ Dest. Backspace YES │
│ │
│ │
└────────────────────┤ ESC TO QUIT ├────────────────────┘
There will be a highlight bar over the 'NAME' field and a box on the
bottom line inviting you to enter the name of the current entry. you
can move the highlight bar up and down the window with the arrow keys.
As you do so, the prompt at the foot of the screen will change
according to what field you are currently highlighting.
The fields are either edited using a text entry line, as in the 'NAME'
field, or through a multiple choice selection menu. If you wish to
record your amendment, press return, otherwise press an arrow key to
move to a new field and leave the old field unaltered. We shall deal
with each of the fields separately;
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - The Dialling Directory page 31
Name
All you have to enter here is the name of the remote system. You are
allowed up to thirty characters for this field.
Number.
Here you have to enter here is the telephone number for the remote
system. You are allowed up to twenty characters for this field. If you
are a subscriber to Mercury Communications then prefixing the number
with the letter 'M' will cause the connection to be made via Mercury,
assuming that you have defined your Mercury code in the configuration,
that is! Please note that it is *not* recommended you make local calls
via Mercury. At the time of writing, routing local calls through
Mercury costs about 2½ times as much as British Telecom.
Password
Enter the password you use on the remote system, if any. This will be
used to replace the *PASSWORD variable in script files. You are
allowed up to fifteen characters for this field.
Script File
Enter the name of the associated script file, if any, you wish run
when calling the remote system. A couple of points to make here;
although script files all have the file extension '.SPT' do NOT enter
this, only the first portion of the file name. Also, if you enter the
name of a script file which does not exist in the script file
directory (as defined in the configuration menu) then COSWORTH will
assume that you wish to learn it and will create it for you the first
time you connect to the remote system. See the section of this manual
on script files for more information. You are allowed eight characters
for the script file name.
Dial Time
This is the length of time in seconds that COSWORTH will take between
dialling the telephone number for the remote system and hanging up to
try again. Enter a value between 1 and 255. Note that you can manually
intervene when dialling out. If you find that your dial time is too
short, pressing the up and down arrow keys will temporarily increase
or decrease the dialling time respectively. But more about that later
as well.....!
Baud
This is the speed at which the remote system operates. If you have
elected to operate with a locked port (in the modem strings
configuration section) then this should be set to the highest speed at
which the RS232 port on your computer can operate reliably. You will
be presented with a multiple choice menu along the foot of the screen
like this;
Enter baud : 300 1200 2400 4800 7200 9600 12000 14400 19200 38400 57600
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - The Dialling Directory page 32
Move the highlighted box along the line with the left and right arrow
keys until you reach the required baud rate and then press return to
select it.
Parity
Enter the required parity setting for the remote system. You will be
presented again with a multiple choice menu like this;
Enter parity : Space Odd Mark Even None
Move the highlighted box along the line with the left and right arrow
keys until you reach the required parity setting and then press return
to select it.
Stop Bits
Enter the required number of stop bits for the incoming data from the
remote system. Again, you will be presented with a multiple choice
menu like this;
Enter stop bits : 1 2
Move the highlighted box along the line with the left and right arrow
keys until you reach the required number of stop bits and then press
return to select it.
Data Bits
Enter the required number of data bits for the incoming data from the
remote system. Again, you will be presented with a multiple choice
menu like this;
Enter data bits : 7 8
Move the highlighted box along the line with the left and right arrow
keys until you reach the required number of data bits and then press
return to select it.
Handshaking
Enter the handshaking (or flow control) you require. You can select
from one either None, Rts/Cts (also known as hardware handshaking) or
Xon/Xoff (also known as software handshaking). Hardware handshaking is
generally reserved for high speed modems and locked RS232 ports.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - The Dialling Directory page 33
Prefix
Select which dialling prefix is to be used with the remote system.
These are the strings to be sent to your modem immediately prior to
the telephone number. As a reminder of what prefixes you have set up,
a further small window will appear on the screen containing each of
your current prefixes. Your prefixes will normally (if you have a
Hayes compatible modem) start with 'AT' and terminate with either 'DT'
for tone dialling or 'DP' for pulse dialling. Between these characters
you can place any further modem commands, such as those which activate
or deactivate error correction, handshaking options, duplexing or
whatever else you wish. There are five prefixes defined in order to
allow maximum flexibility.
Terminal
Select the method of terminal emulation you require from either
TELETYPE or ANSI. Teletype is just a case of sending everything that
comes in through your serial port onto the screen. It's pretty basic.
ANSI, on the other hand, gives full emulation of ANSI commands EXCEPT
the ESC[=Psh command which sets the graphic mode, since this could
play merry hell with COSWORTH's output! Select whichever terminal
emulation you have configured the remote system for. Also note that
you can temporarily change the setting when on line as well, but more
about that in a minute as well...!
Protocol
This defines the default file transfer protocol which will be used on
this system. This is the protocol which will be first highlighted in
the protocol menu (yes, that in a minute too!) when you start to
download or upload a file. It will also be the protocol used when the
script file encounters a DOWNLOAD or UPLOAD command whilst connected
to this remote system. Choose YES if you wish to alter the default
protocol. You will be presented with a menu listing all your installed
protocols. Choose the new one using the scroll bar and the return key.
Local Echo
If you choose YES to this option then every character you type will be
written to the screen and sent to the modem. This is only normally
selected for terminal to terminal connections, since most bulletin
boards will echo your characters back at you.
Add Line Feed
If you choose YES to this option then every return character you
receive will cause a line feed to be added. Again, this is only
normally selected for terminal to terminal connections, since most
bulletin boards will automatically add line feeds for you.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - The Dialling Directory page 34
Dest. Backspace
If you choose YES to this option then typing a backspace whilst on
line will be 'destructive' in that it will delete the immediately
preceding character and move the cursor back to that point, exactly
like the DOS command line. If you select NO then a non-destructive
backspace will be enabled which will only move the cursor back without
overwriting the preceding characters.
Once you are satisfied that you have made all the changes you wish,
pressing escape will cause the prompt
Save this directory entry? (Y/N)
to appear at the foot of the screen. If you press 'Y' then the
dialling directory will be updated with your changes. If you press 'N'
then the editing session will abort and no changes will be made.
DIALLING AND CONNECTING
-----------------------
If you press 'D' for dial or return when in the dialling directory,
you will start to dial the highlighted system. Here's what happens;
First of all, you can hit either escape or the space bar during the
dialling procedure. Hitting escape will abort the dialling process
altogether and will return you to the dialling directory. Hitting the
space bar will have one of two effects; if you have several numbers
'queued' by tagging them in the dialling directory then the current
entry being dialled is aborted and goes to the back of the queue. The
next number in the queue will then be dialled. On the other hand, if
you are only dialling one number then the current attempt at
connecting to it is aborted and the process will restart.
COSWORTH will first attempt to detect whether or not you have a live
and working modem attached to your serial port. If you don't then an
error (error #10, to be exact) will flash on the screen and you will
be sent back to the dialling directory. If you DO have a working modem
on the serial port in question (and you have specified the correct
port, of course!) and this error occurs then try restarting COSWORTH
with the /NOCHECKING command line switch. Auto checking like this does
not work with all modems. See the errors section of this manual for
more advice on this situation.
The next thing to happen is that COSWORTH will check for the presence
of a resident Fossil driver. If it finds that a Fossil driver has been
loaded then an error stating 'RESIDENT FOSSIL DRIVER DETECTED - PORT
MAY NOT BE INITIALISED CORRECTLY!' is shown on the screen.
Occasionally, a resident fossil will hold the baud rate of the port to
that which it has been set and will not allow further initialisation
of the port to proceed. However, this error will only flag the
presence of the Fossil driver - it will not prevent the port
initialisation from proceeding.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - The Dialling Directory page 35
After this, COSWORTH will attempt to detect and disable FIFO buffering
found in 16550A UART chips, on the selected serial port. If the
buffering is left active then COSWORTH will not be able to initialise
the port at all. After this, the port will be initialised using the
required baud, parity, stop and data bits, following which FIFO
buffering will be re-enabled.
Next the string you have specified as 'RESET' in the modem strings
configuration is sent to your modem and a response is awaited. If the
response is your defined 'MODEM ERROR' string then an error message
will be displayed, all queued dialling will be aborted (since your
modem is not going to be initialised by any successive call) and the
dialling process is terminated. However, if you receive the defined
'MODEM OK' string then the 'INITIALISATION' string you have specified
is sent to initialise the modem to the settings you require, which
will again await either the 'MODEM OK' or 'MODEM ERROR' strings as
before. After a response to this has been received, the dialling
prefix you have specified will be sent to your modem, followed by the
Mercury code (if required) followed by the number you wish to dial.
The right hand side of the status line at the foot of the screen will
show a decreasing counter showing the number of seconds of dialling
time you have remaining. If you wish to temporarily alter this,
pressing the up arrow key will increment the dialling time by five
seconds and pressing the down arrow will decrement this value by five
seconds. You cannot increment this value beyond 255 nor decrement it
below zero. (obviously!) You ought to be able to hear your modem
dialling the number (if you have a loudspeaker fitted to it) and then
hear the appropriate telephone line signals of either ringing, engaged
or, if you're just plain unlucky, disconnected!
At this stage one of several things may occur. If the line is ringing
and continues to do so beyond the dialling time then the words
'DIALLING TIMED OUT' will appear on your screen and the dialling
process will recommence. If the line is busy then the appropriate
string returned by your modem on receiving an engaged line will be
returned ONLY IF IT IS DEFINED IN THE 'BUSY STRINGS' SECTION OF THE
MODEM CONTROL STRINGS IN THE CONFIGURATION MENU! If you haven't
defined it then COSWORTH will not be able to recognise nor interpret
the current situation. This string is usually 'BUSY'. Consult your
modem documentation for this. (Note : if your modem supports higher
'X' result code commands then it will probably be able to detect the
fact that the line is engaged prior to the dialling period timing out.
Use these higher codes whenever possible - they will save you time)
If the line is ringing but no answer is made then the dialling period
will simply time out and recommence.
If, however, the line is answered by the remote modem (and hopefully
not some sleepy human being) then you ought to hear your modem
'talking' briefly to the other one. After this, you ought to receive
what is known as the 'connect string'. For this to be received
properly, COSWORTH must know what the connect string looks like. If
the connect strings are not set up properly in the modem control
strings section of the configuration menu then COSWORTH will assume
that no connection was made and the dialling process will recommence
after timing out.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - The Dialling Directory page 36
Assuming, though, that all is well and the connection is made, you
will see the connect string displayed on the screen followed by a
brief tune announcing the connection. (if you have the sounds enabled)
If you are contacting a system that you have never connected to
before, then COSWORTH will automatically ask you if you want to open a
capture file. This may be useful since some systems show special
information to new users and you may want to refer to it at a later
date.
After that you are connected to the remote system and you are
communicating with the software being run by that system. A sample
connection screen might look like this;
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONNECT 14400/ARQ/V32/MNP
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
█ ┐ ┐ ┌── ┐ ┌── ┌──┐ ┌─┬─┐ ┌── ┌─┬─┐ ┌──┐ █
█ │ │ ├ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├ │ │ │ █
█ └─┴─┘ └── └── └── └──┘ ┘ ┘ └── ┘ └──┘ █
█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█
███ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄ ███
███ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ ██
███ █▀▀▀▀▀█ █ █ █ █▀▀▀▀▀█ █ ┌───┐ ┌───┐ ┌───┐ ██
███ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ │ ──┴┐ │ ──┴┐ └───┐ ██
███ ▀ ▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀▀▀▀▀ └────┘ └────┘ └───┘ Ltd. ██
████▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄██
███████████████ SysOps : Mark Anderson, Alastair McIntyre ▀████████████
████████████████▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄████████████
███████████████ █████████████
███████████████ Heathpark Tel: +44 (0)324 666336 █████████████
███████████████ 141 Bo'ness Rd Fax: +44 (0)324 665155 █████████████
███████████████ Grangemouth █████████████
███████████████ FK3 9BS PC Board S/n 0011123 █████████████
███████████████ █████████████
████████████████▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄████████████
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
What is your first name?
ALMAC BBS │CONNECT 14400│L19200 8-N-1│00:00:09│18:55:32│CS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
In this example, the connect string received is shown at the top of
the screen as 'CONNECT 14400/ARQ/V32/MNP' which indicates the speed of
the connection and the error correction method being employed. Your
modem may not support many of these features so don't get worried if
they don't appear!
Beneath that comes the body of the text being received from the remote
system, as text is received down the line it is shown on the screen
using whatever terminal emulation you specified. As more text comes
in, the existing text scrolls off the top of the screen.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - The Dialling Directory page 37
The bottom line (line 25) of the screen does not come from the remote
system. It is the status bar which tells you something about how
COSWORTH is operating and what the line connection rate is. The left
hand portion of the status line shows the name of the system you are
connected to. The next portion shows the connection speed as taken
from the connect string. The next portion shows the port status - in
the above case the user would have been operating with a serial port
locked at 19200 baud, signified by the 'L' character preceding the
baud rate. If the port was unlocked then the port baud rate setting
ought to match that of the connection speed. The 8-N-1 portion
summaries the bit settings of the incoming data,m in this case 8 bits,
no parity and 1 stop bit. After this appear two clocks; the one on the
left shows the length of time that you have been on line for and the
one on the right shows the time of day. The last three character
spaces (although only two characters are being shown in this example)
tell you something about the way COSWORTH is actually operating. The
left character shows you the capture file status. This can be either
'C' indicating a capture file is active and operating, 'U' indicating
that the capture file is active but has been suspended or nothing at
all indicating that (go on, have a guess...) no capture file is being
used. The second character tells you something about the status of the
script file in use. This could be either 'S' if a script file is being
used, 'L' if a script file is being learned, 'A' if you are in auto
dialler mode (since you can't connect using the auto dialler facility
without a script file!) or blank if no script file is being used at
that time. The last character is a 'P' if a printer capture is
activated or blank otherwise.
Once you are on line and connected you are not entirely at the mercy
of the remote system! There are various keystrokes which you can use
to alter the way COSWORTH is operating or change the manner in which
the incoming data is being displayed. The keystrokes are mostly two
key combinations such as ALT-A which mean you have to hold down the
'ALT' key and press the 'A' key whilst still holding the 'ALT' key
down. We kind of hoped you would know that but God knows, you have to
document everything these days.
The keystrokes available to you are as follows;
ALT-A Abandon the current script file if you are currently running
one. The 'S' will disappear from the right hand corner of the
status line and every keystroke will be up to you from that
point. This may be useful if you wish to do more whilst on line
than your script file normally allows.
ALT-B Send a BREAK signal to the remote system. This is required by
some host systems to do certain tasks like ending
transmissions.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - The Dialling Directory page 38
ALT-C Change the capture file status. If a capture file is not
running then you will be asked if you want to start one. If you
reply that you do then you will be prompted for the name of the
capture file to create. If that file already exists then it
will be appended to, if it doesn't exist then it will be
created.This file name defaults to COSWORTH.CAP. If a capture
file is running then you will be asked whether you want to stop
it or to suspend it temporarily. If a capture file has been
suspended then you will be asked whether you want to reactivate
it or not. In any event, the keys to press in response are
shown in brackets in the information box that appears on
pressing this keystroke.
ALT-D Shell to DOS temporarily. The screen will clear and you will
find yourself in a DOS session. To remind you that you are on
line, the DOS prompt will change from your normal prompt into
the rather alarming '[CW ON-LINE!] $p$g'. To re-enter COSWORTH,
type EXIT <return> at the DOS prompt and you will find yourself
at exactly the same position you were in before you shelled
out.
ALT-E Toggle local echo on or off. Local echo will cause every
character you type to be sent to the modem and written to the
screen.
ALT-F Terminate script file learning mode. If you are learning a
script file then you need not continue to do so until you log
off. The script file will be closed and saved off to disk.
ALT-H Hang up. Pressing ALT-H will pop up a small box asking you to
confirm that you wish to hang up. If you confirm that you wish
to do so, the carrier will be dropped and the session
terminated. NOTE: Do NOT do this whilst in the middle of a
session with a bulletin board unless there is no other option.
Most system operators (sysops) give more than a little irked at
people 'hopping on' and 'hopping off' in this manner, since
their software may not always stand up to this manner of
dropping carrier. Unless the remote software has locked up or
there is no other manner of logging off (which unlikely) always
log off using the manner which the remote software gives you.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - The Dialling Directory page 39
ALT-K Kill an auto dialler session. If you have connected
using the Auto Dialler facility, then pressing ALT-K will cause
the Auto Dialler session (for the current connection only) to
be terminated. Note that the script file running will not be
terminated and will continue until aborted with the ALT-A
keystroke. The reason for the ALT-K keystroke is this; if it is
obvious that a script file is going awry or if you simply want
to interrupt the script then aborting it with ALT-A will,
during an Auto Dialler session, cause COSWORTH to think that
the script terminated prematurely and will drop carrier, as
part of the inbuilt protection against Auto Dialler sessions
leaving you on line for lengthy periods. By pressing ALT-K,
this problem can be circumvented by simply telling COSWORTH
that the current connection must not be considered as an Auto
Dialler connection.
ALT-L Toggle additional line feeds on or off.
ALT-M Modify the display type. This will pop up a small box asking
you which of Teletype or ANSI terminal emulation you require.
Pressing the initial letter of the display type (either T or A)
will invoke that particular terminal emulation type.
ALT-N Insert a note in the log file, if one is enabled. A small box
will pop up inviting you to enter a line of text to be inserted
in the log file. Once you have edited the line to your
satisfaction, pressing enter will place that line into your log
file. See the section on COSWORTH's ancillary files for more
details on the log file.
ALT-P Toggles printer capture on or off.
ALT-R Toggles the presence or absence of the status line. If a
status line is enabled then pressing ALT-R will cause the whole
screen to be used by the incoming data. Pressing ALT-R again
will cause the status line to reappear.
ALT-S Take a snapshot of the current screen. The entire contents of
the screen (but not the status line) will be captured and
stored in the COSWORTH.SNP snapshot file.
ALT-T Toggles destructive backspace on and off.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - The Dialling Directory page 40
ALT-U Upload a prepared text file. If you have to send messages over
a bulletin board then preparing the text offline (ie, whilst
not actually connected) can go some way to reducing your
telephone costs. Instead of typing your messages into a text
editor found on a bulletin board, enter the menu as per normal
and press ALT-U. A small box will appear asking you for the
name of the file containing your prepared text. Either type the
name in and press enter, or press enter on the blank line and a
scrolling directory listing will appear, allowing you to select
the file you wish to upload. Once you have selected or entered
the name of the file, COSWORTH will read the contents of the
file in a line at a time and send it to the remote system. This
will continue until either then end of the file has been
reached or you have aborted the process by pressing the escape
key.
ALT-X Send an XOFF character to the remote system. It is possible
that spurious characters generated by line noise may send an
XON character which may give you the impression that the
connection has 'hung'. If you experience this, you may be able
to resume the connection by pressing sending an XOFF
character.
PageUp Commence the file uploading process. This will invoke an
external protocol and will allow you to transfer files to the
remote system. Initially, a scrolling menu will appear asking
you to select the required transfer protocol. The highlighted
entry in the menu will initially be the default protocol as
entered in the dialling directory entry for the remote system,
although any other protocol can be used, as long as the remote
system knows which protocol you are using and is using it too.
After you have selected the protocol, the next part is
dependent on the upload command line you have defined for the
protocol. If you have specified the COSWORTH system variable
'*FNAME' in the command line then a box will appear asking you
for the name of the file to be uploaded. The box will be
pre-filled with the last file name that appeared on the screen.
(since the remote software has probably either asked you to
type in the actual file name or knows it in advance, prompting
you with something like 'ABOUT TO RECEIVE YOURFILE.ZIP') Either
press return on the input line on the screen or retype the name
of the file if it is wrong. You can also delete the name of the
file in the box and press enter on the blank line to bring up a
scrolling directory box which will show you the current
contents of your upload directory, as defined in the paths
section of the configuration menu. You can then select the file
that you wish to upload - the menu will also allow you to move
across directories, thereby allowing you to upload any file you
have on your disk. Once you have selected or entered the name
of the file, the external protocol will execute. If a non-zero
errorlevel is returned by the external protocol then an error
message will be generated advising you of a possible problem
with the transfer. After the transfer has completed AND ONLY IF
YOU HAVE RECEIVED A ZERO ERRORLEVEL FROM THE PROTOCOL PROGRAM
(usually meaning that all went well with the protocol transfer)
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - The Dialling Directory page 41
then COSWORTH will inspect the file masks you have specified in
the Mail Files section of the configuration menu. If the file
you have just uploaded matches any of these file masks then -
if a script file is not running - a box will pop up asking you
if you wish to delete the file just uploaded. If you press 'Y'
then the file will be deleted, pressing 'N' will leave it
alone. After this, the transfer section is over and you will be
returned to the session where you left off.
PageDN Commence the file downloading process. This will invoke an
external protocol and will allow you to transfer files from
the remote system. Initially, a scrolling menu will appear
asking you to select the required transfer protocol. The
highlighted entry in the menu will initially be the default
protocol as entered in the dialling directory entry for the
remote system, although any other protocol can be used, as
long as the remote system knows which protocol you are using
and is using it too. After you have selected the protocol, the
next part is dependent on the upload command line you have
defined for the protocol. If you have specified the COSWORTH
system variable '*FNAME' in the command line then a box will
appear asking you for the name of the file to be downloaded.
The box will be pre-filled with the last file name that
appeared on the screen. (since the remote software has
probably either asked you to type in the actual file name or
knows it in advance, prompting you with something like 'ABOUT
TO SEND YOURFILE.ZIP') You must then enter the name of the
file being downloaded and press return. Once you have entered
the name of the file, the external protocol will execute. If a
non-zero errorlevel is returned by the external protocol then
an error message will be generated advising you of a possible
problem with the transfer. After this, the transfer section is
over and you will be returned to the session where you left
off.
F1 Shows a help screen summarising all the available keystrokes.
It will also show you the password you have allocated for that
connection - useful for those with short memories!
F2 Shows a summary of all the keystroke macros you have defined.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - The Dialling Directory page 42
In addition to the above keystrokes, there is one other very important
keystroke which may be useful under certain circumstances.
ALT-= This keystroke disables ALL the above keystrokes. Why use
this? Simply because it may occur that you will require one of
these keystrokes for another purpose. it may also be that you
have certain privileges on the system you are calling and have
the ability to shell to DOS or run external programs such as
text editors.This may require you to have keys such as F1 or
any of the ALT key combinations available. By pressing ALT-=
all the above COSWORTH keys will be temporarily disabled
allowing you to use them for other purposes. The only COSWORTH
keystroke which remains in force is ALT-= itself which will
allow you to reset all the above keystrokes to their uses
within COSWORTH.
Once you have completed your session, the carrier will be dropped and
you will either be returned to the dialling directory if you were only
dialling one number, or else the next number will be dialled if you
have a series of connections queued for dialling.
On exiting back to the dialling directory the figures for the number
of calls and total time spent on line for each system you have been
contacted will be incremented by the appropriate amount.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - The Dialling Directory page 43
SCRIPT FILES
------------
COSWORTH has a script language built into it which may take much of
the effort out of repetitive tasks when on line, such as entering your
name, password and so on.
What is a script file? In its simplest format, it is somewhat similar
to a DOS batch file, containing a list of prompts which your software
will 'expect' to receive from the remote system, and a list of replies
that it will send when it receives these prompts. Script files can
automate the usage of COSWORTH to the extent that little or no
intervention may be needed from you when logging on.
Obviously, this will require some knowledge of the system you are
contacting and the prompts it uses. However, much of the work in
creating script files can be avoided by using COSWORTH's ability to
learn and create script files as it goes along, without any
intervention from you at all!
Aside from 'learn' facility within COSWORTH, script files can also be
created by using any text editor or word processor capable of
outputting plain ASCII text without any control characters or
tabulations. If you haven't got a text editor then ensure your word
processor is set to 'non-document' mode in order to save the script
file out as ASCII. If you are unsure if your word processor can do
this, edit a short (say, ten line) file in your word processor, save
it out as TEST.DOC and exit to DOS. If, when you issue the DOS command
'TYPE TEST.DOC', you see your file jumbled up with odd characters that
you didn't type then you can be fairly sure that either your word
processor isn't set up properly or else it is incapable of saving
plain ASCII text. Almost any text editor will fit the bill -
personally, we use the excellent QEDIT by SemWare - but just about any
one will do.
Before explaining how script files actually work, let's list all the
available COSWORTH script file commands and their meanings;
RECEIVE <string> COSWORTH will wait until string specified is
received. If the string is not received by COSWORTH
within the length of time specified by you in the
'Default script time out' entry in the Program
Settings menu then the script will time out and
abort, although you will still remain on line. The
string you specify may be either in single quotes
(RECEIVE 'What is your name?'), double quotes
(RECEIVE "What is your name?") or in no quotation
marks at all. (RECEIVE What is your name?)
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Script Files page 44
SEND <string> COSWORTH will send the specified string to the
remote system. The string you specify may be either
in single quotes (SEND 'Joe Bloggs'), double quotes
(SEND "Joe Bloggs") or in no quotation marks at all.
(SEND Joe Bloggs) However, if you do not specify any
string in the script, and instead use the key word
INPUT (SEND INPUT) then a box will pop up on the
screen allowing you to type in whatever it is you
want sent to the remote system.
WAIT <seconds> Your script file will wait for the number of seconds
specified before timing out. Effectively, this is a
way to increase the default script time out that you
have set up in the Program Settings menu,
on-the-fly. Of course, using this command within a
script file will not permanently affect your set up.
This command is generally used prior to a RECEIVE
command in circumstances where your normal script
time out would be too short. Once the script file
encounters a WAIT it alters the time out period to
the length of time you have passed it in the
command, then goes on immediately to the next line.
If COSWORTH receives the RECEIVE string within the
period set up by the WAIT command then the script
time out period is reset back to the default,
otherwise the whole script file will time out as per
normal. If you pass NO parameters to the WAIT
command then it will WAIT indefinitely for the next
string to be received - handy if you are doing mail
(or other) downloads where you don't know quite how
long they will take.
UPLOAD <filename> Causes the file specified to be uploaded to the
remote system. The default protocol specified for
the remote system is used. By default, the file will
be taken from the directory you have specified as
the upload directory in the Paths menu. However, if
you specify a full qualified path name (for example,
C:\FILES\GAME.ZIP) then the file will be uploaded as
per the entire path name. If the file doesn't exist
then an error message will be generated.
DOWNLOAD filename Causes file specified to be downloaded from the
remote system. The default protocol specified for
the remote system is used. The file will be placed
into the directory you have set up as the download
directory in the Paths menu.
DELETE filename The file specified will be deleted, if it exists. If
the file doesn't exist then an error message will be
generated, although the script file will continue
to operate as normal.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Script Files page 45
CAPTURE <on/off f> Turns a capture file on or off. An additional
second parameter (shown here as 'f') can be used to
specify the name of the capture file. If no name is
given for the capture file then the file will
default to the name COSWORTH.CAP. If the capture
file exists when turned on the it will be appended
to, otherwise it will be created. It is probably
easiest to specify a capture file name as 'MYCAP'
since as part of its verification features, COSWORTH
will not let you path a script file directed capture
file elsewhere and will not allow file extensions
other than '.CAP'. If you specify a file name such
as 'C:\CAPTURES\CAPFILE.1' then the script will
delete all extraneous information from the file name
and will create (or append to) a file called
CAPFILE.CAP within the program path as defined in
the configuration. A directive other than ON or OFF
will result in the CAPTURE instruction being
ignored.
SOUND on/off Turns sounds on or off. This might be useful for
late night work!
MINIMUM SPEED <n> This is really only specified for the Auto Dialler,
although you might want to use it within your
'normal' script files as well. It demands that the
connection be made at _at_least_ the baud rate
defined as 'n'. If not, then the connection will be
broken. This is useful for systems that suffer
badly from 'line noise' that causes the negotiated
baud rate to drop, sometimes dramatically, causing
the whole operation to slow up. If you pass anything
other than a numeric argument 'n' to the command
then it will be ignored. Note that, although this
command (like any other) can be placed at any point
in the script file, it only really 'makes sense' to
have it as the first command in the script. Also,
watch out for silly entries like MINIMUM SPEED
1000000!
PAUSE <seconds> This will _unconditionally_ pause the processing of
the script file for the length of time specified.
This command is useful within script files for some
systems that utilise some text file displaying
utilities that pause themselves for a couple of
seconds before accepting keystrokes. Whereas WAIT is
used to delay the receipt of a string prompt, PAUSE
should be used to delay the sending of a string once
the prompt is received. If a non-numeric argument is
passed to the command then the command will be
ignored.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Script Files page 46
In additional to all the above, the script file also understands four
internal COSWORTH variables. When placed in the script file, they will
be read and expanded to their actual meaning. These variables are;
*NAME This is the full name as set up in the User's Name entry
in the Program Settings menu.
*FIRST This will return the Christian name extracted from the
User's Name entry in the Program Settings menu. Note that
if your name uses more than three 'words' (like 'Billie
Jean King') then *FIRST will only return the first word
extracted from the name. This is only to avoid an
ambiguity.
*LAST This will return the surname extracted from the User's
Name entry in the Program Settings menu. Note that if
your name uses more than three 'words' (like 'Rip Van
Winkle') then *LAST will only return the last word
extracted from the name. This is only to avoid an
ambiguity.
*PASSWORD This will be expanded to give the password you have
allocated to the remote system in the dialling directory.
# (hash) This is interpreted as a 'return' character.
^ (caret) To insert control characters into your script files, use
the caret notation. For example, ^M is interpreted as
CTRL-M, which would insert a return character into your
script prompts or strings. To insert a caret into your
prompts use two carets together, as in ^^. Some of the
more familiar control characters are
^M CR Carriage Return
^J LF Line Feed
^L FF Form Feed
^[ ESC Escape
NOTE: If you are using XON/XOFF handshaking then take
care not to include either ^Q (XON) or ^S (XOFF)
characters in your SEND strings as they will probably
disturb transmission!
Anything that COSWORTH finds within a script file that it _doesn't_
understand, it ignores. Also, you may freely add comments to the
script file as long as occupy a line by themselves and are preceded by
a semi colon character (;).
HOW TO USE SCRIPT FILES
-----------------------
Script files MUST reside in the script directory as set up in the
Paths menu. You cannot path a script file elsewhere.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Script Files page 47
Using a script file you have created couldn't be easier. To cause a
script file to be invoked merely enter the eight character name of the
script file into the SCRIPT entry in the dialling directory. NOTE THAT
ALL SCRIPT FILES HAVE THE FILE EXTENSION '.SPT'. Don't enter this,
just the file's name. So, for instance, if you have a script file by
the name of EAZIHOST.SPT and you want to associate this with your
entry for FORTH VIEW BBS (as is done by the installation program) then
edit the directory entry and include the name 'EAZIHOST' alongside the
entry for 'Script File' and save it. Your dialling directory should
then look something like this;
FORTH VIEW BBS │031 660 6680 │19200 │8-N-1│PC-BOARD
Then just dial the number and the script file will start up. You can
keep a check on the script file's 'status' by examining the bottom
right corner of the status line. If a script file is currently in use
then the centre character of the rightmost 'box' on the status line
will be an 'S'. If the script is finished running or aborted (by
pressing ALT-A when on line) then the character space will be blank.
If, however, a script file is being learned by COSWORTH then this
character will appear on the status line as an 'L'.
IMPORTANT - SCRIPT FILES *ARE* CASE SENSITIVE!
LEARNING SCRIPT FILES
---------------------
To force COSWORTH to learn a script file, just specify a NON-EXISTENT
script file name in the dialling directory. COSWORTH will detect the
fact that a script is being requested and will start creating the
script file for you. You can abort the learning process at any time
whilst on line by pressing ALT-F. Note that terminating the learning
process like this will save the script file off to disk.
There's one thing to remember when learning script file - don't learn
scripts for systems you have never contacted before. You will
generally find that most systems have a new set of procedures for new
users and may take you through questionnaires and display 'first time'
information to you. If you are learning a script file whilst doing
this then you'll almost certainly find that it won't be right the
second time! As a rule, don't specify scripts for new systems - leave
them until the second time or after.
Learned scripts will contain all the necessary commands required to
emulate the 'learned' connection, with the notable exception of the
PAUSE command, which cannot be learned. Since COSWORTH would have
difficulty in detecting whether a remote system is accepting
keystrokes at that time, PAUSE commands will have to be manually
entered into your script file (if necessary) using your text editor.
Similarly, it would be presumptuous of COSWORTH to add a MINIMUM SPEED
directive to your scripts. If you require this command then it too
will have to be manually edited into your script file.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Script Files page 48
EXAMPLE SCRIPT FILE
-------------------
;To demonstrate how to use COSWORTH's script language, here's a
;example of what you might find in a script file.
;This is a comment. You can add them freely throughout the file along
;as they are all preceded by a semi colon. The first thing this script
;does is check to see that the connection rate is fast enough to
;bother with! If the connection speed is too slow then the script will
;hang up the line for you.
MINIMUM SPEED 9600
;And let's assume that it's late at night and people are trying to
;sleep!
SOUND OFF
;Next, the script waits for the following prompt to be sent from the
;remote system before going any further. Note that the prompt (and
;ONLY the prompt!) can be enclosed in quotes, if you want.
RECEIVE "Please enter your name : "
;Now that this prompt has been received, send back your reply. Notice
;that this uses the internal *NAME variable instead of you having to
;enter your full name in the script. It also appends a return
;character in the form of an interpreted '#'.
SEND "*NAME#"
;Now the system asks for your password...
RECEIVE "Please enter your password : "
;..and you send it back. Again, this example uses the *PASSWORD
;internal variable. This is good practice, since you may well change
;your password, thereby saving you re-editing the script. Notice also
;how the return character after the password is being passed in the
;carat control character format.
SEND *PASSWORD^M
;Now let's say that the system has accepted your password and has
;logged you on. Imagine that it is now displaying a five second news
;bulletin that it forces you to read and NOT skip over. If you were to
;press a key then the system would ignore it, so...
PAUSE 7
;...which stops the script running for seven seconds (allowing enough
;leeway) and then recommences.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Script Files page 49
RECEIVE "What next? (U)pload, (D)ownload, (L)istings, (G)oodbye?"
;Okay, so it's a limited bulletin board..(!) You make your reply..
SEND 'U#'
RECEIVE "Waiting to receive file..."
;Now you'll start your upload of the file. Once it's uploaded you want
;to clear it out of your upload directory, so you delete it.
UPLOAD COSWORTH.ZIP
DELETE COSWORTH.ZIP
;Now, how long will it take to upload COSWORTH.ZIP? You won't really
;know unless you sit and work it out, and even then you might get it
;wrong. So the next command will prevent the command after it from
;'timing out'...
WAIT 900
;...by causing the script to increase it's time out to 900 seconds.
;That way, the following RECEIVE command will work.
RECEIVE "What next? (U)pload, (D)ownload, (L)istings, (G)oodbye?"
;Now that the above string has been received, the script time out is
;reset from 900 seconds back to your standard default. Imagine now
that you want to have a look at the file listings on the remote
system. You might want to turn a capture file on for this...
CAPTURE ON C:\COSWORTH\FILELIST.CAP
SEND "L#"
;Now the remote system is showing all the new files in its directory.
;Imagine that it has now done that and is displaying this...
RECEIVE "What next? (U)pload, (D)ownload, (L)istings, (G)oodbye?"
;You'll want to turn the capture off here, so..
CAPTURE OFF
SEND "D#"
RECEIVE "What file do you want to download?"
;..and then make a download. This uses the SEND INPUT format which
;will allow you to type in the characters to be sent to the remote
;system, in this case the name of the file that you want. After that
;you start your download. Note that some external protocols may
;require the file name to be passed to it.
SEND INPUT
RECEIVE "Sending file..."
DOWNLOAD
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Script Files page 50
;Again, you don't know how long this will take, so to be on the safe
;side, specify an unlimited waiting period before the next string is
;received..
WAIT
RECEIVE "What next? (U)pload, (D)ownload, (L)istings, (G)oodbye?"
;Say goodbye..
SEND "G#"
;...and the script file ends here...
HOW TO WRITE SCRIPT FILES
-------------------------
Assuming you don't want to use COSWORTH's ability to learn script
files for you, you can always write your own using a text editor, as
mentioned previously.
In order to be able to write your own script files, though, you must
be at least partly aware of how it is that COSWORTH deals with script
files and acts on the prompts you include in them.
The only command to note in this respect is the RECEIVE command. You
will not be able (at least, not all the time) to use RECEIVE prompts
if they are a considerable 'distance' up the screen from the cursor.
COSWORTH keeps a constant check on the characters you are receiving
and maintains a list of the last 255 of them. If you ask COSWORTH to
RECEIVE a prompt (or part of a prompt) that is more than appeared on
the screen more than 255 characters ago, then COSWORTH will never find
it and the chances are that your script file will fail.
In general, the best prompts to choose for this purpose are found in
the last few lines received. For example, if you wish a script file to
automatically enter a menu choice for you from a menu that fills the
screen and displays the prompt 'What is your choice? :', then this
prompt - being the latest received by you - would be the most sensible
to choose.
Once COSWORTH has recognised that it has indeed RECEIVEd the string
you are asking for, then its blanks out the list of characters it is
monitoring, in order that anything you receive after that will not be
interfered with by past prompts.
'SMART' SCRIPT FILES
--------------------
'What on Earth is a 'smart' script file?', I hear you ask. And well
you may. This is a feature which is (we think!) unique to COSWORTH and
which might save a bit of time. Smart scripts are only used should a
script file fail or start to fail. Huh? I'll try and explain...
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Script Files page 51
Picture the scene. You have set up a script file for your local BBS
which will log you on, pick up your mail, upload your replies, grab
the latest files listings and then log off. You've tested it and
watched it doing its stuff and it works just fine. So you set up Auto
Dialler to contact the BBS using your precious script file, whilst you
are in your bed, dreaming of the day you'll own a better modem.
Unknown to you, though, the BBS Sysop has stuck a temporary
message on the board advising everyone of something - his holidays,
Merry Christmas, the dog's not well or whatever. Say the message looks
like this;
╔═══════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ║
║ Would all users fill in the ║
║ questionnaire in mail area #2 please? ║
║ ║
║ Thanks. ║
║ ║
║ Bob - BBS Sysop ║
║ ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════╝
Press [ENTER] to continue...
What would happen? Well, your script file won't know about the 'Press
[ENTER] to continue...' prompt sitting on your screen and will
probably be sitting there, merrily waiting for a prompt which will
never appear because it doesn't see what it is expecting.
The final result will be that the script file will either time out
(because it hasn't received the right prompt in time), if using the
Auto Dialler then the maximum length of the Auto Dialler connection
will be reached (eventually) or COSWORTH will time out because it
doesn't receive any data within the Auto Dialler Time Out period (as
specified in the configuration menu) or else - if it's using smart
enough software - the BBS itself will time you out.
Either way, it means no carrier, no mail and no file listings. You get
up the next morning to find that the connection has failed and mutter
threats as you log on at a peak time to do the whole thing manually.
Well, that WOULD be the case, except...it might not be. What happens
is this;
COSWORTH knows that your script file is about to time out. What it
does, just on the point where the script is about to time out, is lift
the prompt from the screen and examine it, making a best guess as to
what is required by the BBS, then sends that guess (with a return
character) up the line in an attempt to get things moving again.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Script Files page 52
If COSWORTH cannot make head nor tail of the prompt then it tries a
return character by default just to see what would happen. If that
fails then the script will time out as normal and the connection will
be broken.
How does it do this? The answer is simple - it follows logical tests
to try and work out what the BBS software wants. These tests check to
see whether the prompt contains 'Y/N', 'Press RETURN', 'MORE?' or
numerous combinations thereof and returns a 'best guess' character.
Smart scripts will only be used ONCE. If the one attempt fails to do
anything then the script is allowed to time out.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Script Files page 53
KEYSTROKE MACROS WITHIN COSWORTH
--------------------------------
Macros are a handy way of saving you some time. With a macro, you can
associate a line of text (or 'string' as it is more commonly known)
with a particular keystroke. When that keystroke has been made, the
line of text you have previously associated with that key will be sent
to your modem.
This feature only works when you are either in terminal mode or when
you have connected to a remote system using the dialling directory.
EDITING MACROS
--------------
In order to set up your macros, press F5 from the main menu. The macro
string editor will appear, which looks like this;
┌─────────────────────────────┤ MACRO STRINGS ├──────────────────────────────┐
│ ALT-F1 JOE BLOGGS#...................................................... │
│ ALT-F2 *PASSWORD#....................................................... │
│ ALT-F3 ................................................................. │
│ ALT-F4 ................................................................. │
│ ALT-F5 ................................................................. │
│ ALT-F6 ................................................................. │
│ ALT-F7 ................................................................. │
│ ALT-F8 ................................................................. │
│ ALT-F9 ................................................................. │
│ ALT-F10 ................................................................. │
│ CTRL-F1 ................................................................. │
│ CTRL-F2 ................................................................. │
│ CTRL-F3 ................................................................. │
│ CTRL-F4 ................................................................. │
│ CTRL-F5 ................................................................. │
│ CTRL-F6 ................................................................. │
│ CTRL-F7 ................................................................. │
│ CTRL-F8 ................................................................. │
│ CTRL-F9 ................................................................. │
│ CTRL-F10 ................................................................. │
└─┤ # = RETURN CHAR, ~ = HALF SEC PAUSE, F1 HELP, F10 ACCEPTS, ESC ABORTS ├──┘
All the possible 20 macro keystrokes are listed together with whatever
text (if any) is associated with them. The above example shows what
macros are created by the COSWORTH installation program. (Although
obviously your name will appear for ALT-F1 and not that of the
ubiquitous Mr Bloggs.)
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Keystroke Macros page 54
On starting the macro editor the currently highlighted field will be
that associated with ALT-F1. You can move to the field you wish by
pressing the up and down arrow keys. When you reach the field you wish
to edit, enter whatever text you wish, up to a limit of 200
characters. Once you are happy with whatever text you have entered,
press return to store that text in the field. Once you have edited all
the macros you wish, press F10 to quit the macro editor and
automatically save the macros to the disk file COSWORTH.MAC. On the
other hand, if you do not wish to keep the macros you have just
edited, pressing escape will exit you from the editor with
confirmation.
When you are entering the text of your macros, you may use the
following variables which will be expanded to their full meaning on
being sent to your modem;
*NAME This is the full name as set up in the User's Name entry
in the Program Settings menu.
*FIRST This will return the Christian name extracted from the
User's Name entry in the Program Settings menu. Note that
if your name uses more than three 'words' (like 'Billie
Jean King') then *FIRST will only return the first word
extracted from the name. This is only to avoid an
ambiguity.
*LAST This will return the surname extracted from the User's
Name entry in the Program Settings menu. Note that if
your name uses more than three 'words' (like 'Rip Van
Winkle') then *LAST will only return the last word
extracted from the name. This is only to avoid any
ambiguity.
*PASSWORD This will be expanded to give the password you have
allocated to the remote system in the dialling directory.
# (hash) This is interpreted as a 'return' character.
~ (tilde) This will cause the macro to pause for half a second at
that particular point.
^ (caret) To insert control characters into your macro strings, use
the caret notation. For example, ^M is interpreted as
CTRL-M, which would insert a return character into your
macro. To insert a caret into your strings use two carets
together, as in ^^. Some of the more familiar control
characters are
^M CR Carriage Return
^J LF Line Feed
^L FF Form Feed
^[ ESC Escape
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Keystroke Macros page 55
NOTE: If you are using XON/XOFF handshaking then take
care not to include either ^Q (XON) or ^S (XOFF)
characters in your macro strings as they will probably
disturb transmission when connected to another system.
The use of the tilde (~) character should be explained here. This can
be useful for a number of things, mainly for sending often used
strings to your modem from within terminal mode. For example, imagine
you have the following macros set up for a keystroke;
'ATZ#~~~~ATS0=2#'
What happens here is that when the keystroke is made, the macro is
sent to the modem as usual. However, on reaching each tilde, the macro
pauses for half a second. The reason this may be useful is to allow
your modem two seconds (represented by the four tildes) to react to
the initial 'ATZ' and then to send the following 'ATS0=2'. It may
require a bit of experimenting to get the right delays between the
commands and not have them 'overlap'.
Another possible use for macros might be to hold your name, address
and telephone number. This might allow you to complete questionnaires
often found on bulletin boards for new users!
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Keystroke Macros page 56
AUTO DIALLER
------------
COSWORTH has the facility to allow you to specify up to five entries
from any single dialling directory and connect to them on a timed
basis. This facility is enabled through easy to use menus to create
the Auto Dialler control files and is completely automated.
Before you start getting nervous, COSWORTH also has a number of built
in safety checks to ensure that, should anything go wrong, your modem
will not be left on line for any longer than you specify.
Using the Auto Dialler command itself can either be made through
COSWORTH's own menu system, or through a command line switch. The
former method allows you to set up an Auto Dialler session that can be
set as far ahead as (almost) twenty four hours. The latter method may
be used in conjunction with other mechanisms (such as a software timer
or a timed power supply to your computer) to allow you to set up Auto
Dialler sessions for whenever you wish.
An Auto Dialler session can only be run on dialling directory entries
that have an associated script file whose commands will take the
session from the beginning right through to the end. If a script file
terminates prematurely (for example, by forgetting to issue the
command to log off) then the script file will close as normal but the
Auto Dialler session will continue! It is most important to realise
that it is the users sole responsibility to ensure that scripts are
both complete and have been fully tested prior to their being used on
an Auto Dialler session.
In saying all the above, it must be borne in mind that COSWORTH has
been designed to cope with any unexpected problems whilst an
unattended Auto Dialler session is in progress. These safeguards are
as follows;
- If a script file times out (ie, is waiting for a prompt that never
arrives within the script file time out period) then the Auto
Dialler session is aborted.
- If you try to Auto Dial to a system which has no script file
associated with it then Auto Dialler will refuse to allow you to
include this entry in a control file during the set up process.
- If your modem does not receive any incoming data within the Auto
Dialler Time Out period specified in the configuration, then the
connection will be aborted since it will be assumed the remote
system has 'hung'.
- The MINIMUM SPEED directive in the script language ensures that a
minimum baud rate is required before the connection is made, thereby
ensuring that you won't be on line any longer than you have to be
because of a slow data transfer rate.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Auto Dialler page 57
- As part of the Auto Dialler control file set up, you specify the
maximum length of time the modem will stay on line for each
connection.
As a final (possible) precaution, it must also be remembered that most
modern host systems will time YOU out if you don't send any data back
to it within a specified time period.
When an Auto Dialler session is running, all COSWORTH's actions are
controlled via the commands in the script language. That way, no menus
or selection boxes occur on the screen. All your capture files,
uploading, downloading and deleting are controlled by your scripts.
Auto Dialler sessions also implement the 'smart scripts' ability to
(possibly) get out of situations where your script file has gone
astray. In short, this is the completely automatic ability for
COSWORTH to tell where a script is going wrong and to correct it by
sending the appropriate keystrokes automatically! See the section of
this manual on script files for more details about 'smart scripts'.
Auto Dialler has many uses - some we probably haven't yet envisaged
ourselves - but the main advantage in it the ability to log onto busy
systems during the middle of the night when traffic is light, without
having to stay awake for it!
SETTING UP AN AUTO DIALLER CONTROL FILE
---------------------------------------
This couldn't be made much easier if we tried. From the main menu,
press F4 or scroll the highlight bar down to the 'Auto Dialling
Facility' title to enter the Auto Dialler function. Once you have
done so, you will see a menu something like this;
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ AUTO DIALLER MENU │
│ Select Choice or ESC to Quit │
│ │
│ >F1 Set Up Auto Dialler Control File │
│ F2 Auto Dial Using COSWORTH Directory │
│ F3 Auto Dial Using STR_BEAN Directory │
│ F4 Auto Dial Using EUROPE Directory │
│ F5 Auto Dial Using FIDONET Directory │
│ F6 Auto Dial Using SUPPORT Directory │
│ F7 EXIT │
│ │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
If you haven't already set up any Auto Dialler control files then you
will only see the first and last lines. The others in the middle are
for starting up an Auto Dialler session. For the time being, let's
concentrate on getting the control file created.
Pressing F1 for the Set Up routine brings up a further scrolling menu
of all the dialling directories you have on your disk, thus;
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Auto Dialler page 58
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ In order to create an Auto Dialler control file, COSWORTH must │
│ know from which dialling directory your entries are to be made. │
│ Please select the directory from which the control file is to be │
│ constructed. │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌─C:\COSWORTH\*.PHN───────────────────────────────────┐
│>COSWORTH.PHN 1692 Apr 19,1992 1:03a A<│
│ EUROPE.PHN 94 Apr 08,1992 5:57a A │
│ LONGDIST.PHN 658 Apr 16,1992 1:08a A │
│ FIDONET.PHN 188 Apr 08,1992 5:57a A │
│ SUPPORT.PHN 94 Apr 18,1992 7:48a A │
│ STR_BEAN.PHN 376 Apr 18,1992 6:47p A │
│ │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Move the scrolling highlight bar in the directory list window and
select the dialling directory from which you wish the Auto Dialler
control file to be made. Now, one of two things will happen. If you
already have a control file for the dialling directory you will be
taken straight into editing it. However if you don't then you will be
invited to select which systems you wish to contact. We will assume
the latter situation by selecting LONGDIST.PHN from the directory. (If
a control file for this directory had existed then it would have
appeared in the main Auto Dialler menu, after all.)
If you choose a directory with no associated Auto Dialler control
file then a similar menu to the following one will appear;
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ MICROSOFT USA │ M0101 206 637 9009 │
│ APOGEE BBS │ M0101 508 3659668 │
│ WITCHITA STATE UNIVERSITY │ M0101-316689-3779 │
│ CREATIVE LABS (SOUNDBLASTER) │ M0101 408 982-9226 │
│ UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA │ M0101 602 621 2283 v
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ You have selected a directory for which no auto dialler control ║
║ file exists. Using the space bar, select up to five entries to ║
║ be included in the control file. Press return when all ║
║ selections are complete or press the escape key to abort this ║
║ process. ║
╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
As the directions in the box state, tag up to five entries you wish to
be Auto Dialled from the scrolling list in the upper window. The small
arrow in the right hand side of this window indicates that there are
more entries below the last one you can see on the screen. If you tag
more than five entries then (a) only the first five will be used and
(b) you clearly have some advanced form of learning difficulty.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Auto Dialler page 59
Once you have tagged your entries, press return and you will be taken
into the Auto Dialer control file editor. You will see something like
this;
AUTO DIALLER CONTROL FILE SET UP
Remote System Start Stop Max.
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ >MICROSOFT USA 00:00 00:00 00:00< │
│ APOGEE BBS 00:00 00:00 00:00 │
│ WITCHITA STATE UNIVERSITY 00:00 00:00 00:00 │
│ CREATIVE LABS (SOUNDBLASTER) 00:00 00:00 00:00 │
│ UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 00:00 00:00 00:00 │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Select which entry you wish to edit. DEL deletes an entry,
RETURN selects an entry and ESC quits.
Move the scroll bar down to the first entry you wish to edit and press
return. The edit window will pop up in the lower half of the screen
like this;
┌───────────────┤ EDIT ENTRY FOR MICROSOFT USA ├───────────────┐
│ │
│ HR MIN │
│ TIME TO START DIALLING 00:00 │
│ TIME TO FINISH DIALLING 00:00 │
│ DURATION OF THIS CALL 00:00 │
│ │
└─────────────────┤ CURRENT TIME IS 02:41:56 ├─────────────────┘
Input start time hours (24 hour format)
F10 to accept entries, ESC to abort
You will see six fields opposite the three titles on the screen. Into
these fields enter the following information;
Top left field - The hour at which the Auto Dialler will start
dialling this system. (24 hour format)
Top right field - The minute at which the Auto Dialler will start
dialling this system.
Centre left field - The hour at which the Auto Dialler will stop
dialling this system if it couldn't get through.
(24 hour format)
Centre right field - The minute at which the Auto Dialler will
stop dialling this system if it couldn't get
through.
Bottom left Field - The number of hours of the maximum length of the
call. (24 hour format)
Bottom right Field - The number of minutes of the maximum length of
the call.
If you specify a maximum length of a call as being zero then COSWORTH
will revert to using its default call length of five minutes.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Auto Dialler page 60
So, for example, by filling in the fields with these numbers...
┌───────────────┤ EDIT ENTRY FOR MICROSOFT USA ├───────────────┐
│ │
│ HR MIN │
│ TIME TO START DIALLING 03:45 │
│ TIME TO FINISH DIALLING 04:00 │
│ DURATION OF THIS CALL ..:15 │
│ │
└─────────────────┤ CURRENT TIME IS 02:41:56 ├─────────────────┘
...you are saying 'start dialling for Microsoft BBS at 3:45 this
morning and keep trying to get through until 4:00. If you get through
then make sure this call lasts no longer than 15 minutes maximum.'
Once you are happy with your times then press F10 and the entry in the
upper window will be updated to reflect the times you have just input,
thus;
Remote System Start Stop Max.
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ >MICROSOFT USA 03:45 04:00 00:15< │
│ APOGEE BBS 00:00 00:00 00:00 │
│ WITCHITA STATE UNIVERSITY 00:00 00:00 00:00 │
│ CREATIVE LABS (SOUNDBLASTER) 00:00 00:00 00:00 │
│ UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 00:00 00:00 00:00 │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Now carry on and edit the times for all your entries. If you decide
that you don't want an entry included in the Auto Dialler session then
simply highlight it in the top menu and press DEL. You can them remove
that entry from the Auto Dialler Control file altogether and its name
will be replaced in the top menu with the words '<BLANK ENTRY>'. If
you then wish to place another system into this blank space then
simply move down to the blank entry and press return on it. The list
of systems will appear in the lower half of the screen from which you
can select the entry you want. to include. Note that (for obvious
reasons) you cannot tag multiple files here since you are only after
one name and not five!
Don't worry if the entries are not ordered chronologically. COSWORTH
sorts the list before saving it. Don't even worry if the times overlap
slightly. COSWORTH will only start dialling on or slightly after the
specified times, adjusting the other times accordingly to suit.
Once you have all the times as you wish, press escape and you will be
asked if you want to save the entries to a control file. If you press
'N' then the process will be aborted. If you press 'Y' then the Auto
Dialler control file will be saved out to disk under the name
DIRNAME.AUT, where DIRNAME is the name of the dialling directory used.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Auto Dialler page 61
When you go back to the main Auto Dialler menu you will find that your
new Auto Dialler control file is now in the menu, like this;
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ AUTO DIALLER MENU │
│ Select Choice or ESC to Quit │
│ │
│ >F1 Set Up Auto Dialler Control File │
│ F2 Auto Dial Using COSWORTH Directory │
│ F3 Auto Dial Using STR_BEAN Directory │
│ F4 Auto Dial Using EUROPE Directory │
│ F5 Auto Dial Using FIDONET Directory │
│ F6 Auto Dial Using SUPPORT Directory │
│ F7 Auto Dial Using LONGDIST Directory │
│ F8 EXIT │
│ │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The menu will display up to the first twelve Auto Dialler control
files it finds on the disk.
STARTING AN AUTO DIALLER SESSION
--------------------------------
To start the Auto Dialler session you can do one of two things; you
can either select the control file to be used from the above menu, or
you can cause COSWORTH to start straight up into an Auto Dialler
session by starting it up with the command line switch
COSWORTH AUTO=Autofile[.AUT]
where 'Autofile' is replaced by the name of the control file you wish
to use. The .AUT extension is not required but can be passed as
appropriate.
Whichever method you choose, the Auto Dialler session will commence.
COSWORTH will first attempt to detect whether or not you have a live
and working modem attached to your serial port. If you don't then an
error (error #10, to be exact) will flash on the screen and you will
be sent back to the dialling directory. If you DO have a working modem
on the serial port in question (and you have specified the correct
port, of course!) and this error occurs then try restarting COSWORTH
with the /NOCHECKING command line switch. Auto checking like this does
not work with all modems. See the errors section of this manual for
more advice on this situation.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Auto Dialler page 62
If the modem detection did not report any errors you then will see a
moving box on the screen containing details of the next connection to
be made, something like this;
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ THIS COMPUTER IS NOT IDLE! │
│ IT IS IN COSWORTH AUTO DIAL MODE AND WILL CONNECT TO │
│ MICROSOFT USA │
│ AT 03:45 │
│ The current time is 02:42 │
│ PRESS ESC TO HALT, SPACE TO SKIP QUEUE TO NEXT ENTRY │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
As the warning box says, if you press escape then you will abandon the
entire Auto Dialler session. If, however, you press the space bar then
you will only abort the current connection attempt. The Auto Dialler
will then move onto the next (chronological) entry to be contacted.
When any of the systems are eventually dialled, Auto Dialler will
persist in getting through until the either it has succeeded or else
the 'stop time' (as defined in the centre fields of the edit box) has
been reached. If the latter then the Auto Dialler will move onto the
next entry, if any. If the former, then the connection is made and the
script file will assume control of the session.
Bear in mind that during any connection you may intervene and press
ALT-K to kill the current auto dialler session FOR THAT CONNECTION
ONLY. Other further connection attempts will be made as normal through
the Auto Dialler. Note that once the session has been killed in this
manner, the script file running will not be terminated and will
continue until aborted with the ALT-A keystroke. The reason for the
ALT-K keystroke is this; if it is obvious that a script file is going
awry or if you simply want to interrupt the script then aborting it
with ALT-A will, during an Auto Dialler session, cause COSWORTH to
think that the script terminated prematurely and will drop carrier, as
part of the inbuilt protection against Auto Dialler sessions leaving
you on line for lengthy periods. By pressing ALT-K, this problem can
be circumvented by simply telling COSWORTH that the current connection
must not be considered as an Auto Dialler connection. Please also be
aware that 'smart scripts' will not operate during a 'killed' session.
Once all connections have been made or attempted, a report will be
written to the screen stating just what happened during that session.
The report will look something like this;
╒═════════════════╣ RESULTS OF AUTO DIALLER SESSION ╠═════════════════╕
│ MICROSOFT USA - Connected OK, directory updated │
│ APOGEE BBS - Connected OK, directory not updated │
│ WITCHITA STATE UNIVERSITY - Connected OK but script timed out │
│ CREATIVE LABS (SOUNDBLASTER) - Did not connect │
│ UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA - Did not connect, no script file │
╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Auto Dialler page 63
The results have the following meanings;
'No attempt made to connect' - You either pressed the escape key or
the space bar while the Auto Dialler was waiting to
dial this number, causing the number to be skipped.
'Connected OK, directory updated' - The session was OK and COSWORTH
managed to open the associated dialling directory and
update the number of calls made to the system and the
length of time spent on line.
'Connected OK, directory not updated' - The session was OK but
COSWORTH either could not find the associated dialling
directory (you might have deleted it) or else it found
the directory but could not locate an entry for the
system in it. (It might have been deleted from the
directory)
'Connected OK but script timed out' - The connection was made OK but
the script file timed out when you were on line In
addition, the 'smart script' feature could not identify
how to fix the position with the script when it was
timing out. The session was most likely left
incomplete. Review the script file and make any changes
to it that will prevent time out.
'Did not connect' - The connection could not be made. Either the line
was constantly engaged, the other modem would not
answer or the number has been disconnected. Check you
were dialling the right number!
'Did not connect, no script file' - COSWORTH didn't even attempt to
Auto Dial this number since it found no script file
associated with the dialling directory extract stored
in the Auto Dialler control file. To remedy this,
either learn or write the appropriate script file,
associate it with the system in the dialling directory,
test it and then edit the Auto Dialler control file.
You must then delete the entry for this system and then
reinstall it in the <BLANK ENTRY>. The reason for this
is that the Auto Dialler editor stores the entire
portion of the dialling directory when it is made, and
any updates made to the dialling directory will not be
made to the associated Auto Dialler control file.
'Connected OK but max. time exceeded' - The connection was made OK but
the maximum connection time allowed was exceeded. It
may be that you did not allocate enough time for the
call. Although unlikely, it may also be that you have a
WAIT command (with no passed arguments) awaiting a
string from the remote system and Auto Dialler and
Script File time outs (set in the Program Settings
section) set to longer than the allowed duration of the
call.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Auto Dialler page 64
If you started from the DOS command line then COSWORTH will halt at
this point. If, however, the Auto Dialler session was invoked from the
command line then you are invited to press any key to clear the report
from the screen and return to the menu system.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Auto Dialler page 65
TERMINAL MODE
-------------
Pressing F3 from the main menu will take you into COSWORTH's terminal
mode. This gives you the ability to send commands straight to your
modem by typing them onto the screen and pressing return. This may be
useful in running diagnostic checks on your modem or for temporarily
setting COSWORTH up to act as a host system by putting your modem into
auto answer mode.
When starting up terminal mode, COSWORTH will first attempt to detect
whether or not you have a live and working modem attached to your
serial port. If you don't then an error (error #10, to be exact) will
flash on the screen and you will be sent back to the main menu. If you
DO have a working modem on the serial port in question (and you have
specified the correct port, of course!) and this error occurs then try
restarting COSWORTH with the /NOCHECKING command line switch. Auto
checking like this does not work with all modems. See the errors
section of this manual for more advice on this situation.
The next thing to happen is that COSWORTH will check for the presence
of a resident Fossil driver. If it finds that a Fossil driver has been
loaded then an error stating that it is initialising the port, but
that it has detected the driver and (hence) the port may not be
initialised as you expect. Occasionally, a resident fossil will hold
the baud rate of the port to that which it has been set and will not
allow further initialisation of the port to proceed. However, this
error will only flag the presence of the Fossil driver - it will not
prevent the port initialisation from proceeding.
After this, COSWORTH will attempt to detect and disable FIFO buffering
found in 16550A UART chips, on the selected serial port. If the
buffering is left active then COSWORTH will not be able to initialise
the port at all. After this, the port will be initialised using the
required baud, parity, stop and data bits, following which FIFO
buffering will be re-enabled.
Assuming that no problems arise with the modem detection, COSWORTH
then initialises your serial port with the default settings you have
specified in the Directory Defaults section of the configuration menu.
Once the serial port has been initialised then the screen is cleared
and the cursor is positioned in the top left of the screen. From now
on, any characters you type will be cumulatively added together until
you press return, at which point all the characters will be set to the
modem, together with a return character.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Terminal Mode page 66
There are several special keystrokes which you can use in terminal
mode when NOT on line (ie connected to another modem). These are;
ALT-C Change the capture file status. If a capture file is not
running then you will be asked if you want to start
one. If you reply that you do then you will be prompted for the
name of the capture file to create. If that file already
exists then it will be appended to, if it doesn't exist then it
will be created.This file name defaults to COSWORTH.CAP. If a
capture file is running then you will be asked whether you want
to stop it or to suspend it temporarily. If a capture file has
been suspended then you will be asked whether you want to
reactivate it or not. In any event, the keys to press in
response are shown in brackets in the information box that
appears on pressing this keystroke.
ALT-D Shell to DOS temporarily. The screen will clear and you will
find yourself in a DOS session. To re-enter COSWORTH, type EXIT
<return> at the DOS prompt and you will find yourself at
exactly the same position you were in before you shelled out.
ALT-M Modify the display type. This will pop up a small box asking
you which of Teletype or ANSI terminal emulation you require.
Pressing the initial letter of the display type (either T or A)
will invoke that particular terminal emulation type.
ALT-P Toggles printer capture on or off.
ALT-S Take a snapshot of the current screen. The entire contents of
the screen (but not the status line) will be captured and
stored in the COSWORTH.SNP snapshot file.
ALT-T Toggles destructive backspace on and off.
F1 Shows a summarised help screen.
F2 Shows a summary of all the keystroke macros you have defined.
F3 Recalls and sends the last string sent to your modem.
F4 Sends your modem reset string (as defined in the modem strings
section of the configuration menu) to the modem.
F5 Sends your modem initialisation string (as defined in the
modem strings section of the configuration menu) to the modem.
F6 Sends your Mercury Personal Identification Number (as defined
in the modem strings section of the configuration menu, if
defined at all) to the modem.
F7 Clears the screen.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Terminal Mode page 67
When on-line within terminal mode, all these keystrokes (apart from
those defined by F3, F4, F5, F6 and F7) are available as well as the
following; ALT-B, ALT-E, ALT-H, ALT-L, ALT-N, ALT-R, ALT-U, ALT-X,
ALT-=, PageUp and PageDn
All these keystrokes have the same meaning as those when connected on
line from the dialling directory. When going on line with COSWORTH,
your connect string (if any) is shown on the screen and the status bar
changes to that similar to that when connected from the dialling
directory.
When a connection is terminated from the terminal mode then it will be
returned to its off line mode again. To quit from the off line
terminal mode, press escape. You will be returned to the main menu.
AUTO ANSWERING
--------------
Cosworth is not primarily intended to be used as a host system, but if
necessary (and if your modem can support it) it can be set up to
receive incoming calls. If you are using a Hayes-compatible modem,
this is usually enabled by sending the command
ATS0=[n]<return>
to your modem, where [n] is a non-zero number representing the number
of times your modem will allow the phone to ring before picking the
line up. If you are not using a Hayes compatible modem then you will
have to refer to your modem manual to obtain the correct string.
When an incoming call is received, COSWORTH checks to see whether the
modem is in auto answer mode or not. If it is, and a carrier is
obtained, the connect string is displayed on the screen with the
connection melody. The name of the remote system on the status line
becomes AUTO ANSWER MODE. Notice that you will have to enable local
echo and line feeds before you can see what you are typing on the
screen when connected, if they are not set up by default.
To disconnect the link, press ALT-H to hang up the line and drop
carrier. You will then be returned to the terminal mode off line. It
might be a good idea to enter your modem's RESET string at this point
to disable the auto answer facility, then press escape to return to
the main menu.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Terminal Mode page 68
ANCILLARY FILES
---------------
COSWORTH creates numerous files as and when (or if) it requires. This
short section deals with these files and describes their structure.
THE LOG FILE (COSWORTH.LOG)
---------------------------
The COSWORTH log file holds details of every connection you make. Here
is an example extract from it;
19:54:02 │ Saturday February 29, 1992
│ AUTO DIALLER SESSION
│ Connected To MENTAL FRANKIE'S BBS (Using MERCURY)
│ Baud 2400
│ Minimum connect speed of 9600 baud not reached.
│ Capture file for new system : FRANKIE.CAP Opened.
│ Learning Script file : FRANKIE.SPT
│ NOTE: Password chosen as IWANNA16550
│ WARNING : Unexpected prompt received, at script line
│ number 16. Smart script interpreter enabled.
│ Extended keystrokes disabled.
│ Extended keystrokes re-enabled.
│ Shelled to DOS.
│ Returned from DOS.
│ Capture file suspended.
│ - Download [MAILBAG.ZIP]
│ + Upload [COSWORTH.ZIP]
│ COSWORTH.ZIP deleted
│ Capture file reactivated.
│ Script file : FRANKIE.SPT closed by Cosworth.
│ Capture file Closed by Cosworth.
19:56:22 │ Alt H used to terminate session.
│ Time Connected 00:02:20
Obviously this is not intended to be a realistic example! There is no
way that you could have managed to start up Auto Dialler without a
script file, for instance, but this is only intended to give you an
idea as to what to expect in a log file entry. Auto dialler or auto
answer sessions are flagged as being such by heading the entry with a
note in capital letters. The name of the remote system will then be
shown together with the connect speed. The next line is what would
appear in the log file should the MINIMUM SPEED directive of the
script facility not be reached. Under normal circumstances, this would
result in the call being terminated. Since the user has never called
this system before, COSWORTH is offering to automatically open a
capture file for him, which he has accepted. We then get an indication
that a script file is being automatically learned by COSWORTH. After
that, a (rather unlikely) note has been tacked into the log file by
the user pressing ALT-N when on line.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Ancillary Files page 69
The line starting with 'WARNING' is what will occur should the 'smart
script' facility come into play. The offending line of the script file
is also indicated. Note that the line mentioned contains the 'RECEIVE'
prompt that was NOT received in time. The user then disabled all
extended keystrokes with ALT-= and then re-enabled them with ALT-=
again. He then shelled out to DOS and then returned, followed by him
suspending the capture file from running.
He then downloaded a mailbag and (sensible fellow) uploaded
COSWORTH.ZIP to the system. This file matched the file masks in the
mail files configuration so it was deleted. He then reactivated the
capture file from its suspended state.
After this, he terminated the connection causing the script and
capture files to be closed automatically by COSWORTH. An indication as
to how his call was terminated was given (ALT-H? Tsk, tsk, tsk...) and
his log off time and total connection times are shown.
THE ERROR FILE (COSWORTH.ERF)
-----------------------------
This file holds a record of all the errors that appear within
COSWORTH. This may be useful to you since you may miss any errors
which occur, so a permanent record of them is held.
This is a simple text file of the following format;
<DATE><TIME>ERROR#<NUMBER>-<ERRORMESSSAGE>
THE CAPTURE FILE (USER-DEFINABLE NAMES)
---------------------------------------
This contains a straight 'capture' of all text that has appeared on
your screen between the times the capture file is invoked and either
the time you close it or when you log off. One thing, though. If a
system is using ANSI escape codes to draw fancy menus or logos and
thereby move the cursor in a non-standard way (ie, not from left to
right and from top to bottom) then there is a good chance the capture
file will be jumbled at this point. Unavoidable, we are afraid! The
points at which the capture file is either suspended, closed or
appended are marked with a dashed line.
THE SNAPSHOT FILE (COSWORTH.SNP)
--------------------------------
This is almost exactly like the capture file except that all captures
are made at the time across the screen so even fancy ANSI screens are
captured properly. Each snapshot is separated with a dashed line.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Ancillary Files page 70
ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF COSWORTH
---------------------------------
COSWORTH was written by us because we never found a comms program that
met all our needs. There are many on the market, but we found them
either to cumbersome or too simplistic, hence COSWORTH.
COSWORTH was written in Borland Turbo Pascal using version 6.0 of the
compiler. It was debugged under Borland Turbo Debugger version 2.0 and
streamlined using Borland Turbo Profiler version 1.0. Certain other
portions of the work were written and compiled under Borland Turbo
Assembler version 2.0.
Also used extensively in the development of this program was the
Technojock's Turbo Toolkit version 5.0 by Technojock Software. This is
a shareware Borland Turbo Pascal toolkit whose registration we can
100% recommend to all other Turbo Pascal programmers!
This manual was composed using Buttonware's PC-TYPE.
Finally, for those that are interested, COSWORTH was named after my
cat and has nothing whatsoever to do with the Ford motor company.
We thought you might like to know!
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - About Cosworth page 71
TROUBLESHOOTING
---------------
As PC communications is an area of computing more liable to the
vagaries hardware and installed software, you may experience some
problems in running COSWORTH. Here are some of the more common
problems and their remedies;
- Immediately on entering terminal mode, the connect tone (if set)
sounds and the status line shows a connection.
You have probably enabled the carrier override on your modem.
COSWORTH requires the carrier detect to be false when not connected
to another computer and on when it is. Since your modem has been set
to automatically provide a carrier, COSWORTH assumes it is connected
as soon as it enters terminal mode. If your modem has DIP switches,
check their setting to ensure the carrier detect switch is set to
off. If the modem does not have such switches then it will probably
require particular commands to be sent to it (within the
initialisation string set up in the modem strings section) to disable
the automatic carrier.
- On entering terminal mode or on commencing dialling, you receive a
message stating that COSWORTH cannot initialise the COM port.
In the Ports section of the configuration, COSWORTH detects how many
serial ports you have and only offers you the choice of the existing
ports. However, it may be that you have a non-standard set up and
that COSWORTH has offered you the choice of more serial ports than
your machine physically has. If you select one of these ports then
COSWORTH will not be able to initialise that port.
- You can initialise the serial port but on checking the set baud rate
(by an internal modem diagnostic command, for example) it has not
been set in accordance with your command.
It is possible that you have a resident Fossil driver installed which
is set up to lock your serial port at a particular baud rate. Since
Fossil drivers hook into DOS interrupt 14h (Serial Port Services),
further 'conventional' attempts to access the port will be ignored.
Either reinstall the Fossil with the settings you will be using or
(more preferably, if possible) deinstall the Fossil driver altogether
when running COSWORTH.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Troubleshooting page 72
(Appendix 1)
- Your modem refuses to drop the carrier when you hang up the modem.
When COSWORTH disconnects your modem, it will first of all try to
lower the DTR on your serial port in an effort to drop the carrier.
This ought to work with most modems, but some will not respond to
this. In order to overcome this, COSWORTH will then, if a carrier
signal remains, send the hang up string you have specified to the
modem. If this fails then either you have specified the wrong hang up
string for your modem (bear in mind that some hang up strings require
pauses embedded in them to work) or you have probably enabled the
carrier override on your modem. If this is enabled then any attempt
to either lower the DTR or hang up the modem by a command string will
fail since your modem is generating the carrier signal. If your modem
has DIP switches, check their setting to ensure the carrier detect
switch is set to off. If the modem does not have such switches then
it will probably require particular commands to be sent to it (within
the initialisation string set up in the modem strings section) to
disable the automatic carrier. COSWORTH will attempt to send the hang
up string to your modem up to ten times before telling you that the
hang up failed. If the error appears then it is most likely that the
carrier override facility in your modem has been enabled.
- When dialling through the dialling directory, COSWORTH doesn't stop
dialling on an engaged line until the dialling time on the status
bar has reached zero.
In order for COSWORTH to know when a line is engaged or otherwise
unavailable, you must specify the strings your modem returns in the
busy strings section of the modem strings configuration. If you have
not specified all the strings your modem returns on a failed
connection, then do so. If you have then it may be that you have not
specified a high enough 'X' code in your initialisation string in
order to return all the strings. In general, set the 'X' code to be
as high as the modem will accept. Consult your modem manual for
information as to what strings it returns and what the maximum 'X'
code it can take is.
- Some capture files seem to contain the correct characters but in the
wrong sequence.
This is probably because the screen you were viewing at the time was
an animated ANSI editor which positions the cursor and characters at
non-sequential positions on the screen. There isn't much you can do
with this, since COSWORTH processes capture files directly from the
serial port and not from the screen.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Troubleshooting page 73
(Appendix 1)
- On starting up terminal mode, Auto Dialler or commencing dialling
from the directory, you receive an error message informing you that
there is no modem attached to your serial port.
When starting up in these modes, COSWORTH will first attempt to
detect whether or not you have a live and working modem attached to
your serial port. If you don't then an error will flash on the screen
and you will be sent back to the main menu. If you DO have a working
modem on the serial port in question then try restarting COSWORTH
with the /NOCHECKING command line switch. Auto checking like this
does not work with all modems and can sometimes fail under
multitasking systems like Microsoft Windows.
- Learned script files don't work as you'd expect.
The problem here is probably that the script file is waiting for a
prompt that will never arrive. The greatest possibility here is that
the prompt is somehow 'animated' and that COSWORTH is not
interpreting it correctly. For example, in the following instance
Is your name JOE BLOGGS? (Y)
you may find that the cursor is sitting under the 'Y' character
having been backtracked by ANSI escape sequences from the end of the
line. At the moment, COSWORTH cannot handle this kind of prompt
properly. It doesn't occur very often, but when it does it will halt
the script. Your best bet here is to reduce the above RECEIVE prompt
down to a simple
RECEIVE "Is your name JOE BLOGGS?"
thereby getting around the 'animated' section of the prompt.
- Pressing ESCAPE to halt dialling from the dialling directory quits
back to the dialling directory but the dialling continues.
When cancelling dialling in this manner, COSWORTH will (among other
things) send your 'reset modem' string to the serial port. Now some
modems may also require to be put into 'command mode' prior to
receiving this string. If you find that pressing escape whilst
dialling leaves a dialling tone (or even leaves the modem dialling)
then precede your 'reset modem' string with your modem's escape code
sequence. In the case of Hayes compatible modems this will mean
changing your 'reset modem' string from 'ATZ^M' to '+++ATZ^M'
- When shelling to DOS and returning to COSWORTH whilst on line, part
or all of the text received in that interim period has been lost.
This is because of the fact that COSWORTH is both interrupt driven
and swaps itself out to XMS, EMS or disk file whilst shelling out.
As a result, hardly any active portion of COSWORTH is left in RAM
to operate. The trick here is not to shell out whilst there is text
being received when on line!
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Troubleshooting page 74
(Appendix 1)
COSWORTH ERROR MESSAGES
-----------------------
From time to time, things go wrong. <sigh> When they go wrong within
COSWORTH, you will get a nice big (and hopefully helpful) error box
plastered over the screen which will carry on it a numbered error
message telling you exactly WHAT has gone wrong and where.
All errors are displayed on the screen and are also written out into
the COSWORTH.ERF error message file, in case you missed them.
Incidentally, most of the file errors ought not to occur. COSWORTH
automatically sets the attributes of all its support files to Archive
when starting up.
FATAL ERRORS
------------
Some errors are so bad that they force COSWORTH to stop in its tracks!
These errors are displayed as follows;
Message : COSWORTH.EXE HAS BEEN ILLEGALLY ALTERED - PROGRAM ABORTING
Meaning : COSWORTH isn't quite what it used to be.
Remedy : When COSWORTH starts up it examines itself to ensure that
the COSWORTH.EXE program has not been altered in any way. If
it has then this error appears and everything stops. To
remedy this, delete COSWORTH.EXE and reinstall it from a
back up. Oh yes, and stop messing about with it!
Message : CONFIGURATION FILE CORRUPTED! RESTART COSWORTH!
Meaning : The file COSWORTH.CFG has become seriously corrupted.
Remedy : Restart COSWORTH. This error should only ever occur if the
configuration file becomes corrupted between COSWORTH
reading it when it starts up and some other point within the
program's execution. By restarting COSWORTH, the program
will handle the corruption and will reconstruct the file
with defaults which it will allow you to edit.
Message : CANNOT READ DIRECTORY! ABORTING PROGRAM!
Meaning : Whichever directory you are starting COSWORTH up with, it
has become unreadable.
Remedy : Restart COSWORTH with the /DIR switch, specifying another
dialling directory. Delete the offending directory from your
disk and restore it from a back up. You do have back ups,
don't you?
Message : CANNOT AUTO DIAL AS CONTROL FILE DOES NOT EXIST!
Meaning : You've tried to start Auto Dialling on a non-existent
control file!
Remedy : You have started up COSWORTH from the command line with the
/AUTO switch and specified a-non existent control file name.
Simply restart COSWORTH with a file name that exists.
This is identical to error #27 listed below but will
only be displayed if your are Auto Dialling from the DOS
command line with the /AUTO switch.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Error Messages page 75
(Appendix 2)
Message : AUTO DIALLING TERMINATED - DIRECTORY NOT FOUND!
Meaning : You've tried to start Auto Dialling on a non-existent
dialling directory, probably as a result of setting up the
Auto Dialler control file and then either deleting or
renaming its associated dialling directory.
Remedy : If you've just renamed the directory then rename it back! If
you've deleted it then undelete it (if you can) or delete
the Auto Dialler control file and start again.
The only other mega-scary fatal error you will ever get from COSWORTH
is an internal failure error which displays itself as 'SYSTEM ERROR AT
<numbers> ERROR CODE = <number>'. We have hopefully ironed out all the
bugs from COSWORTH so that you will never see this error. However, if
you do then note the numbers and contact the programmers on the BBS
listed in the READ.ME file.
NON-FATAL ERRORS
----------------
These are the other errors that COSWORTH generates, together with
their listed numbers (fatal errors are given the nominal error value
of 1), their meanings and the remedy. Words in <angled brackets>
signify that the error message will incorporate a some variable
element.
Message : SCRIPT FILE TIME OUT! - SCRIPT FILE ABORTED!
Number : 2
Meaning : The script file you are running has not received the string
it is expecting within the default time out period.
Remedy : Examine the script file and make sure the prompts are still
valid. If they aren't then you might consider relearning the
script by deleting it and reconnecting to the remote system.
If the prompt is correct than it's likely that you're
needing a WAIT command preceding the RECEIVE. If the script
is timing out immediately after a file transfer then try
using a WAIT with no parameters, otherwise try increasing
the time out by thirty seconds with WAIT 30. If you already
have a WAIT command in your script at this point then try
incrementing it by, say, thirty seconds until a suitable
length of time is reached.
Message : CANNOT WRITE TO COSWORTH PHONE DIRECTORY!
Number : 3
Meaning : Something is stopping the phone directory from updating.
Remedy : This could be due to a full disk or to a disk error. It
could also be caused by you shelling to DOS during COSWORTH
and setting the Read Only attribute on the file!
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Error Messages page 76
(Appendix 2)
Message : NO CONNECT STRING RECEIVED!
Number : 4
Meaning : COSWORTH has managed to get a signal carrier but has
received no connect string that it recognises from the
modem.
Remedy : Check your modem string settings. It may be that you have
set up a connect string which your modem will not generate.
Message : DIRECTORY <file> IS EMPTY, CANNOT AUTODIAL!
Number : 5
Meaning : You've tried to create an Auto Dialler control file using a
blank dialling directory.
Remedy : In future, don't use blank dialling directories...
Message : SCRIPT FILE TIMED OUT ON AUTO DIALLER!
Number : 6
Meaning : The script file timed out during an Auto Dialler session.
Remedy : If a script file times out and therefore closed during the
Auto Dialler then the carrier is unceremoniously dropped. Why
did the script file time out on you? Examine the script file
and make sure the prompts are still valid. If they aren't
then you might consider relearning the script by deleting it
and reconnecting to the remote system. If the prompt is
correct than it's likely that you're needing a WAIT command
preceding the RECEIVE. If the script is timing out
immediately after a file transfer then try using a WAIT with
no parameters, other wise try increasing the time out by
thirty seconds with WAIT 30. If you already have a WAIT
command in your script at this point then try incrementing it
by, say, thirty seconds until a suitable length of time is
reached.
Message : CANNOT AUTO DIAL, NO SCRIPT FILE FOR <Remote System> !
Number : 7
Meaning : You've tried to create an Auto Dialler control file for a
remote system for which there is no associated script file
in the copy of the dialling directory entry held in the Auto
Dialler Control file.
Remedy : Either choose an entry which *does* have an associated
script file, or back out of the Auto Dialler menus and check
the dialling directory entry. Remember, the Auto Dialler
control file editor does *not* check for the physical
presence of the script file, only that there is an entry for
one in the dialling directory. (If there is no script file
found at dialling time then the Auto Dialler won't even dial
the number but will continue onto the next number in the
queue.)
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Error Messages page 77
(Appendix 2)
Message : AUTO DIAL HALTED - NO DATA RECEIVED FROM <Remote System> !
Number : 8
Meaning : Auto Dialler has not received any data from the remote
system within the past 'x' seconds where 'x' is the time
after which the Auto Dialler will hang up if no data is
received (the Auto Dialler Time Out set in the Configuration
menu)
Remedy : It's probable that your script file is either set up for the
wrong prompts or else the remote system is sending different
prompts from those in the script (which is possible). It
could also be that the remote system has 'hung'. Try running
the script file in real time (ie, without using the Auto
Dialler) and see what happens. If the script still fails
then try relearning the script by deleting it and calling
again manually.
Message : CANNOT CREATE <File Name> !
Number : 9
Meaning : COSWORTH has had difficulty in creating one of its support
files.
Remedy : This could be due to any one of a number of disk or physical
Input/Output errors. This error is identical to that in
error #19.
Message : NO MODEM DETECTED ON COM PORT <Port Number> !
Number : 10
Meaning : COSWORTH has entered the dialling procedure or has started
up terminal mode or has started auto dialling and COSWORTH
cannot find a working modem attached to the serial port set
up in the Configuration menu.
Remedy : If the port number in the Configuration menu is wrong then
change it. If the Port Number is correct then the problem
may be one of a few things. Try restarting COSWORTH with the
/NOCHECKING parameter to disable checking for a modem in
this manner. This can sometimes happen when all is otherwise
well if COSWORTH is running under Microsoft Windows.
Message : COULD NOT UPLOAD <File Name> - DOS ERROR <Code>
Number : 11
Meaning : The external protocol you were using to execute the upload
returned a non-zero DOS ERRORLEVEL.
Remedy : It may be that the file did not exist. It is also possible
that the file transfer was flawless but that the protocol
program returned a non-zero ERRORLEVEL anyway (maybe due to a
number of time outs). Check the for existence of the file in
the upload directory. Also, check through the protocol log
file (if you have one set up - generated by the protocol
program, not COSWORTH!) for any errors.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Error Messages page 78
(Appendix 2)
Message : COULD NOT DOWNLOAD <File Name> - DOS ERROR <Code>
Number : 12
Meaning : The external protocol you were using to execute the download
returned a non-zero DOS ERRORLEVEL.
Remedy : It may be that the file did not exist. It is also possible
that the file transfer was flawless but that the protocol
program returned a non-zero ERRORLEVEL anyway (maybe due to a
number of time outs). Check the for existence of the file in
the download directory. Also, check through the protocol log
file (if you have one set up - generated by the protocol
program, not COSWORTH!) for any errors.
Message : SCRIPT FILE ERROR - COULD NOT DELETE <File Name>
Number : 13
Meaning : You have attempted to delete an 'undeletable' file using the
DELETE script file command.
Remedy : Either the file did not exist in the first place, it is set
to Read Only or there has been a disk read/write error.
Message : CANNOT CREATE - "COSWORTH.MAC" MACRO FILE
Number : 14
Meaning : COSWORTH cannot recreate a 'lost' macro file.
Remedy : When COSWORTH starts up it checks for the presence of all
its support files. If it cannot find the COSWORTH.MAC macro
file then it tries to recreate a blank one. If this fails
then this error is shown. You may have a full disk, or you
might have experienced a disk I/O error.
Message : TEXT FILE <File Name> DOES NOT EXIST!
Number : 15
Meaning : A text file you are trying to upload by ALT-U doesn't exist.
Remedy : Try selecting the text file from the directory menu (called
by pressing return on the blank input box) instead of typing
the file name in. You've probably mis-spelled the name.
Message : MINIMUM CONNECTION SPEED NOT REACHED!
Number : 16
Meaning : The minimum speed compelled by the MINIMUM SPEED script file
command was not reached on connection.
Remedy : Try calling again. The speed may have been downwardly
renegotiated due to line noise. Alternatively, you might be
specifying a minimum connection rate higher than that which
the remote service or your modem can operate at!
Message : CANNOT INITIALISE PORT COM <PORT NUMBER>
Number : 17
Meaning : An error occurred whilst initialising the selected port.
Remedy : If your running COSWORTH with the /NOCHECKING parameter then
try running it without it and see if COSWORTH reports the
presence of a modem on the selected port. If it doesn't then
ensure you're set up for the right serial port through the
configuration menu. If you are then try changing the serial
cable with which you connect to your modem.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Error Messages page 79
(Appendix 2)
Message : CANNOT FIND READ FROM <File Name>
Number : 18
Meaning : A file error happened during a disk read.
Remedy : The file may be corrupted (wrong length) or may make 'no
sense' to COSWORTH. Alternatively, a disk hardware failure
may have occurred. Try restoring the offending file from a
back up. (Yes, those again!)
Message : CANNOT CREATE <File Name>
Number : 19
Meaning : COSWORTH has had difficulty in creating one of its support
files.
Remedy : This could be due to any one of a number of disk or physical
Input/Output errors. The disk may be full, there may be a
disk read error, the file may have the Read Only attribute
set. Try freeing up some disk space or setting all file
attributes to Archive only. If the error persists then
suspect the disk is faulty.
Message : CANNOT APPEND DATA TO <File Name>
Number : 20
Meaning : COSWORTH has had difficulty in appending (adding) data to
one of its support files.
Remedy : This could be due to any one of a number of disk or physical
Input/Output errors. The disk may be full, there may be a
disk read error, the file may have the Read Only attribute
set. Try freeing up some disk space or setting all file
attributes to Archive only. If the error persists then
suspect the disk is faulty.
Message : CANNOT CLOSE <File Name> UPDATES MAY BE LOST!
Number : 21
Meaning : A file that COSWORTH has previously opened cannot be closed
and updated. Any changes made to the file (or even the file
itself) may be permanently lost.
Remedy : This could be due to any one of a number of disk or physical
Input/Output errors. The disk may be full, there may be a
disk read error, the file may have the Read Only attribute
set. In future, try freeing up some disk space or setting
all file attributes to Archive only. If this error occurs
then it is unlikely to be recoverable.
Message : CURRENT SCRIPT FILE LOST ON PATH! ABORTING SCRIPT!
Number : 22
Meaning : A script file being currently used has been 'lost'!
Remedy : One of two scenarios; either you're doing comms work in a
multitasker and have deleted the script file whilst it was
in use, or else you've got a problem with the logical
structure of your disk. If the former then you probably
deserve all you get...(!)...if the latter then disk
recovery/diagnostic tools may be in order...
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Error Messages page 80
(Appendix 2)
Message : CANNOT READ FROM MACRO FILE! ASSUMING ALL MACROS ARE BLANK!
Number : 23
Meaning : COSWORTH has failed to read from the COSWORTH.MAC macro
definition file and is assuming that no macros are
specified.
Remedy : The macro file may be corrupted (ie, the wrong length).
When COSWORTH starts up it checks for the presence of all
its support files. If it cannot find the COSWORTH.MAC macro
file then it tries to recreate a blank one. If you get this
error after the macro file has been created (without error)
then you may have a disk problem.
Message : CANNOT DELETE <File Name>
Number : 24
Meaning : COSWORTH cannot delete the specified file.
Remedy : The file attributes may be set to read only, or the file may
not even exist!
Message : CANNOT READ FROM <File Name>
Number : 25
Meaning : COSWORTH cannot read from the specified file.
Remedy : The file specified may not exist or you may be experiencing
a disk problem. Alternatively, the file attributes may be
set to System or Hidden.
Message : CANNOT WRITE TO <File Name>
Number : 26
Meaning : COSWORTH cannot write to the specified file.
Remedy : This could be due to any one of a number of disk or physical
Input/Output errors. The disk may be full, there may be a
disk read error, the file may have the Read Only attribute
set. Try freeing up some disk space or setting all file
attributes to Archive only. If the error persists then
suspect the disk is faulty.
Message : CANNOT AUTO DIAL AS CONTROL FILE <File Name> DOES NOT EXIST!
Number : 27
Meaning : You've tried to start Auto Dialling on a non-existent
control file!
Remedy : The only way you could *possibly* manage this spectacular
trick is by starting up the Auto Dialler menu (which detects
and lists all the control files available) and then somehow
deleting the control file in the interim period (maybe by
doing it through a multitasking system like Windows or
DESQview). This is identical to the fatal error listed above
but will only be displayed if your are Auto Dialling from
within COSWORTH. This error will NOT abort the program.
Message : CANNOT FIND COSWORTH.EXE ON PROGRAM PATH! - PLEASE RE-ENTER!
Number : 28
Meaning : You've entered a path in the configuration PATHS menu which
does not contain COSWORTH.EXE.
Remedy : Either enter the correct path or, if you are unsure, quit
the menu with ESC, don't save changes and check the
directory contents from DOS.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Error Messages page 81
(Appendix 2)
Message : FILE OR PATHNAME DOES NOT EXIST! - SELECT FROM MENU!
Number : 29
Meaning : You've attempted to execute a file transfer by using an
invalid (or non-existent) file or path to that file.
Remedy : Check the paths set in your configuration set up. Ensure
that you haven't deleted the directories that the upload or
download paths refer to. Alternatively, it may be that the
file you are attempting to upload does not exist.
Message : MAXIMUM AUTO DIALLER CONNECTION TIME EXCEEDED!
Number : 30
Meaning : Your Auto Dialler session has been terminated by COSWORTH
detecting that you have reached the maximum time period you
have allocated for that call.
Remedy : Check to see you allocated enough time for the call.
Although unlikely, it may also be that you have a WAIT
command (with no passed arguments) awaiting a string from the
remote system and Auto Dialler and Script File time outs (set
in the Program Settings section) set to longer than the
allowed duration of the call.
Message : <File Name> NOT FOUND!
Number : 31
Meaning : COSWORTH cannot find the external protocol program file.
Remedy : You have set up the protocols through COSWORTH and have then
deleted the protocol program. Either restore the program to
the protocol directory or select a new protocol to use.
Message : NO REPLY RECEIVED FROM MODEM!
Number : 32
Meaning : COSWORTH has sent either the RESET MODEM or INITIALISE MODEM
strings to the port from the dialling directory and has
failed to receive a response of any kind from your modem.
Remedy : If you have started COSWORTH with the /NOCHECKING switch
then check your modem is switched on and plugged in. If this
is not the case then ensure that your serial cable is
intact. If this error persists and you are certain that
your modem is working then contact the authors.
Message : MODEM ERROR STRING RECEIVED ON SENDING <name> STRING!
Number : 33
Meaning : COSWORTH has sent either the RESET MODEM or INITIALISE MODEM
strings to the port from the dialling directory and has
received the specified 'MODEM ERROR' string back from your
modem.
Remedy : Check that the strings you're specifying are valid strings
for the modem being used.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Error Messages page 82
(Appendix 2)
XCOS FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL
---------------------------
COSWORTH comes complete with its own file transfer protocol called
XCOS.EXE which implements the Xmodem protocol standard. This will
allow you to get online to other systems straight away and download
e-mail messages or software (probably better protocols!) straight
away.
We don't claim that XCOS is the last word in transfer protocols - it
would be silly to try to compete with them - but we do claim that it
does the job that is expected of it and operates at a reasonably
efficient rate.
XCOS is automatically installed into your COSWORTH.PTL protocol
definition file by the INSTALL program, but we thought it best we
document the program in any case!
USING XCOS
----------
Use of this protocol program is really very simple indeed. Its
possible command line parameters are;
XCOS.EXE [COMPORT Port] [BAUD Baud] Command [Options] Path/Filename
The [bracketed] switches indicate that these switches are optional to
the running of the program. The words in capital letters (if used)
must appear as written, whereas the words in mixed case are variable,
indicating that they can take one of at least two values. The program
switches mean the following;
[COMPORT Port] - This informs XCOS which serial port to use for the
data transmission. If this parameter is omitted
altogether then COM1 will be assumed.
[BAUD Baud] - This informs XCOS at which speed the transfer is to
be made at. It can take any of the standard COSWORTH
baud rates of 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 7200, 9600,
12000, 14400, 19200 or 38400 baud. If this parameter
is omitted the current baud rate (as set by COSWORTH)
is used.
Command - This tells XCOS what operation it is to perform. If
this parameter is set as 'RX' you will be in receive
(download mode). If it is set to 'SX' then you will
be in send (upload) mode.
[Options] - You can choose from '-C' for a CRC mode transfer or
'-K' for a 1K Xmodem transfer. If you omit this
parameter then the transfer will revert to 128 byte
block Xmodem Checksum.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - XCos Protocol page 83
(Appendix 3)
Path/Filename - This parameter tells XCOS which file is to be sent or
received or which path the file lies on. You cannot
specify a DOS wildcard as Xmodem does not support
batch (multiple file) transfers.
Once the program is running you will see a display on the screen
something similar to this;
XCOS Xmodem PRESS ESC TO ABORT
Written for COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE
(c) D.Carroll, M.Dickson Opus Programs 1992
Command line : XCOS COMPORT 1 BAUD 19200 SX -C A_FILE.ZIP
Using serial port COM1 at 19200 baud
Sending Xmodem.....A_FILE.ZIP
╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ║
║ FILE NAME A_FILE.ZIP ║
║ FILE SIZE 62487 ║
║ PROTOCOL MODE Xmodem Checksum ║
║ BLOCK NUMBER 232 ║
║ BYTES SENT 29696 ║
║ CHARS PER SECOND 478 ║
║ ELAPSED TIME 1 min. 2 sec. ║
║ BLOCK ERRORS 1 ║
║ TOTAL ERRORS 1 ║
║ ║
╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
As the transfer (in this case an Xmodem Checksum upload) the figures
relating to the blocks and bytes sent/received will update according
to the current status of the transfer. You can abort the transfer at
any time by pressing the escape key and waiting for a second or two.
ERRORS
------
When the program exits, an error code, detectable through the DOS
ERRORLEVEL in batch files, (if you really feel like doing that, that
is!) is returned. In addition, the error message associated with the
particular condition is displayed at the foot of the screen. The
following are all the error codes that XCOS can return, together with
their meanings;
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - XCos Protocol page 84
(Appendix 3)
Error Code Meaning
0 The transfer completed without error.
1 There was an error in addressing the file to be
uploaded or in creating the file to be downloaded. In
the former instance this could mean that the file may
not exist or that the disk is corrupted. In the latter
case it may mean that the disk is write-protected or
full.
2 You aborted the file transfer with the escape key.
3 The remote system aborted the transfer.
4 The maximum number of ten time outs, block errors or
other associated error conditions has been exceeded
and the transfer has been aborted. This may be due to
noisy telephone lines.
5 A block was transferred and received out of sequence.
If this happens then the program aborts without
hesitation!
6 There was a time out in waiting for the remote system
sending an End Of Transmission character. This is not
normally a problem unless the file appears to be
corrupted.
7 No carrier detected on the serial port.
8 An invalid operation was requested from the command
line parameters . Operations can only be either 'SX' or
'RX'.
9 An invalid option was requested from the command line
parameters . Operations can only be either '-C' or '-K'.
10 An invalid baud rate was specified on the command line.
11 An invalid serial port number was specified on the
command line.
EXAMPLES
--------
Examples of the use of XCOS are:
Specify Xmodem Checksum send, COM1, current baud:
XCOS sx A_FILE.ZIP
Specify Xmodem CRC send, COM1, current baud:
XCOS sx -c A_FILE.ZIP
Specify Xmodem 1K send, COM1, current baud:
XCOS sx -k A_FILE.ZIP
XCOS sx -k -c A_FILE.ZIP
Specify Xmodem Checksum receive, COM1, current baud:
XCOS rx A_FILE.ZIP
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - XCos Protocol page 85
(Appendix 3)
Specify Xmodem CRC or 1K receive, COM1, current baud:
XCOS rx -c A_FILE.ZIP
XCOS rx -c -k A_FILE.ZIP
XCOS rx -k A_FILE.ZIP
( Note that all three of these commands will receive Xmodem 1K or
Xmodem CRC, whichever the remote system decides to send. As always, if
the remote system does not support CRC, the protocol will drop back to
Xmodem Checksum. All Xmodem 1K transfers are assumed to be CRC by
default.)
Specify Xmodem Checksum send, COM2, current baud rate:
XCOS port 2 sx A_FILE.ZIP
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - XCos Protocol page 86
(Appendix 3)
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
-----------------
Anything to do with computer communications is a minefield of jargon
and esoteric terminology. What follows below is an attempt to
consolidate some of the terms used in the field of comms. It's not
meant to be completely exhaustive, nor it is supposed to be
particularly detailed, but it's a start!
ARQ - Automatic Repeat Request. This is a generalised term for error
correction methods which have the ability to re-request corrupted
data blocks.
ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION - Probably the most common form of data
transference where both the transmitting and receiving modems do
not run in synchronisation with each other. Data is sent with
'start' and 'stop' bits allowing each modem to know when to start
and when to stop.
AUTO ANSWER MODE - When a modem is in auto answer mode it can answer
incoming calls from other modems.
BAUD - The baud rate signifies the modems speed and is roughly (at
lower speeds anyway) analogous to the bits transferred per
second. It is more accurately described as being the number of
discrete signal events occurring on the channel. 1200 baud means
that roughly 1200 bits are being transferred (in either
direction) at any one time. As each byte is composed of two bits
and there are usually two bits added for the asynchronous
transfer, the transferred bits per second is roughly the baud
rate divided by ten. Incidentally, the word 'baud' is a
contraction of the name of the Frenchman (Baudot) who invented a
very old communications code for teletype machines.
CARRIER SIGNAL - A carrier the a continuous frequency which can be
either modulated or embedded with the data being transmitted by
another signal. Carriers are generated and maintained by the
modem.
CRC - Cyclic Redundancy Checking. An error correction method which
consists of an algorithm enacted upon every block of data
received or sent by a modem. The sending modem embeds it CRC
calculations within each block and the receiving modem compares
this figure with the one it independently reached. If the figures
agree then the receiving modem sends an acknowledgement character
(ACK) or of negative an acknowledgement character (NAK) if it
disagrees.
CTS - Clear To Send, an RS232 signal.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Glossary page 87
(Appendix 4)
DATA COMPRESSION - As telephone communications are relatively
expensive, particularly over longer distances, it helps to stores
the information in your files in a compressed format which allows
the data to be transmitted faster and hence cheaper. Compression
is usually taken place prior to transmission by specific
software, but it can also be done whilst the transmission is in
progress using MNP 5.
DCD - Data Carrier Detect, an RS232 signal.
DOWNLOADING - Receiving data (usually in the form of a computer file)
from a remote modem.
DSR - Data set ready, an RS232 signal.
DUPLEX - The direction of the data transfer. Half duplex means that
only one modem can 'talk' at the one time, something like a two
way radio. At full duplex, both modems can 'talk' at the same
time, as in a telephone conversation.
FALLBACK - When two modems talk for the first time they try to
negotiate for the highest line speed possible. If they cannot do
this then they fall back to the highest speed they can manage at.
Fallback can also occur if the line conditions deteriorate and
higher speed communications become impossible. Some modems have
the capability of renegotiating the line speed once conditions
become more favourable.
HANDSHAKING - A method of compensating for the receiver having to
break transfer briefly whilst it processes the data received.
This can either be enabled by software (XON/XOFF) or by hardware
(RTS/CTS).
LAPM - Link Access Procedure for Modems, a sophisticated form of error
correction for modems and built into V42.
LEARN FACILITY - A capability of your comms software to monitor what
you are typing at your keyboard and remember it, writing a script
file for you in the process.
LINE NOISE - Disturbances in the quality of the telephone line caused
by adverse conditions, resulting in corruption of the data being
transferred. If error checking modems or software is being used
then the corrupted data will be rejected by the receiver and the
transmitter will be forced to resend the data block.
MODEM - A contraction of modulator/demodulator. Not all lines are
constructed to convey digital signals, so the signals are
converted into audio tones, a process known as modulation, which
are passed over the telephone lines. The demodulation -
converting sound to data - takes place at the receiving end.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Glossary page 88
(Appendix 4)
MNP - Microcom Networking Protocol, a standard method of error
correction and a method of eliminating line noise. This is mostly
implemented in modems although some forms of MNP occur in
software. For MNP to work, both modems must be using it.
PARITY - If you are only sending text files across the line then the
eighth bit of each byte isn't actually used by the data and can
be used for a simple form of error checking called parity
checking. Both the receiving and transmitting systems must be
using the same parity checking system. As transferring binary
files involves the use of all eight bits of each byte, parity
checking is set to none.
PROTOCOL - A protocol is a series of rules which define the
communications between two or more devices. The external protocol
transfer programs you run, send and receive data in preordained
ways according to the rules which they adhere to, hence the
importance of ensuring that both sender and receiver are
observing the protocol. Standard file transfer protocol standards
are the Xmodem, Ymodem and Zmodem.
RD - Receive Data, An RS-232 signal, often found represented in a
light on the front of your modem. When the light is illuminated
your are receiving data.
REN - Ringer Equivalence Number, the electronic 'weight' that each
telecommunications items carries and places on the line. You can
connect items up to a total of 4REN on household British Telecom
lines.
RS232 - The technical designation for the serial port structure of the
IBM Personal Computer. It is also known as the serial port or the
asynchronous communications port.
RTS - Request To Send, an RS232 signal.
SCRIPT - A script language is a form of (usually) simplistic language
that allows you to automate most of your on line tasks without
any intervention.
SD - Send data, An RS-232 signal, often found represented in a light
on the front of your modem. When the light is illuminated your
are sending data.
SYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION - This is a method of transfer more commonly
used with mainframe computers where both receiving and
transmitting modems run in synchronisation controlled by a clock
timer.
UPLOADING - Sending data (usually in the form of a computer file) to a
remote modem.
V21 - Full duplex modem transmission at 300 baud
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Glossary page 89
(Appendix 4)
V22 - Half duplex modem transmission at 600 and 1200 baud plus a spare
reverse channel at 75 baud.
V22bis - Full duplex transmission at 1200 baud and 2400 baud with
fallback capabilities to V22.
V23 - Full duplex transmission at 1200 baud and receive at 75 baud.
V32 - Full duplex transmission at 4800 baud and 9600 baud. Modems
following this standard can fall back to 4800 baud during adverse
conditions and renegotiate to 9600 baud when conditions improve.
V32bis - Full duplex transmission at 7200 baud, 1200 baud and 14400
baud.
V42 - An error correcting protocol incorporating MNP levels 1, 2, 3
and 4.
V42bis - An error correcting protocol incorporating MNP levels 2, 3
and 4 and LAPM.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Glossary page 90
(Appendix 4)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank the following people for their assistance in
getting COSWORTH off the ground;
Roger Gregory, Sysop of FORTH VIEW bulletin board whose chance remark
started the whole thing off and whose unlimited patience and
generosity has finally paid off with the mention in the docs we
promised. (!)
Alastair McIntyre, Sysop of ALMAC BBS for doing the sort of things he
does best...
Paul, John, Peter, Biggles, Graeme, Bill, Steven, Davie, Frank, Tom
and Walter for testing it all out.
TRADEMARKS
The following products and trademarks are mentioned in this
documentation;
Microsoft MS-DOS Version 5.00 is copyright Microsoft Corp 1981-1991.
Microsoft Windows is copyright Microsoft Corp 1991.
DESQview is a trademark of Quarterdeck Office Systems.
4DOS is a registered trademark of and is copyright 1988, 1989,
1990, 1991 by JP Software Inc.
Turbo Pascal, Turbo Debugger, Turbo Assembler and Turbo Profiler are
all copyright and registered trademarks of Borland International
Inc.
TechnoJock's Turbo Toolkit (tm) is copyright 1989 TechnoJock
Software, Inc.
DSZ is copyright by Omen Technology INC
QEdit Advanced Text Editor is copyright 1985-1991 by SemWare.
SemWare and QEdit are reg. trademarks of Applied Systems
Technologies.
D'Bridge is copyright 1988/1989 by Chris Irwin.
PC-Type is copyright 1986 by ButtonWare.
COSWORTH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE - Acknowledgements page 91
(Appendix 5)