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1987-09-05
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Changes for MEX 1.1 08/21/84
This file is a brief summary of the 1.1 update, and contains a file
update list at the end.
General enhancements/changes
----------------------------
- Several new commands:
SSET: added to support Smartmodem commands (this command is sim-
ilar to SET, and requires support by the Smartmodem overlay)
A new Smartmodem overlay (MXM-SM20.ASM) that implements the
SSET command will be available at a future date (Overlay
writers and maintainers, please read the note at the end
of this file)
TERM: may be used to activate a term file without actually entering
terminal mode (meant for use with READ files). TERM takes a
filename argument.
CLS: clears the screen (if supported by the overlay)
BELL: [meant for use in READ files] rings the bell (regardless of
the setting of the STAT BELL variable). Takes a numeric arg-
gument, specifying the number of times to ring the bell. May
be aborted from the console with ^C.
- New STAT switch variables:
QUEUE: turns on and off the queued I/O feature of MEX. When
running terminal mode at speeds above about 4800 baud
(on a 4 MHz CPU), turning queued I/O off will prevent
dropped characters. Turning QUEUE off will affect in-
memory ASCII capture as follows: when the in-memory
buffer fills, and MEX sends an x-off character to the
remote (to cause it to stop sending characters), MEX
will miss any characters transmitted between the time
the buffer fills characters actually stop being received.
CAPTURE: may be used to toggle save-in-memory on and off (ONLY
if a term-file is active; see new TERM command, which
allows a term-file to be opened from within a READ file).
PRECHO: toggles list echo on and off.
SODELAY: When SODELAY is ON, the SENDOUT commands and keystrings
are tied to the WCHAR and WLINE delays, similarly to files
transmitted in terminal-mode. Note that SODELAY is
inhibited by the WTECHO variable; hence, WTECHO takes
preference. When SODELAY is OFF, SENDOUT and keystrings
work exactly as they always have.
(this change was suggested by MEXHACK1.ASM, by Bob Schultz,
and provides the same feature as Bob's patch, with STAT
incorporation added).
TAB: Turns on and off MEX's internal tab expander. (This was
requested by several users with strange terminals).
- The help file is now named MEX.HLP, to provide consistency of filetype.
Now all files with a type of "MEX" are READ command files only (as is
INI.MEX, of course)
- The user's manual is now a Wordstar format source file (MEX11DOC.WS). An
additional file (MEX11DOC.TOC) provides a table of contents.
- SENDOUT replies are now sent to the ASCII capture file, if one is
open. If list-echo is on, SENDOUT replies go there as well.
- SENDOUT reply timing variables may now be set as high as 255 seconds.
- INITFILE is now off as a default
- The phone library will now accomodate numbers of up to 30 digits
in length (up from 24). Since this caused the two-entries-per-line
screen display to exceed 80 columns in width, MEX is now distributed
with the SPLIT varible on, limiting the display to one entry per line.
- Files being received or transmitted with the V, R or S secondary opt-
options may now be aborted from the console ... note that if you're
running MEX remotely under BYE (or any method in which the port MEX
is transmitting to is also the console) you should use the Q secondary
option (without V, R or S, which don't make sense in this context
anyway) to override console abort-processing.
- A new MEXPAT variable (AUTOSV) causes ASCII-save to commence whenever
terminal mode is entered with a filename argument. This variable de-
faults to ON ... if you'd rather that terminal-mode save work the way
it used to, reset this variable in MEXPAT.
- The old STAT switch variable PAGE is now a value variable, and determines
the number of lines in a screen page for TYPE, HELP and several other
commands that now paginate their output. The PAGLEN variable should be
set to the screen size less two ... STAT PAGE 0 disables pagination in
all contexts (which is the only function PAGE had in the previous release).
- A new secondary option, 'E', has been added, similar to 'T' (often used
after a file transfer to go from file-transfer mode to terminal mode with
no intervening command mode). 'E' works just like 'T', except that the
computer echoes characters back to the remote.
- User areas 16 to 31 are now fully supported
- All STAT display lines now include the associated STAT keyword as the first
word of the description line.
Bugs fixed
----------
- All bugs fixed in previous patch files (in various MEXNEWS releases)
are now incorporated into the source code and SHOULD NOT be added
to MEX 1.1.
- The bug that prevented single-character commands directed to a
particular drive has been fixed (eg, S B:FILE.FOO)
- Several commands that produced a good deal of console output (eg,
STAT, STAT ?, etc) could not be paused with ^S nor aborted with
^C. This has been corrected. Additionally, these commands now pag-
inate their output (using the new PAGLEN STAT variable)
- Multiple command lines after a READ command will now be found after
the READ completes.
- Some overlays could not do file uploads in checksum mode (most
notably GB10). This has been repaired in MEX 1.1.
- The problems with corrupted keystrings and phone libraries, as well
as the loss of HELP file positioning after disk I/O, has been fixed.
- The APPEND algorthm (for appending to terminal-mode files) has been
re-written, and is much more reliable.
- An error in the distributed MEXPAT file, where a missing 'A' was
inadvertantly omitted in the GLOBAL options list, has been fixed. Since
this list was at the end of MEXPAT10, the only patch files that may
be affected are those which tried to modify the global options table.
(Thanks to Mark Pulver for reporting this one).
- Previously, STAT DEBUG reset the high-bit of received characters (which
defeated the purpose of DEBUG mode). This has been corrected.
- The bug that prevented filenames with imbedded slash characters ("/")
from parsing correctly has been fixed.
- A bug causing default arguments in READ files to be ignored has been fixed.
- Ejecting the CIS module now reclaims the space (you do have to use the
COLD command before CLONEing, though).
Enhancements available to overlays
----------------------------------
- A mode byte is now available in the patch-variables area (see
MEXPAT11.ASM) , for read-only use by the overlay. This byte is set
by MEX as follows:
00 - MEX is in command mode
01 - MEX is in terminal mode
02 - SENDOUT active
03 - Keystring being transmitted
04 - File transfer: Christensen-protocol send
05 - File transfer: Christensen-protocol receive
06 - File transfer: CIS-protocol send
07 - File transfer: CIS-protocol receive
- A new variable, TIMBAS, is available (assemble MEXPAT for location)
for fine-tuning MEX timing. This is the variable that was patched
in a previous MEXNEWS.
- Two new word-vectors are available (again, see MEXPAT) for use by
Smartmodem ("logical") overlays: SMINIT is called by MEX at start-up,
and may be used to send init-strings, etc, to the modem; SMEXIT is
called just prior to exiting to CP/M. SSETCM is a SET command for
the logical overlay, and may be used to change modem parameters.
- Two new modem return codes are now supported. These are no-ring (code
#5) and no-dialtone (code #6).
- The AUTOSV flag mentioned previously is present in MEXPAT11.ASM.
- Two new MEX service processor functions have been added:
236, PRID: Prints the MEX current MEX ID string on the console.
237, PRNTBL: This function is passed a MEX format command table
pointer in HL (eg, your SET command table). It prints
the table in columnar format ... returns carry=1 if
the console aborted with control-C while the table was
being printed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Overlay writers:
The new Smartmodem overlay format will assume that the physical overlay
(ie, the one that talks to the hardware) terminates by 0900H ... I think
that most do. The exceptions that come to mind are those that combine
the Smartmodem overlay and the hardware overlay (ostensibly, to add
SET commands that manipulate the Smartmodem). The new SSET command should
render that unnecessary; hence, you can regain the additional space by
removing the Smartmodem code, and at the same time gain the ability to
use any of the non-Hayes compatible modems (eg, Racil-Vadic, CTS, etc),
since the hardware overlay will no longer be tied to the Hayes format.
------------------------------------------------------------
File list for the 1.1 release (non-squeezed CRC's as generated by CRCK.COM):
MEX11DOC.WS FB01 --- The MEX User's Guide
MEX11DOC.TOC B969 --- Table of contents to the User's Guide
MEX11.COM 539B --- Generic MEX program, no overlays installed
MEXPAT11.ASM FA14 --- Patch file (modifies MEX defaults)
MEX.HLP D650 --- Online documentation file
MLOAD21.COM E51E --- Overlay and patch file installation tool
------------------------------------------------------------
Ron Fowler
August 21, 1984
Fort Atkinson, WI