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TERMS
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QTERM.DOC
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2000-06-30
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494 lines
If QTERM is invoked with no arguments, it starts up, and after signing
on, you are immediately connected with the modem. If an argument file
is provided, then it is assumed to be a chat script (see 'X'), and the
chat script is immediately activated. With this file as with all others
that can be entered, user numbers can be included in the filespecification:
B3:CHAT.XYZ will look for the file in user area 3 on drive B: Either the
drive or the user alone can be given: A:FOO.FOO and 7:BAZ.BAR are both
acceptable, anything not given defaults to the current values. On
completion of the chat script, command passes to normal connected
operation. All special actions are initiated by typing the escape
character, what happens next is determined by the next character typed.
Note that while all letters here are shown in upper case, lower case works
equally well: so <escape> b also activates the code to set the baud rate.
As delivered, the escape character is set to control backslash, however it
can be changed by patching QTERM: see QTERM.PAT for details, so to print
help type '^\' '?', etc. In all the descriptions that follow, references to
the escape character refer to this (i.e. '^\' and not the ESC key - '^[')
Retyping the escape character (i.e. typing it twice) sends a single copy
of the escape character to the remote system.
Other characters and what they do are:
? - Print help - QTERM provides a brief synopsis of the available commands.
. - Send a break - If QTERM has been patched to do it, this will transmit
a tenth of a second break.
, - Hang up modem - This is done by deactivating DTR for a short time, which
causes most modems to hang up. Again QTERM has to be patched to do this.
Alternatively, if your modem doesn't respond to DTR, it is possible to
have QTERM transmit a string to cause a hangup: for example the
'<delay> +++ <delay> ATH0'
as required by a HAYES compatible modem.
B - Change baud rate and mode - This will first prompt you, your response
must look like the following:
nnnn
nnnn mmm -x y z
* mmm
where 'nnnn' is a number specifying the baud rate. Up to eight options
are available: 300 600 1200 2400 4800 9600 19200 and 38400, although not
all of these may be enabled. 'mmm' is a byte format specifier made up
of three characters. The first must be '7 ' or '8' to specify the number
of data bits; the second 'E', 'O', or 'N' for even, odd, or no parity;
and the third '1' or '2' for the number of stop bits. The * in the last
example is used as a place holder when the mode is to be changed, but
not the baud rate. So, for example: '1200' would change to 1200 baud
leaving the mode as is; '300 8n1' would switch to 300 baud, and select
8 data bits, no parity, and 1 stop bit; and '* 7E2' would change the
format to 7 data bits, even parity, and 2 stop bits, while leaving the
baud rate alone. The '-' option is a way of specifying three delays
that can be set. The first is a delay in seconds after a control S is
sent. QTERM uses ^S / ^Q as flow control, to turn off transmission at
the remote end while it is writing to disk or the printer (see 'C' catch
and 'O' printer output). Since some systems take longer to respond to a
^S than others, the delay time can be changed. QTERM starts up with one
second of delay, but by specifying -3 or -6 or whatever, this delay can
be changed. -0 is possible, but not recommended unless your remote system
responds instantly. The second number is a delay in milliseconds between
character sends in 'P' transmits (see below). Note that this time is
the time between the start of each character transmission, rather than
a time between the end of one and the start of the next. So if this
delay was set to 15 milliseconds at 1200 BPS, where each character
takes about 8 milliseconds to transmit, there would be 8 milliseconds
spent sending the character, and then 7 milliseconds of idle time: the
total being 15. The third number is the delay at the end of a line in
'P' transmission: this is also a count of milliseconds, and this delay
occurs after transmission of a carriage return. Note that it is possible
to selectively set these values: if a '*' is entered as a place holder
then the delay value for that position will not be changed, i.e.
-* 20
would leave the ^S delay alone, set the character delay to 20
milliseconds, and leave the end of line delay alone. Note that while
the 'nnn' option for setting the communication mode requires a place
holder, the -x option is detected by the '-'. Hence no place holder
is needed, but the -x must be the last thing on the line. So:
300 -2 * 200
* 7o2 -1 15
-4 20 300
are all acceptible commands, but:
2400 -2 8n1
will set the baud rate to 2400, the ^S delay to 2 seconds, but will not
change the communication mode. Instead it would do undefined things to
the character and end of line delays. Although QTERM always claims to
have made the changes to the baud rate and communication mode, they will
only happen if the necessary patches are applied. Note that for the
second character of the mode specifier, both lower and upper case are
accepted.
C - Open an input catch file - This prompts for a filename, and then opens
that file for output. All subsequent data received up the line from the
modem port will be written to the file.
Y - Put catch file on hold - This keeps the output file open, but temporarily
disables transfer of data. A second <escape> 'Y' will re-enable capture
of data.
Z - Close a catch file - This closes the output file, and disables data
capture until another catch file is opened.
D - Display local directory - This prompts for a single CP/M wildcard
file specificier, and then lists all files that match. Note that an
empty filename is assumed to be '*.*'. This option will only work
with CP/M 2.2 and compatible systems: it is disabled under CP/M 3.0.
When the files are being printed, QTERM will stop after each screenful
(23 lines), hitting return will print a single line, any other key will
print a full page.
E - Toggle remote echo - This toggles echo to the remote system. This will
most likely be used when the remote system is a terminal or another
computer running a terminal program. It causes all characters received
from the modem to be re-transmitted back to the modem, creating the
impression that the far end is running in half duplex mode. Caution
should be used to make sure that you don't set up an 'infinite loop'
where the remote system is also echoing: because then the first
character that returns will be sent out again by QTERM, to be returned
by the remote, to be sent out again by QTERM .....
H - Toggle half duplex - This simply causes all keyboard input to be
echoed to the screen.
I - Print status Information - This prints a summary of QTERM's current
state, showing the state of the various toggles, delays, what the
current drive and user are, etc.
J - Junk control characters - This causes QTERM to discard all control
characters received from the remote system that are not considered
important. Important control characters are: carriage return (0x0d);
linefeed (0x0a); backspace (0x08); tab (0x09); and escape (0x1b).
In this mode, if the remote system is sending characters with the
MSB set, and bit 7 masking is not enabled (see 'M'), then all
characters with bit 7 set will also be discarded.
L - Toggle linefeed transmit for 'P' - When 'P' is used to send a file to
the remote system, it normally transmits all useful characters: i.e.
all printable ascii characters from ' ' to '~', tabs, and carriage
returns. This toggle ensables the transmission of line feeds, for
cases where it is needed. Note that when QTERM starts, this is off,
i.e. the default is not to transmit linefeeds.
M - Toggle bit 7 mask - When this is enabled, all characters received from
the remote have the most significant bit stripped. This may be useful
when QTERM is running in 8n1 mode, but the remote is transmitting in
7e1 mode - the top bit will contain parity, and this strips it off.
N - New default drive and user. This will prompt, and allow entry of a drive
user specification (i.e 'A7:' or 'B14:' or 'C:' or '9:'), this then
becomes the default for all file operations. Note that it is possible
to user the CP/M BDOS functions to set drive and user during the entry
hook code (see QTERM.PAT), so if the entry code selects D2:, and all
scripts are on D2: just entering QTERM SCRIPT at the CCP prompt would
find SCRIPT on D2:. Also note that after the entry hook code, QTERM makes
a note of where it is (i.e. in the above case D2: ) When a chat script
is invoked with the 'X' command, QTERM will first look at the drive
given, or on the default if no drive is specified. If that fails, then
QTERM will take a second look in the drive/user area as saved after the
entry hook. The rationale behind this is to place all chat scripts in
one place: these can subsequently move the default around (see the '!'
section of chat scripts), or 'N' commands can be used to move around.
However it does not matter what the current default drive/user is, QTERM
can always find the scripts by lookng back at the area it noted.
O - Toggle output to the printer - This simply toggles a switch that causes
all data received to be transmitted to the printer.
P - Print a file to remote - This prompts for a filename, and then transmits
that file to the remote system. While this transfer is in progress, the
keyboard is ignored, except that typing control 'X' will cancel the
transfer. Note that the 'L' command may come in useful with this command,
check how your remote system behaves.
T - Type a local file - This also prompts for a filename, and then prints that
file to the screen locally. While this is in progress, a control 'X' will
cancel it, Output can also be paused by typing control 'S', which will
halt until another character is typed. If this character is control 'X'
the output will be aborted, any other continues the printout.
V - Toggle VT100 emulation. This function requires the following screen
abilities be specified before it will work (see QTERM.PAT for details):
clear to end of line, and clear to end of screen. Note that the VT100
emulation is as complete as it can be, however the alternate character
sets and display attribute commands will not be recognised.
W - Toggle split window mode. This requires that the insert line and delete
line screen abilities be specified (see QTERM.PAT for details). It puts
QTERM into a mode where send and receive text are shown in two separate
windows. This can be useful when using QTERM to communicate with another
communication program running in terminal mode, because it keeps what
is typed on the keyboard separate from what is received from the remote
system. After selecting window mode, QTERM prompts for window size: there
are two options, 'b' or 's' (big or small). This refers to the receive
window: when small, the screen is split exactly in half: 11 lines for
both send and receive. Big mode makes the receive window 18 lines deep,
the send window is only 4 lines: this will be useful when far more text
is being received than is being sent.
R - Receive a file using protocol - This option prompts for a mode and
optional receive file information. Xmodem and Kermit are both supported.
Respond with 'k' to go into Kermit receive, or 'x' to go into Xmodem
receive. Normally files are received on the current default drive,
however by entering a drive or a user (e.g. 'k b7:') files will be
received in the specified location. In addition, if Xmodem is not
being used in batch mode, a filename can be given here. Non-batch
Xmodem has a default filename, this can be used to override it. Note
that a space MUST be present between the k or the x and the
filename / drive specification for proper operation. Normally QTERM
is silent, however if an 'a' option is given immediately after the
'x' or 'k' (as in 'ka c4:') QTERM will alert on termination of transfer
by ringing the terminal bell. While the transfer is in progress, a
control 'X' will abort it.
S - Send a file using protocol - This also prompts, the response should be
'k filelist ....' or 'x filelist ....' where 'filelist ....' is a list
of CP/M filespecifiers: wildcards are permitted. Single filespecifiers
are separated from one another by spaces, and there must be a space
before the first filespecifier. There are options that can be given
immediately following the k / x. For Kermit, the only option available
is a 'b' that forces binary mode. Kermit usually sends files in text
mode (i.e. 0x1a is taken as end of file) - If you want to transfer a
binary file, specify the mode as 'kb filename.com'. Xmodem has the
following options: 'b' - use Xmodem batch (AKA Modem7 batch mode);
'y' - use Ymodem batch mode; 'k' - use 1K packets. So 'xbk a12:*.com'
would send all .COM files on drive A:, user area 12, using Modem7
batch mode and 1K packets. To match names to various combinations:
xyk will give true Ymodem (known sometimes as ymodem batch), xk gives
Xmodem 1K (sometimes incorrectly called ymodem), xy gives Ymodem batch,
but forces 128 byte packets, xbk will use Modem7 batch mode, but with
1K packets. Note that the Kermit implementation can attempt to use both
hi bit quoting and repeat character packing for sending, these are
enabled by adding a 'p' to the kermit options for pack, and a 'h' for
high bit quoting. As with protocol reception, this procedes in silence,
however if an 'a' option (i.e. 'xkya 4:*.txt') is given, QTERM will
ring the bell on completion; in addition, a control 'X' will abort the
transfer.
K - Program a function key - This prompts for a key number and a string
to be loaded under that key. The first character entered may be an
's' to specify the string should be sent slowly. Normally function
key strings are transmitted at full speed, however the 's' creates
a tenth second delay between characters. Following the 's' (if given)
or as the first character if no 's' is given, must be a digit between
'0' and '9': this specifies the key number. Finally comes the string
that will be loaded under the key. Maximum string length is 14
characters, longer strings are truncated. Backslash escape sequences
are permitted, see the description in the section on chat scripts
for a full explanation of what is available. As a few examples:
s2hello\r
would program function key 2 to send 'hello <cr>' slowly, and:
3userid = 17\e
would program function key 3 to send 'userid = 17 <esc>' at full speed.
(\r is an escape sequence that maps to a single carriage return, and
\e maps to a single escape. See chat scripts below for more detail)
0-9 - Send function key string - After <escape> 'K' has been used to load
strings into the function keys, <escape> '0' etc. will activate the
function key, causing the string it contains to be sent.
X - Activate a chat script - This prompts for a filename, then it reads the
file, and does the chat script given. A chat script is a means for
getting QTERM to automatically call up a remote system, log in to it,
and do whatever else in wanted. A line in a chat script contains six
fields: an example of such a line is:
.AT\r.OK\r\n.3.2.3.0.
In this example the '.' (first character) is the delimiter used to
separate fields. Any character can be used, but whatever character is
chosen cannot appear in the strings. Also note that chosing a delimiter
from the characters above 'z' in the ASCII character set
(i.e. '{', '|', '}', and '~') has a special effect, which is explained
below. Taking the fields in order they are SEND, EXPECT, TIME, TRIES,
SUCCESS, and FAIL. SEND is a string that is transmitted by QTERM, so in
the example above QTERM would transmit 'AT<carriage return>'. Since the
file must be printable ascii, special escape sequences are provided to
allow arbitrary characters in. All of these escape sequences start with
a backslash '\', and the following are provided: '\r' carriage return
(0x0d), '\n' linefeed (0x0a), '\t' tab (0x09) '\b' backspace (0x08),
'\e' escape (0x1b), '\k' break, and '\d' delay. '\k' causes a break to
be sent, and '\d' causes a delay of two seconds in the transmission.
In addition a backslash can be followed by up to three octal digits to
send the character with that representation: so '\177' would send a
delete, and '\003' or '\3' would send a control C; this can also be
done for hexadecimal representations: in this case '\x' is the leadin,
and it is followed by up to two hexadecimal digits: so '\x7f' would
again send a delete, and '\xd' could be used in place of '\r' to send
a carriage return. The rule for determining how many characters are
used when scanning an octal or hex number is as follows: octal has a
maximum of three, hex a maximum of two: use at most that many characters,
or stop early if an inappropriate character is encountered. As was noted
above, delimiters above 'z' have a special effect: they cause the SEND
string to be written out slowly: there is a tenth of a second delay
after each character. EXPECT is a string that QTERM is looking for in
response to it's SEND string: so in the above example, QTERM would be
looking for the 'OK<carriage return><linefeed>' that a Hayes compatible
modem would respond with, when presented with the 'AT<return>' that
QTERM sent.
The remining four fields are all decimal numbers, and can be omitted
as QTERM will provide default values. TIME is the number of seconds
to wait before assuming failure, if not given it defaults to 15. TRIES
is the number of times to retry on failure, so taking our first example,
TRIES is 2. If it matched the EXPECT string on the first sending of SEND,
all is well, but on the first failure it would resend the SEND string
and look for the EXPECT string a second time. If it failed on this second
attempt, only then would it consider this line to have failed. SUCCESS
specifies the line number to transfer to in the chat script if it matched
the EXPECT string. The default for this is the line following the current
line. FAIL is the line to transfer to if the EXPECT string is not
matched. This can be a line in the chat script, or as shown above 0 is
allowed, which terminates the script immediately. In another example, if
the first line were:
.AT\r.OK\r\n..5.
Since TIME is empty, it defaults to 15, but as TRIES is 5, this line
would try five times before giving up. Note also from the second
example that there are two ways of causing QTERM to default a value:
an empty field (TIME) or end of the string (SUCCESS and FAIL). Note
however that the closing '.' after the 5 for TRIES is necessary. It is
possible that either of SEND or EXPECT can be empty: an empty SEND
causes nothing to be sent, but the EXPECT must be matched to continue;
an empty EXPECT automatically matches. Note that if both are empty then
the chat script will terminate when it hits that line.
There is another special cases for the "delimiter": '!'. This allows
other <escape> commands to be executed in the middle of a chat script.
Following the '!' must be the letter of the command to be executed,
and following this must be any input that would normally be prompted
for. Hence:
'!b1200 8n1'
would cause the baud rate to be set to 1200, and the communications
mode to 8 data bits, no parity, and one stop bit; likewise:
'!.'
would send a break. Note that there should be no space between the '!'
and the command letter, although spaces after are permitted. Not all
commands are available: ',', '.' (hangup and break), 'B' (set baud
rate), 'E' (set local echo), 'H' (set half duplex), 'J' (toggle
junking control characters), 'L' (set linefeed send for 'P'), 'M' (set
bit 7 mask), 'N' (select new drive/user), 'V' (toggle VT100 emulation),
'W' (toggle split window mode), 'K' (program function key), 'P' (print
file to remote), 'R' (receive), 'S' (send) and 'X' (activate chat script)
are the only commands available. Note also that the toggles ('E', 'H',
'J', 'L', 'M', 'V' and 'W') behave a little differently. Since the state
of these toggles is not defined when a chat script starts, there are
three ways of invoking these. Using 'H' (half duplex) as an example:
'!h'
behaves as would an <escape> 'H' in normal operation, i.e. it toggles
the half duplex switch. However, if the following is given:
'!h1'
the trailing '1' forces half duplex to be enabled, irrespective of
it's original state, and:
'!h0'
guarantees to turn half duplex off. The other toggles work in the same
manner: a trailing '0' always disables, and a trailing '1' always
enables.
The 'X' command to activate a chat script can be used to chain scripts
together: when an 'X' is encountered the specified chat script is
invoked, however the current script is lost: it is overwritten by the
new one.
There are two other command that are not normally available: 'A', and
'F'.
'A' simply alerts it's passing by ringing the terminal bell, this may
be useful if a chat script is being used to repeatedly call a number
until a connection is made: by putting a '!a' into the script, the
system will beep when a connection is made.
Since 'C' catch files are disabled during chat script operation, 'F'
is provided as an alternative means for data capture. A typical 'F' line
would be:
'!fb:catch.txt 6 string'
This would open B:CATCH.TXT for output, then send 'string' out, and
transfer all subsequent data to that file until a timeout of 6 seconds
occurred. 'string' is a string that can contain backslash escape
sequences, just like a SEND string in normal chat operation. Any
timeout can be given, up to about 250 seconds. Note that since this
uses the same buffer as the <escape> C command, if there is already a
catch file open, it will be automatically closed prior to execution
of a '!f'.
Finally, if you wish to terminate a chat script prematurely, typing
control 'X' will do so, and return to normal operation.
Q - Quit - This terminates QTERM, returning to CP/M. Note that the modem is
not hung up, unless the exit code explicitly does so, or an <escape> ','
sequence is used before terminating QTERM.
To finish - here is an example of a chat script, with a 'blow by blow' account
of every line.
!b1200 8n1 -2 25 500 [1]
!k0C;CP/M\r [2]
!k1C;POST\r [2]
.AT\r.OK\r\n..5. [3]
.ATDT1234567\r.CONNECT 1200.30. [4]
..inue: . [5]
.\r.\r\n. [6]
.\013.name: . [7]
|david goodenough\r|word: | [7]
|XXXXXXXX\r|| [7]
[1] - set the baud rate for 1200, and 8n1 as the communications mode, set
for 2 seconds delay to respond to ^S, set for 25 milliseconds
delay between character sends during <escape> P and set for 500
milliseconds of delay at the end of each line in <escape> P
[2] - load function key 0 with 'C;CP/M <return>', and function key 1 with
'C;POST <return>' - these are a couple of commands that I use a
lot on the BBS associated with this chat script.
[3] - send 'AT<return>' to the modem, and look for the 'OK<return><linefeed>'
response. This line is tried five times before giving up.
[4] - dial the number, and wait for the 'CONNECT 1200' response. Note here
that the timeout is thirty seconds, to give the modem time to dial,
make the connection, and establish carrier with the other modem.
[5] - send nothing, but wait for 'inue: '. This is part of a string typed
by the BBS: 'Hit any key to continue: ' - here we are just looking
for the last six characters. Note that all four numeric fields
default here, so wait 15 seconds, only try it once, success goes
to the next line, and failure exits,
[6] - send a <return>, and wait for a <return> <linefeed>.
[7] - send a control K ('\013'), and wait for 'name: '; then send my
name, and wait for 'word: ' (part of the password prompt);
finally send my password, and expect nothing - we're all done.
Note also the '|' delimiter, the system can't take the name
and password at full speed, so they are sent slowly.
To provide a second example, a local BBS has two possible numbers to
call it on. The following script will try the first, if that fails
then try the second
.AT\r.OK\r\n..5. [1]
.ATDT7654321\r.CONNECT 1200.30..5.3. [2]
.AT\r.OK\r\n..5. [3]
.ATDT7651234\r.CONNECT 1200.30. [4]
%\r%inue....% [5]
. .FIRST name? . [6]
.david\r.LAST name? . [6]
[1] - Get the modem's attention: send AT <return> till the modem responds.
[2] - Try the first number. If we succeed go to line 5, on a fail go to line
3 which is the next line.
[3] - Resync with the modem.
[4] - Try the second number. If we succeed, carry on, otherwise fail.
Effectively failure only occurs if both numbers don't work.
[5] - Start the login process, this line shows also how any delimiter can
be used: since '.' is part of the expect string there is another
character in use for the delimiter.
[6] - Continue logging in.
By expanding the process above, it is possible to cause the modem to test
many numbers, and by suitably adjusting the failure value of the last
line where a number is dialed it is possible to make the script try several
numbers in a loop test pattern indefinitely till one of them succeeds.