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╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ JOAN RIFF'S CB SIMULATOR ║ ║ (Version 1.6) ║ ║ ║ ║ Positively Painless Network Conferencing ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ Copyright (C) 1990 Computerwise Consulting Services ║ ║ P.O. Box 813, McLean, VA 22101 ║ ║ (703) 450-7175 ║ ║ Usenet: bob@grebyn.com ║ ║ ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ Joan Riff's CB Simulator for PC Networks (hereinafter referred to simply as CB) is a software product for use on PCs that are connected to a local area network. Simply stated, CB is the digital equivalent of a Citizen's Band radio. CB allows users of a network to carry on a multi-party simultaneous conversation, or "conference". Operation is simple: the user simply types lines of text. Every line that the user types appears on the screen of every CB user, and lines typed by all other CB participants appear on the user's screen. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ CB Capabilities at a Glance │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This CB simulator provides the following features: » Any of 19 simulated CB channels may be used. » Multiple users can be transmitting on a channel at one time. » Multiple windows can be on the screen at once, each one associated with one channel. » Each user has his own handle by which he is identified, and which gets attached to his messages. » Incoming messages can be logged to a Logfile. » ASCII files may be transmitted across a channel as if typed by a user. » Messages may be scrambled with a password in order to obtain a measure of privacy. » Messages may have attributes attached which cause them to beep and/or be displayed in an alternative color when received. » Messages which have scrolled off of the top of the window may be reviewed by scrolling backwards and forwards through them. » Context-sensitive help is always just a single keypress away. » Operation is configurable via configuration files, environment variables, and command-line flags. » Individual users may be filtered out (disabled), so that irrelevant messages don't clutter your screen. » This software runs on any network which provides multi-user access to a DOS directory - it is not dependent upon any specific network. » Up to 50 distinct handles (hence users) may be "on the air" at one time. The practical upper limit depends upon the efficiency of your network. » All of the PC's free real memory is used to hold incoming messages. » Common operations are handled immediately from the main screen, making CB very easy to use. » Advanced operations are handled from within a pulldown menu interface which allows you to navigate through all applicable choices before committing yourself. » A revolutionary new approach to software registration protects this software against unauthorized use, while giving registered sites unrestricted access to the software. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Getting the REAL Documentation │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This file is a cursory description of the product. It gives you just enough information to allow you to get CB up and running to the point where the Online Help file is available to you. The full documentation is contained in the CB User's Guide, which may be purchased in hardcopy form from CCS. It may also be downloaded from bulletin boards, where it resides as an archive file named CB_PS.ARC roughly 400K in size. The contents of the CB_PS.ARC file are as follows: FILENAME SIZE DATE DESCRIPTION ------------ ------ ---------- ------------------------------------ CBMANUAL.DOC 1458 7 Jul 1990 How to print CBMANUAL.PS. CBMANUAL.PS 3828400 4 Jul 1990 The User's Guide itself. This is in fact a Postscript file. Just copy this file to your Postscript printer and you will have a perfect, camera-ready copy of the CB User's Guide. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ The CB Distribution Disk Files │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ CB is distributed on bulletin boards as the file CB.ARC. This is an archive file created with the PKARC 3.6 standard archive program. Unpack this file using the PKXARC 3.6 program or its equivalent. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ *** NOTICE *** │ │ │ │ The file CB.ARC may be redistributed, posted to │ │ other bulletin boards, etc., but *ONLY* in its │ │ original, unmodified state. In particular, you may │ │ not pass on a file which has been repackaged in │ │ ZIP format. We insist upon this in order to protect │ │ our product as well as our customers. We go to │ │ great lengths to ensure that the file CB.ARC as │ │ posted to various bulletin boards is an accurate │ │ and virus-free incarnation of our product, and is │ │ in a format (known as the "PKARC 3.6 standard") │ │ which can be processed by virtually every de-ARC │ │ program in the world. ZIP is not such a standard, │ │ and in fact keeps changing so fast that incompatible │ │ ZIP files are now the rule rather than the exception. │ │ Lastly, unscrupulous and/or incompetent parties have │ │ been known to repackage corrupted archives and pass │ │ them along as the work of the original author. │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ When purchased directly from CCS, CB is distributed on a 5.25" diskette which contains separate files not archived together, so no de-arcing is required. Additionally, such software is guaranteed by us to be virus-free. The standard suite of files distributed with CB is as follows: FILENAME SIZE DATE DESCRIPTION ------------- ----- ---------- ------------------------------------ CB.EXE 65684 7 Jul 1990 The executable program itself. CB.DOC 48186 7 Jul 1990 This documentation file. CB.HLP 54334 5 Jul 1990 The Online Help Facility text file. CB_SITE.CFG 2692 7 Jul 1990 The site-wide configuration file. CB_USER.CFG 1508 7 Jul 1990 A user-specific configuration file. CB_ORDER.FRM 2942 7 Jul 1990 An order form for ordering CB items. CB_REGIS.NUM 1774 7 Jul 1990 Temporary registration serial numbers. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ A Quick Look at Joan Riff's CB Simulator │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You may perform a quick, single-user evaluation of CB (without going to the trouble of installing it on a network) by doing the following: 1) Create an empty directory on your hard disk. In a pinch - or if you're worried about errant software corrupting your hard disk - you can also do this on a floppy disk. 2) Copy the following CB files to that directory: CB.EXE The executable program itself. CB_SITE.CFG The site-wide configuration file. CB_USER.CFG A sample user-specific configuration file. CB.HLP The Online Help Facility text file. 3) Make that directory your current directory. 4) Start the program by typing "CB". You won't be able to communicate with others, of course, but you *WILL* be able to evaluate the program to see if it meets your needs. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Installing Joan Riff's CB Simulator on a Network │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Before it can be used, CB must be installed on a network by the network administrator. Because CB is a network "groupware" application, its installation is somewhat more involved than is necessary for a stand-alone program. Nevertheless, its installation can be reduced to the following simple steps: 1) Obtain one registration serial number from Computerwise Consulting Services for every network user that you want to have access to CB. See "Registration of this Software" (below) for detailed information about the registration process. 2) Create a directory somewhere on a network drive to which all potential users will have access. Use your network's administrator utility to give all users full access to this directory. All users must be able to search this directory for files, create files under this directory, and read/write all files under it. 3) Copy the following CB files to some directory on the network which is in every user's search path: CB.EXE The executable program itself. CB_SITE.CFG The site-wide configuration file. CB_USER.CFG A sample user-specific configuration file. CB.HLP The Online Help Facility text file. 4) Edit the CB_SITE.CFG file (which you just created in step 3) to reflect your own site-wide preferences. It is especially important that you change the "Directory=" parameter so that it names the network directory that you created in step 2. Be sure to include the trailing '\' character in this directory name! 5) Using the registration serial numbers obtained from CCS, you must install each CB user using one of the following techniques (it's your choice): a) You can create a unique batch file for every user (CB_BOB.BAT, for example), and store it in a network directory which is in every user's search path. Each such batch file should invoke CB with command-line flags which specify this user's serial number and handle. See "Command-line Flags" below. b) You can copy the sample CB_USER.CFG file (created in step 2 above) to a directory which appears in this user's DOS search path prior to any other directories, and then edit that file to contain this user's individual serial number and handle. This will cause CB to automatically find this file and obey the parameters contained in it. See "Configuration Files" below. c) You can edit each user's AUTOEXEC.BAT file on his boot disk to set his serial number and handle via DOS environment variables. See "DOS Environment Variables" below. The program is now ready to be used. Installation is complete. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Registration of this software │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This program will only run properly when it detects the presence of a valid registration serial number. This prevents the use of this program by folks who haven't paid for it. Shareware, after all, means "Try it BEFORE you buy it", not "Try it, like it, and keep using it WITHOUT paying for it". Sample registration serial numbers (valid only for a limited evaluation period) are provided in the file CB_REGIS.NUM. You may use these for the initial evaluation of the product. True registration serial numbers may be obtained from CCS for the price of $20 per user per year. Orders may be placed with CCS at the following address: CB Registration Computerwise Consulting Services P.O. Box 813, McLean, VA 22101 (703) 450-7175 Be sure to indicate the number of registrations desired (@ 1 per user per year), and to include payment for each such registration. The accompanying file CB_ORDER.FRM is provided as a convenience in ordering serial numbers and manuals. Once a registration serial number has been obtained from CCS, it may be specified to this program in one of three ways: » Via a "Registration=xxxxxxx" command in each user's personal CB_USER.CFG configuration file. See "Configuration Files" below. » Via a "CBSERIAL=xxxxxxx" DOS environment variable. See "DOS Environment Variables" below. » Via a "-#xxxxxxx" command-line flag provided on the command line when the program is run. See "Command-line Flags" below. Remember - each user of this program needs to pass to CB his own personal registration serial number in order to be able to talk to other CB users. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ You may install as many copies of this software as │ │ you like. You may make backup copies of this │ │ software, because it is not copy-protected. In │ │ short, you are not constrained in any way from │ │ performing prudent software installation, │ │ distribution, or backup with this product, as any │ │ responsible network administrator will no doubt do │ │ with all network software that he owns. The only │ │ restriction is that EACH USER MUST HAVE HIS OWN │ │ INDIVIDUAL SERIAL NUMBER as described above. │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Starting CB: Command-Line Flags │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The following flags may be given on the command line which invokes CB: -hxxxx Sets your CB handle to the name xxxx. This will override any handle specified in a CB configuration file and in the environment variable CBHANDLE. If there are blanks in your handle, then be sure to quote the entire flag like this: "-hCrazy Ivan!" If you don't quote it, then CB will treat each word as a separate flag. -#xxxx Specifies your registration serial number. This will override any serial number specified in a CB configur- ation file and in the environment variable CBSERIAL. It must be specified SOMEWHERE (in one of these three places) before the program will become fully functional. -o Suppresses the loading of the Online Help file CB.HLP. This will save the memory normally occupied by that file, thus increasing the amount of memory available for holding incoming messages, or for DOS commands which you may want to run. This also means that Online Help will be unavailable to you. filename Any command-line flag which does not start with a '-' character is assumed to be the name of a configuration file which is to be processed. Such files are processed after the CB_SITE.CFG and CB_USER.CFG configuration files, so any variables set from such files will override prior values. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Starting CB: DOS Environment Variables │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ An alternative (and preferred) way to pass an individual's serial number and password to the program is to set up two DOS environment variables which CB checks for when it runs. This can eliminate the need to build individual batch files which specify this information via command-line flags. The following DOS environment variables may be used to pass information to this program: CBHANDLE=xxxx Sets your CB handle to the name xxxx. This will override any handle specified in a CB configuration file, but will itself be overridden by the command-line flag "-hxxxx" (if provided to this program when it is invoked). CBSERIAL=xxxx Sets your personal registration serial number to xxxx. This will override any serial number specified in a CB configuration file, but will itself be overridden by the command-line flag "-#xxxx" (if provided to this program when it is invoked). These may be set in your system's AUTOEXEC.BAT file (or from the DOS command line) with the following commands: SET CBHANDLE=xxxx SET CBSERIAL=xxxx The purpose of these variables is to specify your individual serial number and handle so that CB can locate them when it begins execution. If you set these variables in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file of your system's boot disk, then you can just run the program directly via the DOS command "CB", without having to have an individual batch file created for you just to specify these things via command-line parameters. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Searching For Files Via the DOS PATH Variable │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ CB uses auxiliary files (the configuration files, its Online Help file) for various purposes. When the program searches for these files, it does so by looking first in the current DOS directory, and then in every directory that is defined in the DOS PATH environment variable. This series of directories is sometimes known as the DOS search path. Your DOS manual describes how to set and use this environment variable. When CB enters execution, it searches the DOS search path for an ASCII text file named CB_SITE.CFG. This file - if found - is used to initialize various configuration variables used by CB as it executes. This file is meant to hold site-wide settings, which serve as defaults. After searching for that file, CB then searches for a similar file called CB_USER.CFG. This will typically reside within an individual user's own disk space, and is used to further customize CB's operation. Any values which are defined in this file will override the defaults that were specified in CB_SITE.CFG. Lastly, CB searches for a file named CB.HLP, which holds the text of the Online Help screens. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Configuring CB: The CB_SITE.CFG and CB_USER.CFG Files │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The behavior of CB can be modified by commands contained in two configuration files: CB_SITE.CFG This is the site-wide configuration file, which defines parameters which apply to all users on the network. CB_USER.CFG This is an individual user's configuration file, which modifies CB according to the individual user defined by this file. Neither file is absolutely required, although you are strongly encouraged to have at least the site configuration file CB_SITE.CFG. Each line of these configuration files is of the form Keyword=Value. The left side of the equation (up to and including the equals sign) is a literal which must be entered exactly as showm, including upper- and lower-case characters and embedded spaces. The right side of the equation is set by you. There are various types of entries, which are shown in the following examples as follows: xxxx The string xxxx stands for any string of your choice. Yes | No One value must be entered, either "Yes" or "No". n A number must be entered. The various literal keywords which are recognized are as follows: Channel 01=xxxx Specifies the name for CB Channel 01. ... ... ... ... Channel 19=xxxx Specifies the name for CB Channel 19. Copyright=Yes | No Specifies whether the copyright screen is to remain on the screen (Yes) or is to be cleared (No) at program startup. If there is anything wrong with the registration serial number, then this screen is presented regardless of the setting of this variable. Directory=xxxxxxx Specifies the name of a network directory under which this program is to create its temporary message files, and under which it will look for other users' traffic. This must be a complete network path, including the trailing '\' character. A failure to specify the name of an existing directory will cause an error when the program tries to establish its network connection. Handle=xxxxxxx Specifies the CB handle that you will be known by. Each user should have a distinct handle, although (as with a true CB radio) this is not enforced. This handle may be specified here, in the DOS environment variable CBHANDLE, or on the command line that runs CB as the command-line flag "-hxxxxxxx". Logfile=xxxxxxx Specifies the default name to be used for the Logfile, to which incoming messages are written when Logging is turned ON. You are given the chance to explicitly specify the name of the file to be written. This item exists just to provide a convenient default. Page=xxxx Specifies the DOS command which is to be used to PAGE somebody on your particular network. When you ask this program to page somebody, it will pass to DOS the command which you have specified here. You reserve space in the command for the user's name by inserting the reserved string "\N". This will be replaced with the name of the user that you are paging. With Novell, for instance, you can page somebody using the Novell-supplied program SEND. So your entry could read as follows: Page=SEND "You're wanted on CB!" TO \N Note that the string "xxxx" may contain embedded backslash escapes. These are translated by this program before the string is passed to DOS for execution. These escape sequences are as follows: \r becomes a Carriage Return \n becomes a Line Feed \b becomes a Backspace \t becomes a Tab character \f becomes a Form Feed \xFF becomes a byte with the HEX value FF \000 becomes a byte with the octal value 000 This Page= variable is merely a convenience, useful only if you want this program to do the paging for you. You could accomplish exactly the same effect by issuing the appropriate DOS command yourself from within this program. Refresh=n Specifies the number of seconds between checks for new messages. The argument n may be from 1 to 29. The smaller the number, the more responsive the program will be to new traffic (at the expense of increased disk activity). A larger number will mean that more time may elapse between the time that a message is posted and it appears on your screen, but the program will pay more attention to your keyboard. Registration=xxxxxxx Specifies your personal registration serial number. Each user must have his own distinct serial number, as provided by CCS. This number may be specified here, in the DOS environmemt variable CBSERIAL, or on the command line that invokes CB as the command-line flag "-#xxxxxxx". The program will not be fully functional until and unless a valid such number is presented to it through one of these methods. Sound=Yes | No Specifies whether sound is to be used (Yes) or suppressed (No). ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Using CB │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Once CB has been invoked, it is extremely easy to use. For most applications, all that you need to do is type lines of text that you want to broadcast to other users of CB, and watch the responses from those users show up upon your screen. As you type characters into the bottom line of your currently-active window, you are composing a line which will be transmitted over that window's channel. If the channel on which you are transmitting has been scrambled, then outgoing lines will be automatically scrambled as they are sent, and can only be meaningfully received by CB users who have likewise scrambled that channel using exactly the same password. Normally, any keys which are pressed are inserted into the current line which you are building. The following keys have special meaning: {Alt-A} Attributes. This keypress pops up a one-line menu showing various attributes which may be applied to the line which is being entered. Press the key corresponding to the attribute which is to be toggled, or {Escape} to exit this menu. The available attributes are: Beep Causes a recipient's PC to beep when this message is received. Color Causes this message to be displayed in an alternate color on the recipient's screen. {Alt-C} Channel. Switches the "current" window to be tuned to the next available active channel. This is a quick way to browse through several channels without having to use pulldown menus. {Alt-W} Window. Makes the next window on the screen the "current" window. This is a quick way to make another window the current one without having to use pulldown menus. {Alt-H} {F1} Help. Invokes online help for transmitting messages. {Alt-M} {F2} Menu. Invokes the pulldown menu system, which allows you to perform various operations. {Return} Causes the current line to be transmitted over the current channel. The window is then cleared in preparation for the next line to be entered. {Right} Moves the cursor one character to the right. {Left} Moves the cursor one character to the left. {Home} Moves the cursor to the far left limit of the line. {End} Moves the cursor to the far right limit of the line. {Tab} Inserts blanks up to the next 8-character TAB column. {Shift-Tab} Deletes backwards to the previous TAB column. {Backspace} Deletes the character to the left of the cursor. {Del} Deletes the character at the cursor. {Ctrl-End} Deletes to the end of the line. {Ins} Toggles Insert/Overwrite mode for the transmit line. {Up} {PgUp} {Ctrl-PgUp} {Down} {PgDn} {Ctrl-PgDn} These keys scroll the upper part of the "current" window backwards and forwards by lines, screens, or the entire in-memory buffer. This allows you to recall messages which may have scrolled off of the screen. {Ctrl-Right} {Ctrl-Left} These keys pan the upper part of the "current" window to the right and left in units of 8 columns. This is useful when viewing lines which are too long to be displayed within the confines of the window. Many users prefer to keep the window permanently panned 16 columns to the right. This exactly hides the handles which are at the left edge of each line, and shows the greatest amount of text from each message line. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Pulldown Menu Interface: Introduction │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ NOTE: While in the Pulldown Menu Interface, communications are temporarily frozen. They will be resumed when you exit the Pulldown Menu Interface and return to the main CB screen. Much can be accomplished with CB without ever leaving the main screen. CB, however, is much more powerful than that main screen would indicate. In order to keep the main screen as simple and clean as possible, it has not been cluttered with the dozens of commands that control CB's more advanced operations. Instead, these additional commands have been gathered together into an easy-to-use Pulldown Menu Interface. The Pulldown Menu Interface is inherently different from the command-driven interface used in the main screen. There are many available commands, and the menu approach is designed to let you see all available options before you choose one, and to browse through those choices without necessarily committing yourself. Lastly, it allows you to back out of one series of menus, to pursue another menu path if you choose to. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Pulldown Menu Interface: Invoking the Menu System │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The Pulldown Menu Interface is invoked from the main CB screen by pressing {Alt-M} (that's "M" as in "Menu") or the {F2} key. Once either key has been pressed, the top three lines of the screen are replaced with the main menu. This is your point of entry into the menu system. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Pulldown Menu Interface: The Main Menu Line │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The topmost line of the screen has been replaced with the main menu line. This presents the various general categories of commands which are supported by the menu system. One and only one of the names on this line will be highlighted. This highlight is moved by using the {Left} and {Right} keys, and defines the current main menu selection. As you move this highlight, the second line of the screen changes. This line always holds a short description of the highlighted selection. In other words, this line tells you what you will be doing if you choose the highlighted menu selection. Once you have highlighted the main menu choice that you want to descend, you select that choice by pressing the {Return} key. Alternatively, you may select an entry in this (or any other) menu by pressing the key which corresponds to the letter in each entry which is in a different color. A pulldown menu then appears below the selected main menu choice. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Pulldown Menu Interface: Pulldown Menus Themselves │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ A pulldown menu appears when a menu selection has sub-selections from which you may choose. One and only one entry in this vertical menu is highlighted. You may move this highlight by pressing the keys {Up}, {Down}, {PgUp}, and {PgDn}. As you move the highlight, the description on the second line of the screen changes to suit the entry that is highlighted. In this manner you may browse up and down through the various menu entries until you arrive at just the one that you want. As with the horizontal main menu, an item is selected from a vertical pulldown menu by moving the highlight to the desired entry and pressing the {Return} key. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Pulldown Menu Interface: Menu Positioning │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ CB makes every attempt to place pulldown menus in such a way that superior menus remain visible, so that you can judge from the chain of displayed menus just exactly how you got where you are. However, CB won't let menus drop too far down the screen, or else they will obscure too much of the main CB screen. Thus some menus may open up partially or completely on top of superior menus. And if a pulldown menu contains more entries than can be shown within the relatively limited vertical space allocated for pulldown menus, then up and/or down arrows will appear in the margins of the pulldown menu to indicate that more choices exist above or below the indicated choices, which can be reached by scrolling the menu upward or downward with the appropriate {Up}, {Down}, {PgUp}, or {PgDn} keypresses. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Pulldown Menu Interface: Context-Sensitive Help │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The short description on the second line of the screen might not give you enough information about the highlighted choice to satisfy you. As mentioned previously, the {F1} key may be pressed to obtain a more explicit hint. This causes a hint box to appear which more fully describes the highlighted choice. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Pulldown Menu Interface: Backing Out │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The {Escape} key serves to back out of the current menu. This returns you to the prior menu from which the current menu was selected. If pressed when only the main menu is on the screen, this keypress will exit the Pulldown Menu Interface back to the main CB screen. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Pulldown Menu Interface: The CHANNEL Menu │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Choosing the "Channel" entry from the main menu opens a pulldown menu which shows the various operations that may be performed upon CB channels. Channel Disable This menu item allows you to disable a given channel, which means that input from the given channel will be ignored. You won't see new messages from this channel on your screen, even if you have a window on your screen which is currently tuned to that channel. More importantly, internal memory won't be wasted holding messages from this channel, which means that more memory will be available to hold messages that you are really interested in, and DOS commands issued from within this program will have more memory in which to run. A pulldown menu is presented which allows you to select the channel which is to be disabled. Channel Enable This menu choice allows you to enable a channel, which undoes the effects of a disabled channel. Messages from the indicated channel will once again be accepted by this program, and passed to any windows which are tuned to the given channel. Channel Scramble You may scramble a channel, which means that transmitted messages will be encrypted before they are transmitted over a channel and decrypted upon receipt. This may be used to ensure a measure of privacy on the otherwise open simulated airwaves. When this menu selection is made, you are given the opportunity to select the channel which is to be scrambled. You are then asked for a password to be used to scramble data on the channel. This password may be up to 8 characters long. This exact password must be used by all CB users who want to exchange scrambled messages! If a scrambled message is received by a user who has not scrambled the channel, it will not be displayed. If it is received by a user who has scrambled the channel but who did not scramble it with exactly the same password, then it may display as garbage on the screen. A scrambled channel is identified by a "@" character before the channel identification in the window title line. Channel Unscramble This menu selection undoes the effect of scrambling a channel, so that once again messages will be sent and received in the clear. Channel Tune This menu selection allows you to tune your current window to a specific channel. Whatever channel that window was formerly tuned to becomes irrelevant. From now on that window will monitor messages from the newly-tuned channel. Whatever channel you select is automatically enabled. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Pulldown Menu Interface: The FILE Menu │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The "File" main menu choice gives you access to the various file- and DOS-related operations which can be performed. File DOS This menu selection allows you to execute a DOS command from within this program. Enter the DOS command which you want to execute. CB will pass that command to DOS for execution, and will then pause for you to press the {Return} key before it clears the DOS screen and returns to the CB screen. If you want to execute a series of DOS commands, then you may use this menu selection to enter the DOS command interpreter COMMAND.COM. You indicate this by entering an empty command string (i.e. - you simply press {Return} instead of entering a command to be executed). This causes CB to invoke COMMAND.COM, which displays the familiar DOS prompt and then processes your commands. To return to CB, issue the DOS command "EXIT". File Transmit This selection allows you to send an ASCII text file as if you typed it into the transmit line yourself. In fact, the file may be transmitted in either of two modes: Manual Each line of the file is read into the window's transmit line, where you may then edit it. The line will not be transmitted until you press {Return} as you would for any transmit line. Automatic Each line is read into the window's transmit line, and then automatically transmitted over the channel. You do not need to press {Return} to transmit a line. Nor can you edit each line before it is sent. File Logfile This selection controls the Logfile, which is an ASCII file to which incoming messages are recorded. You may perform the following functions with the Logfile: Open Open a new or existing Logfile, and start recording incoming messages to it. If the file already exists then you are given the choice of appending to or overwriting the contents of the file. Close Close an open Logfile. This is done automatically for you if you exit the program with an open Logfile. Annotate Write a one-line message to the Logfile. You are prompted for a line to be written. That line is written to the open Logfile along with the current date and time. File Quit This selection allows you to exit from this program back to DOS. Any open files are automatically closed for you before the program actually exits. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Pulldown Menu Interface: The HELP Menu │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The "Help" pulldown menu gives you access to the Online Help facility. The difference between accessing this facility through this menu and via pressing the {F1} key from the main CB screen is that this menu gives you an index of the helpfile. By selecting an entry from this menu, you can enter the Online Help file at precisely the screen which interests you. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Pulldown Menu Interface: The USER Menu │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The "Users" pulldown menu allows you to perform various operations associated with users of CB. Users Disable By disabling a user, you cause incoming messages from that user to be ignored. Use this to filter out messages from a user who is hogging the channel, or is otherwise being obnoxious. You identify the user to be disabled by choosing his handle from a subordinate pulldown menu. Users Enable By enabling a user, you undo the effects of disabling that user. Once a user (again identified by handle) has been enabled, incoming messages from that user will again be accepted. Users Handle This selection allows you to change your own handle (but nobody else's). You are prompted for your new handle. In response to this prompt, enter a string of up to 16 characters. There is no requirement that this handle be unique, although things could conceivably get confusing if two or more users share a handle. Users Page This selection allows you to page a network user who is currently not on CB. This is the preferred way to send a message to a person's screen to the effect that he is wanted on CB. Since he is not already on CB, of course, you can't very well send him a CB message. And electronic mail won't do because he may not read it for hours. So this command invokes your network's paging facility (as defined by your network administrator when he installed CB on your network and specified the "Page=" parameter in the CB configuration file) to send a short message to the person's screen. All that you need to know to use this command is the network name of the user. On some networks this is known as his login name. Once the paged user has received this message, he can at his leisure invoke CB and join the conference. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Pulldown Menu Interface: The WINDOW Menu │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The "Window" pulldown menu controls various operations related to the current window. Window Channel This selection tunes the current window to the next channel which has been enabled. If there are currently two channels which have been enabled, then this command will tune the current window to the "other" one. If there are more than two channels enabled, then subsequent invocations of this command will sequence through the entire list of enabled channels. Of course, if there is only one channel which has been enabled then this command will have no effect. Rather than having to go through the entire Pulldown Window Interface to accomplish this, you can accomplish the same thing by pressing {Alt-C} from the main CB screen. Window Next This selection makes the next window on the screen the current window, assuming of course that you have at least two windows on the screen. That window then becomes highlighted, and its transmit line becomes active. Rather than having to go through the entire Pulldown Window Interface to accomplish this, you can accomplish the same thing by pressing {Alt-W} from the main CB screen. Window Kill This selection kills the current window (assuming of course that there are at least two windows on the screen), and gives its space to one of its neighboring windows. Along with Window Split this command allows you to control the number of windows on your screen. Window Split This selection splits the current window into two, assuming of course that the window being split is large enough to support two separate windows. The two windows thus created are initially pointing to the same channel, but now that they are two separate windows you may independently change each window to suit your needs. Along with Window Kill this command allows you to control the number of windows on your screen.