FreeTerm is a simple 24 line by 80 character TTY (dumb) terminal emulator. It supports sending and receiving of ASCII test files, copy and paste of the clipboard, and sending all 128 ASCII characters from the keyboard.
FreeTerm can also send and receive files using the Xmodem error-correcting protocol which is compatible with most telecommunications systems. In addition, FreeTerm allows you to send and receive Macintosh applications and documents using the MacBinary II format.
FreeTerm will work with all types of asynchronous serial communications devices that support 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, or 57600 baud. If you have a Hayes-compatible modem, it will support dialing and hanging up. If you have a null modem cable, it can be used to communicate directly between two computers without a modem.
FreeTerm will transfer text files with any telecommunication system that supports ASCII or Xmodem protocols. FreeTerm will convert non-Macintosh text files to Macintosh format automatically by eliminating linefeeds and high-bit characters. FreeTerm will recognize most non-Macintosh binary (non-text) files and will not convert these files (however, if you have problems with this you can turn off MacBinary conversion from the “Settings…” menu option).
Macintosh files can be transferred to any telecommunications system that supports Xmodem, and will be properly converted back to Macintosh files by any terminal program that supports the original MacBinary format, or the new MacBinary II format.
The FreeTerm application is represented by an icon of a telephone handset sending and receiving data. FreeTerm may be opened with the “Open” command in the Finder™ “File” menu or by double-clicking on the FreeTerm icon.
When you open FreeTerm you will see the FreeTerm port selection window. Select “Modem” if you previously used the Serial Director to direct “Modem” commands to TelePort. Select “Printer” if “Printer” commands are being directed to TelePort. After selecting the port press the “Make Default” button so FreeTerm will remember your port selection the next time it starts up. Or, press the “No Default” button if you want FreeTerm to prompt you for the port each time it is launched.
After pressing the “Make Default” or “No Default” button the FreeTerm window will be opened. After a few seconds, the TelePort modem status menu should appear at the end of the FreeTerm menu bar. Select “Settings…” from the “Terminal” menu to configure FreeTerm (the “Settings…” menu item is described below in the “Terminal” discussion).
While the FreeTerm terminal window is active, any key typed will be sent to the modem. If you open or select a desk accessory window, typing on the keyboard will not affect the terminal. However, any text received will be displayed in the window until it is closed.
The FreeTerm window cannot be sized smaller than 4 lines by 15 characters or larger than 24 lines by 80 characters. You can use the zoom box in the upper right corner to return the window to it’s full 24 by 80 size.
FreeTerm remembers the last 20 full 24 line by 80 character screens. The vertical scroll bar can be used to view the screens.
FreeTerm allows you to transmit all 128 ASCII characters from the Macintosh keyboard. Typing the command key plus an alpha key (A-Z) sends a control character to the host. The following keys send special characters to the host:
“About FreeTerm” –– Selecting “About FreeTerm” opens a window to display version information, the copyright notice, and other information regarding FreeTerm. To continue, click inside the window.
“Text Capture” –– The terminal session, or a portion of it, may be recorded to a MacWrite text-only file. When you select “Text Capture…” you will be asked for a file to download the terminal session to. The default name for the session is “Log File”.
“Text Send” –– Asks for a text-only file to be sent to the host. The upload supports XON/XOFF protocol. Sending may be aborted by hitting any key on the keyboard.
“Xmodem Receive” –– Selecting this item will start the Xmodem receive file process. You will be asked for a file name to download to. The default name is “Rcv File”. Once the Xmodem protocol starts, FreeTerm will display a dialog showing the current volume and file name being transferred, the number of blocks received (1 block = 128 bytes), and the error status.
If the file you are downloading is a MacBinary file, FreeTerm will ignore the file name you selected. Instead, it will download to the name found in the first block of the MacBinary file.
While FreeTerm is receiving a file, you will not be able to use a desk accessory until the file transfer is finished, or until you have cancelled the transfer. You may stop the Xmodem receive process at any time by typing a command-period.
“Xmodem Send…” –– Selecting this option will start the Xmodem send file process. You will be asked to select a file to upload. If the file is a Macintosh application or document, FreeTerm will upload the document as a MacBinary file.
However, if the file you are uploading is a text-only file, FreeTerm will give you the option of sending the document as a Text File. If you choose to send it as Text, FreeTerm will convert the file into a standard ASCII file readable by most computer systems.
While FreeTerm is sending a file, you will not be able to use any other application or desk accessory until the file transfer is finished, or until you have cancelled the transfer. You may stop the file send process at any time by typing a command-period.
“Quit” –– The “Quit” menu option exits to the Finder. If you are capturing your session, FreeTerm will automatically save you file before exiting.
“Undo” –– This menu item is for use only by desk accessories.
“Cut” –– This menu item is for use only by desk accessories.
“Copy” –– FreeTerm allows you to copy any portion of the terminal window to the clipboard (replacing anything that is there) without removing it from the window.
“Paste” –– This is the same as a “Text Send…” of the contents of the clipboard. Type any key to stop the upload.
“Clear” –– This menu item is for use only by desk accessories.
“Reset Screen” –– The “Reset Screen” menu item will erase the contents of the terminal window, but will not send any characters to the modem.
“Dial” –– Selecting this menu item will send a dial command to a Hayes compatible modem. If a telephone number has not been set up using the “Dial Setup…” menu item, you will be asked to enter a telephone number.
“Hang Up” –– Selecting this menu will force a Hayes compatible modem to disconnect from the telephone line.
“Dial Setup…” –– This menu item allows you to enter the telephone number you want the “Dial” menu item to use.
The phone number should be the full telephone number you wish to be dialed, i.e. “1-800-555-1212” or “1 (800) 555-1212”. Note, a comma in the telephone number will make the modem pause during dialing. If you need to dial “9” to get an outside line, you would enter “9,555-1212”. The other special dial characters you may use are listed in Appendix A of the "TelePort User's Guide" under the “Dial” command.
“Phone Type” allows you to select whether to use Tone or Pulse dialing.
“Make Default” will save your current dialing setup as the default.
“Settings…” –– This menu option allows you to configure FreeTerm to work correctly with the remote modem you will be connecting to. You may set the speed, data size, stop bits, parity, duplex, and the port. A number of other terminal options are also available.
“Speed” can be set for 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, or 57600 baud (bits per second). TelePort will ignore any baud rate setting greater than 2400 baud and will use 2400 baud instead.
The number of “Data bits” is usually 8 for bulletin boards or online services and 7 for most mainframes.
You can select 1 or 2 “Stop bits”. 1 is more common.
“Parity” can be even or odd. Even is most common.
“Duplex” can be set to full (equivalent to local echo off) or half (equivalent to local echo on).
“Port” can be the modem port or the printer port. To use FreeTerm with TelePort, select the port you have chosen in the Serial Director modem control panel.
Use “Prompt for port at startup” if you want to be asked to select a port every time FreeTerm is opened.
“BS->DEL” makes the Backspace key send the ASCII delete character, and “command-backspace” send a normal backspace. In addition, if FreeTerm receives a delete character from the host, it will treat it as a backspace. This is useful with Vax related systems.
“LF after CR” is for use with systems that do not send, or do not reliably send a line feed after a carriage return (symptom: all text is received on a single line).
“Xon/Xoff” should normally be on. It is for use with systems that support control-S and control-Q to start and stop text.
“CRC Xmodem” should be turned off only if the remote system uses a more primitive version of Xmodem (symptom: it takes about 30-40 seconds to get an Xmodem transfer to start).
“MacBinary Xmodem” should normally be on. Turn it off if you are downloading or uploading non-Macintosh text files that you don’t want FreeTerm to convert to Macintosh text files.
“Fast-Track Xmodem” is a special function that speeds up downloading files from online services such as CompuServe. However, it should only be used on reliable or reasonably error-free connections because if a single error occurs in the transmission, the transfer will be cancelled.
“Make Default” saves your current configuration as the default for subsequent FreeTerm sessions.
FreeTerm is able to recover from a considerable number of modem transmission errors when uploading or downloading file using the Xmodem protocol. However, under some conditions it will not be able to recover and will abort.
If an error occurs during the file transfer, FreeTerm will display the error it encountered in the status window. If more than 10 errors occur in a row, FreeTerm will abort the file transfer and display the last error. The common Xmodem error messages are:
“Timeout Error”
If FreeTerm does not receive acknowledgement blocks or characters from the host within 60 seconds, you will have a timeout error.
“Checksum Error”
FreeTerm received a block with bad characters in it.
“Duplicate Block”
FreeTerm received two blocks with the same block number.
“Synchronization Error”
FreeTerm received a valid block number that it did not expect.
“Block Number Error”
FreeTerm received a bad block number.
“Block Not Acknowledged”
FreeTerm sent a block that was not received properly.
“EOF Not Acknowledged”
FreeTerm sent an end-of-file block that was not received properly.
“User Abort”
You typed command-period to abort the file transfer.
“File Corrupted”
The wrong number of blocks was received in a MacBinary transfer.
FreeTerm was written to promote the MacBinary format as a standard for transferring files. More information on MacBinary and Xmodem file transfers can be found in the Apple Developer’s Forum on CompuServe (GO APPDEV).
