home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Cream of the Crop 22
/
Cream of the Crop 22.iso
/
games
/
bcrew12e.zip
/
BCFILES.ZIP
/
BCREW
/
DOCUMENT
/
BCTERM.TXT
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1995-03-27
|
38KB
|
1,014 lines
BCTERM
Terminal Emulator Program for Bridge
Crew
Introduction
BCTERM is a Terminal Emulation Program produced for use with Bridge
Crew. It allows any IBM or compatible computer to operate as an
inteligent Bridge Crew terminal.
The main computer will have one or more PCs running BCTERM and/or
dumb terminals attached via serial ports to COM1 and COM2
using null-modem cables.
BCTERM allows PCs to be 'daisy-chained' together using
null-modem cables. In this configuration, a PC (lets call it PCa)
running BCTERM is connected from the main computer's COM1 port to
PCa's COM1 port, then an additional PC or a dumb terminal is
connected to PCa through PCa's COM2 port. PCb and an additional PC
are connected to the Main computer's COM2 port in the same manner.
Daisy Chaining
Main Computer
Com1 Com2
| |
| |
aCom1 bCom1
PCa PCb
aCom2 bCom2
| |
| |
Terminal PC
BCTERM can be used with multi port cards provided the relevant port is set
up using BCREWSET (value 2)
Multi-port Card Configuration
Main Computer
Com1 Com2 Port1 Port2 Port3 Port4
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
Terminal PC PC Terminal Terminal PC
Features
BCTERM supports the following features:
Programmable function keys
Variable screen layout
Up to four different sounds (the Sound Blaster compatible sound
card must be installed in the machine running BCTERM.)
A lightbox attached to the printer port.
Copyright Mithril Software Pty Ltd Page 1
Screen Layout
The screen layout of BCTERM can be altered by the user. The screen
consists of four areas:
Reports
Messages
Input
Function keys
The generic form of the screen is shown below. To run BCTERM with the
generic screen, type
BCTERM GENERIC.DAT
at the command prompt of the PC that is to run BCTERM.
+-------------------------REPORTS------------PGUP PGDN--------------+ DEFAULT
ª ª F1
ª ª WHO
ª ª =======
ª ª F2
ª ª RECON
ª ª =======
ª ª F3
ª ª THINGS
ª ª =======
ª ª F4
ª ª
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+ =======
+-------------------------MESSAGES----------------------------------+ F5
ªTerminal initialised ª
ªConnections established ª =======
ª ª F6
ª ª
ª ª =======
ª ª F7
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+-------------------------INPUT-------------------------------------+ =======
ª | F8
ª |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+ =======
Contents of the Input Window
The text of the most recent command that you entered. Eg if you
typed the command WHO, it will appear in the input area; the response
will appear in the messages area (see below).
Copyright Mithril Software Pty Ltd Page 2
Contents of the Reports Window
The response to the latest REPORT command that you entered. Eg if
you entered the command REPORT CREW, the report shown will appear
in the reports area. It will stay there while other (non-report)
commands are entered, until another report is requested.
Damaged Functions 0
Casualties 0
Damage Remaining 2120
Failure Point 585
Hull Before Fail 1535
There are two additional components to the REPORT area:
PGUP view the result of the previous REPORT command.
PGDN view the result of the REPORT command entered after the
one you are currently viewing.
Contents of the Messages Window
Contains the response to non-report commands. Eg if WHO was entered,
logical port 6
physical port 7
will appear in the messages area.
Function Keys
You can load frequently used commands into the function keys area
(labeled DEFAULT in the example shown) using the Change Function Keys
screen in BCTERSET.
Pressing a function key during play will cause its command to be
executed. Eg, if using the example screen shown, pressing F2 will
cause the command RECON to be executed.
CUSTOMISING THE BCTERM PROGRAM
The size and location of the Reports, Messages and Input areas of the
screen can be altered using the Change Windows option in BCTERSET. The
headings of these areas and the special characters used in the borders
of the areas can be altered using the Change Boiler Plate option of
BCTERSET. The size and location of the function key area can be altered
using the Change Function Keys option of BCTERSET.
Using BCTERSET you can construct a number of setups and save than as
different names these can be loaded into BCTERM when it is run eg:
>BCTERM MYSETUP.DAT
would load setup file MYSETUP.DAT
Copyright Mithril Software Pty Ltd Page 3
BCTERSET - BCTERM Setup Program
In order to use BCTERM effectively, details of the Main Computer and the
computer running BCTERM must be entered via the setup program - BCTERSET.
BCTERSET has three options in its main menu
File
Change
Help
File Menu
The File menu has the following options:
New
Read From
Save
Save As
About
Exit
New
New initialises all the BCTERM setup details
Read From
Reads the setup details from an existing file and loads them into BCTERSET's
work area. An example screen is shown below:
File Change Help
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
______________+-[_]-------------- Read File ------------------+______________
______________ª ª______________
______________ª Name ª______________
______________ª *.DAT _ ª Open _ ª______________
______________ª _________ ª______________
______________ª Files ª______________
______________ª BCTERSET.DAT ª ..\ Cancel _ ª______________
______________ª COX.DAT ª _________ ª______________
______________ª TEMP.DAT ª ª______________
______________ª TEST.DAT ª ª______________
______________ª TESTHIN.DAT ª ª______________
______________ª TESTHOUT.DAT ª ª______________
______________ª TESTNIN.DAT ª ª______________
______________ª TESTNOUT.DAT ª ª______________
______________ª _____________________________ ª______________
______________ª ª______________
______________ª D:\BCTERM\*.DAT ª______________
______________ª BCTERSET.DAT 23446 Oct 18,1994 08:33p ª______________
______________+-----------------------------------------------+______________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Alt-X Exit F9 View Screen F10 Menu
Copyright Mithril Software Pty Ltd Page 4
Save
Saves the current settings.
Save As
Saves the current settings in a file of your choosing.
About
Displays information about the author of the program.
Exit
Exit from BCTERSET. You can also exit the program by typing Alt X.
Copyright Mithril Software Pty Ltd Page 5
Change Menu
The Change Menu has the following options:
Function Keys
Boiler Plate
Graphic Mode
Ports
Light
Sound
Windows
The options Function Keys, Boiler Plate and Windows used together,
allow you to design your own BCTERM screen. If you wish to design
your own screen rather than use the one(s) supplied, the F9 key
allows you to view the screen layout as you work. F10 will return
you to the BCTERSET menu.
Function Keys
Selecting Function Keys from the Change Menu will display the screen
shown below:
File Change Help
______________________________________________________________________________
___+-[_]--------------- Setup function keys for BCterm -------------------+___
___ª Text on ª___
___ª Screen Command to send out ª___
___ª F1 WHO WHO ª___
___ª F2 RECON RECON ª___
___ª F3 THINGS THINGS ª___
___ª F4 ª___
___ª F5 ª___
___ª F6 ª___
___ª F7 ª___
___ª F8 ª___
___ª ª___
___ª Start X pos 73 Increment X 0 Separator 61 ª___
___ª Start Y pos 2 Increment Y 3 Length 7 ª___
___ª Display Function Keys Yes ª___
___ª ª___
___ª Ok _ Cancel _ ª___
___ª ________ ________ ª___
___+----------------------------------------------------------------------+___
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Alt-X Exit F9 View Screen F10 Menu
Enter the text that you wish to appear on the screen for each
function key under the heading Text on Screen. Enter a valid
Bridge Crew command under the heading Command to Send Out. You
cannot use a macro in the command.
Copyright Mithril Software Pty Ltd Page 6
It is also possible to alter the location and size of the function
key area on the BCTERM screen using fields shown towards the
bottom of the screen.
Start X pos The horizontal starting position of the function
key area - the number entered is the number of
characters from the left hand side of the screen.
Start Y pos The vertical starting position of the function key
area - the number entered is the number of
characters from the top of the screen.
Increment X The number of characters in the x-direction (i.e.
horizontally) from the start of one function key to
the start of the next.
Increment Y The number of characters in the y-direction (i.e.
vertically) from the start of one function key to
the start of the next.
Length The length of text (and separator) for each
function key.
Separator The ASCII code for the separator character (61 is
the code for the equals sign - =).
In the example above, the function keys appear vertically down the
right hand side of the screen. See the picture of the BCTERM
screen in the Screen Layout section.
Copyright Mithril Software Pty Ltd Page 7
Boiler Plate
Selecting Boiler Plate from the Change Menu will display the screen
shown below:
File Change Help
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______+-[_]------------ Boiler Plate Setup for Bcterm -----------------+______
______ª ª______
______ª Color 4 Background Character 32 ª______
______ª ª______
______ª Insert ª______
______ª X Y Text X Y Character ª______
______ª 29 1 REPORTS 71 23 24 ª______
______ª 48 1 PGUP PGDN 71 24 25 ª______
______ª 29 14 MESSAGES 0 0 0 ª______
______ª 29 22 INPUT 0 0 0 ª______
______ª 73 1 DEFAULT 0 0 0 ª______
______ª 0 0 0 0 0 ª______
______ª 0 0 0 0 0 ª______
______ª 0 0 0 0 0 ª______
______ª ª______
______ª Ok _ Cancel _ ª______
______ª ________ ________ ª______
______+----------------------------------------------------------------+______
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Alt-X Exit F9 View Screen F10 Menu
This screen can be used to change the colour of the screen, the
background character, the headings of the various screen areas on
BCTERM and the positioning of the special characters used as up/down
arrows on the messages area. The screen areas, as titled in the
above screen, are
REPORTS the response to the latest REPORT command.
PGUP view the result of the previous REPORT command.
PGDN view the result of the REPORT command entered after
the one you are currently viewing.
MESSAGES The response to the last non-report command that you
entered.
INPUT The text of the most recent command that you entered
DEFAULT The heading of the function key area.
The values for X and Y shown on the left hand side of the headings
are the starting positions of those headings. For example, 29 1 SPY
INFO will place the heading SPY INFO 29 characters from the left of
the screen and 1 character down from the top of the screen (rather
than the heading REPORTS).
The area on the right hand side of the boiler plate screen, headed up
Insert Character and requiring X and Y characters, is used for
including special characters in the screen design. In the layout
defined by the above screen, the up arrow is placed in location
Copyright Mithril Software Pty Ltd Page 8
(71,23); the down arrow in location (71,24) - the right hand side of
the INPUT area. BCTERM retains the last four commands entered by the
player. When the up arrow is activated, the previous command is
displayed and can be sent, clicking on the down arrow will display
the command entered after the one currently shown.
Copyright Mithril Software Pty Ltd Page 9
Graphic Mode
Selecting Graphic Mode from the Change Menu will display the screen
shown below. To bring up a selection of available graphics modes,
click on the triangle at the right hand side of the Setup Graphics
Mode box.
File Change Help
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
_____________________+-[_]-- Setup Graphics Mode ------+______________________
_____________________ª ª______________________
_____________________ª Graphics Mode EGA/VGA ª______________________
_____________________ª ª______________________
_____________________ª ª______________________
_____________________ª Ok _ Cancel _ ª______________________
_____________________ª ________ ________ ª______________________
_____________________+---------------------------------+______________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Alt-X Exit F9 View Screen F10 Menu
The following table of values will be displayed:
+-[_]------------- Table Values -----------------+
ª ª
ª Select Value ª
ª Mono - ª
ª CGA _ ª
ª EGA/VGA _ Ok _ ª
ª _ ________ ª
ª _ ª
ª _ ª
ª _ ª
ª _ Cancel _ ª
ª _ ________ ª
ª _ ª
ª ª
ª ª
+------------------------------------------------+
Select the required graphics mode and click on Ok.
Copyright Mithril Software Pty Ltd Page 10
Ports
If you intend running Bridge Crew with daisy-chaining, you must set
up the port parameters. Selecting Ports from the Change Menu will
display the screen shown below.
File Change Help
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
____________+-[_]---- Setup port parameters for BCterm ---------+_____________
____________ª ª_____________
____________ª Port Attached to Main Bridge Crew Machine COM2 ª_____________
____________ª Other port Type Nothing ª_____________
____________ª Am I the first Bcterm in this chain Yes ª_____________
____________ª ª_____________
____________ª Ok _ Cancel _ ª_____________
____________ª ________ ________ ª_____________
____________+---------------------------------------------------+_____________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Alt-X Exit F9 View Screen F10 Menu
Port Attached to Main Bridge Crew Machine
To tell BCTERM which communications port is attached to the main
Bridge Crew machine, click on the triangle to the right of the "Port
Attached to Main Bridge Crew Machine" literal. A Table Values box
will be displayed, giving the options of:
COM1
COM2
Select the appropriate port and click on OK (or highlight the Ok box
using the tab key and press enter). In the screen shown above, COM2
has previously been chosen as the port attached to the main Bridge
Crew machine.
Copyright Mithril Software Pty Ltd Page 11
Other port Type
To tell BCTERM about the other port on the local machine (i.e. the
machine running BCTERM) click on the triangle to the right of the
"Other port Type" literal. A Table Values box will be displayed,
giving the options of:
Nothing
Mouse
Dumb Terminal
PC running BCTERM
If the local machine is the last (or only) machine in this daisy
chain, choose Nothing or Mouse, depending on whether the other COM
port has nothing or a mouse attached to it.
If the local machine is the first machine in this daisy-chain, it may
have either a dumb terminal attached to it or another PC (IBM
compatible, Amiga, Atari or Macintosh) running a VT100 terminal
emulation program. If either of these two situations applies, select
the option Dumb Terminal.
If the local machine is the first machine in this daisy-chain, it may
have another (IBM compatible) PC running BCTERM attached to it. If
so, select the option PC running BCTERM.
Am I the first Bcterm in this chain?
Click on the triangle to the right of the "Am I the first Bcterm in
this chain" literal. A Table Values box will be displayed, giving
the options of:
Yes
No
Choose the appropriate option and click on Ok.
Copyright Mithril Software Pty Ltd Page 12
Light
This feature is only used with the Light box produced by Mithril
Software and is of no value to people without one. This option makes
the coloured light for the condition selected illuminate as the
command is executed. (Eg blue light for condition blue).
Selecting Light from the Change Menu will display the screen shown
below. This screen is used when setting the parameters to use a
light box when running Bridge Crew. The light box is plugged into
the parallel port LPT1 (printer port). The light box has been
specially developed for use with Bridge Crew and is only available
through Mithril Software.
File Change Help
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________+-[_] Setup light box parameters for Bcterm ----+_______________
______________ª ª_______________
______________ª Light Box in use No ª_______________
______________ª ª_______________
______________ª Light Number For Ship is Hit Light 8 ª_______________
______________ª ª_______________
______________ª Light Number For Condition Green Light 1 ª_______________
______________ª Light Number For Condition Red Light 2 ª_______________
______________ª Light Number For Condition Blue Light 3 ª_______________
______________ª Light Number For Condition Yellow Light 4 ª_______________
______________ª ª_______________
______________ª ª_______________
______________ª Ok _ Cancel _ ª_______________
______________ª ________ ________ ª_______________
______________+-----------------------------------------------+_______________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Alt-X Exit F9 View Screen F10 Menu
Click on the triangle to the right of the "Light Box in use" literal.
A Table Values box will be displayed, giving the options of:
Yes
No
Choose the appropriate option and click on Ok.
If you choose Yes and have a light box available, you can tell BCTERM
which light should be activated for each condition code.
Eight lights are available. In the example above, coloured lights
are inserted into each of the first four sockets, one for each
condition code (red for condition red, green for condition green
etc.). The eighth light is currently a power point mounted on the
box, into which we plug a table lamp that can be pointed at the
players. This is then configured, using the Light Number For Ship is
Copyright Mithril Software Pty Ltd Page 13
Hit option, to flash when the players' ship is hit by an opponent.
The select the light number for any of the condition codes or for the
Ship is Hit option, click on the triangle to the right of the
literal. A Table Values box will be displayed, giving the options
of:
Light 1
Light 2
Light 3
Light 4
Light 5
Light 6
Light 7
Light 8
Choose the appropriate option and click on Ok.
Copyright Mithril Software Pty Ltd Page 14
Sound
Please read SOUND.TXT for details on enabling sound in BCTERM.
Selecting Sound from the Change Menu will display the screen shown
below. This screen is used when setting the parameters to use a
sound effects when running Bridge Crew. Note that the sound card
must be in a machine running BCTERM, not the main machine running
Bridge Crew.
File Change Help
_____________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
_+-[_]--------------- Setup sound parameters for BCterm --------------------+_
_ª ª_
_ª Sound type in use Sound Blaster ª_
_ª Sound to be read from file No (Sounds Must be on a Ram Disk if Yes) ª_
_ª ª_
_ª Sound File for Hit on Shields D:\BCTERM\BC5.VOC ª_
_ª Sound File Condition Green ª_
_ª Sound File Condition Red ª_
_ª Sound File Condition Blue ª_
_ª Sound File Condition Yellow ª_
_ª ª_
_ª Sound files must be in .VOC format and have some size restrictions ª_
_ª see help on sound for details ª_
_ª ª_
_ª Ok _ Cancel _ ª_
_ª ________ ________ ª_
_+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+_
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Alt-X Exit F9 View Screen F10 Menu
To tell BCTERM whether or not sound is in use, click on the triangle
to the right of the "Sound type in use" literal. A Table Values box
will be displayed, giving the options of:
None
Sound Blaster
Choose the appropriate option and click on Ok.
You can choose your own sound files to run with Bridge Crew, provided
that they are in .VOC format, take less than two seconds to play and
are smaller than 32 kilobytes in size. Enter the path and file name
of each of the sound files that you wish to play.
Copyright Mithril Software Pty Ltd Page 15
Windows
Selecting Windows from the Change Menu will display the screen shown
below. This screen is used to change the screen layout for BCTERM,
in conjunction with the Boiler Plate and Function Keys screens.
There are four windows on the BCTERM screen, Main, Reports, Messages
and Input. The Main window contains all the other windows (function
keys are placed within the bounds of the Main window). The
definition shown below is for the BCTERM screen shown at the start of
this document. The other windows are:
REPORTS the response to the latest REPORT command.
MESSAGES The response to the last non-report command that you
entered.
INPUT The text of the most recent command that you entered
File Change Help
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______+-[_]-------------- Windows Setup for Bcterm -------------------+_______
______ª Window Left Top Right Bottom Colour Border ª_______
______ª Main 1 1 80 25 1 No ª_______
______ª Reports 2 2 70 12 2 Yes ª_______
______ª Messages 2 15 70 20 3 Yes ª_______
______ª Input 2 23 70 24 15 Yes ª_______
______ª ª_______
______ª Vertical Line Char 186 Top Left Corner Char 201 ª_______
______ª Horizontal Line Char 205 Bottom Right Corner Char 188 ª_______
______ª Top Right Corner Char 187 ª_______
______ª Bottom Left Corner Char 200 ª_______
______ª ª_______
______ª Ok _ Cancel _ ª_______
______ª ________ ________ ª_______
______+---------------------------------------------------------------+_______
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Alt-X Exit F9 View Screen F10 Menu
You define window's area on the screen by telling the program the
starting position of each side of the window. For example, the
Reports window is defined as Left 2, Top 2, Right 70 and Bottom 12.
This means that the left hand of the report starts 2 characters from
the left of the screen, and finishes 70 characters from the left of
the screen, the top of the window starts 2 characters from the top of
the screen and finishes 12 characters from the top of the screen.
You may choose a colour for the window - use the ASCII code. Each
window may have a border - click on the triangle under the literal
Copyright Mithril Software Pty Ltd Page 16
"Border" for the given window. A Table Values box will be displayed,
giving the options of:
Yes
No
Choose the appropriate option and click on Ok.
If a border is chosen, the characters that make up that border may be
chosen using the ASCII codes for the desired special characters.
These are selected using the fields shown at the bottom of the
screen:
Vertical Line Char 186 Double Vertical line
Horizontal Line Char 205 Double Horizontal line
Top Left Corner Char 201 Double top left hand corner
Bottom Right Corner Char 188 Double bottom right hand corner
Top Right Corner Char 187 Double top right hand corner
Bottom Left Corner Char 200 Double bottom left hand corner
Help Menu
The help menu is not yet fully implemented.
Copyright Mithril Software Pty Ltd Page 17
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction..............................................1
Daisy Chaining..........................................1
Multi-port Card Configuration...........................1
Features..................................................1
Screen Layout.............................................2
Contents of the Input Window............................2
Contents of the Reports Window..........................3
Contents of the Messages Window.........................3
Function Keys...........................................3
CUSTOMISING THE BCTERM PROGRAM............................3
BCTERSET - BCTERM Setup Program...........................4
File Menu...............................................4
New...................................................4
Read From.............................................4
Save..................................................5
Save As...............................................5
About.................................................5
Exit..................................................5
Change Menu.............................................6
Function Keys.........................................6
Boiler Plate ...........................................8
Graphic Mode............................................10
Ports...................................................11
Port Attached to Main Bridge Crew Machine.............11
Other port Type.......................................12
Am I the first Bcterm in this chain?..................12
Light...................................................13
Sound...................................................15
Windows.................................................16
Help Menu...............................................17