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- -------------[LIVE-CHAT]-------------------------------------------------------
-
- ---------------------[Copyright 1990, John E. Westbury]-------------------------
-
- -----------------------------[ShareWare Version]--------------------------------
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- NOTICE: The shareware version is somewhat "crippled." It does not
- operate as fast as the commercial version. Otherwise it is
- identical to the commercial version in that it will perform
- the desired effect of allowing a caller to your BBS talk to
- you over the phone and then it will return the caller back
- to the BBS as if the connection was never broken.
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- --------------------------------[PAGE 1]----------------------------------------
-
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- Table of Contents
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
- Copyright and Trademark Information............3
-
- Shareware Explanation..........................3
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- System Requirements............................4
-
- Crippling......................................4
-
- Interfacing with SpitFire......................4
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- Setting Up Live-Chat...........................6
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- Live-Chat in Operation.........................8
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- Further Personalizing Live-Chat...............10
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- Registration Information......................11
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- Trouble-Shooting..............................12
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- HELP!!!.......................................13
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- ---------------------------------[PAGE 2]---------------------------------------
-
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- Copyright and Trademark Information
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
- Live-Chat is Copyright 1990 by John E. Westbury.
-
- SpitFire is Copyright 1987, 88, 89, 90 by Mike Woltz.
-
- IBM is a registered trademark of International Business
- machine corporation.
-
- MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
-
-
- Shareware-What is it?
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
- The term shareware indicates that you are free to use this
- software for a short-time (not to exceed 30 days), in order for you
- to evaluate its performance. If after the 30 days, you decide that
- you do not like Live-Chat for any reason, you are under no obligation
- to register. This also means that you are required, by law, to
- discontinue the use of Live-Chat on your system. If you decide that
- Live-Chat suits your needs then you are required to register your
- copy of Live-Chat in the procedure outlined in this manual.
- By registering Live-Chat you will be entitled to other
- priviledges not extended to users of the shareware version. These
- priviledges are explained on page 11 of this manual.
- Why should you register Live-Chat? By registering shareware
- software, you support a marketing concept that has no equal in the
- world today. There is no other consumer market whereby the buyer
- can evaluate the product for a period of time, without any strings
- attatched. I urge you to support the shareware concept by registering
- this and other shareware software that you use frequently.
-
- TRANSFERRING LIVE-CHAT
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
- It is permissible to transfer Live-Chat to others in its
- original un-modified form. The Archive must be called:
-
- LIVECHAT.ZIP
- or
- LIVECHAT.ARC
- The archive must contain the following files and no others:
-
- LIVECHAT.EXE
- LIVECHAT.DOC
- ORDER_F.ORM
- FUTURE.COM
- LIVECHAT.TXT
- README.NOW
-
- NOTICE: No fees of any kind can be charged for a copy a
- of the unregistered version of Live-Chat. This
- includes "DISK FEES", "COPYING FEES", etc....
-
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- ---------------------------------[PAGE 3]---------------------------------------
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- SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
- In order for you to utilize Live-Chat your system should
- meet the following requirements:
-
- -Have an IBM or compatible computer.
- -Have a Hayes compatible MODEM.
- -Have at least 256KB of memory.
- -Be the SYSOP of a Spitfire BBS.
- -Have a phone installed on the same line as your Modem.
- -The Following information you should know before installing
- Live-Chat:
- -You modem's:
- -Escape String (ASCII Equivilent).
- -Answer String.
- -On Hook String (Hang-up String).
- -Initialization String.
- -Full Path to your CALLERS.LOG file.
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- CRIPPLING
- ^^^^^^^^^
-
- Live-Chat is crippled to encourage you to register your
- copy. The basic method of crippling is in the area of speed. In
- the shareware version of Live-Chat, when a caller desires to
- "CHAT" with the SYSOP, Live-Chat will search the CALLERS.LOG file
- to find the current callers baud and name. In the registered version,
- Live-Chat will start from the bottem and work up. This process takes less
- than 5 seconds. However in the shareware version, Live-Chat will start
- from the top and work down. Depending on the length of the CALLERS.LOG
- file, this process can take as much as 30 seconds to complete. There
- are ways to get around this. For instance, you could run SFLOG.EXE by
- Buffalo Creek Software as part of you SFINIT.BAT file, but this will
- cause your system to work in a manner it was not intended. The best
- way around the crippling is to register Live-Chat!
-
-
- INTERFACING WITH SPITFIRE
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
- Live-Chat is designed to operate as a SYSOP configurable
- command. In this manual, I am assuming you will be installing it
- as the Main Menu Extension, however any menu extension will be
- suitable for use. For further information on SYSOP configurable
- commands, you should refer to your Spitfire owners manual.
- Live-Chat was written with Spitfire Version 2.8 in mind.
- There should not be a problem running Live-Chat with older versions
- of Spitfire and at this time I do not forsee any problems with future
- versions of Spitfire.
-
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- ---------------------------------[PAGE 4]---------------------------------------
-
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- SETTING UP
- ^^^^^^^^^^
-
- To set-up Live-Chat for use, the following steps will
- have to be accomplished:
-
- -Run the Live-Chat Set-Up routine.
- -Configure your SFMAIN.MNU files.
- -Change or create your SFMAIN.BAT file.
- -Change your display files to indicate Live-Chat command.
- -Run the Live-Chat Page On routine.
- -Create a display file or enter a message explaining the
- operation of Live-Chat to your callers.
-
- Running LIVECHAT SET
- --------------------
-
- -Place the LIVECHAT.EXE file in your Spitfire Work
- directory.
- -At the DOS prompt enter the following:
- LIVECHAT SET
- -Answer the questions displayed.
- -When complete Live-Chat will save this information in
- a file it creats called CHAT.DAT
-
- CONFIGURE SFMAIN.MNU
- --------------------
-
- -Using your favorite ASCII text editor change the line in your SFMAIN.MNU file to read something like:
- your SFMAIN.MNU file to read something like:
-
- K,<K>................Live-Chat,,10,@
- ^
- |
- |
- This is the security level required to use Live-Chat!
-
- -For more information on this operation refer to your
- Spitfire Manual.
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- -------------------------------------[PAGE 5]-----------------------------------
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- CREATING SFMAIN.BAT
- -------------------
-
- You must change or create a SFMAIN.BAT file that will
- cause Live-Chat to operate when this file is executed. Some things you
- may want to know before you edit SFMAIN.BAT are:
-
- -You should disable any carrier detect programs before
- running Live-Chat.
- -The ShareWare version does not allow you to send
- personalized messages to the caller. You can
- get around this by creating an ASCII file and
- adding a line in your SFMAIN.BAT instructing
- DOS to TYPE the file to your COM port.
- -The file must contain the line:
-
- LIVECHAT
-
- This is the only required line to be in the file.
- However if a carrier detect program is installed
- your system will re-boot every time the connection
- is broken.
-
- You SFMAIN.BAT should look something like this:
-
- WATCHDOG OFF
- TYPE HELLO.TXT > COM2
- LIVECHAT
-
- UPDATING MENUS
- --------------
-
- In order for your callers to know that Live-Chat is
- availible, you should include the command on you display files
- for the appropriate security levels. If you utilize SFMKMENU.EXE,
- you can now run it to update your display files. I
- am assuming you have changed your SFMAIN.MNU by now.
- If you create your own menus, then you should be familiar
- with what ever system you are using to "paint" you display files.
- Remember you should only include the command for the menus of the
- correct security level.
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- ---------------------------------[PAGE 6]---------------------------------------
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- TURNING THE PAGE ON
- -------------------
-
- Live-Chat utilizes two other command line modifiers to
- set the operation of the "alert" tone. These can be used as an
- event to toggle the tone on or off. When the the tone is toggled
- off, Live-Chat will operate in much the same manner as when toggled
- on with the exception of there will be no audible tone. When toggled
- off you can still answer the page.
- To set the page on, enter the following at the DOS prompt:
-
- LIVECHAT ON
-
- To set the page off, enter the following at the DOS prompt:
-
- LIVECHAT OFF
-
- When this is entered, Live-Chat will change or create a file
- called PAGE.DAT. That will contain a code that Live-Chat will
- call to determine if the Page is on or off.
- You can use this feature as an event by adding the above
- command lines to your SF.BAT file. This will cause the page to be
- toggled on or off automatically after you configure the events via
- the ALT-E command. Refer to your Spitfire manual, section 5.1.
-
-
- LET YOUR CALLERS KNOW
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
- I recomend that you enter a public message or a
- WELCOMEx.BBS/CLR screen, to indicate to your callers that Live-Chat
- is installed. I have also
- included a text file called LIVECHAT.TXT that can be used as a
- bulletin, to explain the use of Live-Chat from the callers
- stand-point. I am allowing this file to be downloaded also, but
- you should not modify or append the file in any way. Note: you
- can add your own files in the same archive if you desire.
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- -----------------------------[PAGE 7]-------------------------------------------
-
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- Live-Chat IN OPERATION
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
- THE <A> KEY
- -----------
- While using Live-Chat, only one key is ever
- required to be pressed. This is the <A> key. In the
- text this is signified with the symbol "<A>" however
- Live-Chat is not case dependent and you can use either
- "A" or "a".
-
- START-UP
- --------
-
- When a caller request Live-Chat, the program begins
- the process of reading files to determine the callers name,
- baud rate, whether the page is on or off, and the information
- you entered with the LIVECHAT SET routine. All of these
- operations require less that 3 seconds to complete with the
- exception of the callers information, as described earlier.
- Once the appropriate files have been read, Live-Chat
- will transmit a message to the caller asking them if they
- have a phone. Live-Chat will wait for a reply. If the callers
- answers "NO" then Live-Chat will terminate and return to the
- BBS. If the caller says "YES" then Live-Chat will transmit
- again indicating that it is paging the SYSOP.
- Notice: Live-Chat will use the name that you entered
- as SYSOP when you ran the LIVECHAT SET routine.
- Live-Chat will next sound the speaker on your
- computer, and display a message to you, indicating that you
- should press <A> to respond.
-
- RESPONDING TO A PAGE
- --------------------
-
- If you decide not to answer the page Live-Chat will
- continue pageing for about thirty seconds. Then it will
- transmit to the caller that you are not replying and that
- they should try later. Live-Chat will then return the caller
- to the BBS.
- If you desire to answer the page, then press <A>.
- Live-Chat will then transmit a message to the caller,
- telling them to pick up their phone and telling you
- to pick up your phone and press <A>.
- You should then pick up your phone and wait a few seconds
- before pressing <A> to ensure the caller has had time to
- respond.
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- ----------------------------------[PAGE 8]--------------------------------------
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- CUTTING THE CONNECTION
- ----------------------
- Once you have pressed <A>, Live-Chat will "hang-up"
- your modem cutting the connection and freeing the line for
- discussion. Live-Chat will then tell you to press <A> to
- continue. When you have completed you conversation you
- should press <A> for futhur instruction concerning hooking
- back-up. Notice: by pressing <A> here, you will not actually
- begin the hook-up procedure! See the trouble-shooting
- section if you hear carrier static!
-
- MAKING THE CONNECTION
- ---------------------
- After pressing <A> above, Live-Chat will tell you
- to "tell the caller to get ready." This means the caller
- should get his modem ready to respond. The caller can do
- this by typing "ATO" at his terminal.
- After the caller enters his modem string and hits enter
- you should press <A>. This will cause Live-Chat to send
- the answer string you entered in the LIVECHAT SET routine.
- Live-Chat will pause here until you modem sends the Hayes
- string "CONNECT xxxx". Once recieved both you and the caller
- may hang-up your phones. Live-Chat will then return the caller
- back to the BBS.
-
- NOTE: The above caller information and other pertinet data
- is contained in the text file-LIVECHAT.TXT
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- --------------------------------[PAGE 9]----------------------------------------
-
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- PERSONALIZING LIVE-CHAT
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
- The following is a list of items that you can incorporate
- into your system to make Live-Chat work the way you want:
-
- -In the SFMAIN.MNU file you can restrict the use
- of Live-Chat to only certain security levels.
- -You can incorporate the sub-routines
- -LIVECHAT ON and LIVECHAT OFF
- into an event to cause the page tone to be
- turned off and on automatically at any time.
- -You can send an ASCII file to the caller before and/or
- after execution of Live-Chat by adding:
- TYPE FILENAME.TXT > COM1 or COM2
- to you SFMAIN.BAT File.
- -You can configure Live-Chat to run as a DOOR.
- NOTE: The SFDOORS.DAT is not utilized in the
- shareware version!
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- -------------------------------[PAGE 10]---------------------------------------
-
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- REGISTRATION INFORMATION
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
- To register your copy of LIVE-CHAT you should send
- a check or money order for $20.00 to:
-
- John E. Westbury
- PO BOX 7527
- Vallejo, CA 94590
-
- NOTE: Included in your Live-Chat archive there is an ASCII
- file entitled ORDER_F.ORM. Please print this and fill
- it out. Please include this form with your payment!
-
-
- REGISTRATION FEATURES
- ---------------------
- The following is a list of features included with the
- registered version of Live-Chat that are not contained in the
- shareware version:
-
- *The ability to transmit custom display files to the
- caller from within the Live-Chat enviroment.
-
- *The ability to toggle the page on or off from with the
- Live-Chat enviroment. This allows you to toggle
- the bell off when a caller pages you without
- answering the page. The page will stay off until
- you enter LIVECHAT OFF.
-
- *An extremly faster version of Live-Chat. The registered
- version of Live-Chat requires only a few seconds
- to completly set-up and start paging! Also, all
- of the "Don't forget to register" reminders are
- removed, further increasing the efficiency of
- Live-Chat.
-
- *Access to further updates to Live-Chat. By registering you
- can get copies of the register versions of Live-Chat
- when new versions are created!
-
- *The peace of mind that comes from supporting such a unique
- marketing concept!
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- -------------------------------[PAGE 11]----------------------------------------
-
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- TROUBLE-SHOOTING
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
- Live-Chat has a built in error detection facility that will
- cause Live-Chat to terminate if DOS sends an error message to it. This
- is usefull if an error occurs on-line. If an error occurs while a
- a caller is in Live-Chat, Live-Chat will terminate and return the
- caller to the BBS.
- Other things that will cause Live-Chat to inform you of an
- error are as follows:
-
- -Live-Chat could not find a required file:
- -Check for the presence of the following
- -CHAT.DAT < Run LIVECHAT SET to create
- -PAGE.DAT < Run LIVECHAT ON of OFF to create
- -Make sure you have told Live-Chat the correct location
- of your SFCALLERS.LOG. The full name is required
-
- I.E. C:\SF\CALLERS.LOG
-
- -Live-Chat recieved a time-out from your modem.
- -Make sure you selected the proper port in the
- LIVECHAT SET routine.
-
-
- SYSTEM LOCKS-UP
- ---------------
-
- If you type LIVECHAT at the DOS prompt and your system locks
- up, you may want to type SET NO87=OFF at the DOS prompt. Live-Chat
- will check for the presence of of Math Co-Proccessor prior to operation
- if it finds one it will utilize it to enhance program speed. If you
- don't have a Co-Proccessor, and do not have it disabled, Live-Chat will
- lock-up.
-
- MODEM DOES NOT HANG-UP
- ----------------------
-
- Check your modem escape string. Did you enter the correct
- ASCII equivilent? For Spitfire, you should enter "1" for this.
- Is you hang-up string entered correctly? This is normally
- "ATH" or "ATH0".
-
- MODEM DOES NOT ANSWER
- ---------------------
-
- Did you enter your modem answer string correctly? This is
- almost always "ATA". Also, you modem will not answer if it detects
- someone is already on the line. Make sure that your modem is not
- configured to force carrier detect on.
-
- OTHER PROBLEMS
- --------------
- LIVE-CHAT has been tested on a number of different
- boards. The biggest problem seems to be the modem initialization
- string you have told SpitFire to use. In general, you should
- let your software have complete control of the modem. This means
- if you have &D2 in your string, change this to &D0. (This has
- been the biggest problem). If you are struggling please call me,
- I will give all the assistance I can. Also, please let me know
- of any problems you had and how you solved them, I can add your
- information to the manual to allow others to benifit!
- ----------------------------------[PAGE 12]-------------------------------------
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- FUTHER ASSISTANCE
- -----------------
-
- If cannot get your copy of Live-Chat to work you can call
- The FUTURE BBS at 1-707-553-9658. Max Baud is 2400. Parameters are
- eight data bits, no parity and 1 stop bit. You can talk to me
- directly by selecting <K> at the main menu (If I am in!). Or you can
- leave me a message explaining your problem. I will reply within 24
- hours. Also, Leave me your VOICE number if you want me to call you
- collect.
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- -----------------------------------[PAGE 13]------------------------------------
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