home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Experimental BBS Explossion 3
/
Experimental BBS Explossion III.iso
/
comunic
/
softwin1.zip
/
READ.ME
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-12-03
|
34KB
|
841 lines
Softerm Modular Communications and Terminal Emulation
READ.ME - Documentation Supplement
November 30, 1993
To obtain a hard copy of this document, you may want to type,
COPY READ.ME LPT1
Or you can pull it into the NotePad in Windows and print it from
there.
Contents:
I. Install Procedure
II. Changes to Softerm Modular
- Close Appended Capture (new option)
- Profile data base not created automatically
- "If File Exists" now supports Zmodem (see also topic VI)
- Auto-detect ZModem and CompuServe B+ protocols
- Mark/Copy -> Transmit to host feature
- Drag & Drop file uploading
- Hot Spots on the monitor
- Hide option when downloading
- New Paste option
III. Printing to a Network Printer
IV. Nationality Profile Character Representations
V. Softrans File Transfer Protocol Source Code
VI. Zmodem File Transfer Protocol
VII. CompuServe B+ File Transfer Protocol
VIII. New Modem Drivers
IX. Asynchronous Tcp/Ip Support
- 1 -
I. Installing Softerm Modular Plus
Run Setup program to create Softerm Plus Group and Program Entries
or follow these steps:
NOTE: If you don't want to use the TCP/IP Slip Kernel, you can
delete all of the files listed in setps 1 through 5 and the
goto step 8.
1. Create these 3 directories off of the Softerm Directory:
BIN
ETC
SETUP
2. Move these files to the BIN sub-directory:
WPING.EXE
WSCM.EXE
TCPIP_SL.EXE
WSAFMT.DLL
WSAVM.DLL
WSLIPKIF.DLL
WSCM.HLP
WPING.HLP
LOADTCP.BAT
RMTCP.BAT
WINSOCK.DLL
3. Move these files to the ETC sub-directory:
PROTOCOL
SERVICES
MODEMS
4. Move these files to the SETUP sub-directory:
PHONES
5. If your Modem is connected to COM1 and you want the Slip Kernel
to use this modem enter the following command at a DOS prompt:
copy NETINFO.1 SETUP\NETINFO
Otherwise, if your Modem is connected to COM2 and you want the
Slip Kernel to use this modem enter the following command at a
DOS prompt:
copy NETINFO.2 SETUP\NETINFO
6. Add the following lines to the end of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
SET TCPOPEN=C:\SOFTERM
SET PATH=%PATH%;C:\SOFTERM
CALL LOADTCP
NOTE: Change C:\SOFTERM to the drive:\Path where Softerm is
located.
7. Reboot your PC and continue.
- 2 -
8. Create a new group entitled "Softerm Plus".
9. Create a new program within that group giving Windows
the full path and program name to SOFTERM.EXE.
And that's it. In the SOFTERM.MDB file, you can go in and
add or delete any dial sessions that you like. Double click
on it with the mouse, and you are set.
If you would like to create a Softerm Icon that Starts a specifyed
Session, for example an Icon that will start Softerm Plus and
connects to Compuserve;
Create a new program with in the Softerm Plus Group giving the
full path and program name followed by the Session Name and "/p";
C:\SOFTERM\SOFTERM.EXE "CompuServe"/p
If the Session Profile is in a deferent Database file than the
default, (Last Database file opened), the add the database file
name to the command line arguments;
C:\SOFTERM\SOFTERM.EXE MYDATABS.MDB "CompuServe"/p
II. Changes to Softerm Modular
--------------------------
Please make a note of the following changes in the manual:
1. Please add the following information to Close Capture:
a. The cascading menu now appears similar to:
┌────────────────────────┐
│ Save Capture │
│ Discard Capture │
├────────────────────────┤
│ Close Appended Capture │
└────────────────────────┘
b. Close Appended Capture
If the Terminal Emulation printer definition option Append
Disk Printer File On Close (p. PE.8) is enabled and
printer data has been redirected to a disk file, use this
option to permanently close the file.
Important: A capture cannot be active when this option is
used.
2. If the named profile data base does not exist, it will not be
created.
- 3 -
3. The description of "If File Exists":
If a file with the name you have assigned already exists on
your PC, you can specify that you want to:
- Resume the transfer (if you are using Zmodem);
- Replace the existing file;
- Append the received data to the end of the existing file,
or;
- Stop the file transfer.
4. Auto-detect ZModem and CompuServe B+ Protocols.
These download protocols will start receiving a file
automatically when you are downloading. You no longer
need to go in and start the download manually.
The program is set up so that you can enable/disable the
autodownload session by changing it under the Settings
menu, selecting Terminal Emulation, and Auto Download.
Under the Dialog box for Auto Download, you can set your
default download path, and set your options for "If file
exists....".
5. Mark/Copy -> Transmit to host feature
Now you can mark a section of text using your mouse and
transmit it to the host. If it is a single character,
like 'x', double click on it. That will send it. If it
is a block of text, mark it off with the mouse, click on
the EDIT menu, and select transmit to host. The block
will be received at the other end of the connection.
This is defined under Settings, System Environment, and then
select Edit Action Options. From there you can set up how
you want the transmission to be formatted, and where you
want it to go.
6. Drag & Drop file uploading
This allows you to drag a file out of the File Manager
in Windows, and drop it into the window in which you are
connected, and it will upload the file to your host. Note,
you must be at the place on your host where you can do that!
Uses default session protocol, if none, it uses the
character protocol.
7. Hot Spots on the monitor
If you are on a service that asks you to press (Enter) to
continue, all you have to do is double click on a blank
area of the screen. That will send a carriage return to
the other end. It will also send entire words, finding the
beginning and the end of the word. By double clicking on
that word, it will transmit it to the host or to clipboard,
dependant upon how it is configured. It can also transmit
an entire page of text, by highlighting it with the mouse,
then clicking somewhere inside of that block, and it will
be transmitted. Refer to item #5 for defining the settings
for this option.
8. Hide option when downloading
There is a button that you can select in the download
screen that will minimize your session while you are
downloading and maintain the download.
- 4 -
9. New Paste option
You can now cut & paste from outside files, using Shift-
Delete, Ctrl-Insert, and Shift-Insert keys. As well as
the Edit menu. This item is defined with the EDIT menu.
This will work *only* for TEXT.
III. Printing to a Network Printer
-----------------------------
Softerm fully supports rerouting LPT1, LPT2 and LPT3 to network
printers, but does not monitor the status of the printers.
Serial printing is supported only on local ports unless the
vendor's network software supports such cases.
IV. Nationality Profile Character Representations
---------------------------------------------
If you use the Nationality Profile to remap incoming or outgoing
characters, you may see character descriptions which appear
similar to:
Character Description Hexadecimal
[VT] NOTE:See READ.ME 0BH
These characters cannot be displayed within the menu system.
Locate the Hexadecimal value in the following list to see how the
character is translated:
Hex Character Description
001H ─ Single Line Horizontal
002H │ Single Line Vertical
003H ┌ Single Line Upper Left Corner
004H ┐ Single Line Upper Right Corner
005H └ Single Line Lower Left Corner
006H ┘ Single Line Lower Right Corner
007H ┼ Single Line Cross
008H ├ Single Line Junction Left
009H ┤ Single Line Junction Right
00AH ┬ Single Line Junction Top
00BH ┴ Single Line Junction Bottom
00CH ═ Double Line Horizontal
00DH ║ Double Line Vertical
00EH ╔ Double Line Upper Left Corner
00FH ╦ Double Line Upper Right Corner
010H ╚ Double Line Lower Left Corner
011H ╝ Double Line Lower Right Corner
012H ╬ Double Line Cross
013H ╠ Double Line Junction Left
014H ╣ Double Line Junction Right
015H ╦ Double Line Junction Top
016H ╩ Double Line Junction Bottom
017H ▒ Communications Error Character
018H Up Arrow
019H Down Arrow
01AH Right Arrow
- 5 -
01BH Left Arrow
01CH █ Solid Block
01DH ▄ Solid Block, Lower Half
01EH ▀ Solid Block, Upper Half
01FH ■ Solid Middle Block
087H ╒ Single To Double Upper Left Corner
088H ╕ Single To Double Upper Right Corner
089H ╙ Single To Double Lower Left Corner
08AH ╜ Single To Double Lower Right Corner
08BH ╪ Single To Double Cross
08CH ╞ Single To Double Junction Left
08DH ╡ Single To Double Junction Right
08EH ╤ Single To Double Junction Top
08FH ╧ Single To Double Junction Bottom
093H ▌ Solid Block, Left Half
094H ▐ Solid Block, Right Half
095H ≥ Greater Than Or Equal To
096H ≤ Less Than Or Equal To
097H ╓ Double To Single Upper Left Corner
098H ╖ Double To Single Upper Right Corner
099H ╙ Double To Single Lower Left Corner
09AH ╜ Double To Single Lower Right Corner
09BH ╫ Double To Single Cross
09CH ╟ Double To Single Junction Left
09DH ╢ Double To Single Junction Right
09EH ╥ Double To Single Junction Top
09FH ╨ Double To Single Junction Bottom
V. Softrans File Transfer Protocol Source Code
-------------------------------------------
Softrans, a file transfer protocol developed by Softronics, Inc.,
was designed to provide reliable file transmission over a wide
variety of asynchronous communications connections, including
switched packet networks and front end communications processors.
Full binary file transparency automatically is provided by the
protocol with no requirement for an 8-bit wide data path;
standard 7-bit ASCII characters only are used within a data
buffer. In addition, no control characters (00 hex thru 1F hex)
occur within any Softrans block; the only control character used
is carriage return (0D hex) which is the End of Message (EOM)
character.
Contact Softronic's sales for the Fortran 77 source code that
can be uploaded to your host system and compiled with the
appropriate Fortran compiler.
Source code avalible for:
Source for Unix systems
Source for VAX systems
Source for Data General systems
- 6 -
VI. Zmodem File Transfer Protocol
-----------------------------
The Zmodem protocol has been added to Softerm. Please add the
following information:
Zmodem Protocol Parameters
Retries
Specify the maximum retry count for error conditions. Possible
error conditions include timeouts and block check errors. If
an error condition occurs during a file transfer operation and
the Retries count is exhausted, a Line Failure message will be
displayed on your screen. This parameter accepts values from 0
to 255.
Transmit Packet Size
This parameter determines the number of bytes contained by each
packet of data. Set it to the size supported by the host (if
you know what it is) or to Auto.
If set to Auto, the packet size is determined by the speed of
the connection. The faster the speed, the larger will be the
packet size.
Zmodem Protocol
Note: Zmodem was developed for the public domain by Omen
Technology under a Telenet contract. The Zmodem protocol
descriptions and the Unix rz/sz program source code are public
domain. No licensing, trademark, or copyright restrictions apply
to the use of the protocol, the Unix rz/sz source code and the
Zmodem name.
The Zmodem file transfer protocol provides reliable file
transfers with complete end-to-end data integrity between
application programs. Zmodem uses either a 16-bit or a 32-bit
Cyclical Redundancy Check to detect errors.
Zmodem accommodates network and timesharing system delays by
continuously transmitting data unless the receiver interrupts the
sender to request retransmission of garbled data.
Softerm's implementation of Zmodem supports all functions except
fallback to Ymodem transfer.
File Transfer Initiation
When the Zmodem receive program starts, it immediately sends an
initiation header to start Zmodem file transfers, or a challenge
header to verify the sending program.
The sender may send an optional intitialization frame to define
the receiving program's Attention sequence, or to specify
complete control character escaping.
- 7 -
The sender sends a header with Zmodem Conversion, Management, and
Transport options followed by a data subpacket containing the
file name, file length, modification date, and other information
identical to that used by Ymodem Batch.
The Zmodem Header
The header contains a "frame type", four bytes of
supervisory information, and its own CRC. Data frames
consist of a header followed by 1 or more data subpackets.
In the absence of transmission errors, an entire file can be
sent in one data frame.
Frame File Information
Zmodem sends the same file information with the ZFILE frame
data that Ymodem Batch sends in its block 0.
Pathname
The path name (conventionally, the file name) is sent as a
null terminated ASCII string.
Length
The file length and each of the succeeding fields are
optional. The length field is stored as an ASCII-coded
octal string counting the number of data bytes in the file.
The Zmodem receiver uses the file length as an estimate
only.
It may be used to display an estimate of the
transmission time, and may be compared with the amount
of free disk space. The actual length of the received
file is determined by the data transfer. A file may
grow after transmission commences, and all the data
will be sent.
Modification Date
The modification date is an octal number giving the time the
contents of the file were last changed measured in seconds
from Jan. 1, 1970 Universal Coordinated Time (GMT). A date
of 0 implies the modification date is unknown and should be
left as the date the file is received.
File Mode
Unless the file originated from a Unix system, the file mode
is set to 0.
The receiver examines the file name, length, and date information
provided by the sender in the context of the specified transfer
options, the current state of its file system(s), and local
security requirements.
If the receiver has a file with the same name and length, it may
respond with a CRC header, which requires the sender to perform a
32-bit CRC on the file and transmit the complement of the CRC in
a header. The receiver uses this information to determine
whether to accept the file or skip it.
- 8 -
Error Recovery
Normally the receiver specifies the data transfer to start at the
beginning of the file, but may start the transfer further down in
the file. This allows a file transfer interrupted by a loss of
carrier or system crash to be completed on the next connection
without requiring the entire file to be retransmitted. If
downloading a file from a timesharing system that becomes
sluggish, the transfer can be interrupted and resumed later with
no loss of data.
Normal Session Ending
When the sender receives the acknowledging header, it sends two
characters, "OO" (Over and Out) and exits to the operating system
or application that invoked it. The receiver waits briefly for
the "O" characters, then exits whether they were received or not.
Session Cancel Sequence
If the receiver is receiving data in streaming mode, the
Attention sequence is executed to interrupt data transmission
before the Cancel sequence is sent. The Cancel sequence consists
of eight CAN characters and ten backspace characters. Zmodem
only requires five Cancel characters, the other three are
"insurance".
The trailing backspace characters attempt to erase the effects of
the CAN characters if they are received by a command interpreter.
For complete information about the Zmodem protocol, please
contact:
Chuck Forsberg
Omen Technology Inc.
17505-V Sauvie Island Road
Portland, Oregon 97231
Phone: 503-621-3406
Modem: 503-621-3746
VII. Compuserv B+ Transfer Protocol
------------------------------
The CompuServe B+ protocol has been added to Softerm. You may
now select the CompuServe B+ protocol for transfering files.
This protocol will now appear on the selection list of available
protocols and may be selected the same way the XMODEM or ZMODEM
protocols are selected.
CompuServe B+ Protocol Parameters
Retries
Specify the maximum retry count for error conditions. Possible
error conditions include timeouts and block check errors. If
an error condition occurs during a file transfer operation and
the Retries count is exhausted, a Line Failure message will be
displayed on your screen. This parameter accepts values from 0
to 255.
- 9 -
Receive Acknowledgment Timeout
This parameter sets the number of seconds before a transfer
operation will cancel when an acknowledgement for data
transmitted to the host is expected to be received. Valid values
are from 0 to 65535.
VIII. New modems added
----------------
The following modem options have been added:
AT&T DataPort 14.4
Bocamodem M1440 series
INTEL SatisFAXtion Modem/Fax
Practical Peripherals 14400FXSA V.32bis
USRobotics Sportster 14,400
Zoom Modem VX-V.32bis
Zyxel U-1496 Fax/Modem
These modems, like any other high speed modem running at
baud rates greater than 9600 require RTS/CTS pacing. To
select pacing, go into your Connection Path Profile settings
Dialog and select the Pacing option. In the Pacing dialog,
set Transmit pacing to CTS and receive pacing to RTS and
re-save your Connection Path Profile.
NOTE: When doing communications at baud rates greater than
9600, you will need communications cards or internal
modems that use 16550 UART. To enable 16650 UART under
Windows, Read your Windows user manual and add the
following to your SYSTEM.INI file under [386ENH]
COM1FIFO=1
COM2FIFO=1
COM3FIFO=1
COM4FIFO=1
- 10 -
IX. Asynchronous Tcp/Ip Support
---------------------------
Throughout this section "{INSTALLDIR}" refers to the base
directory that this product was installed in.
Asynchronous Tcp/Ip support (commonly referred to as SLIP,
serial line interface protocol) is achieved by installing
the SLIP Tcp/Ip kernel (TCPIP_SL.EXE) before the execution
of WINDOWS and configuring a Softerm Modular session with a
Softerm SLIP connection path.
This SLIP support provides Softerm Modular with the capability
to dial into a remote system or network that supports the Tcp/Ip
protocol and establish a TELNET terminal session. The INTERNET
is one such network that is becoming increasingly popular and it
is usually necessary to sign up for a network service prior to
being able to use that network.
Softerm SLIP session can be configured to seamlessly integrate
the following tasks that need to be performed before the Tcp/Ip
protocol can be utilised to establish a TELNET session:-
o initialise the local modem
o dial a remote system or network
o execute a series of batch commands to:-
o automate a login process
o request the remote to enter SLIP (Tcp/Ip) mode
o scan the received asynchronous data stream for various
Ip addresses that the local PC is to use during the
current connection
o automatically disconnect the modem when the Tcp/Ip
connection is terminated
Since the local asynchronous communications port will be accessed
and controlled by the Tcp/Ip kernel, WINDOWS and WINDOWS based
applications must be prevented from also attempting to access this
port. To accomplish this, one of the following sets of two lines
must be added to the [386Enh] section of the WINDOWS SYSTEM.INI
file:-
COM1IRQ=-1
COM1BASE=0
or
COM2IRQ=-1
COM2BASE=0
- 11 -
The SLIP Tcp/Ip kernel configuration is defined in the file
"{INSTALLDIR}\SETUP\NETINFO" and is setup assuming that the
remote system or network will dynamically provide the information
that is to be used for the duration of the connection. If this
inforamtin has been permanently assigned, it will be necessary
to edit the follwing lines in the NETINFO file:-
IPADDRESS=0.0.0.0
IPGATEWAY=0.0.0.0
SUBNETBITS=0
where:-
IPADDRESS specifies the local PC's IP address
IPGATEWAY specifies the IP address of the default IP gateway or
router to which the Tcp/Ip kernel will send all packets for
delivery to their ultimate destination
SUBNETBITS specifies the number of bits used as the subnet ID
for example:-
IPADDRESS=192.148.174.50
IPGATEWAY=192.148.174.49
SUBNETBITS=4
These items are usually assigned when a service is subscribed to.
When a Softerm SLIP session is profiled the TELNET destination
address can be specified as either an Ip address or a name. When
a name is used the Tcp/Ip kernel must itself resolve this name to
an Ip address. This name resolution is accomplished by first
accessing a Domain Name Server on the network that has been dialed
into and if that fails by accessing the "{INSTALLDIR}\ETC\HOSTS"
file and perfoming a lookup translation. A sample HOSTS file is
included with this product.
To use a Domain Name Server for host name resolution the following
two lines should be added to the NETINFO file:-
DOMAIN=name
NSIPADDRESS=ipaddress
where:-
DOMAIN specifies the name of the domain for the remote system or
network that will be dialed
NSIPADDRESS specifies the IP address of the Domain Name Server
for example:-
DOMAIN=csn
NSIPADDRESS=128.138.213.21
If it is required that name resolution be performed using the
local HOST lookup file, these two lines shoud be removed from the
NETINFO file.
Definitions for use of the locally attached modem are maintained
in the file "{INSTALLDIR}\ETC\MODEMS". This MODEMS file may
contain multiple entries (typically for different connection
baud rates) and an example file is included with this product.
When a Softerm SLIP connection path is profiled, an entry from
this file can be selected within the communications parameters
dialog.
- 12 -
Definitions for the phone numbers of remote systems and networks
and their associated batch commands are maintained in the file
"{INSTALLDIR}\SETUP\PHONES". This PHONES file will typically
contain multiple entries and an example file is included with
this product. When a Softerm SLIP connection path is profiled,
an entry from this file can be selected within the dial parameters
dialog. Each PHONES file entry may have one or more of the
following batch commands associated with it in order for the
previously mentioned functions to be performed:-
SEND string[CR]
WAITFOR string SEND reply[CR]
WAITFOR_IP string
WAITFOR_NETMASK string
WAITFOR_GATEWAY string
SLIPMODE
where:
[CR] represents a carriage return character in a transmit string.
[LF] may be used to represent a linefeed character in a transmit
string.
The SEND keyword defines a string that is to be transmitted as soon
as a carrer signal is detected from the remote system or network
during connection establishment.
The WAITFOR keyword defines a string that when detected in the
receive data stream causes the associated SEND string to be
transmitted to the remote system or network.
The WAITFOR_IP, WAITFOR_NETMASK, WAITFOR_GATEWAY keywords define
lead-in strings for the local Ip address, local Ip address mask
or remote gateway Ip address respectively. When one of these
lead-in stings has been detected in the receive data stream the
receive data is further scanned for the first Ip address, in
dotted notation. When a valid Ip address has been received, that
address will be used by the kernel for all subsequent Tcp/Ip
operations. These lead-in strings only need to define a unique
string that precedes an Ip address somewhere in the receive data
stream, they do not have to define the string immediately preceding
the Ip address.
for example, the batch command 'WAITFOR_IP your' will set the
local Ip address to '192.94.51.28' when the following string is
received:-
Annex address is 198.243.36.253. Your address is 192.94.51.28.
The SLIPMODE keyword causes the Tcp/Ip kernel to be put into SLIP
mode and execution of batch commands to be terminated. This
command is executed when the immediately preceding batch command
has been executed. If there is no preceding batch command, the
SLIPMODE command is executed as soon as the carrier signal is
detected from the remote system or network.
- 13 -
A single SLIP connection will support multiple Softerm SLIP
sessions, but the phone number profiled within those sessions
must be the same for each. Once a SLIP connection has been made,
each Softerm SLIP session will proceed to the TELNET establishment
phase. The SLIP connection will be terminated when the last
Softerm SLIP session is terminated.
WSCM.EXE
--------
WSCM.EXE (Slip Connection Manager) is a stand alone utility for
execution under WINDOWS that can be used to dial and/or hangup
a connection to a remote Tcp/Ip system or network. It performs
exactly the same functionality as a Softerm SLIP session up to
the point of establishing a TELNET session. In addition it will
display all received data and thus is a convenient utility for
the development and testing of those batch commands necessary to
automate SLIP connection establishment.
WPING.EXE
---------
WPING.EXE (Host Availability Query Program) is a stand alone
utility for execution under WINDOWS that can be used to test the
availablility of a host (by name or Ip address) on the network.
WSCM should be used to establish a connection into a network and
WPING can then be used to test if a particular host is available.
- 14 -
