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Text File | 1993-12-26 | 16.6 KB | 339 lines

********************* FLASH II DEMO - version 2.2 ******************** from: Missionware Software 354 N. Winston Drive Palatine, IL 60067-4132 (708)359-9565 Thank you for taking an interest in our latest release of Flash II. You'll be able to test as many of Flash II's features as possible in this demo version. Naturally, many features of the program are either disabled or limited. We'll discuss those limitations in this message and also give you a few hints on how best to use this demo. Before we get into a brief discussion on how to use this demo, here's a list of features included in Flash II: ∙ DO script files compatible with older versions of Flash! ∙ All macros use the familiar Flash DO script format! ∙ Easily setup the parameters for each BBS you call...this includes everything from ASCII upload/download options to baud rate! ∙ You can program up to 20 individual and separate macros for each BBS plus an additional 10 global macros ! ∙ Displays RLE & GIF pictures either on or off line! You can also save or load these pictures for later review! ∙ Supports the following terminal types: TTY, VIDTEX, VT52, ANSI, VT100, VT101, VT102, VT200, VT300 & PRESTEL. ∙ Now includes full support for RTS/CTS. This mode can now be turned on and off by the user. ∙ Fully supports all Atari computers up through the Falcon. RS232 support includes all baud rates up through 38400 and includes all 4 serial ports (when available) on the TT030 and MegaSTE. ∙ Includes Automatic Answer mode! ∙ Includes Auto Boards mode - Preselect the board(s) you wish to dial and when Flash II is launched either manually from the desktop by you, or automatically by some other program launcher, Flash II will wakeup and dial the board(s) you've got selected. It will also wait for the proper time to dial these boards. ∙ Includes full featured GEM text editor with: merge, block commands, cut & paste, search & replace, paragraph reformating; user tab settings, page width, full keyboard cursor and delete control and more! ∙ Supports the ST, IBM and DEC character sets, including IBM graphics characters! ∙ Includes Silent Line for background file transfers! ∙ Supports the following upload/download protocols: ASCII, Xmodem, Ymodem, Ymodem-G, Zmodem, Modem7, WXmodem, CIS B, Kermit and SEAlink! And all of these protocols are built into the program...no external modules required!!! ∙ Zmodem now supports the selection of AutoStart and Streaming options. If you prefer to use an external Zmodem protocol with Flash II, you can now force Flash II's Zmodem autostart mode to off. For BBS' that don't support "streaming", this too can now be turned off. ∙ Logs all on line time and calculates your approximate costs for you! ∙ New version written in assembler! Fast! ∙ Runs on all ST, STe and TT's ∙ Now supports "Install Application". You can create a DO script that can be used to launch Flash II from the desktop and force it to dial up and go online for you, all automatically! ∙ Both the Terminal and Editor have been enhanced significantly for both speed and ease of use. You'll be amazed at how fast the new Flash II is! ∙ A new "BReak" script command is added which permits the sending of a terminal break to the host computer while a script is running. Many other new scripts commands are also now included which support all of the new features of Flash II version 2.2. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Flash II is a very powerful telecommunications program. With that power comes complexity. The program comes with a 228 page manual that fully explains all of Flash II's features. There's no easy way to try to reproduce that manual in a short read.me type of file. Most of what you'll want to check is simple though, and we've included a couple of files to help you along. FLASH2.LST: This file contains the board listings you'll be using to test Flash II. The demo comes preconfigured for the four major online services. You can change any of these configurations for whatever board you wish to dial in to. FLASH2.DEF: This file holds default settings for Flash II's use when first booted. Except for Silent Line (our background file transfer program), all options set under the Options menu are saved in this file. Your default transfer options are also saved here, as well as the status of Auto Event Log and Auto Boards under the Phone menu. Flash II now supports all Modem ports on all Atari ST/TT/Falcon computers. Make sure that the serial cable you use supports all features of your modem. Flash II will try to use all of those features for best speed and performance. If you have a hard drive, you'll want to run this demo from that drive. Create a "FLASH2" folder and copy all of the files included here into that folder. Run flash2d.prg from the folder and you'll be all set. It's *very* important that both the flash2.lst and flash2.def files are placed in the same folder as flash2d.prg! The Flash II demo is limited to less than 50 minutes of actual use, per session. A dialog warns you of this every 10 minutes or so, and in fact, is the dialog that appears when you first boot Flash II. Before trying to dial out the first time, please go through the following options to make sure they are set up properly for your system: Terminal, RS232, Modem (all under the Options menu). TERMINAL OPTIONS: These options are used to configure Flash II's default state when it first starts up. We highly recommend that you work with these default options to begin with. Later, as you gain more experience, you might want to experiment a bit. Click on "More Terminal Options" at the bottom left in the main dialog. A second dialog appears. Up at the top are two configurations for Control Codes and Character Codes. Leave these both set to 7 BIT. These settings tell Flash II to strip the 8th bit on any incoming data which helps prevent garbage data from appearing on the screen. The Character Set should also be set to ATARI ST. RS232 OPTIONS: You'll need to select whatever baud rate your normally use in this dialog. It comes preconfigured for 2400 baud, 8 data bits, no parity, and 1 stop bit. When these settings are used in conjunction with Control and Character Codes set to 7 BIT as noted above, Flash II will work either in 7E1 or 8N1 mode while online, the two most common modes in use today. RTS/CTS only needs activation if you are operating at split baud rates. Flash II will connect to your modem at speeds up to 19,200 baud. Your modem may be able to work a split rates - see the operations manual for information. MODEM OPTIONS: The demo is preconfigured for Hayes compatible modems. If your modem is Hayes command set compatible, you'll probably need to make no changes to this dialog. If your modem is not Hayes compatible, you'll need to configure Flash II for whatever commands your modem supports. If you wish to use hardware connect/disconnect, make sure that DCD is selected in this dialog. If you aren't sure whether your modem and cable supports DCD, then select STRINGS. Use the default DCD Connect Time of "30" seconds and DTR Disconnect Time of 0.1 seconds no matter which method you use (DCD or STRINGS). After all of these options are set, you'll want to save them so that they'll be activated the next time you load Flash II. Move to the File menu and select "Save Defaults". Your flash2.def file will be updated with the new information entered. FIRST TEST: Before you actually try to dial out the first time, it's always a good idea to make sure that Flash II is communicating with your modem. Let's switch to the terminal mode to see if everything is working. To do that, press the right mouse button. By the way, the right button is used for switching back and forth between the editor (where Flash II first boots) and the terminal screen. This switch can also be made while online so that you can reread and edit any messages that may have come in too fast to read while online. Naturally, you can also use the editor for creating messages and replies while online. After pressing the right mouse button, you should now see a blank screen except for some status information at the top. I'll explain that later. Let's first see if we can communicate. There should be a black cursor at the home position on the screen. If your modem is Hayes compatible, enter (without the quotes) "AT" followed by a press of the [Return] key. You should be able to see the Tx (or transmit) lamp on your modem blink. The modem should respond with an "OK". If it doesn't, something between Flash II and your modem isn't proper. Now take a look at the status line. At the upper left you'll see something like "Cap: xxxxK". This tells you how much memory is available in your computer for Flash II's capture buffer. In the middle of the screen you'll see something like "8N1 F 2400". This shows the current state of the serial port in your computer - 8 databits, No parity, 1 stopbit, Full duplex, and 2400 baud. When you do the test above, make sure that the baud rate is set to a value that your modem supports. If your modem, say, only supports 2400 baud and you see a "9600" displayed here, then you'll need to return to the RS232 Options dialog to make the change. The numbers to the far right indicate the amount of time you are online, and any online charges you may accrue (if that information is set up). Assuming you were able to communicate with the modem, you'll now want to dial out for your first connection. The easiest way is to manually dial out, so switch back to the Editor by right clicking on the mouse, and select Phone|Dial Number. A small dialog will appear that lets you enter a number to dial. Enter the number of a local BBS, click on OK, and in a second or so, Flash II should pop up a dialog saying that it's dialing the number and waiting for a connection. A Cancel button appears which can be used to cancel the dialout either during or after dialing. When Flash II detects a connection, it automatically switches to the terminal screen and starts displaying the information received from the modem. If what you see is garbage, then some serial port parameter is not set properly. If the text looks good, then you're all set to sign on and work your first online session. HELP DIALOG: There are a lot of features in the Flash II terminal that are accessed via Alt-key combinations. To see what these keystrokes are, press the [Help] key while in Terminal mode. A dialog appears showing you all keystrokes, as well a DO script commands (which can be entered in the command line - accessed by pressing the [Insert] key while in terminal mode). However, keep in mind that the demo does not permit you to use these Alt-key combination keystrokes. SETTING UP YOUR BOARDS: Once you become a bit more familiar with the operation of the program, you can automate your logon procedure using "Phone|Edit Boards". All of the options you set under the Options menu are also available for individual board customization under "Edit Boards". for instance, let's say a particular board you call can only operate at 1200 baud. Just click on the RS232 Options button in "Edit Boards", select 1200 baud, and the next time you dial that board (using Phone|Dial Boards) the Flash II terminal will be automatically set to 1200 baud! We've included sample board listings for most of the popular online services. You'll need to modify these slightly for your personal operation. For instance, you'll need to enter your local phone number for the board in question. You'll also need to enter your password (in most cases) on the line titled "Logon ID:". In some cases you'll also need to slightly modify the auto macro (found in the "Macro" dialog) to make it work for you. For instance, to log onto BIX, you'll need to enter your BIX name in the macro where it says "bixname". In my case, I'd enter "jtrautschold" in place of "bixname". You'll want to play around with all of the "buttons" in the Edit Boards dialog. That's the best way to familiarize yourself with all of the features that can be set here. TRANSFERS: This demo permits you to try all of Flash II's built in transfer protocols. You can select the protocol to use under the "Transfer" menu. All transfers are limited to 50K file sizes, however. This includes both uploads and downloads. EDITOR: The Flash II editor is an "edit anything" type of editor. You can actually load binary files (such as flash2d.prg) into the editor! GIF pictures are also loaded into the editor for viewing using the "Review" function found under the "Capture" menu. (At the moment, Flash II supports only 87a GIF pictures - load the data into the capture buffer using "File|Load" and after the data is in, activate "Capture|Review" - the program switches to the terminal/review screen and begins to display the picture.) Since the editor can edit anything, that means you can also separately edit line feed characters (displayed as a "bell") and carriage return characters. If you aren't careful, this can get you into a bit of trouble. Flash II comes preconfigured to display both carriage returns and control characters in the editor, although these features can be turned off under "Options|Editor". The editor can be used as a full function word processor. There are a number of block commands that can be executed via the "Block" menu or the function keys. Blocks can also be set using the mouse pointer "click and drag" feature which places a "rubberband" on the screen used to lasso the text you wish to block out. There are also many keyboard shortcuts you can use while in the editor for moving the cursor and deleting text. The [Clr Home] key moves the cursor to the beginning of the capture while the [Shift][Clr Home] key moves it to the end. The cursor keys move the cursor one character at a time in the direction specified, while [Shift][Cursor right/left] moves the cursor to the far right or left of the line it's currently on. [Shift][Cursor up/down] pages the display up and down. [Control][Cursor up/down] moves the cursor to the top or bottom of the screen. [Control][Cursor left/right] moves the cursor one word at a time either left or right. [Control][Left Shift][Delete] deletes everything from the cursor to the beginning of the line while [Control][Right Shift][Delete] does the same but to the right. [Shift][Delete] deletes the entire line of text that the cursor is on. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Again, these are just some of the many features built into Flash II. There's no way I can try to explain everything in this short message. But I hope that this is enough to get you started. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me online on BIX (atari.st or via BIXmail to "jtrautschold"), CompuServe (71333,1003 or in ATARIVEN, section 10 - Missionware), Delphi (MISSIONWARE or in the Atari Advantage section) or on GEnie (in the STRT, Cat. 8 Topic 2, or via email at J.TRAUTSCHOL). I can also be reached via the Internet at jtrautschold@bix.com. I hope you enjoy playing with this demo. There's an awful lot to Flash II - it's a very powerful telecomm program and editor. And for the price, it's almost a steal! John Trautschold President, Missionware Software ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Missionware Software's upgrade policy remains the same for the new Version 2.2! We will continue to upgrade any old version of Flash! (copyright Antic Software) for just $30 US, plus $4 shipping and handling (US and Canada), $8 worldwide. Or, you can purchase Flash II, version 2.1 outright, for only $49.95 US plus the shipping and handling charges applicable to your area. To order, or for more information, contact: Missionware Software 354 N. Winston Drive Palatine, IL 60067-4132 United States of America phone 708-359-9565