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1990-10-26
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IX The Aladdin Main Screen IX The Aladdin Main Screen IX The Aladdin Main Screen
The Terminal Menu
Aladdin's window to the outside world is through its Terminal
Mode screen. When in Terminal Mode, Aladdin will either show
you its progress as it executes an Automatic Pass, or it will
allow you to manually access GEnie (or for that matter any
other communication service which can be accessed through
your modem). Aladdin has two distinct ways in which it
presents its Terminal Mode to you. The first is when it is
performing an automated task on GEnie, such as checking a
RoundTable for new messages. The other is when you invoke the
manual mode. We will cover both in this section, but first we
will discuss the Terminal Mode menu and its related screens.
1. Terminal Mode 1. Terminal Mode 1. Terminal Mode
Clicking on Terminal Mode from the Terminal Menu puts Aladdin
into terminal mode and turns over complete control of the
communications system to the user. At this point, Aladdin is
basically a dumb terminal which communicates via a serial
port and a modem to the outside world. The Aladdin Terminal
Mode screen, when entered into is composed of three distinct
areas.
1) The top line of the screen show the main Aladdin menu bar.
2) The Next two (2) lines on the screen shows the following
BUTTONS which can be clicked on, Capture, Fix, Stay, RTC,
Echo, Strip, and Lookback. Also displayed is the current time
and the words Terminal mode to indicate your current status.
The balance of twenty two (22) lines is the active portion of
the screen.
In this line of the screen, there are only two items which
change. On the top line of the screen, all the way to the
right, there is a time display which shows you the time as
kept by your computer's internal clock. When you are on line
with GEnie during an Automatic Pass or in manual mode, there
is a second display, which represents the dollars and cents
which Aladdin has calculated that your charges will be for
this call. This display is continuous; while you are online
it will increase. If there is a "P" in front of this display
it means that you are calling during a prime-time period.
Let's examine the commands available in the top section of
the Terminal Mode screen,
Aladdin ST Manual
Page 57
[Esc] - Pressing the [Esc] while Aladdin is performing an
automated task causes the task to be terminated. Aladdin the
turns over control to you in terminal mode. Pressing the
[Esc] key while in terminal mode (no automated tasks running)
exits Terminal Mode and returns you to the Terminal Mode
menu.
NOTE - Aladdin does not terminate a phone call or hang up the
modem when it exits terminal mode if the mode was entered by
clicking Log On from the Terminal Mode menu. It is up to the
user to terminate the phone call by clicking on Hang Up from
the Terminal Mode menu, or disconnecting the call manually by
turning off the modem. If the status line's left-hand field
has an "ON" status and the dollars and cents counter is still
climbing you are still online with GEnie and account charges
are being accrued!
The following function key commands are only available while
Aladdin is processing an automated task.
[F3] - The [F3] function key reads "Start/Stop Text Capture".
This function allows you to automatically capture all of the
information that scrolls across your screen into an ASCII
file for later reading.
[F4] - The [F4] function key reads "Fix garbled prompt", but
in fact it should read "Give Aladdin a nudge", because that's
exactly what it does. There are some situations in which the
phone line you are using may be a little too "noisy". The
symptoms of this condition are the display of garbage
characters on the screen. Aladdin is very picky about what
characters it receives, since it is looking for some very
specific responses from the GEnie system. If for some reason
it does not receive exactly what it is waiting for, it may
decide that it did not receive the proper response. It will
then wait until it does receive a response. If you see, on
the screen, that GEnie did in fact respond, you can press the
[F4] function key. This tells Aladdin "it's ok, go ahead and
continue with what you were going to do next."
[F5] - The [F5] function key toggles the "STAY" indicator on
the status line, which tells Aladdin whether or not it is to
log off from GEnie when it finishes performing an automated
operation.
The following function key commands are only available while
Aladdin is in manual terminal mode.
[F6] - The [F6] function key toggles RTC mode while in manual
terminal mode. This mode splits the screen into two sections
with a dividing line located about three-quarters of the way
Copyright 1990 by General Electric
Page 58
down the communications area of the terminal mode screen. The
top area displays characters received from GEnie. The bottom
area displays the text that you type from the keyboard, and
only sends it to GEnie when you press the <RETURN> key. When
you ask Aladdin to log you on to an RTC for any of the
RoundTables, it will put you into this RTC mode.
[F7] - The [F7] function key toggles the "ECHO" status
indicator at the bottom of the screen while in terminal mode.
See the explanation on the "ECHO" status indicator further on
in this section for more information.
[F10] - The [F10] function key toggles the terminal mode
screen between displaying normal communications and "Look
Back" mode, offering the same features as clicking on Browse
File. Aladdin stores the last few screens of characters that
it receives from GEnie, and allows you to browse through that
text. This feature is useful for when you are looking for
something that just scrolled off the top of the screen but
you don't want to have to issue more GEnie commands to
redisplay the information. When you press the [F10] function
key, Aladdin will function the same as when in the Browse
mode.
Each section of the status line display constitutes a status
display for one particular function of Aladdin. Note that
this status line is displayed on all the Aladdin menus except
some of the lower levels such as when you are editing a
message reply. ECHO Indicator - This indicator tells you
whether you will be able to see what you type on the screen
as you press the keys on the keyboard. Aladdin's default (and
the best choice for communication with GEnie) is ECHO mode
(otherwise known as "Half-Duplex Mode"). In this mode
whatever you type on the keyboard will also show up on the
screen. If the indicator is turned off (blank), Aladdin is in
"No Echo" mode, which means that you will not be able to see
what you type. Aladdin only uses the "No Echo" mode when it
is logged into the RTC area of a RoundTable. RTC Indicator -
This indicator tells you if Alad