Cream of the Crop 1/Cream of the Crop 1.iso/PROGRAM/BYTECOMM.ARJ/COMM.HLP

Text File | 1991-07-25 | 8KB | 180 lines

pg1
                          Introduction

This is a pop-up (hot-key) application.  While you're running other
applications, you can press Alt/Right-Shift to instantly turn your computer
into a communications terminal.  You can hot-key back and forth between
this and your other applications, even while file-transfers are taking place.


Keyboard -- To see the pull-down menus, press F2 while in terminal
mode.  To leave the menus, press ESC.  To select a menu category, press
the left or right arrow keys (-, -).  To move the menu-bar to an item
within a menu-box, press the up or down arrow keys (, ).  When the desired
item is highlighted, press the enter key (─┘).


COMM.CFG -- The file named COMM.CFG contains your phone directory,
modem information, and color preferences.  Setting up or changing COMM.CFG
is described in the DIALING and CONFIGURING sections of HELP.


Features -- Split-screen chat, phone directory, scroll-back, capture
buffer, and foreground/background file transfers (X/YModem, Kermit, or Ascii).


Exiting -- Use Alt-X or the "Stay Ready" EXIT menu option to return to your
other applications.  Use the "Unload" EXIT menu option to remove this
software from memory.


pg2
                            Dialing


Directory -- Up to 10 phone directory entries can be placed in COMM.CFG.
Use a text editor (such as Sidekick's Notepad) to update the directory.  Be
sure to follow this template (the semi-colons are important!):


PHONE DIRECTORY

Name; Phone; Baud Rate; Comm Parms; Local Echo; XON/XOFF; Add Linefeeds

Put the PHONE DIRECTORY line first.  Put a blank line after the entries.

You can put up to 20 characters of descriptive text into <Name>.  <Phone>,
usually something like 1-800-555-1212, can be up to 25 characters. <Baud Rate>
should be chosen from this list: 110, 150, 300, 600, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600,
19200, or 38400. <Comm Parms> specify Data Bits, Parity, and Stop Bits.  Data
Bits can be 5, 6, 7, or 8; Parity can be E (even), O (odd), or N (None); and
Stop Bits can be 1 or 2--a typical entry might be 8-N-1.  <Local Echo> can be
NOECHO or ECHO--ECHO says your computer (not the remote one) will do character
echo. <XON/XOFF> can be FLOW or NOFLOW...use FLOW when the other computer
supports XOn/XOff pacing.  <Add Linefeeds> can be ADDLF=NO or ADDLF=YES; use
YES when the other computer sends carriage-returns without linefeeds.

Alt-D or F3 can be used to select the Dialing menu.


pg3
                      Sending a File

You can bring up the File Menu by pressing F4 or Alt-F.

Select one of the four protocols available -- XModem, YModem, Kermit, or
Ascii -- for sending the file, and then specify the name of the file you
want to send.  Once the first block has been sent successfully, you can
press Alt-X to return to a foreground application.  The computer will beep
when the transfer is complete. If you change your mind during the
transfer, you can press ESC to cancel it.  The transfer will be cancelled
if more than 10 errors occur on a single block.

Ascii mode offers no error-checking against line noise, so you should limit
its use to text file transfers.  XModem is slower than YModem; pick YModem
over XModem if you have any control over what the other computer will use.
To get an XModem/YModem transfer off to a smooth start, you (the sender)
should wait for the other computer to send a "" character (XModem) or a "C"
character (YModem).  Then press F1 (or Alt-F) and initiate the transfer.

Read the section of HELP on CONFIGURING for information on some parameters
that can help your file transfers to be more successful.



pg4
                     Receiving a File

You can bring up the File Menu by pressing F4 or Alt-F.

To initiate the reception of a file about to be sent from another computer,
select a protocol (XModem, YModem, Kermit, or Ascii) and specify the filename
as you want it to be called on your computer.  Pressing ESC will cancel
the transfer.  XModem/YModem transfers will be cancelled automatically if more
than 10 errors occur on a single block.  After the first block is received,
you can press Alt-X to return to a foreground application while the transfer
continues in the background.  The computer will beep when the transfer is
complete.

As receiver, you should be the one who controls the start of the transfer.
Read the section of HELP on SENDING A FILE for more information on this.

Read the section of HELP on CONFIGURING for information on some parameters
that can help your file transfers to be more successful.






pg5
                 Configuring (the COMM.CFG file)


Color -- The phrases REGULAR FOREGROUND=<color>, REGULAR BACKGROUND=<color>,
MESSAGE FOREGROUND=<color>, and MESSAGE BACKGROUND=<color> can be used to
select screen colors. Select <color> from this list: BLACK, BLUE, GREEN, CYAN,
RED, MAGENTA, BROWN, WHITE, DARKGRAY, LIGHTBLUE, LIGHTGREEN, LIGHTCYAN,
LIGHTRED, LIGHTMAGENTA, YELLOW, BRIGHTWHITE, and, for monochrome, UNDERLINE
and HIGHINTENSITY.


Modem Strings -- The phrases PHONE BUSY=<text>, DIAL COMMAND=<text>, MODEM
INIT=<text>, MODEM OK=<text>, MODEM ERROR=<text>, MODEM RESET=<text>,
HANGUP=<text>, and CONNECT=<text> can be used to specify the various strings
of text appropriate for your particular modem.  "dial command=ATDT", for
example, is a typical Hayes-type command for Tone-Dialing.


Initial Comm Parameters -- COM PORT=1, 2, 3, or 4.  BAUD RATE=nnnn (see list
under DIALING).  PARMS=x-x-x (see explanation under DIALING).  ECHO=ON/OFF.
FOREGROUND TICKS=n and BACKGROUND TICKS=n express the relative priorities you
want to give to background file transfers.  BREAK TICKS=n specifies how many
55 millisec. intervals to use when sending a *BREAK* signal.  DIAL WAIT=nn
is the number of seconds to wait for the phone to be answered.

pg5




File Transfer Parameters -- SEND LF WITH CR=YES (or NO) tells the program
whether to send a linefeed after each carriage return during an Ascii-file-
send.  CHAR SEND DELAY=n and LINE SEND DELAY=n tell how many milliseconds
to wait after each character/line during an Ascii-file-send operation.


pg6
                        Modem Control



Changing Modem Parameters -- You can change the COMM Port, Baud Rate,
Data Bits, Parity, and Stop Bits by highlighting the desired item with
the up/down arrow keys and then pressing <return> to toggle a new
value for that item.  Be careful to not do this in the middle of a
communications session that has already been successfully established!

You can also change Local Echo (whether you or the remote computer is
echoing what you type; if what you type doesn't appear on the screen,
you may want to try changing Local Echo); XOn/XOff processing (this is
sometimes referred to as "flow control"); and Add LF (whether LineFeeds
need to be added to incoming material to make it appear line-by-line).

Alt-M or F6 brings up the Modem Control menu.



pg7
                              Scrolling



Looking Back at Previous Lines -- You can use the up/down arrow
keys, the PgUp/PgDn keys, and the Home/End keys to browse backwards
and forwards through previously-received material.

The up-arrow and down-arrow keys work one line at a time.  The
PgUp and PgDn keys scroll one screen-full.  And the Home/End keys
take you to the top and bottom of the scroll-back area,
respectively.

After a file-transfer, the top of the scroll-back area is set to
the next character or line received (the scroll-back area is no
longer "what it used to be" because it took part in the file transfer).

While you're scrolling back through previous lines, you may see
incoming material appear on the screen along with the "old" lines.
When you press End to return to the bottom of the scroll-back area,
the newly-received characters will be shown in their proper place.