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========================================================================== Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Copyright 1993, 1994 Joaquim Homrighausen; All rights reserved. Absolute Solutions 94-03-13 ========================================================================== Published by Joaquim Homrighausen with assistance from the users of FrontDoor, FrontDoor APX, TosScan, and related utilities, as well as the FrontDoor Help nodes. This document may be freely distributed for non- commercial and informational purposes. This document may not, under any circumstance, be traded, sold, or otherwise used for commercial gain or purposes without prior written consent from Joaquim Homrighausen. ========================================================================== FD=FrontDoor Mailer FM=FrontDoor Editor TS=TosScan APX=FrontDoor APX FDNC=FrontDoor Nodelist Compiler/Manager XR=XRobot ========================================================================== Q: Occasionally, various indicators will appear in the lower right hand corner of the Mailer screen. What are they? A: Five possible indicators can be displayed there: NU: No Users: event configured to not allow users, or is toggled off at the FD screen with <Alt-Y>, Human callers "No". Also displayed when FD detects the semaphore file FDNOUSER.NOW in its semaphore directory. UD: One or more undialable check marks exist. After FD places a call, gets a connect, and then fails the attempts to establish a mail session, it will make a number of "resend retries" (as defined in FDSETUP's Mailer.Miscellaneous menu). When the maximum number of retries have been reached, FD will set one check mark for the undialable node in question. When the node has three check marks, FD will not call this node again, until you have removed at least one of the check marks. Press <Alt-V> to view the list of un- dialable nodes, and edit the check marks. NE: No Exit: the semaphore file FDNOEXIT.NOW is detected. While this file is present, FD will not exit (even if the current event is configured to cause exits) when mail arrives. NR: No Rescan: the semaphore file FDNOSCAN.NOW is detected. While this file is present, FD will ignore system netmail folder rescans prompted by the semaphore file FDRESCAN.NOW. Mail: New mail for your system has arrived. ========================================================================== Q: FD does not seem to accept file requests and update requests from certain calling systems (sometimes), why? A: Check your log file whether you can find "remote refused pickup" reported. If so, it means that the requesting system has a setup disabling pick up of mail and files. There is nothing you can do about it except notify the operator at the remote system to change settings. ========================================================================== Q: I have seen several references to the forward slash (/) and tilde (|) characters in regards to modem messages, to allow FD to distinguish between similar-looking messages. A: FrontDoor versions prior to 2.20b (and 2.12) required a tilde character to distinguish between strings like "RING" and "RINGING", and a forward slash character to distinguish between strings like "CONNECT 1200" and "CONNECT 12000". This is no longer required. ========================================================================== Q: I have "Locked port" enabled in FDSETUP and my FOSSIL driver locked at 38400 BPS, but the modem always says the caller is connecting at 38400 BPS, even when they are really at 2400 BPS! What is wrong? I have a Rockwell chipset modem. A: The BT/Hayes command set modems (Hayes, PPI, Rockwell based) default to returning the DTE, or speed between the modem and computer (i.e. the "locked" rate). Add "W2S95=42" to your modem initialization string to return the DCE rate (speed between modems). ========================================================================== Q: What is a good init string for my Rockwell chipset (or Hayes or PPI) modem? A: First, reset your modem to the factory default with AT&F. Now, load the FrontDoor Terminal by pressing <Alt-J> from FD's main menu or by running FD /TERM from the DOS prompt. Type "AT&C1&D2W2S95=42"<Enter>. Save it to NVRAM with "AT&W"<Enter>. Your init string can now be ATZ| and will work fine. Other registers are fine tuning only, and may vary by make and model. The FrontDoor INSTALL program includes the correct modem settings for many popular modems. ========================================================================== A: I have just upgraded from FD 2.00 to 2.20. All is going fine except one little setting I haven't got right yet, and that's the MODEM statement in FDNODE.CTL. Q: The MODEM statement in FDNODE.CTL has been moved to FDSETUP.Manager. Modem. ========================================================================== Q: My modem is a combined FAX/DATA modem, but I cannot get FD to success- fully receive the fax, or exit so my external utility can receive it. A: FD 2.20 can receive a fax by using its internal routines ONLY if you are using a ZyXEL U-1496 series modem and it has been configured for adaptive fax/data answer. FD 2.20 can shell to an external program if your modem returns a unique connect message indicating that a fax call is in progress (e.g. "CONNECT FAX"). This is more a limitation of adaptive answering in many modems and lack of suitable fax software to support the modems. ========================================================================== Q: I am using a modem that requires the DTE speed to be locked at 57600 or 115200 BPS to achieve maximum throughput and transfer efficiency, but FDSETUP only allows me to set the baudrate to 38400 BPS.. A: X00 and other FOSSIL drivers allow you to lock the port at 57600 and 115200 BPS when you load them. As long as the FOSSIL driver has been instructed to maintain a fixed DTE rate, it will ignore any attempts by FD to change the baudrate. Set the baudrate in FDSETUP to 38400 BPS and then enable the "Locked port" setting. Lock the FOSSIL driver at the required speed: e.g. DEVICE=C:\FD\X00.SYS E B,0,57600 T=512 R=1024 Locks COM1 at 57600 BPS e.g. DEVICE=C:\FD\X00.SYS E B,0,115200 T=512 R=1024 Locks COM1 at 115200 BPS ========================================================================== Q: Every time I poll my uplink for new mail, FD logs a message "Unexpected password, XXXXXXXX, from <system address>". What does this mean; is it a security bug in FrontDoor? I have a session level password with my uplink, but not with <system address>! A: That is exactly what the message means. It tells you that you have had a session with a system which presented an unexpected password for one or more AKAs (Also Known As-addresses). The password was unexpected because you have not configured a session password for that particular AKA. The message is part of FD's security system. If the message is not important to you, then disable the (#) log entry in FDSETUP under the Mailer.Loglevels menu. ========================================================================== Q: One of my downlinks is configured with multiple system addresses. Must I enter all of these in the security manager? Only the primary address of that system receives mail from me. Does it help if I just disable the "Present all AKAs.." option in the Mailer.Miscellaneous menu of FDSETUP? A: It is not a matter of your system presenting all AKAs, but the remote side. If you feel that a system has too many AKAs for you to enter all of them with passwords in your security manager, then make sure that you route mail for the AKAs to one of the addresses. By doing that, you only need to password protect that particular address. Otherwise, you will either have to accept that mail for his AKAs is not password protected (and can thus be picked up by anyone who puts that address in his AKA list) or you will have to set passwords for his entire AKA list. ========================================================================== Q: My uplink has two AKAs, each representing a different telephone line. I can poll either system to deliver and pickup the mail. I have tried using "Poll <node1> <node2>" in my ROUTE.FD to establish alternating polling between the two nodes but then FD insists on polling both lines instead of only one. Is there a method to use alternating polling without having to call the system more than once? A: You can setup a script file which alternatively polls each line when- ever the other line is busy. To establish this, make the following changes: In your ROUTE.FD insert the line "SCRIPT UPLINK <primary address>" (use the primary address which you will use in your "POLL" command in ROUTE.FD). Then use a texteditor to create a file called UPLINK.SCR in the FrontDoor SYSTEM directory: ; Sample Script to call Boss on more than one phonenumber ; (courtesy Jan Orsel) retrycount 20 ;Exit script after more than 20 retries. timerset 60 ;Set timeout to 60 seconds :node1 wait 2 dial 88119 ;Phonenumber for node 1 case CONNECT : session BUSY : >node2 "NO CARRIER" : >node2 @DEFAULT : fail endcase :node2 wait 2 dial 87707 ;Phonenumber for node 2 case CONNECT : session BUSY : >node1 "NO CARRIER" : >node1 @DEFAULT : fail endcase ;end of script ========================================================================== Q: FD sometimes display the message "xxxxxxxx.PKT contains conference mail, ignored" and refuses to unpack the mail packet. A: When FD scans received .PKT files it looks for the string "AREA:" which would indicate that the .PKT file contains Conference Mail. FD does not handle Conference Mail without the use of an external Conference Mail processor such as TosScan. ========================================================================== Q: All messages that I or my BBS users write are displayed as having the Local status when I read them in FM. Does this mean that FD will not send these messages? A: The Local status of any message on your system simply means that the message apparently originates from your system. FD checks for Local status before honoring any special status within the message, such as Direct or Immediate. If a message does not have the Local status, FD will refuse to send it. This is part of FrontDoor's security system and is implemented to prevent unauthorized users from forcing your system to place calls, unless you want it to. ========================================================================== Q: I have seen messages from people in Conference-type folders that have three dashes followed by some text, usually identifying a program. But when I enter a message with FM in a Conference-type folder, all I get is the three dashes. A: It is our belief that we should disturb the readers of conference mail messages as little as possible with unnecessary and uncalled for advertisements. Therefor we support the thought that program information should be hidden for the user. If you press <Alt-X> when reading one of your messages you will see a notice "PID FM <version>". Thus, you are still able to see which software people have used to enter a message, but only when you want to see it. This is compliant with the desire of many users to clean up the conference mail from unwanted commercials as much as possible. ========================================================================== Q: I can't do anything in the Terminal, not even leave it with <Alt-Q>. A: You have the <Scroll Lock> key on. When it is active, the Terminal is in 'Raw mode', which transmits ALL keystrokes to the remote side. Just press <Scroll Lock>, to turn it off, then you can use the Terminal as you're used to. ========================================================================== Q: I never get a RING signal from my new HST modem when FD is in the Mailer mode. But when I go into the Terminal, I can see the RING. A: The new HST modems saves the current BPS rate to the NVRAM when you store the settings with "AT&W"<Enter>. To fix this problem, go into the Terminal with <Alt-J> from FD's main menu, or run FD /TERM from the DOS prompt and then type "ATZ"<Enter> and "AT&W"<Enter>. The modem has then stored the new DTE rate, and FD should see the RING messages. ========================================================================== Q: I have a USR HST/DS V.32Terbo/FAX modem and once in a while, I find FD attempting to terminate the call (screen is showing several lines with "Terminating call"), but nothing happens. A: Several versions of the USR HST/DS V.32Terbo/FAX firmware has problems to reset properly when DTR is dropped after an incoming call cannot be successfully negotiated. One suggested workaround is to set the S13 register to 1 (e.g. "ATS13=1"), set the "Use DTR to terminate call" option in FDSETUP to no, and include ATZ somewhere in the ON-HOOK string. The ATS13=1 forces the modem to reset when DTR is lowered, and this seems to help. ========================================================================== Q: FrontDoor refuses to send any of the conference mail messages that I write. I have Qmail set up correctly, and it exports the messages as it should, but FrontDoor never sends these files. A: FrontDoor and Qmail are not compatible. Qmail doesn't create the file attach messages that FrontDoor needs to deliver conference mail packets. You need to change to another conference mail processor. An excellent choice is TosScan, which is available from all authorized FrontDoor dealers and distributors. ========================================================================== Q: When I move the selection bar in the message survey function, it behaves as if I had pressed <Space> to toggle the select status, what am I doing wrong? A: Your <CapsLock> key is enabled. This enables the Continuous Tagging function which is described in the manual. ========================================================================== Q: I have been using FrontDoor for some time now. Everything works just fine, but I have files with the System and Hidden attributes. Do they belong to my system? A: FrontDoor (FD and FM) creates such files when it swaps itself out to disk. With normal termination, the swap-files are removed. If you do not exit the application normally (i.e. when the system or task is taken down while FD or FM is swapped out to disk), these files are left behind. You can safely remove them afterwards. ========================================================================== Q: Is there any utility that will allow me to force FD to poll a system, send and request files, as well as messages, from the DOS prompt or from another program? A: Yes, there are several. One of them is XRobot 3.x which is specifically written for FD and takes advantage of many features in the FrontDoor environment such as NAMES.FD. XRobot is available for MS-DOS 3.x and above as well as OS/2 2.x. The usual filename is XR301DOS.* and XR301OS2.* respectively. ========================================================================== Q: I am using FrontDoor 2.20 and notice that when I call certain systems using FrontDoor 2.10 or below, the system information displayed on the screen looks like random data but the session continues and is successfully completed. A: FrontDoor versions after 2.10 use a encoding scheme for the handshake packets exchanged at the beginning of a session between EMSI capable mailers. This is described in the update information provided with versions after 2.10. ========================================================================== Q: I am using the FD 2.20 /LOGINTRO option to enable logging of the data received from the remote prior to the start of a session and have found several sessions where FD seems to have filled the log with random garbage for several screens. A: FD simply logs whatever it receives from the modem until it has received an indication that the session handshake is about to begin. On some occasions, the answering and calling modems start to retrain the line, or there is a speed mismatch between the two modems, in which case the answering modem will receive what appears to be garbage. There is nothing FD can do about this and the only definite solution is to remove LOGINTRO from the command-line or FDOPT environment variable. ========================================================================== Q: FDNC will not compile the nodelist properly. After processing for a short period of time, it starts to scroll data horizontally across the screen. A: This behavior of FDNC normally indicates that one or more of the node- lists it is processing is corrupt. ========================================================================== Q: The previous version of FD that I was using had a "Limited hours" option in the "Manual answer" section of FDSETUP, but after upgrading I noticed that this option is no longer present. A: The option is still there, but it has been moved to the Event behavior settings, thus allowing you much more flexibility in controlling when FD should answer incoming calls. ========================================================================== Q: I'm using FD/Shareware in conjunction with ZyXEL's RCVFAX program. When an incoming fax call is detected, FD exits and RCVFAX is invoked from my batchfile, but then RCVFAX reports an error and the call is terminated. A: Add a one or two second delay in your batchfile before you invoke the RCVFAX program. This is not required if you are using the commercial version of FD and have enabled the internal fax support option. ========================================================================== Q: I frequently see the "Insufficient number of available file handles" when I'm using FM and/or FD, what am I doing wrong? A: There are two common causes for this error message. FD and FM typically needs around 15 file handles to be available, this excludes the five DOS "standard handles" (the console, keyboard, etc.). You must have at least FILES=20 in your CONFIG.SYS file. If you are running on a network and accessing one or more files on a server, you should increase the FILES= setting on the server (but keep FILES=20 or higher in the workstation's local CONFIG.SYS). ========================================================================== Q: I am using the NOEMS switch with EMM386 and FD 2.10 (and below) is behaving erratically. A: Some expanded and extended memory managers, such as EMM386 and 386^MAX allow you to disable the EMS page frame which gives you additional high memory. This is, unfortunately, not compatible with Borland's overlay manager that FrontDoor uses. This has been fixed in versions after FrontDoor 2.10 - whereby the programs test for a valid page frame and if none is found, simply don't call the overlay manager's EMS init function. ========================================================================== Q: I'm getting a very "sluggish" feel with FD and FM when running under Windows. All my PIF and other options seem to be OK. A: Add "SET FDOPT=FORCEINT28" or run FD and FM with the /FORCEINT28 command-line parameter. ========================================================================== Q: I am using OS/2 2.x and would like to set-up FD to run in a DOS session. But all my attempts result in extremely low transfer speeds and high CPU usage whenever FD is running. A: Find a copy of SIO 1.26 or later. SIO contains replacements for the OS/2 COM drivers as well as VX00, a FOSSIL driver written for OS/2 2.x that interfaces with SIO/VSIO. By replacing the original OS/2 2.x COM drivers with SIO and VSIO, you will see increased performance when using most of your (if not all) programs that access the serial port hardware directly (APX for example). For FD, you will also need to install either VFD ("Virtual FOSSIL Driver") which is available as a public beta on many systems or VX00. VFD has the same function as VX00 in the SIO archive and can be used instead of VX00 in conjunction with SIO and VSIO. SIO for OS/2 2.x is written by Ray Gwinn, the author of the X00 FOSSIL driver which accompanies FrontDoor 2.10 and later. VFD is written by Joakim Hernberg. For more information on how to set-up FD under OS/2 2.x, please refer to the FDTN-002 FrontDoor TechNote by John Barton which describes this in detail. ========================================================================== Q: I have successfully installed FrontDoor under OS/2 2.x DOS sessions, but I frequently get TRAP D error messages when FD is running. A: This is most likely due to a bug in OS/2 2.x that involves the use of FCBs (File Control Blocks). FD uses FCBs to delete some of its temporary files such as dynamic packets. The solution is to run FD with the /NOFCB command-line parameter, or to have SET FDOPT=NOFCB in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. You will notice a slight loss of performance since FD must delete all files individually. ========================================================================== Q: I am running FD in a OS/2 2.x DOS session and the dynamic CPS counter is reporting erratic throughput figures (usually, they are much too high).. A: This is a bug in OS/2 2.x. FD relies on the low memory BIOS ticker for calculating the dynamic CPS throughput figure. It seems like OS/2 2.x is not updating this ticker under certain conditions which would exhibit the above behavior. ========================================================================== // end of file "fdfaq.nnn"