Programmer 7500

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Programmer 7500 / MAX_PROGRAMMERS.iso / PROGRAMS / UTILS / COMMUNIC / ZCMD1761.ZIP / ZCOMMDOC.AI < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1990-06-26 | 74.3 KB | 1,771 lines

Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 241 modified scan code This is normally the value returned by the ROM BIOS indicating the key's physical location on the keyboard. If the raw scancode equals 224 (extended keyboard only), the modified scancode consists of the scancode added to the ZCOMM internal code. It is shown by the second number printed by the _ (underscore) command. shift state The arithmetic sum of the following conditions: 1 Right hand shift key 2 Left hand shift key 4 Ctrl Key 8 Alt key 16 Provided the Shift, Crrl, and Alt key states match, select this mapping regardless of whether the Application Keypad Mode or the Decoded Function Key conditions (below) are true. 32 Alternate Keypad Mode (not numeric) 64 Decoded Function Key (Character value greater than 0400 as displayed by the _ (underscore) command. 128 Select this mapping unconditionally. Note that a separate entry must be made for each shift key (left/right). A separate entry may be made for BOTH left and right shif keys provided your computer's BIOS recognizes characters entered with both shift keys down. class 0 Cursor Code (LRUD). In VT52 mode, ESC is prepended to the string. In VT100 Application mode, "ESC [" is prepended. In VT100 Cursor mode, "ESC O" is prepended. 1 PFK Key. In VT52 mode, ESC is prepended, otherwise "ESC O". 2 Numeric Keypad. Not mapped in Numeric Keypad mode. In Alternate Keypad mode, the string is prepended with with "ESC ?" for VT52, "ESC O" for VT100. 3 An ESC is prepended. 4 No characters are added to the string. string A string of 1 to 7 characters taken from the third column above. Control characters must be represented with ZCOMM (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 28 Terminal Emulation Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 242 character escapes. 96 keyboard mapping entries are allowed. EXAMPLE: We wish to map the Up key to send the VT100 cursor up code. First, we see _ (underscore) command dislays 72 72 0 510 for the Up key, indicating a scan code of 72, modified scan code of 72, 0 shift state, and a ZCOMM internal code of 0510 (Function Key). (Exit the _ command by typing Ctrl-Enter). To make this key always active in "display mapkb" mode, assign it a shift state of 16. Since VT100 cursor keys have class 0, the command is: mk 72 16 0 A EXAMPLE: mk 72 1 0 A maps "right shift keypad 8" to send the VT100 cursor up code (assumes right shift key). The set command may also be used to define suitable key mappings. SEE ALSO: dA and dM test conditions, std.mk and 101.mk key mapping script files. 28.4 Display Operation When ZCOMM starts up, or regains control after a DOS Gateway, the video mode and number of columns and rows are interrogated with a BIOS interrupt call. If the columns are less than 80, or if the BIOS video mode is between 4 and 6, the video mode is changed to 3 (color, 80x25). If other BIOS video modes cause problems, give a DOS "mode co80" or "mode mono" command before starting ZCOMM. Display boards with more than 80 columns or more than 25 lines are supported by the # and $ numeric parameters (q.v.). If a monochrome or EGA board is detected during initialization, warpdrive is selected for best performance. ZCOMM supports extended EGA displays with ANSI 132 column escape codes and the V numeric parameter. Special text video modes can be accessed with the videobios command. If ZCOMM is started with a Topview or DESQview virtual screen, the video memory pointers are adjusted. For special applications, the display may be completely inhibited with a "display inhibit" command. Updating of the display is reenabled by a display NOinhibit command or a fatal error disgnostic. In addition, ZCOMM can emulate hard copy terminals by displaying identical overstruck characters in bold (high intensity) and by (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 28 Terminal Emulation Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 243 underlining characters when the overstrike involves the ASCII underline character. This is enabled with a "display overstrike" command. (With the Color/Graphics board, underlining is represented by reverse video.) (A character position on the screen is overstruck if the character position being written already contains a character.) If the applications used involve backspacing and overstriking for character editing, overstrike will produce random bold characters and may be shut off with a "display NOoverstrike" command. Alternatively, the term function subcommand ALT-O will toggle overstrike. Normally, a received linefeed causes vertical movement only. If nlmode is set with a "display nlmode" command, a received linefeed also performs a carriage return. Nlmode is useful for Unix(TM) and similar systems. ZCOMM's Nlmode setting must agree with Unix's nlmode setting for screen oriented programs such as Berkeley Editor to function properly. Normally ZCOMM autowraps if there are too many characters on a line. This can be turned off with a "display noautowrap" command. Normally a received bell character will jangle the speaker with a beep. The command "display bell=visual" silently displays BEL as a flashing musical note without spacing to the next character position. The monochrome display adapter and some Color/Graphics boards allow DMA access to the video RAM without snow (sometimes called Chromablizzard). Warpdrive can be used with the Paradise Systems Multidisplay Card, The IBM Enhanced Graphics Adapter, and on the Compaq without daggers flying about the screen. Many of the aftermarket graphics display boards also work properly with warpdrive. Warpdrive doubles the raw display update speed. When operating with some color/graphics display controllers (including the IBM CGA board), updating the display will cause snow to appear on the screen unless warpdrive is disabled. 28.5 Non Standard Displays ZCOMM defaults to a 80 by 25 display, with the bottom line used for status information. Some displays support more than 25 lines and/or more than 80 characters per line. In other cases, ZCOMM might be run in a small window in multitasking environments such as TopView, DESQview, or Windows. The $ and # numeric parameters may be set to accomodate these situations. A cls command should be given after changing the $ or # numeric parameter. When ZCOMM starts up, the $ numeric parameter (number of columns) is set according to the value returned by the BIOS. ANSI 132 column escape codes are not recognized in windowed operation. Chapter 23 describes these parameters. (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 28 Log Entry Codes Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 244 29. LOGGING ENTRIES ZCOMM can be set to keep various logs with the callers, calllog, rcmdlog, rxlog, and txlog string parameters. Entries in the log files include a code in the first column to indicate the conditions of the operation associated with the entry. They are encoded as follows: * An open file was implicitly closed when another file was opened or as a result of a port or call command, or dialing a number. C Successful completion of a Compuserve B protocol file transfer. C Call terminated by loss of carrier detect, bye or off command, or dialing another phone number. Connect time is displayed in tenths of minutes. c An open file was closed with a close or ALT-C command. E Operation terminated by error. F A transmit file was closed as a result of an end of file encountered as it was transmitted by the term function. g A transmit file was closed as a result of an end of file encountered by the grab command, file received with the fget command. K Successful Kermit file transfer. L Log entry of a host state login, connect time in tenths of minutes. m Message received with the message or private command. n The file name shown is illegal for the local operationg system, and has been changed to "rename.###". The numeric value of ### is shown in the count field. R Successful file received with XMODEM family protocol. Q Questionable filtransfer sent with XMODEM family protocol. On receive: an EOT character was received but could not be verified; the file may be truncated. On Send: All data blocks were acknowledgd, but the EOT was not. q Partially transmitted file skipped by request. S Successful file sent with XMODEM or XMODEM BATCH protocol. t File received with TWX convention (terminated by EOT, ETX, or ^Z). (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 29 Log Entry Codes Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 245 U An incomplete received file was Unlinked (removed). X Call terminated by off or x command or by software termination signal. x A file was closed implicitly when ZCOMM exited to the operating system. Z Successful file received with ZMODEM protocol. z Successful file sent with ZMODEM protocol. (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 29 Log Entry Codes Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 246 29.1 Performance Log The plog string parameter enables file transfer performance logging. The default empty value disables this function. Performance log keeping does not affect the nolog command. A sample entry is shown below. The fields are: effective speed[1], log code, "L" for loss of carrier detect (otherwise blank), file name, length, average transfer rate (characters per second), transfer time in seconds (file open to file close), number of seconds required to start the transfer, number of errors (retransmissions), flow control transistions, block length/subpacket length (at end of file), measured round trip delay time in hundredths of seconds, the command (or facsimilie thereof), the other program's serial number (-1 if not available), the directory entry or caller's name, and the hardware handshake option. 2400 Z FOO.ARC 153760 186 826 1 20 260 256 234 sz 1171 guess who off The above example shows 1 second to start the transfer, 20 retransmissions, and 260 times that YAM had to wait for flow control release. This unusual set of figures is the result of a "networked" transfer through the "cu" program on a Unix system to a PC, not a normal connection or PC-Pursuit access. The count of flow control transitions gives an indication of flow control restraint applied by the modem, network, or receiver. Since it counts the times YAM has entered a wait because of flow control restraint and not the total amount of time spent in that state, it is not an accurate quantitative measure. The file transfer time and throughput calculation excludes the time required to start the transfer, since that time is often not under the protocol's control. __________ 1. The transmission speed unless set by the estimate command. (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 29 Error (and other) Messages Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 247 30. ERROR (and other) MESSAGES In the following messages, a %s refers to a filename or some other name or string. %d or %ld refers to a decimal number. %x refers to hexadecimal number, usually a character received from the modem. Error messages referring to the XMODEM protocol and/or XMODEM/CRC protocol also apply to the the YMODEM Batch protocol, which is an extension of the XMODEM protocol. Most of the XMODEM error messages are preceded by the sector and error number. ; not allowed with while The while command does not allow any semicolons to exist on the rest of the line. Aborting with error from remote: The remote Kermit program has aborted the file transfer with the following message. Access Password When ZCOMM is in host operation, callers must enter an access password to gain access to the system, unless the string parameter Password is empty. Awaiting initial NAK When sending a file with the XMODEM protocol, ZCOMM is waiting for the receiver to start the transfer with an initial NAK character. Awaiting pathname NAK When sending a file in the the YMODEM Batch protocol, ZCOMM is waiting for the receiver to request transmission of the file name, and length. Bad CIS ESC request %x ZCOMM has detected an undefined Compuserve Protocol escape request. Usually due to a line hit or an aborted transfer. Bad CIS request %x ZCOMM has detected an undefined Compuserve Protocol request. Usually due to a line hit or an aborted transfer. Bad Command Please refer to Chapter 18 for legal commands. Bad Condition Please refer to Chapter 26 for legal conditions which may be tested by the if or while commands. Bad CRC=%x An error was detected on the last block received with the XMODEM or the YMODEM Batch protocol. ZCOMM will request retransmission of the block. Bad Directory The directory given in a cd command does not exist or is unreadable. Bad Disk A command of the form D: attempted to change the default disk to one that is not in the string parameter disks. (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 30 Error (and other) Messages Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 248 Bad Mode Please refer to Chapter 20 for a list of legal Modes. Bad Option Please refer to Chapter 19 for legal Options to the k, r and s commands. Bad Parameter The p command was given with an unknown parameter letter. The parameters that can be set may be displayed with the p command given without any parameter. Bad parity Setting The 7{eoms} mode must be be one of e o m s (even, odd, marking, spacing). Bad SNP A valid and legal serial number-password must be entered with the putsnp program. Call Terminated An attempt at connecting to a remote system has been abandoned. Can't allocate buffer ZCOMM was unable to allocate memory for the circular buffer, forcing an immediate exit. Can't find Directory entry for %s A call or gosub command for name failed because name was not found in the directory. Can't open %s errno = %d The named file cannot be opened for reading or writing (depending on the application). The common reasons are listed below: 1 No such file or directory. 4 Bad file number. 5 Not enough core. 6 Permission denied. 7 File exists. 8 Cross-device link. 10 Too many open files. (If this error appears when the specified file is accessible, increase the number of available files with a "FILES=20" statement in CONFIG.SYS.) 11 No space left on device. 14 Resource deadlock would occur. Can't send pathname %s The receiver did not accept the named pathname in a batch transfer. (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 30 Error (and other) Messages Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 249 Cannot unsqueeze %s An error attempting to unsqueeze a SQueezed file. A required key file is missing, or the decoding information stored in the beginning of the SQueezed file is corrupted. No Carrier Detect The Carrier Detect signal from the modem (pin 8 of the RS232 connector) is OFF. This is often caused by a bad modem cable, or improper modem strapping options. Setting d mode prevents ZCOMM from issuing this message. Changing pathname An illegal pathname has been received. ZCOMM is changing the pathname to one the local operating system will accept. Checksum Bad rx=%x cx=%x The last block was received with a bad checksum. The received checksum and the calculated checksum are displayed. A retransmission request will be made. Checksum error in %s A SQueezed file did not UnSQueeze with the expected checksum. Most likely a data error in the SQueezed file, or the Key file (if the file was encrypted). Another possibly is a software error in the program that SQueezed the file. Closing %s Reception of data for the named file has finished and ZCOMM is closing out the file. Command not allowed remotely Certain commands may only be given from the local keyboard as they would sever communications with a remote user in host operation. Connected to Console Keyboard This message is sent to a caller when the chat command is given in host operation. *** DISK FULL *** If this message appears, your problems may have just started; DOS has been known to trash the disk file system when the disk is filled up. If the disk has been filled up as a result of receiving data with the term function, use the t, b, w review subcommands to store the unwritten data on disk. The browse command may be used to free up disk space. The integrity of the disk file system should be checked with chkdsk/f as soon as possible. Enter message up to 64 lines, type blank line when finished The message or private command allows the user (local, or remote when is host operation) to enter a message which will be appended to the Messages or Private file. Error Checksum=%x Got %x An error was detected in a record received from Compuserve. ZCOMM will request retransmission. Error Recovery ZCOMM has detected a protocol error and is waiting for the line to settle before proceeding. Exists. Replace/Append/Quit (r/a/q)?? The named file already exists (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 30 Error (and other) Messages Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 250 on the local system. You have three options: Replace the old file with the new data, Append the new data to the end of the old file, or Quit the transfer. Exit chat with ^Z The remote should type Ctrl-Z to exit from chat back to the ZCOMM prompt. Falling back to XMODEM/CRC An attempted XMODEM-CRC file receive has failed because the sender has not responded to CRC Send requests, so Zcomm will now try checksum XMODEM. FILES OPEN A transmit and/or receive file is open. Files should be closed before executing any commands that would modify data on disk and/or any directories. Fetching pathname ZCOMM has requested the remote sender to transmit the name and length of the next file in a the YMODEM Batch protocol transfer. File is Not SQueezed The USQ command has detected a file which does not have the standard header for SQueezed files. The file is ignored. found %d %s This informational message is generated when the term function matches a pattern and the v parameter is non zero. Got %x for record ACK The Compuserve computer rejected the last record sent. Got %x for sector ACK In the XMODEM protocol, a transmitted sector elicited a response other than the expected ACK, or a NAK. Perhaps the receiving program has terminated and ZCOMM is trying to send the record to the remote's operating system command prompt. Got %x for ACK to EOT The XMODEM protocol sends an EOT to terminate each file transfer. The proper response to the EOT is an ACK; anything else is an error. ZCOMM resends the EOT up to ten times if an ACK is not received. Got %x sector header In the XMODEM protocol, A sector should start with 01 or 02. (02 signifies a 1024 byte block.) An EOT followed by extraneous characters appears as a sector header of 04 (EOT). Got burst for sector ACK In the XMODEM protocol, sectors are acknowledged with a single ACK (006) character. ZCOMM detects an invalid ACK response by waiting two character times to make sure no noise burst accompanied the ACK. It's far better to retransmit a block which has been received correctly than it is to incorrectly proceed to the next block, causing a synchronization error. Got record %x expecting %x A synchronization error has been detected in the Compuserve protocol. The file should be deleted as it will (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 30 Error (and other) Messages Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 251 have been truncated. Got ZRPOS indicates the receiving program has detected a transmission error and has requested retransmission. In other words, ZMODEM is doing its job of detecting and correcting missing and garbled data. Please refer to Chapter 13 for more information. Goto not in script context The goto command is valid only in a script. Hit F1 to End When receiving data with the fget command, hit F1 to end data collection. Any regular character is passed to the remote. Hit any Key to stop When sending a file with the fput command, ZCOMM samples the keyboard every so often to allow the operator to abort the transfer. The keyboard is not scanned continuously because the resulting overhead would impair the throughput available with the fput command. Incorrect The password entered is not the correct password. Insufficient DOS FILES=# Add a FILES=20 line to the active CONFIG.SYS file and reboot DOS to get a sufficient number of file handles to support the level of script nesting required for your application. Internal Stack Failure The number and/or size of DOS 3.2 internal stacks should be increased, or a better operating system should be substituted. ioctl(m n) returned N: reason A Unix ioctl operation returned an error. The first ioctl argument refers to the file descriptor; 0, 1 or 2 indicate a problem with the controlling terminal. Higher file descriptor numbers (typically 6 or 7) refer to the dial-out serial line. The second ioctl argument is the command, shown in hex. This corresponds to definitions in /usr/include/sys/ioctl.h and termio.h. %s Is Illegal Device Device is not one of the legal devices in the string parameter Disks. Is Restricted Path When ZCOMM is Restricted, only the Home directory and its subdirectories may be accessed. Key file read error An input error was detected while reading a key file used to decrypt SQueezed files. Label %s not found A goto label command was given, but label could not be found in the same file as the goto command. Loc 0 Corrupted An internal error (data stored into location 0 in the data segment) has been detected. If not caused by a hardware problem, (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 30 Error (and other) Messages Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 252 please report to Omen. Local Kermit Timed Out ZCOMM did not receive a Kermit packet from the remote within the timeout specified by the Kermit t parameter. Modem SR=%x While receiving a file with the XMODEM protocol, a framing, break, overrun, or other such error was detected by the UART. The UART's Line Status Register is displayed in octal. The possible error conditions, 02=Overrun, 04=Parity Error, 08=Framing Error, and 10=Break, may occur singly or or'ed together. A typical value is 63, signifying data ready, overrun, break, and transmitter holding register empty. Must set top with t command first When using the w subcommand from review, the top of the buffer segment to be written must be set with the t subcommand. NAK on sector In the XMODEM protocol, the receiver detected a transmission error and has requested retransmission. No ACK on EOT In the XMODEM protocol, and EOT is sent and acknowledged after the data blocks have been sent. This message indicates that the EOT has not been acknowledged after 10 attempts. No ACK on sector The XMODEM transmit protocol has retransmitted the sector 10 times without receiving an acknowledgement from the receiver. This is usually caused by a loss of connection, or by a software or hardware problem that does not allow all characters to pass without error. For example, if the modem cannot pass a character with the 8th bit set, the sector number cannot be sent. Kermit should be used under such conditions. No Carrier Detect The Carrier Detect signal from the modem (pin 8 of the RS232 connector) is OFF. This is often caused by a bad modem cable, improper modem strapping options, bad port number selection, or a defective or incorrectly configured serial interface. Setting d mode prevents ZCOMM from issuing this message. No such command The DOS Gateway handler was unable to load the proper command and/or command.com. Not allowed to overwrite %s When ZCOMM is restricted, existing files may not be overwritten. Nothing to read A read command was given and no file is open for reading. Null Pathname An attempt was made to reference a file with an empty file name. This error sometimes results from a software bug in Compuserve software attempting to download a file with a filename it can't handle correctly, so it just leaves the filename empty. (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 30 Error (and other) Messages Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 253 Obey Recursion = %d The main command parser has been called recursively with too many script levels and/or invocations of the obey command. Other end no longer in Kermit Other side timed out. The Kermit on the other computer has terminated the file transfer. Out of Memory ZCOMM has exhausted the memory available to it. Output Flow Control Restraint RELEASED The network or modem did not release flow control within the time limit set by the S numeric parameter. This message is usually caused by a spurious XOFF character generated by line noise. It may also be caused by missing CTS (Clear To Send) signal on the data port. OVERRUN: DATA May Be Lost Data has been received from the Remote faster than ZCOMM could process it. Some of it has been rerouted to the proverbial bit bucket. Pause (grab) Sending of data has been stopped by execution of the grab command. Pause (handshake) Pause (XOFF) Sending of data has been suspended by flow control. Pattern Flags Reset This message is a reminder that any "pattern found" flags are being reset. If this message appears after a phrase has been "found", but before the phrase is expected, or before the wait statement that should have "seen" the phrase, the script needs to be modified. Port %d (%X) defective The indicated communications port (8250 integrated circuit) failed a simple diagnostic test. Errors in the option board switch or strap settings may prevent the port from being accessible at the expected address. PRINTER SPOOLER BUSY The print spooler has been enabled with the l mode, and had not finished outputting from the circular buffer to the printer when you exited the term function. To print the rest of the data, return to the term function with F2. You may exit ZCOMM at this time, but the rest of the data you wanted to print will be lost. Receive:'%s' FILE OPEN The named file has been opened for protocol transfer. Received dup Sector The last sector was apparently received twice. In the XMODEM protocol, a retransmission is requested in case the sector number was garbled by an otherwise undetected error. The duplicate sector is accepted, discarded, and file transfer proceeds. Receiving in Batch Mode Files will be received using the error (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 30 Error (and other) Messages Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 254 correcting YMODEM Batch protocol. %s removed A file received in error is removed to allow another attempt at uploading it correctly. Restricted Command This command is not allowed when ZCOMM is Restricted to protect the system from inadvertent and/or willful tampering. Resynchronizing When ZCOMM is sending a file to another copy of ZCOMM using CRC-16, recovery from sync errors is possible. Scripts nested too deep Too many levels of call, gosub, and source commands are active. Sector number garbled An error has been detected in the sector number of the last received packet. A retransmission will be requested. If this error persists for all 9 retries, the transmission medium or the remote software may be messing with the 8th bit and/or characters with certain bit patterns. Modems and networks often "eat" control characters, especially XON and XOFF. Switching to ZMODEM or Kermit may solve the problem. Sender CANcelled The Remote has aborted file transfers by sending a sequence of CAN characters. Sending in Batch Mode One or more files are being sent in the YMODEM Batch Error correcting protocol. Serial Input Error: Line Status Register HH indicates a hardware problem, slow device driver, TSR program, or other software is disabling interrupts too long for the program to accept incoming data, and some characters are lost. A slow response to folow control also triggers this message. The value of the line status register is displayed in HEX. The following error conditions are OR'ed into the Line Status Register. 01 The Interrupt level circular buffer has been overrun. The remote did not respond to ZCOMM's XOFF or hardware flow control, and continued to send characters after being told not to. This problem is alleviated by correct modem flow control configuration. 02 An 02 value for the LSR indicates Data Overrun. "Data Overrun" means the computer was not able to respond to an incoming character from the UART (modem) in time to make room for the next incoming character. Data Overruns are caused by poorly designed (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 30 Error (and other) Messages Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 255 software (or ROM BIOS "firmware") locking out interrupts for excessive periods. These lockouts prevent the communications program from responding to the incoming characters quickly enough. To correct Data Overruns, you must correct the offending condition(s) to allow the communications program to operate properly. Common causes of excessively long interrupt lockouts ("critical code regions") are disk drivers (BIOS), window managers, disk caches, TSR programs, and EGA/VGA board auto-select. Slowing the CPU to allow games and other time dependent programs to be used can generate excessive interrupt latency. Some BIOS programs are written without regard to their effect on high speed communications. Better versions of the offending BIOS programs may be made available if enough users complain about poor performance. Interrupt latency caused by EGA/VGA board auto-select can be often corrected by disabling the board's Auto-Select. Poorly written disk caches and disk drivers cause interrupt latency that affects streaming protocols (ZMODEM) but not start- stop protocols such as XMODEM, YMODEM, JMODEM, Lynx, etc. The handshake slow command can be used to stop reception during disk transfers. Other chapters in this document give suggestions for working around excessive interrupt latency by using the NS16550AN UART chip. Please refer to the "Brain Damaged UARTS" subchapter. Please try all the suggestions mentioned here before contacting Omen Technology about data overruns. 08 Framing Error generally caused by line noise or an incorrect transmission speed ("baud rate") or format (number of bits). Also caused by some cheap internal modems. Most protocols require 8 bits no parity (-8n) for proper operation. This is set automatically by Omen Technology programs, but other programs may not be so smart. 10 Break Interrupt generally caused by line noise or an incorrect transmission speed ("baud rate") or format (number of bits). Also caused by some cheap internal modems. (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 30 Error (and other) Messages Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 256 18 Framing Error and Break Interrupt (see above) in combination. This error may also be caused by defective 8250 UART chips. Certain internal modem cards have slow 8250 chips that do not operate properly with computers faster than 4.77 mHz. Replacing the 8250 with a NS16550AN is recommended. Setab: %d %s The displayed string of length %d has been queued to be sent to the remote as a result of a put, or putw command, or an answerback request. Setab is also used in sending entstr in response to typing ENTER. *** STACK OVERFLOW *** Indicates ZCOMM has run out of memory for the program stack. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Reboot the system with Ctrl-Alt-Del. If you are using a large number of string variables, or if you have a large DOS enviornment, decreasing the size of ZCOMM's circular buffer with a DOS "set CBSIZE=" command may help. If this appears to be a ZCOMM software problem, please report it to Omen Technology Inc. String too long The string would have been longer than the storage space allocated for it. Sync Error: got %d In the XMODEM protocol, a sector was received whose sector number does not match the expected sector number modulo 256, or the last sector number received modulo 256. This usually happens when a transmission error causes the sender to receive a false ACK. Unless the o (OverThruster) or g option was used,[1] ZCOMM will request retransmission in case the invalid sector number was a result of a line hit. If the file is being sent with CRC-16 by another copy of ZCOMM, resynchronization will be attempted after ten retries. Term Function Recursion = %d The term function has been forced to call itself recursively by f or t commands. Use open or create commands instead. Timeout The Compuserve computer has not sent any data for a long time. When things get this slow, it is best to disconnect and ask Compurerve to credit you for wasted connect charges. Timeout on sector ACK In XMODEM protocol, ZCOMM times out waiting for an acknowledgement to a transmitted sector. __________ 1. These options prevent error recovery. (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 30 Error (and other) Messages Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 257 Too Few arguments The command needs more operands than were given it. Transaction ABORTED BY ERROR / successful The message indicates the ending status of the last file transfer or command download. If a file transfer ended in error, the last file may be truncated. Transfer Aborted: %ld Characters Received The Compuserve protocol has aborted file transfer due to an error. Transmit Data. When data has been sent, close it by typing ^Z When a remote caller has created a file with the t filename command, ZCOMM indicated readiness to receive data with this message. When the file has been transmitted to ZCOMM, a Ctrl-Z will close the file. Unknown Machine Type ZCOMM looks at the ROM BIOS location F000:FFFE to determine whether it is running on a PC, XT, PC-jr, or PC-AT. If the byte fetched in not a standard IBM value, ZCOMM complains and assumes the machine is equivalent to a PC or XT with respect to clock speed and i/o overlap. SEE ALSO: o numeric parameter Unterminated Quoted Token A string token was quoted with a leading " (doublequote) character, but no matching " (doublequote) could be found on the same line. Waiting for call %d ZCOMM is in host operation and is awaiting call N. If n is greater than 1, then n-1 calls have been received since ZCOMM was invoked. Warning: Old dport=%x ier=%x out2=%x mask=%x isr=%08lX When selecting a port, ZCOMM has discovered that the port's interrupt enable bit was already set. Some programs use modem interrupts for their operation but then fail to reset the interrupt enables when they exit. When another program overlays the old program's interrupt service routine, an interrupt from the modem will transfer control to the overwritten memory locations, with unpredicatable results. If the interrupt was set up by a memory resident program or device driver, this message may be ignored. This information might be useful in the event of difficulties caused by such programs. This message may be suppressed by defining the DOS environment variable HOTPORT. EXAMPLE: C>set HOTPORT=1 SEE ALSO: port, portx commands Wrong number of arguments The set command accepts 0 arguments (display current values) or two arguments, the parameter name and the new value for it. XON Timeout The Kermit protocol (with the x option set) has timed out waiting for an XON character. (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 30 Error (and other) Messages Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 258 ZMODEM Garbage count exceeded The reciever has detected a CRC or other error and signalled the sender, but the sender apparently has not received and responded to the retransmission request in a timely manner. Usually caused by transmission line noise corrupting the retransmission request as well as the file data, or by an excessive number of characters stored in the modems and networks. (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 30 Hints and Kinks Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 259 31. HINTS AND KINKS 31.1 Recursive Function Key Definitions When defining function keys for use within the term function, do not use the t or f commands. Instead use the create or open commands to prevent excessive recursion (term function chasing its tail). 31.2 Noisy Data Lines Users have reported line noise caused by some types of telephones attached to the same line used by the modem. When reporting line noise troubles to the phone company, remember you pay for the service call if the trouble is traced to your equipment. 31.3 UUUUUUU from 212 modems Sometimes a 212 modem will send UUUUUU ad nauseam because it has received (or thinks it received) a command to enter remote digital loopback. Disabling the modems' remote digital loopback feature (when possible) prevents this form of "lock-up". 31.4 Funny Business with the Phones File When trying out new ideas in the Phones file, make sure that ZCOMM is actually reading the file you think it is by inspecting the value of the phones string parameter with the "set" command. You might find that you were editing one file and ZCOMM was reading a different one. 31.5 Losing Keyboard Characters Generally, ZCOMM does not throw away keyboarded characters that are typed before ZCOMM prompts for them. However, many commands, especially wait, invoke the term function which sends any characters in the keyboard queue to the remote before returning to ZCOMM's command prompt. In general, any time you see the term function's real time status line, keyboarded characters will be acted upon immediately (usually by being sent to the the remote). 31.6 Browsing Through Messages The vast amount of information on bulletin boards requires some heroic measures on the part of a user desiring to keep current without spending all his time wading through the mass of mostly unintersting messages. ZCOMM addresses this problem with its script facility which can download messages from a number of bulletin boards on one or more systems with human intervention. The read command and "/" and "n" review subcommands can be used to (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 31 Hints and Kinks Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 260 skip from one article to the next by searching for the subject line of each message. Since the subject line of each message always appears at the top of the screen, you can keyboard the "n" key quite rapidly without waiting for the display to completely fill. If you overshoot a message or two, the "N" command can be used to back up. You'll be pleasantly surprised at how rapidly you can review message subjects this way. 31.7 Splitting Up Files Sometimes it becomes necessary to split up a large file into smaller files, or to extract small pieces from such a file. For example, Daisy Wheel printers sometimes jam the paper halfway through printing a file. Rather than reprint the entire file, use ZCOMM's open and seek commands to locate the beginning of the desired segment, then read it into the circular buffer with the read command. Then hit F2 for review, place the top line on the first line desired, and type "t". If the desired segment fits within the circular buffer, use the "b" subcommand followed by a "w" subcommand to write the segment to disk. If the segment is too large, use the "w" subcommand without a "b" subcommand to write the entire buffer beginning at the location of the "t" command. Then kill the buffer with the "k" subcommand, returning to ZCOMM's command prompt. Another read command can be given to get the next segment of the file into the buffer. At this point, you can enter review as before to store another segment. Alternatively, you can use the create command to open a receive capture file, then write the buffer contents to it with a w command. Then use kill to clear the buffer, and repeat this cycle until the end of the file is reached. 31.8 Refresher Courses After you've read the manual and used ZCOMM for a while, go back and skim the manual again. You will grok new concepts that were so obscure the first time you didn't know you missed them. 31.9 PC <--> Macintosh File Transfers I do transfers between IBM PC type machines to a Fat Mac and Mac Plus (one upgraded to the other) all the time. I discovered the Macintosh's RS-422 port does not have enough signals coming out of it to properly drive the IBM PC RS-232 serial port without an adapter. So, get two female DB-25 connectors. On the PC side, tie pins 4-5 together, and tie 6-8-20 together. This insures that the PC sees CTS, DSR and RLSD/DCD so your IBM comm program will see them. I prefer using the comm port on the Mac because you can go up to 56 kilobits/sec on it (I use ProYAM on the PC and Microphone on the Mac, (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 31 Hints and Kinks Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 261 which offers 38400 bit per second transfer capability with no errors). Between the two connectors, connect 7 to 7, 3 to 2, and 2 to 3. If you prefer to use the printer cable, connect 7 to 7, 2 to 2, and 3 to 3. Edited from a message by Stephen Satchell, Satchell Evaluations (used with permission) 31.10 Acoustic Coupler for Portables Having a portable computer with a direct-connect internal modem is really great - until you try to use it at a pay phone in the airport. The modular jack does not connect to public telephones. I found one device that overcomes this problem (and it needs to be advertized more). It is the acoustic adapter that 3M sells with their WhisperWriter portable terminals. Model 1490 acoustic coupler connects the 3M teleprinter to public phone lines through a telephone handset. It is recommended for applications where direct connection to phone lines is either not practical or not desirable. The device consists of a pair of rubber cups, a modular jack, and a battery powered audio amplifier set. You simply run a 3-foot modular line from it to your PC, and put the pay telephone's handset in it. Price is less than $80, it works with 300 and 1200 baud internal modems, and should work at 2400. In the Silcon Valley, the distributer is 3M Data Systems (408)866- 8811. This information comes via Usenet from Joe Smith at SU-SCORE. (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 31 Bugs Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 262 32. BUGS Repeating Subpatterns in String Searches In the pattern n string command, if string contains a repeating sequence such as foo in foofoobar, the search may be unsuccessful if part of the phrase is received immediately prior to the desired string (foofoofoobar). Line Printer Operation PC-DOS does not supply a function to poll the line printer status. Such a function is necessary for ZCOMM to buffer the printer without losing data. ZCOMM gets around this problem by using the IBM BIOS int 17h printer call, which does support a printer status check. This limits printer operation to those that are supported by the BIOS interrupt 17 call. Term Function Status Line When in the term function, a status line is displayed with certain information. Sustained high data rates (much higher than 1200 bps), will prevent this line from being updated in real time. DOS Keys The Ctrl-NumLock key should not be used on-line as data could be lost. The Shift-PrtSc key (screen print) may cause loss of data at high speeds. Ctrl-Break If this key is used in ZCOMM, DOS may, for some random reason, print ^C when ZCOMM exits. This isn't the worst bug in DOS by a long shot, but knowledge is power ... BREAK ON This DOS command causes ^C to be intercepted by DOS at various, sometimes awkward, times. BREAK ON must be used with extreme caution as interrupting most programs with ^C compromises the integrity of the file system. If a program is interrupted by ^C or Ctrl-Break, the file system should be immediately checked with CHKDSK. In some cases it may be necessary to reboot DOS with Ctrl- Alt-Del if DOS runs out of file descriptors. A synonym for BREAK ON might be NUKE FILESYSTEM ON. Someday MicroSoft may discover what to do with ^C (DEC figured it out about two decades ago). In the meantime, we recommend you not use it. When ZCOMM starts up, it stores the status of the BREAK ON flag, then clears it. On Exit, or when calling a DOS program, ZCOMM restores the BREAK ON flag to its previous state. ALT-2 From Term Function The 7 option should not be used as part of a r or s command given from the term function via the ALT-2 key. Chromablizzard If you get "daggers" or other noise on the CRT screen while ZCOMM is in operation, check the video display modes. Try changing them with the display command. A moderate amount of Chromablizzard may still appear under some conditions with unsophisticated color graphics boards. (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 32 Bugs Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 263 Decrypting SQueezed files When ZCOMM unsqueezes an encrypted SQueezed file, the contents of the key file are stored in the circular buffer. Any wanted information in the circular buffer should be saved to disk before encrypted SQueezed files are decrypted and unsqueezed. Timing Parameters The values associated with the a and t (when < 0) numeric parameters vary according to the processing speed of the computer. ZCOMM initializes these parameters to suitable defaults for the IBM PC, PC-jr, and PC-AT computers. Scripts that set these values will need to be adjusted when run on computer types other than the type the script was developed for. Transition to a different type of operating system (e.g., Xenix) also requires adjustment in these values. Zenith Computers Some Zenith computers may need a ROM update to work properly with interrupt driven programs such as ZCOMM. (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 32 Hardware Compatability Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 264 33. HARDWARE/SOFTWARE COMPATABILITY 33.1 Hardware Compatibility Notes IBM PS/2 Model 50Z Early samples of this machine have a design error on the motherboard that causes comms programs to lock up the machine. Replacing the motherboard with a correctly functioning unit from current production corrects the problem. The part number of the replacement PS2/50 Z motherboard is 35F5928. (Information provided by John M. Choma 73047,3566) In the U.S. IBM has stonewalled on this issue, but in December 1988 agreed to replace the defective motherboards under warranty. NEC Multispeed The NEC Multispeed computer locks up unless STACKS is set in CONFIG.SYS. In addition, one should disable floppy disk power save mode, and set popup program memory allocation to 0. For best results, use the latest NEC software patches to the NEC MSDOS, and/or use an IBM PC-DOS instead of the DOS supplied by NEC. EGA/VGA Multimode Boards Some multimode EGA and VGA boards include an "auto select" feature designed to configure the board to various display standards using software trickery. In the case of Paradise VGA and others, this feature causes excessive interrupt latency and loss of data at high speeds. Disabling the auto select on the display board corrects this problem. EGA Wonder The BIOS in the ATI EGA Wonder has been observed to increase interrupt latency to the dismay of 9600 bps operation on an 8 mHz no wait state AT clone. There has also been a report (unexplained) that an EGA board has induced line noise in one instance. Tecmar Graphics Master To use ZCOMM with this display board, give a mode mono command before running ZCOMM. Leading Edge MODEMS and I/O BOARDS Some Leading Edge modems and interface boards use 8250 UART devices that do not respond correctly when the software turns the transmitter interrupts on and off. High performance communications programs such as ZCOMM require properly functioning UART chips, such as the National Semiconductor 16450 or 16550A. 33.2 Brain Damaged UARTS Omen Technology has received reports of problems with buggy 8250 type UART integrated circuits in Leading Edge modem boards, serial port interfaces, and computers. The defective chip logic affects high performance software. Replacing the buggy chip with a newer chip (16450 or NS16550AN) corrects the problem. (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 33 Hardware Compatability Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 265 The UM82450 chip in the Zoom 2400HC also appears to cause problems. Zoom Telephonics advises that this problem is limited to their old model. The old model is inentifiable by an external volume control. The NS16550AN is a pin compatible plug in replacement for 8250 and 16450 serial chips. Omen Technology software enables the FIFO buffer in the NS16550AN to prevents loss of data from poorly written device drivers, TSR programs, etc. The NS16550AN has better electrical characteristics than the older UART chips. 386 and fast 286 machines should use the NS16550AN for best results. Omen Technology software has been written to allow time for the older UART chips to operate. However, there is a limit to how much the software can rearrange chip accesses without resorting to performance robbing wait loops. Some other software is not as forgiving of slow chips. Jameco Electronics at 415-592-8097 sells National NS16550AN chips mail order (credit card) in small quantities. N.B.: Current WD16C550 chips may not function properly at low speeds. Another source is Arrow Electronics at 800-932-7769 (516-467-1000). Be sure to ask for the NS16550AN. It's important to get the "AFN" or "AN" part, other versions won't do. We have received reports of problems with a Western Digital 16550 type chip. 33.3 Software Compatibility Some programs and device drivers affecting the operation of PC-DOS may interfere with ZCOMM, especially when ZCOMM is operating at high baud rates. Historically, loss and corruption of data have been caused by memory resident programs. Some of these programs increase interrupt latency preventing ZCOMM from reading a character from the UART holding register before the next character comes in on top of it. In other cases, programs do not properly restore the state of the machine when they exit from interrupts. If such a problem is suspected, run ZCOMM without any memory resident programs or special drivers to locate the source of the problem. Once the offending program is identified, a call to the program's vendor may obtain a corrected version. The design of memory resident programs is a little known black art. Subtle bugs, non reproducible interactions, and magic combinations are commonplace results of attempts to impose various aspects of multitasking on top of an operating system that was not properly designed to permit such extensions. Omen Technology Inc may be able to help identify these interactions if provided with the source code of the offending programs. (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 33 Software Compatibility Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 266 Some of the known troublemakers are mentioned below. TOPDOS TOPDOS, ver 2.00i by Frontrunner Development Corp., has caused ZCOMM and other programs to lock up. Disabling TOPDOS restores normal operation. DOS 3.2 DOS 3.2 introduces the concept of a fixed number of interrupt stacks. The default value chosen is not always sufficient, and DOS 3.2 sometimes prints the infamous Internal Stack Failure message and cheerfully halts the computer. Adding the line STACKS=20,128 to the CONFIG.SYS file should correct the problem. Lacking any useful documentation from Microsoft, you may wish to experiment with different values. Extended Memory RAMDISKS Extended Memory electronic disks (ramdisks) require the 80286 chip to switch in and out of protected mode during block transfers. A hardware reset pulse is used to switch back to the "real mode" required for DOS. This causes loss of modem data at high speeds. It may be possible to reduce excessive interrupt latency by reducing the length of protected mode block transfers to 128 or less. In one instance, replacing the ROM BIOS with a newer version increased the maximum transmission speed without losing characters to 9600 bps. This problem has not been observed with expanded memory (Intel/Lotus/AST/etc.) ramdisks. The new generation NS16550AN or 82510 serial interface circuits should be used instead of 8250's for best results at high speed. The NS16550AN allows extended memory operation at a communications speed of 115200 bps compared to 9600 bps for the 8250 and 16450. Disk Drivers Disk drivers, especially hard disk drivers for 80286 machines, lock out interrupts for varying periods of time. The actual interrupt latency depends on the speed of the computer and the particular BIOS code used. In one case, upgrading to a newer BIOS allowed operation at 38400 bps, compared to 4800 bps previously. Such an improvement is well worth the small ($25 typical) cost of a new set of ROM BIOS chips. DOS 3.x Each new version of PC-DOS adds new features and eats up more of the 8088's meager resources. DOS 3.2 increases interrupt latency enough to interfere with ZCOMM's operation at 19200 bps on an IBM PC. If this is a problem, switching to DOS 2.1 will reduce the interrupt latency. Replacing 8250 and 16450 serial interface chips with the new NS16550AN chip allows ZCOMM to operate smoothly at high speeds. PKARC 3.6 It has been reported that PK36 grabs some interrupts and doesn't restore them on exit in an attempt to prevent hacks of the (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 33 Software Compatibility Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 267 program. Since eliminating that newer version and cleaning up memory, high speed xfers even with 8250 UARTS work properly again. The problem with PK 3.6 appears to be most severe if a BBS operator has doorware, etc that accesses the PK programs from a shell of some sort. This info may be helpful to users who are having otherwise inexplicable file xfer problems. ProKey Some versions of ProKey disable interrupts for excessive periods of time, causing incoming modem characters to be lost. FANSI-Console Versions of this program before 1.07 did not maintain the pointer to the active display board in the IBM documented memory location. A DOS mode command may cause ZCOMM to reference the wrong display adapter address. This caused incorrect sync signals and possible damage to certain monitors. Current versions (2.X) increase interrupt latency enough that the serial line drops characters when the keyboard is touched. Seaware Batch Versions of this program has been known to cause loss of data. Spotlight/Lotus Metro This TSR program has been reported to cause ZCOMM to lock up. Pathname Modifiers Programs such as FILEPATH and GLOBALS allow files to be visible in more than one directory at a time. Such programs may interfere with security when ZCOMM is restricted, since that security is based on restricting access to directories. In general, sensitive files should not be made global when ZCOMM is made accessible to outside callers. ZCOMM may not recognize file names generated by such programs unless the program traps the DOS FINDFIRST calls as well as the file open calls. We have received various reports of strange behavior which have been traced to filesystem modifications caused by such programs, including damaged file systems. We recommend such programs be phased out as soon as possible, as they may not operate at all with future versions of DOS or distributed file systems. BRKBOX This program locks out interrupts up to 17 milliseconds while waiting for the vertical retrace. For a communications program, 17 milliseconds is a very long time, and data will be lost at speeds above 300 bps. CGCLOCK Programs such as CGCLOCK.COM use clock interrupts to update a time display on the screen. Some increase interrupt latency so much that ZCOMM cannot respond in time to accept characters from the (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 33 Software Compatibility Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 268 remote, even at 1200 baud. Concurrent PC-DOS ZCOMM runs under Version 4.1 of Digital Research Concurrent PC-DOS (CPCDOS). The - numeric parameter must be set to 0. The CPCDOS "addmem" command should be used to allocate extra memory if DOS Gateway are to be used. ANSI.SYS ZCOMM uses direct keyboard input from the ROM BIOS because the DOS keyboard input calls do not handle Ctrl-BREAK properly. As a side effect, keyboard keys redefined by ANSI.SYS have no effect on ZCOMM's operation. It is possible to program some of the keys to call ZCOMM with arguments. The following file, reassigns ALT-C, ALT-H, and ALT-V to execute the commands shown below. The $ character represents ESCAPE. $[0;46;"cd \tmp";13;"ZCOMM call -200 cbbs-r";13p $[0;35;"ZCOMM call host";13p $[0;47;"cd \tmp";13;"ZCOMM call cissig";13p ZCOMM uses the ROM BIOS CRT functions and direct output to the display, bypassing any processing provided by ANSI.SYS. Perhaps someday Microsoft will enhance ANSI.SYS to make it useful for programs like ZCOMM ... PRINT.COM Once the DOS PRINT program is memory resident, file downloads at high speeds (38kb on a PC) suffer from interference, even if a file is not currently being printed. With certain printers, the DOS PRINT command will preempt the running program for several seconds at a time. These "swapouts" can be confusing when you are accessing an interactive application. They may interfere with file transfers, especially if the remote program uses "tight" timing. If this happens, PRINT should be suspended during file transfers. Operation of the PRINT command does not appear to cause loss of data downloaded from timesharing services at 1200 bps, as long as the interruptions last less than ten seconds. Perhaps IBM or Microsoft will someday fix this bug in the DOS PRINT command. PRINT should not be invoked from ZCOMM for the first time as DOS memory allocation will become fragmented. If PRINT or some other spooler is outputting to a serial port using the BIOS INT 14h serial port driver, ZCOMM's "!~subprogram" command will redirect the printer output to the remote and thus should be avoided. SWITCHAR = - ZCOMM will work properly when the switch character is set to "-", allowing Unix style pathnames. The - numeric parameter must be set non zero to allow ZCOMM DOS Gateway to use / to delimit directories. It may be necessary to remove this line from CONFIG.SYS and reboot (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 33 Software Compatibility Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 269 DOS before using the IBM dump and restore commands. N.B.: DOS 3.0 does not support SWITCHAR in the config.sys file. C'est la vie. A short program, DASH, will set switchar to -. It prevents many oaths. For demanding applications requiring sophistication, power and support not provided by any user supported communications program, Omen Technology provides Professional-YAM Integrated Communications Tools. (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 33 Background Operation Version 17.61 TurboDial 2.33 Universal Line Printer Edition ZCOMM User Manual 270 34. BACKGROUND OPERATION ZCOMM and the help processor YHP run under TopView, DESQview, Carousel, and Windows, PC-DOS based multiprogramming systems that support virtual video memory access.[1] These operating environments allow multiple programs to run concurrently on the same computer. Vertical applications can use the high level menus to simplify the customer interface. The default "performance settings" allow nearly full speed file download and scripted data capture from dial-up services when other processes are not accessing the floppy disks. NOTE: Do not run multiple windows with programs accessing the same COMM port. If you wish to run more than one program accessing a specific serial port, close (terminate) the window running each program before opening a window for another program addressing that port.[2] It is not sufficient to merely suspend a comms program, it bust be terminated before another program can access that port without interference. Tell DESQview to use the SPECIFIC port number you are using, and not "Y" to the question: "Uses serial Ports (Y, N, 1, 2)" Older versions of DOS provide only 20 file slots which must be shared by all programs, running or suspended. This can cause unexpected, irreproducible problems with script processing. DOS's file system semantics can cause unexpected results when one program is writing to a file while another program is reading the file. Unlike Unix, data written by a program does not become visible until the file is closed. Program Information parameters: 256k is suggested for ZCOMM. If memory is scarce, ZCOMM can run in about 196k with no DOS Gateway allowed and the circular buffer made smaller with a "set CBSIZE=4000" command given to DOS before starting HK. ZCOMM* and YHP do not write directly to screen, do not access system keyboard buffer, run in the background, use their own colors (optional), accept keyboard typeahead, and the window may close on exit to DOS. ZCOMM cannot be __________ 1. BIOS interrupt 10h, ah=0FF and ah=0FE 2. Some programs, such as ProComm, lock two ports at the same time even when using only one port. Such programs will interfere with comms programs running in other windows. (C) 1990 Omen Tech Inc Chapter 34 Background Operation