Thank you for using COMt, the Telnet Modem for Windows! COMt is the perfect solution to underpowered Windows Telnet client programs. COMt allows you to use your favorite Windows communications program (i.e., Procomm Plus for Windows, Crosstalk for Windows, etc.) to communicate over TCP/IP.
COMt does this by installing itself ahead of the standard Windows COMM driver (comm.drv), and intercepts accesses to the COM ports of your choosing, routing them to TCP/IP. Requests to access other ports are passed on to the original COMM driver, allowing you to continue to use those devices.
COMt also emulates a Hayes-compatible modem, so your existing Windows communications programs will have no trouble interfacing to TCP/IP.
In addition, COMt can also be used to access network modems, assuming you have modems available via a TCP connection. See Using COMt with Network Modems for more details.
What's New in 2.0:
· Updated user-interface, making configuration easier.
· Support for Windows 3.x (Win16) applications under Windows NT.
· Support for incoming Telnet connections, allowing BBS and other software to accept calls over TCP/IP. This
feature is supported through the standard Hayes-compatible S0 register.
· Choice of loading COMt at boot time or dynamically.
System Requirements:
In order to use COMt, you need an IBM-PC compatible system with the following:
· Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.x, Windows 95, or Windows NT 3.x
· 286 processor or above
· 4 meg RAM
· 1 meg free disk space
· WINSOCK 1.1-compliant TCP/IP software
License and Warranty
COMt is copyright (C) 1994-5 by Performance Designs.
Installation of COMt on your computer system implies agreement with the terms and conditions below.
COMt is distributed as Shareware. It is not free, freeware, or in the public domain. Non-registered users are granted a limited license to use COMt on an evaluation basis for thirty days, for the purpose of determining whether COMt is suitable for their needs. Use of COMt, except for this limited purpose, requires registration. Use of non-registered copies of COMt by any person, business, corporation, governmental agency or other entity institution is strictly forbidden.
Registration grants to the user the rights and limitations set forth by the End-User Agreement. Please read the agreement carefully before registering.
No user may modify COMt in any way, including but not limited to decompiling, disassembling or otherwise reverse-engineering the program.
All users are granted a limited license to copy the SHAREWARE version of COMt only for the trial use of others subject to the above limitations, and also the following:
· COMt must be copied in unmodified form, complete with the file containing this license
information.
· The provided COMt documentation must be included with the copy. No fee, charge or other
compensation may be accepted or requested by any licensee.
Operators of electronic bulletin board systems may post the SHAREWARE version of COMt for downloading by their users only as long as the above conditions are met. Shareware catalog businesses are welcome to post COMt in their catalog listings.
End-User Agreement
SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR "COMT 2.0" OF PERFORMANCE DESIGNS.
PERFORMANCE DESIGNS ("LICENSOR") IS WILLING TO LICENSE THE PROVIDED SOFTWARE TO YOU ONLY IF YOU ACCEPT ALL OF THE TERMS IN THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT. PLEASE READ THE TERMS CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU REGISTER THIS SOFTWARE, BECAUSE BY REGISTERING THIS SOFTWARE YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS, LICENSOR WILL NOT LICENSE THIS SOFTWARE TO YOU, AND IN THAT CASE YOU SHOULD IMMEDIATELY CEASE USE OF THE SOFTWARE, DESTROYING ANY AND ALL COPIES YOU HAVE MADE OF THE SOFTWARE.
Ownership of the Software
The enclosed Licensor software program ("Software") and the accompanying written materials are owned by Licensor and are protected by United States copyright laws, by laws of other nations, and by international treaties.
Grant Of License
Licensor grants to you the right to use one copy of the Software on a single computer. You may load one copy into permanent memory of one computer and may use that copy, or the enclosed diskettes, only on that same computer.
Restrictions on Use and Transfer
You may not copy the Software, except that (1) you may make one copy of the Software for backup or archival purposes, (2) you may transfer the Software to a single hard disk provided you keep the original solely for backup or archival purposes. You may not copy the written materials.
You may permanently transfer the Software and any accompanying written materials (including the most recent update and all prior versions) if you retain no copies and the transferee agrees to be bound by the terms of this Agreement. Such a transfer terminates your license. You may not rent or lease the Software or otherwise transfer or assign the right to use the Software, except as stated in this paragraph.
You may not reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the Software.
Limited Warranty
Licensor warrants that the Software will perform substantially in accordance with the accompanying written materials for a period of 90 days from the date of your receipt of the Software. Any implied warranties on the Software are limited to 90 days. Some states do not allow limitations on duration of an implied warranty, so the above limitation may not apply to you.
LICENSOR DISCLAIMS ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, WITH RESPECT TO THE SOFTWARE AND THE ACCOMPANYING WRITTEN MATERIALS. This limited warranty gives you specific legal rights. You may have others, which vary from state to state.
LICENSOR'S ENTIRE LIABILITY AND YOUR EXCLUSIVE REMEDY SHALL BE, AT LICENSOR'S CHOICE, EITHER (A) RETURN OF THE PRICE PAID OR (B) REPLACEMENT OF THE SOFTWARE THAT DOES NOT MEET LICENSOR'S LIMITED WARRANTY AND WHICH IS RETURNED TO LICENSOR WITH A COPY OF YOUR RECEIPT. Any replacement Software will be warranted for the remainder of the original warranty period or 30 days, whichever is longer. These remedies are not available outside the United States of America.
This Limited Warranty is void if failure of the Software has resulted from modification, accident, abuse, or misapplication.
IN NO EVENT WILL LICENSOR BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS, OR OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE. Because some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above limitation may not apply to you.
This Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Massachusetts.
If you have any questions concerning this Agreement or wish to contact Licensor for any reason, please write:
Performance Designs
P.O. Box 1005
Concord, MA 01742
U.S. Government Restricted Rights. The Software and documentation are provided with Restricted Rights. Use, duplication, or disclosure by the Government is subject to restrictions set forth in subparagraph (c)(1) of The Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013 or subparagraphs (c)(1)(ii) and (2) of Commercial Computer Software - Restricted Rights at 48 CFR 52.227-19, as applicable. Supplier is Performance Designs, P.O. Box 1005, Concord, MA 01742.
Getting Technical Help
Technical support for COMt is available via email. You can reach us at one of the following email addresses:
CompuServe: 73017,1375
MCI Mail: 572-1706
GEnie: PERFORM.DES
Internet: comt@world.std.com
Before requesting help, please see the Frequently Asked Questions list. If your problem is not described there, feel free to submit your request via email and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Updates:
You can always find the latest release of COMt available either in the WINETA forum of CompuServe, or via anonymous-ftp from the following address:
COMt comes with an automated installation utility. To use this utility, simply copy the distribution files to a floppy or temporary directory, then double-click on the install.exe file from the Windows File Manager.
Once INSTALL starts, you will be given the opportunity to read the readme.txt file. Then you will be asked to choose a directory to install the COMt files. Enter a directory name or just press OK to keep the default of c:\comt. INSTALL will then copy the distribution files to the directory of your choosing.
Once all the files have been copied, you will be given the opportunity to allow INSTALL to create Program Manager icons. This is recommended. Once the icons are created, you will be presented with a dialog allowing you to decide whether or not you wish the COMMT.DRV boot-time driver to be installed. If you are installing from Windows NT you will not have this option. To decide which COMt configuration is best for you, see Using the COMMT.DRV Boot-Time Driver. Note that you can configure COMt to install or uninstall the driver at a later time.
This completes the installation. To begin using COMt, simply run the comt.exe program. If you opted to install the boot-time driver, you will need to restart Windows before the driver is available.
Configuring COMt:
You can configure COMt to provide Telnet connections on up to eight COM ports (COM1-8). To configure COMt, simply double-click the COMt icon from the Windows Program Manager. The COMt Main Window will appear, which allows you to individually enable or disable COM ports 1-8 for use as Telnet Ports. A port that has been enabled means that COMt will intercept accesses to that port and redirect them to TCP/IP. A port that has been disabled means that COMt will allow access to the underlying hardware port. You can also configure ports with an automatic init string and a host for auto-connection. See the COMt Main Window for more details.
Notes on selectiong COM ports. It is highly recommended that you enable all port numbers which you are not using. This gives you the maximum number of simultaneous Telnet connections possible. There does not need to be a physical port for a particular COM device in order to use it for Telnet connections. In fact, you should not enable ports which do have devices attached (i.e., a modem) as you will be unable to access that device while COMt is installed. If you have a serial mouse connected to a COM port, you will be unable to use that port number for COMt if you opt to use the boot-time driver.
Notes on COM5-8. As mentioned earlier, COMt is able to provide Telnet connections on the ports COM1 through COM8. Unfortunately, most programs only allow you to select COM1-COM4. Newer programs (such as Procomm Plus for Windows 2.x) will allow you to specify higher ports, allowing you a higher number of concurrent telnet sessions.
Notes on COM3-4. On some machines you may run into problems when redirecting COM3 and COM4. Certain terminal programs (Procomm Plus for Windows in particular) try to be intelligent about which ports can be accessed without causing hardware conflicts, and may either give unnecessary warnings or refuse to access the port altogether. To overcome this type of problem, add the following lines to the [386Enh] section of the system.ini file:
COM3Irq=11
COM3Base=3E8
COM4Irq=15
COM4Base=2E8
IMPORTANT: If any of the above lines already exists in the [386Enh] section of the system.ini file, especially if you have real hardware attached to COM3 and/or COM4, do not replace them with the above lines. Doing so may cause you to be unable to access the physical port. If after adding the above lines the problem is not rectified, you may find that it's necessary to adjust the numbers given above.
Using COMt
To use COMt, simply run the comt.exe program (not necessary if you are using the boot-time driver). Then simply instruct your communications program (such as Windows Terminal) to use one of the COM ports you enabled to access Telnet. Since COMt emulates a Hayes-compatible modem, configure your application to use one of the Hayes Smartmodem, OPTIMA, or ULTRA modems. For the communications parameters, set the connection to any baud rate, with 8 bits, No Parity, and 1 stop bit.
Phone Number
For a phone number, you can specify either the actual IP address of the host to which you wish to connect (i.e., 13.104.22.1) or the name of the host (i.e., world.std.com). Note that by using a hostname, some terminal programs may try to out-smart you by substituting the Touch-Tone equivalents for each letter in the hostname (Windows Terminal does this). In this case you will need to use the IP address rather than the hostname. If you find that this still results in an incorrect dialing (some programs will even strip out the periods in the IP address), you should change the IP address such that you remove all the periods and expand each number to three digits. For example, the address 13.104.22.1 would be changed to 013104022001. Also, if your hostname begins with "t" or "p", you may need to insert either a space or a comma in front of the name in order for it to work properly.
If you wish to connect to a port on the remote host other than the Telnet port (port number 23), simply add the port number in brackets after the IP address. For example, specifying a phone number of 123.456.222.111[25] will connect you to the SMTP server on that host.
Terminal Emulation
If you want your remote host to automatically recognize a particular terminal emulation, add a section to your modem initialization string which reads S1000="terminal", where terminal is the terminal type you are using. See the Hayes-Compatible Modem Emulation section for more details on S-registers.
Baud Rate
You can specify any baud rate for the Telnet port, but you should be aware that COMt will inform the remote Telnet server of the baud rate you chose. For this reason, you should choose either a very high baud rate (i.e., 38400 or 57600) for TCP connections through a network or the actual baud rate you are using for your SLIP or PPP connection.
Using the COMMT.DRV Boot-Time Driver
When run under Windows 3.x or Windows 95, COMt can be used in one of two ways. The first way is the "dynamically loaded" technique, whereby you have access to COMt's capabilities by running the comt.exe program. The second way the "boot-time driver" technique, whereby a device driver (commt.drv) is loaded at Windows startup, giving you access to COMt's capabilities at all times. Under Windows NT 3.x, you will only be able to use the former technique.
You will be asked at installation time whether or not you wish to load the boot-time driver. Please read this topic to determine which technique is best for you. Note that you can load or unload the boot-time driver at any time later on.
Dynamically Loaded COMt:
When using COMt with this technique, COMt has no affect on your system until you run the comt.exe program. So until you run this program, your comm applications will not be able to make use of your enabled COMt ports. While it is running you can make full use of those ports; when you shut it back down they will become unavailable. The advantages of this technique are as follows:
· There is zero overhead while comt.exe is not running.
· Your system.ini and Windows startup configuration is unaffected.
· It is compatible with a wider range of third-party comm.drv replacements.
· It is compatible with Windows NT.
The disadvantages of this technique are as follows:
· In order to use enabled COMt ports, you need to remember to run the comt.exe program.
· When comt.exe is running. the overhead on both enabled and disabled ports is higher than the
boot-time technique.
Boot-Time COMt:
When using COMt with this technique, COMt is loaded at Windows startup, and hence is always available. You only need to run the comt.exe program when you wish to reconfigure the ports or watch the current status of the ports. The advantages of this technique are as follows:
· You do not need to remember to run the comt.exe program in order to use enabled COMt
ports.
· The memory overhead is lower since you do not need to have comt.exe running.
· The overhead on enabled ports is lower than what the comt.exe program imposes.
The disadvantages of this technique are as follows:
· You may run into compatibility problems with certain third-party comm.drv replacements.
· There is always a small overhead on disabled ports.
· It is not compatible with Windows NT.
· Your system.ini and Windows startup configuration are altered to accommodate loading
commt.drv at Windows startup time.
Recommendations:
If you are running Windows NT then you do not have a choice in the matter, you need to use the Dynamically Loaded COMt. If you are using one of the other operating systems, then we recommend initially trying out COMt using the Dynamically Loaded technique. If you find that you are using COMt regularly you can opt to install the boot-time driver later using the appropriate File Menu option.
Registration
This program is shareware. It is not free software. If you obtained this copy either from a BBS or a friend, then you are using an UNREGISTERED copy. You may run the program for an evaluation period of one month. After this time if you wish to continue using the program you must register by filling out the Program Registration form and sending in the Registration Fee. This will help guarantee that the program is well supported and enhanced in the future. The shareware copy of COMt will present a registration reminder dialog on startup and on the first usage of a Telnet port.
How to Register:
The Program Registration process is automated, and can be done from within COMt. To begin the registration, select the Help|Register COMt menu option. This will bring up a Registration Form Dialog, where you enter your personal information (Name, Address, etc.) and payment information (Check, Credit Card, CompuServe). Once you have correctly entered data into this dialog and pressed the OK button, a file called orderfrm.txt will be created, and Windows Notepad will be launched with the contents of that file. You may either print out and send the file via surface mail, or you may email the form to the Technical Support email address.
Registration Fee:
The cost to register COMt is $19.95, with an additional $1.00 sales tax for Massachusetts residents. Performance Designs accepts VISA, MasterCard, check, money-order, and electronic payment on CompuServe. Please see Pricing for details on quantity discounts, upgrades, site licenses and source agreements.
Paying by Check:
If you are paying by check (U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank, please), you should print out the form and mail it with your payment to Performance Designs. Upon receipt of the Registration Form, we will send your Unlock Code via U.S. Mail, and will also send it via email if you specified an email address.
Paying on CompuServe:
If you wish to pay on CompuServe, you may do so by typing go swreg at any "!" prompt, and looking up COMt under the keyword "COMT". Simply fill out the registration request form online. Once you've submitted your request the payment will be forwarded to Performance Designs and your CompuServe account will be billed. Please note that this step is seperate from filling out the Registration Form Dialog from within COMt, and unless you submit payment in the SWREG area you will not be able to register COMt.
Paying by Credit Card:
If you wish to pay by MasterCard or VISA, you can either print out and mail the order form, or you can email the form to one of the Technical Support addresses. Note that the order form will have both an encrypted and unencrypted version of your credit card number. It is highly recommended that you delete the line which contains the unencrypted card number if you are sending the order form through electronic mail. Please do not change the information on the form in any other way as this may cause us to be unable to decrypt the card number.
Completing the Registration:
Once you have received your Unlock Code, select the Help|Register COMt menu option, and enter the Unlock Code into the Registration Dialog. Once you have entered the correct information, the initial registration reminder dialog will be disabled, and your copy of COMt is now officially registered.
Updates:
Registering the program grants you a license to all 2.x versions of COMt. Your Unlock Code is guaranteed to work for all versions before 3.0. Updates can be obtained via standard shareware distribution channels and you are free to install and use those updates on all computers for which you have a valid COMt 2.x license. Send email to the Technical Support address for more information.
Pricing
All prices are effective July 1, 1995 through December 31, 1995 and are subject to change without notice.
Unit Price:
A single-machine license for COMt is U.S. $19.95 plus 5% Massachusetts sales tax (for Massachusetts residents only).
Quantity Discounts:
The quantity discount schedule is as follows:
Quantity Disc Per Unit
1-9 none $19.95
10-19 15% $17.00
20-49 25% $15.00
50-99 35% $13.00
100-499 45% $11.00
>500 55% $ 9.00
Site Licenses
The price for a quantity-independent site license is U.S. $7,000. Contact Technical Support for more information on the specifics of site license agreements.
Source and Redistribution Agreements:
Limited Source and Redistribution Agreements are available. Contact Technical Support for pricing and specifics on these type of license agreements.
Upgrades:
The fee for upgrading a single-machine license from COMt 1.x to COMt 2.x is U.S. $9.95 plus 5% Massachusetts sale tax (for Massachusetts residents only). Upgrades in quantities are as follows:
Quantity Per Unit
1-9 $ 9.95
10-19 $ 7.50
20-49 $ 6.50
50-99 $ 5.50
100-499 $ 4.50
>500 $ 3.50
The fee for upgrading a COMt 1.x site license to 2.x is $2,500. Users who registered single-machine licenses for COMt 1.x (or in specific quantity) after June 1, 1995 may upgrade at no charge.
Registration Form Dialog
The Registration Form Dialog (available from the Help menu) allows you to create an order form which you can submit to register COMt. See Registration for complete details on how to register COMt.