Computerworld 1996 March/Computerworld_1996-03_cd.bin/idg_cd3/aplikace/komunika/odywin2/readme.txt

Text File | 1995-04-05 | 15.3 KB | 357 lines

***************************************************************
         Odyssey v2.00j for Windows - README.TXT
      Copyright 1995, Skyro Software and TRIUS, Inc.
  Exclusive Distribution in the US and Canada by TRIUS, Inc.
***************************************************************

Please note that Odyssey for Windows is a fully commercial
application program. It is NOT traditional shareware, freeware or
public domain software.

However, in order not to disappoint our customers who like to try
out software before purchase, we have prepared this EVALUATION
VERSION of Odyssey. The evaluation version is identical to the
retail version, except for the reminder dialogs, and particularly
because the evaluation version will EXPIRE AFTER 45 SEPARATE DAYS
of actual use.  Note that this is 45 days of USE, NOT 45 calendar
days!

The software will cease to work if the 45 day evaluation period
expires. Note that you will NOT get another 45 days by re-
installing the software.  So, if you intend to buy the retail
version please bear this deadline in mind - avoid a hiatus by
ordering BEFORE the end of your evaluation period!

The US retail version costs $79+$6 s/h, and can be ordered from:

   TRIUS, Inc., P.O. BOX 249, N. Andover, MA 01845-0249
Orders ONLY:1-800-468-7487,  Info:508-794-9377,  Fax:[phone]

Visa, MC, AmEx, checks drawn on US banks, and most POs accepted!

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Distribution
============

You may distribute UNMODIFIED copies of the Evaluation Version of
Windows Odyssey (hereinafter referred to as "Program") for others
to evaluate provided that:

  -   You do not charge any fees for such distribution, other than
      a fee of up to $5 US to recover material costs.

  -   ALL files are included in the distributed copies.

  -   You clearly explain, in any references made to this Program,
      that it is a 45-day evaluation copy.

  -   You do NOT combine the Program with any other software or
      hardware offers.

  -   You do not alter any of the files contained in the
      Evaluation copy distributed by TRIUS, Inc. including, but
      not limited to, this text file.

If the program is distributed in violation of any  of the above
conditions, TRIUS shall have the right to seek compensation of up
to $5 US per copy for all such copies distributed.

If you have any questions regarding the program, distribution,
etc., you may contact TRIUS, Inc. at:

    CompuServe .... 71333,103
    FIDO........... 1:324/413
    ORDERS ONLY ... 800-GO-TRIUS
    Info........... [phone], 8:00-5:00 ET
    Fax ........... [phone]
    BBS ........... [phone] (1200 - 14400,N,8,1) 24 hrs
    US Mail ....... TRIUS, Inc.
                    P.O. Box 249
                    N. Andover, MA  01845-0249


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Installation.  Do NOT install more than once!  See below!!!
===========================================================

In order to install the evaluation copy of Odyssey for Windows
Ver 2.00, follow these steps:

 1.  Make certain you are running MS Windows Ver 3.1 or 3.11

 2.  Place the Odyssey diskette in Drive A:

 3.  Select File, Run from the Windows Program Manager

 4.  When the Command Line dialog appears, type A:INSTALL and
     select OK.

 5.  Follow the on-screen instructions provided by the Installation
     program.


The trial version of the "Odyssey v2.00 for Windows" software is designed
to expire after 45 separate days of use (not 45 calendar days). As part of
the expiry routines, the software uses several techniques to ensure that a
user cannot get himself another 45 days simply by reinstalling the
software.

It turns out that some users have a particular technique for evaluating
software which causes them to fall foul of this "not installed before"
check. The scenario is this :-

   1. User downloads trial software from BBS, and installs it in a
      temporary directory for initial checking out.

   2. User works with the software from the temporary directory for
      a few days, and decides that he likes it. At this point he decides
      to delete the temporary copy already present, and install it again
      in a more permanent location.

   3. Software installs, but then refuses to run, on the grounds that it
      has already been previously installed on that machine, and hence the
      user is evidently attempting to get around the 45 day time limit.

We see no way to allow a user to install the trial software more than once
on a particular machine without at the same time defeating the 45 day
limit, so please do NOT do this! Ideally you should install the software
in a "permanent" directory right away - after all, that directory is no
harder to erase than a so called "temporary directory", if it turns out
that you don't want to keep the software around.

WinOdy (trial version) uses several kinds of checks to detect tampering,
however its response in each case is the same: your days left is set to
zero and the software thereafter goes on strike. If you have fallen foul
of this by the above means (or something similar) then help *is* possible.
A DOS utility called FIXDAYS is included with WinOdy which is capable of
resetting your "Days Remaining" back to 45 days, allowing you to continue
as if nothing had happened.

HOWEVER: for obvious reasons this utility will not work unless you enter a
special password, which you can only obtain from a Windows Odyssey support
number (eg. Brown Bag or Micropack in the UK, TRIUS in the US). If the
support personnel at any of these numbers is persuaded that you have
reasonable case for wishing to reset the day counter then they will (over
the phone) talk you through the running of this utility, including giving
you the necessary password (which only works once, by the way). You may
call any of these support numbers, depending on whom you bought your copy
from :-

    Micropack (UK)    : 01224-625022
    Brown Bag (UK)    : 01297-552020
    TRIUS (US/Canada) : [phone]

Please note that, because of the one-time nature of the password required,
support personnel *must* talk you through this on the phone; they cannot
send you the necessary information by FAX, email etc.


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 Information  Contents
======================

1. Getting the Sample Scripts to work.

2. Problems finding comm port in OS/2 Warp.

3. Late Software Changes.

=================================================================

1. GETTING THE SAMPLE SCRIPTS TO WORK
=====================================

Note that Odyssey is supplied with sample scripts for some
commercial hosts (eg. CompuServe, CIX). However, these scripts
won't work right away, because a logon script can't transmit your
ID and password to the host until it knows what your ID and
password are! To fix this problem you need to edit the file
PASSWORD.ODY (the internal Ody editor is great for this). For
example, to supply an ID/password for CompuServe you change the
line :-

    "CIS" = "your.id|" "your.password|"

The "|" characters at the end of each string tell Ody to transmit
a carriage return at that point. The PASSWORD.ODY file is read by
the script language "FetchStr()" command; see the online help for
documentation of that command. The "CIS" field on the left is a
key which the script uses to fetch the correct line - you should
check the FetchStr() call in any supplied script you intend to
use, to see what key it is using, so you then know which
PASSWORD.ODY line to fix.

=================================================================

2. PROBLEMS WITH OS/2 WARP
==========================

Your humble author has several times received a variant of the
following complaint:

  "Odyssey/INSTALL says it can't find the comm port when
  I run it under OS/2 WARP. Are you accessing the hardware
  directly or something?"

If you get this problem then it almost certainly means that you
have forgotten to configure the Windows serial ports properly
under OS/2. In particular, remember to go into WINDOWS control
panel and check that the addresses and IRQs of the serial ports
are filled in. The standard OS/2 setup apparently doesn't do this
automatically (as of this writing).

Finally, please bear in mind that Odyssey for Windows is sold as
(naturally), a Windows application. We make NO guarantees that
Odyssey will run correctly in other environments (OS/2, NT etc.).
So while we will certainly try to help with any problems,
ultimately you use Ody in these environments at your own risk.
Having said all that, as far as we know, Ody seems to run fine
under NT, OS/2 Warp and Win95, plus of course, it runs perfectly
under Windows 3.1, the intended environment.

===================================================================


3. LATE SOFTWARE CHANGES
========================

This section is for late changes to the software which may not have
made the manual in the version of Odyssey shipped to you. The
online help should always however be up to date.

  3.1  ZIP/ARC/LZH Viewer Added.

  3.2  Changes to VTxxx terminal emulation keyboard layouts.

  3.3  Alternate Config files.


3.1  Archive Viewing feature added (ZIP, ARC and LZH formats).
--------------------------------------------------------------
Windows Odyssey already had the ability to view a number of file
types by double-clicking on them in a Directory Viewer window. It
particularly supported text files, Windows HLP files, and
BMP,GIF,JPEG and FAX bitmap formats - all of this is documented in
the manual and online help. However, given that the purpose of this
feature was to allow you to view "housekeep" files you have just
downloaded, the omission of an ability to view popular archive
formats was hard for us to ignore, particularly since that will
most likely account for the majority of downloaded files.

All that is now fixed: if you download a ZIP, ARC or LZH file then
you can view its contents by double-clicking that file while in the
Directory Viewer. You can then double-click on files in the opened
Archive Viewer window to view *those* files; you can even view the
contents of ZIPs within ZIPs etc! Be *VERY* careful when double-
clicking on .EXE files stored in archives - many will expect other
files to be unpacked as well (I'm not entirely sure we should even
have left this feature in). You can also, of course unpack entire
archives into a directory of your choice (including encrypted ZIP
archives).

This feature came too late to make the manual, it is however fully
documented in the online help.


3.2  Changes to VTxxx terminal emulation keyboard layouts
---------------------------------------------------------
The Windows Odyssey manual mentions that since an IBM PC keyboard
does not have keys for PF1/PF2/PF3/PF4 that these must be generated
using Ctrl+F1, Ctrl+F2, etc, plus Ctrl+F5 as <Keypad-ENTER>. This
is no longer correct. Odyssey now maps the PFkeys onto the top row
of the numeric keypad, ie. PF1(Gold key)=NumLock, PF2=<keypad '/'>,
PF3=<keypad '*'> and PF4= <keypad '-'>. This places the PFkeys more
or less in the same position as they would be on a real VTxxx
terminal (the top row of keys on a VT100 keypad are also PFkeys).
VT100 <Keypad-ENTER> is now mapped to its natural equivalent - the
<Keypad-Enter> found on any AT enhanced keyboard.

The reason for this change is a) because the new layout is easier
(more like the genuine terminal), and b) because using Ctrl+Fx
clashes with some standard Windows keystrokes, particularly Ctrl+F4
which closes an MDI document window. The reason for the original
awkward layout was in order to remain compatable with XT style
keyboard layouts which had a less VTxxx like keypad - however this
conservatism is probably no longer justified, since few people are
likely to run Windows on machines with XT-style keyboards.

The new layout does however create one minor problem, which is that
a real VT100 terminal also has a '-' key on the numeric keypad,
which is sometimes used as a function key; yet it looks like we
can't generate that code because we have just mapped it to PF4. To
solve this problem Odyssey now maps ALT+<keypad '-'> as the VT100
<keypad '-'> key, which will generate either '-' or the appropriate
function key sequence, depending on the VT100 keypad mode set by
the host.

Note that we could never have used the obvious looking mapping of
PF1-->F1 etc, since a) this would block access to the online help
normally on the F1 key, b) it would not be consistant with extended
VTxxx emulations, which have the PFx keys *AND* programmable Fx
keys.

The new keyboard mapping described here applies to all the Odyssey
VTxxx emulations, ie. VT52, VT100 and VT320.

Finally, note that since we have mapped NUMLOCK to PF1, NUMLOCK
will no longer serve its normal PC function when the Odyssey
terminal window is active. Odyssey terminal emulations will always
act is if the NUMLOCK flag was permanently set.


3.3 Alternate Config files.
---------------------------
The DOS version of Odyssey had a feature whereby it was possible to
launch Odyssey from different subdirectories, each such
subdirectory containing a different ODYSSEY.CFG file. This allowed
users to have (eg) different configurations for talking to
different modems.

This feature did not seem to map all that well to the Windows
version of Odyssey, since the concept of "current directory" is not
made explicit by Program Manager, which is where most windows apps
are started from. Also, not many users have mentioned to us that
they liked this feature.

So, when developing the Windows version of Odyssey we originally
decided not to include any equivalent of this facility, however
early feedback has caused us to change our minds!

To force Odyssey to use an alternate config file, you need to add
an option "-S<filename>" to the Odyssey command line set in the
"File|Properties..." dialog in Windows "Program Manager". For
example :-

       c:\winody\winody.exe -sMYCONFIG.CFG

forces Odyssey to load and save its configuration data to
MYCONFIG.CFG instead of the standard ODYSSEY.CFG. It would be
possible for you to have several different Odyssey icons in your
WinOdy group, each of which launches Odyssey with a different
config file name. Note that this alternate name applies for the
entire Odyssey session - there is no command provided which allows
you to change config files in mid-session.

Note that there should be no space between the '-s' and the
filename. The filename can specify a complete path, or it can
consist of just the tail part, in which case the config file will
be stored in the Odyssey directory - in which case (of course) the
tail name should not conflict with the standard name of
ODYSSEY.CFG.

If you also specify a script on the Odyssey command line this may
come either before or after the config file option, eg :-

       c:\winody\winody.exe -sMYCONFIG.CFG myscript

       c:\winody\winody.exe myscript -sMYCONFIG.CFG

both do the same thing, ie. load setup information from
MYCONFIG.CFG, and then run the script 'myscript.scr'.