MacQueue dialer (or QDial for short) is a desk accesory that installs a small auto-dialing routine into the system RAM of the Macintosh computer. The dialing routine works in the background, dialing up to five numbers at a time, until one of them answers.
QDial requires a Hayes or Hayes compatible modem. I've used it successfully on Hayes, Prometheus, and U.S. Robotics modems. It will work on any Macintosh computer, even the 128K models.
Features of MacQueue Dialer
• QDial lets you dial up to five numbers sequentially. It will keep dialing until one of them answers.
• QDial works in the background, so your computer is not tied up in any way.
• QDial is free. You may use it and give it to your friends without charge. The latest version, full documentation, and the assembly language source code is available from MacQueue BBS (415) 661-7374. I will endeavor to provide support to all users through my BBS.
Bugs
QDial has one serious bug (that I know of). If you run a terminal program while QDial is running, or if you open QDial while within a terminal program, it may hang your Macintosh. So, do not to use any other terminal program at the same time as MacQueue.
Getting Started
Using the MacQueue Dialer is simple. But, first you must install it. Use Apple's Font/DA Mover to install QDial into the System files on the disks you plan to use it with.
I'd also recommend installing it into the System you use with your terminal program, so that you can conveniently cancel QDial before running your terminal program.
After you've installed QDial into your System file, follow these steps to run it for the first time.
1. Open the QDial desk accessory. (Once you've installed it, it should appear under the Apple menu.)
2. Next, enter the names and numbers of the BBS's you want to dial. You can use the TAB key to move from box to box. The boxes on the left are for the BBS names. Enter the appropriate dialing string in the right hand boxes. The first three letters of the dialing string should be ATD followed by P if your phone uses Pulse Dialing, or T if it uses Touch Tones. Check your modem manual if you're not sure. The characters ATDT or ATDP should be followed by the phone number of the BBS. The dialing string can be up to 40 characters long. If it's longer, QDial will shorten it to 40 characters.
4. Click in the check box under the words Dial? if you want QDial to dial the number. QDial will only dial those numbers whose Dial? box has been checked. If no boxes are checked, QDial will save your entries and exit without doing any dialing at all.
5. After you've entered all the names and numbers you want to dial, select the baud rate by clicking on the appropriate radio button.
6. Press the Dial button to begin dialing.
QDial will access the disk briefly as it saves the names and numbers you've entered. Each time you use QDial, it saves your settings for next time.
After QDial takes a second to initialize the modem it will begin dialing. Each time it dials, QDial blinks a small phone icon to the left of the Apple in your menu bar to let you know it's working.
QDial will dial each number in sequence until one of them answers. If your telephone rings during that time, QDial will stop dialing immediately. Since it dials so quickly, however, your phone will be effectively tied up during the time you use QDial.
While QDial is working you can use your Macintosh normally. It will continue dialing no matter what you do. It even continues dialing through some system crashes!
Most programs will not be affected in any way by QDial. Of course, you won't be able to use your modem or telephone while QDial is dialing. Nor will you be able to run any terminal programs. If you run a terminal program while QDial is dialing it may crash your Macintosh.
When a BBS answers QDial, the program will flash the telephone icon rapidly, and beep at you if you have the sound turned up. It's fairly insistent, but don't let it scare you. You can finish up what you're doing before responding to QDial. Like the dialing, the beeping and blinking should not affect your work (unless you're playing music, in which case you may get a very strange combination of sounds). If you're running under Switcher, QDial will blink, but won't make any sound.
When you're ready to turn off QDial's alarm, just reopen the desk accessory. The alarm will stop immediately. QDial will also display a message telling you which BBS you're on-line with. Press the Cancel button now, and run your terminal program. Log on as usual. QDial has done its job!
Modem Information
QDial is designed to work with Hayes or Hayes compatible modems. Most auto-dialing modems on the market today will work. When you first open the desk accessory it send the initialization string "ATE0Q0V0S0=0" to the modem. The AT is to get your modem's attention. E0 means don't echo commands, Q0 means send result codes, V0 tells the modem to use digits not words for the result codes, and S0=0 makes sure the modem doesn't answer the phone if it rings.
This initialization makes it much easier for QDial to communicate with the modem, but it may make it more difficult for you. To restore your old settings after QDial has messed them up, type ATZ<return> followed by an AT<return>, your modem should answer back with the familiar "OK." Don't do this before QDial has finished its dialing, though, or it will stop working!
If your modem doesn't respond as expected to the initialization, QDial will display a "Modem Not Responding" error and exit. Check to make sure your modem is on and connected correctly to the modem port. QDial does not talk to the Printer port, since Apple does not recommend using that port at speeds higher than 300 baud. If I get a lot of complaints about this, I'll release a version that uses the printer port.
QDial knows about the standard Hayes numeric result codes, and can also understand extended codes returned by U.S. Robotics Courier 2400 modems (in the ATX3-6 modes) and Prometheus ProModems. QDial will be confused by the ProModem's extended numeric codes, however (ATV2). For other modems, make sure you're in the most Hayes compatible state before using QDial.
These are the result codes that QDial understands:
Numeric Verbal Action
0 OK Next number
1 CONNECT Honk and blink like crazy
2 RING Suspend operation
3 NO CARRIER Dial next number
4 ERROR Dial next number
5 CONNECT 1200 Honk and blink
6 NO DIAL TONE Suspend operation
7 BUSY Dial next number
8 NO ANSWER Dial next number
9 unused Dial next number
10 CONNECT 2400 Honk and blink
11 RINGING No action
12 VOICE Next number
If QDial does not receive one of these result codes after 40 seconds, it will hang up and try the next number in sequence.
If you are using a modem that recognizes busy signals QDial will work especially quickly. QDial on a ProModem can dial up to eight times a minute. That's because it hangs up as soon as it hears a busy signal. You can set your Courier modem to do the same by running a terminal program and typing "ATX3<return>" before you run QDial. Or you can add the X3 command to one of the dialing strings within the QDial dialog box (e.g. ATX3DT 661-7374).
Unfortunately, Hayes modems do not recognize busy signals. They will wait 30 seconds before hanging up and returning the NO CARRIER result code. At that rate you'll only be able to dial twice a minute.
You can speed things up by opening a terminal program and typing "ATS7=15<return>". (Make sure to exit the terminal program before you run QDial.) You can also use this command from within QDial by adding the S7=15 to one of the dialing strings (e.g. ATS7=15DT 661-7374).
The ATS7 commands sets the length of time the modem waits for carrier. ATS7=15 tells it to wait 15 seconds. You can set it for an even shorter length of time, but experiment to make sure you're giving the telephone company enough time to reach the BBS you're dialing. You could even give different BBS's different amounts of time to respond by varying the S7 command within QDial's dialing strings. Consult your modem manual for more information.
Technical Background
QDial was written in assembly language using Apple's MDS Assembler and Linker. All the source files are available from MacQueue BBS. I will also post the source on CompuServe, Delhpi, and GEnie.
If you modify QDial, please leave my copyright notices intact. If you post modified versions of QDial, please indicate that you have modified it. I'd also appreciate it if you'd send me a copy, or upload it to MacQueue.
QDial is really two programs. The desk accessory gets the dialing information from the user and passes it to a small autodialing routine, installed into the system heap. If you want to find the dialing routine using a debugger, just trace down the VBL queue until you find a routine with 'QQQQ' in bytes 3-6.
The dialing routine runs as a VBL task. 60 times a second the Macintosh suspends processing for a few milliseconds while it waits for the electron gun in the monitor to move from the bottom of the screen to the top. During that period - called the Vertical BLank interval - short routines may take over the system briefly.
QDial uses that interval to dial the telephone and later to wait for the modem's response. By using the VBL interval, QDial can autodial without taking processor time away from any other running programs. In effect, QDial implements multi-tasking on the Macintosh.
This, incidentally, is why QDial can cause another program trying to use the modem port to crash. QDial tries to be well behaved. Before it uses the modem port it checks to see if anyone else is using it. If someone is, QDial will stop working. Unfortunately, if the other program still manages to use the modem port at the same time as QDial, the computer will hang. I'm still working on ways around this, but until then, remember not to use the modem port while QDial is running!
QDial uses private resources to store important information. All strings used within QDial are stored in STR# resources. Your dialing information and baud rate is stored in a resource of type QDIL. All of QDial's resources are named to make them easy to find using ResEdit.
Error Messages
If Qdial has a problem, it will return one of the following error messages before exiting.
Couldn't install VBL task
Something went wrong when QDial was trying to install its VBL routine. You'll probably have to reboot the computer to get it to work. If that doesn't help, there may be some incompatibility between the System hardware or software. Please drop me a line at one of the addresses listed in the Info box in QDial and let me know about the problem.
Can't load QDIL resource
The data QDial saved from your last use has been damaged or is missing. You'll have to reinstall QDial. If you continue to get this message, you have an incomplete copy of the QDial desk accessory.
Couldn't create qDial window
Insufficient memory to install the window, or the window resource is missing from the QDial program.
Couldn't read or write parameters
The resource manager won't let QDial save your BBS names and numbers. Probably caused by insufficient disk space.
Modem not responding
This is the only error message you're likely to see. Maybe your modem is turned off, or isn't connected to the modem port, or the cabling is wrong, or it's not a true Hayes Compatible. Try turning your modem off and on again. You modem must be capable of responding to the Hayes/AT command set.
Insufficient memory to run Qdial
There wasn't enough memory in the System heap to copy the QDial dialing routine. QDial only needs 1200 bytes, but some programs use so much memory in the System heap that there's no room for QDial. Try running QDial with a different combination of programs running. You may have to turn the computer off and on again to recover enough memory.
I hope QDial proves of use to you. Please let me know how you like it!
