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******* **** **** * * * * * * * * * **** *** ** *** ** * **** **** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *** * * **** **** * * * * * * Version 1.0 Copyright (C) 1988-90 by John P. Radigan A Shareware telecommunications tool for the Amiga personal computer. DEDICATION ---------------------- In memory of James E. Spessard ii DISCLAIMER ---------------------- No warranties are implied or expressed with regard to the fitness or merchantability of JR-Comm for any particular purpose. All risks and damages, incidental or otherwise, arising through the use or misuse of JR-Comm are entirely at the responsibility of the user. While considerable effort has been made to provide you with a reliable product, there is no guarantee that this program is 100% "bug-free". Any problems that do arise will be corrected when and if feasible. Maintenance releases will be made available in order to correct potentially hazardous malfunctions within the program. Fixes for benign problems, usually cosmetic in nature, will most likely be deferred until the next major release of JR-Comm. This disclaimer does not guarantee future versions of this product, only a prescribed method of dealing with possible errors, and their corrections, to this program. LICENSE ------------------- JR-Comm is a copyrighted product made available to you under the concept of Shareware. It has never been, and will never be, a Public Domain or otherwise "free" program, therefore, you must obtain a license in order to rightfully use it. So that you may be provided ample time to fully evaluate JR-Comm, you are granted a limited use license for a period of thirty days after initial usage. Registration is required for any continued use past this evaluation period. Commercial or governmental use is limited to one person during the evaluation period. Further use requires registration of every copy in use. Site licenses are available for eleven or more copies per order. They are distributed as one master disk to one contact person. This person is required to limit the number of active copies in circulation equal to or less than the quantity registered. User groups may use the site license discount rates for a one-time group registration for each major release of JR-Comm. The order must be addressed to the Treasurer of the user group and must also include a list of the firstname, lastname and addresses of each member who is registering JR-Comm. The list must be printed on user group letterhead. iii DISTRIBUTION ------------------------ Distribution is limited to the original shareware distribution archive file only. None of the member files may be omitted. Furthermore, no profit or other material gain may be realized for distributing JR-Comm with the sole exception of recovery for media and postage. Bundling JR-Comm, the distribution archive or any member files, with any commercial product is expressly prohibited prior to obtaining a "Commercial Distribution Agreement". Contact the support BBS for details if you wish to obtain this agreement. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ---------------------------- Michael Cox for his permission to include the SkyPix terminal protocol. Chuck Forsberg for his X/YMODEM and ZMODEM protocol specifications and for his public domain rz.c, sz.c & zm.c source files. Russ Ranshaw for his CompuServe B Plus protocol document. Paul Resch for his BPLUS.C source file, converted from the Pascal source BPLUS.PAS by Russ Ranshaw. Peter Boswell for his WXMODEM protocol document. Special thanks to: Earle Ake, Nathan Barbar, Jon Boulle, Dan Browning, Jim Burwell, John Campanella, Henry Colonna, Deb Christensen and the folks on GEnie, Glenn Edgar, Fintan Farrell, Doug Keller, John Kempf, John Norman, Tony Preston, Benjamin Reich, Bruce Schoenberger, Greg Smith, Chet Solace, Bob Suess, Alex Tsopeis, Mike West, Steve Winokur, Joe Wolfe, John Yeager and anyone else forgotten. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 OVERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.1 Display features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.2 File transfer protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.3 Phonebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.4 Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 SETUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.1 System requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.2 Default data files directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.3 JR-Comm data files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.4 File search logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.5 Limitations in 512k environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.6 Notes for 1Meg system users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.7 Starting JR-Comm for the first time . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.7.1 Creating the jrcomm.def file . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.7.2 Terminal parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.7.3 Serial parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.7.4 Modem parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.7.5 General parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.7.6 Saving your defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.8 Modem setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.8.1 Carrier detect signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.8.2 Data terminal ready signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.8.3 The initialization command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2.8.4 Modem response codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2.8.5 Dialer auto-baud feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2.8.6 Additional information for MNP modems . . . . . . . . . 11 2.9 Specific instructions for different modems . . . . . . . . . . 12 2.9.1 Supra Modem 2400 (external) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 2.9.2 MultiTech 224EH (external) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 2.9.3 USRobotics Courier HST (external) . . . . . . . . . . . 15 3 SYSTEM BASICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 3.1 The display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 3.2 Status line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 3.3 Connect timer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3.4 Time-of-day clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3.5 Terminal emulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3.5.1 TTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3.5.2 Amiga ANSI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3.5.3 IBM color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 3.5.4 IBM mono . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 3.5.5 VT100 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 3.5.6 SkyPix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 3.6 Review buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 3.7 Capture file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 3.8 Chat mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 3.9 File transfers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 3.10 Gadget types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 3.10.1 String gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 3.10.2 Option gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 3.10.3 Control gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 3.10.4 Intuition gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 v 3.11 Keyboard attention sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 4 SPECIAL REQUESTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 4.1 File requester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 4.1.1 Functional description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 4.1.2 File lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 4.1.3 SELECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 4.1.4 PARENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 4.1.5 UNSELECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 4.1.6 Filename . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 4.1.7 Pathname . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 4.1.8 OK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 4.1.9 CANCEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 4.2 Query requester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 5 MENUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 5.1 Project menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 5.2 Phonebook menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 5.3 Buffer menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 5.4 Transfers menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 5.5 Options menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 5.6 Misc menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 5.7 Modes menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 6 PHONEBOOK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 6.1 Phone Directory requester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 6.1.1 DELETE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 6.1.2 EDIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 6.1.3 DIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 6.1.4 UNSELECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 6.1.5 ADD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 6.1.6 SORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 6.1.7 LOAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 6.1.8 SAVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 6.1.9 Master password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 6.2 Phone entry editor requester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 6.2.1 Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 6.2.2 Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 6.2.3 Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 6.2.4 Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 6.2.5 Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 6.2.6 Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 6.2.7 Dial prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 6.2.8 Cents/min . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 6.2.9 Password type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 6.2.10 Reset timer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 6.2.11 Parameter requester gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 6.2.12 CANCEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 6.3 Dialer operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 6.3.1 Response codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 6.3.2 Dialer window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 6.4 Master password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 7 TRANSFER PARAMETERS REQUESTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 7.1 Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 7.1.1 Some notes on flow control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 7.2 ZMODEM send modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 7.2.1 Skip if absent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 7.2.2 Newer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 7.2.3 Newer/longer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 7.2.4 CRC different . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 vi 7.2.5 Append files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 7.2.6 Overwrite files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 7.2.7 Protect all files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 7.2.8 Don't care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 7.3 ZMODEM options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 7.3.1 Resume transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 7.3.2 Auto download . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 7.3.3 Auto d/l challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 7.3.4 Escape ctrl chars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 7.3.5 32 bit CRC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 7.3.6 Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 7.4 ASCII send options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 7.4.1 Expand blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 7.4.2 Prompt char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 7.4.3 Char delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 7.4.4 Line delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 7.5 Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 7.5.1 Binary mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 7.5.2 Save aborted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 7.5.3 Relaxed timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 7.5.4 Auto chop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 7.5.5 Overdrive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 7.5.6 X/Y pre-ack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 9 MODEM PARAMETERS REQUESTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 9.1 Modem commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 9.1.1 Init command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 9.1.2 Hangup command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 9.1.3 Dial prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 9.1.4 Dial postfix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 9.2 Alternate dial prefixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 9.3 Modem response codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 9.4 Intelligent dialer parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 9.4.1 Redial delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 9.4.2 # of retries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 9.4.3 Dial timeout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 9.4.4 Dial pacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 9.5 Miscellaneous options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 9.5.1 Ignore No Carrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 9.5.2 Ignore Carrier Detect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 9.5.3 Hangup on dialer exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 9.5.4 Drop DTR to hangup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 9.5.5 Flush with a BREAK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 9.5.6 Dialer auto-baud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 10 TERMINAL PARAMETERS REQUESTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 10.1 CR xlate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 10.2 LF xlate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 10.3 EOL out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 10.4 Screen type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 10.5 Capture filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 10.5.1 ANSI codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 10.5.2 CTRL chars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 10.5.3 Backspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 10.6 Emulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 10.7 Text size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 10.8 Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 10.8.1 Strip high bit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 10.8.2 Custom palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 10.8.3 Destructive BS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 vii 10.8.4 Swap DEL & BS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 10.8.5 Smooth scroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 10.8.6 Chat line on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 10.8.7 Wrap lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 10.8.8 IBM Doorway mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 10.8.9 Cursor blink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 10.8.10 Optimized scroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 10.9 Answerback message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 10.10 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 10.11 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 10.12 Cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 10.13 Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 11 FUNCTION KEY MACROS REQUESTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 11.1 Macro escape codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 12 PALETTE REQUESTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 12.1 Red Green and Blue proportional gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . 57 12.2 Color selection gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 12.3 RESET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 12.4 UNDO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 12.5 Palette usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 12.5.1 Default palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 12.5.2 Phonebook entry palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 13 GENERAL PARAMETERS REQUESTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 13.1 Status line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 13.1.1 Status line active . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 13.1.2 Time of day clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 13.1.3 Connect timer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 13.1.4 24 hour mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 13.1.5 Audible beep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 13.2 Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 13.2.1 CTS/RTS handshake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 13.2.2 Immediate exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 13.2.3 Logfile active . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 13.2.4 Split review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 13.2.5 File saver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 13.2.6 Disk check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 13.3 GMT offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 13.4 Task priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 13.5 Chat history size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 13.6 Review buffer size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 13.7 Transfer buffer size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 13.8 Filenames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 13.9 Font name & size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 13.10 Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 13.11 Keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 13.12 Serial device & unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 14 MISC MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 14.1 Timer reset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 14.2 Send break . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 14.3 Hangup modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 14.4 Clear screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 14.5 Print screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 14.6 Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 15 MODES MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 15.1 Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 15.2 Chat line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 viii 15.3 HEX output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 15.4 IBM Doorway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 15.5 Screen title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 16 INFORMATIONAL MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 16.1 Directory not found . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 16.2 User font not found . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 16.3 Can't load file, wrong version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 16.4 Can't open log file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 16.5 File already exists, resume d/l? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 16.6 File already exists, overwrite? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 16.7 Really quit JR-Comm? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 16.8 Unable to open printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 16.9 Review buffer is empty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 16.10 Print registration form? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 17 WARNING MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 17.1 Directory read error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 17.2 Could not open screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 17.3 Could not open window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 17.4 Capture file currently open! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 17.5 Couldn't open capture file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 17.6 CTS disabled, no CTS present . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 17.7 CTS disabled, no DSR present . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 17.8 CTS disabled, shared mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 17.9 Session will expire in 5 mins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 18 FATAL ABORT MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 19 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 20 SUPPORT INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 20.1 JR-Comm Support BBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 20.2 GEnie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 20.3 CompuServe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 20.4 People Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 20.5 BIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 20.6 USENET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 20.7 If you have problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 ix JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 1 OVERVIEW 1.1 Display features - JR-Comm automatically adjusts itself to either NTSC or PAL displays. Interlace and overscan is supported as well. - Terminal emulations for TTY (dumb terminal) Amiga ANSI, IBM ANSI (color and monographic modes), VT100 and SkyPix. - An optional status line with hidden gadgets for easy adjustment of file transfer protocol, duplex, XON/XOFF flow control, data length, parity, stop bits, baud rate and resetting of the connect timer. - 40 user definable function key macros per macro file. Each macro can contain a maximum of 160 characters. Several macro primitives are available, like chaining to another macro or loading phonebook and macro files. - A special DOORWAY keyboard mode for IBM scan codes. Allows 100% compatibility with MS-DOS programs via the popular remote DOS program, DoorWay, which is used by most MS-DOS based BBS installations. - Split screen review buffer option that allows simultaneous terminal I/O while viewing the contents of the review buffer. - Chat mode provides line editing and history features. Natural control codes are immediately sent whereas escaped control codes are inserted in the chat line buffer. - Optimized scrolling option for boosting throughput of multiple bit-plane displays. - Smooth-scroll option available. - User definable font available. - User definable keymap available. - Full dead and double-dead key support. 1.2 File transfer protocols - CIS B+, XMODEM, XMODEM-1k, WXMODEM, YMODEM, YMODEM-1k, YMODEM-g, ZMODEM and ASCII file transfer protocols are present. All implementations adhere strictly to their respective specifications. JR-Comm provides file transfer throughput that exceeds most every telecommunications product that is currently available for the Amiga computer. - 1 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition - JR-Comm has the most complete ZMODEM implementation of any currently available Amiga telecommunications product. Auto- downloads and a full set of upload send options are a few of the available functions for this protocol. - All file I/O is handled asynchronously to provide floppy disk users with throughput figures that are simply unobtainable with lesser telecommunications products. - Upload overdrive option for ZMODEM and YMODEM-g protocols that provide the absolute maximum in throughput speed for users with high-speed modems. - X/YMODEM pre-ack option to boost performance of these protocols at the expense of error correction. - Intelligent auto-chop for XMODEM, XMODEM-1k and WXMODEM protocols. - ASCII send has options for character and line delays as well as prompt mode for line oriented editors. Blank line expansion is also available. 1.3 Phonebook - Each phonebook file can contain up to 9999 entries. Each entry is capable of completely re-configuring JR-Comm. - Ability to generate a unique password for each directory entry based upon a master password for each phonebook file. - Sort options available for name, phone number or user selected ordering. - An intelligent dialer that monitors the result of each attempt and is capable of multiple entry dialing in the order of selection. - Automatic baud rate detection option for Hayes compatible modems that return extended result codes. 1.4 Miscellaneous - A powerful FILE requester that maintains several lists of files, devices and directories rather than hardcoded selections that may not exist on your system, or even worse, may not include devices/volumes unique to your environment. - A batch selection facility unique among other Amiga telecommunications products which enables you to select - 2 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition files from any number of directories and devices in a simple manner. - User adjustable task priority, chat history, review and transfer buffer sizes. - User definable serial device for third party multi-port boards. - Optional file saver to prevent complete loss of file if a system crash occurs during a download. - Free space check during downloads for those users with limited disk space. - Special keyboard sequence which releases the serial.device in the event of a lock-up when an XOFF character is received while XON/XOFF handshake is active. - 3 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 2 SETUP 2.1 System requirements Version 1.2 Workbench or later is required. Although JR-Comm can be run in a 512k system, 1Meg is highly recommended to take advantage of several features JR-Comm incorporates. The recently released 1.3.2 update to the Amiga Workbench disk contains a new version of the "serial.device" device driver. It will provide you with somewhat better performance although the original driver works just fine. A Hayes compatible modem is recommended if you plan to utilize all of the advanced capabilities within JR-Comm. The intelligent dialer requires a modem that is capable of detecting busy signals reliably. Otherwise, you will have to disable some of the dialer's functionality. The connect timer requires a functional Carrier Detect (DCD) signal or it will have to be disabled as well. Your modem also must be able to return extended result codes, such as "CONNECT 2400", in order to use the auto-baud feature of the dialer. Finally, your modem must have the ability to sense the Data Terminal Ready (DTR) signal so that JR-Comm can hangup the modem very quickly. JR-Comm was written with high-speed modems in mind. Tests have been conducted locally during development with a 14.4kbps US Robotics HST and with a MultiTech 224EH MNP 2400bps modem. Please see the section below on modems for more information. The discussion that follows assumes a certain level of familiarity with the AmigaDOS CLI. "The AmigaDOS Manual", 2nd. edition, from Bantam Computer Books is a valuable book to have and is highly recommended. 2.2 Default data files directory JR-Comm uses a single directory path for saving and loading all of its data files during operation. When you first start the program, it will look for the assigned directory or floppy disk volume name "JRCOMM:". If this assignment/volume name exists, it will be copied to the "JR-Comm data files" directory string gadget in the GENERAL PARAMETERS requester. However, JR-Comm will fall back to the logical assignment "S:" if "JRCOMM:" is not found. NOTE: Although JR-Comm will set the default data files directory to one of these two assignments/volume names when it is first started, it may be changed to a new - 4 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition directory after loading a defaults file if the pathname it contains is different. 2.3 JR-Comm data files There are four data files that JR-Comm creates and maintains for its own use. Their postfixes are: .def The default parameters file. JR-Comm will search for a file named "jrcomm.def" when it is first loaded. Refer to section 2.4 on file search logic for more details on finding and loading this file. .phones Phonebook file. Contains a list of phonebook entries which are used by the intelligent dialer. An attempt to load the filename defined in the "jrcomm.def" file will be made when JR-Comm is first started. .macros Function key macros file. Holds up to 40 separate 160 character macros. JR-Comm will attempt to load the macros file defined in the "jrcomm.def" file when it is first started. .log This is an optional file. It will be created only if the "Logfile active" option is selected in the GENERAL PARAMETERS requester. JR-Comm writes status entries to this file only when this feature is active. 2.4 File search logic After JR-Comm has determined the initial data files directory, it will attempt to load its initial default parameters file which is hardcoded with the filename "jrcomm.def". This is the ONLY defaults filename that JR-Comm will look for when it is first started. You cannot change this. The current directory that JR-Comm was started from will be searched first for the "jrcomm.def" file. JR-Comm will then attempt to find the file in the data files directory that was assigned in section 2.2. JR-Comm will use a internal set of default parameters if the "jrcomm.def" is not located in either directory. The next two files loaded will be the default phonebook and macros files. These two files are initially set to "jrcomm.xxx", where ".xxx" is ".phones" for the phonebook file and ".macros" for the macros file. But, and this is important, the directory used for these two files will depend on the pathname that was - 5 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition saved in the "jrcomm.def" default parameters file when it is loaded. Allowing you to change the data files directory in this manner gives you the ability to create multiple "jrcomm.def" files for special purpose environments as needed and yet have a "global" defaults file located in either the "S:" or "JRCOMM:" directory that is loaded when a "jrcomm.def" file is not found in the current directory. All this flexibility is primarily of value to a hard disk based Amiga system. Floppy disk users will find it easier to just make multiple copies of their JRCOMM: master disk and configure each for the different environments needed. 2.5 Limitations in 512k environments You must use a 2 color screen with this set-up. This leaves you with about 100k of free memory once JR-Comm is loaded. This extra bit of free memory gives you enough room to open the various requesters used in the program. A worst case example would be the TERMINAL PARAMETERS requester being open when editing a phonebook entry. This situation has three requesters open simultaneously which uses about 40k of additional memory. If you decide to use a different depth screen you will find that some, if not all, of JR-Comm's requesters cannot be opened due to a lack of free memory. If you encounter this situation, exit JR-Comm via the <RAMIGA>Q sequence and delete your jrcomm.def file to reset JR-Comm to its internal defaults. You may also have to remove any additional floppy drives past DF1: as each drive requires 26k of chip ram for disk buffers. The same goes for the AmigaDOS "AddBuffers" command, you may find that you will have to trim down the number of buffers assigned to each floppy with this command, if not having to eliminate this command from your "Startup- Sequence" batch file entirely. Users running a PAL display will have somewhat less memory due to the additional scan lines a PAL display has. 2.6 Notes for 1Meg system users Although an Amiga outfitted with 1 megabyte of ram enables you to run JR-Comm with a 16 color display, you will find that the program operates very slowly.This is due to not having any true fast ram. Although the AmigaDOS "Avail" command may report that 512k of your memory is recognized as - 6 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition fast ram, it is in reality "pseudo-fast" ram. Because this ram is synchronized to the chip ram buss it subjects the cpu to the same lock-out conditions that occur with an Amiga that contains only chip ram. Depending on how you use JR-Comm, you may find that dropping down to an 8 color display will give you enough extra processing power to achieve your telecommunications goals. 2.7 Starting JR-Comm for the first time JR-Comm will use its internal defaults the first time you start it. You can save any changes you make so that JR-Comm will configure itself to these settings every time it is used afterwards by writing the defaults to the file "jrcomm.def". The internal defaults are aimed at giving the new user the most common configuration to "plug-n-play" with a minimum of hand holding, but you may want to browse over the various options that JR-Comm has to offer (it is *very* configurable!) after having used it a few times so that you can personalize the way it operates. 2.7.1 Creating the jrcomm.def file After the title screen has closed, JR-Comm will enter its terminal mode. The flashing cursor notifies you that it is ready for you to set the default parameters and write them to the initial defaults file "jrcomm.def". Every time you restart JR-Comm it will load this file and reconfigure itself to the settings that were in effect when it was saved. 2.7.2 Terminal parameters Users with only 512k of memory should immediately open the TERMINAL PARAMETERS requester via the OPTIONS menu to set a two color screen prior to doing anything else. Otherwise you will eventually not be able to open any of the other requesters in JR-Comm. See section 10, TERMINAL PARAMETERS for additional information of the options available in this requester. 2.7.3 Serial parameters Open the SERIAL PORT PARAMETERS requester by selecting the SERIAL menu item in the options menu. Set the appropriate - 7 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition parameters for your set-up. The defaults provided are usually sufficient. 2.7.4 Modem parameters The MODEM PARAMETERS requester is accessed via the MODEM menu item of the OPTIONS menu.. It provides you with many options that enable you to tailor JR-Comm to the modem you are using. See sections 2.8 and 9 on modem installation and on the MODEM PARAMETERS requester for additional information. 2.7.5 General parameters The GENERAL PARAMETERS requester (opened by selecting the GENERAL menu item of the OPTIONS menu) contains options that are global to the operation of JR-Comm. Notice the string gadget labeled "JR-Comm files". It should contain either JRCOMM: or S: if you have started JR-Comm for the first time. If you wish to use the current directory exclusively for all JR-Comm files, then you must delete the contents of this string gadget. Refer to section 2.4 for information on the use of this particular pathname. If you are using a third party multi-port serial board or an alternate serial device driver, please enter the proper information in the lower right string gadgets. You will have to save the initial defaults to the "jrcomm.def" file if you wish to use this alternative device for all future use. If you are using an MNP or other high-speed modem that requires a fixed baud rate you will have to set the CTS/RTS handshake option. Please see section 2.8.6 prior to activating this handshake mode or you may find that JR-Comm can no longer communicate with your modem. European users may want to set the keymap and font file to something that will suit the systems they intend to call. Please read section 13.11 for details on how to use the keymap feature. 2.7.6 Saving your defaults At this point you can save your settings by selecting the WRITE DEFAULTS menu item in the PROJECT menu. A FILE requester will open and the filename shown should be "jrcomm.def". Select the "OK" button or press <RETURN> to write the defaults. - 8 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 2.8 Modem setup Hayes compatible modems are preferred for use with JR-Comm. Fortunately, almost every modem made today is Hayes compatible. The specific features the modem should have are discussed below. 2.8.1 Carrier detect signal The modem should have a functioning carrier detect (DCD) signal on pin 8 of the serial port. The DCD signal goes true once your modem has established a connection with the remote modem that you have called. This signal needs to be functional if you intend to use the connect timer in the status line. It is also used by the dialer for early detection of a connection. It is not required to have this signal be functional, but it is recommended. Most Hayes compatible modem manufacturers default the modem to permanently set this signal true. You will be able to determine if DCD is active if the connect timer starts to increment immediately after starting JR-Comm. If so, please refer to the users manual for your modem in order to set the modem so that it allows the DCD signal to work properly. If you cannot get the DCD signal to function correctly, you must activate the gadget button labeled "Ignore carrier detect" in the MODEM PARAMETERS requester. You should also turn off the connect timer in the GENERAL PARAMETERS requester. 2.8.2 Data terminal ready signal This signal (DTR) on pin 20 of the serial port tells the modem when the data terminal, (JR-Comm) is ready. JR-Comm also uses this signal, if the modem recognizes it, to force the modem to hang up or go on hook. As with the DCD signal, many manufacturers will assert this signal permanently true. Check the modem's users manual for the proper command which will cause the modem to go "on hook" (hangup) and also return to its command state whenever the DTR signal is dropped and then raised again. If the modem is able to do this you can activate the button gadget in the MODEM PARAMETERS requester that is labeled "Drop DTR to hang up" so that JR-Comm can use it to hangup the modem. - 9 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 2.8.3 The initialization command The MODEM PARAMETERS requester has a string gadget that is initially set to the following Hayes compatible modem command when you run JR-Comm for the first time. "ATZ^M~~~ATE1 Q0 V1 X4^M" This command is probably fine for most Hayes compatible modems. But, you may have to modify it to your needs for your particular modem. The '~' character inserts a one half second delay. It is not sent to the modem. To send a control character, like a carriage return, precede the desired control character with the '^' character. A "^M" will send the same character as if you had pressed the <RETURN> key on the keyboard of your Amiga. To send the '^' character itself requires two of them in the string gadget. Although these two special characters are also used by the function key macros in the same manner, the additional escape sequences for the macros are not available to any of the commands in the MODEM PARAMETERS requester, so do not use them. 2.8.4 Modem response codes The set of response codes available in the MODEM PARAMETERS requester should not need to be changed unless your modem is not fully Hayes compatible. Notice that the labels for each of the response codes matches the default setting exactly, if you do need to change them, use the associated response code for your modem that is returned for each action listed in this group. Leaving or setting a response code blank will result in JR-Comm disabling that particular function in the intelligent dialer. See section 6.3 for details of its operation. 2.8.5 Dialer auto-baud feature The dialer has the ability to automatically adjust JR-Comm's baud rate to that of the connection. To do this properly you modem must be able to send extended CONNECT responses that have a numeric value equivalent to the baud rate at which the connection was established. The default response of CONNECT without a value attached to it will result in JR- Comm setting the baud rate to 300. The X4 command should activate the extended response mode. If your modem sends a CONNECT string without a numeric value and it is not set to 300 baud, you will not be able to use this feature. In this case you will have to determine - 10 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition the proper baud rate for the system you're calling before hand and set the SERIAL PARAMETERS for the associated phonebook entry to the correct baud rate for all future calls. NOTE: You may want to fire off a "nasty-gram" to the manufacturer for deviating from the Hayes established standard for extended CONNECT responses too. 2.8.6 Additional information for MNP modems MNP stands for Microcom Networking Protocol. It is a hardware based method of error correction built into the modem itself. There are several levels of MNP with 3, 4 and 5 being the most commonly used modes. Levels 3 and 4 provide error correction, with level 4 being more efficient of the two. A level 4 MNP connection can give you as much as an 19% gain in throughput under optimal (noise free) conditions. Level 5 adds adaptive data compression "on the fly". It is of little value (and can degrade performance) if you plan on doing a majority of file transfers with already compressed files (.ARC, .ZOO, .ZIP and .LZH files). But, it can boost text based transmissions by incredible amounts depending on the profile of text being sent. In order to use an MNP modem properly, and to maximize the throughput it is capable of delivering, you need to set JR-Comm and the modem to a fixed baud rate that is usually 2 or 4 times greater than the connection rate between the local and remote modem. Since JR-Comm is now capable of sending data at a baud rate higher than that at which the two modems are connected, it requires some sort of handshaking so that no data losses occur. The kind of handshaking most often used in this type of situation is hardware or CTS/RTS handshaking. CTS refers to the Clear To Send signal while RTS is for the Ready To Send signal. This pair of signals is used by the modem and the computer to stop and start the flow of data between them. If you plan to download to a floppy disk and are going to use ZMODEM, you must have XON/XOFF handshake active in order for the serial device to stop the flow of data while writing to disk. Otherwise, you run the risk of buffer overrun errors. Although the transfer won't be corrupted or lose data due to error correction, it will increase transfer time because of the sender having to resynchronize with the receiver. - 11 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition YMODEM-g transfers to floppy are not possible when using the internal serial.device due to it not dropping RTS when the serial input buffer is almost full. XON/XOFF handshake is disabled for YMODEM-g because it needs full 256 byte transparency for successful transfers. If you are using an alternate serial device that supports RTS handshake then downloading to floppy using YMODEM-g is possible. The default serial device for the internal port in the Amiga is odd in that it requires the Data Set Ready (DSR) signal (pin 6) to be active when it is first opened or it will not activate the CTS/RTS handshake mode. Worse yet, your modem will suddenly appear to not communicate with JR-Comm since the serial device thinks that the modem is not "ready" to receive data. Most MNP modem manufacturers default the modem to having the DSR signal follow the carrier detect signal. Fortunately, they always have a command and/or switch to permanently set DSR active. SO, in order to utilize the CTS/RTS handshake mode, you will have to set your modem so that it keeps the DSR signal permanently active. In addition to the DSR signal having to be permanently asserted, your modem must have CTS true when the modem is not online. Check the manual for your modem to insure that these two signals are set up correctly or JR-Comm will notify you that it was unable to honor your request for CTS/RTS handshaking and will open the serial device in normal mode instead. 2.9 Specific instructions for different modems The three following modems are representative of some of the most common modems in use today. The Supra 2400 is your average Hayes compatible clone modem. It is quite reliable and is very close to a real Hayes 2400bps modem in commands and operation. It is quite affordable and should accommodate most telecommunications situations a casual user may encounter. The next modem described is the MultiTech 224EH. Although Hayes compatibility is very high, it deviates from the normal 2400bps modem by including the MNP error correcting protocol. As with most MNP modems, it contains an almost overwhelming list of parameters. The MultiTech series of modems represent the high- end in 2400bps price, features and quality. It is truly "industrial strength" and can be easily adapted to nearly any communications situation that might arise. The last modem is the ultra fast US Robotics Courier HST (High Speed Technology) 14.4kbps modem. Like the MultiTech, it is armed with an enormous array of configuration options due to its incorporation of MNP levels 4 and 5. This modem is in use by - 12 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition more BBS installations then just about any other high speed modem. It is capable of very high throughput rates, but only when connected to another Courier HST modem due to the proprietary method of data transfer that it incorporates. A more expensive variation of this modem, the Dual Standard, is available which adds the v.32 specification for full duplex 9600bps method of transfer. This type of modem is growing in popularity due to its recent acceptance by the CCITT (A French based international organization which, when translated to English, means International Telegraph and Telephone Consultive Committee) for 9600bps operation. Most v.32 compatible modems are still quite expensive, but this should change in the near future. Although the modem you have may not be listed here, it will most likely share many, if not all, of the same features and even commands as those listed below. First, categorize your modem against the basic features of each of these modems to determine which one your modem most closely resembles. Then try to match the options listed against similar options in the users manual for your modem. 2.9.1 Supra Modem 2400 (external) This is your basic, no-frills, Hayes compatible 2400bps modem. Unlike most older modems, this one has no dip switches to configure the modem for operation. Instead, it has a non-volatile ram (NVRAM) area which retains the current modem settings whenever it is turned off. A special modem command writes the settings to ram after you've configured it. There should also be a companion command to reset the modem to the default factory configuration. The sequence of modem commands to configure this modem for use with JR-Comm are as follows: 1. AT&F (reset modem to factory defaults) 2. AT&C1&D2&W &C1 - Carrier detect functions normally. &D2 - Hang-up and return to command mode. &W - Write settings to NVRAM. 3. Set modem init string in MODEM PARAMETERS requester to "ATZ^M". Carrier detect and DTR will operate as expected and you can use the DTR to hang up option with this configuration. - 13 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 2.9.2 MultiTech 224EH (external) The 224EH is a 2400bps Level 5 MNP modem. It should be representative of most Hayes compatible MNP modems that are available today. Configuration sequence for this modem is: 1. Set switches to: 12345678 1234 11010110 0110 (0 - OFF 1 - ON) 1 - Forced DTR off. 2 - Verbose responses. 3 - Enable response codes. 4 - Enable command echo. 5 - Disable auto-answer. 6 - Forced CD/DSR off. 7 - RJ11 phone jack. 8 - Enable command mode. 1 - Forced CTS off. 2 - Dial-up line. 3 - Call progression. 4 - Async mode. 2. AT&F (reset modem to factory defaults) 3. ATB1X4&E1&E4&Q1$BA0&C1&R2&S0&W0 B1 - Wait-for-dialtone dialing. X4 - Hayes dialtone and busy detection. &E1 - enable MNP auto-reliable mode. &E4 - CTS/RTS flow control. &Q1 - Hayes Smartmodem 2400 responses. $BA0 - Baud adjust off. &C1 - Carrier detect functions normally. &R2 - CTS drops for 2 seconds on disconnect. &S0 - DSR permanently asserted. &W0 - Write settings to NVRAM. 4. Set init string to "ATZ^M". 5. Set dial prefix to "AT&E1&E14DT" 6. Set alternate dial prefix #1 to "AT&E1&E15DT". 7. Set alternate dial prefix #2 to "AT&E0DT". The three different dial prefixes are needed to enable and disable the MNP mode before dialing. This is needed due to the inability of a true Hayes modem to successfully complete a connection when an MNP modem calls it. The default dial prefix enables MNP without data compression. This should be used when there is the - 14 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition possibility of transferring an archive file since compression will delay the transfer. Alternate dial prefix #1 will enable both MNP and data compression which will greatly increase throughput for text only transfers. The last prefix will disable MNP for calling true Hayes modems. If the connection is made, but no data is seen, you should try calling back with MNP disabled to see if it works. If it does, this number is most likely a true Hayes modem and you should use this prefix for all future calls. 2.9.3 USRobotics Courier HST (external) The Courier HST is an example of the latest in high-speed modem technology. The version discussed here is the newer 14.4kbps HST without the V.32 option. Configuration sequence for this modem is: 1. Set switches to: 1234567890 1 1101011001 1 (0 - OFF 1 - ON) 1 - Forced DTR off. 2 - Verbal result codes. 3 - Result codes displayed. 4 - Echo commands. 5 - Auto-answer disabled. 6 - Forced DCD off. 7 - Result codes for orig/ans modes. 8 - AT commands enabled. 9 - Does not drop carrier after "+++" 10 - Load NVRAM settings on power up. 1 - Normal send/receive operation. 2. AT&F (reset modem to factory defaults) 3. ATB1X6&B1&H1&K0&R2&S0&Y1&W B1 - HST mode. X6 - Enable VOICE response. &B1 - Fixed DTE rate. &H1 - CTS/RTS flow control. &K0 - Disable data compression. &R2 - Pass data on RTS high. &S0 - Set DSR high permanently. &Y1 - Destructive break signal. &W - Write settings to NVRAM. - 15 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 4. Set init string to "ATZ^M". 5. Set the "Ring" string to "RING^M". 6. Set the "No dialtone" string to "NO DIAL TONE". 7. Set dial prefix to "AT&M4&K0DT" 8. Set alternate dial prefix #1 to "AT&M4&K1DT". 9. Set alternate dial prefix #2 to "AT&M0&K0DT". Although the HST is capable of returning a VOICE response if a human answers the call, it is somewhat unreliable with certain phone systems and long distance calls, so you may want to disable it by replacing "X6" in step 3 above with an "X4". Since the RINGING response is enabled with the "X6" command, you have to change the RING response so that the dialer does not think that an incoming call has occurred. The HST returns a slightly different response for a no dialtone condition from the default setting so it must also be changed. The dial prefixes function exactly like the ones for the MultiTech 224EH modem discussed in the previous section. - 16 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 3 SYSTEM BASICS 3.1 The display The default display used by JR-Comm when it is first started is a borderless Workbench window. Although not visible, there is the usual front/back gadget pair in the upper right corner of the window. Optional displays include borderless windows on a 2, 4, 8 or 16 color custom screen. A menu item is available which toggles the display of the screen title so that you can drag down the JR-Comm custom screen. Programs such as QMouse and Mach enable you to swap screens quite easily and are recommended for use with JR-Comm sessions that use a custom screen so that you do not lose the two lines of text that the screen title occupies. Yes, two lines of text, the title height is eleven scan lines, three more than the height of the default font. The PALETTE requester allows you to modify the colors for each phonebook entry that uses a custom screen. The PALETTE requester is disabled when using a Workbench window. There are three hard-coded palettes for the IBM color, VT100 (or IBM mono) and SkyPix emulations. There is also a user defined default palette that is initially set to the same colors as the IBM color palette. See section 12 which details the PALETTE requester and the operation of the user defined default palette. JR-Comm uses a custom display driver which is much faster than the internal console device used by the Amiga for the CLI and other text based displays. A good portion of the speed increase is due to the way the cursor is implemented by JR-Comm which is entirely different from the block cursor that is used by the Amiga's console device. JR-Comm uses a system sprite for the cursor. An underline is used instead of a block style cursor because sprites are not transparent, therefore, the character "underneath" it would be obstructed. Unfortunately, using a sprite as a cursor has an odd side-effect in that it doesn't "behave" well with Amiga's Intuition User Interface. This is why the cursor is still visible when switching screens prior to activating another window. It is hoped that you understand that this inconvenience is necessary so that you may benefit from the faster text throughput that it gives you. An optimized scroll mode is available to boost average throughput of 8 and 16 color displays. With this feature enabled, JR-Comm will use the minimum horizontal width and number of bit-planes needed to satisfy a scroll operation. This option greatly reduces DMA requirements when the smooth scroll feature is active. - 17 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition Several external fonts are provided for use with the IBM, Amiga, VT100 and SkyPix terminal emulations. Interlaced versions of these fonts are also included. Additionally, you may select a font of your own choosing via the GENERAL PARAMETERS requester if you so desire. The ability to change the default keymap is also provided for European users who may need to use more than one keymap and /or font due to differences between countries. See the description of the keymap string gadget in the GENERAL PARAMETERS requester for a detailed discussion on the recommended way to use this feature. 3.2 Status line The status line in JR-Comm is normally displayed as follows. ......(status/chat).......... * X FX 8N1 9600 00:00:00 7:30 pm | |||| ||| | | | | | | Printer ---------+ |||| ||| +--+ +------+ +-----+ Protocol @! -----------+||| ||| | | | (VT100 use only) @ ------------+|| ||| | | | Duplex @! -------------+| ||| | | | Handshake @! --------------+ ||| | | | Data bits ! ----------------+|| | | | Parity ! -----------------+| | | | Stop bits ! ------------------+ | | | Baud rate ! --------------------+ | | Connect timer ! ---------------------------+ | Time of day ! -------------------------------------+ The items above that are marked with an exclamation point have invisible gadgets associated with them which allow you to toggle through the available values for that particular item. The handshake item will only enable and disable XON/XOFF flow control. Hardware or CTS/RTS flow control can only be selected while off-line from the GENERAL PARAMETERS requester. The connect timer will be reset when its gadget is selected. The time-of-day clock will toggle between 12 and 24 hour modes. Items marked with a '@' symbol are replaced by periods when using the VT100 emulation. These four dots represent the four software controlled LED indicators that are found on a real VT100 terminal. When the indicator is "on", it is signified by an asterisk. All the status line gadgets are disabled while the VT100 emulation mode is active. - 18 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition The dotted line to the left of the above status line indicates the status message and chat line area. ASCII send and capture filenames are displayed here while the chat line mode is inactive. Three special character sequences are used to describe the type of file being processed. They are: < The left angle bracket character indicates that an ASCII send is in progress. > A single right angle bracket character signifies a new or cleared capture file is open. >> A pair of right angle brackets are used when the capture file is opened in append mode. 3.3 Connect timer The connect timer will increment while a carrier detect signal is present from the modem (the DCD signal of your modem must be functional for this feature to work properly). If the cents/min option is set to a non-zero value in a phonebook entry, the connect timer will toggle every four seconds between total connect time elapsed and the accumulated cent total for this connection. 3.4 Time-of-day clock The clock is capable of displaying the time-of-day in either 12 or 24 hour mode. It may also be turned off via the associated gadget in the GENERAL PARAMETERS requester. 3.5 Terminal emulations 3.5.1 TTY The TTY emulation is a basic, line oriented, "dumb" terminal. The high bit of every incoming byte is reset as there are no graphics characters possible when using this emulation. The acronym TTY stands for teletype. 3.5.2 Amiga ANSI Although this mode seems redundant, it is included so that you can utilize the greater speed of JR-Comm when Amiga specific console sequences and text are needed. - 19 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 3.5.3 IBM color Excepting the lack of blinking characters, this emulation provides you with a 100% accurate IBM ANSI terminal. Don't let other Amiga comm packages that use the system console device mislead you. There are several subtle differences that are not supported by that device driver but are present in the JR-Comm emulation of this popular terminal. When the IBM scan codes feature is active, your Amiga will faithfully emulate remote DOS operations equal to MS-DOS based telecommunications programs such as QMODEM. JR-Comm is intelligent enough to prevent "invisible" text when using an 8 color screen. If the same color is used for both foreground and background (hi-intensity on low-intensity) JR-Comm will set the background to the default background color of the display so that text information is not lost. Also, hi-intensity will be noticeable in an 8 color screen by using the Amiga bold font rendering. 3.5.4 IBM mono This emulation provides both the hi-intensity and blinking character attributes of IBM monochrome displays. Amiga display limitations prevent having these two attributes available with the color emulation, so this mode was provided in the event that you must have the blinking attribute present. 3.5.5 VT100 This emulation provides you with an almost complete VT100 terminal. The features it does not implement are 132 character line mode and black on white video (different from inverse characters). The keypads on the A500 and A2000 keyboards fully represent the VT100 keypad with the top row of keys on the Amiga being the PF keys. The <F1-4> function key sequences will produce PF key equivalents for the A1000 keyboard if macros have not been defined for these keys. 3.5.6 SkyPix This emulation provides a unique graphics and sound terminal capability for use with the Atredes and SkyLine bulletin board systems. Please be aware of the silent file transfer capability of this emulation. It sends sound and brush files without bringing up a FILE TRANSFER STATISTICS requester. A prompt of the filename being received is shown in the status line area so that you are aware of the - 20 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition transfer taking place. The receive indicator on your modem will also flash in the same manner as an XMODEM transfer because that is what is used for this emulation. 3.6 Review buffer The review buffer is a circular mechanism that holds the most recently received portion of data. The size of the review buffer is user defined and defaults to 16k. If the status line is enabled, it will display a message indicating when JR-Comm is in review mode. When the review mode is first entered, it will fill the screen with the most recent data received. The review buffer is controlled by the following key sequences. <CTRL><UP> Move to the beginning of the buffer. <SHIFT><UP> Move up one display page. <UP> Move up one line. <CTRL><DOWN> Move to the end of the buffer. <SHIFT><DOWN> Move down one display page. <DOWN> Move down one line. <ESC> Exit review mode, return to the terminal. If you plan to continue receiving data for extended periods of time while reviewing data you should increase the size of the buffer dramatically to prevent unwanted data overwriting. It is also recommended that you use the split screen review buffer mode so that you can maintain keyboard I/O with the remote system. 3.7 Capture file The capture file feature allows you to save data received by JR- Comm. There are four ways the capture file can be opened. The first two open a new file, deleting the contents of any existing file. The second two open an existing file in append mode. Each major mode has a sub-mode that will save the contents of the review buffer too. The capture buffer is operated in asynchronous file I/O mode so that maximum throughput is achieved when capturing large amounts of data. Refer to section 10 for descriptions of the capture filters available. 3.8 Chat mode Line editing is available while in the chat mode. The left and right cursor keys move through the current line. The delete key has two functions. Alone, it deletes the character underneath the cursor. When pressed while the shift key is down, it will - 21 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition insert a space at the current cursor position. The <BACKSPACE> key works as expected. If the return key is pressed while in the middle of the chat line the complete line will be transmitted to the modem. Several other editing functions are available with the left and right arrow keys when used with the <ALT>, <SHIFT> and <CTRL> keys. They are: <ALT> Move cursor to left or right of chat line display. <CTRL> Move cursor to start or end of the chat line. <SHIFT> Move cursor left or right one word. The chat mode also has a history buffer which can be accessed via the up and down cursor keys. The default size of 50 lines is used unless you have increased or decreased it. Natural control characters are sent to the serial port immediately while in chat mode. This is convenient when you need to stop and re-start the display via the <CTRL>-S and <CTRL>-Q sequences. Finally, the '^' character can be used to send control characters out via the chat line. Two '^' characters in a row will send the '^' character itself. 3.9 File transfers When you initiate a file upload or download you are first greeted with the FILE requester. Select the desired file(s) for an upload or enter the new filename for a download when using a protocol other than CIS B+, YMODEM(1k/-g) or ZMODEM. These protocols send the filename in a special header block, so the FILE requester isn't opened when downloading via these protocols. The transfer status window is then opened. The information this window displays is as follows: Filename Filename being transferred. Size Size of file being transferred. Remaining Shows estimated time at start of transfer. Shifts to adjusted time remaining during transfer. Actual time Self explanatory. Total xfer'd or Block Block or percentage of file transferred. Chars/sec Throughput figure, does not include protocol overhead data in computation. Total errors Received during the transfer. Errors this block For this block only. Last response Error/status line. - 22 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition Selecting the close window gadget while a transfer is in progress will abort the transfer. Please be patient if you do abort it, as JR-Comm attempts to purge all data before returning to the terminal in an effort to prevent garbage from being displayed. If the abort time seems to be taking an extremely long time to finish, you can click on the close window gadget a few times to cause a hard abort to occur immediately. You may experience garbage on your screen if you do this. The efficiency table is a set of figures used by JR-Comm to compute the estimated time at the start of a file transfer. It is an estimate of how long the transfer should take under a best case condition. When an MNP modem is being used, the estimates will be longer than the actual transfer due to the increased throughput these modems deliver. During the transfer JR-Comm will update the actual time remaining based on the current chars/sec figure. Errors or other delays can result in this time increasing as the chars/sec rate drops. Both the cps and remaining indicators will fluctuate a good bit during the early stages of the transfer. They require upwards of 20 kilobytes to settle down, more for high speed modems. At baud rates above 2400bps you should be aware that file transfer throughput begins to be affected by the method used for transmitting data by the sending program. If a byte-by-byte method is used, efficiency is going to drop off rapidly. If, instead, the sender uses several different optimized methods, the rate will stay somewhat the same as baud rate increases. The table listed below is for a file with an equally distributed profile of data, such as a file than has been archived. The CIS B+ and ZMODEM protocols can experience higher throughput rates than listed here when a text file is transferred, but since you are sending more total data than when the text file is compressed, the net result is more time spent sending the file. PROTOCOL EFFICIENCY ------------------------- CIS B+ 92% WXMODEM 90% XMODEM 77% XMODEM-CRC 75% XMODEM-1k 92% YMODEM 75% YMODEM-1k 92% YMODEM-g 99% ZMODEM 96% - 23 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 3.10 Gadget types JR-Comm uses several types of gadgets. Their functions are described as follows. 3.10.1 String gadgets These gadgets use the familiar Amiga rectangle with a label to the immediate left. JR-Comm enhances the string gadgets by range checking integer input for validity and by looking for appropriate filename postfixes when required, if the requisite postfix is absent, JR-Comm will append it. The list of possible postfixes are: .def defaults file. .phones phonebook file. .macros macros file. .cap capture file. .log log file. .font font file. 3.10.2 Option gadgets These gadgets are likened to a button or switch. If the gadget is selected, the inside dot will be present. Otherwise, it shows only the outer circle. Some groups of option select gadgets are mutually exclusive. For instance, only one protocol can be active at a time (excluding ZMODEM auto-download, which can be active in addition to another protocol being selected). 3.10.3 Control gadgets These gadgets select functions within a requester and are filled rectangles with rounded corners, the gadget label is centered inside the gadget in capital letters. Control gadgets perform an immediate action and/or open an additional sub-requester. 3.10.4 Intuition gadgets The default Intuition close window, depth and drag gadgets work as expected. JR-Comm retains the position of any requester for future use if it is dragged to a new location from the default centered position. New positions are saved to the jrcomm.def file for use in future JR-Comm sessions. - 24 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 3.11 Keyboard attention sequences There are two special keyboard sequences that JR-Comm will recognize. They are: <CTRL><HELP> - XON/XOFF handshake release. Use this when the program seems to freeze up. JR-Comm will also release itself automatically after 10 seconds have elapsed without receiving an XOFF character from the remote system. <SHIFT><RETURN> - Will toggle between the filename and pathname string gadgets of the FILE requester. It is ignored otherwise. - 25 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 4 SPECIAL REQUESTERS 4.1 File requester YAFR...? (Yet Another File Requester... Why?) Well, simply put, it was needed for one reason; selecting multiple files for batch transfers. However, the primary advantage offered by this requester is the ability to select files from multiple directories and across different volumes and/or devices simultaneously. 4.1.1 Functional description The FILE requester opens up in one of two modes as indicated in the title. One mode is a "SINGLE FILE REQUEST", which will allow you to select only one file at a time. The other mode is "BATCH FILE REQUEST", which allows you to select any number of files. In either mode the FILE requester is dynamic. This means that it can process gadget selections while building the current directory files list. The large rectangle is the familiar file selection array, which displays up to 15 files and/or directories at a time. Directories are prefixed with the string "(dir)". The righthand side of the list shows the size in bytes of each file. Below the selection rectangle there are two size indicators. The one on the left, labeled "Free:", shows the amount of free space left on the current device for the current directory. The right side shows the total number of bytes for the files selected. To the left of the selection rectangle is the proportional scroll gadget which enables the user to scroll through a list of filenames. The knob, or smaller rectangle inside the scroll gadget indicates what percentage of the list is displayed at any time. The special keyboard sequence <SHIFT><RETURN> will toggle between the filename and pathname string gadgets. 4.1.2 File lists The FILE requester creates five separate lists that you can browse through for selecting files or for changing directories. The lower middle control gadget enables you to toggle through each list. The currently displayed list is - 26 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition indicated by the label of the gadget itself. These labels are: FILES The files and directories of the current directory. Selected files are displayed in inverse video. DEVICES The list of devices known to AmigaDOS. DIRECTORIES Assigned directories. VOLUMES Floppy and/or hard disk volume names. SELECTED The current list of user selected files. Files selected from this list will be removed from the selection list. 4.1.3 SELECT This gadget is functional only while the current directory list is being displayed and the FILE requester was opened in batch file mode. It will select every file in the current directory. 4.1.4 PARENT This gadget will change the current directory to the parent of the current directory. The pathname string gadget will also be updated to reflect this change. 4.1.5 UNSELECT This gadget is functional while the current directory or the selected files list is displayed. Any matching files from the selected files list will be removed. In the case of the selected files list, all files will be deselected. 4.1.6 Filename The FILE requester will open with this string gadget set to a suggested filename for phonebook, macro, defaults, capture and log files. It also displays the last filename selected. You may enter a filename of your choosing instead if you so desire. Pressing a <SHIFT><RETURN> sequence will toggle the activation between this string gadget and the pathname string gadget. 4.1.7 Pathname - 27 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition This string gadget contains the pathname of the current directory. JR-Comm will remember your pathname selection for future use if you change it from the pathname that was used when the FILE requester was first called. Be careful when saving your defaults after changing a pathname, check the GENERAL PARAMETERS requester to insure that the proper pathnames are in effect whenever you save the defaults file. 4.1.8 OK This gadget instructs JR-Comm to accept your file selection(s). It is the same as pressing return after entering a filename in the filename string gadget. 4.1.9 CANCEL This gadget will clear the selected files list and abort the function that opened the FILE requester. The close window gadget for the requester produces the same result as the CANCEL gadget. 4.2 Query requester This requester is used similarly to the AmigaDOS SYSTEM REQUEST requester. The basic difference being that the first character of each possible response, such as 'Y' and 'N' for YES and NO, indicates which key you can press on your keyboard to respond to the QUERY requester. Depending on the type of question being asked, your response will either be YES/NO or OK/CANCEL. - 28 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 5 MENUS The character in square brackets to the right of each menu item name listed below will select that item when used in conjunction with the right Amiga key. Any item with a numeric key assignment will open a requester. See the respective chapter for a more detailed description of each one. The MODES menu contains items that are checkmarked when active to indicate that the respective mode for each item is or is not active. 5.1 Project menu [?] About Displays useful information about JR-Comm and contacts for support. [L] Load defaults Load a default parameters file. [W] Write defaults Write a default parameters file. [Q] Quit JR-Comm Exits program. 5.2 Phonebook menu [1] Directory Phonebook requester. [R] Re-dial Restarts the intelligent dialer. [Z] Send password Sends the password for the active phonebook entry. 5.3 Buffer menu [K] Kill buffer Clears the entire review buffer. [V] View buffer Activates review mode. [O] Open capture Open a new capture file (clears an already existing file). [F] Open w/save Opens a new capture buffer and saves the contents of the review buffer. [A] Append capture Append capture to an existing file. [I] Append w/save Appends to an existing file and also saves the contents of the review buffer. [C] Close capture Close the capture file. - 29 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 5.4 Transfers menu [2] Parameters Parameters requester. [U] Upload Initiate a file upload (from your system). [D] Download Initiate a file download (to your system). [S] ASCII send Send a text file. 5.5 Options menu [3] Serial Serial requester. [4] Modem Modem requester. [5] Terminal Terminal requester. [6] Macros Macros requester. [7] Palette Palette requester (not active in Workbench screen). [8] General General requester. 5.6 Misc menu [T] Timer reset Reset connect timer. [B] Send break Send a break signal to the modem. [H] Hangup modem Hangup modem (via command or DTR). [X] Clear screen Clear the screen. [E] Print screen Prints text of current screen. [0] Print registration Print user registration form (not present in a registered copy of JR- Comm). 5.7 Modes menu [P] Printer Toggles the printer on or off. [Y] Chat line Toggles chat mode on or off. [J] HEX output Incoming data displayed as hexadecimal data in columns of 16 with ASCII along the right-hand side when this mode is active. [M] IBM Doorway Toggles IBM Doorway keyboard mode. [N] Screen title Toggles screen title on/off (not available in Workbench screen). - 30 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 6 PHONEBOOK 6.1 Phone Directory requester The PHONE DIRECTORY requester is a control panel for adding, editing and deleting phonebook entries. It also allows you to select one or more entries for use by the intelligent dialer. The string gadget labeled "Master password:" contains the character string that is used by JR-Comm to automatically generate passwords for each directory entry. 6.1.1 DELETE Selecting this gadget will place the phonebook into delete mode, which is signified by this gadget being highlighted and all the other control gadgets ghosted. You must double-click an entry in order to delete it from the phonebook. Entries that are selected for dialing may be deleted too. In order to save your deletions, you must save the phonebook again. 6.1.2 EDIT This gadget functions like the DELETE gadget above, with the only difference being that a single click on an entry is all that is needed to edit it. See section 6.2 for a discussion of the PHONE ENTRY EDITOR requester. 6.1.3 DIAL JR-Comm is capable of multi-dialing any number of directory entries. Just select the entries you want dialed first. You then start the dialer by either double-clicking the last selection or by selecting this gadget. You can also dial one entry alone by double-clicking it. Refer to section 6.3 for intelligent dialer operation. 6.1.4 UNSELECT This gadget will unselect all entries in the phonebook. - 31 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 6.1.5 ADD Add a new phonebook entry by selecting this gadget. See the discussion about the PHONE ENTRY EDIT requester below. 6.1.6 SORT Opens the SORT requester for the type of sort you want done to the directory. The options available are: NAME Alpha sort of entry names. NUMBER Alpha sort of entry phone numbers. SELECT Sorted in order of selection. Again, you must save a newly sorted phonebook in order to keep it sorted. 6.1.7 LOAD Loads a phonebook file via the FILE requester. 6.1.8 SAVE Save the current phonebook via the FILE requester. 6.1.9 Master password This feature gives you a very easy way to maintain unique passwords for each system you call. The master password is combined with the name in a phonebook entry to form a unique string of nonsense characters when the entry is first created or again whenever you select a password type option in the PHONE ENTRY EDIT requester. See section 6.4 for a discussion of the master password. CAUTION! It is strongly recommended that you change this from the default value of "jrcomm-pw" or someone of a malicious nature could cause you untold grief! 6.2 Phone entry editor requester The PHONE ENTRY EDIT requester is accessed whenever you select ADD or an existing phonebook entry when in EDIT mode from the PHONE DIRECTORY requester. - 32 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 6.2.1 Name The phonebook entry name is entered here. If this is left blank the entry will be discarded regardless of any other information entered into the requester. You MUST enter some sort of name in order to have the new entry entered into the phonebook. You must then save the phonebook itself in order for this entry to be available for future use. 6.2.2 Phone Enter the phone number here. Up to 36 digits are allowed. 6.2.3 Macros Although the macros filename is optional, you must enter one in order to open the FUNCTION KEY MACROS requester via the Macros control gadget along the bottom of the PHONE ENTRY EDIT requester. JR-Comm will automatically add the postfix ".macros" to the name you have entered so that you can differentiate it from other JR-Comm files located in the default files path. 6.2.4 Capture Another optional entry. If you enter a filename here it will be opened in append mode once the dialer establishes a connection. The review buffer will be cleared prior to opening the capture file when a connection is established. As with the macros file described in the previous section, the capture file you enter here will have the postfix ".cap" appended to it automatically by JR-Comm. 6.2.5 Password The password for the current entry can be manually entered, or you can have JR-Comm create one for you instead. See section 6.2.9 on password types for additional information. The length of the password is limited to 20 characters. 6.2.6 Length Used in conjunction with the password type gadgets described in section 6.2.9. Only a decimal number from 1 through 20 will be accepted. (default: 8) - 33 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 6.2.7 Dial prefix Selects the desired alternate dialing prefix which is used during the dialing of an entry. (default: "None") 6.2.8 Cents/min Optional. Enter the decimal number of cents per minute (100 = a dollar) which will be displayed in the status line while connected. The carrier detect signal must function properly on your modem for this feature to work correctly. Values from 0 to 99999 will be accepted. (default: 0) 6.2.9 Password type Selecting any gadget other than the one labeled "Fixed" results in a generated password of that type once the PHONE ENTRY EDIT requester is closed. The password length is determined by the value in the length string gadget described in section 6.2.6. Whenever you edit an existing phonebook entry, the "Fixed" gadget will again be set. This is to prevent a new password from being generated until you are ready to do so by selecting one of the password type gadgets again. (default: "Fixed") 6.2.10 Reset timer This option causes JR-Comm to reset the connection timer when a connection is first established by the dialer. (default: ON) 6.2.11 Parameter requester gadgets The five control gadgets along the bottom of the PHONE ENTRY EDIT requester will open the associated parameters requester. All parameters are initially set to the ones in effect when the entry is first added. See the discussions on each of these requesters for more details of their contents. 6.2.12 CANCEL - 34 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition This gadget will abort the current edit and return to the phonebook. If the PHONE ENTRY EDIT requester was opened via the ADD gadget the entry will be discarded. 6.3 Dialer operation The dialer is controlled by four parameters in the MODEM PARAMETERS requester; number of retries, dial timeout, redial delay and dial pacing. The number of retries defaults to 15 and applies to each entry that is selected when the dialer is started. The dial timeout refers to how many seconds the dialer will wait for a connection after dialing, it defaults to 30 seconds. The redial delay is also in seconds, defaults to 60 and is the amount of wait time at the end of the list before re- starting again. The dial pacing is in tenths of a second and defaults to 0. It is used for modems that have trouble with dial commands being sent with little delay between each character. When the dialer establishes a connection it will re- configure JR-Comm and load a macros file if one exists for that entry. It then clears the review buffer and screen. A capture file will be opened in append mode if one has been defined for this phonebook entry. A menu item is also provided to re-start the dialer from where it left off after making the last connection. This is not an auto-start type feature; you must restart the dialer yourself via the menu item or <RAMIGA><R> key sequence. 6.3.1 Response codes The dialer has a degree of intelligence by responding to the different codes that the modem is capable of returning. The codes and their effect on dialer operation is as follows: BUSY Dialer skips to next entry. *RING An incoming call is being made, the dialer will terminate immediately. ERROR Causes dialer to exit immediately. *VOICE Entry is de-selected. CONNECT Entry is de-selected and dialer exits after re-configuring all JR-Comm parameters to the settings in the phonebook entry. *NO CARRIER Entry is de-selected after receiving this response 3 times for the same entry. *NO DIALTONE Three of these responses will cause the dialer to exit. NOTE: The "RING" response code is not defined in the internal JR-Comm defaults. You must enter the - 35 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition proper response code in order to activate incoming call detection. Features with an asterisk can be disabled by clearing the respective string gadget in the MODEM PARAMETERS requester. The other response codes in the MODEM PARAMETERS requester are included for completeness and will be utilized in a future release of JR-Comm that supports a host mode. 6.3.2 Dialer window The dialer will open the DIALER requester while dialing. There are three keys that are assigned functions to control the operation of the dialer. They are: <ESC> Exits the dialer immediately. <DEL> Removes entry from the selected list. <SPACE> Skips to next entry or re-dial delay, as necessary. 6.4 Master password The idea behind this feature is to make it simple to create and maintain unique passwords for each system you have an account on. Common sense tells you that having a unique password for each system is safer than using the same password on many of them. Changing them every so often is also another good habit to develop in order to prevent unauthorized access of your accounts. The problem, up until now, was the easy maintenance and orderly changing of a list of passwords without losing them. JR-Comm makes the maintenance of passwords easy by keeping the password in the phonebook entry. It makes the creation of new and unique passwords just as simple by using a rather simple algorithm that combines the master password for the phonebook with the name of the entry. You can tailor the password a bit more by altering the password length and by declaring what type of password you wish JR-Comm to create. By changing the master password, you then have the option to create a new password for an entry whenever you need to by simply editing an entry and selecting a password type in the PHONE ENTRY EDIT requester. The sequence of steps required to accomplish this should go something like this: 1. Change the master password. - 36 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 2. Do not change any entry passwords yet, you must call the system with the old password still intact. 3. After you've logged in you can now open the PHONE DIRECTORY requester and select the EDIT gadget to edit the entry of the system you're connected with. Select one of the password type options and close the PHONE ENTRY EDIT requester. 4. The new password can now be used to update the password on the system. 5. After insuring that the system has accepted the password change you should save the phonebook to update the password in the file. Having the password placed in the phonebook entry itself eliminates the possibility of losing it as long as the phonebook file isn't destroyed. Backup your phonebook often if you plan to use this feature. - 37 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 7 TRANSFER PARAMETERS REQUESTER This requester contains all the options for the file transfer protocols available in JR-Comm. 7.1 Protocol All the file transfer protocols in use by JR-Comm strictly adhere to the specifications outlined in the various documents that are available for each protocol. The following is a short description of the protocols available. (default: XMODEM) CIS B+ CompuServe's B+ file transfer protocol. This protocol is entirely controlled by the CompuServe host computer, no FILE requester will be opened for uploads or downloads. The host will prompt you for the filename when ready to start the transfer. All files will normally be received to or sent from the associated file transfer pathname. In order to override this default you must enter a fully qualified pathname that contains a ':' character. For example, "SYS:foo/bar". Entering a partially qualified pathname such as "foo/bar" will result in the file "bar" being placed in or sent from the respective default transfer pathname. A future release of JR-Comm will allow for directory creation which is needed for partially qualified filenames. WXMODEM A variant of the XMODEM protocol which gives you better throughput performance over packet switched networks. This protocol is quite popular on the PeopleLink commercial information service. XMODEM The "grandfather" of most every protocol in use by personal computers today. The XMODEM checksum protocol was created by Ward Christensen back in 1977. XMODEM-CRC The original XMODEM protocol modified with a 16 bit CRC polynomial for better error detection. JR-Comm will "step down" to XMODEM checksum if the sender does not recognize the initial CRC-16 handshake. - 38 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition XMODEM-1k A variant of XMODEM-CRC that uses 1024 byte blocks which gives you higher throughput than the original XMODEM protocol. Some systems incorrectly call this YMODEM. As with XMODEM-CRC, JR-Comm will "step down" to XMODEM checksum if necessary. YMODEM This is TRUE YMODEM(tm), which is a batch transfer protocol. The filename, date and file size are transferred in a separate header block at the beginning of each file that is transferred. This protocol also preserves the correct file size; the XMODEM and derivative protocols described above pad characters at the end of the file. Uploads using this option are restricted to block lengths of 128 bytes. YMODEM-1k TRUE YMODEM(tm) except that it will force uploads to 1024 byte blocks. It is recommended that this version be selected except in cases where the system you are calling will only accept the smaller 128 byte block of the early versions of YMODEM. YMODEM-g This variation of YMODEM is intended for error correcting modems and hard-wired connections. Because this protocol does no error correcting, it can dispense with the need for an acknowledgement of each transmitted block of data. The file is transferred with little delay and can achieve some of the highest throughput of any of the protocols listed here. If an error is detected, the transfer will be aborted, hence the need for an error-free connection in order to use this protocol with confidence. ZMODEM This is one of the newest and most powerful protocols available. It is capable of batch transfers, automatically initiated downloads, 32 bit CRC error checking, and a unique ability to resume a transfer that had been partially completed. JR-Comm supports one of the most complete implementations of the ZMODEM protocol as defined by the specification document written by ZMODEM's author, Chuck Forsberg. - 39 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 7.1.1 Some notes on flow control ZMODEM and YMODEM-g are known as full-flow protocols due to their ability to send data without interruption. For ZMODEM transfers, all that is necessary is to activate the XON/XOFF handshake in the SERIAL PARAMETERS requester. Not to worry though, unlike most Amiga comm programs, JR-Comm will not lock itself up permanently when you use this feature. YMODEM-g is a different problem altogether. If you're downloading to a floppy disk and are using the internal serial port you cannot use this protocol. Otherwise, you WILL lose data and, therefore, abort the transfer as this protocol only does error checking, not error correction. It also requires full 256 byte transparency so local XON/XOFF handshaking is disabled when using it. If you're using a multi-port add-on board that supports the dropping of the RTS signal when the internal serial buffer is almost full (you must have CTS/RTS handshake enabled for this to work) then you will be able to use YMODEM-g to floppy disk. It goes without saying that if you have ample memory to spare, you would do much better transferring files to and from ram disk. 7.2 ZMODEM send modes The following modes are applicable to ZMODEM uploads only. They have no effect on ZMODEM downloads. All comparisons reference the file on the remote system to the file on your system. These options are mutually exclusive, which means that only one of the available options can ever be selected. (default: "Don't care") 7.2.1 Skip if absent Instructs the remote system to skip any files that are not present. 7.2.2 Newer Transfer if file date is newer or not present. - 40 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 7.2.3 Newer/longer Transfer if the file is newer, longer or not present. 7.2.4 CRC different Transfer if the file has a different CRC or is not present. 7.2.5 Append files Append data only if remote file is shorter than the file locally. If the file is not present, create it. 7.2.6 Overwrite files Overwrite any files that are present. Also known as "clobber" mode. 7.2.7 Protect all files Protect all files unconditionally. Will not receive files of the same name as a file already on your system. 7.2.8 Don't care Disables send checking for use with problematic ZMODEM implementations. If a file that already exists on your system is sent, JR-Comm will query you as to if you want to overwrite it. It will create a unique file otherwise. 7.3 ZMODEM options These options are specific to the ZMODEM file transfer protocol only. 7.3.1 Resume transfer If the requested file already exists, JR-Comm will make an attempt to resume the file transfer. A check is made by the receiving system to determine if the file that is about to be transferred is shorter than the one the sender has. The file will be skipped otherwise (default: OFF). - 41 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 7.3.2 Auto download When this gadget is active it allows JR-Comm to start a ZMODEM download automatically when a ZMODEM auto-d/l header is received. (default: OFF). 7.3.3 Auto d/l challenge This feature, when selected, instructs JR-Comm to perform a challenge to the remote system so that it can determine if the remote really intended to initiate an automatic download. This gadget is activated when the auto-download gadget is selected, but may be independently de-selected in case a certain remote system does not support the challenge option. (default: OFF). 7.3.4 Escape ctrl chars Instructs JR-Comm to do an escape of all control characters to prevent interference with the operation of packet- switched networks. (default: OFF). CAUTION! This option will slow down the file transfer considerably if binary data is being sent. Do not enable this option unless it is absolutely necessary! 7.3.5 32 bit CRC Instructs JR-Comm to use the newer 32 bit CRC mode of error detection if possible. A 16 bit CRC will be used if the remote system does not support 32 bit CRC. File transfers using this option have a much higher degree of catching hard to detect errors at the expense of slightly slower throughput. (default: ON). 7.3.6 Window This option is used to force the receiver to acknowledge when it has received multiples of 1/4 the value that this option is set to. For example, a setting of 2048 would make the receiver send an acknowledgement every 512 bytes. The sender will wait for the receiver to acknowledge before continuing. Although normally set to zero, you may need to set this option to prevent data loss on packet switched - 42 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition networks such as Tymnet and Telenet. The example of 2048 is a good value to start with although some experimentation may show that a different value gives better throughput. The allowed range is zero to 32768 in multiples of 64. JR-Comm will automatically round off to an even multiple if necessary. (default: 0) 7.4 ASCII send options The ASCII send mode of JR-Comm is very flexible and should be able to adapt to just about any possible situation by modifying the following parameters whenever a text file needs to be sent with the minimum of time. 7.4.1 Expand blanks When this feature is selected, JR-Comm will send one space character for lines which contain only an end-of-line character. Use this option when the on-line text editor you're using exits its input mode whenever a carriage return is received without any text preceding it. (default: ON). 7.4.2 Prompt char Instructs JR-Comm to wait for a specific character after transmitting a line of text. If blank, text is sent continuously without interruption for the duration of the transfer. (default: blank). 7.4.3 Char delay A numeric value in milliseconds which causes JR-Comm to wait (also called "pacing") before transmitting each character. Values between zero and 60,000 (one minute) are valid. (default: 0). 7.4.4 Line delay Milliseconds to wait between the transmission of each line of text. The same limits of the character delay option described in the previous section apply here. (default: 0) - 43 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 7.5 Miscellaneous The following options are related to all the protocol transfer modes in JR-Comm. 7.5.1 Binary mode Binary mode sends the file as a binary image. Text mode is implied if this gadget is not selected and results in sending a file with end-of-line conversion according to the "EOL out" option in the TERMINAL PARAMETERS requester. (default: ON). 7.5.2 Save aborted Determines if a partially received file is retained whenever a download is aborted. It will be deleted otherwise. (default: ON). 7.5.3 Relaxed timing Set this gadget if a file transfer fails or gets an excessive number of timeouts. Useful for packet switched networks. (default: ON) 7.5.4 Auto chop File transfers using the XMODEM, XMODEM-1k & WXMODEM protocols pad data to the end of the file if it is not an even multiple of 128. The Amiga operating system will not run a program that has been modified in this way. This feature will attempt to remove this data from a binary file transfer to enable it to be used by your Amiga. (default: OFF) 7.5.5 Overdrive This gadget enables overdrive mode for ZMODEM and YMODEM-g uploads. Double-buffered transfers are used which greatly increases transfer throughput. (default: OFF) CAUTION! At baud rates below 9600bps you may experience increased error recovery times. It is recommended that you do not use this mode for slow baud rates - 44 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition or over phone lines that have a high probability of noise occurring. 7.5.6 X/Y pre-ack This feature can give you a 15% or higher boost in throughput for XMODEM, XMODEM-1k, YMODEM and YMODEM-1k protocol transfers. Like YMODEM-g, this option does not support error correction, only error detection. If an error occurs during a transfer with this feature enabled, it will be aborted immediately. (default: OFF) CAUTION! You should not use this feature in situations where there is a high probability of line noise. MNP or other error corrected/free connections are recommended for use with this feature. - 45 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 8 SERIAL PARAMETERS REQUESTER The serial port parameters are located in this requester. Options available are listed below. Baud rates from 300 to 57,600bps are supported. (default: 2400) Data lengths of 7 and 8 bits. (default: 8) Stop bits of 1 or 2. (default: 1) Parity types available are: NONE, EVEN, ODD, MARK and SPACE. (default: "None") Duplex modes of FULL, HALF and ECHO. (default: "Full") Enable and disable XON/XOFF flow control. Remember that the <CTRL><HELP> keyboard sequence will release XOFF freeze-ups. (default: OFF) Break length in microseconds. Valid values allowed from 1,000 to 5,000,000. (default: 250,000) Hardware or CTS/RTS flow control and alternate serial device parameters are located in the GENERAL PARAMETERS requester. - 46 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 9 MODEM PARAMETERS REQUESTER This requester contains all the necessary items needed to enable JR- Comm's intelligent dialer to interact with your modem properly. All strings default to standard Hayes compatible modem commands and responses. 9.1 Modem commands Modem commands are sent to the modem for initialization, hanging up, and dial prefixes/postfixes. Control codes are inserted in the command by proceeding the desired control character with a '^'. A "^M" sequence would send the equivalent of a carriage return. The '~' character will insert a one-half second delay before sending the rest of the string. NOTE: The additional escape sequences that are available for function key macros are NOT supported for these commands. 9.1.1 Init command Sent to the modem when JR-Comm is first started, but only if a carrier signal is not present. (default: "ATZ^M~~~ATE1 Q0 V1 X4^M") 9.1.2 Hangup command Used to hangup the modem if the DTR gadget is not active. (default: "~~~+++~~~ATH^M") 9.1.3 Dial prefix This is the default dialing prefix that the dialer sends to the modem before the phone number for the phonebook entry is sent. (default: "ATDT") 9.1.4 Dial postfix This is sent after the dialer has transmitted the phone number. (default: "^M") - 47 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 9.2 Alternate dial prefixes JR-Comm provides you with three alternate dialing prefixes that can be used instead of the default dialing prefix described above. This is useful for enabling/disabling MNP modes and for using alternate phone services. 9.3 Modem response codes The eight response codes and their Hayes defaults are: OK The usual modem response to a command. BUSY Sent when a busy signal is detected. RING Sent when the modem detects a ring signal. ERROR Sent when the modem detects an error. VOICE Not all modems are capable of sending this. CONNECT The modem has connected to another modem. NO CARRIER The remote system did not respond. NO DIALTONE Sent if no dialtone signal was present. NOTE: The "RING" response is not defined in the internal JR- Comm defaults. You must enter the proper response code in order to activate incoming call detection. 9.4 Intelligent dialer parameters The following parameters control how the intelligent dialer operates. See section 6.3 for details of its operation. 9.4.1 Redial delay Indicates how many seconds JR-Comm will wait before re- starting after it has dialed the last selected entry in the list. Values between 0 and 999 will be accepted. (default: 60) 9.4.2 # of retries Controls how many times JR-Comm will loop through the list of selected entries before exiting the dialer. Valid values range from 1 to 999. (default: 15) - 48 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 9.4.3 Dial timeout How many seconds JR-Comm will wait for a carrier after dialing the phone number for the current entry. Values between 1 and 999 are allowed. (default: 30) CAUTION! Your modem may have an internal timeout for this as well, make sure that it is set to a value in seconds that is shorter than the value entered for this option if you wish to allow the intelligent dialer to automatically deselect entries that return a NO CARRIER response three times. If the modem is set to a longer value you will have disabled this feature of the dialer. 9.4.4 Dial pacing How many milliseconds to wait between characters when sending the dial command string during dialer operation. Values between 0 and 10000 are valid. (default: 0) 9.5 Miscellaneous options The following options also are used to tailor the dialer to your modem. All default to not selected in order to be compatible with most any modem in existence. 9.5.1 Ignore No Carrier Set this option if your modem does not reliably detect a busy signal, or if it is not capable of detecting a busy signal at all. Otherwise, the dialer will deselect an entry after three attempts have been made. (default: OFF) 9.5.2 Ignore Carrier Detect Set this gadget if your modem does not have a functional carrier detect signal. The connect timer will be turned off since it is no longer functional. (default: OFF) - 49 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 9.5.3 Hangup on dialer exit Set this if you wish to have JR-Comm hang-up the modem when you exit the dialer via the <ESC> key or close-window gadget. (default: OFF) 9.5.4 Drop DTR to hangup Select this option if your modem is capable of disconnecting when the DTR signal is dropped. (default: OFF) 9.5.5 Flush with a BREAK Some MNP modems (the Courier HST is one) are able to clear their internal data buffer when a BREAK signal is sent to the modem. This shortens the time needed to recover from an error during a file transfer. (default: OFF) 9.5.6 Dialer auto-baud If your modem is capable of indicating connected baud rate by sending a numeric string after the CONNECT message and you wish to have JR-Comm adjust itself automatically, set this gadget. Your modem MUST use these extended response codes correctly in order for this feature to work properly. (default: OFF) - 50 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 10 TERMINAL PARAMETERS REQUESTER This requester provides you with a multitude of options for the terminal emulations it supports. 10.1 CR xlate The three options available determine how an incoming carriage return is to be handled. You can either do nothing via the "None" option, strip it or add a linefeed <LF> character to it. (default: "None") 10.2 LF xlate Like the CR xlate feature described in the paragraph above, you can also select how a linefeed <LF> character is to be translated. As above, you can leave it alone, strip or add a carriage return <CR> character to it. (default: "None") 10.3 EOL out Select either a carriage return, linefeed or CR/LF pair to be output when you press the return key. (default: "CR) 10.4 Screen type Select the type of screen you wish to use. Defaults vary depending on the type of terminal emulation selected. Interlace is not available when using the Workbench screen, JR-Comm will inherit the current Workbench screen parameters when it opens its terminal window. (default: depends on emulation selected) 10.5 Capture filters These filters, when selected, will filter data from the incoming data stream before saving it to the capture file. 10.5.1 ANSI codes Turn this filter on if you do not want ANSI control code sequences captured. The codes will still affect the screen though. No sequences will be in the review buffer. (default: OFF) - 51 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 10.5.2 CTRL chars Removes all control characters except for carriage returns, line feeds, form feeds, tabs and backspaces. (default: OFF) 10.5.3 Backspaces If this filter is active, any backspace characters that are received will remove the previous character received from the capture file too. This results in the capture function operating in the same manner as the display. (default: OFF) 10.6 Emulation Select one of TTY, Amiga ANSI, IBM color, IBM mono, VT100 or SkyPix terminal emulations. (default: TTY w/Workbench) CAUTION! Depending on the configuration of your system, you may find the 16 color screens require too much of the resources available to it. Dropping down to an 8 color or lower screen may be required. High speed modem users should never use a 16 color screen. Otherwise, you WILL experience data loss! 10.7 Text size When using interlace you can select normal or small font sizes. Non-interlace displays can only use the normal font size. (default: "Normal") 10.8 Miscellaneous There are a considerable number of options that can further modify how the display works within JR-Comm. 10.8.1 Strip high bit Use this option if you want the high bit of each character reset that is received when using 8N1. (default: depends on emulation selected) - 52 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 10.8.2 Custom palette Use the custom palette instead of the default palette for the selected terminal emulation. (default: OFF) See section 12 for a discussion about the PALETTE requester and for more information about the palettes used in JR-Comm. 10.8.3 Destructive BS Causes JR-Comm to delete any text that is backspaced over when set. Leaves text on screen otherwise. (default: ON except for VT100 emulation) 10.8.4 Swap DEL & BS When this gadget is selected JR-Comm will reverse the action of the <DEL> and <BACKSPACE> keys. (default: OFF) 10.8.5 Smooth scroll This option will scroll the screen smoothly, rather than in one line chunks. (default: OFF) 10.8.6 Chat line on The chat line is a 256 character line displayed along the left side of the status line. The line will automatically scroll left as data is entered into the line. (default: OFF) Refer to section 3.8 for details on the chat mode. 10.8.7 Wrap lines Set this gadget and JR-Comm will force a carriage return/linefeed whenever text reaches the right most column. (default: ON except for VT100 and SkyPix emulations) - 53 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 10.8.8 IBM Doorway mode JR-Comm will mimic an IBM keyboard when this gadget is selected. (default: OFF) 10.8.9 Cursor blink Enable and disable the blinking characteristic via this gadget. (default: ON) 10.8.10 Optimized scroll When this mode is active JR-Comm will try to reduce all display scrolls to a minimum screen width and number of bit- planes in order to accomplish the scroll in less time then brute force scrolling. Quite helpful for VT100 with smooth scroll in effect or when using the IBM 16 color emulation. (default: OFF) 10.9 Answerback message This is used with the VT100 emulation. The string contained within this gadget will be sent whenever a <CTRL><E> (decimal 5) is received. (default: blank) 10.10 Text Set this to the color you wish to use for the display. The number will correspond to those displayed in the PALETTE requester. Valid values range from 1 to 15. (default: 1) 10.11 Background Sets the background color of the display. Valid values range from 1 to 15. (default: 0) 10.12 Cursor Sets the color of the underline cursor. Values from 1 to 15 are allowed. (default: 1) - 54 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 10.13 Status Color of status line data. JR-Comm will modify this value depending on which emulation is set, so be sure to modify this value after setting the emulation or your entry will be overwritten. Values can range from 1 to 15. (default: depends on emulation selected) - 55 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 11 FUNCTION KEY MACROS REQUESTER Up to 40 macros of 160 characters can be defined for each macros file. Select the appropriate modifier gadget in order to edit the desired set of macros for function keys <F1> to <F10>. 11.1 Macro escape codes A simple set of escape codes are included. They are listed as follows. ~ Pause one half second. ^^ The '^' character itself. ^~ The '~' character itself. ^! The '!' character itself. ^char (A-Z) Send char as a control character. !%decimal Character pacing, in decimal tenths of seconds. !@filename Load a new macros file from the default directory. !*filename Load a new phonebook file from the default directory. !$hex Send a hex character. !#decimal Chain to macro where decimal equals: 0-9 Function keys 1-10 alone. 10-19 " " " w/CTRL 20-29 " " " w/SHIFT 30-39 " " " w/ALT For example, a macro such as "~~^mHello !%2There!$d!#4" would wait one second then send a carriage return. The string "Hello There" is then sent with the characters in "There" each paced by two tenths of a second. Another carriage return is sent and it will finally chain to the macro defined for <F5>. - 56 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 12 PALETTE REQUESTER Works like most any color palette requester found in other Amiga applications. 12.1 Red Green and Blue proportional gadgets These sliders adjust the associated color component of the selected color. 12.2 Color selection gadgets Depending on the screen type, there can be from 2 to 16 color selection gadgets available on the right hand side of the PALETTE requester. Select the color you wish to adjust. 12.3 RESET This gadget will reset the palette to the default for the active terminal emulation. If you are familiar with the IBM color palette you will notice that the colors do not follow normal IBM ordering. A color index is used by JR-Comm so that the terminal emulation displays the correct color while still presenting a consistent color scheme for all requesters in any type screen. 12.4 UNDO Restores palette to initial setting when the requester was first opened. 12.5 Palette usage 12.5.1 Default palettes JR-Comm has four default color palettes built-in for use with the various terminal emulations. Three of them are hard-coded; one for the TTY, Amiga ANSI and IBM color emulations, one for the IBM mono and VT100 emulations and one for SkyPix. When the IBM mono or VT100 emulation is selected, the palette will behave somewhat differently. This was done so that the hi/lo intensity and blink attributes are properly maintained. In this palette colors 0, 2, 4, & 6 are tied together, as are colors 1 & 5 and 3 & 7. So, you only have - 57 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition to adjust colors 0 (background), 1 (lo intensity) and 3 (hi intensity). The last palette is the custom default palette. The very first time you run JR-Comm, or when it is started without a defaults file present, this palette is set to the same values as the IBM color palette. It is then saved in your defaults file. 12.5.2 Phonebook entry palettes Each phonebook entry contains its own palette. When the entry is created, or whenever its terminal emulation type is changed thereafter, this palette gets set to the appropriate palette as described above. Set the custom palette gadget in the TERMINAL PARAMETERS requester if you modify this palette, this prevents JR-Comm from over-writing it. In order to set the palette in a phonebook entry to the custom default palette you must have the custom palette gadget set before adding the entry to the phonebook. - 58 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 13 GENERAL PARAMETERS REQUESTER The GENERAL PARAMETERS requester contains the options, filenames and pathnames of parameters that are global to the JR-Comm environment. 13.1 Status line The following options control the JR-Comm status line. 13.1.1 Status line active Toggles the status line on and off. (default: ON) 13.1.2 Time of day clock Turn on or off the time-of-day clock. (default: ON) 13.1.3 Connect timer The connect timer is displayed when this gadget is selected. (default: ON) 13.1.4 24 hour mode Enables 24 hour mode for the time-of-day clock when selected. (default: OFF) 13.1.5 Audible beep This gadget, when selected, will cause JR-Comm to sound a beep whenever an action occurs which the user should be made aware of. If this gadget is not selected, JR-Comm will use the Amiga Intuition system function of DisplayBeep(). This allows JR-Comm to either flash the display or to use the beep defined by one of many available install beep programs. (default: ON) 13.2 Miscellaneous The following options effect various global features available in the JR-Comm environment. - 59 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 13.2.1 CTS/RTS handshake Activates hardware handshaking when selected. Your modem must have DSR active, or JR-Comm will disable this mode automatically. (default: OFF) 13.2.2 Immediate exit If selected, this option will disable the QUERY requester when exiting JR-Comm, allowing you to quit immediately. No check to see if you're still online is made, so be careful with this one. (default: OFF) 13.2.3 Logfile active This option allows JR-Comm to log transfer and session activity. The following actions are presently recorded: - JR-Comm session start and end. - Connection to a system via the dialer. - Modem hangup command. - Carrier drop if the "Ignore Carrier Detect" option in the MODEM PARAMETERS Requester is not active. - Successful downloads with file size, total error count and cps rate. (default: OFF) 13.2.4 Split review Activates split review buffer mode when selected. This mode allows you to review the contents of the buffer while still being able to converse with the system you're connected to. (default: OFF) 13.2.5 File saver When enabled, this feature closes and then re-opens a file being downloaded each time the transfer buffer is written to disk. This prevents the total loss of a file if a system crash occurs during the transfer. This option is not recommended for use with floppy disks due to the time required to seek to the end of the file every time it is re-opened. (default: OFF) - 60 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 13.2.6 Disk check This option is included for floppy disk or other users that have a limited amount of free disk space available for downloading. It will not work with any device, such as the ram disk, that always reports itself as being full. The free space computation is based on the old filing system of 488 bytes per sector. It is also only functional for the protocols that send file size information. These protocols are CIS B+, YMODEM, YMODEM-g and ZMODEM. It is best to use an assigned directory or volume label for a floppy disk so that you can change the directory assignment or change disks if the QUERY requester is posted during a file transfer. If, after 15 seconds, you have not responded to the QUERY requester, JR-Comm will abort the transfer. Respond with a 'YES' to have JR-Comm recalculate the free space after changing disks or directories, if the calculation again fails, the sequence will be repeated. A 'NO' response will result in an abort of the file transfer. (default: OFF) 13.3 GMT offset This value is used for YMODEM and ZMODEM file protocols so that the true file date can be preserved. To do this requires that the filedate be converted to Greenwich Mean Time by the sender and then modified again for the timezone the receiver is located in. Valid values range from -12 to 12. (default: 0) NOTE: An offset value for North American Eastern Standard Time (EST) would be -5. Use -8 for Pacific Standard Time (PST). You will have to subtract 1 from these figures when Daylight Savings Time is in effect. 13.4 Task priority JR-Comm will adjust its task priority to this value when non- zero. Valid priorities range from -5 through 15. (default: 0) - 61 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 13.5 Chat history size This value determines how many lines of chat history are available. Permissible values are from 10 to 100. (default: 50) 13.6 Review buffer size Size of the review buffer in blocks of 2,048 bytes. Valid values are from 2 to 250. (default: 8) 13.7 Transfer buffer size Size of the transfer buffer in blocks of 2,048 bytes. Used for file transfers and for ASCII sends. Allowable values are 4 to 16. (default: 8) 13.8 Filenames There are four default filenames used by JR-Comm to load a phonebook and macros file when first started and for the capture and log files. All four default to the string "jrcomm" with appropriate postfixes. 13.9 Font name & size This pair of string gadgets enables you to set JR-Comm to a font of your choosing. JR-Comm will only look in the FONTS: directory for this font. 13.10 Paths JR-Comm uses these three pathnames to locate and place files as necessary. The pathname defined in the JR-Comm files string gadget is initially set to S: or JRCOMM: when the program is run for the first time, but it can be set to a different path to give you re-direction capabilities. See the discussion on the pathnames in the sections 2.2 through 2.4. - 62 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 13.11 Keymap If you wish to use an alternative keymap to the default used by the system, enter its name here. The most logical way to set up your environment, if there are multiple keymaps and/or fonts that you need to use, would be to save separate .def files, each set to a different keymap and/or font along with a phonebook file so that you can group phonebook entries according to keymap and font desired. For example, German users will probably have the 'd' keymap set as their default, so "jrcomm.def" and "jrcomm.phones" would be set for all German oriented systems that they want to call. In a separate "gb.def" file, they could set the keymap to 'gb' for Great Britain. The "gb.def" would also set the phonebook to "gb.phones". You would now be able to simply load the "gb.def" file with the LOAD DEFAULTS menu item of the PROJECT menu. The associated phonebook (and macros file if defined) would be loaded automatically. NOTE: JR-Comm gives you full dead/double-dead key support for accents and the like. 13.12 Serial device & unit These string gadgets allow you to use a custom serial device. Set the strings to their appropriate values. When the GENERAL PARAMETERS requester is closed, JR-Comm will attempt to open the new serial device you have entered. - 63 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 14 MISC MENU The following are descriptions of the menu items available. 14.1 Timer reset This item will reset the online timer. 14.2 Send break Causes the serial device to send a break signal of the length specified in the SERIAL PARAMETERS requester. 14.3 Hangup modem JR-Comm will hangup the modem, either by dropping DTR or by sending the hangup command string as defined in the MODEM PARAMETERS requester. 14.4 Clear screen JR-Comm will clear the screen and home the cursor. In Amiga ANSI emulation mode it will also reset the alternate character set. In VT100 emulation it will reset both character sets. 14.5 Print screen This item will send each line of text on the screen to the printer. This is not a graphics printout, so it is disabled in SkyPix emulation mode due to the ability of this emulation to change fonts on the fly. 14.6 Registration The REGISTRATION INFROMATION requester allows you to print out a completed JR-Comm user registration form. All information must be entered in order to proceed to the PRINT REGISTRATION QUERY requester. - 64 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 15 MODES MENU The following modes are available from this menu. 15.1 Printer Turns printer output on or off. This is a checkmarked item when active. An asterisk will be placed to the left of the protocol indicator if the status line is on. 15.2 Chat line Enables and disables the chat line. Checkmarked when active. 15.3 HEX output Displays input from the modem as lines of hexadecimal bytes with text to the right. Checkmarked when active. 15.4 IBM Doorway Enables IBM Doorway mode. Keys will be sent as IBM scan codes instead of ASCII. Checkmarked when active. 15.5 Screen title Turns on the screen title. Checkmarked when active. - 65 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 16 INFORMATIONAL MESSAGES These messages are displayed via the JR-Comm QUERY requester. YES/NO or RETRY/CANCEL are valid responses where appropriate. 16.1 Directory not found The FILE requester couldn't find the requested directory. 16.2 User font not found The font requested by the user was not located. Check the filename entered for the font and/or font height. 16.3 Can't load file, wrong version JR-Comm located a file, but it was created by a different version of JR-Comm, so it refused to load it. Valid for .def and .phones files only. 16.4 Can't open log file JR-Comm couldn't open the log file. Check for a disk full condition. 16.5 File already exists, resume d/l? Posted during the start of a ZMODEM or CIS B+ download due to finding a file of the same name as the one the sender is attempting to download to you. A no response will cause JR-Comm to start the transfer from the beginning of the file. 16.6 File already exists, overwrite? Also posted during a download where a file already exists, a no response will cause JR-Comm to create a filename of the same name, but will also append a numeric postfix to it. 16.7 Really quit JR-Comm? If the immediate exit option is not set, JR-Comm will post this QUERY requester to ensure that you really wanted to exit JR-Comm. - 66 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 16.8 Unable to open printer JR-Comm could not open the printer device. 16.9 Review buffer is empty Review mode cannot be entered if there is nothing in the review buffer. 16.10 Print registration form? Self explanatory. - 67 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 17 WARNING MESSAGES These are messages that indicate something that requires user interaction to correct. 17.1 Directory read error An AmigaDOS read error has occurred while attempting to read the directory list into the FILE requester. 17.2 Could not open screen JR-Comm could not open the requested screen. Check free memory. 17.3 Could not open window Same as for screen above. 17.4 Capture file currently open! Two capture files cannot be open simultaneously. Close the current capture file first. 17.5 Couldn't open capture file Self explanatory. 17.6 CTS disabled, no CTS present CTS handshaking is disabled. A CTS signal from the modem is required in order to activate this handshaking mode. 17.7 CTS disabled, no DSR present CTS handshaking disabled due to a lack of a DSR signal being active from the modem. 17.8 CTS disabled, shared mode CTS handshaking can only be active if JR-Comm is able to open the device in exclusive access mode. Do not have anything else running that is using the serial device. - 68 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 17.9 Session will expire in 5 mins Posted at the end of the 3 hour session limit for unregistered versions only. - 69 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 18 FATAL ABORT MESSAGES The following messages are posted prior to JR-Comm terminating. These are ALWAYS fatal abort conditions. - Out of memory. - Serial device error. - Need newer OS. - Timer device error. - Couldn't start child task. - Console device error. - 70 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 19 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS - THE ONLINE TIMER IS ALWAYS COUNTING, EVEN WHEN OFFLINE. -and- - THE DIALER EXITS IMMEDIATELY WITHOUT DIALING. These two problems are due to the carrier detect signal (DCD) always being active. Check the manual to the modem for the proper command and/or hardware switch in order to set the modem so that this signal is only active when a carrier signal is present. If the modem (or cable) doesn't allow you to correct this problem, you will have to disable the carrier detect logic in JR-Comm by setting the button gadget "Ignore carrier detect" which is located in the MODEM PARAMETERS requester. - THE DIALER ALWAYS REMOVES AN ENTRY AFTER THREE DIAL ATTEMPTS. You modem must be able to RELIABLY detect a busy signal or it will return a NO CARRIER response. If three of these responses are received for a selected entry the dialer will deselect it. If your modem does not detect busy signals, also known as "blind dialing", or it is not reliably detecting them, you must activate the "Ignore No Carrier" option in the MODEM PARAMETERS requester to deactivate this feature of the dialer. - THE DIALER ALWAYS SETS THE BAUD RATE TO SOMETHING OTHER THAN THE SELECTED OR CONNECTED RATE, WHY? There are two reasons why this would happen. The most common one would be have the "Auto-baud" option in the MODEM PARAMETERS requester active while your modem is not set (or capable) of returning extended result codes for the "CONNECT" message. The second reason is if your modem does not adhere to the Hayes standard for these extended result codes. Please refer to section 2.8.5 for more details about the auto- baud feature. - ALL FILE TRANSFERS IMMEDIATELY ABORT WITH "Carrier not detected..." This is related to the previous problem except that the carrier detect signal (DCD) is never active, even when it should be. The two most likely causes for this occurring would be a defective serial cable or modem. Check the modem manual to verify that your modem does have a functioning DCD signal and that the serial cable passes this signal. - 71 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition - JR-COMM WILL NOT ENABLE CTS HANDSHAKE. In order to use CTS/RTS handshake, your modem must have the DSR and CTS signals active. Check your manual so that you can set the modem to always have DSR active and have CTS remain active (but not set high permanently) when offline. - THE MODEM SOMETIMES "MISSES" THE DIAL COMMAND SENT BY THE DIALER. Some modems have trouble decoding an "AT" command sequence when the characters are sent too fast. Set the "Dial pacing" parameter in the MODEM PARAMETERS requester to a value that allows your modem to reliably receive the dial command. This value represents tenths of a second delay between each character in the command string. - WHY DO DOWNLOADS SOMETIMES TAKE LONGER THAN UPLOADS TO THE SAME SYSTEM? This is not a problem. It is simply that any download, regardless of the protocol being used, is entirely dependent on the speed of the sending program. You can only receive a file as fast as it is being sent to you. - MY MACROS ARE SENDING INCORRECT DATA WHEN USING THE IBM DOORWAY MODE. This is normal. Function key macros are disabled during Doorway mode due to JR-Comm emulating the hexadecimal scan key codes that are sent whenever a key is pressed while this mode is active. For this reason you cannot have macros when using this mode. - I'M GETTING DOWNLOAD ERRORS AT OR ABOVE 9600BPS WITH AN MNP MODEM. Since an MNP modem is an error correcting device that gives you an error free connection, any errors at high baud rates can only mean one thing; data being lost between the modem and computer. The cause of this is due to the cpu getting locked-out long enough for the most recently received data byte to be overwritten by the next incoming byte. Unfortunately, the internal serial port does not buffer these bytes like some of the more advanced UARTS (Universal Asynchronous Receive Transmit device) available these days. Thus, the cpu has a fairly critical "window of opportunity" in order to successfully fetch data as it is received. Unlike the IBM style computer, the Amiga does not have the ability to simply pop in an alternate (and more powerful) UART that would eliminate this problem. Do not despair however. There are a few simple things that you can check to determine the cause of these bytes getting lost. - 72 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition Using an 8 or 16 color screen can have a direct effect on these problems, try dropping down to a Workbench or 2 color screen to see if this eliminates the errors. Next, are you running JR-Comm or any other task with an excessively high priority? Do you have any device drivers (hard disk drivers are a common one) that run at an unreasonably high priority? Use the XOPER utility (available on most better BBS and commercial systems) to give you a list of the priorities for all the tasks present in your system. If the task priority in the GENERAL PARAMETERS requester hasn't been modified, you may want to bump it up one or two at a time and see if this cures the problem. Having more than two floppy drives connected (one internal and one external) will definitely give you problems with the internal serial port. This is due to AmigaDOS checking for a changed disk once every second or so for each drive. The same holds true for certain hard disk controller devices that have more than two or three partitions active. Believe it or not, AmigaDOS also checks each partition once every second to see if it too has been changed! Finally, check if you are running any cpu intensive tasks in the background while you're downloading. Although the Amiga is a multitasking machine, the resources available are finite, especially when you're running JR-Comm (or any communications program) at 9600bps or 19.2kbps (anything higher than 19.2kbps is definitely not recommended with the internal port). Remember that the internal port can't buffer the data it receives, so don't bog down the cpu or it won't be able to respond to the data fast enough to prevent it from being overwritten. If you still continue to receive errors contact the support BBS for any additional help that may have been discovered since the printing of this manual. As an aside, you may wish to look into a third party serial board for the A2000 and A3000 series of Amiga computers. These boards can greatly reduce the problems you may be having, especially if you can't completely eliminate them. - JR-COMM SOMETIMES REPORTS THAT IT COULDN'T OPEN A WINDOW. You're running JR-Comm on a system that has little free memory. Use a screen with less colors. - 73 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition - ATREDES BBS ZMODEM DOWNLOADS SOMETIMES HAVE "WEIRD" FILE SIZES. Some versions of the Atredes BBS system had a bug that gave incorrect information for this protocol. The file will be received correctly though. Inform the sysop of that system to upgrade to a newer version. - FILE TRANSFERS WITH A BBS-PC! SYSTEM <INSERT YOUR PROBLEM HERE>. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to determine which version of BBS-PC! you are really dealing with. Although it may "say" that it is version 4.20 (or whatever), it could be any one of a number of releases due to the publisher of this product not bumping the version number as they fix things. The only certain way is to know the file size of the executable for this program and, as a caller to the system, you cannot find this out. Contact the sysop of the system in question to determine what is the best way to correct the problems you're experiencing with this BBS. - I'M USING JR-COMM TO DIAL OUT ON A BBS LINE. HOW DO I PREVENT IT FROM EXITING AFTER RECEIVING A "RING" OR 3 "NO DIALTONE" MESSAGES? The "RING" message in the MODEM PARAMETERS REQUESTER will have to be deleted in order to disable that feature. The "NO DIALTONE" feature of the dialer can't really be disabled, but a work around has been developed that will "fool" the dialer. What you need to do is first delete the "NO DIALTONE" string. Now, change the "NO CARRIER" to "NO DIALTONE". Lastly, set the "Ignore no carrier" option in the MODEM PARAMETERS requester. What this accomplishes is that the dialer will treat the "NO DIALTONE" response as if the modem was a dumb Hayes that was using blind dialing. Although an intelligent modem that has a call progression feature can still return a "NO CARRIER" response if the modem times out without the remote system picking up or if it fails to detect a "BUSY" signal, the "Ignore no carrier" feature will prevent the dialer from removing the phone entry from the selected list. - WHY DOESN'T JR-COMM HAVE A YMODEM-batch PROTOCOL? It does. YMODEM IS a batch protocol, thus calling it "batch" would be redundant. There are really only two variations of TRUE YMODEM(tm). The first is YMODEM and the second is the YMODEM-g protocol for use with reliable data connections, such as an MNP modem. The trouble lies in the fact that some telecommunications software authors took it upon themselves to implement only some of the - 74 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition features of YMODEM and still call it YMODEM. The most common variant being what is now properly called XMODEM-1k. Later, after realizing the errors of their ways, they added YMODEM-batch, but called it that to save face with their users. If the protocol that calls itself YMODEM does not send filename, size and date information (JR-Comm will tell you this by "stepping down" to XMODEM), it is really XMODEM-1k. There are some other versions that will send this information, but will not support batch operation. You can still use JR-Comm's YMODEM in these instances too. Finally, there are some very old versions of YMODEM that you may run into that cannot handle the 1024 byte block that is in widespread use today. This is the reason for the YMODEM and YMODEM-1k options in the FILE TRANSFER PARAMETERS requester. In almost all cases, leave the 1k version selected. Only use the other for instances where the receiver must have 128 byte blocks sent. JR-Comm has enough intelligence built-in to handle almost any of the mutant versions of this protocol that you may run into. If you do run into an especially uncommon strain of this protocol, please report it to the BBS so that it can be modified to deal with it in a future release. - MY ZMODEM TRANSFERS ARE MUCH SLOWER THAN THOSE WITH OTHER PROGRAMS. WHY? There are several causes of this happening. If one or more are present, you will get very slow transfer rates as their effects are cumulative. The most common cause is having the "Escape control chars" feature enabled. Unless the network you're using is very troublesome with control characters, you do not need to have this feature active. It will really kill the throughput of a ZMODEM transfer, especially for binary files, as it adds an extra byte for every control character in the file. Downloads and uploads to or from a floppy disk will also slow down the transfer. Although JR-Comm uses asynchronous file I/O which enables it to continue sending or receiving while reading or writing to the floppy, it will still have an effect on the transfer. You may want to try transferring to and from the ram disk to increase the throughput. The "Disk check" and "Logfile active" features will also delay the start of a transfer. JR-Comm is very conservative about figuring CPS rates; it doesn't just do a check of the time taken to receive the current block of data. Instead, it uses the actual time taken to do the whole transfer from start to finish. - 75 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition If a file that is about to be received has the same name as a file on your system, JR-Comm is going to ask you if you want to resume the transfer. If not, you will be asked if you want the file to be overwritten. Answering these questions takes time and will make the transfer a bit slower than normal. The last reason for slower transfers has to do with uploads only. If the "Overdrive" feature is not enabled, JR-Comm will not do a burst mode send of data out the serial port. Although you will see a moderate to substantial increase in performance (directly proportional to baud rate), it has the drawback of increasing error recovery time. It is not recommended for noisy connections or for baud rates below 9600bps. - WHY DOES JR-COMM SOMETIMES TAKE SO LONG TO ABORT A FILE TRANSFER? JR-Comm tries very hard to prevent leftover data from an aborted file transfer from splattering all over your display. If the wait is extraordinarily long you can click on the close window gadget a few times to cause a hard abort to occur regardless of what data is left in the pipe. Although ZMODEM transfers will generally abort faster, the XMODEM technology protocols can take a good deal of time to abort. The main reason for this is that the receiver can only detect an abort sequence at the start of a block. It cannot determine this while receiving the data portion of the block. So, you may have to wait for as many as 1,028 bytes to be sent or received before it will begin the abort sequence. The "Overdrive" option will aggravate this delay substantially for low baud rates. - WHY DO 4 DOTS APPEAR IN THE STATUS LINE WHEN USING VT100? These dots represent the four LED indicators on a real VT100 terminal. They are software controlled by the remote system during operation. An '*' character is used to indicate that the LED is "on". - JR-COMM HAS TROUBLE KEEPING UP WITH 16 COLOR ANSI. WHY? If you're using an Amiga that only has chip ram or "pseudo-fast" ram instead of "true" fast ram, the cpu is going to be locked-out during display and scroll functions. An 8 color screen should help eliminate the slow operation that occurs on systems with no true fast ram. True fast ram is different than ram expansion that resides at the hexadecimal $C00000 address, such as the 512k A501 expansion for the A500. A 16 color screen also is limited to 2400bps operation. Somewhat less for PAL screens, even if fast ram is installed. If you're using - 76 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition a high-speed modem, you should drop down to at least an 8 color screen, or risk serial data loss. See the next problem discussion which is closely related to this one. - WHY ARE THE COLORS ORDERED DIFFERENTLY THEN A TRUE MS-DOS MACHINE? JR-Comm uses a translation table to convert the ANSI sequences that change color to the correct hue. This was done to make the various requesters and default white on black text look "right" on the Amiga. If the "correct" color ordering was used, the default text would have been red for both the terminal and the string gadgets in the requesters. The color scheme was further designed to allow the gadgets and their labels to be readable from a 2 color to 16 color screen. - BUT, DID IT HAVE TO EMULATE THE "FLICKER" OF THE OLD CGA MONITORS TOO? The slight flicker you see as colored text scrolls up the screen is a result of the blitter scrolling each of the four component bitplanes that make up a 16 color screen one at a time. Since the total scroll operation takes longer than the time to refresh and paint the bitplane data once or twice, you see a small flicker. Some of the colors are more prone to this than others. The color scheme of the palette was also modified to take this into account by separating some of the more offending colors to minimize this effect. Unfortunately, this wasn't completely successful. A future version of JR-Comm may have a better solution to this. Only authorized system calls and methods were used to prevent problems from occurring with the new version(s) of Kickstart and Workbench that were still under development when JR-Comm 1.0 was released. - 77 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 20 SUPPORT INFORMATION Support for JR-Comm is available through several networks. The most reliable is to call the JR-Comm support BBS directly. You will also receive a response here faster than through any of the other networks as I use it the most. 20.1 JR-Comm Support BBS The support BBS is attached to the FidoNet BBS network and receives the international Amiga echomail conference, twenty-four hour crashmail is supported via the MS-DOS version of Binkley. The BBS is also a member of the RIME PCRelay network and receives the Amiga conference there too. A private support conference is provided for registered users, although the system is open to anyone who calls. The most recent version of JR-Comm will be available for download and for FidoNet file requesting via the "magic" name "JRCOMM". Atlantic County Amiga BBS - (609) 625-2453 Baud rates supported: 3/12/24/96/14400 HST/V.32 FidoNet address: 1:266/61 RIME network address: AMIGA 20.2 GEnie Deb Christensen, the head sysop in charge of the Amiga roundtable, has graciously provided a private support conference for registered users of JR-Comm. The conference is #23 at page 555;1. If you need to contact me via email, my ID is JRADIGAN. 20.3 CompuServe I try to access the AmigaTech conference two or three times a week to keep up on the Telecom area (4). My ID for Easyplex email is 76545,201. 20.4 People Link I also try to access this network a few times a week to stay abreast of the conversation in the Amiga Zone, section 8. My ID here is JRADIGAN for email purposes. - 78 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90 JR-Comm 1.0 Users Manual Electronic Edition 20.5 BIX Same goes for BIX; my ID is also JRADIGAN here for email. 20.6 USENET I currently maintain an account at jprad@faatcrl.UUCP for netmail and I also frequent the comp.sys.amiga(.hardware/tech) newsgroups. For those without smart mailer access, my bang path is: ...!rutgers!faatcrl!jprad 20.7 If you have problems The need for a complete and detailed description cannot be emphasized enough, statements like "The dialer doesn't work" or "It won't upload/download" do neither of us any good. Also, don't give up immediately. If something seems wrong ask the sysop of the system you're connected to first. Since his/her system is more than likely to be less expensive to call than the support BBS (and probably less busy too), it makes sense to see if he/she can help you out first. If you do post a problem report, please be sure to include the name and number of the system you had a problem with, how you created the problem (so that I can recreate it) and anything else that is related to the problem. A short description of your system may also be helpful. Hard disk users should include the type of controller and how many partitions you're using. You may also want to include a capture file of what happened if it is terminal related (make sure that no capture filters are on when you do). You may also want to send a snapshot of your JR-Comm setup (save a .def file using the initials of your name, like "jpr.def") and archive it along with the capture file so that you can upload it for me to examine. Providing as much information as you can gather the first time will usually result in a faster resolution of the problem and will eliminate your having to call several times only to find me asking for more information. In any event, good luck and happy modeming! Jack Radigan - 79 - Copyright (C) 1990 John P. Radigan Printed 07/01/90