Category : BBS Programs+Doors
Archive : RIPTM154.ZIP
Filename : RIPTERM.DOC
Output of file : RIPTERM.DOC contained in archive : RIPTM154.ZIP
³ ³°
³ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ³°
³ RIPterm v1.54.00 ³°
³ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ³°
³ ³°
³ ³°
³ July 14, 1993 ³°
³ ³°
³ ³°
³ Copyright (c) 1992-93, TeleGrafix Communications, Inc. ³°
³ All Rights Reserved ³°
³ ³°
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º 1.0 þ INTRODUCTION º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
Thank you for trying RIPterm! A revolutionary new way of viewing
on-line hosts. This graphics based terminal program is the latest
release of the RIPscrip graphical terminal program.
As a user of RIPterm, you should be aware of its licensing agreement.
The following information details how, when and where RIPterm may be
distributed. Read this section very carefully.
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³ 1.1 þ DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
You are free to distribute RIPterm to anyone you wish based upon the
following terms and conditions. RIPterm is FreeWare only in the
sense that you may distribute it governed by the following
restrictions: RIPterm may NOT be freely distributed as part of a
commercial or ShareWare software package without written
authorization from TeleGrafix Communications, Inc. ("TeleGrafix").
RIPterm may not be modified in any way without prior written consent
from TeleGrafix. There are two exceptions to the license that do not
violate the license agreement. They are:
a) You may supply a RIPTERM.PCX file in 640x350 (16 color) format
which will be displayed while RIPterm is starting up. The
purpose is to offer an advertising mechanism for your host.
The lower 1/7th (50 scan lines) of the intro screen is
reserved for TeleGrafix's copyright information. Altering of
the RIPTERM.EXE file to change the copyright violates this
license agreement and is a crime under copyright laws.
b) You may also provide a dialing directory file (RIPTERM.PHO)
with your host telephone number entered in.
RIPterm may not be distributed unless accompanied by all of the
following files (either in diskette or archive form):
RIPTERM.EXE <- The RIPterm executable program
RIPTERM.HLP <- RIPterm help file
RIPTERM.DOC <- RIPterm documentation (this file)
RIPTERM.FNT <- RIPterm system font data file
RIPTERM.RES <- RIPterm image resource file
RIPTERM.PCX <- RIPterm logo file
WHATSNEW.DOC <- Details new things in this release
DIALCONV.EXE <- Dialing directory conversion utility
BOLD.CHR <- Graphical Font (Bold Font)
EURO.CHR <- Graphical Font (European Font)
GOTH.CHR <- Graphical Font (Gothic Font)
LCOM.CHR <- Graphical Font (Complex Font)
LITT.CHR <- Graphical Font (Small Font)
SANS.CHR <- Graphical Font (Sans Serif Font)
SCRI.CHR <- Graphical Font (Script Font)
SIMP.CHR <- Graphical Font (Simplex Font)
TRIP.CHR <- Graphical Font (Triplex Font)
TSCR.CHR <- Graphical Font (Triplex Script Font)
If you choose the customization features mentioned previously when
distributing RIPterm, you may provide the following files in addition
to the files listed above:
RIPTERM.PCX <- Logo file to promote your host
RIPTERM.PHO <- A "pre-configured" dialing directory file
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³ 1.2 þ LIMITED WARRANTY ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE. TELEGRAFIX COMMUNICATIONS, INC. DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE
FUNCTIONS CONTAINED IN THIS SOFTWARE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR
THAT THE OPERATION OF THIS SOFTWARE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-
FREE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE
SOFTWARE IS WITH THE USER. SHOULD THE SOFTWARE PROVIDED BE DEFECTIVE,
YOU (NOT TELEGRAFIX COMMUNICATIONS, INC.) ASSUME THE ENTIRE COST OF
ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR, OR CORRECTION.
SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO THE
ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY GIVES YOU
SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS AND YOU MAY ALSO HAVE OTHER RIGHTS WHICH VARY
FROM STATE TO STATE.
IN NO EVENT WILL TELEGRAFIX COMMUNICATIONS, INC. BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR
ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS OR OTHER
INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR
INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE EVEN IF TELEGRAFIX OR ITS AUTHORIZED
REPRESENTATIVE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES,
OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY.
SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR
INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR
EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
YOU MAY NOT SUBLICENSE, ASSIGN OR OTHERWISE TRANSFER THIS LICENSE OR
SOFTWARE EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED IN THIS AGREEMENT. ANY ATTEMPT
TO OTHERWISE SUBLICENSE, ASSIGN, OR TRANSFER ANY OF THE RIGHTS,
DUTIES OR OBLIGATIONS HEREUNDER IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED AND WILL
TERMINATE THIS AGREEMENT.
BY INSTALLING OR USING THIS SOFTWARE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE
READ THIS AGREEMENT, UNDERSTAND IT, AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY ITS
TERMS AND CONDITIONS. YOU FURTHER AGREE THAT IT IS THE COMPLETE AND
EXCLUSIVE STATEMENT OF THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN US, WHICH SUPERSEDES ANY
PROPOSAL OR PRIOR AGREEMENT, ORAL OR WRITTEN, AND ANY OTHER
COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN US RELATING TO THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THIS
AGREEMENT.
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³ 1.3 þ REQUIREMENTS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
RIPterm requires that you be using an IBM-PC compatible computer
system running MS-DOS version 3.0 or higher. You must have 430K of
available RAM or more. A hard disk is strongly recommended. You
must have an EGA or higher video adapter and a modem connected to
serial port COM1 through COM4. A mouse and a color monitor are not
required, but are strongly recommended. This software does not
require Extended (XMS) or Expanded (EMS) memory, but can take
advantage of either if present to improve software performance.
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³ 1.4 þ IMPORTANT INFORMATION ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Complications may arise currently if you have a SERIAL mouse
installed instead of a BUS mouse. If you get garbage on the screen
when you move the mouse, then there is a conflict with the MODEM port
and the MOUSE port. Try deleting the RIPTERM.CNF (RIPterm's
configuration file) and restarting RIPterm. Once inside RIPterm,
press ALT-O (for Options) and verify that your settings are correct
for your PC's configuration.
See APPENDIX A - TROUBLESHOOTING (Section A.2) for more details on
this issue.
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³ 1.5 þ INSTALLATION ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Create a directory on your hard disk called RIPTERM. Under that
directory, create another directory called ICONS and a second one
called FONTS. For example:
md \RIPTERM
md \RIPTERM\ICONS
md \RIPTERM\FONTS
Copy all .ICN, .MSK, and .HIC files into the ICONS directory. Copy
all .CHR files into the FONTS directory and all remaining files into
the RIPTERM directory. Type RIPTERM to start up the software. It
will ask you which port your modem is connected to, the baud rate to
use and what printer port your printer is connected to (if any).
If you forget to perform any of these steps, or you UNZIP RIPterm
from the distribution archive without extracting sub-directory info,
RIPterm will accommodate the oversight by prompting you to copy
the necessary icon files over to the correct ICONS\ and/or FONTS\
directories.
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º 1.6 þ THINGS TO KNOW º
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RIPterm may have been accompanied by a number of icon files. If so,
they must be located in the ICONS\ directory. We recommend that you
install RIPterm into a directory called RIPTERM. The ICONS\
directory would be located under the terminal directory as in the
following example: C:\RIPTERM\ICONS. All icon files end in an
extension of .ICN, .MSK or .HIC. If the icons are not located in the
ICONS\ directory, then RIPterm will not load them when instructed to
do so. RIPterm will try to sense if the icons are easily locatable,
and if so, prompt you to move them to the correct location when you
run RIPterm.
There are also ten separate graphical font files that are included
with RIPterm. Like the Icon files, they too need to be located in
their own sub-directory. All font files end in a .CHR file extension
and should be located in the FONTS\ sub-directory under your RIPterm
directory.
If you make a mistake and try to boot-up RIPterm with fonts or icons
in the current RIPterm directory, the software will prompt you to
move the files over to the proper directories. You may choose to let
RIPterm do this for you automatically. If you instruct RIPterm not
to move the files, you will receive the message about files being
in the wrong place each time you load RIPterm until the problem is
taken care of.
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³ 1.7 þ GLOSSARY OF TERMS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
host - refers to the system you are connected to. This can be a BBS,
a mainframe, a network application, whatever.
icon - an icon is a bit map graphic of varying size. Icon files may
end in .ICN, .MSK (mask files), or .HIC (hot icons - used with
buttons)
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³ 1.8 þ TRADEMARKS ³
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RIPterm, RIPscrip, RIPaint, the RIPterm logo, TeleGrafix
Communications, and the TeleGrafix Communications logo are all
trademarks of TeleGrafix Communications, Inc.
All other trademarks are trademarks of their respective holders.
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º 2.0 þ PROGRAM INFORMATION º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
RIPterm has a number of features which make it a useful terminal
program. Among the features are the following:
þ RIPscrip graphics viewing ability
þ Graphics mode operation - 16-color, 640x350 resolution
þ Scrollback mode to review text transmitted from host
þ Editable Keystroke Macros with load/save ability
þ Log-to-Disk ability
þ Printer-Log ability
þ Full ANSI support (plus some VT-102 and VT-52 support)
þ Supports COM1 through COM4
þ Custom IRQ and base I/O address settings
þ Context sensitive, keyword driven help system
þ Pull-down menu operation as well as complete hot-key support
þ Fully configurable modem settings
þ Auto-redial feature
þ Auto-answer mode
þ Batch upload/download ability
þ Auto Z-Modem downloads
þ Upload ASCII files with optional line/character pacing
þ Shell to DOS capability
þ EMS/XMS overlay support to maximize memory efficiency
þ Local external Application system - run favorite programs from
inside RIPterm.
þ Simplified software setup
þ Shell to EMS/XMS/Disk for maximum memory usage in a DOS Shell
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³ 2.1 þ GETTING ON-LINE HELP ³
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The help system of RIPterm is easy to use. Simply hit F1 for help.
To return to the Table of Contents at any time, click on the
"Contents" button at the bottom of the screen. If you have navigated
through various help screens, you can back-up to the previous screen
by clicking on the "Back" button. Any words or phrases which are
highlighted (light blue on color monitors) are "keywords" which you
can click on to jump to that help topic. You may use the
UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT keys to navigate through the help screen's
keywords, or you may use the TAB or SHIFT-TAB to highlight different
keywords. Tap
selected, and you will be taken to that help screen.
The Help System Table of Contents may also be accessed by clicking on
"F1=help" in the Status Bar.
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³ 2.2 þ STARTING RIPTERM ³
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There are a number of options that you may choose from when starting
up RIPterm. These options are specified as "parameters" on the DOS
command line. Each option is preceded with either a hyphen (-) or a
forward slash (/). Each option is described below:
-N ... Suppress the intro screen
-M ... Disables all mouse activity
-O ... Indicate you are already on-line (don't init modem)
-E ... Disable extended keyboard support
-Z ... Disable zooming windows
-D
-P
-R
-S
Command line options are not case sensitive. You may specify these
options together (for single character options), or as separate
parameters on the command line. For example, to suppress the intro
screen, disable zooming windows and indicate that you are already
on-line, you could execute the following DOS command:
RIPTERM -noz
Each of these options are described more fully in the following
sub-sections:
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³ -N ... Suppress the Intro Screen ³
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When you choose this option, the start up logo screen is disabled.
You will be placed directly into RIPterm's session screen providing
there are no configuration problems, or other questions that RIPterm
must ask you in order to run properly.
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³ -M ... Disables all Mouse Activity ³
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When you choose this option, RIPterm will not check for a mouse. In
fact, regardless of whether or not a mouse is installed, RIPterm will
not use it. Generally speaking, you will probably never need to use
this option unless you find that RIPterm doesn't operate properly
with your mouse.
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³ -O ... Indicate you are already on-line (don't init modem) ³
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When you choose this option, RIPterm will not initialize the modem
for you (if your default mode is "modem connection" mode). If you
are in this state, RIPterm will simply start up and press the
key. This is done to (ideally) display some kind of prompt on the
host for you (or at least something). Note that RIPterm will
auto-sense if you are already on-line and do this for you if it
detects you're on-line. This only applies to modem connection mode.
If you are in non-modem connection mode and you specify this
option, RIPterm will start up and do absolutely nothing. It will
not press the
session screen and sit there waiting for you to do something.
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³ -E ... Disable extended keyboard support ³
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This option is primarily for use when you are trying to troubleshoot
the "doorway mode". Doorway mode will take advantage of a 101-key
enhanced AT computer keyboard. If you enable 101-key keyboard mode,
and you do not have a 101-key keyboard (or RIPterm doesn't think you
have one), RIPterm might lock-up. If you inadvertently saved this to
the setup, the next time RIPterm starts up, it could freeze up on you
when you enter doorway mode again. In this case, use this start up
option to "override" 101-key keyboard mode so that you can disable it
and fix things for normal operation. This option should almost never
be necessary except in troubleshooting situations.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ -Z ... Disable Zooming Windows ³
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This option will disable the zooming windows feature of RIPterm for
the duration of the current RIPterm session. This mode overrides the
setup option for zooming windows. If you select Save Setup from the
Modem menu, this override will become permanent (until changed and
saved). Some people find the zooming windows feature annoying in
that it slows down operation of opening and closing windows a little
bit. For these power users, you may use this option, or simply save
the zoom windows off setting to your setup.
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³ -D
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This option will instruct RIPterm to automatically dial a particular
entry in the dialing directory immediately after it initializes the
Modem (if necessary). Whether or not the connection can be
established or not is unimportant, RIPterm will remain active
regardless. Use this option from within a batch file if you
frequently start up RIPterm and need to dial a particular number. You
may specify a dialing directory entry from 1-100. An example of
using this option is as follows:
RIPTERM -D15
The above example starts up RIPterm and places a call to dialing
directory entry #15 just as if you had selected it manually.
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³ -P
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This option instructs RIPterm to load a dialing directory file other
than RIPTERM.PHO upon start up. This option is useful if you
frequently use a special dialing directory file for certain
applications. This option can be used with the command line option
to automatically dial a directory entry upon start up. In other
words, you can combine the -P and -D parameters together on the same
command as in the following example:
RIPTERM -Pmyfile.pho -D3
The above example would load RIPterm, load the directory file called
MYFILE.PHO, initialize the modem, then automatically dial entry
number 3 in the MYFILE.PHO dialing directory file.
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³ -R
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This option allows you to execute a local .RIP file upon initial
start up of RIPterm. This allows you to draw some graphics, or even
set up a screen with modem configuration mouse buttons. This allows
for a great deal of flexibility. This option also serves as a good
mechanism to test RIPscrip graphics for the RIPaint/RIPdraw artist.
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³ -S
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This option allows you to specify an alternate RIPterm setup file
upon start up. By default, RIPterm will load RIPTERM.CNF (or create
one if necessary). Use this option if you frequently start up in a
particular configuration (e.g., using a COM port other than the
standard default port that is recorded in RIPTERM.CNF). This option
may be combined with any other command line parameter for RIPterm as
in the following example:
RIPTERM -nz -Pmyfile.pho -Smysetup.cnf -D10
The above example suppresses the intro logo screen, instructs RIPterm
not to use zooming windows, loads the dialing directory file
MYFILE.PHO, loads configuration file MYSETUP.CNF and automatically
dials directory entry #10 upon start up. This is about as complex of
a start-up example as you can get. This is typically nothing like
what you would ever use with RIPterm unless you are what is commonly
referred to as a "Power User", whereby this stuff would be old hat to
you anyway.
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³ 2.3 þ HELP ON THE MENUS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Selecting the "Pull-Down Menu Help" option from the PROJECT menu
allows you to view help information on the various menu options. A
window will appear instructing you to select a pull-down menu option
for help. Simply click on the right mouse button and pull down the
desired menu. Select an option, and a Help Screen will appear on
that item. When finished, press the
mode. You may also select menu options via the keyboard by using the
F10 key to activate the menu system.
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³ 2.4 þ PULL-DOWN MENUS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
To activate the pull down menus, move the mouse pointer to the top of
the screen and press and hold down the right mouse button. A menu
bar will appear at the top of the screen. Move the mouse pointer to
any of these items and a list of menu options will appear below the
menu bar. At this point, move the mouse down into this list of items
and as you move over different items, they will be highlighted. To
select any given item, release the right mouse button while the
desired option is highlighted.
You may access the menu system without the mouse by pressing the F10
key. When selected, the menu bar will appear with one of the menu
items highlighted. Use the RIGHT and LEFT keys to highlight the
desired menu item, then press the PGDN, DOWN or ENTER keys to display
a list of menu contents for the specified topic. Use the UP/DOWN
keys to highlight a particular item in the list. The HOME and END
keys work as you would expect them to. While a menu is displayed
completely, you may use the LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to move to an
adjacent menu topic. Pressing PGUP or ESC while a menu is displayed
will remove the list of menu options, and return you to the menu bar
only. Pressing ESC again will terminate the menu bar mode and return
you to your RIPterm session. If you select options while accessing
the menu with the keyboard, when the option is finished executing,
you will be returned to the pull-down menu so that you can execute
other options quickly.
All options in the pull down menus have corresponding hot-keys that
you can use. Hot-keys are keyboard short cuts for menu options.
Hot-keys make it so that you do not have to use the mouse to access
the menu.
Some menu options are "toggle" items. If an option is toggled ON,
then you will see a check-mark beside the option indicating that it
is active. Select these options to toggle the state ON or OFF.
The remaining portion of this section describes each menu, and how
each option functions.
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³ 2.4.1 þ THE "PROJECT" MENU ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This menu contains many general RIPterm functions:
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³ ABOUT RIPTERM ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option will display a help screen displaying the copyright
information for RIPterm.
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³ SYSTEM INFO ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option will display the amount of RAM memory currently available
as well as the amount of disk space free on the currently selected
hard disk.
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³ HELP SYSTEM ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option will display the help system's Table of Contents.
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³ HELP ON MENUS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option will allow you to view help information on the menus. A
window will appear instructing you to select a menu option. Depress
the right mouse button and pull down the desired menu. Select an
option, and a help screen will appear for that item. When finished,
press
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³ OPEN LOG FILE ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
A log file captures text transmitted from the host into a text file.
ANSI color codes and RIPscrip graphics commands are filtered out for
your convenience. This command can be very powerful on hosts where
you want to save data coming across the screen to a file that you can
read when off-line, at your leisure. A log file can be as big as you
want, subject to the amount of currently available disk space.
To open a log file, select "Open Log File" from the menu. You will
be prompted for a filename. When a log file is open, the menu option
"Open Log File" changes to "Pause/Close Log" and the status bar will
show the log file name in the third spot from the left, where the
terminal emulation is normally displayed.
If a log file is currently open, selecting "Pause/Close Log" from the
menu, or clicking on the filename in the status bar will give you the
option to either pause the log, or to close the file. Pausing
"suspends" logging to disk temporarily so that you can do things
without saving them to the log file. If you are currently paused,
selecting "Pause/Close Log" again or clicking on the filename in the
status bar will prompt you to either resume, or close the log.
If a log file is open, and you choose EXIT RIPTERM, it will be
closed automatically.
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³ JUMP TO DOS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
The "Jump to DOS" feature allows you to shell out to an MS-DOS
command line while remaining in RIPterm. You would use this if you
wanted to obtain a DOS directory, or to run an editor, or use DOS in
general. To return to RIPterm from the DOS command line, type
"EXIT".
RIPterm will display a special DOS prompt indicating that are
currently running RIPterm, but executing a DOS shell. You may use
any disk drive you want, or change directories. When you type
"EXIT", RIPterm will return to your default RIPterm directory so that
it can re-load files for you. When you return to your RIPterm
session, the current graphics screen is restored as well as any mouse
fields, or other parameters.
See the section on external applications for more details about the
DOS Shell feature.
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³ EXIT ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This exits RIPterm and return you to DOS. If your modem
configuration is set to "modem dialing", and you are currently
on-line, a dialog box will appear asking if you wish to hang-up
before exiting. If you choose NO at this prompt, you will remain
on-line even after you have exited to DOS. Use this option with
caution, as if you forget that you are on-line, you could charge up a
considerable long distance bill.
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³ 2.4.2 þ THE "OPTIONS" MENU ³
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This menu contains many options that can be used to alter RIPterm's
basic mode of operation:
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³ STATUS LINE ³
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The status line displays various important information about the
current State of RIPterm. Information displayed left to right:
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³ F1 = Help ³ F10 = Menus ³ RIPscrip ³ 38400 þ N81 FDX ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁ
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
ÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ COM1 ³ RIPterm v1.54.00 ³ Offline ³
ÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
(6) (7) (8)
(1) How to get the help system table of contents
(2) How to use the keyboard only to select from the menus
(3) What terminal emulation is in use, or the name of the log
file if one has been opened, or the LPT port that it being
printed to.
(4) The baud rate, parity setting, data bits and stop bits
(5) Full-duplex (FDX) or half-duplex (HDX) settings
(6) The COM port that is currently in use
(7) The current version number of RIPterm
(8) Whether you are "on-line" or "off-line"
To display or hide the status line, press ALT-SPACE.
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³ BUTTON HOTKEYS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
A new option is available to the RIPterm user: Button hotkey release
mode. This allows the user to determine whether his keystrokes
should be checked with the BBS buttons or not for activation. In
other words, if the BBS places a button on the screen like this:
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³ ³
³ (E)nter name ³
³ ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
...where the hotkey for the button is "E", simply pressing the "E"
key on your keyboard would normally activate this button. This may
not be desirable if you're trying to send a message to another user
with the letter "E" in it. Now, there's a way around this: Hotkey
Release Mode.
Hotkey Release mode is linked to your SCROLL-LOCK key on your
keyboard. If Scroll Lock is lit, then hotkeys are processed. If it
is not lit, then the character will be sent to the BBS directly,
bypassing any button hotkeys.
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³ DOORWAY MODE ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This mode is of use on a number of host packages that take advantage
of "Doors". When in Doorway mode, any keystroke that you enter on
your keyboard is transmitted to the host regardless of the fact that
the keystroke might be a menu shortcut, or something that RIPterm
would normally process locally. This allows you to use special
keystrokes (like INSERT, DELETE, PGUP, Function Keys, etc.) on a host
program that can take advantage of it. The most popular program that
takes advantage of this mode is DOORWAY (tm) by Marshall Dudley.
RIPterm's support for Doorway operation is a complete implementation
of the Doorway interface. It fully supports the Printer Re-direction
feature as well as Special Character Overiding for non-printable
ASCII characters (control characters). RIPterm v1.54 is one of the
first terminals to be released to the general "market" with complete
Doorway support.
PROGRAMMER'S NOTE
-----------------
For the technical minded who want to know how this works,
this is what's going on:
þ The keystroke is recorded using BIOS interrupt
0x16, sub-function 0x00 for non-101-key keyboards,
or sub-function 0x10 for 101-key keyboards.
þ If register AL contains a value (the ASCII
character), and AH is equal to 0, then it is
sent to the host by transmitting the character
directly over the comm port (e.g., 'A', 'z', '3',
etc).
þ If AH is not 0, then transmit the contents of AH
instead to the host by transmitting a null (0),
then the contents of AH. If AL == E0, and AH != 0,
then it is an enhanced 101-key scancode and should
be sent to the host as a null (0), followed by an
0xE0, then followed by the raw scan code (AH).
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³ PRINTER LOG ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
By toggling this option ON, your current online session will be
echoed to your local printer (if any). Any ANSI/ASCII text that is
displayed on your screen will also be sent to your local printer on
whatever Printer Port (LPT) you have configured RIPterm to use. If
RIPterm has not been configured for a printer, then this option will
not operate (it will refuse to print). When this mode is active, you
will see a message on the status bar saying "--LPT1--" or whatever
port you have configured for your printer. Simply clicking on this
field in the status bar will turn off printer log mode.
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³ CLEAR GRAPHICS WINDOW ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
RIPterm uses two windows in RIPscrip graphics mode, a graphics window
and a text window. The text window is where all non-graphical data
is displayed. The graphics window is where all graphical RIPscrip
commands are displayed.
Choose this option to clear the graphics window only. If the
graphics window overlaps the text window, then some of the text may
be erased in the process. The window is cleared to the current
background color, which by default is BLACK.
NOTE: The graphics window is ALWAYS set to the full screen in this
version of RIPterm (v1.54.00).
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³ CLEAR THE TEXT WINDOW ³
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RIPterm uses two windows in RIPscrip graphics mode, a graphics window
and a text window. The graphics window is where all graphical
RIPscrip commands are displayed. The text window is where all
non-graphics data is displayed.
Choose this option to clear the text window only. If the text window
overlaps the graphics window, then some of the graphics may be erased
in the process. The window is cleared to BLACK and the cursor moved
to the upper left corner of the window.
NOTE: The text window, by default, is full screen. This may be
changed by RIPscrip graphics commands.
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³ RESET ALL WINDOWS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This command will reset the text and graphics windows to full
screen. In addition, the screen is cleared and the cursor moved to
the upper left hand corner of the screen. This is equivalent to a
clear screen command in other software packages. The color palette
is reset to the standard 16 ANSI colors, the font is reset to the
system default you have selected and any mouse fields/buttons are
deleted from the screen.
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³ VIEW SCROLLBACK BUFFER ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option will activate the text scrollback system. This allows
you to view previously displayed text information that has come
across the modem. You may set the scrollback buffer size to 5k - 64k
of memory.
Within scrollback, you may choose from the following options:
SAVE buffer page to a text file
SAVE entire buffer to a text file
PRINT the current buffer page, or the entire buffer
SEARCH for a particular piece of text
SEARCH AGAIN for a previously searched for text string
At the top of the scrollback screen are buttons for the above
commands. In addition, there are buttons for scrolling up and down,
paging up and down, or moving to the beginning or end of the buffer.
NOTE: The scrollback buffer filters out ANSI color codes and
RIPscrip graphics for an uncluttered text display.
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³ KEYSTROKE MACRO EDITOR ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Macros are functions that you can define to perform short-cut
operations on the host. For example, you can instruct RIPterm to
make the F5 key type your User-ID and press
would allow you to log-on quickly by simply pressing a single key.
RIPterm's macro system is easy to use, and very powerful! You can
save your macro keys to the default macro file (RIPTERM.KEY), or if
you need to have multiple macro configurations, you can save macros
to different files.
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³ SYSTEM FONT ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
The System Font allows you to select the font that is used in the
text/ANSI mode. It does not have any effect on the graphics shown.
Any subsequent text/ANSI displayed on the screen will appear in the
chosen system font unless the host explicitly tells RIPterm to use
another font for the text window.
This mode allows you to specify how "large" text is when you are in
full-screen text mode. You have five separate System Fonts to choose
from. They are:
80x43 - default
80x25 - normal DOS screen size
40x25 - low-resolution font
91x43 - get more columns of text at once
91x25 - get more columns of text at once
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³ 2.4.3 þ THE "MODEM" MENU ³
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The Modem Menu is for making the modem do something. From this menu
you can make the modem dial-out to another system, configure certain
hardware specific things pertaining to your modem ports and otherwise
control how your online sessions are handled in a general sense.
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³ DIALING DIRECTORY ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option displays the current dialing directory on your screen.
From this dialog box, you may dial, edit or otherwise manipulate any
of the dialing directory entries in any way you wish. There is a
complete section of this document devoted specifically to the dialing
directory. Read on for details.
You may also access this mode by clicking on the "off-line" field of
the status bar. This field will automatically change to "on-line"
when connected to a host. Clicking on this field when on-line will
activate the hang-up option.
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³ MANUAL DIALING ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This command will prompt you to enter the telephone number to dial.
You may enter any digits from 0-9. Hyphens are ignored. If you need
to obtain a delay before continuing the rest of the phone number,
enter a comma (,) for a 1/2 second pause. After entering the phone
number, the DIALING window will appear showing you the current status
of RIPterm as it dials the modem.
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³ HANG-UP THE MODEM ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option will attempt to disconnect the modem, thus logging you
off of whatever host you are connected to.
You may also hang-up the modem by clicking on the "On-line" field of
the Status Bar.
If for some reason, RIPterm was unable to successfully disconnect the
modem, the message "Hang-up Failed" will be displayed and your system
beep to indicate a problem has occured.
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³ INITIALIZE MODEM ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Choosing this option will reset the modem, and send the modem
initialization string to the modem. This will effectively reset the
modem to the configured default settings.
The commands sent to the modem can be altered by choosing modem
settings from the Setup menu, or by pressing ALT-O.
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³ MODEM AUTO-ANSWER ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This command will transmit the modem auto-answer command string to
the modem. This command instructs the modem to answer the phone
after a certain number of rings (one ring by default).
The commands sent to the modem can be altered by choosing modem
settings from the Setup menu, or by pressing ALT-O.
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³ SERIAL PORT INTERRUPT SETUP ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
THIS IS AN ADVANCED OPTION AND SHOULD NOT BE USED UNLESS YOU ARE
FAMILIAR WITH IBM-PC INTERRUPTS AND HARDWARE SETUP!
This option allows you to customize the Interrupt (IRQ) settings for
each of your four COM ports. Normally this isn't necessary.
However, some PC's have special configurations that require the
terminal's setup to be altered if the serial ports are to function
properly.
There are five different interrupts that can be selected for each COM
port (2, 3, 4, 5, and 7). If two serial ports in the computer use
the same interrupt (i.e., a conflict), then problems may arise.
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³ SERIAL PORT ADDRESS SETUP ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
THIS IS AN ADVANCED OPTION AND SHOULD NOT BE USED UNLESS YOU ARE
FAMILIAR WITH IBM-PC BASE I/O ADDRESSES AND HARDWARE SETUP!
This option allows you to customize the base I/O addresses of the
four COM ports that RIPterm can utilize. Normally, you will not need
to alter these settings. If you are a PC technician, or you have a
serial port configuration that doesn't comply with the COM1-COM4
standards, you may need to alter your addresses for these ports to
make RIPterm function properly. The standard addresses for COM1-4
are as follows on an AT compatible computer:
Normal IBM-AT Micro Channel
(ISA/EISA) (PS/2)
PORT ADDRESS IRQ PORT ADDRESS IRQ
---------------------- ----------------------
COM1 3F8 4 COM1 3F8 4
COM2 2F8 3 COM2 2F8 3
COM3 3E8 4 COM3 3220 3
COM4 2E8 3 COM4 3228 3
NOTE: The first time you install RIPterm, it will auto-sense if you
are on a Micro Channel machine, and if so, will attempt to
customize the Addresses and IRQ's for COM3 and COM4 itself.
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³ 2.4.4 þ THE "TRANSFER" MENU ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This menu contains options for transferring files TO (downloading) or
FROM (uploading) your system. These commands make use of File
Transfer Protocols (see below).
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³ DOWNLOAD A FILE ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This command downloads (receives) a file from the host to your
system. This is done by what's called a "protocol" transfer. A
protocol is like a language that humans speak. There are a number of
languages like French, English, and Italian. If two people are
speaking in different languages, the net result is that no
communication occurs. The same goes for protocols. Both the host
and the terminal (RIPterm) must use the same protocol if they are to
communicate properly.
To download a file, instruct the host which file you want to
transfer. Select a protocol from the menu of available protocols.
When the host says "Ready to download..." or "Ready to send...",
choose the download option of RIPterm and select the same protocol
that you chose on the host. Enter a filename to save to your local
hard disk and the file transfer will commence. When the transfer is
done, you will be returned to terminal mode and the file will either
exist on your hard disk, or will be incomplete or missing entirely if
an error occurred.
The currently supported protocols are:
X-Modem (checksum)
X-Modem (CRC)
X-Modem-1K
X-Modem-1K (G)
Y-Modem (Batch)
Y-Modem (G)
Z-Modem
Kermit
ASCII (text files only!)
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³ UPLOAD A FILE ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This command uploads (sends) a file to the host from your system.
This is done by what's called a "protocol" transfer. A protocol is
like a language that humans speak. There are a number of languages
like French, English, and Italian. If two people are speaking in
different languages, the net result is that no communication occurs.
The same goes for protocols. Both the host and the terminal
(RIPterm) must use the same protocol if they are to communicate
properly.
To upload a file, instruct the host to upload, and give the host a
filename. Select a protocol from the menu of available protocols.
When the host says "Ready to upload..." or "Ready to receive...",
choose the upload option of RIPterm and select the corresponding
protocol that you chose on the host. Enter a filename to send from
your local hard disk and the file transfer will begin. When the
transfer is done, you will be returned to terminal mode and if there
were no errors in transmission, the file will exist on the host.
The currently supported protocols are:
X-Modem (checksum)
X-Modem (CRC)
X-Modem-1K
X-Modem-1K (G)
Y-Modem (Batch)
Y-Modem (G)
Z-Modem
Kermit
ASCII (text files only!)
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ ASCII UPLOAD SETTINGS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option modifies the default settings for ASCII (text) uploads.
Some hosts are picky about how fast they can take text data being
uploaded to them. With this in mind, you can set a short delay in
between each line of text sent to the host, and/or you can set a
delay in between each character sent to the host. Fine tuning this
can make ASCII text uploads fast and the most optimized they can be
for the host you call.
One last setting determines how "blank lines" are handled. For
example, if you upload a text file into an Email message on a BBS and
the file has blank lines in it, when that blank line is uploaded to
the system it might (depending on the BBS package) show a command
prompt instead of accepting the blank line as "raw text". RIPterm
allows you to "transform" blank lines into a single space character
followed by a carriage return. This in effect, tricks the BBS into
thinking you typed something in, but at the same time makes it look
like a real blank line in your message.
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³ 2.4.5 þ THE "DATA" MENU ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
The Data Menu is for controlling RIPterm text variables and using the
local RIPterm database (or viewing the contents of it). RIPterm's
ability to store data over long periods of time gives it quite a bit
of flexibility. The following sections describe the various features
available in this menu.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ CREATE VARIABLE ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option enters a piece of information into the RIPterm database.
This information will be saved for future use by either yourself or
by a host. You may store just about any piece of information in this
database. Each piece of information is associated with a "name". Any
information entered must be from 1-60 characters in length. The name
of the information (also called the variable name), is from 3-12
characters in length. An example of this might be:
Variable Information Stored in variable
-------------- ------------------------------
FIRST_NAME John
LAST_NAME Doe
ADDRESS 123 Anywhere Street
PHONE_NUMBER 555-1212
You may choose to save a data variable either to internal memory, or
to the permanent database. This database is "indexed" for high speed
access of information. In the event that the Index becomes corrupted
due to a power failure or something of that nature, it will be
automatically re-indexed for you.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ SHOW VARIABLES ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option displays all text variables that have been stored to the
local RIPTERM.DB database file. All variables are listed to the
current text window, but are not sent to the host. This allows you
to see what is currently in your database.
NOTE: The variables are appended to the scrollback buffer. You
can view them by selecting text scrollback from the
Options menu, or pressing ALT-B.
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³ BUILT-IN VARIABLES ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This displays the contents of all text variables that are built into
RIPterm. Some variables are pre-defined in the sense that RIPterm
doesn't need you to instruct it with information. Among the various
pre-defined variables are things like $DATE$, $TIME$, and other such
variables that change frequently. Some variables do not contain
valid text data due to their nature. These might include variables
like $SBARON$, or $SBAROFF$ which display or hide the Status Bar.
When listing these variables, the contents are listed as blank.
NOTE: The variables are appended to the scrollback buffer. You
can view them by selecting text scrollback from the
Options menu, or pressing ALT-B.
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³ 2.4.6 þ THE "SETUP" MENU ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
The Setup Menu provides you with a centralized place to alter
RIPterm's overall configuration. You may modify the modem's
conifiguration, many various General Settings and also the way in
which telephone numbers are dialed. The following sections describe
the various options in detail.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ MODEM SETTINGS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This dialog box will allow you to modify your modem configuration.
You may alter the modem initialization commands, the auto-answer
string or the modem reset command string. These options use standard
Hayes-compatible modem commands. If you wish to insert a "pause"
into the command, simply insert a comma (,) or a tilde (~).
In addition to modem commands, you may set the current COM port, the
data bits, stop bits, parity setting and baud rate. Standard
settings are either 8 data bits, 1 stop bit and NO parity (8N1), or 7
data bits, 1 stop bit and EVEN parity (7E1). Additional options
allow you to specify the number of seconds to wait for a connection
(redial time), whether to add CR/LF combinations and whether RIPterm
is connected directly to a modem or not. You may also specify flow
control for the serial port as RTS/CTS control (hardware flow
control, the most reliable). If you specify RTS/CTS flow control,
make sure your modem cable can support the specific signals that
would make this mode work properly. Most commonly available serial
cables support this feature now. If you have an internal modem, then
this mode should work for you automatically.
One final option on this dialog box is the "Use Modem" option. If
selected (the default), then RIPterm assumes it is connected to a
modem. If it is disabled, then RIPterm thinks it is connected to
another computer directly using a modem eliminator cable (also known
as a "NULL MODEM" cable).
To alter the serial port IRQ settings, choose the INTERRUPT SETUP
option from the Modem Menu. To alter serial port addresses, choose
the option SERIAL ADDRESSES from the OPTIONS menu.
These settings are part of the setup, so once you alter them, you
should choose the SAVE SETUP option to make them permanent.
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³ GENERAL SETTINGS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
The General Settings dialog box controls various miscellaneous
settings for the RIPterm environment. The various settings in this
dialog box are:
Download Directory .......... Directory where downloaded
files are stored.
Upload Directory ............ Directory where files to be
uploaded are stored.
Scrollback Size (in K) ...... The size of the scrollback
buffer (from 5-64k)
Printer Port configuration .. The LPT port that your
printer is connected to or
zero (0) for no printer.
Status Bar .................. If checked, then the Status
Bar is displayed on screen.
Zooming Windows ............. If checked, all windows
will "zoom in/out".
Enable Beeps ................ If enabled, any CTRL-G (bel)
character that is received
will "beep" your local
console.
VT-102 Emulation ............ When enabled, RIPterm will
utilize VT-102 extensions of
ANSI text graphics.
Shell to EMS/XMS ............ If checked, when you choose a
DOS Shell RIPterm will swap
all but 5.5k of your 640k
memory to EMS or XMS memory
giving you all memory for your
DOS Shell.
Mouse Field Select .......... When selected, you may use the
TAB/SHIFT-TAB key combinations
to select "mouse fields" on the
screen. If disabled, the TAB
key functions normally (ie,
transmitted to the BBS).
101-key keyboard ............ If enabled, this option will
provide 101-key support for
Doorway Mode.
Hot-key mode ................ If enabled, then Mouse Button
Hotkeys for BBS menus will
react when you hit the proper
key on the keyboard, thus
activating the option.
Data security ............... This mode prevents any BBS from
querying info from your terminal
without you being given the
opportunity to approve the
information transfer.
Zmodem Recovery ............. When active, Zmodem will attempt
to recover from an aborted
transfer if a file by the same
name exists on the local hard
disk. When disabled, Zmodem
will always overwrite any file.
Auto Zmodem Download ........ When selected, you will not have
to indicate that a download is
in progress - Zmodem transfers
will automatically begin the
moment the BBS begins sending.
In other words, you don't have
to hit PGDN to say that a download
has begun.
Force DTR on exit ........... This option allows you to control
whether the modem signal DTR is
left ON or OFF after exiting
RIPterm. Some modems act
differently depending on the setting
of DTR. Consult your modem guide
for more details on its DTR support.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ DIALING PREFIXES ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option allows you to alter your dialing Prefix and Suffix
settings. These settings are used for every system you try to dial
to begin the dialing operation (prefix), and to finish the dialing
process (suffix). You are allowed up to three choices for each, and
any one of those three entries can be set to be the "Default"
prefix/suffix. See the Dialing Prefix/Suffix section below for more
details.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ SAVE SETUP ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option will save a number of configuration parameters for
RIPterm. Among the various items maintained in the Setup are:
þ All of the "Modem Settings"
þ All of the "General Settings"
þ All of the "Modem Prefix/Suffix" settings
þ All "ASCII Upload Settings"
þ Serial Port IRQ Interrupt settings (for all four ports)
þ Serial Port I/O Address settings (for all four ports)
þ System Font setting
þ Dialing Directory TOGGLE status
Each time you load RIPterm, the setup is loaded and used for the
current session.
Setup information is contained in a file called RIPTERM.CNF by
default. This can be altered by using the -S parameter when starting
up RIPterm. This option instructs RIPterm to use an alternate setup
file (e.g., RIPTERM -Smysetup.cnf).
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³ 2.4.7 þ THE "EXTERNAL" MENU ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
The External Menu is used for manipulating and configuring external
MS-DOS application programs to be used from within RIPterm. The
following sections give a brief overview of what the options in this
menu do. For more detailed explanations of external applications,
see the section of this document devoted to the subject.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ EDIT APPLICATIONS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option allows you to edit up to ten (10) different configurable
application programs. The Application feature allows you to
"plug-in" external programs into RIPterm to do various things. From
this menu option, you can edit the configurations of all ten
"Application slots". You may custom tailor how the programs are run,
what slot they are associated with, whether they should be run 'on'
particular files that you download, and various other settings that
may pertain to running external programs.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ RUN APPLICATIONS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This menu allows you to select an external application to run. When
chosen, the "command line" for the program is processed and if any
text variables (see below) are present it will process them as well
to construct a complete MS-DOS Command Line. When all processing on
the command line is complete, RIPterm will physically "shell-to-DOS"
and run the specified program.
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º 3.0 þ RIPTERM SETUP º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
In the following sections are the features of RIPterm which control
the setup and configuration of RIPterm. Since this is a communications
program, you may notice that there are a large number of configuration
options to choose from. This section is designed to answer the most
frequently asked questions about what a particular option does so that
you can make the right choices for your configuration.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 3.1 þ MODEM SETUP INFORMATION ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
When you choose the Modem Options feature, a dialog box appears to
edit many of the available modem settings that are a part of
RIPterm. The dialog box looks similar to the following:
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º Modem Options º
º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º Modem Init ³ AT &C1 &D2 E1 V1 X4^M ³ º
º ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ º
º Auto Answer ³ AT S0=1^M ³ º
º ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ º
º Modem Reset ³ AT Z^M ³ º
º ÃÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º
º Redial Time ³ 45 ³ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º ÀÄÄÄÄÙ Com Port ³ 1 ³ º
º ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ º
º Use Modem þ Port Lock þ Baud Rate ³ 9600 ³ º
º Add CR/LF þ Local Echo þ ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ º
º RTS/CTS þ DTR hangup þ Data Bits ³ 8 ³ º
º ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ º
º Parity ³ None ³ º
ºÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ º
º³ OK ³³ CANCEL ³³ SAVE ³³ HELP ³ Stop Bits ³ 1 ³ º
ºÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
This dialog box is for modifying your modem configuration. You may
alter the modem initialization commands, the auto-answer string and
the modem reset command string. These options use standard
Hayes-compatible modem commands. If you wish to insert a "pause"
into the command, simply insert a comma (,).
In addition to modem commands, you may set the COM port, data bits,
stop bits, parity, and baud rate. Standard settings are 8 data bits,
1 stop bit and NO parity (8N1), or 7 data bits, 1 stop bit and EVEN
parity (7E1). Additional options allow you to specify the number of
seconds to wait for a connection (redial time), whether to add CR/LF,
and whether RIPterm is connected directly to a modem or not.
To alter the serial port IRQ settings, choose the interrupt setup
option from the modem menu.
These settings are part of the setup, so once you alter them, you
should choose the SAVE button at the bottom of the dialog box.
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³ 3.1.1 þ GENERAL MODEM SETTINGS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ REDIAL TIME ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
The "redial time" setting allows you to specify how many seconds
RIPterm should wait before assuming that the dialed system isn't
answering. This value is set by default to 45 seconds. You might
need to extend this to a higher value if you're calling through an
elaborate telephone system. Shortening the duration may be desirable
if you are dialing a number where the Host connects quickly and you
don't need the extended redial times.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ PORT ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option allows you to specify which communications port will be
used to dial the modem. Valid ports are COM1 through COM4. Of
course, your system must have the given port in order to be able to
dial out on it. RIPterm will normally initialize the modem upon
initial bootup providing the "Use Modem" option is selected.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ BAUD ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option allows you to specify the default baud rate in which
RIPterm should operate. Valid baud rates are 300, 1200, 2400, 4800,
9600, 19200, 38400, 57600, and 115200 baud.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ DATA BITS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option allows you to alter the number of data bits that will be
used for a given communications link. Valid settings are 7 data
bits, or 8 data bits. You will find that most hosts use 8 data
bits. 7 data bits are commonly used when calling mainframe
computers, or large hosts like TymNet, TeleNet, GEnie, CompuServe, or
other nationwide network services that use the X.25 network
protocol. When in doubt, try 8 data bits. If you get garbled
information, try 7.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ PARITY ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option allows you to alter the parity setting that will be used
for a given communications link. Valid settings are EVEN, ODD or
NONE. The vast majority of hosts in the world use a setting of NONE,
for "No Parity". Situations where you will choose something other
than NONE would be if you were calling a mainframe computer, or
dialing up via a nationwide network like TymNet, TeleNet, GEnie,
CompuServe, or other such X.25-based hosts. If in doubt, try NONE.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ STOP BITS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option allows you to alter the number of "Stop Bits" that are
used for the communications link. Valid settings are 1 stop bit, or
2 stop bits. Typically, 1 stop bit will be used for the vast
majority of hosts.
In the last three sub-sections, you've seen settings for data bits,
parity, and stop bits. In nearly 100% of every situation, there are
only two combinations of these three values that are used. They are:
8 data bits 7 data bits
No parity Even parity
1 stop bit 1 stop bit
----------- -----------
8-N-1 7-E-1 <- referred to as
eight-none-one seven-even-one <- pronounced
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ USE MODEM ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
If selected, RIPterm will assume that it is directly connected to a
physical modem device. This is the normal, default situation. If
you are using RIPterm to connect directly to another computer via a
serial link (i.e., a "null modem"), then you would not want to have
this option set. If this option is enabled, then RIPterm will send
the "Modem Init" command string to the modem when RIPterm boots up.
If this option is not selected then RIPterm will simply tap the
from the BBS that its directly connected to.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ ADD CR/LF ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option will add CR/LF combinations at the end of text lines.
Normally, this is not necessary. Some hosts however, require that
CR/LF's be ON for you to see text properly. Normally, this option is
OFF. You may toggle it ON if need be.
If text coming across the modem does not move to the next line, then
you need to turn this option ON. If every line of text is separated
by a blank line, then you need to toggle this OFF.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ RTS/CTS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option determines whether any "flow control" should be used
between your computer and your modem. With RIPterm, flow control is
very important at high baud rates. It is critically important with
high speed file transfers with protocols like Zmodem or Ymodem.
Without flow control, the BBS might be sending data faster than the
terminal can take it in. RTS/CTS is a form of "hardware flow
control". What this means is that the hardware (i.e., Modem &
computer) know how to tell each other "I'm ready for more data now,
continue...".
In order to take advantage of this mode of operation you need to make
sure you have a full "hardware handshaking" serial cable. 99% of all
serial cables you can purchase for an IBM-PC now'a'days are these
types of cables. If for some obscure reason, RTS/CTS flow control is
not usable on your particular PC configuration, RIPterm will issue
the error message:
"CTS is inactive, so RTS/CTS handshaking is disabled"
What this means is that RIPterm sensed that RTS/CTS was not allowable
and it will automatically shut off that mode for you so that RIPterm
will function properly. NOTE, THIS ERROR MESSAGE CAN ALSO OCCUR IF
YOU BOOT-UP RIPTERM WHILE YOUR MODEM IS TURNED OFF!
When viewing RIPscrip graphics at high baud rates (9600 baud and
higher), this form of flow control is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! Without
it you could easily have garbled graphics. The reason for this is
when you're working in a graphical environment, you are doing a lot
of stuff "behind the scenes" to show even so much as a single line on
the screen. Since graphics mode can be so CPU intensive, sometimes
it is necessary to tell the BBS to "hold on" while the terminal
"catches up" with the BBS. That is what flow control is used for and
why RIPterm really would like to have this mode active.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ PORT LOCK ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Port Lock is used with high speed modems. Before explaining why you
need it, let's discuss how a regular modem works with Baud Rates.
Normally, a modem must be set for the exact same baud rate as the
connection. For example, if the modem says:
"CONNECT 2400"
then RIPterm must be set for 2400 baud if it is to talk to the remote
Host (BBS). RIPterm will automatically see this CONNECT 2400 message
and automatically switch baud rates for you (auto-baud detect).
Now with High Speed modems the situation is a bit different. Most
high speed modems achieve higher baud rates by compressing data,
transmitting it, and letting the modem on the other end of the
connection de-compress the data. Now, image a connection like this:
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ ³
³ ³ 9600
ÚÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄ¿ baud ÚÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ Computer ³ÍÍÍͳModem³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÙ
/9600 º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
Telephone / baud º ³ ³
connection\ 9600 ³ ³
\ ÚÄÄÄÄÄ¿ baud ÚÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄ¿
³Modem³ÍÍÍͳ Computer ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Notice that the links between each computer and their respective
modems are set for 9600 baud. Also, the telephone connection itself
is also at 9600 baud. Now, lets say one computer sends a 10k packet
of data to its modem. The modem compresses that data into a smaller
packet, say 5k for the point of discussion. Now that data takes half
as long to transmit. The modem on the other end of the connection
decompresses the packet to get the original 10k packet again and it
shoots it out the serial port to the computer. Now if another 5k
compressed packet is coming over the phone line immediately after the
first one, the modem has to decompress that packet and send it to the
computer as well. If the link between the computer and the modem is
THE SAME SPEED as the telephone link (modem-to-modem) then the act of
decompressing data packets might create more data than the computer
can accept at the given baud rate. It is possible to LOSE data
because of serial port speeds.
The solution in situations like this is to set the baud rate of
RIPterm to a value higher than the highest connection speed. For
example, if you have a 14,400 baud modem, you might be inclined to
set your baud rate in RIPterm to 19,200 baud (the next highest
setting). In practice though, modems can compress data better than
that. The next highest setting is 38,400 baud which is a very good
choice. However, for optimal results, you would want to set RIPterm
at a rate like 57,600 baud (roughly 4 times the speed of the modem).
This insures that even if the modem decompressed a packet that was
compressed down to 25% of its original size, the computer could
receive the data at full speed from the modem.
Now, back to PORT LOCK. Port Lock is used for high speed modems to
tell RIPterm NOT to perform auto-baud detection when connecting to
other systems. What this means is that the baud rate indicated in
the dialing directory will not change even if the two modems sync-up
at a lower baud rate. In this way, the speed between the computer
and the modem are at a fixed rate always and the baud rate between
the two modems can vary.
When Port Lock is enabled, RIPterm will let the modems worry about
getting their speeds "just right". Even if your high speed modem
only connected at 300 baud, RIPterm could still talk to the modem at
57,600 baud. The modem would handle all of the details about "flow
control" between the computer/modem to make sure that data doesn't
get stuffed into the modem faster than the telephone connection can
handle.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ LOCAL ECHO ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This command will toggle whether RIPterm should echo keystrokes to
the terminal locally, or let the host perform the echoing. Normally,
the host will do this for you, so echo is OFF by default. In some
situations though, you may wish to toggle ECHO ON. One such
situation is if you are directly connected to another person's
computer via modem and are typing to them in a "chat-like" manner.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ DTR HANGUP ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
DTR hangup is often referred to as "quick hangup". When activated,
RIPterm will lower the DTR signal on the modem for 1 second to try to
tell the modem to "hangup". Many modems will respond to this form of
hangup command. In order for the modem to recognize this mode of
operation, make sure you have the "AT &D2" command in your modem
initialization command string. This is the modem command to tell
your modem to disconnect if DTR is inactive. If for some obscure
reason DTR doesn't hangup the modem, RIPterm will attempt to hangup
the modem by issuing the typical hangup command:
+++ATH0^m
If after trying both methods the modem still hasn't hung-up, RIPterm
will say "Hangup Failed" and beep your PC Speaker.
ÚÄÄÄÄ¿
³ OK ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÙ
When chosen, OK will take all of the modem options and make them
current. It will re-initialize the serial port if necessary and make
any of the changes active. The changes are not automatically saved
to the RIPterm setup file - you must do that yourself. After
choosing this item, the dialog box will close and you will be
returned to the terminal window.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ CANCEL ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
When chosen, any changes in the Modem Options dialog box will be
discarded. Whatever settings were active before entering this dialog
box will be restored. You will be sent immediately to the terminal
window.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ SAVE ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option will close the dialog box and automatically save the
current settings to the RIPterm setup file.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ HELP ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This will display a help screen for the modem options dialog box.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 3.1.2 þ MODEM COMMAND STRINGS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Modem command strings are how you configure RIPterm to work with the
wide variety of modem on the market. All modem commands begin with
an "AT", short for 'ATtention'.
You may specify control characters in a modem command string by
preceding the character with a caret (^). For example, a CTRL-C
would be ^C and carriage return (CTRL-M) would be ^M.
Each modem command string should end with a ^M (carriage return), as
shown in the Modem Options dialog box above.
You may also use the tilde (~) to insert a 1/2 second pause in your
modem command strings.
For more information on modem commands, consult your modem's manual.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ MODEM INIT STRING ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This field is the modem command that is sent to the modem when
RIPterm starts up. All modem commands begin with an "AT", short for
'ATtention'. You may specify control characters in a modem command
string by preceding the character with a caret (^). For example, a
CTRL-C would be ^C.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ MODEM AUTO-ANSWER STRING ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This modem command is what would be sent to the modem to set it for
"auto-answer" mode. Auto-answer means that the modem will answer the
phone automatically when it rings. The default auto-answer string
which should work on nearly any modem is "AT S0=1^m" where the "1"
indicates that the modem should pick up the phone after the 1st ring.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ MODEM RESET STRING ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This is the modem command string that is sent when the modem needs to
be reset. This may be necessary if you "hang-up" the modem, abort a
dial attempt, or exit RIPterm. For most modems, this command is Z,
which would be entered as "ATZ^m".
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 3.2 þ GENERAL SETUP INFORMATION ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
RIPterm has a number of configurable settings for you to choose from
to alter the way in which the software runs on a normal basis. You
may opt to modify the Modem Options, or the General Settings which do
not directly pertain to the modem itself. The General Settings
dialog box looks similar to the following:
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º General Settings º
º Scrollback Size(k)º
º Status Bar þ 101-key keyboard þ ÚÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º Zooming Windows þ Hot-key mode þ ³ 64 ³ º
º Enable Beeps þ Data security þ ÀÄÄÄÄÙ º
º VT-102 Emulation þ Zmodem Recovery þ Printer Port º
º Shell to EMS/XMS þ Auto Zmodem Download þ ÚÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º Mouse Field Select þ Force DTR on exit þ ³ 1 ³ º
º Alarm Sounds þ ÀÄÄÄÄÙ º
º º
º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º Download Dir ³ FILES\ ³ º
º ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ º
º Upload Dir ³ FILES\ ³ º
º ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º
º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º ³ OK ³ ³ CANCEL ³ ³ SAVE ³ ³ HELP ³ º
º ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ STATUS BAR ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
If selected, the status bar will be displayed at the bottom of your
RIPterm screen. When this option is not checked, the status bar will
not be displayed and your text window will be one line taller. The
status bar is used to access frequently viewed information and to see
the current status of various aspects of the RIPterm system.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ ZOOM WINDOWS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
In RIPterm, whenever a window or dialog box pops up on the screen, it
will "zoom in" and "zoom out" giving a visual feeling of the window
opening or closing. This will slow down operation of the windowing
system a small amount. For optimal performance of RIPterm, toggle
zoom windows off. However, the visual impression of windows opening
or closing can be quite useful.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ ENABLE BEEPS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This will enable the Beep character (ASCII character 7, BEL) to make
an audible sound on your PC speaker when recieved from the host. If
this option is not selected, RIPterm will be "quiet" by not making
hardly any beeps. Only BEEP characters from the BBS will be enabled
or disabled. The musical sounds received when you achieve a
connection or when a download are complete will not be affected by
this setting.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ VT-102 MODE ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This command enables the VT-102 terminal emulation mode. This makes
the following keystrokes send something to the Host:
F1 ... ESC [ M
F2 ... ESC [ N
F3 ... ESC [ O
F4 ... ESC [ P
F5 ... ESC [ Q
F6 ... ESC [ R
F7 ... ESC [ S
F8 ... ESC [ T
F9 ... ESC [ U
F10 ... ESC [ V
PGUP ... ESC [ I
PGDN ... ESC [ G
HOME ... ESC [ H
END ... ESC [ F
INSERT ... ESC [ L
CURSOR UP ... ESC [ A
CURSOR DN ... ESC [ B
CURSOR LEFT ... ESC [ C
CURSOR RIGHT ... ESC [ D
In addition, many ANSI escape sequences function slightly differently
than in normal ANSI mode. When in this mode, RIPterm tries to act
like a VT-102 compatible terminal.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ SHELL TO EMS/XMS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
By default, RIPterm will swap the contents of memory out to a
temporary disk-file when you choose the DOS Shell option or if you
run an external application program. If your IBM-AT has any EMS
(expanded) or XMS (extended) memory, you can enable this option to
make your DOS Shell/applications execute faster. If chosen, this
option will physically swap the contents of your conventional memory
to expanded or extended memory instead of to the slower disk-based
storage. If you run into any problems trying to get your DOS Shell
to work properly, try disabling this option.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ MOUSE FIELD SELECT ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option, when check marked, will use TAB and SHIFT-TAB to select,
in order, the mouse fields defined on the screen.
If this item is not check marked, the TAB character (control-I) is
transmitted to the host.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ ALARM SOUNDS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
When this option is chosen, RIPterm will make various blips, beeps
and sounds when things happen in RIPterm like successful downloads,
establishing a connection to a host, beeping when you make a mistake
and other such things. If you want RIPterm to be as quiet as
possible, turn Alarm Sounds off. If you also set Enable Beeps to
OFF, RIPterm will make NO sounds what so ever.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 101-KEY KEYBOARD ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This mode is used in the "doorway mode". It allows you to send
extended 101-key keyboard codes to the doorway system running on the
host. This mode is only available on AT computers with a 101-key
enhanced AT keyboard. If this option locks up your system, disable
it.
This value is part of the RIPterm setup, saved in RIPTERM.CNF. If
you set this option ON, and it locks your system, and your system
locks whenever you start-up RIPterm, then the option has been saved
to your setup. You should run RIPterm with the -E option, like this:
RIPTERM -E
The first thing you should do is disable the 101-key keyboard option
and save your setup with ALT-S. The -E option overrides Enhanced
101-key keyboard support for the duration of the current session of
RIPterm.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ HOT KEY MODE ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option allows the user to determine whether his keystrokes
should be checked with the BBS buttons or not for activation. In
other words, if the BBS places a button on the screen like this:
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ ³
³ (E)nter name ³
³ ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
...where the hotkey for the button is "E", simply pressing the "E"
key on your keyboard would normally activate this button. This may
not be desirable if you're trying to send a message to another user
with the letter "E" in it. Now, there's a way around this: Hotkey
Release Mode.
Hotkey Release mode is linked to your SCROLL-LOCK key on your
keyboard. If Scroll Lock is lit, then hotkeys are processed. If it
is not lit, then the character will be sent to the BBS directly,
bypassing any button hotkeys.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ DATA SECURITY ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option gives you control over host data queries to your system.
This option defaults to ON, giving you the ability to scrutinize any
queries by the host to ask your system for a piece of information.
This does not apply to pre-defined text variables, just variables
that contain data that you've entered.
How does this apply to you? Well, RIPscrip has the inherent ability
to pop-up dialog boxes onto your screen asking you for a piece of
information. Depending on the request, this information might be
stored to your local RIPterm database for future use (by the same
host, or potentially another). This option exists so that if a host
asks your terminal for a piece of information, you have the ability
to intervene (i.e., prevent the information from being sent). This
override feature is for security purposes in the event that your
database contains sensitive information that you do not want to be
given out without your explicit consent.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ ZMODEM RECOVERY ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option controls whether Zmodem should attempt to recover from a
failed transmission. In the event that a file transfer was aborted
for whatever reason, Zmodem will normally try to pick up where it
left off. If this option is selected, then Zmodem will automatically
try to resume where it left off. If this mode is not enabled, then
Zmodem will physically re-transmit the entire file over again.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ AUTO-ZMODEM DOWNLOAD ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
When this option is selected, Zmodem downloads will begin
automatically the moment the BBS starts the transfer. If for some
reason this operation is desirable, this option is provided so that
you can disable this. When disabled, you will need to initiate the
Zmodem download on your own. A Zmodem download can easily be spotted
if you see the sequence "**" on your screen. If RIPterm sees this
sequence, and the Auto-Zmodem Download option is enabled, it will
automatically begin the Zmodem transfer without you having to
intervene - thus making the process simpler.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ FORCE DTR ON EXIT ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option defaults to ON. When On, RIPterm will physically keep
the DTR signal active after exiting RIPterm. This is so that if you
have exited RIPterm while still online (and say not to hangup) then
it will keep DTR enabled so that the modem doesn't try to disconnect
you. This also comes into play on direct serial connections. Some
modems however do not like this type of operation, especially if the
modem is not physically connected to another computer via a telephone
line after exiting RIPterm. In cases like this, set this option to
OFF. When OFF, RIPterm will physically lower (and keep low) the DTR
signal when it is finished with a particular Serial Port. This has
the net effect of ending any connection that might exist on that port
and also prevent some modems from answering the phone if an incoming
call is detected.
Some modems, even if you instruct them to pick up the phone on the
first ring, will not answer the phone if DTR is low. This is so
because the modem assumes that if DTR is low, that there is no
terminal program running on the PC to receive the call so why should
it answer the phone? Not all modems work this way.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ SET SCROLLBACK SIZE ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option sets how much memory RIPterm should use for the
scrollback buffer. The valid settings are from 5k - 64k of memory.
Depending on how much conventional memory you have on your computer,
this may limit the amount of memory you can allocate to scrollback.
We recommend that you set it to somewhere around 32k unless you know
that your PC has quite a bit of its 640k memory free for use. If you
have numerous memory resident programs (TSR's) loaded, you may need
to drop the size of your scrollback buffer to a smaller value for
proper operation of RIPterm.
If RIPterm runs out of memory, it will begin to discard old
scrollback buffer information until it can satisfy the memory
request.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ PRINTER PORT ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
RIPterm allows you to print information to your local printer if you
wish. In order to perform these types of operations, RIPterm needs
to know which port your printer is connected to. Valid ports are
LPT1 through LPT3 (1-3). If you do not have a printer, or you do not
wish printer services to be available in RIPterm, you may enter a
value of "0" to indicate "no printer". If you set RIPterm to "no
printer" status, choosing any of the print operations in the software
will issue a message indicating that you cannot print.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ DOWNLOAD DIRECTORY ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
The download directory setting allows you to determine where files
that are downloaded from Host BBS'es will be stored on your hard
disk. By default, RIPterm will place files that are downloaded into
the current RIPterm directory (e.g., C:\RIPTERM\). You can plug in
your own directory name in this field if you wish to place files into
another location. This option is most often used to prevent files in
your RIPterm runtime directory from being overwritten, or from
cluttering up your RIPterm directory with a lot of files.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ UPLOAD DIRECTORY ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
The upload directory setting allows you to instruct RIPterm where
files that you will SEND to a BBS are located. By default, files are
assumed to be in the local RIPterm directory unless this field
contains an MS-DOS Drive/path value. Any settings must correspond to
an existing DOS directory. You are not 100% restricted to uploading
files from this directory only. If you wish to upload a file from
some other directory, you do not have to alter this setting if you
don't want to. When prompted to enter a filename to upload, simply
type the path to the file directly. RIPterm is smart enough to
recognize that you gave it an "explicit path" to the file and will
temporarily overide the default upload directory setting for that one
file only.
ÚÄÄÄÄ¿
³ OK ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÙ
When chosen, OK will take all of the general settings and make them
current. The changes are not automatically saved to the RIPterm
setup file - you must do that yourself. After choosing this item,
the dialog box will close and you will be returned to the terminal
window.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ CANCEL ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
When chosen, any changes in the general settings dialog box will be
discarded. Whatever settings were active before entering this dialog
box will be restored. You will be sent immediately to the terminal
window.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ SAVE ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option will close the dialog box and automatically save the
current settings to the RIPterm setup file.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ HELP ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This will display a help file for the general settings dialog box.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 3.3 þ DIALING PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Dialing prefixes affect the way your modem dials telephone numbers.
Prefixes and Suffixes are used to allow you to dial some numbers a
certain way and other numbers in a totally different manner.
In order for your modem to dial a phone number, it must be issued a
particular command. Under most circumstances this command is the
same for every number you dial in your dialing directory. This can
change though if you have different types of systems you call. For
example, on some BBS'es you might have to disable error correction on
your modem to connect. You wouldn't want to put the modem AT
commands into your telephone number to accomplish this because it
just won't work. To better illustrate how Prefixes and Suffixes are
related to dialing, consult the following:
ATDT 555-1212 ^M
The normal Prefix is "ATDT". This stands for (AT)tention (D)ial
(T)ouch-tone. If you were dialing out on a rotary phone line, that
would be (P)ulse dialing (i.e., "ATDP"). This would be a typical use
for a dialing prefix. Also, if you had say several modems connected
to your machine and you dialed out on different ones for different
services, you could have one prefix setup that dialed a "9" to get an
outside number, and a different setting for a "direct outside line".
Prefixes would be "ATDT 9," and "ATDT" respectively.
Another use for Dialing Prefixes are for phone number passwords. If
you work for a company that requires you to enter a password in order
to dial-out, you could accomplish this as follows, "ATDT 1234567~".
The 1234567 is your password and the tilde (~) is used for a 1/2
second pause. After the pause the remainder of the phone number in
the dialing directory will be dialed followed by the Dialing Suffix.
The Modem Prefix/Suffix Editor dialog box looks similar to the
following:
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º Modem Prefix/Suffix Editor º
º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º ³ Modem Prefixes ³ ³ Modem Suffixes ³ º
º ³ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ ³ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ º
º ³ 1 X ³ ATDT ³ ³ ³ A X ³ ^M ³ ³ º
º ³ ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ ³ ³ ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ ³ º
º ³ 2 þ ³ ATDP ³ ³ ³ B þ ³ ^M ³ ³ º
º ³ ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ ³ ³ ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ ³ º
º ³ 3 þ ³ ATDT 9, ³ ³ ³ C þ ³ ^M ³ ³ º
º ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ³ ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ³ º
º ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º
º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º ³ OK ³ ³ CANCEL ³ ³ HELP ³ º
º ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
Notice that in the Modem Prefix section of the dialog box that there
are three different settings labeled 1, 2 and 3. Just to the right
of each of these labels is a set of check-boxes. Only one of them
can be selected at any one time. Whichever one is selected is
actually the "default" Prefix in RIPterm. You may set your dialing
directory entries to use the "default prefix". Then if you need to
change all your directory entries to use a different dialing method
quickly, simply change which prefix is the default and you're done.
Similar to the Prefix section of the dialog box, the Suffix section
also has the ability to set a "default suffix". The method is the
exact same as that for prefixes except that each suffix is labeled A,
B and C respectively.
If you choose a Prefix setting of "Default", then whichever of the
three Prefix definitions you have tagged as "Default" will be used.
You may also explicity set a Prefix of 1, 2 or 3 to select a
particular Prefix. The idea behind the Default option is evident if
you have your entire directory set to "default", then you take your
computer somewhere where you need to dial say, "9" to get an outside
line and you need to change your entire configuration quickly.
A Dialing Suffix is the last thing that is transmitted to the modem
when dialing a phone number. The first thing transmitted is the
dialing Prefix, followed by the phone number, then the suffix.
Typically, the suffix is only a carriage return (^M). However, you
could get fancy with it and put other things before the carriage
return like a phone number password (if it has to be entered "after"
the phone number". This would be useful if you wanted to apply this
to all dialing directory entries simultaneously.
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º 4.0 þ THE DIALING DIRECTORY º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
When you choose the "Dialing Directory" option, a dialog box similar
to the following will appear:
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º Dialing Directory: RIPTERM.PHO º
ÇÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĶ
º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄ¿ º
º ³ 1. ArenaBBS 1-714-379-2133 2400 8N1 COM1 ³³ º
º ³ 2. RIP Demo Midwest 1-708-978-2777 19200 8N1 COM2 ÃÄ´ º
º ³ 3. Nova Central 1-714-379-9004 9600 8N1 COM1 ³ ³ º
º ³ 4. Galacticomm BBS 1-305-583-7808 9600 8N1 COM1 ³ ³ º
º ³ 5. deltaComm BBS 1-919-481-9399 19200 8N1 COM1 ÃÄ´ º
º ³ 6. Searchlight BBS 1-516-689-2566 19200 8N1 COM1 ÃÄ´ º
º ³ 7. Synchronet BBS 1-714-529-9547 19200 8N1 COM1 ³ ³ º
º ³ 8. Wildcat BBS 1-805-395-0650 9600 8N1 COM1 ³ ³ º
º ³ 9. PC Board BBS 1-801-261-8976 19200 8N1 COM1 ÃÄ´ º
º ³ 10. E-Soft (TBBS) 1-303-699-8222 9600 8N1 COM1 ³³ º
º ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÙ º
º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º ³ Edit ³ Mark ³ Unmark ³ SaveAs ³ Load ³ Find ³ º
º ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ º
º ³ Dial ³ Cancel ³ Kill ³ Print ³ Toggle ³ Help ³ º
º ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
At the top of the dialing directory dialog box, the filename of the
dialing directory is displayed (e.g., "RIPTERM.PHO"). Whenever you
change dialing directory files, this will change to reflect the
current file in use.
In the middle of the dialog box is a listing of available hosts to
choose from. Ten hosts are displayed at any one time, and each
directory can contain up to 100 entries. You can scroll through the
available hosts quickly by using the UP/DOWN arrows on the right of
the display. Just underneath the UP arrow, and above the DOWN arrow
are two different buttons; these are used for PGUP, and PGDN. The UP
ARROW, DOWN ARROW, PGUP, PGDN, HOME, and END keys work intuitively.
Any one of the ten lines in the window can be highlighted by pressing
ALT-1 through ALT-0 (10). Any previously highlighted entries will be
un-highlighted and the given line in the window will be highlighted.
If you simultaneously hold down the SHIFT key while pressing ALT-1
through ALT-0, then the associated line will be highlighted in
addition to any previously highlighted lines (highlight merge). Do
not confuse ALT-1 through ALT-0 with the numbers listed on the left
side of the window. The numbers in the window are the entries in the
entire directory, not the window line number. Pressing an ALT-1
through ALT-0 will highlight the window line number. To highlight a
specific directory entry, see the MARK mode below.
Each host displays an entry number, the host name, telephone number,
baud rate, data bits (7 or 8), parity (E, N, O), stop bits (1 or 2),
and the COM port (COM1 - COM4).
There are twelve buttons at the bottom of the dialog box to choose
from. They function as follows:
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ EDIT ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Clicking this button edits one or more dialing directory entries. At
least one entry must be highlighted (marked). When clicked, a dialog
box will appear for each host highlighted allowing you to edit each
host's characteristics. See the next section for details on the
Dialing Directory Editor.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ DIAL ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Selecting DIAL calls one or more selected directory entries. If more
than one entry is highlighted, they will be dialed in numerical
order. If a connection is established to any host, it will be
un-highlighted in the dialing directory so that later re-entry into
the directory will allow you to dial the remaining hosts. This
option is automatically highlighted as the "default option" if at
least one directory entries is highlighted.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ MARK ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option will mark (highlight) one or more dialing directory
entries for subsequent action. When chosen, a dialog box will appear
allowing you to enter information. In this dialog box, you can enter
one or more numbers indicating which directory entry(s) to
highlight. There are a number of options you may choose from for
highlighting entries. Some examples are:
Examples:
---------
1 ... highlight entry 1
1, 2, 3 ... highlight entries 1, 2 and 3
1 2 3 ... highlight entries 1, 2 and 3
1;2;3 ... highlight entries 1, 2 and 3
1-10 ... highlight entries 1 through 10
15- ... highlight entries 15 to the end (100)
-5 ... highlight from Start (1) to entry 5
- ... highlight ALL entries
1-5, 10, 95- ... highlight 1-5, 10 and 95-100
In addition, you can also specify a "Mark Merge". This mode allows
you to combine your Marked entries with any entries that are already
marked. To use Mark Merge mode, enter a plus sign (+) as the first
character. For example, if entries 3 and 5 are highlighted, and you
mark "+ 10-15", then entries 3, 5, and 10-15 will be highlighted.
One final option is the Mark Exclude mode. This mode is similar to
Mark Merge, except that all entries EXCEPT those highlighted are
marked. In other words, anything that you would think would be
highlighted, would not be, and anything that shouldn't be
highlighted, will be! This odd way of doing things can become very
handy when combined with some of the other options in the dialing
directory. To choose Mark Exclude mode, specify an exclamation mark
(!) as the first character.
You can combine Mark Merge, and Mark Exclude modes together. To do
this, enter the sequence "+!" as the first two characters in the
dialog box.
Mark Mode will be automatically chosen if you begin typing something
that appears to be a mark sequence. In other words, you do not have
to select Mark mode in order to Mark entries. For example, from the
dialing directory dialog box, simply typing "1" will bring up the
Mark dialog and place "1" in the editing field automatically and
allow you to continue typing in your Mark expression.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ CANCEL ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This will abort the dialing directory window. Any previously
highlighted entries will remain highlighted the next time you enter
the directory. You are returned to the terminal screen.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ UNMARK ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This will un-highlight any previously highlighted directory entries.
You may also press the Space Bar to choose this option.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ KILL ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option will delete all previously highlighted directory
entries. You will be prompted to make absolutely sure that you truly
wish to erase the entries. All calling statistics for those entries
will be erased as well. Once an option is killed, it is permanently
deleted. If no entries are highlighted, this option has no affect.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ SAVE AS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option will save either the entire dialing directory, or just
the highlighted entries to another directory file. This allows you
to create new directory files quickly and easily for specific
purposes. If one or more entries are highlighted, only those entries
are copied to the new file. If no entries are highlighted, then the
entire dialing directory file is copied. You will be prompted to
enter the destination filename.
If the destination file exists, it is checked to see if it is a
RIPterm dialing directory file. If it is, you will be prompted to
either merge the highlighted entries into destination file, or to
overwrite the file with just the highlighted entries.
In the event that the destination file becomes full, a message to the
effect will be displayed informing you how many entries couldn't be
copied.
This "directory merge" feature is unique to RIPterm.
NOTE: Modifications to the dialing directory are automatically
saved to the current directory file. You do not need to
choose SAVE AS every time you add or edit an entry.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ PRINT ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This prints the contents of the dialing directory (or highlighted
entries) to either a disk file, or to a printer attached to the
configured printer port. Choosing the disk option will prompt you
for a filename.
Before printing/saving occurs, you will be asked what type of output
you wish. You have two choices: TABLE format, or DETAILED
BREAKDOWN. Table format will print one entry per line, formatted for
an 80-column display.
System Name System Phone Number
=========================================== continued next line
ArenaBBS (TeleGrafix 1-714-379-2133
Baud COM COM Last Mod
Rate Vals # Calls Call ? Direc.
continued from previous ====================================
2400 8N1 1 39 1/30/93 Y ARENA
Specifying detailed mode will output a multi-line record for each
entry. The format of detailed breakdown mode is similar to the
following:
Host Name: ArenaBBS (TeleGrafix)
Telephone #: 1-714-379-2133
Baud Rate: 2400
Data Bits: 8
Parity: NONE
Stop Bits: 1
COM Port: 1
Directory: ARENA
Connections: 39
Last Call: 01/30/93
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ LOAD ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option allows you to load up another dialing directory file.
The current directory file will be closed and the specified file will
be loaded in its place. All entries are un-highlighted, and the
window will automatically display the newly loaded entries.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ TOGGLE ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option alters what information is displayed in the dialing
directory window. By default, the following information is displayed
on each line in the window:
Entry #
Host Name
Phone Number
Baud Rate
Data Bits, Parity and Stop Bits (e.g., 8N1)
Communications Port (e.g., COM1)
When you choose the toggle option, the information displayed will be
changed to the following:
Entry #
Host Name
Total # of calls
Last call date
Directory ID (see below)
Modem or Serial-Port connection
This is a simple toggle. Each time you choose this option, the
information displayed will change to the opposite mode.
Your favorite toggle setting can be saved to your permanent RIPterm
setup. To do this, choose the toggle mode you like the best, exit
the dialing directory, then choose Save Setup.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ FIND ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option will highlight one or more entries that contain the
specified search text. Once you choose this option, a dialog box
will appear prompting you to enter a piece of text to search for
throughout the dialing directory. Any entries that contain the
chosen text will be automatically highlighted. Search is not case
sensitive. The host name, phone number and directory-ID fields are
searched for the text. Text can appear anywhere in any of these
three fields and will still be found.
You may choose Find Merge mode, or Find Exclude mode (or both)
exactly the same way as you can with the Mark mode. The command
characters (+ and !) are not added to the search string, and must be
the first characters specified in the search string. Merge mode can
be quite useful if you wish to highlight all entries in a specific
area code, or that contain a common theme (like "business", or
"daily").
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ HELP ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option displays the help screen for the dialing directory.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 4.1 þ EDITING DIALING DIRECTORY ENTRIES ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
When you choose to edit one or more dialing directory entries, a
dialog box similar to the following will appear on your screen
allowing you to edit the various entries:
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º Phone Entry Editor º
ÇÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĶ
º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º Name ³Host name goes here... ³ Com Port ³ 1 ³ º
º ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ º
º Number ³1-714-555-1212 ³ Baud Rate ³ 9600 ³ º
º ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÚÄ¿ ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ º
º DIR ³Directory ³ Modem ³X³ Data Bits ³ 8 ³ º
º ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ÀÄÙ ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ º
º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ Prefix ³ Default ³ Parity ³ None ³ º
º ³ QUIT ³ HELP ³ ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ º
º ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ Suffix ³ 1 ³ Stop Bits ³ 1 ³ º
º ³ OK! ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º
º ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
The significance of each of these fields are described below:
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ NAME ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
The name field is the name of the host that will appear in the
dialing directory window. This is the name that will be displayed to
you whenever you dial the host, and is used in general to describe
the host. You are allowed 25 characters for the host name.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ NUMBER ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This is the telephone number (if any) that is used to dial the host.
You are allowed up to 25 characters for the number. Valid characters
are digits 0-9, hyphens and parenthesis (if your modem permits it).
You may also enter a comma (,) to indicate a half-second pause. This
pause is handled by your modem, not by RIPterm. On some modems, this
pause may be two or three seconds. Check your modem's documentation
to determine the delay value. If you wish for RIPterm to perform a
half-second pause instead of the modem, insert a tilde (~) instead of
a comma (,).
Some examples of Telephone Numbers are as follows:
555-1212 ... Dial 555-1212
1-714-555-1212 ... Dial (714) 555-1212
9,555-1212 ... Dial a 9, then pause, then 555-1212
ÚÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ DIR ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This field takes a bit more explaining than the other fields in the
directory editor. Each entry in the directory has the ability to
have a separate sub-directory associated with it. This is used
mainly when RIPscrip graphics are being viewed on the host. Any icon
(.ICN, .MSK, .HIC) or RIPscrip (.RIP) files that are received by the
host should be placed in the designated sub-directory. This in
effect, helps keep your icons separated from each other.
If you omit a directory name in this field, and you dial into a
RIPscrip host that requires icons or RIPscrip files, RIPterm will
look for them automatically in the ICONS\ sub-directory. It is
recommended that you keep host specific files in their proper
sub-directories for elegant file maintenance.
You do not need to create the sub-directory yourself. The first time
that you specify a directory in the DIR field, it will be created
when you click on the OK button.
If the DIR field is non-blank, indicating a sub-directory should be
used for that specific host, RIPterm will check in that directory
first for any necessary icons or RIPscrip files. If the needed files
are not found in that sub-directory, RIPterm will check the ICONS\
sub-directory afterward to see if it is there. This facilitates the
concept of "file overide".
This "file override" is best explained by an example. Let's say you
call several different RIPscrip hosts. Each of them have numerous
icons that they use for their host. Now as you are probably aware,
each sysop of each host thinks of his host as the only host in the
world. With that in mind, they would probably not give a great
amount of thought to the names that they give their icon or RIPscrip
files (i.e., not considering that other hosts might have files with
the same names). Files like EMAIL.ICN or FILES.ICN would be used on
nearly any host! If all these files were located in the same
directory, only the very latest installed files would be used when
you call a host! In other words, when you call host XYZ, you might
see host ABC's EMAIL icon! This is obviously not how it should work.
With this in mind, keeping files in separate sub-directories resolves
this problem quite nicely. Even if a sysop chooses to use the
standard RIPterm EMAIL icon, he can do that too. All he has to do is
NOT provide you with his own EMAIL icon. RIPterm will find the
correct file for you automatically. It would first check host XYZ's
directory (presumably directory "XYZ\"), and after finding that the
file is not there, would check the ICONS\ sub-directory and find it
there. In this fashion, the sysop has the ability to overide
standard icons with his own without affecting the standard icons in
any way.
Keep in mind, that if you dial a host by issuing modem commands
directly (not using the dialing directory), then the correct
directory may not be used since RIPterm has no way of knowing which
dialing directory entry you are calling. In other words, you should
use the dialing directory to call ALL RIPscrip hosts!
NOTE: RIPterm supports a "block protocol" mode for hosts that
can support it. This mode allows the host to send files to
your computer for subsequent use. Any files received in
this mode are automatically placed in the proper host DIR
directory. If no host DIR field is specified, then the
ICONS\ sub-directory is chosen as the destination
sub-directory. The download directory as set in the General
Settings dialog box is not used in this situation as the
destination directory.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ MODEM ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This button is a toggle-type button. It can be either ON or OFF. If
it is enabled (the default), then when this entry is dialed, it will
be assumed that it is calling the host via a modem device. If it is
off, then RIPterm will assume that the host is connected to your
computer via a direct serial connection.
If the modem option is activated, RIPterm will monitor the modem for
a "CONNECT" message of some kind. Other messages that can affect the
dialing process are "ERROR", "NO DIALTONE", "VOICE" or "BUSY".
If this option is inactive, typically, connection is made instantly,
and you will be presented with some kind of an intro message. RIPterm
will automatically press
connection for you.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ PORT ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option allows you to specify which communications port will be
used to dial the given host. Valid ports are COM1 through COM4. Of
course, your system must have the given port in order to be able to
dial out on it. Before the host is called, RIPterm will initialize
the given port (if it hasn't already) and if everything is OK, will
dial the host (or press
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ BAUD ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option allows you to specify the baud rate at which the
connection should be made (or at least attempted). Valid baud rates
are 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600, and 115200
baud. If a CONNECT message is received indicating a baud rate other
than the specified rate, RIPterm will automatically adjust the baud
rate on its end to ensure that communication will take place (this is
often called "auto-baud detect" mode). This auto-baud detection is
only performed if PORT LOCK in the Modem Options dialog box is NOT
set.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ DATA BITS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option allows you to alter the number of data bits that will be
used for a given communications link. Valid settings are 7 data
bits, or 8 data bits. You will find that most hosts use 8 data
bits. 7 data bits are commonly used when calling mainframe
computers, or large hosts like TymNet, TeleNet, GEnie, CompuServe, or
other nationwide network services that use the X.25 network
protocol. When in doubt, try 8 data bits. If you get garbled
information, try 7.
In the last three sub-sections, you've seen settings for data bits,
parity, and stop bits. In nearly 100% of every situation, there are
only two combinations of these three values that are used. They are:
8 data bits 7 data bits
No parity Even parity
1 stop bit 1 stop bit
----------- -----------
8-N-1 7-E-1 <- referred to as
eight-none-one seven-even-one <- pronounced
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ PARITY ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option allows you to alter the parity setting that will be used
for a given communications link. Valid settings are EVEN, ODD or
NONE. The vast majority of hosts in the world use a setting of NONE,
for "No Parity". Situations where you will choose something other
than NONE would be if you were calling a mainframe computer, or
dialing up via a nationwide network like TymNet, TeleNet, GEnie,
CompuServe, or other such X.25-based hosts. If in doubt, try NONE.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ STOP BITS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option allows you to alter the number of "Stop Bits" that are
used for the communications link. Valid settings are 1 stop bit, or
2 stop bits. Typically, 1 stop bit will be used for the vast
majority of hosts.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ PREFIX ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option lets you choose from one of several different ways to
place a call with your modem. In order for your modem to dial a
phone number, it must be issued a particular command. Under most
circumstances this command is the same for every number you dial in
your dialing directory. This can change though if you have different
types of systems you call. For example, on some BBS'es you might
have to disable error correction on your modem to connect. You
wouldn't want to put the modem AT commands into your telephone number
to accomplish this because it just won't work. To better illustrate
how Prefixes and Suffixes are related to dialing, consult the
following:
ATDT 555-1212 ^M
The normal Prefix is "ATDT". This standards for (AT)tention (D)ial
(T)ouch-tone. If you were dialing out on a rotary phone line, that
would be (P)ulse dialing (i.e., "ATDP"). This would be a typical use
for a dialing prefix. Also, if you had say several modems connected
to your machine and you dialed out on different ones for different
services, you could have one prefix setup that dialed a "9" to get an
outside number, and a different setting for a "direct outside line".
Prefixes would be "ATDT 9," and "ATDT" respectively.
Another use for Dialing Prefixes are for phone number passwords. If
you work for a company that requires you to enter a password in order
to dial-out, you could accomplish this as follows, "ATDT 1234567~".
The 1234567 is your password and the tilde (~) is used for a 1/2
second pause. After the pause the remainder of the phone number in
the dialing directory will be dialed followed by the Dialing Suffix.
If you choose a Prefix setting of "Default", then whichever of the
three Prefix definitions you have tagged as "Default" will be used.
You may also explicity set a Prefix of 1, 2 or 3 to select a
particular Prefix. The idea behind the Default option is evident if
you have your entire directory set to "default", then you take your
computer somewhere where you need to dial say, "9" to get an outside
line and you need to change your entire configuration quickly.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ SUFFIX ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
A Dialing Suffix is the last thing that is transmitted to the modem
when dialing a phone number. The first thing transmitted is the
dialing Prefix, followed by the phone number, then the suffix.
Typically, the suffix is only a carriage return (^M). However, you
could get fancy with it and put other things before the carriage
return like a phone number password (if it has to be entered "after"
the phone number". This would be useful if you wanted to apply this
to all dialing directory entries simultaneously.
ÚÄÄÄÄ¿
³ OK ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÙ
This will accept any changes you have made and return you to the
dialing directory dialog box. Any changes you made in the editor
will be reflected in the dialing directory window. If you have
highlighted multiple entries to edit, then the remaining entries (if
any) that haven't been edited will be edited before you are returned
to the dialing directory screen.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ QUIT ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This will cancel any modifications you have made in the directory
editor. You will be returned to the dialing directory automatically.
If you have chosen to edit multiple directory entries (by
highlighting more than one), and there are entries that haven't been
edited yet, they will be edited before you are eventually returned to
the dialing directory.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ HELP ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option bring up the help screen for the directory editor.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 4.2 þ DIALING DIRECTORY CONVERSION UTILITY (DIALCONV.EXE) ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
For your convenience, a utility program has been included with
RIPterm to convert dialing directory files from other popular
terminal programs to RIPterm format. This program currently supports
the conversion of Telix and TeleMate directory files to RIPterm
format. Conversion is "one way". In other words, you cannot convert
a RIPterm directory file to Telix format, but you can go the other
way around (Telix to RIPterm conversion).
Use of DIALCONV is quite simple. The program will auto-detect what
type of dialing directory file is to be processed and will
automatically use the appropriate conversion method necessary for the
given file.
To convert a directory file, enter a command similar to:
DIALCONV TELIX.FON RIPTERM.PHO
In the preceding example, DIALCONV would convert the Telix directory
file TELIX.FON to a RIPterm directory file called RIPTERM.PHO.
RIPterm uses the extension of .PHO to designate dialing directories.
All "statistical" data in the source directory file are converted
into the new RIPterm file. For example, the last date a host was
called, and total number of calls you have made to that host are
converted as well and are made part of the RIPterm directory file. In
addition, COM port, baud rate and other settings are converted as
well for your convenience.
If you wish to simply view the contents of a Telix or TeleMate
directory file without conversion (to make sure that conversion would
take place properly), you can choose an optional "view" option for
DIALCONV by specifying the "-v" switch on the command line. For
example, to list out all the valid entries in a Telix directory file
called TELIX.FON to the screen, enter the following command:
DIALCONV -v TELIX.FON
All entries will be displayed to the screen for you. Output can be
captured to a text file if you wish by using the MS-DOS redirection
feature. Using the preceding example, let's say you wanted to print
all entries in the Telix directory file to the text file TELIX.LST,
enter the following command:
DIALCONV -v TELIX.FON >TELIX.LST
Note the use of the redirection symbol ">" followed by the filename
to redirect output to. You could just have easily directed the
programs output to the Printer with the following command:
DIALCONV -v TELIX.FON >PRN
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 4.3 þ DIALING DIRECTORY FILE FORMAT ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
For the technically minded, this section of the document defines the
internal structure of the RIPterm dialing directory file. This is
provided for programmers who wish to create directory maintenance
utilities.
A RIPterm dialing directory file is a "flat-file" database with no
index. Each record is of fixed length and is stored in numerical
order from 1-100. Each entry is exactly 100 bytes in length, so a
dialing directory file is exactly 10,000 bytes in length. Blank
entries are identified by the NAME, PHONE and HOST_ID fields being
entirely blank (i.e., NULL's).
The C data structure for each record is as follows:
---------------------------------------------------
struct phone_entry {
char name[25]; /* Name of System */
char phone[25]; /* Phone Number of System */
/* -------------------------- */
int com_port; /* COMx to use (0=default) */
long baud; /* Baud Rate to dial at */
char data_bits; /* Data Bits (7-8) */
char stop_bits; /* Stop Bits (1-2) */
char parity; /* Parity Setting */
/* -------------------------- */
char system_id[13]; /* System-ID (resource filenm)*/
long total_connects; /* Total # of connections */
int last_date; /* Last Date connected */
int reserved; /* Reserved field */
char connected_to; /* 0=modem, 1=computer */
char prefix; /* Dialing Prefix (0=def, 1-3)*/
char suffix; /* Dialing Suffix (0=def, 1-3)*/
char spare[17]; /* Spare space for upgrades */
}; /* TOTAL SIZE: 100 bytes */
The LAST_DATE field is an integer. This variable uses the MS-DOS
method of encoding Dates into a 16-bit number. Consult the MS-DOS
Programmer's Reference Manual for details on the internal format of
DOS Dates.
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º 5.0 þ EXTERNAL APPLICATIONS º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
RIPterm has a powerful feature which allows it to link-in external
MS-DOS programs into RIPterm to do things quickly and easily from
within the software. You are allowed up to ten different
applications to be programmed into RIPterm. At the touch of a key
you can fire off one of your application programs to do things like
run Microsoft Windows (tm), run text editors, offline mail readers or
view graphics files like GIF files.
What makes RIPterm's application system even more powerful is that
you can link application programs to particular file extensions. The
significance of this may not be readily apparent until you think
about what happens when you download files off of a BBS with the same
extension as that of another application program. For example, let's
say that application #5 is defined as being your local GIF file
viewer program. If you link that application to files with a .GIF
extension, then whenever you download a GIF file you viewer will be
run immediately instructing it to view the file you just downloaded!
To make situations even nicer, RIPterm will physically return to
MS-DOS (text mode) and swap as much of RIPterm's data out of your
640k conventional memory as possible before running your application.
When running applications, RIPterm frees up almost all of your 640k
memory except for 5.5k that must remain to reload RIPterm when your
application is complete. When RIPterm is swapped out of memory it
will by default store all the program code and data to a temporary
disk file, unless you have the "Swap to EMS/XMS" option selected in
the General Settings dialog box. If you do have EMS/XMS swapping
enabled, then RIPterm will place all of the necessary data into
Expanded and/or extended memory (if there's enough available).
Swapping to EMS/XMS is considerably faster than swapping to disk
naturally so it is the most desirable method for running your
applications.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 5.1 þ THE APPLICATION EDITOR ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
In order to take advantage of external applications, you need to edit
an application program entry from the EXTERNAL pull-down menu.
Choose the "Edit Applications" option - you will be presented with a
list of ten different applications or application "slots". To insert
a new application, choose a blank slot. You will be placed in the
Application Editor. The application editor appears similar to the
following:
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º Application #0 Editor º
ÇÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĶ
º Never þ º
º Description Extension Ask X º
º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ Always þ º
º ³ Edit a text file ³ ³ .TXT ³ º
º ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ PAUSE þ º
º Command Line º
º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º ³ EDIT.COM $FILENAME$ ³ º
º ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º
º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º ³ OK ³ ³ CANCEL ³ ³ HELP ³ º
º ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
At the top of the dialog box it says which application slot you are
currently editing. Slots are identified as slots #0 through slot #9.
By convention, we recommend that slot #0 be used for an external text
editor. In this way, even if a BBS instructs your terminal to edit a
text file by running application #0, your RIPterm system should be
able to handle it. For more information on how a BBS can run
application programs on your local terminal, see the following
sections.
To make your external applications accessible from within RIPterm,
you need to define them. That's what the Application Editor is all
about. Each of the fields in the Application Editor dialog box is
explained below:
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ DESCRIPTION ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
The description data field allows you to enter a description for the
application that will appear in the external application listing.
This is intended to give you the user of RIPterm a visual idea of
what the application does.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ COMMAND LINE ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This is where the real meat and potatoes of the application editor
lies. This is how you define what program to run and how to run it.
Simply insert the name of the application program (or a batch file)
in this data field along with any parameters you wish to utilize.
You may only execute .EXE, .COM or .BAT files and they must be either
in the current directory, or accessible in your MS-DOS PATH=
statement. Consult your DOS manual for more details about the PATH
setting.
In addition to being able to specify which program to run, you can
also utilize one of RIPterm's most advanced features to customize
your application to suit your needs. For example, if you were going
to edit a text file, you need to tell your editor what file you wish
to edit. In the screen displayed above showing the Application
Editor, you will notice the Command Line of "EDIT.COM $FILENAME$".
Notice the $FILENAME$ portion of the command line. When you try to
run this particular application, the phrase $FILENAME$ will be
replaced with a filename of your choice. Actually, that is a
simplistic way of looking at it. $FILENAME$ is really a RIPterm text
variable (see section 7.4.2 for more details on Text Variables).
Text variables are like Macros - they get replaced with another piece
of information or text. Depending on the variable, it might be
replaced with some piece of information that RIPterm knows already
(like the date for example), or it might insert a piece of text that
you physically type in. In the case of $FILENAME$, RIPterm will
pop-up a dialog box on your screen allowing you to enter the filename
to edit.
The $FILENAME$ text variable is sometimes called a "magic text
variable". It has special meaning in the External Application system
of RIPterm. When you physically choose a particular application to
run, it will prompt you to enter a filename. If on the other hand,
you link an application to a downloaded file, this text variable is
automatically "filled in" with the name of the file you just
downloaded, thus preventing you from having to type in the filename
at all.
You are not only limited to just simple text variables. You can also
use "Pick-List" definitions (again, see the section on text variables
and Keystroke macros for more details). This allows you to pop-up a
listing of available choices. You might conceivably use this to
specify different command-line switches to modify the behavior of a
particular program - something that may be different each time you
run the program.
You do not need to place a ^M at the end of your command line. A
carriage return will be added automatically when the program is run.
NOTE: Leaving the command line blank will result in a simple DOS
Shell being executed when you run the application.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ EXTENSION ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
As stated previously, you have the ability to link particular
application programs to files with certain extensions. For example,
if you wanted to link a GIF image viewer to files with .GIF
extensions, simply enter "GIF" in this field. Then whenever you
download a file with a .GIF extension, the given application will run
and the $FILENAME$ text variable will be replaced with the filename
of the file you just downloaded! Neat, huh?
There are three ways that applications can link to downloaded files.
They can be run NEVER, ALWAYS or it can prompt you if you really want
to run the application on the particular file you downloaded (ASK).
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ OPTION - NEVER ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
When this option is chosen, the Extension field of the application
will be ignored. In other words, the application you are editing
will never be automatically executed for particular files that you
download. Use this option to completely disable auto-download
application execution for a given application slot.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ OPTION - ASK ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
When this option is selected and the Extension field contains a DOS
Extension, RIPterm will check every file that you download to see if
it has the same extension and if so, it will pop-up a window on your
screen asking if you wish to run the given application on the file
you just downloaded. This is the most "secure" way of using
application mode. This gives you complete control over what gets run
when and where.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ OPTION - ALWAYS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option, when combined with the Extension field, will
automatically run the given application every time a corresponding
file with the same extension is downloaded. You will not be prompted
if you want to run the application on the file, it will be done for
you immediately when the download is complete. The only way that you
can interact with the act of running the application is if you have
inserted pick-list definitions or text variable definitions into the
command line field ($FILENAME$ doesn't count).
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ OPTION - PAUSE ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
When this option is chosen, RIPterm will physically pause before
returning to RIPterm after your application has completed execution.
Use this option when you want to have a "Hit any key to return to
RIPterm" message appear after your application is complete. For
example, you might use this option if you have instructed RIPterm to
run PKZIP to view the contents of each ZIP file you download.
Naturally, you would like the information to stay on your screen
after the listing is complete so that you can examine the contents of
the file. If you did not select this option, then as soon as the ZIP
file's contents were displayed on the screen, RIPterm would resume
and the listing would vanish immediately giving you no opportunity to
look at the listing.
ÚÄÄÄÄ¿
³ OK ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÙ
Choosing this option approves any modifications you might have made
in the application editor and saves that application for future use
in RIPterm.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ CANCEL ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option abandons all modifications in the Application Editor,
restoring the application slot to the state it was in previous to
entering the Application Editor.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ HELP ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option displays a help screen to assist you in editing
applications.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 5.2 þ APPLICATION TEXT VARIABLES ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
You can run applications directly from your keystroke macros if you
wish. This makes your application programs accessible at the touch
of a key. This means that you don't have to pull down the EXTERNAL
menu and select "Run Application" every time you wish to run your
favorite programs. Similar in concept to the $FILENAME$ text
variable described above, you can also insert application text
variables directly into your keyboard macros in RIPterm. When
executed the macro will automatically run the designated application.
Application Text Variables are $APP0$ through $APP9$. Each one
corresponds to a particular application slot. If a slot is blank,
RIPterm will simply execute a DOS Shell. Unlike the $FILENAME$ text
variable though, $APP0$ through $APP9$ do not get replaced with any
piece of text. For example, if you had the following macro set up:
F5: HELLO $APP0$ WORLD
Then whenever you hit the F5 key in RIPterm, your macro would send
the sequence "HELLO " to the BBS, then run application #0 (presumably
your text editor), then after that is complete, transmit " WORLD" to
the BBS as the final part of your macro. Note that we did not use
the $FILENAME$ variable inside the macro itself - that is specified
in the command line portion of the application editor.
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º 6.0 þ DIALING THE MODEM º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
Press
Enter the telephone number you wish to dial. You may enter any
numeric digits (0-9). Hyphens are ignored. Enter a comma for a 1/2
second delay (e.g., 9,1-714-555-1212). You may need to add delays if
you have to use a special service or a switchboard to obtain an
outside line dial-tone.
The dialing window will appear when RIPterm is attempting to dial the
modem. On this window will be displayed the number of seconds that
have elapsed, the time that dialing started, the time of the last
re-dial attempt, the telephone number and other information about the
dialing state.
Pressing
over. Pressing
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 6.1 þ THE DIALING WINDOW ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
When RIPterm dials a host, it will display a dialog box showing you
the progress when dialing the host. The dialog box looks similar to:
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º Host ³ Host name goes here... ³ º
º ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ ÚÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º Phone # ³ 1-714-555-1212 ³ Attempt ³ 005 ³ º
º ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ ÃÄÄÄÄÄÅÄ¿ º
º Started ³ 08:23:25 ³ Current ³ 08:31:42 ³ Remain ³ 10 ³³ º
º ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÁÄ´ º
º Message ³ Host is Busy. Redialing... ³ º
º ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º
º ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º º REDIAL º ³ CANCEL ³ ³ DELETE ³ º
º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
Each field is described more fully in the following sections:
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ HOST ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This field displays the name of the host that is being dialed. This
field may be blank if you choose to dial via the manual dialing
method (ALT-M). If you are dialing by choosing entries from the
dialing directory, whatever host name is displayed will be shown in
this field when that entry is dialed.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ PHONE # ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This displays the telephone number that is being used when dialing
the designated host. It is shown in this field exactly as it is
transmitted to the modem.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ STARTED ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This field shows the time that this dialing attempt began. The format
of this field is HH:MM:SS. Whenever a number is dialed, or the
dialing window cycles to the next number, this field is updated with
the current time that the telephone number is issued to the modem to
dial out.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ CURRENT ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This field displays the current time. This field will constantly
change as the dialing progresses. It is intended to give you a
visual reference to the time, compared to the start time.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ MESSAGE ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Periodically through the dialing process, various status messages may
need to be displayed to give you more information on what is going
on. Of the various messages, you might see things like, "Host is
Busy. Redialing...", or "Time elapsed without connection". This is
generally used to tell you what is going on.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ ATTEMPT ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This shows how many attempts have been tried thus far for this phone
number. If the host is busy, then it will try again after a brief
pause. If you have many hosts "queued" up to dial, then this shows
the attempt number only for the given host being dialed at the
moment. Up to 999 attempts will be made before RIPterm stops all
dialing attempts to a particular host.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ REMAIN ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This message displays how many seconds remain before the current
dialing attempt will terminate. By default, redial time is set to 45
seconds, but this can be changed from within the modem options dialog
box. High speed modems, or long distance calls frequently need more
than 45 seconds to complete an outgoing call. To the right of this
field are two small arrows, an UP arrow, and a DOWN arrow. These are
for temporarily increasing or decreasing the redial time for the rest
of this dialing attempt.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ REDIAL ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This button will cause what's commonly known as a "cycle" to occur.
This is used when you have highlighted a number of entries to dial.
By clicking on redial, it will stop calling whichever host is
currently being dialed, and will cycle to the next highlighted host
in your dialing list and begin to dial that number. If you are only
dialing one host, this will stop the current dialing attempt and
re-dial the same number again.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ CANCEL ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option will stop dialing. You will be returned to the RIPterm
session screen. Any entries in the dialing directory that you were
trying to dial will remain highlighted the next time you enter the
dialing directory.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ DELETE ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option will remove an entry from your dial list. What this
means is that whatever host is currently being dialed will have its
dialing attempt stopped, and then it will be un-highlighted in the
dialing directory, then RIPterm will attempt to dial the next
highlighted number (if any). If no more entries are available in the
dialing list, RIPterm will abort all dialing and return to the
RIPterm session window.
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º 7.0 þ OTHER RIPTERM FEATURES º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
RIPterm has a great many other features to make your online access
quicker and easier than ever before. Some features are advanced and
some are simple. In the following sections you will read up on the
various other features of RIPterm to help make your adventure in the
online world as simple as possible.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 7.1 þ SCROLLBACK MODE ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Scrollback mode allows you to review previously displayed text
information that has come across the modem. You may set the
scrollback buffer size to 5k - 64k.
Within scrollback, you may choose from the following options:
þ SAVE buffer page to a text file
þ SAVE entire buffer to a text file
þ PRINT the current buffer page, or the entire buffer
þ SEARCH for a particular piece of text
þ SEARCH again for a previously searched for text string
At the top of the scrollback screen are a number of icons for the
above commands. In addition, there are icons for scrolling up, down,
paging up and down or moving to the beginning or end of the buffer.
NOTE: The scrollback buffer filters out ANSI color codes and
RIPscrip graphics for an uncluttered text display.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 7.2 þ THE STATUS BAR ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
At the bottom of the screen is the status bar (normally on). This
gives you information about the current configuration of RIPterm. It
also provides you with a quick and easy way to access several of the
basic features of RIPterm without having to use the menus.
You may toggle the status bar ON and OFF quickly by pressing
ALT-SPACE. The host might turn the status bar ON or OFF for you,
using RIPscrip commands. If it mysteriously vanishes for some
reason, keep in mind that the host you are connected to probably did
it because it needs the extra line for text or graphics!
There are a number of different "fields" in the Status Bar. They are:
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂ
³ F1 = Help ³ F10 = Menus ³ RIPscrip ³ 38400 þ N81 FDX ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁ
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
ÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ COM1 ³ RIPterm v1.54.00 ³ Offline ³
ÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
(6) (7) (8)
(1) How to get the help system table of contents.
(2) How to use the keyboard only to select from the menus.
(3) What terminal emulation is in use, or the name of the log
file if one has been opened or the LPT printer port being
used for printer logging.
(4) The baud rate, parity setting, data bits and stop bits.
(5) Full-duplex (FDX) or half-duplex (HDX) settings.
(6) The COM port that is currently in use.
(7) The current version number of RIPterm.
(8) Whether you are "on-line" or "off-line".
Each one of the fields just described can be clicked on (if the
status bar is on). Once clicked, a different action is performed
based upon the current state of RIPterm, and what field you clicked
on. Each of the various fields are described below:
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ HELP TABLE OF CONTENTS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This option displays the Help Table of Contents. From here, you can
access any area in the Help System quickly and easily.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ ACCESSING THE MENUS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
When you click on this option, the menu bar at the top of the screen
will be highlighted for you. You may then use the keyboard to
navigate through the menus quickly and easily to choose options.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ MISC. FIELD ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This field serves three purposes. If you are current logging your
session to a disk "log file" the filename (without extension) of the
log file will be displayed in here. In this mode, clicking in this
field will close (or pause) the log file. If you are not logging
your current session to disk, but to a printer instead, you will see
this field as something like "--LPT1--" or whatever printer port is
currently being printed to for session printer logging. If you are
not logging your session at all, then this field will display the
phrase "RIPscrip", indicating that you are using a RIPscrip
compatible terminal program. Clicking on this field in this mode
will bring up a help screen telling you more about RIPscrip graphics
in general.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ COMMUNICATIONS SETTINGS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This field indicates what the current communications parameters are.
The baud rate (300-115,200 baud) is displayed as well as the data
bits (7 or 8), parity ( N = none, E = even and O = odd), and stop
bits (1 or 2). If local-echo is enabled, then the phrase "HDX" is
displayed which means "Half Duplex". If this is disabled (no echo),
then the phrase "FDX" is displayed indicating "Full Duplex" mode is
in effect.
Clicking on this field brings up the Modem Settings dialog box.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ COMMUNICATIONS PORT ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This field displays what communications port you are using. Clicking
on this field brings up the modem settings dialog box.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ RIPTERM INFORMATION ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This field displays the version number of RIPterm that you are
using. Clicking on it brings up a help screen corresponding to
"About RIPterm" in the Project menu. It displays information about
the current version of RIPterm.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ ON-LINE/OFF-LINE INDICATOR ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This field displays whether you are on-line or off-line. When RIPterm
is starting up, you might see the phrase "Loading..." in this field;
this is just a status indicator telling you RIPterm is doing
something. The purpose of this field is for you to be able to, at a
glance, determine if you are still connected to a host or not. This
field is updated whenever your on-line status changes in any way
(providing your modem is configured for carrier detect!).
Clicking on this field will do one of two things depending on what
the current on-line/off-line status is. if you are on-line, clicking
on this field will ask you if you wish to hang-up (providing you are
using your modem to connect to a host). If it says you are off-line,
clicking on this field will bring up the dialing directory, thus
allowing you to dial a host.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 7.3 þ ASCII UPLOAD SETTINGS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
When you select the ASCII Upload Settings option, the following
dialog box will appear on your screen:
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º ASCII Upload Settings º
ÇÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĶ
º ÚÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º Line Delay ³ 10 ³ º
º ÃÄÄÄÄ´ º
º Character Delay ³ 0 ³ º
º ÀÄÄÄÄÙ º
º ÚÄÄ¿ º
º Blank Expansion ³XX³ º
º ÀÄÄÙ º
º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º ³ OK ³ ³ CANCEL ³ º
º ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
The significance of each field is as follows:
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ LINE DELAY ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Sometimes when uploading ASCII files to a host, it is necessary to
pause in between each line so that the host can process the data. If
you find that data is becoming lost, or garbled by the host when you
perform an ASCII upload, you may need to increase the Line Delay
option for ASCII uploads. You may specify a time value in 1/10ths of
a second. Therefore, if you specify a value of 11, it would be a 1.1
second pause in between lines.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ CHARACTER DELAY ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Under some circumstances, when performing an ASCII upload to a host,
it is necessary to insert pauses in between each character that is
sent to the host. This may be necessary in situations where the host
must process each character as it is sent, rather than every line of
text sent. You may specify a time value in 1/10ths of a second.
Therefore, if you specify a value of 11, it would be a 1.1 second
pause in between lines.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ BLANK EXPANSION ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
When this option is chosen, RIPterm will expand blank lines that are
uploaded in ASCII mode to a space character followed by a carriage
return. Under most circumstances, this tricks the BBS into thinking
that you typed something in, but still shows up as a blank line. This
is most often the case inside E-Mail editors. Turn this option off
if you do not want blank line expansion to be enabled.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 7.4 þ MACRO EDITOR ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Macros are functions that you can define to perform short-cut
operations on the host. For example, you can instruct RIPterm to
make the F5 key type your user-id and press
would allow you to log-on quickly by simply pressing a single key.
RIPterm's macro system is easy to use, and very powerful! You can
save your macro keys to the default macro file (RIPTERM.KEY), or if
you need to have multiple macro configurations, you can save macros
to different files.
When you choose the macro editor option, a dialog box similar to the
following will be displayed:
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º RIPterm Macro Editor º
º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º ³ CTRL-F2: This is Macro #1 ......... ³³ ³ EDIT ³ º
º ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄ´ ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ º
º ³ ALT-G: This is Macro #2 ......... ³ ³ ³ DELETE ³ º
º ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ ³ ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ º
º ³ F2: This is Macro #3 ......... ³ ³ ³ CLEAR ³ º
º ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ ³ ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ º
º ³ SHIFT-F9: This is Macro #4 ......... ³ ³ ³ SAVE ³ º
º ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄ´ ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ º
º ³ CTRL-F10: This is Macro #5 ......... ³³ ³ LOAD ³ º
º ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º
º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º ³ OK ³ ³ CANCEL ³ º
º ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
The currently defined macros are displayed in the scrolling window on
the left side of the dialog box. On the right side, are buttons
which allow you to add/edit macros, delete existing macros, Clear all
macros, load a macro file and save all macros to a macro file.
When selecting macros to edit/delete, you may click on an existing
macro then click on EDIT or DELETE. If you wish to edit/delete more
than one macro at the same time, click on each macro while holding
down the SHIFT key. If you click on EDIT without any macros being
highlighted, you go into ADD macro mode.
You may store multiple macros into Macro .KEY Files for future use.
You may have as many macro files as you wish limited only by the
amount of available disk space.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ ENTER KEYSTROKE FOR THE MACRO EDITOR ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Type the keystroke that you wish to record a macro for. For example,
if you wanted to record a macro for the F5 key, simply press the F5
key. You may specify CTRL, ALT or SHIFT keys as well. RIPterm's
macro editor allows you to define literally hundreds of macros using
nearly as complex a keystroke as you want. To exit the ADD mode,
simply press the
want to make CTRL-M (return), CTRL-H (backspace) or ALT-K (keystroke
macros) into macros themselves. This would make it difficult to use
RIPterm with the keyboard.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ TEXT TO SEND HOST WHEN THIS KEY IS PRESSED ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Enter the text that should be sent to the host (or the modem) if this
macro is entered. In other words, enter the text that you want to be
associated with this macro. For example, if you wanted to send the
text "Hello World" to the host when you press F5, simply type in
"Hello World".
You may enter control characters into your macros by using a caret
(^), followed by the letter of the control key you want to send. For
example, a CTRL-C would be represented as ^C. A carriage return
(
sequence ^[ ... There are a number of different combinations of
CONTROL CHARACTERS that you may choose from (see the following
sections for more details).
In addition to control characters, you can also insert TEXT VARIABLES
or POPUP LISTS (see below) into your macros.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ SAVING YOUR MACROS TO A FILE ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Enter the filename that you want to save your defined macros to. By
default, the Macro File RIPTERM.KEY is prompted. If you do not wish
to store your existing macros as the "Default RIPterm" macros, save
them to a different file.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ LOADING YOUR MACROS FROM A FILE ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Enter the filename of the macro .KEY file you wish to load. Macro
files are contained in the current RIPTERM directory unless otherwise
specified. By default, RIPTERM.KEY is prompted, so that you can load
the default macros quickly and easily. If you wish to load a custom,
non-default macro file, simply backspace over the existing filename
and enter the filename you wish to load.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 7.4.1 þ CONTROL CHARACTERS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Not all hosts will allow you to use control characters. Regardless
of that, the capability to send any control character exists in your
keystroke macro editor. The most commonly used control characters
are:
INDIVIDUAL CONTROL CHARACTERS VALUE
---------------------------------------------------------
^@ ... NUL ... Null byte 0
^A ... SOH ... Ctrl-A (start of block) 1
^B ... STX ... Ctrl-B (aux. start of block) 2
^C ... ETX ... Ctrl-C (user break) 3
^D ... EOT ... Ctrl-D (end of transfer) 4
^E ... ENQ ... Ctrl-E (enquire) 5
^F ... ACK ... Ctrl-F (Acknowledgement) 6
^G ... BEL ... Ctrl-G (bell/beep) 7
^H ... BS ... Ctrl-H (backspace) 8
^I ... HT ... Ctrl-I (horizontal tab) 9
^J ... LF ... Ctrl-J (line feed) 10
^K ... VT ... Ctrl-K (vertical tab) 11
^L ... FF ... Ctrl-L (top of form/clear screen) 12
^M ... CR ... Ctrl-M (carriage return) 13
^N ... SO ... Ctrl-N (shift out) 14
^O ... SI ... Ctrl-O (shift in) 15
^P ... DLE ... Ctrl-P 16
^Q ... DC1 ... Ctrl-Q (resume data transmission/XON) 17
^R ... DC2 ... Ctrl-R 18
^S ... DC3 ... Ctrl-S (pause data transmission/XOFF) 19
^T ... DC4 ... Ctrl-T 20
^U ... NAK ... Ctrl-U (no acknowledgement/NAK) 21
^V ... SYN ... Ctrl-V (synchronize byte) 22
^W ... ETB ... Ctrl-W 23
^X ... CAN ... Ctrl-X (cancel/CAN) 24
^Y ... EM ... Ctrl-Y 25
^Z ... SUB ... Ctrl-Z (end of file) 26
^[ ... ESC ... Escape character (ESC) 27
^\ ... FS ... 28
^] ... GS ... 29
^_ ... US ... 31
SPECIAL KEYSTROKES
----------------------
^[[A ... Up arrow
^[[B ... Down arrow
^[[C ... Right arrow
^[[D ... Left arrow
^[[H ... Home key
^[[K ... End key
^[[L ... Control home
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 7.4.2 þ TEXT VARIABLES ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
A special feature of RIPterm allows it to understand what a text
variable is. A text variable is a string of text that RIPterm knows
represents something more. For example, the text variable $DATE$ is
known to represent the current date on your system. The host may ask
your system what the values of one or more of these variables are,
and if your terminal knows that particular text variable, it will
send that information to the host.
There are two types of text variables. There are built-in text
variables that RIPterm will ALWAYS know about. Then there are also
user text variables that can contain a variety of information
depending on what the RIPterm user entered at the time the variable
was created. For example, the host might ask you what the contents
of the $FULL_NAME$ variable is, and if RIPterm doesn't know, it would
pop-up a field on the screen and ask you about it. From then on,
RIPterm will remember that piece of information for the next time it
is needed by a host.
You may use either the pre-defined text variables, or the user text
variables at any place that allows text variables (i.e., keystroke
macros).
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 7.4.2.1 þ USER TEXT VARIABLES ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
User text variables are text variables that you create. A host might
tell you, "Create this text variable for me", or you might create one
yourself. The difference is really unimportant. However, a brief
explanation of their purpose might prove insightful.
User text variables are used to store information either permanently,
or temporarily. This information can then be re-used without you
having to type them in again. The time-saving aspect of this feature
is only one small benefit of its ability. Having the capability to
store information over potentially long periods of time is VERY
useful!
There are three types of user text variables:
1. Permanent (database) variables
2. Temporary (in memory) variables
3. Volatile (discardable) variables
The significance of each type of variable is described below:
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ PERMANENT (DATABASE) VARIABLES ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Permanent text variables are saved in a local RIPterm database file
called RIPTERM.DB. This file is automatically indexed for high-speed
retrieval of information. The index file for this database is called
RIPTERM.IDX. Both files are stored in the current RIPterm directory
for safe keeping. Any permanent text variable that is created is
stored in this file.
A permanent text variable can be created by yourself manually by
choosing option "Store Data" from the Data menu, or interactively by
a host via a special RIPscrip command ("Define Text Variable"). Once
you create a variables, they are stored forever, or until you either
delete the database file, or modify the entry. These variables may
be accessed by yourself, or a host (if you wish it). This can be
quite useful in preventing you from having to type the same
information in over and over again in future on-line sessions. Imagine
if you could sign-up on a host without having to type a single
character? Sound too good to be true? With text variables, you (and
other sysops) could do this!
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ TEMPORARY (IN MEMORY) VARIABLES ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Temporary (in memory) text variables are just like permanent text
variables, except that they are not stored in a database file. They
are stored in your computer's memory. They remain until you exit
RIPterm. Other than that, they are identical in nature to permanent
text variables. Until you exit RIPterm, they will exist and will be
accessible to you (via macros), or to a host.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ VOLATILE (DISCARDABLE) VARIABLES ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
A volatile (discardable) text variable is somewhat different than the
previously described text variables. They do not remain in memory or
in any database for any period of time. They are used solely to ask
you a simple question, transmit the information to the host, then the
contents of the variable are destroyed forever. Why would you (or a
host) want something like this? This question is answered
differently for YOU or for a host.
A volatile text variable for you can be useful during keystroke
macros. Let's say you have a very complex macro that you've devised
for doing something in a game (for example) to another user on the
host. Should you have to edit the macro each time you want to
use it for someone different? Of course not! Simply place a
reference to an "undefined" text variable in your macro. When you
execute the macro, RIPterm will look through its list of text
variables (pre-defined, in-memory and permanent), and if it doesn't
find a corresponding variable, it would pop-up a quick dialog box
asking you to enter something for that variable. Whatever you type
into that dialog box for the variable is replaced in your macro right
then and there, and is immediately discarded after the macro is
finished. For example, let's say you have the following macro setup
to attack another player in a game on some host you call:
F2: ATTACK $USERNAME$ FIERCELY^m
When you execute macro F2, RIPterm will transmit "ATTACK " to the
host, then find the text variable $USERNAME$ in it. It will check
its internal tables for this variable, and if it doesn't find it, it
will pop-up a window asking you to enter the following:
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º Please enter "USERNAME" º
º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º ³ Û ³ º
º ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
Simply type in the name of the user you wish to attack, and the
result will be sent to the host in place of the variable name
$USERNAME$. After that, the remainder of the macro will be
transmitted to the host (i.e., " FIERCELY") followed by a carriage
return (^M is the carriage return). Once the macro is complete, the
contents of USERNAME will not exist (unless it was a previously
defined "permanent" text variable or a Temporary (in memory) text
variable.
A host can also ask you to enter something for a volatile text
variable. Why would a host want to do this and not save the response
somewhere? What if you asked a host to download a file. It could
present you with a menu like the following:
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º File Download º
º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º ³ Protocols ³ ³ Enter Filename ³ º
º ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄ´ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º
º ³ X-Modem ³ ³ ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º
º ³ Y-Modem ³ ³ º Begin Download º º
º ³ Z-Modem ³ X ³ ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ º
º ³ Kermit ³ ³ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º
º ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÙ ³ Cancel Download! ³ º
º ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
The options on the left allow you to specify the file transfer
protocol that you wish to use for the transfer. The "Enter Filename"
button though is the one we're interested in. When you click on this
button, you would think that RIPterm should pop-up a dialog box on
your screen asking you what filename you want to download, right?
Would you think that the filename you enter should become a permanent
part of RIPterm's configuration? Of course not. It saved only
temporarily until such time as you click on either "Begin Download"
or "Cancel Download!". Its value is used specifically when you click
on "Begin Download" whereby RIPterm looks at all of the buttons on
the screen and instructs the host to begin the download in a certain
way (e.g., using Z-Modem protocol to download file XYZ.EXE for
example). As you can clearly see, you would not want the filename
field to be part of your permanent RIPterm configuration. In this
manner, volatile text variables can be extremely useful!
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 7.4.2.2 þ USER TEXT VARIABLE SECURITY ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
All this discussion about user text variables, and hosts asking your
terminal for information, you might be concerned about calling some
host you've never called before and letting it ask your terminal
questions about itself (and YOU)! We don't blame you for thinking
this. That is why we've put a security precaution into RIPterm. It
is called "Data Security". This option (available from the Data
menu) allows you to preview any user text variable question to
determine if you really and truly want to send that information to
the host. This allows you to edit the text variable that will be
sent to the host so that you are in control at all times of what
information is sent to the host. Any variable that is queried by the
host will be prompted on your screen allowing you to edit the
response. In the event that you do not wish to divulge the
information to the host, simply backspace over your text and send a
"blank" response. In the event that the host won't permit a blank
response, enter something like "NONE" or "N/A".
If this mode is disabled, you may still be prompted to edit your
variable if the host asks for an "interactive query". The host can
ask for a non-interactive text variable query, which means that the
host will "try" to ask your terminal the contents of a text variable.
If the variable exists, it will send the contents to the host without
you even knowing that it was sent! In some ways, it is up to the
honor of the sysop of the host to set all variable queries as
interactive by default. But considering the fact that this is not an
entirely "equal" world, having the ability to override variable
queries with a Data Security option becomes quite important.
This option defaults to "ON" when RIPterm is initially installed. In
other words, all data queries are considered "secure" by default. It
is up to you to disable this security measure. Use this option with
caution if you're not sure about trusting the hosts you call.
As a note worth mentioning, a RIPscrip command to query the contents
of your terminal's text variables may be possible if you read an
electronic mail message from an ingenious user who knows the RIPscrip
protocol language. In situations like this, you would definitely
want to use data security mode to prevent unauthorized information
transmittal to other people (e.g., credit card numbers, or other
information).
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 7.4.2.3 þ PRE-DEFINED TEXT VARIABLES ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Pre-defined text variables are something that RIPterm always knows
about. They are "built-in" to RIPterm, and a host can always get an
answer to. These types of variables are defined to provide the host
with some kind of information about your terminal software, not about
something you (or your terminal) knows. In other words, pre-defined
text variables can be used to send a piece of information to the host
saying "what time is it", or "what is the date where you are", or
"where is the mouse located?". They function exactly like any other
text variable except that RIPterm knows they exist even if you
haven't created them yet. By nature, the values that these variables
return to the host are rarely the same. They change depending on the
nature of each variable.
The following is a list of pre-defined text variables:
$DATE$ ... Date in short format (e.g., 12/19/92)
This Text Variable will be transformed into the current Date.
It will be displayed in the format MM/DD/YY.
Example: $DATE$ = 12/19/92
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$MONTH$ ... Month Name
This text variable will be transformed into the name of the
current month. It will be not abbreviated (e.g., "November"
instead of "Nov")
Example: $MONTH$ = December
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$MONTHNUM$ ... Month (in format 1-12)
This text variable is transformed into a number representing
the current month. January=01 and December=12. Therefore,
the possible values for $MONTHNUM$ can range from 1 to 12.
Example: $MONTHNUM$ = 12
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$DAY$ ... Day in numeric form (e.g., 31)
This text variable is transformed into a number representing the
day of the month. The range of values for this variable are from
01-31.
Example: $DAY$ = 05
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$DOY$ ... Day of year (001-366)
This text variable will be transformed into a number representing
the day of the current year. Since a year contains 365 days
(unless it is a leap-year where it contains 366), then the
possible values that $DOY$ can be are 001-366.
Example: $DOY$ = 214
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$YEAR$ ... 2 digit year (without century) (00-99)
This text variable will be transformed into a two-digit number
representing the current year.
Example: $YEAR$ = 92
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$FYEAR$ ... 4 digit year (with century) (0000-9999)
This text variable will be transformed into a four-digit number
that represents the current year.
Example: $FYEAR$ = 1992
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$TIME$ ... Time in standard format (e.g., 12:03:14)
This text variable will be transformed into the current time.
The time will be in military format (hours from 00-23).
Example: $TIME$ = 18:09:33
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$HOUR$ .... Hour (format HH) - normal style
This text variable will be transformed into a two-digit number
representing the current hour. This variable may be anywhere
from 01-12. This does not use military format.
Example: $HOUR$ = 11
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$MHOUR$ ... Hour (format HH) - Military style
This text variable will be transformed into a two-digit number
representing the current hour in military format. This variable
may range anywhere from 00-23.
Example: $MHOUR$ = 17
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$MIN$ ... Minutes (00-59)
This text variable will be transformed into a two-digit number
representing the current minutes in the hour. Possible values
for this variable are 00-59.
Example: $MIN$ = 45
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$SEC$ ... Seconds (00-59)
This text variable will be transformed into a two-digit number
representing the current seconds of the minute. Possible values
for this variable are 00-59.
Example: $SEC$ = 59
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$AMPM$ ... Returns either AM or PM depending on time
This text variable will be transformed into a two-character
value of either "AM" or "PM" depending on what time it is.
Example: $AMPM$ = PM
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$DATETIME$ ... Date & Time (e.g., Sat Dec 19 14:38:50 1992)
This text variable will be transformed into a combination date
and time. The format is somewhat different than standard
time/date notation. The format used is:
DAY-OF-WEEK MONTH DAY-OF-MONTH HH:MM:SS YEAR
Example: $DATETIME$ = Sat Dec 19 14:38:50 1992
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$TIMEZONE$ ... Time Zone or "NONE" if unknown (e.g., Pacific)
This text variable will be transformed into a a word/phrase that
describes the current time-zone you are in. This may be returned
as anything like "PST" for Pacific Standard Time, "EDT" for
Eastern Daylight Time, etc. If the time-zone is not set on your
system, this variable will respond with "NONE".
Example: $TIMEZONE$ = PST
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$DOW$ ... Day of week fully spelled out (e.g., Friday)
This text variable will be transformed into the current day
of the week. The name will be fully spelled out. This
variable can be any of the values: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Example: $DOW$ = Saturday
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$ADOW$ ... Abbreviated Day of Week (e.g., Mon, Tue, etc.)
This text variable will be transformed into the current day
of the week, in abbreviated form. This variable may be any
of the following values: Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri and Sat.
Example: $ADOW$ = Mon
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$WDAY$ ... Weekday where 0 is Sunday (0-6)
This text variable will be transformed into a one-digit number
representing the number of the day of the week. Possible values
for this variable are 0-6, where 0=Sunday (the first day in the
week).
Example: $WDAY$ = 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$WOY$ ... Week of current year 00-53; Sunday=1st Day of Week
This text variable will be transformed into a number from 00-53,
representing the week number in the current year. Even though
there are 52 weeks in a year, a week might not begin exactly on
the first day of the year, so a maximum value for this variable
can be 53 under these circumstances. For this variable, SUNDAY
is considered to be the first day of the week.
Example: $WOY$ = 32
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$WOYM$ ... Week of current year 00-53; Monday=1st Day of Week
This text variable will be transformed into a number from 00-53,
representing the week number in the current year. Even though
there are 52 weeks in a year, a week might not begin exactly on
the first day of the year, so a maximum value for this variable
can be 53 under these circumstances. For this Variable, MONDAY
is considered to be the first day of the week.
Example: $WOYM$ = 32
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$RIPVER$ ... RIPscrip version (e.g., "RIPSCRIP015400")
This text variable will be transformed into a key-phrase which
will identify a RIPscrip software package. It is designed to
be used by a host to detect what version of RIPscrip
graphics your terminal can support. When this text variable
is used, it will respond back with "RIPSCRIP" followed by
the full version number (e.g., 01.54.00), without the periods.
Example: $RIPVER$ = RIPSCRIP015400
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$STATBAR$ ... If Status Bar is on, returns YES, otherwise NO
This text variable will be transformed into a "YES" if the status
bar is currently ON. If the Status Bar is not visible, then this
variable will be "NO".
Example: $STATBAR$ = YES
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$X$ ... X Mouse location (format: XXXX)
This text variable is for reporting the current X location of
the mouse to the host. This could be used interactively by the
host (or a game on the host) to determine the location of the
mouse cursor. Only the X value of the mouse (X,Y) location is
returned to the host. The value will be 0000-9999 depending on
what the current position is.
Example: $X$ = 0523
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$Y$ ... Y Mouse location (format: YYYY)
This text variable is for reporting the current Y location of
the mouse to the host. This could be used interactively by the
host (or a game on the host) to determine the location of the
mouse cursor. Only the Y value of the mouse (X,Y) location is
returned to the host. The value will be 0000-9999 depending on
what the current position is.
Example: $Y$ = 0244
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$XY$ ... X/Y Mouse Location (format: XXXX:YYYY)
This text variable will be transformed into a combination of
both the X and Y locations of the mouse. A colon (:) is used to
separate the two values. Either the X or Y values may range from
0000-9999 depending on the current location. The format that
this value takes on is: XXXX:YYYY
Example: $XY$ = 0297:0321
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$XYM$ ... X, Y & button status (format: XXXX:YYYY:LMR)
This text variable will be transformed into a combination of the
X and Y mouse location, and a status of which mouse buttons are
pressed (if any).
The format of the returned text is XXXX:YYYY:LMR where XXXX is
the X cursor location in the range 0000-9999. YYYY is the Y
cursor location in the range 0000-9999. Finally, LMR stands for
Left/Middle/Right. If either of these buttons are depressed
(clicked), then the corresponding position will contain a 1. If
a button is NOT depressed, then it will contain a 0.
Example: $XYM$ = 0123:0297:110
This means that the (X,Y) location of the cursor is (0123,0297),
and that the left and middle buttons are depressed, but that the
right mouse button is not depressed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$M$ ... Mouse Button Status: LMR (e.g., 101)
This text variable will be transformed into a 3-character code
representing what the status of each mouse button is. This
variable can work with either 2-button mice, or 3-button mice.
In either event, the format of the code is LMR where L = Left,
M = Middle (if any), and R = Right. If any of these buttons are
depressed (i.e., clicked), then the code for that button would be
a "1". If the button is not depressed, it is a "0". So, a value
of "100" would mean that the left mouse button is depressed, but
none of the others are.
Example: $M$ = 001
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$MSTAT$ ... Mouse Status (format: YES/NO)
This text variable will be transformed into a "YES" if there is
a mouse installed on the RIPterm computer. If no mouse is
installed, this variable will contain "NO".
Example: $MSTAT$ = YES
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TWH ... Current text window's height
This variable returns the height of the currently active text
window. If the window is Disabled, then the height will be 0.
Example: $TWH$ = 25
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TWW ... Current text window's width
This variable returns the width of the currently active text
window. If the window is Disabled, then the width will be 0.
Example: $TWW$ = 80
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TWX0 ... Upper-left X coordinate of text window
This variable returns the upper-left X coordinate of the text window.
This value is 0-based and can range from 0-90. If the window is
disabled, it will result in 0.
Example: $TWX0$ = 5
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TWY0 ... Upper-left Y coordinate of text window
This variable returns the upper-left Y coordinate of the text window.
This value is 0-based and can range from 0-42. If the window is
disabled, it will result in 0.
Example: $TWY0$ = 3
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TWX1 ... Lower-right X coordinate of text window
This variable returns the lower-right X coordinate of the text window.
This value is 0-based and can range from 0-90. If the window is
disabled, it will result in 0.
Example: $TWX1$ = 75
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TWY1 ... Lower-right Y coordinate of text window
This variable returns the lower-right Y coordinate of the text window.
This value is 0-based and can range from 0-42. If the window is
disabled, it will result in 0.
Example: $TWY1$ = 23
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TWWIN ... Returns YES if text window active, otherwise NO
If the text window is currently active, this variable returns a
value of "YES". If it is disabled, it returns a "NO".
Example: $TWWIN$ = YES
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TWFONT ... Current System Font number in use or 0 for none
This variable returns the current MicroANSI font number + 1.
If the text window is disabled, then no MicroANSI font applies
and the variable will result in 0. A value of 1 indicates an
8x8 MicroANSI font, a value of 2 indicates a 7x8 field, and
so on. Subtract 1 from the value to obtain the correct MicroANSI
font index number (providing the text window is active).
Example: $TWFONT$ = 1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
CURX ... Returns the current X cursor coordinate
If the current text window is disabled, this variable returns 0.
If it is active, it returns the current X position of the cursor
in the range of 1-91.
Example: $CURX$ = 18
-----------------------------------------------------------------
CURY ... Returns the current Y cursor coordinate
If the current text window is disabled, this variable returns 0.
If it is active, it returns the current Y position of the cursor
in the range of 1-42.
Example: $CURY$ = 21
-----------------------------------------------------------------
CURSOR ... Returns YES if the cursor is visible, otherwise NO
If the text cursor is displayed this variable returns a "YES".
If the text window is disabled, or the cursor is off, it returns
a "NO".
Example: $CURSOR$ = YES
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ Active Text Variables ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
These text variables are somewhat different than the other text
variables described above. Rather than send something back to
the host, it performs a specific operation, such as toggling the
status line. In this respect, it is considered an ACTIVE TEXT
VARIABLE. It evaluates to a null string (nothing).
$SBARON$ ... Turn ON the Status Line
This text variable's sole purpose in life is to enable the Status
Line. It evaluates to a null string (nothing).
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$SBAROFF$ ... Turn OFF the Status Line
This text variable's sole purpose in life is to disable the Status
Line. It evaluates to a null string (nothing).
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$ETW$ ... Erase Text Window
This command erases the current text window (much like a clear
screen code does). This command is particularly useful in host
commands when you click on a mouse area, and after it is finished
clicking, it could erase the text window THEN transmit the
remainder of the host command (if any) to the host.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$DTW$ ... Disable Text Window
This text variable disables the current text window (preventing
any received text from showing up on screen).
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$EGW$ ... Erase Graphics Window
This text variable it erases the current graphics window (much
like a reset windows command does). This command is particularly
useful in host commands when you click on a mouse area, and after
it is finished clicking, it could erase the graphics window THEN
transmit the remainder of the host command (if any) to the host.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$MKILL$ ... Kill all Mouse Fields currently defined
This text variable deletes all currently defined mouse fields
exactly like the RIPscrip RIP_KILL_MOUSE_FIELDS command does. The
net benefit of this is that when the user clicks on a mouse
button, the mouse fields are removed, but the graphics remain on
the screen so that the fields could be subsequently re-defined
quickly and easily without having to re-transmit an identical
menu over again.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$BEEP$ ... Beeps the terminal (like a CTRL-G does)
This command issues a beep to the terminal, thus producing
a CTRL-G sound.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$BLIP$ ... Makes a short "blipping" sound
This active text variable is much like the BEEP variable, except
that the sound produced is different. It produces a sound more
akin to a "barrier" sound; something that sounds like you're
bumping into a wall or something to that effect.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$MUSIC$ ... Makes a musical (cheerful) sound
This active text variable also produces an audio result. The
sound that is generated is a cheerful sound, representing some
kind of success. The sound is exactly the same as the sound you
would hear when you receive a successful download, or when you
achieve a connection when dialing the modem in RIPterm.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$ALARM$ ... Makes an alarm-like warning sound
When executed, this variable will issue a sound that gives you
the impression that something is definitely wrong. It is
the same sound that RIPterm will use when a download fails for
some reason.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$PHASER$ ... Makes a space-like Phaser Sound
This variable will produce a descending continuous tone from
2500 hertz down to 50 hertz. The transition is very smooth and
makes it seem like some spaceship is firing its phasers at you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$REVPHASER$ ... The exact reverse sound of $PHASER$
This text variable is identical in nature to the $PHASER$
variable except that the sound is produced in the opposite order
(ie, an ascending phaser-like sound).
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$PCB$ ... Paste Clip Board at last location
This command pastes the contents of the clipboard at the last
location where the clipboard was "clipped" from. This even works
with icons that are loaded. The last location taken in this
situation, is the location the icon was stamped when it was
originally loaded. This text variable is very useful in
situations where you want to "pop-up" a dialog box on the screen
(saving the previous area behind the dialog onto the clipboard),
and when the user clicks on the "OK" button, restoring the screen
contents (by adding a $PCB$ in the host command string).
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$SMF$ ... Save Mouse Fields
This text variable will save all currently defined mouse fields
and mouse buttons to a temporary file for later retrieval. This
is designed especially for the graphical designer who wishes to
pop-up a dialog box on the screen with one or more mouse fields,
and when finished, to restore the screen and original mouse
fields (if any) so that the user is not left "floating". This
command is intended to be used with the restore mouse fields text
variable $RMF$.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$RMF$ ... Restore Mouse Fields
This text variable restores any previously saved mouse fields
saved with the $SMF$ text variable. You may have only one set of
mouse fields saved at any one time. If there were no mouse
fields saved, or if the number of mouse fields that were saved
was 0, then no mouse fields will be active. Any fields that were
defined at the time of this command's execution will be erased.
Due to technical details, this should be the last piece of text
or the last text variable in any mouse host command (or button
host command). Having subsequent text variables or host command
text after this variable (in a mouse field) can lead to
unpredictable and potentially disastrous results.
NOTE: You may restore mouse fields more than once if you wish.
In other words, if you perform a "Save Mouse Fields"
command, you may execute Restore Mouse Fields one or
more times after that point.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$COFF$ ... Disable the text cursor
This command will physically shut off the ASCII text cursor that
is normally seen in the text window. This is automatically reset
whenever a $CON$ command (Cursor ON) or a Reset Windows command
is received.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$CON$ ... Re-displays the text cursor
This command will physically turn ON the ASCII text cursor. This
is the exact opposite of the $COFF$ command which disables the
text cursor.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$STW$ ... Save text window information
This command will physically store all of the text window
settings. The window's X/Y dimensions are preserved, as is the
current cursor location, ANSI attributes, cursor ON/OFF status
and the vertical scrolling margins. Even the current System Font
will be saved (if necessary).
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$RTW$ ... Restore text window information
This command will restore the text window to whatever settings
were active when the $STW$ (save text window) command was issued.
The cursor, ANSI attributes and any other piece of text window
information will be restored (including the System Font setting).
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$SCB$ ... Save Clip Board
This command will save the Clipboard to disk for later retrieval
by a subsequent Query or Host Command. If the clipboard does
not exist, then the temporary file is deleted automatically to
indicate to the Restore Clip Board that there shouldn't be a
clipboard active.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$RCB$ ... Restore Clip Board
This command restores the clipboard from the temporary disk file
called RIPCLIP.BRD. This file is created by $SCB$ (save clip
board). Not only is the actual clipboard contents saved, but
so is the last clipboard location, so that the Paste Clip Board
command ($PCB$) will restore the clipboard's location as well.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$VT102ON$ ... Turn VT-102 emulation mode ON
This command enabled the VT-102 terminal emulation mode. This
makes the following keystrokes send something to the Host:
F1 ... ESC [ M
F2 ... ESC [ N
F3 ... ESC [ O
F4 ... ESC [ P
F5 ... ESC [ Q
F6 ... ESC [ R
F7 ... ESC [ S
F8 ... ESC [ T
F9 ... ESC [ U
F10 ... ESC [ V
PGUP ... ESC [ I
PGDN ... ESC [ G
HOME ... ESC [ H
END ... ESC [ F
INSERT ... ESC [ L
CURSOR UP ... ESC [ A
CURSOR DN ... ESC [ B
CURSOR LEFT ... ESC [ C
CURSOR RIGHT ... ESC [ D
In addition, many ANSI escape sequences function slightly differently
than in normal ANSI mode. When in this mode, RIPterm tries to act
like a VT-102 compatible terminal.
The purpose of having this as a text variable is that the Host
can instruct the terminal to enter this mode automatically, thus
making it simpler on the user.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$VT102OFF$ ... Turn VT-102 emulation mode OFF
This variable disables the VT-102 mode, returning your
keyboard to the standard keyboard operation.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$DWAYON$ ... Turn Doorway Mode ON
This variable enabled Doorway Mode. This is intended to be used
by a Host system that wishes to take advantage of the Doorway
mode available in Marshall Dudley's Doorway (tm) software
package.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$DWAYOFF$ ... Turn Doorway Mode OFF
This variable disabled the Doorway keyboard mode. This will
return the keyboard to normal operation.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$SAVE$ ... Save graphics screen
The SAVE variable will completely save the contents of the entire
graphics screen to a disk file called RIPTERM.SAV. No Mouse
Fields, Text Window locations or Clipboard data are saved - just
the graphics screen. The entire 640x350 region is saved to disk.
If you wish to save the entire state of the RIPterm system, use
the following text variables all at the same time (spaces are
added for clarity):
$SAVE$ $STW$ $SCB$ $SMF$
\ \ \ \
\ \ \ --- Save Mouse Fields
\ \ \
\ \ ------- Save ClipBoard
\ \
\ ----------- Save Text Window
\
--------------- Save Graphics Screen
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$RESTORE$ ... Restore graphics screen
The RESTORE command will read the saved file RIPTERM.SAV in from
disk and restore the graphics as they were originally saved with
the $SAVE$ command. Only the graphics screen is restored, not
the Clipboard, Mouse Fields or Text Window settings. To restore
the entire context of the graphics environment, issue the
following text variables:
$RESTORE$ $STW$ $SCB$ $SMF$
\ \ \ \
\ \ \ --- Restore Mouse Fields
\ \ \
\ \ ------- Restore ClipBoard
\ \
\ ----------- Restore Text Window
\
------------------ Restore Graphics Screen
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$SAVE0$-$SAVE9$ & $RESTORE0$-$RESTORE9$ ... Save/Restore screens
These ten text variables are identical in nature with $SAVE$
described above with sole exception to the fact that the temp
files (RIPTERM0.SAV - RIPTERM9.SAV) are immediately deleted
when restored. The $SAVE$ and $RESTORE$ commands do not do this.
With this, you can keep restoring screens if you use $SAVE$.
These ten variables are provided so that you can have more than
one screen saved simultaneously.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$HKEYON$ ... Enable Button Hotkeys
This option enables button hotkeys. Any Button that is created
by a BBS that has a hotkey will be activated if you hit the
corresponding key on your keyboard. This will light-up the
Scroll-Lock key on your keyboard indicating that Button Hotkey
mode is ON.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$HKEYOFF$ ... Disable Button Hotkeys
This option disables button hotkeys. Any Button that is created
by a BBS that has a hotkey associated with it, will not be
activated even if the user hits that key on his keyboard. The
only way to activate a button in this mode is with the mouse.
The Scroll-Lock key on your keyboard will go dim, indicating
that Button Hotkey Mode is disabled.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$TABON$ ... Enable TAB to execute mouse fields
When this variable is processed, you can use the TAB key to
navigate through the Mouse/Button fields on your screen. In
this mode, you can access the fields without a mouse. The side-
effect is that the TAB key cannot be used directly with the Host.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$TABOFF$ ... Disable TAB to execute mouse fields
When this variable is processed, you cannot use the TAB key to
navigate throug the Mouse/Button fields on your screen. In this
mode, whenever the TAB key is hit, it is sent directly to the
Host as a TAB character. Any fields that are already hilighted
when this variable is received will be de-hilighted.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$SAVEALL$ ... Performs the following: SAVE STW SCB and SMF
This command combines a number of other "save" commands together
into one short, quick command. This command combines the
$SAVE$, $STW$, $SCB$ and $SMF$ commands into one command.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$RESTOREALL$ ... Performs the following: RESTORE RTW RCB and RMF
This command combines a number of other "restore" commands together
into one short, quick command. This command combines the
$RESTORE$, $RTW$, $RCB$ and $RMF$ commands into one command.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$RESET$ ... Resets the screen (like ALT-R in RIPterm)
This command performs a RIP_RESET_WINDOWS command to clear the
screen and otherwise reset the GUI environment. Be sure to
be aware of when this is used from within a Mouse Field/Button!
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³ 7.4.2.4 þ SPECIAL TEXT VARIABLES - LOCAL RIP PLAYBACK ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
You can re-play a .RIP file that you have locally on your hard disk
from a keystroke macro easily. The format of the variable is
somewhat different than user variables, or pre-defined text
variables. After the initial dollar sign ($), enter the greater-than
symbol (>) followed by the filename (with or without the .RIP
extension), then ending in another dollar sign ($). Several examples
of this are as follows:
$>MYFILE.RIP$
$>FILE1$
$>FILE1.RIP$$>FILE2.RIP$$FILE3$
When loaded, the data is not sent to the host; it is strictly echoed
on your local screen. If the file is a .RIP file, it will replay any
graphics that were in the file and if any Mouse Regions are defined,
it will create those fields for you as well, thus allowing you to
pop-up dialog screens or other such things that are not built-in to
RIPterm normally.
Each "local RIP playback" variable you enter will search for the .RIP
file in the current host's icon directory. If it cannot find the
file in that directory, it will check the ICONS\ directory.
If you have RIPaint, you could conceivably use this mode to place a
dialog box on your screen allowing you to alter your modems setup
quickly with your mouse, dial particular phone numbers or other such
things.
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³ 7.4.3 þ POP-UP LISTS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
In your keystroke macros you can take advantage of a unique feature
of RIPterm - popup pick-lists. A popup pick-list is simply a list
that pops up allowing you to choose from one of several available
values. Whichever entry in the list you choose will be inserted into
your keystroke macro in place of the list definition.
In order to use popup pick-lists in your keystroke macros, you must
define the list in the text of your macro.
A list is created by putting the special list instructions inside of
two parenthesis (( and )). The list instructions consist of an
optional question, followed by one or more entries to put in the
List. For example, ((Send E-Mail to?::Sysop,Cosysop,Joe)) says to
Pop-Up a list asking you "Send E-Mail to?", giving you the choices of
"Sysop", "Cosysop", and "Joe".
By default, if you press
list, then nothing will be inserted into the text of your macro. You
can indicate that the user MUST pick an entry by putting an asterisk
(*) at the beginning of the question. For example, ((*Send Mail
to?::Sysop,Joe)). This would make it so that the User MUST choose
either SYSOP or JOE.
In the previous examples, SYSOP, COSYSOP and JOE are the text
responses that are inserted into your macros. These commands are
also the same things that are displayed in the listing. If you want
to use something else instead of the "return text", you can. When
you enter the list entry, add an @description to the end of it.
Example: ((Send Mail To?::Sysop@The Head Honcho,Cosysop,Joe))
One final feature of popup pick-lists allow you to specify a hotkey
for each entry in the list. For example, if you wanted the first
character of each entry to be highlighted (thus allowing you to
select that character to activate the entry), simply put a tilde (~)
or an underline (_) before and after the keystroke. For example
"_S_ysop" would highlight the "S" in "Sysop". You can highlight more
than one character, but only the first one will be the active
hotkey. If you omit the second tilde or underline, then the
remainder of the description will be highlighted.
NOTE: If you use a tilde or an underline in the text response command
(not the description), then those characters will be
automatically inserted into your macro when it gets transmitted
to the host. This is probably not what you would want to do.
Bottom line, only use hotkey features on list entries where you
specify a description!
If you do not specify a question, then the list will ask you:
"Choose one of the following:"
You may specify up to twenty list entries for any one list.
Examples:
((Send E-Mail to?::Sysop,Joe,Mike))
((*Send E-Mail to?::Sysop@The Head Honcho,Joe,Mike@My Brother))
((::Sysop@_T_he Head Honcho,Joe,Mike@My _B_rother))
((Sysop,Joe,Mike,George))
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º 8.0 þ ONLINE DEMONSTRATIONS º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
If you would like to see an example of RIPscrip graphics in action,
you may log-on to one of the following hosts free of charge:
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³ 1. ArenaBBS - 32 lines, Galacticomm "The Major BBS" software ³
³ This is TeleGrafix's Tech Support/Entertainment BBS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
PHONE: (714) 379-2133
> Create an account for yourself on the system by
> typing "NEW" at the log-on prompt. Answer the
> questionnaire and at the main menu, type "RIP ON".
> Press
> you go! This is a subscription service, but you do
> not need to subscribe to see an on-line demonstration.
> If you discover that your icon files are out of date,
> send E-mail to SYSOP or download the file ARENAICN.ZIP
> from the RIPICONS file library section.
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³ 2. Nova Central - 4 lines, ResNova "Nova Link Professional" ³
³ This is ResNova's Technical Support BBS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
PHONE: (714) 379-9004
> This is ResNova's technical support BBS. It is using
> the Nova Link Professional host for the Apple
> Macintosh. Simply sign-up on the system and at the
> Main Menu, choose the "RIPscrip Graphics" option
> for an on-line demonstration.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ 3. RIP Demo Midwest - 2 line TBBS system. This BBS is a ³
³ full RIP Demo System. ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
PHONE: (708) 978-2777
> Sign-up in "text mode" if you do not have the RDM
> icons. Download the system icons and away you
> go. Be sure to see the Message Forums and other areas.
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³ 4. Galacticomm BBS -- The Major BBS' headquarters BBS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
PHONE: (305) 583-7808
> Home of the RIPscrip Add-On for Major BBS
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³ 5. Searchlight BBS -- Headquarters BBS for Searchlight BBS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
PHONE: (516) 689-2566
> Author of RIP compatible Searchlight BBS
> Also the authors of the RIPscrip Puzzle games
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³ 6. Wildcat BBS ------ Mustang Software's Wildcat HQ BBS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
PHONE: (805) 395-0250
> Authors of QmodemPro and Wildcat BBS
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³ 7. Synchronet BBS --- Digital Dynamics Synchronet HQ BBS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
PHONE: (714) 529-9547
> Authors of Synchronet BBS
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³ 8. Solaris BBS ------ Headquarters BBS for Solaris BBS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
PHONE: +49-241-156071
> German: Authors of Solaris BBS
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º APPENDIX A þ TROUBLESHOOTING/PROBLEMS º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
Modem communications is not a simple thing. There are many different
technical factors that can affect RIPterm, making it work
erratically, or unreliably. This section is intended to try to help
you figure out what's wrong and get yourself up and running as
quickly as possible.
Check through the remainder of this section to see if the particular
problem you're having is addressed. If you are having some sort of
difficulty not covered below (or the instructions that follow do not
resolve the problem), contact the TeleGrafix Technical Support
department as noted in APPENDIX B.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ A.1 þ "BUS" MOUSE DOESN'T WORK ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Make sure your mouse driver is loaded into memory before you run
RIPterm. Without a mouse driver loaded, RIPterm will not be able to
use your mouse. Consult the manual that came with your mouse under
the section INSTALLATION or SOFTWARE INSTALLATION.
Most mouse drivers come in two flavors, a .SYS file, or a TSR program
ending in a .COM file extension. A .SYS file must be loaded into
your C:\CONFIG.SYS file as any other device driver.
An example of loading your MOUSE.SYS driver would be as follows:
CONFIG.SYS file:
FILES=40
BUFFERS=40
DEVICE=C:\MOUSE\MOUSE.SYS
If your mouse came only with a MOUSE.COM driver, then you must edit
your C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT file and add a line calling mouse driver so that
it can be loaded into memory each time your system boots up. Add a
line similar to the one that follows:
AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
PATH=C:\;C:\DOS;C:\MOUSE
PROMPT $P$G
MOUSE
Modifications may vary - consult your Mouse Manual.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ A.2 þ "SERIAL" MOUSE DOESN'T WORK ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
If you are using a serial mouse, and it is not responding, you might
be experiencing a "conflict" between your modem serial port, and your
mouse serial port. Under most circumstances, a conflict like this
will NOT arise in normal applications programs that don't use both a
mouse and a modem simultaneously.
Below you should find a list of correct and incorrect modem/mouse
configurations.
CORRECT COMBINATIONS INCORRECT COMBINATIONS
======================= =======================
Modem=COM1 / Mouse=COM2 Modem=COM1 / Mouse=COM3
Modem=COM1 / Mouse=COM4 Modem=COM2 / Mouse=COM4
Modem=COM2 / Mouse=COM1 Modem=COM3 / Mouse=COM1
Modem=COM2 / Mouse=COM3 Modem=COM4 / Mouse=COM2
Modem=COM3 / Mouse=COM2
Modem=COM3 / Mouse=COM4
Modem=COM4 / Mouse=COM1
Modem=COM4 / Mouse=COM3
If you are knowledgeable about IBM-PC hardware, and how to install
add-on cards, you may be able to circumvent the above recommended
port combinations. To do this will require removing the PC cover and
changing the interrupt (IRQ) setting of either the modem serial port,
or the mouse serial port (if possible). In order to get both the
mouse and the modem operating properly, the two serial ports must use
different IRQ settings! If none of this makes sense to you, we would
recommend sticking to the above recommended layouts.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ A.3 þ MODEM ISN'T RESPONDING ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
If you have a serial mouse, you may be experiencing a conflict
between your mouse and your modem. A serial mouse can be identified
if it plugs into one of your IBM-PC communications ports COM1 through
COM4. Not all systems have 4 COM ports, so your system may be
somewhat different. A serial mouse typically has a 25-pin connector
shaped like an elongated "D". Another type of serial mouse has a
9-pin connector also shaped like a "D".
Check to make sure you modem is plugged in and turned on (if it is an
external modem). Make sure that the serial cable connecting the
modem to your computer is securely fastened to the proper COM port.
Check your modem settings to make sure they are set correctly. You
may edit these settings by pressing ALT-O (Modem Options). Things
you should check for:
1. Make sure it is set for the correct port (COM1 - COM4)
2. Make sure the baud rate is set to a speed your modem
can support (or lower). Settings for this would be
300, 1200, 2400, 9600, 19,200 baud.
Consult SECTION 4.1 above to determine if you are using an
incorrect COM port configuration for your serial mouse and your
modem.
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³ A.4 þ NOISY TELEPHONE CONNECTIONS ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
If you get a noisy telephone connection, the graphics that you see
might become garbled in some fashion. Since RIPterm does more than
simply display pictures on the screen, this can disturb underlying
(invisible) operations as well.
Solutions: Hang-up and try calling again. Often times, this can
resolve the problem.
Long distance connections are typically the noisiest
connections. Check with your operator and find out if
you can use a different "Long Distance Carrier" like MCI,
AT&T, US Sprint, etc.
Use an Error-Correcting modem (provided the host you are
calling can support one).
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º APPENDIX B þ Supported ANSI Sequences º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
ESC [ ! ... Auto-Sense RIPscrip terminal
ESC [ 0 ! ... Auto-Sense RIPscrip terminal
ESC [ 1 ! ... Disable RIPscrip processing
ESC [ 2 ! ... Enable RIPscrip processing
ESC [ Pn @ ... Insert Pn spaces at cursor position
ESC [ Pn P ... Delete Pn characters at cursor position
ESC [ Pn ; Ln P ... Doorway Mode - Print Ln chars to LPT (Pn)
NOTE: LPT (Pn) is ignored.
ESC [ Pn L ... Insert Pn lines at cursor position
ESC [ Pn M ... Delete Pn lines at cursor position
ESC [ Pn A ... Move cursor up Pn lines (no scrolling)
ESC [ Pn B ... Move cursor down Pn lines (no scrolling)
ESC [ Pn D ... Move cursor left Pn columns (no wrapping)
ESC [ Pn C ... Move cursor right Pn columns (no wrapping)
ESC [ Pn Z ... Performs a Backtab Pn times
ESC [ An ; Fn ; Bn m ... Display Attributes
ESC [ J ... Clear screen from cursor to LR of screen
ESC [ 0 J ... Same as ESC [ J
ESC [ 1 J ... Clear screen from cursor to UL of screen
ESC [ 2 J ... Clears the entire screen & homes cursor
ESC [ K ... Clear to end of line
ESC [ 0 K ... Same as ESC [ K
ESC [ 1 K ... Clear from beginning of line to cursor
ESC [ 2 K ... Clears entire line - leave cursor alone
ESC [ g ... Clear tab stop at current cursor position
ESC [ 0 g ... Same as ESC [ g
ESC [ 3 g ... Clears all tab stops
ESC [ Py ; Px H ... Move cursor to (Px,Py)
ESC [ Py ; Px f ... Move cursor to (Px,Py)
ESC [ s ... Saves current cursor position
ESC [ u ... Restores saved cursor position
ESC [ 5 n ... Device status report - returns ESC [ 0 n
ESC [ 6 n ... Device status report - returns cursor pos
as ESC [ y ; x R
ESC [ c ... Device attribute report
ESC [ Pl ; Pn r ... Set scrolling region between lines Pl - Pn
ESC [ S ... Scrolls the screen UP one line
ESC [ ? 6 l ... Sets Home Position to UL of screen
ESC [ ? 7 l ... Sets line character wrapping OFF
ESC [ ? 15 n ... Device status report - reports NO printer
ESC [ ? 7 h ... Sets line character wrapping ON
ESC 7 ... Saves current cursor position
ESC 8 ... Restores saved cursor position
ESC c ... Reset terminal emulation to initial state
ESC Z ... Same as ESC [ c
ESC D ... Cursor DOWN (scroll if at bottom)
ESC E ... Cursor to next line (column #1) w/ scroll
ESC M ... Move cursor UP (scroll if at top)
ESC H ... Set Tab Stop at current column
ESC ( A ... Selects UK character set as G0
ESC ( B ... Selects US character set as G0
ESC ( 0 ... Selects line drawing character set as G0
ESC ) A ... Selects UK character set as G1
ESC ) B ... Selects US character set as G1
ESC ) 0 ... Selects line drawing character set as G1
ESC [ = 255 h ... Doorway mode: Enter doorway mode
ESC [ = 255 l ... Doorway mode: Exit doorway mode
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º APPENDIX C þ TECHNICAL SUPPORT º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
This program is as bug-free as possible. In all reality, there are
most likely some bugs that have not as of yet been discovered.
Should any bugs be discovered, they should be reported to the authors
as soon as possible at the following address:
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ TeleGrafix Communications, Inc. ³
³ 16458 Bolsa Chica #15 ³
³ Huntington Beach, CA 92649 ³
³ ³
³ Voice .. (714) 379-2131 ³
³ Fax .... (714) 379-2132 ³
³ Data ... (714) 379-2133 - ArenaBBS [32 lines] ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Authors: Jeff "Covenant" Reeder
(CEO: Senior Programmer)
Mark "Necron" Hayton
(President: Programmer)
Jim "Bergie" Bergman
(Vice President: Programmer)
Mara "Kytty" Ward
(Chief Operations Officer: Production)
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º APPENDIX D þ RIPscrip Products º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
For more information about RIPscrip based products, contact:
TeleGrafix Communications, Inc.
16458 Bolsa Chica, #15
Huntington Beach, CA 92649
Voice: (714) 379-2131
Fax : (714) 379-2132
Data : (714) 379-2133 ArenaBBS [32 lines] running The Major BBS
Very nice! Thank you for this wonderful archive. I wonder why I found it only now. Long live the BBS file archives!
This is so awesome! 😀 I’d be cool if you could download an entire archive of this at once, though.
But one thing that puzzles me is the “mtswslnkmcjklsdlsbdmMICROSOFT” string. There is an article about it here. It is definitely worth a read: http://www.os2museum.com/wp/mtswslnk/