NEW&FIXD.DOC Intellicomm New Features/Fixes
Copyright (C) 1991-1992 Liberation Enterprises. All rights reserved.

V0.92/93 UPGRADERS please download v0.94 for full update information.
This document covers only the changes made from v0.94 to present. The
documentation remains unchanged since v0.92, and thus it was not
included in this upgrade. The docs will be updated for the v1.00
release, to reflect the various changes that have taken place since they
were written.

TO UPGRADE FROM V0.94 TO V0.95: Simply enter the command "GO" (no
quotes) from the DOS prompt, and when asked for a directory to install
in, enter the directory where your existing copy of Intellicomm resides.
When the install routines replace an older file, the old file will be
renamed to *.OLD (only if installing to drive C: or greater... floppy
users should have a backup of their old disk), so you will have a backup
in case something goes wrong. Once you're sure everything is working
properly (and once you check that nothing important has been renamed to
*.OLD), remember to delete *.OLD from the \ICOM, \ICOM\BIF, \ICOM\SCR
directories.

There was a bug in the password save/update routines (all previous
versions), which allowed multiple passwords for the SAME BBS to be saved
in the password data file. This caused no problems (that I know of) in
the past, but with the introduction of a new feature it could cause
confusion at some point in the future if you don't fix your files. To
remedy the situation, select "Pack" from the exit menu, the next time
you eXit from Intellicomm (you can do it now, before installing v0.95 if
you like). This will purge any duplicate password entries from your
password data file.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT: If you run into a problem with this release please
contact ALL or WAYNE DUFF in any echoed Intellicomm or Liberator Support
conference on your local BBS. Intellicomm echoes are available on
NorthAmeriNet and RelayNet/RIME, and Liberator echoes are available on
SmartNet and U'Ni-Net. [If the BBS you call picks up one more of the
above networks and does not carry the Intellicomm/Liberator echo, just
ask your Sysop to pick it up for you.] I also monitor Communications/
Telecommunications and Shareware echoes on the above networks plus
EchoNet, ILink and Intelec. Please contact me there if you can't get
access to an Icom/Liberator echo.


VERSION 0.95 NEW FEATURES/UPGRADE TIPS (Bug fixes in next section.)

o Added default 'User Details' to the main setup, to assist in setting
up new BIFs (see auto-BIFs below), and to save you some typing
whenever a BBS asks you for the usual setup information (name,
address, city, etc). The Home Phone Number and Birth Date items are
there mainly for Wildcat at present. On Wildcat BBS's in North
America (and perhaps everywhere else, but I don't know for sure), your
birthdate is entered as MMDDYY -- (month,day,year) with no spaces, and
your home phone number is entered as AAAEEENNNN
(areacode,exchange,number) again with no spaces or other punctuation.

o A significant new feature called 'Auto-BIFs' has been added to this
version, along with BIF 'replaceable parameters'. Auto-BIFs are BIFs
that automatically install themselves, prompt you for the necessary




Intellicomm v0.95 NEW&FIXD.DOC 2



setup information (logon name, etc., using the above User Details for
a default where possible), and even optionally create a standard set
of Jobs to run! (Send/Get Mail - BIFNAME, and Send/Get Files -
BIFNAME.) Replaceable parameters are special variables that can be
included in a BIF to automatically prompt for certain information on a
new setup. I.e. if the text %FIRST% is found in a BIF, Intellicomm
prompts you for your FIRST NAME and then replaces the text %FIRST%
with whatever you enter. Replaceable parameters have been added to
the BIF templates and Message/Bank Type files where applicable. This
helps ensure that you won't miss the important items when setting up a
new BIF.

With most Auto-BIFs, you can basically put your feet up and watch it
'happen', perhaps having to press the Enter key once or twice when
your name is entered. Auto-BIFs replace the ICOMBIF.ZIP files that
were previously used to help new users set Intellicomm up (and which
required a fair bit of manual setup/installation work). With
ICOMAUTO.ZIP (which is what auto-BIFs must be uploaded as), all you do
is download the file (or copy it into your Icom download directory).
Intellicomm will 'see' the file come in, and will make a note of it.
After you disconnect, the .BIF inside ICOMAUTO.ZIP will be extracted
and installed in your BIF Directory, then you'll be prompted for the
necessary info/be asked whether to set up standard Jobs.

This feature will help new users get going MUCH easier (and more
reliably) than before. Details on setting up an Auto-BIF for other
users on your BBS can be found in the document AUTOICOM.DOC. Ideally
your Sysop (or you if you are the Sysop... ) should be the one to
set the auto-BIF up/maintain it. It's quite easy to do, and Sysops
should have no problems setting it up at all, since they know the BBS
inside-out.

o New BIFs are also detected and handled as above, by simply copying
them into your BIF Directory (assuming you don't overwrite an existing
BIF, in which case Icom won't notice anything 'new'). So, if you
download an older ICOMBIF.ZIP file from a BBS, all you need do is
unzip ICOMBIF.ZIP into your BIF Directory, then start Intellicomm to
auto-install it. The manual "Read" option available on the BBS
Directory menu is still there... but it should not be needed unless
you 'sneak' a file into the BIF Directory (i.e. press Alt-J to shell
to DOS, then copy it) while inside Intellicomm. In fact, even then
Intellicomm will notice the new BIF if you exit and re-enter the BBS
Directory menu.

o Added support for HS/Link auto downloads (allows transfers to start
without your having to press PgDn and select HS/Link off the protocol
menu; similar to auto-Zmodem downloads). To make use of this feature,
you must first install HS/Link as an external protocol (see
HSLINK.BAT, included with Intellicomm, for details). You must not
rename HSLINK.BAT or auto HS/Link downloads will not work. Note that
use of the external HS/Link protocol is strictly optional. You don't
have to install HS/Link for anything, if you don't want to. However,
I do recommend it highly for bi-directional mail transfers... (and
even as a substitute for internal or external Zmodem, since it's as
fast or faster even in a non bi-directional mode). It's a very nice
protocol, and it (the registered version, without the Shareware
screen) interfaces well to Intellicomm.




Intellicomm v0.95 NEW&FIXD.DOC 3



o Intellicomm now automatically performs a CHDIR to the proper up or
download directory, before performing an up/download. This means you
can now just tell your external protocols to dump/look for incoming
and outgoing files into the 'current' directory, and they will always
go/be found in the proper place (as defined in Icom's main setup and
in the BIF). Icom also changes to the proper Message/Reply
directories before mail transfers.

o You may now override the default 'swapping' mode by preceding your
Intellicomm DOS commands (in the main setup) with SW: to swap, or NS:
to not swap. Example: NS:LIST defined as the File Viewer would cause
Intellicomm to remain in memory while running LIST (this gets you to
LIST faster, but requires more memory than swapping Icom out). Unless
you have a lot of base memory (over 500K), you probably won't be able
to use NS: (no swap) on the Tagger Cmd. or Mail Reader commands.

External protocols default to NS: (no swapping), even if your default
swap setting is Yes. Swapping to disk can take a fair bit of time on
some systems, and while Intellicomm is swapping itself back in AFTER
transferring files with an external protocol, it can miss the Transfer
Aborted or Transfer Success prompts, causing errors. Most external
protocols are modest in their memory requirements, so swapping is
usually not necessary in any case. But, if you must use swapping on
an external protocol, simply precede the 'Send' or 'Receive Cmd.'
(main setup, External Protocols menu) with SW:. Example:
SW:HSLINK.BAT

o Added support for a File Transfer "Disk Buffer Size" to the main setup
(Screen/File Transfer screen). The disk buffer size was fixed at 1
kilobyte in v0.92/93 ... and this worked well for most but it caused a
disk read/write on every block. So the disk buffer size was expanded
to match the "Receive buffer" size (defaults to 4K) in v0.94. But
this caused timeout errors for users with slow drives... So now this
Disk Buffer Size item has been added -- and it defaults to 1K. If you
want a larger disk buffer, for less wear and tear on your hard drive,
you may expand the size (up to 16K) in the main setup. If you run
into excessive timeouts... remember to reduce your disk buffer size.

o BIF Notes are now accessible directly from the Terminal. When online,
press Alt-Y to either read the existing BBS notes or add new notes.
The notes are automatically saved when you exit the editor by pressing
Esc.

o You can now specify a full capture path/filename in the Job Editor,
when entering the Capture on/off task. Previously only eight
characters were allowed.

o SETUP.EXE will now prompt for more information on new installs (your
Mail Reader details, and Unpacker commands, which are important to set
up properly), and will verify that the commands you enter are indeed
valid DOS programs by searching the PATH for the program name you
enter.




Intellicomm v0.95 NEW&FIXD.DOC 4



o Port addresses (main setup, 'Port' screen) are now displayed/entered
in hexidecimal format. Most manuals specify the addresses in hex, so
there was really no advantage to using decimal on this screen.

o Added the script command 'sendbreak' to allow the sending of a break
signal from scripts.


VERSION 0.94 BUGS FIXED IN 0.95 (Previous fixes are listed below.)

o A bug in the v0.93 'copy file' function (used internally to install
Intellicomm, and in "Copy" from the File Manager) caused the original
v0.92/93 files' date/time to be altered, which later resulted in
improper installations of v0.94. The copy file routines have now been
fixed, and the install routines now check only the date (and not the
file time). THANKS goes to Sid Herbage for his efforts in locating
this problem.

o Swapping was not working in v0.94, when no XMS or EMS was available.
This bug caused many problems, such as not downloading files from the
Tagger, not importing new files lists into the Tagger, not being able
to call your Mail Reader from inside Intellicomm, etc. All of these
problems should now be fixed.

o When an automated download aborted due to a lost connection, etc.,
Intellicomm would lose a filename on your .GET list and would not re-
start the download at the proper file. This has now been fixed.

o The "Enable 16550" flag in the main setup somehow got reversed from
v0.93 to v0.94 (Yes meant to NOT enable the 16550 FIFO mode, and No
meant to ENABLE it). If you're running a high speed modem on a slow
or burdened computer, and ran into CRC errors on downloads and/or
missing characters in terminal mode, this was likely the cause.
Please check this item in the main setup (on the "Terminal" screen) to
ensure that it's set to "Yes", if you use a 16550 UART.

o The total 'time online' was not being updated properly, and
'disconnected' records were not being stamped in the Usage Log.
Several other Usage Log problems were also fixed.

o The File Tagger's sort order was being set to Tag Status/Location
inadvertently in many circumstances. You could also not save a
different default sort order... now fixed.

o If you used periods (.) in your File Tagger 'DBF Path', the Tagger
would not create/update the catalogs properly. This has now been
fixed.

o The PCP-ON.SCR (PC-Pursuit logon script) was not working properly, due
to a bug in the script processor. Now fixed, and also added special
XPAD parameters to the PCP-ON.SCR (PC Pursuit logon) script.

o Job starting times were not working properly when a specific day was
defined. If you told Icom to run a Job at a specific time on




Intellicomm v0.95 NEW&FIXD.DOC 5



Saturday, chances are it ran it at the right time, but on the wrong
day. This has now been fixed.

o Exit to DOS was not working in automated jobs (unless the /Run: switch
was used, which causes an automatic Exit to DOS regardless of how the
Job is defined).

o Tags and the deleted status of BIFs was lost on the BBS Directory
menu, under certain circumstances (whenever Icom had to rebuild the
directory). It now saves the Tag/Deleted status of all BIFs before
rebuilding the directory, and restores them afterwards.

o The 'Errors' counter was not being incremented properly in the
internal protocols.

o Secondary message packets .QW0, .QW1, etc., were not being renumbered
properly.

o Filename Conversion (uppercase/lowercase), defined on the main setup
"Screen/File Transfer" screen, was not working properly if set to
lowercase.

o That's it! Hope you enjoy the update...