RM60

LITES.COM
Command

Jeff Prosise1989 No. 5 (Utilities)


Purpose:Replaces an RS-232 breakout box by
displaying the status of the DTR, DSR, RTS, CTS, DCD, and RI
pins; also indicates the data rate, parity, number of data
bits, and number of stop bits of the serial port being
monitored.

Format:LITES [comport] [U]

Remarks:LITES is a memory-resident utility and may
be loaded either at the DOS prompt or as part of an
AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If no communications port is specified,
the default comport monitored is COM1. After loading,
alternately pressing Alt-L (the default hotkey) pops up and
cancels the onscreen display, which is located (by default)
in the upper right corner of the screen. LITES can be
deinstalled by entering it with the optional u (or U)
parameter, which simplifies changing the comport to be
monitored. (Do not precede the U with a slash.)

The various default options of LITES can be changed
with DEBUG.COM. The procedure is explained in the printed
article, which also contains full tables of scan codes,
shift masks, colors, and the like. The available patch
points, bytes allocated, and default values are listed
below.



Function Address Bytes Default

Hotkey ID String 0155h 8 "Alt-L"
Hotkey Scan Code 0160h 1 26h
LITES Video Attribute 0161h 1 70h
LITES Display Row Number 0162h 1 0
LITES Display Column Offset 0163h 1 0
Refresh Frequency Counter 0164h 1 2
Default COM Port Designator 0165h 1 0
Hotkey Shift Mask 01A0h 1 8

Available for downloading from PC MagNet (see the
LITES by Modem sidebar), LITES.COM is already compiled and
ready to run. LITES.BAS will automatically create LITES.COM
when run once in BASIC. To create LITES.COM from the
LITES.ASM source code requires use of a macro assembler (IBM
or Microsoft, Version 2 or later) and the following
commands:

MASM LITES;
LINK LITES;
EXE2BIN LITES LITES.COM;