********************* FLASH II DEMO - version 2.1 ******************** from: Missionware Software 354 N. Winston Drive Palatine, IL 60067-4132 (708)359-9565 Thank you for taking an interest in our latest release of Flash II. You'll be able to test as many of Flash II's features as possible in this demo version. Naturally, many features of the program are either disabled or limited. We'll discuss those limitations in this message and also give you a few hints on how best to use this demo. Before we get into a brief discussion on how to use this demo, here's a list of features included in Flash II: ù DO script files compatible with older versions of Flash! ù All macros use the familiar Flash DO script format! ù Easily setup the parameters for each BBS you call...this includes everything from ASCII upload/download options to baud rate! ù You can program up to 20 individual and separate macros for each BBS plus an additional 10 global macros ! ù Displays RLE & GIF pictures either on or off line! You can also save or load these pictures for later review! ù Supports the following terminal types: TTY, VIDTEX, VT52, ANSI, VT100, VT101, VT102, VT200, VT300 & PRESTEL. ù Now includes full support for RTS/CTS. This mode can now be turned on and off by the user. ù Includes Automatic Answer mode! ù Includes Auto Boards mode - Preselect the board(s) you wish to dial and when Flash II is launched either manually from the desktop by you, or automatically by some other program launcher, Flash II will wakeup and dial the board(s) you've got selected. It will also wait for the proper time to dial these boards. ù Includes full featured GEM text editor with: merge, block commands, cut & paste, search & replace, paragraph reformating; user tab settings, page width, full keyboard cursor and delete control and more! ù Supports the ST, IBM and DEC character sets, including IBM graphics characters! ù Includes Silent Line for background file transfers! ù Supports the following upload/download protocols: ASCII, Xmodem, Ymodem, Ymodem-G, Zmodem, Modem7, WXmodem, CIS B, Kermit and SEAlink! And all of these protocols are built into the program...no external modules required!!! ù Zmodem now supports the selection of AutoStart and Streaming options. If you prefer to use an external Zmodem protocol with Flash II, you can now force Flash II's Zmodem autostart mode to off. For BBS' that don't support "streaming", this too can now be turned off. ù Logs all on line time and calculates your approximate costs for you! ù New version written in assembler! Fast! ù Runs on all ST, STe and TT's ù Now supports "Install Application". You can create a DO script that can be used to launch Flash II from the desktop and force it to dial up and go online for you, all automatically! ù Both the Terminal and Editor have been enhanced significantly for both speed and ease of use. You'll be amazed at how fast the new Flash II is! ù A new "BReak" script command is added which permits the sending of a terminal break to the host computer while a script is running. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Flash II is a very powerful telecommunications program. With that power comes complexity. The program comes with a 228 page manual that fully explaly explaly explaly explaly expladefault settings for Flash II's use when first booted. Except for Silent Line (our background file transfer program), all options set under the Options menu are saved in this file. Your default transfer options are also saved here, as well as the status of Auto Event Log and Auto Boards under the Phone menu. Currently, Flash II only operates for the Modem 1 port on all Atari ST computers. We're working on a new version that will support all 4 serial ports. That version should be available soon. Make sure that the serial cable you use supports all features of your modem. Flash II will try to use all of those features for best speed and performance. If you have a hard drive, you'll want to run this demo from that drive. Create a "FLASH2" folder and copy all of the files included here into that folder. Run flash2d.prg from the folder and you'll be all set. It's *very* important that both the flash2.lst and flash2.def files are placed in the same folder as flash2d.prg! The Flash II demo is limited to less than 50 minutes of actual use, per session. A dialog warns you of this every 10 minutes or so, and in fact, is the dialog that appears when you first boot Flash II. Before trying to dial out the first time, please go through the following options to make sure they are set up properly for your system: Terminal, RS232, Modem (all under the Options menu). TERMINAL OPTIONS: These options are used to configure Flash II's default state when it first starts up. We highly recommend that you work with these default options to begin with. Later, as you gain more experience, you might want to experiment a bit. Click on "More Terminal Options" at the bottom left in the main dialog. A second dialog appears. Up at the top are two configurations for Control Codes and Character Codes. Leave these both set to 7 BIT. These settings tell Flash II to strip the 8th bit on any incoming data which helps prevent garbage data from appearing on the screen. The Character Set should also be set to ATARI ST. RS232 OPTIONS: You'll need to select whatever baud rate your normally use in this dialog. It comes preconfigured for 2400 baud, 8 data bits, no parity, and 1 stop bit. When these settings are used in conjunction with Control and Character Codes set to 7 BIT as noted above, Flash II will work either in 7E1 or 8N1 mode while online, the two most common modes in use today. RTS/CTS only needs activation if you are operating at split baud rates. Flash II will connect to your modem at speeds up to 19,200 baud. Your modem may be able to work a split rates - see the operations manual for information. MODEM OPTIONS: The demo is preconfigured for Hayes compatible modems. If your modem is Hayes command set compatible, you'll probably need to make no changes to this dialog. If your modem is not Hayes compatible, you'll need to configure Flash II for whatever commands your modem supports. If you wish to use hardware connect/disconnect, make sure that DCD is selected in this dialog. If you aren't sure whether your modem and cable supports DCD, then select STRINGS. Use the default DCD Connect Time of "30" seconds and DTR Disconnect Time of 0.1 seconds no matter which method you use (DCD or STRINGS). After all of these options are set, you'll want to save them so that they'll be activated the next time you load Flash II. Move to the File menu and select "Save Defaults". Your flash2.def file will be updated with the new information entered. FIRST TEST: Before you actually try to dial out the first time, it's always a good idea to make sure that Flash II is communicating with your modem. Let's switch to the terminal mode to see if everything is working. To do that, press the right mouse button. By the way, the right button is used for switching back and forth between the editor (where Flash II first boots) and the terminal screen. This switch can also be made while online so that you can reread and edit any messages that may have come in too fast to read while online. Naturally, you can also use the editor for creating messages and replies while online. After pressing the right mouse button, you should now see a blank screen except for some status information at the top. I'll explain that later. Let's first see if we can communicate. There should be a black cursor at the home position on the screen. If your modem is Hayes cokpatible, enter (without the quotes) "AT" followed by a press of the [Return] key. You should be able to see the Tx (or transmit) lamp on your modem blink. The modem should respond with an "OK". If it doesn't, something between Flash II and your modem isn't proper. Now take a look at the status line. At the upper left you'll see something like "Cap: xxxxK". This tells you how much memory is available in your computer for Flash II's capture buffer. In the middle of thle of thle of thle of thle of thBS plus an additional 10 global macros ! ù Displays RLE & GIF pictures either on or off line! You can also save or load these pictures for later review! ù Supports the following terminal types: TTY, VIDTEX, VT52, ANSI, VT100, VT101, VT102, VT200, VT300 & PRESTEL. ù Now includes full support for RTS/CTS. This mode can now be turned on and off by the user. ù Includes Automatic Answer mode! ù Includes Auto Boards mode - Preselect the board(s) you wish to dial and when Flash II is launched either manually from the desktop by you, or automatically by some other program launcher, Flash II will wakeup and dial the board(s) you've got selected. It will also wait for the proper time to dial these boards. ù Includes full featured GEM text editor with: merge, block commands, cut & paste, search & replace, paragraph reformating; user tab settings, page width, full keyboard cursor and delete control and more! ù Supports the ST, IBM and DEC character sets, including IBM graphics characters! ù Includes Silent Line for background file transfers! ù Supports the following upload/download protocols: ASCII, Xmodem, Ymodem, Ymodem-G, Zmodem, Modem7, WXmodem, CIS B, Kermit and SEAlink! And all of these protocols are built into the program...no external modules required!!! ù Zmodem now supports the selection of AutoStart and Streaming options. If you prefer to use an external Zmodem protocol with Flash II, you can now force Flash II's Zmodem autostart mode to off. For BBS' that don't support "streaming", this too can now be turned off. ù Logs all on line time and calculates your approximate costs for you! ù New version written in assembler! Fast! ù Runs on all ST, STe and TT's ù Now supports "Install Application". You can create a DO script that can be used to launch Flash II from the desktop and force it to dial up and go online for you, all automatically! ù Both the Terminal and Editor have been enhanced significantly for both speed and ease of use. You'll be amazed at how fast the new Flash II is! ù A new "BReak" script command is added which permits the sending of a terminal break to the host computer while a script is running. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Flash II is a very powerful telecommunications program. With that power comes complexity. The program comes with a 228 page manual that fully explaly explaly explaly explaly expladefault settings for Flash II's use when first booted. Except for Silent Line (our background file transfer program), all options set under the Options menu are saved in this file. Your default transfer options are also saved here, as well as the status of Auto Event Log and Auto Boards under the Phone menu. Currently, Flash II only operates for the Modem 1 port on all Atari ST computers. We're working on a new version that will support all 4 serial ports. That version should be availnder the "Transfer" menu. All transfers are limited to 50K file sizes, however. This includes both uploads and downloads. EDITOR: The Flash II edi4or is an "edit anything" type of editor. Yot can actually load binary files (such as flash2d.prg) into the editor! GIF pictures are also loaded into the editor for viewing using the "Review" function found under the "Capture" menu. (At the moment, Flash II supports only 87a GIF pictures - load the data into theh capture buffer using d.prg! The Flash II demo is limited to less than 50 minutes of actual use, per session. A dialog warns you of this every 10 minutes or so, and in fact, is the dialog that appears when you first boot Flash II. Before trying to dial out the first time, please go through the following options to make sure they are set up properly for your system: Terminal, RS232, Modem (all under the Options menu). TERMINAL OPTIONS: These options are used to configure Flash II's default state when it first starts up. We highly recommend that you work with these default options to begin with. Later, as you gain more experience, you might want to experiment a bit. Click on "More Terminal Options" at the bottom left in the main dialog. A second dialog appears. Up at the top are two configurations for Control Codes and Character Codes. Leave these both set to 7 BIT. These settings tell Flash II to strip the 8th bit on any incoming data which helps prevent garbage data from appearing on the screen. The Character Set should also be set to ATARI ST. RS232 OPTIONS: You'll need to select whatever baud rate your normally use in this dialog. It comes preconfigured for 2400 baud, 8 data bits, no parity, and 1 stop bit. When these settings are used in conjunction with Control and Character Codes set to 7 BIT as noted above, Flash II will work either in 7E1 or 8N1 mode while online, the two most common modes in use today. RTS/CTS only needs activation if you are operating at split baud rates. Flash II will connect to your modem at speeds up to 19,200 baud. Your modem may be able to work a split rates - see the operations manual for information. MODEM OPTIONS: The demo is preconfigured for Hayes compatible modems. If your modem is Hayes command set compatible, you'll probably need to make no changes to this dialog. If your modem is not Hayes compatible, you'll need to configure Flash II for whatever commands your modem supports. If you wish to use hardware connect/disconnect, make sure that DCD is selected in this dialog. If you aren't sure whether your modem and cable supports DCD, then select STRINGS. Use the default DCD Connect Time of "30" seconds and DTR Disconnect Time of 0.1 seconds no matter which method you use (DCD or STRINGS). After all of these options are set, you'll want to save them so that they'll be activated the next time you load Flash II. Move to the File menu and select "Save Defaults". Your flash2.def file will be updated with the new information entered. FIRST TEST: Before you actually try to dial out the first time, it's always a good idea to make sure that Flash II is communicating with your modem. Let's switch to the terminal mode to see if everything is working. To do that, press the right mouse button. By the way, the right button is used for switching back and forth between the editor (where Flash II first boots) and the terminal screen. Ting (US and Canada), $8 worldwide. Or, you can purchase Flash II, version 2.1 outright, for only $49.95 US plus the shipping and handling charges applicable to your area. To order, or for more information, contact: Missionware Software 354 N. Winston Drive Palatine, IL 60067-4132 United States of America phone 708-359-9565