V T 1 0 0 E M U L A T O R ============================= Welcome to the demonstration version of the VT100 emulator for the Psion Series 3a. You can use it for an unlimited time to test the product. It has all the features of the real product *except* that the demo version only works at 300 bps. This file should be provided to you in a file called VT100V25.ZIP which should also contain 1) This file VTDEMO.TXT in ASCII format 2) VT100SLO.APP - the demonstration version of our VT100 product 3) VT1000.TXT - product information and how to buy the real thing 4) UUDECODE.EXE - needed if you take delivery of VT100 through the Internet If any of these files are missing, please go back to your source. Please do not distribute any of these files without the whole ZIP file. 1. INSTALLATION To install VT100 from a PC, connect Psion to PC using 3-link, start Remote Link on the 3a, and type MCLINK on the PC. Then type (on the PC) COPY VT100SLO.APP REM::M:\APP\ This copies the VT100 application to the internal (M:) disk of the 3a. Install VT100 on the Psion system screen like any other application: Select the Install menu option from the system screen, locate VT100SLO.APP in the application list, and then press Enter. 2. GETTING STARTED Make sure the 3-link serial link is plugged into the 3a, then start VT100 from the System screen by pressing Enter when the highlight is on the VT100 icon. The screen should be empty, apart from a status line along the bottom. Select Special/Port and Special/Handshakes to configure the serial communications, and away you go! Press for assistance with options. To test the program, you can try dialling UK Electronic Yellow Pages. This is a free access service, which is available at local telephone rates throughout the UK. To dial this service within the UK, connect your 3-link to a modem and type ATD0345444444 if you want to use pulse dialling or ATDT0345444444 if you have a tone dial modem. If you are dialling from outside the UK, you can access the same system by dialling the international access code, then dialling 44 734 591199. For example, from the US, using tone dialling, you would dial ATD01144734591199 We would welcome suggestions from US users for an American service which we can quote to new users instead of advising you to dial internationally for your test! 3. NUMERIC KEYPAD As there is no numeric keypad on the 3a, the VT-100 keypad is mapped onto the main keyboard. The key turns on keypad mode for one character An indicator on the status line shows when keypad mode is toggled "on". After , press a key from the left-hand table to generate the keypad key from the right-hand table: 3a VT100 emulator DEC VT-100 keypad 1 2 3 4 ..0 pf1 pf2 pf3 pf4 .. pf10 q w e r 7 8 9 - a s d f 4 5 6 , z x c 1 2 3 . 0 . It soon becomes second-nature, and there is a diagram in the help system. You can cancel by pressing it again. For example, to generate keypad 4 followed by F3, you would press then , then then <3>. The vertical bar symbol can be generated with then . 4. MENU OPTIONS File Save Settings (Psion + O) Saves the current terminal options into the file \DAT\Vt100.cfg on the default drive, which is usually M:. These settings are reloaded next time VT100 is started. To get back to a "clean" set of defaults, select Screen / Reset terminal, followed by File / Save settings. Edit Bring in (Psion + B) Brings onto the VT100 screen text which has previously been highlighted in another application. For instance you could highlight the modem phone number in your database and then bring it into VT100 without having to write it down in between. Screen Pause screen (Psion + W) Stops the display of incoming data temporarily. If handshaking is being used on the serial link, then no data will be lost. An indicator on the status line shows that the screen is paused. Press a key to resume. Clear screen (Psion + Y) Clears the screen and resets the cursor to the top left corner. Reset terminal (Psion + T) Sets all the VT100 parameters back to the "factory default" settings. The serial port configuration is not affected. Transfer All the transfer menu options are equivalent to those found in the Comms program and are repeated here for convenience. Protocol (Psion + P) Select the file transfer protocol to use ASCII, XMODEM or YMODEM Transmit (Psion +T) Send a file using the selected protocol Receive (Psion + R) Receive a file using the selected protocol. Batch receive of multiple files is possible using Ymodem. Capture (Psion + C) Starts logging of incoming data to a file chosen from the file selection dialogue. You can choose to overwrite the file, or append to the end of it. When logging is in progress, this option changes to "Capture off". Select "Capture off" to stop logging. VT100 Emulation (Psion + E) This option allows you to set various VT100 emulation parameters: the first option listed is the default setting. Background Normal / Reversed sets black on white or white on black display. Insert mode Replace / Insert characters either overwrite or are inserted before existing ones. Autowrap Off / On determines cursor action upon reaching the right-hand edge: by default, characters after the 80th on a line overwrite the 80th. Turn it on to get automatic wrap-around onto the next line. Incoming LF / determines action of incoming character - either cursor down, or cursor down and back to left-hand margin. Cursor (Psion + D) Visible Yes /No hiding the cursor slightly increases display speed. Flashing Yes / No A flashing cursor is normally easier to find Style Block / Underline Auto-scroll No / Yes When set to Yes the window automatically moves around to make the cursor appear on screen whenever it comes to rest. Has no effect when you are using the smallest available characters as the whole screen is visible anyway Origin mode Absolute / Relative determines whether cursor positioning commands are interpreted as absolute screen co-ordinates or relative to the current cursor position. This is unlikely to need altering. Special Port (Psion + J) Sets the serial port options: baud rate, data bits, stop bits, parity, ignore parity. *Note on the demo version the baud rate is limited to 300 bps* Handshakes (Psion + K) Sets the serial port handshakes: xon/xoff, rts/cts, dsr/dtr, dcd. You must use the handshaking convention used by the remote computer. Translates (Psion + F) Enter key / / determines which characters are transmitted when the Enter key is pressed. Delete key / determines which character is transmitted when the Delete key is pressed. Keypad Mode Numeric / Application toggles the keypad (+key) keys between their "numeric" values and their "application" key codes. An application will normally enable application mode automatically when it needs it. Note that PF1..PF10 (+1..0) are not affected by the keypad mode. About VT100 (Psion + A) Reminds you of our email address for support and the version number of your copy of VT100. Exit (Psion + X) Leave VT100. Current settings will only be saved if you explicitly save them with File / Save settings. 5. SUPPORT Commonest error messages 1. Error opening serial port - File or Device in use Solutions: a) Check that you have turned the remote link OFF b) Check that you are not using the serial link via the Comms application. Return to the Comms application if installed and close it properly using Psion + X. 2. Garbled characters Normally this means that the port settings of the series 3a do not agree with the attatched computer or modem. Remember that this demo version of vt100 is limited to 300 Baud. If you have any questions or comments about VT100, please contact us by email to widget@cix.compulink.co.uk Please note that support is only available for this product by email. Our sales office is able to take orders and dispatch copies of the demo disk, but cannot handle technical support queries on this product. 6. TERMS AND CONDITIONS 'VT100 Emulator' is Copyright (c) 1993, Esc and licenced to Widget Software Ltd, a company registered in England. Neither Esc nor Widget nor employees of either firm can accept responsibility for any loss, either direct or indirect, resulting from the use of, or the inability to use, this program. This does not affect your statutory rights.