RingRes v1.0 -- The Memory Resident Telephone Ring
Copyright (c) 1996, Enver J. Berkes
Compatible with Microsoft(R) Windows(TM)

RingRes occupies 304 bytes in conventional/high memory.

        RingRes has a very simple purpose. Once loaded into memory, it will
detect when your telephone is ringing and ring a tone through your computer's
speaker. You don't have to have a telephone attached to your computer or have
a sound card; you just need phone line attached to your modem. Its syntax is:

RINGRES [COM PORT] [/MUTE] [/UNMUTE] [/?]
You can shorten /MUTE and /UNMUTE to /M and /U respectively.

[COM PORT] is the COM port which your modem is on. For example, if you have a
           modem on COM 2, you would type RINGRES 2.

[/MUTE] tells RingRes to deactivate itself, or mute. You can tell RingRes to
        start itself up in muted mode by typing RINGRES 2 /MUTE. Or after the
        program has started up, you can mute it later by typing RINGRES /MUTE.

[/UNMUTE] will unmute RingRes. If you muted RingRes because you were getting
          many phone calls, you could later undo it by typing RINGRES /UNMUTE.

[/?] will display a help screen describing each one of the options listed here.

RingRes is very unique among DOS programs. When it searches for command line
input, it will not be picky about what you type. It only watches for a few
hot words, or trigger phrases:

a) The numbers 1-4 to indicate the COM port
b) /...M (a slash followed by an M)
c) /...U (a slash followed by a U)

So you could actually enter this command and RingRes will install itself:
RINGRES Install me on com#2 and make sure that I am /muted.

That might seem a little extreme. But a command such as this in your computer's
startup file will remind you what RingRes is doing:
RINGRES Listen for rings on COM2

But be careful. This won't only put RingRes on COM 2! It will also mute it:
RINGRES /COM2
Because the "M" of "COM" after the slash is interpreted as "mute".

                      =-Running RingRes under Windows-=

     I should tell you that the instructions listed below are relevant for
Microsoft Windows(TM) 3.x. If you want to run RingRes under Windows '95, I can
only suggest that you experiment and see what is necessary to get the desired
result.
     If you want RingRes to reside in memory while Windows is active, you must
install RingRes before you start up Windows. This means that you have to add an
appropriate line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (this is the same method you would
use to install RingRes for DOS).
     If you never use the "MS-DOS Prompt" program in Windows, you can install
RingRes and tell it to activate in Windows. A command such as this should be in
your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
LH C:\DOS\RINGRES.COM 2
     If, however, you use the "MS-DOS Prompt" program in windows, you must
install RingRes into memory in a muted state:
LH C:\DOS\RINGRES.COM 2 /MUTE
And, once you exit Windows, you can unmute it for use during your DOS programs.
     So what if you want to be able to hear the ring during a Windows session?
If that is what you want to do, start up a windowed MS-DOS Prompt and start
RingRes. Because you are installing under Windows, RingRes will not complain
that it is already loaded into memory. Then simply size the MS-DOS Prompt to a
very small box, and drag it down to a corner of your screen.
     Or, alternatively, you can exit Windows, type the RINGRES /UNMUTE command,
and re-enter Windows. RingRes will now sound a tone through your speaker when
the phone rings, even if you don't run the "MS-DOS Prompt".
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Some practical examples. Let's say you want to start up your computer with
RingRes loaded in memory, watching COM 3, but you do not want it to be active
until you tell it to be. You could enter this command into AUTOEXEC.BAT:
RINGRES COM3 /MUTE

Are you running DOS 6 or higher? If so, you can load RingRes high and conserve
your precious conventional memory by using the LH (LOADHIGH) prefix:
LH RINGRES 3 /MUTE

You installed RingRes but it is muted; to unmute it you would type:
RINGRES /UNMUTE

You can't remember if you have RingRes muted. You would type this to see its
current status:
RINGRES

You muted RingRes before entering Windows. Now you want RingRes to be active
during your "MS-DOS Prompt" session. You would start up the "MS-DOS Prompt" and
type this if you modem is on COM2:
RINGRES 2
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

        Once the program is installed into memory, typing RINGRES again will
tell you which COM port RingRes is monitoring and whether it is muted or not.
You may not install more than one copy of the program into memory. When the
telephone line is ringing, you will hear a rapid clicking sound from your PC
speaker. The sound is relatively quiet and won't bother the person working at
the computer too much. RingRes is designed to work very quickly, and therefore
does not waste CPU time.
        RingRes supports error levels. A code of 0 is returned if the TSR is
successfully installed, 1 if incorrect syntax is used, 2 if RingRes is already
installed in memory (the status is returned without reinstalling), and 3 if
an unknown error occurs which prevents RingRes from loading into memory.

I, the author of this program, do not accept any responsibility for what may
happen from using my program. Although it was designed with the upmost care,
has a very stable design, and is used daily on my own computer, I don't
know what lurks behind your computer's switches, and therefore, have to remind
you that you are using this program at your own risk.

RingRes v1.0 is offered as shareware. This means that you may use it for a
month without owing the author a cent. If you use it for longer than one month,
you must send a $15.00 registration fee, along with your name and address to:

Enver J. Berkes
bP Software
185 Waverley Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3M 3K4
Canada

 Ŀ
Berkes
Programming
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~berkes/bp.htm
