========================================================================= (C) 1994 by Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables. May be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. To sign up for GEnie service, call (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt.Type XTX99437,GENIE and press [RETURN]. The system will prompt you for your information. ========================================================================== ************ Topic 3 Fri Oct 01, 1993 BRIAN.H [ST~SysOp] at 22:34 EDT Sub: FLASH II for the ST(E)/TT/FALCON Flash II is the update to the most popular Atari ST telecomm program ever! Flash II includes a slew of new features including flawless operation on all ST, STe, and TT computers. Ask your questions here. 202 message(s) total. ************ ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 1 Sat Oct 02, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 12:35 EDT This is the new home for Flash II support. Make sure you ask all of your Flash II questions here now. Our old support area, Category 8 Topic 2 will be closing down shortly. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 2 Sun Oct 03, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 10:35 EDT John, How about adding an area within this one for beta-test discussions? We've done that with Geneva and it worked great. The sysops can help set that kind of thing up, with access rights and so on. Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 3 Sun Oct 03, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 15:57 EDT Al... Excellent idea! I hand't thought about that. Brian? Are you reading this? If not, I'll send you mail. The one thing that email beta reports lack is the *easy* ability for all of the other beta testers to see the message. Most folks don't automatically copy to the others. Having a dedicated, but closed, special topic would certainly be helpful. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 4 Mon Oct 04, 1993 CBARRON at 02:23 EDT RE: beta... access requested Does 2.2 LOAD u'der MTOS, seems to dump AES & reboot time. What must be co'figured to get it to work with mtos?? . Works quite well other wise!!! [2/4 meg TT030...] ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 5 Mon Oct 04, 1993 BRIAN.H [ST~SysOp] at 05:35 EDT JOhn, There are only private categories, not private topics. Please see Darlah for further information. ~~Brian..Written on Monday 04 October 1993 at 06:33 a.m. ADT ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 6 Mon Oct 04, 1993 D.STMARTIN [Binary Ink] at 07:08 EDT Is there an upgrade path for those of us that are still using the original version of Flash? If so, details please...... ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 8 Mon Oct 04, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 22:42 EDT Carl... Right now, the 2.2 beta and MTOS do not get along too well. Paul has discovered a number of reasons for that and is currently working on 2.3 which will solve those problems. He tells me, BTW, that he does have an early beta of 2.3 that that loads under MTOS and does some limited work. Brian... Oh, ok. Al Fasoldt led me to believe that there was a closed topic used by the Geneva beta testers, which, I assumed, was a part of the Gribnif's Cat. I guess I was wrong. I don't think we'd necessarily want to open another Cat here. Binary Ink... Sure is an upgrade path. All you need to do is send me your old Flash! master disk, along with $34 ($30 for the program, $4 for shipping), and you'll get your brand new copy of Flash II. We accept check, money order and Visa/MasterCard. Our address is: Missionware Software 354 N. Winston Drive Palatine, IL 60067-4132 John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 9 Tue Oct 05, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 07:38 EDT My apologies for confusing the issue of private topics vs. private conferences and all that. Aladdin hadles this for me so I never really know where I am going! :) But, Brian, back to the point: Why can't Missionware have the same sort of thing as, say, Gribnif for beta test reporting? Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 10 Tue Oct 05, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 08:06 EDT Al, I think Gribnif has a private library... ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 11 Tue Oct 05, 1993 BRIAN.H [ST~SysOp] at 20:58 EDT No apology necessary Al. I am sure if John wants that Darlah would seriously consider any request for a private library. I know BBS categories are at a premium and that request would need more thought. Basically, Darlah is the only one that handles private categories and libraries. No one else. I know GRIBNIF and several others have private libraries and a few have private categories. I don't know who since I am not invited to them and thus I cannot "see" if they exist. Ideally, all developers should have private lib/cat but the need far exceed the demand. Thus again, I can only say, ask Darlah officially in EMail and maybe something can be worked out. I hope this helps. ~~Brian..Written on Tuesday 05 October 1993 at 09:56 p.m. ADT ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 12 Tue Oct 05, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 23:07 EDT Thanks for that discussion Al and Brian. Once things calm down here a bit (and they are quite hectic at the moment, what with me taking over Hutch's products and all) I'll drop Darlah a note about the private library and/or CAT thing. For now I guess we'll just continue to handle betas via email like I have been doing. That certainly gets the job done! :-) John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 13 Wed Oct 06, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 20:14 EDT Lou, Yes, I know Gribnif does. Brian, Thanks for the explanation. There is a LOT of beta testing going on in Missionware, I can tell you that with conviction. Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 14 Wed Oct 13, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 23:31 EDT Over in Topic 1, Frank asked: >Using FLASHII on GEnie with an Mega STE How do we REPly to a topic by >uploading an ASCII file from my word processor? I think I tries everything. > >Thanks Frank Actually, in order to answer your question, I need a bit more information from you. Are you looking for a complete explanation from A-Z, or are you just having problems with the actual upload? In any case, here's a short description on what to do: 1) Create your reply in Flash II's editor. Save the reply as a file. 2) Get back online to GEnie, and set yourself up in the proper Cat and Topic. Tell GEnie you want to enter a message. 3) When the GEnie editor comes alive (you'll see the '>' prompt) type in *UP. This tells GEnie you are going to upload a message instead of typing one in. 4) When GEnie says "Ready for Input", press the [Insert] key to activate Flash II's terminal command line. Type in "UL AS" (no quotes please) and when the file selector appears, select the file you saved in step 1 above. 5) After the file is uploaded, press Control-C to send a "break" to GEnie. When the '>' prompt reappears, enter *S to send the message. And that's about it. Also, make sure you use the GEnie ASCII Options as received with the program. That means that all ASCII options should be turned off (buttons deselected) except for "Strip Linefeeds". If you have any more questions Frank, please let me know. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 15 Sat Oct 16, 1993 J.BATTEY1 [J. L. Battey] at 19:57 EDT John T. I have been using F2 in ANSI mode w/48 lines to log onto our User Group BBS for about a week now, and suddenly today it wants to shift itself to 8 bit characters and gives me a badly unreadable terminal screen. It even does it when I Load and Review the .ANS example file that came with the program. If I shift to 24 lines, it goes back to 7 bit & everything is readable again. Any ideas? The only change in my setup since our Email exchange is that I took SERFX20.PRG out of the AUTO folder. John L. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 16 Sat Oct 16, 1993 J.BATTEY1 [J. L. Battey] at 22:18 EDT Since the last post, I rebooted with SERFX20 switch back in (via SuperBoot) and everything works just as it should. 48 lines and standard characters. I don't know if this would matter, but I am using a Warp9 replacement font (EPGRAFHI.FNT) that has the Epson Graphics extended ASCII characters in place of all the Hebrew stuff. John L. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 17 Sat Oct 16, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 23:39 EDT John... About all I can suggest is that you carefully review your configuration for the board. A little understood feature of F2 is that it will "update" its configuration when you have "Auto Log Event" ticked in the Phone menu. If you accidentally changed a configuration while online, F2 would have saved this new configuration when you logged off. If you have a backup of your flash2.lst file, load it, log on, and see what happens. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 18 Sun Oct 17, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 18:57 EDT John... I'm not sure why SERFX20 would make a difference, however, I can understand why using a replacement font may muck things up. I haven't tried that myself but there may be a conflict there between W9 and F2. We've had some conflicts in the past between the two programs, but have managed to work them all out. Thanks for the info though. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 19 Tue Oct 19, 1993 J.WILSON103 [J_Dub] at 06:50 EDT I am not having success getting Flash II up and running on my Falcon. Have tried two different modems, cables etc. Seems dead. Is there something I need in the auto folder? Any help appreciated. J_Dub ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 20 Tue Oct 19, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 10:26 EDT J-Dub... Version 2.11 of Flash II (assuming that's what you've got) does not run on the Falcon. We've got version 2.2 in final beta test that does run on the Falcon just fine. We should be releasing that version shortly. An upgrade program will be uploaded here which you can use to upgrade your current version to 2.2. Sorry for the inconvenience. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 21 Fri Oct 22, 1993 J.BATTEY1 [J. L. Battey] at 19:06 EDT John T., In case I have not defined the difficulty well enough, here are the details. Terminal Options are set (highlighted) as follows: ANSI, FULL, CAPTURE, WORD WRAP, ON, BLOCK, WRAP, STEADY, UNLOCKED, 80, 48, LIGHT, UNLOCKED, 7 BIT, 7BIT, CONNECTED, NORMAL, SCROLL REGION, NONE, NUMERIC, NORMAL, IBM, USASCII, DEC MULTINATIONAL (93/10/16) This is getting really frustrating (he said, cheerfully)! I can't seem to get the problem to repeat reliably, but it seems to occur in most circumstances with an occasional random return to normality. Having SERFX installed or not has no relationship to the ANSI/48 line problem, sorry about the red herring. (93/10/19) The problem now repeats reliably. The randomness was caused by my tendancy to work off frustrations via MEGAROIDS. My WARP9.DAT file switches screen acceleration off for MEGAROIDS. Once screen acceleration has been switched off, the EFFECT of the problem disappears, even if acceleration is switched back on afterward. But even then, putting anything into the buffer, whether by going online or by loading a .ANS file, causes a switch to 8 bit character codes. The 8 bit codes should not be a problem. What is a problem is having the character codes shifted up to a confusion of graphics symbols (ie. >ASCII 0x7F). (93/10/20) No W9 setting other than Screen Accel. has any curative effect. However, it now appears that the problem is not just related to W9. As far as I know, DC Extractor+ does not alter the W9 settings, but running DCX+ does clear up the ASCII misinterpretation blemish (blemish = output looks funny but nothing dies, flaw = system crashes during or as a result of execution) in F2. John L. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 22 Sat Oct 23, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 18:00 EDT John L... Hmmmm... Just to refresh my memory here, you're asking about a problem seeing the 8x8 font (48 line mode) in F2 with Warp 9 active, right? (If not, please excuse my memory lapse... You know what they say goes first!) There definitely *is* an incompatibility between Warp 9 and the 8x8 font (small font) in all versions of F2 up through 2.11. This incompatibility stems from our use of Line A calls for displaying that font. I think you already found the solution to the problem. When you ran MEGAROIDS you had your WARP9.DAT file set to turn screen acceleration off. Later you found that even when turning screen acceleration on again, the problem was gone. And that's precisely the solution. All you need to do is toggle W9's screen acceleration off and on to clear the problem. You can do that via the Warp 9 Control Panel. The good news is that the version we're very close to releasing, 2.2, has solved that incompatibility. We've eliminated all references to Line A calls in this version, and that solved our problem. Therefore, once you get 2.2, your problems will be solved! :-) I think we originally thought you had a problem displaying *only* the graphics characters, right? Generally, when this incompatibility kicked in, it messed up all characters. However, since the graphics characters are the ones we handle separately, it would make sense that you'd see the problem only in that area. It's possible that other programs could clear the problem as well. It turns out that there's a system variable that's getting munged and causes F2 to use the wrong character set. Toggling W9 off and on clears that "problem" ("problem" in the loosest sense of the word - remember this is not a W9 problem) and it's entirely possible that other programs may do the same thing. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 23 Wed Oct 27, 1993 B.WILLIS3 [Bill] at 18:37 EDT Is it possible to have a macro or .DO file change the $/minute value used by the Event Log calculator? GEnie is pretty easy now, with most everything costing the same, except when I enter a freeflagged area, where it would be nice if I could stop the meter from running. And, of course, on Compuserve practically every place I go has a different $/minute rate. Can this be done? If not, how about implementing a new command in a future version? ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 24 Wed Oct 27, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 22:21 EDT Bill... Good suggestion. No, right now there is no script command for changing the information entered in the statistics area. I'll pass the suggestion along to Paul Nicholls though. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 25 Sat Nov 06, 1993 P.PAULSON1 [Paul] at 22:48 EST I have tried to use a simple Flash 1.6 Do file on Flash 2 and am having a problem. I am trying to send a "return" to the BBS after a "CONNECT 2400". The | symbol doesn't seem to work. If I press the return button it works fine but it doesn't work from the script. The remainder of the script works fine. I am using ANSI emulation on a STE. What am I doing wrong? Paul Paulson ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 26 Sun Nov 07, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 14:17 EST Paul, This is the Flash II topic but I'll see what I can do for you anyway. (Have you downloaded my Secrets of Flash? It will help out a lot.) All you need is to have the | symbol on a line by itself. You can also do this: >blah-blah commands| >send "|"| >blah-blah stuff Let me know how this works. Also, grab that "Secrets" text. You'll find it very handy. It's comprehensive. Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 27 Sun Nov 07, 1993 P.PAULSON1 [Paul] at 18:18 EST Thanks for the info Al. This script works fine on Flash 1.6 but I am now using FLASHII and it doesn"t work. The program stalls at CONNECT 2400 or it logs off. If it stalls it will continue when I press the return button but it won't continue from the script! Paul ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 28 Sun Nov 07, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 18:55 EST Paul... Do you have the '|' symbol inside of a pair of quotes? Try that - it should help. For example: >WA "CONNECT 2400"| >SEN "|"| If that doesn't work, please post the portion of your script that isn't working so that we can better diagnose it. Thanks. BTW, if all you're trying to do is write a script to log onto a board, you may be doing it the hard way. Flash II includes an "Auto Macro" that runs immediately after you log on. F2 starts the script right after receiving the CONNECT string or when it detects activation of the DCD line. Using the Auto Macro makes life a lot easier. If you have any questions about that, let me know. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 29 Sun Nov 07, 1993 P.PAULSON1 [Paul] at 21:21 EST Thanks for the tip John. The script now works. I discovered I also needed a pause after CONNECT 24, otherwise it would disconnect! Another question. Why doesn't text appear right away in the editor when I load it in? I have to press enter or leave the capture and return? Paul ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 30 Sun Nov 07, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 22:26 EST Paul... You're using UIS III I think, right? If so, you need to reconfigure UIS to turn the blitting feature off (quick redraw, or whatever they call it). Go into UIS's configuration menu and click on the "Universal Item Selector" title. It should turn dark, meaning it's selected. Save that configuration and you should no longer have any problem. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 31 Mon Nov 08, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 00:08 EST Paul, F2 handles the parsing of commands in DO files a little differently from Flash. I wish this weren't the case, but it just is. Post the DO file and let me see what that section looks like. Aha! Cancel that request! Glad to see you got it working. And John's point about the macros is well taken. Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 32 Fri Nov 12, 1993 AEO.1 [Albert Dayes] at 11:37 EST Does anyone have problems with connecting to ANSI (IBM BBSes)? I always seem to have problems calling from FLASH 2. All my local BBSes, and various developer support boards seem to have the same problem. I'm using a SUPRA v.32bis (with v1.8) of the roms. The BBSes seem to send a long string of "junk" to determine if the FLASH II supports ANSI and then it just fills with garbage and then hangs up. When I use Telix 3.20 on the IBM PC with the Supra no problem at all. I'm using a Mega 4 (with TOS 1.4) with serial fix 2.0 in the auto folder and related CPX. This is a normal Mega4 ST not STE. -- Albert ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 33 Fri Nov 12, 1993 C.HAYWARD [Clar] at 18:41 EST AEO.1...Message 32 Do you have ANSI and the IBM character set selected as Terminal Options? I've had no problems connecting to PCboard systems using a ST with TOS 1.04 a Supra with the 1.8 ROMs and ANSI and IBM. Clar ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 34 Sat Nov 13, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 01:08 EST Albert... Make sure you have the following selected in "Terminal Options" for the ANSI boards you are calling: ANSI emulation RUBOUT off WORD WRAP off CURSOR WRAP off and under "More Terminal Options": CHARACTER CODES 8 bit CONTROL CODES 7 bit CHARACTER SET IBM The two most important selections are ANSI and IBM. If those aren't selected F2 won't properly interpret the escape sequences the BBS sends and you won't be able to see the ANSI/IBM Graphics characters. I regularly call into a number of ANSI BBS's and they work just fine. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 35 Sat Nov 13, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 13:54 EST JT, In fact, F2's ANSI emulation is one of its best features. In addition to being a solid, sensible telecomm program, it behaves better in VT102 and ANSI than the expensive spread we use at the office. My network manager is asking where he can buy a TT... Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 36 Sun Nov 14, 1993 AEO.1 [Albert Dayes] at 00:00 EST Thanks I'll try that and see if it works. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 37 Sun Nov 14, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 17:07 EST Thanks Al. We've worked hard on making sure that both our ANSI and VT emulations are as accurate as possible. Paul continues to improve the emulations as comments and suggestions roll in. For example, we were just made aware of a VT300 graphics mode called "ReGIS". We're looking into supporting that for a future version. ANSI is also being targeted for improvements. There are a couple of ANSI features that are very difficult to emulate. Paul is working on figuring out the best and fastest way to include those features. BTW, stay tuned. I should have an announcement very soon regarding the release of the next major upgrade to Flash II - version 2.2. It's passed beta test and is getting ready to be shipped. We'll also be providing another free online upgrade for all of our current customers. 2.2 will probably be the last free full upgrade (patch upgrades will *always* be free). We're already working on 2.3 which will include some really major changes in the program. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 38 Mon Nov 15, 1993 R.GARDNER2 [Gaitor] at 04:38 EST JOHN: "ReGIS" Graphics was a graphics mode that was supported on VAX computers before the development of the GPX and X-Windows workstations. This mode was only supported by a few of the many VT types of terminals. These include: VT125, VT240, VT241, VT330, and VT340, where only the VT241 and VT340 terminals support color. DEC stopped supporting "ReGIS" Graphics software for their systems about 4 years ago, although it can still be found on a lot of the older systems. As a system manager on various types of VAX computers, including VAX Networks, I found that _ONLY_ the above list terminals could display "ReGIS" graphics and that _NO_ terminal that was not made by DEC could display them. "ReGIS" Graphics was basically a line drawing graphics mode that could only create "solid" objects by filling the outlines that had been created first. Hope this information helps, Bob {Gaitor} Gardner ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 39 Mon Nov 15, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 08:32 EST John, You might ask Paul to look into a RIPTerm emulation, too, if that's the right name. It provides a GUI front-end for telecomm, and is platform-independent. Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 40 Mon Nov 15, 1993 J.DINGA [Jolly Jon] at 19:15 EST Is there any possibility of speeding up redraws of the screen while in the capture buffer? I use a CrazyDots8, and in F2, when Going UP or DOWN a PAGE, you can sit any watch the line going down the screen as it redraws, but in MasterBrowse, the update is inSTant ;^). the author says he uses special raster graphics code [is that a hint? ;) ]. I cant use Warp9 accelerator on this CD8, so _please_ give consideration to this request ---- adTHANKSvance Jon ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 41 Mon Nov 15, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 22:17 EST Bob... Thanks for the info on ReGIS. I'm totally unfamiliar with what ReGIS is capable of doing. I've had a number of requests from Flash II users for inclusion of the protocol in a future version. It's beginning to sound a bit like "old technology" though. Paul Nicholls, Flash II's author, is taking a look-see at the protocol to determine how difficult it is to implement. If it's fairly simple, we'll probably include it in the next version (2.3, not 2.2). Gee, you're a VAX system manager? How'd you like to become a beta tester? We're continuing to work to improve our DEC emulations as well as add others we're not currently offering. Al... RIP Term sounds awfully familiar. I think I've seen references to it on BIX. Any idea where we could obtain information on the protocol? Is this something mainly used by UNIX-boxes? Jon... I do not have access to a CrazyDots8 card and neither does Paul. If CD8 uses special redraw commands, we'd need a list of those commands for F2's use. We currently use standard VDI v_gtext calls for "drawing" the text to the screen. If CD8 has trouble handling v_gtext, then we need to know how to hook into CD8's own routines. If you could provide me with any information you have, or point me towards the folks that do, we'll certainly take a look into it. Is MasterBrowse an application that comes with CD8? If so, I can certainly understand why scrolling speed is instantaneous! John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 42 Mon Nov 15, 1993 B.WILLIS3 [Bill] at 22:27 EST John, RIPterm (and, I believe, the RIPscrip protocol) was developed by TeleGrafix Communications, Inc. of Huntington Beach, CA. (714) 379-2131. There's an review of RIPterm in the current issue of "Connect" magazine. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 43 Mon Nov 15, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 22:34 EST Jon, Ask Gribnif if the latest NVDI works with the CD8. I know it works (sings!) with the CDII. al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 44 Mon Nov 15, 1993 F.CUCCI [goodwrench] at 23:04 EST J.T., I asked you before about the problem that I have with FLASH II trying to UPLOAD an ascii file to GEnie. I've worked with 1.6 for a long time and never had a problem. For some unknown reason I just _cannot_ successfully upload an ascii file to GEnie with FLASH II. I feel that I did everything that you said to do and also the manual. What could be wrong? Please! Frank ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 45 Tue Nov 16, 1993 B.WILLIS3 [Bill] at 21:33 EST Frank, I don't know if it was already mentioned, but have you tried typing g to start the upload? ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 46 Tue Nov 16, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 21:57 EST Bill... Thanks for the info on RIPterm. I'll give them a call as soon as I have a chance. Frank... I remember you asking about uploading ASCII text to GEnie. Could you post here the *exact* procedure you are using? Also, I need to know what your ASCII Options are set to. What's failing? Does the upload ever begin? Are you loosing characters during the upload? Does the upload ever end? Are you having trouble getting GEnie to send the message after it's uploaded? Are you using *UP to tell GEnie you want to upload the file, and if so, are you waiting for the READY FOR INPUT string? At the end of the upload, are you sending a BREAK to tell GEnie you are finished? As you can see, due to GEnie's complexity, there are a lot of areas that could be causing a failure. That's why it's so important to know *exactly* what you are doing and at what point the upload fails. Once we have that information, any of us should be able to help solve your problem. Don't give up Frank, we'll figure it out! :-) John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 47 Wed Nov 17, 1993 J.DINGA [Jolly Jon] at 05:24 EST John T.... John T.>I do not have access to a CrazyDots8 card and neither does Paul. >If CD8 uses special redraw commands, we'd need a list of those >commands for F2's use. CD* is sold by GRIBNIF. I am sure they would be able to help you. Its not a matter of incompatibility, just slowness. Try MasterBrowse on your system and see the difference. John T.> Is MasterBrowse an application that comes with CD8? If so, I >can certainly understand why scrolling speed is instantaneous! MasterBrowse is from Electric Storm Software - shareware from Michael Forget - text file viewer [with a difference ;^) ] Here on the libraries, MB32_BIN.ZIP, I think. NOT written with CD* in mind. Al .... Al> Ask Gribnif if the latest NVDI works with the CD8. I know it > works (sings!) with the CDII. I am waiting for Jim Allen to arrive in Toronto with my tt030/50, and the upgrade chip to move my CD8 -> CDII. After that, if things are still too slow, I'll reconsider NVDI, _if_ I can still use SpeedoGDOS. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 48 Wed Nov 17, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 08:45 EST Jon, CDII will make your screen redraws VERY fast. Trust me. Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 49 Wed Nov 17, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 21:51 EST Jon... Thanks for the info. I'll send the Gibnif's a note asking for into the the CrazyDots board. Oh, so MasterBrowse is shareware. OK. I'll go and look for it. Is it also fast when scrolling on a "standard" system - i.e. no CrazyDots video board installed? If so, my guess is that the author of MasterBrowse blits the information to the screen. Blitting is one method that can be used for *greatly* speeding up text or graphics displays. I believe that Aladdin does the same thing when displaying messages. There's a problem with blitting to the screen in an editor though. MasterBrowse is a "text file viewer" - apparently not an editor. And Aladdin, when displaying messages, is also *only* a viewer. Text that can be edited can't easily be blitted. The pages have to be set up in special video memory which you can't edit from. What needs to happen is that 2 areas of memory need to be allocated - one for display and one for editing. That can take up a *lot* of memory. we will be looking at blitting text in a future version to speed up the editor, but it may be awhile before we can figure out the best method for doing this. According to the message Al left, it looks as though an upgrade to CrazyDots II will improve screen redrawing considerably. If so, it might not even be worthwhile for us to try to directly support CD8. How old is CD8 anyway? John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 50 Thu Nov 18, 1993 R.GARDNER2 [Gaitor] at 05:25 EST JOHN T: I used to have a ReGIS programming manual, but it has been _SOOO_ long since I have had access to a VAX that _STILL_ had ReGIS graphics on it, that my manual has gotten buried in my archives. I am not sure if DEC still has any of them available, since they dropped ReGIS support over 5 years ago. The manual doesn't go into a lot of detail on how ReGIS works, it just covers what commands are needed to create the graphics on a ReGIS capable screen. If DEC no longer has these manuals avaiable, I _might_ be able to get you a photocopy, if your are interested. As to your question regarding becoming a BETA tester, I would be more than willing, but it might not be possible. The VAX's that I help manage are part of a secure government network, so there aren't any modem connections and I don't know of any way to hook my 1040 ST up to an Ethernet network. The only other way that I can think of that might work would require using some sort of serial/null-modem connection to a MicroVAX or VAXStation, if FLASH II can communicate to a VAX directly or as a "DUMB" terminal. Bob {Gaitor} Gardner ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 51 Thu Nov 18, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 08:21 EST John, Support CD II. I suspect that will automatically support CD8, which is a subset. Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 52 Thu Nov 18, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 22:13 EST Bob... Thanks again for the info on ReGIS graphics. It is beginning to sound more and more like it might not be worthwhile supporting this protocol. Heck, if DEC dropped it 5 years ago, I doubt very many folks are still using it. If you happen to run across the info on the protocol and you feel like sending out a photocopy, please do. But don't go out of your way. I really don't see any reason to support a dead graphics protocol. Has DEC replaced ReGIS with some other graphics standard? If so, then perhaps we ought to be looking into that. Flash II, or more appropriately, your Atari computer, can't directly access an Ethernet network. However, if you've got access to a RS232 serial port, then you certainly could use F2 and your Atari for direct access. You may or may not need a null-modem connection. It all depends on the type of serial VAX connection you've got. In any case, F2 has the ability to communicate via a null modem or direct connection, so that wouldn't be any problem. F2 keeps the serial port active all the time. There's no need to "dial out" to activate things. Al... Thanks. Supporting CD II makes the most sense. I'll ask Dan and Rick about getting the appropriate information. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 53 Sat Nov 20, 1993 B.CONNOLLY1 [Bud] at 21:36 EST John T. I just got a Mega STe and when I right click from the Terminal screen to the Editor screen, the screen gets a bit darker. I have to go to the CPX panel and reload my colors. Any ideas what's causing this? Can I configure something to keep the colors set? Setup: TOS 2.06, 4 megs, CPX 1.31, NeoDesk 3.3, MultiDesk Deluxe 3.4 and Warp 9 3.80. Bud p.s. I am a VAX system manager, still need Beta testers? ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 54 Sat Nov 20, 1993 B.WILLIS3 [Bill] at 21:49 EST Bud, Are you using Warp 9 to put up a "wallpaper" background for your desktop? I've had consistent problems using Flash II with a Warp 9 desktop picture installed; it messes up the color palette. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 55 Sun Nov 21, 1993 P.PAULSON1 [Paul] at 15:36 EST On Genie, with rubout selected, the backspace erases the characters on the terminal screen but not in the capture nor in what is sent online. What am I doing wrong? Paul ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 56 Sun Nov 21, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 21:44 EST Hi Bud... Yup - I know exactly what's causing your problem. It's a bug in version 2.1 and 2.11. There's an easy fix though. I've just released our latest upgrade, version 2.2. If it isn't already, it will soon be in the ST Library. Download that and use it to upgrade your program. You'll no longer have the "darkening" problem! Bud - are you or will you be using Geneva and/or MultiTOS? If so, I'd be interested in bringing you on as a beta tester. In addition to VT emulation stuff, we need experienced F2 users to help test our next version which will deal with multitasking. Bill... Your problem is also resolved in 2.2. Flash II no longer messes with the color paletter except for GIF pictures and ANSI emulation. However, once those modes are exited, the color palette is replaced with your default. Paul... You aren't doing anything wrong. The capture buffer in Flash II captures *everything* that happens. When you press the backspace key, that action is captured. If you turn on "Display Control Characters" in Editor Options, you'll see a checkmark character displayed every time Backspace was pressed. Reviewing the buffer (Capture|Review) shows everything exactly as it was online. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 57 Mon Nov 22, 1993 P.PAULSON1 [Paul] at 01:14 EST John... The backspace also does not erase my errors when I compse ose a letter online. Is that supposed to happen? When I use the list command the error shows up again For example, see above. I erased the error in the word compose above with a backspace but it still remains in the list! ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 58 Mon Nov 22, 1993 B.CONNOLLY1 [Bud] at 01:29 EST Bill No, I only use Screen Acceleration, Mouse Acceleration and the Clock 1.2 EOS module in Warp 9. Bud ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 59 Mon Nov 22, 1993 B.CONNOLLY1 [Bud] at 02:22 EST John T. No, I don't have Geneva right now. Hadn't thought about getting it when I had a 1040, but I think I will look at it more closely now that I have a machine that can handle the load. Bud ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 60 Mon Nov 22, 1993 J.DINGA [Jolly Jon] at 20:57 EST John T., I downloaded the F2 v2.2 upgrade with a great deal of anticipation, especially considering the the extra modem ports being supported [someday I'll put a modem _in_ my MSTe !], and the promised extra speed in terminal and editor screens [written in assembler ;)], ..... B U T ........ I dont know about everyone else, and I only have one monitor [remember my request for CrazyDots support?]: on my MSTe, running at 16mHz, and under GENEVA, v 2.2 gives me 24 [46 lines @ 80] full screen scrolls in 1 minute, v 2.11 gives me 45 !!!! This has nothing to do with GENEVA, as the scroll rate for F2 v2.11 is the same w or w/o. After doing the upgrade, I rebooted with v2.2, and after I saw the scrolling being so SSLLLLOOOOOWWWW, I put it to sleep and opened v 2.11, loaded the same 100K text, and saw it had the same 45 screen redraws/minute it always had. Hopefully, no one but us CD8 users have this happening, and Paul, with help from Gribnif, will be able to iron out the code. For now I will use F2 v2.11, and do without the extra features I would like to have available in the editor, etc., as I find the loss of page scroll speed a real disadvantage. Regards, Jon Future member: tinyturbo030/50 fan club ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 61 Tue Nov 23, 1993 C.NICHOLLS [BILL] at 00:46 EST John T., Thanks for the Flash 2.22 upgrade. I haven't explored all the new features, but I notice it now draws its window gadgets correctly under Geneva. Bill ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 62 Tue Nov 23, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 08:21 EST Jon, Crazy Dots II does not do this with F2. Check with Gribnif about upgrading. Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 63 Tue Nov 23, 1993 P.GULCH [Pete] at 19:05 EST When I capture text in my capture buffer, I get some sort of peculiar irregular character which causes my printer to go haywire when I try to print the capture. The peculiarity occurs when I respond to a Genie prompt like when I press enter or something. Do you know how to prevent this? Thanks.-Pete ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 64 Tue Nov 23, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 19:21 EST Paul... Backspacing, at least here on GEnie, should *always* erase the characters you backspace over, whether or not F2 shows the characters being erased. Remember, RUBOUT turned on in Terminal Options turns the backspace key into a destructive backspace (meaning that characters are erased in the F2 terminal screen). When RUBOUT is turned off, backspacing is still destructive on the BBS side, but *not* on F2's terminal screen. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 65 Tue Nov 23, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 22:18 EST Jon... I contacted Dan at Gribnif regarding special support for the Crazy Dots board. He essentially said there was none. The CD boards use standard VDI calls for display, redraw, etc. He did mention that there was some low level stuff that *could* be used to increase performance, but he also highly recommended against doing that since there is no guarantee that future versions of the board will support those routines. Regarding your slow scrolling problem, I'm at a loss to explain it. I'm also a bit confused as to what you are exactly complaining about. When you talk about "full screen scrolls", are you talking about the terminal or editor mode? Not much has changed in the code specific to either the terminal or editor modes. We use standard v_gtext calls for writing the information to the screen. Of necessity (for Falcon compatibility) we had to eliminate all Line A calls. We used Line A for some terminal functions to increase speed, but for standard text display, that shouldn't matter. (Line A mainly affects ANSI and VT terminal emulation modes.) I've looked at both 2.2 and 2.11 on a standard Atari video output, using standard Atari monitors (in this case, the TTM195) and found no discernable difference between the two versions. Our beta testers hadn't complained about any loss of speed either. Bill... Yes, F2 now works correctly under Geneva. It was a combination of F2 problems and Geneva problems. When Gribnif released Geneva version 1.0x, our gadget problem went away. Pete... Can you describe the character? Does it look like the upper left part of "Bob's head"? If so, what you are seeing is a F2 generated character used in "Review" mode. You can get rid of that by turning "Filter Non-ASCII" on in Terminal Options. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 66 Wed Nov 24, 1993 K.KENNEY1 [SXSCOT] at 02:32 EST Congratulations! You have finally got it right. Really great bit of programming. ----and that's coming from an old paranoid, 70 year old Grouch! Thank you; on behalf of all Atari users who "know" anything about terminal programs. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 67 Wed Nov 24, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 08:19 EST SXSCOT, I thought *I* was the oldest grouch around here! Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 68 Wed Nov 24, 1993 J.BATTEY1 [J. L. Battey] at 19:56 EST John T., What are the chances of Silent Line working with ZModem any time soon? John L. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 69 Thu Nov 25, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 00:08 EST SXSCOT... Well thank you! I'm glad you're happy with 2.2. Remember though, you most certainly aren't a "70 year old Grouch!". You may be a "70 year young grouch" though! :-) (Actually, we already have one certified "Grouch :-{" here already! We're continuing to work and improve F2 also. 2.2 is not the end! Paul Nicholls and I are heavily discussing version 2.3 and ways to improve F2's performance. Al... Heck - you're not a grouch! At least you've never been one around me! John... We're still having problems trying to get Zmodem to work right under Silent Line. I know a lot of folks are asking about it and, heck, I'd like it myself. We do not want to put out something that only half works, however. It all may become moot anyway, at least if you end up multitasking with version 2.3. With a fully multitasking F2 there's no need to even run SL to do the background transfers. We are continuing to look into it, however, but due to the problems I just can't promise anything for the immediate future. Sorry. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 70 Thu Nov 25, 1993 P.PAULSON1 [Paul] at 01:16 EST Jon Jon... I finaly got the destructive backspace to work properly although I really don't know how! I am now using the Type Ahead, which I only just discovered. Solves all my typing error problems! I have another minor problem. Is there a way to make F2 respond to a call terminated by the BBS or myself online? I always have to use terminate call on the F2 menu, even after a hangup. Seems a tad redundant. I don't want to complain too much, I think F2 is a great program! Thanks Paul ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 71 Thu Nov 25, 1993 R.NELSON48 [Grouch (:{] at 02:03 EST SXSCOT and AL -- Misuse or malappriation of a nickNAMe is actionable. I will let you off with a warning this time, but be on notice that the legal hounds are baying at their leash. (:{ Grouch. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 72 Thu Nov 25, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 09:41 EST Grouch, Ouch! Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 73 Thu Nov 25, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 22:21 EST Paul... When you say you have to "terminate call" under the menu even after a hangup, are you using F2's "hangup" command, or are you just "hanging up" (disconnecting the modem)? Because of F2's automated nature, you need to use either one of two disconnect commands in your logoff macro for each board. Those two commands are HG (hangup) or DN (Dial Next). Using either one of those in a macro or from the terminal command line accomplishes the same thing as activating "Terminate Call" in the menu. If you don't want to write a function key macro just press the Insert key while in terminal mode and enter HG followed by the Return key. F2 has no way of knowing if you turned off the modem or if the BBS itself disconnected unless you use DCD for connecting. Then, F2 watches the DTR (Data Terminal Ready) line from the modem and if it toggles, it knows that the BBS (or something) logged off. You then shouldn't have to worry about using HG or DN to terminate your call. If you connect using STRINGS (these options appear in Modem Options) F2 may not know you are logged off until you tell it you are logged off, using HG or DN. Hope that helps. SXSCOT: See? I *told* you there was another grouch here already. Beware!!!!! :-) John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 74 Fri Nov 26, 1993 J.DINGA [Jolly Jon] at 02:08 EST Al, Al> Crazy Dots II does not do this with F2. Which res are you useing? I am _strictly_ mono, on a 19" restricted to 1040 x 832 [due to fixed scan rates] Al> Check with Gribnif about upgrading. As per Dan's instructions, I notified Jim Allen about doing the upgrade [I understand they just found a source for the necessary chips], and he promised do it when he gets to Toronto with my tt030. ...... no comment yet on when that will be. John T., J.T.> I contacted Dan at Gribnif regarding special support for the J.T.> Crazy Dots board. He essentially said there was none. The CD J.T.> boards use standard VDI calls for display, redraw, etc. My understanding is that they use a special Line-A emulator for the mono mode. _Unless_ Dan has finished the Line-A -> VDI converter, but I have my doubts ;^) J.T.> He did mention that there was some low level stuff that J.T.> *could* be used to increase performance, but he also highly J.T.> recommended against doing that since there is no guarantee that J.T.> future versions of the board will support those routines. Since I have no idea of what is meant by that, I cant comment, except to suggest you take his advice :) Thanks for takeing the trouble to contact him so quickly! J.T.> Regarding your slow scrolling problem, I'm at a loss to explain it. So am I, thats why I am here! J.T.> I'm also a bit confused as to what you are exactly complaining J.T.> about. If I see a 'bug' that annoys me, or slows me down, I try to do something about it. [Farmers get that way, its their nature] J.T.> When you talk about "full screen scrolls", are you talking about J.T.> the terminal or editor mode? I am referring to useing to move through the editor mode. The DIAL BOARDS [etc] dialogues open quickly, but close _very_slowly_, and the alerts open & close quickly. The shadeing when marking and unmarking blocks is also slow. The terminal mode seems to be as quick as it ever was, but I have not used this v 2.2 much, as I said the ed mode being this slow is a pain. The editing features of the new STORM from Alan Page [remember him ;)?] are lighning quick, but that is not to say I prefer his software !! J.T.> Not much has changed in the code ... Of necessity (for Falcon J.T.> compatibility) we had to eliminate all Line A calls. We used J.T.> Line A for some terminal functions to increase speed, Are you sure that Line A wasnt also being used in the editor mode? If it was, then, if it was eliminated, this might [in my speculative 2am mind] slow doen CrazyDots? I dont ANSI or VT. ASCII only, at least till I can afford a decent colour multysync. J.T.> I've looked at both 2.2 and 2.11 on a standard Atari video J.T.> output, using... (in this case, the TTM195) and found no J.T.> discernable difference between the two versions. Is, in the case of the Moniterm, is video being written to the physical screen, or the logical screen .... I dont understand much at all of this, but I remember that graphics need to be drawn to the physical screen of the Moniterm _and_ the CrazyDots. Is text treated like graphics in F2? Is there special code to detect the Moniterm? J.T.> Our beta testers hadn't complained about any loss of speed either. Did any of them run in mono-only on CrazyDots? John, I _really_ like F2, and if necessary I'll stay at v 2.11, but, I would like to try and find a solution, if possible. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 75 Fri Nov 26, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 07:45 EST Jolly, F2 works in all the res's I have tried. It works fine in b/w mode, any res, and in all the color modes (although I haven't run it in True Color yet). Is this a CDII or a CD? Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 76 Fri Nov 26, 1993 J.DINGA [Jolly Jon] at 20:19 EST AL, Mine is a CD8. Regardless of whether it was a CD8, 16, II, it still slowed for me going from v2.11 to v2.2 of F2. Something changed drastically. I can load both versions into GENEVA, and switching from one to to the other is a dramatic difference. ...sigh....questions, questions ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 77 Sat Nov 27, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 17:25 EST Jon... Since the current version of F2 no longer uses Line A, even if Gribnif (Dan) is working on a Line A -> VDI convertor, it wouldn't matter any more. F2, in version 2.2, is now all VDI. What size files are you editing in the F2 editor? Are they really big (like greater than 50K)? If they are and you are editing towards the beginning of those files, F2 can get slow due to the shuffling it needs to do of the text in memory. That's something we are working on. If the problem is strickly scrolling, then until we are able to change to pure blitting for screen output, I'm afraid there's not much we can do. Right now, when a screen is scrolled an entire page, we're using v_gtext to write the new text to the screen. Unfortunately, we can only write one line at a time - a limit of v_gtext. The only way around that is to create screen buffer memories for whatever text lies before and after the current screen. Then, when the user calls for a scroll, we need to blit that buffer onto the screen. That can get rather complex. Many high-end editors do that, but since all they need to worry about is editing, they can get away with the extra memory needed for those extra screen buffers. Because of all of the extra code that F2 needs for basic telecommunicating, we've decided not to do the buffer thing, at least for now. Paul Nicholls and I are constantly discussing ways to improve the speed of both the editor and the terminal screens and hopefully we'll have included some of those improvements in the next version. I don't *think* Paul was using Line A in the editor. I'd have to go back and ask him though. As far as I know, he's always used the VDI for editor display. I could be wrong though. F2 doesn't do anything special for any particular graphics card or monitor. It looks to see what resolution is active and sizes its screen to that resolution. Again, all output uses the VDI. We do nothing special for either the Moniterm or the CrazyDots boards. When you ask if text is treated like graphics, well, yes, in a way it is because GEM forces you to treat text like graphics. That's what the v_gtext call does - it writes "Graphics TEXT" to the screen using the VDI. The only way *not* to use graphics text output would be to write a program that runs under TOS only. I forget - is this problem only occuring under Geneva? If so, perhaps there's some problem there we haven't identified. Al is a Geneva and F2 beta tester, so I'm sure he would have mentioned something to both of us by now. I'm glad you're enjoying F2 Jon. I wish I had a better answer for your problem, but right now I don't. I haven't had any other complaints about loss of speed in the editor, although that's not to say it isn't happening. I've checked and rechecked, on my stock TT with and without Warp 9 running, to see if I could find a difference betweem 2.11 and 2.2, and I can't. Al Fasoldt is using the CD II card in his TT and mentioned that there isn't a problem there. About all I can recommend is trying either Warp 9 or NVDI to see if that'll speed things up. As mentioned above, Paul and I are constantly looking at ways of improving the speed of everything in F2, and since I use F2's editor almost exclusively (and I'm a fast typist and also very critical about speed - just ask Paul Nicholls about all of my complaining over the years!) and I'm quite happy with it's speed. Sorry, I wish I had a better answer for you. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 78 Sat Nov 27, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 22:41 EST Jolly, Sigh! I wish I could figure this one out. Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 79 Sat Nov 27, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 23:50 EST JT, Actually, the CDII card has two text-only modes that can be disabled, and they work fine under nearly all software. So it's possible to run such a card under non-graphics output (and the odd thing is that you still get graphics, supplied by the card's hardware; very clever). Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 80 Sun Nov 28, 1993 AEO.7 [Gregg] at 15:04 EST Just downloaded & ran the update... thanks guys! I'm still having a small problem with the 'auto logon' Macro... I'm still getting 'incorrect format' when it passes my GEnie password to the system. Sometimes it even gives me two such error messages. Usually I can then hand type the sequence in and all's well, but sometimes it gives me another 'incorrect format'... even though the typed sequence is perfect. Maybe I'm not holding my mouth right? Gregg ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 81 Sun Nov 28, 1993 ARCHIVIST [Charlie] at 15:27 EST Gregg, I had that problem at one point when I had changed my autologon script with a new ID. One thing that might be happening is the H's, which you are supposed to send to GEnie at connection to signal/confirm a 2400 baud connection, may be taking too long and the last H is ending up in your ID feild. Another possibility is that rather than sending the ID you've set up, Flash may be sending the characters ID. A small mistyping in the logon macro will do that. Here's my logon macro: >LIST ON|>PA 1|>SEND HHH|>WA U|>ID| That's all. My User ID and Password are entered into the Logon ID field on the edit board menu, seperated by a single comma. This works for me, I hope it's some help for you. Charlie/sysop ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 82 Sun Nov 28, 1993 P.LOUIE1 at 16:48 EST John T., I haven't been able to get the "Filter Non-ASCII" function to work right in version 2.2 in VT100 mode. It worked fine in 2.11 but after the upgrade, it doesn't work anymore. Whenever I select it, the terminal screen and editor displays garbage, but when I unselect it, the terminal screen is fine. (And the editor displays VT100 code as usual) After I logged off Delphi, I reviewed the capture buffer and it still displayed garbage at the spot where I selected VT100 emulation. I changed to VT100 during my online session instead of before. That shouldn't make a difference, right? Has anyone else encountered this? My setup is a mono MegaST4 w/AdSpeed & TOS 1.4. -Phil ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 83 Sun Nov 28, 1993 J.DINGA [Jolly Jon] at 17:14 EST John, I have downloaded another copy of the UPgrade file from a local BBS [my original was dl from GEnie], and did the upgrade all the way to my original disk ser#00288, and get the same results. I tried all three F2 versions [ie 2.11, 2.2, and2.2A (from the new dl)] on my sons one meg TOS 1.0 520STM with Colour monitor, and in medium rez, the page scrolling is only slowed down by 10-15% from 2.11 -> 2.2x, not the 50% I experience on my MSTe/CD8 (except there are fewer lines/ screen though ;^) ). I would have to admit that the slowdown was not as evident on my son's ST, and might not have been noticed if I was useing med. rez. all the time, but I'm spoiled now <> ! I have requested Dan @ Gribnif to verify if I have up-to-date files for the CD8. If not, I will get them and recheck F2. I still cant seem to reconcile myself to this slow scroll, and am useing v 2.11 for now :( . This effect is noticeable from within Geneva, and also from running as the only application [minimal .acc & auto .prg] The effect is even noticeable if I run several F2's through the EXecute command, jumping from v 2.11-> 2.2 -> etc until I run out of memory. hhmmm, maybe I should betatest the next UPgrade ;^) ? btw, this is independant of file size or location in the editor. Al, How many lines/screen do you have with CDII - F2 ? How many full page scrolls do you get in mono / minute? Is this the same on both a TT (ST ram) and a MSTe? [without useing NVDI, of course ;)] juST an attempt to be absolutely sure I'm _not_ on a different bit plane [pun] and a curiousity as to how much faster a 030@32 is in a real app like F2 compared to a 000@16. Seeing as F2 is not 'optimized' ;^) Sighs here too, ain't WetWare wonderful ? ;^) ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 84 Sun Nov 28, 1993 BRIAN.H [ST~SysOp] at 17:44 EST Jolly Jon, it isn't a good idea to post your serial number. However, if I remember correctly, John T. does not go by serial numbers alone but other companies does. ~~Brian..Written on Sunday 28 November 1993 at 06:41 p.m. ADT ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 85 Sun Nov 28, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 18:59 EST Al... Interesting info there on the CDII! If I had a use for such a card, I'd definitely be interested. It does sound like a clever design. Gregg... Are you using the same auto logon macro that came with F2? It sends both your user ID number and password at the same time. Based on your note, it sounds as if you are sending the ID and password separately. In my setup, I send out the following: XTX12345,PASSWORD which works every time. Take a look at the setup you originally got with F2. Try using that. If you continue to have problems, post your auto logon macro here (sans password) and we'll see what we can figure out. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 86 Sun Nov 28, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 21:01 EST Jolly, I've forgotten what I get in 1024X768, but I get 33 lines in 800X600, which is my fave mode for when my eyes are tired. Higher res is just taxing after 20 hours at keyboards. I haven't checked the fuill-page scrolls per minute (never thought abnout doing that). F2 is not, in fact, optimized for speed, unlike, say, Edith, which is my current Hot Editor. (Edith scrolls a huge text at 1024X768 faster than any Windows or DOS text editor I have yet used, even on a so-called 66 MHz PC ... which is really a 33 MHz PC, but those DOS folks don't understand anyway!) But F2 is plenty fast enough on the Big Screen. Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 87 Sun Nov 28, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 23:06 EST Phil... Well, I'm stumped. Just to make sure that "Filter Non-ASCII" works properly I just logged onto Delphi with VT100 and the "Filter" option set. (I normally use VT100 on Delphi but I keep "Filter" off.) Everything looked fine in the capture buffer and online. There was no garbage at all. I'd suggest that you go back and double check all of your terminal and RS232 options. It sounds to me like something changed in your setup. Make sure you have the proper Control and Character Codes set, proper RS232 parameters, etc. If nothing else, try rebuilding your flash2.lst file, at least for the board that's giving you problems. Version 2.2 has a number of new options that 2.11 didn't have. Although your old .lst and .def files will work under 2.2, it's possible that a stray bit or two that didn't affect 2.11 might now be affecting 2.2. If that's the case you should see something not set properly in one of your options dialogs. Changing to VT100 after logging on shouldn't make a difference. After selecting the emulation your terminal screen will reset and clear itself, but from that point on everything should appear normal. Having "Filter" set or not set shouldn't make any difference. You might also want to try running the upgrade program again. Although unlikely, it's entirely possible that it created a corrupted version 2.2. Let me know what you find. That's a strange one. Jon... You're getting fewer rows of text on the CD8 than on the old 1040ST? How many lines should you be getting on the CD8? F2 sizes itself to whatever the maximum screen size is, so whatever the CD8 is capable of F2 should do! What is the CD8 capable of? Please let me know what Dan says. I've also sent a note to Paul Nicholls asking if he's aware of any reason why the editor should be slower in 2.2. OK - so the problem isn't only with Geneva then. That's good, I guess. That means the problem is directly related to the CD8 card. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 88 Tue Nov 30, 1993 J.DINGA [Jolly Jon] at 21:42 EST Al, I would _really_ appreciate it if you could check the page scroll rate on the CDII with v 2.11 & v 2.2, 1024x768 mono, especially on a MSTe or in a TT (ST ram) no NVDI, [dont repeat the DWN ARROW key until the screen has redrawn ;)]. At that res you probably have 41 or 42 lines per screen, compared to my 46. See how many full pages you can scroll through in one minute with the two different versions. If you dont have a noticeable [40-50%] drop between the two versions, then I will finish pulling out the reST of my hair in silence . Seriously, its nice that one F2 user has a CDx, to compare notes with !!! Unfortunately, for now at least, I am stuck at this res, and since I use F2 daily, I would really like to find a way to allow it to return to at least its previous rate. I now live with the fear that if it is not, I may find it slowing down with each 'upgrade', and I will be the only one knowing it :( BTW, if you spend 20 hours/day at the keyboard how do you find the time to play with the grandkids ;^) ???? John T., JT> You're getting fewer rows of text on the CD8 than on the old JT> 1040ST? How many lines should you be getting on the CD8? I think my last post was not clear enough: let me summarize! system F2 v# lines/screen pgscroll/minute 1meg 520STM 8mHz 2.11 19 41 w/PS3000 medres 2.2 " 32 ========================================== MSTe4 @ 16mHz w/ 2.11 46 45 CD8 & 19"mono 2.2 " 24 1040 x 832 ======================================= MSTe4 @ 8 mHz w/ 2.11 46 39 CD8 & 19"mono 2.2 " 21 F2 v 2.2 is 178020 bytes, v 2.11 is 169040 From the effects on the 520, it appears there is more to it than just the presence of the CrazyDots. Also, as stated in the previous message, dialogues are also slowed down. Auto prg. are the CD driver, UIS, DataLite2, JAR10, FAST.prg. ACC are X-CNTRL, CD.acc, callUIS.acc. IOW, minimal interference. Until I get a new disk from Dan, or you have received a reply from Paul to the contents of this message, I will lurk. Thankyou for your efforts, especially speed wise !! *S ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 89 Tue Nov 30, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 23:04 EST Jon... Ah - so you have problems rulling out your hair too, eh? Glad to see I'm not the only one! I tried your test on my TT. As I suspected, there is a slight slowdown between 2.11 and 2.2 (because of the changes we made with Line A, etc.). However, it's not even close to the drop in speed you're seeing. Here's what I found: Without Warp 9 active: TT030 - 640x480x16 - 25 lines displayed 2.11 - 48 page scrolls/minute 2.20 - 44 page scrolls/minute With Warp 9 active: (and what a sales pitch for Warp 9!) 2.11 - 140 page scrolls/minute (WOW!) 2.20 - 105 page scrolls/minute I do have a TTM195 monitor available for the TT, but it wasn't hooked up or turned on this evening. I have discussed this with Paul, but there really is no immediate resolution to your problem. As I've already said, we are continually looking at ways to increase performance. Since there's nothing we can do directly to improve v_gtext over what Warp 9 already does (and presumably, NVDI, which I don't have installed on the TT but *do* have installed on the Falcon) the only way we can increase performance any more is to blit the text to screen. That's something we are looking into, but it won't happen at least until 2.3 (probably) is released. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 90 Wed Dec 01, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 23:16 EST Jolly, I'll try to do that some time this week. I play with the grandchildren while typing. :) (No, I have to travel to Baltimore to see them, and my wife refuses to let me take my laptop.) Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 91 Fri Dec 03, 1993 B.WILLIS3 [Bill] at 20:12 EST I logged onto a new BBS today and they specified "TVI 912 or 920" as the preferred terminal emulation. One area of the board requires TVI 920 emulation in order to work properly. Is this something that Flash II can do? (I've never heard of this TVI business) ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 92 Sat Dec 04, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 00:53 EST Bill... "TVI" emulation stands for "Televideo", I believe. At the moment, Flash II does not do any Televideo emulations. I've had a couple of requests for it, but never got any documentation explaining how the emulation works. If anyone has Televideo emulation information they can pass on, I'd appreciate it. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 93 Sat Dec 04, 1993 B.WILLIS3 [Bill] at 07:41 EST Thanks for the reply, John. I'll pass along anything I can find out. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 94 Sat Dec 04, 1993 G.E.M. [Gary] at 11:14 EST John, I've got a Televideo 955 manual here that I could copy the control codes and such from and mail you if you like. <> ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 95 Sat Dec 04, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 18:44 EST Bill, TeleVideo is a terminal emulation, and 912 and 920 are TeleVideo modes. I can see no reason for emulating them, since any BBS that supports them would also have the VT modes and ANSI modes. What kind of BBS is it? Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 96 Sat Dec 04, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 22:40 EST Gary... That would be great! Yes, please do send a copy of the Televideo 955 manual. I sure would appreciate it. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 97 Sat Dec 04, 1993 B.WILLIS3 [Bill] at 22:46 EST Al, It's the ACLU's BBS in New York. One section of the board is a database of active civil liberties legislation, and the prompt says that TVI emulation is required for proper display. I haven't been verified yet, so I haven't spent much time there yet. TTY emulation has worked fine for everything else there. I'll try to get into the database and see if it works at all. Maybe they're just worried that I won't see the pretty colors if I don't use TVI. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 98 Mon Dec 06, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 03:22 EST Bill, I think I know what's going on. I came across a vendor a few years back who was selling very expensive PC systems to lawyers that used an odd emulation; the idea, obviously, was to limit them to the vendor's setup, and so create the impression that the only way one could use such a system was to keep sending money down the hole of a single, specific vendor. I was able to keep the local bar from adopting it. I would not be surprised to find out that the TeleVideo emulation of that BBS was part of this oddball deal. Sigh! Suckers are born just as fast in the world of lawyers as they are elsewhere. Maybe even faster. Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 99 Mon Dec 06, 1993 J.DINGA [Jolly Jon] at 21:24 EST John T., OK, I guess I wait for Paul to 'blit me' to editor heaven :^). Hopefully, v 2.3 will include that, multitasking, and multi window environment [_please_!_]. In the meantime I seem to be haveing problems with my first ever .DO . :( ... Without going into all the detail, basically, [ v 2.11] sends the name of the .do file out the port before it starts the script. This happens no matter how the script is started ! I had always wanted to automate my bbs time, and had finally got around to scripting my fav bbs ... sigh .... .do hell ;^( !! btw, I enjoyed the W9 commercial, but it doesn't support CrazyDots [as yet] in screen acceleration mode, and your TT screen rates have me juST drooling for my tt030/50 even more!! ppsssstt, Mr. Allen [!] ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 100 Mon Dec 06, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 23:10 EST Jon... Gee, we have "Jolly Jon" here and the "Grouch". Maybe you two ought to meet and "merge". Then both of you would be a couple of plain old guys! :-) Ver 2.11 (or any version for that matter) should not be sending the name of the DO script out the port unless you tell it to. Are you placing the '>' at the head of each command line? If not, F2 sends whatever appears in that line out the port. So, if you've got something like: do script.do| at the beginning of your script, that string will get sent out the port instead of getting processed. You must enter the commands like this: >do script.do| There are two basic ways to send a string out the port. One is to just enter the string on a line in the script all by itself: Send this line of text out the port| The other is to use the SENd command, as in: >SEN "Send this line of text out the port"| If you have any other question, please ask. We have a number of script experts lurking around here. Al Fasoldt, the author of "Secrets of Flash", is *the* expert on scripts. He's also our main script compatibility beta tester! John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 101 Tue Dec 07, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 07:55 EST Blush! Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 102 Thu Dec 09, 1993 R.NELSON48 [Grouch (:{] at 00:54 EST John - Regarding your message 100. I must take exception to your rather loose use of the term "old". You're not talking to Al you know! I do have another nickname, often coupled (fondly, I hope) with the adjective "old" but it is unsuitable for use on a family BBS like GEnie. Recently my agency saw fit to put a number of us through riot contol training as the core of a state wide "Fast Action Response Team". No one considered how acrimonious the acronym until we were issued our riot helmets. Enough jocularity. In regard to using Flash II with ScreenBlaster. Is this susposed to work or no? I find that resolutions above 640x400 first destroy the corner clock and them begin to mung the scrolling ability. Do you suggest any fix or is the program required to display text at a fixed size? The reason I ask is that while reading over my captured messages the right hand scroll bar cuts off a couple of characters. If I change to a higher rez then everything fits on the screen but I loose my clock and possibly scrolling too. I like capturing text in 80 coloumns so I don't need to reformat if I print out. (ps - I'm in beta 2.2A, was I susposed to download another upgrade?) (pps, I'm sorry if I don't keep up. I just hate to mess with something that works, then I forget how far behind I am!) (:{ Grouch. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 103 Thu Dec 09, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 21:49 EST Oh geeze... Did I say you were an "old" grouch? oops... :-) Gee, sorry 'bout that. I wouldn't want you to get any grouchier! I can't directly answer your question about the use of Flash II on a Screenblaster card. I don't have one available for testing. Theoretically, F2 should be resolution independant. It definitely works on all standard resolutions up to 1280x960 (TT High) and all Falcon resolutions. (F2 does *not* work in any of the various "low" resolutions, however.) F2 looks at the system resolution when it boots up and adjusts itself to work in that resolution. It's possible that there's something Screenblaster is doing that we did not anticipate. The beta 2.2A is identical to the release 2.2, at least in regards to screen resolution capabilities. Could you list, very specifically, the resolutions that do work and don't work? That means I need vertical and horizontal resolutions, color palette information, and anything else pertinant to Screenblaster's display capabilities. You should be able to get that information out of its manual. Thanks. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 104 Thu Dec 09, 1993 R.NELSON48 [Grouch (:{] at 22:18 EST John - Regarding your message 100. I must take exception to your rather loose use of the term "old". You're not talking to Al you know! I do have another nickname, often coupled (fondly, I hope) with the adjective "old" but it is unsuitable for use on a family BBS like GEnie. Recently my agency saw fit to put a number of us through riot contol training as the core of a state wide "Fast Action Response Team". No one considered how acrimonious the acronym until we were issued our riot helmets. Enough jocularity. In regard to using Flash II with ScreenBlaster. Is this susposed to work or no? I find that resolutions above 640x400 first destroy the corner clock and them begin to mung the scrolling ability. Do you suggest any fix or is the program required to display text at a fixed size? The reason I ask is that while reading over my captured messages the right hand scroll bar cuts off a couple of characters. If I change to a higher rez then everything fits on the screen but I loose my clock and possibly scrolling too. I like capturing text in 80 coloumns so I don't need to reformat if I print out. (ps - I'm in beta 2.2A, was I susposed to download another upgrade?) (pps, I'm sorry if I don't keep up. I just hate to mess with something that works, then I forget how far behind I am!) (:{ Grouch. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 105 Thu Dec 09, 1993 R.NELSON48 [Grouch (:{] at 22:23 EST Oh heck, Aladdin Lag without Aladdin. I was sure that my message never made it onto the BBS. I downloaded after posting and it wasn't there, so tonight I re-upload and bingo bango I have a reply in the hopper before I even post. Missionware Psychic Terminal! Thanks for the reply John, I will research the manual and also run through my various configs to see which ones give the most trouble. Al - all in fun. No malice Although it has occured to me that we could start a cat. called things older than Al. Dirt, rocks, the pyrimids, stupid lists... (:{ Grouch. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 106 Thu Dec 09, 1993 AEO.7 [Gregg] at 22:57 EST Reference my auto log-on problems.... THANKS GUYS!!!!! Your advice was 100% on target and I'm no longer having to retype anything .... Everything's working great now (I LOVE Z- Modem.... what a system!). Thanks again, GREAT support! Gregg ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 107 Fri Dec 10, 1993 R.NELSON48 [Grouch (:{] at 01:41 EST John - I feel like I should be burning black candles at midnight, crouched over my computer by their flickering light, muttering voodo incantations. Here is what I have managed to pull together on the Screenblaster vs. Flash: In two color mode no problems at 672x496 and 704x528. Didn't continue testing in this mono mode as it is not my prefered environment. In 4 color mode 736x560 736x554 704x528 and presumably higher resolutions all suffer the same fate. When text in to be scrolled in the editor screen it breaks up and becomes unreadable. Interestingly there are scroll bars, mirror images of the right hand scroll bar in four locations on the screen, equally apart, as if the screen is being repeated. The more I scroll, the more scroll bars appear at each location, one tucked partly behind the other, marching off up the screen like rows of trees in an orchard. As the scroll goes forward, each bar reflects the movement at the same speed. These bars are very easy to see and observe, it is the text that has disappered. These scroll bars do the mirror image thing up to a maximum of about 10 repititions at each of the four screen locations, then no more are replicated regardless of how much I scroll the now invisible or absent text. If I click to the terminal screen and then return to the edit screen everthing is cleaned up and back to normal, until I attempt to scroll again. In 16 color mode there does not seem to be a problem. Seemingly the scroll is so slow that the screen is able to keep up? Just a guess. Now, Here is the part that really gets me. With warp 9 installed the 4 color modes all work fine. I was able to scroll around the text at 704x528, 736x544, 704x528 and even 1024x560. The only problem is with Warp9 installed I can't change resolutions, screenblaster crashes. So, with screenblaster present and warp 9 installed I have to pick a resolution for FLASHII when I boot up. I can't change that resolution regardless of what program I am running, or even from the desktop without re-booting. I think this is because Warp 9 is very sensitive about what resolution it is in and won't just go changing. BTW, Screenblaster is not a card, it is a hardware plug in that goes from the video out plug to the paddle/joystick port on the left side of the Falcon. It is a remarkably easy to use and usefull addition to my system and allows one to choose many different resolutions and color modes. After finding the manual and going through it I don't see where there is anything there that would help you. There are so very many possible choices of resolution and color mode. I am using a Princeton Ultra 1400 multiSynch with a Horizontal scan rate of 15-36.5 and a Vertical rate of 45-120. This limits my resolutions somewhat, but I still get 10-15 choices in every mode. After doing all these tests I see there is not really a problem in using Screenblaster with Flash 2, it is just that I want to use 4 color mode and pop back and forth between 640x480 and 736x560. And that just is not happening under the present alignment of moon, stars, and software. (:{ Grouch.ps, I am writing this logged on in a high rez mode and the clock keeps running lines across my text as I type. Does that help you troubleshoot anything? This is why I normally connect in 640x480 for a nice clear screen with big print, then go back and read messages in higher resolution so the menu bar doesn't block out text. Thanks for listening. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 114 Sat Dec 11, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 20:40 EST Hey Grouch - you know what they say goes first! :-) Sure - blame poor Aladdin on posting that message twice. Oh sure!!! Regarding your Screenblaster problem... I'm going to send your entire message to Paul Nicholls, the programmer. We had some problems similar to yours in an earlier 2.2 beta that involved redraw and blit problems. It's very possible that you're seeing the same thing here. Paul should be able to take your input and check his code to see if he can figure out the problem. Since you're a beta tester, you'll get a new beta with a report back from Paul saying whether or not he thinks it's fixed. Can't do much more than that for now, unfortunately. It's interesting the Warp 9 fixes the problem. I wonder if Screenblaster is setting up some system variables incorrectly and W9 is smart enough to detect this and fix it? Gregg... Well, all right! Glad to hear your problem is solved. Those are the best messages to read here! :-) Hydraxxus... Mind if I come join you on the islands? I wouldn't mind getting out of the rat-race in Chicago myself!!! John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 115 Wed Dec 15, 1993 AEO.7 [Gregg] at 20:22 EST On the ScreenBlaster/FlashII/Warp 9 problem. Are you using the update that the CodeHeads uploaded last month? It takes your Warp 9 up to (I think) 3.81 or something and adds ScreenBlaster compatibility. The original Falcon/Speedo Compatible version of Warp 9 had a problem with ANY res above the 'almost 800 x 600' mode and was touchy even there. John... no problem, it's great to have it working right ..... Amazing what you can do when you follow the directions Gregg ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 116 Wed Dec 15, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 23:16 EST Gregg... Good point on the Warp 9 upgrade. I'd forgotten about Charles' latest upgrade for the Falcon. Indeed, that might help solve the problem with ScreenBlaster. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 117 Sat Dec 18, 1993 M.MASTALER [Mike] at 11:45 EST Hi John, When I change over from 2.1 to 2.2, what file/files do i carry over over to keep my defaults and BBS boards as I have them now ? Thanks in advance. Mike ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 118 Sat Dec 18, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 23:50 EST Hi Mike... Got your disk in the mail today for update. It'll be going out Monday. I'm sending you a brand new copy - not just the upgrade that you'd normally download here. This is the same disk that a new owner would get. What you'll want to do is install only the program (and Silent Line if you use that) onto a *NEW PARTITION* on your hard drive. Do not install it to the same partition that 2.1 is on. You'll end up overwriting some files, like FLASH2.LST and FLASH2.DEF. After installing it to a new partition, copy *only* the new FLASH2.PRG file from the new partition to the old. (And copy Silent Line to your auto folder on the C:\ drive if you use SL.) That's all you need to do. Your old configuration (.DEF) and board list files (.LST) will work just fine with 2.2. If you have any other questions, please make sure to ask. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 119 Sun Dec 19, 1993 M.MASTALER [Mike] at 02:32 EST In my earlier post, John T. said : What you'll want to do is install only the program (and Silent Line if you use that) onto a *NEW PARTITION* on your hard drive. Do not install it to the same partition that 2.1 is on. You'll end up overwriting some files, like FLASH2.LST and FLASH2.DEF. After ins talling it to a new partition, copy *on Hmmm.... John, I never gave this much thought. you mean ANY program, (ie. a midi sequencer) if I have two versions in the SAME partition, they could overwrite each other ?? I thought if I had, say, a FOLDER called Flash 2.1, And one called FLASH 2.2, that they are separate. If F2.1 was being run in its own FOLDER, it is "protected". Am I wrong in this assumption ?? Mike a ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 120 Sun Dec 19, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 22:27 EST Hi Mike... Well, sorry, I made a slight slip of the keyboard there. What I should have said was a *NEW FOLDER*, not a new partition. It's the change in folder (subdirectory) that's important here, not a change to a different drive and/or partition. Sorry for any confusion that may have caused. Also, our update program (distributed online) can not cause any loss of data since it's specifically designed to only update the program files. It does nothing with the data files. What I'm sending you Mike, is a new distribution copy of the program. Since this copy assumes you are a brand new owner of Flash II, there's no internal concern for overwriting the data files since there shouldn't be any data files! :-) John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 121 Mon Dec 20, 1993 M.MASTALER [Mike] at 02:00 EST Thanks John; I had visions of mucho versions of various programs all over in different partitions. I'm at ease now :). Mike ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 122 Wed Dec 22, 1993 AEO.7 [Gregg] at 22:07 EST Hi guys, over the last few days (and yes, it's been VERY cold out there) I've noticed that Flash II (latest version, 2.2?) is not recognising the carrier on GEnie every time. It seems to run well enough, but where before it ALWAYS recognised the carrier and then let me log on.. now it refuses to sense the carrier at least 80% of the time. My old Interlink doesn't have this problem, but I've gotten used to (and spoiled by) the new Flash II... any suggestions? Gregg, with 22 degree weather outside and 7" of snow on the ground. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 123 Wed Dec 22, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 22:36 EST Gregg... Maybe your copy of Flash II is getting cold! Try wrapping a blanket around it and cuddle it a bit to see if that helps! :-) There are two ways that F2 recognizes a connection - DCD (Data Carrier Detect) or STRINGS (CONNECT 2400, or whatever). The first thing to check is the method you have F2 use for detecting the connection. If it's DCD, it's possible you have a bad connection between the modem and your computer. Try reseating the connectors. If you are using STRINGS, then perhaps something has changed in your modem. Make sure the string you have entered in "Modem Options" matches the string the modem is sending. Generally, all you need to enter is "CONNECT". I don't believe that Interlink uses DCD (although I'm not positive of that) so if the problem is with DCD, Interlink wouldn't notice the possible bad connection, whereas F2 would. If the connection seems ok, try switching over to STRINGS in Modem Options if you haven't already to see if that helps. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 124 Thu Dec 23, 1993 R.WATSON15 [Wayne Watson] at 03:47 EST Gregg, Do you get a CD light on your modem when it connects? If you do not get the CD light, then the modem will not generate a CD signal. Do you have an error correcting modem? It could be that you are not getting a good connection due to line noise while the 2 modems are in the intialization phase. If you have an error correcting modem, try turning off the error correction part and see if you get hit with line noise. Cold temperatures and wet weather can cause the lines to get flaky. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 125 Thu Dec 23, 1993 AEO.7 [Gregg] at 21:53 EST Well, the silly thing worked normally today. Just as cold, if a little less snowy . Yes, it IS an error correcting modem, a Zoom 2400 in fact. I didn't notice if there was a CD light or not, but with Interlink working I have to doubt if that was the exact case. It may be a slightly week connection on the modem port. John, I checked and F2 is using 'strings' for it's connection... Should I set it for DCD? As far as I know, nothing has changed on my modem/setup.... but then it seems a LOT of things have been escaping my notice lately. Gregg ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 126 Thu Dec 23, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 23:08 EST Gregg... If you're using STRINGS for connecting, then the *only* thing Flash II looks for to connect is whatever "Connect" string you have entered in Modem Options. Assuming you have "CONNECT" entered there, then as soon as the modem sends the string, F2 connects. If F2 never sees the string, it won't connect. You certainly could try using DCD, but you must make sure that you've got the modem set so that the DCD line follows the actual state of the carrier. Most modem's come preconfigured with DCD set to active all the time. F2 won't connect properly under that condition. It's sounding more and more like you've got a bad connection, what with all of the bad weather you've been having. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 127 Fri Dec 24, 1993 R.WATSON15 [Wayne Watson] at 06:22 EST Gregg, I always use the DCD. I never have a problem with it set like that. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 128 Fri Dec 24, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 09:05 EST Gregg, What John and Wayne said. And I'd also check the modem cable, which could be bad; this will lead to intermittent operation. Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 129 Sun Dec 26, 1993 AEO.7 [Gregg] at 14:27 EST Thanks guys, today it's slightly warmer (finally got above freezing) and everything's working like a champ. Very strange (which is whay it feels 'right at home' here ) Merry Christmas folks.... Gregg ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 130 Wed Dec 29, 1993 P.LOUIE1 at 03:01 EST Anyone, Here's a general question that I can't seem to find a topic for so I hope this is ok to post here. In the Flash II documentation, it says that I can get rid of Poolfix and TOS14FX2 programs. Do these programs only fix bugs in the serial port? In other words, if I never use a program that accesses the serial port, I don't need these two patch programs. Is that all what these two patch programs do? Or do they fix bugs that don't do anything with the serial port? Just curious... TIA, Phil ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 131 Wed Dec 29, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 12:43 EST Good questions, Phil. I think Poolfix deals with more than just the serial port. John, do you have an answer? Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 132 Wed Dec 29, 1993 R.WATSON15 [Wayne Watson] at 20:29 EST Phil, No, you DEFINATELY NEED Poolfix. DO NOT get rid of that one. You will need it for ALL your other programs. Not sure about TOS14FX2. I would keep it thought o be safe. It doesn't take up much ram. To me, the manual should ONLY state that Flash II does not need any serial patch programs. It should not tell you to get rid of stuff especially POOLFIX. That program fixes other bugs. That statement in the manual and here online is the only problem I have. I really like Flash II and recommend it to others. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 133 Wed Dec 29, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 22:12 EST Phil (and Al)... Hmmm, does the documentation *really* say to get rid of Poolfix? Where did you see that? Actually, you can get rid of TOS14FX2 when using Flash II. As far as I know that program only fixes serial port problems on TOS 1.04 based machines. It's not needed with any other version of TOS anyway. We've internally fixed those problems in F2 by handling the hardware directly. POOLFIX is a different beast, however. POOLFIX deals with the memory pool and limitations that earlier version of TOS had in properly handling the pool with the C standard "malloc()" call. If you are using an older version of TOS, you probably ought to continue to use POOLFIX3.PRG in your auto folder program. POOLFIX also fixes some other, more obscure problems, but I forget right now what they are. I do use POOLFIX3 on my 1040ST and STacy computers, both of which still use 1.04. I believe that POOLFIX is still needed in TOS 1.6x versions, but it is not needed in any of the 2.0x, 3.0x or 4.0x (Falcon) versions of TOS. With that said, POOLFIX really isn't needed with Flash II because F2 only allocates memory at startup. It grabs everything it needs (and the user requests) and sticks with it. I've never had a problem with F2 on a machine that was not running POOLFIX3. However, you may need that patch for other programs you run on your older machine. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 134 Thu Jan 13, 1994 R.BINGHAM2 at 00:30 EST Idunno about everyone else (haven't read the topic in ages) but Flash2 2.2 aint working at all for me. I can't seem to get it to talk with the modem right at all. (And I don't even get a chance to if I've got QuickST running.) I type AT and the modem freaks while I type it with the 'CD' light coming on and other such weirdness. I've got a very plain Atari 1040STf with good old TOS 1.0 ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 135 Thu Jan 13, 1994 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 21:55 EST R.BINGHAM2... Well, first of all Flash II and the old Quick ST programs haven't gotten along together for quite some time. This goes back to pre-2.2. It's especially bad if you're running Quick ST version 2.x. In some cases you could get QST 3.x to work with F2. You really ought to do yourself a favor and upgrade to Warp 9. You own 2.1 or earlier versions of Flash II, don't you? If so, does 2.1 work ok? If it does, then 2.2 should also work just fine on your 1040 STf since none of the MFP serial port routines changed between those two versions. The changes affected the TT, MegaSTe and Falcon since all of those use the SCC chip. We wrote new routines to access that chip. It's possible that something we changed is causing a problem with TOS 1.0. Here again, you'd do yourself a BIG favor by upgrading to a newer TOS, like 1.04 or 2.06. It makes a big difference. I'll admit that it's harder and harder to maintain compatibility with TOS 1.0, although we try our very best. Can you talk to the modem manually in terminal mode? Can you enter something like "AT" and get an "OK" back? If so, 2.2 is communicating just fine with the modem. And if that's so, then I'd check your initialization string and your other modem and RS232 options to make sure everything is set properly. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 136 Fri Jan 14, 1994 R.BINGHAM2 at 01:21 EST 2.1 works great (even with Quick ST ;) except for the rubout bug with the type- ahead and whatnot. When running 2.2 it freaked fast, though, and I knew just what it was I would probably have to take out of the Auto directory. I was right, too. I'll check into it a bit more. Flash seems much quicker at drawing screens now (my imagination?) even without a booster so I might live without it. I'll play with it some more. When it freaked out, though, any typing I did caused all sorts of lights to flash on my modem. AT gave nothing but a mess on the screen and all sorts of lights other than 'RD' and 'SD' were flashing. I'll check out that modem init string. Buying a higher version of TOS or Warp 9 probably wouldn't be good for me. Flash 2 is the only program I use on my Atari now, really. I'm saving up for another brand now. If I can't get 2.2 working I'll just live with 2.1 (which works pretty dang well) for the few more months I need it. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 137 Fri Jan 14, 1994 M.MASTALER [Mike] at 04:21 EST Hello John. I loaded F2.2, and brought over the files from 2.1 to keep my BBS boards,etc. Everything is working fine , *BUT*... When the cursor gets to the bottom of the screen (terminal screen), instead of the text staying BLACK with a light blue screen, (my control panel setup), ALL the type 'flashes' yellow and pink as each new line goes across the screen. Now, these colors are part of my control panel setup, but this didn't happen with 2.1 Also, my clock numbers are BLACK, and not colored as in 2.1 I think they were red when online, then yellow when I went off line. Has anyone else had this color problem ? More than anything, it's annoying to have all text scolling up and flashing different colors, instead of staying black. Thanks in advance. Mike a \ ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 138 Sat Jan 15, 1994 R.BINGHAM2 at 15:20 EST Got mine working...the thing was set at 9600bd somehow. Now it all works...BUT....it doesn't dial. Weird. I can type out the ATDT####### and the modem responds fine but the dial command just flashes the CD light a bit and does nothing. It does turn off the TR for a bit when trying to hang up. I'll fiddle with it more and see what'l work. Maybe the strings are setup right..... I noticed Mike's problem as well. Kinda pretty but a bit distracting. If it's making my text scroll faster I can live with it. Sure wish you would make this for DOS..... ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 139 Sat Jan 15, 1994 R.BINGHAM2 at 15:40 EST Ah, much bettah. Had the prefix init set to ATZ thinking it was just to initialize the modem. Not so, I guess it's tacked on to the front of everything. Works fine now! Let's see how this typeahead does..... Yeah, Typeahead is fine now. It can wipe without getting confused. Unfortunately, the thing goes VERY slow. Hmmm....wonder how the backarrow works.... It works GREAT and it works FAST. Definitely the way to go. Glad to see the DEL/Backspace option. Is there a way to turn Control-S's effects off (for use with Emacs)? ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 140 Sat Jan 15, 1994 P.LANCTOT [paul] at 16:24 EST Hi guys at Missionware, I've had Flash2 for about a year and have downloaded the latest update via Genie. Everything seems to work good but I've had some problems. 1. FlashII will always dial ok just after boot-up, but will usually refuse to dial after quitting the program and coming back to it later. A warm boot always solves this. Otherwise, it won't even pick up the phone. Turning the modem off then on doesn't help. This happened with the previous version as well (2.11?) I have 2.2 now. I have a Supra Fax V.32bis. Also, this happens with more than one board set-up as well as times where i'm only calling GEnie via a single board, so i don't think its a problem with settings. 2. I really like like the Block append feature but after mysteriously losing some appended blocks i've learned to keep my eye on the hard-drive light when appending. It seems that after an undetermined number of appends to the same file a problem de- velops: I define the block then select Append from the menu, select the file to append to, click ok or , and the dialog box goes away and everyting seems normal except the hard drive light never went on (or went on very briefly) and when i load the desination file for the append, the new block is not there! This very unnerving to say the least! Like I said, i know keep my eye on the drive light and make sure the append went ok- if it doesn't i just start a new file, but I don't like doing this! That's it for serious problems. I really dig having silent line and the type ahead buffer included into the program! A short wish list: 1. A feature that will copy all of one board's parameters to another. 2. A faster back space key in the type ahead buffer. 3. Silent Line with Z-modem! Well that's it, thanks! --------------------------paul. P.LANCTOT serial # 00950. PS I read all the messages since 100 and didn't see these problems mentioned, but forgive me if they were covered previously. ---------Pjob load L*s ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 141 Sat Jan 15, 1994 P.LANCTOT [paul] at 16:40 EST PSS : I have TOS 1.4 on my Mega4ST, with no accelerators and no DA's.......... PL. P.LANCTOT ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 142 Sat Jan 15, 1994 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 17:41 EST R.BINGHAM2... Ah, ok, so 2.1 works fine on your system. 2.2 ought to work just fine too. You intimated that there was an auto folder conflict and that by removing that program it cleared up the problem. But you never said what the program was. Is it Quick ST? If it's something else I'd like to know so that we can look into the problem. Thanks! Redrawing screens in 2.2 probably is faster if you aren't using a screen accelerator, especially QST. With an accelerator, however, the redraw speed should be darn near the same between 2.1 and 2.2. Interestingly, I've had a couple of folks complain that 2.2 was slower redrawing, even with an accelerator loaded! I've never been able to confirm that, however. Oh no! Please don't tell me you're planning on leaving the Atari platform too! ARGH! If you need something more powerful than an ST, you really ought to look into a TT030 or a MegaSTe (if you can find one). There should be some good used ones available. I much prefer my TT over the 486DX/33MHz machine I'm forced to use at work. Mike... We eliminated the color (red) clock from 2.2 and changed it to black. In order to place the clock on the screen in red, we needed to change the color palette. We had a number of users complain that they didn't want F2 to change the palette for any reason. So, we dropped all of the color we used to have in the Transfer Menu, some of the dialogs, and with the clock. I've not seen the problem with the flashing colors at the bottom of the terminal screen at all. Are you using this on a Falcon? If so, scrolling, itself, on the Falcon is rather glitchy-looking. Perhaps this is what you are seeing. If you are using the program on anything other than a Falcon, you shouldn't be getting any glitching at all. I haven't had any other reports of a problem like that and I've never seen it myself on either a TT or ST. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 143 Sat Jan 15, 1994 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 20:34 EST R.BINGHAM2... Well, it sounds like you're making progress! Keep us up to date on your progress. We're here to help! You say the Dial Command flashes the CD light? That's carrier detect. F2 shouldn't have any direct affect on that signal. Are you sure you aren't seeing the transmit data light blink? > make this for DOS... We've talked about it. That's a tough market to crack, however. I'd like to see a program like F2 myself for the PC. I haven't found a term program for that platform that I really like myself. Oh - just got your second message. Your modem must take awhile to reset. You can still do the ATZ reset command - just place a couple of commas after it so that F2 pauses before sending out the dial string. Enter it like this: "ATZ,,". Turn Control-S off? Well, you can set Control-S/Q (XOFF/XON) to whatever value you want in Terminal Options. Try setting both to "00" (null). Emacs shouldn't be affected by that. Sounds like you're well under way to getting everything to work now! Good! Paul... OK, let's see if we can tackle each question, one at a time. 1. It sounds like you never tell F2 that you've disconnected after the first dial out. After logging off, take a look the Phone Menu. Are there a bunch of entries that are disabled? If so, F2 thinks it is still online which is why it's not permitting you to dial out again. I suggest that you create logoff macros for each board. I always put mine in macro slot F10 so that I can hit the same key for every board for logging off. Make sure that the very last entry in the macro is either the ">HG|" (hangup) or ">DN|" (dial next) command. Either one of those will force F2 to log off. 2. I've not had any other complaints about the append block function. If there's a way you could isolate this down to a specific series of commands, or to the size of a file, I'd appreciate it. In the meantime, I'll pass your message on to the author of the program so that he can look into as well. Wish List: 1. You and everyone else! :-) We're working on a feature like that. For now, there's an undocumented feature that you might want to use to help out. Set up your default options (under the Options menu). Those values are automatically transferred into each unused board slot in Edit Boards. That saves having to set up RS232 options, Modem Options, etc. for each board. Also, macros and such (things that can't be set under the Options Menu) that you load into board slot #1 are transferred into each empty slot also. If you have a set of common macros, say, for each board, load them into board #1 first, and you'll be all set. 2. We're constantly working to improve the speed of everything. Hopefully 2.3 should be faster for backspacing and other editor and terminal related functions. 3. This is difficult. We've tried to get Zmodem to work reliably in Silent Line but have had difficulty. That's why it's not in there yet. Right now we're working on making F2 multitasking. That way you can use F2 directly (under MTOS or Geneva) to transfer with Zmodem while working on something else. Version 2.3, now in alpha testing, will do this. Glad you like Flash II. Keep your suggestions and comments coming please! Thanks. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 144 Sun Jan 16, 1994 M.MASTALER [Mike] at 03:30 EST John; that 'glitching' of colors on my color monitor is on a 1040STfm, TOS 1.4, 4 megs. It doesn't happen on 2.1, just 2.2. I'll put my color pallette back to yucky atari green:) to see if it does that. Mike ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 145 Sun Jan 16, 1994 P.LANCTOT [paul] at 12:25 EST HI again, Thanks for the quick response. No, the modem is definately disconnecting-- I even manually select 'terminate call' frome the menu just to make sure, but the options under phone are =not= "greyed" out. I know what you mean, though, I've experienced the not disconnecting phenomena (sp?) before, but not lately. I've noticed that when the program won't dial it -does- send some kind of data to ;the modem (sd and rd flash quickly) but I don't know what kind of data. I'll try to isolate the 'Append' problem- All i can tell you for now is that it anly happens after a few appends to a file. thanks for your help------------------paul. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 146 Sun Jan 16, 1994 P.LANCTOT [paul] at 12:32 EST PS what do you know about the "HSMODEM" serial fix program just uploaded to the library? (file # 31615)--says it speeds things up and fixes RTS/CTS bug (?). Just wondering...-----paul. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 147 Sun Jan 16, 1994 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 21:24 EST Mike... I don't have my 1040STfm hooked up at the moment so I can't quickly check it out, but I can't imagine why it would flash colors. that's really strange. It certainly doesn't do it on my TT. FWIW, I just tried it in ST Medium on the TT and I saw no colored glitches. Of course, that's not a real accurate test since the TT emulates ST Medium. Paul... There's one other possibility for the modem to not dial. However, I'm not sure why this would happen only after the first dialout and not all the time. If you've got an Initialization string loaded in Modem Options, you may need to add a comma or two at the end of the string. Many newer modems take a couple of seconds to process the initialization sequence. Unless you put the commas in there, F2 immediately sends out the ATDT dial string right after the Init string. If the modem hasn't finished initializing, it'll ignore the dial string. Adding the commas to the end of the init string should solve that problem. I don't know anything about the HSMODEM program. I can tell you though that F2 doesn't need it, or any other serial port fix program. We handle everything internally and go to the hardware when necessary to make sure that everything works properly. This is true for the older STs and TTs, and the Falcon. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 148 Mon Jan 17, 1994 R.BINGHAM2 at 00:19 EST QuickST was definitely killing the program off. That was trivial to find. When you start with QuickST on it acts like somebody is typing something invisible to the keyboard constantly. You can't get a mouseclick in to save your life. All is working fine now. Set XON/XOFF.....good idea! I'll do that... Redraw speed sure is funky. It's fine with the normal terminal screen. It's quite a bit slower when you add the type-ahead buffer to the bottom. It's also pretty slow in the capture buffer. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 149 Mon Jan 17, 1994 P.LANCTOT [paul] at 20:16 EST John T, Thanks again for the quick reply. I'll try the suggestion. BTW, the refuse to dial problem only happens after _quitting_ FlashII , then returning. It dials out unlimited # of times the first time i load it. Thanks.....------ paul. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 150 Mon Jan 17, 1994 R.WATSON15 [Wayne Watson] at 22:21 EST John, I wonder if the color glitches mentioned is the color smearing problem? I tried scrolling with Warp 9 turned off and I do see some color flashing a tiny bit. With Warp 9, this problem disappears as Warp 9 handles things differently (besides being faster). The scrolling is slow in the capture buffer area with Warp 9 off. Using version 2.2. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 151 Mon Jan 17, 1994 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 22:23 EST R.BINGHAM2... We're using standard redraw routines in 2.2. In what way is redrawing speed "funky"? If you are talking about page scrolls, then yes, redrawing is a bit slow because we are using v_gtext to write the new data to the screen. For version 2.3 we're looking at creating a virtual page in memory and blitting it to the screen. That should speed things up considerably. Screen accelerators such as Warp 9 and NVDI help Flash II scrolling tremendously. You mentioned that you didn't want to put any money into one of those products, but they really do make a difference. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 152 Mon Jan 17, 1994 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 22:45 EST Paul... Oh, so the dial out problem only happens after leaving and returning to Flash II. Hmmm.... That's a new one. I wonder what the heck would cause that? Wayne... Well, that just might be what he is seeing. I kinda forgot about the old color smearing problem. I use Warp 9 almost all the time so don't regularly see that problem. That could certainly be it though! John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 153 Tue Jan 18, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 03:26 EST R., You should consider upgrading QuickST to Warp 9. Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 154 Wed Jan 19, 1994 M.MASTALER [Mike] at 16:54 EST John, I put my control panel back to its original state. (1040 STfm TOS1.4, Color monitor, med. rez.). I an still getting that color "shimmering" when in the terminal mode. When the lines of text move up the screen to allow the new lines to come in, I see a blast of "Atari Green" where the old line was. It's as though, say, the 24 lines on the screen, when moved and pushed up a notch, briefly turn green, then the text goes back to black. Its very hard on the eyes. Am I the only one that has this in ST medium resolution ? Just wanted to keep you appraised of the situation. a ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 155 Wed Jan 19, 1994 P.LANCTOT [paul] at 21:01 EST HI, I've isolated that "refusing to pick up after q uitting then returning" problem to the times when "silent Line is in the auto folder. When I take it out (or disable it via MouseBoot ) the problem goes away. hmmmmmmmmmmmm....... --------paul. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 156 Wed Jan 19, 1994 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 21:59 EST Mike... Well, just for you I put my Falcon away and got out my old 1040STfm and fired it up. Yup - it still works, even after having sat around for quite some time. I fired up F2 on the machine and forced the terminal screen to scroll some text from the modem. I didn't see any color shimmering. I then decided to slow the machine down (I normally use Warp 9 on all of my machines) by disabling W9. Sure enough, I think I see what you are talking about. I'm not exactly sure why it's there, but I did see something. So, you aren't going crazy. Do you have Warp 9 or some other screen accelerator available? If so, make sure to use it. It really speeds things up. If not, you may want to purchase on. In the meantime, I'll pass your findings on to Paul Nicholls to see if he can come up with an explanation for the effect. Perhaps he needs to tweak his blit routines a bit. I'll see what he says. Warp 9 definitely gets rid of the problem, however. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 157 Wed Jan 19, 1994 R.WATSON15 [Wayne Watson] at 22:12 EST John, It does sound like the Color smearing problem to me. If that is the case, then you and I know there is ONLY 1 FIX for it. WARP 9. :-) Until then, I guess he will have to live with it. I'm glad I use Mono. :-) ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 158 Wed Jan 19, 1994 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 22:19 EST Paul... Silent Line is causing the problem? Hmmm... That's interesting. That's not something I've seen before. Try running Silent Line alone (no other auto folder programs or desk accessories) to see if the problem remains. What type of system are you using? John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 159 Thu Jan 20, 1994 M.MASTALER [Mike] at 03:10 EST John, No I dont' have Warp 9; I'll guess I'll fire up MY mono monitor too. Mike ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 160 Thu Jan 20, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 03:24 EST Mike, Are you using Warp 9? It corrects this deficiency in the way TOS handles the color mapping. Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 161 Thu Jan 20, 1994 P.LANCTOT [paul] at 19:42 EST John T.... Well, I tried your suggestion and rebooted with _only_ Silent line and its .inf file in the Auto folder and no desk accessories. Unfortunately the same thing happens when I make a call, Quit, then return to FlashII-- It refuses to pick up the line. I tried using Dial Number (from the menu) as well, and that wouldn't pick up either. I am using a Mega4ST (no "E") with TOS 1.4, no accelerators or add-on boards running off the 130 meg ToadStore Hard drive and the ICD "Link". I have a Supra FAX V.32 bis 14.4 modem. I guess that's it. Does any one else have this problem??? Thanks for the help......-------paul. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 162 Thu Jan 20, 1994 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 23:54 EST Paul... Well, let's wait and see if anyone else has your problem. In the meantime, I'lll report it to Paul Nicholls to see if he can come up with a possible solution. Could you check one thing for me please? When this occurs, switch to the terminal screen and look at the status line at the top. Does it display your normal RS232 settings (such as 8N1 2400) or does it display something totally funky like "5E1 75"? Thanks. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 163 Fri Jan 21, 1994 M.MASTALER [Mike] at 02:19 EST Al. No, I don't have Warp 9 to correct the color shi shimmering with F2.1. The color shimmering does NOT occur with 2.1 though. So I have to use 2.1 for now. Mike ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 164 Fri Jan 21, 1994 J.BATTEY1 [J. L. Battey] at 20:05 EST Another suggestion for 2.3: When editting boards there should be a way to edit more than one board with out having to select it from the menu for each board you edit. If I could hold down ALT & click OK or CANCEL and get the list of boards I would feel les like my time was being wasted. Also, I would like to be able to select boards from the keyboard. The CTRL/arrow key system works fairly well in UIS3. Personnaly, I would like to be able to edit the key bindngs ala Calamus. I had this at a rather primative level in the comm. program on my Timex/Sinclair 2068 and found it quite useful. John L. PS: When I had a 97K capture in the edit buffer of my 8MHz ST and marked the upper third or so as a block to reformat from 80 columns to 78 columns, the reformat took 9 minutes, 41 seconds form the time I hit F10 until the Bee changed back to an arrow. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 165 Fri Jan 21, 1994 R.CARPENTE18 [Bob C.] at 21:48 EST John L. I can say that NO ONE wants more flexible board editing that John T. himself :-) Seriously, that is a high priority item. I'd be REAL surprised if something wasn't done about board editing in 2.3. The board editing is one of my pet peeves as well. Bob Carpenter ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 166 Sat Jan 22, 1994 B.STOREY [Billy B.] at 07:35 EST Paul, I have noticed that if I quit from Aladdin and run Flash II it won't dial. I must reset the computer first. I think it is something in the hardware that causes it. It is no problem to me, as I use X-Boot and like to change the .ACC's for each program. I am running a 1040 STe. Billy B. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 167 Sat Jan 22, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 12:48 EST Billy, Are you using a Supra modem? Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 168 Sat Jan 22, 1994 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 22:58 EST Mike... The reason you don't have the shimmering in 2.1 is probably because we used Line A routines in that version for scrolling. We eliminated Line A in 2.2 and switched to VDI output based on Atari's recommendations for future compatibility. John L. Your "edit board selection" suggestion has been made many times before! :-) That's something that will be changed in 2.3. Paul and I have also discussed ways to select the board slot to edit using the keyboard. We haven't come to any specific conclusion yet, but rest assured that there will be some keyboard method of selecting the board to edit or dial. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 169 Sun Jan 23, 1994 CBARRON at 01:51 EST J.T. I have noticed that alladin bombs occasionally at end of autopass, Flash 2.2.x does the same occasionally. TT030 [modem 1] no perm patches added except folderxxx. [ I get paranoid...] [Yes its a supra...] not might not mean anything but it might. A reset solves the whole problem, but if you start looking at modem routines, it aint just tos 1.0 that might have minor difficulties. I think problem occurs with multiple swaps to and from alladin and flash 2.2.x. Could be wrong it could be a 'thousand other things' like the 'phase of the moon in the house of zebras'. So far this is otherwise, 'cooking with gas'.... ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 170 Sun Jan 23, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 03:25 EST John, Future compatibility ... with what, for heaven's sake? (Oh well, back to the grind.) :) Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 171 Sun Jan 23, 1994 B.STOREY [Billy B.] at 07:58 EST I have mentioned to John that I have some 800 K file listings, and editing them is a chore! I found that if you do block editing, rather than single letter editing, things go much more quickly....You know how you get a file listing with lots of stuff, like the intro when you log on? Just press the left mouse button, drag it down til you get to the stuff you want to save, then press . It all goes away in one quick *POOF*! Billy B. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 172 Sun Jan 23, 1994 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 22:44 EST Billy... I regularly switch between Aladdin and Flash II and I have never had a problem with F2 not being able to dial after an Aladdin session. The only problem I am aware of, and this might even be gone now, is a conflict between Silent Line and Aladdin. I haven't tested this conflict in quite some time so I'm not sure if it is still there yet or not. We did some research on the problem but were never able to precisely determine the problem. My guess is that the problem occurs because both SL and Aladdin grab serial port interrupts. Those interrupt vectors are probably clashing. The solution is not to boot SL when you plan on using Aladdin. John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 173 Mon Jan 24, 1994 B.STOREY [Billy B.] at 08:04 EST Al, no, I have a Practical Peripherals PM 14400 FXMT. ? Billy B. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 174 Mon Jan 24, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 19:40 EST Billy, I asked because Supras have been known to behave the way you describe. Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 175 Mon Jan 24, 1994 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 21:12 EST Carl... I've had Aladdin bomb occasionally at the end of an Autopass 1 too, but in most cases I had *not* run F2 before Aladdin. I think there may be some minor bug floating around inside the Aladdin code that does this. It's very intermittant and happens infrequently. I am not using a Supra! :-) (I've got a Practical Peripherals 9600SA hanging on my TT030.) Al... Yea, "future compatibility" has become somewhat of a joke, hasn't it? Atari started sending out strongly worded warning notices some time ago saying that Line A was going away and would not be supported in new machines. They warned us to drop Line A code for "future compatibility". Sigh... John T. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 176 Sat Jan 29, 1994 J.DINGA [Jolly Jon] at 23:37 EST John T., I also have had the problem of FII not appending. It does seem to occur after the file reaches 32000 byte [still useing 2.1 ;( ] I am useing UIS33, MSTe4, CD8. Will post more after I experiment to see if I can pinpoint the feature :^) Nice to hear about the 'blit' in 2.3! ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 177 Sat Feb 05, 1994 G.GRAHAM9 [Glenn] at 14:49 EST John, has anyone found a problem printing a block of text from the buffer? When I do it from Genie, as soon as the block is printed, the terminal screen comes up saying... OK . It is then off line. this has happened about three times. The setup is a Mega 4, Panasonic KX-P1080i, and a Practical Periferals 14400FXMT. I suppose its just something I have to reset somewhere. Oh and its version 2.2 of Flash. Any suggestions? ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 178 Sun Feb 06, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 03:25 EST Glenn, John's away at the Olympics, so I'll see if I can duplicate the problem. Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 179 Sun Feb 06, 1994 ARCHIVIST [Charlie] at 15:44 EST Glenn, I often print a marked block of text from the capture buffer while on- line on GEnie. I just mark the start and end, then hit print. When the cursor turns back into an arrow I'm left in the capture buffer and switch back to the terminal screen. No problems here. How large are these blocks you're printing? Does it take a long time? GEnie has an automatic time-out built into it and if you're 'idle' (from GEnie's point of view) too long it will automatically log you off. I think the smallest of these is time-outs is 3 minutes, but it seems to vary depending on where you are. Could that be what's happening to you? Charlie/sysop ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 180 Sun Feb 06, 1994 G.GRAHAM9 [Glenn] at 16:25 EST Actually, the blocks are about a page of file listings long. They get printed OK then the screen is back to terminal mode with what appears to be a modem response of OK At that point, I am disconnected. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 181 Sun Feb 06, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 17:23 EST Charlie, You may have hit on it. Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 182 Sun Feb 06, 1994 ARCHIVIST [Charlie] at 21:21 EST Hmmm. I guess that isn't it since that's exactly what I do when I'm working the library. I can't imagine what the problem is, if that isn't it. The only other things I can think of are the print options you have set-up for GEnie. Under the 'More Terminal Options', I have my options set as follows: Printer to Host = none, Print Mode = normal, Print Screen Area = full page, and Print Terminator = none. Those are the only other settings I can think of that might be affecting you, though I really don't know what they mean. :-) Charlie/sysop ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 183 Mon Feb 07, 1994 P.GULCH [Pete] at 19:31 EST TYMNET HANGUP- I have been trying to log onto a BBS through Tymnet using the Flash II program with the TYMNET log in that was provided. I am using a ZOOM external modem with my Atari 520. Every time I try to log in, I get some numbers at the top of the log in screen and then the RD light on the modem stays lit and nothing happens. I have had no trouble with logging in to other BBSs with direct dial in. However, the Tymnet doesn't work no matter what I do. Anyone have any suggestions?-Pete. :( ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 184 Mon Feb 07, 1994 R.CARPENTE18 [Bob C.] at 20:04 EST Pete, What version of Flash 2 do you have (2.0, 2.1, or 2.2)? Also, what numbers appear at the top of your screen? John T.'s away at the Olympics (working for CBS), but there are folks here who should be able to help you out. Bob Carpenter ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 185 Tue Feb 08, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 19:42 EST Pete, Tymnet has a hidden BBS built in, and you can use it to test your setup. Get onto Tymnet and stay there, then type INFORMATION. You see some prompts. There is no charge for this. I can post a complete how-to guide if anyone wants it. Al ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 186 Thu Feb 10, 1994 J.WILSON103 [J_Dub] at 05:48 EST >I can post a complete how-to guide if anyone wants it. > >Al I'd like it Al, and thanks for offering. J_Dub ~~~~~ Wednesday, February 9, 1994 4:33:16 pm ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 188 Sat Feb 12, 1994 P.GULCH [Pete] at 20:45 EST Tymnet Problem- Here is the information that I found out since the previous posting: the character string that appears at the top of my screen when I try to call into Tymnet is: ATDase5902. This appears to be something Tymnet is sending to my modem which it doesn't understand. My OH and RD lights stay lit and I can't type or do anything more. It just hangs there as if waiting for some type of answer from my modem. I am using a Zoom V.42 bis 2400 external modem. My version of Flash II is 2.2. Does anyone know what to do to get my modem to handshake with Tymnet so that I can use my Flash II program with it? All I see on my terminal screen is ATDase5902 and underneath on the next line is Connect 2400. Then I go into limbo. Any help would be appreciated.-Pete :[ ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 189 Sun Feb 13, 1994 R.CARPENTE18 [Bob C.] at 00:24 EST Pete, Could you send me a copy of your Tymnet session (save your capture buffer) and send it to me via E-mail? I know that John T. has solved this problem before, but all that I remember is that Tymnet (also called Sprint- Net, I think) is VERY sensitive and things need to be done exactly right in order for the logon to work correctly. Bob Carpenter ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 190 Mon Feb 14, 1994 J.BATTEY1 [J. L. Battey] at 01:11 EST I have an odd puzzle. Because my nephew came over and was using the computer, I decided to set a password on my .LST file. The password I chose was a simple lower-case "m", nothing more. When the program loaded, it asked for the password. I entered the "m". The drive light flickered as the file loaded, but when I selected "Dial Boards" there were no boards to dial. Nothing else entered as a password will cause the drive light to flicker, so I know the "m" is right. Furthermore, when I load any other .LST file, if it uses an Initializaton, even just ATL1 to turn down the speaker volume, then the ATDT seems not to be sent. It just starts ticking off seconds waiting for the Carrier without ever going off-hook or getting a dial tone. This has all worked fine, for years, until tonight. The only change was the password. SN 00295 John L. Battey ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 191 Mon Feb 14, 1994 J.BATTEY1 [J. L. Battey] at 01:38 EST Pete, I have the same modem. In your "MODEM" settings, what do you have for "Initialize"? Also, how fast are you running the serial port. It looks to me like TymNet is sending something that you are not recieving because your modem is busy trying to negotiate protocol. "AT&Q6\N0" should stop it from trying to negotiate for V42bis or MNP5 while still allowing speed buffering (Serial=9600, phone line=2400). Factory default for &Q is 5 and for \N is 3. John L. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 192 Mon Feb 14, 1994 G.ROUSH [Roushy] at 21:28 EST Just wondering when the new version 2.3 is coming in? I have 2.1 and used 2.2 from the download, but lost the file because of some drive problems. I just want to know if it'w worth downloading the 2.2 version or not. Will the 2.3 version be a patch or complete file to download or be mailed to registered users? Thanks. Roushy ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 193 Wed Feb 16, 1994 R.CARPENTE18 [Bob C.] at 00:07 EST Roushy, Short answer: Re-download the 2.2 patch. Longer answer: We (beta testers) haven't even seen the first 2.3 beta yet. It's going to be a while before 2.3 is released. Paul (F2's programmer) has quite a bit of work to do in making F2 totally Geneva and MTOS compatible. I don't want to comment on the distribution method of 2.3 as that's really John T.'s call. Bob Carpenter ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 195 Wed Feb 16, 1994 G.ROUSH [Roushy] at 02:51 EST Bob, Thanks for the short and long answer.... Maybe you can also tell me something else. I wonder if there is a way to save files by appending them to a file? I know I can append a file when blocking some data and using the append in the block menu, but what about the entire file, without blocking. So if I save to a file and find that the file already exists, could there be a dialog box showing the choice of replacing, or appending, or cancelling? If that isn't available, could that be put on the wish list to come? I am downloading the patch to 2.2 tonight...Talk to you later... Roushy ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 196 Wed Feb 16, 1994 R.CARPENTE18 [Bob C.] at 21:54 EST J.L., I've recreated the problem and am alerting Paul (F2's programmer) of the problem. Unfortunately, I wasn't smart enough to make a backup of my LST file before I tried your "puzzle" . That'll teach me :) Bob Carpenter PS: When I loaded the "Password-protected" LST file, it "hosed" the Edit Boards screen. I'd try booting up F2 without your FLASH2.LST file (rename it to something else). That will, at least, get you back to a clean slate. Hopefully, you're better than me and have a backup LST file :) ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 197 Wed Feb 16, 1994 R.CARPENTE18 [Bob C.] at 22:38 EST Roushy, That's a good idea. I don't know of any way (without blocking) do append to a file. To be honest, I don't do a lot of file work in F2. I usually just save and clean up captures. Bob Carpenter PS: Where's Al "The fastest replyer in the West (oops, East :) )" Fasoldt? Don't tell me another person is taking vacation in February. This ain't fair :-) ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 198 Thu Feb 17, 1994 J.BATTEY1 [J. L. Battey] at 01:58 EST Bob C. >Hopefully, you're better than me and have a backup LST file :) Nope. I had no clue that I would need a back-up .LST until it was too late. Unfortunately I had also made considerable changes to it since my last HD back- up. I am already past the "clean slate" phase. What I can't figure out now is why I can't send Intitialize commands to the modem any more. Different boards have different sensitivities, and with a V42bis modem I had a different Initialize for just about every board. Now, if I put anything on the Initialize line of the Modem dialog while editing the boards, it does not send the ATDT###### line, it just sends the Initialize command and starts waiting for a Carrier. I have ended up going into terminal mode & typing in the Initialization and hit ALT-N to dial the board. I may take the whole thing off and reinstall the program from scratch. John L. ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 199 Thu Feb 17, 1994 G.ROUSH [Roushy] at 02:28 EST Al or whoever, I downloaded the 2.2 version patch. The first time I used it, I noticed the speed of paging down was quick. The next day I proceeded to use it and went into GEnie and after finishing my stuff, I looked in the capture area and paged down. This time, I noticed it was painfully slow! It wasn't going quick as it used to. I turned Warp9 off and on and there was no difference in speed. I went back to the 2.1 version, and the speed was back and much quicker as usual. I remember now that to be the reason I stopped using 2.2. It seems that the programming code is using another scheme to write to the window and Warp9 isn't able to process it. It is as if Warp9 had been turned off and doesn't work. That is a guess. So I am back to 2.1 until that annoying slowdown is removed. Sorry to say, but had to let you know it has happened to me...Interestnigly, the first time I used it it was quick and now it's not. A toughie to debug...or perhaps this note will be of help to pin- point it? Roushy ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 200 Thu Feb 17, 1994 R.CARPENTE18 [Bob C.] at 19:52 EST J.L, Have you renamed your FLASH2.LST file to something else or removed it? I noticed that the edit boards screen was wrong when I used my "password- protected" LST file. If you've still got the old LST file, then you're probably going to have modem problems. Changing the FLASH2.LST name should be enough to get you back going. Unfortunately, you'll have to re-enter the board info (incl. init strings) again. I don't think you'll have to re- install from scratch. Your FLASH2.DEF file should be un-affected. Bob Carpenter ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 201 Thu Feb 17, 1994 R.CARPENTE18 [Bob C.] at 20:25 EST Roushy, Have you tried running F2 with just W9 loaded (no other AUTO progs or DAs besides W9's Control Panel). If you have W9, then it shouldn't be any slower than 2.1 at all. Changes were made to the editor to use the VDI to help with Falcon compatibility, but it should work fine with W9. I use 2.2 on my TT w/ Warp 9 all the time without a problem. I'd like to see what could be causing this problem for you. Bob Carpenter ------------ Category 25, Topic 3 Message 202 Fri Feb 18, 1994 J.BATTEY1 [J. L. Battey] at 01:03 EST I deleted the .LST file and used an old one from back when I was first setting up. I had TRY1.LST, TRY2.LST, etc. so I just deleted FLASH2.LST and renamed the most up to date TRY as FLASH2.LST via UIS3. I still am having no luck trying to initialize the modem for the different boards. I go into EDIT BOARDS, select MODEM and enter the AT command on the Initialize line and when I try to Dial that board, I see the RD & SD lights flicker and get the "Waiting for Carrier" count-off, but OH never lights (in other words, the modem never even picks up to dial). This was never a problem before the password incident. John L. ------------