************ Topic 18 Thu Jan 01, 1987 TIGLON.G [*SysOp*] at 19:18 EST Sub: Nifty Little BobsTerm Pro 128 Tricks I found a cute little trick, so I thought I'd start a new topic for me and everyone else!! 40 message(s) total. ************ ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 1 Thu Jan 01, 1987 TIGLON.G [*SysOp*] at 19:20 EST To load a directory into your BTP Buffer, just select [F]ill Buffer from then , croll, uit ?s [D] from Disk, then for the file name, enter $:* and for file type, select #3, Basic to SEQ file. That will load up the disk directory so that you can print it right along! Beware, it will load up with odd Control R's, just strip them out! -<* Gayle ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 2 Thu Jan 01, 1987 GARYW at 18:37 CST Now that is VERY helpful. I am glad someone finally put that information up here. After all, I like to learn at least one new thing each day and I was beginning to give up hope for today. Go ahead, Make my Year. Thanks Gayle. ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 7 Sat Jan 03, 1987 DEB [*SysOp*] at 03:20 EST Gosh, I use BTPro for EVERYTHING... Ascii <-> Petscii xlates Text editing. Directory printing AND...did you know you can enter EDIT mode for the buffer FROM View?!? You can also use it to split REALLY huge files with the fill buffer from byte number option. <> *deb!* ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 8 Sat Jan 03, 1987 TIGLON.G [*SysOp*] at 03:22 EST Did you forget the MASS printing abilities?? ::ehehe:: ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 9 Sat Jan 24, 1987 CHARRINGTON [Courtney] at 09:06 PST Need some tricks to macro the sign on: At the end of the prompts 'UH#=' and the menu prompts, there is a weird control character. It looks like a CTRL-Q, but the marco won't accept it as that. It reads as a small 'B' with a line over it. Anyone know what that is? Courtney ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 10 Sat Jan 24, 1987 MICHAEL.M [-:SysOp:-] at 13:35 EST Courtney - The best thing to do is strip away the incoming character and you wont need to bother with it. I havent seen one that looks like a CNTRL-Q or small overlined B (which would be a CNTRL-B?), but stripping out $7F (#127) and $FF (#255) has worked for me. Choosing (P)arameters, and then (G)eneral from BTPro's menu will allow you to access the correct area for character stripping. First, change the IN FILTER option to 1-2. Then in the first two FILTER CHARACTER sections add the characters you want stripped (try $7F and $FF). Hope this helps a bit. -=:Mike:=- ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 12 Sat Jan 24, 1987 CHARRINGTON [Courtney] at 18:20 PST Thanks for the help, but I tracked it down. Boy, do I feel dumb. The character looks likes an inverse '=' and it was being put out by Bobsterm128 just before the string. I assumed it was coming from GEnie...but apparently the terminal leads the string with this character...whatever it is. For curisoity sake...any idea what that character is? Courtney ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 13 Sat Jan 24, 1987 MICHAEL.M [-:SysOp:-] at 22:15 EST Courtney - I believe BTPro uses the reverse = sign to indicate a null character. I'm not sure where you are seeing these though. In your macro strings? Can you give an example? If you open your buffer while on GEnie, and then go into Edit mode after you log off, you'll see this character after all of GEnie's menu, mail, or message prompts. -=:Mike:=- ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 15 Sun Jan 25, 1987 CHARRINGTON [Courtney] at 13:06 PST Mike- That's where I was seeing the 'null'...in the buffer in edit mode. Dumb me thought it was something I needed to include in the macro "wait" statement. I finally got smart and looked at it. Once I saw it was a hex null, I ignored it and everything is fine. something about: the forest for the trees.... Thanks for the hand holding... Courtney ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 16 Mon Jan 26, 1987 DEB [*SysOp*] at 03:27 EST Also....the C=N will filter out nulls if they are causing you troubles! <> Ready for the next round of tricks with BTPro?! I reformat raw text to the desired line length in the buffer ... VERY handy when dumping an 80 column message on a 40 column only BBS <> ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 20 Mon Jan 26, 1987 KEVIN-S. [KeS] at 19:11 PST Here is a little challenge for you BTP-buffs out there. I am trying to find a way to execute a macro from terminal mode, rather than having to R/S,A,M,R to get to the choices. The only way I can think of to "get out" of terminal mode would be through the function keys, and they don't seem to handle the C= prefixes in a way that will allow the BTP program to access them. I have also tried running the terminal itself under a macro command, waiting for a certain keypress, and THAT just locks up the keyboard. Any suggestions? KeS ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 21 Sun Mar 08, 1987 MICHAEL.M [-:SysOp:-] at 02:48 EST Here's a nifty little BTPro-128 trick I came up with totally by accident. Did you know you can use the 1351 mouse with BTPro? [hehe] If you have programmed your F8 key on BTpro, you can send it by hitting the left button on the mouse, instead of the two-keystroke command (SHIFT and F7) ! It has also allowed me to scroll thru a displayed buffer, but not with any regularity. ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 22 Sun Mar 08, 1987 CHARRINGTON [Courtney] at 07:17 PST Question time: I have a user on my board who is havong a problem with BTpro128: He says when downloading in Punter, the terminal locks up on anything over 255 blocks. When the counter rolls over from 255 to 000 it hangs up. No problem in Xmodem. Seems to me I remember a brief discussion of this earlier but couldn't find it crusin' thru the old messages. Anyone remember what the final answer to this was? Courtney ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 23 Sun Mar 08, 1987 MICHAEL.M [-:SysOp:-] at 15:47 EST I believe the problem was fixed in later versions of BTPro, Courtney. I'm using version 2.3 and there doesnt seem to be the problem you've mentioned. Do you know which version your member has? ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 24 Wed Mar 11, 1987 CHARRINGTON [Courtney] at 18:25 PST He has version 1.9 but I think he had the BAUD ADJUST LO screwed up. I ytold him to jack it up to 70 and everything seems okay now. Thanks for the help, Courtney ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 25 Sun May 10, 1987 DEB [*SysOp*] at 02:07 EDT .... and in the 'Too Wonderful For Words' Department of the BobsTerm Pro 128 Fan Club... You can convince your BTPro 128 to do *4800* baud by changing the RS 232 Lo/Hi baud rates to the following: Lo: 11 High: 00 It was working FLAWLESSLY doing XMODEM downloads today as I transferred a pile of info from the Amiga to the 128. Text dumps also look clean! Xmodem uploading doesn't really work very well, tho, but possibly some trimming of that lo byte might fix that, eh?! Well, everyone enjoy it...it was GREAT!!! *deb!* ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 26 Sun May 10, 1987 KEVIN.S at 02:52 EDT Hmmmm... well, I would settle for 1200 baud if it would take care of this one little problem... I have a new BTP macro which logs me onto a local system and captures new messages into the buffer, then logs off, etc. The macro works fine mechanically, the problem is that I use the (W)ait command to tell me when the new messages have all been viewed, and I am getting serious text garbling after about the fifth line. If I either abort the macro, or close the buffer, it can keep up fine. Sounds like classic BRF, but I have been from 50 to 80 in steps of 2, and can't resolve it. Any tips? KeS ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 27 Tue Dec 15, 1987 JDCLARK at 23:27 EST Does anyone know how to setup BTPro to send a break (3) to GEnie or is there another char that is sent? Haven't seen any mention of this particular problem... ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 28 Wed Dec 16, 1987 KEVIN.S [-Sysop-] at 21:37 EST The default GEnie "break" is, as you mention, ASCII value 03. This is entered, either directly from the keyboard or from a BTP macro, as Control-C. That is, you hold down the Control key as you would a shift key, and type a "c". It is worth note that ASCII values 1-26 consist of Control-alphabet, so that Control-A = 1, and Control-X = 26. KeS ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 29 Tue Dec 22, 1987 DEB [*SysOp*] at 22:06 EST Er, CTRL X would be 24, CTRL Z is 26 JD: and remember that your BREAK character is what GEnie *thinks* it is. If you have set up your terminal settings for an ASCII 3, or a CTRL C, then use that key, but it can also be something else, including what is known as a "True Break". You can view your terminal settings and parameters at the GEnie "SETUP" menu. Just type in SETUP and press return at any regular GEnie page numbered menu. ((BTPro does support a "True Break", but the majority of other software titles do not. I use a CTRL C because ya never know when you'll be caught with another program!)) *deb!* ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 31 Sat Jan 02, 1988 D.HYTE at 02:16 EST Here's a couple more for you BT128 hacks....the HELP key acts just like the RUN/STOP whenever you can use the R/S to return up a level or abort a function. Also, when you are in the MACRO area and hit an R or in the PHONEBOOK and hit a D, if you hit just the RETURN key, it will execute the A entry in the area you are in. I use my favorite local bbs as the A entry for me and just hit the D-RETURN and I'm off and runnin! Dave (.)(.) (this is in version 2.3 - dunno bout earlier vers) ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 32 Sat Jan 02, 1988 H.HERMAN1 at 06:40 EST Dave, Thanks for the helpful info about the "HELP". :) However, I am puzzled that you find the Phone and Macro sections defaulting to choice "A" a benefit. Doesn't your Autostart macro close out by placing you in the Phonebook, with the cursor blinking, waiting for your choice of boards to dial up? After doing a whole series of things, including opening a partition on drive #9, to accept downloads, mine closes out, as noted above. This also leaves only two keystrokes to get going, but also the choice to dial any from A to Z, by pressing the letter, and RETURN. The macro capabilities seem endless. Several are set up for late night calls, when PCP is more likely to have free circuits, to sign on, get stuff, and sign off, all unattended. BTW, for those with PCP, and BTP, if you need any assist with macros to do all the dialing, re-dialing etc., for circuits and numbers, let me know. The macros I have set up cover pretty much all of the replies that PCP returns, including the annoying Rylic (sp?) modem set, and changes it back to Hayes. Howie ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 33 Sun Jan 03, 1988 D.HYTE at 13:39 EST Howie, yea my AUTOSTART does shoot me into the phone book after entering the terminal mode and programming my modem for ATX4 and ATM0 and ATS0=0 and so on and so on...but, when it gets me there if I dont enter a letter and hit just a return, it will dial the A entry. Same if I'm in the macro area and hit the R to run one of em...just hit the return and it will run the A entry macro (which happens to be my autostart)...if you want any other macro/phone# then you must enter the letter followed by the return else you may just hit the return and BT defaults to the A entry in either area....kapeach? (sp) Dave (.)(.) ps - oh yea, re the stuff on the HELP key, it WONT abort an up/down load like the R/S will...ya still gotta use the R/S for that...it will do all the other functions quite nicely tho...(D) ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 34 Mon Feb 22, 1988 W.ROBERSON at 22:26 EST Do you use your phone macro to turn on the buffer? I found another way. After building your phone macro the program asks if you want to change the parameters. Answer yes. Turn on the buffer. When you save the phone logon and its parameters the buffer will be saved ON. This will you to use 2 of the allowed 79 characters for something additional. Hope you find this useful. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>..Bill..<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 35 Sat Mar 05, 1988 H.HERMAN1 at 13:18 EST If you are like me, pretty soon you find that you have run out of room for phones, macros, or both. One easy solution: make up a macro to tell BTP to run from another drive, such as #9, and put another one on disk #9, to get you back to #8. This adds another 24 or so macros and phone macros to those you can instantly use. That's about 48 in all. So far, this seems to be enough, but if more are needed use other drives and/or if you have a #1581, use its partitions. Here's the coding: Macro: GO TO DRIVE #9 = PD^D^D^D^M^R^RAPD Macro: GO TO DRIVE #8 = PD^D^D^D^M^M^M^M^M^M^M^R^RAPD To run either, go to macro section, and Run the macro. Each macro will leave you on the other disk, in the Telephone macro listing, waiting for you to make a selection. Because I use PCP, and often with auto log on and off, my prob was that for each telephone macro, I was using 2 or 3 of the regular macros in combo. So, although I do not really call 24 places, I did need more than the 24 macro capability of one disk. Howie ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 36 Tue Mar 15, 1988 D.HYTE at 21:20 EST HEY! Check this one out that I stumbled on to tonight (DEB!) probably already knows it so I'm gonna show my stupidity here but it *impressed* me anyway! I wanted to load a SEQ file into the buffer to read/edit the sucker but the author included a REVERSE @ symbol and I couldn't find any combo of CTRL or C= keys with ANYTHING that would give it to me in reverse so I could load the sucker! Kept getting FILE NOT FOUND errors! So, I remembered a trick from the mainframe at work that lets you use an arbitration character (sort of a wildcard but only counts as 1 character) in ascii strings....on the m/f the char is an ? symbol. SO.....I typed in the filename as FN?XXXX where fn and xxxx were the literal characters and the ? was the arb character and IT WORKED!! Tried it on a few other files (just in case it was a fluke eh!?!) and it works all the time! You can't use it in place of the * wildcard char BUT you can use it as a "don't care" character....hope it saves someone some time in playing with this thing! BTW, how many OTHER little things has ol Bob imbedded (hidden) in this BTPRO128 that isn't documented? whew...glad there are a bunch of us 'hacks' out here and a common area for us to share all these things!!! Dave (.)(.) (off to more hacking in BTPRO!) ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 37 Mon Mar 21, 1988 DEB [*SysOp*] at 13:58 EST Dave: Bob can't take credit for that one...Commodore DOS supports the ? question mark in that manner. It works for LOADing files or READING files. The asterisk is 'Don't care about anything AFTER these characters'. The question mark is a single place- holder wildcard just like you discovered. *deb!* ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 38 Wed May 25, 1988 FINN at 06:08 PDT D.HYTE: Bobsterm doesn't default to dialing A if you just hit RETURN when it asks for the entry to dial. It does default to the A entry in the macro menu, though. But, in the phone book, next time your 'A' board is busy, try dialing with the RETURN method, and you'll see that BobsTerm will cycle through ALL entries until it gets a connection. Not just the A entry. If A is busy, it'll try B. If B is busy, it'll go to C, etc. If it makes it all the way to the end of the list and still hasn't gotten a connection, it will start over at A again, and keep going until it finds a board that answers or you hit Run/Stop (or Help). ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 39 Fri Jun 03, 1988 DEB [*SysOp*] at 17:22 EDT You can also specify which entries you want dialed, and the order: a,f,q,b,z ------------ Category 15, Topic 18 Message 40 Thu Jun 09, 1988 D.HYTE at 21:59 EDT yup, specify the order I am familiar with but I tried the business about it auto marching thru busy numbers until it got to one it can conn to and nada eh. Works fine if I tell it which ones to go for or if I let it default to the A entry like I said but it won't go thru the list on it's own. Did I read that right/wrong or what?? Dave (.)(.) ------------