Club 100 Library - 415/939-1246 BBS 937-5039 NEWSLETTER, 932-8856 VOICE MESSENGER 100 is a bulletin board system (bbs) program designed for the Model 100. Its purpose--to facilitate communication, whether it be between parties who wish to avoid playing 'telephone tag,' those with conflicting schedules that prevent them from discussing something over lunch, or even computer hobbyists! MESSENGER seeks to lessen these problems by presenting a forum where people can call and carry on discussion in public or in private. The software itself takes up less than 5K of memory and when the program is running 18K is left for discussion in a 32K Model 100. Only a 32K Model 100 and some type of storage medium (cassette or disk) are required to test-drive MESSENGER, but either a 300 or 300/1200 Hayes-compatible modem or a ring detector modem cable is required for automatic operation. Both the Chipmunk and DVI disk systems are supported, but neither is required. MESSENGER 100 Documentation MESSENGER 100 Documentation, MESSENGER 100 and its support programs are all Copyright 1986 by Tom Fitzpatrick, all rights reserved. ***FREEWARE POLICY*** Try this software out and upload it in its entirety to other computer systems with no obligation. If you keep and use MESSENGER, please mail $15 with your name, address and phone number to: Tom Fitzpatrick 2069 Caraway Street, #MSGR1 Escondido, CA 92026 File Prep------------------------------ WARNING!! MESSENGER does poking that can CORRUPT or KILL files. Save ALL your files and KILL them before starting MESSENGER. --------------------------------------- Two files are required to operate MESSENGER. They are MSGRP.100 (11355 bytes, program files) and MSGRD.100(11420 bytes, this file). MSGRP.100 can be further subdivided into MSGR1.BA, START.BA, DELETE.BA, I.DO, AA.DO and D.DO. First, separate MSGRP.100 into the three .BA files and three .DO files listed above using the SELECT, CUT and PASTE keys in TEXT. Save each file separately to disk or tape. (To modify MESSENGER to use a ring detector modem cable or DVI or Chipmunk disk, go into BASIC and load MSGR1. To use a ring detector cable, MERGE AA.DO. To use a disk system, MERGE D.DO. Once the OK prompt appears, save the modified MSGR1.BA to disk or tape.) Next, clear the Model 100 of any unneeded programs or files. The only files that should remain in RAM are MSGR1.BA, START.BA and I.DO. If you are NOT using a disk, run START.BA, answer the Disk? prompt with a n then wait for the OK prompt. If you ARE using a disk, place a blank, formatted diskette in the 0: drive and run START.BA. Answer the Disk? prompt with a y. At the OK prompt, go into BASIC and kill START.BA. Disk users should now have D 0-4.DO in RAM, and MAIL and BASE 1-3 on disk. Non-disk users should have MAIL.DO and BASE 1-3.DO in RAM. Passwords PW.DO is MESSENGER's password file. Create this file and make one entry for each person who will be calling. Each entry should contain: User ID: User number (between 1 and 999, different for each user) Password (2-8 capital letters and numbers only) Access level (left empty for most accounts; * for sysops) A comma Name (capital letters only; each name different) Last call date and time (MM/DD/YYHH:MM) (create accounts with 00/00/0000:00) ENTER (will be referred to as ) A sample PW.DO file is shown in example 1. Jane Jones in our example appears to have last called on June 5, 1973 at 1:30 p.m. For this hypothetical Ms. Jones to gain access to the system, she would have to enter 45set as her ID. 241JAZZ*,SYSOP,11/27/8621:40 45SET,JANE JONES,06/05/7313:30 99DMV,PETE ROGET,10/19/8612:01 2NICAD,RICK MILLER,11/15/8618:24 01ALARM,DON HUGHES,00/00/0000:00 (example 1.--a sample PW.DO file) The only account holder having sysop access in the example is the sysop (SYstem OPerator). For him to gain access, he would have to enter 241JAZZ* as his ID. Mr. Hughes' account appears to have been just created. When creating accounts, give the person 00/00/0000:00 as his last call date/time. The first time he calls and disconnects this information will be corrected. As the person who runs the system, you are considered its sysop. When you initially create accounts, enter your own name as SYSOP and add an asterisk to your password to give you sysop access. Others can be given sysop access by adding an asterisk right after their password in the PW.DO file, but only the SYSOP will be able to read FEEDBACK (mail to the sysop) left by callers. **PROGRAMMER'S NOTE: If the name SYSOP seems to impersonal for you, EDIT line 17 of MSGR1 and substitute your name for SYSOP. The Operator's View At this point, the only files in RAM should be MSGR1.BA, I.DO, PW.DO, MAIL.DO, BASE 1.DO, BASE 2.DO and BASE 3.DO. (Disk users should have D0-3.DO instead of MAIL.DO and BASE 1-3.DO.) Go to the main menu and run MSGR1.BA by placing the cursor over it and pressing . (That's short for ENTER, remember?) The screen will clear and show the free memory on the top line. The function keys will read: F1 Quit - Stops program and places you in BASIC. F2 Ring - Manually answers phone. F3 Run - Enters LOCAL mode. In this mode, it will act as if it called itself. (The alternative would be receiving a call from another computer, which would be REMOTE mode.) To stop MESSENGER, press F1 while at this screen. This will leave you in BASIC with MESSENGER loaded. To return to the menu, press F8. Ring can be useful if you pick up the phone manually instead of letting MESSENGER take the call. If you wish to connect the caller with MESSENGER, press F2. The Model 100 will then seize the phone line just as if the phone had been ringing. Press F3 (Run) now. ID or NEW: will appear in the middle of the screen. Enter your ID. The screen will now clear and show new function key definitions. They are: F1 Chat - Allows direct typing between you and a caller. F2 View - Toggles the LOCAL screen on and off. The screen is usually off when in REMOTE mode for increased speed. F3 through F5 - ^N, ^X, ^Z. MESSENGER ignores control characters in local mode. Use F3-F5 instead. F6-F8 - The space on line eight of the display for these keys will show the name of the current caller. After MESSENGER checks for mail, it will display the menu. Press F1 now. This is what is known as Chat mode. If someone was on the other end of the phone line you could now type freely back and forth with him. To exit the Chat mode, press ESCape key (just under F1) . View is used to toggle the local screen on and off. When someone calls, MESSENGER transmits information to the REMOTE screen but not the LOCAL one. This screen blanking, as it is called, allows MESSENGER to transmit information at a faster pace. To see what a caller is doing, press F2 to turn the LOCAL screen on. Press F2 a second time to turn the LOCAL screen off. Read the help file for an explanation of the menu options. Only the capital letter and need be pressed (h for help, g for goodbye, etc.). Operation of MESSENGER in LOCAL mode differs from operation in REMOTE mode. In LOCAL mode, pause by pressing PAUSE or CTRL-S once to stop and again to continue. Function keys F3-5 are used instead of CTRL-N, CTRL-X and CTRL-Z. Once the menu is displayed again, press C. When a caller requests to speak with the sysop, a tone will be sounded and a graphic box will be placed around the Chat function key. This box will be erased when Chat is activated or when that caller hangs up. Maintenance Maintenance involves three basic tasks: updating PW.DO, responding to entries in L.DO and removing old messages from the message bases. The first is quite easy. If someone leaves a note saying that he will no longer be calling for some reason or if the last call date seems in the distant past, simply delete his entry in the PW.DO file. The L.DO file can contain two types of information, both of which are date and time stamped. If someone calls and types NEW as his ID, he will be asked for his name, phone number and message or desired password (should he wish an account). This information will be placed in L.DO. If you wish to give the caller an account, you can simply create an entry in PW.DO and place his name and the user number you assigned him in I.DO. (See I.DO for the format.) **PROGRAMMER'S NOTE: The menu, the message read to NEW callers and the help file are all in I.DO and can be edited. Any paragraph in the I.DO file that ends in a question mark will cause MESSENGER to stop and ask for a response. Be sure every line ends with and is less than 80 columns long or an OS? error may result. If an error occurs, the error number, the current caller and the line number in which the error occurred will also be placed in L.DO. Possible errors include Illegal Function Call (#5; a message base file has been corrupted), Overflow (#6; someone tried to read a message # over 32767), File not Found (#52; a file was deleted accidentally or a non-MESSENGER file is in RAM) and Input Past End of File (#54; either someone disconnected by pressing CTRL-Z or an error exists in I.DO.) MESSENGER will reset itself unless it encounters an Out of Memory error (#7). Once this information is retrieved, L.DO can be killed. To delete old messages from the message bases, use DELETE.BA. the Disk? prompt with a y or a n, as appropriate. Enter the date of the oldest message to keep in the form MM/DD/YY. The program will then remove all messages deleted or written before the entered date. This process can take anywhere from a few seconds to six minutes for a full RAM-based system or twelve minutes for a full disk system. When the delete program is finished, it will report with a short beep. Kill DELETE from RAM. Disk users may now resume MSGR1 operation. NON-disk users should go into each message file (MAIL.DO, BASE 1.DO, BASE 2.DO and BASE 3.DO) and search for *** (use the F1 (FIND) key). IF FOUND, delete from that point to the end of the file. (Press F7, CTRL-Down arrow, F6.) Connecting to the Outside World MESSENGER was written to work with a Hayes-compatible 300 or 300/1200 baud modem. The modem should be set to respect DTR signals and to send result codes to the screen. Both command echo and auto answer should be turned OFF. (This method ensures that if the Model 100 is not ready to answer a call the modem will not pick up the phone.) To use a ring detector cable, set the ANS/ORIG switch on the left side of the Model 100 to ANS. Communications with the Author You are now at the controls of your own bbs. If you have any questions or comments, send them via U.S. mail to the address at the top of this file. If you would like a private reply, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Good luck, and happy telecommunications!