(c)1990 Golden Triangle, Inc. (c)1990 Wilson Van Alst All rights reserved. Fm: Heidi Waldmann To: all Hi. I'm new here and feeling dumb. I haven't used my M100 in a couple years, but I'm going to be traveling at the same time I need to be writing a lot. I've been using a PC, but the cost of getting a laptop for the trip was prohibitive. Then I remembered my trusty M100! The question is, how feasible is it to write on the M100 and upload the files daily to CIS so that I can download them to the PC on my return? And, if it's feasible, how do I go about it? I've never logged on to CIS with the M100, and I've never uploaded files for myself with any computer. - 0 - Fm: Bill Brandon (DPTrain) To: Heidi Waldmann I use the Model 100 and my CIS PERsonal files area all the time on the road, so yes, it can be done. You will need to buy the modem cable for the Model 100, to begin with. If you are going to be uploading in places where the only phones available are pay phones, you will need the acoustic cups too/instead. For making connections in hotel rooms, a couple of gadgets come in handy: an offset type screwdriver (available in hardware stores) for taking wall plate covers off in order to use the modem cable, and a short length of telephone wire with a female modular connector on one end, and alligator clips on the red and green leads on the other end. This last gimmick is for those times when the hotel phone is wired straight into the wall and you can't use the direct connect cable the way it was intended. In your hotel room, check to see if you have a modular connector to a plug in the wall like you do at home. If so, you won't need either of the gadgets. Just follow the instructions for the modem cable and get on with things. If you can't see any modular connector, use the screwdriver to take off the cover plate where the phone line goes into the wall. Sometimes you will find a modular connector back there. If you find the phone leads connected to screws on a terminal block just clip the green alligator to the screw holding down the green lead from the phone, and the red alligator to the screw holding down the red lead from the phone. Then plug your direct connect modem cable into the female connector on your gadget. Now that you are connected, follow the instructions in your manual, exactly as written, to dial and connect to CompuServe. (Before you leave home, call up CIS, type GO PHONES, and get the CIS phone numbers in the cities where you are going.) I can't give you, here, better step-by-step than what is in the book. I do recommend you try this out before you leave home, though. Things go so much better when you don't have sweat dripping into your eyes from fear of screwing something up, worrying over connect-time charges mounting up, being in a strange place, etc. ... When you get logged on, type GO PER at the first ! prompt you come to. This will take you to the 128K of online storage you got with your account. Select item 3 from the PER Menu - Create & edit files. Give your file an easy-to-remember name; if you already have files in PER and can't recall which names you've used, pick item 1 - Brief CATALOG of files - to see them. Then just follow the instructions in your Model 100 manual for uploading. You don't need a protocol - CIS will just think you are typing pretty fast. When the file is uploaded, hit a couple of times, and then type /ex and hit . Then you can log off; if you want to be sure the file got through, from the PER Menu, select items 1 or 2, or item 4. That's all there is to it. When you get ready to download to the PC, go back to PER, open the capture buffer in your PC's comm software, and tell CIS to TYPE the file(s) you want. Log off, and edit away. You'll like this, once you get used to it. I've been a happy puppy ever since discovering how to use my PER area. It almost makes up for not being rich or good-looking. - 0 - Fm: Heidi Waldmann To: Bill Brandon (DPTrain) Thanks for such a super, detailed reply! How right you are about things going better without nerves! - 0 - Fm: Bill Brandon (DPTrain) To: Heidi Waldmann If there's anything missing (and believe me, if there is, it will be obvious!), leave me a message here and somebody will come bail you out in a hurry. - 0 - Fm: Heidi Waldmann To: Bill Brandon (DPTrain) Bill, it WORKED!! Right now, I've just got the acoustic coupler, and it took a little doing to figure out how to log on to CIS manually. But I did and got the file onto CIS. Dynamite! Now, it did seem awfully slow uploading. Is that because I'm used to 2400 baud, or would it go at least a little faster if I used an upload protocol? Also, when CIS prompts me for a width, what's the appropriate answer? I'm getting funny line breaks, with erratic paragraph breaks. Also, is a modem a modem a modem? (Do I have to have a Tandy modem to access CIS at 2400 baud, or could I use my external PC modem?) I'm just thrilled about this. Thanks so very much for your help! - 0 - Fm: Paul Globman To: Heidi Waldmann Heidi - the only way to speed things up is to use a higher speed modem. Just about any modem should do it, but you will not be able to use the TELCOM Find command to dial numbers from the ADRS.DO file. There are programs that will do that for you. If you use a 2400 baud modem you will have to change the TELCOM STAT from M7I1E, to 67I1E ( but that would be done by the program, if you use one). I might add that at higher speeds than 600 baud, you should use TOGGLE.100 which will allow data to transfer at full speed ahead. TOGGLE turns the M100 LCD scroll feature on/off. The LCD scroll tends to slow things a bit. The prompt for a width (when you upload ) is not coming from CIS. That prompt is from the TELCOM program in the M100. It just wants to know how long the lines of text should be, and it will put carraige returns in the proper places. The most appropriate response would be either 79 (or 39). That will sent text properly adjusted for an 80 ( or 40) column display, that other users might be using. - 0 - Fm: Heidi Waldmann To: Paul Globman Thanks. You are a veritable gold mine! If I were going to use a 2400 baud modem with the M100 which term program would you recommend? And if I run that, do I run TOGGLE.100 first? And where do I find TOGGLE.100? I feel like a little kid with all these questions... - 0 - Fm: Paul Globman To: Heidi Waldmann Heidi - I'm not suggesting that you use a term program (other than TELCOM). I was suggesting that there might be a suitable program somewhere in DL3 that would simulate TELCOM's FIND function, properly have your external modem dial, and then jump to TELCOM when the systems actually connect. I use a WorldPort 1200 and have such a program for the Tandy 200, but I do not know the exact program you need for the M100. Maybe someone else can direct you to the right file. TOGGLE.100 (also in DL3) is run just ONCE, and that's it!! It installs the code so one of TELCOM's unused function keys will turn scroll on and off when pressed. The new function key utility remains permanently installed until 1) you cold-start the M100, or 2) you assign different code to that TELCOM function key. You can install TOGGLE.100 without any external modem just to see it work with the internal modem. It will not speed file transfer, but with the scroll disabled it may _appear_ to be much faster.... Paul - 0 - Fm: Bill Brandon (DPTrain) To: Heidi Waldmann Yeah, doing file uploads at 300 baud is like having your teeth worked on without novocaine. You can use any external modem to do your uploading; does not have to be a Tandy. Using a protocol will only slow you down, and isn't needed for sending text files anyway, unless you are embedding control codes (which I don't recommend). The best way to handle text files for what you are doing, I've found, is to just type without hitting a carriage return at all until the end of the paragraph. Whether you use one or two CRs for the end of a para depends on what works best with the software you are going to use on the PC to beat on the files later. The line width prompt is coming from your Model 100, not from CIS. I recommend 79. That way you can't overflow the CIS input buffer, and the lines will look "normal" if you edit on-line. You *will* have to go back and pull those CR's off the end of each line, though; if you have a programmer friend, s(he) can write a little BASIC code to do this chore for you (you will then need to use the double-CR method to end paragraphs and separate "bulleted" items, however). The only thing about using an external modem at over 600 baud is that the LCD screen on the 100 will slow any *down*loads to an effective 600 baud rate unless you disable the screen scroll. This may not be a problem if you don't need to read stuff as it comes in. - 0 - Fm: MEL ZWILLENBERG To: Heidi Waldmann On additional thing about hotel phones: Some LOOK as if they are hardwired, but if you look carefully at the hole in the wall where the cord goes, you find a modular jack, but they have cut the tip of the locking tab off the plug so you can't unplug it! I've found a small jeweler's screwdriver lets you press the remainder of the tab enough to unplug the phone and access the jack. I've also found at least one hotel that had a digital phone system (cluewhen you dial, ALL the buttons have the same pitch!). There, none of these tricks except an acoustic coupler worked for me. - 0 - Fm: Bill Brandon (DPTrain) To: Kent Hansen Yes, I had forgotten about that little irritant. Hope Heidi sees this. - 0 - Fm: Bill Brandon (DPTrain) To: Heidi Waldmann As to software, I have had my 100 since 1984, and have never found that I needed any software for the on-the-road job than what comes built in to the machine. Save your money and buy more RAM. The job is a piece of cake done with TEXT and TELCOM alone - other software just slows you down. If you *must* have help with TEXT, James Yi's TEXTE (Text Enhancement) here is free and wonderful - lets you disable word wrap, overstrike instead of insert only, and append to the paste buffer, and won't get in the way. It does take up a few bytes of RAM (128 bytes, I think - not much in any case). - 0 - Fm: Don Sakers To: Heidi Waldmann One last thing to be careful of -- in the PER area on CIS, uploaded files will "vanish" after thirty days unless you "use" them somehow... downloading, editing, etc. So if you'll be travelling for more than 30 days, make sure your early files have some activity every month or they will evaporate. - 0 - Fm: Kent Hansen To: Heidi Waldmann Heidi - Three suggestions you may find useful while travelling: 1)Almost always logging on from hotels involves manually navigating the Compuserve log On procedure since most hotels have "tone" type systems. >Tip: -Carry a modular splitter (plugs into the phone line and provides two modular outlets). -Change your normal ADRS.DO logon string to put the phone number before the ":" Example: Toronto1-416-7524150:<^C?U73617,2335^M?Ppass* word^M>: -Plug phone in one side and M100 into the other. In TELECOM 'FIND' the number (eg "Toronto"). The number you want to dial is now on the screen in front of you. -Dial the hotel phone. When you hear the modem tone press 'CALL'. Only numbers after ":" will be dialed so the M100 immediately begins the logon procedure without you having to type it manually. Hang up the hotel phone. 2)The long wait while the Compuserve 'Welcome/What's New' menu scrolls by is frustrating. If you are using a direct Compuserve phone number ^P (Pressing CTRL and P @ the same time) stops it and gives you a prompt but this does not work via Tymnet access node. >Tip: -If you change your logon string to... Toronto1-416-7524150:<^C?U73617,2335/go:M100SIG\pass*word^M >: ...then not only is logon faster but you are taken immediately to the area you want to be.( Replace M100SIG with whatever GO section you desire.) The 'slash' in front of 'password' is created by pressing the 'GRPH' and '-' keys at the same time and tells Compuserve not to Echo back anything that follows. 3)Finding a phone line to use for logon can be difficult away from the hotel. Most airports have pay fax's throughout. >Tip: -If you are as "pushy" as I am, it is very easy to disconnect the line from the wall and hook your M100 to the jack. (Sometimes '9' is required to get an outside line.) It is a good idea to carry a modular extension cord to avoid kneeling for extended periods in crowded concoursess. - - 0 - Starting message #: 26653 Starting date: 07-Jul-90 05:12:27 Participants: Heidi Waldmann 72657,2735 Bill Brandon (DPTrain) 76701,256 Paul Globman 72227,1661 MEL ZWILLENBERG 75746,3705 Alan Rowberg 76703,4421 Kent Hansen 73617,2335 Don Sakers 72517,526