Pocket Packet for the Psion Series 3a ===================================== Description of Version 3.28 PocPac is a split-screen packet TNC driver for the Psion Series 3a computer. It was originally written as an exercise in using OPL on the RS232 port, but has proved very useful as part of a portable packet outfit. While the built in COMMS application works well with TNCs, PocPac provides the split-screen facility which is usual in PC packet programs. PocPac is written entirely in OPL. This means it does not run quite as fast as it could, but is perfectly adequate for most packet radio applications. I have not tried it with 9600 baud packet, but I run the RS232 side of my KPC3 at 9600 all the time, any have not seen any data loss. PocPac is a free program, and can be circulated by any means. Please keep all the files together in the original archive if you pass them on. Memory Requirements The program size is about 15k. The memory required to run PocPac depends on the size of scrollback buffer used, the approximate figures are: 12 pages 41 kbytes 6 pages 32 kbytes 0 pages 23 kbytes When the buffer is being displayed, a further 10 kbytes is required. Installation. The following files should be unzipped from the archive: PP.OPA The main program file PP.RSC PocPac help file CAPTURE.ALS A text editor alias for captured data UPLOAD.ALS As above, but for editing .TXT files for transmission PP.PIC An icon for incorporation in a .GRP file PP.TXT This file PPCONF.OPO Configuration file creator/editor PP.MAC Sample macro file PPMAC.OPO Macro file creator/editor * Copy PP.OPA into the \APP\ directory on drive A, B or M. * Create an \APP\POCPAC\ directory on the same drive, and copy PP.RSC and PP.MAC into it. * The two .OPO files allow you to configure PocPac. They should be copied to an \OPO\ directory. They are not used when PocPac is running, and may be removed after configuration is completed. * PocPac is installed to the system screen in the usual way, Psion-I. * You can also copy the ALS files to an \APP\ directory and install them in the same way - the captured and send files will appear under the icons. Note - these aliases assume your 'send' and capture directory is \PP\ on any drive. See page 126 in the Psion 3a User Guide if you use other directories. You can use PocPac, the .ALS files and, say 7plus (by Rovoreed) in a GROUP (see Psions User Guide). You can use the PP.PIC file as the group icon. * If you are updating your version of PocPac, the configuration file may not be compatible. It is best to delete this from the M:\DAT\ directory - it will be called PP.DBF or PP.CFG. You can now run PocPac for the first time. It will create a new config file, M:\DAT\PP.DBF, and then exit. You can now customise PP.DBF using the Psion DATA application, or with the program PPCONF.OPO which is included in the PocPac archive: Using DATA: Highlight PP under the DATA icon on the system screen, and press return. Some default values will already be filled in. Press Psion-U and change them to the values you require. Then press TAB to save the new configuration, and Psion-K to compress the file. Now press Psion-X to save the file. Using the configuration file editor, PPCONF.OPO: This can be placed in any \OPO\ directory, and it will appear under the RunOpl icon. Highlight it and run it. It is self explanatory, so needs no instructions (I hope!!). If you remove PP.DBF, a new one will be generated when you next run PocPac. The file structure (with example entries) is as below: BaudRate 9600 Handshake Rts/Cts WordLength 8 Parity None CapturePath LOC::M:\PP\ SendPath LOC::M:\PP\ QuickConnect GB7WIR Connect 1 G0HZK etc., to Connect 8 No Call ScrollPages 7 FooterName LOC::A:\APP\POCPAC\FOOTER.FUT WordWrap 68 Font Small PW Prompt GB7QRZ-0> PW Table abcdefghijk........... Sound Yes Echo No The baudrate can be chosen from 1200, 1800, 2000, 2400, 3600, 4800, 7200 9600 and 19200. I recommend 9600 with a normal 1200 baud TNC. The slower you go, the longer it takes for your typing to appear when the channel is busy, and you are just monitoring the traffic. (My TNC won't go at 19200, so I haven't tried that speed). Handshake can be either Rts/Cts or Xon/Xoff. WordLength can be either 7 or 8. Parity can be None, Even, or Odd. If 8 bit data is used, set parity to None. For 7 bit data, all three choices are available. NOTE: Rts/Cts, 8, and None are the best settings to use, especially if 7plus files are to be handled. CapturePath is the directory you wish to capture data to. The full path should be entered as in the example, ending with a backslash "\". This path should preferably be on a RAM SSD or the internal drive. SendPath is the directory PocPac first looks in when you wish to send a file. This can be on any drive. It can be the same as CapturePath if required. Quickconnect is the callsign of the BBS you normally use. When Psion-B is pressed, PocPac issues a connect request to this call. Up to 25 letters are allowed, e.g. GB7QRT v GB7QRV-1 Connect 1 to Connect 8 are the callsigns of 8 stations which you can connect to using PocPac Psion-C command. If you do not use all 8, you can leave the others blank. Scrollpages is the number of pages of scrollback buffer you wish to allow. 0 (zero) disables scrollback if memory is low. You can allocate up to 12 pages of 17 lines - depending on memory available. 12 pages allows you to buffer 200 lines of text - normally enough! FooterName is the full name and path to a footer file you may wish to append to files you send. WordWrap is the minimum number of charcters on a type-ahead line before PocPac will consider word-wrapping. 68 is OK for English users, those who send text in languages with longer words may need to reduce this! Font determines the font used for the receive window. Set this to SMALL for 14 lines, or TINY for 18 lines. PW Prompt is the prompt sent by a F6FBB BBS when entering remote sysop mode. This looks like GB7QRZ-0> followed by five numbers. Enter the GB7QRZ-0> prompt here, up to 12 characters. PW Table is the string used to convert the numbers received above, to the letters to be sent to the BBS in reply. The max string length is 255 letters here (Note: PPCONF allows you to edit only 99 characters). If you use the F6FBB "SYS" command, you should understand how it works! I believe that some BBSs use the same system for normal user access. Sound signifies whether a connect 'alarm' is sounded. It can be Yes or No. Echo determines whether PocPac echoes input text to the main window. If you use "ECHO ON" on your TNC, set this value to No. Set it to Yes if you normally use "ECHO OFF" on your TNC. When you are satisfied with the configuration set using DATA, you can rename M:\DAT\PP.DBF to M:\DAT\PP.CFG This will remove it from DATAs file list, but PocPac will still read it. You can edit it again by pressing TAB when DATA files are highlighted, and using the file selector to find PP.CFG. You can also edit it with PPCONF. Macro file A new feature on this version is a simple macro facility. This allows you to send short commands to your TNC or BBS. It is activated by pressing the MENU key. The macro commands are stored in the \APP\POCPAC\PP.MAC file. This is a standard Psion data file. You can have up to 10 macros, each of up to 15 characters, which are stored one per record. To assist you in doing this, I have included a small utility, PPMAC.OPO, which can be copied to any \OPO\ directory. This will find your macro file on any drive, or create one on the M: internal drive if it cannot find a file. The use of this is self-explanatory! The macros are included to simplify the sending of commonly used BBS commands, like LS PSION, SB DEBATE @ GBR, or DX cluster commands. Let me know if they need to be longer than I have allowed! Using PocPac Highlight PocPac and press Enter. If the 3-Link Serial lead is not plugged in, you will be told so! Plug it in first! Ensure that COMMS or any similar application has been closed down. If the LINK is running, it will be automatically closed by PocPac. You will have to restart it next time you wish to copy files to your main computer. The 3-Link lead is normally connected to your TNC with a "null modem" type lead. This reverses the TxD and RxD lines, also the Rts and Cts lines. Switch on your TNC and you should see the sign on message. With some TNCs you may need to press Enter a few times. Set the TNC to "ECHO ON" if you wish to see your text echoed. Note the use of the ECHO parameter in PP.DBF. PocPac does not send any line feeds to the TNC, which does not require them. Also it does not add them to incoming text. Set "LFADD OFF" and "AUTOLF ON". Check that the TNC filters out incoming line feeds, you may need to set "LFSUP ON" to remove them. Type-ahead. PocPac uses a type-ahead buffer - text you type will appear in the lower window and will not be sent to the TNC unless you either press ENTER, or PocPac wordwraps. Word wrap will occur when you press the space bar after 68 letters have been typed. This threshold can be altered if desired. If wordwrap occurs, a CR will be appended to the text sent to the TNC. Some BBSs cannot handle long lines of text. If you press Control-C (for TNC Command Mode) this command bypasses the type-ahead and goes straight to the TNC. The last 5 lines sent (using ENTER) are saved, and can be recalled by pressing Up or DownArrow. They can be edited and sent again if required. Psion-Y deletes all you have typed on the current line. You can edit the current line using the arrow and delete keys - you can alter text anywhere in the current line. HOME and END have their usual WP meaning. Scrollback. Press Pg Up to activate the scrollback windows. You can then move between the pages using UpArrow and DownArrow (or Pg Up and Pg Dn). Press ESC to exit scrollback. You can save the contents of the scrollback memory by pressing Psion-S while the scrollback window is visible. This writes a new file each time, which will be found in the capture directory. The name will be nnSCRLBK.CAP, where initially nn=01. If 01SCRLBK.CAP exists, then 02SCRLBK.CAP will be used, and so on. The lowest possible number will always be used. While you are viewing scrollback, you can still type into the type-ahead. All letter keys and editing keys still work, as does ENTER. Thus you can view a list from a BBS and type the message numbers you wish to read. When you press ENTER, the line is sent, but scrollback is still active. Press ESC to return to the main window. If you leave scrollback active for 2 minutes without doing anything, it will cancel automatically. Note scrollback eats memory. While the data structure is allocated when you run PocPac, opening the scrollback window uses more memory. PocPac does NOT check if there is enough, and may crash if there isn't! Sorry! If you set the config file for more pages than memory can provide, scrollback will be disabled, and you will be told. To check if you have enough, press UpArrow then the System button. Press Psion-M at the system screen to see what is left. Sound, and Connect Status. If the 'Sound' field in the configuration file contains YES, the 'Fanfare' alarm is sounded once when a connect is achieved. The "OnLine" status message will also appear when connected (If you are using a low RS232 baud rate, this may not always happen). You may also get a beep if your TNC is set to send a BELL character (Ctrl-G, or ASCII 7). My KPC3 V5.1 doesn't do this even if RING is ON and FILTER is OFF, so I can't check this! On a disconnect, status becomes "OffLine". You can substitute your own connect alarm for Psions fanfare. Put the sound file, named PP.WVE, into any \WVE directory. Multitasking PocPac should continue to capture data while running in the background. The display will continue to update, even though you cannot see it. Except when sending a file or when a dialog is displayed, all system, keyboard, and serial IO handling is asynchronous. Thus the program effectively becomes quiescent when nothing is happening. The Keys. The following functions are provided: Psion-T Sets TNC time to Psion time (TNC must be in command mode) Psion-L Captures incoming text to a file. This is saved to the directory defined in CapturePath (see above). If the directory is missing, PocPac will try to make it. The file name, the current date (e.g. AUG12.CAP) is shown on the status line. If the file is already present, it will be appended to. This is a toggle. A second press of Psion-L will stop text being captured. Psion-S Send a file with a .TXT extension. The dialog which appears allows selection of a file from the SendPath directory. You can press TAB to get the Psion file selector to send from a different directory - Note only .TXT files will be shown. You also have the option to terminate your file with /EX or Ctrl-Z. You can also add /ACK for remote acknowledgement of receipt of PRIVATE MESSAGES (SP) - do *NOT* try this with bulletins! The footer described earlier can also be added. Also a date stamp may be added. Psion-A As above, but file mask *.* is used to allow any file to be selected. The filename sent is shown on the status line during sending. Psion-M Send multiple copies. This facility, written by HB9VBC, enables you to send copies of a file, already uploaded to a BBS, to all the callsigns in a list. The list is a file created by the Psion DATA application. Each record has two fields, the first contains a callsign, the second the home BBS of that station. There is one record for each station on the list. This file is normally held in the \DATA\ directory of the default drive, and has the normal .DBF extension. On pressing Psion-M, you will see a dialog which requests the number of the message on the BBS that you wish to copy. A file selector enables you to choose the Data file which contains the list. You are asked to enter the "send copy" command for your BBS (default sc), and the message terminator (Control-Z or /EX) if the BBS requires this to close each copy it makes. You may abort this command by pressing Esc. NOTE: The BBS may send a prompt for every callsign it processes. This may take a while! Psion-B Issue a connect command to the QuickConnect Callsign. Psion-C Connect to one of eight stations configured. Psion-E View or edit the captured file. If file capture is active, it will be closed first. Psion-F Sends the footer file, i.e. enables you to append your footer and optional date stamp, to a message typed 'live' into a BBS. Psion-K Kill editor. If the editor was open, and you return to PocPac without closing it (e.g. via Psion-System) the status line may tell you the editor is still active. If you re-open the capture file (Psion-L above) the editor will be closed first automatically. Psion-P Decodes the 5 numbers received from a BBS into a password, and places them on the type-ahead line. Press Enter to send the password. Psion-V Shows the version of PocPac, and how to contact the author. Psion-X Closes down PocPac. Psion-Y Deletes current type-ahead line. Psion-Z Toggles between Small and Tiny font. Alas it clears the screen as well, but the scrollback buffer remains intact. Help Shows the help screens. Pg Up Activates scrollback window. UpArrow & DownArrow Recall last 5 lines sent to TNC. Status Line The status line gives some information about PocPac. The first part of the line is used to display the capture file name, or the current file being sent. The next box shows either "OnLine" or "OffLine", the former if you have connected to a station. The next part shows the RS232 baud rate. Then comes the RS232 settings: like 8N1R which means 8 bit word, No parity, 1 stop bit and Rts/Cts handshaking. The number following W in the next box is the column after which the word wrap can occur. The number following P in the next box is the number of scrollback pages. Next is the Capture drive letter, e.g. A, followed by the bytes remaining on that drive. Finally the current time, as set by the Psion clock. Registration There is no charge for using PocPac, but I would be grateful if users send me a message by packet, internet, or post, telling me that they are using the program. Thanks to Daniel Pfund, HB9VBC @ HB9IAP.SROM.CHE.EU for his "Send Copy" list generator. Registrations, bug reports, wishlists, etc. to:- Roger Muggleton, G0HZK @ GB7WIR.#42.GBR.EU Internet: hzk@cix.co.uk Post - I am Qthr. Whats New: version 3.28 30th October '96 Macro facility added. Date stamp facility on send file and send footer dialogs. Serial link detection changed to allow use on Series 3c (I hope).