NOVATERM 9.6 Documentation pages Contents | Introduction | Getting Started | Getting Familiar | On-line Activities | Configuration | Disk Utilities | Scripts | Utility Modules | Appendices ___________________________________________________________ APPENDIX A. TEXT EDITOR Nova-Text is a utility for creating and editing textfiles (sequential files). Nova-Text provides a number of editing functions accessible with control key combinations. A list of editor commands is available on a single help screen from within the program by pressing CTRL-H. Nova-Text uses as much contiguous internal memory as possible for editing textfiles. This means that you may edit textfiles up to about 38K in size (about 39,000 bytes, or 150 disk blocks). A.1 Status line Nova-Text uses a status line at the top of the screen to indicate various settings. From left to right, you'll see the following information: 1. Current line and column position of the cursor. L indicates the line number and C indicates the column number. 2. A flag indicating insert (Ins) or overwrite (Ovr) mode. In insert mode, any text you type is always inserted before the text under the cursor. In overwrite mode, text under the cursor is overwritten by your typing. 3. The current disk device and drive/partition number. If the current device is set to the buffer, the word Buf appears here. 4. The name of the file being edited, if there is one. 5. An asterisk next to the file name indicates the current file has been modified. A.2 Loading a file To load a file into the editor, press CTRL-L. Type in the name of the file. A.3 Entering text To enter text in the editor, simply start typing. To move the cursor around, use the arrow keys. Additional navigational commands are provided: F1: Page up - moves up a page. F2: Top of file - moves the cursor to line 1. F3: Page down - moves down a page. F4: Bottom of file - moves the cursor to the last line. F5: End of line - moves the cursor to the end of the current line. F6: End of screen - moves the cursor to the last line on the screen. F8: Tab - jump to the right 8 spaces. A.4 Deleting lines To delete the current line, press CTRL-Y. A.5 Finding and replacing text To search for a string, press CTRL-F. Type in the string to search for. The cursor immediately jumps to the first instance of the string after the current cursor position. To jump to the next instance of the string, press CTRL-V. To search for and replace a string with another string, press CTRL-R. Type in the the string to search for. Then, type in the string to replace it with. Nova-Text will ask if you want to replace all occurrences of the string. If you answer no, only the first string found will be replaced. Press CTRL-V again to replace the next occurence of the string. If you answer yes, all occurrences of the string are replaced, and Nova-Text tells you how many changes were made. A.6 Changing margins Nova-Text allows you to edit text up to 255 columns wide. Even though not all columns are visible at once on the 40-column screen, you can scroll the screen to the left and right by moving the cursor beyond the right edge of the screen. To set the margins, press CTRL-M. Enter the column number for the left and right margins. When you have set the margins, all word wrapping will stay within those boundaries. A.7 Formatting text Nova-Text will automatically format text to the margins you specify while you type, as long as you have word wrap turned on. To toggle word wrap, press CTRL-W. If you change the margins and want to reformat a previously typed paragraph, move the cursor to the first column of the first line of the paragraph, and press CTRL-A. A.8 Moving, copying, and deleting text Nova-Text allows you to mark off a section of text to move, copy, or delete. This involves four steps: 1. Move the cursor to the beginning of the text you want to mark, and press CTRL-B. Nova-Text tells you that you have marked the start of the block. 2. Move the cursor to the end of the text you want to mark, and press CTRL-B again. At this point, the text section is highlighted, and Nova-Text asks whether you want to move, copy, or delete the text. 3. Press M to move, C to copy, or D to delete. Pressing any other key will unmark the text and abort the operation. 4. If you decided to move or copy the text, move the cursor to the new position for the text and press RETURN. No other editing is possible until you have pressed RETURN. The status line shows the letters Blk before you press RETURN to indicate this special mode. A.9 Saving a file To save the file, press CTRL-S. Type in the file name. To use the previous file name, just press RETURN. A.10 Compiling a script To compile the text in the editor into a script file, press RUN/STOP. See section 6, Scripts for more information about this. A.11 Other commands The following commands are also available in the text editor: CTRL-C: DOS command - Send a disk command to the current device. CTRL-E: Erase memory - Clear out the editor. CTRL-H: Help screen - Bring up the help screen CTRL-I: Input filter - Turn the input filter on or off. When turned on, the input filter removes any non-ASCII characters while a file is loaded. CTRL-K: Append file - Append a file on disk to the file in the editor. CTRL-N: Insert line - Insert a blank line before the current one. CTRL-O: Bytes free - Display the number of bytes free in the editor's memory. CTRL-P: Print file - Print the file on the printer. CTRL-T: Set tab size - Set the number of spaces to tab when F8 is pressed. CTRL-X: Delete char - Delete the character under the cursor. CTRL-SHIFT: Toggle character mode - In character mode, every key you typed is displayed in the editor, including control keys. A.12 Other DOS commands The following commands can be entered at the DOS command prompt: @ - Read error channel $ - Directory # - Change device and drive If you specify the letter B as the device number, the editor will use the buffer as the current device. APPENDIX B. BBS MODE BBS mode is a small answering service of sorts that imitates a bulletin board system. It allows users to call in, view the directory, upload and download files, read and write textfiles, and leave messages to you. It has a chat mode, and it keeps a log of people who have called. Users may also upload hidden files, which may not be seen by other callers. Unlike a real BBS, BBS mode has no public message base, no electronic mail (except feedback to the sysop), and no maintained list of users. The BBS mode is meant only as a simple front-end interface for users to call in and get files. B.1 Configuration file BBS mode reads your standard configuration file for Novaterm, and installs the modules specified there. In addition, BBS mode uses its own configuration file (given the file name "\bbs config"), and this is loaded when the program is run, if it exists. The program also keeps a statistics file (called "\stats") which records the last caller, number of messages, number of uploads and downloads, and number of callers. B.2 Initial setup BBS mode first tries to set the system clock using the module you have specified in your configuration for Novaterm (see 1.1.10, Selecting a real-time clock device). If you have selected the Manual module, BBS mode asks you for the current time. You are then presented with the setup menu. Each option has the following function: Sysop name: This is the name you use to log in as the sysop. When you log in as the sysop, you have special access to read feedback, execute disk commands, look at the caller log, and view and download hidden files. If you enter this name when you log in, you are prompted for sysop password, described below. BBS name: This is the name displayed above the default user menu. It has no other real significance, except as a symbol of your particular BBS mode. System password: If you enter a system password here, users are required to supply the password when they log in. If this is left blank, no password is requested at login. Sysop password: It is highly recommended that you enter something here. If you try to log in under the sysop name, this sysop password is requested. Supplying the correct password gives a person sysop access, described above. As a double protection against invalid sysop access, the sysop name is never made known to users who call in, so someone would have to know both the sysop name and password to get sysop access. Opening message: This is the file name of a textfile that is displayed after someone logs in. If left blank, the file is not searched for. Main menu: This is the file name of a textfile that contains the main menu. If left blank, the default menu is displayed. Logoff message: This is the file name of a textfile that is displayed just before someone logs out. If left blank, nothing is displayed. System drive: This is the device and drive number of the disk that is used for displaying the above textfiles, selecting protocols, saving the caller log, and saving the statistics file. Available drives: This brings up a menu which allows you to specify which drives may be accessed with the Change drive command. You must give names to the drives. If you are going to run more than one drive on the BBS, you may divide files into different categories using the names of the drives. Save configuration: This saves all of the current settings on the menu. Load configuration: This re-loads the settings that were last saved. Start BBS: When you are finished with the setup menu, select this option to set up BBS mode to answer calls. Pressing F1 selects this option immediately. B.3 Waiting for a call BBS mode goes into loop waiting for the phone to ring. You may interrupt the loop by pressing F1 to abort the program, F7 to return to the setup menu, or F3 jump into local mode (allowing you to log in). In local mode, the phone is taken off the hook so that callers encounter a busy signal. B.4 Logging in During a login, BBS mode asks for a name. If you enter the sysop name, you are asked for the sysop password, as described above. The name entered is used to designate an author for feedback messages and to keep track of people who have called. If a system password is in effect, it is requested after the name. Commands are given on the BBS's main menu. If you have sysop access, you may also use Disk command, Log of callers, and Read feedback, commands which are not available to regular callers. APPENDIX C. VENDOR INFORMATION This section contains addresses and phone numbers of vendors for the various hardware products listed in this documentation. C.1 CommPort, BBGRam, RAMDrive, BBRTC The CommPort cartridge contains a 6551 UART chip and a standard RS232 serial port, enabling speeds up to 38,400 bps. The BBGRam cartridge is a memory expansion device available in sizes of 512K, 1 MB, or 2 MB of RAM. The RAMDrive is an intelligent, transparent memory expansion device. It is available in sizes up to 8 MB. The BBRTC is a small, battery-backed real-time clock chip that plugs into either joystick port. The above hardware was sold by Performance Peripherals, Inc., which is no longer in business. C.2 SwiftLink, RAMLink The SwiftLink cartridge contains a 6551 UART chip and a standard RS232 serial port, enabling communication speeds up to 38,400 bps. The RAMLink is an intelligent memory expansion device that uses SIMM chips. It is expandable up to 16 MB. The SwiftLink and RAMLink are both sold by Creative Micro Designs, Inc. Creative Micro Designs, Inc. P.O. Box 646 East Longmeadow, MA 01028 U.S.A. (413) 525-0023 E-mail: doug.cotton@cmdweb.com C.3 HART cartridge The HART cartridge uses an 8250 UART chip connected to a standard RS232 serial port, achieving speeds up to 57,600 bps. The HART cartridge is sold by Hatronics. Hatronics c/o Mark Hatten 145 Lincoln Street Montclair, NJ 07042 U.S.A. E-mail: markhatten@att.com C.4 Enhanced RS232 interface (UP9600) Daniel Dallmann has designed a simple modification to the standard RS232 interface (which plugs into the user port) that allows the Commodore 64 to operate at up to 9600 bps. Information on how to make this modification is available on the Internet at the following site: Enhanced RS232 E-mail: Daniel.Dallmann@studbox.uni-stuttgart.de ___________________________________________________________ Contents | Introduction | Getting Started | Getting Familiar | On-line Activities | Configuration | Disk Utilities | Scripts | Utility Modules | Appendices