d SuperTex Videotex Terminal Emulator Version 2.1 Copyright 1986, 1987 Ron Wright and Peter Story 26th September 1990 There appears to be no official documentation concerning the operation of SuperTex. Whilst the operation of the program is fairly obvious, there are some points which are not and this document attempts to rectify this. I make no claims as to the completeness or accuracy of this document's contents and am sure that I must have missed out many of SuperTex's hidden features. If so, I apologise. Chapter 1. OVERVIEW ------------------- SuperTex is a communications program for use with Videotex/Viewdata services. The program is Australian in origin and was written for use with the Australian Viatel service. In most respects, it functions equally as well with the British Prestel service, but there are slight differences, notably with respect to the way that the CET telesoftware downloader is implemented. These differences and their effects are discussed later. SuperTex may be used with intelligent modems, typically of the Hayes compatible type, or with dumb modems of the non-buffered, manual type. Connections at speeds of 300, 1200/1200, 2400/2400 or 1200/75 bps are all supported. Chapter 2. INSTALLING SUPERTEX ------------------------------ SuperTex is normally supplied without any of the niceties of life like icons and documentation and usually consists of a single program file called 'SuperTex'. As a result, the program must initially be set up from the CLI, but, once set up, it may be used from the WorkBench without any trouble, if preferred. However, Micronet have partially configured your copy of Supertex so that the hard work has already been done. If you have not already done so, please read the READMEFIRST document included on your disc, which will tell you what to do to run the program. You will still have to input your local Prestel telephone number and details of your modem speed, as with most comms programs. The following installation notes may be used if you wish to set up further configurations for Supertex. You are strongly recommended to make one or more backup copies of Supertex before doing so, however. It is assumed throughout this documentation that you have at least a basic knowledge of the Amiga and its operating system and also how to use the CLI. If you do not know how to create new drawers, use the CLI, or copy files using the CLI, you should consult the Amiga manual before proceeding further. SuperTex may be installed on floppy or hard disk. If installing on a hard disk, a drawer called SuperTex should be created. This will be used for all SuperTex related files. If installing onto a floppy disk, a blank, but formatted, disk will be required. Several drawers will also need to be created, either within the SuperTex drawer on a hard disk, or the root of a floppy disk. Drawers can be created from WorkBench by clicking on an empty Drawer icon and selecting the Duplicate option in the WorkBench Menu, then clicking on the new 'copy of' drawer and using the Rename option to rename the drawer. Alternatively, new drawers can be created from the CLI using the MAKEDIR command and then copying another drawer '.info' file and giving it the same name as the drawer created. If you are not sure how to do this, use the WorkBench method! The four drawers required should be given the following names. CAROUSEL CONFIG SCREENS TEXT Open a CLI window and copy the SuperTex program file into the SuperTex drawer on a hard disk, or the root of a floppy, using the COPY command. Examples:- COPY DF0:SuperTex DF1: to copy from a floppy in DF0: to DF1: COPY DF0:SuperTex DH0:SuperTex to copy from DF0: to the SuperTex drawer on DH0: (change the drive letters as required) The installation is now virtually complete but it is still necessary to run SuperTex from the CLI for the first time at least. Select the drawer containing the SuperTex file and then type:- SUPERTEX The program will start to load and after a few seconds a SuperTex Error Message will appear, telling you that the configuration file was not found and that the default configuration will be used. Click on the Proceed button and SuperTex will continue to load and then present you with its opening screen. As we are only really interested in setting up SuperTex at the moment, we shall just perform a basic configuration initially. Click on the 'Viatel' entry in the SuperTex Configuration requester in the lower part of the screen. This will open the Modem Settings requester. Change the Service entry to 'Prestel' and then enter the telephone number of your local Prestel access point in the Number entry. Click on the Accept button. If your modem is Hayes compatible, click on the Manual Dial entry. This will take you back into the Modem Settings requester so that you can change the Modem Prefix to suit your modem, or select Tone dialling etc. On return, the setting will now show Auto Dial. Click repeatedly on the entries which show speed, Parity and Duplex settings, to change them to what you require. Normally, you will require Full Duplex and Even Parity and the fastest speed that your modem supports. You can choose whether your ID and password will be automatically sent or not. If the SuperTex Configuration window shows 'Manual ID' the program is configured not to send the ID. Clicking on this will open the Modem Settings requester and allow you to enter your ID. All necessary changes have now been made, so you can click on the Local button to go into local mode. The lower part of the screen will clear. Select the pull down menus by clicking and holding down the right mouse button, pull down the Config Menu and select the Save Config option. SuperTex's file selector will be displayed. You should find that the 'Drawer' entry contains the entry "CONFIG", indicating that is the drawer into which the configuration will be saved. Type:- Default as the Filename, then click on the Save Button. The configuration will be saved. Note: A configuration file with the name 'Default' is automatically looked for by SuperTex. If it is not found, an error message will be displayed every time SuperTex is loaded. SuperTex will always load this default configuration, either from the CLI or WorkBench, unless another configuration file name is provided. You can now pull down the Project Menu and select the Quit option to return to the CLI prompt and then to WorkBench if you prefer. Chapter 3. LOADING AND USING SUPERTEX ------------------------------------- Once installed correctly, SuperTex may be run either from the CLI or from WorkBench. a). Loading from WorkBench Select the CONFIG drawer and double click on the 'Default' configuration icon. The Default configuration will be loaded with SuperTex. You may create as many different configurations as you want, saving each with a different name. This is particularly useful as SuperTex does not maintain a dialling directory as some other programs do. Instead, each configuration file contains the details for a single service, so that different configuration files allow you to automatically configure SuperTex for different services, complete with different macros and indexes. SuperTex may also be loaded by double clicking on any Carousel, Screen or Text file icons which have been created by SuperTex. b). Loading from the CLI To run SuperTex from the CLI, select the drawer containing SuperTex as the current drawer and enter SUPERTEX This will load SuperTex and the Default configuration you created. Alternatively, you can load SuperTex and another configuration file by typing SUPERTEX CONFIG/Prestel which will load a configuration file called 'Prestel' in the CONFIG drawer. Once loaded, you have two choices. You can either go straight on line by selecting the 'Connect' button, or you can use the 'Local' button to go into local mode. Local mode allows you to load existing frames for viewing and so on. You can also go on line from Local mode by selecting the service entry in the Dial Menu. If you are using a Hayes type modem SuperTex will then cause the modem to dial the specified number and connect. If you are using a 'dumb' modem, you will have to dial the number yourself and once the carrier is heard, click on the Connect button to go on line. Note: Certain keys are redefined for ease of use and these are described in full at the end of this document, but it is important to be aware that the hash '#' that Prestel expects to receive may be produced in SuperTex either by using the hash key, or the small enter key on the numeric pad. Chapter 4. PULL DOWN MENUS -------------------------- SuperTex's pull down menus are available at all times in either Local mode or whilst on line and are accessed by holding down the right mouse button, which will display the menu bar, and then moving the pointer to the menu required and, finally, the option required. Some menus lead to further sub-menus which are accessed in the same way. Releasing the right button whilst the required option is highlighted selects it. This chapter describes the purpose of all the options in the pull down menus. Project Menu ------------ About - Displays a copyright message Save Screen Produces a sub-menu offering:- Graphics - Saves the current screen to file as a graphics file. The File selector is displayed for you to enter a name for the file. Note that files saved with this option have their own icon. Double clicking on one of these icons will load SuperTex and the chosen frame. Text - Saves all ASCII characters in the current screen to file to a text file. Load Screen - Loads and displays a screen previously saved with the 'Save Screen - Graphics' option. Telesoftware - Activates the Telesoftware downloader to download files in CET format. IMPORTANT NOTE: The CET Telesoftware provided on the Australian Viatel service has a number of small differences from the specification used in the UK on Prestel. Micronet have made minor changes to the way that Amiga Telesoftware is made available on Prestel, in order to ensure that it may be downloaded with SuperTex and other Australian programs. There are two points which should be noted though. a). Trying to download software for another machine using SuperTex will usually result in SuperTex producing error messages. b). Trying to download Amiga software using a CET downloader on another make of computer should not cause any problems. If it does, it is a fault in that programs CET downloader. Print Text Produces a sub-menu with the following options:- Screen - Prints the current screen in text mode. Carousel - Prints text from all screens stored in the carousel. Select - Allows you to select which frames from the carousel are to be sent to the printer as text. Print Graphics Half Width - Prints a half width graphics dump of the current screen. Full Width - Prints a full width graphics dump of the current screen. Quit - Exits the program. Index Menu ---------- The Index Menu provides facilities to create up to 70 frame numbers or keywords to be called up with a couple of clicks of the mouse when required. Create Index - Create an index of frame numbers for subsequent recall. Selecting this option produces the Page Index Requester. This allows you to enter a Topic as a description. The Topic is displayed in the Index Menu once an index has been created. Up to 10 indexes may be created for each configuration and each index may contain seven entries. Each Entry consists of two parts. The left column should contain the page number or keyword. Each number or keyword should be preceded by a star '*' and terminated with a hash '#'. The right hand column a description of what that page contains. It is also possible to enter route numbers from a frame, but the total number of characters that may be transmitted is 11. (other entries) - Up to 10 entries may be displayed, each being the Topic given to an index created with the Create Index option. Once an index has been created, its Topic entry is displayed in the pull down menu. Selecting a topic displays a menu showing the numbers and their descriptions. Also displayed is an entry 'Modify Index' which takes you to the Page Index requester so that changes can be made. Selecting a number causes the number to be transmitted to the service. Store Menu ---------- SuperTex maintains a carousel buffer, capable of storing up to 30 frames. Frames my be placed into this carousel and viewed, saved to disk, printed etc. Carousel stores are referred to as 0-9 and A-T. Store Next - Store the current frame into the next available frame store in the carousel. This is equivalent to pressing the Del key. Store Select - Store the current frame into a selected carousel frame. Selecting this option displays the carousel store reference characters, allowing you to select which you want to store the current frame into. Frames which already have something stored in them are shown in Red, but may still have new contents placed in them to overwrite the existing contents. Recall Next - Recall the next frame in the carousel to the screen. This is equivalent to pressing Shift-Del. Used to re-display the next frame in the carousel. Recall Select - Select frames from the carousel for re-display. Allows a specific frame to be selected by selecting the frame character from the displayed list. Display Rate - Set the rate at which frames will change when using the Carousel Select or All, options. 5, 10, 15 or 20 second delay between display of the next frame may be selected. Carousel Select - Select one or more frames from the carousel to be displayed automatically. Those frames which are to be displayed should be highlighted in the Carousel Frame Select requester and the Display button selected when ready. The selected frames are then displayed one after another, with a time delay determined by the Display Rate setting. The display of frames may be cancelled using the Stop Carousel option. Carousel All - Select all carousel frames to be displayed automatically. All frames are displayed, one after another, with a time delay determined by the Display Rate setting. The display of frames may be cancelled using the Stop Carousel option. Stop Carousel - Stop automatically displaying Carousel frames. Load Carousel - Load a previously saved carousel into memory. The required file may be selected using the SuperTex File Selector. Save Carousel - Save the contents of the current carousel to file. The contents of the entire carousel may be saved to file for future viewing. Selecting this option presents the file selector. Note that files saved with this option have their own icon. Double clicking on one of these icons will load SuperTex and the chosen carousel. Dial Menu --------- (Service name) - Dial the current service. There appears to be a slight bug in SuperTex here. Sometimes the default entry of Viatel will be displayed after a configuration has loaded, when the Service description from the Modem Settings requester ought to be displayed. Selecting this option dials the service specified by the current configuration, using all its settings. The correct number is dialled, irrespective of what name is displayed in the menu. Modify - Change the settings for the current service. This provides access to the Modem Settings Requester, allowing the number, Modem Prefix and Auto ID to be changed. Hang Up - Hang up the line. When selected, this will drop the line when used with a Hayes compatible modem, but will be ignored with most manual modems. The line should be physically disconnected or switched off when using a manual modem. Config Menu ----------- Speed - Select the required line connection speed. SuperTex supports the following line speeds:- Bits per sec. V21 300/300 V22 1200/1200 V23 1200/75 V22bis 2400/2400 and the required speed should be selected from the sub-menu. Parity - Select the required parity setting. Odd, Even and No parity settings are supported. Most Videotex services, such as Prestel, require Even selecting. Duplex - Select the required duplex setting. Half and Full Duplex options are available. The Full duplex option will normally be required. F Keys - Configure the function key macros. Function keys F1 to F10, when used with the Amiga key, will replay whatever macro is stored for that function key. This menu option allows you to define the macro text for each of these keys. Macros are useful for transmitting frequently used sequences of keystrokes. These may be frame numbers, keywords, or ordinary text. You might, for example set up a macro to transmit *AMIGA# whenever required. Alternatively, you might want to always put your name at the end of a message. Setting a macro up cuts the job to a single keystroke. Any ASCII character that is normally acceptable to a Videotex service may be included in a macro, as also can Control codes produced with Ctrl and a letter key. A slight quirk of SuperTex is that it will not transmit spaces, although it will accept them typed into a macro. The answer to this is to press the Tab key (or press Ctrl-I) wherever you want a space in a macro. This will be displayed as an inverse 'I'. Some useful control codes are:- Ctrl - [ - Esc. Useful for sending colour attribute sequences. Follow with the character required to produce the colour you want. Ctrl - H - Moves cursor back one place. Ctrl - I - (Same as Tab key) Moves cursor forward one place. Also equivalent to inserting a space in most cases. Ctrl - J - Moves cursor down one line. Ctrl - K - Moves cursor up one line. Ctrl - M - Return (moves to start of field on a Videotex service). Save Config - Save the current configuration. Selecting this option results in the SuperTex File Selector being displayed. The name you want to save the configuration with should be entered. If you are only altering an existing configuration, either enter the existing name, or select it from the list of existing configurations. Finally, click on the Save option. SuperTex does not make use of dialling directories to hold details of Videotex services to be accessed. Instead, the configuration file contains details of all relevant settings, including telephone number, speed, parity etc. In addition, Function key macro definitions and Index definitions are saved as part of the configuration. You can have as many configurations as you want, each saved with a different name. SuperTex automatically creates a file icon whenever you save a configuration. Note that double clicking on one of these icons will load both SuperTex and the selected configuration. Load Config - Load an existing configuration. This option enables you to load different configurations so that you can call other services without having to leave SuperTex and load it again with a new configuration. The File Selector is displayed. Select the required configuration and click on Load. Local Edit - Enable/Disable Editing of the frame contents. This menu option is equivalent to pressing the Help key. An 'Off' or 'On' sub-menu is offered. When turned on, the editing cursor may be moved around the screen and any character entered. Colour and graphics codes may also be used (See the chapter on keyboard definitions for easy ways to enter codes). Frames that have been edited in this way may be saved to the carousel and displayed when required, but no facilities are provided in SuperTex to upload such frames to a Videotex service. Mouse Select - Enable/Disable selection of routes by clicking with mouse whilst on line. An 'Off' or 'On' sub-menu is offered. When turned on, route options may be selected whilst on line by moving the pointer over the required route number and clicking with the left button. If the route consists of more than one numeric digit, each digit is sent in turn. Chapter 5. Key Redefinitions ---------------------------- Certain keys are redefined by SuperTex to serve special purposes and these are listed below. There may well be other keys that are redefined, but these are all I have come across. At all times:- Del - Store current frame in next place in Carousel Shift - Del - Recall next frame from Carousel to screen Amiga - Del - Print current frame. Help - Toggle Frame Edit mode on and off. Amiga - Help - Display current configuration. Enter on NumPad - Produces Prestel hash '#' NumPad Dot '.' - Produces Prestel hash '#' NumPad '*' - Produces '*' NumPad '-' - Produces '*' When in Edit mode, or editing a mailbox frame:- F1 - Red foreground F2 - Green foreground F3 - Yellow foreground F4 - Blue foreground F5 - Purple foreground F6 - Cyan foreground F7 - White foreground F8 - Double Height characters F9 - Flashing characters on F10 - Flashing characters off Alt - F1 - Red Graphics Alt - F2 - Green Graphics Alt - F3 - Yellow Graphics Alt - F4 - Blue Graphics Alt - F5 - Purple Graphics Alt - F6 - Cyan Graphics Alt - F7 - White Graphics Alt - F8 - Double Height characters Alt - F9 - Set normal (black) background Alt - F10 - Set background colour END