MTerm versions

a.k.a rough updates file or !Help file

This is the condensed version

v3.04 rough updates

• Included 'signal' trapping so upon a fatal error it should create a "!coredump!" file and then just 'die'. Will it work?
• There is a cute little 'status' window. Ummm... You'll need to drag the main window to get it to open. Yes, I do know it is a pixel or two out of place.
  The "0:00:00" is a clock. It starts when carrier is detected and stops when carrier lost. The "CD" thing also reflects the carrier state.
  The "hang up" icon doesn't work yet.
  This clock/carrier detect facility is disabled when downloading as you want to spend time transferring data, not working out how long it's taken! :-)
• YOU WILL BE PLEASED TO KNOW THAT THE BLOCKDRIVER CONNECTIONS NOW WORK. :-)
  You can choose which driver, speed and port in the configure window. Hidden thingy - click SELECT on the blockdriver name to open a little info window.
• Haven't done anything to the ANSI... Today was mainly a blockdriver hacking day. The Norcroft C (v4) guide states you cannot assign a function pointer to a data area. As the blockdriver is a bit of code loaded into a data array - getting a function pointer to point to it was, as Acorn might say, rather non-trivial. :-)

v3.05 rough updates

• Fixed redraw area. Previously, the last line or two would not be refreshed.
• Fixed pane window, lowered it a little and got it to open and close automatically as the terminal window is opened/closed.

v3.06 rough updates

• Sprite redirection and scroll lock bashing placed in their own procedures, instead of duping the code a whole bunch of times.
• Downloaded Robin Abecasis' computer JPEG off of ArcTic using Xmodem-1K. Arrived safely. Check out those machines. My God!!! <drool>
• Added drawing primatives move/line/rect/rectfill/circ/circfill.
• Added font handling.
• It's pretty amazing to see ANSI(extended) in action. Yes, it is slower than ANSI due to the rather obvious overheads, but... :-)
• ArcTic caused several lock-ups. Not sure why. I suspect something to do with buffer overruns, so I got MTermRX to return the size of ANSI sequences and add it to the ticker count. The ticker count was upped to 256 bytes. Draws menus (pipea) quite fast now.
• Called ArcTic back. Found out what was causing it to crash. In exceptional (!) circumstances, the EOL command would occur AT the end of line so the EOL counter went negative and carried on forever. This has been fixed...
• The 'drop carrier' icon in the status window now either does:
  +++ <wait ten polls> ATH0 <cr>
  or
  <drop DTR> <wait ten polls> <pull DTR>
  (depending on configuration).
  It works. Tried it. :-) I'd recommend the DTR drop for two reasons, firstly BBS SysOps hould have disabled the "+++" mechanism (on their modem). Secondly, it is quick. As soon as DTR goes, the connection is hacked. No waiting or anything.
• Added spoolfile support. Spools are put in "<MTermRX$Dir>.Spool ", and they are named as:
  <year><month><day><hour><minute>
  with leading zeros etc. The idea being that when sorted into name order, they'll be in order still (unlike 1 , 10, 11, 12, 2, 3, 4, 5 <etc>).
• The carrier detect option, if unset, disables the status window timer and 'CD' icon. In critical conditions you can probably squeeze a few more bytes/sec but all in all a bit pointless really. :-)
• Logfile... Logs when connected, and when disconnected. Gives absolute times and elapsed times. All BBSs are currently '<unknown>'. Names will be added when autodialler added.
• The terminal window menu options now do stuff.

v3.07 rough updates

• FTP CRCs work. Yippee! Time to break out the bottles and get p......
• Found why it would sometimes lock up, so added a filter to NOT write any control characters.
• Implemented a "File Transfer" menu, so you can now pick which protocol you would like as default.
• Fixed up the Ymodem protocol to handle names and file lengths. Ymodem also supports batch downloads.
• Timeout changed from 10 seconds to 3 seconds. 10 was excessive, and if your modem is that slow...
• Default protocol changed to Ymodem. It is the same as Xmodem-1K with the addition of filename/length passing. :-)
• Ctrl filter (see above) knocked out deletes, so added 8/127 handler.
• Ymodem protocol supports RiscOS filetype extensions.

v3.08 rough updates

• Like, dah! Was putting all received data into the spoolfile. Yes... even during file downloads! Fixed. :-)
• MTerm is now FULLY compatible with the MTerm (A) script draft, revision 2 release 2 24/01/1997.
• MTerm cannot yet call external tasks. It crashes rather badly when you try. Erky! Erky!
• Macros implemented. The macro may seem a little 'kludgy' (reading a system variable) but it allows:
  • you to change it on the fly using the OSCLI instead of some weird macro editor.
  • GS_Trans for those weird characters.
• Many function keys now do their 'stuff'.
  Function key handler segregated from non-function key handler for increased speed.
• Cursor keys send ANSI cursor codes.
  Additionally, ^Up sends 'home' code and ^Down sends 'end' code.
• COMPLETELY changed the configuration system. I hope you like it.
• Monochrome mode filters out all colour change commands.
• Top-bit-set-filter is a good way to tidy up ANSI displays in the ISO font... Remove 'em. :-)
  Replaces all characters >127 with a space.
• New control over received CRs and LFs and what CR/LF pattern to transmit.
  Note that for normal operation, LF should do CR/LF.
• Wow! Now MTermRX will look for your modem for you. Simply open the terminal window and press ^F10. All the blockdrivers (except "DoorModule") and all ports will be scanned at 9600bps. Once that is done, MTermRX will see if the port has a FIFO buffer. If it does, the DTE rate will be set to 57600bps, otherwise 19200bps.
  [yes, I know you can go faster on Internal port, but is it reliable? Also, 57600bps is the usual upper DTE rate for a 14400bps modem. These settings will soon be changeable. ]
• Modem control commands read out of message file. Every icon in the configuration window(s) are active, unless disabled.
• Well, the external tasks WOULD crash. The MTerm sprite area was being paged out. EXTERNAL TASKS NOW WORK.
• Last downloaded file has it's name placed in the system variable "MTerm$System$LastRX".
• MTerm now has the ability to set system variables.
• This has been undocumented for ages... MTermRX sends back an ArcTerm7 compatible serial number. It sends back null data (which will appear remotely as serial number 50000). I think I'll soon tweak it to send back something obvious like "-1234". :-)
• For a nice pile of MTerm stuff on the 'net, look to http://www.heyrick.co.uk/budgiesoft/mterm/.

• Internal fiddling, no release.

• Fixed up/down cursor key handler. Now sends correct code instead of reverse.
• Tweaked the routine that sends strings to the modem. Now leaves off the zero terminator. My USR Courier coped, but a friend's modem objected to it.
• Fixed the tone dial / pulse dial options in the configuration window.
• Autodialler now works. There is a configuration option to set up an autodial list. Then, select an entry off the AutoDialler menu and it will be dialled for you (with predial if necessary).
• V.25 commands removed. Command set is now Hayes only.
• Modem commands (in Resources.CommsCnfg) have changed, should be better now. :-)
• For some reason, the modem detection stopped working!? Altered the detection routine to better detect. It is unable to tell whether a PC or Acorn style cable is attached - it will respond to the first answer...
• Also, detector was trying to set DTE rate to 57500bps, not 57600bps.
• Found a bug in the timed_get() routine, that it didn't wait for a response. Hmmm... Fixed, of course!
• Downloaded UniMode from Arcade with MTermRX. System running !Globe, !FinalLook, !Indicator, FreeMem, !Zap, !Make, !TemplEd and several other patches like Filer+. Using sp_dual issue 2 port 1 baud locked to a Courier V.32bis at 57600bps.
  Average bps rate was 1290. Not bad for pure C. :-)
• ALL modem commands now read from messages file.

• Dragging in a file with Shift held down will display it 'locally'.
  [dragging without Shift would transmit it when uploading done]
• No longer needs the BBC fonts. Includes its own ANSI font generator. Set this up in the terminal configuration. It will be slower as it is sending around 12 times more to the VDU - but it seems reasonably fast here. Makes BBSing look a WHOLE lot better. :-)
• Supports high-resolution monitors, though the text comes out at half size. To enable this, set "MTerm$System$HighRes" to "Yes".
• MTerm scripts may now be in upper, lower or mixed case.
• Takes note of MTerm A and MTerm C preferences. :-)
• Two new drawing commands for MTerm A:

  DRAW BACKCOLOUR <num>

  Same as "DRAW COLOUR" but for backgrounds. Range 0 - 15.

  DRAW CLS

  Clear the screen, both text and graphics.
  [ASCII 12 and "<1b>[2J" only clear text screen]

• Fixed logfile; will now say BBS name when known instead of '<unknown>'.
• Oops! Downloaded files appeared in CSD. Should be back in the 'Files_RX' directory now. :-)
• Implemented bytes in/out counters. Three are available:
  1. Total bytes in/out.
  2. Bytes in/out this runtime.
  3. Bytes in/out this call.
     Also shows time on-line, and calculates average bytes/sec.
  These are only active when on-line.
• Implemented DDE throwback, and added some throwback messages to the MTerm parser. !ScrEdit (from Acorn C) and !Zap support throwback.
  Throwback enabled by setting "MTerm$System$Throwback " to "Yes".
• Colours now appear correctly in 256 colour modes; magenta is magenta and you get the stronger colours (cyan for example). In 16 colour modes it should use the nearest colour.
• Fixed a weird bug in the ANSI font display system where it'd throw in a load of crap every so often.
• Added MTerm command "ftp_Start" which has the same functionality as "Mmodem_Start".
  The command "Mmodem_Start" is now deprecated.
• Added MTerm command "D" which is a shorthand form of "DRAW".
  Additional shorthand DRAW commands are:
  M = MOVE
C = COLOUR
B = BACKGROUND
L = LINE
R = RECT
RF = RECTFILL
C = CIRC
CF = CIRCFILL
• Added MTerm command "F" which is a shorthand form of "FONT".
  Additional shorthand FONT commands are:
  L = LOAD
D = DRAW
S = LOSE
Q = QUALITY
• Added MTerm command "FONT QUALITY". This determines the required value of 'FontMax' to set.
  MTerm default is now to provide the following:
  Scale from bitmaps up to 16 point.
  Scale anti-aliased up to 60 point.
  Retain bitmaps up to 16 point in the cache.
  Use horizontal subpixel anti-aliasing up to 16 point.
  Use vertical subpixel anti-aliasing up to 16 point.

  Special values:

  • 0 - Use the defaults configured in RiscOS.
  • 1 - Configure to 'old' style (full anti-aliasing and caching up to 60 point, and subpixel anti-aliasing to 28 point!).
  • 2 - Crude: anti-alias up to 8 point, subpixel anti-alias disabled.
  • 3 - 7 Reserved.
  • 8+ Set anti-alias limits to given size. Bitmaps retained up to maximum of 24 point. Sub-pixel anti-alias up to 24 point. This last part has not been tested.
  It is recommended you use the default or value '0' for regular text, and switch to '1' for titles.

  The value resets when a new BBS is dialled, but NOT when a new MTerm script is fetched.

• Removed timezone details from dial log. RiscOS supports time zones but the ANSI library doesn't. Hmmph!

Original idea

Late 1994

Original demo

March 1995

Original MTermRX

May 1995

MTermRX v2

April 1996

MTerm release 2

7th January 1997

Latest MTermRX

21st September 1997

MTermRX coded with

C = NorCroft C release 4, stubs, DeskLib.
Editor = Zap (code), Edit (other files).
Templates = TemplEd.
Sprites = !Paint.
Angela Chase digitised from a VHS recording with an HCCS mono vision and processed using ChangeFSI.
Application shell was created with SeaShell.

Thanks to

Keith Hall and Robin Abecasis (for help with getting C to work with the serial blockdrivers).
The inhabitants of comp.sys.acorn.programmer (for help with external task calling).

Source code

189897 bytes.

Object code

79492 bytes (and 1216 bytes for driver loader).

Executable code

79904 bytes (supplied unsqueezed).