[JFleming]* Hi Greg ... Colin was here for a moment then disappeared [Moderator]* Uh oh. Always seems to happen to guests :-( [blade_runner] <---using procomm chat mode(feels guilty) [Paul Roub]* Die, heathen dog! [Moderator]* Dr> Hi. He was here, but apparently got dumped. [Paul Roub]* :-) [blade_runner] heh [Digie]* blade you should be shot and dismembered [dave s]* <------- using ZCOMM and loving it. [blade_runner] you all know I usually use telix [c.sampaleanu] I'm back. The system dumped me for no reason... [Paul Roub]* And he has returned [Moderator]* Hi Colin! [blade_runner] hello Colin :> [bbeas] Colin... it's a feature. it's good exercise for Telix logon scripts. [Digie]* its called Bix roulette Colin [dave s]* hello Colin [Paul Roub]* re-Hi, Colin [c.sampaleanu] Hello everyone! Greg, I'll leave it up to you. Tell us when to get started :-) [blade_runner] yes its an adventure to see when you'll get dumped [dr_john] The system felt threatened by your presence, Colin [Moderator]* Well, I'm sure some of these folks have questions they'd like to ask you. Who'd like to go first? [Joe K.]* I have one! [JFleming]* Me? [Moderator]* OK, Joe, go ahead... [bbeas] An early question to get out of the way... Status of Telix 4.xx? [c.sampaleanu] If this is the start, I have a little canned note I made up. I'll do an ASCII upload, hope the pacingis not too fast.... [Moderator]* Oops, hold it, I jumped the gun there. Go ahead, Colin... I'd like to thank BIX for inviting me here tonight, and everyone for showing up. I hope we all have a fun time! I've participated in a few chat nites, but never on BIX, so it may take me a few minutes to get up to speed. As some of you know, I am the author of the Telix communications software, and principal owner of Exis Inc., the company that publishes Telix. Telix was first released in 1986, and over the years has become one of the most popular pieces of communications software for MS-DOS, principally among home users, but increasingly in business as well. Feel free to ask me anything relating to Telix and Exis. If your question is long and might not be of interest to most callers, you might also wish to instead call our Telix Support BBS at 416-439-8293 and leave a message there. That's it Greg... ga [Moderator]* OK, let's get to some questions.... [bbeas] ?? [.Charlie.]* I'm ready... [Moderator]* I already saw an inquiry about Telix 4.xx--care to comment when that's due? [c.sampaleanu] At this point we're hoping to have it out by late Summer or early Fall. Since we'll actually be doing a bit of retail distribution with that release, we definitely want it out well before Christmas. ga [Moderator]* (Since there are twenty people here...if you want to ask a question, please type ?? like bbeas just did, and I'll call on you in rotation.) [Joe K.]* ?? [JFleming]* ?? [Moderator]* bbeas, ga (uh, that's "go ahead") [bbeas] Is there a way your office can confirm registration of Telix? We have several copies that I am unable to determine which have been registered...ga [c.sampaleanu] We sure can! Just give us a call (voice) at 416-289-4641 from 10:00am to 5:00pm EST and we'll check up on it for you. Becase we're a Canadian company and therefore there are 2 mail systems involved, normal turnaround time on a registration is anywhere from 10 days to 3 weeks, if they are mailed-in. ga [Digie]* ?? [Moderator]* (Joe K. is next. Joe, if you're using a "chat mode" with local buffer, you might want to type your question now and just hold off on hitting Enter.) [bbeas] Does anything change on a registered copy... ie, reg # on screen. I've left msg on your bbs with no reply. thanks, I'll call voice... pass! [Moderator]* Joe K> GA [Joe K.]* Ok, the first part is thanks for great software,... Part 2 is when using a COurier 24000 the Autodial feature of dialing, it will not recognize the phone sequence... It recongizes the sequence to init the modem, but not to dial. ga [c.sampaleanu] One thing you might want to check for is if you have your dialing directory entry set to N-7-1. This is technically legal but no modem I have worked with will dial with this setting. The other thing you might try is adding a few pauses in front of your dialing prefixes. I have not seen this problem before, so probably one of the best things to do is call me voice and I can perhaps work you through options. ga [Joe K.]* Colin, exactly what I do have it set to. Guess I have to keep 8n1 then switch when connection is made? [c.sampaleanu] N-8-1 is normal for most BBSes. For things like BIX or CIS use E-7-1... ga [Moderator]* Jfleming, GA. (Digitalman's next...) [Joe K.]* Ok, but Unix systems require N71, at least the two HP's I call do. Will try the other flavors and call you voice (and probably register, as this was last hang up to do it) ok, GA [Digie]* thanks...What changes can we expect for Ver 4.XX ? [JFleming]* (BIX works fine N-8-1 direct, Tymnet's E-7-1). If you don't mind my asking ... are you sing Telix 3 chat mode now and, if so, any thoughts? [Digie]* ooopps...:/ [c.sampaleanu] I'm not sure I should give everything away, but some of the things being worked on are: Greg, which question should I answer? ga [Moderator]* Whichever one you prefer? :-) How about the version 4.xx one first. [Digie]* (digie wrench..clunk..sorry) [Dragon Fly]* ?? [c.sampaleanu] ok... We're working on: additional terminals (IBM 3101, Televideo 9xx, ADM, ADDS Viewpoint, among others), built-in context sensitive help, real keyboard macros (not just text), many improvements to the scroll-back buffer, a built-in editor, possibly another protocol, many changes to the dialing directory, an additional user interface (besides the existing Alt key one), and I'm not sure I should be mentioning this, but I'm also hoping to have complete background operation ready. At this point it's still somewhat unreliable but works fairly well without a lot of speed degradation (at lower baud rates, anyways). ga [Moderator]* Thanks, Colin. JFleming, GA with your question please. [Digie]* thank's Colin! [JFleming]* Any thoughts on chat? Are you using Telix chat now? [c.sampaleanu] I'm actually just in terminal mode, with BIX's echo turned off and Telix's on. I think we discussed the Telix chat mode in IBM.Other/COM1. Basically, it was originally intended for two users talking to each other in terminal mode, and echoes every character typed, while adding Line Feeds to incoming Carriage return, since the other person is not doing it for you like a BBS would. What will be done for version 4 is a switch to turn off the add LF, and echo. This will work much better on BBS chat modes, since the BBS _is_ echoing back to you and adding LFs...ga [sax!]* ?? [Shimrod]* ?? [Moderator]* GA Dragon Fly [Dragon Fly]* have you thought of adding support for "weird" size text modes available on some SVGA adapters? [c.sampaleanu] Telix already has switches to set 80x25,80x43, and 80x50. You can however set any text size that you want (every VGA card I've seen comes with software to do this) before you run Telix and Telix will stay in that mode... ga [Moderator]* GA Sax! [sax!]* this may have already been covered, but i have a comment. I used to be an avid Telix fan until you switched to the "compiled" script language. I construct a lot of "quick and dirty" scripts on the fly, and the "language" was just too complicated and the compilation put yet another step to have to juggle with editor/DESQview/compiler. I sadly gave up and switched to Procomm Plus--any comments? [JFleming]* !! [c.sampaleanu] All those points are being addressed. The next major release will come with a basic SALT tutorial, will have a script 'learn' mode like that found in other programs, and will also be able to automatically call the compiler if needed from within Telix (automatically) to compile the script if the source is newer than the 'compiled' version... ga [dr_john] <--thinks Procomm+ is awful [Moderator]* JFleming> Did you have a comment on this topic, before we go to Shimrod's question? If so, ga... [JFleming]* Yup I had just the opposite experience. I tried Telix 2.something and loved it except the script language just didn't cut it for what I wanted to do. When 3.0 came out I dropped Procomm+ immediately. ga [bbeas] !!/?? [dr_john] ?? [Moderator]* Shimrod, GA [Shimrod]* My question was whether you're going to support the 1k Kermit protocol. [sax!]* !! [Barry P]* !! [c.sampaleanu] The current Kermit in telix is fairly old. It's being fully updated for the next major release, with all the features that have been added in the past few years, including long blocks. The one exception might be sliding windows, since the coding for that feature is very complicated and it doesn't offer that much of an improvement over long blocks... ga [byron] ?? [Shimrod]* Ok, thanks. [wcowley] ?? [R.B.Stout]* ?? [Dragon Fly]* !! [Moderator]* I think bbeas is next...ga [Shimrod]* That's good enough. I just like to know the cps rate and with an external protocl, you just have to guess. [bbeas] I use Telix exclusively just for the compiled SALT capability. The additional features in 4.xx sound great... Are there any plans for allowing linking to "scripts" compiled in other languages, with hooks into Telix?... GA. [c.sampaleanu] I'm actually working on this for an OS/2 comm product still in the early stages. It's quite a bit harder to do under DOS since the DOS loader doesn't really have any sort of dynamic linking capability. There are ways of course... ga [Moderator]* Sax!, BarryP, and Dragon Fly wanted to make comments. Why don't you three go ahead now, then we'll do more questions? [R.B.Stout]* !! [Moderator]* ...and R.B.Stout too. [bbeas] I would be REAL interested in running compiled scripts created in other languages with Telix. I'll discuss on your BBS... pass! [Dragon Fly]* This may have already been covered. suggestion: in your chat mode please add the capability to "scroll-back" in the "local" window to a line previously typed and retransmit it. [sax!]* i am currently using telemate (in spite of all the bugs) because i love the cut and paste features and the "autoquote". Would love to see a "chat" window that you can set the size of [R.B.Stout]* my comment was that Pocketsoft's .RTLink allows DLL's under DOS [Barry P]* For us, Kermit is very important for mainframe communications, will Telix ever support remote Kermit servers? [Moderator]* Colin> Any comments on those comments? [c.sampaleanu] Yes, there will be a function to send the most common commands to a Kermit server. The coding for that is actually quite simple. RE: the dynamic linking, it's true that RTlink allows dynamic linking, but not with anywhere near the same level as control as OS/2. As I said though, the option is extremely attractive to me (running subroutines written in other languages), so there's a good chance it would make it even into the DOS version, though probably not for the next major release... ga [blade_runner] ?? [Moderator]* GA Dr. John [dr_john] I think Bill's ? already covered it...OS/2 apps [Moderator]* OK, then GA Byron [byron] okee - first - GREAT suggestion, Dragon Fly!!! I've wanted a chat window with that ability (to repeat last xmission) for a LONG time! My question for Colin is not specific to Telix - I'm a programmer, and I'm always interested in who other programmers admire and imitate. Colin - Is there a programmer whose style you particularly admire? [Dragon Fly]* ?? [c.sampaleanu] To tell you the truth there is no specific programmer I try to be like (for a very good look at programmers by the way, everybody should pick up a book called programmers at work, by Microsoft press I believe). I appreciate clean code. I think a lot of the applications written these days are very bloated and inneficient. As the power of computer systems increases, people seem to be writing worse code to compensate. I'm not sure anything can be done about this. Basically I think the most important thing is practice. Everybody can program, but only a few can program well. I've done a fair amount of coding in the last 10 years, but I still learn something new every time I write code, and I don't expect this to change... ga [byron] Colin - perhaps I wasn't clear :/ I didn't mean is there someone you seek to imitate - but is there someone who's work you admire (e.g. I admire the work of Jim Wyllie and Chris Crawford) [Moderator]* GA wcowley [Moderator]* oops [Moderator]* let's do Byron's follow-up first, OK? [wcowley] np [byron] oh - I'm done! :) ga [Joe K.]* ?? [Moderator]* OK, GA wcowley (sorry) [wcowley] You mentioned earlier that you were working on complete background operation. Are you going to do this in such away that Telix will still run under 386 control programs such as DESQview/QEMM? ga [c.sampaleanu] The TSR mode will not be automatic, you'll have to switch into it to run it, so things like DESQview and other multitaskers will still work. In many cases, especially on a 386, a real multitasker is prefered, while in other cases, when all you want to do is run the comm program in the background, it's easier if it has a background mode... ga [Moderator]* R.B.Stout, GA [Moderator]* (Colin, how much longer can you stay? I'm afraid we'll keep you up all night :-) [R.B.Stout]* thanks, colin good to see you again - sorry if this has already been asked, but with the built-in ZMODEM support and the new features that have been added recently (e.g. MobyTurbo) are you going to try to track DSZ? [c.sampaleanu] I'll be talking to Omen over the next month to see their licensing terms on Mobyturbo. As some of you may know, Omen is now saying that additions to the Zmodem protocol from the last year or so are proprietary, and must be licensed, whereas the protocol was completely PD before. I do want to keep up with it, yes, as it's still better to have it internal... ga [Moderator]* blade_runner GA [blade_runner] I know there is a OS/2 version of Telix..have you considered a Windows version? maybe with DDE connection to a blink program?(BixWin118 is an example)..GA [c.sampaleanu] Greg, I can stick around for about another hour... [Moderator]* (Colin--great, we'll go until around midnight then) [c.sampaleanu] There is actually not yet an OS/2 version of Telix, though it is being worked on. At this point, it looks like we will be releasing in less than half a year a straight port of telix for OS/2, for those people that absolutely need to run something under both environments, then about a year from now we'll be releasing a whole new comm product geared to OS/2, since there are a lot of neat things that you can do under OS/2 that you can't do under DOS. At this time there are no concrete plans for a Windows version, though if more users ask for one, I could certainly be convinced... ga [bbeas] !! asking. [Moderator]* Dragon Fly> GA [Dragon Fly]* Could you recommend some good books on communications programming? i.e. protocol and serial port handling? [c.sampaleanu] Sorry about my spelling everyone, I'm typing a bit faster and with less care than I should be, as there seem to be a lot of questions... There is one main book that I know of, called 'C Programmer's Guide to Serial Communications'. I was not very impressed with the original edition, as it had many errors, and missed a lot of things, though I hear it has been revised. I picked up almost everything I know about communications here and there. Unless you want to get into the nitty gritty of hardware ports and interrupts, my advice would be to get something like the Blaise Asynch library, or the Greenleaf Comm library. Both have been around a while and are pretty capable. ga [Moderator]* Joe K> GA [bbeas] ?? [Joe K.]* Colin, what happens when the Download files from protocols ie, Kermit, Z, etc. go into the current directory, but the ASCII capture goes into the TELIX directory pointed to by set TELIX=? Have not found anything in docs to explain such behavior? ga [c.sampaleanu] There is also an ASCII download on the protocol menu, which does go into the download directory. The capture file as you mention by default goes into the current directory, and you can override this of course when you open it by adding another path in front of the name. You can set the default capture file filename, so there is nothing stopping you from pointing it to the download directory as well, by default... ga [Moderator]* bbeas> GA [bbeas] At the risk of being early on this question: You mentioned enhancements to scrollback buffer Will this allow larger >64K buffer, cut and paste, buffer save to disk? And any plans to let parts of Telix run in High Memory?.... GA [Joe K.]* NO,.... I have used ALT-L from directory G:\xxx and the fiel was placed in G:\TELIX..ga [Joe K.]* oops sorry [c.sampaleanu] At this point it looks like the Scroll-Back buffer will be a 'read-only' file within the built-in editor, so you will be able to cut and paste into other files. I'm not sure about the maximum size. Nothing's been done towards that yet, though it is on my list, along with EMS support for the scroll-back... ga [bbeas] thank you...pass! [Moderator]* Are there any more questions? I might have missed someone... [bbeas] !! [Moderator]* bbeas> GA [Paul Roub]* ?? [bbeas] I guess I'll have to say that it looks like I'll have to continue being a Telix fan for some time to come... pass! [Moderator]* Paul Roub, GA [Paul Roub]* Colin, this is more of a request than a question. A few things I'd love to see added to SALT in 4.0...arrays, parameters to scripts from the DOS command line, functions/variables to read/set dialing marks, find out the name of the current FON directory, and query more of the setup options (position of status line, _all_ the colors, etc.). p.s. how do I become a beta-tester :-) ga [c.sampaleanu] Thnaks for the suggestions Paul. At least a few of them are already in the works. As for Beta testing, I'll give you a call :-) ga [bbeas] ordering 5.00 now... [grin] [JFleming]* zdxlz[dave s]* yikes. [Moderator]* ATTENTION: IF YOU TYPE: "/ignore JFleming" you'll be spared seeing the rest of whatever this stuff is :-) [bbeas] time to /ign JF [Joe K.]* is everybody getting junk from Jfleming? [Dana Hudes]* Hmm. seems jfleming is having line trouble [Dragon Fly]* It looks like a special kind of garbage you get from 14.4HST's [dave s]* no, more like a tymnet logon :) [Dana Hudes]* Hi Colin. I'm a registered Telix user. [Moderator]* Any more questions for Colin? [Dragon Fly]* no [dave s]* df> you don't see it from me, do you? ever? [Dana Hudes]* I was wondering why I don't hear from you when a new release comes out. Even if it's only to ask me to send another $35 to register the new release. [bbeas] Any chance of getting a Vendor support line on Bix? [c.sampaleanu] At this point I haven't thought much about it. I do drop into IBM.OTHER/COM1 about once a week. If there is enough demand for it it's a possbility, though nobody's asked yet (until you). ga [Paul Roub]* (there's alsways telecomm.pgms/telix) [Dragon Fly]* Dave> no. The time that I usually see it is when I disconnect from an HST board. It is not just my modem other people have reported it. [Dana Hudes]* Oh? this event's notice was first indication that I had you were on BIX at all, Colin. Guess I'll have to start participating in ibm.other/com1 [bbeas] I would think that it's an alternative to your BBS which is usually busy. There's also a conference in telecomm.telix I think maybe you can stop in there once in a while. [c.sampaleanu] We notify by mail of any new _major_ releases. At this point we don't usually notify of something like v3.12, which is simply a maintenance release. The main reason is economics, since we don't charge for these updates (other than a disk fee if somebody wants a disk instead of downloading it). You can always find out the current version by calling us, faxing us, or leaving a note on our BBS... ga [Moderator]* Colin, if you'd like to explore setting up a vendor conference here, we can put you in touch with the right people to talk to. [Dana Hudes]* Perhaps it would be easier on Colin simply to show up on BIX in an area such as telecomm.pgms/telix rather than commit to the effort to maintain an active vendor support conference on BIX. [Moderator]* We're approaching midnight...last call for questions [dave s]* greg> will you post a transcript of this somewhere? [Moderator]* Dave> Yes, I'll edit out the [dave s]* thanks, greg. [bbeas] what is Exis' FAX number? [Paul Roub]* !! [c.sampaleanu] Exis is at 416-289-4641 voice, 416-289-4645 fax. Be warned that about once a week we do seem to get a bad fax from overseas, though there seem to be no problems from the States, and 19 out of 20 overseas faxes come in ok. We've got a JT fax... ga [Moderator]* Paul Roub> GA [Dana Hudes]* Is it possible to switch terminal emulations in mid-session? Occasionally I may want to switch to/from ANSI BSS or VT100 in mid-session (only when doing cbix). [Paul Roub]* (Dana - Alt-T will do it) -- an aside to all; for those of you who haven't gotten onto Colin's BBS this week... They're changing BBS software on the 30th, I believe -- if you have any questions posted, better look for answers by then, 'cause the message base'll be history [Dana Hudes]* I'd also like a bit more diagnostics when Telix times out or otherwise aborts a download or upload. Currently, all I see is the "telix: warning download aborted". If I've been away instead of waiting (I rarely sit around for more than a minute or so download) then I have no idea what happened. This info is useful in determining whether it's my machine, modem, telephone connect to tymnet, or BIX just being impatient. [bbeas] !! [c.sampaleanu] Alt-T will switch the current terminal... Telix does print a more specific error message on the actual transfer screen, which of course gets taken off after the abort. I think we will be getting more descriptive in at least the Usage Log, since others have asked for this... ga [Dana Hudes]* Another request: scrollback capability when in chat mode. I'd like to be able to use chat mode when in cbix so that I can do the split screen locally instead of thru tymnet but if I do then I can't scroll back to see what has gone before. [Moderator]* GA bbeas [bbeas] I for one, would just like to thank Colin for this visit. I hope to see more of him around the Telix oriented conferences here. [Moderator]* Yes, thank you very much, Colin, for joining us here tonight! [c.sampaleanu] It's been nice talking to all of you. I'll be trying to drop into ibm.other/com1 about twice a week, and telecomm.pgms/telix about once a week... ga [bbeas] Telix rools. [Paul Roub]* Ditto - thanks for Telix, as well! And I swear I'm not speaking from a financial bias!! :-) [Dana Hudes]* !! [Moderator]* GA Dana [Dana Hudes]* /whe [Moderator]* I guess I'll be moving along now. Thanks to everyone for coming. [wcowley] Thank you, Colin [bbeas] g'night all. [wcowley] and you Greg [c.sampaleanu] Have a good night everybody! [wcowley] Good night [Moderator]* nite Colin [Paul Roub]* Nite!! [R.B.Stout]* nite all - paul, see you in C_Echo (wish we saw colin there, too) [Dragon Fly]* nite Colin Thanks for coming. [R.B.Stout]* colin - nite & many thanks