@@@@@@@ @@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@ @@@@@ @@@@@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @ @@@@@@ @@@@ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@@@@ @@@@@ @@@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@ @@@@@@@ FastCAT - Version 1.00a by Andrew Ridsdale & Nicholas Dodd (C)1991 Eclipse Business Systems - All Rights Reserved CONTENTS Page 2 Section Description Page 1. Features of FastCAT .............................. 3 2. Installing FastCAT Onto Your Own Disks ........... 4 3. The 'System' Menu ................................ 5 3.1 The 'About' Option ............................... 5 3.2 The 'Review' Option .............................. 5 3.3 The 'Save Prefs' Option .......................... 5 3.4 The 'Priority' Option ............................ 6 3.5 The 'Minimise/Maximise' Option ................... 6 3.6 The 'Quit' Option ................................ 6 4. The 'Send' Menu .................................. 7 4.1 The 'Message' Option ............................. 7 4.2 The 'Command' Option ............................. 7 4.3 The 'File' Option ................................ 7 5. The 'Receive' Menu ............................... 8 5.1 The 'File' Option ................................ 8 6. The 'Preferences' Menu ........................... 9 6.1 The 'Spoken Messages' Option ..................... 9 6.2 The 'Requestor Messages' Option .................. 9 6.3 The 'MailBox Messages' Option .................... 9 6.4 The 'Allow Remote Commands' Option ............... 9 6.5 The 'Command Authorisation' Option ............... 9 6.6 The 'Use LED for MailBox' Option ................. 9 6.7 The 'Change MailBox File' Option ................. 9 6.8 The 'Change Printer Prefs' Option ................ 10 7. The Serial Cable ................................. 11 1. FEATURES OF FASTCAT Page 3 FastCAT allows two Amiga users to connect their machines together with a null modem cable (the type used for serial port games such as Populous). It provides background printing, therefore freeing up your main process, remote commands, file transfer and messages between the two systems. The background printing option will only work on programs which allow the printer filename to be specified. The printer filename would be entered as one of the filenames on the printer preferences menu. This file would then be picked up by FastCAT and printed. The background printing option is available from FastCAT even if there is only one machine running the program. Please feel free to copy this program but please ensure this documentation file accompanies it. If you find the program useful then please feel free to send a donation of £5 sterling to the address below. Please enclose your name, address and details of the Amiga system you are using to give us a clear picture of our user base. Registered users will receive free updates to this release along with information about new releases and other products as they become available. Please send your donation to:- Eclipse Business Systems 4, Corlett Court, Foxwood Lane, York, England. YO2 3LR Sending a registration fee of £10 will entitle you to the full product package including the binder and manual in typeset style. 2. INSTALLING FASTCAT ONTO YOUR OWN DISKS Page 4 To install the FastCAT program onto your own disk, please ensure the following files are already present and if not copy them from your Workbench disk. C Drawer mount run DEVS Drawer narrator.device parallel.device printer.device serial.device mountlist system-configuration DEVS/PRINTERS Drawer (Your Printer Driver) L Drawer ram-handler port-handler LIBS Drawer translator.library Copy the following files to the directory where the program is to reside:- FastCAT FastCAT.Doc FastCAT.info FastCAT.Doc.info Once the files have been copied, if FastCAT is to be started immediately when the system is booted then edit the file Startup-Sequence in the S: drawer to include the following lines:- Mount >NIL: SPEAK: Run >NIL: {Pathname}FastCAT Where the {Pathname} is replaced by the directory where the programs have been copied to. If FastCAT is not to be run immediately then the above command can be entered from the CLI or Shell or the icon may also be clicked upon from the Workbench environment as long as the SPEAK: device has been mounted in the Startup-Sequence or from the CLI/Shell beforehand. 3. THE 'SYSTEM' MENU Page 5 3.1 THE 'ABOUT' OPTION On selection of the about option FastCAT will display a window containing the release number and a brief description of the purpose of the program. On clicking the OK gadget the window contents will change and details of what benefits there are to registered users and where to send your registration fee will be displayed. This screen may also be displayed by pressing the Right Amiga key and the letter 'A'. 3.2 THE 'REVIEW' OPTION On selecing this option a submenu will be displayed, select the submenu item you require. 3.2.1 THE 'REVIEW LAST MESSAGE' OPTION This option allows you to recall the last message sent from the remote machine. This option will speak the message if the preferences option is enabled, however a requestor message will always be displayed. This option may be selected by using the Right Amiga key and the letter 'L'. 3.2.2 THE 'REVIEW MAILBOX MESSAGES' OPTION This option allows you to review all the messages sent from the remote machine while the mailbox message preference was enabled. A requestor will appear after all messages have been displayed allowing you to purge the mailbox file. This option may be selected by using the Right Amiga key and the letter 'B'. 3.3 THE 'SAVE PREFS' OPTION This option allows you to save all the settings after you have modified them to suit your own requirements to a file in the S: drawer. The following is a list of items which are saved:- 1. Whether the window is Minimised or Maximised 2. Whether FastCAT is Low or Normal Priority 3. All Items on the Preferences Menu 3. THE 'SYSTEM' MENU Page 6 3.4 THE 'PRIORITY' OPTION This option allows you to reduce the priority that FastCAT has over the processor. Therefore allowing other programs to run unaffected by the new program running constantly. 3.5 THE 'MINIMISE/MAXIMISE' OPTION This option decides whether the FastCAT title bar is the full screen width or just in the top right hand corner of the screen. This option may be selected by using the Right Amiga key and the letter 'S'. 3.6 THE 'QUIT' OPTION This option terminates FastCAT which you should never really want to do. This option may be selected by using the Right Amiga key and the letter 'Q'. 4. THE 'SEND' MENU Page 7 4.1 THE 'MESSAGE' OPTION This option, when selected, will display a window containing a string requestor. Enter your message into the string requestor and press the return key to send the message. Leaving the requestor blank will abort this option. This option may also be selected by using the Right Amiga key and the letter 'M'. 4.2 THE 'COMMAND' OPTION This option, when selected, will display a window containing a string requestor as above. Enter the command to be executed on the remote machine and press the return key. Leaving the requestor blank will abort this option. If the remote system has the 'ALLOW REMOTE COMMANDS' option disabled on their preferences menu then the following message will be returned. Sorry, Remote System is not Allowing Commands If the remote system has the 'COMMAND AUTHORISATION' option enabled and they CANCEL your request then the following message will be returned. Sorry, Remote System has Cancelled Your Request 4.3 THE 'FILE' OPTION This option displays a window containing a source file requestor and a destination file requestor. Enter the appropriate filenames and click the CANCEL gadget to abort this option or click the OK gadget to proceed. You will now be informed if the source file does not exist. If the source file does not exist then the filenames window will be redisplayed. If the destination file already exists then a requestor will appear asking if the destination file is to be deleted. If you select then CANCEL gadget then the filenames window will be redisplayed, otherwise FastCAT will attempt to delete the file. While the data is being transferred to the remote system the window title bar will display 'Sending ...'. 5. THE 'RECEIVE' MENU Page 8 5.1 THE 'FILE' OPTION This option displays a window containing a source file requestor and a destination file requestor. Enter the appropriate filenames and click the CANCEL gadget to abort this option or click the OK gadget to proceed. You will now be informed if the source file does not exist. If the source file does not exist then the filenames window will be redisplayed. If the destination file already exists then a requestor will appear asking if the destination file is to be deleted. If you select then CANCEL gadget then the filenames window will be redisplayed, otherwise FastCAT will attempt to delete the file. While the data is being transferred to the remote system the window title bar will display 'Receiving ...'. 6. THE 'PREFERENCES' MENU Page 9 6.1 THE 'SPOKEN MESSAGES' OPTION When this item is enabled then incoming messages will be spoken. 6.2 THE 'REQUESTOR MESSAGES' OPTION When this item is enabled then incoming messages will be displayed in a requestor in the middle of the screen. 6.3 THE 'MAILBOX MESSAGES' OPTION When this item is enabled both the above will be disabled. All incoming messages will be redirected to the selected mailbox file. 6.4 THE 'ALLOW REMOTE COMMANDS' OPTION When this item is enable the remote machine is allowed to execute commands on your machine. 6.5 THE 'COMMAND AUTHORISATION' OPTION When this item is enabled a requestor will appear when the remote machine attempts to execute a command on your machine. You will then be able to CANCEL the command or allow it to be processed. This option is only selectable when 'ALLOW REMOTE COMMANDS' is enabled. 6.6 THE 'USE LED FOR MAILBOX' OPTION When this item is enabled the Power light will flash 5 times when a message is received and placed in the mailbox. This option is only selectable when 'MAILBOX MESSAGES' is enabled. 6.7 THE 'CHANGE MAILBOX FILE' OPTION This option will display a window containing a string requestor with the current mailbox filename in it. This filename may be changed to a disk filename etc. 6. THE 'PREFERENCES' MENU Page 10 6.8 THE 'CHANGE PRINTER PREFS' OPTION This option will display a window containing many requestors which are described below. HOST AUTOPRINT FILENAME This is the filename where any prints redirected to it will be printed on your machine. REMOTE AUTOPRINT FILENAME This is the filename where any prints redirected to it will be printed on the remote machine. USERNAME Your username. This is used when banners are active as the banner contains who printed the report and what date and time it was printed. BANNER These are three lines of text that will be printed on the banner. If you enter the CTRL and \ key into the first banner line then the second banner line represents a file containing the banner text. FORM FEED FLAGS These gadgets determine where the form feeds are to be produced. TEXT WIDTH This gadget determines whether the banner will be produced in double width or standard width. BANNERS This gadget determines whether the above described banners will be produced when a print is outputted. 7. THE SERIAL CABLE Page 11 A serial null modem cable is required, the pins that require connecting are listed below. Computer A Computer B 1 ------------- 1 2 ------------- 3 3 ------------- 2 4 ------------- 8 5 ------------- 8 6 ------------- 20 7 ------------- 7 8 ------------- 4 8 ------------- 5 20 ------------- 6 The materials required are as follows:- 2 x Female DB25 Connectors and Covers A suitable length of 10 Core Cable We do recommend that you ask someone who knows what they are doing to make the cable for you. If you are in the least bit unsure your local electronics store may be able to help or they may stock the cable you require already assembled, just ask for a standard null modem cable. We accept no responsibility for any damage to your equipment should you undertake assembly of the cable yourself and incorrectly wire the cable. The above diagram is correct and may be found in the Amiga System Programmers Guide from Abacus books.