12 KiB
Pocket Packet for the Psion Revo Version 5.04, February 2001.
This is simply a port of the Series 5 version to the Revo. There may be some problems - I don't have a Revo to test it on, I used the Revo Emulator and a Series 5mx.
Installation
This version of PocPac is supplied as a SIS file.
Installation of a SIS file is very simple. If you are using PsiWin 2.1 or later, simply couple up your Revo to your PC, and double click PP.SIS in Windows Explorer. If you do not have SystInfo.opx installed to your Revo, you must add this in the same way. If you are not sure about this, it is quite safe to install both PP.SIS and SystInfo.SIS.
At this point it is probably a good idea to decide where you wish to keep your captured data, and any files you wish to keep. For example, you could make a directory called C:\Packet to keep all your captured files.
You can then start PocPac by tapping the Extras icon and selecting PocPac.
The Revo screen can display 80 characters across it, although these are rather small and may be difficult to read. The program may start with a dialog which allows you to select one of three options, these being: Courier 8 80 chars Courier 8 Bold 80 chars Bold Courier 11 68 chars
The first time PocPac is run, it will write a file called PP.INI in the folder it is run from. It is possible that you will see a dialog asking for a path for sending files from (the send path), and a further dialog requesting the path to capture data to (the capture path). You can use these file selectors in the usual manner, e.g. pressing the left and right arrow keys will cycle through all the possible folders. As I said above, it is a good idea to keep a special folder(s) for captured data and files you wish to send. If you have not created these yet, select any folder, e.g. \Documents - you can change this setting later. When PocPac has configured itself, you will see a message like:
PocPac Ready!
What is PocPac?
PocPac is a simple split screen terminal for driving a Packet Radio TNC. It requires a TNC with Command and Converse modes, e.g. a Tiny 2 or KPC3 or similar. It does not work in HOST or KISS mode.
It is able to capture incoming text and send text files. It doesn't do YAPP, although it should handle near-binary files like 7plus with no problems. For the latter, the communication between PocPac and your TNC should be set to 8 bit no parity, preferably RTS/CTS handshaking, which are preferable settings anyway.
The facilities provided here are identical to those available in PocPac 5.04 for the Series 5.
Connection to the TNC
The first point to mention is that is is a good idea to run your Revo from the mains adaptor while using packet. Of course this is not essential, but it enables you to use the most beneficial auto switch-off setting, which is "If No External Power" (this is selected from the Revo Control Panel). Otherwise it is probably a good compromise to set the auto switch-off to about 10 minutes or more, the idea being to avoid the Revo turning off during a packet session.
If it does turn off, just turn it on as usual. In some instances there may be garbled text, in such cases select Restore from PocPacs File menu, which should reset the comms port.
The Psion serial lead is terminated with a 9 pin D type female connector, and TNC's are usually fitted with a 25 pin D type female connection. This means an adaptor is required, which should be a "null-modem" type. If you make up your own, the wiring should be something like this:
Name Psion TNC
RxD 2 2
TxD 3 3
RTS 7 5
CTS 8 4
GND 5 7
Your TNC may be slightly different, so remember that the Psion connection is designed to plug into a PC serial port, so you will to reverse the data and handshake connections compared to that required to wire a TNC to a PC.
The Keys
PocPac Revo functions are operated from both the keyboard and the menu, mostly the latter. Since there is no Psion key (as on the Series 3a/c), the Control key is used as a modifier. This clashes with some packet commands, but is consistent with Revo practice.
The following "Hot Key" commands are available from the keyboard:
Ctrl-B Sends "C station" where station is the first callsign in the connect directory.
Ctrl-C Sends Control-C straight to the TNC to select command mode. Any text in the type-ahead buffer is not affected.
Ctrl-D Brings up the Connect directory, and sends "C station" to the callsign selected.
Ctrl-E Exits PocPac.
Ctrl-L Opens or closes the capture file. This is a toggle. If there is no capture file, one is created in the form MMMDD.CAP where MMM is the month, and DD the day. If such a file for the current date exists, any subsequent use of Ctrl-L will append text to this file. There is a maximum size of data which can be captured in one PocPac session, this is set to about 500 kbytes. This can be exceeded by stopping and starting PocPac on the same day. The intention of a limit is to prevent the accidental filling of the Series 5 memory due to leaving capture active.
The status bar shows whether text is being captured or not.
Ctrl-T Brings up the Send File dialog. Here you may select whether to send a footer file or not. If you choose to send a footer, a Ctrl-Z will be appended (to terminate a BBS transfer).
Ctrl-U Sends a DA command to the TNC to synchronise Revo and TNC clocks.
Ctrl-Y Clears the type-ahead buffer.
Ctrl-Z Puts a Control-Z in the type-ahead buffer, like any other text character. Unfortunately the Psion fonts do not show this character, so it may remain invisible.
The following editing keys work on the keyboard buffer:
Home Moves cursor to the "home" position. End Moves cursor to the "end" position. Left Arrow Moves cursor one character left. Right Arrow Moves cursor one character right. Up Arrow Scrolls through the history buffer. Down Arrow Scrolls through the history buffer. Ctrl-Y Clears the current line.
The Menu
The following menu commands are available if the Menu key is pressed. (Note that the shortcuts shown do not necessarily work unless the menu is displayed, only those shown in the section above work from the terminal.)
File menu:
Save Saves the current configuration settings.
Use Uses the current settings, without saving them.
Restore Restores the settings in the PP.INI file, and resets the serial port.
Quit Exits PocPac.
Edit menu:
Footer Edits the footer file, which is called PPFOOTER and kept in the Send Path folder.
Create Text File This prompts for a file name, creates the file, and opens the editor.
Open Text File This opens an existing text file for editing.
Connect Directory This allows the connect directory to be changed. Pressing Enter saves the directory.
Capture Path Here a file selector allows you to choose an existing directory in which your captured text is kept.
Send Path As above, except this is where your files for sending are kept.
Set Word Wrap This sets the length at which automatic wrap occurs. At the first space after this, the current text is sent, and the cursors starts a new line.
Port menu:
Baud Rate Word Length Parity Handshake
A bullet marker selection of the most common parameters are provided. While these settings are chosen, the menu will not disappear until Save or Use is selected.
Connect menu:
Connect "BBS" Here a connect to the station shown as "BBS" is initiated. Identical to Ctrl-B.
Connect Directory This enables you to choose a station to connect to. Identical to Ctrl-D.
Transfers menu:
Capture Data Here you can select text capture, identical to Ctrl-L.
Send File This brings up the send file menu, identical to Ctrl-T
View Text File A viewer which enables files up to 30k in the Capture folder to be read. Pressing Esc exits the viewer.
Special menu:
Echo On When selected (marked with a tick), PocPac echos the text sent to your TNC.
The Text editor and viewer.
These are simple affairs which allow text files to be created, edited or viewed. For the footer, there is a limit of 1,000 bytes. For the creation and editing of text files for sending, there is a limit of 5,000 bytes (the normal maximum for packet). The viewer allows files of up to 30,000 bytes to be viewed (not edited).
Most normal editing controls work in the editors/viewer - also you can cut and paste between the editor/viewer and other applications. The editor/viewer wraps between about 60 and 70 characters without inserting CR/LF characters, so you can press enter at the end of each line if you wish to create lines of fixed length (not essential for packet).
You save the text in the editors by pressing the Save button. Pressing the Cancel button, or the Esc key will exit without saving. The latter applies to the viewer.
The editors are very simple, and take varying times to load. This is not related to file size, and seems to be a characteristic of the dialog used for this purpose. For example, a 1,300 byte file takes longer to load than a 2,000 or 28,000 byte file!
The Display
Firstly note that PC line graphics are not displayed by the built-in fonts. To view these graphics, you will have to transfer the file to a PC and use a DOS font, or MS LineDraw font to view them. Later versions of PocPac may be able to load a custom font to display these graphics. Also note that Ctrl-Z does not always show up on the display, although the character works normally!
The author feels that any packet terminal should show only data from the TNC, i.e. the TNC should be set to ECHO ON. However PocPac can be set to echo text sent to your TNC. This can be achieved by setting Echo On from the Special menu.
TNC Settings
The communications settings may be set from the Port menu. PocPac does not send any line feeds to the TNC, which does not require them. Also it does not add them to incoming text. Set LFADD OFF and AUTOLF ON. Check that the TNC filters out incoming line feeds, you may need to set LFSUP ON to remove these.
Type-ahead
PocPac uses a type-ahead buffer - text you type will appear in the lower window and will not be sent to the TNC unless you either press Enter, or PocPac wordwraps. Word wrap will occur when you press the space bar after 68 letters have been typed. This threshold can be altered if desired, using the Edit menu.
If wordwrap occurs, a CR will be appended to the text sent to the TNC. Some BBSs cannot handle long lines of text. If you press Control-C (for TNC Command Mode) this command bypasses the type-ahead and goes straight to the TNC.
The last 5 lines sent (using Enter) are saved, and can be recalled by pressing Up or DownArrow. They can be edited and sent again if required.
Control-Y deletes all you have typed on the current line.
You can edit the current line using the arrow and delete keys - you can alter text anywhere in the current line. HOME and END have their usual WP meaning. Scrollback.
Press PgUp to activate the scrollback windows. You can then move between the pages using UpArrow and DownArrow (or PgUp and PgDn). Press Esc to exit scrollback.
While you are viewing scrollback, you can still type into the type-ahead. All letter keys and editing keys still work, as does Enter. Thus you can view a list from a BBS and type the message numbers you wish to read. When you press Enter, the line is sent, but scrollback is still active. Press Esc to return to the main window.
If you leave scrollback active for 2 minutes without doing anything, it will cancel automatically.
Problems
When you have finished using PocPac it is wise to quit the application. Do not leave PocPac running in the background with your TNC disconnected or switched off.
Registration
There is no charge for using PocPac, but I would be grateful if users send me a message by internet, or post, telling me that they are using the program.
Pocket Packet can normally be found at http://www.g0hzk.co.uk Registrations, bug reports, wishlists, etc. to:-
Roger Muggleton Internet: hzk@cix.co.uk Post: I am Qthr. Phone: +44 (0)1753 811918 (1900-2100 UTC only!)