Comm.System Documentation v1.8
May 12, 1991

Apple II Freeware
Copyright 1990-91 by Jim Ferr
May be distributed freely, but not sold for profit.

What's New

Version 1.8 includes new IIGS initialization and interrupt handling
routines, which eliminate what one person described as the "cascade of
zeroes bug". One small problem though: the new irq routines "eat" all
interrupts, so they cannot co-exist with AppleTalk or other interrupt
driven software.

Amazingly, I managed to assemble the file correctly after having two
NewCastle Brown ales and a wonderful strip loin steak from my
barbeque...

Older changes:

Version 1.5 adds a check of the Control Panel for IIGS users. If the
Control Panel settings are incorrect, the program will inform you.

A minor change was made to the Xmodem error handler so that three
different error messages were combined into "Path not found".

I've been having problems getting Comm.System to run on a IIc; if you
have one, try it and let me know what happens. I spent some time
re-programming Comm.System to recognize any serial card that conforms
with the Pascal 1.1 protocol for firmware; unfortunately, I found the
firmware too slow to work without losing characters at 2400 baud, so
this version still talks directly to hardware.


Hardware Requirements

Comm.System runs on the II Plus (64K), IIe, IIc, IIc Plus and IIgs,
automatically determining the cpu type and activating any
ProDOS-recognized 80 column card. It runs in 40 columns on the II Plus
and IIe if no 80 column card is found.

Serial Port or Interface

Apple IIc and IIgs computers have built-in modem ports that Comm.System
can use. All other systems require either the Apple Super Serial Card
or compatible interface in slot 2, or the Applied Engineering DataLink
2400 in slot 2. Comm.System does NOT support any other interfaces. If
you have a IIgs, it assumes you have an external modem connected to the
modem port and will not support any other configuration, unlike Warp
Six BBS.

Comm.System always uses 8 data bits, no parity, and 1 stop bit to
communicate, and works in full duplex (no echo), or half duplex (echo).

Modem and Cable

Comm.System's dial command expects a Hayes compatible modem on a touch
tone phone line. I never got around to adding pulse dial, so if you
have a pulse line, type in the dial command (ATDP) yourself.
Comm.System's hangup command drops the Data Terminal Ready signal
briefly and issues a Hayes escape code sequence and Hayes hangup
command, just to be thorough, so it should work with just about any
Hayes compatible modem.

As Comm.System was originally written as a companion program to Warp
Six BBS, if you have a Warp Six BBS compliant cable, Comm.System will
let you know you are online by displaying "DCD" in the status line (not
seen on 40 column screens) and will print out your connect time when
DCD drops, ie., you disconnect. On the IIgs, DCD is monitored on the
HSKi line (CTS), which is pin 2. If Comm.System is not running on a
IIgs, it monitors DCD via the DSR input. (Refer to the Modem.Doc file
included with Warp Six for full details on cable configurations.)

Note: most internal messages from the program are prefixed with "CS: ",
so you know that Comm.System, and not your host, is printing the
message.

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Please send me comments and suggestions either online or at my mail address:

GEnie: J.FERR

Jim Ferr
20-95 DeCarie Circle
Etobicoke, ON
M9B 3J5
Canada