TECHNICAL BULLETIN #10 - Rev 1.00 (7/30/96) ============================================================================== TITLE : My Screen Won't Show My Status Bar. What Do I Do? PRODUCT : PROCOMM PLUS 2.01 (DOS) ============================================================================== You have PROCOMM PLUS version 2.01. You have successfully installed the program on your computer, but you can't see your status line at the bottom of your terminal screen, nor does your dialing directory look like the pictures in the manual. Here is how to correct that problem. AT&T 6300 There are two ways of mending this screen problem. The first is to write an ASPECT script that will run every time you run PROCOMM PLUS version 2.01. The second is to apply a patch that will rewrite a portion of the PCPLUS.EXE file, among others, on your hard drive or floppy disk. The script won't overwrite any portion of your PCPLUS.EXE file, making it easier to transfer PROCOMM PLUS to a new computer in the future, but it is not effective on all systems. THE SCRIPT The script should be named PROFILE.ASP. This file should be stored in your "\pcplus" sub-directory on your hard drive. PROCOMM PLUS will automatically look for and run a script by the name of PROFILE.ASX, the compiled PROFILE.ASP script, on program startup. This will have no effect on any other program that you might be using. Here is how to create PROFILE.ASP. 1. From the solid colored terminal screen with the "PROCOMM PLUS Ready" at the top, press ALT-A. 2. Type "PROFILE.ASP" at the PCEDIT filespec prompt and press ENTER. 3. On the next screen type in the following program: proc Main mempoke 0 0x484 0x18 set screen 25X80 clear endproc You may also need to add the following line between the "set screen" command and the "clear" command: Termkey 0X1F This command will toggle the video mode between the default DOS mode and the other video modes available with your hardware. This may be required in order to successfully implement the correct video mode to use with the script. 4. Double and triple check the spelling and spacing of each of the commands. 5. Press ALT-X to exit PCEDIT and save your script. 6. Press ALT-F5, and type in "PROFILE.ASP". You will see an orange box appear on your screen with the message "COMPILING". If that box is followed by another box that has an error message in it, press ALT-A and type in "PROFILE.ERR". This file will tell you what errors occurred and where they are located in the file. Fix all of the errors by comparing your file to the file in step three. Press ALT-X to exit and save the file. Press ALT-F5, and type in "PROFILE.ASP" to recompile the file. Continue with step number 6 until you no longer get an error message after compiling the file. From this date on, unless you delete the PROFILE.ASX file, this script should run every time you use PROCOMM PLUS version 2.01. If this script has odd results such as all of the keys in PROCOMM PLUS, including the ALT keys, causing the cursor to advance one or more spaces, then the BIOS data area location that usually contains the lines per screen information is being used for a completely different purpose. In this case, delete the PROFILE.ASX file and run the patches listed in the following set of instructions. THE PATCH A series of patches have been created to work with PROCOMM PLUS version 2.01 for individuals who have specific needs that the normal PROCOMM PLUS version 2.01 settings will not work with. The patches that are required to fix the screen problems found with the AT&T 6300 and similar PC's, allow PROCOMM PLUS to ignore specific areas of the BIOS data area during the running of the program. These patches are found on the Quarterdeck BBS. CompuServe. LOGON AND DOWNLOAD FROM THE QUARTERDECK BBS 1. Create a directory entry in your program to call our BBS. Set parity to NONE, data bits to 8, stop bit to 1, and terminal emulation to ANSI-BBS. Use any baud rate. The number is 573-875-0503. 2. Activate the directory entry to call the BBS. If this is your first time on this BBS, correctly answer the BBS prompts for user information. 3. When you reach the menu labeled "Quarterdeck Technical Support BBS", you have reached the main BBS menu. Type "F" to select the "Go to File Transfer Menu" option and the "File Transfer Menu". 4. Type "D" to select the "Download a File/List Files" option. 5. Type the number of the PROCOMM PLUS - DOS Library option from the "Select File Library" menu. 6. The "rea, ownload,

rotocol, xamine, ew, ist, or elp Selection or to exit:" message will appear. Type "D" and press ENTER to select the "ownload" option. 7. The "File Name?" prompt will appear. Type "DP201.EXE" and press ENTER. 8. You will see the menu of file transfer protocols, including ZMODEM. Type "Z" to start the download. If the download does not start automatically, press Page Down. Type "Z" for ZMODEM and the file transfer should begin. 9. When the transfer is complete, the BBS will issue the "rea, ownload,

rotocol, xamine, ew, ist, or elp Selection or to exit:" message again. Press ENTER to return to the "File Transfer Menu" again. 10. Log out of the Quarterdeck BBS. Type "G" to go to the "Goodbye Menu" and then type "1" to select the "Disconnect from the BBS" option. 11. Exit PROCOMM PLUS with ALT-X, and go out to DOS. 12. Change to your default download subdirectory from your C:\> prompt. DP201.EXE is a compressed self extracting file. This means that you can uncompress the file by typing its name at the C:\> prompt. To do this type "DP201" followed by ENTER. Then use DOS commands to move three of the extracted files to your "\pcplus" directory. The three files are 6300P.DTP, 6300H.DTP, and 6300E.DTP. 13. Change to your "\pcplus" subdirectory. Make a backup copy of your PCPLUS.EXE file with the DOS command "copy PCPLUS.EXE PCPEXE.BAK". From DOS, run the patch installation program, installing the first patch, by typing "DT_PATCH 6300P.DTP". This patch will fix the PCPLUS.EXE file. When you run the DT_PATCH program you will get a warning screen reminding you to make a backup copy of your PCPLUS.EXE file, and that changes made to this file will be permanent. 14. Next, make a backup copy of your PCHELP.RTE file with the DOS command "copy PCHELP.RTE PCHELP.BAK". Run the patch installation program, installing the second patch, by typing "DT_PATCH 6300H.DTP". This patch will fix the PROCOMM PLUS help files. 15. Finally, make a backup copy of your PCEDIT.EXE file with the DOS command "copy PCEDIT.EXE PCEDIT.BAK". Run the patch installation program, installing the third patch, by typing "DT_PATCH 6300E.DTP". This patch will fix the PCEDIT.EXE file. In 1984 AT&T introduced a new 640x400 resolution CGA monitor with their AT&T 6300 word processors. One of the ways that they achieved this was to change the values in the BIOS data area for the number of lines on each screen. They also disabled the standard BIOS call for changing that value. The result is that PROCOMM PLUS thinks that it has more lines available than the screen can actually display. The Corona and Cordata word processors may also experience similar problems. The preceding solutions may be effective in these machines also. There is no definite solution to the screen problems experienced with some of these machines. XEROX 6063 The Xerox 6063 has the same problem as the AT&T 6300 with the number of lines on the screen. It also has some screen color and keyboard buffer problems. SOLUTIONS If you are experiencing problems with the screen scrolling and or the dialing directory screen looking odd, you can follow the instructions in the AT&T 6300 section proceeding this one. The patches appear to be more effective on the Xerox machine. For the color problems you may need to start PROCOMM PLUS in black and white (monochrome) mode. In order to do this, start PROCOMM PLUS by typing "PCPLUS /b". Upon initialization, PROCOMM PLUS may not respond to the keyboard until the keyboard buffer fills up once, at which point you will hear a beep from your computer. In order to correct this keyboard buffer problem you will need to update the BIOS chips to ROM revision 1.43. You may also need to disable the enhanced keyboard speedup. Press ALT-S to open the Setup Utility. Press G to access the General Options, C to access Enhanced kb speedup, and Space to toggle it OFF. Press ENTER to accept the change and F10 to save the change and exit the Setup Utility. ========================================================================== To ensure that you have the latest version of this document, compare its revision number to that of the same document on any of our support sites. This technical bulletin may be copied and distributed freely as long as it is distributed in its entirety and it is not distributed for profit. Copyright (c) 1996 Quarterdeck All rights reserved. ==========================================================================