#Access! Version 1.4
23 messages in this thread
Keith,
Well, after 1 1/2 years of telecommunicating almost exclusively with ATerm I
decided last week it was high time to explore a bit and see what else was
available. First I downloaded WHAP! and tried using that as a front-end to
ATerm. Ugh. WHAP!'s interface maketh me ill. So I deleted it. Next I
downloaded the huge and mighty CoComm. Quick B, automation, user-configurable
buttons…very nice indeed. But, alas, it crasheth too often. So I deleted
it. Then last night I downloaded Access! 1.4. Having spent a goodly number of
consecutive hours (somewhere around 12) mucking about with it, I feel obliged
to post the following comments.
1) I like Access! Alot. It does everything I want a term to do–no muss,
no fuss–and it looks mighty purty to boot. Barring the discovery of nasty
insects and/or irritating eccentricities, Access! is my new #1 term. Coming as
they do from a perennial contender for the Mr. Utilitarian award, these are
truly amazing statements. 8^) Here I am using a term that resides on its own
screen, a 3-bitplane deep screen at that, and actually enjoying it. It is
tricky, tho, selecting 8 colors that not only complement each other well but
also minimize the annoying throb of interlace mode. I'm afraid 16 colors would
overload my tolerance resistors, not to mention severely taxing my chip ram.
Maybe after I get a FlickerFixer and an Obese Agnus.
2) Gee whiz. I accidently attempted to overwrite a previously captured
ASCII file with a new buffer, but Access! asked me if I wanted to append the
new file to the old or to abort the operation entirely. Saved me about 20
minutes worth of thread rereading. Good stuff.
<<<<<continued>>>>>
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3) Nit #1. My system disk (stripped of all "extraneous garbage") is 99%
full, so until I get a hard-drive (still 2 or 3 months down the road) I won't
have enough room to add rd to my C: directory. Acc!.def just barely made it
into S:. So I recommend that in the next release you have Access! also look in
its own directory for rd (and, for that matter, Acc!.def). I was able to work
around this, tho, with NewZAP.
4) Nit #2. I couldn't get the NewCLI command to work with WShell until I
replaced all the "newcli"s in the executable with "newwsh"s. NewZAP saves the
day again.
5) Nit #3. Most of the items in the Systen menu ought to have COMMSEQ
equivalents. No big deal, tho.
6) Split screen mode. Great idea; takes care of any lingering concerns I
may have had regarding Access!'s use of a custom screen.
7) Scripting. Sure looks easier to use than CoComm's. <Sorry, Ben> But I
haven't tried it out yet, so my opinion could change. 😉
Conclusion (so far): Telecomming with Access! is a pleasure. I have not
deleted it.
-Dave
Wellll… thankie much sir! Now let me try to address a few of your concerns…
Nit #1) Access! is now 'large' disk-space wise… I'll see what I can do about
that in future versions… re: 'rd' don't fit in C: … that was an over-
sight on my part (sorry) I really had intended to _first_ look in the
current dir (or possibly "System Dir:" (or both)). re: 'Acc!.def' don't
much fit in C: either… you can now have it in the current directory. Nit
#2) WShell didn't work — really? I've been using it all along… it
specifically looks for 'newwsh' in you c: dir… odd. (btw, please don't
distribute any NewZap(ed) versions (I'm sure you knew that)). Nit #3)
System menu needs COMMSEQ(s) — I plan to reorganize _all_ the menus
for 1.5, I'll keep that in mind. Nit #4) oops, there is no Nit #4… geee,
I got off easy <grin>
The scripting was just put in… it's a bit limited for now, but will be
enhanced in future versions. The current set of commands should let you write
some simple log-on scripts anyway.
Thanks for the compliments/comments,
– Keith
YUK, nice formatting job there Keith.
Keith,
Yer welcome.
Actually, the size of Access! itself is no problem as I keep it on my
"Terminals" disk. I take it that the program used to be a bit smaller.
Rd has piqued my curiosity. I use Cheath's FastFonts to "replace" the ROMed
topaz fonts with others I prefer. Yet Rd still manages to display text in
topaz 8. Interesting…I've never seen this before. Scrolling speed is
tremendous, IMHO. It's a pity Rd doesn't accept piped input–it would make a
nice More-type program in addition to its usefulness within Access!. With all
the neat little utilities like Rd that I keep accumulating, I may just have to
resort to a 2-disk boot-up process. (Sigh…can't wait to get the HD.)
I wonder if the fact that my C: directory is VD0:c has anything to do with
Access! not being able to find NewWSH. Cheath's RunBack program, if I recall
correctly, had a similar problem. If I tried to use RunBack after reassigning
C: to VD0: it would inform me that it couldn't find Run in C:, even though Run
most certainly _was_ in C:. I'll check this out and let you know what I find.
I've moved Acc!.def from S: to my Access! directory. Guess I didn't read
the docs thoroughly enough. Typical. 8^)
If I pass Access! on to anyone else I'll give 'em the ARCed file, so not to
worry about that.
Wow! Quick B makes XModem look like absolute sh*t. I can see my CI$ bill
going down already. <Grin>
-Dave
P.S. Check's in the mail.
Dave,
First off, thanks again for the comments (and the soon to arrive check 8).
Now, as to 'rd' not using the replaced system font… it uses Darren
Greenwald's 'FastText()' routines (and they _are_ fast). They have thier own
font imagery builtin (a copy of topaz)… that's why it doesn't get replaced
<grin>
– Keith
(Psssst. What's "Rd"?)
(Karl)
( it's an improved version of what used to be the "File Reader"… it's now a
seporate program that might make a nice addition to your c: directory )
To7R[-z Young D_&k&L7 (X)
Keith,
Ahh, FastText() uses its own internal font…I figgered it had to be
something like that since I couldn't find any references to the
diskfont.library within Rd. I notice that topaz also pops up in the
requestors.
Regarding the NewWSH problem, I was exactly right. I tried a freshly
unARCed copy of Access! with my C: directory assigned to vd0:c–nothing
happened when I pushed the NewCLI button. But when I reassigned C: to SYS:C,
then pushed NewCLI again, voila! It worked. Something you may want to look
into. At any rate I think I'll leave C: assigned to SYS:C since I can't
remember why I reassigned it in the first place. Must've been real important.
8^)
-Dave
Hmmmm… that is odd indead (re vd0:c problem)… I haven't tried it yet, but
have you also tried 'pathing' vd0:c in? that might help, no idea why the assign
doesn't work by itself though… odd.
– Keith
Keith,
Yes, the C: thing is odd. Try this:
1) Open a WShell from within Access!
2) Make a vd0:c directory.
3) Copy NewWSH to vd0:c.
4) Assign C: to vd0:c.
5) Close the WShell.
6) Click again on the NewCLI button. If your machine is like my
machine, nothing will happen.
The way I had my system set up, vd0:c was indeed "pathed in" as well as
assigned to C: (or, rather, C: was assigned to…ach, you know what I mean).
8^) You can verify this for yourself by doing a "path add vd0:c" between steps
2 and 3 above. I've also tried the above steps using a standard Workbench disk
and substituting NewCLI and RAM: for NewWSH and vd0: respectively. Same
results. Curiouser and curiouser….
-Dave
Keith gave me this color combination the other night and it works pretty well.
Set it up in 16-color mode and then switch to 8-color mode.
115,aaa,157,600,b60,f90,c20,505,005,b97,246,c00,0ab,aa0,b95,505
I did notice one problem (in rd, I think) with the same value for colors 7 and
15.
Jon,
Thanks for the Access! colors; they look good. Actually, I was able to come
up with some decent combinations myself once I stopped trying to use my
Workbench colors as the first four Access! colors. So it looks like every bps
rate for every net gets its own color set. Neat stuff!
-Dave
Keith seems to have a real knack for choosing color schemes. Few people have
that ability, as evidenced by most of the Amiga software I've seen which has
default colors (Ick!). I was just passing on the suggestions he gave me.
Black text on yellow background is easy to read, but tough when it scrolls.
-tc
"WHAP!'s interface maketh me ill."
If I might ask, David, just what exactly bothers you about WHAP's interface?
Rick
Rick,
Sometimes I have trouble believing my own stupidity. I just spent about 20
minutes composing a reply to your message offline. Then, just a few seconds
ago, I accidentally deleted it. Sheesh. That'll teach me not to leave my
replies in VD0:.
Well, the hell with it. The quick and dirty version will just have to do.
Let me try to clarify my rather rash remark about Whap!'s interface. It's
not Whap!'s interface that "maketh me ill." I'm an Amigan. I like buttons and
menus just fine. It's Whap! itself _as an interface to CIS_ that leaves me
less than enthusiastic. Navigating around CIS with Whap! is like driving a
big, fat Cadillac on the freeway. I *hate* Cadillacs. I don't like
ultrasmooth rides; I prefer a stiff suspension that lets me feel the road I'm
driving on. I don't like the feeling of sitting at the center of a veritable
tank; I prefer a small car I can figuratively "wrap my arms around." I'm a
control freak. I don't even use log-on scripts. I like a terminal program
that lets me choose, every step of the way, in real time, what I'm gonna do
next.
Don't misinterpret me. I'm not bad-mouthing Whap! at all. It is exactly
what it was designed to be: the Cadillac of term programs, smooth and polished
and chock-full of neat features. I wish it and its author well. But it's not
the term for me.
-Dave
Geeze David, if Whap! doesn't save you enough to buy a Cadillac, I'd be very
surprised and you can interface it with whatever terminal program you want so
you can flounder about to your heart's content. Really, you ought to get to
know more about it, it's NOT a terminal program.
…Dave
Dave,
Yes, I realize that Whap! isn't really a terminal program. It's more an
alternative CIS interface. What can I say? It doesn't turn me on. However, I
did download version 1.3 last night and will be taking another look at it in
the coming days. We shall see.
-Dave
David,
Good, let me know what you think. I can't believe that it won't turn you on.
…Dave
David, I use to say similiar things about these automated CIS programs until
I tried Whap!, now (as the song says) I'm a believer.
I like having control too, but I also like getting as much out of CompuServe
for as little as possible.
And I am not a recent subscriber either, I was one of the Beta Testers for
MicroNET – the precursor to the CompuServe Information System – and that was a
few years ago.
Geo
George,
Well I guess I could always use Whap! in interactive mode, letting it do its
stuff per my orders and then disappear, leaving me online with Access! to do
whatever else I wanted. I certainly don't object to saving a few bucks, even
tho I use CIS quite efficiently as it is. Like I told Davey, I'll give Whap!
another whirl.
I see by your PPN that you are indeed a CIS "oldtimer." 8^)
-Dave
Oh, I didn't necessarily think you were bad-mouthing. I genuinely wanted to
know what bothered you about Whap!. Thanks for filling me in.
As for stupidity, well, there's quite enough of that to go around, so don't
feel isolated. 8)
Rick