The source issue #1.5 is a bugg fixed and extended version of the issue #1

                  Welcome to the SPiDER Source Issue #1.5
                 

If you want to write your own door using a fossil and the ansi driver or if
you just want to learn some more about async programming then the following
sources may helpe you out a lot... I have scrapped together some (what I
think) great and helpful code and I hope that it may be of some use...
(It sure would have helped me a lot, a couple of month ago...)


Well this is the contents of issue #1.5


* ANSI.PAS     = ANSY.SYS Emulator procs
                 Original code by: Turbo Professional
                 Code modifications by: SPiDER

* TIMER.PAS    = BIOS Timing procs
                 Original code by: Turbo Professional
                 Code modifications by: SPiDER

* FOSSIL.PAS   = Fossil (low level async I/O) procs
                 Original code by: Andrew J. Mead
                 Code modifications by: SPiDER

* TXTSHARE.PAS = File sharing procs
                 Original code by: Per Larsson
                 Code modifications by: SPiDER

* GIVETIME.PAS = Give time slices under DesQView, OS/2 & Windows
                 Original code by: Fred Cohen			
                 Code modifications by: SPiDER

* COM.PAS      = High level async I/O procs
                 Original code by: SPiDER

* KEYCODES.INC = ASCII & extended scan codes +
                 color & mode codes used by COM.PAS
                 Original file by: SPiDER

* COMTEST.PAS  = Simple Exaple Source How To Use COM.PAS
                 Original code by: SPiDER


About the COM.PAS code

It will show you examples on how to give away timeslices to DesQview and OS/2
in a multi tasking enviroment, how to share TP, BP text files in a multi user
enviroment, how to monitor user inactivity and carrier... I have provided the
unit with friendly "userhooks", just plug in a idle key proc or a extended
key proc of your own, the unit got global const and var to control color usage
key idle time, local mode, user escape at input and much moor... Have fun!


About the fossil driver

The fossil driver is a easy way for programmers to access the comports and
to handle async communication... It is updated on a regular basis. it's
out there for "free", most BBS software and frontends uses it, it supports
computers who dont got UARTS, and there are versions that works under OS/2.

The fossil interface may feel a little old but most of the needed low level
stuff is provided... What you have to do (or what I already have done for you)
is to build some nice high level procs using the low level procs (see COM.PAS)...

Some say that the fossil is slow (note that u cant init the fossil faster
than 38400 baud), but what is of most inportans if you are about to make
a time bank door, a nice interface making it esy for you to make the door
and a garatie that it will run on most of the systems or an extra few %
faster troughput (i havent seen a user type faster than a 10 chars/second
think about it, 10 CPS! At 14400 baud the CPS is about 1600, try to type
ahead of that if u can...)... Another thing is if you dont need software
flow control (who needs it to day, BBS software like PCE doesent support it!)
just lock the fossil at 115200 baud (that aught to be anough) and then init
the fossil at any speed, it doesent matter because the fossil will ignore
all speed setting commands that you do from your program, the RTS/CTS
speed is locked at 115200 and the modems hardware handshaking will take
care of the rest...

About ANSI.SYS

The fossil provides built in support for the ANSI.SYS driver but its very
slow so i use the ANSI.PAS procedures for ANSI support. Just disable it if
you want your programs to go trough the ANSI.SYS instead. Note that COM.PAS
does not use CRT but ANSI.PAS does, and that GIVETIME.PAS disables CRT direct 
screen writings if you are running in a multitasking enviroment like DesQview. 


If u got feedback on this source issue (not on my bad English) or if you got
some source of your own that you would like to share with me then drop a mess
to me /SPiDER/ at: SADiSTiC (NUP=HandCuffs, Node I +46-19-262574 /16.8DS/
or Node ][ +46-19-262576 /V32bis/...)

SPiDER Says: Share your code with the rest of the scene so that we all get
             the chance to develop our programming skills on different topics!

