MAI Basic Four PC-Link User Guide

PDF

문서

MAI Basic Four&reg;
MAI PC-Link
User Guide
— MAY, 1986
006340-000
M6340
This manual includes original works of authorship and proprietary information protected by
copyright and trade secret laws. The Copyright Act of 1976 provides for civil liability anc
severe criminal penalties for unauthorized copying or disclosure of protected works. Posses-
sion and use of this manual is restricted and subject to the terms of the MAI Basic Four,
Inc. license agreement for this manual (‘'Agreement’’). You shall not publish, reproduce
or transmit, in whole or in part, this manual in any form or by any means, whether elec-
tronic, mechanical, photographic, or otherwise. You shall not disclose, or fail to make your
best efforts to prevent the inadvertent disclosure of, this manual to any third party except
to your employees on a need-to-know basis, which employees you shall bind in writing to
the terms of the Agreement and be responsible for their compliance therewith. If you fail
to act in accordance with this notice and the Agreement, your license to this manual will
be immediately and automatically terminated, and you may expose yourself to civil and
criminal liability.
=
Copyright 1986, MA! Basic Four, inc. All rights reserved. MAI and BASIC FOUR are registered
trademarks of MAI Basic Four, Inc.
MA! Basic Four, inc. 14101 Mytord Road, Tustin, CA 92680 (714) 731-5100
SECTION 1
SECTION 2
- SECTION 3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
‚ Раде
INTRODUCTION
GETTING STARTED USING MAI PC-LINK
Hardware Requirements ....ocoseooo
How to Use this Manual ......o..0..
MAI PC-LINK Installation/
Uninstallation .......wooccoccoceo
MAI PC-LINK Installation ......
= Hard Disk ..............&gt;.
Floppy Diskette .......0.00.0.0
Uninstalling MAI PC-LINK ...o..
Transferring MAI PC-LINK
Support Files ..eoosocooccaaco
Special Concerns for IBM AT
(or Compatibles) ....oncocooo
High Density Diskettes ....
High Density Drives ....o..
DOS Backup/Restore (Hard Disk) ..
Getting Connected ...eoscovcocooe
Using a Direct Connection to
the Host 000 00000000000 0000 |
Using a Remote Connection
to the Host vo
Using an Acoustic
Coupler Modem su...
Using a Direct Line
Modem ..eoscccooococoo
Starting MAI PC-LINK 000000000000
The Help System ..e..ecoscoocoo
TERMINAL EMULATION
Starting Terminal Emulation .....
Keyboard Usage ....0000.0000000000
pe&raquo;
pt jd |
U
LO O &copy;) &copy;
'
ood fed fond fd fed
=P DO
i
pat
&copy;
го
no
pr
&gt;&raquo;
2-13
2-14
E
2-16
2-17
iii M6340
TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued)
Page
SECTION 4 FILE TRANSFER
Installation of Transfer
Programs o....0000.000000000000000 4-1
Sending PC Data Files to the
Basic FOUR эооооооооововвоввововово 4-2
Receiving Basic Four Data Files . 4-8
— SECTION 5 SELECTING AND REFORMATTING DATA
WITH &deg;VIEW'
SECTION 6 USING DOS COMMANDS AND RUNNING
OTHER PROGRAMS
Executing DOS Commands from MAI
PC-LINK ..coccoocococcocorocceces 6-1
Executing Other Programs from
MAI PC-LINK o00000000000000000000 6-1
“SECTION 7 SUMMARY OF MAI PC-LINK
CONFIGURATION SETTINGS
Communications Settings ......... 7-2
— PC Defaults ...scconccoccoosccooe 7-2
Host Defaults ......0...000000000000 7-3
Modem Setup ....000000000000000000 7-3
Printer Setup .....sscccccocooono 7-4
Update ..eococcccocooccococecenee 7-5
7-5
Reset 0090000025050 00050000005900509590 008
— SECTION 8 SAMPLE SEND, RECEIVE AND VIEW
o SESSIONS
Send 0000, 0000 00000200000 000050008 8 1
Receive 0000000000000000000000000 8-3
8-5
A
View 00000000000 0900500005090000508
APPENDIX A DEFINITION OF TERMS o000000000000
TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued)
APPENDIX B MAIN COMMAND MENU FOR MAI PC-LINK
en Terminal Emulation Menu ......... B
Send Menu ...soscocsscoccococccoce В
Receive Menu ss.000.00000000020000000 B
Receive Columns Edit Menu ....... B
View Menu ....sconmccooocoscoccooo B-
B
B
B
B
!
+ с
i
NO O IN =&gt; opa NJ
NWO ta e
Configure Menu ...essscccoccocono
Format Menu 000000000000000000000
Data Entry and Edit .....e..o.oom0..
Personal Computer File Selection.
APPENDIX C INFORMATION ON COPY PROTECTION
Using Protected Programs ........ C-1
APPENDIX D MAI PC-LINK DISKETTE CONTENTS ... D-1
Pr APPENDIX E USING MAI PC-LINK REFORMATTED
| DATA |. O HO O O CC O CODO SEDO 0NLCOIN0CcCHN$AOEA CAPO E-1
APPENDIX F TRADEMARKS 0000000500500 5000909055 6008 F-1
APPENDIX G LIMITATIONS 00.000000 0000000008000 G-1
APPENDIX H ~~ SETUP PROBLEMS ..........ecooccoo H-1
APPENDIX I CONTROL MNEMONICS ....eoconccoooo ll
APPENDIX J QUICK START PROCEDURES 000000 ODS J-1
Getting Connected ...escsooceocooo U-l
Starting MAI PC-LINK Session .... J-1
File Transfer еее еее ее еее J 2
Installation .........….... |) =?
(0 Send &reg; 0&quot; 00 OOO OO DP OOO SOE OES EH cxOd:wNCICIO J 3
“ J-3
K
Receive 000000020950 000000055005, 0998
APPENDIX K PC ERROR MESSAGES o00000000000000
v/vi M6340
PREFACE
The MAI PC-LINK User Guide provides information for
transferring files to and from MAI Basic Four and PC
systems, as well as instructions to run the MAI PC-
LINK programs.
The major topics covered in this manual are:
Introduction
Section 1
Section 2 Getting Started Using MAI PC-Link
— Section 3 Terminal Emulation
Section 4 File Transfer
Section 5 Selecting and Reformatting Data
with &quot;View&quot;
Section 6 Using DOS Commands and Running
Other Programs
Section 7 Summary of MAI PC-Link Configuration
Settings
Section 8 Sample Send, Receive and View Sessions
Appendices ВЕ
WARNING
This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate
radio frequency energy and if not installed and used
in accordance with the instructions manual, may
cause interference to radio communications, as tem-
porarily permitted by regulation. It has not been
tested for compliance with the limits for Class A
Computing Devices pursuant to Subpart J of Part 15
of FCC Rules, which are designed to provide
&quot;reasonable protection against such interference.
Operation of this equipment in a residential area is
likely to cause inter-ference, in which case the
User at his own expense will be required to take
whatever measures that may be required to correct
the interference.
vii/viii
SECTION 1
INTRODUCTION
WELCOME TO MAI PC-LINK
We are pleased that you have selected MAI PC-LINK as
your DS-500 personal computer (PC) to Basic Four
minicomputer link. We trust you will find that it
is the most user friendly and powerful product of
its type and that it will aid you in becoming more
productive and cost effective.
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT TO DO WITH MAI PC-LINK
One of MAI PC-LINK's principal features is to pro-
vide you with standard MAI BASIC FOUR 7270 VDT or
EVDT terminal emulation. That is, your PC micro
coupled with a licensed copy of MAI PC-LINK will
provide you with the ability to simulate the opera-
tion and use of a standard VDT or EVDT. But that's
not all. MAI PC-LINK will allow you to transfer
files and reports from your host BASIC FOUR mini-
computer to your PC and reformat them into a number
of popular PC micro formats such as those used by
Lotus 1-2-3*, dBase II*, Multimate*, Wordstar* and
Multiplan*. You can select a whole file or you may
choose to receive only the lines and fields that are —
of interest to you. MAI PC- LINK will do the rest.
Now you can use data from your BASIC FOUR to do |
what-if&quot; calculations on your favorite spreadsheet,
or to create a database for your automated mailing
list program. MAI PC-LINK can also send PC micro
files to your host BASIC FOUR to update files or to
Share your data with other users. The possibilities
are limited only by your imagination. a
*Refer to Appendix F for Trademark Information for
these products.
1-1
NOTES
1-2
an
SECTION 2
GETTING STARTED USING MAI PC-LINK
HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS
To use MAI PC-LINK, certain hardware is required as
a minimum. You are required to have: a
O
An IBM” Personal Computer/XT/AT, Compaq* or
another IBM Personal Computer compatible
computer with at least 256K of memory and at
least one floppy disk drive.
MS/PC DOS 2.0, or greater.
Either the IBM Monochrome Display or the IBM
Color Graphics Display or equivalent.
An IBM or equivalent asynchronous communica-
tions interface card. MAI PC-LINK uses either
communications port #1 (COM1:) or #2 (COM2:).
A parallel or serial printer connected to the
Personal Computer (not required if &quot;local
printing&quot; is not required).
“A cable to connect the Personal Computer to the
BASIC FOUR computer or a modem for remote con-
nection (refer to Section 2 &quot;GETTING CONNECTED&quot;
for specific connection requirements).
An MAI BASIC FOUR minicomputer (MAI 2000, MPX
8000, or 1300 series) running Level 3.7 or
higher operating system.
Refer to Appendix F for trademark information
for these products.
2-1 M6340
HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL
In writing this manual we tried to introduce each
feature of MAI PC-LINK as a separate section.
However, in an effort to reduce redundancy, cross
references will be made. We have also included
several appendices which provide summary or
additional information:
Appendix A - A glossary of common computer and
communication terms.
Appendix. B - &Agrave; summary of the command menus
available in
MAI PC-LINK along with a brief
-— description of their use.
a MAI PC-LINK.
Appendix G
— Appendix H
Appendix C - Information on copy protection and
how it affects your use of MAI PC-LINK.
Appendix D - A list and description of the
~ files included on your master MAI PC- LINK
diskette.
Appendix E
packages can
Appendix F
Appendix I
- Tips on how various application
use the data files reformatted by
Trademarks.
Limitations.
Help with set -up problems.
Basic Four Terminal Control
Mnemonics recognized by MAI PC-LINK.
MAI PC-LINK INSTALLATION, UNINSTALLATION
MAI PC-LINK programs are provided on floppy diskette
which you may transfer and install (1) onto your
hard disk into a directory, or (2) to another floppy
diskette using the following installation proced-
The complete set of MAI PC-LINK programs can
then be uninstalled back to floppy by executing the
uninstall procedures if you wish to use MAI PC-LINK
ures.
M6340
2-2
&gt;
=
on a different personal computer or reformat your
hard disk.
MAI PC-LINK Installation
You cannot run MAI PC-LINK from the MASTER DISK.
‘You can only run MAI PC-LINK from a working copy
created by the installation procedure. The
following options are open to you:
Option 1: You can install MAI PC-LINK from the
MASTER DISK to either (i) a hard disk or (ii) a
formatted, double-sided, double density floppy
diskette. Once installed, no further installs
&gt; left until you perform an uninstall (Option
2 .
Option 2: You can uninstall MAI PC-LINK from
the working copy created via Option 1 above,
back to the same MASTER DISK it was created
“from. Once uninstalled, you can install it
again (refer to Option 1).
Each of the above options is elaborated upon in
detail below.
Installing MAI PC-LINK onto a Hard Disk
You can install MAI PC-LINK onto your personal
computer's hard disk and into a subdirectory.
Additionally, you can uninstall MAI PC-LINK from
your hard disk, if you want to install MAI PC- LINK
onto a different hard disk, or if you need to ВЕ
reformat your hard disk.
Installation is a simple process performed through a
series of prompts. The following procedure guides
you through the process of installing MAI PC-LINK
onto your hard disk. In the following description
(CR) represents pressing your RETURN key.
1. Insert your original MAI PC-LINK
distribution diskette into drive A:.
2-3 M6340
M6340
2.
3.
4,
Make the A drive the default drive. This
may be done by typing: |
А: (СК)
Start the installation program by typing:
INSTALL(CR)
The program will then display the fol lowing
message and prompt:
MAI PC- LINK Install/UNinstall Procedure
Enter letter for media to be installed to
or Uninstalled from
Use H for hard disk or F for floppy disk= _
Press H(CR) to select hard disk.
The program will then display the following
message and prompt:
MAI PC-LINK Diskette Installation (2.0.3)
Diskettes MUST NOT have a write protect tab
Please enter DRIVE letter, and hit return
(--)
Product diskette refers to the original
product package diskette
Product Diskette Drive (Input )=
The last line of the above message is
asking you for the drive where the Distri-
&quot;bution Diskette can be found. This will
normally be A(CR).
You will then be prompted with the follow-
ing message:
Hard Disk Drive - (Output )=
2-4 a
7.
8.
This will typically be drive C(CR).
The screen will then display the following
message:
Verify Product Diskette in Drive
Hit RETURN (-) to continue.
The copy protection program will then veri-
fy that you have the original distribution
diskette in the drive indicated. After
verification has been completed success-
fully, the following message will be
displayed:
MAI PC-LINK maximum install count is 0001
After this install, 0000 install(s) will be
available
Enter Y to continue or N to quit, then hit
RETURN -(--)
Press Y(CR) to continue with installation
or press N(CR) to discontinue.
The screen will then display the following
message:
Processing, please wait...
While this message is displayed, the com-
puter is installing the protected version
of MAI PC-LINK onto your hard disk. This
process may take a minute, so be patient
and DO NOT interrupt the transferral pro-
cedure. After the program has been instal-
led, the screen will display the following
message:
MAI PC-LINK has been successfully
installed
2-5 M6340
This message indicates a successful instal-
lation of MAI PC-LINK onto your hard disk.
~ If any error conditions were encountered,
an appropriate error message will be dis-
played. Please note the content of the
error message, and contact your dealer for
technical assistance.
Installing MAI PC-LINK onto a Floppy Diskette
You should install MAI PC-LINK onto a floppy dis-
kette if your personal computer is equipped for a
floppy diskette(s). You should always run from the
working copy that you create by doing this type of
install and store your original MASTER DISK in a
safe place for backup.
— You also may uninstall MAI PC-LINK from that floppy
disk. This is important if you start to experience
hardware types of problems with that working copy.
Installation is a simple process performed through a
series of prompts. The following procedure guides
you through the process of installing MAI PC-LINK to
a blank, formatted (360K) double-sided, double den-
sity floppy diskette. (CR) represents pressing your
RETURN key.
1. Insert your original MAI PC-LINK distri-
bution diskette into drive A:
2. Make the A drive the default drive. This
may be done by typing:
A: (CR)
3. Start the installation program by typing:
INSTALL (CR)
4. The program will then display the following
message and prompt:
M6340 2-6
MAI PC-LINK INSTALL/UNinstall Procedure
Enter letter for media to be installed
to
or UNinstalled from
и — Use H for hard disk, or F for floppy
` disk=
Press F(CR) to select floppy disk.
5. The program will then display the following
— message and prompt:
MAI PC-LINK Diskette Installation(2.03)
Diskettes MUST NOT have a write protect
tab
Please enter DRIVE letter, and hit
return (--)
В Product diskette refers to the original
~ a product package diskette
Product Diskette prive (Input) =
- The last line of the above message is ask-
ing you for the drive where the Distribu-
tion Diskette can be found. This will
normally be A(CR).
6. You will then be prompted with the
a following message: a
Target Diskette refers to the diskette
created by Install...this diskette must
be Formatted
Target Diskette Drive(Output) =
This will typically be drive B(CR).
2-7 ‘M6340 —
7. The screen will then display the following
message:
Verify Product Diskette in Drive
Hit RETURN ( ) to continue.
a | —`
The copy protection program will then |
verify that you have the original distribu-
tion diskette in the drive indicated. After
verification has been completed successful-
ly the following message will be displayed:
MAI PC-LINK maximum install count is
0001
After this install, 0000 install(s)
will be available
Enter Y to continue or N to quit, then
hit RETURN (--)
Press Y(CR) to continue with installation
or press N(CR) to discontinue.
8. The screen will then display the following
message: |
Processing, please wait...
While this message is displayed, the com-
puter is installing the protected version
of MAI PC-LINK onto your floppy disk. This
process may take a minute, so be patient
and DO NOT interrupt the transferral proce-
dure. After the program has been installed
the screen will display the following
message:
MAI PC-LINK has been successfully CN
installed
M6340 2-8
This message indicates a successful instal-
lation of MAI PC-LINK onto the floppy disk.
If any error conditions are encountered, an
appropriate error message will be display-
ed. Please note the content of the error
message, and contact your dealer for tech-
nical assistance.
Uninstalling MAI PC-LINK
There may be times when you want to uninstall MAI
PC-LINK from your hard or floppy disk. With this
version of MAI PC-LINK, you are allowed to install
and uninstall as many times as you like. However,
you may only have MAI PC-LINK installed onto one
hard disk OR one floppy diskette at any time.
After performing an install to a hard disk, your
original diskette is still executable. But you are
not allowed to install on any other floppy or hard
disko until you uninstall MAI PC- LINK from that hard
is
After performing an install to a floppy disk , your
original diskette is still executable. But you are
not allowed to install on any other floppy or hard
disks until you uninstall MAT PC- LINK from that
floppy disk.
Uninstalling steps are as follows:
1. If you are uninstalling from hard disk,
ensure you are in the directory that MAI
PC-LINK was originally installed in.
2. Insert the original distribution diskette
into drive A:.
3. Make the A drive the default drive (see
install procedures).
4. Start the UNinstall procedure by typing:
INSTALL /U(cr)
2-9 M6340
The /U tells the INSTALL program that this
is to be an Uninstall operation.
The procedures and screens will be according to the
Installation procedure previously described. At the
— end of UNinstalling, you will have an install count
of 0001 and will be able to install again. a
Transferring MAI PC-LINK Support Files
It is important to notice that running the installa-
tion program does NOT transfer any of MAI PC-LINK
support programs or files to the target disk. It is
still necessary to copy these files to your hard
disk. We have included a &quot;batch&quot; file on the MASTER
disk call TRANS.BAT which will transfer all the
appropriate files for you. To use this program,
ensure that you are in the correct directory on your
target disk. Place the original MAI PC-LINK MASTER
diskette in drive A. Make drive A your default
drive and type in the following: ВЕ
TRANS A C(cr) (typical hard disk) _
TRANS &Agrave; B(cr) (typical floppy disk) =
The corresponding &quot;batch&quot; file on the HOST PROGRAMS
disk is called TRANSH.BAT. Place the HOST PROGRAMS
disk in drive A and type the following:
TRANSH A C(CR) (typical hard disk)
TRANSH A B(CR) (typical floppy disk)
Perform these two procedures to transfer the
necessary files to your hard disk.
Special Concerns for the IBM AT* (or Compatibles)
High Density Diskettes
Users who are installing. a floppy working copy must IN
use a formatted, double-sided, double density disk-
* Refer to Appendix F for trademark information for
this product.
M6340 2-10
ette as the target disk. The messages, &quot;Install
terminated Error Code 6100 or 8304&quot; will be display-
ed if the target diskette is high capacity (1.2 Mb).
High Density Drives
Any floppy disk that was previously made by or
written to, using a high capacity drive, may be
unusable on a normal capacity disk drive. There-
fore, if the distribution disk will be used to
install on machines with regular drives, run INSTALL
from the low density drive. If the working copy is
to be used on regular drives in addition to high
density drives, make the working copy in a low den-
sity drive. If the IBM AT has only one low density
drive, use it for a one drive install specifying
that drive letter for both Product and Target disks.
DOS BACKUP AND RESTORE (HARD DISK)
Files which are critical to the operation of MAI PC-
LINK have been marked as read-only. Therefore, if
the hard disk is not to be reformatted, users may
perform a DOS BACKUP and RESTORE without damaging
the protected programs or support files by specify-
ing RESTORE /P. The /P option will cause DOS to
prompt you before trying to RESTORE read-only files.
You SHOULD NOT restore any MAI PC- LINK files that
are marked as read-only.
If you plan on reformatting your hard disk then you
~ MUST UNinstall MAI PC-LINK from the hard disk before
reformatting. Failure to do this, even if you have
performed a complete DOS BACKUP, will result in the
loss of your hard disk install, and you will have to
“operate MAI PC-LINK from your original distribution
‘master.
GETTING CONNECTED
MAT PC-LINK can connect your PC micro to your host
BASIC FOUR mini in two ways. The first (and simp-
lest) method is often referred to as a direct link.
That is, the PC and the host are connected directly
by a cable. The second option is usually referred
2-11 M6340
to as remote connection. Here communication can be
done using the telephone lines. Each mode of con-
nection is described in detail in the following
sections.
Using a Direct Connection to the Host
If your micro and your host computers are to be
located in the same building, you may use a direct
link. MAI PC-LINK requires the Personal Computer to
be connected to the MAI BASIC FOUR computer through
the PC asynchronous communications port #1 or port
#2 (port #1 is the default). The IBM asynchronous
communication card (or equivalent) has a male-type
DB-25 connector. The terminal ports on the back of
the BASIC FOUR have female-type connectors. There-
fore, to directly connect the PC to BASIC FOUR, you
have two options:
1. Use a standard BASIC FOUR cable from the
— BASIC FOUR computer to your work location.
This cable will have male-type connectors
on both ends, so it will not plug directly a
in the Personal Computer. You will need a
short adapter cable with female-type DB-25
connectors at each end. If you are going
to assemble this cable yourself, you will
need two female DB-25 connectors and about
one to two feet of cable with at least four
leads in it. The connectors are assembled
to the cable as follows:
Female Female
Connector Connector
Pin Pin
Plug into 1 ------- 1 Plug into
cable from д ==----- 2 Personal
from Basic 3 ------- 3 Computer
Four computer 7 ------- 7 Asynchronous TN
Comm port
The other pins on the connectors are not
used. —
M6340 2-12
If you are going to buy this cable, specify
a &quot;one to two foot long DB-25 cable assem-
bly with female connectors at each end,
wired 1,2,3,7 with no crossovers&quot;.
2. Use a custom cable directly from the BASIC
FOUR computer to your work location. In
this case, you will need a four-lead cable
with a male DB-25 connector at one end and
a female DB-25 connector at the other end,
long enough to reach from the BASIC FOUR
computer to your work location. It should
be wired as follows:
Male Female
Connector Connector
Pin Pin
Plug into 1 ------- 1 Plug into
cable from д ==. 2 Personal
from Basic 3 ------- 3 Computer
Four computer 7 ------- 7 Asynchronous
Comm port
Using a Remote Connection to Your Host
(If you will be connecting your PC directly to the
BASIC FOUR, you can skip ahead to the section on
starting MAI PC-LINK.)
If you wish to link with the host BASIC FOUR at a
remote location, you may do so by communicating over
a telephone line. A modem will be required at each
end. Due to the standard hardware setup used by the
BASIC FOUR minis and the PC micros, the modems must
be of the asynchronous type. Either acoustic or
direct wire modems may be used, but the modems must
be capable of handling 1 start bit, 7 data bits, 1
stop bit and 1 parity bit. Any standard baud rate
may be used, but the modems at each end must match
the baud rate set up on the BASIC FOUR. Some of the
modems that will work are listed below:
2-13 M6340
1. Hayes or Hayes compatible
2. Racal VadiC .............451 PA
— (direct line, auto dial)
3. Racal Vadic .sosccorcooo.3451 P
(direct line, manual dial)
4. Racal VadiC ..ooccooooooo3455
(direct line, manual dial)
5. Anderson Jacobsen .......1234 A
(acoustic, manual dial)
Using an Acoustic Coupler Modem
If you wish to use an acoustic modem for your link
session, you must first connect it to the serial
port on your PC (refer to the modem owners manual
for details). Next, start MAI PC-LINK (refer to the
next section) on your PC and enter the Configuration
menu. Set the baud rate to match the setting of the
modem and BASIC FOUR (e.g., if your modem is set to
work at a baud rate of 1200, set MAI BASIC FOUR to
communicate at 1200 baud - refer to Section 8). MAI
PC-LINK is now ready to start remote communications
session, so exit the Configuration menu and enter
Terminal Emulation mode. (Refer to Section 3 for
details). Dial the desired number on your telephone
and wait for an answer. A distinct high pitched
whine indicates a modem on the other end is ready to
connect. Immediately plug the phone headset into
the rubber cups on the modem and wait for an indica-
tion of a connection (most modems have a light that
goes on when a connection is made). Your link ses-
sion can now begin,
When you have finished your link session and wish to
hang up the modem, you may either remove the
telephone handset from the rubber cups and hang it
up as usual, or you may step out of Terminal Emula-
tion mode (by pressing ESC) and select the Hang Up
option in the menu. This causes MAI PC-LINK to
lower DTR so that the modem will think that the PC
is not ready. Note that if this method is used, you
must ensure that your modem supports it. Some mo-
dems have switches that either force the modem to
listen for DTR or ignore it. Check that the connect
indicator is OFF when this method is used.
M6340 2-14
Using a Direct Line Modem
If you plan to use a direct line modem, it must
first be connected to the PC serial port (refer to
the owners’ manual for the modem for details). Also
ensure that the modem telephone jack is plugged into
the wall socket. Next, start MAI PC-LINK (refer to
the next section) on your PC and step into the
Configuration menu. Set the communications para-
meters to the desired state (e.g., if your modem is
set to work at 1200 baud then set MAI PC-LINK to
communicate at 1200 baud). If your modem supports
auto-dialing and/or auto answer and it requires an
initialization string to set it up, select Modem,
then Initialization from the menu and enter the
desired string when prompted. If your modem re-
quires a dial prefix for auto-dialing, select Dial
Prefix and enter the desired string when requested.
Both of these user-definable strings support special
characters if required (refer to Section 8 for
Configuration setup).
Example: To enter Control E you may enter either
\E
\005 - the backslash must be followed by |
3 decimal digits.
Or
Finally, you may enter the default telephone number
by selecting Number on the menu and entering the
number as requested. If your modem requires a
special hang-up sequence, select Hang Up and enter
the sequence. Note: read the modem owners' manual
to determine which strings are required and which
characters are allowable,
When this has been completed, you may start your
link session by exiting the Configuration menu and
selecting the Terminal option. If you wish to use
the autodial feature, select the Dial option. MAI
PC-LINK will use the autodial feature of the modem
to connect to the remote host. If a connection is
made, the modem connection indicator should go on.
Refer to Section 8 for further details.
2-15 M6340
STARTING MAI PC-LINK
MAI PC-LINK may be started from either a floppy
drive or a hard disk, depending on your preference.
The only requirements are that:
1. The drive that is to run MAI PC-LINK is the ”N
default drive and MAI PC-LINK is in the
| default directory on that drive;
2. And, for floppy systems, the original MAI
PC-LINK diskette is in one of the drives
during startup to verify that it is a
licensed copy.
MAI PC-LINK does not need to be connected to your
host BASIC FOUR in order to run, although in that
case a link session cannot be attempted until a
connection is installed. To start MAI PC-LINK, type
PCLINK. After a brief pause a logo will appear.
Press any key to advance to the main command menu
(see Figure 2-1). You are now in Command Mode. In
Command Mode, MAI PC-LINK is controlled through a
A
= MENU
(vera Send Receive View Configure Dos Exit NN
Emulate a terminal
Ne PC-LINK JDA9E:0BAMO Ga/16/050 08 UBASICAO0 7000070000000 OA FOOT EN DAUEA ) N
Figure 2-1. The Main Menu
‚ №6340 2-16
series of menus with a user interface similar to
Lotus 1-2-3. A menu item can either be selected by
typing its first letter or by moving the cursor
using the left and right arrow keys and then
pressing &quot;ENTER&quot; (note that numeric lock key must be
off to use the cursor keys). To return to a
previous menu, press the ESC key (or select &quot;Quit&quot;
if it is available). At any time in Command Mode,
help text is available by pressing the F1 (Help)
Key.
The Help System
The help system is identical in format to that used
by Lotus 1-2-3. It may be accessed by pressing the
F1 (Help) key while in Command mode or (Shift-F1) in
Terminal Emulation mode. A help screen related to
the current menu is displayed. If more help is
desired, any of the highlighted fields in the help
screen can be selected with the Personal Computer
arrow keys. Pressing ENTER will provide more help
on that item. Press ESC to return to Command mode.
Press backspace to back up to the previous help
screen.
2-17 M6340
NOTES
M6340 2-18
SECTION 3
TERMINAL EMULATION
MAT PC-LINK allows you to replace an MAI BASIC FOUR
Terminal with an IBM PC (or close compatible),
giving it access to any program on the BASIC FOUR
minicomputer. The PC connects to a normal BASIC
FOUR output channel via the same cable as is used by
an MAI 7270 Terminal and operates up to a data rate
of 9600 bits per second. No special hardware is
required other than possibly an adapter cable to
make the connectors compatible (refer to Section 2
for more information on the connection procedures).
In addition to emulation of an MAI 7270 Terminal,
features of MAI PC-LINK include:
о A printer connected to the Personal Computer
can print data sent from the BASIC FOUR to the
local printer (slave printing).
o An image of the current terminal screen can be
either printed or recorded to a file.
0 A record of all activities can be either
printed or recorded to a file.
o Over 50 pages of on-line help screens are
~ available by pressing SHIFT-F1 (Help) function
key. The help provided is sensitive to the
current requirements of the user.
O The bottom line on the screen is used to
display the status of the terminal including
caps lock, number lock, local printer echo, the
time and date, and other pertinent information.
Before using MAI PC-LINK Terminal Emulation, review
the default options listed in the Configure menu.
Refer to Section 7 for full details. Options that
will most likely need your attention are:
3-1 M6340
o The correct communications port on the PC:
~~ Defaults to port one but can be reset to port
two with the Configuration menu.
o The default data disk drive/directory:
~ Initially assumed to be drive/directory A:, but
should be changed to the usual location of data
disks on your system. On a Personal Computer
with two floppy drives, this would probably be
B:. On an IBM XT, it would probably be C:.
o The baud rate: Initially set at 9,600 as on a
normal direct-connect Terminal. If you are
using a modem it will probably need to be reset
to 300 or 1200.
o The MAI Basic Four system type: MAI PC-LINK
has been optimized for the various types of
BASIC FOUR computers and will perform best when
set to the appropriate type.
o Printer characteristics: If you will be using
the List (ALT-L) option to print BASIC FOUR
screen data on the Personal computer printer,
or are doing local printing.
STARTING TERMINAL EMULATION
After the Personal Computer is connected to the
BASIC FOUR and MAI PC-LINK is running, you should
verify correct operation of the Personal Computer
and MAI PC-LINK by communicating with the BASIC FOUR
while in Terminal Emulation mode. Place the
keyboard template that you received with MAI PC-LINK
above your keyboard as a guide to the locations of
the special BASIC FOUR control keys and function
keys. Select Terminal mode from the MAI PC-LINK
main menu by typing &quot;T&quot;. The Emulation Control Menu
will appear (see Figure 3-1). Select Emulation by
typing &quot;E&quot;. The screen will clear except for the
status line at the bottom of the screen. The
Personal Computer now functions as an MAI VDT
terminal. Press ENTER and you should receive a
response from the BASIC FOUR. This could be the
usual prompt character, or if a program is currently
M6340 3-2
running on the terminal port that you are connected
to, you should receive the normal response from that
program.
If you get any other response, press the ESC key on
the IBM PC keyboard. The BASIC FOUR should respond
with one or more lines of information on the screen,
and then the prompt symbol &gt;.
If neither of these steps has been successful, turn
to Appendix H - SETUP PROBLEMS.
KEYBOARD USAGE
Because the PC keyboard is different from the BASIC
FOUR keyboard, different keys on the PC represent
the various BASIC FOUR function keys. A keyboard
overlay is available to help specify keyboard usage
in Emulation mode.
J
/ ста Recordfile Disl HengUp Printerset Selflest Quit
Commence terminal emulation
\ mal PC-LINK FUZIBASAMISA[IB/3S00T FTarminal 000902002492 E000900000000101
Figure 3-1. The Emulation Menu
3-3 M6340
The following Basic Four keys correspond to the
following PC keys:
Basic Four Key
CTL-1
CTL-II
CTL-III
CTL-IV
Function Keys
F1 - F9
F10
F11
F12
F13
F14
F15 - F23
F24
F25
F26
F27
F28
BREAK
PC Key
Fl or +
F2 or -
F3 or Scroll Lock
F4 or Num Lock
Alt 1 - Alt 9
Alt 0 (zero)
Alt -
Alt =
Alt &lt;----
Alt Num Lock
Ctrl 1 - Ctrl 9
Ctrl 0 (zero)
Ctrl -
Ctrl =
Ctrl &lt;----
Ctrl Num Lock
Ctrl Scroll lock
The following special keys are also available:
PC Key
Shift - F1
F5
F6
M6340
the current Record File.
Function
Emulation Help Screen. To return
to Emulation Mode, press ESC.
Start print capture. When this
key is pressed, any data printed
to the 'slave printer' attached to
this terminal will be appended to
The de-
fault record file is called
PCLINK.REC, but this can be
changed using the Record File
option in the Terminal menu.
Stop print capture.
3-4
PC Key
F7
F8
F9
F10 or ALT-X
ALT-R
ALT-L
Function
Screen snapshot to printer. Writes
an image of the current emulation
screen to the current list device.
Screen snapshot to disk. Appends
an image of the current emulation
screen to the record file.
Clear screen.
Return to command mode.
Toggle recording to disk. When
Record is enabled, all information
that is displayed on the emulation
screen is also appended to the re-
cord file on the disk. You can
tell that recording is enabled by
a blinking &quot;Record&quot; in the status
line. The default record file is
called PCLINK.REC, but this can be
changed using the Record File op-
tion in the Terminal menu. Note
that if the Basic Four is sending
screen formatting characters
during recording, you will not get
a perfect representation of the
screen in the record file.
Toggle listing on printer. When
List is enabled, all information
from the emulation screen is also
written to the current list de-
vice. You can verify that listing
is enabled by a blinking &quot;List&quot; in
the status line.
3-5 M6340
NOTES
M6340 3-6
SECTION 4
FILE TRANSFER
INSTALLATION OF TRANSFER PROGRAMS ON THE
BASIC FOUR
The commands that send and receive data between the
Basic Four and Personal Computers require the pres-
ence of two programs on the Basic Four in the files
SEND and RECV. These programs are distributed on
the MAI-PC LINK diskette and can be installed onto
the Basic Four by using the Install option in the
Configure menu. The steps are as follows:
1. If your Basic Four is a 1300 series (210,
310, 410, 510, 610, or 730) use the BASIC
FOUR utility program to create the program
files &quot;SEND&quot; and &quot;RECV&quot;. These should be
program files with a length of 20 pages.
This step will be unnecessary on 8000 and
2000 series systems.
2. Start MAI PC-LINK, enter Emulation mode and
sign on to the BASIC FOUR in BASIC command
mode.
If you are on an 8000 series or 2000 sys-
tem, after logging on, type 'BASIC' to —
enter BASIC mode. _
You should see the &gt; prompt.
3. Press the F10 key to return to Command mode
and press the ESC key to return to the main
MAI PC-LINK menu.
4. Type &quot;C&quot; to select the Configure menu and
then &quot;I&quot; to select the Install option.
4-1 M6340
5.
6.
8.
10.
Enter the Local File name as &quot;RECV.HST&quot;
(for Basic Four 2000 systems, the file name
is RECV2000.HST). If your data drive is
different from the drive where the HOST
PROGRAM disk is located, then you must pre-
&quot;append a drive letter to the local file
name (e.g., if your HOST PROGRAM disk drive
is in drive A:, then enter &quot;A:RECV.HST&quot; as
your Local File name).
Enter the Host File name as &quot;RECV&quot;. Be
sure to use upper case letters if your host
program has been created in upper case.
After a short pause, you will see an
accelerating number as the number of lines
are transferred.
If the installation has been completed suc-
cessfully, a message indicating this will
be posted at the bottom of the screen, or
you will be informed of transmission errors
if they occurred.
Repeat steps 5 through 8 for the hostfile
&quot;SEND&quot; and the Personal Computer file
&quot;SEND.HST&quot; (SEND2000.HST for the Basic Four
2000).
You are now ready to use the Send and
Receive options.
SENDING PC DATA FILES TO THE BASIC FOUR
The current version of MAI PC-LINK supports sending
(uploading) ASCII files from the Personal Computer
disk to Serial, Indexed or Direct files on the Basic
Four.
The Personal Computer file must contain lines
of text or ASCII data, terminated by a carriage
return or carriage return/linefeed characters. This
is the type of file that can be produced by text
editors such as IBM's EDLIN and Personal Editor, as
well as by many other software packages including
word processors and spreadsheets. With Send, an
entire file in this format can be automatically
M6340
4-2
&gt;
transferred line by line into a Basic Four file.
The lines in the original file correspond to lines
or records in the transferred file. Note that
before this feature can be used, the program &quot;SEND&quot;
must be installed on the Basic Four as described
above.
Sending to DIRECT files - it is possible to send to
DIRECT files on the Basic Four from Plain and
Delimited formats. (MAI PC-LINK formats: PLN, PRN,
DAT, TXT). In other words, the file to be sent must
have comas as field separators and may or may not
have quotation marks around text fields.
John Smith, $1000, 123 West 12th, 324-8951, 123
or
“John Smith&quot;, &quot;S1000&quot;, &quot;123 West 12th&quot;, &quot;324.
8951&quot;, 123
are examples of record types that may be sent.
If you enter the host file type as DIRECT, you will
be asked for the field number to be used as the key.
In the example above, if S1000 is to be the key, you
would enter 2 as the key field. The key field will
default to 1 if no value is entered.
If a direct file already exists on the Basic Four,
records will be added to it. If a key is sent which
already exists in the file, THE OLD RECORD WILL BE
OVERWRITTEN.
Automatic file creation - if a named hostfile does
not exist on the Basic Four, it will be created
automatically. If the file already exists it will
be overwritten (SERIAL or INDEXED files) or records
will be added to it (DIRECT files). Program files
will be automatically created at installation time.
If a program already exists on the Basic Four with
the same name, it will be overwritten.
4-3 M6340
Note:
Automatic file creation is NOT available
for Basic Four operating system levels
4.2A and lower. For these 0/S levels,
files must be created through the Basic
Four Utilities before data can be sent to
them.
In order to protect DIRECT files from unauthorized
“usage, a security system has been included on your
MAT PC-LINK host programs diskette.
THE PROGRAM &quot;SAFE.HST&quot; MUST BE INSTALLED AND RUN ON
THE BASIC FOUR BEFORE SENDING DATA TO DIRECT FILES.
If the DIRECT file information is not set up, you
will be unable to send information to Basic Four
DIRECT files from the PC or receive information from
— DIRECT files.
On 1300 series Basic Four (210, 310, 410, 510, 610,
and 730), the program file &quot;SAFE&quot;, 15 pages long,
must be created using the Basic Four utility
program(Instal1 SAFE2000.HST on the 2000).
To install the security program, start MAI PC-LINK
by typing PCLINK. From the main menu press
(C)ONFIGURE (I)NSTALL. Enter the PC file name as
SAFE .HST (remember to pre-append a drive or
directory if the program is not on the default
drive, e.g. B:SAFE.HST). Enter the host file name
as SAFE. You will then see an increasing count of
— line numbers being transferred to the Basic Four.
Any errors or re-tries will be displayed.
Once the installation procedure has been
successfully completed, exit the CONFIGURE menu by
pressing ESCAPE, then enter (T)ERMINAL (E)MULATE.
(On 8000 and 2000 systems, enter BASIC mode.)
Type RUN &quot;SAFE&quot;. The first time you run this
program you will be asked if you wish to create the
2 files &quot;ACCESS&quot; and &quot;PASSWD&quot; required for the
security system. On operating system levels 4.28 or
higher, the program will automatically create the
M6340 4-4
files for you. On levels 4.2A and lower, you must
create the files manually through the Basic Four
utility CREATE.
The files are defined as follows:
No. of Record
Filename Type Keysize Records Size
PASSWD DIRECT 3 30 50
ACCESS DIRECT 45 100 445
You will see a menu of the following selections:
A) ADD FILE TO ACCESS LIST
R) REMOVE FILE FROM ACCESS LIST
D) DISPLAY ACCESS LIST
Q) QUIT
To add valid accessible file names to the system,
select A (add file to access list). Enter the exact
names of the DIRECT files to which users may have
access, and select R (Read only), W (Write only) or
B (Read and Write). A selection of Read means that
the system users will be able to receive data from
the specified file to the PC, but will be unable to
send data to it. A selection of Write means that
the system users will only be able to send data to
the file. A selection of Both means that the users
will be able to both send data and receive data from
the specified file. Take care when assigning Read/
Write status to files - if a DIRECT file already
exists on the Basic Four, and data is being sent to
it, existing records can be overwritten.
The named files need not exist on the Basic Four in
order to be added to the list. Including a
nonexistent temporary file name will give users the
opportunity to practice DIRECT file creation.
To remove valid DIRECT filenames from the system,
select R (REMOVE file from access list).
4-5 M6340
To display valid DIRECT filenames, select D (DISPLAY
access list). You will be shown a list of the file
names which have been entered into the system, along
with the access codes assigned to them.
To exit from the SAFE program, type Q.
To transfer a file to the Basic Four, follow these
steps:
1. Enter Terminal Emulation mode and check
that you are in command mode on the Basic
Four. The prompt should be &gt;.
2. Use F10 to return to the MAI PC-LINK menus,
and select Send from the main menu (see
figure 4-1).
3. Select the HostFile entry from the Send
menu by typing &quot;H&quot; and &quot;N&quot;, and enter the
name of the Basic Four file that is to
receive the data. The name can be up to 42
characters long including path name. On
8000 or 2000 series computers, you may pre-
append a path name or accept the default as
MENU
Соса! Пе HostFile Program Go Clear Quit
Choose file on host computer to receive data -
SEND
Local File : STUDNT.REC
Host File ов STUDNT
Host Type : Serial
Direct Key Field : n/a Key Field Size : FOR CREATION ONL Y
Record Size : 200
Number of Records : 10
Host Program : SEND
\ mar PC-LINKPD#9:50AM# 87/12/5888 8Sendl920000020020000080000000CAPS0000 _)
Figure 4-1. A Sample Send Screen
M6340 4-6
4.
5.
6.
7.
set up in the Configure menu. For systems
running Basic Four operating system levels
4.28 or lower, the Basic Four data file
must already exist and must be large enough
before the transfer takes place. If
necessary it can be created with the Basic
Four utility program.
Select (T)ype and then choose the type of
file you will be sending to on the Host
(DIRECT, SERIAL, INDEXED or STRING). If
you select DIRECT, you will be asked for
the field number to be used as the key.
The key field will default to 1.
If the file does not already exist on the
Basic Four, you may enter file specifica-
tions so that MAI PC-LINK can automatically
create your files (operating system levels
4.2B and higher). Select (C)reate (R)ecord
Size and enter the size of the records (in
bytes) to the created (1 - 512). Next,
select (N)umber of Records and enter the
maximum number of records to be allocated
for the file (1-32,767). Remember to leave
room for possible expansion. If you are
creating a DIRECT file, you must also
select (K)eysize and enter the size in
bytes of the key field (2-56).
Select the Local File name by typing &quot;L&quot;
and enter the name of the Personal Computer
file to be sent to the Basic Four. If the
file is not on the default data disk, then
the drive letter should also be entered as
part of the file name. Note that if the
file is on the default data disk, it can be
selected from the displayed directory using
the arrow keys to highlight the file name
and then pressing &quot;ENTER&quot;.
Start the data transfer by typing &quot;G&quot; for
Go. If the named host file does not exist,
an attempt will be made to create it. If
any necessary information is missing (i.e.
4-7 M6340
Record Size or number of Records), an error
message will be displayed.
Also, if a file already exists, and an
attempt is made to create it by entering
file information, an error message will be
displayed and the existing file will not be ^^
recreated.
After a delay of several seconds, lines of
the file will be seen being displayed as
they are sent, along with a line count.
8. If there is an error in the transfer
- process, an error message will be seen in
the status line accompanied by a single
beep. |
— 9. Upon completion of a successful transfer, a
beep is sounded and a message indicating
success is displayed.
A sample file has been provided on the distribution
disk for testing file transfer. Refer to Section 8
&quot;SAMPLE SEND, RECEIVE AND VIEW SESSIONS&quot; to practice
this file transfer.
RECEIVING BASIC FOUR DATA FILES
MAI PC-LINK currently supports transfer of ASCII
data files from the BASIC FOUR. To receive files,
the Basic program RECV.HST included on the master
MAI PC-LINK diskette must be installed on the BASIC
FOUR as RECV (see beginning of this section for
installation procedures).
You may also select automatic data reformatting в
into:
M6340 4-8
0 Lotus Worksheet format (WKS)
o Lotus Import format (PRN)
0 dBase II and dBASE III delimited format (PRN)
o PC Basic sequential file format (TXT)
o Visicalc format (DAT)
o Multiplan format (SLK)
o Multimate internal format (DOC)
(document or merge)
o Fixed format — (FIX)
(which places data from fields
left justified in columns)
o Plain format, which receives lines (PLN)
from data files unchanged with commas
as field separators
When the Receive option is selected from the main
menu, a Receive control menu is displayed along with
a series of windows showing the currently selected
file receive options (see Figure 4-2). The
information displayed on this screen for a given
data transfer can be saved in a disk file to use
again. This information is called a Data Transfer
Procedure.
The components of a Data Transfer Procedure include:
1. DESCRIPTIVE INFORMATION:
0 Procedure Name - up to 8 characters. Used
as name of the file to store the transfer
procedure setup information. The file
extension is automatically given as &quot;PRC&quot;.
0 Procedure Description - up to 60 characters
of text describing purpose of procedure
(optional).
4-9 M6340
| LOCAL FILE
ve
/ осетии Hostf ile LocalFile Criteria Columns Go Recall Save Clear
Name a date transfer procedure
{| Neme — : Student
Description : Sample Receive Procedure 11 Fid Pos Width Name Type
— HOST FILE —— 1 &copy; 1 t&aacute; Name Txt
File : STUDNT 2 0 30 a Age Num
Type : Automatic. 3 0 al 6 С. Р. А. Num
A 0 60 6 Tuition Num
File : Student.PLN
Format : Plain _
TRANSFER CRITERIA
Start 3
End. 8
oa $ ВЕСУ
$ Reject
TF iter =: OFF
\ a1 PCL INKFURFB:SAAMEF8/18/850 18 Receive EREINENEIIIIRERIIINIEINENIT /
Figure 4-2. A Sample Receive Screen
2. HOST FILE INFORMATION:
o File - file on BASIC FOUR containing desired
data; up to 42 characters with pathname if
applicable.
0 Type - host file type (Direct, Indexed, Serial,
String); automatically displayed after transfer
is activated with GO; at other times the type
is &quot;Automatic&quot;. If a Direct file is being
received, the security system (&quot;SAFE.HST&quot;) must
have been installed and the Host filename must
have been entered into the access list.
3. LOCAL FILE INFORMATION:
o File - file to receive data from host computer;
up to 8 characters long; file name extension
automatically supplied based on format.
о Format - format to use for data written to
Personal Computer file; formats include Lotus
Import, Lotus Worksheet, DIF, SYLK, DBase II,
delimited, Plain (format same as host file),
M6340 4-10
Fixed (fixed width columns); note that some
formats require Columns specifications as
described below.
4. TRANSFER CRITERIA
(ge o Start of Range - first record to transfer from
&gt; a file. For indexed files, this would be an
index; for direct files, this would be a text
key; and for serial files it would be a line
number. | ue
0 End of Range - index number, text key, or line
number of Tast record to transfer from file:
all records outside this range are rejected.
о Transfer Keys switch - enables or disables
whether the keys of a direct file are to be
transferred as the first field in each line of
transferred data. (Direct files only).
о Program - the name of the program installed on
the host computer which allows the PC to
receive files. (The default program name is
~ &quot;RECY&quot; .)
о Spool Filter switch - enables or disables use
of special filter for serial files containing
printer control mnemonics.
5. COLUMNS (FIELDS) SPECIFICATIONS:
This part of a Transfer Procedure is used if only
part of each transferred line or record is to be
written to the Personal Computer file. It also
allows specific control over whether fields are to
be formatted as text or numeric data. In the case
of serial files, it is used to select the parts of
each line that are to be captured and formatted.
Note that a set of colummn specifications are
applied to each line or record of data transferred.
Lines with specified numeric fields that do not
contain valid numeric data are completely rejected.
The parts of a colummn specification include:
4-11 M6340
o Field - for Serial files this is always 0; and
for Direct or Indexed files this specifies the
field number in the record to be extracted
(field numbers exceeding the number in the
current record are rejected).
o Position - the position within the field of the
~~ first character you wish to access.
о Width - the number of characters in the field
= that you wish to retrieve.
Note:
To retrieve all characters in a field,
enter Position 0 and Width 0.
o Name - an optional descriptive field name of up
to 12 characters; used for documentation pur-
poses only.
о Type - field type; can be Numeric or Text;
o Insert - Insert one blank line below the
current line. —`
0 Delete - Delete the current line.
o Move - Move the current (source) line. Specify
the destination line by using the up and down
arrow keys.
The Up and Down arrow keys are used to move -the
field edit cursor up and down in the columns edit
window. To add a new field, move the cursor below
the current last field. The window scrolls to allow
more fields if necessary.
There are many options in Receive. The following
describes simple receive procedures. A simple file
receive is done as follows:
l. Enter Terminal Emulation mode and check
that you are in command mode on the Basic
Four. The prompt should be &gt;.
M6340 4-12
2.
10.
11.
Use F10 to return to the MAI PC-LINK
command mode and select Receive from the
main menu.
Select the HostFile option from the Receive
menu. Then enter the name of the desired
Serial, Direct, Indexed or String file on
the Basic Four.
Select the Local File option from the
Receive menu. Then enter the name of the.
Personal Computer file that is to receive
the data from the Basic Four.
If desired, enter the Format that is to be
used in writing the Personal Computer file.
If necessary, enter the columns
specifications by selecting Columns.
Select any other desired options from the
Criteria menu.
If desired, save the Transfer Procedure you
nave just defined using the Save option.
Return to the main Receive menu and select
Go. Ш
The data transfer will start, with the
transferred lines and a count being
displayed in a window at the bottom of the
Receive screen.
Note that if any essential information is
omitted from the Transfer Procedure, you
will be prompted for it when you give the
Go command. This feature can be used with
partially defined procedures that are saved
for future use. Information such as the
HostFile name, Personal Computer File name
or Format can be omitted, which will cause
the user to be prompted for them at run
time. This allows complex information such
as colummn/field specifications to be
4-13 M6340
defined and saved for re-use, but ensures
that the user must enter all pertinent data
when the procedure is run.
Two sample transfer control procedures have been
provided with MAI PC-LINK. See Section 8 &quot;SAMPLE
SEND, RECEIVE AND VIEW SESSIONS&quot; for practice with —`
these procedures.
NOTES
M6340 4-14
SECTION 5
SELECTING AND REFORMATTING DATA WITH &quot;VIEW&quot;
MAI PC-LINK provides the ability to view, select and
reformat the data from a file using the View option
in the main menu (see Figure 5-1). View is designed
to work with data in fixed position columns such as
are produced in many types of computer reports, such
as those that would be captured for local printing.
It allows the user to load a Personal Computer file
into MAI PC-LINK for viewing and then &quot;paint&quot; the
columns and rows on the screen that contain the
desired data. Then the selected data can be written
to another file in numerous Personal Computer
formats. The column selection specifications can
also be saved as the basis for column selections in
a receive control procedure.
- Edit Format Save Quit
Read a deta file or procedure
\mı PE-LINK SD F7:33AME 00/19/0508 8 0ViewBENIUEENIEEOOENEN REN ctia-WKSANNN J
Figure 5-1. The View Menu
5-1 M6340
To use View, type &quot;V&quot; at the main menu to display
the View menu. Then select the desired Personal
Computer file using Read from the View menu, and
then Data from the Read menu. Type in the name of
the file and press &quot;ENTER&quot;. The file will be
displayed in the viewing window. You are automati-
cally returned to the View menu; now select Edit.
The Columns Ruler will appear in the viewing screen,
and the data selection commands will be displayed at
the top of the screen. The Ruler can be moved over
the display with the Personal Computer arrow keys.
To designate a column for selection, type either &quot;T&quot;
or &quot;N&quot; over it. Use &quot;T&quot; for columns to be formatted
as text and &quot;N&quot; for columns to be formatted as
numbers. As you type, the letters will appear in
the columns ruler. For example, a typical report
with selected columns might be as shown in Figure
5-2.
The Ruler is defined to: select the NAME column and
format it as Text and select the AGE, GPA and
Tuition columns and format them as Numeric.
LS _ MARK
[is Ruler : Enter TEXT, text, NUMBER, number or CLEAR ruler Line Col
Choosing Rows : Enter SELECT, UNSELECT (Alt = by Page) or Esc to exit 2 66
### STUDENT LIST +**7
| NNNN NNNNNN NNNNNNN
~~ NAME AGE GPA TUITION4
SMITH, JOHN 37 3.22 $40004
HENDERSON, 808 24 2.77 $1250#
JOHNSON, MIKE 23 2.56 $1200#
ANDREWS, PETE 25 3.01 $20004
uu PC-LINK POFTSAAMO DA/19/050 08 0Viem BE 8IRONINIAD ANA UA UU AL ct WKSHR ETE)
Figure 5-2. A Sample View Screen
M6340 5-2
)
After selecting the columns you can select the
desired rows using the &quot;S&quot; key. Each time you type
&quot;5&quot;, the ruler steps down one line and the previous
line occupied by the ruler is highlighted. Only
data in the highlighted lines will be written to the
disk when Save Data is selected. To Unselect lines,
move the Ruler to them with the arrow keys and press
&quot;U&quot;, Each time you type &quot;U&quot;, the line underneath
the Ruler is unhighlighted. If necessary, the
screen will scroll over a large data file like a
window.
When the desired areas are highlighted they can be
written to the disk in a selected format. To choose
the format, select Format from the View menu and
choose the desired format from the Format menu. To
save the formatted data to the Personal Computer
disk, select Save from the View menu, and then
select Data from the Save menu. Enter the name of
the file to receive the data and press &quot;ENTER&quot;. The
data will be written to the disk.
The selected columns can be saved for later use, or
for use in a transfer procedure, by using the Save/
Ruler command sequence from the View menu. A ruler
can be restored using the Read/Ruler sequence from
the View menu.
Note that when fields are to be formatted as numer-
ic, the &quot;$&quot;, &quot;%&quot; and &quot;,&quot; characters are ignored.
Also, numbers in brackets such as &quot;(1500)&quot; are
converted into negative numbers such as &quot;-1500&quot; to
be compatible with spread-sheets.
Sample data files have been provided on the dis-
tribution diskette for use with VIEW. Refer to
Section 8, &quot;SAMPLE SEND, RECEIVE AND VIEW SESSIONS.&quot;
5-3 M6340
NOTES
M6340 5-4
au
SECTION 6
USING DOS COMMANDS
AND RUNNING OTHER PROGRAMS FROM MAI PC-LINK
Version 2.3 of MAI PC-LINK has the ability to remain
resident in memory while you return to DOS or run
another program. This feature gives you the added
flexibility of not having to exit from MAI PC-LINK
while you execute DOS commands or run other
programs.
EXECUTING DOS COMMANDS FROM MAI PC-LINK
You may use this option by selecting DOS in the top
menu and then selecting Commands. The only require-
ment is that the file COMMAND.COM is either in the
default directory or can be found in the DOS path.
If MAI-PC LINK cannot find this file, execution will
be terminated and MAI PC-LINK will again appear on
the screen. If the file COMMAND.COM is found, then
MAI PC-LINK is terminated (but remains resident in
memory) and DOS is reinstated. By typing EXIT at
any time in DOS, you may return to MAI PC-LINK.
EXECUTING OTHER PROGRAMS FROM MAI PC-LINK
MAI PC-LINK gives you the ability to load and run
other programs while it terminates and remains
resident. You may use this option by selecting DOS
in the top level command menu and then selecting
Execute. You will then be prompted to enter the
program to run (must have an .EXE or .COM extension)
and then the &quot;argument&quot; for the program, if any.
For example, suppose you want to run an editor —
called EDIT, and that the name of the file you want
to edit is TESTFILE. Normally it would be run from
PC DOS with the command EDIT TESTFILE. To run it
from MAI PC-LINK, you would enter the program name
as EDIT and the &quot;argument&quot; as TESTFILE.
6-1 M6340
MAI PC-LINK should be able to run almost any kind of
EXE or .COM program provided your PC has adequate
memory and that the program does not affect the
communications port.
NOTES
M6340 6-2
SECTION 7
SUMMARY OF MAI PC-LINK CONFIGURATION SETTINGS
„= MAI PC-LINK provides you with the ability to
customize the default configurations used in the
program. By selecting Confiqure in the top menu you
are given the option of changing:
Communication parameters
PC internal defaults
Basic Four defaults
Foreground and background screen colors
Modem setup
Printer setup
ооо сс
and saving these settings for future use. In the
following sections we will outline how to select and
save the settings that you want (Figure 7-1 shows an
example of a typical configuration screen).
MENU
PC Communications Modem Host Printer Install Update Reset . Quit
Change the Personal Computer Default values |
— PC DEFAULTS | |
DriveDirec : AN Fest Start : No Statline : On Color : BLACK
RecordFile : HARMONY.REC Auto Dial : No Terminal: YTD Back/Fore : WHITE /WHITE
~ COMMUNICATIONS HOST DEF AULTS
Baud : 9600 Data: 7Port : 1 Flow: Xon/Xoff
Parity : Odd Stop: 1Timing: 50 System 2 1300
Recv Program: RECV
= MODEM Send Program : SEND
Initialization Sequence в АТ Н№13 Date Path : n/a
Disling Prefix Sequence : AT DT | Program Path : n/a
Phone Dialing Sequence : 9,555-3434 |
Wait Time : 30 s Hang Up Sequence : ATH
—PRINTER SETUP
Printer Type : Parallel Baud : N/A Data: N/A
Auto Line Feed : Yes Parity : N/A Stop : N/A
„ть Setup String : a
e PC-LINK TUISSIAMATT/12/858 $1 IC Tiga l 002802820848 28088882Ch APS2583 J
Figure 7-1. A Sample Configuration Screen
7-1 M6340
COMMUNICATIONS SETTINGS
To change the communications settings, select the
Communications option and then choose the setting
you wish to change. The timing factor allows you to
alter the length of time the PC will wait for
responses from the Basic Four. If you experience
transmission errors, try increasing this number.
PC DEFAULTS
MAI PC-LINK uses six internal default settings.
They are as follows:
l. Drive/Directory - Specifies the default
drive and directory to be used for
selecting and retrieving PC files.
2. Record File - Names the files to be
appended to when recording the
emulation session to disk.
3. FastStart - If yes, MAI PC-LINK will go
immediately to terminal emulation upon
loading.
4. AutoDial - If yes, MAI PC-LINK will
automatically dial the modem number upon
loading.
5. StatusLine - If no, MAI PC-LINK will not
display the status line normally located at
the bottom of the screen.
6. Terminal - Selects the type of MAI terminal
to be emulated.
7. Color - If you have a color screen or if
you have a black and white screen and wish
to experiment with different intensities,
you may do so by selecting the Color option
and choosing the desired foreground,
background and screen colors.
M6340 7-2
Any one of these may be changed to meet your
requirements.
HOST DEFAULTS
os. The host defaults are:
1. System - Selects the type of Basic Four
system being used.
2. Receive - Selects the program residing on
the Basic Four which allows files to be
received onto the PC.
3. Send - Selects the program residing on the
Basic Four which allows files to be sent to
the Basic Four.
4. Paths - Select any pathnames to be used for
2000 and 8000 series systems.
MODEM SETUP
\. MAI PC-LINK provides you with the ability to
initialize your modem, send out the dialing prefix
sequence and then automatically dial the phone
number desired.
As in outputting the printer setup string, you can
send special characters to the modem by first
entering a backslash, followed by 3 digits, e.g.
enter \010 to enter a decimal 10. (Refer to Section
2 for further details on using an autodial modem
with MAI PC-LINK).
You may also specify a pause in any of the strings
by entering a '~' which results in a pause of 1
second, - e.g. to wait for the modem to respond to
the strings output to it.
The modem options are:
1. Initialization - Some modems require an
initialization sequence for setup. You may
send special unprintable characters by
7-3 M6340
entering a backslash followed by three
digits. This string is not terminated by a
carriage return.
2. Prefix - Most modems require a dial prefix
to tell them to get ready to accept a
telephone number to dial. You may send —`
“special unprintable characters by entering
a backslash followed by three digits. This
string is not terminated by a carriage
return when output to the modem.
3. Number - This is the number that the modem
Ts to dial. Special characters may be en-
tered as above. This string is terminated
by a carriage return when output to the
modem.
4. Hang Up - This is the sequence required by
the modem to disconnect. Special characters
may be entered as above.
5, Wait Period - Time for MAI PC-LINK to wait
or the modem to make a connection with “N
another modem.
PRINTER SETUP
MAI PC-LINK allows you to select the specifications
for the printer you will be using.
The options are:
1. Printer Type - Both serial and parallel
prints are supported. Note that if you
specify a serial printer, you must have at
least two serial ports to be able to print.
If COM1: is to be used as a link for the
host, then COM2: will be used for serial
printing (and vice versa). For serial ~~
printers, the baud rate, data, parity, and |
stop bits are all user-definable (not
required for parallel printers).
M6340 7-4
2.
3.
UPDATE
AutoLineFeed - You may specify if your
printer 1s to receive a line feed after
every carriage return. If the printer
appears to be double spacing, then turn
auto line feed OFF. If the printer keeps
printing on the same line, then turn auto
line feed ON.
SetupString - You may wish to initialize
the printer to a desired state by output-
ting a setup string. For example, on the
Epson FX100*, decimal 15 will set the
printing to condensed print mode. To do
this in MAI PC- LINK, type \015 (a back-
slash followed by three digits). You may
also create a string like this \027\015
(Esc 15).
If selected, will update MAI PC-LINK default
configuration settings file, DEFAULTS.CNF, to the
currently active settings.
RESET
If selected will reset MAI PC-LINK's current active
configuration settings from the file DEFAULTS.CNF.
* Refer to Appendix F for trademark information for
this product.
7-5 M6340
NOTES
M6340 — 7-6
fe
SECTION 8
SAMPLE SEND, RECEIVE AND VIEW SESSIONS
Several sample files are included on your distribu-
tion disk for you to practice SEND and RECEIVE
procedures.
o STUDENT.REC: &Agrave; short file containing
student records which can be
sent to the Basic Four and
then received.
o STUDENT .RUL : A VIEW ruler for use with
STUDENT .REC.
o STUDENT.PRC: A RECEIVE procedure for use
with STUDENT.REC.
o MKDIR.HST: A Basic Four program which
can be installed on the
Basic Four and then RUN to
create a direct file called
— DIRECT.
o PEOPLE.PRC: A RECEIVE procedure for use
with the DIRECT file created
on the Basic Four.
“SEND
To practice sending a file from the PC to the Basic
Four, be sure that you have first installed the SEND
program on the Basic Four (refer to Section 4).
1. Start MAI PC-LINK by typing PCLINK. From
the main menu enter (T)ERMINAL (E)MULATION.
2. Enter BASIC COMMAND mode (you should see
the &gt; prompt).
8-1 M6340
3.
4.
Press F10 to return to MAI PC-LINK and
press (Q)UIT to return to the main menu.
Select the (S)END option.
Enter the (L)OCAL file name as STUDENT.REC.
Remember to pre- -append a drive or directory
if this file is not on MAI PC-LINK's de-
fault drive.
Enter the (H)OST file (N)AME as STUDNT. Be
sure to use upper case letters if the file
was created on the Basic Four in upper
case. Enter the file (T)YPE as Indexed.
Select (C)reate and enter the number of
records as 10 and the RecordSize as 200.
Start the transfer with (G)0. The file
STUDNT will be created on the Basic Four
and records from STUDENT.REC will be sent
to it.
The SEND examples below demonstrate various
situations:
EXAMPLE 1: An INDEXED file &quot;TEST&quot; exists on
the Basic Four. To send data to it, enter the
PC file name and the host file name. No other
information is required. The existing &quot;TEST&quot;
data, if any, will be overwritten.
EXAMPLE 2: Information is to be sent to a new
INDEXED file on the Basic Four. Enter the PC
file name, the host file name, the record size
and the number of records.
The file will be created on the Basic Four
according to your specifications and data will
be sent to it.
If the file already exists, an error message
will be displayed.
M6340
8-2
EXAMPLE 3: Information is to be sent to a new
DIRECT file on the Basic Four. Enter the PC
filename, the host filename, the key field, key
size, record size and the number of records.
All of this information is REQUIRED to properly
create the new file. After the file has been
created, records will be sent to it using the
specified field as the key. If the file already
exists, an error message will be displayed.
RECEIVE
To pr
the P
RECV
enter
NAME
actice receiving a file from the Basic Four to
C, be sure that you have first installed the
program on the Basic Four. From the main menu,
(T)ERMINAL (E)MULATION.
1. Start MAI PC-LINK by typing PCLINK.
2. On operating system levels 4.2A and lower,
use the Basic Four utility program to
create the following files:
TYPE SIZE + KEY SIZE RECORD $17Е —
DIRECT Direct 10 records 20 char 200 char
MKDIR
program 10 pages ---- ----
When the files have been successfully created,
enter BASIC COMMAND mode. You should see the &gt;
prompt.
3. Press F10 to return to MAI PC-LINK and
press (Q)UIT to return to the main menu.
Enter (C)ONFIGURE (I)NSTALL. The PC pro-
gram is called MKDIR.HST. Remember to pre-
append a drive or directory if this program
is not on MAI PC-LINK's default drive as
displayed on the screen. The Basic Four
program is called MKDIR. Don't forget to
use upper case letters if the program was
created as upper case. When you have
entered the filenames, you will see the
8-3 M6340
ina variety of formats with the (R)ECEIVE
M6340
4.
program lines being transferred. When the
transfer has been successful, press ESC to
return to MAI PC-LINK main menu.
Enter (T)ERMINAL (E)MULATE mode and type
RUN &quot;MKDIR&quot;. This creates a direct file
called &quot;DIRECT&quot; which you can use to learn
the file receive process. This file has 9
records of 6 fields each. Once the file
has been created, press F10 to return to
MAI PC-LINK.
You can now try receiving the file DIRECT
— option of the main menu. Here are several
examples:
a) ‘Receiving an entire file in PLAIN
~ format:
“0 Enter the (H)OSTFILE name as
&quot;DIRECT&quot;
o Enter the (L)OCALFILE name as
&quot;DIRECT&quot;
&copy; Start the transfer with (G)O.
o A file called DIRECT.PLN will be
written to your default data disk
with the fields separated by commas.
b) Receiving selected fields in Lotus
Import format:
o Select (R)ECALL from the receive
menu and select the procedure PEOPLE
from the displayed disk directory.
o A complete Transfer Control Proced-
ure will be recalled from the disk
and displayed in the Receive defini-
tion windows.
8-4
d)
o The procedure can be activated with
the (G)O command from the main
Receive menu.
o When activated, this procedure will
transfer the entire file from the
Basic Four to the PC in Lotus Import
format.
Experiment with deleting and/or moving
some of the transferred fields (col-
umns) using the (R)ECEIVE (C)OLUMNS
menu. Each time you select (G)O from
the main Receive menu, a file will be
transferred according to the specifica-
tions displayed in the COLUMNS window.
Try changing the format of the PC file
created during a transfer using the
(R)ECEIVE (L)OCAL FILE (F)ORMAT menu.
Each time you select (G)O from the main
receive menu, a file will be created in
the format indicated in the LOCALFILE
window.
Try receiving a selected range of keys
from the Hostfile using the (R)ECEIVE
(C)RITERIA (R)ANGE menu. Enter &quot;GRAHAM&quot;
as the start key and &quot;LINCOLN&quot; as the
last key to transfer. When you acti-
vate this procedure with (G)0 from the
main menu, only records with keys that
are alphabetically between the selected
key values will be transferred.
If you have transferred the STUDENT .REC
file to the Basic Four (using SEND above),
you may use the procedure STUDENT to
receive it back to the PC.
8-5 M6340
VIEW
If you wish to practice with the VIEW ruler, enter
the (V)IEW option. Select (R)EAD (D)ata, then enter
the filename STUDENT.REC. You will see the file on
the screen. Now select (R)EAD (R)ULER, then enter &lt;
the ruler name STUDENT. Select (E)DIT and you will an
see a sample ruler appear on the screen. This ruler
can be used to (S)ELECT certain records to be
written into various formats. This ruler can also
be used to set up a Receive procedure by selecting
(C)OLUMNS (R)ECALL from the RECEIVE menu.
NOTES
M6340 8-6
~ APPENDIX A
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Acoustic Coupler
ASCII
Asynchronous
Auto Answer
Auto Dial
An electromechanical piece of
equipment that has two rubber
cups that allow insertion of a
telephone handset. The acoustic
coupler translates computer sig-
nals into audio signals that can
be used by a telephone line.
Acronym for American Standard
for Computer Information Inter-
change. The standard defines
that each numeric byte corres-
ponds to a specific character,
for example, the letter &quot;A&quot;
corresponds to the computer
decimal &quot;65&quot;.
A method of communicating data
between computers that does not
require that the information be
sent in packets and at a cons-
tant pace. Asynchronous communi -
cation is relatively easy to
implement but less efficient
than synchronous communication.
It is also the most widely used
method on most personal computer
links.
A modem feature that detects an
incoming phone call and answers
automatically.
A modem feature that initiates
phone calls using touch-tone or
pulse dialing.
A-1 M6340
Baud
Boot
Carrier
Control Characters
CTS
Data Bit
DB 25
M6340
Approximately the speed at which
the computer can transmit and
receive data in bits per second
on its serial port. It is actu-
ally the modulation rate or num-
ber of times the carrier signal
is modulated per second.
A hardware (or cold) boot would
require turning on and off the
computer. A software (or warm)
— boot would require restarting
the operating system (e.g.,
Control + Alt + Del on the PC
results in a reloading of the
operating system).
Continuous frequency upon which
signals may be superimposed.
The digitized data is transform-
ed into the continuous frequency
by the modem for communication
over the phone line.
Used by the communication equip-
ment to control data transmis-
sion. The control character is
actually embedded within the
data stream being transmitted.
Clear To Send, pin 5 on RS-232
connector.
The smallest unit in data pro-
cessing. Each bit can assume
only a zero or one value. By
grouping the bits, various
coding schemes can be used to
identify letters, numbers, and
symbols.
Standard 25 pin connector.
DCE
Disk Drive
Download
DOS
DTE
DCD
DSR
DTR
Emulation
Data Circuit Equipment. Modems
and other communication equip-
ments are DCE's. They are used
primarily as the interpreter and
controller between computer-to-
computer, computer-to-terminal,
and computer-to-peripheral com-
munications equipment. A modem
is generally set up to be DCE.
- The hardware that can do read/
write operations on a floppy
disk or a fixed disk.
To send a file or information
from a larger or remote computer
to a smaller or local one.
Disk Operating System. &Agrave; type of
operating system used by many PC
manufacturers to manage the com-
puter resources (i.e., CPU, disk
drives, printer, keyboard, CRT,
and internal memory, etc.).
Data Terminal Equipment. The
hardware that is connected to a
modem or other communications
equipment for receiving and
transmitting from/to a remote
computer. &Agrave; PC is generally set
up to be DTE.
Data Carrier Detect, pin 8 on
RS-232 connector.
Data Set Ready, pin 6 on RS- 232 a
connector.
Data Terminal Ready, pin 20 on
RS-232 connector.
The imitation of terminal opera-
tions for the purpose of commun-
icating with a host computer.
A-3 — M6340
Full Duplex
Host
Half Duplex
— Local Connection
Modem
Null Modem
On-Line
Parity
M6340
Simultaneous bidirectional
transmission of data between two
points.
The primary computer that is
accessed by other computers for
information, computing power,
and other computer resources.
Two-way transmission of data
between two points; however,
only one point is allowed to
transmit at a time.
A direct connection between
computers using a cable rather
than a communications link and
modem.
Modulate/demodulate. The commun-
ication equipment used by each
computer that enables communica-
tion over a telephone line.
Cable connection of a terminal
to a host computer using RS-232
connectors. Pin 2 (transmit pin)
on the host must be connected to
pin 3 (receive pin) on the term-
inal, and vice versa. On Basic
Four terminals, Pins 4 and 5 are
jumpered, as are pins 6 and 20.
The local computer or terminal
has established ongoing communi -
cation with the host computer.
A method to detect possible
errors in the data received
during data transmission. In
. this method, a bit is added to
keep the sum of the bits in a
byte, either Even or Odd, before
the data is transmitted. When
A-4
CN,
Parallel Port
Path
Remote
RD
RI
RTS
Start Bit
Serial Port
the receiver gets the byte it
will check the parity bit to
verify successful transmission.
The parallel port is a connector
in the PC for a parallel printer
or other peripherals that use
parallel I/0. Data is transmit-
ted 8 bits (1 byte) at a time.
A DOS command that searches
directories for a specific com-
mand or batch file after it
searches the working directory;
e.g. PATH ((d:)pathname)(;)
(;(d:) pathname)....)
A controller that connects to
its host mainframe via a modem
or other data link, as opposed
to a local controller which is
wired directly to the mainframe.
Received Data, pin 3 on RS-232
connector,
Ring Indicator, pin 22 on RS-232
connector. |
Request To Send, pin 4 on RS-232
connector.
The method to signal the modem
that the following transmission
is normal data. Used in asyn-
chronous communications to tell
the receiver that the following
bits are data bits.
The serial port is a connector
on the PC for peripherals or
devices that used serial 1/0.
Can be used for serial printers
and asynchronous or synchronous
communications.
A-5 M6340
Session
SG
Stop Bit
Synchronous
RS-232
TD
Protocol
Upload
M6340
A non-stop work session between
the user and the terminal.
Signal Ground, pin 7 on RS-232
connector.
The method to signal the modem
the end of a block of data being
transmitted.
A method of communicating data
between computers that requires
that data be sent in packets and
at a contant pace.
An industry-standard method of
serial (asynchronous) communica-
tion which specifies voltage le-
vels and signal characteristics.
= Devices are interconnected via
standard 25-pin connectors.
Transmitted Data, pin 2 on RS-
232 connector.
A set of rules for how informa-
tion is exchanged over a com-
puter network.
To send a file or information
from a smaller computer to a
larger computer.
A-6
APPENDIX B
MAIN COMMAND MENU FOR MAI PC-LINK
The MAI PC-LINK main menu option commands are
explained in the following paragraphs. A page
reference where applicable is provided for any
subsequent sub-menus or instructions contained
elsewhere in this manual.
PAGE
COMMAND USE REFERENCE
Terminal Selects terminal emulation 3-2
control menus.
Send Selects menus to control 4-2
sending Personal Computer
files to the host computer.
Receive Selects menus to control 4-8
receiving Host computer
data onto the Personal
Computer.
View Visual PC File reformatter. 5-1
Configure Selects menus to change con- 7-1
figuration of MAI PC-LINK
including communications
parameters, printer setup,
modem control, system defaults
and installation of BASIC FOUR
programs located on Personal
Computer disk.
B-1 M6340
~ MAIN COMMAND MENU (continued)
PAGE
COMMAND USE REFERENCE
DOS Keeps the MAI PC-LINK program
~ resident in memory while exe-
cuting DOS commands or loading
and running another program.
Exit Exits from MAI PC-LINK to DOS.
The use of the sub-menus selected by these commands
is described in the following sections.
M6340 B-2
This menu is
main menu.
COMMAND
Emulate
Record File
Printer Set
Dial
Hang Up
Self Test
TERMINAL EMULATION MENU
selected by the Terminal command on the
PAGE
USE REFERENCE
Enters terminal emulation 3-1
mode (you can exit from this
mode with the F10 key).
Changes name of Personal B-18
Computer disk file into which
Recorded or Screen Snapshot
information is written.
Sends the printer set-up B-20
string to the local printer.
The set-up string is set with
the Configure menu.
Sends a dialing sequence to B-18
an auto-dial modem. The dial-
ing sequence is set with the
Configure menu.
Hangs up the modem. B-21
Puts the serial port into Self
Test mode. If Self Test is en-
abled, all characters typed dur-
ing Emulation will be echoed back
to the screen, allowing verifica-
tion that the serial port is func-
tioning correctly. Note that
terminal emulation is not possible
when Self Test is ON.
Exits to MAI PC-LINK main menu.
R_? MA XZAN
SEND MENU
This menu is selected by the Send command on the
main menu. Note that to use Send for data file
transfer, the program SEND must have been installed
on the host computer as described in the instal-
lation instructions.
The current version of MAI PC-LINK supports the
transfer of ASCII files on the Personal Computer
into BASIC FOUR serial and indexed files. Future
versions will support transfer from other Personal
Computer formats into other types of BASIC FOUR
files.
PAGE
COMMAND USE — REFERENCE
Local File Enters the name of the local 4-10
(Personal Computer)file to be
sent to host computer. The
file is assumed to be on the
default data drive/directory
(set by Configure; initially
drive A) unless another drive
1s given in the file name.
Host File
- Name Enters the name of the host 4-10
(Basic Four) file to receive
data. For 8000 and 2000 series
systems, the file is assumed to
be in the default host data path
unless another path is given. To
print on the Basic Four line
printer, enter &quot;LP&quot;. The printer
must be available and on-line.
Type Type of file on the Basic Four 4-10
~ DIRECT, SERIAL, INDEXED or STRING
(2000 systems). This value will
default to SERIAL.
M6340 B-4
+
SEND MENU (continued)
PAGE
COMMAND USE REFERENCE
Key Field Not required for Serial, Indexed
or String files. For DIRECT files,
the field number is to be used
as the key. Defaults to 1.
Create
Key Size Not required for Serial, Indexed
or String files. Not required if
the file already exists on the
Basic Four. If a new DIRECT file
is to be created, this defines the
size of the key. (Value must be 2-56).
Record Not required if the file already
Size exists on the Basic Four. If the
host file is to be created, this
defines the length of the records
in the file. (Value must be 1-512).
Number Not required if the file already
exists on the Basic Four. If the
host file is to be created, this
defines the maximum number of
records in the file. Remember
to leave room for expansion.
(Value must be 1-32767).
Program Names the program on the Basic
Four that is to be activated
to receive data from the Per-
sonal Computer. This is usually
the standard MAI PC-LINK program
SEND; for special purposes, the
user can supply another program
ent that uses standard MAI PC-LINK
‘ protocols.
B-5 M6340
“SEND MENU (continued)
COMMAND USE REFERENCE
Go Starts file transfer from Personal
Computer to Host computer. The
lines of data transferred will be
seen in a window in the lower half
of the Personal Computer screen.
Quit — Exits to MAT PC-LINK main menu.
M6340 B-6
RECEIVE MENU
This series of menus is selected by the Receive
command on the main menu. Note that to use Receive,
the program &quot;RECV&quot; must have been installed on the
_— host computer as described in the installation
\ instructions. MAI PC-LINK supports the transfer of
data from Serial, Direct or Indexed files onto the
Personal Computer in a range of formats. Data can
be selectively transferred by specifying a file key
range or file index range, and the desired field
numbers and their formats (either numeric or text).
PAGE
COMMAND USE REFERENCE
Procedure
Name Enters name of transfer pro- 4-9
cedure (up to 8 characters).
Also used as the file name if
the procedure is saved on the
pm Personal Computer disk.
Descript Enters a description (up to 4-9
60 characters long) of the file
transfer procedure; helpful when
identifying for recall procedures
which have been saved for future use.
Host File Enters the name of the host — 4-10
(Basic Four) file to be sent to
the Personal Computer. For 2000
and 8000 series systems, the file
is assumed to be in the host data
path unless another path is given.
Type Automatically displayed after 4-10
transfer as Direct, Indexed,
pe. Serial or String, if activated
N by GO; other times the type is
&quot;Automatic.&quot; If a Direct file is
being received, Host filename
must have been properly entered.
B-7 M6340
COMMAND
Local File
Format
RECEIVE MENU (continued)
PAGE
USE REFERENCE
Selects a menu allowing choice 4-10
of Personal formats for data re-
ceived. Options include formats
readable by Lotus 1-2-3, Multi-
Criteria
Range
Start
Range
End
Range
Quit
Range
Program
Range Keys
Reject
M6340
plan, etc. See page reference at
right for more details.
Specifies starting Line Number 4-11
(Serial files), Index (Indexed
files) or Key (Direct files).
Records preceding this location
are not downloaded.
Specifies the last Line Number, 4-11
Index or Key to be transferred.
Records after this location in
the file are not downloaded.
Exits to Criteria menu.
Names the program on the Basic 4-11
Four that is to be activated
to prepare and send the data
to the Personal Computer. This
is usually the standard MAI PC-
LINK program &quot;RECV&quot;, but for
special purposes the user can
supply another program that uses
standard MAI PC-LINK protocols.
Does not download keys from
Direct files.
B-8
RECEIVE MENU (continued)
PAGE
COMMAND USE REFERENCE
Range Keys (continued)
Include Downloads keys from Direct
files, and appends them to
the beginning of the data line
as the first field.
SpoolFilter 4-11
On Used to receive serial files
which contain printer control
mnemonics. Files may be Basic
Four spooler files or other files
which contain printer control.
Off Used to receive normal text files.
Columns 4-11
Edit Activates the Columns (fields)
selection menu and window.
Recall Recall a columns ruler as de-
fined in the View system.
Go Starts file transfer from Host
computer to Personal Computer.
The lines of data transferred
will be seen in a window in the
lower half of the Personal Com-
puter screen. Field separators,
if any, are shown as small bright
box.
Recall Recalls a previously saved trans-
fer procedure for later use.
B-9 M6340
RECEIVE MENU (continued)
ВЕ РАСЕ
COMMAND USE REFERENCE
Go (continued)
Clear Resets the current transfer procedure
to the default values for all options.
Quit Exits to MAI PC-LINK Main menu.
a
M6340 B-10
RECEIVE COLUMNS EDIT MENU
Columns (fields) Specifications:
This part of a Transfer Procedure is used if only
part of each transferred line or record is to be
written to the Personal Computer file. It also
allows specific control over whether fields are to
be formatted as text or numeric data. In the case
of serial files, it is used to select the parts of
each line that are to be captured and formatted.
Note that a set of column specifications are applied
to each line or record of data transferred. Lines
with specified numeric fields that do not contain
valid numeric data are completely rejected.
Up and Down arrow keys are used to move the field
edit cursor up and down in the columns edit window.
To add a new field, more the cursor below the
current last field. The window scrolls to allow
more fields if necessary.
PAGE
COMMAND USE REFERENCE
Field The number of the field that 4-12
| you wish to access. For ser-
ial files this is always 0;
for Direct and Indexed files
this indicates the field number
within the record from which data
is to be extracted.
For a Direct or Indexed file the
first field in each record is
normally field #1. However, if
keys are also being downloaded
(selected by the Receive Cri-
teria Keys Include option)
then the key of each record
becomes field #1 and the first
real field becomes field #2.
B-11 M6340
RECEIVE COLUMNS EDIT MENU (continued)
COMMAND
Position
Width
M6340
PAGE
USE REFERENCE
Position and Width define which 4-12
part of the field width you wish —`
to transfer. Position specifies
the position within the field of
the first character you wish to
access, and Width specifies how
many characters to include. For
example, assume a simple Basic
Four file containing 3 lines of
one field each:
GLO001
GL9807
GLO503
Since the 'GL' is repeated, you
decide to transfer only the numeric
portion of the field. Your column
definition would look like:
“Field Position Width
1 3 4
In other words, you wish to
retrieve information from
field 1 starting in position 3
of the field, and taking 4
characters. Using this column
definition, the PC would receive:
0001
9807
0503
Note:
Be
In order to retrieve an entire
field specify a Position of 0 and a
Width of 0.
B-12
RECEIVE COLUMNS EDIT MENU (continued)
| РАСЕ
COMMAND USE REFERENCE
Position and Width must both con-
tain zeros or both contain non-zero
numbers. Otherwise an error will
occur,
A field will be ignored if you attempt to
access a field that does not exist (e.g., a
file contains 5 fields and you ask for
field 7), or if you attempt to access a
position within a field that does not
exist (e.g., a field contains 3 characters
and you attempt to start at position 8 of
that field. However, the difficulty may be
overcome by specifying an original field
length longer than necessary.
Name An optional description field 4-12
name of up to 16 characters;
used for documentation purposes
only.
Type Field type; can be Numeric or 4-12
Text.
Insert Insert one blank line below the 4-12
current line.
Delete Delete the current line. 4-12
Move Move the current (source) line. 4-12
Specify the destination line by
using the up and down arrow keys.
B-13 — M6340
VIEW MENU
This menu is selected by the View option from the
main menu. It allows viewing selection and refor-
matting of data from a downloaded file that has been
written to the Personal Computer disk. a
Е РАСЕ
COMMAND USE REFERENCE
Read E.
Data = Enters the name of the Person- 5-2
al Computer datafile that is
to be processed and causes it
to be loaded into MAI PC-LINK.
Ruler Enters the name of a previously 5-3
о saved data selection ruler to
be used on the current data file.
Edit Enters edit/data selection mode. 5-2
Activates the Columns Ruler and N
causes the selection options to a
be displayed at the top of the
screen.
Format Selects a menu allowing a 5-3
choice of Personal Computer
file formats for selected
data. Options include Lotus
1-2-3, Multiplan, etc.
Save
Data Enters the name of a Person- 5-3
al Computer file into which
the selected, formatted output
data is to be written, and
causes the data to be written ~~
to the file.
M6340 B-14
VIEW MENU (continued)
PAGE
COMMAND USE REFERENCE
y Save (continued)
Ruler Enters the name of a Person- 5-3
al Computer file into which
~ the currently defined column
definitions will be saved for
later use.
Quit Exits to MAI PC-LINK main menu.
B-15 M6340
CONFIGURE MENU
This series of menus is selected by the Configure
command on the main menu. Configure allows you to
set up the printer, communications, modem and
systems defaults used by MAI PC-LINK. You may
customize MAI PC-LINK to your specific hardware and
peripherals and save this configuration to use
instead of the MAI PC-LINK defaults.
COMMAND USE
Communications Defines the communications link.
‘Baud ~~ Sets the baud rate (data transfer
rate) for communicating with the
host computer.
300...19200 Indicates the speed in bits per
second.
Parity Sets the type of parity checking
to be done.
None No parity checking.
Odd Parity is odd (standard MAI VDT).
Even Parity 1s even.
Data Sets the number of data bits for
communications.
5,6,7,8 Indicates the number of bits to be
used for data.
Stop Sets the number of stop bits for
communications.
1,2 Indicates the number of bits to be
used as end of character markers.
M6340 B-16
™
CONFIGURE MENU (continued)
COMMAND USE
Comm-Port Sets the number of the communica-
tions port used by MAI PC-LINK in
conversation with host computer.
One Specifies COM1: as the communica-
tions port.
Two Specifies COM2: as the communica-
tions port.
Timing Defines the speed of data transfer
(1..200). The default timing
factor is 50. If the BASIC FOUR
system is slow, this factor may be
increased so that the PC will wait
longer for responses from the
Basic Four. You may experiment
with the Timing factor to find the
optimum transfer rate for your
system under various conditions.
Flow Control Controls the flow of data from the
Basic Four to the PC.
None No flow control is used.
Xon-Xoff Xon-Xoff protocol is used. This
is the standard Basic Four VDT
setting.
DTR Lowers DTR to control data flow.
MAY NOT BE USED WITH A MODEM.
Both Both DTR and Xon-Xoff protocols
are used. MAY NOT BE USED WITH A
MODEM.
Note that when using a modem, DTR
flow control may cause the modem
to hang up; either Xon-Xoff or no
flow control should be used.
B-17 M6340
COMMAND
PC
Drive/Directory
RecordFile
FastStart
AutoDial
M6340
CONFIGURE MENU (continued)
USE
Sets up the system defaults for
MAI PC-LINK:
Defines the data drive/directory
where MAI PC-LINK will look and
store all files that you use. This
can be temporarily overridden dur-
ing the entry of a file name by
pre-appending a drive specifica-
tion to a file name. Note: The
configuration file must always be
in the current default drive (or
current sub-directory for DOS
2.0).
Defines the file on the data
drive/directory (see Drive/Direct-
ory above) to which data is sent
during Record mode (Alt-R) or
screen snapshot (FI) while in
Terminal Emulation. If you specify
the name of an existing RecordFile
and choose to replace it, then it
will be emptied. Otherwise all
data is appended to the end of
existing RecordFiles.
If this is set to YES, when MAI
PC-LINK is started the next time,
you will proceed directly into
Terminal Emulation mode. If this
is changed, the configurations
must be Updated in order for the
change to take effect.
If this is set to YES, when MAI
PC-LINK is started the next time,
you will automatically dial the
ModemNumber and then proceed to
Terminal Emulation mode. If this
is changed, the configurations
must be Updated in order for the
change to take effect.
B-18
CONFIGURE MENU (continued)
COMMAND
Statline
Terminal
VDT
EVDT
Color
Screen
Background
Foreground
Host
System
Receive
Send
USE
If this is set to Yes, then the
status line will be displayed at
the bottom of the screen.
Changes the type of terminal being
emulated.
Emulates a VDT type of terminal.
Emulates an EVDT type of terminal.
Selects the screen colors.
Selects the desired background
color.
Selects the desired foreground
color.
Selects the type of Basic Four
computer being linked.
Defines the program installed on
the host computer which prepares
and transfers data to the Personal
Computer. The default name is
&quot;RECV&quot;. For 2000 and 8000 series
systems, the default program path
is assumed unless another path is
given.
Defines the program installed on
the host computer which receives
data from the Personal Computer.
The default name is &quot;SEND&quot;. For
2000 and 8000 series systems, the
default program path is assumed
unless another path is given.
B-19 M6340
COMMAND
Host (continued)
Paths
Program
Data
Printer
Parallel
Serial
Baud
AutoLF
Setup
M6340
CONFIGURE MENU (continued)
USE
Sets the default program pathname
for 2000 and 8000 series systems.
Sets the default data pathname for
2000 and 8000 series systems.
Select to use a parallel printer.
Select to use a serial printer
(note that 2 serial ports are
required, one for MAI PC-LINK
communication, and one for the
printer).
Select serial printer parameters.
If this set to YES, the printer is
in a mode where it automatically
inserts a line feed after every
carriage return.
Enters a printer control string
(e.g. to compress print). You may
send unprintable control charact-
ers in the following format: \nnn
where nnn is a 3-digit decimal
ASCII character code (e.g., to
send an ESC to the printer, enter:
\027).
B-20
pa -
4
4 -
CONFIGURE MENU (continued)
COMMAND
Modem
Initialization
Prefix
Number
Hang Up
Wait Time
USE
Enters the modem initialization
string required (if any). You may
send unprintable control charact
ers in the following format: \ nnn
where nnn is a 3-digit decimal
number. You can also enter the
character '™~' to pause for one
second.
Enters the modem dial prefix. You
may send unprintable control char-
acters in the following format:
\nnn where nnn is a 3-digit
number. You can also enter the
character '~' to pause for one
second.
Enters the phone number to be
dialed, e.g., 112 604 688 8271.
You can also enter the character
'~' to pause for one second and
enter an unprintable string.
Enters the Hang Up sequence. You
may send unprintable control
characters in the following
format: \ nnn where nnn is a 3-
digit number. Can also enter the
character '~' to pause for one
second.
Time for MAI PC-LINK to wait for
modem connect.
B-21 M6340
&copy; COMMAND
Update
Reset
M6340
CONFIGURE MENU (continued)
USE
Updates the configuration file on
the DOS current directory (not
data drive) with the present
setup. This will be a permanent
change so you will be prompted as
to whether you want to Cancel or -
Replace this command.
Resets your current configuration
setup to the version stored in
your configurations file on the
Personal Computer disk. This will
destroy all temporary changes that
have been made.
B-22
FORMAT MENU
This menu allows the selection of a format that will
be used to write transferred data to the Personal
Computer disk.
COMMAND
Worksheet
Import
Lotus
dBase II/III
IBM Basic
DIF
SYLK
USE
Selects a format loadable into
LOTUS 1-2-3. Column widths must
be defined using the Receive
Columns option. File name exten-
sion is &quot;“WKS&quot;.
Selects a format loadable into
Lotus 1-2-3 using its &quot;Import
Numbers&quot; command. File name exten-
sion is &quot;PRN&quot;.
Selects a format loadable into
dBase II or dBase III using its
&quot;APPEND DELIMITED&quot; option. File
name extension is &quot;TXT&quot;.
Selects a format readable by
Personal Computer Basic using its
READ command for sequential files.
Extension is &quot;DAT&quot;.
Selects Software Arts&quot; DIF format.
File is directly loadable into
Visicalc as well as many other
software packages. Extension is
&quot;DIF&quot;.
Selects Microsoft's Symbolic Link
format. File is directly loadable
into Multiplan and many other
software packages. Extension is
90 SLK&quot;
FORMAT MENU (continued)
COMMAND USE
Multimate Selects a format loadable into
— Multimate. Either document or —`
merge format is available.
Extension is &quot;DOC&quot;.
Fixed Selects MAI PC-LINK Fixed which
writes data into fixed width
columns, Column widths must be
defined using the Receive Columns
option. Extension is &quot;FIX&quot;.
Plain Selects MAI PC-LINK Plain format.
Serial files are received line by
1ine unchanged, Direct and indexed
files are received record by re-
cord with commas inserted between
the fields. Extension is &quot;PLN&quot;,
MARAN R_ 94
DATA ENTRY AND EDIT
The same method is used for the entry and editing of
all data in MAI PC-LINK (Edit mode). In this mode,
a prompt is displayed at the top of the screen along
with further descriptive information on the follow-
ing line. Default data may be displayed on the
entry line. If the default data is the data you
want, press &quot;ENTER&quot; to accept it. To blank the
default value and start again, press ESC. To quit
data entry, press ESC a second time. Keys available
in Edit mode are:
Keys Use
Left/Right arrow keys Move edit cursor left or
right in the data line.
Home/End keys Move the cursor to the
beginning or end of the edit
line. Ш
Escape key Press once to blank the data
line; press again to escape
from Edit mode.
Backspace key Deletes character to left of
cursor and moves cursor left
one space. ‘
Letter/number/ Normal data entry.Characters
character keys are inserted into the data
line at the cursor position.
Other characters are pushed
right. Data scrolls to the
right if necessary for large
data items.
Enter key Accepts currently displayed
data and exits from Edit
mode.
B-25 M6340
PERSONAL COMPUTER FILE SELECTION
MAI PC-LINK uses an enhanced method of file ..
selection. based. on the format used by Lotus 1-2-3.
Three methods of file selection are provided:
1. In many cases there will be a default file
name that you will want to select with the
&quot;ENTER&quot; key. a |
2. By pressing the space bar, you will be
—. provided with a file directory from which
you can select. a file by highlighting.
3. You can type in a file name as in normal
edit mode.
4. You € can type 1 ina wildcard file name to
— display a list of files. from which the
desired one can be selected. For example,
if you enter 's*.*', all files starting
with 's' will be displayed. o
If you have ‘previously recalled a file of that type
during this run of MAI PC- LINK, then this will be
your default file name. If there is a default, then
it will be displayed -and you will be required to
either hit &quot;ENTER&quot; (which means select this file
again) or press the space bar (which means get
directory assistance). Directory assistance gives
you a list of all of the relevant files on the
default data drive/directory. - You will now be in
file directory selection mode, where you may move
around the list of filenames with the cursor keys
and the &quot;Home&quot; and &quot;End&quot; keys to highlight a
filename. If the file that you want is listed on
the screen, simply move the highlighting cursor on
top of it and hit &quot;ENTER&quot; to select. You may enter
a file name by typing any alphanumeric character,
which will immediately place you into Edit mode in
defining a file name entry. You may optionally type
in DOS file directory mask (with '*'s and/or '?') as
the filename entry and this will give you additional
M6340 B-26
+
i #
Te,
PERSONAL COMPUTER FILE SELECTION (continued)
directory assistance (this could be useful if you
are using a hard disk with a large number of
directory entries). You may also specify another
drive for MAI PC-LINK to search for your current
file (this works for additional directory assistance
as well, e.g., &quot;A:&quot; by itself as a filename entry
will give you the entire A: Drive directory list.
Press the &quot;ESC&quot; key to quit at any time or F1 (Help)
for on-line help.
B-27 M6340
NOTES
M6340 _ B-28
APPENDIX C
INFORMATION ON COPY PROTECTION
MAI PC-LINK diskettes are copy-protected, using a
method which is designed to minimize any inconven-
Тепсе to users resulting from copy protection. With
this copy protection method:
- unlimited backup of programs is possible;
- programs can be run from a hard disk;
- no operating system modifications or specific
hardware are necessary.
Replacement Diskette
It is very unlikely that you can damage the master
diskette so badly that you cannot run MAI PC-LINK
from a backup disk as described below. However,
should this occur, contact your MAI Basic Four
dealer for a replacement copy.
USING PROTECTED PROGRAMS
1. Protected programs will only execute:
properly if the MAI PC-LINK diskette is
available when the protected file is run.
A: drive is searched to determine if the
proper MAI PC-LINK diskette is available.
If the diskette is not found, the B: drive
1s then searched. If the proper diskette
is there, the program continues normal
execution. If the proper diskette cannot
be located, the user is simply returned to
the operating system.
2. Protected program files may be copied to
backup or archive diskettes with the DOS
COPY command. (Use of DISKCOPY will result
in a read error on the master diskette).
These backup copies will not execute unless
C-1 M6340
3.
6.
M6340
they are re-copied onto the MAI PC-LINK
diskette they were copied from, or the
original MAI PC-LINK diskette is in the
system as described above.
To use MAI PC-LINK protected program files
on a hard disk system, simply transfer the
files to the hard disk. When starting MAI
PC-LINK, make sure the original diskette is
available as described above. If the orig-
inal is found, the program will continue
execution from the hard disk drive.
No modification is made to your operating
system or BIOS (Basic Input/Output System).
— The protection system does not limit you to
specific hardware configurations.
If you experience soft errors, restore the
files using the DOS COPY command from the
backup copy created above. This process
will eliminate most soft errors. In the
unusual event that these errors should per-
sist and disk space permits, rename PCLINK.
EXE to UNUSED.BAD and transfer the backup
copy of the PCLINK.EXE file back to a dif-
ferent area of the original MAI PC-LINK.
If the above procedures do not clear disk
errors, you may continue to utilize pro-
tected program files from a backup disk-
ette. The only requirement is that the
original MAI PC-LINK diskette must be
available in a disk drive as described
above.
C-2
APPENDIX D
MAI PC-LINK DISKETTE CONTENTS
When you receive your authorized copy of MAI PC-
LINK, the following files should be contained on
your distribution diskette:
FILENAME
PCLINK.EXE
PCLINK.IDF
PCLINK.HLP
INDEX.HLP
DEFAULTS .CNF
INSTALL .COM
SEND. HST
RECV.HST
— SEND2000.HST
RECV2000.HST
DESCRIPTION
MAI PC-LINK main program file.
Used by the installation pro-
cedure.
These are your MAI PC-LINK help
system files which reside on
your DOS default drive during
execution of MAI PC-LINK for the
on-screen help facility to be
available,
The configuration default file
used by MAI PC-LINK to record
your current custom setup.
Your hard disk install/uninstall
programs.
The Basic Four programs which
must be installed on the host
with the Install program command
before advanced Send and
Receive will work. For Basic
Four series 2000, the appro-
priate files XXXX2000. XXX must
be used.
D-1 M6340
FILENAME
SAFE (HST
SAFE2000.HST
MKDIR.HST
~ STUDENT .REC
~~ STUDENT.PRC
STUDENT .RUL
PEOPLE .PRC
TRANSH . BAT
M6340
= DESCRIPTION
The direct file security program
required for access to
Basic Four DIRECT files.
A BASIC program which will
create a sample Direct file on
the Basic Four host.
A sample student data file that
will aid you in learning
how to use Send, Receive and
View commands.
A sample ruler for practice with
View and Receive. &copy;
A sample Receive procedure
definition for use with the
DIRECT file created with MKDIR.
A file transfer program for use
in transferring MAI PC-LINK
host programs and sample data
files to your hard disk.
D-2
APPENDIX E
USING MAI PC-LINK REFORMATTED DATA
Data may be reformatted during a Receive data trans-
fer or by selecting data with the columns ruler in
View. Reformatted data may then be used in various
spreadsheets, word processors, data bases and inte-
grated software packages available for microcomput-
ers. The following descriptions indicate how to
complete the transfer of data into these other
programs with reference to the ways in which a
number of programs import external data (this is
documented poorly for most software packages).
1. Worksheet: To load your Lotus 1-2-3
formatted data created by the MAI PC-LINK
Worksheet format option, use the 1-2-3
/File Retrieve command. Initially Lotus
will display a list of possible files from
which to import data. If your file is not
listed, then you should check that Lotus'
default data drive (defined with the /Work-
sheet Global Default Directory command) is
the one on which your file resides.
2. Lotus: To load Lotus 1-2-3 formatted data
created by the MAI PC-LINK Import Lotus
format option, use the 1-2-3 /File Import
Numbers command. Initially Lotus will dis-
play a list of possible files from which to
import data. If your file is not listed,
then you should check that Lotus' default
data drive (defined with the /Worksheet
Global Default Directory command) is the
one on which your file resides.
It is important to note that the Lotus
Import command will write its import data
over top of any information whose cells are
required to contain the incoming data
(formulae included). You may optionally
E-1 M6340
set global protection to ENABLE with the
3.
4.
M6340
/Morksheet Global Protect Enable command,
which will not allow you to write over any
cells marked as protected by the /Range
Protect command. See your Lotus 1-2-3
manual for more details on using the
command mentioned.
dBase: In order to access your dBase II
formatted data created by the MAI PC-LINK
Import dBase format option, you must first
create a dBase data file with fields cor-
responding to the size, type and position
of the data that was reformatted. This may
~ mean that you must create a temporary file
~ in which to import the data and then update
~ your master database with a simple dBase
‘program or a series of commands (see the
dBase COPY command). The following example
imports data from the file “STUDENT. TXT&quot;
(created by MAI PC-LINK) into the dBase
file &quot;STUD.DBF&quot;:
‚USE STUD
e APPEND FROM STUDENT DELIMITED
DIF: DIF (Data Interchange Format) is a
standard symbolic format that allows trans-
fer between many different programs on
microcomputers. Visicalc is probably the
most widely known of the popular programs
that support this format, and so the exam-
ple importation of data given is directed
to the Visicalc user. Visicalc users may
load in DIF files (created by MAI PC-LINK)
by using the following command sequence :
/Storage # Load (filename) Columns
where (filename) is the name of the DIF
formatted file. Visicalc has no way of
protecting formulae that might be over-
written by this data import, so be careful
that there is enough space allocated for
the incoming data.
E-2
5. IBM PC Basic: You may use data in IBM
Basic by selecting MAI PC-LINK Import IBM-
Basic format. To access this data from a
Basic language program, use a program with
a similar algorithm to the following
example:
10 OPEN #1, &quot;STUDENT.DAT&quot;
20 IF EOF (1) THEN GOTO 99
30 INPUT #1,A,B,C$
30 PRINT A,B,C$
50 GOTO 20
60 END
This example program reads in an import
file line by line, allocates the data to
variables A, B and C$, and then prints them
out. In this example file, there are two
numeric items followed by one text item on
each line (record). It is important to
make sure that the fields (variables assig-
ned to the various fields) are in the cor-
rect order and are of the right type. Note
that all files created by MAI PC-LINK in
Basic import format have the &quot;.DAT&quot; file
extension.
6. SYLK: SYLK (Symbolic Link Format) is
another industry standard interface data
format supported by many popular software
packages. Microsoft's Multiplan as well as
a number of other Microsoft products are
the most popular examples of a series of
programs that use this format. Multiplan
does not allow you to directly import SYLK
format into a spreadsheet, but instead you
must create an external link relationship
to the SYLK worksheet in order to extract
data from it. You may load an entire SYLK
file into Multiplan as your workfile by
using the following command sequences:
Transfer Options Symbolic
Transfer Load (filename)
E-3 M6340
1.
M6340
where (filename) is the name of your SYLK
file. All SYLK files created by MAI PC-
LINK have the extension &quot;.SLK&quot; which must
be manually appended to the filename re-
quest in Multiplan. For more information
concerning the formation of external links
and other features concerning Multiplan,
please consult the corresponding sections
in the Multiplan manual.
MULTIMATE : To load Multimate formatted
data created by the MAI PC-LINK Multimate
Document or Merge format option, choose
— Function 1 (Edit an old document) from the
Multimate main menu. Initially Multimate
will display a list of possible files from
which to load data. If your file is not
listed, check to see that Multimate's
default data drive (accessed through Other
Utilities Menu/Drive Defaults) is the one
on which your file resides.
E-4
APPENDIX F
TRADEMARKS
Lotus 1-2-3 is a trademark of Lotus Development
Corporation.
dBase II is a trademark of Ashton-Tate.
Multimate is a trademark of Softword Systems.
Multiplan is a trademark of Microsoft Ltd.
Visicalc 1s a trademark of Software Arts Ltd.
IBM 1s a trademark of International
Business Machines, Inc.
Compaq is a trademark of Compaq Computer
Corporation.
Columbia is a trademark of Columbia Data
Products, Inc.
Corona is a trademark of Cordata, Inc.
Epson is a trademark of Epson Corporation.
F-1 M6340
NOTES
M6340 F-2
APPENDIX G
LIMITATIONS
Listed below are some of the current limitations on
MAI PC-LINK Version 2.3.
File Transfer
View (Visual Data
Reformatter)
Transferred records must be no
longer than 750 characters.
There is currently a limitation
to the size of the data file to
be loaded. If a file is too big,
it will be truncated to fit into
memory.
The maximum length of data lines
that can be loaded into View is
512 characters. Longer lines
will be truncated.
G-1 M6340
NOTES
M6340 G-2
APPENDIX H
SETUP PROBLEMS
“A. If you are communicating through a modem, you
may encounter one of the following problems:
„=
1.
po
2.
MAI PC-LINK cannot communicate with modem.
Possible Causes:
o MAI PC-LINK baud rate is set incorrectly.
0 Modem is not connected to the serial
port.
о If more than one serial port is present,
the wrong serial port is connected.
o The serial port is not IBM PC compatible.
0 The cable linking the PC to the modem is
wired incorrectly.
o Modem is not of the correct type.
MAI PC-LINK cannot automatically dial the
modem.
Possible Causes :
0 Modem is not an autodial modem.
o MAI PC-LINK baud rate is set incorrectly.
o Modem is not connected to the serial
port.
o Wrong serial port selected.
о The serial port is not IBM PC compatible.
H-1 M6340
o The cable linking the PC to the modem is
wired incorrectly.
o The modem initialization, dial prefix or
number strings may be incorrect.
о Modem is not of the right type.
3. MAI PC-LINK will not hang up the modem after
a successful call was made.
Possible Causes:
o Modem is ignoring the PC's DTR line (some
modems are switch selectable for DTR).
4. MAI PC-LINK connects to the remote modem,
but cannot communicate with the Basic Four.
Possible Causes:
o The cable connecting the remote modem to
the Basic Four is incorrectly wired.
o The Basic Four port is incorrectly
configured (continue reading).
B. If you have problems starting emulation:
1. The port to which your Personal Computer is
connected may not be enabled. To determine
if it is enabled, perform the following:
a. Determine the number of the port that
you are connected to on the BASIC FOUR.
You can do this either by looking at the
back of the BASIC FOUR for the &quot;channel&quot;
number that your cable is plugged into,
or by asking the system manager.
b. On another BASIC FOUR terminal, run the
system utility program.
о For 1300 Series: from the '&gt;' prompt,
type RUN &quot;**&quot; and press RETURN key.
M6340 H-2
Ce
For 8000 Series: from the &quot;!&quot; prompt,
type UTILITY or from the '&gt;' prompt,
type !UTILITY.
For 2000 Series: from the Command
Interpreter prompt, type “menu”.
(If you are unsure about the use of
the UTILITY programs, refer to your
MAI BASIC FOUR System User Guide.)
Select &quot;SYSTEM&quot; and on the next menu
select &quot;Display Memory/Device Usage&quot;
or &quot;TASKS&quot;.
You will receive a display of status
of the system, including which
terminal control tasks are enabled.
You will see a display which indicates
the number of 256-byte 'pages&quot; of memory
that are allocated to each task. Also
indicated is the number of pages of mem-
ory that are not currently being used.
О
If your port (task) is listed on the
screen, and it has memory allocated
to it, then it is enabled. There
must be some other problem. In this
case, you should proceed to the next
item below.
If your port (task) does not appear
at all on the screen, then your oper-
ating system is not configured to
allow that task to be enabled. In
this case, you will have to call MAI
to reconfigure your operating system.
If your port (task) is listed on the
screen, but it does not have memory
allocated to it, then it is not ena-
bled. In this case, you should pro-
ceed to the following paragraph for
the necessary steps to enable it.
H-3 M6340
M6340
de
On 1300 series, to start a terminal
control task, you must use the system
control terminal (the one plugged into
port 0). On the system control termi-
nal, in command mode, type a command in
the following syntax:
START P, &quot;TN&quot;
Where:
- P is the number of pages of memory to
assign to your terminal (make sure
that there are enough pages of free
memory available in any one memory
bank, or you will receive from the
BASIC FOUR an error message number 33
-Insufficient Memory Capacity).
= N is the number of the port that your
Personal Computer is connected to.
For example:
START 10,&quot;T5&quot;
will start Task 5 with 10 pages of
memory assigned to it.
If you receive error messages in
response to this command, you may have
one of these problems:
o Your BASIC FOUR operating system may
not be configured to allow this port
to be enabled as described above.
You can tell that this is the problem
if your task number does not appear
at all on the system status screen
described above. If this is the
case, you will have to ask MAI to
reconfigure your operating system.
0 You may have made a mistake in the
amount of available memory.
H-4
4.
*
о You may not have typed the command in
upper case letters.
If the above still does not work, then the
port to which you are connected may not be
set to 9600 Baud, or it may not be connected
inside the Basic Four computer. The best
way to check if this is the problem is to
connect the Personal Computer to a port that
is known to work with a normal BASIC FOUR
terminal. If the Personal Computer works
with this port but not with the one that you
are trying to enable, then your port probab-
ly has a hardware problem. You should ask
an MAI service representative to check that
your port is connected internally, and it is
set at a rate of 9600 baud.
If you are using a Columbia* or Corona*
Personal Computer, then you may have to
switch lines 2 and 3 of the DB 25 connector
plugged into the Personal Computer. This
may also be necessary for some other non-
standard Asynchronous communication cards
plugged into a Personal Computer.
The Personal Computer asynchronous port may
not be operational or may be switched to the
wrong port address (switch selectable on
some expansion boards). Try the self test
mode that is available in the Terminal menu.
This makes the currently selected serial
port echo characters back directly to MAI
PC-LINK. Enter emulation mode and type a
normal character, like 'K'. If the 'К' 15
not echoed back to the screen, then some-
thing is wrong with the serial card. Note
that some serial cards are not truly IBM PC
compatible and require that certain pins,
e.g. DSR (data set ready) be held high.
Refer to Appendix F for trademark information
for these products.
H-5 M6340
If none of the preceding steps is successful,
call the dealer from whom you purchased MAI PC-
LINK for assistance.
NOTES
M6340 H-6
APPENDIX I
BASIC FOUR TERMINAL CONTROL MNEMONICS
RECOGNIZED BY MAI PC-LINK
MNEMONIC MNEMONIC NAME
@(х)
@(х,у)
'BS'
&quot;CE&quot;
&quot;CF&quot;
&quot;CH
&quot;CL
' CR
&quot;CS&quot;
Horizontal
Position
Horizontal and
Vertical Position
Backspace
Clear Screen To
End of Page
Clear Foreground
Cursor Home
Clear Line
Carriage Return
Clear Screen
I-1
RESULTING ACTION
Display next data at
absolute horizontal
position defined by x.
Display next data at
position x of vertical
line y.
Moves the cursor back
one space, erasing the
previous character.
Clears the screen from
the cursor to the end
of the page.
Replaces Foreground
Characters with
spaces.
Positions the Cursor
at Home and Sets Fore-
ground Mode.
Replaces all charact-
ers between the Cursor
and the end of line
with blanks.
Cursor Drops one line;
moves to position O.
Clears all characters
from the video screen,
positions the cursor
to home, and sets mode
to Foreground.
M6340
MNEMONIC MNEMONIC NAME
'DC’
ES
re
'LD'
'LF'
M6340
Delete Character
ESCAPE
Insert Character
Line Delete
Line Feed
I-2
RESULTING ACTION
Deletes the character
at cursor and shifts
characters to the
right of the cursor
one position to the
left. Writes a space
in the last position
of the line or field.
Starts Foreground if
Background was in
effect.
Sends an ESC to the
terminal which treats
it as a lead in code.
The next character de-
fines an action code
for the VDT.
Moves all characters
at and to the right of
the cursor one space
right. The next char-
acter output or input
occurs at the space at
the cursor position.
Resets mode to fore-
ground.
Removes line where the
cursor is positioned:
rolls all lines below
it up one line; in-
serts a blank line at
the bottom of the
screen and sets the
mode to foreground.
Outputs a line feed/
carriage return.
&gt;
— MNEMONIC MNEMONIC NAME
&quot;LI&quot;
&quot;ps&quot;
' PE '
'RB'
&quot;RC&quot;
‘SB!
SF&quot;
TR!
Line Insert
Start Protect Mode
End Protect
Ring Bell
Read Cursor
Start Background
Start Foreground
Transmit Screen
RESULTING ACTION
Inserts a blank line
at cursor position;
rolls all lines below
it down, deletes the
bottom line on the
screen and sets Fore-
ground mode.
Begins display protec-
tion. Prevents cursor
from entering a previ-
ously protected posi-
tion, and prevents
screen scrolling.
Cancels &deg;PS', ending
the protection mode.
Causes beep on VDT.
Provides current cur-
sor position coordin-
ates. Should be used
with or followed by an
INPUT directive. Echo
is suppressed for the
remainder of the INPUT
directive and is re-
stored afterward.
Begin Background mode.
Marks Background char-
acters as protectable,
though does not begin
protection.
Begin Foreground mode.
Sends data from screen
to the input variable.
M6340
NOTES
M6340 1-4
APPENDIX J
QUICK START PROCEDURES
This outline is designed for the experienced PC and
Basic Four user. If you have not had much exposure
to a Personal Computer or a Basic Four, or if you
encounter difficulties, see the appropriate User
Guide pages.
GETTING CONNECTED
To run MAI PC-LINK, the asynchronous port of the PC
should be connected to the Basic Four with a stand-
ard MAI cable. A female-female adapter cable will
be needed to allow the cable to be plugged into the
PC. The Basic Four port should be configured and
enabled as it would be for a standard VDT or EVDT.
STARTING MAI PC-LINK SESSION
To start MAI PC-LINK, type MAI PC-LINK.
The program will run from a hard disk or a working
copy floppy diskette as long as the INSTALL program
has been used. (Refer to Section 2 for Installa-
tion/Uninstallation Procedures).
MAI PC-LINK's menu system design allows you to
select an item from a menu, either type the first
letter of your selection, or use the left/right
arrow keys to move the cursor to your selection
(shown by highlighting) and press ENTER. To exit
from a menu, press ESC or select (Q)uit or (E)xit
when available. MAI PC-LINK's on-line HELP system
can be accessed by pressing F1 (shift-F1 while in
emulation mode).
Enter C)ONFIGURE and check to see that the default
settings apply to your system. Settings most likely
to require attention are:
J-1 M6340
Communications If you are not using COM]
Port
Terminal If you wish to emulate an
EVDT
‘Host System If you are connected to a
~ 2000 or 8000 series
computer
If you are communicating through a modem, it will be
— necessary to change the Communications Baud rate and
to enter the Modem dialing sequence.
Once MAI PC-LINK has been configured to your re-
quirements, you may wish to save the new settings by
selecting U)DATE.
To check that you are communicating with the Basic
— Four, exit from the Configuration menu and select
— (T)ERMINAL. If you are using a modem, select D)IAL.
— Select E)MULATE. You will see a blank screen with a
status line at the bottom. Pressing ESC should
“elicit the normal terminal response for your system.
You may now use the PC as you would an MAI terminal.
See page 14 of the User Guide for function and motor
bar key usage on the PC keyboard.
Pressing F10 will return you to the main MAI PC-LINK
menu.
— FILE TRANSFER
Installation
In order to transfer files to and from the Basic
Four, the programs &quot;SEND&quot; and &quot;RECV&quot; must be in-
stalled on the Basic Four. To transfer to and from
DIRECT files on the Basic Four, the program &quot;SAFE&quot;
must alsc be installed on the Basic Four.
On 2000 and 1300 series computers, these programs
must first be created with a length of 20 pages
each.
M6340 J-2
Select C)ONFIGURE I)NSTALL. To install SEND, enter
the PC file name SEND.HST (SEND2000.HST for the
Basic Four 2000). Then enter the host file name
SEND. When the file has been transferred, repeat
the procedure for RECV and SAFE.
SEND
To send a data file to the Basic Four, the file must
have first been created. The required entries for a
SEND procedure are the Host filename and the Local
filename.
RECEIVE
Files may be received to the PC in various formats
and using various criteria. The required entries
are Host filename, Local filename and Local file
format.
J-3 M6340
NOTES
M6340 J-4
APPENDIX K
PC ERROR MESSAGES
alle ee el in ei A Ad A A Add dde
This is an alphabetical list of the error messages
displayed by the PC-Link program from the PC end.
The list does not include error messages generated
by the host
program.
26 de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de Je de de de de do de de do de de Je de de de de Je de de Je de de de Je kek kk
&quot;Bad Format&quot;
Reason:
Action:
This message should not appear in PC-
Link; if it does, a corrupt PC-Link pro-
gram file is indicated.
Contact your MAI Basic Four representa-
tive for further instructions.
&quot;Can't do Record and Capture at the same time“
Reason :
Action:
&quot;Can't edit
Reason:
In Emulation, Record to Disk (ALT-R) and
Print Capture were selected at the same
time. This cannot be done.
Toggle off one of the two functions.
strings longer than nn characters&quot;
— When prompted for a string of charac-
ters, a string was entered that contains
too many characters to be used for that
Action:
particular purpose.
Enter a smaller character string.
K-1 M6340
“Can't open Communications Port”
Reason:
Action:
PC-Link was unable to access the Comm-
Port specified in the Configure screen.
Check to see that there is an asynchron-
ous board in the PC and refer to its
manual to ensure that it is properly
configured for the address of either
COM1 or COM2. If there is more than one
such board in the PC, make doubly sure
that they are not configured for the
same COM Port address.
&quot;Cannot prepare host computer to receive program&quot;
Reason:
Action:
During a host program installation, the
appropriate responses were not received
from the host computer when PC-Link at-
tempted to clear the workspace on the
host. This is caused either by not
receiving the response in time or by
receiving an incorrect response.
Prior to starting any install procedure,
if you go into Emulation, ensure that
you are in Command Mode with the BASIC
promopt &quot;&gt;&quot; displayed (and there are no
active GOSUBS, etc.) If this was not
the problem, then try increasing the
Timing Factor in the Configure screen,
If the problem still exists, contact
your MAI Basic Four representative.
&quot;Character Verification Error&quot;
Reason:
Action:
M6340
During the transmission of characters to
the host, a character was not echoed
back properly to the PC. There is some
interference in the communication line.
Check for possible causes of electrical
interference, and try again a short time
later.
K-2
&quot;Config file write error&quot;
Reason:
Action:
PC-Link was unable to Update the
Configuration file. This is usually a
hardware problem (drive door open, not
enough room on disk, bad disk, etc.).
Ensure there is enough space on the disk
to store the Configuration file. If
there is, exit from PC-Link and use the
DOS CHKDSK utility to verify the
integrity of the disk.
“Config file read error&quot;
Reason :
Action:
PC-Link was unable to read the
Configuration file. This is usually a
hardware problem (drive door open, not
enough room on disk, bad disk, etc.).
Ensure that the Configuration file is
there (DEFAULTS.CNF). If it is, exit
from PC-Link and use the DOS CHKDSK
utility to verify the integrity of the
disk.
&quot;Configuration file size error - using default
values”
Reason :
Action:
PC-Link was unable to use the Configura-
tion file. This is usually due to
upgrading to a newer release of PC-Link
and leaving the old configuration file
there.
The values displayed on the Configure
Screen will be default values internal
to the PC-Link program. You should
check them and update them if necessary
before attempting Emulation or file
transfers.
K-3 M6340
&quot;Could not reset host computer&quot;
Reason:
“Action:
The appropriate responses were not
received from the host computer when PC-
Link attempted to clear the workspace on
the host. This is caused either by not
receiving the response in time or by
receiving an incorrect response.
Prior to starting any SEND, RECV, or
Install procedure, if you go into
Emulation, ensure that you are in
Command Mode with the BASIC prompt &quot;&gt;&quot;
— displayed. If this was the case when
the error was reported, then try
increasing the Timing factor in the
Configure screen. If this still does
not work, contact your dealer.
“Could not send character”
Reason:
Action:
In Emulation, PC-Link could not output
the particular character for the key
being pressed. This indicates a
communication link problem.
Check all cable connections. Check the
asynchronous communications board.
&quot;Could not send control data to host”
Reason:
M6340
The appropriate responses were not
received from the host computer when PC-
Link attempted to inform the applicable
host program (SEND or RECV) of the
descriptive parameters of the file
transfer. The host program may be cor-
rupted or communciation may have been
garbled by interference. This error is
also generated by not receiving the
response in time or by receiving an
incorrect response.
K-4
“NN
‘Action:
Try increasing the Timing factor in the
Configure screen. If this does not
work, compare the applicable host
program line by line with the original
version supplied on the Host Programs
diskette, to see if any lines have
become damaged in any way. If there are
~ damaged lines, use the Configure/Install
option and reinstall the program from
the Host Programs disk to the host.
&quot;Create file through Terminal Emulation*
Reason:
Action:
PC-Link was unable to automatically
create the data file,
Use the Business BASIC utility to create
the file prior to the transfer.
“Currently unsupported output format&quot;
Reason:
Action:
This message should not appear in PC-
Link. If it does, a corrupt PC-Link
program file is indicated.
Contact your MAI Basic Four dealer for
further instructions.
&quot;Cursor Positioning Stack Overflow&quot;
&quot;Cursor Positioning Stack Underflow&quot;
Reason:
Action:
These messages should not appear in PC-
Link. If it does, a corrupt PC-Link
program file is indicated.
Contact your MAI Basic Four dealer for
further instructions.
K-5 M6340
&quot;Desired Help information is not available”
Reason:
Action:
You are at a menu or a screen in PC-Link
for which there is not a context-
sensitive link.
Change to a different menu, call up
HELP, and use the Help Index to select a
HELP screen appropriate for your need.
&quot;Did not receive acknowledgement from Host&quot;
Reason:
Action:
PC-Link attempted several times to send
information to the host and failed to
receive an acknowledgement each time.
There is some breakdown in communica-
tion. Possible causes include:
hardware failure, not being at the BASIC
Command Mode prompt when initiating a
file transfer, or a very busy host
(Timing Factor too low).
Try again with the Timing factor in-
creased. Most often this will take care
of the problem. Check all cable
connections, etc. If initiating a file
transfer, check to see that there are no
active GOSUBS by typing DELETE at the
BASIC prompt. If there are active
GOSUBS, use the END command to de-
activate them.
&quot;Disk file is empty or nondisplayable format&quot;
Reason:
Action:
M6340
An attempt was made to load into the
View window a PC file that was empty or
was not in an ASCII text type format.
Check the file in question for these
characteristics.
“Disk full writing record file&quot;
Reason:
Action:
In Emulation, during either a Record to
Disk (ALT-R) or a screen Snapshot to
Disk (F8), the disk receiving the
Record-File named in the Configure
screen has become full.
Use a floppy disk with more space on it
or erase some files that are present.
“Error defining function key”
&quot;Error in re-defining key”
Reason:
Action:
During Emulation of an EVOT, if an
invalid escape sequence for defining or
re-defining one of the function keys is
received by PC-Link from the host, PC-
Link will display one or both of these
messages. The sequence may have become
damaged in transmission from the host,
or the host may be sending an invalid
sequence.
Try it several times (checking cable
connections and checking for electrical
interference). If this does not work,
find out the exact escape sequence being
sent by the host.
&quot;Error in communicating with modem”
Reason:
The response expected from the modem was
not received for some reason. This
could be due to 1) a control sequence
entered in one of the modem settings in
the Configure screen, not recognized by
the modem; 2) electrical interference
trashing the communication lines; or 3)
a hardware problem in the modem itself
or in external modem cases, within the
serial board in the PC connected to the
modem. |
K-7 M6340
Action:
Retry the action. If there is still an
error, check all connections, try to
eliminate sources of electrical
interference, and check the modem/serial
boards for damage.
“Error in releasing lineselected&quot;
“Error in releasing linelength&quot;
&quot;Error in release line”
Reason:
Action:
These are serious PC hardware errors
relating to the dynamic use of memory.
Exit from PC-Link, re-boot your PC, and
perform the same function again. If the
error occurs again, exit from PC-Link
and use your PC's System Diagnostics
program(s) to check the PC.
&quot;Error in running DOS command or program&quot;
a Reason:
Action:
PC-Link could not execute the DOS
application properly. Another message
may accompany this message to indicate
the detailed reason.
Refer to the accompanying message and
take action based on it.
&quot;Error in starting Host program&quot;
Reason:
M6340
When PC-Link attempted to RUN the
applicable host program (SEND), the
appropriate responses were not received
from the host computer. The host pro-
gram may be corrupted, or communication
may have been garbled by interference.
This error is also generated by not
receiving the response in time or by
receiving an incorrect response.
K-8
Action:
Try increasing the Timing factor in the
Configure screen. If this does not
work, compare the applicable host
program line by line with the original
version supplied on the Host Programs
diskette, to see if any lines have
become damaged in any way. If there are
damaged lines, use the Confiqure/Install
option and reinstall the program from
the Host Programs disk to the host.
&quot;Error in Setting Output Transparency&quot;
Reason:
Action:
These messages may occur in previous
releases of PC-Link.
~ Contact your MAI Basic Four dealer.
“Error in transmission&quot;
Reason:
Action:
During a SEND, an error was reported by
the host, or communication has broken
down. An accompanying error message
will give more information related to
this error.
Take action depending on accompanying
error message. If all cable
connections, etc. seem 0K, try again.
&quot;Error reading Procedure file”
Reason:
Action:
When Recalling a previously saved SEND
procedure, an error in reading that
procedure file from the PC disk has
“occurred. This is a hardware oriented
type of problem (drive door open,
corrupt file or bad disk).
If the disk is bad or the file is
corrupt, then the procedure file is lost
and it will have to be re-entered. Do
not continue to use a disk that is bad,
as the potential is great for loss of
more information.
K-9 M6340
“Error writing file. Transmission ended”
Reason:
Action:
During a RECV, a problem occurred when
the PC was trying to write to the
destination Drive/Directory. This is
usually hardware related, such as a
floppy drive door being left open or a
disk error.
Exit from PC-Link. Use the DOS CHKDSK
utility to see if the disk is 0K, or
insert a new disk.
&quot;Failed to confirm after 5 tries&quot;
Reason:
Action:
PC-Link attempted several times to RECV
information from the host and failed
each time. There is a breakdown in com-
munication, possibly caused by hardware
failure, electrical interference, or
very busy host (Timing Factor too low).
This message is usually followed by
another message indicating termination
of the transfer.
Try again with the Timing factor
increased. This will usually resolve
the problem. Check all cable
connections, etc.
&quot;Failed to send End of File to Host&quot;
Reason:
Action:
M6340
The End of File marker sent to the host
was not responded to as expected. The
destination HostFile may not be large
enough, or communication may have broken
down.
Check the size of the host file.
Enlarge it by a small amount and try
again. Check all cable connections.
K-10
“Fields must be defined for Fixed/Worksheet
formats&quot;
Reason: Go was selected in a RECV procedure into
a PC file format of Fixed or of Work-
Sheet, without specifying at least one
field in the Field section of the
Receive screen.
Action: At the Receive menu, select the Fields
| „option and enter the field information
for the data you wish to transfer.
&quot;File does not exist”
Reason: The LocalFile name entered in a SEND
procedure does not exist on the PC in
the current Drive/Directory (or full
pathname if entered). _
Action: Ensure that you are referring to the
correct Drive and Directory and that a
file with the name entered in the
LocalFile setting exists.
“File transfer terminated by operator”
Reason: The ESC key on the PC was pressed during
the file transfer.
Action: Restart the transfer if you wish.
&quot;File transmission aborted”
Reason: The ESC key on the PC was pressed during
the file transfer.
Action: Restart the transfer if you wish.
K-11 M6340
&quot;File Type not detected”
Reason :
Action:
At the start of a RECV, PC-Link has
checked for the presence of the HostFile
on the host computer. PC-Link either
cannot find the file, or the descriptive -~
information about the file was not
communicated properly to the PC.
Check all cable connections, etc.
Ensure that the file exists on the host;
remember that the host file name is case
sensitive.
help not available&quot;
Reason:
Action:
The Fl key was pressed to activate HELP.
But the HELP files PCLINK.HLP and
PCLINKDX.HLP were not available in the
current Drive/Directory.
Copy the HELP files into the current
Drive/Directory if you wish to use HELP N
there. _
&quot;Host Data filename is too long&quot;
Reason:
Action:
M6340
The HostFile name entered in a SEND or
RECV procedure is too long (greater than
42 characters in length) when appended
to the Data/Path setting, as entered in
the Configure screen.
Re-enter using a shorter Path and/or
HostFile name.
K-12
m
&quot;Host Error handler failed&quot;
Reason:
Action:
During a RECV, an error was reported by
the host and picked up by PC-Link. How-
ever, the usual descriptive information
about the error was not received by PC-
Link from the host.
Try again with the Timing factor in-
creased. It may have been as simple as
interference during communication, in
which case a repeated attempt may prove
successful. Or, it may be something
“Host Error
Reason:
Action:
more serious occurring at either end of
the link (but most likely at the host
end). See if it occurs during a RECV of
other files. You can also check for
corruption in the host program (RECV).
- Error handler failed&quot;
An error was reported by the host and
picked up by PC-Link. However, the
usual descriptive information about the
error was not received by PC-Link from
the host.
Try again with the Timing factor in-
creased. It may have been as simple as
interference during communication, in
which case a repeated attempt may prove
successful. Or, it may be something
&quot;more serious occurring at either end of
the link (but most likely at the host
end). See if it occurs using other
files. You can also check for corrup-
tion in the host program involved.
K-13 ‘M6340
&quot;Host file does not exist or is too small&quot;
Reason: During host program installation, the
destination program file was not present
or was created without enough room for
all the program lines to fit. This
message is usually followed by another
message indicating failure of the
install.
Action: Erase the destination program file;
create one with at least as much space
as is indicated in the User Guide for
that particular program file.
&quot;Host Program name is too long”
Reason: The Program name entered in a RECV pro-
cedure is too long (it is greater than
42 characters in length) when appended
to the Program/Path setting, as entered
in the Configure screen.
Action: Re-enter using a shorter Path and/or
HostFile name.
&quot;Host program failed to start”
Reason: When PC-Link attempted to RUN the
applicable host program (RECV), the
appropriate responses were not received
from the host computer. The host pro-
gram may be corrupted, or communication
may have been garbled by interference.
This error is also generated by not
receiving the response in time or by
receiving an incorrect response.
M6340 K-14
Action:
Try increasing the Timing factor in the
Configure screen. If this does not
work, compare the applicable host
program line by line with the original
version supplied on the Host Programs
diskette, to see if any lines have
become damaged in any way. If there are
damaged lines, use the Configure/Install
option and reinstall the program from
the Host Programs disk to the host.
&quot;Input file has not been specified&quot;
Reason:
Action:
In View, a function was selected that
requires a file to be loaded into the
View window first.
Select the Data option, and load the
input file you wish to reformat.
&quot;Insufficient disk space&quot;
Reason:
Action:
During a RECV, the current Drive/
Directory has run out of room.
Use a floppy diskette with more space
available, or terminate the transfer.
“Insufficient disk space - File &iacute;s not usable&quot;
Reason:
Action:
During the writing of the output file in
View, the end of the available disk
space was reached.
Change disks or change Drive/Directory
and retry.
K-15 M6340
&quot;Insufficient information for creation of file on
Host&quot;
Reason:
Action:
During a SEND procedure using automatic
data file creation, not all information
required to create the data file on the
host computer was entered.
Enter the missing information and retry.
a “Insufficient Memory&quot;
‘Reason:
— PC-Link requires additional PC memory
‘for records to be loaded up into the
~~ View window. There is not enough memory
‘Action:
on the PC left to load the file in its
entirety.
Make more memory available, or break the
input file into smaller pieces.
a “Insufficient memory - File truncated”
) Reason: .
Action:
“ PC-Link requires additional PC memory
“for records to be loaded up into the
View window, and there is not enough
memory left on the PC to load the file
in its entirety.
Make more memory available, or ‘break the
input file into smaller pieces.
“Invalid Baud rate”
Reason :
Action:
M6340
An invalid baud rate has somehow been
incorporated in the LocalPrinter setting
in the Configuration. This indicates
that there is corruption in either the
Configuration file (DEFAULTS.CNF) or in
the PC-Link program.
Exit from PC-Link and start again.
Update the Configuration file; if the
error continues, contact your MAI Basic
Four dealer for assistance.
K-16
г
&quot;Invalid drive/directory in defaults“
Reason:
Action:
During startup, PC-Link checks the
availability of the default Drive/
Directory on the PC that is entered in
the Configuration file (DEFAULTS.CNF).
As shipped, this entry contains &quot;A:\&quot;.
Therefore, if you have installed PC-Link
and are running it for the first time on
a drive other than drive A, you will get
this warning.
Go into the Configure menu and ensure
the Drive/Directory is where you want it
to be (typically &quot;C:\&quot; followed by the
directory name where you have installed
PC-Link, if you are on a hard disk).
Then select the Update option and select
Replace if prompted. The next time you
start PC-Link, it will not give you the
same message.
&quot;Memory Allocation Error”
Reason :
Action:
These are serious PC hardware errors
relating to the dynamic use of memory.
Exit from PC-Link, re-boot your PC, and
perform the same function again. If the
error occurs again, exit from PC-Link
and use your PC's System Diagnostics
program(s) to check the PC.
&quot;Modem appears to still be connected&quot;
Reason:
Action:
After a Hangup has been attempted, this
18 a warning that the control signals
coming back from the modem to the PC
indicate the local modem is still con-
nected to the remote modem.
If repeated attempts still result in the
display of this warning, turn the modem
off and on. This will definitely break
the connection.
K-17 M6340
&quot;Name too long”
Reason:
Action:
“Not enough
Reason:
A Host /Data/Path or Host/Program/Path
with a length of greater than 42
characters (including Program name if
applicable) was entered in the Configure ^^
screen.
Enter a shorter Path name.
space on the disk to store file&quot;
— PC-Link has checked the space available
on the PC's default drive and has
determined that the file to be RECVed
will not fit there.
Action:
Clear some space on the drive, use a
floppy diskette with more space avail-
able, or change the destination drive of
the file transfer.
‚ “No dial sequence has been entered” &raquo; —`
Reason:
Action:
An attempt has been made to Dial via
modem when there is no dialing sequence
entered in the Configure screen.
Enter the information necessary in the
Modem section of the Configure menu.
“No files found of type xxxxxx.xxx&quot;
Reason:
When prompted for a PC filename, no file
on the PC in the current Drive/Directory
exists matching the name that was
entered.
Action:
M6340
Enter a new name or change the |
Drive/Directory setting. N
K-18
“No file has been specified&quot;
Reason:
Action:
No output filename was specified when
the prompt for one was displayed.
Enter a filename.
&quot;No disk space available&quot;
Reason:
Action:
“Not enough
Reason:
Action:
A function requiring new space on a disk
on the PC has been used, and a search of
the disk indicates that there is no room
left on that disk.
Insert a new disk and try again.
memory to use View&quot;
PC-Link requires more PC random access
memory to store records loaded into the
View window, and there is not enough
available.
You may have other programs &quot;memory res-
ident&quot; on the PC that can be terminated,
releasing memory for use. If these
function key definitions are critical to
- You, you may want to consider obtaining
&quot;Not enough
Reason:
Action:
more memory for your PC.
space on the disk to store file&quot;
View has estimated the size of the
output data file and has determined that
there is not enough room on the destina-
tion disk to store the file.
Change disks or change Drive/Directory
and retry.
K-19 M6340
&quot;Out of memory defining keys”
Reason :
Action:
PC-Link requires more PC random access
memory to store additional function key
definitions, and there is not enough
available.
You may have some other programs &quot;memory
- resident&quot; on the PC that can be termi-
&quot;nated, releasing memory for use. If
these function key definitions are
critical to you, you may want to con-
| &quot;Path names
Reason:
sider obtaining more memory for your PC.
not required on 13XX series”
These options are for use if your host
computer is either a 2000 series or a
7000, 8000, or 9000 series.
Action:
Do not enter anything in this option.
&quot;PC Filename, Host Filename and Program required”
Reason :
Action:
Go was selected in a SEND procedure
before all three of the above required
pieces of information were entered.
Enter the missing information and retry.
“PC Filename, Host Filename, Host Program name
required”
Reason:
Go was selected in a RECV procedure
before all three of the above required
= pieces of information were entered.
Action:
M6340
Enter the missing information and
retry.
K-20
&quot;Please enter terminal mode and LOG OFF&quot;
Reason: You have not logged off the host system
prior to exiting from PC-Link.
Action: You must log off. If this still fails,
contact your MAI Basic Four dealer.
&quot;Printing terminated after three errors&quot;
Reason: During Slave Printing, if PC-Link has
trapped three errors from the printer,
1t assesses that there is not enough
confidence in the printer link to
continue.
Action: Check all cables and eliminate possible
sources of electrical interference.
&quot;Print line truncated at 200 characters&quot;
Reason: During a RECV of a serial (spool) file
with SpoolFilter on, a line exceeded 200
characters in length and has been
truncated.
Action: Ensure that no record in the serial
(spool) file is longer than 200
characters.
&quot;Program installation unsuccessful”
Reason: During host program installation, there
was some failure, or the install was
terminated by the user pressing the ESC
key. This message is usually preceded
by another message indicating the cause
of the failure of the install.
Action: — Refer to the accompanying message and
take corresponding action.
K-21 … M6340
“Records truncated at nnn characters”
Reason: During a RECV, one or more records
exceeded the maximum receivable record
length. Those records will be truncated
in the LocalFile on the PC.
Action: Ensure that no record to be received
- “exceeds the maximum record length.
“Size error - old Version - Procedure must be
re-entered”
~ Reason: When Recalling a previously saved SEND
a procedure, the procedure file is a
different size than that used by the
current version of PC-Link. This occurs
— when you have received an update but are
trying to use the old procedure files.
Action: The procedure will have to be re-
entered.
&quot;There is no selected data to save&quot;
Reason: In View, you must have selected at least
one record to save to the output file.
Action: Use the S key or ALT-S key combination
to select records to be included in the
output file.
&quot;This file exists also -- request terminated”
Reason: When the prompt for NewName filename
entry was given, this second file also
existed on the PC.
Action: Re-select the function and enter a name
that does not exist, or select Replace
to overwrite the old file.
M6340 K-22
&quot;Timeout on character receive&quot;
Reason: During a RECV, no character was received
from the host within a reasonable amount
of time, when one should have been re-
ceived. If this occurs, PC-Link assumes
ge, the communication link has broken down
0 somehow.
Action: If all cable connections etc. seem OK,
increase the Timing factor and try
again.
&quot;Timeout on checksum receive&quot;
Reason: During a RECVY, error checking informa-
tion was not received by PC-Link from
the host. There may have been a break-
‚down in communication (probably hardware
oriented) or in versions of PC-Link up
to 2.35. The particular combination of
host computer, operating system level,
and how heavily loaded the host is, may
‘have produced an unusually slow response
~ from the host. This latter case has
a. only appeared in some 13XX series and
has been rectified in PC-Link Version
1.00.
Action: Ensure that the communication link is
still active by checking all cables,
etc. and by going into Emulation and
seeing if you still get a response. If
all seems OK, try again with the Timing
factor increased.
“Too many files to show - truncating directory&quot;
Reason: When using the file selector utility,
the current Drive/Directory contains too
many entries to fit on the screen.
&gt; Action: Enter a wildcard when prompted for the
&gt; filename (i.e. *.PLN), or enter the
filename itself if you know it.
K-23 M6340
&quot;Too many help screens&quot;
Reason:
Action:
This message should not appear in PC-
Link. If it does, a corrupt PC-Link
program file is indicated.
It is necessary to contact your MAI
Basic Four dealer for further
instructions.
“Transmission error. File transmission ended.”
Reason:
Action:
PC- Link attempted several times to RECV
information from the host and failed
each time. There is some breakdown in
communication. Possible causes include:
hardware failure, electrical interfer-
ence, very busy host (Timing Factor too
low). This message is usually accompa-
nied by another, more informative
message.
Try again with the Timing factor
increased. Most often this will take
care of the problem. Check all cable
connections, etc.
“Unable to calculate size of PC file”
Reason:
Action:
M6340
During host program installation, PC-
Link was unable to calculate the size of
~ the program file on the PC (host pro-
grams disk). This is usually indicative
of a hardware problem: drive door open,
corrupt file or bad disk.
Exit PC-Link and use the DOS CHKDSK
utility to ensure disk integrity.
K-24
~
~
“Unable to create program file on Host&quot;
Reason:
Action:
During host program installation, for
some reason PC-Link was unable to auto-
matically create the program file on the
host.
Try increasing the Timing Factor and re-
attempt. If this fails, use the
Business BASIC utility to create the
program files prior to the Install.
Program file parameters are given in the
User Guide.
&quot;Unable to find file command .com'
Reason:
Action:
COMMAND .COM must be located on the
default Drive/Directory to use the DOS
selection in PC-Link.
Copy COMMAND.COM to the default Drive/
Directory.
“Unable to open com port&quot;
Reason:
Action:
Reason:
Action:
PC-Link was unable to access the Comm-
Port specified in the Configure screen.
Check to see that there is an
asynchron-ous communications board in
the PC; refer to its manual to ensure
that it is properly configured for the
address of either COM1 or COM2. If
there is more than one such board in the
PC, make sure that they are not
configured for the same COM port
address. |
&quot;Unable to open appended file хххххххх.ххх&quot;
- When the selection for Append was made,
PC-Link was unable to open this file.
This implies a bad file or another type
of hardware error on the PC.
Insert a new disk and try again.
K-25 M6340
&quot;Unable to open input. file XXXXXXXX ххх&quot;
“Reason:
— Action:
The input file cannot be opened by PC-
Link. The file may not exist, it may be
corrupt, or the disk may be bad.
Check for the file's existence in the
— Drive/Directory being accessed. If it
is there, exit PC-Link and use the DOS
CHKDSK utility to verify the integrity
of the disk.
“Unable to open replaced output file XXXXXXXXe XXX&quot;
— Reason:
Reason:
Action:
When the selection for Replace was made,
PC-Link was unable to open this file.
This implies a full disk or another type
of hardware error on the PC.
Or
When the prompt for NewName filename
entry was given, PC-Link was unable to
open this second file. This implies a
full disk or another type of hardware
error on the PC.
Insert a new disk and try again.
— &quot;Unable to open output file MICA XA
Reason:
Action:
M6340
When an output filename entry was made,
PC-Link was unable to open this file.
This implies the file does not exist or
is bad.
Check for the file's existence in the
Drive/Directory being accessed. If it
is there, exit PC-Link and use the DOS
CHKDSK utility to verify the integrity
of the disk.
K-26
a
“Unable to re-open com port&quot;
Reason:
Action:
After completing the DOS application,
PC-Link attempted to re-establish com-
munications with the host and failed for
some reason.
Check the cables, serial board, etc.
“Unable to start host program: XXXX&quot;
Reason:
Action:
When PC-Link attempted to LOAD the
applicable host program (SEND or RECV)
into the workspace on the host, the
appropriate responses were not received
from the host computer. The host
program may not be present on the host
computer (or in the designated path on
the 2000 or 8000 type Basic Four host
systems). This error is also generated
by not receiving the response in time or
by receiving an incorrect response.
Ensure that the applicable host program
is available to be LOADed. If this was
the case when the error was reported,
then try increasing the Timing factor in
the Configure screen. If this still
does not work, contact your dealer.
&quot;Unlicensed Host Computer&quot;
“Unlicensed
Reason:
Action:
Terminal Port&quot;
These messages may occur in very old
releases of PC-Link.
Contact your MAI Basic Four dealer
immediately for further instructions.
K-27 M6340
“Warning:
Reason:
Action:
M6340
Printer not ready - output ignored”
— PC-Link has determined from the state of
the communication link to the
LocalPrinter that the printer is not
available to receive data from the PC.
Check all cable connections. Ensure
that the printer is turned on and is
— &quot;On-Line&quot;. If you are not going to use
the LocalPrinter during the PC-Link
session, then ignore the message and
continue.
NOTES
K-28
">

안녕하세요! 저는 MAI Basic Four PC-Link User Guide을(를) 지원하도록 특별히 훈련된 AI 챗봇입니다. 문서를 철저히 검토했으며 필요한 정확한 정보를 찾거나 내용을 명확하고 간단하게 설명하는 데 도움을 드릴 수 있습니다. 특정 기능에 대한 지침, 문제 해결 단계 또는 일반적인 사용법을 찾고 계시든 언제든지 질문하십시오. 귀하의 우려 사항이나 필요 사항에 대해 더 자세히 알려주실수록 더 정확하고 효과적으로 도와드릴 수 있습니다!