9. Menu Reference
The ZTerm Menu
The ZTerm menu has information about ZTerm, the Quit
command and OSX services.
About ZTerm… This brings up a dialog giving
information about the program, the version number and registration
information.
Quit This will exit ZTerm. If the current setup
has been changed,
it will ask if the setup should be saved.
The File Menu
Start Capture… This is ASCII capture that will save
all received characters to the selected file. When capture is
active, the menu will read Stop Capture.
Send Text… After selecting a TEXT file, this will
send the characters of the file. The transmission will be paced
by options selected in the Text Pacing settings.
Close Window Closes the front window.
Receive File(s)… This menu has a sub-menu for the
various protocol receive options.
Kermit Kermit is very common on minicomputers and
mainframes. The Transfer Options settings let you select what
type of error checking is requested (CRC or Checksum).
XModem XModem is one of the most common transfer
protocols for personal computers. The Transfer Options settings
let you select what type of error checking is requested (CRC or
Checksum). ZTerm's XModem will accept 1024 or 128 byte
blocks; the sender selects the size of blocks.
YModem YModem is based on XModem, but the sending
program also sends the file name, the size and the date of the
file. This protocol is often called YModem Batch because many
files can be sent in a batch.
YModem-G YModem-G is a variation of YModem that is
meant for error free connections like a direct connection. There
is no wait at the end of a block for the receiver to Acknowledge.
The receiver only signals if an error occurs, in which case the
transfer is stopped.
ZModem This is normally not needed because ZTerm
detects the sender starting a ZModem transfer and automatically starts
a ZModem receive. This is called AutoDownload in ZModem
parlance. Files are stored in the current receive volume and
folder. For example, if you are connected to an Opus BBS, you can
type "dz stuffit.sit" and Opus will start the transfer. ZTerm
will detect this and receive the file.
(Default Receive) The item after “Receive Files” in
the File menu is the default receive option for the current
Setup. You should set the default to the normal method you use to
receive files for each setup. Then you can just select this item
(or Command-R) to receive a file. The default can be set in the
Transfer Options dialog.
Send File(s)… This menu has a sub-menu for the
various protocol file send options.
Kermit Send a file using the Kermit protocol.
XModem Send a file using the XModem protocol (with
128 byte blocks). The receiving program determines whether CRC or
checksum is used for error detection; ZTerm will handle either.
XModem-1K Like XModem, above, but using 1024 byte
blocks. Some communication software (including BBS's) mistakenly
refer to this as YModem.
YModem-128 Send file(s) using the YModem protocol
with 128 byte blocks. This is not normally used. You would
usually want to use 1024 byte blocks whenever possible.
YModem-1K Send file(s) using the YModem protocol with
1024 byte blocks.
ZModem Send file(s) using the ZModem protocol.
After the files are selected and Start is clicked, ZTerm will first
send the characters set up in the ZModem Options dialog. This is
usually needed to get the other computer ready to receive files using
the ZModem protocol. After these characters are sent, the
transfer will begin.
(Default Send) The next item in the File menu is the
default send option for the current Setup. You should set the
default to the normal method you use to send files for each
setup. Then you can just select this item (or Command-S) to send
a file. The default can be set in the Transfer Options dialog.
Transfer Convert This menu has a sub-menu to select
the desired file transfer conversion option. You can set the
default conversion for each setup by holding the Command key while you
select the desired conversion option.
Smart MacBinary On receive, MacBinary files and text
file are automatically detected and converted as appropriate. All
other files are received as binary. On send, TEXT files are sent
as text, files received as binary by ZTerm are sent as binary and all
other files are sent as MacBinary II. This is the best option if
you will be sending a mix of MacBinary files and other files.
Always MacBinary This option would be useful when
connected to another Macintosh. All files are sent as MacBinary
II, even text files. Receive uses the same detection of Text and
MacBinary files used by Smart MacBinary.
Binary Data On receive, all files will be received as
binary files with no conversion. On send, all files will be sent
as binary and only the data fork will be sent.
Text Receive with this option is a little more
lenient in its text detection than Smart MacBinary. On send, the
data fork of a file is sent with appropriate text conversion.
Append to… Will append the selected text to a file
you specify. It also will remember the file, so you can append
addition text to the same file using the next command.
Append to <last> Will append the selected text
to the last file that text was added to for this service.
Save Selection If there is a block of text selected
in the scroll back buffer, this will put up the standard Save dialog to
save the selection to disk.
Page Setup… Will present the standard page setup
dialog, where you can select the paper orientation and other
options. Note that margins and the print font can be set with
Printer Preferences in the Settings menu.
Print Selection This will print the text selection to
the printer.
Edit Menu
Undo For use by desk accessories. Not used by
ZTerm.
Cut Copy the selection to the clipboard and then
remove it from the scroll back buffer.
Copy Copy the selection to the clipboard.
Paste Start sending the text that is on the
clipboard. This can be stopped by pressing Command-period.
Clear This will remove the selection from the scroll
back buffer.
Copy to Modem Copy the selection to the clipboard,
then paste.
Select All Selects all the text in the buffer and the
current screen.
Keyboard Buffer This will open the Keyboard Buffer
window. You can enter a line here and when you hit RETURN, the
whole line is sent out the serial channel. This is especially
useful for online conferences.
Find… This will let you search the Scroll Back
buffer. The search is case insensitive; searching for MAC will
find Macintosh and Mac. The line that the match appears in will
be selected (and highlighted). The search begins from the top of
the buffer (the oldest line). Clicking on the Find button again
will find the next occurrence. If you change the find string, it
will reset the find position so that it will start again at the top of
the buffer when you click Find again.
Find Again This will repeat the last search.
Clear Scroll Buffer… This command will clear all
lines from the Scroll Back buffer. After you log off a service
and have reviewed the buffer and printed or saved any portions that you
want to preserve, you might want to clear the buffer before calling
another service. If you hold down the Shift key it will also
clear the current terminal screen. This item will prompt you to
make sure you want to clear the buffer if the confirmation option is
enabled.
Save Lines Off Top When this is checked, ZTerm will
save lines to the scroll buffer when they are scrolled off by a line
feed or clear screen sequence. This is normally checked, but
there are a few situations where you might want to turn it off.
Dial Menu
Directory… This will display the Dialing Directory
window, which lists all the current services in your phone list.
You can add, delete or modify services from this window. The
Manual button will ask you for a number and then will dial it (to try a
number without adding it to your phone list).
Save Setup This will save the current settings to the
current service.
Dial Marked This will start queued dialing of all
marked entries in the Dial menu. If no entries are marked, it
will mark the current service and just dial that one. Entries can
be marked in the dialing directory or by holding down Shift and
selecting the entry. An entry is automatically marked when a dial
attempt returns a non-CONNECT response. Hold down Shift when you
select this and it will mark all entries; hold down Shift-Option and it
will unmark all entries.
Hang Up Will hang up the modem. An option in
Modem Preferences lets you select hang up by pulsing the DTR
line. Otherwise it will hang up by sending the command mode
escape (+++) followed by the hangup command (ATH0). This item
will prompt you to make sure you want to hang up if the confirmation
option is enabled in General Preferences.
(dial entries) Selecting the name of a service will
change the settings as they were saved for the service, then dial the
phone number (if any) until a connection is made or the dialing is
Canceled.
If you hold down Option when you select a service,
it will load the settings, but won’t dial the phone number. If
you hold down the Command key when you select a service, that service
will become the default (and the menu item will be outlined). If
you hold down Shift, the entry will be marked (or unmarked) for Queue
Dialing.
Settings Menu
Connection… This will bring up the connection dialog.
You can rename the service by changing the name here. This name
will appear in the dialing directory and the Dial menu, so you don’t
want a super long name. You can change the phone number for the
service. Leave it blank if its a direct connection to another
computer. You can put a modem command in the PreDial init field,
which will be sent before dialing the service. You can put your
account and password in these fields; the values can be accessed from a
script.
The data rate and other communication settings are
here. Choose 8 data bits and no parity, unless you know that
another format is required. The most common alternative is 7 data
bits with either even or odd parity. This is more common on
mainframes; almost all bulletin boards that run on personal computers
will accept 8 data bits, no parity. One stop bit will work in
most situations.
Check the Local Echo option if the service does not
echo what you type. Most BBSs do echo what you type, so in most
cases you leave this unchecked. You can usually leave XOn/XOff
checked because most services support it. If you have a high
speed modem and a hardware handshake cable, check that option, and see
the section on high speed modems.
Terminal… The terminal settings dialog lets you
select various terminal emulation options. You can select the
font to use in the terminal window. Selecting "Terminal Font"
will use the default font for the selected emulation. You can
select if extended characters should be displayed. Turning Auto
Line Feed on will cause a line feed when a return is received.
Line feeds are ignored when they directly follow a return. Leave
the Auto Line Feed off if the service is a Unix or DEC machine.
If VT100 keypad is turned off, it will just send the character marked
on the key.
You can select if the Backspace key should produce a
RUBOUT (or DELETE) character code, which many DEC systems expect.
Enabling Destructive Backspace will cause the previous character to be
erased when the backspace code is received. You can select VT100
or PC ANSI-BBS emulation.
Text Pacing… These options are used for ASCII send
and Paste. Wait for character echo will wait for the host to echo
the character. There is a five second timeout. If wait for
echo is not selected, it will use the Delay between Characters and
Delay between Lines (which is used after a return is sent).
If a Line Prompt Char is specified, it will wait for
that character to be received after sending a Return. You can set
this to a prompt character that your host uses when it is ready for the
next line of text.
Transfer Options… The first two items set the default
send and receive protocols for this service. These make it more
convenient to start a transfer with each service. Command-R will
start a file receive with the default protocol and Command-S will start
a file send (default send protocol). Note that the B-Plus or
Quick-B protocols used by CompuServe are not listed. This is
because a B-Plus transfer on CompuServe is started by the CompuServe
host by sending a special sequence. There is no menu in ZTerm to
start a B-Plus transfer. If the service you are setting up is
CompuServe, make sure you check the “CIS B+ / Quick-B Protocol” option.
For Kermit Error Checking, CRC is best but some
systems may not support it. You can set the largest packet size
used for Kermit transfers. Setting it high, like 1000, will make
transfers more efficient, but can cause error recovery to take a little
longer. The maximum is 9024.
For X/YModem Error Checking, the “Try CRC, fallback
to Checksum” option is usually the best. Send CK for CRC-1K
should be used for systems (like Second Sight) which use this popular
XModem extension to allow the receiver to request 1k blocks. Use
Checksum Only could be used with systems that don't support XModem CRC
error checking. For the Sent Filenames option, the safest choice
is “Remove funny characters.” If the service is a BBS running on
an MS-DOS computer, you will want to select “MS-DOS (8.3) limits.”
ZModem Options… “Command to start receive at other
end” lets you define the character sequence that will be sent to the
other system when you want to start sending file(s) to it using
ZModem. For Opus it should be “uz^M”. ZTerm will send this
string when you start a ZModem file send.
The next part of the dialog lets you select the
SubPacket length for ZModem file sends. The sending system always
makes this choice. The “Auto” option will choose a size depending
on the data rate. Window Limit can be used to enable ZModem’s
sliding window mode when sending files. This can solve problems
with buffer overruns. The value should be a multiple of 512;
typical values are 2048 or 1024. When this field is blank, it
will not use sliding window mode.
Escape Controls can be checked if any part of your
transmission path chokes on control characters. ZModem always
escapes ^P, ^Q, ^S, ^X and their high bit set counterparts.
Escape controls will cause it to escape all control characters.
General Preferences.. The first item selects what
application to use for TEXT files. When you save a text file in
ZTerm, it will be marked as created by the selected application.
The creator code is listed to the right; its a 4 character sequence
that identifies an application program. This will affect the icon
displayed for a text file created by ZTerm and also selects the
application that should be opened if you double clicked on the text
file. You can also set the creator and file types used for
unrecognized binary files. The normal values are ????/????.
The logging of file transfers is enabled with the
Log File Transfers option. You can enable a confirmation request
before Quit, Hang Up or Clear Buffer is performed.
Terminal Preferences This dialog lets you select the
type size for the terminal window (9 or 12 point will work best).
You can set the cursor to an underline or a block, and whether it
blinks. The Hide Terminal Window in background option can be used
to reduce screen clutter with MultiFinder or System 7.
The Command Key item lets you redefine how the
Command key is used. Normal lets you select key equivalents for
menu commands, like Command-Q for Quit. Control lets you use the
Command key to generate Control characters (for old keyboards without
the Control key). Meta (8th bit) and Meta (ESC prefix) are useful
with the EMACs editor on Unix machines.
Option for Control, which only appears if your
keyboard does not have a control key, is another way to get control
characters. When selected, it will use a modified KCHR
resource. For System 7 or later, you must install the ZTerm
Keyboard file into your System before this will work.
Capture Text by line will cause the capture function
to write out the current line of text when a line feed is
performed. This will strip out any escape sequences. If
this is not checked, all received characters (except LF) are written to
a capture file. The Ignore Bell option will tell ZTerm not to
beep when a bell character is received.The duration of the break signal
(and Shift Break) is set here, in 60ths of a second.
Printer Preferences… Here you select the font and
size used by Print Selection. You can also turn off headers on
the printout. You can also set the margins used for
printing. Note that the right margin value is not used.
Modem Preferences.. The first item selects which
serial port to use. The modem initialization string is sent when
ZTerm starts up. The string is also sent by the Send Modem Init
command in the Misc menu. The DeInitialize string is like the
Initialization string, but it is sent when you quit ZTerm. You
can usually leave this blank, but you may want to use it to disable
something that you turned on in the init string. For example, if
your init string turns on the auto answer feature of the modem, you may
want to turn it off when you exit ZTerm.
The Dial Substitution strings can be used for things
that could be common to several services. I have set •1 to “*70,”
which will disable call waiting. Then I can put •1 in front of
the phone number for a service, and it will dial the *70 first.
The comma after the zero causes a pause in the dialing, usually one
second. You could use one of the dial substitutions for your long
distance numbers. You might normally set it to “1”, so it will
use your normal long distance carrier, but if you wanted to try
another, you could change the string to something like 10288, which
will dial long distance using AT&T.
The Dial timeout is how many seconds ZTerm will wait
for a response from the modem after sending a dial command. A
value of 60 is pretty reasonable. You can select Pulse dialing
with the check box. The Hardware Hangup option is an alternative
(faster) way to tell a modem to hang up. The DTR line is only
available on MacPlus and later machines. Your modem cable must be
wired correctly for this to work, and your modem has to be set up
correctly. Also, you can’t use hardware handshaking and Hardware
Hangup — they both use the same line. (Some have a switch to
ignore the DTR line.)
Color… This dialog lets you enable the use of color
and make some color settings. The Text and Background Default
Colors are used when no ANSI sequence sets the colors to something
else. The defaults are also used when you view text in the scroll
back buffer.
Receive Folder… This will let you select the folder
for file transfers, where received files will be stored.
Macros Menu
Edit Macros… You can define the string that is sent
for each macro key (Command-1 thru Command-0) and the label for each
macro. The labels are used in the lower portion of the
menu. Control characters can be entered with a ^ (caret) followed
by the letter (^M for a return). If the string starts with ®
(Option-R) then a file name, ZTerm will try to run that script file
when you select that macro.
Macro Sets… This lets you create a new macro set,
rename a set, delete a set or select the set to be used by the current
service. Each set hold 10 macros, each with a label that appears
in the menu.
Run a Script… This lets you manually start a script
running. See the section on scripting for more information on
scripts.
(macros) The labels of the current macro set are
listed in the menu. Selecting one will cause that macro to be
sent out.
Misc Menu
Clear Screen Need I say more?
Send Break This will send a break signal. If
the Shift key is down, it will use a different duration. The
durations are set in Terminal Preferences.
Help… This will display a dialog of ZTerm basics.
Support… This will display a dialog giving
information on how to reach me.
Reset Terminal This function clears the screen, and
resets many screen settings to a normal setting.
Send Modem Init This will send out the Modem
Initialization string.
Show Controls This is primarily a diagnostic tool to
let you see control characters and escape sequences. This does
not affect what is already on the screen; it only affects the display
of incoming characters. The characters of an escape sequence will
be displayed, but the function will not be performed (except carriage
return and line feed).
Purge Buffer This will purge any characters in the
serial input buffer until there is two seconds of no data. It
will timeout after 20 seconds of purging. If you hold down
Option, it will write out a file with the contents of the serial input
buffer (to help diagnose unusual problems). The file is named
ZDump followed by a time/date stamp.