143 lines
5.3 KiB
Prolog
143 lines
5.3 KiB
Prolog
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***************************************
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* *
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* THE LUMBERJACK PRESENTS..... *
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* *
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* SOFT/DOC 001 *
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* *
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* A SYSOP'S GUIDE TO AE *
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* *
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* Written by *
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* THE LUMBERJACK *
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* Rev 1.0 *
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* *
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* WRITTEN FOR: *
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* *
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* THE MILL 213-393-6501 PW=WOOD *
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***************************************
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ASCII Express is the most widely used programs for the distribution of
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software. With all of its powers, AE still need some minor fine tuning.
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Hopefully, with this article, AE sysops will know a little more about their
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boards.
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First of all, most sysops want to know how to customize their messages.
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Instead of "Goodbye..." they may want "Later dude". Making a mod to AE itself
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is pretty easy if you know how AE prints out a message. Whenever AE prints
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something out it does a machine language equivalent to a GOSUB and the data
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following that GOSUB is printed out character by character until it reaches a
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zero or null. When it reaches that null, the program returns to a point after
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the null. That is why if you tried to replace "Entry :" by "Password", AE
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would probably crash.
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Almost any sector editor will allow you to find the messages and
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alter them. If you opt to change messages this way, be sure that the message
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you put instead in exactly the same number of characters. If you want to
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extend the message, you must place a seperate subroutine somewhere in memory.
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I chose $300 (of 768 in decimal). I am pretty sure that area of memory is not
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being used. Well, some of it is, but it should be free from $300 to $380. Here
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is a sample program to make a longer
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message:
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5 TEXT : HOME : NORMAL
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10 PRINT "ENTER MESSAGE CHARACTER BY
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CHARACTER. TYPE CONTROL-Q TO
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END"
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15 POKE 768,32 : POKE 769,128 : POKE
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770,47
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20 FOR X=1 TO 124
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25 GET A$: PRINT A$;
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30 IF A$ = CHR$(17) THEN 45
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35 POKE 770+X,ASC(A$)
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40 NEXT X
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45 POKE 770+X,0:POKE 770+X+1,96
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50 PRINT CHR$(4)"BSAVE MESSAGE.OBJ,
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A768,L"X+4
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This mini-editor will write the subroutine, you need only to alter AE to
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call this subroutine rather than allowing AE to print out it's own message.
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The way AE is set up, the ideal messages to change would re the "Entry :" or
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the "Goodbye..." message. The way to change them is to use a sector editor to
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scan the disk until you find the message. The first three bytes in front of
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the first letter should be $20 $80 $2F. You need to change that to $20 $00
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$03. Then, you need to change every letter in the message and the $00
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following the message to $EA. Here is a sample (in hexadecimal):
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(Old)
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00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 ASCII
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00- 4F 20 80 2F 45 6E 74 72 . @/Entr
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08- 79 20 3A 00 A9 04 8D 11 y :@)DMQ
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(New)
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00- 4F 20 00 03 EA EA EA EA . @Cjjjj
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08-
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A EA EA EA A9 04 8D 11 jjjj)DMQ
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Please note, the locations and values in this example are not exactly what
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you would see with your sector editor. It would also be wise to try this on a
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back-up copy of AE. You could probably changge almost any message in AE,
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however, "Entry :" and "Goodbye..." are highly recommended for this type of
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patch.
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To complete the patch, just BLOAD the MESSAGE.OBJ into memory and then
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BRUN AE.
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There are some other minor notes that I thought I would include in this
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article. At the present time, I know of no back door to AE 4.2, but I
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wouldn't doubt one exists.
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If you are not sure of the serial number of an AE line, call it up, and
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type ctrl-D ctrl-I ctrl-S. I don't know if this has any value though.
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If you need to post a message on your AE line, while someone is
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connected, just chat with him. Tell the user not to type. Go into local with
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a ctrl-Q, clear the copy buffer with C, go back to local with ctrl-Q, turn on
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copy buffer, type your message while in chat mode, go back to local with
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ctrl-Q, and turn off the copy buffer. You now have your message in your copy
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buffer, just write it to disk with the W command.
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A popular method of crashing AE is to type V for view and then (space).
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This puts the AE line into local, and leaves the phone off-hook. To stop this
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one can go into 'Install' and suppress the (space) which has a hexadecimal
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value of $20.
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Another way to prevent crashing AE (spacebar method) and allow the space-
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bar to function is by re-routing the RTS to the proper Menu after the View
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command has been aborted:
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BLOAD AE
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CALL -151
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31A0:4C 8D 18
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BSAVE AE
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AE also allows you to put individual passwords on seperate drives or
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volumes. Most people already know how to do this, but here is a review.
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Create a text file named "AE.NOACCESS" (no qoutes). In that text file, you
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may have one line of text, that text may be up to 38 characters. That line of
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text is the password. Simply put that file on the drive/volume you wish to
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lock
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out.
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THE LUMBERJACK & THE DI
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(>
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