         CTERM  .... TERMINAL EMULATOR AND CAPTURE PROGRAM

                Written by C. Wallis G3CWV


CTERM is a terminal emulator program, which has been expanded to
include storage of data on disk.  The display to the screen is always
filtered, so that only printable ASCII text characters are displayed.
Optionally the stored data may be similarly filtered.

A useful feature is that the display my be changed from ASCII TEXT to
HEXADECIMAL.

The program is of particular use for displaying and storing the
data from OSCAR-11.  It has also many other uses, such as
communicating with a TNC, or a telephone modem.

There are two programs CTERM1.COM, and CTERM2.COM, which are used for
serial ports 1 and 2 respectively.

        STARTING  CTERM

Before CTERM is run, the port being used MUST be set up to the
correct Baud rate, number of bits, and parity.   This is done by
using MODE.EXE  (part of MS-DOS operating system).

A typical command might be MODE COM2:1200,N,8  for 1200 baud, no
parity, 8 bits.

It is more convenient to use a batch file for starting the program,
and four such file are included   ....

        LOBAUD1.BAT      1200 baud, port 1
        LOBAUD2.BAT      1200 baud, port 2
        HIBAUD1.BAT      9600 baud, port 1
        HIBAUD2.BAT      9600 baud, port 2

Thus to start the program simply type the name of the appropriate
batch file (without .BAT), ie LOBAUD2 would start the program, for
1200 baud, on port 2.

The batch files contain a pause, which allows you to check that the
port has been set up correctly.

If you get an error at this point, it is likely that MODE.EXE is not
reached by the PATH specified by your AUTOEXEC.BAT

        OPERATION OF CTERM

When CTERM runs, it opens a file called TEMP.DAT, any captured data
is appended to the end of this file.    If the file does not exist, a
new file is created.   The file should be renamed after leaving the
program.

The following function keys are active when the program is running ...

        F1      Help message

        F4      Toggle storage

        F6      Toggle filtration of stored data

        F8      Toggle ASCII / Hexadecimal display

        ALT/X   Exit program & close output file

The normal keys, including CTRL/keys, cause the appropriate ASCII
code to be output from the serial port.


        HARDWARE CONNECTIONS

The program works with a two or three wire connection to the serial
port, ie RXD, TXD, GND.  In the case of OSCAR-11 decoding, only two
wires are needed, ie RXD and GND.

It is possible that some TNCs, modems, or decoders may need extra
connections to the serial port, to make them work.  If this is the
case they should be wired up as per the instruction manual.

                OPERATION FROM MS-WINDOWS 3.1

This program was written before I had Windows 3.1.  If Windows has
been running a program using the serial port, before CTERM is called,
then Windows appears to retain control of the serial port, even after
the application has been terminated.  This prevents CTERM running,
and it just terminates, returning control to the desk top.

I therefore recommend that you terminate Windows, and run CTERM from
DOS.

                --------------------------------

If you have any problems, or comments please e-mail, or sed a message
by packet radio.

                Clive Wallis   G3CWV @GB7ZPU

                               g3cwv@amsat.org

                                               20-November-1996
