CHAPTER 10 ADVANCED BIX TECHNIQUES This chapter explains how to use BIX efficiently. 141 BIX User Manual Part 1: Blink 143 How to Use the All Command 143 How to Use All to Capture Data 143 How to Use the File Command 144 How to File Large Amounts of Data 145 How to Capture Filed Data 147 How to Capture Data Using a Protocol 148 File and Mail 149 Part 2: How to Upload a Message to BIX 151 Introduction 151 Format Your Message for Uploading 151 How to Send ASCII Text Files 151 How to Send a File with Protocol 152 Part 3: Miscellaneous BIX Commands 154 How to Change Your Password 154 Who's On-Line 155 How to Pause and Restart 155 How to Abort an Action 155 Show Participant 156 Show All Search Phrase 156 Show Who User Name 167 Show Resume User Name 157 Show Status Conference Name 158 How to Have Only the Topics You Want 158 How to Keep Your Conference List Up-to-date 159 Keyword Index 159 Charges 163 Charges Detail 163 142 BIX User Manual Part 1: Blink How to Use the All Command The all command will display each unread message in a topic, pausing every 20 lines to present the .More.. prompt. To use the all command, merely enter all at the first Read: prompt in a given topic. BIX will automatically display each unread message in that topic. BIX stops displaying messages at the first Read: prompt of the next available topic on your conference list. Use the reference command in conjunction with all to produce messages in a conversational order. To do so, enter: reference all at the Read: prompt. NOTE: The all command is not sticky. You will have to re-enter it at the start of a new topic. How to Use All to Capture Data Use the all command to capture ASCII screens of data. To do so, follow these steps: 1) Suppress the .More.. prompt by entering opt terminal pagelength 0 quit or opt term pagelen 0 q from the main ( : ), Mail:, or Read: prompt. (You may want to permanently suppress the .More.. prompt. To do so, see "How to Suppress the .More.. Prompt," page 113.) 143 BIX User Manual 2) Join any conference and topic that pleases you and position yourself at a Read: prompt. 3) Set your communications software to capture ASCII screens. 4) From the Read: prompt, enter the command: all 5) Each message in that topic will scroll by in sequential order. When done, BIX stops at the first Read: prompt of the next available topic. 6) Shut off your screen capture and save the file to disk. Remember, you can use the reference command with all. To do so, change Step 4 to read: reference all NOTE: The reference command is sticky. To turn it off, enter the forward command. Since the all command is not sticky, you will have to re-enter it at the start of each new topic. How to Use the File Command File places its results into your scratchpad, where you can edit or download them. To place the names of the conferences you belong to into your scratchpad, enter: file show You can also use the file command to deposit conference or mail messages into your scratchpad. For example, to file message number 5 into your scratchpad, you would enter: file 5 from a Read: prompt within the topic where the message appeared. You can also file ranges of messages within a topic. For example: 144 BIX User Manual file 101 to 141 would place messages 101 through 141 into your scratchpad. Once you have filed the appropriate data into your scratchpad, you can edit the contents by typing in: edit scratchpad from a Read: prompt. NOTE: Do not attempt to edit large amount of messages. The BIX editors are limited to 1000 lines. To purge the data from your scratchpad, enter the command clear from the main ( : ) system prompt or from a Mail: or Read: prompt. NOTE: The file command stores its results in your scratchpad. This data can be changed, deleted, downloaded or mailed, depending on your wishes. If you do nothing, you will find this data in your scratchpad the next time you attempt to write a message. All scratchpad data more than 48 hours old is erased. The scratchpad can accommodate 2 megabytes of data. How to File Large Amounts of Data You can use all in conjunction with the command file to deposit into your scratchpad each unread message in a topic or in a conference. Here's how to file a single topic within your scratchpad so that you can capture it: 1) Join the conference and the topic you want to capture. 2) At the first Read: prompt, enter: file all followed by the conference name and the topic name. For example, file all apple main 145 BIX User Manual When done, BIX displays the Read: prompt. All your unread messages from the topic `main' in the `apple' conference are now in your scratchpad, from where you can capture them. To place a single conference into your scratchpad, join the conference and enter file all followed by the conference name. For example: file all sf In response, BIX will produce the message "Done with ..." followed by a conference name and a topic name. For example: "Done with sf/star.trek" "Done with sf/digest" When done, BIX redisplays the Read: prompt. Any topic that you have resigned will be ignored. You can deposit every unread message in every conference and every topic to which you belong into your scratchpad. To do this, enter file all alone from any Read: prompt. In response, BIX will produce the message "Done with ..." followed by a conference name and a topic name, one for each conference and topic on your conference list. For example, "Done with other.dos/pick" "Done with microbytes/features" When done, the main ( : ) prompt returns. NOTE: After you have captured the data, erase it from your scratchpad by entering the command clear. WARNING: When used without an argument, file all can produce mountains of data. Use file all without an argument only when you are certain that you are up-to-date on your conference reading. When in doubt, use one of the arguments described here. 146 BIX User Manual How to Capture Filed Data You can capture the results of the file command using your software's ASCII screen-capture ability. Here's what you must do to: 1) Suppress the .More.. prompt by entering: opt terminal pagelength 0 quit from the main ( : ), Mail:, or Read: prompt. (You may want to permanently suppress the .More.. prompt. To do so, see "How to Suppress the .More.. Prompt," on page 113) 2) Join any conference and any topic. File the messages as described above. 3) Set your communications software to capture your screen displays (i.e., ASCII downloads). From the main ( : ) system prompt or from a Mail: or a Read: prompt, enter: show scratchpad All the data that you filed in your scratchpad will scroll by rapidly. 6) When done, save the data to disk and enter the command clear to flush your scratchpad. If you must interrupt an ASCII capture, use Control-S to pause and Control-Q to resume. Control-C serves as your Abort key. The Break key supplied with your com- munications software should also work. Set the Break duration for no more than 350 milliseconds; higher rates can cause your modem to disconnect. 147 BIX User Manual Control-C may take a second or two to take effect. This is due to delays inherent in packet-switching networks. The Break key supplied with your software should work more efficiently than Control-C because it flushes the network buffers. It is recommended that you use the Break key supplied with your software. NOTE: Do not attempt to use the BIX editors to manipulate large amounts of data in your scratchpad. The editor is limited to 1000 lines. Efforts to manipulate more than 1000 can result in lost data. NOTE FOR OVERSEAS BIXEN: The blink option (see Chapter 7) could help over- seas BIXen logging in via an X.25 packet-switching network reduce local PTT charges. When blink is set to yes, it tells the show scratchpad command to transmit full packets whenever possible. To turn it on, type; opt blink yes q before you enter show scratchpad. The Blink option only functions with ASCII file transfers initiated with the show scratchpad command. It has no effect on XMODEM, Kermit, or any other download protocol. How to Capture Data Using a Protocol To capture the data using a file transfer protocol, such as XMODEM, follow these steps: 1) Enter this line from the main prompt (:) or from a Mail: or Read: prompt: opt download xmodem quit You can use Kermit, YMODEM, or ZMODEM if you prefer. (You can make your download protocol permanent. See "How to Add a Transfer Protocol," page 113.) 148 BIX User Manual 2) Join any conference and any topic. File a message as described above. 3) Position yourself at a Read: prompt. 4) Enter the command: download BIX will report on the file size and tell you that it is ready to transmit the file. (If you are using Kermit, BIX will not produce a message.) 5) Set your software to begin a protocol download and begin. 6) When done, enter clear to flush your scratchpad. File and Mail You can adapt the file command for use in the Mail subsystem. Here's how: 1) Enter Mail. This will produce a list of your mail messages. 2) From the Mail: prompt, type in: file xxx where xxx is a mail message number. You can use either the small relative number (on the left) or the large absolute number (on the right). 3) BIX responds with a read/action: prompt. Among your options are delete, reply, and leave (see Chapter 4 for your full range of options). You will probably want to leave the message so that you can reply later. 4) Download the message using a method described earlier. 5) When done, enter clear to flush your scratchpad. 149 BIX User Manual You can file more than one message, but you must follow this sequence for each message. Alternately, you can file every unread Mail message. To do this, enter: file all from the Mail: prompt. BIX responds: Memo #xxxxx Memo #xxxxx Memo #xxxxx When done, each message filed is marked in your inbasket and in the sender's outbasket as having been read by you and the Mail: prompt returns. You can now download the messages using one of the methods described ear- lier in this chapter. Remember to enter clear to erase your scratchpad when done. Later you can reply to or delete these messages. See Chapter 4 for details. NOTE: Only the text portion of mail messages with binary attachments will be filed. The binary attachment will not be filed. Messages with binary at- tachments are recognizable by the line that reads "Attachment:" immediately following the "Subject:" line. To download the attached binary file, you must use a download protocol such as XMODEM. For more information on Mail and on binary mail attachments, please see Chapter 4. 150 BIX User Manual Part 2: How to Upload A Message to BIX Introduction You can upload messages that you have composed off-line. Currently, BIX will receive your files using straight ASCII, Kermit, XMODEM, and YMODEM protocols. The method you choose will depend on the communications software you are using. ASCII text uploads are both the simplest and fastest way to get a message up to BIX. However, such uploads do not provide error checking, thus making them vulnerable to line noise. ASCII text can be uploaded faster than the editor can adjust. Generally, no text is lost, but often your message does not look pretty as it is going up. A brief line wait, adjustable through most telecommunications software, will overcome this inconvenience Kermit, XMODEM, and YMODEM provide error checking, but are slower than ASCII uploads. Format Your Message for Uploading When writing a BIX message off-line, keep in mind these simple guidelines: 1) use a 60- to 65-character line; 2) place a carriage return at the end of each line; 3) strip out all of your wordprocessor's formatting commands; 4) end each line with a carraige return, not a carriage return/linefeed. To avoid double spacing, your communications software should be set to strip out the linefeed. How to Send ASCII Text Files To send a file up to BIX using an ASCII transfer format, enter the editor. To enter the editor in a conference, position yourself where you want the message to go. Use the say command to engage the editor. If you are commenting on another message, position yourself at the 151 BIX User Manual Read: prompt following that message and enter comment. (See Part 3 of Chapter 3 for various strategies on jumping to particular messages.) Alternately, you can join the conference and the topic and enter comment xxx, where xxx is the number of the message you are commenting on. If you are sending a Mail message, you must either enter the command to or reply xxx, where xxx is a message number. Both say and to produce a TITLE: prompt. Your response to this prompt can be a carriage return or a title. You can make the title the initial line sent during your upload. Comment and reply do not produce a TITLE: prompt. Once you have entered into the editor, BIX is ready to receive your file. Instruct your communications program to send the ASCII text file. (Depending on the program, this might be a command sequence or a menu choice.) When done, you can continue to add text to your scratchpad (from the keyboard). Type a period at the beginning of a new line to exit the scratchpad. You can attach the period to end the writing session and the commands that tell BIX what to do with the message, such as add or send, to the end of your message. How to Send a File with a Protocol Before you can use a protocol for uploading a file, set BIX to accept this option. The BIX default setting is XMODEM/checksum. To do so, enter the Options subarea of BIX. From the main ( : ), Mail:, or Read: prompt, type: options Then type: upload ymodem Kermit, XMODEM, and YMODEM may be used. 152 BIX User Manual Then quit the Options subarea. (To make your protocol choice permanent, you must include it in your BIX profile. See "How to Add a Transfer Protocol," page 113.) To send a file up to your scratchpad using one of these protocols, you must be at the main (:) prompt, or at a Mail: or a Read: prompt. Enter the command: upload If you are using XMODEM or YMODEM, BIX will respond with: Bmodem ready to receive... Instruct your software to send a file using -XMODEM or YMODEM. If you use Kermit, you will not see the "Bmodem" message; simply enter the command and begin transmitting your file. NOTE: Although BIX will place the file in your scratchpad, you must not be in the scratchpad when uploading with a protocol. Please note that BIX writes over anything in your scratchpad with the new file. When the file transfer is complete, the main system prompt ( : ) or the Mail: or Read: prompt will return, and the file will be in your scratchpad. You can then add the message to a conference or enter the mail system and send it to another party. 153 BIX User Manual Part 3: Miscellaneous BIX Commands How to Change Your Password BIX recommends that you change your password frequently. Passwords should be unique for each system that you use. Avoid using your spouse's name, and always try to use a nonalphabetic character or two. Here's how to change your password: From the main system prompt, which is the colon ( : ), enter: password BIX will respond: Enter old password: Answer this by entering your password. (BIX turns echo off, so you will not see what you are typing.) BIX verifies your password and prompts you to en- ter a new password. Your new password must be at least four characters long, and it cannot exceed eight characters. After you type in your new password, BIX will ask you to re-enter it. (Echo will be off, so you will not see what you are typing.) The next time you sign on to BIX, the system requires you to enter this new password to gain access. It must be exactly as you entered it the day you made the change, including case and unique symbols. If you should have any trouble, contact the BIX help line (see Chapter 11, page 168). If you wish to change your password at some time in the future, simply repeat this procedure. 154 BIX User Manual Who's On-Line? To find out who is on-line with you, enter: who from either the main ( : ), Mail:, or Read: prompt. BIX will produce a list that looks something like this: BIXusers: tlockjaw bnockwurst sam CBixusers: bqatnpwl gwkoer Remember, you can use show resume followed by a user name to find out more about an individual. How to Pause and Restart To pause in the middle of printing out a conference message, use Control-S. That is, press your Control key in conjunction with the letter S. This will stop the action. To get your display moving again, press your Control key in conjunction with the letter Q. Keep in mind that you are coming into BIX through a packet network. Thus, the effects of these keys may take a second or two. How to Abort an Action It sometimes becomes necessary to abort an action. On BIX, Control-C serves as your Abort key. Keep in mind that you are coming into BIX through a packet network. Thus, it may take a second or two for this action to take affect. A much more effective approach may be the Break key supplied with your communications software. Set the Break duration for a maximum of 350 ms. Anything more could cause your modem to disconnect. 155 BIX User Manual Show Participant The command show participant displays the member list of any conference. You must be a member of the conference to see this list. To do this, enter from a Read: prompt within the conference: show participant BIX displays the participant list for that conference. The participant list would look like this: anderson wbyod jland jsmith thompson To see if a particular individual is a member of a conference, from a Read: prompt within that conference, enter: show participant [BIXname] From outside of a conference that you belong to, you can see its member list by entering: show participant [conference name] For example: show particpant networks You can look for a particular individual in a conference to which you belong from outside the conference by entering: show participant [conference name] [user name] Show All Search Phrase Use the show command to locate a conference title and description. To do this, use show in conjunction with the command all and with a search string. 156 BIX User Manual For example, to obtain a list of all the conferences with the word "new" in the title or description, you would enter: show all new A typical response could be: o system.news BIX system news o microbytes.sw New software products o microbytes.hw New hardware products (o=open, c=closed) Show Who User Name You can find a user's BIXname or full name using show followed with as much of the name as you know. This facility will also let you find people from your hometown. For example, to display all the names and BIXnames that contain the word "greg," you would enter: show who greg BIX would respond: gapple Greg Appleby, Chicago, IL gb Gregory Bentley, Yelm, WA tj1 Terri Jones, Gregsville Lake, MS Show Resume User Name To find out more about a BIX user, you can view her or his resume. For ex- ample, to see the resume of BIX user bp, you would enter: show resume bp BIX would respond: 157 BIX User Manual bp, Blaise Pascal, Paris, France Last on: April 10 15:51:20 1661 bp Blaise Pascal 21 Rue des Lions Paris, France Show Status Conference Name The command string show status followed by a conference name displays a conference's member list (i.e., participants) and when each member last signed on. For example: show status current.events BIX would respond with: asanders Tue Jan 13 09:49:24 1992 sst Fri Feb 9 14:32:31 1992 mm Wed Feb 4 21:15:10 1992 How to Have Only the Topics You Want You can arrange your conference list so that it contains only those confer- ence topics that are of interest. To do this, you can resign any topic that you don't want. For each topic in a conference that is of little interest to you, follow this form: resign conference topic.name Do this from either the main ( : ) or Read: prompt. Here's an example using resign conference topic.name: resign apple main If you entered this, BIX would strike the topic `main' from your conference list while retaining your membership in all other `apple' conference topics. You cannot gang up topics to resign. You must resign each topic individually. 158 BIX User Manual How to Keep Your Conference List Up-to-date Once you have cleared out unwanted topics, you may still find yourself hundreds of messages behind times. If you would prefer to catch up immediately, you can use this command sequence: skip to date [day/month/year] For example, if you wanted to mark all messages from your present position until July 22, 1988, as read, you would enter: skip to date 22jul1988 from the first Read: prompt in a topic. You must do this for each topic in every conference. Skip to date marks all messages up to or nearest to, but not including, the specified date as having been read. Use the three-letter abbreviation for the month. Keyword Index An indexing system that scans all open BIX conferences for a keyword or phrase is available. From the main system prompt, which is the colon ( : ), enter: join index and follow the prompts. To return to the main system prompt, enter a q at the Read: or Mail: prompt. Here's an example of joining the BIX Index and searching for the keyword "duck": join index BIX Index 159 BIX User Manual Word or phrase to look for (or `quit'): duck Searching the Index for `duck'... 152 entries found. Display the result on your screen FILE Put it in your scratchpad QUIT Discard the entries , FILE, or QUIT: If you enter a Return, here's what you would see: Item..... Conference/Topic Messages `duck'...... ai.theory/cognition 71 72 76 circuit.cellar/main 92 fortran/other 139 ood/oo.design 11 tech.notes/comments 35 102 c.language/compilers 1061 and so on. The lines that reads "ai.theory/cognition," "ood/oo.design," and so forth indicate the conference and topic where your keyword or phrase has been located. The line of numbers immediately below displays the message number where you can find that keyword or phrase. You can have the BIX Index file its results into your scratchpad from where you can download them after you leave the Index. You can make multiple searches and file each list of finds into your scratchpad for one large download. 160 BIX User Manual Here's an example of asking the Index to file into your scratchpad the list of finds for the keyword "cats": join index BIX Index Word or phrase to look for (or `quit'): cats Searching the Index for `cats'... 239 entries found. Display the result on your screen FILE Put it in your scratchpad QUIT Discard the entries , FILE, or QUIT: In response to the File command, BIX deposits the 239 entries into your scratchpad and displays this line: Word or phrase to look for (or `quit'): You may continue to search and file keywords or phrases if you wish. If you enter quit to exit the Index, BIX produces this statement: Finished with the Index. The results are in your scratchpad. You can now download the findings using one of the methods described earlier in this chapter. If the BIX Index is unable to locate your phrase or keyword, it tells you so by displaying the line: Sorry, that isn't in the Index. Press . Upon pressing your Return key, BIX will display this line: Word or phrase to look for (or `quit'): 161 BIX User Manual from which you can reformulate your search or quit the Index. If after a search has been completed you decide that you requested the wrong keyword or phrase, you can discard the results by entering the command quit from this prompt: Display the result on your screen FILE Put it in your scratchpad QUIT Discard the entries , FILE, or QUIT: BIX will display this prompt: Word or phrase to look for (or `quit'): From there, you may exit the Index (i.e., enter quit) or commence a new search. Charges The charges command shows you the six most recent charges that BIX has forwarded to your credit card account. If you are a new BIX registrant, this summary will also include your registration fee as a separate item. The session in progress is not included in this summary. When you enter the charges, BIX produces this screen: BIX Usage Information BIX Subscriber: your BIXname Unbilled Sessions: 3 Unbilled Sessions Total Unbilled $ 6.60 EXCLUSIVE OF CURRENT SESSION 162 BIX User Manual Six Most Recent Billing Items: Billing Date Charge Description Charge($) 05/08/88 BIX Usage $12.60 If you have a credit card account, each amount listed under the Charges column should correspond to a charge appearing now, or in the future, on your credit card statement. Posting dates may differ slightly from Billing Date, but amounts should tally. (Foreign users should note that all charges are presented in U.S. dollars and figures you see on your credit card statement account will differ because of currency translation.) Send BIXmail to Bixbilling if you should have any questions. Charges Detail Charges detail shows you in detail the charges from your recent sessions on BIX that have not yet been totaled and forwarded to your credit card. Each of these detailed entries shows the date and time you logged on, the amount of time you were on for that session and the total charges for that session. Charges for your current on-line session are not included. From the main (:) system prompt, enter: charges detail BIX produces this screen: BIX Usage Information BIX Subscriber: your BIXname Unbilled Sessions: 3 Unbilled Sessions Total Unbilled $ 6.60 EXCLUSIVE OF CURRENT SESSION 163 BIX User Manual Elapsed Session Time Date Login Time hh:mm:ss Charge ($) 5/06/88 8:01 pm 00:10:22 5/03/88 10:18 pm 00:30:00 5.50 5/01/88 9:28 pm 00:06:01 1.10 This is a summary of each of your recent BIX sessions, showing the date, the time each session began, how long it lasted, and the charges associated with it. Send BIXmail to Bixbilling if you should have any questions. NOTES: 164 BIX User Manual