Section 10 -- TAPCIS Tips


TAPCIS Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-1
   Practice Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-1
   Emoticons and TLA's  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-1
   Getting Announcements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-1
   Upload Descriptions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-2
   Executive News Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-2
   MCI Mail to CompuServe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-2
   Line Noise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-3
   Interrupting TAPCIS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-3
   Aborting Downloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-4
   GIF  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-4
   Status Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-4
   Travel Kit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-5


TAPCIS(tm) Documentation Copyright (c) 1990, Support Group, Inc.
800-USA-GROUP, 301-387-4500

========================================================================
TAPCIS Tips
========================================================================

------------------------------------
Practice Forum

The Practice Forum is where you can try out the TAPCIS features free of
connect time. Add the forum using the name "PRACTICE" on the <F>orums screen,
join it using <Alt-J>, and follow the normal methods of accessing a forum,
leaving messages, etc.

While the normal connect charges are waived while in the Practice Forum,
network access charges are not. These charges range from $0.30 to $50.00 per
hour. Check the current rates for your access network.

------------------------------------
Emoticons and TLA's

Users new to CompuServe forums are often confused by a shorthand used by
"regulars." TLA's (Three Letter Acronyms) actually refer to any number of
acronyms in popular use.

BTW      By The Way
IMO      In My Opinion
IMHO     In My Humble Opinion
ROF,L    Rolling On the Floor, Laughing

Emoticons are either symbols or words meant to add "body language" to a
message. <Grin> added after a sarcastic remark is meant to make sure the
recipient doesn't take it seriously. The symbol equivalent it ":-)" which you
have to turn your head sideways to the left to see the smile.

We try to avoid acronyms as much as possible, to make it easier for new users
to understand messages. Occasional use of emoticons can help avoid hurt
feelings, but it is probably better to rewrite or not send the message if you
have a doubt about how it will be interpreted.

------------------------------------
Getting Announcements

TAPCIS automatically stores the News Flash announcement as Msg #0 in the forum
message file. The News Flash appears when the sysop of the forum changes the
content of an announcement and flags it to appear on everyone's next login.

Several other announcements are available but are not captured by TAPCIS. In
particular the New Member announcement when joining a forum is not stored on
disk except in the ONLINE.LOG (if one is being created).

You can request that TAPCIS go online and capture an announcement by pressing
<A>dvanced <U>ser-command <Forum #> and then typing:

ANN;#;T

where "#" is replaced by one of the following numbers corresponding to the
announcement to capture. Then, go <O>nline. After TAPCIS gets the
announcement, press the number of the forum and read the announcement.


TAPCIS                                                     TAPCIS Tips    10-1

1 News flash
2 General
3 Messages
4 Conference
5 Library
6 Membership
7 Sysop roster
8 New member

------------------------------------
Upload Descriptions

If you are uploading a file when interactive, you must use the CompuServe
editor to compose and edit the description of the file. If you mess up the
description, the easiest way to edit it is to restart from the beginning. To
clear the current description, type the following at the beginning of the line
when in the editor:

/T,P,D999

------------------------------------
Executive News Service

You cannot automate access to the Executive News Service (GO ENS). You can,
however, save time by either capturing the stories to disk or sending the
stories to your Mail box. At $15/hr surcharge above normal connect rates,
reading online is an excessive waste of money.

Sending stories to your Mail box allows TAPCIS to pick them up automatically.
There is a delivery delay between the time you send the stories and when they
are available in your Mail box (1-15 minutes). Use the command:

Send #,#,#-# 7nnnn,nn

Replace the #'s with story numbers. Separate individual stories with commas,
and ranges of stories with a dash. If you omit the user ID, ENS will prompt
you for the user ID. If you press <Enter>, ENS will use the login ID.

------------------------------------
MCI Mail to CompuServe

To send a message from MCI Mail to CompuServe, create a message on MCI Mail,
and at the "To:" prompt type addressee's name followed by "(ems)". At the EMS
prompt, type "CompuServe" and at the MBX prompt enter the recipient's
CompuServe ID. Press <Enter> at the next MBX prompt, then finish and send the
message as normal for MCI.













10-2    TAPCIS Tips                                                     TAPCIS

------------------------------------
Line Noise

A noisy phone line is the enemy of automated communications. TAPCIS works by
playing the role of a semi-intelligent operator. As long as TAPCIS receives
the correct sequence of messages back from CompuServe in response to its
commands, operation will be smooth and predictable.

When line noise interferes, TAPCIS can get confused. Whereas a human might be
able to make sense of the random garbage characters line noise produces,
TAPCIS must assume that certain prompts and prompt characters make it through
properly. And, commands sent by TAPCIS to CompuServe must be received
properly.

If the line is really noisy, you will not be able to use TAPCIS. More common
is a burst of noise that might corrupt a command. If you are watching, you may
be able to get TAPCIS back on track by supplying the correction yourself. For
example, if line noise turns the command "GO MAIL" into "GO MAL" then
CompuServe will respond that the MAL page is empty, and TAPCIS will stop. If
you do nothing, TAPCIS will logoff in about three minutes. If you type "GO
MAIL" then TAPCIS will pick back up again.

A symptom of a noisy phone line is the appearance of ^U's on the screen.
TAPCIS sends a control-U to CompuServe before every command. The ^U tells
CompuServe to clear its input buffer. If any line noise had been received in
the interim, it is flushed by the ^U. CompuServe will not echo the ^U unless
there actually was garbage in the input buffer. If you start seeing ^U's, you
have a noise problem.

Solving a noise problem is not easy. First, check the connections to your
modem and the telephone jacks to make sure they are secure. Then, try calling
another CompuServe node, possibly in a nearby city in a different direction.
If the noise appears on one node but not another, note down the node ID that
TAPCIS displays after the STATUS command on logon (TnnXXX), and then call
CompuServe at 800-848-8990 to report the problem. If the noise persists on
both nodes, the problem is either on your premises (the modem, jacks, wiring,
cable, etc.) or in the line between your location and the telephone company
central office. If you can hear the static on the line, report the problem to
the phone company to have them fix it.

Another option if you live in an area served by a CIS M node is to purchase a
2400 bps modem with "MNP." MNP is an error detecting and correcting protocol,
similar in effect to CompuServe B+, but it works for terminal communications
as well.

------------------------------------
Interrupting TAPCIS

The way to interrupt a CompuServe command without interrupting TAPCIS is by
pressing <Ctrl-P>. For example, if you see that TAPCIS is reading a very long
thread which has wandered far off the subject, you could get TAPCIS back to
the Forum! prompt by pressing ^P. If you did this in an R forum, the entire
READ THREAD NEW command would be aborted; the received messages would be
stored on disk. Doing this in the middle of a thread read can have undesirable
effects on your high message number, so use caution.




TAPCIS                                                     TAPCIS Tips    10-3

If you want to abort the automated script completely, press <Cancel-F1>. This
sends a <Ctrl-C> to CompuServe to abort the current command, and you are left
in terminal mode talking directly to CompuServe. At this point you could type
"OFF" to logoff, or perform any other <I>nteractive functions. <Alt-Q> and
<Alt-H> also work only after the <Cancel-F1> to hang up the phone.

------------------------------------
Aborting Downloads

Canceling a file transfer is a drastic step. Some protocols (like XMODEM)
allowed for a single character to abort a download. The request to abort was
not error checked, so even line noise could cause a huge download to abort
right before the end.

CompuServe B+ protocol is more robust. The downside is that it can take 10-20
seconds (possibly more on a busy day) for the abort to be negotiated between
your microcomputer and the CompuServe mainframe. If both computers are still
working properly, the transfer will be aborted. If you were downloading, you
will be asked by TAPCIS whether you want to keep the partial file.

If either the computers have failed (crashed), it is much harder to predict
what will happen. In a worst case, TAPCIS may keep trying to abort, and
finally give up after 3 minutes and drop the carrier. If your computer crashes
for some reason, CompuServe will drop the connection in 3-5 minutes on its
own, or will drop it immediately if you drop carrier by turning off the modem
(if external) or turning off the computer (if the modem is internal).

------------------------------------
GIF

CompuServe has designed and implemented a "device independent" graphics format
called GIF. For now, its primary uses have been for color radar maps (GO
COLMAPS) and digitized pictures downloaded from the Picture Forums (GRAPHSUP,
QPICS, and ARTGAL). If you need more detailed information on GIF, stop by the
GRAPHSUP Forum. They have utilities for displaying GIF files on most
computers.

TAPCIS can download GIF files and color radar maps. TAPCIS does not support
online viewing of these graphics (which is really a waste of money anyway; why
not download them and view them offline at no charge?). We've found that
downloading the graphics and then either exiting TAPCIS or shelling out using
<Shift-F1-Shell> works well for displaying GIF images.


------------------------------------
Status Marks

The markers at the bottom of the TAPCIS main menu show whether there are
messages freshly downloaded and unread (the exclamation mark), activity to
send online (the double arrow), headers to mark (the caret), or files to
download (the triangle). TAPCIS stores these marks in the active parameter
file.

This works great with the following exceptions. If you change TAPCIS files
outside of the program (reading message files, creating send files, deleting
files, etc.), the status marks will not reflect the actual status of the
files. Also, if you have marks in one parameter file and then switch to


10-4    TAPCIS Tips                                                     TAPCIS

another and do something (like going online) that gets rid of the send file,
if you switch back to the old parameters file, the up and down arrow will
still show.

To update the status, you can press <Alt-R> to "refresh" the marks. But this
has its limitations, too. It will remove any marks for files that no longer
exist. It will also restore marks (like if you have a .QSN file sitting
around).

Note that TAPCIS automatically does a refresh when you switch parameter files
within the program and if you specify a parameter file on the command line in
parenthesis.

------------------------------------
Travel Kit

If you travel with a portable computer, you know how frustrating it can be to
try and connect from hotel rooms. While some hotels are now offering simple
RJ-11 jacks for connecting your computers to their telephone systems, others
require that you almost tear down the wall, strip the wires, and kludge a
connection together (only to find out that you'll have to go through an
operator to connect with CompuServe and pay $1.50 per call for the privilege).


If you do travel and want to telecommunicate from your room, be sure to
download the file TRAVEL.KIT from Library 3 of the TAPCIS Forum.

































TAPCIS                                                     TAPCIS Tips    10-5