Proterm 3.0 Quick Reference/Short Cut Keys
Written by Excalibur 11-20-91/23:53 to 11-21-91/00:43


Golly gosh, Proterm 3.0.  How ironic: new terminal program, no new wares to use it with.  Anyway, its quite a change from 2.2, although I've noticed it's still got a few bugs which I'll mention later (I don't profess to know ALL of them... just the ones I've come across).

Anyway, while online the other day, I accidentally hit a key combination (if you are one of insatiable curiosity, I'll tell you that it was option-L) and something happened.  So, I hung up and tried hitting a bunch of keys and that's how I got around to writing up this file.  The thing about Proterm 3.0 is that a lot of the apple key combos aren't shown in the pulldowns.  This one happened to be for launching a program.

Anyway, all of the option-key combinations, as I later found out, are defined in the global macro on the Proterm disk.  You can change the macro file to suit your needs.  It'd be nice if we had some macro docs.  I've noticed that the macros (both global and logon) are a bit different from Proterm 2.2.  Maybe some kind soul who bought the program would be willing to type up some short reference docs for the macros... but then again, probably not.

Almost all of the apple-key combos are shown in the pulldowns, but there are a few that are not.  I'll list them all here for sake of completeness.  I'm sure that there are some folks out there who are just getting used to Proterm for the first time and would appreciate it.
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Option-key combos (for neophytes: hold the option key down while hitting the appropriate letter.... for //e users, that'd be the closed apple key)

A - autosave toggle (receive ascii)
K - clear editor
L - launch application dialog
M - execute dialing list conversion macro
P - dunno... someone explain this to me... it went so fast I couldn't follow
S - send ascii directly from editor
T - toggle between online/offline
V - short cut to view file
W - extended show time connected dialog
X - do formatted xmodem-text upload
Z - read global macros

Apple-key combos (for neophytes: hold down the apple key while hitting the appropriate letter.... for //e users, you got the same thing us GS'ers do)

B - send break (seriously, have you ever used this?  What is it good for?)
C - turn copy buffer on/off
E - enter editor
H - hang up
I - install hardware (and you DON'T lose scrollback in this version!)
L - set online parms
N - autolearn macros (for logons and such)
P - printer echo toggle
Q - quit (duh)
R - receive file
S - send file
U - enter unattended mode
V - paste to modem (haven't tried this yet)
W - show time connected (do NOT leave this on!)
Z - enter scrollback (you can also use apple-arrow keys... just like in 2.2)
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Well, that's that. Now, for a few bug reports.

I've been told by Mr. Atoz that the Zmodem send is STILL fucked up.  I haven't had too much trouble... except on his board and on Talisman.  I have used Zmodem DOWNLOAD successfully, and Mr. Atoz, with his technical point of view, says it functions flawlessly.  Let's give a hand to InSync for FINALLY getting it right... at least 50% anyway.

Now, when I first saw that online cost function, I thought it was really cool.  Yah, ReadyLink had it, but ReadyLink sucks.  Well, it's a 50-50 bummer here.  The thing works fine once you are OFFLINE.  However, if you are ONLINE, and chose, in the individual board entry, to have that function on while you are online, the program will crash BIG TIME.  My screen went into crazy 640 graphics mode and it looked like it jumped into 50 Hz.  If anyone tries this out and DOESN'T have it happen, let me know.  I'd like to know how you get around it.  Anyway, the least they could have done was to do the damn thing RIGHT... like set up parms for "First minute" and "each additional minute".  You know how fucked up the phone company bills.  Not important to most, though. Just a personal gripe of mine.

I had lots of trouble with 2.2 crashing during disk swapping (mostly after I installed my Zip).  I've noticed that Proterm 3.0 handles this problem better, but I still can't get away from that occasional crash.

Watch out.  For some reason, the PT3.CODE4 file loves to get corrupted.  That's the one with all the emulation names.  Why?  Dunno... I've been trying to figure that out.  If you find out, lemme know.

There is a bug with inverse characters in scrollback.  Call up a board like the Magnetic Field (708-498-5189) and look at the main menu in scrollback.  You'll see what I mean.
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Miscellaneous info:  For batch transfers, simply highlight the file(s) and hit the spacebar (like in ShrinkIt).  The files will have a checkmark next to them. Same thing with cyclical or rotary dialing.  Just hit the spacebar next to the system name.  That hasn't changed from 2.2.

Another gripe: the ANSI BBS emulation sucks big time.  They could have done better.

Macro stuff: new delimiter is " (quotes) instead of / (slash).  It's about time.  Old logon macros should still work, but best to switch them over manually.

Check out the new transfer segments.  I think these are much better than the old ones.  Another cool thing is that after the transfer, you can see the results, including CPS.  Proterm has grown up a bit.

Overall, I'd say the program is a pretty good improvement.  However, all this fucking mousetext in the editor is enough to make someone sick.  Hopefully, they'll release some additional emulations as they said they would.  That would be interesting to see.  AND they need a new ANSI BBS emulation.  Ack.

If I think of anything else <not likely in my current state> that needs to be said, I'll type it up and append it or just send around volume two or whatever.

PS: how many of you think that 2.2 was less cumbersome and a little quicker?
    Hmmm... maybe 3.0 just needs some getting used to.

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                 Call these boards.... before they go down.

Silver Tongue		/708-759-1916/	2400	80 megs
The Hellfire Club	/212-860-2794/	FAST	lotsa megs
Talisman		/414-933-1617/	FAST	lotsa megs/FTA/GSA/etc USA base
Base Cochise		/718-454-7490/	2400	lotsa megs

-eof-
