How to install ZTerm AA
 

ZTerm is a shareware application that is widely available and cheap. No, it is not free...if you use it, pay the guy for it. I have written some "scripts" (ok, call it programming if you like) so that it will log on and off without a lot of keyboard action on your part.

Below is a picture of the contents of the Zterm folder.

The "application" icon is the one labeled ZTerm 1.01 - that's what you double-click on to get started with PCFOS.

Feel free to look into the other folders but don't change the ZTerm Scripts folder until you know what you are doing. That's the part that I customized for. Look but don't change. If you do make changes because it didn't work and your changes fixed it, let me know. You will get credit for any real improvements you make to the program and share with all of us.

Also be sure to keep the ZTerm 1.01 program in the same folder as the ZTerm Scripts folder.

 

Double-click on the Zterm 1.01 application icon.

Hold the shift key down while it starts up and you will get this dialog box. Select the appropriate port - the one your modem is plugged into.

 This is a common issue for Powerbook users. The dialog shown is from an older Powerbook. "Lower PC Card slot" won't show up on desktop Macs. Some powerbooks have only one combined Printer-Modem Port. Some have none, but come with an internal modem.

Pick the option that makes sense…where is your modem?

 Once the program is started you should see a new blank window with Z-terms's menus at the top.

Select Settings:

then Connection... from the menu.

Enter the Phone Number: (Compuserve local access number) you use to dial into PCFOS. Although we no longer need a Compuserve account or membership, PCFOS still uses their access numbers. Compuserve's main number is 800 635-6225. Call this number to find your local access phone number.

Put your employee number into the Account: space. If your employee number has a leading zero, then put it in.

Put your PCFOS password into the Password: space. This is the PCFOS password which may or may not be different from your Personal Mode password.

Set the Data Rate: to one level faster than your modem is rated. If you have problems with the data coming into your Zterm window (ie. you get garbage characters) try slowing the data rate - as low as 9600 may be necessary.

You will want to check off Hardware Handshake if you are using a high speed modem (28.8 KBps or higher).

Leave the rest of this alone unless you know what you are doing.

 

Go to the Dial menu and select PCFOS. It should dial out and log on for you. Notice the Hang Up command (H ). This is handy if it messes up and you can't get it to connect or log in. It forces the modem to hang up or disconnect.

You can easily create Macro's for Z-Term. I've made a few basic ones but there is room for more. These macro's are just shortcuts for a single typed command like "HI3".

If you type PTC in front of a PCFOS command (PTCHI3 for example) you get the whole message without having to use the MD command to "move down" to the next part of the message.

The Personal mode script refers to your Account Number referred to in the Set Up chapter. If you have a Personal mode password that is different from your Sign In password, then you will need to edit the "personal.zts" script in the ZTerm Scripts folder (replace $account in the script with your password).

The first 3 and the last Macro "strings" (as in a string of letters) are a bit unusual. These are special macros that I wrote which use scripts (in the ZTerm Scripts folder). They do more than just send out a single line like the macro labeled Message. The kind of macro's most of you will likely make up will be like the Message macro. PTC means "print continuous" or "just give me the whole message without making me type the MD command".

The HI6 macro should be self explanatory. The ^M should only be familiar if you, like me, are a "techno-dweeb". It is common language for a "return" key. Essentially, it sends the text prior to it to PCFOS.

For more info, refer to ZTerm's documentation.

 

These are the scripts that I created to automate the log on process. This is the first pass at this and it is simple but it seems to work reliably.

 With a little motivation, you too can write scripts and further automate ZTerm. Read the ZTerm instructions to gain a further understanding and use these scripts as examples.

 

 

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