Auto-Capture for the Atari ST The Essential Utility For Every Modem User Written by Stuart Coates Release 1.0 - 5 January 1992 Have you ever logged onto a bulletin board, listed all of your email and then remembered that you hadn't switched on your capture buffer - an expensive mistake with todays high telephone charges. Now you can avoid that inconvenience because Auto- Capture is here. What is Auto-Capture..? Auto-Capture is a small utility that sits in your AUTO folder and loads when you boot your machine. Auto-Capture will intercept all data that comes into your machine via the serial (RS232) port and write it to a disk file before passing it transparently to your communications program, this ensures that all data you see will be stored for later use. How to Install: To install Auto-Capture copy the file ACAPTURE.PRG into the AUTO folder on your boot disk and reboot your machine. Configuration Details: Auto-Capture will, by default, write all data to a file called CAPTURE.BUF on your boot disk. If you wish to change this, create a file called ACAPTURE.INF containing the filename that you wish to use. ACAPTURE.INF must be placed in the root directory on your boot disk. For example if you want all captured data to go to a file called FRED.TXT on drive F, the ACAPTURE.INF file should contain F:\FRED.TXT. Filenames up to 100 characters are allowed. The ACAPTURE.INF file may be created using any text editor or word processor that is capable of saving an ASCII file. If the file that you have decided to use already exists, all data will be appended to that file - thus allowing you to build up a single file that contains all of your captured data over a number of days. Activating / De-activating Auto-Capture: Auto-Capture can be switched on and off by pressing the Alternate / Left Shift / Help key combination. When switching off you will hear 2 bells, re-activating will sound only 1 bell. Due to the fact that Auto-Capture will store all incomming data, I recommend that you switch Auto-Capture off during file transfers. Failure to do so will result in your capture buffer containing binary data. Disk Optimisation: Auto-Capture implements a 10K disk write cache to ensure maximum speed, so don't get worried if your disk doesn't make as many accesses as you may expect. The disk cache is intelligently flushed whenever one of the following events occur: Auto-Capture is switched off. A program is terminated. A directory listing is taken. A free disk space enquiry is made. A program is loaded. If you reset your machine without switching Auto-Capture off, hence flushing the buffer, you will lose the contents of the cache. An added extra: If you wish to have a print out of your on-line session, simply tell Auto-Capture to write to the file PRN: (in the ACAPTURE.INF file) - this is the special Gemdos filename for the parallel printer. But be warned, data will be written 10K at a time so have a printer buffer ready or be prepared for long waits. Compatibility: Auto-Capture should be compatible with most other programs, and since no undocumented system calls are made, any version of TOS. If you experience any problems then don't hesitate to contact the author who will try to fix your problem. Auto-Capture will not work with comms programs that access the RS232 controller directly, only GEMDOS and BIOS routines are intercepted. Technical Details: Auto-Capture re-directs the GEMDOS (TRAP #1), BIOS (TRAP #13), and Screen Dump ($502) system vectors and has an XBRA ID of ACAP. All registers except the normal d0-d2/a0-a2 are preseved upon exit from an OS call. Disclaimer: Although Auto-Capture has been thoroughly tested, I cannot guarantee that it will work on every setup. I therefore do not accept any responsibility for loss or damage of software or hardware caused by the use of this program. Additional Info: Auto-Capture was developed using the excellent DevpacST2 assembler from HiSoft. This product is highly recommended to anybody who takes low-level programming seriously. No - I don't work for HiSoft - I just think that it's great. Registration details: Auto-Capture is Shareware and may be distributed freely if all files remain intact. If you use this program then you are expected to register with the author. The registration fee for this product is 5 pounds sterling. Send all correspondence to: Stuart Coates 9 Links Road Kibworth Beauchamp Leicester LE8 0LD England U.K. CompuServe: 100010,2106 Credits for Auto-Capture: Original Idea / All Coding..........................Stuart Coates Loan of an ST........................................Teddystacker DevpacST2..................................................HiSoft The Old School Greenfield Bedford MK45 5DE England UK