STalker¿ 3.02 to 3.03 Patch Program This program will upgrade STalker version 3.02 to version 3.03. It will ONLY upgrade version 3.02. This program is copyright ½ 1994 by Gribnif Software. All rights are reserved. This program may be freely distributed to all legitimate registered users of STalker 3. Any questions or comments, please contact us at: Gribnif Software, P.O. Box 779, Northampton, MA 01061, USA Tel: (413) 247-5620, Fax: (413) 247-5622 GEnie: GRIBNIF Internet: gribnif@genie.geis.com What is needed to upgrade ========================= 1. An un-modified, registered, STalker 3 Master Disk, version 3.02. 2. A hard disk or a blank formatted floppy disk (to place the STALK303.PRG and STALK303.DAT on). How to upgrade your STalker version 3.02 to version 3.03 ======================================================== 1. Make sure you have made a backup copy of the STalker 3 Master Disk. 2. Place the STALK303.PRG and STALK303.DAT on your hard disk or on the blank floppy disk (it may need the extra disk space to write some temporary files, depending on free memory.) 3. Run the STALK303.PRG and follow the on-screen prompts. 4. Once you have finished upgrading your master disk to version 3.03, make a backup copy of this newer version. ** VERY IMPORTANT STEP, READ CAREFULLY ** 5. To install the newer version on your system, you MUST replace the following STalker 3.02 files in your system with the 3.03 version files from the newly upgraded disk. You can either do this from the desktop, or by using the INSTALL.PRG on the STalker disk: \STALKER.ACC \STALKER.PRG (copied from STALKER.PRG on the master disk) \STALKER.RSC If you get an error message =========================== If your STalker 3 Master Disk has been modified in any way (including moving files around), the patch program will not be able to perform the upgrade. You will get an error message indicating that this has happened. In this case, you should mail us the disk so that we can upgrade it. To have your disk upgraded by us, you need to: 1. Send in your original, registered, STalker 3.02 Master Disk. 2. Enclose a U.S. check for $5 + $2 shipping & handling ($7 total). 3. Enclose a note with your name, address, and daytime phone number. In return you will receive the upgraded 3.03 Master Disk. If you have already purchased this patch disk from us for $5, please just include your original disk and $2. Helpful Hints ============= o If you are having trouble with lost characters, the very first thing to do is try running AUXINIT.PRG. If using rates > 19200, you may also find it helpful to increase the size of the buffer to the maximum, 31K. o When using high speed modems (9600 baud or greater) you will have to use hardware (RTS/CTS) flow control, rather than XON/XOFF flow control. Several pointers: o Make sure STalker has been configured for RTS/CTS in the Port Settings dialog for each service you plan to connect to at high speed. o Make sure your modem is configured for RTS/CTS. This varies from modem to modem; some use an AT command, others a DIP switch. Consult your modem's manual for more information. o Run the appropriate combination of patch programs. These can be found in the EXTRAS folder of your STalker disk: TOS version Port Program(s) 1.0-1.6x ST-compatible SERIALFX 2.00-2.05 ST-compatible SERIALFX and SERIALFX other SERPTCH 2.06 ST-compatible SERIALFX other none needed 3.00-3.05 ST-compatible SERIALFX and SERIALFX other SERPTCH 3.06 ST-compatible SERIALFX other none needed 4.0x Falcon none needed Because STalker reconfigures the Falcon serial port and the "non-standard" ports on the Mega STe and TT by writing directly to the hardware registers for those devices, other serial patch programs may not work properly with these ports when STalker is running. o If, after dialing a service, you notice that you cannot access any of STalker's functions and the "Dial" menu title is still selected, then this most likely means that there is a problem with your autologin sequence for that service. Press Undo to cancel the autologin and then check the appropriate entry in the Autodialer Directory. o If you use the GDOS replacement NVDI, you may notice that accessing the "STalker preferences" dialog will sometimes cause the terminal font to revert to the system font. Selecting the preferences dialog a second time will restore the setting and allow you to reset the font in the Terminal dialog. This seems to be due to a bug in NVDI. Changes for STalker 3.03 ======================== The Preferences dialog has several new items: o The first is an option to toggle the menu in a window feature. o The second is to toggle to usage of the new Atari Clipboard. Drive Z is now a valid drive letter, so to use the Atari Clipboard standard it is necessary to select this option in the dialog. o Next is an option to turn off the Blitter chip, if present, when STalker first runs and then turn it back on when STalker quits. At high speed on some machines, the Blitter causes problems with serial communications. o "Alert before clearing buffer" will display an alert before allowing the keyboard sequence [Control][Clr] to clear the buffer. After marking a block, the pop-up menu will disable the Print option if STalker doesn't detect a printer online and ready. Similarly, the menu item "Send text to printer" is disabled if the printer is not ready. It is now possible to turn off Remote Mode by selecting the menu item Remote Mode. The menu item now acts like a toggle. Furthermore, it is no longer possible to Save Configuration with Remote Mode enabled. [Shift][Tab] will invoke STeno. This was added because [Alternate][Tab] is used by Geneva. Added the keyboard equivalent [Shift][Alternate][Esc] to reset the serial port. This was added because Geneva uses [Alternate][Esc] to close the window. [Control][Tab] will invoke the BackTalk compiler if it is running. If you have Geneva, you can tear-away STalker's menus or use them from the keyboard with [Alternate][Space]. In previous versions, STalker would close a file being downloaded and reopen it repeatedly. In the new version, STalker leaves the file open at all times and only reopens it if it gets closed unexpectedly (like when you are using STalker as a desk accessory and then quit an application.) This means that downloading is a bit faster, especially for large files. It also means that you should avoid anything that will force a media change on the drive a file is being downloaded to, like swapping disks or the "Force Update" option in NeoDesk. [Shift][Esc] will open/close the main STalker window without quitting. Also, when STalker is run in a multitasking environment it is now possible to close the main window and the file transfer window while a file is being uploaded or downloaded. [Shift][Esc] will close the main window and the file transfer window. [Control][Shift][Esc] will close the window without quitting also, but during file transfers the file transfer window will remain open. Added support for NeoDesk 4's NEO_ACC_ASK. This allows STalker and NeoDesk to communicate as a NeoDesk Desk Accessory if STalker was installed after NeoDesk is already running. Passing -m as the first parameter on the command line when STalker is run will force STalker to toggle menus in the window. This option will be saved if you Save Settings. STalker will print correctly under all revisions of TOS. On a Falcon, the Serial port is now the only port available, and faster baud rates are possible. STalker will now report a disk full error, if there is one, when saving an .INF file. STalker should correctly close files in scripts now. It should no longer be necessary to call file_close() twice. Zmodem Resumes on Delphi now work. Double-clicking on a Dial? entry will not remove the dialog until the mouse is released. The event is also disposed of. Reworked "Use GDOS monospaced fonts" so that booting without GDOS will not permanently affect this setting. The File menu has been changed slightly to hopefully avoid a problem with STalker and TOS 1.00. DCD is off by default when no .INF file is found.