******************************************************** * *** * This is readme.txt for PM Timer version: 1.11 *** * *** ********************************************************* ******************************************************** What is it? =========== PM Timer/2 is an online phone costs calculation program for OS/2 Presentation Manager. It gets rid of the hassle of having to use a different logfile for every communications program you use, not to mention the programs that don't even keep a logfile (think about Dial Other Internet Providers in the OS/2 Warp bonuspak). PM Timer - when used in the right manner - logs all your outgoing calls in one single logfile and calculates the phone costs made in a specified period of time on your demand. PM Timer will monitor the serial port to which your modem is connected and detect any connections you make with your modem. Furthermore, if desired you can run PM Timer unattended from batchfiles using commandline parameters. And, with PM Timer running you'll always keep track of your online (surfing) time, even if the PM Timer window is invisble. PM Timer places a small clock that displays the online time in the currently active Presentation Manager window's titlebar. Installation ============ I recommend you to install PM Timer in its own directory. Installation is simply a matter of copying all the files from the PM Timer archive to an empty directory. In case you want to be able to start the program from other directories you have to make sure that the file IOPL.DLL is located in a directory in your LIBPATH statement in config.sys. Also make sure you have IOPL=YES in your config.sys. NOTE: If you install PM Timer into the same directory as a previous version, make sure you delete the pmtimer.ini if it exists. The main idea is to start PM Timer together with your communications program from a batchfile (.CMD). That is the way I use it myself. You can also put PM Timer in your startup folder and let it startup minimized with the /h commandline parameter. personally I prefer the first method, because that way you can setup different startup parameters (i.e. local/non local call hide/not hide) for the different communication programs you use. If you use the first method, simply create a batchfile in your communication program's directory that looks like this: @ECHO OFF START X:\PATH\PMTIMER [/L /H] COMPROG.EXE X:\PATH\PMTIMER /Q Where: * X:\PATH\ is the drive and directory where you keep PM Timer files. * COMPROG.EXE is the executable file which starts your communication program. * /L commandline parameter (optional) If specified, PM Timer will startup in Local mode. Meaning that the costs for Local calls you specified in the settings notebook will be used for calculations. You can also change this 'on the fly' while PM Timer is running (and not counting) by checking/unchecking the Local call checkbutton in the main window. * /H commandline parameter (optional) If specified, PM Timer will startup invisble. You can make it visible by doubleclicking its entry in the window list. * /Q commandline parameter (optional) Well, it's kind of optional. In the example above it is required. If PM Timer is started with this option specified it will try and find an already running copy of itself in memory and correctly terminate it. (Same effect as choosing Close from the system menu or hitting ALT-F4.) * Parameters are case-insensitive and can be stacked on the commandline. (e.g. You may use /lh intead of /L /H); Next I will discuss some of the PM Timer menu options you'll find in the main window's system menu. Settings... =========== This will bring up the settings notebook which is pretty much self explanatory and has 'fly-over-help' all over the place. Just make sure that - on the hardware settings page - you select the comport where your modem can be found and specify an accurate value in the seconds- to-carrier field. (That's the number of seconds between the time you actually connect and the time that the program detects a carrier.) Also on the general page you have to indicate if you're going to be using a Dutch or "Other" telephone costs calculation scheme. This may seem somewhat odd because the "Other" scheme could be used in stead of the Dutch scheme. The reason for the special Dutch scheme being in there is that the initial release of PM Timer (v.0.90) was Dutch-only and I didn't feel like taking the existing code out. Having this said, I guess it will be clear that you only have to fill out the costs-settings page(s) of the scheme you selected on the first page. The already filled in defaults (Including the "Other" pages) are settings for the Dutch telecom costs system. So if you live in Holland, it won't make a difference if you select Dutch or Other on the general settings page. If your not from Holland, these default settings and the fly-over help should get you started adjusting the values for your area. Calculate... ============ The calculation dialog is also very much self self explanatory. Fill in a start and end date for the period over which you want to calculate your phone costs. The Costs field will be update on the fly as you adjust the spinbuttons. The defaults for both from and to date fields are the current date, just press Calc and your phone costs for today will be calculated. Calculation is done by reading values directly from the ASCII logfile created by PM Timer. So I would not advice you to manually edit that file, unless you really know what you're doing. Results could be unpredictable if the program finds stuff in the logfile that doesn't belong there. NOTE: The currency symbol in the costs field and the date fields are country dependant. So if you don't see the costs displayed in your own currency it's because you're COUNTRY= line in config.sys doesn't reflect the country you live in. Log window ========== This is just there for your convenience. It displays the logfile in a separate scrollable window. Product information =================== Displays a dialog with some program info and how to contact me. Please feel free to click a round a bit in this dialog. :) Note about the timer-display ============================ Sometimes it may seem as if the timer skips a second. This is normal behaviour. PM Timer internaly uses the hardware IRQ0 timer interrupt to keep track of your online time. This way the timer always runs independent of system load. However the timer-display *update* does run on a simple OS/2 internal timer and thus is dependent on system load. The reason that PM Timer does not simply take timestamps from the system clock, is that I (and mayby you and a lot of other people) use programs that synchro- nize your PC's systemtime with an Internet timeserver while online. With the current implementation of PM Timer, this doesn't effect timings at all. Please send any bug reports and/or suggestions to enhance the program to the author: Jeffrey Habets snailmail: Generaal Eisenhowerstraat 41 6224 XH Maastricht / Netherlands e-mail: jhabets@pi.net http: www.pi.net/~jhabets FidoNet: 2:284/312.3 Reported bugs will be fixed as soon as possible if necessary. I can't make any promises on implementing enhancements to the program though. I also have my final exams to think about this year. At the moment this program is released as freeware. Despite that, I would like to hear from you if you intent on using PM Timer on a regular basis. (e-mail is fine, but I also would appreciate a nice postcard of your home town. And of course I am not exactly *forbidding* you to send me any money. ;-) That way I can keep track on the number of people that use PM Timer and in what countries they live. This will help me to decide on future releases for the program. Copyright and Warranty ====================== PM Timer/2 en all files that come with it in the archive may only be spread in unmodified form with or without the author's permission. If you decide to spread the program on a certain media (say disk or CD) you are only allowed to charge minimal fees to cover expenses. In any other case the author's written permission is needed. PM Timer comes without any kind of warranty. The only thing I can guarantee is that the program uses harddisk space, RAM and CPU-time. The author assumes no responsibility for any damage or loss of data arising from the use or inability to use this program.