Monitor v1.5


Syntax:  Monitor <COMNAME> <...>

Example: Monitor Com3 Com4
         Watches Com3 and Com4.

Synopsis:
  Monitor provides modem lights for those of us who have internal modems.
New features (from 1.1) include a pop-up menu (rt click), the ability to
drag w/o a titlebar (use left mouse button), and it now remembers where it
was and what the settings were.  Different ports will remember their
positions/settings individually.  If you get really messed up, you can erase
all of the saved settings by deleting the Monitor.Ini file (now it will stay
in the executable's dir).

  Since many people have asked for explanations of the settings, here goes
(Note that building a help file is in the ToDo list ;-)

       The Interval slider controls how often Monitor samples the port.  In
   the red region (30-80 ms), Monitor runs at TimeCritical priority so that 
   it will pre-empt most other programs.  In the blue region, it runs at 
   Server priority; either way, it tries to be nice to OS/2 by only sampling
   every <n> ms.

       The Signals section doesn't work yet (await v. 2.0).  I don't think
   this is a good way to select the signals; I am open to suggestions (see
   postscript).

       If something doesn't read what is in the port in the time given by the
   Bit Eater slider, Monitor will flush the port and optionally drop the DTR 
   if the Bit Eater is enabled.  The RD LED can remain lit forever without
   activating the Bit Eater; the Bit Eater is reset every time something has 
   removed *any* bytes from the port.  You can tell when the Bit Eater gets
   hungry because it will change the BaudRate indicator to "...." shortly
   before it munches down.  New from 1.2b.
 
       The "Always On Top" and "Remove From TaskList" options are controlled
   by value-sets (though I want to make them into a 4 state checkbox to save 
   space).  The Red minus will clear the setting from all windows.  Selecting
   the blank option removes the setting from the current window.  The green
   checkmark applies it to the current window, and the blue plus sets the 
   option for all windows. New from 1.2b.

  See buglist.txt and ToDo.txt to see what I have planned for the future.
See the end of this document and the History.Txt and Signals.Txt files for
a more in-depth discussion of the menus/options/controls/indicators.  
Or just play!

Caveats:
  This does not work with programs the lock the com port when they open it
(Ckermit!!!).  It does, however, work with DOIP and many comm programs. With 
some set-ups, the order which you fire up Monitor & the other apps may be 
important.  Since Monitor holds the comm port open, OS/2 will not 
automatically drop DTR when the other app exits.  The other app must 
*explicitly* drop DTR or you can tell Monitor to drop DTR when the bit eater
becomes active.

  Monitor does not attempt to analyze the data streams, so it has no idea what
is being sent accross the wire (be it TCP/IP packets, whatever).  This means 
that it can't provide you with the modem-modem link speed (unless you have the
port set to auto fall back... not a good idea).  I *might* be able to get CPS
rates into the program, but it will be a while.

  Also, if some data comes accross the modem (like RING), but nothing reads 
the data from the comm port, the RD light will stay on, indicating that there
is data to be read (unless the bit eater is enabled).

  This program was tested with Ray Gwinn's SIO drivers, but should work with 
the standard OS/2 drivers.


Price: 
  This Version is FREE, but donations are always accepted.

Standard Disclaimer:
  This program has NO warranties or guarantees.  I, Thor Johnson, may not be
held liable for any consequences of this program.  If you cannot live with 
these terms, do not use this program.

Postscript:
If you didn't discover the secret last time, unzip the archive with Info-Zip, 
and view this file with EPM.  Voila!  Color!  Fonts!

Hey, if you like/dislike the security system, drop me a note!  Let me know if 
you even care about it.  

I need some help:

  1. Why don't text controls react all the time (on my 8MB [yes, I am 
    DEVELOPING on 8MB] system, the Baud rate indicator may/may not initialize
    ok)?

  2. How would you like to set the controls?  (Bear in mind that the LED's 
    can be/are twice the size of text)

  3. Does anyone use the font/color pallettes to customize their Monitor, 
    and should I save that?

  4. If you get a message box with "Internal Error," please let me know!  
    This message is embedded in places where something went drastically
    wrong.

Plans for version 2.0:  This will be in a while (~1.5 month, hopefully).  I'm
going to make version 2.0 Shareware (maybe meterware).

-Thor Johnson