BCTERM
Terminal Emulator Program for Bridge Crew



Introduction	1
Multi-port Card Configuration	1
Daisy Chaining	1
Screen Layout	2
BCTERSET - BCTERM Setup Program	3
File Menu	3
New	3
Read From	3
Save	3
Save As	3
About	3
Exit	3
Change Menu	4
Function Keys	4
Boiler Plate	5
Graphic Mode	6
Ports	7
Port Attached to Main Bridge Crew Machine	7
Other port Type	7
Am I the first Bcterm in this chain	7
Light	8
Sound	9
Windows	10
Help Menu	10



Introduction

BCTERM is a Terminal Emulation Program produced for use with Bridge Crew.  It allows any IBM or compatible 
computer to operate as a Bridge Crew terminal, as long as it is attached to the main computer running Bridge Crew 
via a null-modem cable.  The main computer will have one or more PCs running BCTERM and/or dumb terminals 
attached to a multi-port card or COM1 and/or COM2 via null-modem cables.  

Multi-port Card Configuration

					Main Computer
	Com1		Com2		Port1		Port2		Port3		Port4
	  |		  |		  |		  |		  |		  |	
	  |		  |		  |		  |		  |		  |	
	Terminal	  PC		  PC		Terminal	Terminal	 PC

In addition, BCTERM allows PCs to be 'daisy-chained' together using null-modem cables.  In this configuration, a 
PC (lets call it PCa)  running BCTERM is connected from the main computer's COM1 port to PCa's COM1 port, 
then an additional PC or a dumb terminal is connected to PCa through PCa's COM2 port.   PCb and an additional 
PC are connected to the Main computer's COM2 port in the same manner. 

Daisy Chaining

					Main Computer			
				Com1				Com2	  	
				  |				  |	
				  |				  |	
				aCom1				bCom1	
				 PCa				 PCb
				aCom2				bCom2
				  |				  |		
				  |				  |		
				Terminal			 PC

Features

BCTERM supports the following features:

	Programmable function keys
	Variable screen layout
	Up to four different sounds (the Sound Blaster compatible sound card must be installed in the machine 
running BCTERM.)
	A lightbox attached to the printer port.



Screen Layout

The screen layout of BCTERM can be altered by the user.  The screen consists of four areas:

	Reports
	Messages
	Input
	Function keys

The generic form of the screen is shown below.  To run BCTERM with the generic screen, type 	
	BCTERM GENERIC.DAT
at the command prompt of the PC that is to run BCTERM. 

+---------------------------REPORTS------------PGUP PGDN--------------+ DEFAULT
                                                                      F1
                                                                      WHO
                                                                      =======
                                                                      F2
                                                                      RECON
                                                                      =======
                                                                      F3
                                                                      THINGS
                                                                      =======
                                                                      F4
                                                                     
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+ =======
+---------------------------MESSAGES----------------------------------+ F5
Terminal initialised                                                 
Connections established                                               =======
                                                                      F6
                                                                     
                                                                      =======
                                                                      F7
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
+---------------------------INPUT-------------------------------------+ =======
                                                                       F8
BLASTER environment not set or incomplete or invalid.                 
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+ =======

A screen designed to assist the GM is shipped with Bridge Crew; it is in the file GM.DAT.

The size and location of the Reports, Messages and Input areas of the screen can be altered using the Change 
Windows option in BCTERSET.  The headings of these areas and the special characters used in the borders of the 
areas can be altered using the Change Boiler Plate option of BCTERSET.  The size and location of the function key 
area can be altered using the Change Function Keys option of BCTERSET.



BCTERSET - BCTERM Setup Program

In order to use BCTERM effectively, details of the Main Computer and the computer running BCTERM must be 
entered via the setup program - BCTERSET.

BCTERSET has three options in its main menu

	File
	Change
	Help

File Menu

The File menu has the following options:

	New
	Read From
	Save
	Save As
	About
	Exit

New
	New initialises all the BCTERM setup details

Read From
	Reads the setup details from an existing file and loads them into BCTERSET's work area.  An example 
screen is shown below:
  File  Change  Help
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
_______________+-[_]-------------- Read File ------------------+________________
_______________                                               ________________
_______________  Name                                         ________________
_______________   *.DAT                      _     Open   _  ________________
_______________                                    _________  ________________
_______________  Files                                        ________________
_______________   BCTERSET.DAT   ..\              Cancel  _  ________________
_______________   COX.DAT                         _________  ________________
_______________   TEMP.DAT                                   ________________
_______________   TEST.DAT                                   ________________
_______________   TESTHIN.DAT                                ________________
_______________   TESTHOUT.DAT                               ________________
_______________   TESTNIN.DAT                                ________________
_______________   TESTNOUT.DAT                               ________________
_______________   _____________________________               ________________
_______________                                               ________________
_______________ D:\BCTERM\*.DAT                               ________________
_______________ BCTERSET.DAT 23446      Oct 18,1994  08:33p   ________________
_______________+-----------------------------------------------+________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
 Alt-X Exit  F9 View Screen  F10 Menu

Save
	Saves the current settings.

Save As
	Saves the current settings in a file of your choosing.
About
	Displays information about the author of the program.
Exit
	Exit from BCTERSET.  You can also exit the program by typing Alt X.

Change Menu

The Change Menu has the following options:

	Function Keys
	Boiler Plate
	Graphic Mode
	Ports
	Light
	Sound
	Windows

The options Function Keys, Boiler Plate and Windows used together, allow you to design your own BCTERM 
screen.  If you wish to design your own screen rather than use the one(s) supplied, the F9 key allows you to view 
the screen layout as you work.  F10 will return you to the BCTERSET menu.

Function Keys
Selecting Function Keys from the Change Menu will display the screen shown below:

  File  Change  Help
________________________________________________________________________________
____+-[_]--------------- Setup function keys for BCterm -------------------+____
____    Text on                                                           ____
____    Screen      Command to send out                                   ____
____ F1  WHO         WHO                                                  ____
____ F2  RECON       RECON                                                ____
____ F3  THINGS      THINGS                                               ____
____ F4                                                                   ____
____ F5                                                                   ____
____ F6                                                                   ____
____ F7                                                                   ____
____ F8                                                                   ____
____                                                                      ____
____ Start X pos  73     Increment X  0      Separator  61                ____
____ Start Y pos  2      Increment Y  3      Length     7                 ____
____                             Display Function Keys Yes               ____
____                                                                      ____
____     Ok   _   Cancel _                                                ____
____   ________   ________                                                ____
____+----------------------------------------------------------------------+____
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
 Alt-X Exit  F9 View Screen  F10 Menu

Enter the text that you wish to appear on the screen for each function key under the heading Text on Screen.  
Enter a valid Bridge Crew command under the heading Command to Send Out.  You cannot use a macro in the 
command.

It is also possible to alter the location and size of the function key area on the BCTERM screen using fields 
shown towards the bottom of the screen.

	Start X pos	The horizontal starting position of the function key area - the number entered is the 
number of characters from the left hand side of the screen.
	Start Y pos	The vertical starting position of the function key area - the number entered is the 
number of characters from the top of the screen.
	Increment X	The number of characters in the x-direction (i.e. horizontally) from the start of one 
function key to the start of the next.
	Increment Y	The number of characters in the y-direction (i.e. vertically) from the start of one 
function key to the start of the next.
	Length	The length of text (and separator) for each function key.
	Separator	The ASCII code for the separator character (61 is the code for the equals sign - =).

In the example above, the function keys appear vertically down the right hand side of the screen.  See the 
picture of the BCTERM screen in the Screen Layout section.



Boiler Plate 
Selecting Boiler Plate from the Change Menu will display the screen shown below:

  File  Change  Help
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
_______+-[_]------------ Boiler Plate Setup for Bcterm -----------------+_______
_______                                                                _______
_______ Color   4       Background Character  32                       _______
_______                                                                _______
_______                                                      Insert    _______
_______  X    Y    Text                             X    Y   Character _______
_______  29   1     REPORTS                         71   23   24       _______
_______  48   1     PGUP PGDN                       71   24   25       _______
_______  29   14    MESSAGES                        0    0    0        _______
_______  29   22    INPUT                           0    0    0        _______
_______  73   1     DEFAULT                         0    0    0        _______
_______  0    0                                     0    0    0        _______
_______  0    0                                     0    0    0        _______
_______  0    0                                     0    0    0        _______
_______                                                                _______
_______     Ok   _   Cancel _                                          _______
_______   ________   ________                                          _______
_______+----------------------------------------------------------------+_______
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
 Alt-X Exit  F9 View Screen  F10 Menu

This screen can be used to change the colour of the screen, the background character, the headings of the various 
screen areas on BCTERM and the positioning of the special characters used as up/down arrows on the messages 
area.  The screen areas, as titled in the above screen, are

	REPORTS	the response to the latest REPORT command.
	PGUP	view the result of the previous REPORT command.
	PGDN	view the result of the REPORT command entered after the one you are currently viewing.
	MESSAGES	The response to the last non-report command that you entered.
	INPUT	The text of the most recent command that you entered
	DEFAULT	The heading of the function key area.

The values for X and Y shown on the left hand side of the headings are the starting positions of those headings.  For 
example, 29 1 SPY INFO will place the heading SPY INFO 29 characters from the left of the screen and 1 character 
down from the top of the screen (rather than the heading REPORTS).

The area on the right hand side of the boiler plate screen, headed up Insert Character and requiring X and Y 
characters, is used for including special characters in the screen design.  In the layout defined by the above screen, 
the up arrow is placed in location (71,23); the down arrow in location (71,24) - the right hand side of the INPUT 
area.  BCTERM retains the last four commands entered by the player.  When the up arrow is activated, the 
previous command is displayed and can be sent, clicking on the down arrow will display the command entered after 
the one currently shown.



Graphic Mode

Selecting Graphic Mode from the Change Menu will display the screen shown below.  To bring up a selection of 
available graphics modes, click on the triangle at the right hand side of the Setup Graphics Mode box.

  File  Change  Help
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
______________________+-[_]-- Setup Graphics Mode ------+_______________________
______________________                                 _______________________
______________________ Graphics Mode EGA/VGA          _______________________
______________________                                 _______________________
______________________                                 _______________________
______________________     Ok   _   Cancel _           _______________________
______________________   ________   ________           _______________________
______________________+---------------------------------+_______________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
 Alt-X Exit  F9 View Screen  F10 Menu

The following table of values will be displayed:

+-[_]------------- Table Values -----------------+
                                                
           Select Value                         
     Mono                    -                  
     CGA                     _                  
     EGA/VGA                 _        Ok   _    
                             _      ________    
                             _                  
                             _                  
                             _                  
                             _      Cancel _    
                             _      ________    
                             _                  
                                               
                                                
+------------------------------------------------+

Select the required graphics mode and click on Ok.



Ports

If you intend running Bridge Crew with daisy-chaining, you must set up the port parameters.  Selecting Ports from 
the Change Menu will display the screen shown below.

  File  Change  Help
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
_____________+-[_]---- Setup port parameters for BCterm ---------+______________
_____________                                                   ______________
_____________ Port Attached to Main Bridge Crew Machine COM2   ______________
_____________ Other port Type Nothing                          ______________
_____________ Am I the first Bcterm in this chain Yes          ______________
_____________                                                   ______________
_____________     Ok   _   Cancel _                             ______________
_____________   ________   ________                             ______________
_____________+---------------------------------------------------+______________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
 Alt-X Exit  F9 View Screen  F10 Menu

Port Attached to Main Bridge Crew Machine

To tell BCTERM which communications port is attached to the main Bridge Crew machine, click on the triangle to 
the right of the "Port Attached to Main Bridge Crew Machine" literal.  A Table Values box will be displayed, giving 
the options of:
	COM1
	COM2
Select the appropriate port and click on OK (or highlight the Ok box using the tab key and press enter).  In the 
screen shown above, COM2 has previously been chosen as the port attached to the main Bridge Crew machine.

Other port Type

To tell BCTERM about the other port on the local machine (i.e. the machine running BCTERM) click on the 
triangle to the right of the "Other port Type" literal.  A Table Values box will be displayed, giving the options of:
	Nothing
	Mouse
	Dumb Terminal
	PC running BCTERM

If the local machine is the last (or only) machine in this daisy chain, choose Nothing or Mouse, depending on 
whether the other COM port has nothing or a mouse attached to it.

If the local machine is the first machine in this daisy-chain, it may have either a dumb terminal attached to it or 
another PC (IBM compatible, Amiga, Atari or Macintosh) running a VT100 terminal emulation program.  If either 
of these two situations applies, select the option Dumb Terminal.

If the local machine is the first machine in this daisy-chain, it may have another (IBM compatible) PC running 
BCTERM attached to it.  If so, select the option PC running BCTERM.

Am I the first Bcterm in this chain

Click on the triangle to the right of the "Am I the first Bcterm in this chain" literal.  A Table Values box will be 
displayed, giving the options of:
	Yes
	No

Choose the appropriate option and click on Ok.

Light

Selecting Light from the Change Menu will display the screen shown below.  This screen is used when setting the 
parameters to use a light box when running Bridge Crew.  The light box is plugged into the parallel port LPT1 
(printer port).  The light box has been specially developed for use with Bridge Crew and is only available through 
Mithril Software.  

  File  Change  Help
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
_______________+-[_] Setup light box parameters for Bcterm ----+________________
_______________                                               ________________
_______________ Light Box in use No                          ________________
_______________                                               ________________
_______________ Light Number For Ship is Hit      Light 8    ________________
_______________                                               ________________
_______________ Light Number For Condition Green  Light 1    ________________
_______________ Light Number For Condition Red    Light 2    ________________
_______________ Light Number For Condition Blue   Light 3    ________________
_______________ Light Number For Condition Yellow Light 4    ________________
_______________                                               ________________
_______________                                               ________________
_______________     Ok   _   Cancel _                         ________________
_______________   ________   ________                         ________________
_______________+-----------------------------------------------+________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
 Alt-X Exit  F9 View Screen  F10 Menu

Click on the triangle to the right of the "Light Box in use" literal.  A Table Values box will be displayed, giving the 
options of:
	Yes
	No
Choose the appropriate option and click on Ok.

If you choose Yes and have a light box available, you can tell BCTERM which light should be activated for each 
condition code.

Eight lights are available.  In the example above, coloured lights are inserted into each of the first four sockets, one 
for each condition code (red for condition red, green for condition green etc.).  The eighth light is currently a power 
point mounted on the box, into which we plug a table lamp that can be pointed at the players.  This is then 
configured, using the Light Number For Ship is Hit option, to flash when the players' ship is hit by an opponent.  
The select the light number for any of the condition codes or for the Ship is Hit option, click on the triangle to the 
right of the literal.  A Table Values box will be displayed, giving the options of:

	Light 1
	Light 2
	Light 3
	Light 4
	Light 5
	Light 6
	Light 7
	Light 8
Choose the appropriate option and click on Ok.



Sound (Please note: The sound option is currently unavailable. This problem
                    is going to rectified and there will be a SHAREWARE 
                    release of BCTERM with sound support. - DR)

Selecting Sound from the Change Menu will display the screen shown below.  This screen is used when setting the 
parameters to use a sound effects when running Bridge Crew.  Note that the sound card must be in a machine 
running BCTERM, not the main machine running Bridge Crew.

  File  Change  Help
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
__+-[_]--------------- Setup sound parameters for BCterm --------------------+__
__                                                                          __
__ Sound type in use          Sound Blaster                                __
__ Sound to be read from file No     (Sounds Must be on a Ram Disk if Yes) __
__                                                                          __
__ Sound File for Hit on Shields  D:\BCTERM\BC5.VOC                         __
__ Sound File Condition Green                                               __
__ Sound File Condition Red                                                 __
__ Sound File Condition Blue                                                __
__ Sound File Condition Yellow                                              __
__                                                                          __
__ Sound files must be in .VOC format and have some size restrictions       __
__ see help on sound for details                                            __
__                                                                          __
__     Ok   _   Cancel _                                                    __
__   ________   ________                                                    __
__+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+__
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
 Alt-X Exit  F9 View Screen  F10 Menu

To tell BCTERM whether or not sound is in use, click on the triangle to the right of the "Sound type in use" literal.  
A Table Values box will be displayed, giving the options of:
	None
	Sound Blaster
	PC speaker
Choose the appropriate option and click on Ok.

You can choose your own sound files to run with Bridge Crew, provided that they are in .VOC format, take less 
than two seconds to play and are smaller than 32 kilobytes in size.  Enter the path and file name of each of the 
sound files that you wish to play.



Windows

Selecting Windows from the Change Menu will display the screen shown below.  This screen is used to change the 
screen layout for BCTERM, in conjunction with the Boiler Plate and Function Keys screens.

There are four windows on the BCTERM screen, Main, Reports, Messages and Input.  The Main window 
contains all the other windows (function keys are placed within the bounds of the Main window).  The definition 
shown below is for the BCTERM screen shown at the start of this document.  The other windows are:

	REPORTS	the response to the latest REPORT command.
	MESSAGES	The response to the last non-report command that you entered.
	INPUT	The text of the most recent command that you entered

  File  Change  Help
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
_______+-[_]-------------- Windows Setup for Bcterm -------------------+________
_______  Window      Left  Top   Right Bottom Colour Border           ________
_______  Main         1     1     80    25     1     No              ________
_______  Reports      2     2     70    12     2     Yes             ________
_______  Messages     2     15    70    20     3     Yes             ________
_______  Input        2     23    70    24     15    Yes             ________
_______                                                               ________
_______  Vertical Line Char    186     Top Left Corner Char      201  ________
_______  Horizontal Line Char  205     Bottom Right Corner Char  188  ________
_______                                Top Right Corner Char     187  ________
_______                                Bottom Left Corner Char   200  ________
_______                                                               ________
_______     Ok   _   Cancel _                                         ________
_______   ________   ________                                         ________
_______+---------------------------------------------------------------+________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
 Alt-X Exit  F9 View Screen  F10 Menu

You define window's area on the screen by telling the program the starting position of each side of the window.  For 
example, the Reports window is defined as Left 2, Top 2, Right 70 and Bottom 12.  This means that the left hand of 
the report starts 2 characters from the left of the screen, and finishes 70 characters from the left of the screen, the 
top of the window starts 2 characters from the top of the screen and finishes 12 characters from the top of the 
screen.  You may choose a colour for the window - use the ASCII code.  Each window may have a border - click on 
the triangle under the literal "Border" for the given window.  A Table Values box will be displayed, giving the 
options of:
	Yes
	No
Choose the appropriate option and click on Ok.

If a border is chosen, the characters that make up that border may be chosen using the ASCII codes for the desired 
special characters.  These are selected using the fields shown at the bottom of the screen:

Vertical Line Char
186
Double Vertical line

Horizontal Line Char
205
Double Horizontal line

Top Left Corner Char
201
Double top left hand corner

Bottom Right Corner Char
188
Double bottom right hand corner

Top Right Corner Char
187
Double top right hand corner

Bottom Left Corner Char
200
Double bottom left hand corner


Help Menu

The help menu is not yet fully implemented.

- i -


