CHAPTER 16 FAQs -- FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS This section contains a list of commonly experienced problems, and a statement of the probable cause. You should be aware of these symptoms so that you can fix or avoid the problem. 1) My screen displays funny characters at the end of every line, or has strange garbles in other places. The most likely cause is that there is a discrepancy between the setup of your terminal emulator and your Free-Net setup. SEE Chapters 3 and 6 of this New User's Guide. NOTE: You can check your current setup at any time by giving the command "printenv". A listing for a reasonably normal printenv is at the end of Chapter 6. 2) My screen display scrolls right through long articles faster than I can read them. It is likely that paging has been turned off in your OSFN setup. Use the "go config" command to get to the Set Environment Parameters menu, then SELECT - Set your system parameter, and finally SELECT - Use the system pager. You should also double check other parameter settings as per the Free-Net Setup section of the New Users Guide. Do not forget to SELECT item - Save your Environment Parameters before exiting from the Set Environment menu. 3) What is the status of the Xmodem, Ymodem or Zmodem protocols in the File Transfer menu? These three protocols are still under test and are not certified to work at the moment. The only protocol that is fully tested for text transfers is KERMIT. It will not transfer binary files reliably however. It is hoped that we will have a fully operational set of protocols in the near future. 4) When using the "+" command repeatedly to step through the article list in newsgroups my modem seems to disconnect. With many modems a sequence of "+++" will cause the modem switch to command mode. The sequence "AT A" should return it to communication mode. It is best to avoid the problem by using only the "=" command to step through newsgroup article lists. It is equivalent to "+" for that purpose. 5) Is there any way to avoid the page breaks for every screen in an article that is captured to a file on my PC? In the case of something that is being read by the mail reader or the news reader, using the upper case commands "T", "V", "N", and "B" will result in the article being displayed continuously without page breaks. If you are capturing an article from a menu, enter the command "nopage" before displaying the article. When done, enter the command "page" to turn paging back on. 6) What causes the "Incomplete Termcap Entry" diagnostic, and what will prevent it? This diagnostic means that the terminal type that you have selected in your OSFN setup is "too dumb" to run the program that you are trying to run. It may also mean that by failing to do a selection, you are set up for the default dumb terminal. The fix is to define a terminal type such as a VT100 on both Free-Net and in your terminal emulation. SEE the Setup sections in this Guide. 7) When I try to use Gopher I get assorted problems including rapid scrolling of the screen. The Gopher service works best with a VT100 terminal. Make sure it is properly set up in both your terminal emulator and in your OSFN setup. SEE both setup sections in this Guide. 8) How do I send Email to subscribers on CompuServe? To send mail to CompuServe use an address of the form: 12345.6789@compuserve.com where the number is the addressee's CompuServe account number with the comma changed to a period. 9) I get garbled information when I access the HELIN catalog through the OSFN. For best results, set your terminal emulator software to VT100 emulation, and ensure that your Free-Net environment is also set to VT100. SEE the Setup Sections in this Guide. 10) When using Chet's Editor I can't get the commands with Escape sequences to work - the escape becomes a space. Chet's Editor does handle Escapes properly - the problem is likely in your terminal emulation program. Some of these require the user to explicitly define the escape key. There may be other things needed as part of the emulator setup process. 11) Why doesn't the Chat facility work? This facility is up and running but occasionally is "down" for various reasons. It is a particularly demanding function for the system. If you cannot get on for a while, send a note to Free-Net@osfn.rhilinet.gov and explain. 12) I have a file that must have a garbled name, and I can neither access it nor delete it. The name probably has some unknown non-printing characters in it, so you cannot reference it properly by name. The cure is to use the Directory Editor (the last item on the file services menu). When selected, Dir-Ed will give you a display of all files in your directory. By moving the cursor with the up/down arrow keys, SELECT the offending file. Enter a "c" for copy, and then follow instructions to copy the file to a new file with a valid name. Then with the cursor still on the offending file, enter "d" to delete it. Finally enter "q" to quit. On the way out you will be asked to confirm the deletion request. 13) My connection with OSFN is often terminated abruptly. If you have the call waiting feature on the telephone line that you use with your computer, you must disable this before dialing OSFN. If you fail to do this, a incoming call will generate a call waiting signal which will corrupt the data signals and probably cause a disconnect. You should include the characters *70 or some variant in your modem dialing string before the RINet number. You should check with Nynex for the specific sequence to use for your exchange. 14) Can I use FTP and Telnet from OSFN? FTP (file transfer protocol) is not supported on OSFN. A limited form of Telnet is supported. Telnet connections can be made to a number of other Free-Net installations as provided in the Communications menu. In addition, the Gopher Service in the Library menu will allow some other connections. Unlimited Telnet to any Internet site is not supported. 15) Is there any way of turning off the signature in the mail signature file for selected messages, or for selecting between multiple signatures? No. If there is anything at all in your signature file, that will be appended automatically to every message or posting just before it is sent. If you want a selective or multiple signature, make sure that the signature file is empty, and put the desired signatures as separate files in your work directory. Then before sending a message, use the append a file option to add the specific signature desired. This requires a conscious action with each message, unlike the normal signature file. 16) When I try to download something with Gopher it tells me that I can't do it on my system. What does this mean? It means that you can not download software from other sites using OSFN. This is in part to limit the data traffic that we impose on the Internet. A more important reason is that OSFN is not in the business of competing with commercial bulletin boards and information services in the distribution of software. 17) I was able to complete and post a message after the five minute warning sounded, but was not able to exit before I was bumped. I now find that all the articles that I read are unmarked. Can I prevent/recover from this? If you have a defined point in the article list where you stopped reading, you may go to that article and enter a "k" command. All prior articles will be marked as read. On the other hand, if you had a scattered reading pattern, there is no easy way to restore the marking except doing it over one at a time. To prevent loss of article marking, you can enter the "w" command at any time to force the newsreader to write your information to file immediately. 18) I am often caught by the "five minutes to go" warning when I am in the middle of composing a long message. I can't save the message, but to send it as is may be confusing. Is there a way out? When that happens, the best quick way out it to skip to the top of the message and edit the To: and Cc: fields so that it will be sent to your address only. Then send it, exit from the mailer, and log off. Log on again at your convenience, then read the message you have just sent to yourself, and SELECT the "r" for reply option. The message will then appear in your edit screen. Edit the To: and Cc: fields to the correct addresses, delete the Re: from the subject field, and delete the ">" marks from the left margin of the text. Then go ahead and complete the text and send the message in the normal way. 19) I've heard that I can get documents sent to me when using Gopher but it doesn't seem to work. What am I doing wrong? Some Gopher servers have disabled the function because of extremely heavy usage. If you are instructed to "type m to mail", try it. Be forewarned however, that it can take a long time to go through. If you get tired of waiting, press the Control and C keys together and it will "break" the process. 20) When I get stuck in Gopher how do I get out without shutting off the machine or exiting the software? On Free-Net in most cases if you are stuck trying to connect to something or get something mailed to you in a Gopher you can "break" the connection by pressing the Control and C keys at the same time. This should put you back where you were before you started the connection. Based on the National Capital Free-Net "Survival Guide" with permission osfngui4.txt/wri/112294/mvs  .