Contents for SlipKnot Help


Getting started 



Terminal Setup
 
Terminal Features 

SlipKnot WEB Setup 

WEB Features 

SlipKnot WEB limitations 

Registration Information 

Troubles

Upgrading 

Distributing SlipKnot 



Terminal Setup
The Terminal Setup is probably the trickiest operation in working with 
SlipKnot.  Luckily, it need be done only once. The following steps should 
guide you through this initialization process (keep this help screen up while 
you are changing the Terminal settings for the first time, or print these 
topics on your printer): 

1.      Check the settings in the Setup/Communications screen.
	Setup/Communications 
	

2.      Set or change the Terminal font and colors.
	Terminal font and colors 
	

3.      Set up your Host characteristics.
	Host 
	

4.      Try logging in to your host (Connect).
	Connecting
	

5.      Test file transfer
	File transfer 
	

6.      Activating SlipKnot's WEB browser
	The WEB browser 
	



SlipKnot WEB

First of all, for SlipKnot features, display the "Features and Hints" document 
-- there is a link to it built into the SlipKnot Local Home Page. 

Configuration Options for SlipKnot Web: (using the menu item: Configure) WEB 
Configuration 

SlipKnot WEB buttons: WEB buttons 

What can you do with documents? (pressing the "File" menu item on a document 
window):Doing things to documents 



Terminal Features

1.   VT-100 emulator allowing you to have full access to screen-intensive 
     UNIX programs. 

2.   File upload/download capabilities (press the menu item: Communications).

3.   Changeable fonts allow you to size the Terminal to fit your screen and 
     eyes.

WEB Features

There is a list of SlipKnot WEB features in the document: "Features and 
Hints".  To display it, retrieve the SlipKnot Local Home Page (press the 
button with the shareware-looking house), and inside, you will find a link to 
the "Features and Hints" page. 

Saving documents 


Setup communications

This screen sets up serial communications with your modem.

Note:  Check any other communications program that you are successfully using 
to help set these options. 

Port: choose the COM port that your modem is connected to.

Tone/Pulse: choose Tone if you have Touch-Tone service.  Otherwise, choose 
Pulse if all of your telephones are rotary dial type. 

Modem Initialization: These are the characters that are sent to your modem to 
insure that it is working properly.  Check with your other communications 
programs for this setting.  


The default SlipKnot settings are: 
	AT  &F  E1  V1  L1  S0=0

The meanings for these special modem "incantations" are:


AT    means "attention".  All Hayes-compatible modems start with this command

&F    means reset all modem options to default factory settings.

E1    means "echo commands".  Your modem will send back any commands your 
      computer sends, so that they may appear on the screen and be seen by 
      SlipKnot. 

V1    means "verbose".  Your modem will respond with words instead of numbers 
      when an event occurs. 

L1    means "set speaker to middle volume".

S0=0  means "set auto-answer off".  Your modem will not pick up the phone when 
      it rings. 

Modem Hangup: These are the characters sent to your modem to request it to 
hangup the phone. 


Connect string: This is what your modem responds with when it connects with 
your host's modem. 

Disconnect string: This is what your modem responds with when the host's 
modem decides to disconnect. 

Next step: Terminal font and colors 


Terminal font and colors

Terminal Font


Choose the Terminal font type (typeface) and size according to the resultant 
size of the terminal window.  If you choose too large a size, the terminal 
window will not fit on your screen.  If you choose too small a size, you will 
not be able to read the characters easily.  Experiment.  Each time you choose 
a font and size, the terminal window will adjust in size. 

Note:  Choose a typeface that is "monospaced".  These are typefaces where all 
characters have identical width (the "i" is the same size as the "m").  If you 
will be using any programs on your UNIX host that do a lot of screen 
manipulation, those programs will expect same-sized letters on your screen, 
and will show strange effects if your typeface is not monospaced.  Typical 
monospaced typefaces are: Courier, Courier New, FixedSys and Terminal. 



Terminal colors

Our only advice here is to make sure you do not pick the same color for both 
text and background. 


Next step: set up Host characteristics 

Host

What is a host?

Writing login and logout scripts  

Note: First step: check to see if your host is already configured: look at the 
drop-down list of Host names.   Is there already one there that looks like the 
name of your UNIX service provider?  If so, most of your work is already done! 

Note: If your host's name is SAMPLE (the default host provided by SlipKnot), 
please make a copy of this host (press the "Make Copy" button) before you do 
anything else.  Do not change the characteristics of the SAMPLE host -- it is 
meant to serve as an example only. 


Creating a new host

Press the "Make Copy" button.  Assign a new name to the host (up to 8 
characters, no punctuation!).  

Comment...

...as a short description of the host.

Phone number

Remember to use the "1-" prefix if you are calling outside your own area code.

Note: Users with the "Call Waiting" feature: in some areas you can dial a 
short number (like "*70") to disable call-waiting for the duration of an 
outgoing call.  If you want to do this, type the prefix, then add a comma, 
then the host phone number. 


Terminal Emulation

Choose the type of terminal emulation expected by your host.  Choose VT-100 if 
in doubt. 

Speed, data bits, stop bits, parity

Choose the maximum speed that your modem is capable of and your host accepts.  
If in doubt about data bits: choose "8"; about stop bits: choose "1"; about 
parity: choose "None". 


Send/Get Protocol

You have 4 choices: Xmodem and Xmodem-CRC, which are slow; and Xmodem-1K and 
YModem-Batch, which are much faster.  Use Xmodem-1K or Ymodem-Batch if your 
host supports either of them. 

Why not Zmodem?  After all, Zmodem is the fastest...  In a word, because 
SlipKnot needs to communicate with your host in the background -- this is one 
of its most important features.  Zmodem is a "streaming" protocol.  This means 
that the sender will send data even if the receiver does not reply.  If file 
transfers are performed in the foreground (while you watch and wait), your 
computer will be able to keep up with the incoming data.  However, SlipKnot 
allows you to do other work while it is retrieving the WEB documents you 
requested, and many machines cannot keep up with the incoming data in the 
background when this happens.  Even on fast machines, this can be a problem 
and the incoming documents will be garbled if any characters are lost.  The 
Xmodem and Ymodem protocols in SlipKnot will guarantee that the host will stop 
(after each packet) leaving SlipKnot to catch its breath.  By the way, Ymodem-
Batch and Xmodem-1K are only 10% to 25% slower than Zmodem on a normally 
loaded UNIX system. 



Get file from UNIX

This is the command to request a file from your UNIX system.  After you have 
chosen a protocol, if you don't know what this UNIX command is, check online 
using "man xmodem" or "man ymodem", or ask other users or your system 
administrator.  If in doubt, use the default choice provided by SlipKnot. 

Note: If you are not using the SlipKnot-provided default, be sure to include 
the "{filename}" string in the correct place inside your command.  Otherwise, 
SlipKnot will not understand how to compose the actual command when 
communicating with UNIX. 

Note: Do not confuse Ymodem-Batch with the Ymodem-G protocol.  If you are 
using Ymodem-Batch, and decide to change the default Get File From UNIX 
command, be careful that the command does NOT activate the Ymodem-G protocol 
(which is a streaming protocol -- see explanation under "Why not Zmodem?" 
above for why SlipKnot cannot support streaming protocols). 


Send file to UNIX

The same suggestions apply here as in the "Get file" above.  If you are using 
any variant of the Xmodem protocol, you must include the "{filename}" string 
somewhere in this command. 


UNIX Interrupt

This is the key to press on your UNIX system to interrupt an executing 
command.  The two most common ones (Control-C and DEL) are available in the 
drop-down list.  You may choose another by typing it in. 


File Timeout

When SlipKnot retrieves a file from your UNIX host, it will count this many 
seconds to wait for incoming communications traffic.  If the host doesn't 
respond in this amount of time, SlipKnot will conclude that something is wrong 
and start the transfer again.  This should be set to at least 30 seconds (50 
seconds or more is better, especially if your UNIX host tends to get loaded 
down and slow). 


Tickle host every minute

Some hosts will hang up if you do not made a request periodically.  If you 
check this box, SlipKnot will ask the host for a new prompt -- by 
automatically sending a carriage-return or an interrupt -- every minute (while 
you are in the SlipKnot WEB renderer) to prevent the host from hanging up due 
to inactivity.  This activity places almost no demands on the host, but 
succeeds in informing it that you are still alive.  While you are using the 
SlipKnot Terminal, however, you are on your own in preventing your host from 
hanging up on you. 



World Wide Web program on UNIX

Your UNIX system must have either the "lynx" or "www" programs available for 
your use.  Choose "lynx" if both are available.  To find out which you have 
available, log on to your UNIX system, and try either the lynx or www commands 
from the prompt. 


Manual vs. Script-based Login

You can get SlipKnot Terminal to negotiate the entire login process for you -- 
sending all the right characters, including your login ID and password, to get 
you to your UNIX host's prompt, ready to go.  To do this you will have to 
write a login (and logout) script in SlipKnot's script language.  There is 
plenty of help to do this inside the sample script (see Help under "scripts"). 

On the other hand, you can tell SlipKnot that you'd like to login manually, 
thank you very much.  In this case, SlipKnot will simply dial for you, and 
then make sure that the modem on the other side responds.  And then you can 
type whatever else is necessary to complete the login process.  

You might choose this (manual login) option because: 1) it's simpler than 
trying to create a login script for the first time; or 2) your UNIX system 
displays different things each time you log in (for instance, it might display 
a Message-Of-The-Day that is longer than the screen and you need to type a 
Carriage-Return when this happens, but not when the Message is shorter -- and 
therefore your responses each day may be different, which is difficult to do 
in a login script). 

It is probably best to start with the Manual Login option checked.  And then 
when things are running smoothly, create your own login and logout scripts to 
automate the process. 

Login ID

This is your UNIX service provider login ID -- not necessary if you are using 
Manual Login. 


Set Password

(Not necessary if you are using Manual Login).  SlipKnot will ask for your 
UNIX password twice to make sure you have typed correctly.  It will keep this 
password in encrypted (secret) form on disk, so other people with access to 
your disk files will be unable to read it. 


UNIX Prompt

This allows SlipKnot to recognize your UNIX prompt.  For instance, Bourne 
shell users will probably use "$"; while C-shell users may choose "%". 

Note: Use only the constant part of your UNIX prompt.  For instance, if you 
are using the C-Shell, part of the prompt may change each time you log in, or 
each time you execute a UNIX command.  In this case, use only the part of the 
prompt, like "%" that doesn't change.  If this is not set correctly, SlipKnot 
will be unable to execute commands on your UNIX system because it will not 
recognize the prompt. 


Next step: (unless you've chosen Manual Login) writing login and 
logout Scripts 

Connecting

Having gone through the exercise of setting up all of the communications, 
terminal and host characteristics, we now come to trying to connect to your 
host.  Press the "Connect" button, and you should see the commands that 
SlipKnot is feeding your modem.  Eventually, your modem should dial the 
correct number and your host should answer.  Then the login script should take 
over (watch the status box on the bottom of the terminal window).  

Note: You will have succeeded in fully connecting to your UNIX host when the 
login script finishes and the status box on the bottom of your Terminal window 
flashes for a moment. 


Problems:

Note: if you have any problems connecting, press the "Disconnect" button and 
you should be able to disconnect almost immediately. 

     I don't see any commands in the Terminal window.  Possible causes: wrong 
     COM port specified; your modem's init string does not ask your modem to 
     echo commands (E1 and V1); your modem is not on. 

     I see garbage on the screen when the modems connect.  Possible causes: 
     the modems are connecting at the wrong speed or there is line noise: 
     trying disconnecting and connecting again.

     Everything connects fine, but SlipKnot doesn't flash the status box when I 
     finally get a prompt.  SlipKnot is not recognizing your UNIX system's 
     prompt: make sure that your have entered it correctly (in the Setup/Host 
     menu). 


Next step: Test file transfer 

What is a host?

The host is the name of your UNIX service provider.  The host setup screen 
records the characteristics of your host service. 


Login and Logout Scripts

These are the commands that SlipKnot will follow to dial your UNIX system and 
log in, or log out once your session is finished. 

To create a new script, press the "Edit Login script" button.

For the list of possible commands (the SlipKnot scripting language), look at 
the sample script in the SAMPLE host: select SAMPLE as your host and press the 
"Edit Login script" button. 

Note: Make sure your Logout script completely logs off from your UNIX system, 
by going through all of the commands to shut down your session. 

File overwrite problem -- Special Note:  Many UNIX C-Shell accounts, as well 
as BASH and TCSH and KSH, are configured to disallow overwriting of files 
without confirmation.  This feature prevents you from inadvertently deleting 
the information in a file when you wish to create another file by the same 
name.  Unfortunately, SlipKnot needs to do this (overwrite its own files) 
frequently, and will be stymied if this option is in effect.  This is called 
the "noclobber" option, and leads to complete failure on the part of SlipKnot 
in transferring files (which is essential).  See: Shell's 'noclobber' option 


Test file transfer

Note: when SlipKnot is retrieving WEB documents, your default directory on 
UNIX MUST be writable.  Normally, when most people log into their UNIX 
accounts, they are automatically connected to their home directories, into 
which they can write to their heart's content.  But if you travel around 
amongst directories, make sure you end up in one that is writable before 
activating any type of file transfer or retrieving WEB documents. 

The most important operation that SlipKnot performs is downloading 
(retrieving) files from the Internet (via your host).  To test this operation, 
you should use a small file that is in your directory on the host machine and 
whose contents you know. 

To create a small test file, if you don't already have one, you can use UNIX's 
date command.  This displays the current date, but we can save that 
information in a file called "sliptest.tmp".  To do this, execute the 
following command at your UNIX prompt:  date  >sliptest.tmp To check the file, 
execute:        cat  sliptest.tmp 

Now download your test file by activating the "Communications/Get file from 
host" menu item. 

If that fails, one reason may be that the "noclobber" option is set.  See the 
discussion under Login and Logout Scripts 




The WEB Browser

When you press the "World Wide Web" button for the first time, SlipKnot will 
attempt to check that your host has a couple of small script files that it 
requires.  If your host does not, then SlipKnot will attempt to upload these 
files to your host.  This operation may take several seconds, but once it 
succeeds, SlipKnot will not need to initialize your host again. 

If you want to re-initialize your host because you have made some changes to 
the host settings, choose the "Setup/Re-initialize host" menu item. 

Note: If this operation does not succeed, try it again.  There are many 
reasons (including the possibility that your UNIX directory is not writable) 
for failure, but once it has succeeded, SlipKnot will not need to go through 
this process again unless you change a Host setting. 




Registration

The Why and How of registration:

Why register?

1.      Because with shareware it's the right thing to do.
	

2.   Your support will fund our efforts to improve the product.
	

3.   To get rid of those (*#?@!) annoying registration reminders.
	

4.   One registration fee covers all versions between 1.0 and 1.99.
	

5.   The knowledge that 10% of SlipKnot registration fees are donated to 
     Refugee Relief organizations 
	

6.   Additional features open to registered users will include:

     ability to install your own home page

     access to periodically updated "Starting Points on the Web for registered 
     SlipKnot users"

     other features yet to be determined which will be available only to 
     registered users. 


How to register:

If sending the Registration form by mail or FAX:

1.   In SlipKnot Terminal, click on Register/Fill-out-registration-form

2.   Fill out the form on the screen (be sure to use a personal name -- we do 
     not register to company names). 

3.   Print it or save it to a file

4.   Send the form, with your check, money order, International Postal Order 
     or credit card information to MicroMind (to the address or FAX number on 
     the form). 

5.   Within a few days, we will send you a registration name and number by 
     email

6.   When you have received it, click on Registration/Install-
     Registration-name-and-number and enter the name and number we have sent 
     you. 


Here is the address and FAX information:
MicroMind, Inc.
417 W. 120 St., Suite 6B
New York, N.Y. 10027
U.S.A.
FAX: (212) 864-0436

If paying by credit card and sending the Registration form by email:

First of all, please retrieve and read the SlipKnot What's New Page (you will 
find links to it when viewing the SlipKnot local Home Page) -- for important 
credit card registration information.  The What's New Page will indicate which 
credit cards we accept at this time. 


1.   In SlipKnot Terminal, click on Register/Fill-out-Registration-form

2.   Fill out the form on the screen (be sure to use a personal name -- we do 
     not register to company names). 

3.   If you are concerned about sending your credit card information over the 
     Internet in readable form, press the "Encryption" button -- this will 
     convert your form into unreadable text (but readable by us at MicroMind 
     when we receive it). 

4.   Save the form to a file.

5.   Upload the file to your UNIX system (you can use the Communications/Send-
     file-to-Host menu item). 

6.   Email it to: slpstaff@pipeline.com (on most UNIX systems, this is easily 
     accomplished from the shell prompt using the command:  "mail  
     slpstaff@pipeline.com  <filename" where the filename is the name of the 
     file you uploaded). 

7.   Within several days, we will send you a registration name and number by 
     return email. 

8.   When you have received it, click on Registration/Install-Registration-
     name-and-number and enter the name and number we have sent you. 


Here is our shareware evaluation policy.  After you have displayed more that 
200 documents, we figure that you are a real user (and are no longer just 
evaluating the software), and the (annoying) reminder message changes.  After 
300 documents (at typical usage, probably 2-3 months), we will give you 30 
days to register, and another additional 21 days (when "the check is in the 
mail") if you start the registration process by filling out the form and 
printing or saving it.  After the evaluation period elapses (probably 3-5 
months altogether), SlipKnot Web will no longer be accessible (sorry).  Of 
course, as soon as you register and receive and install the registration 
number we send you, SlipKnot will be back in business. 


Troubles

SlipKnot Terminal troubles 

SlipKnot Web troubles 

If all else fails... 


SlipKnot Terminal troubles

If you get the error message: "UNIX system not responding or directory is not 
writable": Possible causes: 

1.   SlipKnot does not get the UNIX prompt that you specified in the 
     Setup/Host screen.  Make sure that the UNIX prompt that you told SlipKnot 
     about is the one your UNIX system responds with.  If your UNIX system 
     gives you a complicated or changeable prompt, use only the part of that 
     prompt that does not change.  For instance, if your prompt gives you the 
     time of day "11:05 PM>" , then use only the char ">". 

2.   If you are using the C-shell, or Bash or Tcsh or Ksh and have the 
     "noclobber" option set (or if it is automatically set without your 
     knowledge), then SlipKnot will not be able to transfer files.  
     See: Shell's 'noclobber' option 

3.   If you have changed to a UNIX directory other than your home directory, 
     it may not be writeable.  Change back to your UNIX home directory. 

Lynx version is old.  SlipKnot checks the version of lynx that you are using 
because versions prior to 2.2 had difficulties with binary file retrieval from 
the Internet (hence SlipKnot would have difficulties in retrieving pictures).  
To find out the version of lynx on your UNIX system, execute the UNIX command: 
"lynx -version".  If your UNIX system has an older version than 2.2, then 
please ask your system administrator to upgrade lynx to a more recent version.  
Alternatively, you may check to see if the other program called "www" is 
available on your UNIX system (simply execute the UNIX command: "www" -- if 
it's not available, then you will get an error message).  If it is available, 
then in SlipKnot Terminal's Setup/Host screen, specify "www" instead of "lynx" 
and your World-Wide-Web UNIX program. 

   
File transfer failed.  Possible causes:

1.   See the possibilities above.

2.   The UNIX transfer commands in the Setup/Host screen  (in the fields: 
     "Get file from UNIX" or "Send file to UNIX") refer to programs not 
     available on your UNIX system.  Ask your system administrator for the 
     appropriate commands to activate Xmodem or Ymodem-Batch file transfers, 
     and then install one of them in the Setup/Host screen. 

3.   Your UNIX system is not responding quickly enough (SlipKnot allows 
     several seconds for data to start flowing). 

"Exclusive in foreground is checked":  This is a Windows setting which allows 
or prevents background processing in Windows.  Since SlipKnot transfers files 
in the background, it is necessary for SlipKnot that Windows allow background 
processing.  In the Program Manager, look for the Main windows group, and find 
and activate the Control Panel program.  Click on "386 Enhanced".  There, you 
should find a checkbox called "Exclusive in Foreground".  This box MUST NOT be 
checked.  If it is, uncheck it.  Then save the settings and close the Control 
Panel.  Then, as a check, go back to see if the setting has remained unchecked 
(on some systems, for some reason, Windows will re-check the box). 

If you cannot seem to change this setting in Windows, you may have to use an 
ASCII editor to edit the file: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM.INI.  Inside this file you will 
see a section with the heading: "[386Enh]" and somewhere below a line that 
reads: "WinExclusive=something".  If necessary, change this line to read: 
"WinExclusive=0". 

If all else fails... 


The Shell's 'noclobber' option

What is the effect on SlipKnot?  SlipKnot will be unable to receive files from 
your UNIX system, and will print an error message each time you attempt to do 
this. 

How can you tell if the "noclobber" option is set?  Try to overwrite a file.  
Here is an example: suppose you have a file called "mytest" in your UNIX home 
directory.  If you execute the command: "cat <mytest >mytest2", you should 
succeed in creating the new file "mytest2".  Now try the same command again 
(attempting to overwrite "mytest2").  If it fails the second time, then 
"noclobber" is set, and you need to unset it.  You should also be able to see 
this option "noclobber" when you execute the UNIX "set" command by itself. 


Unsetting noclobber temporarily: If you are using the C-Shell, execute the 
command "unset noclobber".  Then try overwriting a file (should succeed).  If 
you are using Bash, or Ksh, then try executing the command: "set +o 
noclobber".  Also, try downloading a file using SlipKnot menu item: 
Communications/Get File from Host.  Hopefully, this should now succeed. 

Unsetting noclobber permanently: There are a number of ways to do this.  

If you have already figured out (and tested) a way to remove the noclobber 
option termporaily (see above), then you can put that command into the file 
that is executed whenever you log into you UNIX system.  For the C-shell it is 
the file: ".cshrc".  For the other shells (Bash or Ksh or Tcsh) it is another 
file, possibly: ".profile", or ".bash_profile or ".bashrc" or ".kshrc".  

Another way (if you are using script-based login) is to change your SlipKnot 
login script to unset noclobber each time you log in: at the end of your login 
script (after the 'waitfor prompt'), put the command: 'send "unset 
noclobber^M"' or 'send "set +o noclobber^M"'.  In other words, send the 
command that you tested above to your UNIX system as the last action in your 
login script. 


WEB Configuration

1.   Colors: You can set the background color (we find gray, yellow and white 
     to be best on our monitors), as well as the "link" color, which is the 
     color of the characters that you can click on to retrieve another 
     document. 

2.   Screen and printer fonts: The documents you retrieve are written in a 
     language called HTML (HyperText Markup Language) which assigns to the 
     text of a document one of several "tags".  These tags control the 
     appearance of the text. Tag types include: Title, Header1, Header2, 
     List-Item, Monospaced, etc. You can change the way SlipKnot paints the 
     text on your screen by changing the screen fonts and colors for these 
     tags.  Easiest way to experiment: display the "Test Screen and Printer 
     Fonts" document (there is a link to it in the SlipKnot Local Home Page).  
     Then: 1) remove the document (you cannot change fonts while there is a 
     document displayed); 2) change one or more screen fonts and colors; 
     3) use the History button (the one with the circular arrow) to redisplay 
     the Test page and see the results.  You can do the same sort of 
     experimentation with printer fonts (printing the page each time). 

3.   "Viewers" -- these are external helper programs that allow you to "view" 
     documents that are not in HTML format.  If you ask SlipKnot to retrieve 
     a document with a suffix (say, ".GIF"), when the document comes in, 
     SlipKnot will search for a "viewer" for such a document.  SlipKnot 
     already provides you with two viewers.  The first is LVIEW31, which is 
     an excellent graphics viewer and manipulator from Leonardo Loureiro 
     (see the reference to him in the SlipKnot-People page).  LVIEW31 will 
     handle graphics files in numerous formats, including .GIF and .JPG as 
     well as many others.  The second is WPLANY, which is a sound player 
     (only useful if you have a Windows sound driver installed).  To install 
     a new viewer (or replace an existing one): go through the viewer 
     installation dialog, but MAKE SURE that you include the string 
     "{filename}" along with the program name (see how the pre-installed 
     viewers are set up). 

4.   Retrieve embedded graphics?  Pictures are nice but they take time to 
     download.  By turning this option off, you are telling SlipKnot not to 
     get the pictures included in documents, and retrieving documents will be 
     much faster. 

5.   Black background?  This makes the busy SlipKnot WEB screen look 
     manageable, but you can no longer click on other Windows programs.  
     Turn this on or off as you prefer. 

6.   Paint Home page on startup?  If you get tired of seeing the SlipKnot 
     Local Home Page each time you enter SlipKnot WEB, turn this off.  But 
     make sure that you periodically retrieve the SlipKnot What's New Page 
     from the Internet (there's a link in the Home Page), because it will 
     inform you of: new versions and how to upgrade, SlipKnot news, access to 
     SlipKnot's "Starting Points on the Web" Page, etc. 


WEB buttons

At the top of the screen, there are 5 shortcut buttons:

1.   The "House" button will display SlipKnot's Local Home Page.  The most 
     important link inside is the one to retrieve SlipKnot's What's New Page 
     -- the key to obtaining upgrades and news and access to interesting starting 
     points for world-wide exploration. 

2.   The "circular arrow" button displays a list of all of the documents from 
     this session and past sessions (unless you periodically delete this 
     history). Each time you launch SlipKnot WEB, you will be asked whether 
     you wish to delete these documents. 

3.   The "folder" button opens access to your folders, wherein you can save 
     documents. 

4.   The "right-arrow" button brings to the foreground each of the document 
     windows in succession.  This is very useful if there are documents 
     hidden behind others (you are limited to 5 document windows in SlipKnot 
     WEB). 

5.   The "web with arrow" button is a shortcut to retrieving documents whose 
     location (URL) you know.  This will also allow you to search for a 
     document in your folders. 


Doing things to documents

Saving documents to folders:

You can save any displayed document inside one of your folders.

Folders are like directories with long names (in fact, they are simply 
directories).  If you are curious where these folders are located, bring up 
the folder list, highlight one of the folder names, and press "Show 
directory". 

To create a new folder: press the "folder" button or the Documents/Folders 
menu item, and press "New" in the dialog box. 

To view a list of the documents in your folders: press the "folder" button, 
and double-click on one of them. 


Saving documents as bookmarks: 

Bookmarks are a fast way of saving just the location of a document that you 
will retrieve later. 


Saving documents as HTML:

If you want to take a look at how this document is actually written in the 
HTML language, use this option to create an HTML file from the displayed 
document.  There is no better way of learning HTML than to see how other 
people use it. 


Copy URL to Clipboard:

If you want the save the URL of a displayed document, copy it to the 
Clipboard, and then go to another Windows program (for instance, a word-
processor) and paste it there.  This option is included because URLs can be 
long and obscure and must be correctly spelled (including capitalization). 


Print:

You can print a displayed document, though you cannot currently print the 
pictures. 

Retrieve again!

This option is very useful in two different circumstances:

1.   Suppose you are normally surfing the WEB with the option "Retrieve 
     embedded graphics" turned off (for fast document retrieval), and you've 
     retrieved a document (with no pictures, of course).  If you want to see 
     the same document, but with the pictures included, turn the "Retrieve 
     embedded graphics" option back on, and press "Retrieve Again!". 
	

2.   If you are developing your own document (on a PC, it should have the 
     suffix: ".HTM") in another Windows program (a text editor or special 
     HTML document editor), then use SlipKnot to see your progress with the 
     document.  Display the document, find the errors visually, switch back 
     to your editor to correct them and save the document, switch back to 
     SlipKnot and press "Retrieve Again!". 


SlipKnot WEB limitations

In decreasing order of importance:

1.   SlipKnot does not currently support "fill-in forms".  These are documents 
     that have fill-in areas where you can give answers to questions, and send 
     these answers back to the server that sent you the document.  (We are 
     working on this.)  SlipKnot will display a message in the place of a form 
     inside any document that contains them. 

2.   SlipKnot will not yet retrieve or display gopher menus.  However, since 
     you can always run the gopher command from SlipKnot Terminal, this may 
     not be an extreme limitation.  (We are also working on this.) 

3.   SlipKnot will not yet support HTML 2.0 or HTML 3.0 constructs within 
     documents. 

4.   SlipKnot will not support WAIS or Mailto links.  These, too, can be 
     activated on your UNIX system in the Terminal window. 

5.   SlipKnot allows only 5 document windows to be displayed at once.

6.   SlipKnot will not resize document windows.  This is due to its painting 
     algorithm.  With up to 5 windows (almost full-screen size) displayed, 
     it's arguable whether resizing would help much. 

7.   SlipKnot does not automatically display your own home page, if you have 
     created one.  (coming soon) 


SlipKnot Web troubles

If SlipKnot Web crashes: We hope this never happens, but no program is 
perfect.  If it does, then SlipKnot Terminal should still be alive (it is a 
different and independent program).  To bring up SlipKnot Terminal, press on 
Ctrl-Esc and choose "SNTERM".  Then simply go back to SlipKnot Web in the 
usual way.  The documents you displayed in this session should still be there, 
waiting for you (in the History window). 

"Unable to retrieve: -----":  Either the Internet is busy or SlipKnot Terminal 
is not responding.  Try the retrieval again. 


"Lynx unable to retrieve start file: ": A couple of possible causes:

1.   The document name is incorrect (refers to a computer or location which 
     does not exist).  This can happen even if the document location came 
     from a built-in document link, because document links can contain errors 
     (we are all human as document authors).  If you typed in the URL , make 
     extra sure that the spelling AND capitalization are exactly correct. 

2.   Your UNIX system cannot reach the one that the document is located on.  
     This occurs frequently during busy periods of the day, when Internet 
     traffic is heavy.  In this case, try again some time later. 

"Could not analyze incoming HTML document": Something is wrong with the 
document and SlipKnot cannot decipher it.  Remove the document from the 
History session list (press the circular arrow button, highlight the document 
and delete it), and try to retrieve again. 


"Cannot copy file..." Perhaps your disk is full?

"No viewer for this type of file" The file you retrieved has a suffix that is 
not recognized by any of the viewers installed in SlipKnot.  For instance, if 
you retrieve a file with a suffix of ".abc", SlipKnot will not know how to 
display that file unless you have a viewer for ".abc" type files.  To see what 
installed viewers will recognize, go to menu item: Configure/"viewers". 

"Viewer program  is not correctly set up":  each viewer that you install must 
have a string on the execution line that reads: "{filename}".  See how the 
pre-installed viewers are set up. 


"Cannot access SlipKnot Terminal"  This may occur when the Terminal is busy 
downloading files, or some other background operation.  Try the operation 
again.  If all else fails, try exiting SlipKnot Web. 

"Error has occurred in routine: ...."  This is a nasty error.  Please report 
it to us, along with the circumstances that caused it (particularly if it is 
reproducible).  Thank you. 


If all else fails... 

URL:

Universal Resource Locator:  these are document "addresses" which contain 4 
parts: (example: 

http://ftp.netcom.com/pub/pbrooks/slipknot/whatsnew.html)

1. how to get the document (in this case: use the http protocol)
2. the computer name: (in this case: ftp.netcom.com)
3. the directory: (in this case: /pub/pbrooks/slipknot)
4. the filename: (in this case: whatsnew.html)


If all else fails...

If things are just not working, and the error explanations in the Troubles 
section don't shed light on the matter... 

1.   Try to contact another SlipKnot user on your own UNIX system.  There's a 
     good chance that they might already have come across the same problem 
     and solved it.  And users on your own UNIX system know its particular 
     characteristics better than we do. 

2.   We have chosen the Internet newsgroup: comp.infosystems.www.users as the 
     location we watch for SlipKnot discussions. Try posting a message there. 

Nevertheless, If you need to contact us please give us several days to answer.

If you need to contact us

If you are having trouble transferring files, please send us your debugging 
log file: SLIPKNOT.DEB 

You can contact MicroMind's technical support email address at: 
slpstaff@pipeline.com. 

We will be happy to try to help.


SLIPKNOT.DEB

Built into SlipKnot Terminal is a debug option that will track every command 
that SlipKnot sends to your UNIX host, and the host's responses.  If you are 
having trouble communicating with your host, or trouble with file transfers, 
then the best way to debug this problem is to turn on this logging feature. 

SlipKnot Terminal has a menu item: Debug.  Turn on the "Log communications and 
debug info to SLIPKNOT.DEB" option.  Then try to transfer a file.  After the 
operation fails, turn off logging the same way you turned it on. 


Now you have created a file called SLIPKNOT.DEB inside your \SLIPKNOT 
directory.  You can try to look at that file with an ASCII editor or by using 
the menu item: Debug/Show SLIPKNOT.DEB.  We admit that it is somewhat cryptic, 
but contains the relevant information for debugging. 

Before sending us the file, make sure that it does not contain any information 
you might consider sensitive (like login ID and password). 


Refugee Relief organizations

10% of the SlipKnot registration fees that MicroMind receives are donated to 
the following two organizations: 

International Rescue Committee
122 E. 42nd St.
New York, N.Y. 10168
U.S.A.
Tel: (212) 551-3000
email: irc@irc.com

Founded in 1933 by Albert Einstein, IRC is one of the largest, most effective 
and most prominent refugee organizations in the world. 


The Center for Victims of Torture
717 East River Road
Minneapolis, MN 55455
U.S.A.

cvt@maroon.tc.umn.edu

CVT is one of the largest centers in the world dedicated providing 
comprehensive psychological and medical care to survivors of politically 
motivated torture. 

The folks here at MicroMind (one of whom is a refugee survivor) wish to thank 
you not only for helping to support us, but also for helping to diminish in a 
small way the pains of the world. 


Upgrading

This SlipKnot version is not perfect (do we need to convince you?).  We are 
working on improving SlipKnot and every so often will release a new version. 

One of SlipKnot major features is the One-Touch Upgrade.  It is meant to make 
upgrading practically painless. 

Use this Automatic procedure if SlipKnot WEB is successfully retrieving and 
displaying documents from the Internet (otherwise use the Manual Upgrade 
procedure below): 


Automatic Upgrade:

1.   Display the SlipKnot Local Home Page (if not already visible when you 
     enter SlipKnot WEB, then press on the "house" button). 

2.   You will find one or more links to the SlipKnot What's New Page.  
     Retrieve that document from the Internet. 

3.   In the What's New Page, you will find out the number of the latest 
     version. Compare it to the version number you are running (Press on the 
     menu item: Help/About). 

4.   If you want to upgrade, there are links in the What's New Page to 
     retrieve the Upgrade file. 

5.   When the Upgrade file has been downloaded, exit SlipKnot completely (log 
     off and terminate the program). 

6.   In the SlipKnot Windows group, you will find the NEW icon.  Clicking on 
     it will start the automatic upgrade process. 

Presto. Changeo.  You should now have upgraded.

Use the Manual procedure below instead if SlipKnot Terminal or SlipKnot WEB 
are encountering severe problems: 


Manual Upgrade:
1.   Using FTP, or a similar program, obtain a directory listing of the files 
     at the following site: machine name: "interport.net" in the directory: 
     "/pub/pbrooks/slipknot" 

2.   Look for upgrade files with the name: "snupxxx.zip" where xxx is the 
     version number (for instance, Version 1.01 would correspond to the file: 
     "snup101.zip") and find the lastest upgrade file. 

3.   Check the version of SlipKnot that you are running (use the menu item: 
     Help/About). 

4.   If you are already running the latest version of SlipKnot (comparing your 
     version to the file number), then there is no further upgrade available.  
     Check back in a few days. 

5.   If you have found an appropriate upgrade file, download that file into 
     your \SLIPKNOT\UPGRADE directory.

6.   Terminate SlipKnot completely, if it was running.

7.   In the SlipKnot Windows group, you will find the NEW icon.  Clicking on 
     it will start the automatic upgrade process. 

If all goes well, you should now have upgraded SlipKnot to the latest version.


Important Note:  If you choose not to use the upgrade mechanism above, but 
decide to install another version of SlipKnot from scratch, then we have some 
warnings.  There may be problems if you try to install a complete new version 
of SlipKnot into the same directory as the old SlipKnot version.  On the other 
hand, if you choose a different directory for the new version, you may lose 
access to your old folders and their saved documents.  In general, try to use 
the upgrade mechanism above to avoid problems. 


Distributing SlipKnot

The best was to distribute SlipKnot is to pass on the .ZIP file which contains 
the entire setup. 

Making it easy for others:

Having figured out the Host characteristics (the settings in the Setup/Host 
screen), you can easily pass on this information to others using the same UNIX 
system.  

Here's how:  Let's say you have create a host called "myUNIX".  You will find 
a file in your SLIPKNOT directory called: "MYUNIX.HST" which contains all the 
host settings, including the entire login and logout scripts.  However, for 
safety, it DOES NOT contain your login ID or your password (you can check, it 
is an ASCII readable file).  Simply give this file to your friends (or post 
it) and tell them to put this file into their SLIPKNOT directories.  It will 
then become one of the hosts that your friends can select, and therefore not 
have to go through the same testing process. 


Saving documents

There are a couple of ways to save a visible Web document: either as a 
"document" or simply as an "HTML" file. 

Saving as a document will package up the visible information, both text and 
pictures, and save all of the information into one of your folders.  And at 
the time you save, you can create a comment to make it easier to select and 
redisplay this document in the future.  In actuality, the visible document is 
saved as a collection of files: one for the text, and one each for the 
pictures, as well as an additional file (called a "Master file") which ties 
all of the other files together.  The Master file is given the suffix ".MAS".  
Each of the files is given a file number that uniquely identifies it as 
belonging to the collection defining a single document.  While this is 
somewhat complicated, SlipKnot will take care of all the details when 
redisplaying the document. 

Saving as an HTML file will save only the text portion (no pictures) of the 
document into a file with the extension ".HTM".  HTML  is the form in which 
the document actually arrived to the PC from the Internet.  You might wish to 
do this if you are curious how these documents are written in the HTML 
language, in order to compose documents of your own.  If you save in "HTML" 
format, you can still ask SlipKnot to display the document (although it now 
contains no pictures) by using SlipKnot's "Navigate/Display-local-HTML-file" 
option.  Documents in HTML format are readable (and modifiable) using an ASCII 
editor. 

You do not actually need to save your documents explicitly, since SlipKnot 
keeps them in its History folder until you decide to get rid of all of the 
documents inside the History folder.  Each time you enter SlipKnot Web, you 
will be asked this question.  On the other hand, all documents in the History 
folder are removed at once if you that is what you desire.  And you should let 
SlipKnot clean out your History folder to free up disk space, because much 
information can accumulate there. 


HTML = HyperText Markup Language

This is the language used by Web documents, and the language you need to 
master to write ones of your own.  It consists of the text that you see on the 
screen, as well as directives to paint the text in various "typefaces".  It 
also contains directions for retrieving the pictures and where to place them. 

The pictures are not actually contained within the HTML document itself.  The 
document simply tells the browser (SlipKnot) where on the Internet to find 
them in case they are desired. 


Getting started

Welcome to SlipKnot.

SlipKnot is a communications program with the Internet through your UNIX host 
system.  To get started, you will need to set up several characteristics 
(communications parameters) in the SlipKnot Terminal screens. 

So, prior to dialing up and connecting to your host UNIX system, you must 
click on the Setup menu item, and go through the various setup screens.... 
starting with: Terminal Setup 
 

