From humble beginnings, computer communications have become increasingly important.
February 1982
found this coverage of Omniterm featured in BYTE:
Omniterm: Smart Terminal Program for the TRS-80
by Bob Liddil
The addition of communications capabilities to a computer inaugurates a new concept in personal computing. With a modem, a telephone, and an intelligent terminal program, a microcomputer becomes an instr
ument for external data collection or transmission. With these tools, you can communicate with similarly equipped computers throughout the world.
The most critical of these tools is the terminal program. True, an inferior modem or faulty telephone line can cause problems, but the terminal program can open endless possibilities or cause severe limitations, depending on its features (or lack of them).
Omniterm, a new product from a small company in Massachusetts, has most of the possible features of a smart terminal program. But even a novice user, normally overwhelmed by complex programs, can easily adjust to Omniterm.
A popular use of terminal programs is the bulletin board network, which consists of approximately 400 automatically answered, electronic-message centers around the country. You can dial any of these numbers and leave a message for someone in that area or take advantage of local features such as receiving public-domain programs or sending electronic mail.
Since all bulleti
n board systems do not operate on the same type of computer, your terminal program should be able to adjust to different system requirements.
Omniterm seems equal to the demands placed on it. As long as I stayed on TRS-80-based bulletin board systems, I had no difficulty with elementary tasks when using the inexpensive ($24.95) terminal program from Instant Software called Terminal 80. But when I tried Modem Over Manhattan, an interesting service in New York, or ABBS (Apple Bulletin Board System) in Cleveland, or even the TRS-80-based Big Byte system in Cincinnati, Terminal 80 fell apart. Omniterm worked flawlessly with all these services.
Omniterm's command mode, accessible any time during its use, gives fingertip control of everything you need when communicating with another system. One-keystroke entries make it easy.
The printer is accessible during communications. While using one service, I activated the printer while the instructions were coming on the screen; this gave me a reference s
heet, saving valuable long-distance time. In the command mode, a status indicator lets you know whether the printer function is on or off. A buffer lets the printer fall behind the screen if it is not fast enough to keep up. Omniterm buffers 2048 characters of data before it runs out of room.
Some bulletin board or "information utility" systems are not set up for the TRS-80 64-column screen. Apple or Atari 40-column and Videotext 32-column units can cause problems with the video display. Omniterm allows you to reformat the screen from the command table. This gives you a 64-column screen, regardless of what your computer is receiving. The status of this function is displayed in the command mode.
For additional screen-format control, you can select carriage-return suppression, line-feed suppression, and carriage-return/line-feed grouping.
Omniterm also lets you determine the communications protocol (baud rate, bits per data word, stop bits, parity, full or half duplex, and automatic character
echo). This gives you much flexibility for dealing with the various bulletin board and information services available.
Superior file handling separates Omniterm from less "intelligent" terminal programs. File capabilities include sending, receiving, and saving to and retrieving from disk. Omniterm has a file-transfer buffer of 27,644 bytes. You can input to the buffer from the remote computer and save to disk, or input to the buffer from the disk and output to the remote computer. It's easy to use these functions. To test them, I loaded a simple program from Forum-SO in Nashua, New Hampshire, saved it to disk, and executed it afterward to make sure it ran. I sent a BASIC adventure game to a youngster in Massachusetts; I received a BASIC adventure he had written for me, saved it to disk, and communicated via the keyboard and screen in between file transfers. It worked, even though I'm no professional.
Other useful command features are the special system commands that, among other things, allow you
to save any communications protocol permanently to disk, to be called from the command mode whenever you need it. Another unique feature is the ability to backtrack into a special buffer and reconstruct what has appeared on the screen before a disconnect-useful for retrieving and reviewing pertinent data without using the printer or making another telephone call.
A novel item is a graphics "bell" that appears on the screen when a control-G is received. If an audio amplifier is attached to the system via the cassette port, you'll also get an audible beep.
Omniterm comes with a 61-page instruction book, punched to fit in a binder. It is written so the beginner can understand the workings of the program. However, it is not too simplistic; there are technical explanations for the expert.
David Lindbergh has obviously spent much time and care on this project. His knowledge of the subject and professional presentation enhance the product considerably. Its $95 price tag places Omniterm in competiti
on with Lance Micklus's ST80 series of terminal programs, including ST8OIII, currently regarded by many as the standard for this type of program.
Conclusions
The program is very easy to use and works well. Most of the information you need is available on the menu, which can be displayed at any time without breaking connections to the host computer. All the screen-formatting controls and communications conventions are software selectable, which means you can use the program with a wide variety of host computer systems. The clearly written instructions and documentation are complete.
These features, coupled with its competitive price, make Omniterm a contender for the title of best in its class.
At a Glance
Name: Omniterm
Type: Intelligent terminal program
Author: David Lindbergh
Manufacturer: Lindbergh Systems, 49 Beechmont St.,
Worcester, MA 01609
Price: $95
Language: Z80 m
achine code
Format: 5-inch floppy disk
Documentation: 40-page softbound book
Computer: TRS-80 Models I and III disk systems
with 32 K RAM minimum
Audience: Any computer owner who needs to communicate
with another computer
Figure 1: The command menu as it appears on the screen in Omniterm.
The menu is displayed by pressing the @ key twice. Return to the
active telecommunications mode is accomplished by pressing the
<break> key. Displaying the menu does not interrupt the flow of
data through the program.
OMNITERM COMMAND MODE-HIT <BREAK> TO QUIT
P PRINTER IS: OFF X SYSTEM COMMANDS
R SCREEN REFORMATTING IS: 54 T CHANGE/EXAMINE TABLES
C CR SUPPRESSION IS: OFF U CHANGE UART SETTINGS
L LF SUPPRESSION IS: ON A SEND CONTROL-A & QUIT
D DUPLEX IS: FULL @ SEND "AT" SYMBOL & QUIT
E ECHO IS:
OFF B SCROLL BACK DISPLAY
G CR/LF GROUPING IS: OFF Z ZERO REAL-TIME CLOCK
I INPUT TO BUFFER IS: OFF F FILL BUFFER FROM DISK
0 OUTPUT FROM BUFFER IS: OFF S SAVE BUFFER TO DISK
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15 Years Ago in BYTE
