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@@ -0,0 +1,191 @@ +FujiChat - an Atari 8-bit IRC client. + +Features: + +- Join and chat in an IRC channel (only one at a time, for now). +- Send and receive private messages to/from other users. +- Runs a TCP/IP stack on the Atari, including TCP, DNS, and SLIP. +- Works with all Atari 8-bit computers (400/800/XL/XE) provided they + have at least 48K of RAM and a supported RS232 port. +- Works with SIO2PC, Atari 850, or ICD P:R: Connection RS232 ports. +- Supports up to 9600 baud serial connection (depending on hardware used). +- Fully open source (BSD licensed). +- Ready-to-boot ATR image also supplied (fujichat.atr). + +Contents: + +README - you're reading it now. +doc/ - documentation, including (possibly obsolete) design notes. +src/ - FujiChat source, excluding uIP library. +uip/ - Modified/hacked-up version of Adam Dunkels' uIP, used as a library. + +To compile FujiChat: + +- First, install cc65. Needs to be a snapshot or release later than the + 2.11.0 release, but older than about December, 2015. Version 2.13.3 is + what the author currently uses. The code uses the old cc65 rs232.h API, + which was replaced with a new serial.h API sometime in 2015. This will + be rectified eventually. + +- Next, install axe. This can be found at http://urchlay.naptime.net/repos/axe/ + or use the clone URL git://urchlay.naptime.net/axe.git + +Make sure cc65 and axe are both found in your $PATH, then: + +$ cd src +$ make +$ make disk + +This will build an ATR image called fujichat.atr. This is a bootable image +with DOS 2.0S and everything you need to run FujiChat. See doc/README +for more detail. + +Running FujiChat: + +fujichat.atr is a bootable DOS 2.0S floppy disk. It must be booted with +BASIC disabled (remove cartridge on 400/800/1200XL, hold Option down +on XL/XE). + +The first time FujiChat boots, it'll ask what serial port driver you +want to use. Once you've selected this, you'll be prompted to reboot. +It's not recommended to choose 1 (no driver/manual setup); this option +exists mainly for testing. + +After the serial driver has been selected, FujiChat will boot into +its main menu. The first thing you'll want to do is choose S for Setup. +You'll be prompted for all the settings. The main ones are: + +- Baud rate. 4800 is the "safe" choice here, and works on most hardware. + 9600 baud may or may not work for you. 19200 baud probably won't work + for anyone (yet?) + +- Local IP address and Peer IP address. You shouldn't have to change + these (just press Enter for the defaults), *unless* your LAN is + already using the 192.168.0/24 net block! If this is the case, try + 10.0.0.1 and 10.0.0.2 for these. + +- DNS server. Most people will enter their ISP-assigned DNS server here. + In a pinch, you might try 8.8.8.8 (Google's public DNS server). + If you run DNS service on your local Linux/whatever system, you can + use the same IP as you entered for Peer IP address here. + +- IRC server. You can choose one of the listed servers, or enter any + hostname or IP address instead. + +- Server port. Normally 6667. Some servers may support other port numbers, + but there doesn't seem to be any real advantage to using them. Do NOT + enter the port number for secure IRC here; FujiChat does NOT support + SSL/TLS encryption (and never will: the Atari would take a week to + do the math needed to initiate a secure connection). + +- Your nickname. The name you want to be known by, on IRC. This should + be a short name, and different IRC networks allow different lengths. All + networks allow at least 9 characters here, and FujiChat is limited to + 20. If you're new to IRC, you should know that spaces are not allowed + here, and only some punctuation is allowed. Best bet is to stick with + alphanumerics. Mixed case is allowed (you could be johnsmith, Johnsmith, + or JohnSmith). Try to choose a name unlikely to already be in use. + +- Your 'real' name. This is visible to all users on IRC, so you probably + don't want to put your *real* name. The default is "FujiChat User", which + is fine. Unlike the nickname, this doesn't have to be unique. + +- Autojoin channel. If you enter 0 here, FujiChat won't automatically join + any channel (you would use the /join command after connecting, instead). + Normally channel names are prefixed with a # (e.g. #atari), but on + Freenode, some channels have two # instead (e.g. ##atari). If the + channel you want to join requires a NickServ login or similar, don't + try to autojoin it. You'll have to connect, then manually authenticate + (e.g. /m NickServ id <username> <password>), then manually join + the channel. + +- Background and foreground colors. Standard decimal Atari color register + values (hue * 16 + luminance). The defaults are 192 and 12, which gives + a dark green background with very bright green text. + +- Disable bell. FujiChat is capable of using either the regular Atari + "buzzer" audio bell, or a visible "bell" that briefly flashes the + border color. Saying Y here disables both visual and audio bells. + +- Visual bell. When you say Y here, you'll get the visual bell described + above, and no audio bell. If you say N, you'll get the audio bell. + +- Bell on msg. If you like to be notified when you get a private message, + say Y here. If you find this annoying or distracting, say N. + +- Show ping/pong. Default is N, and most people will want to leave it this + way. Every few minutes, the IRC server sends a "ping" to FujiChat (or + any other IRC client), and FujiChat responds with a "pong" to let the + server know it's still "alive". If the pong never arrives, the server + assumes the client is dead, and drops the connection. Showing the + ping/pong messages is probably only useful for development/testing; in + normal use they just waste screen space. + +- Hide MOTD. Every time you connect to an IRC server, it sends you a + "message of the day", which contains lots of general info about the + IRC network. Unfortunately, on some networks, the MOTD is really + long and verbose, and takes several minutes to receive and display + on the Atari. There's no way to prevent the server sending the MOTD, + and the server won't respond to commands (such as joining a channel) + until it's done sending the MOTD. However, hiding the MOTD (not + printing it) will speed up connection times, because the Atari isn't + very fast at printing text and scrolling its sreen. Leave this option + enabled, unless you're very curious about what's in the MOTD (and + also very patient). + +- Is this correct [Y/n]. If you made a mistake entering one of the + settings, say N here and you'll get a chance to re-enter them. + +- Save this config [Y/n]. Normally you'll say Y here, to save the config + to D:FUJICHAT.CFG. If you're just testing a different config, you can + say N. The config will remain in memory and FujiChat will use it. If + you reload the setup/config program from within FujiChat, the settings + from memory will be used as defaults for the prompts. + +- Start FujiChat now [Y/n]. Does just what it says. If you're using the + SIO2PC for both disk emulation and RS232, wait for FujiChat to finish + loading (it'll show a "connect to server" prompt), then exit your disk + emulation software (or e.g. "stop emulation" in Respeqt), then run the + start_slip.sh script (or whatever else you use to start SLIP service + on your PC/Mac/whatever). Press Enter to connect to the IRC server, + and if you did everything just right, it should Just Work... + +Notes: + +Docs for uIP have been removed from this distribution, partly to save +space, and partly because the included version of uIP has been modified. +If you want to write a new app using uIP, you're better off starting +with the original sources, not my hacked-up mess. + +Limitations: + +As said before, FujiChat is only able to join one IRC channel at a time. + +If your channel requires authentication with e.g. Freenode's NickServ +before being allowed to join it, you'll have to configure FujiChat +*not* to auto-join the channel. Once connected, you'll have to manually +authenticate, then manually /join the channel. + +A lot of features found on IRC clients for more modern systems just +don't exist, either because of limited memory on the Atari, or because +the author just hasn't gotten around to adding them yet. There's no nick +list, logging, multiple windows, scrollback, triggers... channel text +from channel operators doesn't show an @ next to their nick... nick +completion (tab completion) doesn't exist, although you *can* use the +Tab key to respond to the most recent user who sent you a PM. + +There are known bugs in FujiChat: + +The /msg command (and several others) doesn't correctly quote its +argument, which means if you say "/msg somebody Hello, I'm on my Atari", +they'll receive only the first word (the "Hello,"). Temporary workaround: +say "/msg somebody :Hello, I'm on my Atari" (in other words prefix your +message with a colon). + +The /ping command doesn't play nice with modern FreeNode servers, meaning +you get either no ping responses, or else it prints a ping time >= 2500 +seconds. + +Not really a bug, but a missing feature: non-ASCII characters (accented +letters, British pound symbol, etc) are printed as inverse video +gibberish. At some point these will be handled more gracefully. |