RS> Main thing you want to watch is that the Basics can do some
 RS> rather interesting things with comm ports at times, even tho
 RS> you arent using them.

  Does it!? I'm not sure what you mean - can Basic do good things with
comm ports, or bad things? "Interesting" allows two interpretations.

 RS> And using QBasic assumes the users have QBasic, quite a few
 RS> dont.

  It wouldn't matter. What I have in mind is a batch file to load
Telemate (or whatever), using a script that calls the DEVIL.EXE file
written in QBasic (or whatever). DEVIL.EXE then reads from a DEVIL.DAT
file which would have all the data of name, password, dialling list,
etc. DEVIL.EXE would create a FREQ file, and write the hello and crc
to the DAT file. Telemate would then read the DAT file and send it to
the modem. TinyPoint would be similar, except that the GETMAIL.BAT
file would include Brenton's stuff to make and send mail.

  All the clever stuff and the configuring would be done in one hit in
DEVIL.EXE, which would then create the DAT file for the script to read
and pass on. I've got it working already - I'm just prettying it up
and learning to use graphics. The only catch I can see with QBasic, is
that devil.exe is 50K, but it seems to run quickly enough.

  A different comms program would only need a simple script that
called the BBS and sent the hello/crc string created by devil.exe,
with a bit or error protection.

  But I have a problem. I need to pass the dialling numbers and the
directory names from Telemate to the EXE file. Is there any way to
pass parameters - like you can do with a BAT file and %1 thingies?
The QBasic book is deathly silent on the matter.

  I can make the Telemate script open a DAT file and write to it, and
then have the EXE file read it, but this seems a clumsy way to pass
the dialling and directory information across, and it makes the
script more complex that it has to be. 

Regards,
Bob
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