From: rjones@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Ronald Jones)
Subject: PMcomm mini-review.
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 04:11:23 GMT

Mini-review of:

PMCOMM version 1.11 Multinet Communications (503) 883-8099. 
Price approx $100.00

I have been using PMCOMM (registered version) for several months now and
would like to  share my impressions. By way of background my 
communication program prior to conversion to OS/2 2.0 was DOS 
procomm+, which I used for several years.  There are some similarities 
between the two that probably influenced my decision to chose PMcomm.  
PMcomm is a real PM program with pull-down menus and can be completely 
mouse controlled.  Of course, the mouse in procomm+ is a disaster (I had 
to use a freeware program to disable the mouse in order to prevent its 
movements from interfering with on-line sessions).  However, some of 
procomm's command-keys are common to Pmcomm, such as:  alt x (exit), alt 
h (hang-up), alt d (dial), page-up (upload) and page-down (download) so 
procomm users will feel at home here.

PMcomm supports only 4 terminal emulations:  TTY, VT100, ANSI, VT220.  
One concern for those who use VT100 is the lack of scroll back control 
with this emulation (i.e.  the scroll bars on the window do not let you 
scroll up to previous text).  However, this does work for ANSI, which is 
the emulation I try to use.  The keyboard arrow keys also can be used 
either to control screen scrolling or set to send their ANSI key 
equivalents.  I like using the arrow keys to scroll about the screen.  
On the down side, the scroll back buffer size is smaller than I'd like:  
64kB.  (They claim this is an OS/2 limitation!)  

Cut and paste functions are well supported in PMcomm and are very easy 
to use.  You can send marked text to a file or the printer or toggle 
continuous capture on or off.  You can print a selection by simply 
marking it and then clicking the mouse on an icon at the bottom of the 
window.  Print Scrn is also supported.  You also can use the mouse to 
mark portions of screen text and copy it into the clipboard.  However,
pasting INTO  PMcomm from an OS/2 editor using the clipboard has an
annoying bug!  It double spaces the text.  

There is also a neat undocumented feature that I learned about on the 
net.  Double clicking on a single character transmits the character; 
this is useful for selecting numbered or lettered items from a list such 
as when using some newsreaders (e.g.  trn).

PMcomm has all the major transfer protocols including zmodem, CISB, and
kermit.  Zmodem has an automatic feature which tries initiate a 
transfer.  I prefer to disable this feature, afterall its only necessary 
to hit page-up or page-down (or use the pull down menu) to initiate a 
transfer and I've had some false detections with this feature.  For 
example, I typed "man rz" once to get help and found myself starting a 
tranfer!  

Once you hit page-up to initiate an upload, Pmcomm pops up a file 
directory to let you select the file and then reduces itself 
to a small window while transfering (so you can get on with your 
solitare game, or whatever, while monitoring the progress from the 
little window!  ). Another problem here though, the popup file menu 
doesn't show long file names for my HPFS disks.  

PMcomm has extensive scripting that comes in two flavors:  a simple
set of "internal" script commands and an extensive set of REXX commands.
The former are like a small subset of procomm scripts.  There is also an 
auto-recorder to generate scripts during a session. 

Our host UNIX system required that I use a "strip" command in the 
procomm+ script to automatically sign-on.  I have not been able to get 
PMcomm to do this as effectively and must enter a couple of CRs to 
log-on this particular system.  My only contact with Tech Support was 
about this problem and they could not offer any fix.  

There is a HOST mode but I have not utilized it.  PMcomm will apparently 
work as a shared serial port modem pool on a Network but I have not 
tried this either.  

The PMcomm dialing directory lets you set up modem parameters and 
scripts for each entry.  You can also assign any one of three dialing 
preffixes or suffixes.  

There are ten macros that can be defined and selected by mouse or from 
the "alt 0-9" keys.  These can be used to send an entire script file or 
just a series of keystrokes.  I use these mainly to initiate ftp's and 
telnets; I can logon and enter the commands I need using a single alt 
key combination.  These scripts can be recorded during the session just 
like logon scripts . The macro command simply initiates them, for 
example, the macro entry may look like:  shell("file.cmd"); 

I really like the user interface of PMcomm and highly recommend it to 
anyone looking for a simple yet powerful OS/2 communications program 
when the Terminal applet is not adequate.  Despite the bugs mentioned it 
is a robust program and I have not found any problems serious enough to 
interfere with its operation.  I have used the program for downloading 
in background at 14,400 bps with my Intel SatisFAXtion 400 (internal) 
modem with no noticable effect on other tasks such as simple games, word 
processing or printing.  However, if you need extensive key-remapping 
features or the less popular terminal emulations you should look 
elsewhere.  It also does not support DDE like some of the more expensive 
PM communications programs.  

Disclaimer:  I have no connection with Multi-Net Communications and 
these are my unsolicited opinions. 

PS. a crippled, shareware version of PMCOMM is available for ftp on
hobbes. I  found it fairly buggy but you should probably look at it
before buying!

-- 
 < Ron Jones                   |    E-mail:       rj+@osu.edu   > 
 < The Ohio State University   |    Office:      (614) 292-1665 >
 < 338 West Tenth Avenue       |    FAX:(9-5PM)  (614) 292-7151 > 
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Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.apps