[Ham-Computers] RE: XP-Pro, How do I ???

[Phil Atchley]

Thank you Aaron.
After going to the Control Panel Internet settings I followed various trails
and eventually found one, a "checkpoint" that said something to the effect
of "Disconnect when no longer needed".  I checked that and the unit does
bring up the "Auto disconnect" window now when I finish with the last
program that is connected to the internet. Just like it did in Win98SE.

Thanks for the explanation of why it's taking longer for XP to hang-up the
modem.  It makes sense to me.  Now to work on the Excel problem.

73 de Phil  KO6BB

> I haven't touched WinXP yet, but I can speculate...
>
> In certain Windows apps (such as Microsoft Outlook (and Express), there's
an option to use the dial-up connection if needed, and, there might be an
option to "hang-up when done".  In Windows 2000, if you go to the "Internet
Settings" control panel, click on the "Connections" tab, and click on the
settings of the dial-up adapter, you'll see an "Advanced" button.  There you
can set the disconnect settings (via time out or "when connection may no
longer be needed").  In your case, you might want to try selecting the "when
connection may no longer be needed" checkbox (might be different in XP).  In
the properties of the dial-up adapter in the Network control panel, you can
also set the "idle timeout".
>
> As to the amount of time required to disconnect, that may be due to the
way Windows initializes the modem.  There are two ways to tell the modem to
"hang up".  One way is to initialize the the modem so it drops the
connection when the "DTR" line goes low (DTR is a line on the RS-232 port).
This is also known as "dropping the DTR" to hang up.  The other way is to
send the "ath0" command to the modem.  However, the modem must be in
"command" mode in order to do this, so if a call is currently connected, you
need to get the modem's attention by first sending a a "+++" string.  This
string must be "in the clear", so the system waits until at least 2 seconds
pass without any data flowing "out" before sending the "+++".  The modem
will go into "command" mode if enough time passed before receiving "+++" and
will respond with an "OK".  You (or Windows) thens sends a "ath0" to hang up
the line.  If Windows doesn't receive the "OK" after sending "+++", it waits
and sends the "+++" again until it does receive the "OK" response from the
modem before sending the "ath0".
>
> As you can tell, dropping the DTR is much faster as the modem immediately
hangs up.  However, since Windows NT based systems (NT/2K/XP) don't allow
"direct" access to ports, the only way to hang up is to use the "soft"
method - "+++" followed by "ath0".  This is probably why it takes longer to
hang up...more overhead required.
>
> I also haven't touched OfficeXP yet, but it should be the same as with
Office 2000.  In Excel 2000, if you have multiple files open, you can view
all the sheets by going to "Windows" menu and clicking "Arrange...".  You
can then select the various "views".  The view you're looking for is
"Vertical"
>
> Hope this helps!
>
> 73,
>
>   - Aaron Hsu, NN6O (ex-KD6DAE)

> I've been running XP Pro for sometime now and like it a great deal.  Just
a
> couple small things that I haven't been able to figure out, maybe somebody
> here can help.  (No I didn't find the answers in the help files though
that
> doesn't surprise me).
>
> 1.  I use I.E 6.0 and Outlook Express 6 on a dialup. The computer is a
> standalone machine with no other computers networked to it.  When I select
> any of my programs that requires a dialup it dials the ISP and connects ok
> (elite.net) and everything works just fine.  HOWEVER, when I'm finished
and
> close the program the dialup connection remains intact until I left click
on
> the little icon in the taskbar and tell it to disconnect.  It then
> reluctantly disconnects (takes a little while)....  When I ran WIN98 SE
> anytime I closed a program requiring Internet access it brought up an
"auto
> disconnect" window and when I clicked it the disconnect was very quick.  I
> can find nothing to allow a "Autodisconnect" in my XP network stuff.
>
> 2.  Office XP.  Up to the time I installed XP I'd been using the freeware
> 602 Office Suite to access Excel and Word documents.  Works ok but not
> great.  HOWEVER, it did allow me to open two Excel documents in different
> windows and "split" the screen displaying one document below the other (it
> had a menu select to allow documents in different windows).  Now in XP Pro
> I'm running Office XP and for the life of me I CANNOT figure out how to do
> this in Excel.  It insists in opening both documents to one window and
> forcing me to view one or the other.
>
> 73 de Phil  KO6BB