Welcome to the Radio Messenger ReadMe file!   Yee Haaa!


This file is a very quick 'get going' guide on Radio Messenger.


Radio Messenger will, by default, want to install itself into the 
C:\PROGRAM FILES\RADIO MESSENGER directory.  This will be known as 
the Radio Messenger directory to the program.

There is a structure of directories also installed with the program 
and the various files should reside in these directories for the 
program to work correctly.   Some files can be moved around, but 
it's best to get things going here first and then move things once 
you know all does work.

Subdirectories from the Radio Messenger directory are as follows:

ICON 
The ICON directory holds all of the emoticons used in the program 
and needs to be there.  It also holds the default 'friends' images 
(bud1.ico and bud2.ico).    If you want to play around with adding 
your own emoticons, you would want to put them in this directory.

FRIENDS
This directory holds the sample images for you to select 
customized/personalized friend list images. You will notice that 
for a particular named image there is the imagename.gif file 
and imagename2.gif file.   The two files are both needed and 
when you select a file to use, select the one without the 2 in 
the name.  The '2' denotes that is the image displayed when the 
friend has been heard, otherwise the other image is displayed.  
You will notice that they are all GIF. They can be BMP, JPG or 
ICO if you so desire, but these are GIF for background transparency. 
There is no requirement for this directory to exist other than it 
being a convenient place to put sample images.

SKINS
The skins directory holds sample background images and other 
assorted images to augment the appearance of the program should 
you care to dabble in that.  There is no requirement for this 
directory to exist other than it being a convenient place to put 
sample images.

SOUND
This directory holds all the sound-icons used in the program and 
needs to be there.  There is a SOUND.INI file which denotes the 
names of the files in the directory and that is used by the program 
to populate the buttons on the soundicon selection screen.  
If you want to play around with changing the available sounds, 
this is where you would put them.


When you first start Radio Messenger you need to configure your 
computer serial port settings to match what your TNC expects and 
how it is connected.   You then need to configure the radio by 
selecting a TNC from the list of TNC's on the TNC config page.  
Once you select one, hit the 'reset defaults' button and then 
proceed to checking that the 'non chat setup' commands are suitable 
for your other uses of the TNC when you are not running Radio Messenger.   
There are a few settings (ECHO for example) that are changed to 
non-defaults for proper operation of Radio Messenger.



BEFORE YOU GO ANY FURTHER--- 

You need to send the initialization commands to the TNC.  
This is normally done automatically on startup, but the very first 
time through it's not talking to your TNC (unless it's on com port 1 
and expects data as 1200 baud).   So...   From the main screen 
select SPECIAL and then INITIALIZE TNC. If you forget to do this 
step you'll find wierd things happening like double text, commands 
showing up in the chat window, etc.   You could alternatively exit 
the program and start it again.



Once you finish setting the TNC and reinitializing it, you can 
configure preferences and set your callsign, beacon times and 
text, and dabble in some of the other settings if you wish.

You can then configure your friends list.   A few 'friends' have 
already been populated on the list for you.  These can be changed 
(and the paths may be incorrect for your location) easily from the 
friends configuration screen.   After you make a change to the 
friends list you will have to use the SPECIAL command to refresh 
the friends list to see the changes.

At this point you should be able to issue a connect command to the 
TNC from the TNC Command window and verify that all is working.  
Once you connect a chat window will pop up and you can start 
communicating.  You can open a chat to yourself if there is a 
digipeater nearby-- this is a handy way to test things.   You can 
then see how emoticons and soundicons work (though you'll get a 
double dose of them if you are connected to yourself).

Closing the chat window with the CLOSE button tells the TNC to 
disconnect the chat session.  You don't want to close the chat 
window with the X in the upper right corner as that does NOT 
close the connection with the TNC.   When you start or stop Radio 
Messenger, a command to disconnect any current connections is 
sent to the TNC.

There is more detailed help available in the help system available 
from the HELP command on the main Radio Messenger screen.


This is currently EARLY BETA software... more like ALPHA... and it's 
expected to need some fine tuning, trimming and pruning.  Please pass 
along comments, suggestions, bug reports, odd things, etc to 
cs@ducktronics.com .  The goal is to create a great program that's 
useful and entertaining.

Thanks for giving Radio Messenger a try!

73
John Martin
KF8KK


4/5/2005