pastedGraphic

cocoaModem "Lite" Interface

Kok Chen, W7AY [w7ay (at) arrl.net]
Last updated: November 4, 2007





Definition: Lite -- "Lite version, a basic, no-frills version of a product, especially computer software."


The cocoaModem Lite interface is an interface option that presents a minimal RTTY and PSK user interface. It is meant to be used when cocoaModem is controlled by some other application (e.g., when cocoaModem is used as a modem for RUMPed).

In the "Lite" mode, cocoaModem accepts character inputs only through AppleScripts. There is no user interface in the cocoaModem interface for you to type anything into. There is also no text view to display the decoded character. The decoded characters are passed through AppleScripts to the client application.

You select the Lite interface from the General Preferences (the Preference panel is opened from the Apple menu of the Menu Bar).

prefs


Click the "Lite" window (AppleScript only control) checkbox, then Quit from cocoaModem. The next time you launch cocoaModem, the Lite interface will show up instead of the usual cocoaModem window.

The Lite interface is intended to use up as little display real estate as possible. The following shows the Lite interface for RTTY:

lite

and the following shows the Lite interface in PSK mode:

litepsk

Notice that there are no transmit or receive buttons. Receive/Transmit switching is assumed to be controlled through AppleScripts from the client app. If cocoaModem is the active app, you can use the menu items in the T/R menu in Menu Bar and the corresponding keyboard shortcuts.

When you are in the RTTY Lite interface, you can also choose to display the Crossed Ellipse indicator, together with some control buttons for you to receive inverted signals, select tone pairs and to adjust the input codec level, as seen below. These are the same control that are described in the wideband RTTY interface section.

bananas

If you close the RTTY control window, you can reopen it by using the Open Controls button at the bottom left of the main RTTY window. The Tx Lock and Restore buttons in the main RTTY window behave the same way as the Lock and Restore buttons in the regular wideband RTTY interface.