EXTERNAL is a communications program which provides automatic dial-out access
to external facilities.  It allows users to be individually authorized to
access specific external facilities.  Facility selection is menu-driven, and
the menu is automatically customized for each user.  When the user selects a
facility, the dialling and login process is fully automatic.  This allows the
telephone numbers and passwords of the facilities to be kept confidential, and
saves the user from having to learn multiple login procedures.  The entire
online session is recorded into a session log file in the user's directory,
allowing the user to retrieve the information at a later time. 

It is intended for use by unsophisticated users, and therefore it does not
support file transfers. 

The dialling and login process is script-driven.  The script is kept
hardware-independent by confining hardware-dependent code to subroutines called
connect or disconnect scripts. Each type of modem on the system has its own
connect and disconnect script. This allows different modem types to be used on
the same system, transparently to the user. 

	Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission
	#1900 - 250 - 6th Avenue, S.W.
	Calgary, Alberta,
	T2P 3H7  CANADA

	Keith Walker
	(403) 297 - 5405