NULL mag Issue 06 27 How to make ansi tutorials

eZine lover (@eZine)

Published in 

null magazine

 · 26 Dec 2020

  

 

 
    the most common question i get when i tell someone to write a tutor 
    or article for NULL, is "but yes... what should i write?". actually i 
    don't know.. that's your problem... hahhahaaha... 

    but i can help you on how to do something in a simple way. the 
    easiest thing to do, is to make a tutor about a feature of a bbs, 
    either system or software. you just login to the bbs and take some 
    screenshots... write some text on it and presto! you have your first 
    tutorial! 

    but... screenshots? aren't those image files? png, jpg etc... NOOOOO! 
    we are in 1991... we only use textmode and the only screenshots i 
    will accept are ansi files! so how will get them you ask... and here 
    i will get mad, cause i told you how on a previous issue! you don't 
    read my tutors? ha? 

    but for those who didn't read it, lets tell it in a quick way. you 
    get a program/telnet client that supports session capturing. this 
    means that everything is being displayed on your client program, is 
    also written in a file. you get this file, edit it, copy/paste it and 
    you can make a nice tutor yourself. 

    but there is also another way. sometime ago, i wrote a simple 
    terminal/console telnet client called Blocker, you can get a copy 
    here: https://github.com/xqtr/blocker_bbs_telnet_client 
    blocker can do ansi screenshots... while you are "browsing" a bbs or 
    your system, you can press alt-s and immediately you save the screen 
    in front of you. you can also choose the folder and name of the file 
    at the same time. 

    so... you take all your "screenshots" and then you can "glue" them to 
    one big ansi file, to make your tutorial, presentation. but how to 
    "glue" them you may ask... easy... open a terminal/console... in 
    windows, linux, even in dos! and use a command like cat or type. 
    windows/dos users will use type and linux users, cat. 

    using pipes you can combine files one after another and create a big 
    one. ex: cat screen1.ans > tutor.ans, and then cat screen2.ans >> 
    tutor.ans etc. 

    to edit the file and add some text, clear, cut/copy some areas etc. 
    you can either use pablo, tundradraw or even aciddraw under dos! use 
    the alt-i or alt-y shortcuts to add/remove lines where ever is 
    needed. 

    with this technique i made the tutor for connecting to fsxnet or any 
    other network. you can make your own tutors for bbs stuff, or you can 
    make tutors for terminal/console apps... i am hearing you asking how, 
    again... :) 

    in your bbs make a command that drops you into a shell, like bash or 
    cmd.exe. use blocker to connect to the bbs, execute the command from 
    within the bbs to drop into the shell, and take screenshots of the 
    shell ;) 

    now... go make me some tutors... oops forgot... sudo make tutors :)