the chab client on premier is quite a different experience for those used to dp3 chab and a bit much to explore and get used to... this will cover not only the chab client and the various features, but, the online isao address book that sort of works along side it... this guide will sort of assume you have read the' getting started with chab' guide, as i wil not cover everything you need to know to get started... it is more for those used to the concepts of using chab to get in and start using all that the dpp chab client can do... this does not, however, cover chabcall/dreamcall, as i know nothing about this feature... this borrows from what has been posted already as well as everything i know from using the dpp chab client, which is still alot of guess work and "well, it SEEMS that is what it does" kind of stuff... but, i am fairly confident about most of it... and, this one is not meant to be a quick little guide... i am going to be detailed and thorough on this one, so, it will be long and perhaps hard to get though or go back to for quick, easy reference in the future... but, maybe i will make a quick version sometime in the future... fact is, the dpp chab client is complex enough that i might be able to SHOW you in ten minutes, but, trying to explain it in WORDS is going to be kind of long... it may also seem out of order at times... in early parts i will use terms that are not defined or features that are not explained until later... trust me, you want it this way, otherwise it would be longer... it just may take a couple, few readings to get it all... i will try to repeat some key info to increase the odds you will bump into it where you need to... ----------------------- --- THINGS TO MAKE SURE OF FIRST --- note - options is the 5th button down on the right trigger menu, with something that looks like a backwards 'E' in it... at the bottom of each option screen (except the main screen) is a single button... that is the 'confirm changes' button... as you change each option, make sure to click that button to confirm the change... then, it will take you to the main options screen, where you will see two buttons at the bottom... make sure, after you have set your options, that you click on the LEFT button of these two to save the changes... it will then take you to a screen to choose which vmu you want to save the settings to... there will be alot of options here in the first part of this guide, so, be sure to confirm each setting, then save all the settings when you are done... now, on with the things you will want to be sure of first... - choose server - The first thing you want to do is change the chab server to the more stable of the two... if you do not, you will regret it... go to the options, right column, bottom option... change the 3rd setting to 'TCP'... - check chabs automatically or manually - it seems there is an option to have it check for new chabs automatically or if you just want to check when you feel like it... go to the options, middle column, middle option... then, the 5th setting... as far as i can tell, the settings are... check automatically/manually/not at all i would go for automatically... - auto-check frequency - ok, next is how often it will check automatically... go to options, right column, bottom option... third setting down is a numerical input... you can set it to 1, meaning it will check the server for new messages every one minute... but, note that this timer will start counting down one minute only when you have stopped loading a file (and a webpage is a file)... so, you have to sit on the same webpage for a full 60 seconds until it will check... if you go to another page or load a file or open your bookmarks or options or something, this timer resets when you get back... so, if you are hopping page to page, you will not know you have new messages until you stop for a full minute or check for new messages manually... - url chat on/off - now, i think this makes sure your url chat is enabled... options, right column, top option... make sure the first setting is switched to 'on'... - dreamcall/chabcall on/off - you can turn your dreamcall/chabcall/whatever-it-is off to not confuse people who have it... options, middle column, bottom option... set the 5th setting down to 'off'... - vmu chab history file - ok, now the big one... your vmu chab history... you may or may not want this on, but, since this guide will refer to it, you might as well have it on for now, and if you don't want it, you can just turn it off later and delete the file... options, middle column, bottom option... the 4th setting down has 'on/off' turning it on will give you the option to save each message to your vmu chab history file... ------------------------------ --- THE MAIN CHAB POP-UP --- you can bring up your main chab pop-up a few ways... - buddy list - after you are conected to the chab network (which is only after you have connected to the internet) you can check your buddy list by opening your left menu and pressing the default button that says chab or you can click on the icon with the orange figure at the bottom of your screen... this will bring up your buddy list and check to see who is online... blue face means that person is offline... any other face means they are online, and they will be at the top of your list... a little green phone icon means they have dreamcall activated... i will explain what to do next below... - url scan - you can url scan by clicking on the icon with the green figure at the bottom of your screen, or, you can bring up your chab pop-up, highlight the top bar, and hit right once on your d-pad... anyone who is on the same website as you (it is more complicated than this, but, that is for another faq) that is connected to the chab network will show up on this list... same as above applies as far as the icons next to their names... - more on the chab pop-up - now that you know how to get it, here is what all you can do with it... there are a total of three screens just like on dp3... one for the buddy list, one for url scan, and one will take you to the isao account options and the other stuff available there... we just don't really know what to call it... for info about everything you get to from that third screen, you will have to look elsewhere, this guide will not cover it... as for the other two screens, your choices are about the same... you can highlight a person's name you see there... if you pull your right trigger, you will see their chab number, then back to their name by pulling the left... once you highlight a person's name, here are the choices/buttons at the bottom of the screen... a total of six, two rows of three buttons... top left - send chab to highlighted person top middle - launch dreamcall with highlighed person top right - go to myroom of highlighted person bottom left - go to highlighted person's info page, where you can add them to your buddy list (for people you see on url scan) bottom middle - refresh list bottom right - exit chab pop-up ------------------------------ --- SENDING A MESSAGE --- when you select a name from the main chab pop-up or click on a chab link, you will be on a compose screen... you will see the name of the person you are sending this to, and if you click on that, it will show you their number... on the right will be four buttons... 1 - send message 2 - record voice mesage 3 - go to the chab log (no idea why) 4 - cancel and exit by my count, you get 900 characters (compared to dp3's 128) and ten seconds of voice... note - with voice chabs, SPEAK UP!! it is very quiet for some reason... best to send yourself a couple to see how they sound before you force someone else to strain to hear you and have to crank their volume, only to be blasted by their browser sound effects when they exit... ------------------------------ --- RECEIVED MESSAGES --- when you receive a chab (or view past chabs from your chab log), you will see the sender's name as well as the date and time they sent it... on the right will be six buttons... 1 - reply 2 - play voice attachment 3 - go to sender's myroom page 4 - go to sender's info page where you can add them to your buddy list 5 - go to chab log (no idea why) 6 - exit and delete message from your screen (it will still be in your chab log until you reset) - if you receive a voice chab - when you hit reply or delete, it will pop up a message asking if you want to save the voice file to vmu... left is yes, right is no... - if you have your chab client set to save chabs to our chab history file - (note, if there is a voice attachment, it will ask if you want to save that file first) it will pop up a message asking if you want to save this message to your vmu chab history... you will know this is what it is asking because the pop-up will have "PASSPORT.CTH" in it... again, left is yes, right is no... if you select no, it will give you a warning that it was not saved... just click the button to continue... ---------------------------- --- THE CHAB LOG AND CHAB HISTORY FILE --- ok, i keep mentioning it, time to explain it... you have two things to think about here... actually three... the chabs on your screen... the chabs in your chab log... the chabs in your vmu chab history file... - the chabs on your screen - once you reply to or delete the chabs on your screen, they are not there any more... in fact, for a dp3 chabber, they are gone forever... pretty simple, no more need be said, i think... except that on dpp, when you reply or delete and that chab vanishes, it is now in your chab log... - the chabs in your chab log - ok, when you open your right trigger menu, the 9th button down (it has the word 'chab' in it) opens your chab log... your chab log is a list of all the chabs that you replied to or deleted in this session... that is, if you exit the browser, reset your dc, etc., they will be gone and now they ARE lost forever... what you will see there is a list of the senders' names and the date and time each message was sent... it is much like the format for dp bookmarks, irc server list, address book entries, etc... - chab log right menu - 1 - send chab to highlighted name 2 - delete highlighted message from chab log (when you exit the chab log after deleting some, it will ask if you want to save the current log, click left for yes, right for no) 3 - read highlighted message 4 - re-sort message list 5 - save current log to history file (the ENTIRE list you see will be saved, so, delete any you do not want saved, and it will overwrite your current chab history file, so, make sure you loaded the old one first) 6 - load history file from vmu (it will add them, not overwrite them) - the chab history file - if the chab log was not cool enough, this is even cooler... by now, you should have the idea... this is a permanent chab log... if you want to save a message or as many messages as you want, you save them to your chab history file... mind you, the file WILL get bigger the more you add to it, though... the file will start at about 12 blocks and grow from there... HOWEVER, it will NOT save voice messages, ONLY the text message will be permanently logged... if you want the voice attachment, you have to save it as i described above... BUT, if you save the voice message, in your chab log, the message will have a little vmu icon next to it (like next to a bookmark or email that has been saved to vmu)... you can set your browser to give you the option to save each message as it comes in... also, you can go into your chab log and select which ones you wish to save to it... BUT, saving the log will overwrite the history file you have... you have load your chab history, then whittle the list down to what you want to keep, then save it... --------------------------- --- THE ISAO ONLINE ADDRESS BOOK --- i use this as my other buddy list... rather than search through names on my buddy list, i just keep people i will be chabbing most in my isao address book... you can also have an email address for each person, so, i usually keep the address that i can send files to, e.g., the address that goes to their dc... here are some things to know about the isao address book... first things first... how to get there... open the left trigger menu, and select the 8th button down... i usually recognize it by something that looks like a backward "J" in the center... this will take you to your isao address book page on a secure server... - making and editing entries - ok, here is where i hit a little snag... i don't know what a new, unused address book will look like... it has been a while since i started mine, so, i don't really remember... but, i think it will just be one blank entry, so, not too hard to figure out what to do with it using the following information... each entry has one button... this button basically serves three purposes at once... it takes you to a page where you can create new a entry, edit an entry, and delete an entry... - adding a new entry - click the grey button... on a new address book, i assume the page it will take you to is full of blank boxes... after that, you click on ANY entry in your address book, and it will take you to the edit page for that entry... simply delete all the info in those boxes and input the info for the new entry... sounds odd, but, apparently that is how you do it... fill out the fields as follows... -name -chab id # -dreamcall # -email address -website for the email address, as i said, i use the address that will go their dc so that i always have handy the address i know i can use to send files... on the website space, if you push the button next to that box, it will fill in the url to their myroom page automatically... when finished, click the button below the form, NOT the button at the bottom... it will then show you the info you entered with a confirmation button... just click that and it will take you back to the address book where you can view your entry... - to edit an entry - click the grey button on the entry you wish to edit... just change whatever needs to be changed, then, press the button below the form, NOT the button at the bottom... again, it will show you the information you just entered and give you a confirmation button... - to delete an entry - click the grey button next to the entry you wish to delete... then click the button at the bottom of the screen that has the chab id number showing above it... NOTE - it WILL NOT ask if you are sure, so, once you push it, that entry is deleted... - one last note - ok, all that being said, the only other thing to remember is the following... the chab id number is what decides the difference between an edited entry and a new entry... if you change someone's chab number, it creates a new entry for that number... if you change anything or everything else, it will just change the entry... so, if you change someone's chab number and leave the rest the same, you will have two identical entries, one with the old number, one with the new, and you just delete the old one following the steps above... and that is pretty much all there is to the address book... --------------------------- --- ADDITIONAL NOTES --- - emoticons - also on the bottom of your screen is your little "status emoticon" thing... not much to say here except that dp3'ers always show up as the default smiley-face icon, so, it is a good idea to change it to something other than the default so non-dp3'ers can see you are not on dp3 and they will know that it is ok to send longer messages... - links - http:// and mailto: address become clickable to the receiver... (well, as long as they are receiving on dpp...) - chab "receipts" - as with all dc chab clients, you will get a little "receipt", for lack of a better word, that will tell you when someone read your chab and then hit 'reply' or 'delete'... it will have the name of the person who read it, and the time they hit reply or delete... --------------------------------- and that is it! man, i hope i did not make any mistakes or leave anything out... personally, i could strangle whoever decided not to make the dpp chab client no longer a pop-up... plus, it is buggy, very prone to feezes, it is not a good idea to check your buddy list or try to download a chab while a page is loading, etc., etc.... i mean, they really screwed this one up BIG TIME... so, i see all these features as sort of an apology... if they take away the pop-up and it has all these problems, all this stuff is the least they could do, even if it takes some time to get used to using it all... so, if you were really in love with chab, yet, cannot pull yourself away from dpp, like myself, you can fee a little better about it all by learning how to use all these features... more info at DCBG Getting Started With Ch@b http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DreamcastBrowsers/message/4985 DPP Menus and Options Maps at DCBG http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DreamcastBrowsers/message/8520 DCBG's Ch@b Guides http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DreamcastBrowsers/links/___FAQs_And_Guides___001007163101/__Ch_bTalk_Instant_M_001007164970/