<C> 1994 by GEnie
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And enjoy!
==========================================================================
On January 10th, the Commodore RT had guest speakers, Gaelyne Moranec, and Tim
Phelps in to talk about the two Off Line Readers for the Commodore: QWKie for the C64 and QWKRR for the C128. This transcript is for anyone that is about to use, has used, or wants to use OLRs.
The conference was packed with information, and thoughtful questions and answers. Gaelyne showed why she is a successful columnist in the Commodore World magazine and BBS magazine with her though answers and explainations.
Tim Phelps demonstrated a thorough grasp of QWKie with his answers concerning the C64 verson of the Off Line Reader.
The conference was co hosted by Greg Noggle, a BBS owner, and a man that has
been in the field of telecommunications for many years. His questions provided
a lot of insight into OLR use.
GEOS-TIM (Tim Hewelt) offered the view point in his questions of a user that
had not had the pleasure of using an Off Line Reader. The transcripts that you
are about to read, of course, made all the participants look good with the
editing wizardry of Cam Stewart (The.Outlaw).
Sherry Freedline (C128-QT.Pie) handled the behind the scenes dutys of
informing the audience of any information they might need as they attended the
conference. Both Cam and Sherry helped with question construction.
==============================================================================
<GEOS-TIM> SHOWTIME!!!
Welcome to the QWKRR and QWKie Conference....with special guests -
Gaelyne Moranec and Tim Phelps. With co-hosts Greg Noggle and GEOS-
TIM (Tim Hewelt)
Gaelyne is a published columnist with BBS magazine and Commodore
World. Tim Phelps uses QWKie extensively with FIDO , Rime and ITC
They will be telliing us about QWKie and QWKRR tonight.
Greg Noggle my co host runs his own BBS and is very knowledgeable in
this area also.
I am a raw novice in the area of Off line readers. So I am planning
on learning a lot tonight
Welcome!
<Gaelyne> Thanks, Tim.
<Tim Phelps> Hello. I've been using QWKie regulary since it came out (early
1993) and have been using it to read such BBS networks as Fido and
Rime. I'm also a registered user of QWKie.
<Gaelyne> I've been using some form of offline mail reading since 1992, first
with GEOS, (a real interesting process) and then with QWKRR128. I'm a
registered use of QWKRR and in daily contact with it's author, Rod
Gasson, who lives in Australia. I spend a lot of time with this
program.
<GEOS-TIM> That is important. Not enough people register their software.
<Greg> Well what is FIDO, Galyne?
<Gaelyne> Fidonet is a network of amatuer BBS sysops. There are thousands of
conferences, each with different subjects. To save on phone costs,
messages are forwarded to HUB BBS's and then sent on to other BBS
systems.
<Greg> What subjects are available that would be of interest of a C= user?
<Gaelyne> There are about 4 or 5 of them actually....
CBM, which is for all 8bit Commodore computers,
CBM-128 for C128 users (and 64mode is ok too)
CBM-GEOS for GEOS folks,
PCWrite, which is for the discussin of emulators and crossplatform
computing.
And of course there is a CP/M echo and SCIFOR, which is about the
Vortexnet BBS program.
<Greg> Is this a pay service?
<Tim Phelps> No, it's not. (Pay as in GEnie, that is.)
<Gaelyne> It depends. Some BBS systems charge for your time online, some
don't. Some BBS's are subscription -- you pay by the year, and get
additional services, such as the ability to use the offline mail
doors and such.
Some are free, some are subscription. Depends on the BBS Sysop,
really.
<Greg> How big is the Fido network,does cover cities,states,countries?
<Gaelyne> It is literally International. All countries with the technology for
phone services can be a part of Fidonet.
<GEOS-TIM> QT has a question
<QT> What are offline mail doors?
<Gaelyne> Good one, QT! :) They are where you download the messages from a BBS
so you can read them offline.
<Tim Phelps> QWK, Bluewave and Silver Express (I think). But we Commodore users
can only use the QWK mail door for the moment.
<Gaelyne> Right, Tim.
<QT> ah, I see, thanks, Tim & Gaelyne!
<Greg> Tim what is RIME and ITC?
<Tim Phelps> Rime and ITC are just like Fido but smaller.
<Gaelyne> Rime is also known as RelayNet.
<Tim Phelps> Right, Gaelyne.
<GEOS-TIM> That gave us a good feel for BBSs. Now we will go into a little
background on how and when OLRs came on the scene.
I guess that brings up a logical question: How long have they been
around?
<Tim Phelps> Good question. :)
<Gaelyne> QWKRR came about in June of 1992. At that time it was in Basic and
you could only READ the messages, not respond to them.
<Tim Phelps> The first version of QWKie was put out in November 1992.
<Gaelyne> OH.... Before I continue, I should mention that CRR is an Offlinemail
reader for CP/M mode. It was available prior to either of the 64 or
128 offline readers.
<Greg> OLR,why is that important to me? Is this important for everyone or just
C= users?
<Tim Phelps> Well, for the C64/128 user, the online time on a BBS decreased
which was a handicap for those who want to at least scan through
all of the messages.
<GEOS-TIM> That brings up another...what I would view as an important question:
What was life like before the Off Line Reader?
<Gaelyne> Before offline mail reading, I spent a great deal of time online the
bulletin board, reading and answering mail. I had a lot of complaints
that no one could reach me because the phone line was busy. I also
probably answered more mail than needed because I couldn't read the
mail first, then go back to answer it later.
I tried buffering the mail but it wasn't very easy or satisfying.
Answering the mail was difficult to do using ASCII buffer sends from
the term programs.
<GEOS-TIM> Sounds like it is an important addition to the telecommunications
world!
<Gaelyne> I think so. :)
<Tim Phelps> Yep. :)
<GEOS-TIM> That puts us to the question of how to use them when collecting
messages.
What reuqirements does the BBS have to have to enable the user to
use OLRs?
<Tim Phelps> First you have to see if your BBS has a "QWK" mail door.
<Gaelyne> First, you will need to find a BBS that allows QWK mail doors, then
you will need to find out what kind of compression it uses to
compress the messages with. Commodore users have some specific needs
in this area.
<Tim Phelps> From there, you should see if the mail door supports the ARC/PAK
or PKZip 1.01 compression.
<Gaelyne> That's right, Tim. Also 128 users can use LHA -1 formats, too. Many
times you can ask your BBS sysop to include PKZip 1.x as a
compression method, if it isn't available. Most sysops don't mind
helping their users in this way.
<Greg> Can a single drive user use offline readers
<Tim Phelps> Yep.
<Gaelyne> Yes, but it does involve planning... ie, you will have to limit the
amount of mail you receive at one time so both the OLR and mail
packets can fit on the same disk.
<Tim Phelps> I should add to that. It will depend on the type of drive you
have. For example for a mail packet compressed with PKzip should
be about 48k to fit on a 1541 (For Arc compressed, about 53k.)
<GEOS-TIM> Gaelyne,could you give us an idea of the steps when collecting
messages?
<Gaelyne> Usually the mail door has a configurations menu. In this menu, you
select the way you want your mail sent to you. Some of the options
are: compression (as mentioned), which protocol to download with, and
what conferences you which to receive in you mail packet.
There are some rather important OTHER options. One is whether or not
to include every conference name in the Control.dat file or not.
(Answer NO).
Another is if you want other .txt files in your packet, such as
Bulletins and News files. This is up to you and the amount of disk
drive space you have.
Some, but not all mail doors have a means of allowing you to limit
the number of messages per packet, and per conference. This is
helpful for single '41 disk drive users.
One of the other options is whether to include ".NDX" files or not.
QWKIE users NEED these files. QWKRR users don't.
<GEOS-TIM> Tim,are the procedures similar with the C64 version of the Off Line
Reader QWKie?
<Tim Phelps> They're similar. But I do have to make a modification. It doesn't
really matter if you have a "large" (with all conferences) or
"small" (selected conferences) control.dat file. It depends on
you.
On QWKie it preferable to use the small version (if available)
because it's easier to select a conference to enter a new message
(you have to go down lists of conference names just to get to the
conference you want). Also, you can read the "external" files (new
file listings, bulletins, news, etc.,) with the Import option of
QWKie.
<Gaelyne> About the Control.dat file, QWKRR has an upper limit on this, Tim, as
this affects the memory available for answering mail.
<Tim Phelps> Oh. I did not know that.
<Greg> Once you have dowload the packet,what do you do it with it,you have file
on your disk namesomething.ex, where do you go from there?
<GEOS-TIM> Okay, moving on to the next logical step....Reading the messages you
download. Could you give us the procedure for reading messages after
logging off the BBS?
<Tim Phelps> Well, first you have to dissolve the packet. With QWKie, if the
packet was compressed with ARC/PAK, you use CSX. If compressed
with PKZip, use Unzip64 (but you may need the "fix" for this).
<Gaelyne> What "fix", Tim?
<Tim Phelps> Well, when Unzip64 has a tough time reading mail packets. So the
author of the program, Bill Lucier, issued a fix to cure this
problem.
<GEOS-TIM> Is it a PD fix, that is available in most BBS libraries?
<Tim Phelps> Well, it's any easy fix. It's just a bunch of poke statements that
you just put into Unzip64. BTW, I should mention this is in
reference to Unzip v.101.
I don't think so, Tim. Unfortunately, he just offered the poke
statements over Fido but that's all.
<GEOS-TIM> oic
<Tim Phelps> Oh, one last note about using Unzip64 with your mail packet: Be
sure to name the file the the .zip extention or the program won't
reconize it.(Also, just to clarify, the first Unzip64 isn't useful
to OLR users.)
<Greg> Now the packet this is file on a your drive correct. Do you have to make
sure the the file name is something specifc?
<Gaelyne> QWKRR users can use a program called QPX which can be found in
QWKRRUT.SFX. or can use QPE, which can be found in NZP12813.SFX. If
using ARC/PAK, the user also needs to find CSX01.SDA. These programs
make dissolving the mail packets easier for the end user by asking
all the questions and then running. They ask the archive name, the
disk drives, and a few other questions.
<GEOS-TIM> Okay, you have dissolved the messages, what are the procedures a
user would go through to read and respond to messages? Gaelyne ?
<Gaelyne> With QWKRR, it depends on the program used to dissovle the mail and
the options you've chosen. For FIRST time users, it will ask where
the mail can be found (what disk drives or CMD directories), where
the replies should be stored, where the taglines are, and where
"user" files should be stored.
Then it asks for the time and date, and for non-registered users, it
has a few screens reminding you that it is shareware and that all
functions will not work until registered. Once that is through, you
may either <I>ndex the mail, (this can be set automatically useing
QPX or QPE, too).
From that point (indexing is NOT necessary, BTW), you can read the
mail in anyway you desire. IE, read only mail to/from you, or read
only mail from TWITS (VIPs), etc.
Greg just asked about Unzip 128.. unzip 128 has another program to
run called QPE that looks for QWK mail... you tell it the name of
the file... ie, BBSNAME.QWK or BBSNAME.ZIP and it will find it and
dissolve it.
QPE can be saved so you don't have to type in that info each time,
too.
<Greg> Ah,I just changed the name of the file to auroura.qwk in my case, But it
was a nussiance till I figured that out,didn't know about QPE doing that
specifically.
<Tim Phelps> QWKie works a little differently. Once you load the program you
are given the options to read messages, enter messages, set the
drives for the mail packet and taglines, and select if you want
the taglines be selected manually, randomly or numerically and
edit the taglines.
By the way, taglines and the index mode (to be mentioned later)
are only supported in the registered version.
<Gaelyne> QWKRR is the same in regards to taglines.
<Tim Phelps> When QWKie spots a new mail packets, it scans the packet to gather
information such as confernces, number of messages, the date of
the mail packet. After that it presents you the list of
conferences for you to read. You can read them by scanning the
headers, listing the headers (index) or reading the full message
one by one.
<GEOS-TIM> Interesting....I can see it is indispensible for the BBS user.....
<Gaelyne> QWKRR also will list the headers of mail, and let you read from that
point, but QWKie is a little different. It lets you Mark the
messages of interest from the Index mode and then read these. QWKRR
lets you list the headers and select and individual message to jump
right to.
<Tim Phelps> Oh, QWKie does let you mark message but only in Index mode (and
only for that conference).
<Gaelyne> :-) I learned something. QWKRR shows all conferences, if you are set
to All conferences otherwise displays only mail from the selected
Area. Thanks, Tim!
<Tim Phelps> QWKie only shows the selected conferences there's mail in.
<Gaelyne> Same with QWKRR... if there's no mail in a conference, you won't
see it in the list.
<Greg> Gaelyne you mention Twit filter earlier what's that?
<Gaelyne> Ah, the misnamed TWIT filter. :-)
<Tim Phelps> (By the way, QWKie 3.1 doesn't have the twit filter. Maybe in
4.0).
<Gaelyne> Rod has a warped sense of humor. The Twit filter allows you to
either Read mail from a list of 10 Twit names, or you can Ignore mail
to or from the people listed. Most QWKRR users seem to use this
instead of as a true TWIT filter, as a VIP filter... ie, I have Rod
Gasson and the CBM echo moderator TWITed, so I can <B>rowse for the
TWITS and read mail from or to them.
Latest version of QWKRR is 4.30, BTW.
<Tim Phelps> Is that an example or do you really twit the moderator? :)
<GEOS-TIM> Don't you dare twit the moderator . <g>
<Gaelyne> I Twit the moderator so I CAN read mail frm him. <G> This is where
(or what) I meant by Rod having a warped sense of humor. Gives him
great pleasure to "Twit" the moderator. ;-)
<Tim Phelps> Oh, I didn't know when you twit, you can also read the mail from
the person.
<Gaelyne> It's kinda like a search function. In fact, when you browse Headers
or read the mail, the names which are in your Twit filter are
highlighted a different color, and a small bell dings. I never use
the Twit filter as a true filter... I use it as a VIP search.
VIP = Very Important People
<GEOS-TIM> Okay, you've read the message. How do you respond to the messages?
Does the program place them in the correct areas when you log on to
the BBS? In a nutshell, procedures for reponding. What does the user
have to do to insure that a message get to the correct area?
<Gaelyne> Wanna take this, Tim?
<Tim Phelps> OK. :) When you respond to a message with QWKie, you are asked to
change the "to:" and "subject:" fields and if this is to be a
private or a public message.
You type your reply, using the quote function (it will ask you if
you want to insert parts of the message you're replying to to your message) when necessary.
<Gaelyne> In other words, quote.
<Tim Phelps> When done, you will then use the save functin and at that time
(using the registered version, it will ask you for a tagline to
save to the message) and then QWKie will save that message to as
a <bbsname>.msg file.
When you're done reading message for that mail packet, you go back
to the QWKie main menu to the ".zip" messages function where
QWKie will zip the message for you to upload.
When you sign onto your BBS and select the mail door, you'll see a
functin that says "Upload .rep packet" and upload your reply
packet (when QWKie .zip the packet, it "changed" it to
<bbsname>.rep).
<GEOS-TIM> Gaelyne, is the QWKRR similar in it's response functions? Does the
program put the message in the right areas on the BBS? Or does the
user have to do something special?
<Gaelyne> QWKRR functions a little differently when replying to mail. It will
ask who you are sending a message to (defaulting to the name in the
last read message), and the subject, but if you wish to quote, you
use C= or CTRL Q, and scroll through the last read message to select
portions of text to quote.
When done, you save the message. For sake of making it easy here, if
you are only sending one reply, you could then select to edit your
reply (Registered version only), or to archive it to send back.
QWKRR can do this in 3 ways:
1) Link messages. This creates a file called BBSNAME.MSG that you
can then load another program like CS-DOS and
archive it. You have to name the archived
file with a .REP extention. IE, BBSNAME.REP.
2) ARC ... This will archive the mail in a stored PKarc format.
3) ZIP... same as above but in PKZip (stored) format.
These last two are the easiest options. They do NOT compress the
replies, but add header information and then rename the file to
BBSNAME.REP Then, like QWKie, you load your term program and go to
the same mail door and upload the REP packet.
The mail door then acts like a post office and "tosses" the mail into the different conference areas where it belongs.
<GEOS-TIM> Greg? Any questions?
<Greg> Can I use any text editor to do my replying
<Tim Phelps> (By the way, I'm not sure the option for packing replies on the
<GEOS-TIM> Greg? Any questions?
<Greg> Can I use any text editor to do my replying
<Tim Phelps> (By the way, I'm not sure the option for packing replies on the
QWKie menu is .zip replies but it's something like packing
replies.)
<Gaelyne> Greg, both QWKie and QWKRR have their own inbuilt editors for
replying, BUT, QWKRR allows you to i<M>port text into your messages.
Tim, does QWKie have this, too?
<Tim Phelps> As mentioned earlier, yes.
<Gaelyne> Thanks! That'll teach me to go grab a coke. ;-)
<GEOS-TIM> LOL
<Tim Phelps> :)
<Greg> Can the process of reading and replying be automated to some degree,if
so and what utilities are necassary, Gaelyne?
<Gaelyne> OH.... Lets see if I'm following you.... do you mean can the process
of picking up mail from the BBS and then dissolving it be automated?
(The computer can't read the mail for you) <G>
<GEOS-TIM> Nuts! I thought the Commie could do everything.
<Tim Phelps> You can use scripts to download your mail packet and upload your
reply packet. And the computer can't write replies either. :)
<Gaelyne> Grin!
<Greg> True,but where does EZ-loader play a role for instance?
<Gaelyne> Yes, Greg. EZLoader was written by David Schmoll and it is a menu
program which allows you to set the time (or use a CMD device RTC),
you can have it set to load/run programs for you at specific times.
He wrote this with offline mail reading in mind... He has a script
program for his term program and has EZ Loader run this at a specific
time... it calls the BBS and downloads his mail for him. Then set
at a later time, EZLoader automatically loads and runs QPE to
dissolve his mail packet. When he gets up in the morning his mail
packet is ready to be read. (BTW, both EZLoader and QWKRR have
screen savers so burn in is not a problem).
But he still has to read and reply to the mail on his own. <GRIN>
<GEOS-TIM> :D
<Tim Phelps> (I use scripts to download my mail packet and upload my replies.)
<Gaelyne> EZLoader is on GEnie, and if not, it will be!!!! :-)
<GEOS-TIM> Cam was saying that EZ loader is in the libs here. ezldr2-8.sfx file
# 15937 .
<Greg> You mentioned earlier Netmail,what is this?
<Gaelyne> Here goes.. Netmail is something indicitive to Fidonet. It is
"private" mail sent either directly from one BBS to another
(Crashmail) or bounced from one BBS to another until it gets to its
destination (Routed). It is not really private in that any BBS Sysop
can read it if they want, but there are rules which govern that.
Routed mail is often referred to by Rod Gasson as Rooted because it
doesn't always get where its intended to go, it just vanishes (not
always but it does happen). Some BBS sysops allow their users to
have access to Netmail for reading ONLY, and some allow reading and
sending of Netmail. Because Crashmail often involves a long distance
call, Routed is usually what users are allowed to use, if given
access.
QWKRR has some automated Netmail featues not found on other OLRs on
other platforms. The user has to first determine the type of
BBS/Mail door he or she are using, and then select this format in
QWKRR, (it is saved as a default for future use), and also has to
tell QWKRR which conference area Netmail should be placed in. It
also has a phone book allowing up to 26 different addresses to be
stored. (Netmail requires a Fidonet address so the BBS knows where
to send the mail). This is one of QWKRR's most powerful features,
IMHO.
<Tim Phelps> These Netmail features are not available in QWKie. You would have
to type the addresses manually.
<GEOS-TIM> The process seems pretty easy. What kinds of typical problems can
the user expect when using an OLR, specifically QWkie and QWKRR?
Let's start with you, Tim.
<Tim Phelps> Well, you may get a packet that was downloaded as a bad one,
making it unreadable. The download could be bad because of
transmission problems or you've run out on room on your disk.
But to cure this, you can go dissolve the .ptr file which you can
upload to the BBS and have your message pointers reset.
(assuming there's nothing wrong up to the .ptr file.)
<Gaelyne> :) The first and most major hurdle is getting a mail packet. Often
new users will d/l the offline mail readers and try to run it without
reading the docs, or getting a mail packet. Many often "assume" the
OLR should dissolve the mail. This happens and is the #1 asked
question even for other platforms.
Getting the concept across that the unpackers are separate from the
offline mail readers is one of the major hurdles.
<Greg> Yeah when you don't read the docs for QWKRR watch out for the screen
saver,my monitor wasn't broke after all
<Tim Phelps> Good point. I always forget I'm one of the few who read the docs.
:)
<Gaelyne> LOL! There is a nice way for new QWKRR users to both learn and read
the docs at the same time. I put the docs in QWK format the file name
is QWKRR43T.ZIP (T for Tutorial), and it's available on GEnie too.
You will still need NZP12813.SFX to unzip both the original file and
the QWK packet within.
It has had problems though, Unzip128 needs to be set to unzip the
files as SEQ files so you can read the two included text files which
tell you what to do. Some have had problems with this... for
whatever reason sometimes these TXT files dissolve strange and are
unreadable. :-(
What has worked for some is trying it again (dissolving) onto another
disk or disk drive. We haven't figured out why some have problems
and some don't, though. Very frustrating.
<The.Outlaw> qwkrr43t.zip file # 16759 nzp12813.sfx file # 15112
<Gaelyne> Thanks, Cam!
<Gaelyne> Oh... QWKie users can't read this mail packet... Since QWKRR doesn't
use or need .NDX files, (and I didn't know how to make them), they
are not in this packet.
<Tim Phelps> Unzip128 may need a fix like Unzip64 has.
<Gaelyne> Thanks Tim..... bring that up in the echo, please! <g>
<Tim Phelps> OK, if I remember. :)
<GEOS-TIM> Well, we covered a lot of areas tonight. Could you two go over the
similarities and differences between 64's QWKie and the 128's QWKRR
programs?
Lets start with similarities.
<Gaelyne> Yea, they both let you read mail... <g>
<GEOS-TIM> :D
<Tim Phelps> That's a tough one for me to answer because I'm not very familiar
with QWKRR. But one thing I've heard is that on QWKRR, you enter
the number of the conferenc you want to post a message to but with
QWKie you are given with a list of conferences to enter.
<Gaelyne> That depends, Tim. If you are just entering a message w/o reading
any, you are asked. But if you are reading in a conference, and
reply, it will save it in that conference, or you can forward your
reply to another conference.
<Tim Phelps> I meant entering a new message.
<GEOS-TIM> Major differences?
<Gaelyne> I just got a question asked about registration.....
<GEOS-TIM> go ahead...
<Gaelyne> Rod says Arthur Moore's program is written better and tighter than
QWKRR, which is quite a compliment. QWKie's Index mode is a very big
plus.
<Tim Phelps> (Arthur Moore is the author of QWKie.)
<GEOS-TIM> Ah, the C64 comes through again!!!
<Greg> LOL
<Tim Phelps> :)
<Gaelyne> LOL! Both are EXCELLENT programs.
<Gaelyne> QWKRR also has macros. And an intro... IE, you can have it set with a
greeting of your design instead of just "Hi". The macros make typing
for me a lot easier. Just a couple keystrokes and an entire word
appears. You can, infact, have a single macro that is up to 8K in
size. If the moderator wants to put the entire rules message into
a single macro, he can. This also works nice for graphics (like
schematics) or for sending Internet mail.
<Tim Phelps> I think just about what you find in QWKie you can find in QWKRR.
The only macro QWKie gives is: On xxx, xxxx said to xxx:.
<GEOS-TIM> Dan Thomas has a question.
<GEOS-TIM> Go ahead Dan
<Tim Phelps> Yes Dan?
<Dan Thomas> Can QWKRR be used with more that one BBS. I read something about
your name being set in the regitered verison.
<Gaelyne> Yes, and even Registered versions. Let me explain. Say on one BBS you
are Dan and on another your user name is Danny. QWKRR looks at the
name in the control.dat file from the mail packet to see if you are
registered. Rod will send you the correct codes for as many
different BBS names as you have (within reason). Or, in the same
example.... hmm, I lost myself, sorry. You can use Alias's also
when you register. IE, if your name in the control.dat is DAN, and
the BBS allows you to have an alias of Danny, when you reply you can
do so with a SHIFT R for reply, and type in the name of your Alias in
the From field. This is for registered users, only.
<Gaelyne> Does this help?
<Dan Thomas> Yes, what if my mail packet comes in an alias?
<Gaelyne> When you register, list the Alias' you need the registration codes
for on the registration form, and they will be sent to you. You can
have/use different registered versions of QWKRR, too. I have about 3
or 4 I think. (No extra cost)
<Dan Thomas> Good I will regist my copy
<Gaelyne> It is up to you to run the registration program and add the codes.
GREAT. ;-)
<Tim Phelps> By the way, the same holds true for QWKie (as far as using
different BBSs and handles) but Arthur does it differently. He
writes into your registered copy of QWKie with your submitted list
of handles that you'll be using.
<Dan Thomas> Can you keep a vergin copy and request codes as needed?
<Gaelyne> Yes, but since Rod lives in Australia it is good to list the ones
you need when you register. But if your needs change you can request
new ones.
Do NOT, however try it with very different names. IE, Bob Smith and
Jerry Hall or something like that. But Husband/Wife's can register
once and each receive the codes they need.
<Dan Thomas> thank you, I am through. It might be best to use the same handle
or name on all boards you call....
<Tim Phelps> That is what I do, Dan.
<Greg> most fido boards ask for real names anyway I thought
<Tim Phelps> Yes they do, Greg.
<GEOS-TIM> Thanks Dan, good questions
<Tim Phelps> Gaelyne, does QWKRR support unlimted number of taglines?
<Gaelyne> Yes. and No. Tagline files have 10 tags in each file. You can name
them with ".XX" extension (s) so that you can simply hit N or P to
load the next or previous tagline file. So you can have up to 99
tagline files with 10 tags per tagline filename.
<Dan Thomas> Can these OLR be used with InterNet???
<Tim Phelps> That's easy. With QWKie, you have to remember the name of the
tagline file to load (althoug it ends with tag). end
<Tim Phelps> Sure, Dan.
<Gaelyne> Yes, you can, Dan.
<Tim Phelps> Er, that is you can read the Usenet newsgroups.
<Gaelyne> You can also send E-Mail through the Internet, too. Providing the BBS
has an E-Mail conference, of course. You type:
To: gaelyne.moranec@wolverine.com (example)
on the first line of the message, then start the message. Works
great.
<Dan Thomas> Thanks, I am trying to understand the InterNet...bought magaznines
and read messages here trying to get some understanding maybe just
using it will help.
<Gaelyne> The Jan issue of BBS Magazine has a nice article about it for C=
users.
<Tim Phelps> By the way, the Internet RT is a valuable resource for the
Internet.
<Gaelyne> <grin>
<GEOS-TIM> And there will be expanded internet access in the future on GEnie
<Dan Thomas> what access do we have here now????
<Tim Phelps> Email and FTP.
<GEOS-TIM> Cam, our Inet expert can answer that. Cam?
<The.Outlaw> Currently on GEnie all we have is available through Email. I do
know the the testing for the Gopher access is about finished and
will/should be ready for general use in Feb.
<Gaelyne> You can do a lot with E-Mail, though...
<Tim Phelps> You can read news letters.
<Dan Thomas> Is there more access?
<The.Outlaw> As for the rest, later on in the spring time. No definate dates
as yet. There will be more Access coming Dan
Phase I will consist of: FTP, IRC, Gopher, there are a few other
items, I can't remember them. That will be this year.
<Tim Phelps> That is real FTP. (The FTP we have now is like mail FTP.)
<GEOS-TIM> Doctor has a question
<Doctor> I have a question reguarding the qwk reader program, if I may.
<Gaelyne> go ahead..
<Tim Phelps> Which one, Doc?
<Doctor> Which ones are currently under discussion?
<Tim Phelps> QWKie for the 64 and QWKRR for the 128.
<Gaelyne> QWKRR128 v4.30 for the 128 and QWKie for the 64
<Doctor> Okay, the QWK spec has a need for index files, does the readers for
the 64 or the 128 have a need to use these files?
<Gaelyne> QWKie does, QWKRR creates its own.
<Tim Phelps> For QWKie, yes.
<Doctor> What are they, offsets for the data?
<Gaelyne> Yes.... they have info about each conference and the messages within
them. QWKRR creates just one index file of its own format while QWKie
uses the ones which come in the mail packet.
<Tim Phelps> (such as the number of messages)
<Doctor> Is it common for QWK mail readers on most computers to have need of
these files?
<Gaelyne> CRR for CP/M mode does not use them, but many of the PC OLR's do.
This is dependant entirely upon the programmer for the OLR.
<Tim Phelps> I've heard it's a necessisty on older OLR's. And maybe computers
(PC's).
<Gaelyne> Good questions! :-)
<GEOS-TIM> Okay, we all know how to use the program now. Where can we get the
program, what are the costs, and where do I send the money? Tim
first...concerning QWKie
<Tim Phelps> QWKie 3.1 can be downloaded here on GEnie. The registration fee is
$17 and the fee can be sent to:
Arthur Moore
828 N. Hudson St.
Orlando, FL USA 32808-7555
(By the way, that's $17 US (send in an addition $2 for
international orders.) ... Oh, darn. I almost forgot. Moore is
writing his last version for QWKie (to be called QWKie 4.0. He has
mentioned that you can send in your registration fee but it's not
a necessity since the full blown version (4.0) will be available
to the public.)
<GEOS-TIM> Gaelyne, how about QWKRR?
<Gaelyne> QWKRR128 $20 Australian (about $15 or $16 US)
The funds need to be in either cash (send it registered mail),
personal check, credit card (see the registration form), or an
INTERNATIONAL Money Order in ... AUSTRALIAN funds. (NOT U.S.)!!!
Address:
Rod Gasson
90 Hilliers Rd.
Reynella SA 5161
South Australia
(You can phone with your Credit card number, if you wish, see the
docs) There's a 15.5 hour time difference. They are ahead of us.
<Doctor> One more, does the QWK standard require that the mail packets be
compressed?
<Gaelyne> About compression?
<Doctor> Yes, does the QWK standard require it, or is it optional?
<Gaelyne> Most of the mail doors require it. Do you mean for replies or for
the QWK packets you download? Are you writing an OLR?
<Doctor> No, I'm writting a door for a Commodore BBS to support it, hopefully.
<Gaelyne> YIPPEE!
<Greg> According to the Fido FTS-001 standard you don't have to compress,
Vortex does not support compression
<Doctor> I've gotten a lot of conflicting info about the standard.
<Gaelyne> (Greg, he means QWk, not Fido)
<Tim Phelps> I don't think their is a Commodore BBS that supports qwk, is
there?
<Gaelyne> Not until he Doctor does it. <g>
<Dan Thomas> What about the higher verison of Zip & Arc-PK?
<Gaelyne> Take it Tim... about the zip stuff
<Tim Phelps> There isn't a C64/128 dissolver for the PKzip 2.04g files at this
time. Arc's may be OK.
<Dan Thomas> I have a zip file that will not un-pack. And, what about the lh5
is that still on under CP/M?
<Tim Phelps> What do you mean? Does the Unzip program say unreconizable format?
<Dan Thomas> yes
<Gaelyne> I don't know much about the cp/m versions, Dan. Sorry.
<Tim Phelps> Then what may have happen was the mail packet was compressed by
the PKzip2.04 compressor. Try to see if your mail door accepts the
PKzip1.01 compression.
<GEOS-TIM> I would like to thank everyone for coming tonight. I would
especially thank Gaelyne and Tim for their expertise. And for their
great answers
<Gaelyne> Thanks for having us, Tim!
<Tim Phelps> Thank you for having us, Tim. :)
<GEOS-TIM> Greg, you have been a great co host.
<Gaelyne> Great questions, too!
<GEOS-TIM> And Cam thanks for all that great editing you are going to do on the
transcripts to make us all look good.
<Gaelyne> LOL!
<GEOS-TIM> We will be going into an open forum....thanks everyone for coming.