Installation Details

Communications Toolbox:
For System 6.04 or later, use the Installer on the Communications Toolbox disk to install it and then copy the Serial Tool into the Communications folder in your System folder. For System 7 drag the Serial Tool into the System folder and it will automatically be placed in the Extensions folder.

MacWoof:
Since you are reading this document, you have probably already uncompacted the MacWoof package consisting of this manual and the MacWoof application itself.  Simply put MacWoof on whatever hard drive volume you wish. 

Configuring MacWoof:
When you start MacWoof for the first time, you need to create a message file and you will need to give MacWoof information on your Boss and where you fit in the FidoNet scheme of things. 

Select New Msg File from the File menu. Name the file whatever you wish. It is a good idea to put the message file into a folder by itself especially if you are going to connect to more than a single boss.

Next you will see this dialog:

First enter your name as you want to be known on the network.  The origin line is for personalization of your messages, and usually identifies your geographic area, your interests or your sense of humor.  

Now comes the “hard” part.  Under domain, enter the network you use, and then the zone.  MacWoof assumes that the point and the boss are in the same zone. The zones for FidoNet proper are:

          Zone 1: North America
          Zone 2: Europe
          Zone 3: Oceania
          Zone 4: Latin America
          Zone 5: Africa
          Zone 6: Asia

Enter the Boss' net and node number. Next enter the point number for your point. If your Boss is using a PointNet (sometimes called a "fakenet") then enter its number in the PointNet field.

This dialog can also be accessed from the Configure… submenu off the File menu by choosing Point Info.

The next step is to tell MacWoof how to call your Boss node. The dialog for this is located in the Configure… submenu under Boss….

Enter the phone number for your Boss node and select the fastest baud rate that your modem/boss' modem supports.

Note: MacWoof defaults to using ATDT for tone dialing if nothing else is specified. You can override this by prefixing the phone number with ATDP if you need pulse dialing.  

The password, if used, is chosen in collaboration with your Boss node and keeps other people from accessing your mail. Also, you can specify that MacWoof should use the Printer port instead of the Modem port. 

Modems:
The modem initialization string will vary from modem to modem.  You can see in the dialog the string that MacWoof defaults to.  AT signals the beginning of a command to the modem, while E0 indicates command Echo off, and X4 causes extended command results.  If you check locked baud rate or hardware handshaking, your modem initialization string may also need to add commands for those conditions.

Setting up Areas:
Now you may set up the areas for which you will be receiving EchoMail at your point. MacWoof will automatically create new areas for you as you receive messages for that area.

However, if your Boss is running Tabby and is using Tabby’s GroupMail feature, you will want to set up your Areas before they start coming in so MacWoof will recognize the incoming files as ARC’ed bundles.

To set up an area, select New Area… from the  Areas menu. This dialog appears:

Enter the name of the area being sure to get the spelling EXACTLY the same as it is in the AREA: info or in the EchoList. Case doesn't matter though… (ie: MacDev, MACDEV, and MACDev would all be considered the same.) Keep adding areas as you wish. 

If this echo is being supplied to you as a "GroupMail" echo, click on the checkbox. If you aren't sure if an area is GroupMail or not, ask your Boss. Note: Don't do this if your boss is running Tabby as what it calls GroupMail/PointMail is not the same as standard GroupMail. (Also see the section on GroupMail later in the manual for more details.)