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═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ██████ ██████ ██████ ██████ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ E C H O & F E U t i l V1.20 ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ █████ ██████ ██████ ██ Written by Tobias Burchhardt ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ (c)1991/'92 by Software Technik Burchhardt ██ ██ ██ ██████ ██ ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Features at a glance ==================== * Very fast and fully featured TOSSER/SCANNER for QBBS-Messagebase * powerful internal AreaFix with 'Forwarding'-feature and automatical unlinking of passive Passthrough-areas (*registered version only*) * Dupe checking * Complete netmail routing and packing, handling of QBBS netmail-boards. * Networking and multitasking support. Can be simultaneously be used in RemoteAccess(tm)- or FrontDoor(tm)-multiline-environments. Messagebase will be locked while execution. Read messages while tossing in another task. * Nice Full-screen tossing mode * Complete zone and point support. This applies to inbound as well as outbound mail. * Full ARCmail-security using passwords with 3 levels. * Complete QBBS-messagebase-maintenance-utility included. No need to use additional utilities. * Full-screen integrated SETUP utility, no need to use an external editor. * Automatic area-adding function with optional updating of RemoteAccess (tm) area setup. (*registered version only*) * Carbon-Copy-function - filter out special messages and copy them to special boards while tossing. * Compatible with the FTSC standards FTS-0001 as well as FSC-0039 & FSC-0048. * Direct screen-writes, DESQview(tm)-aware, use of ANSI.SYS possible Shareware Notice, Legal Stuff and Disclaimer ============================================ This is copyrighted software owned by Software Technik Burchhardt. This is NOT public domain or freeware. Software Technik Burchhardt grants you a TEMPORARY license to try this software for EVALUATION purposes ONLY ! You may use this package for an evaluation time of 30 days. After this time you have to register FastEcho or stop using it ! Any other or further use of this software is strictly forbidden and may result in legal action ! To register FastEcho, please refer to LICENSE.DOC and the order forms included in REGISTER.LZH in this package. FastEcho is provided 'as is', without warranty of any kind, neither expressed nor implied. I only guarantee FastEcho and the included tools occupy diskspace. In no event will the author be liable to you for any damages, including lost profits, lost savings or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use of this program. All mentioned products and packages are copyrighted by and trademarks of their respective holders. Description =========== FastEcho is one of the fastest tosser/scanner for the QBBS-Messagebase (aka the Hudson-Messagebase) currently available. Further, the package contains all features needed to run a point or a node; smart netmail- packing/routing included. Typically every step TOSS, SCAN and PACK is run in one pass, including un-/packing of mail-bundles, importing/exporting of mails and processing of AreaFix-requests. It can be run with FrontDoor(tm), D'Bridge(tm) and BinkleyTerm(tm) and has currently been tested with FrontDoor 2.02/nc, 2.10/c, D'Bridge 1.30 and newer Betas and BinkleyTerm(tm) 2.5?. This documentation is only a simple guide for you to get to know the most important facts about FastEcho. It doesn't contain a complete description of FastEcho and the included tools. If you have any questions about the possibilities of FastEcho, first of all run all programs with '?' - you'll get a usage-screen that will help you in most cases. Further, rely on the context-sensitive-online-HELP provided with FESETUP - simply press F1. System Requirements =================== Soft- & Hardware ---------------- * An IBM PC, XT, AT or compatible, i386/i486 CPU supported * DOS 3.31+ or OS/2 2.0 DOS compatibility box * FrontDoor 2.02/nc, FrontDoor 2.10/c, D'Bridge 1.30+ or BinkleyTerm 2.50+, optionally RemoteAccess 1.10+ * A fido '*.msg' style netmail-directory * A QBBS-style messagebase * Optionally an RA/QBBS-compatible BBS-software * Memory requirements: FastEcho upto 350kB (1kB when swapping) FEUtil upto 512kB FESetup 250kB * a FILES=??? in your CONFIG.SYS at least at the number of systems specified in the Node-Manager plus 20 Example: 30 systems specified --> FILES=50 At least one of these de-/compression utilities: * PKZIP/PKUNZIP 1.10 (successfully tested with 1.93alpha) * ARJ 2.30 * LHARC 1.13c/LHa 2.13 * PKPAK/PKUNPAK 3.61 * ARC 6.02 * ZOO 2.10 * PAK 2.51 Optionally an extractor program that copes with different de-/ compression programs like: * General Unpack Shell GUS 1.50 or later * PolyXarc 2.1a or later For a much better performance on node systems forwarding mails to downlinks it is strongly advised to set the 'Temporary' path to a RAM disk with at least 1MB storage. FastEcho will create outbound mail-packets on this disk which speeds up the tossing pretty much. The more mail you have to forward, the bigger the RAM disk should be. If SHARE is loaded, FastEcho supports Messagebase-Sharing and RemoteAccess(tm)-Messagebase-Locking. You can read messages within one task while tossing or scanning in the other task. This may also be called 'Network Mode'. FEUtil and FastEcho automatically detect a i386 or higher CPU and use some optimized routines. If you recognize any problems, you may use "SET FEOPT=NO386" to disable the 386-support. Considerations for registered users of FastEcho 1.0? ==================================================== This new version of FastEcho behaves different on Node-systems and on Point-systems. Therefore there are two different kinds of keys available at different prices. All keys created for FastEcho 1.0? are so called 'Point-Keys', they disable the new version's possibility of downlinks and the processing of AreaFix-mails. If you became a node (or already were when registering 1.0? but didn't need the new features at this time) and now NEED the downlink capabilities I suggest the following to work with the new FastEcho until you get a new key: Rename the FASTECHO.KEY to somewhat else, so FastEcho doesn't any longer recognize it and runs as 'Unregistered Evaluation Copy'. Play some time with it and find out on yourself, if it's worth updating your existing 'Point-Key' to a 'Node-Key'. [See REGISTER.LZH for details on updating an existing key] Note: the fact that you have registered the 1.0? does NOT allow you to use FastEcho as a 'unregistered' copy longer than the evaluation period mentioned in the Shareware Notice !!! Short Installation Guide ======================== If you have worked with tossers like Tosscan(tm), IMail(tm), GEcho(tm) etc. I don't think that the installation of FastEcho will be hard to do. You only need a AREAS.BBS [well, it's not really needed, but it will save you a lot of time and work] and the knowledge about your system [paths, addresses etc.]. Simply run FESetup and I guess you'll find it familiar to other software-packages. FESetup can import the some configuration files of IMail 1.21a and GEcho 1.00/beta as well as an AREAS.BBS file for an easy setup. Pressing F1 will give you a context-sensitive help on almost each topic. I suggest to use this feature any time you have problems with the setup. Therefore I didn't include the information given in this help in this document. FESetup Information Gives a short notice about the program Shell to DOS self-explanatory Quit dito Edit Matrix-Addresses Here you place YOUR address(es), the domain(s) and - if you are a point - your Pointnet [aka Fakenet] User names These are typically the name(s) of the sysop(s) currently using your mailer locally. System-Data Your paths etc. Group names Here you can assign names for the groups later used in the Area-Manager to make the handling of the areas more easier. Advanced Options Several options/parameters for FastEcho FEUtil parameters Several options/parameters for FEUtil Compression Programs Upto 8 different programs for compressing OUTGOING mail-bundles Decompression Programs FastEcho automatically detects the archiver used for compression of inbound mail- bundles. Therefore you have to tell him which decompression program (and command- line) he should run to unpack them. Node-Configuration Here you set up all the nodes you are exporting (net-)mails to. For help on the different flags rely on F1 and the documentation of your mailer Origin-Lines These lines will be used, if your editor doesn't include "* Origin:"'s in your echo- mails Area-Configuration Here you specify all your areas. Note, that to run FastEcho properly, you have to define ONE area as the 'Badmailboard', otherwise it will fail. To enable dupe- checking, you have to define ONE are as 'Dupeboard'. Carbon-Copies This is one of the unusual features of FastEcho. While tossing it may copy certain mails not only in the normal echo-area, but also in another board. Here you may setup the necessary information AreaFix-Options Several AreaFix options Running FASTECHO.EXE ==================== FastEcho does have several commands and commandline-switches. These are listed here: TOSS - Toss Incoming Mail ------------------------- This executes FastEcho's TOSS function. This will search your inbound files directory for mail and toss it into your QBBS-messagebase - netmail-messages will end up in the netmail-directory, while echomail will be put into the correct messagearea. Mails will be forwarded to the systems linked to the echomail-areas (on node-systems). Should TOSS encounter an ARCmail file from which it cannot extract the mail-packets successfully, it will rename the file to have an extension of .BAD so that you can look at it - the file will not be processed again until you rename it back to .PKT. TOSS will leave with different errorlevels depending on what action was actually performed: 0 - no mails imported 10 - netmail imported 11 - echomail imported 12 - net- & echomail imported This enables you to set up your batch-files according to the errorlevel. Switches -------- -B Check Badmail first This will force TOSS to search the badmail-board just before tossing incoming mails for newly added echomail-areas and will move these messages to the recently created board. -C Make Carbon-Copies This enables the 'Carbon-Copy'-feature. Special mails are not only stored in the normal echomail- area but also in a area you specified in the your setup. Please refer to the online-help of FESetup for further details. -F Don't create File-attach This disables FastEcho to create a new file-attach when it created a new packet. This may be used for example when you want to pack the messages for your sysop-point if you are a node. -S temporarily turn off Security checks Run with this switch, FastEcho Toss will not perform any security checks on incoming mail- packets. SCAN - Scan for Outgoing Mail ----------------------------- This enables the echomail SCAN function. The QBBS-messagebase will be searched for outgoing echomail exporting it to packets. Further, it will scan the messagebase for netmails stored in QBBS-netmailboards and moves them to your *.MSG netmail-directory for further processing. If not found in the exported message, tearline and origin-line will be added to it in the packet. FastEcho will by default add/replace its own ^APID-kludge in the exported mail to show the reader that this mail was scanned by FastEcho. In the registered version it's possible to turn this off and use the tearline instead. Switches -------- -N Don't use ECHOMAIL.BBS To speed up the SCAN FastEcho uses by default the ECHOMAIL.BBS file normally created by your editor when you write a new message. This file contains the numbers of all new written messages. If you - for some purposes - don't want FastEcho to use it, this feature may be disabled. -A Always use ECHOMAIL.BBS This will force FastEcho to SCAN your messagebase only if you've written new messages and your editor created this file. Otherwise it will just exit without any action. -F Don't create File-attach [see above] PACK - Pack outgoing netmails ----------------------------- This calls the netmail-packer. This means that the not-yet-sent netmails are packed accordingly to your routing setup with FESetup or to the runtime-parameters you may specify. Only netmails without any 'priority-flags' such as 'Crash', 'Direct' or 'Immediate' will be packed. If you only call FastEcho PACK without any special routing-statements it will use the default routing you set up in the Node-Manager. Otherwise it will perform the routing you specify in the command-line. Routing Statements ------------------ PACK Address [Address] [Address]... [via Address] If you don't specify a 'via' address, the netmails will be packed for each address and one packet will be created for each address. Otherwise all netmails destined to the specified addresses will be packed and routed to the 'via' address. The destination-addresses may be shortened if packing for (your) points - for example 'PACK .3 .4 .5 .6' will pack the netmails for your points. You may specify wildcards '*' & '?' in the destination address-fields. If you do so, a 'via' address is mandatory !!! This wildcarding is more flexible than the wildcarding that may be used in the Node-Manager as it may be used within an address. Valid wildcarded addresses are for example: 2:24* - will pack all mails for region 24 9:492/6?? - will pack all mails for all 6?? nodes (for example 610, 623 etc.). This enables you to perform a kind of HUB- routing with FastEcho. Switches -------- -F - Don't create File-attach [see above] AFIX - process AreaFix requests ------------------------------- This function scans the netmail-directory for messages addressed to AreaFix, AreaMgr, AreaLink or EchoMgr on your system. With such messages your downlinks can link/unlink themselves to echomail areas and perform several other changes. For an complete listing of all metacommands accepted by FastEcho's AreaFix have a look at the enclosed file 'AREAFIX.HLP' - it also gives hints for your downlinks/points on how to write a mail to AreaFix, it should be defined as 'AreaFix-Helpfile' in your Setup. All commands are processed top-down, so note that the metacommands '%DAYS' and '%MSGS' have to be defined BEFORE the area(s), that actually should be rescanned. Note: the processing of AreaFix request is run automatically after the TOSS function has been completed ! NOTIFY - send link information to your downlinks ------------------------------------------------ This command lets you send link information normally requested via 'AreaFix %INFO' to all or to selected downlinks. Run without any parameter, it will send this info to all downlinks. Also, you may specify the single systems which should receive this info by giving their address on the commandline like: FastEcho Notify 2:245/31 1:2607/302 Further, you may abbreviate the system's addresses - valid abbreviations are: .1 send to your Point .1 31 send to node 31 in the network of your primary matrix-address STAT - generate echomail statistics ----------------------------------- This starts the statistical function of FastEcho. Every TOSS or SCAN a database will be updated containing the number of tossed or scanned messages on each board. This function creates a human readable statistics from this database. The statistics will be added to the file specified in FESetup. By default FastEcho STAT will leave the database untouched after generation, so any new TOSS or SCAN after STAT will add the new data. If run with the -R - switch, FastEcho will reset the database after execution, so the next STAT will only show the statistics after the last STAT -R. This enables you for example to generate weekly or monthly statistics rather than a overall statistics that will be generated without resetting the database. The database is stored in FASTECHO.DAT. Running FESETUP.EXE =================== FESetup accepts several commandline-switches - run with '?' it displays: ╒════════════════════════════════════════════╡Usage╞═╕ │ │ │ You may call FESETUP.EXE using following switches: │ │ │ │ -C : Color display [with Snow-Checking on CGA] │ │ -A : Use alternative colors │ │ -M : Monochrome display │ │ -B : access screen via Bios [very slow] │ │ │ │ -XA : eXport AREAS.BBS │ │ -XS : eXport FASTECHO.SYS [FastEcho configuration] │ │ │ ╘════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛ Running FEUTIL.EXE ================== FEUtil is QBBS-Messagebase-utility that helps you to maintain your messagebase. It has built-in help-screens for all commands available with '?'. Following commands are available. The switches may be shortened ! Index ----- FEUtil Index The Index command can be used to create the following indexfiles out of MSGHDR.BBS: MSGIDX.BBS This file contains the messagenumber and -board of each record in the messagebase MSGTOIDX.BBS This file contains the names of the addressees of each record in the messagebase MSGINFO.BBS This file contains global information about your messagebase regarding the number of messages (on each board, totally, highest/lowest message etc.) Note that these indexfiles are also created by the Pack, Sort and Purge commands, so normally this command is not needed. Purge ----- FEUtil Purge [-Delete] The Purge command is used to delete messages based on criterions specified in the Area-Manager of FESetup. These criterions may be set on per-area-basis or per default. Switches: -D or -Delete Delete all messages in unknown boards Pack ---- FEUtil Pack [-Force] [-Overwrite] [-Renumber] [-Delete] The Pack command allows to compress the messagebase-files by removing deleted messages and/or removing crosslinked messages. FEUtil Pack without -Overwrite or -Force will create new messagebase- files and delete the old upon error-free execution. The -Force switch causes the files to be overwritten, which has some advantages and dis- advantages: - no free disk-space needed - less fragmentation ! possible total loss of data if interupted while execution The -Overwrite switch will cause FEUtil to only overwrite the message- basefiles if short of disk-space. Without these switches FEUtil will quit without packing if not enough disk-space is available. FEUtil will automatically renumber if the highest messagenumber is higher than what you defined for 'AutoRenumber' in FESetup rather than always renumbering with -Renumber. Switches: -F or -Force Force overwriting of the existing messagebase- files -O or -Overwrite Overwrite existing files only if short of disk- space -R or -Renumber Renumber messages and update LASTREAD pointers (may be done by AutoRenumber) -D or -Delete Delete messages crosslinked in MSGTXT.BBS Link ---- FEUtil Link The Link command can link messages with the same subject to a reply-chain that can be followed with your message-editor. FEUtil will always create new chains rather than linking new messages to existing chains like other programs do. It will remove 'Re:', '(R)' and familiar junks from the subjects. Sort ---- FEUTIL Sort [-Backup] The Sort command allows to sort all unread messages by boardnumber and date and time of posting. FEUtil will remove all reply chains while sorting, so you should run 'FEUtil Link' each time you used Sort. Switch: -B or -Backup Keep the original MSGHDR.BBS as backup (.BAK) Undelete -------- FEUtil Undelete [Board] The Undelete command allows you to undelete messages that are currently deleted by FEUtil Purge or your message-editor. The undelete may either be performed on the whole messagebase or on a special area. If specified, Board may be the area-name ('FDECHO.GER' for example) or the QBBS-board-number preceded by a '#' (e.g. '#121'). If not specified, the whole messagebase will be searched for deleted messages. Beware that FEUtil can't undelete messages after the messagebase has been PACKed right before, because FEUtil PACK removes all deleted messages ! Import ------ FEUtil Import [-Incl file] [-Excl file] This function imports netmails addressed to your system from the *.MSG netmail-directory into your QBBS netmailboards you defined in the Area- Manager. You may define different netmailboards for your different akas (be setting 'Use Aka' for each area) - the mail will get imported to the correct board. Besides from the possibility to exclude the names of the 'Users' and 'Sysops' defined in FESetup, you can 'include' and 'exclude' mails addressed to special users by using the '-Incl' and '-Excl' files. These files may either be plain text files with one user name each line (case- insensitive) or QBBS-compatible 'USERS.BBS' files used/created by your BBS software. If '-Incl' is used, only mails to one of the users specified in this file will be imported. Mails *not* to one of the users will be ignored and left in your *.MSG netmail. If '-Excl' is used, mails to users listed in this file will not be imported, even if they are listed in the '-Incl' list as the exclude- check is run AFTER the include-check. Post ---- FEUtil Post <File> <Board> [-From Name] [-To Name] [-Subj Line] This function lets you send the contents of an ASCII file as an echomail message. It creates a new message in the given board, optionally containing the values of From, To and Subj in the header and the contents of the file as message text. Defaults (if not given at commandline) for the header are: From: first user defined under 'User names' in FESetup OR "SysOp" if not defined To: "All" Subj: filename To enter values containing more than one word you have to set these words in double-quotes. Otherwise FEUtil won't accept them and return an error. Example: FEUtil Post c:\dummy #10 -To "All OS/2 freaks" Board may either be the area-name ('SHAREWRE' for example) or the QBBS board-number preceded by a '#' (e.g. '#122'). Move ---- FEUtil Move <Board1> <Board2> The move functions moves all messages from Board1 to Board2. Like before, the board may either be the area-name or the QBBS-board-number preceded by a '#'. Check ----- FEUtil Check [-Delete] This functions checks your complete QBBS messagebase for any errors and optionally deletes all mails that are found to be bad and/or rebuilds your index files (MSGIDX.BBS, MSGTOIDX.BBS and MSGINFO.BBS). If '-Delete' is NOT specified, it will simply tell you what is wrong (or 'No error' if everything is allright) and then return an Errorlevel of 111. Environment Variables ===================== Following environment variables are used by FastEcho if specified: FD If you specify FrontDoor(tm) as Mailer and Auto-Area- Create adds a new area. FEOPT This variable may be used for special runtime-parameters Usage: SET FEOPT=flag,flag,... Following flags are available: USEBIOS use BIOS-calls when printing to screen rather than direct screen- writes. USEANSI use ANSI driver when printing to screen rather than direct screen- writes (uses BIOS as well) NO386 This disables the 386-support in FEUtil. NOEMS don't use EMS for memory expansion NOAFIX don't process AreaFix-mails after tossing NOPACK don't pack outbound mail - leave it as .QQQ in outbound directory. (will be processed the next time you run FastEcho) NODUPES temporarily don't perform dupe- checking NETPID replace PID in PACKed netmails NOEXPORT don't forward mails to downlinks while tossing NOPID In the registered version this skips the adding/replacing of the ^APID-Kludge when exporting messages. Errorlevels =========== Errorlevel Meaning ------------------------------------------------------ 0 nothing to do/no errors 1 packed/scanned net-/echomail 3 key-failure 10 imported netmail 11 imported echomail 12 imported echo- & netmail 246 Can't lock messagebase 247 Can't create .PKT-file 250 wrong switch 251 size mismatch 254 not enough memory 255 general error Batchfiles ========== Here is an example how to run FastEcho and FEUtil in batch-mode: :START [...] rem --- Packmail --- :SCANNER fastecho scan goto start rem --- Unpackmail --- :UNPACKBAD fastecho toss -b -c goto AFTERTOSS :UNPACKMAIL fastecho toss -C :AFTERTOSS if errorlevel 12 goto ECHOMAIL if errorlevel 11 goto ECHOMAIL if errorlevel 10 goto ONLYNET if errorlevel 0 goto ONLYNET :ECHOMAIL feutil sort -b feutil link :ONLYNET newscan N -PL -F -R -X -SN trackm goto start rem --- PackNetmail ---- :PACKNETMAIL trackm rem Pack mails for points fastecho pack .1 .2 .3 .4 .5 .6 .7 .11 rem Default routing fastecho pack goto START rem --- Messagebase-maintenance --- :MAINTAIN feutil Purge feutil Pack -Force -Delete goto START Help Systems, Registration Sites, Support ========================================= If you want to register FastEcho or want to obtain nearer information about FastEcho please refer to following Help Systems: Headquarters: Software Technik Burchhardt Mittelkamp 18 D-4355 Waltrop Germany Tel. ++49-2309-72746 (voice) ++49-2309-77019 (data, mail-only) Email: 2:245/39@fidonet.org (Tobias Burchhardt) 9:492/6050@virnet.ftn 27:1331/701.20@signet.ftn Help & Registration BeNeLux: RCE Macaré Gaesbeekstraat 77b 3081 NE Rotterdam Holland Email: 2:285/501@fidonet (Rob Macare) 27:1331/1@signet.ftn Help & Registration U.S.A./Canada: Direct Computer Resources 10640 Torrey Road Willis, Michigan 48191 U.S.A. Email: 1:2380/300@fidonet (Dave Rasche) For further information regarding registration, please refer to the enclosed LICENSE.DOC and the registration forms in REGISTER.LZH. Thanks ====== I would like to thank all people that contributed to the development of FastEcho: Peter Bankmann 2:245/31 My HUB/Support Rob Macare 2:285/501 BeNeLux-Support Dave Rasche 1:2380/300 USA/Canada-Support dirk astrath 2:241/5603 first beta-tester joaquim homrighausen, gerard van.der.land and Fabiano Fabris for their excellent products which gave me the kick to write FastEcho. Thanks to all the people who registered FastEcho 1.0X and made it possible for me to keep on developing. The beta-crew: dirk astrath, Klaus Ditze, Michael Schmitz, Thomas Schätzer, Markus Schmidt, Markus Ebel, Bernd Hinkmann, Herbert Werner, Erik Wachtmeester, Sikko Stienstra, Steven van Dijk, Tjibbe Hofkamp, Erick van Emmerik, Manfred Pegam, Rainer Cremer, Thorsten Frische, Kaj Sevelin, Johnny Engström, Dan Åkerlund, Åke Gustafsson, Hugo Landsman, Jan Willem den Besten, Wim Touw, Wolfgang Gröber, Jan Sevelin, Walter Schick, Dave Rasche, Ken Maskall, Joerg Michael, Michael Kramm, Jupp Demary, Carsten Henkel, Andreas Walter, Axel Cordt, Gody Keyzer, Rob Macare, Jens Freitag, Frank Lachmann, Daniel Zeilmann and last but not least Georg Burchhardt ... Sorry if I forgot one ! :-) Technical Notes =============== * The FTSC product-code for FastEcho is 0xAF (hex), 175 (dec). * FastEcho can handle up to 200 systems and 960 areas. * The mail-packets created by FastEcho are compatible to FTS-0001, FTS-0004 and FSC-0039, using the Type 2+ packet-header and supporting the Capability Word. FastEcho will also recognize incoming FSC-0048 mail-packets. * Linefeeds are always stripped when processing mails, soft CR's are treated as normal, valid characters. * SEEN-BY lines and ^APATH kludges are created and updated. * SEEN-BY is used for duplicate prevention - if a system is already listed in the SEEN-BY of an incoming message, FastEcho will not forward that message to this system. [This does NOT apply to point-systems as the SEEN-BY are 2D only !] * FastEcho can parse both Fido/Opus- and SEAdog-style date-fields, it generates Fido/Opus-style date-fields when exporting mail. * FastEcho supports the RemoteAccess/FrontDoor QBBS-messagebase sharing specifications. * Outbound mail-packets generated by FastEcho have a .QQQ extension. To compress them, FastEcho renames them to .PKT and adds 2 <NUL> bytes at the end of the packets. If any error occurs while running the archiver, FastEcho will rename them back to .QQQ, so the may be compressed in a further run of FastEcho. * For a better performance, unlike other echomail processors, FastEcho keeps the outbound mail-packets open while processing. Therefore to run without error you must give FastEcho at least that many FILES=??? that are needed to have the packets for every system defined in the Node-Manager simultaneously open. * FastEcho supports the 4D addressing which BinkleyTerm 2.50+ offers for points. * FastEcho supports the '.BSY' files created by BinkleyTerm 2.50+ in multiline-environments and will not compress mail for a system currently online. * FastEcho supports the semaphore files FrontDoor 2.10/c creates in multiline-environments and will not compress mail for a system currently online. * FastEcho was written in C++ (Borland C++ Version 3.0) and assembly language (Turbo Assembler Version 3.0). * File-IO is performed using standard DOS filehandle functions. The PSP filehandle table is expanded to 230 entries. * The programs automatically detects DESQview and write to its screen buffer. * The configuration file of FastEcho may be used with GoldED 2.40.P0623 or later. * The swapping routines used are provided by Ralph Brown (SPAWNO 4.1) and allow EMS-, XMS and disk-swapping. * FESetup makes intensive use of the TesSeRact CLX User Interface TCXL Version 5.52.06 copyrighted by Innovative Data Concepts. [EOF]