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Amiga Plus 1996 #6
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Amiga Plus CD - 1996 - No. 06.iso
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amitcphelperv1.20
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·A·m·i·T·C·P·H·e·l·p·e·r·
- Version 1.20 29.VI.96 -
By Ben Vost
This is just a little gizmo to work with the Demon AmiTCP installation. It
possibly will cope with any other AmiTCP setup so do try (if you are using it
successfully with any other provider's software, or need some help to do so,
please get in contact).
It was written using a mixture of CanDo 2.0 and 3.0 (mostly 3.0 now) and
requires the supplied cando.library (in libs:).
Unfortunately, any errors in location or setup just result in the program not
running at all, with no explanation for what went wrong. Make sure that you
have Rexxc in your path, or copy the "RX" program from Rexxc into C:. If you
are using Elm and you get a message stating that sendmail couldn't be found,
but Elm runs OK from shell, then you need to make sure that your sendmail
command has the E bit set. If this isn't present it prevents sendmail from
working through AmiTCPHelper.
Important note for existing users of AmiTCPHelper up to v1.16
-------------------------------------------------------------
If AmiTCPHelper says that it won't work because of an incompatible library
version you will need to download the full archive. Sorry about that, this is
because I now have a slightly newer version of CanDo. Alternatively, I can
e-mail you the library on its own...
Note for Demon users:
---------------------
AmiTCPHelper is designed to work OK with AmiTCPDIS95. I have downloaded DIS96
and it does work with it, but because of changes to the programs included in
the installation some of the script editing menus no longer work. For instance,
DIS95 came as a CSLIP connection which uses a text file in db/ for its
dialscript, whereas DIS96 comes with PPP and a dialler that stores its
dialscript in RAM:. Please accept my apologies if you can't get all of
AmiTCPHelper's facilities to work with your set up and e-mail me with your
suggestions so that I may improve the way it works...
Requirements
------------
As far as I know it should run on any Amiga with an AmiTCP installation (and
possibly a Demon account :)). I have tested on an Amiga 3000 and 3000T running
WB3.1 and also an A4000/040 running WB3.0. I don't think that there is a reason
why it shouldn't run on an earlier operating system, but you do need ARexx. To
use the GetNews button you must have the script "NNTPTransfer" in AmiTCP:bin.
The provided nntptransfer script has a couple of alterations to the one
provided by DIS, namely paths for all the commands and an automatic retry if
News is busy (thanks Tez (Tez@tezboyes.demon.co.uk)).
Installation
------------
This part's really tricky so pay attention.
Copy AmiTCPHelper anywhere you like. :)
AmiTCPHelper needs a script called "startnet" in Amitcp:bin/. You can set
the tooltypes to reflect the programs you want to use for linking, ftp, mail,
news, etc.
You should also copy the provided NNTPTransfer script in your AmiTCP:bin
directory and copy the four edit scripts into your home: directory. These
scripts are called '.fingerlist', '.pinglist', '.telnetlist' and '.tracelist'.
Now these scripts have been moved to the home: directory it means that
different users who login on the machine can have individualised scripts, just
be sure to copy them to each users Home: directory...
Buttons
-------
The buttons do what they say they do. If you have entered NONE for some of the
tooltypes then the relevant button will be disabled in AmiTCPHelper.
The Mail button changed in version 1.07 to account for multiple mailboxes. The
problem with the unfriendly mailboxes has been sorted out in version 1.11
(thanks to Ben Scott) and now the mailbox names are presented in the
requester's button as they should be. The mail button now also works with mail
packages other than Elm. See the tooltypes Mail and ElmMail for further details.
Ping, Finger, Trace & Telnet
----------------------------
This has changed in v1.15 so that you have four exclusive buttons (like radio
buttons) which can be clicked on. The list below shows whatever addresses apply
to the pushed in button. Double clicking on an entry in the list will result in
the appropriate operation (ie. Fingering an address). The lists can be edited
from the edit menu in the same way as the other config files and they should
reside in your usr:lib directory. You can also edit the lists by double
clicking on the appropriate button. Once you have edited the lists, simply
close the editor down and click once on the appropriate button to refresh the
list in the AmiTCPHelper window. The useability of these features has been
improved in v1.19 so that you can now use the cursor keys to move up and down
through the list, hitting return for the appropriate action. You can also use
the Tab/Shift Tab keyboard shortcuts to move between the lists.
In version 1.20 I got rid of the previous Clock button since the only
clocks anyone is likely to synchronise their machines to would be their local
server. Thus, since you would only need one address, it was a bit of a waste of
time to have a listview wasted so I changed the button to activate the TCP/IP
command traceroute. Traceroute will show you the route taken by IP packets to
the destination address. It can prove useful if it's taking a long time for
your ftp client to respond, or just if you want to know exactly how you mail
gets to its destination.
Newsgroups
----------
This list window has been removed in v1.15. If anyone wants it to be
reinstated, just mail me.
Tooltypes and their meanings:
-----------------------------
If you enter NONE for the tooltypes for FTP, Mail, Gopher, WWW, or IRC, then
AmiTCPHelper will disable the appropriate button.
WindowX Gives the final x position of the AmiTCP helper on
the screen.
WindowY Gives the final y position of the AmiTCP helper on
the screen.
FTP Put the path and name of your favourite FTP tool here.
Possibilities would include "AmiTCP:bin/mftp" or
"Comms:AmiTCP/ftp", etc. (No quotes are needed). I
have tested it with both of these and with gui_ftp,
DaFTP, amftp and ncftp.
Mail As for FTP. It has been tested with Elm and should
now also work with the newer GUI mail packages like
Metatool, Thor, Voodoo, etc. Make sure you check the
ElmMail tooltype if you are using one of these new
programs
WWW As for FTP. Well, it's been tested with AMosaic (and
iBrowse, AWeb and Voyager), but if there is a secret Netscape
clone for the Amiga that I could test it with, will someone
PLEASE let me know? :). There is currently a problem with
iBrowse with AmiTCPHelper in that it doesn't CD to the iBrowse
directory. This means that unless you have either copied the
iBrowse libs to libs:, or added the iBrowse directory to the
libs: assign, you will get the message 'Could not open
ibconfig.library'. At the moment, it is beyond my powers to
remedy this situation.
Gopher As for FTP. Tested with Graham's AmigaGuide-based
Gopher.
AmiTCPhome This is the home directory for AmiTCP. Make sure you
include trailing "/" or ":", ie. "Data:AmiTCP/".
Editor This is the editor you will run when editing your
config in the menus. Put the complete path and name
of the program. To be able to edit the files it says
it can they have to be in the AmiTCP:db and
AmiTCP:usr/lib directories. Tested with TurboText,
CED and one of my users says it also works with GoldEd.
Link This is your *ARexx* link script. AmiTCPHelper
automatically looks for this script in your
AmiTCPHome bin directory. Tested with "Link" and
phil's (phil@curve.demon.co.uk) "PLink". Make sure you have
the 'RX' command in your path as mentioned above or this won't
work.
LinkOpts The options for linking up. You should at least give
"up" as an option, but you can also put "up news" or
any other commands that your link script supports.
Ping As for FTP. This is your Ping command.
Finger As for FTP. This is the command you should use for
finger (oo-err).
Trace As for FTP. This is for the traceroute command as explained in
the text above.
IRC As for FTP. Enter the name of your IRC client.
Remember to include the path. Tested with Grapevine
and AmIRC.
Telnet Your telnet application. It works with Telnet_VGOODER
from Demon and should work with most if not all of
the others.
Startnet This tooltype determines whether you want the
startnet script executed by AmiTCPHelper or in your
user-startup. Enter yes for yes and no for no (quel
surprise!).
WinSize WinSize sets the size for the output window that
AmiTCPHelper produces. It should consist of four
numbers separated by /. For instance:- 0/0/400/200.
This will open the window in the top left hand corner
of the screen which will be 400 pixels wide and 200
pixels high. You can't change the size (as far as I
know) of either the AmiTCP log or the dialscript
windows.
ElmMail I know this might seem somewhat strange to have a
tooltype asking what mail package you are using and
then one asking if you are using Elm, but this
tooltype is there if your mail package supports the
command line -f option to specify a mail folder. If
you are using mail packages like Thor, Voodoo,
MetaTool or Mail, this tooltype should be set to
anything other than "yes". If in doubt, try it both
ways and see what happens...
SpoolCheck I have been trying to get DOS notification to work
properly with AmiTCPHelper for some time now but it
doesn't like to check when mail has been sent. This
tooltype reinstates the old method which was to poll
UUSpool: every five seconds to check for the
existence of messages. If you don't want your hard
drive light to flash every five seconds or you are
using Snoopdos to sort a problem, you should set
SpoolCheck to "no".
Menus:
------
Project Menu
About This shows you what version of AmiTCPHelper you are
running and my name and email address.
About CanDo This gives some information about CanDo v3.
Quit Surprisingly enough, this actually quits out of
AmiTCPHelper.
Edit Menu
DialScript Lets you edit that dialscript...
NewsStamp Lets you edit the newsstamp so you aren't on the
blower downloading all night... :)
Newsgroups Lets you edit the usr:lib/newsgroups file.
Signature This lets you edit your HOME:.signature file.
Startnet Lets you edit the startnet script. Changes made will
obviously not work until you re-run the startnet
script.
List This opens a sub-menu which contains the names of the
various lists for Ping, finger, etc. Selecting one of
them will allow you to edit it.
To Do List:
-----------
I want to try to make AmiTCPHelper take notice if you edit the tooltypes
without having to restart the program.
Warn the user when Linking down if there are messages remaining to be sent.
Amigaguide documentation. (Like it really needs it! :) )
Add a newsgroups editor that grabs the new newsgroups list from nntptransfer,
and also lets you browse an "active" list. Done! It's a separate program called
GroupEditor, downloadable from an Aminet site near you (comm/tcp).
Legal Stuff:
------------
Disclaimer
==========
THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE
LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER AND/OR OTHER
PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER
EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE
QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE
DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL
ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS
PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL,
INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE
THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED
INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE
PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY
HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
AmiTCPHelper is not Public Domain and is © Ben Vost 1995. If you register with
me for £10 (or foreign currency equivalent), I will ensure that you receive all
upgrades, until further notice, via EMail automatically. If you do not have an
EMail facility, I'm not sure what I will do (and why are you using my
program?!), but contact me at the following address:
EMail: Ben@subway.demon.co.uk
SMail: Contact me via e-mail first as I am in the process of moving at the
moment
History
-------
v1.20 Got rid of the clock tool, but replaced it with a traceroute function.
Added an installer script thanks to my ex-colleague Neil Mohr (nice one
Neil).
v1.19 Added functionality to the lists window.
Internal tidying up.
Added standard version string (important for internal and registered
versions.
v1.18 General tidying up. Also, I don't think many people had access to
v1.17, so this counts as a new public release.
I've also removed the time restriction as it made me seem petty. It was
only introduced because I was persuaded to do it...
Since iBrowse hit v6a it hasn't worked with AmiTCPHelper unless you
copy the libraries into LIBS:. This can't be changed for the moment, I
only suggest you add a new line to your user-startup that says:
"assign libs: XXX:iBrowseDemo add" where XXX: is wherever you've got
iBrowse stashed on your hard drive...
One last thing. I will be moving in the next week or so, so get in
touch with me via e-mail if you're thinking of registering...
v1.17 Removed the aliases and signature items from the edit menu
because they weren't editing the _correct_ alias and sig
files...
Added a check when you link down to see how many mails there
are remaining.
Implemented double clicking on one of the exclusive buttons
to start your defined editor for the particular file.
More internal tidying up (I've managed to free up several k's
worth of old routines that were no longer being used, but
that were still compiled into the program. Unfortunately,
adding new features increases the size again so the saving
doesn't really show...)
v1.16 ***IMPORTANT CHANGE*** AmiTCPHelper now only runs for ten
minutes before shutting down. Registering will remove this
restriction.
Internal tidying up.
AmiTCPHelper now supports mail packages other than Elm.
Dos notify for mail messages implemented, but not to my
satisfaction. A tooltype will allow for the old method to be
resumed.
Other odds and sods improved like the appearance of the list
window and the mail out area.
v1.15 Bit of a change around for this version, no more text fields
for Ping, finger, etc., but a list of addresses which can be
freely edited. Bang goes the Newsgroup list, but if anyone
wants it back, I can still replace it.
v1.14 There was no version 1.13 but only because I don't like to
tempt fate :) v1.14 sees the addition of the Mailqueue clone
to the AmiTCPHelper window. At the moment this checks
uuspool: every five seconds to see if there is new mail or if
mail has been sent. It creates a text file in T: called
SpoolList, so if you find your DOpus constantly rereading T:
that is the reason.
Changed the About menu item back to the standard one, the one
in v1.12 was only for registered users.
Rewrote some of the documentation to stop it seeming so
dated.
Changed the way the mailboxes were checked and now the
requester will change dynamically if mailboxes are deleted.
In previous versions you had to restart AmiTCPHelper to see
any changes. The names in the requester are also now in
alphabetical order.
Internal simplification. I got rid of a couple of tooltypes
that didn't do anything along with their mentions in the
scripts.
v1.12 Yet another rejig of the buttons as the Prefs and Read News
buttons have been removed. Not sure if I like the new layout
so it might get changed yet again...
I've added a DOSNotify event to check to see if a new mailbox
has been added when mail is received. Previously, the only
time AmiTCPHelper checked for the names of the mailboxes was
at startup.
One internal change with regard to how registered owners are
dealt with...
Dumped the Prefs page as being beyond my capabilities and
also a bit pointless.
v1.11 Changed the nasty mailbox requester to something a bit more
standard.
Removed the Newsgroups backup option at startup.
Added a tooltype to allow AmiTCPHelper's output window to be
sized and positioned where desired.
v1.10 Added Telnet support (for completeness sake).
Added a new eight-colour (and four-colour) icon that freely
plagiarises the Xen style :)
More internal wrangling going on for the prefs page which
should be complete soon (maybe v1.12).
Added Startnet tooltype.
v1.09 Added startnet script editing in the Edit menu.
Added IRC and Prefs buttons to the interface which has been
jiggled to fit the new buttons in without requiring more
space. The Prefs button doesn't work at the mo, but will
eventually let you edit TCP-related ENV variables and the
co-ordinates and size of the windows that AmiTCPHelper opens
amongst other things.
v1.08 The Get News button now works! Hurrah!
v1.07 Changes made to the way Mail is dealt implemented in this
version.
v1.06 General tidying up.
Internal changes to the way mail is dealt with.
v1.051 Changed the buttons to four colour ones for the Amiga
Computing Cover disk.
v1.05 Made Mail detach when run from AmiTCPHelper.
Added the Clock function.
Took out the sound samples, they were taking up far too much
space. If anyone wants them back, I can put them in just for
you.
Changed the About message and added the CanDo about.
Fiddled about with Get News, it's still not quite ready, but
hopefully the next release should see that button enabled.
(No promises... :) )
v1.04 Added support for multiple newsgroups.
v1.03 Changed the shape of the window to make it easier to use Ping
and Finger.
Miscellaneous internal tidying up.
v1.02 Added support for Ping and Finger.
v1.01 Added support for user definable link command and options.
Added better support for AMHotlist.
Added Info menu item.
v1.0 First public release