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Monster Media 1996 #14
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Monster Media No. 14 (April 1996) (Monster Media, Inc.).ISO
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pow200.zip
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README.TXT
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1996-01-06
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POW - v2.0 QWK mail reader for Windows
~~~~~~~~~~
Minimum System Requirements
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IBM AT 286 Compatible or better. (VBRUN300.DLL Dated 12-May-93 for 286)
3Mb Memory minimum, preferably 4Mb or more.
(POW uses about 1Mb of Windows memory plus another 1Mb for Spell Checker)
Windows v3.1 or later.
Approx 500k HD space for program etc. not including VBRUN300.DLL or data.
Terminal and Arial Fonts must be installed in Windows.
BBS Settings
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The BBS must be set up to provide QWK files as follows:-
Packet type - QWK
Archiver - ZIP
Index Files (.NDX) - ON
CONTROL.DAT - ON Usually the default.
DOOR.ID - ON Gives info needed to send messages to BBS.
POW will display the following, if turned on in the BBS mail door:-
Bulletins
News
NewFiles
Welcome
Goodbye
Session Text
Attachments must be enabled for the File Request feature
(Not all BBSs have the Request feature)
Late News
~~~~~~~~~
With effect from Jan 1st 1996 there is a change in registration procedure.
POW registrations will be handled directly by the author resulting in a
reduced price and faster processing.
To register POW print out and complete the registration form REGISTER.TXT
(this may be done from within POW from a Shareware Registration Reminder)
and send together with a cheque or postal/money order payable to Gina Davis
for ú19.95 or $29.95(US) to the mail address below. (See Contact Information)
We will also accept the equivalent amount in Canadian or Australian Dollars
or EU currencies. Cash (bank notes) in these currencies will be accepted
but at the senders own risk. We cannot accept liability for items lost in
the mail.
This is an update of POW, adding new features plus some minor bug fixes.
Auto Installation now provides option to install VBX and DLL files in POW
program directory or Windows/System. See Installation section below.
Nearly all fonts may be user selected including View Screen and now message
characters are converted to/from Windows ANSI where required, allowing a
wider choice of fonts.
Internet EMail support has been improved including mixed case addresses
now used by some systems.
An option to run PKZIP/PKUNZIP iconised has been added to the General
Options and set as the default. POW will now correct QWK files with an
invalid date/time by using PKZIP to set the QWK date/time to that of the
newest file in the QWK.
The ability to have multiple Folders databases has been added in the
registered version and tagline editing added to the Tagline Options.
The list of Error and Warning messages in POW.WRI (p19) and the on-line
help has been updated.
For a more comprehensive list of updates see HISTORY.TXT. Additions and
improvements from earlier versions are also listed in WhatsNew.TXT.
___________________________________________________________________________
The internal editor will recognise SpelMate spelling checker if appropriate
files (SPELMATE.DLL and dictionaries) are found in your WINDOWS directory
or the POW program directory.
Text in the edit box is spell checked except for quoted text which is left
alone (etiquette suggests that text quoted from another msg should not be
altered other than formatting). SpelMate requires about 1Mb extra memory.
SPELMATE.DLL is supplied in POW200.ZIP, and the dictionaries are provided
in either POWDUK.ZIP (British spelling) or POWDUS.ZIP (American spelling).
If you are upgrading POW and have been using the Spelling Checker you
will not need to download the POW dictionaries again as these have not
changed.
To add the spelling check feature, download the appropriate dictionary ZIP
file, unzip it and copy the dictionary file to the directory containing
SPELMATE.DLL (either POW or Windows directory). A sample PRIVATE.DIC file
is supplied with POW, and this will be used (and added to if required) if
found in the same directory as SPELMATE.DLL. Otherwise this file will be
created by SpelMate. SpelMate is (c) Aciran Software.
Note:- POW now allows the spell checking files to be in the program dir.
This supercedes the info given in the ReadMe.txt in the POWDxx.ZIP files.
Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By mail:-
Gina Davis BSc
GD Custom Software
Little Meadows
Upottery
Honiton
Devon
EX14 9QT
U.K.
By EMail (see also POW.WRI or Help):-
International
ILink Offline conference (address your msg to Gina Davis)
Rime.offline.mail.reading conference
InterNet gina.davis@nildram.co.uk or gina.davis@ps.com
CompuServe ID 70374,1277
UK BBS
The Shareware Support BBS 01442-891109
Almac BBS 01324-665371
Powerline Systems Ltd Online System 0181-845-8228
The Shareware Principle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
POW is released under the Shareware principle. You may use the program
for up to 60 days for evaluation. You are required to register POW if you
continue to use it after the evaluation period. Registration will remove
the opening and closing Shareware registration reminders, and provide funds
to allow continued development of POW. Registered users will receive
high priority for suggestions for improvements and extra help with any
problems. Registered users also have access to the extra Tagline Options,
Group Messages and Multiple Folders databases.
When passing POW on to others or uploading please include all files in
the ZIP without modification. POW may be freely distributed provided these
conditions are complied with.
Registered users:- Do NOT distribute the POW.INI file containing your
registration details.
For registration details please see POW.WRI or the on-line Help.
Registration forms are provided in DOS and Windows format text.
The Windows form may be accessed from within POW and completed/printed.
Also, available from ProgMan Group if Automatic Installation used.
Registration in Pounds sterling is preferred but the equivalent in any major
currency will be accepted.
A registration code is sent to you which removes the registration reminder
screens. Also, the words "On trial" in the tagline of messages you write
are replaced by your registered serial number and the extra Tagline Options
enabled, providing Preset, Sticky, Sequential and Random tagline selection.
In addition there is the facility to send copies of messages to multiple
recipients using a simple list of names and conferences and ability to have
multiple Folders databases. Free updates.
See POW.WRI (p21) for more details.
The following files should be found in POW200.ZIP:-
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
POW files:-
POW.EXE The POW program.
POW.HLP Help file in Windows Help format.
POW.WRI Documentation in Windows Write format.
POW.ICO Alternative icon for launching POW from Program Manager.
ReadMe.TXT Last minute changes and other information. (This file)
WhatsNew.TXT What's New in this version.
Register.ASC Registration form in DOS text format.
Register.TXT Registration form in Windows text format.
File_ID.DIZ Description of POW for BBS file lists.
Taglines.POW Some sample Taglines. Put it in the Data directory. (PD)
Private.Dic Personal dictionary - a few extra words to get you going.
History.TXT Update history.
POWUNZIP.PIF Windows PIF to use PKUNZIP in a window.
POWZIP.PIF Windows PIF to use PKZIP in a window.
DATETIME.FIX Used when fixing invalid Date/Time stamp on QWK files.
Files required by POW that may be shared with other applications:-
SpelMate.DLL Spelling Checker library.
GRID.VBX Visual Basic Grid library.
CMDIALOG.VBX VB interface to Windows Common Dialogs.
Auto Installation files:-
SETUP.EXE Windows SETUP program for automatic installation.
SETUP.LST List of files required by SETUP.EXE.
POWSETUP.EXE POW specific installation.
POWSETUP.HLP POW installation Help.
VER.DL_ Version checking for file installation.
SETUPKIT.DLL SETUP library.
Taglines playing on the initials of POW were kindly supplied by Bob Aldridge
a Beta tester and one of the first to register POW. Thanks Bob.
Other files/programs required:-
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you are not already using SpelMate and wish to check the spelling in your
messages/replies, you will need to obtain either POWDUK.ZIP or POWDUS.ZIP
which contain the dictionaries (see Late News above). After unzipping,
copy or move the dictionaries to the POW or Windows directory (not System dir).
POW uses COMMDLG.DLL (Windows DLL for Common Dialogs) which is provided
with Windows 3.1 onwards and should be in your Windows\System directory.
(Windows dir for shared Windows systems on networks).
You will also need a copy of VBRUN300.DLL, the Visual Basic v3.0 runtime
library plus PKZIP.EXE & PKUNZIP.EXE v2. These may be obtained from most
Bulletin Boards. The VBRUN300.DLL file should be put in the Windows\System
directory (or Windows directory on shared Windows setups on networks).
The version dated 12-May-93 (or later) is required for a 286 computer
(bug in earlier version).
PKZIP.EXE & PKUNZIP.EXE should be either in a directory on your DOS Path
(as specified in AUTOEXEC.BAT) or put in the directory containing POW.EXE.
If you do not want to have the PK progs either on the path or in the POW
directory then you will have to edit the POWZIP.PIF and POWUNZIP.PIF files
(in POW dir) to include the appropriate paths for PKZIP.EXE & PKUNZIP.EXE.
This may be done after installing POW.
To use the built-in spelling checker in the editor you will need either
POWDUK.ZIP (UK Spelling) or POWDUS.ZIP (US Spelling) main dictionary.
After unzipping, the MAINUK.DIC or MAINUS.DIC and Private.DIC files should
be put in the directory containing SPELMATE.DLL.
AUTOMATIC INSTALLATION.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you already have VBRUN300.DLL and PKZIP.EXE & PKUNZIP.EXE on your system
you may use SETUP.EXE provided in the POW zip to install the other files.
(Do NOT use the SETUP.EXE in the Windows dir.) Alternatively, PKZIP.EXE &
PKUNZIP.EXE may be put in the POW directory (or any dir on the DOS Path)
after installation of POW.
Run SETUP.EXE from the directory in which you unzipped POW. You will be
asked to specify a directory into which to install POW. If upgrading
from an earlier version, you may specify the directory in which the
earlier version was installed and the setup program will update the files
for you. Your Folders data files and POW.INI will not be overwritten and
will be used by the new version, retaining your preferred configuration.
Also, the overwriting of POW Program Manager group and PIF files is optional.
As a result of a few users experiencing problems with shared VBX and DLL
files in the Windows or Windows\System directory, POWSETUP now installs
these files in the program directory by default. A Custom option has been
provided to allow users to use the Windows or Windows\System directory if
preferred. On-line help has been provided to explain the options.
The automatic installation will check for the Windows version and cater
for networks and Windows for Workgroups. POW SETUP will check the version
of the DLL and VBX files used by POW and copy/update these where required.
(POW will install and run under Windows 95, Windows NT and WinOS/2, as a
16 bit application.)
If installing POW for the first time, a collection of Taglines is provided
in Taglines.POW. This is installed in the POW directory but if you wish to
use these Taglines, it should be moved to the Data directory after running
POW for the first time.
See Installation in POW.WRI for information on setting up POW on first run.
For those who prefer to install manually, the files may be copied/moved to
the appropriate directories - see below and Installation section in POW.WRI.
MANUAL INSTALLATION.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Create a directory for POW and copy/move the files from POW200.ZIP into it.
If you wish you can put GRID.VBX and CMDIALOG.VBX in the Windows\System
directory, making sure you do not replace a newer version. SPELMATE.DLL
and the dictionaries may be put in the Windows directory. Taglines.POW
should be moved to the Data directory after running POW for the first time.
For more information on manual installation see POW.WRI.
Getting Started.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From version 1.10 onwards the ZIP includes PIF files to run PKZIP/PKUNZIP
in a window. These may be edited to provide paths to directory/ies
containing PKZIP/PKUNZIP if these are not on the DOS Path or in the POW
main directory. v1.20 on includes an option to run PKZIP/PKUNZIP iconised.
In addition to the icon in POW.EXE, an alternative icon for use in Program
Manager is provided (POW.ICO).
Notes & Known Problems:-
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If a Font other than Terminal (the default) is selected for message display
or in the editor, the formatting may be incorrect and some ASCII chars
above 128 may not display correctly. For correct display a fixed font with
the ASCII(OEM) char set is required. Fixed pitch (monospaced) fonts such
as FixedSys or Courier New (TrueType) using the ANSI char set may be
satisfactory though not all high ASCII chars may translate perfectly.
POW v2.0 provides translation for many high ASCII characters.
A fixed font is also recommended for printing messages to give the right
formatting (eg. Terminal or a Printer Font). v1.20 on allows using the
printers internal fonts directly via DOS or through Windows in addition to
a user selected Windows font. A printer left margin is also provided from
this version on. v2.0 now correctly saves the print options (bug in v1.20).
We are constantly adding support for more mail doors in the Add/Drop/Reset
Conference feature. Mail doors that use the "old style" control messages
are fully supported and display the appropriate buttons. POW has been
tested on wcMail, Cam-Mail, MarkMail, JCQWK and QMail doors, and supports
File Requests (where available) and extra-long messages (>32k characters).
For any mail door (or new feature provided by a mail door) which POW does
not yet fully support, a manual method has been provided. Create a message
in the Editor, addressed to the name of the mail door, with the appropriate
Subject and nothing in the message text. For "new style" control messages
the Subject is usually CONFIG with control lines put in the message body.
To cater for these control functions, messages with a "To" that matches the
mail door name will not have a tearline and tagline added.
A list of Error and Warning messages is included in POW.WRI (p19) and the
on-line help.
Disclaimer
~~~~~~~~~~
Whilst every effort has been made to correct problems, no guarantee is given
or implied that there are no further problems waiting to be found.
Please report any problems to the author, Gina Davis (see above).
________________________________________________________
POW - v2.0 QWK mail reader for Windows.
Copyright (c) 1993-96 Gina Davis & GD Custom Software.
All rights reserved.