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Text File | 1991-12-04 | 34KB | 898 lines

== 12-02-91 ======================================================== EZ-Reader version 1.37 is released. 1) Corrected problems with deleting files in the work subdirectory. For the last time HOPEFULLY! 2) Raised the number of conferences to 2500. == 11-02-91 ======================================================== EZ-Reader version 1.37 is released for beta testing. 1) Corrected problems with deleting files in the work subdirectory. For the last time HOPEFULLY! == 10-19-91 ======================================================== EZ-Reader version 1.36 is released. 1) Corrected problems with deleting files in the work subdirectory. 2) EZ-Reader now displays ANSI and text files correctly. == 08-02-91 ======================================================== EZ-Reader version 1.35 is released. 1) Corrected the problems with 1.34. == 06-19-91 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.34 is released. 1) EZ-Reader 1.34 borrows some code from EZ-Reader 2.00. See the file EZ-RDR.200 for more details! 2) Increased the number of conferences from 1000 to 2000. 3) Increased the number of messages per conference from 200 to 400. 4) Added ANSI support. Welcome screens, News, Bulletins, Files, and mail can now be displayed in ANSI. The speed is faster than ANSI.SYS! 5) Files in the work directory are deleted much faster now. 6) More DESQview compatible. EZ-Reader 1.34 releases unused cycles to other programs running under multitasking systems. 7) The compression programs are run in a small DOS window. == 08-08-90 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.33 is released. 1) Fixed the UpArrow and DownArrow bug when viewing bulletins and new files. 2) Fixed bug when viewing messages longer than 200 lines. 3) Corrected the unregistered version. == 07-23-90 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.32 is released. 1) Fixed the problem with displaying 80 character lines. 2) Fixed the problem with replies that contain 80 character lines. 3) We've added a new distribution bulletin board in Atlanta. Faster Than Light (404) 299-3930 (USR 9600 dual standard) Atlanta, Georgia == 07-09-90 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.31 is released. 1) Correctly distinquishes MarkMail and registered TomCat! doors. 2) Lines in messages generated and viewed by EZ-Reader can now be up to 80 characters in length. 3) The conference name is correctly selected when a messages is printed. 4) Added more support for Elliott Jackson's QWKScan 2. 5) The FIDO flag (-F) replaces the special John Hancock character used in the tagline with a period. Taglines from John Hancock are not altered. 6) For the TomCat! 2 door, EZ-Reader correctly places all personal messages in the Personal conference. 7) We've added two new distribution bulletin boards. We are in the process of working with another sysop for the ninth EZ-Reader distribution bulletin board. MicroSellar (201) 239-1346 (USR 9600 dual standard) Verona, New Jersey Kandy Shack (714) 636-2667 (USR 9600 dual standard) Garden Grove, California == 06-22-90 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.30 is released. 1) Added more compatibility for TomCat! 2.0. 2) Properly recognizes MarkMail packets with serial numbers greater than 20,000. == 05-15-90 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.29 is released. 1) Fixed the bug with some messages that exceed 96 lines. Honest! 2) Extended message line length to 78 characters. Messages can now be up to 78 characters in length. 3) Fixed the conference number problem. 4) Corrected the problem with adding and dropping conferences. 5) TomCat! users will notice the To and From fields have traded places in the Message Viewer. 6) Widened the Conference Selector Menu in the Message Information Window. == 04-14-90 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.28 is released. 1) Fixed the bug with some messages that exceed 96 lines. 2) Added support for 1000 conferences! 3) Modified the Conference Menu. 4) EZ-Reader returns to the WORK subdirectory after changing directories from your editor. 5) Viewing a long list of new files no longer corrupts the User Statistics. == 02-24-90 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.27 is released. 1) Lines are no longer dropped when a message exceeds 96 lines. An extra line is added to the bottom of the message indicating that the message is continued in the next. Now messages will have a maximum of 95 lines plus continutation and taglines. 2) All fields now are sorted correctly, regardless of case. 3) The AGE switch for Replies had a bug when reading messages across midnight. This is now fixed. 4) There are two new EZ-Reader variables, @TO@ and @FROM@. These two variables are substitued with the names in the To and From fields of the current or last message read. They can be in any Hot Key string or any of the program (Editor, PKZIP, etc) command strings. 5) The @CONF@ variable is now active when saving a message. You will have to run CONFIG and modify the Save Path to a Save Filename. Enter a complete filename here. You may use @CONF@. For example: Save File: C:\EZ\@CONF@.TXT == 02-01-90 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.26 is released. 1) EZ-Reader handles lines longer than 72 chars better now. Quoted lines are truncated to 72 chars. If a line is found longer than 72 chars you will be asked if you want to re-edit the message. If you answer NO, the lines will be truncated to 72 chars. 2) You can now have the Message Information Window appear before and after you enter a message. == 01-20-90 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.25 is released. 1) EZ-Reader is now a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals, (ASP). The ASP maintains a high standard for shareware. All ASP software meets and exceeds these high standards. 2) Lines longer than 72 chars will be wrapped to the next line. This maintains the PC Board limits of 72 chars per line. 3) Messages longer than 96 lines will be continued to the next message. The PC Board limit is 99 lines. Each message has three lines appended to it which can take it to the 99 line limit. 4) Successfully removed the problem code in the tagline variables. If you should encounter any lockups, please notify me immediately. 5) The addition of a FIDO switch. There are a number of users who are connecting to FidoNet. This switch (-F) will substitute an * for the ■ in the EZ-Reader tagline. 6) Users can now enter @ in the TO field for use on FidoNet. == 12-29-89 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.24 is released. 1) Corrected the bug in 1.23 that trashed the reply file, if you Killed any replies. == 12-19-89 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.23 is released. 1) Fixes the major bug in version 1.22 that caused lockups. 2) Keeps track of the number of messages that are marked and unmarked. So if you unmark all of your marked messages, EZ-Reader won't ask you to save the marked messages. 3) Imposes a 96 line and 72 column limit on all messages entered with EZ-Reader. This was added to be more compatible with PC Board. 4) Replying to a killed message will no longer unkill that message. Message remain killed unless you unkill them. 5) Fixed Conference Selection Menu so that it will now go to the next page when you reach the end of the page. It will also go to the previous page when you cursor past the first conference on the page. 6) The Individual Message Window nw has titles. 7) Made other minor cosmetic changes. Most you probably won't recognize. == 09-23-89 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.22 is released. 1) No longer treats the variables #user# and #first# as their @ variable counter parts. 2) Will not erase all files in the WORK subdirectory. EZ-Reader 1.22 will only erase the files with these extensions: NDX, RD, PNT, PTR, MSG, DAT and these filenames: BOOKMARK, BLT*.*, and QMENU*. If EZ-Reader finds files after all of these are erased, it will ask you if you want to delete the remaining files. 3) EZ-Reader 1.22 will remove killed replies from your reply file before compressing the replies. 4) Fixed the color bug from Reset Conference. If you Reset a conference's high message pointer, the conference menu background became the same color as the Reset window. This has been fixed. 5) Added more code for the compression method determination when using the -q (quick entry) switch. It checks for files with filenames the same as the BBS Id and extensions of QWK, REP, and OLD. 6) Added extended error codes for PKZIP and PKUNZIP. Now if EZ-Reader fails when ZIPping or UNZIPping a mail packet or reply packet, EZ-Reader reports why it failed. 7) Adds User stats option. Users who call a BBS running PCB 14.2 and MarkMail or Qmail 3.00 will be able to view their caller statistics with the U command from either the Conference Menu or the Main Menu. 8) The problem with Script0 has been fixed. If you never noticed this, you never had a problem with it. <grin> 9) Added support for Dan Moore's John Hancock (JH). John Hancock is a complete tagline manager system. It allows you to have multiple tagline files. If you register JH ($10), Dan will send you RobbinEZ, a program that allows you to steal other people's taglines. 10) Added a new variable, @CONF@, to the Editor command string and the Hot Keys command string. This new variable substitutes the current conference name into the string, with the Main Board becoming MAIN. This was added so that you could quickly load tagline files into JH. ***** How To Use John Hancock ***** Put all of your JH files into your EZ-Reader subdirectory. When you run EZ-Reader it will copy all of the neccessary JH files into the work directory. You must call JH like this: D:\ez\jh D:\ez\ or like this D:\ez\jh D:\ez\ez.tag The first method tells JH to load the default tagline file from the EZ subdirectory on drive D. The second method tells JH to immedialtely load the tagline file EZ.TAG from the EZ subdirectory on drive D. JH must be run before your message is complete. The EZiest way to run JH is from a batch file used to call your editor. This is how I have mine set up. Editor: !ed Options: /Mc:\pe\mail.mac @CONF@ Reply: REPLY.TXT Message: MESSAGE.TXT Does your editor accept two filenames [Y/N]? Y EZ-Reader will take these options and assemble them like this: !ed REPLY.TXT MESSAGE.TXT /Mc:\pe\mail.mac @CONF@ ││ │ │ │ └──────────────┐ ││ │ │ │ Substitute conference name ─┘ ││ │ │ └─ Editor options ││ │ └─ Name of the message file ││ └─ Name of the reply file │└─ Name of editor batch file └── Use Switch! EZ-Reader calls the batch file ED via Switch!. My ED.BAT file looks like this: @echo off pe2 %1 %2 %3 if exist d:\ez\%4.TAG goto FOUND d:\ez\jh d:\ez\ goto END :FOUND d:\ez\jh d:\ez\%4.TAG :END My editor, pEdit, is called with the first three arguments, REPLY.TXT (%1), MESSAGE.TXT (%2), and /Mc:\pe\mail.mac (%3). Then the batch file checks to see if there is a tagline file that belongs to the current conference (%4). If the conference tagline file exists, then John Hancock is called and the conference tagline is loaded immediately. If there is not conference tagline file, then John Hancock is called with the default. ***** How To Use Robbin EZ ***** RobbinEZ is a companion program to John Hancock that you receive when you register John Hancock ($10). RobbinEZ allows you to steal other peoples taglines. To use RobbinEZ you first need to Save a message, call RobbinEZ, and finally delete the Saved file. I save the message with the tagline I want to steal with the S command. I give it a new name in my work directory. Then I call RobbinEZ form the Hot Key Alt-R that I have setup. When I hit Alt-R, EZ-Reader runs a batch file called JHSTEAL.BAT. JHSTEAL.BAT looks like this: @echo on d:\ez\robbinez jhsteal.txt d:\ez\jhsteal.tag del %1 │ │ File that contains the │ tagline you want to └ Puts stolen tagline in this steal tagline file RobbinEZ places the stolen tagline, from jhsteal.txt, in the tagline file jhsteal.tag in the subdirectory EZ on drive D. == 08-04-89 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.21 is released. 1) Fixed the NEWS bug in 1.20. 2) Converts the altered PC Board 14.2 variables #USER# and #FIRST# to @USER@ and @FIRST@. == 07-29-89 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.20 is released. 1) Some commands have been changed. The <A>rchive command has been changed to <S>ave marked messages. The <Q>uit command has been changed to <E>xit and save replies. 2) ADD conferences. From the conference menu you may add a conference with the <A> command. Highlight the conference you want to ADD and press <A>. The status line will tell you that you are adding conference ....... 3) DROP conferences. From the conference menu you may drop a conference with the <D> command. Highlight the conference you want to DROP and press <D>. The status line will tell you that you are dropping conference ....... 4) RESET message pointers in a conference. From the conference menu you may reset a conference last read pointer with the <R> command. Highlight the conference you want to RESET and press <R>. A window will pop up and ask you what message number you want to reset the pointer to. The status line will tell you that you are resetting conference ....... last read pointer to ..... 5) Quick Message Entry will now unarchive any replies you have for the selected BBS. 6) I am giving you the option of adding taglines to each message. You can turn off the taglines by setting the flag inside CONFIG. <F7> will toggle the tagline switch. 7) Unregistered copies will require the user to press <F10> on the openning screen. 8) The addition of Curtis Little's Switch! Switch! allows you to save the current program to either disk or EMS. Switch! uses approximately 12K of memory. With Switch! you can load TSRs and upon return to EZ-Reader, the TSRs will be unloaded. This will be great for those who wish to load Turbo Lightning with their editor. To use Switch!, place the ! character at the beginning of the Editor, Arc, Zip programs and as the 1st character for Hot Keys. The first example will execute Switch! and then run Qedit. Any TSRs that have been loaded will be unloaded upon returning to EZ-Reader. Editor: !Q.EXE If you haven't enough memory available to run PKZIP, but you have disk space or unused EMS, you can do this: Zip: !PKZIP -ex ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Switch! will not work with EMSIM by Kam & Associates. │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 9) Sysops may change the From label in the header of each message. This will enable you to send a message from SYSOP instead of your given name. This is done when the sysop name and the user name (both listed in CONTROL.DAT) is the same. Or when you specify the command switch -S. 10) Leaving the TO field blank in the message information window will default to 'ALL'. 11) Added support for PC Board 14.2 @ variables. All @ variables are supported. However you may not enter any @ variables in the TO field for any message, unless you are a Sysop. 12) Added three EZ-Reader @ variables to the tagline. These @ variables are substituted in the tagline when the message is saved. They are: @DAY@ - prints the day of the week (e.g. Monday) @DATE@ - prints today's date in the format MM/DD/YY @TIME@ - prints the current time in HH:MM am/pm format 13) In the Conference menu the <Tab> and <Shift-Tab> keys will move the highlight bar among those conference that have messages. <Tab> moves forward and <Shift-Tab> moves backward. 14) New Conference Menu supports up to 256 conferences. 15) Reduced bulletin line limit from 300 to 250 to accomodate the extra 128 conferences supported by Qmail 3.00. 16) Corrected the individual command. It now correctly positions the cursor on the current message. 17) Changed the Mail List character from @ to # to accomodate the PC Board 14.2 variables. == 05-19-89 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.14 is released. 1) Correctly marks messages in the Bulk mark command. 2) Auto-increments the cursor to highlight the next Qmail packet. 3) New command. The Jimmy Pearson command. The new command is <G>o Back. It will take you back one message without changing the current direction. 4) Allows lowercase subject lines. == 04-26-89 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.13 is released. 1) Resets correct color attribute after viewing the openning screen, news, and the closing screen. 2) Makes correct Configuration file. == 04-13-89 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.12 is released. 1) Corrected bug in Reply header when BBS has a long name. 2) Resets correct color attribute after viewing the openning screen, news, and the closing screen. == 03-28-89 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.11 is released. 1) Accepts a longer BBS name so that it will work with Qmail Door 3.0. 2) EZ-Junior released. A slimmed down version of EZ-Reader. == 02-28-89 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.10 is released. 1) No more "run-away" replies. The intermittent problem with multiple replies written to the reply file has been fixed. 2) A new switch has been added to the program CONFIG. The switch -C will clear the screen. == 02-23-89 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.09 is released. 1) Detects when the mail packets and replies have been compressed with either the ARC or ZIP format and will use the correct method to uncompress the files. The .REP file will be compressed with whatever was used on the .QWK file. 2) Colors are now correctly restored after viewing the openning screen and the closing screen. 3) A new choice for keeping replies. YES has been changed to AGE and now YES will always unpack the replies. == 02-19-89 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.08 is released. 1) Increased memory for bulletins and new files to 300 lines. Corrects problem of the user's name being over written. 2) Colors are now correctly restored after viewing the news. == 02-14-89 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.07 is released for registered users only. 1) Correctly marks News and New files. 2) Supports the video mode BW80. == 02-11-89 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.06 is released for registered users only. 1) Will correctly unmark marked messages. 2) Keeps track of which messages to which you have replied. 3) Archives the replies first. 4) Removes any blank lines from the end of messages. == 01-21-89 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.05 is released. 1) The scrolling routine has now been fixed for messages and new files. (Thanks to John Friel, Brad Berson and others) 2) The keys <Ctrl><PgUp> and <Ctrl><PgDn> take you to the next and previous threads, respectively. (Thanks to Guy Gallo) 3) I believe it catches all private messages now. (Thanks to Joe Sheppard and Mike Meyer) 4) You can menu select the conference to place a reply or message. (Thanks to Brad Phelps, Sam Smith and others) 5) You can elect to have the entire Message Information window presented before or after the message has been entered. Also added are two new switches -A and -B (both uppercase). -A tells EZ-Reader to show you the Message Information window after you have entered the text of the message. -B will pop up the Message Information window before. (Thanks to Sam Smith and others) 6) Improved error checking for reply files. 7) Corrected the window colors. (Thanks to many) 8) The Conference selection menu shows the conference number and the number of messages in that conference. To active this, simply press any key. (Thanks to many) 9) The <Space Bar> will page through messages that are more than one page long. When at the end of a message, pressing <Space Bar> will go to the next message. (Thanks to Jerry Gray) 10) Some of the Help screens have been expanded. 11) Paging has been corrected in the List Hot Keys window. 12) The opening Message Sanning window has been expanded to include checks for new files, news, and bulletins. == 01-07-89 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.04 is released. 1) EZ-Reader correctly accepts mail packets from older Qmail doors. (Thanks to many people) 2) You can now modify taglines after you enter a message. (Thanks to many people) 3) A new window has been implemented when scanning messages. You are shown the conference name & number, the number of messages in the conference, the total number of messages and the total number of personal messages. (Thanks to Mike Meyer) == 01-04-89 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.03 is released. (limited release) 1) The Private Message Indicator color is now correct in EZ-Reader. 2) The character % is now no problem in messages. 3) The function keys F5 and F9 no longer Kill or Print the current message. 4) Replies taken from the .REP file are correctly entered into the REPLIES conference. 5) Implemented a new smoother scrolling routine when viewing messages and the new files. == 01-01-89 =========== Things to think about ========================== Because EZ-Reader will now use the replies in the .REP file, if it is newer than the .QWK file, you will need to make sure that the time and date of your .QWK file reflects LOCAL time. If you call Long Distance and you download with Zmodem, the packet will have the date and time of the board you are calling. This will cause problems only if you do not re-arc the .QWK file. For instance, say I call a board that is an hour or more ahead of me. I read the mail, create a few replies and exit without re-arcing the .QWK file. Then I decide I want to reread the mail. The replies are not there! Why? Because I the .QWK file has a time of 5:45 EST (time of the board I called) and my .REP file has a time of 5:00 CST (local time). So if you call boards in other time zones you will need to have EZ-Reader ASK you if you want to un-arc the replies when you read the mail. ======================= New Additions & Changes ======================== 1) Auto-Incrementing taglines. (Thanks to Tony Tortorelli) 2) Prompts when displaying the NEWS file. (Thanks to Tony Tortorelli) 3) You can now use the '%' in a tagline. (Thanks to Chris Parker) 4) All new way of handling replies. You can select to save a copy of the replies in the .QWK file. When you re-read a mail packet the replies may come from either the .QWK file or the .REP file. (Thanks to many people) 5) Empty reply files are not kept. (Thanks to many people) 6) Replies to Private messages correctly default to Private. (Thanks to Joe Sheppard) 7) Uses the correct Welcome, Goodbye, and News files. (Thanks to Tony Tortorelli & Chris Parker) 8) Cuts off message lines longer than 72 characters. (Thanks to Chris Parker) 9) No more Headers when editing Replies. (Thanks to Tony Tortorelli) 10) Works with those Qmail doors that don't include a QMENU file. (Thanks to Brent Wilcox and Chris Parker) 11) The CONFIG program accepts lower case letters in the EDITOR and the EDITOR OPTIONS fields. (Thanks to Dave Siegel) 12) Message numbers are now displayed in the <I>ndividual message window. (Thanks to Tony Tortorelli) 13) Prefixes are correct for single Name senders, i.e. SYSOP. 14) When you edit a reply (reply to a reply) the original is killed. 15) Fixed the Bulk marking problem. It didn't always show you the correct items for selection. (Thanks to Brad Phelps) 16) You cannot enter a message into an "-empty-" conference or into a conference that in not present. You can however enter messages into any conference, including those in which you are not registered via the Qmail door. The Qmail door will not accept any messages for conferences which you are not registered. (Thanks to many people) 17) Prefixes (when quoting messages) have been enhanced. You are given a wide selection of options for prefixes. From no prefix to the Initials of the person you are quoting, to your very own personalized prefix. Limited to 3 chars. (Thanks to Tony Tortorelli) 18) You can also select what character to use to divide messages and headers when you print or save a message. (Thanks to Tony Tortorelli) 19) CONFIG has been changed to reflect the new additions. 20) You can now run EZ-Reader in as little as 200K. You must however manually un-arc and re-arc your mail packet and replies. Just us the -P switch (Uppercase P, i.e. EZ-RDR -P ). (Thanks to Matthew Lewis) 21) You can tell EZ-Reader to not remove the work directory. (Thanks to Guy Gallo) 22) EZ-Reader now checks for the success of arc'ing and unarc'ing. 23) Sysop switch added for those Sysops whose name is not the same as what is recorded in the CONTROL.DAT file. The switch is -S (Uppercase S, i.e. EZ-RDR -S). (Thanks to Mike Meyer) 24) You can now select a seperate color for the Private Message indicator. 25) The <Ins> key now functions as the <I> command when reading a message. (Thanks to Guy Gallo) 26) Comments to Sysops now correctly show Private. (Thanks to Mike Meyer) == 12-16-88 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.01 is released. 1) Fixed EZ to read the envrionmental variable, EZRDR. Thus allowing EZ to be run from a ramdisk. 2) Fixed EZ to correctly tell if the person reading the mail is a sysop of the board the mail packet is from. 3) Replies now show the correct conference number. 4) Corrected a misspelling in CONFIG. 5) Corrected the Conference selection code. So now you can see that last conference on the menu. 6) Asks if you want to re-archive the mail packet. You should do this if you want the replies and the new index files saved for later reading. The replies will be automatically put into the .REP file no matter if you answer Yes or No. 7) Add taglines on the fly. You can add more than one! Up to fifty taglines. And if you reach the maximum, then you can modify taglines. 8) Uses less files now for those who want to use a ramdisk. This does take a little more time, but not much. For those power users out there, a version that produces all the needed files once and only once is available. 9) Corrected the <I>ndividual Message command for the Personal and Reply conferences. 10) The <I>ndividual Message command will now highlight the message you are reading. 11) F3 will now show you a list of your Hot Keys. 12) Replies to private messages will default to private. You may change this if you wish in the Message Information window. 13) The file EZ-RDR.SCR is no longer needed. If you have version 1.00 you can erase this file. == 12-09-88 ======================================================== EZ-Reader v1.00 is released.