Monster Media 1993 #2/Image.iso/magazine/s_m0793.zip/S&M-03

Text File | 1993-06-20 | 6KB | 96 lines

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 Under the Hood░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░Open Sesame!░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░by Michael Hahn
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        Welcome to the wonderful world of offline mail.  The first
    step is acquiring something to read.  For that you'll need to
    visit the mail door on your favorite BBS.
        The job of a mail door is to bundle up all the messages you
    select into a packet, and allow you to download it.  There are
    many types of mail doors, but they all share this basic function.
    I'll deal with the doors which create QWK packets (files of
    compressed messages with a filename referring to the BBS you
    called, and an extension of .QWK) in my examples.  Some of the
    door programs that create QWK packets are (in alphabetical order)
    CAM-Mail, KingMail, Kmail, MarkMail, and Qmail.  Most of these
    programs have a common set of commands, with only minor
    variations.
        Let's call Pen and Brush BBS, home of "Smoke and Mirrors"--the
    magazine you're currently enjoying.  Once I get past the login
    procedure, I'm confronted with the main menu.  P&B is particularly
    friendly to offline mail enthusiasts--selections for two mail
    doors, MarkMail and Qmail4, are listed on the main menu.  They can
    also be accessed by OPENing a Door from the main menu.
        Let's use MarkMail--Qmail asks you to go to a separate
    configuration menu, while MarkMail has all the available commands
    on its main screen.  The configuration menu for MarkMail looks
    like this:

                       ┌──────────────────────────┐
                       │  B - Bulletin Selections │
                       │  C - Compression Methods │
                       │  F - File Scan Selection │
                       │  H - Help With Commands  │
                       │  S - Select Conferences  │
                       │  T - Transfer Protocols  │
                       │  V - View Your Settings  │
                       │  W - Write Your Settings │
                       └──────────────────────────┘

        The selections B and F are toggles; they allow you to download
    the new bulletins and a listing of new files on the BBS.
    Selecting B will turn on or off the addition of bulletins to your
    mail packet.
        "Compression Methods" is for selecting the archive format for
    the QWK packet.  Most boards default to PKZip, but some offer ARJ,
    LHA, or even ARC.  Be sure in selecting a format you have the
    correct packing and unpacking programs available on your computer.
        "Transfer Protocols" allows you to select the protocol you'll
    use to download the packet and upload the replies.  The usual
    choices are Xmodem, Ymodem, Ymodem-G, and Zmodem.  The protocol
    selection can be different than the one you used as your default
    selection when you first signed on to the BBS.  As an example, I
    use HSLink to download files from P&B, but I use the DSZ version
    of Zmodem to download my mail.
        The other setting you must configure is "Select Conferences".
    This will display a list of the message areas available, and allow
    you to select the ones you wish to read.  You'll also be given the
    opportunity to select only messages addressed to (Y)ou, those
    addressed to you and to All (YA), and and all available messages
    in the conference (A).  You'll then be asked to set the pointer in
    the conference.  Depending on the conference and the BBS, there
    may be several thousand messages available for download!  I find
    it's usually convenient to set the pointer at about 10-25 messages
    less than the current total when I first enter a conference--this
    allows me to get a feel for what has gone on in the previous
    postings to that conference.  The pointers, BTW, are reset each
    time you download a packet, so this needs only be done once per
    conference.
        After selecting the archiver, protocol, and conferences, the
    next step is to download the messages.  The command menu for
    MarkMail looks like this:
                       ┌──────────────────────────┐
                       │  D - Download QWK Packet │
                       │ DG - Download & Goodbye  │
                       │  G - Goodbye (Logoff)    │
                       │  M - Mode Graphix Toggle │
                       │  O - Operator Page       │
                       │  Q - Quit Back to System │
                       │  U - Upload REP Packet   │
                       │ UG - Upload REP & Logoff │
                       │  X - eXpert Mode Toggle  │
                       └──────────────────────────┘

    I usually make my mail download the last thing I do in a session,
    so I use `DG' most of the time.  This will pull the most recent
    mail (anything newer than the pointers you set) from each
    conference, bundle it into a QWK packet (Pen and Brush's mail
    comes in a PB.QWK) using the archiver you selected, and ask you
    to begin a download using the selected protocol.  After the
    download finishes, the mail door will disconnect you from the BBS.
        Okay, so now you have a QWK packet.  In the next installment,
    I'll tell you how to read it.

                                  -end-
                     Copyright (c) 1993 Michael Hahn