Hello and Thank You for trying Bote
I've tried to keep Bote fast and easy to use without consuming outrageous amounts of disk space or processor usage.
The current version of Bote is always available at The Bote Home Page
Your comments about Bote are very welcome and I'd like to encourage you to email me about your experiences with it.
If you find Bote less-than-OK I would like to know what I did wrong.
hey, dbin@mail.sce.de is easy!
Have a real good time.
-db-
^ What is Bote:
Bote (German for messenger) is a program that lets you have a text chat with another Bote user. If you are concerned about privacy you can enable data encryption for your chat. Bote also provides an answering service and callers can leave messages for you if you are not answering to chat requests. Files and Folders can be transfered too. Just drag and drop them onto the chat or talk window.
^ Why use Bote?:
Easy to use, less time to setup, more time to use. Fast, starts quickly, runs fast. Small, does not occupy megabytes of disk space. Efficient, easy on those CPU cycles. Portable, telnet compatable. Secure, wont send private info, or accept unwanted files.
^ Distribution:
Distribute freely. It is acceptable to include Bote on shareware collections CD-ROMS, BBS's, Websites and other forms of PUBLIC ACCESS archive storage sites. Bote and its accompanying files must be maintained in their entirety. This is a non time limited, fully functional, evaluation version of Bote.
^ Installation:
Copy or unzip the files to the directory of your choice. I suggest "c:\Program Files\dbsoft\" -or- c:\programme\dbsoft\ Finally drag a shortcut onto your desktop and click. Bote should work as-is, just enter an IP address of another Bote user, (or your own address) and press Chat. Bote comes with the following files: = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = bote.exe the program. bote.gif a small gif of the Bote Bird. bote.html a sample file for the HTTP server. botehelp.eng help file (english) botetips.deu tips file (german) botetips.eng tips file (english) botetips.esp tips file (spanish) botetips.fra tips file (french) filein.wav played when file lists arrive PCM,11,025 Hz, 8 Bit, Mono mesgin.wav played when messages and PopNotes arrive ringin.wav played when people call you PCM,11,025 Hz, 8 Bit, Mono ringout.wav played when you call out PCM,11,025 Hz, 8 Bit, Mono PRICE.txt Current Price List README.html this file in html. README.txt this file as text. WHATSNEW.txt list of changes = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Bote Creates and uses three other files bote.ini (in your windows directory) configuration settings bote.bom (in a directory of your choice) messages and log file bote.boa (in a directory of your choice) address book bote.bop (in a directory of your choice) popup notes when Bote is shut down. bote.log (in a directory of your choice) log file By default Bote uses c:\tmp for its files these can all be set in the setup panel.
^ UnInstall:
Delete c:\windows\bote.ini The other Bote files can also be dragged into the trash bin. c:\tmp\bote.boa (address book) c:\tmp\bote.bom (message and logs) c:\tmp\bote.bop (recent Bote notes) c:\tmp\bote.log (log file) Delete any shortcuts you made. Bote does NOT pollute your system registry. Bote doesn't read or write to it at all. When you remove the Bote files, it is gone.
^ Where is the help file?:
The help file is called botehelp It should be in the same directory that you start Bote in. To use the help press F1 or click the ? button and click on the item you want help for. I'm not a friend of the windows help files, they are awful to maintain. Eventually an HTML version of help may be available. There is a nice users guide on the HOME page contributed by Toni Martin, it is very useful.
^ File Transfers:
There are three ways to send files 1) While chatting, you can drop files and folders onto the chat window. 2) Use the chat menu item for FILE->SEND. 3) Drop files onto the message area On the OPEN NEW CONNECTION window. The list of files is sorted and sent to your chat partner. Your chat partner may then choose to receive the list, select the desired files and copy them to their computer.
^ Configuration:
You do not have to restart Bote for the options to take affect. Some changes do not affect a call in progress, but will be used on any new calls.
^ Status Display:
Bote 0/0 the normal display when started. Bote 2/0 2 active chat sessions. Bote 0/5 5 messages. Bote 2/5 You 2 active chat sessions and 5 messages. Bote 2/+3 You 2 active chat sessions and 3 NEW messages. Bote:25 0/0 Bote is active on port 25 The Bote ICON will flash when new messages arrive. The flash will stop after you read your messages .
^ Command line options:
Various command line options all options can use '/' or '-' /p SET PORT Bote listens for TCP/IP messages on port (channel) 54637. You can change this with the /p command line option. Normally you will not need to set or change this. Examples: /p54637 (the default) /p23 (telnet listener port) /ptelnet (telnet listener port) /v# SET VISIBILITY Bote will start up minimized. The left mouse click starts the main menu. The right mouse click gives you a menu of all available option. If you prefer, Bote can start up and 'live' on the sytem tray as a small icon. The left mouse click starts the 'OPEN NEW CONNECTION' dialog The right mouse click gives you a menu of all available option. You can change this with the /v command line option. examples: /v0 Bote minimizes to the task bar. (default) /v1 Bote minimizes to invisibility (Be careful, its really invisible) Clicking on the original Bote will restore it to visibility. Even though it is not visible, it is running and functional. /v2 Bote minimizes to a small icon on the system tray Bote also uses the 'Run minimized' option at startup. so combined with one of the above you can set Bote to start visible, or minimized. The mode it takes when minimized is controlled by the /v switch. If you attempt to open a second copy of Bote while the first is running The first copy of Bote will be popped up into full visibility. /V works identical to /v but will prevent the existing Bote from becoming visible if an attempt is made to start another instance of the program. This is useful when you have a set of programs that startup automatically when you start an internet connection. With 'V' any currenty minimized or bote will not popup again. /Q Shutdown Bote. /[cdemnt] OPEN NEW CONNECTION These will open up the 'OPEN NEW CONNECTION' window All of them require that Bote is already up and running. If Bote is not up and running, it will be started. Each of these options can take a full Bote address plus it can also have message text at the end when the ',' preceeds it. example: bote.exe /tdavid.sce.de+dbin@sce.de,Hi david!! how are you? example: bote.exe /tdbin@david.sce.de:54637+"David Binette"<dbin@sce.de>,Hi david!! how are you? /t[ADDR] Popup the Talk (open new connection) window. but does not automatically start the call This is used when you click on the Bote desktop icon to signal the already running Bote that you want to Call out. The following options all automatically start a connection and deliver the text from the specified address on the command line: /cADDR Chat /dADDR DynaPost /eADDR Email /mADDR Message /nADDR Note example: bote.exe /cdbin@david.sce.de:54637+"David Binette"<dbin@sce.de>,Hi david!! how are you? /i SET LOCATION OF INITIALIZATION FILE Bote keeps its configuration information in a file called 'bote.ini' You can change this with the /i command line option. examples: /ibote.ini (this is the default, in the WINDOWS directory) /i.\bote.ini (create and/or use bote.ini in the curtrent directory) /ic:\Bote\bote.ini When new MESSAGES arrive the icon will 'flash' When a CHAT REQUEST arrives a dialog will pop-up and ask if you want to accept the chat, take a message take a Popup Note -or- refuse the call. You can setup Bote to popup, ring, and/or flash the window. For more options see the Setup menu. While chatting you can press the right mouse button on the chat window to set the font and colors according to your preferences. /a ACTIVATE DYNABOOK SERVER Bote will start normally, then ask if you want to activate the DynaBook server to scan for your online friends. The reason it asks instead of just starting is because it can cause your computer to dial out, and that could lead to high telephone costs or an unavailable telephone line. /A Identical to /a except it does not ask if it is OK to start the DynaBook server. FILENAMES Bote can process a special type of file called a .BOT or .BOTE file (upper or lower case does not matter) the contents of the file should be: ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ full bote address Message text Message text Message text ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ for example a file called testbote.bot could contain: TopDog@localhost+"A.Hound"<canine@woofmail.com> This is a test please do not adjust your set repeat this is a test After creating this file, you can drop it onto the Bote ICON or SHORTCUT on you desktop, and it will start the 'OPEN NEW CONNECTION' window with the specified address and text all ready to go. Another possibility is to 'associate' the .bot and .bote file types with Bote. here is how... After creating the .bot file on you desktop, click on it with the left mouse button ONE TIME. that will make it 'selected' it will have the highlight. now, press and hold the SHIFT key down and at the same time press the RIGHT mouse button one time. A menu will popup wit an item 'Open With...' release all key and Mouse buttons and select the 'Open With...' item on the menu in the usual way (wy clicking on it with the left mouse button) A box will appear with some programs listed, If Bote is not in the list select 'OTHER' and search for Bote wherever you installed it. finally there is a small checkbox 'Always use this program to open this type of file' When that is checked, the association is permanent. when it is NOT checked it only operates this one time.
^ Web Server:
The Bote Mini Web server really is 'mini'. It is not stupid or lazy, its just cool about what it will do. In fact, it is a fast little server that can serve your web page without consuming a lot of computing power. And it is secure, there is no worry about wrong access permissions or strange configurations, there is only a few settings, the filename of the web page, the filename of its image file, and one binary (zip) file. It doesn't matter WHAT the person requests, they get either the web page The ImageFile or the zip. If they ask for ANY type of jpeg or gif file they get the file you specified in the setup panel for 'image'. Likewise if they ask for ANY web page or text document they get the page you specified in the setup panel for 'web page'. The actual file mappings are, htm, html, txt, text -> web file gif, jpg, jpe, jpeg, jfif, pjpeg, pjp -> image file exe, bin, gz, gtar, tz, z, zip, -> binary file Note that in all cases it delivers the correct content type based on the extension of the file that it actually delivers. With that in mind it is possible to have 3 web pages, or 1 web page with 2 images. If those filenames don't exist they get a '404 file not found' error. When you make your web page you should understand this point: it doesn't matter what filename tag you use in the HTML tag, the Bote server will ALWAYS return the image file you specified in the setup. That's because it wont allow other people to read directory listings of your computer. it just says.. HTML? ok here is the web page, You want an image file? jpeg? gif? fine! here it is. Lets say that in the setup panel you set your web page file as "index.htm", and your image file as "mypicture.jpg" and in your "index.htm" file you have a tag like <img src="c:/images/foo.gif"> They are still going to get "mypicture.jpg", it ignores the filename completely and always overrides it with the filename that you specified in the setup panel. So what happens if you specify 'page2.htm' for the image file? well if he asks for any type of image file he always gets the file defined for 'image file' in this case it is an html file, so Bote remaps the header to say that it is html text and he gets your second page. Is this strange? it is certainly not uncommon, and cgi scripts used on commercial sites deliver zips, etc. its just a type of header remapping like others that exist all over the net. That sucks right? wrong. It is very secure and FAST FAST FAST. besides, you can have as many links as you want to EXTERNAL sites and their browser will fetch those external URL in the normal way. for example: <img src="http://someother.site.com/images/coool.gif"> Or you could point it to one of those companys that provide web page counters like: <img src="http://counter.site.com/images/digit.cgi"> Hey! those addresses aren't real, I just made them up to show that you can do all the things you want from your web page and still not worry about anybody seeing things other than the files you specified. A new feature was added for version 1.22B that allows you to direct all requests to another web page. If you enable redirects make sure you enter in a valid URL like http://somesite.com/somepage.html And if you leave it blank your callers will get a error 500 Internal Server Error This server is unable to resolve your request.
^ Bote On The Web:
The bote home page has a public Bote Note Web Server Find it at http://www.sce.de/people/dbin/bote/ Starting Bote from a WEB page is fairly straight forward. You must tell your Web Browser how to handle a Bote File Type. Here is what you do (For Netscape) Start Netscape Options -> GeneralPreferences -> Helpers Create New Type Configure New Mime Type Mime Type: application/x-bote Mime Sub Type: press OK File Extensions: bot,bote Action: Launch the application Finally BROWSE for the Bote executable program press OK ITS DONE! now you can include a URL in your page, that looks like <a href="CallDave.bot">Gimme a call</A> Now thats pretty cool, and fun but its not wildy useful because it only works when the person who clicks on it has setup their browser to handle the mime type application/x-bote it is howver very useful in an intranet or corporate department where the MIS staff has configured the browsers ahead of time for all of the staff.
^ Portability:
You CAN use telnet to talk to Bote. If you have a decent Telnet it should work fine. Actually almost any Telnet program will work, including UNIX/Linux Telnet and Microsofts' WfWG Telnet. I have not tried it from a MAC, but that should also work. There are 3 ways to do this, all require that Bote and Telnet talk and listen on the same port. 1) tell Bote the port when you make the call example: friend.onthe.net:23 example: friend.onthe.net:telnet 2) tell Telnet to use the Bote port use 54637 on the Telnet command line. example: telnet david.sce.de 54637 3) tell Bote to use the Telnet port use /p23 on the Bote Command line. example: bote /p23 Normally you should leave the Bote settings as-is and ask your telnet friends to contact you on port 54637. That way Bote callers can find you easily too. (see example 2 above) Here are some more examples Calling Bote from UNIX or LINUX: telnet BoteUser.bote.site 54637 Calling Bote from Windows WfWG/w3.11 telnet Boteuser.bote.site 54637 fairly standard, chech the manual page for your telnet program to see what kind of telnet options are available. Bote doesn't support many, just enough to convers.
^ Diagnostics:
Bote has been tested on W95 winsock 1.1 and NT4 winsock 2 The standard winsock diagnostics are displayed in verbose format. The common numeric error codes are translated into their English equivalent. If I missed one drop me a mail message or a PopNote and let me know. You can send your PopNote to david.sce.de
^ Advanced:
You can run multiple copies of Bote *if* they listen on different ports. Why would you want to do this? (see the section on portability)
^ DynaBook:
--------------------------------- DynaBook: --------------------------------- The Bote DynaBook (Dynamic Address Book) lets you know when your friends are online to the Internet. It does this by scanning the internet for some of the addresses listed in your address book. When Bote detects a friend coming online it will popup a red and white message on your screen to inform you. It will timeout after 10 seconds, or you can click on it to make it go away. If you want your DynaBook to contain the list of friends who are on line you must do two things: 1) enable the DynaBook Server 2) Create a normal Bote Address book entry and mark it for scanning. Here is how the scan is performed: The current address book file is opened and the addresses that are marked for scanning will be scanned. The type of test is determined by the type of checkbox that was selected in the address book. A normal checkmark will check for a Bote connection. A grayed checkmark will do only a ping. In the case of a normal check (bote) Bote will send attempt ot open a connection to the remote site. If it takes longer than 10 seconds, Bote will timeout. When a successfull connect is made Bote will mark the site as ONLINE. If you can, use the Bote test (normal checkmark) rather than the 'ping' as it is very efficient and makes minimal CPU load typically less than 1.0% processor usage with some short bursts of activity as it starts scanning new addresses. In the case of a grayed check (ping) Bote will send up to 3 'pings' each with a 5 second timeout. When a successfull ping response is received Bote will mark the site as ONLINE. The ICMP.DLL program addon from the OS is used to perform the actual sending of the icmp packet (the ping). Suprisingly this eats up enormous amounts of processor time, I do not know if it actually increases the load on the processor or if it is just chewing up idle time but if you are looking for such things you will notice 90+% processor usage!! Bote will attempt to check up to 8 remote sites at one time, it will create a separate thread for each site and will have at most 8 threads active for scanning the internet. When a new site is found ONLINE it will be added to the DynaBook and the 'online.wav' file may be played according to your setting in the setup file. When a site that WAS ONLINE goes OFFLINE, the site will be removed from the DynaBook (not the address book) and the 'offline.wav' file may be played according to your setting in the setup file. After all sites have been scanned Bote will wait 120 seconds and repeat the process. Bote uses the 'ICMP.DLL' file that already exists on WIN95 and WINNT systems to send the ICMP (ping) packet. There are other interesting uses for Botes 'DynaBook' Even if you are not interested in finding Bote Sites the 'ping only' entry is useful for scanning your intranet and getting a list of all available machines. You only need to make an address book entry for each machine that you want to test. The bote Icon will contain a small (flashing) dot when dynaBook is Active. This is controlled by the Blink Icons' setting in the setup panel.
^ Privacy:
Bote does not send any secret information. Your login name (if you enable it) and your IP address are used when connecting to other Bote Users. There is no special code installed in Bote that can be used to identify registered or unregistered users. Bote only connects to the site you specify, and only for the purpose you selected. There are two items in the HELP/ABOUT box that can be used to contact the author via email or HTTP. Your POP3 email password can be set in the setup menu and it will be writtten to the Bote .ini file in an encrypted format. if you prefer to NOT save it just leave it blank. Bote will ask you for it when required. (when you check your mailbox for addresses) The password encryption is not trivial, but a determined person could possibly unencrypt it with some time and effort. Privacy also means excercising your right to confidentiality and protecting yourself from unwanted intrusions into your personal correspondance. Bote offers several forms of data scrambling and encryption. Plaintext is just that, clear plain text that can be read easily by anyone snooping your connection. This is the normal mode for most chat clients and was originally Botes' only mode. PlainText is NOT encryption. All of Bote's encryption levels (PlainText is not an encryption) attempt to discourage copying, recording or taking screen snapshots of the conversation. For this reason several menu option are disabled or simply not available. LEVEL1 this is a simple scramble that can easily be comprimised, In legal terms this can only assure that anyone snooping must make a concious effort to decode the data. Having done that alone they may be in violation of privacy laws. The advantages of this method are that it is fast, efficient and autosensing. LEVEL2 provides a convoluted scrambling and encryption technique based on the principals of obfuscation. The data is embedded in a expanded multibyte binary key. This method is useful because it requires no exchange of keys. LEVEL3 provides a key based encryption method that two users must have previously agreed upon. LEVEL4 is a work in progress which will be based hopefully on the Public/private key encryption principles for secure private communication. NOTE: I am not a professional cryptographer and I do not claim that any of the methods used are without flaw. I have simply done my best to provide secure private communication between you and whomever you choose to communicate. There are no backdoors or secret keys or warranties. If you want truly private conversation stand close and whisper softly with a several loud radios tuned to white noise while encasing yourself in a sound absorbing blanket. (-: personally i''d rather use Bote.
^ MultiLingual:
I don't speak German, French or Spanish So most of the translation is bad. Please forgive, and help if you want to. The Bote Program is already designed to handle the four languages listed below. English, German, French, Spanish. The English version is complete. The German version is partially complete with the 'botetips.deu' file available. The 'botehelp.deu' is a work in progress. The French version has 'botetips.fra' but to now there is no 'botehelp.fra' The Spanish version has botetips.esp but to now there is no 'botehelp.esp' To provide an alternate language version it is only required to translate the English version and give it the correct filename extension .eng = English .deu = Deutsch .fra = Francois .esp = EspanÛl PLEASE DELETE your existing 'botehelp.' and 'botetips.' files. That way Bote can automatically sense the language of your PC and use the correct language file. Bote defaults to English internally but most of the program text can be displayed in your preferred language. Normally it is automatic, bote will sesnse your current language based on your computer setup. If Bote is confused, or gets it wrong simply copy the desired language file to the default file (without the .*** extension) botehelp If this exists Bote will always use this botehelp.eng English botehelp.deu German botehelp.fra French botehelp.esp French botetips If this exists Bote will always use this botetips.eng English botetips.deu German botetips.fra French botetips.esp Spanish Sometimes the German, French, and Spanish versions are not up to date or are missing some entries for the newer features, in that case Bote may give you the English version of that particular tip or help.
^ Legal stuff:
Copyright 1997, 1998 David J. Binette ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Bote is a shareware program. It has been known to run on Windows95 OSR1 and OSR2 and NT4 Bote comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY You may use this software over a 30 day time period to determine if it is suitable for your needs. To use it after that period you must pay for it. There are no refunds, no support contracts, no warranty of fitness for a particular purpose, the only person who can decide if Bote is suitable for you and your intents, is you. If it does not perform the way you like, or stops performing, or causes problems in any way, they are not my problems. I accept absolutely no liability whatsoever for any damages directly or indirectly related to the use, usability or lack thereof no matter how they occur. To register this software: send US$20 check or postal money order for each copy of Bote you want to register. Payable to: David J. Binette Box 12 Kootenay Bay BC CANADA V0B1X0 Your cancelled check is proof of payment. If you need or want more information regarding site licences or discounts please contact via email
^ Credits:
Bote is an original work by David J. Binette It is Copyright 1997 David J. Binette ALL RIGHTS RESERVED My greatest thanks go to Bernd Luevelsmeyer who provided invaluable help and comments (and also taught me about Win32 programming) Thanks Bernd! David Binette --- TCP/IP port numbers are registered with IANA port 54637 is currently unassigned. Standard UNIX and WINDOWS computers have no permanent services on port 54637. Bote is NOT registered with IANA hey! Have a Real Good Time