VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VVV VVV ooooooo yyy yyy aaaaaaa gggggggg eeeeeee rrr rrrrr VVV VVV ooo ooo yyy yyy aaa ggg ggg eee eee rrrr r VVVV ooo ooo yyy yyy aaaaaaaa ggg ggg eeeeeeeee rrr VVVV ooo ooo yyy yyy aaaaaaaa ggg ggg eeeeeeeee rrr VVVV ooo ooo yyy yyy aaa aaa ggg ggg eee rrr VV ooo ooo yyy yyy aaa aaa ggg ggg eee eee rrr VV ooooooo yyyyyyyy aaaaaaaa gggggggg eeeeeee rrr yyy ggg yyy ggg y yyy g ggg yyyyyyy ggggggg FFFFFFFFF AAAAAAAA QQQQQQQQ FFF AAA AA QQQ QQ FFF AAA AA QQQ QQ FFF AAA AA QQQ QQ FFF AAA AA QQQ QQ FFFFFF AAAAAAAAAA QQQ QQ FFF AAA AA QQQ QQ FFF AAA AA QQQ QQ FFF AAA AA QQQ QQ FFF AAA AA QQQ QQ FFF AAA AA QQQQQQQQ QQQ QQQ Version 1.4 October 31, 1997 +++=====================================================================+++ Voyager FAQ V1.4 Outline Outline 0.0 Disclaimer & Copyright 1.0 About the Voyager FAQ 1.1 What is the Voyager FAQ? 1.2 Who is responsible for the FAQ? 1.3 How do I get in touch with the FAQ authors? 1.4 How do I get the FAQ? 1.5 What is the latest version of the FAQ? 1.6 The FAQ doesn't answer my question! What do I do? 2.0 The Voyager Program 2.1 What is the current version of Voyager? 2.2 Why does Voyager crash all the time? 2.2.1 How do I use VM with Voyager? 2.3 Why does Voyager eat all my CHIP RAM? 2.4 Why does Voyager use MUI? I *hate* MUI! 2.5 Can I change the Voyager buttons? 2.6 Can I change the Voyager transfer animation? 2.7 How do I configure Voyager to send mail? 2.8 How do I configure Voyager to read news? 2.9 What does the 'Find' button do? 2.10 What is the 'Plugin' directory for? 2.10.1 Where can I get more plugins? 2.10.2 Can I write my own plugins? 2.11 Voyager invalidates my hard drive! Why? 2.12 How do I start another instance of Voyager if one crashes? 2.13 I have a floppy based system and I want to run Voyager. Can I? 2.14 Does Voyager use Datatypes? 2.15 Voyager doesn't print right for me. Why? 2.15.1 Voyager's printouts look bad. Why? 2.16 Can I export files from the cache, keeping the directory structure? 2.17 Why do I get black boxes where graphics are supposed to appear? 2.18 Why does Voyager take so long to start up/shut down? 2.19 What are textview.mcc and textinput.mcc? 2.20 I wrote a bug report to Olli and he never wrote back! 3.0 Voyager and the Web 3.1 Does Voyager support frames? 3.2 Does Voyager support Java-Script? 3.2.1 If it doesn't support J-S, what's this jslib thing? 3.3 Does Voyager support Java? 3.4 Does Voyager support anonymous browsing? 3.5 Does Voyager support SSL? 3.6 Can I make servers think Voyager is some other browser? 3.6.1 What is "spoofing", anyway? 3.7 When will Voyager support (insert HTML tag here)? 3.8 What's VRML? Does Voyager do it? 4.0 Voyager and the Secure Socket Layer 4.1 What is SSL, anyway? 4.2 How does Voyager handle SSL? 4.3 What about exporting cryptographic algorithms? 5.0 Further Information 5.1 Where can I get documentation for Voyager? 5.2 Is there a Mailing List? 5.3 Is there a Newsgroup? 5.4 Is there an official Voyager website? ++=======================================================================++ 0.0 Disclaimer & Copyright This FAQ is not designed to replace the Voyager manual, nor is it intended to answer *all* questions about the Voyager Browser. It's function is to collate some of the most frequently asked questions about Voyager and answers to those questions. Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of these answers, it may be that from time to time an error will present itself. In such cases, the authors and contributors to the FAQ absolve themselves of all responsibility for unexpected damage and/or information loss that may occur on your computer system or any other computer system. If you follow the suggestions in this document and the earth opens up and swallows you and your computer, it's not our fault. NOTE: you are allowed to distribute this FAQ by any means you see fit as long as there is *ABSOLUTELY NO CHARGE* for it. This includes printing fees (other than for materials) and/or fees pertaining to media the FAQ is stored on. *NO CHARGE* can be attached to this FAQ for labour in creating/printing the FAQ or the right to obtain the FAQ. Aminet is absolved of the above limitations. ALSO NOTE: under *NO CIRCUMSTANCES* are you allowed to modify/change/ edit the FAQ in any way, shape, or form. If you print it, the printed version must match *EXACTLY* the text document it was printed from, and the text document must mach *EXACTLY* the document stored in an official Voyager FAQ archive file. If you see anything which requires attention, E-mail the author. See Section 1.3 for contact information. The Voyager FAQ, in any form, is Copyright ©1997, Benjamin C. Steeves All Rights Reserved by Author. This notice must remain part of any file or document containing the FAQ. Permission to quote the FAQ or use the FAQ as source material is expressly granted. ++=======================================================================++ 1.0 About the Voyager FAQ This section describes the FAQ itself -- what it is, where you can get it, who wrote it, and where to find it. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 1.1 What is the Voyager FAQ? A FAQ is a list of "Frequently Asked Questions" and typically, their answers. This FAQ is dedicated to the Voyager Browser for the Amiga line of computers, written by Oliver Wagner of Vapor, Inc. Voyager is a shareware product. The FAQ was created because the authors noticed a growing number of questions in the Voyager Mailing List dealt with the same subjects over and over again. To reduce this, and to provide users who are not part of the mailing list with some answers, the FAQ was created. Most of the information in this FAQ comes either directly from the experience of the authors or from postings in the mailing list. For more information on the Voyager mailing list, see Section 5.0. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 1.2 Who is responsible for the FAQ? The FAQ is written and maintained by Ben C. Steeves. Original mailing-list traffic archives, which provide the basis of much of the information in this FAQ, were provided by Alan Crandall. Unless otherwise stated, all questions and answers were written by Ben C. Steeves. In cases where this is _not_ true (ie, the question or answer was donated to the FAQ) the original contributor's name is presented. Any information not directly from Ben's experience has the contributing author's name in square brackets at the end of the paragraph. [Like This] Ben is responsible for editing contributions to the FAQ to increase their readability and clarity. Any errors introduced at this point are probably his. Ben attempts to verify any answer that appears in the FAQ. In cases where he is not 100% sure of the answer, a suitable note is presented. Currently, the FAQ is available in ASCII text, Amigaguide, HTML, and printed format. If you have any suggestions for other forms the FAQ should be available in, contact Ben. There is a German translation of the FAQ handled by Andreas Mas Marques. You can find out how to contact Andreas in Section 1.3. If you find errors in the German version, contact Andreas first. IF YOU SEE AN ERROR IN THE FAQ, CONTACT BEN IMMEDIATELY!!! See Section 1.3 for information on contacting Ben. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 1.3 How do I get in touch with the FAQ authors? Contact information: Benjamin C. Steeves e-mail : bcs@nbnet.nb.ca or e8t0@unb.ca web : http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/bcs/ snail : Benjamin C. Steeves c/o Residence Administration Bldg. University of New Brunswick Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3 CANADA Andreas Mas Marques e-mail: h0444uwh@rz.hu-berlin.de web : http://www2.rz.hu-berlin/~h0444uwh/ Alan Crandall e-mail : alanwall@sonic.net web : http://www.sonic.net/~alanwall/ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 1.4 How do I get the FAQ? The FAQ currently exists in four forms: ASCII text, Amigaguide, HTML, and printed. You can get them from: ASCII English text available from: http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/bcs/VFAQ-txt.lha Aminet: docs/help/VFAQ-txt.lha ASCII German text available from: http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/bcs/VFAQG-txt.lha Aminet: docs/help/VFAQG-txt.lha Amigaguide (English) available from: http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/bcs/VFAQ-AG.lha Aminet: docs/hyper/VFAQ-AG.lha Amigaguide (German) available from: http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/bcs/VFAQG-AG.lha Aminet: docs/hyper/VFAQG-AG.lha English HTML files: http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/bcs/VFAQ-HTML.lha Aminet: docs/hyper/VFAQ-HTML.lha German HTML files: http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/bcs/VFAQG-HTML.lha Aminet: docs/hyper/VFAQG-HTML.lha HTML (Either English or German) available at: http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/bcs/VFAQ/ Printed format: The printed version of the FAQ is not just a straight dump of the text version. It contains formatting and fontted text, and is generally nicer to look at than this version. To receive a single copy of the Voyager FAQ, send $1CDN (or local equivalent) and a Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope (postage must be sufficient for a standard letter from Canada to your country) to Benjamin C. Steeves (snail-mail address available in Sec 1.3). In one to three weeks you will receive a laser-printed version of the current FAQ. The dollar is to cover my printing costs. Please specify whether or not you want the English or German version of the FAQ. If you wish to receive a monthly mailing of the FAQ, send $15CDN to Ben C. Steeves. This will entitle you to 12 mailings of the FAQ (it is updated each month). If the FAQ does not change for one month, you will not receive a duplicate of last month's, but you will still receive 12 mailings (ie if you subscribe in January 1998 and there is no change in July 1998 (ie the June and July mailing are the same) then you will receive an "extra" copy next February 1999). Again, the $15 is to cover printing and mailing costs. In either case, if you want the FAQ sent in an 8.5x11 envelope (so it won't be folded), indicate this, and, if you're ordering a single copy, include the envelope. Unless you indicate otherwise, the FAQ will be sent in a standard #10 business envelope, folded. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 1.5 What is the latest version of the FAQ? This is Volume 1, Issue 5 of the FAQ, released on October 31, 1997. This is version 1.4. See the Version History at the end of this section. In months where there are no changes to the FAQ, the issue number will increase even if the version number doesn't. The Voyager FAQ is edited monthly and released on the last day of every month. It may take up to a week for the new version to propagate through the web. ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE MOST RECENT VERSON! The FAQ was first released on June 30, 1997. The most recent version of the FAQ will always be available at: http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/bcs/VFAQ/ --- Version History V1.0: Internal document, never released. V1.1: Initial release. V1.2: Updated question 2.1, 2.7, 3.6, 4.1 Added question(s) 2.2.1, 2.15.1, 2.18, 2.19, 3.6.1 Corrected typo(s) in question(s) 2.11 Fixed linkage problem in question 2.10 (AG version) Changed "Disclaimer" (0.0) to "Disclaimer & Copyright" V1.3: Added administrative details for German translation project. V1.4: Corrected several miscelaneous typographical errors Added Andreas' web page address to Section 1.3 Added a paragraph to Section 1.5 about Issues & Versions Added question 2.20 Updated question 2.14 +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 1.6 The FAQ doesn't answer my question! What do I do? If you need an answer immediately, subscribe to the Voyager Mailing List (see Section 5.2) and ask your question there. If you can wait a bit, and you think the question is important enough to be in the FAQ, write Ben and tell him (see Section 1.3 for information on how to get in touch with Ben). ++=======================================================================++ 2.0 The Voyager Program This is the main section of the FAQ, discussing questions that have to do with the Voyager program and it's interactions with your Amiga's hardware and software. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2.1 What is the current version of Voyager? The current release version of Voyager is 2.88. A beta version of 2.91 is available to registered users. There are two executables in the current build of Voyager, one for MC68000 machines and one for MC68030 machines with an FPU. DO NOT TRY TO USE THE MC68030/FPU VERSION ON A MACHINE WITHOUT AN FPU! It will result in a crash. The 68030/FPU version is suitable to for use on MC68040/MC68060 machines. Oliver Wagner (the programmer of Voyager) has promised a 040/060 compile in the next release. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2.2 Why does Voyager crash all the time? This is a general question with a general answer. Some people have no problems with Voyager crashing, while others can't seem to use it for more than a few minutes at a time. Most often, the problem with intermitent crashing is caused by other programs present in your system. Try removing older patches from your system first, as these are usually more poorly written than newer patches. Programs that effect your user interface (ie, programs that change the way your Amiga's GUI performs or looks) are the most common culprits. Try removing patches one at a time until Voyager stops crashing so often. If there is patch software you _must_ run, make sure you have the most recent versions. Always make sure you're running the most recent version of SetPatch (available from ftp://www.amiga.de/). Some people have reported success by replacing their patching software with MCP -- a program that performs a bunch of different patches in a safe way. It's available from Aminet. Other people have reported that the mouse blanking patch in MCP crashed Voyager's Image Decoding Process [Jason Eyre, Voyager Mailing List]. Also make sure you have sufficient memory to run Voyager. Check the size of your memory cache, and turn off image caching. Voyager's low-memory handling routines are slightly buggy and may cause crashes [Oliver Wagner, Voyager Mailing List]. Another possible route for people with low memory is to try a virtual memory program such as VMM. See Section 2.2.1. ----------------------------------------------------------- 2.2.1 How do I use VM with Voyager? VM, or Virtual Memory, is very common on PCs and Macs, but not so much on Amigas. Voyager would benefit greatly by virtual memory, however. There are several virtual memory management programs you can obtain for your Amiga, but VMM (available on Aminet) is a very popular one. Although it's a lot slower than actual RAM, you will have the benefit of being able to use Voyager for much longer periods of time. Even large JPEG files decode without crashing. If you don't trust Virtual Memory programs, you can set most of them up so only Voyager and Voyager's Image Decoding Process will use Virtual Memory. [answer submitted by Sebastiano Vigna] Sebastiano has this to say on the subject of configuring VMM: "If you want to configure VMM in order to force it on Voyager, you'll probably use the "AddTask" option and select "V" and "V's Image Dec...". However, for unknown reason VMM just retains the first few characters of the name of the second process. In order to avoid this, as soon as you add the entry to the task list, you must select it and press return in the relative string gadget. This way (or typing manually the name) it will work. I don't know, however, if this is a problem of my machine only." +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2.3 Why does Voyager eat all my CHIP RAM? On a machine without a graphics card, Voyager must display all graphics from CHIP RAM. This is the way the Amiga archetecture is designed. However, the current version of Voyager does not behave correctly in low-memory situations. To avoid having you machine crash when you run out of CHIP RAM, ensure you have the memory cache disabled. Also, quitting and restarting Voyager to free up CHIP RAM might not be a bad idea. Voyager runs best with as much CHIP RAM as possible. If you're running an AGA machine, you may benefit by running Voyager on your Workbench screen (thus minimizing the amount of CHIP RAM taken up by extra screens). On a machine with a graphics card, you should load all graphics into the card's on-board memory. Most, if not all cards do this by default anyway. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2.4 Why does Voyager use MUI? I *hate* MUI! MUI (Magic User Interface) is a program & API designed by Stefan Stuntz that allows users to configure nearly every apsect of the GUI of MUI programs. For devlopers, however, MUI allows much more freedom in the design of GUI's. Not only does it increase the efficiency with which the programmer can build a GUI, it provides a great deal of object-oriented tools for GUI maintenance. Without MUI, Voyager would not exist. If it *did* exist in some form, the executable would be many times larger, would require much more memory, and be far less efficient. [Oliver Wagner, Voyager Mailing List]. The benefit of MUI is that it is uses a series of *shared* libraries. Thus, if one program in your system has opened the MUI libraries, all programs that use them will use the SAME COPY of the library, thus saving memory. Otherwise, your mailer, your browser, your newsgroup reader, your telnet client, etc., would each have to have their own user-interface code and would take much more memory and hard-drive space. Among its other benefits, MUI is a way of consolidating the memory/space usage of a variety of programs. Not only does it make life easier on users by providing the ability to customize every aspect of their programs, it makes life *MUCH* easier for programmers. Oliver Wagner, the programmer of Voyager, has stated on several occasions that Voyager WOULD NOT EXIST without MUI. So, the real question is: do you like Voyager more than you hate MUI? +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2.5 Can I change the Voyager buttons? The buttons (Back, Forward, Reload, Print, etc...) are built into Voyager. You can't change them. There are GIF images of the buttons in the VOYAGER:voyager_home/ directory, but these only effect the images that are displayed in the HTML documentation, not the program itself. Many people have asked for them to be made configurable, so Oliver may be working on it. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2.6 Can I change the Voyager transfer animation? Yes. The transfer animation is in a file called "TransferAnim" in the Voyager main directory. You can put any graphic you like in here. The format of the transfer animation is quite simple: it is a series of IFF brushes strung together, one after another, in a line. The width of a single image is stored in a tooltype (WIDTH=) of the .info file for the transfer animation. Set WIDTH= to the proper value for your brushes. Whether or not the transfer animation is shown is selected by an option in the General Settings panel. A checkbox selector marked "Hide Transfer Anim Icon?" should be UNCHECKED if you want to see the transfer animation. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2.7 How do I configure Voyager to send mail? For Voyager to send mail, you need to do two things: 1) Make sure the Mail/News Settings Panel is properly filled out. Make absolutely sure that your SMTP server is correct. You can check this value with your Internet Service Provider. 2) Make sure you have the correct version of textview or textinput installed. For more information on these MUI custom classes, see Section 2.19 . There are buttons in the Mail/News Settings Panel marked "Mail app:" and "News app:". These are ghosted because Oliver has not implemented them yet. They are options for a future version of Voyager. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2.8 How do I configure Voyager to read news? Reading news is supported by Voyager, however a few people have reported that Voyager crashes while trying to read news. There is no known cure for these crashes (at least, no one has told me of any). Configuring Voyager to read news, however, is simple: make sure that the Mail/News Settings Panel in Voyager is set correctly. Ensure that your e-mail address and NNTP server are correct. In the current version of Voyager, the "Mail app" and "News app" boxes are ghosted. These are features that will be present in a future version of Voyager. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2.9 What does the "Find" button do? Unlike most browsers, the "Find" button runs a Voyager-plugin that sends your search query to four different WWW search engines. The responses from these search engines then pops up in a quarter of the Voyager window, separated by frames. To view the frame full size, use the right mouse-button menu "View Frame Full Window". Currently there is no document search option in Voyager. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2.10 What is the "Plugin" directory for? The "Plugin" directory is meant to hold specially designed programs that extend Voyager's functions. In the current release of Voyager, Search.VPlug is bundled with Voyager. The plugin "Voyager_SSLeay.vlib" is responsible for providing SSL support in Voyager. More information on SSL can be found in Section 4.0. ----------------------------------------------------------- 2.10.1 Where can I get more plugins? Currently, there are no other plugins for Voyager, other than the SSL and Search ones. Most people use the plugin directory to store small applications used to view certain MIME types, such as MPEG video, and WAV audio. This sort of plugin can be found at http://hem.passagen.se/dreamman/ On this site you will find pointers to the necessary files, as well as the proper settings to get them working with Voyager. ----------------------------------------------------------- 2.10.2 Can I write my own plugins? There is a mailing list for people interested in writting plugins for Voyager, as well as a description of the plugin API, available on the Vapor home page, http://www.vapor.com. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2.11 Voyager invalidates my hard drive! Why? If a crash occurs while Voyager is writing to the disk-cache, the partition may be corrupted, causing an invalidation. Besides examining questions 2.2 and 2.3 to alieviate the crashing problems, there are certain precautions you can take to avoid invalidations: 1) Redirect Voyager's cache to RAM: or a recoverable drive such as RAD: or SD0:. This way, if the machine crashes, you will not lose the cache. You *will* lose the cache if the machine is switched off or you store it in RAM, of course. RAD and SD0 are names of RAM disks that don't get purged when the machine is warm-booted. 2) Put the cache on a small partition. Putting the cache on a small partition, say 10MB or so, will ensure that any invalidations are corrected swiftly. AmigaOS appears to validate small partitions MUCH faster than large ones. This small-partition approach has the added advantage that you can format the parition and lose very little. 3) Disable the cache altogether. Some people don't mind losing the cache, so how "persistant" you want it is the issue. If you want a very persistant cache, write it to the hard drive. If you want a somewhat persistant cache that will last until the machine is shut off, write it to RAD or SD0. If you don't care if the cache remains from one session to the next, put it in RAM or turn it off. Some people have installed AFS -- an alternative file system for Amiga hard drives. This file system does not invalidate the hard drive when it crashes, but has been known to cause other problems. A demo version is available on Aminet. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2.12 How do I start another instance of Voyager if one crashes? Create an empty file in your S: directory called 'V-DEBUG' (without the quotes). This will allow you to start Voyager more than once. Keep in mind that the original condition that caused the first crash may still exist, and if so, the second instance may also crash. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2.13 I have a floppy based system and I want to run Voyager. Can I? Sure! If you can squeeze the necessary files onto a single disk. Disable all caching (or point it to memory, if you have lots), and don't expect to be able to download much at all. A minimal MUI install is still necessary, however, so make sure this is available. Really, if you're going to be surfing the web, a hard drive is practically a necessity. These days everyone should have one anyway. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2.14 Does Voyager use datatypes? The only place where Voyager uses datatypes is for the transfer animation. Datatypes have not been used for page graphics in the recent versions. JPEG, PNG, GIF are all supported internally. If you wish to support other graphic formats, you will have to set the MIME types accordingly. See question 2.10.1 for more information about MIME. If you're having trouble viewing the transfer animation, first look at question 2.6, and check to make sure you have the proper datatypes installed to view it. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2.15 Voyager doesn't print right for me. Why? Printing in Voyager is somewhat primitive, compared to the print quality one would get on a workstation or Windows PC. The reason for this is that PC's have OS routines to handle printing at the very high-resolutions of printers. The Amiga does not. Voyager prints the pages at screen resolution, rather than printer resolution, and this causes a degredation in the quality of printed text. Voyager also cannot print from any screen depth higher than 8 bit (256 color). This is a limitation of the printer.device. Voyager also has a problem printing pages that are longer than one 8.5x11 inch piece of paper on sheet-fed printers (ie, laser or bubble jet printers). Voyager will print the first sheet and then stop. This is because Voyager sends the web-page as a large bitmap, and many printer drivers do not support continuous page graphic dumps. Some people have reported success when using Epson emulation mode on their printers to send formfeeds at the end of each page. It seems that Voyager's printing problems have to do with formfeeds not being sent. Canon BJ printer users may have a solution: using the latest drivers from Canon Europe, it may be possible to get entire web-pages to print while in Epson 48-pin emulation mode. In the native BJC modes, the drivers will not formfeed correctly. [The Duke of Prunes ]. If you can somehow set your printer to add a formfeed automatically at the end of every printed page, this *may* solve some of your Voyager printing problems. ----------------------------------------------------------- 2.15.1 Voyager's printouts look bad. Why? That can depend on a lot of things, the most obvious of which is a bad printer. If that's not the case, then the major reason is probably the fact that the Amiga doesn't have a real printing engine. It relies on the program doing the printing to render the output properly for the printer. The problem with this is that screen resolution is roughly equal to 75dpi (dots per inch) while most printers are 300dpi or even 600dpi. This means that text will probably not look very good, as it is being rendered at screen resolution. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2.16 Can I export files from the cache, keeping the directory structure? [Question by Boris Bijelic] Not with the current release of the cache browser. When you save files using the cache browser, you do so by clicking the "Copy" or "Copy All" button on the "action" pane of the cache browser's window. This then opens a requester asking where you want the files. If you use the "Copy" button on multiple files, it asks for a location for each file. At this point you could manually create the required directory structure. The "Copy all" button copys all selected files to a single directory you chose. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2.17 Why do I get black boxes where graphics are supposed to appear? This has been attributed over and over again to older versions of Cybergraphx and/or old versions of the picture.datatype. Update both to the current versions at http://www.vgr.com. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2.18 Why does Voyager take so long to start up/shut down? If Voyager takes a long time to start up on your machine, check the fonts you are using. You can find this information in the Fonts panel of the Settings Window. If any of the fonts are CompuGraphic, they will add a considerable amount of time to the length of Voyager's startup. CompuGraphic fonts (such as CGTimes, CGTriumvirate, and LetterGothic) have to be calculated every time they are used, and these calculations can take a long time if you have a slower Amiga (it's not even very snappy on a 50MHz '060). The solution is to either switch to bitmap fonts or create bitmaps of the sizes of CG fonts Voyager uses. Fountain or Intellifont (one of which you will find in the "System" drawer on your Workbench disk: Fountain for OS2 and Intellifont for OS3) can generate bitmap versions of CompuGraphic fonts. Once you've done this, you will notice a considerable speed increase when Voyager starts up. Shutdown is, however, a different matter. When Voyager shuts down, it performs an update of the cache file "URL-History.x" -- this file contains history information about every URL you have visited. In the General settings panel of the Settings Window there is a field which is marked "Followed links expire after xx days", where xx is a string gadget you can change. If you leave your cache on disk, this file can grow quite large if the expiry length is long (the default is a month and in that time the URL-history file can grow to several megabytes). If this file grows too large, it can take a long time to update when Voyager quits. Also, if you keep your cache on a small partition, writes can take a long time when the parition is nearly full. It's a good idea to format the cache partition periodically. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2.19 What are textview.mcc and textinput.mcc? They are both MUI custom classes used to open up windows and string gadgets in Voyager. Older versions of Voyager (pre-2.88) used Textview.mcc, by E. F. Pritchard. Due to some confusion over versions of textview.mcc (and some known bugs), Oliver Wagner wrote TextInput.mcc, which replaces Textview.mcc. To use Voyager, you must have the proper MUI custom class installed in your LIBS:MUI/ directory. If you've installed a new version of Voyager (after 2.88), you can remove Textview.mcc UNLESS you have other programs which rely on it. This is a general warning: DO NOT DELETE ANYTHING FROM THE LIBS:MUI/ DIRECTORY! If you want to get rid of something, **MOVE** it elsewhere. If your system behaves as expected with the MUI custom class gone, it is reasonable to assume nothing you are running requires that class anymore. But you should only do this if you *KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING*. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 2.20 I wrote a bug report to Olli and he never wrote back! Oliver Wagner is a very busy man. On top of Voyager, AmIRC, and many other Amiga projects he's involved with, he also has a real job. According to Olli, he prints out all of the bug reports he receives from e-mail, the newsgroup, and BugTrack. He then goes through them one by one. Most often the bug is a "known", or a "fixed", which means he either knows of the bug but hasn't fixed it yet, or its fixed in his working code. Either way, telling him for the millionth time isn't helping... it's just slowing down the development of Voyager. Once you've made a bug report, consider it looked after, even if you don't receive a response. If Olli responded personally to every bug report, he'd never get anything done! When you do submit a bug report, ensure that you include all the relevant information -- your computer's configuration, software and patches you run, the state of Voyager at the time, and Enforcer output if you can. Anything you can tell him is potentially useful. *** DO NOT POST LENGTHY BUG REPORT *** *** DATA (IE, ENFORCER HITS) TO THE *** *** NEWSGROUP!!! *** Some people pay for every minute they're on-line, and no one likes getting a 47K e-mail they don't need or want (and remember, not everyone's cruising at 56Kbps). ++=======================================================================++ 3.0 Voyager and the Web This section covers questions that have to do with how Voyager deals with certain aspects of the World Wide Web. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 3.1 Does Voyager support frames? Yes, it does. Voyager supports standard frames tags, such as , , , and the directive. It currently does not support the SCROLLING boolean value. In other words, if you have a frame that is set to SCROLLING=NO, you will still be able move it. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 3.2 Does Voyager support Java-Script? No. Java-Script is not supported by Voyager in its current version. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 3.2.1 If it doesn't support J-S, what's this jslib thing? The jslib.library was a stub library that Oliver Wagner used in older versions of Voyager. From Voyager 2.88, the browser just ignores javascript code. This has some unpredictable effects, but mostly you will look at javascript pages without even realizing there is javascript there. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 3.3 Does Voyager support Java? Not yet. Oliver Wagner and Haage & Partner GmbH are reportedly working on bringing Java to the Amiga (and Voyager) some time during the summer months of 1997. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 3.4 Does Voyager support anonymous browsing? Voyager has an option in its Security Settings panel that can be turned on to inhibit Voyager from sending the Referer: HTTP header. This means that if the server relies on the Referer: tag to identify you, then you are effectively browsing anonymously when this is inhibited (turned ON). The problem is that a lot of servers are more devious than simply trying to use the Referer: header. If you *really* need anonymous browsing, an anonymizing proxy (such as www.anonymizer.com) can be more effective. Proxies are set in the Net Settings panel. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 3.5 Does Voyager support SSL? Yes. Voyager supports SSL through two different methods: either MiamiSSL, or through Voyager_SSLeay.vlib. If you don't use Miami, the Voyager_SSLeay.vlib will provide the SSL support for you. For more information on SSL, see section 4.0. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 3.6 Can I make servers think Voyager is some other browser? If you are trying to access a site that checks to see what browser you are running, and it is denying you because it doesn't like Voyager, you can make the server think you are running a different, more "mainstream" browser. As of version 2.91, there is a menu option that allows you to "Spoof as Mozilla" under Settings. It's a check-mark option that can be turned on and off during browsing. If you're using V2.88 or earlier, there is still a way to make it spoof, but it's more permanent and more difficult to do: To do this, you must have a little experience using a hex-editing program, such as AZap. The procedure is this: open the V executable in your hex-editor. Search for the string "User-Agent". It occurs twice in the executable. The field of this string is "AmigaVoyager/2.88 (AmigaOS 3.x)". If you change this string to read something else, then Voyager will send the changed string when asked to identify itself. You must replace both instances of the "AmigaVoyager/2.88 (AmigaOS 3.x)" string in order for this spoof to work. To make servers think you are a popular browser, you might try : "Mozilla/3.01 (Voyager Spoofing)" Remember to back up your V executable before you try this. Don't try it unless you're comfortable using a hex editor! ----------------------------------------------------------- 3.6.1 What is "spoofing", anyway? "Spoofing" is a web-browser term which means tricking a server into thinking your client (web browser) is not what it is, but is in fact some other client. Confused? Don't be. Essentially what it means is this: if you use Voyager on a site that checks to see what browser you are using and it won't let you in because you're not using Netscape or Internet Explorer, you can fool the server into thinking you *ARE* Netscape or Internet Explorer by "spoofing" it. The site will then treat you just like those omnipresent browsers. A word of warning though: if the site is testing to see if you are using Netscape or Internet Explorer, it may be because that site uses non-standard HTML (or Java or Java-Script) that Voyager doesn't support. If that's the case, you might not enjoy your stay on the site anyway. I'll repeat that: SPOOFING DOES NOT TURN VOYAGER INTO NETSCAPE. It just makes Voyager "look" like Netscape to the server machine. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 3.7 When will Voyager support (insert HTML tag here)? Voyager is largely the product of one man: Oliver Wagner. Oliver has a "real" job that doesn't include writing Voyager or the other internet programs he writes for the Amiga. As such, Oliver works on Voyager when he can, but he's not a machine! If Voyager doesn't support something you want, feel free to mention it in the Voyager Mailing List, but, if Oliver doesn't write a personal response, or it doesn't show up in a new version a week later, relax! Rest assured that Oliver hears and sees all, and will get to your suggestion when he can, and if he can. Currently, Voyager supports most (if not all) of HTML 3.2. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 3.8 What's VRML? Does Voyager do it? "VRML stands for Virtual Reality Markup Language and is (like HTML) another standard for publishing. In case of VRML it's a series of guidelines on how to make Webpages with an Virtual Reality interface..." [Ewald Borger] A VRML plugin is in design for IBrowse, but the programmer has made no comment on whether or not it will work in Voyager when it is finished. ++=======================================================================++ 4.0 Voyager and the Secure Socket Layer This section describes how Voyager manages SSL -- The Secure Socket Layer that allows you to conduct encrypted transactions over the web. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 4.1 What is SSL, anyway? SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer. It was invented at Netscape as a means of encrypting data that is to be sent over HTTP (hyper text transfer protocol) connections. Whenever you visit a site whose URL (Uniform Resource Locator) begins with https:// (rather than the usual http://) you are dealing with a potentially secure site. Ideally, SSL is transparent to the user. When you access a secure site, your browser and the server should negotiate a suitable encryption method and then your surfing should continue uninterupted. Unlike Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer, there is no visual change in Voyager's GUI when you are accessing a secure site (eg, Netscape borders the view window in blue a displays a small icon of an unbroken key when you are surfing a secure site). If in doubt, check the URL box. If it begins https://, then chances are you are surfing securely. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 4.2 How does Voyager handle SSL? Voyager implements SSL through the use of SSLeay (pronounced S-S-L-e-a-y). SSLeay implements SSLv2. As of this edition, SSLv3 implementation is available only in SSLeay-0.8.0. Current versions of SSLeay implement DES, RSA, RC4, IDEA, and Blowfish. The version used in Voyager is SSLeay 0.6.6, which supports RC4, IDEA, and DES. Because of US patent laws, there is a very strong possibility that SSLeay cannot legally be used inside the United States or Canada. To access secure sites while you and your computer are within the borders of these nations, you must use the MiamiSSL library, which is supported by Miami2.1 and above. You can get the latest MiamiSSL release from http://www.nordicglobal.com/. Once again, IT IS MOST LIKELY ILLEGAL TO USE SSLEAY WITHIN CANADA OR THE UNITED STATES. This is taken from the SSLeay FAQ: --- In short: -> outside the USA there should be no problems -> inside the USA RSA hold patents over the RSA algorithms, however if you use RSAREF (which SSLeay can link to) then non-commercial use is probably okay. RSAREF can also be licensed for commercial use from Consensus. ->IDEA may be a problem inside Europe and RC4 inside the USA; both can be removed with a simple compile-time option or you can simply licence the IDEA algorithm. --- +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 4.3 How about exporting encryption algorithms? This is a somewhat grey area. Until recently, it was illegal to export strong encryption from the United States and Canada. Over the last few weeks, the US government has begun to change their policies on this, by allowing Netscape and Microsoft to export web-browsers containing strong encryption code. What this means for Voyager users is somewhat up in the air at the moment. What is not in dispute is that some encryption algorthims are patented by RSA Laboratories, Inc. The code to these algorithms *cannot* be exported, but international "versions" of these algorithms do exist that do not use the RSA code. SSLeay, the library that the international version of Voyager uses, is such a "version". ++=======================================================================++ 5.0 Further Information In this section you will find pointers to other sources of information about Amiga Voyager. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 5.1 Where can I get documentation for Voyager? Voyager's documentation is available in HTML format from the Vapor web site. Point your browser at ftp://146.189.18.33/pub/voyager/ and download the file vng_docs_v3.(lha|lzx). This documentation covers all versions of Voyager below 3.0, which is yet to be released. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 5.2 Is there a Mailing List? Yes. The Voyager mailing list is extremely active, and a great source of information about Voyager. To subscribe to it, send a message to voyager-request@vapor.com with the word "ADD" in the mail message BODY. The mailing-list server will respond with a welcome message and some instructions. SAVE THESE INSTRUCTIONS!!! They will prevent your embarrassment later on, if you want to delete yourself from the mailing list. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 5.3 Is there a newsgroup? No, there is currently no Voyager newsgroup. Some people were petitioning for one in the early weeks of June, 1997, but nothing ever came of it. The general consensus seems to be that the mailing list (see Sec 5.2) is sufficent. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 5.4 Is there an official Voyager website? Yes. Point your browser at http://www.vapor.com/ for support of Voyager and other Vapor products. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ END OF VOYAGER FAQ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++