Media Share 9

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Media Share 9 / MEDIASHARE_09.ISO / mail / jet114.zip / JETUSER.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1992-10-19 | 21KB | 497 lines

╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ██ ║ ║ ██ ██▄▄ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ║ ║ ██ ██▀▀ ██ ██ ██ ██████ ██ ██ ║ ║ ██████ █████ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██████ ║ ║ .QWK-Compatible Mail Door for Spitfire 3.2 ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════╝ JetMail version 1.14 User's Guide Copyright (c) 1991,92 by DJ Chuang Table of Contents Introduction to JetMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Using JetMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 JetMail Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Selecting Conferences in JetMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 JetMail Configuration Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Offline Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Conclusive Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 JetMail User's Guide Page 1 Introduction to JetMail JetMail is a .QWK-compatible offline mail door for SPITFIRE, copyright by Mike Woltz and Buffalo Creek Software. 'QWK' is a popular offline mail format introduced by Mark Herring for PCBoard. Its popularity is evident from the number of BBSes and 'doors' that now support the QWK mail format and the many QWK mail readers. Offline mail avails to you the opportunity to make the most of your online time. No longer are you confined to using only one reader, but you're free to choose a mail reader which has a user interface with which you are comfortable. Some readers that may be used with JetMail include: SLMR, QMail Reader, OLX, QDeluxe, EZ-Reader, Session Manager, KingQWK, Speed Read, Jabber, Power QWK, WinQWK (for Windows 3.0), AmigaReader (for Amiga computers), and MegaMail Reader v2.10. [copyrights and trademarks respectively] MegaMail Reader users must use 2.10 release version, not a beta version. Using JetMail Two things you need to setup before a .QWK packet can be prepared for you to download. You need to use the "C" command to setup your configuration, which specifies your transfer protocol and other parameters (a separate help file is available from that prompt). Second, you need to use the "S" command to select conferences from which you wish to scan for new messages (a separate help file is available from that prompt also). JetMail will facilitate offline mail reading and reply by using the QWK format. The Download command starts JetMail scanning the selected conferences for new messages that you have not read. You may also optionally scan for new bulletins and new files posted on the BBS. When messages are found, JetMail will prompt you - whether you wish to download the messages. If you answer Yes (or Goodbye, which will automatically log you off from the board when the transfer is completed), JetMail will prepare the .QWK packet for transfer. When JetMail finishes compressing the files that comprise the .QWK packet, JetMail will prompt you with "Ready to transfer". Initiate the 'receive file' on your communication program (i.e. Telix, Procomm Plus, GT-Comm, Qmodem), using the transfer protocol corresponding to the one you selected in JetMail's Configuration Setup. Your computer will receive the .QWK file, and your choice mail reader will be able to process the .QWK packet to let you read and reply to messages. When you've replied to messages with your mail reader, there will be a .REP file on your hard drive. Next time you logon this BBS, use JetMail's "U" command, for upload a packet. JetMail will prompt you with "Ready to transfer", then you use your communication program to send the .REP file. After the file is successfully transferred, JetMail will process the packet and post messages into the corresponding conferences. JetMail User's Guide Page 2 JetMail Main Menu The Main Menu of JetMail will contain the following commands: <C>onfiguration setup <S>elect Conferences <D>ownload a Packet pload a Packet ointers upload <G>oodbye (Logoff) <Q>uit JetMail door <X> Expert Mode Toggle <?> Help These commands are pretty common to many QWK-compatible mail doors, so if you've used other QWK-compatible mail doors, these commands should be familiar to you. <C>onfiguration setup This invokes the JetMail configuration menu. It allows you to select your transfer protocol, compression utility, maximum number of messages to scan, and flags for scanning bulletins and files. Read the section entitled JetMail Configuration Setup for more details. <S>elect Conferences This allows you to select the conferences that you wish to scan for messages. Read the section entitled Selecting Conferences in JetMail for more details. <D>ownload a Packet Prepares a .QWK mail packet containing new messages scanned from the selected conferences. During the message scan, you may hit <SPACE> to abort the mail scan. A column labeled "Flags" shows you the status of the message scan for that conference: Public Only Public Messages allowed in conference Net NetSysop access in conference Yours Only scan for Your Mail Yours/NP Only scan for Your Mail in Public_Only conf. YAll Scan for mail to you and to all YAll/NP Scan for mail to you and to all in Public_Only conference When new messages are found, then you can will be prompted: Download packet? <Y>es, <N>o, or <G>oodbye when done? Answer YES, and JetMail will compress the message files into a QWK packet for you to download using your selected JetMail User's Guide Page 3 transfer protocol. Answer NO if you don't want to receive this packet (if you answer NO, you return to the JetMail Main Menu). Answer GOODBYE for JetMail to logoff automatically after the transfer is completed. You have the option to scan for new bulletins and new files. If you selected to scan for these items in your configuration setup, then you will receive new bulletins and a list of new files in your QWK also. pload a Packet Allows you to upload a .REP packet prepared by your offline mail reader. JetMail will process the packet and post messages (your replies) in the corresponding conferences. ointers upload With each .QWK you download from JetMail is a pointers file, designated with extension .PNT. This contains the conferences' last message read pointers right before you downloaded that packet. You can upload the .PNT file using this command to reset the pointers to the way they were before you downloaded the .QWK. What this is used for is in case you receive a corrupted Mail Packet, you can upload a .PNT file from an older .QWK and reset your pointers for all the conferences, much more conveniently than to reset pointers for each conference one at a time. <Q>uit JetMail door Quit JetMail, and return to SPITFIRE. If JetMail is being run as a door, you will need to re-enter your password to return to Spitfire; if JetMail is being run as a sysop configured external command from one of the Spitfire main menus, you'll return to Spitfire immediately. <G>oodbye (Logoff) Invokes automatic logoff from BBS. JetMail gives you ten seconds to abort the logoff. Hit <ESC> to logoff immediately. <X> Expert Mode Toggle Toggles on/off the JetMail menu screen. Once you're familiar with the JetMail commands, you can toggle off the Main Menu when you open JetMail door to save you time. JetMail now remembers your "expert mode" setting from session to session. <?> Help Display online help file. JetMail User's Guide Page 4 Selecting Conferences in JetMail This menu let's you select which conferences you wish to scan for new messages to put in your .QWK packet. It has some unique features that differ from other QWK-type doors. Simply enter the number of the conference you wish to select (or deselect) for scanning for new messages. The sysop has two options in conference selection: he may force certain conferences to be selected (perhaps to make sure you receive your mail, or to promote a conference). Forced conferences may not be deselected. He may also setup a list of default conference selection (perhaps as a suggested list of good conferences in which to participate). There are four 'degrees' of scanning for new messages. You can scan for All new messages, scan for all new messages just addressed to you and to All (called "YA", [for Y'all, southern accent]), scan for all new messages just addressed to you [called Only Yours], and scan for None in a conference [or 'deselect']. Some 'symbols' used by JetMail in Select Conferences menu: ! Forced conference (you must read from this conference) * Scan for all new messages % Scan for messages to YOU and to ALL USERS Y Scan for only new messages addressed to you ^ Conference only allows Public Only messages JetMail messages scan will only pick up public messages, and private messages written from you or to you. You have the option of not scanning for messages written by you, which can be toggled on/off in the User Configuration Setup ("C" from the main JetMail Command prompt). The sysop, and users with sysop security level, will receive all private messages. <S>et All - this selects all conferences. It will set all previously unselected conferences to receive ALL mail, and all conferences previously selected for Only Your Mail to "YA" (to you and to All) scan. <R>eset All - resets all previously selected conferences (to None). <C>opy - copies the queue of conferences you selected from the Spitfire Message Section into JetMail's selected conferences. This is available if you want to have the same conferences in your Spitfire queue as your JetMail selection. <+> (or PgUp) advance screen to display next 40 conferences. <-> (or PgDn) scroll screen to display previous 40 conferences. <Q> returns to the main JetMail Command prompt. JetMail User's Guide Page 5 JetMail Configuration Setup The "C" command from the JetMain Main Menu allows you to customize the contents of your QWK packet for use with your offline mail reader. A brief explanation of the options available are listed below: <1> Transfer Protocol You need to select a transfer protocol for JetMail to send a .QWK mail packet to you, or for JetMail to receive a .REP reply packet from you. JetMail uses the same transfer protocols as those available in Spitfire's external protocols list. <2> Compression Format Multiple compression utilities may be supported by JetMail. Select the format that you prefer to use with your offline mail reader from the list supported by this BBS. <3> Include Welcome Screen You can optionally receive the welcome screen from your BBS in each mail packet. <4> Include Goodbye Screen You can optionally receive the goodbye screen from your BBS. <5> Include Messages From You You may skip messages that you wrote by setting this to NO, to make your .QWK packet a little smaller. Besides, you probably know what you wrote already, so you can keep redundancy down. <6> Include New Bulletins JetMail can let you download bulletins updated since the last time you used JetMail. JetMail can scan for all new bulletins and put them in your .QWK packet, or scan for bulletins updated in the first ten bulletins (in case you have games bulletins which are updated daily and you aren't interested in). <7> Include New Files JetMail can scan for new files in the Files Section and include it in your .QWK mail packet. If you want to scan for new files, you can scan all directories or just one directory (like the upload directory; this will keep scanning time short). <8> Maximum Number of Messages JetMail User's Guide Page 6 This parameter limits the number of messages per .QWK packet. You may want to set a limit to make sure your offline reader is able to handle the mail packet, or to keep a .QWK size is manageable. <9> Maximum Messages Per Conference JetMail by default limits the number of messages per conference to 200, because this is a general limitation of some offline readers. However, if you are using a QWK reader that is able to process more than 200 messages per conference, adjust this parameter appropriately. <A> Include .NDX Files Some readers may be able to generate its own index files. You may toggle this flag off to make your .QWK packets a little smaller, and JetMail can scan for new messages a little faster. Include User Information Some .QWK mail readers support a User Statistics screen, which contains information of your BBS activities (like how many downloads you've made, last login, etc.). You may toggle this option to YES to have JetMail generate this information in your .QWK. Your user information will be included in the next (and subsequent) JetMail sessions. Offline Configuration JetMail supports offline configuration, where you can add or delete conferences from your offline mail reader. Some offline readers have support for offline configuration, usually from a conference listing. In the conference listing, you can hit "A" to add a conference or "D" to drop a conference, which generates a message to MARKMAIL or QMAIL or JETMAIL with the subject line of ADD, DROP, or RESET. JetMail does support this type of configuration for your convenience. Some readers that support offline configuration of this format include: SLMR, OLX, MarkMail, MegaMail Reader 2.10, and EZ-Reader. However, there is another format for offline configuration messages, which is the preferred method for JetMail offline configuration. Simply write a message addressed to JETMAIL and enter CONFIG in the Subject field: ------------------------ TO: JETMAIL FROM: YOUR NAME SUBJECT: CONFIG ------------------------ Then in the body of the message, enter one of the following commands, one per line: JetMail User's Guide Page 7 ADD conf CONF is the conference number you wish to add to your selected conferences queue. DROP conf CONF is the conference number you wish to drop from your selected conferences queue. RESET conf num CONF is the conference number you wish to reset your last message read pointer. NUM is the message number you wish to reset the conference to. You may use a negative number for NUM, which JetMail will automatically calculate from the end of the message base: so if NUM is -25, JetMail will place the pointer 25 from the high message number of the conference, resulting your receiving the last 25 messages of the conference. BLTS ON|OFF For BLTS ON, JetMail will scan for new bulletins and put them in the QWK packet. BLTS OFF turns off new bulletins scan. FILES ON|OFF For FILES ON, JetMail will scan for new files and put a list of the new files in subsequent QWK packets. FILES OFF turns off new files scan. MAXNUMBER number If NUMBER is 0, JetMail will scan for an unlimited number of new messages. Otherwise, NUMBER specifies the maximum number of messages to include in subsequent QWK packets. Conclusive Notes This concludes the JetMail User's Guide. I hope you will enjoy using JetMail with Spitfire. Many reader programs are shareware, so be sure you try out a couple of different ones to find one with which you are most comfortable. Don't settle for second best. Then again, you might have difficulty locating several different readers, or have trouble switching between different readers because they're all so different, or just don't have the time to experiment. In that case, you can stick with the first QWK reader you find, and that is okay too. Should you have any questions or comments on JetMail, feel free to pass them along to me via your Spitfire sysop. Also, I will monitor the Spitfire conferences on RIME and Intelec networks, if you would be interested in conversing with me directly. Thank you for using JetMail! DJ Chuang, JetMail author JetMail User's Guide Page 8