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The Ultimate STRICQ FAQ ----------------------- Copyright 1998 by Frederik Thiesen Latest Public Release (#9) occoured on 1998-09-01 1. Table of contents -------------------- 1. Table of contents. 2. About the author of this FAQ. 3. Intentions of this FAQ. 4 How to contact the author of this FAQ. 5. Availability of this FAQ. 6. Disclaimer & Copyright. 7. Thanks & Acknowledgements. 8. Trademarks. 9. History of this FAQ. 10. Future of this FAQ. 11. The actual FAQ :-) 1. Where can I get the latest STRICQ version? 2. What is the requirements for STRICQ? 3. Why doesn't version 0.560 of STRICQ connect anymore? 4. What is wrong when I keep getting "Bad Password" when trying to connect with STRICQ to the ICQ servers? 5. How do I register a new UIN# in STRICQ? 6. How do I install STRICQ for the very first time on my computer? 7. What is going on when STRICQ suddenly seems to lose track of an ongoing dialog with someone? 8. What is Authorization in STRICQ? 9. Is it possible to have different colors for the different status one can have? 10. Do both parties have to be online in order to recieve a message? 11. How does these diffrent status things work? 12. How do the Offline/Invisible modes works and how to use them? 13. Sometimes I get Status Code #00000010 in my Contacts List, what is that? 14. What am I supposed to do when these ARexx scripts doesn't work in the ICQ Preferences tabb "Notify"? 15. How is URL's supposed to work in STRICQ, I just can't get those links to work. What am I supposed to do? 16. Where can I find a more general FAQ/tour about ICQ then this FAQ? 17. NList is complaining about a too low stackvalue when using STRICQ. What is wrong and how to cure it? 18. What is Country Code in STRICQ and other ICQ clones? (somewhat an offtopic question) 19. What is TCP Client to Client in STRICQ? 12. Douglas F. McLaughlin's FAQ 2. About the author of this FAQ ------------------------------- Hi all... My name is Frederik Thiesen, and I came up with this pretty weird idea of writting a FAQ about one of these ICQ clones there is for the Amiga. 3. Intentions of this FAQ ------------------------- This is going to be the most complete FAQ you'll ever find about STRICQ, one of the 4 Amiga versions there is of ICQ, Mirabilis popular chat/friends program. I'll collect questions that may appear on the mailinglist for STRICQ. You can add yourself to it by visiting http://www.FindMail.com/list/stricq/. 4. How to contact the author of the FAQ --------------------------------------- If you want to contact me for some reasons (maybe you want me to add a new question or point out some spelling errors for me) then you can contact me by either emailing me or directly chat with me through AmiComSys or STRICQ. My email address: thiesen@algonet.se My homepage: http://www.algonet.se/~thiesen/ One can easily see if I am online or not through AmiComSys. I always start AmiComSys in WBStartup, much like the Mirabilis ICQ client which always is in the System Tray in WinBlow$95. Or if I am online with STRICQ you can contact me through ICQ. My UIN#: 12775798. 5. Availability of this FAQ --------------------------- There is some ways of getting hold of my STRICQ FAQ: The probably safest way to get hold of a new version of this FAQ would be to add yourself to the mailinglist for STRICQ. You can add yourself to it by visiting this url: http://www.FindMail.com/list/stricq/ Jonas Davidsson (Joda on AmiComSys/ICQ) has an own website featuring all clones of ICQ there is for the Amiga. There you will also find my STRICQ FAQ. Visit his site by pointing your web browser to this url: http://surf.to/amigaicq/ Ofcourse you can ask me if I would like to send you a copy of my FAQ either through standard email or if you have AmiComSys I would be glad to send it directly to you. 6. Disclaimer & Copyright of this FAQ ------------------------------------- THIS FAQ IS PROVIDED AS "AS IS". THIS MEANS THAT I HAVE NO INTENTION WHATSOEVER TO BE AS CORRECT AS POSSIBLE, MERELY TO BE HELPFULL AND GIVE YOU, THE READERS OF THIS FAQ, SOME OF MY LITTLE KNOWLEDGE THAT I POSSESS OF. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ACTIONS YOU MAKE TO YOUR VERSION OF STRICQ. I ONLY GIVE YOU THE INFORMATION THAT WORKED FOR ME, IT DOESN'T HAVE TO WORK FOR YOU. THIS MEANS THAT IF YOUR COMPUTER, PRINTER, CAR, FRIDGE OR EVEN YOUR CAT BLOWS UP I WILL NOT DO ANYTHING TO GET THEM REPLACED. Copyright: This FAQ is Copyrighted 1998 by Frederik Thiesen. Anyone are allowed to distribute this document in anyway you like whether it is on standard discs, harddrives, BBS'es, Internet or any other media you find suitable for the distribution of this document. I hereby give Douglas F. Mclaughlin the exclusive right to include this whole document or parts of it into his STRICQ package. If you want to have this FAQ on some coverdisks/CDs then you have to ask me if it's ok to do so. Furthermore I would apprieciate a copy of the magazine, coverdisk/CD for free. This text is HomePage-Ware, which means that if you distribute or find this FAQ to be informative or in other ways have helped you, then you are required to visit my homepage... :-) This document is also "HateBillGates/HateMicroSoft-ware", which means that you HAVE to hate Bill Gates and/or Microsoft if you read this document :-) It is FORBIDDEN to make ANY changes to this document without my knowledge or approval. Ofcourse you have the right to quote this FAQ, but remember to give me some credits if you do so. 7. Thanks & Acknowledgements ---------------------------- I would like to thank the following persons for giving me help, moral support and for being my friends (in no specific order): Jonas Davidsson (For betatesting of the FAQ (is it possible to betatest a pure textfile?) and for running the almighty http://surf.to/amigaicq/ site) Douglas F. MacLaughlin (For making the best ever ICQ clone on ANY platform) Terry Cooksey (For making his own Amiga Guide conversion of this FAQ, more or less without my knowledge. I appreciate your work, using GoldED as editor). Edd Dumbill (For making Heddley (Amiga Guide maker)) All the people on the (For not asking that many questions since they read STRICQ mailinglist this FAQ :-) ) More to come... 8. Trademarks ------------- ICQ is a product of Mirabilis, which is owned by America OnLine. Windows 95/98 is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Macintosh is a registered product from Apple. Amiga is owned by Gateway2000/Amiga Inc. All other TradeMarks/product names are the properties of their respective owners (IF YOU FIND ANYTHING THAT IS NOT CORRECT IN THIS SECTION PLEASE WRITE ME ABOUT IT SO THAT I CAN CORRECT THIS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. THANKS.) 9. History: ----------- Date SEQ Text ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1998-09-01: 1. Ooops.... it is becoming a bad habit these days for me to add questions in the middle of the FAQ. Ofcourse it means that I once again added a new question (#12) thus renumbering the questions again. Either I will scrap this silly referencing scheme or I will let it be to see what will happen. 2. Finished Question #18. 3. Discovered that my STRICQ FAQ is growing rapidly in size... :-) 4. Oooops... forgot to check for references INSIDE each answer. 5. Yeah... sure.... it IS a habit... now it was time for Question #3 to be a new one... :-) 6. Added some more info to Question #19. 7. Added a fourth theory to Question #7 8. It's been a while since I last released my FAQ, but now is the time to do it so here goes Public Release #9!!! 1998-08-31: 1. Added the beginning of a new question (#17). 2. Rewrote Section #5. 3. Added some minor things to Section #6. 4. Added some minor stuff to Section #8. 5. Corrected all occourences of Douglas F. McLaugling's name due to I discovered I had spelled his name wrong. Sorry Doug. 6. Added some info to Question #1. 7. Added one point to Question #5 1998-09-30: 1. Added an url to Question #16. 1998-08-28: 1. Added yet another question, this time the Question #10 is a new one. Ofcourse I had to renumber the questions after #10 accordingly. Ofcourse this makes any references useless. 1998-08-27: 1. Rewrote parts of the answer to Question #2 1998-08-25: 1. Added some info about STRICQ 0.560 to Question #2 2. Completly rewrote Question #11, and infact kept the old question but renumbered it thus forcing me to renumber all the questions thereafter. This means that all eventual references I may have given out to the questions is more or less obsolete. Sorry for any inconvience. 3. As Jonas Davidsson haven't responded to my email I gave him where I had attached the STRICQ FAQ Release 7 I will releas this version to the STRICQ mailinglist as version 8. 4. Added some info to Question #11. 1998-08-24: 1. Finished Question #13. 2. This is going to be the 7th public release of my FAQ. 1998-08-23: 1. Added and completed Question #14. 1998-08-19: 1. Added a Thanks & Acknowledgements section (#7), which made me renumber some sections again (not fun) and thus ofcourse rendering all references about changes to the affected sections mentioned in this History section more or less worthless. 2. Recieved an email from Terry Cooksey with his idea of how a STRICQ FAQ Guide should look like. I will distribute his AGuide version together with the original text version and my AGuide version of my FAQ. Furthermore Terry's version is based on the 6th public released version. I also changed the filename of his version. 3. Added the beginning of a new question (#13). Waiting for some more info. 4. Finished relayouting the width to 78 characters per line. 5. Added some minor information to Section #6. 6. Rephrased part of the answer for Question #6. 7. Invented yet another *Ware concept... :-) 8. Rephrased Question #12. 9. Rephrased the answer to question #11 a little bit. 1998-08-15: 1. Added some current status info to Question #1. 2. Tried to convert this FAQ into Amiga Guide format. If it succeeds there will be an Amiga guide version of this FAQ. 3. Had to relayout this whole FAQ to stick to max 78 characters width in order to convert it to A-Guide format. 4. Added a trademarks section (Section #8) thus forcing me to renumber some sections. 1998-08-12: 1. Wow... I have decided to release this edition of the FAQ to the public. It is the 6th public release so far. 2. Finalized Question #12. 3. Changed some info in Section 10 4. Began to do a numbering scheme for this History section. Now you will be able to track what I have done to this FAQ in the same day. 1998-08-07: Actually finished Question #8. This will be the 5th version of this FAQ that is released to the public. Sent this FAQ out on the STRICQ mailinglist, still adding and relayouting stuff. And as always: SPELLCHECKING is a "Good Thing (TM)" :-) . I added the FAQ that exists in the latest (0.452) STRICQ archive to my FAQ (Section 10). Added alot of info regarding Question #10. Added Question #11 and sort of finished it. Finished Question #10 Added a url to Question #10 1998-08-06: Added yet another question to this FAQ (Question #9). Finally corrected all the information in the beginning of this FAQ. Added a new site to get STRICQ from (Question #1). 1998-08-05: Added some more contact info to this FAQ. Fourth version released to the public Overworked some layout problems to make it look nicer. Made an Table of contents section for this document. Added question-answer numbering, which is used in the Index. Added this History section. Added a Future section. Added some minor information stuff. Corrected the number of available ports of ICQ for the Amiga. Overworked the Disclaimer & Copyright section a little bit. Added a new question to the FAQ (Question #8). Added some more info regarding Authorization (Question #7). Cleared up most of the Table of contents and rewrote large parts of how to contact me and other informations Pre historic: The first few versions of this FAQ had no History section. Some of them was released onto the 'net though. Wrote the whole FAQ in a couple of minutes (well, the most basic stuff of it) The very first version of the FAQ was rather lousy. Ofcourse did alot of designing and layouting. 10. Future ----------. Hopefully get some more questions to add. (PERMANENT) Fix the layout of the FAQ even more. YOUR suggestions are welcome :-) . (PERMANENT) Maybe someday write a real documentation for STRICQ out of this FAQ. Maybe make this FAQ even more public available and post it on the mighty Aminet. Convert this FAQ into AmigaGuide format (underway) 11. The actual FAQ ------------------ Q #1. Where can I get the latest STRICQ version? A #1. As STRICQ are not in any way is approved by Mirabilis and therefore is not an official version you won't find it on Aminet or other "official" ftp site. But there is ofcourse ways to get hold of it. One way is to visit one of the following WWW or FTP urls: This URL is for the homepage of all the ICQ versions there is for the Amiga. It's maintained by Jonas Davidsson, thank you very much for the site: http://surf.to/amigaicq/ Or if you wish to visit Douglas F. McLaughlins homepage (the guy that made STRICQ). It's pretty much a "Quick&Dirty(TM)" textfile as of now: http://www.momo2000.com/~mclaughd/ Another friend of mine (Alex Tucker) also have the latest STRICQ version. He also runs the Amiga ICQ database which holds all the Amiga users who actually uses ANY version of ICQ there is. (This is somewhat off topic but the database currently holds more than 190+ Amiga users). http://www.yodare.com/ Or you can always ask me directly for the newest version, ie if I am online and shows up on AmiComSys that is... or if I am online with STRICQ you can contact me by my icq UIN: 12775798. more sites to come... If you want to get informed about the current status of STRICQ you should start any ICQ clone of your choice (preferably STRICQ) and check out Douglas About info (ICQ #8083608) there he will write the current internal version number he last compiled along with some brief info of what achievements he has done so far. Q #2. What is the requirements for STRICQ? A #2. Ofcourse you should use an Amiga with preferably the latest AmigaOS (3.1) but I don't know if you can use it with lower AmigaOS also, mail me about that. Further more you should have one of the following TCP/IP stacks: Miami 2.1p+ (AmiTCP 4.2+) STRICQ does not work with this TCP/IP since 0.560. STRICQ doesn't work with TermiteTCP. There have been reportings that STRICQ seems to work ok when trying to use a pre 2.1p version of Miami, but it fails when trying to connect to the ICQ servers. If you know that you are using a pre 2.1p version of Miami then I would suggest that you get hold of preferably the latest available Miami. As STRICQ makes use of MUI you should also have the following MUI stuff: NList.mcc (Get it from Aminet) TextInput.mcc N/A Q #3. Why doesn't version 0.560 of STRICQ connect anymore? A #3. Since version 0.560 of STRICQ those with AmiTCP/Genesis as tcp/ip stack can't get STRICQ to run, mainly due to Doug have no means of testing AmiTCP, only Miami and he is also using some techniques only Miami can provide so all you folks out there better switch to Miami... :-) (Maybe not). Now there seems to be a bug in AmiTCP/Genesis that makes STRICQ not to run on this type of TCP/IP stack. Doug has no possibility to adjust to this bug. Q #4. What is wrong when I keep getting "Bad Password" when trying to connect with STRICQ to the ICQ servers? A #4. First make sure you fullfill the requirements (read the question about requirements). The second thing you should know is that the server only accept 8 letters in the password and that they make distinction between small and BIG letters. Q #5. How do I register a new UIN# in STRICQ? A #5. First make sure you have started a TCP/IP stack (STRICQ won't start without a TCP/IP stack running) Then start STRICQ and open the menu item "Settings/Prefs...", you should then get the window "ICQ Preferences" which will let you configure STRICQ to your likings. If this is the first time ever you register your own UIN# then fill out the following fields in the ICQ Preferences window: On the "ICQ 1" tab Nickname First Name Last Name E-Mail Password (This is required. Just choose the password you want to use, you won't see it yourself so be sure that you typed it in correct) On the "ICQ 2" tab City Country Code State Age Sex Phone Home Page About When you are finished with the fields then close the Prefs window and use menu item "Settings/Save Prefs" to save your initial configuration to your harddrive. Then use the menu item "Project/Register UIN" and you'll get a little confirmation box with some text in it. If you have filled in all the before mentioned fields in the Prefs window then go ahead and press the Continue button, if not press the Cancel button. Q #6. How do I install STRICQ for the very first time on my computer? A #6. This answer will be a walkthrough for the complete installation as I do it on my own computer. NOTE: In this little "mini installation guide" I will assume that you already have a UIN# from another PC/Mac/whatever. 1. First make sure you fullfill the requirements (Question #2). 2. Get the latest STRICQ (see the question about getting STRICQ). 3. Save the archive on your harddrive. 4. Unpack the archive in a place of your own choice (Preferably where you have all your other TCP/IP and Internet related programs). 5. Goto to the place where you unpacked STRICQ and start it. 6. You will get two windows when starting it for the very first time. One is the STRICQ Main window and the other is the "Incoming Messages" window. 7. Open up the menu item "Settings/Prefs...", now you get the "ICQ Preferences" window with some tabs on it, have a brief look through all of them before you continue. 8. If you already have a UIN# (perhaps you are working on a PC/Mac on your work/school/whatever and are using Mirabilis ICQ there) you just have to enter your UIN in the "User ID Number" field and fill in your password in the appropriate field. Or if you want to register a new UIN then look at the above question about register yourself. 9. While still in the prefs window move to the Notify tab. 10. Don't pay much attention to the strings gadgets atm, instead look at the various switches you see: (It's a small schematic picture of what the GUI looks like) Default value ------- Auto Online (*) Auto Reconnect (*) Show Message Time (*) Open Log Window ( ) Small Contact List ( ) I hope you have a clue about what these means :-) Switch them on or off as you wish. 11. Now move on to the "Servers" tab and choose one of the ICQ servers there is, the default is "icq.mirabilis.com" on port 4000. NOTE: YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE A SERVER OR ELSE YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO LOGG IN TO THE SERVER. 12. Now you press the Connect button in the Main window of STRICQ and it should connect happily. 13. Now go back to the "ICQ 1" tab in the Prefs window and press "Fill In Userinfo From Server" and you should get another window titled "User Information" where you should see all the info you have stored on the ICQ server. 14. Press the "Add/Update Contact List" button to make yourself appear in the Main window. 15. Close the "User Information" window and the "ICQ Preferences" window and save your config by using the menu item "Settings/Save Prefs". 16. Consider the basic installation and configuration of STRICQ done! Q #7. What is going on when STRICQ suddenly seems to lose track of an ongoing dialog with someone? A #7. Not sure actually, not even Douglas can answer that question. But I can give you my theories of it though: 1. One is that the servers Mirabilis possess is so heavily overloaded so they seems to loose track when you are too fast in sending messages to eachother (it's a fact that the ICQ servers gets >1000000 accesses a day. That would explain why they are so overloaded). 2. Another is that it might be some bugs in the protocol that ICQ uses. 3. A third one (and the most likely to be) is that Douglas has some bugs in his program that simply won't show up when using STRICQ and he has yet to find out the problem. 4. Now there seems to be a fourth possible answer. It might be that the ICQ servers doesn't handle too many queries that is not a TCP message on one ICQ client. Please have a look on the question regarding "What is TCP Client to Client in STRICQ?" for some more info. The problem with this is that when the "From Client To Server:" section (in the Log window) reaches towards 60-70 in the Sequence column it seems that STRICQ doesn't handle further outgoing messages the way Mirabilis wants it to be. The cure for this seems to be to disconnect from the ICQ server and after some seconds connect to it again and then the Sequence numbers go back to 1's. Now I got an email from Alan W. Rateliff and he verifies that it isn't just only the ICQ clones on the Amiga that have this "problem" but also the various ICQ clients on the PC and Mac too. Q #8. What is Authorization in STRICQ? A #8. The ICQ servers provide a feature that let you decide if you want someone else to add you to their Contact List. If you have set the Auth flag to On in the Prefs then you have to give anyone else your approval to let them add you to their Contact List. At least the Auth thingie works as it is intended to do in Mirabilis ICQ, but since this is STRICQ one can actually add ANYONE whether they have Auth on or off in their ICQ client. One guy, Fredrik Zetterberg, wrote to me about Auth in STRICQ and said that if you add someone to your Contact List and he has Authorize turned on (Mirabilis ICQ), you can't send him any msg's... Wether this is correct or not I don't know. I have never tried it myself. Sorry. If anyone have some more comments about this I will be glad to add them to the FAQ Q #9. Is it possible to have different colors for the different status one can have? A #9. Yes it is. I will assume that you have a otherways fully functional copy of STRICQ on your harddrive for this answer. This will be yet another walkthrough. 1. Open the menu item "Settings/Prefs..." and move to the tab "Color". 2. There you will see all 8 possible statuses one can have in ICQ. 3. When you press one of the buttons you get a standard MUI Color requester (I will not go too deep into how to change it, I assume some knowledge about MUI from you... :-) ) 4. Now you go ahead and change all the colors you want to change. Now I saw a answer to this question in the mailinglist that said something about locked colors or too few available pens. It might be that what is happening if one can't change the colors... More comments about this one is welcomed. Q #10. Do both parties have to be online in order to receive a message? A #10. No. Both parties don't have to be online, unless you really want to speak to him while both of you want to chat with eachother. You can perfectly well send someone a message while he is not online, he will recieve your msg the next time he goes online with his ICQ clone. Q #11. How does these different status things work? A #11. This question is somewhat off-topic but I'll include it anyway. To make it easier for your friends to know in what state you are the guys behind the original ICQ client made up a set of 8 diffrent statuses. These is the different type of statuses one can have (thank you JAWO for the nice and explaining info): ------------------------------QUOTE-------------------------------- OFFLINE : I'm not up or I'm INVISIBLE. You can still send a message. I will get the message when I go ONLINE ONLINE : I'm up and you can contact me. INVISIBLE : Is at little tricky because the contact will be marked as OFFLINE. You can still send message but don't expect an answer. NOT AVAILABLE : I'm doing other things right now. You can still send a message but don't expect an answer. FREE FOR CHAT : Anybody can contact me if they want. OCCUPIED : Don't disturb me. I'm chatting with a person, surfing, or do other things. You can still send a message but don't expect an answer. AWAY : I'm away at the moment (coffee break, eating, or other things). You can still send a message but don't expect an answer before I'm back. DO NOT DISTURB (DND) : Don't disturb me. I don't want to talk to you You can still send a message but don't expect that I answer you. ---------------------------UNQOUTE--------------------------------- (I took the freedom of doing some spellchecking and minor rephrasing) The conclusion of this is that the ICQ protocol does send every message to the recipients regardless of what status they have, whether they are using STRICQ or some other ICQ client. Or if you want Mirabilis own explanation of the various statuses and their meanings you can go have a look on this page (Thanks D.F Duck for reporting this url): http://www.icq.com/icqtour/fulltour.html (Look somewhere in the middle of the page) This brings me to inform you about having a look on "Settings/Prefs..." tab "Auto Reply". There you can write practically anything you want others to see when you're Away or Occupied or whatever. Q #12. How do the Offline/Invisible modes works and how to use them? A #12 I will try to explain them as good as I can. When someone don't want to let other see he's online he sets himself to Invisible mode, but for you he's Offline. When that very same person sends a message to you his status changes from Offline to Invisible at your side. This means that everyone that is Invisible when you logg on to the ICQ servers they remain Offline unless they have set See As Invisible to on (this applies so far to the ICQ clients on the PC/Mac). Q #13. Sometimes I get Status Code #00000010 in my Contacts List, what is that? A #13. According to Robert Nyberg it is a bug in the MacICQ and it means that they are set to "Do Not Disturb"-mode. Q #14. What am I supposed to do when these ARexx scripts doesn't work in the ICQ Preferences, tab "Notify"? A #14. I have followed the discussion about this topic on the mailinglist and there is alot of posting stating that you have to give STRICQ the full path to RX in order for it to work. However there is a very usefull command to specify these paths so they are available through out the system namely "C:Path". Below I will show you a very small part of my Startup-Sequence that will show you my solution. -----------------Begin Startup-Sequence extract----------------------- Path >NIL: RAM: C: SYS:Utilities SYS:Rexxc SYS:System S: SYS:Prefs PATH >NIL: SYS:WBStartup SYS:Tools SYS:Tools/Commodities ADD PATH >NIL: "SYS:WBSTARTUP/WBSTARTUP (ENABLED)" ADD PATH >NIL: SYS:S/BATCHES ADD -----------------END Startup-Sequence extract------------------------- This way I don't have to specify the full path for RX. I hope that I have made myself clear regarding this topic. One guy, Emrah Baskaya, wrote that he also are using the Path command and it doesn't work for him. I must say that I don't know why it doesn't work for most of you. I would be happy if someone could give me some explanation so that I can add it to this question. Thank you. Q #15. How is URL's supposed to work in STRICQ, I just can't get those links to work. What am I supposed to do? A #15. One answer is to check the PROGDIR:Rexx/SendBrowser.rexx script and edit the path to your prefered browser and change the ARexx port for it in the script. Please have a look at Question #13 too. More comments please... Q #16. Where can I find a more general FAQ/tour about the ICQ concept then available in this STRICQ FAQ? A #16. Please visit this url: http://www.icq.com/icqtour/fulltour.html Q #17. NList is complaining about a too low stackvalue when using STRICQ. What is wrong and how to cure it? A #17. The STRICQ client want a stackvalue of 16384 bytes and the custom MUI class NList is pretty much stack hungry by itself so I strongly recommend setting the stackvalue to about 20000 bytes or so. I set the stackvalue myself to 40000 bytes (that way I am sure most program work). If you use some other methods to start STRICQ then from WorkBench (ie from a script) you have to do a "Stack 16384" in order to be sure it will work. Q #18. What is Country Code in STRICQ and other ICQ clones? (somewhat an offtopic question) A #18. The Country Code is the official code or number for your country. For example if you wanna dial a longdistance call on the phone you usually have to dial the prefix that gets you out of your own country and then the country code to the country you want to reach. For example the country code for Sweden is 46, for Denmark it is 45 and for Germany it is 49. This very same scheme is used by Mirabilis in their ICQ client. For a big list of conutry codes please visit this site (thanks to Douglas McLaughlin for reporting this url): http://www.the-acr.com/codes/cntrycd.htm Q #19. What is TCP Client to Client in STRICQ? A #19. This might mean that we're a step closer to get that desirable Chat capabilities that so far only exists in the Win95/Mac client of ICQ. Not even any of the other "illegal" ICQ clones does handle this yet (AFAIK). This is Douglas own answer of what TCP messaging is: (Relayout is done by me) ----------------------------QUOTE------------------------------------- TCP messages are direct client to client messages, bypassing the ICQ server entirely. This also helps reduce the lag on messages, logging on, etc. And, the server won't be "loosing" these messages since it never sees them. As long as your outgoing message receives an ACK in the log window, you know the person received it. TCP messages are the precursor to chat and filexfer, as both use TCP. ---------------------------UNQUOTE------------------------------------ 12 Douglas F. McLaughlin's FAQ ------------------------------- This part of the FAQ isn't really mine but merely it is the one that first appeared inside the archive for STRICQ v0.452. The author of this part of the FAQ is Douglas F. McLaughlin. Douglas have given me his approval to include his FAQ into mine. I WILL HOWEVER NOT TAKE ANY CREDITS WHATSOEVER FOR THIS SECTION, EXCEPT FOR HAVING RELAYOUTED HIS FAQ TO COMPLY WITH THE REST OF THE FAQ. The FAQ as it appears in the 0.452 version of the STRICQ archive: -----------------------------BEGIN Douglas FAQ------------------------------- Q: Will you do a chat mode? A: I will when I get the information on how to implement it. I am building my own PC and will be able to sort it out for myself, but this may be another few months or more! Q: Will you do a file transfer option? A: I have some docs on this and will attempt this when I am done with all my travels in July. Expect late August for this. Q: Why can't I change my password? A: Mirabilis disabled all password changes a few weeks ago. A hacker program was released that would grab your password from the net, and use it to change your password, effectively stealing your UIN. Q: How do I use those notify thingies? A: You need a sound player program like Play16. Then put this command in your prefs: Run >NIL: Play 16 Sounds/Message.wav You can also use one of the notify scripts provided in the Rexx directory, read them for more infor- mation. I did not write them and can't answer questions about them. Q: Why do I get the message "Rx: Command not found"? A: For some reason, STRICQ is not getting your Workbench path so you need to put the full path in: SYS:Rexxc/Rx Q: What does STR stand for? A: ST = Star Trek, R = Robotech. I came up with this after needing a name for my BBS that I had started writing for my C64. If you can remember, I am the author of ST/R BBS for the C64. I still get reports from time to time that people are still using ST/R as a BBS even now in 1998!!!! Q: When will the next release come out? And, What new options have you added? A: Always check my userinfo on ICQ, I put new updates there as I make them. --------------------------------END Douglas FAQ------------------------------ More questions please... :-)