OS/2 Shareware BBS: 35 Internet/35-Internet.zip/mg025e.zip/FEATURES.DOC

Text File | 1995-09-08 | 16KB | 347 lines

  * Features of MailGate *

1 - Gateway to the Internet

  1.1 - Netmail to Email and Email to Netmail. Users from other systems may
        participate. An entire nodelist may participate in the gateway.

  1.2 - Echomail to Lists and/or Newsgroups and vice-versa. This feature
        does not depend on the type of BBS system you are running. It is
        BBS independent. The only requirement is that your system be able
        to process PKT packets.

  1.3 - Email messages to Fax. Any person on the Internet may send a Fax to
        your system or any other system in an entire nodelist.

  1.4 - Echomail compressed files can be automatically sent and received
        from another remote site as if the compressed files were sent over
        a Fidonet mailing session through a phone call.

  1.5 - Your system can manage Local Lists and have them available for
        Internet users to subscribe. In other words, MailGate provides a
        very powerful Listserver, which includes a Fileserver for
        automatic delivery of files to subscribed users of your Local
        lists. Needless to say, these local lists can be in gateway with
        echomail areas, and the Fileserver in gateway with the TIC server.

  1.6 - Complete set of customized messages to be sent to UUCP and Fidonet
        users about the use of the gateway.

  1.7 - Complete control of the use of the gateway for later billing, if
        this is the case. The system will control the number of bytes sent
        and received, the names of the addressees and addressers, the time
        and date the message was processed and the subject of the message.

  1.8 - Alias file and subdirectory for file requests with the GET command
        of the Listserver. Powerful carbon copy manager.

  1.9 - Netmail file attaches are uuencoded and sent to the Internet
        destination.

 1.10 - UUCP to UUCP network system. Your system may act as a UUCP
        provider, assign Internet subdomain to other systems, re-route
        UUCP mail between uplink/downlinks, exchange Newsgroups to as many
        as 255 downlinks

 1.11 - True subdomaining or fake subdomaining. For example, assuming your
        system to be TTBBS.COM, there may exist systems like XXBBS.TTBBS.COM
        or [e-mail]

 1.12 - Downlink nodes may either receive mail in UUCP or Fidonet format.
        Downlinks in Fidonet format are configured in the MAPS database.

 1.13 - Echomail messages with valid Internet destination in the TO: field
        may be configured to have them sent as email to the destination

 1.14 - Get the best of both worlds, Fido and UUCP. MG may be configured
        to compress/decompress UUCP mail to/from any UUCP downlink using
        Fidonet file attaches. The files will be sent during a Fidonet
        session, received in the other end as if a UUCP session had taken
        place

2 - Gateway between different Fidonet type of Networks. Fidonet has zones 1
    through 6, but there are many other networks using the Fidonet
    technology.

  2.1 - Netmail to Netmail from one network to another.

  2.2 - Echomail to Echomail from one network to another.

3 - Complete Fax delivering Manager

  3.1 - NetMail to Fax. Any netmail from any system can be delivered as
        Fax messages. The system provides two different kinds of Fax
        management, one for normal users and the other for VIP users,
        configured in a special Database.

  3.2 - EchoMail to Fax. Messages from an echomail Area can be forwarded
        to the Fax manager and sent as Fax messages.

  3.3 - UUCP to Fax. Messages from Internet users may be sent to the Fax
        manager.

  3.4 - Complete information about the transmission status of the Fax
        messages. Users who send Fax mail will be notified of date, time
        number of pages and time used during the transmission of the Fax.
        There is a limit of attempts to send a Fax message before giving
        up. Support to BitFax 3.02 and BGFAX 1.40

  3.5 - Files to the Fax server. Netmail file attaches are forwarded to
        the Fax server for delivery and special handling

  3.6 - Phone book Databases are available for automatic delivery of a Fax
        message to multiple recipients. This is a Fax mailing List.

4 - TIC distribution of Files.

  4.1 - TIC works the same way as do echomails. Files can be automatically
        distributed from uplink systems to downlink systems, without the
        need of human manipulation (unless, of course, the file has to be
        distributed in the beginning).

  4.2 - Unlimited number of TIC Areas. The system is only limited by the
        capacity of your Hard Disk.

  4.3 - 26 TIC groups to manage the areas. Conversion of compression type.

  4.4 - Complete set of remote maintenance functions to control the
        configuration of any system. This is called the RAID function.

  4.5 - Special treatment to MAGIC files.

  4.6 - Uplinks can be configured to automatically add new TIC Areas
        in your system, or do the same with MAGIC Areas.

  4.7 - TIC reports can be sent to any Echomail Area or to the sysop,
        via netmail.

  4.8 - Virus scan can be processed on files in distribution

  4.9 - NODEDIFF and NODELIST files can be located, compressed and sent
        to the members of a TIC Area automatically.

 4.10 - TIC Areas may have their own Node numbers to operate, which makes
        each Area completely independent from each other and easy to work
        with in different networks.

 4.11 - FileFix manager. Any user can access certain echomail areas and
        send special commands to the user "FileFix", which will execute
        a search for the files requested by the user in the TIC Areas of
        your system. Files that match the request will be listed in an
        automatic reply to the original user in the same echomail Area.
        It is a type of "archie" search in the network.

 4.12 - The system may manage the file lists of other systems, and process
        them during a FileFix search. These systems may also be configured
        to receive a copy of the requesting netmail, and work on it.
        This, on the Internet, is called the "ARCHIE" function, and your
        system and network may be configured to implement it

 4.13 - Unlimited number of node numbers as members of a TIC Area.

 4.14 - FILES.BBS or Remote Access internal file base may be configured for
        individual TIC Areas. FILE_ID.DIZ is removed from inbound file and
        used as a complete file description.

 4.15 - Customized text file to be appended in the TIC reports of each TIC
        area. Banners may be included in compressed files.

 4.16 - The system may have TIC area directories scanned for new files. If
        found, they are automatically broadcasted to the TIC downlinks.

 4.17 - MAGIC files are updated/added in the ALIAS file used by the mailer
        during file requests

 4.18 - TIC downlinks may be Internet users. The TIC manager will forward
        the files to the destinations as uuencoded messages

5 - Netmail Local server

  5.1 - Your system may forward text messages to a particular list of
        users.

  5.2 - Users from your network may request files to be sent to them as
        netmails.

  5.3 - Users from your network may request files to be file attached to
        them.

  5.4 - Users from your network may request files to be Faxed to any
        phone number or phone database.

  5.5 - Users from your network may save text files in your system for
        later availability for request in the system

  5.6 - Users may request information about the use of their accounts.
        They can request information for any period of time, and the
        system will send a complete log of the system usage.

  5.7 - Netmail special users. If a user sends a netmail to "help", and
        "help" is a text file in a special subdirectory, MG will send the
        "help file to the user who requested it

6 - Echomail Local Server

  6.1 - The system may send text messages to certain Echomail areas.

7 - Remote DOS maintenance.

  7.1 - Users may send DOS commands to your system, provided they have the
        proper password. Each password is the name of a text file in the
        system that contains the list of all commands allowed to be
        executed.

8 - Message Base. Read, reply, write, encrypt Fax, Fido or UUCP messages.

  8.1 - Access to the MSG netmail base.

  8.2 - Access to the Hudson message base.

   I hope everything is listed here. They are very summarized but can give
you an idea of the features that MailGate provides. This will be our policy
related to the release of MailGate, shareware version:

- Each public release will have versions ending in only one decimal, for
example, MG 0.1, MG 0.2, MG 0.3 and so on. If a newer version has to be
released due to a serious bug to be fixed, a beta version will be
distributed, and the identification that the version is still in beta mode
is also in the version number, that will now contain 2 decimals, for
example: MG 0.11, MG 0.12. It is our intention to delay no longer than
45 days between one public release and the next one. Beta releases may
be distributed at any time. Major releases are the ones that change the
digit before the decimal point in the version number, for example: MG 1.0,
MG 2.0, MG 3.0 and so on. MailGate packages will be named as follows:

 MGabcd.ZIP  where abcd stands for the version number. For example: MG 1.02
             will be released as MG102.ZIP


As explained in the "Registering MailGate" section, MailGate shareware
version is on a promotional registration fee. This fee will only be valid
until the next major release, which will be MG 1.0. Once a user registered
his copy of MailGate, this registration will be valid for all subsequent
releases of MailGate shareware version, regardless of any changes in the
registration fee. We think it is a matter of acknowledgement with all those
users who committed themselves with MailGate and registered it, giving their
support to us.

  We also believe that unregistered programs should not be crippled or have
any function disabled to the user. We are giving the first step in trusting
you and providing you with a full functional version of MailGate. However,
this is not a policy and we reserve the right to change it whenever we see
it is necessary. We kindly ask you to take in consideration the great
effort put in creating this program.

   There is an Echomail conference available in Fidonet Brazil, MAILGATE,
and the main feed is node 4:808/2. The conference is available in the RBT
network. There is also a List conference in the Internet, called MG-L, that
can be reached by Internet users after they send their subscription command
to [e-mail]. We are also running a small UseNet network, and the
same conference is available to UUCP links as newsgroup ALT.BBS.MAILGATE.
Finally, the messages are also sent to a special group of users who read the
mail after receiving it by Fax by means of a Fax mailing list. As a matter o
fact, all conferences have exactly the same messages, since we use MailGate
to have them in gateway.

  These first releases of MailGate come with a very simple documentation,
for which we apologize.

  There are many other new features we want to see in MailGate. For this to
become true, and also to have other features and improvements, we wish to
count with your help. Please send your suggestions, complaints, criticisms,
they will be very welcome. We would like to hear from you. Once again,
thank you very much for taking the time to try MailGate!

You can get the newest versions of MailGate from the systems listed in
the MGSITES.DOC file, available in the original package of MG.


If you establish a stable link with us, you will be entitled to also
distribute MailGate, and your system will be listed in the next versions.

File request the newest version with the MAGIC name MAILGATE.

  For Internet users, there are two ways to retrieve the newest version,
  either via ftp or via uuencode mail.

For those who have access to FTP, MailGate can be requested by anonymous
FTP from the sites listed in the MGSITES.DOC file.


Log in as "anonymous" and supply your Internet address at the password
prompt.

  A more updated list of ftp sites and Fido BBSes can be requested by

RBT netmail    : sending a netmail to user "mgsites", at 12:1280/1
Internet email : sending an email to [e-mail]

Yes, these special users are automatically managed by MailGate.


    System Requirements

    Software and Hardware

        * An IBM PC, XT, AT or compatible, i386/i486 CPU supported
        * DOS 3.31 (or above) or OS/2 2.x DOS compatibility box
        * Any  *.MSG and *.PKT compatible BBS software (Front-End Mailer)
        * A Fax delivering program
        * A UUCICO.EXE delivering program for UUCP mail


        * Memory requirements:

At least 512 Kbytes of memory. MailGate needs dynamic memory that
is allocated during run-time and that depends on your configuration.
If you run a disk-cache program, MailGate will operate much faster,
since it depends heavily on the Hard Disk. Your system should have
extended memory, otherwise MailGate will slow down considerably.

        FILES=30 or more in your config.sys file.

    At least one of these (de)compression utilities:

        * PKZIP/PKUNZIP
        * ARJ
        * LHA
        * PKPAK/PKUNPAK
        * ARC
        * ZOO
        * uncompre, compress or gzip

   MailGate is a gateway package, and as such, it assumes that you already
have a BBS system running. It is not a front-end mailer. MailGate does
not depend on any message base format. It generates PKT packets that must
be processed by your echomail utility and tossed into your message base. It
also assumes that you are hooked up to a Internet site with which your
system can exchange UUCP mail. However, MailGate can successfully work
under Fidonet only, Internet only, or in the most complete configuration,
in both environments. Your system does not need to have access to the
Internet to be able to use the Fidonet features of MailGate. Your system
does not need to have a Fidonet BBS running to be able to use the UUCP
features.

Thanks to my beta testers, support sites, participants of the MG-L List,
without whom I could not go further. The list below is not complete, but
special thanks go to: Fabio Becker, Adriano Garcia, Jorge Eduardo, Bruno
Santos, Jeronimo Barros, Isamar Maia, Troy Engel, John Mudge, Hartmut
Karrasch, Don Packwood, Craig Thompson, Walter Longeman, William Woo,
Marijn Raaijmakers, Philippe Cheve, Jorge Santos, all members of our RBT
network and so many others who have been showing us support.

 A very, very special "Thank you!" goes to Troy Engel, from California.
MG021 could only become true with his precious help. Almost every day,
in the last 6 months, we have been exchanging ideas, and his suggestions,
feedback, expertise, gave me conditions to have MG go under such a major
upgrade. For all of his effort and attention, I send him my best regards.

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
   I dedicate this program to my son, whose birth gave me reasons to carry
on. Thanks to my wife, who has been very patient and supportive.
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

This version of MailGate was compiled on 08 Sep 95 21:49:58
All products mentioned here are trademarks of their respective owners