Alice needs at least 550 KB of application RAM, a Mac 512KE and System 6. It is 32-bit clean and supports 32-Bit QuickDraw. Using Alice without a hard disk may damage your sense of humor. You will also need a terminal program, such as ZTerm, and access to a BBS that supports XRS or QWK. (Ask your sysop.)
Packing List
With your copy of Alice you should have received the following:
Alice
Secrets Of Alice 2 (you're reading it right now)
UnZIP 1.02C~2
WRITMAPS.DAT
READMAPS.DAT
If you are missing something, you can frequest the complete package from:
FidoNet 2:244/1630
or download it from a BBS that carries MSDN, the Macintosh Software Distribution Network.
Quick Start
Installing Alice
- Copy all files from the Alice distribution archive to your hard disk.
- Next you will need to download an XRS message packet from your BBS, using your terminal program. For more information, see the chapter “Mailboxes”.
- Create a new folder that will store the message packet and associated files from the BBS.
- Launch Alice. After the initial dialog, you will see an empty window of “BBS Systems”.
BBS Setup
- Select the command "Add new Box..." from the menu "BBS Systems".
 
Defining a folder
At the beginning some important information: if you are asked to specify a folder, a standard file dialog will appear.
If You use System 6, go into the folder to choose (the folder is now displayed in the top popup menu) and push the "This Folder" button.
System 7 users will see a modified file dialog. Use the "Select" button (the name of the folder is appended in the button, so nothing can go wrong…).
Setting up for QWK
Select "QWK Message System" in the "Box Type" Diaolog box.
- In the dialog "Add New BBS", pick a name and icon which describe the look of this box inside the "BBS Systems". To set the download parameters, choose "Download" in the pop-up menu "Parameters":
 
- Now click on the button labeled "folder for all data from the box". In the file dialog, choose the folder where you want to store your QWK files from the mailbox, and then the name of the folder you chose should appear in the button.
- Click on the button labeled "download file from box". In the standard file dialog, select the QWK packet file you have downloaded from the BBS.
- Click on the button labeled "unpack automatically with:", select the unpacking program you want to use, and check the check box "unpack automatically". Normally, you should set up the BBS’s XRS system to pack your mail packets with ZIP, and choose "UnZIP 1.02c~2" as your unpacker. [This version of UnZIP is shipped with Alice. It supports automatic unzipping, and by default does not strip linefeeds. Other versions of UnZIP, or other ZIP decompression programs, may or may not work.]
Now, to set the upload parameters, select "Upload" from the pop-up menu "Parameters":
 
- Click on the button labeled "Folder for upload packet". Select the folder where you would like Alice to save the upload packet. Pick a folder that is convenient for uploading, such as the folder of your terminal program or on the Desktop. You can’t choose a name for the upload packet because the name is chosen by the QWK system of the BBS.
- Choose "Pseudo-ZIP" so that Alice will save the packet in a format compatible with nearly all BBSs that support ZIP. Should your BBS not be able to handle Alice’s pseudo-ZIP format, contact your sysop.
- Click on "OK", and your BBS will appear in the window "BBS Systems".
Setting up for XRS
Choose the box type "XRS message system" to set up an XRS mailbox.
- You should see the "Add new BBS" dialog:
 
- You can choose any name you like for the BBS, and select an icon by clicking in the arrows to the right of the name. It will be displayed later in the window "BBS Systems" using that name and icon.
- Now click on the button labeled "folder for all data from the box". In the standard file dialog, choose the folder where you want to store your XRS files from the mailbox, and then the name of the folder you chose should appear in the button.
- Click on the button labeled "download file from box". In the standard file dialog, select the XRS packet file you have downloaded from the BBS. The name of the packet file will appear in the button. Some characters of the name may have been replaced by an asterisk "*". This is normal and is necessary to allow Alice to work with multiline BBSs.
- Click on the button labeled "unpack automatically with:", select the unpacking program you want to use, and check the check box "unpack automatically". Normally, you should set up the BBS’s XRS system to pack your mail packets with ZIP, and choose "UnZIP 1.02c~2" as your unpacker. [This version of UnZIP is shipped with Alice. It supports automatic unzipping, and by default does not strip linefeeds. Other versions of UnZIP, or other ZIP decompression programs, may or may not work.]
- Click on the button labeled "output file for the box". Create a file with the name you want to use for the upload packet file, and save it where it is convenient to upload. (Such as in the same folder as your terminal program or on the Desktop.) Note that Alice automatically restricts the file name to 8 characters and adds the suffix ".PKT", because some DOS-based BBSs might otherwise become confused.
- Click on "OK", and you’re all set.
Opening a BBS
Select the BBS in the window "BBS Systems" and choose "Open" from the File menu - or just double-click on the BBS.
Depending on what you did last time you used Alice, you may see any of a number of dialog boxes, as described below.
The output file "…" has not been deleted…
Alice has found some messages that may not have been uploaded to the BBS properly. Click on "Pack" if you want Alice to include them in your next upload packet - otherwise they will be deleted.
Warning! You haven’t read all the messages of the BBS "...".
You haven’t read all the messages in your last message packet. If you unpack the new packet, the old messages will be lost. Click "Read" if you want to read the old messages, or "Unpack" to read the new ones.
The old file must be deleted in order to unpack the new one!
Alice has found an older message packet in the BBS folder. You can choose to unpack the old packet again, or delete it and unpack the new one. Usually you will want to choose "Delete" so that you can read the messages in the new packet. Alice will then automatically launch the unpacker and open the messages for you to read.
Reading messages
After you have succeeded in opening a BBS, you should see the windows "Messages from ..." and "Areas". An "area", also known as an "echo" on FidoNet, is an electronic conference on a certain topic, which is usually apparent from the name. Messages written in an area should have something to do with the area’s topic. Many areas on FidoNet have "rules", which are posted from time to time, about what is "on-topic" for the area.
The message window is divided into two sections. The top section is the header, which lists the author and addressee of each message, as well as the subject and other information. The bottom section displays the text of the message in a scrolling panel. You can change the font and text size of the message text with commands in the "Message" menu.
The windows "Areas" displays four columns, giving the area name, the total number of messages in the area, the number of unread messages in the area, and the number of messages addressed to you. The totals are displayed at the bottom of the window.
 
Navigating the Messages
Next message/previous message: click on the buttons to the right of "Msg." in the Message window, or press the left and right arrow keys, or use the "n" and "p" keys.
Next unread message: double-click on the number of unread messages in the "Areas" window. You can also press option-right-arrow.
Next message for you: double-click in the number of messages addressed to you in the "Areas" window.
Different message area: when you have read all the messages in an area, advancing to the next message will automatically take you into the next area. You can also select an area directly by double-clicking in the area name in the "Areas" window. You can also click on one of the numbers displayed on a line with the area name - Alice will take you to the corresponding message. (E.g., the first unread message in the chosen area.)
Summary of all messages in an area: choose the command "Summary…" from the "Windows" menu. Alice will display a window that lists the subjects, authors and addressees of all messages in the current area. The message that was displayed in the message window is hilighted. Unread messages are marked with a bullet. To read a particular message shown in the summary, double-click on it (or press the return or enter key while it is highlighted) and Alice will display it in the Message window.
 
If you have a mailbag from your BBS that you’d like to read, go ahead now and take Alice for a spin. The next section will explain how to write your own messages.
Writing Messages
To write a new message: Choose the command "Enter New Message" from the "Messages" menu. Alice will open a new window for your message and fill out the header for you. If you prefer an empty header, select "Empty Messagehead" in "Global Parameters" (see "Menus and Dialog Boxes:Global Parameters").
The message will be initially addressed to the addressee of the current message, but you will probably want to address the message to somebody else, or perhaps to "All". You also may want to change the "Subject".
To answer the current message: choose the command "Answer" from the "Messages" menu. Alice will open a new window as above, but the message is addressed to the author of the current message, and the current message is "quoted" as the default message text.
Multiple Answers: usually you will answer once to a message. If you use "Answer", Alice opens your answer. To enter a second answer (to the same message) press the "option"-Key while You choose "Answer". This new answer can not be opened by double-clicking the little pen and it will not be stored as part of a thread.
The current message is the message displayed in the Message window, unless the Summary window is selected, in which case the current message is the message that is hilighted in the Summary window..
You can define the style of the quoted text by changing the "Quote Rules" (see "Menus and Dialog Boxes:Quote Rules").
The Answer Window
The Answer window has a header similar to that of the message window, except that you can edit the various fields. At the bottom of the Answer window is the Origin line. You can use the origin line to tell the world about your location, your philosophy or your sense of humor. If you need ideas, check out the origin lines of your favorite pundits on your favorite echo. Some restrictions apply to origin lines on systems using QWK rather than XRS. (More on that later.) Netmail messages have no origin line.
 
Changing the area: use the "Area" popup menu in the header of the message. If you are answering an existing message, the menu only shows the original area and the special "netmail" area. (You can hold down the option key to get a list of all areas in the menu.) If you are writing a new message, the popup menu will always show all the areas.
Messages that you write via netmail are private and can only be read by the recipient, so you should use netmail to write messages that aren’t of general interest. (Caveat emptor: while netmail messages are private, Fidonet is not a secure channel, can be rather easily intercepted, and is subject to occasional system failures that might conceivably make your netmail messages public. Truly confidential messages should not be sent through Fidonet unless they are also encrypted, which is may not be allowed by some systems. Alice does not support encryption of netmail messages.)
Addressing (XRS only): if you are writing a netmail message, you need to enter the addressee’s Fidonet address in the fields provided. Alice cannot verify the address you give, so make sure that you use the correct address, or your message may disappear into the great bit-bucket in the sky.
Using the Addressbook: click on the "To:"-Button or choose "Addressbook" from the "Windows" menu to open the addressbook. You can simply fetch an address from it. For more information see the chapter "Menus and Dialog Boxes:Addressbook".
Origin: space for your origin line (see above). If your origin line is longer than the allowed maximum, Alice will ask you to shorten it when you save the message.
Saving the message: choose the "Save" command from the "File" menu, or close the message window and click on the "Save" button in the dialog box.
Opening messages you have written: choose the "Open" command from the "File" menu. Alice will display a list of all messages you have written in your current Alice session. To open a message, double-click on it or select it and click the "Open" button.
If you write an answer to an existing message, that message will be displayed with a "pencil" icon in the Message and Summary windows. Double-clicking on the pencil icon will open your reply.
 
Deleting a message you have written: to delete a message, choose the "Open" command from the "File" menu, which displays a list of all messages you have written in your current Alice session. Select the message you want to delete, such as the angry "flame" you wrote half an hour ago, and click on the "Delete" button. Take care, deleted messages are gone for good!
If a message is displayed in the list with a "window" icon next to it, it is currently open in an Answer window. Before you can delete it, you have to close its window first.
Closing a BBS
To close a BBS, close its Message window. Alice will "pack" all the messages you have written into a file that you can upload to the BBS on your next call.
