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- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader, version 2.12
- Copyright (C) 1992 by Cutting Edge Computing
- All Rights Reserved.
-
- Operations Manual
- Written by George Hatchew
-
- Cutting Edge Computing
- PO Box 90476
- Burton, Michigan USA 48509
-
- BBS Support Number: 313-743-8464
- Voice Tech Support: 313-743-9283 (for registered users)
-
-
-
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
- -----------------
- LICENSE AGREEMENT 3
- INTRODUCTION 4
- What is Offline Mail? 4
- Why Bother to Read Mail? 5
- What Will The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Do For Me? 5
- SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 6
- Software Requirements 6
- Hardware Requirements 6
- Required External Programs 7
- Optional External Programs 8
- COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS 9
- INSTALLATION AND SETUP 10
- THE PRIMARY MENUS 12
- The SETUP Menu 12
- The Miscellaneous Sub-Menu 12
- Global Reader Toggles 13
- Message Reading Options 15
- Enter/Reply Options 18
- Tagline Configuration 20
- Memory Swapping Options 22
- Printer Configuration 24
- Color Configuration 25
- Video Configuration 26
- National Language Support 28
- The Directories Sub-Menu 30
- The Archivers Sub-Menu 37
- The Strings Sub-Menu 39
- The Registration Sub-Menu 40
- GLOBAL COMMAND KEYS 41
- THE MAIN MENU 44
- Open Mail Packet 44
- Closed Packet Menu 45
- Packet Management 46
- Setup Parameters 46
- Quit The Blue Wave 46
- THE OPEN PACKET MENU 47
- Read Mail Packet 47
- Enter New Mail in Any Area 49
- View, Edit or Kill Replies 50
- Welcome Messages and Bulletins 50
- Offline Configuration 50
- File Request/View New Files 50
- Quit and Close Packet 51
- THE CLOSED PACKET MENU 52
- Enter New Mail in Any Area 52
- View, Edit, or Kill Replies 52
- Offline Configuration 52
- File Request 53
- Quit to Main Menu 53
- OFFLINE CONFIGURATIONS 54
- FILE REQUESTING 57
- READING MESSAGES 59
- Message Movement 60
- Message Command Keys 62
- THE REPLIES MANAGER 70
- ENTERING MESSAGES 73
- Entering Local, Echomail, and QWK-style Messages 73
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- Echomail versus Netmail 75
- Entering Netmail 76
- KEYWORD SEARCHING 80
- USING THE MOUSE 82
- TAGLINES 85
- Installing John Hancock 86
- The "Prompt" Tagline Selection Type 86
- Tagline File Format 88
- TAGFILES.BW 89
- USING THE BLUE WAVE MAIL DOOR 90
- The Configuration Menu 90
- The Blue Wave Bundling Commands 94
- Lastread Pointers and Bundling Commands 96
- Bundling Command Macros 97
- Example Bundling Commands 97
- APPENDIX A
- Files Created, Maintained, and Used by the Reader 98
- APPENDIX B
- Running the Reader Under DESQview 99
- PRODUCT SUPPORT 100
- INDEX OF KEY WORDS 101
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- LICENSE AGREEMENT
- -----------------
-
- Cutting Edge Computing has taken every precaution to ensure that no harm
- or damage will occur on systems running The Blue Wave Offline Mail
- Reader. However, we cannot be responsible for any damages or other
- losses suffered as a result of running The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader
- on your system. The user assumes full responsibility for the proper use
- of this mail system, whether damage occurs as a fault of operator error
- or software error. NO WARRANTIES ARE IMPLIED OR EXPRESSLY STATED.
-
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail System and this documentation are copyrighted
- materials of Cutting Edge Computing. Cutting Edge Computing reserves all
- rights to these materials, and is protected under United States and
- International Copyright Laws. No part of these materials may be
- reproduced or modified in any way without the prior express written
- permission of Cutting Edge Computing.
-
- Use of The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader constitutes acceptance of the
- stated terms and conditions. Cutting Edge Computing reserves all rights
- which are not expressly granted.
-
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader is fully copyrighted, and said
- copyright is registered in Washington D.C. with the United States
- Copyright Office. The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader is NOT FREEWARE. It
- is distributed under the concept of ShareWare. Users are allowed to try
- this program in its unregistered state for 30 days before paying for and
- registering the mail system with Cutting Edge Computing. If, after 30
- days, you decide that The Blue Wave Offline Reader performs to your
- expectations, you are required by law to pay for and register your copy
- with Cutting Edge Computing. If the software does not meet your needs,
- and you do not plan on registering with Cutting Edge Computing after your
- 30 day trial period, you are to cease usage of the mail system.
- Continued use beyond the authorized evaluation period requires payment of
- the registration fee in full.
-
- Cutting Edge Computing grants an unlimited license to make and distribute
- unregistered copies of this software. Absolutely no modifications to the
- files contained in the software package, including this documentation
- file, may be made before distribution. No fee may be charged by anyone
- other than Cutting Edge Computing beyond the actual cost of providing
- these copies without the prior written consent of Cutting Edge Computing.
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- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 3
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- INTRODUCTION
- ------------
-
- Welcome to the world of offline E-Mail! You are about to evaluate one of
- the easiest to use, most powerful, most configurable, and one of the most
- popular offline mail systems available today. The Blue Wave Mail System
- is for novices and experts alike. After over two years of development,
- refinement, and never ending user input, The Blue Wave Mail System has
- become a favorite offline mail system all over the world. Several
- thousand people, from all over the world and from all 50 States have
- found the enjoyment and informative world of E-Mail come to life through
- the use of The Blue Wave Offline Mail System. But, no matter what OTHER
- people think, you're about to see and use the mail reader for yourself.
-
- Because Cutting Edge Computing believes in the concept of ShareWare, and
- several thousand registered users from across the globe also believe in
- the concept, this offline reader is here for you to evaluate today, and
- pay for it tomorrow. ShareWare works because authors and users alike
- believe in the system. Please do your part if you use the mail system
- for more than your thirty day evaluation period; register your copy!
-
- Complete registration details are found in two separate files contained
- within the Blue Wave reader's distribution archive. REGISTER.BW contains
- registration information for ordering your registration key in the United
- States, Canada, and where a local registration site is not available.
- REGISTER.EUR contains registration information for ordering your
- registration key from anywhere in Europe.
-
-
- What is Offline Mail?
- ---------------------
- Before we begin the details of The Blue Wave Offline Reader Operations,
- let's take a moment to look at the history of offline mail readers.
-
- Back in the early to mid 1980's, many people were beginning to get home
- computers, modems, and began communicating in several ways through
- Bulletin Board Systems (BBS's). BBS systems began offering message
- bases, where people of similar interests could communicate with each
- other through electronic means. In many ways Electronic mail (E-Mail)
- was faster than the traditional first-class mail through the postal
- service. You could leave a message to a friend, and sign off of the BBS
- system. As soon as the recipient signed on, they would see a copy of
- their message, and could respond immediately, on line. As time went on,
- commercial services began offering E-Mail which could be transmitted to
- the message recipient several thousands of miles away in a matter of
- hours, minutes, or even seconds. Eventually, many people had become
- dependant on e-mail.
-
- While the commercial companies were developing new and better ways to
- transmit e-mail across the world, so were the amateur BBS operators.
- Several amateur e-mail networks and technologies were formed. One of the
- largest amateur e-mail networks still popular today is FidoNet. (Don't
- let the term 'amateur' fool you. Many of the people that are responsible
- for keeping FidoNet up and running may be classified as amateurs, but
-
-
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- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 4
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- several years of experience and knowledge, and sometimes thousands of
- dollars of equipment, have earned them a respectable very title.)
-
- Today, FidoNet is over 10,000 nodes strong, and still growing! As the
- networks and the number of home computer users has grown, the need for
- reading and replying to e-mail offline has become more and more
- essential. When BBSing was young, there was plenty of time to read and
- reply to messages on-line. Today, with more users than ever and more e-
- mail flowing than ever, there just is not enough time for every user to
- spend a half hour, an hour, or even two hours on-line to their local BBS.
- Long distance phone rates can also get to be outrageously expensive after
- just a few of these sessions per month.
-
- This is where offline mail reading comes into play. With today's
- innovations in offline mail processing, you can spend just a very few
- minutes per day on-line to your favorite BBS system and do all of your
- work offline, where there is no time limit to run up against, and where
- the phone company's meter is not running.
-
- Best of all, you can read your mail at any time you like. Today's
- communications software allows you to build script files, which in turn
- allows you to retrieve your mail automatically at even the oddest times
- of the day or night (especially when long distance phone rates are low).
- When you're ready to read your mail, all you need to do is fire up your
- favorite offline mail system, and you are on your way!
-
-
- Why Bother to Read Mail?
- ------------------------
- At this point you may be asking yourself; "Why even bother with it all?".
- Some people unfamiliar with mail networks and e-mail sometimes cannot
- understand the enjoyment and knowledge that can come out of being an
- active participant on an e-mail network. Not only can you communicate
- with people from all corners of the world, but you can learn more about
- your favorite computer software, share recipes with others, learn how to
- repair your leaking roof, get advice from others on product quality
- ratings, or just join in a chat between long distance friends.
-
- As a matter of fact, FidoNet offers well over 300 e-mail topics ranging
- from Aardvarks to Zymurgy.
-
-
- What Will The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Do For Me?
- ------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader will allow you to actively participate
- in this fun and fascinating hobby to any extent you like. You can
- retrieve mail from your favorite BBS system to your own computer, where
- you are free to take your time and enjoy yourself. You aren't forced
- against the BBS system's time limits or the long distance charges. You
- are also doing your part to allow more people on your favorite BBS system
- so there are less busy signals, and more productive on-line sessions. It
- is a complete mail manager, which allows you to reply to messages, save
- messages to disk in a text file, print messages to your printer, and help
- you search out only the messages that you are interested in through the
- use of keyword searching. But most of all, to enjoy yourself!
-
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- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 5
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- SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
- -------------------
-
- In order for The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader to be useful to you, your
- favorite BBS system must support offline mail reading through the use of
- an on-line message bundler, which is sometimes called an Offline Mail
- Door. The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader supports approximately 9 out of
- 10 BBS message bundle types in use today on BBS systems. If your host
- system (the BBS) has The Blue Wave Mail Door available, you can read
- packets that it creates with this mail reader.
-
- Another common offline mail bundle type is called the "QWK" mail packet.
- The QWK mail packet is in very wide use among several BBS systems. If
- the mail packets that the sysop's on-line door creates has a file
- extension of "QWK", "QW1", "QW2", etc., the mail packet will most likely
- be readable with The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader. If you are unsure of
- the type of offline mail that your host BBS system supports, ask your
- sysop. He or she will probably be glad to help get you started in your
- offline mail experience.
-
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- Software Requirements
- ---------------------
- To get the most productive use out of The Blue Wave Mail System, it is
- suggested that you be running MS-DOS or PC-DOS version 3.0 or higher.
- The reader has been thoroughly tested with all of these versions and
- works with no problem.
-
- If you are running IBM Operating System/2 (OS/2) version 2.0, the reader
- will operate to full capacity in a "DOS Compatibility Box". The reader
- will NOT operate in OS/2 native mode.
-
- If you are multi-tasking your PC with software such as QuarterDeck's
- DESQview or MicroSoft Windows, some special settings may need to be set.
- The reader is fully DESQview aware and compatible. Please see the
- appropriate Appendix for more information about operating the reader in
- one of these environments.
-
-
- Hardware Requirements
- ---------------------
- For optimum performance, the following minimum hardware configuration
- should be present:
-
- * An IBM PC, AT, 80386, 80486, or fully compatible personal computer.
- * A minimum of 256K of free memory, but 350K is suggested.
- * A hard disk with at least 500,000 bytes free.
-
- See the next page for more information about the hardware requirements.
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- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 6
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- Although a hard disk is recommended, a floppy drive only system can still
- be used. However, you may find operation with a floppy-based system to
- be less than optimal, due to the memory paging and overlay system built
- into the reader. The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader is designed to use as
- little memory as possible, which means the reader works very well in
- tight memory situations. The reader has been tested continuously under
- DESQview with only 255K of available memory with little or no memory
- constraints.
-
- Due to the constraints of the MS-DOS and PC-DOS operating system, the
- memory available to the reader at any one time is limited to 640K, minus
- any TSR (memory resident) programs you may have running, and the memory
- that DOS itself uses. However, for efficient execution of external
- programs from within the reader, a memory swapping system has been built
- in. The memory swapping system can free all but 4K of the memory used by
- the reader when shelling to DOS, executing an external editor or
- communications program, and when shelling to the archive compression
- programs.
-
- The memory swapping system is able to utilize EMS memory, XMS memory, and
- Extended memory above the 1 megabyte DOS barrier. If you have any of
- these types of memory available, it would be to your advantage to
- configure the reader to use this extra memory for quick memory swapping.
-
- If you do not have any of the above mentioned types of memory,
- approximately 250K of free disk space can be used to emulate the
- existence of this type of memory. (You may have heard the term 'disk
- swapping' used before.)
-
- Additionally, systems equipped with an EGA or VGA video card and monitor
- can make use of reader's support for extended line modes, allowing either
- 43 (EGA systems) or 50 (VGA systems) lines to be displayed on one screen.
- The extended number of lines allows you to view more of a message on the
- monitor at once.
-
-
- Required External Programs
- --------------------------
- Nearly every offline mail system in existence requires the use of an
- external compression program; sometimes referred to as 'archivers' or
- 'data compression utilities'. There are several popular archive formats
- in use on public and private BBS systems today. Some of these programs
- are FreeWare, and others are ShareWare.
-
- PKZIP and PKUNZIP by PKWare, and ARJ by Robert K. Jung are two of the
- most popular archive formats available. Each of these programs is
- ShareWare, and is almost definitely available from the same source you
- received The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader. Most people who are active
- in BBSing already have these utilities on their system, so you may be all
- ready to begin.
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- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 7
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- LHA by Yoshi is another popular archive program that is FreeWare. If you
- cannot find any of these data compression programs locally, you are
- welcome to log into The Blue Wave Support BBS (Wild! Blue) in Flint,
- Michigan and download them at no cost. The phone number for the Wild!
- Blue BBS is 313-743-8464, and the BBS is running a USRobotics 14400
- HST/v32/v32bis compatible high speed modem.
-
- The only other required program for full operation of The Blue Wave
- Offline Mail System is an ASCII file or text file editor. A very simple
- editor is supplied with your copy of The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader.
- You should have TED3.COM and TED3.DOC in your distribution archive. At
- this time, an external text editor is required for editing new messages
- and replying to messages with your reader. TED3 is supplied because of
- the small size and because it has been released to the Public Domain (no
- fee is required for use). TED3 is not a product of Cutting Edge
- Computing.
-
- If you already have a favorite text editor, and you would like to use it
- to enter messages with the reader, you can do so by modifying the Editor
- Command Line in the reader's setup menu (this will be discussed later).
- Some excellent text editors that come highly recommended by other users
- include BOXER by David Hamel, QEDIT by SemWare, and SLED by Sam Wilmott.
- All of these files are available on The Blue Wave Support BBS, and are
- probably also available on a BBS near you.
-
-
- Optional External Programs
- --------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader provides an internal means of loading
- and executing several optional external programs.
-
- John Hancock, an external tagline selection and beautification utility by
- Dan Moore is supported, as well as a quick and convenient shell to
- external utilities such as your communications program and ASCII file
- viewer/editor.
-
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader sports a simple interface to an
- external spell checker, which allows you to spell check your messages and
- replies quickly and easily.
-
- These external utilities will be discussed in more detail in the
- appropriate sections of the documentation.
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- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 8
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- COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS
- -----------------------
-
- Before jumping into the installation procedures, you should take a moment
- to quickly read over the command line parameters described here. When
- first executing the reader, you may need to add one or two command line
- switches to your command line.
-
- If the reader freezes when first loaded, it may be because of an
- incompatibility in the video system. The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader,
- under normal circumstances, will detect the type of monitor that you are
- using, and adjust its video writes accordingly. However, some situations
- may arise where you will need to override the reader's auto-detection,
- and set the video mode yourself.
-
- To execute the program normally, simply type BWAVE from the DOS command
- line. To override the default auto-detection, add the following
- switch(es) to the command line:
-
- -m Forces the reader into MONOCHROME Mode.
-
- -c Forces the reader to modify its screen writes to help eliminate
- "CGA Snow", which early CGA monitors sometimes have a problem
- with.
-
- -b Forces the reader to use BIOS screen writes. If know your computer
- does not support IBM Direct Video Writes, or if the reader
- 'freezes' when you first load it, you will probably need to add
- this command line parameter. It is highly recommended that you
- NOT use this switch, if at all possible. BIOS screen writes are
- extremely S-L-O-W.
-
- -lcd Forces the reader to map colors compatible with LCD displays.
-
- -s Forces the reader to execute in a mode which is very helpful and
- compatible with speech hardware boards and speech software for the
- blind and visually challenged. Many hours of work has been put
- into the reader to make working with speech software an enjoyable
- experience.
-
- Once the reader is successfully loaded, you can configure all of these
- command line switches to your liking in the reader's setup menu. After
- they are saved to the reader's configuration file, it will no longer be
- necessary to use the command line switches.
-
- There are two more command line parameters that offer more advanced users
- great power and flexibility in automating their offline mail sessions:
-
- -t Forces the reader to execute the defined TERMINAL program command
- line (defined in the reader's setup) automatically upon reaching
- the main menu.
-
- -l Automatically loads the NEWEST mail packet in your reader's
- 'download', or mail packet storage directory upon reaching the
- reader's main menu.
-
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- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 9
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- INSTALLATION AND SETUP
- ----------------------
-
- Before attempting to run the reader, there are two items that you should
- double check in your system configuration. Your CONFIG.SYS file, found
- in the root directory of your boot drive, should contain a line similar
- to the following:
-
- FILES=25
-
- This line tells DOS at boot-time to allocate 25 file handles for use by
- programs that you will be running on your system. If you already have a
- 'FILES=' line in your CONFIG.SYS file, and the number after it is 25 or
- higher, there will be no problems. At some points of execution in the
- reader, there can be up to eight files open at one time. Setting FILES
- to 25 or higher will help to insure that there are enough file handles
- available to The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader.
-
- The last item to check in your CONFIG.SYS file is the number of buffers
- that you are allowing DOS to allocate for faster disk accesses. In your
- CONFIG.SYS file, you should have a line that contains the following:
-
- BUFFERS=30
-
- This line tells DOS to allocate enough system memory to hold 30 disk
- buffers. This in turn allows DOS to perform disk intensive activities
- much more quickly than normal. If the number of buffers in your
- CONFIG.SYS file is already set higher than 30, that is all right. If you
- are running a disk cache program, you can ignore this advice. However,
- you should follow the advice of your caching software. In many cases the
- cache documentation will tell you to set BUFFERS=3, or to a very low
- number. This enables the disk caching software to do the disk buffering,
- rather than DOS's slower buffering.
-
- Your next step is to create a new directory on your drive. Throughout
- the documentation, the reader's directory will be assumed to be
- 'C:\BWAVE'. Of course, if you want to place the reader on a different
- drive and directory, that is your option. It is highly suggested that
- you follow the manual's directory setup until you become familiar with
- the operation of the reader. At that point in time, you will be
- comfortable enough with the system to be able to modify your setup to
- suit your likings or needs.
-
- All of the files from the reader's distribution archive should be copied
- into the C:\BWAVE directory. This includes:
-
- BWAVE.EXE
- BWSETUP.HLP
- TAGFILES.BW
- TAGLINES.BW
- KEYWORDS.BW
- NAMES.BW
- TED3.COM
-
- At this point in time, you're ready to begin running the reader!
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 10
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- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader is, for the most part, self
- configuring. When you execute BWAVE.EXE from the DOS prompt, the reader
- first checks to see if the reader's configuration file (BWAVE200.CFG) is
- present. If this is a first time installation, or it cannot find
- BWAVE200.CFG, you will be asked if you wish to continue building a new
- configuration file. If you have made a mistake, and do not wish to build
- a new configuration file, press 'N'. Otherwise, press 'Y', and the
- reader will begin to perform its initial installation.
-
- On floppy drive systems, or systems with slow hard drives, the reader may
- take up to 30 seconds to bring you to the main Blue Wave Menu. During
- this time, the reader is searching your DOS Path statement for several
- external programs that may be needed to run the reader. If these
- programs are found, they will automatically be placed into your
- BWAVE200.CFG file with the proper command lines to execute them.
-
- The following programs are automatically inserted into your configuration
- file when found: PKZIP/PKUNZIP, PKARC/PKXARC, PKPAK/PKUNPAK, PAK,
- LHARC/LHA, ARJ, Q.EXE (Qedit, an external text file editor), and TED3.COM
- (when Qedit cannot be found).
-
- If you have these programs somewhere on your system, but they are not
- included within your DOS 'path' statement, it will be necessary to
- manually insert them into the SETUP menu, which will be described in the
- next section.
-
- When the reader is finished building its configuration file, you will be
- taken to the Main Menu. From here, you should select option 'S' to be
- taken to the SETUP menu. Full, detailed descriptions of every item on
- the SETUP menu follows.
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- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 11
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- THE PRIMARY MENUS
- -----------------
-
- The Blue Wave Offline Reader is divided into four 'primary' menus, which
- include the MAIN menu, the SETUP menu, the OPEN PACKET menu, and the
- CLOSED PACKET menu. The first menu that you encounter as you enter the
- program is the MAIN menu. The main menu has items that take you to the
- various functions of the reader.
-
- Navigating the menu system is very easy. You will notice that the menu
- selections have their first letters highlighted. You can choose a menu
- item by simply typing the highlighted letter on the menu, by pointing the
- mouse cursor (if you have a mouse and a mouse driver installed) at the
- desired menu item and clicking the left mouse button, or by moving the
- highlighted menu bar to the desired item with your cursor (arrow) keys
- and pressing ENTER.
-
- Since you are probably eager to get started, we will begin by discussing
- the SETUP menu.
-
-
- The SETUP Menu
- --------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader was designed to be extremely easy to
- use, yet very configurable. A first glance at the setup menu may seem
- overwhelming, but don't let the appearance scare you. It is really quite
- easy to navigate and configure to your liking.
-
- When first selecting 'S' from the MAIN menu, you will be taken directly
- to the SETUP menu. The setup menu is a pull-down menu structure that is
- grouped into several subdivisions: Miscellaneous, Directories,
- Archivers, Strings, Registration, and Quit. The Miscellaneous pull-down
- menu is further divided into categories to allow you to find options
- quickly and easily.
-
- Each menu item on the setup menu contains a short, one-line description
- of the menu command at the bottom of the screen to be meant as a quick
- reference guide. The help text that is displayed at the bottom of the
- screen is loaded from an external file called BWSETUP.HLP. The reader
- expects to find BWSETUP.HLP in the current directory. If the file is not
- available to the reader, it will display a red warning message informing
- you of the fact, and the help messages will not be available. Although
- the help text serves as a quick memory jogging tool, for the most
- complete description of each option you should refer to this Operations
- Manual.
-
-
- The Miscellaneous Sub-Menu
- --------------------------
- As described above, the miscellaneous sub-menu is divided
- further into sub categories to make locating certain options,
- toggles, and settings easy. This menu is grouped into Global
- Reader Toggles, Reading Options, Enter/Reply Options, Tagline
- Configuration, Memory Swapping Options, Printer Configuration,
- Color Configuration, and Video Configuration.
-
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- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 12
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- Global Reader Toggles
- ---------------------
-
- On-Screen Clock:
- If this option is toggled ON, the reader will display
- the current date and time on-screen throughout the
- entire mail-reading session. Whenever there is
- keyboard inactivity, the clock will be updated. If
- you are running under a MULTITASKER, such as
- DESQview, it may be a good idea to turn the clock
- OFF. Turning the clock off in this situation will
- most likely improve the performance of any background
- tasks that may be running.
-
- Mouse Support Enabled:
- If you have a mouse installed on your system, the
- reader can utilize the capabilities of your mouse to
- make your offline mail session nearly keyboard-free.
- If a mouse is detected (you must have a mouse driver
- installed), the reader normally activates it and
- makes it available for use. If you do not want the
- mouse support enabled in the reader, set this option
- to "No". For full details of using your mouse to
- full capacity in the reader, please see the section
- in the documentation titled "Using the Mouse".
-
- FidoNet-QWK Compatible:
- Due to differences in message formatting between
- various message networks, this option is available in
- the setup menu. If you use The Blue Wave Mail System
- in a FidoNet message environment, you will need to
- set this option to "Yes", which is the default mode.
- If you use the reader in other networks, such as
- RIME, Itelec Net, or almost any other network, you
- should set this option to "No". It will cause the
- reader to format messages to be uploaded to the BBS
- in the appropriate manner.
-
- NOTE OF CAUTION: If you have this option set to "No"
- while using the reader in a FidoNet area, you may get
- warnings from moderators asking you to fix your
- reader! This is the appropriate place to do it.
-
- Beep on Error Messages:
- When the reader wants your attention (an error
- message, for example), it normally sounds a short
- beep. If you wish to turn off this beep, set this
- option to "No".
-
- Exploding Window Frames:
- Exploding windows are used throughout the reader to
- create a dramatic and eye pleasing effect. If these
- exploding windows are too slow on your system, or
- they just plain drive you crazy, you can disable them
- by setting this option to "No".
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 13
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- Display Archiver Output:
- This option is set to "Yes" by default so that you
- are able to see the display of the external mail
- archivers when they are in action. This is mainly
- provided as a debugging tool so that you can find
- problems during your first few uses of the reader.
- For a cleaner and faster display, you should set this
- to "No" when you are comfortable that your archivers
- are working properly.
-
- The reader hides the output of the archivers by
- directing their screen writes to the NUL DOS device.
- Some archiving programs (LHA/LHARC for example) do
- not allow their output to be redirected to a NUL
- device, so their screen writes will 'bleed through'
- unless you add a /n2 command line parameter to LHA.
-
- Packet List 2nd Sort Field:
- When displaying mail packets for selection (The "Open
- Mail Packet" command and the "Packet Management"
- command on the MAIN menu), the packets are displayed
- from NEWEST to OLDEST in the selection window.
-
- If you would like the reader to sort the packets on a
- secondary field before displaying them, you can
- instruct it to do so here.
-
- There are three settings for this menu item: None,
- Root Name, and Extension. When set to None, the
- reader does not do any further sorting on the list of
- mail packets. They are simply displayed from NEWEST
- to OLDEST.
-
- If this option is set to 'Root Name', the packets
- will be sorted in alphabetical order, and then by
- date and time.
-
- When set to 'Extension', the packets will be sorted
- by packet extension, and then by date and time.
-
- Screen Saver Activation:
- The Blue Wave Offline Reader has a built in Screen
- Saver option. After the defined number of seconds
- have elapsed with no keyboard or mouse input, the
- reader will clear the screen and display a moving
- window informing you that the screen saver is active.
-
- If you do not want to enable this feature, set the
- number of seconds to 0. If you feel this feature
- will come in handy, define the number of seconds to
- wait for keyboard inactivity before activating the
- screen saver (120 seconds is 2 minutes, etc.). The
- maximum value is 9999 seconds, and the minimum value
- is 60 seconds. 0 is accepted only to disable the
- screen saver activation.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 14
-
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-
- Message Reading Options
- -----------------------
-
- Automatic Title Scan:
- The reader defaults to showing a "Title Scan" each
- time you enter a new message area from the "Choose
- Area to Read" menu. The title scan makes it fast and
- easy to scan through the message headers in the
- message area. On the title scan screen, you can see
- information about each message in the area including
- the FROM: field, the TO: field, the SUBJECT: field,
- and whether you have read or replied to the message.
- If you decide to disable the automatic title scan, it
- can still be called up by pressing "T" in read mode.
-
- Automatic Personal Mail Scan:
- When you first open a mail packet for reading, The
- Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader will automatically scan
- for personal messages (messages addressed to you).
- To disable the automatic personal mail scan, simply
- set this option to "No". A global personal mail scan
- can be performed at any time during your mail session
- by pressing <Alt-P> at the "Choose Area to Read"
- selection window.
-
- Noise on Personal Messages:
- When this option is set to "Yes", the reader will
- sound a two-tone beep in message reading mode
- whenever you encounter a message that is addressed to
- you. To disable this noise and allow the family
- members to continue sleeping, turn this option off.
-
- Read Messages Sorted on Which Field:
- Before reading messages in a message area, the reader
- will sort them by their SUBJECT: lines, FROM: fields,
- or TO: fields if this option is enabled. The fields
- are sorted into alphabetical order. In order to
- maintain message threads, the reader ignores any
- leading "RE:" characters during the message sort of
- subjects.
-
- Save Message Read/Mark/Reply Tags:
- This menu item has three different settings: Ask,
- Yes, and No.
-
- During a mail session, the reader keeps track of
- which messages you have read, which messages you have
- replied to, and which messages you have "marked" for
- later operations. In order for these marks to be
- saved between mail sessions, the reader must place
- the 'bookmark' file back into the mail packet that
- you are reading. Because this process involves
- invoking the external archivers and partially
- repacking the mail bundle, it may take a few seconds
- on some machines.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 15
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-
- If this option is set to ASK, the reader will prompt
- you just before closing a packet as to whether or not
- you would like to perform the process of repacking
- the mail archive, skip the packing, or simply delete
- the mail packet.
-
- If this option is set to YES, it will be performed
- automatically by the reader.
-
- Begin Reading with First Unread Message:
- If you would like the reader to place you at the
- first message that you have not read when first
- entering a message area, set this option to "Yes".
- If set to "No", the reader begins with the first msg.
-
- Begin Reading with Last Unread Message:
- This function performs similarly to the previously
- described option, but it will begin reading messages
- after your LAST read message. This option is most
- useful when you often skip reading certain messages
- by using the automatic title scan. If you later re-
- enter the message area, you will be placed at the
- point where you quit reading messages. If you have
- read the very last message in an area, you will be
- placed at the last message when starting to read.
- You cannot combine this option with the above option.
-
- Jump to Next Area with Unread Messages:
- When you are finished reading a message area, the
- reader will automatically return to the "Choose Area
- to Read" selection window. If you would like the
- reader to automatically advance to the NEXT message
- area with UNREAD messages, set this option to "Yes".
- If set to "No", the reader's highlight bar will stay
- on the current selection area and you can advance to
- another area manually.
-
- Only Display Areas with Messages:
- When loading a mail packet, the reader normally
- displays ALL message areas that you have turned on in
- your offline mail door configuration, even if they
- have 0 messages in them. If you would like the
- reader to only display message areas that actually
- contain messages at the "Choose Area to Read"
- selection window, simply toggle this option to "Yes".
-
- Inform when All Messages have been Read:
- After choosing a message area to read through the
- "Choose Area to Read" selection window, the reader
- normally processes the message area and begins
- reading immediately. However, if this menu item is
- set to "Yes", the reader will display a dialogue box
- with the question: "All messages have been read.
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 16
-
-
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-
- Read Again? (Y/N)" if you have already read all of
- the messages in the area you have just selected.
-
- Delete Mail Packet After Reading:
- This menu option comes into play when you have
- finished reading a mail packet and are ready to quit
- back to the reader's main menu. If this option is
- set to "Ask", the reader will ask you if you want to
- delete the mail packet you are about to close. If
- you select "No" to this menu item, the packet will
- always be preserved (you can later delete the mail
- packet through the PACKET MANAGEMENT function
- available on the main menu).
-
- Please be aware that once you delete a mail packet,
- none of the message in that packet can be read again!
- For this reason, there is no "Yes" default to this
- menu item.
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- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 17
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- Enter/Reply Options
- -------------------
-
- Add To Existing Reply Packets:
- When the reader unpacks a mail bundle to read, it
- checks your reply storage directory to see if a reply
- packet already exists for the BBS that you are about
- to read mail for. If one does exist, you are
- normally asked whether you would like to continue
- adding to the reply packet or if you want to delete
- it. (This is the default "Ask" mode for this option)
-
- Some users of the mail system have developed script
- files and batch files for their communications
- programs that automatically delete the reply packet
- after it has been uploaded to the BBS. Therefore,
- they assume that if a reply packet exists in the
- reader's upload directory that it has NOT yet been
- uploaded, and it should be added to.
-
- When this option is set to "Yes", the reader skips
- the "Add to this mail reply bundle" prompt, and
- automatically assumes that the packet should be added
- to.
-
- When to Quote Message Replies:
- When replying to a message, it is often a good idea
- to quote a small portion of the message you are
- replying to so that the context of your message is
- understood. The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader has
- three options for quoting messages.
-
- You can tell the reader to NEVER quote a message
- ("No"). In this case, the reader will load your
- editor with an "empty" file, just as if you were
- entering a brand new message.
-
- If you select "Yes" for this option, the reader will
- always quote the message you are replying to, and
- load your editor with the quoted message intact.
-
- If you would like to select whether or not to quote
- the message for each one that you reply to, set this
- option to "Ask". Each time your press <R> or <Alt-R>
- to reply to a message, the reader will first ask you
- whether or not to quote the current message.
-
- Insert Quote Header in Replies:
- When quoting a message reply, the reader will insert
- the "Quote Header" you have defined under the
- 'Strings' setup menu item (to be discussed later).
- If you want the quote header to appear in your
- messages you must enable this option and also define
- a Quote Header String to be used.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 18
-
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-
- Prefix Reply Subjects with "Re:":
- When replying to a message, the reader normally takes
- the subject line of your reply, and prefixes it with
- the "Re:" string. This enables other people to see
- that this is indeed a reply to a message, NOT the
- original message.
-
- For example, if you were to reply to a message with
- the subject of "Blue Wave", the message subject would
- become "Re: Blue Wave".
-
- Some people like this procedure, and many others do
- not. Therefore, you can configure the reader to
- behave as you like in this regard.
-
- Automatically Save Messages and Replies:
- After entering a message through the reader, a small
- menu normally appears with the following options:
- Save, Edit, Kill, Check Spelling, or Make Carbons.
- You have the option of bypassing this menu and
- forcing a SAVE of the message by setting this menu
- item to "Yes". Please be aware, however, that if you
- need to edit or delete a message that you have
- entered, it will be necessary to do so through the
- reader's VIEW/EDIT/KILL Replies menu item.
-
- Quote-O-Meter Warning Threshold:
- The Blue Wave Mail Reader has an internal quote
- percentage calculator that can help you to keep the
- amount of quoted material in your message replies
- under control. When quoting messages, it is always
- best to keep the amount of quoted material to only
- the essential clips of text that you need by deleting
- lines that are unnecessary.
-
- The reader defaults to a quote-warning ratio of 80%
- on first time installations. This means that after
- editing your message, the reader will scan your reply
- and warn you if over 80% of your message is quoted
- material. If you exceed the threshold designated
- here, you'll immediately be given the option of
- reediting your message or continuing.
-
- Although you can disable this option by setting the
- percentage to 0, it is highly recommended that you
- keep the warning level near the 90% mark. If your
- message text exceeds 90% of quoted material, you
- should seriously consider trimming your message down.
-
- Set Default Netmail Bits:
- When entering FidoNet Netmail through the reader, you
- are asked for the message attributes that you want to
- place on the message. This allows you to define the
- DEFAULT bits used. See "Entering FidoNet Netmail".
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 19
-
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- Tagline Configuration
- ---------------------
-
- Taglines (or signature lines, as previous versions of the
- reader referred to them) have fast become a 'second pastime' of
- many people. In fact, some networks even have tagline sharing
- echos and conferences where people swap their funny, witty, and
- sometimes cynical creations.
-
- Taglines have been dedicated a complete section in the
- documentation due to their popularity and the very powerful way
- in which The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader allows you to manage
- taglines.
-
- Tagline Selection Type:
- This menu item allows you to define the DEFAULT
- tagline selection type to be used for placing
- taglines on your messages. There are five possible
- choices here.
-
- If taglines do not interest you, and you do not want
- to be bothered with them at all, simply set this item
- to "None". You will never have to bother with the
- pesky things.
-
- If you are a creative person, and you want to
- customize a tagline for every message you write, set
- this option to "Manual". After entering a message
- through the reader, you'll be given an editing field
- which allows you to type your own.
-
- If you are adventurous, you can opt to have the
- reader select taglines randomly from a text file.
- (The reader comes with a sample tagline file called
- TAGLINES.BW). Taglines will then be selected at
- random from the tagline file that you can define in
- the 'Directories' portion of the setup menu.
-
- If you are finicky or want the most power out of the
- tagline selection process, set your tagline selection
- type to 'Prompt'. After each message you save in the
- reader, you'll be given a 'pop-up' list of all the
- taglines from your tagline selection file
- (TAGLINES.BW). Through this pop-up list, you can
- perform ALL of the above described tagline entry
- types, or simply select a tagline that suits your
- fancy.
-
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- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 20
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- If you are plain crazy, or love to have more fun with
- taglines than the average bear, hunt down a program
- called JOHN HANCOCK, written by Dan Moore. At the
- time of this writing, version 3.0 is the latest. If
- you cannot find this file locally, you are welcome to
- download it free from the Blue Wave Support BBS
- (information at the tail end of the documentation).
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader features internal
- support for this external tagline selection utility.
- Set the menu option to read 'J.Hancock' if you would
- always like to invoke John Hancock for your tagline
- selections.
-
- Whichever your preference, if you like taglines, it
- is highly recommended that you read the section of
- the documentation called 'TAGLINES' for complete
- information. The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader
- boasts one of the most powerful tagline selection
- systems available in an offline mail reader!
-
- Check for Dupes Before Adopting:
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader has the ability to
- adopt taglines directly out of messages that you are
- reading. When you adopt a tagline, not only do you
- give it a good home, but you can add it to your own
- personal collection of taglines. Adopting a tagline
- in the reader will place a tagline that is on the
- screen into your TAGLINES.BW file.
-
- When this option is turned on, the reader will scan
- your tagline file to make sure that the one you are
- adopting isn't already a part of your collection.
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- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 21
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- Memory Swapping Options
- -----------------------
-
- As mentioned previously in the documentation, the reader is
- capable of executing several types of external programs for
- your convenience and offline messaging productivity. In order
- to execute these programs, though, there must be enough free
- memory in the 640K DOS region of memory to execute them.
-
- It is possible that at certain points in an offline mail
- session, the reader will use nearly 300K of that available
- memory. If you factor in any memory resident programs that you
- may be running, and the memory required by DOS itself, it is
- very possible that some of your external programs will NOT have
- enough memory to run.
-
- The reader has the ability to swap all of its used memory to
- disk, EMS memory, or XMS memory. This leaves only 4K of the
- reader active, making plenty of room for your larger
- applications.
-
- Because both memory and disk swapping take some time, this part
- of the setup menu allows you to define when and where the
- reader should attempt to swap.
-
- Allow swapping to XMS Memory:
- When set to "Yes", you are giving the reader
- permission to attempt swapping to XMS memory. XMS
- memory is available on your system only if you are
- running an XMS compatible memory driver such as QRam,
- QEMM, 386^Max, the HIMEM.SYS driver supplied by DOS
- v5.0, or any number of other available drivers. If
- swapping to XMS memory fails, other swap options will
- be tried (if they are allowed), and as a last resort,
- a disk swap will be performed.
-
- Allow swapping to EMS Memory:
- In order for the reader to perform a successful EMS
- memory swap, you must be running a LIM 4.0 compatible
- EMS driver such as QEMM or 386^Max. The same
- provisions apply here as with the previous two menu
- items; if the swap to EMS memory fails, other
- allowable options will be tried. Only if all of the
- other (faster) options have failed will the reader
- attempt to swap to disk.
-
- Swap on Shell to Message Editor:
- When the reader is ready to load your text editor for
- editing messages, it will check to see if you have
- told it to swap first. If so, the reader will
- attempt a memory swap before loading the editor. If
- you have enough memory to run your editor without
- swapping, it is highly recommended that you do so.
- Swapping takes a bit of time, especially on floppy
- drives and slow hard drives.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 22
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- Swap on Shell to Archivers:
- Swap on Shell to Alt-Fkey Batch Files:
- Swap on Shell to Terminal Program:
- Swap on Shell to Spell Checker:
- Swap on Shell to John Hancock:
- Swap on Shell to External File Viewer:
- Swap on Shell to DOS:
-
- All of these work the same as the 'Swap on Shell to
- Message Editor' described on the previous page. They
- are provided to add more flexibility to your reader
- setup, rather than just having a single 'Use Memory
- Swapping' option.
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- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 23
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- Printer Configuration
- ---------------------
-
- Default Printer Port:
- The reader is able to talk directly to your printer
- for the purpose of printing hard copies of messages
- in a download packet and copies of your replies.
- Here you need to define the port that your printer is
- connected to.
-
- If you constantly get an error message indicating
- 'Printer is not responding', or 'Error writing to
- Printer', make sure that you have the correct port
- defined here. Supported printer ports are LPT1,
- LPT2, and LPT3.
-
- Printer Init String:
- Some printers require an initialization string to be
- sent to produce the desired output quality or font.
- The reader sends the printer initialization string
- EACH time you begin a print job. You can enter any
- characters here from the IBM character set. Many
- printers use 'escape sequences' for printer commands.
- In order to enter an ESCape character into the
- string, press <Ctrl-[>.
-
- Printer Reset String:
- This field functions very similar to the Printer Init
- String, but the reader sends the reset string to the
- printer AFTER each print job. Use this command if
- necessary to restore the state of the printer before
- the init string was sent.
-
- Send Form Feed After Printing Each Msg:
- When this option is turned on, the reader will send a
- form feed to your printer after printing each message
- in message reading mode or view replies mode.
-
- Send Form Feed After Printing Each Msg in Batch Mode:
- The reader prints in batch mode only when you have
- 'marked' messages for later printing. Batch printing
- mode is invoked from the "Choose Area to Read"
- selection window with the F5 key (Msg Utilities).
-
- It is highly recommended that this option be kept
- OFF, and is provided for those who really need the
- capability.
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- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 24
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- Color Configuration
- -------------------
-
- Custom Color Configuration:
- The custom color configuration option allows you to
- customize your screen colors while using the reader
- in 'message reading mode'. When you select this
- option from the menu, you will have the chance to
- change the color of several display items while you
- are reading messages.
-
- You'll be taken to a new screen. The top half looks
- very similar to the message reading screen. As you
- change your color configuration, the sample screen
- will be updated so you can immediately see what your
- color configuration will look like.
-
- After you change your color configuration, you will
- be asked if you would like to permanently save it.
- To make the color configuration active for the
- current session only, press 'N'. If you would like
- to permanently save your color configuration to disk,
- answer 'Y'.
-
- Version 1.00 Color Scheme:
- Selecting this menu item will set the color
- configuration to the Blue Wave version 1.00 default
- colors. The version 1.00 color scheme is a black
- background with bright colored highlights.
-
- Version 2.00 Color Scheme:
- Selecting this menu item will set the color scheme to
- the Blue Wave version 2.00 default colors. The Blue
- Wave version 2.00 color scheme is a blue message
- reading background, with easy-to-read pastel colors
- used for highlighting.
-
- Version 2.10 Color Scheme:
- Selecting this menu item will set the color scheme to
- the Blue Wave version 2.10 default colors. Version
- 2.10 of the reader allows more color configurability,
- primarily to the message header region of the screen.
- This color scheme exploits the new color
- configuration options; there is a cyan header
- background combined with a grey message reading
- background for a very dramatic message display.
-
-
- Those users with monochrome monitors may find that selecting
- the version 1.00 default color scheme will produce the best
- results. Of course, if you have a monochrome system, you are
- free to customize your color configuration so as to produce the
- best results for your system. For added convenience, the
- currently active color is displayed in words at the bottom of
- the split custom color configuration section.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 25
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- Video Configuration
- -------------------
-
- Write Method:
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader initially installs
- itself with DIRECT video screen writes turned on.
- Direct video writes are compatible with most systems
- today. However, if direct video writes do not work
- for you, set this option to BIOS.
-
- BIOS writes should not be used, if at all possible,
- due to the extremely slow screen updates that BIOS
- mode provides.
-
- CGA Snow Checking:
- Turn this option on ONLY if you have an older CGA
- video system that displays video 'snow' when the
- screen is updated too quickly. Enabling this option
- with other video systems will only display
- degradation of the video system updates.
-
- LCD Color Mapping:
- You should enable this option ONLY if you are running
- an LCD screen display that has trouble displaying the
- option settings on the SETUP menu. You can
- temporarily enable this option through the use of the
- -LCD command line parameter.
-
- Monochrome Color Mapping:
- You should enable this option ONLY if you are running
- a Monochrome video system. This menu item will cause
- the reader to 'map' all colors throughout the mail
- reader to a 'black and white' color scheme that is
- easy to view on monochrome monitors.
-
- Unpredictable results will occur if you are running a
- color system and toggle this menu item. Some screens
- in the reader will be black and white, while others
- will be in color. This is normal behavior. If you
- are running a color system, and desire the monochrome
- color mapping mode, set the option to ON, save your
- configuration, quit the reader, and restart again.
-
- Speech Software Compatible:
- Many hours have been spent on the speech software
- compatibilities in the reader. This option is
- provided for blind and visually challenged users who
- have voice synthesis hardware and software installed
- on their system. Please see the file SPEECH.DOC.
-
- This speech software compatibility is achieved by the
- use of Direct video writes where spoken words are
- either unnecessary or undesirable, and BIOS video
- writes where the words need to be spoken.
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 26
-
-
-
-
- If you do NOT have a voice synthesis system
- installed, you should NOT enable this option.
- Certain screen updates, particularly while reading
- messages, will be extremely slow, and the words will
- not be spoken anyway. Many thanks to Doug Langley
- for his help in getting speech software compatibility
- into The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader!
-
- Video Mode:
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader has the ability to
- use the extended line modes on VGA and EGA equipped
- computers.
-
- If the reader detects an EGA video system, it will
- allow you to set the number of lines displayed on the
- screen to 43.
-
- If the reader detects a VGA video system, it will
- allow you to set the number of lines displayed on the
- screen to 50.
-
- The extended line modes enable you to view more of a
- message on the screen at one time, and see more of
- the various selection windows.
-
- Set 25 Lines for Message Editor:
- If you are running in one of the extended line modes
- (43 or 50 lines per screen), it may be necessary for
- the reader to restore the video system to 25 line
- mode before shelling to your message editor.
-
- Some message editors cannot detect extended line
- modes, or will not restore the video system correctly
- before returning to the reader.
-
- If you experience problems when shelling to your
- message editor with extended line mode enabled, try
- turning this option on. The reader will set 25 line
- mode for your editor, and upon returning, will return
- the reader's video system to its original state.
-
- Set 25 Lines for Spell Checker:
- Set 25 Lines for DOS Shell:
- Set 25 Lines for Terminal:
- Set 25 Lines for External File Lister:
- All of these options work the same as the 'Set 25
- Lines for Message Editor' option described above.
- The only difference is that they work with their
- respectively identified external programs.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 27
-
-
-
-
- National Language Support
- -------------------------
-
- The National Language Support provided in The Blue Wave Offline
- Mail Reader is for the convenience of those who use the readers
- in countries that do not use the United States' time, date, and
- character conventions.
-
- On-Screen Time Format:
- If you have enabled the "On-Screen Clock" in the
- reader's SETUP menu, you can change the format of the
- time displayed in the upper right hand corner of the
- screen. There are 5 different options available, and
- you can cycle through the options by pressing ENTER.
-
- The first is "12:mm PM". This will display the time
- in a 12-hour format with either the designation AM or
- PM appended. This is the common format used in the
- US.
-
- The second available time format is "24:mm:ss". This
- will display the time in a 24-hour format with a
- moving seconds display. In this mode, the time is
- updated approximately once per second.
-
- "12:mm:ss" displays the time in a 12-hour format with
- a counting seconds display, much the same as
- described above.
-
- The final option is "24:mm". If this format is
- chosen, the reader will display the time in a
- strictly 24-hour format, with no moving seconds
- display.
-
- On-Screen Date Format:
- If you have enabled the "On-Screen Clock" in the
- reader, you can change the date format displayed in
- the upper left hand corner of the screen. There are
- 5 available options for the display of the current
- date.
-
- "Month D, YYYY" will display the full name of the
- month, the day of the month, and the current year.
- This is the most popular US date format.
-
- "DD Mmm YY" will display the current date in a more
- international format. The date is displayed with the
- day number first, the first 3 letters of the current
- month, followed by the last 2 numbers of the current
- year.
-
- "MM-DD-YY", "MM/DD/YY", and "DD/MM/YY" all function
- similarly. The only difference between them is the
- order of the month, day, and year and the number
- separator used.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 28
-
-
-
-
- Double-Byte Language Support:
- Some languages, such as Chinese, represent a "letter"
- by using 2 bytes, or characters on the screen. These
- languages also use the full range of characters
- available in the IBM 8-bit character set.
-
- This poses a problem when messaging on FidoNet,
- because the ASCII 141 character (ì) is used in the
- network as a "soft carriage return". In order to
- present messages properly, the reader must ignore
- this character completely. Because this is also a
- valid "letter" in double-byte languages, messages are
- often-times not shown properly for these users.
-
- Enabling this option only has one function; it
- prevents the reader from ignoring this character, and
- it will display it as any other character in the
- message.
-
- Because users of double-byte languages often must
- change this setting between messages or message
- areas, a special key has been assigned in Message
- Reading Mode to quickly toggle this function.
- Pressing the tilde key (ASCII 126 or ~) will switch
- quickly and easily between display modes.
-
- Enable Inbound Translations:
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader allows you to
- define a custom inbound translation table for every
- IBM 8-bit ASCII character from ASCII 33 to ASCII 255.
- When reading messages from disk, the reader will use
- the Inbound Character Translation Table defined to
- translate FROM: fields, TO: fields, SUBJECT: fields,
- and the message text if this option is turned ON.
-
- These translation tables are mainly for use by people
- whose languages require translations of certain
- characters to be read properly.
-
- Enable Outbound Translations:
- This option works in much the same way as "Enable
- Inbound Translations". However, when this option is
- enabled, it will perform the character translations
- on OUTBOUND messages. After entering a new message
- or reply, the reader will translate the FROM:, TO:,
- SUBJECT:, and message text according to the user
- defined Outbound Character Translation Table.
-
- Inbound Character Translation:
- Outbound Character Translation:
- These options will allow you to define the respective
- translation tables. Instructions for defining the
- character translations are given on-screen. The
- procedure is very self-explanatory, so a detailed
- expanation need not be given here.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 29
-
-
-
-
- The Directories Sub-Menu
- ------------------------
-
- The directories sub-menu allows you to define several
- directories that the reader will use throughout its execution.
- This is also where you will give the reader the name of your
- message editor (an editor that will save straight-ASCII text
- files), default file names used in the reader, and all of the
- command lines to call any optional external utilities you may
- want to set up.
-
- Download Directory:
- The download directory is where the reader will look
- for mail packets that you have downloaded from your
- host BBS system. Each BBS Sysop selects a "Packet
- Name" that identifies his or her BBS. When you
- download mail through The Blue Wave Offline Mail
- Door, or one of the generic QWK offline mail doors,
- you should either download it to the directory you
- specify here, or copy the mail bundle into this
- directory. If you enter a directory name that does
- not exist, The Blue Wave Offline Reader will ask you
- if you would like to create it. If you answer "y",
- the reader will attempt to create the directory. If
- the creation of the directory failed for one reason
- or another, you will be informed of this fact, and
- you should create it yourself from the DOS command
- line.
-
- Please note that the reader *needs* these directories
- in order to operate properly. If the reader was
- unable to create the directory, or if you wish to do
- it manually, it is absolutely necessary that you do
- so before opening a mail packet for reading. The
- expansion of your mail packet will probably fail if
- the download and work directory do not exist.
-
- Upload Directory:
- The upload directory is where The Blue Wave Offline
- Mail Reader will create your reply packets to be
- uploaded to the BBS. Reply packets are named
- according to the BBS's packet name that the sysop has
- chosen for his or her BBS. After you have completed
- reading a mail packet, and wish to return to the Main
- reader menu, your reply directory is checked to see
- if any files have been created that need to be
- uploaded to the BBS.
-
- When the reader detects that a packet should be made,
- the appropriate archiver is used to Mash your reply
- packet for transfer to the BBS. If you downloaded a
- mail packet called WILDBLUE.TU1, and have performed
- an Offline Configuration, a File Request, or have
- replies or entered new mail, a file called
- WILDBLUE.NEW will be created in the UPLOAD directory.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 30
-
-
-
-
-
- If you have generated replies during a QWK mail
- packet session, the reply file created by the reader
- will end with a ".REP" file extension, and be placed
- into the reader's UPLOAD directory.
-
- The next time you sign onto the BBS that you
- downloaded the mail packet from, you need to upload
- the resulting .NEW file (for Blue Wave doors) or .REP
- file (for QWK doors) so that the mail door can
- process your reply packet. After the mail packet has
- been successfully uploaded, you can delete the mail
- packet from your system.
-
- Please note that the upload directory must be
- present. Each time the reader is loaded, it attempts
- to make the appropriate directories, if they are
- missing. If you are having trouble with the reader
- and/or external archivers NOT Mashing your reply
- packet(s) properly, please be sure that the UPLOAD
- directory does indeed exist.
-
- Work Directory:
- The WORK directory is where the reader will tell the
- external archivers to unMash your mail packet. This
- directory should point to a drive and directory that
- has plenty of space to hold the completely unarchived
- mail packet. While you are reading a mail bundle,
- the complete archived packet is still left in your
- DOWNLOAD directory. If you are running on a floppy
- drive-based system, you should be sure that you
- download a small enough mail packet so that the
- completely unarchived packet will still have enough
- room to decompress onto one of your floppy drives.
-
- As with the DOWNLOAD and UPLOAD directories, the WORK
- directory *must* exist. When the reader is loaded,
- it does a check to be sure that the directory you
- have defined does indeed exist. If not, it attempts
- to create it. However, the reader will *not* abort
- if the directory cannot be made so that you have the
- opportunity to go to the SETUP menu and redefine your
- directories.
-
- When The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader is exited
- properly (through the Q)uit Option on the main menu),
- this directory should be removed automatically by the
- reader.
-
- You should NEVER place files in the WORK directory
- that you do not want to loose! The reader DELETES
- THIS ENTIRE DIRECTORY after closing a mail packet as
- part of the normal 'cleanup' process. If you define
- your work directory as a directory that already
- contains files, the reader will warn you.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 31
-
-
-
-
- Swap Directory:
- If you have enabled any of the memory swapping
- options on the reader's SETUP->Miscellaneous menu,
- you need to define a SWAP directory.
-
- The reader's overlay swap file consumes approximately
- 250K of disk space. The reader allows you to specify
- the drive and directory where you would like this
- swap file to be written. This would be particularly
- handy for a person running a floppy-based system.
- Because it takes some time to write this swap file,
- and read it back in again, it should probably be
- written to a hard disk. If your memory is tight
- because of running a RAMdisk, you could point the
- swap directory to your RAMdisk to make it lightning
- fast.
-
- In any case, you should enter your SWAP directory
- here. If this directory does not exist, the reader
- will attempt to create it.
-
- Editor File Path:
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader requires the use of
- an external editor for the purpose of editing replies
- and new messages. The reader comes packaged with a
- very simple, small, public domain editor called
- TED3.COM. (Tiny Editor) If you are not comfortable
- using this editor, or you prefer to use a different
- editor than TED3.COM, you should give the name of the
- editor you would like to use here.
-
- By default, upon initialization of the reader,
- TED3.COM is inserted in this field. Two other
- excellent editors that perform well with The Blue
- Wave Offline Mail Reader are BOXER by David Hamel,
- and QEDIT by SemWare.
-
- Although you do not need to enter the full drive,
- path, and file name of your editor here, it is highly
- suggested. TED3.COM will work just as well as
- C:\BWAVE\TED3.COM, but each time the reader tries to
- load the editor, a full search of your DOS path must
- be done in order to locate it. By supplying the
- reader with the full path specification, it will
- significantly decrease the amount of time it takes to
- load the editor. In other words, if your editor is
- NOT on your DOS path statement, you *must* specify
- the full drive, directory, and file name. The same
- should be done with ALL of the external programs that
- you define in the reader's setup menu.
-
- If the reader encounters an @F in the editor command
- line, it will replace it with the file name of the
- message text to be worked on. If @F is not found the
- file name will be passed LAST on the command line.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 32
-
-
-
-
- Spell Checker Command Line:
- The Blue Wave Offline Reader is capable of
- interfacing with an external spell checking program.
- Many people use a spell checker to spell check their
- messages and replies for obvious spelling errors. A
- spell checker that comes highly recommended by many
- users is ShareSpell; a ShareWare spell checking
- program which can be found on many BBSes, including
- the Blue Wave Support BBS. At the time of this
- writing, the latest version of ShareSpell available
- was 2.30. ShareSpell is written by Acropolis
- Software.
-
- The same rules for defining the spell checker command
- line apply as for defining the editor command line
- described above.
-
- Most spell checkers require you to pass the file name
- on the command line of the file that you want to
- check. A simple command line for ShareSpell would be
-
- C:\SSPELL\SS.EXE @F
-
- The '@F' in the command line causes the reader to
- REPLACE the '@F' with the name of the file that
- contains your message text. As long as you have the
- '@F' in the command line, the reader will worry about
- passing the file name to spell check.
-
- Terminal Command Line:
- The reader has a quick and convenient way to access a
- user defined terminal (or communications) program.
- From anywhere within the reader, you can press the
- keys <Alt-T>, and the Terminal Command Line will be
- executed.
-
- The rules for defining the Editor Command Line also
- apply to the Terminal Command Line; you must include
- the full path and file name of the batch file or
- program to run if it is NOT on your DOS Path.
-
- The terminal command line does not pass any command
- line parameters to your program or DOS.
-
- To help in automating your offline mail sessions, a
- command line parameter added to the reader will
- automatically load and execute your terminal program
- as soon as it reaches the main menu.
-
- Running "BWAVE -t" from the DOS command line will
- cause the reader to execute the Terminal Command Line
- as soon as it reaches the main menu. This command
- line parameter will work on both unregistered and
- registered versions of the reader, however,
- unlicensed copies must wait for the ShareWare notice.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 33
-
-
-
-
- External LIST Command Line:
- The reader has a very simple built in ASCII File
- Viewer, or LIST program which is available by
- pressing <Alt-L> from anywhere within the program.
-
- This command line definition is supplied for those
- who would like a more powerful file lister, such as
- Vernon D. Buerg's LIST.COM to be accessible while
- using the reader.
-
- If *no* command line is defined here, the reader will
- prompt you for a file name to view when pressing
- <Alt-L>. It will then use the internal file lister
- to display the file to your screen, allowing you to
- scroll through the file.
-
- However, if you do define a command line here, the
- reader will prompt you for a file name, and then pass
- control to the external list command line that you
- set up. In order to get the file name that you enter
- in the reader to be passed to the external list
- program, you must use the '@F' token, just like the
- Spell Checker Command Line. A sample command line
- for the external LIST command might be:
-
- C:\UTIL\LIST.COM @F
-
- Of course, you will need to replace 'C:\UTIL\' with
- the actual drive, path, and file name of the program
- that you would like to call.
-
- John Hancock Command Line:
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader sports a very
- simple interface to the external John Hancock tagline
- selection and beautification utility. John Hancock
- is a ShareWare program by Dan Moore which allows you
- to select taglines, modify defined taglines, and
- much, much more. Full details on installing the John
- Hancock program are given in the section of the
- documentation about Taglines.
-
- If you have John Hancock installed on your system,
- and it is located in the directory C:\BWAVE\JHANCOCK,
- the command line:
-
- C:\BWAVE\JHANCOCK\JH3.EXE
-
- Is all you need to place here. The reader does not
- pass any command line parameters to the John Hancock
- program.
-
- All ShareWare programs that are discussed in the preceding
- pages are available on BBS systems everywhere. If you have
- trouble locating any of these files, you are welcome to
- download them free of charge from The Blue Wave Support BBS.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 34
-
-
-
-
- Tagline File Name:
- When entering or replying to messages, The Blue Wave
- Offline Mail Reader allows you to select a Tagline in
- 4 different ways, or none at all. If the Tagline
- Selection Type is set to PROMPT or RANDOM, the file
- defined here will be used to pull taglines from. If
- this file does not exist, the reader will show an
- error message, and allow you to enter a tagline
- manually.
-
- This default Tagline File Name can be overridden for
- each BBS, and even for each message area on different
- BBSs, allowing you the most flexibility of any
- offline mail system. Please see the section of the
- documentation on 'Taglines' for more information.
- Specifically, you can scan the documentation for
- "TAGFILES.BW". A sample override file, TAGFILES.BW,
- should have been enclosed with your copy of the
- reader.
-
- Default Message Save File:
- When reading messages with the reader, you may happen
- upon a message which you would like to save to disk
- as an ASCII file. The reader provides the "S"
- command while reading messages that does just that.
-
- Here you can define the default ASCII save file name
- that you would like to use. This simply saves you
- the trouble of typing the file name each and every
- time that you want to save a message to disk.
-
- The reader uses a special macro that gets expanded
- before you save the file to disk: @AT@.
-
- @AT@ is replaced by the area's AREA TAG before
- committing the message to disk. The Area Tag is
- supplied by the host BBS system, and often reflects
- the name of the message area that you are reading.
-
- For instance, the International Blue Wave Support
- Echo on FidoNet has the area tag of "BLUEWAVE". The
- default save file name of "C:\BWAVE\SAVE\@AT@.TXT"
- would be expanded to "C:\BWAVE\SAVE\BLUEWAVE.TXT"
- automatically for you.
-
- Default Replies Save File:
- The default Replies Save File is very similar to the
- default message save file, except it is used while
- viewing your replies through the reader's Reply
- View/Edit/Kill mode. The replies manager allows you
- to save messages to disk with the "S" - save reply to
- disk command.
-
- The reader also allows the use of the macro "@AT@" in
- the default replies save file, as described above.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 35
-
-
-
-
- Default Keyword List File:
- When reading messages, it is often necessary to
- perform a 'keyword search' to limit the reader to
- only displaying messages that contain key words or
- phrases. The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader sports a
- VERY powerful keyword search system which allows you
- to type keywords manually during a message reading
- session (the <Alt-K> command), or using a 'keyword
- list file' (the <K> command).
-
- A sample keyword list file should have been supplied
- in your distribution archive of the reader. The file
- KEYWORDS.BW contains information on building and
- customizing your own keyword list search file.
-
- For complete information on keyword searching, see
- the section titled "Keyword Searching", later in the
- documentation.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 36
-
-
-
-
- The Archivers Sub-Menu
- ----------------------
-
- The Archivers sub-menu allows you to define the paths and
- command lines that will be used by the reader when Mashing and
- unMashing your mail and reply packets. There are 6 entries on
- this sub-menu. You can define compression and decompression
- command lines for ZIP, ARC, PAK, LZH, and ARJ. There is also
- an entry called "External". You can use this "External" Slot
- for any archivers/unarchivers that may come along that the
- reader will not recognize.
-
- When the reader does not recognize the archive format of a mail
- packet, the command line entered in the "External" slot will be
- used. If that command line fails, the reader will abort that
- mail packet, and take you back to the Main Blue Wave Menu.
-
- Two "macro" characters may be used in the command line
- definitions for automatic insertion of the file names and
- directories by The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader.
-
- Where the archiver command line needs the name of the file to
- be worked on, you should use the "macro" @F. The other
- "macro", @I, is usually used as the second command line
- parameter to the archiver or unarchiver. For example, suppose
- your download directory is "C:\BWAVE\DOWN", and the packet that
- you are about to open is WILDBLUE.TU1. You also have your work
- directory defined as "C:\BWAVE\WORK". In order for The Blue
- Wave Reader to successfully decompress your mail packet (ZIP
- compression is assumed), it would need to execute the following
- command:
-
- PKUNZIP C:\BWAVE\DOWN\WILDBLUE.TU1 C:\BWAVE\WORK
-
- If you have this defined as your ZIP decompression command
- line:
-
- PKUNZIP.EXE @F @I
-
- the reader would do all of the work for you. For each
- compression type that the reader supports, a sample command
- line will be given. Please remember that if the archiver or
- unarchiver you are trying to use is NOT located on your DOS
- path or in your reader directory, you will need to insert the
- FULL drive:\path\filename.ext in these fields. Otherwise, you
- may just specify the name of the .EXE or .COM file.
-
- ZIP:
- These are the suggested command lines for ZIP
- compression and decompression:
-
- PKZIP.EXE @F @I
- PKUNZIP.EXE @F @I
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 37
-
-
-
-
- ARC:
- These are the suggested command lines for ARC
- compression and decompression. (Please remember that
- you may substitute PKPAK and PKUNPAK for PKARC and
- PKXARC below).
-
- PKARC.COM -a @F @I
- PKXARC.EXE @F @I
-
- PAK:
- These are the suggested command lines for PAK
- compression and decompression:
-
- PAK.EXE a @F @I
- PAK.EXE e @F @I
-
- LZH:
- These are the suggested command lines for LZH
- compression and decompression. (Please note that you
- may substitute LHARC.EXE for LHA.EXE below).
-
- If you have "Display Archiver Output" set to YES:
- LHA a /m @F @I
- LHA e /m @F @I
-
- If you have "Display Archiver Output" set to NO:
- LHA a /m /n2 @F @I
- LHA e /m /n2 @F @I
-
- The purpose of the /n2 switch when using LHA is to
- prevent 'bleed through' of the archiver output when
- "Display archiver output" is set to NO.
-
- ARJ:
- These are the suggested command lines for ARJ
- compression and decompression:
-
- ARJ.EXE a -e @F @I
- ARJ.EXE e @F @I
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 38
-
-
-
-
- The Strings Sub-Menu
- --------------------
-
- "Any Name" Default:
- This field is provided as a convenience to you. It
- could possibly serve several purposes, such as to
- monitor mail to other people, or look for mail
- addressed to a different alias than the one(s) you
- use on BBS systems. When the reader encounters a
- message addressed TO or FROM the "Any Name" Default,
- it will act as if it has encountered a PERSONAL
- Message. If you have "Beep On Personal Messages"
- enabled, the reader will sound a beep when this name
- is encountered.
-
- Some BBS host systems have message areas that allow
- you to post under ANY alias you like; that is to
- say, you can modify the FROM: field of a when
- replying or entering a message. The name in the "Any
- Name" Default field will be used to fill in the FROM:
- field automatically. Of course, you may change the
- field if you like. It is only provided as a default
- response.
-
- QWK Alias Name:
- One of the weaknesses of the QWK formatted mail
- packet is the fact that only ONE name is passed from
- the host BBS system to the reader. This presents a
- problem when you are scanning for personal messages,
- especially if you use both your real name and an
- alias for posting messages.
-
- The QWK Alias Name is used to scan for personal
- messages while you are using the reader in "QWK
- mode". You may place any name here you like.
-
- Quote Header String:
- The Quote Header string can be used to add some
- 'color' to your messages. If you have enabled the
- option "Attach Quote Header to Replies" in the setup
- menu's Enter/Reply Options menu, this is the string
- that will be placed at the beginning of all of your
- replies. Several MACRO characters are available,
- which are replaced by actual text when quoting:
-
- @F - This is replaced with the name in the FROM:
- field of the message you are replying to.
- @FF - This is the First name ONLY in the FROM: field.
- @FL - This is the Last name ONLY in the FROM: field.
- @T - This is replaced with the entire TO: field.
- @TF - This is the First name ONLY in the TO: field.
- @TL - This is the Last name ONLY in the TO: field.
- @S - This is replaced with the SUBJECT Field.
- @D - This is replaced with the DATE of the message.
- @N - Create a New Line, or carriage return.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 39
-
-
-
-
-
- The Registration Sub-Menu
- -------------------------
-
- When you register your copy of the reader with Cutting Edge
- Computing, you will be issued a registration code. The
- registration code you receive will tell the reader that you
- have indeed paid for your copy, and will unlock the registered
- user only features in the mail system. Additionally, the
- ShareWare notice screen will disappear, and there will not be a
- delay when loading the reader.
-
- When you receive your registration information from Cutting
- Edge Computing, you will need to enter the information that is
- on this menu:
-
- Registration Name:
- Here you should enter your name, EXACTLY as it
- appears on the registration form you received from
- Cutting Edge Computing. If you do not enter it
- EXACTLY as shown on your form, the reader will not
- acknowledge your registration properly. If you used
- a middle initial or other punctuation, and this is
- displayed on your registration form, you must enter
- it here. Example: "Jonathan Q. Public".
-
- Registration Number:
- Upon receiving your registration papers, you will
- receive a unique registration code. Enter the code
- here EXACTLY as it appears on your registration form.
-
-
- Secondary Registration
- ----------------------
- The secondary registration fields are provided so that two
- separate users can enter registration information into the
- reader. The secondary registration name and number serve the
- same purpose as the primary registration; they tell the reader
- that the person reading the mail packet is a registered user.
-
-
-
-
-
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-
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-
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-
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-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 40
-
-
-
-
-
- GLOBAL COMMAND KEYS
- -------------------
-
- Before we begin discussing the operation of the reader, it seems
- appropriate to discuss the keys that are available throughout the ENTIRE
- reader. At *any* point in the execution of the reader, the following key
- presses will activate the described function.
-
- <Alt-H>
- -------
- Pressing <Alt-H> from anywhere within the reader will activate
- the Global Command Key help window. This help window briefly
- describes all of the keys that are available to be called
- globally.
-
-
- <Alt-D>
- -------
- Perhaps the most useful of the global command keys is <Alt-D>.
- The <Alt-D> hotkey will cause the reader to shell to DOS. To
- exit the DOS shell and return to your mail reading session,
- simply type "EXIT" at the DOS command line, and press ENTER.
- The reader will resume execution at the exact point in which
- the shell to DOS was activated.
-
-
- <Alt-C>
- -------
- Another useful function of the reader is the <Alt-C> hotkey.
- This hotkey causes the reader to jump to the SETUP, or
- Configuration menu. Unlike the other global hotkeys, the <Alt-
- C> hotkey is DISABLED when you are at the reader's main menu.
- To enter the setup while you are at the main menu, simply
- select the "SETUP" menu item.
-
- When you enter the SETUP menu through the <Alt-C> hotkey, a few
- menu items will be disabled. Changing the WORK directory, the
- DOWNLOAD directory, or the UPLOAD directory is not allowed when
- jumping to the setup menu with this hotkey. Additionally, you
- cannot change video modes (25/43/50 line modes) when you do not
- enter the SETUP menu through the main menu.
-
- This function is provided to make quick changes to your
- configuration while you are currently processing a mail packet.
-
-
- <Alt-B>
- -------
- The <Alt-B> hotkey is provided for mail addicts world-wide.
- The users of Blue Wave affectionately call this the "Boss Key".
- If you are hard at work reading messages and your boss happens
- to walk in, a quick press of the <Alt-B> key will take care of
- any prying eyes. The screen is cleared, and a fake "C:\DOS"
- prompt is displayed. You MUST press the ESCape key to exit.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 41
-
-
-
-
- <Alt-I>
- -------
- The <Alt-I> hotkey will pop up an information window which
- contains information about the version of the reader you are
- using. The version number, the copyright holder, and the
- registered status appear at the top of the window.
-
- The bottom half of the window provides you with useful
- information about the operating environment of the reader. The
- amount of free memory available to the reader is displayed,
- along with the free disk space on your WORK drive.
-
- If the reader's auto-DESQview detection finds that DESQview is
- running on your system, the version of DESQview will also be
- displayed.
-
-
- <Alt-1>
- -------
- Pressing the <Alt-1> key combination (the "1" key must be the
- one above the lettered keys on the keyboard. Pressing <Alt>
- along with the "1" on the keypad will NOT work correctly) will
- bring up a Reminder Timer.
-
- The reminder timer serves as a very useful tool. You can
- define the number of minutes you would like the reader to wait
- before reminding you that your dinner is burning (or any other
- life-threatening event).
-
- When the alarm timer has expired, you will be given a screen
- show, complete with alarm noise and a snooze button!
-
-
- <Alt-L>
- -------
- Pressing <Alt-L> will pop up a dialogue box which asks you for
- a file name to view. The purpose of the <Alt-L> hotkey is to
- allow you to view text files on your drive(s) while using the
- reader.
-
- If you have an "EXTERNAL LIST COMMAND LINE" defined in the
- reader's setup menu, the reader will execute that command line
- with the file name you type in the window as the command line
- parameter.
-
- The reader also has a built-in file viewer. If you prefer to
- use The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader's internal file lister,
- simply delete any command line defined in this slot. The
- reader will automatically use the internal file lister if no
- command line is defined.
-
- If you are using the reader's internal file lister,
- instructions for moving within the lister will appear on the
- bottom line of the screen. To return to the normal operations
- of the reader, simply press ESCape.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 42
-
-
-
-
- <Alt-T>
- -------
- The <Alt-T> command is provided as a quick and easy way to
- enter your favorite terminal (or communications) program. When
- you press <Alt-T> from anywhere within the reader, the
- "TERMINAL COMMAND LINE", defined in the reader's setup menu, is
- executed.
-
- Registered users of The Blue Wave Offline Mail System also have
- the option of using the "-t" command line parameter. If you
- execute the reader with the command line "BWAVE -t", the reader
- will automatically execute the terminal command line upon
- reaching the main menu. For advanced users, it is possible to
- set up batch and script files to completely automate your
- offline mail sessions!
-
-
- <Alt-F1> through <Alt-F10>
- --------------------------
- Pressing <Alt-F1>, <Alt-F2>, <Alt-F3>, and so on will cause the
- reader to execute a BATCH file called "ALTF1.BAT", "ALTF2.BAT",
- "ALTF3.BAT", and so on.
-
- The Alt-FKey batch files are provided as a further convenience
- to you, since you can define your own programs to run through
- the reader.
-
- As an example, you can create a batch file called ALTF7.BAT in
- your reader's directory that calls up your favorite word
- processor. When you press <Alt-F7>, this batch file will
- automatically be called by the reader.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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-
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- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 43
-
-
-
-
-
- THE MAIN MENU
- -------------
-
- After your initial configuration is complete, you will be returned to The
- Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader's MAIN Menu. The main menu will also
- appear as the first menu each time you load BWAVE.EXE from the DOS
- command line.
-
- From the Main Menu, you can select from five options: Open Mail Packet,
- Closed Packet Menu, Packet Management, Setup Parameters, and Quit.
-
-
- Open Mail Packet
- ----------------
- When you select "O"pen Mail Packet from the main menu, the
- reader will do a quick scan of the directory you have defined
- as your "Download Directory" in the SETUP Menu. The reader
- will attempt to find all packets that it believes to be Blue
- Wave Mail Packets, or QWK Mail Packets.
-
- Any file whose file extension falls into one of the categories
- below will be displayed in a selection window:
-
- .Sa1 - .Sa9 ---|
- .Su1 - .Su9 | Mail packets with these extensions normally
- .Mo1 - .Mo9 | are Blue Wave Mail Door-generated mail packets
- .Tu1 - .Tu9 |
- .We1 - .We9 | The file extension indicates the day of the
- .Th1 - .Th9 | week the file was downloaded.
- .Fr1 - .Fr9 ---|
-
-
- .QWK The .QWK file extension normally indicates
- .QW1 - .QW9 that the file was downloaded from a generic
- QWK-style mail system.
-
- .1 - .9 ---| The reader allows you to rename mail packets
- .01 - .99 | to have purely numerical extensions so that
- .001 - .999 ---| many mail packets can be saved for later use.
-
- You are allowed to rename mail packet extensions however you
- like. The reader does not care if you rename a .QWK packet to
- have a .971 file extension, nor does it care if you rename it
- to have a .Su7 file extension. The reader will auto-detect the
- type of mail packet it is after decompression.
-
- All mail packets are sorted in the packet selection window from
- NEWEST to OLDEST. Therefore, you should be able to find your
- newest mail packets at the top of the list. You can scroll
- through the list of mail packets with your cursor keys or your
- mouse to highlight the packet you would like to read. When you
- have highlighted the correct packet, press ENTER.
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 44
-
-
-
-
- After the packet has been selected, the reader will decompress
- the mail bundle to your defined WORK directory, process the
- mail packet, and then look for any reply files you may have
- waiting in your UPLOAD directory. If a reply packet is found
- for the BBS you are about to read mail for, you will be asked:
-
- A Reply Packet Exists for this BBS. Do you want to ADD to it?
-
- If you answer "Y", the reader will then begin to decompress
- your reply packet to the WORK\REPLY directory so that it can be
- added to during your mail session. If you answer "N", the
- reader will DELETE the reply packet for you, and continue with
- the mail reading process.
-
- If the unpacking of the mail packets was successful, you will
- be taken to the OPEN PACKET MENU (described later).
-
- If the unpacking of the mail packets was NOT successful, the
- reader will give you some type of error message, and then
- return you to the main menu. In order to read the troublesome
- mail packet, it will be necessary to correct the error
- condition (it is usually a wrong DECOMPRESSION COMMAND LINE)
- and attempt to reload the mail packet.
-
-
- Closed Packet Menu
- ------------------
- In order to enter the Closed Packet Menu, you must have
- downloaded at least one Blue Wave Mail Packet or QWK mail
- packet from a BBS, and have opened the mail packet with the
- "Open Mail Packet" menu command. Each time a mail packet is
- opened, the reader compares the INFormation file (*.INF)
- contained in the mail packet with any that may be located in
- the main Blue Wave directory. If you do not have an
- INFormation file from that BBS, or if the INFormation file you
- have is older than the one contained in the mail packet that
- you are opening, the reader will make a copy of it in the
- current directory.
-
- The Closed Packet Menu allows you to enter new messages,
- perform offline configurations, enter file requests, and edit
- or kill replies without having to have a current packet for the
- BBS you would like to work with. This is a feature not
- available in most offline mail readers.
-
- When you select "C"losed Packet Menu from the Blue Wave MAIN
- menu, you will be shown a list of all BBSs that you have
- previously downloaded and read mail from. Highlight the BBS
- that you would like to work with, and press ENTER. (If only
- one INFormation file is available, it will automatically be
- loaded by the reader.)
-
- As with the Open Packet Menu, the reader will scan your reader
- UPLOAD directory for any mail packet that may be waiting to be
- uploaded back to the host BBS system and ask to ADD to the pkt.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 45
-
-
-
-
- Packet Management
- -----------------
- The Packet Management system allows you to manage the mail
- packets that are sitting in the reader's DOWNLOAD directory.
- When selecting this menu item, a list of all mail packets in
- your download directory is generated and displayed in the same
- fashion as when selecting "Open Mail Packet".
-
- When using the Packet Management system, you can mass delete
- packets, delete single packets, and rename packets in your
- DOWNLOAD directory.
-
- To purge mail packets one at a time, move the highlight bar to
- the packet you would like to delete and press ENTER. The
- reader will then ask for confirmation. Type "Y" if you wish to
- delete the packet. Type "N" or ESC if you do not want to
- delete the file.
-
- To delete several mail packets at a time, move the highlight
- bar to the first packet you would like deleted and press the
- SPACEBAR. Continue this process until you have selected all
- packets that you would like purged. When done tagging packets,
- press ESC. The reader will then ask for confirmation before
- deleting the mail packets. To abort the deletion, press "N" or
- ESC. To delete the mail packets, type "Y".
-
- The packet management system also allows you to rename mail
- packets. To rename a mail packet, highlight the packet you
- want to rename. Then press F10, or click the left mouse button
- on the letters "F10" at the bottom of the screen. A popup
- window will appear in the center of the screen, and ask you for
- the new file extension you would like to place on the packet.
-
- When renaming mail packets from the DOS command line, it is
- very important that you NOT modify the root name of the file.
- The reader will not load the mail packet properly if the root
- name of the mail bundle is different from the names of the
- files inside of it. (This does NOT apply to QWK mail packets.
- QWK mail packets may be renamed any way you like).
-
-
- Setup Parameters
- ----------------
- Selecting "S" from the Main Menu will take you to the
- SETUP/Installation Menu. For full details on the SETUP menu,
- please see the previous section in the documentation.
-
-
- Quit The Blue Wave
- ------------------
- Pressing ESC or "Q" from the Main Menu will allow you to exit
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader normally. Whenever you use
- the reader, you should be sure to properly exit the program so
- that anything that needs to be done with your reply and/or mail
- packets may be processed. You may loose your replies otherwise!
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 46
-
-
-
-
- THE OPEN PACKET MENU
- --------------------
-
- After selecting "Open Mail Packet" from the main menu and your mail
- packet has been successfully opened, you will be shown a new screen with
- a new menu.
-
- This screen is referred to as the OPEN PACKET MENU. At the bottom of
- this screen, you will notice some information about the current packet.
- The file name of the packet that you have open is displayed on the top
- border of the information window. Inside the window, you will find the
- name of the BBS that the mail packet came from, along with the Sysop's
- name.
-
- At this point, your mail packet is open and ready for use. There are
- several choices on the Open Packet Menu, and each one will be described
- in detail below.
-
- Read Mail Packet
- ----------------
- Selecting "R"ead Mail Packet from the Open Packet Menu will
- allow you to read the mail that you have downloaded through The
- Blue Wave Mail Door or one of the generic QWK mail doors. You
- will be shown a list of all message areas that you are
- currently downloading, along with the total messages in each
- area, the number of messages in the area that you have NOT
- read, and the total number of personal messages in each area.
-
- Select the message area that you would like to read from this
- list, and press ENTER. The reader will then begin the message
- reading process for that message area. For the commands
- available while reading messages, please see the section titled
- "READING MESSAGES".
-
- The screen that is displayed after selecting "Read Mail Packet"
- is known as the "Choose Area to Read" selection window. Much
- of the power of the mail system is accessible through this
- selection window. Below are the descriptions of the functions
- available while at the "Choose Area to Read" selection window:
-
- <Tab>
- -----
- Position the highlight bar on a message area that you would
- like more information on, then press the <Tab> key. A popup
- window will appear on the screen with more information about
- the area that is highlighted.
-
- <Alt-P>
- -------
- The <Alt-P> key combination performs a global scan and read of
- all messages that are addressed TO you (personal messages).
- After pressing <Alt-P>, you have the choice of reading all
- personal messages, or only the UNREAD personal messages, if
- there are any in the mail packet.
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 47
-
-
-
-
- <Alt-K>
- -------
- The <Alt-K> key combination performs a packet purge function.
- While reading messages, you can 'mark' certain ones for
- deletion from a mail bundle. The <Alt-K> command is used to
- actually pack these deleted messages out of the mail bundle.
-
- The <Alt-K> command will also allow you to delete messages
- which have already been read in addition to messages that have
- been marked for deletion.
-
- <F1>
- ----
- As you read messages through the reader, it keeps several bits
- of information as to the 'status' of the message. These status
- bits include whether you have read the message, whether you
- have replied to the message, or whether you have marked the
- message for later replying, printing, deletion, or saving to an
- ASCII file.
-
- Pressing F1 will allow you to clear, set, or toggle the status
- of any or ALL of these bits in either the currently highlighted
- message area or all areas in the current mail packet.
-
- <F5>
- ----
- The F5 key is a very powerful tool when you want to save entire
- groups of messages to either your printer or disk file.
-
- As you read messages in the reader, you can 'mark' messages for
- later Saving, Printing, or Replying. When you are ready to
- either save or print these groups of messages, all that is
- necessary is to press F5.
-
- You will be first asked whether you would like to save messages
- to an ASCII file, or write them to the printer. Press 'S' to
- save messages to an ASCII file, or 'P' to print messages to
- your printer.
-
- The next screen will prompt you for which messages you would
- like to operate on. You can choose to operate on ALL messages,
- UNREAD messages, only your PERSONAL messages, or messages that
- are marked for Saving, Printing, or Replying.
-
- And finally, you will be asked if you would like to operate on
- ALL areas in your download packet, or only the currently
- highlighted message area.
-
- The reader will then proceed to perform the desired operation
- on the messages that you have indicated. If, at any time, you
- wish to abort the procedure, simply press your ESCape key or
- click the right mouse button. If you have indicated that you
- want to save messages to an ASCII file, the reader will then
- ask you for the file name to save the messages to.
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 48
-
-
-
-
- <F7>
- ----
- Pressing F7 will allow you to enter a message to the currently
- highlighted message area. The reader will perform the same
- steps as if you were entering messages elsewhere in the reader.
- For more information on entering messages, please see the
- section titled "ENTERING MESSAGES", later in the documentation.
-
- <F9>
- ----
- Pressing F9 while at the "Choose Area to Read" selection window
- will allow you to dynamically change the sorting parameter for
- the currently highlighted message area.
-
- After highlighting the message area that you would like to
- read, press F9. You will be given a small menu that asks you
- for your choice as to how you would like the messages sorted.
- You can choose to sort on the FROM: field, the TO: field, the
- SUBJECT: field, or to load the messages with no sorting done on
- them.
-
- <F10>
- -----
- The F10 key is another very powerful feature of The Blue Wave
- Offline Mail Reader. Pressing F10 at the selection window will
- allow you to read certain messages across different message
- areas.
-
- A secondary selection window will pop up on the screen asking
- you if you would like to read messages marked for Saving,
- Printing, Replying, all personal messages, or only unread
- personal messages.
-
- After pressing F10, the reader will gather all messages that
- you have selected from ALL message areas, and begin the message
- reading process.
-
- Enter New Mail in Any Area
- --------------------------
- The "E"nter New Mail In Any Area command will allow you to post
- messages in bases that you are not currently downloading. If
- you need to enter mail in a base that you are not downloading,
- or a base that currently has no messages in your download
- packet, you will want to enter this command.
-
- The reader will then display several message areas, including
- ones that you ARE currently downloading. Highlight the message
- area that you would like to enter the new message in, and press
- ENTER. The reader will go through the same process just as if
- you were entering mail through the message reading mode.
-
- When you are done entering mail, simply press ESCape, and you
- will be taken back to the Open or Closed Packet Menu. NOTE THAT
- SOME QWK DOOR IMPLEMENTATIONS DO NOT ALLOW THIS ITEM TO WORK!
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 49
-
-
-
-
-
- View, Edit or Kill Replies
- --------------------------
- Selecting "V"iew, Edit, or Kill Replies from the Open Packet
- Menu will allow you to see inside of your current reply packet
- (*.NEW files for Blue Wave Packets, or *.REP files for QWK
- packets).
-
- The replies manager is a very powerful system, and is described
- in full detail in its own section. Please see "THE REPLIES
- MANAGER" for full instructions on using the View, Edit, or Kill
- replies mode.
-
-
- Welcome Messages and Bulletins
- ------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Mail Doors and many of the QWK mail system doors
- provide the capability for the Sysop of the host BBS system to
- include Welcome Messages and Bulletins with your download
- packet. Many times these announcements contain listings of new
- message areas available and other important information.
-
- Selecting this menu item will present you with a list of all
- available bulletins and welcome screens enclosed in your mail
- packet. You can scroll through the listing of bulletins and
- select the one(s) you would like to view.
-
- Offline Configuration
- ---------------------
- Selecting "O"ffline Configuration from the Open Packet Menu
- will take you to the Offline Configuration Menu.
-
- The Offline Configuration Menu allows you to configure The Blue
- Wave Mail Door while you are using the reader and not connected
- to the host BBS system.
-
- This feature is DISABLED when reading a .QWK mail bundle, since
- the various QWK mail packaging systems simply do not provide a
- consistent, usable interface between the different systems.
- For full details, please see "OFFLINE CONFIGURATIONS".
-
- File Request/View New Files
- ---------------------------
- If a file called NEWFILES.??? exists in your mail packet, the
- reader will display a scrollable listing of the file on the
- screen. As you are viewing the new files listing, you can
- simply type <Alt-R> to pop up the file requesting window.
-
- If NEWFILES.??? does not exist in your mail packet, you will
- get an informational message, and the File Request window will
- become active.
-
- For more information on file requesting, please see "FILE
- REQUESTING", later in the documentation.
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 50
-
-
-
-
-
- Quit and Close Packet
- ---------------------
- Selecting "Q"uit and Close Packet from the Open Packet Menu
- will close the mail bundle you are currently working with, and
- return you to the Blue Wave Main Menu.
-
- If you have enabled the option to ALWAYS or PROMPT save of your
- message read pointers and marks, the *.XTI file built by the
- reader will be compressed into your mail bundle with the
- appropriate archiver.
-
- Before completely closing the packet, however, the reader will
- ask you if you would like to DELETE the mail packet (if you
- have enabled that option within the reader's setup menu). If
- you delete the mail bundle, please remember that there will be
- no way to read it again!
-
- The reader will then erase all of the files in your WORK
- directory (the uncompressed mail bundle), and archive any
- replies, offline configurations, or file requests that you have
- made during the current session. If the packet you are reading
- is a QWK style mail bundle, the upload file will end with a
- .REP file extension, and be placed in your reader's UPLOAD
- directory. If you are reading a mail packet from a Blue Wave
- Mail Door, your reply packet will end with a .NEW extension and
- will also be placed into your reader's defined UPLOAD
- directory.
-
- If a reply file is made, you should upload the resulting reply
- file the next time you sign onto the BBS that the mail packet
- came from. This will complete the mail download/upload cycle.
-
- If you do not upload your reply packet, your replies will never
- make it to the BBS, and any offline configurations you may have
- made will not become active.
-
- After the reader returns to the Main Menu, you are free to quit
- the reader, or load another packet to read!
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 51
-
-
-
-
-
- THE CLOSED PACKET MENU
- ----------------------
-
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader allows you to perform some of the same
- functions that are normally available on the Open Packet Menu EVEN WHEN
- YOU DO NOT HAVE A MAIL PACKET AVAILABLE FOR THE BBS YOU WOULD LIKE TO
- WORK WITH!
-
- In order to perform a "Closed Packet" function from The Blue Wave Offline
- Mail Reader, it is necessary to have downloaded and opened at least ONE
- mail packet from the BBS you would like to work with. Each time you open
- a mail packet for reading, the reader checks to see whether the current
- BBS information is newer than that which the reader has stored for use in
- the Closed Packet Menu. If so, the reader updates its information, and
- stores it in your main reader directory in a file known as the INF, or
- INFormation, file. The file's ROOT name will be the same as the packet
- name that the sysop has selected for his or her system. (If you download
- a packet called WILDBLUE.FR2, the reader will store a file called
- WILDBLUE.INF in your main reader directory.)
-
- When you select the Closed Packet Menu from The Blue Wave Offline Mail
- Reader's MAIN menu, the reader will initialize itself with the
- information stored in one of these files. If only one INFormation file
- is found, it will automatically be loaded, and the BBS information will
- appear on the lower four lines of your screen. If more than one
- INFormation file is available, you will be prompted as to which BBS you
- would like to select. Move the highlight bar to the appropriate BBS, and
- press ENTER.
-
-
- Enter New Mail in Any Area
- --------------------------
- Selecting this option from the Closed Packet Menu will allow
- you to enter mail in any area on the BBS that is available to
- you. The reader will go through the normal Message Entry
- screen, and then load your editor for you to enter the message.
-
-
- View, Edit, or Kill Replies
- ---------------------------
- View, Edit, or Kill Replies will allow you to edit any messages
- that may be in your current reply file (.NEW file for Blue Wave
- bundles, and .REP file for QWK bundles). For more information
- on using the replies manager, please see "REPLIES MANAGER"
- elsewhere in the documentation.
-
-
- Offline Configuration
- ---------------------
- When working with a BBS that uses a Blue Wave Mail Door, the
- reader will allow you to perform an Offline Configuration for
- the current BBS while at the Closed Packet Menu. Please see
- the section titled "OFFLINE CONFIGURATIONS" for detailed
- information on performing an Offline Configuration.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 52
-
-
-
-
- File Request
- ------------
- The reader will allow you to perform a File Request from the
- Closed Packet Menu, also. This function works the same as the
- "Open Packet Menu". For more information on File Requesting,
- please see the section in the documentation regarding "FILE
- REQUESTING".
-
-
- Quit to Main Menu
- -----------------
- After you have finished working at the Closed Packet Menu, you
- should select this option, and return to the Main Menu.
- Selecting "Q"uit will cause the reader to compress any reply
- packets that may need to be processed for uploading to the host
- BBS system.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 53
-
-
-
-
- OFFLINE CONFIGURATIONS
- ----------------------
-
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail System will allow you to perform Offline
- Configurations in a very simple, easy to use manner. The entire offline
- configuration process is menu driven, and does not require kludgy
- "messages" to operate, as is required when using other offline mail
- systems.
-
- First, a word about offline configurations. Offline Configuration is a
- way for you to communicate to The Blue Wave Mail Door any changes that
- you may want to make in your DOOR configuration. You can change your
- HotKeys mode, Xpert Mode, the message areas that you are downloading, and
- keywords/filters. In fact, the only thing that you cannot change through
- the Offline Configuration process is the selection of your Archiver and
- Protocol.
-
- Offline configurations can save you precious time and money, because you
- can take your time setting up The Blue Wave Mail Door the way you would
- like it without tying up the BBS and watching the phone company get rich.
-
- Offline configuration is a feature that is totally enabled upon
- registration of The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader. Since the reader and
- door are ShareWare products, you are given a fair chance to try them out
- before paying for the software. After 5 offline configurations, this
- feature is disabled for unregistered users. When you register your
- reader with Cutting Edge Computing, the door will allow you to perform as
- many offline configurations as you please.
-
- The reader communicates your offline configuration to the door through
- your UPLOAD, or reply packet. When you perform an offline configuration,
- a special file is placed into your .NEW packet. In order for the door to
- recognize that you have made an offline configuration, you will need to
- upload your .NEW packet through The Blue Wave Mail Door. After
- processing any messages that you have uploaded, you will see a message
- from the door indicating that it is processing your offline configuration
- request. Your new configuration is in effect immediately after your
- packet is uploaded. If you want your configuration to become active
- AFTER your current download session, you should upload the configuration
- after downloading your mail packet.
-
- When you first select "Offline Configuration" from either the reader's
- Open Packet or Closed Packet Menus, the reader will do a quick scan of
- your reply directory to see if any offline configurations are pending
- (waiting to be uploaded to the BBS.) If an offline configuration file is
- found, you will be asked if you would like to load the NEW information
- (that which is waiting to be uploaded to the BBS). To load the ORIGINAL
- information, select "N". To load the changes that are waiting to be
- uploaded, press "Y". The reader will then take you to the Offline
- Configuration Menu.
-
- The Offline Configuration Menu is only available while reading a mail
- packet from a Blue Wave Mail Door. QWK mail systems do not have a
- standard interface for offline configuration, so you will need to check
- with the sysop of the QWK system for instructions with his/her mail door.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 54
-
-
-
-
- Password
- --------
- Press ENTER on the Password option to choose the type of
- passwording (if any) you would like to use within The Blue Wave
- Mail System. You will then be asked to fill in two fields.
-
- The first field is the password that you would like to use to
- protect your access to either The Blue Wave Mail Door, The Blue
- Wave Offline Mail Reader, or both. Type your password here.
-
- The second field asks you which type of passwording you would
- like. You can selected between "None", which disables the
- passwording feature, "Door Only", "Reader Only", or "Both
- Reader and Door". Select the option you would like using the
- cursor keys, and press ENTER.
-
-
- Keywords
- --------
- The Blue Wave Mail Door will scan and bundle messages based
- upon Keywords that you may define. To learn how to use
- Keywords in The Blue Wave Mail Door, please see "Using The Blue
- Wave Mail Door", later in the documentation.
-
- Press ENTER on the Keywords option to edit the Keywords that
- you would like the door to use. You can use the cursor keys to
- move between the fields, and press F10 when done.
-
-
- Filters
- -------
- As with Keywords, The Blue Wave Mail Door will FILTER mail
- based upon strings that you may define as Filters. To learn
- how to use filters in The Blue Wave Mail Door, please see
- "Using The Blue Wave Mail Door" later in the documentation.
-
- Press ENTER on the Filters option to edit the Filters that you
- would like the door to use. You can use the cursor keys to
- move between the fields, and press F10 when done.
-
-
- Macros
- ------
- The Blue Wave Mail Door allows you to define up to 3 Bundling
- Command Macros. These macros allow you to enter a bundling
- command that you use frequently in just 2 keypresses while
- online. Again, this option can save you both online time and
- money.
-
- Pressing ENTER on the Macro Menu option will allow you to edit
- your 3 Blue Wave Bundling Command Macros. As with the previous
- fields, you can use the cursor keys to scroll through the
- fields. Press F10 or ENTER on the last field when you are
- finished editing your Bundling Command Macros.
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 55
-
-
-
-
- BBS
- ---
- Pressing ENTER on the BBS menu item will allow you to define
- whether or not HotKeys, Xpert Mode, and ANSI graphics in the
- door are ON or OFF.
-
- Additionally, the "D/L Msgs From You" toggle will tell the door
- whether or not you would like to receive messages in your mail
- packet that have your name in the "FROM:" field of the message.
- (Messages that you have entered on the BBS or through the
- offline mail system.)
-
-
- Areas
- -----
- Selecting the Areas menu item will allow you to toggle on/off
- the message areas on the BBS that you are currently scanning
- and downloading.
-
- You will be shown a list of all message areas available to you
- on the BBS that is currently active. The message areas that
- are currently ACTIVE (those which you are scanning through the
- door) will be indicated by an asterisk (*) in the left-most
- column. Inactive areas will not be highlighted.
-
- If an area is currently ACTIVE, and you wish to tell the door
- to stop scanning the area, highlight it and press the SPACE
- BAR. The (*) will disappear, indicating that it will no longer
- be active.
-
- If an area is currently INACTIVE, and you wish to begin
- scanning that area for mail, simply move the highlight bar to
- the desired message area and press the SPACE BAR.
-
- When you are done selecting or deselecting areas for scanning,
- press ENTER or ESCape. If the reader thinks that you have
- changed your area configuration, you will be prompted whether
- or not you wish to upload (send the Blue Wave Mail Door) your
- area configuration. Press ENTER or "Y" to save your area
- configuration to your .NEW packet. If you wish to discard the
- area infomration and keep it the same, press "N".
-
- The next time you log into The Blue Wave Mail Door and upload
- your .NEW packet, the door will activate and/or deactivate the
- areas that you wish. It will then give you a list of all
- active areas.
-
- Quit
- ----
- Selecting the Quit option will return you to the Open or Closed
- Packet Menu, depending on where you were when you entered the
- Offline Configuration Menu. If you have made changes to your
- door configuration, the reader will ask if you want to save the
- changes. If you want to save your changes, press "Y". You
- should then upload your resulting .NEW file to the mail door.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 56
-
-
-
-
-
- FILE REQUESTING
- ---------------
-
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail System incorporates a powerful File Request
- system to save you even more online time and money.
-
- File request sessions are controlled by the Sysop of each individual BBS
- system. Therefore, the BBS that you call may not support The Blue Wave
- Mail System's file request procedure. File Requesting is also limited in
- UNREGISTERED versions of The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader. You will be
- given 5 opportunities to try the system's file request sessions if you
- are an unregistered user. After you have exceeded this limit, you must
- either discontinue file requesting, or register your copy of The Blue
- Wave offline Mail Reader with Cutting Edge Computing. Registered users
- may file request any number of times, provided they do not exceed the
- Sysop's limit of files or any possible upload/download ratios.
-
- Entering your file request through the reader is simple; just choose
- "File Request" from either the Open or Closed Mail Packet Menu. You will
- then be able to enter up to 10 file names that you would like to download
- from the current BBS during your next upload/download session through The
- Blue Wave Mail Door. (The sysop may configure the door to allow less
- than 10 file requests. If less than 10 file requests are allowed, you
- will only be allowed to enter the number of file requests that your sysop
- allows). Wildcards in file names (the DOS '*' and '?' characters) are
- NOT supported.
-
- Whne you have entered a file request, the reader will include a special
- file in your upload (reply) packet indicating to the door which file(s)
- you would like to download. When you upload your packet through the
- door, it will search the BBS's file directories for the file(s) you have
- requested. If they are found, you will be given the chance to download
- them.
-
- When installing The Blue Wave Mail Door, the Sysop can indicate which
- protocols are BATCH, and which are SINGLE file protocols. The door will
- respond differently according to the protocol that you have chosen.
-
-
-
- Single-File Protocols
- ---------------------
- If you are using a protocol that has been installed as a SINGLE
- FILE protocol, you will be asked, one by one, whether or not
- you wish to download the file that you have requested while you
- are ONLINE with The Blue Wave Mail Door. Pressing "N" will
- skip the currently displayed file, and continue to the next
- file in your request packet. If you wish to download the file
- being displayed, press "Y". The door will then begin sending
- you the file with the protocol that you normally download mail
- packets with.
-
- Xmodem, Xmodem-1k, and Jmodem are examples of single-file
- protocols.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 57
-
-
-
-
-
- Batch Protocols
- ---------------
- If you are using a protocol that has been installed as a BATCH
- protocol, the door will always send you your requested files in
- a BATCH. Using a batch protocol gives you not only increased
- speed, but also greater flexibility.
-
- The door will build a "batch download queue" of the file(s)
- that you have selected. After the door as processed your last
- file request, the door will ask you whether or not you wish to
- continue with the file request session NOW.
-
- Pressing "Y" will immediately begin your download session. At
- this time you should tell your communications program to begin
- receiving a BATCH download.
-
- Pressing "Q" will abort the file request session, and continue
- just as if no file requests had been received.
-
- Pressing "N" will allow you to download the file requests at
- the same time you download your regular mail packet. The door
- will return you to the main menu, where you should select
- "D)ownload New Mail". After the door has gathered and bundled
- your mail packet, it will display the "normal" screen
- indicating the file name and size/time of your mail packet.
- You will also notice that it says "Req. Size:". The total size
- of your file request will be shown here. Begin your mail
- download as usual, indicating to your communications program
- that you will be receiving a BATCH download.
-
- The door will then begin sending all of the files in the
- "download queue", beginning with the files that you have
- requested. Your mail packet will be sent LAST.
-
- Examples of batch protocols include Zmodem, Ymodem, Ymodem-G,
- and HSLink.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 58
-
-
-
-
-
- READING MESSAGES
- ----------------
-
- It is highly probable that the great majority of the time you spend using
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader will be spent actually reading
- messages. When it comes right down to it, the entire purpose of the
- reader is to allow you to read your mail OFFLINE, while saving you money
- in phone connect charges and allowing others to access the host BBS
- system.
-
- The reader allows you to enter new messages and reply to current messages
- offline too. Besides the obvious savings in online time in replying, you
- are not pushed against time limits when creating messages offline. You
- have time to think your messages through and create useful replies. In
- fact, the advent of offline mail systems has not only increased the
- popularity of messaging on BBSs, but has made networking (with amateur
- networks such as FidoNet) expand into a huge pool of useful information.
-
- As you are probably aware, BBS message bases are usually divided into
- sub-topics somtimes called Conferences, Message Areas, Echos, and Special
- Interest Groups (SIGS). When you download your mail through The Blue
- Wave Mail System, these message area distinctions are preserved.
- Selecting "Read Mail Packet" from the reader's OPEN PACKET MENU will take
- the reader into "message reading mode".
-
- You will be shown a list of all of the areas that you have instructed the
- door to bundle messages in, along with the total number of messages in
- the area, the total number of UNREAD messages in the area, and the total
- number of PERSONAL messages in the area. To actually begin reading your
- mail packet, you need to highlight the message area that you would like
- to read, and press ENTER.
-
- If you have enabled the Automatic Title Scan option in the reader's SETUP
- menu, you will be shown a list of all messages in the current message
- area. The title scan allows you to "page" through the messages and begin
- reading with the message that you have highlighted. To begin reading
- your mail on the first message, simply press ENTER again when the title
- scan is shown.
-
- If you press ESCape while reading messages, the reader will take you back
- to the Title Scan screen, and position the highlight bar on the last
- message that you have read. You can then page through the messages some
- more, and press ENTER on the message to read, or press ESCape again to
- return to the "Choose Area to Read" selection window.
-
- There are various keys that are active while reading mail. Each one will
- now be explained below in detail. At any time while reading mail,
- pressing F1 will give you an abbreviated HELP screen, with short
- descriptions of each of these keys.
-
- Additionally, pressing <Alt-M>, clicking the MIDDLE mouse button, or
- clicking the LEFT mouse button while the mouse cursor is on the word
- "Menu" (on the 6th line of the screen), will cause the reader to display
- a pull-down menu system. All functions can be accessed through the menu.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 59
-
-
-
-
-
- Message Movement
- ----------------
-
- The following section will describe the keys available to you while
- reading messages in a message area. For full information on using the
- mouse to navigate the reader, please see the section titled "USING THE
- MOUSE", later in the documentation.
-
- ESCape
- ------
- Pressing ESCape while reading a message in an area will drop
- the reader backwards by one screen. If "Automatic Title Scan"
- is enabled in the reader's SETUP menu, you will be shown the
- Title Scan screen. If the Automatic Title Scan is OFF, the
- reader will drop to the "Choose Area to Read" selection screen.
-
-
- RightArrow
- Grey ENTER
- ENTER Key
- ----------
- Each of these 3 keys will advance you to the next message in
- the area. If you are currently reading the LAST message in an
- area, the reader will sound a short beep. Pressing any one of
- these keys again will automatically drop you back one screen.
- (The reader will act as if ESCape was pressed).
-
-
- LeftArrow
- Grey MINUS
- ----------
- These two keys will move you BACK one message in the current
- area. As with the "forward direction" keys, if you are reading
- the FIRST message in an area, the reader will beep once.
- Pressing these either of these two keys a second time will make
- the reader act as if an ESCape was pressed.
-
-
- UpArrow
- -------
- The UpArrow (cursor key) will scroll the current message UP one
- line. If you are at the top of the message, this key becomes
- inactive.
-
-
- DownArrow
- ---------
- The DownArrow (cursor key) will scroll the current message DOWN
- one line. If you are at the BOTTOM of the message, this key
- becomes inactive.
-
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 60
-
-
-
-
- PageDown
- --------
- The PageDown key (labeled PgDn or PgDwn on some keywords) will
- scroll the current message down one complete screen.
-
-
- PageUp
- ------
- The PageUp key (labeled PgUp on some keyboards) will scroll the
- current message down one complete screen, or page.
-
-
- SpaceBar
- Grey PLUS Key
- -------------
- The SpaceBar and Grey PLUS keys serve a dual-purpose in the
- reader. When a message contains more than one screen of text,
- pressing one of these keys will act as if PAGE DOWN was
- pressed. It will continue performing the PAGE DOWN function
- until the last page of the message is on the screen.
-
- When the last page of the message is on the screen, pressing
- the SpaceBar or Grey Plus key advances to the NEXT message in
- the message area.
-
-
- Home
- ----
- The HOME key will take you to the first "page" of the current
- message. If the top of the message is already on the screen,
- this key becomes inactive.
-
-
- End
- ---
- The END key will take you to the last "page" of the current
- message. If the last line of the current message is already on
- the screen, this key becomes inactive.
-
-
- <F>
- ---
- Pressing the "F" key will take you to the very FIRST message in
- the current message area. If you are already at the first
- message in the area, this key becomes inactive.
-
-
- <L>
- ---
- Pressing the "L" key will take you to the very LAST message in
- the current message area. if you are already at the last
- message in the area, this key becomes inactive.
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 61
-
-
-
-
- <J>
- ---
- Pressing "J" while reading messages will allow you to JUMP to a
- specified message number in the current area. You will be
- prompted to enter a message number. If the message is
- available, the reader will immediately JUMP to that message.
- If the message is unavailable, you will be given an error
- message, and the reader will stay on the current message.
-
-
- 0-9
- ---
- Pressing the 0 through 9 'number' keys will immediately bring
- up the "Jump to message number:" entry window.
-
-
- Control-RightArrow
- ------------------
- This key is only useful when reading a mail packet on BBSs that
- support Reply Chaining, or Reply Linking. If the current
- message has a line on the message header that reads "Reply at
- #nn", you can press the Control-RightArrow key combination to
- go directly to the reply of the current message. (Hold down
- the CTRL key, and press the right cursor key). If the reply is
- not available, the reader will give you an informative message,
- and stay on the current message.
-
-
- Control-LeftArrow
- -----------------
- This key combination is similar to the Control-RightArrow
- combination, but instead of moving to the reply of the current
- message, the reader will jump to the ORIGINAL message, if
- available. If the message header displays the line "Reply to
- #nn", this key will take you to the proper message number.
-
-
-
- Message Command Keys
- --------------------
-
- The following keys allow you to perform various, useful functions while
- reading messages in a mail packet:
-
- <R>
- ---
- Pressing "R" while reading messages will allow you to REPLY to
- the current mesage. If enabled, you will be asked if you would
- like to Quote the current message. You will then be given the
- message entry "from" to fill out, containing the PRIVATE status
- of your message, who the message is FROM, who the message is
- TO, and the message SUBJECT. After the "form" has been
- completely filled out, the reader will load your text editor
- and allow you to enter the text of your message.
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 62
-
-
-
-
- <Alt-R>
- -------
- This function is very similar to the <R>eply function described
- above, however when you press <Alt-R>, you can reply to the
- current message in a DIFFERENT message area.
-
- After pressing <Alt-R>, you will be presented with a list of
- all message areas that are available to you on the BBS. Choose
- the area you want the reply to go to with the highlight bar,
- then press ENTER.
-
- After the message area selection process is finished, you will
- be given the message entry form to complete, and the reader
- performs the same steps as for the <R> key.
-
-
- <E>
- ---
- The "E" key is similar in operation to the "R" key, except that
- you are not asked if you would like to Quote the current
- message. Use the "E" key when you would like to enter a NEW
- message in the message area. The reader will prompt you for
- the appropriate information, and then load your text editor.
- Enter the body of your mesage, and quit the editor. You can
- then choose to save your message, edit your message again, kill
- the message, spell check the message, and even cross-post or
- carbon-copy your message.
-
-
- <Alt-E>
- -------
- The <Alt-E> key combination is very similar to the <Alt-R> key
- combination. Pressing <Alt-E> while reading messages in an
- area will allow you to post a NEW message in any message area
- on the BBS.
-
- The reader will display a selection list of all messages on the
- BBS. Simply move the highlight bar to the message area you
- would like to post the new message in, and press ENTER. The
- message entry procedure (described in the section "ENTERING
- MESSAGES") is followed.
-
-
- <O>
- ---
- The <O> key allows a reply to the ORIGINAL sender of the
- message. On a normal reply, the reader places the name in the
- "FROM:" field of the message you are reading into the "TO:"
- field of your reply.
-
- Using the <O> key reverses this function. It places the name
- in the "TO:" field of the message you are reading into the
- "TO:" field of your message reply.
-
- The normal message entry procedures follow when using <O>.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 63
-
-
-
-
- <Alt-N>
- -------
- Pressing <Alt-N> while reading a message will allow you to
- reply to the current message via NETMAIL. This key is only
- functional when using a Blue Wave Mail Packet, as QWK packets
- do not provide the interface necessary for addressing FidoNet-
- style netmail properly.
-
- After pressing <Alt-N>, the reader will scan the BBS
- information file for a message area defined as NETMAIL. If the
- reader cannot locate a netmail base on the BBS that you are
- reading messages from, an informational message will be
- displayed, and the message entry procedure will be aborted.
-
- If the reader was successful in locating a netmail base, it
- will begin the netmail message entry procedure (See "ENTERING
- MESSAGES", later in the documentation). If possible, the
- reader will scan the network address out of the Origin line of
- the original message, and place it into the netmail message
- entry form for you.
-
-
- <Alt-K>
- -------
- Pressing <Alt-K> while reading mail will allow you to perform a
- 'manual' keyword search of the current message area. A popup
- window will appear with five keyword entry slots. After
- entering the keywords that you would like to search for, the
- reader will begin scanning the message area for matches to your
- input, and then begin displaying messages that contain your
- keyword(s).
-
- To exit "Keyword Search/Read Mode", simply press ESCape. The
- reader will resume normal reading.
-
- For full information on keyword searching, please see "KEYWORD
- SEARCHING", later in the documentation.
-
-
- <K>
- ---
- Pressing <K> while reading messages will allow you to search
- for keywords from a prepared TEXT file. Many genealogists use
- this function to scan for several names at one time.
-
- The reader will prompt you for the name of a keyword-list file,
- and then begin the keyword search. Keyword-list searching is
- intended for REGISTERED users only. However, the reader will
- allow UNregistered users to search for only 5 keywords at a
- time. Registered copies of the reader allow for ANY number of
- keywords to be searched at any one time. After the reader has
- entered search mode simply press ESCape to resume reading mail.
-
- For full information on keyword searching, please see "KEYWORD
- SEARCHING", later in the documentation.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 64
-
-
-
-
- <Alt-S>
- -------
- Pressing <Alt-S> while reading messages will activate the
- reader's HEADER SEARCH feature. You will be given a "form"
- similar to the message entry form. Fill out the search
- criteria, and press F10 or ENTER on the last field of the
- window when finished.
-
- You can instruct the reader to perform a header search for ANY
- matches that it finds by answering "N" to he "Must match all
- search criteria" question. If you want the message to match
- ALL of the criteria, answer "Y" to this question.
-
- Press ESCape when you have completed your header search.
-
-
- <P>
- ---
- Pressing <P> while reading messages will make the reader search
- for PERSONAL mail in the current message area ONLY. (To
- perform a global search for personal messages, use the <Alt-P>
- key combination from the 'Choose Area to Read' selection
- window). The reader will act the same as if it were performing
- a user-defined search of the current message area headers.
-
-
- <S>
- ---
- Pressing the <S> key while reading a message will allow you to
- save it to an ASCII Disk file. The reader will prompt you for
- the file name to save the message to. Press ESCape to abort
- the save function.
-
- If the file you specify already exists, it will automatically
- be APPENDED to, unless you press F10 after entering the file
- name. If the file does not exist, it will be created by the
- reader.
-
-
- <Alt-W>
- -------
- The key combination <Alt-W> performs the same function as the
- <S>ave to ASCII file function, but instead writes the current
- message to your PRINTER. If you have toggled "Send Form Feed
- after Printing Msgs" ON, the reader will send a form-feed to
- the printer after printing each message.
-
-
- <V>
- ---
- Pressing the <V> key will immediately take you to the replies
- manager, or View/Edit/Kill Replies mode. If you do not have
- any replies that belong to the currently open message bundle,
- an informational message will be displayed, and you will be
- returned to message reading mode. See "REPLIES MANAGER".
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 65
-
-
-
-
- <Alt-V>
- -------
- The <Alt-V> key combination will allow you to View the current
- message on-screen, as is. This command is useful for BBSs that
- support the uploading or entering of ANSI messages (those which
- contain the ANSI Escape Color Codes). The reader will simply
- output the current message to the screen through DOS (just as
- if you executed a "TYPE FILENAME.EXT" at the DOS prompt).
-
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader has an INTERNAL ANSI display
- driver, allowing you to view ANSI messages on the screen very
- quickly and easily. The loading of ANSI.SYS to view ANSI
- screens and messages is not necessary.
-
-
- <T>
- ---
- The <T> key will give you a Title Scan of the current message
- area. The Title Scan can be very handy to use if you have
- disabled the Automatic Title Scan. The Title Scan allows you
- to page through the message "headers", as a type of 'preview'
- of the message text. It displays the messages "read" and
- "reply" status (whether or not you have already read or replied
- to the message), who the message is FROM, who the message is
- TO, and the SUBJECT of the message.
-
- It is also a quick way to jump between messages. You can move
- the highlight bar to the message that you would like to read,
- and press ENTER. The reader will immediately move you to the
- message that you have selected, and begin reading from there.
-
-
- <I>
- ---
- Pressing <I> while reading a message area will give you more
- information about that area. This display shows you the
- "AreaTag" of the message area, the number of personal messages,
- the number of unread messages, the total number of messages,
- and whether the current base is Echomail, Netmail, or a Local
- conference.
-
-
-
- <Alt-F>
- -------
- Pressing <Alt-F> while reading a message will allow you to
- FORWARD the current message to another user in another message
- base.
-
- When reading a mail packet that has come from a Blue Wave Mail
- Door, you MAY NOT HAVE THIS OPTION AVAILABLE TO YOU.
- Forwarding messages is usually a reserved sysop-only function.
-
- The sysop of your host system has the ability to control access
- to this function in the reader.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 66
-
-
-
-
- <A>
- ---
- Pressing <A> while reading messages will bring up a window
- which contains an editing field. The purpose of this function
- is to allow you to edit and/or create a TAGLINE while reading
- messages. After editing or entering a tagline in the editing
- window, the reader will append the tagline to your defined tag
- file.
-
- If a tagline is currently on the message reading screen (the
- line begins with "... "), the current tagline will
- automatically be brought into the editing window.
-
- The <A> key also allows you to cut and paste a tagline from the
- message reading screen. When the editing window is on the
- screen, simply press F9. You will then be able to mark a block
- of text for editing and later appending to your tagline file.
-
- When adopting a tagline with the <A> key, the new tagline
- automatically is placed in the file defined as your DEFAULT
- TAGLINE FILE in the reader's setup menu. If you would like to
- adopt the tagline to an alternate file, use the <Ctrl-A>
- adoption process.
-
-
- <Alt-A>
- -------
- Pressing <Alt-A> when there is a tagline on the screen (a line
- beginning with the characters "... ") will cause the reader to
- adopt the current tagline to the default tagline file with NO
- questions asked. It is a very quick way to adopt a tagline.
-
- When adopting a tagline with the <Alt-A> key, the new tagline
- automatically is placed in the file defined as your DEFAULT
- TAGLINE FILE in the reader's setup menu. If you would like to
- adopt the tagline to an alternate file, use the <Ctrl-A>
- adoption process.
-
-
- <Ctrl-A>
- --------
- Pressing <Ctrl-A> while reading messages will allow you to
- adopt a tagline in much the same manner as the <A> key process,
- with one exception.
-
- The <Ctrl-A> function will allow you to enter the name of an
- alternate tagline file. If you would like to adopt, enter, or
- edit a tagline to a file that is not defined as your DEFAULT
- TAGLINE FILE, you must do so with this function.
-
- <Ctrl-A> will also allow you to cut and paste a line from the
- text of a message. Simply press F9 while the <Ctrl-A> dialogue
- box is on the screen, mark the block of text you would like to
- edit or adopt, and the reader will take care of the rest for
- you! For more information, please see the section "TAGLINES".
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 67
-
-
-
-
-
- <M>
- ---
- Pressing <M> while reading a message will allow you to MARK
- that message for later operations.
-
- A sub-menu will appear asking if you would like to mark the
- current message for later Saving to ASCII file, Printing,
- Deletion, or Replying. Select the appropriate item from the
- menu, and the reader will continue where it left off.
-
- Five short cut keys are provided so that you may bypass the pop
- up menu if desired:
-
- <Ctrl-S>
- --------
- Pressing <Ctrl-S> will mark the current message for later
- Saving to an ASCII file.
-
- <Ctrl-P>
- --------
- Pressing <Ctrl-P> will mark the current message for later
- Printing.
-
- <Ctrl-R>
- --------
- Pressing <Ctrl-R> will mark the current message for later
- replying.
-
- <Ctrl-D>
- --------
- Pressing <Ctrl-D> will mark the current message for later
- Deletion from the mail packet.
-
- <Del>
- -----
- Pressing the <Del> Key will mark the current message for later
- deletion, just as the <Ctrl-D> key does. However, the <Del>
- key adds a different twist; the reader automatically advances
- to the NEXT message in the message area.
-
-
- These various markings come in handy when you wish to dump
- entire blocks of messages to a text file at one time, print
- messages in a batch mode, reply to messages all at one time, or
- delete messages from your mail packet.
-
- All operations that can be performed on Marked messages are
- accessible through the 'Select Area to Read' selection window
- (the F5 through F10 Keys).
-
- If a message currently has a mark SET, and you wish to remove
- that mark, simply perform the same step(s) you made to place
- the mark on the message. This will cause the reader to REMOVE
- the mark from the current message.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 68
-
-
-
-
- <*>
- ---
- Pressing the '*', or asterisk key, will toggle the "read"
- status of the message. If you are reading a message, but would
- like to mark it as UNREAD so that you can come back to it
- later, simply press this key. If you are using a mouse, you
- can accomplish the same thing quickly by moving the mouse
- cursor to the words "Read: Yes/No" in the message header
- display and clicking the LEFT mouse button.
-
- <~>
- ---
- The tilde key will allow you to quickly toggle the current
- setting of the "Double-Byte Language Support". For more
- information about who and when you should enable this option,
- please see "Double-Byte Language Support" in the section
- regarding the SETUP menu.
-
- <Alt-M>
- -------
- Pressing the <Alt-M> keys in message reading mode will activate
- the reader's PULL DOWN MENU SYSTEM. This menu is extremely
- useful when you need to browse through all of the commands
- available to you.
-
- The pull down menu system is also the main navigation tool when
- using a mouse with the reader. The pull down menu system is
- activated by placing the mouse cursor on the words " Menu " on
- the message header border, and pressing the LEFT mouse button.
-
- If you have a 3-button mouse, the MIDDLE mouse button also
- activates the pull down menu system.
-
- For full details on using the mouse with the reader, please see
- the section "USING THE MOUSE".
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 69
-
-
-
-
-
-
- THE REPLIES MANAGER
- -------------------
-
- The replies manager, or "View, Edit, or Kill Mode", allows you to perform
- operations and manage your currently active replies and new messages.
-
- Viewing your replies is strikingly similar to message reading mode, which
- was described in the previous section. When entering the replies
- manager, you are automatically presented with a title scan of your reply
- packet. You can move the highlight bar to the desired reply and press
- ENTER. This will take you directly to the reply that was highlighted.
-
- After you are in the replies manager, you are presented with the replies
- in your reply packet, one by one. You can scroll through your replies
- and move from one reply to the next through the use of your cursor keys.
- The cursor keys (and all of the other "MESSAGE MOVEMENT" keys work as
- described for message reading mode).
-
- When you are finished editing, deleting (killing), and performing the
- various other functions with your replies, simply press the ESCape key
- (or the RIGHT mouse button, if you are using the mouse). You will be
- returned to the point in the reader at which you entered the replies
- manager.
-
- The following keys perform the described functions while in View, Edit,
- Kill mode (the replies manager).
-
-
- <E>
- ---
- Pressing the <E> key allows you to EDIT the reply that is
- currently being displayed on the screen. You will first be
- given the standard message entry "form", with all of the fields
- pre-filled with the information contained in the current
- message. After accepting the information on this screen, you
- will be asked "Edit the message text?". If you would like to
- edit the text of your message, press "Y", or the LEFT mouse
- button. Your text editor will then be loaded with the current
- message for you to edit.
-
- After the editing is complete, the reader will re-display your
- message with the changes you have made.
-
-
- <M>
- ---
- Pressing the <M> key will allow you to move the reply that is
- currently displayed on the screen to ANOTHER message area on
- the BBS. After typing <M>, you will be presented with a
- selection list window of all message areas on the BBS. Simply
- highlight the message area that you would like the reply moved
- to and press ENTER. You have now moved your message to the new
- area.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 70
-
-
-
-
- <K> or <Del>
- ------------
- Pressing the <K> key, or the <Del> key will cause the reader to
- mark the current reply for DELETION from your reply packet.
-
- The reader does NOT delete the reply immediately. Instead, the
- message is tagged, and the word "DELETED" appears on the bottom
- of the message header border. If you accidentally delete a
- message, simply press <K> or <Del> again, and the DELETED
- status will be removed.
-
- When you leave the replies manager, the reader will present a
- red dialogue box with the question:
-
- There are replies marked for deletion!
- Are you SURE you want to delete these replies?
-
- If you are sure that you would like to delete the messages that
- are marked, answer "Y". If you have mistakenly deleted
- messages, simply press "N", and the reader will not pack the
- replies out of your reply packet.
-
-
- <C>
- ---
- Pressing <C> while in the replies manager will cause the reader
- to execute the "SPELL CHECKER COMMAND LINE", which is defined
- in the SETUP menu. The current message text file name will be
- sent to the command line (the @F parameter will be replaced by
- the file name). Use this command if you would like to spell
- check the current reply.
-
-
- <S>
- ---
- Pressing <S> while in the replies manager will allow you to
- save your current reply to an ASCII disk file. You will be
- asked for the file name to save the message to. Type the name
- of the file, and press ENTER to append to or create the file.
- Press F10 to overwrite an existing file.
-
- Pressing F5 while the "Save Message to ASCII file" window is
- active will present you with a directory list, allowing you to
- select the file you would like.
-
-
- <Alt-W>
- -------
- Pressing <Alt-W> will write the currently displayed reply to
- your defined printer. This function operates identically to
- the <Alt-W> option while in reading messages mode.
-
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 71
-
-
-
-
- <T>
- ---
- Pressing the <T> key will cause the reader to redisplay the
- TITLE SCAN of your current reply packet.
-
- <~>
- ---
- Pressing the tilde key will toggle the current status of the
- "Double-Byte Language Support" option, which is explained in
- detail in the SETUP menu section.
-
-
- <Alt-M>
- -------
- The <Alt-M> key combination will activate the View/Edit/Kill
- Mode menu system. This will allow you to browse through the
- options available to you in the replies manager and choose the
- function you would like to perform, without having to memorize
- the command keys available.
-
- If you have a 3-button mouse, pressing the MIDDLE mouse button
- while in the reply manager will also activate the menu system.
- If you do not have a 3-button mouse connected to your system,
- you can simply move the mouse cursor to the word "MENU" on the
- bottom line of the message header window, and click the LEFT
- mouse button.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 72
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ENTERING MESSAGES
- -----------------
-
- One of the "other" main functions of The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader is
- the process of entering messages offline. Not only does entering
- messages offline save you connect time to the host BBS system, but it
- also allows you to reply to your messages quickly and easily. It allows
- you to format your replies intelligently, research your facts, and
- present your ideas in a clear and concise way.
-
- There are two types of message entry in The Blue Wave Offline Mail
- Reader. QWK mail packets, local message bases (bases that are not echoed
- to other systems through a mail network), and Echomail bases all use one
- form of message entry. FidoNet style netmail bases use another similar,
- but extended format for message entry.
-
- FidoNet style netmail entry is ONLY available when reading mail packets
- from a Blue Wave Mail Door compatible host system. The basic reason is
- that the QWK mail packet format does not provide a consistent interface
- for entering FidoNet netmail. Not only that, but the QWK packet format
- is not capable of passing information to the reader which communicates
- the TYPE of message base each area is defined as on the host BBS system.
-
- To enter messages with The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader, it is required
- that you have an EXTERNAL ASCII-capable TEXT EDITOR defined in your
- reader's SETUP menu, as was described at the beginning of this
- documentation. A very simple text editor (TED3.COM) was supplied in the
- reader's distribution archive. If you do not have another ASCII-capable
- text editor available, TED3.COM will get the job done.
-
-
- Entering Local, Echomail, and QWK-style Messages
- ------------------------------------------------
- When you begin entering a message to a message area that is
- defined as a local base or an echomail base (with Blue Wave
- Packets), or when you begin entering a message when utilizing a
- QWK-style mail packet, you will presented with the 'standard'
- message entry form.
-
- The standard message entry form consists of four entry
- "fields". The first field is the PRIVATE status of the
- message. (If you are using a Blue Wave Mail Packet, this field
- may be DISABLED. If the host BBS system indicates that private
- messages are either not allowed, or are forced to private
- status, then the reader will automatically place the correct
- value in this field, and not allow you to toggle the status).
- If you would like to make your message PRIVATE, enter a "Y" in
- this field. If you want to make the message PUBLIC, enter a
- "N" in this field.
-
- This field is always enabled with QWK message replies, due to
- limitations of the QWK format. Even though you can set the PVT
- status, the mail door *MAY* change the status of the message.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 73
-
-
-
-
-
- The second field displayed is the FROM: field. More often than
- not, this field will be DISABLED. Most message areas on the
- BBS host systems allow only one type of name to be entered in
- the FROM: field; either your alias or your real name (if
- aliases are allowed on the host system). If you are using a
- Blue Wave Mail Packet, and the sysop of the host BBS system
- allows ANY alias to be entered in the FROM: field of the
- current message area, the reader will allow you to edit this
- field.
-
- The third field used to enter the name of the person to whom
- you are addressing your message. When entering NEW messages,
- this field will default to "All". If you would like to address
- a new message to a specific person, simply type their name over
- the word "All". If you are REPLYING to a message, the person's
- name to whom you are replying will automatically appear in the
- TO: field. If you would like to change the addressee of the
- message, simply begin typing the new name. The reader will
- erase the default name as soon as you type a letter. To accept
- the default, simply press ENTER.
-
- You will notice that when the highlighted field is the TO:
- field, a message will appear on the right hand side of the
- dialogue box which reads: "? for Name Lookup List". If you
- type ?[ENTER] in the TO: field, a window will appear directly
- beneath the message entry dialogue box which lists all of the
- names you have defined in your NAMES.BW file. You can then
- highlight the name of the person to whom you would like to
- address your message and press ENTER. The reader will fill in
- the fields for you. For more information on using NAMES.BW,
- please see the sample NAMES.BW file enclosed with your reader.
-
- The fourth and final field in the message entry dialogue box is
- the SUBJECT of the message. Here you should enter an
- appropriate subject for your message so that other users, when
- they scan the messages in a message area, will read your
- message if the subject line piques their interest.
-
- To finish your message header entry, simply press ENTER on the
- SUBJECT field, press F10, or click the LEFT mouse button the
- the words "F10 - Accept" at the bottom of the message entry
- window. The reader will then load your text editor and you can
- begin entering the text of your message.
-
- At any time during the message entry procedure, you can type
- <Ctrl-M> or <Ctrl-X> to make carbon copies or cross-post your
- message. Details of these operations are described near the
- end of this section.
-
- At any time during the message header entry procedure, you can
- press ESCape or click the LEFT mouse button on the words "ESC -
- Abort" to abort the message entry function. Clicking the RIGHT
- mouse button will also act as if an ESCape was pressed during
- the message entry process.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 74
-
-
-
-
-
- Echomail versus Netmail
- -----------------------
- Before the process of entering netmail is described, it may be
- appropriate to discuss the concept of netmail in general. If
- you are active on FidoNet message bases, you may see the term
- "NETMAIL" used daily. Netmail is similar to Echomail in some
- ways. Both echomail and netmail are entered on one BBS system,
- and travel to at least one other BBS system on the network.
-
- There are, however, several big differences between Echomail
- and Netmail. Echomail is never addressed to only one BBS
- system. Echomail travels to ALL SYSTEMS that carry that
- particular echomail base. Sometimes echomail bases are carried
- by only a very few systems, and sometimes they are carried by
- several hundred or several thousand systems around the country
- (and even the world!). The FidoNet International BLUEWAVE
- Support echo is an example of an echomail base that is carried
- throughout the world. When you enter a message into the
- BLUEWAVE echo, and you address the message to me (George
- Hatchew), not only does the message travel to my system, but
- also to ALL systems that carry the BLUEWAVE echo.
-
- Netmail has a specific destination. It is addressed to a
- person or several persons on ONE BBS SYSTEM. Netmail gets to
- the final destination by way of an addressing scheme that is
- used by FidoNet and other FidoNet Technology Networks (FTNs).
- Netmail addressed to me will be destined for my system, and my
- system only. Other BBS participants that carry other echos
- will not see the message.
-
- Netmail is normally used for PRIVATE correspondence between two
- people. When a message has no value to other participants of a
- particular echomail base, it is always best to send it via
- Netmail so that other people are not paying for the cost of
- your message.
-
- Netmail is a somewhat complex concept, and one which much too
- involved for a complete discussion here. A complete document
- the size of this manual could probably be written about the
- details of netmail and how it can be routed and handled by
- different mailers. If you are seriously interested about
- getting access to or getting involved with netmail
- transmissions, it is probably best to ask the Sysop of your
- host BBS system. He or she will be able to provide specific
- details about how netmail is handled on his or her system.
- (All BBS systems handle netmail a bit differently).
-
- Many times netmail is sent DIRECTLY from the host BBS system to
- the destination system. For instance, if a netmail message was
- entered on my BBS system in Flint, Michigan, and was destined
- for Phoenix, Arizona, the message would be delivered DIRECTLY
- to Arizona. The phone connect charge from Michigan to Arizona
- would be billed to my phone bill as any other call.
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 75
-
-
-
-
- Because of the cost involved in handling direct netmail, many
- sysops do not allow access to netmail bases unless prior
- arrangements have been made. If there is not a netmail base
- accessible in your mail packet, ask your sysop if one is
- available.
-
-
- Entering Netmail
- ----------------
- When entering messages to a base that has been defined as
- NETMAIL by the sysop of the host BBS, the reader will present
- you with an entry form that is very similar to the standard
- message entry form. There are two more fields to take into
- consideration when entering netmail.
-
- The ADDR: field is where you will enter the destination address
- of your message. All FidoNet nodes and networks that use the
- FidoNet Technology (FTNs) are assigned network addresses.
- These addresses usually consist of three numbers (or four
- numbers, if the destination address is a point system). The
- addresses take the form of ZONE:NET/NODE.POINT. In order to
- enter a netmail message, you will need to know the destination
- address of your message. The Blue Wave Support BBS has the
- address 1:2240/176.0, or Zone 1, Net 2240, Node 176, Point 0.
- Enter the destination address of the netmail message in this
- field.
-
- The last field is the ATTR: field, or the Attributes to place
- on the message (sometimes called BITS or NETMAIL BITS). You
- cannot actually move the highlight bar to the ATTR: field.
- Instead, the reader provides a quick and easy way to toggle the
- attributes of a netmail message.
-
- At any time during the message entry procedure, you can press
- one of the "Control Keys" displayed under the netmail header
- entry box to toggle the status of the message. The Blue Wave
- Offline Mail Reader allows the setting of 7 netmail status
- bits. All, some, or none of these bits may be available to
- you. Because of the cost that is involved of transferring
- netmail, sysops control which bits are accessible. All of the
- bits will be described here for completeness. If you are not
- the sysop or an assistant of the host BBS system, it is VERY
- LIKELY that some or all will be unavailable.
-
-
- Crash <Ctrl-V>
- --------------
- If the Crash option is available, pressing <Ctrl-V>
- during netmail message entry will toggle the CRASH
- status of the message. Various FidoNet mailers treat
- the crash bit differently, but all of them treat the
- message as going DIRECTLY to the remote system. When
- the CRASH bit is set on a message, the message will
- not be routed through other systems, and it usually
- means the message will be transmitted ASAP.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 76
-
-
-
-
-
- Direct <Ctrl-D>
- ---------------
- If the Direct option is available, pressing <Ctrl-D>
- during netmail message entry will toggle the DIRECT
- status of the message. This bit is usually used when
- CRASH mail is not desireable, yet the message should
- go directly to the destination system. (Crash mail
- usually means send ASAP, and to not wait until the
- phone rates are cheap.)
-
- Attach File <Ctrl-F>
- --------------------
- If the File Attach option is available, pressing
- <Ctrl-F> during netmail message entry will toggle the
- w/FILE status of the message. THIS OPTION IS
- NORMALLY NOT AVAILABLE. Attaching a file to a
- netmail message does not mean that the reader will
- send a file with your mail packet upload. This
- option allows the sysop of the host system to use the
- reader on his or her local system to attach a file to
- a remote node.
-
- Hold for Pickup <Ctrl-H>
- ------------------------
- If the Hold option is available, pressing <Ctrl-H>
- will toggle the HOLD status of the netmail message.
- Hold status is interpreted by nearly all mailers as
- meaning one thing: The mailer will NOT dial out to
- deliver the message. The message will be packed and
- placed on hold for pickup by the remote system.
- Unless the destination system calls the host system
- to pick up the message, it will never be delivered.
-
- Immediate <Ctrl-I>
- ------------------
- If the Immediate option is available, pressing <Ctrl-
- I> will toggle the IMMediate status of the netmail
- message. Some mailers and mail processors do not use
- this message status at all. This capability is
- mainly provided for those sysops running FrontDoor,
- InterMail, or D'Bridge as the mailer. IMMediate
- message status forces the mailer to pack the message
- for immediate, DIRECT delivery barring all costs and
- calling restrictions. NOTHING is going to stop an
- IMMediate message from being delivered.
-
-
- Kill/Sent <Ctrl-K>
- ------------------
- If a message is marked as K/Sent, it will normally be
- deleted by the mailer after successful delivery to
- the remote system. This option is especially useful
- when you do not wish to keep a copy of the original,
- as it helps to maintain a 'clean' message base.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 77
-
-
-
-
-
- Request a File <Ctrl-R>
- -----------------------
- If this option is available to you, pressing <Ctrl-R>
- will toggle the FREQ status of the netmail message.
- File Requesting is, more often than not, limited to
- the sysop and his assistant(s). Setting the File
- Request bit is a little different than the rest.
-
- Instead of entering a subject in the SUBJ: field of
- the message, the name of a file to request is entered
- there. For example, if you had the capability to
- file request, you could possibly enter a message to
- my system (1:2240/176), set the FILE REQUEST toggle
- to ON, and in the subject field type "BWAVE210.ZIP".
- This would cause the mailer to call my system to file
- request the file BWAVE210.ZIP.
-
- Because of the obvious cost involved in requesting
- files from other nodes in a network, this option
- should be used very prudently, if you do have access
- to file request files from other nodes.
-
-
- As with the standard message entry procedure, the netmail
- process also allows the <Ctrl-M> - Make carbon copy function.
- Full details of carbon copying and cross posting follow.
-
-
-
- Make Carbon Copies <Ctrl-M>
- ---------------------------
- At all message input forms, you can type the <Ctrl-M> key
- combination to inform the reader that you would like to make
- 'carbon' copies of the message you are about to enter.
-
- The reader's Carbon Copy feature allows you to write one
- message, and send that SAME message to several people in the
- same message base. Carbon Copying is allowed in both Local and
- Netmail message bases. However, carbon copying is NOT allowed
- in Echomail bases. Carbon copying in echomail bases is
- considered annoying behavior by many people. By definition,
- all people receiving an echomail area will also receive a copy
- of your message. Sending several copies of the same message to
- different people in an echomail area only serves to waste the
- money of those people paying to transmit the messages to other
- systems.
-
- When the reader has been told to enter Carbon Copy mode, a
- message will flash on the right hand side of the message header
- entry form. You should complete the entry of your message as
- normal.
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 78
-
-
-
-
-
- After your message has been saved, the reader will enter Carbon
- Copy mode. It will begin presenting message entry forms, one
- by one, for you to fill out. After you have completed the
- entry of the LAST message header, simply press ESCape. This
- will exit carbon copy mode, and the reader will resume where
- you began entering the message.
-
-
- Cross Post Message <Ctrl-X>
- ---------------------------
- Cross posting messages is very similar to the procedure of
- making Carbon Copies of messages.
-
- Cross posting a message results in the reader posting a copy of
- your message in SEVERAL DIFFERENT message areas, whereas carbon
- copying posts copies of your message in the SAME message area.
-
- Cross posting is available in Local and Echomail Bases (and all
- QWK bases). When you have instructed the reader that you would
- like to cross post your message, the normal message entry
- procedure is followed. When you have saved your message, a
- selection window will appear on your screen, listing all
- message areas available on the BBS.
-
- If you want to cross post your message to only ONE echo/local
- area, simply highlight the area you would like to cross post
- the message to and press ENTER. You will then be given another
- message entry form to fill out, and the process is complete.
-
- If you would like to cross post your message to more than one
- message area, you will need to TAG the desired areas. Simply
- find the first cross post base, highlight it, and press the
- SPACE bar (or the MIDDLE mouse button, if you have a 3-button
- mouse). Then move to the next base to post the message to, and
- press the space bar. Repeat this process until all areas you
- want the message posted to are tagged, then press ENTER.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 79
-
-
-
-
-
-
- KEYWORD SEARCHING
- -----------------
-
- One of the most requested and one of the most powerful features of The
- Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader is the very flexible KEYWORD SEARCHING
- system. Keyword searching will help you to quickly and easily locate
- messages in your download packet that contain topics of interest to you.
-
- There are two ways to perform a keyword search of a message area when you
- are in message reading mode. The first is a "manual keyword search"
- function. The manual keyword search function is called up by pressing
- <Alt-K> while in message reading mode. The second way of performing a
- keyword search is through a keyword list file. The keyword list file
- search is VERY powerful and easy to use; especially if you consistently
- search for the same keywords on a regular basis.
-
- Keyword List File Searching
- ---------------------------
- Keyword list file searching is best described by using an
- actual application. Many genealogists use The Blue Wave
- Offline Mail Reader for reading the national and international
- FidoNet echos relating to genealogy. Some of these echos
- generate very large amounts of traffic, sometimes 300 to 400
- messages per day. A serious genealogist with limited time will
- most likely not have time to read through this many messages
- every day. Additionally, only a small percentage of these
- messages may actually be useful and informative.
-
- Through keyword list file searching, you can build a "keyword
- list" (a simple ASCII text file) which contains all of the
- names that you are currently researching. A sample keyword
- list file, KEYWORDS.BW, was supplied in the reader's
- distribution archive. This sample file describes the format to
- use.
-
- Basically, the keyword list file should contain a list of
- keywords that you want the reader to search for, one per line.
- The reader ignores the CASE of keywords when searching for a
- match (CAPITAL and lower case letters will both be treated
- equally).
-
- The default mode of the reader is to find matches to any string
- that is a direct match or contains a superset of the keyword.
- For instance, a keyword of "the" will find "the", "them",
- "parthenon", and "breathe". The following keyword search
- parameters can be forced for any keyword that you define in
- your keyword list file:
-
- !keyword - Searches for a match to <keyword> in the TEXT of
- messages ONLY.
- @keyword - Searches for a match to <keyword> in the HEADERS
- of messages ONLY.
- #keyword - Matches only if <keyword> is a WHOLE word.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 80
-
-
-
-
- After you press <K> in message reading mode, the reader will
- open up a dialogue box, asking for the name of your keyword
- list search file. Simply enter the correct file name (or
- simply press ENTER if the default file name is correct), and
- the reader will begin scanning the current message area for
- your defined keywords.
-
- After the scan is complete, the reader will begin presenting
- the messages which contain your defined keywords, with the
- keywords HIGHLIGHTED. You can move from message to message
- just as in normal message reading mode. To exit keyword
- search/read mode, press ESCape.
-
- For further details on keyword list searching, please see the
- sample keyword list file, KEYWORDS.BW, which should have been
- enclosed with your copy of the reader.
-
-
- Manual Keyword Searching
- ------------------------
- It is often desireable to search a message area for a specific
- keyword or keywords on a whim. Pressing <Alt-K> in message
- reading mode will allow you to perform the same function as a
- keyword list file search, but it allows you to type the
- keywords directly into 5 editing fields.
-
- Full instructions for using this option are displayed on the
- <Alt-K> dialogue box.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 81
-
-
-
-
-
-
- USING THE MOUSE
- ---------------
-
- The Blue Wave Mail System fully supports the use of a MOUSE for moving
- through the menu system, selecting items from lists, providing input in
- dialogue boxes, and entering one-key input through the keyboard. In
- order to take advantage of the mouse support, you must have "Mouse
- Support" in the reader's SETUP menu activated. You must also have a
- Microsoft or compatible mouse driver loaded either as a TSR or a Device
- Driver through CONFIG.SYS. For more information on installing your mouse
- driver, please see either your Mouse reference manual, or the DOS
- reference manual.
-
- There are five types of input required through The Blue Wave Offline Mail
- Reader; Yes/No responses, Menu Input, List Selection, Dialogue Box
- Input, and Multiple Choice Mini-Menus. Mouse functions while reading
- mail will be discussed also.
-
- Mouse Yes/No Responses
- ----------------------
- Most of the input required at prompts in the reader require
- either a "Yes" or "No" response, Instead of pressing "Y" or
- "N", you can use the mouse as the "keyboard". Pressing the
- LEFT mouse button at a Yes/No prompt will translate into a
- "Y". The RIGHT mouse button translates to a "N".
-
-
- Menu Input
- ----------
- You can select a menu item by simply moving the mouse cursor to
- the desired menu option and pressing the LEFT mouse button.
- Pressing the RIGHT mouse button while the reader is processing
- a menu will have the same effect as pressing the ESCape key.
-
-
- List Selection
- --------------
- The reader has several screens where you must highlight an item
- from a selection "list", and press ENTER to select the item
- (such as when choosing a message area to read). Mouse input on
- these lists is very simple and straight forward.
-
- To select an item on the current screen, move the mouse cursor
- to the desired line and press the LEFT mouse button.
-
- If there is more than one "page" of choices, the reader will
- place a "[PgDn]" or a "[PgUp]" icon at the bottom of the
- selection list. To move down one page, move the mouse cursor
- to the "[PgDn]" symbol and press the LEFT mouse button. To
- move up one page, move the mouse cursor to the "[PgUp]" symbol
- and press the LEFT mouse button.
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 82
-
-
-
-
- Pressing the RIGHT mouse button while the reader is processing
- a "list" will make the reader behave as if you pressed the
- ESCape key.
-
- If you have a 3-button mouse, the MIDDLE mouse button will
- always act as a <SpaceBar> keypress. Some list selection
- windows allow you to 'tag' items by pressing the space bar.
- Pressing the MIDDLE mouse button will tag the currently
- highlighted item and advance the highlight bar down one item.
-
- If a list selection window does not allow item tagging, the
- MIDDLE mouse button serves as an ENTER key.
-
- Some list selection windows provide even more capabilities than
- a simple highlight/press ENTER selection. For example, the
- "Select Area to Read" selection window will allow you to press
- F10 on the keyboard for global message reading. To activate
- this function with the mouse, move the mouse cursor so it is
- resting on the words "F10 - Global Msg Reading", and press the
- LEFT mouse button. The reader will then act just as if you had
- pressed F10 from the keyboard.
-
-
- Dialogue Box Input
- ------------------
- Many Dialogue Boxes in the reader require keyboard input to
- perform various functions. Sometimes messages appear in a pop
- up window indicating "Press F10 to Accept", etc. You can
- perform these various functions very easily with the mouse.
-
- Simply move the mouse highlight cursor to the words or action
- that you would like to perform, then press the LEFT mouse
- button. The highlighted action will then be performed.
-
- Pressing the RIGHT mouse button while a dialogue box is active
- in the reader has the same effect as pressing the ESCape key
- (normally it closes the dialogue box and the reader resumes
- execution).
-
-
- Multiple Choice Mini-Menus
- --------------------------
- Sometimes the reader will allow you to enter more than just a
- "Yes/No" response. Some prompts in the reader allow for 3 or
- more choices from a mini-menu.
-
- The default action will always appear on the screen. To accept
- the default response, simply click the LEFT mouse button on the
- default response shown.
-
- To accept any of the responses that are displayed on the
- screen, position the mouse highlight cursor on top of the
- response that you would like and press the LEFT mouse button.
- Pressing the RIGHT mouse button during mini-menu processing
- will act as if an ESCape key was pressed.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 83
-
-
-
-
-
- Reading Messages with the Mouse
- -------------------------------
- Reading messages with the mouse in The Blue Wave Offline Mail
- Reader is very easy. When mouse support is enabled in the
- reader's SETUP menu, the reader will format the message header
- box with a few mouse ICONS. Clicking the LEFT mouse on these
- icons results in the action being performed.
-
- At any time in message reading mode, clicking the MIDDLE mouse
- button (if you have a 3-button mouse) will activate the
- reader's pull down menu system. Through the pull down menu
- system, you can access ALL of the functions of the keyboard in
- message reading mode.
-
- Along the right hand side of the message reading screen you
- will see an UP arrow and a DOWN arrow. The UP arrow icon
- serves as a PageUp key. When you click on this icon, the
- current message will scroll up one full page.
-
- The DOWN arrow icon serves a dual purpose. If the bottom of
- the message is on the screen (there are no more pages to view
- of the current message), clicking on the DOWN arrow icon will
- cause the reader to move to the next message in the area. If
- there is more of a message that is not displayed on the screen,
- the DOWN arrow icon will serve as a PageDown function, and
- display the next page of the current message.
-
- Along the bottom border of the message reading mode header box
- you will find four more icons. The farthest icon to the right
- is the "NEXT" icon. Clicking the LEFT mouse button on this
- icon will advance the reader to the next message in the current
- message area. The next icon to the left is the "PREV" icon.
- Clicking the LEFT mouse button on the "PREV" icon will cause
- the reader to move to the previous message in the current
- message area.
-
- The icon farthest to the left of the screen is the "MENU" icon.
- If you do not have a 3-button mouse, clicking the LEFT mouse
- button on this icon will bring up the reader's pull down menu
- system. (Remember, if you have a 3-button mouse, the MIDDLE
- mouse button will also bring up the menu system).
-
- Next to the "MENU" icon is the "MARK" icon. Clicking the LEFT
- mouse button the the "MARK" icon will bring up the reader's
- mark-message menu. (The <M> function from the keyboard).
-
- And finally, you can scroll the text of the currently displayed
- message. To do this, you will need to position the mouse
- cursor anywhere within the TEXT window of the screen. Holding
- down the LEFT mouse button while the cursor is on the bottom
- half of the screen will scroll the text UP.
-
- Holding down the LEFT mouse button while the cursor is on the
- top half of the text window will scroll the message text DOWN.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 84
-
-
-
-
-
- TAGLINES
- --------
-
- Although The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader supports the use of an
- external tagline selection utility (John Hancock v3.0), the reader has a
- very sophisticated tagline manager built into it. (Previous versions of
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader and documentation referred to taglines
- as "Signature Lines".)
-
- "What are taglines?", you might ask. Taglines are usually used to add
- spice, humor, and/or satire to messages. Many people find the sharing
- and collection of unique taglines turns into a fun hobby all by itself.
- There are several sources of picking up taglines (The reader allows you
- to quickly and easily adopt taglines right out of a message that you are
- reading. See "READING MESSAGES" for a description of the <A>, <Alt-A>,
- and <Ctrl-A> functions.) One of these sources is the FidoNet TAGLINES
- echo. Other networks also have similar conferences. However, the best
- taglines are probably the ones you can create using your own imagination
- and wit!
-
- The reader automatically appends taglines to messages, if configured to
- do so. At the end of many messages, you will find something similar to
- the following:
-
- ... A programmer's work is never done!
- --- Blue Wave v2.12
- * Origin: The Blue Wave Support BBS -=* Flint, MI *=- (1:2240/176.0)
-
- The line "... A programmer's work is never done!" is considered the
- tagline of the message.
-
- There are several ways to configure the reader to add taglines to
- messages. If you do not care to add taglines to your messages, simply
- configure the reader tagline selection type to "NONE" in the reader's
- SETUP menu. A "Manual" tagline entry is also provided for those who wish
- to create taglines on the fly, but it is often tedious. I suspect that
- very few people use this as the default setting.
-
- Three other ways of selecting taglines are provided in the reader:
- Random, Prompt, and the external tagline selection utility John Hancock.
- (Simply calling John Hancock a tagline selection utility is grossly
- understating its power. You can beautify taglines, mutilate taglines,
- and much more.)
-
- When the reader is configured to use the "Prompt" and "Random" tagline
- selections, an ASCII text file is used to select taglines from. A sample
- tagline file, TAGLINES.BW, should have been supplied with your copy of
- the reader.
-
- When the reader selects taglines randomly, it scans the tagline file and
- automatically picks one for you. There is no prompting or other pop up
- windows to deal with.
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 85
-
-
-
-
- The most fun is probably had by using the "Prompt" setting. This setting
- is the most flexible to use, and is probably the hardest to document
- (although once you understand how it works, it becomes very simple).
-
-
- Installing John Hancock
- -----------------------
- Configuring John Hancock to work with the reader is fairly
- straight-forward. Because John Hancock is a fairly complicated
- program in its own right, full information about configuring
- and the initial installation of John Hancock itself is well
- beyond the scope of this documentation. Please see the JH
- documentation for full details.
-
- Once John Hancock is configured to work on your system, all you
- need to do is edit the "John Hancock Command Line" in the
- reader's SETUP menu. If John Hancock is installed in a
- directory called "C:\JHANCOCK", the command line you should put
- in this field is "C:\JHANCOCK\JH3.EXE". If you want to use
- John Hancock as your primary tagline selector, set "Tagline
- Selection Type" to "J.Hancock" in the reader's SETUP menu.
-
- The reader will take care of all the rest!
-
- Upon return from John Hancock, the reader expects to find a
- file called "JH?.REP" in the reader's home directory (the
- current directory while the reader is executing). The tagline
- found in JH?.REP will be appended to your message upon return
- to the reader. If the JH?.REP file is *not* found upon return,
- you will be given a message to that effect so that you can
- check your John Hancock configuration, if necessary.
-
-
- The "Prompt" Tagline Selection Type
- -----------------------------------
- As mentioned earlier, the "Prompt" tagline selection type is by
- far the most flexible tagline selection option. After entering
- and saving a new message or reply, the reader will scan your
- defined tagline file and present you with a windowed tagline
- selection list. Highlight the tagline that you would like to
- append to your message and press ENTER. To skip adding a
- tagline to your message, press ESCape.
-
- The tagline selection window also has six function keys
- available:
-
- <Tab>
- -----
- Expands the currently highlighted tagline and displays it for
- you to view. The tagline expansion replaces any "@" macros
- with information from your current message. The use of "@"
- macros are discussed in the sample tagline file distributed
- with the reader (TAGLINES.BW).
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 86
-
-
-
-
- <F1>
- ----
- Pressing <F1> will search the tagline file FROM THE CURRENTLY
- HIGHLIGHTED tagline to the end of your tagline file. After
- pressing <F1>, you will be given a window in which to type the
- search string. Press ENTER, and the reader will begin
- searching your file. The search function also searches
- [COMMENTS] and [ALTLISTS] for text.
-
- After performing your initial search, the <F2> key becomes
- active. You can then repeat the last search that you made by
- pressing a single key.
-
-
- <F5>
- ----
- Pressing <F5> will allow you to load an alternate tagline file.
- If you are currently viewing "TAGLINES.BW", but the tagline you
- want is in a file called "MYTAGS.TXT", simply press <F5>, type
- "MYTAGS.TXT", and press ENTER. The reader will load the
- alternate tagline file.
-
-
- <F8>
- ----
- When you press <F8> at the tagline selection window, the reader
- will randomly highlight a tagline from your tagline list. To
- accept the newly highlighted tagline, simply press ENTER. You
- can press the <F8> key as many times as you like, until an
- appropriate tagline is found.
-
-
- <F9>
- ----
- Pressing <F9> is very similar to the <F8> function, except that
- the reader automatically selects a tagline and appends it to
- the message. No further prompting is done.
-
-
- <F10>
- -----
- Pressing <F10> at the tagline selection window will allow you
- to manually enter a tagline. Simply type the tagline you would
- like to place on the message in the editing window. If you
- would like the reader to add the newly created tagline to your
- tagline file, simply press F9. Otherwise, press ENTER.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 87
-
-
-
-
- Tagline File Format
- -------------------
- The sample tagline selection file supplied with the reader
- (TAGLINES.BW) contains much of the information for building
- your tagline selection list.
-
- Each line in the tagline selection file that does not begin
- with a comment line (a line beginning with a ';' character) and
- that does not begin with [COMMENT], [ALTLIST], or [HANCOCK]
- will be considered a valid tagline.
-
- The reader ignores all characters past column 76 in the tagline
- selection file. You should keep all lines shorter than this,
- or they will be truncated by the reader.
-
-
- The [COMMENT] Token
- -------------------
- The [COMMENT] token can be used to place comments in the
- tagline selection window. Any line beginning with [COMMENT]
- will be displayed as-is in the tagline selection window. It
- will be non-selectable as a tagline, but the reader will search
- for text in a comment line when using an <F1> search. This can
- be useful if you want to divide your tagline file into groups
- or sections of related taglines.
-
-
- The [HANCOCK] Token
- -------------------
- Any line beginning with [HANCOCK], when highlighted and
- selected from the tagline selection window, will cause the
- reader to execute the John Hancock Command Line, defined in the
- reader's SETUP menu. A sample tagline file entry might look
- like this:
-
- [HANCOCK]Press ENTER here to load John Hancock.
-
-
- The [ALTLIST] Token
- -------------------
- The [ALTLIST] token gives the tagline selection process its
- greatest power and flexibility. The following tagline file
- entry:
-
- [ALTLIST]C:\Bwave\StarTrek.Tag
-
- when highlighted and selected from the tagline selection
- window, will cause the reader to load an alternate tagline file
- called STARTREK.SIG in your C:\BWAVE directory. Using these
- command tokens appropriately will give you the power to build
- your own tagline selection "menu tree".
-
-
- For full details and samples, it is highly recommended that you read
- through the sample TAGLINES.BW file supplied with the reader.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 88
-
-
-
-
- TAGFILES.BW
- -----------
- TAGFILES.BW is a 'hardcoded' file name in the reader. Whenever
- the tagline selection process is about to take place, the
- reader opens the file TAGFILES.BW and scans it for parameters
- relating to the BBS and message area that you are entering the
- message to.
-
- The purpose of this file is to round out the extremely
- customizable tagline selection system. For each BBS that you
- call, you can define separate tagline files and tagline
- selection types. To go even further, for every message area on
- every BBS that you call, you can define tagline selection
- parameters!
-
- THE USE OF THIS FILE IS COMPLETELY OPTIONAL. If this file is
- not found, the reader will not complain nor will it care. When
- a BBS entry or echo entry is not found, the default reader
- tagline configuration defined in the SETUP menu will be used.
-
- This file is a flat ASCII (text) file that you can edit with
- any text editor. Here is a sample entry:
-
- BBS_ID WildBlue C:\BWave\WildBlue.Tag Prompt
- BLUEWAVE C:\BWave\Bluewave.Tag Random
- COMM None Hancock
-
- The BBS_ID line tells the reader that when reading packets with
- the root name of "WILDBLUE" (such as WILDBLUE.MO1,
- WILDBLUE.QWK, etc), it should use the tagline file
- "C:\BWAVE\WILDBLUE.TAG", and the default tagline selection type
- is "Prompt".
-
- When replying or entering messages in the message area with the
- area tag of "BLUEWAVE", the reader should randomly select
- taglines from the file "C:\BWAVE\BLUEWAVE.TAG".
-
- When replying or entering messages in the message area with the
- area tag of COMM, no tagline file is to be used. Instead, the
- John Hancock Command Line will be executed each time a tagline
- selection is necessary.
-
- Other parameters for the tagline selection type in this file
- are "None" (used when you do not wish to add taglines to
- messages entered in certain areas) and "Manual".
-
- Remember, the BBS_ID line gives an override to the entire
- message packet. If there are parameters listed under the
- BBS_ID line, they will override the BBS_ID line in the area
- tags defined.
-
- The correct value for the Area Tag can be found by highlighting
- the message area in question at the 'Choose Area to Read'
- selection window and pressing the <Tab> key, or by pressing <I>
- while reading messages in that particular message area.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 89
-
-
-
-
-
- USING THE BLUE WAVE MAIL DOOR
- -----------------------------
-
- Although most of the time you spend using The Blue Wave Mail System will
- be spent in the Offline Reader environment, much of the power and
- potential for online savings of time and money will come through using
- The Blue Wave Mail Door to its full potential. In order to get the
- fullest out of The Blue Wave Mail Door, it is necessary to become
- familiar with the operating procedures in the door.
-
- The Configuration Menu
- ----------------------
- This section will describe all of the commands available to you
- through The Blue Wave Mail Door's Configuration Menu. At first
- glance, the Configuration Menu may seem overwhelming. Please
- do not let this scare you off. The mail system was carefully
- designed to provide each individual user with options not
- available in other mail systems. Each menu item will be
- described below, along with a short description of where, how
- and/or why the command would be useful in any given situation,
- if the command description is not obvious.
-
- Choose Message Areas:
- When selecting "C", you will be displayed a list of
- all LOCAL, ECHOMAIL, and GROUPMAIL bases available to
- you. Here you will be able to select and deselect
- message areas for download through The Blue Wave Mail
- Door. To toggle the status of a message base, enter
- the base number or number/letter combination
- associated with the message area. You may enter more
- than one message base number at a time; simply
- separate them by spaces. Some mail doors allow the
- sysop to FORCE message areas on so that you must
- download them. In this case, the area will be
- flagged with a '!' symbol, and the mail door will not
- allow you to turn the message area off. If
- downloading forced message areas becomes a burden,
- you should kindly ask your sysop if downloading the
- forced message areas is absolutely necessary.
-
- Reset Lastread Pointers:
- Selecting "R" from the Configuration Menu will allow
- you to reset the pointers indicating which messages
- have been read and which have not been read. The
- door will ask you how many DAYS you would like to "go
- back". Entering a 0 here will set your pointers to
- the current date and time (no mail will be found for
- download during a subsequent scan until more mail has
- been imported into the bases.)
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 90
-
-
-
-
-
- Entering any number other than 0 will reset your
- pointers to the specified number of days. (Entering
- a '1' would set your pointers back 24 hours.
- Entering a '2' would set your pointers back 48 hours,
- and so on.)
-
-
- Archiver Selection:
- Selecting "A" from the door's Configuration Menu will
- allow you to select the archiver of your choice, from
- those defined by the Sysop. The archiver will be
- used to compress (Mash) the mail packet before you
- download it.
-
- Protocol Selection:
- Selecting "P" from the Configuration Menu will allow
- you to select the transfer protocol of your choice,
- from those defined by the Sysop. The protocol will
- be used during a download of a mail packet, the
- upload of a mail packet, and any File Request
- sessions that you may make.
-
- HotKeys:
- The Blue Wave Mail Door defaults to using "HotKeys"
- for a new user. The HotKey option allows you to
- select menu commands without having to press ENTER
- after each selection. Obviously, however, it will be
- necessary to press ENTER after some commands that
- require input of more than one character. With
- extremely noisy phone line conditions, hotkeys may
- not be desireable.
-
- Xpert Help Menus:
- The Blue Wave Mail Door defaults to using FULL help
- menus. However, after you become comfortable with
- the door, you may wish to turn off the full help
- menus. With Xpert Mode enabled, only the menu title,
- command keys, and time remaining are displayed.
-
- Bundle Messages FROM You:
- If you have this option enabled, the door will pack
- and allow you to download messages that you have
- entered either through the BBS or through the offline
- mail reader. If you upload large volumes of mail,
- the downloading of your own messages may not be
- desireable. Turn this option off to force the door
- to skip the bundling of messages that have your name
- in the FROM: field.
-
- Graphics (Color) Enabled:
- If your communications program supports ANSI
- graphics, and you would like to receive output from
- the mail door in living color, turn this option on.
- Turning this option off forces the door to mono mode.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 91
-
-
-
-
- Set Password Option:
- The password or Secure option is unique to The Blue
- Wave Mail System. Although some may question its
- usefulness, there are several situations where you
- may wish to enable this feature. There are 4 levels
- of security offered:
-
- * Password prompting in the DOOR only.
- * Password prompting in the READER only.
- * Password prompting in the READER and DOOR.
- * No password prompting (Default).
-
- In a situation where you download sensitive areas
- from the BBS, and use The Blue Wave Offline Mail
- Reader on a machine that is shared by several other
- users, you may wish to add the secure option to the
- READER only. Each mail packet will be encrypted with
- a password. If a user tries to read a packet
- encrypted with a password, they will be prompted to
- enter it. If the user does not get the correct
- password after three tries, the reader will NOT allow
- them to read the mail packet.
-
- Another situation may occur where Father downloads
- sensitive mail, and does not wish for Daughter, Son,
- or Wife to read it. It may be useful to set the
- secure option in both the READER and DOOR, since it
- is possible that the family knows Father's BBS
- password. By prompting for a password when entering
- the door (obviously one that is different from the
- BBS password), he has another layer of security.
-
- Limit Download Packet Size:
- If you are running with limited drive space, this
- option is extremely useful. If you define a maximum
- packet size of 100K, the door will stop bundling
- messages once the requested maximum packet size has
- been reached. The maximum packet size is the size of
- the UNCOMPRESSED mail bundle that the door is
- building. If you enable this option, you can ensure
- that the downloaded mail packet will fit onto the
- disk space you have available after the mail packet
- has been decompressed.
-
- Macro Definitions:
- The Blue Wave Mail Door allows you to define up to 3
- macros that can be used in the place of manually
- entering your bundling commands during each mail
- download session. The Blue Wave Bundling commands
- are described in detail a bit later in the
- documentation.
-
- Most of the BW doors available also allow you to
- automatically execute certain macros after the door
- has scanned the message database on the BBS.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 92
-
-
-
-
- Keyword Definitions:
- The Blue Wave Mail Door allows you to specify up to
- 10 different Keyword definitions. These keywords
- will be used during the mail scanning process to
- inform you of mail in an area which contains any one
- of the keyword definitions. To get the full use out
- of keywords, you must use The Blue Wave Bundling
- Commands (described later) to instruct the door on
- how to handle keywords in certain areas.
-
- The best way to describe the use of keywords is with
- an example. Let's suppose that you are looking for
- Apple computer equipment to buy in the National
- FidoNet FOR-SALE Echo. Sometimes the FOR-SALE echo
- generates more than 200 messages per day. Instead of
- downloading all 200 messages, of which (possibly) 199
- of them are of no interest to you, you may define the
- keyword APPLE.
-
- You would then be informed during the SCANNING
- process of all messages containing the keyword APPLE.
- By using The Blue Wave Bundling Commands, it is
- possible to ONLY bundle messages with the Keyword
- APPLE in them. This, of course, saves on-line time,
- and time you would have to spend paging through the
- numerous (UNWANTED) messages offline when using the
- reader. Naturally, there are many other uses to the
- Keywords option. The idea behind keywords is to let
- The Blue Wave Mail Door do the work for you!
-
- Filter Definitions:
- Like Keywords, The Blue Wave Mail Door allows you to
- specify up to 10 FILTERS. Filters essentially work
- just the opposite of Keywords. During the door's
- SCANNING process, you are informed of messages that
- contain any of the Filters that you have defined.
- After the mail scan is complete, you can use The Blue
- Wave Bundling Commands to FILTER the messages that
- you do not want to receive.
-
- Again, the best way to describe the usefulness of
- Filters is with an example. Let's suppose that Joe
- Blow in the FidoNet C Programming Echo is
- consistently entering messages which contain false
- information, is constantly flaming others, and is
- being an all around nuisance. Although you really
- enjoy reading the C_ECHO, you get tired of seeing
- messages entered either from Joe Blow or to Joe Blow.
- By defining the Filter of JOE BLOW, you will be
- flagged if there are any messages containing the
- Filter. By using The Blue Wave Bundling Commands,
- you can then instruct The Blue Wave Mail Door NOT to
- bundle messages containing the Filter JOE BLOW.
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 93
-
-
-
-
-
- The Blue Wave Bundling Commands
- -------------------------------
-
- Several Bundling Commands are available to you to make The Blue Wave Mail
- System one of the most robust mail systems available today. By combining
- The Blue Wave Bundling Commands with Keyword Definitions and Filter
- Definitions, you can discriminately select messages ON-LINE to download,
- rather than wasting time downloading mail, of which only a few messages
- are of any interest. The following section will give an in-depth
- description of each Bundling Command available to you, and examples on
- how to use each one to build a custom mail packet.
-
- The Blue Wave Mail Door prompts you for your Bundling Commands at the end
- of each mail SCAN, just beofre the system actually gathers mail for you.
- After viewing the SCAN TABLE, you can actually select which areas and/or
- messages you wish to download. the Bundling Commands ONLY affect the
- current download session, and are not saved for later use. (Unless you
- have defined them as a MACRO in the door's configuration menu, or in the
- reader's OFFLINE configuration). The default behavior of the door is to
- gather ALL NEW MAIL. The Blue Wave Bundling Commands only MODIFY the
- result.
-
- You can think of The Blue Wave Bundling Commands as a way to dynamically
- change the messages that the door has prepared to download for you. The
- commands are actually LETTERS and SYMBOLS, followed by numbers and "key
- words" which modify the effect of the command. The keywords "*" and
- "all" are recognized by each Bundling Command, and operate on ALL message
- areas that you have tagged for downloading. (A "K*" would gather
- keywords ONLY in ALL areas).
-
- The Bundling Commands may be "linked" together to form one long string of
- characters. To perform multiple commands within the same bundling
- command, you simply need to separate them by SPACES. "-2 K9 P14 F22" is
- a perfectly valid bundling command. (This example would cause the door
- to not bundle messages in area number 2, gather keywords only in message
- area number 9, gather only personal mail in area number 14, and filter
- out messages in area number 22.)
-
- Deselecting an Area:
- To dynamically (and temporarily) deselect an area from the
- message bases that you are downloading, you can use the "-"
- bundling command. "-*" or "-ALL" would deselect all message
- areas, resulting in a total of 0 messages being downloaded. "-
- 14" would temporarily deselect area #14. "-P1" would deselect
- message area "P1" on systems that use letters as area names,
- such as Maximus-CBCS.
-
- Format: -<area #> or -* or -all
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 94
-
-
-
-
-
- Adding an Area:
- To reselect an area which was previously deselected using the
- "-" command, use the "+<area #>" command. Please note that it
- is NOT possible to add a message area to your download packet
- that you are not currently scanning. If you have entered
- several bundling commands and realize that you have made a
- mistake, use the "+*" or "+ALL" command. This will reselect
- ALL message areas that you are scanning, and clear any
- designation of keywords/personal/filters in all message areas.
- In other words, it is the same as starting new.
-
- Format: +<area #> or +* or +all
-
- Bundling Personal Messages Only:
- To instruct the door to bundle only your personal messages
- (messages addressed either to your login name or real
- name/alias name) in a message area, use the "P" command. To
- bundle only your personal mail in area #23, use "P23". to
- bundle only personal mail in ALL areas, use either "P*" or
- "PALL".
-
- Format: P<area #> or P* or Pall
-
- Bundling Keywords Only:
- To instruct the door to bundle only messages containing your
- Keyword definitions, use the "K" bundling command.
-
- WHEN USING THE "K" COMMAND, PERSONAL MAIL IS ALSO BUNDLED, IF
- ANY IS FOUND.
-
- To download only keyword messages in area #192, use the
- bundling command "K192". If you want to download ONLY keyword
- and personal mail in all areas, use "K*" or "KALL".
-
- Format: K<area #> or K* or Kall
-
- Filtering Messages in an Area:
- If you would like the door to skip packing any messages that
- contain your filter definitions, use the "F" bundling command.
- To filter all messages in area #57, use the bundling command
- "F57". To filter messages in ALL message areas, use the "F*"
- or "FALL" commands.
-
- Format: F<area #> or F* or Fall
-
- Bundling a Specified NUMBER of Messages:
- The Blue Wave Mail Door has the ability to download a specified
- number of messages in any message area. This command is
- especially useful when downloading a message area for the first
- time, as sort of a "test drive". you may only want to bundle
- the first or the last 10 messages in the area to see if you
- will enjoy reading that particular message base.
-
- The Blue Wave Mail Door has two functions that will do this.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 95
-
-
-
-
- Bundling the LAST (#) of Messages in an Area:
- To perform this function, use the "L" bundling command. The
- "L" bundling command is a bit different from the rest, as it
- takes two parameters instead of one. To bundle the last 10
- messages in area #563, use the command "563L10". To gather the
- last 10 messages in ALL areas, use the command "*L10".
-
- The "L" bundling command is also a quick way to override your
- lastread message pointers for a particular area. If you choose
- to download the last 500 messages in area #3, and your lastread
- pointer indicates that only 7 messages are new, the "L" command
- will allow you to override the setting and download all 500
- messages. (Use "3L500").
-
- Format: <area #>L<# of msgs to bundle>
-
- Bundling the FIRST (#) of Messages in an Area:
- Bundling the first nn number of messages in an area is done in
- much the same way as bundling the last nn number of messages in
- an area. To bundle the first 199 messages in area #92, use the
- command "92L199". To gather the first 5 messages in all tagged
- areas, use "*F5".
-
- Format: <area #>F<# of msgs to bundle>
-
-
-
- Lastread Pointers and Bundling Commands
- ---------------------------------------
- By default, upon a successful download session through The Blue Wave Mail
- Door, the door will update the last read message pointers in ALL areas
- that were SCANNED. (Note: If an area was deselected with a "-" command,
- it will STILL be updated to reflect the new last read pointer!) In most
- cases, this is desireable. However, The Blue Wave Mail Door takes into
- consideration that all users' needs are not the same. The following two
- Bundling Commands will modify the default setting regarding message
- pointers.
-
- No Update of Message Pointers:
- If you wish the door to NOT update your message pointers for
- one reason or another, use the "N" bundling command. If you
- want the door to not save message pointers in area #75, use the
- command "N75". To not update message pointers in ALL areas
- that you are scanning , use "N*" or "NALL".
-
- Format: N<area #> or N* or Nall
-
- Force Update of Message Pointers:
- Because the default behavior of the door is to UPDATE message
- pointers, this command is only useful to kill the effect ofa
- previously entered "N" command. Suppose that you are
- downloading 50 areas, and only want one message base updated.
- You could use the bundling command "N* U2". This would force
- the door to ONLY update the pointers in area #2. After an
- accidental "N*", a "U*" will correct the mistake.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 96
-
-
-
-
-
- The "!" Command:
- Finally, the "!" command. A "!" anywhere on the command line
- tells The Blue Wave Mail Door to NOT prompt for any more
- bundling commands once the bundling command has been processed.
- By default, the door will process a command line, calculate a
- new TOTAL MESSAGES, and display it. You may then enter more
- bundling commands, or simply press ENTER to accept what was
- already processed, and begin bundling.
-
-
- Bundling Command Macros
- -----------------------
- As described earlier, the door allows you to define up to 3 bundling
- command "macros", to be used at the bundling command prompt. The
- bundling command macros should be defined prior to their use as a
- bundling command.
-
- Once a bundling command macro has been defined, you can enter all of your
- bundling commands with just 3 keystrokes, instead of trying to remember
- all of the commands that you normally do.
-
- For example, if you have define a bundling command macro #1 and a
- bundling command macro #2, you can force to door to process your #2 macro
- by entering "M2" at the bundling command prompt. If you have tagged the
- macro as an "automatically executed macro", then the door will execute
- the macro immediately after displaying the scan table to you.
-
-
- Example Bundling Commands
- -------------------------
- Most of the Blue Wave Bundling Commands described above do very little
- good when used alone. By combining the commands, the ultimate in custom
- mail bundling is available. Several examples follow, but please
- remember, there is virtually no end to what can be accomplished!
-
- -ALL +14 K17 F1
- This command deslects all areas, adds area #14 for ALL NEW
- messages, area #17 for KEYWORDS ONLY, and FILTERS the messages
- in area #1. The door then calculates a new total, and waits
- for more input.
-
- -ALL +14 K17 F1 !
- This command does the same thing as the previous example,
- except it doesn't prompt for more commands. The door begins
- bundling immediately (because of the "!" command).
-
- -14 P2 N18 K1 P22 17L60 F928 97F20 M3
- This command deselects area #14, gathers personal messages only
- in area #2, does not update message pointers for area #18,
- selects keywords only in area #1, personal messages only in
- area #22, gathers the last 60 messages in area #17, filters
- messages in area #928, gathers the first 20 messages in area
- #97, and then executes macro #3.
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 97
-
-
-
-
-
-
- APPENDIX A: Files Created, Maintained, and Used by the Reader
- --------------------------------------------------------------
-
- TAGFILES.BW - This file defines the overrides for certain BBS
- systems and message areas in regards to tagline
- files to use and the tagline selection type to
- use. Please see the section titled "TAGLINES",
- and the sample TAGFILES.BW enclosed with the reader.
-
-
- PKTSTATS.BW - PKTSTATS.BW holds the packet information displayed at
- the 'Select Packet to Read' selection window. This
- file is automatically maintained by the reader each
- time you leave the "PACKET MANAGEMENT" menu item on
- the reader's MAIN MENU. If this file does not exist
- it will be created by the reader. You may delete this
- file at any time. However, you will loose the packet
- information which is displayed.
-
-
- BWAVE200.CFG - This is the default configuration file used by the
- reader to load and save your reader configuration items
- which have been set from the SETUP menu. You may use
- more than one configuration file by executing
- "BWAVE <config.fil>" from the DOS command line. For
- example, to load a configuration file called
- "MYSETUP.CFG", type "BWAVE MYSETUP.CFG" to load the
- reader.
-
-
- BWCOLOR.200 - Your custom color configurations are stored in this
- file so that you can easily trade color combinations
- with your friends. If BWCOLOR.200 exists in the reader
- home directory, it will automatically be loaded.
-
-
- NAMES.BW - This is a hard coded file name that is used to present
- a list of quick lookup names when pressing '?' in the
- TO: field while entering a message. The format for
- NAMES.BW is described in the sample file enclosed with
- your reader.
-
-
- BWSETUP.HLP - The reader loads the help text for the SETUP menu from
- this file each time you enter the SETUP menu. If this
- file does not exist, a warning message will be
- displayed.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 98
-
-
-
-
-
- APPENDIX B: Running the Reader Under DESQview
- ----------------------------------------------
-
- The reader is fully DESQview compatible and aware. DESQview is
- automatically detected by the reader at startup. If the reader detects
- DESQview (you can verify this fact by pressing <Alt-I> from anywhere
- within the reader), it automatically releases time slices to other tasks
- while waiting for keyboard input. This in turn allows your background
- processing to flow more smoothly and quickly.
-
- Here are the recommended settings for setting up DESQview to execute the
- reader:
-
- Memory Size (in K): 350
-
- Writes Text Directly to Screen [Y]
- Displays Graphics Information [N]
- Virtualize Text/Graphics [Y]
- Uses Serial Ports [N]
- Requires Floppy Diskette [N]
-
-
- The option "Writes Text Directly to Screen" is recommended to be set to
- "Y" for speed reasons. The reader displays will be updated much more
- quickly when set to "Y". However, if you do not care to set this option
- to "Y", "N" will also work.
-
- The option "Virtualize Text/Graphics" can also be set to "N" to increase
- the speed at which the display is updated. However, by setting this to
- "N", you will be unable to confine the reader's output to a window less
- than the full size of the screen. Additionally, if you have the On-
- Screen Clock turned on in the setup menu, the clock updates will bleed
- through to other windows in your DESQview session.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 99
-
-
-
-
-
- PRODUCT SUPPORT
- ---------------
-
- The Blue Wave Mail System is a growing and developing software
- package. Cutting Edge Computing is always interested in
- hearing your comments, complaints, suggestions, and of course
- kind words. We take into consideration every request that we
- get in order to make The Blue Wave Mail System a first class
- offline mail package. We would like to hear from you!
-
- If you are having trouble with The Blue Wave Offline Mail
- Reader, or have comments and suggestions, please drop us a
- line. We can be reached via direct FidoNet NETMAIL, through
- the International BLUEWAVE Echo (available on the FidoNet
- Backbone and Distribution Hubs), and of course through the US
- Mail.
-
- Voice technical support is provided Monday through Saturday at
- 313-743-WAVE (that's 313-743-9283, for those of you without
- letters on your telephone!).
-
- Cutting Edge Computing is owned and operated by George Hatchew
- in Burton, Michigan, USA. Here are the addresses where you may
- contact me directly:
-
- US Postal Service
- -----------------
- Cutting Edge Computing
- PO Box 90476
- Burton, Michigan 48509
- USA
-
-
- The Cutting Edge Computing Support BBS
- --------------------------------------
- The Wild! Blue BBS
- 1-313-743-8464
- Flint, Michigan
- 1200-14400 bps HST/v.32bis Compatible
- FidoNet 1:2240/176
- Sysop: George Hatchew
-
-
- Voice Technical Support
- -----------------------
- 1-313-743-9283, Monday through Friday
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
- The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader Operations Manual, v2.12
- Page 100
-
-
-
-
-
-
- INDEX OF KEY WORDS
- ------------------
- -b 9
- -c 9
- -l 9
- -lcd 9
- -m 9
- -s 9
- -t 9, 33
- [ALTLIST] 88
- [COMMENT] 88
- [HANCOCK] 88
- Add To Existing Reply Packets 18
- Adopting a tagline 67
- Alarm 42
- Allow swapping to EMS Memory 22
- Allow swapping to XMS Memory 22
- ALTF1.BAT 43
- ARC 38
- ARJ 7, 11, 38
- Automatic Personal Mail Scan 15
- Automatic Title Scan 15
- Automatically Save Msgs and Replies 19
- BBS_ID 89
- Beep on Error Messages 13
- Begin Reading w/ First Unread Message 16
- Begin Reading w/ Last Unread Message 16
- BIOS screen writes 9
- Blue Wave Support 8
- Boss Key 41
- BOXER 8
- BUFFERS=30 10
- BWAVE200.CFG 98
- BWCOLOR.200 98
- BWSETUP.HLP 10, 98
- Carbon Copy 78
- CGA Snow 9, 26
- Check for Dupes Before Adopting 21
- Closed Packet Menu 45
- Command line parameters 9
- Compression program 7
- CONFIG.SYS 10
- Copyright 3
- Cross posting messages 79
- Custom Color Configuration 25
- Cutting Edge Computing 3
- Default Keyword List File 36
- Default Message Save File 35
- Default Printer Port 24
- Default Replies Save File 35
- Delete Mail Packet After Reading 17
- DESQview 6, 7, 42, 99
- Direct Video Writes 9
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- Display Archiver Output 14
- DOS shell 41
- Double-Byte Language Support 29
- Download Directory 30
- Echomail 75
- Editor File Path 32
- Enable Inbound Translations 29
- Enable Outbound Translations 29
- Entering a message 73
- Entering messages 73
- Europe 4
- Exploding Window Frames 13
- External LIST Command Line 34
- External programs 7
- FidoNet-QWK Compatible 13
- FILES=25 10
- Floppy drive 7
- Global Command Key 41
- Hardware requirements 6
- History 4
- Inbound Character Translation 29
- Inform when All Messages have been Read 16
- Insert Quote Header in Replies 18
- John Hancock 8, 21, 85, 86
- John Hancock Command Line 34
- Jump to Next Area with Unread Messages 16
- Keyword list file 80
- Keyword searching 80
- KEYWORDS.BW 10
- LCD Color Mapping 26
- LHARC/LHA 11
- LZH 38
- Memory Swapping 23
- MONOCHROME 9, 26
- MOUSE 82, 83, 84
- Mouse Support Enabled 13
- NAMES.BW 10, 98
- Netmail 75
- Netmail entry 73
- Noise on Personal Messages 15
- On-Screen Clock 13
- On-Screen Date Format 28
- On-Screen Time Format 28
- Only Display Areas with Messages 16
- Optional external programs 8
- OS/2 6
- Outbound Character Translation 29
- Packet List 2nd Sort Field 14
- Packet management 46
- PAK 11, 38
- PKARC/PKXARC 11
- PKPAK/PKUNPAK 11
- PKTSTATS.BW 98
- PKZIP 7
- PKZIP/PKUNZIP 11
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- Prefix Reply Subjects with "Re:" 19
- Printer Init String 24
- Printer Reset String 24
- Q.EXE 11
- QEDIT 8
- Quote Header String 39
- Quote-O-Meter Warning Threshold 19
- QWK Alias Name 39
- QWK mail 6
- Read Messages Sorted on Which Field 15
- Reading messages 59
- Registration details 4
- Registration Name 40
- Registration Number 40
- Reminder Timer 42
- Replies manager 70
- Save Message Read/Mark/Reply Tags 15
- Screen Saver Activation 14
- Secondary Registration 40
- Send Form Feed After Printing 24
- Set 25 Lines 27
- Set Default Netmail Bits 19
- SETUP menu 12
- ShareWare 4
- SLED 8
- Speech hardware 9
- Speech Software 26
- Spell checker 8, 71
- Spell Checker Command Line 33
- Support 100
- Support BBS 100
- Swap Directory 32
- Swap on Shell to Alt-Fkey Batch Files 23
- Swap on Shell to Archivers 23
- Swap on Shell to DOS 23
- Swap on Shell to External File Viewer 23
- Swap on Shell to John Hancock 23
- Swap on Shell to Message Editor 22
- Swap on Shell to Spell Checker 23
- Swap on Shell to Terminal Program 23
- TAGFILES.BW 10, 89, 98
- Tagline File Name 35
- Tagline Selection Type 20
- Tagline selection window 86, 87
- Taglines 20, 85
- TAGLINES.BW 10
- TED3.COM 10, 11
- Terminal Command Line 33
- Upload Directory 30
- Video Mode 27
- Voice Technical Support 100
- WARRANTIES 3
- When to Quote Message Replies 18
- Work Directory 31
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