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Kinetic News Generator for RemoteAccess/Openlink/Maximus/PCBoard: ██┐ ███┐ ████┐██████┐ ██┐ ███████┐ ████████┐ ████┐███████┐ ██│ ██┌┘ └██┌┘██┌─██│ ██│ ██┌────┘ └──██┌──┘ └██┌┘██┌────┘ ███████┐ ██│ ██│ ██│ ██│ █████┐ ██│ ██│ ██│ ██┌──██│ ██│ ██│ ██│ ██│ ██┌──┘ ██│ ██│ ██│ ██│ ██│ ████┐██│ ██████│ ███████┐ ██│ ████┐███████┐ └─┘ └─┘ └───┘└─┘ └─────┘ └──────┘ └─┘ └───┘└──────┘ ██████┐ ██┐ ███████┐ ██┐ ██┐ ██┐ ███████┐ ██┌─██│ ██│ ██┌────┘ ██│ ██│ ██│ ██┌────┘ ██│ ██│ ██│ █████┐ ██│ ██│ ██│ ███████┐ ██│ ██│ ██│ ██┌──┘ ██│ ██│ ██│ └────██│ ██│ ██████│ ███████┐ ██████████│ ███████│ └─┘ └─────┘ └──────┘ └─────────┘ └──────┘ Copyright (C) 1992,1993 Yeo Chit Loong, All Rights Reserved. Kinetic News Generator is a product of: ██┐ ███┐ ████┐██████┐ ██┐ ███████┐ ████████┐ ████┐███████┐ ██│ ██┌┘ └██┌┘██┌─██│ ██│ ██┌────┘ └──██┌──┘ └██┌┘██┌────┘ ███████┐ ██│ ██│ ██│ ██│ █████┐ ██│ ██│ ██│ ██┌──██│ ██│ ██│ ██│ ██│ ██┌──┘ ██│ ██│ ██│ ██│ ██│ ████┐██│ ██████│ ███████┐ ██│ ████┐███████┐ └─┘ └─┘ └───┘└─┘ └─────┘ └──────┘ └─┘ └───┘└──────┘ ███████┐ ███████┐ ███████┐ ████████┐ ██┐ ██┐ ██┐ ███████┐ ███████┐ ███████┐ ██┌────┘ ██┌──██│ ██┌────┘ └──██┌──┘ ██│ ██│ ██│ ██┌──██│ ██┌──██│ ██┌────┘ ███████┐ ██│ ██│ █████┐ ██│ ██│ ██│ ██│ ███████│ ███████│ █████┐ └────██│ ██│ ██│ ██┌──┘ ██│ ██│ ██│ ██│ ██┌──██│ ██┌─██┌┘ ██┌──┘ ███████│ ███████│ ██│ ██│ ██████████│ ██│ ██│ ██│ ███┐ ███████┐ └──────┘ └──────┘ └─┘ └─┘ └─────────┘ └─┘ └─┘ └─┘ └──┘ └──────┘ Copyright (C) 1992,1993 Yeo Chit Loong, All Rights Reserved. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ (*)-=] Author's Note-Pad [=-(*) ║ █ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ o KNews Archive : KN141-3 [.Arj] o Executable File : KNews [.Exe] o News Data File : KNews [.Txt] o KNews Config File : KNews [.Cfg] o KNews Sheller : KShell [.Exe] o KNews Maintenance : KMaint [.Exe] o Document File : KNews141[.Doc] o KNews Version : Ver.1.41. Rel 3.00 Total:(26 versions) (8 rel ) o KNShell Version : Ver.2.00. Rel 2.00 Total:(2 versions) (1 rel.) o KMaint Verion : Ver.1.00. Rel 1.02 Total:(1 version) (2 rel.) o Written by : Yeo Chit Loong o Time Taken : 0 hours 20 mins (Included to total time) o Total Time : 63 hrs 0 mins (Including releases) o Total Updates :- KNews :> 26 version & 8 release(s) updates to this version. KNShell :> 1 version & 1 release(s) updates to this version. KMaint :> 0 version & 2 release(s) updates to this version. [Notice] : Please do not attempt to reverse engineer, modify, append, or/and violate the integrity of this program. ONLY AN OFFICIALLY REGISTERED USER MAY MAKE USE OF THE REGISTERED FEATURES PROVIDED BY KNEWS. ONLY AN OFFICIALLY APPOINTED BETA TESTER MAY MAKE USE OF BETA VERSIONS OF KNEWS. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ D I S C L A I M E R ║ █ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ The author would not be held liable for any direct,indirect or consequential damages or/and losses arising from the use (or inability to use) this program. In no event will the author be liable to the user for any damages, including any lost profits, lost savings, or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use the program, or for any claim by any other party. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ W A R R A N T Y ║ █ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Yeo Chit Loong (hereafter referred to as "the author") makes no warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, any warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. The author shall not be liable for any damages, whether direct, indirect, special, or consequential arising from a failure of this program to operate in the manner desired by the user. The author shall not be liable for any damage to data or property which may be caused directly or indirectly by use of the program. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ II. Contents ║ █ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Disclaimers/Copyrights...etc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . II Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . III Small note from the author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IV ------------------------------------------------------------------- Topic(s) Page ------------------------------------------------------------------- What is Kinetic News Generator? 1 Installing KNews 2 Configuring KNews - KNShell.Exe 3 (KNews.Cfg) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3a Configuring for your BBS s/w . . . . . . . . . . . 3b (News.Txt) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3c (KNewsHdr.Txt) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3d Running KNews 4 Using KMaint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4a About Registration for KNews 5 Special Notes 6 Current Version/Releases notes 7 Future developments 8 The Beta-Testing team 9 Acknowledgements 10 =================================================================== ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ iii. Credits / Special Thanks ║ █ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Saying "Thankyou" to : My grandparents, my parents, my brother and sister, Roger Wilco, Jeff, LCB, Jessie Blue, Maveric Lee, LFM, OYY, Joseph Gan, Koh Chin Yee, David Lim, Alvin Teo, Lewis Yeo, Vincent Kam, Terence Wong, Borland Int'l (For creating T.P), my faithful 386DX-40 with 4mb RAM and 242mb HDD, Nestle Coffee Delux, Pizza Hut, Miliano, McDonalds, SemWare (for QEdit), CRT, Tom Swan... and many more! To any others which I've not mentioned, had helped and made this program possible, please be assured that I appreciate your help and assistance. Most of all, I'd like to thank those who've the patience to put up with my pestering (*grin*) while I was trying to grasp the concepts of Pascal and programming. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ iv. Small note from the author ║ █ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ KNews is the result of a 2-day project that inevitably extends to a 2-year project. Since it's humble start, which offers only simple ASCII and fixed designs, KNews has evolved to a bulletin generator that simply could not be ignored. --- Yeo Chit Loong, KNews Author ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ 1. Description ║ █ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ KNews provides you with full ASCII, ANSI and AVATAR support. With a simple, neat and yet informative screen. KNews provides _least_ interaction from the user. KNews is powerful and yet simple to configure and run, all versions are tested by appointed Beta-Testers for bugs and incompaitability. KNews offers abilities featured in many other news generators and is a total combination of them. Now you can have best of ALL worlds! Not wanting to lose the flexibility of your control over the news data, the KNews news text file is in ASCII form, which means you can edit with a simple text editor like EDIT.EXE provided by MS-DOS 5.xx In summary of the features, KNews gives you : (Features marked with a {+} are reserved for registered users only) ■ ASCII/ANSI/AVATAR standards - All 3 news file standards are supported by many BBS Softwares {+} ■ Unlimited no. of news articles (20 Max for Unreg. users) - Unregistered users are limited to 20 articles {+} ■ Customisable NEWS HEADERS (Type-4 news format) ■ 4 Different news header Types to choose from. (Type 4 is design and colour customisable) - Three (3) neat fixed-formats for you to choose from, the fourth (4) allows the powerful feature of self-drawn header(colour customisable also). ■ Customisable news text colours ■ Customisable news Header colours ■ Customisable news topic colours - Headers, topic lines, texts all could be colour changed according to your taste! ■ Supports non-abortable facilities by RA, OPL and PCBoard. - Stops the users from skiping important news, no more irritating "I didn't saw your news earlier on." excuses from users! - Identified in the article as "Article locked by SysOp" ■ Configurable news output file extensions - Included for the flexibility of other BBS s/w which may not use .ASC/.ANS/.AVT for text extensions. - Means multi-BBS s/w support. No converters needed! {+} ■ Identifies SysOp and BBS name in news header. - Identifies your name! You can proudly show it to your users that you've registered KNews. ■ {INCLUDE} feature allows you import text directly from other ASCII files. - Another powerful feature in KNews, that automatically imports other ASCII texts, specified by the user in News.Txt, at time of compiling the news. You can add in any ASCII text files without importing it manually into your KNews.Txt! What's more, your ASCII include file can contain colour macros used by KNews! ■ Nice and fast graphics.. - KNews has nice graphics implemented with little or no compremise over speed! ■ On-Line text file editor! (KNews -Edit parameter) - Internal KNews editor allows you to edit the KNews.Txt! ■ RUN, SILENT, NOPAUSE Command-line parameter feature. - Lets you enjoy the maximum speed available. SILENT command-line disables all sounds (except errors detection) used by KNews and NOPAUSE disables the "Press ESC to quit" window at the end of compiling. - This allows as a nightly maintenance feature - Speeds up compiling time by 2-3 seconds! ■ Countdown marker feature. (By KMaint.Exe) - Allows you to mark how many times KMaint.Exe is ran before commenting the news out of your KNews.Txt - Means you can remove 'outdated' articles by specifying how many days you want to keep it UN-COMMENTED inside KNews.Txt ■ External Sheller program (By KNShell.Exe) - A nice-looking shell program made for KNews, with some main configurations and easy loading of KNews. ■ More to come! - Yup! More! ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ 2. Installation ║ █ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ As rule of the thumb, it is always advisable for you to backup your KNews.Txt and KNews.Cfg before upgrading to a newer version. Installation is very simple, create a directory for KNews (e.g C:\KNEWS) and put the whole KNews package into it. A seperate directory for KNews is not entirely necessary, but it is for sake of preventing your BBS directory cluttered with the files. While installing, please note that the following files must exist in the SAME directory :- KNews.Exe, KNews.Ovr, KNews.Txt, KNews.Cfg, KNews.Key KMaint.Exe, KNShell.Exe The configs of KNews.Cfg defaults to RemoteAccess BBS s/w, and mimimum changes would be required to suit KNews to your needs. NOTE To KNews (1.40.Rel 5 and below) Users: News.Cfg is now renamed to KNEWS.CFG News.Txt is now renamed to KNEWS.Txt for better identification. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ 3a. Configuring KNews - KNShell.Exe ║ █ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ !!!!! NOTE !!!!! This Version of KNews.Cfg is entirely INCOMPATIABLE with previous versions of KNews, you'll have to delete the old KNews.Cfg and create a new one with KNShell.Exe !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This release sees a binary version of KNews.Cfg, the old KNews.Cfg is abandoned as it is rather cumbersome to configure through it. KNews now uses the configuration service provided by KNShell.Exe. Throughout KNShell, several special keys would be used to move around : HOME, PAGEUP : Moves selection bar to the uppermost option END, PAGE DOWN : Moves selection bar to the lowest option UP, DOWN : Moves selection bar up or down by one option When KNShell is first loaded, it might not find KNews.Cfg in the current directory, you would be given this prompt: ┌──────────────────────────────────────┐ │ KNews.Cfg Not found! Create? Y/N │ └──────────────────────────────────────┘ Select "Y" to create KNews.Cfg. If KNShell could not find KNews.Key in the current directory, it would give you this warning: ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ KNews.Key corrupted or not found! Exiting.. │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Please make sure that the key is in the directory.. contact the author if you could not find the evaluation key within the KNews package. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ 3a. Configuring for you BBS s/w ║ █ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Basically, KNews supports all BBS s/w that can display ASCII, ANSI and AVATAR files to the remote side. However, KNews is written to support 3 types of BBS s/w macros, and to use the "non-abortable" feature, your BBS s/w has to be one of the listed below: Remote Access(RA) PCBoard(PCB) OpenLink(OPL) Configurations for RA, PCB and OPL are rather simple, just specify the filenames and extentions (you can also use the defaults) and display it using the appropriate functions in the BBS s/w. For Maximus users, you need to specify all the extension to .BBS You do not have to use the ANS2BBS.EXE provided by Maximus. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ 3b. Configurating KNews - KNews.Txt ║ █ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ The KNews.Txt is the data file where KNews gets your news and compile it to presentable graphics. You can either load KNews with the parameter /edit to use the internal editor or you can use your own favourite ASCII editor. The 8 colour keywords are now not used for the time being for KNews, a feature which now allows you to change colours within your text. The colour macro is "~~(XX)" (without the quotes). Whereby the XX stands for the colours. Enter the colour macro like :- ~~(XX) ^| |+------- ForeGround 0-9, A-F +======== BackGround 0-9, A-F 0 - Black 8 - Bright or Blinking Grey 1 - Blue 9 - Bright or Blinking Blue 2 - Green A - Bright or Blinking Green 3 - Cyan B - Bright or Blinking Cyan 4 - Red C - Bright or Blinking Red 5 - Magenta D - Bright or Blinking Magenta 6 - Brown E - Bright or Blinking Yellow 7 - White F - Bright or Blinking White Note : Bright colours only apply to Foreground colours only. BackGround colours does not allow Bright colours. It would be set to Blinking instead. e.g Blinking Yellow foreground on blue background ~~(9E) In a example News.Txt file, it'll look something like.. (Anything behind a pair of '/' is commentary for this document. Remember: Do not specify a colour directly after another macro. i.e. ~~(0A)~~(0A) colours *MIGHT* not work. =======(Example)======== <Start of KNews.Txt> @News! // This is the topic line (Max 63 chars) {*} 31/12-99 // This is the date line (DD/MM-YY) // Following Presenting ~~(8E)KNews! ~~(07)The News Generator! // Lines are // your own // news text. [===] // This is to signel the end of your article. @Hello ~~(0E)world~~(0D)! // Multi-Coloured topic line. {*} 31/11-99 Hello users, the following will be the new listing of rules.. {INCLUDE RULES.TXT} // Includes the ascii file "RULES.TXT" into news Hope you understand them.. [===] <End of KNews.Txt> ==========:: Using {INCLUDE XXXXXXXX.XXX} ::============ Syntax : {INCLUDE <FILENAME>} ^-------- Filename of the ASCII file to include. (A more detailed documentation will be available in the next version.) A more detailed KNews.Txt is included with this package. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ 3c. Configuring KNews - KNewsHdr.Txt ║ █ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ The header file allows the user to customise his design of topic news header. The file is limited to a max of 5 lines. Use "@@" to specify where you want the First character of the topic to be. The news header also supports colour macros used in KNews.Txt. {+} This is a registered-only feature ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ 4. Execution / Running KNews ║ █ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ To compile the news type :- KNEWS And 3 files, <Filename>.<Ext> will be created. Where <Filename> stands for the name of the file you specified in the KNews.Cfg and <Ext> stands for the extensions for each format you have configured into KNews.Cfg. (Default extensions: .Asc .Ans .Avt ) Please not that if the Pathname is not specified with the FLPATH keyword, the 3 files would be created in the CURRENT directory. A 5 second pause has been added at the end of the program, this is for you to read whats written on the screen. To skip it, just press any key. *=- Running with command-line parameters -=* A Simple help screen would be shown if you type "KNews /?" followed by <Enter> The help screen is self-explaintory (Yeah, it explains itself to you!) so I figure it'll be a waste of space to put it here again. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ 4a. Using KMaint.Exe ║ █ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ As in chapter 5, just put KMaint.Exe in the same directory with KNews.Txt. KMaint should be run only *ONCE* a day, in order for the countdown feature to work properly. (Unless you wanted the articles' counter to be reduced other than once a day.) Put KMaint into your nightly maintenance batch file, along with your doors and stuffs. As long as it is ran once a day, the counter will be deducted accurately. Once your got KMaint.Exe defined inside your batch file, you would have to add some extra info (meaning, macros) into the KNews.Txt. The macro for countdown counter is : ! <No of days before article is 'commented'> e.g. To comment-out a article after 200 days. ! 200 NOTE: The "! "macro is to be added on the line BEFORE your "@ " (topic) macro! example of <KNews.Txt> :- <Start of KNews.Txt> . . . // Previous article's text [===] // Previous article Ending macro ! 100 // THIS is the counter macro line @ Hello World! // This is the topic macro line {*} 31/12-93 // This is the date macro line . . . [===] // Current article ending macro . <End of KNews.Txt> When the counter hits zero (0), ("! 0") you'll see something like: <Start of KNews.Txt> . . . // Previous article's text [===] // Previous article Ending macro #! 0 // THIS is the counter macro line #@ Hello World! // This is the topic macro line #{*} 31/12-93 // This is the date macro line #. #. // Article texts #. #[ ===] // Current article with broken ending macro . <End of KNews.Txt> Note the commented out article and the ending macro, if you want to post the article back, all you need is to remove the "#"s and join back the "[" to the "===]" and add a new value for the "! " (or even just remove it.) Simple? A advantage of commenting out your news article instead of deleting it is that you can refer back to what you've said at that time. Whats more, users would not be able to see it in the final compiled news file. This feature stands out particularly among other generators which deletes the news article (sometimes, pre-maturely due to corrupted cmos clocks.). This is not possible as the 'life' of your news article is based on how many times you run KMaint.Exe (Meaning, if you run it 100 times, a article with "! 100" will be commented out on the 100th time.) NOTE: If somehow or another KMaint aborted halfway, and you find KNews.Txt 'missing', chances are it is renamed to "KNewstxt.$$$". But I suggest you to have an extra copy of KNews.Txt everytime you run KMaint.Exe - This is for extra precautionary purposes. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ 5. Registration ║ █ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ In the unregistered version, there are some drawbacks : 1) A 5 second pause when KNews is ran 2) The total number of main articles are limited to 20 3) Execution time would be slowed (due to the 5 second pause) 4) Sleepless days/nights due to your conscience 5) Cannot enjoy any features marked {+} In the Registered version, users will be able to : 1) Enjoy the true fast speed of compiling 2) Write unlimited number of articles 3) Know optimum compiling speed in action 4) Know that your contribution is very much appreciated 5) Use future versions that I would write, due to your support 6) Enjoy any features marked {+} 7) User Support (Applies to Singapore only) 8) KNews will identify itself with a "+" in the output newsfile to show it is registered. The registration fee is a meer S$5/= worth phone card. I believe this is not too high a fee for a nice program such as KNews, as this program is the result of the many hours drained from a college student trying to learn programming. I would definately (gladly) appreciate any support, registrations or contributions to keep me going. Remember! It is your every support which motivates programmers like us to achieve to release better software! If you are interested in registering, please refer to the registration details as included with the archive. Registered users who've encountered any problems in using KNews, don't to hesitate to contact me. I'd appreciate your comments and feedback. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ 6. More notes...... ║ █ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ - S P E E D - KNews is Tested and timed on: [386-DX40, 242Mb HDD, 4Mb Ram] [MSDOS 5.00, X00.Sys, ZAvt.Sys, Share.Exe, DV.Com, Qemm.Sys, Himem.Sys] [4DOS 4.02, Nnansi.Com, Ramdrive (720k)] Size of KNews.Txt Tested on is : 20 articles, 40973 bytes, 390 Lines, With at least 15 different colour changes per line. Just in case you want to know about the speed of KNews: For the registered version: 12 seconds in a normal DOS window, 15 Seconds in a 500k DV 5:5 tick window For the Unregistered ones: just add in 5-12 seconds. ;-) (To potential hackers trying to register this program unofficially : " Forget about cracking this program, it is small and insignificant enoungh to disgrace any intellectual stable person." - Author ) - C O M P A I T A B I L I T Y - This program has been tested compaitable on the following system(s): 286-12 386SX-25 486SX-25 286-16 386DX-33 486DX-33 386DX-40 486DX2-66 This program has been tested to be compaitable on the following Environment(s)/Configuration(s): 1) 4Mb RAM, MS-DOS 5.0, Share, Qemm 7.00, DesqView 2.42 2) 4Mb RAM, MS-DOS 5.0, Qemm 7.00 3) 4Mb RAM, MS-DOS 5.0, HIMEM.SYS, EMM386.EXE 4) 4Mb RAM, MS-DOS 5.0, 4DOS 4.02, X00.SYS/COM v1.24, Share.Exe Nnansi.Com, Ramdrive (720k), Qemm 7.00, DesqView 2.42 5) 4Mb Ram, MS-DOS 6.20, 4dos 4.02, X00.Sys/Com v2.01+, Share.Exe Nnansi.Com, Ramdrive (1024k), Qemm 7.03, DesqView 386 2.61 - R E Q U I R E M E N T S - IBM 80286 and above. MS-DOS 3.30 and above. 256 Kb Base RAM and above. VGA Card & Monitor. - V E R S I O N I D E N T I F I C A T I O N - The version id used by KNews is as the following :- Ver<Version Number>.Rel<Release Number>.BETA(if any) Version number is the major updates of KNews, and the larger this number, the more updated it is. Do expect to have 'decimel' values of versions e.g 1.11 . Release Number is the minor updates of KNews, meaning small bug fixes or small feature additions. It is identified by whole numbers, meaning Rel 1 to Rel 9, in EVERY version, there is a minimum of 1 Release and a maximum of 9 Releases. So if ver 1.11.rel 9.00 the next KNews (no matter Release or version) will be 1.12.rel 1.00 Do take note that I may sometimes skip version numbers. Sometimes, KNews will be released in BETA test versions, all users please take note that from Ver 1.40.Rel.8.00 onwards, all KNews that is marked with the word "BETA" or the character "ß" after it's version/release number, _do not attempt to use it_. Beta versions of KNews are meant for Beta Testing by the official KNews Beta sites. Usually, Beta versions are unstable, so if you are not a beta tester and find beta versions of KNews around, do report the uploader and the BBS to me and (if possible) delete the file as soon as possible. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ 7. Current Version/Release Notes ║ █ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ - Version 1.41 / Release 3.00 / (Internal Editor):- * Removed internal time clock as it has been causing too many systems to hang, especially QEMM's famous "Exception #13" error. (KNews.Exe):- * Fixed some cosmetic errors. Removed "pausing" effects. (KNShell.Exe):- * Enlarged space for Sysop name and BBSName data field. - Version 1.41 / Release 2.00 / (Internal Editor):- * Fixed some bugs in the internal editor which causes the system to hang in some QEMM environments. (KNews.Exe):- * .Ovr file removed due to some memory problems caused in some systems, replaced back with the good'ol .Exe (KNShell.Exe):- * A complete recode and fully enhanced version of 'Sheller.Exe', this version is named "KNShell.Exe". It has easy-to use menus with built-in configuration of KNews.Cfg, and also enables you to view, edit and compile your news. - Version 1.41 / Release 1.00 / (Internal Editor):- * Blocking functions in the Internal editor is removed for 'safety' as it is known to corrupt some parts of the news file. * A 'real-time' clock is added into the internal editor. (I thought it might be useful. *Grin*) (KNews.Exe):- * I've ported some parts of KNews's executable into an .Ovr file, do not worry if you don't know what it is for, just leave it alone with KNews.Exe and it will do what it is supposed to. *Grin* * Self-Verification check added. KNews will check itself everytime it is ran. (Note: Because of this, please do not rename KNews.Exe or KNews.Ovr into any other names, or it will not run!) (Sheller.Exe):- * A first working version of a sheller for KNews. Easily comprehenable. First in it's version, do expect unfound bugs. (Others):- * Some minor minor cosmetic changes for the above mentioned programs. * CentralNET members who want to use contact me for the special CTN member key. (However, I do encourage you to register to enjoy more features.) - Version 1.40 / Release 8.00 / - BETA Tester's version - This Version is only meant for KNews BETA testers. New features includes more detailed registration recognition, some screen fixes and added the internal KNews Editor. - Version 1.40 / Release 7.00 / - BETA - This is a quick replacement for release 6.00. In release 6.00, the KMaint.Exe is known to cause some file sharing error, that has been fixed. Some cosmetic changes in this release too. Other than that, not much changes or nasty bugs. (Thanks to all my beta testers out there! *Grin* ) - Version 1.40 / Release 6.00 / - BETA - A silly boo-boo has been made in rel 5.0, I've forgotten to extend the "Outdated" prompt's date checks - so ending up with KNews screaming "This version is outdated! Continue [Y/N]?" just a few weeks before it is released. Many recodings are done for this release, KNews now runs much more faster than previously, the colour macro is also changed. Fix a silly bug that caused funny things in the 'unabortable' feature. Many additions too, they include command-line parameters to disable sound, pause prompts and monochrome support (for users who somehow faces problems with the graphic routeins used by KNews) , countdown feature, support for Maximus. One of the major changes in KNews is the registration methods, from now onwards, KNews will no longer be using registration codes in the KNews.Cfg file. A seperate 'key' file is needed to 'unlock' registered features. This file is 4321 bytes and a valid Evaluation Key file is provided with the KNews package. (NOTE!: KNews will *NOT* work without a valid KNews.Key) A new file is included into the KNews package, KMaint.Exe. This is the countdown feature you may want to use with KNews. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ 8. Future Developments ║ █ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Since it's maiden release somewhere in September 1992, KNews has evolved from a inflexible dumb program of 4000+ bytes to a 'impressive' 40+ Kbytes of codes. However, we are not just stopping here...... Look forward to any future features we might provide, but hey, *NO* promises! *Grin* ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ 9. The Beta-Testing team ║ █ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ BETA TEST SITES Hardware/Software Tested on --------------- -------------------------------- 1. CyberMatrix BBS 386-DX40, 4Mb Ram, 240mb HDD (65)278-7409 MS-DOS 6.2, DV 2.62, QEMM 7.03 24 Hours RA 2.00, Maximus 2.01wb CentralNET 1 ----- 2. Line eXchange BBS 486-DX33, 16Mb Ram ,2 Gig HDD (65)352-4658 MS-DOS 6.2, DV 2.42, Qemm 6.04 24 Hours RA 1.11+ CentralNET 200 ----- 3. InfoDataXchange BBS 386-SX20, 2mb Ram, 120Mb HDD (65)256-4772 MS-DOS 5.0, DV 2.42, Qemm 6.04 24 Hours RA 1.11 CentralNET 303 ----- 4. The eXtreme BBs 386-DX25, 4mb RAM, 120mb & 245mb HDD (65)742-8832 MS-DOS 6.0, DV 2.42 ,Qemm 6.03 24 Hours RA 1.11+ CentralNET 202 ========================================================================== * Any suggestions/comments/fish/tomatoes, please direct them to :- ■ By modem : To: Yeo Chit Loong (SysOp) : CyberMatrix Bulletin Board System Kinetic Soft. HQ. (+65)278-7409 300/1200/2400/4800/9600/12000/14400 bps Mnp 1-5, v.32b, v.42b (whatever) 24 hours! ■ By Netmail : To: Yeo Chit Loong CentralNET (200:1000/1.0) ■ By Snail Mail (Postal Service) : To: Yeo Chit Loong Kinetic Software Development HQ. Apt Blk 27, Telok Blangah Way, #12-1006, Singapore 0409. Singapore. ========================================================================== ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ 10. Acknowledgments of TradeMarks/Copyrights ║ █ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Acknowledgments of TradeMarks and/or Copyrights: ■ \/.News & VNews \/.Soft. (1992) ■ |<.Soft & Kinetic Soft. Kinetic Software Development Group. ■ OpenLink Lai Zit Seng. ■ Turbo Pascal Borland International. ■ RemoteAccess Andrew Milner. ■ PCBoard Clark Development Corp. ■ PowerBasic Robert S. Zale. ■ MS-DOS MicroSoft Corp. ■ Qemm & Desqview QuarterDeck Soft. ■ ZAVT.SYS Luns Tee ■ IBM International Business Machines Corp. ■ Opus (CBCS) Wynn Wagner III ■ X00 Ray Gwinn ■ Maximus-CBCS Scott J. Dudley ■ Spawno Ralf Brown ■ (CRT) CRT ==========================================================================