NOTE: all known bugs or weaknesses are marked by a triangle (Δ).
This program is free. Take it, keep it and give it to your friends and parents.
The author will not be responsible for any damage to your computer, headache, addiction to MUSHes or other nasty things caused by MacMUSH.
New versions, docs, source code and other info is available by anonymous ftp to
ftp.imv.aau.dk /pub/MacMUSH
or from
http://imv.aau.dk/~jenwj/macmush.html
---------------------
MacMUSH is a client for MUDs (Multi User Dungeon/Domain etc.) of type MUSH (TinyMUSH or PennMUSH).
MacMUSH uses Apple's implementation of the TCP/IP protocol, MacTCP, to connect to the MUSH servers so you will need to have MacTCP installed and configured on your computer in order to use MacMUSH.
You also have to have at least a 68020 processor (at least a Mac LC).
Creating a new session.
---------------------
To connect to a MUSH, create a new window by choosing “New” from the File menu. You will then be presented with a dialog asking for MUSH name, host address and port number.
The MUSH name is simply whatever you want to call it (it will be used to name windows. You don't need to type anything).
Host address is the IP address for the machine that is running the MUSH server. Enter the address in either IP number as “dotted decimal notation” (eg. 191.21.133.5) or the domain name (eg. machine.somewhere.com).
Port number is the servers IP port number.
Δ NOTE: MacMUSH does not check if the address or port number in entered in a valid format. It is quite possible for example to enter “sdkgh” or nothing at all as the port number. Don't.
After clicking OK, a window with two fields seperated by a double line will appear. The topmost field is the display field. This is where all output from the MUSH will be shown. The lowermost field is the input field where you enter whatever you want to send to the MUSH. The double line is used to resize the fields.
At this point no connection has been established. To connect now simply choose “Connect” from the Connection menu and you're off. In the bottom of the window the status of the TCP connection is shown. When a new window is shown it should read “There is no connection in place”.
When you connect succesfully the following sequence should be shown:
“Looking up host name…” - The entered address is being converted into a 32 bit IP address.
“Connection to host…” - MacMUSH is contacting the machine.
“TCP Established” - The TCP connection is now up and running.
If MacMUSH is unable to establish a connection an alert will be shown, containing the reported TCP error message. Most of the time this will be the very informative “Open failed”. This may be due to network lag. Simply try again. “Authorization error” is a problem with the domain name server (the machine that converts IP names into IP number addresses). Check that you have entered the address correctly.
It might, however, be a good idea to set up a few things before connecting. Choose “MUSH settings…” from the Special menu.
In this dialog you can set your player name, password and, if you check the “Autoconnect”, MacMUSH will automatically send “connect <name> <password>” to the MUSH when a connection has been established. Also MacMUSH will open the connection immediately after opning a document where autoconnect is set. (If you want to iverride this feature, hold down the option key when opening the document from MacMUSH or the Finder.)
The radio buttons labeled “think”, “@pemit me=” and “other” are used to tell MacMUSH what command it should send to the MUSH when you want to change your description or other attributes. To determine which one you should use, try both "think" and "@pemit me=". Think should be used if you are connected to a PennMUSH and @pemit me= if you are connected to a TinyMUSH.
Menus:
------
Apple menu:
-----------
The usual stuff except for the “mail the author” item which will present you with a dialog where you can enter your name and/or email address and a short message (well short and short.. up to 32k in fact) then if you click “Send” MacMUSH will mail me that message. I like getting email :-)
File menu:
---------
Also the usual stuff.
Δ As of yet no printing and revert doesn't work either.
Edit menu:
---------
Once again: the usual stuff.
Connection menu:
---------------
Connect: connect to the MUSH server.
Disconnect: just what it says - disconnect from the server. Usually you'd want to type QUIT first and if you do that, you don't have to choose “Disconnect” because the server sends a close-connection request and MacMUSH will gracefully close the TCPconnection for you.
Enter host address: enter MUSH name, host address and port number of the MUSH.
Special menu:
------------
MUSH settings: enter name, password and the way to retrieve attributes from the MUSH.
Set description: MacMUSH will get your current description from the MUSH and present a dialog that lets you edit it as you wish then click OK to set that description or Cancel to abort.
Log to file: Save the current window contents and all following output from the MUSH to a text file you specify in the stardard Save dialog.
Δ The logfile will contain ANSI codes if any are received from the MUSH.
Auto scroll: if this option is checked the display window will automatically scroll to the bottom when new text is received. Uncheck it if you want to inspect something received earlier and don't want to be bothered by incoming text.
Get/set attribute: this item a window where you can specify the name of an attribute on yourself and then click “Get” to retrieve the current content of that attribute or “Set” to set that attribute to the contents of the the text field in the window.
Object attribute: selecting this item will bring up a window in which you can type in the name of an object and an attribute on that object. You can then, as above, choose "Get" to get the current contents of that attribute or "Set" to set the attribute to the contents of window's text field. The popup menu, "Attributes", will present you with a list of all the attributes on the object in the "Object" field. It may take a little time to generate the list because MacMUSH has to ask the MUSH server for the list, so just hold the button down until something happens (while MacMUSH is getting the attribute list, the status field in the main window is read "Getting attribute…").
Quote file: lets you choose a text file which will be quoted (sent) to the MUSH. This can also be achieved by simply dragging a text file from the Finder into the display window.
Macros: lets you edit macros. A macro is envoked by pressing Ctrl (optionally together with shift and/or option) and a letter from A to Z. As of yet MacMUSH does not have very sophisticated macro facilities. The contents of a macro is simply quoted literally to the MUSH.
Mark words: lets you configure up to 50 (for each file, of course) words to be marked - that is, displayed in any style you choose (bold, italic etc. or any conbination of those). These words will be saved in the MUSH file.
Window menu:
-------------
The usual stuff - it lets you move around between the open windows.
Other stuff:
------------
Resizing the input- and display fields: simply click and drag the divider line.
Suppression of certain words: certain words and phrases in your input will be suppressed. That is, they will not be echoed to the display field because the MUSH will tell you that you have done this or that (eg. there is no need to echo 'say hello' as the MUSH will respond with 'You say, "hello"'). So far the following words are suppressed: say pose whisper page and their one-letter equivalents (" ; : w p).
Δ Note: In the near future (hopefully :) these words will be user-configurable.
