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Copyright (c) 1988 by Jⁿrgen Hermann
FidoNet Node 2:507/613.2
All rights reserved.
No part of this document may be used or
redistributed in other documents
without the written consent
of the author.
Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
The First Step; Disk Drives; Hard Disk
Creation of the Needed Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Segregation of Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Customization of the Configuration Files . . . . . . . . . . . 3
AREAS.BBS; CE.Cfg; Import.Sh; Export.Cmd;
HiMarks.Cmd; Renum.Cmd
Program Startup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
CONFIGURATION FILE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Command Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Archive; Colours; Date; EditFile; Editor; External;
Flash; Font; Hold; Kludge; LowMsg; ReadMode; Node;
Origin; ROT; ScreenSize; Sound; Sysop; UserList
MENUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
About; Help; Quit
Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Previous Message; Next Message; Thread Down;
Thread Up; Jump To Message; Delete; Archive;
Mark Message; Write Message; Edit Message;
Reply To Message; Matrix Reply
Misc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Next Area; Rescan Area; Bell; Visibility; Read Mode
External . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
KEYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS & WORKBENCH SUPPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
CLI Arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Workbench Tool Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
MISCELLANEOUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
REVISION HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
DISTRIBUTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
DISCLAIMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
i
Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
Table of Contents
GLOSSARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
ARCmail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Boss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Echo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
FidoNet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Nodelist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Node Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
ii
Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
1. INTRODUCTION
CE is a FidoNet compatible mail editor, designed to make the
reading of mail as easy and comfortable as possible. It is usable
for both points and nodes, points with multiple bosses are
supported.
Together with ConfMail, BinkleyTerm and various freely available
programs you can set up a working point system. Being a point is
much more comfortable than being a user of a BBS like Opus or
QuickBBS, and in addition to this you save costs due to minimized
online times.
To become a point, you must ask your sysop for a personal point
number in his private point net. If your sysop does not support
points (e.g. because he has no disk space left), ask him for the
node number of the next sysop who services points. Do not use this
program before you get your point number, and under no
circumstance call a FidoNet node with an unapproved node/point
number.
2. INSTALLATION
2.1. Requirements
2.1.1. Hardware
To work with CE, you need an Amiga with at least 512
kbytes of memory and one disk drive (two drives are
recommended).
2.1.2. Software (Utilities)
CE is designed for the workbench release 1.2, but should
work under release 1.3 without problems.
Beside the OS, you need several utilities and libraries
to set up a working system, the following list shows the
name, latest revision and the source [1] for these
utilities. The programs must be located in the C:
directory or somewhere else in your path, and the
ARP.library must be installed in the LIBS: directory.
1 If you can't get the named utilities on disk then you can
request them at Megamania CBCS (2:507/613) or at one of the
distribution nodes.
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
Program Revision Source
ARP.library 1.1 ARP v1.1 Disk
Csh 2.07 Fish #107
Find 1.0 Fish #134
ZOO 2.00 Fish #136 (1.71)
ARC 0.23 Fish #70
CP 1.08 Various BBS
2.2. Preparation
2.2.1. The First Step
Print out a hardcopy of this manual and read it
entirely! A printed document is the best reference to
all the features (supported by the index chapter at
the end of this document), and is certainly necessary
to get all functions under full control.
2.2.2. Disk Drives
Create an empty disk named "MAIL", either by choosing
the "Initialize" item from the Workbench's "Disk" menu
or by entering the command "Format Drive DF1: Name MAIL
NOICONS" at the CLI prompt.
2.2.3. Hard Disk
Create a directory on any non-FFS partition, this
directory will later hold the configuration files and
the message base. Choose a partition with enough store
left on it to hold a rather large message base (the
exact amount depends on the number of areas you want to
poll).
Then add the command "Assign MAIL: <full pathname of
your directory>" to your startup-sequence and enter the
same command at the CLI prompt (or simply reboot).
2.3. Creation of the Needed Directories
Now enter "CD Mail:" into the CLI Window, after that create
the four directories "Outbound", "Inbound", "Text" and "Bak".
These directories are needed by the example configuration
files, if you edit them they're maybe not required.
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
2.4. Segregation of Files
After you're already reading this document, you have
obviously unpacked the distribution archive.
So you should now segregate the files: copy the file "CE" to
the C: directory, "CE.Doc" to any place that suits you (I
have assigned a directory named DOC:), copy all other files
to MAIL: (which is either a disk volume or an assigned
directory). You may automate this task by executing the
supplied install script "Inst".
2.5. Customization of the Configuration Files
2.5.1. AREAS.BBS
The format of this file is described in the ConfMail
documentation, a sample comes together with ConfMail. CE
gets the area names and the associated directories from
it.
2.5.2. CE.Cfg
This is the configuration file of CE, all parameters
besides the area definitions can be set here. Refer to
the chapter "CONFIGURATION FILE" for a description of
available commands, the comments in the provided example
may help you also.
You MUST at least edit the first three lines (Node,
Sysop, Origin), and it's likely that you have to change
the editor call. Finally, you should alter the external
calls according to your needs and predilections.
2.5.3. Import.Sh
You don't have to change this file, but if you do it,
then you must keep the "-N" and "-A" options in the CM
IMPORT command. The last read marks will not work unless
you're using revision 1.10 of ConfMail with the "-N"
option selected.
If you want to use ARC instead of PKXARC to unpack your
mail then add "ARC X" after the "-A" option.
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
2.5.4. Export.Cmd
You should not change this file, it works with all
installations (as long as you have assigned the T:
directory, usually to RAM:).
You must keep at least the "-I", "-K" and "-RB" options,
the "-D" option must be followed by the path of your
outbound directory. The "-NF" option should not be
activated, otherwise mail generated with the mail editor
won't get exported!
2.5.5. HiMarks.Cmd
This is a ConfMail command script used by the "Himarks"
external command. Change this file to contain only those
areas you're actually polling.
2.5.6. Renum.Cmd
This file is used by the "Renumber All" external command
and renumbers and maintains all areas. Again, you should
change the file to include only your areas.
2.6. Program Startup
Now you can start the program. If there is an error in the
config file, you get a detailed error message. Remove all
errors and restart CE.
If all goes well, CE opens its screen and then displays the
first message of the matrix mail directory. Please note that
it is not necessary to create the area directories, CE does
this for you when you enter an area for the first time.
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
3. CONFIGURATION FILE
3.1. General
The configuration file is read at startup and has to be
located in the current or the MAIL: directory, the current
directory takes precedence as usual. The AREAS.BBS file is
scanned also, refer to the ConfMail documentation for
information on this file.
The mail editor uses a parser with enhanced error handling to
make debugging easier. Comments begin with a semicolon (";")
and may appear at the end of any line, even at the end of
command lines. A possible error output might look like this
(the first line changes its colour at the error position):
Sysop Juergen Hermann ; Your name
Line 5: '"' expected
1 error(s) found in config file 'CE.CFG'
If a line of your config file gets too long (more than 200
characters), you may split it into two lines, the first line
must then end with a backslash ("\"). The maximum length of
such concatenated lines is 500 characters.
3.2. Command Description
3.2.1. Archive <archivename>
"Archive" designates the archive filename for the
corresponding menu item. The string is fed to the date
formatting routine before it is used to open the file,
so you're free to generate either daily or monthly
archives.
For an explanation of the generic date formats refer to
the "Date" command. There are two additional formats
with the "Archive" command:
%a Area name
%la Area directory
Example: Archive "Mail:Text/%n-%a"
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
3.2.2. Colours <col1> <col2> <col3> <col4>
"Colour" sets the colours used for the custom screen.
The command expects four hexadecimal numbers, the three
digits of each number stand for Red-Green-Blue.
Example: Colours 000 FFF 07F FE0
3.2.3. Date <date format>
"Date" defines the format of the date as it is shown in
the status line. Please note that the program is liable
to guru if the resulting status line gets too long (more
than 130 characters).
Date formats are used by other commands as well (e.g. by
"Archive"), the character sequences listed in the
following table are recognized by all this commands and
replaced by their actual values. Unrecognized characters
are simply copied, to insert a percent sign into the
resulting string you must double it ("%%").
GENERIC DATE FORMATS
%w Weekday ("Mo" - "Su")
%lw Weekday ("Monday" - "Sunday")
%d Day ("01" - "31")
%o Month ("01" - "12")
%n Month name ("Jan" - "Dec")
%ln Month name ("January" - "December")
%y Year ("00" - "99")
%ly Year ("1900" - "1999")
%h Hour ("00" - "23")
%m Minute ("00" - "59")
%s Second ("00" - "59")
%t Tick ("00" - "49")
Example: Date "%w %d.%o.%y %h:%m:%s"
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
3.2.4. EditFile <filename>
"EditFile" designates the name of the temporary text
file used while editing new messages. This file is
deleted directly after editing, so you can place it in
the RAM: disk without permanently loosing memory.
Example: EditFile "T:CE.TMP"
3.2.5. Editor [CustomScreen|WBenchScreen] <commandline>
"Editor" determines the command line that executes your
favourite text editor to edit the file specified with
the "EditFile" command. For a description of the
"CustomScreen" and "WBenchScreen" flags refer to the
"External" command.
Example: Editor WBenchScreen "PE T:CE.TMP"
3.2.6. External [CustomScreen|WBenchScreen] [BackGround]
<menustring> <commandline>
With this command you're able to define external
commands at your will. The difference between
"CustomScreen" and "WBenchScreen" is that with
"WBenchScreen" the workbench screen is brought to the
front before executing the command (the default is
"WBenchScreen"). With "BackGround" the program's own
screen is NOT brought to the front after executing the
command (after running a program in the background the
Execute function returns immediate, so it not very
sensible to bring the screen back).
<menustring> is the mnemonic of the command that appears
in the "External" menu, <commandline> is the string that
is passed - after formatting - to the Execute function.
You're able to provide key shortcuts for the commands by
preceding the menu name with the character "@" and the
desired key.
The command string is fed to the date formatting routine
before executing it, the following formats are
recognized in addition to the generic date formats:
%a Area name
%la Area directory
%q Query string
%# Number of the actual message
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
The formatted command string should not be more than 150
characters longer than the original string, if not the
systems usually gurus. The query format "%q" can be
followed by a string that will appear in the title of
the query requester, this string must be embedded in
square brackets (e.g. "%q[Example]").
Example: External "PE" "PE %Q[File Name]"
3.2.7. Flash On|Off
"Flash" switches the flashing of the screen (to inform
you of errors or after reaching some boundary) on and
off.
Example: Flash Off
3.2.8. Font <fontname> [Size <size>]
"Font" designates the font that is used to show the
message text, the default is topaz-8. Please note that
CE supports only 8x8 fonts to speed up the display, you
get a very weird display with any other type of font.
The menus and the status line are always rendered with
the topaz-8 font, even if you have changed the default
system font with "SetFont" or comparable programs.
Example: Font "Topaz" Size 8
3.2.9. Hold <directory>
"Hold" determines the name of the outbound hold
directory which is used by the "File Attach" function of
the "Edit" requester. Please remember that the directory
name must end with a slash or a colon.
Example: Hold "Mail:Outbound/"
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
3.2.10. Kludge Hide|Seen-By|Show
"Kludge" sets the visibility of the IFNA kludge lines.
"Hide" hides all kludge lines, "Seen-By" shows only the
SEEN-BY lines, "Show" shows all kludge lines. The
default is "Show".
Example: Kludge Show
3.2.11. LowMsg <number>
"LowMsg" must be followed by the lower limit for message
numbers, all messages below this limit are ignored. Set
this to two in combination with ConfMail.
Example: LowMsg 2
3.2.12. ReadMode Normal|Threaded
"ReadMode" switches between the two possible read modes
(refer to the "Read Mode" item of the "Misc" menu).
Example: ReadMode Threaded
3.2.13. Node [<zone>:]<net>/<node>[.<point>]
[PointNet <net number>]
[Area <areaname> [<areaname> ...]]
The first argument of the "Node" command is your node
number as it appears in the origin line. The default for
the zone is 1 (North America). Please check the accuracy
of this setting, using a wrong node number causes
confusion on the net.
The "PointNet" argument is necessary for point
installations (if your node number includes a point
number greater than 0), it's the number of the private
point net (ask your boss if you don't know it).
If you have more than one boss, then you're able to give
certain areas a node number different from the default
node number. To do this, you must add the keyword "Area"
followed by the names of the areas you get from your
second boss.
Example: Node 2:507/613.2 PointNet 6130
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
3.2.14. Origin <originline>
[Area <areaname> [<areaname> ...]]
"Origin" defines the default origin for all areas or a
special origin for one or more areas designated by their
names. The "boardname ! sysop_name" line in the
AREAS.BBS file is ignored by CE.
The origin line should contain (at least in
international echoes) the name you have chosen for your
point, the city you live in and your country. The length
should not exceed 60 characters.
Example: Origin "Megamania Point #2, Karlsruhe, FRG"
3.2.15. ROT On|Off
With "ROT" you may choose whether you want to get
ROTated messages decoded by default or not. The default
is "ROT Off".
Example: ROT On
3.2.16. ScreenSize <width> <height>
"ScreenSize" sets the width and the height of the
screen. The default is "0 0" (make the screen as big as
possible), the lower limits for width and height are 640
and 200, respectively.
Example: ScreenSize 0 0
3.2.17. Sound On|Off
"Sound" switches the audio error/attention beeper on and
off.
Example: Sound On
3.2.18. Sysop <name>
"Sysop" defines the name used as default in the "From"
field, or in other words your name.
Example: Sysop "Juergen Hermann"
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
3.2.19. UserList <filename>
"UserList" loads a userlist from a plain text file named
<filename>. To allow several userlists (e.g. one
manually and one automatically created list), the
configuration file may contain more than one "UserList"
command.
The format of the userlist must be "<name>[, <first
name>] <node> [<nickname>]", blank lines are ignored.
Here's an example:
AreaFix 2:507/613
Laubach, Martin 2:310/003.14 mjl
Mueller, Steffen 2:507/613 Boss
Schlagnitweit, Werner 2:310/003 Schlagi
Soltau, Dieter 2:507/001 Host
Vohmann, Piet 2:507/613.7 Piet
Wallner), =MW= (Martin 2:310/003.15 MW
Willadt, Peter 2:507/613.4
The userlist is scanned when you enter a name into the
"To" field of the edit requester. If an entry is found,
then the "To" field is replaced with the name from the
userlist and the "Destn" field is filled with the node
address.
The list of nicknames is searched first, followed by the
list of names, the case is ignored totally. If the "To"
field ends with a question mark, the list is searched
for fragments rather than exact equality. If the
fragmentary search fails you'll be informed with an
error message.
Examples for the search mechanism, using the above
userlist:
Unknown -> Unknown
Frag? -> <error message>
mjl -> Martin Laubach
pet? -> Peter Willadt
mart? -> Martin Laubach
mann? -> Piet Vohmann
Command Example: UserList "Mail:Fidouser.Lst"
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
4. MENUS
4.1. Project
4.1.1. About (RightAmiga + "!")
Show a requester with the program version, copyright
message, free memory, etc. Click on the "OK" gadget to
return to normal operation.
4.1.2. Help (Help)
Show a requester with help for the keys. Click on the
"OK" gadget to return to normal operation.
4.1.3. Quit (RightAmiga + "Q")
Quit the program immediately.
4.2. Areas
This menu is variable and shows all the area names read from
the AREAS.BBS file. By selecting one of these names you're
able to switch to the corresponding area.
If you leave an area, the actual position is remembered. If
you later reenter this area, the program jumps to this
position. If several people are using CE to read the message
base, simply use one CE.CFG for each person with different
sysop names (the sysop name is taken as the name of the file
that holds the read mark). The last read marks will only work
if you're using revision 1.10 of ConfMail with the "-N"
option of the IMPORT function activated.
If you enter an area for the first time, the associated
directory is created for you. Therefore, on a newly installed
system, you should browse through all the areas before
importing messages.
4.3. Messages
4.3.1. Previous Message (Left)
Go to the previous message.
4.3.2. Next Message (Right)
Go to the next message.
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
4.3.3. Thread Down (Alt + Left)
Follow the reply thread down.
4.3.4. Thread Up -- Reply (Alt + Right)
Follow the reply thread up.
4.3.5. Jump To Message (RightAmiga + "J")
Jump to a certain message number. If the requested
message doesn't exist, then the next message with a
higher number is selected. So, enter "1" to jump to the
first message and "9999" to jump to the last message.
"0" has a special meaning, jumping to message 0 means
jumping to the actual last read mark.
4.3.6. Delete
4.3.6.1. Mark for Deletion (Del)
Mark the actual message for deletion and advance to
the next message. If the number of the actual
message is greater than the highwater mark (i.e. if
it's a new message), you must confirm the action.
If the message is already marked, then this mark is
removed and the read pointer is not moved (i.e. the
actual message stays active). Please do not mix up
DEL marks with normal marks.
4.3.6.2. Delete Messages (RightAmiga + "D")
Delete all the messages you have marked with the
"Mark for Deletion" subitem or the DEL key. You
must confirm the deletion by clicking on the OK
gadget of a requester which appears when you select
this item. The reply threads are all corrected, so
the deleting process can take a while depending on
the number of messages to delete.
4.3.7. Archive
4.3.7.1. Archive Message (RightAmiga + "A")
Archive the actual message to a text file. The
message is appended to a plain text file, before
this it is reformatted to a line length of 77
characters. The name of the file is set with the
"Archive" configuration command.
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
4.3.7.2. Archive as ...
Archive the actual message to any text file. A
requester appears where you can enter the name of
the file.
4.3.7.3. Archive To Clipboard
Archive the actual message to the clipboard. Before
the message is written into the clipboard, it is
reformatted to an (almost) infinite line length.
4.3.7.4. Print Message (RightAmiga + "P")
Print the actual message, a form feed is issued
after the message text. Before printing, the
message is reformatted to the printer width as it
is defined in Preferences (the actual width is
"RightMargin" - "LeftMargin" + 1).
4.3.8. Mark Message (RightAmiga + "M")
Toggle the mark of the actual message on and off. With
this item you're able to mark messages for later
retrieval, e.g. those messages you want to reply to
after reading all messages of an area. The marks are
lost if you switch to another area.
4.3.9. Write Message (RightAmiga + "W")
Generate a new message in the actual area. First, the
editor specified in the configuration file is loaded.
Now enter the text of the message body and select your
editor's "Save & Quit" menu item or command.
To ROTate parts of a message, just begin the section to
be coded with a "[ROT <offset>]" line. The offset can be
any number between 0 and 95, this offset is added on
each character of the following lines. End the section
with a "[ROT]" or "[ROT 0]" line. "[Soapbox On]" and
"[Soapbox Off]" are equivalent to "[ROT 48]" and
"[ROT]", respectively. Don't forget that this is a
feature unique to CE, so it is annoying to fill an echo
area with ROTated messages.
If you use characters unique to some languages, they are
converted to their ASCII equivalents. The subsequent
table shows the currently supported conversions.
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
Conversion of Special Characters
Germany Σ ae
÷ oe
ⁿ ue
▀ ss
─ Ae
╓ Oe
▄ Ue
Sweden σ aa
┼ Aa
After leaving the editor, the CE screen is brought
back to the front and a requester for the header
information appears. Fill out all fields of the
requester and finally select the "SAVE" gadget. "EDIT"
loads the editor a second time, and of course "CANCEL"
cancels the operation. Please refer to the "UserList"
command for a description of the special treatment of
the "To" field.
Please remember that if you're writing a message to a
point you must use its normal address (e.g.
"2:507/613.2"), NEVER its private address ("6130/2").
Breaking this rule has two effects: your message seldom
reaches its addressee and you'll likely get in trouble
with your sysop or host.
The ^aTOPT (TO PoinT) and ^aFMPT (FroM PoinT) kludges
are inserted into the message body if it's suitable.
Interzone messages get a special treatment, they are not
sent directly to their addressee but to the zone gate.
Because of this the destination address is changed to
"<orig zone>/<dest zone>", which happens to be the
address of the appropriate zone gate. Furthermore
"on <orig zone>/<dest zone>" is appended to the
addressee's name and an ^aINTL kludge is added to the
message.
The flags have the following meaning:
Kill - kill this msg after mailing
Crash - send msg directly to addressee
Hold - hold msg for polling by addressee
Private - private msg
File Attach - file attached to msg
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
"Receipt" and "Audit Trail" currently have no practical
use within FidoNet, they're future expansions. With the
"File Attach" flag set, the subject field must contain a
valid full pathname (you can choose that name by playing
with an ARP file requester) and one of the flags "Crash"
or "Hold" must be set.
4.3.10. Edit Message (RightAmiga + "E")
"Edit Message" is similar to "Write Message", but the
text of the actual message is stored to the temporary
editing file before loading the editor. It is only
possible to edit the message text, the message header
and the origin line stay unchanged. The message is
marked as edited with the line
"[Changed: <date> by <sysop>]".
4.3.11. Reply To Message (RightAmiga + "Y")
This is a combination between "Write Message" and "Edit
Message". A new message is generated, but the quoted
text of the actual message is stored to the temporary
editing file before loading the editor. Also, the reply
threads are updated to include the new message into the
thread.
4.3.12. Matrix Reply (RightAmiga + "R")
The same as "Reply To Message", but the reply is saved
to the matrix mail area. This item will work only if the
matrix mail area is defined as the first one in the
AREAS.BBS file, otherwise it will be ghosted.
4.4. Misc
4.4.1. Next Area (RightAmiga + "N")
Switch to the next area.
4.4.2. Rescan Area (RightAmiga + "S")
Rescan the actual area. Use this for example after
Export or Import, in general after all commands that
change the message base.
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
4.4.3. Bell
4.4.3.1. Sound
Switches the error/attention beeper on and off.
4.4.3.2. Flash
Switches the flashing of the screen on and off.
4.4.4. Visibility
With this item you're able to change the visibility of
IFNA kludge and ROTated lines manually. The latter three
mutually exclude each other.
4.4.4.1. ROT
"ROT" switches ROTate decoding on and off. ROTating
is not thought as a means of data encryption, it's
for protecting parts of a message against "easy"
reading (to hide flames or gossip).
4.4.4.2. Kludge Hide
"Kludge Hide" hides all kludge lines.
4.4.4.3. SEEN-BYs
"SEEN-BYs" shows only the SEEN-BY lines.
4.4.4.4. Kludge Show
"Kludge Show" shows all kludge lines.
4.4.5. Read Mode
If you switch to another area, the mode flags are set to
the default given by the "ReadMode" configuration
command. Within an area, you can change them according
to your actual needs.
4.4.5.1. Marked Only (RightAmiga + "1")
With "Marked Only" all unmarked messages are
skipped by the "Previous Message" and "Next
Message" functions and only by this functions, so
it's possible to jump to an unmarked message or to
follow threads.
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
4.4.5.2. Threaded (RightAmiga + "2")
"Threaded" enables a very special reading mode. In
this mode, if there is a thread, "Previous Message"
follows this thread down, otherwise it works as
usual. "Next message" follows the thread up. If you
reach the end of the thread, it jumps to the first
unread message.
4.5. External
This menu is variable as the "Areas" menu and contains the
items you have defined with the "External" command. If the
items do not fit in one column, then a second column is
automatically created.
5. KEYS
Help ........... Show a requester with help for the keys
Up ............. Scroll one page up
Down ........... Scroll one page down
Alt + Up ....... Scroll one line up
Alt + Down ..... Scroll one line down
Left ........... Go to the previous message
Right .......... Go to the next message
Alt + Left ..... Follow thread down
Alt + Right .... Follow thread up
Del ............ Toggle this message's DEL mark (and advance)
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
6. COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS & WORKBENCH SUPPORT
6.1. CLI Arguments
CONFIG <configfile>
Lets you specify a certain name for the config file. The
defaults are "CE.Cfg" and "Mail:CE.Cfg".
AREAS <configfile>
Lets you specify a certain name for the AREAS.BBS file.
The defaults are "AREAS.BBS" and "Mail:AREAS.BBS".
PRI <priority>
Use this to start CE with a priority different from that
of its parent CLI, valid priorities are -4 to 4.
6.2. Workbench Tool Types
You may also start CE from the Workbench, an icon file is
part of the distribution archive. The tool types that are
supported have exactly the same names and meaning as the CLI
arguments (refer to 6.1).
There is one additional tool type "WINDOW" to define the
default output window, the value of this tool type is simply
a CON: specification (see the sample icon for further
details). If the "WINDOW" tool type is missing or if the CON:
specification is invalid, you'll get an error requester and
CE refuses to continue the startup process.
Please note that due to the fact that the Workbench does not
know anything of the CLI's path, you have to provide full
pathnames for all commands you use anywhere in the
configuration and ConfMail CMD files.
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
7. MISCELLANEOUS
The screen used by CE is automagically opened with overscan if
your system-configuration is changed with MoreRows or similar
programs.
If a message appears on the screen that is for you, then you will
be informed with two short beeps (or flashes or both). This
feature is disabled in the matrix mail area.
All requesters supply shortcuts where applicable, simply type the
first letter of the gadget's name. This doesn't work as long as a
string gadget is active, therefore hit the "Enter" key until all
string gadgets are deactivated, then press the appropriate
shortcut key.
The status line shows the following information (from left to
right):
1. The actual date (default is "WW DD.MM.YY HH:MM:SS")
2. The name of the active area
3. The number of messages in this area
4. The number of messages already read
5. The lowest message number in this area
6. The highest message number in this area
7. The highwater mark of this area
8. Two flags: "M" = marked only, "T" = threaded reading
9. The length of the current message in bytes
8. REVISION HISTORY
If you're updating from an earlier revision, then here you can get
a quick overview of the new features.
Revision 0.10:
Too many changes to list them all, please re-read the docs
entirely.
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
9. DISTRIBUTION
The program is distributed in an archive named "CE010.ZOO". It
should contain the following files:
Filename Description
CE ........... The executable
CE.Info ...... Icon for CE with sample tool types
CE.DOC ....... This document
Inst ......... Batch file for easy installation
CE.CFG ....... Sample configuration file
Himarks.Cmd .. \
Renum.Cmd .... \ Files used by the external
Export.Cmd ... / command definitions
Import.Sh .... /
Please do not change the name or the contents of the archive.
To save costs when you're updating to a new revision there are
distribution nodes in several countries which have always the
latest revision requestable. The following list shows the current
distribution nodes, choose the one that is the nearest to you.
Chameleon Distribution Nodes
BBS Node Country Phone
Megamania 2:507/613 Germany 49-721-45388
Cuckoo's Nest 2:310/2 Austria 43-222-454330
Sorcerer's Cave 2:281/600 Holland 31-15-562053
Ferry Island Lighthouse 2:515/110 Finland 358-0-672773
Ditt & Data BBS 2:501/137 Sweden 46-46-129402
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
10. DISCLAIMER
You may use and redistribute this program for free, however
there are some rules:
You may not redistribute this software for profit, copy costs
up to US $7 are ok.
You take full responsibility for all damages that may be
caused by this program.
You are obliged to report all unknown bugs (and new features
you desire) to the author, matrix mail is preferred, but you
may send snail mail also. NO PHONE CALLS, PLEASE!
You MAY send a contribution to the author, if you want to
support the development of future releases. All money
received will be used for better compilers (Lattice 4.0
strikes me), more memory and the like. However, this is
absolutely voluntary.
Send all comments, hints, suggestions, etc. to:
Jⁿrgen Hermann
Karl-Wilhelm-Str. 30
D-7500 Karlsruhe 1
West Germany
OR
Juergen Hermann
FidoNet Node 2:507/613.2
Send all flames to your NIL: device!
Send contributions to the above address or to my bank account:
Sparkasse Karlsruhe (BLZ 660 501 01)
Acc.No. 99 46 757
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
11. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The following names are either trademarks or the efforts of the
person and/or company named:
Amiga, AmigaDOS Commodore-Amiga Inc.
ARC Raymond S. Brand, SEA Inc.
ARCmail Thom Henderson, SEA Inc.
ARP Scott Ballantyne, C. Heath & others
BinkleyTerm Vince Perriello, Bob Hartman
ConfMail Bob Hartman, Spark Software Inc.
CP Jⁿrgen Hermann
Csh Matt Dillon
Fido, FidoNet Tom Jennings, Fido Software
Find Rodney Lewis
Opus CBCS Wynn Wagner III
QuickBBS Adam Hudson
XText Robert J. Mical
ZOO Rahul Dhesi, J. Brian Waters
12. GLOSSARY
Area
An area is a heap of messages related to a special topic.
On your disk drive it is a directory containing the
messages in files named "<msg number>.MSG" and other files
associated with that area.
ARCmail
ARCmail is => mail that is packed by a program named "ARC" to
reduce transmission costs.
Boss
Your boss in => FidoNet terms is the => node (or its sysop)
where you are polling your => mail. He is responsible for all
the unpleasant things you may do, so simply don't do them.
Echo
An echo is an => area that is "echoed" between several BBS.
The opposite is a local area that does exist on one BBS only.
FidoNet
You don't know what FidoNet is? Then you have no need for
this software.
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
IFNA
IFNA is the abbreviation for International FidoNet
Association. The IFNA is, among other things, responsible for
the maintenance of the => nodelist.
IFNA Kludge
A kludge serves as a work-around for the limitations caused
by the restrictions inherent to the definition of some net
structures. Introducing a kludge is much more easier than
changing this structures, moreover a kludge may contain
information specific to only one program.
The second purpose of kludges is to hide information added by
mailer programs (e.g. the SEEN-BY and PATH lines) which
should not be read by ordinary users.
Mail
Of course you know what mail is, within => FidoNet is is a
bundle of messages stored together in a file, called a mail
packet.
Net
A net is a part of a => region containing several => nodes.
Node
A node is a single BBS within => FidoNet, identified by its
=> node number.
Nodelist
The nodelist is a compilation of information about all
=> nodes in all => zones. It's distributed as a very long
textfile (in the so called St. Louis format), each node in
the net gets an update (in the form of a nodediff file) every
week.
Node Number
The node number is the unique address of a => node. It
consists of four parts: => zone, => net, => node and => point
number.
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
Point
A point is a sort of private BBS with only one user. A point
is not an official part of => FidoNet (i.e. a point is not
included in the => nodelist), and its status is that of an
user.
Region
A region is a collection of several => nets, from the
geographic view a region normally is one country.
Zone
A zone is a cluster of various => regions, currently the main
zones are:
1 America
2 Europe & Africa
3 Oz(eania)
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
13. INDEX
Archive Filename . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
AREAS.BBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 5, 10, 12, 16
Clipboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Configuration
CE.CFG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 12, 19
Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
ConfMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1, 3, 5, 9, 12, 19, 23
Date Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 6
Directories
Area Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
MAIL: Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Outbound Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 14
External Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
FidoNet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1, 16, 23
File Attach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Files
Archive File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
AREAS.BBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 5, 10, 12, 16
CE.CFG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 12, 19
CE.info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Temporary Text File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 16
GURU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 8
Help
Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12, 18
Highwater Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
IFNA Kludge
FMPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
INTL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
TOPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Visibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 17
Last Read Mark
Functionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Jump to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Matrix Mail Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Message
Meaning of Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
ROTated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10, 14, 17
Node Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 15
Origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Point Net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Screen
Colours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Flashing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8, 17
Size of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Status Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 20
Temporary File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 16
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Revision 0.10 Chameleon Mail Editor October 17, 1988
User List
"To" Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11, 15
Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Search Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Workbench . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
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