The windows arent’t restored to their saved locations
- The windows are always forced on-screen. Thus, if you use Alice with a large-screen monitor and then switch to a smaller screen, the window positions may change.
- If Alice resizes the window to fill the screen, then it was previously set up to extend beyond the Desktop. For instance, you may have moved the title bar partially under the menu bar. Click in the window’s zoom box to restore the old size.
The download mailbag is unpacked every time the mailbox is opened
You’re probably using the same folder both for the mailbox files and as the download folder in your terminal program. Alice normally moves the downloaded mailbag from the download folder into the mailbox folder before unpacking it. If the two folders are identical, Alice will find what it thinks is a new mailbag every time, and therefore will unpack the mailbag every time you open the mailbox. To avoid this, just use two separate folders, one for the download and one for the mailbox files.
Not enough memory to launch the unpacking program
You’ll have to unpack the mailbag by hand. Quit Alice and open the mailbox folder. Delete all the old files from your last mailbag, move the new mailbag into the folder and unpack it. Now you can launch Alice and open the mailbox – Alice will find and read the new messages.
Not enough memory to launch the packing program
This should seldom be a problem, since only QWK requires a packed upload mailbag, and practically all QWK systems will work with Alice’s built-in pseudo-ZIP or pseudo-ARC method. If you really need to launch the packer manually, select the program "Tu Nix" as your packer. "Tu Nix" does nothing at all, but Alice will think that the messages have been packed correctly. Then you can quit Alice and pack the messages manually. See the chapter "Packer Interface" for details on which files you need to pack.
Your BBS won’t accept Alice’s XRS output mailbag (xxx.PKT)
– Make sure that the mailbag is not being uploaded with MacBinary. If you are using ZTerm, the transfer status window should indicate a "binary transfer" rather than "MacBinary". If ZTerm is using MacBinary, you need to enable "Smart MacBinary" in the ZTerm preferences and make sure that the output filetype for the mailbox is "zBIN".
– If the BBS still won’t accept your uploaded mailbag, try using 8 digits as the name of the Alice output file, e.g. "12345678.PKT".
– change the packet format. See "Mailboxes: XRS-Boxtype:Misc".
Your BBS won’t accept Alice’s QWK output file
- Make sure you’re using the same packing method each way. I.e., if you unpack your download mailbag with UnZIP, then pack the upload mailbag (Alice’s output file) with Alice’s pseudo-ZIP option. The same goes for ARC and Alice’s psuedo-ARC.
Problems with the Message window
It takes too long to display a message
There are several causes for this.
– If you are receiving very large mailbags from the BBS, Alice takes a bit longer to find each individual message. To get smaller mailbags, call the BBS more often.
– The extended message header takes some time to display. If you are using a slower Mac (such as Plus, SE or Classic), you may want to turn off extended message headers. See the chapter "Menus and Dialog Boxes", section "Global Parameters".
– Try turning off the option "update windows in background". See the chapter "Menus and Dialog Boxes", section "User Parameters".
The message window displays several messages at once (XRS)
If this happens, the message text will include a line of "=-=-=-=-..." followed by what looks like a message header.
– Turn off all options in the packing program that strip characters from text files, such as "Strip LFs" in UnZIP. The version of UnZIP that comes with Alice is set up to use the correct defaults automatically.
Alice crashes while displaying messages
– No "memory low" messages, message header displayed correctly: perhaps your Mac has trouble playing the "new area" and "message for you" sounds. (Are you using a Macintosh emulator?) Try turning off the sounds in the global parameters.
- "Memory low" warning before the crash: Alice needs at least 400 KB, but if you read large mailbags, you may need considerably more. Increase Alice’s memory partition (through "Get Info" in the Finder) or download fewer messages. Also, if memory is short, don’t open more than one mailbox at a time.
Problems with the Areas window
Wrong number of messages, or Alice opens the wrong message when you double-click
– Close the mailbox, delete the file "Message Index" and open the mailbox again.
Problems with the Summary window
Displaying the list of messages takes too long
– Increase your disk cache with the control panel "Memory" (System 7) or "General Controls" (System 6).
Problems with the Reply window
The Netmail area is not displayed in italics, no address field is available
- QWK: specify a netmail name within the "Download Parameters".
- XRS: this Cannot Happen. If it does, you have found a bug in Alice, please contact the author.
Old Setups
If you are already use an earlier version of Alice, make sure you uploaded all written messages!
Because the Global-setup format changed, old Alice preferences couldn't be used any longer. Trash the old "Alice Preferences"-file inside Your "System folder" (System 6) or "Preferences folder" (System 7). At the next launch you will need to add all boxes again.
If You use a XRS-box please also trash the "Message Index"- and "Areaindex"-files (located inside the box-folder). Alice will rebuild these files.
More Icons for Alice
Mailbox icons
For System 7 users only: draw whatever you would like to use as an icon, and copy it to the clipboard. Then, in the System 7 Finder, select any file and do a "Get Info". Select the file’s icon and paste the picture from the clipboard, thus converting the picture into an icon. Select the file’s new icon again and copy it. Open Alice, select the mailbox, use the menu command "Change Parameters", select its icon, and Paste the new icon. Done!.
Hackers can use ResEdit instead for greater control and danger.
Faces
Alice supports "Faces" files in the same format as used by Copernicus: it opens a file of your choice, which must contain an 'ICON' or 'cicn' resource for each face. The resource names of the icon resources must be identical with the network names of the people they represent.
To add your own faces to the Faces file, open it with ResEdit and create new 'ICON' resources. Edit the resources by double-clicking on them and drawing whatever you like with ResEdit’s icon editing tools. When you’re done, change the resource names of the icon resources to the desired names.
If you want to pass along face icons you’ve created, you don’t need to pass along the entire Faces file. You can create a new file in Resedit, open the Faces file, copy just the faces you want to pass along, paste them into the new file, and save the new file.
