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- *** Important Information ***
-
- ===============================================================================
- INDEX
-
- 1. State of Mountain Software / Pirate Notification
- 2. Using Mountain Reader II to read Internet (Usenet) messages offline
-
- ===============================================================================
- 1. State of Mountain Software
-
- It recently came to my attention that someone has hacked an illegal pirate
- version of the Mountain Reader II security key. This key currently holds the
- serial number "01234567", though I suspect this will probably change once the
- pirates learn that I am aware of that version.
-
- Please keep in mind that software piracy hurts everyone, including those
- who pirate the software in the first place. Software developers like myself
- will only continue producing software for the ST if it continues to earn an
- income. And, considering the current state of the Atari market, even a few
- lost sales mean a big loss to a small developer like myself.
-
- So, please do everyone a favor, and pay for the software you use. This
- includes not only avoiding pirate software, but paying shareware authors the
- fees they deserve. It takes a long time to develop quality software. Show
- those that do that you appreciate their hard work...
-
- Unfortunately, due to the discovery of this pirate key, the serial number
- security routines will be changing in a future version. So, this will most
- likely be the last free update. The next update will include new security
- routines, and will require an update fee to cover shipping/handling for
- registered users. It is unclear at this time what that fee will be.
-
- Also, registrations by E-mail, while already rare, will no longer be
- allowed. All registrations must be handled in writing with proper payment.
-
- As to the payment procedure, I have been receiving an ever increasing
- number of bad personal checks in the last few months. As such, I am now
- delaying all orders paid with a check until the check clears. I regret the
- inconvenience this may cause, as I have always tried to provide next day
- shipping. But, I simply cannot afford the losses anymore.
-
- If you are in a hurry to receive your product, you can pay with a money
- order, in which case your product will be shipped the next day. Or, you can
- purchase the product from your local dealer. If you purchase from a dealer,
- you may also be able to purchase with a credit card.
-
- Finally, there are several exciting products/improvements planned for 1995.
- The first is a specialized financial manager, that is being written primarily
- for Mountain Softwares own use. But, I will be releasing it as shareware so
- that others may be able to use it. Next up will be a long overdue update to
- The Recipe Box. I recently released a Macintosh version of The Recipe Box, and
- would like to bring the Atari ST version up to the same level. I also have
- some rather exciting plans in store for Mountain Reader II. It's too early to
- detail what those plans are, but they should be good...
-
- I would like to thank everyone for their support!
-
- Anthony Watson
-
- ===============================================================================
-
- 2. Using Mountain Reader II to read Internet (Usenet) messages offline
-
-
- With the ever increasing world of the Internet, many users were starting to
- have problems with Mountain Reader II and the Internet. The primary cause was
- long messages. The QWK standard specifies that QWK messages "should not"
- exceed 100 lines in length. Knowing that this could happen, Mountain Reader II
- was originally designed to handle up to 500 lines. This worked fine for
- messages from standard sources like FIDO net. But, messages from the internet
- often exceed this limit, sometimes being thousands of lines long. The new
- version 2.6 now allows messages to be any length, assuming you have sufficient
- memory to load them.
-
- Version 2.6 will now automatically extract the appropriate internet
- addresses when you reply to an internet message. Note that this only applies
- when "replying" and not when adding a new message. You will still need to
- manually enter the Internet address information when starting a new reply.
-
- Also, if you have access to an Internet UNIX shell account, you may be able
- to use UQWK to download messages for reading with MR2. To accomplish this,
- your internet provider must have UQWK and ZIP installed. You will also need to
- subscribe to your desired newsgroups first, using a standard on-line
- newsreader.
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- To RETRIEVE Usenet messages, use the following commands:
-
- uqwk +n +e -B\8000 -l\58
- zip internet.qwk messages.dat control.dat
- sz internet.qwk
- rm internet.qwk *.ndx *.dat
-
- Note that all names and commands ARE case sensitive. The 8000 number in the
- first line signifies a packet of 8000 blocks (128 bytes each). This gives a
- packet size of around 1 Meg in size. You can increase or decrease this number
- to achieve any packet size you wish to receive. This is the size of the packet
- BEFORE compression, which usually cuts the size down to less than half the
- original size.
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- To SEND Usenet replies, use the following commands:
-
- rz
- unzip internet.rep
- uqwk +X -R\internet.msg
- rm internet.rep
-
- Note that all names and commands ARE case sensitive. Also, the names
- "internet.rep" and "internet.msg" will need to be modified to reflect the
- names used by your provider.
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- These commands can be entered manually, or you can use a script file in your
- terminal program to automate the procedure.
-
- God Bless! See you on-line...
-
- Anthony Watson
- Mountain Software
-