charles@tasis.eecs.utas.edu.au (Charles Lakos) (11/22/90)
Overview -------- Mews (for Mail and News) is a Hypercard stack for reading and posting both mail and news using the MacTCP protocol driver. Mews communicates with mail and news servers provided on some mainframe computer or computers. Mail communication depends on the SMTP and POP (POP3 or POP2) protocols supported on the mail server, while news communication depends on the NNTP protocol (version 1.5 or later) supported on the news server. By utilising these protocols, a user need only have a POP mailbox account on the mail server rather than a full login account. All posting of mail or news is validated against the password for the POP account. Features of Mews: * one format of message cards for both mail and news items * one format of index cards for mail items, newsgroups, and subject list within a newsgroup * ability to save and recall messages to text files * ability to print messages with a standard banner * ability to save, recall, print, discard multiple messages with one operation * posting of news as opposed to mail is determined by the recipient of the message being one or more known newsgroups * ability to delete your own message from a newsgroup (having first been validated against the password for the POP account) * the handling of long messages (in excess of 30000 characters) by querying the user whether to discard excess characters or save direct to a text file New in version 2.4.2 -------------------- Some minor changes have been made to make Mews compatible with HyperCard 2.0. Mews 2.4.2 is already converted to HyperCard 2.0 format. New in version 1.4.2 -------------------- Some minor changes have been made to make Mews compatible with HyperCard 2.0. Converting Mews 1.4.2 to Mews 2.4.2 ( a HyperCard 2.0 stack) is done via the HyperCard Message box. In the Message box, type: send "domenu Convert Stack..." to HyperCard This will allow HyperCard to do the conversion, by bypassing the inbuilt protection in Mews. New in version 1.4.1 -------------------- Changes since the original release version (1.3) include: * more efficient use of space to cater for larger newsgroup lists * better response when passwords are entered incorrectly or cancelled * resolved problem in calling the domain name resolver * extended the timeout limit to avoid premature timeouts * handles larger mail headers than before * leaves SMTP, NNTP to include full date and time on messages * prohibits typing CR in sensitive configuration fields * new option to determine whether the menu bar is to be hidden or not * up and down arrow keys are used to locate the next newsgroup with unread articles Note: The up and down arrows introduce a significant new feature: - the first time one of them is clicked, Mews determines and marks the newsgroups with unread articles. This is a time consuming process, but it is only done once. - subsequently, clicking on an up or down arrow will finish with the current group and go to the next one with unread articles Availability ------------ Mews is available as shown below. It is available in two forms, both of which are Stuffit and Binhexed. The file Mews_1.4.hqx is a complete release of version 1.4, including the updated manual. The file Mews_Patch_1.4.1.hqx is a patcher which will modify any version 1.3 stack and bring it up to version 1.4. The patcher is useful since it avoids having to save the messages and the newsgroup from your current stack, and later recalling them into the new stack. WARNING ON USING THE PATCHER: * BACKUP YOUR OLD STACK BEFORE PATCHING. * ENSURE THAT YOUR STACK DOES NOT PERFORM MAIL AUTO-FETCH ON STARTUP 1. By anonymous ftp from ftp.utas.edu.au (131.217.10.1) as: pub/mac/Mews_2.4.2.sit.hqx - complete release(HC2.0) or as pub/mac/Mews_1.4.2.sit.hqx - complete release(HC1.2.5) or as pub/mac/Mews_Patch_1.4.2.sit.hqx - patch from version 1.4.1 2. By ACSNet fetchfile from diemen.utas.oz by: fetchfile -ddiemen.utas.oz pub/mac/Mews_2.4.2.sit.hqx or by fetchfile -ddiemen.utas.oz pub/mac/Mews_1.4.2.sit.hqx or by fetchfile -ddiemen.utas.oz pub/mac/Mews_Patch_1.4.2.sit.hqx 3. From the info-mac archives Notification ------------ I would appreciate receiving email from those who are using Mews, in an attempt to gauge its popularity. To this end the patch program encourages you to notify me of your use of Mews, once the patching is complete. You can accept this automated approach or reject it. In any case I would appreciate receiving some notification. Mews Support, mews@tasis.eecs.utas.edu.au Computer Science Department, University of Tasmania, Phone: +61 02 20 2918 Australia. Fax: +61 02 20 2913 ----- Charles Lakos. charles@tasis.eecs.utas.edu.au Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Tasmania, Phone: +61 02 20 2371 Australia. Fax: +61 02 20 2913