============================= ============================= ============================= = CRR - CP/M offline reader = = CRR - CP/M offline reader = = CRR - CP/M offline reader = ============================= ============================= ============================= Documentation for version 1.60 Documentation for version 1.60 ____________ ____________ ____________ Introduction Introduction Introduction CRR CRR works with Fidonet bulletin boards allowing you to read your messages offline (which is supposed to save you money). You download the messages in a batch, view them at leisure, and upload your replies in another batch. CRR CRR works in conjunction with Mike Ratledge's XRSDoor which can be found on QBBS, RemoteAccess, and SuperBBS bulletin boards bulletin boards, and is the CP/M equivalent of XRS. XRSDoor used to be called variously: QMX, RAX, RAQMX, and RQSeX. CRR will work with Opus, Maximus, and XBBS boards when the interface software for these is written. CRR also works with Rudi Kuster's XCS (PKT2XRS) 0.47 and later. CRR will work with QWK format mail, too. To be able to use CRR you will need ARK.COM or ARC.COM, UNARC.COM, CPMUNARJ.COM or UNZIP.COM, and a text editor which can take a filename as a command line argument. For a long time I have used VDE. I now use ZDE, the descendent of CP/M VDE. I recommend it. If you're not using CRR on an Amstrad CPC/PCW or Sinclair Spectrum +3 in CP/M Plus, you'll need to install it for your terminal. This is done by using the supplied program CRRINST. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CRR is copyright (C) 1990-1993 Paul Martin. CRR is copyright (C) 1990-1993 Paul Martin. CRR is shareware. You are allowed to use it for evaluation purposes for a month. After that time you should register it. CRR is not crippled if you don't register -- I leave the persuasion to your conscience and peer pressure. Please see the file REGISTER.CRR for further details. No charge must be made for CRR's propagation other than that of the cost price of the media on which it is distributed. In particular, not this program may not be distributed by shareware or public domain express written permission libraries without the author's express written permission. No responsibility whatsoever can be taken for any effects of using as is this software. This software is supplied as is, and no warranty, express or implied, is given for this software. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Paul Martin, 85 Hollin Lane, Middleton, Manchester, GB M24 3FE Fidonet: Paul Martin 2:250/107 Internet: pm@nowster.demon.co.uk (c) 1990-1993 Paul Martin Page [2] CRR 1.60 Documentation _______ __ _______ __ _______ __ Setting up Setting up Setting up Create a file called DEFAULTS.CRR. This file is not necessary for CRR to function, but it allows you to configure your copy. The file should contain pairs of lines of the form PROPERTY value You do not have to specify everything. The properties are: SCREEN The length of your screen in lines. (Defaults to 20) DRIVE The drive on which the message packet files can be found. (eg. B:) (Defaults to current drive) FASTDRIVE The drive on which temporary files should be put (eg. a RAMdisc) (Defaults to current drive) PACKER This tells CRR what to call to start your archive program. CRR substitutes $1 with the name of the archive, and $2 with the intermediate file to be packed. To include a $ in the line use $$. (Defaults to "ARK $1 $2") EDITOR This tells CRR what to call to run your editor. CRR substitutes $1 with the name of the file to be edited. To include a $ in the line use $$. (Defaults to "VDE $1") | A "*" as first character of an EDITOR or PACKER command line | causes CRR not to check whether the program mentioned exists. | (eg. for ZCPR systems "*C1:ARK $1 $2") PACKTO This allows you to have your replies packed onto a different drive from the one you have started CRR on. | SUBDRIVE This allows you to have CRR place the file $$$.SUB on a | different drive than A: (CP/M 2.2) or the "SETDEF [TEMP=d]" | drive (CP/M 3.0). This is useful if you are using a non- | standard CP/M system. SIGN A one line "signature" that will be put on the bottom of every message you write. You can specify up to nine different | signatures. After the last one you must leave a blank line. SOFTCR This property, which has no accompanying value, tells CRR that you are using VDE in Ascii mode, and so it can leave paragraph formatting to the bulletin board. KEEPSUB Tells CRR that you don't want it to erase the $$$.SUB file before it adds to it. (Advanced feature) KLUDGES This property, which has no accompanying value, allows CRR to display the Fidonet "kludge" lines starting with CTRL-A in messages. (Advanced feature) (c) 1990-1993 Paul Martin Page [3] CRR 1.60 Documentation USEPID This property, which has no accompanying value, forces CRR to use the ^aPID: kludge instead of putting its name on the tear line. (Advanced feature) PADNULL If your sysop complains that your messages are producing "bad packet" errors, you can try including this option. (It switches from padding the end of your reply PKT file with end of file characters to padding with nulls). SUMMSKIP Setting this makes the summary display skip all the preamble and just display the "Messages that you selected to read". NOSTRIP CRR normally removes spaces from the left hand side of quoted messages. Including this stops CRR from stripping the spaces. USETAG If this keyword is included CRR will not put a tear line on local messages, but put a QWK style tag line instead. This option is included for completeness, but it is very unlikely that you will ever need to use it. VISIBLE If the bulletin board you use strips tear lines or tag lines, and people can't see you're using CRR, you might like to try this option. MAXQUOTE The maximum length of a quoted line that CRR will put in a reply. Longer lines are split in half. The default for this is 75 characters. INTRO This is the introduction line that is put at the top of replies. A combination of a dollar sign "$" and another character is expanded as follows: $F Who from originally $T Who to originally $1 First name of $F $2 Last name of $F $S Subject of message $D Date of message $/ Start a new line $$ Dollar sign "$" The default for INTRO is "In a message to $T <$D> $F said:" ORIGIN The name put in the origin line of messages. More than one bulletin board can be specified. There should be a blank line after the last entry. The lines contain the node number of the bulletin board, a space, and the origin text. (eg. 250/107 Aspects, Manchester UK [061-792 0260]) Please note that origin lines are a contentious issue. If the bulletin board provides an XORIGIN.XRS file in the message packet, that will be used by CRR in preference to the one in your defaults file. Put any personal "marks" in the signature line -- that's what it's there for. It may be that the bulletin board allows you to use your own origin line for some message areas, but not others. (c) 1990-1993 Paul Martin Page [4] CRR 1.60 Documentation An example file might be: ORIGIN 250/107 ASPECTS, Manchester UK [+44 617920260] 250/102 /\/\erkinstead, Manchester [+44 614347059] SIGN CP/M systems never die, they just get more BIOSed with age. There's life in CP/M yet. SCREEN 21 SOFTCR SUMMSKIP DRIVE B: EDITOR ZDE16 $1 /A PACKER B:ARK $1 $2 PACKTO C: INTRO In a message to $T <$D> $F wrote:$/$/Hello $1, Having set up the defaults file, put your editor and packer in the places that CRR can find them. You should then configure CRR for your screen using CRRINST. (Currently the screen is set up to clear the screen on the sequence "ESC-E ESC-H", turn on inverse video with "ESC-p", and turn it off with "ESC-q". This is for a Heath H19, Zenith or VT52 terminal emulator.) If you have a Real Time Clock and are using CP/M 2.2, or your version of CP/M does not read your Real Time Clock, consult the section on CRRTIM.Z. Configure your editor to word wrap. This will make things simpler when people quote your messages. The next step is to log on to the bulletin board, enter its XRSDoor section, configure it to read the message areas you want, and select the PKZIP or PKARC packing method. This can seem daunting, but it only needs to be done once. Then get XRSDoor to pack the messages. You will then be asked to download the file BAT1MAIL.ZIP or BAT1MAIL.ARC (this is your message packet). Log off the bulletin board. Later versions of XRSDoor only support named mail packets (such as ASPECTS1.ZXR or ASPECTS1.AXR). These have the same structure. ZXR is a ZIP, LXR is an LZH, and AXR is an ARC archive. (c) 1990-1993 Paul Martin Page [5] CRR 1.60 Documentation If pre-packing of mail is set up on the bulletin board, any pre-packed mail will have a different filename which is based on your name. The filenames will be similar to "936FA354.ZXR", "936FA354.ZX1", and so on. The bit before the dot should be the same for all the bulletin boards you use. The program UNZIP099.COM truncates certain files, and so should not be used. If you want to use ZIP compression, use the UNZIP program by Dave Goodenough -- not only does it work properly, but it is also about eight times smaller. A version of it is supplied with CRR. Unpack the message packet by typing UNARC A:BAT1MAIL B: or UNARC A:ASPECTS1.AXR B: or UNZIP A:ASPECTS1.ZXR B: or whatever necessary to put the messages where CRR has been told to expect them. Out of the packet should come AREAS1.XRS BAT1MAIL.XRS MAIL1IDX.XRS SUMMARY1.XRS USER1.XRS and possibly a few other files with the XRS extension. You now have enough to start using CRR. (c) 1990-1993 Paul Martin Page [6] CRR 1.60 Documentation UNZIP.COM UNZIP.COM UNZIP.COM This program, which is included in the CRR archive, is the latest version of an archive extractor program for ZIP-type archives. The original author is Dave Goodenough (dg@pallio.uucp). Many modifications have been made to the original. The syntax of UNZIP is: UNZIP archive[.ext] [dr:][afname] The file must be a PKZIP-compatible archive. If no destination is given, UNZIP just lists the contents of the archive. Example uses: UNZIP BAT1MAIL lists the contents of BAT1MAIL.ZIP UNZIP B:ASPECTS1.ZXR lists the contents of B:ASPECTS1.ZXR UNZIP BAT1MAIL B: extracts all the contents of BAT1MAIL.ZIP to drive B: UNZIP ASPECTS1.ZXR B:*.XRS extracts all .XRS files to drive B: Please note that it will only work with files produced by PKZip 1.10 Please note that it will only work with files produced by PKZip 1.10 and earlier. and earlier. CPMUNARJ.COM CPMUNARJ.COM CPMUNARJ.COM There exists a CPMUNARJ.COM by Paul Hunt (a user of ZNODE 62 in Perth, Western Australia) which can uncompress .ARJ files. Some old, corrupt versions of this (without documentation) are being passed around. The version contained in CPMUNARJ.ARK (which also has DARJ.COM for showing the contents of .ARJ files) is known to be good. CPMUNARJ is not supplied with CRR. PMEXT.COM PMEXT.COM PMEXT.COM This program, part of the PMARC suite of programs, can uncompress almost all LZH archives. PMARC is not supplied with CRR. (c) 1990-1993 Paul Martin Page [7] CRR 1.60 Documentation _____ ___ _____ ___ _____ ___ Using CRR Using CRR Using CRR Assuming that you have an unpacked packet, enter the program CRR. (It is important that you run CRR on the current drive, and that the file CRR.000 CRR.000 is on the current drive too). After about 15-30 seconds of disc drive whirring you should get a copyright message from the XRSDoor package. You will be asked to press a key. If you have a correct origin line set it will also be displayed at this time. You will be then shown the main menu which gives you the following options: (C)ontinue reading (R)ead messages [all] (M)y mail only (O)ne area only (S)elect message from summary (E)nter new message (N)etmail enter (V)iew replies (P)ack the responses (X)ternal command (Q)uit You will not get the netmail option if you have not been allowed to send netmail by the sysop of the board you are using. Packing messages should be the last thing done before you next log on to the bulletin board. If there are no replies at the moment, the (V) and (P) options do not appear. Reading messages Reading messages Reading messages (R)ead messages [all] (M)y mail only (O)ne area only (S)elect message from summary These options allow you to read the messages you have downloaded. R Option R shows all the messages in the order they were downloaded. M Option M shows you all the mail addressed to you. O Option O shows you a menu of available message areas, allowing you to read the messages in only one area. You enter the number which is Q associated with the area name or Q to quit. (c) 1990-1993 Paul Martin Page [8] CRR 1.60 Documentation S Option S shows the summary file a screen at a time, allowing you to + - browse it using + and -. You can also type in the number of the message at which you wish to start reading. If the SUMMSKIP option is set then there will be a delay of a few seconds while the summary file preamble is skipped. If you press any key whilst it is "skipping" or displaying the summary file, it will stop and allow you to enter your choice. While you are reading a message, CRR will pause after every screen. SPACE ENTER RETURN Press SPACE to see the next screenful, ENTER or RETURN to show the BACKSPACE DELETE | next line, BACKSPACE or DELETE to show the previous screenful. Any | other key will be taken as a menu selection. You can also press a menu selection key while the message is displaying -- it will be acted upon immediately. (This is similar to "hotkeys" on bulletin boards). At the end of a message you will be shown a menu: [14/43] (R)eply (-+) (N)ext (P)rev (H)elp: R Option R allows you to reply to a message. Upon selecting this option, you will be asked whether you want to quote the current message in Y N G G your reply. The responses are Y, N and G. Response G allows the tear lines, origin lines, and signature lines to be quoted. N P Options N and P move you forwards and backwards through the messages. - + Options - and +, when shown, allow you to follow a "thread" of - + messages. If the message that - or + would take you to is not available, nothing will happen. (This function will only work properly with XRS-Door/RAQMX 1.40 and later). H Option H shows a full list of the options available. V Option V shows the current message again (useful if it's very long). F Option F allows you to forward a message to anyone in an other echo, or netmail area. Y If there is no Option Y prints out the current message on the printer. If there is no printer attached your computer may crash if you select this option. printer attached your computer may crash if you select this option. X Option X prints out the current message to a file. You will be asked for the file name. If the file exists the message will be tagged on to the end of existing file. M Option M stops reading and shows the main menu. The difference between Q this option and option Q is that you can resume reading at the same M point after using an option off the main menu if you use M. < > Options < and > allow you to move one area back or forward, when you are viewing "One area only". S Option S saves your position and exits CRR. When you subsequently restart CRR it will resume at that same point. (c) 1990-1993 Paul Martin Page [9] CRR 1.60 Documentation Entering new messages Entering new messages Entering new messages (E)nter new message (N)etmail enter E Option E allows you to enter a new message in a particular area. You will be shown a menu of area names. Enter the number associated with Q the area name or Q to quit. You will then asked who the message is to, and what subject the message should have. N Option N, if present, allows you to enter a netmail message. You will be asked who the message is to, the netmail address to which this message should be sent, and the subject of the message. To send a netmail message, you will need the FidoNet address of the recipient. This should be typed in the normal format. Acceptable address types are: 250/107 250/107.3 2:250/107 2:250/107.3 Message editing Message editing Message editing When editing a message, do not touch the top four lines: To: Xxxxx Yyyyyy Subject: Test message Area: General Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb custard You can edit the name following the To:, and the Subject, but if you change the order of the To:, Subject: or Area: lines your message will be ignored. You may also edit the Area: line. CRR will try to match the area you give firstly with the sysop's name for that area (eg. Local Chatter), then with the area's tag (eg. CHATTERBOX), and finally interpret it as an area's number (eg. 25). The area name can be entered in any case (eg. cHaTTerBoX would match with CHATTERBOX). There should be a blank line after the Area: line. There may be lines starting with ^A or a reverse video A -- don't touch them. In a reply there will be lines starting with ^B or a reverse video B -- if you change them remove the ^B. The ^B is used to mark the INTRO lines, and will be removed when messages are packed. If the bulletin board is using a new version of XRSDoor, you will see a line with REPLY and a series of numbers at the start of the reply. Write beneath it and don't touch it -- it's used by some bulletin boards to link together message threads. (c) 1990-1993 Paul Martin Page [10] CRR 1.60 Documentation When you've finished editing, use the "Save and Exit" function of your editor. In VDE/ZDE this is CTRL-K X. You will be automatically be returned to CRR. Viewing and Packing up Viewing and Packing up Viewing and Packing up (V)iew replies (P)ack the responses (X)ternal Command (Q)uit V Option V shows you what messages you have written, and allows you to look at the first screen of messages, edit them again, delete them, or forward a copy to anyone in an other message area. P Option P packs up the outgoing messages into an archive to be sent to the bulletin board. While it is doing this it displays a summary of what it is doing. When the packing has completed you will be left in CP/M. X Option X allows you to execute a CP/M command and return to CRR. Q Option Q quits CRR and returns to CP/M. (c) 1990-1993 Paul Martin Page [11] CRR 1.60 Documentation ____ ________ ____ ________ ____ ________ User Requests User Requests User Requests All versions of XRS-Door from 1.44 onwards support "user requests". A user request is a message you send to XRS-Door to turn on/off message areas and request files. To send a request you put a message addressed to XRS in the LOCAL area (area 0). Put "UserRequest" in the subject. You then put your requests in the body of the message. To turn on a message area put that area's tag (eg. CPM), the sysop's name for it (eg. CPM Echo), or the area number (as shown by the "One message area only" option) on one line. If the area name has a dot in it, you should "escape" the name by putting a "`" in front of the name. The case is not significant. To turn off a message area you do the same as to turn it on, except that you put a minus (-) in front of the name. To request a file (which will be sent with your mailbag) just put its name on a line. The sysop may have turned off the file request feature. Please note that any requests containing any of "*?\:" will be ignored. For example: To: XRS Subject: UserRequest Area: LOCAL CPM amstrad -IBM `ENET.SYSOP 34 -56 `-comp.os.cpm CRR0160.ZIP ZDE16.LBR would request that areas CPM, AMSTRAD, ENET.SYSOP, and number 36 are turned on, and that areas IBM, number 56 and comp.os.cpm are turned off. The files CRR0160.ZIP and ZDE16.LBR are requested. | Note that using VISIBLE, or any signature line with a User Request | message will trigger a false file request. (c) 1990-1993 Paul Martin Page [12] CRR 1.60 Documentation __________ __________ __________ CRRQWK.CHN CRRQWK.CHN CRRQWK.CHN CRR will work with QWK format mail, and comes with a conversion program. If your bulletin board offers XRS-Door and QWK mail, use XRS-Door. CRRQWK has a few extra keywords that can be put in your DEFAULTS.CRR: QWKIN With this you tell CRRQWK on which drive it expects to find the unpacked QWK mail. The default is the current drive. CRRQWK converts from the QWKIN drive to your DRIVE drive. QWKTIDY If you include this keyword, CRRQWK will delete any XRS files that are on the DRIVE drive, and delete most of the QWK files after converting them. Note that this option could erase DBase index files, too. QWKTEAR If you include this, CRRQWK will put a Fidonet style tear line on the end of your messages instead of a QWK tag line. QWKCAPS If the bulletin board you are using expects user names to be in upper case, add this keyword. eg. part of your DEFAULTS.CRR might look like this: QWKIN C: QWKTIDY QWKTEAR To convert a QWK packet into something CRR can work with, extract all the files (CRRQWK only really needs the *.DAT files) to your QWKIN drive, and run CRR by typing: CRR QWK CRR will then run, and execute the CRRQWK.CHN file to convert. When the conversion has completed CRR will continue as normal. The conversion only has to be done once. Once converted, CRR can be used as with an XRS-Door packet. Note that with QWK format mail, different bulletin boards can use different methods of sending netmail. It's best to ask the sysop about sending netmail. ________ ________ ________ CRRTIM.Z CRRTIM.Z CRRTIM.Z This file is the Z80 assembler language source code for an overlay allowing you to change the method which CRR uses to get the current time. The file supplied is the one actually used in the supplied CRR.COM. There should be enough source code in CRRTIM.Z to allow any competent Z80 programmer to get CRR to read any Real Time Clock. The version supplied will read the CP/M 3 software clock or with CP/M 2.2 implements a crude counter. (c) 1990-1993 Paul Martin Page [13] CRR 1.60 Documentation ____ _________ ____ _________ ____ _________ Fido Etiquette Fido Etiquette Fido Etiquette When using quoting, only quote the minimum necessary for people to follow the thread of the conversation. In general, there should be more message than quote. Keep your messages as short as you can. If a message is more than two screens in length it's probably too long. Leave a blank line between your message and any quote line. Leave a blank line between paragraphs. Separate your message into paragraphs. It makes it easier for the eye to follow. Large amounts of blank lines in a message look untidy, especially at the end of a message. Don't feel obliged to reply to every message. Don't leave private messages in public areas. CRR now only allows public messages unless told otherwise by the ACCESSx.XRS file. Private messages are always allowed in the LOCAL area. If you want to send a private message to someone on another board use netmail. Don't use echo areas for local chatter. Don't leave offensive messages. Don't leave messages that would bring FidoNet (or the network you're using) into ill-repute. Some message areas do not allow the use of signatures. In these areas don't include a signature line. Pedantry for its own sake does not engender good feelings. Don't use netmail without getting the sysop's consent. Don't send international netmail without getting the sysop's blessing. Grovelling may help. You may be asked to pay. An air-mail letter will almost certainly take less time, and may in the long term be cheaper. Remember that FidoNet is run by enthusiasts who give up their own time and money to provide the service. In short, show due consideration to others. (c) 1990-1993 Paul Martin Page [14] CRR 1.60 Documentation ________ __ _______ ______ ________ __ _______ ______ ________ __ _______ ______ Glossary of Fidonet Jargon Glossary of Fidonet Jargon Glossary of Fidonet Jargon Tear line Tear line. This is a line at the bottom of a message which starts with three minus signs, and tells you which software created that message. eg. --- CRR 1.60+ Origin line Origin line. This is a line at the bottom of an echomail message which tells you on which bulletin board the message was sent. The numbers in the brackets are the Fidonet address of that bulletin board. eg. * Origin: Aspects Manchester UK [+44-61-792-0260] (RA 2:250/107.3) Kludge Kludge. This is a line that starts with a CTRL-A character, and contains additional information for the use of mail processing software. PID PID. This is a kludge, which has the same purpose as a tear line, ie. to tell you what software created a message. Tag line Tag line. This is a line at the bottom of a message which tells you which software was used to create that message. Its use is not popular in Fidonet, as software ought to be using tear lines. It is a part of the (now outmoded) QWK specification. eg. * CRR 1.60+ * Echomail Echomail. Messages entered in an echomail conference are "echoed" to other bulletin boards that participate in that conference. Netmail Netmail. Netmail messages are sent from one bulletin board to another (where as echomail is one to many). Alias Alias. A "handle" or pseudonym sometimes allowed in some message areas. In general, the use of aliases is banned in most echomail conferences. Retearing Retearing. The incorrect practice of some mail processing software of changing the tear line or the PID of a message which passes through it. XRS XRS. eXpress Response System, the name of the offline message reader developed by Mike Ratledge for IBM-PC compatible computers. QWK QWK. An offline message reader format. Possibly from QWiK? (c) 1990-1993 Paul Martin Page [15] CRR 1.60 Documentation _____ ____ __ ___ _____ ____ __ ___ _____ ____ __ ___ Files used by CRR Files used by CRR Files used by CRR Temporary files: Temporary files: EDIT .CRR Response currently being edited. M???????.CRR Outgoing messages. M00?????.CRR Outgoing message index. $$$ .SUB This is a special record-type submit file, which does not need SUBMIT.COM. Permanent files: Permanent files: CRR .COM CRR itself. CRR .000 CRR's overlays. CRRSTATE.CRR Various internal pointers. User provided files: User provided files: DEFAULTS.CRR Setup file Message packet files: Message packet files: ACCESS1 .XRS (used if present) AREAS1 .XRS BAT1MAIL.XRS MAIL1IDX.XRS SUMMARY1.XRS USER1 .XRS XORIGIN .XRS (used if present) Response packets: Response packets: (to be uploaded) ????????.XXY ???????? is an 8 digit hex number, unique to you XX is the first two letters of the current day name Y is the number of the packet eg. 7452FF9B.MO1 The response packet and the .CRR files should be on the same drive as the CRR program itself. --------------------------------------------------------------------- XRS, XRS-Door, QMX, RAX, and RAQMX are trademarks of Mike Ratledge and Smokin' Software. (c) 1990-1993 Paul Martin