From: Jonathan Hurwitz Subject: offline mail readers (long) To: thisiscrazy-l@netcom.com Date: Wed, 2 Nov 1994 09:44:23 -0500 (EST) these documents are from rtfm.mit.edu - which houses the FAQ for every subject known to (wo)man OFFLINE MAIL READERS Archive-name: off-line-readers/usenet/intro Alt-usenet-offline-reader-archive-name: intro Posting-Frequency: weekly Original-Author: Rhys Weatherly Last-modified: 1994-10-19 ============================================================================ part 01/02 intro 1 Credits and Disclaimer 2 Overview 3 Newsgroups of interest to offline readers 4 What is an offline reader? 5 What is the difference from getting a news feed? 6 What are QWK and BlueWave? 7 What is SOUP? 8 What is ZipNews? part 02/02 software 100 Where can I get the software? 200 Where are the QWK readers? 300 common sites, template 400 author contacts 500 ftp sites 600 miscellaneous 700 packers 800 readers ============================================================================ ------------------------------ Subject: a.u.o intro: Credits and Disclaimer From: auofaq@alpha3.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Alt.Usenet.Offline-reader FAQ) This FAQ is based in part on one by Dave Cheung , last posted to alt.usenet.offline-reader in April 1993. It was updated and posted by Rhys Weatherly for a while. It was then digestified and hardly (if at all) modified by Russell Schulz Whilst every effort has been taken to ensure the information contained herein is correct, neither the current author, the current poster, nor any previous author or previous poster can accept ANY LIABILITY WHATSOEVER for errors, ommissions or damage howsoever caused. ------------------------------ Subject: a.u.o intro: Overview From: auofaq@alpha3.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Alt.Usenet.Offline-reader FAQ) A common question on netnews these days is "how do I package up my mail and news to be read offline?". This FAQ attempts to answer this question for e-mail and netnews, to point the reader at relevant software, and to describe some of the ongoing efforts in this area. Other networks such as FidoNet, CompuServe, etc. are not covered. ------------------------------ Subject: a.u.o intro: Newsgroups of interest to offline readers From: auofaq@alpha3.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Alt.Usenet.Offline-reader FAQ) alt.usenet.offline-reader is for the discussion of offline systems for netnews in general. This includes the installation and use of offline systems, and the discussion of "packet formats" to facilitate offline activities. comp.os.msdos.mail-news is for the discussion of any aspect of managing RFC-compliant mail and news on MS-DOS machines, and is not limited to the discussion of offline activities. ------------------------------ Subject: a.u.o intro: What is an offline reader From: auofaq@alpha3.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Alt.Usenet.Offline-reader FAQ) The concept of offline reading comes from BBS world where a user connects via a modem to the bbs, and downloads a file (usually called a packet) containing all unread messages since the last connection. Then a program is used, to extract the messages from the packet, read them and reply to them, creating a reply packet to be uploaded at the next connection. This saves time (the bbs lines are less engaged) and money (on phone bills). It also means that the user can make use of much friendlier reading tools than can be made available in an interactive login environment. For the purposes of this FAQ, "offline" is defined to mean the following: "transferring mail and news in some form from an existing interactive account to a user's machine, usually via a modem, so that the messages may be read while the user is not connected to the account, and so that replies may be composed to be uploaded to the account at some later time to be injected into the network". ------------------------------ Subject: a.u.o intro: What is the difference from getting a news feed? From: auofaq@alpha3.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Alt.Usenet.Offline-reader FAQ) Another definition of "offline" pertains to the system administrator of a mail and news site (usually a UUCP site) who reads mail and news while the machine is not physically connected to the network, usually with some friendly third-party utility. This usage is common in the Waffle community. It is often the case that your server can provide you with an automatic transfer method to send you mail and news. This is called a "feed" and can be received by modem using the UUCP protocol (among other methods). There is no big difference with the "offline reading" concept except that it is a little more automated. If your home machine runs on a multi-tasking system you can even set it to call the server regularly. You can also start feeding other machines. The disadvantage is that getting a feed is a little more complicated than using an offline reader, there are usually more programs to install and to configure. For MS-DOS machines, see the FAQ for comp.bbs.waffle for information on a popular UUCP system for receiving a feed. SNUUPM is a package designed to allow simple installation of the full UUPC, SNews, and PMail (Pegasus Mail) packages. uufree is another such package, but none of the packages is shareware, and the installation time has been kept to an absolute minimum. At the start, especially if you want few newsgroups, you may want to begin with an offline news reader and then maybe move to a feed when you feel more confident. ------------------------------ Subject: a.u.o intro: What are QWK and BlueWave? From: auofaq@alpha3.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Alt.Usenet.Offline-reader FAQ) QWK and BlueWave are the names of popular packet formats in the BBS community. QWK was originally created to get messages for PC-Board bulletin boards and FidoNet "mail areas" (the equivalent of netnews newsgroups). It became a de-facto standard since more and more QWK readers are available not only on MS-DOS machines but on all architectures. However the QWK and BlueWave formats are not capable of carrying RFC-compliant messages such as Internet mail and netnews. Some efforts have been made to adapt QWK to netnews, but at best the extra information present in netnews messages has been ignored by existing readers, and at worst the extra information is truncated or lost. Some of this information, for example the Message-ID: and References: headers, is very important to netnews, and the loss of this information causes problems for other netnews readers. ------------------------------ Subject: a.u.o intro: What is SOUP? From: auofaq@alpha3.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Alt.Usenet.Offline-reader FAQ) SOUP == "Simple Offline USENET Packet" format. It is intended as a replacement for QWK in the netnews community. The messages stored in SOUP packets are completely RFC-compliant so that no critical information is lost. Software which supports SOUP on a variety of platforms is available. See "Where can I get the software?" later in this FAQ for more information. SOUP was originally called the "Helldiver Packet Format" or HDPF, and was devised by Rhys Weatherley (rhys@cs.uq.oz.au) near the end of 1992. A variant of HDPF, called the "Simple Local News Packet" format or SLNP, was devised by Philippe Goujard (ppg@oasis.icl.co.uk) soon afterwards. SOUP now combines the features of both HDPF and SLNP. Rhys Weatherley currently maintains the "official copy" of the format document. The SOUP format document may be found on any SimTel FTP mirror as offline/soup12.zip The latest copy may also be obtained by mailing Rhys Weatherley at the above e-mail address. SOUP also has the ability to download "summaries" of message areas. That is, downloading just the header information for the user to peruse and then choose what messages they want to be downloaded later. This can be useful in very large newsgroups where a user typically only reads a few messages and wishes to avoid downloading the rest of the "noise". This feature is not currently widely implemented however. ------------------------------ Subject: a.u.o intro: What is ZipNews? From: auofaq@alpha3.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Alt.Usenet.Offline-reader FAQ) ZipNews is an offline reading system that was developed independently by Jack Kilday (jkilday@nlbbs.com). It is primarily intended for Waffle, PC-Board and Wildcat! systems, although the UQWK package can generate ZipNews packets (and process ZipNews reply packets) on Unix systems. Only one ZipNews compliant reader exists. SOUP and ZipNews formats are superficially very similar, and it is not inconceivable that a reader for one format could be adapted to read the other format. The ZipNews reader can also function as a local newsreader for Waffle system adminstrators. Archive-name: off-line-readers/usenet/software Alt-usenet-offline-reader-archive-name: software Posting-Frequency: weekly Original-Author: Rhys Weatherly Last-modified: 1994-10-21 ============================================================================ part 02/02 software 100 Where can I get the software? 200 Where are the QWK readers? 300 common sites, template 400 author contacts 500 ftp sites 600 miscellaneous 700 packers 800 readers ============================================================================ Whilst every effort has been taken to ensure the information contained herein is correct, neither the current author, the current poster, nor any previous author or previous poster can accept ANY LIABILITY WHATSOEVER for errors, ommissions or damage howsoever caused. ------------------------------ Subject: a.u.o software: 100 Where can I get the software? From: auofaq@alpha3.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Alt.Usenet.Offline-reader FAQ) 100 Where can I get the software? There are two pieces of software that you will need for any offline reading activities. A "generating program" (also known as a "packet generator" or "door") to build the packets on the BBS or login account, and a "reading program" (also known as a "packet reader") to read the packets on your home machine. This section lists software that can be used for each of these activities, together with the authors, FTP sites, and packet formats supported. In the case of interactive dial-in users, you may find that a suitable generating program may already exist on the system you call: ask the system administrator if you are unsure. For Waffle systems, you will need to ask the system administrator to install the generating software. For Unix, anyone who has access to a C compiler can compile and install the currently available software, so no intervention from the system administrator is required. 101 Where are the reviews? not here. if you are looking for reviews, post your requirements and see who else knows what you need. please do not be vague -- no one can help you when you just say you're looking to evaluate some `offline software for your computer'. what kind of computer is it you're using? what is the computer it's connecting to? what do you want to do -- mail, news, both, more? how much are you willing to pay? what sort of interface do you need? how sophisticated are you? etc. I will not be putting any reviews in here, partly because they would be difficult to maintain, and partly because I want to avoid any flak from a negative review which I did not write. if you want to periodically post a collection of reviews, go ahead. you don't need my approval. ------------------------------ Subject: a.u.o software: 200 Where are the QWK readers? From: auofaq@alpha3.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Alt.Usenet.Offline-reader FAQ) 200 Where are the QWK readers? not here. I don't plan on listing any software that mangles headers as much as QWK does. even with uqwk's +X expert mode, no QWK reader I'm aware of will yet do simple things like generate a References: header. until they do, look elsewhere for them. if you must. ------------------------------ Subject: a.u.o software: 300 common sites, template From: auofaq@alpha3.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Alt.Usenet.Offline-reader FAQ) 300 Common sites, template If you know of any other products that support offline activities for RFC-compliant mail and news, please send the following information in mail to auofaq@alpha3.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca. Also, be sure to post your announcement, to make sure everyone knows about it. Name: [Product name] Author: [email address] Location: [ftp site] [filename] * Type: Packet Generator/Packet Reader/Both Environment: [msdos][mac][ms-windows][os2][atari-st][unix][etc.] Formats: [soup][zipnews] Description/Comments: * for the SimTel msdos collection, just use `simtel' for the ftp site, and give the first directory (e.g., `offline') plus filename. the main SimTel mirror is oak.oakland.edu:/SimTel/msdos/ for the Cica ms-windows collection, just use `cica' for the ftp site, and give the first directory (e.g., `util') plus filename. on cica itself, the ms-windows files are in ftp.cica.indiana.edu:/pub/pc/win3/ ------------------------------ Subject: a.u.o software: 400 author contacts From: auofaq@alpha3.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Alt.Usenet.Offline-reader FAQ) 400 author contacts soup rhys@cs.uq.oz.au zip zip-bugs@wkuvx1.wku.edu unzip zip-bugs@wkuvx1.wku.edu getnews ppg@oasis.icl.co.uk solar kjhoule@iowegia.dsm.ia.us uqwk seb3@gte.com uqwkselector seb3@gte.com zipnews jkilday@nlbbs.com hpv rhys@cs.uq.oz.au slnr ppg@oasis.icl.co.uk unor rrusbasa@nyx.cs.du.edu zipnewsreader jkilday@nlbbs.com yarn cthuang@io.org paperboy vart@eniac.seas.upenn.edu rfdmail yon@world.std.com toadnews jpmah@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca pronto pronto@commtouch.com, [800-63-TOUCH,+1 415 578 8580] nnrnews hero@login.dkuug.dk offlinepgp staalesc@ifi.uio.no versatermlink maxwell@sales.synergy.com soupcmd combee@prism.gatech.edu macslurp ... offliner ... offline-orbit jts@krk.fi williamsnews rwilliam@netcom.com snuupm ccml@hippo.ru.ac.za uufree uufree@alpha3.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca macsoup stk@uropax.contrib.de readmail jschipper@hut.nl ------------------------------ Subject: a.u.o software: 500 ftp sites From: auofaq@alpha3.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Alt.Usenet.Offline-reader FAQ) 500 ftp sites soup simtel:offline/soup12.zip zip ftp.uu.net:/pub/archiving/zip/* unzip ftp.uu.net:/pub/archiving/zip/* getnews ftp.adelaide.edu.au:/pub/news/readers/off-line/slnr/ ...? solar simtel:waffle/solar094.zip uqwk ftp.gte.com:/pub/uqwk/uqwk1.8.tar.Z uqwkselector ftp.gte.com:/pub/uqwk/us/us1.1.tar.Z zipnews simtel:offline/znews97g.zip hpv simtel:offline/hpv101b.zip slnr ftp.adelaide.edu.au:/pub/news/readers/off-line/slnr/* unor ftp.gte.com:/pub/unor/unor0021.zip zipnewsreader simtel:offline/znr093b.zip yarn simtel:offline/yarn_071.zip yarn-os2 ftp-os2.cdrom.com:/os2/2_x/bbs/yrn2_065.zip [071 assumed...] paperboy cica:util/pboy101.zip (v1.90=beta) rfdmail garbo.uwasa.fi:/windows/comm/rfdml122.zip toadnews ftp.halcyon.com:/pub/tisk/tidbits/uucp/ pronto [retail package] eval: commtouch.com:/pub/commtouch/eval.exe nnrnews simtel:offline/nnrnews2.zip offlinepgp simtel:offline/apgp212.zip versatermlink [retail package - nothing ftp-able] soupcmd ftp.gte.com:/pub/soupcmd/soupcmd.tar.gz. macslurp ... offliner metronet.com:/pub/xfer/ol06a.zip offline-orbit [via mail from author] williamsnews ftp.netcom.com:/pub/rwilliam/wnnws10b.zip snuupm simtel:uucp/snuupm23.zip uufree ftp.supernet.ab.ca:/pub/msdos/uufree/uufree05.zip macsoup ftp.gte.com:/pub/MacSOUP/* readmail ftp.winternet.com:/pub/ReadMail/rm50b6.zip ------------------------------ Subject: a.u.o software: 600 miscellaneous From: auofaq@alpha3.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Alt.Usenet.Offline-reader FAQ) 600 miscellaneous soup - Simple Offline Usenet Packet format offlinepgp - soup-aware pgp addon ------------------------------ Subject: a.u.o software: 700 packers From: auofaq@alpha3.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Alt.Usenet.Offline-reader FAQ) 700 packers -- `name' - `function'; `platforms'; `standards' 701 getnews - generator; Unix; soup 702 solar - generator; msdos Waffle; soup 703 uqwk - generator; Unix NNTP,Unix spool; soup/zipnews 704 uqwkselector - generator; Unix NNTP,Unix spool; ... 705 zipnews - generator; msdos Waffle, PC-Board, Wildcat; zipnews 706 nnrnews - translator; msdos; nn save files, soup 707 soupcmd - uqwk add-on; Unix; soup commands that uqwk handles non-souply 708 macslurp - news importer via SLIP; mac; ... ------------------------------ Subject: a.u.o software: 800 readers From: auofaq@alpha3.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Alt.Usenet.Offline-reader FAQ) 800 readers -- `name' - `function'; `platforms'; `standards' 801 hpv (helldiver packet viewer) - reader; msdos; soup 802 slnr (simple local news reader) - reader; Unix, msdos, atari; soup 803 unor (USENET offline reader) - reader; ms-windows; soup 804 zipnewsreader - reader; msdos; zipnews 805 yarn - reader; msdos, os2; soup 806 paperboy - reader; ms-windows; soup 807 rfdmail - reader; ms-windows; proprietary 808 toadnews - reader pre-processor; mac; soup 809 pronto - reader; ms-windows; proprietary 810 versatermlink - reader; mac; proprietary 811 offliner - reader; ms-windows; soup 812 offline-orbit - reader; amiga; soup 813 williamsnews - reader; ms-windows; soup 814 macsoup - reader; mac; soup 815 readmail - reader; msdos; soup -- jonathan steven hurwitz jsh@hsri.org human services research institute phone: 617.876.0426 2336 massachusetts avenue fax: 617.492.7401 cambridge, ma 02140 tecenter@hsri.org