This file is included for your amusement. It contains the last two “What’s New” files; version 1.0 is virtually the same as version 0.4.1. This file may be especially handy for those beta-testers, who are already familiar with previous versions of Obolus.
What’s New in Obolus 0.4.1?
This document briefly describes the changes I’ve made to Obolus from version 0.4.0 to 0.4.1. This means that the main doc (for version 0.3.8) is getting pretty outdated. I’ll try and do something about it, sometime. Actually, I think Obolus is nearing completion now. Mostly 0.4.1 is a bugfix of version 0.4.0.
• Balloon Help: Balloon Help has been added to Obolus. It can be activated in the usual way. I hope you find it useful.
• 68000 Support: Obolus should now run on 68000 machines without crashing. Be warned though, that Obolus does not run all that well with System 6. I haven’t had any reports of people trying to use Obolus with System 6, so I didn’t bother to do much checking.
• The “Log File Creator” option now really works. It won’t change the creator of an existing log file, but a newly created one will have the right ID.
• Better ZipIt support. Obolus will now add newly processed packets to an existing ZIP file waiting to be sent. Obolus also keeps track of the name of the compressed packets it has created on a given day. If the compressed packet is gone, and you process mail again on the same day, Obolus will give the new packet a unique name. The DOSsy “extension” will change from “WE0” to “WE1” for instance, if it’s a Wednesday. This is to prevent name conflicts if your bossnode does not process mail automatically, but stores its packets for processing later.
• Obolus now has its own custom icon. It’s not particularly brilliant, but it’s the best I could do; after all, I’m a programmer, not graphics artist. If anyone out there can do better (can’t be that hard), I’d be most interested.
• Copying and pasting text to and from other applications now works properly.
I think that’s about it. Actually, now that Obolus is nearing completion, it is on the verge of becoming obsolescent. I have been told that CounterPoint 2.3 can now produce 4D packets. Wow. You can scrap my vituperative comments about CounterPoint from the main document where 4D packets are concerned. We’re making progress. Anyway, I’m still working on my own maileditor; if and when it ever becomes publicly available, you’ll certainly find out. I think.
That’s really about it. I welcome any comments and bug reports you may have about Obolus. Send them to me at qsi@contrast.wlink.nl, or Fidonet 2:281/527.13. Thank you.
What’s New in Obolus 0.4.0?
This document briefly describes the changes to Obolus, made from version 0.3.8 to 0.4.0. This document supplements the longer document for Obolus 0.3.8, which does not yet include the information contained herein. (I’m a programmer, and as such, am not supposed to do manuals at all. It’s just my unswerving loyalty to my users to that compels me to write this. :-))
• Obolus 0.4.0 will not recognize the old configuration file. You must reconfigure the system entirely. Obolus 0.4.0 uses a larger configuration file, to store all the relevant new information. My apologies for the inconvenience.
• In the “Behavior” dialog, you can set the creator of the log file Obolus produces. Use “ttxt” for TeachText, or the appropriate code for your favorite word processor or editor. If Obolus finds an existing log file, its creator is not altered.
• ZipIt support. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get my communication with ZipIt through AppleEvents working yet. I am still working on it. However, as a temporary measure, I have implemented communication with ZipIt through a command file. This means the ZipIt you run must not be on a locked disk or volume, because otherwise Obolus can’t create the command file. Because of the limited nature of the command file, Obolus will create a new ZIP archive for each packet it encounters, and will not add files to existing packets. For each boss, ZipIt will be launched once. I apologize for the inconvenience, and I hope to get the more comfortable AppleEvents code working soon.
To use ZipIt, you must check the appropriate box in the “Behavior” dialog, and set ZipIt’s location in the “System Paths” dialog. If you use ZipIt, Obolus will delete the outbound packets after ZipIt terminates.
• Packet types: Obolus now terminates all its packets with three nullbytes. There no longer is any difference between the copied packets for CP import, and the packets for sending to your boss.
• Some minor bugs have been fixed.
• Known anomalous behavior: if you run Obolus “manually” (i.e. not in unattended mode), and you select “Process Packets” twice or more, Obolus will process the packets only the first time. This is very strange, and I am trying to sort this out.
Warning to System 6 Users
If any of you are in fact out there, beware that Obolus 0.4.0 will probably crash. There is some System 7 code in there, that is not yet protected from System 6. As I haven’t heard from anyone yet using System 6, I haven’t bothered to implement rigorous checking yet. So if you’re using System 6, tell me. Or better still, use System 7. It’s a lot better than System 6.
