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- # Starting
- Welcome to SlipKnot Tips
-
- These tips provide clues for using
- features of SlipKnot that you may not
- have thought of.
-
- If you uncheck the "Tips at startup?" box
- below, you can always turn it back on
- using the Help Menu at the top of the
- screen.
- ---
- # Test
- Test SlipKnot
-
- When SlipKnot's Local Home Page is
- displayed, there are links inside
- to 3 other pages with information
- about SlipKnot.
-
- The "Test Fonts" page shows the effects
- of all of your screen font choices. You
- can also use it to test your printer.
-
- The "SlipKnot People Page" will allow
- you to test graphics and sound (if you
- have a sound driver installed in Windows).
-
- The "Features and Tips" page will tell
- you how SlipKnot works, and provide
- advanced information.
- ---
-
- # Housecleaning
- Housecleaning your History Folder
-
- Documents will accumulate in your History
- folder and eventually slow SlipKnot down
- (when you have hundreds of them).
-
- To see those documents, press
- Documents/History or the icon with the
- circular arrow. The number of documents
- there will appear at the lower left of
- the History Folder list.
-
- When in the History Folder, use the
- Delete or Move menu items to remove
- documents from the History.
- ---
-
- # Retrieve icon
- The "Retrieve" Icon
-
- Remember that you can use the icon with the
- picture of the Web and the arrow pointing
- to the center to bring up the "Retrieve
- from Internet" dialog box quickly.
-
- That dialog box keeps the last 10 document
- addresses for reselection, and, equally
- important, allow you to correct typos you
- may have made in the last typed address.
- ---
-
- # Folders
- Folders: Why?
-
- Use the Folders icon (or the "Documents/
- Folders" menu item) to create new folders.
-
- You can store documents and bookmarks,
- along with your comments about them, inside
- these folders.
-
- When viewing a document, use the Page
- menu to save what you are viewing as a
- document or as a bookmark inside a
- folder to display later.
- ---
-
- # Bookmarks
- Bookmarks vs. Documents
-
- A Window's Page menu allows you to save
- the information you are viewing either
- as a "document" or as a "bookmark".
-
- When you save a document as a "bookmark"
- SlipKnot saves only its address. When
- you attempt to redisplay a bookmark,
- SlipKnot will attempt to retrieve the
- document again from the Internet, so you
- must be online to do this. Saving as
- a "bookmark" uses less disk space.
-
- In contrast, when you save as a "document",
- SlipKnot saves all of the information
- contained in the document, and you can
- redisplay the document again from your
- own disk. You do not have to be online
- to do this. Of course, more disk space
- is used to save all of the information.
- ---
-
- # Offline
- Using SlipKnot Offline
-
- You do not have to be logged on to use
- SlipKnot Web.
-
- Simply press the "World Wide Web" button
- in SlipKnot Terminal to launch SlipKnot
- Web at any time.
-
- You can then redisplay documents from
- folders or display HTML files you may
- have on your disk drives.
- ---
-
- # Demo
- Demonstrating SlipKnot
-
- If you want to demonstrate SlipKnot to
- others, you do not have to be connected
- to the Internet to do so.
-
- Simply save all of the documents that
- you want to use for the demonstration
- inside one or more of your folders.
- Make sure that you save them as
- "documents".
-
- If the documents are linked to one
- another, when you click on a link,
- the "Retrieve" dialog box will appear.
- Press the "Search in other folders"
- button to tell SlipKnot to find the
- saved document in one of your folders.
- ---
-
- # HTML
- How is a document created?
-
- Documents are written in the HTML
- language (Hypertext Markup Language).
-
- The best way to learn HTML is to look
- at how documents that you actually
- see are written. Use the "Page/View
- as HTML Source" menu item in the
- document window to display the
- source of the current document.
-
- To use this menu item, you must have
- a "text viewer" installed in SlipKnot.
- Use the "Configure/Viewers" menu to
- install one for TXT file types. A
- suitable choice is the Windows Write
- program (WRITE.EXE) that should reside
- in your \WINDOWS directory.
- ---
-
- # Tools
- SlipKnot and HTML Tools
-
- If you retrieve the SlipKnot "What's
- New Page" from the Internet, you will find
- a link there to a page containing SlipKnot-
- compatible tools.
-
- These are other graphics viewers installable
- into SlipKnot and sound players.
-
- You will also find HTML authoring tools there,
- as well as a wealth of information about
- HTML itself.
- ---
-
- # lynx
- For lynx users...
-
- If you have been using lynx, and saving
- addresses inside lynx bookmarks, you
- can retrieve and display those bookmarks
- in SlipKnot.
-
- Bring up the "Retrieve" dialog box (using
- Navigate/Retrieve from Internet, or pressing
- the icon with the arrow/Web). Then ask for:
-
- lynx_bookmarks.html
-
- This will work if your lynx bookmarks are in
- your UNIX login directory.
- ---
-
- # Downloading
- Downloading UNIX files
-
- There are two ways to download a file from
- your UNIX system to your PC:
-
- 1. In SlipKnot Terminal, use the
- "Communications/Get file from Host" menu item.
-
- 2. In SlipKnot Web, bring up the "Retrieve"
- dialog box, and simply type in the name
- of your UNIX file.
- ---
-
- # non-HTML files
- Classifying non-HTML files
-
- If SlipKnot Web retrieves a non-HTML file,
- it will try to discern what type of file it is.
-
- It will look at the suffix of the file to
- see if there's a viewer installed for it.
- For instance, if the suffix is ".gif",
- then SlipKnot will bring up the graphics
- viewer to display the file. SlipKnot
- recognizes file suffixes and viewers for
- them by looking at the settings in the
- "Configure/Viewers" menu item.
-
- If there's no viewer for that suffix, or
- if the file has no suffix, SlipKnot will
- look at the beginning of the file to see
- if it is really an HTML document. If so,
- SlipKnot will display it normally. If not,
- SlipKnot will check if the file is purely
- ASCII and suggest the TXT viewer for it.
-
- If none of these work, then SlipKnot will
- allow you to save the file so that it can
- be used by some other program.
- ---
-
- # Clipboard
- Clipboard Tips
-
- You can use the Windows Clipboard fruitfully
- in both SlipKnot Terminal and Web.
-
- For instance, suppose you want to mail the
- address of a cool Web page to a friend.
- When viewing that page, use the "Page/
- Copy URL to Clipboard" menu item to copy
- the address to the Clipboard. Then return
- temporarily to SlipKnot Terminal. Start up
- your UNIX mailer, and when you are typing
- the message to your friend, insert the
- document's address from the Clipboard by
- using the "Edit/Paste" menu item. This
- way, you can guarantee that you will not
- make any typing mistakes with these long
- and precise addresses.
- ---
-
- # Link
- Getting a page address from a friend
-
- If you receive the URL (address) of an
- interesting Web page from a friend in an
- incoming mail message (while using SlipKnot
- Terminal), and want to retrieve the page
- yourself then:
-
- Highlight the full address (starting with
- the "http://") with the mouse, and press
- the "Communications/Get Highlighted URL"
- menu item. Then get out of your mail
- program and back to your UNIX prompt.
-
- Press the World Wide Web button to return
- to SlipKnot Web, and as soon as you do so,
- SlipKnot will ask whether you want to
- retrieve the page whose address you
- captured in the mailer.
- ---
-
- # FTP
- Using anonymous FTP
-
- SlipKnot Web can retrieve directories
- and files via anonymous FTP for you.
- If you have the FTP address of a file,
- or a directory of a file, use the
- following (URL) form to retrieve the
- directory listing or the file itself:
-
- For a directory of files:
- ftp://site/path/
-
- For a file:
- ftp://site/path/filename
-
- For instance, the SimTel directory
- where SlipKnot major releases are
- carried can be reached at:
-
- ftp://oak.oakland.edu/SimTel/win3/internet/
-
- You can even try this now, by highlighting
- the full address above with your mouse,
- pressing Ctrl-C to capture it into the
- Windows Clipboard, pressing "OK" to remove
- these SlipKnot Tips from the screen, then
- using the "Navigate/Retrieve from Internet"
- menu item, and pasting from the Clipboard
- using Ctrl-V.
- ---
-
- # Function Key Macros
- Function Key and Button Macros
-
- In SlipKnot Terminal, you can assign
- frequently-used character strings to short-
- cut keys and visible buttons.
-
- For instance, if while using UNIX, you find
- yourself executing the "ls -l" command
- frequently, you can assign this to the
- Shift-F3 key combination by using the
- "Setup/Function Key/Button Macros" menu item,
- and placing the string:
-
- ls -l^M
-
- into the Shift-F3 box. Thereafter,
- whenever you are at the UNIX prompt,
- pressing Shift-F3 will send that string
- to your host and execute that command.
-
- Alternatively, you can make 10 buttons
- appear at the bottom of the main Terminal
- screen, each of which sends a string to
- your host. You can even label these
- buttons.
-
- ---
-
- # Jobs
- The Job Queue
-
- You probably know that you can ask for
- more than one document to be retrieved.
-
- If not, here's how: when you have a
- retrieval in progress, just click on
- another link to retrieve, and SlipKnot
- will queue up the second request. Once
- the first request is finished, SlipKnot
- will immediately start retrieving the
- second (and third...) one.
-
- You can queue up 30 requests at any one
- time and watch the pages being retrieved
- one-by-one in the background.
- ---
-
- # Pause
- Controlling the Job Queue
-
- The most important feature of the job
- queue (the pending requests for pages)
- is the Pause capability:
-
- If for some reason you want to stop the
- retrievals temporarily (for instance, you
- want to get back to SlipKnot Terminal to
- do some work, or you want to put off
- retrievals for another day), press the
- "See Jobs!" menu item, and Pause the job
- queue. Once the currently active request
- is finished, SlipKnot will put a hold on
- the rest of the retrieval requests until
- you press the Resume button.
-
- SlipKnot will even save the jobs until the
- next time you enter SlipKnot Web, and ask
- whether you want to resume the retrievals.
- Note: If you say "No" to this question, the
- job queue will remain in a Paused state, and
- each new request will simply be put on the
- queue until you either delete the jobs or
- Resume.
- ---
-
- # Version 1.12
- Some improvements in Version 1.12 and later
-
- The details of some of these improvements
- are in tips below. This is just a listing.
-
- 1. Text-first display (the document text will
- be displayed before the pictures come in).
-
- 2. Resizable windows.
-
- 3. Choice of number of windows (2 - 10).
-
- 4. SlipKnot Web will now print pictures as
- well as text.
-
- 5. Facelift on the toolbar, more icons:
- Forward and Back buttons to step through
- the History Folder, Stop,
- Retrieve Graphics On/Off.
-
- 6. Retrieve Actions/Get Unretrieved Pictures
- menu item in document window, in case
- you previously decided not to get all of
- the pictures.
-
- 7. Picture caching: for incoming documents
- using the same picture -- that picture is
- retrieved only once from the Internet.
-
- 8. JPEG inline picture support.
-
- 9. Elimination of the Toolbar (under the
- Configure menu) to create more usable
- screen space.
-
- 10. Windows can be cascaded (under Windows menu).
-
- 11. You can switch to a particular window
- using the new Windows menu or the Ctrl-
- Function keys.
-
- 12. In SlipKnot Terminal, you can now choose
- different file transfer protocols for
- uploading and downloading.
- ---
-
- # Upload/Download
- SlipKnot Terminal Upload/Download
-
- You can choose different file transfer
- protocols (in Setup/Host) for uploading
- and downloading.
-
- Since uploading is a more difficult task,
- it is sometimes preferable to use a different
- and more reliable protocol for it (like
- Kermit).
- ---
-
- # Text first
- Text-First display
-
- By default, SlipKnot can display the text
- of a document as soon as it comes in, and
- allow you to read the text while waiting
- for the pictures to come in. You
- can change this using the Configure/
- Preferences menu item.
- ---
-
- # Picture caching
- Picture Caching
-
- SlipKnot will search inside the History
- Folder for a picture in case you have
- previously retrieved it for display inside
- another document. This can be turned off
- using Configure/Preferences.
- ---
-
- # Resizing
- Resizing documents
-
- You can resize your document windows
- by dragging their borders to make them
- larger or smaller (although there is
- a smallest size).
-
- After resizing a window, SlipKnot will
- remember this new size, and try to create
- new windows to the same size.
- ---
-
- # Number of windows
- Number of Document Windows
-
- SlipKnot allows you to choose the number
- of document windows open at any one time.
-
- In Configure/Preferences, you can set this
- number between 2 and 10.
-
- BE CAREFUL: if you are using a machine with
- 4MB of RAM or less, we would recommend
- fewer than 5 windows!
- ---
-
-
- # Screen space
- Getting more screen space
-
- Use Configure/Toolbar to remove (or restore)
- the toolbar to create more vertical screen
- space for your documents.
- ---
-
- # Toolbar icons #1
- Guide to Toolbar Icons #1
-
- 1. House: brings up either the SlipKnot
- Local Home Page (containing the necessary
- link to the SlipKnot What's New Page,
- which is the key to upgrading SlipKnot)
- or your own local Homepage (see under
- Configure/Preferences).
-
- 2. Circular Arrow: shows your History Folder,
- which contains all of the documents you have
- recently gotten. Be sure to clean this out
- periodically.
-
- 3. Left Arrow: brings up the document prior
- to the current document from the History
- Folder. Tip: If you have no documents
- displayed, press this arrow repeatedly to
- display documents from latest to earliest
- from the History Folder.
-
- 4. Right arrow: brings up the next document
- from the History folder. Tip: If you do not
- have any documents displayed, press this
- arrow to start displaying the first document
- in the History Folder, and then each
- subsequent document.
- ---
-
- # Toolbar icons #2
- Guide to Toolbar Icons #2
-
- 5. Folder: This allows you to create new
- folders to store documents, to delete
- unwanted folders, to find out the real
- MSDOS directory names of these folders,
- and, of course, to look at the contents
- of these folders and display their
- documents.
-
- 6. Retrieve Graphics: When pressed, this
- will turn On or Off the SlipKnot option to
- retrieve the pictures inside a document.
- When Off (icon crossed out in red), SlipKnot
- will retrieve only the text of a document,
- and not the pictures. If, after looking
- at the text, you want the pictures, use the
- document window's Retreive Actions/Get
- Unretrieved Pictures menu item.
-
- 7. Web with Arrow: to bring up the dialog
- box for retrieving a new document if you
- know its address. Tip: the last 10
- addresses (URLs) are stored in a drop-down
- list, so if you've made a typing error,
- you can go back and correct it.
-
- 8. Stop: to stop the retrieval of any in-
- process document.
- ---
-
- # Window clutter
- Window clutter?
-
- OK, now that you have 5 - 10 windows open
- simultaneously, how do you control "window
- clutter"?
-
- 1. You can minimize any of the windows using
- the Windows standard down-arrow button in
- the upper-right corner of the document
- window. A small button will appear on the
- Toolbar (if the Toolbar is visible) which
- will maximize that window when needed.
-
- 2. You can switch to any of the open
- windows using either the Windows menu
- item, or the appropriate Ctrl-Function key.
-
- 3. You can cascade the windows using the
- Windows/Cascade menu item.
-
- 4. You can, of course, close several of
- them.
-
- 5. And finally, you can tell SlipKnot to
- allow only a smaller number of windows
- (in Configure/Preferences).
- ---
-
- # 1.13 features
- Improvements in Version 1.13 and later
-
- General:
-
- SlipKnot will work with with freenets
- and BBS's -- but requires the cooperation
- of a sysop to install (please refer
- your sysops to us, at:
- <pbrooks@micromnind.com>)
-
- SlipKnot Terminal:
-
- - Scrollback buffer
- - separate scrollback buffer colors
- (see Setup/Terminal/Colors)
- - AutoZmodem detection (see the
- Tip below)
-
- SlipKnot Web:
-
- - Get All Links (see Tip below)
- - Save as Text file ( " )
- - Low memory guard ( " )
- ---
-
- # Get All Links
- "Get All Links"
-
- This feature (in version 1.13 and later)
- allows you to ask SlipKnot to get a lot
- of documents at once.
-
- If you get a document that leads you to
- many other documents, press the "Get All
- Links" menu item in the document window,
- and it will show you the links to other
- documents from this page.
-
- You can then select all of those links
- you want SlipKnot to retrieve, and they
- will be put in the Job Queue.
-
- Be sure to read the explanation of this
- feature (press the "Explanation" button)
- when list of links appears.
- ---
-
- # Save as Text file
- Save as Text file
-
- This version 1.13 feature allows you to
- save the document you are viewing as
- a pure text file, without the HTML codes.
-
- You will find it under:
- Page/Save as Text File
- ---
-
- # Low Memory Guard
- Low Memory Guard
-
- SlipKnot allows you to display up to 10
- documents at once. However, this uses up
- a lot of Windows memory (actually, "Windows
- resources"). This is a special type of
- memory, unrelated to the amount of physical
- RAM you have in your computer. Therefore
- you can have 16MB of RAM or more and still
- run out of Windows resources.
-
- Inside Configure/Preferences, there is a new
- setting called "Low Memory Guard". It is
- set, by default, to 10%. Please read the
- explanation (press the "Explain") button
- there for a discussion of how this setting
- prevents memory depletion.
- ---
-
- # AutoZmodem
- AutoZmodem download detection
-
- SlipKnot Terminal:
-
- In version 1.13, SlipKnot Terminal can now
- detect when the UNIX host is starting to send
- a file (or files) using Zmodem. Therefore,
- you can now instruct your UNIX system to
- send files without having to bring up the
- Communications/Get File from Host dialog.
-
- Simply type the Zmodem command at your
- UNIX prompt (e.g. "sz -b george") and your
- UNIX system will then attempt to send you
- that file. At the same time, SlipKnot
- Terminal will detect that a file called "george"
- is coming in, and allow it to download.
-
- You can also use this feature to download
- multiple files from your UNIX system
- (e.g. "sz -b "foo*" will download all files
- starting with "foo").
-
- Which directory will these files go into?
- Use the Setup/File Download Directory to
- specify.
- ---
-
- # 1.40 Features
- Improvements in version 1.40 and later
-
- SlipKnot Terminal:
- 1. "local printing" and other printing
- features.
- 2. visual resign of Terminal bottom to
- make it easier for low-resolution screens
-
- SlipKnot Web:
- 1. "mailto:" is supported
- 2. "authentication" (depends upon lynx 2-4-2+)
- 3. automatic redirection (lynx 2-4-2+)
- 4. background colors & centering
-
-
- # Mailto
- Mail (mailto:)
-
- SlipKnot supports outgoing mail, both in
- SlipKnot Terminal and Web. And it supports
- the "mailto:" HTML tag.
-
- SlipKnot does NOT provide a mail reader.
-
- To use the mail facility, you MUST set up
- the mail parameters first. In SlipKnot
- Terminal, bring up the Setup/Host menu item
- and press the Mail Setup button, and then
- press the Help button for explanations.
- ---
-
- #local printing
- Printing capabilities in Terminal
-
- Terminal supports several printing
- facilities:
-
- 1. "local printing" -- this allows some
- UNIX programs to send some text directly
- to your local printer. For instance,
- the mail reader, Pine, can be told to
- print a mail message directly on your
- printer.
-
- 2. Print screen (under the Edit menu)
-
- 3. Print incoming text (under the Edit menu).
- ---
-
- # 1.50 Improvements
- Terminal Improvements in Version 1.50
-
- 1. Drop-down list of Hosts: If you have
- multiple Hosts that you choose from,
- there is now a drop-down list at the
- bottom of the main Terminal screen,
- allowing you to choose the Host
- without having to go into Setup/Host.
-
- 2. Buttons for Macros: Function Key
- macros have been extended to
- on-screen buttons if desired (see
- Setup/Function Key/Button Macros)
-
- 3. Kermit sped up: if you use the Kermit
- file transfer protocol, version 1.50 has
- sped up downloading (and possibly
- uploading) by about 5 times.
-
- 4. Setup/Communications allows certain
- hidden flow-control parameters to be set
- (like RTS/CTS). Please retain the
- defaults on this screen unless you really
- are having difficulty and are willing to
- experiment.
- ---
-
- # 1.50 Web
- Web improvements in version 1.50
-
- 1. Forms!! SlipKnot can handle fill-in
- forms from most sites with any version
- of lynx or www.
-
- 2. NOTE: there are some sites that require
- special forms processing. For these
- documents, SlipKnot requires lynx
- version 2-4-2 or 2.4-FM or later,
- and will not send the information that
- you type into the forms are unless one of
- these versions of lynx is the one that
- your UNIX host is using. To check the
- version of lynx used, in SlipKnot Terminal,
- view the Setup/Host screen, which will
- show the version of lynx.
-
- 3. Storing documents to floppies: You can
- associate a new SlipKnot folder with an
- already existent directory on your system.
- That means you can make your
- floppy A: drive a SlipKnot folder, and
- copy documents to it. You can then take
- that floppy to another computer and
- if that version of SlipKnot also
- has a folder pointing to its A: drive, you
- can copy the documents from the floppy to
- other folders on the new system.
- ---
-
-