The 1.2.1 release is primarily a bug fix for the disappearing cursor problem. I have also made a minor change to better support GroupMail on MSDOS systems.
- Craig
MacWoof 1.2 Release Notes:
=============================
12/3/91 21:30pm
Well, looks like 1.2 is nice and stable. I know there are some little improvements that folks would have like to seen in 1.2 but as they say: "You gotta know when to say when..." This is it for 1.2.
But don't worry, I'll probably start work on 1.3 next weekend or so... It's *my* way of avoiding all those crazy Christmas shoppers!
Note that I have adopted the DocMaker format for distributing the documentation. Another great piece of software that deserves your support!
- Craig
MacWoof 1.2b6 Release Notes:
=============================
12/1/91 17:30pm
*What's New in 1.2b6?*
• FrontDoor fix
• FrontDoor fix
============
Finally found the cause of the on again/off again problems when using MacWoof with FrontDoor 2.02. The actual symptoms were a bit strange. If you attempted a connection with a FrontDoor system and had outgoing mail, everything was fine. However, if you didn't, the FrontDoor system wouldn't send you any waiting mail.
I set up a copy of FrontDoor 2.02 here and after some testing determined that the cause was actually due to a "fix" in MacWoof for a bug in FrontDoor 1.99c! Took that out and everything seems to be fine.
- Craig
MacWoof 1.2b5 Release Notes:
=============================
11/30/91 18:30pm
*What's New in 1.2b5?*
• Mailer fixes
• Compact Message Fixes
• Unattended Session retries
• New Documentation format
• Mailer fixes
===========
Well, the last set of mailer fixes were close, but not quite a banana. The zone info was properly made into word size fields, but I forgot to swap the bytes leading to the zone showing up as 256 instead of 1.
• Compact Message Fixes
=====================
The Compact message function now copies the schedule resource over to your new file.
• Unattended Session retries
========================
If you are running in unattended mode and a scheduled session fails for some reason, MacWoof will now retry the connection.
• New Documentation format
========================
I am including in this archive a copy of the MacWoof manual in DocMaker format. DocMaker is a shareware application by Green Mountain Software that creates stand-alone documentation applications. I am literally writing my check to register my copy this evening! It is $25.00 and well worth it...
Let me know what y'all think of the docs in this format...
- Craig
MacWoof 1.2b4 Release Notes:
=============================
11/23/91 18:30pm
*What's New in 1.2b4?*
• File Attaches
• User defined TEXT file creator type
• Disable deARCing
• Mailer fixes
• File Attaches
============
Just as File Requests are the equivalent in function to downloading from a BBS, File Attaches are the equivalent of uploading. This is how you send files to your boss or some other FidoNet system.
Sending a file is easy. First go to the File Transfer menu and select File Attaches… You will then see a rather wide dialog box that has a list window and four buttons: "Add", "Delete", "Cancel" and "OK". Pressing the "Add" button brings up the usual file selection box. Find the file you want to send and click the "Open" button.
Now you will see that the file, along with its complete path name, is displayed in the list window of the Files to send… dialog. (Now you see why it's so w-i-d-e!) You can add additional files or use the "Delete" button to remove one or more files from the list.
When you are finished, press the "Done" button. MacWoof will store the list of files in a file with a ".CLO" extension in the same folder as your messages file. The next time you call your boss, MacWoof read the ".CLO" file and transfer the specified file or files to the boss.
NOTE: There are a few cautions in order. First, as MacWoof records the path to the file(s) you want to send, don't move them *after* you have listed them but before you connect to your boss or else they won't get sent! Second, there is a limit of 255 character imposed by the Mac OS on path names (including the file name). This shouldn't be a problem unless a file is deeply embedded in folders with long names. If that is the case, either move the file to a higher level on the disk drive or, if you are using System 7, move it to the desktop. In either case, delete the old entry for the file and use the "Add" button to select the file in its new location.
MacBinary & File Attaches - After asking for input from the MacWoof user community and checking out the behaviour of other telecomm programs, I came to make the following decision as to when MacBinary should be used. Normally, MacBinary will be used on every file except those whose type signatures are "TEXT" or "GIFf". MacWoof will send the data fork of Text and Gif files unaltered in anyway. This means it won't add linefeeds to Text files. The other mode of operation is to MacBinary *everything* preserving data and resource forks along with the original file name and type and creator information.
To enable MacBinary for all file transfers, go to the Preferences submenu and click "on" the "Always use MacBinary" checkbox.
• Disable deARCing
================
You can also now set a Preference item to have MacWoof *NOT* attempt to deARC incoming mail bundles. Simply click the "Disable deARCing" checkbox. This is only useful if you want to process the compressed mail files manually. An example would be where your boss uses ZipMail and you would then use unZip to decompress the files and use the Import Msgs… file item to get the decompressed .pkt files into MacWoof.
• User defined TEXT file creator type
================================
Another change to the Preference menu allows you to set the Creator type for most of the "TEXT" files that MacWoof creates. (IE: Saved messages, Session Log, etc.) Simply enter the 4 character Creator ID into the edit text field in the Preferences dialog. If you enter more than 4 characters, it will use only the first 4. If you enter less than 4, it will blank pad it to 4.
• Mailer fixes
===========
Version 1.1 introduced a bug that has been causing problems with certain FidoNet mailers and routers. This was the cause of the so-called "Zone 257" bug. It has now been corrected. A future version of MacWoof will add full 5D addressing capability.
Another mailer fix was to no longer set the "Crash" bit in outgoing messages as this created problems for other FidoNet routers.
MacWoof 1.2b3 Release Notes:
=============================
11/18/91
Well, I had hoped to have file attaches working by this beta but... Between various crashes, power outages, etc. coupled with a bad cold, things have progressed slower than desired. Thanks to a new MacWoof user, I have found a few nasty things to clear up that I want to get out there ASAP. So no major feature changes, just some good old fashioned bug squashes...
- Craig
MacWoof 1.2b2 Release Notes:
=============================
11/09/91
Ok, small incremental change from 1.2b1. Most important change was to have the Session Log automatically append each new session's info onto the end of an existing log file instead of replacing it. Also, there is now some additional information about the file transfers recorded in the Session Log including the CPS for the transfer and the approximate efficiency. Note that any measurements like this are tempered by the fact that they can only be measured to the nearest 60th of a second and for short transfers this can cause the efficiency to be reported misleadingly low.
File attaches are technically speaking, right around the corner. The question of what to do about naming and when to MacBinary files and not still needs to be resolved. So let me know what you think about those issues and 1.2b2 in general in the MacWoof echo.
- Craig
MacWoof 1.2b1 Release Notes:
=============================
11/07/91
Gee, doesn't seem like long at all since I was releasing 1.1 "Final". Well work proceeds apace on 1.2 and this is the initial fruit of that effort. The primary change from 1.1 is the addition of a "Schedule Calls…" item to the Files menu.
This feature allows you to create a weekly schedule of when MacWoof should automatically attempt to connect to your boss. You can schedule calls to occur at the same time every day or at different times on different days. You can add or remove calls from the schedule at any point in time. Currently, you are limited to 50 schedule items which shouldn't really crimp anyone's style too much.
Operation is real simple. Set up your calling events and then just be sure to leave your Mac on during the times you have set it up to call. You can even make it real automatic by using some sort of timer power on your Mac and have MacWoof (or an alias) in your Startup folder under System 7.0 or as your startup application under 6.0.x.
The code is setup so that if you do nothing for 45 seconds (ie: mouse click or key press) it starts looking to see if there are any calls scheduled for then. If none are pending, it goes back to "sleep" for another 45 seconds and checks again. (The call schedule has a 1 minute resolution so by checking every 45 secs. we can't miss any scheduled times.) If a scheduled call is found, it automatically does a "Connect to Boss" and goes from there. If you are working and an event time passes by, it won't call at that time but will wait instead for the next scheduled call.
What's that? Multiple boss support? Sorry, probably won't happen in 1.2 as there are some logistical problems. But there is a work around… Put a copy of the MacWoof application in the folder with your message file for a particular boss. Then launch each of the copies of MacWoof for the different bosses. Note that you will need to stagger your calling schedule so that two copies aren't trying to call at the same time. (One of them will lose!)
There are still some refinements to be made, but the testing looks good so far. I also hope to put File Attaches into 1.2 prior to release but there are some non-technical issues to be resolved first. See the MacWoof echo for a discussion of these.
