*** Important Information *** =============================================================================== INDEX 1. State of Mountain Software / Pirate Notification 2. Using Mountain Reader II to read Internet (Usenet) messages offline =============================================================================== 1. State of Mountain Software It recently came to my attention that someone has hacked an illegal pirate version of the Mountain Reader II security key. This key currently holds the serial number "01234567", though I suspect this will probably change once the pirates learn that I am aware of that version. Please keep in mind that software piracy hurts everyone, including those who pirate the software in the first place. Software developers like myself will only continue producing software for the ST if it continues to earn an income. And, considering the current state of the Atari market, even a few lost sales mean a big loss to a small developer like myself. So, please do everyone a favor, and pay for the software you use. This includes not only avoiding pirate software, but paying shareware authors the fees they deserve. It takes a long time to develop quality software. Show those that do that you appreciate their hard work... Unfortunately, due to the discovery of this pirate key, the serial number security routines will be changing in a future version. So, this will most likely be the last free update. The next update will include new security routines, and will require an update fee to cover shipping/handling for registered users. It is unclear at this time what that fee will be. Also, registrations by E-mail, while already rare, will no longer be allowed. All registrations must be handled in writing with proper payment. As to the payment procedure, I have been receiving an ever increasing number of bad personal checks in the last few months. As such, I am now delaying all orders paid with a check until the check clears. I regret the inconvenience this may cause, as I have always tried to provide next day shipping. But, I simply cannot afford the losses anymore. If you are in a hurry to receive your product, you can pay with a money order, in which case your product will be shipped the next day. Or, you can purchase the product from your local dealer. If you purchase from a dealer, you may also be able to purchase with a credit card. Finally, there are several exciting products/improvements planned for 1995. The first is a specialized financial manager, that is being written primarily for Mountain Softwares own use. But, I will be releasing it as shareware so that others may be able to use it. Next up will be a long overdue update to The Recipe Box. I recently released a Macintosh version of The Recipe Box, and would like to bring the Atari ST version up to the same level. I also have some rather exciting plans in store for Mountain Reader II. It's too early to detail what those plans are, but they should be good... I would like to thank everyone for their support! Anthony Watson =============================================================================== 2. Using Mountain Reader II to read Internet (Usenet) messages offline With the ever increasing world of the Internet, many users were starting to have problems with Mountain Reader II and the Internet. The primary cause was long messages. The QWK standard specifies that QWK messages "should not" exceed 100 lines in length. Knowing that this could happen, Mountain Reader II was originally designed to handle up to 500 lines. This worked fine for messages from standard sources like FIDO net. But, messages from the internet often exceed this limit, sometimes being thousands of lines long. The new version 2.6 now allows messages to be any length, assuming you have sufficient memory to load them. Version 2.6 will now automatically extract the appropriate internet addresses when you reply to an internet message. Note that this only applies when "replying" and not when adding a new message. You will still need to manually enter the Internet address information when starting a new reply. Also, if you have access to an Internet UNIX shell account, you may be able to use UQWK to download messages for reading with MR2. To accomplish this, your internet provider must have UQWK and ZIP installed. You will also need to subscribe to your desired newsgroups first, using a standard on-line newsreader. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To RETRIEVE Usenet messages, use the following commands: uqwk +n +e -B\8000 -l\58 zip internet.qwk messages.dat control.dat sz internet.qwk rm internet.qwk *.ndx *.dat Note that all names and commands ARE case sensitive. The 8000 number in the first line signifies a packet of 8000 blocks (128 bytes each). This gives a packet size of around 1 Meg in size. You can increase or decrease this number to achieve any packet size you wish to receive. This is the size of the packet BEFORE compression, which usually cuts the size down to less than half the original size. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To SEND Usenet replies, use the following commands: rz unzip internet.rep uqwk +X -R\internet.msg rm internet.rep Note that all names and commands ARE case sensitive. Also, the names "internet.rep" and "internet.msg" will need to be modified to reflect the names used by your provider. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These commands can be entered manually, or you can use a script file in your terminal program to automate the procedure. God Bless! See you on-line... Anthony Watson Mountain Software