D          I          C           S
ial-up     nternet    onnection   ervices

Version 1.0 of DICS was released December 1993;
Version 4.3 of DICS was released October 16th 1994;

See DICSHIST.TXT for full Version History

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

DICS: Overview - What?, Why?, How?, Where?, How Much!
=====================================================

What?
~~~~~

DICS is a Winsock 1.1 compliant application which will send/receive News
and Mail on a BATCH basis. It will also set your PC Clock.

A Major feature, as from version 4.1, is DICS's ability to act as a Mail
gateway between an MSmail/MAPI system AND the SMTP delivery Mechanism.

DICS is made up of the following "Integrated" components.

TimeClient      : To set your Clock; connects to a time service server
NNTPClient      : To receive NEWS using NNTP
SMTPClient      : To send MAIL using SMTP
SMTPServer      : To receive MAIL; onwardly forward or mailbox
MAPIGateway     : Integrates with the SMTPClient And SMTPServer components
                  as bi-directional gateway SMTP<->MAPI

Why?
~~~~

DICS was originally designed as a replacement to using KA9Q for the transport
of NEWS/MAIL - DICS is specifically for the Windows 3.1+/Winsock environment,
KA9Q is a DOS program.

The basic features that DICS offers tend to be more appropriate to sites that
have dial-up access to the internet.  These sites usually want to log onto
the internet, download/upload news/mail on a BATCH basis and then log off
again.  Using SMTP/NNTP transport mechanisms is one way of achieving this.

DICS is not just restricted to dial-up sites, however. Anybody in need of
SMTP/NNTP transport mechanisms in the Windows/PC Lan environement can use DICS.
This is especially true since the inclusion of the MAPI/SMTP gateway function.
DICS can now sit on a LAN and silently move Mail from one system to the other
and back again.

How?
~~~~

MAIL and NEWS is "Moved" by DICS using SMTP and NNTP protocols respectively.
DICS is NOT a Mail OR News Reader - it is a transport provider.  However, DICS
has been designed to work alongside existing off-line programs for the reading
of news and mail, specifically SNEWS and PCELM and the windows derivitives
thereof.

DICS can be set to "poll" its various client functions on an interval basis.
For Example: It can be configured to check for, and download, NEWNEWS every
10 minutes - this can happen in the background - even at the same time that
you are uploading mail to a mail server for example.

Where?  (Can I get DICS from?)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DICS is shareware, that does NOT mean that it is free.  You may download
DICS and try it for 30 days to see if it fits your requirements - if it
does then you MUST register the product so that you may carry on using it
after the 30 day evaluation period has ended

DICS can be downloaded from TWO sources, DEMON on the Internet or directly
from our companies Opus BBS Machine - SEE BELOW.

DEMON:- Dics is available from ftp.demon.co.uk and is in the following
directory:

/pub/ibmpc/winsock/apps/dics

OEMBBS:- It can also be DOWNLOADED from the companies Opus BBS Machine.
To do this dial 01788 570217 (UK) and you will be greeted with a BinkleyTerm
Frontend. *Don't Panic* just hit return a couple of times followed by ESC.
After the opening banner enter your name and make up a password.  Move
to the File area by hitting 'F'.  Select 'D' for download, select your
protocol and enter the Filename that you wish to Download. After you have
received the file enter 'G' for Goodbye. (MAX SPEED V32bis or HST 14.4
approx 1600 bytes per second)

How Much!
~~~~~~~~~

As from 1st October 1994, DICS is officially Shareware  - Registrations are
to contribute towards the further cost of product development.

DICS was originally created for sheer pleasure; The company has been very
generous in funding development alone upto this point.  However from now on
development costs must also be supported by you the user in the form of
shareware registrations.

Therefore, if you use DICS regularily I plead, urge, beg you to be generous and
register for DICS - You won't get anything apart from what you've got already
(and peace of mind) - but you will be registering your approval of the program
and ensure continued rapid development of the package.

The MINIMUM Registration cost for any version of DICS upto and including
Version 4.1 is as follows but please be generous:

œ19.95 (UKP) for an individual machine

For multi-machine business customers:

œ99.95 (UKP) for a site license

The site license includes for the use of the *NEW* MAPI (Microsoft Mail)
gateway functions built in to 4.1 - Please see other postings in the
newsgroup.

Prices INCLUDE VAT - Vat receipts will be issued on request.

Payment can be made by Cheque, Postal Order, Visa and Access. Cheques and
PO's should be made payable to OEM Computer Systems and sent to:

OEM Computer Systems
11 Regent Street
Rugby
Warwickshire
CV21 2PE

Visa and MasterCard are also accepted; Credit Card Orders may be placed
as follows:

By fax to:      01788 546919
By telephone:   01788 570522
By email:       orders@oemcomp.demon.co.uk   OR  orders@oemcomp.com

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

DICS: Installation Instructions
===============================

When setting up DICS it is best to start with a KA9Q type of directory
structure - Demon users will have this structure already - for those who
are not demon users and are not familar with KA9Q, the structure is as
follows:

(if you are a DEMON user you can skip to the next section: Files)
                                                           ~~~~~
C:\DEMON\
C:\DEMON\SPOOL
C:\DEMON\SPOOL\MQUEUE                 ;Outwards Mail Queue Directory
C:\DEMON\SPOOL\MAIL                   ;Inwards Mail & Mail Control Directory
C:\DEMON\SPOOL\NEWS                   ;News Control Directory
C:\DEMON\SPOOL\ARTICLES               ;The directory where NEWS is received


The C:\DEMON part can be anything - it is not important; C:\FRED is fine.
HOWEVER, for ease of installation, it is recommended that C:\DEMON is used as
the tree root, unless you know what you are doing, as all the defaults
assume it to be C:\DEMON.

There are various KA9Q type control files which lurk around this structure,
they are as follows:

C:\DEMON\DEMON.BAT              ;Demon Menu File (Don't worry If not Present)
C:\DEMON\AUTOEXEC.NET           ;KA9Q File (Don't worry if not present)
C:\DEMON\ALIAS                  ;A file that will expand mail aliases. I.E.
                                ;if post sent to all@yourco.com the alias
                                ;file can be used to expand this to individual
                                ;named recipients.
                                ;
                                ;THIS FILE SHOULD BE PRESENT - MUST BE PRESENT
                                ;FOR MAPI GATEWAY.
                                ;
                                ;A sample is as follows:

---cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here---

mgibbons mgibbons Mark_Gibbons@mapi
cgibbons cgibbons Caroline_Gibbons@mapi
postmaster mgibbons
default deliver

---cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here---

                                ;A further explanation of the ALIAS file is
                                ;given in the MAPI gateway section.


C:\DEMON\SPOOL\MQUEUE\SEQUENCE  ;Holds the NEXT message number for outgoing
                                ;mail - usually about 5 bytes long - a number
                                ;like 456 and <CR><LF>. SHOULD BE PRESENT -
                                ;USED BY MAPI GATEWAY AND SMTP MAIL FORWARDING

C:\DEMON\SPOOL\MAIL\[name].TXT  ;This is where your incoming mail will be put.
                                ;If you select multiple mailboxes (the default)
                                ;you will find the mail for the appropriate
                                ;handle in a file of the same name with the
                                ;".TXT" extension.
                                ;
                                ;I.E. Mail for joe@yourmachine.com would end
                                ;up in a file "JOE.TXT"
                                ;
                                ;Log Files (if option switched on) also appear
                                ;in this directory.
                                ;
                                ;SMTPINW.LOG for the SMTP Server
                                ;SMTPOUT.LOG for the SMTP Client

C:\DEMON\SPOOL\NEWS\NNTP.DAT    ;This specifies the newsgroups which should
                                ;be downloaded from your chosen newsserver.
                                ;This file is updated with the last time you
                                ;connected with the newsserver so that DICS
                                ;can issue and appropriate NEWNEWS request
                                ;the next time. THIS FILE MUST BE PRSENT FOR
                                ;THE NNTP CLIENT TO WORK.
                                ;
                                ;An example of the contents and format of
                                ;this file is as follows:

---cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here---

news.demon.co.uk 941015 131410

 alt.lang.basic
 alt.winsock
 comp.lang.basic.visual
 comp.os.ms-windows.nt.misc
 comp.os.ms-windows.nt.setup
 comp.protocols.ppp
 comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.announce
 comp.windows.ms.programmer
 demon.announce
 demon.ip.developers
 demon.ip.discoveries
 demon.ip.support
 demon.ip.support.pc
 demon.ip.support.pc.announce
 demon.ip.support.winsock
 demon.ip.winsock
 demon.ip.winsock.dics
 demon.sales
 demon.sales.d
 demon.test

---cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here---

C:\DEMON\SPOOL\NEWS\KILL        ;A file which is used to "match" against
                                ;incoming Article header lines - if the
                                ;header line is matched then the article
                                ;is either definately fetched or killed
                                ;dependent on the syntax of the line.
                                ;
                                ;THIS FILE IS OPTIONAL
                                ;
                                ;Exact format of this file is described in
                                ;the file DISPC.TXT available on
                                ;ftp.demon.co.uk. A sample is as follows:

---cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here---

Lines: *[0-9][0-9][0-9]*
Newsgroups: *rec.pets*
!Newsgroups: *rec.pets.gerbils*

---cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here---

                                ;The example above will KILL:
                                ;-- all articles greater than 99 lines
                                ;-- all articles in groups spanning from
                                ;    *rec.pets*
                                ;BUT KEEP articles specifically in:
                                ;   *rec.pets.gerbils*

C:\DEMON\SPOOL\NEWS\GET         ;A list of article Ids which will be
                                ;unconditionally retrieved at the start of
                                ;the next news session.
                                ;
                                ;THIS FILE IS OPTIONAL
                                ;
                                ;A sample is as follows:

---cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here---
<233390014wnr@parsley.demon.co.uk>
<35454snz@oemcomp.demon.co.uk>
---cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here---

                                ;Usually you build this file AFTER you have
                                ;read the header from the original download
                                ;whn the article had been KILLED.

C:\DEMON\SPOOL\ARTICLES\BATCH.TXT
                                ;This file holds all incoming news articles.
                                ;After arrival this file needs to be Unbatched
                                ;for use with existing offline mail readers
                                ;such as SNEWS (DOS) or NEWSWIN (WINDOWS). Both
                                ;these packages are available on
                                ;ftp.demon.co.uk


Suggested Reading:

DISPC.TXT textfile available of ftp.demon.co.uk
KA9Q Documentation files (as above)

Both files are available in the DIS????.EXE archive on ftp.demon.co.uk


Files
~~~~~

Extract the files from the distribution ZIP file into a new subdirectory.
Some files then need to be moved as follows:

The files:

DICS.EXE
DICS.HLP
DICS.TXT
DICSHIST.TXT
READDICS.1ST

Can be placed anywhere, preferably in a new subdirectory.

The files:

MAIL.WAV
NEWS.WAV
DICS.ICO
MAILONLY.ICO
NEWSONLY.ICO
MAILNEWS.ICO

MUST be placed in the default working directory. I.E. Where DICS.INI is
created/found. The WAV files may be moved but the their fully qulified
paths must be amended in the setup section of NEWS and MAIL.

The files:

MCI.VBX
MSMAPI.VBX
THREED.VBX
WSANET.VBX
WSANET.HLP
VBCTL3D.VBX
CMDIALOG.VBX
DICSDLL.DLL
VBDB300.DLL
VBRUN300.DLL
MSAFINX.DLL
MSABC110.DLL
MSAES110.DLL
MSAJT110.DLL

MUST all be copied into your WINDOWS\SYSTEM subdirectory
----                         --------------

The files:

HISTORY.MDB
HISTORY.LDB

MUST all be copied into your DEMON\SPOOL\NEWS subdirectory
----                         ----------------

The file:

DICSUBAT.BAT

Should be placed in your demon subdirectory.

Icons
~~~~~

To create DICS icon:

Run windows and:

1       Click on the program group where you wish to add DICS to.

2       Select NEW from the File menu of program manager.

3       Select new ITEM

4       Use Browse to Navigate to wherever you have put
        DICS.EXE on your system.  Otherwise enter the
        full path of the DICS.EXE file in the Command box

5       Select OK

6       You should now have an Icon with Dics underneath


If you are a DEMON/SNEWS user you should also create an Icon to call
DICSUBAT - This is a batch file which will UNBATCH your downloaded news
into the indexed SNEWS file structures.


To create DICSUBAT icon:

1       Select NEW from the File menu of program manager.

2       Select new ITEM

3       Use Browse to Navigate to wherever you have put
        DICSUBAT.BAT on your system.  Otherwise enter the
        full path of the DICSUBAT.BAT file in the Command box

4       Select OK

5       You should now have an Icon with Dicsubat underneath


PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU EDIT DICSUBAT.BAT FOR YOUR CORRECT SETTINGS!!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

DICS: Configuration Instructions
================================

Winsock HOSTS File
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So that you can Enter/Exit DICS freely when you are OFF-LINE (To make
Configuration changes for instance) and to speed up DNS resolutions On-Line
you MUST put entries in your Winsock HOSTS file for the following:

Your Machine
The machine that will serve you the time
The machine that will serve you news
The machine that will serve and receive from you mail

For example:  (This is factual data for Demon users as 01/11/94)

158.152.20.112  oemcomp.demon.co.uk          <- Your Machine of course!!
158.152.1.65    gate.demon.co.uk
158.152.254.254 news.demon.co.uk
158.152.1.72    post.demon.co.uk
158.152.1.73    punt.demon.co.uk

If you do not specify all the above entries in the HOSTS file it is possible
that you will encounter WSAEINPROGRESS errors.  You should also make sure
that you "Force All Mail to Gateway" in the DICS Mail Clinet Setup Section.


Running DICS For The First Time - Using Setup
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IT IS SUGGESTED - TO SAVE YOUR PHONE BILLS - THAT YOU RUN DICS FOR
THE FIRST TIME OFFLINE - MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AMENDED YOUR HOSTS FILE
AS ABOVE OR YOUR MACHINE WILL POSSIBLY LOCKUP.

The first time you run DICS it will look for a configuration file
which it won't find! DICS will inform you of this and ask how you
wish to go about configuration.

If you currently use KA9Q it is possible for DICS to pick up most of
the information it needs by looking at the KA9Q files. To do this enter
the existing path of your KA9Q autoexec.net file. It will suggest to you
that the correct answer is "C:\DEMON\".  If this is not correct then alter
the answer to point to your basic KA9Q or DEMON directory.  DICS will then
interrogate your KA9Q files (and DEMON.BAT if present) for the information
it needs and then will display these settings on the Setup screen.

If you DON'T use KA9Q just click the Cancel button and DICS will take
you straight to the setup screens where you can change the defaults.

Whether DICS has got its configuration automatically or not, take time to
check the settings carefully for each sub option - i.e. Mail server,
News Client, Time Client,  Mail Client and Mapi Gateway.

Click on the SAVE button and your DICS configuration will be saved to
disk.

IT IS SUGGESTED THAT YOU THEN EXIT DICS BY CLICKING THE CLOSE BUTTON -
IT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA TO CLICK ON EITHER OF THE TWO "KICK" BUTTONS WHILST
YOU ARE OFFLINE - THIS COULD HANG YOUR SYSTEM!


Running DICS For The Second and Subsequent Time(s)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click the DICS Icon - This will invoke your Winsock automatically.  If you
are a dial-up site and you have a more recent beta version of the Trumpet
Winsock and you have it configured for dial on demand, then it should dial
and connect you with the Internet automatically

If NEWS,MAIL and TIME have been set to auto-kick (a Value greater than 0)
then you should start to see things happen on the screen!

At anytime you may manually kick any of the Service Clients by clicking the
appropriate button. (Assuming they are not already engaged)

After you have finished your DICS session, click the Close command button to
exit DICS.  Run DICSUBAT by clicking its icon. News should be unbatched and
SNEWS started.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

DICS: The MAPI Gateway and Setting It Up
========================================

Overview
~~~~~~~~

DICS provides a low cost solution for moving mail between SMTP based and MAPI
based systems.  It provides a Gateway function.

Microsoft charge $3000 for their SMTP gateway! Its a DOS program and has to
run on a seperate machine WITH a seperate Unix SmartHost!!!!! Ok its fully
functional and integrates fairly seamlessly but it is expensive and overkill
for most people.  You also require MSMail 3.2!

The DICS approach is for people with bog standard WfWg Mail and is quite
simplistic - but it works well and will solve 99% of what people need.


Common Errors
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The most common error that we answer questions about is that mail has
been sent out the gateway from "someone@yourco.com".  The "someone" prefix
is used if DICS cannot ascertain who the mail has come from on the MAPI
system.  This is usually because the ALIAS file has not been set up correctly
or not at all.

PLEASE KEEP RE-READING ALL THE INSTALLTION DOCUMENTATION UNTIL YOU FULLY
UNDERSTAND IT AND HAVE COMPLIED WITH ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS.


Step By Step Configuration
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Basic Directory structure

You should mimick the following directory structure (as described in the
installation section above)

C:\DEMON\
C:\DEMON\SPOOL
C:\DEMON\SPOOL\MQUEUE
C:\DEMON\SPOOL\MAIL
C:\DEMON\SPOOL\NEWS
C:\DEMON\SPOOL\ARTICLES

- In the MQUEUE directory you should have a file called SEQUENCE.SEQ with
  one text line giving a sequence number like "100" (no quotes in file).

- In the DEMON directory you should have an ALIAS file as described later
  in this section.

- The MQUEUE directory is important.  When DICS speaks to MAPI and gets
  messages it writes them into the MQUEUE directory.  The SMTP client
  then re-reads them from that Dir and sends them out to your defined
  mail exchange.

MSmail Account Setup

- Logon to your PostOffice using your post office manager account
- Setup a new account with the NAME "Internet Relay" and MAILBOX of "Internet"
- You do not enter the "" Quote marks obviously!
- LogOut as manager and log back on as "internet"
- Change the 'Check Mail every' setting in mail options to 1 or 2 minutes
- Check that the Server option specifies the PostOffice and not a local file

DICS Account Setup - ALIAS File

- If you have moved over from KA9Q you will already have an alias file in
  the same directory as Autoexec.net - if not create one in your BASE
  subdirectory
- You should put entries in the Alias file for ALL possible recipients of
  mail on the MAPI system i.e. all local PostOffice MAPI users.  If you
  know a person will not send or receive gatewayed mail then you do not
  need to include them. The file should look like this example :

  (be aware that @mapi is a reserved domain as far as DICS is concerned)

  sjones Stuart_Jones@mapi
  phughes Paul_Hughes@mapi
  lwilson Linda_Wilson@mapi

  (The underscore should be a straight replacement for any space Chars in
  the NAME of the MAPI recipient)

  Using the above ALIAS file, any mail comming in from SMTP addressed to

        phughes@example.demon.co.uk

  would be forwarded to the "Paul Hughes" on the WfWg system

  You can also have multiple recipients of the same message by ALIASing
  as follows:

  all Stuart_Jones@mapi Paul_Hughes@mapi Linda_Wilson@mapi

  which would send SMTP mail addressed to all@example.demon.co.uk to each
  of the recipients listed.

  IMPORTANT: Make sure that any Multiple Recipient Aliases come after the
  lines for individual users.

  You can also send one copy of an incoming message to your standard PC-ELM
  textual mailbox and one copy to your account on MSMail.  This is how we
  have ours setup at the moment:

  mcox mcox Matthew_Cox@mapi
  mgibbons mgibbons 
  cgibbons cgibbons Caroline_Gibbons@mapi
  ....
  ....
  msuffield msuffield Michael_Suffield@mapi
  postmaster mgibbons Mark_Gibbons@mapi msuffield Michael_Suffield@mapi
  default deliver

- After you have setup your ALIAS file start DICS
- Select Setup then MAPI Setup
- Enter the MAILBOX of the Internet account that you set up earlier "Internet"
- Enter the Password that you set up at the time
- You can now select to what degree you want Mail Headers transferred accross
  to the MAPI system. ALL will, believe it or not, transfer all headers so you
  will see all the receive lines etc in your MS Mail window

  We would suggest a level of BASIC

  All header lines tranferred are ">" quoted automatically so that there is no
  chance of header corruption/misinterpretation IF the post is replied to. This
  is because MSMail has no mechanism to strip these headers on reply.

  When an MSmail REPLY is received by DICS the MSINTERNAL headers are striped
  and NEW header info is added by the Gateway.
- Lastly Enable the Gateway function
- Save DICS Settings
- Exit DICS
- Re-Start DICS - The Gateway is now operational

Sending Outbound Mail from MSMail/MAPI
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For Mail that you wish to send through the gateway you must do the following:

Set The MSMail "To:" field to "Internet Relay" either by selecting it from the
address list or entering it manually

You may use the "Cc:" field for internal MSMail recipients only.

Set the "Subject:" field to the subject that you desire AND ADD ON THE END THE
EXTERNAL RECIPIENTS as the following example:

------------------------------------------------------------------
To:       Internet Relay
Cc:
Subject:  An example of sending mail <mgibbons@oemcomp.com>
------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello this is a message
------------------------------------------------------------------

It's as easy as that!!  If you have multiple recipients, seperate them with a
SPACE but keep them all within the "<>" brackets such as:

Subject:  Another Example <mgibbons@oemcomp.com fred@example.demon.co.uk>


Replying to Inbound Mail that will return through the Gateway
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mail that is forwarded to you through the gateway will already have the
reply-to address at the end of the Subject line.

You therefore have to do NOTHING but hit the reply button, edit your
message and hit send.

Don't worry about the header info MSmail applies when you hit the reply
button - it will all be removed at the gateway.






End of DICS.TXT


