• Re: test multiple qwk up

    From August Abolins@1:153/757.2 to Marceline Jones on Sun Mar 7 07:36:00 2021
    Hi Marceline,
    In a message to Mauro Veiga you wrote:

    Only one QWK packet can be open for reading at any time, therefore I
    can only see a part of a thread at any time (depending on which QWK
    packet I have open). By keeping the REP packets in sync whith their corresponding QWK packets, locating and viewing the original messages
    is easier.

    Sounds like something like Sempoint (which I am using to demonstrate now) or Durango, would be your solution. Sempoint saves all QWK messages for each echo in squish format.

    I posted a modest video from screen-capture (my first ever!) on what Sempoint looks like here:

    https://kolico.ca/fidonet/echos/files/sempoint.avi ,or
    https://kolico.ca/fidonet/echos/files/sempoint.zip

    For example I archive all my QWK downloads (eg. VERT0001.QWK,
    VERT002.QWK etc). I also archive all my REP packets (eg.
    VERT0001.REP, VERT0002.REP etc). So if I am viewing "VERT0002.REP", I
    know the originating messages must be in "VERT0002.QWK" and vice
    versa.

    Yep. Totally nuts. I encountered the same issue with following a thread or needing to refer to an earlier message. That's the reason I switched to Sempoint.

    Today, I find that even a better solution is to use something like OpenXP. See screenshots here:

    https://openxp.kolico.ca

    Even an NNTP solution and a reader of your choice to match your OS platform is a good option.

    When uploading REP packets to Synchronet, I have to do it one file at
    a time. I see no reason why it cannot be done by batch upload.

    QWK was designed to speedup online use. That is [1] visit BBS [2] read NEW messages [3] reply to NEW messages. [4] Repeat 1-2-3 at next visit.

    QWK is for people who do not want to refer to older messages.

    ..Regards,
    Ogg

    * SeM. 2.26 * Everybody remember where we parked. -- Kirk
    --- SBBSecho 3.13-Linux
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757.2)
  • From Mauro Veiga@4:801/194 to AUGUST ABOLINS on Sun Mar 7 12:23:00 2021
    Quoting August Abolins to Marceline Jones <=-

    QWK was designed to speedup online use. That is [1] visit BBS [2] read
    NEW messages [3] reply to NEW messages. [4] Repeat 1-2-3 at next
    visit.
    QWK is for people who do not want to refer to older messages.

    Not here. :-)
    QWK is the best way to store and backup old messages. I have QWK /
    BW packages from dead 90's systems that I like so much to read. It
    would be impossible to rescue them today.



    []'s
    ³
    ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ Mauro R. Veiga Ä abutre.no-ip.org:2323 ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ * ÄÄÄÄÄÄ
    ³

    MeSSaGe SiTTeR 1.00 - Full Version
    Live Long and Prosper

    ... "Captain, I protest! I am NOT a merry man!" - Worf
    ___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30
    --- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
    * Origin: Ninho do Abutre 2 - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil * (4:801/194)
  • From Mauro Veiga@4:801/194.1 to August Abolins on Sun Mar 7 17:34:00 2021
    Ola August!

    ** 07.03.21 - 10:56, August Abolins wrote to Mauro Veiga:

    QWK was designed to speedup online use. ... QWK is for
    people who do not want to refer to older messages.

    Not here. :-) QWK is the best way to store and backup
    old messages. I have QWK /BW packages from dead 90's
    systems that I like so much to read. It would be
    impossible to rescue them today.

    I commend you for maintaining a scheduled routine (your 30-day
    rule) and being organized.

    Thanks. :-)

    But why not just "toss" all those messages into something like
    Squish format and use something like Sempoint (which handles
    both QWK and BW in the same program automatically!) to read them
    whenever you want? No more repeat unpacking and searching
    required. ;)

    Seems a good way but i don't know Sempoint. Need to test and understand. Thanks for tip.

    Has many ways to store messages. I use BlueWave (and a long retention
    on my system) because i like so much BlueWave visual, style and tools.
    A NNTP server also is a good store option.

    []'s
    |
    ---------------- telnet://abutre.no-ip.org:2323 ----------- * ------
    |


    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: Point da Coruja - Brasil * (4:801/194.1)
  • From Mauro Veiga@4:801/194 to AUGUST ABOLINS on Mon Mar 8 11:41:00 2021
    Quoting August Abolins to Mauro Veiga <=-

    Has many ways to store messages. I use BlueWave (and a long
    retention on my system) because i like so much BlueWave
    visual, style and tools. A NNTP server also is a good store
    option.

    I think you would like Sempoint if Windows is a suitable
    environment. Its Squish system can handle upto 5000 msgs per
    echo. You could delete the messages that are clearly taking up
    space and have more for the ones that are keepers. AND.. you
    could just as easily rename or archive the .SQL, SQD, .SQI files
    as a group on a regular basis - and that wouldn't need to be
    every 30 days, but maybe every 180 days.

    As soon as I have time I'll test it. But the limit of 5000 messages
    per area is boring. It forces me to the same work that I already
    have with QWK to create several files, only bigger. I'll try.

    Thanks for tips.



    ... "Don't underestimate the POWER of the Blue Wave" - Darth Vader
    ___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30
    --- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
    * Origin: Ninho do Abutre 2 - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil * (4:801/194)
  • From August Abolins@1:153/757.21 to Mauro Veiga on Mon Mar 8 10:18:00 2021
    Hello Mauro!

    ** On Monday 08.03.21 - 11:41, you wrote to me:

    could just as easily rename or archive the .SQL, SQD, .SQI
    files as a group on a regular basis - and that wouldn't
    need to be every 30 days, but maybe every 180 days.

    As soon as I have time I'll test it. But the limit of
    5000 messages per area is boring. It forces me to the
    same work that I already have with QWK to create
    several files, only bigger. I'll try.

    Ya.. but the 5000 "limit" is a whole lot more than any one QWK
    could ever carry, and you wouldn't need to unpack as many files
    to do your searches.

    You could store the AREANAME.SQL/SQD/SQI triplets as AREANAME-
    yyyy.zip or something, and with a little batch program unpack
    them as required. Sempoint has a fine built-in Search feature.

    Sempoint allows changing the font, build an address book, steal
    tearlines... and many other OLR features.

    Since Sempoint supports BW and QWK, it could be a pretty good
    solution to consolidate and preserve all your message bases with
    one management program.


    --
    ../|ug

    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: The ONLY point that matters --> . <-- (1:153/757.21)
  • From Mauro Veiga@4:801/194 to AUGUST ABOLINS on Mon Mar 8 18:11:00 2021
    Quoting August Abolins to Mauro Veiga <=-

    As soon as I have time I'll test it. But the limit of
    5000 messages per area is boring. It forces me to the
    same work that I already have with QWK to create
    several files, only bigger. I'll try.

    Ya.. but the 5000 "limit" is a whole lot more than any one QWK
    could ever carry, and you wouldn't need to unpack as many files
    to do your searches.

    Nope. :-)
    By curiosity before writing this reply, I set my system's QWK
    message pointers for the year 2001 in all areas and downloaded a
    monster package of 28MB as 100000 messages. Some areas with more
    than 20000 messages, and worked fine on BlueWave and Multimail.

    It is not practical. Any search takes too long. But it shows that
    the QWK/BW system has the ability to handle with bigger data.

    You could store the AREANAME.SQL/SQD/SQI triplets as AREANAME-
    yyyy.zip or something, and with a little batch program unpack
    them as required. Sempoint has a fine built-in Search feature.

    Sempoint allows changing the font, build an address book, steal tearlines... and many other OLR features.

    Since Sempoint supports BW and QWK, it could be a pretty good
    solution to consolidate and preserve all your message bases with
    one management program.

    I'll test.



    ... "Don't underestimate the POWER of the Blue Wave" - Darth Vader
    ___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30
    --- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
    * Origin: Ninho do Abutre 2 - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil * (4:801/194)
  • From Mauro Veiga@4:801/194 to AUGUST ABOLINS on Tue Mar 9 17:33:00 2021
    Quoting August Abolins to Mauro Veiga <=-

    Nope. :-) By curiosity before writing this reply, I
    set my system's QWK message pointers for the year 2001
    in all areas and downloaded a monster package of 28MB
    as 100000 messages. Some areas with more than 20000
    messages, and worked fine on BlueWave and Multimail.

    I stand corrected. QWK and BW's apparent unlimited capacity
    seems to be pretty good then.

    As I mentioned, it doesn't good with too big files. But works.

    You could probably even just leave everything in those formats
    and just use something like winrar to S)earch within the files
    within the archives. I find winrar's ability to do that very
    handy at times.

    I hadn't thought of using Winrar. I took a test but found only a
    few words, many fails. But a tool to search text in compacted files
    is a good idea.

    Multimail has a good search tool for text in multiples packets. The
    unique feature that I miss in Bluewave.

    It is not practical. Any search takes too long. But
    it shows that the QWK/BW system has the ability to
    handle with bigger data.

    Sempoint, for example, would provide a nicer presentation for
    that whole lookup proceedure. When you find the message you
    need, you are ready to steal the tagline, compose a reply, save/
    print the message, copy it to another area, etc.

    I'll test Sempoint in laptop.



    ... Futile, resistance is. --Yoda of Borg.
    ___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30
    --- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
    * Origin: Ninho do Abutre 2 - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil * (4:801/194)
  • From Marceline Jones@1:103/705 to AUGUST ABOLINS on Sun Mar 14 16:51:00 2021
    Sounds like something like Sempoint (which I am using to demonstrate
    now) or Durango, would be your solution. Sempoint saves all QWK
    messages for each echo in squish format.

    I posted a modest video from screen-capture (my first ever!) on what Sempoint looks like here:

    https://kolico.ca/fidonet/echos/files/sempoint.avi ,or https://kolico.ca/fidonet/echos/files/sempoint.zip

    Those links are dead.

    Maybe you should have uploaded to YouTube.

    Yep. Totally nuts. I encountered the same issue with following a
    thread or needing to refer to an earlier message. That's the reason I switched to Sempoint.

    Is there a QWK and REP file merge tool ?

    Today, I find that even a better solution is to use something like
    OpenXP. See screenshots here:

    The OpenXP documentation is in German. Therefore it is totally useless to me.

    Even an NNTP solution and a reader of your choice to match your OS platform is a good option.

    NNTP is getting too far from BBS's for me.

    If I wanted SMTP/POP/NNTP then I would use Linux.

    ___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
    --- SBBSecho 3.13-Linux
    * Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)
  • From August Abolins@1:153/757.21 to Marceline Jones on Sun Mar 14 08:47:00 2021
    Hello Marceline!

    https://kolico.ca/fidonet/echos/files/sempoint.avi ,or
    https://kolico.ca/fidonet/echos/files/sempoint.zip

    Those links are dead.

    Oops. I must have moved them in the last minute.

    They are here now.

    https://kolico.ca/fidonet/files/sempoint.avi ,or
    https://kolico.ca/fidonet/files/sempoint.zip

    Maybe you should have uploaded to YouTube.

    Meh. Nah.


    Is there a QWK and REP file merge tool ?

    I have no idea.

    Today, I find that even a better solution is to use
    something like OpenXP. See screenshots here:

    The OpenXP documentation is in German. Therefore it is
    totally useless to me.

    If you just rely on getting the program from sourceforge, then
    yes, the English helps seems to be missing. :( I had some
    guidance when I got started with Openxp by a fellow who wrote an
    English "Startup User Guide".

    If you visit https://openxp.uk/doc/ ..look for oxpguide.pdf

    Just follow the steps in there for 1st-time use. Both linux and
    windows instructions are included.


    Even an NNTP solution and a reader of your choice to match
    your OS platform is a good option.

    NNTP is getting too far from BBS's for me.

    Hmmm. Wrt olr messaging, I see nntp as fine improvement when a
    BBS offers it.

    If I wanted SMTP/POP/NNTP then I would use Linux.

    BTW.. OpenXP supports those things too, but you don't have to
    use that part.
    --
    ../|ug

    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: The ONLY point that matters --> . <-- (1:153/757.21)
  • From Martin Foster@2:310/31.3 to August Abolins on Tue Mar 16 09:23:00 2021
    Hello August!

    *** Sunday 14.03.21 at 15:14, August Abolins wrote to Martin Foster:

    If you visit https://openxp.uk/doc/ ..look for oxpguide.pdf

    ^^^^^^^^^^^^
    Ahem :)

    Did I get something wrong?

    Nope :)

    Regards,
    Martin

    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: Bitz-Box - Bradford - UK (2:310/31.3)
  • From Marceline Jones@1:103/705 to AUGUST ABOLINS on Sat Mar 27 10:34:00 2021
    I might as well get a NNTP add-on for Microsoft Outlook.

    re nntp add-on for MS Outlook.. I tried it many years ago. It's
    terrible. I wouldn't recommend that one to anybody.

    NNTP is for Usenet. BBS puritans do not use it. It is like converting *.msg to emails (ie. an abomination).

    ___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)
  • From Tommi Koivula@2:221/1 to Marceline Jones on Sat Mar 27 19:39:22 2021
    On 27.03.2021 10:34, Marceline Jones wrote:

    MJ> I might as well get a NNTP add-on for Microsoft Outlook.

    AA> re nntp add-on for MS Outlook.. I tried it many years ago. It's
    AA> terrible. I wouldn't recommend that one to anybody.

    NNTP is for Usenet. BBS puritans do not use it.

    NNTP is also for fidonet. Fidonet is not BBS, and BBS is not fidonet.

    'Tommi

    ---
    * Origin: - rbb.fidonet.fi - Lake Ylo - Finland - (2:221/1)
  • From Marceline Jones@1:103/705 to TOMMI KOIVULA on Sun Apr 4 09:20:00 2021
    MJ> I might as well get a NNTP add-on for Microsoft Outlook.

    AA> re nntp add-on for MS Outlook.. I tried it many years ago. It's
    AA> terrible. I wouldn't recommend that one to anybody.

    NNTP is for Usenet. BBS puritans do not use it.

    NNTP is also for fidonet. Fidonet is not BBS, and BBS is not fidonet.

    No, NTTP is used to gate messages in and out of Fidonet. This was originally done by frontend mailers. Like HTTP, NNTP is just a modern convenience that detracts from the BBS experience.

    ___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)
  • From Tommi Koivula@2:221/360 to Marceline Jones on Sat Apr 3 19:52:34 2021
    On 04.04.2021 19:20, Marceline Jones wrote:

    No, NTTP is used to gate messages in and out of Fidonet.

    Not true.

    'Tommi

    ---
    * Origin: nntp://rbb.fidonet.fi - Lake Ylo - Finland (2:221/360)