🚀 go-pugleaf

WHAT IS THIS FILE?
==================
This is an announcement of the availability by Mail Server of many of Joan
Riff's most popular software packages for the PC.

WHAT SOFTWARE PACKAGES ARE THESE?
=================================
These are packages which we have developed and added to our "software
toolbox" during 12 years of computer consulting. Many of them came into
existence because we needed a specific tool and could not find an existing
one for the PC which (1) worked, and (2) met our professional standards.
The packages run the gamut from low-level PC utilities to high-level
applications of general interest.

   BYTE magazine featured one of these packages - the original Z80MU - as
   one of its "Public Domain Powerhouses" of 1986 (see the Oct '86 issue).
   The upgraded version of this package has since become the most-used Z80
   and CP/M emulator *IN THE WORLD*.

   A bank vice president who uses our FM File Manager says "FM's a *LOT*
   more useful to me than XTree!".

   An eastern university uses our Chatterbox network chat program as their
   standard groupware conferencing software.

   Since much of our work involves Unix development, we have also
   developed many Unix-like utilities for the PC to support the massive
   amount of cross-development that we do between the PC and Unix.

   Certain offices of the U.S. Government use our UUENCODE and UUDECODE
   programs to allow their internal email system to attach binary files to
   email messages.

WHY YET ANOTHER TAR/GREP/WHATEVER?
==================================
We're not in the habit of wasting time writing utilities when acceptable
versions already exist. You may rest assured that we only generate a new
PC utility when a survey of existing PC packages shows that no such
capability exists, or that existing utilities are not up to our standards.

A PC version of TAR, for example, is not very useful if it contains no
provision for mapping long Unix filenames into unique DOS filenames, or if
it fails to recognize /dev/xxx as a special device, or if it fails to
recognize Posix-compatible as well as older tar files. Having canvassed
available TARs for the PC and found flaws in them all, we [regretfully]
set about writing one from scratch. We think that we have addressed some
of these TAR issues, and are offering the resulting utility to the world.
We think that some folks who import TAR files from Unix to the PC (which
we do a *LOT* of) might also want a copy of this tool.

Likewise with GREP and CRLF and DUMP and WHEREIS and SHAR and UNSHAR and
UUENCODE and UUDECODE and our "No Wimps Need Apply" KILLDIR directory
killer. We're not claiming that these are the Be-All and End-All of such
PC packages. All that we're saying is this:

    "Yo, Zeke! We've been there. We know what it's like to need some tool
    REAL QUICK, to download it from WUARCHIVE or SIMTEL20 or CompuServe,
    and then to run it, only to find out that it doesn't work on *YOUR*
    system, or with *YOUR* files, or whatever. We have addressed this
    need, and have written our own versions which we think *DO* work, and
    we think that you might like them also..."

WHY DO I HAVE TO GET THEM FROM YOU?
===================================
Many of our packages have been on the marker for several years. And yes,
you *COULD* get copies "from a buddy" or "from some BBS" or "from
CompuServe". You will want to obtain them via email directly from us,
however, for the following reasons:

  1) We can guarantee that what leaves our modem is virus-free and
     correctly wrapped. We have found a *LOT* of our packages on BBS
     systems in defective ARC and ZIP files, and we spend an inordinate
     amount of time fielding calls from users who somehow got a bad copy,
     or a copy in which our Z80MU was bundled in the same ZIP file with
     some bogus COBOL compiler (true story) and the irate user of the
     defective compiler vented his spleen at us "because your name and
     address was in the ZIP file somewhere."

     This way what you receive is *EXACTLY* what we developed, which is
     good for *ALL* concerned.

  2) You will receive the very latest version of whatever package you
     request. In other words, you will be getting a version which is more
     up-to-date than that which is available on *ANY* BBS or even
     comp.binaries.ibm.pc archive system. When we release a new version of
     a program, it will be updated on our system, but will (by definition)
     be out of date everywhere else.

  3) We have made the process of obtaining these packages as painless
     as it can possibly be. Obtaining a package via email is much
     easier than having to log on to various BBS systems looking
     for the latest Z80MU, etc. Just drop us an email note saying,
     in effect, "Send me the latest Z80MU", and in a few minutes or
     hours it will arrive in your electronic mailbox!

SO HOW DO I OBTAIN CCS SOFTWARE PACKAGES BY EMAIL?
==================================================
Basically, you just send us email, and receive whatever packages you want
by return email.

Because this process is automated, requests to our Mail Server must
conform to the following conventions or else the server software won't
recognize your request:

  1) Email must be addressed to the Internet address "joan@grebyn.com".

     NOTE: CompuServe users should send it through CompuServe's Internet
     gateway by addressing it to ">INTERNET:joan@grebyn.com".

     NOTE: Users of other networks (PRODIGY, GENIE, FidoNet, etc) should
     similarly route the mail to your network's Internet gateway (contact
     your network's local expert for details), and then to the Internet
     address "joan@grebyn.com". Note that not all networks are connected
     to Internet yet.

  2) The "Subject:" line must contain "Mail Server, Please", although
     case is not significant.

  3) The body must consist of commands selected from the following:

     Command      Description
     -------      ---------------------------------------------------
     PATH path    Overrides the return email path that the email server
                  will use to reply to you. Use this if it might be hard to
                  deduce your proper email address from your email message
                  to the server.

                  NOTE: For Internet users, your return path is simply
                  your Internet email address, so use a command like
                  this:         PATH joe@gatech.cs.edu

                  NOTE: For CompuServe users, your Internet address is
                  just your CompuServe ID (12345,678 for example) with a
                  period (.) instead of a comma (,), followed by the
                  Internet site name "@CompuServe.com", so use a command
                  like this:    PATH 12345.678@CompuServe.com

     Command      Description
     -------      ---------------------------------------------------
     HELP    -or-
     INDEX   -or-
     CATALOG      Asks the server to email the latest catalog to you,
                  listing files which are available via email and
                  giving instructions for using the server.

     Command      Description
     -------      ---------------------------------------------------
     SEND name    Asks the server to email the product 'name' to you. For
                  a list of available names, obtain the CCS Mail Server
                  catalog. More than one 'name' may be specified on each
                  SEND line.

Case is not significant. You may include as many PATH/CATALOG/SEND lines
as you like. Each, however, must be on its own line. Lines which start
with anything else might cause the *ENTIRE* message to be thrown into the
discard pile for eventual reading by a human. This will not get you what
you want.

If you want the latest version of Z80MU, for example, then one line of
your message body should be:

  SEND Z80MU

Sometimes return email addresses are too convoluted to be automatically
deduced. If yours is such (meaning that you don't hear from us in a
reasonable period of time), then your return address is probably
bozobular, and you should try including a PATH command with an alternate
Internet email address for you.

Here's a sample email message which will cause the latest catalog *AND*
the product "FM" to be sent to CompuServe user 12345,678:

    To: >INTERNET:joan@grebyn.com             <- Note CompuServe version
    Subject: Mail Server, Please              <- This stays the same

    PATH 12345.678@CompuServe.com             <- Note CompuServe path
    CATALOG                                   <- Requests our catalog
    SEND FM                                   <- Requests product "FM"

Requests will be recognized immediately, but outgoing mail will be
throttled to a megabyte per hour or so, and this may delay the actual
mailing of the package to you. Requests are queued on a first-come
first-served basis, but REGISTERED USERS OF CCS SOFTWARE WILL OF COURSE
GET PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT OVER NON-REGISTERED USERS.

Requests which involve an inordinate amount of mail traffic will be
politely declined, with a return request that you please narrow your
request down to a subset of your original list.

HELP US GET THE NEWS TO COMP.BINARIES.IBM.PC READERS!
=====================================================
For reasons known only to himself, the moderator of the Internet newsgroup
comp.binaries.ibm.pc has refused to post this notice to that newsgroup.
Unfortunately, the logical audience for this article is *EXACTLY* those in
the Internet community who monitor comp.binaries.ibm.pc.

As a result, we have had to post this article to other newsgroups to which
we hope that comp.binaries.ibm.pc readers subscribe. This indirect
approach is admittedly a tad silly, and does waste bandwidth, but under
the circumstances what's a girl to do? We have something (the above
announcement) that we'd like to disseminate to comp.binaries.ibm.pc, but
the moderator/censor of that newsgroup refuses to pass it through.

Do *YOU* find anything objectionable in this article? If not, then strike
a blow for freedom (and against techno-nazi censorship) by passing this
article along to folks who monitor the comp.binaries.ibm.pc newsgroup, or
anyone who might want access to our mail server.

Thanks for your support.

***************************************************************************
* Robert A. Baumann <bob@grebyn.com> * Computerwise Consulting Services   *
* Joan Riff        <joan@grebyn.com> * P.O. Box 813, McLean, VA 22101 USA *
*                                    * Voice Mail: (703) 450-7175         *
***************************************************************************

-- 
Robert A. Baumann, CCP, CDP       <bob@grebyn.com>
Computerwise Consulting Services
P.O. Box 813, McLean, VA 22101    (703) 450-7175