• Base64 Email

    From Mike Luther@1:117/100 to All on Sun Jan 25 20:08:18 2015
    Can anyone here suggest what tool in OS/2 can handle base64 Email message work?

    Thanks!

    Mike Luther as N117 at 1:117/100


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    * Origin: BV HUB CLL(979)696-3600 (1:117/100)
  • From mark lewis@1:3634/12 to Mike Luther on Mon Jan 26 08:41:23 2015
    On Sun, 25 Jan 2015, Mike Luther wrote to All:

    MikeL> Can anyone here suggest what tool in OS/2 can handle base64 Email
    MikeL> message work?

    in what manner? just reading as a client or processing into text for posting to
    a FTN message base?

    )\/(ark


    * Origin: (1:3634/12)
  • From Mike Luther@1:117/100 to Mark Lewis on Mon Jan 26 09:33:28 2015
    Aha! Thanks )\/(ark!

    On Sun, 25 Jan 2015, Mike Luther wrote to All:

    MikeL> Can anyone here suggest what tool in OS/2 can
    handle base64 Email
    MikeL> message work?

    in what manner? just reading as a client or processing
    into text for posting to a FTN message base?

    )\/(ark

    Not quite sure on how to answer. Although I suspect lots of folks don't realize that the Panda virus protection still has actual support for OS/2, it does. So told me you have to carefully huddle with them to do that. As well. you have to participate in the Windows world for interface to Panda for Windows
    too. The special support for OS/2 special relationships is synchronized with whatever support you have for Windows.

    In my case, as I have ABSOLUTELY kept my word not to ever normally use any form
    of Windows software since the masssive over 1,250,000 document US Federal Court
    case in the 1970-1980 era and can never have an inbound voice telephone normal phone line, 'we' still need to do security and whatever research on certain new
    and changing telephone telecommunications equipment for all of us. That wound up being among other things, as for me, MajicJack.

    As well, since we have to go BACKWARDS to dis and dat for the Windows mess, that still has to be to Windows XP here since MajicJack as well as tons of other stuff absolutely has to cover Windows XP as well. Let's not get started on how much banking and other hugely worldly important stuff still MUST be run on it. Anyway.

    In the case of my work and needs, the Windows interface for everything absolutely MUST NOT involve Email and cannot at all be involved with any Email conversation with Panda. Thus all the communication has to be with OS/2. but the Windows protection for, say, normal Panda is the now latest 2015 version. Over some two years of this research work, 'we' have discovered a really large bunch of Windows virus and malware junk. The latest was a major infection issue that involved the update from Panda 2014 to 2015 tools. I got all that out of the way and was able to eventually recover the whole WIN XP3 system cleanly from interesting malware issues. The test work is working fine now. However, the standard Panda Email that comes forward to 'register' the 2015 product appears to be bound to what is 'base64' code which contains data the operator is supposed to read and work with to use. But I can't 'visualize' that in OS/2. As well, for ABSOLUTE safety I MUST use PLAIN TEXT Email normally and you should NEVER use Netbios Over TCP-IP driver operations with OS/2 as 'we' discovered more than 20 years ago.

    I have numerous Email tools for OS/2 that I maintain to research this and that.
    But have never moved into the base64 messages in Post Road Mailer, PolarBar, PMMail and do NOT use any of the Seamonkey stuff for Email at all. Yes, some of my daily Email notices for serious economic and world trouble news and data have now also moved to base64. However they are not critical here. But I need
    to see what I have to possibly accomodate in PLAIN TEXT email for going forward
    security stuff here in OS/2 to help carry all of us up further in the more and more risky telecommunications upward swoosh.

    It ain't over yet for all us humanity. But it's getting closer, sadly. As I heard Charlie sing the first time he ever sang "Vincent" in public on New Year's Eve of 1968 in Hampton, Iowa;

    Stary, stary night.
    Amber fields on violet haze.
    Painted by the Artist's loving hands.

    ......

    They are not listening still,
    Perhaps they never will.



    Mike as NC117 at 1:117/100

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    * Origin: BV HUB CLL(979)696-3600 (1:117/100)
  • From Robert Wolfe@1:261/20 to Mike Luther on Sun Jan 25 22:19:28 2015
    Can anyone here suggest what tool in OS/2 can handle base64 Email message work

    Thanks!

    Mike Luther as N117 at 1:117/100

    Mike, I believe Thunderbird might be able to handle this.

    --- BBBS/2 v4.10 Dada-1
    * Origin: Omicron Theta OS/2 BBS | Memphis, TN | os2bbs.org (1:261/20)
  • From mark lewis@1:3634/12 to Mike Luther on Mon Jan 26 16:33:15 2015
    On Mon, 26 Jan 2015, Mike Luther wrote to Mark Lewis:

    MikeL> Can anyone here suggest what tool in OS/2 can
    handle base64 Email
    MikeL> message work?

    in what manner? just reading as a client or processing
    into text for posting to a FTN message base?

    MikeL> issues. The test work is working fine now. However, the
    MikeL> standard Panda Email that comes forward to 'register' the 2015
    MikeL> product appears to be bound to what is 'base64' code which
    MikeL> contains data the operator is supposed to read and work with to
    MikeL> use. But I can't 'visualize' that in OS/2.

    ok, so what you are after is, in simple terms, a mime or base64 decoder...

    TBH, your email reader should be able to do this by default out of the box... that is, if you are using a ""traditional"" email reader... text based or GUI... my pine and alpine stuff can as well as a few other text based ones i've
    messed with (on *nix)... there may be a setting for this in whatever it is that
    you use... but maybe not and especially not if you are using FTN software to read your emails...

    so that takes us to three options...

    O1. feed that base64 data block into an online web-based decoder.
    O2. feed that base64 data block to a local decoder tool.
    O3. feed that email/base64 block to a self-written tool of your own design.

    S1. there are several web sites available that you can use... sometimes i have to try a couple before i find one that works because the block may not conform exactly to what they expect. uncle google points me the way most of the time.

    S2. i found, somewhere, a UUDEVIEW/UUENVIEW set of tools written by frank pilhofer that i have used to decode mimed schtuff in emails... the date on the stuff i have appears to be in 1996... UUDEVIEW has worked for me on numerous items but some things it did not like... especially working with mime stuff where the headers containing the neccesary ingrediants must be available and they weren't always like it expected in the files i was feeding it...

    S3. i wrote a tool using free pascal that decodes mime stuffs and even goes so far as to replace html entities with their CP437 counterparts

    eg: © -> (c)

    i used a library called synapse... mainly for several reasons... one being that
    i was going to need it for another application that had to access https servers
    and execute REST queries for data retrieval... the currently operating application though, runs as a ""filter"" to my FTN<->internet mail and news gateway... it processes emails addressed to certain addresses and formats them for posting in fidonet echomail areas... if you are a pascal coder, you might do similar and create your own local decoder that operates how you need it to with the email data you feed it...


    those are the three options i can think of right off hand... at least one of them will help you solve your problem... well, there's four, actually, if your email reader can decode it on the fly for you...

    FWIW: even plain html is being sent as base64 encoded data blocks these days...
    not only binary pictures or registration keys or similar... being able to decode base64 data is a must in today's world...

    FWIW2: i don't think that this is wed to microsoft's mess in the least... i think a lot of it has to do with lazy coders and having to use this neat trick or that one for the most simple of operations ;)

    HTH

    )\/(ark


    * Origin: (1:3634/12)