• testing utf-8 via TB

    From August Abolins@2:221/360 to All on Sat Apr 6 17:38:50 2019
    Daudz baltu dieniņu Laimiņa dodi,
    Diženi, raženi dzīvojoti!
    Daudz baltu dieniņu Laimiņa, dodi,
    Diženi, raženi strādājoti!
    Daudz baltu dieniņu Laimiņa, dodi,
    Diženi, raženi mīlējoti!

    (Looks good on this side going out.)
    A test for OpenXP and WinPoint.

    --- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:60.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/60.
    * Origin: - nntp://rbb.fidonet.fi - Lake Ylo - Finland - (2:221/360)
  • From Malte Tychsen@2:2452/250.50 to August Abolins on Sat Apr 6 17:08:26 2019
    Sat 2019-04-06 17:38, August Abolins (2:221/360) wrote to All:

    Hej August

    @MSGID: 2:221/360 5ca8b9fa
    @PID: JamNNTPd/OS2 1.3 20190208
    @TID: GE/2 1.2
    @CHRS: UTF-8 2
    @TZUTC: 0300
    Daudz baltu dieni+u Laimi+a dodi,
    Di++eni, ra++eni dz-vojoti!
    Daudz baltu dieni+u Laimi+a, dodi,
    Di++eni, ra++eni str-d-joti!
    Daudz baltu dieni+u Laimi+a, dodi,
    Di++eni, ra++eni m-l-joti!

    (Looks good on this side going out.)
    A test for OpenXP and WinPoint.

    -+- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:60.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/60. * Origin: - nntp://rbb.fidonet.fi - Lake Ylo -
    Finland - (2:221/360)
    @SEEN-BY: 19/10 154/10 203/0 221/0 1 6 360 229/426 240/1120 5832
    280/464 5003
    @SEEN-BY: 292/854 310/31 396/45 423/120 712/848 770/1 2452/250 413
    @PATH: 221/360 1 280/464 2452/250

    Looks good.

    -- malte@tychsen.org

    --- timEd/Linux 1.11.b11
    * Origin: Good Schwartau (2:2452/250.50)
  • From August Abolins@2:221/360 to Malte Tychsen on Sat Apr 6 19:22:08 2019
    On 06/04/2019 11:08 a.m., Malte Tychsen : August Abolins wrote:

     AA> @CHRS: UTF-8 2
     AA> @TZUTC: 0300
     AA> Daudz baltu dieni+åu Laimi+åa dodi,

    Looks good.

    Hi Malte..

    You're kidding, right? :) ..'cuz your message arrived
    in "CHRS: LATIN-1 2" ..and consequently, munged up my original.

    No worries. These tests just confirm certain things for me. I primarily wanted to see how OpenXP and Winpoint can handle foreign chars and the @CHRS in
    originating messages. I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't lose the Swedish chars that seem to arrive from Swedish users from time to time.

    I will stop now. :(

    TB seems to be much more pliable with foreign chars (easier to switch and change things). ..or the unicode setting in TB just makes everything work.

    Cheers!
    .../|ug

    --- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:60.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/60.
    * Origin: - nntp://rbb.fidonet.fi - Lake Ylo - Finland - (2:221/360)
  • From Martin Foster@2:310/31.3 to August Abolins on Sun Apr 7 11:25:00 2019
    Hello August!

    On 06.04.19 at 17:38, August Abolins wrote to All:

    Daudz baltu dieniņu Laimiņa dodi,
    Diženi, raženi dzīvojoti!
    Daudz baltu dieniņu Laimiņa, dodi,
    Diženi, raženi strādājoti!
    Daudz baltu dieniņu Laimiņa, dodi,
    Diženi, raženi mīlējoti!

    (Looks good on this side going out.)
    A test for OpenXP and WinPoint.

    As you can see, it looks terrible in OpenXP.

    Regards,
    Martin

    --- OpenXP 5.0.37
    * Origin: Bitz-Box - Bradford - UK (2:310/31.3)
  • From Richard Menedetter@2:310/31 to August Abolins on Sun Apr 7 12:40:18 2019
    Hello August Abolins!

    06 Apr 19 17:38:50, August Abolins wrote to All:

    Daudz baltu dieniņu Laimiņa dodi,
    Diženi, raženi dzīvojoti!
    Daudz baltu dieniņu Laimiņa, dodi,
    Diženi, raženi strādājoti!
    Daudz baltu dieniņu Laimiņa, dodi,
    Diženi, raženi mīlējoti!

    (Looks good on this side going out.)
    A test for OpenXP and WinPoint.

    This time you have inserted the correct charset kludge, identifying that you used UTF-8.
    Hence it will show up correctly on all UTF-8 capable readers.
    Winpoint does not support UTF-8 I think.
    But OpenXP oder Goated should show it.

    Looks good here.

    I hope that the answer is OK now.
    Giated is at a very, very early stage.
    So I changed the default charset for this echo to UTF-8.
    It should look OK now even in my answer. (I hope)

    CU, Ricsi

    --- goAtEd-linux/amd64 1.0.5-154-a1826692
    * Origin: https://github.com/askovpen/goated (2:310/31)
  • From Richard Menedetter@2:310/31 to August Abolins on Sun Apr 7 14:41:10 2019
    Hi August!

    06 Apr 2019 19:22, from August Abolins -> Malte Tychsen:

    -AA> @CHRS: UTF-8 2
    -AA> @TZUTC: 0300
    -AA> Daudz baltu dieni+|u Laimi+|a dodi,
    Looks good.
    You're kidding, right? :)

    He probably is not.
    Do you understand the concept of the charset kludge?
    It identifies what charset was used when writing the message.
    If you identify it as UTF-8, and the viewer can display that, then it will look
    OK.

    The problem arises when you have configured a default charset for outgoing messages.
    You write an answer that is using UTF-8 characters, but your default charset (eg- LATIN-1 or IBMPC) does not contain the characters that were in the original message.
    So it will look garbled.

    ..'cuz your message arrived
    in "CHRS: LATIN-1 2" ..and consequently, munged up my original.

    Yes ... that happens when you cannot translate characters from the original message into the charset you have configured for outgoing messages.

    TB seems to be much more pliable with foreign chars (easier to switch
    and change things). ..or the unicode setting in TB just makes
    everything work.

    It is simply using UTF-8 encoding, and marks the content appropriately.
    But most (99%) of fido systems will not be able to read the special non ascii characters.

    CU, Ricsi

    ... A pessimist is someone who has had to listen to too many optimists.
    --- GoldED+/LNX
    * Origin: It's okay to be ugly... but aren't you overdoing it? (2:310/31)
  • From Martin Foster@2:310/31.3 to August Abolins on Sun Apr 7 13:56:28 2019
    Hello August!

    On 06.04.19 at 17:38:50, August Abolins wrote to All:

    Daudz baltu dieni+u Laimi+a dodi, Di+#eni, ra+#eni dz-Xvojoti! Daudz baltu dieni+u Laimi+a, dodi, Di+#eni, ra+#eni str-d-joti! Daudz baltu dieni+u Laimi+a, dodi, Di+#eni, ra+#eni m-Xl-joti!

    (Looks good on this side going out.) A test for OpenXP and WinPoint.

    Looks terrible in WinPoint too *and* as expected, this rubbish editor has munged the formatting of my quoted reply :-((

    Regards,
    Martin

    --- WinPoint Beta 5 (359.1)
    * Origin: Bitz-Box - Bradford - UK (2:310/31.3)
  • From August Abolins@2:221/360 to Richard Menedetter on Sun Apr 7 20:28:15 2019
    On 07/04/2019 5:40 a.m., Richard Menedetter : August Abolins wrote:

    06 Apr 19 17:38:50, August Abolins wrote to All:

     AA> Daudz baltu dieniņu Laimiņa dodi,
     AA> Diženi, raženi dzīvojoti!


    This time you have inserted the correct charset kludge, identifying
    that you used UTF-8. Hence it will show up correctly on all UTF-8
    capable readers. Winpoint does not support UTF-8 I think. But OpenXP
    oder Goated should show it.
    TB did the correct charset kludge, outbound.

    Can OpenXP use an external editor? That might be a good solution.


    I hope that the answer is OK now.
    Giated is at a very, very early stage.
    So I changed the default charset for this echo to UTF-8.
    It should look OK now even in my answer. (I hope)

    Thank you so much! The Latvian chars look great coming back to my TB/nntp reader.

    The problem seems to be OpenXP does not embrace the latvian/baltic charset in its codepage offering, even with UTF-8 enabled.

    Would have been cool to sign off with my name in full Latvian glory:

    Āboliņšš

    This place is a nice summary list of chars:

    https://altcodeunicode.com/alt-codes-for-latvian-letters-with-accents-or-diacritics/

    .../|ug

    --- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:60.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/60.
    * Origin: - nntp://rbb.fidonet.fi - Lake Ylo - Finland - (2:221/360)
  • From August Abolins@2:221/360 to Martin Foster on Sun Apr 7 20:36:29 2019
    On 07/04/2019 8:56 a.m., Martin Foster : August Abolins wrote:

     AA> Daudz baltu dieni+?u Laimi+?a dodi, Di+#eni, ra+#eni dz-Xvojoti!

     AA> (Looks good on this side going out.) A test for OpenXP and WinPoint.

    Looks terrible in WinPoint too *and* as expected, this rubbish editor
    has munged the formatting of my quoted reply :-((
    --- WinPoint Beta 5 (359.1)

    Jā, (that's Yes in Latvian)... Looks like WinPoint is losing my favour too. Plus, no message marking/tagging. :( But I like its snappy nodelist lookup with all the additional "fields" sorted out and/or fully searchable. The WP program could be simply used as a handy nodelist app.

    --- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:60.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/60.
    * Origin: - nntp://rbb.fidonet.fi - Lake Ylo - Finland - (2:221/360)
  • From Martin Foster@2:310/31.3 to August Abolins on Mon Apr 8 13:27:00 2019
    Hello August!

    On 07.04.19 at 20:36, August Abolins wrote to Martin Foster:

    [snip]
    Looks terrible in WinPoint too *and* as expected, this rubbish editor
    has munged the formatting of my quoted reply :-((
    --- WinPoint Beta 5 (359.1)

    Jā, (that's Yes in Latvian)...

    :-)

    Looks like WinPoint is losing my favour too.

    Well, I have to admit that I'm losing interest in it, particularly as
    it's been abandoned by the author :((

    Regards,
    Martin

    --- OpenXP 5.0.37
    * Origin: Bitz-Box - Bradford - UK (2:310/31.3)
  • From Martin Foster@2:310/31.3 to August Abolins on Mon Apr 8 13:41:00 2019
    Hello August!

    On 07.04.19 at 20:28, August Abolins wrote to Richard Menedetter:

    [snip]
    Can OpenXP use an external editor? That might be a good solution.

    Yes .....
    Config/External/Editor

    I've never ever tried this so you're on your own with this one but
    please feel free to report back with your findings :)

    Regards,
    Martin

    --- OpenXP 5.0.37
    * Origin: Bitz-Box - Bradford - UK (2:310/31.3)
  • From Martin Foster@2:310/31.3 to August Abolins on Mon Apr 8 15:02:00 2019
    Hello August!

    On 08.04.19 at 13:41, Martin Foster wrote to August Abolins:

    Can OpenXP use an external editor? That might be a good solution.

    Yes .....
    Config/External/Editor

    I've never ever tried this so you're on your own with this one but
    please feel free to report back with your findings :)

    Later .....

    The online help for Config/External/Editor is a complete mess! :((

    Regards,
    Martin

    --- OpenXP 5.0.37
    * Origin: Bitz-Box - Bradford - UK (2:310/31.3)
  • From August Abolins@2:221/1.58 to Martin Foster on Mon Apr 8 11:32:00 2019
    Hello Martin!

    ** 08.04.19 - 13:27, Martin Foster wrote to August Abolins:


    Jā, (that's Yes in Latvian)...

    :-)
    -+- OpenXP 5.0.37

    Sadly, the "Yes" in Latvian doesn't look right if you are using the oxp editor, especially in Windows.

    It arrived with the correct UTF-8 kludge from TB, and is retained in OXP here, but the limitation seems to be the Windows console font support.


    Above, I see a J + a dash + u with two dots above it.

    It should be: J + a with macron, or a bar above it.

    a with macron = alt 0257, but that doesn't render in the Windows console
    for oxp. Apparently Lucida or Consolas monospaced ttf for the console
    are not good enough to support baltic chars.


    Regards,
    ../|ug

    --- OpenXP 5.0.37
    * Origin: /|ug's Point, ONT, CANADA (2:221/1.58)
  • From August Abolins@2:221/1.58 to Martin Foster on Mon Apr 8 18:59:00 2019
    Hello Martin!

    ** 08.04.19 - 13:27, Martin Foster wrote to August Abolins:


    Looks like WinPoint is losing my favour too.

    Well, I have to admit that I'm losing interest in it, particularly as
    it's been abandoned by the author :((


    For an interesting comparison, take a look a SemPoint (SP) and be prepared
    to be amazed. SP, in its last interation, has been released as freeware.
    I used it for quite a while many years ago and found absolutely nothing
    wrong with it.

    But, SP needs a tosser/scanner (Fmail, FastEcho), and it needs a way to deliver the packets via tcp/ip (Binkd ?)

    The context senstive help is very comprehensive.

    -=} SemPoint v2.26 for Windows {=-
    SemPoint is the 1st Offline Reader for
    Windows useful to both BBS Users and to
    FidoNet Points (or Sysops). It can
    handle QWK, BlueWave, Mc-Link's X)press
    and Usenet newsgroups mail packets, as
    well as permanent message bases in *.MSG
    (Fido), Hudson, Squish, JAM end EzyCom
    formats! EASY to use, but powerful!
    Built-in zip/unzip, UUEncode/Decode,
    PGP shell, Rich Text display feature,
    message sorting, TIC generator.
    Multilingual: English, Italian, French,
    Spanish, Catalan, Swedish, German and
    Dutch editions available!

    One place where it is available: http://archives.thebbs.org/



    Regards,
    ../|ug

    --- OpenXP 5.0.37
    * Origin: /|ug's Point, ONT, CANADA (2:221/1.58)
  • From Martin Foster@2:310/31.3 to August Abolins on Tue Apr 9 13:40:00 2019
    Hello August!

    On 08.04.19 at 18:59, August Abolins wrote to Martin Foster:

    Looks like WinPoint is losing my favour too.

    Well, I have to admit that I'm losing interest in it, particularly as
    it's been abandoned by the author :((

    For an interesting comparison, take a look a SemPoint (SP) and be
    prepared to be amazed. SP, in its last interation, has been released as freeware. I used it for quite a while many years ago and found absolutely nothing wrong with it.

    But, SP needs a tosser/scanner (Fmail, FastEcho), and it needs a way to deliver the packets via tcp/ip (Binkd ?)

    The context senstive help is very comprehensive.

    One place where it is available: http://archives.thebbs.org/

    Thanks for that and it's gone on my ToDo list.

    Regards,
    Martin

    --- OpenXP 5.0.38
    * Origin: Bitz-Box - Bradford - UK (2:310/31.3)
  • From Martin Foster@2:310/31.3 to August Abolins on Wed Apr 10 14:29:00 2019
    Hello August!

    On 09.04.19 at 13:40, Martin Foster wrote to August Abolins:

    [snip]
    For an interesting comparison, take a look a SemPoint (SP) and be
    prepared to be amazed. SP, in its last interation, has been released
    as freeware. I used it for quite a while many years ago and found
    absolutely nothing wrong with it.

    But, SP needs a tosser/scanner (Fmail, FastEcho), and it needs a way to
    deliver the packets via tcp/ip (Binkd ?)

    The context senstive help is very comprehensive.

    One place where it is available: http://archives.thebbs.org/

    Thanks for that and it's gone on my ToDo list.

    I found a spare moment to have a look but I've crossed it of my list
    because, after executing 'setup.exe', I discovered it was 16-Bit and
    my 64-Bit Windows won't run it(obviously) and I no longer have a
    version of Windows that will :((

    Thanks for the heads-up though :)

    Regards,
    Martin

    --- OpenXP 5.0.38
    * Origin: Bitz-Box - Bradford - UK (2:310/31.3)
  • From mark lewis@1:3634/12.73 to Martin Foster on Wed Apr 10 11:02:32 2019
    On 2019 Apr 10 14:29:00, you wrote to August Abolins:

    I found a spare moment to have a look but I've crossed it of my list because, after executing 'setup.exe', I discovered it was 16-Bit and
    my 64-Bit Windows won't run it(obviously) and I no longer have a
    version of Windows that will :((

    dosbox

    )\/(ark

    Always Mount a Scratch Monkey
    Do you manage your own servers? If you are not running an IDS/IPS yer doin' it wrong...
    ... Chocolate moose: 1 medium size moose, 20 pounds chocolate
    ---
    * Origin: (1:3634/12.73)
  • From August Abolins@2:221/1.58 to Martin Foster on Wed Apr 10 23:47:00 2019
    Hello Martin!


    One place where it is available: http://archives.thebbs.org/

    Darn.. The program is listed on the page, but the download link fails now. I'd swear it was good just a couple weeks ago.

    Where did you get your copy?


    I found a spare moment to have a look but I've crossed it of my list because, after executing 'setup.exe', I discovered it was 16-Bit and
    my 64-Bit Windows won't run it(obviously) and I no longer have a
    version of Windows that will :((

    Yes.. there is that matter. :(

    Meanwhile, I created a little 2min video on what it looks like:

    http://kolico.ca/fidonet/files/sempoint-preview.zip

    I go over the menu and reveal some options and settings. You will see a
    lot of familiar BBS terms and features that this point program can
    implement.

    (It is my very first screen recording, ever, on my XP laptop, and with an unfamiliar program, so forgive me if it isn't elegant. The recording has a minor video artifact, but it does not obscure anything important.)

    It would be very cool to operate Sempoint once again.

    I used it during my full fidonode days on an OS/2 system with the Win-OS/2 support mode.


    ../|ug

    --- OpenXP 5.0.38
    * Origin: /|ug's Point, ONT, CANADA (2:221/1.58)
  • From Martin Foster@2:240/2188.31 to August Abolins on Thu Apr 11 13:11:00 2019
    Hello August!

    On 10.04.19 at 23:47, August Abolins wrote to Martin Foster:

    One place where it is available: http://archives.thebbs.org/

    Darn.. The program is listed on the page, but the download link fails
    now. I'd swear it was good just a couple weeks ago.

    Where did you get your copy?

    http://archives.thebbs.org/ra110a.htm

    ..... but the download was ohh-sooo-slooooooooooooooow.

    [snip]
    Meanwhile, I created a little 2min video on what it looks like:

    http://kolico.ca/fidonet/files/sempoint-preview.zip

    Grabbed a copy :)

    I go over the menu and reveal some options and settings. You will see a lot of familiar BBS terms and features that this point program can implement.

    To implement familiar BBS terms and features in OpenXP, would probably
    mean a complete re-write owing to the original design of CrossPoint.

    (It is my very first screen recording, ever, on my XP laptop, and with an unfamiliar program, so forgive me if it isn't elegant. The recording has
    a minor video artifact, but it does not obscure anything important.)

    When your video first started, I thought I was looking at APoint
    (remember that?) but then I realised I wasn't when I saw the icons
    across the top :)

    Nice job though and it certainly gives a feel for the programme.

    It would be very cool to operate Sempoint once again.

    As it would APoint but I binned my copy many years ago :(

    I used it during my full fidonode days on an OS/2 system with the
    Win-OS/2 support mode.

    Ahhhhhhh, yes, good old OS/2. It was my OS of choice "back in the
    day". Pity that ArcaOS isn't ready for prime time yet.

    Regards,
    Martin

    --- OpenXP 5.0.38
    * Origin: Bitz-Box - Bradford - UK (2:240/2188.31)
  • From August Abolins@2:221/1.58 to Martin Foster on Thu Apr 11 21:30:00 2019
    Hello Martin!

    ** 11.04.19 - 13:11, Martin Foster wrote to August Abolins:

    Where did you get your copy?

    http://archives.thebbs.org/ra110a.htm

    ..... but the download was ohh-sooo-slooooooooooooooow.

    Maybe you caught the site just before the problem started.
    The page loads, but the link for any of the files now fails completely.

    I think I saw it on one of the pages at filegate.net, but the search
    doesn't seem to list it anymore.

    I still have two "original" archive copies. There is a later one that has four extra files - sample screenshots of:

    01 Read_QWK_Packet (MARKANT.QWK).gif
    02 Create New MSGs or Reply on Existing.GIF
    03 Crating MSGs with Alias (Annonymous) Name.GIF
    04 EXPORT_New_Mesages_in_Packet(MARKANT.REP).GIF

    ..do you have that one?


    Meanwhile, I created a little 2min video on what it looks like:

    http://kolico.ca/fidonet/files/sempoint-preview.zip

    When your video first started, I thought I was looking at APoint
    (remember that?) but then I realised I wasn't when I saw the icons
    across the top :)

    Nice job though and it certainly gives a feel for the programme.

    Thanks. I remember using APoint for a little while, but I don't remember what it looked like. I kinda wish there was a way to see it in operation, again. I do however remember that it wasn't cooperating very well in
    windows mode on a fine OS/2 Warp 3 pc.

    Often when a program is announced, it would be nice to see decent
    screenshots or a video to get an idea of what to expect.


    I used it during my full fidonode days on an OS/2 system with the
    Win-OS/2 support mode.

    Ahhhhhhh, yes, good old OS/2. It was my OS of choice "back in the
    day". Pity that ArcaOS isn't ready for prime time yet.

    The Win-OS/2 support was amazing. It was a great way to intermix the best
    of DOS, Win and OS/2 into one seemless family.

    I still have the apparently "crashed" hdd. The hope is to recover some of the files off of it.


    ../|ug

    --- OpenXP 5.0.38
    * Origin: /|ug's Point, ONT, CANADA (2:221/1.58)
  • From August Abolins@2:221/1.58 to mark lewis on Thu Apr 11 23:33:00 2019
    Hello mark!

    ** 10.04.19 - 11:02, mark lewis wrote to Martin Foster:

    On 2019 Apr 10 14:29:00, you wrote to August Abolins:

    I found a spare moment to have a look but I've crossed it of my list
    because, after executing 'setup.exe', I discovered it was 16-Bit and
    my 64-Bit Windows won't run it(obviously) and I no longer have a
    version of Windows that will :((

    dosbox

    Welcome to DOSBox v0.74

    Z:\>mount c c:\sem
    Drive C is mounted as local directory c:\sem\

    z:\>c:

    C:\sempoint
    This program requires Microsoft Windows.


    ../|ug

    --- OpenXP 5.0.38
    * Origin: /|ug's Point, ONT, CANADA (2:221/1.58)
  • From Martin Foster@2:240/2188.31 to August Abolins on Fri Apr 12 11:18:00 2019
    Hello August!

    On 11.04.19 at 21:30, August Abolins wrote to Martin Foster:

    [snip]
    I still have two "original" archive copies. There is a later one that
    has four extra files - sample screenshots of:

    01 Read_QWK_Packet (MARKANT.QWK).gif
    02 Create New MSGs or Reply on Existing.GIF
    03 Crating MSGs with Alias (Annonymous) Name.GIF
    04 EXPORT_New_Mesages_in_Packet(MARKANT.REP).GIF

    ..do you have that one?

    I don't see any .GIF's at all in the semp226.zip archive, maybe the
    setup programme pops them out?

    All 47 files in the archive are dated 04.12.99

    Regards,
    Martin

    --- OpenXP 5.0.38
    * Origin: Bitz-Box - Bradford - UK (2:240/2188.31)
  • From mark lewis@1:3634/12.73 to August Abolins on Fri Apr 12 09:24:50 2019
    On 2019 Apr 11 23:33:00, you wrote to me:

    C:\sempoint
    This program requires Microsoft Windows.

    you still have to install a winwhatever that can handle 16bit winwhatever programs into dosbox... then you can run sempoint...

    )\/(ark

    Always Mount a Scratch Monkey
    Do you manage your own servers? If you are not running an IDS/IPS yer doin' it wrong...
    ... We are watching, and we are always here.
    ---
    * Origin: (1:3634/12.73)