MR/2 ICE Frequently Asked Questions
This really hasn't been as issue yet,
but it may become one. As I expected, much of my time is now spent
replying to email. This takes away from coding time and slows down the
whole process. At the same time, you can't ignore your users. I try to
respond to everyone in a timely fashion, but often this can't be done.
Right now I'm swamped and may not have time to respond to everyone
point-4-point, BUT I am listening. I hope to use this WEB page to
address most points in a more general fashion using the "shotgun" method.
UPDATE: Things are a LITTLE better, despite constant increases
in email volume. This, thanks to the MR/2 ICE Mailing List, where
questions and answers are posed in more of a "group discussion" manner.
How do you subscribe? Send a message to <mr2ice.list@mr2ice.com>
with the subject of SUBSCRIBE. Keep in mind that there is alot of
traffic passing through this list.
Additionally, the later versions of MR/2 ICE have web-based entries in the
HELP menu. One of these is a link to the "Ask-The-Experts(tm)" list. You can quickly and
easily pose support and general "How do I ..." type questions to a collection of
veteran (volunteer) MR/2 ICE users!
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The MR/2 ICE distribution zip file has been carefully designed so as NOT
to overwrite your existing setup data when unzipping a new version. The
risk for data loss if very low. To protect yourself from any unusaul
circumstances, simply ZIP up the MR/2 ICE software directory before
unzipping the new version. In most cases, this won't be necessary, but
backups are always a good idea.
The distribution zip contains several files ending with an "org"
extension. These are the original versions of things like the SIG file,
the address book and templates. When MR/2 ICE starts up for the first
time, it tries to copy these files to their "real" names. It will not
overwrite existing files. So, if you've modified your templates and
address book, they will not be overwritten my unzipping a new version of
ICE.
The only exceptions to this rule are the printer template files
(printer.tf and draft.tf). Since I haven't really "officially" documented
these, I do not take precautions to save custom versions. I'll make a
note to consider this.
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The distribution/installation has two files that are pertainent. The file "read.me"
contains a brief explanation of policies, pricing, site licensing and
lists ways of registering. The file "Register.Doc" can be filled out and
snail-mailed with a check or money order (or even cash, if you wish). The
mailing address is on the form.
Credit Cards are happily accepted via Paypal. This is the absolute fastest
way to register MR/2 ICE. If you do not yet have a Paypal account, signup is
simple and can all be done online. Use the Paypal Registration Form to pay for
your registration this way. It's quick, easy and painless!
If you'd prefer to deal with a registration service:
BMT Micro provides toll-free voice, fax and email registration services.
Call toll free at 1-800-414-4268, or visit their MR/2 Order Page at https://secure.bmtmicro.com/ECommerce-OnSite/15707.html or
email to orders@bmtmicro.com. You can also fax an order to
them TOLL FREE at 800-346-1672.
BMT's "contact" page is at http://www.bmtmicro.com/BMTInfo_ContactBMT.html.
Scandinavian/European Registration Site:
You can now register MR/2 ICE via Berggreen Service, Denmark with payment
in Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, German Currency and in EURO.
Berggreen Service accepts checks or payment to Giro- and Bank- accounts in
Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki and Flensburg.
Write to info@berggreen.dk or order online at
http://www.berggreen.dk
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MR/2 ICE offers the best site license pricing in the business. Current pricing is as follows
(text extracted from the distribution file "read.me"):
These prices are for licenses of MR/2 ICE running at a single
location (usually a company or other organization).
5 User - $145
10 User - $250
25 User - $485
50 User - $625 ($4 per additional user)
For each user above 50 add $4
(e.g., 200 user = $625+(150*4) = $1225)
All pricing is subject to change without notice. We can
interpolate for in-between counts (e.g., 30 users at $415).
I'm basing these prices on a product I once purchased in this
manner. I want to be reasonable, but still make a profit.
Email me for more detailed discussion.
INCREMENTAL SITE LICENSES. Those purchasing a site license may
increase the license count at some later date in time by submitting
the difference between the two licenses (based on what was
originally paid vs. what the current total site license would
cost), plus a flat modification fee of $10.
For example, a company purchases a 50 user site license at $425 under
old pricing. A year later they wish to increase the license count to
100 users. They would sumbit a check or purchase order for 50
incremental licenses at a cost of $235. With the price increase to $500
for 50 users (where 100 users would be $650), the amount due would
be $235. It's an easy calculation:
What you'd have to pay today for the total licenses desired
- What you've already paid
+ $10.
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Certainly. You can access as many unique ISP/mailbox combinations as you want.
From the main notebook (inbox screen), use Options->Add User Profile to set
up a name for a new "profile" (specific mailbox settings) and a password,
if desired. NOTE that this account name and password can be anything you
want; they do not have to match or relate in any way to your service provider's
name nor to your POP3 user name/password. Once you have added a new
profile, MR/2 will provide you with a completely new settings notebook.
Fill these out and close the notebook. You are now logged into the new
"account" or "profile".
To log back into the original "default" account, the user/password is simply
Mail/Mail.
To subsequently log into one of your secondary accounts, use Options->Login.
NOTE that you do not have to logoff first.
It is possible to have multiple copies of MR/2 ICE running, each monitoring a
separate account/profile. The same technique can be used to set up different
desktop icons for each unique mail account. You simply start MR/2 ICE and
specify the profile to use. For example, assuming a profile has been setup for
with a name of "work", you can start MR/2 ICE with that mailbox being active
by using the command:
MR2I /Mwork.cfg
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This was brilliantly summed up in a recent post by
Brandon Allbery <bsa@kf8nh.apk.net>. He explains:
OS/2 TCP/IP, in common with most other implementations, only
loads resolver information (the information used to convert
an Internet host name such as humans use to the x.y.z.w
numeric format that actually goes out over the wire) the
first time the program tries to convert a hostname to an
Internet address; subsequent attempts continue to use the
original information. If you don't have a permanent
?:\MPTN\ETC\RESOLV2 (or ?:\MPTN\ETC\RESOLV) file then it will
find *no* resolver information when it starts up, and never
get it right until you exit and restart it while dialed out
(the dialer program creates a RESOLV file while you're
connected and removes it afterward, restoring any original
RESOLV file).
Workarounds (choose one):
(1) Use Internet addresses (x.y.z.w) instead of hostnames for
your POP3 and SMTP servers;
(2) Add the line
SET USE_HOSTS_FIRST=1
to your CONFIG.SYS and then create a ?:\MPTN\ETC\HOSTS file
containing the addresses of your POP3 and SMTP servers, like
the following (fictitious) example:
107.23.5.223 mail.foo.net
107.23.5.226 pop.foo.net
(You can also use the TCP/IP Configuration Notebook to do
this; select the Hostnames tab, then go to page 2.)
(3) Create a permanent ?:\MPTN\ETC\RESOLV2 file containing
the same nameserver information you get when you dial up.
The easiest way to get this information is simply to copy the
file created by DOIP while you're connected. You should then
copy it back to ?:\MPTN\ETC\RESOLV2 with a command in
?:\TCPIP\BIN\TCPEXIT.CMD (create this file if it doesn't
exist). It is *not* sufficient to create this file once, as
Warp 4 (and possibly Warp Connect) wipe it out at boot time
when they call TOGGLE.EXE to make sure LAN Distance has
switched back to local mode. (You could remove this call
from ?:\TCPIP\BIN\TCPSTART.CMD, but the TCP/IP Configuration
Notebook might not like it and/or might put it back. You
might try renaming ?:\TCPIP\BIN\TOGGLE.EXE instead, since the
script checks for its existence.)
All of these schemes have problems, although (3) is probably
the safest because moving nameservers requires coordinating
with InterNIC and they *can't* be specified by hostname, only
by IP address (chicken and egg problem); the problem with
using static addresses of any kind for your POP3 and SMTP
servers is that your ISP can change those addresses without
warning.
I'm still trying to locate appropriate tools for an option
(4): patch TCP32DLL.DLL and TCPIPDLL.DLL (16-bit version) to
always reread the resolver configuration. I already know the
correct execution address to patch in TCP32DLL.DLL, but
figuring out which *byte* to patch has so far stumped me. (I
don't do much OS/2 programming, barring visual REXX.)
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Seamless UUEncoding, MIME and incoming BinHex support is built into MR/2 ICE. To detach an attachment,
simply use the menu option Message->Detach. This will detach ALL attachments contained
within the current message. You may also, optionally, click on one of the
attachment marker-lines, then use the Right Mouse Button (RMB) and Detach to detach
individual parts. Alternately, the RMB->View option often allows the attachment to
be loaded in an associated viewer.
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You bet. SMTP is built right into the default distribution ZIP file. A special "Local
Delivery Agent" (LDA) to use with sendmail.exe if needed, but it has been proven that
MR/2 ICE's SMTP delivery mode works great with the freeware DELIVER.EXE and
also will "plug right in" to any existing LaMail setup.
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Same thing as below, there's some problem with ICE and the System Proportional
font being depended upon as the "default". See the next note ... this
temporary solution will also solve this problem.
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This is actually a problem with certain Cirrus Logic (and a few other) video cards.
On these systems, the system proportional font fails when used as the "default".
I have a system in-house that exhibits this problem, so I'm in search of
"the answer". The initial invocation of MR/2 ICE will ask you if your screen
displays any of these symptoms and will set itself up accordingly. If this fails
to work correctly, you can specify a "default font override" command
line parameter:
- Mr2i /F9
Where a zero is used to denote the System Proportional Font, and a number
1-30 can be used to override this setting (for the problematic windows ONLY).
Using /F9 will cause the text to show up and make the application functional.
For those that are more particular about their fonts, you can select one of
these following numbers:
0 - SystemProp 16 - HelvOLB
1 - Courier8 17 - HelvOLBI
2 - Courier10 18 - TmsRmn8
3 - Courier12 19 - TmsRmn10
4 - CourierOL 20 - TmsRmn12
5 - CourierOLI 21 - TmsRmn14
6 - CourierOLB 22 - TmsRmn18
7 - CourierOLBI 23 - TmsRmn24
8 - Helv8 24 - TmsRmnOL
9 - Helv10 25 - TmsRmnOLI
10 - Helv12 26 - TmsRmnOLB
11 - Helv14 27 - TmsRmnOLBI
12 - Helv18 28 - SysMono10
13 - Helv24 29 - SysMono12
14 - HelvOL 30 - SymbolOL
15 - HelvOLI
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Absolutely not. However, MR/2 ICE excercises PM quite extensively with alot of
technically sophisticated code (from the support libraries, ObjectPM and the
related Custom Control Pack). If there is a problem in the system, this
application is bound to make it appear!
Most strange video problems reported to-date have been caused by FixPak #12.
This was a very buggy kit, and should be replaced with FixPak #17. Run,
don't walk!
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There are many items that are not yet included with MR/2 ICE, or that I have
not yet hooked up. I'm working as fast as I can to remedy this, but it will
take some time.
- PGP Support - available via third party support, see the MR/2 ICE Home Page.
- Drag and Drop
-
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Many of you have been sending me all of the register values, and some are typing
this in by hand. It's a very rare occasion when I even pay most of that stuff
any attention at all. What is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT is the information outlined below:
- SYS3175
- A program generated an access violation at 00270721.
- C2151MT.DLL
This is all I ever really use. I would also need as detailed a description as possible
about what it was you were doing with ICE, and if possible, what the status boxes
at the bottom of the main window say at the time of the crash. Thanks!
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Certainly! I do this all of the time when working at home. I do see where
this capability isn't that obvious, though. MR/2 ICE will poll whether connected
to your provider or not. The status bar indicates the status, and "POP3 service unavailable"
is displayed when not connected. Once you dial in, you can wait for a poll, or
force one via keystroke, menu or toolbar. Once all mail is read, simply disconnect
from your provider. Reply to messages at your leisure. Press "SEND" to save them, and
I understand this isn't intuitive at all. I'll try to clear this up. You will get an "SMTP service unavailable"
status message, but the reply will be saved in the outbox. Once you've replied
to all desired message and you want to actually post them, dial your provider
again. Move to the MR/2 ICE outbox and select each new outgoing message. NOTE that unsent messages are
tagged with a mailbox icon, while sent message get an envelope. Once all outgoing
items are marked, use the RMB to popup the menu. Select Resend. You can watch
as MR/2 ICE sends each one. Successful sends will turn the mailbox icon into a letter, as you watch.
Selecting message items can be performed by dragging the cursor over a group or
CTRL+Clicking on individual items.
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MR/2 ICE has many GUI features that can tend to slow down on a heavily used
system, or one with a slow video card. Fortunately, most of these GUI options
are configurable. For example, you can run MR/2 ICE with the /T switch and
have no toolbars available. I don't recommend this, but it does make the system
much faster. Are hint bubbles turned on for the viewer screen? That's *very* slow (and I'm
still trying to figure out why). Set them OFF for the viewer and try again.
Play with the options with regards to video settings. Much improvement in
performance can result. Still, on my systems and the systems used internally at
Secant, there really is no problem with performance. I would expect this with
the machines we pick to use, though.
UPDATE!!! The bubble hint speed problem has been fixed and will be
included in version 0.99E. NOTE that adding hint bubbles is still slower
than running with them off, but the difference is now undetectable in most
cases.
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I've taken the "middle" path, where I've decided to go more fancy-GUI than
some of the lighter-weight competition, but not as heavy-weight as Ultimail "Lite".
You can, however,
configure MR/2 to work "lite". Run it with /T for no toolbars. I bet it's
faster now? Turn off all hint bubbles, that will help if you opt to keep
the toolbar. Otherwise, on a relatively fast machine, the program performs
nicely. I can only improve on this so much, and I will try when all work is
complete.
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The size of each window is configurable by order and in/out state. For
example, there is a window Inbox1, Inbox2, Inbox3 and so on, each remembers
its own size. Outboxes work the same way, although a folder window *is* an
outbox. So, you may have to set window #2's size, too, but only once. Same
with #3.
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MR/2 ICE is compiled with Borland C++ v2.0. It benefits greatly from being
based on Secant Technologies' ObjectPM Application Framework, a set of
C++ class libraries designed specifically around OS/2's kernel and windowing API's.
In addition to using ObjectPM, MR/2 ICE is supplemented by the ObjectPM Control
Pack ... a set of custom controls for OS/2 (e.g.,
the progress indicator on sends, the RTF printing engine, calendar, etc.,.).
The bubble hints and Win95-style tab folder used for Settings configuration
are prototypes of coming Secant controls.
In addition to the commercially available tools, this product has inherited
many features from its QWK-oriented cousins and utilites, MR/2 Classic, MR/2 PM
and the ME/2 editor.
More information on Secant's product line can be obtained from their home page
at http://www.secant.com.
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Absolutely! MR/2 ICE has an impressive set of conversion utilities. To see if a converter
exists to fit your needs, see the list of conversions available via direct ftp.
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These tools are indeed active and available from within the message editor.
The supporting word databases are not distributed with the beta
zip files, but are available as separate files. If the word bases are
found by MR/2 ICE, the tools will function properly. You can ftp the
appropriate files right here by clicking
here for the large dictionary support
files, or here for the thesaurus database.
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I could offer this as an option, but it really would be meaningless at this time.
This form is not time delayed or anything of that nature, it is merely displayed
as soon as MR/2 ICE starts to execute, and disappears the minute it is ready to
run. So, if it wasn't displayed, there would still be some "dead time" where you would
wonder what was happenning. I've tried to play tricks with program load and free up the
system while this was processing, but I've had little luck to-date. I believe I
now know how to do it correctly, and will attempt again during the v1.0 cleanup phase.
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This isn't really MR/2 ICE getting "stuck". Here's what happens. MR/2
ICE starts exchanging FROM/TO address information with sendmail. You
see that flash by. Then the message itself. That's the progression
meter stage. Then it tells sendmail "I'm done", which is the close.
From here, ICE waits for a simple "OK" (For those that like to be
technical, it's actually a line starting with a numeric status code) to
be sent back from sendmail. During this time, you see the "Sending
close ..." message.
Sendmail can be set up different ways, but default OS/2 setup calls for it
to actually DELIVER the message on close. It must deliver the message
before returning an "OK". There are ways to tell it to "deliver at your
leisure", although I forget what flags to set, and I didn't like this mode.
So, your SMTP Host is probably timing out waiting to deliver the message.
That can be for a number of reasons. You *could* try using your provider's
SMTP server. Alternatively, try using the IBM Advantis SMTP host:
smtp-gw01.ny.us.ibm.net
Why is it timing out? Well, usually mail goes through from here.
Occassionally a remote site will have trouble and delivery will fail. If a
site isn't running at the time of the send, you get an unsuccessful send
(and often a mailer daemon message that "service is not available".
Another possibility, if ALL messages are failing, is that the DNS lookup
for your mail service is broken, and/or you're not connected to your
provider. Anything that would keep the message from being delivered, or
slows it down considerably.
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Groups are lists of email address used to mass-distribute email notices. When
you send a note to a GROUP, each menber is sent the identical email message.
At this time, the group function does not work well with POP3 sends. It
works perfectly with SMTP sends. To test, set Options->Settings to send
via SMTP and set your SMTP host to be the generic:
smtp-gw01.ny.us.ibm.net
Groups are meant to handle extremely large lists, and hence, MR/2 does
NOT spell all target addresses out on the TO line . I will rework this
soon and have an "option". In the meantime, I do have around 1000
addresses in an announcement list, and it works well. You just can't send
via POP3.
On the other hand, the Address Book entries will hold medium size lists of people, WILL
include all names on the TO line and hence are POP3 compatible.The limit
is around 4K of addresses, which averages 100-150 people.
Just separate each address with comma's.
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Much more to come!!!
Nick Knight <nick@mr2ice.com>