Copyright: Copyright M Gibbons, mgibbons@oemcomp.demon.co.uk


Contents

This help file contains the text of the DICS documentation, with the added benefit of pop up definitions of terms used. This help file is based on the documentation for version 4.3 of DICS.

Note that you can use the COPY button to copy sample text to the clipboard.

You can also use the ANNOTATE button, to add your own notes and comments to sections of the help file.

Introduction

This section describes the extreme basics - where to get DICS, what it is for, how to pay for it.

Installation

This section describes the basics of installation. What files you need, here to put them, and so forth.

Configuration

How to get DICS the way you want it, including your first calls, and the MAPI / MS Mail gateway.

Graphic Guide

A point and click visual guide around the screens and buttons of DICS. Whilst precise details will differ for your setup this gives a useful guide as to what to expect.

Index

An index to the section headings in this help file.

Glossary

A list of definitions and terms used, including abbreviations that are commonly seen in news, mail, and technical terms.


Introduction

The basics of DICS:

What is DICS for?

Why was DICS written?

How does DICS work?

Where can I get DICS from?

How much is DICS?


What DICS is for.
What is DICS for?

DICS is a Winsock 1.1 compliant application which will send / receive News and Mail on a BATCH basis. It will also set your PC Clock.

A Major feature, as from version 4.1, is DICS's ability to act as a Mail gateway between an MSmail/MAPI system AND the SMTP delivery Mechanism.

DICS is made up of the following "Integrated" components.

TimeClient: To set your Clock; connects to a time service server

NNTPClient: To receive NEWS using NNTP

SMTPClient: To send MAIL using SMTP

SMTPServer: To receive MAIL; onwardly forward or mailbox

MAPIGateway: Integrates with the SMTPClient And SMTPServer components as bi-directional gateway SMTP<->MAPI


Why DICS was written.

DICS was originally designed as a replacement to using KA9Q for the transport of NEWS / MAIL - DICS is specifically for the Windows 3.1+ / Winsock environment, KA9Q is a DOS program.

The basic features that DICS offers tend to be more appropriate to sites that have dial-up access to the Internet.  These sites usually want to log onto the Internet, download and upload news and mail on a BATCH basis and then log off again.  Using SMTP / NNTP transport mechanisms is one way of achieving this.

DICS is not just restricted to dial-up sites, however. Anybody in need of SMTP / NNTP transport mechanisms in the Windows/PC Lan environement can use DICS.

This is especially true since the inclusion of the MAPI / SMTP gateway function. DICS can now sit on a LAN and silently move Mail from one system to the other and back again.


How DICS works.

MAIL and NEWS is "Moved" by DICS using SMTP and NNTP protocols respectively.

DICS is NOT a Mail OR News Reader - it is a transport provider.  However, DICS has been designed to work alongside existing off-line programs for the reading of news and mail, specifically SNEWS and PCELM and the windows derivitives thereof.

DICS can be set to "poll" its various client functions on an interval basis. For example: It can be configured to check for, and download, NEWNEWS every 10 minutes - this can happen in the background - even at the same time that you are uploading mail to a mail server for example.


Where to get DICS

DICS is shareware, that does NOT mean that it is free.  You may download DICS and try it for 30 days to see if it fits your requirements - if it does then you MUST register the product so that you may carry on using it after the 30 day evaluation period has ended.

DICS can be downloaded from TWO sources, DEMON on the Internet or directly from our companies Opus BBS Machine - SEE BELOW.

DEMON:- Dics is available from ftp.demon.co.uk and is in the following directory:

/pub/ibmpc/winsock/apps/dics

OEMBBS:- It can also be DOWNLOADED from the companies Opus BBS Machine.

To do this dial 01788 570217 (UK) and you will be greeted with a BinkleyTerm Frontend. *Don't Panic* just hit return a couple of times followed by ESC. After the opening banner enter your name and make up a password.  Move to the File area by hitting 'F'.  Select 'D' for download, select your protocol and enter the Filename that you wish to Download. After you have received the file enter 'G' for Goodbye. (MAX SPEED V32bis or HST 14.4 approx 1600 bytes per second)


Paying for DICS

As from 1st October 1994, DICS is officially Shareware  - Registrations are to contribute towards the further cost of product development.

DICS was originally created for sheer pleasure; The company has been very generous in funding development alone upto this point.  However from now on development costs must also be supported by you the user in the form of shareware registrations.

Therefore, if you use DICS regularily I plead, urge, beg you to be generous and register for DICS - You won't get anything apart from what you've got already (and peace of mind) - but you will be registering your approval of the program and ensure continued rapid development of the package.

The MINIMUM Registration cost for any version of DICS upto and including Version 4.1 is as follows but please be generous:

£19.95 (UKP) for an individual machine

For multi-machine business customers:

£99.95 (UKP) for a site license

The site license includes for the use of the *NEW* MAPI (Microsoft Mail) gateway functions built in to 4.1 - Please see other postings in the newsgroup.

Prices INCLUDE VAT - Vat receipts will be issued on request.

Payment can be made by Cheque, Postal Order, Visa and Access. Cheques and PO's should be made payable to OEM Computer Systems and sent to:

OEM Computer Systems
11 Regent Street
Rugby
Warwickshire
CV21 2PE

Visa and MasterCard are also accepted; Credit Card Orders may be placed as follows:

By fax to:      01788 546919
By telephone:   01788 570522
By email:       orders@oemcomp.demon.co.uk   OR  orders@oemcomp.com


Installation of DICS

Please note that most of the topics under this section will look a lot clearer with the help window maximised!

Directory Structure

Files and where they belong

Icons and sounds


Directory Structure

When setting up DICS it is best to start with a KA9Q type of directory structure - Demon users will have this structure already - for those who are not demon users and are not familar with KA9Q, the structure is as follows:

(if you are a DEMON user you can skip to the next section: Files)

C:\DEMON\
C:\DEMON\SPOOL
C:\DEMON\SPOOL\MQUEUE   ;Outwards Mail Queue Directory
C:\DEMON\SPOOL\MAIL     ;Inwards Mail & Control Directory
C:\DEMON\SPOOL\NEWS     ;News Control Directory
C:\DEMON\SPOOL\ARTICLES ;The directory for incoming NEWS

The C:\DEMON part can be anything - it is not important; C:\FRED is fine. HOWEVER, for ease of installation, it is recommended that C:\DEMON is used as the tree root, unless you know what you are doing, as all the defaults assume it to be C:\DEMON.

There are various KA9Q type control files which lurk around this structure, they are as follows:

C:\DEMON\DEMON.BAT           ;Demon Menu File
                             ;(Don't worry If not Present)
C:\DEMON\AUTOEXEC.NET        ;KA9Q File
                             ;(Don't worry if not present)
C:\DEMON\ALIAS               ;A file that will expand
                             ;mail aliases. I.E.
                             ;if post sent to
                             ;all@yourco.com the alias
                             ;file can be used to expand
                             ;this to individual
                             ;named recipients.
                             ;
                             ;THIS FILE MUST BE PRESENT
                             ;FOR MAPI GATEWAY.
                             ;
                             ;A sample is as follows:

---cut here------cut here------cut here------

mgibbons mgibbons Mark_Gibbons@mapi
cgibbons cgibbons Caroline_Gibbons@mapi
postmaster mgibbons
default deliver

---cut here------cut here------cut here------

             ;A further explanation of the ALIAS file is
             ;given in the MAPI gateway section.

C:\DEMON\SPOOL\MQUEUE\SEQUENCE  ;Holds the NEXT message                                 ;number for outgoing
                                ;mail - usually about 5
                                ;bytes long - a number
                                ;like 456 and <CR><LF>.
                                ;SHOULD BE PRESENT -
                                ;USED BY MAPI GATEWAY AND
                                ;SMTP MAIL FORWARDING
C:\DEMON\SPOOL\MAIL\[name].TXT  ;This is where your
                                ;incoming mail goes.
                                ;If you select multiple
                                ;mailboxes (the default)
                                ;you will find the mail
                                ;for the appropriate
                                ;handle in a file of the
                                ;same name with the
                                ;".TXT" extension.
                                ;
                                ;I.E. Mail for
                                ;joe@yourmachine.com would
                                ;end up in a file JOE.TXT
                                ;
                                ;Log Files (if option
                                ;switched on) also appear
                                ;in this directory.
                                ;
                                ;SMTPINW.LOG for the SMTP
                                ;Server SMTPOUT.LOG for
                                ;the SMTP Client
C:\DEMON\SPOOL\NEWS\NNTP.DAT    ;This specifies the
                                ;newsgroups which should
                                ;be downloaded from your
                                ;chosen newsserver.
                                ;This file is updated
                                ;with the last time you
                                ;connected with the
                                ;newsserver so that DICS
                                ;can issue appropriate
                                ;NEWNEWS request
                                ;the next time.
                                ;THIS FILE MUST BE PRESENT
                                ;FOR THE NNTP CLIENT TO
                                ;WORK.
                                ;
                                ;An example of the
                                ;contents and format of
                                ;this file is as follows:

---cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here---

news.demon.co.uk 941015 131410
alt.lang.basic
alt.winsock
comp.lang.basic.visual
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.misc
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.setup
comp.protocols.ppp
comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.announce
comp.windows.ms.programmer
demon.announce
demon.ip.developers
demon.ip.discoveries
demon.ip.support
demon.ip.support.pc
demon.ip.support.pc.announce
demon.ip.support.winsock
demon.ip.winsock
demon.ip.winsock.dics
demon.sales
demon.sales.d
demon.test

---cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here

C:\DEMON\SPOOL\NEWS\KILL        ;A file which is used to
                                ;"match" against
                                ;incoming Article header
                                ;lines - if the
                                ;header line is matched
                                ;then the article
                                ;is either definately
                                ;fetched or killed
                                ;dependent on the syntax
                                ; of the line.
                                ;
                                ;THIS FILE IS OPTIONAL
                                ;
                                ;Exact format of this file
                                ;is described in
                                ;the file DISPC.TXT
                                ;available on
                                ;ftp.demon.co.uk. A sample
                                ;is as follows:

---cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here

Lines: *[0-9][0-9][0-9]*
Newsgroups: *rec.pets*
!Newsgroups: *rec.pets.gerbils*

---cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here
                                ;The example above will
                                ; KILL:
                                ;-- all articles greater
                                ;   than 99 lines
                                ;-- all articles in groups
                                ;   spanning from
                                ;   *rec.pets*
                                ;   BUT KEEP articles
                                ;   specifically in:
                                ;   *rec.pets.gerbils*
:\DEMON\SPOOL\NEWS\GET          ;A list of article Ids
                                ;which will be
                                ;unconditionally retrieved
                                ;at the start of
                                ;the next news session.
                                ;
                                ;THIS FILE IS OPTIONAL
                                ;
                                ;A sample is as follows:

---cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here

<233390014wnr@parsley.demon.co.uk>
<35454snz@oemcomp.demon.co.uk>

---cut here------cut here------cut here------cut here--

                                ;Usually you build this
                                ;file AFTER you have
                                ;read the header from the
                                ;original download
                                ;when the article had been
                                ;KILLED.
C:\DEMON\SPOOL\ARTICLES\BATCH.TXT

                                ;This file holds all
                                ;incoming news articles.
                                ;After arrival this file
                                ;needs to be Unbatched
                                ;for use with existing
                                ;offline mail readers
                                ;such as SNEWS (DOS) or
                                ;NEWSWIN (WINDOWS). Both
                                ;these packages are
                                ;available on
                                ;ftp.demon.co.uk

Suggested Reading:

DISPC.TXT textfile available of ftp.demon.co.uk
KA9Q Documentation files (as above)

Both files are available on ftp.demon.co.uk


DICS files and where they go

Extract the files from the distribution ZIP file into a new subdirectory. Some files then need to be moved as follows:

The files:

DICS.EXE
DICS.TXT
DICSHIST.TXT
READDICS.1ST

Can be placed anywhere, preferably in a new subdirectory.

The files:

MAIL.WAV
NEWS.WAV
DICS.ICO
MAILONLY.ICO
NEWSONLY.ICO
MAILNEWS.ICO

MUST be placed in the default working directory. I.E. Where DICS.INI is created / found. The WAV files may be moved but the their fully qulified paths must be amended in the setup section of NEWS and MAIL.

The files:

MCI.VBX
MSMAPI.VBX
WSANET.VBX
WSANET.HLP
VBCTL3D.VBX
DICSDLL.DLL
VBDB300.DLL
VBRUN300.DLL
MSAFINX.DLL
MSABC110.DLL
MSAES110.DLL
MSAJT110.DLL

MUST all be copied into your WINDOWS\SYSTEM subdirectory

The files:

HISTORY.MDB
HISTORY.LDB

MUST all be copied into your DEMON\SPOOL\NEWS subdirectory

The file:

DICSUBAT.BAT

Should be placed in your \DEMON subdirectory.


Icons and sounds

To create DICS icon:

Run windows and:

1 	Select NEW from the File menu of program manager.

2 	Select NEW from the File menu of program manager.

3 	Select new ITEM

4 	Use Browse to Navigate to wherever you have put DICS.EXE on your system.  Otherwise enter the full path of the DICS.EXE file in the Command box

5 	Select OK

6 	You should now have an Icon with Dics underneath

If you are a DEMON / SNEWS user you should also create an Icon to call
DICSUBAT - This is a batch file which will UNBATCH your downloaded news
into the indexed SNEWS file structures.

To create DICSUBAT icon:

1 	Click on the program group where you wish to add DICS to.

2 	Select new ITEM

3 	Use Browse to Navigate to wherever you have put DICSUBAT.BAT on your system.  Otherwise enter the full path of the DICSUBAT.BAT file in the Command box

4 	Select OK

5 	You should now have an Icon with Dicsubat underneath

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU EDIT DICSUBAT.BAT FOR YOUR CORRECT SETTINGS!!


Configuration of DICS

Detailed information on getting DICS working and working the way you want.

Winsock Hosts

The First Run

Second and Subsequent Runs

MAPI / MS Mail Gateway.


Configuration of Winsock hosts

So that you can Enter / Exit DICS freely when you are OFFLINE (To make Configuration changes for instance) and to speed up DNS resolutions Online you MUST put entries in your Winsock HOSTS file for the following:

Your Machine
The machine that will serve you the time
The machine that will serve you news
The machine that will serve and receive from you mail

For example:  (This is factual data for Demon users as 01/10/94)

158.152.20.112  oemcomp.demon.co.uk    <- Your Machine
                                          of course!!
158.152.1.65    gate.demon.co.uk
158.152.254.254 news.demon.co.uk
158.152.1.72    post.demon.co.uk
158.152.1.96    betanews.demon.co.uk

If you do not specify all the above entries in the HOSTS file it is possible that you will encounter WSAEINPROGRESS errors.


Your first run of DICS

IT IS SUGGESTED - TO SAVE YOUR PHONE BILLS - THAT YOU RUN DICS FOR THE FIRST TIME OFFLINE - MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AMENDED YOUR HOSTS FILE AS ABOVE OR YOUR MACHINE WILL POSSIBLY LOCKUP.

The first time you run DICS it will look for a configuration file which it won't find! DICS will inform you of this and ask how you wish to go about configuration.

If you currently use KA9Q it is possible for DICS to pick up most of the information it needs by looking at the KA9Q files. To do this enter the existing path of your KA9Q autoexec.net file. It will suggest to you that the correct answer is "C:\DEMON\".  If this is not correct then alter the answer to point to your basic KA9Q or DEMON directory.  DICS will then interrogate your KA9Q files (and DEMON.BAT if present) for the information it needs and then will display these settings on the Setup screen.

If you DON'T use KA9Q just click the Cancel button and DICS will take you straight to the setup screens where you can change the defaults.

Whether DICS has got its configuration automatically or not, take time to check the settings carefully for each sub option - i.e. Mail server, News Client, Time Client,  Mail Client and Mapi Gateway.

Click on the SAVE button and your DICS configuration will be saved to disk.

IT IS SUGGESTED THAT YOU THEN EXIT DICS BY CLICKING THE CLOSE BUTTON - IT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA TO CLICK ON EITHER OF THE TWO "KICK" BUTTONS WHILST YOU ARE OFFLINE - THIS COULD HANG YOUR SYSTEM!


Second and subsequent runs of DICS

Click the DICS Icon - This will invoke your Winsock automatically.  If you are a dial-up site and you have a more recent beta version of the Trumpet Winsock and you have it configured for dial on demand, then it should dial and connect you with the Internet automatically

If NEWS,MAIL and TIME have been set to auto-kick (a Value greater than 0) then you should start to see things happen on the screen!

At anytime you may manually kick any of the Service Clients by clicking the appropriate button. (Assuming they are not already engaged)

After you have finished your DICS session, click the Close command button to exit DICS.  Run DICSUBAT by clicking its icon. News should be unbatched and SNEWS started.


MAPI and MS Mail Gateway

This section describes in detail how to set up the gateway to Microsoft mail.

MAPI Overview

MAPI common errors

MAPI step by step

Outbound mail from MAPI

Replying to gateway mail

And this is what the MAPI gateway setup screen looks like:


MAPI Overview

DICS provides a low cost solution for moving mail between SMTP based and MAPI based systems.  It provides a Gateway function.

Microsoft charge $3000 for their SMTP gateway! Its a DOS program and has to run on a seperate machine WITH a seperate Unix SmartHost!!!!! Ok its fully functional and integrates fairly seamlessly but it is expensive and overkill for most people.  You also require MSMail 3.2!

The DICS approach is for people with bog standard WfWg Mail and is quite simplistic - but it works well and will solve 99% of what people need.


MAPI common errors

The most common error that we answer questions about is that mail has been sent out the gateway from "someone@yourco.com".  The "someone" prefix is used if DICS cannot ascertain who the mail has come from on the MAPI system.

This is usually because the ALIAS file has not been set up correctly or not at all.

PLEASE KEEP RE-READING ALL THE INSTALLATION DOCUMENTATION UNTIL YOU FULLY UNDERSTAND IT AND HAVE COMPLIED WITH ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS.


MAPI Step By Step

Basic Directory structure

You should mimick the following directory structure (as described in the Installation section above)

C:\DEMON\
C:\DEMON\SPOOL
C:\DEMON\SPOOL\MQUEUE
C:\DEMON\SPOOL\MAIL
C:\DEMON\SPOOL\NEWS
C:\DEMON\SPOOL\ARTICLES

- In the MQUEUE directory you should have a file called SEQUENCE.SEQ with one text line giving a sequence number like "100" (no quotes in file).

- In the DEMON directory you should have an ALIAS file as described later in this section.

- The MQUEUE directory is important.  When DICS speaks to MAPI and gets messages it writes them into the MQUEUE directory. The SMTP client   then re-reads them from that Dir and sends them out to your defined mail exchange.

MSmail Account Setup

- Logon to your PostOffice using your post office manager account
- Setup a new account with the NAME "Internet Relay" and MAILBOX of Internet"
- You do not enter the "" Quote marks obviously!
- LogOut as manager and log back on as "internet"
- Change the 'Check Mail every' setting in mail options to 1 or 2 minutes
- Check that the Server option specifies the PostOffice and not a local file

DICS Account Setup - ALIAS File

- If you have moved over from KA9Q you will already have an alias file in the same directory as Autoexec.net - if not create one in your BASE   subdirectory

- You should put entries in the Alias file for ALL possible recipients of mail on the MAPI system i.e. all local PostOffice MAPI users.  If you know a person will not send or receive gatewayed mail then you do not need to include them. The file should look like this example :

(be aware that @mapi is a reserved domain as far as DICS is concerned)

  sjones Stuart_Jones@mapi
  phughes Paul_Hughes@mapi
  lwilson Linda_Wilson@mapi

(The underscore should be a straight replacement for any space Chars in the NAME of the MAPI recipient)

Using the above ALIAS file, any mail comming in from SMTP addressed to

        phughes@example.demon.co.uk

would be forwarded to the "Paul Hughes" on the WfWg system.

You can also have multiple recipients of the same message by ALIASing as follows:

  all Stuart_Jones@mapi Paul_Hughes@mapi Linda_Wilson@mapi

which would send SMTP mail addressed to all@example.demon.co.uk to each  of the recipients listed.

IMPORTANT: Make sure that any Multiple Recipient Aliases come after the lines for individual users.

You can also send one copy of an incoming message to your standard PC-ELM textual mailbox and one copy to your account on MSMail.

This is how we have ours setup at the moment:

  mcox mcox Matthew_Cox@mapi
  mgibbons mgibbons
  cgibbons cgibbons Caroline_Gibbons@mapi
  ....
  ....
  msuffield msuffield Michael_Suffield@mapi
  postmaster mgibbons Mark_Gibbons@mapi msuffield Michael_Suffield@mapi
  default deliver

- After you have setup your ALIAS file start DICS

- Select Setup then MAPI Setup

- Enter the MAILBOX of the Internet account that you set up earlier "Internet"

- Enter the Password that you set up at the time

- You can now select to what degree you want Mail Headers transferred across to the MAPI system. ALL will, believe it or not, transfer all headers so you will see all the receive lines etc in your MS Mail window

We would suggest a level of BASIC

All header lines tranferred are ">" quoted automatically so that there is no chance of header corruption/misinterpretation IF the post is replied to. This is because MSMail has no mechanism to strip these headers on reply.

 When an MSmail REPLY is received by DICS the MSINTERNAL headers are striped and NEW header info is added by the Gateway.

- Lastly Enable the Gateway function

- Save DICS Settings

- Exit DICS

- Re-Start DICS - The Gateway is now operational


Outbound mail from MAPI

For Mail that you wish to send through the gateway you must do the following:

Set The MSMail "To:" field to "Internet Relay" either by selecting it from the address list or entering it manually

You may use the "Cc:" field for internal MSMail recipients only.

Set the "Subject:" field to the subject that you desire AND ADD ON THE END THE EXTERNAL RECIPIENTS as the following example:

------------------------------------------------------------------
To:       Internet Relay
Cc:
Subject:  An example of sending mail <mgibbons@oemcomp.com>
------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello this is a message
------------------------------------------------------------------

It's as easy as that!!  If you have multiple recipients, seperate them with a SPACE but keep them all within the "<>" brackets such as:

Subject:  Another Example <mgibbons@oemcomp.com fred@example.demon.co.uk>


Replying to GATEWAY mail

Mail that is forwarded to you through the gateway will already have the reply-to address at the end of the Subject line.

You therefore have to do NOTHING but hit the reply button, edit your message and hit send.

Don't worry about the header info MSmail applies when you hit the reply button - it will all be removed at the gateway.


Graphic Guide

This image shows you what DICS looks like when it's running and connected, (note, these screen dumps were grabbed from version 4.3 - you will also see other differences depending on how you have DICS set up to meet your individual needs)

Just click on the panel or button you wish to know more about in the image below.


Index

C

Close Button

Configuration of DICS

Configuration of Winsock hosts

Contents

D

DICS files and where they go

DICS Setup screen

Directory Structure

G

Glossary

Graphic Guide

H

How DICS works.

I

Icons and sounds

Index

Installation of DICS

Introduction

K

Kick NNTP button

Kick SMTP Button

Kick Time Button

M

Mail Client Window

MAPI and MS Mail Gateway

MAPI common errors

MAPI Overview

MAPI Step By Step

N

News Client Window

NNTP client setup window

O

Outbound mail from MAPI

P

Paying for DICS

R

Replying to GATEWAY mail

S

Second and subsequent runs of DICS

Setup Screen

SMTP client setup window

SMTP Server setup screen

SMTP Window

T

Time client setup screen

Time Client Window

W

What DICS is for.

Where to get DICS

Why DICS was written.

Y

Your first run of DICS


Glossary

This glossary covers a great many general Internet and computing terms and abbreviations, not just those relevant to DICS.

#

@

A

AFAIK

ALIAS

Anonymous FTP

Archie

Archive

articles

ASCII

B

background

bandwidth

BBS

betanews.demon.co.uk

bitmap

block

body

BTDT

byte

C

CCITT

Cello

CIX

CLI

Client

CU

Cyberspace

D

DASD

Demon

DICS

DICSUBAT

DIS

DLL

Domain Name Server

domain

DOS

Download

Duplex

E

e-mail

Encryption

F

FAQ

File Server

Finger

Flame

FOAD

FTP

FUD

Full Text

FX

G

gateway

Gopher

H

Handshake

Header

Host

HTML

Hypertext

I

IGABW

IMHO

Infobahn

Interface

Internet

IP

ISTM

K

KA9Q

Keep File

Kernel

Kick

Kill File

kill

L

LAN

List Server

Log

M

Mail

MAPI

MIME

modem

mosaic

MS Mail

MUD

N

NEWS

news.demon.co.uk

Newsgoup

newsgroup

NNTP

nulll modem

O

OCR

Offline

OLR

Online

Optical Disk

OTOH

P

packet

parity

password

PCELM

PGP

PITA

Poll

Protocol

R

ROFL

ROFLMHO

RTFM

S

scroll

Server

Shareware

Smiley

SMTP

Spool

SQL

Stop bit

surfing

T

tagline

TCP

throughput

TIA

Time Client Window

TLA

TPTB

TTFN

U

UNIX

Upload

USENET

V

V32 bis

V32

VBX

Veronica

W

WAGI

WAIS

WfWg

Winsock

World Wide Web

WTF

WWW


Close Button

The close button is used when you want to leave DICS. It is equivalent to the EXIT command on the file menu.


DICS Setup Screen

This is the screen you get when you press the SETUP button.

Note also the 4 setup icons near the bottom of this screen - click on them for more information on these options. They are equivalent to the buttons at the right hand side of the screen.

DICS Setup information


Kick NNTP button

Pressing the KICK NNTP button will make DICS try and establish a connection with the news server, to see if there is anything from USENET waiting for you.

You will be able to follow the progress of this operation in the News Client Window.

Use the scroll bars to review any information that has scrolled out of that window.


Kick SMTP Button

The KICK SMTP button will make DICS check to see if there is any undelivered mail that needs to be sent.

You will see the progress of this operation in the SMTP window - use the scroll bars to see any information that has scrolled off screen.


Kick Time Button

Pressing the KICK TIME button will make DICS try and establish a connection to the time server, to check if the clock on your PC is set accurately.

You can use the scroll arrows to see what happened if it does not all fit in the window at once.


Mail Client Window

This is the mail client window that shows progress of any outgoing mail, from you to someone else. You can adjust the amount of detail shown in this window with the verbosity level slider. In the example about there is no outgoing mail to process.


News Client Window

The News Client Window is where you can follow the progress of incoming USENET news. This starts with a scan of available news, then the actual messages are retrieved.

You can adjust the level of detail shown with the verbosity level slider.

You can use the vertical scroll bar to review information that has scrolled off of the screen in either of the windows that feature it..

You can choose if you want to see newly available newsgroups to be shown with the check box at the top left.

Don't forget that once news has been retrieved and DICS has closed down, you will need to unbatch it before it is available to be read.


NNTP client setup window

This is the setup screen for NNTP client:


Setup Screen

This shows you the display you get when you click on the SETUP button at the top level of DICS. This shows the main setup details - as you can see separate icons are presented for the setting up of the other aspects of DICS. Note that these screen dumps are taken from DICS 4.3

Click on the dics setup details part of the display for details of DICS configuration. Click on one of the setup icons at the bottom of the image to see the windows presented by these options.


SMTP client setup window

Here's the SMTP cliet setup screen:


SMTP Server setup screen

Here is the SMTP server setup screen:

Setup description


SMTP Window

This is the SMTP listener window. It will show you details of any mail coming in to your system. You can adjust the level of detail shown with the verbosity level slider. In the example shown above a mail message has just arrived.


Time client setup screen

This is the time client setup window:

You are unlikely to have to change the settings often, except when the clocks go forward or back.


Time Client Window

This window will show the progress of attempts to connect to the time server.

You can use the scroll bar at the side to look back at any information that has scrolled off screen.

In the example show the difference between the PC clock and the correct time was less than 10 seconds, so the time was not set.


@

The @ character separates a person from a machine in an address. It is generally pronounced 'at'.


AFAIK

As Far As I Know - abbreviation used in messages.


ALIAS

Much as in its converntional meaning. The ALIAS file holds alternative names.


Anonymous FTP

See FTP. The term FTP refers to transferring files over the net, anonymous means one end does not care who the other end is.


Archie

An Internet service which searches all ftp sites for files you specify by name.


Archive

Either a place where old files are stored, or sometimes used to refer to bundling files into a ZIP compressed volume.


articles

A term for messages in a USENET conference.


ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange. In English, plain text.


background

Things that happen while you are getting on with something else are said to happen in background.


bandwidth

A term generally used in the sense of a finite capacity for data transfer, as in "Don't waste bandwidth" ie don't send unessesary data.


BBS

Bulletin Board System. Some are on the Internet, some you must dial directly.


betanews.demon.co.uk

The faster of the two news providers at Demon Systems, (at the time of writing).


bitmap

A picture which is stored as a series of coloured dots. GIF, BMP and JPG are the most common PC bitmap formats.


block

Data is generally transferred in discrete chunks, called blocks.


body

The BODY of a message is the bit with the actual message text, that is leaving out headings, subject lines, taglines and so forth.


BTDT

Been There, Done That!


byte

One character of information, made up of 8 bits each of which is one or zero.


CCITT

A standards comittee.


Cello

A graphical browser for the World Wide Web.


CIX

Compulink Information Exchange, cix.compulink.co.uk


CLI

Command Line Interface. (That is, you type in commands to get things done)


Client

A client is a program that requests a service from another program. For example, a FINGER client is used to request information on a remote system.


CU

See You


Cyberspace

A term coined by Bill Gibson, science fiction author, that refers to a graphic representation of the whole network fed directly into the brain. (!)


DASD

Directly Accessible Storage Device. IBM speak for a hard disk.


Demon

An internet service provider.


DICS

Demon Internet Connection Services. The program whose help file you are reading!


DICSUBAT

DICSUBAT.BAT is the name of the batch file which pocesses mail brought in by DICS.


DIS

The DOS program provided as an Internet front end by Demon Systems.


DLL

Dynamic Link Library. A file which contains code that can be used by several programs - generally placed in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.


Domain Name Server

A service that will turn an alphabetic domain address, such as ftp.demon.co.uk into a unique numeric address.


domain

Part of the naming heirachy - the bit after the @ character. It may help to think of it as the name of a system, and the bit before the @ as a user. (But remember the bit before might also be a service).


DOS

The character base operating system that ruins on most IBM compatibles. Stands for Disk Operating System.


Download

To receive a file from a remote system.


Duplex

Full Duplex means data can flow both ways at once. Half duplex does either, but only one at a time.


e-mail

Electronic Mail - private, person to person messages.


Encryption

Coded. The most popular form of encryption at the time of writing is PGP, which stands for Pretty Good Privacy.


FAQ

Frequentoy Asked Questions. Many newsgroups maintain a file known as the FAQ file which deals with all the most common questions, to save other users from ansering them again and again. It is good manners to read the FAQ file before asking questions!


File Server

A computer system with the prime purpose of making files available over a network.


Finger

If you finger a person on the net, some basic information is generally returned about them. Finger can also be used to trigger the sending of other information.


Flame

anting, raving, and personal attacks in messages are known as flames. Thy achieve nothing, but some sad individuals seem to feel the need to indulge themselves.


FOAD

Go Away And Die - Offensive abbreviation used in messages.


FTP

File Transfer Protool. A way of sending files over the Internet. The term is also used to refer to a place where you can collect files, as in 'ftp site'. If an internet address starts with ftp, you can be sure there are files available there.


FUD

Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt


Full Text

This is used to refer to a file which has complete contents of a document, not just highlights or extracts.


FX

Effects. Used in messages like stage directions, for example 'FX: storms off in a huff'


gateway

A gateway is a link between two different systems - for example DICS provides a gateway between MS Mail and Internet mail.


Gopher

An menu driven Internet browsing tool. WS-Gopher works nicely on Windows systems.


Handshake

When two different systems work out if they can transfer data sucessfully they are said to handshake.


Header

The bit at the front of  message that says who it's from, who it's too, and so on.


Host

A system that provides a service.


HTML

Hyper Text Markup Language. Used to define World Wide Web pages.


Hypertext

A hypertext file is a txt files with 'jumps' built into it to let you immediately go to a new topic. Two good examples are this help file, and World Wide Web pages.


IGABW

I've Got A Bigger Willy


IMHO

In my humble opinion, (sometimes used ironically).


Infobahn

Pretentious term used by the ignorant to oversell the Internet.


Interface

The point at which two systems interact. For example, the interface of a program is the but you type or click commands into.


Internet

The worldwide network of networks. The Internet has many millions of users, and provides files, messages, electronic mail, and much much more.


IP

Internet Protocol.


ISTM

It seems to me...


KA9Q

Part of the DOS Internet setup provided by Demon Systems.


Keep File

A control file for news, which determines which news articles are collected.


Kernel

The most central, fundamental and important part of an operating system.


Kick

The term 'kick' means to start - so when you 'Kick Time' you make DICS try and conect with the time server, for example.


Kill File

A control file which determines which news articles are discarded.


kill

A 'kill' file holds terms which are used to identify unwanted articles. Also known as a twit filter, for its usefulness in removing messages from idiots.


LAN

Local Area Network


List Server

A service which allows people to automatically join or leave a mailing list. Typically you would join by sending the list server a SUBSCRIBE message, and leave it with an UNSUBSCRIBE message.


Log

A log file is a file that keeps a record of what happened when. Log files generally need clearing from time to time to get rid of ever increasing amounts of info.


Mail

Private, person to person messages.


MAPI

Mail Application Programable Interface. A standard to control exchange of mail between software packages.


MIME

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions. A standard for adding all sorts of files to messages, including sound and pictures.


modem

MODulator-dEModulator. The device that lets your computer send information over public phone lines.


mosaic

One of the most popular World Wide Web browsing programs.


MS Mail

Microsoft Mail. An email system which is provided by Microsoft with Windows for Workgroups. It is MAPI compliant.


MUD

Multi User Dungeon. An online game that several people play at the same time.


NEWS

News, also known as USENET is a collection of themed public messages. For example, there is a newsgroup called sci.space.tech where technical spaceflight isues are discussed. This is very similar to a buletin board ECHO.


news.demon.co.uk

The default news server provided by Demon Systems. Note that betanews.demon.co.uk is giving MUCH better performance at the time of writing.


Newsgoup

A USENET themed public conference. Like an ECHO on a conventional bulletin board.


newsgroup

A newsgroup is a USENET conference on a specific theme.


NNTP

Network News Transfer Protocol. The protocol for transfering news across the Internet.


nulll modem

A null modem cable is a cable that lets two computers talk to each other across a distance of a few feet, as if they were connected by modems.


OCR

Optical Character Recognition. Automatic scanning of text into a file as letters rather than an image.


Offline

You are said to be offline when you are NOT connected to your Internet service provider.


OLR

Offline Reader. Permits you to read and compose messages without being online.


Online

You are siad to be online when you are actually connected to your Internet provider.


Optical Disk

A storgae device that oprates by laser light instead of th magnetic way that hard drives operae.


OTOH

On The Other Hand


packet

A chunk of data, rather like a block.


parity

An extra on or zero added to a byte to ensure there are an even (or odd) number of ones in the total nine digits. That way if there are NOT th correct number at the receiving end the error can be detected.


password

A secret word used to 'prove' you are really who you say you are. Be careful not to pick a password that can be easily guessed such as 'password'. Write your passwords down and store them in a safe place in case you forget them.


PCELM

A program for reading electronic mail, provided by Demon Systems.


PGP

Pretty Good Privacy - An encryption system.


PITA

Pain In The Bottom


Poll

A system is said to poll when it checks if any services are required. For example, you might poll for mail every 3 minutes, to see if any more has arrived while you are online.


Protocol

An agreed standard for passing information. So that both ends know how to transfer the information, and can tell if its working.


ROFL

Rolling On Floor Laughing


ROFLMHO

Rolling On Floor Laughing My Head Off!


RTFM

Read The (friendly) Manual!


scroll

When text (or graphics) slides up the screen to make room for more, its said to be scrolling.


Server

A SERVER is a program that provides a service to a remote program. For example, if you request information from another system with the FINGER command, it is a SERVER process at the remote end that provides the data.


Shareware

A 'try before you buy' system of software distribution. If you use the software after the trial period you should send the author the requested amount. This is essential if the author is to continue to develope and support the software.


Smiley

Used to indicate the writer is not serious. They come in many varieties, but most commonly :-)


SMTP

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. The standard way of moving mail around the Internet.


Spool

Spooling is a term used for collecting up information, typically into a file for later processing.


SQL

Structured Query Language. A standard for database queries.


Stop bit

A one bit marker at the end of a charcter to indicate the end.


surfing

Net surfing refers to the act of exploring the Internet.


tagline

A short message at the end of the main body of the message. It often contains contact information for the message sender, and a 'witty' saying. Keep them short!


TCP

Transmission Control Protocol


throughput

The amount of data being transferred in a given time.


TIA

Thanks In Anticipation


Time Client Window

This window will show you what happens when DICS tries to connet to the time server.


TLA

Three Letter Abbreviation


TPTB

The Powers That Be - normally used with reference to restrictions by a service provider.


TTFN

Ta Ta For Now


UNIX

A computer operating system developed at Bell Labs. It is very common on the Internet, and when dealing with a remote command line, you will generally need to talk UNIX.


Upload

To send a file to a remote system.


USENET

The internets collection of NEWSGROUPs for public discussion. Not all newsgroups are availabl everywhere.


V32 bis

A modem speed standard.


V32

A modem speed standard.


VBX

A Visual Basix Extension file. These typically contain code used by visual basic controls, and are generally placed in the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.


Veronica

A service that allows you to search GOPHER menus worldwide for specific items of interest.


WAGI

What A Good Idea


WAIS

Wide Area Information Server. A method of searching indexed text.


WfWg

Windows for Workgroups.


Winsock

Winsock is a software system which provides Internet functionality to other Windows programs, such as DICS.


World Wide Web

WWW. A graphic system of linked menus that can span many Internet sites around the world. Rapidly becoming the most popular way of exploring the net. The most popular WWW browsers are Cello and Mosaic.


WTF

What The Flip?


WWW

World Wide Web - A graphic system of linked menus that can span many Internet sites around the world. Rapidly becoming the most popular way of exploring the net. The most popular WWW browsers are Cello and Mosaic.