Inspired by "Dale Mentzer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I would like to make some remarks concerning Pegasus Mail customization when using Arachne as a mail transport agent --------------------------------- > Run PCONFIG.EXE and select "Manage user- defined > gateway". Then hit <INS> key to define new gateway. Then edit the > following options you will see: > *Filename format : ~d~d.TBS <--notice this is Arachne outgoing > mail filename format > Simple message headers? : No formatting <--this is probably key to > making messages Arachne > will send properly With a defined gateway for ARACHNE, Pegasus writes the header of the TBS files according to the selections of PMAIL.INI and PMGATE.SYS. This includes the from and reply-to addresses as well as the charset selection. Everything goes from Pegasus through Arachne without change. There are some functions Arachne/Insight do better and others which are more practical in Pegasus. I prefer Pegasus as far as file/folder management is concerned and Arachne in viewing attachments. 1. File/folder management ------------------------- - if you like to save sent mail then it is more practical in Pegasus. Arachne.cfg should contain the option "KillSent Yes" - Pegasus can sort incoming mail automatically. You might use Arachne INBOX for a first quick view at the new mail (and attachments), before it is filed into several folders - deleting and moving files to folders is much faster in Pegasus. It is up to you whether you like to archive messages as single files in DOS directories (readable from Arachne or Norton Commander), in a virtual directory system (less space on disk, but readable only in Pegasus) or in a combination of both. Pegasus' included tutorial GUIDE.EXE gives advice how to setup real directories as folders: - directories must be named like XXXXXXXX.MAI where XXXXXXXX is the short name of the folder - in every directory there has to be a file PMFOLDER.ID containing just the long name of the folder. This alternative might be useful if you want to view messages with links and attachments from Arachne later on. At any time you can move messages from a virtual folder into a folder directory and back again. I use this mainly for moving mails through floppy and LPT/COM connection from one PC to another. In Arachne you can define a function key (Shift F1 - Shift F10) for a directory list of messages in those Pegasus folders which you set up as DOS directories. 2. Viewing attachments ---------------------- Both programs - Pegasus and Arachne - can enable DOS executables to view certain kinds of attachments. And may be this is what the term MIME is all about. I have to admit that I do not understand very much of this, yet. But basically, I would prefer to view, print, extract, and convert text attachments (DOC, RTF, HTML containing mainly text) right in Pegasus, whereas pictures or zipfiles can probably be left to Arachne or a file manager. Anyway, both programs have to be customized in order to call the appropriate programs: a) Arachne: MIME.CFG obviously contains any necessary information and can be directly edited - according to the syntax of the commandlines, I would wish to have much more explanation in the Arachne documentation (!) b) Pegasus: I do not know exactly from which version of DOS Pegasus I got the tool RESOURCE.ZIP. It helps to customize almost everyhing: menu, charset, forms and also mime. The command lines in the source file to be edited are even more mysterious than at Arachne (where can I find the underlying standard?). The packet includes a compiler that creates the file PM-MIME.RSC providing the necessary information while Pegasus is running. Though I am not very far with this, I believe that even here it makes sense to use Arachne and Pegasus in a complementary manner rather than as an alternative to each other. 3. Language support ------------------- To have an English menu in the program need not be so important. The most amazing feature of DOS Pegasus is IMO the support of different ISO charsets. Its is just in a few add-on files, but works perfectly: I can even read Russian incoming mails in Czech Latin-2 transcription, and no problems with WINDOWS or not WINDOWS... If anybody is interested in how the language support of Pegasus can be coordinated with DOS's codepage switch, I can give further details. Greetings Christof Lange, Prague End of message [EMAIL PROTECTED]
