Minuet Frequently Asked Questions
Chris D. Halverson
Archive-name: minuet-faq
Minuet Frequently Asked Questions
Version 1.4
16 May 1995
Written by: Chris D. Halverson <c...@MR.Net>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This document is a Frequently Asked Questions List for the Internet program
Minuet. The most current version is available via the following methods:
WWW: http://www.MR.Net/~cdh/minuet.html
FTP: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/minuet-faq
Email: Send mail to c...@MR.Net with the words send minuet in the Subject field.
USENET News: The Minuet FAQ is posted monthly on the 10th of the month to the
following newsgroups:
comp.os.msdos.mail-news
comp.infosystems.gopher
comp.answers
news.answers
This document is originally written in HTML, and is fully indexed in the
original HTML form. For quick access, it is recommended to read the version
available on the WWW.
This document is broken up in two sections. The first section deals with
general question about Minuet. The second section is specific questions
regarding the different modules included in Minuet. If you have any questions
or comments regarding the FAQ, please send email to c...@MR.Net. If you have
questions regarding Minuet, please send mail to min...@boombox.micro.umn.edu.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. General Minuet Questions
1.1 What is Minuet?
1.2 Where can I get Minuet?
1.3 What is the current version of Minuet?
1.4 What do I need in order to run Minuet?
1.5 How come my mouse does not work in Minuet, but it does in Windows?
1.6 How can I set up Minuet to run off a network server for multiple
users?
1.7 How can I use Minuet from within Windows?
1.8 Can I make custom menu selections?
1.9 Where can I get more information about Minuet?
1.10 Do I have to pay a fee to use Minuet?
1.11 Can I restrict users to certain services?
1.12 Is there a DOS shell escape?
1.13 Does Minuet run within OS/2?
1.14 Is there a Windows version of Minuet?
1.15 Can I spawn external viewer for graphics files?
1.16 Can I make dumps of the screen to a file?
1.17 Can Minuet access the World Wide Web?
2. Question about the Modules within Minuet
Gopher
2.1 How can I get the Gopher(+) information (the equivalent of the ``=''
key in the Unix client) in Minuet?
2.2 How can I go back up a level in Gopher?
2.3 How can I connect to a different Gopher server without changing the
server name in Setup->Server every time?
2.4 Can I preview messages without fetching them in Mail? News?
2.5 Can I compose messages off-line?
2.6 Can I do a bulk mailing of all my messages that I composed?
2.7 Can I decode MIME enclosures with Minuet?
2.8 How can I insert/append a text file in Minuet?
News
2.9 Why can't I connect to mudhoney.micro.umn.edu or news.tc.umn.edu for
News?
2.10 How can I download selected articles by using Position under the News
menu?
2.11 Can I decode a multi-part UUencoded message using Minuet?
2.12 Several newsgroups don't appear in Minuet's news reader, and they
appear when using another news reader. What can I do?
2.13 I get the error ``Error 502 - NNTP Server news.tc.umn.edu 119 can't
talk to you.'' What's wrong?
Telnet
2.14 Can I do multiple telnet sessions?
2.15 Can I capture a telnet session to a file?
2.16 How can I send a delete instead of a backspace in Telnet?
2.17 What if I use a different char set instead of English for Telnet? Can
I use other sets? How?
FTP
2.18 Can I specify a whole directory tree to skip to in FTP?
2.19 I'm trying to connect to an FTP server that runs on XYZ operating
system but I can't connect. Why?
Other
2.20 What is the Webster server that I should use?
2.21 I have a lot of machines listed in the Telnet and FTP dialog boxes.
Can I get rid of them without having to reinstall?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 General Minuet Questions
Contents of this section
1.1 What is Minuet?
Minuet stands for Minnesota Internet Users Essential Tool. It is an integrated
package that includes modules for E-mail (using the POP protocol), Gopher,
telnet, Usenet News and FTP. It provides an easy-to-use, mouse-driven graphical
user interface via the TurboVision libraries. It is a TCP/IP client that runs
over any type of TCP/IP network including ethernet and SLIP. It will work with
either static or dynamic IP numbers (bootp).
Contents of this section
1.2 Where can I get Minuet?
Minuet is available via anonymous FTP from:
ftp://minuet.micro.umn.edu/pub/minuet/
This is the top level minuet directory.
Contents of this section
1.3 What is the current version of Minuet?
1.0_Beta_18A
437485 May 12 17:55 minuarc.exe
Contents of this section
1.4 What do I need in order to run Minuet?
Most importantly you need an Internet provider and an account. If you have this
you can run Minuet on a LAN using your network card and a TCP/IP packet driver
for your card. If you do not have one already you can ftp one from:
ftp://boombox.micro.umn.edu/pub/pc/packet-drivers/drivers/
You can also use Minuet over a SLIP connection. We provide a SLIP driver and
dialer via anonymous ftp:
ftp://boombox.micro.umn.edu/pub/pc/slip/sliparc.exe
Contents of this section
1.5 How come my mouse does not work in Minuet, but it does in Windows?
Evidently you are not loading a mouse driver. Windows has a driver built into
the system, so it always works. If you bought a mouse, you should have received
a driver with it. Otherwise one comes with Windows, usually it is in the
windows directory as mouse.com or mouse.sys. Just run this from your
autoexec.bat or after it has completed to get mouse access from within Minuet.
See your DOS or mouse manual for more instructions.
Contents of this section
1.6 How can I set up Minuet to run off a network server for multiple users?
Use the /p option. This specifies the directory to store the configuration,
mail, ftp, news and gopher documents. For example, if your system has a network
drive k: that holds networked applications, then you could create a batch file
that is in the path before Minuet that calls:
K:\minuet\minuet /p=c:\mail %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
This will save the users configuration on the local c: drive in the mail
directory on drive C:.
You can also get instructions on how to setup different configurations for a
network, slip, and Windows from
ftp://boombox.micro.umn.edu/pub/pc/minuet/admin/
There are a number of files in there that explain how to setup multiple user
Minuet.
Contents of this section
1.7 How can I use Minuet from within Windows?
You will need to load the packet driver (either umslip or a network card
driver) with the ``-w'' option before you start Windows. You can also load
winpkt right after you load your driver. This is actually the preferred way,
but you will have to obtain winpkt separately (it comes with the winsock
distribution). You can also get it as part of the Crynwr collection of packet
drivers from:
ftp://boombox.micro.umn.edu/pub/pc/packet-drivers/drivers/pktd11.zip
Contents of this section
1.8 Can I make custom menu selections?
Yes, they will show up under the ``Window'' menu. You need to edit the file
CUSTOM.TXT. You can get online help on this by choosing the LUMINA option from
the Window menu and then clicking on Help (Alt-F1).
The example looks like this (more or less):
Library|telnet|pubinfo.ais.umn.edu|23|MENU|63|erm:|1|election:|MNCAT
This is how it works, each section is separated by a ``|'':
The first string is the title to show in the menu
Then comes the program to execute
The host to connect to
Port number
String to look for
String to send in response
Repeat above two steps as necessary
You can use this to automate telnet sessions by having Minuet automatically put
in your username and password. Bear in mind that the information is stored in
plain text format, so use caution putting passwords or other sensitive
information in the file.
Contents of this section
1.9 Where can I get more information about Minuet?
A manual will be available when Minuet gets out of beta testing. There is also
on-line help available by hitting SHIFT-F1 for the help index, or just F1 for
context sensitive help, almost anywhere in Minuet.
There are also two mailing lists set up: minuet-news is an unmoderated mailing
list for general discussion of Minuet, and minuet-announce is a moderated list
to which new version announcements and other administrivia will be to. To
subscribe to either list, send mail to listname...@boombox.micro.umn.edu.
For example, to subscribe to minuet-news, send mail to
minuet-ne...@boombox.micro.umn.edu
with the word ``subscribe'' somewhere in the body.
The book, ``PC Internet Tour Guide'', by Michael Fraase, is basically a book
about Minuet. It includes a very old version (Beta_4) with it, but is a fairly
complete guide to that version. A lot of information will still be relevant to
the current version.
If you have questions or problems with minuet, the development team has a
mailing list set up where we will try to address your problems. Send mail to
min...@boombox.micro.umn.edu. If you do not send the mail with Minuet, please
include the version of Minuet that you are using.
Contents of this section
1.10 Do I have to pay a fee to use Minuet?
That depends. If you are a University of Minnesota student, staff or faculty
member then you may use Minuet free. If you are not affiliated with the
University of Minnesota, you will have to pay a $&50 shareware fee for
individuals. To register Minuet, send payment to:
Distributed Computing Services
Attn: Minuet Shareware
190 Shepherd Labs
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN 55455
There are also site licenses available. For information contact
Contents of this section
1.11 Can I restrict users to certain services?
Sort of. You may use the command line option /only along with a service name,
as in ``minuet /gopher /only''. This will start up gopher right away, and when
gopher ends, it will terminate the program. However, this does not prevent
users from accessing the Window menu to select other services.
Contents of this section
1.12 Is there a DOS shell escape?
No, at this time there is not.
Contents of this section
1.13 Does Minuet run within OS/2?
Yes. If you are on a network, you shouldn't have to change anything to get
Minuet to run. If you are dialing in on a modem, you will have to change a
couple of settings for your DOS session. To do this, go to the Command Shells
folder. Click on the ``DOS Window'' icon with the right mouse button. Choose
Open->Settings. Then click on the second tab (DOS Settings). You need to change
the ``COM_Hold'' and ``COM_DIRECT_ACCESS'' from OFF to ON. Do this for the
``DOS Full Screen'' icon also. This will let OS/2 keep the serial connection
open.
Any info on OS/2 Warp would be appreciated
Contents of this section
1.14 Is there a Windows version of Minuet?
There are no immediate plans for a Windows version of Minuet, although Minuet
will run in a DOS window. See Question .
Contents of this section
1.15 Can I spawn external viewer for graphics files?
No. Minuet cannot spawn external programs of any kind, even if runnig from
within Windows. However, the upcoming "Beta 18" will have full graphics support
for GIF and JPEG files if running in Graphics mode.
Contents of this section
1.16 Can I make dumps of the screen to a file?
Yes. This happens most when connecting to a library, where the information on
the screen is spread across a number of screens. Instead of doing Print Screens
all the time to save the information, you can use Control-F2. This will create
a file called DUMPA.PAS in your subdirectory for mail. You can do this numerous
time, the resulting files will be called DUMPB.PAS, DUMPC.PAS, etc. This will
be a screen dump, including the ANSI characters that make up the screen. You
can also use any other screen dump programs.
Contents of this section
1.17 Can Minuet access the World Wide Web?
Yes. If you have the most current version, Beta18 (see Question 1.3, and
Question 1.2 for more info), you can access the World Wide Web.
Contents of this section
2 Question about the Modules within Minuet
Contents of this section
Gopher
2.1 How can I get the Gopher(+) information (the equivalent of the ``='' key in
the Unix client) in Minuet?
Use the right mouse button and click on the object. If the object is listed
with parens, ``(''and ``)'', around the descriptor, as in (FILE), you will get
the Gopher+ information associated with the item. If it has angle brackets
around it, as in <FILE>, you will get the selector string for the item.
Contents of this section
2.2 How can I go back up a level in Gopher?
To go back up a level, you just click on whatever level you want to go to from
within the upper part of the Gopher window. There is no ``Go Back'' button like
there was in PC Gopher III.
If you don't have a mouse, just hit the TAB key twice (or SHIFT-TAB once) to
get to the top part of the window and use the arrow keys to move around.
Contents of this section
2.3 How can I connect to a different Gopher server without changing the server
name in Setup->Server every time?
All you need to do is hold down the shift key while clicking on 'New Gopher'.
This also pops up a history list like the ones for Telnet and FTP. You can also
leave the Gopher server in Setup->Servers blank and Minuet will always pop up a
dialog box prompting for a server name.
Contents of this section
2.4 Can I preview messages without fetching them in Mail? News?
Not at this time. It is planned for future revisions.
Contents of this section
2.5 Can I compose messages off-line?
Yes. If you are dialing in with a modem, instead of doing a ``slip minuet'',
just type ``minuet''. You will not be able to do anything other than compose
mail and read old mail, but you can compose as many messages that you want (as
long as you have space on your hard drive) and Minuet will save them
automatically.
Contents of this section
2.6 Can I do a bulk mailing of all my messages that I composed?
Yes. Just hold down the SHIFT key and click on ``Send'' or do a SHIFT-F4.
Contents of this section
2.11 Can I decode MIME enclosures with Minuet?
Minuet does not yet support Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME). This
may be implemented in a future version.
Contents of this section
2.13 How can I insert/append a text file in Minuet?
Choose the ``Text'' conversion option when enclosing. That will append the text
file to the end of your message and won't require the user to use binhex or
uudecode to translate the message. ``Text'' is available from the dialog box
where you choose the file you want to enclose.
Contents of this section
News
2.9 Why can't I connect to mudhoney.micro.umn.edu or news.tc.umn.edu for News?
These news servers are for University of Minnesota users only. You will need to
find a local news server in order to use the News facility.
Contents of this section
2.10 How can I download selected articles by using Position under the News
menu?
By default (by not selecting the position), you should be positioned at the
first available message when you fetch. The available message numbers in a
newsgroup may not start with 1, they may range from, say 348 to 650. When you
choose Position from the News menu, you can enter a msg number and click on OK.
Then you can choose Get New News from the News menu to get all available
articles starting with the number you entered.
Contents of this section
2.12 Can I decode a multi-part UUencoded message using Minuet?
No, Minuet cannot decode multi-part messages. You will have to get a standalone
uudecoder and then save all the messages into one big file, edit out the mail
headers, and then run the file through the uudecode program. The built in
uudecoding is basically meant for single part files since they would be
attachments to a message.
Contents of this section
2.14 Several newsgroups don't appear in Minuet's news reader, and they appear
when using another news reader. What can I do?
Minuet assumes the list of newsgroups is sorted. Many news servers have it
unsorted. Until this is fixed in Minuet, ask your news server admins to sort
the newsgroup file.
Contents of this section
2.15 I get the error ``Error 502 - NNTP Server news.tc.umn.edu 119 can't talk
to you.'' What's wrong?
On campus (U of M TC only):
You need to have your machine's IP address registered with Networking Services.
This will give your machine a department domain name (i.e., cs.umn.edu). By
default, all machines with a domain name at the University are given read
access (each department's domain name is registered separately on the news
server, so if there is a new domain name, it needs to be be registered with the
news admin). To get posting access, your department's domain needs to be given
posting access by the news admin (it may be already - if it isn't, contact the
news admin); this also holds for restricted news groups, like the Clarinet
groups.
Networking Services: 625-8888
News server admin: ne...@news.tc.umn.edu
Off campus (non-U of M): See Question
Contents of this section
Telnet
2.16 Can I do multiple telnet sessions?
At this time you can only do one telnet session at a time.
Contents of this section
2.17 Can I capture a telnet session to a file?
Yes. Before you want to start capturing, go to the File menu and choose ``Save
As''. Minuet will then ask you for a file name. Provide a file name and choose
OK. From that point on, Minuet will save your session to a file.
Contents of this section
2.19 How can I send a delete instead of a backspace in Telnet?
In Beta_16 and above you can just add ``del'' after the computer name when
running Telnet. For example:
Contents of this section
2.20 What if I use a different char set instead of English for Telnet? Can I
use other sets? How?
Yes, you can use other char sets with Minuet. Here are the options:
iso -- ISO Latin
8bit -- 8 bit chars
Use these in the same way as the ``del'' option. See Question
Contents of this section
FTP
2.7 Can I specify a whole directory tree to skip to in FTP?
Yes. Just go to Window->FTP and enter the site name. When it connects, just
double-click on the site name at the top. For example, if you were to connect
to boombox.micro.umn.edu you would get something similar to:
boombox.micro.umn.edu
|
|-pub...
|-etc
To specify a full path or drive to go to, for example /pub/pc/minuet/beta16,
you would just double-click on the boombox.micro.umn.edu part. A dialog box
will pop up and ask for a drive or device; just enter the path that you want to
access in that box.
Contents of this section
2.8 I'm trying to connect to an FTP server that runs on XYZ operating system
but I can't connect. Why?
There are literally hundreds of FTP servers. Minuet does its best to be usable
with most of them. Enhancements in new versions include the ability to connect
with different types of FTP servers. If you run into a problem with a certain
FTP server, send us the specifics of the server (OS, server version, site name
so we can test) and we will try to make Minuet compatible.
Contents of this section
Other
2.18 What is the Webster server that I should use?
There is not a generally available public Webster server. Contact your local
network guru for more information. There is no Webster server at the University
of Minnesota.
Contents of this section
2.21 I have a lot of machines listed in the Telnet and FTP dialog boxes. Can I
get rid of them without having to reinstall?
Yes. These sites as stored in a file called minhist.txt. As the name implies,
this is just a plain text file. Edit it and you will see a list that looks like
the following:
2 foo.bar.com
3 boombox.micro.umn.edu
2 bar.baz.edu
9 minuet
9 cheesecake
You can edit out (or even put in) sites by deleting the line in the file that
corresponds to the sites. The different numbers signify:
2 -- Telnet site
3 -- FTP site
9 -- Gopher search item
Contents of this section