GoFetch Release Notes (Enfour)

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Release Notes for version 1.2.7 of the GoFetch Shell & NIE transport
This is a maintenance release to fix a bug with the eMate 300 when Newton Works is selected as the backdrop app and to support Kagi Registration using Flash Sheridan's Register App. You can also use the About box to send the appropriate URL to reach the GoFetch web page with NetHopper if it is installed.
Packing List:

GoFetch Setup.pkg Setup program

GoFetchExtras.pkg Extras drawer application, includes background button and notepad mail stationery

GoFetchNIETrans.pkg GoFetch Mail transport for NIE

GoFetchShellTrans.pkg GoFetch Mail transport for dialup unix shell access

GoFetch Help.pkg Unbundled help book, used to be part of GoFetch Setup.pkg

1.2.6 Release Notes
GoFetch has a new home at <http://www.netins.net/showcase/smittie/gofetch>.
This is another interim maintenance release to update the website and email addresses for GoFetch and to fix several reported bugs. There is another update coming soon, until then this version is good for 30 days for a trial period. This might get extended if the next version isn't completed in time, look on the website for more information.
Please read the installation instructions that came with this version. There are a few changes if are already using 1.2.5r2. Thanks.

Prefs--After Sending, File deletes the text of the message even though File was selected and not log. Fixed in 1.2.6
Received mail with large headers could cause the transport to run out of heap. Now in 1.2.6 headers are stored in store memory like the rest of the message.
Messages from the GoFetch Mail stationery from the Notes application sent "later" and stored in the outbox can't be edited or displayed. Fixed in 1.2.6
Large numbers of messages left in the server's mailbox cause occasional "resets" on the Newton. There was a previously undocumented limitation of binary objects that Apple noted and documented. Applying this fix should eliminate the problem with 1.2.6.
The inbox stationery was capitalizing each word if used with the on-screen keyboard. This was happening in the "Edit Text" routing slip button too. Fixed in 1.2.6.

1.2.5 Release notes
GoFetch 1.2.5 is a maintenance release designed to fix outstanding bugs, add requested features and to support new Newton hardware better. These notes will give you an idea of what has been fixed and/or changed in this release. GoFetch 1.2.5 does not add MIME compatibility to the transports. That is still upcoming in version 1.3.
GoFetch 1.2.5 continues to work on MP120s and MP130s and it has been fully tested on the MP2000. The EMate 300 hasn't been as thoroughly tested but is expected to work without any problems. Unless otherwise noted, all changes have been applied to both the NIE and Shell versions of the transports.
When you install GoFetch 1.2.5 you should adjust your Preferences again. GoFetch 1.2.5 sets your preferences to default because of new preferences added. Your registration will not be affected. If you aren't registered GoFetch 1.2.5 should give you a new trial period.
Features new in 1.2.5:
Improved Text Handling
In previous versions of GoFetch it was possible to try and save large text messages to the Notepad. This would sometimes work but leave the note inaccesable from the Notepad, other times you would get an error. GoFetch 1.2.5 fixes this problem by breaking text messages into 4k notes when saving to the notepad. The change also fixes a problem when the notepad isn't the backdrop application.
Automatic Email Scheduler
A automatic email scheduler has been added to the Prefs view. You can use the scheduler to automatically send and receive mail at specified times and days of the week. When something is scheduled the Newton will attempt to connect using the last worksite and owner info used. No connection slip is created and the settings are the defaults set in the GoFetch Prefs.
Maximum Messages Preference
A new preference item has been added to GoFetch. You can now set a limit on the number of messages to process. There is now a "Maximum Messages" preference item. This limit is used whenever GoFetch needs to scan the messages in the server for retrieval or remote access. You can select from either the newest messages on the server or the oldest. If the "Save mailbox status" setting is checked then old messages are counted but not processed again, speeding up the check. You can use this in conjunction with "Check old mail" to limit the scan of old mail and save time. Note that this limit does not affect the total amount of memory used by the "Save mailbox status" when you have a large number of items left on the server. See the bug fix section for more info about out of heap errors.
Dynamic Prompt for Shell Access
The login script for the Shell transport now has a "Prompt" item that lets you create a login script that will prompt the user for some data to send to the server. This allows people with SecureID setups to enter a changing password when logging in. If you use the "Schedule" button with a login script that has a prompt, the login will eventually timeout and no mail will be sent or retrieved. The prompt is only needed by the GoFetch Dialup Setup since the NIE Internet Setup application has its own Prompt instruction(in NIE 1.1).
Improved Mailbox Status Checking
Check old mail has been redone. Before, it was confusing and inconsistent. Now, when Check old mail is set in the preferences the following algorithm is used. If you are using "Save mailbox status" then old messages are defined as any message that hasn't ever been retrieved, any message meeting the "Retrieve read mail" and "Retrieve unread mail" criteria and any item that was previously retrieved as remote. This allows you to get back any "Remote" items that you may have deleted. It also allows you scan old but already read mail that is left on the server. If in "Download mode" the messages that fit the retrieve options are downloaded. If in "Browse mode" the messages that fit the retrieve options are set to "Remote". If GoFetch already knows that a message doesn't fit the criteria, it is automatically skipped. If you aren't using "Save mailbox status" then any message meeting retrieve options is retrieved again.
Plus Many other Features

The extensions for GoFetch found in the Extensions folder of the Extras Drawer have new icons.
The GoFetch Setup soup now has a user name of "GoFetch Setups" instead of the unreadable "GoFetchSetups:Fetch".
The order form now has an email address input line.
The "Clear Menus" button has been moved from the GoFetch Prefs view to the "Enter Address" view found in the routing slip. This was moved to make room for future enhancements in the preferences view.
The "Register" button is now found in the [i] button of the GoFetch Prefs. The Register window pops up automatically with an unregistered transport. The Register info menu item stays around even after registration is complete, but it shows the customer number to the user.

Bug Fixes
There have been a number of bugs reported with the GoFetch 1.2. Here is a list of bug fixes incorporated into GoFetch 1.2.5.
Mailbox Status Checking
There was an error with checking for mail with the following conditions: no mail on the POP server and the prefs setting was to not "Save mailbox status" (found in the Connection Options menu). This problem is fixed and this condition no longer produces an error.
Scrolling Long Messages
Scrolling a long message in the inbox resulted in the scroll stopping before the end of the message. There is an inherent limit to the amount of scrolling that can be done with a standard text view on a Newton. This limit is defined by about 32000 pixels. This limit still exists in GoFetch 1.2.5. It may be possible to work around this problem in the future but for now you won't be able to scroll more than about 100k of text, the total size depends on the font size.
Scrolling Speed
There was a bug in the scrolling of a text view. The total length of the message was being miscalculated as much smaller than the actual size. To speed up the scroll, GoFetch 1.2.5 no longer tries to determine the total length of the text, instead you can scroll past the end of the message. The only real change is that the down scroll arrow stays darkened instead of showing an outline when the end of message is reached. See the previous bug listing for a discussion of the scrolling limits in GoFetch 1.2.5.
No "Subject:"
There was a potential bug in the way that a reply to a received message without a subject header line was handled. I never verified the problem but a problem was reported so I changed the code to make it more robust in the condition that no "Subject:" header line was found. Please report any continued problems with this to <mailto: [email protected]>
Saving Mail to Notes
If the notepad was not the backdrop application, and it wasn't open, then when you tried to "Save text to notes" from the in/out box you would get an error. The handling of "Save text to notes" has been completely redone and in the process this problem was removed. See the "New features" section for more info on the "Save text to notes" improvements.
Large Number of Messages Left on Server
Out of heap errors when a large number of messages where left on the server. This bug has been largely fixed but if you have a very large number of messages on the server you could still see out of heap restart dialogs. There was a bug in the way the server database of messages (UIDL) was being handled. The list of messages was also left totally in the heap while it was in use. The bug has been fixed and with GoFetch 1.2.5 the list is kept mostly on the default store. Only a small portion of the list is now kept in the heap while the list is in use. For every 100 items left on the server you need about 3k of heap to manage it. There is a new feature to limit the total number of messages scanned by GoFetch but unfortunately the whole database is downloaded to the Newton even if it is not all used. In a future version I will attempt to remove the memory limits altogether.
Handwriting Recognition
Editing of text in the routing slip and in the outbox, the handwriting mode was set to letter-by-letter instead of using the more forgiving word recognition modes. In addition the modes were sometimes set to do math & symbols which could cause recognition problems. All GoFetch text editing views now use the notepad standard fo recognizing text. This is represented by the [A] button in the lower left of all text edit views in 1.2.5. This mode supports all words, punctuation and symbols without adversly affecting word recognition.
Servers that don't Support UIDL
A server error complaining about unknown "UIDL" commands is eliminated. There are two optional POP server commands. "UIDL" generates a list of references to any mail left on the server. This command is used by "Save mailbox status" and to enable "Browse" mode. If the server replies with a error to UIDL now, GoFetch 1.2.5 automatically switches to don't "Save mailbox status" and to "Download" mode. The other optional command is "TOP" if this message produces an error then the "Retrieve unread mail" vs "Retrieve read mail" preferences are ignored.
User Interface Improvements
The "Check old mail" preference in the "Connect Options" menu was confusing and inconsistent. Now old mail is scanned based on the "Retrieve read mail" and "Retrieve unread mail" settings and additionally any "Remote" items are scanned again. See the "New Features" section for more information.
Skip Message Size
There was a bug where a change to the "Skip Messages" size in the temporary options from the connect slip wasn't being honored.
MP2000 Improvements

GoFetch on External Cards: Older versions of GoFetch disallowed installation on a card. This was to prevent crashes if the card is removed while the transport is in use. With the MP2000 though, the Newton can have 2 cards. It is now entirely reasonable that some people will keep a card installed in the Newton at all times. So it becomes necessary to allow installations to a card. This does not eliminate the problems with removing the card while GoFetch is in use. If you remove the card where GoFetch is installed while the transport is active you will crash your Newton, requiring a reset to recover. There doesn't seem to be a way around this in the current Newton OS. Even though this change was made for the MP2000, it also allows card installs on all supported Newton devices. Users should consider the potential problems before installing GoFetch NIE or GoFetch Shell onto a card.

Views: A number of views in GoFetch are no longer full screen on a MP2000 since it has a much larger screen area. Any view that was full screen on the older hardware but isn't on the MP2000 is now movable. Also, views are centered correctly.

API: Apple documented many aspects of the transport interface since GoFetch was introduced, where applicable, I've updated the code to use the approved Newton Transport APIs.

NIE and the Model 120
Problems with NIE 1.1 and the MP120. As most people are aware, the MP120 has serious problems with the NIE. This problem was not fixed with NIE 1.1. While some people have been successful with the NIE and PPP many others have not. Here is a list of things to try if you want to get the MP120 working with the NIE. Even if you get it working however, you may find it frustrating since it is slow to access email. These limits are imposed by the NIE. The problems do not exist in the Shell version of GoFetch that does not use the NIE:
Freeze or Remove Applications
Freeze or move as many apps as possible to a card and then remove the card, leaving only the following activly installed: NIEnabler, GoFetch NIE Transport, Internet Setup, GoFetch Setup.
Use SLIP Access instead of PPP
I have tested the NIE with a SLIP and it is more memory efficient. If you access to SLIP you might want to try it.
Download, don't Browse
Don't use browse mode, use download mode. This allows you to have the inbox closed and only a single application (the notepad or whatever) open. I got better results this way but I still couldn't download all 20 messages in my inbox without error.
Use an External Modem
Try to use a PCMCIA modem and while you get past the Connect message eventually you will get a -60074 message. This is an undocumented error but probably means that the NIE couldn't get the system memory it needed. This worked the best. I used my desktop 28.8 and left the GoFetch NIE transport in download mode and was able to download all 20 messages without mishap.
Reset
Reset the Newton often. Resetting frees up memory that may be reserved by applications.

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