Notes on Bobcat --------------- Bobcat is a text-based WWW browser, very similar to Unix Lynx. It is the successor to Doslynx and is written by the same author. Like Lynx, it is based on keystroke commands rather than having a mouse or menu interface (hitting "k" in Bobcat displays the key commands). It is highly configurable, relying on various "helper apps" to handle and display different URL's. Conversely, configuration can be fairly involved. It supports any standard video card (CGA, EGA, VGA, SVGA, MDA, or Hercules). Bobcat requires DOS 3.3 or later. Bobcat is based on Lynx 2-4-2 and unrelated to Doslynx, but like that program it is trouble-prone to use it with Etherppp. (In Bobcat's case, the symptom is generally a program abort, rather than lockup as with Doslynx.) Also like Doslynx, Bobcat is limited by available memory in the size of the Web pages it can retrieve (in Bobcat's case, you just get what fits in memory rather than a system crash as in the case of Doslynx). Bobcat is generally nicer than Doslynx if you can use it (it supports forms, for example). According to Marc Williams, Bobcat v6 requires significantly more memory than earlier versions. On the other hand, I note that v6 is less prone to crashes. I have included the main program from v5 on this site (lynx05.zip) if you would prefer to use that with the v6 distribution. Otherwise, previous versions of Bobcat are available at: http://www.fdisk.com/doslynx/bobcats/old/ Most of this file will also apply to the previous versions. NOTE: Disregard the installation instructions that come with Bobcat. They are incompatible with everything else you may read on my site. Or, if you *do* use Bobcat's instructions, stop reading now and disregard everything I say. None of my instructions will be valid for you. It is assumed by John Lewis, designer of the Bobcat package, that Bobcat is the only DOS Internet application you own, that you will subsequently install all your other applications under Bobcat, and that you do not have a packet driver and dialer already set up. If you are successful with the default setup method, Bobcat will dial your phone, load your packet driver, browse the Web, fetch your email, fix your coffee, buy your wife an anniversary present, and teach your children the meaning of life (well, maybe those last three will be coming in Bobcat v10 ;-). That is fundamentally contrary to the way I think things ought to be done. I want control. I want to use Pegasus Mail for email, not Wizmail and Minuet because they work better with Bobcat. I want to set up Arachne the way *I* like it, not the way Bobcat does. To me, Bobcat is just a Web browser (albeit a good one), one application among many, not the be-all-and-end-all of DOS Internet. I also don't believe in packaging dialers and packet drivers with Web browsers; those are distinct functions. You may think that it is a great idea to have one application package that does it all, but it is not. You still need to find an init string for your modem, get your dialer to log you in, get your packet driver to establish a PPP or SLIP link, configure your system for dynamic IP (if you have that), and configure each individual application. Only now, you have to do it *all at once* instead of step by step. That is not to say I disapprove of automating things with batch files. You should definitely do so - but you should *write* those batch files so that you understand what they do. It is also not to say that John hasn't done some excellent work; he has (creating the external application interface, for example) - he's just taken things too far. Nor do I say you shouldn't use the helper applications that come with Bobcat. You should, if after reading their documentation you determine that they would be useful to you. But you can get Bobcat to work without them, or use others if they work better (jpIRC works much better than Voice for IRC, for example). My point is that too much automation is a bad thing, at least in the context of DOS Internet programs. Too much can go wrong in too many different and obscure ways - a *human* needs to do the setup, handling things one step at a time. End of sermon :-). If you are still reading, I'm going to assume that you have already figured out how to dial out and get your packet driver to load, and that you have tested the packet driver with a simple application like WATTCP ftp or Ping. If you have not, Bobcat is *not* a good application to begin with; try something simpler first. Bobcat comes as a self-extracting archive. To install it, the first thing you need to do is create a directory for it off the main Internet directory. NOTE: Do *not* attempt to install Bobcat in your main Internet directory. It may corrupt the setup of your other Internet apps, for example by overwriting ARACHNE.CFG in the Arachne directory. Do it like this: E:\INTERNET>mkdir bobcat E:\INTERNET>cd bobcat E:\INTERNET\BOBCAT>..\bcat-e06 -y Note the "-y" option. That will cause the extractor to create the subdirectories it needs without prompting you. When you do the extraction, a message will be displayed saying that the archive is "NOT LICENSED for distribution use". Nevertheless, it *is* legal to distribute Bobcat; see file BOBCAT.DOC in the main directory. The version 5 LYNX.EXE uses less memory than version 6, but v5 crashes when it runs out of memory rather than displaying a warning message. If you want to use version 5, unzip it over the top of the v6 LYNX.EXE: E:\INTERNET\BOBCAT\BOBCAT>pkunzip ..\..\lynx05.zip Answer "y" when it asks if you want to overwrite the file. You may or may not be as irritated as I was to discover that the extraction creates read-only files. They are in the ARACHNE, CONFIG, and MINUET directories. You should change to those directories and remove the read-only attributes so that you will be able to delete Bobcat from your disk later if you decide you don't want it any more. Do so like this: E:\INTERNET\BOBCAT>cd arachne E:\INTERNET\BOBCAT\ARACHNE>attrib -r *.* E:\INTERNET\BOBCAT\ARACHNE>cd ..\config E:\INTERNET\BOBCAT\CONFIG>attrib -r *.* E:\INTERNET\BOBCAT\CONFIG>cd ..\minuet E:\INTERNET\BOBCAT\MINUET>attrib -r *.* E:\INTERNET\BOBCAT\MINUET>cd .. E:\INTERNET\BOBCAT> The next step is to run NEWUSER.BAT to copy the configuration and documentation files into the BOBCAT directory: E:\INTERNET\BOBCAT>newuser (Make sure you are in the right directory.) After the files are copied, Bobcat will start and display its "QUICK SETUP NOTES". Disregard them. Do *not* hit enter on the "Experimental 3 Step Quick Setup". Much of the "manual setup information" was based on a previous version of this file - but you are already reading the updated version ;-). Hit -X to exit and return to the DOS prompt. You need to have the TEMP directory set in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Bobcat will use that directory to store pages it has retrieved. Note that the program does *not* delete its temporary files when it terminates. If you do not specify TEMP or TMP, the temporary files will go in Bobcat's main directory, which is not a good idea. Because of that, and for other reasons (you need to be in Bobcat's directory to run it, for example), it is best to run Bobcat from a batch file. Here is a BOBCAT.BAT file that you can use; place it in your main Internet directory: @ECHO OFF REM Example BOBCAT.BAT, to be placed in the main Internet directory. CD BOBCAT\BOBCAT LYNX %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 ECHO y | DEL %TEMP%\*.* CD ..\.. Here I change to the directory where Bobcat is installed (i.e., where LYNX.EXE is located). I run Bobcat, using whatever URL or options were specfied on the command line for BOBCAT.BAT. I delete all the files in the TEMP directory to get rid of whatever HTML files Bobcat put there. I then change back to my main Internet directory so I can run other programs or terminate the packet driver. Actually, the BOBCAT.BAT I use is a little fancier: @ECHO OFF REM Example BOBCAT.BAT, to be placed in the main Internet directory. REM This file gives Bobcat its own TEMP directory. CD BOBCAT\BOBCAT SET TEMP2=%TEMP% SET TEMP=%TEMP%\BOBCAT MKDIR %TEMP% LYNX %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 ECHO y | DEL %TEMP%\*.* RMDIR %TEMP% SET TEMP=%TEMP2% SET TEMP2= CD ..\.. This time, I change to the main BOBCAT directory as before. I save the main TEMP directory in the TEMP2 variable, then create a new TEMP directory for BOBCAT and set TEMP to point to that directory. I run Bobcat with whatever command-line arguments there were. When Bobcat finishes, I delete the files in Bobcat's special TEMP directory, delete the directory, and set TEMP back to my regular TEMP directory. As before, I change back to the main Internet directory at the end. Doing things this way, I can keep files in my TEMP directory without deleting them when I run Bobcat. When you write batch files, it is always best to skip the "@ECHO OFF" line to begin with, so you can see the commands as they execute. Once you've set up your own BOBCAT.BAT, you should probably delete the one in the BOBCAT directory to avoid confusion. Much of the documentation is in HTML format, so the most convenient way to read it is to run Bobcat (without connecting to the Internet). Bobcat version 6 will work out of the box as an offline viewer for its documentation files. Type "LYNX" in the BOBCAT directory (don't worry about that stuff with TEMP just for viewing documentation), move the highlight to "READ THIS BEFORE STARTING", and hit . Note that if you try to reach a nonlocal link without a packet driver loaded, Bobcat will dump you out to the DOS prompt, but of course the documentation files are all local ;-). Before running Bobcat, you should print out the file BOBCAT\DOC\KEYS.DOC, which lists the default key commands; you can also view them online by hitting "k". Remember that Bobcat will bomb if you try to reach a remote site now. Just restart it if it does. If you want an ASCII version of the HTML documentation (perhaps so you can print it out), use the -dump option, for example: LYNX -dump file:///bobc_hlp.htm > help.txt In the BOBCAT directory, you will find three .CFG files: LYNX.CFG, SAMPWTCP.CFG and WATTCP.CFG. LYNX.CFG is the main configuration file for Bobcat. WATTCP.CFG will need to be edited to configure Bobcat's TCP/IP stack for connecting to the Internet. SAMPWTCP.CFG is an example version of WATTCP.CFG with comments; you do not need to change it. First look at LYNX.CFG. The first thing in the file is an AUTO_EXTERN:MAILTO line. Leave it commented out. Bobcat will generally work for mailto: links without Minuet. As with everything in LYNX.CFG, you can always go back and change it later. Leave LOG_URLS alone. Do not worry about the colors for now; the default colors should work fine on any supported video card, including MDA. If you want, you can go back and change them later, after you have Bobcat running. After that comes a series of "AUTO_EXTERN" lines. Comment them all out for now. You will go back and uncomment them later after you've configured external TCP apps. WWW, ftp, and gopher will generally work without AUTO_EXTERN. On the other hand, none of the AUTO_EXTERN's will work until you've configured the relevant external applications. The timeouts should be fine as is. Again, you can go back and change them later. Leave FAKE_VERSION and MAKE_LINKS_FOR_ALL_IMAGES at the defaults. Change the INCOMING directory to the place where you would like downloaded files to be placed by default (you will be able to specify another directory for a particular file when you download it). For SMTP_SERVER, give your SMTP server's name. This is for the aforementioned mailto: links. STARTFILE, HELPFILE, DEFAULT_INDEX_FILE, BOLD_HEADERS, CASE_SENSITIVE_ALWAYS_ON, DEFAULT_BOOKMARK_FILE, and SYSTEM_EDITOR should be fine for now. Most people don't need to use proxies; if you don't need them, don't set them (leave them commented out). Proxy servers are used by some large companies for security reasons, and some ISP's in remote areas use them to compensate for a slow Internet link. If your ISP uses proxies, they should be able to tell you what they are. If you have a printer attached, you probably want to enable it by setting PRINTER. For a regular printer attached to the first parallel port, the default should work. If your printer is on another port, you should leave PRINTER alone in LYNX.CFG edit the file PRINTIT.BAT to specify another port. Note: do *not* use the DOS PRINT command as your print command in LYNX.CFG. PRINT.COM is TSR, and you cannot load TSR's from inside Bobcat. If you do not have a printer, comment out the PRINTER line. Next we come to "Downloader definitions". "DOWNLOADER" is kind of a misleading name, since as the comments in LYNX.CFG note a "downloader" is actually *any* program that operates on a file. You could define programs here to display pictures or videos, play sound files, or essentially anything you might want to do with a file you get off the 'net. There is one "downloader" defined, a GIF/JPEG viewer. What that means is that if you hit "d" when the highlight is on a link, you get a choice of either actually downloading the file (or HTML source), or, if it's a picture, displaying it. Dvpeg is a GIF/JPEG viewer for 386+ with VGA or better video; you will not be able to use it otherwise. Dvpeg no longer comes with Bobcat in any case - Lxpic does. Lxpic runs on any machine (8088 or above) with CGA, EGA, VGA, or SVGA. Lxpic is already configured as a viewer so you don't need to set it up as a downloader. Just comment out this line: DOWNLOADER:Show GIF/JPEG file:dvpeg %s:TRUE I find that I can set up Vern Buerg's LIST utility as a downloader, but not as a viewer (see below). Here is what I have in LYNX.CFG: DOWNLOADER:View text file:list %s:TRUE To make this work, I have a batch file, LIST.BAT, in the BOBCAT directory, consisting of a single line: C:\MISCPROG\LIST %1 Alternately, I could have simply copied LIST.COM into the BOBCAT directory. Bobcat uses three different types of external programs: downloaders, viewers, and external Internet applications. External Internet applications are invoked when Bobcat encounters a particular URL type (ftp, gopher, etc.). To use them, you have to make a batch file with the URL name (ex., FTP.BAT) in the BOBCAT\EXTERNAL directory. They can be invoked either automatically via an AUTO_EXTERN line in LYNX.CFG, or by hitting -A on the link. Viewers are invoked automatically when Bobcat encounters an http or typeless URL with a given file extension, specified by a SUFFIX and a VIEWER entry in LYNX.CFG. Downloaders are invoked when you hit "d" on a link and select the program from the downloader list; they are never invoked automatically. All three types of external programs must be in the BOBCAT directory or below; Bobcat refuses to run any program in another directory. You can get around that restriction by creating a batch file in the BOBCAT directory for external viewers and downloaders. NO_DOT_FILES is not important. It is a holdover from Unix. Next you come to SUFFIXes. You don't need to change these right now. These are your MIME types. MIME types are a list of file extensions that Web browsers use to determine the type of a file so that it can be displayed correctly. Every browser (including Bobcat) has a built-in list, and most every browser allows you to change or add to the list. GLOBAL_EXTENSION_MAP and PERSONAL_EXTENSION_MAP can be left alone. You don't need MIME.TYP or PMIME.TYP on a single-user system that's not on a LAN - you can just set your MIME types in LYNX.CFG. VIEWERs are next. This is where you assign viewers for the MIME types you created under SUFFIXes (or for the default ones). Bobcat (like other WWW browsers) can display some MIME types internally. If Bobcat can't display some file types (like pictures or sounds) that you want to see (or hear), or if you don't think it does a good job of displaying them, you can define an external viewer to see those types of files. With an external viewer defined here, that program will be called to display the file when you select the link. Lxpic is already defined here as a viewer for .gif, .jpg, and .bmp. If you have MDA or Hercules, Lxpic won't work with them, so comment those lines out; otherwise, leave them alone. Note: I haven't been able to get Vern Buerg's LIST utility to work as a viewer, so I recommend that you configure it as a downloader instead if you want to use it (see above). Leave GLOBAL_MAILCAP and PERSONAL_MAILCAP alone. The situation here is analogous with MIME types. You don't need mailcap files on a single-user system that's not on a LAN since you can just set your viewers here in the LYNX.CFG file. You should also not need to change the keyboard mappings; if you have an older-model Tandy 1000 with a nonstandard keyboard, though, you might want to change some of these if they don't work as is. Letters, numbers, and control keys are machine independent, so you should be able to get the various functions to work if you redefine them using those keys. If you modify any of the KEYMAPs, remember to uncomment them :-). You probably downloaded Bobcat because you wanted to use it on the Internet :-), so you next want to set up WATTCP.CFG. The easiest thing to do is to set up a global WATTCP.CFG file for all your WATTCP applications and make Bobcat's WATTCP.CFG a one-line pointer to it: include=e:\internet\wattcp.cfg See mywattcp.zip on my site. Otherwise, the first step is to copy SAMPWTCP.CFG over the top of WATTCP.CFG; that will give you something convenient to edit: E:\INTERNET\BOBCAT\BOBCAT>copy sampwtcp.cfg wattcp.cfg Now edit the resulting (commented) WATTCP.CFG. If you have static IP, uncomment the my_ip line and fill in your (static) IP address: my_ip=204.117.9.33 (For me.) If you have dynamic IP instead, leave the my_ip line commented out and use an include line like this: include=e:\internet\ipaddr.cfg You will have to create IPADDR.CFG at connect time and give its pathname here; see the README file on my site. In either case, set netmask as follows (do *not* use your real netmask): netmask=0.0.0.0 That setting is required for any WATTCP application running over a PPP or SLIP link. If your gateway is static, fill in its IP address: gateway=199.191.1.70 If you have dynamic IP with a dynamic gateway, you will need to comment out the gateway line and use this instead: include=e:\internet\gateway.cfg Again, you will have to create GATEWAY.CFG at connect time; see my README. If your gateway is dynamic, it sometimes works to pretend you have a static one and give the address of the gateway you *usually* get. Set the nameserver to the IP address of your nameserver: nameserver=199.191.1.80 Don't put in more than one nameserver if you have two; it only seems to slow things down. Set domainslist to the empty string: domainslist="" (Do not use your real domain.) An empty domainslist will speed up DNS queries. Leave the bootp, bootpto, and ethip lines commented out. If you have static IP, you can fill in the name of your machine: hostname=jhayes.buckeyeweb.com (For me.) If you have dynamic IP, comment out the hostname line. You may wish to increase sockdelay: sockdelay=60 mss should be set to 512 to prevent packet fragmentation and for compatibility with Frank Molzahn's SLIP drivers: mss=512 Set mailaddr to your email address: mailaddr=jhayes@jhayes.buckeyeweb.com (For me.) Set smtphost to the name of your SMTP server: smtphost=mail.buckeyeweb.com (For me.) It is a good idea to add a line to increase the initial timeout for domain name lookups: domainto=20 Some suggest making it higher, say 40 or 60. That takes care of WATTCP.CFG. You should now be able to connect to your ISP and browse the 'net. You're still not done, though :-). To get Bobcat's internal mailto: to work, you need to configure an external editor in the LYNXRC file. There are a couple things in there you might also want to set. The best way to edit LYNXRC is from inside Bobcat - press "o" to bring up the Options Menu. Press "e" to enter the pathname of your editor. I use VDE, so I have E)ditor set to "C:\VDE\VDE". Press "p" to set your email address and fill that in as well. (Note, this is in addition to setting mailaddr in WATTCP.CFG.) I like to set U)ser mode to "Advanced" so as to see the links on the bottom of the screen. Press "u" to do that. When you're done, hit ">" to save your settings. After you select an editor, you will be able to edit Bobcat's .HTM files to customize the menus. Press "e" on a page to edit the HTML for that page. Once you're satisfied that basic Bobcat is working (check and see :-), you can begin to customize the program by selecting external applications and setting them up. Do not feel limited to what comes with Bobcat or what I suggest here; it's *your* PC, after all :-). Lxpic is a much better choice for image viewing than Dvpeg, which was packaged with earlier versions of Bobcat. Lxpic, however, only works with CGA, EGA, VGA, or VESA SVGA. If you have Hercules, or your SVGA video card doesn't have VESA support, or if you have something unusual like a Tandy 1000SL/TL/RL or an AT&T with a 640x400 mode, one alternate graphics viewer is Cshow. Cshow v8.76a is on my site if you want to try it: ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/tvdog/tandy1000/graphics/cshow876.zip At any rate, I have Cshow installed in directory C:\CSHOW. In LYNX.CFG, I set: VIEWER:image/*:cshow %s+ You need to comment out the lines that refer to Lxpic (there should only be one VIEWER line for each MIME type). In the BOBCAT directory, I make a file CSHOW.BAT: C:\CSHOW\CSHOW %1 You will also need to select the video driver you want to use in Cshow. This is just one example of how you can configure Bobcat to your liking. You will probably want to configure TCP helper apps. As noted above, these are used for URL types that Bobcat either can't display or doesn't display to your satisfaction. You will have to install and configure each additional application you use. In Bobcat's MINUET directory, there is a file called KEYTAP13.ZIP. The documentation says to unzip it into that directory and put Minuet there. If you haven't installed Minuet yet, you can do it that way. I already have Minuet installed, though, so I unzipped KEYTAP13.ZIP into the directory where I already have Minuet. On the main Bobcat page (the first page you see if you don't enter a URL on the Bobcat command line), there is a link titled "Spawn Minuet". To get it working, modify MIN.BAT in the BOBCAT\EXTERNAL directory to match the place where you installed Minuet and Bobcat (if you have Minuet installed in Bobcat's MINUET directory, MIN.BAT will work as is). For example, I have: cd \internet\minuet minuet cd \internet\bobcat\bobcat As the documentation for Bobcat notes, every batch file in the BOBCAT\EXTERNAL directory must change back to the BOBCAT directory after the external TCP app is run. Naturally, you have to have Minuet set up and working before this will work. Go back into LYNX.CFG in the BOBCAT directory and uncomment the line "AUTO_EXTERN:MIN". Bobcat does not support telnet internally, so you need to configure an external client. Bobcat v6 comes with Minitel, but I prefer CUTCP for telnet. Here is what my TELNET.BAT looks like (again, this depends on the directories you use): @echo off \internet\cutcp-b\telbin "%2 %3" cd \internet\bobcat\bobcat Again, CUTCP Telnet needs to be set up and running for this to work. Uncomment the line "AUTO_EXTERN:TELNET" in LYNX.CFG. If you want to use Minitel instead, you don't need to configure anything; it is already set up. EXTERNAL\TELNET.BAT will work unmodified with Minitel. Just uncomment the line "AUTO_EXTERN:TELNET" in LYNX.CFG. Tn3270 is another flavor of telnet, using an IBM 3270 terminal emulation rather than DEC VT100. CUTCP can be used for that too: @echo off \internet\cutcp-b\tn3270 "%2 %3" cd \internet\bobcat\bobcat Uncomment "AUTO_EXTERN:TN3270" in LYNX.CFG. You probably won't run across any tn3270 URL's anyway (UMaine students can use tn3270 to log onto the mainframe :-) - but it comes with CUTCP Telnet, so you might as well put it in if you're using CUTCP for telnet already. The internal gopher client isn't very good; Minuet is better for gopher. Modify GOPHER.BAT in the BOBCAT\EXTERNAL directory to match where you have Minuet and Keytap installed. Here's what I have: @echo off cd \internet\minuet echo"~U~rl|gopher://%2:%3%4 " > custom.txt keytap minuet //[F10]WU[ret] cd \internet\bobcat\bobcat Uncomment "AUTO_EXTERN:GOPHER" in LYNX.CFG. Bobcat works for ftp internally, as it does for gopher, but as in the gopher case it is better to use an external client. Bobcat v6 comes with WATTCP ftp, which is a pretty good ftp client. It's in the FTP directory. To configure it, you edit FTP.BAT and replace all occurences of "bobcat@foo.net" with your email address (in truth, it will work if you don't do that, but it's polite to give your real email address when you login to an anonymous ftp server). Uncomment the line "AUTO_EXTERN:FTP" in LYNX.CFG. Downloaded files will be placed in the FTP directory. You can also use Minuet for ftp, as you did with Bobcat v3, and in my opinion it still works better to do it that way (with Minuet, you can specify the directory where the downloaded file will go, and Minuet can usually tell if a file is ASCII or binary). To use Minuet instead of WATTCP ftp, replace the existing FTP.BAT in the BOBCAT\EXTERNAL directory with MFTP.BAT: E:\INTERNET\BOBCAT\BOBCAT\EXTERNAL>copy mftp.bat ftp.bat Now modify the new FTP.BAT to match where you have Minuet, Keytap, and Bobcat installed. Here's what I have: @echo off cd \internet\minuet echo"~U~rl|ftp://%1 " > custom.txt keytap minuet //[F10]WU[ret] cd \internet\bobcat\bobcat Uncomment "AUTO_EXTERN:FTP" in LYNX.CFG. Regardless of whether you use WATTCP ftp or Minuet, you can't retrieve a file without an extension via ftp with Bobcat. The only way to do that is to use Bobcat's internal ftp capability. Regardless of that limitation, I believe it is still better to use an external client. You can use WATTCP ftp interactively for cases where Bobcat won't work (it helps if you have set User Mode "Advanced" in the Bobcat Options Menu so you can see the URL). On Bobcat's main menu, there is an item, "Get All Minuet Newsgroups". Minuet won't work many some ISP's for news, though. Furthermore, I wouldn't want to automatically download all new messages in my subscribed groups since some of them are binary groups. Trumpet works better for news for me. I edited MNEWS.BAT in BOBCAT\EXTERNAL to read: @echo off cd \internet\trmp106b \internet\minuet\keytap news //[ret] cd \internet\bobcat\bobcat If you have dynamic IP, you need to change the "keytap" line to this: \internet\minuet\keytap news -myip=%MYIP% //[ret] If you also have a dynamic gateway, do this: \internet\minuet\keytap news -myip=%MYIP% -gateway=%REMIP% //[ret] (See trmp106b.txt.) You need to have MYIP set to your IP address and REMIP set to your gateway's IP address in the DOS environment. This will simply spawn Trumpet. Using the editor I configured (see above), I changed the following line in HOME.HTM:
  • Get All Minuet Newsgroups to:
  • Spawn Trumpet Newsreader That changes the tag on the main Bobcat page. Afterward, I uncomment the line, "AUTO_EXTERN:MNEWS" in LYNX.CFG. Bobcat does not contain any internal support for news: URL's, so you have to use an external program to access them. That could not be done with Minuet, at least not without some difficulty, but it can with Trumpet. To do that, make a new, separate directory under the BOBCAT\EXTERNAL directory and copy NEWS.EXE and NEWS.PRM from the Trumpet directory into it: E:\>cd \internet\bobcat\bobcat\external E:\INTERNET\BOBCAT\BOBCAT\EXTERNAL>mkdir news E:\INTERNET\BOBCAT\BOBCAT\EXTERNAL>cd news E:\INTERNET\BOBCAT\BOBCAT\EXTERNAL\NEWS>copy \internet\trmp106b\news.exe . E:\INTERNET\BOBCAT\BOBCAT\EXTERNAL\NEWS>copy \internet\trmp106b\news.prm . Create a new file NEWS.BAT in the BOBCAT\EXTERNAL directory, like this: @echo off cd news echo %2 Y 1 > news.ini \internet\minuet\keytap news //[ret][ret] cd \internet\bobcat\bobcat Again, if you have dynamic IP, you need to change the keytap line to one of these: \internet\minuet\keytap news -myip=%MYIP% //[ret][ret] \internet\minuet\keytap news -myip=%MYIP% -gateway=%REMIP% //[ret][ret] Finally, uncomment the line, "AUTO_EXTERN:NEWS" in LYNX.CFG. Note: Bobcat will not honor news: URL's via the "g" (Go) command, only news: URL's that appear in HTML documents, so if you have certain newsgroups that you like to check out regularly, make an HTML document for them, like so: ------ example NEWS.HTM file begins Newsgroups

    List of Newsgroups

    Return to HOME

    comp.sys.tandy
    alt.comp.shareware.nettamer
    news.newusers.questions

    ------ example NEWS.HTM file ends (The above is based on GOPHER.HTM.) You can then put a link to the new NEWS.HTM file in HOME.HTM, like this:

  • Newsgroup List
    You can edit NEWS.HTM online to add new newsgroups by hitting "e" on the News page, provided you have an editor configured in LYNXRC; see above. Of course, that's just a suggestion. Other ways would be to edit HOME.HTM directly or to put the links in your HOTLIST.HTM file. If you happen across any pages with news: links, of course Trumpet will work for them too. If you have EGA or VGA, Arachne works quite well as an external browser for Bobcat, though on an XT-class system it leaves a bit to be desired as a standalone browser (Arachne is much slower than Bobcat). The advantages of Arachne are that it can handle WWW pages of arbitrary size (unlike Bobcat) and that Arachne can display graphics. Recent versions of Arachne also include support for frames. To use Arachne with Bobcat, do not follow the instructions that come with the Bobcat distribution. Rather, install Arachne yourself in its own directory. Set it up for a "Resident packet driver" - see my .txt file on Arachne. You also need to create HTTP.BAT in the BOBCAT\EXTERNAL directory. To start, copy ARAC.BAT over the top of HTTP.BAT: E:\INTERNET\BOBCAT\BOBCAT\EXTERNAL>copy arac.bat http.bat Edit the resulting HTTP.BAT to match where you have Bobcat and Arachne installed. For me: rem rename as http.bat to run Arachne as helper to Bobcat cd \internet\arcn12b7 call arachne.bat http://%1 cd \internet\bobcat\bobcat Actually, as noted in my notes on Arachne, my HTTP.BAT is sligtly different. I use Adcache for a disk cache for Arachne, which speeds it up greatly. Adcache is incompatible with Bobcat, so I don't want to load it from AUTOEXEC.BAT. Instead, I load and unload it from HTTP.BAT like so: rem rename as http.bat to run Arachne as helper to Bobcat cd \internet\arcn12b7 adcache -a512 -w call arachne.bat http://%1 adcache -u cd \internet\bobcat\bobcat Note, Adcache is a TSR, but it is OK to load it in HTTP.BAT, as long as you unload it before returning to Bobcat. After you set up HTTP.BAT, you can hit -A to view a page using Arachne (do *not* put a line "AUTO_EXTERN:HTTP" in LYNX.CFG!). The Bobcat distribution is set up to use Voice as an external IRC client. If you want to do so, you can find Voice v0.11b on my site. Install Voice in the VOICE directory Bobcat created for it, then change "BOBCAT" in IRC.BAT to your IRC nick. Uncomment the "AUTO_EXTERN:IRC" line in LYNX.CFG. I recommend that you use jpIRC instead of Voice. Voice will not be able to connect to most IRC servers because it lacks ident support. jpIRC supports both ident and PING-PONG, and it should be able to connect to any public IRC server. Like Voice, jpIRC uses the standard ircII command set, but jpIRC supports many more commands than Voice does. IRC.BAT for jpIRC looks something like this: @echo off \internet\tcp201\ntcpdrv cd \internet\jpirc jpirc BOBCAT %2 %3 %1 \internet\tcp201\ntcpdrv -u cd \internet\bobcat\bobcat Change the above to match where you have jpIRC, NTCPDRV.EXE, and Bobcat installed. Note: do *not* change "BOBCAT" to your IRC nick as you would for Voice (your nickname will be taken from JPTCP.INI). The "BOBCAT" keyword causes jpIRC to run in special "BOBCAT" mode, where it will get the server and port from the command line rather than its JPTCP.INI file. The AutoRegister setting in JPTCP.INI is also overridden. (See the README.TXT file in the jpIRC distribution.) Note that NTCPDRV.EXE (the Trumpet TCP stack) is a TSR, but again it is OK to run it from inside Bobcat like this, as long as you unload it before returning to Bobcat. After editing IRC.BAT, uncomment the "AUTO_EXTERN:IRC" line in LYNX.CFG. Finally, note that like news: URL's, IRC URL's are not honored via the "g" command. You need to edit IRC.BAT to add new servers (you can do so online by hitting "e" on the IRC page, provided you have an editor configured in LYNXRC - see above). That takes care of the external TCP/IP helper programs for Bobcat. There is no DOS program to handle nntp: URL's, as far as I know, but nntp: URL's are very rare anyhow. I don't see any point in the external mailto: either; Bobcat's internal mailto: works fine as far as I can see. As you can tell, Bobcat is highly configurable, so set it up the way you like it.