SlipKnot News and Announcements
Updated Nov. 23, 1996
Announcements:
Table of Contents:
On June 23, 1995 Ziff-Davis/PC Magazine announced the winners of its annual Shareware
Competition. Over 1,300 entries were submitted, "judged for innovativeness, quality
and value", and subsequently divided into 16 functional categories.
- SlipKnot was awarded Best Shareware Communications Program of 1995.
- This year, the judges were deeply divided between between two finalists for the top
honors, and took the unusual step of naming a runner-up. Consequently, SlipKnot was
announced as Runner-up for Best Overall Shareware Program of 1995.
This page is a remarkable starting place for Web exploration, and was developed for
SlipKnot users by Felix Kramer who has been traveling the Web for some time. It has over
1,400 links to places useful and curious, delightful and strange.
This page provides links to add-on tools, viewers, and useful programs for SlipKnot
users. We have links to alternate graphics viewers, sound players, animation viewers, etc.
which can be installed into SlipKnot Web's Configure/Viewers menu. In addition, we will
post links about useful HTML authoring information, and HTML authoring tools for those who
want to create their own pages.
The SlipKnot FAQ file
This file details many of the problems and solutions of the SlipKnot installation
process.
If you are using a version later than 1.0, you should have a version of this file
already on your hard disk (called SNTFAQ1.TXT in your \SLIPKNOT directory). However, this
FAQ is periodically updated.
The latest FAQ can be retrieved from here: ftp://interport.net/pub/pbrooks/slipknot/sntfaq1.txt
or from here: ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/pb/pbrooks/slipknot/sntfaq1.txt
Feel free to repost this text FAQ file on local newgroups.
To find out the version of SlipKnot that you are using, click on the Help/About menu
item. If it is earlier than the currently available version, please read the directions
below on upgrading.
Directions for upgrading:
- Click on one of the two links below to retrieve the upgrade file.
- Be sure to place the upgrade file in the SlipKnot "UPGRADE" or
"DOWNLOAD" subdirectory.
- When finished retrieving the file, exit SlipKnot completely.
- In the SlipKnot Windows group of icons, you will find one that launches the SlipKnot
Upgrade (it's the "NEW" icon). Pressing that one will execute the automatic
upgrade process.
- If successful, you will be able to run the new version of SlipKnot.
Getting the Upgrade:
Once you've upgraded (remember, upgrading is free) you can read about more about the
new features in 1.50 in our SlipKnot Tips (which comes up automatically when you enter
SlipKnot Web). These Tips can now be printed out (we recommend you do so).
SlipKnot Web
- Forms!! SlipKnot will now process Web pages with fill-in forms. You can now use
the popular Internet search engines like Yahoo, Lycos, AltaVista. (Note: to process some of these forms, you will need the latest version of
lynx running on your UNIX system -- as of Feb. 1996, this would be version 2-4-2 or 2.4-FM
or later).
- Folders on floppies: you can now associate an existent directory and drive with a
new SlipKnot folder, allowing folders to refer to floppy drives. Now you can save your
documents on floppies and transport them to other machines which run SlipKnot.
SlipKnot Terminal
- Macro buttons on the main Terminal screen, in addition to the Function Key Macros
- Flow-control now can be set more precisely (Setup/Communications screen)
- Kermit speed drastically improved.
General
SlipKnot 1.40 is now compatible with Freenets and BBS's. This feature
DOES require the cooperation of the Freenet or BBS sysop. For information about activating
this feature, please have your sysop write to: pbrooks@micromind.com
or send us the name and address of your sysop.
SlipKnot Web
Note: Some of the features below require that your UNIX system have lynx version 2-4-2
or lynx version 2.4-FM. To check the version of lynx that your UNIX system has, execute:
lynx -version
- "mailto:" HTML tag -- you can now mail a message directly from SlipKnot
Web (and/or from a menu item in SlipKnot Terminal).
- "authentication": this is a requirement for those Web sites which
demand a login id and password to access their pages. (requires lynx 2-4-2)
- automatic page redirection: This is convenient for those sites that have moved
their pages, or those Web servers that automatically fix up slightly incorrect addresses
by sending back a notice that the document has moved (requires lynx 2-4-2)
- Web author's choice of background colors. And given some of the choices that Web
authors make, this feature can be turned off in Configure/Preferences.
- text centering (the <center> HTML tag)
- some more minor additions:
- support for <Base Href=> HTML tag
- ability to close all windows (menu item)
- Choose to delete History Folder files on entering and/or leaving SlipKnot Web (now
allows both or neither as well).
- the usual number of bug fixes, including the occasional "subscript out of
range"
SlipKnot Terminal
- "local printing" feature (for instance, the UNIX Pine mailer can now
tell SlipKnot to print a mail message on your printer).
- Print screen and Print incoming text menu items
- You can now tell SlipKnot where to find your own copy of the lynx program, if it is not
the default version (New Setup/Host setting).
- Outgoing mail capability (setup procedure for this feature is in Setup/Host).
- Narrowed bottom border so that those users with 640 x 480 screen resolution can see a
whole VT100 screen without scrolling
- You can now interrupt a login script and stay online (just press a key during the
script).
- Many bugs fixes for the Terminal behavior
SlipKnot Web
- "Get all Links" . This is the most powerful
new feature we've yet installed. Here's how it works: If you've displayed a page with many
links to other documents, you can ask SlipKnot to go and get all or some of these
documents...automatically. Whenever you display a page, there will be a new menu item in
the page window: "Get All Links", which will show you what other documents you
can get from this parent page, and allow you to select which ones you wish to queue up for
retrieval. Try it!
- Retrieve to History, but don't display. When you are reading a page, you often
don't want to be interrupted, even by a new page that you have previously requested. This
new option allows you to request a document to be retrieved but not automatically
displayed. The document will go straight into your History Folder, ready to be displayed
whenever you bring up that Folder.
- Save as Text file: allows you to save the current document as a pure text file
(without the HTML coding).
- Low memory guard: with many pages displayed, SlipKnot may use a lot of Windows
resources. Version 1.13 now guards against most cases of running out of Windows memory.
SlipKnot Terminal
- Scrollback buffer! (100 lines) with Independent color choices for main terminal
area and scrollback buffer
- Resizable Terminal window (also maximizable)
- AutoZmodem detection which means that you can start a Zmodem download file
transfer by just typing the command to your UNIX system (e.g. "sz -b filename")
and SlipKnot Terminal will automatically notice that your UNIX system is attempting to
send a file. You can even use "wildcards" to specify a lot of files to download
at once (e.g. "sz -b foo*" will download all files beginning with
"foo").
- Set the File Download Default directory: for use with AutoZmodem download
(previous feature).
SlipKnot Web
- Text-first display: The text of a document will be displayed as soon as it
arrives, and when all of the pictures are retrieved, the document will be reformatted and
redisplayed (this is now a user option in Configure/Preferences).
- Resizable Windows
- Selectable number of windows: You can now choose how many visible windows to
allow (between 2 and 10, instead of a fixed 5 -- in Configure/Preferences).
- Printing graphics: Pictures inside documents will now print along with the text,
with 2 settings: "coarse" and "fine".
- Inline JPEG images are now supported.
- SlipKnot Web's Toolbar had a facelift with a number of new buttons:
- Forward and Back: to step you through the History Folder.
- Retrieve Graphics On/Off
- Stop: to stop the retrieval of a document (the pictures that have already come in
will be displayed).
- Toolbar can be eliminated to maximize usable screen space.
- "Get Unretrieved Pictures" menu item if you stopped short of getting
all of the pictures or had the option "Retrieve Graphics" turned off.
- Picture caching: If a document uses a picture that has already been retrieved for
a previous document, it will simply be reused from the History Folder.
- Use the Right mouse button to click on an underlined hypertext link in a document
and SlipKnot will bypass the "Retrieve from Internet" confirmation box (by
popular demand).
- Windows menu item: showing the open windows and allowing Ctrl-Function keys to
switch between them.
- Cascade visible Windows menu item.
- Bugs fixed: (in particular: "Subscript out of range").
SlipKnot Terminal:
- Independent Upload and Download File Transfer Protocols: (in the Setup/Host
screen). You can now choose to download with, for instance, Zmodem and upload with Kermit.
You can read more about the new features inside SlipKnot Help (topic: New SlipKnot
Features). There is a quick list below:
- Will now run under OS/2-Win.
- Document "analysis", "graphics conversion" and "plotting"
speeds have been increased 30% - 100%.
- You can now select multiple documents in the Folder-document list to Copy, Move or
Delete.
- If you have many documents inside a Folder, you can now search for one of them by a word
in the Title, URL or comments.
- Duplicate entries will no longer be generated if you redisplay a document from the
History folder.
- Function Key Macro capability in SlipKnot Terminal (by popular demand).
- A quick set of "SlipKnot Tips" will come up each time SlipKnot Web is entered
to help you make use of non-obvious features (this feature can be disabled).
- The delay time between BUSY retries (when the phone number is busy) can be set (for
European users).
- The usual number of small bugs squashed.
- Your Folders are now kept in alphabetical order -- particularly useful for those of you
who have created many of them.
- If you have lost access to your Folders, there is now a "Find Lost Folders"
button in the Folders list.
- On a few systems, SlipKnot spawned excess lynx processes (fixed).
- Occasional "Subscript out of range" error fixed.
- Occasional "Regenerate Width Tables" error fixed.
- When using the Web browser for anonymous FTP retrievals (using the ftp:// type URL),
files starting with "." were not retrievable. Now fixed.
- Some document addressing errors prevented certain pictures from being retrieved. Mostly
fixed.
- A number of smaller bugs fixed.
- By the way, this version now accepts customization for site licensing, and volume
discounts are now available.
New SlipKnot Terminal features:
- Zmodem and Kermit support
- BUSY redial, as well as multiple telephone numbers per host (numbers will be called in
sequence until a successful login).
- 57600 baud supported (be careful, Windows may not be able to keep up with the traffic).
- Terminal Copy and Paste
- Terminal screen capture, and capture of incoming text to file
- Direct serial connections are now supported (for those without modems)
- Changing Terminal colors
- Support for fill-in forms via lynx (see the documentation after upgrading).
- Telnet support
- Gopher support (for registered users)
- installation of personal Home Pages on startup -- replacing our SlipKnot Local Home Page
(for registered users)
- ability to retrieve WEB documents (like the lynx bookmarks page) directly from your
service provider's UNIX system.
- ability to run SlipKnot Web directly from Windows File Manager as a document viewer
(offline)
- <ISINDEX> support (necessary for gopher) wherein a document can request a search
string from the user, and use it to perform a search (this is the predecessor to forms)
- View HTML source: if you install a TXT viewer (like WRITE or NOTEPAD) in
Configure/Viewers, you can now take a look at the HTML source of any incoming document.
- Background job queue raised to 30 items, and other job queue options.
- SlipKnot will now retire the oldest of the 5 visible windows to the History folder to
make way for the incoming 6th document -- this makes queueing up 30 requests possible.
- The background job queue can be paused, allowing you to retrieve local documents,
temporarily go back to SlipKnot Terminal, and then later resuming the queued up requests.
You may want to print this document for later reading. Also, do send us mail (to slpstaff@micromind.com) about these
problems even though they are known. Be sure to indicate the version of SlipKnot that you
are using
- SlipKnot will not work when Windows is in "Standard Mode". Most users
automatically run Microsoft Windows in Enhanced (386) Mode. Apparently, some Windows
programs require Standard (286) Mode to run. Starting SlipKnot in Windows Standard Mode
may cause problems. Workaround: To detect whether Windows is in Standard Mode, switch to
Window's Program Manager, press the "Help/About Program Manager" menu item, and
the explanation will indicate whether you are in Standard Mode or Enhanced 386 Mode. To
bring up Microsoft Windows in Enhanced Mode, type
WIN/3
at your DOS
prompt.
- Document doesn't seem to come in. If in retrieving a document or file, the usual
message: "Retrieving from Internet: 0 bytes" stays up for a while, you should
know:
- SlipKnot will try twice to retrieve the file. Each time it will wait for the full length
of the timeout period before giving up -- which is controlled by the Timeout in Seconds
option in the Terminal Host setup.
- Possible causes:
- Heavy Internet traffic.
- The remote host (the machine on which the document is kept) is very busy or even
refusing connections.
- Your local service provider has logged you off and SlipKnot has not detected this. Try
stopping the document retrieval and switching temporarily back to SlipKnot Terminal to see
if your local host is still alive.
- A SlipKnot bug.
- On rare occasions, bringing up the Setup/Communications screen in SlipKnot Terminal will
cause an "Out of Stack Space" error message. Please read Section 8.1 of
the FAQ file mentioned above for a workaround.
With SlipKnot version 1.50 you will probably want your UNIX system to have lynx version
2-4-2 ] or 2.4-FM. These later versions of lynx are especially important to SlipKnot when
it is processing forms. If you do not know which version of lynx your UNIX system is
running, then there are two ways to find out:
- At the UNIX prompt, execute the command: lynx -version
- After upgrading to version 1.50 and executing the Setup/Initialize Host menu item in
SlipKnot Terminal, look at the Setup/Host screen and you will Version number box reporting
the lynx version number (but only if you have chosen "lynx" rather than
"www" as your World Wide Web program on this screen).
If this reports an older version and you wish to use a newer version of lynx, you have
two choices:
- Try to find a later version of lynx that might already be available on your UNIX system
(ask your sysop or ask around). If you do find one, then you can instruct SlipKnot to use
it by specifying its exact location in the Name/Location box in the Setup/Host screen. For
instance, if the newer version of lynx is located at:
"/usr/local/bin/experimental/lynx" then simply place this full address (without
the quotes) into the Name/Location box and then execute the Setup/Initialize Host menu
item.
- If you want to upgrade your UNIX system's version of lynx, you will need to find a copy,
either in executable or source code form. lynx executables are available for a small
number of UNIX systems, and the full source code is available (in case there's no
executable for your UNIX system) at the Lynx Home Page.
Warning: to regenerate the program from the source code, you will need to know how to use
the "make" facility on UNIX -- i.e. you should have experience with compiling
large programs before attempting this.
These links carry the complete, installable program. You can retrieve the full program
file if you wish to pass SlipKnot on to friends, or place it on a different FTP or BBS
download site. This is not meant for people who are already running SlipKnot and wish
to upgrade because upgrading is easier and faster than a full re-installation. Click here to go to the upgrading instructions instead.
Full SlipKnot 1.50 file:
Site/Directory/Filename
http://www.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/win3/inet/slnot150.zip
ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/win3/inet/slnot150.zip
ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/ibmpc/simtel/win3/internet/slnot150.zip
ftp://ftp.uoknor.edu/mirrors/SimTel/win3/internet/slnot150.zip
ftp.netcom.com/pub/pbrooks/slipknot/slnot150.zip
interport.net/pub/pbrooks/slipknot/slnot150.zip
In Japan:
ftp://ftp.iij.ad.jp/pub/simtel/win3/internet/slnot150.zip
ftp://ftp.riken.go.jp/pub/SimTel/win3/internet/slnot150.zip
In Germany:
ftp://ftp.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/mirrors/simtel.coast.net/SimTel/win3/internet/slnot150.zip
This page looks best with SlipKnot ;-)
Are you tired of all of the Web pages promoting Netscape?
Strike a blow for non-conformity, and tell them you're a SlipKnot user. They may be
shocked, indignant, incredulous (at best).
For instance, put the following signature on your pages:
This site welcomes SlipKnot users.
If you are about to register SlipKnot, please send the registration form and payment to
our new address or FAX number (below) or (if paying by credit card), you may email it to: <slpstaff@micromind.com>
MicroMind, Inc.
450 14 St.
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11215
FAX: (718) 965-1961