MR/2 ICE - An Internet EMail Client for OS/2 PM.

Copyright (c) 1996-1999, Knightware Software Company.
All rights reserved.


A WORD BEFORE YOU START 

MR/2 ICE is an internet e-mail program. Accordingly, before running 
MR/2 ICE you must have set up OS/2 so that it can connect to the 
internet. The relevant software and information is provided with the 
version of OS/2 that you are running.

Apart from the software, you will also need to have a valid 
connection to the internet through a provider. Your Internet Service 
Provider ("ISP") will have provided you with the relevant 
information required.

For the remainder of these instructions, it is assumed that you are 
already able to connect to the internet, that is, that you have 
installed the OS/2 internet software (including the dialer) and that 
you have been given all the necessary information from your ISP.

MR/2 ICE will use information contained in your OS/2 internet set-up 
to automatically configure itself. Do not be alarmed when you see a 
message about your "tcpos2.ini" MR/2 ICE knows what it is doing. 
There are a few (not many) things which you will need to do. These 
are set out below.

It is suggested that you read this through before starting the set 
up so that you know what will happen. If you want to jump right in, 
you can keep this screen open, move it by dragging the blue line at 
the top with your mouse and make it smaller by dragging the sides 
with your mouse. That way you can keep this text open on the screen 
while you do your set up. If the windows overlap you can switch 
between this screen and the MR/2 ICE screen by clicking on the 
screen you want to see with your left mouse button ("LMB").

INSTALLATION

MR/2 ICE is designed to be easy to set up and run. Once you are 
familiar with the basic operation you will find that there are 
plenty of sophisticated features which allow you customize your set 
up and optimize you mail operations.

For the moment I am just concerned to get you up and running as 
easily as possible. As this text is likely to be read by users with 
differing experience with computers in general and OS/2 in 
particular, please excuse me if this text appears to be too simple 
or too complicated. Either way I hope that you will find something 
of use in it.

MR/2 ICE QUICK START

Here are the simple instructions on installing MR/2 Internet Cruiser 
Edition (MR/2 ICE):

Step One:

Create a directory on your hard drive (any partition) and unzip the 
MR/2 ICE archive in it.

Step Two: 

Type in MR2I to start the configuration of MR/2 ICE.  Since you are 
starting MR/2 ICE for the first time, the Network Configuration 
Screen will be shown.

MR/2 ICE will read the TCPOS2.INI file, which is located in the 
tcpip/etc directory as a hidden file.  MR/2 ICE will display the 
message "Reading from TCPOS2.INI".  Do not worry, this is not an 
error.

You will also get a message relating to "Default Font Bug Test". 
Again do not be alarmed. MR/2 ICE is just checking to see that the 
default font will work with your computer,

If there is a problem, simply follow the instructions on your 
screen.

Step three:  

The TCPOS2.INI file may not contain enough information to complete 
the page.

You will be asked, in some cases, which method to use to send and 
receive mail.

POP3 is the most common method of retrieving mail and SMTP is the 
most common method to send mail.

If you received a software package from your Internet Service 
Provider (ISP), it may contain a file on how to set up other 
software packages.

Please take the time to completely read your ISP's documentation.

If you still do not have all the information you need to complete 
this page, please contact your ISP's technical support personnel.

Note: The address for your ISP's POP and SMTP servers might not be 
the same.

It is possible that the Personal Address Settings "From" box will be 
incomplete in that it may start with the "@" symbol (for example: 
"@secant.com"). If this occurs, fill in the details you have been 
given by your ISP (or which you might have in your dialer 
information).

For example, I would fill in "nick" to complete the address: 
nick@secant.com.

Do not worry if you miss this, MR/2 ICE will prompt you to fill it 
in before leaving the page.

Step four:  

Setting up your preferences.  Using the mouse, click LMB (left mouse 
button) on the USER PREFERENCES tab.  This will switch the notebook 
page to the settings you, as the user, can change.

Notice that the top part of the page is for automatic mail handling.  
The default is to automatically check for new mail and to 
automatically send new mail when created.  The default time to check 
for new mail is two minutes.

You can change any of these settings by checking or unchecking the 
settings.  To check or uncheck click LMB on the relevant box. The 
tick will appear or disappear. If the tick is there, the item is 
"checked". The time interval is changed by clicking in the box and 
then typing in the amount of time you want to wait while on line 
with your ISP.

You can change the choices here at any time. Unless there is 
something that you specifically do want or do not want, I suggest 
you stick with the default settings (the "default" is what is 
already pre-selected). 

The only item I want to comment on here is the first item under 
"Default settings". This is "Remove messages from server after they 
are fetched". You will notice that this box is not selected (it does 
not have a tick). This means that when you get a message, your ISP 
will keep a copy in your "mailbox". This can be useful if you are 
only trying out MR/2 ICE because the messages will remain there to 
be retrieved using your other e-mail program. 

It is also useful if you want to read mail in one place (e.g. your 
office) but you want to keep all your e-mail files somewhere else 
(e.g. at home). In that case you can check your messages at work and 
use another computer at home to download and file. The only thing to 
be aware of is that, if you NEVER remove the messages from your ISP, 
one day, your mail box will get too full to accept new messages. 
This is easy to deal with from the MR/2 ICE main window. Click on 
"Messages" and then "Purge messages from server". That will clear 
out the mail your ISP is holding for you.

Step five:  

Since MR/2 ICE will now work without you having to change any other 
settings, click on the left hand corner of the window twice to close 
it. MR/2 ICE will switch to the Main Window/In Box which should 
contain a couple of messages from yours truly, Nick Knight.  For now 
we will ignore these messages.

CONNECTING

Since MR/2 ICE does not contain a built-in dialer (at least not 
yet!) you must use a dialer program. If you are not logged on to the 
Internet you will not be able to send or receive mail. The Internet 
Access Kit that comes with OS/2 Warp is a good program to use for 
this purpose. As mentioned at the beginning of this file, it has 
been assumed that you have already configured your dialer and you 
are able to log on.

At this time, please start it and dial your ISP. MR/2 ICE will 
either pick up any mail that is waiting for you or, depending on the 
configuration choices you may have made, you can press "F2" to 
instruct MR/2 ICE to check for new mail.

When your dialer logs on to the Internet, you may have the following 
message at the bottom left of the MR/2 ICE screen "POP3 service 
unavailable:" followed by the name of your POP server. Pressing "F2" 
will cause the program to search for mail and this message will 
change to indicate that MR/2 ICE is checking for new mail.

If you need to find a particular message, the file name for it is on 
the right hand side of the menu bar.  The file is physically located 
in a sub-directory called MAIL under the directory you installed 
MR/2 ICE to.

If you cannot get the program to work, or if you want further 
information on MR/2 ICE please use your WWW browser and search my 
home page at http://nick.secant.com/mr2ice.  There you will find the 
latest version of MR/2 ICE and a Frequently Asked Question page. I 
hope there will also be a complete downloadable manual available 
soon.

BASIC OPERATIONS

Now that you can receive mail, try to send yourself a message.  You 
can create a new message by selecting either the blank message icon 
(the first one on the left hand side) or the message drop down menu 
(Alt and M keys) then N for New.  Fill in the message header window 
with your address as the "to" address, then press the TAB key to get 
to the subject and fill in that window with whatever the message 
subject is.

If you fail to fill in the "to" address line, MR/2 ICE will note 
that it is unable to send the message and returns you to the header 
edit window.  However, all MR/2 ICE will do if you fail to put in a 
subject is give you a warning and then ask you through a dialog box 
if you want to continue or return.

Now you are at the message edit window.  Type in your message and 
then press either the SEND button or ALT and S keys at the same 
time.  This will place the message in the outbound queue.  Either 
the message will be send immediately, or the next time you connect 
to your ISP, depending on the setting you selected for automatic 
message handling.

You can reply to any message that you receive that contains a valid 
"from" address.  Just click on the reply button, and you should be 
able to use the same steps as you did when sending a message.  
Notice that the text in the message you received is put in the 
message edit window with a ">" next to it.  This is called quoting.  

Do not quote excessively.  It wastes time to quote back to the 
sender such items as their signature and other lines placed at the bottom of a message. 

Please note that MR/2 ICE supports selective quoting. However if you find that your reply contains more of the original message than is desirable, you can easily delete portions of unwanted quotes by using your mouse, holding down LMB while you drag the mouse across the text you do not want. Release LMB when you get to the end of the passage you wish to remove. The text is now  
highlighted. Press the "Delete" key on your keyboard and the 
highlighted text is removed.

The simple editor included with MR/2 ICE allows you to toggle back 
to the original message (the "<" button) and then forward to the 
reply (the ">" button).  It also allows you to split the screen and 
show both windows at the same time (the "-" button"). 

While reading messages, you can click on Navigate.  This brings down 
a menu of many options you can use. If you prefer to use the 
keyboard, pressing the alt and N keys together will also select the 
Navigate menu. On the right hand side of all menus are the 
appropriate keyboard commands that will complete the operation 
without using the drop down menu system.

The Right Mouse Button (RMB) is used often.  Try it inside message 
index lists, on toolbar buttons, and inside address fields.

Selecting message(s).  Mark the message(s) you want to open with the 
mouse and use the RMB to call up the popup menu (or use the main 
menu).  Click on OPEN.  Alternately, double click on any single     
message to open it.
        
Outbox:  The Out Box shows all messages sent with status symbols. 
Unsent messages have a mailbox icon.  Sent messages switch to an 
envelope icon.  There is a resend option on the popup menu (RMB) and 
on the viewer screen.  Resending from the viewer screen provides an 
optional chance to modify the message first.

If you want to create a new folder to put specific mail in this is 
just three clicks away (two, if you are already in the Folders 
window).  Click on the Folders tab, then RMB click on an empty space 
on the Folders window to pop up the Folders menu.

COMMAND LINE OPTIONS

If you are just itching to get on and play with MR/2 ICE I suggest 
you skip the next portion of this file and come back to it later if 
necessary. It is not required reading before you can get up and 
running. If you close this file now, I hope you enjoy MR/2 ICE. 
However if you would like to know more ... I still hope you enjoy 
the program but here is some additional information ...

MR/2 ICE provides many more features than are needed just to get 
started. The following section deals with command line options that 
you might want to use. 

Command line switches:

        /Iinifile   Specifies a file where user interface
                    settings (e.g., toolbar visibility and
                    position, window positions) are kept.
                    The default is mr2i.ini.
                
        /Mmailcfg   Specifies the file in which to keep and
                    access your EMail configuration.
                
        /S          Suppresses the polling and delivery of
                    email.  No network access is attempted.
                    
        /T          Toolbar-less operation.  Bypasses the crash
                    caused by some bug in Soft & GUI's CmdLine.exe.
                    
        /L          Logs activity to mr2i.log - debugging
                    information.  Use this option if you experience 
                    problems using MR/2 ICE. I would like for you to 
                    include the log segment concerns the problem. This 
                    will aid in troubleshooting your problem by me.

        /Fn         Select a default font for custom control 
                    windows. (Necessary only if problems appear in 
                    install)
                    
        /Pnnn       Specify an alternate Pop3 port. (Default is 110)
        
        /-          Minimize on start

        /X          Poll for new mail, exit.
        
        /XS         Poll for new mail, send any queued mail, exit. 
                    This option is very useful for use with REXX 
                    scripts.
        
        /Cn         Overrides the OS/2 Code page setting to n.
        
        /B          Advanced option: TCP/IP buffer sizes.  Defaults 
                    to 24000.  Some systems cannot handle this many 
                    buffers and MR/2 ICE crashes.
        
        /Qfile      Will add the named file to the MR/2 ICE outbox 
                    and exit.  File is assumed to be a properly 
                    formed message file.  You can force MR/2 to 
                    attempt to send the message via use of the /XS 
                    flag.
        
        /Euser@domain
        
                    Starts MR/2 ICE and immediately invokes a new 
                    message to the address specified.  For use by a 
                    third-party address book program still under 
                    construction. 


Command-line control of a running copy of MR/2 ICE:  The commands 
above will actually cause an existing instance of MR/2, if found, to 
do the desired work.  I went the extra step of support this for 
multiple accounts, so specifying an account should talk to the right 
copy of MR/2 ICE.  So, using the /Q option to queue a file actually 
puts it in the outbox of a running copy, and proceeds to send it. 
Using the /E option causes a New Message header screen to pop to the 
desktop from a running copy of ICE.  Also:
    
        /Qfile  - as described above
        
        /Euser@domain - as described above        

        /+  will restore and bring focus to a minimized/buried 
            copy of MR/2 ICE.
            
        /-  will minimize an existing, running copy of MR/2 ICE.
        


