APL Newsreader Version 1.0 January 1995 The APL Newsreader allows you to browse, read, search, and extract messages stored in netnews archive files, such as the ones for the USENET comp.lang.apl newsgroup included with this package. DUPLICATING THE DISKS The file COPYNEWS.BAT can be used to make a duplicate copy of the newsreader disks. To run this procedure, you must have four blank, formatted high-density (1.44M) diskettes. COPYNEWS will create and use a directory on your C: drive named "zzznews" for scratch storage, and it will erase everything in this directory. If you already have a directory named "zzznews", rename it before using COPYNEWS. To duplicate the disks, insert the APL Newsreader Disk 1 in your floppy disk drive and execute the following DOS commands, substituting "a:" in the commands below with the letter for your floppy drive: cd \ -- switch to root directory copy a:copynews.bat -- put copynews.bat on the hard disk copynews a: -- run the procedure erase copynews.bat -- all done with the procedure INSTALLATION The newsreader software is compressed with PKZIP, version 2. To uncompress it, you must use version 2 of the PKUNZIP program. (The date on your PKUNZIP.EXE file should be February 1, 1993 or later.) If you do not have this version of PKUNZIP, the shareware distribution file PKZ204G.EXE is included with this package. To install PKUNZIP, insert Disk 1 of the newsreader in your floppy disk drive and execute the following DOS commands: md \pkzip -- create a pkzip directory cd \pkzip -- select it as the current directory a:pkz204g -- unpack the PKZIP software copy pkunzip.exe \ -- copy PKUNZIP to your root directory (Again, replace "a:" with the appropriate drive letter.) To install the newsreader, insert Disk 1 of the newsreader and execute the following DOS commands: mkdir \aplnews -- create an aplnews directory cd \aplnews -- make it the current directory pkunzip a:aplnews -- unpack the software copy aplnews.bat \ -- copy startup file to the root dir The software will occupy about 1 megabyte of disk space. See the file APLNEWS.TXT for instructions on using the newsreader. UNPACKING THE ARCHIVES The comp.lang.apl archive files are much larger than the software, nearly 13 megabytes total. If you are short of disk space, you may wish to unpack the archives one at a time. The following table gives the size of each archive file (and directory): File Size ÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ cla91 1,840,781 bytes cla92 2,154,131 cla93 3,753,921 cla94 5,346,043 cla95 (growing) Because of their large size, the archive files are "spanned" across multiple disks. To unpack an archive file, insert the LAST newsreader disk (labeled "Disk 4") and execute: cd \aplnews pkunzip a:cla cla9_.* Where the underscore in "cla9_.*" should be either 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 (as in "cla94.*"). PKUNZIP will prompt you to insert other disks as needed. To unpack all the files, you may omit the "cla9_.*" part of the command. TRANSLITERATION WORKSPACES The APLASCII.ZIP file on Disk 1 contains the latest version of the APLASCII transliteration workspaces for various APL systems. This software replaces APL symbols with {keywords}, or vice versa, allowing APL expressions and programs to be included in e-mail or news postings. The APLASCII workspace will be helpful if you wish to send APL-related e-mail or make postings to comp.lang.apl, but it's not needed if you only wish to use the newsreader. To extract the APLASCII workspaces, insert Disk 1 and execute: md \aplascii cd \aplascii pkunzip a:aplascii See the DESCRIBE variable in the APLASCII workspace for more information. NOTE: You must run the INSTALL program in the APLASCII workspace before using the workspace. It creates some necessary variables. SUMMARY OF FILES The APL Newsreader package consists of the following files: READ.ME - this file COPYNEWS.BAT - procedure to duplicate the disks PKZ204G.EXE - the PKZIP shareware package APLASCII.ZIP - APLASCII transliteration workspaces READ.ME - information about transliteration APLASCII.AWS - APL*PLUS /PC version APLASCII.WS - APL*PLUS II /386 version APLASCII.W3 - APL*PLUS III /Windows version APLASCII.ATF - APL2 version MAC68K.HQX - APL.68000 Macintosh version APLNEWS.ZIP - compressed software file APL386R.EXE - run-time APL interpreter APLFONT.COM - generates APL characters APLNEWS.BAT - starts the newsreader APLNEWS.INI - configuration file for the newsreader APLNEWS.TXT - user documentation APLNEWS.WS - the newsreader workspace CONFIG.APL - configuration file for APL COPYRITE.TXT - copyright information SMKEYS.HLP - keystroke help for APL editor TECHINFO.TXT - technical documentation CLA.ZIP - compressed archive file CLA91 - comp.lang.apl archive for 1989 through 1991 CLA91.DIR - directory file for CLA91 CLA92 - archive for 1992 CLA92.DIR CLA93 - archive for 1993 CLA93.DIR CLA94 - archive for 1994 CLA94.DIR CLA95 - archive for 1995 so far CLA95.DIR FEEDBACK The author welcomes comments, bug reports, and suggestions about the newsreader. Send them via e-mail to or via paper mail to: Jim Weigang 68 Plateau Circle West Springfield, MA 01089 U.S.A.