DE for MS-DOS Beta Release Announcement

[Andy Powell <[e-mail]>]

(Apologies for the cross-posting...)

I am pleased to announce a beta-test release of DOS-DE, a version of DE for
MS-DOS based PCs.  The release contains two versions of DOS-DE, one running
over SUN PC-NFS (version 4.0a) and the other running over the NCSA Telnet IP
stack.  It is available using anonymous ftp from the pub/x500 directory on
ftp.bath.ac.uk (138.38.32.1).  The file is called dosde.zip.

Any bug reports or general comments should be sent to me.

Andy Powell ([e-mail]).

-----------------

The contents of the README.TXT file that comes with the release follows...

DOS-DE                                                   version 0.1 (beta)
------                                                          Andy Powell
                                                         University of Bath
                                                        [e-mail]
                                                               January 1993
Introduction
------------
`DE (which stands for Directory Enquiries) is a directory user interface
primarily intended to serve as a public access user interface.  However, the
burgeoning number of configurable options are making DE highly suitable as
an interface to be used as a personally customised tool.  This trend will
continue with further releases of DE. It is primarily aimed at the novice
user, although more sophisticated users should find that it is flexible.'

This is a release of DE for MS-DOS machines.  It uses LDAP (the Lightweight
Directory Access Protocol) running over either SUN PC-NFS or the
NCSA Telnet stack. It is a binary only release consisting of a single ZIP
archive (DOSDE.ZIP) containing the following files...

README.TXT	This file.
NFS-DE.EXE	A version of DE compiled to run over SUN PC-NFS.
NCSA-DE.EXE	A version of DE compiled to run with the NCSA telnet
		package.
DE.CFG		A configuration file for DE (the UNIX release of DE
		refers to this file as `detailor').
DE.UFN		The DE UFN (User Friendly Naming) configuration file.  (The
		UNIX release of DE uses the standard ISODE tailor file
		`ufnrc' for this).
DE.HLP		Run-time help for DE.
TAILOR.TXT	A document describing the use and configuration of the UNIX
		version of DE.  See `Differences between DOS-DE and the UNIX
		version of DE' (later in this document) for DOS-DE specific
		features.
DE.PIF		An MS Windows 3.1 PIF file for DE.  (Only the PC-NFS version of
		DOS-DE has been tested against Windows).

Installing the PC-NFS version of DE
-----------------------------------
Un-ZIP the contents of the DOSDE.ZIP file somewhere.  The NFS-DE.EXE file
should be installed as DE.EXE in a directory listed in your `PATH'
environment variable.  The support files (DE.CFG, DE.HLP and DE.UFN) can
either be installed into the same directory or they can be put into a
directory pointed to by the `DE' environment variable.

Note that this version of DOS-DE will only run over SUN PC-NFS version 4.0a.

Installing the NCSA version of DE
---------------------------------
Un-ZIP the contents of the DOSDE.ZIP file somewhere.  The NCSA-DE.EXE file
should be installed as DE.EXE in a directory listed in your `PATH'
environment variable.  This directory must also contain a CONFIG.TEL file
configured for your environment.  The support files (DE.CFG, DE.HLP and
DE.UFN) can either be installed into the same directory or they can be
put into a directory pointed to by the `DE' environment variable.

Configuring DE
--------------
Follow the instructions given in the TAILOR.TXT file about configuring DE.
(Note that the DOS version of DE runs over the LDAP protocol).
The important things to tailor are...

ldapServer: ldaphost
username: cn=Directory Enquiries, ou=Bath University Computing Services, o=University of Bath, c=GB
default_country: GB
default_org: University of Bath
default_dept:

where, `ldapServer' is the name of the machine that is running your LDAP daemon
(an entry for this host must appear in your \NFS\HOSTS file for the PC-NFS
version, or your CONFIG.TEL file for the NCSA version).

Read the comments in the DE.UFN file for details of how to configure UFN
searching.

Running DE
----------
Just type `DE'...

DE Environment Variables
------------------------
When DE is run it will look for all its support files (DE.CFG, DE.HLP and
DE.UFN) in three places.  First in the current directory, second in the
directory pointed to by the `DE' environment variable (if set) and then
thirdly in any directory on your current `PATH'.

Differnces between DOS-DE and the UNIX version of DE
----------------------------------------------------
- The DOS-DE file DE.CFG is the UNIX file $(ETCDIR)/de/detailor.
- The DOS-DE file DE.UFN is the UNIX file $(ETCDIR)/ufnrc.
- The DOS-DE help file DE.HLP is a text file containing all the UNIX help
  files from the $(ETCDIR)/de directory.
- There are three extra tailoring options in DE.CFG to configure the colours
  that DE uses.  They are...

textColour: BrightWhite
boldColour: blue
backgroundColour: darkgray

  (Note that `boldColour' is the colour that is used where the UNIX version
  of DE uses reverse video).
  Colours can be selected from the following list...

  Black, Blue, Green, Cyan, Red, Magenta, Brown, White, DarkGray, LightBlue,
  LightGreen, LightCyan, LightRed, LightMagenta, Yellow, BrightWhite.

Bugs/Restrictions
-----------------
- Because of a slight problem with CTRL-C handling in the DOS version of DE
  the following applies in this release.  Pressing CTRL-C at any time during
  the execution of DOS-DE will result in it terminating (after abandoning any
  outstanding X.500 searches if necessary) and returning  you to the DOS
  prompt.  Pressing ESC (the ESCAPE key) will do what you would expect if you
  typed CTRL-C to the UNIX version of DE; i.e. if the ESC key is pressed
  during a search then the search will be abandoned and you will be returned
  to the DE prompt.  The run-time help files have been modified to reflect
  this change - the TAILOR.TXT file hasn't.
- The NCSA version of `DE' does not support power searching at the moment.

Availability and Support
------------------------
DOS-DE (an X.500 DUA for MS-DOS based personal computers)
Version 0.1 (beta)
Copyright (C) 1993 - see below

This version of DE is freely available to anyone for any lawful,
non-commercial purpose.  It is supplied as is without any express 
or implied warranty but bug reports will be dealt with on a best 
effort basis.

The software is available for anonymous ftp from the host 
ftp.bath.ac.uk in the pub/x500 directory.  The file is called 
dosde.zip.

Please send any bug reports to [e-mail].

Copyright Notice
----------------
The major part of the DE computer program was developed at
Universtiy College London with funding from the COSINE PARADISE
project.  The copyright for this part of the software belongs
jointly to RARE (Reseaux Associes pour la Recherche Europeene)
and the CEC (Commission of the European Communities).  The parts
of this version of the DE computer program which enable DE to run
over LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol), using routines
written at the University of Michigan, were written by Andy Powell
and are the copyright of the University of Bath.