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                             M I N I - H O S T

                           for Microsoft Windows

                    -----------------------------------
                    Data Management and Mail Processing
                    -----------------------------------

                      Annotation to the demo-version


    Copyright (C) 1992, 1993, SuperPhysica Center, St.Petersburg, Russia.
    =====================================================================


    This document is  a brief description  of Mini-Host project  and its
    demonstration version. It  is intended to  help you in  installation
    and evaluating  the demo  version as  well as  to better imagine the
    project's concepts, features and perspectives.

    The  document  is  written  under  a  supposition that the reader is
    familiar both with basics of Microsoft Windows graphical environment
    and basics of electronic mail.

    We  strongly  recommend  you  to read this document before you start
    the  installation   procedure.  It's   quite  small   but  all   the
    significant information is concentrated here.

    If you are familiar with the previous demo version of Mini-Host,  it
    would  be  interesting  for  you  to  look  into  WHATSNEW.TXT  file
    containing a description of main differences between two  consequent
    demo versions.


    CONTENTS
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      GENERAL
      INSTALLATION
        Software Requirements
        Hardware Requirements
        Installation Procedure
      DEMO EVALUATION
        Populating Database of Accounts
        Using WinUUCP as an External Mail Transport Agent
        Mail Procesing
      CAUTIONS
      TRADEMARKS AND COPYRIGHTS
      CONTACT ADDRESSES


    GENERAL
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    Mini-Host  is  an  integrated   software  package  for  E-mail   and
    data  processing.  It  works   under  Microsoft  Windows   graphical
    environment.

    Mini-Host  package   should  give   you  an   ability  to   have   a
    convenient   networking   environment   under   Microsoft   Windows.
    It  should  allow  you  either  to  organize  a quite powerful email
    host  on  your  PC,  or  to  get  your  PC  integrated into external
    network.

    The  demo  version  is  of  limited  part  of  the  entire  project.
    It  includes  two  main  parts  of  Mini-Host package only: the mail
    user  agent  (MUA)   -  Data  Manager,  and the UUCP mail  transport
    agent (MTA) - WinUUCP.

    Demo   contains   several   Windows   applications   that   are  not
    self-demonstrating ones,  so you  may finger  their "real behavior".
    Each part  of the  demo (MUA  and MTA)  can be  installed separately
    (see the INSTALLATION section of this document).


    INSTALLATION
    ------------------------------------------------------------------

    Software Requirements

        To  run  demonstration  version  of  Mini-Host,  you should have
        Microsoft  Windows   3.1  installed   on your computer. To   get
        the  best   look  of   some interface elements  you should  also
        have   two   standard   Windows   fonts   installed  -  Helv and
        Courier  (the  Arial  font  might  be  used  well  as  a   usual
        substitution for Helv font).

        The  behavior  of  demo  applications  under  MS Windows 3.0 may
        cause some problems.


    Hardware Requirements

        You should  have at  least about  1.8 Mb  of free  space on your
        hard disk  to keep  demo system  files and  to create  a minimal
        databases  during  evaluation.  We  recommend  to  use a PC with
        4 Mb  of RAM  or more,  although the  applications can  run with
        less memory.  As  for video, it would  be better to look  at the
        demo with SVGA (800x600) or higher resolution.


    Installation Procedure

        If you  have got  the demo  installation files  in the  archived
        form  you  should   unpack  the  archive   either  into   floppy
        diskette  or  into  separate  temporary  directory  on your hard
        drive (e.g.  C:\TMP). Then  you should  launch Microsoft Windows
        (if  you  are  running  MS   DOS)  and  start  the   INSTALL.EXE
        application.

        An  installation  procedure   is  changed  significantly   since
        previous demo version.  Earlier it allowed  you just to  specify
        several directories  that should  be used  by Mini-Host.  Now it
        allows  you  also  to   initialize  Mini-Host's  databases   and
        configuration  so  that  you  would  get  a minimal ready-to-run
        system immediately after installation is completed.

        An  installation  procedure  now  has  the  following three main
        steps:  registration, files  installation, and setup. Below  are
        a brief guidelines for how to go theough these steps.

        Registration.

            The first dialog you see is a Registration dialog where  you
            have  to  enter  your  real  name  and  the  name  of   your
            organization (company  or department).  Further these  names
            will be used as a respective attributes of postmaster.

            NOTE: Demo verson  does not require  for you to  specify the
            valid serial number of Mini-Host copy.

        Files and directories.

            After  successfull  registration,  you  will  be prompted to
            specify main installation options:

            INSTALL     - you  may  install either  entire demo, or  one
                          of  two  parts  (mail   user  agent  or   mail
                          transport agent) of product.

            DIRECTORIES

            Windows     - the  MS Windows  directory   on  your  machine
                          (it   is   determined   automatically)   where
                          initialization files are to be placed.

            Source      - a directory  of  the   source   binaries   for
                          installation (it is determined automatically).

            Executables - a  directory   where  all the  demo executable
                          files should be placed.

            Database    - a directory  where all the databases should be
                          created.

            Mail        - a directory where mail system files  (spooler,
                          routes and aliases tables) should be placed.

            OPTIONS

            Install BWCC - demo  applications use the Borland's  Windows
                           custom control  DLL (BWCC.DLL);  if you  have
                           this  library  already   installed  on   your
                           machine   installator    will    detect    it
                           automatically and suggest you to install  the
                           library  supplied  to   demo  only  if   it's
                           version is newer than one of your library.

            Create Group - if you use the Program Manager as a shell  in
                           your Windows  graphical environment,  you may
                           check on  this option  and the  setup program
                           will create a  special application group  for
                           Mini-Host demo applications.

            After you've  specified all  the preferred  options, you may
            press the OK  button and the  installator will copy  all the
            required files into appropriate directories.

        Setup (initialization of the database and configuration).

            After all the Mini-Host files are installed on your HD,  you
            will be  prompted to  perform minimal  initialization of the
            system:

            - to setup your mail host;

            - to setup an account for postmaster;

            - to setup your primary mailserver;

            - to setup your modem.

            All the dialogs designed  for these procedures are  supplied
            by  on-line  help  information,  so  this  document does not
            contain any descriptions. However, one have to note that  it
            is recommended for you to go through all four steps and  not
            to change default settings where it is possible.


    DEMO EVALUATION
    ------------------------------------------------------------------

    Here  we  would  like  to  suggest  you  the most effective scenario
    of   demo   evaluation   (where   you   can   avoid  some  redundant
    difficulties).

    Populating Database of Accounts

        First,  you  have  to  pay  your  attention  on  the  change  of
        terminology since  the previous  version of  Mini-Host: there is
        no longer such common meaning  of the term "user". Now  the term
        "account"  is  used  to  signify  various users and remote hosts
        that  have  an  access  to  your  system. There are two types of
        account: an account for the user (human) and an account for  the
        host (mailserver).

        Initially   (immediately   after   installation)   the  Accounts
        Database usually contains two  accounts already: a user  account
        for postmater and  a host account  for your primary  mailserver.
        In principle, this is enough  for your host to be  involved into
        the global UUCP  communications. However you  might want to  add
        additional accounts to your system  (e.g. in order to test  just
        local  mailing,  or  to  test  connections  with  various remote
        hosts). To do this you have to use Account Setup application.

    Using WinUUCP as an External Mail Transport Agent

        Our  MTA  -  WinUUCP  application  -  can be used as an external
        mail   transport   agent   for   several   famous  Windows-based
        E-mail   packages.   There    is   WUSML.EXE   application    to
        be  an  entry  point  to  WinUUCP.  For  example,  see   CMM.SET
        file  to  get  information  about   how  to  use  WinUUCP   with
        Cinetic Mail Manager.

    Mail Procesing

        Our  MUA  -  Data  Manager  -  allows  you to perform almost all
        the   basic   mail   operations.    Also   it   provides    some
        additional   features.   You   can   evaluate   the    following
        operations and procedures in demo version:

          - creation,  modification and  support of  tree-like structure
            of folders;

          - creation and  sending of new  mail; replying and  forwarding
            of received mail  (particularly, conference articles  may be
            handled in the same way as regular mail).

          - importing  of   messages  from  standard  mailboxes  on your
            machine and vise versa;

          - encoding/decoding    of    mail   by   means   of   built-in
            UUENCODE/UUDECODE converter;

          - search operations against the mail database;

          - creation and usage of simple Address Database;

          - usage of mail message templates and patterns;

          - usage of default properties of new mail;

          - etc.

        We  suppose   that  some   user  interface   details  of    Data
        Manager  (and  maybe  even   overall  user  interface   concept)
        are  quite  different  from  what   we  have  ever  seen   among
        various   mail-related   software   products.   So   the  primer
        interest   for   us   would   be   your   responses  about  user
        interface  of  the  product.   This  would  affect  the   future
        development of the entire project.


    CAUTIONS
    ------------------------------------------------------------------

    The main limitations of the demo version of Mini-Host are:

        1)  WinUUCP   allows   you   to  transfer a  limited  number  of
            messages per session.

        2)  The system does not contain any internal call scheduler.

        3)  WinUUCP does not allow to transfer squeezed mail.

        4)  Data Manager does not allow you to print mail messages.

        5)  Data  Manager  does   not  allow  you  to  perform   complex
            conditional search operations against your mail database.

        6)  Data  Manager  does  not  allow  to read/write messages that
            have size larger  than 32 Kb  (however, such large  incoming
            messages may be stored in the mail database).

        7)  There   is  no  any   help  supplied  to  the   applications
            (neither   on-line    nor   documentation)    except    this
            document  and  Q&A.TXT  file.   However,  you  may  ask   us
            directly   for   any    help   information   (see    CONTACT
            ADDRESSES section of this document).

    Data  Manager  still   may  contain  some   bugs,  so  we   do   not
    guarantee  that  the  mail  database  created  by demo version would
    not  be  corrupted  one  day.  There  is  some  special  utility  to
    repair  corrupted  databases,  but  it  is  not  included  in   demo
    package. However,  Mini-Host applications  are much  more stable now
    (in comparison with the previous demo version).


    TRADEMARKS AND COPYRIGHTS
    ------------------------------------------------------------------
    MS DOS and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
    BWCC.DLL is copyrighted by Borland International.

    This  demonstartion  package  is   being  under  the  copyright   of
    SuperPhysica  Center.   It  may   be  freely   distributed  provided
    neither applications nor this document are not modified.


    CONTACT ADDRESSES
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    The  Mini-Host   project  is   developed  by   SuperPhysica  Center,
    St.Petersburg, Russia.

    Software development team:

        Wojciech Rizhy          - ideas, system analysis.
        Yaroslav Mezheritsky    - senjor project manager, user
                                  interface.
        Eugene Vernikovsky      - databases.
        Alex Shturm             - communications.
        Sasha Migalovsky        - communications.
        Denis Seriogin          - assistance.
        Vladimir Tarasov        - assistance.

    Administration:

        Levon Grigorian         - commercial director.
        Kirill Dmitriev         - manager.

    Contact us:

        Internet/Relcom:        minihost@sph.spb.su
                                minihost%sph.spb.su@ussr.eu.net

        Sovam Teleport/IASNet:  sph@sovamsu.sovusa.com

        FidoNet:                2:5030/8.61

        Snail:                  SuperPhysica Center,
                                190031, POB 418,
                                St.Petersburg, Russia.

        Phones:                 +7 (812) 310-4631
                                +7 (812) 232-1661

    All  the  contact  addresses  above  are  open  for  your questions,
    opinions,  critics  and  recommendations.  Any  responses  would  be
    greatly appreciated.

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