POW  - Powerline Offline reader for Windows  v1.03
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Minimum System Requirements
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IBM AT 286 Compatible or better.  (VBRUN300.DLL Dated 12-May-93 for 286)
3Mb Memory minimum, preferably 4Mb or more.
Windows v3.1.

Terminal Font must be installed in Windows.

BBS Settings
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The BBS must be set up to provide QWK files as follows:-

Packet type 	   - QWK
Archiver	   - ZIP
Index Files (.NDX) - ON
CONTROL.DAT	   - ON    Usually the default.

POW will display the following, if turned on in the BBS mail door:-

Bulletins
News
NewFiles
Welcome
Goodbye
Session Text


Late News
~~~~~~~~~
This is a Maintenance Release mainly to cure overflow errors.  For more 
info see HISTORY.TXT.
___________________________________________________________________________

The internal editor will recognise SpelMate spelling checker if appropriate 
files are found in the C:\WINDOWS directory (SPELMATE.DLL and dics).
Text in the edit box is spell checked except for quoted text which is left 
alone (etiquette suggests that text quoted from another msg should not be
altered other than formatting).  SpelMate requires about 1Mb extra memory.
SpelMate is Shareware by James Herron (Aciran Software).


The Shareware Principle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
POW is released under the Shareware principle.  You may use the program 
for up to 60 days for evaluation.  Please register POW if you find it 
useful.  Registration will remove the opening and closing Shareware 
registration reminders, and provide funds to allow continued development 
of POW.  Registered users will receive high priority for suggestions for 
improvements.

When passing POW on to others or uploading please include all files in
the ZIP without modification.  

Registered users:- Do NOT distribute the POW.INI file containing your
                   registration details.  

For registration details please see POW.WRI or the on-line Help.
Registration forms are provided in DOS and Windows format text.
The Windows form may be accessed from within POW and completed/printed.

Registration addresses for UK and USA are provided.  A registration code 
is sent to you which removes the registration reminder screens.  Also,
the words "On trial" in the tagline of messages you write are replaced
by your registered serial number.


The following files should be found in POW.ZIP:-
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  POW.EXE  	The POW program.
  POW.HLP  	Help file in Windows Help format.
  POW.WRI  	Documentation in Windows Write format.
  POW.ICO	Alternative icon for launching POW from Program Manager.
  ReadMe.TXT	Last minute changes and other information. (This file)
  Register.ASC  Registration form in DOS text format.
  Register.TXT  Registration form in Windows text format.  
  GRID.VBX	Visual Basic Grid library.  Goes in Windows\System dir.
  CMDIALOG.VBX	VB interface to Windows Common Dialogs.  "
  File_ID.DIZ   Description of POW for BBS file lists.
  Taglines.POW	Some sample Taglines.  Put it in the Data directory. (PD)
  History.TXT	Update history.

GRID.VBX and CMDIALOG.VBX should be put in the Windows\System directory, 
making sure you do not replace a newer version.

POW uses COMMDLG.DLL (Windows DLL for Common Dialogs) which is provided 
with Windows 3.1 and should be in your Windows\System directory.

You will also need a copy of VBRUN300.DLL, the Visual Basic v3.0 runtime 
library plus PKZIP.EXE & PKUNZIP.EXE v2.  These may be obtained from most 
Bulletin Boards.   Make sure that the PK progs are in a directory on your 
DOS Path (as specified in AUTOEXEC.BAT).  The VBRUN300.DLL file should be 
put in the Windows\System directory.  The version dated 12-May-93 
(or later) is required for a 286 computer (bug in earlier version).

Taglines playing on the initials of POW were kindly supplied by Bob Aldridge
a Beta tester and one of the first to register POW.  Thanks Bob.


Getting Started  (see POW.WRI for Installation.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I addition to the icon in POW.EXE, an alternative icon for use in Program 
Manager is provided (POW.ICO).


Notes & Known Bugs:-
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If a Font other than Terminal (the default) is selected for message display
or in the editor, the formatting may be incorrect and ASCII chars above 128 
may not display correctly.  For correct display a fixed font with the 
ASCII(OEM) char set is required.  Fixed pitch (monospaced) fonts such as
FixedSys or Courier New (TrueType) using the ANSI char set may be 
satisfactory if high ASCII chars are not used.  

A fixed font is also recommended for printing messages to give the right 
formatting (eg. Terminal or a Printer Font).

We are currently in the process of adding support for more mail doors in 
the Add/Drop Conference feature. Hopefully all mail doors that use the 
"old style" control messages will now be fully supported and display the 
appropriate buttons.  POW has been tested on Tomcat, Cam-mail, MarkMail 
and JCQWK mail doors.  Mail doors that will only use the "new style" 
control mesages such as QMail4 are not yet fully supported and only the 
list of conferences in the CONTROL.DAT will be displayed. 

Disclaimer
~~~~~~~~~~
This is a Maintenance Release of POW provided to cure problems reported by 
users.  Whilst every effort is made to correct problems, no guarantee is 
given or implied that there are no further problems waiting to be found.

Please report any problems to the author, Gina Davis (see doc/help).
       ________________________________________________________
 
          POW - Powerline Offline reader for Windows - v1.02.
       Copyright (c) 1993/94 Gina Davis & Powerline Systems Ltd. 
                        All rights reserved.
