Subj : the offline way..
To   : Rob Mccart
From : August Abolins
Date : Sun Aug 24 2025 14:29:00

Hello Rob!

** On Monday 18.08.25 - 09:04, you wrote to me:

 AA>> You might like to look into OpenXP.  It would make your
 >> connection operate as a point, and you benefit from having all
 >> messages stored into a database for easy search and lookup
 >> later.  I built https://openxp.kolico.ca to help promote it.
 >> See the screenshots there.

 RM> I briefly had a look at that. I access this board by having
 RM> QWK files eMailed to me.. Is that how you use OpenXP ?
 RM> I didn't see any reference to QWK in the PDF Manual, and
 RM> the help file won't open in Windows 7, although possibly
 RM> I can DL the software to fix that.

OpenXP is not a QWK-based reader at all.  It's an echomail- 
based .PKT system.  Messages are exchanged in .PKT format - the  
same format that BBS systems use to exchange echomail.

You configure OXP to act like another BBS-system, albiet  
associated as an extension (a point) off the host BBS (the boss  
node).

So.. if your boss might be the The Rusty Mailbox (located in  
the BC) ..the sysop would assign a "point" number to your  
system like so:  1:153/757.XXX  where XXX is the "point" number  
and your full FTN address becomes 1:153/757.XXX to identify  
your system.

OXP would "call" the boss node directly. The exchanges are  
pretty fast and quick.


 RM> My main issue that brought this on was an inability to copy
 RM> and paste into SLMR with the setup I have. Is OpenXP Windows
 RM> software, as opposed to DOS and does it support that ?

You can copy paste from OXP easily.  You copy into/from the  
Clipboard, or into/from a file.


 RM> Looking at the screen shots it doesn't look a whole lot
 RM> easier to deal with than SLMR otherwise..

At one point I was convinced that I would never consider a  
text-based messaging system again. Instead, I was focusing on a  
couple GUI-based Windows programs: Apoint and WinPoint.  Apoint  
has long since been abandonned, and Winpoint has emerged out of  
a long quiet period to have been updated in the last 8 or so  
years.

But even with Winpoint, I had some reservations. Meanwhile, I  
learned about OXP and gradually grew more fond of it than  
Winpoint.

Meanwhile, Winpoint went through several more updates since I  
adopted OXP, and it might be a very complete and stable  
messaging system for you.  It too stores messages from  
subsequent calls to the boss node into a database that you can  
search and browse and research at one instance.  That's much  
better than being able to read just one QWK at a time.

There were two other QWK-based messaging systems that purported  
to store messages into a database style.  One was Sempoint, but  
the other escapes my memory at this time.  Sempoint is GUI- 
Windows based, and the other one was text-based.


-- 
  ../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.64
 * Origin: Age Doesn't Matter Unless You're a Cheese (1:396/45.29)

.