The bad news is that v2.4 is the final Q-Blue release; there will be no more updates. The good news is that Q-Blue is now freeware, available for anyone to use, instead of costing $20 to register as all versions up to 2.3 did. The other bad news, of course, is that it took so long for me to go back and finish this final release that now there's probably nobody to use it. Q-Blue 2.4 is not much different from 2.3, but does have a couple of added features. If you are using a version of Q-Blue earlier than 2.3, please review the material below. If you have been using Q-Blue 2.3, the only major new feature added is support for attached files. This is covered in section 10.11 of the manual, "Q-Blue.doc". There is one new setup option, described at the end of section 6.3: when Q-Blue's screen is not overscanned, you can have a scrollbar at the right edge of the screen that hides itself except when the mouse is near it. Q-Blue can be started from a CLI prompt or from the Workbench. Command line and tool type options are described in the manual, "Q-Blue.doc". Commonly, none are needed. When started from a CLI, it automatically detaches itself to run in the background, so you get your command prompt back right away. Before running the program, you should double-click on the included "Install" script icon, especially if you do not have suitable IBM fonts in your FONTS: drawer. It will describe several included fonts and let you select which ones to install. If you are using fonts from a release of Q-Blue older than v2.3, you should run this script and install the latest set. This release includes some fonts that use the Amiga's regular ISO character set, with the same "look" as the IBM fonts. For each IBM font there is an ISO font of matching size and similar name, except for those IBM fonts that match the built-in topaz 8 and topaz 9 fonts (newcleanibm 8 and wideibm 9). The most complex part of using the program is setting it up for the first time, but even that is, in many ways, easier to do than to describe. The process is explained in complete detail in the user manual. Once Q-Blue is set up, most of its operation is intuitively obvious. Those who are using an older version of Q-Blue should note that many of the default commands for the supported archiving programs have been changed. You may wish to alter your configuration to use the new commands, detailed in sections 5.2 and 5.4 of the user manual. If you have version 1.0 or older of Q-Blue, it is especially recommended that you change the Zip compression command from "Zip -jkr @A @D" to the new form "Zip -k @A *". (Or if you have a version of Zip older than 2.0, you should use "Zip -k @A @F". If your Zip command is "Zip -k @A @F", as may be the case if you have Q-Blue 1.9 or newer, you should change it to "Zip -k @A *", again except in the case of a very old version of Zip. Note also that there are now two Zip command settings: one for normal use, and one for use with outdated software compatible with PKZIP 1.x; the Zip 1.x version uses "Zip - 0k @A *" as its compression command, and "50 4B 03 04 0A" as its pattern. (Decompression is identical for both.) Commands for the LZX compressor have also been added: the command for decompression is "LZX -m -X0 x @A", for compression is "LZX -X0 a @A #?", and the pattern is "4C 5A 58". If you have been using Q-Blue version 2.0 or 2.1, the most important new features added in v2.3 were Internet email and newsgroup handling, and support for new offline configuration features found in Blue Wave 3.x doors. For these new features, see sections 6.10 (on setting up email for QWK packets and systems that use Fidonet gating), 10.8 (on writing email and, with BW 3.x, newsgroup posts), and 11.2 through 11.5 (on BW offline configuration). Some new setup options are discussed in sections 4.1, 6.3, and 6.8; section 6.9 on QWK netmail also reflects some changes, and should especially be reviewed if you want to set up Fido gated email in QWK packets. One feature that is new as of v2.3 is that BBS pointer files are now saved automatically in the context directory. This is explained in section 8.3 of the manual. Also, the "save message" command, when used on a bulletin file, now makes an accurate binary copy instead of doing things like adding a header and stripping out ANSI codes. The manual is formatted for printing on US letter or European A4 size paper. The margins are set up on the assumption that printing begins up to one half inch (12 mm) below the top edge of the paper. Each page of the document contains 60 lines including headers and footers, so if your printer has vertical margins or a perforation skip feature, the page length should still fit. It is 148 pages long. It contains ANSI underlining codes, so printing it through your regular Amiga printer driver will underline various things if your printer is capable of doing so, as most are. The underlining will also show if it is viewed with most text viewers such as More. Below is a copy of Q-Blue's new distribution license. It is substantially different from that of past versions, since I am no longer taking money for it, even if offered. The computer program "Q-Blue, release 2.4" is copyright (c) 1992- 1999 by Paul Kienitz, with all rights reserved except as stated here. The archive containing the executable program file "Q-Blue", the manual "Q-Blue.doc", and the various fonts and other incidental files included in this distribution, may be freely copied, distributed, and used so long as none of the contents of the distribution package are modified or removed. Additional material may be added, but it should be labeled in some manner to indicate that it is not part of the original Q-Blue distribution. Previous versions of Q-Blue existed in two forms, an "evaluation" version and a "registered" version. The former was licensed to be used only for a limited time by any one person; the latter was licensed only to be used by a single person who was not permitted to distribute copies. With the release of Q-Blue 2.4 under this license, permission is granted for copies of all such past versions to be freely distributed on the same terms as this version, so long as they are not represented as being this version or a newer version. Such distribution should be accompanied by some notification stating that Q-Blue is now "freeware" and no money should be sent to the author. The restriction on modifying contents of the distribution is lifted in two specific ways: it is permitted to remove the file "How-to-order" which specified how to buy a registered copy, and it is permitted to modify the section of the manual labeled "How to contact the author" to include up-to-date information from the equivalent section of the Q-Blue 2.4 manual. Q-Blue, like most software, is provided "as is", with no warranty of any kind. The author cannot assume liability for any damage caused by the software. Here is a list of all of the files included in this public beta distribution of Q-Blue, archived inside a drawer called "Q-Blue2.4": Q-Blue the program itself README this file you're reading Install script that installs fonts and taglines Q-Blue.doc the user manual Taglines sample file for use with the tagline feature Liberal-taglines additional taglines, with a political bias fonts/newcleanibm.font four fonts using the IBM character set fonts/newcleanibm/8 fonts/tallibm.font fonts/tallibm/11 fonts/tallibm/12 fonts/tallibm/14 fonts/stretchibm.font fonts/stretchibm/12 fonts/wideibm.font fonts/wideibm/9 fonts/wideibm/12 fonts/wideibm/14 fonts/talliso.font three fonts using the ISO character set fonts/talliso/11 fonts/talliso/12 fonts/talliso/14 fonts/stretchiso.font fonts/stretchiso/12 fonts/wideiso.font fonts/wideiso/12 fonts/wideiso/14 c/Future a little utility for adjusting file dates c/IsADir four small programs used by Install script c/XSkip c/RequestChoice c/RequestFile Q-Blue.info icons README.info Install.info Q-Blue.doc.info Taglines.info Liberal-taglines.info fonts.info Also included in the archive, outside of the "Q-Blue2.4" drawer, are the drawer icon "Q-Blue2.4.info" and the file "file_id.diz", which contains a description suitable for BBS file listings. Other files may have been added by distributors of the archive. The "Q-Blue2.4" drawer is temporary and can be deleted after you have run the install script and dragged the program and the user manual (Q-Blue.doc) to the drawers where you will keep them. Past versions of Q-Blue distributed on floppy disk generally included copies of the Info-Zip compression and decompression programs for the Amiga. Since this distribution is intended for downloading, they are not included here. They are available from ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/AMIGA and various other sites that carry Info-Zip files. See http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip for information on these tools (do NOT go to www.infozip.com).