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DR PORTNOY
December 29th, 2006, 05:36 PM
I am trying to get Tapcis6 to run on a WinME machine that has a "XircomMPCI Modem 56" working on COM3. I tried setting up TAP with COM3 but I can't get a connection. I think this may have to do with the modem being "software driven". Is there any way I can code into Tapcis setup to get this modem to respond.

Looks like the last activity in this forum was 2005, so I'll be plesantly surprised if I get a response!

Lindsey
December 30th, 2006, 12:11 AM
I think this may have to do with the modem being "software driven". Is there any way I can code into Tapcis setup to get this modem to respond.
Oooooh, yeah, bad news. TAPCIS needs a real, old-fashioned hardware modem. It's been a long time, and my memory may be faulty, but I don't think there is any good way around that.

Looks like the last activity in this forum was 2005, so I'll be plesantly surprised if I get a response!
In this particular portion, perhaps (you'll notice that the title of this particular "forum" -- or section, as I think of it -- is "Forum Use and Help"; that is, help with use of the forum itself. We don't get too many questions along that line.) Most of the TAPCIS usage questions are posted in the "forum" (section) named "TAPCIS Support," and most of the conversation takes place in "The TapRoom." And there is also, of course, "The Parlor,' where Dixonary is still going strong.

--Lindsey

Jeff
December 30th, 2006, 12:50 PM
I am trying to get Tapcis6 to run on a WinME machine that has a "XircomMPCI Modem 56" working on COM3. I tried setting up TAP with COM3 but I can't get a connection. I think this may have to do with the modem being "software driven". Is there any way I can code into Tapcis setup to get this modem to respond.

If that's an ugly "win modem" you're SOL. However, it may not be. It may just need a "DOS" driver. Start here:

http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/trans/xircom.htm

- Jeff

DR PORTNOY
December 30th, 2006, 07:37 PM
I am still using Compuserve as my email becasue I have always liked Tapcis.
Is there a general trend amongst the former Tapcis users to migrate to a certain e-mail reader program?

DR PORTNOY
December 30th, 2006, 07:46 PM
Jeff: Thanks for the referral to Intel. It seems most of the discussion there has to do with Xircom Ethernet cards.

For the time being, I'll just keep using my old modem to access my Compuserve mail through Tapcis. Do you still use Tapcis?

davidh
December 30th, 2006, 10:26 PM
As Jeff and Lindsey said, if your internal modem driver does not have a MS-DOS mode configurable in Windows, then you will almost certainly have to use an old fashioned hardware modem. I myself only have old PC's that actually still have real MS-DOS compatible serial ports on them so that it is still possible to hook an external modem onto the serial ports. A lot of newer computers don't even have old fashioned serial ports on them at all (e.g. COM1 & COM2). In 2005, I bought an external V.92 protocol external modem to provide full (V.92) support for call waiting. I have the modem initialization in Windows set up to tell the modem to hang up immediately when there is an incoming voice (or any other type of) call. Except when I'm doing a long download, then I cancel call waiting.

There definitely are people still using TAPCIS with good results.

However, for those thinking of switching to a different mail server (non Classic Compuserve) and/or mail program some issues worth considering are:

mail server
1. allows both web access and POP3 or IMAP access
2. allows encrypted (SSL) mail download (and upload if using SMTP)
3. has vacation notices
4. allows forwarding (perhaps even simultaneously in addition to web access and POP3)
5. has good spam filters and virus checking
6. allows disabling graphics in HTML web mail (for safety in case of vulnerabilities in various graphics rendering modules which might be used by your browser) [This goes for mail programs (email client programs) on your PC too.]

mail program
1. supports encryption (e.g. SSL)
2. offers IMAP mail download in addition to POP3 (e.g. AOL email), if so desired
3. good offline mail search capability
4. supports RSS/XML protocol news and/or NNTP protocol (USENET) news groups, if so desired
5. maintains mail boxes (files) in industry standard format (namely MBOX format) for ease of transfer between different mail programs in case you wish to switch again later in future

There must be a lot of offerings that satisfy many of these criteria. Google mail server (gmail.com) and Mozilla Thunderbird mail program would get high marks in most of these items (in my book anyway).

DH

DR PORTNOY
December 30th, 2006, 10:45 PM
DH: I have been using an "exchange" "www.mail2web.com" a lot to pick up my Compuserve e-mail when I am away from Tapcis. I have considered changing over to their e-mail system which uses "Microsoft Outlook Web Access"; but I don't like it as much as far as indexing, searching and retrieving e-mails. Do you know anything about that program in comparison to the gmail or Mozilla programs?

davidh
December 31st, 2006, 11:35 AM
DH: I have been using an "exchange" "www.mail2web.com" a lot to pick up my Compuserve e-mail when I am away from Tapcis. I have considered changing over to their e-mail system which uses "Microsoft Outlook Web Access"; but I don't like it as much as far as indexing, searching and retrieving e-mails. Do you know anything about that program in comparison to the gmail or Mozilla programs?

I'm not sure what is meant by "Microsoft Outlook Web Access". I assume it could refer to POP3 and IMAP protocols, both of which I think Outlook supports. The last version of Outlook I used was Outlook 98. It then had a sort of collaboration-by-email feature that I found interesting but did not use much. Two reasons I did not like it were: 1. it kept all mail in one gigantic file regardless of how I filed messages in different mail boxes, so backing up mailboxes or transfering them seemed to be a pain. 2. Security in that version was pretty poor.

GMAIL provides 2.7 GB online mail storage and very flexible and powerful search capabilities. For example, a very specific and detailed set of search criteria can be set up and saved as a way to define a sort of virtual folder containing all messages satisfying the criteria. This is handy because a single message can "appear" in as many virtual folders as you need it to for your purposes. In addition, you can apply labels to messages, in case it is not possible or practical to single them out by some search criteria.

Personally, I don't use GMAIL so much for its powerful search capabilities. Instead, I make use of its capability to be accessed in three different ways at the same time 1. web mail 2. POP3 (encrypted) download 3. auto forwarding.

I no longer use TAPCIS since I am not a Classic CS member now. I do use Mozilla Thunderbird but not as my regular email program, since the one I've been using pre-dates Mozilla by a number of years and I have not bothered to migrate over. As I understand it, Thunderbird also has powerful offline search capabilities but I have not experimented with them.

Personally, I prefer to avoid Microsoft programs if practical, since they likely will provide security fixes for a shorter period than open-source such as Mozilla *and* MS is also more likely to force you to buy new hardware just to run their upgraded programs. However, if you are not running Windows XP, it is likely that the next major version upgrades of Firefox browser and Thunderbird email will require XP.

Another option for powerful offline search capability is Google Desktop. Requires XP. I assume that it is compatible with at least some of the major email programs such as Outlook and Thunderbird, so that it could scan and index (catalog / database-ify) messages in the mailboxes of such email programs. I don't know if other Desktop's such as Yahoo compare well to Google Desktop or not. Of course, having another application also means you have to keep aware of security updates for it. Whether it's possible for hackers to deliver infectious poison pills to such apps as Desktop's (as opposed to browsers, browser plugins, and mail programs, etc.), is something I don't know about.

DH

earler
December 31st, 2006, 12:36 PM
Note that you don't need new hardware to run office 2007, and outlook 2007, which is part of it.

-er

Jeff
December 31st, 2006, 01:32 PM
Jeff: Thanks for the referral to Intel. It seems most of the discussion there has to do with Xircom Ethernet cards.

For the time being, I'll just keep using my old modem to access my Compuserve mail through Tapcis. Do you still use Tapcis?

Oh, yes indeedee. Win XP Pro, SP2 and updates, running on HAL (an IBM R51 notebook) which has a real (not win) modem. Yours may be real too, and just need a driver. Which unfortunately Intel may not know or care about.

- Jeff

Judy G. Russell
December 31st, 2006, 08:35 PM
DH: I have been using an "exchange" "www.mail2web.com" a lot to pick up my Compuserve e-mail when I am away from Tapcis. I have considered changing over to their e-mail system which uses "Microsoft Outlook Web Access"; but I don't like it as much as far as indexing, searching and retrieving e-mails. Do you know anything about that program in comparison to the gmail or Mozilla programs?If you can't get a hardware modem (which is needed by Tapcis), you might consider Eudora, which can run over a winmodem, is going open source, and which has decent search capabilities. It can pick up your CServe pop mail and maintain it in text format on your computer.

heinz57g
January 3rd, 2007, 10:10 AM
hey, i just missed out (almost) on this interesting discussion - would this not better be moved
over to TAPCIS SUPPORT rather than forum use?

greetings - heinz -

Judy G. Russell
January 3rd, 2007, 05:09 PM
hey, i just missed out (almost) on this interesting discussion - would this not better be moved
over to TAPCIS SUPPORT rather than forum use?

greetings - heinz -Sure. Done.

Lindsey
January 3rd, 2007, 11:36 PM
hey, i just missed out (almost) on this interesting discussion - would this not better be moved over to TAPCIS SUPPORT rather than forum use?
I had started to move it when I first answered it, but since the questioner apparently hadn't seen any of the other sections, I was afraid he might not see the answer if I did that! But I hope that at this point, he's figured that out.

--Lindsey

Judy G. Russell
January 4th, 2007, 09:26 AM
I had started to move it when I first answered it, but since the questioner apparently hadn't seen any of the other sections, I was afraid he might not see the answer if I did that! But I hope that at this point, he's figured that out.There are two ways to move a thread here: one that simply moves it and one that moves it but leaves a referral message in the original section. That's what I used to move this thread and would be appropriate for this kind of situation.

Lindsey
January 4th, 2007, 11:41 PM
There are two ways to move a thread here: one that simply moves it and one that moves it but leaves a referral message in the original section.
<Slapping my forehead> I knew about that referral message option, and I didn't even think about it! Yes, that would have been the perfect solution.

--Lindsey