TAPCIS and Windows XP

[John Francis]

My present computer runs Windows ME, I have DSL broadband, and with COM/IP 2.4 I'm able to do my CompuServe e-mail with TAPCIS with no problems. But I'm thinking about getting a new computer, which of course will have Windows XP loaded. And I don't know whether COM/IP, and therefore TAPCIS, will work in that environment.

Has anyone actually set up TAPCIS under Windows XP, whether with COM/IP or some other helper program, so they can continue with TAPCIS? I'm anxious to know.

Thanks in advance.

[Judy G. Russell]

As I recall, the answer is yes, Tapcis works just fine under XP, but no, you can't use COM/IP 2.4. There is a newer version from Tactical Software (http://www.tacticalsoftware.com/site/html/products/comip.htm) which says it works on XP, but the old ones don't. Unfortunately, it ain't cheap. It's $100. So unless you expect your telephone bill to exceed $100 by using Tapcis over dial-up, the new COM/IP is a big hit in the pocketbook...

As much as I hate to suggest it, you really should consider moving to a more modern email program -- Eudora, Thunderbird or something like that. Those can retrieve your CServe email (via a POP3 connection) and mail from other email accounts as well.

[Jeff]

Has anyone actually set up TAPCIS under Windows XP, whether with COM/IP or some other helper program, so they can continue with TAPCIS? I'm anxious to know.

Thanks in advance.

Tap is working just fine here with XP Pro SP2. But I use dialup with Tap, as until just recently I had no broadband of any kind.

- Jeff

[John Francis]

Tapcis works just fine under XP, but no, you can't use COM/IP 2.4. There is a newer version from Tactical Software which says it works on XP, but the old ones don't. Unfortunately, it ain't cheap. It's $100.

So here I am, more than a year later, having just bought that new computer running WinXP, and yes, Com/IP 2.4 does not like it. Also, when running TAPCIS in a window, XP apparently doesn't provide the toolbar I had in WinME with its copy & paste functions, and when I use the mouse, odd ASCII graphical characters appear around it and its functioning is inconsistent. No such problem when I run TAPCIS full screen.

Even so, I'm not ready to abandon TAPCIS yet. The way it automatically appends incoming and outgoing e-mail to a neatly formatted plain text file suits me better than any of the POP clients' methods. So I'm going to try my luck with the current version of COM/IP, if the vendor will let me. They provide a 30-day free trial period, but you have to fill out and submit a form to get an e-mail with the download link, and so far the e-mail hasn't arrived. Tactical Software is completely focused on corporations, and an individual user may just be ignored. I hope not. And if I do get the software, and it works, it'd be worth the $100 price. Hey, it's only money...

I wonder whether there's any competing software in the port redirection game COM/IP plays. A little Googling didn't turn up anything, but I thought I'd ask here before getting exhaustive about it.

If all this fails, I could still keep the old computer, which runs WinME, just for the purpose of using TAPCIS... Talk about die-hards!

Thanks for any info you or others here may be able to provide.

P.S. I've downloaded the current version of COM/IP, which promises to do for TAPCIS in WinXP what the earlier version did in the non-NT/XP versions of windows. Haven't yet got it working, but will post here when I do--or don't.

[heinz57g]

john, there is a whole list of settings for TAPCIS to run under XP
(any SP), and i assure you, it runs fine, incl copy/paste (in an
unusual way though), and so on.

if you still hold the old TAPCIS database files, you will find those
instructions there, otherwise somebody might jump in here and
let you have them. myself, i will unfortunately be away from my
master-TAPCIS computer for another ten days, but then i could
provide these instructions too.

i oversee quite a number of TAPCIS construction running under
XP, and all of them for various reasons (inconsistency/difficulty/
price) have stopped using any of the COM/IP versions.

the reluctance of TacticalSoftware to deal with private customers
seems to play a role too.

this then leads to compromises. the most used setups then look
like this:

- using the actual TAPCIS only (!) with either an external old modem
or one on a PC CARD, as most built in WIN SOFT MODEMS will not
work. as TAPCIS only connects in the old known way, phonebills and
access time is minimal

- advantage: it still works, from a laptop for example, in many places
around the world.

- your base for mssgs remain within TAPCIS as you are used to

- ontop of this, you use something like ePrompter (well worth trying out)
or the often discussed MAIL2WEB for quick and dirty access to your
mails, without removing them from the server.

- you can even write from there, but should not forget to always BCC
yourself so your master files on TAPCIS are up to date.

- ontop of this, you might want to have a copy of CISs own software
on your computer to access compuserve, for those rare cases (over-
large files, special spam mssgs etc) where neither TAPCIS nor eP or
M2W can access your account. it will happen, trust me. and then only
the original CIS software like CS4.0.2 will get you in.

- it is also the only way to acces your account setup (incl billing etc)

- setting all this up might take a couple of hours, but needs not much
of a followup later, it works flawlessly. and gives you really quick
access to all yr mssgs (eP), even on foreign computers and internet
cafes for example (M2W), but still maintains your main base on TAPCIS.

let me know if this helps, or if you have any more specific questions.

greetings - heinz -

[Judy G. Russell]

John, for email only, you really should look at Eudora. It's also plain text, it's got good search capabilities, and it runs on your web connection. You can use it to retrieve your CServe mail over a POP3 connection.

I love Tapcis, don't get me wrong. But the online world has moved on...

[Lindsey]

Also, when running TAPCIS in a window, XP apparently doesn't provide the toolbar I had in WinME with its copy & paste functions
It's not just XP; that's true of the entire Windows NT family (NT, W2000, WinXP). The toolbar was a feature of W95 and its descendants. Why Microsoft didn't choose to incorporate it into the NT family is anyone's guess. You have to right-click on the Windows status bar (running in a window, not full screen) and use the Edit functions off of the pop-up menu. I never used TAPCIS with a mouse, and I normally ran it full-screen anyway, so I can't speak to the rest. But when I moved from W98 to WinXP, something on my XP system interfered with a good number of TAPCIS's keyboard shortcuts, and without those, I just found it increasingly frustrating to use and finally just gave it up, as much as I hated to do it.

Giving it up was a little less heart-wrenching after my CompuServe e-mail box was so innundated with spam that I simply stopped using it and switched to another ISP. E-mail is a little less convenient now, but at least I don't have to deal with the spam.

This is not to discourage you from trying to continue using TAPCIS if you really want to, but to let you know it is OK to let go, and that you are more than welcome to hang out here whether or not you are still using it. ;)

--Lindsey

[Mike]

Adding to Judy's message, Mozilla Thunderbird also stores the messages in plain-text files, and it has good search tools. With extensions, the search tools can get even better.

[MollyM/CA]

When the last of the HMI forums went over to the Prospero messware I began checking out all the e-mail programs I could find --Pegasus appealed to me the most. It saves as plain text --though messy, with all the info in one place-- and is plain and simple and so far bulletproof. Very configurable, and uses some of the same keystrokes that TapCis did --especially Control-T to delete a word, indispensable convenience.

TapCis/CS mail would seem cumbersome to me now, with so many great cartoons on a couple of mailing lists, my sister's wallpaper and embedded pictures, and the convenience of drag-and-drop uploading or inserting of pictures (I'm sure these would be operative in any of the common programs).

The 30 or so spams I was getting every day dwindled to a few when I got Mailwasher (without my doing a thing --I suspect Mailwasher-detect in spamming software), and have ceased altogether since I left CS.

Suddenly, however, I'm not getting test messages I send to myself --I suspect an overzealous spam filter somewhere in the lines. Should try sending one with SeaMonkey's Composer, I guess.

m

[Judy G. Russell]

Leaving CIS is one of the best things I ever did for my spam numbers... except, of course, for my work email, which is thoroughly trashed.

[davidh]

Suddenly, however, I'm not getting test messages I send to myself --I suspect an overzealous spam filter somewhere in the lines. Should try sending one with SeaMonkey's Composer, I guess.

Molly,
Years ago Pegasus' David Harris was complaining about the fact that at that time some mail servers were bouncing or dropping messages composed with Pegasus. Some or many email programs insert an "X-..." header in messages to identify the composing email program. Because of the fact that at that time some spammers were using Pegasus to send out spam. It was an unjustified mistreatment of Pegasus, but I guess "That's Life". I have no idea whether this is still a problem or not.

DH

[MollyM/CA]

Molly,
Years ago Pegasus' David Harris was complaining about the fact that at that time some mail servers were bouncing or dropping messages composed with Pegasus.
DH

I've never had reason to think that anyone has not gotten a message I've sent from Pegasus, and I've sent tens of thousands. Whatever the glitch about sending messages to myself was, it's stopped (I do this when I use another computer to send a message --to keep the files intact, I use the 'copies to self' file and send the message to myself to pick up on the other computer.)

Pegasus has great warnings and various security tricks, without being the utter (and utterly annoying) nanny that Windows has become.