Hi everyone,

I discovered this text file I wrote sometime last year and hope it will be
of help.

===
Setting Up Nano With MultiMail Under Windows 10
Written by Sean Dennis (1:18/200@Fidonet // sysop@outpostbbs.net)

I use 64-bit Windows 10 on my laptop and use MultiMail v0.52, a console mode offline mail reader for my offline mail needs. I have been searching for a good and easy-to-use console text editor with MultiMail (MM). I've
discovered that Nano does a good job though it is a little involved to set
up initially but is well worth the effort.

First, you must get the right version of Nano. Nano is a *NIX program
meaning that it is ported to the Windows platform. There is a development branch for Nano that allows for a standalone version (meaning a single EXE
and no cross-platform libraries such as Cygwin are needed) at this URL:

https://files.lhmouse.com/nano-win/

The version of Nano that I am currently using is:

nano-win_8303_v4.5-103-gb12aeeac

which is the current version as of this writing.

I use WinRAR which can handle the 7Zip archive format that this group uses
to store their Nano compiles.

When you open up the archive, there may be multiple versions available.
Pick one, go into that folder and then the bin folder. Copy that executable
to somewhere in your path. I created "C:\Program Files\nano" and put the
file in that folder. Also note that there is a .nanorc file in the archive
at the root folder. Copy that to your %USERPROFILE% directory which is
usually "C:\Users\<username>". In my case, it is "C:\Users\Sean".

From there, open Control Panel->System->Advanced system settings and click
the button labeled "Environmental Variables...". Another window will pop
up. In the top window within that window, highlight "Path" and then click
on the "Edit" button. Click on the "New" button then add "C:\Program Files\Nano" into the dialog box. Click "OK" on that window and the two previous windows. That directory is now in your system's search path. You
can also cheat and just drop the executable into C:\Windows\System32 if
you're lazy...

You will want to set up a few things in .nanorc first. The important thing
for me was to turn on the soft wrapping of lines to make everything fit properly in the editor for MultiMail to process it.

Open .nanorc in your %USERPROFILE% directory and uncomment the following
lines:

set atblanks
set softwrap
set smarthome
set trimblanks

Read the comments at each line about what those commands do. I also used
the default color scheme with a minor change:

set titlecolor brightwhite,blue
set statuscolor brightwhite,green
set errorcolor brightwhite,red
set selectedcolor brightwhite,magenta
set stripecolor ,yellow
set numbercolor cyan
set keycolor yellow,blue
set functioncolor green

Open a shell window and run Nano. It should pop up with the new colors.

Next, open mmail.rc in your MultiMail directory and edit the following line
to match this:

# Editor for replies = $EDITOR; or if not defined, start /w notepad
editor: nano

Your MultiMail is now configured to use Nano for a text editor.
===

Later,
Sean

... The light of a hundred stars does not equal the light of the moon.
___ MultiMail/Linux v0.52

--- Maximus/2 3.01
* Origin: Outpost BBS * bbs.outpostbbs.net:2304 (1:18/200)

Sean Dennis wrote to All <=-

I discovered this text file I wrote sometime last year and hope it will
be of help.

I actually went out and bought a license for the GUI and non-GUI
versions of the TSE Pro editor (from the makes of the original QEdit for
OS/2 I believe). Both are excellent products and work well with
MultiMail and other stuff that requires an editor :)

... "Hex Dump... " - Where Witches put used Curses?
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: Lean Angle BBS * Southaven MS * winserver.org (1:116/17)

[ Robert Wolfe wrote to Sean Dennis ]

I actually went out and bought a license for the GUI and non-GUI
versions of the TSE Pro editor (from the makes of the original QEdit
for OS/2 I believe). Both are excellent products and work well with MultiMail and other stuff that requires an editor :)

If I was gonna stick with Windows, I'd try that too, but the nano solution worked quite well in Windows. However, under Linux, not so much, oddly
enough. I'm back to using joe as my text editor with MultiMail. I'm also using Qodem in a regular console window using Consolas for the font ...
seems to work fine with 95% of the stuff I have to work with.

Later,
Sean

... No matter how much you do, you'll never do enough.
___ MultiMail/Linux v0.52

--- Maximus/2 3.01
* Origin: Outpost BBS * bbs.outpostbbs.net:2304 (1:18/200)

Sean Dennis wrote to Robert Wolfe <=-

I actually went out and bought a license for the GUI and non-GUI
versions of the TSE Pro editor (from the makes of the original QEdit
for OS/2 I believe). Both are excellent products and work well with MultiMail and other stuff that requires an editor :)

If I was gonna stick with Windows, I'd try that too, but the nano
solution worked quite well in Windows. However, under Linux, not
so much, oddly enough. I'm back to using joe as my text editor
with MultiMail.

I'm using MultiMail and nano under Linux, and am very pleased with
the setup. What is it that you're not liking?



... Nothing is so smiple that it can't get screwed up.
=== MultiMail/Linux v0.52
--- SBBSecho 3.10-Linux
* Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (1:123/115)

ROBERT WOLFE wrote to SEAN DENNIS <=-

I actually went out and bought a license for the GUI and non-GUI
versions of the TSE Pro editor (from the makes of the original QEdit
for OS/2 I believe). Both are excellent products and work well with MultiMail and other stuff that requires an editor :)

On windows I use an old version of FTE, so it stays in the same window
as Multimail. On my OS/2 box I use eftepm - and I have no idea why I
use the PM version, so making a note to change it to efte so it stays
in the same window instead of popping up a new one.

I do use eftepm alot for text file editing though. It's a really nice
editor.

Kev


--- Telegard/2/QWK v3.09.g2-sp4/mL
* Origin: Razor's Domain/2 BBS (1:19/50.1)

Re: Re: Nano/MultiMail W10
By: Kevin Nunn to Robert Wolfe on Mon Jan 20 2020 10:50 am

On windows I use an old version of FTE, so it stays in the same window
as Multimail. On my OS/2 box I use eftepm - and I have no idea why I
use the PM version, so making a note to change it to efte so it stays
in the same window instead of popping up a new one.

Old Editors -- I'm still using a licensed version of Qedit Advanced 3.0 -- when
I pay for software, I'm going to get my money's worth!

I originally used it under OS/2, then when Windows 2000 came out was surprised to find that OS/2 console binaries ran in it. XP took that away, and I ran it in a DOS window in 32-bit Windows XP.

With 64-bit Windows, I moved all of my BBS tools and utilities (like MultiMail and Qedit) into DOSBOX. It mostly works OK, but I've had problems with memory errors on exceedingly large packets.
--- SBBSecho 3.09-Win32
* Origin: http://realitycheckbbs.org | tomorrow's retro tech (1:218/700)

[ Dan Clough wrote to Sean Dennis ]

I'm using MultiMail and nano under Linux, and am very pleased with
the setup. What is it that you're not liking?

The lack of macros. I have a specific use for them and nano doesn't have
that capability. I post a lot in the COOKING echo and I post a lot of
recipes. Since I use Meal-Master, a DOS-based recipe manager, I have the macros programmed to put MM's exported recipe text file through dos2unix,
then read the recipe into the message, and finally add my signature to the message. It's easier for me to just use the macros to do all of that.

But what I was talking about in my previous message was that the config file setup I was using for nano under Windows didn't work under Linux; I suspect because the Windows version is older than what I have installed.

Later,
Sean

... WinErr 014: Keyboard locked - Try anything you can think of.
___ MultiMail/Linux v0.52

--- Maximus/2 3.01
* Origin: Outpost BBS * bbs.outpostbbs.net:2304 (1:18/200)

Sean Dennis wrote to Dan Clough <=-

I'm using MultiMail and nano under Linux, and am very pleased with
the setup. What is it that you're not liking?

The lack of macros. I have a specific use for them and nano
doesn't have that capability. I post a lot in the COOKING echo
and I post a lot of recipes. Since I use Meal-Master, a
DOS-based recipe manager, I have the macros programmed to put
MM's exported recipe text file through dos2unix, then read the
recipe into the message, and finally add my signature to the
message. It's easier for me to just use the macros to do all of
that.

Ahhh OK, thanks. I remember using MM a long time ago, cool stuff.


... I didn't claw my way to the top of the food chain just to eat vegetables! === MultiMail/Linux v0.52
--- SBBSecho 3.10-Linux
* Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (1:123/115)