CIS Retriever --- 1.1 Release Notes
Welcome to the second release of CIS Retriever.  This release note has some last minute information about using CIS Retriever with the Newton that is not in the User Manual.

Latin I Character Mapping Problem
The CIS Retriever 1.1 User Manual erroneously states that this version of CIS Retriever no longer forces CompuServe into ASCII mode for the current session.  This is incorrect; we still temporarily force CompuServe into ASCII mode.  The problem is that the Newton extended character map is incompatible with the Latin I extended character map used by CompuServe and so extended characters do not display properly.  Forcing CompuServe into ASCII mode has two consequences:
--When you view messages with extended characters in them, CompuServe maps these characters to two character ASCII equivalents (for example the German "§" is mapped to "ss").
--When you send messages with extended characters in them, the high order bit is stripped off producing a character completely different from the character intended.  For this reason, these extended characters should not be used when composing messages.  If you are setting up CompuServe for the "Skipping Login Settings" preference, be sure to set the character set to ASCII as well.

Newton Require dial tone  Preference
The Newton has a Require dial tone checkbox under its modem preferences.  CIS Retriever supports this preference.  This preference should normally be left selected unless the phone system you are connecting your modem to doesnŐt produce a dial tone. (This occurs outside the United States only)  With this preference unselected, CIS Retriever will dial and attempt to connect without waiting for a dial tone.

Newton Text Recognizer Button
CIS Retriever does not look at the state of the Newton Text Recognizer Button.  It recognizes text in editable messages regardless of the state of the button.  This was done because many people keep the recognizer off most of the time for writing quick Notes.

Heap Space Used by CIS Retriever
CIS Retriever, like all Newton applications, uses some residual heap space after it has been closed.  We have tried to minimize this usage and our tests show that it is around 400-500 bytes.  When CIS Retriever is open and at the DeskTop with no messages open, it uses a total of about 5K of heap space.

Another Preference-Sorting Forum Msgs
Another preference has been added to the Preference List; this one allows you to choose between sorting forum messages by Subject or by Date.  As discussed in the User Manual, kept forum messages are always sorted by Section first before the list is presented.  This preference allows you to sort the messages in the sections by subject first and then message number (keeps the subject threads together) or by date (subject threads are not kept together but latest messages always appear last).

Filing Big Notes
With the File to NotePad function described in the User Manual, you can file any message to the NotePad.  However, with messages larger than 4 kilobytes, the Newton gives the message "The previous note reached its maximum size so a new note was created." when you attempt to scroll the note.  A new empty note is created and the NotePad advanced to point at it.  You can still read the original note by scrolling the NotePad back to it.  However, if you remove the empty note that was created, you get the same error message again.  To prevent this from happening, Black Labs, with the permission of its author, has included a piece of shareware on the distribution disk.  This piece of shareware called BigNotes.pkg allows notes up to 32K on the Newton without the irritating error message described above.  Also included is a short release note and another package for registering your copy of BigNotes.  Black Labs has installed this package on our Newtons and verified that it does appear to work; however, we have observed that if the package is installed and then removed, the Newton must be reset or you get an error message when trying to scroll any note.  Black Labs is including this package on its distribution disk as a convenience to our customers and makes NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY that the product works.  USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.  The author indicates that after using it for a period, you will start getting "please register" dialogs but we have never seen these.  As software developers ourselves, we want to encourage you to register this app if you use it regularly.  For instructions on registering, please read the release note.

Modem Enabler
CIS Retriever is compatible w/ Modem Enabler.  This software addition to the Newton from Apple Computer allows the use of the Newton with non-Newton compatible modems provided an appropriate modem setup is available for your modem.  Unfortunately, the HayesCompatible and HayesErrorCorrecting modem setups provided by Apple with Modem Enabler are not compatible with many modems that are "Hayes compatible".  In general to get your modem working properly with modem enabler, you must become familiar with the setup commands required for your modem and use a shareware application called Modem Mod (available on CompuServe) to modify the Hayes modem setup so that it is compatible with your modem.  The string that is always used by CIS Retriever is the "Config. String EC and Fallback".  One issue that we and some of our customers have noticed is that with modem enabler, it can take a long time for CIS Retriever to complete a HangUp sequence.  This appears to be a problem with the current version of Modem Enabler.  We have tried to correct it in CIS Retriever but have been unable to affect its behavior.

Modem Enabler w/Motorola Power 14.4 Cellular Modem
One of the most popular third party Newton PCMCIA modems is the Motorola Power 14.4 Cellular modem (also known as Cellect 14.4 PCMCIA modem).  This modem requires use of Modem Enabler and the two scripts that are provided for it by Apple, one for use over land lines and the other for use with Motorola or compatible cellular phones.  Unfortunately, the cellular script provided by Apple with Modem Enabler software is flawed in that it permits a fallback to operation in a non-error corrected mode if a suitable error corrected connection cannot be established.  We have found that it is not possible to operate over a cellular phone reliably without error correction.  What often happens with the modem setup provided by Apple is that the modem will fall back to non-error corrected operation (due to cellular noise) and then begin the CIS Retriever log in sequence.  It then usually hangs part way through the login sequence when it gets its first burst of noise over the cellular link.  To correct this situation, you need to change (using Modem Mod) the initialization script to force the modem to negotiate an error-correcting protocol (change the \N7 at the end of the initialization string to \N6).  As mentioned above, CIS Retriever always uses the "Config. String  EC and Fallback" string in any modem script (not the Config. String Cellular that you would expect) and so this is the only string that you need to modify.  Once this is done the modem will keep trying to negotiate an error-correcting connection until it either succeeds or times out.

While you are at it, you should also change the \N7 at the end of the "Config. String EC and Fallback" for the non-cellular script to \N6 as well.  This will then always force your land line based connection to be an error-corrected connection as well.  The problem is not nearly as severe for land line based connection but this modification will always ensure that your CompuServe connection is error corrected.

HiLiting of Names/Notes Lists
You may notice that when you bring up a Newton Names or Notes List when adding an email address or notes text to an editable message that the Names or Notes List entry that you select does not hilite when you tap it.  The list closes and the appropriate action happens but you get no visual feedback of your selection.  We have spent no less than eight hours trying to fix this problem but have been unable to so far.  This appears to be a problem with NewtonScript.

Black Labs' Section in Newton Vendor Forum
Besides our email addresses on CompuServe, the Internet, eWorld, AOL and AppleLink, Black Labs maintains a section in the Newton Vendor Forum.  Check that section periodically for up to date information about CIS Retriever, to ask any questions you may have about the product and to suggest any improvements.  We check our section for new messages at least once a day.

Registration Card
Finally, if you did not buy CIS Retriever directly from Black Labs, be sure to send in the registration card that came with your software.  This is the only means by which we can verify that you really purchased the product if you did not buy it directly from us.  Sending us the registration Email message that appears the first time you launch CIS Retriever will enter you in our database but is not equivalent to mailing the registration card.

1.1 Release Notes Edition 1, May 17, 1995