Panacea updates ProNews/2
to Version 1.50 Beta 1



Panacea, softwarehouse of HTML Studio, updated ProNews/2 to version 1.50 Beta 1 and the archive was uploaded onto Pete Norloff's BBS: PN_215B1.ZIP (1,56MB). This soft is presented by Panacea as "the best USENET reader for OS/2!". I did test it in my Warp 4.0 and really it is fine!

@Macarlo

To install please type install on the command line. If you are upgrading from beta 1, 2, 2b, 2c, 3, 3b, 4, or 4b you must delete the entire program and install from scratch. If you are upgrading from 1.00 you must switch to the ProNews directory and run upgrade.exe after the install.


Since UPGRADE.EXE is largely untested it is recommened that you back up your current installation before running it!

Also note that if you have queued items that are saved for download they will be lost when you upgrade. If you have any articles that need to be downloaded it is recommened that you run the old version and let them complete before upgrading.


ProNews does not modify CONFIG.SYS or any system settings.
Uninstalling ProNews is as easy as deleting it's directory.

Whats new in this version

o Added support for multiple servers. It is now possible to specify multiple servers in the ProNews settings and subscribe to groups on these different servers.

o Support for books. News groups can now be logically organized into books (which can be nested).

o Group aliases. You can now give groups an alias to make it easier to see which group is which in the control panel.

o Support for user defined groups. Users may now create custom groups to hold messages. There are options to copy to these groups and filters/HotFilters can be created to automatically copy messages into these groups for later reading.

o Drag and drop for changing the order of groups and books, changing the server to which a newsgroups is subscribed, changing the server of an outgoing post, copying messages into custom user groups, changing the order of items in the queue, and saving articles to a file.

o Added support for RGB colors in the control panel and article
windows. Any color visible on your system can be used instead of the 16 you were limited to in earlier versions.

o Added support for reusing a single message reading window. This reduces memory usage and speeds up the loading of newsgroups. This is controlled via a setting so it is still possible to use the program as it was in previous versions.

o Significant increase in startup speed.

New Minor features in 1.5 Beta 1

o Added Explore Thread option, which will show the complete thread via DejaNews/Netscape.

o Added the ability to chain menu commands together. (They are
separated by a semicolon in the toolbar dialog).

o Tree expansion items were added to the group window menus.

o Backspace now acts as pageup in the group windows.

o Added the option to use a signiture file for posting. This allows sharing a signiture with other programs.

o Added help items to the toolbar pallette.

o Added Get All/New headers for selected groups to the control panel toolbar pallette.

o Added % as a valid URL character.

o Added confirmations for deleting books.

o Added confirmations for deleting servers.

o Added an RMB menu to the 'followup-to' entry field in the posting options dialog. It contains a list of the groups you are subscribed to and the 'poster' option.

o Made it possible to add a toolbar button to change the font of the body pane on the fly.

o When forwarding articles the header of the forwarded article is now included.

o Added Up/Down buttons to the filter pages to make it easier to
reorder filters.

o Beefed up the socket/NNTP error reporting dialogs to give text for each type of message and state which server/group generated the error.

o Added setting and menu option to expand trees with highlighted
articles.

o Added menu options to mark entire threads read/unread.

o Added an option to make URL launching need a double click instead of the current single click.

o Added option to set up ProNews not to keep article bodies from
program run to program run.

o Added an option to send yourself a copy of all outgoing posts.

o Added an option not to use the No-Spam setting in the Reply-To.

o Added -On and -Off command line options to allow the forcing of ProNews into online or offline mode regardless of program settings.

o When subscribing to a newsgroup the user now has the option to 'get all headers', 'get no headers', and 'get no headers and catchup group'.

o Added confirmations for get all bodies for all groups.

o Added confirmations for closing group windows.

o Added a Delete Thread option.

Numerous bugs have been corrected in the program since 1.00GA and the program should be very stable, but please report problems to support@panaceasoft.com.


Notes about this version

+ There are probably numerous bugs, and without your help we won't be able to find them. If you have a problem, please email us (support@panaceasoft.com) and let us know.

+ This software is Shareware. It will work unhindered in ANY way for 45 days. After this there will be a delay upon starting the program. Please see the programs help files for information on how to register.

Non obvious features

+ Using the TAB key on the article windows switches between the article bodies and article headers windows. In the control panel it will switch between the server field and the list of subsribed groups.

+ The SPACE key pages down the article body window, and when the end of the article is reached, advances to the next unread article. The default action of the spacebar may be configured in the program's settings notebook.

+ Control+Space acts as the space key, but does not wait until the article is at the end to skip to the next. Follows the same rules as the spacebar.

+ Each toolbar in the program can be customized. Right click on the toolbar to learn more. Toolbars for individual groups are saved so you can give each group you read it's own toolbar suited to it's content. To copy an item from one toolbar to another CTRL-Drag it.

+ Double clicking on the [+] [-] items in the tree views expands all subtrees.

+ Selecting all articles in a group and then using the decode option will automatically scan for multimessage binaries and properly decode them for you. Binaries with missing parts are not downloaded, and are highlighted to let you know they have missing pieces.

+ To edit an article or message that is queued for send you have to go into the Queue window and double click on it.

+ Drag articles to the desktop to save them. Drag articles into user groups to store them. Drag servers onto groups to change which server is used for subscription. Drag books/groups in the control panel to arrange them. Drag queued items to arrange them. Drag outgoing post queue items to a server to transfer the post.

+ Right click on everything. Nearly every part of the program has a context sensitive menu. Some options may only be reached in this manner.

Known Bugs and Limitations

Problems with the program opening a new copy of Netscape each time the Jump to URL option is selected. This feature only works with a certain DLL supplied by Netscape with it's installation. Fixpack 1 (and all subsequent fixpacks) for warp 4 replace this DLL (PMDDEML.DLL) with a broken version.

The helpfiles have not been updated to reflect all of the changes made since 1.00. They will be completed before the GA release of 1.50. You are welcome to report misspellings, bad grammer, confusing text, misleading text, or generally unhelpful sections.

Jump Panacea clicking here: @@@

@Macarlo, Inc.
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