New version of AnzioWin available for test

[Robert Rasmussen]

Please pardon duplication due to cross-posting.

We have just posted for beta test the latest version of AnzioWin, our Windows
telnet program. Because many of the enhancements have special application to
libraries, we are notifying you all. Note that only the 32-bit AnzioWin has
been posted so far, at:
   ftp://ftp.anzio.com/anzio114/anzz32d.exe
This file is not yet listed in our web pages, so go directly to the FTP
location shown.

We are eager for any feedback.

NEW IN ANZIOWIN 11.4 BETA
 
Following is a desription of the major new features included in AnzioWin
version 11.4. We anticipate that all these features will also appear in Anzio
Lite.
 
LOGIN WIZARD
 
The Login Wizard, quite simply, handles logins for you, when you connect
to most sites via TCP/IP (telnet). It does this by recognizing common prompts
for user name ("login:", "user:", etc.) and password, and responding to them
automatically. Of course, to do this it needs to know your username and
password. These can be entered through the menu system, and stored in Anzio's
settings file (the password is stored encoded). Or, they can be specified as
part of an extended URL, as described below.
 
FLEXIBLE URL HANDLING / NAKED PARAMETERS
 
Improvements have been made in the handling of command line parameters (things
passed to Anzio when it is started up from the Windows system or from a web
browser). Most notably, if a parameter contains a URL which includes a username
(and optionally a password), Anzio will strip off and save the username and
password and use them with the Login Wizard.
 
For example: you're sitting at a PC, running Internet Explorer, looking at a
web page. A cross-reference on the web page refers to the URL:
   telnet://libcat@somelibrary.com
Since you have configured your IE (actually your Windows system) to use Anzio
for its telnet, IE starts up Anzio and passes the entire URL as a parameter.
Anzio recognizes this, strips off the "telnet://", takes off the "libcat" and
saves it as the username, and connects to "somelibrary.com". When prompted for
a login, the Login Wizard sends "libcat", and you're logged in. You don't
have to log in yourself (or tell someone else how to do it)!
 
Note that Netscape does not pass the intire URL to Anzio.
 
FAR-EAST CHARACTER SUPPORT
 
Anzio can now process Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (CJK) character output on
any Windows 95 or NT system. The Chinese version of windows, for instance, is
not required, nor is any add-on package such as UnionWay or MASS.
 
Just update your PC for the correct language support, by going to Microsoft's
update page for Internet Explorer, such as
   http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/ieplatform/lang/lang.htm
for IE version 3. Download and execute the correct package, and it will add one
or more fonts and translation tables to your system.
 
Now run Anzio. Choose for your screen font (and printer font) the font and
"script" that match your host system's encoding. Then Anzio recognizes any CJK
characters, and displays them correctly.
 
For instance: if you download and install "ie3lpktw.exe", the "Traditional
Chinese" update, you will get the font "MingLiu". If you choose this font, the
"script" selection will be "Chinese-Big5". You can then connect to a system
that outputs characters in the Big-5 encoding scheme.
 
Note that some schemes, such as EACC and CCCII, are not yet supported. But
we're working on it...
 
COURIER NEW OEM FONT
 
You can now have Anzio display and print in the Courier New font (which is
nicely scalable), but in the OEM character set (which has the often-needed
line-drawing characters). This does NOT work on Windows 3.1.
 
TELEVIDEO 965 EMULATION
 
We have added emulation of the Televideo 965 terminal. What else can I say?
 
MULTIPLE TERM TYPES
 
As part of the option negotiation that occurs behind the scenes at the start of
a telnet session, the telnet client (in this case Anzio) can tell the host
system what kind of terminal it is emulating. This becomes the TERM variable at
the host end. The problem is that different host systems might refer to
terminals differently. Anzio now lets you specify a group of terminal types,
such as "vt320;vt220;vt100". Assuming the host is running up to standards, the
host and Anzio will negotiate, and the host will choose the one it likes the
best. If you need to connect to a variety of host systems, this allows one
configuration of Anzio to work with most of them.
 
BLINKING
 
Some users have applications where displaying blinking information is critical.
For others, Anzio's bright background colors are an irritant. With 11.4, users
can choose to run with one of the following sets:
         blink available        bright backgrounds
         blink available        dim backgrounds
         underline available    bright backgrounds
         underline available    dim backgrounds
         bright and dim backgrounds available
In the Custom Colors screen, you can choose options in succession by hitting
"P".
 
HANGUP
 
A little thing, really -- we added a "hangup" menu item for use with serial
modem connections.


Regards,
....Bob Rasmussen,   President,   Rasmussen Software, Inc.

personal e-mail: ras at anzio.com
 company e-mail: rsi at anzio.com or sales at anzio.com or support at anzio.com
 ftp://ftp.anzio.com               voice: 503-624-0360
http://www.anzio.com                 fax: 503-624-0760