NCSA Mosaic for Microsoft Windows v2.0alpha3 release

Terrence M. McLaren (tmclaren@ncsa.uiuc.edu)
Thu, 7 Apr 94 22:56:54 CDT

We are happy to announce the release of NCSA Mosaic for Microsoft Windows
Version 2.0alpha3. NCSA Mosaic is a network navigational tool that will
allow you to easily access networked information with the click of a button.
Mosaic is capable of accessing data via protocols such as Gopher, World
Wide Web, FTP and NNTP (Usenet News) natively, and other data services
such as Archie, WAIS, and Veronica through gateways. NCSA Mosaic was
designed to provide its user transparent and seamless access to these
information sources and services. There are now two versions of Mosaic.
The most common version is wmos20a3.zip, it was created for Windows 3.1,
Windows for Workgroups, and Windows NT(80X86). The other version, decmosa3.zip,
was compiled for DEC alpha's running Windows NT.

NCSA Mosaic for Microsoft Windows is a WinSock client program. It requires
network (TCP/IP) access through the WinSock DLL interface. If you are using
Windows NT, this is built in. If you are using Windows 3.1, you need to
obtain a WinSock and install it on your system. If you are running a
commercial TCP/IP stack, such as FTP Software, Novell, PCNFS, etc., you
will need to obtain that vendors winsock.dll. If you need a winsock.dll and
you would like to obtain a shareware product called the "Trumpet Software
International Winsock", you can find the latest version at ftp site,
ftp.utas.edu.au. The file winsock.zip is in the pc/trumpet/winsock directory.

Version 2.0alpha3 is also a 32-bit application and it requires the win32s
software. Win32s allows you to run 32-bit Windows applications, which do
not use Windows NT-specific features, under Windows 3.1 and Windows for
Workgroups. Win32s was developed by Microsoft and it is freely distributed
to licensed users of Windows 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups. If you
already use other 32-bit Windows applications then you should already have
this software installed in your /windows/system/win32s directory. If Mosaic
is your first 32-bit application then you will need to obtain the win32s.zip
file from our ftp server. You can get to this file via Mosaic by clicking on
the "Obtaining a new version of Mosaic for MS Windows" link on our home page
and following the link to win32s. You can also find it in the /PC/Mosaic
directory of our anonymous ftp server.

Version 2.0alpha3 of Mosaic is available via anonymous FTP on NCSA's FTP
server, "ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu"(141.142.20.50). Mosaic, wmos20a3.zip is in the
/PC/Mosaic directory.

Here's what's new:

Mosaic is now a 32-bit application
printing (still has problems with bold, long documents, and images)
Viewing/Saving of document source
Access authentication
GPF on forms reloading fixed
Case insensitive find implemented
GPF with Find Dialog fixed
Vertical scrollbars no longer disappear in large files
horizontal scrollbars now appear for documents wider than the screen
Improved internal audio support - allows playing of .au files on 8-bit cards
Bug with deeply nested tags fixed
"-i <inifile>" command-line option for INI file location
<OPTION> tags won't crash Mosaic anymore
fixed bug with downloading files via FTP
FTP slightly improved - now able to connect to ftp.microsoft.com, e.g.
<em> and <strong> tags now supported
<dir> and <menu> tags are now more properly supported
Grey out back & forward when no current doc
When search window disappears, focus switches to main window.
"Add Current to Hotlist" when current hl is QUICKLIST now works (unlimited size)
"Add Current to Hotlist" works for URL's without titles (gopher servers)
Open URL Dialog now fits on a 640 x 480 screen
entity (&) termination
Focus switches to Search window when it appears
better filename mungeing ( Unix files will now be converted to reflect the last
extension. ie. here.it.is.txt will become here.txt)

Your comments on NCSA Mosaic are important; user feedback is an
integral part of the Software Development Group's (SDG's) planning
activities. Bug reports are particularly valuable because SDG's tests
cannot duplicate all user environments and equipment configurations.
Bug reports should include enough information to enable SDG developers
to reproduce the problem. Please specify any information given by Mosaic,
and give us a URL so we can try to reproduce the problem. However, before
you send any bug reports, comments, or suggestions, please check our on line
information to ensure your information has not already been reported. This
will be very helpful to us because we are swamped with email. You can find
on line information about known bugs, enhancement requests, FAQ's, viewers,
etc. from our home page.

http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/WinMosaic/HomePage.html

If the answer to your question is not included in the above sources of
information, then please email us at mosaic-w@ncsa.uiuc.edu and we will reply
as quickly as we can. Please remember we are supporting NCSA Mosaic and we
can not provide information about the location of specific resources on the net.

Thank you for your interest and support.

- Chris Wilson
- Jon Mittelhauser
- Terry McLaren