ml>> FWIW: i've also just posted a question in the GOLDED echo to see if   
    ml>> the chs file format has changed since 2005...   
    PQ>> That post hasn't appeared in my version of the echo, yet.   
      
    ml> let me know if it doesn't appear over there ;)   
      
    PQ> It still ain't here.  I checked Björn's server as well but his   
    PQ> message browse list ends sometime in 2008.  The last message here   
    PQ> is...   
      
   damn... yeah... one of my users reported to me that my recent updating of the   
   message areas to add new ones that have been flowing here but weren't   
   configured in the BBS went fine and their QWK stuff was all ok but that they   
   were expecting to see other messages here that apparently weren't...   
      
   coupling that report with a note from janis in another area, i decided to send   
   an areafix to my uplink to ensure that all the areas i carry were still turned   
   on... evidently something has happened because there were a bunch of areas   
   that got added which have had traffic flowing in them for months/years... some   
   of those areas i'm now the moderator for...   
      
   i don't know what happened at my uplink's system but something happened...   
   maybe a backup was restored or something else is going on that caused the   
   connection to those areas to be lost... i'll resend the post shortly... i have   
   to wade thru the areafix reply and double check the areas it is saying are not   
   available when they are definitely listed in the backbone.na file that just   
   came out the other day :/   
      
    PQ>> I changed my ~xlat files yesterday to use GoldEd's "866_850.chs". Of   
    PQ>> course, no one has yet attempted to post using CP866. I've checked   
    PQ>> the *.chs files, as you have no doubt also, and they seem compatible   
    PQ>> (even the TimEd ones too, though the naming isn't).   
      
    ml> TimED, the original one, also takes them and combines them into a   
    ml> binary file for its use... i have no idea what the newer TimED   
    ml> does...   
      
    PQ> New version?  Hunh?  :)  I have no need to use it.  I did use it   
    PQ> extensively about a decade ago but I've 'moved on'.  The archive I   
    PQ> have is for TimEd 1.10 - the DOS version.   
      
   yeah... after that one was released, art finally released the sources to all   
   his software... andrew clarke of the ozzmosis site put them in a repository   
   and at least TimED was ported to *nix but now it doesn't compile for OS/2 and   
   the windows version requires cygwin but has some oddities... i'm glad i   
   haven't jumped on that train yet... this v1.10 with the y2k patch works just   
   fine for now ;)   
      
    PQ> FYI.  I tried using a translation module for GoldEd called   
    PQ> 1252_850.chs, yesterday, that came in an archive from Michiel van   
    PQ> der Vlist (a personalised compile of his)...   
      
    PQ>  --- 8< ---   
    PQ> ; This module converts CP1252 (Windows Western) characters   
    PQ> ; to IBM CP850 characters.   
    PQ>  --- 8< ---   
      
    PQ> It seemed to have some promise, and I asked Alexander to use that   
    PQ> charset.  However, JamNNTPd choked on it and spewed numerous   
    PQ> "Warning: Too long byte string [char]" errors so we quit using it.    
    PQ> Just FYI.   
      
   ewww... that means that jamnntps has some length stuff coded that needs to be   
   expanded... we should be able to translate the character 'a' to a whole word   
   if we want to going by the way the tables are built and the translation is   
   laid out...   
      
   maybe one day i'll get the chance to get back to working on the news server   
   software i was writing around the time that jamnntpd came out [sigh]...   
      
   )\/(ark   
      
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