README
1README
2======
3
4The xmailbox program started out as an enhanced xbiff. However, the latest
5version includes support for sound effects and animation. The default
6functionality employs two images for the "mail in mailbox" and "no mail"
7states, in the form of XPM type 3 files. The default images are, respectively,
8that of an empty mailbox with its flag down, and that of an open mailbox,
9with its flag up and a letter visible inside. Animation can be enabled for
10playing up to 8 XPM files in repeated sequence.
11
12The application can also, optionally, play a sound through a workstation's
13audio device, instead of generating the default beep sound, whenever new
14mail arrives. The following sound packages/drivers are supported:
15
16 1) NCD audio server
17 2) Rplay sound package
18 3) Linux's Sun-compatible audio driver (/dev/audio)
19 4) Standard SUN audio driver (/dev/audio)
20 5) FreeBSD SUN-compatible audio driver (contributed by Brian Clapper -
21 bmc@telebase.com)
22 6) Any external sound player (contributed by Laurent Martin -
23 martin@isia.cma.fr)
24
25By default, pressing any mouse button in the image forces xmailbox to
26remember the current size of the mail file as being the "empty" size and
27to change its image accordingly. In addition to this, the user can
28optionally have xmailbox invoke his/her favourite mail retrieving program.
29
30This program is nothing more than a wrapper around the Mailbox widget
31included with the program's source distribution. Mailbox was derived by
32the Mailbox widget included with the Athena Widget Set. The first version
33of Mailbox was a hack based on the X11R5 Mailbox widget written by
34Jim Fulton, MIT X Consortium, and Ralph Swick, DEC/MIT Project Athena. The
35xmailbox source is very similar to xbiff.
36
37If you are planning to use the NCD Audio server or the rplay sound package,
38you can obtain these packages from ftp.x.org in /contrib/netaudio and
39/contrib/rplay respectively. These packages provide network sound support.
40
41To build xmailbox:
42 1. make any required changes in Imakefile, by specifying where the
43 XPM includes and libs are, as well as the desired audio interface,
44 2. run xmkmf and then make.
45
46This program has been tested on Sun Sparc 2,5,10,20 & IPX under SunOS
474.1.3 and 4.1.4, HP 9000/710 under HP-UX 9.01, and i86 PCs equipped with
48Soundblaster-16 audio cards (although any card supported by the kernel
49sound driver should work fine) under Linux 1.2.x, 1.3.x, and 2.0.x.
50
51NOTE: You'll need xpm-3.4 or higher in order to compile xmailbox.
52---- As of this writing, the latest version of xpm is 3.4; it can be
53 obtained from ftp.x.org (in directory contrib, file xpm-3.4.tar.gz).
54
55 Enjoy!
56
57 Dimitrios P. Bouras (dbouras@hol.gr) and
58 William K. W. Cheung (wcheung@mail.spiralcomm.com)
59
60-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
61THE AUTHORS (Dimitrios P. Bouras and William K. W. Cheung) MAKE NO
62REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE SUITABILITY OF THIS SOFTWARE FOR ANY PURPOSE.
63IT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY.
64
65Xbiff IS COPYRIGHT 1988, X CONSORTIUM
66SEE X(1) FOR A FULL STATEMENT OF RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS.
67-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
68
69