Subject: Re: Paganini
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References: <vhhqht$1gne9$1@dont-email.me>
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Date: Sat, 23 Nov 2024 20:24:06 +0000
Newsgroups: news.software.readers
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On Sat, 23 Nov 2024 09:12:19 -0800, El Kabong <Quickdraw@HannaBarbera.com> wrote:
>>On Wed, 20 Nov 2024 03:25:48 +0000, D <noreply@mixmin.net> wrote:
>>i started using free agent in the 16 bit on windows 95, and liked it right
>>off the bat because of its simplicity and usability . . . it also became a
>>very convenient way to organize articles in the outbox for posting, and to
>>save downloaded articles, and because free agent is portable, make backups
>>of the whole program folder to removable media for archives, which in this
>>context shows i was using 1.11/16.235, 1.21/32.243, then 1.93/32.576 which
>>i'm still using . . . the installer (2.29 mb) is also widely available e.g.
>>https://web.archive.org/web/20051125104705/http://ftp3.forteinc.com/pub/agent/english/a32en193.exe
>>but 40tude dialog is the best newsreader ever, easy to setup and use, with
>>comprehensive scoring, multi-server, custom display etc., nothing compares;
>>even so, using free agent for posting became a habit that i've never broke
>>(and yes, free agent works fine in every version of windows from xp to 11)
>
>Thanks for the link. I didn't know that version existed. I asked what
>OS you used because the version I have will only run on 16 bit Win 3.1
>and even then it's flakey and will General Protection Fault all over
>the place: "X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent v0.55"  and the splash
>screen says "Beta Trial Release". It's a whopping 1.4 MB.
>_________________________________________________
>This reg works for the one you linked to:
>CQ9PMH48-84YB7CZJ-ZGKHKS5J-6VRCTN8M-V7G88TUE
>
>it goes from:
>X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.93/32.576 English (American)
>before registration to:
>X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.93/32.576 English (American)
>after registration and the word "Free" is removed from the splash
>screen. It works great on everything I've tried, including in Wine on
>Linux.
>I don't register it because I think having "Free Agent" in my headers
>is old school cool, but maybe I'm just a wierdo.

wow! that registration key worked on a test install of "a32en193.exe"
to the default diirectory "C:\Program Files (x86)\Agent\" in w1124h2,
about agent "licensed to: me pirate, serial # 15462570, copyright (c)
1995-2002, forte, all rights reserved" ... first time i've ever seen
an actual licensed (or cracked) version of forte agent running on my
own pc...sent shortcut to desktop, right-click shortcut "properties",
"shortcut" tab, "advanced", "run as administrator" and it appears to
run normally, downloaded groups list from "localhost" server, sample
headers from a known (active) group, downloaded some random articles,
set menu "options", "user and system profile", "smtp" 127.0.0.1, and
replied to article and sent dummy message (via omnimix) successfully!
i'll test it some more before using it but it seems to actually work
(it even has "undo", a feature which i'd long ago learned to ignore) . . .

thanks for the very helpful update . . . i couldn't find early "beta"
references to forte agent, but found this:

(using Tor Browser 14.0.2)
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=forte+agent+timeline+1995+beta
>...
>https://www.loganact.com/agent/agentfaq.html
>Unofficial FAQ for alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent
>By William Guynes and Jeffrey Kaplan
>v1.6 updated 7/28/99
[end quoted excerpt]

also found this in news:alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent . . . (ditto "howardknight")
>http://al.howardknight.net/?STYPE=msgid&MSGI=<goqjqids5qp2c8pgu9ik93c5l4uc579i12@4ax.com>

>Path: nnrp..!diablo1.usenet.blueworldhosting.com!nntp.comgw.net!peer03.ams4
> !peer.am4.highwinds-media.com!news.highwinds-media.com!fx13.ams4.POSTED!not-for-mail
>From: Ralph Fox <-rf-nz-@-.invalid>
>Newsgroups: alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent
>Subject: Releases Timeline - Forte Agent and Free Agent
>Message-ID: <3jqjqip8nqg1t72d25kuiannicmmcp0uer@4ax.com>
>User-Agent: ForteAgent/8.00.32.1272
>Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2024 16:14:07 +1300
>...
>Releases Timeline - Forte Agent and Free Agent
>==============================================
>For the columns to line up, this must be viewed in a fixed-pitch font.
>Unfortunately a fixed-pitch font makes the graphic rather wide.
>The columns line up without a fixed-pitch font in the HTML version here:
><URL:https://groups.google.com/g/alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent/c/gRkZvyXaDA0/m/v3TQdyIpAwAJ>
><URL:news:goqjqids5qp2c8pgu9ik93c5l4uc579i12@4ax.com>
>
>The shaded area represents the period when Forté was part of Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc.
>
>      ~06-Jul-1995 - Forte Free Agent 1.0
>      +06-Jul-1995 - Forte Agent 0.99 build 82
>      |   +21-Nov-1995 - Forte Agent 0.99c
>      |   |  +06-Feb-1996 - Forte Agent 0.99d
>      |   |  |  +01-May-1996 - Forte Agent 0.99e
>      |   |  |  |    +01-Oct-1996 - Forte Agent 0.99f
>      |   |  |  |    ~21-Oct-1996 - Forte Free Agent 1.1
>      |   |  |  |    | +05-Dec-1996 - Forte Agent 0.99g
>      |   |  |  |    | |  +20-Mar-1997 - Forte Agent 1.0
>      |   |  |  |    | |  |~25-Apr-1997 - Forte Free Agent 1.11
>      |   |  |  |    | |  ||+13-May-1997 - Forte Agent 1.01
>      |   |  |  |    | |  ||| +24-Jul-1997 - Forte Agent 1.5
>      |   |  |  |    | |  ||| |     .....................................
>      |   |  |  |    | |  ||| |     ...................+30-Aug-1999 - Forte Agent 1.6
>      |   |  |  |    | |  ||| |     ...................|..+17-Nov-1999 - Forte Agent 1.7
>      |   |  |  |    | |  ||| |     ...................|..~17-Nov-1999 - Forte Free Agent 1.2
>      |   |  |  |    | |  ||| |     ...................|..~23-Nov-1999 - Forte Free Agent 1.21
>      |   |  |  |    | |  ||| |     ...................|..|...+21-Mar-2000 - Forte Agent 1.8 build 548
>      |   |  |  |    | |  ||| |     ...................|..|...|..........      +02-Aug-2001 - Forte Agent 1.8 build 553
>      |   |  |  |    | |  ||| |     ...................|..|...|..........      |    +24-Jan-2002 - Forte Agent 1.9
>      |   |  |  |    | |  ||| |     ...................|..|...|..........      |    | +21-Mar-2002 - Forte Agent 1.91
>      |   |  |  |    | |  ||| |     ...................|..|...|..........      |    | |    *02-Aug-2002 - Forte Agent and Free Agent 1.92 build 570
>      |   |  |  |    | |  ||| |     ...................|..|...|..........      |    | |    *04-Aug-2002 - Forte Agent and Free Agent 1.92 build 572
>      |   |  |  |    | |  ||| |     ...................|..|...|..........      |    | |    |   *24-Dec-2002 - Forte Agent and Free Agent 1.93
                                                                                                                               ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ (a32en193.exe) *
>      |   |  |  |    | |  ||| |     ...................|..|...|..........      |    | |    |   |             *06-Feb-2004 - Forte Agent and Free Agent 2.0 build 640
[end quoted excerpt, *emphasis added]