I'm trying to compile a version to run on WinXP or later running inside MS-Bob. For example the address book & calendar. Are there instructions on compiling it myself? Would love to get this going and not use some other email client... BTW: My main desktop where I would be compiling is Win8.1 but my target is WinXP & up. My mods will of course be opensource!
Last edit: Marisa Giancarla 2022-07-19
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Do you really mean Microsoft Bob? If so then, please forgive me but I have to think that either you must be joking or that you have a deep misunderstanding about how such things work. I played a major role in developing Microsoft Bob and can tell you that creating a version of Hermes to work with Bob, while perhaps not strictly impossible, is beyond impractical. Never mind that it is hard for me to imagine why anyone would want such a thing.
It is impractical for many reasons, most fundamentally because Bob is 16-bit software while Hermes is 32-bit. Another reason is that the email component of Bob is built around Extended MAPI while Hermes is not. Also the email component of Bob has been obsolete for 20 years.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Pete.. you are the wizard behind Eudora/Hermes.. I am loathe to let go of Eudora, did the patch for TLS 1.2, but today it quit connecting to Ionos.. can you help? getting "SSL negotiation failed"
Last edit: Anthony Reynolds 2022-09-08
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Wizard?!?!? Well, I suppose I am, yes. It is nice to be called that.
I do not know what Ionos is. Which protocol or protocols are failing (SMTP/POP/IMAP)? Please give me a link to Ionos and I will see what I can do. Please email me directly (pete@maclean.com).
Pete
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
What I was thinking was not just general patching, but rather interfacing a modern email client with the Bob data like the address book. The target is 32bit WinXP so the 32bit issue wouldn't apply? Since the whole Bob mail email component is written for the dead MCI service I'm not expecting to support the old code directly...
Trust me, I have many people who want to use email in Bob. We love it :)
Last edit: Marisa Giancarla 2022-07-19
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I am fascinated to learn that there are still people using Bob and loving it.
In principle, what you would like to do is not too difficult. Thanks to the MAPI architecture used, all you have to do is replace a single DLL. For the replacement you need code that uses POP3 and SMTP in place of MEP2. There must be some open-source or licensable POP3 and SMTP client code that would do the job. But Eudora code is not what I would choose. Probably the biggest obstacle would be finding code to do modern authentication (which even Eudora is not good at). Also you would need to build a 16-bit version of OpenSSL and I do not know if that is still possible.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
It will be on a 32bit OS, so the SSL shouldn't be a issue? I'm interested in using Hermes as a starting point as the UI is nice and has been around for a while. Any pointers on how to compile it in a 64bit Win8.1 desktop for use on a 32bit XP desktop?
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
The bitness of the OS is immaterial; Bob is 16-bit software and anything you want to work inside Bob must be 16-bit. For some purposes you could use a 32-bit proxy but that would be very cumbersome.
I think I do not understand well what you want to achieve. You say you are interested in using Hermes because the UI is nice. I had assumed that you wanted to use the Bob email UI as it is and then change the protocol drivers to work with POP and SMTP. If you want to use the Hermes UI, I do not see how you could integrate that with Bob.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
What do I need to do to compile eudora on WinXP 32-bit? Was trying to cross-compile from my 8.1 desktop but that is 64bit & newer than XP and I would like Win2k or XP
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
You would be best starting with Microsoft Visual Studio 2003. I believe there are copies of this floating around. You could use a later version but using the 2003 will make the job much easier. What platform you run it on does not matter much. I run it on a Windows 7 system and I believe it should work equally well on XP or 8.1. Then you would need a copy of the Stingray library (available from Perforce), preferably one of the same vintage although that may be hard to find. A license for this library costs something over $3,000 per developer seat.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I'm trying to compile a version to run on WinXP or later running inside MS-Bob. For example the address book & calendar. Are there instructions on compiling it myself? Would love to get this going and not use some other email client... BTW: My main desktop where I would be compiling is Win8.1 but my target is WinXP & up. My mods will of course be opensource!
Last edit: Marisa Giancarla 2022-07-19
Do you really mean Microsoft Bob? If so then, please forgive me but I have to think that either you must be joking or that you have a deep misunderstanding about how such things work. I played a major role in developing Microsoft Bob and can tell you that creating a version of Hermes to work with Bob, while perhaps not strictly impossible, is beyond impractical. Never mind that it is hard for me to imagine why anyone would want such a thing.
It is impractical for many reasons, most fundamentally because Bob is 16-bit software while Hermes is 32-bit. Another reason is that the email component of Bob is built around Extended MAPI while Hermes is not. Also the email component of Bob has been obsolete for 20 years.
Pete.. you are the wizard behind Eudora/Hermes.. I am loathe to let go of Eudora, did the patch for TLS 1.2, but today it quit connecting to Ionos.. can you help? getting "SSL negotiation failed"
Last edit: Anthony Reynolds 2022-09-08
Wizard?!?!? Well, I suppose I am, yes. It is nice to be called that.
I do not know what Ionos is. Which protocol or protocols are failing (SMTP/POP/IMAP)? Please give me a link to Ionos and I will see what I can do. Please email me directly (pete@maclean.com).
Pete
I found Ionos and tried connecting. It works well for me. What settings are you using?
What I was thinking was not just general patching, but rather interfacing a modern email client with the Bob data like the address book. The target is 32bit WinXP so the 32bit issue wouldn't apply? Since the whole Bob mail email component is written for the dead MCI service I'm not expecting to support the old code directly...
Trust me, I have many people who want to use email in Bob. We love it :)
Last edit: Marisa Giancarla 2022-07-19
I am fascinated to learn that there are still people using Bob and loving it.
In principle, what you would like to do is not too difficult. Thanks to the MAPI architecture used, all you have to do is replace a single DLL. For the replacement you need code that uses POP3 and SMTP in place of MEP2. There must be some open-source or licensable POP3 and SMTP client code that would do the job. But Eudora code is not what I would choose. Probably the biggest obstacle would be finding code to do modern authentication (which even Eudora is not good at). Also you would need to build a 16-bit version of OpenSSL and I do not know if that is still possible.
It will be on a 32bit OS, so the SSL shouldn't be a issue? I'm interested in using Hermes as a starting point as the UI is nice and has been around for a while. Any pointers on how to compile it in a 64bit Win8.1 desktop for use on a 32bit XP desktop?
The bitness of the OS is immaterial; Bob is 16-bit software and anything you want to work inside Bob must be 16-bit. For some purposes you could use a 32-bit proxy but that would be very cumbersome.
I think I do not understand well what you want to achieve. You say you are interested in using Hermes because the UI is nice. I had assumed that you wanted to use the Bob email UI as it is and then change the protocol drivers to work with POP and SMTP. If you want to use the Hermes UI, I do not see how you could integrate that with Bob.
What do I need to do to compile eudora on WinXP 32-bit? Was trying to cross-compile from my 8.1 desktop but that is 64bit & newer than XP and I would like Win2k or XP
You would be best starting with Microsoft Visual Studio 2003. I believe there are copies of this floating around. You could use a later version but using the 2003 will make the job much easier. What platform you run it on does not matter much. I run it on a Windows 7 system and I believe it should work equally well on XP or 8.1. Then you would need a copy of the Stingray library (available from Perforce), preferably one of the same vintage although that may be hard to find. A license for this library costs something over $3,000 per developer seat.