Watchtower Library text is all squares with Wine

If you are a Linux user like myself, and you use Wine to run the Watchtower Library, then you may get boxes instead of text.

This can be easily solved, and since I get this question a lot, I thought I would post my solution here.

Start the Watchtower Library, and look for an option to the top left that says "Library". Click Library, and then choose "Properties" as shown in the picture below:

(You can click on the picture to make it larger) 

Once you choose Properties, you will get a box that looks like this:

                                      (You can click on this picture as well to make it larger)

Change the text option under "Item" to another type of text. Then hit the OK button on the bottom of the properties box.

If the squares went away, you have successfully solved this problem.

If not, you will have to repeat these steps and make another text choice in the "Item" section.

Read More

Thank you Trumpet Winsock

In the days of my 386, running windows 3.11 for workgroups, I was an avid BBS'er and internet dial up fan.

One of the unsung heroes of the day, and a piece of software I had long since forgotten about was Trumpet Winsock.

Most machines back then didn't have the software installed to properly run a connection to the internet.

Trumpet Winsock solved this.

With Windows 3.11 for Workgroups, the Netscape browser (a prettied up version of Mozilla) and Trumpet Winsock, I was in business.

Man, it feels strange waxing poetic about the internet. In so many ways the internet still feels brand new. The truth is if it was a person, it would be about 34 (possibly older)...

*For more info on the "World Wide Web" or the Internet, as we call it today, check this out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web

The unsung hero of Trumpet Winsock is Peter Tattam. He created Trumpet Winsock. Trumpet Winsock was meant to be a shareware software title that would be purchased by the user if he/she found it useful.

But, like myself, most people gave him nothing. The truth is without his Trumpet Winsock, the internet would most likely not be in existence today. If nothing else, it can be argued that the internet would not be as widely used or as developed as it is today without Trumpet Winsock.

"What you probably didn't know is that the author of Trumpet Winsock — Peter Tattam from Tasmania, Australia — didn't see much money for his efforts. Millions of copies were distributed by ISPs and on magazine covers, but only a fraction of those copies were ever paid for.

Peter’s little program enabled millions of people to get online for the first time ever, right when the web was in its infancy. It made ISPs possible for the vast majority of users running Windows. In short, Peter is an unsung hero of the web revolution." -from http://thanksfortrumpetwinsock.com/

If you would like to thank Peter for his program, you can express your thanks and/or donate money to him here: http://thanksfortrumpetwinsock.com/

Thinking back, there was a lot of shareware software I used and never payed for. as the author of http://thanksfortrumpetwinsock.com/, Jacques Chester, wrote "At the time I didn't have two 50c coins to rub together."

So I want to take the time to say to all of you who wrote wonderful, useful, and far to often not paid for donation-ware and shareware, Thank you.

Back then I also did not have two 50 cent pieces to rub together. If money would have been no problem, I would have paid my share.

I have been much much better about this since then, and I would hope that this is true of everyone else who was in the financial situation I was in back then.

Read More