 ==============================================================================
                                   -- VChat --
                       Interactive TCP/IP conference system
       (c) 1993/94/95/96 by mickey@deadline.snafu.de (Andreas S. Wetzel)
                                All rights reserved
 ==============================================================================

 README for the binary client distribution of the vchat system.

 This distribution should contain the following files:

 LICENSE        - File containing LICENSING information. You should carefully
                  read through the terms stated in this file before using or
                  installing any part of the software.
 README         - This file.
 README.deutsch - The README file in german language.
 vchat          - A binary image file of the vchat client program.
 vchat.1        - The vchat online documentation in nroff source format.
 vchatrc.5      - Online documentation describining the file format of the
                  .vchatrc file in nroff source format.
 sample-termcap - Termcap file containing sample entries for commonly used
                  terminal types which include adequate control sequences
                  for use with vchat. Color based terminals are supported
                  via terminfo extensions in the termcap entries.
                  If you run into trouble using vchat against the normal
                  system termcap database, try replacing suspicious entries
                  with entries from this sample-termcap.


 INSTALLATION:
 =============

 If you want vchat to be publically readable it would generally be a good
 idea to put the vchat binary into some location like /usr/local/bin and
 the online documentation into /usr/local/man/man3 and man5 respectively.
 In this case the files should have a file access mode of 111 for the vchat
 executable image and 444 for the online documentation files.

 Of course this is not mandatory, so you could place the vchat binary and
 man pages into some other location like ~/bin/vchat and ~/man/man1/vchat.1, 
 ~/man/man5/vchatrc.5 for example.

 Since VChat makes heavy use of the termcap library functions it is quite
 important that the termcap database entries describing your terminals
 are not missing any important terminal features that vchat could use to
 optimize the speed of output operations to your terminal. Included in
 the distribution you will find a file named "sample-termcap" which contains
 termcap entries for commonly used terminals describing all necessary features
 to make screen output most optimized.

 You should add the entries from the file sample-termcap to your system
 termcap replacing old entries with the new ones. The system termcap
 database is normally kept under /etc/termcap or /usr/share/misc/termcap.
 On some systems it will be necessary to do a "cap_mkdb" after altering
 the termcap file for the changes to take effect.

 If you are not going to install vchat publically readable you may also
 keep the file sample-termcap in your home directory for private use.
 See your termcap online manual for details on how to install a private
 termcap database.

 NOTE: Some shells will require you to do a "rehash" when you completed
       the installation of vchat in order to notice the newly available
       image file.

 GETTING STARTED:
 ================

 At first you will need to know the VChat server hostname you want
 to connect to. At the end of this document you will find a list of
 currently available vserver hosts. Pick one server from this list
 and use the command:

 vserver -s <hostname>

 to connect to the server, where <hostname> is the hostname you picked
 from the list at the end of this document.

 For more details on using the vchat client and the vchat client configuration
 file .vchatrc see the online manuals.

 CURRENTLY AVAILABLE VCHAT SERVERS:
 ==================================

 www.vh1.de          - Dortmund (Germany)
 www.techno.de       - Berlin   (Germany)
 www.freeport.de     - Hamburg  (Germany)
 cenotaph.snafu.de   - Berlin   (Germany)
 mojoski.com         - Atlanta  (USA)

 WHAT TO DO IF YOU DETECT ANY BUGS
 =================================

 Send a bug report via e-mail to mickey@deadline.snafu.de and describe
 as detailed as as possible the occurance of the bug, what has caused
 the bug as well as how the bug can be reproduced.
 In any case, we will be glad to hear from you if you think you've
 found a bug in the software distribution.

 WHERE TO GET UPDATES
 ====================

 The FTP location of the VChat client distribution has changed!

 The most recent version of VChat is now available via anonymous FTP from
 cenotaph.snafu.de. You will find the packed archives in the directory
 /pub/vchat.

 FURTHER INFORMATION
 ===================

 The WWW address of the VChat Web Page has also been moved over to
 cenotaph.snafu.de. You will find the most recent informations regarding
 the VChat confrence system online at http://cenotaph.snafu.de/vchat/

 
