Qusnetsoft news reader Error 503 workaround

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

I've seen a few messages on this NG regarding the "Error group selecting
: 503 Timeout after 10 seconds, closing connection" in the Qusnetsoft
news reader. I've narrowed it down to one setting and I have a
workaround until the author gets it fixed. I thought some of you might
like to know.

I'll start in a state where synchronizing works. If I go to Tools |
Settings | Format and change Default encoding from the default Cyrillic
(KOI8-R) to US-ASCII, then try to sync again, I get the error 503 message.

To work around the problem, I change the Default encoding back to
Cyrillic (KOI8-R). Syncing works just fine again, although a restart of
Qusnetsoft may be required. Still working out that detail.

Another workaround is to go to the registry and delete this key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Newsreader2004\DefaultEncoding = 20105

If I then restart Qusnetsoft, I can sync again.

I have also noticed that some accented characters don't display properly
in this software with either type of encoding selected. There may be a
connection, eh?

Details of my setup:
Quesnetsoft 3.1 trial (I won't register it yet
Dell Axim X5 300 MHz
ActiveSync 3.5
Win XP on desktop and laptop
Dialup modem connection on desktop, LAN or dialup connection on laptop

--
Dave
dvt at psu dot edu

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

Rick Murray wrote:
> Reply to message from dvt <dvt@nospam.psu.edu> (Mon, 13 Dec 2004 09:23:31)
> about ""Qusnetsoft news reader Error 503 workaround"":
>
> d> I've seen a few messages on this NG regarding the "Error group
> d> selecting : 503 Timeout after 10 seconds, closing connection" in the
> d> Qusnetsoft news reader. I've narrowed it down to one setting and I have
> d> a workaround until the author gets it fixed. I thought some of you
> d> might like to know.
>
> looks like problems with slow connection or/and server responces. try to
> use another connection or server. btw, this can be cause of your problems
> with empty messages too.

Thanks for the feedback, Rick. Nice interface on your reader.

I've tried it with two setups. One connection was slow, as it used USB
interface to PDA and a 56k dialup network connection. The other
connection was pretty fast, using IR connection to PDA and a 100MB LAN
connection tied to the 'net. Same problem with both connections.

I've found that if I leave the encoding setting at Cyrillic (KOI8), I
don't get any of the 503 error messages. I'm pretty certain there's a
connection, since I can make a 503 error message simply by changing to
US-ASCII.

--
Dave
dvt at psu dot edu

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

Rick Murray wrote:
> Reply to message from dvt <dvt_spam@psu.edu> (Wed, 15 Dec 2004 01:13:32)
> about "Re: Qusnetsoft news reader Error 503 workaround":
>
> d> I've found that if I leave the encoding setting at Cyrillic (KOI8), I
> d> don't get any of the 503 error messages. I'm pretty certain there's a
> d> connection, since I can make a 503 error message simply by changing to
> d> US-ASCII.
>
> are you sure? it's very strange. this settings used only for outgoing
> articles..

I'm as sure as I can be. Here's the experiment I just ran to confirm.

I've been syncing for several days with the Encoding set to Cyrillic
(KOI8-R). No 503 errors. I synced a few minutes ago with that setting,
no problem.

I switched the Encoding to US-ASCII. I did nothing else on the PC,
nothing else on the PDA. I got an error 503 message.

I then switched the encoding back to Cyrillic (KOI8-R). Again, nothing
else was done on either PDA or PC. It syncs just fine again.

I hope this helps.

--
Dave
dvt at psu dot edu

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

Rick Murray wrote:

> Reply to message from dvt <dvt_spam@psu.edu> (Wed, 15 Dec 2004 01:13:32)
> about "Re: Qusnetsoft news reader Error 503 workaround":
>
> d> I've found that if I leave the encoding setting at Cyrillic (KOI8), I
> d> don't get any of the 503 error messages. I'm pretty certain there's a
> d> connection, since I can make a 503 error message simply by changing to
> d> US-ASCII.
>
> well, I think you're was right. newsreader used wrong codepage code for us-
> ascii. please try new version. now build 3.1.0.2 published.

I just tried version 3.1.0.2. I still get error 503 when I select
US-ASCII encoding.

In the dropdown list under Tools | Settings | Format, the location of
US-ASCII changed. It's now near the bottom of the list, whereas it was
near the top of the list. That's the only difference I can see.

Thanks for all of your attention, Rick. I hope this helps you resolve a
bug that appears to affect more users than just me.

--
Dave
dvt at psu dot edu

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

Sooner Al wrote:
> Mine is set tp 'Western European (Windows)', which I presume is the default. Perhaps a
> temporary workaround for you would is to set your configuration to that...
>
> Note I am running the 3.1.0.2 release...

I've been using that setting for a few days, and I can confirm that it
works also. Some of the "special" characters are displayed incorrectly,
but everything else seems to work fine.

So far...
Cyrillic KOI8R - works but special characters incorrect
Western European (Windows) - same as above
US-ASCII - 503 errors

--
Dave
dvt at psu dot edu

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

Me wrote:
> On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 12:15:46 -0500, dvt wrote:
>
>
>>So far...
>>Cyrillic KOI8R - works but special characters incorrect
>>Western European (Windows) - same as above
>>US-ASCII - 503 errors
>
>
> Excuse the newbie question, but what is the difference between the encoding
> settings? is it the font? or the way the program reads the font characters?

I don't know the answer to your question, but I can repeat what Rick
Murray (Qusnetsoft's author) said earlier in this thread:

# this settings used only for outgoing
# articles.

I'm sure that the setting doesn't change the font. And it doesn't appear
to affect "the way the program reads the font characters" since it only
applies to outgoing messages. I don't understand how the encoding
setting changes the outgoing messages.

> if so, shouldn't Qusnetsoft support make a encoding specific to the
> English language?

That's what I thought was meant by US-ASCII encoding. Remember, though,
that Rick's native language is not English. So I suspect any
English-related settings get a bit less debugging time than his default
settings. Other than the bugs that have been discussed in the two
threads I originated, he wrote a fine newsreader IMO.

--
Dave
dvt at psu dot edu

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

Reply to message from Me <spamsome1@else.net> (Wed, 22 Dec 2004 16:00:26)
about "Re: Qusnetsoft news reader Error 503 workaround":

M> Yes! it seems that the last version is working alot better and for the
M> price I think only for the month of December is only $10.00 US!! you
M> can't beat that!

Thanks for that. At that price, I think I'll upgrade.

JPinOH
Jon Porter <jporter@netwalk.com> Wed, 22 Dec 2004 18:05:50 -0400

=== Posted with Qusnetsoft NewsReader 2.2.0.8