The Post-Tribal Voice PowWow FAQ

And everything that was old is new again.
So, you're probably wondering what you can—as well as cannot—do with your brand-new old copy of PowWow Version 3.5. So, without further adieu, let's see what does—and doesn't— work:

The Two Files
In order to get PowWow up and running, you have to download and install two files.

pw350-install.zip -> PW350.EXE - The original installation program for PowWow Version 3.5
PW35.ZIP - An updated version of the PowWow executable.

It seems really quite simple. You download both files. You run the PW350.EXE (extracted from the pw350-install.zip archive) file to install an old version of PowWow on your computeri - but don't run PowWow just yet.

What you have now installed is a circa-1998 version of PowWow which is nice, but it doesn't work very well. What it does do is get a base version of PowWow installed with the POWWOW32.EXE file and sets up all of the .DLL files and registry entries which helps PowWow work.

Next, you unpack the PW35.ZIP file to the same directory to which you installed PowWow Version 3.5. Usually that's the C:\Program Files\Tribal Voice\PowWow32\ directory but it could be something different.

The PW35.ZIP file contains an updated copy of the PowWow Version 3.5 client, which has been modified to work better sans master buddy and registration servers. Because this copy of PowWow may be updated from time-to-time we are using a nomenclature of YYYYMMDD.EXE for the filename in order to keep track of the release. It's this YYYYMMDD.EXE file which replaces the POWWOW32.EXE file in your PowWow installation directory.

You should remove or rename the POWWOW32.EXE file and update all the shortcuts on your Startup Menu and desktop to point to the new PowWow client.

Once you've done that, you can now run PowWow.

Error Messages
When PowWow first runs, several error messages will appear stating that PowWow is not able to locate registration hosts. What is happening is that Powwow is attempting to register with the original user and buddy registration servers, but because these servers no longer exist PowWow displays an error message. Just ignore them and click on the OK button to continue.

*** NOTE: If you keep error dialog boxes open which begin with the phrase:
"Cannot locate registration host, error 1100N..." open, then PowWow should operate a bit better / more normal (i.e. lookups will work, clicks on links in the white pages will work, your address book will function w/o having to use direct connect, etc..).

Servers and PowWow
Once you've got PowWow up and running, you need to tell it to use the PowWow.Jazy.Net PULS (PowWow User Location Service) server. A PULS server provides registration and lookup services and insures your PowWow client registration is received and others can reach you via PowWow. Here's how to configure your copy of PowWow:

Run PowWow and click on the Configuration (Wrench) button in the Main PowWow Navigation window and select Preferences… from the pop-up menu.

In the Preferences window click on the PULS/Tribe tab.

In the Puls Server Address: field enter powwow.jazy.net and click on OK when done.

To join a Community click on the Communities (Globe-within-a-C) button at the bottom of the Communities window Main PowWow Navigation window and select Join a Community from the pop-up menu.

The PowWow Address Book window will appear.

At the bottom of the PowWow Address Book window, enter powwow@jazy.net in the Join Community Address: field, and select (check) the Direct Connect option.

Click on Join to enter the Community.

For a list of other Communities, click here.

Firewalls and Routers
If you are behind a hardware-based firewall or using a software-based filewall on your computer, it must be configured to allow PowWow to pass through it by opening TCP and UDP ports 13223 and 13224 to your computer.

If you are behind a router (e.g., on a private, non-routable network), then you must forward TCP and UDP ports 13223 and 13224 to your computer. To check if you're behind a router, open a Command Prompt and type IPCONFIG and press Enter. If your IP address is in the range of 10.n.n.n, 172.16.n.n to 172.31n.n, or 192.168n.n to 192.168.n.n, then you're behind a router.

PowWow uses TCP port 13223 for client connections and UDP port 13223 for transmitting voice data. TCP port 13224 is used for server connections.

The Buddy List
You can still add to and use the PowWow's Buddy List but because there is no longer a master buddy server to handle routing it has to be done in a slightly-different fashion.

First, both of you need to be online and running a copy of PowWow that registers with the PowWow.Jazy.Net PULS server. Second, both of you need to be able to establish connections with each other. The easiest way to do this is for both of you to join the same Community and to try paging each other for a Personal Communicator chat session or viewing each others profile, picture or web page.

If everything works, you can send each other Buddy Requests by right- clicking on each other's names and selecting Request to be a buddy from the popup (context ) menu. If it doesn't work, then review the section above about fireWalls and routers.

Speech Synthesizer
In a Community, to toggle the text-to-speech (TTS) engine on and off, click on the hear button.

Colors and Fonts
To change the color of your text within PowWow, open the Personal Communicator window by clicking on the Personal Communicator (orange reversed "@") button in the Main PowWow Navigation window.

The Personal Communicator window will appear.

Right- and left-click on the color selector in the upper-right corner of the Personal Communicator window to change your foreground (text) color for all of PowWow and your background color for the Personal Communicator window.

To change the background color of a Community, right-click on any empty portion of your desktop and select Properties from the context menu.

The Display Properties window will appear.

Click on the Appearance tab to view Windows color scheme.

Click on the Advanced button to view the Advanced Appearance window.

Click on the text-input area of the window in the example, and change its color using the buttons below. Click on the OK button when done.

To change the typeface (font) within PowWow click on the Configuration (Wrench) button in the Main PowWow Navigation window and select Preferences….

The Preferences window will appear.

Click on the Runtime Options tab.

Click on the Font… button to choose your font. Click on the OK button when done.

What else?
If this doesn't answer your questions, try viewing the original PowWow FAQ by clicking here.