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Text File | 1994-01-01 | 16KB | 353 lines

=========================================================================== === === === BASIC SYSTEM OPERATION === === === =========================================================================== ----------------------------- DUTIES OF THE SYSTEM OPERATOR ----------------------------- The user-name for the System Operator is: SYSOP. You may prefer to sign up with your real name and set yourself at the highest user level (level 8). As the sysop, your main duty is to "validate" (grant membership to) new members. You do this with Sapphire's VALIDATE command. If you sign up with a name other than SYSOP, you should clearly the name you use on your logon screen. Otherwise, people might send mail to "SYSOP", which you might miss. ------------------ SIGNING ON LOCALLY ------------------ When Sapphire is waiting for a caller, press a key. This will "wake up" Sapphire, and freeze out the modem by putting it "off-hook". You can then sign on as if you had dialled up. If you don't want your phone off the hook, you can start up Sapphire in non-modem mode with SYSOP:LOCAL (select LOCAL after typing SYSOP at the DOS prompt). This completely ignores anything to do with the modem. ------------------- SIGNING ON AS SYSOP ------------------- The information presented below is based on the default set-up. For security reasons, the password shown here should be modified (using the BYE PASSWORD command) as soon as possible. 1. Wait until Sapphire is waiting for a visitor. 2. Press a key to wake it up. 3. When asked for your name, press Spacebar, then Enter. 4. When you are asked for the password, type SYSOP then Enter. You can then type Sapphire commands (the menu lists most of them; the HELP command lists all of them), or press some function keys. ------------- FUNCTION KEYS ------------- Sapphire's function keys are assigned as follows: REGULAR FUNCTION KEYS --------------------- F 1 Function-key help. Also lists the meanings of the status line icons. F 2 Enable Yoo-Hoo. Makes a noise when a specified person shows up. (See SYSOP:MISC:SOUNDS) F 3 Removes 10 minutes online-time from whoever is connected. F 4 Adds on 10 minutes online-time to whoever is connected. F 5 Enable/Disable instant chat (type-to-sysop) via the CHAT command. F 6 Break in to chat with the person who is currently online. F 7 Review notes. Displays the last few notes that popped up on the console. (Refer to SYSOP:CONFIG:BASIC:DISPLAY) F 8 Not used. F 9 Modify number-of-hours-between-calls. Another way to set this is via SYSOP:CONFIG:BASIC:SIGN-ON. F10 Sound effects on/off. For examples of the various Sapphire sound effects, refer to SYSOP:MISC:SOUNDS. ALT FUNCTION KEYS ----------------- F 1 Turn printer on and off (uses LPT1). F 2 Freeze out the person on the modem. You do this if you want to enter a few quick commands on his behalf but don't want him to see what you are typing. Press ALT-F2 again to restore communication. F 3 Subtract 1 from the membership level of the person who is signed on. F 4 Add 1 to the membership level of the person who is signed on. F 5 Announce mode on/off. In announce mode, nobody can log on. All people get to see is your sign-on logo, which is contained in the text file LOGOXX.STD. This lets you run your BBS as a "News and Announcements System". If you ever find that your system hangs up for no apparent reason, every time a person calls, check to make sure that you haven't turned on announce mode by mistake. F 6 Send file. This is used to transmit a text file -- usually while chatting with a remote user. While the file is being transmitted, you can cancel, pause or slow down the output in the usual ways (spacebar, "P" or number keys, respectively). Note that the file is sent exactly as is -- even if it is a stock file. F 7 Changes the name of the visitor to one that you specify. The new name is checked to prevent duplication. F 8 Instant banishment. Removes visitor from the valid caller list. If you change your mind before he logs off, you can hit F8 again to reinstate the user. F 9 Shut-down. If nobody is signed on, Sapphire ends immediately. If somebody is logged on, Sapphire will end when he or she logs off. F10 Turn Ultra-Mode on or off. Ultra-Mode is a kind of "Super-Sysop" mode. While in this mode, a user may... - Execute commands of any level - Use the CHANGE command on somebody else's message - Read all private messages - Call back in less than the usual time (Level 6+ can always do this) - Skip around a devalidation message at sign-on and proceed normally - Use the VALIDATE command on people at his level or higher - Use "Clean up Mode" (see SYSOP:CONFIG:BASIC:SECURITY:SIGN-ON) The user named SYSOP is automatically in Ultra-mode. Other users -- even other Level 8 users -- must have it turned on explicitly by the ALT-F10 key. When ALT-F10 is pressed, a long, raucous sound is emitted from your computer's speaker. This tends to discourage people from hitting the key "by accident". (See SYSOP:MISC:SOUNDS) --------------- THE STATUS LINE --------------- The top two lines of the Sapphire screen provide you with some information about what is going on. The top line lists membership level, time left, state icons (explained later), and the last item in the system log. The second line lists the member's sign-on name, full name, and phone number. The state icons are single-character indicators. For an short description of each icon, press F1. Here is a more detailed explanation of each icon: Double-arrow: Communications enabled. The person dialing in via the modem can see what is happening online. See the explanation of Alt-F1. Double-note: Sound is on. Turn it on or off with the F10 key. This can also be set with SYSOP:CONFIG:ADVANCED:SOUND. Infinity symbol (sideways 8): Ultra-mode is on. This is turned on and off by the ALT-F10 key. The user named SYSOP is in Ultra-mode automatically; all other users can have it turned on only by the ALT-F10, even if they are level 8 users. Downwards-pointing triangle: The ALT-F9 key was pressed to put the system in "shutdown mode" and will be closed when it next disconnects (i.e. when the current visitor logs off). Exclamation mark: You pressed the ALT-F6 key to put the system into "announce only" mode. People will only see the LOGOXX stock file before getting disconnected. "Z": Zoom mode enabled. When Zoom mode is enabled, you will see large letters on the screen when the user is typing something. Changed by F8. Triple-line: Printer is active. The printer (which should be connected to the parallel port LPT1) is turned on or off by the ALT-F1 key. Diamond: The system is waiting for somebody in particular to show up. You can specify a list of names by pressing the F2 key. Happy face: People who use the CHAT command will be placed directly in conversation, instead of seeing an "unattended" message. This is handy if somebody is online who usually asks you for a chat. Question mark: The current user entered the CHAT command to try to get in touch with you. The CHAT command makes a noise if you have sound turned on. (See SYSOP:MISC:SOUNDS) These icons may take a while to get used to, but before long, you'll be able to tell at a glance what's happening on your system. -------------------------------- ONLINE VALIDATION AND BANISHMENT -------------------------------- ALT-F8 will banish the current visitor. However, the ALT-F8 key does not update the file until the member disconnects, so if you have a system crash, the file will still reflect the old value. In general, all data affecting a member's current session is lost if your system crashes, since the members information is written only "on the way out". For this reason, it is not possible for a sysop-level member to banish himself! If you press ALT-F8, but change your mind before the user logs off, you can press the key one more time to reverse your decision. ------------------ YOO-HOO AND RENAME ------------------ If you intend to run a BBS that does not tolerate aliases, but insists that people use real names, the combination of F2 (Yoo-Hoo) and ALT-F7 (Rename) will prove useful. When you press the Yoo-Hoo key, you will be prompted to enter a list of names, separated by slashes. For example, you might enter: Fred Jones/Mary Smith/Bill Wilson When somebody signs on under any of the indicated names, Sapphire will make a distinctive noise to alert you. (See SYSOP:MISC:SOUNDS) You can then break in (using F6 -- Chat) and tell the person that you are changing his sign-on name to his real name. This can be done with the Rename key. The Rename function will not allow you to change the name to an existing name. Thus, if you already have a John Smith on your system, you can not change somebody else's name to John Smith. =========================================================================== === === === AUTO-MAINTENANCE === === === =========================================================================== Sapphire is designed to perform all maintenance tasks automatically. The following "maintenance" sections are simply an explanation of how it does this, so if you are browsing this manual for the first time, you can safely skip them without any problem. -------------------------- USER FILE AUTO-MAINTENANCE -------------------------- The user file will hold up to 1000 user names. When a new user signs up, Sapphire looks for an inactive user to replace. The higher the level of the member, the longer it takes for him to be considered inactive. Here is a table of the time-out times. Level Time-Out (Days) Standard Member Level Name ----- --------------- -------------------------- 1 10 Non-Member 2 50 Basic Member 3 60 Special Member 4 70 Top Notch Member 5 80 Inner Circle Member 6 90 Aide-de-Sysop 7 100 Co-Sysop 8 110 Sysop Note that this is the time after which a user is eligible for replace- ment. If there are no new sign-ups to replace his name on the list, his user-record can remain valid forever. The user named SYSOP is never eligible for replacement. Also, if you define a guest account (see SYSOP:CONFIG:BASIC:SECURITY:SIGN-ON), it is similarly locked. You can provide a protection against replacement for specific membership levels -- see SYSOP:CONFIG:ADVANCED:SECURITY:TIME-OUTS for details. ----------------------------- MESSAGE FILE AUTO-MAINTENANCE ----------------------------- Sapphire maintains 225 message files. When the last one is used up, the first one is replaced, thereby "deleting" the oldest one. All messages share the same space. There is no way to preserve a message permanently. If you have something you want to keep available for a long time, place it in the library directory as a .TXT file and tell the members to use the LIBRARY command to review it. If you have to get rid of a message, use Sapphire's ERASE command. There is no need to use DOS DEL or ERASE. ------------------------ LIBRARY AUTO-MAINTENANCE ------------------------ Any .TXT file that appears in the Library directory will appear on the Library list. The 39-character description of each article is taken from the first line of each file (leading blanks are ignored). Thus, you can add to the Library simply by copying text files into the Library directory, and remove articles using the DOS DEL command. For your members' convenience, you might sort the directory in reverse-date order, using a utility such as Norton's DS command. Your library can list files with other extensions besides text. You can set this with SYSOP:CONFIG:ADVANCED:GENERAL:PATHS. ---------------------- FILES AUTO-MAINTENANCE ---------------------- Sapphire maintains a list of up to 500 uploads. When the list is full, programs are dropped from the list and deleted from the file directory according to a formula based on: (A) Number of times the file has been downloaded (B) How many days have elapsed since the last request (C) How many days the file has been on the list In other words, Sapphire will identify and replace the least popular file. All files are protected from this auto-maintenance if they have seen some activity (download, or the initial upload) in the past 14 days. ------------- CLEAN-UP MODE ------------- Under normal conditions, Sapphire's auto-maintenance is completely "hands off". However, if you have an extraordinarily busy system, you may have to occasionally remove a few people from the user list to make room for others. You can define your deletion criteria using SYSOP:CONFIG:BASIC: SIGN-ON and then execute the clean-up by entering the USERS command while in Ultra-mode (see "Function Keys", above).