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1994-01-07
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Lora Bulletin Board System and
Electronic Mail Interface
Version 2.34 (DOS and OS/2)
Copyright (c) 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 by Marco Maccaferri
All rights reserved
SYSOP OPERATION MANUAL
CopyRight (c) 1989-94 by Marco Maccaferri
All rights reserved
LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
1.0 - Introduction
=====================================================================
Lora was born in an unknown day of 1988, when the only local BBS
entered Fidonet, using the best software of those days, namely Opus-
CBCS.
The initial target was indeed that of to imitating Opus, and in this
way increasing my knowledge of personal computers (I bought an 8 MHz
XT clone just before) and of programming as well.
The result has been Lora v1.00, a nearly perfect Opus clone. Lora had
a Opus-Like behaviour until version 1.11, that ended the first period
of Lora development.
Due to the many bugs caused by a bad knowledge of C language with
which the program has been written, I decided to change everything
and to "build" Lora again from the beginning.
The 2.00 version was published in the first days of 1992, after
nearly an year of work, in which I rewrote completely the source code
and the 90% of its beheaviour.
Now that one year and two upgrading realeases have passed since the
"new era", Lora experiences a new esthetic metamorphosis, and has
become the program I planned on a school desk in autumn 1988.
- 2 -
LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
1.1 - Main features
---------------------------------------------------------------------
- Both DOS and OS/2 release available.
- Supporting up to four different message bases at the same time
(with no differences seen by the users). Presently Lora supports
the standard Fido-Base (*.MSG), the QuickBBS (also known as Hudson
message base), the PIP-Base and the new Squish-Mail<Tm> made by
Scott J. Dudley.
- Supporting a virtually infinite number of message/file areas.
- Hyper-Scan function for fast user and message/file areas search.
- Compatible built-in Front-End Fidonet Mailer, FTSC-0001, WaZOO and
full EMSI capable.
- Supporting three and four dimension points at the same time.
- Supporting Aka's and ZoneGates.
- Supporting Janus bidirectional protocol for mail transfer.
- Supporting multitaskers, leaving not used time to the active task,
and local networks.
- Supporting many tasks with one directory and one configuration file
only.
- Integrated multiline chat.
- Supporting up to twenty different languages, for a full
international system.
- Memory swap in EMS, XMS or disk during the execution of external
doors (leaving in memory only 1.6K for the recovery code, DOS
version only).
- Supporting AVATAR/0+ protocol in alternative to ANSI-BBS
- Userlist features 12 access levels and 32 configurable flags.
- Support for RemoteAccess 1.11, Maximus CBCS 2.00 and SuperBBS 1.16
compatible Embedded Commands.
- Built-in TimeBank, FileBank and BBS List doors.
- Support for off-line mail readers compatible with the QWK packet
format, as well as human readable ASCII format.
- Remote clock synchronization in WaZOO and EMSI sessions.
- Automatic clock synchronization with an Atomic Clock, compatible
with the Galileo Ferraris Institute of Torino, Italy.
- 3 -
LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
- User limits (such as on-line time, download limits, etc.) overrides
in a single user basis.
- Exclusive ZModem auto-upload feature, your users can upload files
at any menu prompt.
- Support for new 16800 baud, 19200 baud, USRobotics V32terbo (21600
baud), V.FAST (28800 baud) connection speed and FAX modems.
- Support for ISDN connection speed (38000, 56000 and 64000 baud).
- Integrated ANSI/VT100 and Avatar terminal emulation, awareness of
downloading and uploading files using all the protocols, including
external protocols.
- IEMSI (Interactive EMSI) for user's automatic login and parameter
settings.
- Supporting internet mail (not newsgroups) areas.
- Supporting external file transfer protocols, such as Omen
Technology's DSZ and GSZ.
- 4 -
LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
1.2 - Multiline systems
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Lora is perfectly able to manage multiline systems that use
multitaskers or LANs. Every temporary file created by Lora contains
also the task number in its name, so to avoid contemporary access to
the same files.
If the system uses multitaskers like DesqView, DoubleDOS or
Multilink, Lora is able to recognize the environment by itself and to
release the CPU time, if not used, to the other active tasks.
On the command line it's possible to set both the task number and the
log file to be created. These two parameters replace the default
parameters set in the configuration file. It's possible also to omit
these parameters in the configuration file and to set them on the
command line only.
If you don't use external programs that don't support multitask
usage, it's not necessary to create a work directory for each line.
Anyway, if you want different directories for each task, it's
possible to tell to Lora where to find its configuration file, using
the LORA environment variable.
Lora looks for the configuration file in the current directory, then
in the directory specified by the command line parameter -C, and then
in the directory set by the LORA environment variable.
If you load SHARE.EXE before executing your multitasker or if the
multitasker supports the file sharing mode by itself, you must set
the READ ONLY attribute for LORA.EXE and LORA.OVL, otherwise you may
experience sharing violation errors because the overlay manager keeps
open the executable files.
- 5 -
LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
1.3 - The compressed message base
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Lora introduces for the first time the concept of the compressed
message base in the Bulletin Board System world.
It's a new kind of message storing technique, aiming at optimizing
the disk space needed to contain a great volume of messages.
The PIP Base, planned and realized by Roberto Piola and supported in
a BBS program by Lora 2.00, is the first effective result toward the
development of this technique.
All the messages are stored in a unique file (with different files
for each area) and the text is compressed using the letter frequency
method. Actually, the most used letter is reduced to a single byte,
and expanded again in the reading phase.
This method allows an average 35% compression of the normal text.
That means, considering a typical message base of 10 MBytes, a saving
of 3.5 Mbyte.
To use the compressed message base with Lora it's sufficient to
change the 'Storage' parameter of the message areas setup menu, until
'Pip-base' is displayed. Make sure to configure the 'Pip-base path'
(General / Paths menu) field to reflect an existing directory.
- 6 -
LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
1.4 - Acknowledgements
=====================================================================
I would like to thank all the Beta-testers, for the help given in
developing Lora, and particularly:
Marcello Ardini, for supporting with his patience (and his
programs) the bugs of the software and the
crashes of the system in Alpha-test.
Mario Battacchi, for the translation of this manual and for his
unfailing support even in the worst moments.
It's only Mario who up until now has supported
the bugs of Version 1.11 of Lora.
Roberto Piola, for giving me the source code of his PIP-Base,
the new Italian compressed message base.
Alfonso Martone, for his hundreds suggestions and hints in the
development of the software. He gave me also
part of the source code to help me in the
implementation of the new features required.
Andrea Borgia, for having beta-tested the Lora 4d point
management.
Riccardo DeAgostini, for the development of the RPN calculator source
code.
Giovanni Fasano, for the source code related to the Squish's
personal mail scanner.
Special thanks to all the people who registered and will soon
register Lora. I'm sorry if I forgot somebody, please don't worry,
but feel you free to inform me, so that I can insert you in the next
documentation.
1.4.1 - Translator Notes
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This manual has been translated from Italian to English, and may
contain errors. If you find some of them, feel free to send me a
message, so that I can correct them in next versions.
Mario Battacchi (2:332/403.1@Fidonet.org)
(MCI-ID 5271667)
- 7 -
LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
1.5 - Credits
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The following products and names are the copyrighted material and or
trademarks of their copyright and or trademark holders respectively.
QuickBBS The QuickBBS Group, Inc.
DESQview Quarterdeck Office Systems
BinkleyTerm,
Janus Bit Bucket Software
FidoNet Tom Jennings
MS-DOS Microsoft Corporation
X00, VX00 Ray Gwinn
BNU David Nugent
Dr.Comm Rocco Rionero
IBM, OS/2 International Business Machines
Opus, WaZOO Wynn Wagner III
RemoteAccess Andrew Milner
SuperBBS Aki Antman and Risto Virkalla
Maximus-CBCS,
Squish Scott J. Dudley
EMSI Johaquim Homrighausen
HS/Link Samuel H. Smith
Puma/MPT Matthew Thomas
GoldEd Odinn Sorensen
Wedit Franco Schinco
Pip-base Roberto Piola
Mercurio Giovanni Lopes Pegna
DSZ, GSZ Omen Technology
- 8 -
LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
2.0 - User's License
=====================================================================
LoraBBS E-mail System, from now Lora, is not a public domain program,
but belongs to the category of programs called "shareware". The
distribution of the program is limited to this user licence.
You are free to use Lora for a restricted period of time (up to 30
days) to evaluate it's features, and to decide if it fullfitts your
needs.
When this period is expired, if you want to go on using it, you have
to register following the instructions described later.
Lora is not a a life-limited program; it will work also without
registration, but some secondary features will remain disabled.
For registration, you must send a postal order or a not transferable
check to the address written later. The amount of the fee depends on
your particular configuration.
The registration alpha-numeric code you receive will work also on
later releases. Anyway the author has the right of changing the key
coding at any time, and (if necessary) of asking a new registration,
at his judgement only.
No guarantee of any kind is given on the functioning of Lora. If you
want to use it you will do it at your own risk. Due to the particular
method of software distribution, the author is not obliged to refund
partially or entirely your registration fee if you suffer a damage in
your system that may be caused by a proper or not proper use of Lora.
You are encouraged to distribute the original archive of Lora without
limits only if the money you receive is just what is necessary to
cover postal and diskettes costs.
It's strictly forbidden to distribute the personal registration code.
The source code of this and later versions of Lora will not be
distributed.
For any inconvenience, you can reach the author at FidoNet node
2:332/402.1 (Internet: macca@arci01.bo.cnr.it). We have little time,
but sooner or later everybody will receive an answer.
- 9 -
LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
2.1 - Registration
=====================================================================
To register Lora, you must send a postal order or a not transferable
check to Marco Maccaferri (the address is shown above); the amount
depends upon your particular configuration.
Site license and group discounts are available, write to Marco
Maccaferri at the address below (via paper mail or electronic mail)
for more informations.
If you register Lora you will have the following additional features:
- Keyboard lock by password. The local use of the keyboard will be
possible, but all functions like Alt-X, Dos Shell, etc. will be
disabled.
- Possibility of disabling the internal front-end mailer to use Lora
with other programs (FrontDoor, D'Bridge, BinkleyTerm, etc.).
- More than 2 remote lines allowed. Without registration it's
possible to use only task 1 and 2 for remote operations, other task
numbers will drop in a local logon.
- Memory swap during external doors (DOS version only).
- Possibility of using the internal Areafix and Raid (TIC manager)
alike functions for the automatic management of echomail and file
links.
- Possibility of including key sequences in the internal keyboard
buffer during the execution of BBS commands.
- Possibility of using file-semaphores for certain operations in
multitasking environments.
- Access to the beta releases.
- 10 -
LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
2.2 - Registration fees
---------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Special FidoNet Sysop (DOS) ................ Lit. 60.000 ($46)
Special FidoNet Sysop (OS/2) ............... Lit. 60.000 ($46)
Special FidoNet Sysop (DOS + OS/2) ......... Lit. 80.000 ($60)
Special FidoNet Sysop (Crossgrade) ......... Lit. 30.000 ($23)
Software will work up to 2 telephone lines.
[2] 5 Lines (DOS) .............................. Lit. 100.000 ($76)
5 Lines (OS/2) ............................. Lit. 100.000 ($76)
5 Lines (DOS + OS2) ........................ Lit. 140.000 ($106)
5 Lines (Crossgrade) ....................... Lit. 50.000 ($38)
[3] 10 Lines (DOS) ............................. Lit. 150.000 ($116)
10 Lines (OS/2) ............................ Lit. 150.000 ($116)
10 Lines (DOS + OS/2) ...................... Lit. 210.000 ($162)
10 Lines (Crossgrade) ...................... Lit. 75.000 ($58)
[4] Unlimited Lines (DOS) ...................... Lit. 250.000 ($190)
Unlimited Lines (OS/2) ..................... Lit. 250.000 ($190)
Unlimited Lines (DOS + OS/2) ............... Lit. 350.000 ($260)
Unlimited Lines (Crossgrade) ............... Lit. 125.000 ($95)
[5] Point registration (DOS) ................... Lit. 35.000 ($30)
Point registration (OS/2) .................. Lit. 35.000 ($30)
Point registration (DOS + OS/2) ............ Lit. 45.000 ($40)
Point registration (Crossgrade) ............ Lit. 17.500 ($15)
The software works completely on a single
telephone line, does not accept incoming
calls, and the BBS section works only in
local mode.
[6] Upgrades from a number of lines
to a greater one ........................... Prices difference
Forwarding expenses:
Foreign check .............................. Lit. 13.000
Italian, Eurocheques or Money Orders ....... Lit. 3.000
- 11 -
LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
2.3 - Registration form
---------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Contribuite a migliorare la qualita' del software shareware
registrandovi. Grazie per il supporto !
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Mail to: Marco Maccaferri
via Ferrara, 9
40139 Bologna - ITALY
Qty. Description Single Total
____ LoraBBS 2 Lines ......................... L. _______ ________
____ LoraBBS 5 Lines ......................... L. _______ ________
____ LoraBBS 10 Lines ........................ L. _______ ________
____ LoraBBS Unlimited Lines ................. L. _______ ________
____ LoraBBS Point ........................... L. _______ ________
Forwarding expenses .................................... L. ________
TOTAL L. ________
Name: _______________________________________________________________
Address: ____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
(please print)
Operating System to register: ( ) DOS ( ) OS/2 ( ) Both
( ) Crossgrade
Where did you receive Lora? ( ) Friends ( ) Shareware collection
( ) BBS ( ) User Group
( ) Other _________
Key forwarding method: ( ) FAX __________________
( ) Netmail to ___________
( ) Paper mail
The registrations must be payable in Italian Lire. Foreign currency
and credit cards not allowed. The netmail forwarding method needs a
valid Fidonet node number or an answering system capable of handling
Fido-Technology Mail sessions.
- 12 -
LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
2.4 - Support and registration sites
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Australia:
Lindsay Blume
O.I.S. Australia (Online Information System)
+61-9-250-3148
FidoNet : 3:690/634
Austria:
Christian Kvasny
The Fright Night BBS
+43-2243-80348 (00:00-24:00)
FidoNet : 2:313/16
AdultNet: 690:3956/1000
United Kingdom:
Barry Kingston-Wyatt
Spartacus BBS
+44-373-451737 (21:00-08:00 GMT)
FidoNet : 2:255/27
Credit cards allowed
United States:
David Huges
PO Box 6592
Colorado Springs, CO USA
80934-6592
Goldmill BBS
+1-719-632-2657
FidoNet : 1:128/67
Internet: david@oldcolo.com
Italy and other country:
Marco Maccaferri
Arci Computer Club
+39-51-6331730
FidoNet : 2:332/402
AmigaNet: 39:102/304
VirNET : 9:391/105
Internet: macca@arci01.bo.cnr.it
- 13 -
LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
2.4.1 - Getting support
You can get support and the latest releases from the above support
and registration sites and from the support-only sites listed below.
In addition, there is an echomail conference open to everyone
interested in discussing Lora (both registered and not already
registered) called LORA. It may be available from your international
echomail backbone, if not, please contact the support site near to
you to get the area linked.
As you noticed there isn't the author's voice number available, this
is because there isn't a voice phone support line for Lora. The
support is made entirely through electronic or paper mail. This may
not be true for other support sites, please contact the support site
directly to know if he/she allows voice phone support for Lora.
- 14 -
LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
2.4.2 - Support-only sites
The following people are acting as support sites-only and not as
registration sites.
Belgium:
Maurice Derden
OS/2 Inter-Soft Bbs
+32-16-640395
FidoNet : 2:292/606
United Kingdom:
Mike Corby
The Cats Board
+44-628-824852
FidoNet : 2:252/27
USA:
Vanyel Ashkevron
The Herald's Haven OS/2
FidoNet : 1:163/534
- 15 -
LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
3.0 - Installation
=====================================================================
To install Lora you need a PC/XT/AT computer with at least 512K of
free RAM, DOS 3.30 or later versions, at least one free serial port
and 3 MBytes of Hard disk space.
The OS/2 release needs OS/2 2.x or later installed, one free serial
port and at least 3 MBytes of Hard disk space.
Here is the right procedure to install Lora in your system:
1. Create a directory called C:\LORA and uncompress inside it the
original archives, LORA234D.ZIP (LORA234S.ZIP for OS/2).
2. Run LORA234D.EXE (LORA234S.EXE for OS/2).
The program will create all the necessary directories and will copy
the files inside them.
If you have installed Lora in C:\LORA, you can begin using it with
the sample message and file areas configuration; if not, you have to
change all the references at C:\LORA using the configuration program
LSETUP.
Lora (DOS version) needs a FOSSIL driver for serial communications in
order to work. If you have not yet got it, you can find a FOSSIL
driver in the nearest BBS (on node 2:332/402 you can find the newest
versions of the available FOSSIL drivers).
Lora has been successfully tested with the BNU 1.70 FOSSIL driver
Dr.Comm 0.4 and X00, but it can work also with different kind of
drivers.
With the operating system OS/2, Lora has been tested with Ray Gwinn's
SIO drivers (version 1.11) using the VX00.SYS driver in the DOS
window.
The OS/2 release doesn't need a FOSSIL driver. It has been tested
with the standard serial port drivers and with Ray Gwinn's SIO
drivers (version 1.11).
- 16 -
LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
3.1 - Upgrade from previous versions
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the right procedure to upgrade Lora in your system:
1. Create a directory called C:\LORA and uncompress inside it the
original archives, LORA234D.ZIP (LORA234S.ZIP for OS/2).
2. Run LORA234D.EXE (LORA234S.EXE for OS/2).
3. Run UPDATE.EXE.
The program will upgrade the files that are changed with this
release. If you are using two or more configuration file (for two or
more lines), you can specify the name of those configuration files on
the command line. For example: UPDATE config1.dat config2.dat
The upgrade can be made even from a DOS installation to a OS/2
installation and vice versa. If you have already installaed the DOS
version, you can upgrade to the OS/2 version by simply get the OS/2
package and follow the upgrade procedure.
If you are upgrading a Lora version older than 2.30, part of the
configuration must be made again. Use LSETUP to insert the
configurations you put in the LORA.CFG file.
Anyway, to update the binary files, the LSETUP program must be run
following the new format.
From Version 2.30 you don't need to keep the LORA.CFG, SYSTEM.CFG,
SCHED.CFG and NODES.CFG files, as well as LORACOMP.EXE.
Each configuration can be done using the LSETUP program.
- 17 -
LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
3.2 - Package contents
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The compressed file contains the following files:
README - Main features and the installation chapter.
LORA234D.EXE - Installation program (self extracting).
WHATSNEW.TXT - News about the current release.
FILE_ID.DIZ - Archive comment, for BBSes that supports it.
With the OS/2 release the installation program is named LORA234S.EXE
and it's an OS/2 text mode application.
After executing the installation program, you will found the
following files and directory structure:
INBOUND - Network's inbound files directory.
OUTBOUND - Network's outbound files directory.
MSG - Message base directory.
OLR - Offline reader temporary directory.
FILE - Storage of the example's file areas.
TMP - Temporary path.
IPC - InterProcess Comunications directory.
MISC - Miscellaneous text files directory.
NODES - Nodelist directory.
LANG - Menu and language files directory.
AXEL_F.DAT - Chat music file.
BRASIL.DAT - Chat music file.
CHANGE.DAT - Chat music file.
COUNTRY.DAT - Chat music file.
CUCARACH.DAT - Chat music file.
ENTRTAIN.DAT - Chat music file.
GHOSTB.DAT - Chat music file.
GIOCHIPR.DAT - Chat music file.
LARRY.DAT - Chat music file.
MARYP.DAT - Chat music file.
OSOLEMIO.DAT - Chat music file.
PHONE.DAT - Chat music file.
THEWIND.DAT - Chat music file.
CONFIG.DAT - Configuration file.
SYSFILE.DAT - File areas configuration file.
SYSMSG.DAT - Message areas configuration file.
PAGE.DAT - Chat music file (used by Lora).
LORA.DOC - Documentation.
LORA.EXE - Program's loader.
LORA.OVL - Main executable file.
LSETUP.EXE - Lora's configuration program.
LMSG.EXE - Message areas maintenance program.
LUSER.EXE - Users maintenance program.
USERED.EXE - Users editor.
LNETMGR.EXE - Network manager.
- 18 -
LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
LTOP.EXE - TOP 10 users generator.
FILEIDX.EXE - File request index generator.
LANGCOMP.EXE - Language files compiler.
L2WORLD.EXE - External doors interface (DOS application).
LORA.ICO - OS/2 icon file for Lora.
LSETUP.ICO - OS/2 icon file for LSETUP.
LORA_API.ZIP - Structures of Lora's data files and examples on how to
use it for developers.
- 19 -
LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
4.0 - Configuration
=====================================================================
LSETUP is the program used for Lora's configuration. The pull-down
menus allow you to set all the options available, including BBS
menus, mail-session nodes, and so on.
LSETUP accepts only one optional parameter in the command line, i.e.
the filename of the configuration file to be used. If you omit it,
the CONFIG.DAT file will be used. If the configuration file does not
exist, it will be created using standard parameters (the phisical
creation will be done exiting from LSETUP). If you run LSETUP from
within Lora, (see later), the configuration filename will be
automatically passed.
Let's see now which are the menus and the options available:
4.1 - File
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This menu covers everything concerning the interaction between LSETUP
and the external world. The options available are:
Registration
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Shows a window in which it is possible to insert your registration
code (if owned).
Write AREAS.BBS
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Allows you to export to a text file the configuration of the echomail
message areas (those areas marked with the echomail flag and for
which an echotag has been defined).
By default, LSETUP uses the AREAS.BBS file defined in the Mailer /
Areafix menu (see later) or in the current directory, if not defined,
but it can be changed at any time.
The file uses a standard format, so that it can be used by an
external program supporting the standard.
Example of the AREAS.BBS generated by Lora:
Man at Work - Lora Developer's site ! Marco Maccaferri
;
$C:\Lora\Msg\Cartoni CARTONI.332 2:332/402
$C:\Lora\Msg\Chat400 CHATTER.400 2:332/402
$C:\Lora\Msg\Cine400 CINEMA.400 2:332/402
124 BBS_SOFT.ITA 2:332/402
71 CINEMA.ITA 2:332/402
- 20 -
LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
41 ECHOSER.033 2:332/402
42 ECHOSER.332 2:332/402
!136 FIDO_STYLE.ITA 2:332/402
C:\MSG\PRIVAT PRIVAT.400 2:332/402
;
; Created by LSETUP v.2.33
;
The first three areas are in Squish format, the others in Hudson
format. Areas beginning with a '!' are Pip-base message areas. The
last area is a Fido *.MSG area.
Write ROUTE.CFG
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Creates a routing file based on the present configuration.
Please note: this option works only if 4d point addresses are
inserted using the Global / Address menu. Moreover, the
routing file will be created for 4d point addresses
only.
Import AREAS.BBS
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This option imports a standard AREAS.BBS file in the Lora echomail
areas configuration.
The existing areas will be updated using data contained in the
imported file, the non-existing areas will be created with the data
contained in the imported file.
Import TIC.CFG
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This option allows you to import your existing TIC (file echo)
configuration file into Lora's configuration files. Following is an
example of valid TIC.CFG file:
;
AREA C:\LORA\TMP\ LORA
2:332/402 MARVEL *D
;
AREA C:\LORA\TMP\ LORA_OS2
2:332/402 MARVEL *D
;
Please refer to the Tick documentation for more informations about
the meaning of those lines.
Lora imports the file area's definitions and forward informations
only. No other informations are imported from the configuration file,
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LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
even the passwords aren't imported and should be configured manually
inside the Manager / Nodes menu.
Dos Shell
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Makes an operating system shell. It works even under OS/2, but keep
in mind that OS/2 is a multitasking operating system, so that it's
better to open another OS/2 Window instead of shelling from a
program.
Quit
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Exits from LSETUP. If the configuration has been changed, LSETUP will
ask if you want to save it.
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LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
4.2 - Global
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This menu contains the global options for Lora. The options available
are the following:
Site Info
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Allows you to insert the data related to the system and its operator.
In the window you can insert the system name, the sysop name
(requested for the registration), the town where the system resides,
the telephone number and flags (used for mail sessions with other
similar systems).
Directory/Paths
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Allows you to declare the directories used for the Lora configuration
files.
Main Directory - Directory in which Lora will search for every common
file, in a multiline system, such as messages and
files areas configuration.
Normal inbound
Know inbound
Prot inbound - They are three directories uses in the mail sessions
with other BBS for file reception. The Prot inbound
area is used with password-protected nodes. The know
inbound is used with nodes that are not password-
protected but known (namely present in a nodelist
that Lora knows). The normal inbound area is used for
all the other connected systems.
Outbound - It is a directory used in mail sessions in which the files
to be sent are stored. Important! This area must have no
extension: Lora automatically adds a numeric extension for
the files directed to BBS whose zone number is different
from the main one.
Netmail messages - Here the netmail (mail directed to specific nodes)
messages are stored. That one message area only
points to this directory is advisable.
Bad Messages - Here the messages that can't be imported in
echomail/netmail areas for safety reasons (such as
coming from unauthorized nodes or destined to wrong
areas) are stored.
Duplicate messages - Here the messages recognized as duplicates
(already previously imported by Lora) are
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stored. Lora memorizes the dupes for the last
1000 messages in each area.
Quick Directory - Here all the files of the Hudson message base
(MSG*.BBS) are stored. If the files don't exist,
Lora will create them when needed.
Pip-Base path - Here all the files of the Pip message base are
stored. If the files don't exist, Lora will create
them when needed.
IPC Path - Here the files for the information interchange between the
system tasks are stored. To improve performances, it's
better to create this directory in a RAM disk.
Nodelist - Here the files related to other BBSs connections are
stored.
Temporary path - Here every temporary file is stored. To improve
performances, it's better to create this directory
in a RAM disk.
Filebox path - This directory is used as the main directory for the
users' filebox creation. Fileboxes, as will be
explained later, are like mailboxes, but are related
to file exchange between users.
Addresses
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Allows you to define the addresses by which your system is identified
in your network. If you belong (or want to) to networks like Fidonet,
Amiganet, or similar, the node number must be assigned by the local
coordinator of the network.
You can define up to 20 addresses. The first address (marked 'Main')
is your default address and is used whenever requested (netmail and
echomail forwarding, TIC processing, and so on) if no other address
is specified.
General
---------------------------------------------------------------------
General options for the system running:
CGA "snow" checking - By setting this flag on, you will eliminate the
annoying flickering made by some CGA cards when
programs write directly on video memory.
Monochrome - Allows you to see the differences between colors, even
in monochromatic cards, like Hercules.
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Direct screen writes - By setting this flag on, you will improve the
program performances, since it will write
directly on video memory, without using BIOS
functions. This option may cause some problems
in multitasking system that virtualize video
memory. Lora internal routines allow direct
video memory writing also in systems using
DesqView in 286 processors.
Blankout timer - Defines after how many inactivity minutes the screen
blanker (also known as screen saver) will be active.
A 0 input deactivates the screen blanker completely.
Line number - Defines the task number in multiline systems. In
monoline systems it must be set to 1.
Multiline system - By setting this flag on, Lora is allowed to create
on disk all the semaphores necessary for a correct
multiline running. When using a monoline system
and a slow disk it's better to keep this flag off.
Time Adjustment
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Allows you to define the parameters for the automatic synchronization
of the system clock with other nodes and with the Turin-based Galileo
Ferraris Institute.
Init - Defines the modem initialization command.
Dial prefix - Defines the call command. It will be sent to the modem
before the phone number.
Dial suffix - This command will be added after the phone number.
Usually it is a | (pipe), that is the same as a
carriage return (CR) character.
Number - Defines the number to be called. The Galileo Ferraris phone
number is +39-11-3487892. Please note that you need to add
the code for international calls from your country.
Use DST - Allow the synchronization of the PC clock always using the
solar time. If turned to Yes, the clock will be
synchronized with the daylight saving time or the solar
time based on the year's moment. If turned to No it will be
synchronized always with the solar time, even if the
daylight saving time is acting.
Nodes - Defines the BBS node numbers with which the system clock can
be synchronized.
Internet gateway
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
Allows you to specify an Internet mail gateway to automatically
address Internet mail to. You can define a message area as 'Internet
mail' (see the message definition section).
Gateway Name - Defines the gateway user name.
Address - Node address of the gateway.
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LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
4.3 - Mailer
---------------------------------------------------------------------
With this menu you can set every option related to Lora Mailer, the
interface between your BBS and a Fido Technology Network.
Miscellaneous
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Several options for the internal mailer and mail processor management
are available:
Banner - The sentence filling in this field will be shown at the
connection onset, before entering the real BBS. The banner
will be shown after the mailer identification string and
before the "Press <ESC> twice to enter the BBS" sentence
(See Enter-BBS option).
Mail-Only - The sentence filling in this field will be shown in the
place of that defined in the Enter-BBS option, when the
mailer does not accept human calls, due to a system
event.
Enter-BBS - The sentence filling in this field will be shown to
inform the user that the system is ready, and ask him to
press <ESC> twice or wait 30 seconds to enter it.
For these three options it's possible to specity a text file to be
shown, putting the filename preceded by an AT (@). For example:
@BANNER.TXT.
Events file - Specifies the event filename to be used.
WaZOO - Allows the mailer to make/receive calls using the WaZOO
handshaking. This method is a little obsolete, since allows
the systems to pass only one address per call.
EMSI - Allows the mailer to make/receive calls using the EMSI
handshaking. This method is the last product of the Fidonet
technology development; it allows the systems to pass may
addresses with the same call, and a lot of other information.
If both the methods are flagged No, the most obsolete (but still
compulsory) Fidonet method will be used, the FSC-0001. The
information passed to the remote system are actually few, and the
file transfer is made using SEAlink protocol, an X-Modem variant.
Janus - Allows the mailer to use the bidirectional Janus protocol for
the file transfers between systems. Lora automatically
disables the Janus protocol in HST connections, since the HST
protocol does not allow the bidirectional trasmission at the
fastest speed.
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Random redial time - With this option set on, the redial time will be
calculated randomly, keeping the redial time set
for the current event as the average time
between each call. For example, if you set a
redial time of 20 seconds, each call will be
placed after 10 to 30 seconds.
Secure - Each time the mail processor imports a message from a mail
packet, it controls the sender's address, to see if he is
allowed to write in that particular message area. If this
condition is not satisfied, the message will be stored in
the directory set as Bad-Messages directory.
Keep netmail - With this option set on, the mail processor will
delete no message from the netmail area, even if they
are marked Kill/Sent.
Flashing mail - Enable or disable the flashing "MAIL" word in the
lower right screen corner when unread netmail
messages are present.
Track netmail - This flag activates, if set to Yes, the built-in
message track utility. The message track acts
whenever a new netmail message is tossed from a mail
packet or packed from the netmail directory, checking
for the originating and destination nodes.
If the destination node doesn't exists in your
nodelists, then the netmail will be bounced back to
the originating address with a little explanation of
what happened.
If the originating node doesn't exists in your
nodelist, then a little header explaining that the
recipients should not answer to that message through
your system (or it will be bounced as undeliverable)
will be added.
Log
---------------------------------------------------------------------
These options are related to the log generation, namely the file in
which each system activity is reported.
Name - The filename to be used for system logging.
Style - Specifies the log format to be used. The Terse format appears
as follows:
---------- Mon 23 Nov 92, LoraBBS v2.21.3b
: 08:26:54 STATS: 290K used, 295K available
: 08:26:56 C: 4.2 of 61.8 Mb free, 6%
: 08:26:57 Starting Event 2
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LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
* 08:27:08 Processing 2:332/402 -- ARCI Computer Club/Lora BBS Suppo
: 08:27:08 Dialing 6331730
+ 08:27:36 Connect 14400/Arq
* 08:27:44 Arci BBS - Oltre l'immaginazione... (2:332/402.0)
: 08:27:44 Aka: 39:102/304.0
* 08:27:44 Remote Uses LoraBBS Version 2.21.3a/14380
Here is an instance of Verbose format:
+ 22 Nov 22:48:08 LORA Begin, 2.21.3b, (task 1)
: 22 Nov 22:48:09 LORA STATS: 290K used, 130K available
: 22 Nov 22:48:09 LORA C: 4.3 of 61.8 Mb free, 6%
+ 22 Nov 22:48:19 LORA Connect 2400
* 22 Nov 22:48:26 LORA LoraBBS Developer's Site (2:332/402.1)
: 22 Nov 22:48:26 LORA Aka: 39:102/304.2 2:332/403.13
* 22 Nov 22:48:26 LORA Remote Uses LoraBBS Version 2.21.3b/49459
As you can see, the information is the same, but in the
Verbose format month and day are repeated on each line.
Choose the format you prefer, but you should consider the
eventual compatibility with log scanning programs.
The Verbose format is Maximus, Opus and BinkleyTerm
compatible, the Terse one is Frontdoor compatible.
Log flags - With this option set to yes, the creation/deletion of the
mailer flags (*.BSY) will be logged in the system log
file. Set this option to no if you own a slow hard disk.
File Requests
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Allows you to define the file request privileges for other BBSs
calling your system.
Request list
Request list (Secure)
Request list (Know) - Allows you to define a file and/or directory
list from where files can be requested. The
tipical format of these lists is the
following:
C:\File\BBS\PROVA.ZIP !TEST
C:\File\LORA\*.*
@BETALORA C:\File\LORA23B5.ZIP
$C:\Lora\FILES.IDX
The first line indicates a password-protected
file, the second one indicates that every
file in the C:\File\Lora directory can be
requested, the third one indicates a 'magic
name'. A magic name is an arbitrary name to
be used for requesting the last version of a
given program. In the example shown, if a BBS
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LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
requests BETALORA, the LORA23B5.ZIP will be
sent.
The last line (the one beginning with the
dollar symbol) allows you to specify one or
more file indexes to considerably speed up
the file request search, expecially on CD-
ROMs or other slow devices. The file indexes
can be created with the FILEIDX utility, and
can be password protected like any other
file.
The three entries specify the file list
available respectively for unknown nodes, for
password-protected nodes and for nodes
present in a nodelist known by Lora.
About - Filename to be sent if the ABOUT file is requested. Usually
this file contains information about your system, like
opening hours, characteristics, magic names available, and so
on.
File List - Filename to be sent if the FILES file is requested.
Usually this file contains the complete list of available
files.
Max size
Max size (Secure)
Max Size (Know) - They define the maximum Kilobytes number to be
downloaded from, respectively, unknown nodes,
password-protected nodes, and nodes present in a
nodelist known by Lora.
Max match
Max match (Secure)
Max match (Know) - They define the maximum number of files to be
downloaded from, respectively, unknown nodes,
password-protected nodes, and nodes present in a
nodelist known by Lora.
Areafix
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This menu allows you to configurate the Areafix function, described
later in this manual.
Areafix active - Turns the internal areafix function on and off.
Help file name - Filename to be sent with the %HELP command. Since
the file is sent in a message form, it's better to
keep it as short as possible.
Creating nodes - List of nodes that can create message areas on your
system. When the mail processor imports a message in
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an unknown area, it controls if the sender's node
can create any area. In the positive case, it will
create a Fido *.MSG area in the current directory
called NEWAREA.xxx (where xxx is a progressive
number) and will add that area to the AREAS.BBS
file. In the negative case, the message will be
stored in the bad message directory.
Autolink nodes - List of nodes that will be automatically linked to
the new areas created by Areafix.
Alert nodes - List of nodes that will receive a copy of the answer
messages generated by Areafix. The information request
messages (%LIST, %QUERY, %UNLINKED and %HELP commands)
will not be forwarded.
Use AREAS.BBS - If this parameter is set to Yes, allows Lora to
consider the informations found in the AREAS.BBS file
when importing or exporting echomail messages.
Update AREAS.BBS - If set to Yes, allows to update the AREAS.BBS file
whenever an Areafix's message changes the echomail
forward structure.
Allow rescan - If set to Yes, allows the rescan procedure on one or
more echomail areas to be performed through an
Areafix's message. Note that some areas can generate
extremely huge packets, so it may be safe to keep this
parameter set to No and perform the rescan manually.
Change TAG level - Defines the privilege level that a node must have
to change the tag of an echomail area through an
Areafix's message. It is suggested that the level
must allow only the Sysop or his/her co-workers to
use this command.
Remote maint. - Defines the privilege level that a node must have to
send commands as another node through an Areafix's
message. It is suggested that the level must allow
only the Sysop or his/her co-workers to use this
command.
Check zones - If set to Yes enables the zone check on every Areafix's
operation, to allow the link of echomail areas with the
same zone number.
TIC Processor
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This menu allows you to configurate the Raid (automatic echo file
area manager) function, described later in this manual.
TIC active - Turns the internal Raid function on and off.
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LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
Help file name - Filename to be sent with the %HELP command. Since
the file is sent in a message form, it's better to
keep it as short as possible.
Creating nodes - List of nodes that can create file areas on your
system. When the TIC processor imports a file in an
unknown area, it controls if the sender's node can
create any area. In the positive case, it will
create a directory called FNEWAREA in the current
directory, then create another directory named as
the tag of the file area and add it to the file
areas configuration file. In the negative case, the
TIC file will be renamed as BAD.
Autolink nodes - List of nodes that will be automatically linked to
the new areas created by the TIC processor.
Alert nodes - List of nodes that will receive a copy of the answer
messages generated by Raid. The information request
messages (%LIST, %QUERY, %UNLINKED and %HELP commands)
will not be forwarded.
Change TAG level - Defines the privilege level that a node must have
to change the tag of an echomail area through a
Raid's message. It is suggested that the level
must allow only the Sysop or his/her co-workers to
use this command.
Remote maint. - Defines the privilege level that a node must have to
send commands as another node through a Raid's
message. It is suggested that the level must allow
only the Sysop or his/her co-workers to use this
command.
Check zones - If set to Yes enables the zone check on every Raid's
operation, to allow the link of file areas with the
same zone number.
External Processing
---------------------------------------------------------------------
In this menu it's possible to specify the filenames of the programs
to be called for external maintenance routines.
Before import - The command in this field is executed after the
arcmail unpacking, and before the message importing.
After import - The command in this field is executed after the
message importing in the echo areas, and before the
message area scanning.
Before export - The command in this field is executed before the
message areas scanning. After import and before
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export are executed together if the mail processing
is automatically carried on.
After export - The command in this field is executed after the
message area scanning and before the netmail scanning
and arcmail packing.
Before pack - This command is executed before the netmail message
area scanning.
After pack - This command is executed after the netmail message area
scanning and outbound pack.
Automaint - The command in this field is executed every day after
some internal maintenance routines. In a 24 hours system,
it will be executed soon after midnight.
BBS Batch - The command in this field is used to call an external BBS
program. You can specify the following parameters at the
command line:
*B - Connection speed reported by modem. In local
connections it will be forced to 0.
*C - Fully COMMAND.COM path.
*H - Deactivates the FOSSIL driver (DOS version only).
The OS/2 version translates this parameter to the
com port file handle.
*M - This parameter allow registered users to free almost
the full conventional memory, leaving only 15k in
memory, for the recovery code (DOS version only).
*N - Active task number.
*P - Active serial port (1=COM1, 2=COM2, etc.)
*T - Time, in minutes, before the next system event
execution.
*W - Activates the FOSSIL watchdog function. When the
carrier drops, the FOSSIL driver resets computer.
This option is rarely used, and is present for
completeness only (DOS version only).
Message Editor
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Defines the DOS command to call the local message editor from inside
Lora. Lora can work well with a wide variety of message
readers/editors, suggested are GoldEd, Mercurio and WMail.
Mail Processing
---------------------------------------------------------------------
In this menu are the mail processing options.
Method - Defines the method of mail exporting. You can choose between
'Separate netmail', for which the netmail will be exported
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in different packets (*.PKT) than the echomail (but always
within the same compressed packet) and 'Netmail and echomail
together' (default) for which the netmail will be appended
to the existing echomail packets.
Save Sysop Mail - If enabled (Yes) allows to save in a separate
directory the messages addressed to the Sysop
coming from every echomail or netmail areas. The
messages are saved in the *.MSG format with every
information untouched (even the AREA:<tag> line).
Sysop Mail Path - Defines the directory to same the messages
addressed to the Sysop.
Flashing flag - Allows to enable or disable the flashing "PERSONAL"
word in the lower right screen corner when new uread
messages addressed to the Sysop are present.
Replace Tear Line - Defines if and how replace the tear line (the
line immediately above the origin line in an
echomail message) within a message written
locally with the Lora's tear line. You can
choose: 'Always' to always replace (default for
the unregistered versions), 'Never' to not
replace at all, 'Link (limit to 35 char.)' to add
the tear line to the existing one if the
resulting line is not above the 35 character
limit, 'Link (unlimited)' to add the tear line
without verify the resulting line length.
The Lora's tear line shows as follow:
--- Lora v.2.31+
Added to the tear line of a message written with
GoldED (for example), it shows as follow:
--- GoldEd v.2.41+ / Lora v.2.31+
Tear line - Allows you to define a custom tear line for your own
pleasure. The sequence %1 will be replaced by the version
number, so that a tear line like this:
Lora-OS/2 v%1
will be replaced with:
Lora-OS/2 v2.33
Please note that the leading dashes (--- ) aren't
required.
This option is available for registered users only.
Import empty msgs. - Allows you to prevent the mail processor from
importing messages without text lines inside it.
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Messages like this are the ones generated by
file requests or file attaches robot.
Force INTL line - This option allows you to force the mail processor
to put an INTL line inside every netmail message
exported, even if it isn't really necessary. This
option should be set to No, unless your netmail
uplink have some problems handling intra-zone
netmails.
Mail-only password
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Allows to specify a password that allows the Sysop and his/her co-
workers to log in the BBS event if it is busy in a mail event that
doesn't accept human callers.
The password must be written when Lora shows his 'Mail only' banner
immediately after the connection. If the password is recognized
(there isn't an echo on the terminal) the BBS is activated. The
password is case sensitive.
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4.4 - BBS
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Here all the option for the BBS settings, from areas definition to
user's levels definition are collected.
Messages
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Message area definition. The options available are explained in a
following chapter of this manual.
Files
---------------------------------------------------------------------
File area definition. The options available are explained in a
following chapter of this manual.
QWK setup
---------------------------------------------------------------------
QWK internal door definition.
Work dir - Directory in which every temporary file necessary for a
QWK packet creation will be stored.
Packet name - Filename of the packet (without .QWK extension) to be
created. Lora will send to the user a packet called
<packet name>.QWK, and will wait for a packet called
<packet name>.REP.
Max messages - Maximum number of messages that can be packed in a QWK
file. If the user exceeds the limit, the message
scanning will stop, and the packet will be sent to the
user. The limit is checked after each area scan. This
means, for example, that if the limit is set to 500
and a given area contains 1000 messages, all those
1000 messages will be packed, and then the scan will
stop.
New users
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Definition of the new users' options.
New user sec. level - The access level assigned to new users. We
suggest you to assign the LIMITED level. If you
don't want new users to join your system,
assign them the HIDDEN level.
New user A flags
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LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
New user B flags
New user C flags
New user D flags - Flags assigned to new users.
Ask birthdate - Put this flag on if you want the system to ask new
users their birthdate.
Ask voice phone number - Put this flag on if you want the system to
ask new users their voice phone number.
Ask data phone number - Put this flag on if you want the system to
ask the users their data (or office) phone
number.
Ask IBM character set - The system will ask new users if they want to
see the IBM extended ASCII character set.
Lora is able to remap them if the user is not
able to visualize them.
Ask alias name - Put this flag on if you want the system to ask new
users a nickname. The alias can be used in some
message areas decided by the sysop.
Ask default protocol - Put this flag on if you want the system to ask
new users their default download protocol.
Ask default packer - Put this flag on if you want the system to ask
new users their default packer to be used in the
QWK internal door.
FileBOX default - If set to Yes, every new user have their file-box
flag set, so that they can receive private files
through the file-box commands. Every user can send
files to a file-box, but only enabled users can own
a file-box.
More prompts - If you set here the flag "yes", the system will ask
the user to press Enter to see next page at the end of
each scroll; if you set the flag "no", the system will
not stop scrolling up until the end of the text, if
you set the flag "ask", the system will ask new users
their choice.
Mail check - If you set here the flag "yes", the system will scan for
user's personal mail at each logon, if you set the flag
"no" the scan will never be performed automatically, if
you set the flag "ask", the system will ask users if
they want to scan mail areas.
New files check - The same option of the mail check, but with regards
to new files since user's last logon.
Screen clears - If you set here the flag "yes", the system will send
the clear screen codes, if you set the flag "no", the
clear codes will never be sent, if you set the flag
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"ask" the system will ask new users if they want to
have clear screen codes.
Hotkeys - As above, the flag "yes" means that hotkeys (commands will
not need a CR to be executed) are always active, the flag
"no" that they will never be active (this means that users
can put more than one command on the same line), "ask"
means that the system will ask to new users if they want
hotkeys.
Ansi Graphics - As above, the flag "yes" means that ANSI graphics
will always be active, "no" means that they will
never be active, "ask" means that the system will ask
new users if they want ANSI graphics.
Avatar Graphics - As above, but related to AVATAR graphics, more
efficient and fast than ANSI.
Full screen editor - As above, the flag "yes" means that the full
screen editor will be used to write messages,
the flag "no" that the line editor will be used,
"ask" means that the system will ask new users
if they want the full screen editor.
Rookie calls - Defines the number of calls after which a user is no
longer considered an apprentice. For these users
displaying special notes with instructions and hints
for the system usage could be useful.
Random birthdate check - If you put the flag on, the system will ask,
randomly, the user's birthdate.
General options
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Users file - Defines the filename and path of the users' database.
You don't need to specify any extension, Lora will
automatically add the .BBS or .IDX extension when
needed.
Menu dir - Defines the directory to be searched for the menu files to
be shown to the users.
General text dir - Defines the default directory to be searched for
the text files to be shown. It's possible to
define a different directory for each language, so
that it's possible to translate the files into
each language supported by your system. The
general text dir will also be used to find a file
not found in a different language directory.
Full scr. editor - It defines the path and filename of the external
full screen editor to be used by users (please
note that this editor is not the sysop's editor
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LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
defined in the Mail / message editor menu). It's
possible to specify other special commands used to
pass useful information to the editor. The
commands are following:
*0 - Current file area path.
*1 - Current message area path.
*B - Baud rate (0 in local mode).
*F - User's first name.
*G - 0=No graphics, 1=Ansi, 2=Avatar.
*H - Disables FOSSIL driver before calling the
editor (DOS version only). With the OS/2
version, it will be translated to the COM
port file handle.
*L - User's last name.
*M - This parameter allows registered users to
free conventional memory almost totally,
leaving only 15k in memory, for the recovery
code.
*N - Task number.
*P - Serial port (1=COM1, 2=COM2, etc.).
*R - User's position inside the users database
(record number).
*S - Lora will not read LORAINFO at the end of the
called editor.
*T - Time left for the current call.
*W - Activates FOSSIL's watchdog. When the carrier
drops, FOSSIL will reboot the computer.
*X - The LORAINFO.T?? file will not be created,
before calling the editor.
*! - Stops time during the editor call. At the end
of the program, the user will have again the
same time he had before calling the editor.
*# - Disables the 'Wants chat' flag. Useful to
correctly manage external chat programs.
To be compatible with Scott Dudley's Maximus-CBCS
2.00, the following commands have been added:
%A - User's first name, in capital letters.
%b - Baud rate (0 in local mode).
%B - User's last name, in capital letters.
%c - Calling site.
%C - Last answer to the questionaire ^OR command
(see the EMBEDDED COMMANDS sections, for more
details).
%d - Current message area number
%D - Current file area number
%E - Lenght, in lines, of the user's screen.
%f - User's first name.
%F - Current file area path.
%g - 0=No graphics, 1=Ansi, 2=Avatar.
%G - User's daily download limit.
%h - User's voice phone number
%H - User's Kbytes downloaded in the present day.
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LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
%i - Total download.
%I - Total upload.
%j - Lenght (in minutes) of the present call.
%k - Task number.
%l - User's last name.
&L - In remote mode, this command is substituted
with the '-pX -bY' string, where X is the
serial port (1=COM1, 2=COM2, etc.) and Y is
the speed (in baud). In local mode, this
command is substituted with the '-k' string.
%M - Current message area path.
%n - User's first name.
%N - System name, as defined in the configuration
file.
%p - Serial port (0=COM1, 1=COM2, etc.).
%P - Serial port (1=COM1, 2=COM2, etc.).
%q - Current message area path, without the final
backslash.
%Q - Current file area path, withour the final
backslash.
%s - Sysop's last name.
%S - Sysop's first name.
%t - Time left for the present call, in minutes.
%T - Time left for the present call, in seconds.
%u - User's number.
%U - Substituted by underscore '_'.
%v - Upload directory path.
%V - Upload directory path, without the final
backslash.
%Z - User's full name, in capital letters.
Quote header - With this field you can define the sentence that will
be put as the first line when a user replies to a
message using the full screen editor.
You can specify the following special characters:
@ - Expands into the person's name to which the
original message was addressed.
# - Expands into the person's name who posted the
original message (the one being replied to).
` - Expands into the date that th eoriginal message
(the one being replied to) was posted.
~ - Expands to the time that the original message (the
one being replied to)w as posted.
For example, if the following reply header was
specified:
In a message originally to @, # said:
Would expand to:
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LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
In a message originally to All, Joe User said:
Ansi at logon - Definition of the ANSI displaying method at logon.
"Auto" allows Lora to automatically recognize whether
the user's terminal is able to display ANSI graphics;
"Yes" forces Lora to send the ANSI file; "No" forces
Lora to send the ASCII file; "Ask" means that the
system will ask the user whether he wants to see the
ANSI or the ASCII file.
Puma/MPT protocol - Activates / deactivates the internal Puma/MPT
protocol management. The executable file must be
in a directory defined by the PATH environment
variable.
HS/Link protocol - Activates / deactivates the internal bidirectional
HS/Link protocol management. The executable file
must be in a directory defined by the PATH
environment variable.
Snoop on-line user - Activates / deactivates displaying of everything
the user is doing on the system.
Aftercaller exit - Errorlevel with which Lora will exit after an user
call. 0 menas that Lora will not exit to DOS after
an user call, and will load itself automatically,
without needing a batch file to manage the loop.
Areachange keys - Definition of the letters for the change areas
commands: they are for previous area, next area,
list areas commands, respectively.
Date format - Definition of the date format in the messages, the
available parameters are the following:
%D - Displays day number.
%B - Displays month number.
%C - Displays month abbreviation (Jan, Feb, Mar,
etc.).
%Y - Displays the year's last two digits (92, 93,
etc.).
For the international format use the %C-%D-%Y
parameters.
Time format - Definition of the time format in the messages. The
available parameters are the following:
%A - Displays "am" or "pm" in 12 hours format.
%E - Displays time in 12 hours format.
%H - Displays time in 24 hours format.
%M - Displays the minutes number.
%S - Displays the seconds number.
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For the international format use the %H:%M:%S
parameters.
Download counter - Allows to enable the files download counter. The
counter will be put at the beginning of the
description within two selectable delimiters.
Example:
TEST.ZIP ( 3) Counter Example
Counter limits - Defines the delimiters to be used for the download
counter. Normally are used square brackets.
Uploader name - Allows to add the uploader's name to the file
description (that allows you to know if anyone
uploads viruses or trojans).
Login check city - If set to Yes Lora asks the users to verify the
calling city before enter the password at login
time. It's useful to prevent that a user with the
same name as another must call two times to log in
your system.
Inactivity timeout - Defines the number of minutes that a user can
spend online without doing anything before the
system hangs the phone. 20 seconds before the
logout Lora displays a warning message to the
user.
IEMSI logins - Set this option to yes to allow your users to log in
your board using the IEMSI (Interactive Electronic
Mail Standard Interface) handshake. Terminal programs
capable of such handshake are: Lora's built-in
terminal program, Terminate and FrontDoor's built-in
terminal program.
Interactive EMSI (IEMSI) is a protocol which can be
used by communications software programs to establish
certain parameters for an interactive session, for
example, a user logging on to a bulletin board.
From within the IEMSI terminal's setup program, the
user can define a number of user profiles, each of
which includes a user name, handle, password,
telephone number, location, etc. When IEMSI is enabled
from within the terminal and the user calls a Lora
BBS, the user's information is sent to the BBS
automatically, enabling the user (the client) to log-
on to a BBS (the server) without even touching the
keyboard. The IEMSI terminal and Lora will
automatically exchange information such as software
name and version number, screen parameters and local
time.
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LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
One particularly useful feature is the ability of the
server to temporarily modify the user's display
parameters for the current session only. Typically,
when a user calls a BBS, the user's screenlength
setting is used to determine when page pausing is to
occur. However, on one occasion the user may activate
the IEMSI terminal in 50 line mode. Lora will
recognize this and set the screen length to 50 lines
for the current session only, restoring it to the
original setting when the user disconnects. In
addition, Lora will automatically activate whatever
terminal emulation that it, as well as the client,
supports.
Show missing files - If this option is set to yes, the missing files
(files that are described in the FILES.BBS file
but aren't present in the file area's directory)
will be displayed to the user with the 'MISSING'
word istead of the file size and date.
ZModem protocol
XModem protocol
1K-XModem protocol
SEAlink protocol - This options allows you to enable (yes) or
disable (no) the internal protocols ZModem,
XModem, 1K-XModem and SEAlink respectively. You
can replace one or more of this protocols with
an external one, using the external protocol
setup menu.
Min. upload space - This option allows you to disable any upload made
by the users when the free space on the upload
directory is less than the amount specified (in
kbytes) in this field. Valid ranges are 1 to
32000 kbytes, 0 means no checks for the free
space.
Input date format - This option allows you to choose the date format
for every date input field. Available formats
are: DD-MM-YY (most European country), MM-DD-YY
(USA) and YY-MM-DD (Scientific format).
Limits
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This menu allows you to define the BBS accesses for each user level.
The levels available are eleven: Twit, Disgrace, Limited, Normal,
Worthy, Privel, Favored, Extra, Clerk, Asst. Sysop and Sysop.
You can define, for each level, the following parameters:
Time Limit per Call - Minutes available for each call.
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Time Limit per Day - Minutes available in 24 hours. If this limit is
higher than the Call Limit, the user will have
the time defined here per day, but he will not
be able to spend more than the time defined in
Call limit for each call.
Example: Call limit -> 30
Day limit -> 45
This means that the user will have 30 minutes
available for the first call. If he spends 20
minutes in the BBS, he will have 25 minutes
available for the second call.
Minumum Logon Baud - Minimum speed with which users of this level can
logon. If the sysop has a 14400 baud modem, it's
better, for security reasons, to limit the Sysop
level at 14400. 0 means no limits.
Minimum Download Baud - Minimum speed necessary to download files. 0
means no limits.
Download Limit (KB) - Maximum number of KBytes that can be downloaded
in 24 hours.
Limit at X baud - Maximum number of KBytes that can be downloaded in
24 hours, differentiated by connection speed. 0
means that Lora will use the value defined in the
Download Limit entry.
Download/Upload Ratio - It defines the maximum download/upload ratio
necessary to download files. 10 means, for
example, that users must upload 1 KByte for
each 10 Kbytes downloaded.
Ratio Start - It defines the number of download available before the
Download/Upload ratio begins its check.
Login Limits
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Minumum sec. level - It defines the mininum level needed to access
the system. Useful for multiline BBSs in which
some tasks are reserved for particular users.
Minumum A flags
Minimum B flags
Minimum C flags
Minimum D flags - They define the flags that must be active to access
the system. Useful for multiline BBSs in which some
tasks are reserved for particular users.
Minumum age - It defines the minimum age a user must have to access
the system.
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Time to login - Defines the time (in minutes) given to the user to
complete the login procedure. Within this time is
included the new users questionnaire if it is put on
a file that will be showed only to the new users. By
default the login time is set to 10 minutes.
Paging hours
---------------------------------------------------------------------
With this menu you can define when you are available for chat. For
each week day you can specify the starting and the ending time of
your availablity. Usually this option can be used to preserve users
to call your for a chat in the middle of the night.
When a user try to call you outside the available paging hours, the
file NOTAVAIL will be displayed. You can write inside this file the
correct paging hours.
Language
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Allows you to define up to 15 languages available for users. For each
language you must define the following parameters:
Filename - Filename, without extension, for menus and sentences
related to one language. Lora will add the extension .MNU
for the menus, and .LNG for the sentences.
Description - Language description. The first character will be used
as hot key for the language selection.
Textfiles path - Directory in which Lora will search for the text
files to be displayed. If the file is not found in
the directory defined here, Lora will look for it in
the directory defined in the BBS / General Options
/General text dir. menu.
Ext. protocols
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This menu handles the configuration of the external protocols. Lora
cam handle a virtually infinite number of external protocols, that
responds to the DSZ standard.
However the DSZ standard is required only for the log file, since the
other options can be configured using this menu.
The keys available are the following:
PgUp/PgDn - Move through the protocols database one item at a time,
up and down.
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LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
E - Edits the item displayed on the screen.
A - Adds a new item to the database.
D - Deletes the item displayed on the screen from the database.
Following are the parameters that can be configured for each external
protocol:
Active - Allows you to temporarily disable one or more protocols. It
must be set to Yes to be usable by the users.
Name - Name with which the protocol is displayed to the users.
Hotkey - Command key that the user must type to select that protocol
(must not be the same as an internal or external protocol).
Download command - DOS command to call the external protocol to
initiate a download request. The following
parameters can be specified:
%1 - Name of the file to download (only one file
at a time).
%A - User's first name, all capital letters.
%b - Baud rate (0 if in local mode).
%B - User's last name, all capital letters.
%c - The place of the call.
%d - The number of the current message area.
%D - The number of the current file area.
%E - Length, in lines, of the user's screen.
%f - User's first name.
%F - Path of the current message area.
%g - 0=No graphics, 1=Ansi, 2=Avatar.
%G - User's daily download limit.
%h - Voice phone number of the user.
%H - Kilobytes number downloaded today.
%i - Total download.
%I - Total upload.
%j - Connection time for the current call.
%k - Task Number.
%l - User's last name.
%L - In remote calls the flag is replaced with the
'-pX -bY' string, where X is the serial port
(1=COM1,
2=COM2, etc.) and Y is the baud rate. In
local calls
the flag is replaced with the '-k' string.
%M - Path of the current message area.
%n - User's first name.
%N - BBS name, as defined in the configuration
file.
%p - Serial port (0=COM1, 1=COM2, etc).
%P - Serial port (1=COM1, 2=COM2, etc).
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%q - Path of the current message area, without
final
backslash.
%Q - Path of the current file ares, without final
backslash.
%s - Sysop's last name.
%S - Sysop's first name.
%t - Time left for the call, in minutes.
%T - Time left for the call, in seconds.
%u - User's number.
%U - Substituted with the underscore '_'.
%v - Path of the upload directory.
%V - Path of the upload directory, without the
final backslash
%Z - User's full name in capital letters.
Upload command - Same as the above, but the command must calls the
external protocols for an upload request. The same
parameters available for the 'Download command' are
available here too.
Log file name - Name of the log file created by the external
protocol. This file must be compatible with the DSZ
log format. The same parameters available for the
'Download command' are available here too.
Control file - This file will be created by Lora before calling the
external protocol, and contains the download/upload
requests made by the user. Each line contains the
requests in the format specified by the 'Download
string' or 'Upload string' parameters. The same
parameters available for the 'Download command' are
available here too.
Download string - Specifies the download command string that must be
put in the 'Control file' above. The parameter %1
will be replaced by the fille path and file name of
the file to download.
Upload string - Same as the above, except that this is for the upload
requests.
Download keyword - Specifies the keyword needed to identify a
successful download from the log file. This
keyword must be located as the first word on each
log file row.
Upload keyword - Same as the above, but identify a successful upload.
Filename word
Size word
CPS word - These parameters allows you to specify at which word
position Lora can find the filename, size in bytes
and CPS efficiency for each successful upload or
download from the log file. Each row of the log file
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LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
will be split in words separated by spaces (ASCII
32). The first word (the upload/download keyword)
assumes the number 1.
Batch protocol - If set to Yes, the protocol can do batch downloads
and can send the file names on upload, so that Lora
don't asks the user for the name of file when
uploading.
Disable FOSSIL - If set to Yes, Lora disables the FOSSIL driver
before calling the external protocol. This is useful
to avoid possible conflicts between the FOSSIL and
the protocol's serial port handler.
Change to UL dir - Since some external protocols can receive files
only in the current directory, if this parameter
is set to Yes, Lora will change to the uploads
directory before calling the external protocol.
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LoraBBS v2.34 - Copyright 1989-94 Marco Maccaferri - 08/01/94
4.5 - Terminal
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This menu allows you to define the options related to the built-in
terminal emulator.
Miscellaneous
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Various options for the terminal emulator.
Init - Modem initialization string.
Download - Directory in which the downloaded files will be stored.
Upload - Directory from which the emulator will take the files to be
uploaded.
Avatar - Activates / deactivates the Avatar/0+ emulation.
Auto Zmodem - Activates / deactivates the zmodem download auto-
recognition.
IEMSI Profile
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Within this menu you can defines the parameters related to the IEMSI
(Interactive Electronic Mail Standard Interface) handshaking for the
terminal emulator.
With IEMSI you can log in a BBS that supports IEMSI without any user
intervention. The IEMSI detect is completely transparent to the user.
IEMSI On - Allows you to enable or disable the IEMSI autologin.
Info time - Defines the amout of time (in seconds) for which the
IEMSI server informations must be shown on the screen.
Password - Defines the default password to use with a BBS.
Handle - Defines an optional handle to be used with certain BBS.
Hot keys - Enables the hot keyed menus. You aren't requested to
confirm every command with ENTER to execute them.
Quiet - Enable the "do not disturb" flag, with a multiline BBS
prevents other users to send message to you during the call.
Pausing - Enable the pause at the end of each screen page. By default
the terminal screen will be set to 80x24 characters.
Editor - Selects the full-screen message editor.
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News - Allows you to view (if set to Yes) the bulletins of the called
BBS.
New mail - Enables the personal mail check at login time.
new files - Enables the new files scan at login time.
Screen clear - Allows the BBS to send the screen clearing codes.
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4.6 - Modem
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Defines the options relater to the modem hardware.
Modem port - Serial port on which the modem is installed. 1 means
COM1, 2 means COM2, etc.
Maximum baud rate - Defines the speed with which Lora talks with the
modem. Usually it's the maximum speed supported
by modem, but it must be set to 38400 (or 19200)
with hi-speed modems (V32 / V32bis) featuring
error correction and data compression.
Lock port - Activates / deactivates the serial port lock at the speed
defined in Maximum baud rate. To be used only if the
modem is configured so that it doesn't change the serial
speed during connections.
Terminal - When this flag is on, Lora assumes that a terminal instead
of a modem is connected with the serial port. In this case
you need to press Enter twice to begin connection. The
terminal must be configured at the same speed defined in
Maximum baud rate.
FAX message - Defines the string returned by your Modem/FAX when
another FAX machine is connected. By default Lora
recognizes the "CONNECT FAX" string.
FAX errorlevel - Defines the errorlevel with which Lora exits to DOS
after a FAX connection has been extablished.
Note: The Modem/FAX support is limited to incoming fax connections.
Presently there is no support for fax trasmission.
Strip dashes - If set to Yes Lora can strip every dashes (-) from the
commands sent to the modem (particularly from the
phone numbers).
Dialing timeout - Defines the number of seconds to wait for the
connection with another modem during a call. By
default the time is set to 60 seconds.
Carrier mask - Defines the carrier detect bit mask. Usually this is
set to 128 but you can change the value to your likes.
Refer to the FOSSIL documentation (Interrupt 14H,
service 03H) to know what serial line signals can be
monitored with this setting.
Usually you can monitor the following signals:
16 - Clear To Send (CTS)
32 - Data Set Ready (DSR)
64 - Ring Indicator (RI)
128 - Data Carrier Detect (DCD)
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You can combine the values above to monitor multiple
signals (for example the value 160 = 128 + 32 monitors
both the DCD and DSR lines). The default value, if
left 0, is 128 (DCD).
DCD drop timeout - Defines the time to wait before hangup when the
carrier is lost. This option is useful when the
line noise causes the loss of the carrier for few
instants.
Command strings
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Allows you to define every command for the necessary modem
management.
Init - Modem initialization command. There are some special
characters that can be used to perform various tasks (valid
for every modem command described in this section):
| (pipe) - Translates to a CR (0x0D, 13) character.
~ (tilde) - 1 second pause.
^ (caret) - Set the DTR line to ON.
v (lowercase V) - Sets the DTR line to OFF.
` - 1/2 second pause.
Dial prefix - Command to be sent to the modem before the phone
number.
Dial suffix - Command to be sent to the modem after the phone number.
Offhook - Command to be sent to the modem to keep the line busy. Lora
sends this command when it can't answer calls.
Dial X - This table allows you to define 10 alternative call commands
to be used instead of the main one. Useful if you need to
set a particular initializations for given modems to be
called.
Answer control
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Allows you to define how and when Lora can answer incoming calls.
Manual answer - If you set this flag on, Lora answers an incoming
call with the command defined in Answer command. Be
sure that your modem sends a RING<CR> string on
incoming calls, if you want to use this option. If
you set this flag to off, then your modem must
automatically answer the phone.
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Answer command - Command to be sent to the modem to make it answer
incoming calls.
Limited hours - If you set this flag on, Lora will answer calls in
the break between "Starting time" and "Ending time"
only.
Starting time - Defines the hour after which Lora is able to answer
calls.
Ending time - Defines the hour after which Lora will answer calls no
longer.
Nodelist flags
---------------------------------------------------------------------
With this menu you can defines the dialing command to send to the
modem with the system calls certaing nodes, based on the Fidonet
nodelist flags.
On the first column, under the 'Flag' sentence must be specified the
flag to be checked (HST, H14 or ZYX, for example), on the second
column, under the 'Prefix' sentence must be specified the dialing
command (ATB1DT, for example).
The flags verify is done sequentially starting from the first, if a
node has both the V32B and HST flags and in the list the commands for
HST and V32B appears in that order, the HST command will be sent.
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4.7 - Manager
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This menu collects every system management option.
Events
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Allows you to define the system events. These options will be
explained later in a following chapter.
Nodelist
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Allows you to define the filenames containing nodelists in St. Louis
format. In the "Nodediff" field you can specify the filename
containing differences between any nodelist and the next one.
If you don't put any extension, Lora will look for the file with the
highest extension.
Note: To apply differences to the nodelist correctly, the nodediff
file must be already unpacked in the full nodelist directory, and the
number of its extension must be the full nodelist extension plus 7.
Example: a nodediff called NODEDIFF.135 can be applied only to a
nodelist called NODELIST.128
Translations
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Allows you to define the international and national prefix codes, as
well as phone costs for each time interval.
The following commands are available in the costs table:
PgUp/PgDn - Allow you to move along the costs file.
E - Allows you to edit the cost table for the currently displayed
country. This option will be explained later.
A - Allows you to add a new country. The system will automatically
put the new country in the right alphabetical place, regardless
where you are when you add the country.
L - Allows you to list the defined countries, and to select one of
them with the cursor keys.
D - Allows you to delete the currently displayed country. The system
will ask confirmation before deleting.
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C - Allows you to copy the current costs table. The system will ask
you the country name, the prefix contained in the nodelist, and
the prefix Lora must dial.
Location - Defines the country name related to the current prefix.
Presently it is used in this menu for reference only.
Prefix - Defines the international prefix. It must be the same as the
one contained in nodelist.
Translate to - Defines the national prefix. Lora will change the code
defined in "Prefix" with this one when dialing a node.
The following table allows you to insert the phone costs relative to
week days and time intervals. Note: a COST.DAT file relative to
italian call prices is contained in the Lora package. You need to
build ex-novo the file for your country.
S M T W T F S - Define the week days on which the inserted prices
have validity. Respectively: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Press space on
the corresponding letter to deactivate a given day,
any other key to activate it.
Start - Defines the beginning time of the current price interval.
End - Defines the ending time of the current price interval.
Cost / Seconds - Defines the cost per seconds relative to the current
time interval. The first pair of values represents
the answer price, that is the price computed at the
beginning of the conversation. The second pair of
values represents the price for the following
seconds (after the seconds defined in the first
couple).
Note: Lora will always add 20 seconds to each call to approximate (by
excess) the time before the remote modem answer and the CONNECT
string.
Packers
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Allows you to define the packers to be used to pack and unpack mail.
Don't change the packer order, since it's internally coded.
You must specify the %1 and %2 parameters for the packing command;
they will be substituted, respectively, by the archive name and by
the file to be archived (wildcards included).
If you experience some problems like not enough memory to run the
packer/unpacker, you can tell Lora to swap itself out of memory by
adding the + (plus) character before the packer/unpacker commnd.
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For example:
ZIP +PKZIP -ma %1 %2 PKUNZIP -o %1
You must specify the %1 command only for the unpacking command.
Presently Lora supports the ZIP, ARJ, LZH (LH1), LHA (LH5), ZOO, ARC
packers, recognizing automatically the archive format of the file to
be unpacked.
Please note that the unpackers are position-sensitive, so that the
order showed above must be preserved to avoid malfunctions.
Nodes
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Allows you to create a personal list of the nodes with which you have
mail or file transmission on a regular basis. You don't need to build
an external nodelist for these nodes, since Lora consideres these
nodes as known nodes, even if they are not present in the St. Louis
nodelist.
The following commands are available in the nodes table:
PgUp/PgDn - Allow you to move along the node file.
E - Allows you to edit the current node. This option will be
explained later.
A - Allows you to add a new node. The system will automatically put
the new node in the right numerical place, regardless where you
are when you add the node.
L - Allows you to list the defined nodes, and to select one of them
with the cursor keys.
D - Allows you to delete the currently displayed node. The system
will ask confirmation before deleting.
You can edit the following parameters when editing a node (i.e.
adding a new one or modifying an existing one):
Address - Full node address. Note for point nodes: you must insert
the address in the format used for echomail forwards. If
the point uses fakeaddress, you need to insert the
fakeaddress, otherwise you must insert the full 4d address.
Lora will automatically sort the database in a node number
order.
Sysop
Aka - They represent two names of the same person. The internal
remapper tests both names to send netmail messages to points.
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Level - Areafix uses this value to decide whether the node is allowed
to link given areas (see the corresponding value in the
message area definition).
Packer - Packer to be used for mail directed to this node. When
unpacking mail, Lora will recognize automatically the
archive format, ignoring this value.
Session Pw - Password to be used in mail sessions.
Packet Pw - Password to be used in mail packets to validate origin.
If the wrong or missing, the packets will not be
imported. They will be stored as BAD_PKT.???, where ???
is a progressive number.
Areafix Pw - Password the node uses to send messages to areafix.
Phone - Node phone number. Fill in this field if you want to dial a
number dirrerent from the one present in nodelist, or if the
current node is not present in nodelist.
Dial prefix - Command to be sent to the modem to call the current
node. Usually Lora uses the ATD command, but you may
need to use other commands to improve performances (for
example, to deactivate the MNP5 compression for already
compressed file transmission).
Echomail aka - This option allows you to set with which aka send the
outgoing mail to this node with. The 'Default'
statement chooses the aka defined for each echomail
area.
Capabilites - Allows you to activate / deactivate some functions for
the current node. "Remap to point" allows Lora to send
messages addressed to "Sysop" or "Aka" to the address
specified in the "Address" field. The other flags
(WAZOO, EMSI and Janus) are used to deactivate these
protocols for the current node.
Menu
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Allows you to define the menus for the BBS part of the program. The
options will be explained later.
Users
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This option allows you to change the user's parameters and add or
delete users from the database. The options that can be changed are
self-explanatory, following are the keys that can be used from within
the users editor:
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PgUp/PgDn - Allow you to move along the user records.
E - Allows you to edit the current user.
A - Allows you to add a new user. The system will put the new user as
the last record in the users database file.
L - Allows you to list the users in alphabetical order, and to select
any one of them with the cursor keys.
D - Allows you to delete the currently displayed user. The user isn't
physically deleted from the database unless you issue a LUSER -P
command to explicitly delete any marked record.
O - Allows you to switch between the first and the second option
page.
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5.0 - Message area configuration
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The message area configuration is made using the BBS / Message menu
inside LSETUP.
The displayed window shows the first defined area. If no area has
been yet defined, every field is empty.
You have the following commands available:
PgUp/PgDn - Allow you to move along the areas file.
E - Allows you to edit the current area. This option will be
explained later.
A - Allows you to add a new area. The system will automatically put
the new area in the right numerical place, regardless where you
are when you add the area.
Lora puts new areas at TWIT level, and the maintenance value at
200 messages (Max messages), 14 days (Message age), 0 days (Age
received).
L - Allows you to list the defined areas, and to select any one of
them with the cursor keys.
D - Allows you to delete the currently displayed area. The system
will ask confirmation before deleting.
5.1 - Message area parameters
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This chapter lists every command that can be edited in a message
area. After one area has been fully edited, you must press ESC to
display the all the other areas. If something has been modified,
LSETUP will ask if you want to save it before exiting.
Number - Area number. It will be used in the area selection menu and
to sort areas as a reference.
QWK Name - A short name to be used instead of the title, if present,
for the QWK packets creation and as an alternative in the
area selection menu.
Name - Name of the area to be shown to users.
Type - Area type. It can be: Netmail, Echomail, Internet (mail
addressed to an internet mail gateway), Passthrough (the
messages will be deleted after export) and Local (no echomail
information will be added and exporting area to other systems
is not allowed).
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Echo-Tag - Area tag to be used when forwarding messages to other
nodes.
Flags - Flags related to message management: Public only (messages
are compulsory public), Private only (messages are compulsory
private). If none of the above flags is active, Lora will ask
to the user if he wants the message to be public or private.
The messages will also be forced during echomail import.
Allow alias (the user's nickname is allowed) and Group
restricted (access is allowed to given group members).
Afx level - Areafix level needed to access the current area. A node
can be linked to this area with the areafix function only
if his access level is equal or higher than the one
defined in this field.
Storage - Message storage method. The following message bases are
supported: Fido (*.MSG), QuickBBS (also known as Hudson
base), Pip-Base (compressed message base created and
developed by Roberto Piola) and Squish (message base
created by Scott J. Dudley). Please note that 'Netmail' and
'Internet' supports only the Fido *.MSG message format.
Group - Group of the area. It can be a number from 0 (no group) to
255.
Path/Board - It contains either the directory used to store messages
(Fido), or the board number (QuickBBS and Pip-Base) or
the basic nome of the file to be used (Squish).
Aka - Node number to be used when exporting messages. The selection
menu will show you the node numbers defined in the special
field only.
Origin - Sentence to be added at the end of echomail messages. By
default the node number will be used, but you can specify
any sentence. The node number will be automatically added.
Max messages - Maximum number of messages to be contained in the
current area (used by LMSG for maintenance).
Message age - Maximum age expressed in days of the messages contained
in the current area (used by LMSG for maintenance).
Age received - Maximum age expressed in days of messages received by
addressee contained in the current area. Used by LMSG
for maintenance.
Read level - Minimum user's level needed to access the current area
and to read messages.
A Flag
B Flag
C Flag
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D Flag - Minimum user's flags needed to access the current area and
to read messages.
Write level - Minimum level necessary to be able to write messages in
the current area. Lora will not display the "Edit new
message" and "Reply to message" commands to users
without the proper level.
A Flag
B Flag
C Flag
D Flag - Minimum flags necessary to write messages in the current
area. Lora will not displat the "Edit new message" and
"Reply to message" commands to users without the proper
flags.
Forward 1
Forward 2
Forward 3 - These fields allows you to define the node numbers to
send the echomail messages to. You can write the node
numbers with the verbose format (2:332/402 2:332/403) or
with the short format (2:332/402 403 404).
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6.0 - File area configuration
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The file area configuration is made with the BBS / Files menu inside
LSETUP.
The displayed window shows the first area. If no area has been yet
defined, every field is empty.
The following commands are available:
PgUp/PgDn - Allow you to move along the area file.
E - Allows you to edit the current area. This option will be
explained later.
A - Allows you to add a new area. The system will automatically put
the new area in the right numerical place, regardless of where
you are when you add the area.
Lora puts new areas at TWIT level.
L - Allows you to list the defined areas, and to select any one of
them with the cursor keys.
D - Allows you to delete the currently displayed area. The system
will ask confirmation before deleting.
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6.1 - File area parameters
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This chapter lists every command that can be edited in a file area.
After one area has been fully edited, you must press ESC to display
all the other areas. If something has been modified, LSETUP will ask
if you want to save it before exiting.
Number - Area number. It will be used in selecting area from the menu
and in sorting areas as a reference.
Short Name - A short name to be used instead of the area number, for
area selection.
Name - Name of the area to be shown to users.
Download - Name of the directory containing downloadable files. Lora
needs a file called FILES.BBS in the current directory
containing filenames and descriptions. The format of this
file must be as follows:
<filename> <description>
LORA233D.ZIP LoraBBS-DOS v2.33 (Official release)
>Lora is a complete mailer front-end,
>mail processor and BBS system,
>compatible with any Fido Technology
>Network.
Lines beginning with a space (ASCII 32) are treated like
comments, and displayed as is. If the character following
the space is the > character, then the line is treated as
a multiline description: the rest of the line will be
wrapped at the description position in the user's display.
The example above will be displayed as follows:
LORA233D.ZIP 743600 08-12-93 LoraBBS-DOS v2.33 (Official release)
Lora is a complete mailer front-end,
mail processor and BBS system,
compatible with any Fido Technology
Network.
Upload - Name of the directory in which the files uploaded by users
in the current directory will be stored.
File list - Filename to be read as a file and description list
instead of the FILES.BBS file. Used for areas that
resides on CD-ROMs or other read-only devices.
Access priv - Minimum user level to access area and to read the file
list.
A Flag
B Flag
C Flag
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D Flag - Minimum user's flags needed to access the current area and
to read the file list.
Download - Minimum level necessary to be able to download files from
the current area. Lora will not display the "Download"
command to users without the proper level.
A Flag
B Flag
C Flag
D Flag - Minimum flags necessary to download files from the current
area. Lora will not displat the "Download" command to users
without the proper flags.
Upload - Minimum level necessary to be able to upload files to the
current area. Lora will not display the "Upload" command to
users without the proper level.
A Flag
B Flag
C Flag
D Flag - Minimum flags necessary to upload files to the current area.
Lora will not display the "Upload" command to users without
the proper flags.
TIC Level - Minimum level necessary to be able to link this area as a
TIC file area.
A Flag
B Flag
C Flag
D Flag - Minimum flags necessary to be able to link this area as a
TIC file area.
Group - Group of the area. It can be a number from 0 (no group) to
255.
Flags - Generic flags for area management:
F (No download limits) the download limits will not be
considered for the current area.
G (Group restricted) members of the current group only can
access this area.
S (No global search) the current area will be excluded
from any global search (new files,
locate files by keyword).
D (No file date) the file date will not be displayed
in file lists.
N (Unknown can request) Every node can request files from
this area, even if they are not
listed in the current nodelist.
K (Known can request) Only the nodes listed in the current
nodelist can request files from this
area.
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P (Prot can request) Only nodes that are listed in the
current nodelist and have a session
password can request files from this
area.
C (CD-ROM) This area physically resides on a CD-
ROM drive or on a read-only device.
This prevents Lora from searching new
files fron this area.
TIC Tag - Name of the TIC area that's being received in this
directory. Lora can use tag names up to 20 characters wide,
but for compatibility to other TIC processors they can be
kept less or equal than 8 characters wide.
Forward 1
Forward 2
Forward 3 - These fields allows you to define the node numbers to
send the TIC files to. You can write the node numbers
with the verbose format (2:332/402 2:332/403) or with the
short format (2:332/402 403 404).
There are some flags that can be used to specify if a
certain node can act as a receive only or transmit only
node:
2:332/402 - The node can transmit and receive files in
this area.
>2:332/402 - The node is a receive only node. Files sent
from this node aren't processed.
<2:332/402 - The node is a transmit-only node. Files sent
from this node are processed, but files sent
from other nodes aren't sent to this node.
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7.0 - Menu configuration
=====================================================================
Lora is using a menu system that requires to be build up from
scratch. (Although an easy installation program with some simple
menus is included). You will have to setup all menus and external
screens. Lora does include it's own menu program, which has all
options available.
There are several ways to setup a menu system for your BBS. The most
used one looks like this:
-------------- Message menus
|
Main menu ------------------- File menus
|
-------------- Other menus
Another method is to set up your menus by item:
Main menu ------------------- Lora file & message
|
|------------- Modem file & message
|
-------------- Graphics file & message
Either way, plan your menu structure carefully. Users like a menu
structure which is easy to follow.
Building a menu can be done in two ways. You can either build the
whole menu with the menu editor, so text is displayed if needed, or
you can start your menu with an ANSI/ASCII/AVATAR display option
(with Hot-key) which will display the menu and have all the commands
in the menu file. Both have advantages and disadvantages.
Using an ANSI/ASCII/AVATAR file as menu gives you the advantages that
you can use more colours on one line, use graphics and even
animation. Disadvantage is that all menu options will be visible to
all callers, whatever security level they have. You need to setup a
display file option with the automatic flag set, which means the
command will be executed automatically.
Using the normal menu has the advantages that you can hide several
options from other security levels. Disadvantage is the limited use
of colour per line. It will be up to you which way you choose.
Be sure to check your menu files at every security level you have set
up. Strange things can happen if you make mistakes. Building a menu
is simple, building a complex menu with many different options for
different security levels is more difficult. Take your time is a good
advice.
You can create or modify your BBS menus by using the LSETUP "Manager
/ Menu" menu.
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First of all you need to select one of the 15 available menus to be
modified. Note: You can't add menu files at this point. Each menu
file is associated to one language, so you need to use the "BBS /
Language" menu for additions or deletions.
After selection of the file, LSETUP will list the already defined
menus. The last one, called "< New menu >" allows you to add another
menu.
Press ENTER on the "< New Menu >" field to create a new one. Choose
the proper menu to modify it.
You need to delete every command inside the menu to delete it. The
file update routine will delete every menu with no commands inside.
After a selection is made, LSETUP will display a window with all the
item options. You have the following commands available:
PgUp/PgDn - Allow you to move along the item file.
E - Edit a menu item. After this command, an inverted-color bar will
allow you to choose the option to be modified.
The available options are as follows:
Display - Text to be shown to the user. The '^' character marks the
beginning and the end of highlighted texts, the '~'
character is replaced by the minutes left for the call.
Spaces must be represented by and underscore character (_).
The underscore character can be used only if preceded by a
backslash character (\_).
A semicolon character (;) will be substituted by a CR/LF
sequence.
Some embedded commands (listed later) can be inserted in
the text to be shown to the user. The embedded commands
cannot always be inserted, since some of them are useful
for questionnaires only or are useless inside menus.
The following embedded commands are available inside menus:
^FC - Displays the CPS of the last file transmitted.
^FD - Displays the phone number of office/data.
^FE - Displays the phone number of home/voice.
^FF - Displays the date, without time, of the last
login.
^FG - Displays the time of the last login.
^FH - Displays the percentage efficiency of the last
file transmitted.
^FI - YES/NO IBM character set.
^FL - Displays the netmail credit.
^FM - Displays the number of the last personal message
read.
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^FN - Displays the number of the last message read in
the current area.
^FO - Displays the user's privilege level in verbal
form.
^FQ - Displays the number of files sent.
^FR - Displays the number of kbytes sent.
^FS - Displays the number of files received.
^FT - Displays the number of kbytes received.
^FV - Displays the number of screen lines set by the
user.
^FX - YES/NO ANSI toggle.
^FY - YES/NO end of page toggle.
^FZ - YES/NO formfeed code (ASCII 12) toggle.
^F0 - YES/NO full screen editor toggle.
^F2 - YES/NO hot keyed menu.
^F3 - Displays the user's handle.
^F4 - Displays the first login date.
^F5 - Displays the user's birthday.
^F6 - YES/NO mail check at login.
^F7 - Displays the user's registration.
^F8 - YES/NO AVATAR/0+ toggle.
^F9 - Number of upload/download ratio in the format
1:x.
^F! - YES/NO colors toggle.
^F^A - Displays the next quote reading it from the file
defined in the configuration file (^FA also).
^F^B - Displays the user's full name.
^F^C - Displays the user's city (^FB also).
^F^D - Displays the current date.
^F^E - Displays the number of calls made by the user
(^FP also).
^F^F - Displays the user's first name (^FW also).
^F^G - One second pause.
^F^K - Displays the total on-line time of the day
(counting all the calls made during the day).
^F^L - Displays the on-line time of the present call
(^FU also).
^F^O - Displays the time left for the current call.
^F^P - Displays date and onset time of the connection.
A CR/LF character is added.
^F^Q - Displays the number of different users who
called on that day.
^F^R - Displays the net download of the user so far
made (download - upload).
^F^T - Displays current time.
^F^W - Displays the number of Kbyte sent.
^F^X - Displays the number of Kbytes received.
^F^Y - Displays the received/sent kBytes ratio in x:1
format (^F: also).
^F[ - Download remaining for today.
^F\ - The user's selected language.
^F] - Displays the comment field of the user's record
(currently not implemented but available).
^F; - YES/NO full screen message reader.
^F% - Shows the default file transfer protocol.
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^F" - Shows the default compressor.
^KA - Total number of calls to the system (all the
lines).
^KB - Name of the last user who called the current
line.
^KC - Displays the number of the current message's
child (answer to this message).
^KD - Number of the first message (this command has
been introduced for compatibility, and is always
set to 1).
^KE - Number of the last message in the current area.
^KG - Displays the day of the week.
^KI - Displays the current time in the form hh:mm:ss.
^KJ - Displays the current date in the form dd mmm aa.
^KK - Minutes on-line so far for the current call.
^KM - Number of personal messages found in the message
base.
^KO - Time left for the current call.
^KP - Displays the number of the current message's
parent (message that this message is an answer
to).
^KQ - Time limit for each call.
^KR - Baud rate of the connection.
^KT - Daily download limit.
^KU - Number of minutes still available before the
next forced or non BBS event.
^KW - Number of the line.
^KY - Title of the current message area.
^KZ - Title of the current file area.
^K0 - Number of messages in the current area.
^K1 - Number of the currently active message area.
^K2 - Number of the currently active file area.
^K5 - Name of the currently active message area.
^K7 - Displays the user's time bank account.
^K8 - Displays the user's file bank account.
^K9 - Number of messages contained in the current
message area.
^K[ - Download remaining for today.
^K\ - Delete the line from cursor to the end.
Type - Allows you to select, through a pop-up menu listing, the
action type of the current command. The available actions that
Lora recognizes are listed in the following paragraph.
Data - Optional parameters needed by some kind of actions (see
later).
Hot-key - Key to be pressed to activate the current command. You can
use every ASCII character between 32 and 127.
Automatic - When this option is active, the command will be
immediately executed during the menu display, with no
need to press the key defined in "Hot-key". Useful to
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display any file before the menu, or to execute a given
action, depending on user's level and flags.
First time - When this option is active, this item will be visible,
and usable, only the first time the menu is shown.
Hide display - When this option is active, the "Display" field will
not be shown to users.
Color - Normal color of the text to be displayed. The color can be
changed in the "Display" field also, by means of the internal
color change codes.
Hilight - Hilighted color of the text to be displayed. The text to be
hilighted must be included between two ^ symbols (i.e.:
This ^text^ is hilighted).
Security - Minimum user's level needed to see and to execute the
current command.
Flags-A
Flags-B
Flags-C
Flags-D - Minimum user's flags needed to see and to execute the
current command.
A - Adds a new command. LSETUP adds the new command after the
currently displayed one. Normal color, hilight color and command
level will be the same as the currently displayed one.
L - Lists commands. You can choose the one you like with the cursor
and Enter keys.
D - Deletes current command. Lora will ask confirmation before
deleting.
S - Shows menu. The menu will be displayed as it appears to users.
The access levels and flags will not be considered. The control
codes like CTRL-C will be shown as printable characters (i.e.:
^C).
You can fill in the "Data" field with additional parameters related
to specific commands. The available parameters are following:
/K=<keys> - Puts the characters defined in <keys> into the internal
keyboard buffer. Useful to realize "short keys" for given
operations. This option is available in registered
versions only.
/AGE=<n> - Defines the minimum age that a user must have to view and
issue certain command. <n> must be in years.
It's possible to display every option of the menu by operating with
the /C<count><op><value> switch (see also the menu type 104), where:
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<count> - Number of the counter, from 0 to 3.
<op> - Command to be executed. Presently are available
= (equal), < (smaller), > (bigger), ! (different).
<value> - Value from 0 to 255.
I. E., /C1=10 displays that particular option only if the counter is
equal to 10.
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7.1 - Menu types
---------------------------------------------------------------------
In this chapter all the menu types (executable actions) allowed by
Lora will be described.
For sake of clarity, menu types are described in an order based on
the arguments.
Missing numbers are related to internal functions only.
7.1.1 - Moving between menus
---------------------------------------------------------------------
14 - Clear Goto menu
Has the same function as the "Goto menu" command, but the menu stack
is erased before executing the command.
There is a clear screen code before entering the menu. If you don't
want it, you have to insert the /NS parameter in the "Data" field.
15 - Clear gosub menu
Has the same function as the "Gosub menu" command, but the menu stack
is erased before executing the command.
There is a clear screen code before entering the menu. If you don't
want it, you have to insert the /NS parameter in the "Data" field.
16 - Return to MAIN menu
Erases the menu stack and goes back immediately to MAIN, the first
menu of the tree.
21 - Goto menu
Makes a GOTO function (the name of the current menu is not put in the
stack) to a general menu.
It's possible to give a password protection to this menu, with the
/P=xxxx option, where xxxx is the case-insensitive passwoed, asked to
the user who tries to enter this menu.
Optionally it's possible to specify the default file and message area
using the /M[=n] and /F[=n] switches. If the area number is not
specified, the last area visited by the user will be assumed.
There is a clear screen code before entering the menu. If you don't
want it, you have to insert the /NS parameter in the "Data" field.
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61 - Gosub menu
Makes a GOSUB function (the name of the menu is put in the stack) to
a general menu.
It's possible to give a password protection to this menu, with the
/P=xxxx option, where xxxx is the case-insensitive password, asked to
the user who tries to enter this menu.
Optionally it's possible to specify the default file and message area
using the /M[=n] and /F[=n] switches. If the area number is not
specified, the last area visited by the user will be assumed.
There is a clear screen code before entering the menu. If you don't
want it, you have to insert the /NS parameter in the "Data" field.
66 - Return to previous
Goes back to the previous menu, taking it from the internal stack. If
the current menu is the first one, it has no effect.
67 - Clear menu stack
Erases the internal menu stack, without going back.
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7.1.2 - Message Areas
---------------------------------------------------------------------
19 - Kill message
Allows users to kill their messages (written by or sent to his/her).
The Sysop can kill every message.
40 - Edit new message
Allows the user to write a new message. The menu name for the line
editor must be set in the "Data" field. Calls to this menu are made
by a "Gosub menu" command.
It's possible to set the following switches, to let the user write
essential data, on particular circumstances:
/T="<to>" - Message receiver.
/S="<subj>" - Message subject.
/A=<n> - Number of the area in which the message will be saved.
/L - After saving the message, the user will be logged off
immediately.
41 - Reply to message
Like the previous command, but it replies to the last message read,
changing automatically receiver and subject.
The menu name for the line editor must be set in the "Data" field.
Calls to this menu are made by a "Gosub menu" command.
For the external full screen editor, Lora creates a file containing
the original message the user is replying to.
53 - Short message list
Lists the messages in the selected area on one line only (short
mode). The information displayed is: message number, sender, receiver
and subject.
54 - Read next message
Reads the next message. Messages that are missing or unavailable to
the user (i.e.: private messages to someone else) will be
automatically skipped.
55 - Read previous message
Reads the previous message. Messages tha are missing or unavailable
to the user (i.e.: private messages to someone else) will be
automatically skipped.
56 - Read message non-stop
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Reads all the following messages, after the last read, without
stopping at the end of any message or page.
The full screen reader is temporarily ignored.
57 - Read parent message
Reads the current message's parent (the message that this message is
an answer to). The item with this menu type is available and is
displayed only if the current message has a valid parent message
number.
58 - Read child message
Reads the current message's child (the answer to this message). The
item with this menu type is available and is displayed only if the
current message has a valid child message number.
59 - Check mailbox
Checks the user's personal mail, and if the user has personal mail
not yet read, makes a "Gosub menu" command to the menu name set in
the "Data" field.
64 - Read individual message
Reads a message specifying the number. Please note that the hot key
used to activate this menu type is the first digit of the message
number; other digits, if there are, are taken from the input buffer.
It's suggested to add the digits from 0 to 9 to this menu type, to
allow the user to read any message simply by enteringthe
corresponding number.
89 - Verbose message list
Displays the list of messages in the area, showing sender, receiver,
subject, the flags, date and time at which the message was written
(detailed mode).
118 - List areas w/new messages
Executes a "Change area" command (see later), and lists only the
areas with new messages since user's last messages read (i.e,
messages arrived after the last one read by the user).
119 - Write message to disk
Exports the last message read to a disk file or device (i.e: PRN: or
LPT1:). Lora will ask the filename to be created.
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7.1.3 - File areas
---------------------------------------------------------------------
22 - File list
Displays the list of files in the current area. The files present in
FILES.BBS only, contained in the current directory, will be
displayed.
Lora will not display any file which, even though present in
FILES.BBS, is not physically present in the current directory.
23 - Download file
Enables the user to choose a transfer protocol and download one or
more files. If the user has a valid default download protocol, Lora
will not ask for it.
It's possible to specify the following parameters the "Data" field:
/NOREM - Ignores the files tagged for later download (by default Lora
asks the user if his/her can download the selected files).
/F=<filename> - File name (wildcars allowed) to send to the user.
With this parameter only the transfer protocol will
be requested. This parameter is useful for BBSes that
put the latest releases of certain programs
downloadable with a single command.
If you specify a filename in the "Data" field, the limitations like
maximum Kbyte limit, Upload/download ratio, etc. will be ruled out.
Only the maximum connection time limit will be considered.
24 - File display
Displays an ASCII file contained in the current area. Files displayed
with this command can't contain control codes or embedded command
(see another chapter of this manual).
25 - Raw directory
Displays the dos Directory of the current area. This command lists
all the files in the current directory, including orphan files (files
present in the directory, but not listed in FILES.BBS).
65 - Tag files
Allows the user to select one or more files for a later download.
This command is useful to select multiple files from multiple areas
and download them all in one time (is a batch protocol is used).
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68 - Locate files
Allows the user to find one or more files in any area, specifying a
keyword.
Setting the /F parameter in the "Data" field, the search will be done
in the current area only.
69 - Upload file
Allows the user to send a file using one of the available transfer
protocol. If the user has a valid default download protocol, Lora
will not ask for it.
If the user chooses a protocol that does not transmit the filename
(i.e.: XModem and 1k-XModem), Lora will ask the filename to be
uploaded.
When the upload is finished, Lora will search every area to see if
the uploaded file is already present. If he finds it somewhere, Lora
will delete the uploaded file. If not, Lora will give back to the
user the time spent for file transmission.
72 - Override path
Allows the user to set a different path to the current area. It's
useful if you want to send or to receive files in any directory of
the hard disk.
CAUTION! It's suggested to give access to this command to SYSOP or
trustworthy people only.
73 - New files list
Displays the list of files arrived after the last user's login, or
after a date specified by the user.
Setting the /F parameter in the "Data" field, the search will be done
in the current area only.
102 - Archive contents
Displays the content of compressed files. Lora is able to display the
content of the files archived by means of ARJ, ZIP, ARC, LZH and LHA
(Amiga also).
122 - Upload to filebox
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Permette ad un utente di mandare un file ad un altro utente con la
filebox attivata. Viene chiesto il nome dell'utente.
123 - Download from filebox
Il contenuto della filebox viene visualizzato all'utent e se sono
presenti dei files, viene chiesto se li si vuole prelevare. E'
possibile dire a Lora che si intende cancellare il file una volta
prelevato con successo.
127 - Kill from filebox
Allow a user with an active filebox to delete their files without
downloading them.
128 - List filebox
Allow a user with an active filebox to list their contents without
asking for download.
129 - List/Remove tagged files
Allows a user to list or remove, as specified on the "Data" field,
the files selected for later download.
If the "Data" field is empty, the command lists the selected files,
if the /R parameter is present, after the file list the system asks
to remove one file.
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7.1.4 - Users configuration
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This group has been divided into two selection menus: "User
configuration 1" contains all the commands up to "77 - Set full
screen reader", and "User configuration 2" contains all the other
ones.
27 - Set password
Allows the user to change his password.
29 - Set nulls
Allows the user to set a number of null characters (ASCII 0) to be
sent after each CR/LF sequence. Useful for very slow computers.
30 - Set screen length
Allows the user to set the number of lines to be displayed before a
"more?" request.
32 - Set 'more?' question
Allows the user to enable or disable the end-of-page pause.
33 - Set screen clear
Allows the user to enable or disable the clear screen code (ASCII
12). In Ansi emulation, the code is automatically expanded in the
correct sequence.
34 - Set editor
Allows the user to enable the full screen editor (only if Ansi or
AVATAR graphics are active) or the line editor.
35 - Set location
Allows the user to set or change the city from which he calls.
36 - Set mail check at logon
Allows the user to enable or disable the personal mail check at
logon.
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37 - Set Avatar/0+
Allows the user to enable or disable the Avatar/0+ emulation for
graphics and colors.
38 - Set ANSI
Allows the user to enable or disable the ANSI/VT100 emulation for
graphics and colors.
If the user deactivates both Avatar and ANSI graphics, the full
screen editor (if active) will be deactivated also.
When ANSI is active, Avatar will be deactivated. Lora uses Avatar as
an ANSI alternative, not as a complement.
39 - Set color
Allows the user to enable or disable the color sequences. Useful if
the user has an ANSI terminal with a B/W monitor.
70 - Set signature
Allows the user to set his personal signature. This sentence will be
inserted automatically at the bottom of each message, just before the
tearline for echomail messages, and at the last row of echomail and
local messages.
77 - Set full screen reader
Allows the user to enable or disable the full screen reader for the
messages. To enable it, it's necessary to have ANSI or AVATAR/0+
emulation set on.
99 - Set alias
Allows the user to set his nickname. By default, the alias is the
same as user's name.
100 - Set voice phone
Allows the user to set his voice phone number.
101 - Set data phone
Allows the user to set his office or data phone number.
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106 - Set hot-keyed menu
Allows the user to set the menu hot keys. With hot-keyed menus is no
longer necessary to press the ENTER key to confirm a command.
117 - Set IBM characters
Allows the user to enable or disable the display of ASCII charachers
higher than 127. When disable, Lora will remap the upper 128
characters of the ASCII code (from code 128 to 255), to a more
standard character set that is readable by any personal computer
using a standard ASCII set. It's possible to define a translation
table for each language.
121 - Set user group
Allows the user to select which group he wants to belong to. You can
specify in the "Data" field the /M switch to select the message
group, or the /F switch to select the file group.
Lora displays tp the user the file MGROUP.* for the message areas, or
the file FGROUP.* for the file areas, then waits for a number. The
user now can select the group number. This number will be recorded in
the users file, so that it dont needs to be set at every call.
124 - Set birthdate
Allows the user to insert his own birthdate. Lora will use this
information to display the text file containing the happy birthday
wishes and to make random user checks.
125 - Set default protocol
Allows the user to choose the default transfer protocol.
126 - Set default archiver
Allows the user to choose the default packing protocol to be used
with the offline reader.
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7.1.5 - Line editor
---------------------------------------------------------------------
42 - Save message
Saves the message text. If the /RET parameter is set in the "Data"
field, a "Return to previous menu" function will be executed.
If you omit the /RET parameter, your users can post carbon copies of
the same message to more than one receiver. They have just to change
the receiver name, then save the message again.
43 - Abort editing
Aborts the message creation. A "Return to previous menu" function is
executed. The text deletion is operated only by this command.
44 - List message text
Displays the text of the message just written.
45 - Edit line
Allows the user to edit one line of the message. The original line
will be displayed before the prompt for the new text.
46 - Insert line
Allows the user to insert a line inside the text.
47 - Delete line
Allows the user to delete one or more lines from the text.
48 - Continue editing
Allows the user to go on writing the message, starting from the line
after the last written.
49 - Change 'To' field
Allows the user to change the message receiver. If the /RET parameter
is not specified in the "Save message" command, it can be used to
send the same message to more than one receiver.
50 - Change subject
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Allows the user to change the message subject.
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7.1.6 - Personal mail
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The commands for personal mail allow the sysop to create a
personalized menu for this option also. By default, Lora looks for a
menu called "READMAIL", that must be always present.
74 - Read next mail
Reads the next personal message, or the first one, if the user has
read none so far.
75 - Read previous mail
Reads the previous personal message.
76 - Read mail non-stop
Reads all the messages without stopping at the end of any message or
page. The full screen reader is temporarily ignored.
82 - List mail
Displays the list of personal messages not yet read by the user,
showing message area, sender, receiver, subject, flags, date and time
at which the message was written.
85 - Read individual mail
Reads a message specifying the number. Please note that the hot key
used to activate this menu type is the first digit of the message
number; other digits, if there are, are taken from the input buffer.
It's suggested to add the numbers from 0 to 9 to this menu type, to
allow the user to read any message simply by entering the attached
number.
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7.1.7 - Multiline chat
---------------------------------------------------------------------
78 - Send online message
Allows the user to send a one-line message to another user connected
on a different line of the system. This is a quite rudimental
multiline chat.
It' s the only way to send a message to users not connected with CB
CHAT SYSTEM.
81 - Users online
Displays the list of users currently connected to the system. When
one line is busy in mail transfers with other nodes, Lora will show
"Mail with <node>" to users.
95 - Who is where
Displays the list of CB Chat System channels that are currently
active, and the users connected to each channel. This command is the
same as the /a command in Chat System.
96 - CB-chat system
Sets the multiline chat with a 40 channel transreceiving simulation.
The user is automatically 'tuned' on channel 1.
In the "Data" field it's possible to set the channel number to which
the user will be tuned when entering the chat.
The following commands are available inside the CB chat:
/a - Displays who is connected on each channel, from 1 to 40.
/c<num> - Allows the user to change channel. <num> ranges from 1
to 40.
/q - Exits the CB chat.
/w - Displays who's connected on the current channel.
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7.1.8 - Offline reader
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Lora supports a built-in QWK and ASCII offline mail packer. This
feature allows callers to log on, pack up messages from one or more
message areas, and download a compressed mail bundle for off-line
reading and reply.
This packer is fully integrated with the main BBS, so the packer will
automatically adjust itself as areas are added to or deleted from
your system.
Following are the menu types that allows you to set up a menu that
allows you users to pack and download new messages, as well as upload
their replies.
86 - Tag areas
Allows the user to define the message areas where Lora must keep the
pointer to the last message read. During the export of messages in
QWK and ASCII format only these areas will be considered.
When asking the list of areas (with the question mark) the "@"
character will be associated to the marked areas.
A maximum of 50 areas can be marked.
87 - ASCII download
Allows the user to download the new messages present in the marked
areas in ASCII format. Lora will ask which packer (Zip, Arj or Lharc)
and which transfer protocol must be used.
This method is offered as an alternative to QWK for those users who
don't have (or don't want to install) a QWK reader.
No control is kept of the dimension of the file to be downloaded,
except for the one regarding the transfer time, that must not be
longer than the time left for the current call.
The proper option inside the "BBS / QWK setup" menu allows you to
limit the number of messages per packet.
88 - Resume download
Allows the user to resume the download of the message packet, if it
has not yet been completed.
112 - QWK download
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Allows the user to download the new messages present in the marked
areas, in QWK-compatible format. Lora will ask which packer (Zip, Arj
or Lharc) and which transfer protocol must be used.
To use this option the user needs to have a QWK reader installed.
Presently many readers, more or less powerful, exist for a lot of
common systems.
No control is kept of the dimension of the file to be downloaded,
except for the one regarding the transfer time, that must not be
longer than the time left for the current call.
The proper option inside the "BBS / QWK setup" menu allows you to
limit the number of messages per packet.
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7.1.9 - Built-in doors
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Lora includes a few common doors internally built, so that it's
possible to use external doors for unusual reasons only (like games).
Presently Lora includes a QWK compatible mail processor, a time and
file bank, and a BBS database.
The menu types related to these doors will now be presented, as well
as a brief general description of the doors.
91 - Show account
Allows the user to see the amount of time and kbytes in his account
at the BBS time/file bank.
92 - Deposit time
Allows the user to deposit a certain amount of time left for the
current call in the BBS time bank. The deposited time will be
automatically subtracted from the time left for the current call and
from the daily total time.
93 - Withdraw time
Allows the user to withdraw time from the BBS time bank. The minutes
added are usable only for the current call. If for any reason the
current call ends, all the time withdrawn will be lost and at the
next call only the time left before withdrawing will be available.
114 - Deposit Kbytes
Allows the user to deposit a certain amount of kbytes left for today
in the BBS file bank. The deposited kbytes will be automatically
subtracted from the kbytes left for today.
115 - Withdraw Kbytes
Allows the user to withdraw kbytes from the BBS file bank. The kbytes
added are usable only the current day.
107 - Add to BBS-list
Allows the user to add a record in the BBS database included in the
program. Lora will ask for the data that are needed for the BBS
identification.
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You can specify up to 10 BBS lists using the /L=<number> switch. Each
BBS list will have a separate file database named
BBSLIST<number>.BBS. If you don't specify the /L= switch, the default
file database named BBSLIST.BBS is used.
108 - Short BBS list
Displays the BBS database contents in short format (one BBS per
line). Unlike the "Long BBS list", the user cannot enter a string to
search for.
You can specify up to 10 BBS lists using the /L=<number> switch. Each
BBS list will have a separate file database named
BBSLIST<number>.BBS. If you don't specify the /L= switch, the default
file database named BBSLIST.BBS is used.
109 - Long BBS list
Displays the BBS database contents in detailed format, showing all
information introduced by the "Add to BBS-list" command on many
lines.
The user can also enter a search string to limit the listing only to
a restricted group of BBSes.
You can specify up to 10 BBS lists using the /L=<number> switch. Each
BBS list will have a separate file database named
BBSLIST<number>.BBS. If you don't specify the /L= switch, the default
file database named BBSLIST.BBS is used.
110 - Change BBS list
Allows the user to modify the data of one or more BBS present in the
database. Lora will ask the name (even partial) of the BBS to be
changed.
You can specify up to 10 BBS lists using the /L=<number> switch. Each
BBS list will have a separate file database named
BBSLIST<number>.BBS. If you don't specify the /L= switch, the default
file database named BBSLIST.BBS is used.
Caution: everybody can change any record of the BBS database, no
control of the user who selects this command is being kept, unless
you use the /R switch that allows only the users at SYSOP level and
the user named as the BBS's Sysop to change the data of that BBS.
111 - Remove BBS list
Allows the user to delete one or more BBS present in the database.
Lora will ask the name (even partial) of the BBS to be deleted.
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You can specify up to 10 BBS lists using the /L=<number> switch. Each
BBS list will have a separate file database named
BBSLIST<number>.BBS. If you don't specify the /L= switch, the default
file database named BBSLIST.BBS is used.
Caution: everybody can delete any record of the BBS database, no
control of the user who selects this command is being kept, unless
you use the /R switch that allows only the users at SYSOP level and
the user named as the BBS's Sysop to change the data of that BBS..
120 - Download BBS-list
Allows the user to download the BBS list database in readable ASCII
format. Lora asks for the default protocol only (if the user has not
made any choice).
You can specify up to 10 BBS lists using the /L=<number> switch. Each
BBS list will have a separate file database named
BBSLIST<number>.BBS. If you don't specify the /L= switch, the default
file database named BBSLIST.BBS is used.
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7.1.10 - Other commands
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This group has been divided into two selection menus: "Miscellaneous
1" contains all the commands up to "51 - Press enter to continue",
and "Miscellaneous 2" contains all the other ones.
0 - Display only
This command does absolutely nothing but display the 'Display' field
to the user.
3 - Logoff
Stops the connection displaying the LOGOFF.* file to the user. No
confirmation is asked. If you want to request confirmation to the
user before logging him out, you have to create a proper menu.
5 - Display text files
Displays any text file. You must specify the name of the file, path
included, to be displayed in the "Data" field.
If no extension is specified, Lora looks for the following: .AVT,
.BBS, .ANS (if ANSI is active) and .ASC.
The files may contain the internal special commands.
By default a clear screen code is sent before displaying the file. If
you don't want it, you have to specify the /NS command in the "Data"
field.
If you specify the /R flag in the "Data" field, Lora issues a 'Press
[Enter] to continue' message after the file is displayed to the user.
If you specify the /P flag in the "Data" field, the file will be sent
to the user 'as is' without interpreting the embedded commands inside
it.
6 - Yell at sysop
Allows the user to call the sysop for a chat. Lora displays a window
with the commands available to begin the chat or to stop the user's
request.
When the user asks for this function, Lora looks in the current
directory for a file called 'PAGE.DAT', containing the notes of the
music that is played in the wait of the sysop's answer.
The file is a normal ASCII text; each line may be a comment (if the
first character is ';' or '%'), or a tone/length command, or a pause
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command. Please look at the sample file for a clear explanation about
music composition.
In the "Data" field it is possible to specify the following
parameters:
/T=<sec> - Duration (in seconds) of the music (default untile the
end of the file).
/F=<file> - Music file to use instead of the default PAGE.DAT.
/NL - Do not log this request both in the log file and on the
status line.
/A="<s>" - Advertisment to display to the user instead of the
default string found in the language file (the quotes are
mandatory).
7 - User status
Displays a coded internal page related to the present configuration
of the on-line user. All the shown parameters are also available as
embedded commands.
If you specify the /R flag in the "Data" field, Lora issues a 'Press
[Enter] to continue' message after the status page is displayed to
the user.
8 - User list
Displays the BBS' users. Allows also to find somebody by specifying a
part of the name.
It's possible to set the following switches in the "Data" field:
/L[=x] - Displays only the users who called in the last x days. If
the command is given in the short form /L, the user may
specify the number of days.
/T[=x] - Displays only the users who called at least x times. If the
command is given in the short form /t, the user may specify
the number of times.
/H - Displays the user's alias, instead of their real names.
/S - Swap the first and last name of the users displayed.
/F - Displays the users with an active filebox only.
9 - Version information
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Displays the program copyright and version number, and much
additional information, like the processor type, the free memory in
the heap (variable's space in Borland C), free disk space, etc.
10 - Run external program
Executes an external program in a dos shell. The full name of the
file to be executed must be set in the "Data" field. It's possible to
execute also batch files.
It's possible to set other special commands to give some additional
information to the called program. The commands are the following:
*0 - Path of the current file area.
*1 - Path of the current message area.
*B - Baud rate (0 if in local mode).
*F - User's first name
*G - 0=No graphics, 1=Ansi, 2=Avatar.
*H - Disables FOSSIL driver before executing the program.
*L - User's last name.
*M - Swap of the total memory occupied by Lora, leaving only
1.5K for the recovery routines.
*N - Task number.
*P - Serial port (1=COM1, 2=COM2, etc.).
*R - User's position inside the user's database (record
(number).
*S - Don't read the LORAINFO file after the end of the
external program.
*T - Time left for the current call.
*W - Actives the FOSSIL watchdog. If the carrier drops, FOSSIL
driver reboots the system.
*X - Prevents the creation of the LORAINFO.T?? by Lora.
*! - Stops time during the door execution.
The user will be allowed as much time as had before
entering the door.
*# - Disables the 'wants chat' flag. Useful for external
chat programs.
For compatibility with Scott Dudley's Maximus-CBCS 2.00,
the following command are available:
%A - User's first name, all capital letters.
%b - Baud rate (0 if in local mode).
%B - User's last name, all capital letters.
%c - The place of the call.
%C - The last answer to the questionnaire ^OR command (see the
EMBEDDED COMMANDS section for more details).
%d - The number of the current message area.
%D - The number of the current file area.
%E - Length, in lines, of the user's screen.
%f - User's first name.
%F - Path of the current message area.
%g - 0=No graphics, 1=Ansi, 2=Avatar.
%G - User's daily download limit.
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%h - Voice phone number of the user.
%H - Kilobytes number downloaded today.
%i - Total download.
%I - Total upload.
%j - Connection time for the current call.
%k - Task Number.
%l - User's last name.
%L - In remote calls the flag is replaced with the
'-pX -bY' string, where X is the serial port (1=COM1,
2=COM2, etc.) and Y is the baud rate. In local calls
the flag is replaced with the '-k' string.
%M - Path of the current message area.
%n - User's first name.
%N - BBS name, as defined in the configuration file.
%p - Serial port (0=COM1, 1=COM2, etc).
%P - Serial port (1=COM1, 2=COM2, etc).
%q - Path of the current message area, without final
backslash.
%Q - Path of the current file ares, without final
backslash.
%s - Sysop's last name.
%S - Sysop's first name.
%t - Time left for the call, in minutes.
%T - Time left for the call, in seconds.
%u - User's number.
%U - Substituted with the underscore '_'.
%v - Path of the upload directory.
%V - Path of the upload directory, without the final backslash
%Z - User's full name in capital letters.
11 - Bulletin menu
Displays the file set in the ARGUMENTS field, in the same way as menu
type 5. At the end of the display the user must write a suffix of 8 -
<filename length> characters. The file whose name is made out of the
"Data" field name plus the characters entered by the user is
displayed, in the same way as menu type 5.
For example, if the BULLET name is set in "Data" field, the
BULLET.AVT (or ANS, ASC, BBS) file is displayed. Then the user enters
two characters; if the user digits "1B", the BULLET1B.AVT (or ANS,
ASC, BBS) file will be displayed.
To stop the command the user has to press Enter on an empty line.
13 - Show quotes
Displays a sentence taken from the text file called QUOTES.BBS, in
the directory specified in the "Textfiles path" field of the current
language.
Each quote must be separated by a blank line.
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17 - Change area
Displays the list of areas (message of file area depending on the
currently active section) in one column and allows the user to choose
one of them.
Valid optional parameters for the "Data" field are:
/M - Lists message areas.
/F - Lists file areas.
/2 - List areas on two colummns,
/3 - Lists area on one column, with the area "Short name"
after the number. Selection is possible using the short
name also.
/4 - List areas on one column, with the are "Short name"
instead the area's number. If the short name field is
empty, the area's number is displayed. Selection is
possibile using either the area's number or the short
name.
/G[=<n>] - Limits list to the areas belonging to the group specified
by <n> only. If /G only is specified, the default user
group will be shown.
51 - Press enter to continue
Displays the message 'Press [Enter] to continue' and waits for the
user to press the Enter key.
It is possible to set the text to be shown in the "Data" field
instead of the default message defined in the language file.
83 - Comment to next caller
Allows the user to leave a message to the next user calling the
system. The message will be displayed after the WELCOME.* file, then
killed.
To write the message the user has to use the line-oriented editor,
(even if he choose the external full screen editor). In this way
about 70 lines of 80 characters each are available.
The utility developers for Lora should note that the name of the file
created is NEXT<n>.BBS, where <n> is the current task number. The
file is in the Fido format message (*.MSG).
90 - Time statistics
Displays a few statistical lines related to the current user.
97 - Display system file
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Reads and displays a file from the directory set by "Textfiles path"
of the current language. In the "Data" field you must set the
filename, without path.
If no extension is specified, Lora looks for the following: .AVT,
.BBS, .ANS (if ANSI is active) and .ASC.
The file can contain the special internal commands.
By default a clear screen code is sent before displaying the file. If
you don't want it, you must insert a /NS commands in the "Data"
field.
If you specify the /R flag in the "Data" field, Lora issues a 'Press
[Enter] to continue' message after the file is displayed to the user.
98 - Display last callers
Displays the list of calls received in the last 24 hours on every BBS
line.
104 - Set counter
Inside the users' database, four counters, ranging each from 0 to 255
are available for particular application. This menu type allows you
to change the contents of these parameters.
In the "Data" filed you must set the counter number and the action to
execute, with the following switches:
/C<n> - Counter number from 0 to 3.
/R<n> - Set the <n> value to the counter.
/D<n> - Decrease the counter by <n>.
/I<n> - Increase the counter by <n>.
105 - Usage graphic
Shows a vertical bar graphic with the average usage percentage of the
BBS in the 24 hours. Computation is made from the first system
activation.
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8.0 Areafix and Raid functions
=====================================================================
Since Lora can provide a built-in support for echomail and TIC files
processing, Lora provides the tools that allows your downlinks to
maintain their echomail and TIC links too, without manual
intervention and without relying on external utilities.
Two "robot" answers at the "Areafix" and "Raid" names, they are the
managers for echomail and TIC file processors respectively. I have
choose these names because of their popularity over the Fidonet
community.
8.1 Areafix function usage
=====================================================================
The Areafix function allows remote nodes to link and/or unlink
message areas of the system by means of netmail messages.
A tipical message to Areafix is as follows:
From: Marco Maccaferri (2:332/402.1)
To: Areafix (2:332/402)
Subj: PASSWORD
====================================
-CARTONI.332
+CARTONI.ITA
%LIST
---
The calling node must be authorized to use Areafix on your system.
The receiver must be Areafix (case insensitive) with your system
address. In the 'subject' field the password of the sender's node
must be inserted.
The message text contains commands that Areafix will execute
following the order. In the previous example, the CARTONI.332 will be
unlinked, the CARTONI.ITA will be linked, and a available area
request will be answered.
Areafix will answer the sender with one or more messages for
operation confirmation.
Lora's areafix function interpretes the following commands
(compatible with Fabiano Fabris' standard proposal FSC-0057.002):
[+]AREATAG - Link an area (+ is optional).
-AREATAG - Unlink an area.
%-ALL - Unlink every area.
%+ALL - Link every area.
%LIST - Send a list of the available areas.
%QUERY - Send a list of the already linked areas.
%UNLINKED - Send a list of the available and not yet linked
areas.
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%RESCAN - Exports every message contained in the echomail
areas specied on the following lines to the node
that has requested the command.
%PWD <pwd> - Allows the change the password to be used with
Areafix.
%SESSIONPWD <pwd> - Allows to changed the mail session password.
%PKTPWD <pwd> - Allows to change the password to be put on the
mail packets headers.
%PACKER <type> - Select the default packer. <type> must be the
word under the ID column specified in the Manager
/ Packers menu.
#OLD : NEW - Allows you to changed the tag of an echomail area
from OLD to NEW. To use this command a node must
have an access level grater or equal to that
specied in the Mailer / Areafix menu.
%FROM <node> - Allows the user to make changes for another node.
The following lines are traded as if originating
from the node <node>. To use this command the
node must have an access level greater or equal
to that specified in the Mailer / Areafix menu.
%HELP - Send a help message to use Areafix.
For compatibility with other areafix programs, if the subject
contains a '-q' switch, Areafix will send a list with the linked
areas in the same message as well as the operation confirmation, and
the '-r' switch enable the rescan of the echomail areas linked.
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8.2 Raid function usage
=====================================================================
The Raid function allows remote nodes to link and/or unlink file
areas of the system by means of netmail messages.
A tipical message to Raid is as follows:
From: Marco Maccaferri (2:332/402.1)
To: Raid (2:332/402)
Subj: PASSWORD
====================================
-SDSRA
+LORA_OS2
%LIST
---
The calling node must be authorized to use Raid on your system. The
receiver must be Raid (case insensitive) with your system address. In
the 'subject' field the password of the sender's node must be
inserted.
The message text contains commands that Raid will execute following
the order. In the previous example, the SDSRA file area will be
unlinked, the LORA_OS2 file area will be linked, and a available area
request will be answered.
Raid will answer the sender with one or more messages for operation
confirmation.
Lora's Raid function interpretes the following commands (compatible
with Fabiano Fabris' standard proposal FSC-0057.002):
[+]AREATAG - Link an area (+ is optional).
-AREATAG - Unlink an area.
%-ALL - Unlink every area.
%+ALL - Link every area.
%LIST - Send a list of the available areas.
%QUERY - Send a list of the already linked areas.
%UNLINKED - Send a list of the available and not yet linked
areas.
%RESCAN - Exports every message contained in the echomail
areas specied on the following lines to the node
that has requested the command.
%PWD <pwd> - Allows the change the password to be used with
Raid and the TIC processor.
#OLD : NEW - Allows you to changed the tag of an echo file
area from OLD to NEW. To use this command a node
must have an access level grater or equal to that
specied in the Mailer / TIC processor menu.
%FROM <node> - Allows the user to make changes for another node.
The following lines are traded as if originating
from the node <node>. To use this command the
node must have an access level greater or equal
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to that specified in the Mailer / TIC processor
menu.
%HELP - Send a help message to use Raid.
For compatibility with other Raid programs, if the subject contains a
'-q' switch, areafix will send a list with the linked areas in the
same message as well as the operation confirmation.
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9.0 - External programs
=====================================================================
In this chapter we will describe the external programs included in
the Lora Package, and how they can work with different programs.
9.1 - LMSG Message area maintenance
---------------------------------------------------------------------
LMSG is the message base maintenance program; criteria especially
defined for each area are used.
Be sure to have configured each area properly before using LMSG.
If LMSG is run with no parameters on the command line, some helpful
information on the available commands will be shown.
Message base limits
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Fido message base (*.MSG), PIP-base and Squish have no "logical"
limits of number and dimensions of the messages; the only limit
depends on the space available on the hard disk.
The Hudson message base (QuickBBS) is limited as far as the file
dimension and the number of the messages are concerned. That is due
to its internal structure. The number of messages that can be stored
is about 16000. You can configure LMSG so that this limit will never
be crossed.
The Hudson base is also limited with regard to the internal number of
messages, that cannot be higher than 32767. It's suggested to
renumber the messages (better by night) to be sure that this limit
will never be crossed.
Command list
---------------------------------------------------------------------
-I INDEX (Options: U, R)
This command rebuilds the message base indexes (QuickBBS and Pip-base
only) by rewriting the MSGIDX.BBS, MSGTOIDX.BBS and MSGINFO.BBS
files. For the Pip-base the files involved are MPTRxxxx.PIP and
DESTPTR.PIP.
During the operation, you can choose to delete the messages stored in
unknown boards (boards that have no corresponding area defined in the
MSGINFO.DAT file).
With Fido *.MSG message areas, this command creates a file named
MSGTOIDX.DAT used by the personal mail scanner to find out the
mesages waiting in the Fido *.MSG areas.
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Setting the R option LMSG will also renumber the messages.
-P PACK (Options: K, R)
Packs the message base by physically overwriting the deleted messages
and their text (QuickBBS, Pip-base and Squish only).
Deleting messages (e. g. by the -K command), doesn't' mean that they
are removed from the base. They are simply marked as deleted. You
have to pack the base to free the space occupied by these messages.
The pack command allows also to delete messages following the
directions selected in the configuration file (like the -K command,
but which, however, does not pack the message base) and to renumber
the messages (like the -R command). In this way you can make all the
standard maintenance with a single command.
-K Purge messages
This command deletes the messages according to the directions
selected in the area configuration. In the QuickBBS, Squish and PIP-
base, the messages are not physically removed (you must use the PACK
command to do it), whereas in the Fido base they are physically
eliminated from the directory.
-R Renumber messages
Renumbers the QuickBBS and Fido *.MSG message bases. The PIP-base and
Squish don't needs to be renumbered.
-L Link messages
Reply-link the messages using the subject field. You can then easyly
follow the threads using the reply-link navigation commands of the
BBS and/or of your message editor.
-X Exclude (Options: S, Q, F, P)
This switch allows you to exclude one or more message bases from the
current operation. The options means for Squish, QuickBBS, Fido *.MSG
and Pip-base.
For example, if you want to renumber all the Fido message areas, but
not the hudson message base, you can use the following command:
LMSG -R -XQ
Note that Pip-base and Squish dont needs to be renumbered.
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9.2 - LUSER Users maintenance
---------------------------------------------------------------------
LUSER is the program that performs the normal maintenance for the
users' database. It not only physically deletes the users marked for
deletion, but also allows the System Operator to delete all the users
who have not called the BBS for an extended period of time as well as
sorts the database by first name or last name.
LUSER must be run from the directory that contains the users'
database files.
A list of available command line switches is shown below:
-P Packs the user database by physically removing all the
deleted records.
-S Sort the users by last name.
-SP Sort the users by access level (higher first) and by last
name.
-D[n] Deletes the users who have not been calling your system for
[n] days. Please note that this command involves a database
packing.
-M[s] Tells LUSER not to delete users with an access level
greater or equal to the one specified by [s]. [s] must
be the first letter of the privilege level:
T - Twit
D - Disgrace
L - Limited
N - Normal
W - Worthy
P - Privel
F - Favored
E - Extra
C - Clerk
A - Asstsysop
S - Sysop
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9.3 - LTOP Users statistics
---------------------------------------------------------------------
LTOP is a statistical bulletin maker related to the users' database.
On the command line what type of statistics will be generated and the
resulting file name must be specified.
LTOP must be followed by the name of the file to be created (with
full path name and extension) and one or more of the following
switches:
-U<n> - Number of uploads
-D<n> - Number of downloads
-S<n> - Number of download Kbytes
-R<n> - Number of upload Kbytes
-C<n> - Number of calls
-M<n> - Number of written messages
For all the available switches, n stands for the number of users to
be included in the statistic. As a result you have the top <n> users
related to the specified data.
LTOP always creates the specified file, even if it already exist. If
more than one switch is specified, the result of each statistics is
appended in sequential order, with a pause after each result.
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9.4 - FILEIDX File request index
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This program allows you to create the file requests index file,
useful to speed-up the file search during a file request.
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9.6 - External door support
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Lora can invoke external doors by means of embedded commands or
menus. In both ways, it's not possible to shell to DOS with
errorlevel. Each door is executed from inside Lora main program, that
can only be temporarely "removed" from memory while leaving 1.5k for
the recovery code.
Before calling a door, Lora creates a file called LORAINFO.Txx, where
xx is the line number, in hexadecimal form.
The file contains the user's record and much other useful
information. Please look as the Lora Application Program Interface
(LORA-API.ZIP) in the original package, for more details on this file
format.
Since it is a non standard file, not so many doors support it.
Anyway, a program called L2WORLD by Marcello Ardini is distributed
together with Lora. This program creates a lot of standard files from
the LORAINFO file. The compatibility with most of the doors for BBS
is granted.
Coming back from the door, the LORAINFO.Txx is read again and
deleted. All the parameters, except for time (if it's not changed)
and the access level are updated.
For the programs that don't accept the alphanumeric form of Lora
access levels, the equivalences are here listed:
TWIT 16
DISGRACE 32
LIMITED 48
NORMAL 64
WORTHY 80
PRIVIL 96
FAVORED 112
EXTRA 128
CLERK 144
ASSTSYSOP 160
SYSOP 176
HIDDEN 192
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9.6.1 - L2WORLD External door interface
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the most powerful and useful utility distributed with Lora.
With this utility, written by Marcello Ardini of 2:332/402.2, Lora
can to be used with a very big number of door programs, written for
other BBS software.
L2WORLD is able to create the files needed to use the doors written
for Opus 1.03, Opus 1.10, Opus 1.70, RemoteAccess 1.01, QuickBBS
2.64. It can also create the DORINFO1.DEF and DOOR.SYS files (Doorway
compatible).
Following is the command line format to use L2WORLD:
L2WORLD I|E <door type> [<options>]
I - The <door type> format should be imported inside the Lora's own
drop file. This may be useful when you are using external doors that
changes the user's parameters, such as timebanks, lottery.
E - The <door type> format should be exported. This is the normal
usage mode for L2WORLD. This option allows you to create a wide
variety of drop file formats to use most doors currently not
available for Lora.
<door type> - Is the drop file format to be used. It may be one of
the following:
LO110 - Lora 1.11 (LORAUSER.BBS)
RA100 - Remote Access v. 1.0x (EXITINFO.BBS)
RA111 - Remote Access v. 1.1x (EXITINFO.BBS)
DI - QuickBBS (DORINFO1.DEF)
DW - Doorway mode 1 (DOOR.SYS)
DW2 - Doorway mode 2 (DOOR.SYS)
OP103 - Opus 1.03 (LASTUSER.BBS)
OP110 - Opus 1.10 (LASTUSER.DAT)
MI - Message information (MSGED.BBS)
<options> - The following options may be specified:
-D - The directory where the drop file should be created
(usually the door's path name). By default the
current directory will be used.
-I - The path where the Lora's drop file (LORAINFO.Txx)
should be read. Usually this is the Lora's main
directory. By default the current directory will be
used.
-T - Specifies the task number.
-B - Overrides the baud rate written to the drop file.
-X - Insert the task number in the drop file (such as
DORINFO2.DEF, DOOR3.SYS).
-O - Overrides the baud rate written to the drop file
using the configured maximum baud rate.
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-S - Log style format: 1-Opus, 2-Telix, 3-Mirror, 4-
Frontdoor).
-M - Automatically writes the MSGED.BBS file (Message
information) when using DORINFO1.DEF or Doorway drop
files.
-Q - Operates quietly.
-E - Writes in the log file the errors only.
-P - Insert the real password (not the Lora's encrypted
one) in the drop file.
-C - Overrides the COM port.
Note for OS/2 users: this is a DOS program even with the OS/2
package, due to technical reasons we cannot recompile it as a native
OS/2 program.
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10.0 - The Terminal Emulator
=====================================================================
Although Lora was designed primarily as an e-mail and BBS system, it
also features a powerful terminal emulator. The terminal emulator
features very accurate and efficient terminal emulation and file
transfer protocols, and several other features found in expensive
and/or complex communications packages.
The terminal emulator is invoked by pressing ALT-T from the Lora's
main menu, or by specifying TERMINAL on the command line when it is
started.
Most functions of the terminal emulator are reached by holding down
the ALT key and pressing a key, A through Z.
Each function and menu of the terminal emulator will now be
described.
Download files (PgDn) - Receive one or more files from the remote
system.
Upload files (PgUp) - Transmit one or more files to the remote
system.
O.S. Shell (ALT-J) - Invokes a temporary operating system shell. Type
EXIT and press [Enter] to return to the terminal
emulator.
Leave terminal (ALT-X) - Depending on how the terminal emulator was
invoked, this will return you to the Lora's
mailer screen or to the operating system.
Change baud rate (ALT-B) - Allows you to change the current DTE baud
rate, regardless of the 'Lock baud' option
set.
Expand CR to CR/LF - Determines how a received CR character should be
processed. If set to No, no expansion is made,
If it is set to Yes, all received CR characters
will be expanded to CR/LF.
Local echo (ALT-E) - If the service you are connecting to do not echo
the characters you type, it may be necessary to
enable this option to see what you are typing.
If the service echoes the characters you type
and you are using this option, you will get
duplicate characters, like "AATTZZ".
Auto-ZModem download - If the terminal emulator detects the special
sequence a ZModem transmitter sends when a
ZModem file download is started, it will
automatically start the ZModem receiver. If
you disable this option, you must use <PgDn>
to receive files.
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Capture (ALT-L) - Allows you to capture the characters received to a
disk file or to a printer. The terminal emulator
automatically filters the ANSI and Avatar
sequences, they will never appear in a capture
file.
Hangup (ALT-H) - Disconnects the current call and displays the
elapsed time.
Initialize modem (ALT-I) - Transmit the modem init string as
configured in the Terminal / Miscellaneous
menu.
Reset timer (ALT-R) - Resets the on-line timer. The timer is
automatically reset when a new connection is
made.
Clear screen (ALT-C) - Clears the screen and moves the cursor to the
upper-left screen corner.
Dialing directory (ALT-D) - Brings up the dialing directory manager.
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10.1 - The dialing directory
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The dialing directory allows you to define up to 100 phone numbers.
The terminal emulator keeps the dialing directory in a file named
PHONE.DAT located in the Lora's main directory.
The informations stored for each system are the following:
Name - System's name.
Location - City and country where the system is located.
Phone - Phone number. The number can be written either in the
international format (such as 39-51-6331730) or in the local
format (such as 6331730). The phone cost calculation is made
only if the phone number is written in the international
format, unless you have changed the default cost table
(Manager / Costs menu) to work even with your local phone
format.
Password - The password to be used with this system (shown as dots
for security reasons).
Download path - Where the files downloaded from this system should be
kept.
Auto capture - This option allows you to automatically open the
capture file when a connection to this system is
made. The capture file is always open in append mode.
Capture - The capture's file name.
IEMSI - Allows you to automate the login to this system using the
IEMSI (Interactive Electronic Mail Standard Interface)
protocol.
Local echo - Tells the terminal emulator that each character typed
should be written to the screen, because the remote
system does not echo the characters typed.
Strip high bit - If set, this option automatically resets the 7th bit
of each character received.
When the dialing directory is invoked, it shows a list of the stored
entries and allows you to choose what system must be called. The
bottom line of the list's window shows you the available keys:
ESC - Closes the dialing directory and return to the terminal screen.
ENTER - Dial the highlighted entry.
INS - Adds a new entry to the directory. The new entry is
automatically saved to disk when you exit the editing window by
pressing the ESC key.
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E - Edit the highlighted entry. The modifyed entry is automatically
saved to disk when you exit the editing window by pressing the
ESC key.
DEL - Delete the highlighted entry (the system requests a
confirmation before deleting the entry).
When dialing a system you may see a window with the following
information: attempt number, timeout for the current call, name,
location and phone number of the called system, and the modem's
response.
The following keys are available:
ESC - Aborts the dial and return to the terminal screen.
SPACE - Retry to call the system (if the phone is busy and your modem
does not recognizes the busy signal).
A - Add 15 seconds to the timeout. This option should be used if the
remote system answers the phone few seconds before the timeout
expires.
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11.0 - Miscellaneous
=====================================================================
This chapter collects the arguments that don't belong to a specific
chapter.
11.1 - Keyboard commands
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Lora can execute certain operations by a particular key sequence.
Usually it's a ALT + <key> combination.
The function associated to each key changes across different
situations. The available situations are the following: waiting for a
call, online user, terminal emulation.
11.1.1 - Waiting for a call
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The following commands can be executed:
ESC - It activates the pull-down menus (see later).
ALT-A - Manual answer. It forces the modem the answer an incoming
call by sending the answer string specified in the Modem /
Commands menu.
ALT-C - It calls LSETUP in Lora shell. Each modification executed
(except for those related to the users and the event
scheduler) will be available when coming back to Lora.
ALT-D - It forces an immediate call. Lora will call the first node to
be called immediately, without waiting for the time specified
for the current event.
ALT-E - This command invokes the local message editor, in a Lora
shell.
ALT-I - It sends the modem initialization command.
ALT-J - Executes a DOS shell.
ALT-K - Local connection. Login is made exactly like in remote
connections. Lora puts off-hook the phone line before
entering the BBS.
ALT-L - It locks the keyboard with a password (needed for
activation). In locked mode, the ALT-K command only will be
available. To re-enable keyboard, you need to type the right
password when Lora waits for a call. To completely disable
the keyboard locking, the "Password" field must be left
blank.
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ALT-M - It makes a calling entry for a specific node. Lora will ask
for the node number to be called and calling priority. If you
specify "Immediate", Lora will immediately call the node; any
other flag will be processed according to the current event.
ALT-P - It forces mail processing. This command makes an IMPORT from
the directory defined for the current event, an EXPORT of
every echomail message, and a netmail and outbound packets
PACK. TIC files are processed too.
ALT-Q - It makes an outbound scan, updating the node window.
ALT-R - It makes a file request from a specific node. Lora will ask
for the node number to be called, the file(s) to be
requested, and calling priority. If you specify "Immediate",
Lora will immediately call the node; any other flag will be
processed according to the current event.
ALT-S - It makes a file attach to a specific node. Lora will ask for
the node number to be called, the file(s) to be attached, and
calling priority. If you specify "Immediate", Lora will
immediately call the node; any other flag will be processed
according to the current event.
ALT-T - It activates the internal terminal emulator (see later for
specific commands).
ALT-X - Exits to DOS. Lora puts off-hook the phone line before
exiting.
Down/Up arrows - Node scrolling inside the window.
11.1.2 - User online
---------------------------------------------------------------------
While there's a user on-line, the following commands are enabled:
ALT-F - Allows you to change user's flags.
ALT-H - Disconnects the user immediately.
ALT-J - Makes a DOS shell.
ALT-L - Disconnects the user immediately, and reduces his level to 0.
A 0-level user can't connect the system any more.
ALT-N - Toggles the "Nerd" flag for the current user. If the nerd
flag is on and the user wants a chat, no sound will be
produced. The user does not understand that he's not calling
anybody.
ALT-S - Allows the sysop to modify the user's access level.
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F1-F4 - They display a few stats about the on-line user and the
previous call.
F9 - Displays a short list of available commands.
ALT-F1 - ALT-F10 - They display a file called ALTFxx.*, where xx
ranges from 10 to 100 depending on the kunction
key pressed (ALT-F1 exits with errorlevel 10, ALT-
F2 exits with errorlevel 20, and so on). The file
must be stored in the "textfiles" directory
specified for the current user language.
Grey Plus - It rises user's level by 1 unit (i.e. from Normal to
Worthy).
Grey Minus - It lowers user's level by 1 unit (i.e. from Worthy to
Normal).
Up/down arrows - They add/remove 1 minute to/from the current user's
time left.
11.1.3 - Terminal emulator
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The keys available for the internal terminal emulator are the
following:
ALT-B - Permette di cambiare la velocita' di collegamento, scorrendo
in sequenza tutte le velocita' possibili.
ALT-C - Clears the screen and puts the cursor in the upper left
corner.
ALT-D - Starts up the dialing directory selection menu. You can dial
an entry, inser new entry, edit or delete existing entry.
ALT-H - Hangups the call.
ALT-I - Sends the terminal initialization string to the modem. Please
note that this string is different from the one used when
Lora waits for a call.
ALT-J - Makes a DOS shell.
ALT-L - Activates/deactivates the capture from the modem. When
activating, Lora will ask for the file in which the
information will be stored (by default, TERMINAL.CAP).
ALT-P - Permette di cambiare il formato della parola da inviare al
modem da N81 (nessuna parita', 8 bit di dati, 1 bit di stop)
a E71 (parita' pari, 7 bit di dati, 1 bit di stop). Di
default la parola e' N81.
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ALT-R - Resets the time-online counter (displayed in the lower right
corner).
ALT-X - Exits from terminal mode and goes back to "waiting for a
call" mode.
ALT-Z - Activates the pull-down menus.
PgDn - File download: Lora will ask for the protocol to be used and,
if necessary, the destination filename.
PgUp - File upload: Lora will ask for the protocol to be used and
the filename to be uploaded. The file must be in the upload
directory defined in LSETUP.
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11.2 - Command line
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Lora accepts command line parameters, that allow you to manage many
lines with a single configuration file.
-B<speed> - Connection speed: This parameter indicates there's a user
online, so that the BBS is immediately loaded. If the
carrier detect is down, Lora exits immediately with the
errorlevel specified for every call.
-C<file> - Sets the configuration file to be read instead of
CONFIG.DAT. If the file doesn't exist, LSETUP will be
automatically run, allowing you to create the
configuration file.
-F<string> - Passes to Lora the flags reported by the modem. I.E.:
Arq/Hst/Hst/V42bis.
-I<string> - Tells Lora the modem initialization string to be used
instead of the string defined in the configuration file.
Useful for multiline systems with different modems.
-L - Sets Lora to be run in local mode.
-M - Disables the internal front-end mailer. After connection, the
user will immediately enter the BBS, with no need to press ESC
twice.
-N<num> - Determines the task number. This parameter has priority
upon the same command in the configuration file. Evaluation
copies (not registered) can't define a number different
from 1.
-NB - Prevents Lora from executing the before/after import/export/
pack commands. Useful if you want to toss, scan or pack the
mail without any other processing made by the before/after
commands.
-O<address> - Tells Lora that the <address> node is online, and that
your system generated the call.
-P<num> - Sets the serial port to be used. This command has priority
upon the same command in the configuration file.
-R<file> - Sets the log file name to be written. This parameter has
priority upon the same command in the configuration file.
IMPORT - Unpacks the mail packets an toss the messages in the
echomail/netmail areas. The command 'TOSS' means the same
thing.
EXPORT - Esports the messages from the echomail areas to the linked
nodes. The command 'SCAN' means the same thing.
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NODELIST - Starts the nodelist compilation and, if applicable, the
nodediff update feature. When all the nodelist available
are compiled Lora exits back to the DOS prompt.
PACK - Exports the netmail messages to the addressed nodes and
packs the mail accordingly to the route rules.
POLL - Immediately polls the node specified after the keyword
(for example: POLL 2:332/402). If the poll fails, Lora
exits with errorlevel 1, if succedes it can process the
mail received or exit with the errorlevel defined for the
current event as the 'Aftermail exit'.
TERMINAL - Brings up the terminal emulator. The terminal then will
exits directly to the DOS prompt.
TIC - Processes the inbound TIC files, tossing them in the
appropriate file areas and forwarding them to the
receiving nodes.
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11.3 - External support files
---------------------------------------------------------------------
We will now list all the files that Lora displays to users for any
communication.
The files must be stored in the "textfiles path" directory defined
for the current user language.
1ATATIME - Shown to the user who tries to connect himself to more
than one line with the same name at the same time.
APHORISM - Shown by Menu type 13, before displaying the current
quote.
APPLIC - Shown to the new users after the name confirmation and
before asking them the calling site.
ALIASASK - Shown to the user before asking him if he wants to use a
nickname, or the real name.
BADPWD - Shown when a user inserts a bad password too many
times, before logging him out.
BIRTHDAY - Shown if the current date is the user's birthday.
BFAILED - Shown to the user who gives a wrong answer to the birthday
check.
BVERIFY - Shown to the user before asking him his birthday for
validation.
CB_HELP - Help file for the multiline chat (CB Chat system)
COMPHELP - Help file for the available packers.
CHGPWD - Shown when a user wants to change his password.
DAYLIMIT - Shown when a user has already spent all his
available time for today.
DEFCOMP - Shown, if exists, instead of the internally coded packer
list. This file is concerned with the default packer
selection only.
DEFPROT - Shown, if exists, instead of the internally coded protocol
list. This file concerns the default protocol selection
only.
FGROUP - Shown by Meny type 121, when the user has to choose the
file group. Usually if contains the list of the available
groups.
FILEAREA - Shown, if exists, instead of the internally coded file
list.
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FSHELP - Help file for the internal full-screen message editor.
This file can not include any embedded command for
pausing, color change, etc.
LEAVING - Shown to the user, before executing an external door.
Usually used to inform the user to wait for a little time.
LESSBAUD - Shown when the current baud rate is lower than the
previous one.
LOCKOUT - Shown when the sysop hits ALT-L to avoid next calls
from the on-line user.
LOGO - Shown at the beginning of a call, before asking
the user's full name.
LOGOFF - Shown at the end of a call, before dropping the
line.
LOGONSEC - Shown to the user if his access level is not high enough
to access the system.
LOGONFLA - Shown to the user if his active flags are not enough to
access the system.
LOGONAGE - Shown to the user if his age is not high enough to
access the system.
MGROUP - Shown by Meny type 121, when the user has to choose the
message group. Usually it contains the list of the
available groups.
MOREBAUD - Shown when the current baud rate is higher than
the previous one.
MSGAREA - Shown, if exists, instead of the internally coded message
list.
NEWS - Sysop's news bulletin. Displayed before entering
the main menu.
NEWUSER1 - Shown after the environment question sequence,
before the new password request.
NEWUSER2 - Replaces the rookie file at the first login only.
NOTAVAIL - Shown when the user try to yell at the Sysop outside the
paging hours defined in the BBS / Paging hours menu.
NOTIME - Shown when the user has not enough time to complete
a download.
PAGED - Shown to the user after the yell to the sysop stops.
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PREDNLD - Shown to the user after selecting the download command,
and before asking him the download protocol and filename.
PREREG - Shown when a new user tries to enter a system
that does not allow new users (see the LOGON LEVEL
parameter in the LSETUP configuration program).
PREUPLD - Shown to the user after selecting the upload command, and
before asking him the upload protocol.
RATIO - Shown when a user who exceeded the down/up ratio
tries to begin a download.
RETURN - Shown to the user when coming back from an external door.
ROOKIE - Used to give help to the new users and to let them
get to know the system. You can choose how many
times this file has to be displayed in the LSETUP program.
SEC# - Displayed before the mail checker, only if the file
exists. The # character represents the user's
access level in numeric form. See external doors chapter
for more details.
SECALL - Shown to the user if the sec#.* related to the online
user's level does not exist.
SHELLBY - Shown to the user when the Sysop makes a DOS shell while
he's online.
SHELLHI - Shown to the user when the Sysop comes back from a Dos
Shell.
STARTCHT - Shown to the user at the beginning of a user-sysop chat.
ENDCHT - Shown to the user at the end of a user-sysop chat.
TIMEWARN - Displayed when the time left to the user overflows
to a forced or non BBS event. The time is adjusted
automatically.
TODAYK - Displayed when the total file dimension exceeds
the daily limit as defined for the users' access
level.
TOOSLOW - Displayed when a user tries to connect himself at a too
low baud rate.
TRASHCAN - Displayed if a user tries to use a name that is not
allowed in this system (listed in the file
TRASHCAN.DAT, described below).
TRASHPWD - Displayed if a user tries to use a password that is
not allowed in this system (listed in the file
TRASHPWD.DAT, described below).
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ULSPACE - Shown where there isn't enough free disk space in the file
area's upload drive, as defined in the BBS / General
options menu, 'Min. upload space' field..
WARNPWD - Shown when somebody tried (with no success) to
force the current user's password (see BADPWD
file).
WELCOME - Shown after the password introduction by the user.
Usually it contains a welcome message.
WHY_ANSI - Help file for the question about ANSI graphics.
WHY_AVT - Help file for the question about the AVATAR codes
transmission.
WHY_COL - Help file for the question about color.
WHY_FULR - Help file for the question about the full screen
message reader.
WHY_IBM - Help file for the question about displaying extended IBM
character (>127).
WHY_NEW - Help file for the "Did you write the name exactly?"
question.
WHY_OPED - Help file for the question about the full screen
ANSI editor.
WHY_PVT - Help file for the question about private messages.
XFERHELP - Help file for the file transfer protocol selection.
The following files are used for special tasks and must be created in
the main directory of Lora:
TRASHCAN.CFG - Contains all the unusable users' names, or part of
users' names, in ASCII format. No one is allowed to
enter the system if his name contains any word listed
in this file. If someone tries to do so, the file
TRASHCAN.??? will be displayed, then logged off.
TRASHPWD.CFG - Same as the TRASHCAN.CFG, but for the password field.
If a user tries to enter a password that contains a
word listed in this file, the external file
TRASHPWD.??? will be displayed, then logged off.
NAMES.CFG - This file contains the names and node numbers of
people you are writing often from your BBS. The format
of the file is as follow:
<Name>, <Address>
Marco Maccaferri, 2:332/402.1
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When a user enters a netmail message to <Name>, Lora
automatically fills the destination address field with
<Address>. This avoids possible mismatches
AREAS.BBS - This file is used by the echomail processor, as an
alternative to the definitions made using LSETUP, for
the echomail import/export operations. Following is an
example of a valid AREAS.BBS file:
Arci Computer Club Bologna ! Marco Maccaferri
;
C:\MSG\CLANG CLANG.ITA 332/403 22402/1 2 3 332/402.5
130 FIDO_STYLE.ITA 332/403
$C:\MSG\LORA LORA.400 332/403 418 419
!2 MSDOS.400 332/403 332/402.5 .6
## HELP_ARC 332/418 22402/2
;
The first line is ignored by Lora but is
required by other mail processors and/or
areafix handlers. The following lines are
examples of how to specify the message base for
each echomail area:
CLANG.ITA is a Fido *.MSG area, FIDO_STYLE.ITA
is an Hudson (QuickBBS) board, LORA.400 is a
Squish<tm> area and MSDOS.400 is a Pip-Base
area. HELP_ARC is a special area called Pass-
through, messages sent to this area are
exported immediately to the destination nodes,
then deleted.
The following are flag files, i.e. special files that Lora look for
in the current directory while waiting for a call. The features
described here are reserved to registered users only.
RESCAN.NOW - If this file exists Lora rescans the
outbound directory. Useful if you use an
external mail processor in a multitasking
environment.
ECHOMAIL.RSN - This file signals Lora to perform an attempt at
exporting new echomail messages. Usually used with a
message editor like Golded or WEdit, to immediately
process the messages written.
NETMAIL.RSN - This file signals Lora to perform an attempt at
exporting the netmail messages.
LEXITxx.yyy - If Lora found in the current directory a file
named LEXIT<num>.<err> (like, for example
LEXIT1.15), then Lora configured with the line
number <num> terminates the current call (if
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any) and exits to DOS with the errorlevel
<err>. In the example above the line #1 will
exit with the errorlevel 15.
VIRSCAN.BAT - This batch file, if exists in the current directory,
will be executed after each upload and allows the
Sysop to check the files for viruses. Lora put four
parameters on the command line:
%1 - The full file name with the drive and the path
(C:\File\Uploads\FOO.BAR).
%2 - The destination directory with the trailing
backslash (C:\File\Uploads\).
%3 - The file's name without the extension (FOO).
%4 - The file's extension with the leading period
(.ZIP).
The batch file must move the file (and eventually flag
it on the log file) if it is not allowed on the
system.
RCVFAX.BAT - This batch file is called when a FAX call is received
by the mailer section and the 'FAX Errorlevel', in the
Modem / Hardware menu, is set to 0. Lora put three
parameters on the command line:
%1 - The serial port number (1=COM1, 2=COM2, etc.).
%2 - The modem connection speed (always set to the
'Maximum baud rate' value).
%3 - (OS/2 version only). The serial port file handle.
The batch should call the FAX receiving software with
the appropriate parameters, then return to the BBS. If
the carrier is still high, Lora automatically hangup
the modem.
If FAX messages are succesfully received, the batch
can create a file called RCVFAX.FLG in the Lora's
system directory. This flag allows Lora to display a
flashing "FAX" in the bottom-right corner of the
mailer screen, informing you that new FAX are
received.
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11.4 - Embedded commands
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Each file displayed by Lora may contain the control code sequences
listed below. They can be used for status file creation, or for
questionnaire generation.
These commands are compatible with those available in Opus 1.72,
RemoteAccess 1.10 and Maximus 2.00. In case of conflict between
homonymous commands, the Maximus 2.00 standard has been preferred.
11.4.1 - Single commands
---------------------------------------------------------------------
^A - Stops the output and wait for the user to press the Enter key.
If followed by another ^A, then the message 'Press [Enter] to
continue' will be displayed.
^D - Enables the pause at the end of each screen page, even if the
user has disabled this setting.
^E - Disables the pause at the end of each screen page, even if the
user has enabled this setting.
^G - The computer emits a beep.
^H - Backspace
^I - Tab.
^J - Line feed
^K - If the character following isn't present on the character set
show in the 'Compund commands with ^K' then prevents the user to
stop the scrolling with a ^C.
^L - Clear the screen (it will be translated to the correct emulation
sequence or in a CR/LF sequence if the user hasn't either the
ANSI or AVATAR emulations).
^M - Carriage return
^Q - Used for XON/XOFF controls. Unavailable.
^S - Used for XON/XOFF controls. Unavailable.
^V - Avatar commands.
^X - External door execution. The lines will be treated as a DOS
command and interpreted accordingly. The following parameters
can be spcified:
*0 - Path of the current file area.
*1 - Path of the current message area.
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*B - Baud rate (0 if in local mode).
*F - User's first name
*G - 0=No graphics, 1=Ansi, 2=Avatar.
*H - Disables FOSSIL driver before executing the program (DOS
verions only). The OS/2 version translate this parameter to
the serial port file handle.
*L - User's last name.
*M - Swap of the total memory occupied by Lora, leaving only
1.5K for the recovery routines (DOS version only).
*N - Task number.
*P - Serial port (1=COM1, 2=COM2, etc.).
*R - User's position inside the user's database (record
(number).
*S - Don't read the LORAINFO file after the end of the
external program.
*T - Time left for the current call.
*W - Actives the FOSSIL watchdog. If the carrier drops, FOSSIL
driver reboots the system (DOS version only).
*X - Prevents the creation of the LORAINFO.T?? by Lora.
*! - Stops time during the door execution.
The user will be allowed as much time he was before
entering the door.
*# - Disables the 'wants chat' flag. Useful for external
chat programs.
For compatibility to Scott Dudley's Maximus-CBCS 2.00,
the following command are available:
%A - User's first name, all capital letters.
%b - Baud rate (0 if in local mode).
%B - User's last name, all capital letters.
%c - The place of the call.
%C - The last answer to the questionnaire ^OR command (see the
EMBEDDED COMMANDS section for more details).
%d - The number of the current message area.
%D - The number of the current file area.
%E - Length, in lines, of the user's screen.
%f - User's first name.
%F - Path of the current message area.
%g - 0=No graphics, 1=Ansi, 2=Avatar.
%G - User's daily download limit.
%h - Voice phone number of the user.
%H - Kilobytes number downloaded today.
%i - Total download.
%I - Total upload.
%j - Connection time for the current call.
%k - Task Number.
%l - User's last name.
%L - In remote calls the flag is substituted with the
'-pX -bY' string, where X is the serial port (1=COM1,
2=COM2, etc.) and Y is the baud rate. In local calls
the flag is substituted with the '-k' string.
%M - Path of the current message area.
%n - User's first name.
%N - BBS name, as defined in the configuration file.
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%p - The DOS version translate this parameter to the serial port
number (0=COM1, 1=COM2, etc). The OS/2 version translate
this parameter to the serial port file handle (0 for local
mode).
%P - Serial port (1=COM1, 2=COM2, etc, 0 for local mode).
%q - Path of the current message area, without final
backslash.
%Q - Path of the current file ares, without final
backslash.
%s - Sysop's last name.
%S - Sysop's first name.
%t - Time left for the call, in minutes.
%T - Time left for the call, in seconds.
%u - User's number.
%U - Substituted with the underscore '_'.
%v - Path of the upload directory.
%V - Path of the upload directory, without the final backslash
%Z - User's full name in capital letters.
^Y - Repeats the first character after the command, as many times as
specified by the second character after the command. For example
to send out 5 underscores, type the following: ^Y_^E.
^Z - End of File (not to be used).
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11.4.2 - Compound commands with ?F
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Commands preceded by ^F are related to the data of the on-line user
and allow to create information text to be shown at the beginning of
the connection.
^FC - Displays the CPS of the last file transmitted.
^FD - Displays the phone number of office/data.
^FE - Displays the phone number of home/voice.
^FF - Displays the date, without time, of the last login.
^FG - Displays the time of the last login.
^FH - Displays the percentage efficiency of the last file
transmitted.
^FI - YES/NO IBM character set.
^FL - Displays the netmail credit.
^FM - Displays the number of the last personal message read.
^FN - Displays the number of the last message read in the current
area.
^FO - Displays the user's privilege level in verbal form.
^FQ - Displays the number of files sent.
^FR - Displays the number of kbytes sent.
^FS - Displays the number of files received.
^FT - Displays the number of kbytes received.
^FV - Displays the number of screen lines set by the user.
^FX - YES/NO ANSI toggle.
^FY - YES/NO end of page toggle.
^FZ - YES/NO formfeed code (ASCII 12) toggle.
^F0 - YES/NO full screen editor toggle.
^F2 - YES/NO hot keyed menu.
^F3 - Displays the user's handle.
^F4 - Displays the first login date.
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^F5 - Displays the user's birthday.
^F6 - YES/NO mail check at login.
^F7 - Displays the user's registration.
^F8 - YES/NO AVATAR/0+ toggle.
^F9 - Number of upload/download ratio in the format 1:x.
^F! - YES/NO colors toggle.
^F^A - Displays the next quote reading it from the file defined in
the configuration file (^FA also).
^F^B - Displays the user's full name.
^F^C - Displays the user's city (^FB also).
^F^D - Displays the current date.
^F^E - Displays the number of calls made by the user (^FP
also).
^F^F - Displays the user's first name (^FW also).
^F^G - One second pause.
^F^K - Displays the total on-line time of the day (counting all the
calls made during the day).
^F^L - Displays the on-line time of the present call (^FU
also).
^F^N - Stops the connection.
^F^O - Displays the time left for the current call.
^F^P - Displays date and onset time of the connection. A CR/LF
character is added.
^F^Q - Displays the number of different users who called on
that day.
^F^R - Displays the net download of the user so far made
(download - upload).
^F^S - Displays the user's signature (sentence to put at the end of
each message written, like a signature on a paper).
^F^T - Displays current time.
^F^U - Forces the user to answer a question.
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^F^V - Allows the user to answer with a blank line.
^F^W - Displays the number of Kbyte sent.
^F^X - Displays the number of Kbytes received.
^F^Y - Displays the received/sent kBytes ratio in x:1 format
(^F: also).
^F[ - Download remaining for today.
^F\ - The user's selected language.
^F] - Displays the comment field of the user's record
(currently not implemented but available).
^F; - YES/NO full screen message reader.
^F% - Shows the default file transfer protocol.
^F" - Shows the default compressor.
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11.4.3 - Compound commands with ^K
---------------------------------------------------------------------
These commands are related to the general situation of the system,
and have been introduced for compatibility with RemoteAccess 1.01.
^KA - Total number of calls to the system (all the lines).
^KB - Name of the last user who called the current line.
^KC - Displays the number of the current message's child (answer to
this message).
^KD - Number of the first message (this command has been
introduced for compatibility, and is always set to 1).
^KE - Number of the last message in the current area.
^KF - Displays the rest of the line only if the date and time of the
last modification of the file specified after the command is
greater or equal to the user's last call date.
^KG - Displays the day of the week.
^KI - Displays the current time in the form hh:mm:ss.
^KJ - Displays the current date in the form dd mmm aa.
^KK - Minutes on-line so far for the current call.
^KM - Number of personal messages found in the message base.
^KO - Time left for the current call.
^KP - Displays the number of the current message's parent (message
that this message is an answer to).
^KQ - Time limit for each call.
^KR - Baud rate of the connection.
^KT - Daily download limit.
^KU - Number of minutes still available before the next forced
or non BBS event.
^KW - Number of the line.
^KX - Stops immediately the connection.
^KY - Title of the current message area.
^KZ - Title of the current file area.
^K0 - Number of messages in the current area.
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^K1 - Number of the currently active message area.
^K2 - Number of the currently active file area.
^K5 - Name of the currently active message area.
^K7 - Displays the user's time bank account.
^K8 - Displays the user's file bank account.
^K9 - Number of messages contained in the current message
area.
^K[ - Download remaining for today.
^K\ - Delete the line from cursor to the end.
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11.4.4 - Compound commands with ^O
---------------------------------------------------------------------
These commands are related to the user-BBS interaction, and allow the
creation of questionnaires, or the execution of programs needing
particular parameters. It's also possible to execute batch file with
the command described later.
^OC - Executes an external program. Everything written after the C
character is passed to DOS exactly as it is. LASTUSER.BBS,
LORAUSER.BBS and DORINFO1.DEF are created.
^OD - If the current file terminates for any reason, the file
specified after the command will be displayed to the user.
^OE - The rest of the line is displayed only if the user has the ANSI
or AVATAR graphics enabled.
^OF - Declares the file name to be displayed at the end of the
current file (no matter in what way).
^OM - Saves the last answer given to the ^OR command in the answer
file (if it has been opened), with the comment written after
the M character.
^ON - Asks the user to write a line. If an answer file has been
opened (see ^OO command), the line will be recorded with the
comment written after the N character.
^OO - Opens or creates a file in which the answers to the
questionnaire will be recorded. The filename must follow the
command. Example: ^OOC:\Lora\Answer.Txt.
^OP - Saves the essential data of the on-line user (name, city, last
time call) in the answer file.
^OQ - Ends the file. If another file has ben defined with the ^OF
command, the control passes to that file.
^OR - Allows answers. After the R character the list of letters
constituting a valid answer must be inserted. The file
execution will continue only if the user answers with one of
the letters specified above.
^OS - The control passes to the file set after the S character.
^OT - Makes a 'GOTO beginning of file' function (to be used
cautiously because there's no way to terminate the file
execution without the ^OQ command).
^OU - Immediately after the U character, a capital letter must be
written. All the line will be displayed (or executed) only if
the last answer to the ^OR command was the same as that of the
specified letter.
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^OV - Makes a 'GOTO offset (number of bytes from the beginning of
file)' function, in digit form. To be used cautiously and with
programs that can compute the offset with precision.
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11.4.5 - AVATAR commands
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The AVATAR commands (Advanced Video Attribute Translator And
Recreator) allow to change the remote video attributes in an
intelligent way. That means that, if the user cannot see ANSI
graphics or his terminal is unable to receive directly the ANSI
codes, they will be ignored (color codes) or transformed into TTY
sequences to be displayed on simple terminals.
^V^A - Changes video attribute. The immediately following character
represents the attribute to be changed. The bit meaning is
equivalent to the attribute byte of the video card Please note
that if the attribute is CTRL-P, it has to be repeated twice.
(^V^A^P -> ^V^A^P^P).
Following are the color codes that can be changed with the
^V^A command:
Foreground Background Colours
------------------ ---------------------
0 - Black 0 - Black
1 - Blue 1 - Blue
2 - Green 2 - Green
3 - Cyan 3 - Cyan
4 - Red 4 - Red
5 - Purple 5 - Purple
6 - Brown 6 - Brown
7 - White 7 - White
8 - Grey
9 - Bright Blue
A - Bright Green
B - Bright Cyan
C - Bright Red
D - Bright Purple
E - Bright Yellow
F - Bright White
0 - Flashing Black 8 - Black
1 - Flashing Blue 9 - Blue
2 - Flashing Green A - Green
3 - Flashing Cyan B - Cyan
4 - Flashing Red C - Red
5 - Flashing Purple D - Purple
6 - Flashing Brown E - Brown
7 - Flashing White F - White
8 - Flashing Grey
9 - Flashing Bright Blue
A - Flashing Bright Green
B - Flashing Bright Cyan
C - Flashing Bright Red
D - Flashing Bright Purple
E - Flashing Bright Yellow
F - Flashing Bright White
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Examples:
43 - Red foreground on a Cyan background.
01 - Blue on a black background.
FB - Flashing Bright White on a Cyan background.
^V^C - Cursor toward the top of the screen.
^V^D - Cursor toward the bottom of the screen.
^V^E - Cursor toward left.
^V^F - Cursor toward right.
^V^G - Deletes the current line from the cursor position to the end.
^V^H - The two following bytes represent the x and y coordinates in
which the cursor will be moved.
^V^Y - Repeat the specified string a given number of times. The
complete format of the command is ^V^Y<len><s><n>, where <len>
is the length of the string to be repeated, <s> is the string
itself, <n> is the number of times the string <s> has to be
repeated.
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11.4.6 - Compound commands with ^W
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Some of the following commands have been already presented. They've
been added for compatibility to Maximus-CBCS 1.02.
^W^A - Displays the last login date.
^W^B1 - The rest of the line will be displayed only if the baud rate
is equal to, or greater than, 1200 baud.
^W^B2 - The rest of the line will be displayed only if the baud rate
is equal to, or greater than, 2400 baud.
^W^B9 - The rest of the line will be displayed only if the baud rate
is equal to, or greater than, 9600 baud.
^W^C - Displays the board's name as defined in the system
configuration file.
^W^D - Displays the sysop name, as defined in the system
configuration file.
^W^E - Displays the last string written with the ^ON command.
^W^FA - Displays the number of the current file area.
^W^FN - Displays the title of the current file area.
^W^G - Only local ring beeps.
^W^MA - Displays the number of the current message area.
^W^ML - Displays the number of the last message read.
^W^MN - Displays the title of the current message area.
^W^MH - Displays the number of the last message.
^W^M# - Displays the total number of messages present in the current
area.
^W^NB - The same as ^NC.
^W^NC - Displays the user's netmail credit.
^W^ND - Since Lora does not consider the netmail debit, this command
returns 0. Included for compatibility.
^W8 - The rest of the line will be displayed only if the user's
screen has 80 columns or more.
^WA - Put the last answer to a ^ON command in the log file.
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^Wa - Send the last answer to a ^ON command to all the users
currently on-line as a broadcast message.
^WB - Toggle capitals letters on/off.
^WcA - The rest of the line is sent only if the user is connected
locally (not via modem).
^WcR - The rest of the line is sent only if the user is connected to
the system with a modem.
^WD - Deletes the file set after the D character.
^WGA - Displays the number of the current file area.
^WGN - Displays the title of the current file area.
^WIL - The rest of the line is sent only if the user is connected
locally (not via modem).
^WIR - The rest of the line is sent only if the user is connected to
the system with a modem.
^WkF - Turn off the flags specified after the command.
^WkI - Displays the rest of the line only if the user flags match
with the flags specified after the command. The flags are
separated from the rest of the line with a single space
character.
^WkO - Turn on the flags specified after the command.
^WkT - Toggle on/off the flags specified after the command.
^WpD - Lowers the user's access level by one unit.
^WpU - Rises the user's access level by one unit.
^WL - Link the current file with another. After completion of the
other file, the control is returned to the calling file.
^WP - Displays the voice phone number.
^WR - Displays the user's handle.
^Ws - Gives to the user the level indicated after the s character.
^WW - Writes the rest of the line in the questionnaire answer file.
^Ww - Displays the current on-line users.
^WXD - The same as XR (implemented for compatibility).
^WXR - Executes an external program (the same as ^OC).
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The ^W command, used alone, stops file reading for half second.
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11.4.7 - Compound commands with ^P
---------------------------------------------------------------------
These commands are related to the actions to be taken accordingly to
the access level of the on-line user.
The access levels must be specified with the initial letter (Twit,
Disgrace, Limited, Normal, Worthy, Privel, Favored, Extra, Clerk,
AsstSysop, Sysop).
^PB - The rest of the line is displayed only if the user's level is
equal to, or lesser than, a specified level.
^PL - The rest of the line is displayed only if the user's level is
equal to, or greater than, a specified level.
^PQ - The rest of the line is displayed only if the user's level is
equal to a specified level.
^PX - The rest of the line is displayed only if the user's level is
different from a specified level.
By setting only the level letter after the ^P character, file reading
will go on only if the user's level is equal to, or greater than a
specified level.
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11.4.8 - RPN commands (compound commands with ^R)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
RPN Engine for Lora (LRPN) is a set of command internal to the Lora's
text files that accomplishes the following functions:
- Mathematical calculations: additions, subtractions, etc.;
- Bitwise operations: NOT, AND, OR, XOR;
- Logical operations: NOT, AND, OR, XOR;
- Comparisons: equals, less than, greater than;
- User's flags handling;
- User's parameters handling;
- Cursor position and color codes handling;
- ... (and many others...)
Starting with LRPN
---------------------------------------------------------------------
LRPN is based on a stack, a series of numbers (initially empty) from
which is possible to extract the number in reverse order only (like a
First-In-Last-Out stack). For example, if the stack contains the
following values:
12 <--- Top of the stack
100
-6
43 <--- Current position
The next value extracted will be 43.
The numbers contained in the stack can be results from previous
calculations, or can be inserted directly as constants, variable
values (see below), user's flags, etc. The values can be used to make
further calculations and/or comparisons or put in variables, etc.
The current position is named ACCUMULATOR. The accumulator is like a
pre-chamber to the real stack and don't loose its contents when it is
put on the stack, so it is possible to put the same value two or more
times. For example if the stack contents is like the above, to insert
3 times the value 459 you can use the following sequence:
459,,,
Where the digits forms a number inside the accumulator and the colon
means "put the accumulator's contents on the stack". LRPN interprets
the characters with the following effects:
Character : 4 5 9 , , ,
Stack : 12 12 12 12 12 12
100 100 100 100 100 100
-6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6
43 43 43 43 43 43
4 * 45 * 459 * 459 459 459
459 * 459 459
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( * = accumulator ) 459 * 459
459 *
As you can see, the accumulator acts like a normal calculator display
and, for who knows the RPN calculators, the colon acts like the
[Enter] key.
It's important to note that the blanks are ignored by LRPN, so
writing 123 or 12 3 or 1 2 3 means the same thing, and
if there isn't digits before the 1, the accumulator contains the
value 123 at the end of each sequence.
If the sequence ends with a digit and the following sequence begins
with a digit, it will form a single number.
Data types
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Normally LRPN uses 16 bit integers with sign, the values can range
from -32768 to 32767. If an operation exceed this range no error is
generated but the results are unpredictable.
Some data used by LRPN (such as the user's flags) are bit type and
can be 1 or 0, if you put a value to a bit type other than 0, by
default it will be set to 1.
Variables
---------------------------------------------------------------------
LRPN can use up to 200 variables numbered from 0 to 199, to which you
can register the calculations results or data that can be preserved
from a text file to another. At the start of every connections to the
BBS every variable will be zeroed.
User's flag
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Are the flags from 0 to 9 and from A to V, there numberd from 0 to
31, so the flag #11 corresponds to the B flag.
Counters
---------------------------------------------------------------------
There are 10 counters, numbered from 0 to 9, that are the same used
by Lora with the other embedded commands. The counters are saved in
the user's configuration file so that their value can be preserved
across multiple calls of the same user.
The counters are bytes, so their values can range from 0 to 255. When
an assignment is made to a counter, only the least significant byte
is considered.
User's data
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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Are saved in the user's configuration file and can be of various
types and the numbers are not sequentially. Following is the list of
the data available and their means:
1 - (bit) 1 IBM character set
2 - (bit) 1 screen clearing codes sent
3 - (bit) 1 colour codes sent
4 - (bit) 1 ANSI graphics enabled
5 - (bit) 1 AVATAR graphics enabled
6 - (bit) 0 the TABs are translated to spaces
7 - (bit) 1 More? prompt enabled
8 - (bit) 1 hot-keyed menus
21 - (bit) 1 logon mail check enabled
22 - (bit) 1 full screen mail reader enabled
23 - (bit) 1 full screen mail editor enabled
24 - (bit) 1 view message's kludge lines
41 - (bit) 1 if the user is hidden from the users list
42 - (bit) 1 if the user cannot be deleted by LUSER
43 - (bit) 1 if the yell from this user is ignored (nerd)
44 - (bit) 1 if the user has unlimited download
101 - (intero) User's selected language
102 - (intero) Screen length (rows)
103 - (intero) Screen width (columns)
121 - (intero) Default file transfer protocol
122 - (intero) Default compressor
123 - (intero) Message areas group
124 - (intero) File areas group
141 - (intero) Access level (from 0 = Twit to 12 = Hidden)
142 - (intero) NetMail credit
Using LRPN's commands
---------------------------------------------------------------------
When Lora encounters a ^R character inside a .BBS file, the remaining
of the text row will be interpreted as an LRPN sequence.
Note: - Every unrecognized character will be skipped
- All commands ARE CASE SENSITIVE; the lower case letters have
opposite means as the upper case letters.
Example : ^R12V2+12v4c10>!10f
(or) : ^R 12 V 2 + 12 v 4 c 10 >! 10 f
Add 2 to the variable #12 the copy the value in the
counter #4, then set the user's A flag if the result is
greater than 10, else resets the flag.
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LRPN commands
---------------------------------------------------------------------
- DIGITS from 0 to 9
Inserts a number on the accumulator. It works like a calculator
keyboard, if a digit follows an operation, it replaces the contents
of the accumulator, that is automatically put on the stack. The only
exception is the insert operation (the colon).
IF a digit follows another digits, it is put on the accumulator
without any other effect.
Note: When the digits causes the value on the accumulator to be
grater than 32767, the value will be forced to 32767.
- STACK OPERATIONS
, (colon) - Inserts the value in the accumulator on the
stack.
@ (at sign) - Get the value on the stack and put it in the
accumulator. The previous value is lost.
" (virgolette) - Exchanges the accumulator with the value on the
stack.
- ONARY OPERATORS
Acts on the accumulator, replacing the value with the result of the
operation. LRPN recognizes the following operators:
_ (underline) - Sign exchange
$ (dollar) - Absolute value
' (NOT `) - Sign (-1 if < 0, 1 if > 0, 0 if 0)
# (pound) - Integer to bit conversion (1 if <> 0, 0 if 0)
~ (tilde) - Reverse all bits (one complement)
! - Logic negation (0 if <> 0, 1 if 0)
- BINARY OPERATORS
Acts on the last number put on the stack AND on the accumulator: the
first number will be get from the stack and teh result replaces the
contents of the accumulator. LRPN recognizes the following binary
operators:
+ - Addition (acc = st + acc)
- - Subtracktion (acc = st - acc)
* - Multiplication (acc = st * acc)
/ - Division (acc = st / acc)
Note: 1) As a division between integers, the result is rounded
to the nearest to zero integer. So:
7 , 4 /
(acc = 7 / 4) the result is 1, and
7 _ 4 /
(acc = -7 / 4) the result is -1
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2) If the accumulator is 0, the result will be:
32767 if the stack is greater than or equal to 0.
-32768 if the stack is less than 0.
% - Remaining of the division or module (acc = st MOD acc).
Note: 1) The result's sign will be positive if the signs of
the operands are both positive or negative, negative
if one operand is negative and the other positive.
2) If the divisor is 0, then the result will be 0.
L - Left shift. The result will be equal to the last number on the
stack with the bits shifted to the left by accumulator
positions.
R - Right shift. The result will be equal to the last number on
the stack with the bits shifted to the right by accumulator
positions.
& - Bitwise logical AND.
| - Bitwise logical OR.
^ - Bitwise exclusive OR.
= - Equal (1 if st = acc, else 0).
< - Less than (1 if st < acc, else 0).
> - Greater than (1 if st > acc, else 0).
- MISCELLANEOUS OPERATORS
W - Word assembler (the high byte will be take from the stack, the
lower byte from the accumulator, the result will be put on the
accumulator).
w - Word disassembler (the higher byte of the accumulator will be
put on the stack, the lower byte will be kept on accumulator).
- LOADING AND RECORDING
V - Loads the accumulator with the value on the the variable
numbered by the accumulator. Example: 12V loads the value
on the variable #12 on the accumulator.
Note: Il the accumulator is less than 0 or greater than 199,
the result always is 0.
v - Put the value on the stack on the variable numbered by the
accumulator. The value on the accumulator is kept as is.
Note: Il the value on the accumulator is less than 0 or greater
than 199, nothing is memorized but a number is take from the
stack.
F - Gets a flag, like the V command, but the flags are limited to
31.
f - Sets a flag, like the v command, but the flags are limited to
31. The flag is reset to 0 if the accumulator is 0, else will
be set to 1.
C - Gets a counter. Like the V and F commands, but the number of
counters is limited to 9 and the value range is from 0 to 255).
c - Sets a counter.
U - Gets a user's parameter (see the user's parameter table above).
u - Sets a user's parameter.
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P - Load the accumulator with the last terminal's cursor position.
The row is put on the higher byte, the column on the lower
byte.
p - Move the cursor at the position specified by the higher (row)
and lower (column) byte of the accumulator.
C - Loads the accumulator with the last screen attribute set.
c - Changes the color attribute using the lower 8 bits of the
accumulator. The relationship between colors and numbers is
reported on another chpater of this manual.
Usage examples
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Let's examine the following sequence followin a ^R character in a
generic text file:
P w " @ 102 U " W p
| | | | ||| | | | |
+--|--|--|--|||--|--|--|--|---> Reads the cursor position...
| | | ||| | | | |
+--|--|--|||--|--|--|--|---> ...split it in 2 bytes. Now on the
| | ||| | | | | accumulator we have the column and
| | ||| | | | | on the stack the current row.
| | ||| | | | |
+--|--|||--|--|--|--|---> Exchange (now the accumulator has
| ||| | | | | the row and the stack the column)
| ||| | | | |
+--|||--|--|--|--|---> Get the column (the row will be lost)
||| | | | |
+++--|--|--|--|---> Put the accumulator (the column) on
| | | | the stack and replaces it with the
| | | | number 102.
| | | |
+--|--|--|---> Replaces 102 with the USER'S DATA
| | | #102 (number of rows).
| | | The stack still holds the column..
| | | we can recombine it to form the new
| | | cursor position...
| | |
+--|--|---> ...but after a position exchange.
| |
+--|---> OK, now recombine the values in a
| single word...
|
+---> ...done, the cursor is on the last
terminal row.
Even simpler: to move the cursor in the lower left terminal corner,
we can use the following command sequence:
102 U , 1 p
The best thing to learn LRPN is the practice: how can we keep the
current cursor position and colors set and display a message on the
last terminal row with blue background and white foreground ? It's
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possible to create a pull-down menuing system with LRPN and the other
embedded commands ? (Yes, I wrote LRPN for that thing...).
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11.5 - Events definitions
=====================================================================
With the Manager / Events menu is possible to defines some periods of
time to execute the external maintenance programs or calls other
BBSes for mail exchange.
In the event's viewing mode (default mode when entering the Manager /
Events menu), the following commands are allowed:
PgUp/PgDn - Allow you to move along the event file.
E - Edit an event item. After this command, an inverted-color bar
will allow you to choose the option to be modified.
Add New Event - Allows you to add an event. The event saving method
provides to put the new event in the right position,
so that you can add an event everywhere.
List - List the events actually presents (one event per row) allowing
a speed search.
Delete - Allows to delete an event from the file. The system ask for
a confirmation before phisically erase the event.
Copy - Copy the current event in a new slot. The system asks for the
days and execution time.
11.5.1 - Events editing
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Using the commands "Edit" and "Add New Event" you can change the
following parameters, valid for any event:
Title - This field will be used as a "comment" regarding the task
accomplished by the event. If present it will be put on the
log file when the event is executed.
Days - Defines the days in which the event is active. The letters are
the initial of the english week days and means when the evnt
is active.
Start time - Event's starting time.
Stop time - Event's ending time. To execute any event, Lora must be
in the "waiting for a call" status in the time between
the start and the end of the event.
Forced - Defines a forced event, an event that must be executed
absolutely that the starting time. The user's time limit
will be adjusted accordingly. Example: if a user normally
has 30 minutes time limite and calls your system 10 minute s
before a forced event, Lora give them only 10 minutes.
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Allow humans - Allows a human caller to log in your system. Normally
this option should be set to Yes only when the system
must do mail calls to other BBSes.
Errorlevel - Defines the errorlevel to exit to DOS with when the
event starts. If 0 Lora doesn't exits to DOS.
Clock adjustment - Defines that within this event Lora must call the
Galileo Ferraris Insititute of Torino (Italy) to
sinchronize the PC clock.
Receive only - This parameter enables the system to receive calls
only and prevents to make outbound calls. The nodes
that are eligible to call are then marked "Temp.hold".
Max try - Defines the maximum call retry number for each node that
can be called in this event.
Max failed - Defines the maximum falied calls retry number before the
node is marked as undialiable. It's suggested to keep
this number low (3 or 4), it counts the failed calls but
with and answer from the remote system (the remote
system can not exchange the handshaking).
Retry delay - Defines the delay between a call and the following. If
the 'Random redial time' option in the Mailer /
Miscellaneous menu is set to Yes, this value will be
the medium time between each call.
Forced poll - If set to Yes, forces to call the node defined with the
parameter below even if there isn't outbound mail
waiting. If set to No, the call will be placed only if
there is outbound mail for that node.
Reserved for node - Defines an event reserved for a specified node,
mail exchange with other nodes isn't allowed.
Mail behavior - Defines the parameters related to the inbound and
outbound mail.
In the "Mail behavior" menu you can defines the following parameters:
Allow file requests - Allows other nodes to request files from this
node.
Make file requests - Defines an event that allows outbound file
requests.
Send to CM systems only - Defines an event to call nodes with
outbound crash mail packets (*.CLO and
*.CUT) only.
Send to non-CM systems only - Defines an event to call nodes without
any outbound crash mail packet only.
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Import normal mail - Allows the import of mail packets from the
unknown nodes inbound directory (unknown nodes
are nodes not present in any nodelist defined).
Import know mail - Allows the import of mail packets from the know
nodes inbound directory (know nodes are nodes
present in the nodelist but without a session
password defined).
Import prot mail - Allows the import of mail packets from the
protected nodes inbound directory (protected nodes
are nodes with a session password defined).
Export mail - Allows the export of echomail and netmail messages
after the import procedure.
Import at start of event - If set to Yes, the system imports the mail
packets from the directory defined above
at the start of this event.
Export at start of event - If set to Yes allows the export of mail
messages at the start of this event.
Dynamic - Defines an event that can end before the time defined in
the "Stop time" parameter. For example: if the system must
call the node 2:332/403 at 2:30, you can define a forced
dynamic event from 2:30 to 3:00, as soon as the system
calls succesfully the node (for example at 2:35) the event
ends and the system can take care of the next event
available.
Route TAG - Defines the routing file portion to execute within this
event (see the commands related to the echomail/netmail
routing).
AfterMail exit errorlevel - Defines the DOS errorlevel to exit with
if the system receives inbound mail
packets from another node. The exit to
DOS is made before the mail processing so
that with this option active you cannot
use the internal mail processor
automatically, but you can use the
command line options to call the mail
processor.
Process TIC files - This parameter enables the internal processing of
the received TIC files (echo file areas).
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11.6 - Echomail/Netmail routing commands
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The echomail/netmail routing is the procedure that allows the system
to send the messages addressed to certain nodes through other
systems, to economize on the phone bills, either because the messages
are compressed (using the most popular compressors) and because
multiple messages addressed to many distant nodes can be sent through
a single node, that provides to send the messages to the respective
adressee.
In this chapter we will see the commands that can be put in the
ROUTE.CFG file (that must be present in the Lora system directory).
Note: even if there the 'echomail route' is mentioned, Lora doesn't
support the routed echomail, the echomail addressed to a node
different than ours, but it's possible to generate routed echomail
using the route commands. Pay attention and be sure that the
addressee of the mail packet supports routed echomail.
The mail packets that are subjects to the route commands are only the
packets with the .OUT extension. The built-in mail processo
automatically generates this type of packets when exporting messages.
The nodes can be specified with the short format, the following
examples are equivalent:
2:332/402 2:332/403 2:332/404 2:332/404.2
2:332/402 403 404 404.2
402 403 404 .2 (if the zone and net of your primary address is
2:332).
If possible to specify a group of nodes and/or points with the "ALL"
keyword, as follows:
2:332/ALL - Every node of the net 2:332
2:ALL - Every node in the zone 2
2:332/402.ALL - Every point of the node 2:332/402
Following are the commands allowed for the echomail and netmail
routing:
Tag <name>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Defines the start of a commands block that will be executed only at
certain hours (see the relative option in the events configuration).
The end of the block can be another "Tag" line or the end of the
file. Every commands not preceded by a "Tag" line are always
executed.
Poll <flag> <nodes>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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Force the system to call one or more node. Flag can be "Crash"
(creates a *.CLO file), "Normal" (creates a *.FLO file) or "Direct"
(creates a *.DLO file).
Send-To <flag> <nodes>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Compresses the outbound mail directly to the nodes specified in
<nodes>. <flag> can be "Crash", "Normal", "Direct" or "Hold". This
command can be shortened out with "Send".
Change <flag1> <flag2> <nodes>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Changes the priority flag of the nodes specified in <nodes> from
<flag1> to <flag2>. <flag1> and <flag2> can be "Crash", "Normal",
"Direct" or "Hold".
Leave <nodes>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Temporarily hides the mail addressed to the nodes listed in <nodes>.
The files assumes the *.N?T extension (for the *.?UT files) and *.N?O
extension (for the *.?LO files). The mail packets with this extension
aren't recognized so are virtually hidden.
UnLeave <nodes>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Execute the operation opposed to the command above, it will rename
the files the recognizable extension.
Route-To <flag> <dest> <nodes>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Sends the mail addressed to nodes listed in <nodes> to the node
spcified in <dest>, with the flag defined in <flag>, that can be
Crash", "Normal", "Direct" or "Hold". This command can be shortened
out with "Route"
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12.0 - Explaining the terminology
=====================================================================
12.1 - The Nodelist
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The nodelist is Lora's telephone directory and is used for several
purposes. Among these are to allow you to retrieve information about
remote systems, such as the maximum supported baudrate, modem flags,
and system capability flags, to check if a remote system is known to
your system or should be treated as an unlisted system.
The Mailer requires that a nodelist be present whereas the BBS and
the Terminal can both be used without one, if so required. The
typical FidoNet nodelist contains over 20.000 systems and has a
fairly straight forward structure as follows.
Zone
Usually a large geographical area, such as North America, Europe,
Australia and New Zealand, etc. At the time of the release of this
package, the following FidoNet Zone numbers have been allocated:
1 North America (including Canada)
2 Europe
3 Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand
4 Latin America
5 Africa
6 Asia
Region
Usually a somewhat smaller geographical area, such as a country or
part of a (large) country. A collection of regions make up one zone.
Net
Usually a collection of systems local to each other. Typically a city
and in some cases including its suburbs. A collection of nets make up
one region.
Node
A single system within a net.
Point
A single system belonging to a node. Typically, a point is similar to
a user logging on to a BBS system using his/her terminal program,
with the main difference being that a point performs most of his/her
activities offline and use smart software to collect and transit
his/her mail.
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12.1.1 - Hosts and hubs
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The coordinator of a net is called the host or NC for Network
Coordinator. The host is responsible for maintaining the nodelist
segment for his/her net and to act as an inbound NetMail gateway for
the systems in his/her net ("host routed mail").
In a large net, it is quite common that "sub-hosts", called hubs, are
set-up to aid in mail distribution within the net. In other words, a
hub has the same function for systems in a network that a host has
for (remote) systems outside the same network.
Before Lora can use the information in a nodelist, it must be
compiled with the built-in nodelist compiler.
The nodelist that Lora needs to process is often referred to as the
raw nodelist. It should not have been processed by Xlatlist, Parselst
or a similar utility; but only be the nodelist you receive each week
(if you are a FidoNet node) from your host.
Grab a somewhat recent version of a nodelist and decompress it. Place
the resulting file (such as NODELIST.228) in the General /
Directory/Path / Nodelist directory.
To compile your nodelist, type LORA NODELIST and press <Enter>, or
let Lora handle this by simply running LORA. When Lora is started, it
will compare the date of the raw nodelist and its index files. If the
dates match no compilation will be made.
If you want to force compilation, run LORA NODELIST.
12.1.2 - Points and pointlists
---------------------------------------------------------------------
A point is similar to a user logging on to a BBS system using his/her
terminal program, with the main difference being that a point
performs most of his/her activities offline and use smart software to
collect and transit his/her mail.
A point system is addressed by specifying the BOSS system's address
followed by the point number. E.g. 2:332/402.1 is point one of
2:332/402. The BOSS system is called point zero (2:332/402.0), but
the .0 is normally left out.
Lora is a point smart software package and fully supports the "four-
dimensional" (zone, net, node, point) addressing method. Lora also
supports the "two-dimensional" point approach used by some software.
This is often called the "fakenet" or "pointnet" method. "Fake"
because the software uses a non-existent network number to identify
its "pointnet" and uses the node field for the point number.
The maximum number of points any system can have is 65,535, not
counting the BOSS, or point zero.
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A pointlist is similar to a normal nodelist, with the exception that
all entries are considered point systems. Add the pointlist file name
to the Manager / Nodelist menu to send mail directly to point
systems.
Here is a sample pointlist:
Boss,2:332/402
,1,Lora_Development,Bologna,Marco_Maccaferri,-Unpublished-,9600
,2,U.T.M.,Lugo_(RA),Marcello_Ardini,-Unpublished-,9600
As you can see, a point list looks very much like a raw nodelist. The
last field contains nodelist flags (HST, MO, CM, etc.) and if more
than one flag is present, they are separated by commas.
Points can not be added to systems in the master nodelist using the
POINT keyword.
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12.2 - Modems and FOSSIL drivers
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Lora works with most "Hayes-compatible" modems, including US Robotics
HST and HST/DS, Telebit's Trailblazer, ANC, Everex, ZyXEL and Hayes.
The general rule is that the modem must be able to send alphanumeric
result strings. For most low-speed modems, the basic configuration is
all that is required. For high-speed modems such as the US Robotics
HST, a few extra settings are necessary.
To utilize high-speed modems in the most efficient way, it must be
properly configured for use with Lora. Some high-speed modems are
incorrectly configured for use with Lora when they leave their
factory.
Lora require that your modem can return verbal result codes, such as
"CONNECT 2400" and "NO CARRIER". In addition, if you want Lora to
answer the telephone on inbound calls, the modem must be able to
return a verbal code indicating a ring signal, such as "RING". The
modem must not have DCD (carrier detect) forced. It should support
disconnecting by lowering DTR (data terminal ready), but it is not
necessary. DTR must, however, not be forced.
For high-speed modem users, it is usually recommended that you lock
the DTE (computer <> modem) speed to the highest possible baudrate,
which is usually 19200, 38400, or 57600 BPS.
The current version of Lora does not support manually operated modems
with constant DTE speeds since most of them do not send any type of
messages to the terminal (program).
A FOSSIL (Fido/Opus/SEAdog Standard Interface Layer) driver is a
memory resident program (TSR) that works as a layer between the
application program and your computer's hardware. Lora requires a
FOSSIL driver to function. One of the advantages of the standard
FOSSIL interface is that programs can be ported easily to other
machines and/or operating systems, or to communicate with devices
that do not normally function like a "Hayes compatible" modem, such
as ISDN cards.
There are several FOSSIL drivers available. Lora has been tested with
X00, and BNU with good results. X00 and BNU will be described here.
BNU
BNU, written by David Nugent, comes in two flavors. One is a device
driver, the other is a .COM file, loaded from AUTOEXEC.BAT or another
batch file. For a detailed description of the BNU driver, please
refer to the documentation included in the BNU distribution archive.
[AUTOEXEC.BAT]
BNU /R=1024 /T=512 /L1:38400
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If you are not using a high-speed modem the above example may not be
what you want. The most common command line for BNU is:
BNU /R=1024 /T=512
X00
X00, written by Ray Gwinn, is a device driver (later versions can
also be loaded as an executable from AUTOEXEC.BAT), it is loaded from
your CONFIG.SYS file when your machine is started. For a detailed
description of the X00 driver, read the documentation included in the
X00 distribution archive.
[CONFIG.SYS]
DEVICE=X00.SYS E 1 B,1,38400 T=512 R=1024
If you are not using a high-speed modem the above example may not be
what you want. The most common command line for X00 is:
DEVICE=X00.SYS E 1 T=512 R=1024
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12.3 - The TIC processor
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The TIC is a program which does for files what echomail does for
messages. When TIC operates, it looks for inbound files with the
extension TIC. These are "control" files which tell the program what
the name of the "real" file is, the echo area it is to go to ,and
what systems have already seen the file. The information is checked
against the configuration files, and if passwords match and the area
exists, the file is tossed to the "destination directory" established
when the AREA was set up. (The file is moved to the destination
directory by renaming it if it is possible, or by copying and
deleting the original if it is not possible). The FILES.BBS in that
directory is appended with the description (again, part of the TIC
file). If there are other nodes listed for that echo, TICK will then
create new TICs for them, and will create FLO files to those nodes in
the outbound. The attaches will send the new TIC and the "real" file
to the other nodes. This does NOT happen if that node is already
listed in the seenby line of the original TIC.
The TIC processor can be called automatically when new TIC files are
received in the inbound directory or can be called in your batch file
using the command line parameter TIC (see the command line chapter
for more informations).
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13.0 - Examples
=====================================================================
We will now show some batch file and routing examples, that could be
useful for the initial configuration of you system.
Examples cover "normal" situations; for particular situations
it's better to carefully read the manual.
13.1 - Routing examples
---------------------------------------------------------------------
We will now show some mail routing examples for common situations:
single point, multiple BBS point and HUB (mail sorter).
13.1.1 - Single point configuration
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Route-To Crash 2:332/402 1:ALL 2:ALL 3:ALL 4:ALL 5:ALL 6:ALL
Send all netmail and echomail packets for the six FidoNet zones to
2:332/402.
13.1.2 - Multiple point configuration
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Send-To Crash 2:332/403
Route-To Crash 2:332/402 1:ALL 2:ALL 3:ALL 4:ALL 5:ALL 6:ALL
Assumes that the system is a point of the 2:332/403 and 2:332/402,
send all mail directed to 2:332/403 to that node, and all the
remaining packets to 2:332/402.
13.1.3 - Hub configuration
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Send-To Hold 2:22402/ALL
Send-To Hold 2:332/418 419
Route-To Direct 2:332/403 1:ALL 2:ALL 3:ALL 4:ALL 5:ALL 6:ALL
Route-To Crash 39:102/302 39:ALL
Holds all packets directed to the point's fakenet 22402 and two
nodes,
2:332/418 and 2:332/419 (downlink), then route the packets directed
to
zones 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 to 2:332/403 (uplink).
Mail for zone 39 (Amiganet) is routed to a different uplink.
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13.2 - Sample batch files
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Since Lora does not use external programs for normal operations, a
batch file creation is really simple.
If Lora does not need to exit to Dos for automatic maintenance, a
batch file is not either needed.
A simple batch file, for a complete automatic system, is as follows:
@Echo off
:Loop
C:
Cd \Lora
Lora
If ErrorLevel 10 Goto Daily_Maint
If ErrorLevel 0 Goto End_Batch
Goto Loop
:Daily_Maint
LMSG -K -PR
Rem
Rem Put here your daily maintenance
Rem
:End_Batch
It's been supposed that there is a mail event that forces Lora to
exit with errorlevel 10 at a given time.
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13.3 - Sample external files
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This section provides you with some examples on how create external
.BBS files to execute some operations, like creating a dorinfo1.def
files for running doors, or create a simple new users questionnaire.
Please note that the sequence ^W means the character ASCII code 23
(17 hex), so make sure that your text editor can insert control
characters inside the text file.
13.3.1 - DORINFO1.DEF (DORINFO.BBS)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
^WDDorinfo1.Def ; Deletes the old Dorinfo1.Def
^OODorinfo1.Def ; Opens an answer file called Dorinfo1.Def
^WW%N ; Writes the board's name
^WW%S ; Writes the sysop's first name
^WW%s ; Writes the sysop's last name
^WIL^WWCOM0 ; If local mode, writes COM0
^WIR^WWCOM%P ; If remote connection, writes COMx
^WW%b BAUD,N,8,1 ; Writes the connection speed and parameters
^WW 0
^WW%A ; Writes the user's first name
^WW%B ; Writes the user's last name
^WW%c ; Writes the user's city
^WW%g ; Writes the emulation mode
^PQS^WW100 ; If level = SYSOP, writes 100
^PXS^WW50 ; If level not SYSOP, writes 50
^WW%t ; Writes the time left for this call
^WW-1
^OQ ; Force the file termination
Following is an example on how to use the previous command file to
run an external door:
Running an external door. Please wait ....
^WLDORINFO.BBS
^OCDOOR
The previous file is useful when running single line systems, but if
you are setting up a multiline system and your are using doors that
supports task numbers in the drop file name (such as Dorinfo2.Def,
Dorinfo3.Def, and so on), you may change the first two lines with the
following:
^WDDorinfo%k.Def
^OODorinfo%k.Def
The %k sequence will be replaced with the current task number, so
that each running line will create a differente drop file, that can
be used as follows:
Running an external door. Please wait ....
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%WLDORINFO.BBS
%OCDOOR -cDorinfo%k.Def
Inside the MISC directory you should find the command files to create
the CALLINFO.BBS (CALLINFO.BBS) and DOOR.SYS (DOORSYS.BBS) drop
files.
13.3.2 - New users questionnaire
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The following command sequence can be save in a file named
NEWUSER2.BBS so that it will be displayed at the first call of each
user.
^OOANSWER.TXT
^OP
Write your real name: ^ONRealname
Address: ^ONAddress
ZIP, City: ^ONZipCity
Country: ^ONCountry
Voice phone number: ^ONVoicephone
Sex (M/F): ^ONSex
Where did you hear about this board?
^ONWhere
What are your interests and hobbies?
^ONHobby
^OQ
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Index
=====================================================================
1.0 - Introduction 2
1.1 - Main features 3
1.2 - Multiline systems 5
1.3 - The compressed message base 6
1.4 - Acknowledgements 7
1.4.1 - Translator Notes 7
1.5 - Credits 8
2.0 - User's License 9
2.1 - Registration 10
2.2 - Registration fees 11
2.3 - Registration form 12
2.4 - Support and registration sites 13
2.4.1 - Getting support 14
2.4.2 - Support-only sites 15
3.0 - Installation 16
3.1 - Upgrade from previous versions 17
3.2 - Package contents 18
4.0 - Configuration 20
4.1 - File 20
4.2 - Global 23
4.3 - Mailer 27
4.4 - BBS 36
4.5 - Terminal 49
4.6 - Modem 51
4.7 - Manager 54
5.0 - Message area configuration 59
5.1 - Message area parameters 59
6.0 - File area configuration 62
6.1 - File area parameters 63
7.0 - Menu configuration 66
7.1 - Menu types 72
7.1.1 - Moving between menus 72
7.1.2 - Message Areas 74
7.1.3 - File areas 76
7.1.4 - Users configuration 79
7.1.5 - Line editor 82
7.1.6 - Personal mail 84
7.1.7 - Multiline chat 85
7.1.8 - Offline reader 86
7.1.9 - Built-in doors 88
7.1.10 - Other commands 91
8.0 Areafix and Raid functions 97
8.1 Areafix function usage 97
8.2 Raid function usage 99
9.0 - External programs 101
9.1 - LMSG Message area maintenance 101
9.2 - LUSER Users maintenance 103
9.3 - LTOP Users statistics 104
9.4 - FILEIDX File request index 105
9.6 - External door support 106
9.6.1 - L2WORLD External door interface 107
10.0 - The Terminal Emulator 109
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10.1 - The dialing directory 111
11.0 - Miscellaneous 113
11.1 - Keyboard commands 113
11.1.1 - Waiting for a call 113
11.1.2 - User online 114
11.1.3 - Terminal emulator 115
11.2 - Command line 117
11.3 - External support files 119
11.4 - Embedded commands 125
11.4.1 - Single commands 125
11.4.2 - Compound commands with ?F 128
11.4.3 - Compound commands with ^K 131
11.4.4 - Compound commands with ^O 133
11.4.5 - AVATAR commands 135
11.4.6 - Compound commands with ^W 137
11.4.7 - Compound commands with ^P 140
11.4.8 - RPN commands (compound commands with ^R) 141
11.5 - Events definitions 148
11.5.1 - Events editing 148
11.6 - Echomail/Netmail routing commands 151
12.0 - Explaining the terminology 153
12.1 - The Nodelist 153
12.1.1 - Hosts and hubs 154
12.1.2 - Points and pointlists 154
12.2 - Modems and FOSSIL drivers 156
12.3 - The TIC processor 158
13.0 - Examples 159
13.1 - Routing examples 159
13.1.1 - Single point configuration 159
13.1.2 - Multiple point configuration 159
13.1.3 - Hub configuration 159
13.2 - Sample batch files 160
13.3 - Sample external files 161
13.3.1 - DORINFO1.DEF (DORINFO.BBS) 161
13.3.2 - New users questionnaire 162
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