SPACE 1/SPACE - Library 1 - Volume 1.iso/telecomm/517/st_keep/bbs_updt.doc

Text File | 1991-09-23 | 21KB | 511 lines

ST-Keep Update Information:
--------------------------

03Jul91

* The die roller wasn't operating correctly for more than one of the
same type of die.  It is correct now.

* The DORINFO1.DEF addition was made at 6am haphazardly, pardon me
for the problems.  It is fixed now with one problem.  You will need
to go through your STK_DOOR.SYS file and edit the 4th line for each
door and make sure it is a BLANK line, just a carriage return, or the
BBS will not pass the username properly along the command line when
required.  If you are calling another BBS as a door, line 4 should
say "-BBS" and with this the DORINFO1.DEF file will be created.

02Jul91

* A few cosmetic changes have been made.

* ST-Keep will now create a DORINFO1.DEF file in the door directory
that it is running if the 4th line of that door information in the
DOOR.SYS file contains any text other than a blank line.

01Jul91

* A new system file can be created for function key macro's from
within the BBS.  Use a text editor to create a file called
STK_FUNC.SYS.  You can have up to 10 lines of macro's up to 30
characters in length, just hit RETURN after each one.  These can be
used via the ALT-F# (F1-F10) or ATL-SHIFT-F# (F11-F20) keys from
within ST-Keep for various reasons.  You could set up a macro key to
type your username, password for faster logon (I don't suggest this)
or for a greeting that you can use when you enter chat mode with a
user...  Have fun!

26Jul91

* Finalized [.][C][A] and [F8][A].  This "Access User" function will
allow the SysOp to edit all the user parameters while they are
on-line, so the SysOp doesn't have to logon under their account to
modify the majority of the user functions.  Use [F8] then [A] to get
the password prompt, then enter the system password (it will be
masked), and you'll be given the user editor menu.  Note, this only
chnages the users data in RAM, not on disk, so when the user
terminates connection (or loses carrier) the new stats will be saved
to disk.  Continue to use [.][C][U] when you wish to edit a user on
disk whil you are on-line.

25Jul91

* The die roller feature has been changed to a simple [%] keypress
from any room prompt.  The roller menu will come up and is self
explainatory.  After the roll has been made the message will be
immediately saved into the current room.  RPG's HAVE FUN!

23Jul91

* Added a new feature at the message "Edit Command:" level.  [*] will
prompt for specifications on a die roll.  The user will be asked for
the number of die to roll and then the number of sides on the die, at
which time ST-K will "roll" the die/dice for the user and immediately
save the current message with this information appended to it.  This
was at the request of a SysOp running on-line RPG's.

21Jul91

* Removed [.][A][Z] Add File Description since it is available from
the extended directory prompt if the user has such access.

17Jul91

* Fixed the reporting of username or real name change.

* Added option for the SysOp to control whether or not the user
status line will appear after a remote logon.  This is found in the
Co-SysOp Options menu, [.][C][O].  The status line is still not show
when the logon is local.

14Jul91

* Fixed the archive backup process.  I left out a the folder name
where the system files were at so the archive sometimes wouldn't
operate unless the current working directory was your system folder.

10Jul91

* Fixed "System Options" in the user configuration menu, I left it as
"Terminal Options" which is now defunct.

* The new multiple VOTE system should be operable.  See the
instructions below.  Be sure NOT to edit a *.VOT question after you
install it otherwise all the users will be requested to take it again.

07Jul91

* The file archive system has changed.  You must load STK_INFA.SYS
into a text file and insert a new line after 15 (your backup path) to
be the pathname and filename of the archive program you wish to use.
This way if you prefer ARC over LZH it is now your choice.  You should
use "c:\stkeep\lzh11316.ttp" as an example.  The last backup date
will follow this line.  If this program is not available, a direct
copy of each file will be made to the backup pathname so a backup is
still made.

* [.][C][R] has been changed to [.][C][B] so update your COSYSOP.MNU
file.

* I changed the user account configuration menu set-up and added a
"Terminal Options" key.  You may want to notify your users of this
change.

* The new vote system is inoperable at this time, standby for an
update.

05Jul91

* You may now have an unlimited number of votes.  The old user.vote
flag is no longer used.  The time/date stamp on each vote file will
be compared against the users last call to determine if they have
taken the vote in question.  You MUST place all your vote questions
and answers in a folder called VOTE inside your system (BBS.PRG)
directory.  The first 8 characters of your vote question filename can
bye any unique name, the extension MUST be "VOT" (i.e. VOTE1.VOT,
ATARI.VOT, etc...)  The first 8 characters of your answer filename
must be the same as the original vote, the extension must be "ANS"
(i.e. VOTE1.ANS, ATARI.ANS, etc...)  To view the vote results, use
either [v][v] or [r][v] from any room prompt.  You may have as many
files in this folder as you wish.  Make sure not to edit the original
VOT file once you create it, otherwise you'll update the time/date
stamp on it and all your users will end up taking it again.

04Jul91

* When a file is moved from one room to another via the extended
directory, the description is posted along with the filename in the
move message in the new room.

03Jul91

* New backup *.SYS files feature.  Under the [.][C][O] menu, you can
toggle the backup routine so that it will copy your *.SYS files one
by one into your backup path, or so it will archive (LZH) your *.SYS
files into a single file named for the current date.  This will save
quite a bit of file space and allow for efficient multiple backups.
LZH11316.TTP must be in your system folder along with BBS.PRG for the
archive toggle to work.  While the backup is running, the modem
auto-answer will be disabled.  My system has a 500K message base, 75
rooms, and 150 users and it took about 5 minutes to LZH all the system
files, but instead of using 650K, the LZH archive only used 260K.

01Jul91

* New Co-SysOp function [.][C][L] will list more information on the
userlog.  Account number, number of calls, access level, last call,
username, real name.  If you want something else listed here let me
know and I'll consider putting it in.

24Jun91

* New Co-SysOp option [G], toggle file transfer download record.  You
can choose to record downloads in the DWNL.SYS file or as messages in
the Aide room.  If the latter is chosen, a message will not be saved
until the user terminates the connection, at which time a list of all
the files downloaded while they were online will be saved.

* The note "Private Message" will appear when the user is reading
messages in a room and the current message is private and not
directed to or from him.  Hopefully this will calm the users down as
they seem to think they are missing valuable entries!

22Jun91

* Users were allowed to download files from an extended directory
even if their access level was 1 and the system was in secure mode.
Fixed so that no user with access 1 can not download any files with
any command, although textfiles can be read.

17Jun91

* Fixes global search commands (@ and #) so they work again, they
were made inoperative after the file description change.

13Jun91

* The ST-Keep color file (STK_INFC.SYS) has had a format change.  You
MUST run the desk accessory included to create your new color
definitions.  PolyChrome will allow you to edit your colors and save
this information to a data file, use the same filename.  When you run
the new BBS.PRG it will use this more standard Atari palette format
instead of my previous kludge.  PolyChrome works best in Low
Resolution in order to set your first 4 colors, which is all ST-Keep
uses.  For some reason it won't allow you to set the colors
effectively in Medium Resolution.

* File downloads give the transfer time in minutes and seconds rather
than in minutes plus a fraction as before.

* SysOp can choose to have file transfers verbose (report the
transfer status) or non-verbose.  If you turn verbose mode on, the
transfer may proced around 10cps slower than with verbose on, but at
least you'd be able to view the progress.  Use the new [C][O]options
menu to toggle this status.  It will be saved as a bit in the
STK_INFA.SYS file so once you change it, this will be your new
default when booting the BBS.  The initial default is with verbose
messages on.

* Many of the old [C]o-SysOp features have been changed to the new
[C]o-SysOp [O]ption menu.

12Jun91

* Fixed color routine so when a door returns control to ST-Keep the
SysOp's choice of colors in STK_INFC.SYS are restored instead of the
ST-K defaults.

11Jun91

* Attempt at solving crash bug after d/l'ing a file with no
description.

09Jun91

* Users with access level lower than 2 can not enter doors.

* Known Groups and Doors do not show their slot number for users
lower than access level 100.  Number listings for floors has been
increased to 3 spaces to facilitate the possibility of more than 99
floors.

08Jun91

* You can use commas "," in your floor and group names along with in
your vote polls.  Previously ST-Keep would interpret the commas as an
EOF and not allow it to run due to bad data.

07Jun91

* You can create Permanent Bulletins now.  Not to say they are so
permanent that you can never remove them... I mean that all users
will see these bulletins on EVERY logon until you delete the
bulletin, hence it is not just displayed if it is new for that user.
Just put your bulletin in the same directory (BULL) as your others,
but the extension must be BUP instead of BUL.  Any file here found
with a BUP extension will be shown to the user after every logon.

05Jun91

* Took out status messages during file transfer in hopes of regaining
235 cps during Zmodem transfers.  The new version of XYZ apparently
is slower.

* Added [B]ack at message prompt.  This will subtract one from the
current message and display the previous message.

04Jun91

* I've added a TAB feature inside the message editor.  A user can hit
their TAB key (ASCII 9) and send a number of spaces equal to that of
their tab setting in their user configuration [X].  If their tab
setting is 0, TAB will not do anything, otherwise it will insert that
number of spaces.  Note:  This feature only operates on column 1
(left margin of screen) so it can only be used at the beginning of a
message or after they hit RETURN or the screen format sends a CR for
their width.

02Jun91

* You will find with this archive a new XYZ.TTP and doc file.  This
new version allows carrier detect while the transfer is going on, so
if a user drops carrier during a transfer the program will return to
ST-Keep so the BBS can handle the hang-up.  Alan Hamilton has
upgraded his great transfer program hopefully due to the fact of us
sending in our shareware donations along with suggestions.  If you
have sent yours in yet, send him $10 and get it over with.

* ST-Keep's buffer is no zero'd out after being used in hopes that
this will save some RAM for doors.

31May91

* If you wish to change the default colors for ST-Keep, you must
create a file with the name STK_INFC.SYS in your system folder (where
you run the BBS.PRG from).  It will contain 4 lines of numbers.

Line 1 = Background color, Line 2 = Msg Header Color, Line 3 = Prompt
Color, Line 4 = Message text color.  ST-Keep's defaults are as
follows:

0
1792
7
1911

This will make the background black, message headers red, prompts
blue, and normal text white.  In order to formulate the color, you
have to mix red, green and blue, and do the following to obtain the
number.  number=RED X 256 + GREEN X 16 + BLUE.  So, to come up with
red in line 2 above, I used 7 X 256 + 0 X 16 + 0 = 1792.  RED, GREEN,
and BLUE must be a number from 0 to 7, with 7 meaning the maximum
amount of that color is included.  If you want white you mix the
maximum of all the colors, 7, 7, and 7 and come up with 1911.  If you
wanted a white background, purple message headers, green prompts, and
black text, you'd do the following:

7 X 256 + 7 X 16 + 7 = 1911
5 X 256 + 0 X 16 + 5 = 1285
0 X 256 + 7 X 16 + 0 = 112
0 X 256 + 0 X 16 + 0 = 0

Then you would save those 4 values in that order in STK_INFC.SYS,
just make sure they are on separate lines.

If ST-Keep can't find this file, it will use the defaults of black
background, red message headers, blue prompts, and white text.

30May91

* Allows viewing LZH, ARC, or TXT/ASC files from an extended
directory prompt.

* Directories will not be allowed by users with an access level lower
than 100 if the room is upload only.

* ALL ROOM file directories re-installed.

* Bug fixed which reported the wrong room where a d/l took place.

28May91

* If you do not enter a filename to save your chat buffer with, the
bbs will no longer crash.

* Users with access level 1 can not create rooms ([.][E][R])

* Users can be killed by their user number.  Just type a number in
after [.][C][K] or the user name (or partial name) to kill.

20May91

* When you edit a users group status, the group name is now displayed
along with the group number.

* I have re-written the file directory commands.  This was mainly
done to allow versatility with new commands and to allow more
information to be recorded along with the file description.  The ALL
FILES IN ALL ROOMS ([!][@][#]) are currently disabled until I have
time to finish them, but the [1][2][3] & [R][D] & [R][E] commands
currently work with this version.  The normal directory ([1] or
[R][D] haven't changed, but the extended directory has.  I hope it is
more cosmetically appealing and more user friendly.  As aides and
higher will notice, there is now a [M]ove file feature.  You can move
a file (along with it's description) to a new room, and a message
will be posted in the new room stating this fact.  Each directory for
your room must now contain a folder called FILES.  This is where all
the descriptive information for the files are held.  The data is held
in a file with the exact same name of the file in question.  The
format is in 3 lines of information.  The first line is the name of
the uploader (CR if none), the second is the number of times this file
has been downloaded, the 3rd is unused at this time (thus it must be
a CR), and the 4th starts the file description.  If this file is not
present the directory will show N/A for those fields.  I realize this
will create a lot of work for you to convert your descriptions over,
but it should be worth it.  If I have time I'll write a program that
will create the FILES directory and make the required file for all
the current descriptions you have now, but don't count on it!

18May91

* Chat mode uses the file selector to save chat (press [HELP] while
in chat mode to use this feature).  You should create a folder named
CHAT in your system directory to keep them organized, otherwise save
them wherever you wish.  While you are saving chat the user is told
"SysOp working, please hold..."

* Floors changed so that you can have up to 255 instead of 15.  You
MUST load your STK_FLRS.SYS file into a text editor BEFORE running
this new BBS.PRG or it won't run at all.  Insert a line at the
begining of this file and type the number of the floors you have
active.  This line should end with a CR but the following line should
be the group number of the first floor, then the floors name, then on
to the 2nd and 3rd, etc...  This is similar to how the doors are
loaded.  The first line in this file will always contain the number of
floors on your system.  You can edit floor names and group access via
[.][C][F], but if you wish to add more floors, you must use a text
editor.  Just load this file, then increase the first line by the
numver of floors you are going to add, then add 2 lines for each
floor.  The first is always the group number from 1 to 15 (0=all users
have access), the second the floor name.

17May91

* Fixed [W]rite To Disk from the message prompt menu so that it
doesn't bomb when you just press return or enter an invalid
path/filename.

* Added some debugging functioons for myself.

16May91

* Aide room records only the user's name and handle change instead of
copious amounts of user data.

* [S]croll taken out of message prompt, user must turn scroll on or
off via the account configuration command [X].

* Added a field for the roomname to be recorded along with the file
downloaded from that room in STK_DWNL.MSG.

15May91

* Replies to private messages in public rooms are made private,
previously they were wrongly made public.

14May91

* Downloaded files are now recorded in the file STK_DWNL.MSG rather
than cluttering up the Aide room.  To view this file use [V][F].  If
a "Code" is a negative number, the transfer was unsuccessfull and you
may want to inquire with the user as to what went wrong.  Copy the
new VIEW.MNU into your BLB folder, it's included in this archive.

* Userboot works properly now; the user on-line can't see anything
your typing when your booting them, nor the userboot prompt, they'll
just get the actual boot file.

* The read textfile routine has been re-written to be more efficient,
the user/SysOp should not notice any difference, but I thought I'd
mention it just so you keep your eyes open.  All logon files and
helpfiles and textfiles are shown with this routine.

12May91

* You must enter the system password in order to use the
[.][C]o-SysOp [A]ccess function.

* More information is recorded when a user edits their account.

* Added [R]ead [B]ulletin which displays BULL.MNU from your BULL
folder in your system directory.  This menu should be updated with a
text editor and contain a list of your bulletins that the users can
read.

* Fixes a few problems when addressing a private message to a user in
a public room.

* Stops showing messages that appear randomly in rooms where they
didn't belong, temporary fix until the bug is found that is actually
copying the message pointers erroneously.

08May91

* Added folder BULL inside system directory.  Place all your
bulletins in this folder (previously in your HLP folder) and rename
the extensions to BUL.  When a user logs on, this folder will be
searched sequentially for files matching the *.BUL filename.  If the
date/time stamp of this file is newer than the users last logon, they
will be shown this file.  You can keep older bulletins or other files
in this folder so long as they don't end with the BUL extension,
otherwise they will be analyzed as if they were a bulletin.

06May91

* Removed [.][A][V] because of [V] or [.][V] which supports those
features now.

* Added 50 bytes to each user account, 30 for real name field, 20 for
future expansion.

* Placed *Mail* before a private message in a public room to
facilitate the noticablity of such message.

* [.][V][?] commands, ARC, LZH and TEXT are added, [.][R][T]ext
removed.

30Apr91

* [R]ead [L]ocate forward search string added in messages.

* Allows users to read previous mail even if they change their
username.

* [M] mail msg at "Edit Command" during message entry allows sending
private mail to any user in any room, although Mail> will be the only
room that tells the user that they have private mail waiting.  Any
user with an access level of 255 will be show all private messages.
[.][E][P] can be used to enter a private message in a room as well,
only the user will be given a prompt for who to send the message to,
instead of requiring the [M] keypress from the editor.

* Does not print HELP or UNDO chr$ over modem when used in chat.

29Apr91

* You can have now have commas in your vote answers.

* Anonymous rooms working, only users with access level 255 (SysOp)
may see the authors name of messages in these rooms.

26Apr91

* [V]ote added for room menu.

* [ESC] checked during most input to abort command.

* Added group names.  Use [.][C][G] to edit them; show via [.][k][g] and
active groups show under [r][s].  Command added to COSYSOP.MNU for the
BLB folder.

* Other cosmetic changes.