The Arsenal Files 6

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Text File | 1996-02-26 | 14KB | 291 lines

╔════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ╟─┐ ║ K E E P I N G I N T O U C H ║ │ ║ ═══════════════════════════════ ║ │ ║ SPITFIRE Monthly Support Newsletter ║ │ ║ for registered SPITFIRE Sysops! ║ │ ║ February 1996 ║ │ ║ Compliments of BUFFALO CREEK SOFTWARE ║ │ ║ Buffalo Creek's BBS * 515-225-8496 ║ │ ║ 28800 through 1200 Bps ║ │ ║ 2 Nodes ║ │ ║ ║ │ ╚═╤══════════════════════════════════════════╝ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Edited by Jacque Shipley The Mother Board BBS - (515) 986-3464 - 28800 Bps Sysop Of The Month by Walt Crede Roam This Fertile Land - (515) 288-8755 - 14400 Bps Newly Registered SPITFIRE BBS List by Ann Woltz Other Contributions As Noted ╔═════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ Notes from the author of SPITFIRE! ╟─┐ ╚═╤═══════════════════════════════════════╝ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────┘ Spring is just around the corner. Isn't that a wonderful revelation? I am sick of winter. I hope that each of you had a GREAT Valentine's Day and you were able to spend time with someone special to you. I hope to find the time to write a couple of SPITFIRE utilities in the near future. It seems as if time isn't readily available like it used to be. Does that have anything to do with age (smiling)? By the way, did I tell you that I turned 50 in December. It feels good and now I am headed for 80. Until next time, may God bless you... Mike, Ann & family ╒═══════════════╕ │ FOND FAREWELL │ ╘═══════════════╛ In the history of the SPITFIRE newsletter, I don't recall ever paying tribute to anyone other than a registered SPITFIRE Sysop. But I can think of no one more deserving than Dean Gill. For although Dean may not have been a registered SPITFIRE Sysop, he had very strong ties to SPITFIRE and SFNET. Dean was the co-Sysop of Tom Miller's Swamp Thang BBS in Louisiana and played a vital role within SPITFIRE's Mail System, SFNET. Despite a very busy schedule, with his work often requiring him to be out of the country, Dean always found time to offer his assistance in SFNET. As moderator of three SFNET conferences, he deligently monitored the activity of the DOS Discussions, Shareware and Moderator's conferences. As moderator of SFNET's Moderator conference, Dean was always willing to provide guidance and direction to the other SFNET moderators. He continually endorsed the high standards established for the SFNET mail system. Each month, SFNET moderators would report to Dean regarding the level of activity for each SFNET conference and any moderations which may have been required. Dean would organize the individual reports and then summarize this information into a report which he provided to Mike Woltz. Dean's reports were often used to determine what conferences should be replaced and what moderators may have abandoned their duties. It is not unusual in this hobby and/or business, to develop strong friendships with people you have never met. Such is the case with Dean. For although I never met him, I considered Dean Gill to be a good friend. And it was with deep sadness that I learned Dean Gill passed away on January 19th after suffering a heart attack at work. Dean's dedication to SFNET will be greatly missed, his contributions long remembered! Our thoughts and prayers go out to Dean's family. ╒════════════════════════════╕ │ COPS AND ROBBERS TIME BANK │ ╘════════════════════════════╛ If you are looking for a time bank with a new twist, you will want to try CRBANK. The Cops and Robbers Bank, like most of the typical time storage doors, lets the caller deposit unused time or gamble time remaining in a lottery. However, it also provides callers with the chance to steal time from others. This last feature is what sets it apart from the normal time bank door. The caller who wants to take on the challenge of trying to steal time from other depositors, have a number of options at their disposal. They will encounter such obstacles as booby traps, time cops, jail and perhaps, even the 'Sandman' will appear to offer them helpful hints. The Cops and Robbers Time Bank is designed to give the Sysop complete control over how the door will perform. In the configuration file, the Sysop can define up to 10 securities and the maximum amount of time each security will be allowed to withdraw each day. In the event a security is not configured, CRBANK defaults to the next lowest security that is configured. The Sysop also uses the configuration command to define such settings as robbery attempts allowed per day, cost per attempt, time cop cost, time cop daily fee, time cop resale value, and booby trap cost to name a few. There is also a configuration section that is used to define the robbery settings which are used to determine how effective defenses are against a robbery attempt. If all this sounds a bit complicated, you may want to stick with the default settings until you become familiar with how the door operates. CRBANK can be ran as a Sysop configurable command from any of the SPITFIRE Menus or setup as a door. The documentation does note, however, that only one caller can access CRBANK at a time. To ensure mulitnode BBS systems only allow one caller to use the door at a time, a drop file, CRBANKIN.USE is created. Cops and Robbers Time Bank was written by Jamie L. Estes exclusively for SPITFIRE v3.5 BBS systems. The current release is v0.9 beta and the author acknowledges that there are features he might add if there is enough interest. Perhaps the most important of these is the ability for the time bank door to recognize on time events. Registration for the Cops and Robbers Time Bank is $7.00. ╒═════════════════════════════╕ │ SPITFIRE BOARD-OF-THE-MONTH │ ╘═════════════════════════════╛ Bill Barnett Sysop Bill's BBS 602-935-5692 SFNET ID A0602000 Lust!Net 667:200/3 FIDO 1:114/495 Well I must say I was very pleasently surprised when I got word from Jacque to log onto BCS 'cuz "...Mike has a surprise..." I started becoming interested in computing back in high school in the early '80s when I took classes in programming on a "BIG" mainframe with 256k of RAM. But after graduating, class of '84, from Sanford High School in Sanford Maine, I went in the military. I became a Jet Engine Technician in 1985 and forgot all about computers until I bought my first 386-sx 16 with 2mb ram in Feb 1992. It wasn't until March that a friend of mine told me about BBS's and I bought a 2400 baud modem and logged onto my first one. It was a Wildcat BBS in Northern Maine, The Northern Main Educators BBS. When The SySop broke in and started to Chat with me, I had no idea what was going on. Then I logged onto another BBS that was on the same base where I was stationed, Loring AFB in Aroostook county (not the end of the world but on a clear day you can see it from there). The name of the BBS was L&SBBS run by fellow SPITFIRE Sysop Larry Shannon. I thought his BBS was great and soon became a regular. I went to his shop to shoot the breeze and he told me I should start my own BBS and he would help me get going. In August of 1992 I was up and running and driving the wife crazy<<G>> and calling Larry regularly with plenty of questions about this and that. Soon another Air Force Member and SPITFIRE Sysop Bill Strickland convinced me to join a new message network called C.A.S.N. (Central Aroostook Sysops Network) and soon I was doing mail runs and getting even more callers. When Loring AFB closed down I was PCSed (Permanent Change of Station) in November 93 to Luke AFB in Arizona and I brought the board back up. I got involved in Circuit Net and really started to get into the message "Thing" I joined SFNET in March of 1995 using Tom's Haven BBS as the hub. When Tom closed down in August 95 I took over as the Arizona hub. I also signed up and got a FIDO address and currently carry over 270 message conferences. I would like to thank my wife and 4 kids for putting up with the time that I have put into this hobby of mine, and to all the folks who have come and gone from Bill's BBS. To Bill Strickland, Larry & Shelly Shannon for getting me into this great SPITFIRE software, and every one else who have helped me get the board to the point that it is today. ╒═════════════════════════════╕ │ SPITFIRE SYSOP-OF-THE-MONTH │ ╘═════════════════════════════╛ Robert Dean The Lighthouse BBS I was contacted yesterday through SFNET that Mike Woltz had selected me as Sysop Of the Month. I am at a total loss to express how honored I am to be nominated for this! I would like to share the honor with my daughter Tara Dean whom Co-Sysops my system for me and helps to make my BBS a warm and friendly place for all of my users. To Mike Woltz, family, and supporting personnel I would like to thank you for providing the BBS software, utilities and SFNET network that makes my system a well rounded, informative, fun, reliable system to visit and to run. The Lighthouse BBS - Rochester, New York was born a little over three years ago and started out on a 286 with a 40 meg hard drive and a 2400 bps modem. It slowly expanded to a 28,000 pbs modem a 340 meg and 120 meg hard drive and the addition of an external cd rom drive. Then upgraded to a 386 dx which is where we are today on hardware. After being up for a year I then added Frontdoor and the Fidonet network to my system. This enabled me to greatly expand my message base and opened up my BBS for communications throughout the world, including gated netmail access through the Internet. We now use the BBS to communicate with family and friends all over the great USA! Another year passed and the SFNET network was developed I signed on as a node and loved it right from the start. From there the Hub was unable to continue carrying SFNET and I found myself in the drivers seat and took over as hub. I then volunteered to moderate two confernces. SFNET brought all of us SPITFIRE lovers together and really has made me feel like we are one huge family. My users absolutely love SFNET and I enjoy posting in it as much as possible myself. After all where can you ever find a better bunch of people! *GRIN* To date I have been training my daughter how to run SPITFIRE this is something that we can do together that we really enjoy. She has helped me immensely by making the callers feel at home and by keeping an eye on the system when I can not be around it. She has also helped to free up time for me in that aspect so that I can concentrate on adding new and exciting support software to the system. SPITFIRE / SFNET is a very important enjoyable part of our lives here. I would like to thank you all for making this such a wonderful adventure! See you all on SFNET! ╒════════════════════════════════════╕ │ NEWLY REGISTERED SPITFIRE SYSTEMS │ ╘════════════════════════════════════╛ A hearty welcome is extended to the following, who have recently become public registered SPITFIRE Bulletin Board Systems: The Outback BBS...............................334-222-4132...14400 BPS Bruce Talkington, Sysop.............................Andalusia, Alabama The Dark Ritual BBS...........................219-254-0130...28800 BPS Kevin Blume, Sysop..................................Mishawaka, Indiana CastleRock's BBS..............................504-657-7462...14400 BPS Mike Castleberry, Sysop...............................Buras, Louisiana ROADHOUSE 76..................................606-331-5844...28800 BPS Stanley R. Schaffeld, Sysop.........................Florence, Kentucky The Hideout...................................515-276-0465...28800 BPS Matt Burch, Sysop......................................Urbandale, Iowa Gonzo's BBS...................................407-884-4904...19200 BPS Howard Frailey, Sysop..................................Apopka, Florida Bates Motel BBS...............................602-943-3327...14400 BPS Rick Bartels, Sysop...................................Phoenix, Arizona RBHF-BBS......................................6632-321-222...14400 BPS Suthep Choojai, Sysop................Amphur Muang Ratchaburi, Thailand Lord Callubonn's Tower........................814-664-4409...14400 BPS Tom Fedorchuk, Sysop...............................Corry, Pennsylvania In addition, there were 4 new private SPITFIRE BBS System registered. These private SPITFIRE BBS were registered to Sysops in: Oregon, Illinois; Brantford, Ontario, Canada; Westport, Connecticut; and Homebush, NSW Australia. There are 3 registrations for whom registration information was incomplete. These included BBS's in: St. Paul, Alberta, Canada; Taif, Saudi Arabia, and an FPO AP address. The increase in registrations where information is incomplete is largely due to Buffalo Creek's Software's policy of accepting on-line Mastercard and Visa credit card registrations. JUST A REMINDER...the newsletter is always looking for contributions! Please forward any articles in ASCII text to either Buffalo Creek's BBS or The Mother Board BBS.