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Text File | 1990-06-14 | 23KB | 614 lines

Contents -------- GENERAL 1. Introduction POINT MANUAL 2. Point Installation 3. What Install did to your system 4. Checking the installation 5. Connecting to your BOSS 6. Reading and entering messages 7. Joining electronic conferences 8. In and Exporting conference messages 9. Using dutchie to connect to a Bulletin Board 10. Scripts 11. Adding a namelist 12. Carbon copies and mailing lists 13. MSG, REQ and XMIT 14. Automating DCM 15. Where is your mail going, routing and such 15. What to read next 16. I want more ! A pointplus system 17. Nodelist maintenance 18. More reading BOSS/MAILER MANUAL 19. Mailer Installation 20. Nodelists and such 21. Events 22. Routing and forwarding 23. Level and keys 24. Setting up filerequest support 25. Allowing filerequests 26. The request response file 27. Request translations 28. Setting up service requests 29. Banner file 30. Running under a multitasker 31. Allow access to a Bulletin Board 32. Example batch and configuration files 33. Control files, control files 34. Setting up conferences 35. More reading EDITER USER MANUAL 35. Starting the editor 36. Reading messages 37. Creating a message 38. Replying to a message 39. Name- and Filelists 40. File attaches 41. File, Update and service requests 42. The message flagbits 43. The message editor 44. About kludge lines 45. Macros 46. saving/printing a message 47. Maintenance 49. Moving and forwarding messages 50. Changing a message and its culprits MAILER USER MANUAL 51. Starting the mailer. Commandline options 52. Attended mode 53. Unattended mode 54. Terminal mode DCM USERMANUAL 55. Starting DCM 56. Importing confrences and its options 57. Exporting conferences and its options 58. Conference Maintenance 59. Join, DisJoin and Areas support 60. Report functions 61. Split packet point support 62. Other options DUTMAIN USER MANUAL 63. Starting Dutmain 64. nodelist maintenance 65. Namelist maintenance DUTCHCOM USER MANUAL 64. Starting Dutchcom 65. Fidonet Nodelists 66. Update lists 67. DUTCHLAT 68. Dumping the lists 69. smart compiling REQ, MSG AND XMIT 70. REQ, the commandline requester 71. MSG, automated distribution of messages 72. XMIT, automated distribution of files SCRIPTS AND THE SCRIPT PROCESSOR 73. Scripts 74. Dutchies script language 75. enabling scripts 76. Script examples SETTING UP A NETWORK 77. Name convention. 78. Simple Boss + points 79. Adding a level, Nodes and HOST 80. A big net with routing Hubs 81. Adding one more level, zones 82. Connection to other networks, like UUCP, BITNET and such INSTALLING SPECIAL MODEMS 83. The modem file detailed 84. testing with DUTCHIE X+ TECHNICAL STUFF 85. Protocol standards 86. File standards Introduction ------------ Dutchie is a complete Personal Mailer System that allows you to do sophisticated electronic communication with inividuals or groups of people using standard low cost telephonelines. Dutchie is a complete packet and does not need any other program to perform its duties. It is designed to be user friendly and easy to install and use. Basically Dutchie enables you to pass messages and files to and request messages and files from other persons or systems without having to know the technical details of datacommunication. In short, if you want to o exchange electronic messages with others o make files available with extensive security o want to start electronic conferences (also called special interest groups or echomail) o want to distribute reports, files or updates scheduled or unscheduled and more, than Dutchie will be af great use to U. About this manual ----------------- There are basically two classes of users of dutchie. Those that use Dutchie as a mailing tool to access system to get services (or get the services delevered at there doormat by the remote Dutchie) and users that provide services. The first type of users are called POINTS (off a system), the second type of users are called BOSSES. There exists intermediate type of users, so called POINTPLUS systems (that are points with more features) and MAILERS (that are BOSSES with less features). The manual is devided into three parts, the POINT part, the BOSS part and the technical reference stuff. Because a BOSS must be able to help out the points he services a potential BOSS user should read the point manual and install a point to get aquintant with the software. If you are responsible for setting up a private net outside other networks then read the chapter 'Setting up a network' now, and return here after that. POINT(PLUS) MANUAL ================== Point Installation ------------------- Most people don't want to read manuals, but start with the installation right away out of the box. That's why we have included the installation chapter here, right at the beginning. However, your Dutchie software cannot be used standalone like a wordprocessor. Dutchie is ment for communication, thus you need at least one other Dutchie system to communicate with. And that implies that some coordination is needed. As Dutchie is used in world wide networks with thousants of users, some adressing is needed to get the message on the system where you want it. The installation program will ask you about the adress you have in the network and YOU CANNOT DECIDE THAT ON YOUR OWN. In a network one person or administrative organisation is responsible for handing out adresses so yoiur address will be unique. If you are going to join the public fidonet via a BOSS you should ask your BOSS for these adresses. If you are going to join a network, the networks coordinator will assign adresses. For netcoordinators forming their own net, see the chapter on building networks with dutchie in the BOSS section. Before you start the installation, here is a list of checkpoints. Please make sure you have all information available and have all data checked, the installation itself is a question of minutes. 1. System requirements Your system should be an IBM PC, XT, AT or PS/2 or close compatible with atv least 512 k of RAM memory and a hard disk. Dutchie will run on a floppy based system but we do not recommend it. 2. Modem requirements Dutchie knows how to control the modem from a modem command file that contains the modem commands for the modem concerned. The installation program supports more than 50 modems directly and has their commandfiles available. Dutchie (by its design) will run with almost any intelligent modem, Hayes compatible or not, but making a commandfile and testing it for an unsupported non hayes modem can be a task of several hours. Thus a Hayes compatible modem is highly recommended. If a Hayes compatible modem is not directly supported, then choose the USR COURIER modem, in almost all cases that one will work. Please write down your modems brand and type and the comport it uses. Make sure the modem is installed properly (if internal) and the cable has al least 8 wires if the modem is external. Most problems with a dutchie installation are due to an incorrect modem installation, especially with internal modems. We will give some testing advise after the installation. Also be sure to TYPE the file DUTCHIE.MDM after the installation is complete. It can contain valuable information for switch settings on your modem and such. 3. Additional information If you setup as a point or pointplus you should have the following adress information available (get it from the person responsible for the network): Your Zone, Net, and Nodenumber . Your Bosses zone, Node and net number Your Bosses phonenumber Your own phone number Your Bosses maximum baudrate An agreed sessionlevel password with your Boss Well, here we go. Insert Dutchies distribution disk #1 in diskdrive A. Make the drive A current. Type INSTALL. You will have to answer a few questions now. There is some explanation at the top of the screen and if needed an example is displayed at the bottom of the screen. The first question is wheter this is a new installation or an update. We assume a new installation here, but remember, whenever you get update diskettes, the above procedure will get you here and choosing the U(pdate) option on this screen will update your existing dutchie installation. Choose N(ew) installation for now. The scond question is if you have a distribution set or all files are available in a directory. We assume a distribution set here (F). Next the installatiuon program will ask you some information about the place where Dutchie must be installed. Answer the questions, mostly it will be an harddisk C:. Well, that was easy enough. You are now staring at a screen full of questions that must be answered. Lets go through them one by one. (We assume a point installation here, Bosses and mailers will see some other questions. Please check the bottom row of the screen, some explanation is displayed there for every field. Your systems name Just enter a name you like, like 'My point of view' or such Your name Your First name, followed by a space, followed by your last name. Two names only please. Your phone number. This is used to install your phonenumber at your Boss the first time you call him. Therefor this number must be in international form. See the bottom line. Your Zone Got that from your Boss Your Net NOTE: This is the so called POINTNET. Your Boss has supplied this to you. Your Node This is your POINT NUMBER Your Bosses zone, net and node Got that didn't you ? Your Bosses phone Enter the phonenumber exactly as you should dial it manually. Thus this is NOT in international form. Better check if you get your bosses system when you dial the numbers you entered here. Your Bosses maximum baudrate Got that from your Boss. If you don't know ask. With modern standard modems it will be 2400 or 9600. Session password. Session level passwords protect your exchange with the other system (for a point that is always the BOSS). It prevents other systems pretending they are you and picking up your mail. Once a password is installed systems that call in with your address (=ID) with none or another password are disconnected immediately. Bosses can run in two modes: Secure and open. In secure mode they only accept systems that have a password. In open mode they accept systems without a password and will install a password on the first Call the other system uses a password. Once a password is installed the connection will always need that password. The bottomline is that when your Boss runs an open system you can pick your password and it will installed the first time you and your Boss connect. If your Boss runs secure, then you need a password from him before you can start. If the Boss forgot to install your passsword on his system manually you will not be able to connect. Poll Boss every night When you want to let your system called your Boss every night unattended to see if there is something new then answer yes here. Want mail printed If yes, your new mail will be printed every night at a predetermined time. Start active mailslot at.... When you have told that you want your Boss to be polled every night then this is the time (hh:mm) when dutchie starts dialling Stop active mailslot at As above, the ending time. This is only important when the connection has not been successfull. Dutchie will of course stop dialing the Boss after the first successful connection Modem connected to port This should bve correct. 1, 2, 3 or 4 Print new mail at .... When the mailprinting should start (after the end of the poll slot of course. Ok, so far so good. use the cursorkeys to change some item when you see somthing is not correct. Hit F10 when all is ok. You will now be asked about your modem. This is straight forward. As said, if your modem is not supported try the ROBOTICS COURIER. If it does not work, then contact us, we probably have the file for you. Now the installation will proceed automatically. The Install program will ask for disk #2 if needed. After a few minutes the installation is complete. DONE. What install did ---------------- Install has created a few directories on your harddisk to keep the dutchie files. The base directory is \DUTCHIE where all the program and configuration files are kept. In addition you will see the directories \DUTCHIE\NETMSGS, \DUTCHIE\NETFILES and \DUTCHIE\OUTBOUND. \DUTCHIE\NETMSGS is a placeholder for all electronic messages that you create or that people will send you. You access these via the message editor, called DUTCHED. If you make dutchies directory current and type DUTCHED you can read and write those electronic messages. \DUTCHIE\NETFILES is a placeholder for all incoming files. These files come either on your system attached to an electronic message or via the terminal download option. \DUTCHIE\OUTBOUND is a placeholder for so called mailbundles. before calling another system Dutchie bundles all outgoing messages into a mailbundle. This bundle will be placed in this directory. Normally this directory is of no concern to you. Furthermore Install has placed several executable files in your Dutchie home directory. We will describe them later, but if you do a DIR *.EXE in dutchie directory you should at least see: DUTCHIE.EXE, DUTCHED.EXE, DUTZMDM.EXE, DCM.EXE, REQ.EXE, MSG.EXE, XMIT.EXE. Now for the modemcontrol. Install should have checked if you have already installed X00.SYS, dutchies fast serial port driver. If you have not X00 on your system then Install should have placed X00.SYS in the basic root directory ( mostly C:\) PLEASE CHECK THIS. If this is not the case, locate X00.SYS and move it to your boot directory. Also Dutchie should have modified CONFIG.SYS to load the driver at startup. The line DEVICE=X00.SYS ...... should have been added to CONFIG.SYS. Please make sure this is the case. And when you are at it, the FILES and BUFFERS parameters in CONFIG.SYS should be large enough. You should now REBOOT your system so X00.SYS will be loaded. This should be visible on your screen during startup. Checking out the installation ----------------------------- We are now ready for THE MOST IMPORTANT test, the modem connection and successfull installation of X00.SYS. Make Dutchies directory current (CD \DUTCHIE). Type DUTCHIE T+ followed by a RETURN (or ENTER). This will put Dutchie into a direct communication mode with your modem. Now type carefully AT followed by a RETURN. You should see OK. If that is the case, congratulations, no doubt Dutchie will perform ok with your setup. If you do not see OK, repeat typing AT followed by a RETURN a few times if possible. If you see garbage on the screen, try changing the baudrate to 1200 (by hitting F2 a few times). If that does not help, seek help. There is no way that we can help you without voice contact. There are a few pointers you could check before calling us or someone else: - Internal modems: Check IRQ number and PORT addresses. Is there a mouse that conflicts with the modem ? Try removing the mouse. - external modems: are you sure you are connected to the right SERIAL port ? Is the modem switched on ? Is the cable correct? You can leave the terminal mode by hitting F1. Connecting to your BOSS ----------------------- Dutchie is a ver versatile set of programs. learning all possible options and fine tuning your system can take a while. However, the basic tasks are performed very easely. Here is how to send your mail to your BOSS and to pick up the mail he has for you: step 1: Make dutchie directory current step 2: Type DUTCHIE P+ A+ and hit ENTER That is all there is to it. Dutchie will try to connect to your Boss and deliver/pickup the mail. It will show you on the screen what is going on and will return to DOS after a successfull connection, or after several attempts that failed. Entering and reading mesages ---------------------------- Starting the message reader/editor is also very easy: step 1: Make dutchies directory current step 2: Type DUTCHED and then hit ENTER The message editor/reader will be started. There is a whole chapter on the message editor, but for now a few hints will do: reading messages: Use the left/right arraowkeys to move between messages and the PageUp/PageDown keys to read. Also the function keys displayed at the bottom are active. entering messages: Hit F3. Then enter the persons name you wish to send the message to and hit ENTER. Now enter his address (zone:net/node.point or a shoprt form that will be discussed later) followed by ENTER. type the messages subject and hit ENTER. We leave the messagebits for what they are now, just hit ENTER again. You are now in edit mode, like your wordprocessor, or editor. The standard control keys are supported and a menu driven interface is there. When you are done, hit SAVE. Thats all. Not too difficult eh ? The editor is pretty sophisticated with search/replace and block commands, but we leave that to another chapter. We have now a working communication system that will connect to your Boss. If you want unattended mailhandling in cheap nightly hours, the start the mailer with DUTCHIE B+. Dutchie will start up and go into waiting mode until the active event has come. It then will pack your mail and try to send it to your Boss. You can take the system down with F1 when you wake up in the morning. You do not have to be afraid of hackers or such. There is no way to get into your system via Dutchie in this setup. Joining electronic conferences ------------------------------ To make the communication system fully operational. including electronic conferencing you need to install Dutchies Conference Manager DCM. If your Boss is Dutchie, its easy, let first find out what conferences are available: Step 1: Make Dutchies directory current Step 2: Type REQ now .AREAS Dutchie will dial out to your Boss and if your Boss has the standard Dutchie setup a file AREAS.REP will be sent to your system. Type this file and you will see what conferences are there available for you. Areas marked with a star (*) are not yet setup for your system. Lets choose 1 for the first try, you can repeat this later if all works ok. So JOINING a conference: Step 1: Make Dutchies directory Currenty Step 2: Type REQ now .JOIN <areatag> where <areatag> is the tag of the requested area (Dutchies international support area has the tag WINDMILL, you should probably start with this one if its available). Thus for WINDMILL the command is REQ NOW .JOIN WINDMILL. You will get a REQUEST.xx file back that will tell you if the JOIN is a success or if it failed. For later use, if your Boss is running Dutchie 2.91e or up, you can have more <areatags> after the .JOIN command. If you want to leave an electronic conferece, then use the above steps, but use the command .DISJOIN instead of .JOIN. Ok, so now the BOSS knows that you want to JOIN an area and has acknowledged connection. What next. Nothing special. Just keep connecting to the Boss every day (if you are connected to an electronic conference you should connected every day to get your conference !). DCM on the Bosses system will instruct DCM on your system what to do. As soon as your DCM has followed instructions, you will see a message on your system when you start DUTCHED, that the confernece is now available on your system. This message is most likely followed by another message giving you the rules of the conference(s) and whatever the conference moderator sees fit to tell new conference attendees. How to read the conferences messages? Again, easy: Step1: Start DUTCHED Step2: Hit ALT, keep down, Hit F9. Step3: Choose the conference number. You can switch between conferences and the MAIL area by following the above three steps. Importing conference mail ------------------------- For economical reasons conference messages arrive in a compressed form on your system (in the file area). To unpack the messages you should act as follows every time you received conference mail: Step 1: make Dutchies directory current Step 2: type DCM -i and hit ENTER Exporting your messages If you have entered messages in one or more conferences, this messages must be exported and packed. To do that: Step 1: make Dutchies directory current Step 2: type DCM -e and hit ENTER DCM has a lot more features and options. As with must programs from teh dutchies series, typing the programs name alone will show you the options. Also this process of in and exporting can be automated very easely by changing a little in dutchies configuration file. If you have mastered the above commands then go to the chapter 'More about conferencing' for more details. Mail versus conferences ------------------------ A few words about conferences and electronic mail. Although they look the same, there is a fundamental difference between the two. MAIL goes to one individul person. You need to know his address to send him mail. Other people (except system operators on the intermediate systems) cannot read the mail. CONFERNCE MESSAGES go to ALL connected systems. (some conferences can connect a few hunderd systems). That means that you should enter only messages that are of general interest to all participants in a conference. If you are starting a private discussion, move the discussion to the electronic mail area. That will keep the costs down and the conference interesting. Also, stick to the Conferences subjec.