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┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ RA-BiM v4.00 │
│ BiModem interface for Remote Access │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
by Arthur A. Mol
The Owl's Nest BBS, Netherlands
+31-2155-12571/26527 (2:512/124)
April 28, 1990
──────────────
General stuff
─────────────
RA-BiM is an interface between Remote Access and BiModem that will use
all the features of BiModem but also keeps in mind the user limits!
It started as only an interface for QuickBBS called QuickBIM. Well,
RA-Bim works much the same as QuickBIM and is easy to install into your
Remote Access BBS.
RA-BiM will *NOT* work with QuickBBS! (get my point?)
RA-BiM is in no way crippled. Registration only gives you some extra
features.
Features ('*' marked features are changes from version 3.00/3.10)
────────
* RA-BiM now uses FILES.RA to find out what file areas a user has
access to. RA-BiM looks into FILES.RA and will compare the
security levels of each area to the one that the BiModem user has.
RA-BiM will make a list of all directories to which his security
level can give him access and will forward this list to BiModem.
This enforces BiModem only to be capable of sending files from the
areas that the user has access to.. For instance; users with level
20 will never receive files from an area that has a level 30 access
level.
Users with security levels lower than needed for some areas will
not be able to use BiModem to download from these areas.
BiModem will give the message 'File not found' in the BiModem
screen when they try to download from those areas.
* Added support for elimination of escape characters for PCPursuit
connections. BiModem versions 1.20 and lower use this escaping
but it can decrease performance. With BiModem v1.21 and higher
versions you can eliminate this escaping. Add the 'NoEscape'
keyword to the RA-BiM configuration to enable this feature in
RA-BiM. If you run a version of BiModem lower than v1.21 then
this keyword must not be used.
Note:
At the time of this writing, the current BiModem version is v1.20
but because the Beta BiModem v1.21 has this feature, I already
implemented this option into RA-BiM.
* (for registered users only)
Total Characters Per Second (Cps) is now logged into the RA
logfile.
* Fixed a small bug which caused RA-BiM not to work proberly when
executed local.
* Users can select what to do from a short menu that is displayed by
RA-BiM. (Execute BiModem/Enter files to download/Exit to BBS).
* Users have the option to enter filenames to download before running
BiModem on the BBS.
* Improved the fossil routines. Communications with the user will
be smoother (and safer) now.
* Build-in Carrier Detect. If a user drops the carrier, RA-BiM will
detect this and gives control back to the BBS.
(This could happen when users are prompted for file descriptions
or when entering filenames to download)
* ANSI support
- Multi node/multi BiModem support.
- Possibility to use a seperate BiModem.COM for each node
(eg: BIMOD01.COM, BIMOD02.COM)
- Aborted up/downloads are not recorded. This prevents your users
yelling at you when a session failed and RA-BiM took credit for the
whole filelength in the user record. Also this gets a better
calculation of downloaded/uploaded Kb's and will prevent corrupted
uploads because of failed transfers.
- When a user omits to send a description along with an upload, RA-BiM
will prompt the user for a description after the transfer.
- Username is displayed under the BiModem screen so instantly you can
see who's using BiModem.
- Time and download limits are displayed locally.
Note: If a user has exceeded his download limit, the download limit
will be 1 Kb to prevent BiModem from thinking that the limit is '0'
which would mean NO limit at all!
- Users can send descriptions of their uploads with BiModem which
will be added to FILES.BBS in your upload directory.
- If the description for an upload is missing, RA-BiM will ask the
user for a description of the uploaded file(s).
- Online updating of up/download and time statistics (users see what
they up/downloaded immediately after the BiModem session ends).
- RA-BiM will execute BiModem with the proper download and time-
limits, so users can't download or spend more time using BiModem
than allowed (If a user selects more KB's to download than
allowed, BiModem will abort the download after his limit has been
reached. The user can use a verified download the next day to
resume his filetransfer).
- You have the option to create a logfile with user statistics each
time a BiModem session is initiated on your BBS.
- If RA-BiM can't find one or more files, a file called RA-BiM?.ERR
will be created with the name of the file that couldn't be found, so
when you're not at home, you can always see what went wrong.
The '?' character in the filename is replaced by the nodenumber that
called RA-BiM.
Extra features for registered users:
────────────────────────────────────
- Build-in support for private uploads. A user can start the description
of his upload with "/". RA-BiM will then add that file as a private
upload and will store the description to PFILES.BBS in the upload
directory.
- An RA compatible log entry will be added to the RA logfile for each
filetransfer done by BiModem. This entry looks like the normal
transfer entries that RA writes for transfers like Zmodem and
other protocols.
Both logfile formats (Opus or Frontdoor style) are supported.
- You know that you are supporting shareware! This must make you feel
very good!
Installing RA-BiM:
──────────────────
RA-BiM must be installed into Remote Access as a menu type 7.
Create a menu type 7 in your files menu that will contain the
following info on the optional data line:
RA-BiM RA-BiM.CTL path&filename, nodenumber, /L (optional)
Example:
RA-BiM C:\RA\RA-BiM.CTL *N /L
(Note: RA-BiM is not hardcoded for a config file named RA-BiM.CTL.
Use any configuration filename that you like. This also
enables you to use seperate .CTL files for certain menu-
(BiModem) options!)
Make sure to enter the drivename along with the pathnames. Strange
things can occure if you don't!
The parameter "/L" is optional. If found, a logfile called RA-BiM?.LOG
will be created with user statistics before and after the BiModem
session. The '?' character is replaced by the nodenumber that calls
RA-BiM.
It's also recommended to enable the memory swap feature by adding *M
to the commandline.
The RA-BiM control file must contain the following information:
- Full path and filename of the BiModem configuration file
- Logfile format (Opus/Frontdoor style) to be used
- For each node a line must be supplied with the full pathname of that
node's directory and the path to the BiModem.COM file to use for each
node.
Take your favorite text editor and create a file which will be used
as the configuration file for RA-BiM.
Then use the following keywords to enter the information in this
file:
BiModemCfg Full drive and pathname of the BiModem configuration file
LogFormat The format of your RA system's logfile.
Valid options are:
LogFormat Opus (Opus logfile format)
LogFormat Frontdoor (Frontdoor logfile format)
Node Keyword used to supply pathname information for each
node.
NoEscape This keyword is optional. Use this only if you run
a BiModem version higher than v1.20. It will have no
effect on BiModem v1.20 or lower versions.
The RA-BiM configuration file could look something like this:
BiModemCfg C:\PROTOCOLS\BIMODEM.CFG
NoEscape
LogFormat Opus
Node 1 D:\RA1 D:\RA1\RA1.LOG D:\PROTOCOLS\BIMOD01.COM
Node 2 D:\RA2 D:\RA2\RA2.LOG D:\PROTOCOLS\BIMOD02.COM
Node 3 E:\RA3 D:\RA3\RA3.LOG D:\PROTOCOLS\BIMOD03.COM
│ │ │ │
│ │ │ └────> Full path and filename of the
│ │ │ BiModem.COM file used for each node.
│ │ │
│ │ └─────> Full path and filename for the logfile of this node.
│ └────────────> Full pathname for this node.
└──────────────> Node number
An example configuration file for RA-BiM is included in the distribution
archive.
Notes:
──────
You *MUST* supply the full pathnames for all keywords in the RA-BiM
configuration file. So always use 'D:\TEST\TEST.COM' (or whatever)
instead of only '\TEST\TEST.COM' or worse: only 'TEST.COM'.
This also must be done when entering pathnames in BiConfig. RA-BiM
looks for the drivenames in order to find/store certain files so
pathnames *MUST* be proceeded by the drivename!
Also set all logging to "YES". This will enable RA-BiM to use a part of
the logfile (for reading only).
If the BiModem logfile cannot be found because you don't have one (yet)
RA-BiM will exit with 'cannot open BiModem logfile' (or something alike).
If this happens, you can create a BiModem logfile by hand. This can be
a short file with only one CR in it.
RA-BiM was succesfully tested on several machines from 8Mhz XT's with
640Kb up to 25Mhz 386's with USR Dual Standard modems using Desqview
2.26/QEMM 5.00. Also Remote Access v0.03/b-7 and BiModem v1.21ß behaved
nice with RA-BiM..
Credits:
────────
The guys of Continental Software for sharing RA with us.
quote: "Later dude.."
Dave Krause - BiModem freak / SysOp Valley of the Sun (1:114/42)
quote: "Excellent, we'll take a look at it!"
Peter Janssens - SysOp of EasyBoard NL (2:512/1)
quote: "QEMM reported somekind of error and the system is locked now...
why me?"
Rob van Hoeven - Co-SysOp of RA Support Europe (2:512/100) and author
of many great RA/QBBS programs.
quote: "NAK, NAK, NAK ..."
Reinier de Groot - SysOp of RA Support Europe (2:512/100)
Quote: "Why not?"
┌────────────┐
│ DISCLAIMER │
└────────────┘
Every program seems to have a disclaimer, so I decided to include one
too!
This program is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. The user
of this program agrees to hold the author of this material harmless for
any direct or consequential damages from its use.
The latest release of RA-BiM is always requestable at my node (2:512/124)
under the 'magic' filename RA-BiM or RABIM.
If you would like to register RA-BiM, then send $15 (foreign orders)
or Hfl 25,- to the address below. Please include your name, BBS name
and (optional) net/nodenumber of your system.
Arthur A. Mol
P.O. Box 227
3760 AE Soest
Netherlands
BBS The Owl's Nest
+31-2155-12571 (1200/2400/9600/14400bps HST/V32)
+31-2155-26527 (300/1200/2400bps)
Fidonet address: 2:512/124