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4
==============================================================================
PCBoard Commands
Entering Commands
SysOp Commands
User Commands
When logged into PCBoard, you use commands to accomplish your
tasks online. When you are reading messages or downloading
files, you are simply executing the appropriate commands to
accomplish these tasks. Most commands also have subcommands
which is what you use to enter the message number to read, the
file to download, etc. In other words, these subcommands allow
you to be more specific about what you want to accomplish with
the command that you are executing.
You will enter commands at what is known as the conference
command prompt which usually resembles the following examples:
(39 min. left) Main Board Command?
(112 min. left) Chatter (1) Conference Command?
The first example shows you what the Main Board conference
command prompt (conference 0) would look like. The second
example shows you what the prompt would look like if you defined
conference 1 to be called Chatter.
When you enter a command at the conference prompt, PCBoard will
execute it if possible. If additional information is required,
an additional prompt will be displayed to you. It is at this
prompt that you would normally enter the subcommands you wish to
use. If you decided you wish to read messages and entered R at
the conference command prompt, you would see something similar
to the following prompt:
(H)elp, (3262-8623), Message Read Command?
PCBoard knows you want to read messages, but it has no clue as
to what messages you want to read. By using the appropriate
subcommands for the R user command, you will be able to select
the messages that you wish to read.
One of the major advantages to PCBoard is that you can save time
by stacking commands and subcommands together. To stack
commands and subcommands together you separate each by a space
or a semicolon. For example, if you decide that you want to
read the new messages in the current conference you could enter
R;S at the command prompt and bypass the Message Read Command
prompt. As you become more accustomed to PCBoard and the
various commands that are available, you will find that stacking
gives you the ability to navigate the system as quickly as
possible.
Throughout this chapter, all examples will make use of command
stacking. This will help you become more familiar with the
concept of stacking and how much time it can save you.
SysOp Commands
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are several commands available from the main menu which
are designed to help you, the SysOp, to do many common
maintenance functions. Using these commands you can do these
following tasks and more:
View, print, search, and delete the callers logs
Pack the current message base
Change a user record
Drop to DOS from remote
The security level for these functions should be set high enough
so that only authorized people will have access to the commands.
To assign the security levels for these commands, use PCBSetup
and select Security Levels | Sysop Functions.
1 Manage Caller Log
This (Sysop) command enables you to manage the caller log that
PCBoard creates for the current node . You can view, print,
search, and delete the caller log.
Subcommands
D Delete caller log. This subcommand will delete the caller
log for the current node. You may want to use this
subcommand to periodically delete the caller log to prevent
it from taking up too much disk space.
WARNING: Once deleted, PCBoard cannot recover that caller
log.
P Print caller log. If you use this subcommand, the caller log
for the current node will be displayed on the screen and also
sent to the printer port that is defined in PCBSetup.
S Search caller log for text. The more callers your system has
the more difficult it will be to find the information you are
looking for in the caller log. PCBoard provides search
capabilities to allow you to search the log file for any
text. You can do both a simple one word or one phrase search
or you can do complex Boolean searches using the AND, OR, and
NOT operators. For more information on Boolean searching
please see Searching For Text in the Sysop's Guide chapter of
this manual.
If PCBoard finds a match when searching the caller log, the
log entry for the entire call will then be displayed. The
search text that was found will be highlighted for clarity.
When PCBoard searches through the callers logs it does not
try to match case. If you tell PCBoard to search for Jim
Smith then any caller log that contains the text JIM SMITH
would be a match.
V View caller log. Using this subcommand you can view the
caller log. The display starts with the most current caller.
Description
The callers log provides you with information about who has
called your system, what node they called in on, highlights of
what they did online, what date and time they called, etc. When
you view the caller log, PCBoard will display the file to you in
reverse order beginning with the last caller to the system.
You will also want to periodically search the caller log because
that is where any system error messages may be displayed. In
addition, when a user attempts to access a command that is not
available to them, that information is almost always written to
the caller log.
The caller log is simply a condensed history of what has taken
place on the BBS. The 1 command enables you to not only view
the information stored in the caller log but also to print
and/or delete the caller log.
Examples
To view the current node's caller log on your display, type the
following at the command prompt:
1 V
You may want to regularly search your caller log for possible
system errors. When executed from the command prompt, the
following command will search for any caller log entry that
contains the word FAIL or the word ERROR.
1 S FAIL | ERROR
2 View/Print User List
Enables you to either view or print a list of users. Each user
is listed on a separate line.
Subcommands
P Print user listing. When you use this subcommand, a list of
users will be printed to the printer you have defined in
PCBSetup.
V View list of users. This subcommand will enable you to
display a list of your users on the screen.
Description
The list that this command produces lists each user, their city,
last call date, last call time, and total minutes used so far.
All of this data is listed on one line. The users are listed in
the order that they appear in the user file.
The only time the SysOp information (user record #1) is
displayed is if the user defined in that record is issuing the
command. This means that if you use co-SysOps to help you
maintain the system they will not be able to view any
information about the main SysOp user record.
3 Pack/Renumber Messages
This command enables you to pack the message base for the
current conference. When you pack the message base you can
eliminate messages in the current conference that are old, that
are private and have been read, or those that have been marked
for deletion. After executing this command, several questions
will be asked to help determine the messages that should be
packed. The following details each of the questions that will
be asked.
Pack the Message Base?
This question is asked to confirm that you want to pack the
message base. Valid responses are:
N Do not pack the message base. Instead, return to the
conference command prompt.
Y Continue packing the message base. Additional questions will
be asked that will determine what criteria you want to use
for deleting messages (if any).
Generate ONLY a New Index File?
This question is asking if you want to only regenerate a new
index file for the message base. Valid responses for this
question are:
N If you enter this response, additional questions will be
asked to determine the criteria for deleting messages.
Y If you enter this response, no other questions will be asked.
Instead, PCBPack will be run immediately and create a new
index for the conference. Creating a new index file is
useful if you suspect that the current index may be corrupt
for some reason.
TIP: To accomplish this same task by executing PCBPACK yourself,
use the /INDEX command line parameter.
Purge older than
This question asks you to enter the cutoff date for keeping
messages. Any messages that are older than the date that you
enter will be deleted from the message base. In the field
provided, enter the cutoff date for keeping messages. The
default date in this field is 010180 which will not delete
messages by date.
TIP: To accomplish this same task by executing PCBPACK
yourself, use the /DATE command line parameter.
Purge RECEIVED+PRIVATE Msgs?
Messages that have been assigned RECEIVER ONLY message security
are only useful to the receiver. Once the message has been read
by this user, you may want to delete it from your message base.
The question that you are asked will determine if these messages
will be deleted or left in your message base to be packed out by
other criteria. Valid responses are:
N Leave any RECEIVER ONLY messages in the message base. To be
deleted, they will have to meet other packing criteria.
Y All RECEIVER ONLY messages that have been read will be
deleted from the message base.
TIP: To accomplish this same task by executing PCBPACK yourself,
use the /PURGE command line parameter.
Renumber during repack?
This option is designed to allow you to renumber the message
base if you exceed the 16,000,000 maximum message number limit.
When renumbering your message base, PCBPack does NOT update the
last message read values for your users. Therefore, if you
renumber the message base without adjusting these values, your
users may not be able to see new messages because their last
message read value remains unchanged. Using System Manager, you
can reset your user's last message read pointer to 0 to avoid
this problem. Valid responses to this question are:
N Do not renumber the message base -- message numbers will
remain unchanged.
Y The message base will be renumbered beginning with the number
that you specify when prompted. When the message base is
renumbered, the last message read values will not be updated.
TIP: To accomplish this same task by executing PCBPACK yourself,
use the /RENUMBER command line parameter.
The Packing Process
Once you have answered all of the questions, PCBoard will load
and run PCBPack. When PCBPack is finished, control will be
returned to BOARD.BAT. If you do not load PCBoard using
BOARD.BAT, you will be left at the DOS prompt.
4 Recover a Killed Message
This command enables you to recover a message that has been
deleted or killed. A message that has been deleted cannot be
recovered if the message base has been packed since the message
was deleted.
Subcommands
[msg #] Message number to recover. The only subcommand that is
supported is the message number. You need to type the message
number that you wish to recover. If you type in the number of a
message that does not exist you will be notified that the
message does not exist.
Description
When a message is deleted from the message base via the Kill
command it is only marked for deletion. You can recover any
message that is marked for deletion and make it active again by
using the 4 command. Of course, if the message has been
physically deleted by packing the message base the message
cannot be recovered.
5 List Message Headers
This command will list message header information. The
information pertaining to a message is listed on one line for
easy viewing.
Subcommands
[beg. msg. #] Beginning message number. This is the message number that
you wish to begin the scan with. The default scan direction
is in the forward direction. If you wish to go in the
reverse direction please see the - subcommand.
+ Scan in forward direction. When appended to the beginning
message number you can set the direction in which PCBoard
scans the message base. For example if you enter 762+
PCBoard will begin scanning at message number 762 in the
forward direction.
- Scan in reverse direction. When appended to the beginning
message number you can set the direction in which PCBoard
scans the message base. For example if you enter 3569-
PCBoard will begin scanning at message number 3569 in the
reverse direction.
NOTE: PCBoard defaults to searching in the forward direction.
A Scan selected conferences. Scans not only the current
conference but also those conference which you have set for
scanning via the SELECT command or the S conference flag in
the users record.
ALL Scan all conferences. Scans all conferences you are
registered in even if you have not marked the conference for
scanning.
F Message from you. Only messages that are from you, the user
currently online, will be displayed.
L Begin with last message in message base. Sets the beginning
message number to the last message in the message base. When
you use this subcommand you may omit the beginning message
number.
NS Display in non-stop mode. The listing of messages will be
displayed in non-stop mode. This means that there will be no
more? prompts each time the screen becomes full.
S Messages that you have not read yet. Searches only those
messages that you have not read yet.
TS Messages that contain particular text. This subcommand
enables you to search for text in the message body, the TO:
field, and the FROM: field. You can search for a word/phrase
or you can use any Boolean search. For more information on
searching for text please see Searching For Text in the
SysOp's Guide chapter of this manual.
USER Messages from a particular user. You may search the message
header for a particular user. When PCBoard searches for a
particular user it will search both the TO: and the FROM:
fields in the message header. You must enter a full
user name. Partial matches cannot be made with this command.
Y Messages addressed to you. Only messages that are addressed
to the user that is currently online will be listed.
Description
The 5 command can be used to quickly search message headers for
information. This command will produce a list on the screen
that shows such information as who the message is to and from as
well as the subject of the message.
The only difference between the 5 command and the Q command is
that the former will display active messages and also those
messages which have been marked for deletion.
Format of the list
The list that is produced by the format contains the following
information:
Sts. Displays the status of the message. An A indicates that
the message is active while an I indicates that the message is
inactive (marked for deletion).
Msg #. The actual message number in the message base. Just
before the message number is a status code that shows if the
message has been read, etc. For a list of status codes please
see the section titled Status Codes.
Ref #. If the message is a reply, then this field will contain
the message number which was replied to.
To. Displays who the message is addressed to. Only the first
15 characters of the user name are displayed.
From. Displays who the message is from. Only the first 15
characters of the user name are displayed.
Subject. Displays the subject of the message. Only the first
25 characters of the subject are displayed.
Status Codes
Next to each message number is a status code. You can use these
status codes to determine if the message has been read, if it
has replies, etc. The following is a list of all valid message
status codes:
[blank] A message which can be read by anyone.
* A private message to a specific person which has not been
read by the person it was addressed to.
+ A private message which has been read by the person it was
addressed to.
- A message to a specific person, which was readable by anyone,
which has been read by the person it was addressed to.
~ A comment to the SysOp which has not been read by the person
defined as SysOp record #1.
` A comment to the SysOp which has been read by the person
defined as SysOp record #1.
% A message protected by sender password which has not been read.
^ A message protected by sender password which has been read.
! A message protected by group password which has not been read.
# A message protected by group password which has been read.
$ A message protected by group password which is addressed to
ALL.
Examples
To display the header information for all messages in the
current message base in reverse order you would issue the
following at the command prompt:
5 L
To search for all messages (beginning with the first message in
the message base) either to or from a user named Wally Peterson
you would issue the following at the command prompt:
5 USER WALLY PETERSON 1+
6 View a File
Enables any file to be displayed. Even if you are calling in
from remote you can view any file.
Subcommands
[filename] The filename you wish to view online. This file may be any
valid DOS filename.
Description
Sometimes you may want to view a file while you are online.
This command will display any file in it's raw form making it
primarily useful for viewing ASCII files. With this command,
you could view batch files, display screens, or any other text
file.
This command is most useful when used from remote because you
can quickly view a file on screen without having to do a remote
drop to DOS.
Example
If you want to display C:\PCB\BOARD.BAT, type following at the
command prompt.
6 C:\PCB\BOARD.BAT
7 User Maintenance
Enables you to modify any user record. You can adjust security
levels, conference registrations, and more.
Subcommands
[record #] User record number. Displays the user record number you
type. If you wish to view record number 10 you would type
10.
A Add a user. Using this subcommand you may add a user to your
users file. You will be asked to provide the basic
information to create the record such as a password, security
level, etc. If you attempt to create a record for a user that
already exists you will be informed that they already have a
record on the system. If this happens you may want to use
the F subcommand to help you locate that record so you can
make the appropriate changes.
C Change current user record. When you use this subcommand you
can make changes to the key fields of the user record (e.g.,
security level, expiration date, city). The user record that
is currently selected is the one that will be edited.
D Delete current user record. Marks the current user record
for deletion. You will first be asked to confirm the
deletion. If you proceed to delete the record then the
security level will be changed to 0 and the deleted flag will
be set to Y. You can tell if a user record is marked for
deletion by looking for a DL: on the display. If there is a
Y next to it then the user has been marked for deletion.
Otherwise there should be a N and the user has not been
marked for deletion.
NOTE: The user will not be physically be removed from the
user file until you pack the users file.
F Find a user. When you select this subcommand you are asked
for the name to search for. The user file will be searched
for the name you supply - partial names will not match. If
the name is found then their user file will be displayed and
you can use any other subcommand like C or D to modify the
record.
L List all user records. Displays the user records beginning
with the first user record all of the way to the end. The
format for the output is the same as if you were to select
one individual record.
NOTE: Any user records that have a security level higher than
the current user will not be displayed in the list.
P Print all user records. Displays the same information as the
L subcommand but sends it to the defined printer instead.
Q Quit. Quits the user record editor and returns you to the
command prompt.
S Search user records for text. This subcommand enables you to
search the user records for specific text. PCBoard will
search all ASCII text inside of the user file. This means
fields such as user id, address, phone numbers, password,
city, and the two comment fields will be searched.
U Undelete a user record. If there is a user record that has
been marked for deletion you can use this subcommand to
undelete the user. If you do, you will need to manually
change the user security level and expired security level
because they were originally changed when the user record was
deleted. You can use System Manager to make the appropriate
changes.
NOTE: Any changes made to a user record (e.g., changes in security level,
city) while the user is on line will not take affect until the next time the
user calls in. For immediate changes to a user record, please refer to the
SysOp function keys in the PCBoard chapter of this manual.
Description
PCBoard gives you easy access to the user records while you are
online either locally or remote. You can do such things as
adding users, deleting users, editing user records, etc. For
security purposes, PCBoard will not allow you to see information
about those users who have a security level higher than your
own. This enables you to have co-SysOps without enabling them
to see the passwords and other sensitive information about users
with higher security levels.
Format of Record Display
When a user record is displayed on the screen, it is shown in
the following format:
1: BOB SYSOP ANYCITY, ANYPLACE P/W:*ANYPASSWORD
D: 999-999-9999 V: 999-999-9999 LD: 06-24-93 LT: 10:15 EX:Y PR: G
Sec: 250 E/Sec: 250 TO: 13 PL: 23 UP: 32 DN: 57 ET: 0 DL:N
E/Date: 00-00-00 D/D: 90543 T/D: 3463463 T/U: 346246
C1: C2:
ALIAS: WARLOCK WILLY
ST#1: 100 Elm Street
ST#2: Apartment #32
CSZC: Jackson, TN 38325 UNITED STATES
NOTE: ********************* Comment Field #1 ********************
NOTE: ********************* Comment Field #2 ********************
NOTE: ********************* Comment Field #3 ********************
NOTE: ********************* Comment Field #4 ********************
NOTE: ********************* Comment Field #5 ********************
VERIFY: 1001 WAYS TO USE CLIPS
The first line of each record displays the user's record number,
name, city, and password. The following discusses the rest of
the items you will find in each record:
D: Data phone number
V: Voice phone number
LD: Last date the user called the system
LT: Last time the user called the system
EX: Expert user status
PR: Default protocol letter
Sec: Security level
E/Sec: Expired security level
TO: Number of times the user has called the system
PL: Page length setting
UP: Number of files uploaded
DN: Number of files downloaded
ET: Number of minutes spent on the last day the user called the
system
DL: Whether or not the user is marked for deletion.
E/Date: Expiration date of the user.
D/D: Total number of bytes downloaded today.
T/D: Total number of bytes downloaded from the system.
T/U: Total number of bytes uploaded to the system.
C1: Comment1 field.
C2: Comment2 field.
The rest of the fields shown on this display will only be shown if you have
installed the appropriate PSA. For example, the ALIAS line will only be
displayed, if you have installed the Alias PSA (System Manager | Users Info
File Maintenance | Install PCBoard Supported Allocation).
ALIAS: The name the user has selected as their alias
ST#1: First address line
ST#2: Second address line
CSZC: City, state, zip, and country fields.
NOTE: The five lines provided by the notes PSA
VERIFY: The information the user has entered for verification
purposes.
Locating a User to Edit
You can use the S and F subcommands to help you locate the user
you wish to edit. If you use the F subcommand, you must know
the full user name to search for. Unless a perfect match is
found then no record will be displayed. Alternatively you may
use the S subcommand if you wish to search for text or you do
not know the full name. Any dates you wish to search for must
be in YYMMDD format because that is the way they are stored in
the user file.
Examples
If you wish to search for AMY SEXTON's user record you would
type the following at the command prompt:
7 F AMY SEXTON
If you wish to locate all users who potentially call from
Cassidy, WY then you would type the following at the command
prompt:
7 S CASSIDY, WY
8 Pack User File
The user defined as record #1 in the user file can use this
command to pack the user file while other users are online.
When you pack the user file, you can eliminate users who have
not called for a while or that have been marked to be deleted.
After executing this command, several questions will be asked to
help determine the users that should be packed. The following
details each of the questions that will be asked.
Pack the user file?
This question is asked to confirm that you want to pack the user
file. Valid responses are:
N Do not pack the user file. Instead, return to the conference
command prompt.
Y Continue packing the user file. Additional questions will be
asked that will determine what criteria you want to use for
deleting users (if any).
Keep 'Locked Out' users?
Locked out users are those that have a security level of 0 but
have not been marked for deletion. Your response to this
question will determine whether these users will be deleted.
Valid responses are:
N Locked out users will be deleted from the user file. Since
the locked out records will be removed, the users will no
longer be prevented from logging in under the name that was
previous locked out.
Y Locked out users records will remain in the user file. This
will prevent these users from logging into the system again.
Purge older than
Your response to this question will determine the cutoff date for deleting
inactive users from the user file. The default date is 010180 implying that
no users will be removed for inactivity. For example, if you want to delete
all users who have not called since April 1st, 1994, you would enter 040194
in this field.
Keep whose security =>
Quite often it is desirable to exempt users of a certain security level or
higher from being packed out of the user file. The default security level is
100 which prevents anyone of this security level or higher from being deleted
when the user file is packed.
9 Remote Drop to DOS
Enables you to drop to DOS from remote. Once in DOS you can run standard DOS
commands or other DOS applications.
Subcommands
Y Yes. Normally when you select the 9 command and then
press ENTER you will be asked to confirm the drop to
DOS. If you wish to bypass this confirmation you may
use the Y subcommand.
Description
Inevitably there will be a time when you are calling into your system from
remote and realize that you need to drop to DOS and do a little maintenance.
When you incur a situation like this, you realize just how handy the 9
command is to have around. With this command you can drop to DOS and run
other programs. PCBoard allows maximum flexibility by running a batch file
called REMOTE.SYS to drop you to DOS.
Setting Up REMOTE.SYS
For the most reliable remote DOS access, you need to use a third-party
program. This program should be able to redirect your screen displays. At
the very least, it should be able to handle all text mode applications.
DOORWAY is a program written by Tri-Mark Engineering that will handle just
about any 80x25 text mode program. It will redirect the text mode screen to
the remote user using the popular ANSI escape codes. A sample REMOTE.SYS
using DOORWAY might look like this:
set box=no
doorway com1 /s:.\ /v:d^O /o: /k:v0 /c:dos
set box=
c:
cd \pcb
board
Two things should be noted about the above example. If you are using a
serial port other than COM1 then you will have to make the appropriate change
to reference the port you are using. In addition, the last two lines of this
example return you back to your PCBoard subdirectory and then execute
BOARD.BAT to reload PCBoard. It is essential that you return back to your
PCBoard subdirectory before you execute BOARD.BAT. Verify that you change to
the appropriate drive and subdirectory.
Using Function And Alt Keys
When you drop to DOS, you may load one of your maintenance programs such as
PCBFiler or PCBSetup. Most likely your communications program will intercept
all of the cursor movement and function keys. Check your communications
program to see if it supports what most call DOORWAY mode. This mode in
communications programs will allow them to pass the cursor key movements and
function keys to the remote system.
10 Execute DOS Command
This command enables you to execute DOS commands directly from the PCBoard
command prompt.
Description
When this command is executed you are asked for the command you would like to
execute. Once you type in the command, PCBoard will shell to DOS and execute
the command you issue.
How much memory is available when shelled out?
The amount of memory that will be available depends on your answer to Swap
Out During Shell in PCBSetup | Configuration Options | Switches. A Y means
that you will have slightly less memory available to you than you had when
you loaded BOARD.BAT. An answer of N means that you will have slightly less
then the free memory shown on the status line.
Please keep in mind your memory restrictions because if you run an
application and there is not enough memory available, you will return back to
PCBoard without the command executing.
What programs can be run?
When you are on locally, you can run any application assuming you do not run
into any memory restrictions. When you are executing this command from
remote, however, there are some items you must take into consideration.
If the command you execute from remote requires any interaction or input from
the keyboard, you will not be able to execute these programs using the 10
command. The reason you cannot use these programs is that you are logged in
remotely and have no control over the BBS's keyboard. If you attempt to run
one of these programs, that node on your system will appear to hang.
What really happened is PCBoard executed the program and then ran into a
situation that required keyboard input. PCBoard waits until the program is
finished before returning which means the node will be stuck until it can be
fixed. If you need to run an application that requires user interaction or
input from the keyboard you should use the 9 command instead.
11 View Users Currently Online
Enables you to view a list of all of the active nodes, who is online, and
what they are currently doing on the BBS.
Description
On multinode systems this command displays the name and location of users
that are currently online on all of the nodes in the system. This display
also shows what the user is currently doing on the system.
Status Messages
The display of all active nodes has a Status column. This column displays a
brief description of what the user is currently doing online. A list of
status messages follows:
Auto Logoff Pending No Caller this Node
Available for CHAT Out of Code in DOOR
CHAT Request Sent Paging the Sysop
CHATTING with Group Run/Answer Script
DOS Recycle Pending Running Event
Dropt to DOS Pending Transferring a File
Drop to DOS - Urgent Unavailable for CHAT
Logging into System
As you can see, you can obtain a significant amount of detail
about what each user is doing online from executing the 11
command.
Additional Information
Since the 11 command is a SysOp command, you will also have
additional information available to you. The following shows
the status messages that will show additional information when
you use this command:
Transferring a File
When a user is transferring a file, PCBoard will display as much information
as it can. Internal protocols, by their very nature, update after each file.
If PCBoard knows enough about the file transfer, it will display if a
transfer is an (U)pload or a (D)ownload, the filename that is being
transferred, the protocol letter used, the size of the file being
transferred, and finally the estimated time of transfer. The line underneath
the user's name may resemble the following:
(D) PCBMULT.ZIP (G) 44,573 - 0.6
This tells you that the user is downloading a file called PCBMULT.ZIP using
protocol letter G and that the file is 44,573 bytes which will take
approximately .6 minutes or about 36 seconds to transfer.
(U) TESTSLC.ZIP (G) 141,042 - 1.6
This entry shows that the user is uploading a file called TESTSLC.ZIP using
protocol letter G. The size of the file is 141,042 bytes and will take about
1.6 minutes or 1 minute 36 seconds to upload.
(U) ... (Z) ...
This simply shows that the user is uploading using the protocol defined by
the letter Z, but the filename and transfer information could not be
determined because the protocol is external.
PCBoard updates this information at various times. The following details
when internal and external protocols update the information for this display:
Internal Protocols
Internal protocols, by their very nature, know how to update PCBoard. As
each file is transferred, the display will be updated to show the current
status. The only exception is if a user is using an internal non-batch
protocol to upload a file. In this case, you will only see that the user is
uploading a file and what protocol they are using.
External protocols
External protocols do not update nearly as often simply because they do not
know what to update since most are not PCBoard specific. PCBoard does its
best on downloads by showing the last file that will be transferred. On
uploads, you will simply see that someone is uploading a file and what
protocol they are using. You will not know what file they are uploading.
NOTE: If a user is viewing the contents of a file, PCBoard will show the
name of the file they are viewing below their user name. The format that the
filename is displayed in is the following:
F V FILENAME.EXT
Entering a Message
When a user is entering a message, you will be shown what
conference they are in, followed by who the message is being
addressed to. For example, if the user was in conference 9 and
entering a message to JOHN SMITH then you would see the
following under the user's name:
(9) => JOHN SMITH
Run/Answer Script
If a user is completing a script, you will see the conference
and the script number they are completing listed underneath
their name. For example, if a user was in conference #1 and
filling out script #2, you would see the following under the
user's name:
(1) => #2
If you have a script questionnaire which is a PPE file, the
filename of the PPE will be displayed. For example:
C:\PCB\GEN\SCRIPT2.PPE
Running Event
When an event is running on a node, PCBoard will update the
display of the nodes to show the event number and event name
that is currently running. The format for the display is:
#1 -> DAILY
This example shows the display if event #1 is executing and the
event BATCH file is called DAILY.
Example
If you execute the 11 command you might see a display which
looked like this:
(#) Status User
--- --------------------- -----------------------------
1 Transferring a File STEWART OGDEN (HIGHLAND, KS)
(D) PCBMULT.ZIP (G) 44,573 - 0.6
2 Run/Answer Script FRED KORKLEWSKI (ALBURY HEIGHTS, NV)
(1) => #2
3 Entering a Message BILLY CRUMP (GREENMEADOW, NV)
(9) => JOHN SMITH
4 No Caller this Node
5 No Caller this Node
6 No Caller this Node
7 Transferring a File WINIFRED NEIDERHAUSER (SAN SIMEON, NE)
(U) ... (Z) ...
10 No Caller this Node
11 No Caller this Node
12 Logoff Alternate Node
Enables you to immediately logoff a user that is currently online.
Subcommands
[node #] Node number. The node number you wish to logoff. The user
is displayed a message which informs them that an automatic
logoff has been initiated.
Description
Sometimes you may need or want to logoff a user that is currently on another
node. PCBoard provides a SysOp command that enables you to do this. When
you issue this command you must supply the node number that you wish to log
off. Once you type in a valid node number the user will be logged off of the
system
NOTE: If the user is currently in a third party application, such as a door,
they will not be logged out of the system until they return back to PCBoard.
Likewise, the user will be allowed to finished any file transfers before they
are logged off of the system.
13 View Node Caller Log
Enables you to view other node's caller logs from any other node. You may
search or view any or all node's caller logs.
Subcommands
[node #] Node number. The node number you wish to view or A to view
all nodes. If you enter a node number that does not have a
caller log then an error message will be written to the
caller log notifying you that the caller log for the node
specified does not exist. In addition, entering a number
which exceeds the number of nodes in your software license
will re-display a list of who is currently online so that you
can pick a valid node.
A All caller logs. Specifies that all node log files should be
used not just an individual node. This subcommand is most
useful when used in a search using the S subcommand.
S Search for text. The more callers your system has the more
difficult it will be to find the information you are looking
for in the various caller logs. PCBoard provides
capabilities for you to search the log file for any text.
You can do a simple one word, one phrase, or a complex
Boolean search using the AND, OR and NOT operators. For more
information on Boolean searching please see Searching For
Text in the Sysop's Guide chapter of this manual.
If PCBoard finds a match when searching the caller log, the log entry for the
entire call will then be displayed. The search text that was found will be
highlighted for clarity.
When PCBoard searches through the caller logs it does not try to match case.
If you tell PCBoard to search for Jim Smith then any caller log that contains
the text JIM SMITH would be a match.
Description
The caller logs provide you with information about who has
called your system, what node they called in on, highlights of
what they did online, what date and time they called, etc. When
you view the caller log PCBoard will display the file to you in
reverse order beginning with the last caller to the system.
You will want to periodically search the caller log because that
is where any system error messages are recorded. In addition,
when a user attempts to access a command that is not available
to them, that information is written to the caller log.
Examples
To view node 5's caller log you would type the following at the
command prompt:
13 5
You may want to regularly search all of your caller logs for
possible system errors. When executed from the command prompt,
the following command will search for any caller log entry on
any node that contains the word FAIL or the word ERROR.
13 A S FAIL | ERROR
14 Drop Node to DOS
Enables you to drop another node to the DOS prompt from any
other node.
Subcommands
[Node #] Node number. The node number you wish to drop to DOS.
Description
This command will drop any active node to a DOS prompt. You are asked if you
wish to have the node drop to DOS after the caller logs off, or if you wish
to immediately drop that node to DOS.
In order to drop to DOS immediately, PCBoard must be in control. If the user
is shelled out to an external protocol or running a door, the node will not
be dropped to DOS until PCBoard regains control.
15 Recycle Node
This command will mark the node number that you specify to be
recycled. When recycling the node, you can execute a batch file
to perform any necessary processes (e.g., updating files) in
BOARD.BAT.
Subcommand
[node] Node number to recycle. This value represents the node
number that will be recycled.
Description
When a node is recycled, PCBoard exits with an errorlevel of 6
and then continues executing BOARD.BAT. You can use this
recycle to run a batch file that would update necessary system
files or whatever is needed. Simply add a line to BOARD.BAT
that checks for an errorlevel of 6. If an errorlevel of 6 is
detected, run the appropriate batch file. The following might
resemble your new BOARD.BAT file:
@echo off
c:
cd\pcb
set pcb=
set dszlog=pcbdsz.log
if exist remote.bat rename remote.bat remote.sys
if exist door.bat del door.bat
if exist endpcb del endpcb
pcboard
if exist remote.bat remote
if exist door.bat door
if exist endpcb goto end
if errorlevel == 6 call c:\update.bat
board
:end
In this example, C:\UPDATE.BAT would be executed if the node is marked for
recycling. Because the call statement is used, DOS will return control back
to BOARD.BAT which will execute the next line which consequently reloads
PCBoard. The system is ready for callers again and the batch file updated
any necessary files.
NOTE: A node can also be marked for recycling by pressing ALT-R
while a user is online.
BR Broadcast Message to Any Node
Enables you to send a brief message to any node number. You can
use this command to notify users that you are about to shut down
the system or just to say hello.
Subcommands
[node #] Node number. This can be any active node number. You may
also type ALL in place of the node number to broadcast the
message to all active nodes.
[message] Message to send to another node. Any text up to 48
characters in length. Text is displayed in all capital
letters and punctuation is omitted.
Description
Allows any user with SysOp security to display a message to any or all active
nodes. This command is useful to notify users that the system may be going
down, or if you wish to have all users log off of the system.
When the message is displayed to the user it will also send a beep to help
get the user's attention.
NOTE: All subcommands must be placed on the command line. If you type BR
and press enter then you will be returned back to the command prompt and no
action will have taken place.
If a user is not in PCBoard (e.g., the user is currently in a DOOR) then the
user will not see the message because they were not in PCBoard at the time
the broadcast message was sent.
Examples
To broadcast a message to node 1 which says PLEASE LOG OFF AS SOON AS
POSSIBLE you would type:
BR 1 PLEASE LOG OFF AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
To broadcast a message to all active nodes which notifies the
users that you would like them to log off of the system you
would type the following at the command prompt:
BR ALL PLEASE LOG OFF AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
User Commands
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While you are logged into the bulletin board system, you can issue several
commands. These commands allow you to read mail, transfer files, read
bulletins, and much more. Each command can be assigned a minimum security
level which is required to execute a particular command. For more
information on assigning security levels to user commands please see the
Security Levels section in the PCBSetup chapter of this manual.
! Re-Display Last Command
This command will re-display the last command that you entered that was at
least five characters in length.
Description
Sometimes you may want to re-display the last command that you entered so
that you can execute it again. From the Conference Command prompt, you can
use this command to re-display the last command that you executed that was at
least five characters in length. In the long run, this could save you a lot
of typing. This command is almost identical to pressing 3 while at a DOS
prompt.
A Abandon Conference
Abandons the current conference and returns back to the Main Board conference
(a.k.a. Conference #0).
Description
On some bulletin board systems, the majority of activity takes place in the
Main Board (otherwise known as conference #0). A conference enables you to
go to another area of the bulletin board which may focus on a particular
topic or subject.
The Abandon conference command enables you to quickly exit a conference you
have joined and to return back to the Main Board. Alternatively, you may
return to the Main Board by issuing either of the following commands:
J 0
J MAIN
ALIAS Alias Name Usage
This command allows you to turn your alias on or off when in a
conference which allows aliases to be used.
Subcommands
ON Use your alias. Your alias will be active.
OFF Use your real name. Even though you are in a conference
where aliases are allowed, your real name will be used.
Description
When you are in a conference that allows aliases, this command enables you to
decide when your alias will be active. When you enter this command with no
subcommands, the status of using your alias will toggle. If your alias is
active and you execute this command with no subcommands, you will switch to
using your real name. When you switch, PCBoard will attempt to hide the
change by making it appear that someone is logging into the node.
This command will have no effect if you attempt to use it in a conference
where aliases are not allowed, or if the Alias PSA is not installed.
Examples
This example will show you what to enter if you want to toggle the status of
your alias from either on to off or from off to on:
ALIAS
To turn usage of your alias on, enter:
ALIAS ON
B Bulletins
Bulletins could display information like rules for the bulletin
board system, how to gain additional access, or additional
information.
Subcommands
[bulletin #] Bulletin number. This is the bulletin number you wish to
view. You may list several bulletin numbers separated by a
SPACE or a ;.
A All bulletins. If you wish to view all bulletins instead of
manually entering the numbers, use this subcommand. Using
this subcommand will cause PCBoard to either view all
bulletins, or if you are using the S subcommand, all
bulletins will be searched.
D Download bulletins. Allows you to download a bulletin rather
than viewing it online.
N New bulletins. Display only new/updated bulletins since the
last time you called. At login, you will automatically be
notified of which bulletin numbers are new or have been
updated.
NS Display in non-stop mode. When a bulletin is displayed, this
subcommand will make it so that there are no more? prompts
displayed. This might be useful when manually capturing to a
file. If you do not use the NS subcommand, you may also type
NS at any more? prompt.
R Re-display menu. Will cause the main bulletin menu to
display again. This subcommand is most useful when issued
immediately after you have viewed a bulletin. That way you
can see the menu again and select another bulletin to view.
S Search bulletins for text. This subcommand allows you to
search a bulletin for text. Any time the search text is
found it will be highlighted on the display. You may do a
simple one word or one phrase search, or a complex Boolean
search using the AND, OR, and NOT operators. For more
information on text searching please see Searching For Text
in the SysOp's Guide chapter of this manual.
Description
A bulletin is basically a text file that may be viewed online. A bulletin
usually contains important information for the callers. It may also be used
to list sales reports, or just about any other text file you wish to display
online.
PCBoard enhances bulletins by allowing you to download and
search the bulletins. Using the subcommands described above,
you can control not only which bulletins you view but also what
parts of the bulletins you actually view.
Examples
To download bulletins 1, 8, and 15 on the system, enter the
following at the conference command prompt:
B 1 8 15 D
To view bulletins 6, 12, 15, and 30, enter the following at the
conference command prompt:
B 6 12 15 30
Searching bulletins can be a real time saver. To search all of
the bulletins in the current conference for the word
subscription, enter the following at the conference command
prompt:
B A S subscription
When logging into the system, you will be notified if any
bulletins have been updated. These bulletins can be viewed by
using the N subcommand. At the conference command prompt, enter:
B A N
CHAT Group Chat
This command allows you to chat interactively with one or more
users that are currently on the bulletin board system.
Subcommands
A Available for chat. By default, you are available for chat
when you log into the bulletin board system. If you have
made yourself unavailable for chat, you may make yourself
available for chat again by using this subcommand. When you
logoff, your chat status will be used on your next call as
well.
G Enter group chat. Use this subcommand to begin chatting with
other users on the system.
U Unavailable for chat. When you use this subcommand, you make
yourself unavailable for chat. This means that other callers
will not be able to call you into group chat. When you
logoff, your chat status will be used on your next call as
well.
Description
Node chat allows 2 or more people to communicate with each other across
separate nodes of the BBS. When you are in chat, you may select any of the
available 255 channels to chat with other users. If another user is
available for chat you may request that they chat with you.
Entering Chat Mode
When you execute the CHAT command and then select G for group chat you will
be put into group chat mode. PCBoard begins by asking you the channel you
would like to use for chatting. If you compare this to a CB, you can pick
any of 255 channels to chat on. Each channel could be talking about
different subjects. To get a list of the currently active channels, you can
press L at this prompt.
Next, depending on the system configuration, you are asked is the handle you
would like to go by while you are in chat. This will default to your first
name, but you can change this to any name you wish. When text is displayed
by you, it will have a banner showing what node number you are and your
handle.
NOTE: If you were notified that someone wanted to chat with you, then the
default channel number will be the channel that the other user called you
from.
After you select a channel to chat on, you will be in chat mode. If you need
help with the commands available in chat, press H at the Chat Command prompt.
If you press R, you will enter into Chat Mode with the other callers on the
system. Pressing ESC will bring back the Chat Command prompt.
Chatting With Other Users
Once you are in a channel you may begin typing. Anyone else in that channel
will see what you type as you type it. However, only one person has the
focus. The focus is used so that only one person can be typing while others,
if they do type, do not interrupt. However, you may type up to one line
ahead when you do not have the focus. Once you have the focus, any text that
you have typed will be sent out and you can continue to type because you have
the focus.
The only way you can lose the focus once you have it is by being inactive.
If you are on the first character of a line, after two seconds of not typing,
you will give up the focus to someone else in the channel so that they may
type. Anywhere else on the screen (such as the middle of the screen) you can
be inactive for 10 seconds before the focus will be given to someone else.
While you are chatting, you can press ESC to access the chat mode commands.
These additional chat mode commands allow you to call other users into chat,
make discussions private, etc. The following section details these commands.
Commands Available While In Chat
CALL Call a user to chat. This command lets you invite other
users into your chat session. These users may already be in
group chat, or they may be out in the main part of the BBS.
As long as the user has not made himself unavailable and is
not busy performing other tasks, you may issue a CALL command
to request the caller to chat. It should be understood that
the caller may ignore your offer to chat if they so wish.
CHAN Change channels. A Channel is a separate group of people or
topic of conversation. There are 255 channels available. Use
the SHOW command to see what conversations, by topic, are
currently taking place and who is involved in each. The
MONITOR command will let you listen in on all non-private
channels to help you decide which conversations you might
wish to join.
ECHO Enable echo mode. By default, echo mode is turned on. If
you used the NOECHO command, then you may turn on echo mode
again, by using this command.
G Goodbye. See the G user command.
HANDLE Change your handle. A handle simply allows you to identify
yourself without requiring that your entire name be used. A
handle does not hide your identity (as seen by a WHO command
in PCBoard) but merely provides you the ability to be known
by another name while in chat.
IGNORE Ignore input from one or more nodes. The IGNORE command
allows you to ignore the input coming from one or more nodes.
If a caller in your channel is becoming a nuisance, that
caller can be ignored. However, ultimately the better
solution would be to switch to another channel and make it
private.
MENU Display menu for chat commands. You may display the menu of
chat commands at any time by using this command. It works
even if you are in expert mode.
MON Toggle the monitoring of public channels. This command will
allow you to toggle monitoring of public channels. If you
turn monitor mode on then you will be seeing all chat that is
occurring in all public channels. If you do not want to
monitor all public channels, enter the channels that you do
want to monitor when prompted.
NOECHO Disable echo mode. The NOECHO command allows you to disable
the input echoing that normally occurs. With echoing
enabled, your system must be capable of handling ANSI cursor
position commands and even then you are limited to ONE line
of text that can be typed ahead while another caller is
typing. With echoing disabled, ANSI is no longer required and
since a local split screen is used, none of the text is
transmitted until you press enter so you may type more than a
single line of text while others are typing. Use the ECHO
command to re-enable echoing.
PRIV Make discussion private. A Private Discussion prevents
others not already in the channel from monitoring or joining.
Use this command to make the channel that you are in private.
If you want to make the current channel public, you would use
the PUBLIC command. Channel #1 can never be made private
which leaves it open for newcomers to the chat.
NOTE: The CALL command is the ONLY way that someone outside
of a Private Discussion can join. Once you CALL the user,
they may join the private discussion.
PUBlic Make discussion public. An Open Discussion is one in which
others may freely join. During the course of an open
discussion you may notice other callers joining in. An
announcement of each arrival or departure is made to let you
know who is in chat. The SILENT command can be used to turn
these announcements off.
Q Exit chat mode. Exits you out of chat mode back to the main
part of the bulletin board system.
SEND Send a private message. This command can be used to
privately send a one line message to another caller that is
already in group chat. You are asked for the node number
that you want to send the message to. The caller that you
send the private message to needs to be in chat mode but does
not have to be in the same channel as yourself.
SHOW Show users currently chatting. This command will show you
all active channels, what users are in each channel, and what
the topic of discussion is.
SILENT Toggle silent mode. If you wish to ignore the system
messages which tell you which users have joined or left the
channel, you would toggle silent mode on using this command.
By default, silent mode is off.
TOPIC Change current topic. Each channel can have a topic or
title. You can change the topic of the current channel by
using this command.
WHO Show who is currently on-line. See the W user command.
X Toggle expert mode. See the X user command.
Sysop Commands Available While In Chat
A few of the SysOp commands that are available while in the main
part of the bulletin board system are also available to SysOps
while they are in chat mode. You can enter the following SysOp
commands while in chat mode:
7 View/edit user records.
11 View status of nodes.
12 Logoff alternate node.
13 View alternate node's caller log.
14 Drop alternate node to DOS.
For more detailed information on these commands, see the detailed
descriptions in the SysOp commands portion of this manual.
C Comment To The Sysop
Enables you to leave a message to the SysOp. The message is addressed to
SysOp and is always a private message.
Description
When you have a question about the system, you will want to leave a message
to the SysOp. PCBoard provides a command to enter a message to the SysOp
without worrying who the message should be addressed to. Before the messages
is entered, you will be asked to confirm that you wish to leave a comment to
the SysOp. If you answer with a Y, you will be taken directly into the
message editor.
When you save the message it will be placed into the current conference
unless you have answered Y to the Force COMMENTS-to-the-Sysop into Main field
in PCBSetup | Configuration Options | Messages.
D Download A File
Allows you to download or transfer a file from the bulletin board system to
your computer system.
Subcommands
[filename] The filename that will be transferred. For batch transfers,
multiple filenames may be entered on the same line if
separated by a SPACE or a ;. In addition, when selecting
files to transfer the DOS wildcard characters (* and ?) can
be used to select groups of files. If you do not type in the
filename extension, PCBoard will search the files online to
see if there is a match. See the examples that follow for
more details.
[protocol] In order to transfer a file, you must use a file transfer
protocol. You may set any protocol as the default protocol.
If you wish to temporarily use another protocol for a
particular transfer, pass the temporary protocol letter with
the D command. To obtain a list of protocol letters, use the
T user command.
NOTE: The protocol letter may also be entered when PCBoard asks
for the filename to download. The only protocol that cannot be
selected in this manner is the H protocol, as it would display
online help instead. The preferred method is to pass the
protocol letter with the D command.
BYE This subcommand will cause you to be logged off of the bulletin
board once the file transfer is complete. You are given 10
seconds to abort the automatic logoff.
GB This subcommand will cause you to be logged off of the bulletin
board once the file transfer is complete. You are given 10
seconds to abort the automatic logoff.
Description
One of the most popular activities on a bulletin board is the
transferring of files. Downloading refers to you receiving a file from
the bulletin board system. In order to transfer a file, you must select
a protocol to transfer via the Transfer protocol command. If you select
N (for no default) protocol, PCBoard will prompt for the protocol to use
on each file transfer.
Once the files have been selected for download, PCBoard will be ready to
begin the transfer. When PCBoard notifies you that the file transfer is
ready to begin, use your communications software to begin the download.
Normally this is done by pressing d on the remote keyboard and selecting
the same protocol as the bulletin board is using.
Examples
To download a file called TEXTEDIT.ZIP, the user could issue the
following:
D TEXTEDIT.ZIP
To download NEWUTIL.ZIP and ISD320.ZIP using the G protocol
letter, you would enter:
D NEWUTIL.ZIP ISD320.ZIP G
To download NEWUTIL.ZIP and immediately disconnect once the file
transfer is complete, enter:
D NEWUTIL.ZIP BYE
DB Download Batch
Like the Download command, this command allows you to transfer files
from the bulletin board system to your machine. This command however,
assumes that the file transfer will consist of multiple files (otherwise
known as a batch transfer).
Subcommands
[filenames] You may enter multiple filenames on the same line or you
may enter a single filename to download on each line.
The list of files to download will be considered
complete when ENTER is pressed at a Enter the filename to
Download (Enter)=none? prompt.
[protocol] In order to transfer a file, you must use a file
transfer protocol. You may set any protocol as the
default protocol. If you wish to temporarily use
another protocol for a particular transfer, pass the
protocol letter with the D command. To obtain a list of
protocol letters, use the T user command.
NOTE: The protocol letter may also be entered when
PCBoard asks for the filename to download. The only
protocol that cannot be selected in this manner is the H
protocol, as it would display online help instead. The
preferred method is to pass the protocol letter with the
D command.
BYE This subcommand will cause you to be logged off of the
bulletin board once the file transfer is complete. You
are given 10 seconds to abort the automatic logoff.
GB This subcommand will cause you to be logged off of the
bulletin board once the file transfer is complete. You
are given 10 seconds to abort the automatic logoff.
Once all of the filenames have been entered, you have the option to edit
the batch of files to send. If you decide to edit the the batch, you
will be able to add, remove, and list the batch list.
Editing The List of Files to Download
Once you have entered the filenames to be downloaded, a screen will be
displayed which shows how many files are in the batch, how many total
bytes in the batch, and which protocol has been selected. At this
point, you may edit the batch transfer, abort the transfer, or to begin
the transfer by pressing R.
If the batch transfer is aborted, the files will remain flagged. This
enables you to do something else on the system and then return and
download the files again without having to type in the filenames again.
When executing the D or DB commands while files are flagged for
download, you will be asked if you want to download the flagged files.
If you answer N to that question, the files will be un-flagged.
If you decide to edit the batch, you will be able to add files to the
batch, remove files from the batch, and to also list all files currently
in the batch. The following options are available to edit the batch
list:
A Add a file to the batch. Enables you to add one or more
files to the batch. To stop adding files to the batch,
press Rat an Enter filename to Download prompt.
R Remove a file from the batch. Enables you to remove a
filename from the batch. To remove a file, you must
enter the number to remove from the batch. To get the
number in the batch, list the batch.
L List files in the batch. Lists all filenames that are
currently in the batch and their corresponding number in
the batch. If you have flagged TCRN10.ZIP and
LSTR312.ZIP, listing their batch would look like the
following:
File Selected: (1) TCRN10.ZIP 32,612 bytes, 0.5 minutes (approximate)
File Selected: (2) LSTR312.ZIP 532,981 bytes, 40.1 minutes (approximate)
P Protocol letter. To use a protocol that is different
than your default protocol for this transfer, enter this
letter at the prompt. You will be shown a list of
protocols that are available. Choose the protocol that
you want to use from this list.
Once you have finished editing the batch (if you chose to) you are ready to
begin the transfer. At this point, use your communications program to begin
a download. In most programs this can be accomplished by pressing d
followed by selecting a protocol and typing in the filename or directory to
download files to. Of course this varies from communications program to
communications program so if you have difficulties in this area, consult your
documentation.
E Enter a Message
Electronic communications is becoming more and more popular. The most
popular method to communicate with other users on a bulletin board
system is to enter messages or electronic mail.
Subcommand
[user name] The user name or user id that the message will be
addressed to. When PCBoard prompts for a user, this
value will be the default addressee.
Addressing a Message
To enter a message you must address the message to a person or a group of
people. PCBoard will ask you who the message should be addressed to. At the
TO: prompt type in a valid user name. In conferences that are not set to echo
mail, PCBoard will check the message base to make sure that the user actually
exists.
As the SysOp, you may also address the message to the following:
@[sec]@ If you want a message to be seen only by a particular
security level, then you would address the message to @
followed by the security level then another @ sign. As a
user with the security level specified reads this message, it
will appear to be addressed to them.
@[sec]-[sec]@ Sometimes you may wish to address a message to a range of
security levels. If you would like to do this, you can do so
by addressing the message to @ followed by the low security
level, a dash, the high security level, and finally another @
sign. For example, if you wanted to address a message to
security levels 10-40, you would address the message to
@10-40@. When a user between the security of 10 and 40 sees
the message, it will appear to be addressed to them. Sysops
will see it addressed to (Generic Message).
@USER@ To make a message that is personally addressed to everyone on
the system, you can address the message to @USER@. This
allows you to enter just one message but make it appear that
it is addressed to each person individually. When SysOps
view the message it will be addressed to (Generic Message).
@LIST@ Sometimes you want to address a message to a select group of
individuals but they may not have something like a security
level in common. If you address a message to @LIST@, you
will be prompted for names that you would like to address the
message to. The actual limit for the numbers that can be
entered is in PCBSetup | Conferences (2nd configuration
screen of the conference). After entering your message, you
will notice that the list of names that you addressed the
message to is stored at the bottom of the message. This list
keeps track of whether each user has read the message or not
and if so, when they read the message.
The Subject Of The Message
You are allowed to enter up to 53 characters to describe the content of
the message. If you do not enter a subject for the message, the message
you are entering will be aborted. You will usually want to sum up your
message in the subject of the message.
Assigning Message Security
Unless you have defined the current conference to make all message private,
you will be asked what type of message security they would like to use. You
may choose to make the message public so that other users on the system may
read it, or you may choose to make the message private so that the message is
viewable by a limited number of people.
To make things easier, you will be asked to enter a letter that corresponds
with the type of security to use for the message. If you press R, the message
will be made public for others to read. The message security options and
their corresponding letters are:
D Pack-out date. This option gives you the ability to set a
date at which the message will be deleted or packed-out if it
is still active. As long as the message is not killed first,
the message will then remain active until the date specified
is reached.
The message that is to be entered will be a public message.
This makes it useful for letting your users know about
special announcements and such. If you need to change the
message security, you may do so by editing the message header
or by using either the U or P subcommand at the End of
Message Command prompt.
Only those who have security clearance to set the pack-out
date (PCBSetup | Security Levels | Sysop Commands) may enter
messages of this type. Furthermore, those having sufficient
security will be shown the pack-out date at the bottom of the
message.
G Group password. When this message security is selected, you
will be asked for a password to protect the message with. In
order for anyone to read the contents of the message they
must know the password.
N None. Choosing this message security enables anyone that can
read messages in the conference that the message was left in
to read the message. This message security may be used to
make general announcements or to get input or replies from a
wide group of users.
R Receiver only. Only the person to whom the message is
addressed and the sender of the message may read a message
that has been marked as receiver only. This is the most
common way to send private messages.
S Sender password. This message security also asks for a
password. The password is used Anyone may read this message
but only the person who entered the message may kill the
message. Normally the receiver and the sender can kill the
message.
NOTE: The SysOp with user record #1 can always kill a message. They may also
read any message regardless of the protection if their security level is
higher than the Security Required to Read All Messages in PCBSetup | Security
Levels | Sysop Commands.
Requesting A Return Receipt
If you are entering a RECEIVER ONLY message and have sufficient security as
specified in the second conference configuration screen of PCBSetup, you will
be asked if you would like a return receipt. When the recipient reads the
message, a return receipt will be generated which will notify you that they
have read the message.
The return receipt that you receive will display the message number that it
was generated from and who it was addressed to. Also included in the return
receipt message is the date and time that the message was read.
Echoing a Message
Some bulletin board systems participate in an activity called echo-mail. This
allows messages to be shared between several different bulletin board
systems. By sharing messages across a network, users can get a wider variety
of responses and usually will have more mail to read.
If you are entering a message in a conference that is designated as an
echo-mail conference, you will be asked if the want the message to be echoed.
If so, the message will go to the rest of the bulletin board systems that are
echoing the conference. Otherwise, the message will remain on the current
bulletin board only.
Routing A Message
If you have a conference which is set to echo mail you can prompt for routing
information for any RECEIVER ONLY message. The routing information will only
be asked for if the message being left is a RECEIVER ONLY message. Each mail
network may have a different method of routing mail or may not support the
routing of messages.
If the user responds to a message which has origin information they will
not be asked to enter routing information as that will come from the
origin information.
Choosing a Message Editor
If you choose, PCBoard will ask if you wish to use the full-screen message
editor each time you enter a message. If you find that you always use the
full-screen editor or you always use the line-editor, use the W user command
to change your answer to the Use Full Screen Editor question. If you select
A, you will be given the following options each time you enter a message:
Y Yes. If you select this option you will use the full-screen
editor to enter your message. For more information on the
full-screen editor, see The Full-Screen Editor.
N No. If you choose this option you will use the line-editor
instead of the full-screen editor to enter the message. For
more information on the line editor, please see The
Line-Editor.
U Upload mode. This is identical to selecting any message
editor and then selecting the U command available from within
Commands Available While in a Message Editor.
Commands Available While in a Message Editor
There are certain commands that are available in both message editors.
We will call these commands message entry commands. These commands
enable you to save a message, quote a message, and more. To access
these commands in the full-screen editor, press ESC or CTRL-U. To access
these commands in the line-editor, press ENTER on a blank line.
A Abort message. Aborts the current message entry and
returns to the command prompt.
C Continue message using line-editor. Continue the
message using the line-editor.
D Delete a line. Enables you to delete any line by line
number. If you are using the full-screen editor, you
can use CTRL-Y to delete the current line.
E Edit a line. Enables you to edit any line in the
message. Once the line number to edit has been entered,
you are asked for the text to replace followed by a
semicolon, and finally the replacement text. For
example, if you want to replace the word halp with the
word help, you would type halp;help. Editing text in
the full-screen editor is even easier because you can
move the cursor around and toggle insert/overwrite mode.
F Edit message using full-screen editor. Continue editing
the message using the full-screen editor.
H Help. Enables you to access on-line help for entering a
message.
I Insert a line. Enables you to insert lines after the
line number specified. Each line is inserted one at a
time. The insertion stops when you press ENTER on a blank
line. In the full-screen editor, you may use CTRL-N to
insert a new line in the message.
L List current message. If you are using the line editor,
you can list the current message showing all line
numbers and the contents of the message by using this
command. This command allows you to preview the message
and to obtain line numbers that you may want to modify.
Q Quote message. When replying to a message you can quote
from the original message to make the reply clearer.
You may quote as many lines as desired. When prompted,
enter the beginning and ending line number that you wish
to quote. These lines are then brought into the message
with each line being preceded by a -> to show it is a
quote. This command only works when the current message
is a reply.
NOTE: Local users may also quote a message by using
PCBoard's scroll back feature. For more information
about using PCBoard's scroll-back to quote message see
the REPLY user command later in this chapter.
S Save message. Once the message is complete it can be
saved using this command. Once the message has been
saved, you are returned back to the command prompt.
SA Save and attach a file. You can attach a file to a
message. When a file is attached to a message users that
can read the message can also flag the file for
download. Using this method, two or more individuals
can share a file that might be relevant to the message
being entered. When you attach a file, you will be
asked for a protocol to use and also for the filename.
If the transfer is successful, the file will be attached
and the message will be saved. If the upload is not
successful, you will be returned to the message command
prompt.
SC Carbon copy message. If a message needs to be sent to
several people, you can use this command to copy the
message to other users. When this command is executed,
you are asked for the other users that the message
should be addressed to. For each new addressee, a new
message is saved with the same subject, message
security, and message body.
SN Save message and goto next message. Normally when you
save a reply to a message, you are returned back to the
message that you replied to. If you do not want to
return to the message and would like to continue with
the next message, use this command to save the message.
SK Save message and kill original. When replying to a
message, you may want to kill the original message. If
so, use this command. If you are not able to kill the
message (due to a lack of security), you will not be
able to kill the message either.
U Upload a message. To upload a prepared message into
the message editor, use this command. PCBoard will
prompt you for the protocol to use to upload the
prepared message. Once a protocol has been selected,
you will be informed that PCBoard is ready to begin
their upload. Upload the message as you would upload
any other file to your system. When the transfer is
complete, the message will be checked for line lengths.
If any line in the imported message is in excess of 79
characters, PCBoard will not allow you to edit the
message. Instead, you may only save the message as it
was uploaded.
Using the Message Editors
After you have addressed the message and assigned the message security,
the message editor will be displayed. There are two different message
editors -- the full screen editor and the line editor. The full-screen
editor is more like a word processor where you can move the cursor
around the screen while the line-editor allows you to edit or enter the
message one line at a time.
The Full-Screen Editor
To effectively use the full-screen message editor, you should
familiarize yourself with the control keys and special keys that can be
used within the editor. Besides the list that is provided in this
manual you may obtain the same help by pressing CTRL-Z while in the
full-screen editor.
When logged in locally, use the keys shown in the PC-Keyboard column.
If you are logged in remotely, the same keystrokes may or may not work
depending on the communications program being used. Some communication
program have a command which will enable DOORWAY mode. This mode allows
you to use all of the cursor keys, and other keys from remote. If the
communications program you are using does not support this mode, you may
have to use the Control-Key equivalents instead.
Cursor Movements PC-Keyboard Control-Key
Move cursor to the left left CTRL-S
Move cursor to the right right CTRL-D
Move cursor one word to the left CTRL-left CTRL-A
Move cursor one word to the right CTRL-right CTRL-F
Move cursor to next tab stop TAB CTRL-T
Move cursor to start of current line home CTRL-W
Move cursor to end of current line end CTRL-P
Move cursor to line above up CTRL-E
Move cursor to line below down CTRL-X
Move cursor to next page PgUp CTRL-R
Move cursor to previous page PgDn CTRL-C
Edit Functions PC-Keyboard Control-Key
Toggle insert mode Ins CTRL-V
Reformat paragraph CTRL-B
Join a line CTRL-J
Insert a line CTRL-N
Delete a line CTRL-Y
Delete to the end of the current line CTRL-end CTRL-K
Delete character to the right Del CTRL-G
Delete character to the left Back CTRL-H
Delete word to the right CTRL-T
Special Functions PC-Keyboard Control-Key
Exit the full-screen editor Esc CTRL-U
Re-display the screen CTRL-L
Quote the original message CTRL-O
Toggle 79 column mode CTRL-_
The Line-Editor
The line editor commands are described in the Commands Available While
in a Message Editor section. Because the full-screen editor requires
that you have ANSI terminal capabilities, you may choose to use the
line-editor instead. The only editing that can be done while typing in
a line in the line-editor is to backspace and correct typing mistakes.
Otherwise, all editing must be done with the commands described in the
Commands Available While in a Message Editor section.
In order to enter a blank line in the line-editor, press SPACE on a
blank line and then press ENTER. Otherwise, pressing ENTER on a blank
line will display the message entry command prompt.
Entering Your Message
When entering a message, continue typing without worrying about
formatting or pressing ENTER at the end of lines. PCBoard will wrap the
text that is written so that whole words remain on one line. If you lose
carrier or are logged off for inactivity, PCBoard will save the message.
This message can later be edited by using the EDIT subcommand at the End
of Message Command while reading the message.
F File Directories
This command enables you to list files in the current conference, and to
find a particular file either by filename or by text in the file
description.
Subcommands to Locate a File
Usually you will want to filter the list of files that are seen. You may
pick any of the subcommands listed in the following table to control
which files are displayed to them. The L and N subcommands can be
combined as well as the Z and N subcommands. The L and Z commands may
not be combined. See Examples for more details.
All of the subcommands in this section may also be accessed as
commands right from the main menu. Expert users will find that
accessing this commands directly from the main menu is the
fastest way.
L Locate filename(s).
N Display files after a particular date.
Z Search entire file listing for text.
File Directory Subcommands
You should pick one or more of these subcommands to determine
which file directories to view. If you pick more than one
subcommand, each must separated by a SPACE or a ;. See Examples for
more details.
[dir. #] File directory number.
P View private upload directory.
U View public upload directory.
Miscellaneous Subcommands
D Flag the files found for download.
FLAG Flag a file for download by filename.
G Log off of the BBS.
NS Display listing in non stop mode.
R Re-display available file directories.
V View a file.
Subcommands (Alphabetical)
[dir. #] File directory number. Specifies the file directory
number(s) that you want to view. If you want to view
multiple file directories, enter each directory number
separated by either a SPACE or a ; character.
D Flag the files found for download. Any files that are
listed to the screen will also be flagged for download.
No warning is given if you exceed the batch file limit.
In other words, if you can batch transfer no more than
20 files then only the first 20 files that are displayed
will be flagged for download. The rest of the files
will still be displayed but they will not be flagged.
FLAG Flag a file for download by filename. Enables you to
flag any file by typing in the filename. A single
filename may be typed or wildcard characters may be used
to flag multiple files with similar filenames.
G Log off the BBS. Immediately disconnects you from the
system.
L Locate filename(s). Enables you to display only those
files which match a particular filename. Any valid DOS
filename may be entered including those with wildcard (?
and *) characters.
N Display files after a particular date. Quite frequently
you will want to scan the file directories to see what
new files have been recently put online. PCBoard uses
the N subcommand to display files that were posted after
the date that you enter. The default date will always be
the latest date seen in the file directories. You can
specify another date by stacking the date after the N
subcommand or PCBoard will prompt you for the date. To
specify the default date on the command line use S to
represent the date.
NS Display listing in non-stop mode. When this subcommand
is used the file listings will be displayed in non-stop
mode. This command may also enter this subcommand at
any more? prompt while displaying the file listings.
P View private upload directory. This subcommand enables
you to view the private upload directory of the current
conference. In order to use this subcommand you must
have a security level that is equal to or greater than
the one that is entered in PCBSetup | Security Levels |
Sysop Commands.
R Re-display available file directories. This subcommand
will re-display the list of file directories that are
available in the current conference.
U View public upload directory. When files are uploaded
they go either to the private upload directory if you
force all uploads to be private--otherwise, they are
stored in the public upload directory. This subcommand
enables you to view a list of files and descriptions
that are in the public upload directory of the current
conference.
V View a file. Sometimes you may want more detailed
information about a particular file. When this
subcommand is used you will be asked for the filename to
view. If the filename is a valid filename PCBVIEW.BAT
will be executed. This is a batch file that you can use
to customize what information you see about that
particular file. For more information about PCBVIEW.BAT
please see the Batch Files chapter of this manual.
Z Search entire file listing for text. A user may select
only those files which contain particular text. Like
other search functions in PCBoard, you may use Boolean
operands for more complex searching. For more
information on Boolean operands please see Searching For
Text in the Sysop's Guide chapter of this manual.
Description
File transfers are one of the most popular attractions to bulletin
boards. You may wish to view a list of files that are on the system to
see if there are files that you wish to download or to make sure that a
particular file is not already online.
When the user presses F to access the file directories a list of file
directories that may be viewed will be listed on the screen. After the
list is displayed, you are given a file command prompt where you can use
any of the previously listed subcommands to control what files are
listed/downloaded.
Examples
To view all of the files that are available in file directory
number 3, you would enter:
F 3
To view the contents of ANYFILE.TXT, you would enter:
F V ANYFILE.TXT
FLAG for Download
This command enables you to mark a file or group of files for
download later during your call.
Subcommand
[Filename] The filename or filenames to flag or mark for download
later. You can enter multiple filenames by using
standard DOS wildcards or by typing multiple filenames
separated with a SPACE or a ;.
Description
Sometimes you may want to flag or mark a file for download but do not
want to begin the transfer right away. By flagging a file, PCBoard will
remember the filename(s) until you are ready to begin the download.
There are several ways that you can flag a file for download:
At the conference command prompt by using the FLAG command
While listing files with the F, Z, or N commands. PCBoard adds an
additional prompt on each more? prompt which enables you to flag a
file.
Using the FLAG subcommand of the F user command.
Once the transfer has begun, all of the files that are being downloaded
are remembered in case the transfer is aborted. Any files that were not
transferred completely will remain flagged so that you may make another
attempt at transferring them. The only way to remove the flagged files
is to either successfully download the files or to answer N to the
Download Flagged Files? prompt.
G Goodbye / Logoff of the BBS
To disconnect properly from the BBS, use this command.
Subcommands
Y Yes. If you have files flagged for download or if you
have enabled the Warning on Logoff Command, you will be
warned before logoff. If you use this subcommand,
PCBoard will not warn you.
Description
When you disconnect from a system, you "terminate the connection". Once
disconnected, you can call other systems or perform other tasks.
Although you can issue G;Y to skip the Proceed with logoff? question,
you may also use the BYE command. This command is usually easier to
remember than G;Y and is generally recommended
H Online Help
This command lets you explicitly access the on-line help system. Using
this command, you can get help for any of the commands available on the
main menu.
Subcommand
[command] The command or filename that you want additional
assistance with.
Description
Each of PCBoard's main commands have additional assistance available in
the form of on-line help. The on-line help will be displayed on the
screen.
Adding Help For Custom Commands
To add help files for commands that you add to the system or for doors
on your system, you can create a filename in your help subdirectory that
comprise of the first 8 characters of the command. PCBoard will display
the help file if it exists.
Example
If you add a command called ORDER to your system, create a file called
ORDER and place it in your help subdirectory. Execute the following to
get help with your ORDER command:
HELP ORDER
I Initial Welcome
If you wish to review the welcome screen that was displayed to you when
you first logged into the system, use this command. Any user may issue
this command regardless of security level.
J Join a Conference
Conferences serve as a way to separate information and topics on a
bulletin board system. By dividing up the information, you can find
what you are after quicker than ever before.
Subcommands : Alphabetical Listing
[conf. name] Conference name to join. Specifies the conference name
you wish to join. Joining a conference by name is
useful when you do not remember conference numbers, or
in case the conference is moved to a new number.
[conf. num.] Conference number to join. Specifies the conference
number you wish to join.
Q Quick-join the conference. Sometimes the conference
that is being joined will have a news or introduction
file. This subcommand will make sure that these files
are not displayed when the conference is joined.
S Search conference names for text. As pointed out
earlier, you may want to join a conference by name
instead of number. What if you do not know or remember
the conference names? This subcommand enables you to
search the conference names on a system for text. When
prompted for text to search for, enter the text you wish
to search for. If a match is found in the conference
name then both the conference name and number will be
displayed.
Description
Conferences provide a method which information on the bulletin board
system can be broken down into areas. Each conference can have unique
file directories, message bases, scripts, bulletins, and doors, or it
may share these with other conferences on the system. In order to go to
one of these conferences, use this command. Once you join the
conference all of the features of the conference are made available to
you.
Examples
If you want to join conference number 13, enter the following at the
conference command prompt:
J;13
If you know the name of the conference instead of the number of
the conference, type in the name of the conference to join. For
example, if you want to join the Computer_Art conference then
you would type:
J;COMPUTER_ART
If you do not know either the conference name or the conference
number, use the search subcommand to help you find the right
conference. For example, you may only remember that the
conference deal with art. In that case, type the following at
the conference command prompt:
J;S;ART
PCBoard will search the conference names to see if it could
find a match. For this particular example, you may see a report
like the following:
1) Classic_Art
13) Computer_Art
37) Digitized_Art
The number to the left is the conference number and the
conference name is listed to the right. You can then pick the
conference number or name that you wish to join.
K Kill a Message
This command will mark a message for deletion making any message
inactive and unreadable. The actual message is not physically
removed until that message base is packed.
Subcommand
[msg. num.] The message number you wish to kill or make inactive.
This subcommand is only available if you are issuing the
K command from a conference command prompt.
Description
Eventually messages on your system will become outdated or no longer
useful. You can delete any message on your system by using this
command. When you kill a message you make it inactive but do not
actually remove it from your system. In order to physically remove an
inactive message from your system you need to pack the message base.
There are only two prompts where you may delete a message. At any
conference command prompt and at the read message prompt.
If a message has a security option of RECEIVER ONLY, the recipient and
the sender of the message are the only ones that may kill it. If a
message is marked as SENDER PASSWORD, only the author of the message may
kill it. Finally, on messages that are addressed as GROUP PASSWORD,
only the users with the proper password may kill the message. The SysOp
may kill any message even if the message is protected via password.
Examples
If you are at an End of Message Command prompt, type K to make the
current message inactive.
Sometimes you may already know the number of the message you wish to
delete. For example, if you wanted to delete message number 3292 in the
current conference, type the following at the conference command prompt.
K 3292
LANG Change Current Language
PCBoard has the ability to support multiple languages. Use this command
to switch to the language you wish to use for your prompts after you
have logged into the system.
Subcommand
[language #] The language number you wish to use. If you omit the
language number a list of available languages will be
displayed to you.
Description
The LANGuage command allows switching to other languages which are
available on the system. These languages may vary from foreign
languages to "humorous" type languages and even some that are dedicated
to new callers. Choices that are available are displayed in menu format
with a number corresponding to each operational language choice.
Example
To change to language number 3 on the system. enter the following:
LANG 3
L Locate a Filename
This command enables searching the file directories of the current
conference for a particular filename. Wildcard characters are
permitted.
Subcommands: Alphabetical Listing
[#] Directory #. When using this command, you must specify
a directory or range of directories that PCBoard should
search for the desired file(s). You may list a single
directory, a range of directories in the format [#-#] or
a list of directories in a [#;#;#] format. There are
three letters you may use to represent special file
directories. If you use A for the directory number,
PCBoard will search all file directories in the current
conference. Likewise, if you use U for the directory
number, the upload directory of the current conference
will be searched. Finally, if you have sufficient security,
you may use P to specify the private upload directory
for the current conference.
[filename.ext] Filename to search for. In order to search the file
directories for a filename you must supply the filename
you want PCBoard to search for. The filename you
specify can be a simple filename like READTHIS.TXT, or
more frequently something that contains wildcard
characters like READ*.*. The advantage in using
wildcard characters is that you are not required to know
the exact filename.
D Flag the files for download that are found in the
search. If a file that matches the parameters is
located, it is flagged and prepared for download later
during the call. If more than one file is found, all
files will be flagged.
N Combine the locate search with a new file scan. This
subcommand will help limit your search by only searching
for files equal to or after a specific date. If you use
the N command you also need to include the minimum file
date from which the scan should search for. If you
would like to use the date you last scanned for files
you may simply add an S to the N subcommand.
NS Display the files found in non-stop mode. Files are
displayed in non-stop mode (no More? prompts will be
displayed).
Description
Quite often you will want to search the file directories on a BBS to
determine if a particular file exists on the system. If you are looking
for a particular filename, you would use this command to help you find
that filename. Most of the time your search will include some sort of
wildcard like TCRN*.* or similar. If you attempt to search for HSXM,
PCBoard will automatically append an *.* making the search criteria
HSXM*.* to help you find the file(s) you are looking for.
Examples
If you want to locate any files that begin with ABC in all file
directories for the current conference, type the following at the
conference command prompt:
L;ABC;A
If you wanted to search for files that began with ABC in directories 1,
3, 9, and 15, type in the following command:
L;ABC;1;3;9;15
If you found that two many files were showing up on your searches, you
may want to restrict the files you search for by date. To do this, you
would use the N subcommand that was described previously. For example,
to search for any filename that begins with ABC in all directories but
only show those that have a file date equal to or later than 10/21/93,
type the following at the command prompt:
L;ABC;N;102193;A
M Graphics Mode
This command will allow you to change the graphics mode between
RIPscrip, ANSI, non-ANSI, and no-color, graphics modes.
Subcommands: Alphabetical Listing
CTTY Non-ANSI mode. Everything displayed by PCBoard will be
in non-graphics, non-ANSI mode. This is the usually the
safest mode for non-IBM computers like UNIX or
Macintosh.
ANSI ANSI cursor positioning. Everything displayed by
PCBoard will be in non-graphics, ANSI mode. This allows
for faster screen drawing without having to slow down
the displays with the colors.
GRAPH ANSI color and cursor positioning. Everything displayed
by PCBoard will be in graphics, ANSI mode. This means
that all prompts and text will be colorized. This mode
is commonly referred to as graphics mode.
RIP RIPscrip graphics mode. If you have made RIPscrip
versions of your display files, they will be displayed
to users who have this mode enabled. By entering ENTER at
the Do you want graphics prompt, this mode will be
enabled.
Description
Issued without subcommands, this command acts as a toggle between
graphics and non-graphics display modes. If you execute this command
with a subcommand then you may choose which mode you want without using
the command to toggle back and forth. If you do not have ANSI
capabilities or are unsure if you do, you should choose CTTY mode. If
you accidentally choose the wrong mode and you get what seems to be
garbage on your screen you can enter the command again with the CTTY
subcommand to see if that clears up things for you.
About RIPscrip
While most communications programs are capable of displaying ANSI
graphics, not all are capable of showing RIPscrip graphics. If you
choose RIPscrip and your communications program is not able to
interpreted the codes, it will appear that garbage characters are
displaying on the screen. PCBoard itself, does not support the display
of RIPscrip graphics on the local screen. As the SysOp, you will always
see the RIPscip codes being displayed rather than the more appealing
graphics.
Examples
If you are in graphics, ANSI mode and you wish to switch to non-color
mode, simply execute the M command. It will change your mode.
If you want to switch to CTTY mode so that no ANSI sequences will be
sent you can do so by typing the following at the conference command
prompt:
M;CTTY
NOTE: The only way to enable CTTY mode after you log in is via the M
command and the CTTY subcommand.
MENU Re-display Main Menu
This command will re-display the main menu.
Description
You can redisplay the main menu at the command prompt. When executed,
the main menu screen is displayed regardless of the expert status.
N New File Scan
This command will locate any files that are new since the specified date
in the directories that you specify.
Subcommands
[date] This represents the date from which PCBoard begins a
search for all new files. All files found are
displayed.
NOTE: If you pass the date on the command line (e.g.,
N;030394;A) and you want to specify only the files since
your last scan then you would enter an S instead of an
actual date.
[directory #] When using this command, you must specify a directory or
range of directories that PCBoard should search for the
desired file(s). You may list a single directory, a
range of directories in the format [#-#] or a list of
directories in a [#;#;#] format. There are two letters
you may use as a directory number. If you use A for the
directory number, it tells PCBoard to search all file
directories in the current conference. Likewise, if you
use U for the directory number, the upload directory of
the current conference will be searched.
D All files found are queued for later download during
your call. To download the files that have been queued,
execute a download using either the D or DB commands.
S PCBoard scans for files added since the date of the most
recent files the caller has been shown. PCBoard keeps
track of the most recent valid file date that you have
seen in the file directories. For example, if you were
to do a new scan searching all file directories on
12-24-94, but the latest file date that was displayed
was 12-21-94, PCBoard will remember that the latest date
you have seen is 12-21-94.
NS Files are displayed in non-stop Mode (no More? prompts
are displayed).
Description
A system commonly has hundreds or thousands of files online. Rather than
viewing each of these directories and attempting to pick out the new
files, use this command to limit the files that are displayed by date.
Using the subcommands you will have control over the date to begin the
search and the directory or directories that you would like to search
for new files.
Examples
One of the most common searches is to find new files in all directories
of the current conference. To perform this search, you would type the
following at a conference command prompt:
N;S;A
If you wanted to only scan the upload directory for files that have a
date which is equal to or greater than 07-19-93, type the following at a
conference command prompt:
N;071993;U
A more complex search may specify only a few of the available file
directories in the conference. As an example, if you want to scan for
new files since 05-22-94 in directories 1-4,. 15, and 20-25, type the
following at the conference command prompt:
N;052294;1-4;15;20;25
NEWS Display System News
Allows you to view the system news file which may list important events
or notices about the bulletin board system.
Description
The news file usually contains important notes or events regarding the
bulletin board system. You may use this command to read the news file
for the current conference. Normally, this file is displayed when you
log on to the system or join a conference but you may read it at any
time by using this command.
NODE Chat With Other Users
This command is identical to the CHAT command. See the detailed
explanation of the command for further details.
O Operator Page
If the SysOp is available for chat, this command will allow you to page
the SysOp for chat. If the SysOp is not available, you will be given
the opportunity to leave a comment.
Description
This command enables you to request an immediate chat with the SysOp.
If the system operator is available, both your machine and the SysOp's
will beep for 30 seconds or until the page is answered, in which case
you enter SysOp chat. If, however, the SysOp does not answer the page
or is unavailable at the time of your request, PCBoard will inform you
that the SysOp is unavailable and asks if you would like to leave a
comment instead. The time when the SysOp is available can be configured
in PCBSetup | Configuration Options | Limits.
OPEN a DOOR
This command allows you to open a DOOR to another application. You may
open a door via door number or by name.
Subcommands
[door #] This represents the number of the DOOR to open. It may
either be stacked with the command at the conference
command prompt (e.g., OPEN;1) or chosen after the DOOR
menu is displayed.
[door name] Instead of the DOOR number, you may type the actual DOOR
name. For example, to open a door called 'EXCITING' you
could type OPEN;EXCITING from the conference command
prompt.
NOTE: If you use the name to open a door then you can type
just the name of the door at the conference command
prompt. For example if you have a door called MAIL,
type MAIL at the conference command prompt to open the
door.
[parameter] You may pass a parameter to the DOOR that is called.
This parameter is similar to one passed at a DOS prompt
to another application. Not all DOOR programs accept
parameters so unless a particular DOOR states that it
will accept parameters, assume that it does not. As an
example, if you were to open a door by typing
OPEN;SALES;ANYTHING, you would be opening a DOOR called
SALES and ANYTHING would be passed as a parameter. To
access the parameters in a DOOR batch file you need to
read the PCBDOOR environment variable. See the Doors
section of the Conference Setup chapter in this manual
for further details.
Description
A DOOR can extend a BBS because a DOOR is more or less an application
that is independent of the bulletin board system. For example, a door
could be an on-line game or an on-line database. If you do not specify
a door number or name to open, the door menu is displayed so that you
may pick a door to open.
P Page Length Setting
Allows you to change the number of lines that PCBoard should think is on
your display screen.
Subcommand
[# of lines] This number indicates the number of lines displayed per
screen. This value may range between 0 and 99.
Description
You may specify the number of lines PCBoard displays before it prompts
you with a (H)elp, More? line. The most common setting is 23, but you
may choose any value between 0 and 99. If you select a page length
setting of 0, it is like being in permanent non-stop mode (i.e., when the
screen fills up, a More? prompt will not be displayed).
Q Quick Message Scan
This command will list message header information. The information
pertaining to a message is listed on one line for easy viewing.
Display Subcommands
+ Scan in forward direction.
- Scan in reverse direction.
L Begin with last message in message base.
NS Display in non-stop mode.
Message Selection Subcommands
[beg. msg. #] Beginning message number.
A Scan selected conferences.
ALL Scan all conferences.
F Message from you.
FROM Read messages from a user.
N New Messages by date.
S Messages that you have not read yet.
TO Read messages to a user.
WAIT Scan messages in conferences where you have mail waiting.
TS Messages that contain particular text.
U All unread messages.
USER Messages from a particular user.
Y Messages addressed to you.
Subcommands: Alphabetical Listing
[beg. msg. #] Beginning message number. This is the message number
that you wish to begin the scan with. The default scan
direction is in the forward direction. If you wish to
go in the reverse direction, use the - subcommand.
+ Scan in forward direction. When appended to the
beginning message number you can set the direction in
which PCBoard scans the message base. For example if
you enter 762+, PCBoard will begin scanning at message
number 762 in the forward direction.
- Scan in reverse direction. When appended to the
beginning message number you can set the direction in
which PCBoard scans the message base. For example if
you enter 3569-, PCBoard will begin scanning at message
number 3569 in the reverse direction.
NOTE: PCBoard defaults to searching in the forward direction.
A Scan selected conferences. Scans not only the current
conference but also those conferences which you have set
for scanning via the SELECT command or the S conference
flag in the users record.
ALL Scan all conferences. Scans all conferences you are
registered in even if you have not marked the conference
for scanning.
F Message from you. Only messages that are from you, the
user currently online, will be displayed.
FROM Read messages from a user. If you wish to read mail
that is from a particular user, use this subcommand.
When you use this subcommand, PCBoard will prompt you
for the user you wish to read mail from.
L Begin with last message in message base. Sets the
beginning message number to the last message in the
message base. When you use this subcommand you may omit
the beginning message number.
N New messages by date. The first message that is read is
the one that matches the date that you specify. This
enables you to read only messages that were left after a
certain date.
NS Display in non-stop mode. The listing of messages will
be displayed in non-stop mode. This means that there
will be no more? prompts to pause each time the screen
becomes full.
S Messages that you have not read yet. Searches only
those messages that you have not read yet.
TO Read messages to a user. If you wish to read mail that
is addressed to a particular user, use this subcommand.
When you use this subcommand, you will be prompted for
the user name that you wish to read mail from.
TS Messages that contain particular text. This subcommand
enables you to search for text in the message body, the
TO: field, and the FROM: field. You can search for a
word/phrase or you can use any Boolean search. For more
information on searching for text please see Searching
For Text in the Sysop's Guide chapter of this manual.
U All unread messages. If a message has not yet been read
then it will be displayed.
NOTE: A message that is addressed to ALL will always
show up in such a search because the read status is not
maintained on a message addressed to all users on the
system.
USER Messages from a particular user. You may search the
message header for a particular user. When PCBoard
searches for a particular user it will search both the
TO: and FROM: fields in the message header. You must
enter a full user name. Partial matches cannot be made
with this command.
WAIT Scan messages in conferences where you have mail
waiting. Messages are read from only conferences that
you currently have personal mail waiting to be read.
For example, if you login and see that you have mail
waiting in conferences 2,3, and 25 you could read all
new messages in only those conferences by entering
R;WAIT at the conference command prompt.
Y Messages addressed to you. Only messages that are
addressed to you will be listed.
Description
You may analyze a brief list of messages that may be read by you if you
use the Q user command. When executed, PCBoard will display the
following information about each message:
Message number
Reference number
Sender
Addressee
Subject
Read Status
The reference number indicates the previous message to which a reply was
entered to. This command can be used to quickly search message headers for
information.
Format of the list
The list that is produced by the format contains the following information:
Msg #. The actual message number in the message base. Just before the
message number is a status code that shows if the message has been read, etc.
For a list of status codes please see the section titled Status Codes.
Ref #. If the message is a reply, this field will contain the message
number which was replied to.
To. Displays who the message is addressed to. Only the first 16 characters
of who a message is address to is displayed in this list.
From. Displays who the message is from. The first 16 characters of who the
message(s) are from will be displayed.
Subject. Displays the subject of the message. Even though a subject may be
quite long, only the first 25 characters of the subject is displayed with
this command.
Status Codes
Next to each message number is a status code. You can use these status codes
to determine if the message has been read, if it has replies, etc. The
following is a list of all valid message status codes:
[blank] A message which can be read by anyone.
* A private message to a specific person which has not been
read by the person it was addressed to.
+ A private message which has been read by the person it was
addressed to.
- A message to a specific person, which was readable by anyone,
which has been read by the person it was addressed to.
~ A comment to the SysOp which has not been read by the person
defined as SysOp record #1.
` A comment to the SysOp which has been read by the person
defined as SysOp record #1.
% A message protected by sender password which has not been read.
^ A message protected by sender password which has been read.
! A message protected by group password which has not been read.
# A message protected by group password which has been read.
$ A message protected by group password which is addressed to
ALL.
Examples
To display the header information for all messages in the current message
base in reverse order you would issue the following at the command prompt:
Q L
To search for all messages (beginning with the first message in
the message base) either to or from a user named Wally Peterson
you would issue the following at the command prompt:
Q USER WALLY PETERSON 1+
QWK Transfer Main In QWK Format
This command will capture messages and create a QWK packet that
can be downloaded and read off-line. This command can also be used to
upload any reply packets that you may have.
Subcommands : Alphabetical Listing
[protocol] If a protocol is not specified for transferring the QWK
(mail) or REP (reply) packet, the default protocol will be
used.
BYE When you use this subcommand, PCBoard will logoff after your
transfer is complete. Use of this subcommand is ideal for
performing automated mail-runs.
U This subcommand is used to upload a REP packet.
D This subcommand is used to download a QWK packet. PCBoard
scans the conferences that have been selected for scanning
with the SELECT user command.
Description
To save time and money, a common practice is to transfer mail packets to and
from a bulletin board system. The messages can then be read and replied to
off-line. PCBoard will create a QWK mail packet when using this command. In
addition, the REP file can be uploaded with this command when using the U
subcommand.
If you do not specify any subcommands when executing the command you will
be asked if you will be downloading or uploading a mail packet. Choose
the appropriate response for the action your desire.
Examples
To download a QWK packet using the Z protocol, the following would be
entered:
QWK D Z
If there are replies to the QWK packet they will be stored in a REP file.
This file needs to be uploaded for the replies to be posted on the bulletin
board system. The following command would prepare PCBoard to upload the REP
packet:
QWK U
R Read Messages
The Read messages command permits you to read messages on a bulletin board
system. Messages may be addressed to you, or to other people. From this
command you may also reply to messages you are reading, search for text in
messages, and get a synopsis of messages that are currently on the system.
Read: Selection Subcommands
The following is a list of what are called the selection subcommands. These
commands will determine the criteria for the messages that you will read.
With the exception of the message #, you may use any subcommand in
conjunction with any other subcommand. For example, if you wanted to read
new mail in all conferences that you have set for scanning, enter R;S;A.
Likewise, if you wanted to read the same messages, but only display those
from a user named FRANK CROSS, enter R;S;A;USER;FRANK CROSS at the conference
command prompt.
[Message #] Message number to read.
A Scan all selected conferences.
ALL Scan all conferences that you have access to.
F Read messages from current user.
FROM Read messages from a user.
N New Messages by date.
S Read new messages.
TO Read messages to a user.
TS Search messages for specific text.
U Read unread messages.
USER Search messages to or from a particular user.
WAIT Scan messages in conferences where you have mail waiting.
Y Read messages addressed to you.
YA Read messages to you or to ALL.
Read: Scan Subcommands
These particular subcommands can be used to set the direction
that you will read mail. For example, if you wanted to begin
reading at the end of the current message base, you would enter
R;L.
+ / - Set read direction
1+ Begin with first message in the message base.
L Begin with the last message.
N New messages by date.
RM Read memorized message.
RM+ Read memorized message and continue reading forward.
RM- Read memorized message and continue reading reverse.
Read: Capture Subcommands
One time-saving feature that PCBoard offers is the ability to capture
messages into one single file which you may download and browse off-line.
The resulting file is an ASCII file that looks just like what you see on the
screen when viewing messages.
Sometimes you may want to download a group of messages or just a single
message. These subcommands allow you to capture messages and then download
them to either a file or printer on your system.
C Capture messages
D Capture messages
QWK Capture messages to a QWK packet
Z Capture and compress messages
Read: General Subcommands
The following commands could be categorized as miscellaneous subcommands.
Here, you will find commands to perform various functions that may not
necessarily be directly related to reading messages, but are still available
for your convenience.
DE De-select current conference
G Goodbye.
J Join a conference.
K Kill a message.
LONG Use the extended message header for displaying.
NS non-stop mode.
O Read-only mode.
Q Quick scan messages.
SE Select current conference for scanning.
SET Set the last message read number.
SHORT Use the brief message header for displaying.
End of Message: Scan Subcommands
After you read each message, PCBoard will display an End of Message Command
prompt. From this prompt you can enter numerous subcommands. Most often,
you will be entering subcommands which allow you to continue reading,
memorizing the current message number, etc. Following is a list of the
subcommands you may access most frequently.
[Message #] Message number to read
R Read next message in current direction
+ / - Set read direction
JUMP Jump to the next conference.
L Begin with the last message.
M Memorize current message number.
NEXT Read next message.
PREV Read previous message.
RM Read memorized message.
RM+ Read memorized message and continue reading forward.
RM- Read memorized message and continue reading reverse.
RR Read reference message.
SKIP Skip current conference.
T+ Thread read (forward direction).
T- Thread read (reverse direction).
End of Message: Reply Subcommands
Communications is a two way street. Therefore, you will most likely read
messages which you wish to respond to. The following is a list of reply
subcommands that you can use to enter responses to messages.
RE Reply to current message.
RO Reply to a message but send reply to a different user.
End of Message: Capture Subcommands
If you are in the middle of reading messages and decide that you would like
to capture the rest of the messages that you would have read into a text
file, you may do so with the following subcommands.
C Capture current message
D Capture current message
Z Capture and compress current message
End of Message: Selection Subcommands
While you are reading messages there are a few subcommands you can use to
change the future messages you will be reading. You can use these to make
specific searches. For example, if you began reading all new messages
(R;A;S) and decided that there were too many messages, you should restrict
your search. If you decided that it would be faster to read mail addressed
to you or ALL, enter YA at the End of Message Command prompt.
F Read messages from current user.
S Read new messages.
TS Search messages for specific text.
USER Search messages to or from a particular user
Y Read messages addressed to you.
YA Read messages to you or to ALL.
End of Message: General Subcommands
The following subcommands are the remaining commands that are available at
the End of Message Command prompt.
/ Re-display current message
ALIAS Toggle use of alias.
DE De-select current conference
E Edit message header information.
EDIT Edit the content of a message.
FLAG Flag a file for download.
G Goodbye.
J Join a conference.
K Kill the current message.
LONG Use the extended message header for displaying.
N Quit reading messages.
NS non-stop mode.
SHORT Use the brief message header for displaying.
SE Select current conference for scanning.
SET Set the last message read number.
V View a downloadable file.
End of Message: SysOp Subcommands
There are several subcommands that are available only to SysOps at the End of
Message Command prompt. You can copy or move messages, access user records,
edit message header information and more.
COPY Copy a message to another conference.
F Access the sender's user record.
FF Access the sender's user record.
FT Access the recipients user record.
MOVE Move message to another conference.
P Make current message private.
U Make current message public.
Subcommands: Alphabetical Listing
For your convenience, the following is a detailed alphabetical list of
subcommands that are available with the R command. Even the subcommands that
are available at the End of Message Command prompt are listed.
[Message #] Message number to read. This number indicates the number of
the message that you wish to read. If you wish, you may also
append either a + or a - to the message number to read in the
forward or reverse direction, starting with the message
number specified. For example, to read message #3236 and
every message afterwards, you would enter 3236+ instead of
just 3236.
You may also specify a range of message numbers by adding a
dash between the low message number and high message number.
For example, to specify messages between 3000 and 4000 ,
enter 3000-4000.
(Enter) Read next message in current direction. When pressed at the
End of Message Command? prompt, the next message is displayed
in the direction that you are reading.
+ / - Set read direction. When appended to a message number or
used by itself, PCBoard displays all messages in
forward-numerical or reverse-numerical order respectively
from that point. You can always tell what mode you are in by
looking at the Read Type at the top of the message you are
reading. In that field you will see either a + or a - to
denote which direction you are reading.
/ Re-display current message. When this subcommand is entered
at an End of Message Command prompt the message that was just
displayed will be re-displayed.
1+ Begin with first message in the message base. If you want to
specify the first message in the message base you would
specify this subcommand.
A Scan all selected conferences. Messages are read from all
conferences that have been selected for scanning. You may
choose which conferences you wish to scan for messages by
using the SE command at the conference command prompt or by
using DE or SE with the R user command. These conference
scanning flags may also be modified while editing a user
record.
ALIAS Toggle usage of alias. When you are in a conference that
allows usage of an alias, you may or may not want to enter
messages using your alias. This command allows you to toggle
whether or not your alias will be used.
ALL Scan all conferences that you have access to. Messages are
read from all conferences that you have access to whether you
have selected them for scanning or not.
C Capture messages. The messages displayed by the current
command are captured, placed in a file, and prepared for
download. You are given the choice to continue with the
download, abort the transfer, or hangup after the transfer.
COPY Copy a message to another conference. This subcommand for
SysOps enables copying of a message to another conference.
When you copy a message you leave the original message but
also make another copy of the message in the conference that
you specify.
D Capture messages. The messages displayed by the current
command are captured, placed in a file, and immediately
prepared for download.
DE De-select current conference. If a particular conference is
chosen for scanning, the conference is de-selected. This has
the same effect as using the Select command from the main
menu and de-selecting the conference by pressing the
corresponding number for the conference. This would cause
the "X" flag in the flags column from the SELECT command
(executed from a conference command prompt) to be removed.
E Edit message header information. At times, you may want to
change who you addressed a message to or the subject of a
message. If this is the case, use the E subcommand to edit
those two fields of any message that you have entered. If
you have SysOp security level, you may also change the
reference number, whether the message has been read yet, and
the protection of the message. This subcommand is only
available at the End of Message Command? prompt.
E Enter a message. See the E user command for more details.
Note, this command is not available at the End of Message
Command? prompt. See the previously described subcommand.
EDIT Edit the content of a message. The current message will be
placed in the editor for modification. You may want to
re-edit a message if you accidentally lost carrier while
entering a message or changed your mind, etc.
F Access the sender's user record. As a SysOp, you may be
reading a message and want to access the user record of the
user who left the message. This command will display the
user record of the user who left the message. The format of
the user record and the commands that are available when the
user record is displayed are all discussed in the description
of the 7 SysOp command.
F Read messages from current user. The message base is scanned
for all messages from you.
FLAG Flag a file for download. Enables you to flag a file for
download later during the session. This subcommand is
identical to the FLAG user command.
FF Access the sender's user record. See the F subcommand for
more details.
FROM Read messages from a user. If you wish to read mail that is
only from a particular user, use this subcommand. When you
use this subcommand, PCBoard will prompt you for the user you
wish to read mail from.
FT Access the recipients user record. Like the F subcommand,
this subcommand allows you to access user records while you
are reading messages. The difference, however, is that the
user record of the whom the message is addressed to will be
displayed.
G GoodBye. (See the G user command for more details.)
J Join a conference. You may join another conference. (See
the J user command for more details.)
JUMP Jump to the next conference. If you read all conferences
(R;A or R;ALL), you may jump to the next available conference
for message base scanning by using this command. The last
message read pointer is not advanced to the last message when
you jump a conference. Next time you scan for new mail in
that conference, all of the messages you jumped over will be
shown in the scan. This subcommand is only available at the
End of Message Command prompt.
K Kill the current message. If the message is to/from you then
you may kill it. When you kill a message, you make it
inactive in the message base. The SysOp may recover any
message which has been killed but not yet packed out of the
message base by using the 4 SysOp command. If you do not
issue this command at an End of Message Command prompt, you
will be asked to enter the message number that you wish to
kill.
L Begin with the last message. The current message base is
read backward from the last message to the first.
LONG Use the extended message header for displaying. Displays the
extended message header. All message header fields are
displayed, but the extended header uses 7 lines as opposed to
the 5 lines used by the short header display.
M Memorize current message number. When executed, PCBoard
memorizes the current message number. PCBoard will only
remember one message number. If you try to memorize another
message number, the previous one will be lost. When you want
to return to the memorized message number, you may type RM,
RM+, or RM-.
MOVE Move message to another conference. This subcommand for
SysOps will move a message to another conference. Moving
implies that the message will be copied to the conference
that you specify and then the original message will be
deleted. When you use this subcommand you will be prompted
to enter the conference you wish to move the message to. If
you enter the number of the conference you are currently in,
the message will be moved to the end of the current
conference's message base.
N New messages by date. The first message that is read is the
one that matches the date that you specify. This enables you
to read only messages that were left after a certain date.
N Quit reading messages. At the End of Message command prompt,
reading ends and you are returned to the conference command
prompt.
NEXT Read next message. The next message in the message base is
displayed.
NS non-stop mode. Messages are displayed in non-stop mode, thus
eliminating More? prompts from the display.
O Read messages in read-only mode. When you want to read
messages and do not want your last message read updated as
you read the mail, read the mail in what is called read-only
mode. Additionally, if you have sufficient security as
defined in PCBSetup | Security Levels | Sysop Commands, the
message read status will not be updated. This means that
even though you have read the message, it will not be shown
as having been read and your last message read pointers will
not be updated.
P Make current message private. A quick way to make any
message security RECEIVER ONLY is to use this subcommand.
This subcommand is available to SysOps only and is quite
useful when you need to make a message private but do not
want to use the E subcommand to edit all of the message
header information.
PREV Read previous message. The previous message in the message
base will be displayed.
Q Quick scan messages. See the Q user command for more
information.
QWK Capture message in QWK format. One of the most popular
off-line message format is the QWK format. With what is
called a QWK packet you can load it into an off-line mail
reader and read and reply to messages off-line saving time
and money. If you use this subcommand, any message that
would have normally been displayed to your screen will be
sent to a QWK packet that you may download and read off-line.
RM Read memorized message. The message previously memorized is
re-displayed.
RE Reply to current message. When you wish to respond to an
individual's message you enter a message called a reply. To
enter a reply to the current message you use the RE command
which will create a new message addressed to the sender of
the original message. This is the command you will be using
most often when replying to a message because the message
that you want to respond to is the message you are currently
reading. Therefore, you will not have to enter a message
number to respond to because you are currently reading the
message. See the REPLY to Message command for additional
information.
RM+ Read memorized message and continue reading forward. The
message previously memorized is re-displayed and the message
base is placed in forward mode for further reading.
RM- Read memorized message and continue reading reverse. The
message previously memorized is re-displayed and the message
base is placed in reverse mode for further reading.
RR Read reference message. If the message you are reading
displays a message number in the REFER# field of the message
header, you may read the reference message by typing RR and
pressing the ENTER key. This is also where the memorize a
message command (M) comes in handy. Using that command you
can memorize the current message, read the reference message
and then quickly return to the original message by returning
to the memorized message number.
S Read new messages. All messages in the current conference
that have not already been read will be displayed. You may
specify the A or ALL subcommand to scan for new mail in other
conferences besides the current conference.
SE Select current conference for scanning. While reading a
message you may select the current conference to scan for
messages. This has the same effect as if you executed the
Select command from the main menu and placed an "X" in the
flags column. Using this command you may select the
conferences you wish to scan for mail on-the-fly.
SET Set the last message read number. PCBoard stores last
message read pointers for each conference. These pointers
contain the last message number that you read in any
particular conference. By looking at this value, PCBoard is
able to determine which messages you have not read yet. As
you read messages, this number will be automatically updated.
If you need to manually update this value, use this command.
When executed, you will be asked to enter the highest message
number that you have read. Enter any valid message number
into the field. If the number you enter is higher than the
highest message in the conference, your last message read
will be set to the highest number in the conference.
SHORT Use the brief message header for displaying. Displays the
four line version of the message header. This means that not
all of the fields in the header are displayed so that more of
the message will be displayed on the screen.
SKIP Skip current conference. While executing an R;ALL or an R;A
command, you may use SKIP to bypass the remaining messages in
the current conference and to set the last message read
pointer to the last message. In the R;A case, however,
invoking SKIP will act just as it does with the R;A command
only it moves you to the next available conference and
permits you to continue reading messages in the next
conference.
T Thread read. PCBoard allows you to read only messages that
have the same subject in the message header. This is called
reading messages by thread. You may choose to read forward
or reverse in the thread by appending a + or a - next to the
T (e.g. T+, T-). Normally, you memorize your current position
(by using the M command) and use the RM command to return to
the original message after the thread read is complete.
TO Read messages to a user. If you wish to read mail that is
addressed to a particular user, use this subcommand. When
you do, you will be prompted for the user name that PCBoard
will use to search the TO: field of each message.
TS Search messages for specific text. Each message is scanned
for the text that you indicate. You may perform complex text
searches by using Boolean text searches. For more
information on Boolean text searches, refer to Searching For
Text in the Sysop's Guide chapter of this manual.
U Read unread messages. Anytime that you want to read messages
that have not been read, you can use this subcommand. If a
message has been read by the recipient, PCBoard will display
the date and time that the message was read in the message
header. Messages to ALL will always be considered as unread.
U Make current message public. Like the P subcommand, this
subcommand allows you to quickly change the message security
of the current message. However, this subcommand will make a
message a PUBLIC message. This subcommand is only available
to SysOps since it is able to change the security of the
current message.
USER Search messages to or from a particular user. When executed
you are prompted to enter the name of the user you would like
to search for. After you enter a valid user name, the
message base is scanned for messages both for a specified
user and those left by a specified user.
V View a downloadable file. Enables a downloadable file to be
viewed online via PCBVIEW.BAT. This subcommand is identical
to the V subcommand for the F user command. In other words,
it is identical to typing F;V at a conference command prompt.
WAIT Scan messages in conferences where you have mail waiting.
Messages are read only from conferences that you currently
have personal mail waiting to be read. For example, if you
login and see that you have mail waiting in conferences 2,3,
and 25 you could read all new messages in only those
conferences by entering R;WAIT at the conference command
prompt.
Y Read messages addressed to you. The message base is scanned
for all messages addressed to you.
YA Read messages to you or to ALL. The message base is scanned
for all messages addressed to you or to ALL.
Z Capture and compress messages. As with the D command, the
messages displayed by the current command are captured and
placed in a file. The file, however, is compressed before
it is downloaded and therefore may not be sent to your local
printer.
Description
Exchanging electronic mail or messages between users is probably the most
popular form of communications on bulletin board systems. Users will enter
and read messages almost every call. PCBoard has several subcommands that
allow you to read only those messages that interest you.
While the number of subcommands may overwhelm you at first, you will find
that you will become familiar with them after a little bit of practice. You
may also find that using mnemonics will help you remember the commands
easier. By looking at the subcommands described earlier you would find that
you could enter R;S;A at a conference command prompt to read all new messages
in the conferences that you have selected for scanning. You may find it
easier to remember that R;S;A means Read mail Since last time in All selected
conferences.
Use the selection subcommands to determine the messages that you will read.
After you read each message you will be presented with an End of Message
Command prompt where you can enter other commands that enable you to reply to
messages and other functions as well.
Combining Read Subcommands
Once you understand how you can combine the various read subcommands, you
will be able to better make use of PCBoard's power. The following section is
designed to help you find the right subcommand for the right situation.
If you enter R at a conference command prompt you will see a line which shows
you the range of the message numbers in the current conference message base
and will ask you what Message Read Command you would like to use. At this
point, choose at least one subcommand from the Read: Selection Subcommands
section. For example, if you were to enter a Y, you are telling PCBoard to
read messages that are addressed to you. Now that PCBoard has enough
information to go on, it will begin scanning with message #1 for any mail
that is addressed to you.
You may be wondering what you would do if you did not want to begin scanning
at message number one (m,aybe you only wanted to scan any new mail that is
addressed to you). What you would do in this case is use both the Y and the S
subcommands. Simply enter both subcommands at the Message Read Command
prompt putting either a space ( SPACE ) or a semicolon ( ; ) between each
command. The following is a sample scenario:
(50 min. left) Main Board Command? R
(H)elp, (3523-5032), Message Read Command? Y;S
At this point, PCBoard would begin scanning all new mail in the
current conference for any messages that are addressed to you.
The Difference Between LONG and SHORT Message Headers
The message header is the information that you are displayed regarding who
the message is from or to, the subject of the message, etc. PCBoard supports
two different message headers -- long and short.
The long message header closely resembles the message header of previous
versions of PCBoard with the exception that the, TO, FROM, and SUBJECT fields
all take one line a piece. The long message header displays the following
information:
Date
Message number
Reference number (if message is a reply)
Who the message is address to
Who the message is from
The subject of the message
The security of the message
If the message has been read or not
The status of a message (has replies, message security, etc.)
Type of message read you are using
All in all, this format takes a hefty 7 display lines on the screen including
the blank line between the header and the message text. This amounts to
nearly one third of the entire display area on the screen. The short header,
on the other hand, uses only 5 display lines including the blank line. This
amounts to less than one quarter of the display screen enabling you to fit
more message text on the screen. The short message header displays the
following information:
Date and time the message was entered
Message number
If the message has replies (displayed as an R on the top line of the header)
If the message has been read (displayed as an * on the top line of the header)
Who the message is addressed to
Who the message is from
The subject of the message
The following shows the long message header style:
The following illustrates the short message header style
As you can see two lines of information really does make a difference. The
default header that is used is determined by how you answered the following
question using the W user command:
Use long headers when reading messages? (Y)
You can also switch between long and short headers by typing either LONG or
SHORT at the End of Message Command prompt. In addition, you may also use
these words when using the R user command. For example:
R;A;LONG
R;Y;S;SHORT
Examples
If you do not like to read a lot of mail when you login to a system, you may
want to only read new messages that are addressed to you in all conferences
that you are able to join. To do this, you would enter the following at the
conference command prompt:
R;Y;S;ALL
If you wanted to read the same messages but instead you wanted to capture
them to a file that you could download, you would enter the following
instead:
R;Y;S;ALL;C
Sometimes you may want to search for messages that only have certain text in
either the message header or the actual message body. For, example, if you
wanted to search all of the messages in the current message base for HARD
DRIVE you would enter the following:
R;TS;HARD DRIVE
At this point, PCBoard would ask you what message you wished to begin the
scan with. If you enter L it will begin with the end of the message base and
search backwards. If you want to scan with the beginning message and search
forward, you would enter 1+.
REPLY Reply To A Message
Subcommands
# The message number (between 1 and 16,777,216) that you wish
to respond to. If you wish to reply to multiple messages
you may do so by entering a message number followed by a
comma, a space and then the next message number (e.g., 3252,
3523)
Description
A reply is nothing more than a new message. There are a couple of things
that make a reply different than entering a regular message. These
differences are listed below:
The message is automatically addressed so that your response is sent to the
proper user.
The subject automatically defaults to the one of the previous message--you
may change the subject if you wish
You may quote from the message you are responding to enhance the clarity of
your response.
If security of the message that you are replying to is PUBLIC then you may
change the security level of your reply. Otherwise, the message security of
the original message will be carried through to the reply. In other words
you can respond to a PUBLIC message and make the reply a RECEIVER ONLY
message. However, you cannot respond to a RECEIVER ONLY message and make the
reply PUBLIC.
The message number of the original message displays in the header of your
reply message as REFER #.
Aside from the differences listed, a reply is exactly like entering any
other message. Therefore, you will want to refer to the E command to find
what options are available to you while entering your reply.
Quoting The Previous Message
Quoting the original message in your reply can enhance the clarity of your
reply. It makes it easier to understand the message and what you are
responding to. Very little effort is required for quoting a message. The
following paragraphs describe the various methods of quoting the previous
message.
Remote: From remote, there are two ways you can quote the original message.
If you are in the full-screen editor then you can press CTRL-O to pull up the
previous message or you may press ESC and then select Q from the message entry
command prompt.
When the message is displayed, on your screen you will see line numbers to
the left of each line. When the message has been displayed you will be asked
to enter the beginning line number you would like to quote, followed by the
ending line number to quote.
Once you have entered the line numbers to quote, you will be returned to the
message you are writing. Where you left off you will now see the lines that
you quoted. To set the quote apart from your message, you will see a -> to
the left of each line that is a quote. When reading the message, these will
show up in color to make it stand out even more.
Local: When you are not calling in from remote and want to quote a message
you may use PCBoard's scroll back buffer in addition to the methods that are
described for remote users. Since your arrow keys are active in the full
screen editor, you can access the scroll back buffer by pressing the o key on
your keyboard. When you are in the scroll back buffer, simply press the
SPACE where you want to
begin your quote and then cursor to the last part you
want to quote and press the SPACE bar again. The text that you have marked
is now shown in reverse text. If you want to use that text, press ESC to
quote the marked text. You may also remark the text you want to quote using
the SPACE bar as previously mentioned.
Example
If you wanted to reply to the following message
you would type RE at the End of Message prompt. RE is the subcommand to
reply to the message that you are currently reading.
Depending on the conference configuration, the following information may be
asked before you can enter a reply to a message:
Subject: When entering a reply, you are given the ability to change the
subject of the message if you wish. If you simply press ENTER when prompted
for the subject, the subject of the message you are replying to will be used.
Message Security: If the message you are responding to is a public message,
you are asked if you would like to change the security of the message in case
you wish to respond privately rather than in a public message.
Echo Message: If the Echo Mail in Conference option is turned on for the
conference where the reply is entered, you are also asked if you would like
to echo your response.
Route message to: If your response is to be echoed and if the response is a
private response, and if the Prompt for ROUTE info option is turned on, this
question will be asked. You can enter any routing information (such as a
site address or personal address) in this field as appropriate for the
NetMail system that the conference carries.
Request Return Receipt: If the message is private, you are given the option
to request a return receipt. If you request a return receipt, you will
receive a message notifying you when a user has read your message.
Use Full Screen Editor: If you have setup your defaults to ask which editor
each time you enter a message ( W user command ), you will be asked this
question.
Once these questions have been asked, you are ready to enter the response.
Usually, however, you will want to quote some of the text from the original
message. From within the full-screen editor, you can press CTRL-O to quote
from the previous message. You will be shown the message you are responding
to (with line numbers at the beginning of every line). Once the original
message has been displayed, you are asked which line you wish to begin your
quote from followed by the last line you wish to quote.
In this example, you could quote line one by specifying both the starting and
ending line number as line 1. You are then returned back to the editor and
you will see that quoted text is now in your message with each line prefixed
with -> so you can differentiate between your reply text and the quoted
text.
If you are using the line editor instead of the full-screen editor, the
method you use to quote will be a little different because that particular
editor does not recognize CTRL-O. Instead, you get to the message command
prompt by pressing ENTER on a blank line in the editor. At the command
prompt, press Q followed by R. You may then quote the message in the same
manner that was used to quote from the full-screen editor.
If you are logged in locally, you can use the methods described previously to
quote a message, or you can take advantage of PCBoard's scroll-back buffer
(if you have it enabled). You can mark any text in the scroll-back buffer
and have it included in the message as quoted text. To do so, simply hit the
o key and you will be in scroll-back mode. You will notice that you have a
cursor that you can move around the screen. Simply move the cursor to the
beginning of the text you want to quote and press M. Next, move the cursor
to the last portion of the text you want to quote and press M. All of the
text between your beginning and ending mark is now highlighted.
Simply press E, and it will be entered in your reply as quoted text. You may
then continue to enter your reply and quote more text if you need to.
Once you have finished entering your response and quoting text, you can save
your message just as you normally would if you were entering a message from
scratch.
RM Re-Read Memorized Message
This command allows you to read a message that you have previously memorized.
If you try to execute this command and you have not memorized a message
number, you will be notified that no message number has been memorized. For
more information on this command see the RM, RM+, and RM- subcommands for the
R user command.
S Script Questionnaires
Script questionnaires allow you to answer various questions that the SysOp
has designed for you to answer. These questions may cover a wide variety of
topics and can vary in length. When you execute this command you will be
presented with a list of script questionnaires available in the current
conference. You simply select the number of the questionnaire you would like
to answer and the questionnaire will be presented to you. Answer each
question in the space presented.
SELECT Select Conferences for Scanning Or Reading
In order to determine what conferences you want to scan or read mail in, you
must select the conference. This command will enable you to select the
conferences that you want to select.
Subcommands
[Conf. Num(s)] Conference number(s) to select. You may specify a single
conference or multiple conferences. If you want to specify
multiple conferences, you must do so by specify a range
(e.g., 32-53) or by separating each conference by a space or
semicolon. You can even combine ranges and individual
conferences. See the example section of this command for
more details.
S Select all conferences. This subcommand selects all
conferences for scanning or reading.
D De-select all conferences. This subcommand de-selects all
conferences for scanning or reading.
Using the SELECT Command Interactively
If you do not specify any subcommands when you run the SELECT command then
you will be running it in interactive mode. The only thing you need to
remember about interactive mode is that it is slightly different than
specifying everything when you use the command with subcommands. The
following lists the differences between the various subcommands when you are
using the command in interactive mode.
[Conf. #] Conference number(s) to select. In interactive mode When you
select a conference you toggle its status. If you select
conference 1 and it was already selected (had an X in the
FLAGS column), you will deselect that particular conference.
If you select a conference that was not already selected, you
will be asked what you wish to set your last message read
pointer to. You may set the last message read pointer to any
value that is within the range of messages in the conference.
To find the range of messages in the conference look to the
left of the conference name on the prompt where it is asking
you to enter your last message read. You will see a range
of numbers that will look something like 3005-8292. The
first number is the lowest message in the conference and the
second number is the highest.
In addition, you can add a D to the right of the conference
number(s) to de-select the conference(s) that you specify.
S Select all conferences. This subcommand selects all
conferences for scanning and all conferences will have an "X"
placed in its flags field.
D De-select all conferences. This subcommand de-selects all
conferences for scanning and removes the "X" if there was one
in this conference's flags field.
Q Quit. This subcommand quits the Select command. Control is
returned to the main menu.
Description
Quite often, there will be conferences on a bulletin board that you do not
want to participate in. This command enables you to choose which conferences
to automatically scan for messages both at login and when you use the A
subcommand with a message read or scan command (e.g., the R, TS, and Q
commands). A two-column listing of conferences that you are able to join is
displayed. In the list, PCBoard includes the conference number, description,
last message read, highest message in the conference, and an "X" if you have
marked this conference for scanning. Only the conferences that you have
access to will be listed. If you find that a conference is not listed, it is
because you do not have access to it. The following is an example of the
screen that is displayed to you:
Last High
Num Conference Read Num. Flags
-------------------------------------------
1 Main Board 8548 7978 X
2 SysOps Talk 1018 1001 X
3 For Sale 6289 4301 X
5 Programming 2106 1839
6 Operating Systems 5119 4768 X
7 Chit Chat 7831 7659 X
8 BBS Ads 6711 6584
9 Modem Info 2478 2178 X
Enter Conference Numbers, (S)elect All, (D)eselect All, or (Q)uit?
Examples
If you want to make sure that conferences 1 through 9 and conference number
12 were selected, you could do this right from the command line by typing the
following:
SELECT 1-9;12
Now, if you wanted to deselect just those conferences, you should do that by
running the SELECT command interactively by typing SELECT on the command
line. At the next prompt, type 1-9;12 and you will see that the conferences
will be deselcted.
T Transfer Protocol
In order to transfer a file while connected to a bulletin board system you
must use a file transfer protocol. This command allows you to select your
default file transfer protocol.
Subcommand
[protocol] Protocol letter. You can change your transfer protocol to
any valid transfer protocol letter. If you do not specify a
protocol letter when you execute the command, you will be
given a list of available protocols from which you may
choose. Valid protocol letters are A-Z and 0-9.
Description
When executed, a list is displayed that allows you to choose from among
several different file transfer protocols for uploading or downloading files.
Each is denoted by a single character, a letter or a number from 0 to 9.
When determining which protocol to select, it is important to remember that
the same protocol must be used on the bulletin board system and by the
communications program that you are using. If you are unsure of which
protocol to select or will be changing your selected protocol, select N for
no default protocol. If you select None, you will be asked each time you
transfer a file which protocol you would like to use.
TEST Test A Downloadable File
This command allows you to test a file for download before you actually
download the file. The testing procedure is determined by the SysOp so it
may vary from system to system.
Subcommand
[filename] Filename to test. This is the file that will be tested
according to the testing procedures designated by the SysOp.
You may only specify one filename at a time.
Description
How many times have you downloaded a file only to find that it will not
uncompress due to errors? The TEST command permits you to check files for
viruses and other corruptions that might exist in a particular file. When
you enter the filename to test, you will be informed after a short delay
whether the file passed or failed the predetermined criteria. If the
filename you enter to test does not exist on the system, you will be notified
that the filename you entered does not exist and you will be allowed to enter
a new filename to test.
TS Text Search Messages
Subcommands
[Text] Text to search for. This subcommand is required for use with
the TS command. This is the text you wish to scan for in the
message base. This may be a single word or it may be a
complex Boolean search string.
NOTE: You may also specify any subcommands of the Read a Message command
(R):
Read: Selection Subcommands
Read: Capture Subcommands
Description
Every once in a while you may have a need to search through all or a portion
of messages on a particular system. You might be experiencing a problem that
you need help with or you may have a particular question in mind. The TS
command is very similar to the R command. The major difference is that only
the messages that contain the search text that you specify are displayed.
Giving you the ability to scan messages and message headers to locate a
specified text in a message makes it easier for you to display only those
messages that interest you. By using conditional text searches you can
further limit the messages that are displayed to you.
U Upload a File
Like the D user command, this allows you to transfer files between systems.
In this case, however, you are sending a file to the bulletin board system
instead of receiving one.
Subcommands
[file(s)] Filename(s) to upload. The parameter is given to identify
the uploaded file in the PCBoard system. PCBoard will ask
for the filename or it may be included on the command line.
If more than one file is to be uploaded, each must be listed
on the command line.
[protocol] Protocol to use for the upload. If you wish to specify a
protocol that is different than your default protocol,
specify the protocol letter to use on the command line.
BYE Logoff after transfer is complete. After the file transfer
is complete, you may choose to disconnect automatically.
This option may be included on the command line with the
other options of this command. Before you are disconnected
from the bulletin board system, you have 10 seconds to abort
and continue with your session.
Description
When you upload a file to a BBS you are adding a particular file to the file
system so that other users can download the file. When you upload the file it
could immediately be made available for download, or the SysOp may make all
uploads private to review files before posting them for download.
When you begin an upload, you must specify the filename to upload and provide
a description for the file before PCBoard will proceed with the transfer.
After the filename and description has been provided, you will see the
following:
Upload Drive : 341,188,608 Bytes Free Disk Space
Upload Status: Posted Immediately
Protocol Type: Ymodem/G BATCH
(Ctrl-X) Aborts Transfer
The first line shows you that there is over 331 megabytes of free space for
your upload. Obviously this would be plenty of space to handle just about
any upload. The second line tells you if the file will be Posted Immediately
for download or Screened Before Posting. The third line will display the
protocol that you have selected for the transfer. Only the protocol
description is listed (not the protocol letter). The final line just informs
you that you may press CTRL-X to abort the transfer.
From the time you see these four lines you will have about 60 seconds to
begin your transfer before PCBoard will automatically abort your transfer.
Local Uploads
If you have logged into PCBoard locally and you use an internal PCBoard
protocol for an upload, PCBoard will do what is called a local upload. When
you do a local upload instead of trying to transfer the file via the normal
methods, PCBoard will pop-up a box which asks you where it can find the
file(s) you wish to upload. Inside of the box you will see Local Upload Path
or Filename? In the box, enter the file(s) that you want to upload. To
specify more than one file you will need to enter a wildcard filename such as
C:\TEMP\*.ZIP.
Example
If you want to upload a file called TMAL352.ARJ using Zmodem (which is
protocol Z), you would type in the following:
U TMAIL352.ARJ Z
You will now be asked to enter a description of TMAL352.ARJ. You will be told
how many lines of description you may enter and that you may begin the
description with a / to make the file a private upload to the SysOp. You
must enter at least 5 characters for your description--PCBoard will reject
any other description.
UB Upload Batch
This command functions similarly to Upload A File with one minor exception.
The UB command immediately assumes that more than one file will be uploaded.
Subcommands
[file(s)] Filename(s) to upload. If you wish, you may specify the
filename(s) that you wish to transfer on the command line. If
you specify more than one filename you need to separate each
filename with a space.
[protocol] Protocol to use for the upload. If you wish to specify a
protocol that is different than your default protocol, you
may do so on the command line.
BYE Logoff after transfer is completed. After the file transfer
is complete, you may indicate that you wish to disconnect.
This option may be included on the command line with the
other options of this command. Before you are disconnected
from the bulletin board system you are given 10 seconds to
continue on with your current call.
Description
You will be prompted for each filename you wish to upload. When you have
finished entering all the files that you wish to upload press ENTER at the
Filename to Upload prompt. If you specify more than one filename to transfer
then you will only be allowed to select batch file transfer protocols such as
Ymodem Batch, Zmodem, or Ymodem/G.
Unannounced Uploads
When you finish an upload, PCBoard will check all of the files to make sure
that there is a description for each file that has been uploaded. Any file
that does not have a description when the transfer is completed is called an
unannounced upload.
If an unannounced upload is received, PCBoard will scan the uploaded file to
see if it contains a FILE_ID.DIZ file. If it does, it will send the file
directly to the upload tester without asking you for a description of the
file. This capability is made available for ZIP, ARJ, LZH, PAK and ARC files
as well as self-extracting versions of each. It is built right into PCBoard.
It is fast. And it does not require outside (third party software) to do it.
At this point, you will be prompted to enter descriptions for any filename
that does not yet have a file description. Once all files have descriptions,
PCBoard will begin testing the files (if you have that option enabled).
Before testing begins, you are given the option to hang up and let the
testing proceed while you are off-line. If you are calling long-distance
this can save you a lot of time and money.
NOTE: You will not be given the choice to hang up if you upload files while
logged in locally.
USER List Active Users
This command allows you to search the user file for a text string. PCBoard
will display the user's name, location, and the last date the user logged
into the system for each matching record.
Subcommand
[text] Text to search for. You may specify any text to search for.
PCBoard analyzes this input, scans the USERS file, and
displays the name, city/location, and last date on for all
matching records. The search string you enter could be part
of a first or last name, or even part of a city name. This
search string may also be Boolean if you need to restrict
your search further.
Description
This command allows you to search the user file for a text string. You are
responsible for inputting the text string. PCBoard provides a list of users
with the text string found somewhere in their records. In the list are the
user's name, location, and the last date the user logged into the system.
NOTE: PCBoard does not display any sensitive or confidential information
with this command. Only the name and location (City and State) of each user
found will be displayed. In addition, only fields which do not contain
confidential information will be searched in the users record (e.g., the
password field is not searched).
Example
If you wanted to find everyone from Evergreen, Nevada, you may want to search
all user records for the word evergreen. If this was the case, you would
enter the following at the command line.
USER EVERGREEN
At this point you will may see the following on your screen:
User Name Location Last On
------------------------ ------------------------ ---------------
MARK HAMPTON EVERGREEN, NEVADA 10-09-93 03:47
CYRUS NEILSON EVERGREEN, NV 04-23-94 21:12
MAX SANCHEZ EVERGREEN,NV 12-13-93 14:21
GERALD CARPENTER EVERGREEN,NEVADA 05-13-91 14:04
ALLEN ROBERTS EVERGREEN, AZ 06-11-93 03:31
V View Settings
This command displays the current settings of your user record.
Description
This command allows you to view various information and stats regarding your
current call. The display may look like the following:
Caller Num.: 1,005,213
Lst Date On: 02-08-93
Expire Date: None
# Times On : 6,008
Page Length: 23
Expert Mode: On
Security Lv: 120
# Downloads: 684
# Uploads : 256
Bytes Avail: Unlimited
Byte Ratio : 7.3:1
File Ratio : 10.2:1
L/Msg. Read: 117,261
High Msg. #: 117,261
Active Msgs: 1,936
Tr/Protocol: No default protocol -- ask each time.
The following describes each field that you may see on the
status screen:
Caller Num: This is the number of calls that the bulletin board system you
are calling has answered since operation of the system began.
Lst Date On: The last date you called the system is stored in this field.
Expire Date: This field contains the date at which your account will expire.
If you have no expiration date then this field will contain the word None.
Some bulletin board systems set their users to expire at a certain date.
When you are "expired" your security level is usually dropped until you
follow the instructions that are displayed to you.
# Times On: This value shows how many times you have called this system.
Page Length: The page length setting allows you to configure how many lines
will be displayed on your screen before you want PCBoard to issue a More?
prompt and ask you if you are ready for the next screen. This value may be
changed by using the P user command.
Expert Mode: If expert mode is turned on, an On is displayed. Otherwise, you
are in novice mode and an Off is displayed. You may toggle expert mode by
using the X user command.
Security Lv: This value is the security level that you have been assigned on
this system. The bulletin board system uses this value to control what you
can and cannot do on the system.
# Downloads: This is the total number of files you have downloaded from the
system.
# Uploads: This is the total number of files you have uploaded to the
system.
Bytes Avail: This field shows you how many bytes you can download for the
remainder of the day. If this value is set to Unlimited then you may
download as much as your time allows.
Byte Ratio: Shows the total number of bytes that have been downloaded for
each byte uploaded. The number to the left of the colon shows the number of
bytes downloaded for each byte shown to the right of the colon.
File Ratio: Shows the total number of files that have been downloaded for
each file uploaded. The number to the left of the colon shows the number of
files downloaded for each file shown to the right of the colon.
L/Msg. Read: This field contains the last message number you have read in
the current conference. As you change conferences this value will be
updated.
High Msg. #: This value is the highest message number in the conference you
are currently in.
Active Msgs: This value is the number of messages that are active in the
conference you are currently in. While you will see that each conference has
a range of messages (e.g. 332-982) some of the messages in that range may
have been deleted. Therefore, you cannot subtract the low message number from
the high message number to get the actual number of active messages.
Tr/Protocol: This is the name of the protocol you have selected as your
default transfer protocol. If None is displayed, you will be prompted for a
transfer protocol to use each time you start a file transfer.
If you happen to be logging in as the SysOp (as record #1 in the USERS file)
then two additional lines will be displayed to you:
Defined #'s: When you setup a conference, you are asked how many message
blocks you want for the particular conference. If you enter 4 in that field,
then you will be allowed to have a range of 4096 active messages in the
conference. This field will list the number of active messages that can be
in the current conference. This number is obtained by taking the message
blocks as defined in the conference and multiplying it by 1024.
Free Msg #s: Displays the number of messages that you may add to the current
conference before exceeding the number of message blocks that you have
defined. For example, if your low message number is 4362, your high message
number is 8257, and you have defined the conference for 6 message blocks
(6144 messages) then you will have 2248 free messages before you exceed your
defined range of active messages.
WHO Other Users Online
This command enables you to see who is currently online. Each user name is
displayed including the city/location and a brief synopsis of what the user
is currently doing online.
Description
Most users on multi-node systems like to know who else is currently on the
system. To satisfy this curiosity you can use the WHO command. When
executed, PCBoard displays the status of each node on a multi-node system.
You can use this command to see if anyone is online that you would like to
chat with, who is doing what on the system, etc. This command is only
available on multi-node systems. If you try to execute it on a single node
system you will get a Sorry, no Network is Active message.
Example
(#) Status User
--- --------------------- -----------------------------
1 Out of Code in DOOR JIM HALBROM - MAIL
2 Available for CHAT NEIL GRANGER (SANDY CREEK, MN)
3 Transferring a File BILL MOWERY (CHERBOURG, TX)
4 Available for CHAT TAMARA ANTHONY (ASHWOOD, NJ)
5 No Caller this Node
From the above example display we can see that the user on node 1 is
currently running a door called MAIL. The users on node 2 and 4 are logged
in and probably reading messages or scanning for files. The user on node 3
is transferring a file. Nobody is currently on node 5 because it is waiting
for a call.
W Write User Information
This command allows you to change various information about your
account such as your password.
Description
This command allows you to change your own user information. Based on how the
Disable Full Record Updating option was answered in PCBSetup, certain
questions may not be updated via this command. The following lists each
question which will be asked depending on how you answered the Disable Full
Record Updating option in PCBSetup | Configuration Options | System Control.
Disable Full Record Updating : N
Password (one word please)?
City and State calling from?
Business or data phone # is?
Home or voice phone # is?
Brand of CPU?
Clear the screen between each message?
Scroll multi-screen messages?
Use long headers when reading messages?
Full Screen Editor Default: (Y)es, (N)o, (A)sk?
Set editor workspace default to 79 columns?
Select Conference(s)?
Disable Full Record Updating : Y
Password (one word please)?
Clear the screen between each message?
Scroll multi-screen messages?
Use long headers when reading messages?
Full Screen Editor Default: (Y)es, (N)o, (A)sk?
Set editor workspace default to 79 columns?
Select Conference(s)?
X Toggle Expert Mode
This command enables you to toggle expert mode on the system. Using
subcommands you may also explicitly specify if you want expert mode or not.
Subcommands
ON Explicitly select expert mode.
OFF Explicitly select non-expert or novice mode.
Description
When this command is used with no subcommands it acts as a toggle between
expert and novice modes. If expert mode is turned on, menus are not shown.
In novice mode, if there is a menu, it will be displayed after each command
is executed.
Examples
If you simply want to toggle expert mode then you would press X at any
conference command prompt.
If you wanted to explicitly select either expert or novice mode then you
would need to use one of the subcommands. For example, if you want to make
sure that you are in export mode, then you would enter X OFF at any
conference command prompt.
Y Your Personal Mail
This command permits you to scan for mail addressed to you to determine if
you have sent or received messages.
Subcommands
+ Scan forward. When added to a message number (e.g., 300+),
PCBoard scans from that message forward.
- Scan reverse. When added to a message number(e.g., 300-),
PCBoard scans from that message backward.
A Scan all selected conferences. PCBoard scans all selected
conferences for messages from or to you.
ALL Scan all conferences. PCBoard scans all conferences for
messages from or to you.
C Scan current conference. Only the current message base is
scanned for messages.
L Scan in long report mode. This option shows messages in long
list mode. The message bases are scanned and the
corresponding number of each message found is displayed.
NS Display in non-stop mode. Screen displays are placed in
non-stop mode (without more? prompts).
Q Scan in quick report mode. Messages are shown in quick list
mode. The message bases are scanned, but only the number of
messages and the number of messages to you are displayed and
not what those message numbers are.
S Scan unread mail. The message base is scanned from the last
message read. Only messages after this point are displayed.
Description
This command allows you to display the number of messages that are addressed
to or from you. You can use the subcommands to help select the conferences
that will be scanned and if you want to start from the beginning of the
message base or only messages you have not read. The report format you choose
determines if PCBoard only counts the number of messages or if it will
actually show the message numbers.
The Difference Between Short And Long Reports
The Y command can report in short or long form. When you select short form,
your display will resemble the following:
Messages Messages
Num Conference To You Found
------ ------------- --------- ---------
0 Main Board 0 6
1 Hardware 0 14
6 Software 0 5
9 Chit_Chat 2 6
This display tells you that there are a total of 25 messages that you have
not read yet in the Main Board, Hardware and Software conferences. In the
Chit_Chat conference, there are 6 new messages, 2 of which are addressed to
you.
In long form, the same scan would look like the following:
Scanning Main Board
Msgs For You: None
Msgs From You: None
# Msgs Found: 6
Scanning Hardware (1) Conference
Msgs For You: None
Msgs From You: None
# Msgs Found: 14
Scanning Software (6) Conference
Msgs For You: None
Msgs From You: None
# Msgs Found: 5
Scanning Chit_Chat (9) Conference
Msgs For You: 10472 10475
Msgs From You: 10474+
# Msgs Found: 6
As you can see, the long mode displays not only messages to you, but also
from you. In addition, it lists the message numbers and to the right of each
message number it displays the message status code if appropriate. For a
list of message status codes, see the Q user command.
The default scan mode is determined by the Default to (Q)uick on Personal
Mail Scan setting in PCBSetup | Configuration Options | Messages. If you
answer Y to this question then PCBoard will default to quick display mode.
Otherwise, long display mode will be the default.
Examples
If you want to count the new mail in the conferences that you have selected
for scanning, enter the following command:
Y;Q;S;A
Z Zippy Directory Scan
This command enables you to search through the file descriptions in various
file directories for the text that you specify.
Subcommands
[directory #] Directory number to search. PCBoard scans for the indicated
text in this directory. When using the Zippy Directory Scan
command, you must specify a directory or range of directories
that PCBoard should search for the file specification. You
may list a single directory, a range of directories in the
format #-# or a list of directories in a #;#;# format. There
are two letters that you may use as a directory number. If
you use A for the directory number, it tells PCBoard to
search all file directories in the current conference.
Likewise, if you use U for the directory number, the upload
directory of the current conference will be searched.
[search text] Text to search for. This is the text you wish to search for
in the directory listings. If you wish to search for an
imbedded space (e.g., "TEST "), you will need to imbed that
part of the string in quotes as shown above. Since you
cannot enter quote characters on the command line you would
not be able to enter the above example on the command line.
This search string may also make use of Boolean operands if
you wish to further qualify your search.
NOTE: The search is not case-sensitive. This means that if
you search for the word TEXT then it is the same as if you
had searched for word Text. In other words, capitalization
of your search text does not matter.
D Each file found with the specified text is flagged for
download. The system does not immediately download the
files, but waits until the D or DB user commands.
N This subcommand enables you to include the minimum file date
from which the scan should search for. This is identical to
the N user command but you can use it in conjunction with a
zippy scan to help restrict the file descriptions that you
search.
NS Screen output is displayed in non-stop or continuous mode.
Description
This command scans the file directories to find a specified text string. If
you do not specify the text to search for on the command line, you will be
prompted to enter the text you wish to search for. Possibly one of PCBoard's
most powerful time-saving features, the Zippy directory scan command will
locate text in both the file name field and the descriptions. Like other
PCBoard searching features, the zippy directory scan command utilizes Boolean
operands (AND, OR, and NOT).
How To Make Your Search More Specific
Quite often you may notice that your search found too many matches. Rather
than wading through all of the matches to find what you were really after,
let PCBoard help you make your search more specific so that you can save some
additional time.
Perhaps the easiest way to restrict your search is to use Boolean operands.
As an example, let's say that you scanned all file directories in the current
conference for the word DISK. After a couple of screenfulls, you realized
that you did not make your search specific. At this point, you realize what
you are really after is a utility which will format a floppy disk. You could
enter "Format a disk" in the text to search for. However, you are pretty sure
that all of the descriptions of the utilities that format disks would not
contain "Format a disk" in the description.
What you would need to use in this example is the Boolean AND operator. In
the text to search for, tell PCBoard that you want to search for DISK &
FORMAT. The & character signifies to PCBoard that you want to search for
both words in the description but you do not care if they are right next to
each other in the description. Instead, you just want them to be anywhere in
the file description.
If you searched for DISK & FORMAT and it still turned up too many matches,
you may need to restrict your search even further. You notice that some of
the matches were dated back in 1989 and may not be compatible with your
current system. Therefore, you want to display only utilities that are dated
01-01-90 or older. What you could do, is use the N subcommand as described
above. You would type the following for this final search:
Z N 010190 DISK & FORMAT A
You will notice that this tells PCBoard to zippy scan all file directories
but only display those files that are newer than 01-01-90 and that have the
words DISK and FORMAT in the description.
How To Make Your Searches Less Specific
Sometimes you may want to make your searches less specific. You may be
wondering why you want to make your searches less specific. Perhaps the best
way to illustrate this is with an example.
If you were searching for all hard drive utilities you may enter HARD DRIVE
as your search text. However, some people may call them hard disks instead
of hard drives. You are now faced with a small dilemma. You either have to
run two searches, or you have to find a way to search for either HARD DRIVE
or HARD DISK. To specify that you want to search for either phrase you use
the Boolean OR operator. You use the | character to denote the Boolean OR
operator. If you will recall, we were going to search for HARD DRIVE or HARD
DISK. If you simply replace the word or with the | character that will make
the search string correct.
Now, when you search, you will be searching for HARD DRIVE or HARD DISK
anywhere in the description. You could get fancy with Boolean operators and
consolidate this just a little more by searching for HARD & (DRIVE | DISK).
Since you are going to be looking for HARD DRIVE or HARD DISK, you can just
say search for the word HARD and either the word DISK or DRIVE.
Examples
Perhaps the simplest example would be to search for a single word in all file
directories in the current conference. If you wanted to search for the word
VGA then you would enter the following at the conference command prompt.
Z VGA A
Obviously, this would probably turn up quite a few matches, so
you may want to define your search better. If you were only interested in
games that supported VGA then you may want to modify so that you search for
the words VGA and GAME. You would enter the following at the conference
command prompt:
Z VGA & GAME A
Since you are searching for the words VGA and GAME, it does not matter what
order you put the words in. For example, you would perform the exact same
search if you typed the following:
Z GAME & VGA A