Software Vault: The Diamond Collection

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Text File | 1995-03-19 | 23KB | 468 lines

╔════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ╟─┐ ║ K E E P I N G I N T O U C H ║ │ ║ ═══════════════════════════════ ║ │ ║ SPITFIRE Monthly Support Newsletter ║ │ ║ for registered SPITFIRE Sysops! ║ │ ║ March 1995 ║ │ ║ Compliments of BUFFALO CREEK SOFTWARE ║ │ ║ Buffalo Creek's BBS * 515-225-8496 ║ │ ║ 38400/19200/9600/2400/1200 Bps ║ │ ║ 2 Nodes ║ │ ║ ║ │ ╚═╤══════════════════════════════════════════╝ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Edited by Jacque Shipley The Mother Board BBS - (515) 986-3464 - 57600 Bps Sysop Of The Month by Walt Crede Roam This Fertile Land - (515) 288-8755 - 14400 Bps Newly Registered SPITFIRE BBS List by Ann Woltz Other Contributions As Noted ╔═════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ Notes from the author of SPITFIRE! ╟─┐ ╚═╤═══════════════════════════════════════╝ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────┘ SFCHKUP v3.1 AND MKSFFBBS v2.3 RELEASED --------------------------------------- SFCHKUP v3.1 and MKSFFBBS v2.3 were released March 19, 1995. Both of these programs were revised to utilize an improved SFFILES format. This opportunity is taken to thank the SPITFIRE Sysops who volunteered and tested these revised programs. I appreciate your help. Thank you. 1995 SPITFIRE CONFERENCE BEING CONSIDERED ----------------------------------------- Prior to the unnecessary, undesirable and unwanted (there aren't words to describe the stupidity of the catastrophe) SFNET catastrophe of January, 1995, we were considering a 1995 SPITFIRE Conference. As some of you may have noticed, the catastrophe had the affect of destroying my enthusiasm for the SPITFIRE project. Thus, the energy needed to host a SPITFIRE Conference became non-existant. Slowly (very slow) my enthusiasm for the SPITFIRE project is returning. Thus, we will go back to work on hosting a 1995 SPITFIRE Conference. It is our plan to host a SPITFIRE conference during the weekend of June 2-3-4, 1995 in Des Moines, Iowa, provided we can arrange the accomodations. We will advise you of exact details in the event a 1995 SPITFIRE Conference can be arranged. SFNET non-PARTICIPATION ----------------------- I feel that each of you should know why I have discontinued my participation in SFNET. When SFNET was founded, I made it perfectly clear that I would participate provided SFNET was a cut-above other mail systems which tolerate (sometimes encourage) a free-for-all environment, flaming, blaming and bashing. After months of unsuccessful attempts to get certain participatants to conduct themselves as mature ladies and gentlemen, I simply gave up and discontinued my participation. I could name names but I don't think it is necessary. Their conduct has driven many good SFNET participants away. Some people build and some people destroy. Until next time, may God bless you... Mike, Ann & family ╔═══════════════════════════════════╗ ║ Jesus saith unto him, I am the ╟─┐ ║ way, the truth and the life... ║ │ ║ John 14:6 ║ │ ╚═╤═════════════════════════════════╝ │ └───────────────────────────────────┘ ╒══════════════════════════╕ │ SPITFIRE UTILITY REVIEWS │ ╘══════════════════════════╛ ╒═══════╕ │ ALMA1 │ ╘═══════╛ Have you ever wished that there was some type of gauge that would give you the capability of monitoring the activity of your SPITFIRE Message Conferences? Wouldn't a utility that kept you informed of what conferences your callers are actually reading be just the ticket? Well, wish no more! Bradley W. Hodges gives SPITFIRE Sysops the tool they need with ALMA, All LMR Message Analyzer. ALMA uses SPITFIRE's SFMSG<x>.LMR files and it's own data files to measure the level of activity in each SPITFIRE Message Conference. And, since ALMA does use SPITFIRE's Last Message Read files, it is able to monitor messages that are downloaded, as well as those which the callers read online. Setup of ALMA is relatively simple. A sample configuration file is included in the distribution package and can be modified to specify the Sysop name, desired text file for ALMA's report, registration code and paths to the SPITFIRE home, work and message directory appropriate for your BBS. Next, ALMA is executed using the /S command parameter. The /S parameter automatically creates the ALMA data files which are used to monitor each caller's activity in the SPITFIRE message base. There are two options which the Sysop may choose for running ALMA. It can be set up to be run using SPITFIRE's SFLOGON.BAT and SFINIT.BAT files. Or it can be set up to run nightly as an event. However, as the documentation explains, the first method is recommended since it will capture the message activity of any new callers who may not have an ALMA data file. After allowing ALMA to accumulate data for several days, the Sysop can then use ALMA's command line parameter, /C to generate a report to show the message activity. An additional option allows the Sysop to choose whether the message information will be displayed to the screen, saved to a file or both. If saved to a file, the report information is either placed in or appended to the text file which the Sysop specified in the ALMA configuration file. Regardless of report mode, ALMA will report provide information on both the message conferences activity as well as the callers activity in the message conferences. Other command line parameters of ALMA allow the Sysop to reset the data files or to update the caller's last message read pointers. The shareware program is not crippled in regard to functionability but it does include annoying delays. However, registration is reasonable at $5, and as author, Brad Hodges notes, this can easily be recovered if ALMA is used to determine what netmail conferences should be dropped, thereby, eliminating the long distance cost of downloading mail packets which are never read by your callers. ╒═══════════╕ │ SFEM1000 │ ╘═══════════╛ I am probably not the most logical candidate to be reviewing this utility since I still have yet to venture out on the information super-highway. However, I am well aware that there is a growing interest among SPITFIRE Sysops in regard to the Internet. And, so it is my hope to at least introduce this utility to those who may want to try their hand at bringing the Internet to their SPITFIRE BBS! SFE-Mail is billed as the complete Internet E-mail solution for SPITFIRE, seamlessly integrating with your existing SPITFIRE message base. Upon reviewing the documentation, SFE-Mail does appear to remove much of the complexity that surrounds the Sysops journey into the world of the Internet. However, there are a few requirements that must be met before the Sysop can begin to run SFE-Mail. The SPITFIRE BBS must be using a FidoNet compatible front-end mailer such as FrontDoor, BinkleyTerm, Portal of Power or D'Bridge. Secondly, the BBS must be using a FidoNet compatible mail tosser such as Alexi/Mail, SFToss or DogFight. And, of course, the BBS must have a node or point address in a Fido-style net that has a UUCP gateway, such as FidoNet. Once these criteria are met, simply configure SFE-Mail to work with your system set up. A sample configuration file is included in the documentation to simplify the set up process. In addition, the documentation explains the operational steps for processing mail which is to be sent or received using SFE-Mail. SFE-Mail eliminates the need for callers to learn complex instructions for posting messages to your net's UUCP gateway. Rather, the caller merely enters the Internet address in the SPITFIRE message To: field. Then the caller simply continues entering the message as he or she would if it were to be sent to another caller of the BBS. In the event, the Internet address exceeds the length of the To: field, the Subject: field can be used to continue the Internet address. Again, the documentation provides nice samples of how this can be done. Other features that will spur Sysop's interest in SFE-Mail is the ability to send International faxes, the ability to append an advertisement and/or disclaimer to messages from your BBS and the inclusion of a bulletin generator to display activity of messages processed with SFE-Mail. SFE-Mail is the product of CyberWare Systems. Registration is $15 with CyberWare Systems offering a number of registration options. All upgrades for SFE-Mail are free and available for downloading or frequencing from the SFE-Mail support BBS, The Dark Dragon Online at (513) 231-6087. ╒═════════════════════════════╕ │ SPITFIRE BOARD-OF-THE-MONTH │ ╘═════════════════════════════╛ Bobb Waller FIAWOL/MSConnections BBS (214) 790-6472 March has always been an exceptional month for me. I got married in March (five years this month!) I officially retire from my last job in March, and today Mike Woltz told me FIAWOL was the March SPITFIRE Board Of The Month! March comes in like a lion and goes out like another... lion around the Waller house. FIAWOL began mostly as a lark on June 16th, 1986 on a Tandy 1000HD with a 10 meg drive and a 1200 baud modem. The word FIAWOL is actually an acronym for the sentence "Fandom Is A Way Of Life." And that was the sole theme of the BBS for 3 years `Fandom', fandom of science fiction and fantasy books, comic books, music, and just about anything of which the callers were fans. However two things happened in 1989 one bad, one great, which were to change the board forever. In October of that year I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and in November a organization I was a member of offered to support FIAWOL by underwriting a change of software. I looked and I looked at what seemed at the time to be a thousand user Unfriendly! bulletin board packages. However when I unzipped SPITFIRE things changed! Here was a package with all the ease of use for my callers, with the Sysop friendly features I craved. Soon the check was in the mail and SPITFIRE was on it's way. I added the title MSConnections to the boards name when I added the emphasis of empowering the disABLED to the focus of the board. (And no that is not a typo that is the way I spell the word, with the emphasis on the Abled part of the word. So don't go griping to Mike or Jacque about spelling.) Today FIAWOL/MSConnections runs on a 386-25, on two 120 meg hard drives and a 14,400 modem. We are proud to be part of the SFNet family, of which we are the area code 214 hub. We are also members of Fidonet, RIME, ComicBookNet, Pen & BrushNet, ADANet, and TLBNet. With over 350 message areas we try to be here with empowering areas for all folks, fannish, disABLED, and anyone else. Networking and support has led to many of us on the board lending support to each other, we have one member who when faced with a diagnosis of cancer was able to find the strength to face many a day with the friends she met though FIAWOL. If I might add something a little different, I also credit the board with influencing a gentleman named Sonny Grissom to registering the SPITFIRE software for his board. As a caller Sonny was only on FIAWOL for a short time before his board became so successful he really didn't have much `calling out time.' Sonny passed on at the close of 1994, but his `second' career as the Sysop of a SPITFIRE BBS keeps him here in spirit. The Old Poop is missed greatly and probably deserved being Board of the Month more than FIAWOL ever will. This is for you Sonny. Today with an average of 350 callers in the user base, and over 800 calls a month I feel fine in the knowledge that we have found our place in the busy Dallas/Ft. Worth bulletin board scene. As I have been unable to work a job since 1989, FIAWOL has been the anchor that has kept me sane. I try to make sure it can be the same for others. And you're all invited to my Bar Mitzvah in May! Bobb ╒═════════════════════════════╕ │ SPITFIRE SYSOP-OF-THE-MONTH │ ╘═════════════════════════════╛ Phan Tran The Phoenix Islands BBS (408) 270-4077 Node 1 (408) 270-4078 Node 2 (408) 270-7456 Voice RIME: PHXISLND (5383) SFNET: A0408008 Sysop of the Month! I never thought that I'd be chosen to receive this honor. What a surprise! Now I have a chance to write about myself... I told Mike to wait for me to go back to school and learn how to write an essay :) but he said "NO", so you may get your glasses now and we can start... In 1982, I left Vietnam on a small boat with 36 other people. We arrived in Thailand as "boat people" after 4 nights and 5 days on the boat with a cup of water a day! The Thai government help thousands of us, the "boat people" in "Refugee Camps" which were supported by UNHCR. We were moved to Galang, Indonesia, to Singapore, then finally in Nov. 1984 I came to the United States as a refugee for resettlement. Two months later, I started working as a volunteer in 1-year-contract with VISTA/ACTION (Volunteer In Service To America). After that, I worked for Kodak, for IBM then for the U.S. Postal Service in 1989...until now. I got married with my sweetheart - an elementary school teacher in Vietnam - when she came to the U.S.A in 1989. I took my U.S. citizenship in 1990 on the same day that our first-born son came crying to say Hi to the world! We now have a 4-year-old son and a 16-month-old daughter. What about my BBSing life? Well, back in 1991 when I bought my first computer, a 386DX/33MHz 4MB of RAM 120MB hard disk with Windows 3.0 loaded, for learning Lotus 123, ACAD... Yes! you are right! Windows, Lotus, and ACAD were not happy living together in that small room... Bingo! Yes, UPGRADE it! How simple it is... With that in mind, I had one more way to spend my paycheck! Every payday, my money running real fast to computer stores and the hardware, software - one by one - walking in my house, staying somewhere in my computer. By doing that way, payday after payday... I bought all things that needed to make my computer run faster and faster. Another thing, I did not only just buy what I "need" but also what I "want"! The modem was the first "wanted-not needed" item add-on my expensive toy! Well, I became a member of Prodigy that day, and later on member of AOL, CompuServe. Instead of learning ACAD, I started learning PKUnzip, download, protocols... :) and spending time with the computer more than any other things. After 8 hours at work, I used to spend another 10 hours with the computer keep dialing, downloading, and dialing, downloading... until my second hard disk 130 MB filled up with .ZIP files, including PCBoard Demo v14.5a, Wildcat, SPITFIRE shareware v3.2. Hey! Wait a minute! I have a computer, a modem, a phone line, lots of .ZIP files, and also BBS software... I got enough to start a BBS, didn't I? Yeah! I could run a BBS... Why not?... Being a Sysop could be fun too! Let me think about the name of my own BBS then.!?!?!...( thinking...) The Phoenix Islands BBS project started from that day. Now, it's time to pick a BBS software to run. Should I run PCB, SF, or Wildcat? PCBoard was the first one chosen for the test, but after 1 week playing around with it, I decided to go to another one since I have some basic idea about BBS ( 1-week experience! ) Wildcat also installed and deleted in the same day (sorry!) Only SPITFIRE left for the test, and of course you all know the result of that test, don't you? Yes, SPITFIRE WON because it easy-to-setup, simple-to-run! One week later, I called BCS and registered online. I started with SPITFIRE that day and stayed with SPITFIRE... At that time, one of my co-worker got his Packard Bell system with an internal 2400 modem. I invited him to call my board for testing new doors, checking new screens... Later on, he found enjoyment in it and start his own BBS, and a new public SPITFIRE board was registered: The Legend Post in Santa Clara, CA. - Sysop: Robbin Buccat. Since The Phoenix Islands BBS went online as a public BBS on 08-28-92, I spent more time with the BBS... but my wife has never complained about it. She supported me, encouraged me to work, to make the board look better and better. I also got alot of help from Mike Downie, Sysop of Mike's Dis iz Dis BBS, Mike Stewart (The Chair Too!), Wayne Boshell (#1 Fun Seekers), Johnny Bowen (The Who Knows)... and all other SPITFIRE Sysops that gave me your help, taught me the right way to handle problems on my BBS... Without you, The Phoenix Islands BBS can not be a multi-node system running 2 nodes under Novell v3.1 with a 486DX2/66MHz File Server 1.2 GB HD, 2 386DX/40 Work stations... using USRobotics Courier 28.8K... I got help from other Sysops, and now my turn to help others... Anytime, about anything -just ask- I will try my best to offer help. Best wishes to all! ╒════════════════════════════════════╕ │ NEWLY REGISTERED SPITFIRE SYSTEMS │ ╘════════════════════════════════════╛ A hearty welcome is extended to the following, who have recently become public registered SPITFIRE Bulletin Board Systems: Biblio Tech...................................403-875-8589...14400 BPS Lloydminster Library, Sysop..............Lloydminster, Alberta, Canada Reveal BBS....................................803-756-3259...28800 BPS Charles Struve, Sysop........................Green Sea, South Carolina The Happy Forest..............................616-344-4959...28800 BPS Grant Morgan, Sysop................................Kalamazoo, Michigan Clermont County EMA BBS.......................513-732-7230....9600 BPS Clermont County, Sysop...................................Batavia, Ohio Jim's BBS.....................................503-288-3432...14400 BPS Jim Cooper, Sysop.....................................Portland, Oregon Bergy's Box BBS...............................402-296-2323...14400 BPS Thomas E. Bergmann, Sysop........................Plattsmouth, Nebraska Hard core's Hangout...........................Phone Unknown..14400 BPS Scott Dinwiddie, Sysop..............................Quantico, Virginia Data-Link.....................................216-888-1077...14400 BPS David Svec, Sysop..........................................Parma, Ohio Loganlink.....................................Phone Unknown...9600 BPS John D. Klein, Sysop...............................Logansport, Indiana Royal Mail G.I.S. BBS......................44-01246-214413....2400 BPS Royal Mail GIS Project, Sysop..............Chesterfield Derb., England Goshen Technology Center......................203-491-9981...14400 BPS Goshen Town Hall, Sysop............................Goshen, Connecticut Bethany Bible College BBS.....................334-793-4344...14400 BPS Bethany Bible College, Sysop...........................Dothan, Alabama Playhouse.....................................207-453-6343...14400 BPS William Chouinard, Sysop.................................Benton, Maine Richie's World BBS............................817-699-4253...19200 BPS Richard Kerschner, Sysop.........................Harker Heights, Texas Hell's Kitchen................................314-346-1554...28800 BPS Jerry Helle, Sysop.................................Camdenton, Missouri The Palindrome BBS.............................915-646-3411..14400 BPS Shane Hall, Sysop.....................................Brownwood, Texas Spells BBS....................................816-461-2073...14400 BPS Jim Barton, Sysop..............................Indenpendence, Missouri What's UP!....................................918-445-2659...14400 BPS Jeff Sittler, Sysop....................................Tulsa, Oklahoma Truth BBS.....................................207-549-3511...19200 BPS Darrell Foster, Sysop.................................Jefferson, Maine MACUG BBS......................................501-367-0199...14400 BPS Monticello Area Computer Users Group, Sysop........Monticello, Arkansas Genesis BBS...................................810-743-1297...14400 BPS Tom Cohee, Sysop.......................................Flint, Michigan Rocky's Rag BBS...............................205-447-2442...14400 BPS Lee H. Slate, Sysop..................................Piedmont, Alabama The Endless Summer............................803-756-1256...28800 BPS Willard Cox, Jr., Sysop..........................Longs, South Carolina Scavenger's Loft..............................704-524-6577...14400 BPS Jamie Estes, Sysop............................Franklin, North Carolina Virtual Wasteland.............................715-341-3118...28800 BPS Mike Urban, Sysop....................................Custer, Wisconsin The Trailing Edge BBS.........................905-727-0195....2400 BPS Steve Anderson, Sysop..........................Aurora, Ontario, Canada In addition, there was 6 new private SPITFIRE BBS Systems registered. The private SPITFIRE BBS was registered to Sysops in Omaha, Nebraska; Schenectady, New York; Westgate NSW, Australia; Houstan, Texas; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Indianapolis, Indiana. There were 15 registrations for whom registration information was incomplete. These included BBS's in: Morganton, North Carolina; Lewiston, Idaho; Spring Lake, North Carolina; Holland, Michigan; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Tempe, Arizona; Byron, California; Grimes, Iowa; Panama City, Florida; South Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Fort Stewart, Georgia; Queluz, Portugal; Houston Texas; Athens, Alabama; and one unknown location. The increase in registrations where information is incomplete is largely due to Buffalo Creek's Software's policy of accepting on-line Mastercard and Visa credit card registrations. JUST A REMINDER...the newsletter is always looking for contributions! Please forward any articles in ASCII text to either Buffalo Creek's BBS or The Mother Board BBS.