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Monster Media 1996 #14
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Monster Media No. 14 (April 1996) (Monster Media, Inc.).ISO
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bbs_door
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kspslp34.zip
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WHATSNEW.DOC
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1996-02-20
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409 lines
WHAT'S NEW IN KSP SLIP
3.4: New Feature: Added an option (ksp-slip.allowed_ip_list) to
specify the name of a file containing a list of allowed IP
addresses. Users will only be allowed to connect to
destinations that appear in the list. Attempts to connect
to any other IP address will cause a TCP/IP ICMP type 3
(host unreachable), code 10 (communication with
destination host is administratively forbidden) error
notification packet to be sent to the user's SLIP client.
New Feature: KSP-SLIP now writes a one-line ascii text
file at termination, containing three numbers. The first
is the number of packets sent to the user, the second is
the number of good packets received from the user, and the
third is the number of bad packets received from the
user. A companion program called PKTCOUNT.EXE has been
provided to read and exit with one of these numbers as its
errorlevel (limited to 255); this program can be used in
the batch file that runs the door for various accounting
purposes. See KSP-SLIP.DOC for detailed information.
New Feature: KSP-SLIP now exits with an errorlevel that
indicates the reason for termination. See KSP-SLIP.DOC
for detailed information.
Clean Up: KSP-SLIP no longer hangs up the modem when the
user times out but rather simply returns to the BBS and
lets the BBS decide whether or not to hangup.
3.3: Clean Up: Vastly Improved the run-time performance of the
multi-threaded code.
SysOps: Be sure to tell users to configure their slip
software (e.g., Trumpet Winsock) so that RWIN is no
greater than MSS; otherwise some packet transfers to the
BBS may get lost and performance will suffer due to
retransmissions.
3.2: Clean Up: Redesigned as multi-threaded code using the MIX
Multi-C library.
Clean Up: The inactivity timer was being restarted
everytime a character was received on the serial line, and
thus noise could sometimes keep the timer from reaching
zero. Now the timer is only restarted upon receipt of a
error-free inbound slip packet.
3.1: Clean Up: Improved handling of "ksp-slip.ophours" . If
start time is after the stop time, the hours of operation
will be interpreted as all but those in the window
WHAT'S NEW IN KSP SLIP
specified. I.e., setting ophours to 03:20-03:00 will
allow operation anytime except 03:00-03:20.
3.0: New Feature: Added an option (ksp-slip.blocked_ip_list) to
specify the name of a file containing a list of blocked IP
addresses. Users will not be allowed to connect to any IP
address on this list, and a TCP/IP ICMP type 3 (host
unreachable), code 10 (communication with destination host
is administratively forbidden) error notification packet
is sent to the user's SLIP client.
2.9: Bug Fix: If the minutes remaining passed to KSP-SLIP in
the DOOR.SYS file was zero, the user would get unlimited
time; corrected.
2.8: Work Around: Discovered that the ARNET driver in Egberto
Willies' COMM-DRV (used by Clark Development's PCBoard)
does not adhere 100% to the fossil spec in that function
04h (Initialize) does not return 1954h when called with
DX=00FFh. I was using this to detect the presence of a
fossil driver as recommended in the fossil spec! Corrected
by modifying the presence test to add two additional
presence tests if the first one (04h) fails.
2.7: Bug Fix: Fossil drivers do not typically detect an
incoming serial "break" signal. Thus when used with a
fossil driver, the configuration parameter called
"serialport" is used to enable additional code to provide
this feature. Although this code worked fine when tested
with the X00 fossil driver, it prevented both the BNU
fossil driver and PCBoard's COMMDRV program from doing
serial output properly. Corrected.
Bug Fix: Was not detecting carrier loss (user hangup)
properly. Corrected.
Clean Up: When opening the door, the number of minutes
remaining is displayed properly to the caller. However,
the minutes remaining was not tracked properly while
running the door when it was a very large number (like
1440 minutes = 24 hours). Corrected.
2.6: Bug Fix: Wasn't working with Digiboard when used with a
fossil driver. Corrected.
Bug Fix: Configuration parameter
ksp-slip.serialport=<adr>,<irq> was not working properly;
corrected.
WHAT'S NEW IN KSP SLIP
Bug Fix: The COM port number in DOOR.SYS was limited to
COM1 through COM4 since this is all that can be supported
by the async library; however, there should be no such
limit if a fossil driver is used. Corrected.
Bug Fix: The special break detect code used with fossil
drivers was interfering with normal fossil operation;
corrected.
New Feature: Added support for an environment variable
(ksp-ip) to set the IP address. Since the IP address is
often the only parameter in WATTCP.CFG that changes from
one BBS node to another, this allows using a single copy
of that file for all nodes.
Clarification: Some Internet access providers configure
their dial-up slip and ppp accounts with a very small
segment size. You may need to set mss as low as 212 if
your Internet connection is through such a connection.
2.5: Oops! When I fixed the search algorithm in 2.5, I
accidentally broke the "include" directive in WATTCP.CFG.
Corrected.
2.4: Bug Fix: Dynamic parameters did not function properly;
corrected.
Change: Changed the search order for WATTCP.CFG to be
downward compatible with earlier versions of KSP-SLIP.
First, it checks for an environment variable called
WATTCP.CFG that specifies the directory. Second, it looks
in the current (default) directory. Third, if still not
found, it looks in the directory that contains the
executable (KSP-SLIP.EXE).
2.3: New Feature: Added a command line option (e.g.,
/MAX_MINS=60) to limit the time a caller is allowed in the
door. If used, time in the door will be the minimum of
that specified by the option and their time remaining on
the BBS.
Enhancement: KSP SLIP now looks in three directories to
locate the WATTCP.CFG configuration file. First, it
checks for an environment variable called WATTCP.CFG that
specifies the directory. Second, it looks in the
directory that contains the executable (KSP-SLIP.EXE).
Third, if still not found, it looks in the current
(default) directory.
WHAT'S NEW IN KSP SLIP
Enhancement: Added a command line option
(/CONFIG=<number>, where "<number>" is a non-zero integer
such as "1") to facilitate dynamic configuration options.
If used, then any WATTCP.CFG configuration file parameters
of the form:
ksp-slip[<number>].<parameter>=<value>
are ignored unless the integer number enclosed in square
brackets matches that specified in the command line
option. This also works for global parameters, such as
"ksp[<number>].<parameter>".
2.2: Bug Fix: KSP SLIP was sometimes hanging on exit because it
had not unhooked the serial port interrupt routine before
exiting the program. Corrected.
Bug Fix: There is a special end-of-frame marker that
identifies the end of each slip packet. A common practice
is to also send one of these at the beginning of a data
packet so that the receiver will see an empty packet
followed by the (real) data packet; this helps the
receiver tolerate line noise by effectively telling it to
flush its input buffer in preparation for the arriving
data. A common performance enhancement is to eliminate
the extra empty packet if it falls "on the heels" of the
previous data packet; it would be redundant since the
receiver will have just flushed its input buffer anyway.
KSP-SLIP was making the decision to insert the empty
packet or not by reading the line status register of the
UART to see if it was still transmitting. Unfortunately,
reading the this register also resets it, and thus screwed
up the interrupt driven serial communications routines.
The new code checks the output queue instead of the UART;
this seems to virtually eliminate several problems that
have been reported, such as a suspiciously high number of
bad slip packets, corrupted remote IP addresses, and
stalled transfers.
New Feature: All of our software is now available via
anonymous ftp at "scizzl.scu.edu", directory "ksp".
Please note that there is no "e" at the end of "scizzl".
2.1: Enhancement: Now sends out a dummy IP packet at startup to
correctly record the IP address of the BBS node in
KSP-DVMX (in case it is being used). See discussion in
WHATSNEW.DOC of KSP-DVMX, version 1.1.
WHAT'S NEW IN KSP SLIP
Cleanup: Replaced "Returning to PCBoard..." message with
the more universal "Returning to BBS...".
2.0: Bug Fix: Would crash at startup if no packet driver was
found. Corrected.
Enhancement: Added the ability to override Waterloo
TCP/IP's automatic search for the packet vector interrupt
by using an environment variable, as in:
set ksp-pv=<number>
where "<number>" may be in decimal (e.g., "96"), in hex
preceded by "0x" (e.g., "0x60"), or in octal preceded by
"0" (e.g., "0140").
Enhancement: Added information in the documentation about
a packet driver shim for Novell with a Token-Ring_SNAP
network.
Enhancement: Performance problem when running under
DESQview with PKTMUX solved by creation of KSP-DVMX packet
multiplexer. Available as file KSPMUX*.ZIP, where "*" is
the version number.
Cleanup: Edited documentation to remind user to make *.MSG
display files read-only to avoid file sharing conflicts in
a multi-node system.
1.9: New Feature: Now DESQview "aware" to provide better
performance in a multitasking environment. (NOTE: Two KSP
SLIP doors running simultaneously on one machine will
experience severe performance degradation due to problems
in PKTMUX; we're working on a replacement for this
package.)
New Feature: Added configuration option
"ksp-slip.local_bell" which can be set to "disabled" to
silence the bell on the BBS console.
New Feature: Added configuration option
"ksp-slip.local_screen" which can be set to "disabled" to
improve screen painting speed for the caller. (Does not
affect status displays.)
Enhancement: Added more information to local BBS console
status display, including user name, location, total time
remaining, idle time remaining, and IP address of remote
connection.
WHAT'S NEW IN KSP SLIP
Enhancement: Added a sample script file for Trumpet
Winsock that dials the BBS, logs in, runs the SLIP door,
and grabs the IP address from the screen when STARTUP.MSG
is displayed. This solves the caller's problem of not
knowing which node (and thus which IP address) he will get
when calling in through a rotary.
1.8: CleanUp: Discovered that only the newest versions of the
Novell packet driver shim (ODIPKT) allow command line
parameters to be specified in hex; older versions require
that they be specified only in decimal. Our docs
describing how to install ODIPKT have now been modified to
show decimal parameters since they will work in all
versions of ODIPKT.
CleanUp: Moved the copyright notice so that it appears
before the startup message rather than after it.
1.7: CleanUp: Whoops! The bug fix introduced in version 1.6 to
correct the status display bug was unfortunately an
incomplete fix. If the "ksp-slip.status" configuration
parameter was not used at all, the screen would still be
erased and the packet counters displayed, but without ever
changing their values from zero. Corrected.
Enhancement: Documented the "include" directive that helps
when you have multiple nodes.
CleanUp: Clarified the description of the batch file used
to invoke the door.
BugFix: If no WATTCP.CFG environment variable was used,
there was a chance that part of memory might be
corrupted. Corrected.
1.6: Bug Fix: The status display packet counters were not being
updated properly (all counts were output to the bad packet
count field). Monochrome versus color monitor detection
was not working. Corrected.
1.5: Enhancement: Added a "ksp-slip.reserve_mins" configuration
parameter so that the user has some BBS time remaining
even if time expires while in the door.
1.4: Enhancement: Fossil drivers do not support break
detection. Added code to add that break detection when
used with fossil driver provided WATTCP.CFG file contains
a ksp-slip.serial_port configuration option.
WHAT'S NEW IN KSP SLIP
Bug Fix: When a user dropped carrier, KSP SLIP did not
necessarily properly unhook the serial port interrupt
routine. Corrected.
1.3: Bug Fix: Discovered that Fossil support was not working.
Corrected.
Enhancement: Users may now send a break signal to
terminate the SLIP connection and return to the BBS.
Enhancement: Now checks for and requires 8N1 operation.
Enhancement: Added ksp-slip.countdown configuration option
to eliminate the "press any key to begin" and nine-second
countdown at startup.
1.2: Enhancement: Replaced local console "Whirly Gig" with a
continuously updated count of SLIP packets. Added a
configuration parameter "ksp-slip.stats" to select output
method: ansi, bios, or direct.
New Feature: Added configuration parameter
"ksp-slip.serial_port". If used, it overrides serial port
address and IRQ values implied by "COMx" in DOOR.SYS and
is provided to support non-standard configurations that
don't use a fossil driver.
1.1: Enhancement: Added a "Whirly Gig" on the local console to
indicate SLIP packet activity in progress.
1.0: Initial release.