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The TriBBS (R) Bulletin Board System Version 4.0 Copyright (c) 1991-1993 By Mark D. Goodwin COPYRIGHT NOTICE ---------------- TriBBS is a copyrighted program being distributed under the shareware concept. As such, you may operate a TriBBS Bulletin Board System for a period of 30 days without registering the software. After the 30 day evaluation period, you must register your copy of TriBBS or you will be in violation of United States and International copyright laws. As a shareware program, TriBBS may be freely distributed through a BBS. Shareware distributors may distribute copies of TriBBS on disk for a modest disk duplication charge not to exceed $6 per disk. It is a violation of the TriBBS license agreement to modify the EXE files in anyway. WARRANTY -------- TriBBS is distributed without warranty. In no event will Mark Goodwin be liable to you for damages, including any loss of profits, lost savings, or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of your use of or inability to use the program, even if Mark Goodwin or an authorized representative has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Mark Goodwin will not be liable for any such claim by any other party. TRADEMARKS ---------- TriBBS is a registered trademark of Mark Goodwin. All other brand and product names mentioned in this manual are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ---------------- TriBBS uses the excellent SPAWNO routines by Ralf Brown to minimize memory use while shelling to DOS and running other programs. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System i TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Automatic Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Manual Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 The Menu Configuration Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 The Help Display Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Modifying BOARD.BAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Getting TriBBS to Run on Boot Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Your First Log On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 THE TRIBBS MANAGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 The Configure Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 The Pack Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 TriMan Odds and Ends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 THE WAITING FOR CALLER SCREEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 The Waiting for Caller Screen Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Drop to DOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Configure Node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Edit Conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Edit Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Edit Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Configure System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Edit File Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 View Callers Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Pack User File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Exit TriBBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Pack Message Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 The Modem Status Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 The Statistics Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Screen Blanking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 DISPLAY SCREENS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 @-Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Control Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Log On and Goodbye Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Security Specific Log On Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 User Specific Log On Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 New User Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Bulletin Menu and Bulletins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Message Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 File Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Upload Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Download Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Door Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Door Bulletin Menu and Door Bulletins . . . . . . . . . . . 46 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System ii Questionnaire Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Sysop Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 List of Conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 List of File Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Chat Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Log On Related Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Comment Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 <F8> Logoff Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Full-Screen Editor Help Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 TeleChat Help Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 File/Byte Ratio Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Subscription Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Making Your Own Display Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 THE TRIBBS MENU SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 The Bulletin Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 The Main Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 The Message Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 The File Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 The Door Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 The Door Bulletin Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . 71 The Questionnaire Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . 73 The Sysop Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 EXTENDABLE MENU COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 SPECIAL BATCH FILES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 NEWUSER.BAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 SECn.BAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 LOGON.BAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 UPLOAD.BAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 BETWEEN.BAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 FILE LISTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 FileMan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 MakeIdx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 EXTERNAL PROTOCOLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Send Batch Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Receive Batch Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 FILE RATIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 File/Byte Ratios (Adjusting Security Levels) . . . . . . . . 95 File/Byte Ratios (Security Level Stays the Same) . . . . . . 96 Free Downloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 SUBSCRIPTION SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 RUNNING TRIBBS WITH A FRONTEND OR AS A DOOR . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Error Correcting Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Limiting Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Forced Hang Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System iii ARCHIVE TESTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 ODDS AND ENDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Obnoxious Callers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Daily Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Special Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Quick Logon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 File Flagging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Packing the Message Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 The TriBBS Protocol Driver: TTPROT.EXE . . . . . . . . . . . 109 MULTINODES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Doors and Multinodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Some Helpful Hints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Multinode Chatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 HIGH-SPEED MODEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 SUPPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 REGISTRATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 FILE FORMATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 SYSDAT1.DAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 SYSDAT2.DAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 NODE.DAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 USERS.DAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 USERS.IDX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 USERS.SUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 MCONF.DAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Mnnnn.PTR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Mnnnn.IDX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Mnnnn.TXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 FAREA.DAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 EVENTS.DAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 TRIBBS.SYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 COLOR CODES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System iv The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 1 INTRODUCTION ------------ TriBBS is one of the newest Bulletin Board Systems around. Although TriBBS is a relatively new BBS, it comes equipped with many powerful features: Multinode Support - Although TriBBS 4.0 is an excellent single line bulletin board system, it fully supports multinode operation. Unlike many other bulletin board systems, you do not have to pay extra for a multinode system. So when your board is ready to expand, TriBBS will easily grow along with you at no additional cost. Multinode Chat - On multinode boards, TriBBS supports both node to node chatting and group chats. Zmodem - Not many other bulletin board systems can claim this one. By offering Zmodem as a part of TriBBS, the sysop is relieved from having to set it up as an external protocol. Full Screen Editor - In addition to an excellent line editor, TriBBS features a complete full screen editor to make message entry as easy as possible. Alias Support - TriBBS optionally supports the use of aliases in message conferences and file areas. Net Mail - TriBBS's message base structure provides extensive support for net mail conferences. Netmail converters are available for Fido<->TriBBS, PCRelay<->TriBBS, Postlink<->TriBBS, and QWK<->TriBBS. Although these converters are an optional part of TriBBS and not included in the TriBBS archive, they a readily available for download on any TriBBS support board and are supplied free of charge to all TriBBS sysops. Compressed Message Base - Another unique feature to TriBBS is its use of data compression on all messages. This can save a great deal of valuable hard drive space. So if you plan on setting up a board with a lot of networked conferences, TriBBS is the system for you. Doors - TriBBS can internally generate the door data files to run most PCBoard, GAP (DOOR.SYS), Spitfire, WildCat, and RBBS doors. By supporting these five major standards, TriBBS can run pretty much any door program. By generating the door data files internally, TriBBS relieves the sysop from setting up a collection of door data file conversion utilities. Archive Testing - TriBBS allows you to optionally test all uploaded archives, EXEs, and COMs to see if they were uploaded without error and scan them for viruses. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 2 File Area Indexing - TriBBS allows you to index large file areas, including CD-ROM file areas, for quick location and retrieval of files on large file-oriented systems. One of TriBBS's chief design goals is ease of installation and maintenance. Some of the above listed features, such as Zmodem and internal generation of door data files, have already pointed out some of the reasons why TriBBS is so easy to use. Other TriBBS features include generation of security level specific menu screens on the fly and the ability to run an almost unlimited number of sliding and nonsliding events. Overall, you should find TriBBS to be one of the easiest bulletin board systems to set up and maintain. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 3 REQUIREMENTS ------------ TriBBS requires an IBM PC or compatible computer with 640K of memory, a modem, and a hard disk drive. Although TriBBS doesn't use 640K of memory itself, such programs as external protocol drivers, compression utilities, etc. all have their own RAM requirements; therefore, the more memory the BBS has to run in the better. Whereas it would be possible to set up a small TriBBS system on a floppy disk based system, it really wouldn't be of much practical use. Therefore, a floppy disk based TriBBS board is not recommended and is not supported. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 4 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 5 INSTALLATION ------------ The first step in using any computer program is to install it. You probably acquired your copy of TriBBS from a BBS or online service and have obviously uncompressed the file archive. There are two methods for installing TriBBS: automatic installation through the included INSTALL.EXE program or manual installation where you will be required to do most of the work yourself. The method you chose is obviously up to you, but most users will find automatic installation to be the best method for setting up a new TriBBS board. Automatic Installation ---------------------- Automatic installation is started by running the INSTALL.EXE program. This is done by entering the following at the DOS prompt: INSTALL INSTALL starts by displaying a list of directories it intends to create. By default, these directories are C:\TRIBBS (the board's main directory), C:\TRIBBS\MWORK (holds the user data file, the message conferences, questionnaires, answers to questionnaires, the callers log, and a few other data files), C:\TRIBBS\NWORK (holds the menu configuration files, event data files, and temporary caller logs), C:\TRIBBS\DISPLAY (holds display screens: log on screens, goodbye screen, bulletins, door bulletins, custom menu screens, etc.), C:\TRIBBS\TRANSFER (used by TriBBS to hold temporary files during file transfers), and C:\TRIBBS\TTTEMP (used by TriBBS to hold transient files and data). You can change the main BBS directory by pressing the <F10> key and entering the new main BBS directory's name. The installation process will continue as soon as you press <ENTER>. The installation program continues by creating the six above mentioned directories, copies the executable files (BBS.EXE, TTPROT.EXE, TRIMAN.EXE, FILEMAN.EXE, and TRIPACK.EXE) into the main BBS directory, creates a BOARD.BAT file in the main BBS directory, copies the menu configuration files into the NWORK directory, and copies the TeleChat and full screen editor help screens into the DISPLAY directory. At this point the installation program will halt and wait for you to enter the BBS name (default: Unnamed BBS), the sysop's name (default: Joe Sysop), the com port (default: 1), and your modem's maximum baud rate (default: 2400). Once you have edited these to appropriate values, you must press <F10> to continue. INSTALL will continue by creating three data files in the main BBS directory: SYSDAT1.DAT, SYSDAT2.DAT, and NODE.DAT. The automatic installation process should now be complete. You should now jump ahead to the section entitled "Getting TriBBS to Run on Boot The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 6 Up". Although for further insight about what the installation program has done, you may want to read the manual installation sections. Manual Installation ------------------- The first step in the manual installation process is to create a TRIBBS subdirectory on your hard disk. If your hard disk is your C: drive, you could do this by entering the following at the DOS command prompt: MD C:\TRIBBS Next you should copy all of the files that were included in the TriBBS archive to this new subdirectory. This can be accomplished with the following command: COPY *.* \TRIBBS Now you can delete the TriBBS archive files in your current directory by entering the following command: DEL *.* IMPORTANT: Be sure there aren't any other non-TriBBS files in your current directory before you enter the above command. If you don't check for other files, you will lose them. If there are other non- TriBBS files in your current directory, you will have to delete the TriBBS files one at a time. The next step is to change to the newly created TRIBBS directory. This can be done with the following command: CD \TRIBBS Now you must initialize your TriBBS system by running the file BBS.EXE. To do this, you simply enter the following at the DOS prompt: BBS IMPORTANT: If your modem uses another port other than COM1, you must start TriBBS with the following command: BBS /Cport Where "port" is the number of your modem's serial port. For example, a TriBBS system that will be using a modem hooked up to COM2 would need to be initialized with the following command: BBS /C2 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 7 You can create a local-only node by specifying a port number of 0 as follows: BBS /C0 By creating a local-only node, the TriBBS node doesn't require a modem. This can be very useful for setting up a node for the sysop to perform daily maintenance on. You should note that some doors may not be useable with a local-only node. IMPORTANT: If your modem can't support at least 2400 baud, you must start TriBBS with the following command: BBS /Bbaud Where "baud" is your modem's highest baud rate. For example, a TriBBS system that will be using a 1200 baud modem would need to be initialized with the following command: BBS /B1200 You can of course combine the /C and /B command line switches. For example, a system with a 300 baud (YUCK!!!) modem hooked up to COM3 would use one of the following commands: BBS /C3 /B300 or BBS /B300 /C3 If everything went ok, you should now see TriBBS's Waiting for Caller screen. This screen presents you with 12 menu options. At this time, you should use the arrow keys to position the double-lined box around the "Exit TriBBS" option. Once the double-lined box is around the "Exit TriBBS" option, simply press <ENTER> (For the rest of this manual, a keyboard key is indicated by surrounding it with <>.) and you will be returned to the DOS prompt. By running TriBBS in this fashion, TriBBS has created two system data files (SYSDAT1.DAT and SYSDAT2.DAT), a node data file (NODE.DAT), and five subdirectories off your main TriBBS directory. These five subdirectories are named MWORK, NWORK, DISPLAY, TRANSFER, and TTTEMP. If your main TriBBS directory is C:\TRIBBS, you should now have the following five subdirectories: C:\TRIBBS\MWORK, C:\TRIBBS\NWORK, C:\TRIBBS\DISPLAY, C:\TRIBBS\TRANSFER, and C:\TRIBBS\TTTEMP. TriBBS creates these five subdirectories to maintain the BBS. The MWORK directory holds the user data file, the message conferences, questionnaires, answers to questionnaires, the callers log, and a few other data files. The NWORK directory holds the menu configuration files, event data files, and temporary caller logs. The DISPLAY directory holds display screens: log on screens, goodbye screen, bulletins, door bulletins, custom menu screens, etc. The TRANSFER directory is used to temporarily hold files during file transfers. The TTTEMP directory is used by TriBBS to hold transient files and data. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 8 The Menu Configuration Files ---------------------------- TriBBS uses a series of menu configuration files to generate menu displays on the fly. If you do a directory listing of your main TriBBS directory, you will note that TriBBS came with a number of files with the extension of MNU. These are the menu configuration files and must be placed in your NWORK subdirectory for TriBBS to function properly. Moving these files to the NWORK subdirectory and deleting them from main TriBBS directory can be accomplished with the following two commands: COPY *.MNU NWORK DEL *.MNU The Help Display Screens ------------------------ Included in the TriBBS archive are a couple of help screens which must be moved into your DISPLAY subdirectory. Moving these files to the DISPLAY subdirectory and deleting them from the main TriBBS directory can be accomplished with the following two commands: COPY *.BBS DISPLAY DEL *.BBS Modifying BOARD.BAT ------------------- The next step in getting a minimal TriBBS system up and running is to make any necessary modifications to a batch file called BOARD.BAT. Although TriBBS will run by simply executing BBS.EXE at the DOS prompt, it will not be able to properly run events and doors without being executed by BOARD.BAT. Consequently, you should always start up your BBS by entering the following at the DOS prompt: BOARD As we said though, BOARD.BAT may need to be modified. The following is a listing of BOARD.BAT: The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 9 echo off cd \tribbs if exist door.bat del door.bat if exist event.bat del event.bat if exist endbbs del endbbs bbs if exist door.bat door if exist event.bat event if exist endbbs goto end board :end Note how the second line of BOARD.BAT changes the current directory to the TriBBS's main directory. If your TriBBS setup uses a different directory other than "\tribbs", you will have to use some type of a text editor to make the appropriate change. Getting TriBBS to Run on Boot Up -------------------------------- You will want your TriBBS system to automatically start up whenever your computer reboots. This can be accomplished by performing two simple modifications to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. First of all, you should modify or create a SET PATH or PATH command to include your main TriBBS directory. At the end of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, you should put the command BOARD. That way DOS will automatically run TriBBS each time the computer is rebooted. The following is a sample AUTOEXEC.BAT file before it has been modified to automatically start up TriBBS: @ECHO OFF PROMPT $p$g PATH C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS;C:\QEMM;C:\ZIP The following is the same AUTOEXEC.BAT file after the appropriate changes have been made to it for TriBBS: @ECHO OFF PROMPT $p$g PATH C:\TRIBBS;C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS;C:\QEMM;C:\ZIP BOARD Note how the PATH command in line three was modified and how BOARD was added to the end of the batch file. IMPORTANT: Starting with version 2.1, TriBBS uses TTPROT.EXE to perform file transfers. TTPROT is included with TriBBS and must be placed in either your main TriBBS directory or a directory that is in your DOS PATH statement. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 10 If everything has been done properly, TriBBS should start up automatically after a reboot. So let's give it a try and press RESET. After a few seconds, you should see the TriBBS Waiting for Caller screen. If you don't, you should go back and check both BOARD.BAT and AUTOEXEC.BAT for errors. It will probably be something really simple. Your First Log On ----------------- You can now finally log on as a new user. Simply enter BOARD at the DOS prompt to restart TriBBS. After the Waiting for Caller screen appears and the modem has been initialized, move the double-lined border to the "Local Logon" menu option and select it by pressing <ENTER>. This option will log you on to the BBS and takes the phone off the hook. The screen should now clear and the following will be displayed: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CONNECT LOCAL / 12-02-92 (15:48) Welcome to Unnamed BBS - Node 1. A TriBBS (R) 4.0 Bulletin Board System Copyright (c) 1991-1993 By Mark D. Goodwin Your Sysop is Joe Sysop. Registration Number: Evaluation Copy Do you want ANSI color graphics (y/N)? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This display simply displays that a local connection was made, the name of the board, Unnamed BBS, and node number; that it's a TriBBS 4.0 BBS; a copyright notice; the sysop's name, Joe Sysop; and it's an "Evaluation Copy" of the software. The board's name and the sysop's name can be changed quite simply. We'll discuss how it's done in the next section. As for a registration number, you'll have to register your board to get rid of "Evaluation Copy". (Hint, Hint) You will also note that TriBBS is prompting you as to whether or not you want ANSI color graphics or not. If you have a color monitor, you will probably want to respond affirmatively by pressing <Y>. If you don't have a color monitor or just simply do not want a color display, respond "No" by pressing either the <N> or the <ENTER> key. Note how the prompt has the "N" capitalized. This indicates that TriBBS will consider pressing <ENTER> as the same as pressing <N>. So whenever you see a similar TriBBS prompt, you will know that pressing <ENTER> will perform the same action as pressing the capitalized key. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 11 After selecting the appropriate color choice, TriBBS will prompt you to enter your name as follows: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter your FIRST and LAST name: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Simply type your name and press <ENTER>. Because this is your first log on, TriBBS will display the following: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter your FIRST and LAST name: Mark Goodwin Searching user records for Mark Goodwin. <G>oodbye, <R>eenter name, or <N>ew User? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Because you are a "new user", you should press <N>. If you weren't a new user, you could either "reenter name" by pressing <R> or say "goodbye" by pressing <G>. TriBBS will now prompt you for a password as follows: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter your password (1 to 15 chars.): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Simply type in a password and press <ENTER>. IMPORTANT: Be sure that you use a unique password for your system. If somebody finds out what your password is, it is possible for them to make extensive modifications to your BBS. So be careful with your password. TriBBS will now ask if you entered your password correctly as follows: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter your password (1 to 15 chars.): install Is Install correct (Y,n)? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- If your password is correct, press either <Y> or <ENTER>. If it is incorrect, press <N> and TriBBS will once again prompt you for your password. The main reason for allowing you to reenter a password is The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 12 because a remote user may get hit with line noise and not realize that his desired password wasn't entered properly. After entering your password correctly, TriBBS will prompt you for your city and state as follows: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter your City, State: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- After entering your city and state, TriBBS will give you the opportunity to change it as follows: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter your City, State: Bangor, ME Is Bangor, Me correct (Y,n)? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TriBBS continues this process by asking for your phone number and date of birth as follows: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter your phone number ###-###-####: Enter your phone number ###-###-####: 207-941-0805 Is 207-941-0805 correct (Y,n)? Yes Enter your date of birth MM/DD/YY: Enter your date of birth MM/DD/YY: 10/19/56 Is 10/19/56 correct (Y,n)? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 13 After entering your date of birth, TriBBS will prompt you to select a default protocol as follows: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- <A> Ascii <X> Xmodem <K> Xmodem-1K <Y> Ymodem <G> Ymodem-G <Z> Zmodem <N> No Default Please select a default protocol: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Simply select the default file transfer protocol you would like to use when calling your board remotely. If you don't want to set a default protocol, press <N>. By selecting "No Default", TriBBS will prompt you to select a protocol before each file transfer. After selecting a default protocol, TriBBS will prompt you to select a default editor as follows: -------------------------------------------------------------------- <L> Line Editor <F> Full Screen Editor <N> No Default Please select a default editor: -------------------------------------------------------------------- Simply select the default editor you would like to use. By selecting "No Default", TriBBS will prompt you to select an editor before entering each message if you have ANSI graphics enabled. Because your system doesn't have any bulletins yet, the following will be displayed: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- There are no bulletins available today! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 14 If there were any bulletins, you would have been presented with TriBBS's bulletin menu. Instead, TriBBS continues on by displaying the main menu with the following selections: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ..Bulletin Menu <Y>..Your Personal Information <M>..Message Menu ..System Information <F>..File Menu ..List of Users <C>..Comment to Sysop <X>..Expert Mode <A>..Toggle ANSI Graphics Mode ..Page Sysop <N>..Newsletter <G>..Goodbye ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For the most part, TriBBS's main menu is its gateway to other areas of interest. You will also see the following prompt: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You have been on 9 minutes with 51 remaining. Enter Selection - [B M F C A N Y I U X P G ?]? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- At this point, you will want to log off your BBS by pressing <G>. Before logging off, TriBBS will give you a final chance to change your mind as follows: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Are you sure you want to log off (Y/n)? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 15 THE TRIBBS MANAGER ------------------ The TriBBS Manager program, TriMan, is used to perform such actions as configuring the system, configuring the node, configuring message conferences, configuring file areas, editing users, packing the user file, packing the message base, and more. As a sysop, TriMan will be one of the most important tools you'll use in maintaining your BBS. To run TriMan, you must be in your nodes's main directory. Then at the DOS prompt enter TRIMAN. When executed, TriMan will present a menu bar with the following three options: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Configure Pack Exit ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To pull down the Configure menu, you need to press <ALT><C>, to pull down the Pack menu, you need to press <ALT>, or to "Exit" TriMan you need to press <ALT><E>. The Configure Menu ------------------ When pulled down, the Configure menu will present the following seven options: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- System Node Users Message Conferences File Areas Events About TriBBS (R) Manager ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 16 To configure the system, you need to press the <S> key at the Configure menu. Once the configure system option is selected, you will be presented with the following items: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Board Name.............. : Unnamed BBS Sysop Name.............. : Joe Sysop BBS Starting Date....... : 01/01/90 Total Calls............. : 0 Daily Time Limit........ : 60 Daily Logon Limit....... : 5 Max Time Per Logon...... : 60 Min Sysop Security Level : 100 New User Security Level. : 10 New User Time Limit..... : 60 Upload Time Compensation : 1 Keyboard Idle Timeout... : 3 US Phone Number......... : Yes Auto ANSI Detection..... : No Default Archive Ext..... : ZIP Test Uploads............ : No Waiting Messages Check.. : Yes Total Nodes............. : 1 System Password......... : File Ratio Type......... : Security Levels Phone Busy During Config : Yes Allow One Word Names.... : Yes Bulletin Menu at Logon.. : Yes Allow Aliases........... : No Clear Screen Before Menu : No Exact Match for Dupes... : No Disable Birthday Question: No Disable Detailed Log.....: No ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is a more detailed description of each one of these configure system items: Board Name.............. : Unnamed BBS This is the name of the BBS and should be changed to the name you want to call your board. Sysop Name.............. : Joe Sysop This is the name of the BBS sysop's name and should be changed to your name. BBS Starting Date....... : 01/01/90 This is the day you started your BBS. This should be set to the first day you go online with your BBS. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 17 Total Calls............. : 0 This is the total number of calls that have been made to your BBS. This is initially set to 0, but if you are switching from another type of BBS software to TriBBS, you may want to change it to your board's current total number of calls. Daily Time Limit........ : 60 This is the default number of minutes a caller will be able to spend on your board. You should note that the daily time for different security levels can be specified in an optional file called DLIMITS.DAT. DLIMITS.DAT will be discussed later in this manual. Daily Logon Limit....... : 5 This is the default number of times a caller can log on to the BBS in a single day. You should note that the daily number of logons for different security levels can be specified in an optional file called DLIMITS.DAT. DLIMITS.DAT will be discussed later in this manual. Max Time Per Logon...... : 60 This is the default maximum time the caller will have for each logon. You should note that the maximum time per logon for different security levels can be specified in an optional file called DLIMITS.DAT. DLIMITS.DAT will be discussed later in this manual. Min Sysop Security Level : 100 This is the minimum sysop security level. Anybody with a security level that is at least equal to this value will be considered a sysop and be able to do such things as read private messages, delete messages, and be able to perform a great number of other operations that the normal caller cannot do. Therefore, you should only assign a sysop security level to yourself and any cosysops your board may have. New User Security Level. : 10 This is the new user security level. When a user calls for the first time, he will be assigned this security level. New User Time Limit..... : 60 This is the amount of time a new user will get for his first call to the system. Many sysops like to give new users a little extra time on their first call so that they can get a feel for the board. Upload Time Compensation : 1 This if the amount of time a caller will be compensated for uploads. Many sysops like to reward callers for uploading. By default, the upload time compensation of 1:1 will give The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 18 back the caller the amount of time it took to perform the upload. If you were to set this value to 2, the upload time compensation of 2:1 would give the caller back twice as much time as it actually took to perform the upload. Keyboard Idle Timeout... : 3 This is the number of minutes of no activity that TriBBS will wait until it automatically logs the caller off. If you are running TriBBS under a multitasker (Windows, DesqView, OS/2), the BBS may log callers off even though they have been active within the required amount of time. Therefore, you may find it is necessary to disable this check when running under a multitasking operating system. This check can be disabled by setting the idle timeout to 0 minutes. US Phone Number......... : Yes <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS will require the caller to enter his phone number using the format ###-###-####. If this field is toggled to "No", TriBBS will allow the caller to enter his phone number without formatting it. Auto ANSI Detection..... : No <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS will ask each caller if they want to use ANSI color graphics or not at logon. If this field is toggled to "Yes", TriBBS will attempt to detect whether or not the caller's communication program supports ANSI terminal emulation. Default Archive Ext..... : ZIP <- This is a toggle field Whenever a caller enters a filename without an extension, TriBBS will use the contents of this field as a default file extension. This field can be toggled between ZIP, ARJ, LZH, PAK, SDN, and ARC. Test Uploads............ : No <- This is a toggle field If this field is set to "Yes", TriBBS will attempt to check uploads with the extensions ZIP, ARJ, LZH, PAK, SDN, ARC, EXE, and COM for integrity and viruses. To perform this type of testing on compressed archives, you must have the following decompression utilities somewhere in you DOS PATH: Archive Decompression Utility ------------------------------------------------------------ ZIP PKUNZIP.EXE LZH LHA.EXE PAK PAK.EXE SDN PAK.EXE ARC PAK.EXE ------------------------------------------------------------ The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 19 To perform a virus check of the uploaded files, you must have SCAN.EXE somewhere in your DOS PATH. Waiting Messages Check.. : Yes <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS will check all message conferences to see if the caller has any waiting messages in them just before displaying the bulletin menu. If this field is toggled to "No", the waiting message check will be disabled. Total Nodes............. : 1 This is the total number of nodes in your BBS. This number is automatically maintained by TriBBS whenever you add a new node the system. However, you may need to manually adjust this number if you delete a node at a future date. System Password......... : This field allows you to set an optional system password. Once a password is set, TriBBS will ask the local computer user for the system password before it will allow him to select any of the Waiting for Caller screen items except for local logons. This is useful if you want to restrict access to the BBS's configuration where many people have physical access to the computer (i.e., a school or a business). File Ratio Type......... : Security Levels <- This is a toggle field This field defines how TriBBS implements file/byte ratios. By default, TriBBS will adjust the caller's security level either up or down according to their file/byte ratio. Optionally, TriBBS will disallow downloads if the caller has exceeded his file/byte ratio. Phone Busy During Config : Yes <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS will take the phone off the hook whenever the sysop is performing maintenance from the Waiting for Caller screen. If this field is toggled to "No", TriBBS will not take the phone off the hook. You should note that some telephone companies electronic switching computers will flag a line as out of order if it busied for a certain length of time without any apparent activity. Therefore, this field should be set for "No" if your telephone company uses this type of system. Allow One Word Names.... : Yes <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS will allow callers to enter one word names. If this field is toggled to "No", TriBBS will not allow callers to use only one name. This is handy for weeding out obvious aliases on systems that do not want aliases used. Bulletin Menu at Logon.. : Yes <- This is a toggle field The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 20 By default, TriBBS will display a bulletin menu before the main menu. If this field is toggled to "No", the bulletin menu will not be displayed to the caller at logon. Allow Aliases........... : No <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS does not allow the use of aliases. If this field is toggled to "Yes", TriBBS will ask new users for an alias and will allow callers to change their aliases from the main menu's "Your Personal Information" option. This field must be set to "Yes" for the sysop to configure message conferences and file areas as alias conferences and areas. Clear Screen Before Menu : No <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS will just scroll the screen when displaying its internally generated menus. If this field is toggled to "Yes", TriBBS will clear the screen before displaying an internally generated menu. Exact Match for Dupes... : No <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS ignores a file name's extension when searching for duplicate files. If this field is toggled to "Yes", TriBBS will take into account the file name's extension when searching for duplicate files. Disable Birthday Question: No <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS asks new users for their date of birth. This question can be disabled by toggling this field to "Yes". Disable Detailed Log.....: No <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS logs every menu selection that the caller makes. If this field is toggled to "Yes", the menu selection logging will be disabled. While editing the system values, the following function keys are active: Function Key Action ----------------------------------------------------------------- <SPACE> Toggle a toggle field. <TAB> Move to the next field. <SHIFT><TAB> Move to the previous field. <CTRL><PGDN> Move to the next screen of data entry fields. <CTRL><PGUP> Move to the previous screen of data entry fields. <F10> or <ESC> Exit the configure system editor. ----------------------------------------------------------------- The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 21 To configure the node, you need to press the <N> key at the Configure menu. Once the configure node option is selected, you will be presented with the following items: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Serial Port............. : 2 Initialization String... : ATS0=0Q0E0M0V1H0S2=43X1^M Initial Baud Rate....... : 2400 Error Correcting Message : ARQ Lock Serial Port........ : No RTS/CTS Flow Control.... : No 1/10 Sec. Delay For ATA. : 5 No. of Rings Before ATA. : 1 Allow 300 Baud Callers.. : Yes Allow 1200 Baud Callers. : Yes Allow 2400 Baud Callers. : Yes Page Bell............... : Off Direct Screen Writes.... : Yes Use Node DISPLAY Dir.... : No Node Security Level..... : 0 Node Number............. : 1 Busy During Events...... : No ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is a more detailed description for each one of these configure node items: Serial Port............. : 1 <- This is a toggle field This is the node's serial port. This field can be toggled between 1, 2, 3, 4, or Local. Initialization String... : ATS0=0Q0E0M0V1H0S2=43X1^M This is your modem's initialization string. The above initialization string is TriBBS's default initialization string and should work with most modems. If your modem doesn't answer correctly, you should consult your modem's manual to determine what changes may be necessary to the above initialization string. Any control characters are indicated by using the format ^character. The initialization string must end with a ^M control character. Although you can change the above string to suit your needs, you shouldn't modify S0=0 (this instructs your modem NOT to automatically answer a call), Q0 (this instructs your modem to display result codes), V1 (this instructs your modem to use verbal result codes), H0 (this instructs your modem to put the phone on the hook), S2=43 (this tells your modem the escape sequence character). Additionally, you should insure that you use X1 or greater for result codes. Otherwise, CONNECT codes aren't returned by the modem. You should note that you can specify a modem initialization string by using The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 22 a "/I" command line switch. Simply follow "/I" with the initialization string while executing BBS.EXE. Initial Baud Rate....... : 2400 <- This is a toggle field This is the speed that TriBBS will open the node's serial port at. It should be set to your modem's highest allowable baud rate. This field can be toggled between 0, 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400, and 57600. You should note that note all serial ports can support speeds greater than 19200. If you have an older computer, you may need to upgrade the UART in the computer's serial card to a 16550 UART. Almost all internal, high-speed modems feature 16550 UARTs. Error Correcting Message : ARQ This is the message your modem will return in the CONNECT string if an error correcting connection is established. The default is ARQ, but other common error connecting messages are REL, LAPM, MNP, etc. You should consult modem's manual to find out the particular message it will return. You should note that TriBBS will recognize many of the most common error correcting messages even if this field isn't correctly set. Lock Serial Port........ : No <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS will not lock the serial port. When a serial port isn't locked, TriBBS will adjust the serial port's baud rate to match the baud rate that is returned in the CONNECT string. If this field is toggled to "Yes", TriBBS will maintain a constant baud rate. Thus, the serial port's baud rate will stay at the "Initial Baud Rate" speed. If your BBS has an error correcting modem, you should lock your serial port to achieve all off the benefits of an error correcting connection. You should note that your modem must be properly configured with an AT command to support a locked baud rate. RTS/CTS Flow Control.... : No <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS only uses XON/XOFF flow control to control the sending and receiving of data with the remote computer. If this field is toggled to "Yes", TriBBS will initiate RTS/CTS flow control between the computer and the modem. This is essential for reliable operation with an error correcting modem. You should note that your modem must be properly configured with an AT command to support RTS/CTS flow control. 1/10 Sec. Delay For ATA. : 5 This is the delay in tenths of a second that TriBBS will wait upon receiving a RING message before it will send an ATA command to the modem to answer the phone. Some modems, particularly older modems, require a longer delay. If your The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 23 modem isn't answering, you should try adjusting this to a higher value. The maximum value is 20 for a 2 second delay. No. of Rings Before ATA. : 1 This is the number of RING messages TriBBS will wait for before it will send the ATA command to the modem to answer the phone. By default, TriBBS answers the phone on the first ring. Allow 300 Baud Callers.. : Yes <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS allows 300 baud callers. If this field is toggled to "No", TriBBS will not allow 300 baud callers to log on to the board. Allow 1200 Baud Callers. : Yes <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS allows 1200 baud callers. If this field is toggled to "No", TriBBS will not allow 1200 baud callers to log on to the board. Allow 2400 Baud Callers. : Yes <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS allows 2400 baud callers. If this field is toggled to "No", TriBBS will not allow 2400 baud callers to log on to the board. Page Bell............... : Off <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS turns the sysop page bell off. If you want to be paged, you should toggle this field to "On". Direct Screen Writes.... : Yes <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS will write directly to video memory to display text. This can cause snow on some old CGA systems. If you experience snow on your video display, you should toggle this field to "No". Use Node DISPLAY Dir.... : No <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS looks in node 1's DISPLAY directory for all screens. If this field is toggled to "Yes", TriBBS will look in the node's display directory for display screens. This allows you to have a separate set of display screens for each node. Node Security Level..... : 0 This is the node's minimum security level. For a caller to be allowed access to the node, the caller must have a security level that is at least equal to or greater than this field's value. This if useful for creating private access BBSes and high-security nodes. Node Number............. : 1 This is the node's number. This is set automatically by TriBBS when the node is created. However, it can be changed when required (i.e., deleting a node, etc.). The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 24 Busy During Events...... : No By default, TriBBS leaves the phone on the hook when running an event. If this field is toggled to "Yes", TriBBS will take the phone off the hook when it runs events. While editing the node values, the following function keys are active: Function Key Action ----------------------------------------------------------------- <SPACE> Toggle a toggle field. <TAB> Move to the next field. <SHIFT><TAB> Move to the previous field. <CTRL><PGDN> Move to the next screen of data entry fields. <CTRL><PGUP> Move to the previous screen of data entry fields. <F10> or <ESC> Exit the configure system editor. ----------------------------------------------------------------- The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 25 To edit the users, you need to press at the Configure menu. Once the edit users option is selected, you will be presented with the following items: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Name.................... : Mark Goodwin Alias................... : Mark Goodwin Password................ : Install City, State............. : Bangor, Me Telephone Number........ : 207-941-0805 Birth Date.............. : 10/19/56 Security Level.......... : 10 Locked Out.............. : No Delete During Next Pack. : No Date of First Call...... : 01/01/90 Time of Last Call....... : 02/12/93 09:54 Date of Last File Check. : 06/02/92 Minutes Left Today...... : 117 Total Calls............. : 342 Calls Today............. : 5 Expert Mode............. : Expert Default Protocol........ : None MultiNode Chat Status... : Available Default Editor.......... : Full Screen Editor Check for Waiting Msgs.. : No Subscription Expires.... : None Files Uploaded.......... : 0 Files Downloaded........ : 0 K Bytes Uploaded........ : 2060 K Bytes Downloaded...... : 31 Messages Posted......... : 23 Welcome Display in QWK.. : No Goodbye Display in QWK.. : No Bulletins in QWK........ : No New Files in QWK........ : No Newsletter in QWK....... : No QWK Mail Network Node... : No ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is a more detailed description of each one of these configure systems items: Name.................... : Mark Goodwin This is the user's name. Alias................... : Mark Goodwin This is the user's alias. Password................ : Install The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 26 This is the user's password. City, State............. : Bangor, Me This is the user's city and state. Telephone Number........ : 207-941-0805 This is the user's telephone number. Birth Date.............. : 10/19/56 This is the user's date of birth. Security Level.......... : 10 This is the user's security level. Locked Out.............. : No <- This is a toggle field If this field is toggled to "Yes", the user will be locked out (not allowed to log on) of the BBS. Delete During Next Pack. : No <- This is a toggle field If this field is toggled to "Yes", the user's record will be deleted from the user files the next time it is packed. Note that the record is not physically deleted from the disk until the user files are packed. Date of First Call...... : 01/01/90 This is the date of the user's first call. This field cannot be edited. Time of Last Call....... : 02/12/93 09:54 This is the date and time of the user's last call. This field cannot be edited. Date of Last File Check. : 06/02/92 This is the date of the user's last new files check. This field cannot be edited. Minutes Left Today...... : 117 This is the number of minutes the user has remaining for the day. Total Calls............. : 342 This is the user's total number of calls. Calls Today............. : 5 This is the number of times the user has called today. Expert Mode............. : Expert <- This is a toggle field This field indicates the type of menus and prompts TriBBS will display to the user. If it is set for "Novice", TriBBS will display the complete menu and a full prompt. If it is set for "Expert", TriBBS will only display a full prompt. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 27 If it is set for "Super Expert", TriBBS will only display an abbreviated prompt. Default Protocol........ : None <- This is a toggle field This field indicates the user's default file transfer protocol. MultiNode Chat Status... : Available <- This is a toggle field This field indicates the user's multinode chat status. If the field is set for "Available", the user can be paged by a caller on another node. If the field is set for "Unavailable", the user can't be paged by a caller on another node. Default Editor.......... : Full Screen Editor This field indicates the user's default editor type. Check for Waiting Msgs.. : Yes <- This is a toggle field. This field indicates if the user wants to check for waiting messages at log on. By default, TriBBS will check for waiting messages. If this field is toggled to "No", TriBBS will not check for waiting messages. Subscription Expires.... : None This field sets the expiration date, if any, for the user's subscription. To set the expiration date to "None", enter a date of 00/00/00. Files Uploaded.......... : 0 This field indicates the number of files the user has uploaded. Files Downloaded........ : 0 This field indicates the number of files the user has downloaded. K Bytes Uploaded........ : 2060 This field indicates the number of K bytes the user has uploaded. K Bytes Downloaded...... : 31 This field indicates the number of K bytes the user had downloaded. Messages Posted......... : 23 This field indicates the number of messages the user has posted. Welcome Display in QWK.. : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if TriMail should include the BBS's LOGON1 screen in a QWK packet. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 28 Goodbye Display in QWK.. : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if TriMail should include the BBS's GOODBYE screen in a QWK packet. Bulletins in QWK........ : No <-This is a toggle field This field indicates if TriMail should include new bulletins in a QWK packet. New Files in QWK........ : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if TriMail should include a list of new files in a QWK packet. Newsletter in QWK....... : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if TriMail should include a copy of the newsletter in a QWK packer. QWK Mail Network Node... : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if the caller is a network node. If you are a hub for a QWK network, this field should be set to "Yes" if the caller is a node using your hub. This will give the caller access to private messages in networked copies and allows the caller to upload messages into networked conferences that are addressed from somebody else. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 29 While editing the user values, the following function keys are active: Function Key Action ----------------------------------------------------------------- <SPACE> Toggle a toggle field. <TAB> Move to the next field. <SHIFT><TAB> Move to the previous field. <CTRL><PGDN> Move to the next screen of data entry fields. <CTRL><PGUP> Move to the previous screen of data entry fields. <PGDN> Move to the next user. <PGUP> Move to the previous user. <F2> Add a user. <F3> Edit the user's access to private file areas. <F4> Edit the user's access to private message conferences. <F5> Search for a user. Note that when entering the user's name, you can use the DOS wildcard characters "*" and "?" in the search string. <F6> Search for the next user that matches the previously entered search string. <ALT><N> Jump to a specified record number. <F10> or <ESC> Exit the configure system editor. ----------------------------------------------------------------- To configure the message conferences, you need to press <M> at the Configure menu. Once the configure message conferences option is selected, you will be presented with the following items: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Conference Description.. : General Read Message Security... : 10 Post Message Security... : 10 Private Conference...... : No Alias Conference........ : No Allow Private Posts..... : Yes Networked Conference.... : No Network................. : Fido-Style NetMail Conf. : No User Message Deletion... : Allowed Purge Msgs Older Than... : 30 Msg Pack Backup File.... : Yes ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is a more detailed description of each one of these configure message conference items: Conference Description.. : General This is the name of the message conference. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 30 Read Message Security... : 10 This is the minimum security level the caller needs to be able to read messages in the conference. Post Message Security... : 10 This is the minimum security level the caller needs to be able to post messages in the conference. Private Conference...... : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if the message conference is a private conference or not. If this field is set to "Yes", it sets the conference as a private message conference. To give a caller access to a private message conference, you must edit his user record and specifically give him access to the conference. Alias Conference........ : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if the message conference allows the caller to use an alias in the conference. You should note for this flag to have any effect at all the system must be configured to allow aliases. Allow Private Posts..... : Yes <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if the message conference allows posting of private messages. If this field is set to "No", TriBBS will only allow the posting of public messages. Networked Conference.... : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if the message conference is a networked conference. If this field is set to "Yes", TriBBS will allow the conference's messages to be echoed. Network................. : This is the name of the network if the message conference is a networked conference. Fido-Style NetMail Conf. : No <- This is a toggle field This indicates if the conference is a "Fido-style netmail" conference. If this message is set to "Yes", TriBBS will ask the caller to enter a Fido-style address for the recipient. This setting should only be used for conferences that require a Fido-style address to send the mail to the recipient. User Message Deletion... : Allowed <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if a caller can delete messages that are addressed either from or to him. Purge Msgs Older Than... : 30 This field is used to set how many days old TriPack should save messages for when packing the message base. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 31 Msg Pack Backup File.... : Yes This field indicates if TriPack should create backup files when packing the message base. While editing the message conference values, the following function keys are active: Function Key Action ----------------------------------------------------------------- <SPACE> Toggle a toggle field. <TAB> Move to the next field. <SHIFT><TAB> Move to the previous field. <F2> Add a message conference. <INSERT> Insert a message conference before the current conference. <DELETE> Delete the current message conference. <PGDN> Move to the next message conference. <PGUP> Move to the previous message conference. <ALT><N> Jump to a specified message conference. <F10> or <ESC> Exit the configure message conference editor. ----------------------------------------------------------------- To configure the file areas, you need to press <F> at the Configure menu. Once the configure file areas option is selected, you will be presented with the following items: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- File Area Description.. : TriBBS Related Files File Area Security..... : 10 File Area Sort Type.... : By Filename Private File Area...... : No Alias File Area........ : No CD-ROM File Area....... : No File Area Path......... : C:\TRIBBS\TRIBBS File Area Upload Path.. : C:\TRIBBS\UPLOADS File Area File List.... : C:\TRIBBS\TRIBBS\FILES.LST File Area Upload List.. : C:\TRIBBS\UPLOADS\FILES.LST File Area Index File... : C:\TRIBBS\FILE1.IDX ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is a more detailed description of each one of these configure file area items: File Area Description.. : TriBBS Related Files This is the name of the file areas. File Area Security..... : 10 This minimum security level the caller needs to be able to access the file area. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 32 File Area Sort Type.... : By Filename <- This is a toggle field This field allows you to specify how TriBBS will sort the file list. File lists can be sorted either by file name or be date. Private File Area...... : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if the file area is a private file area. Once this field is set to "Yes", you must edit the user's record to specifically give him access to the private file areas. Alias File Area........ : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates what name is to be used in the "Uploaded By:" line in a file description. If this field is set to "Yes", TriBBS will use the caller's alias in the file description. Otherwise, TriBBS will use the caller's real name in the file description. Note that you must have the system configured for aliases for this field to have any effect. CD-ROM File Area....... : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates whether or not TriBBS should check the file area for duplicate files when the caller is uploading files. If this field is set for "Yes", TriBBS will not check the file area for duplicate files. Otherwise, TriBBS will check the file area to see if an uploaded file is a duplicate. File Area Path......... : C:\TRIBBS\TRIBBS This specifies the disk directory where the file area's files will be located. File Area Upload Path.. : C:\TRIBBS\UPLOADS This specifies the disk directory where uploaded files for the area will be placed. File Area File List.... : C:\TRIBBS\TRIBBS\FILES.LST This specifies the name of the file area's file list. File Area Upload List.. : C:\TRIBBS\UPLOADS\FILES.LST This specifies the name of the file area's upload directory's file list. File Area Index File... : C:\TRIBBS\FILE1.IDX This specifies the name of an optional index file for the file area. You must specify the file's complete path name. Once a file name is specified in this field, you can use MakeIdx to generate the appropriate index file and TriBBS will use the index file to locate files. This can greatly speed up TriBBS's operation in large file areas such as CD- ROM file areas. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 33 While editing the file area values, the following function keys are active: Function Key Action ----------------------------------------------------------------- <SPACE> Toggle a toggle field. <TAB> Move to the next field. <SHIFT><TAB> Move to the previous field. <F2> Add a file area. <INSERT> Insert a new file area before the current file area. <DELETE> Delete the current file area. <PGDN> Move to the next file area. <PGUP> Move to the previous file area. <ALT><N> Jump to a specified file area. <F10> or <ESC> Exit the configure file area editor. ----------------------------------------------------------------- To configure the events, you need to press <E> at the Configure menu. Once the configure events option is selected, you will be presented with the following items: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Event Day.................... : Every Day Event Time................... : 09:01 Event File................... : EVENT1 Event Slide.................. : No Event Already Executed Today. : Yes ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is a more detailed description of each one of these configure events items: Event Day.................... : Every Day <- This is a toggle field This field sets the day the event will run. It can be toggled to run the event on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Every Day of the week. Event Time................... : 09:01 This field sets the time the event is to take place. When setting event times, you should use a 24-hour clock (00:00 to 23:59). Event File................... : EVENT1 This field specifies the name of the batch file TriBBS is supposed to run when the event takes place. The event batch file must be in the node's main directory. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 34 Event Slide.................. : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates whether or not an event is to slide. If an event can slide, the caller's time will not be adjust for an upcoming event. Therefore, any pending events will take place after the caller logs off. If an event can't slide, the caller will be automatically logged off just before the event is scheduled to take place. Event Already Executed Today. : Yes <- This is a toggle field This field indicates whether or not the event has taken place for the day. Function Key Action ----------------------------------------------------------------- <SPACE> Toggle a toggle field. <TAB> Move to the next field. <SHIFT><TAB> Move to the previous field. <F2> Add an event. <INSERT> Insert an event before the current event. <DELETE> Delete the current event. <PGDN> Move to the next event. <PGUP> Move to the previous event. <ALT><N> Jump to a specified event. <F10> or <ESC> Exit the event editor. ----------------------------------------------------------------- To see TriMan's copyright dialog box, you need to press <A> at the Configure menu. The Pack Menu ------------- When pulled down, the Pack menu will present the following two options: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Users Messages ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To pack the user file, you need to press at the Pack menu. To pack the message base, you need to press <M> at the Pack menu. Note that the TriPack program must be located in your DOS PATH to pack the message base. TriMan Odds and Ends -------------------- TriMan can be called with the following command line switches: The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 35 Switch(es) Action ----------------------------------------------------------------- /SYSTEM Runs TriMan's system editor. /NODE Runs TriMan's node editor. /USERS Runs TriMan's user editor. /CONF Runs TriMan's message conference editor. /FILE Runs TriMan's file area editor. /EVENT Runs TriMan's event editor. /UPACK Runs TriMan's user file packer and asks before packing. /UPACK /BATCH Unconditionally runs TriMan's user file packer. /MPACK Runs TriPack via TriMan. ----------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT: You should be very careful using TriMan when somebody is online. About the only safe thing you can do while somebody is online is to edit the user file. You should not attempt to do any other configuration with TriMan while anybody is on your BBS. To do so, may lead to an irreversible corruption of your board's data files! The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 36 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 37 THE WAITING FOR CALLER SCREEN ----------------------------- Other than being pretty colorful, TriBBS's Waiting for Caller screen allows the sysop to perform a great deal of board maintenance without even having to log on to the board. The Waiting for Caller screen performs these maintenance operations by calling TriMan. The Waiting for Caller screen is divided into three major parts. The Waiting for Caller Screen Menu ---------------------------------- The top portion of the screen is the Waiting for Caller menu and allows you to select one of the following 12 options: Drop to DOS Configure Node Edit Conferences Local Logon Edit Users Edit Events Configure System Edit File Areas View Callers Log Pack User File Exit TriBBS Pack Message Base As you already know from installing TriBBS, a menu option is selected by moving the double-lined border to the desired option and pressing <ENTER>. Each of these ten menu options will now be explained one at a time. Drop to DOS ----------- The "Drop to DOS" menu option will temporarily shell out to DOS and allow you to enter DOS commands. You can return to TriBBS by simply entering EXIT at the DOS command prompt. You should note that TriBBS takes the phone off the hook when the "Drop to DOS" menu option is selected and will put it back on the hook when you return from DOS. This will give any callers a BUSY signal while you are shelled out to DOS. Configure Node --------------- The"Configure Node"menu optioncalls TriMan's nodeconfiguration editor. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 38 Edit Conferences ---------------- The "Edit Conferences" menu option calls TriMan's message conference editor. Edit Users ---------- The "Edit Users" menu option calls TriMan's user editor. Edit Events ----------- The "Edit Events" menu option calls TriMan's event editor. Configure System ---------------- The "Configure System" menu option calls TriMan's system configuration editor. Edit File Areas --------------- The "Edit File Areas" menu option calls TriMan's file area editor. View Callers Log ---------------- The "View Callers Log" menu option allows you to view your board's callers log. TriBBS maintains a log of a user's activity while a caller is logged on. This file is named CALLERS.LOG and is kept in node 1's MWORK directory. By selecting the "View Callers Log" menu option, TriBBS will prompt you for a date to start viewing the log from. You can simply press <ENTER> to view the log starting at the beginning of the current day. While you are viewing the callers log, TriBBS takes the phone off the hook. The phone will be placed back on the hook as soon as you return to the Waiting for Caller screen. Pack User File -------------- The "Pack User File" menu option calls TriMan's user file packer. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 39 Exit TriBBS ----------- The "Exit TriBBS" menu option exits you from TriBBS and returns you to the DOS command prompt. Pack Message Base ----------------- The "Pack Message Base" menu option calls TriMan to pack the message base. The Modem Status Window ----------------------- The middle portion of the Waiting for Caller screen is the modem status window. The window will display the current state of the modem: initialization information and ring detection. The Statistics Display ---------------------- The bottom portion of the Waiting for Caller screen displays a variety of information about your board: the total number of calls, the number of calls for the current day, the number of messages that have been posted during the current day, the number of uploads for the current day, the number of downloads for the current day, and the node number. Screen Blanking --------------- After a short period of time, TriBBS will blank the screen and bounce a "TriBBS Ready For Caller" message around the screen. This is done to prevent your screen from being burned by the Waiting for Caller screen. The Waiting for Caller screen is redisplayed by pressing any key. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 40 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 41 DISPLAY SCREENS --------------- TriBBS allows you to use a number of optional display screens to customize your board. These screens can be either ANSI color screens or monochrome screens. TriBBS requires you to use an extension of ANS for ANSI color screens and BBS for monochrome screens. All display screens are stored in the DISPLAY subdirectory. If you have the node configured to use its own DISPLAY directory, TriBBS will look for the display screens there. Otherwise, TriBBS will look for the display screens in node 1's DISPLAY directory. If the caller has selected ANSI color graphics or TriBBS has autodetected ANSI color graphics, TriBBS will always search the DISPLAY subdirectory for ANS screens. If TriBBS can't find an ANS screen or the caller doesn't have ANSI color graphics selected, TriBBS will search the DISPLAY subdirectory for an appropriate monochrome screen. If TriBBS can't find either type of display screen, TriBBS will either display nothing if it's a simple display screen or TriBBS will generate and display a menu on the fly if an appropriate menu screen isn't found. @-Variables ----------- TriBBS supports the following @-variables in display screens to perform a wide variety of actions: @-variable Action Taken ---------------------------------------------------------------------- @ALIAS@ Displays the caller's alias. @BAUDRATE@ Displays the caller's baud rate. @BEEP@ Sends a BELL (07H). @BOARDNAME@ Displays the board's name. @BREAKOFF@ Makes the screen unbreakable. @BREAKON@ Makes the screen breakable. @BYTERATIO@ Displays the caller's byte ratio. @CALLS@ Displays the caller's number of calls. @CALLSTODAY@ Displays the caller's number of calls for today. @CITY@ Displays the caller's city and state. @CLS@ Clears the screen. @DOWNLOADS@ Displays the caller's number of downloads. @DOWNLOADSTODAY@ Displays the number of downloads for today. @FILERATIO@ Displays the caller's file ratio. @FIRST@ Displays the caller's first name. @HANGUP@ Hangs up on the caller. @KDOWNLOADED@ Displays the number of K bytes the caller has downloaded. @KUPLOADED@ Displays the number of K bytes the caller has uploaded. @LASTDATEON@ Displays the caller's last date on. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 42 @LASTTIMEON@ Displays the caller's last time on. @MESSAGES@ Displays the number of messages the caller has posted. @MESSAGESTODAY@ Displays the number of messages posted today. @MORE@ Displays a "more" prompt. @MOREOFF@ Disables the "more" prompt. @MOREON@ Enables the "more" prompt. @NODE@ Displays the node number. @ORIGINAL@ Displays the date of the caller's original log on. @PAUSE@ Prompts the caller the press a key. @PHONE@ Displays the caller's phone number. @SECBYTERATIO@ Displays the security level's byte ratio. If the caller's security level doesn't have a byte ratio, TriBBS will display "No Ratio!". @SECFILERATIO@ Displays the security level's file ratio. If the caller's security level doesn't have a file ratio, TriBBS will display "No Ratio!". @SECURITY@ Displays the caller's security level. @SYSTEMCALLS@ Displays the board's number of calls. @SYSTEMCALLSTODAY@ Displays the board's number of calls for today. @SYSTEMDATE@ Displays the date. @SYSTEMTIME@ Displays the time. @SUBSCRIPTIONDATE@ Displays the date the caller's subscription expires. @TIMELEFT@ Displays the number of minutes the caller has left for this call. @TIMEON@ Displays the number of minutes the caller has been on for this call. @TIMETHISCALL@ Displays the total number of minutes the caller has for this call. @TOTALNODES@ Displays the board's number of nodes. @UPLOADS@ Displays the caller's number of uploads. @UPLOADSTODAY@ Displays the number of uploads for today. @USER@ Displays the caller's full name. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You should note that case is significant for the @-variables. TriBBS will simply ignore @hangup@ in a display screen, but will hangup the phone if it encounters @HANGUP@ in a display screen. Control Codes ------------- Versions of TriBBS prior to 3.3 allowed control codes to be placed in display screens to display information similar to the way @-variables work. Control codes are no longer supported by TriBBS. Display screens that use control codes can be converted to @-variables with the utility CCTOAT.EXE as follows: The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 43 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CCTOAT filename Where: filename is the name of the display screen to be converted. For example, CCTOAT LOGON1 would convert the display screens LOGON1.BBS and LOGON1.ANS. IMPORTANT NOTE: If you do not specify a file name, CCTOAT will convert all of the display screens found in the directory. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Log On and Goodbye Screens -------------------------- TriBBS supports up to nine log on screens and one goodbye screen. The filename for a log on screen is LOGONn.ANS or LOGONn.BBS. Where "n" is a number from 1 to 9. After a caller answers the ANSI color graphics prompt, TriBBS will display either LOGON1.ANS or LOGON1.BBS. After the caller has entered his name and password, TriBBS will display the screens LOGON2 to LOGON9. At log off and before TriBBS disconnects the caller, TriBBS will display either GOODBYE.ANS or GOODBYE.BBS. Security Specific Log On Screens -------------------------------- TriBBS supports security specific log on screens. The filename for a security specific log on screen is either nSEC.ANS or nSEC.BBS. Where "n" is the security level for the log on screen. Security specific log on screens are displayed after TriBBS displays the normal log on screens. Newsletter Log On Screen ------------------------ TriBBS supports a newsletter log on screen. The filename for a newsletter log on screen is either BBSNEWS.ANS or BBSNEWS.BBS. A newsletter log on screen is displayed to the caller after TriBBS displays any security specific log on screens. A newsletter log on screen is only displayed if it has been updated since the user's last call. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 44 User Specific Log On Screens ---------------------------- TriBBS supports user specific log on screens. The filename for a user specific log on screen is either n.ANS or n.BBS. Where "n" is the caller's user number. User specific log on screens are displayed after TriBBS displays any newsletter log on screen. Once a user specific log on screen has been displayed to the appropriate caller, TriBBS automatically deletes the screen. User specific screens are unique in the fact that they are always stored in node 1's DISPLAY directory. New User Screen --------------- After a new user enters his name and indicates that he is a new user, TriBBS will display a special new user screen named either NEWUSER.ANS or NEWUSER.BBS. Bulletin Menu and Bulletins --------------------------- Normally, TriBBS will generate a Bulletin Menu on the fly; however, you may use a custom Bulletin Menu by naming the display files BULLETIN.ANS and BULLETIN.BBS. You can have from 1 to 99 bulletins by naming them as BULLETn.ANS and BULLETn.BBS. Where "n" is a number from 1 to 99. Main Menu --------- Normally, TriBBS will generate a Main Menu for the caller's security level on the fly; however, you may use custom Main Menus by naming the display files MAINn.ANS and MAINn.BBS. Where "n" is the menu's security level. You may also have custom Main Menu display screens called MAINALL.ANS and MAINALL.BBS. These custom screens will be displayed if none of your MAINn.ANS or MAINn.BBS screens match the caller's security level. Message Menu ------------ Normally, TriBBS will generate a Message Menu for the caller's security level on the fly; however, you may use custom Message Menus by naming the display files MESSn.ANS and MESSn.BBS. Where "n" is the menu's security level. You may also have custom Message Menu display screens called MESSALL.ANS and MESSALL.BBS. These custom screens will The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 45 be displayed if none of your MESSn.ANS or MESSn.BBS screens match the caller's security level. File Menu --------- Normally, TriBBS will generate a File Menu for the caller's security level on the fly; however, you may use custom File Menus by naming the display files FILEn.ANS and FILEn.BBS. Where "n" is the menu's security level. You may also have custom File Menu display screens called FILEALL.ANS and FILEALL.BBS. These custom screens will be displayed if none of your FILEn.ANS or FILEn.BBS screens match the caller's security level. Upload Screens -------------- TriBBS supports an optional upload display screen. This display screen, if present, is displayed after the caller selects the File Menu's Upload option. The file names for the optional upload screens are UPn.ANS and UPn.BBS. Where "n" is the display screen's security level. You may also have custom upload display screens named UPALL.ANS and UPALL.BBS. These custom screens will be displayed if none of your UPn.ANS or UPn.BBS screens match the caller's security level. Download Screens ---------------- TriBBS supports an optional download display screen. This display screen, if present, is displayed after the caller selects the File Menu's Download option. The file names for the optional download screens are DOWNn.ANS and DOWNn.BBS. Where "n" is the display screen's security level. You may also have custom download display screens named DOWNALL.ANS and DOWNALL.BBS. These custom screens will be displayed if none of your DOWNn.ANS or DOWNn.BBS screens match the caller's security level. Door Menu --------- Normally, TriBBS will generate a Door Menu for the caller's security level on the fly; however, you may use custom Door Menus by naming the display files DOORn.ANS and DOORn.BBS. Where "n" is the menu's security level. You may also have a custom Door Menu display screens called DOORALL.ANS and DOORALL.BBS. These custom screens will be displayed if none of your DOORn.ANS or DOORn.BBS screens match the caller's security level. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 46 Door Bulletin Menu and Door Bulletins ------------------------------------- Normally, TriBBS will generate a Door Bulletin Menu on the fly; however, you may use a custom Door Bulletin Menu by naming the display files DOORBULL.ANS and DOORBULL.BBS. You can have from 1 to 99 door bulletins by naming them as DRBULLn.ANS and DRBULLn.BBS. Where "n" is a number from 1 to 99. Questionnaire Menu ----------------- Normally, TriBBS will generate a Questionnaire Menu for the caller's security level on the fly; however, you may use a custom Questionnaire Menu by naming the display files QUESTn.ANS and QUESTn.BBS. Where "n" is the menu's security level. You may also have custom Questionnaire Menu display screens called QUESTALL.ANS or QUESTALL.BBS. These custom screens will be displayed if none of your QUESTn.ANS or QUESTn.BBS screens match the caller's security level. Sysop Menu ---------- Normally, TriBBS will generate a Sysop Menu for the caller's security level on the fly; however, you may use custom Sysop Menus by naming the display files SYSOPn.ANS and SYSOPn.BBS. Where "n" is the menu's security level. You may also have custom Sysop Menu display screens called SYSOPALL.ANS and SYSOPALL.BBS. These custom screens will be displayed if none of your SYSOPn.ANS or SYSOPn.BBS screens match the caller's security level. List of Conferences ------------------- TriBBS supports an optional custom list of conferences that will be displayed whenever a caller wants to change the message conference he is in. The file names for the custom conference listings are MSGn.ANS and MSGn.BBS. Where "n" is the display screen's security level. You may also have a custom list of conference names called MSGALL.ANS and MSGALL.BBS. These custom screens will be displayed if none of your MSGn.ANS or MSGn.BBS display screens match the caller's security level. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 47 List of File Areas ------------------ TriBBS supports an optional custom list of file areas that will be displayed whenever a caller wants to change the file area he is in. The file names for the custom file area listings are DIRSn.ANS and DIRSn.BBS. Where "n" is the display screen's security level. You may also have a custom list of file areas called DIRSALL.ANS and DIRSALL.BBS These custom screens will be displayed if none of your DIRSn.ANS or DIRSn.BBS display screens match the caller's security level. Chat Screens ------------ TriBBS supports four optional chat related display screens: SORRY.ANS/SORRY.BBS will be displayed if the sysop isn't available for chat, USERCHAT.ANS/USERCHAT.BBS will be displayed if the chat is initiated at the user's request, SYSCHAT.ANS/SYSCHAT.BBS will be displayed if the chat is initiated by the sysop, and NOTTHERE.ANS/NOTTHERE.BBS will be displayed if the caller requests a chat and the sysop doesn't answer. Log On Related Screens ---------------------- TriBBS supports ten optional log on related display screens: LOCKOUT.ANS/LOCKOUT.BBS will be displayed if the caller has been locked out, DELETED.ANS/DELETED.BBS will be displayed if the caller's user record has been marked for deletion, TOOLOW.ANS/TOOLOW.BBS will be displayed if the caller's security level is too low for the node, NONEW.ANS/NONEW.BBS will be displayed if the new user's security level is less than the node's security level, TOOMANY.ANS/TOOMANY.BBS will be displayed if the caller has exceeded his number of daily calls, PENDING.ANS and PENDING.BBS will be displayed if the caller's time has been adjusted due to a pending event, FRONTEND.ANS/FRONTEND.BBS will be displayed if the caller's time has been adjusted due to a frontend program, PASSWORD.ANS/PASSWORD.BBS will be displayed for a new user just before his password is requested, and ALIAS.ANS/ALIAS.BBS will be displayed for a new user just before his alias is requested. Comment Screen -------------- Whenever a caller chooses to leave a comment for the sysop, TriBBS will display an optional COMMENT.ANS/COMMENT.BBS display screen. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 48 <F8> Logoff Screen ------------------ Whenever the sysop presses the <F8> key, TriBBS will display either NUKE.ANS or NUKE.BBS and log the caller off the system. Full-Screen Editor Help Screen ------------------------------ Whenever the caller selects the full-screen editor's help screen, TriBBS will display either FSCREEN.ANS or FSCREEN.BBS. You should note that a FSCREEN.BBS display screen is supplied in the TriBBS archive, but you can of course create your own full-screen editor help screens. TeleChat Help Screen -------------------- Whenever the caller selects the TeleChat menu's help function, TriBBS will display either TCHAT.ANS or TCHAT.BBS. You should note that a TCHAT.BBS display screen is supplied in the TriBBS archive, but you can of course create your own TeleChat help screens. File/Byte Ratio Screens ----------------------- Whenever the caller's security level has been lowered by TriBBS's optional file/byte ratio checking, TriBBS will display the optional screens LOWER.ANS and LOWER.BBS. If the LOWER.ANS/LOWER.BBS screens aren't available TriBBS will display an appropriate message. Whenever the caller's security level has been lowered by TriBBS's optional file/byte ratio checking, TriBBS will display the optional screens RAISE.ANS and RAISE.BBS. If the RAISE.ANS/RAISE.BBS screens aren't available TriBBS will display an appropriate message. Whenever the caller's file/byte ratio no longer permits him to download files, TriBBS will display the optional screens NODOWN.ANS and NODOWN.BBS. If the NODOWN.ANS/NODOWN.BBS screens aren't available TriBBS will display an appropriate message. Subscription Screens -------------------- Whenever the caller's subscription has expired, TriBBs will display the optional screens EXPIRED.ANS and EXPIRED.BBS. If the EXPIRED.ANS/EXPIRED.BBS screens aren't available, TriBBS will display an appropriate message. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 49 Making Your Own Display Screens ------------------------------- To make your own custom display screens, you'll need a good ANSI screen editor. Perhaps one of the best is a shareware product called TheDraw (available for download on The Lobster Buoy). The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 50 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 51 THE TRIBBS MENU SYSTEM ---------------------- The heart of TriBBS and what makes it so easy to set up and maintain is its powerful menu system. The TriBBS menu system is comprised of eight menus: the Bulletin Menu, the Main Menu, the Message Menu, the File Menu, the Door Menu, the Door Bulletin Menu, the Questionnaire Menu, and the Sysop Menu. As you already know, TriBBS allows you to use your own security level specific menus; however, TriBBS can generate any of its eight menus from the information contained in its eight menu configuration files. These configuration files have an extension of .MNU and are located in each node's NWORK subdirectory. The Bulletin Menu Configuration File ------------------------------------ The Bulletin Menu file has a name of BULLETIN.MNU. As with all TriBBS menu configuration files, BULLETIN.MNU is a text file and can be edited with any text editor. The format for BULLETIN.MNU is as follows: The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 52 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- border background,border foreground,background,foreground description,security level . . . description,security level Where: border background is the border background color for an ANSI color menu. border foreground is the border foreground color for an ANSI color menu. background is the background color for an ANSI color menu. foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI color menu. description is one or more descriptions of the bulletins. These should be in the order of your bulletins. For example, the first description should be for BULLET1.ANS and BULLET1.BBS, the second description should be for BULLET2.ANS and BULLET2.BBS, etc. security level is the caller's minimum security level to be able to view the bulletin. In order to provide compatibility with previous versions of TriBBS, this is an optional value. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is a sample BULLETIN.MNU file: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 7,0,4,15 Rules of the BBS TriBBS 4.0 History,15 List of Registered Systems ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Note how the second bulletin, "TriBBS 4.0 History", specifies a minimum security level of 15 to be able to read the bulletin. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 53 The Main Menu Configuration File -------------------------------- The Main Menu configuration file has a name of MAIN.MNU. As with all other TriBBS menu configuration files, MAIN.MNU is a text file and can be edited with any text editor. The format for MAIN.MNU is as follows: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- border background,border foreground,background,foreground B,Bulletin Menu,security level M,Message Menu,security level F,File Menu,security level D,Door Menu,security level T,TeleChat Menu,security level Q,Questionnaire Menu,security level S,Sysop Menu,security level C,Comment to Sysop,security level A,Toggle ANSI Graphics Mode,security level N,Newsletter,security level Y,Your Personal Information,security level I,System Information,security level U,List of Users,security level W,Who's On,security level X,Expert Mode,security level P,Page Sysop,security level G,Goodbye,security level Where: border background is the border background color for an ANSI color menu. border foreground is the border foreground color for an ANSI color menu. background is the background color for an ANSI color menu. foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI color menu. security level is the minimum security level for this command. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You should note that the order of the Main Menu items and their descriptions can be changed. However, the color codes must be in the configuration file's first line and each of the menu item hotkeys (the The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 54 character in the first column) must remain the same. The following is a sample Main Menu configuration file: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 6,0,1,15 B,Bulletin Menu,10 M,Message Menu,10 F,File Menu,10 D,Door Menu,999 T,TeleChat Menu,999 Q,Questionnaire Menu,999 S,Sysop Menu,100 C,Comment to Sysop,10 A,Toggle ANSI Graphics Mode,10 N,Newsletter,10 Y,Your Personal Information,10 I,System Information,10 U,List of Users,10 W,Who's On,999 X,Expert Mode,10 P,Page Sysop,10 G,Goodbye,0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The following are descriptions of the 16 Main Menu items: B,Bulletin Menu,security level By pressing at the Main Menu, TriBBS will branch to the Bulletin Menu. M,Message Menu,security level By pressing <M> at the Main Menu, TriBBS will branch to the Message Menu. F,File Menu,security level By pressing <F> at the Main Menu, TriBBS will branch to the File Menu. D,Door Menu,security level By pressing <D> at the Main Menu, TriBBS will branch to the Door Menu. If your board doesn't have any doors, you should set the security level for this option higher than anybody's security level. T,TeleChat Menu,security level By pressing <T> at the Main Menu, TriBBS will branch to the TeleChat Menu. If you are running a single line BBS, you will should disable this option by setting its security level higher than any of the board's users. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 55 Q,Questionnaire Menu,security level By pressing <Q> at the Main Menu, TriBBS will branch to the Questionnaire Menu. If your board doesn't have any questionnaires, you should set the security level for this option higher than anybody's security level. S,Sysop Menu,security level By pressing <S> at the Main Menu, TriBBS will branch to the Sysop Menu. IMPORTANT: The security level for this option should be set for at least your minimum sysop security level. C,Comment to Sysop,security level By pressing <C> at the Main Menu, TriBBS will let the caller send a private message to the sysop. The message will be saved in the board's first message conference. A,Toggle ANSI Graphics Mode,security level By pressing <A> at the Main Menu, TriBBS will toggle ANSI color graphics on and off. N,Newsletter,security level By pressing <N> at the Main Menu, TriBBS will display the board's newsletter, if any. Y,Your Personal Information,security level By pressing <Y> at the Main Menu, TriBBS will let the caller display and edit some of his information. TriBBS will display the following menu to the caller: ----------------------------------------------------------------- Name............: Mark Goodwin Address.........: Bangor, Me Alias...........: Programmer Phone...........: 207-941-0805 Birth.........: 10/19/56 First Call......: 01/01/90 Last Call.....: 02/23/93 14:40 Uploads.........: 11 Downloads.....: 0 K Uploaded......: 2080 K Downloaded..: 31 Messages........: 30 Editor........: None Times On........: 432 Security Level: 100 Password........: Install Protocol......: None Waiting Messages: Don't Check Subscription..: None Chat............: Available <A>ddress, A<l>ias, assword, Phone <N>umber, <D>efault Protocol, <E>ditor, Una<v>ailable for Chat, Check for <W>aiting Messages, <Q>uit: ----------------------------------------------------------------- The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 56 As you can see from this sample display, the "Your Personal Information" menu features the following 8 options: <A>ddress Pressing <A> prompts the caller for his new city/state. A<l>ias Pressing <L> prompts the caller for his new alias. assword Pressing prompts the caller for his new password. Phone <N>umber Pressing <N> prompts the caller for his new phone number. <D>efault Protocol Pressing <D> prompts the caller to select a new default protocol. <E>ditor Pressing <E> prompts the caller to select a new default editor. A<v>ailable, Una<v>ailable Pressing <V> toggles the caller's multinode chat status. By default, all caller's multinode chat status is set to "available". However, the caller can optionally set his chat status to "unavailable" if he doesn't want to be interrupted by multinode chat pages. Check for <W>aiting Messages, Don't Check for <W>aiting Messages Pressing <W> toggles the caller's waiting message check status. By default, TriBBS checks for the caller's waiting messages at logon. However, the caller can optionally set is waiting message status so that TriBBS will not check for waiting messages at logon. <Q>uit Pressing <Q> returns the caller to the Main Menu. I,System Information,security level By pressing at the Main Menu, TriBBS will display a number of the board's statistics. U,List of Users,security level The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 57 By pressing at the Main Menu, TriBBS will display a list of the board's users. W,Who's On,security level By pressing <W> at the Main Menu, TriBBS will display a list of who's on all of the board's nodes. If you are running a single line BBS, you will probably want to disable this option by setting its security level higher than any of the board's users. X,Expert Mode,security level Pressing <X> will toggle the caller's expert mode flag. If the caller's expert mode flag is set for "Expert", TriBBS will not display the menus for the caller. If the caller's expert mode flag is set for "Super Expert", TriBBS will not display the menus for the caller and will use abbreviated menu prompts. Otherwise, TriBBS will display the menus to the caller. P,Page Sysop,security level Pressing will page the sysop. As soon as the caller pages the sysop, TriBBS will display a blinking asterisk in the user status window's upper right corner. This blinking asterisk will continue to be displayed until either the sysop answers the page or the caller logs off. G,Goodbye,security level Pressing <G> will log the caller off the board. The Message Menu Configuration File ----------------------------------- The Message Menu configuration file has a name of MESSAGE.MNU. As with all other TriBBS menu configuration files, MESSAGE.MNU is a text file and can be edited with any text editor. The format for MESSAGE.MNU is as follows: The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 58 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- border background,border foreground,background,foreground C,Change Conference,security level E,Enter a Message,security level R,Read Messages,security level N,New Messages,security level Y,Your Messages,security level S,Set Conference Queue,security level M,Main Menu,security level X,Expert Mode,security level P,Page Sysop,security level G,Goodbye,security level Where: border background is the border background color for an ANSI color menu. border foreground is the border foreground color for an ANSI color menu. background is the background color for an ANSI color menu. foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI color menu. security level is the minimum security level for this command. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You should note that the order of the Message Menu items and their descriptions can be changed. However, the color codes must be in the configuration file's first line and each of the menu item hotkeys (the characters in the first column) must remain the same. The following is a sample Message Menu configuration file: The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 59 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 7,0,2,15 C,Change Conference,10 E,Enter a Message,10 R,Read Messages,10 N,New Messages,10 Y,Your Messages,10 S,Set Conference Queue,10 M,Main Menu,0 X,Expert Mode,10 P,Page Sysop,0 G,Goodbye,0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The following are descriptions of the 10 Message Menu items: C,Change Conference,security level Pressing <C> will let the caller change his current message conference. After displaying a list of the conferences that are available to the caller, TriBBS will prompt him for the new conference. E,Enter a Message,security level Pressing <E> will let the caller enter a message in the current message conference. TriBBS will prompt the caller for the name to address the message to. If the current conference isn't a net mail conference, TriBBS will check to see if the addressee is a user of the board. Messages addressed to Sysop will be changed to your name. If the message is addressed to an individual, TriBBS will ask if the message should be flagged as PUBLIC. TriBBS will then prompt for the message subject. If the conference is a net mail conference, TriBBS will ask the caller if he wants the message ECHOed. If the conference is a Fido-style netmail conference, TriBBS will ask the caller for the recipient's network address. From there, TriBBS will let the caller enter his message using the TriBBS line editor or full screen editor. If the caller is using the line editor, the editor's menu can be displayed by pressing <ENTER> on a blank line. The following are the options the line editor menu offers: <S>ave Pressing <S> will save the message. <A>bort Pressing <A> will abort the message. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 60 <C>ontinue Pressing <C> will start the line editor again where the message left off. <L>ist Pressing <L> will list the message. <D>elete Line Pressing <D> will prompt the caller for the number of the line he wants deleted. nsert Line Pressing will prompt the caller for the number of the line he wants a blank line inserted before. <E>dit Line Pressing <E> will prompt the caller for the number of the line he would like to edit. <R>eplace Text: Pressing <R> will prompt the caller for the number of the line he would like to search and replace text in. After selecting the desired line, TriBBS will prompt the caller to enter the search and replace strings. These strings are entered on the same line with a semicolon separating the two strings. TriBBS will then search the line for occurrences of the search string. If the search string is found, it will be replaced by the replace string. <Q>uote Pressing <Q> will allow the caller to quote from a message he is replying to. TriBBS will display the original message and then prompt the call for the first and last lines to be quoted. (This menu option is only available if the caller is replying to another message.) pload Pressing will prompt the caller for the name of a file to be uploaded and added to the message's text. Note that during a local logon, you can specify any file name to be used for the "uploaded" file. If the caller is using the full screen editor, the editor's menu can be displayed by pressing <ESC>. The following are the options the full screen editor menu offers: <S>ave Pressing <S> will save the message. <A>bort The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 61 Pressing <A> will abort the message. <C>ontinue Pressing <C> will return the caller to the full screen editor. pload Pressing will prompt the caller for the name of a file to be uploaded and added to the message's text. Note that during a local logon, you can specify any file name to be used for the "uploaded" file. <H>elp Pressing <H> will display a help screen that describes what control keys the full screen editor offers. While editing a message using the full screen editor, the caller can use anyone of the following control keys: Control Key IBM Key Function <CTRL><A> <LEFT ARROW> Move left 1 character <CTRL><D> <RIGHT ARROW> Move right 1 character <CTRL><E> <UP ARROW> Move up 1 line <CTRL><X> <DOWN ARROW> Move down 1 line <CTRL> <TAB> Move cursor to next tab zone <CTRL> <END> Move to end of line <CTRL><W> <HOME> Move to beginning of line <CTRL><R> <PG UP> Move up a page <CTRL><C> <PG DN> Move down a page <CTRL><G> <DELETE> Delete character under cursor <CTRL><H> <BACKSPACE> Delete character to left of cursor <CTRL><Y> Delete current line <CTRL> Reformat paragraph <CTRL><L> Redraw screen <CTRL><O> Quote message <CTRL><V> <INSERT> Toggle insert/overtype mode IMPORTANT: The "IBM Keys" are only available to remote callers if their communications program supports ANSI keyboard emulation. R,Read Messages,security level Pressing <R> allows the caller to read messages. TriBBS will prompt the caller if he wants to read messages in just the current conference, all conferences, the caller's queued conferences, or quit to the Message Menu. For each message conference, TriBBS allows the caller to enter the number of the first message to be read, only read new messages, or quit to the Message Menu. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 62 While reading messages, the caller will be presented with the following options: <R>eply Pressing <R> will allow the caller to enter a reply to the message. If the message is PUBLIC, TriBBS will give the caller the option of making the reply PRIVATE. Read Relies Pressing will allow the caller to read a message's replies. After reading all of the replies, TriBBS will return to the original message. (This option is only available if the message has replies.) <N>umber Pressing <N> prompts the caller to enter the number of the message to be read next. <D>elete Pressing <D> will allow the caller to delete the message. (This option is only available if the caller has at least a minimum sysop security level or the conference allows user deletion and the message is either from or to the caller.) ndelete Pressing will allow the caller to undelete a previously deleted message. (This option is only available if the caller has at least a minimum sysop security level.) Pulic Pressing will make a PRIVATE message PUBLIC. (This option is only available if the caller has at least a minimum sysop security level and the message is PRIVATE.) Pri<v>ate Pressing <V> will make a PUBLIC message PRIVATE. (This option is only available if the caller has at least a minimum sysop security level and the message is PUBLIC.) Ech<o>, Unech<o> Pressing <O> will toggle a message's status between echoed and not echoed. (This option is only available if the caller has at least a minimum sysop security level and the message conference is a networked conference.) Permanen<t>, <T>ransient The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 63 Pressing <T> will toggle a message's status between permanent or transient. By default, all messages are transient. If a message is marked as permanent, the TriPack message base packing utility will not delete the message. (This option is only available if the caller has at least a minimum sysop security level.) <M>ove Pressing <M> will allow the caller to move a message to another message conference. TriBBS will prompt the caller to enter the number of the message's new conference. (This option is only available if the caller has at least a minimum sysop security level.) <C>opy Pressing <C> will allow the caller to copy a message to another message conference. TriBBS will prompt the caller to enter the number of the message's new conference. (This option is only available if the caller has at least a minimum sysop security level.) <S>ave Pressing <S> will allow the caller to save the message to a disk file. TriBBS will prompt the caller for the name of the file to save the message to. If the file already exists, TriBBS will append the message to the end of the file. If the file doesn't exist, TriBBS will create the file. (This option is only available if the caller has at least a minimum sysop security level.) <E>dit Pressing <E> allows the caller to edit the message's contents. You should note that the original message is deleted and the new message is added to the end of the message conference. (This option is only available if the caller has at least a minimum sysop security level.) <-> Prev Pressing <-> will move back to the previously displayed message. <+/ENTER> Next Message Pressing <+> or <ENTER> moves on to the next message. <Q>uit Pressing <Q> will allow the caller to quit reading messages in this message conference. N,New Messages,security level The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 64 Pressing <N> allows the caller to read new messages. TriBBS maintains pointers in each message conference of the highest message number the caller has read. TriBBS will prompt the caller if he wants to read messages in just the current conference, all conferences, the caller's queued conferences, or quit to the Message Menu. For each message conference, TriBBS allows the caller to read the conference's new messages, skip the conference, or quit to the Message Menu. While reading messages, the caller will be presented with the same options as TriBBS uses with the "Read Messages" menu option. Y,Your Messages,security level Pressing <Y> allows the caller to read his messages. TriBBS will prompt the caller if he wants to read his messages in just the current conference, all conferences, the caller's queued conferences, or quit to the Message menu. For each message conference, TriBBS allows the caller to read the message to him in the conference or quit to the Message Menu. While reading messages, the caller will be presented with the same options as TriBBS uses with the "Read Messages" and "New Messages" menu options. S,Set Conference Queue,security level Pressing <S> allows the caller to set a conference queue. A conference queue allows the caller to select whether or not a conference will be read while reading messages in queued conferences. TriBBS will display a menu with the following three options: <L>ist Your Queue Entering <L> presents a list of the conferences that are available to the user and indicates whether or not they are queued conferences. <####> Conference to Toggle Entering a conference's number toggle's its queued status. <ENTER> to Quit Simply pressing <ENTER> returns the caller to the Message Menu. M,Main Menu,security level Pressing <M> returns the caller to the Main Menu. X,Expert Mode,security level The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 65 Pressing <X> will toggle the caller's expert mode flag. If the caller's expert mode flag is set for "Expert", TriBBS will not display the menus for the caller. If the caller's expert mode flag is set for "Super Expert", TriBBS will not display the menus for the caller and will use abbreviated menu prompts. Otherwise, TriBBS will display the menus to the caller. P,Page Sysop,security level Pressing will page the sysop. As soon as the caller pages the sysop, TriBBS will display a blinking asterisk in the user status window's upper right corner. This blinking asterisk will continue to be displayed until either the sysop answers the page or the caller logs off. G,Goodbye,security level Pressing <G> will log the caller off the board. The File Menu Configuration File -------------------------------- The File Menu configuration file has a name of FILES.MNU. As with all other TriBBS menu configuration files, FILES.MNU is a text file and can be edited with any text editor. The format for FILES.MNU is as follows: --------------------------------------------------------------------- border background,border foreground,background,foreground C,Change File Area,security level L,List Files,security level N,New Files,security level T,Text Search File Lists,security level U,Upload File,security level D,Download File,security level V,View Archive,security level R,Remove File,security level O,Move File,security level M,Main Menu,security level X,Expert Mode,security level P,Page Sysop,security level G,Goodbye,security level Where: border background is the border background color for an ANSI color menu. border foreground is the border foreground color for an ANSI color menu. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 66 background is the background color for an ANSI color menu. foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI color menu. security level is the minimum security level for this command. --------------------------------------------------------------------- You should note that the order of the File Menu items and their descriptions can be changed. However, the color codes must be in the configuration file's first line and each of the menu item hotkeys (the character in the first column) must remain the same. The following is a sample File Menu configuration file: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 7,0,5,15 C,Change File Area,10 L,List Files,10 N,New Files,10 T,Text Search File Lists,10 U,Upload File,10 D,Download File,10 V,View Archive,10 R,Remove File,100 O,Move File,100 M,Main Menu,10 X,Expert Mode,10 P,Page Sysop,10 G,Goodbye,10 --------------------------------------------------------------------- The following are descriptions of the 13 File Menu items: C,Change File Area,security level Pressing <C> will let the caller change his current file area. After displaying a list of the file areas that are available to the caller, TriBBS will prompt him for the new file area. L,List Files,security level Pressing <L> will let the caller view the board's file lists. TriBBS will prompt the caller to enter a file mask. This file mask uses the same format as the DOS DIR command. After entering an appropriate file mask, TriBBS will ask the caller if he wants to view the file lists for his current file area or all file areas. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 67 N,New Files,security level Pressing <N> will let the caller view the board's new files. TriBBS will prompt the caller to enter a date to begin the search with. If the caller simply presses <ENTER>, TriBBS will use the date of the caller's last new file search. TriBBS will then ask the caller if he wants to see the new files for his current file area or all file areas. T,Text Search File Lists,security level Pressing <T> will let the caller search for a text string in the board's file lists. TriBBS will prompt the caller to enter the string to be searched for. After entering an appropriate search string, TriBBS will ask the caller if he wants to search the file lists for his current file area or all file areas. U,Upload File,security level Pressing will let the caller upload a file. TriBBS will prompt the caller for the filenames and descriptions for the files to be uploaded. If a blank description is entered for a file, TriBBS will attempt to extract and use either a FILE_ID.DIZ or DESC.SDI description file for the file's description. In order for TriBBS to be able to find and extract a description file, the proper decompression utility must be in the DOS PATH. If the call is a remote call, TriBBS will ask the caller to select an appropriate protocol. If the call is a local call, the appropriate files must be in the file area's file path. D,Download File,security level Pressing <D> will let the caller download one or more files. TriBBS will prompt the caller for the names of the files to be downloaded. After entering a blank line, TriBBS will ask the caller to select an appropriate protocol if the caller hasn't selected a default protocol. You should note that this menu option is not available to local calls. If the caller is using a bidirectional protocol, it is possible to upload a file while downloading a file. After each download, TriBBS will check the TRANSFER directory to see if any files were uploaded during the download. If a file (or files) is found and it isn't already in one of the board's file area, TriBBS will prompt the caller to enter a description. V,View Archive,security level Pressing <V> will let the caller view the contents of an archive. TriBBS will first uncompress the archive and then display a complete listing of the archive's contents. The caller is then given the option of either relisting the archive's contents, displaying one of the archive's files, compressing and downloading one or more individual members The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 68 of the archive, or returning to the Files Menu. In order for this option to work properly you must have the following compression utilities in you PATH: Archive Type Utility ------------------------------------------------------------ ZIP PKZIP.EXE and PKUNZIP.EXE ARJ ARJ.EXE LZH LHA.EXE PAK, SDN, or ARC PAK.EXE ----------------------------------------------------------- R,Remove File,security level Pressing <R> will let the caller remove a file from the board's file lists and file areas. TriBBS will prompt the caller for the file's name. If the file is found, TriBBS will double check to be sure if the caller really wants to delete the file. IMPORTANT: The security level for this option should be set for at least your minimum sysop security level. O,Move File,security level Pressing <O> will let the caller move a file from its present file area to another file area. TriBBS will prompt the caller for the file's name and its new file area. IMPORTANT: The security level for this option should be set for at least your minimum sysop security level. M,Main Menu,security level Pressing <M> returns the caller to the Main Menu. X,Expert Mode,security level Pressing <X> will toggle the caller's expert mode flag. If the caller's expert mode flag is set for "Expert", TriBBS will not display the menus for the caller. If the caller's expert mode flag is set for "Super Expert", TriBBS will not display the menus for the caller and will use abbreviated menu prompts. Otherwise, TriBBS will display the menus to the caller. P,Page Sysop,security level Pressing will page the sysop. As soon as the caller pages the sysop, TriBBS will display a blinking asterisk in the user status window's upper right corner. This blinking asterisk will continue to be displayed until either the sysop answers the page or the caller logs off. G,Goodbye,security level Pressing <G> will log the caller off the board. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 69 The Door Menu Configuration File -------------------------------- The Door Menu configuration file has a name of DOORS.MNU. You should note that this is an optional menu configuration file and is only necessary if your board has doors available. As with all other TriBBS menu configuration files, DOORS.MNU is a text file and can be edited with any text editor. The format for DOORS.MNU is as follows: --------------------------------------------------------------------- border background,border foreground,background,foreground door type,description,batch file,security level . . . door type,description,batch file,security level Where: border background is the border background color for an ANSI color menu. border foreground is the border foreground color for an ANSI color menu. background is the background color for an ANSI color menu. foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI color menu. door type is the type of door data files TriBBS is to generate for this door. The door type can be any one of the following characters: D - Generates DOOR.SYS for GAP, etc. type doors. P - Generates PCBOARD.DAT, PCBOARD.SYS, and USERS for PCBoard 14.x doors. R - Generates DORINFO#.DEF for RBBS doors. S - Generates SFDOORS.DAT for Spitfire doors. T - Generates TRIBBS.SYS for TriBBS doors. W - Generates CALLINFO.BBS for WildCat doors. U - Generates UTIDOOR.TXT for UTI doors such as MegaMail. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 70 Note that a door type is required. There are a few doors that don't require a door data file to be run. If you wish to use such a door, you can simply specify any one of the above characters. A "U" door type creates the smallest files. Therefore, it is preferable to the others. description is a description for the door. batch file is the door's batch file. With TriBBS, all doors are run with a batch file and must be loaded in your node's main directory. This batch file is similar to an event batch file. An extension of BAT is not required for a door batch file. However, if an extension of BAT isn't specified in the DOORS.MNU file, TriBBS will first search for a file without an extension and if one isn't found it will search for a file with an extension of BAT. For example, if a file name of GLOBAL is specified in DOORS.MNU, TriBBS will search first for GLOBAL and then GLOBAL.BAT. When TriBBS runs a door, it will generate the proper door data files as is indicated by the door's door type character. It will then copy the door's batch file to a file called DOOR.BAT. TriBBS will then create a temporary caller information file. This temporary file holds the information TriBBS will need when the caller returns to TriBBS from the door. After generating all of the proper files, TriBBS will exit from memory. BOARD.BAT will then run DOOR.BAT. In order for TriBBS to restart after the caller is done with the door, the last line in the door batch file must call BOARD.BAT. The following is an example board batch file: cd \doors\global war /s c:\tribbs\sfdoors.dat cd \tribbs board security level is the minimum security level the caller needs to use the door. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 71 The following is a sample DOORS.MNU file: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 7,0,6,15 U,MaineRelay Hub,HUBDOOR,50 S,Global War,GLOBAL,10 P,Imperium,IMPERIUM,10 P,Bowling,BOWLING,10 S,Scrabble,SCRABBLE,10 P,Super Guppy,SUPERG,10 U,MegaMail,MEGAMAIL,10 P,TriBBS Time Bank,TRIBANK,10 P,Tic-Tac-Toe,TICTAC,100 U,Page Me!!!!,PAGE,100 S,Hobbit Trivia,SFHOBTRV,10 S,Stackem,STACKEM,10 P,King of the Board,KINGOB,10 --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Door Bulletin Menu Configuration File ----------------------------------------- The Door Bulletin Menu configuration file has a name of DOORBULL.MNU. As with all TriBBS menu configuration files, DOORBULL.MNU is a text file and can be edited with any text editor. The format for DOORBULL.MNU is as follows: The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 72 --------------------------------------------------------------------- border background,border foreground,background,foreground description,security level . . . description,security level Where: border background is the border background color for an ANSI color menu. border foreground is the border foreground color for an ANSI color menu. background is the background color for an ANSI color menu. foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI color menu. description is one of more descriptions of the bulletins. These should be in the order of your bulletins. For example, the first description should be for DRBULL1.ANS and DRBULL1.BBS, the second description should be for DRBULL2.ANS and DRBULL2.BBS, etc. security level is the caller's minimum security level to be able to view the bulletin. In order to provide compatibility with previous versions of TriBBS, this is an optional value. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 73 The following is a sample DOORBULL.MNU file: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 7,0,4,15 King of the Board Pyramid King of the Board Points Imperium Top Ten Scrabble Status Scrabble Top Ten Hobbit Trivia Top Ten Stackem Top Ten --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Questionnaire Menu Configuration File ---------------------------------------- The Questionnaire Menu configuration file has a name of QUESTION.MNU. You should note that this is an optional menu configuration file and is only necessary if your board has questionnaires available. As with all other TriBBS menu configuration files, QUESTION.MNU is a text file and can be edited with any text editor. The format for QUESTION.MNU is as follows: --------------------------------------------------------------------- border background,border foreground,background,foreground description,questionnaire file,security level . . . description,questionnaire file,security level Where: border background is the border background color for an ANSI color menu. border foreground is the border foreground color for an ANSI color menu. background is the background color for an ANSI color menu. foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI color menu. description is a description for the questionnaire. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 74 questionnaire file is the name of the questionnaire and response file. This file name must not have an extension. Your questionnaire file should be in node 1's MWORK directory and have an extension of QUE. TriBBS will save the answers to the questionnaire as a file with an extension of ANS. A TriBBS questionnaire file will display each line in the file as is unless the first nonspace character of the line is a special questionnaire character as follows: : - Will display the line and prompt the user for input. Note that the caller must enter something in response to this prompt. ; - Will display the line and prompt the user for input. Note that the caller can enter a blank line in response to this prompt. @ - Will display the line and prompt the user to enter a date using the format MM-DD-YY. After the caller has entered the date, TriBBS will prompt the caller to see if it was entered correctly. # - Will display the line and prompt the user to enter the date using the format ###-###- ####. After the caller has entered the phone number, TriBBS will prompt the caller to see if it was entered correctly. ^security level - Will set the caller's security level to the number specified after "^". ? - Will prompt the user for a Yes/No response. If the caller responds with a "Yes", TriBBS will ignore the remaining questionnaire until TriBBS finds a "+" character. TriBBS will continue with the questionnaire until another "+" character is encountered. If the caller responds with a "No", TriBBS will ignore the remaining questionnaire until TriBBS finds a "-" character. TriBBS will continue with the questionnaire until another "-" character is encountered. Yes/No questions can be nested to ten levels deep. NOTE: If the first three nonspace characters in a line are REM or rem, TriBBS will treat The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 75 the line as a comment and will not display it. security level is the minimum security level the caller needs to be able to respond to the questionnaire. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is a sample QUESTION.MNU file: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 7,0,6,15 Question # 1,QUEST0,10 --------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is a sample questionnaire file: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Please answer the following questions truthfully: :What is your real name? :What is your street address? :What is your city, state, and zip code? :What type of computer do you own? :What type of modem are you using? :What type of communications software are you using? :Are you interested in messages, files, doors, or all three? ?Are you the Sysop of a bulletin board + :What is the name of your BBS? #What is the BBS's phone number? + - - --------------------------------------------------------------------- You should note that TriBBS supports a special New User Questionnaire. This questionnaire has a file name of NEWUSER and will be presented to a new user after displaying a new user screen, if any. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 76 The Sysop Menu Configuration File --------------------------------- The Sysop Menu configuration file has a name of SYSOP.MNU. As with all other TriBBS menu configuration files, SYSOP.MNU is a text file and can be edited with any text editor. The format for SYSOP.MNU is as follows: --------------------------------------------------------------------- border background,border foreground,background,foreground U,Edit Users,security level C,Edit Message Conferences,security level F,Edit File Areas,security level E,Edit Events,security level V,View Callers Log,security level S,Sort File Lists,security level M,Main Menu,security level X,Expert Mode,security level P,Page Sysop,security level G,Goodbye,security level Where: border background is the border background color for an ANSI color menu. border foreground is the border foreground color for an ANSI color menu. background is the background color for an ANSI color menu. foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI color menu. security level is the minimum security level for this command. --------------------------------------------------------------------- You should note that the order of the Sysop Menu items and their descriptions can be changed. However, the color codes must be in the configuration file's first line and each of the menu item hotkeys (the character in the first column) must remain the same. The following is a sample Sysop Menu configuration file: The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 77 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 7,0,3,15 U,Edit Users,100 C,Edit Message Conferences,100 F,Edit File Areas,100 E,Edit Events,100 V,View Callers Log,100 S,Sort File Lists,100 M,Main Menu,10 X,Expert Mode,10 P,Page Sysop,10 G,Goodbye,0 --------------------------------------------------------------------- The following are descriptions of the 11 Sysop Menu Items: U,Edit Users,security level Pressing will let the caller edit the user records. For local logons, TriBBS will call TriMan's user editor. For remote logons, TriBBS will display a user editor screen with the following options: <N> User Name Pressing <N> will let you edit the user's name. <^> Alias Name Pressing <^> will let you edit the user's alias. <A> User Address Pressing <A> will let you edit the user's address. <S> Security Level Pressing <S> will let you edit the user's security level. <+> Next Record Pressing <+> will move to the next user's record. <#> User Phone No Pressing <#> will let you edit the user's phone number. User Password Pressing will let you edit the user's password. <-> Previous Record Pressing <-> will move the previous user's record. Uploads The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 78 Pressing will let you edit the user's number of uploads. <D> Downloads Pressing <D> will let you edit the user's number of downloads. <R> Record Number Pressing <R> will let you move to a specified user's record. <$> K Uploaded Pressing <$> will let you edit the user's number of K bytes uploaded. <%> K Downloaded Pressing <%> will let you edit the user's number of K bytes downloaded. <F> Find User Pressing <F> will let you search for a specified user's record. <L> Lock User Out Pressing <L> will let you lock the user out. <&> Delete User Pressing <&> will let you mark the user's record for deletion. <1> Priv Files Pressing <1> will let you edit the user's access to private file areas. <M> Messages Pressing <M> will let you edit the user's number of posted messages. <!> Time Left Pressing <!> will let you edit the user's number of remaining minutes for the day. <2> Priv Confs Pressing <2> will let you edit the user's access to private message conferences. <*> Net Status Pressing <*> will let you toggle the user's netstatus in QWK packets on and off. <E> Expiration Date The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 79 Pressing <E> will let you edit the user's subscription expiration date. <Q> Quit Pressing <Q> will let you exit from the user editor. C,Edit Message Conferences,security level Pressing <C> will let the caller edit the message conferences. In order to perform this operation, TriBBS will call TriMan; therefore, this function is not available to remote callers. F,Edit File Areas,security level Pressing <F> will let the caller edit the file areas. In order to perform this operation, TriBBS will call TriMan; therefore, this function is not available to remote callers. E,Edit Events,security level Pressing <E> will let the caller edit the events. In order to perform this operation, TriBBS will call TriMan; therefor, this function is not available to remote callers. V,View Callers Log,security level Pressing <V> will let the caller view the callers log. TriBBS will prompt the caller to enter the starting date to view the log from. S,Sort File Lists,security level Pressing <S> will let the caller sort the board's file lists. You should note that TriBBS's sort routine has an upper limit of 3000 files per list. If your file lists grow beyond 3000 files, you will have to use an external sorting program to sort them. M,Main Menu,security level Pressing <M> returns the caller to the Main Menu. X,Expert Mode,security level Pressing <X> will toggle the caller's expert mode flag. If the caller's expert mode flag is set for "Expert", TriBBS will not display the menus for the caller. If the caller's expert mode flag is set for "Super Expert", TriBBS will not display the menus for the caller and will use abbreviated menu prompts. Otherwise, TriBBS will display the menus to the caller. P,Page Sysop,security level Pressing will page the sysop. As soon as the caller pages the sysop, TriBBS will display a blinking asterisk in the user status window's upper right corner. This blinking asterisk will continue to be displayed until either the sysop answers the page or the caller logs off. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 80 G,Goodbye,security level Pressing <G> will log the caller off the board. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 81 EXTENDABLE MENU COMMANDS ------------------------ TriBBS allows the sysop to easily extend the Main Menu, the Message Menu, the File Menu, and the Sysop Menu through the use of doors and batch files. The first step in extending a menu is to add the new command's hotkey character, description, and security level to the desired menu. For example, let's suppose you wanted to add TriMail to your Message Menu. The following is a sample Message Menu with TriMail added to it: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 7,0,2,15 C,Change Conference,10 E,Enter a Message,10 R,Read Messages,10 N,New Messages,10 Y,Your Messages,10 S,Set Conference Queue,10 T,TriMail,10 M,Main Menu,0 X,Expert Mode,10 P,Page Sysop,0 G,Goodbye,0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- As the above sample Message Menu shows, the new command's hotkey is "T", its description is "TriMail", and its security level is "10". You should note that a custom menu option's hotkey can be any key expect one of the keys that TriBBS uses internally for the menu. Thus, you couldn't use C or G for a new Message Menu command, but you could use @, Z, U, etc. The next step to get the custom menu command functioning is to create a batch file that TriBBS will call to carry out the command. The filename must be MAINh.BAT (where "h" is the hotkey) for a custom Main Menu command, MESSh.BAT (where "h" is the hotkey) for a custom Message Menu command, FILEh.BAT (where "h" is the hotkey) for a custom File Menu command, or SYSh.BAT (where "h" is the hotkey) for a custom Sysop Menu command. So for our example TriMail Message Menu command, the proper batch file name would be MESST.BAT and could be a batch file similar to the following: The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 82 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- cd \doors\trimail trimail tmail1.cfg cd \tribbs board ---------------------------------------------------------------------- At this point, you may be wondering where TriMail will get the necessary door data files it needs to run. Before exiting from memory, TriBBS generates all of its possible door data files and then simply runs the proper batch file just like it would a door. However, you should note that it isn't strictly necessary to run a door as a custom menu command. You can make a command out of pretty much any program. The only limits are your imagination. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 83 SPECIAL BATCH FILES ------------------- TriBBS runs a number of batch files that allow you to run doors and perform maintenance routines at certain desirable times. NEWUSER.BAT ----------- If it exists, the NEWUSER.BAT file is called by TriBBS just before the bulletin menu is displayed providing it is the caller's first call. Before exiting from memory, TriBBS will generate all of its possible door data files. SECn.BAT -------- If it exists, SECn.BAT (where "n" is the caller's security level) is called by TriBBS just before the bulletin menu is displayed. Before exiting from memory, TriBBS will generate all of its possible door data files. LOGON.BAT --------- If it exists, LOGON.BAT is called by TriBBS just before the bulletin menu is displayed. Before exiting from memory, TriBBS will generate all of its possible door data files. UPLOAD.BAT ---------- If it exists, UPLOAD.BAT is called by TriBBS just after a file is upload and before it is optionally scanned for viruses. TriBBS will pass the uploaded file's complete path name as UPLOAD.BAT's first parameter and the uploaded file's extension as UPLOAD.BAT's second parameter. This batch file is very handy for stripping comments from or recommenting archives. You should note that you do not need a call to BOARD.BAT at the end of an UPLOAD.BAT file. BETWEEN.BAT ----------- If it exists, BETWEEN.BAT is called by TriBBS just after a callers logs off. This batch file is very handy for performing intercaller maintenance routines. You should note that you do not need a call to BOARD.BAT at the end of a BETWEEN.BAT file. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 84 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 85 FILE LISTS ---------- TriBBS maintains a file list for each file area. A file list is a simple ASCII file where each line contains the following information: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890..... FFFFFFFFFFFF SSSSSSSS MM-DD-YY DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD..... Where: FFFFFFFFFFFF is the file's name. SSSSSSSS is the file's size. MM-DD-YY is the file's date. DDDDDDDDDDDD..... is the file's description. --------------------------------------------------------------------- You should note that the length of the file description cannot be more than 40 characters per line and no longer than 20 lines in length. If you wish, you can create each file list file with a text editor. A simple way to add a file to an area's file list is to locally upload it. Be sure that the file you want add to the file area's file list is located in the file area's subdirectory. Next log on locally, go to the Files Menu, change to the correct file area if you're not already in it, and select the upload option. Next, enter the file's name and description. TriBBS will then add the file's information to the file area's file list. FileMan ------- Included with TriBBS is an external utility program called FILEMAN.EXE. This utility makes it possible to quickly and easily edit your file lists. To run FileMan, be sure that you are in one of your node's main directory and enter FileMan at the DOS prompt. FileMan must be run from a main directory in order to find a SYSDAT2.DAT file. FileMan will start by displaying a pulldown menu bar. Press <ALT><F> to pull down the Files menu. From this menu, you can select the file area to be edited by moving the highlight bar to the appropriate file The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 86 area and pressing <ENTER>. You can exit from FileMan at the main menu by pressing <CTRL><X>. After you select a file area to be edited, FileMan will read in the file area's file list. You will then be able to sort the file list, scan the file area for any files that aren't included in the list, delete files, edit a file's description, check a file to see if it has a FILE_ID.DIZ or DESC.SDI description file, and more. To perform one of these operations you only need to move to the appropriate command button and press <ENTER>. You can move around the edit file list dialog box by pressing either the <TAB> or <SHIFT><TAB> keys. When you exit from the edit file list dialog box, TriBBS will save the edited file list. You should note that FileMan has an upper limit of 1000 files per file area. Also you should be aware that FileMan does not support file sharing. So you should not edit the file lists when somebody is online. MakeIdx ------- TriBBS allows you to optionally search for files by index files instead of using the DOS directory functions. This can greatly speed up searching large file areas such as CD-ROM file areas. Before MakeIdx can generate an index file for a file area, you must specify an appropriate index file name using TriMan's file area editor. MakeIdx can be run using one of the following three formats: MAKEIDX This will display a list box of all of the file areas that have been configured to use an index file. Simply move the highlight bar to the appropriate file area and press enter or double click it with a mouse. Press ESC to exit from MakeIdx. MAKEIDX /ALL The /ALL switch is used to run MakeIdx from either the DOS command line or from within a batch file. This switch will have MakeIdx generate index files for any file areas that are configured to use index files. MAKEIDX /F:n1[-n2] The /F: switch is used to run MakeIdx from either the DOS command line or from within a batch file. This switch will have MakeIdx generate an index file for a specified file area if it is specified using /F:n1, where n1 is the file area to be indexed. The /F: switch can also create index The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 87 files for a range of file areas if it is specified using /F:n1-n2, where n1 is the first file area to be indexed and n2 is the last file area to be indexed. IMPORTANT: You should not use an index file for an upload file area. The reason for this is because TriBBS will only search the index file for matching files if the file area is configured as an indexed file area. Therefore, a file that was uploaded after the index file was created cannot be found until the file area is re-indexed. So the best use for indexed file areas is to index any large file areas that don't serve as upload areas. Then you will only have to re-index a particular file area when you add or move a file to it. Note that it is possible to index an upload area by either running MakeIdx on your upload file areas either in an UPLOAD.BAT or BETWEEN.BAT file. You should also note that once you have built an index for a CD-ROM file area you will not have to ever rebuild it because the file area's directory will never change on a CD-ROM. One last note, MakeIdx can build an index file for any file area that has up to 15000 files in its directory. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 88 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 89 EXTERNAL PROTOCOLS ------------------ TriBBS supports up to 15 external protocols. To enable external protocols, you must create an external protocol menu configuration file called EXTPROT.MNU in your node's NWORK directory. EXTPROT.MNU has the following format: The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 90 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- hotkey,description,send file,receive file,batch,error correcting . . . hotkey,description,send file,receive file,batch,error correcting Where: hotkey is the key to be used to select the external protocol. You should note that you can override any of TriBBS's internal protocols by specifying the internal protocol's hotkey for the external protocol's hotkey. For example, you can use a hotkey of "Z" to replace TriBBS's internal Zmodem protocol with DSZ. Additionally, you can't use "N" for a protocol's hotkey. description is a description to be displayed for the external protocol. send file is the exact name of the batch file that sends files to the caller with the external protocol. This batch file must reside in your board's main directory. receive file is the exact name of the batch file that receives files from the caller with the external protocol. This batch file must reside in your board's main directory. batch is "Y" if the external protocol supports batch transfers. Otherwise, "N" to indicated that the external protocol doesn't support batch transfers. error correcting is "Y" if the external protocol is to be used only with an error correcting connection. Otherwise, "N" to indicate that the external protocol can be used with all types of connections. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is an example of an EXTPROT.MNU file: The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 91 --------------------------------------------------------------------- z,Zmodem (DSZ),sz.bat,rz.bat,y,n m,MPt (Puma),smpt.bat,rmpt.bat,y,n h,HS/Link,hss.bat,hsr.bat,y,n --------------------------------------------------------------------- This example file replaces TriBBS's internal Zmodem protocol with DSZ and adds the very speedy MPt (formerly Puma) and the speedy, bidirectional protocol HS/Link to the board's list of protocols. Both protocols support batch downloads and neither is an error correcting protocol. Send Batch Files ---------------- When TriBBS calls a send batch file, it passes the following three parameters to the batch file: port number baud rate filename or EBATCH.DAT The "port number" and "baud rate" parameters are pretty self explanatory. The third parameter TriBBS passes to the batch file requires a little further explanation. If the protocol, doesn't support batch downloads, TriBBS only passes a single "filename" to the protocol. Otherwise, TriBBS creates a file called "EBATCH.DAT" and passes the name of the file to the protocol's batch file. "EBATCH.DAT" is simply a line-by-line listing of the files in the batch download. The following is an example of a DSZ send batch file called SZ.BAT: --------------------------------------------------------------------- dsz port %1 sz -m @c:%3 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Note that the above batch file enables MobyTurbo transfers. The following is an example of a MPt send batch file called SMPT.BAT: --------------------------------------------------------------------- mpt p%1 s @%3 --------------------------------------------------------------------- The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 92 The following is an example of a HS/Link send batch file called HSS.BAT: --------------------------------------------------------------------- hslink -p%1 @%3 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Receive Batch Files ------------------- When TriBBS calls a receive batch file, it passes the following three parameters to the batch file: --------------------------------------------------------------------- port number baud rate filename --------------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT: You should note that the "filename" parameter is not passed to external protocols that support batch file transfers. The following is an example of a DSZ receive batch file called RZ.BAT: --------------------------------------------------------------------- dsz port %1 rz -mrr --------------------------------------------------------------------- Note that the above batch file enables MobyTurbo transfers. The following is an example of a MPt receive batch file called RMPT.BAT: --------------------------------------------------------------------- mpt p%1 r --------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is an example of a HS/Link receive batch file called HSR.BAT: The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 93 --------------------------------------------------------------------- hslink -p%1 --------------------------------------------------------------------- The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 94 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 95 FILE RATIOS ----------- File/Byte Ratios (Adjusting Security Levels) -------------------------------------------- To optionally setup your system so that it will adjust callers' security levels according to their ratios, you must first create a configuration file called RATIOS.DAT in node 1's MWORK directory. RATIOS.DAT is a simple ASCII text file that uses the following format: --------------------------------------------------------------------- security level,file ratio,byte ratio . . . security level,file ratio,byte ratio Where: security level is the caller's security level. file ratio is the maximum file ratio (files downloaded:files uploaded) for the caller to remain at this security level. If you do not want to impose a file ratio for this security level, a file ratio of 0 can be used. byte ratio is the maximum byte ratio (bytes downloaded:bytes uploaded) for the caller to remain at this security level. If you do not want to impose a byte ratio for this security level, a byte ratio of 0 can be used. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is an example of a RATIOS.DAT file: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 30,5.5,7.5 20,10,20 15,20,30 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Note from this example that you can specify both a file and a byte ratio for each security level and you can also use decimals to specify the ratios. In this example, a caller with a security level of 30, must maintain a file ratio of at least 1 upload per every 5.5 downloads and must maintain a byte ratio of 1K bytes uploaded per The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 96 every 7.5K bytes downloaded. If the caller can't maintain these ratios, TriBBS will downgrade the caller to a 20 security level. If the caller can't maintain a 20 security level, TriBBS will further downgrade the caller to a 15 security level. Finally, if the caller can't maintain a 15 security level, TriBBS will downgrade the caller to a new user's security level. If you don't want the caller's security level to be reduced back to a new user's security level, you could change the 15 security level to 15,0,0. You should note that a caller's ratios are checked at logon and after every upload and download. IMPORTANT: Do not include any security levels in RATIOS.DAT that you don't want TriBBS to check. File/Byte Ratios (Security Level Stays the Same) ------------------------------------------------ TriBBS also supports a file/byte ratio method that restricts the caller's ability to download if he has exceeded his file or byte ratio. To setup your system so that it will restrict a caller's ability to download to their ratios, you must first create a configuration file called RATIOS.DAT in node 1's MWORK directory. RATIOS.DAT uses the following format: --------------------------------------------------------------------- security level,file ratio,byte ratio . . . security level,file ratio,byte ratio Where: security level is the caller's security level. file ratio is the maximum file ratio (files downloaded:files uploaded) for the caller to be able to download files. If you do not want to impose a file ratio for this security level, a file ratio of 0 can be used. byte ratio is the maximum byte ratio (bytes downloaded:bytes uploaded) for the caller to be able to download files. If you do not want to impose a byte ratio for this security level, a byte ratio of 0 can be used. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 97 The following is an example a RATIOS.DAT file: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 30,10,20 20,5,10 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Note from this example that a level 30 caller must maintain a file ratio of 1 upload for every 10 downloads and a byte ratio of 1K bytes uploaded for every 20K bytes downloaded. If the caller fails to maintain these levels he will not be able to download anymore files until he uploads a sufficient number of files or bytes to restore is file/byte ratios to the required level. IMPORTANT: Do not include any security levels in RATIOS.DAT that you don't want TriBBS to check. Free Downloads -------------- Often times, a BBS has a number of files that the sysops would like all callers to be able to download without the files being counted towards the caller's file and/or byte ratio. You can accomplish this with TriBBS by creating a file called FREE.DAT in node 1's MWORK directory. FREE.DAT is a simple ASCII text file that specifies the name of any files that will be a free download. You should note that you can use DOS wildcard characters in the file names. You can specify a file area's entire contents as free downloads by specifying the file area directory's complete path name in FREE.DAT. The following is an example of a FREE.DAT file: c:\tribbs\tribbs\*.* r*.* In the above example, TriBBS will consider any files that are in the directory "c:\tribbs\tribbs" and any files starting with "r" as free downloads. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 98 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 99 SUBSCRIPTION SYSTEM ------------------- TriBBS supports an optional subscription system. The first step in setting up a subscription system is to create a SUBS.DAT file in node 1's MWORK directory. SUBS.DAT is a simple ASCII text file with the following format: --------------------------------------------------------------------- security level,expiration level . . . security level,expiration level Where: security level is the caller's security level. expiration level is the caller's new security level after his subscription has expired. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is an example of a SUBS.DAT file: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 30,10 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Note from this example that a level 30 caller would be reduced to a level 10 as soon as his subscription has expired. TriBBS checks for an expired subscription at logon. A subscription expiration date is set for an individual caller through the Waiting for Caller screen's Edit User function. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 100 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 101 RUNNING TRIBBS WITH A FRONTEND OR AS A DOOR ------------------------------------------- TriBBS can be run with either a frontend program (i.e., FrontDoor, BinkleyTerm, etc.) or as a door. To execute TriBBS when there is already a connection, you must specify the connection's baud rate with TriBBS's "/F" command line switch. The format for using this switch is "/Fbaud rate". Where "baud rate" is the connection's baud rate. For example, TriBBS could be executed with a 2400 baud connection with the following command line: BBS /F2400 The above is only an example and you should use BOARD.BAT to run TriBBS as you normally would. Otherwise, doors will not function properly. To do this, modify your BOARD.BAT file as follows: --------------------------------------------------------------------- echo off cd \tribbs if exist door.bat del door.bat if exist event.bat del event.bat if exist endbbs del endbbs bbs %1 if exist door.bat door if exist event.bat event if exist endbbs goto end board :end --------------------------------------------------------------------- Note the "%1" after "bbs" in the above batch file. This will use BOARD.BAT's first command line parameter to pass the "/F" switch to TriBBS. For example, you could execute TriBBS using the above BOARD.BAT file with a 2400 baud connection by using the following DOS command: BOARD /F2400 Normally, TriBBS will recycle to the Waiting for Caller screen when the caller either logs off or is forced off the board. If TriBBS is started with a "/F" parameter, TriBBS will exit memory and return control to the calling program. Thus, TriBBS acts just like a door when a "/F" parameter is used. IMPORTANT: Although doors run fine when using TriBBS in this manner, events are always executed by TriBBS's Waiting for Caller screen routine. Therefore, events will never run if TriBBS is being run with the "/F" parameter. If your board requires maintenance events and you are using TriBBS with a frontend program, simply run them as a The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 102 frontend event. If you are running TriBBS as a door, simply let your main board run the necessary events. Error Correcting Connections ---------------------------- If your frontend is able to supply an error correcting message (i.e. ARQ, etc.), it may be specified with a slightly modified version of TriBBS's "/F" command line switch: "/F baud rate/error correcting message". Please note the slash between the "baud rate" and "error correcting message" parameters. This slash is essential for TriBBS to be able to correctly parse the "/F" command line switch. Limiting Time ------------- A user's log on time can be limited with TriBBS's "/T" command line switch. The format for this command line switch is "/Tminutes". Where "minutes" is the maximum number of minutes the caller should be allowed for this call. Forced Hang Up -------------- Normally, TriBBS does not hang up on the caller when he says goodbye. It leaves the task of hanging up to the frontend program or the main board. If your frontend doesn't hang up before recycling, you can use TriBBS's "/H" command line switch to instruct it to hang up on the caller before returning to the frontend. IMPORTANT: Whenever a caller is in a door, TriBBS creates a file called DOORS.TMP in the node's NWORK directory. TriBBS uses this file to determine if a caller is returning from a door when BBS.EXE is restarted. Therefore, it is essential that your frontend's batch file delete DOORS.TMP before running BOARD.BAT. Otherwise, if carrier is lost in a door, BBS.EXE will assume that a caller is returning from a door when the frontend program calls it the next time. Consequently, the next caller will be logged on under the previous caller's account. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 103 ARCHIVE TESTING --------------- TriBBS can optionally scan archives, EXEs, and COMs for viruses. This feature is enabled with the Waiting for Caller Screen's Configure System menu. If upload testing is enabled, TriBBS will call MacAfee's SCAN.EXE program to scan the contents of the upload. Accordingly SCAN.EXE, must be in your PATH. Additionally, TriBBS requires the following decompression utilities to be in your PATH to be able to test archives: Archive Utility ----------------------------------------------------------------- ZIP PKUNZIP.EXE ARJ ARJ.EXE LZH LHA.EXE PAK, SDN, and ARC PAK.EXE ----------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT: If TriBBS isn't able to find SCAN.EXE or the proper decompression utility, the upload will NOT be tested. If an upload fails the virus scan, it will be immediately deleted. Be aware that SCAN.EXE is not infallible. It is perhaps the best utility of its kind, but no virus scanner is perfect. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 104 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 105 ODDS AND ENDS ------------- Obnoxious Callers ----------------- Sooner or later you will have to lock out a caller and although the user's record doesn't take up much disk space there's no sense in maintaining the record to just keep the caller locked out. TriBBS eliminates the need for needlessly maintaining the caller's user record with a file called JOKER.DAT. JOKER.DAT is a straight ASCII text file with each line being the name of a caller you want to keep locked out. JOKER.DAT is an optional file and must reside in your board's MWORK directory. The following is a sample JOKER.DAT file: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe Hacker Dr. Doom --------------------------------------------------------------------- Daily Limits ------------ You will probably want to give callers with different security levels different amounts of daily time and number of daily calls. After all, don't you as a sysop deserve more daily time on you own board than the average caller? TriBBS supports a daily limits file called DLIMITS.DAT. DLIMITS.DAT is an ASCII text file and must reside in node 1's MWORK directory. You should note that any callers whose security levels aren't found in DLIMITS.DAT will be assigned your board's default daily time and number of daily calls. DLIMITS.DAT is an optional file and uses the following format: The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 106 --------------------------------------------------------------------- security level,time,calls,time per logon . . . security level,time,calls,time per logon Where: security level is a security level. time is the security level's daily time limit. calls is the security level's number of daily calls. time per logon is the maximum time per logon for this level. Note that in order to provide compatibility with versions of TriBBS before 3.3, this is an optional parameter. You do not need to specify anything for this parameter unless you want to --------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is an example DLIMITS.DAT file: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 15,45,99 20,60,99 60,60,99 100,180,99,180 200,180,99,180 --------------------------------------------------------------------- You should note that whenever you modify DLIMITS.DAT any changes will not take effect until a caller calls the first time for a day. If a caller has already called during the day, any changes to DLIMITS.DAT that effects his security level will not occur until he calls the next day. If a caller hasn't already called during the day, any changes to DLIMITS.DAT that effects his security level will take effect immediately. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 107 Special Keys ------------ There are a number of special keys that you can use while a caller is logged on to your board. They are as follows: Key(s) Description ----------------------------------------------------------------- <F1> Adds 5 minutes to the caller's time. <F2> Takes 5 minutes away from the caller's time. <F3> Toggles the page bell on and off. <F4> Will allow you to adjust the caller's security level. TriBBS will prompt you to enter the caller's new security level. <F5> Logs the caller off. <F6> Logs the caller off and marks his user record as "Locked Out". <F7> Logs the caller off with a "Keyboard input time exceeded" message. <F8> Displays a screen called either NUKE.BBS or NUKE.ANS and hangs up on the caller. <F9> After the caller logs off, TriBBS will stop execution and return to DOS. Once <F9> has been pressed, TriBBS will display a blinking down arrow in the lower right hand corner of the user status window. The automatic shut down can be overridden pressing <F9> again. Note that TriBBS will exit with an errorlevel of 2 if the F9 key has been pressed. <HOME> Toggles between the two caller status windows at the bottom of the display screen and two help screens about the above mentioned function keys. <ALT><C> Enters chat mode. The chat can be ended by pressing <ESC>. <ALT><D> Allows you to drop to DOS. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Quick Logon ----------- The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 108 TriBBS allows you to enter both your name and password at the "Enter your name" prompt. Simply separate your name from the password with a semicolon <;>. For example, a caller with the name Mark Goodwin and a password of Install could enter his name and password at the name prompt as follows: Mark Goodwin;Install You should note that for security reasons TriBBS will display the password as a series of periods <.>. File Flagging ------------- While displaying a file listing, the "more" prompt will allow the caller to flag files for downloading by simply pressing <F>. TriBBS will prompt the caller to enter letters that are displayed with the appropriate files in the listing. Packing the Message Base ------------------------ You may have noticed that included with your TriBBS files is a file called TRIPACK.EXE. TriPack is the TriBBS message base packer. It will remove any <DELETED> messages and messages that are older than the number of days you have indicated in your message conferences setup. TriPack was developed as an external program in order to permit you to pack your message base as an event. TriPack is a fairly easy program to use and can be executed with the following command line: TRIPACK /P /R /C:range Where: /P is an optional switch. If specified, all messages marked <PRIVATE><RECEIVED> will be deleted. /R is an optional switch. If specified, the message base conference will be renumbered. TriBBS support message numbers as high as 999,999. You should only renumber a message base conference if you think the conference will rollover this amount. Although TriBBS will update its message threads internally, net mail message threads may be lost. For example, PCRelay maintains a list of message threads for each netmail conference. After The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 109 renumbering your message conference, PCRelay will not be able to correctly indicate if a message has been replied to or not. /C:range is an optional switch. It is used to specify either a single conference or a range of conferences to be packed. A single conference is packed by specifying its number after the ":". For example, /C:4 would pack message conference 4. A range of conferences can be packed by separating them with a "-". For example, /C:5-9 will pack message conferences 5 through 9. IMPORTANT: Never pack a system's message base unless the entire system is down. The TriBBS Protocol Driver: TTPROT.EXE -------------------------------------- The file TTPROT.EXE is the protocol driver TriBBS calls to perform file transfers. In order for TriBBS to be able to run TTPROT.EXE, it must be in your DOS PATH. This is very important! If it isn't in your PATH, file transfers will always abort. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 110 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 111 MULTINODES ---------- Setting up a multinode TriBBS board is a pretty easy procedure. You must first create a directory for your new node. For example, you might create a directory called C:\TRIBBS2 for the second node's directory. Now you must copy your SYSDAT2.DAT file from your node 1 directory to your new node's directory. You should note that a copy of BBS.EXE must be in your PATH. Next change your current directory to the new node's directory and run BBS.EXE. You now have a second node. Before exiting to DOS you should use the Configure Node menu to configure your new node. Upon returning to DOS, you must create a BOARD.BAT file for your new node. The simplest method for doing this is to copy your node 1's BOARD.BAT file to the new node's directory and edit it appropriately. About the only change you'll have to make is to edit the change directory command (i.e. cd \tribbs) near the top of you BOARD.BAT file to change the directory to the new node's directory. Next, you will need new menu configuration files in the new node's NWORK directory. Once again, you can simply copy node 1's MNU files and edit them appropriately. The process for setting up a third, fourth, fifth, etc. node is just like the above. You simply set up another directory and repeat all of the above steps. How Do I Get the System Up and Running -------------------------------------- To get multiple nodes up and running on the same computer, you will need to use a multitasker and have a 386 or better to do it. TriBBS 4.0 can been successfully run under DesqView, Windows, or OS/2 2.0. IMPORTANT: So that TriBBS's data file will not be written to by more than one node at a time, TriBBS fully supports file sharing. To enable file sharing, you must put the command SHARE.EXE in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. SHARE.EXE is a terminate and stay resident program that comes with DOS that handles record locking. Without SHARE.EXE in memory, TriBBS does not have the ability to correctly lock and unlock the system data files and sooner or later they will become corrupted. For some strange quirk unique to Windows, you must have SHARE.EXE in memory to run TriBBS under Windows. This is true whether you are running a single or multinode system under Windows. Also note that OS/2 2.0 has record locking built right into the operating system; therefore, SHARE.EXE is not required when multitasking TriBBS with OS/2 2.0. To get multiple nodes up and running on more than one computer, you will need to use some type of networking hardware and software. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 112 TriBBS has been successfully tested on a LANtastic's network. The only possible glitch in running TriBBS on a LAN is that all nodes use identical SYSDAT2.DAT files to locate node 1; therefore, you must configure your LAN in such a way that all workstations and servers refer to node 1 drive as the same drive. For example, if node 1 is located on the C: drive on the server, the rest of the network must refer to this as C: also. If another node's workstation already has a C: drive, you must redirect that drive to say D:, E:, or etc. and configure the node 1 drive as C: So as long as the whole LAN refers to node 1's drive as the same drive, TriBBS should work flawlessly on any LAN. Doors and Multinodes -------------------- The greatest challenge you will find about getting a multinode system fully functional is getting doors to run from all nodes. The problem comes from the fact that most doors do not support multinode operation. If they do, then fine, simply set up the proper configuration and batch files and away you go, but if they don't it takes a little more effort. The best method I've found so far for running a nonmultinode door on all nodes of a multinode system is to use two utilities: FOYER and PROECHO. FOYER is a nifty little utility that create a data file in your door's directory to determine what, if any, node is currently using the door. If the door is in use, FOYER returns an appropriate "errorlevel" that can be used in your batch file to prevent the door from being run. If the door isn't in use, FOYER will return without error and your batch file can continue to run the door as it normally would. After running the door, FOYER is run again so it can "unlock" the door for use by another node. PROECHO is a handy little utility that lets you send a short message out through the comm port. For example, if a door is in use, you could send a message like "That door is in use on another node. Please try again later." By sending such a message to the user, he will know that everything is ok and that he'll probably be able to use the door sometime later in his call. Some Helpful Hints ------------------ If you are multitasking a multinode TriBBS system, you will probably want to give each node the same number of clock ticks if they are running modems that have similar speed capabilities. If you are running a high speed modem on one line and a slower modem on another, you may want to give the node with the high speed modem a few more clock ticks than the node with the slower speed modem. A multinode system requires a phone line and a modem for each node. I know that may seem rather obvious, but I've seen people on a variety The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 113 of network echos wondering why it can't be done on just one line. Sorry, but it just doesn't work that way. If your local phone company offers Busy Call Forwarding, you may want to consider getting it. With Busy Call Forwarding, a node will automatically ring down to another node whenever it is busy. For example, The Lobster Buoy has two lines. Node 1's phone number is 207-941-0805. Whenever node 1 is busy, it will ring down to node 2. Of course if node 2 is busy, the caller is out of luck. The fee for Busy Call Forwarding is very small and make it convenient not only for you but for your callers as well. The most helpful suggestion I can give is to get your feet wet with a single line setup first before jumping in with your guns blazing into a multinode setup. Give yourself sometime to master running a single line setup first. Multinode Chatting ------------------ TriBBS supports multinode chatting through its TeleChat system. Unlike the system's normal sysop/caller chat mode, which is a real time chatting system where keypresses are sent in both directions almost instantaneously, the TeleChat system uses a series of special disk files to send lines of text between two or more nodes a line at a time. The TriBBS TeleChat system offers two distinct types of multinode chat: node chat and group chat. Node chat is where two nodes chat back and forth between each other. To page another node to enter node chat, the caller simply enters the desired node's number at the TeleChat menu. As soon as the caller enters the node number, TriBBS will send the other node a special message which states that the caller wishes to chat with the caller on the other node. As soon as the caller on the other node enters node chat, TriBBS will send the caller that initiated the chat a message to that effect. As stated above, text is sent back and forth between the two nodes a line at a time. When entering text, TriBBS will automatically word wrap each line at sixty characters. Because of this relatively short line length, lines of text are sent back and forth at a fairly quick rate and aid in the flow of the conversation. While the caller is actually entering text TriBBS will not scan for any chat text from the other node until the caller has stopped entering text either by pressing the <ENTER> key or erasing whatever text is on the current line with the <BACKSPACE> key. This is done so that the text the caller is typing won't be garbled by incoming messages. The caller may leave chat mode by simply entering the word EXIT by itself. As soon as the caller leaves chat mode, the other caller will be informed by an appropriate message. Group chat is very similar to node chat except for any caller on any node can enter group chat at anytime. Therefore, the number of The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 114 callers in group chat at any one time is only limited by the BBS's number of nodes. Note that unlike node chat nobody is paged when a caller enters group chat. However, like node chat, appropriate messages are sent to all nodes in group chat whenever a caller either enters or exits group chat. Text entry is performed exactly as with node chat. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 115 HIGH-SPEED MODEMS ----------------- Because the price of high-speed modems has been dropping steadily over the past year or so, many sysops have decided to take the plunge and purchase either a V.32 or V.32bis modem. Unfortunately, most new owners of high-speed modems quickly find that setting up a high-speed modem can be rather confusing at first. This confusion occurs because most sysops have never had any experience with locking a serial port. Although locking a serial port is a very simple thing to do, modem manuals generally assume that the modem owner knows all about the subject. The first step in understanding how a serial port is locked requires you to understand a little communications-related terminology and some of the reasons why it is beneficial to lock a serial port. First of all, a modem is considered data communications equipment (DCE) and the computer is considered data terminal equipment (DTE). When your modem is communicating with another modem, there are essentially three links in the communication path: your computer and modem are talking to each other (DTE to DCE), the two modems are talking to each other (DCE to DCE), and the other person's computer is talking with their modem (DTE to DCE). When a DCE to DCE connection is established, the modem will send a CONNECT message to the computer. This CONNECT message tells the computer what baud rate the two modems are talking to each other at. Let's assume that your modem is a 9600 baud modem and that the caller is calling with a 2400 baud modem. In a case like this, the modems will establish a 2400 baud connection and your modem will send a CONNECT 2400 baud message to your computer. If your serial port isn't locked, the modem will switch the baud rate that it talks to the computer with to 2400. In turn, the computer's communication program (BBS software, terminal program, etc.) will set the computer's serial port for 2400 baud. At this point, both the DTE to DCE and the DCE to DCE baud rates will be set for 2400 baud. Now lets assume that the serial port is locked at 19200 baud. When your 9600 baud modem establishes the 2400 baud connection, it will once again send a CONNECT 2400 baud message to your computer. However, this time the modem will maintain the 19200 baud connection it has with the computer instead of dropping down to 2400 baud. Likewise, the computer's communication program will not lower the computer's serial port to 2400 baud. So with a locked serial port, the DTE to DCE baud rate will be 19200 and the DCE to DCE baud rate will be 2400. Why would you want to lock your serial port? Error correction and data compression are the two best reasons. Error correcting connections can transmit data about 20 percent faster than non- error correcting connections. Also through data compression, modems can send data up to four times faster than without data compression. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 116 Therefore, it is possible for an error correcting connection to be sending data much faster than the DCE to DCE baud rate. So that data will not be lost between the computer and the modem, the DTE to DCE baud rate must be higher than the DCE to DCE baud rate. Generally, high-speed modems are locked at either 19200 baud or 38400 baud. So, how is a serial port locked? The first step is to tell your modem to maintain the DTE to DCE link at a constant baud rate and to report DCE to DCE baud rates in the CONNECT string. Additionally, you should always use RTS/CTS hardware data flow control with an error correcting modem. To configure your modem to perform these actions, you need to either add a couple of AT commands to your initialization string or save the proper AT commands in your modem's NRAM settings. Unfortunately, there is no set standard for the AT commands that perform these actions. Consequently, you'll have to either consult the modem's manual or contact the modem's manufacturer to determine the appropriate AT commands you need to use. After you've correctly configured your modem, you need to configure the computer's communications program. Simply tell the communication program that the serial port is to be locked and that hardware data flow control is to be used. Believe it or not, that's all there is to locking a serial port. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 117 SUPPORT ------- You may obtain assistance with a TriBBS related problem by calling The Lobster Buoy at 207-941-0805. This is the home board for TriBBS. You may also call any other TriBBS support board for assistance. TriBBS support boards are indicated in the list of registered boards that is included in the TriBBS archives. If you are having a problem with TriBBS, please try to be as specific as possible. Please don't say something like "I can't get doors to work". Unfortunately, statements like that are all too common and do nothing to help resolve the problem. Instead, try to explain as best you can exactly what is happening when you try to run a door and ZIP up and upload your door batch files and door menu configuration file. Screen captures can be very helpful when trying to diagnose a problem. So if you can, log on remotely and capture a session that will illustrate the problem. If you are unable to log on remotely, ask one of your users for help. Most problems can be cured in one message if the problem is explained in enough detail. However, if you do not provide specific details, it can take many messages and a lot of frustration before resolving the problem. Also, READ THIS MANUAL!!!!!!!!! When they become necessary, minor updates, such as 4.01, 4.02, 4.03, etc., will be available for download from a TriBBS support board. I will upload major updates, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, etc., to a number of major bulletin boards and online services across the country. Either way, it is your responsibility to obtain the latest version of TriBBS. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 118 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 119 REGISTRATION ------------ Registration of TriBBS is only $75.00. Please use the form at the end of this manual to register your board. When you register TriBBS, you will receive the latest version of TriBBS on disk, a printed manual, and an encrypted key file called TRIBBS.KEY. All you have to do is copy TRIBBS.KEY into node 1's main directory and voila instant registered copy. TRIBBS.KEY can also be used to instantly register all future versions of TriBBS. If you find that TriBBS is the BBS for you, then please register it. I have tried to make TriBBS a quality product. It has taken hundreds (more likely thousands at this point) of hours of programming and testing to get TriBBS to where it is today. So please support past, present, and future TriBBS development by registering your copy today. Just consider how much a commercial software product of TriBBS's quality would cost you. By comparison, TriBBS is quite a bargain. IMPORTANT: The shareware version of TriBBS is NOT (I repeat NOT) crippled in any way. The registered version and the shareware version are one and the same program. All features are enabled with the shareware version. I've had many people ask me if the shareware version of TriBBS is crippled. It is NOT. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 120 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 121 FILE FORMATS ------------ In order to encourage third-party development of TriBBS-related utilities and doors, this section details the file formats TriBBS uses. You should note that TriBBS is written in C++ and as such all data types are C data types. For example, all strings are null- terminated C strings. SYSDAT1.DAT ----------- Is the system configuration file and is located in node 1's main directory. It uses the following format: Byte Data Description Position Type 1 to 41 char [41] The board's name. 42 to 82 char [41] The sysop's name. 83 to 91 char [9] The board's starting date. 92 to 95 char [4] The board's default file extension. Must be ZIP, ARJ, LZH, PAK, SDN, or ARC. 96 to 97 int Total number of nodes. 98 to 99 int The number of today's calls. 100 to 101 int The number of messages posted today. 102 to 103 int The number of uploads today. 104 to 105 int The number of downloads today. 106 to 107 int The default daily time limit. 108 to 109 int The default number of daily calls. 110 to 111 int The maximum time per call. 112 to 113 int The minimum sysop security level. 114 to 115 int The new user security level. 116 to 117 int The new user daily time limit. 118 to 119 int Upload time compensation ratio. 120 to 121 int Maximum no keyboard input time in minutes. 122 to 125 long The total number of calls. 126 to 127 int US phone number flag. If TRUE, use US phone number format. If FALSE, don't use US phone number format. 128 to 129 int Test uploads flag. If TRUE, scan uploads for viruses. If FALSE, don't scan uploads for viruses. 130 to 131 int Auto ANSI detection flag. If TRUE, do auto ANSI autodetect. If FALSE, prompt user for ANSI color graphics. 132 to 133 int Waiting message flag. If TRUE, check for waiting messages. If FALSE, don't check for waiting messages. 134 to 149 char [16] The system password. 150 to 151 int The board's file/byte ratio type. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 122 152 to 153 int Phone on hook during maintenance flag. 154 to 155 int No one word names flag. 156 to 157 int No bulletin menu at log on flag. 158 to 159 int Aliases allowed flag. 160 to 161 int Clear screen before displaying internally generated menu screens. 162 to 163 int Exact file name matching for upload dupe checking. 164 to 165 int Disable the new user birth date question flag. 166 to 167 int Disable detailed log entries flag. 168 to 256 char [89] Reserved for future use. All zeros. SYSDAT2.DAT ----------- Is TriBBS's means for accessing the system data and main work directory between nodes and is located in each node's main directory. It uses the following format: Byte Data Description Position Type 1 to 81 char [81] The path to node 1's main directory. 82 to 256 char [175] Reserved for future use. All zeros. NODE.DAT -------- Is the node configuration file and is located in each node's main directory. It uses the following format: Byte Data Description Position Type 1 to 81 char [81] The modem's initialization string. 82 to 86 char [5] The error correcting connection message. 87 to 95 char [9] The date of the last call. 96 to 97 int The node number. 98 to 99 unsigned The modem's maximum baud rate. 100 to 101 int The modem's serial port. 102 to 103 int No 300 baud callers flag. If TRUE, TriBBS will not allow 300 baud callers to log on. If FALSE, TriBBS will accept 300 baud calls. 104 to 105 int No 1200 baud callers flag. 106 to 107 int RTS/CTS handshaking flag. 108 to 109 int Locked serial port flag. 110 to 111 int Direct screen write flag. 112 to 113 int The tenths of a second delay before sending ATA. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 123 114 to 115 int The number of RINGs to be received before sending ATA. 116 to 117 int Page bell flag. 118 to 119 int Use node DISPLAY directory flag. 120 to 121 int The node's minimum security level. 122 to 123 int No 2400 baud callers flag. 124 to 125 int Phone off hook during events flag. 126 to 256 char [131] Reserved for future use. All zeros. USERS.DAT --------- Is TriBBS's user records file and is located in node 1's MWORK directory. Each user record is as follows: Byte Data Description Position Type 1 to 31 char [31] The user's name. 32 to 47 char [16] The user's password. 48 to 78 char [31] The user's city and state. 79 to 91 char [13] The user's phone number. 92 to 100 char [9] The user's date of birth. 101 to 109 char [9] The date of the user's first call. 110 to 124 char [15] The date and time of the user's last call. 125 to 133 char [9] The date of the user's last new file check. 134 to 135 int The user's security level. 136 to 137 int The user's number of calls. 138 to 139 int The amount of time remaining today. 140 to 141 int The user's last message conference. 142 to 143 int The user's last file area. 144 to 145 int The user's default protocol. 146 to 147 int The user's expert mode flag. 148 to 149 int The user's locked out flag. 150 to 151 int Marked for deletion flag. 152 to 153 int The user's number of calls today. 154 to 155 int Reserved for TriMail. 156 to 157 int Reserved for TriMail. 158 to 159 int Reserved for TriMail. 160 to 161 int Reserved for TriMail. 162 to 163 int Reserved for TriMail. 164 to 165 int Reserved for TriMail. 166 to 169 long The user's number of uploads. 170 to 173 long The user's number of downloads. 174 to 177 long The user's K bytes uploaded. 178 to 181 long The user's K bytes download. 182 to 185 long The user's number of messages posted. 186 to 187 int The user's default editor. 188 to 189 int The user's initial multinode chat status. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 124 190 to 191 int The user's waiting message check flag. 192 to 200 char [9] The user's subscription expiration date. 201 to 231 char [31] The user's alias. 232 to 256 char [25] Reserved for future use. All zeros. USERS.IDX and ALIAS.IDX ----------------------- Is the user and alias index files and are located in node 1's MWORK directory. These files are sorted in ascending order according to the user's 32-bit CRC. Each record has the following format: Byte Data Description Position Type 1 to 4 unsigned long 32-bit CRC of the user's name or alias. 5 to 6 int The user's record number in USERS.DAT. USERS.SUP --------- Is the user's supplemental information file. For each user, TriBBS creates a set of message records and file records. The message records use the following format: Byte Data Description Position Type 1 to 2 int Conference queued flag. 3 to 4 int Access to private conference flag. 5 to 8 long Number of last message read. 9 to 10 int Waiting message counter. The file records used the following format: Byte Data Description Position Type 1 to 2 int Access to private file area flag. The size of each individual user's record is calculated as follows (sizeof(message record) * number of message conferences) + (sizeof(file record) * number of file areas). The following shows the record structure for a board with three message conferences and two file areas: Message conference # 1 record Message conference # 2 record Message conference # 3 record File area # 1 record File area # 2 record The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 125 This above illustration would have a record length of (10 * 3) + (2 * 2) or 34. MCONF.DAT --------- Is TriBBS's message conference configuration file and is located in node 1's MWORK directory. Each conference record is as follows: Byte Data Description Position Type 1 to 2 int The conference's read security level. 3 to 4 int The conference's net mail flag. 5 to 6 int The conference's user delete messages flag. 7 to 8 int The conference's backup flag. If TRUE, TRIPACK will backup the message conference before packing it. If FALSE, TRIPACK will not backup the message conference. 9 to 10 int The number of days messages are to be save for. Tells TRIPACK when messages are old enough to be deleted. 11 to 12 int Private message conference flag. 13 to 14 int The conference's Fido-style netmail flag. 15 to 16 int Alias conference flag. 17 to 18 int The conference's post security level. 19 to 20 int Do not allow private messages flag. 21 to 61 char [41] The conference's description. 62 to 102 char [41] The conference's network name. 103 to 106 long The conference's highest message number. 107 to 256 char [150] Reserved for future use. All zeroes. Mnnnn.PTR --------- Is a message conference's pointer file and is located in node 1's MWORK directory. Where the conference number is specified by nnnn and is a number from 0001 to 9999. Each message in the conference will have a record with the following format: Byte Data Description Position Type 1 to 15 char [15] The date and time the message was saved. 16 to 46 char [31] The name of the message's sender. 47 to 77 char [31] The name of who the message is to. 78 to 118 char [41] The message's subject. 119 to 120 int The message's echo flag. 121 to 122 int The message's thread flag. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 126 123 to 124 int The message's private flag. 125 to 126 int The message's deleted flag. 127 to 128 int The message's received flag. 129 to 130 int The message's permanent flag. 131 to 132 int Netmail "from" zone. 133 to 134 int Netmail "from" net. 135 to 136 int Netmail "from" node. 137 to 138 int Netmail "from" point. 139 to 140 int Netmail "to" zone. 141 to 142 int Netmail "to" net. 143 to 144 int Netmail "to" node. 145 to 146 int Netmail "to" point. 147 to 150 long The message's position in Mnnnn.TXT. 151 to 154 long The message's number. 155 to 158 long If the message is a response to a previous message, this value will hold the original message's number. Otherwise, this will be 0. Mnnnn.IDX --------- Is a message conference's index file and is located in node 1's MWORK directory. Where the conference number is specified by nnnn and is a number form 0001 to 9999. Each message in the conference will have a record with the following format: Byte Data Description Position Type 1 to 4 unsigned long 32-bit CRC of the message sender's name. 5 to 8 unsigned long 32-bit CRC of the message addressee's name. 9 to 12 long The message's number. 13 to 16 long If the message is a response to a previous message, this value will hold the original message's number. Otherwise, this will be 0. Mnnnn.TXT --------- Is the message conference's text file and is located in node 1's MWORK directory. Where the conference number is specified by nnnn and is a number from 0001 to 9999. The start of each message is pointed to by an appropriate pointer in the conference's Mnnnn.PTR file. Each message is saved using the following format: Byte Data Description Position Type The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 127 1 to 2 int The message's length. 3 to 4 int Compressed/uncompressed flag. 1 indicates a compressed message and 0 indicates an uncompressed message. 5 to ... char [length] The message's compressed or uncompressed text. As the above data structure indicates, TriBBS can save a message's text in either a compressed or uncompressed state. Because of the way LZS data compression works, a short message may actually grow in length when compressed. Therefore, TriBBS will attempt to compress all messages. If the message's compressed length is shorter than the message's uncompressed length, the message will be saved in a compressed state. Otherwise, TriBBS saves the message in its uncompressed state to conserve on disk space. FAREA.DAT --------- Is TriBBS's file area configuration file and is located in node 1's MWORK directory. Each file area record is as follows: Byte Data Description Position Type 1 to 2 int The file area's minimum security level. 3 to 4 int The file area's sort flag. TRUE if sort by file name. FALSE if sort by date. 5 to 6 int Private file area flag. 7 to 47 char [41] The file area's description. 48 to 128 char [81] The file area's path. 129 to 209 char [81] The file area's upload path. 210 to 290 char [81] The file area's file list. 291 to 371 char [81] The file area's upload file list. 372 to 373 int CD-ROM file area flag. 374 to 375 int Alias file area flag. 376 to 456 char [81] The file area's index file, if any. 457 to 512 char [56] Reserved for future use. All zeros. EVENTS.DAT ---------- Is a node's event configuration file and is located in the node's NWORK directory. Each event record is as follows: Byte Data Description Position Type 1 to 2 int The event's day of the week. 3 to 4 int The event's executed today flag. 5 to 6 int The sliding event flag. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 128 7 to 12 char [6] The event's time. 13 to 21 char [9] The event's batch file. TRIBBS.SYS ---------- Is TriBBS's proprietary door data file. It is an ASCII text file and uses the following format: 1 <- The user's record number Mark Goodwin <- The user's name Something <- The user's password 200 <- The user's security level Y <- Y for Expert, N for Novice Y <- Y for ANSI, N for monochrome 60 <- Minutes left for this call 207-941-0805 <- The user's phone number Bangor, Me <- The user's city and state 10/19/56 <- The user's birth date 1 <- The node number 1 <- The serial port 2400 <- Baud rate or 0 for local 38400 <- Locked rate or 0 for not locked Y <- Y for RTS/CTS, N for no RTS/CTS N <- Y for error correcting or N Unnamed BBS <- The board's name Joe Sysop <- The sysop's name Programmer <- The user's alias. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 129 COLOR CODES ----------- The following is a list of color codes TriBBS uses in its menu configuration files: Background Color Foreground Color ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 0 - Black 0 - Black 1 - Blue 1 - Blue 2 - Green 2 - Green 3 - Cyan 3 - Cyan 4 - Red 4 - Red 5 - Magenta 5 - Magenta 6 - Brown 6 - Brown 7 - White 7 - White 8 - Black Blink 8 - Dark Grey 9 - Blue Blink 9 - Light Blue 10 - Green Blink 10 - Light Green 11 - Cyan Blink 11 - Light Cyan 12 - Red Blink 12 - Light Red 13 - Magenta Blink 13 - Light Magenta 14 - Brown Blink 14 - Yellow 15 - White Blink 15 - Bright White ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: The "Blink" background mean that the foreground character will blink on and off when the background is set to one of the background color codes 8 through 15. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 130 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 131 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS -------------------------- Q. I want to be able to drop to DOS remotely, but TriBBS doesn't seem to support this feature. Can I remotely drop to DOS with TriBBS? A. Because of TriBBS's ability to add commands to the Sysop menu, there really isn't any need to put a drop to DOS function directly into the BBS software. If this is a feature you can't live without, setup either REMDoor or Doorway (both are available for download off of The Lobster Buoy) as a command off of the Sysop menu. Both will allow you to perform just about any DOS command line task. Q. I'd like to be able to setup a DOS program, such as a database, as a door. Can this be done? A. A true door program either has it's own communication routines written into it or uses a FOSSIL driver (a device driver that provides communication routines to programs) to communicate with the remote computer. Unfortunately, the average DOS program doesn't have the ability to communicate through the serial port. However, the program Doorway (available for download off of The Lobster Buoy) will allow you to run just about any DOS program as a door. Q. I marked a user's record for deletion but it's still in the user file? A. For efficiency reasons, a user's record will not be physically deleted from the user file until you actually pack the user file. By marking a user's record for deletion you are telling TriBBS to delete the record the next time the user file is packed. Q. I want to run TriBBS under Windows but all I get is a blank screen with the cursor in the upper left hand corner? A. Windows has a strange quirk in it that requires you to load SHARE.EXE into memory even if you don't plan on running a multinode system. Q. I have a custom bulletin or door bulletin menu and whenever a caller tries to display a bulletin TriBBS tells him that it's an invalid bulletin number. What's wrong? The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 132 A. You need to create either a BULLETIN.MNU or DOORBULL.MNU file in the node's NWORK directory. Q. When I lock my port at either 38400 or 57600 baud, serial communications are very erratic but at 19200 baud everything is ok. What's wrong? A. Unfortunately, your computer has an old 8250 type UART that doesn't support high-speed serial communication. For reliable operation at higher speeds you should invest in a serial card with a 16550 UART. It may also be possible to just replace the 8250 UART on your current serial card with a 16550. Q. Under DOS TriBBS runs fine, but when I'm running it under a multitasker (DesqView, Windows, OS/2 2.0, etc.), the board seems to lose characters and there are a lot of errors during file transfers. What's wrong? A. Your computer has either an 8250 or 16450 UART. You should upgrade your serial card to one with a 16550 UART. A 16550 UART has what are caller FIFO buffers that will temporarily hold incoming and outgoing character while the BBS is either in the background or when the multitasker is switching tasks. It may also be possible to just replace the 8250 or 16450 UART on your current serial card with a 16550. Q. Can TriBBS be run on a computer that uses a disk compression program like Stacker? A. Yes. Although, you shouldn't expect to get anywhere near the 2:1 compression ratio on a BBS computer that the disk compressors routinely provide on other computers. The reason for this is because a BBS computer will have many already compressed files on its hard drive and compressed data doesn't usually recompress much smaller. So look for some benefit from a program like Stacker, but don't expect too much. Q. A caller has selected more than one file to be downloaded. How come TriBBS won't let him use either Xmodem or Xmodem-1K to download the files? A. You must remember that Xmodem and Xmodem-1K are not batch protocols. By that I mean that they can only transmit one file at a time. Therefore, TriBBS will ask the caller to pick from one of its available batch file transfer protocols (Ymodem, Zmodem, etc.). The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 133 Q. I would like to be able to use TriMan and FileMan remotely. Is there a way? A. You can setup both TriMan and FileMan as an extension off of the Sysop menu with the program Doorway (available for download off of The Lobster Buoy). Although, I do not recommend the use of either, especially TriMan, remotely. If you are not very careful, you could very easily corrupt your data files. So unless you are very experienced with TriBBS and fully understand how all of the data files interact, I do not recommend that you ever use TriMan remotely. Do not ever under any circumstances add, insert, or delete either a message conference or a file area remotely. Such an action will almost certainly corrupt your data files. Q. I want to backup my board on a daily basis, but I really don't have the time or the floppy disks to back up the whole thing every day. What's the minimum amount of files I need to back up and not lose my whole system if it should crash? A. As a minimal backup you should backup your SYSDAT1.DAT, SYSDAT2.DAT, NODE.DAT, MWORK\USERS.DAT, MWORK\USERS.SUP, MWORK\USERS.IDX, MWORK\ALIAS.IDX, MWORK\MCONF.DAT, MWORK\FAREA.DAT, NWORK\*.*, DISPLAY\*.*, and all of the batch file in your node's main directory. With such a backup available, you may lose your message base and/or your file areas, but you will still have all of your system data files, user information, and display screens available should the need ever arise. If you have a really small message base, you may want to just backup the entire MWORK directory. You may also want to maintain a backup of your file lists. They will come in very handy should you have to rebuild one or more file areas. Q. I think I've found a bug. What information do you need to fix it? A. Because no computer program is perfect, you may run across a bug in TriBBS sooner or later. If you should find a bug, it is extremely helpful if you can describe how it can be duplicated every time. A bug can usually be fixed very quickly if I'm able to duplicate it, but it can take a long time to track down if there even is a bug at all. Even if you can't duplicate, please let me know about any suspected bugs you might find. Sometimes it's possible for me to determine a pattern that causes a bug if more than one person has found the bug and they provide sufficient detail for me to find a similar pattern between the two systems. Q. I would like to join a netmail network. What programs do I need? The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 134 A. This greatly depends on the method the network uses to pass mail from one system to another. TriBBS supports three major types of netmail networks: PCRelay or Postlink networks, QWK-based networks, and Fido-style networks. To join a PCRelay or Postlink network, you need to purchase a copy of either PCRelay or Postlink and use the TriBBS UTI. To join a QWK-based network, you'll need to use TriNet if you are going to be just a node or you'll need to use TriNet and TriMail if you are going to be a hub as well as a node. To join a Fido-style network, you'll need a frontend mailer (FrontDoor, BinkleyTerm, etc.), a tosser/scanner (CONFMAIL, TosScan, GEcho, Squish, etc.) and TriDog. You should note that the TriBBS UTI, TriNet, TriMail, and TriDog are written by myself and are freeware. You can obtain copies of any of my programs on The Lobster Buoy. I also maintain a pretty good selection of frontend mailers and tosser/scanners on my board. If you are interested in PCRelay or Postlink network, you will need to contact the person who runs the net your interested in about obtaining a copy of those programs. The reason for this is because both PCRelay and Postlink are commercial programs. Q. Sometimes my board will crash either during the night or when I'm not around. Is there a way to prevent this? A. All boards will crash from time to time. Doors, in particular, are notorious for locking up computers. If you experience frequent crashes, try to see if it's a certain door that's causing the problem or perhaps a TSR that's the guilty culprit. If you can locate the frequent offender, the simplest solution is to get rid of it. As an added precaution, you may want to try using a program like Watchdog or Watchkit on your system. Both of these programs can reboot your computer when they detect a loss of carrier in a door or after the phone has been ringing for a specified number of times. If you're running your board under DesqView, you may want to try out Autoboot. Autoboot provides essentially the same operations that Watchdog and Watchkit do, but for just a DesqView task. Q. I'm running my system under a multitasker and sometimes callers are incorrectly booted off the system for "No keyboard input timeout". A. Unfortunately, this seems to be a problem with "some" 386 and 486 machines. TriBBS will behave just fine under straight DOS on these machines, but will behave erratically when run under a multitasking environment on the same machine. About the only solution for this type of problem is to disable TriBBS's check to keyboard input timeouts by setting this value to 0 in the system configuration. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 135 Q. I have a monochrome VGA system and when I run TriBBS, I either can't see anything or can only see what I think is a small part of the Waiting for Callers screen. What's wrong? A. Some monochrome VGA systems don't use the area of video RAM that TriBBS expects it to be using. Simply run the DOS commands MODE BW80 or MODE CO80 before running BOARD.BAT. Probably the best thing is to just put the appropriate MODE command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Q. When I try to run a door, TriBBS tries to run an event, or try to configure my system from the Waiting for Caller screen, it stops running and just sits there at the DOS prompt. What's wrong? A. You are running TriBBS through BBS.EXE and not through BOARD.BAT. You must run it through BOARD.BAT for TriBBS to be able to perform these operations. Q. I'm running a multinode system and when I configure the system from node 1's Waiting for Caller screen everything works fine, but when I try configuring the board from another node TriMan runs fine but when I'm returned to the Waiting for Caller screen I'm returned to node 1's Waiting for Caller screen. What's wrong? A. In order to run TriMan from the Waiting for Caller screen, TriBBS creates a dummy event batch file and in the batch file is a call to BOARD.BAT to restart the node. You are probably calling your BOARD.BAT file for node 2 something like BOARD2.BAT and node 1's BOARD.BAT file is called BOARD.BAT and is somewhere in your DOS PATH. Simply do all configuration from node 1 or rename your BOARD.BAT files for the other nodes to BOARD.BAT. Q. The manual says that TriBBS can run PCBoard doors, but I can't for the life of me get a PCBoard callback verification door to work with TriBBS. What am I doing wrong? A. Although, TriBBS can create the necessary door data files for many other BBS systems, such as PCBoard, some doors are very specific to a certain brand of BBS software. For example, a callback verification door needs to be able to access the PCBoard user files. TriBBS and PCBoard have a totally different file structure for their user files so the callback door can't possibly be forced to run on a TriBBS system. So although you can run most doors that are written for other systems, there are a few that you can only run if you are running the BBS software they were originally written for. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 136 Q. Some of my callers are complaining that there are parts missing from some of their display screens. What's wrong? A. If this is a consistent problem, it is probably a flow control problem. If you have an error correcting modem, be sure that RTS/CTS flow control is enabled for both TriBBS and the modem. If this is already set or you don't have an error correcting modem, suggest to your caller that he should enable RTS/CTS flow control if he has an error correcting modem and XON/XOFF flow control also. This should clear up any flow control problems like this. If it's an infrequent problem, it could just be line noise. Q. My modem detects a ring but doesn't answer the phone. What's wrong? A. Some modems can't accept the ATA command (the command that TriBBS uses to answer the phone) as fast as the computer can send it to it right after the modem sends a RING message. You need to adjust the delay before ATA in the node configuration to a higher value. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 137 INDEX ----- /B command line switch . . . 7 @SECBYTERATIO@ . . . . . . . 42 /C command line switch . . . 6 @SECFILERATIO@ . . . . . . . 42 /F command line switch . . 101 @SECURITY@ . . . . . . . . . 42 /H command line switch . . 102 @SUBSCRIPTIONDATE@ . . . . . 42 /I command line switch . . . 22 @SYSTEMCALLS@ . . . . . . . . 42 /T command line switch . . 102 @SYSTEMCALLSTODAY@ . . . . . 42 <ALT><C> . . . . . . . . . 107 @SYSTEMDATE@ . . . . . . . . 42 <ALT><D> . . . . . . . . . 107 @SYSTEMTIME@ . . . . . . . . 42 <ESC> . . . . . . . . . . . 107 @TIMELEFT@ . . . . . . . . . 42 <F1> . . . . . . . . . . . 107 @TIMEON@ . . . . . . . . . . 42 <F2> . . . . . . . . . . . 107 @TIMETHISCALL@ . . . . . . . 42 <F3> . . . . . . . . . . . 107 @TOTALNODES@ . . . . . . . . 42 <F4> . . . . . . . . . . . 107 @UPLOADS@ . . . . . . . . . . 42 <F5> . . . . . . . . . . . 107 @UPLOADSTODAY@ . . . . . . . 42 <F6> . . . . . . . . . . . 107 @USER@ . . . . . . . . . . . 42 <F7> . . . . . . . . . . . 107 1/10 Sec. Delay For ATA . . . 22 <F8> . . . . . . . . . 47, 107 16450 . . . . . . . . . . . 132 <F9> . . . . . . . . . . . 107 16550 . . . . . . . . . . . 132 <HOME> . . . . . . . . . . 107 8250 . . . . . . . . . . . 132 @-Variables . . . . . . . . . 41 Address . . . . . . . . . . . 77 @ALIAS@ . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Alias . . 20, 25, 30, 32, 56, 77 @BAUDRATE@ . . . . . . . . . 41 Alias Conference . . . . . . 30 @BEEP@ . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Alias File Area . . . . . . . 32 @BOARDNAME@ . . . . . . . . . 41 ALIAS.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 47 @BREAKOFF@ . . . . . . . . . 41 ALIAS.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 47 @BREAKON@ . . . . . . . . . . 41 ALIAS.IDX . . . . . . . . . 124 @BYTERATIO@ . . . . . . . . . 41 Allow 1200 Baud Callers . . . 23 @CALLS@ . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Allow 2400 Baud Callers . . . 23 @CALLSTODAY@ . . . . . . . . 41 Allow 300 Baud Callers . . . 23 @CITY@ . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Allow Aliases . . . . . . . . 20 @CLS@ . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Allow One Word Names . . . . 19 @DOWNLOADS@ . . . . . . . . . 41 Allow Private Posts . . . . . 30 @DOWNLOADSTODAY@ . . . . . . 41 ANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 @FILERATIO@ . . . . . . . . . 41 ANSI . . . . 18, 41, 49, 55, 61 @FIRST@ . . . . . . . . . . . 41 ARC . . . . . . . . 18, 68, 103 @HANGUP@ . . . . . . . . . . 41 Archive Testing . . . . . . 103 @KDOWNLOADED@ . . . . . . . . 41 ARJ . . . . . . . . 18, 68, 103 @KUPLOADED@ . . . . . . . . . 41 ARJ.EXE . . . . . . . . 68, 103 @LASTDATEON@ . . . . . . . . 41 AT commands . . . . . . . . 116 @LASTTIMEON@ . . . . . . . . 42 Auto ANSI Detection . . . . . 18 @MESSAGES@ . . . . . . . . . 42 Autoboot . . . . . . . . . 134 @MESSAGESTODAY@ . . . . . . . 42 AUTOEXEC.BAT . . . 9, 111, 135 @MORE@ . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Backup . . . . . . . . . . 133 @MOREOFF@ . . . . . . . . . . 42 Batch file . . . . . 33, 70, 83 @MOREON@ . . . . . . . . . . 42 BBS Starting Date . . . . . . 16 @NODE@ . . . . . . . . . . . 42 BBS.EXE . . . . . 5, 8, 102, 111 @ORIGINAL@ . . . . . . . . . 42 BBSNEWS.ANS . . . . . . . . . 43 @PAUSE@ . . . . . . . . . . . 42 BBSNEWS.BBS . . . . . . . . . 43 @PHONE@ . . . . . . . . . . . 42 BETWEEN.BAT . . . . . . . 83, 87 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 138 BinkleyTerm . . . . . . 101, 134 DELETED.ANS . . . . . . . . . 47 Birth Date . . . . . . . . . 26 DELETED.BBS . . . . . . . . . 47 Board Name . . . . . . . . . 16 DESC.SDI . . . . . . . . . . 67 BOARD.BAT . 5, 8, 70, 101, 102, DesqView . . . . . 18, 111, 132 111, 135 Direct Screen Writes . . . . 23 Bulletin Menu . . . . 44, 51, 54 DIRSALL.ANS . . . . . . . . . 47 Bulletin Menu at Logon . . . 19 DIRSALL.BBS . . . . . . . . . 47 BULLETIN.ANS . . . . . . . . 44 DIRSn.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 47 BULLETIN.BBS . . . . . . . . 44 DIRSn.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 47 BULLETIN.MNU . . . . . 51, 132 Disable Birthday Question . . 20 Bulletins . . . . . . . . . . 44 Disable Detailed Log . . . . 20 Bulletins in QWK . . . . . . 28 DISPLAY . . . . . . 7, 8, 23, 44 BULLETn.ANS . . . . . . . . . 44 DLIMITS.DAT . . . . . . 17, 105 BULLETn.BBS . . . . . . . . . 44 Door . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Busy Call Forwarding . . . 113 Door Bulletin Menu . . . 46, 71 Busy During Events . . . . . 24 Door Menu . . . . . . 45, 54, 69 CALLERS.LOG . . . . . . . . . 38 DOOR.SYS . . . . . . . . . . 69 CALLINFO.BBS . . . . . . . . 69 DOORALL.ANS . . . . . . . . . 45 Calls Today . . . . . . . . . 26 DOORALL.BBS . . . . . . . . . 45 CCTOAT.EXE . . . . . . . . . 42 DOORBULL.ANS . . . . . . . . 46 CD-ROM . . . . . . . . . 32, 87 DOORBULL.BBS . . . . . . . . 46 CD-ROM File Area . . . . . . 32 DOORBULL.MNU . . . . . 71, 132 Change Conference . . . . . . 59 DOORn.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 45 Change File Area . . . . . . 66 DOORn.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 45 Chat . . . . . . . . . 47, 107 Doors . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Chat status . . . . . . . . . 56 DOORS.MNU . . . . . . . . . . 69 Check for waiting messages . 56 DOORS.TMP . . . . . . . . . 102 Check for Waiting Msgs . . . 27 Doorway . . . . . . . . 131, 133 City, State . . . . . . . 26, 56 DORINFO#.DEF . . . . . . . . 69 Clear Screen Before Menu . . 20 DOWNALL.ANS . . . . . . . . . 45 Color codes . . . . . . . . 129 DOWNALL.BBS . . . . . . . . . 45 COM . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Download display screen . . . 45 Comment . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Download File . . . . . . . . 67 Comment Screen . . . . . . . 47 Downloads . . . . . . . . . . 78 COMMENT.ANS . . . . . . . . . 47 DOWNn.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 45 COMMENT.BBS . . . . . . . . . 47 DOWNn.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 45 Conference Description . . . 29 DRBULLn.ANS . . . . . . . . . 46 Configure Node . . . . . . . 37 DRBULLn.BBS . . . . . . . . . 46 Configure System . . . . . . 38 Drop to DOS . . . . 37, 107, 131 CONFMAIL . . . . . . . . . 134 DSZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 CONNECT . . . . . . . . . . 115 DTE . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Control codes . . . . . . . . 42 EBATCH.DAT . . . . . . . . . 91 Daily Limits . . . . . . . 105 Edit Conferences . . . . . . 38 Daily Logon Limit . . . . . . 17 Edit Events . . . . . . . 38, 79 Daily Time Limit . . . . . . 17 Edit File Areas . . . . . 38, 79 Date of First Call . . . . . 26 Edit Message Conferences . . 79 Date of Last File Check . . . 26 Edit Users . . . . . . . 38, 77 DCE . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Enter a Message . . . . . . . 59 Default Archive Ext . . . . . 18 Error correcting Default Editor . . . . . 27, 56 connections . . . 115 Default Protocol . . . . 27, 56 Error Correcting Message . 22, Delete During Next Pack . . . 26 102 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 139 Event . . . . . . . . . . . 135 FRONTEND.ANS . . . . . . . . 47 Event Already Executed FRONTEND.BBS . . . . . . . . 47 Today . . . . . . . 34 FSCREEN.ANS . . . . . . . . . 48 Event Day . . . . . . . . . . 33 FSCREEN.BBS . . . . . . . . . 48 Event File . . . . . . . . . 33 Full screen editor . . . . . 60 Event Slide . . . . . . . . . 34 GAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Event Time . . . . . . . . . 33 GEcho . . . . . . . . . . . 134 EVENTS.DAT . . . . . . . . 127 GOODBYE . . . 28, 57, 65, 68, 80 Exact Match for Dupes . . . . 20 Goodbye Display in QWK . . . 28 EXE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Goodbye screen . . . . . . . 43 Exit TriBBS . . . . . . . . . 39 GOODBYE.ANS . . . . . . . . . 43 Expert Mode . 26, 57, 64, 68, 79 GOODBYE.BBS . . . . . . . . . 43 EXPIRED.ANS . . . . . . . . . 48 Group chat . . . . . . . . 113 EXPIRED.BBS . . . . . . . . . 48 High-speed modems . . . . . 115 External protocols . . . . . 89 HS/Link . . . . . . . . . . . 91 EXTPROT.MNU . . . . . . . . . 89 Initial Baud Rate . . . . . . 22 FAREA.DAT . . . . . . . . . 127 Initialization String . . . . 21 Fido . . . . . . . . . 30, 134 INSTALL.EXE . . . . . . . . . 5 Fido-Style NetMail Conf . . . 30 Integrity and virus FIFO buffer . . . . . . . . 132 checking . . . . . 18 File Area Description . . . . 31 JOKER.DAT . . . . . . . . . 105 File Area File List . . . . . 32 K Bytes Downloaded . . . . . 27 File Area Index File . . . . 32 K Bytes Uploaded . . . . . . 27 File Area Path . . . . . . . 32 K Downloaded . . . . . . . . 78 File Area Security . . . . . 31 K Uploaded . . . . . . . . . 78 File Area Sort Type . . . . . 32 Keyboard Idle Timeout . . . . 18 File Area Upload List . . . . 32 LAN . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 File Area Upload Path . . . . 32 LANtastic . . . . . . . . . 112 File description . . . . . . 85 LHA.EXE . . . . . . 18, 68, 103 File Flagging . . . . . . . 108 Limiting Time . . . . . . . 102 File formats . . . . . . . 121 Line editor . . . . . . . . . 59 File Menu . . . . 45, 54, 65, 81 List Files . . . . . . . . . 66 File Ratio Type . . . . . . . 19 List of conferences . . . . . 46 File/byte ratio checking . . 48 List of file areas . . . . . 47 File/Byte Ratios . . . . 95, 96 List of Users . . . . . . . . 56 FILE_ID.DIZ . . . . . . . . . 67 Local-only node . . . . . . . 7 FILEALL.ANS . . . . . . . . . 45 Lock Serial Port . . . . . . 22 FILEALL.BBS . . . . . . . . . 45 Locked Out . . . . . . . . . 26 FILEh.BAT . . . . . . . . . . 81 LOCKOUT.ANS . . . . . . . . . 47 FileMan . . . . . . . . 85, 133 LOCKOUT.BBS . . . . . . . . . 47 FILEMAN.EXE . . . . . . . . . 5 Log on screens . . . . . . . 43 FILEn.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 45 LOGON . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 FILEn.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 45 LOGON.BAT . . . . . . . . . . 83 Files Downloaded . . . . . . 27 LOGONn.ANS . . . . . . . . . 43 Files Uploaded . . . . . . . 27 LOGONn.BBS . . . . . . . . . 43 FILES.MNU . . . . . . . . . . 65 LOWER.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 48 Forced Hang Up . . . . . . 102 LOWER.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 48 FOSSIL . . . . . . . . . . 131 LZH . . . . . . . . 18, 68, 103 FOYER . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Main Menu . 44, 53, 64, 68, 79, FREE.DAT . . . . . . . . . . 97 81 FrontDoor . . . . . . . 101, 134 MAIN.MNU . . . . . . . . . . 53 Frontend . . . . . . . . . 101 MAINALL.ANS . . . . . . . . . 44 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 140 MAINALL.BBS . . . . . . . . . 44 NEWUSER . . . . . . . . . . . 75 MAINh.BAT . . . . . . . . . . 81 NEWUSER.ANS . . . . . . . . . 44 MAINn.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 44 NEWUSER.BAT . . . . . . . . . 83 MAINn.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 44 NEWUSER.BBS . . . . . . . . . 44 MakeIdx . . . . . . . . . 32, 86 No keyboard input timeout . 134 Max Time Per Logon . . . . . 17 No. of Rings Before ATA . . . 23 MCONF.DAT . . . . . . . . . 125 Node chat . . . . . . . . . 113 MegaMail . . . . . . . . . . 69 Node Number . . . . . . . . . 23 Menu Configuration Files . . 8 Node Security Level . . . . . 23 Message Menu . . 44, 54, 57, 81 NODE.DAT . . . . . . . . 5, 122 MESSAGE.MNU . . . . . . . . . 57 NODOWN.ANS . . . . . . . . . 48 Messages . . . . . . . . . . 78 NODOWN.BBS . . . . . . . . . 48 Messages Posted . . . . . . . 27 NONEW.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 47 MESSALL.ANS . . . . . . . . . 44 NONEW.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 47 MESSALL.BBS . . . . . . . . . 44 NOTTHERE.ANS . . . . . . . . 47 MESSh.BAT . . . . . . . . . . 81 NOTTHERE.BBS . . . . . . . . 47 MESSn.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 44 NRAM . . . . . . . . . . . 116 MESSn.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 44 NSEC.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 43 Min Sysop Security Level . . 17 NSEC.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 43 Minutes Left Today . . . . . 26 NUKE.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 48 Mnnnn.IDX . . . . . . . . . 126 NUKE.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 48 Mnnnn.PTR . . . . . . . . . 125 NWORK . 7, 8, 89, 102, 111, 132 Mnnnn.TXT . . . . . . . . . 126 Obnoxious Callers . . . . . 105 MNU . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 OS/2 . . . . . . . 18, 111, 132 MODE BW80 . . . . . . . . . 135 Pack Message Base . . . . . . 39 MODE CO80 . . . . . . . . . 135 Pack User File . . . . . . . 38 Monochrome VGA . . . . . . 135 Page Bell . . . . . . . . . . 23 Move File . . . . . . . . . . 68 Page Sysop . . . 57, 65, 68, 79 MPt . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 PAK . . . . . . . . 18, 68, 103 Msg Pack Backup File . . . . 31 PAK.EXE . . . . . . 18, 68, 103 MSGALL.ANS . . . . . . . . . 46 Password . . . . . . 25, 56, 77 MSGALL.BBS . . . . . . . . . 46 PASSWORD.ANS . . . . . . . . 47 MSGn.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 46 PASSWORD.BBS . . . . . . . . 47 MSGn.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 46 PATH 19, 67, 68, 103, 109, 111 Multinode chat . . . . 56, 113 PCBoard . . . . . . . . . . . 69 MultiNode Chat Status . . . . 27 PCBOARD.DAT . . . . . . . . . 69 Multitasker . . . . . . 18, 134 PCBOARD.SYS . . . . . . . . . 69 MWORK . . . . 7, 38, 74, 95, 96 PCRelay . . . . . . . . . . 134 N.ANS . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 PENDING.ANS . . . . . . . . . 47 N.BBS . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 PENDING.BBS . . . . . . . . . 47 Name . . . . . . . . . . 25, 77 Phone Busy During Config . . 19 Network . . . . . . 28, 30, 133 Phone number . . . . . . . . 56 Networked Conference . . . . 30 PKUNZIP.EXE . . . . 18, 68, 103 New Files . . . . . . . . . . 67 PKZIP.EXE . . . . . . . . . . 68 New Files in QWK . . . . . . 28 Post Message Security . . . . 30 New Messages . . . . . . . . 63 Postlink . . . . . . . . . 134 New user screen . . . . . . . 44 Private Conference . . . . . 30 New User Security Level . . . 17 Private File Area . . . . . . 32 New User Time Limit . . . . . 17 PROECHO . . . . . . . . . . 112 Newsletter . . . . . . . 28, 55 Purge Msgs Older Than . . . . 30 Newsletter in QWK . . . . . . 28 QUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Newsletter log on screen . . 43 QUESTALL.ANS . . . . . . . . 46 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 141 QUESTALL.BBS . . . . . . . . 46 System Information . . . . . 56 QUESTION.MNU . . . . . . . . 73 System Password . . . . . . . 19 Questionnaire Menu . 46, 55, 73 TCHAT.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 48 Questionnaires . . . . . 55, 73 TCHAT.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 48 QUESTn.ANS . . . . . . . . . 46 TeleChat . . . . . . . . . 113 QUESTn.BBS . . . . . . . . . 46 TeleChat Menu . . . . . . . . 54 Quick Logon . . . . . . . . 107 Telephone Number . . . . . . 26 QWK . . . . . . . . 27, 28, 134 Test Uploads . . . . . . . . 18 QWK Mail Network Node . . . . 28 Text Search File Lists . . . 67 RAISE.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 48 The Modem Status Window . . . 39 RAISE.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 48 The Statistics Display . . . 39 RATIOS.DAT . . . . . . . 95, 96 TheDraw . . . . . . . . . . . 49 RBBS . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Time Left . . . . . . . . . . 78 Read Message Security . . . . 30 Time of Last Call . . . . . . 26 Read Messages . . . . . . . . 61 TOOLOW.ANS . . . . . . . . . 47 REM . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 TOOLOW.BBS . . . . . . . . . 47 REMDoor . . . . . . . . . . 131 TOOMANY.ANS . . . . . . . . . 47 Remove File . . . . . . . . . 68 TOOMANY.BBS . . . . . . . . . 47 Requirements . . . . . . . . 3 TosScan . . . . . . . . . . 134 RTS/CTS Flow Control . 22, 136 Total Calls . . . . . . . 17, 26 SCAN.EXE . . . . . . . 19, 103 Total Nodes . . . . . . . . . 19 Screen Blanking . . . . . . . 39 TRANSFER . . . . . . . . 7, 67 SDN . . . . . . . . 18, 68, 103 TRIBBS.KEY . . . . . . . . 119 SECn.BAT . . . . . . . . . . 83 TRIBBS.SYS . . . . . . 69, 128 Security Level . . . . . 26, 77 TriDog . . . . . . . . . . 134 Serial Port . . . . . . 21, 115 TriMail . . . . . . . . 81, 134 Set Conference Queue . . . . 64 TriMan . . . . . . . . 15, 133 SFDOORS.DAT . . . . . . . . . 69 TriMan command line SHARE.EXE . . . . . . . 111, 131 switches . . . . . 34 SORRY.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 47 TRIMAN.EXE . . . . . . . . . 5 SORRY.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 47 TriNet . . . . . . . . . . 134 Sort File Lists . . . . . . . 79 TriPack . . 30, 31, 34, 63, 108 SPAWNO . . . . . . . . . . . 2 TRIPACK.EXE . . . . . . . . . 5 Spitfire . . . . . . . . . . 69 TTPROT.EXE . . . . . 5, 9, 109 Squish . . . . . . . . . . 134 TTTEMP . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Stacker . . . . . . . . . . 132 UPALL.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 45 SUBS.DAT . . . . . . . . . . 99 UPALL.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 45 Subscription Expires . . . . 27 Upload display screen . . . . 45 Subscription system . . . . . 99 Upload File . . . . . . . . . 67 Support . . . . . . . . . . 117 Upload Time Compensation . . 17 SYSCHAT.ANS . . . . . . . . . 47 UPLOAD.BAT . . . . . . . 83, 87 SYSCHAT.BBS . . . . . . . . . 47 Uploads . . . . . . . . . . . 77 SYSDAT1.DAT . . . . . 5, 7, 121 UPn.ANS . . . . . . . . . . . 45 SYSDAT2.DAT . . . 5, 7, 111, 122 UPn.BBS . . . . . . . . . . . 45 SYSh.BAT . . . . . . . . . . 81 US Phone Number . . . . . . . 18 Sysop Menu . . . 46, 55, 76, 81 Use Node DISPLAY Dir . . . . 23 Sysop Name . . . . . . . . . 16 User Message Deletion . . . . 30 SYSOP.MNU . . . . . . . . . . 76 User specific log on SYSOPALL.ANS . . . . . . . . 46 screens . . . . . . 44 SYSOPALL.BBS . . . . . . . . 46 USERCHAT.ANS . . . . . . . . 47 SYSOPn.ANS . . . . . . . . . 46 USERCHAT.BBS . . . . . . . . 47 SYSOPn.BBS . . . . . . . . . 46 USERS . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 142 USERS.DAT . . . . . . . . . 123 USERS.IDX . . . . . . . . . 124 USERS.SUP . . . . . . . . . 124 UTI . . . . . . . . . . 69, 134 UTIDOOR.TXT . . . . . . . . . 69 V.32 . . . . . . . . . . . 115 V.32bis . . . . . . . . . . 115 View Archive . . . . . . . . 67 View Callers Log . . . . 38, 79 Waiting Messages Check . . . 19 Watchdog . . . . . . . . . 134 Watchkit . . . . . . . . . 134 Welcome Display in QWK . . . 27 Who's On . . . . . . . . . . 57 WildCat . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Windows . . . 18, 111, 131, 132 Xmodem . . . . . . . . . . 132 Xmodem-1K . . . . . . . . . 132 XON/XOFF flow control . 22, 136 Your Messages . . . . . . . . 64 ZIP . . . . . . . . 18, 68, 103 TriBBS REGISTRATION FORM Registration of TriBBS 4.0 is $75.00. Shipping and handling is free for all U.S., Canadian, and Mexican orders. All other international orders must add $10.00 shipping and handling. Payment is to be made in U.S. funds ONLY! Please answer all of the following questions: Name_________________________________________________________________ Address______________________________________________________________ City__________________________State__________Zip_____________________ Telephone Number: Day_________________Night__________________________ BBS Name_____________________________________________________________ BBS Phone Number_____________________________________________________ Modem_______________________Maximum Baud Rate________________________ Did you have to alter the default initialization string______________ If yes, your initialization string___________________________________ Would you like your board listed in future manuals___________________ Disk Size (Check One): _____ 5 1/4" _____ 3 1/2" THANK YOU FOR REGISTERING TRIBBS Mail To: Mark Goodwin 366 14th St. Bangor, ME 04401