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▄██████▄ ▐███████▄ ▐███████▄ ▄██████▄ ██ ▀ ██ ▐█▌ ██ ▐█▌ ██ ▀ ██ ██ ██ ▄█████▄ ▄█████▄ ▀██▄███▄ ██▄▄▄▄█▀ ██▄▄▄▄█▀ ██ ▀██████▄ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██▀ ▀█ ██▀▀▀▀█▄ ██▀▀▀▀█▄ ▀██████▄ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██████▀ ██ ██ ▐█▌ ██ ▐█▌ ██ ▄ ██ ██ ██ ██████▀ ██ ▄▄ ██ ██ ▐█▌ ██ ▐█▌ ▄ ██ ▀██████▀ ▀████▀█ ██ ▀█████▀ ▄██▄ ▐███████▀ ▐███████▀ ▀██████▀ ▄██▄ v1.10 Copyright (C) 1990/1991 by Risto Virkkala and Aki Antman. Documentation copyrighted (C) 1991 by Frank Hemmelder. Utilities copyrighted (C) 1990/1991 by Jouni Malinen. All rights reserved. SuperBBS designed and programmed by: Aki Antman and Risto Virkkala Some external programs by: Jouni Malinen Documentation by: Frank Hemmelder Documentation (v1.10FH01) for SuperBBS v1.10, february 1991. SuperBBS, the specific external utilities and this documentation are pro- tected under the copyright laws of Finland and other countries. You are not authorized to edit, change, loan etc. these files without the written permission of the copyright holder(s). Woerden, Holland, 31-01-91, 17:53. Release date: 1 february 1991, Woerden. SuperBBS documentation index: 1. General information 1.1 About this documentation.................................2 1.2 Credits..................................................2 1.3 How to get help..........................................3 1.4 How to contact us........................................3 1.5 Disclaimer and other legal stuff.........................4 1.6 Registrations............................................5 1.7 Registration costs.......................................5 1.8 Differnces between registered and unregistered...........7 1.9 Distribution files.......................................8 2. Installation 2.1 Unpacking the archive....................................9 2.2 Configuring SuperBBS....................................10 2.3 SBBS environment variable...............................29 3. Language support and converting from QuickBBS/RemoteAccess 3.1 Running the language program............................29 3.2 The Language.ctl file...................................31 3.3 Converting from other software..........................31 4. System requirements 4.1 Software................................................32 4.2 Hardware................................................32 5. Menus 5.1 Setting up a menu system................................32 5.2 Menu commands...........................................34 5.3 Menu templating.........................................47 5.4 Changing hard coded menu options........................48 5.5 Control codes in ANS/ASC files and menus................49 5.6 Additional control characters...........................51 5.7 Include1.Mnu menu file..................................51 6. Message base 6.1 General information.....................................52 6.2 Sysop keys available....................................52 7. File base 7.1 General information.....................................53 7.2 The extract, view and Temp-dir option...................53 8. Support files 8.1 General information.....................................53 8.2 ANSI and ASCII support files............................54 8.3 .CTL, .LNG and .BBS support files.......................57 9. Questionnaire 9.1 General information.....................................60 9.2 Available commands and example..........................60 Page 1a SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 10. Running SuperBBS 10.1 General information....................................65 10.2 Command line options...................................65 10.3 On-line sysops keys....................................66 10.4 On-line users keys.....................................67 10.5 Errorlevels............................................68 10.6 Chat and yell..........................................68 10.7 Alias system...........................................68 10.8 View a file............................................69 10.9 Menu file to run.......................................69 11. Multi tasking and multi-node 11.1 General information....................................69 11.2 Setting up multi-node support..........................69 11.3 Multi taskers..........................................70 12. Net and echomail 12.1 General information....................................71 12.2 Netmail................................................71 12.3 Echomail...............................................71 13. External files and utilities 13.1 General information....................................72 13.2 Userpack...............................................72 13.3 Sbbsuser...............................................73 13.4 Sbbsutil...............................................74 13.5 Usersort...............................................74 13.6 Non SuperBBS programs..................................74 14. Documentation 14.1 General information....................................75 14.2 Missing parts and credit...............................76 14.3 Support nodes..........................................76 15. Appendixes A. Batchfiles...............................................77 B. Hardware tested with SuperBBS............................79 C. Turbo Pascal errorlist...................................80 D. Bugreport form...........................................81 E. Suggestion form..........................................82 Notice: There is no index supplied with this documentation file. Please read the information in this document carefully. The writer of the documentation is not responsible for any damage to you or your system(s) comming from the use of this documentation. Page 1b SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 1 GENERAL INFORMATION 1.1 This is now the seventh public release of SuperBBS, which is still under development. There have been quite a few changes from the first public release (v1.00). This is the documentation for version 1.10. I'm not planning to write documentation for every SuperBBS release, because I simply don't have enough time for that. When there are enough new features in SuperBBS, I will write an updated documentation. Smaller updates will be covered in a special 'What's new' file with every release. I hope this is fine with you. Also note that English is not my native language, so there might be some strange words in this documentation. (I'm Dutch and having WordPerfect helps, but still...... ;-) SuperBBS has become a very big and powerful bulletin board software program with many new and useful features, which other BBS programs don't offer. We hope you will enjoy running SuperBBS on your system. In this small time we have established an international FidoNet echomail area named 'SUPERBBS'. Ask for it at your Fidonet Hub or Host. This way you will be kept up to date on the latest developments on SuperBBS and the utilities. There is also a SuperBBS SDS support area. 1.2 Here are the credits of SuperBBS: Programming and designing: Aki Antman and Risto Virkkala Documentation originally by: Pasi Haatanen Documentation updated and revised by: Frank Hemmelder Protocol Engine (PE): Copyright 1989 Joaquim H. Homrighausen, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Page 2 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 1.3 How to get help if you have problems: SuperBBS HeadQuarters BBS: SuperBBS H.Q. +358-(9)0-341-1398 HST, V32 DS, 24 Hrs FidoNet: 2:220/620 SysOp: Aki Antman or by mail: Address: Aki Antman (SuperBBS H.Q.) Porslahdentie 23 G 40 SF-00980 Helsinki Finland, Europe 1.4 You can simply contact us one of the following ways: 1. Send a snailmail letter directly to the authors of SuperBBS (to above SuperBBS H.Q. address. Please include payment for returning the answer!!!) 2. Send a netmail message from any FidoNet or SuperBBSNet board to above Fidonet addresses. (Please include Fidonet address where to send answer to!) 3. Enter a public message in the international SuperBBS echomail area. You will receive your answer in the same echo area. Depending on the location you posted your message, this could take some time. FidoNet is a worldwide network, and contains over 8,000 systems around the world, so it is easy to post a message from any country through Fidonet. Page 3 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 1.5 Disclaimer: The authors of SuperBBS and the utilities are NEVER responsible for any damage occurring through the use of SuperBBS and/or utilities. We only guarantee that SuperBBS will take up space on your harddisk. It has been tested on several systems and it works there, but this doesn't mean it won't destroy your HDU or kill your cat or dog. Use at your own risk! However, if you do find an undocumented feature or are having problems with running SuperBBS on your system, we would like to hear from you. Please contact us, so we might be able to fix the problem. SuperBBS may not be used in any UNLAWFUL manner or illegal activity. If this will happen, we will inform the local authorities. You are not allowed to modify ANY of the executable files of SuperBBS or to change this documentation. The authors don't guarantee any future releases of SuperBBS. All files belonging to the SuperBBS package are Copyrighted 1990/1991 by, in alphabetical order: Aki Antman, and Risto Virkkala. Current documentation is copyrighted by Frank Hemmelder. (1991) You are not allowed to modify, patch, disassemble (or anything like that) these files without the written permission from the copyright holders. You are not allowed to ship the SuperBBS programs, or part of the programs, in other software/hardware packages without written permission from the copyright holders. Sysops of bulletin boards are allowed to post the SuperBBS software package for download to their users in an unmodified version and as long as no charge is asked for downloading the software. It is not allowed to add BBS commercials to the software archive. Page 4 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 1.6 Registration information: SuperBBS is released under the ShareWare concept, so you can try it for 30 days before you have to register this product or stop using it. If you are using this software after the 30 days trail limit, you MUST register. This software is not cripple in any way. You can test the whole package, except for some special functions which are only availa- ble to registered users. Please support the shareware concept. Through this concept it is possi- ble to test the software before paying for it. If you decide the softwa- re is 'just what you wanted', you will need to register. If you don't register, you will violate the Shareware concept. This could mean that the next version will be a commercial one, so you won't be able to try it before buying. >>>> Register ShareWare - Guarantee the future of SW programs. <<<< Registration of SuperBBS entitles you to use the software after a period of 30 days. It will also give you access to the functions in the main program only available to registered users. Registration entitles you to use any SuperBBS release up to version 1.99. (Currently v1.10) This will take a long time and many new releases and improvements. 1.7 Registration costs: Registration in FINLAND: (Only Finland !!) Send FIM 150,- to the account: '710125 - 313639 STS', _PAYABLE_ to Risto Virkkala and send in the registration form with the following informati- on: - The Sysop name to register SuperBBS to - The BBS name to register SuperBBS to Please note that upper and lower case are different! - Your real name - Your address - Your voice and data phone numbers - Your FidoNet address (if available) When we received your payment, your registration code will be posted to you. This can take some time, so please be patient. Page 5 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Registration abroad: Send US $50 cheque or money order to the SuperBBS HeadQuarters address posted. Make cheques payable to: Risto Virkkala. Make sure your shipment arrives in good order. Creditcards can't be accepted at this moment. Please include the following information. Note that upper and lower case are different with the registration names! - The Sysop name to register SuperBBS to - The BBS name to register SuperBBS to - Your real name - Your full address including Country - Your full (international) voice and data phone numbers - Your Fidonet address (if available) If you are part of Fidonet, please include your BBS opening hours, so we can crash your registration key to your board. This will give a faster turn around time then by mail. You will receive your registration key after we have received your money. Please allow some time for processing and handling. Site registering (licensing) is also available: 5-9 boards..... US $45 10-more boards..... US $40 Please authorize one of you to register all boards on the site. This person has to send us the information and money for the registration and we will send him/her the registration codes for all boards. Do not send the money separately! Send money and information required to the Su- perBBS HeadQuarters. Registration on Support nodes: (No Site registrations!) Germany: SuperBBS Distribution Germany +49-72037594 Rondo-Box Munich +49-89763452 Canada: The Redstone BBS +1-509-7427549 Switzerland: Graphics Plus BBS +41-1-7411749 Holland: Nederlands Net Nieuws (Super)BBS +31-3480-24801 England: Tug II Droitqich +44-905-775191 Enigma Variations +44-905-795002 Page 6 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 1.8 Differences between registered and unregistered versions: There are a few changes between the registered version and the unregis- tered version. These are the differences: When somebody is login in to your system, a message will be displayed to him/her: Registered version: "SuperBBS v1.10, registered to: <Your name>" Unregistered version: "SuperBBS v1.10, unregistered evaluation copy." This message will also be displayed if you choose the display version number menu item. The tearline in the echomail areas originating from your board will look like: Registered version: "--- SuperBBS v1.10 (Reg)" Unregistered version: "--- SuperBBS v1.10 (Eval)" You will also be able to use the Tempdir and archive extract options, which are only available to registered users. These options will allow you and your users to extract, view and repack archived files. Page 7 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 1.9 Distribution files: SuperBBS is distributed in an archive named 'SBBS_nnn.xxx', where nnn is the version number and xxx the archive type. Please do not modify this file in any way. Do not add your own adds to the archive. (Some archi- vers do however allow you to add a archive header.) The SuperBBS archive file should have the following files: BBS.EXE Main executable file OVRBBS.OVR Overlay file (only in overlay version) CONFIG.EXE Configuration program file LCONFIG.EXE Language/String configuration file YELLCFG.EXE Yellsound editor program file EXTPE.EXE Protocol driver UTILS.ZIP SuperBBS utilities, containing: USERFIX.EXE User database fixer USERPACK.EXE User database packer USERSORT.EXE User database sorter SBBSUSER.EXE User database editor SBBSUSER.HLP SBBSUSER.EXE help file SBBSUTIL.EXE SuperBBS utilities Also included is an archive with startup files, which makes it possible for you to start a bulletin board in a short time. Documentation concer- ning registration, update information, technical descriptions and menu types is also included. You may distributed the unregistered version of SuperBBS freely, as long as no fee is asked or any profit is made. Page 8 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 2 INSTALLATION 2.1 Unpacking the software: Move your SuperBBS archive to the main directory you want your BBS files in. (In our example C:\SBBS) Unpack the archive. You can move the documentation files to another directory if you want. Make a directory for your menu files, your textfiles and the TEMPDIR. Also create a directory for your message files if you don't want them in your main BBS directory. You would get something like this (for single line operations only): C:\SBBS C:\SBBS\TEXT C:\SBBS\MENU C:\SBBS\MAIL C:\SBBS\TEMP See chapter 11 about running SuperBBS multi-node. Now you need to start the configuration program CONFIG.EXE. The directory setup for the multi-node operations are a bit more diffi- cult. You will have to make a directory for every node you plan to run, even if it's only a local node. Your directory setup could look like this: C:\SBBS C:\SBBS\LINE1 C:\SBBS\LINE2 C:\SBBS\LINE3 C:\SBBS\MAIL C:\SBBS\TEMP E:\ <== Common path for all nodes on RAM disk. Check chapter 12 for a more detailed description of running multi-node. Page 9 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 2.2 Configuring SuperBBS with CONFIG.EXE: CONFIG.EXE is the main installation program for SuperBBS. You need to run this program to set all settings correct for your system. You can run the configuration program as often as you like, it will save the current configuration when you exit the program. When you start CONFIG.EXE, you will be presented with the following screen: SuperBBS 1.10 Configuration utility Copyright by Risto Virkkala & Aki Antman. 0. System paths 1. Modem 2. Netmail 3. New user parameters 4. General (Page 1) 5. General (Page 2) 6. General (Page 3) 7. Restrictions C. Colour config A. Alt Fkeys S. String configuration M. Message base editor E. Event editor F. Filearea editor L. Limits editor <ESC> to exit You can choose any option from here. If you press <ESCAPE>, you will be brought back to DOS and the configuration will be saved. This file is called CONFIG.BBS and should never be deleted, unless you want to start all over again. This file contains all information about your systems settings. Available options: Note: SuperBBS v1.10 now supports multi-line. You will have to setup separate directories for every line. See for further informa- tion on running multi-line, the multi-line part of this documenta- tion. (0) System paths: Text path Path to your text(support)files directory (In our example: C:\SBBS\TEXT) Menu path Path to your menu files (In our example: C:\SBBS\MENU) Page 10 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Net path Netmail message path. You will need this only if you are part of a network, like Fidonet. This will be the same directory as your Net/ Echomail processor will use. If you use D'Brid- ge with a QuickBBS type netmail area, point this option to a not used directory. MsgBase path Path to your MSG???.BBS files. Usually this is your main BBS directory. (Some external utili- ties want it that way.) The MSG???.BBS files will be created by SuperBBS when you start the program the first time. (In our example: C:\SBBS\MAIL) Temp path Path to your temporary storage directory. Files will be placed in here when using the file extractor, viewer and repacker with registered versions of SuperBBS. (In our example C:\SBBS\TEMP) System path Path to your main BBS system files. This is the directory you run the CONFIG.EXE program from. (In our example: C:\SBBS) Ext. editor Path and filename of your fullscreen editor. The most used is Quicked. If you don't have a fullscreen editor, leave this option blank. (Example: C:\SBBS\QUICKED.EXE) Multi-node config: Lines in system Number of lines your system is running. Set this to 1 if you are running single line. This option has to be the same in all lines! Common path This option must be the same for all lines. If possible a RAM disk of 30 to 50 KBytes. (See chapter 11 of the documentation for more infor- mation about running multi-node.) (1) Modem: Port The number of the COM port to be used. This is the port your modem is connected or switched to. (Example: 1) Initial. baudrates Baudrate that the modem will be initialized at. Mostly this is the highest speed your modem can handle. (Example: 2400) Initial. tries Number of times SuperBBS tries to send the init string to your modem and waits for a 'OK'. (Example: 5) Page 11 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Sec. to wait car. How long has the modem to wait for a remote modem's carrier detect signal. Init. String Initialization string for your modem. This will be send to your modem when SuperBBS tries to init your modem. See your modem documentation for the correct string. (Example: ATH0S0=1|) Init. response Response from your modem after a successful initialization. See your modem documentation for the correct string. (Normally: OK) Offhook string String send to the modem to set the telephone 'offhook'. This means callers will get a busy signal. Not all modems support this option and in some countries it is illegal to switch your modem to a busy situation. Check your modem documentation for the correct string. (Normally: ATH1|) Offhook response Response from your modem after a successful 'offhook' initialization. See your modem docu- mentation for the correct string. (Normally: OK) 300 Baud connect Response from your modem after it detects a 300 baud caller on-line. See your modem documenta- tion for the correct string. (Example: CONNECT|) 1200 Bps connect Response from your modem after it detects a . 1200 baud caller on-line. See your modemdocu- . mentation for the correct string. . (Example: CONNECT 1200) . . . 38400 Bps connect Response from your modem after it detects a 38400 Bps caller on-line. See your modem docu- mentation for the correct string. (Example: CONNECT 38400) Page 12 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 (2) Netmail This section of the configuration is only of interest to you if you are part of a network, like Fidonet. Systems in a network exchange messages through netmail and echomail. If you are running a system not connected up to a Fidonet like network, you can skip this section. You'll need a mailer like D'Bridge, Frontdoor, Binkley or Dutchie if you want to use netmail. These programs are not supplied with this SuperBBS program. The number which you have to enter in this section will be assigned to you through the network coordinator. This is mostly the system with number 0 or 1. Do not enter a number of your own if you are part of a network. Only a number assigned by the network coordina- tor is to be used. If you do enter a number other than the above, you could cause 'dupes' and this could cost other Sysops a lot of money. A number consists of 4 parts. Zone World region you are part of. Zone 1 is the USA, zone 2 is Europe, Zone 3 is Australia. Network The network you belong to. For example: 2:515 is a network in Finland. Node Your BBS number in the network. For example: 2:515/620 is the SuperBBS HQ in Finland and 2:286/410 is the Nederlands Net Nieuws (Super)BBS in Holland. Point This is only needed if you are not a real BBS, but acting as a point from a BBS. For example 2:515/620.1 would be the first point from the SuperBBS HQ. Other relevant information: AKA Address Beside a main address some systems are part of other networks. These addresses can be entered behind the AKA option. You can use up to 6 different network addresses. In the echomail area you will be able to choose from these 6 areas as your address. Netmail board The number of the board you will be using as your netmail area. (Example: 1) Some echomail and netmail processors need this information. Zone Net Node Point Main address Aka Address 1 Aka Address 2 Netmail board: You can define up to 6 different addresses. One main address and five 'alias' addresses. Page 13 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 (3) New User parameters This section of the configuration program defines the new users level and flag settings. This means that if you get a new caller on-line, he/she will get this level and these flagsettings. New user security level Newuser's security level New user A flags Newuser's flagset A (--------) New user B flags Newuser's flagset B (--------) New user C flags Newuser's flagset C (--------) New user D flags Newuser's flagset D (--------) See the limits part in this manual for a more detailed description about working with userlevels and flags. (4) General (Page 1) Quote string String which will be used when quoting messages. Please remember the echomail is costly and you should use quotes with ca- re. (Example: > ) Upload time credit User upload time credit multiplier. This allows you to control what happens with the users time, if he/she uploaded somet- hing. Available options: 0 - Option not activated 1 - User won't lose any time when uploading. (After the upload he/she will get the time back needed for the upload.) 2 - User will get the time * 2 back after an upload. 3 - User will get the time * 3 back after an upload. 4 - etc. Inactivity time (sec) This is the time the system will wait be- fore disconnecting the user on-line, when he/she didn't touch a key for the given period. This way nobody can keep your sy- stem busy, while doing something else. Max. logon time (min) This is the time limit you set for new users to login to your system. Depending on the size of your questionnaire, you should set this to a safe amount of time, otherwise your user will be logged of in the middle of the questionnaire. Page 14 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Menu border colour (0-7) What colour should all menu borders have. Available colours are: 0. Black 1. Blue 2. Green 3. Cyan 4. Red 5. Purple 6. Brown 7. Grey Please remember that the colour Blue gives an underlining with monochrome Hercules monitors. Entry fields color (0-7) What colour should the background of an entry files look like. (See above for available colours) Max. password tries Maximum number of times a user can try to get a right password before he is forced off-line. Don't set this number to high. (Example: 3) Max. pages per call Maximum number of times a user can page the Sysop during one call. If he/she tries one more time a message will be displayed. Page bell length (sec) Number of seconds the page melody will be played at the Sysop machine. If you don't use Yellcfg.exe, this will be a 'fiuus' sound. Sysop security level The security level of the system operator, mostly you! Registration code A The registration code as supplied by the authors of SuperBBS. See above on how to register your copy of SuperBBS. If you are not registered, leave this space blank. Registration code B Registration code for Beta testers only. Leave this space blank if you are not a Beta tester. Sysop name The name of the person who registered Su- perBBS. This must be exactly the same as on your registration, otherwise your sy- stem will not display the 'Registered' message. Normally this is the Sysop's na- me. Any message written to the Sysop will be addressed to this name. Page 15 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 System name The name of your system as set on the re- gistration form. This has to be an exact match, otherwise SuperBBS will not display the 'Registered' message. Redirect device Device which will be used to redirect com- munication when using, for example, the Tempdir option. The 'Gateway' driver, which is to be found on most BBS's, is perfect for this. If you don't have Gate- way, use COMn. (n = your COM port number) The redirect will make sure that everyt- hing which is displayed on your local screen will be displayed on the remote screen and the remote keyboard will work as input device. Gateway allows you to use both the local and remote screen and key- board. Comment answer board Which message area will reply's on the logout comment be written to. If you set this to '0', no reply is possible. Normal- ly this could be your 'general' area. Mes- sage areas range from 1 to 200. Entry colour (0-15) Type of colour used to display the user's answers in entry fields. Do not use '0', because this is black and the user would not be able to read his/her answers. Avai- lable colours: 0. Black (Do not use this!) 1. Blue 2. Green 3. Cyan 4. Red 5. Purple 6. Brown 7. grey 8. Dark grey 9. Light blue 10. Light green 11. Light cyan 12. Light red 13. Light purple 14. Yellow 15. White File before ratio check This option allows you to control the amount of files a user can download before a file or kilobytes ratio check. Page 16 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Minimum upload space The amount of free diskspace in Kbytes needed for an upload. If your free disk space is under this amount, users won't be able to upload any more. Password failure board Defines the message base board users can write a message in after they have entered a wrong password three times. They will be logged of after they wrote a message to you. If you set this option to '0' the no password failure messages is inactive. Max. time in bank Maximum amount in minutes of time a user is allowed to put in the internal time- bank. (Example: 240) Max. filedescription SuperBBS allows you to use more then one filedescription lines per file. This opti- on allows you to set the maximum number of lines any user will get to give a filede- scription in after an upload. Maximum num- ber of lines is 5. (5) General Options (Page 2) Output ^E character The ^E or ENQ character is used by some communications programs to determine the begin of a session. For example Telix's Salt language can react to it. (Options: Yes/No) Use direct screenwrites Allow SuperBBS to write directly to the screen or through the BIOS only. If you have a CGA screen with 'snow' choose for the BIOS option. (Options: Yes/No) Snow checking Allows you to check for 'snow' on your monitor. This is normally only on old CGA screens. (Options: Yes/No) Exit on Net/Echomail Exit with an errorlevel after an user en- tered net or echomail messages on your system. This allows you to start the net or echomail processor to pack the mail. (Option: Yes/No) Ask voice phone number Do you want the new users to be asked for their voice phone number at logon. (Option: Yes/No) Page 17 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Ask data phone number Do you want the new users to be asked for their data phone number at logon. (Options: Yes/No) Show security in list Do you want the security levels be dis- played when a user looks in the userlist. (Option: Yes/No) Show password to Sysop Do you want to display the user's password at the bottom of the screen in the infor- mation display at logon. This will be only visible at the Sysop side. (Options: Yes/No) Allow @ controlchars Do you want to allow the use of special control characters in messages. Some users who know the codes can make a message say- ing something like: Hey dude, what's ..... for a password. The ..... is replaced by the current user's password. Although the writer couldn't see the next users pass- word, the user still might think so. The last user used a control character to dis- play the current user's password. (Options: Yes/No) Use 7bit characters This allows you to control the fact that 7bit characters are to be used. SuperBBS will convert them if you say 'Yes'. (Options: Yes/No) Run system in mono mode If you're using a monochrome monitor on your system, you can set this option to 'Yes'. This only affects the BBS system side of your system. Your users will still see the colours if available. (Options: Yes/No) Clean temp dir If you want SuperBBS to clean the tempora- ry directory after the user leaves your system, set this option to 'Yes'. This will prevent files being left in your tem- porary directory. (An option only availa- ble to registered users.) (Options: Yes/No) Ask ANSI at logon If you have an ANSI version of your LOGO.ASC available, you can tell SuperBBS to ask every user at logon if he/she wants to see the ANSI version or you can have the SuperBBS program detect if the caller has ANSI available. The complete logon to your system will then be shown in ANSI colours. (Options: Yes/No/Detect) Page 18 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Allow one word names If you allow users to enter your system with just one word or multi word names, set this option to 'Yes'. Otherwise users are asked for there first- and last name. (Options: Yes/No) Sysop fast logon This option allows you, the Sysop, to lo- gon to your system locally by just ente- ring your password. Don't use this option if there are more people to logon to your system locally, since SuperBBS won't ask for your name. (Options: Yes/No) Exclude Sysop from list If you don't want your (Sysop)name in the lists SuperBBS generates, like last cal- lers, userlist etc., set this option to 'Yes'. (Options: Yes/No) Check for personal mail If you want to allow the users to check for new mail at logon, set this option to 'Yes'. The user will be asked at his/her first logon, if he/she wants to scan for mail. If you don't allow users to scan for new mail, a new user won't get the questi- on if he/she wants to check for new mail at logon. (Options: Yes/No) Check new files This is the same as the mailscan, except it scans for new files. The same rules apply here as for the new mail scan above. (Options: Yes/No) Ask aliases SuperBBS supports a full alias system and will ask a new user if he/she wants to use an alias if you set this option to 'Yes'. You will still be able to deny the use of an alias in your message areas. If you set this option to 'No', no aliases are allo- wed on your system. (Options: Yes/No) Swap SBBS at DOS shell If you want to allow SuperBBS to swap it- self to disk if you shell to dos (Alt-J), set this option to 'Yes'. This will leave about 4 Kbyte of SuperBBS in memory. (Options: Yes/No) Don't ask birthday If you don't want to ask your users for their birthday at their first logon to your system, set this option to 'Yes'. If you set this to 'No', users will be asked for their birthday. (Options: Yes/No) Page 19 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 (6) Restrictions Min. bps rate to logon This allows you to prevent users with a certain bps rate to enter your system. Min. bps rate for ANSI This allows you to set the minimum bps rate for users to use ANSI graphics. Min. bps rate for files This allows you to set the minimum bps rate for users to transfer files. 300 Bps usage time This allows you to control when 300 Bps callers are not allowed on your system. (Time in 24 hour format.) Downloading time This allows you to control when file transfers are available and when not. (Time in 24 hour format.) Sysop page times This allows you to control the hours the Sysop can be yelled for by a user. (Time in 24 hour format.) (C) Colour config You can change many of the colours used within SuperBBS. Your users will be able to change them personally if you supply the menu options, but this option allows you to set the 'Standard' colours. You'll be presented with an overview of the current colours. Press the number of the item you want to change and use the cursorcontrol keys to change the colour. The following keys are active: [ESC] Exits and saves the current colour settings. [D] Set colours to default values. [0-9] Available options key [CURSOR KEYS] Change colour The user can set the colours to his/her own liking with the avail- able menu option. These settings are however your 'standard' settings for all user's. Page 20 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 (A) Alt Fkeys From within the SuperBBS program, you have access to 10 programma- ble keys, Alt-F1 to Alt-F10, for your own programs. These keys only work in local mode and are available from within SuperBBS. An example: If you want to use the SuperBBS user editor, you would setup a key like this: Alt-F1: C:\SUPERBBS\SBBSUSER.EXE *S The *S tells SuperBBS to swap itself to disk, before executing the requested program if you press Alt-F1. All ten keys are available for your own use. (S) String configuration This part allows you to set up a few strings used in the SuperBBS program. These will be shown to your users if needed. Note that you can setup different language support through the use of Lconfig. Lconfig and running multi-language will be described in detail later in this documentation. Loading prompt Will be shown to your users at a type 7 or 15 exit from SuperBBS, when the program is executing an external pro- gram. (See for a detailed description about the menu type 7 and 15, the menu section in this manual.) Selection menu prompt Shown to your users after displaying the index file from a selection menu. This prompt should include the follo- wing options: [ENTER] To return from the selecti- on menu to the normal menu. [L] To show the index file again from the selection menu. [1..9] Options available. This depends on the amount of options available in the selection menu. See for more information about the selection menu option, the menu sec- tion in this manual. Page 21 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Origin line This string will be added to every echomail message send from your sy- stem. The maximum length is 80 cha- racters, including your address set up in the netmail part of the confi- guration. You are not allowed to use extended ASCII or ANSI codes in this line. (M) Message base editor SuperBBS allows you to setup 200 different message areas. All these areas have their own security levels and flag settings. You can even setup a different origin line for every echomail area. (See the part on control files in this manual.) You can move around the fields through the use of the arrow keys. The <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys will skip you to the previous or next message area. <Esc> will save the settings. These files are available: Message board name Name assigned to the current message area. Leave this blank if you want to skip this area. This name will appear in the change message area menu build in to SuperBBS. (See menu section.) Type of messages SuperBBS has three different type of messages. Which to use depends on the way you want to use the message area. The types are: 1. Standard This type is used for local are- as on your board. 2. Netmail This type is used for your net- mail area. (See the part in this documentation on netmail.) 3. Echomail This type is used for your echo- mail areas. An origin line will be appended to every message written in this type of area. Page 22 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Status of messages There are four different type of mes- sages available, depending on the type of area you choose in the above option. The types are: 0. Both public & private This type is mostly used in your local message areas. The user will be asked for if the message is private or not. Private mes- sages can only be read by the writer, addressee and people ha- ving Sysop access levels. 1. Private messages only This type is mostly used in your netmail area. All messages will be private. No question will be asked about private or not. 2. Public messages only This type of messages is mostly used in echomail areas, since all messages can be read by eve- ryone. No private messages are allowed in (Fidonet) echomail. 3. Read only messages This type of messages can be read by everyone, except you can't reply or send a message in this type of message area. AKA to use (0 = primary) SuperBBS allows you to have different addresses for every echomail area. The 0 stands for the main address. The 1 to 5 stands for the available AKA's. (= addresses.) This allows you to have an echomail area for one fi- donet and one for another. Read security level Security level of the user needed for reading messages in this area. If the user doesn't have the correct level, he/she will be displayed a message, stating that access has to be gran- ted. Read flags A These are the flagsettings you can Read flags B use to give somebody permission to Read flags C read a message in this area. (For a Read flags D more detailed description of security through level and flags, see the li- mits part of this documentation.) Page 23 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Write security level Security level of the user needed for writing messages in this area. If the user doesn't have the correct level, he/she will be displayed a message, stating that access has to be gran- ted. Write flags A These are the flagsettings you can Write flags B use to give somebody permission to Write flags C write a message in this area. (For a Write flags D more detailed description of security through level and flags, see the li- mits part of this documentation.) Sysop security Security level needed for the extra Sysop options available in this area. Users who have this level will be able to read, delete, edit and change attributes of all messages, private or public, in this area. Sysop flag A Flagsettings needed for having Sysop Sysop flag B access to this area. (For a more Sysop flag C detailed description of security Sysop flag D through level and flags, see the li- mits part of this documentation.) Are aliases allowed This option allows you to give users the option to use their alias in the 'From' field of the message. Please note that most echomail areas don't allow the use of an alias. (Options: Yes/No) Use in combined mode Will this message area be available from the 'Combined board'. This spe- cial message area displays all avai- lable messages from the, by the user selected, areas in selected order. (See the menu part of this documenta- tion for a more detailed descripti- on.) (Options: Yes/No) Default combined board If you want this message area to be in the combined area list by default, set this option to 'Yes'. Note that a user can still deselect the area. (Options: Yes/No) All these options have to be set for every message area you want to setup. You can change the settings at any time. Page 24 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 (E) Event editor SuperBBS allows you to setup 30 events, which will be executed at the set time and weekday(s). This allows you to run maintenance, clean up actions and other activities at quiet moments. You have to setup SuperBBS with a batchfile and errorlevels if you want to use this option. Otherwise SuperBBS will exit at the given time and weekday, but will never return. You can move around, just like the messagearea setup, with the cursorcontrol, <Pgup> and <PgDn> keys. Available options in this section: Status (0=Off/1=ON) This allows you to control whether the event is active (1) or in-active (0). (Options: 0/1) Runtime Time the event has to be executed in 24 hours format. Errorlevel Errorlevel SuperBBS exits with at time of the event. This allows you to start an external program from your batchfile. Do not use errorlevels from 0 to 10, because these have spe- cial meanings for SuperBBS. If you are not familiar with the use of er- rorlevels, consult your DOS manual. (Options: 0-255) Forced If an event is scheduled, but a user is on-line, the event will be overdue and not be executed till the next time setup in this editor. If you want the event to be run every time, set this option to 'Yes'. This will reduce the time for a caller who's time limit would exceed the event starting time. He/she will see a war- ning message telling him/her how much time there is left before the event is executed. Within 5 minutes for the event, SuperBBS will not allow any caller on-line. (Options: Yes/No) Days to run the event SMTWTFS ------- This tells SuperBBS on what days the event has to be executed. (Sunday to Saturday) Mark the days you want to run the event with an 'X'. Page 25 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 (F) Filearea editor SuperBBS uses a file called FLSEARCH.BBS to store it's file areas in. This file is edited through the file area editor. Please note that the FLSEARCH.BBS file is not a plain ASCII file, like the QuickBBS file FLSEARCH.CTL. When you start the file area editor, the program will look for the FLSEARCH.CTL file. If this file is found, SuperBBS asks you if you want to convert this file to the FLSEARCH.BBS file type. (All information not given in the .CTL file is replaced by 0's or all Bps rates.) You don't need a FLSEARCH.CTL file to start the editor! When you are in the editor's main screen, you'll see one open window. Here you choose the file area to edit and insert or delete file areas. The following keys are active: [RETURN] Edit the area marked by the inverse bar. [INSERT] Add a new area to the file area list. [DELETE] Remove an area from the file area list. [CURSOR KEYS] Move around the file areas with the cursor keys. [F1] Converts FLSEARCH.CTL to FLSEARCH.BBS After you choose an area, you will be presented with a window with the following options: Name The name you want to give to this area and which will be displayed at a newfiles scan and if you do an area change through the build in menu command. Directory The dos directory path to your directory. This is the place the file are, so people can down- load them. List name Directory path AND name of the FILES.BBS file for this file area. This option is only needed if you use a CD-Rom and want your FILES.BBS file in another directory then all the files are. If you leave this space empty, SuperBBS will look for the FILES.BBS list in the direc- tory given in the directory option above. Security The security level needed to access files in this file area. Age The lowest age needed to access this file area. This option only works if you have asked the users for their birthday at the first logon. Page 26 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Flag A Flag setting needed by the users to get access Flag B to this area. (For a more detailed description Flag C about security levels and flagsettings, see the Flag D limits part of this documentation.) Template SuperBBS allows the use of 'menu templating'. This means that you can have one menu for all your file areas. (See the menu part of this documentation.) If you don't want this area to be part of the menu templating, set this option to 'No'. (Options: Yes/No) Downloads Option to disable downloads from this area. If you set this option to 'No', no downloads are possible from this area. (Options: Yes/No) Uploads Option to disable uploads to this area. If you set this option to 'No', no uploads are possi- ble to this area. (Options: Yes/No) Press [ESC] when you're ready editing this information. You will be back in the main window. Then you can insert another file area and supply the information needed for that area. Press [ESC] from this window to exit the file area editor. (L) Limits The LIMITS.BBS file contains all information about the security l- evels and flagsettings for all users. This file is the control centre for the time allowed on-line, download limits, ratio checks and calls allowed per day. Note that this file is not an ASCII file. You can only edit this file through this option. Security levels can range from 0 to 32000, where 0 is the lowest level and 32000 the highest. Take a little time to think about how many security levels you will need and if you need any flagset- tings. The flagsettings are an easy way to give somebody access to an area, while others with the same (or higher) security level don't have access to. Take this example: Menu option sec level: 25 Flagsettings A: -------- B: -------X C: -------- D: -------- An user with security level 25 and flag B8 ON, will have access to this menu option. Another user with level 10 and flag B8 ON, will have no access, because his/her security level is to low. Another user with a security level of 200 and flag B8 OFF, will also have no access. His/her security level is high enough, but flag B8 is OFF. Even the Sysop has no access to this area if the flagsetting is incorrect. Page 27 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 If you enter the Limits editor, you'll be presented with a file area editor look-alike screen. The options available in here are the same as in the file area editor: [RETURN] Choose the marked level for editing [INSERT] Add a security level [DELETE] Remove a security level [F1] Convert a LIMITS.CTL file to LIMITS.BBS SuperBBS will search for a LIMITS.CTL file at startup of the limits editor and ask you if you want to convert this file to the SuperBBS format. All information not provided in the .CTL file will be filled with 0's. Note that you don't need a LIMITS.CTL to start this option. Options available in the edit window of a security level: Security level Current security level 300 Bps download limit Download limit per day in Kbytes for . 300 Bps users . 38400 Bps download limit Download limit per day in Kbytes for 38400 Bps users Time limit Maximum time allowed on-line per day Calls allowed per day Number of times user can call per day DL/UL ratio in Kbytes Users download/upload ratio in Kby- tes. This means that if a caller downloaded xx KBytes, he/she has to upload yy KBytes before another down- load can be done. DL/UL ratio in files Users download/upload ratio in files. This means that if a caller downloa- ded xx files, he/she has to upload yy files before another download can be done. Description Description for the current user le- vel. This can be used in your textfi- les and menus through the use of a control code. Press [ESC] when you're ready editing this security level. You'll be back at the main window, so you will be able to add/delete other security levels. Press [ESC] from this window to exit the editor. You now finished setting up the system parameters, messagebase areas, file areas and supporting information. SuperBBS does however support multi language files, which are setup through the LCONFIG.EXE program. Page 28 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 2.3 SuperBBS environment variable As of version 1.10, SuperBBS needs an environment variable SBBS. This variable needs to be set before starting SuperBBS. Your AUTOEXEC.BAT file or SuperBBS startup file is a good place for it. Setting the variable works like this: SET SBBS=<Drive+directory name> The drive and directory should point to your main SuperBBS directory. If you don't know how to make an AUTOEXEC.BAT file, consult your DOS manual. If you get an error like: 'Out of environment space', you will have to enlarge the environment in your CONFIG.SYS file. See your DOS manual for further information. Setting this variable is needed for single and multi-line options. 3 LANGUAGE SUPPORT 3.1 Lconfig SuperBBS supports the use of many different language files, so you can set up menus and supporting textfiles in you're own language or several different ones. The language support is done through the use of the .LNG files. These files can be edited with the LCONFIG.EXE program. You can start this program in two ways, the normal way is to start LCONFIG.EXE without any parameters, but you can also enter as a parame- ter which file you want to edit. Example: LCONFIG.EXE <Xmit> or LCONFIG.EXE ENGLISH.LNG <Xmit> The second option will load the language file ENGLISH.LNG at startup. The first option will ask you for the language file to edit. When you start LCONFIG, you'll be presented with the following menu: 0. Path & description 1. Logon strings (part 1) 2. Logon strings (part 2) 3. MsgBase strings 4. FileBase strings 5. Other strings (part 1) 6. Other strings (part 2) 7. Other strings (part 3) 8. Month strings 9. Weekday names Description : Menu path : ANSI path : Page 29 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 You can setup a different menu and textfile path for every language you use. This way you are able to have all files and menus in the language you choose and setup. Let's have a look at an example: English setting: Menu path: c:\sbbs\menu-uk Text path: c:\sbbs\text-uk Dutch setting: Menu path: c:\sbbs\menu-nl Text path: c:\sbbs\text-nl If a user chooses the dutch language file, SuperBBS will look in the directory setup in the dutch language file, i.e. c:\sbbs\text-nl and c:\sbbs\menu-nl for the text files and menus. All systemfiles are in the normal directory specified in CONFIG.EXE. Even if you are using only 1 language, you still have to tell SuperBBS where to find his menus and textfiles, so don't forget to setup the path in LCONFIG. The description is shown to users who login for the first time and at the time they want to change the chosen language. If SuperBBS can't find the specified file in the language support directory, it will look in the directory which you have setup in the CONFIG.EXE program. Moving around the LCONFIG program is the same as with the CONFIG pro- gram. Move around with the cursor control keys. Press [ESC] to exit from a menu or from the program. Your settings will be saved at time of exit. Press the character from the option you want to change to get to edit level. The following options are available from the main menu: 0. Path & description Directory path to you textfiles and menu directory. The description given to this language file. 1. Logon strings (part 1) Strings shown to the user during a logon. (part 1) 2. Logon strings (part 2) Strings shown to the user during a logon. (part 2) 3. MsgBase strings Strings shown to the user when selec- ting the messagebase part of the BBS. 4. FileBase strings Strings shown to the user when selec- ting the filebase part of the BBS. 5. Other strings (part 1) General strings shown to the user. (part 1) 6. Other strings (part 2) General strings shown to the user. (part 2) 7. Other strings (part 3) General strings shown to the user. (part 3) Page 30 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 8. Month strings Strings shown to the user when SuperBBS needs to display a date. 9. Weekday strings Strings shown to the user when SuperBBS needs to display a weekday. A note concerning the current string option you are working on is shown at the bottom of the screen. If you're unfamiliar with the locations of all the strings, the best way to make a new language file is this: - Copy the supplied ENGLISH.LNG file to your own name. - Now start LCONFIG with your new language file name. - Edit the strings. You'll be able to see what the current string is and if it needs special characters like '?' and ':'. - Exit the program after you checked all options available. 3.2 Language.ctl This file controls which languages are available and which language is the 'main' language. This file should be in your main SuperBBS directory and is a plain ASCII file with the following format: <Language filename> <Language filename> <Language filename> The first language will be the language SuperBBS starts with. This means that the strings given in this language file will be shown to users, until SuperBBS knows who is on-line and what his/her settings are. When a newuser calls to your BBS some textfiles will be shown to him/her before SuperBBS will ask which language they want. These files are: - NOTFOUND.A?? - NEWUSER1.A?? See for more information about these files the textfile part of this documentation. 3.3 Converting from QuickBBS or RemoteAccess When converting to SuperBBS from QuickBBS or RemoteAccess, your userfi- le, messagebase and most systemfiles can be used by SuperBBS. There are some different menu options and some controlcodes are not the same. SuperBBS can store it's messagebase anywhere you want, which is not available in QuickBBS. If you do run into serious trouble converting from QuickBBS or RemoteAccess to SuperBBS, contact one of our Support nodes or the SuperBBS HQ. You will need to run USERFIX.EXE on your userfile. This program will scan your userfile so it won't have trouble with the 7/8 bits characters used in Scandinavian countries. SuperBBS fully supports these charac- ters. Put the USERFIX.EXE file in the same directory as your USERS.BBS file is and run the program. Page 31 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 4 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 4.1 Software requirements Besides the SuperBBS files, you will need some external files before you can run SuperBBS. These files can differ from system to system, depen- ding on the way you've set it up. You will at least need these files, or compatible: MS-Dos Sounds logical, without this your system won't even run (or not with an operating system SuperBBS will run in). You'll need version 2.0 or higher. SuperBBS has been tested with Ms-Dos up to version 5.00, but version 3.3 or 4.0x is recommended. X00.SYS Fossil communications driver, a good replacement is BNU. SuperBBS will not run without this file! QUICKED.EXE The full-screen editor. (This file is optional.) 4.2 Hardware requirements Some hardware is needed to run SuperBBS. SuperBBS uses about 160 Kbyte base memory and can use EMS memory for the overlay file. Other require- ments are: Harddisk A harddisk with at least 2 MB of free diskspace is needed to setup SuperBBS. You'll probably need more if you set up a lot of utilities to run under SuperBBS and have many mail areas. Hayes Modem A Hayes compatible modem, either internal or exter- nal, is needed. 5 MENUS 5.1 Setting up menus Just like QuickBBS and RemoteAccess is SuperBBS using a menu system that requires to be build up from scratch. (Although an easy installation program with some simple menus is included.) You will have to setup all menus and external screens. SuperBBS doesn't include a menu program, so you'll have to use one from a third party. MenuMaster v1.20 is a good choice, since this program supports SuperBBS. Any other menu program for QuickBBS is usable, as long as it supports 'unlisted' menu types, since SuperBBS has more menu options than QuickBBS has. There are several ways to setup a menu system for your BBS. The most used one looks like this: |------------------- Message menus | Main menu ------------------------- File menus | |------------------- Other menus Page 32 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Another method is to set up your menus by item: Main menu ------------------------- SuperBBS file & message | |------------------- Modem file & message | |------------------- Graphics file & message Either way, plan your menu structure carefully. Users like a menu structure which is easy to follow. Building a menu can be done in two ways. You can either build the whole menu with the menu editor, so text is displayed if needed, or you can start your menu with an ANSI/ASCII display option (with Hot-key) which will display the menu and have all the commands in the menu file. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Using an ANSI/ASCII file as menu gives you the advantages that you can use more colours on one line, use graphics and even animation. Disadvan- tage is that all menu options will be visible to all callers, whatever securitylevel they have. You need to setup a display file option with a Crtl-A code, which means the command will be executed automatically. Using the normal menu has the advantages that you can hide several options from other security levels. Disadvantage is the limited use of colour per line. It will be up to you which way you choose. Be sure to check your menu files at every securitylevel you have set up. Strange things can happen if you make mistakes. Building a menu is simple, building a complex menu with several different options for different securitylevels is more difficult. Take your time is a good advice. When building a menu, you will need to enter the following information: Text to display Text shown to user for this menu option. (Leave this empty if you use an ANSI/ASCII file to display the menu.) This line should contain a description and the character to activate it. Optional data Optional data needed for the given menu type command. (See the menu commands.) Menu type Number of the menu type. (These will be listed below with a full description and the optional data needed.) Security Securitylevel needed to access this menu option. Key Key which activates this menu option. This can be any character on the keyboard. Page 33 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Foreground Colour in which the foreground of the text to display will appear. (Options: 0-15) Background Colour in which the background of the text to display will appear. (Options: 0-7) Flags A-D Flagsettings needed to access this menu option. Two special options are: Hilight colour The hilight colour is a colour which can be displayed on the text to display line through using a '^' in front and behind the text you want 'highlighted'. An example: Foreground colour: 2 Background colour: 0 Hilight colour...: 14 Text: This is a ^test^ for a menu. Result: This is a test for a menu. The word 'test' will appear in yellow, the rest of the line in dark green. Note that the special characters are not shown when displaying a menu. Prompt Line displayed below the menu options, prompt- ing the user for an action. This line can have a different colour. These descriptions can differ from menu program to menu program, but the main idea stays the same. Use a menu editor which has an option for 'unknown' commands, since SuperBBS is expanding faster than the menu editors are, so you will be able to use the editor in the future. 5.2 Menu commands Now for the available menu commands. SuperBBS is pretty powerful and has a lot of features, so read carefully. Make sure you take note of any optional data needed to set up a menu option. Without this data the menu option will not work or behave strangely. Used characters in the optional data fields: None = means no optional data needed xxxxxxx = means the data entered here is mandatory. <xxxxx> = means the data entered here is optional. Page 34 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 The menu commands: Type.........: 0 Description..: Text line Display's the text you've entered in the menu editor for this command. No other action takes place. Optional data: None Type.........: 1 Description..: Goto a new menu. Will change the menu to the menu set up in the optional data field. Optional data: MenuName </F> </M> <Password> If you want to protect your menu with a password, enter it behind the menu name, separated with a space. Enter the menu name without the .MNU extension. See for the /F and /M the documentation about 'menu templating'. Type.........: 2 Description..: Gosub to a new menu. Same as option 1, with the difference that the previous menu (the menu you left from) will be added to the stack of menus you've visited. This way you can follow the trail back through your menus. Optional data: MenuName </F> </M> <Password> The same as for menu type 1. Type.........: 3 Description..: Return from last gosub. Return to the menu you last visited. This option only works if you use the type 2 menu option to get to a menu. Optional data: None You don't have to enter any menu name, since the stack contains the name of the menu visited last. This name is erased after the return, so you can use menu type 3 again to return to the before last used menu. Type.........: 4 Description..: Goto new menu and clear gosub stack Clears the gosub stack used with menu options 2 and 3. Then goes to the given menu in the optional data field. Optional data: MenuName </F> </M> <Password> The same as for menu type 1 Type.........: 5 Description..: Display .ANS/.ASC file Display a textfile from the textfile directory setup in CONFIG.EXE and LCONFIG.EXE. SuperBBS first looks in the current language text directory. If not found, SuperBBS will look in the directory specified in CONFIG.EXE. If a user has ANSI on, SuperBBS will first look for an ANS file, then for an ASC file. If the user has ANSI off, SuperBBS only looks for the ASC file. Optional data: FileName The filename to be displayed, without an extension. Page 35 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Type.........: 6 Description..: Selection menu Display a textfile which has up to 9 options available of other text files and display the Selection menu prompt, as set up in the CONFIG.EXE program. You will need to name all files the same, except for the last number. Suppose your main file is called BULLET.ANS then your other files will be called BULLET1.ANS to BULLET9.ANS. (If you have 9 files.) The main file is shown to the user. The user selects from the list displayed in the main file, which file he/she wants to read. If the user selects 3, the file BULLET3.ANS (or ASC) will be dis- played. If the user selects 5, the file BULLET5.ANS will be displayed. After viewing the file, the user will be shown the main file again. Optional data: FileName This filename can be 7 characters or less. (Character 8 is reserved for the other textfile numbers.) The exten- sion is always ANS or ASC and the files should be in your textfiles directory. Type.........: 7 Description..: Shell to DOS and run program This option is used for starting other programs, like doorgames and mailscanners, in SuperBBS. It shells to DOS and starts the program given in the optional data field. SuperBBS will return to the menu the exit started from. Optional data: ProgramName <Parameters> This menu is one of the difficult menu options available, because of the large amount of parameters. These are the parameters available: *B Caller's bps rate. This will be 0 if Local, or 300 to 38400 if on-line. *C Full path to your COMMAND.COM file as set in the environment variable COMSPEC. (Consult your DOS manual for more information about COMSPEC.) This parameter is needed if you want to start a batchfile from this type 7 menu command. *E Read EXITINFO.BBS when returning to BBS. This can be handy if the program used with the type 7 exit, changes some of the user's data. *F User's firstname. *G Status of ANSI graphics. (0=Off, 1=On) *H Leave the Fossil driver (X00 or compatible) hot when exiting from SuperBBS. Some programs require this. (Most don't.) *I Current text files path. *L User's lastname. *N Gives current node number. *P Gives current COM port number. *R User's recordnumber in the user database. Page 36 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 *S Swap SuperBBS to EMS or disk. If you run a program which needs more memory than the normal amount available, specify the *S option, so SuperBBS will swap itself to EMS or, if EMS is not available, to disk. *T Time left this call. *U Path to current template file area. (See menu templating.) Mostly you just use the *C and *S parameters. With multi- node operations, you will need the *N and *P options. Normally the documentation from the program you wish to run will supply the needed information. Type.........: 8 Description..: Version and copyright notice This option will show the user the versionnumber, copy- right message and if your program is registered, the registration name of the SuperBBS version you're using. Optional data: None Type.........: 9 Description..: Logoff from the system This will disconnect the user from your system. Before disconnect, SuperBBS will show the user the GOODBYE.ANS (or ASC) file, if available. Optional data: None Type.........: 10 Description..: Display System Usage graph Show the user the system usage graph. This gives you the percentile use per hour. Optional data: None Type.........: 11 Description..: Page the Sys(tem)Op(erator) for a chat See if the Sysop is available to talk to you. SuperBBS will ask the user for a reason for the chat. If the Sysop is not available, this reason will be stored in the SYSTEM.LOG file. Optional data: Prompt Enter the string, which will be shown to users who try to yell you. Type.........: 12 Description..: Execute questionnaire file Execute the given questionnaire, for example NEWUSER.Q-A. The answers will be written in the same file name as the questionnaire, but the extension will be changed to .ASW. Optional data: FileName Extension of a cessionaire must be .Q-A or SuperBBS will not recognize the questionnaire. Answers will be written in the .ASW file. Page 37 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Type.........: 13 Description..: List/search user list Gives the option to search for a name in the userlist or display the whole list. Optional data: None Type.........: 14 Description..: Time statistics Shows the user how long he/she has been on-line and how much time is left. Also gives the current date and time. Optional data: None Type.........: 15 Description..: Exits to DOS with errorlevel Leaves SuperBBS and returns to the batchfile which you ran SuperBBS from. There you intercept the given error- level and start an external action. (For more information about errorlevels, consult your DOS manual and see the batch examples in the appendixes of this manual.) If possible you should use a type 7 exit, instead of this type 15. Use the *S (and *E) when using a type 7. Optional data: Errorlevel <MenuName> The errorlevel will start the action required from your batchfile. (Don't use errorlevel below 10.) The optional MenuName tells SuperBBS to which menu it should return after ending the type 15 exit. You should restart the SuperBBS program with the -R option. (See Command Line Parameters.) Type.........: 16 Description..: Change City & State Allows the user to change his/her City and State. Optional data: None Type.........: 17 Description..: Change password Allows the user to change his/her Password. Optional data: None Type.........: 18 Description..: Change screenlength Allows the user to change his/her screenlength. Optional data: None Type.........: 19 Description..: Toggle screen clearing on/off Allows the user to toggle the sending of screen clear codes (CLS) on and off. Optional data: None Type.........: 20 Description..: Toggle the 'More (Y/n)' prompt on/off Allows the user to toggle the more prompt on and off. Optional data: None Page 38 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Type.........: 21 Description..: Toggle ANSI graphics on/off Allows the user to toggle the ANSI graphics on and off. Optional data: None Type.........: 22 Description..: Scan for personal mail This option will scan the userbase and report any unread personal mail. Optional data: None Type.........: 23 Description..: Read messages Allows the user to read messages in the current message area. If a message is private, it will be skipped if it is not from you or to you. Optional data: AreaNumber or /M Area number of the message base the messages should be read from. (If you use menu templating, this can also be the templating command /M.) Type.........: 24 Description..: Scan messages Gives a list of messages with the header information (who from, who to and subject) and gives you the option to mark messages for later reading. Optional data: Areanumber or /M Area number of the message base the messages should be scanned from. Type.........: 25 Description..: Quick scan messages Gives a list like display of all messages in the area with information about the sender, receiver and subject. Optional data: AreaNumber or /M Area number of the message base the messages should be scanned from. Type.........: 26 Description..: Delete messages Removes messages from the message base. This only works for messages from you or to you. (Unless you have Sysop access to this area.) Optional data: AreaNumber or /M Area number of the message base the messages should be deleted from. Page 39 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Type.........: 27 Description..: Write a message Allows the user to write a message. Optional data: AreaNumber or /M </L> </T=First_Lastname> Area number of the message base to write the message in or the menu templating command /M. The /L will log the user off your system after saving the message (with display of GOODBYE.A??). The /T=First_Lastname will send the message to the name given. Spaces should be set with the underscore character. The /L and /T option only works correct if you use an area number and NOT the /M command. You could use the /L and /T parameters for sending a message to the Sysop at logoff. Type.........: 28 Description..: Select combined message areas Area 0 is a special message area. You can't write a message in this area, but you can read messages from all areas connected in numerical order. This option allows the user to select the areas he/she wants to use in his/her combined board. You can select standard areas or exclude areas from the combined board in the CONFIG.EXE program, the Message base part. Optional data: None Type.........: 29 Description..: Move a file Normally spoken an option only available to the Sysop. It will allow you to move a file from one area to another. It also moves the description in the FILES.BBS file. Optional data: FullPath or /F You need to give the full directory path from where the file will be moved or the /F if you use menu templating. Type.........: 30 Description..: MS-Dos directory Like a normal DIR command, will SuperBBS display the given directory. Optional data: FullPath or /F Give the full directory path or the /F. Type.........: 31 Description..: List FILES.BBS The normal way to show a user what's available in the given directory. It will show the filename, date, size and description. For CD-Rom users is an option build in to have the FILES.BBS file in a different location then the files itself are. See the CONFIG.EXE program, the File area editor. Optional data: FullPath or /F Supply the directory or the /F command. CD-Rom users should use the /F command. Page 40 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Type.........: 32 Description..: Download a file This option will send a file from the BBS to the user. Optional data: None <FullPath> </F> <PassWord> <*> If you leave the optional data field empty, SuperBBS will use this command as a general download command. It will search in every area the user has access to, trying to find the requested file. Use the full path or the /F option and SuperBBS will only look in the current area. The FullPath and /F option allow the use of a password, which need to be given before the download will be started. If you use the asterisk (*), SuperBBS will not check the fileratio, time or download limit. Type.........: 33 Description..: Upload a file This option will receive a file which the user sends to the BBS. Optional data: FullPath or /F Supply the full directory or the /F option. By using the full directory command, it is possible to receive all uploads in one directory. The /F will place the file in the current area. Type.........: 34 Description..: View an archived file Shows what the archive file contains. It supports ZIP, LZH, PAK and ARC files. Optional data: FullPath or /F Supply the full directory path or the /F option. Type.........: 35 Description..: Search for file by Keyword Look for a word in the FILES.BBS files. Optional data: None Type.........: 36 Description..: Search for file by Filename Look for a file in the FILES.BBS files. Wildcards are allowed as search options. Optional data: None Type.........: 37 Description..: List new files on system Shows the new files since the last login or the given date. Optional data: None Type.........: 38 Description..: Type a textfile Allows the users to read a textfile on-line from your FILES.BBS list. (If there is a textfile in there.) Optional data: FullPath or /F Supply full directory path or the /F option. Page 41 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Type.........: 39 Description..: Display a textfile Show the user a textfile. This option is like menu option 5, except you have to supply the fullpath and filename. This allows you to show any file you want. No 'Press Return' is given at the end of the file. Optional data: Fullpath+FileName Supply the full path and filename to the textfile. Inclu- ding the extension! Type.........: 40 Description..: Display ANS/ASC file with Hotkey Show the user an ANSI or ASCI file, but keep the hot keys active. This can be used to display a menu file. If you use this command to show the file, the user doesn't have to wait till the whole screen is drawn, but can make his choice at once. With a type 5 menu, the hot keys are not active during the display of the file. This command is mostly used in combination with a Crtl-A command in your menu. (Crtl-A = Automatic execution) Optional data: FileName Supply the filename to be shown. Don't give an extension, as SuperBBS will always look for a ANS or ASC extension. The file has to be in the textfile directory. Type.........: 41 Description..: Toggle Full Screen editor on/off If you have a full screen editor installed, like Quicked, you can allow your users to toggle the editor on and off with this option. If it is off, the build in editor will be used. Optional data: None Type.........: 42 Description..: RESERVED - Do not use Type.........: 43 Description..: RESERVED - Do not use Type.........: 44 Description..: RESERVED - Do not use Type.........: 45 Description..: Display ANS/ASC file with 'Press ENTER to continue' The same as menu type 5, except that SuperBBS will put a 'Press ENTER to continue' prompt after it showed the file. This will pause the screen till a reaction from the user is received. Optional data: FileName Supply the filename, without extension. The file has to be in the textfile directory. Page 42 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Type.........: 46 Description..: Show GIF pictures resolution Show the resolution of the GIF picture (only of if it is stored on you disk as a .GIF file), which name is sup- plied by the user. This option doesn't look in archives! Optional data: FullPath or /F Supply the full directory path or use the /F option. Type.........: 47 Description..: Write entry to System log Write the text, given in the optional data field, to the SYSTEM.LOG file. This is handy if you want to know if a menu option is used or for any other information. Optional data: Text to be written The text given in this field will be written to the system logfile. Type.........: 48 Description..: Download a specific file By using this option, you only ask the user which down- load protocol he/she wants to use and then starts the download. You supplied the filename in the optional data field. This can be used to download your ALLFILES list. Optional data: FullPath+FileName Supply the file the users can download through the use of this option. Type.........: 49 Description..: RESERVED - Do not use Type.........: 50 Description..: RESERVED - Do not use Type.........: 51 Description..: RESERVED - Do not use Type.........: 52 Description..: RESERVED - Do not use Type.........: 53 Description..: Toggle mailcheck at logon on/off Allows the user to toggle the mailcheck at logon on/off. Optional data: None Type.........: 54 Description..: Toggle newfiles check at logon on/off Allows the user to toggle the newfiles check at logon on or off. Optional data: None Type.........: 55 Description..: Show BBS list (Short) Shows the user the build in BBS list in the short version. Optional data: None Page 43 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Type.........: 56 Description..: Add BBS to BBS list Allows Sysops to add their BBS to your BBS list. Informa- tion like telephone number, name, on-line hours, software and Sysop name are stored. Optional data: None Type.........: 57 Description..: Leave comment to next user A comment of 2 lines can be left behind for the next user. This will be shown to the next caller at logon. Optional data: None Type.........: 58 Description..: Show last 15 callers Gives a list of the last 15 callers with the time they came on-line and went off-line. Also shown are bps rates and age. Optional data: None Type.........: 59 Description..: Change colour configuration Allows the user to change the colour configuration of the BBS. This is the same as in the CONFIG.EXE program, but only works for the current user, while the CONFIG.EXE part, works for every user. Optional data: None Type.........: 60 Description..: Extract files ** REGISTERED USERS ONLY ** Allows the user to extract a file, then afterwards he/she can view the files inside the archive and repack (some) files. All from within SuperBBS. This option is only available to registered users. Optional data: None <FullPath> </F> If you leave the optional data line empty, it means extract the file which is IN the TEMP directory. This TEMP directory is setup in the CONFIG.EXE program. If you enter the full directory path or the /F, for menu templa- ting, this menu type will react as extract TO the TEMP directory. Note the difference! Type.........: 61 Description..: Archive files ** REGISTERED USERS ONLY ** The user will be asked which files have to be archived. This option is to be used with the extract option, menu type 60. Optional data: FullPath or /F If you enter the full directory path of the TEMP dir, the files will be packed from that area. If you use the /F or the full directory path to your file areas, the requested files from that area will be packed. Page 44 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Type.........: 62 Description..: Delete files ** REGISTERED USERS ONLY ** The user will be asked which files have to be deleted. This option is to be used with the extract option, menu type 60. Optional data: FullPath or /F If you enter the full directory path of the TEMP dir, the files will be deleted from that area. If you use the /F or the full directory path to your file areas, the requested files from that area will be deleted. Type.........: 63 Description..: Show BBS list (Long) Show the user the long version of the BBS list. The user has the option to enter the name he/she wants to look for. All available data about the BBS will be shown. Optional data: None Type.........: 64 Description..: Change BBS information in BBS list Allows Sysops to change their BBS data in the BBS list. Only you and the person named as Sysop in the BBS list is able to do this. Optional data: None Type.........: 65 Description..: Delete BBS information from BBS list Allows Sysop to remove their data from the BBS list. Only you and the person named as Sysop in the BBS list is able to do this. Optional data: None Type.........: 66 Description..: Download BBS list Allows users to download the BBS list. Only the protocol will be asked for. Optional data: None Type.........: 67 Description..: Change user's phone number(s) Allows the user to change his/her phone number(s). Optional data: None Type.........: 68 Description..: Select message area from arealist Allows the user to change area with the build in area change command. This will display a three row list of all the available (to this user) message areas. Use this for changing areas when using menu templating. Optional data: None Page 45 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Type.........: 69 Description..: Select file area from arealist Allows users to change area with the build in area change command. This will display a one row list of all the available (to this user) file areas. Use this for chang- ing areas when using menu templating. Optional data: None Type.........: 70 Description..: Change alias Allows the user to change his/her alias. Only works if you allowed the use of an alias on your system. Optional data: None Type.........: 71 Description..: List aliases Shows an user - alias list of all users. The user is given the option to select a search criterium. Optional data: None Type.........: 72 Description..: Show user's balance in the timebank Allows the user to see how much time he/she has deposit in the timebank. You can set a maximum in the CONFIG.EXE program. Optional data: None Type.........: 73 Description..: Deposit time in timebank Allows the user to store time in the timebank. Optional data: None Type.........: 74 Description..: Withdraw time from timebank Allows the user to withdraw time from his/her account. Optional data: None Type.........: 75 Description..: User online / Other line status Show's who is on the other line(s) or the current status of the other line(s). Optional data: None </S> If you leave the optional data field empty, SuperBBS will show the user who is on the other line(s). If you use the /S parameter, SuperBBS will show you the status of the other line(s). Type.........: 76 Description..: Send message to other user on-line Allows the user on a line to send a on-line message to a user on another line. This only works if the 'Do not disturb' flag is not on. Optional data: None Page 46 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Type.........: 77 Description..: Change current language Allows the user to change his/her current language file. (If you run with more than one language file.) Optional data: None Type.........: 78 Description..: Toggle 'Do not disturb' on/off Allows the user to toggle the 'Do not disturb' flag on and off. This way he/she can prevent receiving messages from other line users. Optional data: None That's it, all 78 available menu commands. If you are converting from RemoteAccess, Prodoor or QuickBBS to SuperBBS remember that there are different options available in SuperBBS, which the others do not have. Please check your configuration carefully if starting with SuperBBS. 5.3 Menu templating Maybe you remember the good old days. In those days you had to build a menu for every available message and file area. Those days are gone. Now there is menu templating. This means you have one menu for all your message areas and another for all your file areas. How does it work? First you design your menu. Then you enter all the needed information. But instead of entering messagebase numbers, you enter /M. SuperBBS will replace this with a message area number. The same for the file areas. Design your menu, enter the /F instead of the directory. SuperBBS will replace it with the information given in the CONFIG.BBS program. Let's have a look at how to setup a message menu this way: First you have to get from your main menu to the message menu. We want to start in area 01. We use menu option 1 and the optional data field would be: MAIL /M=1. MAIL is the menu name, /M=1 tells SuperBBS to go to the first message area defined in CONFIG.EXE. If you want to go to the second area, you could have said /M=2. Now we need the read, write, scan, quickscan and delete options. Set up the menu as you normally would, except instead of using the messagebase number, use the /M in the optional data field. SuperBBS will know in what area the user is. Even if the user goes to the main menu and then returns to the messagebase, he/she will still be in the area he/she left from. You can use the /M (and /F for fileareas) for changing the area. If you use a type 1 menu and as optional data field the menu name and /M=+1, SuperBBS will change to the next area. If you use in the optional data field the /M=-1, SuperBBS will change area to the previous area. (Unless SuperBBS is at the highest or lowest area, depending on the way you want to move.) Page 47 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 So in short: Menu type 1 - MenuName /M=1 = Goto message area 1 Menu type 2 - MenuName /F=3 = Gosub file area 3 Menu type 23 - /M = Read messages in current area Menu type 32 - /F = Download from current area Menu type 1 - /M=+1 = Goto next message area Menu type 1 - /F=-1 = Goto previous file area To show the name of the area you are currently in use these codes: Ctrl-K 4 = File area name in ANS/ASC files Ctrl-K 5 = Message area name in ANS/ASC files @ (Ascii 64) = File area name in menu textline ' (Ascii 96) = Message area name in menu textline These codes are replaced with the name you have set up in the CONFIG.EXE program. If you use characters behind these codes, please think about the fact that the codes will be replaced by the area name, so you might have to check if your menu is still aligned the way you want it. Example: In your menu: Area @ SuperBBS HQ For the user: Area General area SuperBBS HQ 5.4 Changing hardcoded menu options SuperBBS has the option to allow the use of your own commands, instead of the hardcoded menus in SuperBBS. These options can be used for these menu commands: 23 Read messages 24 Scan messages 25 Quickscan messages These are the available commands to replace the hardcoded box in SuperBBS. You need to set these options in the optional data, when editing a menu. /F Read messages in forward order /R Read messages in reverse order /I Read individual messages /N Read new messages /S Read selected messages /M Read marked messages These options are also available in template menus, so you're able to build a very powerful (and in your own language if needed) message menu. Page 48 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Here is an example of a menu. The first /M is from the message area the second '/' option is to replace the hardcoded menu. Menu Optional data Menu textline ---- ------------- --------------------------------------------- 23 /M /F Read messages in forward order in current area 23 /M /M Read marked messages in current area 24 8 /S Read selected messages in area 8 25 /M /N Quickscan new messages in current area 27 /M Write a new message in current area 68 Choose other area from area list And your imagination can do the rest. It is just an example, so don't use it as a complete menu! 5.5 Control codes in menu and textfiles You can now use several control codes in your menu. They don't have to be displayed through an ANSI or ASCII file, but can be used on the menu textline itself. Here's a complete list of all the control codes you can use, either in an ANSI or ASCII file or in your menu textline: (^ = Ctrl key) ASCII Char. Function description --------- -------- ---------------------------------------------- 1 ^A Wait for ENTER key to be pressed 2 ^B Turns OFF aborting with S key 3 ^C Turns ON aborting with S key 4 ^D Turns OFF the 'More' prompt 5 ^E Turns ON the 'More' prompt 6 ^F Not used alone (See below) 7 ^G Generates a 'BEEP' 8 ^H Backspace 9 ^I Tabulator 10 ^J Linefeed 11 ^K Not used alone (See below) 12 ^L Clears screen 13 ^M Carriage return The ^F codes available: (All codes apply to current user!) ASCII Char. Function description --------- -------- ---------------------------------------------- 6 65 ^FA User's full name 6 66 ^FB User's city and state 6 67 ^FC User's password (Use with care!) 6 68 ^FD User's business/data phone number 6 69 ^FE User's home/voice phone number 6 70 ^FF User's last calling date 6 71 ^FG User's last calling time (24 hrs format) 6 72 ^FH User's A flagsetting 6 73 ^FI User's B flagsetting 6 74 ^FJ User's C flagsetting Page 49 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 ASCII Char. Function description --------- -------- ---------------------------------------------- 6 75 ^FK User's D flagsetting 6 76 ^FL User's netmail credit 6 77 ^FM Number of messages user has written 6 78 ^FN Highest message number user has read 6 79 ^FO User's security level 6 80 ^FP User's number of calls 6 81 ^FQ User's uploads in files 6 82 ^FR User's uploads in KBytes 6 83 ^FS User's downloads in files 6 84 ^FT User's downloads in KBytes 6 85 ^FU Elapsed time this call in minutes 6 86 ^FV User's screen length 6 87 ^FW User's firstname 6 88 ^FX Status ANSI graphics (ON/OFF) 6 89 ^FY Status More prompt (ON/OFF) 6 90 ^FZ Status CLS codes (ON/OFF) 6 48 ^F0 User's Sysop comment 6 49 ^F1 Status Full Screen editor (ON/OFF) 6 50 ^F2 User's age 6 51 ^F3 User's birthday 6 52 ^F4 User's time of first call (24 hrs format) 6 53 ^F5 User's date of first call 6 54 ^F6 Status of mailcheck at logon (ON/OFF) 6 55 ^F7 User's up/download ratio in KBytes 6 56 ^F8 User's up/download ratio in files 6 57 ^F9 Status new files check at logon (ON/OFF) 6 33 ^F! Total minutes used The ^K codes available: ASCII Char. Function description --------- -------- ---------------------------------------------- 11 65 ^KA User's total number of calls 11 66 ^KB Name of the last caller 11 67 ^KC Number of active messages on system 11 68 ^KD Number of lowest message on system 11 69 ^KE Number of highest message on system 11 70 ^KF Number of times user has yelled SysOp 11 71 ^KG Day of the week in full 11 72 ^KH Number of users on system 11 73 ^KI Current time (24 hrs format) 11 74 ^KJ Current date (DD-MM-YY) 11 75 ^KK Number of minutes connected this call 11 76 ^KL Number of seconds connected this call 11 77 ^KM Number of minutes used against time limit 11 78 ^KN Number of seconds used against time limit 11 79 ^KO Number of minutes remaining this call 11 80 ^KP Number of seconds remaining this call 11 81 ^KQ Time Limit this call (Minutes) 11 82 ^KR User's baud rate (300-38400) 11 83 ^KS Abbreviated day of week 11 84 ^KT Download Limit in KBytes Page 50 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 ASCII Char. Function description --------- -------- ---------------------------------------------- 11 85 ^KU Number of minutes until next system event 11 86 ^KV Time of next system event (24 hrs format) 11 89 ^KY User's maximum up/download ratio in KBytes 11 90 ^KZ User's maximum up/download ratio in files 11 48 ^K0 Current language file description 11 49 ^K1 Status of scroll lock 11 50 ^K2 One second pause 11 51 ^K3 Display securitylevel comment (from LIMITS.BBS) 11 52 ^K4 Name of the current filearea 11 53 ^K5 Name of the current messagearea 11 54 ^K6 User's alias 11 55 ^K7 User's time in bank 11 56 ^K8 User's number of calls today 11 57 ^K9 Number of messages in current area 11 33 ^K! Status of do not disturb flag (ON/OFF) Do not use the ^Q, ^S and ^Z commands, because these are dangerous and can give you unexpected problems. To enter a code in your textfiles, use the ^x command. This means, press the control key, hold down while pressing the mentioned key, release and press the second character (in case of the ^F and ^K keys.) Another way is holding down the ALT key and pressing the ASCII value from the numeric keypad on the right of the keyboard. This only works on EXTENDED keyboards!! 5.6 Additional control keys Some additional control keys can be used within the messagebase from SuperBBS. These codes are: @1 User's name @2 User's City & State @3 User's security level @4 User's birthday @5 User's age @6 User's firstname These codes can be used, if you did allow them to be used in CONFIG.EXE, in messages written in SuperBBS. 5.7 INCLUDE1.MNU This is a very special menu file. This menu allows up to 10 commands to be entered, which then will be added to all your existing menus. If SuperBBS finds this file in your menu directory, all menu commands are available to the user at any menu in your BBS. Very useful for the logoff command, paging the Sysop, help and what you can think of. Design the menu as you normally would design a menu. Page 51 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 6 MESSAGE BASE 6.1 General information The SuperBBS message base is fully compatible with QuickBBS and Remote- Access. This will not guarantee that this will stay this way in the future. Either SuperBBS or the other programs might come up with a better type of message base. Currently you can use your old messagebase when converting from RA and QuickBBS to SuperBBS. You should set up the location of your messagebase in the CONFIG.EXE program as described in chapter 3. User's (and Sysop) are able to read, write, scan, quickscan and delete messages. The messages are numbered in upgoing order. The first message starts at one, the second at two and so on. This doesn't mean both messages are in the same area. Besides the message number, SuperBBS also keeps track in which area the message belongs. When reading messages, you will see a notice stating that there are xxxx messages active. And that the lowest message is numbered yyyy and the highest zzzz. Also stated is the amount of messages in the current area. It looks something like this: Active messages: 1234. Lowest message: 1. Highest message: 23460. Number of messages in this area: 25. This means that from the 1234 messages, which starts at 1 and ends at 23460, there are 25 messages in the current area. 6.2 Sysop keys available The following options are available to the Sysop when reading messages: <A>gain Show current message again. <N>ext Show next message <B>ack Show previous message <J>ump Jump to specified message <R>eply Reply to the current message <D>elete Remove the current message <K>eep as unread Toggle the read/unread flag on/off <X>port Send message to printer or file <C>opy Copy current message to another user/board <E>dit Edit the message information, like: 1. From Who wrote the message 2. To To whom message is addressed 3. Subject Subject of the message 4. Board Area number where msg exists 5. Quit Abort editing 6. Save Save message <=>Private Toggle the private/public flag on/off <S>top Stop reading messages One undocumented option is available to Sysops when reading ECHO and NET mail, the <!>. This allows you to see the information normally hidden in a message through a Ctrl-A code. Page 52 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 7 FILES BASE 7.1 General information Just like SuperBBS messagebase is the filebase compatible with Remote- Access and QuickBBS. SuperBBS uses a FILES.BBS file to display the available files to the users. This file looks like this when viewed with a normal ASCII editor: <Filename> <Description> SuperBBS will add the information like size and date if the file is found in the current area. If not, the word OFF-LINE will be displayed instead of the date and size. The description has to start on character number 15. SuperBBS allows you to have more then one file description line. You can set this information in the CONFIG.EXE program. If you want to add a line with a text editor, use one who ends without putting a Ctrl-Z at the end of the document, start the extra description line with the ' >'(ASCII 32+62) sign. This will tell SuperBBS it is a file description line and will display it at the right place. 7.2 Extract and view option ** REGISTERED USERS ONLY ** SuperBBS allows you and your users to extract, view and repack a file while on-line. SuperBBS has support for ZIP, LZH, PAK and ARC files. You can extract a file, view the contents of the file, read textfiles from within the file and repack only the wanted files, while discarding the rest. SuperBBS makes use for this option of the TEMP directory which you have to set up in CONFIG.EXE. After use, SuperBBS will clean the area in case the user doesn't and you have set the option on in CONFIG.EXE. This option is only available to registered users of SuperBBS. 8 SUPPORT FILES 8.1 General information SuperBBS uses a whole range of extra ANSI and ASCII support files. You can define these files yourself, or use the build in (English) support files. This way you can personalize your system. If a file is not available, SuperBBS will display a message of it's own, if needed. You can make these ANSI and ASCII files with a program like Thedraw. It even allows you to use animation in your ANSI files. Do remember that users are calling in and that a long screen build up will scare them away, or they switch to ASCII. SuperBBS will first look for the files in the ANSI/ASCII textfile directory specified in the language files, then in the text directory specified in the CONFIG.EXE program and if still no file is found, it will display the message of it's own, which is normally just a textline explaining what is going on. Page 53 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 8.2 ANSI and ASCII Support files These are the support files: Name.........: 0001 (0102, 0203......2223, 2324) Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: File to be displayed at logon, between 00:00 and 01:00 hrs. This way you can setup a file for every hour. 1516.ANS would be between 15:00 and 16:00 hrs. Name.........: ALIASASK Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: This file is displayed at logon of a newuser just before asking the alias he/she wants to use. This file should contain some information about the use of an alias on your board. Name.........: BIRTHDAY Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown when a user calls on his/her birthday. Name.........: DNLDHRS Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to a user who wants to download when download- ing is not allowed as specified in CONFIG.EXE. Name.........: EDITHELP Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user when he/she asks for help within the message editor. Name.........: GOODBYE Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user at logoff, just before the modems disconnect. Name.........: LOGO Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user before asking the user's name at logon to your system. At this moment is SuperBBS not aware which language a user is using, so it uses the directory specified in the first language file in LANGUAGE.CTL. Name.........: MAXPAGE Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user when trying to page the Sysop more times then specified in CONFIG.EXE. Name.........: NEWS Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: File displayed to every user at logon. Useful for newsflashes. Programs like NEWS_140.xxx are easy for creating and editing this file. Page 54 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Name.........: NEWUSER1 Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to newusers after he/she has verified his/her name and before the other logon questions are asked. At this point does SuperBBS not know which language the user wants to use, so you should make this file contain all available languages. Name.........: NEWUSER2 Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: File displayed to a new user after he/she answered the questions about system options and selected a password, but before the NEWUSER.Q-A questionnaire is answered. Name.........: NO300 Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user trying to logon to your BBS at 300 Baud when this is not allowed as specified in the CONFIG.EXE file. Name.........: NOPAGE Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user when you are paged, but you dis- abled yell with the Scroll-lock key. Name.........: NOTAVAIL Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user when you are paged outside yelling hours. Name.........: NOTFOUND Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user if the system can't find the user's name in the user list. At this moment is SuperBBS not aware of the language the user is using or want to use. This file should therefore contain all available languages. Name.........: PAGEABRT Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user when the Sysop aborts the yell from the user. Name.........: PAGED Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user after a yell for the Sysop, incase the Sysop didn't answer. Name.........: PASSWORD Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the new user just before the system asks for a password, or just before the user has the option to change his/her password. Page 55 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Name.........: PRIVATE Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user if your system is a private system and a non-registered user is trying to get in. The user will be disconnected after displaying the file. Name.........: RATIO Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user when the upload/download file ratio is exceeded as configured in CONFIG.EXE. Name.........: RATIOK Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user when the upload/download kbytes ratio is exceeded as configured in CONFIG.EXE. Name.........: READHELP Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user if he/she asks for help with the read, scan and quickscan commands. Name.........: SECxxxxx Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user just after the welcome screen if he/she has the security level 'xxxxx'. 'xxxxx' has to be a value between 0 and 32000. (SEC20.ANS will be shown to security level 20 user's.) If this file is not found, SuperBBS will look for SECALL.A??. Name.........: SECALL Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user if for his/her security level no SECxxxxx.A?? file is available. Name.........: TIMEWARN Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user when his/her time is adjusted due to an upcoming event. Name.........: TOOSLOW Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user when trying to logon to the system at a bps rate which is not fast enough, as configured in CONFIG.EXE. Name.........: TRASHCAN Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user when his/her name was found in the TRASHCAN.CTL list. The user will be disconnected after displaying the file. Name.........: VIP Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user after the welcome screen if his/her name was found in the VIP.CTL list. Page 56 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Name.........: WELCOME Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user after he/she entered her name and password. Name.........: XFERHELP Type.........: ANS/ASC Description..: Shown to the user when the user asks for help with the transfer protocols and file transfer. 8.3 .CTL, .LNG and .BBS Support files Besides the ANSI and ASCII files, SuperBBS uses a couple of .CTL, .LNG and .BBS files to control his behaviour. The .CTL files are all plain ASCII files and can be edited with every normal texteditor, even Edlin if you like. The .BBS files are all controlled through the CONFIG.EXE program. The .LNG files are language files and are controlled through the LCONFIG.EXE program. The .BBS and .LNG files are mentioned here as reference, so you know what every file is for. Their set up is explained in detail in chapter 3. *.LNG Language support files. AREAS.BBS Not a file needed for SuperBBS, but most echomail processors need this file, that's why we mention it. It contains information about your message areas and who to send them to. The format is as follows: <Area Nr.> <Description_of_area> <Destination> Don't use the first three lines of the file. Just put a ';' in there. This is just a plain ASCII file. CONFIG.BBS Contains the complete setup from your system. This file should never be deleted, because you will have to setup your system again. This file is 100% QuickBBS compatible. DORINFOx.DEF One of two files, the other is the EXITINFO.BBS file, which contains information to be used by pro- grams running outside SuperBBS. These files are generated when you do a type 7 or 15 exit. ECHOORIG.CTL Plain ASCII file. With this file it is possible to have a different origin line in every mail area. The format of the file is as follows: <AreaNr.> <Origin line> Place this file in your main system area. Page 57 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 EXITINFO.BBS One of two files, the other is the DORINFOx.DEF file, which contains information to be used by pro- grams running outside SuperBBS. These files are generated when you do a type 7 or 15 exit. FLSEARCH.BBS Contains all information about your file areas. Location, securitylevels, flagsettings, age to have access and if in the menu templating is stored in this file. LASTREAD.BBS Contains information about every user and his/her lastread message number. Never delete this file, because all message will be displayed as new mess- ages to the user's. LIMITS.BBS Contains the information about userlevels and their limits. SuperBBS checks this file to find the infor- mation about the userlevels. MSGIDX.BBS Contains the information about the messages on your MSGINFO.BBS system, the header from the messages and the text in MSGTOIDX.BBS the messages. Never delete these files, unless you MSGHDR.BBS want to start all over with an empty message base, MSGTXT.BBS or when something happened to your message base. PFILES.BBS Contains information about private uploads done to you. This is a normal ASCII file. All private upload descriptions are stored in this file. SLCALLER.BBS Contains information about the last 15 users to your BBS. You can delete this file if you want, but there should be no reason for it. SUSERS.BBS Contains the extra user information like age, birth- day, sex etc. Only delete this file if your userbase is messy and you want to clean it up. SuperBBS will ask every user for the needed information again. TIMELOG.BBS Contains information about the usage of the BBS. The usage log is created out of this file. If you want to start all over with your usage log, delete this file. TRASHCAN.CTL Contains user names you don't want to have on your board, like Sysop, Dr., Hacker etc. This is a plain ASCII file in the following format: <User name> <User name> <User name> Page 58 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 USERS.BBS Contains the information about the users. All normal user information is stored in this file. Only delete this file if you want to start with 0 user's. Backup this file often to prevent damage to your userfile incase something happened. VIP.CTL Contains information about special users to your BBS system. SuperBBS will show the file VIP.A?? to them at logon. This is a plain ASCII file with the fol- lowing format: <User name> <User name> <User name> SuperBBS uses two logfiles for storing system information. One you hopefully never have to see. These files are: ERRORS.LOG Contains all errors which occur during operation of SuperBBS. Please take note of this file and send the information to us, when you come across an error. The error notice will be in this format: --------------------------- Version : 1.00 Beta (Compiled on 12-May-1990) Date : 25-May-1990 User : Aki Antman Code : 100 Addr : 0B75:1C5F --------------------------- Send this information to our support nodes or the SuperBBS HQ. SYSTEM.LOG Contains all information about what the user did on your system. Information like name, userlevel, alias, wrong passwords, exits to doors and time on- line are stored in here. This file is a plain ASCII file. If this file is missing, SuperBBS will create it the next time it is run, so you can delete this file as many times as you wish. Page 59 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 9 QUESTIONNAIRE LANGUAGE 9.1 General information SuperBBS has a powerful questionnaire language available to the Sysop for designing question files. SuperBBS will run the questionnaire called NEWUSER.Q-A if a new user enters your system and the file is found. Answers will be stored under the same filename, but with the extension .ASW. All questionnaires have to have the extension .Q-A and all answer files will have the extension .ASW. You can design as many question- naires as you like. You can run a questionnaire from a menutype 12. On the optional datafield, you have to supply the name of the question- naire. 9.2 Available commands Here's a list of the available commands in the questionnaires: Used codes: <.......> = Mandatory [.......] = Optional Command.....: ASK <length> <variable> [default] Description.: Asks for a string from the user. Length defines the number of characters the answer can take, the vari- able is the answer number, which you can use in combination with other commands. The option Default allows you to enter some information as default in the answer field. If you use as default USERNAME, this will be replaced through the username of the user answering the questionnaire. Example.....: ASK 40 1 USERNAME Command.....: CAPITALIZE <on/off> Description.: If capitalize is on, all first letters of the words entered in an answer field will be capitalized. If off, the user decides if a letter is capitalized through the use of his/her Shift(-Lock) key. Example.....: CAPITALIZE ON Command.....: CHANGECOLOR <foreground> <background> Description.: Changes colour to the given combination. Foreground (or textcolour) can be between 0 and 15, background between 0 and 7. See earlier in this documentation for a complete list of the colours. Example.....: CHANGECOLOR 14 1 Command.....: CLEARSCREEN Description.: Clears the screen if user has selected CLS codes. Example.....: CLEARSCREEN Page 60 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Command.....: DISPLAY <"text"> Description.: Displays a text to the user. The pipe symbol '|' acts as a carriage return. Every textline should not exceed the screen width. If no '|' is given, Su- perBBS will continue at the end of the last line. Use the '|' also after the GETCHOICE command as the first character of a textline. You can use as many '|' symbols behind each other as you like. Example.....: DISPLAY "Welcome to this BBS system.|" Command.....: DISPLAYASW <variable> Description.: Shows the answer given to the question given as the variable. This should be the same variable as used with the question. Example.....: DISPLAYASW 1 Command.....: DISPLAYFILE <filename> Description.: Displays the file given as filename from the text- file directory. If the user has ANSI enabled this will be the ANSI version if available, otherwise the ASCII version is shown. SuperBBS first looks in the directory specified in the language file, then in the directory specified in CONFIG.EXE. Example.....: DISPLAYFILE WELCOME Command.....: DOMENUC <menutype> <"data"> Description.: This command will run the menu command (see list for numbers) given as data in the menutype field. The information given in the data field will be dis- played to the user. Example.....: DOMENUC 11 "Yelling Sysop" Command.....: ENDIF Description.: Use this command as the end of an IF loop. (See the IF command.) Example.....: ENDIF Command.....: EXEC <command> Description.: Executes the program given as the command option. This allows you to execute an external program. This program should be in the path or current directory. Example.....: EXEC USERCHEC.EXE Command.....: GOTO <label> Description.: This command allows you to jump to a character or value. Label must be ONE character or a value. The place GOTO will jump to is determined by the same character or value preceded by a colon ':'. So the command GOTO A, will jump to :A. Example.....: GOTO B Page 61 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Command.....: GETCHOICE <options> <variable> [default] Description.: This command allows you to ask the user a question, with only a limited one character answer available. Options are the characters which are valid for this answer, variable is the question number the answer should be stored under in memory and default is the default answer, so when a user just presses ENTER, it will default to the answer stated in default. Example.....: GETCHOICE YN 2 Y Command.....: IF <variable = "string"> Description.: This command allows you to jump over certain parts of your questionnaire if the compiled variable does not match the given string. Variable is the question number stored in memory and string is the string to match. SuperBBS will compile the user's answer and compare it to the string. If this doesn't match, SuperBBS will jump to the first ENDIF found. Example.....: IF 1 = "Frank Hemmelder" Command.....: OUTPUTANSWER ["string"] <variable> Description.: This commands allow you to store the answers given by the user in an ASCII file with the same name as the questionnaire, but with an ASW extension. String is the text which should be placed in front of the answer, variable is the number of the answer stored in memory. Example.....: OUTPUTANSWER "Full name : " 1 Command.....: POSTINFO Description.: This command will write the current system time, data and the username to the answer file. This com- mand should be used in front of the OUTPUTANSWER lines. Some programs, like READANS.EXE, allows you to upgrade newusers easily by reading the answers in the NEWUSER.ASW file, but they need the information from POSTINFO to seperate the different users. Example.....: POSTINFO Command.....: QUIT Description.: Ends the questionnaire. This does not nessecarily mean this command has to be at the end of all the questions. If you use the IF and ENDIF commands, this could be half way through your questionnaire. Example.....: QUIT Command.....: SETFLAG <flag> <on/off> Description.: Allows you to change a flagsetting from the current user. Flag should be a character/number combination, flags are numbered A1 to D8, and they should be followed by the on or off command. Example.....: SETFLAG B5 ON Page 62 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Command.....: SETSECURITY <level> Description.: Allows you to change the userlevel. Level should be the new level. Example.....: SETSECURITY 0 Command.....: WAITENTER Description.: This command displays the 'Press ENTER to continue' string and waits for the user to press the ENTER key. The 'Press ENTER....' will be done in the cur- rent language. Example.....: WAITENTER Now let's have a look at this little example. You could use it, but I recommend you change it and make it better. It will first display a textfile to the user, stating the rules of the BBS, then ask the most important questions and asks if you are a Sysop. If you are, you'll be able to enter your BBS information. Then all answers are displayed, so the user can check them and eventually start all over if he/she made a mistake. CLEARSCREEN DISPLAYFILE RULES CHANGCOLOR 11 0 CAPITALIZE ON DISPLAY "Do you still want to continue? (Y/n) " GETCHOICE YN 1 Y CAPITALIZE OFF IF 1 = "N" SETSECURITY 0 CHANGECOLOR 14 4 DISPLAY "You will be logged off now!" QUIT ENDIF :A CLEARSCREEN CHANGECOLOR 10 0 DISPLAY "|Your full name........: " ASK 40 2 USERNAME CHANGECOLOR 10 0 DISPLAY "Address................: " ASK 40 3 CHANGECOLOR 10 0 DISPLAY "City and State.........: " ASK 40 4 CHANGECOLOR 10 0 DISPLAY "Telephone number.......: " ASK 15 5 CHANGECOLOR 10 0 DISPLAY "|Are you a Sysop? (y/N) " CAPITALIZE ON GETCHOICE YN 6 N CAPITALIZE OFF Page 63 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 IF 6 = "Y' CHANGECOLOR 10 0 DISPLAY "BBS name...............: " ASK 40 7 CHANGECOLOR 10 0 DISPLAY "Telephone number.......: " ASK 15 8 ENDIF CHANGECOLOR 13 0 DISPLAY "|Thank you for filling out all the questions." DISPLAY "|Now you can check your answers.| WAITENTER CLEARSCREEN CHANGECOLOR 11 0 DISPLAY "|These are your answers: " CHANGECOLOR 10 0 DISPLAY "|Name..................: " DISPLAYASW 2 CHANGECOLOR 10 0 DISPLAY "Address................: " DISPLAYASW 3 CHANGECOLOR 10 0 DISPLAY "City and State.........: " DISPLAYASW 4 CHANGECOLOR 10 0 DISPLAY "Telephone number.......: " DISPLAYASW 5 CHANGECOLOR 10 0 IF 6 = "Y' CHANGECOLOR 10 0 DISPLAY "BBS name...............: " DISPLAYASW 7 CHANGECOLOR 10 0 DISPLAY "Telephone number.......: " DISPLAYASW 8 ENDIF CHANGECOLOR 14 1 DISPLAY "|All answers correct? (Y/n) CAPITALIZE ON GETCHOICE YN 9 Y CAPITALIZE OFF IF 9 = "N" GOTO A ENDIF CHANGECOLOR 12 0 DISPLAY "|Thank you for answering all questions." POSTINFO OUTPUTANSWER "Name.........: " 2 OUTPUTANSWER "Address......: " 3 OUTPUTANSWER "City & State.: " 4 OUTPUTANSWER "Phone........: " 5 IF 6 = "Y" OUTPUTANSWER "BBS name.....: " 7 OUTPUTANSWER "Phone........: " 8 QUIT Page 64 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 10 RUNNING SUPERBBS 10.1 General information SuperBBS can be run as a stand alone program or with a frontend mailer like Frontdoor, D'Bridge or any other mailer program. In both cases you need to run SuperBBS from a batchfile. Two examples are given in the appendixes of this documentation. One for running SuperBBS as stand alone program and one for running SuperBBS in combination with a mailer. If you are using SuperBBS with a mailer, please read all the documenta- tion of the mailer program carefully, so you know how the two programs interact with each other. 10.2 Command line options SuperBBS can be started by running the program BBS.EXE without any parameter. This will put the main SuperBBS program on-line. You will see a SuperBBS screen with some information, like time and date, last user and more. When this screen is visible (or the screensaver is working) you have two options: [L] This will put the BBS program in local mode. This way you will be able to connect to the system, just like you are running the system remotely. Beware that if you have any door programs installed which uses a Carrier Detect monitor, these won't run because there is no carrier signal available. [ESCAPE] Shutdown SuperBBS and returns you to the DOS prompt. There is a third option, this is that you get a caller on-line. SuperBBS will connect at the right modem speed and will handle the connection. A carrier check is build in, so if the user disconnects, the system will restart (if run from a batchfile). To start the BBS program in local mode, use the -L option. This option and the other command line options are as follows: -Bxxxx Starts SuperBBS with a BPS rate of xxxx. This is a value between 300 and 38400, depending on your modemspeed. This option is mostly used in a batchfile running a mailer, telling SuperBBS at what BPS rate the user is calling. -Exxx Tells SuperBBS to exit the call with errorlevel xxx. -L Starts the SuperBBS program in Local mode. -Oxxxxxx This option will increase the overlay buffer with xxxxxx bytes. (For a 286-12 Mhz machine this should be somewhere between 50000 and 100000 bytes.) Experiment a bit with it to find the right value. This will speed up the SuperBBS operation on slow machines or machines with no EMS. Page 65 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 -Px Tells SuperBBS what COM port to use for the connection. -R Tells SuperBBS it is already connected to a caller and just has to restart the main program. This option is used after a type 15 exit. -* Tells SuperBBS not to load the overlay file in EMS. Combinations of these parameters are possible. These parameters are not necessary to run the SuperBBS program, but are sometimes needed. 10.3 On-line Sysop keys While the SuperBBS is on-line and a caller is in the system, the sysop has several keys which he/she can use. All Fx keys refer to the status line which is shown at the bottom of the local screen. All keys apply to the current user on-line. All the available keys are: F1 Shows user's information on status line. Name, city, bps rate, securitylevel, times called, time left and line number are displayed. F2 Shows user's flags. F3 Shows user's up/download levels and ratio. F4 Shows chat reason (if any) and if the Sysop is available. F5 Shows sysop comment (from SBBSUSER.EXE) and alias information. F6 Shows the current time and date, user's phone num- bers, total calls to system, number of messages written and last caller. F9 Remove status lines from screen. This gives you the same view as the user. F10 Gives information about the on-line keys ALT-C Chat with the user. A message will be displayed to the user at the start and finnish of the conversa- tion. ALT-E Run the on-line user editor. This allows you to edit the current user. All changes will be saved in the user file. A message will be displayed to the user, unless you have CapsLock on. ALT-F Change the current user's flagsettings. All changes will be saved in the user file. A message will be displayed to the user, unless you have CapsLock on. Page 66 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 ALT-H Disconnect user without showing GOODBYE.A??. ALT-J Shell to DOS from SuperBBS. SuperBBS can swap to EMS or disk if allowed through the CONFIG.EXE program. A message will be displayed to the user when you shell out and when you return. ALT-L Locks the user out of your system. He/she will be disconnected and his/her level will be lowered to 0. ALT-S Change the caller's security level. A message will be displayed to the user, unless CapsLock is on. ALT-T Change the timelimit for the user for this call. ALT-1 Generate line noise. This can be useful if you want a user off-line. ALT-2 Toggle the ratio check for the current user on or off. ALT-3 Set a new download limit for this call. ALT-4 Generates a BEEP on the user's console. ALT-5 Toggle output to user's screen on or off. ALT-6 Toggle user's keyboard on or off. Up arrow Increase time limit with 1 minute. Down arrow Decrease time limit with 1 minute. Scroll lock Toggle Sysop availability on/off. Status lock on means Sysop not available. Also no messages are send to the user, when the Sysop changes the user infor- mation. 10.4 User's on-line keys Just as the Sysop has the user some special keys on-line. These are: P Pause all output from text S Abort current operation. This works in most places in the SuperBBS program. Ctrl-C Stops Sysop yell and message scan. Ctrl-Y Clears any input line. (When answering a question.) As of this version, SuperBBS supports the 'normal' text editor keys as usable keys at input fields. This means you can use the arrow keys, Ctrl-T, Ctrl-Y, Insert, Delete, Home and End keys while entering text. Page 67 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 10.5 Errorlevels SuperBBS normally exits with an errorlevel. You can influence the 'normal' exit through the -Exxx command parameter (see above), but there are some more errorlevels reserved for SuperBBS. Here they are: 0 Normal exit, no problems encountered. 2 Sysop dropped to DOS by pressing ESCAPE in stand alone mode. 3 User logged off and entered Netmail. 4 User logged off and entered Echomail. 5 User logged off and entered both Net and Echomail. In general it is useful not to use the errorlevel of 10 and below. These levels are mostly used to control program behaviour. 10.6 Yell and chat SuperBBS has a chat option build in to the main program. When a user tries to yell for you, the SuperBBS program will ask for a reason. Then, if a reason is entered, the system will page you. Normally this is a creeping siren sound, but you can choose a melody through the use of YELLCFG.EXE. This program allows you to choose a page melody. You can even write your own tune, check the SBBSYELL.CFG file for an example. If you want to randomly change the tune every day, run the following option in your daily maintenance: YELLCFG.EXE CHANGE. This will take a differ- ent melody from the list every time it is run. The chat will be in two colours. One for the Sysop and one for the user. (Naturally only when user has ANSI on.) If the Sysop starts a chat, the user will get all the time spent in the chat back after ending the chat. If the user starts the chat, the time will continue. Three keys are available during a chat: Ctrl-A Toggle capture file on/off Ctrl-B Display an ANSI/ASCII file Ctrl-Y Clears current line The Sysop can end the chat with the ESCAPE key. Through the Ctrl-A key is it possible to keep a capture file for later reviewing of the chat. 10.7 Alias system SuperBBS allows a full alias system. The Sysop can select the use of an alias in all message areas. (Most echomail areas don't allow aliases.) Mailcheck at logon or after a menu type 22 command, will be done for the user's real and alias name. No double aliases are allowed and SuperBBS checks this after a caller enters an alias. SuperBBS includes an option to view a list with real names and their aliases. The alias system only works if you set the option in the CONFIG.EXE program to Yes. Page 68 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 10.8 View a certain file An option in the user record is the field: File to view. Here you can specify per user a file which will be displayed to the user. You can select this file through the use of the SBBSUSER.EXE program. There is an option to allow the file to be deleted after viewing and only showing the file once. 10.9 File to run SuperBBS allows users to enter the system at another menu then the TOP.MNU menu. In the SBBSUSER.EXE program is a field for this option. Here you can enter the name of the menu the user wants to start at. SuperBBS will then pass the user directly to the menu given in the MenuToRun field. This menu can be different for every user. 11 MULTITASKING & MULTILINE 11.1 General information SuperBBS is now able of running a system with more lines. Version 1.10 of SuperBBS is the first official multi-node release, so it might not be perfect yet. That's why we ask everybody who uses SuperBBS to give their opinion and ideas. That way we can expand and improve the multi-node option. SuperBBS currently uses 160 KByte memory per line. 11.2 Setting SuperBBS up for multi-node support Running SuperBBS as a multi-node system is not to difficult. Prepare a directory for every line you are going to use. Copy the following files into every directory: - FLSEARCH.BBS - LIMITS.BBS - CONFIG.BBS - SCONFIG.BBS - SBBSYELL.CTL (If you use it) - LANGUAGE.CTL - All language files (.LNG files) If you don't copy the FLSEARCH.BBS and LIMITS.BBS to all directories, SuperBBS will look for them in the directory specified in the SBBS variable. (Set SBBS=<drive+path>) In this directory SuperBBS will also create the userfiles, BBS list and other support files. The message base files will be created in the directory specified in CONFIG.EXE or, if none specified, the current directory. Make sure you set the common path of all nodes to the same directory. If possible a 30-50 KByte RAM disk. Here all the information about the operations is stored. Page 69 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Also make sure you set the number of lines in all config files the same. (Remember, every line has it's own configuration file!) Set the system directory path in CONFIG.EXE to the directory you are running the node from. Do this for every line. Multi-node can't run without SHARE.EXE, so load this file at startup of your system. This file should be supplied with your DOS files. You have to start SuperBBS with the -Nxx command line parameter to tell SuperBBS which line it is running on. For example: BBS -L -N2 will start SuperBBS in local mode on line 2. At type 7 exits, two new command options are available: *N Gives you current node number *P Gives you current COM port number If SuperBBS won't run on your system in multi-node mode, let us know. Remember, it is the first release, but we're trying hard! 11.3 Multitaskers SuperBBS has been tested with these multitaskers: - Desqview 2.25 (Normal and 386 versions) - Desqview 2.31 - DoubleDos 4.0 SuperBBS support multitasking with Desqview. It will release time slicks and SBBSUSER will ask from Desqview what memory to use for direct screen writes. If you run SuperBBS with any other multitasker, like Windows 386, let us know. We're always interested in any information about SuperBBS and his behaviour under a multitasker. Page 70 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 12 NET & ECHOMAIL 12.1 General information SuperBBS is a fidonet compatible BBS program. This means you can exchange messages with other fidonet systems. These messages can be NETMAIL or ECHOMAIL. 12.2 Netmail SuperBBS doesn't use a nodelist, so if you want to run netmail, mail from one node to another, you will need a mailer who will handle the address part of netmail, for example D'Bridge or Frontdoor. If you have setup a netmail directory, SuperBBS will ask you for the address the message has to be send to. Here you have to enter a valid fidonet address. There are several external programs available for browsing through a nodelist. After you supplied the destination address, SuperBBS will ask you if the message is a CRASH (or send immediately) message. Third and last question is about File attachments. You can send a file to another BBS this way. If you say YES to the previous question, SuperBBS will ask you for the filename. Then you can enter your message. Contact a BBS system running Netmail if you want more information on this subject. 12.3 Echomail Echomail is mail that is distributed every night over several BBS sys- tems. This means your message could get all over the world, depending on the area your in. This also is the most expensive form of mail. A message written on your system can be read on hundreds of other systems. All messages are always public. You can setup every message area in SuperBBS for echomail use. You can select a different AKA address (if you have them) and choose an origin line for every area (through ECHOORIG.CTL). You will need a front end program (also called mailer) to run Echomail. To run echomail you need an echomail processor. These will unpack messages from the archives they are send in and toss them to your echomail area. They also pack new messages from your system and prepare them to be transferred. Some processors are: - ZmailQ Echo & Netmail scanner/tosser - TosScan Echo & Netmail scanner/tosser There are more programs available. Ask for them at a BBS near you, running echomail. You will also need some echomail utility program. This program must be capable of linking messages, renumbering and deleting them. One of the best programs around is MBUTIL written by Gerard van der Land. This program can take care of all your echomail area maintenance and more. Page 71 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 13 EXTERNAL PROGRAMS 13.1 General information. SuperBBS comes with a few external programs. These are: - USERPACK - SBBSUSER - SBBSUTIL These programs are specially written for the use with SuperBBS. Other programs are available, but do not always support all SuperBBS func- tions. 13.2 Userpack This program is designed to clean your user database. It will delete all users from the USER.BBS and SUSER.BBS files who have the DELETE flag on. The only exception are user's with the NO-KILL flag on. It will also pack your userdatabase for faster processing. Userpack allows multiple commandline parameters, but all parameters are optional. These are the available options: -B Makes backup of the user files. This will take the pro- gram longer to run than without this option. -Dxxx Deletes users from the list who haven't called in xxx days. -O Don't make backup copies if there is not enough disk- space. Use this command in combination with the -B option. -R Removes backup copies after run is complete. -Sxxx Deletes users with a securitylevel lower than xxx. ? Gives a short help screen. Use only as single command line option. If you run userpack without any options, it will just pack your user base and delete every user with the DELETE flag on. Page 72 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 13.3 Sbbsuser This is the user editor for SuperBBS. You will be able to edit all available information in the user record. It is a full-screen program, with the function keys it uses displayed on the bottom line. Their are two modes (or windows). Edit mode and the main window. Edit mode allows you to change information from a caller. The main window is the command centre of the program. Here all function keys are active. From here you go to the edit window. These are the available keys: Cursor Move around in the editmode of the program. This will move you from edit field to edit field. Escape If in editing mode will ask you if you want to save the information and leave the edit mode. If in the main window, it will exit you to DOS. Home Will move you to the first user when in the main window. End Will move you to the last user when in the main window. PgUp Will move you 10 users forward when in the main window. PgDn Will move you 10 users backwards when in the main window. F1 Display help screens for SBBSUSER. F2 Goto general edit mode. This allows you to change most information available. Changing the security level fast is possible with the ALT-S option. F3 Search for the user in the NEWUSER.ASW file and display his/her answers. Useful if you want to update users. F4 Search option. This allows you to search for part of a name, alias or city. F5 Put current user in window in the TRASHCAN.CTL file. F6 Add a new user to the database. F7 Change the user's colour configuration. F8 Change the user's flagsettings. F9 Change the user's attributes. The delete flag can also be set from the main window through the ALT-D key. F10 Exit the program. Shift-F1 Add user to the VIP.CTL list. Page 73 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 With the numerical keys you can select an userrecord. Just enter the number of the record your looking for. SBBSUSER.EXE let's you edit the USER.BBS and SUSER.BBS file. Other user editors mostly allow only editing of the USER.BBS file. 13.4 Sbbsutil SBBSUTIL.EXE allows you to convert some SuperBBS files to general QuickBBS type files. This is useful for some external programs which can't handle the specific SuperBBS type files. The program also gives you the option to initialize your file directories. All commands are done through the use of commandline parameters. Start the program as follows: SBBSUTIL.EXE <parameter> The parameters are: FLSEARCH Converts SuperBBS FLSEARCH.BBS to FLSEARCH.CTL, which can be used with RemoteAccess and/or QuickBBS utilities. LIMITS Converts SuperBBS LIMITS.BBS to LIMITS.CTL. INITFILEAREAS Will initialize all file areas listed in the file FLSEARCH.BBS. Here you can use three extra parame- ters: -F Make FILES.BBS files if not available. -D Make DIR.BBS files if not available. -A Add all missing files, files which are in the directory, but not in the FILES.BBS list, to the FILES.BBS list. Running the util program with the option ? will give help. 13.5 Usersort Version 1.06 / 1.06-a of USERSORT didn't work correctly. Version 1.10 should work correctly, feel free to use it. 13.6 External programs, not specific for SuperBBS Here's a list of programs which will run with SuperBBS although not all of them were build to do so. Some programs have build in support for SuperBBS, others use the QuickBBS standards. All files are copyrighted to the authors of the programs. This is just a short list, we do not pretend to have a complete list of all programs available. If you write a program which supports SuperBBS, let us know! Page 74 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Here's the list: BIGBROOV.ZIP Ratio counter for SuperBBS systems. BNU170.ZIP BNU fossil driver. COMCREAT.ZIP Comment creator for SuperBBS v1.05. DBEST_07.ZIP Statistics generator. DM_400.ZIP Doormaster door converter. FAST_410.ZIP File area statistics program. FEBBS160.ZIP File area manager with SuperBBS support. MBU_110.ZIP Message base utilities. MENUP_11.ZIP Change prompt in all your SuperBBS menus. MKNEW100.ZIP Replacement for scanning newfiles. MM120.ZIP Great menu program with SuperBBS support and 'unknown' menu commands. NEWMAIL.ZIP Scan for unread mail in areas. PYVSB10.ZIP Display you against top user. QBIM400.ZIP SuperBBS to bimodem interface. QED120.ZIP Quicked full screen editor. RQSEX140.ZIP Quick Mail Express with SuperBBS support. SECHK203.ZIP Security checker for SuperBBS systems. SMENU.ZIP Menu editor for SuperBBS systems. SU_02.ZIP Edit special files from SuperBBS. SX229Q1U.ZIP Silver Xpress mail program. UBM_102.ZIP Userbase editor/utilities. Many options. X00_V124.ZIP X00 fossil driver. As you can see, programs enough. It is possible and most likely, that some of these programs have been replaced with newer versions. 14 DOCUMENTATION 14.1 General information This is my first attempt to write a set of documentation for a program. This means it is probably full with illogical text. I still hope it can be of use to you, the user of SuperBBS. If you have any comments on this documentation, positive or negative, let me know. Here's my address: Frank Hemmelder Lekoord 43 3448 VS Woerden Holland BBS phone number...: +.31.3480.24801 Online hours/Bps...: 24 hrs / max. 2400 Bps Fidonet address....: 2:286/410(.410) or through the SuperBBS echomail area. Please note that I'm not running a multi-node system, I'm no part of the SuperBBS developers team and English is not my native language. I will do my best to correct any error in this documentation in the next version. I can not be held responsible if anything happens to you or your system through the use of this documentation! Page 75 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 14.2 Missing parts and credits Any part of this documentation is written with the best possible inten- tions, but I'm human, so I probably forget to credit people for things they have done. Anybody who is not mentioned here, but has done some- thing for SuperBBS or the external programs mentioned in this documenta- tion, deserves credit. I'm sorry if I didn't mentioned you. Here's a list of acknowledgments: Product: Trademark of: -------- ------------- Acer Multitech Inc. Amstrad Amstrad (Electronics), Inc. ARC System Enhancement Associates, Inc. BinkleyTerm Bit Bucket Software BNU David Nugent & Unique computing DataBridge Chris Irwin EasyData EasyData Inc. Everex Everex Inc. FidoNet Tom Jennings (IFNA) FrontDoor Joaquim H. Homrighausen Goldstar GoldStar Inc. Harris Lanier Harris Adacom/Harris Corporation Inc Hayes Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc. Hyundai Hyundai Inc. IBM International Business Machines LHARC Haruyasu Yoshizaki MS-DOS Microsoft Corporation PKARC PKWare, Inc. PKZIP PKWare, Inc. Protocol Engine Joaquim H. Homrighausen Qecho QuickBBS Group, inc. QuickBBS QuickBBS Group, inc. QuickEd Dror and Oren Tirosh RemoteAccess Continental Software Telix Exis Inc. TosScan Joaquim H. Homrighausen TurboPascal Borland Inc. USRobotics USRobotics Inc. Ventel Ventel Inc. X00.SYS Raymond L. Gwinn ZmailQ Claude N. Warren (Mojave Group) ZOO Rahul Dhesi And everybody who I forgot to mention. Sorry! 14.3 Support nodes Because of the fact that the Support nodes are growing bigger and bigger in number and not all support nodes are known to me, the writer of this documentation, I omitted them from this file. See the separate file for a complete list. Page 76 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 15 APPENDIXES Appendix A To run SuperBBS you will need a batchfile. Two examples are given. The first is a short one for running SuperBBS in stand alone mode. The second is from a system with a Frontdoor mailer. This is the stand alone version: :start cls bbs if errorlevel=2 then end goto start :end echo SysOp dropped to dos Nice and simple. Start the batch file and the screen will be cleared. After that SuperBBS is started. If the Sysop presses the ESCAPE key, SuperBBS will exit with errorlevel 2, which will end the batchfile. Otherwise SuperBBS is restarted. See your DOS documentation for more information about batch files and errorlevels. Here's the second example. Everything behind the period is a comment and should not be used in a batchfile, as is the period. echo off . Stops echoing characters :start . Defines 'start' label D: . Changes to 'D:' drive cd\front . Changes to 'front' dir FD /M . Starts fd in mono mode if errorlevel 240 goto 2400_baud . Checks if 2400Bps caller if errorlevel 120 goto 1200_baud . Checks if 1200Bps caller if errorlevel 100 goto unpack_mail . Checks if unpack mail event if errorlevel 80 goto clean_up . Checks if cleanup event if errorlevel 50 goto local_bbs . Checks if local call if errorlevel 10 goto end . Checks if drop to dos :unpack_mail . Defines 'Unpack_mail' label echo ath1m0>com1 . Puts modem to offhook cd\sbbs . Changes to 'sbbs' dir zmailq q pu pi pf ei ni nf . Runs ZmailQ to unpack mail goto pack_all . Go to 'pack_all' label :pack_all . Defines 'Pack_all' label echo ath1m0>com1 . Puts modem to offhook cd\sbbs . Changes to 'sbbs' dir zmailq pe q pa ef ee ne . Runs ZmailQ to pack mail goto start . Go to 'start' label :2400_baud . Defines '2400_baud' label cd\sbbs . Changes to 'sbbs' dir bbs -B2400 -P1 . Runs SuperBBS at 2400,com1 goto after_sbbs . Go to 'after_sbbs' label Page 77 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 :1200_baud . Defines '1200_baud' label cd\sbbs . Changes to 'sbbs' dir echo Call detected...1200BPS . Echoes a message to sysop bbs -B1200 -P1 . Runs SuperBBS at 1200,com1 goto after_sbbs . Go to 'after_sbbs' label :local_bbs . Defines 'local_bbs' label echo Local call detected . Echoes a message to sysop echo Taking modem OFF-HOOK . Echoes a message to sysop echo ath1m0>com1 . Puts modem to offhook cd\sbbs . Changes to 'sbbs' dir bbs -L . Runs SuperBBS at local mode goto after_sbbs . Go to 'after_sbbs' label :after_sbbs . Defines 'after_sbbs' label if errorlevel 246 goto spurgux . Checks if request Spurgux if errorlevel 220 goto bank . Checks if request TimeBank if errorlevel 5 goto pack_all . Checks if caller enter echo if errorlevel 4 goto pack_all . Checks if caller enter net if errorlevel 3 goto pack_all . Checks if caller enter both goto start . In other case, restart FD :spurgux . Defines 'spurgux' label cd\sbbs\doors\spurgux . Changes to sub-directory ctty gate1 . Activates gateway redirect spu.exe . Runs doorgame 'spurgux' ctty con . DeActivates gateway cd\sbbs . Changes to 'sbbs' dir goto restart_sbbs . Go to 'restart_sbbs' label :bank . Defines 'bank' label cd\sbbs\doors . Changes to sub-directory hambank.exe D:\SBBS M . Runs timebank (HamBank) tym2qbbs D:\SBBS . Converts Hambank's files cd\sbbs . Changes back to 'sbbs' dir goto restart_sbbs . Go to 'restart_sbbs' label :restart_sbbs . Defines 'restart_sbbs'label bbs -R -P1 . Restarts SuperBBS after exit to dos (menutype 15) goto after_sbbs . Go to 'after_sbbs' label :clean_up . Defines 'clean_up' label echo ath1m0>com1 . Puts modem to offhook cd\sbbs . Changes to 'sbbs' dir msgpack . Runs MsgPack (QuickBBS's msgbase packer/cleaner) goto start . Go to 'start' label :end . Defines 'end' label Echo The SBBS HQ down . Echoes a message to SysOp This is the end of the second batchfile example. Check the comments to see what happens. Ask a Sysop near you for help if you have problems running a batchfile like this. Page 78 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Appendix B SuperBBS has been tested with the following equipment: Acer 500+ ( 8Mhz, Nv20 65,32 Mb HD, 640Kb,Hercules) Adc 386sx (16Mhz, 386/sx, 65 Mb HD, 1Mb,VGA) Amstrad PC1640 ( 8Mhz, 8086-II 17 Mb HD, 640Kb,Hercules) GoldStar 286 (10Mhz, 80286 40 Mb HD, 1Mb,VGA) Graph 386 (25Mhz, 80386 135 Mb HD, 4Mb,VGA) Harris P2400 (12Mhz, 80286 120 Mb HD, 1MB,EGA) Hyundai 286C (10Mhz, 80286 42 Mb HD, 1Mb,VGA) Hyundai 386Sx (16Mhx, 80386 125 Mb HD, 2Mb,VGA) Ibm PS/2-60 (12Mhz, 80286 2x45 Mb HD, 1Mb,VGA) NoName 386 (25Mhz, 80386 190 Mb HD, 8Mb,SVGA) Pinus Pc ( 4Mhz, 8088, 65 Mb HD, 640Kb,Hercules) Sperry Pc ( 5Mhz, 8088, 20 Mb HD, 640Kb,Hercules) Toshiba T3100e (12Mhz, 80286, 20 Mb HD, 1Mb,CGA/AT&T) and with the following modems: Acer 2400 2400Bps (external) ATD V.22bis 2400Bps (external) Discovery 2400S 2400Bps (card) EasyData 2400 2400Bps (card) Everex 2400 2400Bps (card) Hidem 2400E 2400Bps (external) Hyundai 1200P 1200Bps (card) Prodem 2400H 2400Bps (card) SmarTeam 1200BH 1200Bps (card) Supra Modem 2400Bps (external) USRobotics courier HST dual standard 300-14400Bps (external) Ventel 2400 2400Bps (PS/2-Card) No problems have been found running these configurations. But if you have any problem, let us know. Contact either the SuperBBS HQ or the Support nodes. Page 79 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Appendix C Here are some Turbo Pascal errors. If you receive a message like: Runtime error: ???? It means an error occurred. The following list might help you to dis- cover what went wrong. Code: Error: Problem: ================================================================= 2 File not found You've deleted Sbbs' files (?) and Sbbs can't find them now. Check which file is possible missing and replace it. 3 Path not found You've configured a non- existing path in config. 4 Too many open files MsDos's 'Files=??' statement in config.sys is too low, increase statement. 5 File access denied You've used Hidden/ReadOnly attributes with Sbbs files (?), don't do that (!). 15 Invalid drive number You've configured illegal drive in config. 100 Disk read error Your hard disk has problems, check it / program error. 103 File not open Problems with open/close/read files, try to increase 'Files=??' statement first. 150 Disk is write protected You've write protected disk (?), don't do that. 151 Unknown unit You've configured illegal unit/drive in config. 152 Drive not ready Problems with your disk drive, check it. 156 Disk seek error Problems with your disk drive, check it. 157 Unknown media type Operating system doesn't recognize your disk drive's format etc. Check it. 158 Sector not found Problems with your disk drive, check it. 162 Hardware failure Problems with your hardware, check it. 200 Division by zero Program error, inform authors 202 Stack overflow error Program error, inform authors That's it. For more information about this, refer to the Turbo Pascal manuals, or contact the nearest SuperBBS help support or the authors. Page 80 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Appendix D Bugreport form. Use this if you found a bug in the SuperBBS program. Date: ... - ... - 199.. Your name.....: ______________________________________________ Your address..: ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ BBS name......: ______________________________________________ BBS phone nr..: ______________________________________________ On-line hrs...: ______________________________________________ Fidonet nr....: ______________________________________________ Hardware......: ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ Software......: ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ Information about the bug. Please be as clear as possible. Describe the way the bug was found. Also report error messages. (ERROR.LOG) ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Send this report to a support node or the SuperBBS HQ. Page 81 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 Appendix E Suggest form. Use this if you have suggestions for the SuperBBS program. Date: ... - ... - 199.. Your name.....: ______________________________________________ Your address..: ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ BBS name......: ______________________________________________ BBS phone nr..: ______________________________________________ On-line hrs...: ______________________________________________ Fidonet nr....: ______________________________________________ Write your suggestion down as clear as possible. ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Send this report to a support node or the SuperBBS HQ. Page 82 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991 THAT'S IT, FOLKS. This documentation contains over 23,000 words. Page 83 SuperBBS v1.10 documentation 1 february 1991