Continued from Previous Chapter

PROMPT

  Change the main Waffle prompt. Normally, this is set to

%B%|%T (?=help!) -> %

  which translates to current newsgroup (full name) followed by
  a carriage return, the time and "(?=help!) -> ".

[#1: the Public Barbequeue]

6:29p (?=help!) -> _

  A full description of % options is available in STATIC.DOC
  documentation file.

  Entering PROMPT without an argument changes back to the
  default prompt. If you really want NO prompt, use "PROMPT %".

  The default prompt is configured in the static file parameter
  "prompt"; this command is included to allow users to customize
  their prompts by using their "waffle" startup files.

READ

  The READ command enters Waffle's "newsreader mode", for
  reading & responding to Usenet messages. "READ" alone
  will read the currently selected newsgroup, where "READ group"
  will read a different one.

  Normal behavior after typing READ is to just hit return
  to read messages. Other commands that are available with
  READ or NEW are:

  %  AGAIN
Read the current message again. Also see

the VERBOSE command if you want to read it

without any headers supressed.

  %  BACK       Go back one message to read the previous

message. However, to go forward a message

hit RETURN (the NEXT won't do this).

  %  CANCEL     Remove a message that you had previously

posted. If the message was sent over the

network, a CANCEL control message will be

generated to remove the message on all systems.

                [RET] 434-533, Q)uit: cancel

From: jones@pyrite.edu (Robert F. Jones, x3312)

Subject: Re: Making your car explode

Cancel 434 on rec.pyrotechnics?

Although a privileged user may cancel any

message, it is considered impolite to CANCEL

messages from people on other systems.

  %  CATCH      Mark ALL messages as read. If this is a NEW

scan, Waffle will proceed to the next newsgroup.

[RET] 434-533, Q)uit: catch

Catch up ALL MESSAGES on rec.pyrotechnics? y

  %  DOWNLOAD
Download current message, using the

currently selected protocol.

[RET] 434-533, Q)uit: download

Download #434 via Z protocol? y

17 blocks, 3k

You should then start up the receiving

end of your terminal to receive the file.

  %  FOLLOW
Post, including quotes. Text from the most

recently read message is prefixed by >'s.

[RET] 434-533, Q)uit: f

Subject: Re: The safest pyrotechnic

NOTE - Please delete any unnecessary text in the

quoted message, as it tends to get annoying...

You are now placed in the editor to

compose a response.

  %  FORWARD
Mail copy of message elsewhere. This is similar

to the MAIL forward command except deals with a

posted message instead of a letter.

[RET] 434-533, Q)uit: forward jim

To: jim

Letter saved.

  %  LIST
Display message subjects or other headers.

[RET] 434-533, Q)uit: LIST

434: Re: Stupid Childhood Activities

435: Re: The safest pyrotechnic

...etc...

A numeric argument will begin listing at that number.

When an "alpha" argument is given, that header

will be listed instead of the SUBJECT line:

[RET] 434-533, Q)uit: list from

434: jones@pyrite.edu (Robert F. Jones, x3312)

435: sysmgr@KLING.ENG.DUMB.EDU (Doug Mueller)

...etc...

These two forms may be combined:

[RET] 434-533, Q)uit: list 450 subject

450: Kansas State University, Dept. of Computing

451: University of California, Berkeley

...etc...

  %  MAIL
Send private mail to author, with quoted

text of the message included. This is in effect

a followup mailed to the author rather than

posted for the rest of the world to see.

  %  NEXT
Skip to following forum, leaving any

remaining messages unread. This is NOT the

same as just pressing return to read the

following message.

  %  POST
Post public message. Newsgroups may be

specified in the argument. See the full

section on the POST command.

This will also occur if you answer YES to

a "Post Here?" question during a NEW scan.

  %  QUIT
Exit to main menu. The newsgroup you were

in when you started will be reentered.

  %  SEARCH
Search by subject or author. The first

time give the search string as an argument

to SEARCH; after that "s" without any

argument will continue the search where

you left off.

[RET] 435-534, Q)uit: s thermite

<..a message is displayed that contained the

   word "thermite" in the header..>

[RET] 435-534, Q)uit: s

Not found.

<..there were no more messages about

   thermite, apparently..>

  %  UNJOIN
Unsubscribe to newsgroup. If you answer YES,

it will be removed from your JOIN file.

[RET] 435-534, Q)uit: u

Unsubscribe to rec.pyrotechnics? y

If you have no JOIN file, this has no effect.

To resubscribe, type "JOIN newsgroup" at

the main Waffle prompt.

If you just want to scan a newsgroup without

JOINING, type "READ newsgroup" at the main

prompt. This will not alter your JOIN file.

  %  VERBOSE
Redisplay the current message, including

any headers that would normally be

suppressed by the "ignore" statement in

the static file.

The "ignore" headers normally clutter up

a message, but occasionally someone will want

to see what the missing headers are.

  %  WRITE
Save the current message in a file in the

user's home directory. If the file already

exists the message will be appended.

Next/36 Mail> write

Appended to file /user/lunatic/messages

If a name is specified, that filename will

be used to store the message:

Next/36 Mail> write yap.txt

Written to file /user/lunatic/yap.txt

  Also whenever a number is entered instead of a command,
  that message will be displayed. Hitting RETURN causes the
  next message to be read.

  The READ command can be abbreviated as "R".

RENAME

  Rename a disk file. Also, under some circumstances, the file
  may be renamed into a different directory (provided the directory
  is on the same physical disk as the original file).

REN oldfile.txt newfile.txt

  RENAME is reserved for privileged users. This command can
  be abbreviated as "REN".

SHELL

  Enter the operating system (usually COMMAND.COM or the
  Unix C shell). Obviously, for security reasons only
  privileged users are permitted access to the SHELL command:

[#1: the Public Barbequeue]

6:29p (?=help!) -> SHELL

[shell - type EXIT to return]

C:\WAFFLE\BIN>DIR R*.EXE

 Volume in drive C is DROOL

 Directory of  C:\WAFFLE\BIN

RMAIL    EXE    23966   7-05-90   8:55p

RNEWS    EXE    38640   7-03-90   8:19p

       2 File(s)    913408 bytes free

C:\WAFFLE\BIN>EXIT

  A similar display results with the Unix version of Waffle.

  If arguments are given to the SHELL command, they are
  executed without a command line. For instance,

SHELL DIR R*.EXE

  has the same effect as the above.

  When running under DOS, it should be noted that there are
  some programs that are not "well behaved", that is, the
  input or output cannot be intercepted by Waffle to send over
  the modem. Such programs should not be used with a modem.

SHOW

  Examine the system logs. There are a number of logfiles
  maintained by Waffle in the /waffle/admin directory that are
  useful to examine from time to time:

SHOW TRANSFER

  will display the last 20 file transfers. To view more
  transfers, an additional numeric argument can be specified:

SHOW 50 TRANSFER

  Some other interesting logfiles that can be examined in this
  manner include

SHOW CALLERS
Equivalent to LIST command

SHOW ERRORS
Any errors that the system has detected;

some errors occur due to normal use.

SHOW EVENTS
Equivalent to EVENTS command

SHOW LOGFAIL
Login failures detected by the

Waffle login sequence.

SHOW REQUESTS
Account request information, including

any answers to the newuser questionnaire.

  There are more logfiles that are specific to the DOS networking
  utilities, such as SHOW NET and SHOW UUCP; refer to the
  documentation regarding those programs for further information.

STATUS

  The STATUS command allows the user to display and modify
  information pertaining to his or her account. A list of the
  current information is shown, some of which may be altered:

 Account Name: system (SYSTEM 0PERATOR)

     Password: 14*boom

 Calls so far: 882

   Posts left: 239

 New messages: 105 since 06-Jul-90

      Uploads: 974k

    Downloads: 264k

  Text Editor: vi

Terminal Type: vt100

 System calls: 79854

  ..and posts: 20046

  Last caller: grogant (Tim Grogan)

change Editor Level Rank Name Password Terminal?

  The user may change any one of the following:

EDITOR

Text editor, to be used when

entering messages or mail.

LEVEL,

For BBS's that have been configured

RANK, or
with a rank/level system, these three

COMMENT

items can be changed by people with

sufficient access level. Example:

  Level 0: Unvalidated

Here, "0" is the LEVEL and "Unvalidated"

is the RANK (or COMMENT).

NAME

Change user's name; this is the

"identity" rather than the login name.

PASSWORD
Set password -- do not forget what you

change it to or you will be unable to login.

TERMINAL
Configure terminal type. Common terminal

types include "none" and "vt100". See

the section under "TERM" form additional

information.

  The display of this command is controlled by the file
  /waffle/system/status, and can be altered if the need arises.

SYSMAIL

  Read and respond to FEEDBACK. Specifically, any privileged
  account can access the mailbox of user "system" with SYSMAIL.

        [ Mail for <system@west.darkside.com> ]

 80   12 Jul 90 - bigtime!larry@CS.ORST.EDU (Larry Gilbert)

 81   13 Jul 90 - greg (Greg Montgomery)

 82   13 Jul 90 - anwyn (anwyn)

 83   13 Jul 90 - jim (Jim Klessig)

 84   14 Jul 90 - "Erik E. Fair" <fair@apple.com>

 Next/78 Mail> QUIT

  The last ten letters are listed when first entering SYSMAIL;
  the example above has been abbreviated.

  Any responses to mail in the "system" mailbox are sent with the
  originator's return address.

TAIL

  View the last few lines of a file. For instance,

TAIL /waffle/system/callers

  will show the last 20 lines, or fewer if there aren't that
  many lines in the file. When an additional argument is given,
  a number other than 20 can be viewed:

TAIL 400 /waffle/system/callers

  will give you the last 400 lines, if you are so inclined.

TERM

  Select a terminal type. The DOS version of Waffle supports
  two types of terminals, vt100 (or ansi), and a plain terminal.

  Type TERM for a list of terminals available:

[#1: the Public Barbequeue]

6:29p (?=help!) -> TERM

This flavor of Waffle supports two types of terminals,

vt100        VT100 emulation

none         No emulation at all

  To select a terminal, either issue the TERM command, as

[#1: the Public Barbequeque]

6:29p (?=help!) -> TERM vt100

Terminal set to vt100

  or select "Terminal" from the STATUS command's menu.

  The Unix version of Waffle supports any terminal handled by
  Unix termcap, including vt100, vt52, vt220, and many others.
  The specifics vary from one version of Unix to another.

TIME

  Display the current date and time, plus the time
  online and time remaining:

Sun, 15 Jul 90 17:05:47 PDT, on for 2 minutes, 88 left

  This is identical to the DATE command.

TYPE

  View a file; similar to the DOS "type" or Unix "cat" commands.
  The filename may be a file or a pathname.

TYPE welcome

  For unprivileged users, the file is assumed to be in the
  user's directory; otherwise the current directory is checked.

UNJOIN

  Remove a newsgroup from your JOIN file, and thus from
  your NEW scan. For example,

UNJOIN comp.sys.ibm.pc

  Much more information on this can be found under JOIN.

USERS

  Display a listing of all users on the system, along with
  identity, last call date, and comment:

Userlist @ darkside.com, 1334 total

aahz      | Aahz                   | 01-Mar-90 | Psychedelica

aldr_do   | Mark Aaldering         | 22-May-90 | obba babatumbe

ard       | Aardvark               | 09-May-90 | Generic Rank

able      | Able Baker             | 15-Dec-89 | who goes

abs       | Al Sinclair            | 13-Jun-90 | Have you seen

absolute  | Absolute               | 17-Jun-90 | It's 2am & the

achilles  | Achilles               | 12-May-90 | Toe Jam Football

ack       | Bill the un Cat        | 28-Jun-90 | Black Velvet

acumen    | Acumen Publishing      | 08-Feb-90 | Be good to your

  This command can be abbreviated as "U".

VALIDATE

  Searches though the userlist for newly created accounts
  and asks whether to validate these or not:

Validate floyd (Floyd R Turbo) Bud at 408/245-SPAM - y/n/kill? Y

  If "Y" is given as an answer, an ADMIN EDIT command is
  for that account; an "N" answer will cause the account to be
  remain unvalidated. A "K" will remove the account.

  After validation, an event is placed in the EVENTS log to
  allow assignment of credit/blame to the validators, in the
  event several people are using VALIDATE.

VERSION

  Display the version number of Waffle that you are using.

        Waffle v1.65 compiled 3.1.92

        (C) Copyright 1992 Darkside Int'l

PO Box 4436 Mountain View CA 94040

Public access dialup at +1 408 245 SPAM

        Inquiries to dell@vox.darkside.com
                     ..apple!uuwest!vox!dell

  Of course you probably know what version you are running, but
  other people on your system may not.

WELCOME

  Redisplay the welcome message that was viewed immediately
  after logging in. (Occasionally an announcement is missed by
  an overzealous abort key, and someone wants to review the
  welcome bulletins..)