Simtel MSDOS - Coast to Coast/simteldosarchivecoasttocoast2.iso/citadel/ctdl338d.zip/EASE.HLP

Text File | 1990-05-06 | 7KB | 185 lines

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  Hello!  Welcome to Citadel-86's EASE utility, a program for
automating the installation and modification of Citadel-86 systems.
The reason you're seeing this is because Ease cannot detect
anything which indicates a system already exists here, and so Ease
is going to lead you through a step-by-step installation.  If Ease
is wrong about this assumption, you will have the option to abort
the entire process with no damage done after answering all
questions.

  In order for Ease to be successful, a copy of CONFG.EXE, located
in RUNTIME.ARC, must be made available either in your current
directory or somewhere on your DOS PATH.  Before Ease will even
start the installation process it will try to find out if you have
made CONFG.EXE available.  If it can't find it, Ease will abort.
Remember this!
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  This installation process consists of answering a series of
questions regarding your system.  These questions fall into the
following categories:

 o Miscellaneous
 o System File locations
 o Various sizes
 o System policy
 o Hardware
 o Video

  These answers taken together define what your system will look
like and how much space it will take up.
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  Ease does NOT automate all aspects of installation, however.  You
may have to perform one or more of the following to have a complete
and easy-to-use Citadel-86 installation:

 o Prepare 1 or more DOS BAT file (see INSTALL3.MAN)
 o Copy the Help files into the correct directory
 o Prepare a RESULTS.SYS file for autobaud support of your modem
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                      Miscellaneous Parameters

  The next few questions cover a number of miscellaneous parameters.
These concern the identity of your system and a couple of other
minor doodads.  While important, you can easily change these to
whatever you want at a later time using Ease, so don't get too hung
up on most of these.

  INSTALL3.MAN, probably in Section II.5.b, covers these parameters,
their uses and meanings, in far greater detail than Ease can, so if
you harbour more interest in these details than Ease can answer,
please check INSTALL3.MAN for those details.
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                       System Files Locations

  The next few questions concern the locations of the basic system
files used by Citadel-86.  These are the Help Files, the Accounts,
the Rooms, the Message base, and the Floors.  All but the Help
files are automatically generated and maintained by Citadel-86
itself.

  These files must all be located either in the current working
directory of any disk on your system, or in a direct subdirectory
of that working directory. You may not specify locations anywhere
else but in those locations for these files (but don't panic!  This
restriction only applies to these files!).

(Continued)
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  There is no reason you can't specify the same directory for all
the files, and in fact many installations do use a common directory
for most of the system files.  However, we do recommend the Help
files be kept separate from the rest of the system files for
aesthetic reasons.

  If, sometime in the future, you come to dislike the locations you
selected for some or all of these files, Ease will let you easily
and painlessly select new locations for them.
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                             File  Sizes

  The next several questions concern the size you want your system
to be.  The 'size' of a Citadel-86 is actually a collection of
different values applying to a variety of things, some of which are
optional.  The basic five values which are always used and most
influential in determining the size of the installation is the size
of the message base, the number of accounts and rooms the system
will support, the number of messages per room, and the number of
messages which each user will have access to in Mail>.

  All of these values may be changed later.  However, only the
number of rooms, messages per room, and messages in Mail> may be
shrunk later.  Once you have selected the size of the message base
and the number of accounts in the system, you may not (at least not
at present) shrink them.
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  For reference, the number of bytes your CtdlRoom.Sys will take up
can be calculated using the formula:

 # of bytes = Rooms * (50 + (6 * Messages per room))

  The number of bytes your CtdlLog.Sys will take up will be

 # of bytes = Accounts * (82 + Rooms + (6 * Messages in Mail>))

  See INSTALL3.MAN if you want more detailed information on
parameter sizes and how they affect your system's size.
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                               Policy

  The following numerous questions concern the basic policies of
your systems. These, of course, may be changed at any time via Ease
as suits your whim and folly.  Each question will respond to either
the space bar by changing the answer from Yes or No to the
opposite, or to the appropriate letter by selecting it.
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                               Hardware

  The following collection of questions lets you tell Citadel-86 how
to handle the serial port and the modem you've (presumably)
attached to it.  Basically, you will assure Ease you are operating
on a IBM PC or clone, which Com port your modem is attached to, the
maximum baud your modem is capable of, how to detect the baud rate,
and finally what kind of modem you have.

  The latter we've spent some time on in hopes of easing your
installation of Citadel-86.  We've built up a list, short at the
moment but growing, of modems successfully used with Citadel-86,
and the appropriate DIP switch settings, initialization strings,
and useful hints.  Hopefully, you'll find it much easier to make
your modem behave if you can find your modem on Ease's list.
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                               Video Options

  This section, the last section of the installation process, lets
you quickly, accurately, and painlessly decide what colors you'd
like to use with Citadel-86.  While those of you with monochrome
screens probably do not care, those lucky enough to have color may
appreciate not having to stare at white on black when using their
systems.  This should be fairly self-explanatory, and you can of
course always return to change colors later.
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  And that's it!  In a moment Ease will ask your permission to
create a new Citadel-86 installation for you.  However, this is not
the last use for Ease you'll ever find.  Once you have a working
installation, Ease may be used to enable other options, such as
C86Net, Events, Doors, etc.

  Also, we should reflect on what Ease won't do for you.  For
instance, it won't actually run Citadel-86 for you.  You must do
that, by getting CTDL.EXE (from RUNTIME.ARC or wherever you happen
to be keeping CTDL.EXE).  Ease also does not do the following:

 o Create BAT files for your system - see INSTALL3.MAN.
 o Create or copy help files to the right directory.
 o Create a RESULTS.SYS - see INSTALL3.MAN.

  But we hope Ease has been a major factor in your creation of a new
system!
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