Media Share 9/MEDIASHARE_09.ISO/mag&info/kgl_9401.zip/WHATSNEW.BBS

File List | 1994-02-03 | 14KB | 302 lines

ZITEL BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEM NEWS

Our Merger with Z-Node and
Plans to Add a CD-ROM Drive

By Jay Sage, Sysop

   In the last issue of the Kugel I wrote about the upgrade to
version 15.0 of the PCBoard software that we use on the BBS, and I
described some of the new features, such as the ability to attach
files to messages, a slightly changed message format that allows
longer subject lines, and the ability to send a return-receipt back
to the sender of private messages.  The attach-file facility is
already being put to extensive use by many callers.  Two newsletter
editors are exchanging files with their writers, and other callers
who are collaborating on projects are exchanging drafts using this
facility.

   One of the most powerful new PCBoard features is PPL, the "PCBoard
Programming Language," which allows the sysop to extend the
capabilities of PCBoard virtually without limit.  Last time, I
described one such program, called FLAG, that allows files to be
flagged for downloading simply by moving a cursor to the file and
pressing the RETURN key.  I'll have more to say about PPL extensions
later in this column.


THE MERGER OF Z-NODE #3 WITH THE ZITEL BBS

   For ten years I had been operating another board, the Z-Node #3
BBS, to support CP/M in general and its advanced replacement, Z-
System, in particular, on an Ampro Little Board computer.  Over the
past few years, the hard disk had been relentlessly failing, with more
and more sectors having to be locked out using the FBAD utility.
Because there was no mass backup capability, it was never simple to
back up all the files, reformat the hard disk, and then restore the
files. Finally, I decided that it made more sense to combine its
operation with the Zitel BBS.

   A few days after the Z-Node celebrated it 10th anniversary, I
added another serial card to the Zitel machine and connected the
Z-Node modem and phone line as PCBoard's third external node.  That
phone line uses a different (grandfathered) class of service from our
other two phone lines and costs only half as much.  Therefore, I did
not want to give it up.  However, it cannot be added to the automatic
hunt sequence and has to be dialed separately at 617-965-7259.

   In order to make room for all the Z-System files on the new host
system, Sage Microsystems East, sponsor of the Z-Node, purchased a
new 340 MByte hard disk for the Zitel BBS to replace its existing
pair of 90 MByte drives, thereby nearly doubling the storage
capacity.  It also doubled the speed of the drive.

   The large hard disk has made it possible to improve significantly
the Z-Node's file collection.  Not only are all the files from the old
Z-Node now on-line, but the large ZSUS (Z-System Software Update
Service) collection is also available.  Among the ZSUS items are six
excellent packages of public-domain files for specific purposes:

    WRDPAK for word processing,
    LBRPAK with archiving tools,
    PRGPAK for programmers,
    TCJPAK with articles from The Computer Journal magazine,
    COMPAK with the executables for hundreds of Z-System (and
           a few standard CP/M) programs, and
    HLPPAK with help and doc files for the COM files in the
           COMPAK package.

   These collections are each packaged as several ZIP files of about
300K, so that they can be downloaded in a reasonable amount of time,
and so that they will fit on a single floppy disk on most CP/M
computers.  Moreover, the ZIP files were made using the older
version-1.10 PKZIP, so that the CP/M unzip tools can be used with
them.  However, if you cannot handle a complete archive file, or if
you simply want some specific files, you can use the file-view
facility in PCBoard ("F V filename" from the main command prompt, or
"V filename" if you are already at the file command prompt) to build
a custom ZIP file containing only the member files you want.  [Of
course, DOS callers can use this facility in the same way.]

   Besides the advantage of a much larger and faster hard disk, the
new home for the Z-Node now offers a total of three phone lines
instead of just one, and two of those lines have fast modems.  Soon
all three modems will offer at least 9600 bps performance, with one
reaching as high as 24,000 bps!  The new Z-Node also offers a far more
powerful messaging system, with long messages, private messages,
message quoting, message editing, and file attachment.

   The one big disadvantage -- and there have already been complaints
about this -- is the loss of the direct interface to the operating
system that CP/M and Z-System callers have long been used to.  Since
MS-DOS (still) has no access-security features, a BBS requires that a
program mediate all operations.  Thus, one cannot escape from the
relatively cumbersome PCBoard interface.  All I can recommend is that
you try to be patient and learn the new system.  Take a little time
to download the various help bulletins and the messages in the BBS
conference, and use the "H" command at the prompts to learn about the
possibilities.


Coming Soon to the Zitel BBS: CD-ROM !

   A high-performance Toshiba 3401B CD-ROM drive was ordered just
before the new year, thanks to generous financial contributions from
a number of our callers.  With it, we will be able to offer vast
software collections to our callers (up to 650 MBytes per diskette).
Among the first CD-ROMs expected to be put on line are the huge CP/M
and MS-DOS collections from the Internet SIMTEL20 archives.  The
MS-DOS collection has already been published; the CP/M collection is
expected to be released in January.  If there are CD-ROMs that you
would like us to add to our collections, please drop a note to the
sysop.  In a future issue of the Boston Kugel (once we have the drive
installed and working), we will describe in more detail how callers
can access CD- ROMs.


More New PCBoard Features

   Now, I would like to resume the discussion of new (and some old)
features of PCBoard.  This column is getting long, so I will only
mention a couple, for now.

   First I would like to tell you about two new commands that are
programmed in PPL (the PCBoard Programming Language).  One has
actually been available for a while now.  It is called NEWFILES (but
it's enough to type just "NEWF").  It is a kind of "macro" that runs
the easily-forgotten commands for displaying the most recent uploads
to the system.

   In all conferences except for the Writers Conference, NEWFILES is
equivalent to the command string "N S U" (New files Since last scan
in Upload directory).  In the Writers Conference it scans both the
general upload area and the conference-specific upload area.

   Another, newer PPL command is CALLERS (just type "CALL").  This
shows an up-to-date listing of the callers to the board, starting
with the most recent and working backwards.  It shows the date and
time when the connection was made, and also the node number and how
many times the caller has been on the system.


TIPS ON READING MESSAGES ONLINE

   Several times recently a caller has left me a messaging saying
something like, "I know that John Doe left me a message, but I can't
find it."  I usually have no trouble locating it, because I know
about some advanced options.  Now I'm going to let you all in on the
secret!

   You can limit your search of messages in many ways.  By now, I hope
you are all familiar with two basic forms of the read command: "R #",
for reading a specific message number (here '#' is the number of the
message you want) and "R S", for reading the messages in the current
conference since your last message scan.  You can also limit your scan
by specifying whom the message is FROM or TO.  For example, for the
problem I described above, I would type:

    R L FROM JOHN DOE

This would (R)ead messages in the current conference starting
with the (L)ast one, including only those FROM John Doe.

   If you don't remember which conference the message was left
in, you can include all conferences in the scan, by adding the
option word ALL.  Making the command:

    R ALL L FROM JOHN DOE

A word of caution: you must use the full and exact name of the
caller in order to get a match.  If you are not quite sure of
the name, or if you want to search for arbitrary text in the
message, you can use the "TS" (Text Search) option instead.  It
will search the header and body of the message for the text you
specify.  You can also use the USER command to determine the
user's exact name.  For example, if you don't know whether the
person is registered as JOHN DOE or JACK DOE, you can run the
command "USER DOE" to find all user records containing the
string "DOE".  That's bound to find a lot of other people, but
the one you want will be among them.  You could also try "USER
JOHN DOE" and "USER JACK DOE".

   A final plea: please use PCBoard's HELP system to learn more
about the commands.  For example, to learn more about the (R)ead
command, type either "HELP R" at the main prompt, or just "H" at
the message-reading prompt.  By taking a quick look at a little
more help information each time you call the system, you will
soon be an expert.  If you have any questions about the
information, you can always leave me a message.

   I am always happy to assist callers in learning to make
better use of the BBS.

                 -Jay Sage-
---------------------------------------------------------------------

CP/M CORNER
(Larry Schnitger, CP/M Sysop)

Here is a sample of the recently uploaded CP/M related files that
are available for downloading from the Zitel BBS:

                         <<<< TEXT >>>>

JARGON-A.ZIP   Very scholarly dictionary of computer/hacker terms.
               This file differs from the original upload in that
               each section is now a separate file.  This means
               that you don't have to download the whole 400K
               file at once; you can take small pieces at a time.
               (This is essentially the paperback book "Hacker's
               Dictionary" less the illustrations -- LS)

CPM-nnX.ARC    Repacking of INFO-CPM Digests, volumes nn0 through
               nn9 into a single ARC file.  (The sysop uploads
               individual files roughly each day, and bundles
               them in 10-packs -- LS)

RCPM0993.LBR   Sept. 1993 version of the Remote CP/M bulletin
               board listing.  Contains both the brief and
               complete files.
               (new versions appear approx. monthly -- LS)


                        <<<<< CP/M >>>>>

HITEC-C1.LBR   CP/M Hi-Tech C compiler v 3.09, part 1 of 3.
               COM files.

HITEC-C2.LBR   CP/M Hi-Tech C compiler v 3.09, part 2 of 3.
               Source code for subroutine LIB's.

HITEC-C3.LBR   CP/M Hi-Tech C compiler v 3.09, part 3 of 3.
               Documentation.

HTC-OVL.LBR    Files for producing overlays with the recently
               released Hi-Tech C compiler for CP/M.

LIBCFIX0.PMA   LIBCFIX0 contains re-worked (Fixed, and
               streamlined) modules for the Hi-Tech 'C'
               compiler's LIBC.LIB library.


UNARJ101.PMA   CP/M UNARJ V1.01  20% faster than V 1.00
               (written in Hi-Tech 'C')

B2A2BSRC.PMA   B2A2BSRC is a 'C' source code for a combined
               Binary to ASCII/ASCII to Binary file conversion
               for sending Binary files via TEXT-ONLY channels
               (Internet, UUCP, Fidonet Netmail, etc.).


CRR0160.ZIP    CP/M Read and Reply. Mail handler for XRS and QWK
               mail packets.  Use with an ARC and UNARC program
               and a text editor like VDE or ZDE.


CURSES.DAT     Data file for a new CP/M text adventure game.
               You must have the COM file from an INFOCOM game,
               e.g.  ZORK, and adjust the internal name to
               CURSES.  Alternatively, you can change the DAT
               file name to match your COM file.
               (Also can be used with MSDOS or other platform
               Infocom games. -- LS)


BRAD204E.LBR   Version 2.04E of the CP/M Bradford printer utility
               for Epson MX/FX and Star Gemini and compatible
               printers.  Includes about 20 newly released fonts.


                       <<<< Z-SYSTEM >>>>

EDITND12.LBR   Z-System (CP/M) program for editing the assignment
               of directory names to drive/user areas.  This
               version has a number of bug fixes thanks to Howard
               Goldstein (who else!)

ARUNZ11.LBR    Z-System (CP/M) extended command processor for
               running aliases (Alias RUN for Z-system).  Version
               1.1 has had some minor bugs fixed by Howard
               Goldstein.  Full source is included.

CONCAT18.LBR   Z-System (CP/M) Concatenates two or more files or
               appends files to another file, with numerous and
               elaborate options.  Checks for adequate disk space
               before performing any operations.  This version has
               some minor bug fixes.


                         <<<< MYZ80 >>>>

DSP10.LBR      CP/M: This is a utility for use with the MYZ80
               emulator.  It displays the total space and free
               space on a DOS disk drive from inside the emulator.
               It works under CP/M-2.2 or CP/M-Plus or Z-System.

GSET10.LBR     CP/M: Displays MYZ80's graphics character set along
               with its ASCII equivalents.  Use the command "GET
               //" for more information on the usage.  It works
               under CP/M or Z-System.

                -thirty-