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1993-05-13
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Trademarked names are the property of the respective owners
PCBSPY v1.0
(C) 1993 Nils Antonsen
The PCBOARD node monitoring utility
with a mouse-driven graphical user interface
Supports PCBOARD v14.5/v15.0 up to 100 nodes
1. REQUIREMENTS
A VGA-compatible graphics adapter
640k of memory
A 386-PC or higher is recommeded
2. DESCRIPTION
PCBSPY is a node-monitoring-utility like CDC's PCBMONI. Unlike
other programs of its kind PCBSPY works internaly with some
kind of multitasking to get more information about the user
that is online (like security level or upload-download ratio
etc.) .
PCBSPY has the following features:
A mouse-driven GUI for VGA-compatible graphics adapters
The ability to supervise up to 100 nodes.
The ability to overview from 8 to 35 nodes in one window.
The ability to display under each node a small portions
of the User Record of the online user.
The ability to display the complete User Record of an
online user.
The ability to display the Caller Log of each node. If
PCBOARD updates the caller's log file, PCBSPY immediately
updates its Caller Log window.
The ability to call PCBSM, PCBSETUP and PCBFILER from
inside PCBSPY.
The ability to use a node-inspecting-tool like Network
Eye or Lan Assist.
The ability to search for up to 10 callers on the network
and to be alerted if they log into your BBS.
3. INSTALLATION
When you start PCBSPY.EXE for the first time, it will ask you
for the path to the PCBOARD.DAT file. Together with other
settings this information will be placed in a binary file
called PCBSPY.CFG. Whenever you start PCBSPY again it will
search in the CURRENT DIRECTORY for the configuration's file
and then start immediately without asking any questions.
However, after getting into the desktop, you should addjust
the standart settings in the 'Options' [ALT+o] menu.
Especially you should addjust the 'Usernet Options'. (The
'Number of Nodes' default value is 25 so if you have actually
more then 25 active nodes no status changes on nodes higher
than 25 will by detected.)
-> start PCBSPY.EXE
-> enter the path to the PCBOARD.DAT file
-> addjust the settings from the 'Options' menu
4. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
On the top of the desktop there is a menu bar with five items:
PcbSpy Externals Display Node Options
PcbSpy [Alt+p]
The 'About ...' item will show you a little copyright notice
on the screen.
The 'Exit' item will terminate PCBSPY and get you to the DOS
promt.
Externals [Alt+e]
From this menu you can call the external programs PCBSETUP,
PCBSM and PCBFILER or a DOS-shell. After terminating them you
will get back to PCBSPY. These items are associated with the
Options/Externals dialog box where you enter the corresponding
paths and filenames.
Display [Alt+i]
In this menu you choose between different screen modes,
depending on the number of nodes your BBS provides. Test them
all! You will quickly discover which combination fits the best
your needs.
Node [Alt+n]
The 'View User Record' item displays in a window the User's
Record on that node the cursor points at.
The 'View Caller Log' item displays in a window the Caller Log
of the node the cursor points at. As an additional feature
this window will immediately be updated when PCBOARD or a DOOR
writes to the Caller Log file.
Options [Alt+o]
In the 'Externals' dialog box you enter the path and filenames
used for the Externals pull down menu.
In the 'Node Inspecting Tool' dialog box you enter the path
and filename to a batch file that uses Node Spy or Lan Assist
or any other tool of that kind.
NOTE: The FIRST parameter will be the node number.
In the 'Screen Saver' dialog box you enter the number of
seconds it takes to activate the screen saver and the
brightness of your screen after the screen saver has been
activated.
In the 'Usernet Options' you enter the highest node number to
be supervised and the frequency the USERNET.XXX file should be
read in.
NOTE: These settings will be activated only after
restarting PCBSPY.
In the 'Highlighted Users' dialog box you enter up to 10 users
you want to be alerted to. If PCBSPY detects one of them
logging into your BBS you get a short acoustic signal and the
node will be highlighted.
HINT: In this dialog box a special feature of the user
interface makes sense: You can directly release the
OK-button by the keyboard shortcut [Ctrl+ENTER] so
you needn't to scroll through all input lines to
reach the OK-button.
5. COPYRIGHT
This program and the documentations (the "Software") are the
copyrighted property of Nils P. Antonsen, Switzerland (the
"author"), who provides the Software and licenses its use.
All rights are reserved.
6. DISTRIBUTION
Please feel free to upload this software to any electronic
bulletin board and give copies to potential users, so that
others may have the opportunity to obtain a copy for use
according to the license terms mentioned below.
You are specifically prohibited from:
Charging fees or asking donations in exchange of or
payment for copies of the Software.
Distributing this Software with commercial products
without the written permission from the author.
Distributing this Software via a for-profit organization
or group, either alone or with other Software.
The unauthorized copying, decompiling or disassembling of this
Software is prohibited; any other use of this Software is
prohibited without a written permission in advance from the
author.
7. DISCLAIMER
PCBSPY IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT IS ANY LIABILITY ACCEPTED FOR
ANY DAMAGES INCURRED, EITHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, AS A
RESULT OF USING PCBSPY.
8. REGISTRATION
PCBSPY is not free. If you use this Software for more than a
20-day trial period you must pay for it.
PCBSPY costs only: $30.- US
or: sFr. 40.-
As a restriction of an unregistred evaluation copy a shareware
notice appears when PCBSPY will be started. After some hours
of usage another notice terminates PCBSPY. (I think this
restriction does not cripple the software. The functionality
is in no other way reduced).
If you register you will get a serial number that is
associated with the name of your BBS found in PCBOARD.DAT. Be
carefull: For registration we need exactly that name (case
sensitiv!). After entering the serial number all restrictions
will fall away. (Of cause your number will be valid for the
next versions.)
There are different ways to get to your serial number:
Send REGISTER.FRM to Hitline Communications
Ueli Maurer
Unterdorfstr. 7
CH-5212 Hausen (Switzerland)
Send REGISTER.FRM via FAX ++41 56 321 629
Send a Message - FIDO 2:301/213
- COMPUSERVE 100016,440
- HITLINE BBS to Ueli Maurer
++41 56 321 800
9. SUGGESTIONS & BUG REPORTS
Although PCBSPY was beta-tested by BBS's here in Switzerland,
I can't be sure that special configurations will not end up in
difficulties running it. If you encounter a problem please
discribe it as exactly as possible and send it the same way as
your registration form mentioned above.
If you miss a special features - let me know! I will try to
put it in the next version.
10. FUTURE PLANS
I have some ideas for the next version:
A screen that gives you all currently available
informations at once: node activity, user infos, caller
log.
Some kind of BBS statistics: I will try to get out of the
caller log things like: # of files downloaded, # of min
online, # of users online etc. since midnight.
The ability detecting a loss of connection on a node of
the network.
11. TROUBLESHOOTING
Some assumptions PCBSPY makes restrict the configuration of
PCBOARD:
The name of the PCBOARD.DAT file is 'PCBOARD.DAT'.
The extension of the USERNET file is '.XXX'.
The name of the caller log files are 'CLR#' (where # is
the node number).
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