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NOTES ON USING THE RBBxxx27 PROGRAMS WITH COMPLETE SAMPLES OF SUPPORT FILES (Ben Bronson, HP/RCPM, 312-955-4493, 10/31/81) ------------------------------------------------------------- The 3 BAS files that accompany this are the versions of ENTERBBS, MINIRBBS, and EXITBBS currently being run on the Hyde Park Remote CP/M system, as of October 30, 1981. They represent a good many small changes from ENTBBS26 & MINBBS26 as released several months ago. Their names have also been changed so that they stay together when listed by a sorting directory program. They are now called: RBBENT27.BAS (or BQS if squeezed) RBBMIN27.BAS and RBBEXIT1.BAS The 3rd is identical with EXITBBS1.BAS; if you already have that, there is no need to take it again. Maintenance on several of the files has to be performed by RBBUTL22.BAS which seems to be too good a program for anybody to have tried changing. You will need it. The general way one gets these programs up and running as parts of a remote system is described in RBBSNSTL.DOC. The versions presented here have been tested extensively and should run right out of the box with MBASIC 5.x (for testing) and with any recent BASCOM (for actual use--an interpreter is much too slow for BBS-type functions.) The only thing you're likely to have trouble with is integrating your clock (if you own one, and they're nice to have on a RCPM system) with the other routines. These particular versions are con- figured to run with a Mountain Hardware 100,000-day clock, one of the most old-fashioned and hardest to handle of the major brands. Other sysops are urged to separate out their own clock routines and make these available on the RCPM net- work. If they are called something like "RBSCLK1.BAS", etc., then the filenames will make their function clear. In order to put these programs on line, you could easily enough do without a clock for a while (in which case you might delete the time stuff--it's easy enough to identify), but you'll still need BYE (to answer the telephone and do all the rest of the modem handling) and a program like SECURITY (to jump the user to the user area where you keep ENTERBBS.COM, MINIRBBS.COM & EXITBBS.COM with their various support files--if they can't find those files, they'll hang the system up). The latest BYE as of 10/30/81 is BYE72 or 73, but any version will do just as long as it has the capab- ility of loading a COM file. The COM file in question is of course ENTERBBS. For security's sake, most of these files should be made $SYS files and tagged to be unxmodemable with TAG.COM if they are to be left in user areas accessible to remote users. Many sysops prefer to keep all such files in high user areas and to use SECURITY.COM to let users communicate with them. Note that these are the 'split' RBBS or RIBBS, with the log-on and message-service parts divided into separate modules and a log-off module added. If you're planning to emphasize messages (to run a real BBS), you'll probably be happier using RBBS24 or RBBS25 and adding whichever features of RBBENT27 and RBBMIN27 look useful. Most RCPM sysops, on the other hand, prefer to have the message-exchange part of their systems in a more inaccessible position, to discourage people interested primarily in bulletin board functions and to conserve disk space for software rather than chitchat. The 'split' RBBS was invented for them. Note too that the program size cost of splitting RBBS when compiled with the old BASCOM is much less severe now that BASCOM 3.0 is available. ENTERBBS, MINIRBBS and EXITBBS used to need almost 80 K between them for the COM files alone, not counting the support files. With BASCOM 3.0, they are down to less than 50K, counting BRUN. The compiled versions are fast-running. Although slightly slower than assembly-language programs like CBBS (which you should certainly try if you're good at programming in assem- bler), they are fast enough that most people don't notice the difference. The still-substantial size of the programs makes them slow to load, however. ENTERBBS is pre-loaded by BYE, so its size is not an issue. And MINIRBBS and EXITBBS load fast enough when CHAINed-to by ENTERBBS. But when loaded from CP/M, either can take 10 or more seconds, and that can boredom among your users. Keep them on outer disk tracks, and make sure BRUN is nearby if you're using versions compiled with BASCOM 3.0. And if your controller and disks are slow, comsider doing without EXITBBS entirely. Below are samples of all the support files used by the programs. Looking at them and the programs themselves should make it fairly clear how they work. There are 13 files in all, none with filetypes added to their names: : LASTCALR, CALLERS, USERS, PWDS, COUNTERS, MESSAGES, SUMMARY, COMMENTS, ENTRY, NEWCOM, BULLETIN, DATA, SPECIAL --------------------------------------------------------------- 0. The LASTCALR file: (Created by ENTERBBS; used by all 3 programs) CHUCK,WITBECK,SP,10/28/81 [A very short file whose main function is to pass name, status and date information between the programs. If at the next log-on, ENTERBBS discovers that the new caller has the same name as that stored in LASTCALR, it drops that person to CP/M immediately. Otherwise it overwrites the old name with the new one] --------------------------------------------------------------- 1. The CALLERS file: (Created & used only by ENTERBBS) 12 MICHAEL KATZ 28- 0:32 TODD DUPONT 28- 2:15 PETE JONES 28- 6:15 DOUG MEYERS 28- 7:26 ROD HART 28- 8: 8 DAVID STERNLIGHT 28- 8:44 GEORGE KOTCHER OAK PARK, IL 28- 9:13 BOB FISHER 28-10: 0 DAVID BORUFF 28-12:20 EARL BOCKENFELD 28-12:41 JACK RUBIN 28-13:10 DICK LIEBER 28-17:26 [The number at the beginning counts lines; those following the names are the day and time when that user logged on. First- time callers get their city and state recorded as well as their names. [Between 40 and 180 chaacters of garbage will usually follow the last line of the file itself. The first 2 or 3 of these 'garbage' characters are actually used by MBASIC in handling the file; if you go into CALLERS (or USERS or COUNTERS) with an editor, leave these chars alone... Each line is 59 chars long (plus CR/LF, etc.), no matter how long the caller's name and city/state is. You'll have to use an editor sometimes to cut it down unless you just wipe it out periodically and let a new CALLERS file accumulate. As with most other files listed here, you'll probably want to hide this as a $SYS file if you keep it in a publicly accessible user area.] -------------------------------------------------------------- 2. The USERS file : (Created & used only by ENTERBBS) 12 - JOHN BOWDEN CHICAGO,IL 19 10/16 * TWEETY BIRD HILLSIDE,IL 4 10/10 STUART SCHUMKLER CHICAGO,IL 1 09/20 JEFF BARRINGTON ROANOKE, VA 1 09/21 * NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, SCREW YOU 2 09/22 KEN METHENY LISLE,IL 1 09/22 + CHUCK WITBECK CHICAGO, IL 29 10/25 JACK JONES CHGO,ILL 1 09/26 + EARL BOCKENFELD CHICAGO,IL 38 10/27 GREG WILLIAMS HOMEWOOD,IL 7 10/08 PAVEL BREDER DALY CITY,CA 1 09/26 IVAN THE TERRIBLE CHICAGO,IL 2 09/27 [The symbols in the first space of each line are inserted with an editor (Wordmaster or WordStar in N (not D) mode) that does not automatically lengthen the line to accomodate an inserted char. Making any line even 1 char longer willè confuse MBASIC. The symbols indicate that Chuck Witbeck, a fellow sysop, is a special ("SP") user, that John Bowden is a regular ("RG") user, that Tweety Bird is a twit and will be logged off immediately, and that the rest are rel- atively new ("NW") users who receive no special privileges. [The rest of each line is created automatically by ENTERBBS when a user first logs in. The program keeps track of the number of later logons by that user as well as the month & day of his latest call. [Again, the garbage at the end is necessary and should not be removed during editing.] ------------------------------------------------------------- 3. The PWDS File: (Created with editor, used by ENTERBBS) BEN,BANANA,ORANGE [The first is P1$, the second P2$, etc. You can get as fancy as you like by extending the number of password steps in ENTERBBS] ------------------------------------------------------------- 4. The COUNTERS File: (created & changed by ENTERBBS and MINIRBBS) 54 4343 605 [As you see, it's very short. The first number is that of active messages and the second that of total calls since the system went into operation, while the third counts the total number of users. ENTERBBS & RBBSUTIL take care of this one. You don't have to do anything except be sure that it is on the same disk whenever CALLERS & USERS are incremented and messages are left or purged.] --------------------------------------------------------------- 5. The MESSAGES File: (Created & added to by MINIRBBS): 183 326 08/31/81 SYSOP ALL BACKUP S-100 SYS WANTED 4 I'm still in the market for a backup S-100 system. With an 8" drive and otherwise in integrated, working condition. Leave a msg if you have anything like that you might be inter- ested in selling. 455 10/5/81 CHUCK FORSBERG BEN BRONSON PMMI YAM 3 Still no sign on a pmmi version of yam. Perhaps one of you folks could talk pmmi into sending me a board?? I have a s-100 system here also, so wouldn't take long. .... 9999 [There are only 2 messages in this sample file, which endsè with a 9999 marker. The heading for each message contains the message number, the date (entered automatically if you have a clock or manually otherwise), the sender, the receiver, the subject, and the number of lines. [All maintenance is done by MINIRBBS & RBBSUTIL. You normally never have to enter MESSAGES with an editor.] ------------------------------------------------------------- 6. The SUMMARY File: (Created and added to by MINIRBBS) 183 07/13/81 CHUCK WEINGART ALL CP/M CLUBS AND DISKS 12 326 08/31/81 SYSOP ALL BACKUP S-100 SYS WANTED 4 455 10/5/81 CHUCK FORSBERG BEN BRONSON PMMI YAM 3 9999 [SUMMARY is just the heading of each MESSAGE separated out into a duplicate file, for speed in searching. It too is completely maintained by MINIRBBS & RBBSUTIL and is rarely if ever edited directly] -------------------------------------------------------------- 7. The COMMENTS File: (Created by & added to by MINIRBBS & EXITBBS) 17 From: CARMI WEINZWEIG 10/29/81 Thank you for the use of your system. Sincerly, Carmi Weinzweig From: ROY LIPSCOMB Ben, one of the special commands is on the fritz again. sorry about the # of logons today. Trying to use modem73 with short stack and screen-save (see 602). Just kept blowing me away. From: SIDNEY BRATKOVICH 10/29/81 It would be nice if you could make your help a little more useful: why print a line such as "level 2/ 1: ~~^=CP/M ^=Level .=root ...." or "2: EOI ^C=CP/M M=Menu S=Start ..." when the beginning user has no idea of what they mean!! does the modem boot routine work with Apple CP/M? It's a little difficult answering some of your survey questions in 34 chars. or less. No other complaints though. Sid [COMMENTS is like a disorganized MESSAGES file with no SUMMARY. Since it is meant to be read by the sysop only, it should always be TAGged so that it cannot be taken with XMODEM or MLIST. While you can read it remotely (if you're the sysop) by using the '9' command from MINI- RBBS, I find that I usually just read through it using TYPE when a non-RCPM CP/M disk is in the "A" drive. When it gets too long, it has to be cut down in length using an editor. As before, be careful to keep the lines to their original length and to leave the garbage at the end. MINIRBBS does not put the date in while EXITBBS does; this could easily be changed.] -------------------------------------------------------------- 8. The ENTRY File: (created by you with an editor) : THE MONDAY 'B' DISK WILL AGAIN BE EXTENDED DUE TO SYS CHANGES. : THE REGULAR 'B' PROGRAMS NOW WILL NOT BE BACK ON LINE UNTIL : NEXT TUESDAY. THERE IS HOPE OF GETTING A 3RD DRIVE BY THEN. [ENTRY serves to pass a short bulletin or two to each caller. On HP/RCPM, the "This is 312-955-4483" stuff is kept in a in a similar file (also creaed with an editor) named WELCOME,è which is called by BYE before it passes control to ENTERBBS. Except for the time stamp, ENTRY is the first thing the caller sees that is printed by ENTERBBS and not BYE. Any editor will do. Even WordStar in Document mode if you want. But the file must be called ENTRY with no filetype.] --------------------------------------------------------------- 9. The NEWCOM File: (created by you with an editor): [No sample is given here. For first-time callers, it is the next text file that is printed after ENTRY. It gives whatever system information you figure new callers should know about. Unless you have screwed up the USERS file by using your editor carelessly, no user should see this one after the first time he has signed on the system. --------------------------------------------------------------- 10. The BULLETIN File: (created by you with an editor): [I use it to present 2-6 line reviews of very new programs, with the newest on top. But you may prefer to use it for something else. The BULLETIN file on HP/RCPM can be taken with XMODEM or TYPE (=MLIST) if you don't have time to write all the mini-reviews yourself. Read by both ENTERBBS & MINIRBBS.] --------------------------------------------------------------- 11. The DATA File: (Created by you with an editor) [It's helpful to use this for a few short reminders of what to do once the user enters CP/M. It's the last thing he sees before dropping into it out of ENTERBBS] --------------------------------------------------------------- 12. The SPECIAL File: (Created by you with an editor) [Bulletins for special users. The file makes it possible, for instance, to tell trusted indivduals about commands and other system features that could cause trouble if known to inexper- ienced or irresponsible users.] ---------------------------------------------------------------