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Text File | 1992-11-08 | 207KB | 5,121 lines

┌──────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ └┐ ┌───┐ │ │ ┌───┐ │ └┐ ┌───┐ └┐ │ ┌───┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └───┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ └───┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ ┌┐ ┌──┘ │ │ │ │ │ ┌───┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │└┐ └┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ┌┘ └┐└┐ └─┐ │ └───┘ │ ┌┘ └───┘ ┌┘ │ └───┘ │ └────┘ └───┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌─────────┐ └┐ ┌───┐ └┐ │ ┌───┐ │ │ ┌──┐ │ └┐ ┌───┐ │ └┐ ┌───┐ └┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └───┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ └──┘ │ │ └───┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ ┌───┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ ┌──┐ │ │ ┌┐ ┌──┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │└┐ └┐ │ │ │ │ ┌┘ └───┘ ┌┘ │ └───┘ │ ┌┘ └┐┌┘ └┐ ┌┘ └┐└┐ └─┐ ┌┘ └───┘ ┌┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └────┘└────┘ └────┘ └───┘ └─────────┘ VERSION 1.06 The Original EGA/VGA BBS package! Copyright 1992, Seth Hamilton, Released November 8th, 1992. Robo-Term 2.70 Copyright 1992, Seth Hamilton. Released August 30th, 1992. HOW IT CAME TO BE i ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Robo-Board started as a bet. I was at an IMEX network meeting in Edmonton Alberta when I asked something like, "Do you think it would be possible to send real time graphics over the modem instead of ansi?". A few people chuckled, and Bill McVay, my net hub said, "I think that would be a bit slow Seth". It was then that I decided to start programming Robo-Board. This was in the fall of 1990, and after a few weeks of working on and off, running to my neighbor Daryll Slobogan's house, and trying out many ideas I was successfully connecting to my system with his. In the beginning there weren't any bells and whistles, just a few lines, some circles, rectangles, and text. This was encourgement needed for me to begin programming a Robo-Board prototype. For about half of 1991 I wrote as much BBS as I could during my weekends and off hours. By early summer I had a working BBS package. By fall I had a full featured BBS package with EGA/VGA/ANSI/ASCII support. I tried it out on the BBS people in Edmonton, and the feed back was great so I began the task of writing this professional version of Robo- Board. It's now Early August 1992. I have since moved to Aylmer Quebec (a burb of Ottawa) and I am just finishing up the doc files. Robo-Board 1.06 is ready to be released. It will be the first of a new generation of BBS's. I would like to thank my helpful Beta Testers, Daryll Slobogan, Bill Pejan, and Colin Moser for their patience and involvement. I would also like to thank: Dad, Mom, Antonio Riveros, Bill McVay, Richard Boychuk, Dean Drolet, Robin Francis, Roy Hooper, Bruno Gagnon, and all the users in Edmonton and Ottawa who contributed their thoughts and bug reports. Seth Hamilton TABLE OF CONTENTS ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── TITLE PAGE # INTRODUCTION.............................................. 1 LIABILITY AND LICENSING................................... 2 AVAILABLE VERSIONS OF ROBO-BOARD.......................... 4 - The Registration Code 4 - What you get 4 - Registering ROBO-BOARD PLUS 4 - Registering ROBO-BOARD PRO 5 ROBO-BOARD REGISTRATION PRICES............................ 6 ROBO-BOARD 1.06 REGISTRATION FORM......................... 7 ROBO-BOARD DISTRIBUTION NETWORK FORM...................... 8 PRODUCT SUPPORT........................................... 9 INSTALLING ROBO-BOARD..................................... 10 ROBO GENERAL CONFIGURATION................................ 11 - Modem Setup 11 - System Setup 12 - BBS Setup Menu 12 - BBS Paths 13 - General Settings 13 - Misc. Settings 15 - External Events 16 - Call Back 17 FILE AREA CONFIGURATION................................... 18 MESSAGE AREA CONFIGURATION................................ 20 THE DRAWING PROGRAM....................................... 22 - How It Works 22 - Your First Try! 22 - Drawing Commands And Related Functions 23 - The File Pulldown 25 - The Toggles Pulldown 26 - The Command Area 26 - Edit Mode 27 THE MENU EDITOR........................................... 28 - Hot Spot Commands 29 - The Main Menu 39 THE ICON EDITOR........................................... 40 - Using The Icon Editor 41 THE USER EDITOR........................................... 43 THE SYSOP INTERFACE....................................... 46 - The Fields 46 - The Attribute Bar 47 - Interaction Icons 47 ACCESS AND SECURITY....................................... 49 - Access Levels 49 - Flags 49 - Examples of Access, Access Directors and Flags 50 DISPLAY AND CONTROL FILES................................. 51 - Hard Coded Graphics Files 51 - Display Control Codes 53 - Sound Files 54 - Definition and Control Files 54 MAKING IT RUN............................................. 62 ECHO MAIL................................................. 66 ROBO UTIL................................................. 68 ROBO-BOARD TERMINAL EMULATION............................. 69 DEVELOPERS................................................ 70 MULTI-LINE OPERATION...................................... 71 MULTITASKING.............................................. 72 SUPPORT................................................... 73 INTRODUCTION PAGE 1 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Welcome to ROBO-BOARD 1.06, the first full featured BBS package to bring graphics to your PC. Robo-Board lends itself well to an ever growing populous of graphically orientated users. It features powerful and flexible windows, fast screens, mouse, and a sharp graphical appearance. It is simple to use, easy to set up, yet flexible and more powerful than many other BBS packages! Robo-Board is one of the newest and most innovative BBS's on the market. It offers the better features of higher priced BBS packages as well as many never seen before. The fact that Robo-Board will display full screen graphics in real time is reason enough for running it, but features like built in split screen chat, programmable menus, time bank, EchoMail compatibility, built in call-back verification, 200 message bases, 200 file areas, bullet proof security, online user editor, file marking, file searching, free files, aliases, multiline operation, and screen blanking, all make registration sensible. The way you program your system makes it unique. You could give it a windows look, or perhaps an appearance that best suites the theme of your board. Programmable menu's allow you to control access to the 200 message and file areas. Selection of commands, files and messages, can be split up on a 'by menu' basis as well as 'by access and security flags'. Through the use of Robo-Board's intuitive mouse driven drawing program ROBODRAW, it is easy to create menu's and graphics. ROBODRAW even lets you to control the displaying of items on a screen by access and flags. With Robo-Board you have control, over aliases, access, transfer ratios, time limits, timed events, transfer hours, transfer baud rates, paging hours, and virtually every other aspect of your system. Robo-Board has been tested at baud rates from 300 to 38400 successfully. Mailer or stand alone operation is possible depending on your needs. Multi-node, real-time 'see it as they type it' chat is available for up to 9 nodes. Robo- Board sports its own blazingly fast protocol RMODEM. This provides a seamless file transfer interface between the BBS and the remote user and also simplifies setup for the SysOp. The pop-up SysOp window allows users to continue their activities in the background while you view and edit their attributes. The SysOp window gives you access to features such as, split screen SysOp to user chat, lock out, hang up, notices, and DOS shell. I am sure that impressive graphics, an easy interface, loads of commands, excellent security, simple setup (with online help), and fast smooth operation will make Robo-Board a hit with you and your users. LIABILITY AND LICENSING PAGE 2 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This section defines rights, yours and mine. You should read and understand this section in full, before you agree to run Robo-Board. The name Robo-Board refers to all the executables and documents distributed in the Robo-Board distribution archive by Seth Hamilton. CHARTER: 1) Robo-Board's creator does not assume any liability for the use or misuse of this software beyond the original price paid by the party at stake. In no event will Robo-Board's creator be liable to you for any additional damages, including any lost profits, lost savings, lost programming, or other incidental or consequential damages arising from the use of, or inability to use, this software and it's accompanying documentation, even if ROBO-BOARD's creator has been advised of the possibility of such damages. 2) Robo-Board is the property of Seth Hamilton. Seth Hamilton retains the right to stop supporting Robo-Board at any time he see's fit to do so. 3) You may not reverse engineer or modify in any way Robo-board in memory or on disk, or distribute it for such purposes. 4) Robo-Board may be used on more than one node or machine if you are physically networked to then other machines, or multitasking the nodes on the same machine. 5) Seth Hamilton, author of Robo-Board reserves the right to change its registration and distribution philosophy as he see's fit. Seth Hamilton also reserves the right to change the registration method and price of Robo-Board. 6) You may not run any version of ROBO-BOARD registered to another SysOp or Company without special permission from Seth Hamilton. 7) Please feel free to distribute The ROBO-BOARD DEMO and/or Robo-Term on your system. Though this is not required it would be appreciated very much. PAGE 3 8) As part of user support, one dedicated system in every major city, state, province, or territory, will be chosen. If a SySop wishes to join the Robo-Board distribution network, they will receive upgrades, utilities and graphical door games, cost free, as they become available. Providing these products are placed on their BBS, free of charge for public download. (refer to page # 7) 9) You may not charge a fee for the distribution of Robo- Board over and above the cost of the distribution medium, and packaging. 10) Robo-Boards creator should be notified for permission, by any commercial distributor wanting to circulate the Robo- Board system. 11) Robo-Board should not be used or distributed for any unlawful or illegal purposes. AVAILABLE VERSIONS OF ROBO-BOARD PAGE 4 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── [ The Registration Code ] In your Robo-Board Configuration program (ROBOCFG.EXE) you are given a slot for typing in a registration number. Under the SYSTEM SETUP --> GENERAL SETTINGS menu you will find a 40 character blank titled REGISTRATION. By typing in your personalized-by-name registration code your version of Robo- Board will become registered and display a message saying registered to YOUR NAME. Your code is private and will only work with your name. It should not be distributed or made known to others. This code may be used to register future releases of Robo-Board for your use. Keep in mind that Seth Hamilton reserves the right to change this code if he sees fit to do so. [ Registering ROBO-BOARD PLUS ] When you register Robo-Board you are given a given a special code to REGISTER your version of ROBO-BOARD. You will be called voice and given the number so you can run a registered ROBO- BOARD and take advantage of its features. A ROBO-BOARD master disk and registration code will be sent to you via first class mail. A registered version of ROBO-BOARD will display the message "REGISTERED TO YOUR NAME" during logon. [ What you get ] When you register and enter your special code you will gain access to the following features: - Call Back Verifier - Time Bank - Multi-line chat - Many more definable screens. - Voice Support [ In order to register ] 1) You must fill out the registration form found later in this section, completely and honestly. PLEASE PRINT. 2) You must read, and accept the conditions as described in the section of this manual titled "Liability and Licensing" before filling out the Registration form. 3) Please give a complete address and voice number where you your master copy of ROBO-BOARD and updates may be sent. PAGE 5 4) Cheques and money orders should be made payable to "Seth Hamilton". A receipt of payment will be mailed back to you with your REGISTERED ROBO-BOARD. 5) If you would like to wire money directly to my account for next day registration call the ROBO-BOARD voice support line at: 1(819)682-6670 4:00pm - 11:00pm weekdays 9:00am - 11:00pm weekends [ Registering "ROBO-BOARD PRO" (Institution Registration) ] This version costs a little more and allows for 9 lines of operation. This version also has your company or institutions name built into it for registration purposes. The added cost is needed so updates can be sent in the mail. You will get four updates postage paid, additional updates will cost 3 dollars postage and handling. As with the Prior version updates and bug fixes free of charge (Postage will be required after after your second update). To register follow the instructions above, and specify ROBO-BOARD PRO on your registration. This version of Robo-Board supports 20 nodes. Contact Seth Hamilton of Robo-Board for more information regarding ROBO-BOARD PRO. ROBO-BOARD REGISTRATION PRICES PAGE 6 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Buy now before DECEMBER 25th and only pay $50 U.S ($55 CDN) with our introductory deal. What You get when you register: - Free Updates. - Support through a growing network. - MANY, MANY, new features to come soon! (You'll like these) - An Account on the ROBO-BOARD support system. - Voice support @ 1(819)682-6670 (4pm-11pm mon-fri) (9am-11pm sat) AS OF NOW AUGUST 4th, 1992 "INTRODUCTORY" PRICES ARE: ROBO-BOARD v1.06 (PLUS)........................ $50.00 (USA) $55.00 (CDN) This version of Robo-Board is registered in the SysOps name. It features 9 lines of "REAL TIME SEE IT AS THEY TYPE IT CHAT". ROBO-BOARD v1.06 (PRO)......................... $60.00 (USA) $65.00 (CDN) This version of Robo-Board is registered to institutions such as schools or companies where the SysOp will not always be the same person. It also features 9 lines of "REAL TIME SEE IT AS THEY TYPE IT CHAT". Please forward your registration Form and payment to the address in the SUPPORT section of this manual. ROBO-BOARD 1.06 REGISTRATION FORM #001 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── SysOp Name [NO ALIAS] : __________________________________ BBS or system name : __________________________________ Hours BBS is open : __________________________________ Voice telephone : (___)___-____ BBS number(s) : (___)___-____, (___)___-____ Password for the ROBO-BOARD support system: ______________ Baud rate : _______ [ ] HST, [ ] MNP [ ] v32, [ ] v42. [NAME] [NUMBER] NetWork address(es) ___________ ___:____/____ ___________ ___:____/____ ___________ ___:____/____ Mail address: ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Disk size: [ ] 5.25" 360k [ ] 5.25" 1.20M [ ] 3.50" 720k [ ] 3.50" 1.44M Computer: [ ] 286 [ ] 386/SX [ ] 386/DX [ ] 486 [ ] EGA [ ] VGA [ ] SVGA [ ] XGA [ ] SOUND BLASTER [ ] ADLIB [ ] DAC Add me to the Robo-Board BBS list: [ ] Yes [ ] No I have enclosed for Registration: $___.__ For: ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ Do you run a bbs now : [ ] Yes [ ] No If yes, what package : ______________________________ What is it you like about Robo-Board: ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ What features, changes or suggestions do you have: ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Questions? (These will be answered with registration) ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ROBO-BOARD DISTRIBUTION NETWORK FORM ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This optional form should be filled out if you would like to become a member of the Robo-Board Distribution Network. It requires that you have an access free, files and message base put aside for the purpose of distributing Robo-Board. There will only be one distributer for for every major city. Distributors will be given updates and disks full of support files as they become available (at no cost). Mail Networks.............. [ ] FidoNET [ ] WorldNET Is your board: - commercial............ [ ] Yes [ ] No - Private............... [ ] Yes [ ] No - Adult................. [ ] Yes [ ] No - Political or Idealist. [ ] Yes [ ] No Have you run a BBS before.. [ ] Yes [ ] No Are you running a BBS now.. [ ] Yes [ ] No - If so how many members do you have: ______ What is the theme or subject of your system: ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ If you have any questions, they will be answered and sent back to you with your registration. Questions: ______________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ PRODUCT SUPPORT PAGE 9 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── As of now, there isn't a very wide support base for Robo- Board. But as the Robo-Board Distribution Network grows so will the support. As programmer of Robo-Board it is my intention to provide the highest level of support I can to you the SySop. SUPPORT SYSTEMS: NAME : The ROBO-BOARD HQ in Aylmer Quebec, Canada. SYSOP : Seth Hamilton LINE 1: 1(819)685-0957 1200-16800/HST/v32bis/v42bis VOICE : 1(819)682-6670 4pm-11pm (Mon-Sat) MAIL : 62:6200/0 (WorldNET) NAME : The Cyborg BBS in Edmonton Alberta, Canada. SYSOP : Daryll Slobogan PHONE : 1(403)449-6609 1200-2400 Bps MAIL : 62:3200/209 (WorldNET) NAME : The Data Node BBS in Ottawa Ontario. SYSOP : Jason Dever PHONE : 1(613)592-8703 2400-38400 Bps MAIL : 1:163/420 (FIDO) NAME : The Broadcaster BBS in Toronto Ontario, Canada. SYSOP : IAIN J. GRANT PHONE : 1(416)481-9970 1200-9600/v32/v42 MAIL : 1:250/206 (FIDO) 89:480/250 (IMEX) NAME : The AARDVARK BBS in Burlington Ontario, Canada. SYSOP : Wally Nickel PHONE : 1(416)332-4127 1200-14400/HST/v32bis/v42bis NAME : BBS++ in San Diego, California. SYSOP : Chris Duke PHONE : 1(619)278-0870 2400-14400/v32bis/v42bis NODE : 62:1900/14 NAME : Our House in San Diego, California. SYSOP : Dominic Cotignola PHONE : 1(619)460-8507 1200-2400 NODE : 62:1900/0 NAME : Endeavor in Garland, Texas. SYSOP : Mike Kaylor PHONE1: 1(214)240-2069 2400-16800/HST/v32bis/v42bis PHONE2: 1(214)240-5238 2400-14400/v32bis/v42bis NAME : The DOOR BBS in Montreal Quebec. SYSOP : Luc Laporte PHONE : 1(514)388-2782 2400-14400/v32bis/v42bis MAIL : 1:167/213 (Fido) 101:190/106 (Franco-NEt) NAME : Software Express in Hong Kong. SYSOP : Roger Nie PHONE : 1(852)887-8504 2400-14400/HST/v32bis MAIL : 6:700/258 NAME : The Danger Zone in Rochester NY. SYSOP : Stephen Oskoui PHONE : 1(716)586-2731 1200-14400/HST/v32bis MAIL : 1:260/283 (Fido) NAME : The DynaByte Connection in Okanagan Valley BC. SYSOP : William Hurley PHONE : 1(604)763-6101 1200-14400/HST/v32bis PHONE : 1(604)763-6102 1200-14400/v32bis MAIL : 1:353/230 (Fido) NAME : Quintessence in Lower Sackville NovaScotia. SYSOP : Graham Reid PHONE : 1(902)864-7443 2400-14400/HST NAME : The Forgotten Realms in British Columbia. SYSOP : Rick Barrowclough PHONE : 1(604)582-6941 2400-14400/v32bis MAIL : 1:153/945 NAME : The Shadow Lands in British Columbia. SYSOP : James Hargrave PHONE : 1(604)261-6144 2400 MAIL : 1:153/769 SUPPORT ECHO'S (CONFERENCES): ECHO NAME AREA NETWORK MODERATOR ───────── ──── ─────── ───────── WN_ROBOBOARD N. America WorldNET Seth Hamilton WN_ROBOTEST N. America WorldNET Seth Hamilton IMEX.ROBOBOARD Canada IMEX ROBO N. America FIDO Jason Dever Any updates to either Robo-Board or it's support products should be available on any of the previously listed BBS systems. INSTALLING ROBO-BOARD PAGE 10 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Robo-Board was designed to run on any 80286 or faster IBM compatible, providing smooth fast graphics. However Robo- Board will run more efficiently on a 386 or better. As SysOp it is required that you have at least have an EGA or VGA graphics card, a MICROSOFT COMPATIBLE mouse, 1 - 2 megs of HD space, and 490k of memory free. As of v1.06 Robo-Board NEEDS A FOSSIL DRIVER to handle its communications, except when loggin on locally. What a fossil driver does is offer a generic interface between a program, the computer and the modem. Robo-Board will ONLY work online if a FOSSIL driver is loaded. Fossil drivers make IO fast, especially while multi-tasking with programs such as DesqView. Here are two excelent FOSSIL drivers: X00 By Ray Gwinn (Recommended for ROBO-BOARD) BNU By David Nugent (may not work with robo?) I recommend the use of X00.SYS with ROBO-BOARD. I used a set of FOSSIL interface routines provided by Ray Gwinn which accelerates IO access on slow machines or under Multi-Tasking environments. Robo-Board needs 490k of memory, the more memory you give it the faster it will run. Saving the graphical images behind windows and popups will take a lot of system memory. If Robo- Board does run out it will page memory to disk. Normally this isn't even noticeable, but if you can give Robo-Board a full 630k or more of memory this will reduce paging. - Please add or edit the following two lines in your systems CONFIG.SYS file (found in the root directory). FILES=25 (more if you multitask or run multinode) BUFFERS=25 (more buffers means faster execution) SHELL=COMMAND.COM /e:512 /p (set dos environment) NOTE: FILES and BUFFERS eat up free memory. SHELL does not not have to be COMMAND.COM if you use an alternative. - Run ROBOINST.BAT. This batch program will describe the install process as it executes. It will create a running directory for Robo-Board as well as install sample menu's and screens. - ROBOINST.BAT will run ROBOCFG.EXE after it has placed all of your Robo-Board files in appropriate directories. - Go through all the menu's in ROBOCFG starting from the top and fill out as much as you can. NOTE: You don't have to run ROBOINST after the first install to use ROBOCFG. ROBO GENERAL CONFIGURATION PAGE 11 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── In your Robo-Board Directory you will find a program named ROBOCFG.EXE. This program is used to set up and maintain most of the workings of your BBS system. With it you can define the directories your system needs, the modem(s) it uses, the menu's your users will see and a bounty of other things. ╔═▌CONFIGURATION▐═╗ ║ ║ ║ MODEM SETUP ║ ║ SYSTEM SETUP ║ ║ FILE SYSTEM ║ ║ MESSAGE SYSTEM ║ ║ DRAW/MENU EDIT ║ ║ ICON EDITOR ║ ║ USER EDITOR ║ ║ LOCAL LOG ON ║ ║ EXIT ║ ║ ║ ╚═════════════════╝ The Above menu is the ROBOCFG main menu, the next few sections in this Document will attempt to cover every field listed above. [ MODEM SETUP ] Please note that this menu changes depending on how many nodes of bbs you have chosen to run (later in this section). If you only have 1 node defined it will default to 1 modem, if you have more than 1 node specified a quick menu will pop up asking you which node's modems you would like to setup. BAUD RATE : This is the baud rate you would like your modem to initialize at. Valid speeds range from 1200-38400bps. It is recommended that with HST's, v32bis, and v42bis modems that you set this baud rate to the speed you have locked your fossil at. Typically this is the fastest computer to modem baud your modem supports. COM PORT : This is a valid com port ranging from 1-8. Check your fossil driver for the total COM ports actually available to you. INIT STRING : This is the command string that should ready your modem to accept calls. A '~' in this line will cause a 1 second delay, a '|' will send a CR to the modem. PAGE 12 ANSWER STRING : This is the command string that makes your modem answer the phone. Normally this will be "ATA". Setting this field to blank will cause Robo-Board to send nothing to the modem when a 'ring' is received, thus allowing for the modem to answer the line. By letting Robo-Board answer the phone the system will only pick up if it is active, that way long distance callers just don't sit there (annoyed). OFFHOOK STRING : This is the command used to busy your line during local logon. "ATH1" should normally work to take your modem off-hook. LOCKED AT : This is the baud rate you would like your COM port locked at. Usually this applies only to high speed modems, or those modems with compression protocols. If you set this option you should be sure your FOSSIL is locked at the same speed. ALLOW 1200 BAUD : This option, if toggled to NO will hangup on all 1200 baud callers. ALLOW 2400 BAUD : If you are a dedicated high speed board, you can toggle this option to NO. All 2400 baud callers will be disconnected. SEND BREAKS : This option is typically used with high speed modems or those with compression. It allows the BBS to send a special signal to the modem telling it to purge its buffers. This may result in a burp of line noise and to my knowledge only works with USR modems. [ SYSTEM SETUP ] This option brings up the BBS SETUP MENU explained for the next several pages. [ BBS SETUP MENU ] ╔═▌CONFIGURATION▐═╗ ║ ║ ║ MODEM╔═▌BBS SETUP▐═══════╗ ║ SYSTE║ ║ ║ FILE ║ BBS PATHS ║ ║ MESSA║ GENERAL SETTINGS ║ ║ DRAW/║ MISC. SETTINGS ║ ║ ICON ║ EXTERNAL EVENTS ║ ║ USER ║ CALL BACK ║ ║ LOCAL║ EXIT ║ ║ EXIT ║ ║ ║ ╚═══════════════════╝ ╚═════════════════╝ PAGE 13 [ BBS PATHS ] These are the paths where ROBO-BOARD will look for all of its files. Robo-Board will check for the existence of each path entered. If a path is not found Robo-Board will ask you if you would like to create it. If Robo-Board does not find all the paths on this menu at start up it will exit with a warning message. BBS PATH : This is the directory where Robo-Board will search for all .DEF and .DAT files. If you do not specify a message or bulletins directory they will default here. This must be the directory where the Robo-Board .EXE files and door batches are. MESSAGES PATH : This is the directory (or sub-directory) in which all the message files will be stored. Be sure that all message utilities are set to look in the same directory. PROTOCOL PATH : External protocol executables should be put stored here. GRAPHICS PATH : This is where all of the Robo-Board graphic (.RBO) and menu (.MNU) files are stored. [ GENERAL SETTINGS ] SYSOP NAME : This is your name, as it should be on your registration form. All comments will sent to this name. BBS NAME : This is the name of your BBS. This does not affect the registration of your system, so if you get bored with your BBS's name, you can change it without worry. This BBS name will be inserted into certain text strings throughout the system. NEW USER ACCESS : This is the access given to a newly logged on member. This is also the minimum access that the Call Back Verifier will operate at. DEFAULT TIME : This is the default user time. This value may be overridden by either toggling a users NO TIME LIMIT field on or by defining an ACCESS#.DEF file. (SEE DISPLAY AND CONTROL FILES). PAGE 14 CUSTOM NOTE : This short message will be displayed to a user when the SysOp activates the online notice command. UP:DOWN RATIO : This is the default file transfer ratio (UPLOADS:DOWNLOADS) that should be upheld by users wishing to utilize the files section. This value may be overridden by either toggling a users NO RATIO field on or by defining an ACCESS#.DEF file. (SEE DISPLAY AND CONTROL FILES). UPLOAD CREDIT : This is the default upload time-crediting. This option works by multiplying the time taken uploading by the factor you specify. 0 turns this feature off. This value may be overridden by defining an ACCESS#.DEF file (SEE DISPLAY AND CONTROL FILES). USER TIME OUT : This is the idle time in seconds that a user may sit and twiddle his/her thumbs. When the time out elapses a 10 second count down untill log off occurs. PAGE HOURS : These are the hours in 24 hour format when you are around for chat. 00:00 to 24:00 will leave your pager on always. 00:00 to 00:00 will leave it off always. NOTE: TIME 1 must be < or = to TIME 2. REGISTRATION : This is where you enter your registration code. Your code must be entered exactly as it was received. It will be from 35 to 42 characters long and will work only with your name. (SEE REGISTRATION) TIME BANK MAX : This is the maximum amount of time allowed to be banked. This is also the largest sum a user can withdraw. NEW MAIL CHECK : This option automatically checks for a users new mail and lets them read it at logon. A menu command is also offered that does the same thing. ASK BIRTH DATE : If you don't care, it won't ask. ALLOW HANDLES : This allows a user to enter a handle. The entire user database is searched to ensure that the handle name is neither the SysOps name or any other users. Users with handles can read and scan new mail under that name. If you have a message area set up for use with handles, messages can be entered using them. PAGE 15 ASK HOME PHONE : You may decide to ask this question, or that it is a little nosey. This is only available for a users home phone number. A users DATA phone number is needed for the Call Back Verifier. MAX PAGES : The maximum number of times a user can page you in a row without driving you, your cat, and the rest of your family insane. NOTE: If the sysop is not in, or a users 'page' is not answered, the user is given the option to leave a comment in the registered version. [ MISC. SETTINGS ] DL's ALLOWED FRM: These are the hours in 24 hour format when you allow downloading. 00:00 to 24:00 will allow downloading always. 00:00 to 00:00 will never allow downloading. NOTE: TIME 1 must be < or = to TIME 2. UL's ALLOWED FRM: These are the hours in 24 hour format when you allow uploading. 00:00 to 24:00 will allow uploading always. 00:00 to 00:00 will never allow uploading. NOTE: TIME 1 must be < or = to TIME 2. SCAN BATCH FILE : This is the name of the BATCH FILE you want to use for scanning and converting newly uploaded files. The default name and the one referenced throughout this manual is SCANFILE.BAT. Blank disables this feature. A toggle allows the user to either enter text mode for the scan or remain graphical. (SEE DISPLAY AND CONTROL FILES) ECHO MAIL FILE : This will cause your BBS to write a special file in the Robo-Board directory called, CHK_MAIL.NOW if echo mail is entered, with this file you can do an IF EXIST statement in your batch file to branch to a mail scan toss program. (SEE MAKING IT RUN) SHOW OFFLINE : This option toggles the displaying of an OFFLINE FILE message. If you are cramped for hard drive space and would like users to be able to request offline files turn this feature on. HD FULL WHEN : This lets you enter the number of bytes that you consider your hard drive to be full at. The default is set to 500000 (half meg). If this condition is met then uploads are not allowed. PAGE 16 PHONE TEMPLATE : This lets you set a phone template for your call back verifier and users. X's signify an area code, N's represent normal numbers. the characters "()-" can be used in your template. eg: "(xxx)nnn-nnnn" MODEM OFFHOOK : This toggle will 'busy the line' during a local logon. Your modem must be on. COMMENT AREA : This is the message base where all comments written by commands using comment features will end up. All messages are private and made out to the SYSOP NAME defined earlier. NUMBER OF NODES : This effects the speed your BBS will run at, as well as the number of simultaneous multi-line chat windows open at one time. 1 to 9 nodes can be set. If more than 1 node is used YOU MUST do an indvidual setup for each of your modems. ROBOTERM NAME : This is the name of the most current copy of ROBO-TERM or compatable term available to your users. This Blank must be filled if you want NonRobo-Term callers to be able to log on to your system. If a user does not have Robo-Term or has an incompatible version he/she will be offered the chance to download one. Currently this is ROBO270.EXE NOTE: ROBO-TERM IS FREEWARE FOR YOUR USERS! MIN UL/DL SPEED : This allows you to set a miminum speed for file transfers on your system. DEFAULT ORIGIN : This field is a caption or origin specifier for your ECHO MAIL messages. Bases can have individual tags but if none are found then this default will be added. [ EXTERNAL EVENTS ] If you are using ROBOBBS.EXE to answer the phone these events will be run as batch files when they are triggered. If you for any reason miss an event, it will be run anyway as soon as possible. If you are not using ROBOBBS.EXE to answer the phone then it is up to you to have your mailer/answerer configured to run events at the times you want. When you set up an event Robo-Board will make sure that no one is online when that event happens. Robo-Board will shorten their time limit and disallow overdrawing from the the time bank. This same process works regardless wether you are running a mailer or not. Robo-Board supports four events. PAGE 17 EVENT #1 TIME : To set this event use a '24 hour clock' time. To disable this event set the time to -1 hours. When using ROBOBBS.EXE to answer the phone the event will be run as a batch file named EVENT_1.BAT. NOTE: 24 hour clocks work from 00:00-23:59. EVENT #2 TIME : Same as #1 except ROBOBBS.EXE will run a batch file named EVENT_2.BAT. EVENT #3 TIME : Same as #1 except ROBOBBS.EXE will run a batch file named EVENT_3.BAT. EVENT #4 TIME : Same as #1 except ROBOBBS.EXE will run a batch file named EVENT_4.BAT. [ CALL BACK ] The BUILT IN CALL BACK VERIFIER that makes a SysOps job much easier. When a potential user logs onto your board and his/her access is equal to the one set in the NEW USER ACCESS field then the Call Back Verifier will pop up. It will put the potential user through a series of questions and instructions. After Robo-Board has scanned the phone numbers to be sure it is not another user attempting to gain another account, or an illegal phone number (SEE DISPLAY AND CONTROL FILES) it will proceed to hang up on them and call them back (long distance will not be dialed). If the potential users computer answers the phone and the potential user enters his/ her password correctly they are upgraded to a new user access and flag setting. USE CALL BACK : If set to off then call back will not run automatically when a new user logs on. You still have the option of placing the call back command on one of your menu's. VERIFIED ACCESS : This is the access given to a verified user by Robo-Board. (SEE ACCESS AND SECURITY). DIAL AREA CODE : This is a list of 2-3 character area codes that a user must have for a call back to be permitted. DIAL COMMANDS : This usually will be set to ATDT, but for those SysOps without TOUCH TONE lines you can set this to ATDP. VERIFIED FLAGS : These are the security flags awarded to verified users. USERS EXPIRY : The number of days of access to give a new user before they are dropped to the expiry access. EXPIRY ACCESS : The access given to a user after expiry. FILE AREA CONFIGURATION PAGE 18 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Robo-Board offers a simple yet effective interface for configuring 'file areas'. Every 'file area' has it's own database in the form of a text file named FILES.BBS . Every 'file area' also has it's own directory where the FILES.BBS file is found, as well as the files listed within it. FILES.BBS is one of the oldest and still the most standard file management systems around. There are a number of great FILES.BBS utilities that will work with your system to organize and manage your file areas. A FILES.BBS file contains simply a filename, a download count (optional) and a description. If a download count is not added then no download count for that file will be implemented. Format and example of a raw ASCII FILES.BBS that can be made using DOS EDIT: 4PRINT.ARJ [ 4] An excellent paper saving utility. ROBO270.EXE [ 9] The newest version of ROBO-TERM EGA/VGA. Nothing in a FILES.BBS file has to be column justified but it can be if you prefer. The description field on a file cannot be any longer than 65 characters and must stay on the same line as the file name and download counter. Files that are listed but not found on your drive will either be displayed with an OFFLINE message where the file size normally is or will not be displayed depending on how SHOW OFFLINE is set. For those of you using mass storage or other non-writable devices such as CD-ROMs, Robo-Board allows you to place your file descriptions and names on a different drive. These files will be looked for in your BBS PATH directory (as explained earlier). The name and description file is not called FILES.BBS as it was earlier but rather FILES.# . NAME OF AREA : This is the name as seen by the user when selecting a files area to list, or upload to. This text is also seen while scanning file areas for text or by name. PATH TO FILES : This is the path to a particular area's own FILES.BBS file as well as the files listed within it. If you are using a data medium that is read only you can have Robo-Board look for file information on a different drive by passing a PATH TO FILES and a number for the file. Normal path eg: C:\ROBOBBS\FILES\GAMES\ CDROM path eg: D:\GAMES\;1 NOTE: Make sure all paths end with a "\". PAGE 19 DISPLAY MENU : File areas set to the name of the current menu will only be seen and accessible at that menu. If this field is left blank the file areas will be displayed regardless of the menu name. As in the case of all BBS security features, this should be tested by logging on locally. ACCESS REQUIRED : The conditional access needed to use this file area. (SEE ACCESS AND SECURITY). BROWSE ACCESS : The conditional access needed to browse a file area, no downloading will be permitted to these areas. To dissable this feature set it's access to 0. SECURITY FLAGS : These are the conditional flags required of a user to list, view, download or upload in a particular file area. MESSAGE AREA CONFIGURATION PAGE 20 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Robo-Board offers the ability to handle up to 200 message areas for your use. The message base is ECHO MAIL compatible and supports features such as public only messages as well as handles and read/write accesses. You will also notice that Robo-Board has created a message area titled GENERAL MAIL . This is used as a default area for comments and messages. It can be removed or renamed if you like, but should not be used as an ECHO MAIL area. Robo-Board has attempted to be as compatible with the Hudson message base used by RA and QuickBBS as possible. You should find that most ECHO MAIL utilities and readers work just fine with Robo-Board. The Hudson style message base is quick and widely supported by 3rd party developers. Robo-Board has been supplied with a utility to crunch and remove messages from your message base. There are many other 3rd party programs that will do the same thing but Robo-Board might not work with them. ROBOUTIL.EXE reads your message base definition file and repacks the message base according to the number you have set in MSG # REPACK AT . NOTE: For more information on ECHO MAIL and what it is, please see the section titled ECHO MAIL . NAME OF MSG AREA: This is the name of the message area, as seen by the user when selecting or reading messages. DISPLAY MENU : A message base, set to the name of the current menu will only be seen and accessible at that menu. If this field is left blank the message base will be displayed regardless of the menu name. As in the case of all BBS security features, this should be tested by logging on locally. MSG ORIGIN LINE : This is used for ECHO MAIL messages, the purpose of the Origin Line is to state the origin of a message. Though sometimes, depending on NETWORK rules you can add a caption or advertisement here. This line does not have to be filled if you are not setting up an ECHO MAIL area. If you leave this field blank the DEFAULT ORIGIN set earlier will be used. MSG READ ACCESS : The access needed to read messages from a message base. (SEE ACCESS AND SECURITY). PAGE 21 MSG WRITE ACCESS: The access needed to write messages to a message base. (SEE ACCESS AND SECURITY). MSG # REPACK AT : This value is checked by ROBOUTIL.EXE when it packs your message base. It will make sure there are never more messages per area than the number you enter here. MESSAGE TYPE : This allows you to customize the type of messages that will be entered in a message base. This is also where you turn a message base into an ECHO MAIL base. TYPES: LOCAL PRI/PUB : Local Base, with private and public messages. All users use real names. LOCAL PUBLIC : Local Base, with public only messages. All users use real names. ECHO MAIL : Echo Base, all messages are public. Users use real names. LOCAL HANDLES : Local Base, with private and public messages. All users may use handles. ECHO HANDLES : Echo Base, all messages are public. All user may use handles. NOTE: 99% of the time it is regulatory that all echo mail messages are public. MAILER ADDRESS : This is your Systems mailer address. This address is tagged to a messages origin line. Addresses can be edited as well as selected from a 10 item Queue. It is suggested that addresses be writen in #:#/# format. Eg: 62:6200/10 SECURITY FLAGS : These are the conditional flags required of a user to read, write, reply or toggle a particular message base. THE DRAWING PROGRAM PAGE 22 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The next section describes briefly how to use ROBODRAW and its menus. The best way to learn how the Robo-Board drawing editor works is to try it out. NOTE: ROBODRAW.EXE, will only work if you have a mouse and at least an EGA or VGA graphics adaptor. [ HOW IT WORKS ] Upon entering the drawing program you will notice that that the screen is split into 3 general areas. The top will display stats while drawing, as well as providing two pull down menus to control files and drawing areas. The mid section of the screen is where drawing and editing take place. The bottom area of the screen is full of pop up menus and commands used to control what is being drawn or edited. To keep drawing simple the drawing program was designed so all of it's commands would utilise just one or two clicks of of the mouse. The first button (left) is the action button, and the last button (right) is the cancel button. [ YOUR FIRST TRY! ] When you first enter RoboDraw it will be in line draw mode, colour white. Move your mouse. You will see that a set of cross hairs follow your movement. With your mouse in the drawing region click your action button (first button). Next move your mouse around the drawing region. You will see that a line is being pulled around the screen, one end attached to your cross hairs, the other to where you first clicked. Move your mouse any place in the drawing region and click the action button again. You should see a nice white line drawn on the screen ending where you clicked. Your first line! At the bottom of the screen in the draw/edit area you will see a white box with the word UNDO in it. Click any place inside that box. You will notice your line is gone. The UNDO feature can be used to back up as far as you want in the current drawing. Click the white box with the word LINE in it, this at the moment is your command box and controls the function of your mouse. A menu has popped up with a bounty of commands in it. Click the white box that says FILL RECTANGLE. Now your command box should say FILL RECTANGLE in it. Move your mouse over to the white box with the words DRAW COLOR beside it. Pick the brightest red off the pop up bar of colours. Now run your mouse into the drawing area and click the action button. This time you will notice a rectangle being pulled around the screen by your mouse. Most commands will normally work no matter where you place the second point, but for items like circles, rectangles, buttons PAGE 23 and windows it is good practice to start in the upper left and finish in the lower right. Following good practice move your mouse anywhere, right and below the first corner of your rectangle. Notice how the cross hairs can be used to orientate and line up parts of the drawing. Click the action button and you should see a bright red rectangle on the screen. Now that you have a feel for how RoboDraw works, it is suggested you read the next section about the commands, files, and modes of operation. [ DRAWING COMMANDS AND RELATED FUNCTIONS ] The following drawing commands affect the function of your mouse in the drawing area. Try these commands as you read this section. LINE : This will draw a line on the screen in the current DRAW COLOR. Two clicks, one at each end of the line are required. CONT. LINE : This kind of line is continuous, meaning it will let you draw a line from the end of the last line placed. If you intend to make a series of 2 or more lines with their ends connecting try to use this command. Because of the way it writes things to the drawing database, display is much faster over the modem. To stop drawing linked lines click your last button. RECTANGLE : This will draw a rectangle on the screen in the current DRAW COLOR. Two clicks, one in upper left and the other in the lower right are required. FILL RECTANGLE : This will draw a solid rectangle on the screen in the current DRAW COLOR. CIRCLE : This will draw a circle on the screen in the current DRAW COLOR. You will see that the mouse drags a rectangle. Circles are fit to rectangles, making them ellipses. Two clicks, one in the upper left and the other in the lower right are required. FILL CIRCLE : This will draw a filled circle on the screen in the current DRAW COLOR. Like the normal circle this one is also fit to a rectangle. PAGE 24 WRITE TEXT : This will allow you to write text on the screen in the current DRAW COLOR and FONT. When you click in the draw region of the screen your cross hairs will disappear. Type and you will see text writing, just below and to the left of where you clicked. To abort text writing you must backspace all of your text and hit enter when there is nothing left. If backspace leaves blocky patches of colour don't worry, they aren't really part of your picture, a REDRAW will fix the problem. There are five fonts at your disposal. They can be accessed by clicking the ABC box beside the word FONT. A sample of the chosen font is shown in the ABC box. PLACE ICON : This will allow you to place the currently selected icon on the screen. To do this click the mouse in the drawing region of the screen. The upper left corner of your icon will be placed where the cross hairs converge. You can set the current icon by clicking either of the two arrows below the word icon. This scrolls through the current icon file in forward or reverse order. To change the current icon file use the ICON command found under the FILES pull down. (SEE THE ICON EDITOR for information on creating your own icons) FILL AREA : This command paints a section of the screen with the current DRAW COLOR. Painting will start where you click the mouse and stop at the FILL BOUNDARY colour. This command can bleed colour all over the screen if you are not careful to close the object you wish to fill. UNDO will fix any problems caused by this command. GRAY BUTTON : This draws a gray shaded rectangle on the screen. This button is the one used inside Robo-Board for the message editor and has a 3D effect. This command requires 2 clicks just as any other rectangle does. PAGE 25 WHITE BUTTON : This draws a white shaded rectangle on the screen. This button is the one used inside Robo-Board for the files listings and has a 3D effect. This command requires 2 clicks just as any other rectangle does. PLAIN WINDOW : This draws a window like the popups used in Robo-Board. It features a title bar, a border and work area. This command uses a rectangle to fit it's size but will bulge outside of the rectangle. Always start this command in the upper left and pull down to the lower right. ACCESS BY BOX : This feature will change the access level of any line ends or box corners found within its rectangle to the current access. It should be noted that every entity drawn is done so, at the access level set in the SECURITY field. (SEE ACCESS AND SECURITY). BOX ARC : This command is very powerful but can take a bit of time to master. Box Arc allows you to fit an arc to a rectangle. You have to click the centre point of the arc and pull outward in the direction you want it to display. This command draws only 90 degree arcs in the current DRAW COLOR. By joining box arcs together you can make half arcs. It should be noted that your drawing will display in the same sequence as it was drawn. It should also be noted that entities (lines, circles, arcs, etc.) will display according to the access set, when each and everyone of them was drawn. (see ACCESS AND SECURITY). [ THE FILE PULLDOWN ] THE FILE PULLDOWN is the interface between your picture and the hard drive. Pay attention using this menu. NEW : This will erase all of the entities on your screen and start the picture over. LOAD : This will load a new drawing or menu into RoboDraw. This will overwrite the current picture if one is already on the screen. SAVE : This will save the current drawing or menu to disk. You may save a drawing under any name, but Robo-Board only looks for those files with HARD CODED names as explained in the next few pages. An exception to this rule would be SySop defined graphics. PAGE 26 ICON : This allows you to load an icon library file. Icon files are files containing small 30x30 16 colour images (See THE ICON EDITOR for more information). REDRAW : This feature redraws the screen so you may view it in the sequence it was drawn. QUIT : This exits the drawing editor and returns you to DOS or ROBOCFG.EXE. [ THE TOGGLES PULLDOWN ] This pulldown gives you the option of EDITING or DRAWING with the mouse. When in DRAW MODE the mouse acts as it does when you first enter Robo-Draw. When in EDIT MODE you will notice that every entity has a coloured NODE on one or both corners. Circles are put in their original draw boxes with nodes on the upper left and lower right corners. [ THE COMMAND AREA ] The command area or 3rd section of the screen contains the tools that effect the way an item is drawn. All areas within white rectangles may be clicked on to perform the named task. COMMAND : This box echos the function the mouse will perform in the drawing area of the screen. GRID LOCK : This sets the number of pixels the mouse will lock at in the X and Y axis. This is handy for line art or placing icons. An icon image is 30x30, the mouse can lock at a maximum of 30 pixels for the purpose of lining up images. UNDO : This button allows you to delete the last item drawn. It can delete in reverse order as many entities as you like. SECURITY : This allows you to set the security level for entities you draw. With some planning this feature can determine if a user, will or will not be able to not view an entity or entire section of the screen. FONT : This allows you to select the font that you want text written in. There are 5 fonts for you to choose from. DRAW COLOR : This is the colour that is going to be used for drawing entities. Windows, Buttons, and command boxes are not affected by this. PAGE 27 FILL BOUNDARY : This is the border colour that the FILL AREA command will stop filling at. Be sure the area of the screen you wish to fill is completely encompassed by this colour. UNDO will undo any bad experiences with the FILL AREA command. ICON : This lets you scroll through the currently loaded icon library. The two arrows "< >" below the word icon are your scrollers. The current Icon Library can be changed by using the ICON command found under the FILE pulldown explained earlier. [ EDIT MODE ] Edit mode allows you to move, change, or delete entities in the drawing database. Once a picture or menu is loaded you may select EDIT MODE from the TOGGLES pulldown explained above. You will notice that small coloured points called nodes are positioned at the corners and end points of entities. Circles are placed inside the rectangles they were originally fit to, and nodes are placed at their corners. When in Edit mode you will notice the COMMAND box has been removed and replaced with a larger white rectangle. Within it there is blue text prompting you to "PICK NODE TO EDIT". At this point you may click the cross hairs over any coloured node on the screen. When you pick the node you want to edit, the selected entity will begin to flash, and you are prompted with "ITEM: LB=YES RB=NO". Item is the entity picked, LB is the Left Button, and RB is the Right Button. If you click for yes you will be prompted again with "LB=MOVE RB=EDIT ?????". If you click to MOVE you will be able to pull the entity around the screen with your mouse. If you click to EDIT you are able to change the entities' attributes (colour, security, etc). The ????? mark fields is only present when editing certain items such as text. If you select EDIT you are prompted again with "DEL=DELETE RB=DONE", this gives you the power to delete an entity. When you are done editing an item either click another node or hit the Right (last) button. Experiment with the edit features of RoboDraw. You will find they are easy and intuative. THE MENU EDITOR PAGE 28 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Robo-Board offers a flexible and simple method of making all the customizable branching menus you wish. Commands on a Robo-Board menu can be accessed by remote or local mouse, or by keyboard on either end. You can give your BBS a windowish look or perhaps a theme look by placing commands on graphics. You create a menu by first drawing a screen or backdrop. To turn an area of the screen into a command you must first use the MENU EDITOR to create a menu file. A graphic file and a menu file must have the same name prefix. eg: MAIN.RBO would correspond with MAIN.MNU A hot spot must be chosen for every command you wish to place on the graphics screen. Every command hot spot must be given a hot key. This key is (within the program) pressed when you click on a hot spot. You may have duplicate keys on your menus, but the command to execute will be the first one with an access available to the user. Things to Remember about HOT SPOTS: 1) HotSpots should not overlap. If you would like them too, the spot that was put into the database first is used when a user clicks in the overlapping region unless the user does not have access. 2) The HotSpot should be affiliated with a command by text, an icon, a picture, or any combination of the above. 3) Every HotSpot should have at least a hot key listed beside it or on a sub-menu on the bottom of the screen. Failure to do so will leave your non-mouse users wondering what to do. ┌─┤ INTERFACE EXAMPLES (pretend these are EGA/VGA) ├─────┐ │ │ │ Text in a button: Icon with text: │ │ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒░ ┌HotKey │ │ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒░ ▒▒ ██ ██ ░░ │ │ │ ▒▒ [P]age SysOp ░░┐ ▒▒ ▄▄ ▄▄ ░░ Online chat │ │ ▒░░░│░░░░░░░░░░░░░│ ▒▒ ▀█▄▄█▀ ░░ ▀└───┬────┘ │ │ │ └───┬───┘ │ ▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Descriptive text │ │ HotKey │ │ │ │ │ │ Button, Icon or Picture used │ │ Descriptive Rectangle or as a click area, may │ │ text other obvious be in button or in a │ │ click area. rectangle. │ │────────────────────────────────────────────────────────│ │ Note: If you are using an icon interface, at least a │ │ hotkey should be listed beside it, for non-mouse users │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The above example gives a visual idea of two possible approaches described earlier. PAGE 29 [ HOT SPOT COMMANDS ] There are 30 commands at your disposal. Many commands have more than one purpose. You can assign a Hot spot to any one command. When setting hot spots with Robo-Menu you will find a FLAGS option along with the normal SECURITY settings. The flags combined with the usual security settings allow you to tailor who does what on your system. A maximum of 50 command boxes (hot spots) can be assigned functions on a particular menu. THE FOLLOWING ARE COMPLETE DESCRIPTIONS OF ALL THE HOTSPOT COMMANDS AVALIABLE: NUMBER : 1 TITLE : LOAD MENU DATA : A picture file name (no extension) This command branches from the calling menu to another menu created and saved by Robo-Draw. Be sure the file you choose to load is in fact a menu and not just a drawing. Doing so would result in the user entering a menu he/she cannot exit. When a new menu is called the screen is cleared and redrawn with the new menu, providing it was saved with clear screen on. If a new menu is called that was saved with clear screen off then this new menu will be drawn on top of the existing menu. NUMBER : 2 TITLE : ENTER MESSAGE DATA : A full user name or "SYSOP" This command allows a user to enter messages into the message database. If no 'name field' is entered the user is asked who the message is being sent to and where they want it placed. If a name is passed to this command the message is left in the PAGE COMMENT AREA defined in ROBOCFG.EXE ->SYSTEM SETUP ->MISC. SETTINGS. If the name field is set to SYSOP the 'SysOp name' as entered in ROBOCFG.EXE ->SYSTEM SETUP ->GENERAL will be used. NUMBER : 3 TITLE : READ MESSAGE(S) DATA : nil When this command is executed users are given the option to: read from individual bases, read from combined bases, toggle combined bases on or off, read messages for them (on bases), search bases by to from subject (on bases), or quit. Once a read option has been chosen the user is prompted for a message number, last read or quit. In combined reading mode an additional SKIP BASE command is available. PAGE 30 NUMBER : 4 TITLE : KILL READ MESSAGES DATA : nil This command will delete any personal messages that have been read by the user who executes it. This command takes a while so an animation sequence has been added to amuse the person who selects it. NUMBER : 5 TITLE : UPLOAD FILE DATA : An upload area number or nil This allows the user to upload a file to one of your file areas. The user is prompted for a name. The name is checked by wildcard ("TEST.ARJ" is scanned as "TEST.*") to see if it already exists. Next the file is checked by 'search string' against those found in NOTHERE#.DEF (Not_here_nodenum.def). If all is fine the user is prompted for a description. If you answer 0 when prompted for an upload area the user is given responsibility for the area where his/her file is placed. If you give an area number, files will be uploaded to that particular area. Such a feature is useful if you want to have a new files area, and place the files yourself. After a file has been successfully uploaded, it is scanned for viruses and converted to the file format you desire. Conversion is handled by SCANCONV.DEF and SCANFILE.BAT. The batch file SCANFILE.BAT also allows you to convert files to your preferred archiver format, add BBS ADDS (advertisements) and delete other BBS's adds. (SEE DISPLAY AND CONTROL FILES) NOTE: Archives inside archives are not tested. NUMBER : 6 TITLE : DOWNLOAD FILE(S) DATA : nil This allows for the batch download of up to 10 files providing the user has enough time or ratio to do so. From the download window the user may edit his/her queue. (add, remove, etc.) When a user leaves the download window his/her queue is wiped even if no files were transferred. The queue is filled by manually typing the names of files at the download menu or by marking files for future download during any command that lists file names. (mouse or keyboard) When a download is complete the file download counters are incremented. Users may only download files they have access to. The MENU ONLY fields in ROBOCFG's file area utility are used by this command. This controls who has access to this feature. PAGE 31 NUMBER : 7 TITLE : LIST FILES DATA : nil Allows a user to choose a file area to list. The user may only select from those areas he/she has access to. The MENU ONLY fields in ROBOCFG's file area utility are used by this command. NUMBER : 8 TITLE : DISPLAY ASCII/TXT FILE DATA : file name with path and extension. This allows you to display any ascii or full text file. Any text files longer than one page will display on a page by page basis. All high end ascii characters will display. NOTE: Robo-Board does not support the viewing of ascii files containing ANSI colour codes (yet). NUMBER : 9 TITLE : DISPLAY .RBO EGA/VGA PIC DATA : file name (no path or extension) This command looks in the GRAPHICS directory (defined using ROBOCFG.EXE) for a .RBO EGA/VGA graphics file. The screen is cleared always before the display of this file and restored to its original state after viewing. Drawing by access applies to graphics viewed here. Graphics having linked menu commands are viewed but the commands are ignored. A CONTINUE prompt is issued to the user after display. NUMBER : 10 TITLE : TEXT SEARCH FOR FILE DATA : nil This allows a user to search the file bases he/she has access to, by one or two search strings. The two search strings are not case sensitive and must be separated by comma's. Only those files meeting all search conditions are viewed. Users may view/read or mark for download any files listed. NUMBER : 11 TITLE : NEW FILES LISTING DATA : nil This command will give the user a list of files uploaded since their last call, NOT their last 'new files scan'. Only files the user has access to, are listed. Users may view/read or mark for download any files listed. PAGE 32 NUMBER : 12 TITLE : CALL BACK DATA : nil This is one of those wonderful time saving features that 3rd party software authors have made famous with SysOps. What a Call Back Verifier does is call back the user at one of their phone numbers (their DATA line) and make them type their password in. When a user is properly verified they are given a new access level and new flag settings. This command is run at logon for new users on a registered BBS. If the user has a problem or messes up they can still try their password at a menu if you opt to have CALL BACK on a menu. If you place CALL BACK on a menu, you should consider drawing it at an access level only viewable by unverified users. For more information on the Call Back Verifier and its settings, read the configuration section named CALL BACK. NUMBER : 13 TITLE : PAGE SYSOP DATA : nil This allows the user to page you the SysOp for chat within the hours set by ROBOCFG.EXE. If a user pages you outside of paging hours they are told the SysOp is not around. If you not around the user is given the option of leaving you a comment. If paging hours are active then 60's sci-fi sounds are played on both your end and the users end. The sci-fi computer noises can be overridden by the presence of a sound file called ROBOPAGE.SND. (SEE DISPLAY AND CONTROL FILES) While a user is paging you there is a tiny prompt: "SYSOP: [C]hat, [P]age off" By pressing "C" during a users page you can pop up the split screen chat window. This can also be done from the sysop edit window (SEE THE SYSOP INTERFACE). By pressing "P" you turn off the 'current page' and override the MAX PAGES setting. Once a user has used all of the 'pages' given to him/her by the MAX PAGES setting a message will be displayed telling them to stop bugging the SysOp, then asked if they would like to leave the SysOp a comment. NUMBER : 14 TITLE : LOG-OFF USER DATA : nil This command will place a window on the screen asking the user if they would like to [A]bort, [C]omment or [G]ood-bye. If any keys other than the ones available are pressed the user is logged off. If a user hits [ESC] or [A] the log-off window will be popped down and control will be returned to the calling menu. PAGE 33 If a user hits [G]ood-bye the file LOGOFF.RBO will be displayed the call is completed. If a user opts to press [C] a private message is entered to the SysOps name as defined in ROBOCFG.EXE in the PAGE COMMENT message area. After saving or aborting the message the file LOGOFF.RBO is displayed and their call is completed. NUMBER : 15 TITLE : SETTINGS MENU DATA : nil This command will pop a window over the current screen so users can edit and maintain some of their own settings. There are 6 or 7 fields (depending on the status of ASK HANDLE) that the user can edit. The menu goes like this. [A] HOME PHONE # (here regardless of ASK HOME PHONE) [B] DATA PHONE # (must fit PHONE TEMPLATE) [C] CITY STATE/PROV (users location incase they move) [D] YOUR PASSWORD (allows a change of passwords) [E] SOUNDS (ON or OFF setting) [F] NEW MAIL CHECK (ON or OFF for logon mail check) [G] HANDLE (here if ASK HANDLE is set to YES) [Q]uit (returns control to calling menu) Although the HOME and DATA numbers can be changed they are placed into, and their existance is checked for, in a file named CALLBACK.LOG. The phone numbers must fit the template defined by PHONE TEMPLATE. It is not possible for a user to abort entering his/her phone number until all blanks are filled with numbers only! When this menu is called the users password is not displayed unless the user chooses to change their password. The handle field is not displayed at all if ASK HANDLE is set to NO. If ASK HANDLE is set to YES after being set to NO, you should leave a news screen telling your users to set their handles. If the user turns sound off all online sounds such as the ROBOPAGE.SND or WELCOME.SND etc. will not be played to them. This could be nice for all of those late night callers who don't want there families or room mates killing their modems. If the user turns off the NEW MAIL CHECK they will not be given a list of new messages addressed to them at logon. This can be over ridden regardless of what you set NEW MAIL CHECK to in ROBOCFG.EXE. PAGE 34 NUMBER : 16 TITLE : VIEW ARCHIVE/TEXT FILE DATA : nil This allows the user to read a text file or view the files within an archive. The user is prompted for the name of the file they would like to view. The MENU ONLY settings apply to this command. This command can also be accessed by any of the file commands that list files. The user simply picks the letter by keyboard or mouse and views the file. It should be noted that as of this release only .ARJ .LZH and .ZIP files may be viewed . NUMBER : 17 TITLE : DOS PROGRAM (NO DIR) DATA #2: Name of dos batch file or other executable This command swaps Robo-Board to EMS or DISK and loads a second copy of the COMMAND.COM. Batch files must be run by loading a second copy of the command.com. This type of load will only run a file if it is found in the current directory. A DORINFO#.DEF file (#=NODE) is written containing COM info, system info, and user info needed for a door to execute. Such files make Robo-Board's doors compatible with those written for RBBS, QBBS or RA. (see DOORS AND ONLINE UTILITIES) Running an external program this way is like typing. COMMAND.COM /C TEST.BAT (/C tells DOS it is a second copy) on the DOS command line. It is possible to run an external program (such as a door or utility) designed for the RBO100 graphical protocol and keep Robo-Board in graphics mode so it is less apparent (or choppy) to the user when logging into such a program. On the SysOps (local) end the BBS will change to text mode, but only to accommodate DOS, graphics will stay active on the users end. This effect is achieved by using the "+GR" command along with the program name. NOTE: only doors that were written to be RBO100 compatible will run with the EGA/VGA "+GR" option. The following commands may be passed along with the file name to provide variables needed by a command line program or by a batch file, they will be passed in the order they appear: @B = baud rate used in current connect. @P = com port being used. @L = the locked port rate or just the value of @B. @NN = the users node number @FN = the users first name @LN = the users last name @N = the users name eg: SETH_HAMILTON ( "_"=" " ). PAGE 35 The following commands are not 'passed' to DOS but used by Robo-Board to tell how a door is going to act. These options are placed on the same line as the program name and are stripped before the program is executed. Their function and code are as follows: +T = time used in the program is not subtracted +GR = graphics mode is left active on the users end. This is for doors written to use the RBO100 graphical protocol. +R = recalls the users data into memory. This can be used for external programs that change values such as the users access, time, ratio, name etc. Note: programs changing time still need to use +T. By not doing so the time in the program will be subtracted from the original. +H = Hang up after program returns to BBS. (LOGOFF.RBO is displayed if found. NUMBER : 18 TITLE : DOS PROGRAM (CHANGE DIR) DATA #2: Name of dos batch file or other executable. DATA #1: Full path to application. This command swaps Robo-Board to EMS or DISK and loads a second copy of the COMMAND.COM. Batch files must be run by loading a second copy of the COMMAND.COM. The difference between this command and command #17 DOS PROGRAM (NO DIR) is that Robo-Board will change to the directory you specify. The DORINFO#.DEF file (described below) will also be written to the new directory. A DORINFO#.DEF file (#=NODE) is written containing COM info, system info, and user info needed for a door to execute. Such files make Robo-Board's doors compatible with those written for RBBS, QBBS or RA. Running an external program this way is like typing CD C:\ROBOBBS\DOORS\TEST COMMAND.COM /C TEST.BAT (/C runs DOS as a second copy) on the DOS command line. It is possible to run an external program (such as a door or utility) designed for the RBO100 graphical protocol and keep Robo-Board in graphics mode so it is less apparent (or choppy) to the user when logging into such a program. On the SysOps (local) end the BBS will change to text mode, but only to accommodate DOS, graphics will stay active on the users end. This effect is achieved by using the "+GR" command along with the program name. NOTE: only doors that were written to be RBO100 compatible will run with the EGA/VGA "+GR" option. PAGE 36 The following commands may be passed along with the file name to provide variables needed by a command line program or by a batch file, they will be passed in the order they appear: @B = baud rate used in current connect. @P = com port being used. @L = the baud the port is locked at else the value of @B. @NN = the users node number. @FN = the users first name @LN = the users last name @N = the users name eg: SETH_HAMILTON ( "_"=" " ). The following commands are not passed but used by Robo- Board to tell how a door is going to act. These options are placed on the same line as the program name and are stripped before the program is executed. Their function and code are as follows: +T = time used in the program is not subtracted +GR = graphics mode is left active on the users end. This is for doors written to use the RBO100 graphical protocol. +R = recalls the users data into memory. This can be used for external programs that change values such as the users access, time, ratio, name etc. Note: programs changing time still need to use +T. By not doing so the time in the program will be subtracted from the original. +H = Hang up after program returns to BBS. (LOGOFF.RBO is displayed if found. NUMBER : 19 TITLE : TIME BANK DATA : nil This registered feature allows for users to store their extra time in a 'bank'. Don't worry there is no interest or anything like that. The maximum amount of time stored or withdrawn is set in ROBOCFG.EXE -> SYSTEM SETUP -> GENERAL's TIME BANK MAX. This feature is event sensitive and will never allow a user to withdraw more time than the event permits. NUMBER : 30 TITLE : NODE CHAT DATA : nil This registered feature allows users to talk in real time to each other between nodes. There can be a maximum of 9 people chatting at one time. The unique ability of this multi-line chat feature is that users see exactly what is typed in real time. This allows for flowing conversations, not the choppy 'one sentence at a time' conversations offered by other BBS packages. PAGE 37 Users are also given the ability to 'page' (call) other users for chat. A page request may take from 1 - 15 seconds to execute. The paged user's computer will beep and a small non destructive window will appear. If a user enters multi-line chat, the status and names of the users online are supplied. Simple messages like "AT MENU", "DOWNLOADING FILE", or "ENTERING MESSAGE" give other users an idea of when paging is convenient. These messages are not overly descriptive, leaving some privacy to the user. These status remarks, just like the online chat, change in real time. NUMBER : 21 TITLE : FILE QUEUE DATA : nil This command pops up the file queue window as found on other commands that allow the marking of files for future download. The file queue is a list of files marked or entered by the user for future download. The queue is ratio and time aware so that users may not break their daily time limit or ratio. There may be a maximum of 10 files marked on the queue at any one time. If a user enters the download window he/she may edit their queue, but as soon as they leave the download window their queue is cleared. This command can be accessed from any file command that lists files and allows marking, it can also be accessed from the download window. If you wish to add it to your menu's it is only for the purpose of completeness. NUMBER : 22 TITLE : USER SELF DELETE (ZAP) DATA : nil This is a strange feature. It allows a user to delete their record from the user base. Their access will be changed to 0 and their name and password fields changed to "nil". This kind of feature could be used from a main menu and only be given to users of low access who refuse to verify. Or this could be used for new members of your BBS who changed their minds and don't want to become members. NUMBER : 23 TITLE : LIST/SEARCH USERS DATA : nil This command allows the user to search the user database for names by 'search string' or complete listing. The users name, location, total calls and last call are displayed. PAGE 38 NUMBER : 24 TITLE : PROGRAM ID DATA : nil This is one of those nice little options that should be used on every main menu (he he he). A small window giving a few stats and information about your copy of Robo-Board and your system are displayed. The date your particular copy of Robo- Board was compiled (turned into a .EXE file) is shown on this screen. NUMBER : 25 TITLE : SEARCH FOR FILE BY NAME DATA : nil This allows a user to search the file bases he/she has access to with a file mask. The file name is not case sensitive and may contain any of the wildcards (* and ?) used in DOS. Only those files meeting the search conditions are viewed. Users may view/read or mark for download any files listed. NUMBER : 26 TITLE : NEW MAIL SEARCH DATA : nil This will give the user a list and the option to read any messages addressed to them. If a user does not choose to read any messages to him/her then the messages will be displayed the next time they scan for new mail. This command is the same one used during logon. NUMBER : 27 TITLE : CALLS TODAY DATA : nil This gives the user a list of the days calls. The users names baud rates, call times, and locations are displayed. The text file containing this information is deleted when the first user after midnight calls. NUMBER : 28 TITLE : WHO'S ONLINE DATA : nil This multi-line feature pops a window with the names and status of all users online. Unlike the NODE CHAT (#20) window the status of the online user does not change as the user changes tasks. NUMBER : 29 TITLE : HANG UP NO QUESTIONS DATA : nil Logs off user without the usual questions that the LOG-OFF USER (#14) command does. The file LOGOFF.RBO is displayed. PAGE 39 NUMBER : 30 TITLE : LOAD MENU WITH CLEAR DATA : nil This loads a menu the same way as the LOAD MENU (#1) command but clears the screen regardless of the new menu's clear screen status. This command branches from the calling menu to another menu created and saved by Robo-Draw. Be sure the file you choose to load is in fact a menu and not just a drawing. Doing so would result in the user entering a menu he/she cannot exit. When a new menu is loaded the screen is cleared and redrawn with the new menu's graphics. [ THE MAIN MENU ] In Robo-Board the first menu to load is defaulted to the name MAIN. If no file is found with the name MAIN your system will halt with an error. The MAIN menu can change according to a users individual access if you define the file ACCESS#.DEF (see DISPLAY AND CONTROL FILES). THE ICON EDITOR PAGE 40 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The ICON EDITOR is your interface to Robo-Boards icon abilities. Icons are a fairly quick way to display graphical information, or to display graphics which are too complex, or frequently used to be drawn with Robo-Draw. An Icon is a raster graphic based on a 30x30 pixel grid. Icons are typically 16 colors plus one see through colour for transparent sections. The distribution menus take full advantage of Robo-Board's icon capabilities. Take a look at the icon file COMMANDS.ICO to view those icons. A standard icon requires 900 bytes of computer memory to load (30 x 30 = 900); each byte contains a colour. If a user logged on at 2400 baud and was required to receive 900 bytes per icon, when their 2400 baud modem can only get a maximum of 240 characters per second, it would take 3.75 seconds to receive that icon. Fortunately Robo-Board solves this problem. First an icon is only ever sent once, unless it does not exist on the users hard drive or if it has been changed. When the user receives an icon they don't have to receive it next call because it is stored on their disk, under the same name as the copy on yours. Secondly Robo-Board and Robo-Term (see RoboTerm) offer built in icon compression. This feature can take an icon and pack it from 1:4 to 1:6 its original size. This allows an icon to transfer on an average, under 1 second on a 2400 baud modem. At baud rates of 9600 baud or greater the icon transfer process is virtually unnoticeable. I am currently developing methods to greatly reduce transfer time at low baud rates. An Icon Library file is exactly as the name implies. A group of many icons stored in a common library or file. When an icon file is loaded all the icons are placed in an array and assigned numbers: ╔═══╡ICON LIBRARY FILE (COMMANDS.ICO)╞═══╗ ║ ║ ║ HOUR EXIT ║ ║ LETTER GLASS DOOR ║ ║ ╔═╧═╦═══╦═╧═╦═══╦═╧═╦═══╦ ═ ═ ╦═══╗ ║ ║ ║ 1 ║ 2 ║ 3 ║ 4 ║ 5 ║ 6 ║ ║ ? ║ ║ ║ ╚═══╩═╤═╩═══╩═╤═╩═══╩═╤═╩ ═ ═ ╩═══╝ ║ ║ DISK BELL DOOR ║ ║ ║ ║────────────────────────────────────────║ ║ ? May equal any number up to 65 icons. ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════════╝ Those numbers always start at 1 and work their way up to a maximum number of 65. The number 65 though odd is the largest contiguous block of definable memory we can grab. Don't worry if you need more than 65 icons you can use as many icon files as you wish in a Robo-Draw picture. It should PAGE 41 be noted that to load an ICON file and Hand shake all the icon checksums between the terminal and BBS takes just under a second. So if you intend to use lots of icons on a menu it is suggested that you place all the icons from your icon libraries on a per file bases, eliminating the constant load/hand shake routine caused by persistently skipping between files. [ USING THE ICON EDITOR ] The icon editor allows you to edit one icon from a library at a time simply by loading that icon number onto the drawing screen. You can then edit and return that icon to the library index or to a new index in the file. After loading an icon into the drawing screen you will see an enlarged version, and a real size version. This allows you to see what your icons will really look like. Notice that the number of the last icon loaded, is left on the input window, so you don't forget which icon you are editing. After an icon is edited it must be saved back to the file to make the changes permanent. When you first enter the icon editor you select a file and it becomes your active file. The editor then places you in draw mode with no icon loaded. Don't worry you can create a new one at this point or load any of the icons in the file onto the drawing screen. Please note that the icon you edit on the draw screen is not saved to the file as you draw it. The draw screen is totally independent of the file until you save the draw screen to the icon library. The following is a list with brief descriptions of the editor commands: [F]loodfill in current colour This command will fill the entire icon with the colour highlighted at the top of the screen. [S]ave icon # This command prompts for the ICON number where the image on the drawing screen is to be saved, in your icon library. An icon may be saved to more than one index if you wish. [L]oad icon # This command prompts for an ICON # to load. The icon is then placed on the drawing screen. After changing an icon it must be resaved to it's old location or must be given a new one if changes are to be permanent. [X]change colors (0-16) This command allows you to exchange one of the colours in your icon with any 1 of the 16 available to you. Note: The colours start at 0 (being black) and end at 16 (colour 16 is the X pattern and your transparent colour). PAGE 42 [T]urn icon image 90 degrees This rotates your icon in a counter clockwise manner. This command can be used more than once to rotate an image 180 or 270 degrees. [R]andom dot in current color This command speckles your icon screen with random dots in the colour highlighted at the top of your screen. [C]lear icon This clears the drawing screen to black. Don't worry if you didn't want to do this you can always reload your icon with the [L]oad icon # command. [I]nvert (flip) icon This will flip an icon right to left or back again. [A]uto draw ON/OFF This affects whether or not pixels will be filled when the draw cursor moves. [SPACE] color current pixel This fills the current screen pixel with the colour high- lighted at the top of the screen. [ARROWS] move pixel box This moves the icon draw cursor around the active draw screen. [+,-] change draw color This will change the current colour to one of the 17 (0-16) colours available. [ESCAPE] to quit Exits the icon editor. [!] shorten file This feature allows you to truncate the size of a large icon file. The icon editor will prompt you for the icon number to truncate the file too. Note: The Icon Editor uses the keyboard arrow keys to drive the the paint cursor or your mouse. The left button paints in the current colour and the right button paints using the 'see through' colour. THE USER EDITOR PAGE 43 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The user editor gives you the power to view and change any of the users settings or statistics. The user editor is accessed from ROBOCFG.EXE. When you enter the user editor a list of the users on your system is displayed. To select a user for editing, use the arrow keys, and the page control keys then press enter. A window will pop up with the following options: USERS FULL NAME: This is the full (real) name of the user as seen on your system and its message bases. USERS HANDLE: This is the users Handle (alias) as seen in message bases allowing the use of handles. New mail is scanned under the users real name as well as the users handle. If you do not allow handles on your system this field is blank. This field can also be edited by the user, if they have access to the menu command SETTINGS. USER ACCESS LEVEL: This is the users online access. This option should be set with care as it controls whether or not a user has access to menu commands, message bases and file areas. (See ACCESS AND SECURITY) USERS HOME PHONE #: If you allow the use of this field the users home phone number is displayed here otherwise it is left blank. This field can also be edited by the user if they have access to the menu command SETTINGS. USERS DATA PHONE #: This is the users data phone number as entered during the users first logon. If you have registered your copy of Robo-Board, this option will allow you to use the CALL BACK VERIFIER built into Robo-Board. WHERE USER IS FROM: This is the users origin as entered during the users first logon. This is displayed during user listings and is a useful statistic for the SysOp. USERS TIME LEFT: This is the time remaining online as of the users last call. When a user logs on for the first time in a day this field is reset to the users total time online and is slowly decremented as they use it up again. USERS TOTAL CALLS: This is the users total calls to your system. This field is displayed during user listings. This field can also cause the display of certain files for new users. PAGE 44 USERS BIRTH DATE: This is the users birthdate. This is for your own purposes so you can restrict the access of users to certain menus, files or messages by age. If you run such a system where age is an issue it is your responsibility to define access and flag settings in correspondence. (see ACCESS AND SECURITY) USERS PASSWORD: This the special secret word needed by a user to access their account. Without it a user cannot logon. Do not change this field without informing a user. The user can if they wish to change their password, but only if they have access to the menu command SETTINGS. USERS UPLOADS: This is the number of files the user has uploaded to your system. This field is primarily used to enforce any ratios you may have set. USERS DOWNLOADS: This is the number of files the user has downloaded from your system. This field is mainly used to enforce any ratios you may have set. You can also find the RFG's (real file grunts) with this field. USERS TIME BANKED: This is the total amount of time in the users time bank account. This field is used by the registered menu command called TIME BANK. EXPIRY DATE (YYMMDD): This is the users account expiry date. This is a great command for those users who have paid a fee for special access on your system. With this field set the user is informed of their expiry date and dropped to a new access when that time comes. Input must be in YEAR MONTH DAY form and entered as one number: 10-01-92 (MM-DD-YY) would be entered as: 921001 (YYMMDD) NEW EXPIRED ACCESS: This is the new access level given to a user after their old access has expired. SECURITY FLAGS: This allows you to set all of the 8 security flags used in the menu interface. (see ACCESS AND SECURITY) PAGE 45 TOGGLES: This allows you to toggle any of the special ON/OFF fields that affect a user's call. They are: NON-DELETABLE USER (used by user base utilities) SECURITY OVER RIDE (security features ignored for user) READ PRIVATE MESSAGES (user can read private messages) READ DELETED MESSAGES (user can read deleted messages) NO EXPIRATION (users expiry date is ignored) NO FILE RATIO (user is immune to ratio limits) CANNOT PAGE SYSOP (used for pesty users) NO TIME LIMIT (user has no daily time limit) ACCELERATED USER TIME (minutes elapse in 45 seconds) USER HEARS SOUND (turns off all online sound) NEW MAIL CHECK (no mail check for user at logon) NOTE: security over ride, no file ratio, no time limit and read private/deleted messages are potentially dangerous settings. Special consideration to whom you give these powers to should be taken. Some of the options in the user editor such as time left, access, flags, uploads, and downloads can be changed with the online user editor. (see THE SYSOP INTERFACE) NOTE: DO NOT DELETE OR INSERT USERS FROM THE DATA BASE WHILE IN THE DOS SHELL OR ANYTIME THAT A COPY OR NODE OF YOUR BBS IS RUNNING. DOING SO MAY CORRUPT YOUR USER FILE OR CAUSE WRITING OF USER STATS TO INCORRECT RECORDS. EDITING A USER WITH THE USER FILE IS PERMITTED. THE USERS RECORD WILL BE REREAD AFTER YOU RETURN FROM A DOS SHELL. THE SYSOP INTERFACE [ POP UP ] PAGE 46 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The local SysOp has the ability to view, edit, and interact with the user online. This is done with the aid of a secret (or not so secret) SysOp window. The online user editor was designed for local access with the SysOps mouse. The editor can be accessed at any time by clicking the last button on your mouse no matter what the user is doing. In VGA modes the editor is found in the lower third of the screen. During EGA operation the editor is found on the second video page. If you have VGA you can override it by using the -EGA command line parameter, although VGA mode allows you to see what the user is doing as you edit them. The user editor contains both textual and clickable toggle fields. The text in an active textual field is red. To change the text in the active field type as you normally would, you may also use the backspace key. You can leave the active field by clicking on any dormant field (black text) or by using the arrow or tab keys. Toggle fields do not disturb the text fields but allow you to toggle with an easy click the users flags and attributes. It should be noted that you have to be in the SysOp editor for this to work, also the fields you change are in effect the moment you revise them. Finally on the far left you will see 5 interaction icons, you may click on them to execute their assigned functions as explained later. [ The Fields ] NAME: This text field allows you to change the users name. Or perhaps your own. HANDLE: This text field allows you to change a users handle. PASSWORD: This allows you to change a users password. Note: Perhaps you should tell the user first. FROM: This text field allows you to change where the user is from. BIRTHDATE: This lets you change the users birthdate. You should input this number in MM/DD/YY format. EXPIRY: This is the users expiry date. This should be entered in YYMMDD format (no "/" or "-"). EXP ACC: This is the access given to a user after the expiry date (above) is reached. HOME PH#: This is the users home phone number. Care should be taken to enter numbers as they would appear using your template. PAGE 47 DATA PH#: This is the users data phone number. Care should be taken to enter numbers as they would appear using your template. ACCESS: The users access has a range of 0-255. If a number is entered out of range it will be wrapped past 0. FLAGS: The 8 users flags may be toggled on or off by clicking on them. A flag is ON when it is green and OFF when gray. CALLS: This is the total number of calls that a user has made to your system. TIME: The users time has a maximum limit of 999 minutes. If the user is at a menu their time will update on the menu bar as you change it. [ The Attribute Bar ] The attribute bar contains 10 self describing toggles. These toggles are fully explained in the user editor section of this manual. A toggle is ON when green and OFF when gray. [ Interaction Icons ] The following icons are your interface to the user. They may be clicked anytime you wish: CHAT: This brings up the split screen SysOp to User chat window. While in chat the users time is frozen. You can access the chat window by clicking on the "LIPS" icon. HANG-UP: This saves the users record and hangs up the phone. You can click the divided "TELEPHONE" poles icon in the SysOp window to execute this command. LOCK-OUT: This command is used to terminate a user you don't want calling back. This is achieved by setting the users access to 0. To execute the lock-out command click the "COCKED GUN" icon in the SysOp window. NOTICE: This will display the short notice you define in ROBOCFG. To display the notice click the "!" mark icon in the SysOp window. If the graphic NOTICE.RBO exists, it will be as an alternative. PAGE 48 DOS SHELL: This will place a notice on the user screen saying the SysOp has dropped to DOS. After Robo-Board has swapped itself out to EMS or Disk you will find yourself in a second copy of dos. Type "EXIT" to return. Click the "C:\" icon in the SysOp window to shell to the DOS enviroment. While in DOS you can edit menu's and other such things, but remember a user is frozen during this process. *** NOTICE **** Do not remove or insert users into your database while someone is online. Doing so may corrupt your user data base. It is however just fine to edit any users record while someone is online. ACCESS AND SECURITY PAGE 49 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This section explains one of the most important, and potentially dangerous subjects that a BBS is built around: access and security. [ ACCESS LEVELS ] The terms access level and security level are used throughout this manual. With Robo-Board they are one in the same: A number with a value from 0-255. Usually with higher access, comes more privileges. Two special access levels have been hard-coded into Robo-Board. They are 0 for locked out, and 255 for SysOp. Things that need access settings are, message bases, file areas, drawing entities, and menu commands. With every access setting there is access director. The access director specifies whether the users access must be greater than or equal to, less than or equal to, or just equal to the commands access in order to take advantage of the 'secured feature'. These directors are often found in the forms ≥, ≤ or = and are usually set along with, or beside an access setting. [ FLAGS ] Flags are mainly an access filter. A user must meet both the normal access requirements and have the appropriate flags set to meet the menu commands flag mask if they wish to execute that command. The flags are a row of 8 on/off toggles eg: ■·■·■·■·, ··■·····, ■■■■■■■■ Flags can be found in the user editor, sysop window and some ROBOCFG settings menus. When evaluating a commands flags against a users flags only, the command flags that are ON are evaluated; the others are ignored. If the command has no flags toggled ON the user is automatically 'passed'. If all the command's flags are toggled ON then all the user's flags must also be ON in order for the user to be granted access. If a command's second flag and sixth flag are toggled ON then the user's second and sixth flag must also be ON for access. Flags are useful in situations where you don't want to define a whole new access level in your ACCESS#.DEF (see DISPLAY AND CONTROL FILES) and just want to let certain users into a menu command. A prime example would be: You have just set up a contest on your doors menu, you want only those users who donated to the jackpot to have access to the game. Most of your users are level 5, but your special users are level 10 and your Co-SysOps (assistant SysOps) are level 200. You don't want to make the door ACCESS = 6 and have to set up a whole new access level. Doing so, would force your level 5, 10 and 200 users to become level 6 users if they want into the contest. PAGE 50 Not to mention after the contest is over you would have to reset a bunch of access levels. Instead you could set the door to ACCESS to >= 5, FLAG1="ON", and toggle the contest players FLAG1="ON" to match. [ EXAMPLES OF ACCESS, ACCESS DIRECTORS AND FLAGS ] ┌──────────────────╥───────────────────╥─────────┐ │ SYSTEM SETTING ║ USER SETTING ║ RESULT │ ├──────────────────╫───────────────────╫─────────┤ │ ║ ║ │ │ FILE AREA ║ ║ │ │ ACCESS: [=][100] ║ ACCESS: [100] ║ PASSED │ │ FLAGS : ■······· ║ FLAGS : ■······· ║ │ │ ║ ║ │ │ MESSAGE BASE ║ ║ │ │ ACCESS: [=][100] ║ ACCESS: [100] ║ PASSED │ │ FLAGS : ··■····· ║ FLAGS : ■·■·■·■· ║ │ │ ║ ║ │ │ MENU COMMAND ║ ║ │ │ ACCESS: [=][100] ║ ACCESS: [100] ║ PASSED │ │ FLAGS : ········ ║ FLAGS : ■■■■■■■■ ║ │ │ ║ ║ │ │ MENU COMMAND ║ ║ │ │ ACCESS: [≥][100] ║ ACCESS: [ 50] ║ STOPPED │ │ FLAGS : ■······· ║ FLAGS : ■······· ║ │ │ ║ ║ │ │ MENU COMMAND ║ ║ │ │ ACCESS: [≥][100] ║ ACCESS: [150] ║ STOPPED │ │ FLAGS : ■······· ║ FLAGS : ·■······ ║ │ │ ║ ║ │ │ MENU COMMAND ║ ║ │ │ ACCESS: [≤][ 32] ║ ACCESS: [ 1] ║ PASSED │ │ FLAGS : ■·■····· ║ FLAGS : ■·■·■■·· ║ │ │ ║ ║ │ └──────────────────╨───────────────────╨─────────┘ DISPLAY AND CONTROL FILES PAGE 51 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── During execution Robo-Board checks for the existence of certain graphical, sound and control files as they are needed. If these special files are not found, don't worry they will be ignored. [ HARD CODED GRAPHICS FILES ] ACC_#.RBO : This file is displayed before WELCOME.RBO. # is the users access level. In order for a level 5 user to see this file, it would have to be named ACC_5.RBO BIRTHDAY.RBO : This file is displayed if the users birthday field matches the current date. EXPIRED.RBO [W]: This file is displayed if a user's access has expired since their last call. FBASE#.RBO [W]: This file is displayed by the file list menu command after selecting an area to list. # = the area number (1-200) FILETIME.RBO [W]: This file is displayed if a user tries to transfer a file during non-transfer hours. FIRST_2.RBO : This file is displayed for the user's first 2 calls. This file is shown after WELCOME.RBO but before the mail scan. FIRST_5.RBO : Same as FIRST_2.RBO but this file is shown for the users first 5 calls. HOUR#.RBO : This displays a file if the # matches the the current hour on a 24hour clock. (0-24). This file is displayed after WELCOME.RBO. KEYOUT.RBO : This file is displayed if the user is logged off due to a keyboard time out. LOCKOUT.RBO : This file is displayed when you lock out a user. LOGOFF.RBO : This file is displayed to a user as they log-off your system. LOGON.RBO : This file is displayed to a user before they enter their name. It is the First file your system will display. LOCKUSER.RBO : This file is displayed to a user who is locked out if they try to logon. PAGE 52 NEWS.RBO : This is a special file displayed after the mail check and before the MAIN or PREMAIN screens. NEWS#.RBO : # from 1 to 5. These are displayed after the NEWS.RBO screen. NEWUSER.RBO : This file is displayed after a new user enters their registration information. It is only displayed on their first call. NOTHERE.RBO [W]: (NOT HERE) This file is shown when a user attempts to upload a file format or file name you do not allow. See NOTHERE.DEF. NOTICE.RBO [W]: If this file exists then this file is shown as an alternative to the ROBOCFG notice string. NOLIMIT.RBO : Displayed to users having the ' no time limit' toggle turned on (See THE USER EDITOR). MENUHELP.RBO [W]: If this file exists it is displayed instead of the menu help pull down at the top of any menu screen. MBASE#.RBO [W]: This file is displayed before reading from a message base. # = base number (1-200). OVERRIDE.RBO : Displayed to users having the security over ride toggle turned on (See THE USER EDITOR) MMDDYY.RBO : This file is displayed if the current date matches the MONTH DAY YEAR name of this file. Say you want a Merry Christmas file to display, to do this you would have a file named 122593.RBO. PREMAIN.RBO : This file is displayed right before the main menu. If you give your menus a windows like appearance you can use this to display a menu backdrop. RATIO.RBO [W]: This file is displayed to any users who try to download when they have exceeded their transfer ratio. SHORTIME.RBO [W]: This file is displayed to users who have had their time limits shortened by events. SLOWPOKE.RBO [W]: This file is displayed if a user tries to transfer a file with too slow a modem. PAGE 53 TIMEOUT.RBO : This file is displayed when a user has used their daily time limit. VIP.RBO : If the users name is found in the VIP.DEF this file is displayed. WELCOME.RBO : This screen comes up between the time a user logs on and the users mail scan. Usually this is an add for your own BBS. WELCOMEF.RBO : Same as WELCOME.RBO but the user is not prompted to continue. NOTE: Any files with a [W] will look really good if they are drawn to look like pop up windows. That is save them without a screen clear and draw the text or graphics you would like inside a window. [ DISPLAY CONTROL CODES ] Sometimes while showing a graphic you may wish to display a variable to your users. Variables can tell nearly anything to the user, such as the total calls made to your system, the name of the last caller, or the number of files they have downloaded. To display a variable a special control code must be placed within a Robo-Draw text string. The control codes you may use are: ~AL : The user's access level. ~AN : The access level name as found in ACCNAME.DEF ~BD : The user's birth date. ~BN : The BBS name as defined in ROBOCFG. ~CL : The date the user called last. ~CU : The users total calls. ~CT : The number of calls your system has received today. ~CS : The sum of the calls your system has received. ~DP : The users data phone number. ~DL : The number of files the user has download. ~FL : The users flags. ~FN : The users first name. ~HA : The users handle. (alias) ~HP : The users home phone number. ~LC : The full name of the last caller. ~LN : The users last name. ~N1 : The full name of the user on node 1. ~N2 : The full name of the user on node 2. ~N3 : The full name of the user on node 3. ~N4 : The full name of the user on node 4. ~N5 : The full name of the user on node 5. ~N6 : The full name of the user on node 6. ~N7 : The full name of the user on node 7. ~N8 : The full name of the user on node 8. ~N9 : The full name of the user on node 9. PAGE 54 ~NN : The current node number. ~WF : Where the user is from. ~WN : The users whole name. ~SN : The SysOps full name as defined in ROBOCFG. ~TB : The amount of time in the user's time bank. ~TL : The amount of time in minutes the user has left. ~TR : The systems transfer ratio (nn:nn) ~UL : The number of files the user has uploaded. [ SOUND FILES ] For every graphics file you may define a sound file. This file should have the same prefix as the graphics file but end with the extension ".SND". For example WELCOME.RBO would use the sound file WELCOME.SND. Sound files are played after the graphics are displayed and may be interrupted. They will not yet play in the back ground. The format for a sound file is as follows: ; This is a comment. ; to place a comment use a ";" character in column 1 ; A blank line may be placed anywhere inside a sound file 440, 20 600, 20 660, 20 The ";" character may be used anywhere in a sound file as long as it is placed in column 1 of the text file. In the example above there are 3 large numbers: 440, 600 and 660. These are speaker frequencies in hertz. The smaller numbers on the other sides of the commas are delays in 1/100ths of a second. A 20 hundredth delay is the same as .2 seconds a 100 hundredth delay is a complete second. A 2400 baud modem would have trouble keeping up with a tune using 5 hundredth of a second delays (Flight of the bumble bee?). As of yet I still haven't found a frequency/note chart to make sound conversion easy for you. I remember seeing one in an old GWBASIC manual. Unfortunately MS-DOS 5.0 does not give a person a copy of this book any more and I have either lent or lost my old book. [ DEFINITION AND CONTROL FILES ] Robo-Board includes an abundance of optional files that give your board the look and feel it needs. These files must be edited with a line editor or word processor that saves in ASCII format. PAGE 55 ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ VIP.DEF: This file contains the names of special users. ║ ║ Special users make Robo-Board beep at logon. ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ SETH HAMILTON DARYLL SLOBOGAN ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ACCESS#.DEF: Allows you to specify custom accesses for ║ ║ #=NODE for BBS. (time, ratio, credit, menu...) ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ; This file allows you give different access levels ; special attributes, such as time, ratio, credit, ; custom main menu, and access names. ; ; TIME: This is the amount of time users of ; the current access level or above are ; given online per day. ; UP,DOWN This is the upload to download ratio ; that users of this access level or ; above must maintain. ; UPCREDIT: This is the time multiplier that users ; are compensated as a bonus when they ; upload files. 1.5 would give a user ; their original time plus half that ; back. A setting of 1 would give a user ; all of their transfer time back. ; MAINMENU: This is the main menu given to users ; of the current access or above. The ; default main menu is just called MAIN, ; but if you prefer you can give all or ; just special access levels new main ; menus. If you do change your main menu ; name all references to MAIN in the ; goto command of your menus will be ; changed to the main menu name you ; specify below. If this field = "NIL" ; then users of that access will be ; logged off with a notice. ; NAME: This is the name that is displayed for ; by certain text string codes explained ; in DISPLAY AND CONTROL FILES. ; ;LINE BY LINE FORMAT: ;ACCESS,TIME,UP:DOWN RATIO,UPCREDIT,MAINMENU,NAME ; 1, 15, 1, 1, 0, TWITMAIN, Twit 4, 45, 0, 0, 1.5, NEWMAIN, UnVerified 5, 60, 0, 0, 1.5, MAIN, Verified 255, 200, 1, 3, 2.5, MAIN, Boss ; ; NOTE: All fields must be filled and cannot be ; skipped or left empty. PAGE 56 ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ PROTO.DEF: Defines external protocols for use when a ║ ║ caller needs to download Robo-Term at logon. ║ ║ This file is not required. Robo-Board has ║ ║ Xmodem, Ymodem and Zmodem built in. ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ; ; The following file contains the command lines for ; external protocols. This file will be used by ; Robo-Board, but for now it is used when a NON- ; ROBOTERM caller logs on and is given the option to ; download ROBOTERM. ; ; Xmodem, Ymodem, and Zmodem have been built into ; Robo-Board so users can download ROBOTERM without ; the need for external protocols. ; ; Robo-Board reads this file four records at a time. ; -The first is the protocol description as seen by ; the user during selection. ; -The second is the BATCH specifier. If the proto ; is batch then fill this field with Y else N. ; -The upload command line (search and replace codes ; work here) ; -The download command line (search and replace ; codes work here) ; ; Special search and replace codes. ; @P = Port @B = Baud @L = Locked Baud ; ; Protocols are found in the PROTO directory. ; ; These examples assume the use of the DSZ protocols ; available on a BBS near you. Comments may not be ; be placed within the data fields, but between. ; ;--------------------------------------------------- ; COMMAND LINES FOR ZMODEM BATCH ;--------------------------------------------------- ZMODEM (BATCH) Y DSZ port @P speed @B ha sz DSZ port @P speed @B ha rz ;--------------------------------------------------- ; COMMAND LINES FOR YMODEM BATCH ;--------------------------------------------------- YMODEM (BATCH) Y DSZ port @P speed @B ha sb DSZ port @P speed @B ha rb PAGE 57 ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ SCANCONV.DEF: This file sets the file types that you ║ ║ would like virus scanned and converted ║ ║ upon upload. Information from this ║ ║ file is passed to SCANFILE.BAT found ║ ║ later in this section. ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ; Definition and format of this file: ;--------------------------------------------------- ;1) The conversion number to pass to SCANFILE.BAT. ;2) The extension that file number in field 1 ; applies to. (The extension should look like ; ".EXT" without the quotes). ; ; NOTE: At the moment Robo-Board only supports the ; viewing of .LZH .ZIP and .ARJ files. It ; may be a good idea to convert all newly ; uploaded files to one of these three file ; formats. ; 1, .LZH 2, .ZIP 3, .PAK 4, .ARC 5, .ARJ ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ NOTHERE#.DEF: This file contains search strings for any ║ ║ files you do not want uploaded to your ║ ║ #=NODE system. If a file name contains a string ║ ║ found within this file, a message is ║ ║ displayed to the user. ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ .GIF XXX ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ FREE#.DEF: This file allows you, as SysOp to make a file ║ ║ free for download. That means the file will ║ ║ #=NODE not be added to their current ratio. This ║ ║ must be present in the directory where the ║ ║ file(s) exist. More than one file may exist. ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ROBOBBS.EXE ROBO270.EXE ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ PHONENUM.DEF: This allows for you to disallow the Call ║ ║ Back Verifier from dialing numbers which ║ ║ contain the search strings you set below. ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ 911 )000- -0000 PAGE 58 ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ SCANFILE.BAT: This batch file is called after an upload ║ ║ is made as long as the files extension is ║ ║ found in the control file SCANCONV.DEF. ║ ║ Robo-Board passes 7 fields to this batch ║ ║ and needs the name of the new file passed ║ ║ back to it via the file RETURN.NAM. If ║ ║ a file is corrupted or did not pass virus ║ ║ scanning, then RETURN.NAM should contain ║ ║ the text BAD SCAN. The REM statements in ║ ║ the batch file below fully explain the ║ ║ arguments that Robo-Board sends. If you ║ ║ have all of the programs required by the ║ ║ batch file below you can use it. If you ║ ║ cannot find any of the programs needed ║ ║ below, you may REM out or remove those ║ ║ lines using them. Feel free to write a ║ ║ better batch file or a full scan/convert ║ ║ program. See DEVELOPERS. ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ @echo off cls REM REM ---------------- WHAT IT DOES ------------------ REM REM This batch file set up as it is in this example REM controls Virus scanning, Type Conversion, REM adding a BBS add, and deleting unwanted files. REM REM This example assumes you have: REM PKUNZIP.EXE By PKWARE Inc. REM LHA.EXE By Haruyasu Yoshizaki REM PKUNPAK.EXE By PKWARE Inc. REM ARJ.EXE By Robert K. Jung REM SCAN.EXE By David MacAfee REM BBSADD.TXT By YOU (A text file to REM advertise your BBS) REM REM ----------------- THE PROCESS ------------------ REM REM During the conversion process this batch file REM is called to decompress the given file to REM the work directory created by Robo-Board. At REM this point we can add files to it, scan it, and REM delete files from it. After this is done, the REM batch file will either "OK" the file and return REM a new file name to Robo-Board or return that REM the file was not successful (BAD SCAN). REM PAGE 59 REM A new file name is returned to Robo-Board via REM the file RETURN.NAM. This file is deleted before REM this batch file is run and must exist upon REM return to Robo-Board or the uploaded file will REM be not be "OKed". If RETURN.NAM contains the REM words "BAD SCAN" the file is also not "OKed". REM REM ------- THE VARIABLES USED IN THIS BATCH ------- REM REM %1 = This NUMBER, representing the File type to REM convert. it'ss taken from FILEVIEW.DEF so REM be sure the entries in FILEVIEW.DEF are REM numbered to correspond with your batch. REM eg: 1=LZH 2=ZIP 3=PAK 4=ARC 5=ARJ REM %2 = Original file with full path (no ext) REM %3 = Destination file with full path (no ext) REM %4 = File name with no extension REM %5 = Work directory no trailing "\" REM %6 = Baud rate. Locked buad rate if locking. REM %7 = Com Port (1-8) REM if "%1"=="" goto ERROR if "%2"=="" goto ERROR if "%3"=="" goto ERROR if "%4"=="" goto ERROR if "%5"=="" goto ERROR echo. echo ---------------------------------------------- echo BAUD RATE : %6 echo COM PORT : %7 echo ORIGINAL FILE : %2 echo NEW FILE : %3 echo WORK DIR : %5 if "%1"=="1" echo PROCESSING : %4.LZH file if "%1"=="2" echo PROCESSING : %4.ZIP file if "%1"=="3" echo PROCESSING : %4.PAK file if "%1"=="4" echo PROCESSING : %4.ARC file if "%1"=="5" echo PROCESSING : %4.ARJ file if "%1"=="1" goto LZH2ARJ if "%1"=="2" goto ZIP2ARJ if "%1"=="3" goto PAK2ARJ if "%1"=="4" goto ARC2ARJ if "%1"=="5" goto ARJ2ARJ goto DONE REM REM THE FOLLOWING DESCRIBES THE SCAN/CONVERT PROCESS REM REM 1) EXTRACT OLD FILE TO WORK DIRECTORY REM 2) DELETE OLD ARCHIVE FILE REM 3) VIRUS SCANNER (Assuming SCANV series) REM 4) DELETE ANY OTHER BBS ADDS YOU MAY KNOW OF. PAGE 60 REM 5) IF VIRUS SCANNER RETURNS A BADSCAN GOTO BADSCAN REM 6) BBS ADD FILE (Assuming BBSADD.TXT name) REM 7) CREATE NEW ARCHIVE FILE (ARJ assumed) REM 8) PLACE NAME OF NEW FILE IN FILE RETURN.NAM REM 9) GOTO DONE :LZH2ARJ lha E %2 %5\ del %2.LZH scan %5\*.* if errorlevel 1 goto BADSCAN del %5\BBSADD.TXT del %5\*.ADD copy BBSADD.TXT %5 arj M -e %3 %5\*.* echo %4.ARJ > RETURN.NAM goto Done :ZIP2ARJ PKUNZIP %2 %5\ del %2.ZIP scan %5\*.* if errorlevel 1 goto BADSCAN del %5\BBSADD.TXT del %5\*.ADD copy BBSADD.TXT %5 arj M -e %3 %5\*.* echo %4.ARJ > RETURN.NAM goto Done :PAK2ARJ pkunpak %2 %5\ del %2.PAK scan %5\*.* if errorlevel 1 goto BADSCAN del %5\BBSADD.TXT del %5\*.ADD copy BBSADD.TXT %5 arj M -e %3 %5\*.* echo %4.ARJ > RETURN.NAM goto Done :ARC2ARJ pkunpak %2 %5\ del %2.ARC scan %5\*.* if errorlevel 1 goto BADSCAN del %5\BBSADD.TXT del %5\*.ADD copy BBSADD.TXT %5 arj M -e %3 %5\*.* echo %4.ARJ > RETURN.NAM goto Done PAGE 61 :ARJ2ARJ ARJ E -y %2 %5\ del %2.ARJ scan %5\*.* if errorlevel 1 goto BADSCAN del %5\BBSADD.TXT del %5\*.ADD copy BBSADD.TXT %5 arj M -e %3 %5\*.* echo %4.ARJ > RETURN.NAM goto Done :BADSCAN echo BAD SCAN > RETURN.NAM echo. echo File did not pass scan REM REM We cannot delete *.* in a batch file because REM of that annoying (Y/N) prompt dos now has. So REM we have to move the contents to one file and REM delete that file. REM arj M -e %3 %5\*.* Del %3\%4.ARJ goto Done :ERROR echo. echo ---------------------------------------------- echo Processing NOTHING (Fields 1-7 must be filled) echo ---------------------------------------------- echo 1 = # representing the file type to convert echo 2 = Original file with full path echo 3 = Destination file with full path echo 4 = File name with no extension echo 5 = Work directory no trailing "\" echo 6 = Baud rate. Locked buad rate if locking echo 7 = Com Port (1-8) echo ---------------------------------------------- :DONE echo. echo Exiting... echo. LAST NOTE: As you may have noted some of the .DEF files used a ";" character in the first column of their text. The ";" is used by most Robo-Board files as a comment indicator. However, only those files that used the ";" character in the examples above support it. All of the files listed above unless otherwise specified should be located in the Robo-Board root directory. It should also be noted that none of these file have to exist for your BBS to work, they just add a level of customization that you and your users will enjoy. MAKING IT RUN PAGE 62 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Robo-Board is a batch driven BBS package. Robo-Board must run from within a batch file. When a user logs on they do so through the batch file and when a user logs off, the BBS will exit to that same batch file. It is by using Batch files that Robo-Board is echo mail compatible. Robo-Boards main executable, ROBOGR.EXE, does not do it's own phone answering. The phone is answered using the supplied program ROBOBBS.EXE. ROBOBBS.EXE returns the following access levels when it is exited locally or by an incoming call: HALT = ERRORLEVEL 70 CONNECT 38400 = ERRORLEVEL 60 CONNECT 19200 = ERRORLEVEL 59 CONNECT 16800 = ERRORLEVEL 58 CONNECT 14400 = ERRORLEVEL 57 CONNECT 12000 = ERRORLEVEL 56 CONNECT 9600 = ERRORLEVEL 55 CONNECT 7200 = ERRORLEVEL 54 CONNECT 4800 = ERRORLEVEL 53 CONNECT 2400 = ERRORLEVEL 52 CONNECT 1200 = ERRORLEVEL 51 LOCAL = ERRORLEVEL 50 ERROR = ERRORLEVEL 1 If you would like to run a mailer program so your board can access one of the many public echo mail networks, it must be setup to answer your phone and return a per baud and event ERRORLEVELs. The reason Robo-Board requires an errorlevel is so you can pass the correct baud rate to ROBOGR.EXE (the BBS program). Failure to pass any command line parameters will cause Robo- Board to display a help menu of valid options. Valid Command line options are: -NODE=# : This is the node number the current copy of Robo-Board is going to execute. -BAUD=# : This will surpass the baud rate you defined in ROBOCFG. This should be the modem to modem baud rate. -LOCK=# : This will surpass the locked at field in ROBOCFG. This is the computer to modem baud rate and is only used by high speed or data compressing modems. (see your modem manual) -LOCAL : This will log you the SysOp or any other local callers on in local mode with the fossil driver untouched. -EGA : Forces EGA mode with VGA system. Right mouse button flips screen. -TXT : Force user logging on a text screen. (see MULTITASKING) -SAVE=# : Sets a screen blanking time. # = total idle seconds on sysop end. Move mouse slightly across surface to reactivate screen. ( * ) PAGE 63 The Robo-Board phone answering program (ROBOBBS.EXE) does not need any command line parameters. The default node number is 1 if no parameters are passed. If a node number from 1 - 9 is passed with the "-NODE=#" option, ROBOBBS.EXE will use the appropriate modem settings defined in ROBOCFG. The following Batch File will Run Robo-Board stand alone without the use of a mailer. This batchfile can be passed a node number if you intend to run a multi-line BBS. (see MULTI-LINE OPERATION). @ECHO OFF set NODE=%1 if "%1"=="" set NODE=1 REM This batch file assumes you are passing a node number REM to it via the command line. If you do not pass a node REM number to your ROBO batch then the node number is REM defaulted to 1. REM REM If you run a 1 line BBS then feel free to remove all REM occurrences of the text and dos variable -NODE=%NODE%. REM REM See your dos manual for more information on variables REM and errorlevels. :TOP CD\ROBOBBS CLS ROBOBBS -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 70 goto DONE if errorlevel 60 ROBOGR -baud=38400 -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 59 ROBOGR -baud=19200 -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 58 ROBOGR -baud=16800 -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 57 ROBOGR -baud=14400 -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 56 ROBOGR -baud=12000 -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 55 ROBOGR -baud=9600 -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 54 ROBOGR -baud=7200 -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 53 ROBOGR -baud=4800 -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 52 ROBOGR -baud=2400 -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 51 ROBOGR -baud=1200 -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 50 ROBOGR -local -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 1 goto ERROR goto TOP :ERROR echo. ROBOBBS.EXE could not init modem. :DONE echo. echo ROBO-BOARD Exited. PAGE 64 The following batch file gives ideas on how you could run Robo-Board with a mailer. It assumes either FrontDoor or BinkleyTerm, using IMAIL as your mail utility. For more information about mailers, Echomail, Netmail and what it can do for you see the section of this manual titled ECHO MAIL. @ECHO OFF set NODE=%1 if "%1"=="" set NODE=1 REM REM This Batch file is an example of how you would run REM Robo-Board with a mailer such as FrontDoor or REM BinkleyTerm. See ECHO MAIL in the Robo-Board documents REM for more information. REM REM This batch file assumes you are passing a node number REM to it via the command line. If you do not pass a node REM number to your ROBO batch then the node number is REM defaulted to 1. REM REM If you run a 1 line bbs then feel free to remove all REM occurrences of the text and dos variable -NODE=%NODE%. REM REM See your dos manual for more information on variables. REM @ECHO OFF :TOP cd\robobbs if exist CHK_MAIL.NOW del CHK_MAIL.NOW REM If you like FrontDoor cd\fd FD REM Or if you prefer BinkleyTerm. REM cd\bt REM BT cd\robobbs REM The dos errorlevels listed below are only examples, REM these must be defined by you in your mailers config REM program. All mailers are well documented so setting REM up these parameters should not be a problem. if errorlevel 60 ROBOGR -baud=38400 -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 59 ROBOGR -baud=19200 -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 58 ROBOGR -baud=16800 -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 57 ROBOGR -baud=14400 -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 56 ROBOGR -baud=12000 -NODE=%NODE% PAGE 65 if errorlevel 55 ROBOGR -baud=9600 -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 54 ROBOGR -baud=7200 -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 53 ROBOGR -baud=4800 -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 52 ROBOGR -baud=2400 -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 51 ROBOGR -baud=1200 -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 50 ROBOGR -local -NODE=%NODE% if errorlevel 40 goto MAIL if errorlevel 10 goto DONE if errorlevel 1 goto ERROR REM The file CHK_MAIL.NOW is created by Robo-Board if a REM user enters one or more ECHO MAIL messages. With a REM DOS "if exist" statement you can branch to a mail REM scan/toss program. AS you noted earlier in this file REM CHK_MAIL.NOW is deleted before your mailer or Robo- REM Board get the chance to run. This prevents scanning REM when no mail has been entered. See ECHO MAIL in the REM Robo-Board documents. if exist CHK_MAIL.NOW goto MAIL goto TOP :MAIL REM This where you use your favorite NET/ECHO mail tosser REM to bring ECHO mail messages into your Robo-Board base. REM As of yet Robo-Board does not include a program to do REM do this. There are a number of good programs that will REM do this well. IMAIL, by Fabiano Fabris has been tested REM and found to work well with Robo-Board. Mail scanning REM and tossing programs that are compatible with the REM Hudson style message base are: REM Gecho By Gerard van der Land REM TosScan By Joaquim Homrighausen REM IMAIL By Fabiano Fabris. REM REM NOTE: Only IMAIL has been tested. If any of the other REM mail utilities work please send me a copy of REM your BATCH file with your registration. cd\fd IMAIL toss IMAIL scan goto TOP :ERROR echo. ROBOBBS.EXE could not init modem. :DONE cd\fd echo. echo ROBO-BOARD Exited. ECHO MAIL PAGE 66 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── You have probably heard of echo mail and net mail before, but may not be sure exactly what they are. First off before I tell you what they are, I will tell you how to get them. To get echo mail you must be a member of a network. A net- work is a group of computers co-operatively set up to automatically transfer messages, files and other information. Net mail messages are private messages sent between the systems in the network. Net mail messages can be sent out immediately or placed on hold for transmission late at night. Often to send a long distance Net mail message to another computer or SysOp costs long distance charges, although some networks such as the Canadian network IMEX allow Net mail to be routed through a hub. Echo mail messages are messages tagged with area flags so echo mail utilities can place them in your BBS message base. Often echo mail message bases are separated by topic or theme such as STARTREK or PASCAL or something like that. Echo mail messages are packed into one large file and may additionally be compressed using ZIP, ARJ or another similar utility. These Echo mail packets as they are called, are attached as files to net mail messages and sent to your system. Often you would have your mailer drop to the calling batch file so a message tossing utility could be run. If users enter messages on your system Robo-Board creates a file called CHK_MAIL.NOW, this can be used by your system to run an echo mail exporting utility (see MAKING IT RUN for batch file examples and info) Mail utilities do a miminimum of two tasks: importing and exporting, others may do additional message base functions such as re-ordering your messages. When your system imports echo mail from a PACKET file this is called tossing (because the utility tosses messages into your message base). When your system exports messages to a packet file this is called scanning. When mail is scanned it is crunched into a packet, attached to a net mail message, then transferred to your hub (the guy who hubs or controls the mail for the network in your area). Echo mail can give your users a large variety of message areas to read from. It can also give your users the chance to talk to users in other cities, states, provinces or even countries. Robo-Board does not come with a message tosser/scanner type program. If you want one of these you should be able to get one from a distribution site listed earlier in this text or from a local BBS. You will also need a mailer. A mailer is a special program that answers the phone; checks to see if its another mailer then transfers messages, otherwise it passes the call to your BBS. PAGE 67 Robo-Board is specifically designed to work with any batch driven mailer. Even ROBOBBS.EXE, the program that answers the phone for Robo-Board when you are not using a mailer works like one to make converting to echo mail easier in the future. Where do you get those wonderful toys? A few programs have been tested and found to work very well, such as FMAIL by Folkert J. Wijnstra. This mail tosser/ scanner includes a bunch of utilties, and works well with the Hudson message base. Robo-Board has been tested with a few mailers such FrontDoor by Joaquim Homrighausen and D'Bridge. These are a few Hudson style tosser/scanners: FMAIL By Folket J. Wijnstra (fast and easy!) Gecho By Gerard van der Land TosScan By Joaquim Homrighausen IMAIL By Fabiano Fabris. NOTE: Robo-Board uses a Hudson style message base, therefore most utilities written for Hudson bases should work. These are a few mailers: FrontDoor By Joaquim Homrighausen D'Bridge This is program has the built in ability to to toss and scan but is commercial. BinkleyTerm (not sure) Most of these utilities can be found on a BBS near you. If you cannot find these programs, some or all of them should be found on one of the Robo-Board Distribution Net BBS's listed earlier in this manual. NOTE: Some Hudson scanners may not work with Robo-Board. This should only be a problem if they read special files made by other BBS packages. If a utility does not list Robo-Board as one of the programs it is compatible with, don't worry. The software may still work, Robo-Board is a new product. ROBO UTIL PAGE 68 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Robo-Board has been bundled with a utility program to fix, pack and rebuild your message bases with blazing speed. As of this version that is all the Robo-Board utilities will do. A revised edition of the Robo-Board Utilities will be bundled with the next release of Robo-Board. The new version will delete files older than a set number of months and remove users who have not called for a set number of days. The executable ROBOUTIL.EXE should be run from an event either set up by your mailer or by ROBOBBS.EXE. It can also be run manually if you prefer. At the moment ROBOUTIL will read your message base and find the total messages you allow per base (as set in ROBOCFG). It will then read your message base files and gather some stats. Finally it will proceed to purge deleted, damaged, or old messages that do not fit in the set range. During this process if Robo-Board finds any messages that seem to be garbled or damaged it will remove them. If you use an echo mail tosser/scanner program it may do its own packing. That is alright. You can use that program if you like. The ROBOUTIL should be run from your robo-board directory so it can read your config files and find the message bases. This version of the Robo Utilities does not require that you pass it any command line options NOTE: If you run a MULTI-LINE system DO NOT run this utility while users are online or while tossing mail. This could corrupt the online user. Run a base tosser during an event. (see MULTI-LINE OPERATION for more information and examples.) ROBO-BOARD TERMINAL EMULATION PAGE 69 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Robo-Board uses New Technology not yet utilized by other BBS packages and doors. That is, the real time transfer of graphics online. Sure some doors have graphics, but look, you download a 200 to 900k terminal. Such programs have all their graphics built into their terminal making flexibility difficult. With Robo-Board, ICONS are compressed and decompressed on the fly, text strings are also optimized and the normal graphics primitives are driven by a Reduced Instruction Process (RIP) so that detailed graphics can be transferred faster than blocky, less detailed text based protocols like ANSI or Avatar. Robo-Board is in sync with the success of graphical software, such as MicroSofts Windows. In concieving Robo- Board I decided that EGA graphics was a safe minimum hardware requirement. A mouse on the remote user's end is optional. It is a fact that most users at the least, have EGA graphics capabilities. Today it is hard to find a computer store that doesn't bundle at least VGA with the systems they sell. Robo-Board is bundled with a FREEWARE terminal called ROBOTERM. You will find it on your hard drive in the RoboBoard directory as ROBO270.EXE. It must stay there if you want your users to be able to download it. Robo-Term has built in Fossil and BIOS support for baud rates up to 38400, on up to 4 COM ports. When a user runs Robo-Term they find themselves in a text interface which allows them to call text based BBS's as well as Robo-Board systems. When the user connects with a Robo-Board or compatible system the terminal will switch to graphics mode and emulate the RBO100 Terminal Emulation Protocol (see DEVELOPERS for information on the RBO100 protocol). In text mode Robo-Board offers Zmodem as the standard protocol. In graphics mode Robo-Board does file transfers seamlessly via RMODEM, the built in file protocol. Don't worry RMODEM has been tested at 2400 baud with through puts of 138-140 cps and with a US ROBOTICS 14400 v42bis modem it is around 1690+ cps. See the section of this manual titled DEVELOPERS for more information about acquiring or using the RBO100 terminal emulation Protocol. DEVELOPERS PAGE 70 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── I would be very willing 'within reason' to help anyone who wants to write database programs, and utilities for Robo- Board. I would also be more than happy to support anyone wishing to write doors, utilities and other online software designed for, or to be compatible with the RBO100 terminal emulation protocol. A file called ROBOTECH.DOC is included with this package. It tells the format of the database files used by Robo-Board. Anyone may use this information to create utilities for Robo- Board. For information about the RBO100 graphical terminal emulation protocol there are help files, and source code you can request. The help files and source are only available upon request at the moment, but will be made public domain shortly. The source code gives you all the abilities found in Robo-Board: graphics, a fossil interface, the R-modem file transfer protocol and icon compression (level 1). Source code to the RBO100 protocol is only available at the moment in TURBO PASCAL 6.0 format. ROBOTERM is freeware and may be distributed with any software using the RBO100 protocal. Under no conditions shall any fees or tolls be attached to ROBOTERM. If you write any utilities or doors, I would be happy to help in distributing your utilities/doors/icons/menus/etc. ( commercial or noncommercial ) through the Robo-Board distribution network. Drop me a line describing your product and send me a copy on disk. If you need help or would like information on how the RBO100 protocol works then contact me with a full description of your application and I'll get back to you: Seth Hamilton P.O. BOX 633, Aylmer, Quebec, Canada J9H 6L1. MULTI-LINE OPERATION PAGE 71 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── When a board is multi-line or as other say multi-node, it means that more than one user can logon concurrently. This is done through the use of a network or multi-tasker, sharing the hard drive containing Robo-Board. If you intend to run Robo-Board as a multi-line BBS it is recommended that you either run Robo-Board first as a one line system or have past experience running a BBS. For the most part the most difficult item to setup will be either your network or multi-tasker. Steps (assuming you have already set up a one line BBS): 1) Set the ROBOCFG --> SYSTEM SETUP --> MISC CONFIG option NUMBER OF NODES (1-9 are valid node numbers). 2) Go to ROBOCFG --> MODEM SETUP. You will see that you can set up as many modems as you define nodes (step #1). These default settings are checked by ROBOBBS.EXE, which answers the phone for Robo-Board when you are not running a mailer. 3) If you have set up the definition files ACCESS#.DEF, NOTHERE#.DEF, or FREE#.DEF make sure a corresponding copy exists by node. The menu field in ACCESS#.DEF if set to the text "NIL" (without brackets) will not allow users of that access onto your system. This is great for limiting certain access users from certain nodes. (see DISPLAY AND CONTROL FILES). 4) Will your batch file pass the appropriate node to both the ROBOGR and ROBOBBS executables? If you run mailers on multiple nodes be sure to contact your mailers documents. (see MAKING IT RUN for batch file examples) 5) If you are multitasking with DESQview or under a network you may want to use the -TXT mode (see MAKING IT RUN for for command line options). This allows Robo-Board to send graphics but keeps the local consol in Text mode. When in text mode, a log, such as the one written to the log file will be displayed on the screen along with some user stats (see MULTITASKING for more information about -TXT). 6) Make sure you set your Hudson mail TOSSER/SCANNER to LOCK and UNLOCK the message base before tossing and scanning. 7) Set up a script file or something similar to run 'n number of copies of Robo-Board and pass the node number properly to each Robo-Board batch file. 8) Make sure dos SHARE is loaded, this ensures files will not be written to at the same time. You will notice a few changes while running multi-line. First that multi-line chat feature is useful if you are using a registered version of Robo-Board. Second, all Robo-Board temporary files are named by node number. Work directories called WORK1, WORK2... WORK# will be created off the Robo- Board directory. MULTITASKING PAGE 72 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Robo-Board has a unique feature for Multitasking under systems like DesqView, Windows, or a network manager. Because graphics are so CPU hungry, such programs run rather slowly when Robo-Board is in graphics mode. To compensate for this problem, I developed a method to allow the remote user to see graphics and the SysOp to see a simple log of the users activities on a text mode screen. Here are two scenarios that demonstrate the power and use of of this feature: A) You don't like taking down your board to do work, or play your favorite game. You have just purchased a multitasker such as DesqView or Windows so you can run your board and do what you have to at the same time. But you have found that running a BBS and running an application slow your system to a crawl. Fortunately by doing away with Robo-Boards graphical overhead it is possible to run a BBS and a full application under both Windows or DesqView without any noticeable slow downs on either end. It should be noted that graphics mode operation can be restored at anytime by pressing F10 if an EGA/VGA adaptor is present. B) You have a small network of three computers, but only one has an EGA/VGA graphics adaptor. You want to run a 3 node BBS system, but do not wish to purchase two more EGA/VGA graphics adaptors. By eliminating Robo-Boards graphical interface on your end it is possible for the end user to view full EGA/VGA graphics from your monochrome systems on their end. However when running nodes on a monochrome or CGA system you forfeit your ability to chat, or view graphics as the user would see them. Another use for this feature not listed above would be to run multiple nodes quickly off of one CPU. A 386/33 with 4 megs of ram should have no problem running 3 or 4 nodes at 2400 baud. This feature can be activated from within a batch file by passing the -TXT command line option to ROBOGR.EXE (see MAKING IT RUN). When in user log text mode, you can flip into graphics mode by pressing the F10 key. This flip will only work if your computer has an EGA/VGA adaptor. The F10 key can also be used to flip from graphics mode to text log mode. It should be noted, when flipping modes the contents of the screen are not saved. You will be looking at a blank screen until the user does something. NOTE: If your computer or a network station does not have an EGA/VGA graphics adaptor it is not required for you to pass the -TXT command line option to ROBOGR. In such cases Robo- Board will display a note saying no EGA/VGA was found and operate in user log text mode. SUPPORT PAGE 73 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── If you have any questions, comments or would like to send your registration to me, I can be contacted at: VOICE: 1(819)682-6670 (4pm-11pm MON-FRI) (9am-11pm SAT) Questions are welcome, but voice support is (mostly) for those who have paid. MAIL: Seth Hamilton P.O. BOX 633, Aylmer, Quebec, Canada J9H 6L1. BBS NUMBER: The ROBO-BOARD HQ 1200-14400 (HST v42bis) 1(819)685-0957 24hrs NET MAIL: WORLDNET 62:6200/10 Support echoes can be found via WORLDNET. If your city does not have a worldnet hub you should contact Antonio Riveros (FIDO 1:342/33) and start one, or start your own local support echo. WorldNET registration information and a copy the WorldNET nodelist have been included in the ROBO- BOARD bundle.