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COPYRIGHT NOTICE ---------------- TriBBS is a copyrighted program being distributed under the shareware concept. As such, you may operate a TriBBS Bulletin Board System for a period of 30 days without registering the software. After the 30 day evaluation period, you must register your copy of TriBBS or you will be in violation of United States and International copyright laws. As a shareware program, TriBBS may be freely distributed through a BBS. Shareware distributors may distribute copies of TriBBS on disk for a modest disk duplication charge not to exceed $6 per disk. It is a violation of the TriBBS license agreement to modify the EXE files in anyway. WARRANTY -------- TriBBS is distributed without warranty. In no event will Mark Goodwin be liable to you for damages, including any loss of profits, lost savings, or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of your use of or inability to use the program, even if Mark Goodwin or an authorized representative has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Mark Goodwin will not be liable for any such claim by any other party. TRADEMARKS ---------- TriBBS is a registered trademark of Mark Goodwin. All other brand and product names mentioned in this manual are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ---------------- TriBBS uses the excellent SPAWNO routines by Ralf Brown to minimize memory use while shelling to DOS and running other programs. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System ii Questionnaire Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Sysop Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 List of Conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 List of File Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Chat Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Log On Related Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Comment Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 <F8> Logoff Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Full-Screen Editor Help Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 TeleChat Help Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 File/Byte Ratio Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Subscription Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Making Your Own Display Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 THE TRIBBS MENU SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 The Bulletin Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 The Main Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 The Message Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 The File Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 The Door Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 The Door Bulletin Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . 71 The Questionnaire Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . 73 The Sysop Menu Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 EXTENDABLE MENU COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 SPECIAL BATCH FILES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 NEWUSER.BAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 SECn.BAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 LOGON.BAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 UPLOAD.BAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 BETWEEN.BAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 FILE LISTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 FileMan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 MakeIdx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 EXTERNAL PROTOCOLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Send Batch Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Receive Batch Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 FILE RATIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 File/Byte Ratios (Adjusting Security Levels) . . . . . . . . 95 File/Byte Ratios (Security Level Stays the Same) . . . . . . 96 Free Downloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 SUBSCRIPTION SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 RUNNING TRIBBS WITH A FRONTEND OR AS A DOOR . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Error Correcting Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Limiting Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Forced Hang Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System iv The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 2 File Area Indexing - TriBBS allows you to index large file areas, including CD-ROM file areas, for quick location and retrieval of files on large file-oriented systems. One of TriBBS's chief design goals is ease of installation and maintenance. Some of the above listed features, such as Zmodem and internal generation of door data files, have already pointed out some of the reasons why TriBBS is so easy to use. Other TriBBS features include generation of security level specific menu screens on the fly and the ability to run an almost unlimited number of sliding and nonsliding events. Overall, you should find TriBBS to be one of the easiest bulletin board systems to set up and maintain. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 4 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 6 Up". Although for further insight about what the installation program has done, you may want to read the manual installation sections. Manual Installation ------------------- The first step in the manual installation process is to create a TRIBBS subdirectory on your hard disk. If your hard disk is your C: drive, you could do this by entering the following at the DOS command prompt: MD C:\TRIBBS Next you should copy all of the files that were included in the TriBBS archive to this new subdirectory. This can be accomplished with the following command: COPY *.* \TRIBBS Now you can delete the TriBBS archive files in your current directory by entering the following command: DEL *.* IMPORTANT: Be sure there aren't any other non-TriBBS files in your current directory before you enter the above command. If you don't check for other files, you will lose them. If there are other non- TriBBS files in your current directory, you will have to delete the TriBBS files one at a time. The next step is to change to the newly created TRIBBS directory. This can be done with the following command: CD \TRIBBS Now you must initialize your TriBBS system by running the file BBS.EXE. To do this, you simply enter the following at the DOS prompt: BBS IMPORTANT: If your modem uses another port other than COM1, you must start TriBBS with the following command: BBS /Cport Where "port" is the number of your modem's serial port. For example, a TriBBS system that will be using a modem hooked up to COM2 would need to be initialized with the following command: BBS /C2 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 8 The Menu Configuration Files ---------------------------- TriBBS uses a series of menu configuration files to generate menu displays on the fly. If you do a directory listing of your main TriBBS directory, you will note that TriBBS came with a number of files with the extension of MNU. These are the menu configuration files and must be placed in your NWORK subdirectory for TriBBS to function properly. Moving these files to the NWORK subdirectory and deleting them from main TriBBS directory can be accomplished with the following two commands: COPY *.MNU NWORK DEL *.MNU The Help Display Screens ------------------------ Included in the TriBBS archive are a couple of help screens which must be moved into your DISPLAY subdirectory. Moving these files to the DISPLAY subdirectory and deleting them from the main TriBBS directory can be accomplished with the following two commands: COPY *.BBS DISPLAY DEL *.BBS Modifying BOARD.BAT ------------------- The next step in getting a minimal TriBBS system up and running is to make any necessary modifications to a batch file called BOARD.BAT. Although TriBBS will run by simply executing BBS.EXE at the DOS prompt, it will not be able to properly run events and doors without being executed by BOARD.BAT. Consequently, you should always start up your BBS by entering the following at the DOS prompt: BOARD As we said though, BOARD.BAT may need to be modified. The following is a listing of BOARD.BAT: The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 10 If everything has been done properly, TriBBS should start up automatically after a reboot. So let's give it a try and press RESET. After a few seconds, you should see the TriBBS Waiting for Caller screen. If you don't, you should go back and check both BOARD.BAT and AUTOEXEC.BAT for errors. It will probably be something really simple. Your First Log On ----------------- You can now finally log on as a new user. Simply enter BOARD at the DOS prompt to restart TriBBS. After the Waiting for Caller screen appears and the modem has been initialized, move the double-lined border to the "Local Logon" menu option and select it by pressing <ENTER>. This option will log you on to the BBS and takes the phone off the hook. The screen should now clear and the following will be displayed: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CONNECT LOCAL / 12-02-92 (15:48) Welcome to Unnamed BBS - Node 1. A TriBBS (R) 4.0 Bulletin Board System Copyright (c) 1991-1993 By Mark D. Goodwin Your Sysop is Joe Sysop. Registration Number: Evaluation Copy Do you want ANSI color graphics (y/N)? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This display simply displays that a local connection was made, the name of the board, Unnamed BBS, and node number; that it's a TriBBS 4.0 BBS; a copyright notice; the sysop's name, Joe Sysop; and it's an "Evaluation Copy" of the software. The board's name and the sysop's name can be changed quite simply. We'll discuss how it's done in the next section. As for a registration number, you'll have to register your board to get rid of "Evaluation Copy". (Hint, Hint) You will also note that TriBBS is prompting you as to whether or not you want ANSI color graphics or not. If you have a color monitor, you will probably want to respond affirmatively by pressing <Y>. If you don't have a color monitor or just simply do not want a color display, respond "No" by pressing either the <N> or the <ENTER> key. Note how the prompt has the "N" capitalized. This indicates that TriBBS will consider pressing <ENTER> as the same as pressing <N>. So whenever you see a similar TriBBS prompt, you will know that pressing <ENTER> will perform the same action as pressing the capitalized key. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 12 because a remote user may get hit with line noise and not realize that his desired password wasn't entered properly. After entering your password correctly, TriBBS will prompt you for your city and state as follows: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter your City, State: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- After entering your city and state, TriBBS will give you the opportunity to change it as follows: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter your City, State: Bangor, ME Is Bangor, Me correct (Y,n)? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TriBBS continues this process by asking for your phone number and date of birth as follows: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter your phone number ###-###-####: Enter your phone number ###-###-####: 207-941-0805 Is 207-941-0805 correct (Y,n)? Yes Enter your date of birth MM/DD/YY: Enter your date of birth MM/DD/YY: 10/19/56 Is 10/19/56 correct (Y,n)? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 14 If there were any bulletins, you would have been presented with TriBBS's bulletin menu. Instead, TriBBS continues on by displaying the main menu with the following selections: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ..Bulletin Menu <Y>..Your Personal Information <M>..Message Menu ..System Information <F>..File Menu ..List of Users <C>..Comment to Sysop <X>..Expert Mode <A>..Toggle ANSI Graphics Mode ..Page Sysop <N>..Newsletter <G>..Goodbye ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For the most part, TriBBS's main menu is its gateway to other areas of interest. You will also see the following prompt: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You have been on 9 minutes with 51 remaining. Enter Selection - [B M F C A N Y I U X P G ?]? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- At this point, you will want to log off your BBS by pressing <G>. Before logging off, TriBBS will give you a final chance to change your mind as follows: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Are you sure you want to log off (Y/n)? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 16 To configure the system, you need to press the <S> key at the Configure menu. Once the configure system option is selected, you will be presented with the following items: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Board Name.............. : Unnamed BBS Sysop Name.............. : Joe Sysop BBS Starting Date....... : 01/01/90 Total Calls............. : 0 Daily Time Limit........ : 60 Daily Logon Limit....... : 5 Max Time Per Logon...... : 60 Min Sysop Security Level : 100 New User Security Level. : 10 New User Time Limit..... : 60 Upload Time Compensation : 1 Keyboard Idle Timeout... : 3 US Phone Number......... : Yes Auto ANSI Detection..... : No Default Archive Ext..... : ZIP Test Uploads............ : No Waiting Messages Check.. : Yes Total Nodes............. : 1 System Password......... : File Ratio Type......... : Security Levels Phone Busy During Config : Yes Allow One Word Names.... : Yes Bulletin Menu at Logon.. : Yes Allow Aliases........... : No Clear Screen Before Menu : No Exact Match for Dupes... : No Disable Birthday Question: No Disable Detailed Log.....: No ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is a more detailed description of each one of these configure system items: Board Name.............. : Unnamed BBS This is the name of the BBS and should be changed to the name you want to call your board. Sysop Name.............. : Joe Sysop This is the name of the BBS sysop's name and should be changed to your name. BBS Starting Date....... : 01/01/90 This is the day you started your BBS. This should be set to the first day you go online with your BBS. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 18 back the caller the amount of time it took to perform the upload. If you were to set this value to 2, the upload time compensation of 2:1 would give the caller back twice as much time as it actually took to perform the upload. Keyboard Idle Timeout... : 3 This is the number of minutes of no activity that TriBBS will wait until it automatically logs the caller off. If you are running TriBBS under a multitasker (Windows, DesqView, OS/2), the BBS may log callers off even though they have been active within the required amount of time. Therefore, you may find it is necessary to disable this check when running under a multitasking operating system. This check can be disabled by setting the idle timeout to 0 minutes. US Phone Number......... : Yes <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS will require the caller to enter his phone number using the format ###-###-####. If this field is toggled to "No", TriBBS will allow the caller to enter his phone number without formatting it. Auto ANSI Detection..... : No <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS will ask each caller if they want to use ANSI color graphics or not at logon. If this field is toggled to "Yes", TriBBS will attempt to detect whether or not the caller's communication program supports ANSI terminal emulation. Default Archive Ext..... : ZIP <- This is a toggle field Whenever a caller enters a filename without an extension, TriBBS will use the contents of this field as a default file extension. This field can be toggled between ZIP, ARJ, LZH, PAK, SDN, and ARC. Test Uploads............ : No <- This is a toggle field If this field is set to "Yes", TriBBS will attempt to check uploads with the extensions ZIP, ARJ, LZH, PAK, SDN, ARC, EXE, and COM for integrity and viruses. To perform this type of testing on compressed archives, you must have the following decompression utilities somewhere in you DOS PATH: Archive Decompression Utility ------------------------------------------------------------ ZIP PKUNZIP.EXE LZH LHA.EXE PAK PAK.EXE SDN PAK.EXE ARC PAK.EXE ------------------------------------------------------------ The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 20 By default, TriBBS will display a bulletin menu before the main menu. If this field is toggled to "No", the bulletin menu will not be displayed to the caller at logon. Allow Aliases........... : No <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS does not allow the use of aliases. If this field is toggled to "Yes", TriBBS will ask new users for an alias and will allow callers to change their aliases from the main menu's "Your Personal Information" option. This field must be set to "Yes" for the sysop to configure message conferences and file areas as alias conferences and areas. Clear Screen Before Menu : No <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS will just scroll the screen when displaying its internally generated menus. If this field is toggled to "Yes", TriBBS will clear the screen before displaying an internally generated menu. Exact Match for Dupes... : No <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS ignores a file name's extension when searching for duplicate files. If this field is toggled to "Yes", TriBBS will take into account the file name's extension when searching for duplicate files. Disable Birthday Question: No <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS asks new users for their date of birth. This question can be disabled by toggling this field to "Yes". Disable Detailed Log.....: No <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS logs every menu selection that the caller makes. If this field is toggled to "Yes", the menu selection logging will be disabled. While editing the system values, the following function keys are active: Function Key Action ----------------------------------------------------------------- <SPACE> Toggle a toggle field. <TAB> Move to the next field. <SHIFT><TAB> Move to the previous field. <CTRL><PGDN> Move to the next screen of data entry fields. <CTRL><PGUP> Move to the previous screen of data entry fields. <F10> or <ESC> Exit the configure system editor. ----------------------------------------------------------------- The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 22 a "/I" command line switch. Simply follow "/I" with the initialization string while executing BBS.EXE. Initial Baud Rate....... : 2400 <- This is a toggle field This is the speed that TriBBS will open the node's serial port at. It should be set to your modem's highest allowable baud rate. This field can be toggled between 0, 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400, and 57600. You should note that note all serial ports can support speeds greater than 19200. If you have an older computer, you may need to upgrade the UART in the computer's serial card to a 16550 UART. Almost all internal, high-speed modems feature 16550 UARTs. Error Correcting Message : ARQ This is the message your modem will return in the CONNECT string if an error correcting connection is established. The default is ARQ, but other common error connecting messages are REL, LAPM, MNP, etc. You should consult modem's manual to find out the particular message it will return. You should note that TriBBS will recognize many of the most common error correcting messages even if this field isn't correctly set. Lock Serial Port........ : No <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS will not lock the serial port. When a serial port isn't locked, TriBBS will adjust the serial port's baud rate to match the baud rate that is returned in the CONNECT string. If this field is toggled to "Yes", TriBBS will maintain a constant baud rate. Thus, the serial port's baud rate will stay at the "Initial Baud Rate" speed. If your BBS has an error correcting modem, you should lock your serial port to achieve all off the benefits of an error correcting connection. You should note that your modem must be properly configured with an AT command to support a locked baud rate. RTS/CTS Flow Control.... : No <- This is a toggle field By default, TriBBS only uses XON/XOFF flow control to control the sending and receiving of data with the remote computer. If this field is toggled to "Yes", TriBBS will initiate RTS/CTS flow control between the computer and the modem. This is essential for reliable operation with an error correcting modem. You should note that your modem must be properly configured with an AT command to support RTS/CTS flow control. 1/10 Sec. Delay For ATA. : 5 This is the delay in tenths of a second that TriBBS will wait upon receiving a RING message before it will send an ATA command to the modem to answer the phone. Some modems, particularly older modems, require a longer delay. If your The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 24 Busy During Events...... : No By default, TriBBS leaves the phone on the hook when running an event. If this field is toggled to "Yes", TriBBS will take the phone off the hook when it runs events. While editing the node values, the following function keys are active: Function Key Action ----------------------------------------------------------------- <SPACE> Toggle a toggle field. <TAB> Move to the next field. <SHIFT><TAB> Move to the previous field. <CTRL><PGDN> Move to the next screen of data entry fields. <CTRL><PGUP> Move to the previous screen of data entry fields. <F10> or <ESC> Exit the configure system editor. ----------------------------------------------------------------- The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 26 This is the user's password. City, State............. : Bangor, Me This is the user's city and state. Telephone Number........ : 207-941-0805 This is the user's telephone number. Birth Date.............. : 10/19/56 This is the user's date of birth. Security Level.......... : 10 This is the user's security level. Locked Out.............. : No <- This is a toggle field If this field is toggled to "Yes", the user will be locked out (not allowed to log on) of the BBS. Delete During Next Pack. : No <- This is a toggle field If this field is toggled to "Yes", the user's record will be deleted from the user files the next time it is packed. Note that the record is not physically deleted from the disk until the user files are packed. Date of First Call...... : 01/01/90 This is the date of the user's first call. This field cannot be edited. Time of Last Call....... : 02/12/93 09:54 This is the date and time of the user's last call. This field cannot be edited. Date of Last File Check. : 06/02/92 This is the date of the user's last new files check. This field cannot be edited. Minutes Left Today...... : 117 This is the number of minutes the user has remaining for the day. Total Calls............. : 342 This is the user's total number of calls. Calls Today............. : 5 This is the number of times the user has called today. Expert Mode............. : Expert <- This is a toggle field This field indicates the type of menus and prompts TriBBS will display to the user. If it is set for "Novice", TriBBS will display the complete menu and a full prompt. If it is set for "Expert", TriBBS will only display a full prompt. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 28 Goodbye Display in QWK.. : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if TriMail should include the BBS's GOODBYE screen in a QWK packet. Bulletins in QWK........ : No <-This is a toggle field This field indicates if TriMail should include new bulletins in a QWK packet. New Files in QWK........ : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if TriMail should include a list of new files in a QWK packet. Newsletter in QWK....... : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if TriMail should include a copy of the newsletter in a QWK packer. QWK Mail Network Node... : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if the caller is a network node. If you are a hub for a QWK network, this field should be set to "Yes" if the caller is a node using your hub. This will give the caller access to private messages in networked copies and allows the caller to upload messages into networked conferences that are addressed from somebody else. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 30 Read Message Security... : 10 This is the minimum security level the caller needs to be able to read messages in the conference. Post Message Security... : 10 This is the minimum security level the caller needs to be able to post messages in the conference. Private Conference...... : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if the message conference is a private conference or not. If this field is set to "Yes", it sets the conference as a private message conference. To give a caller access to a private message conference, you must edit his user record and specifically give him access to the conference. Alias Conference........ : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if the message conference allows the caller to use an alias in the conference. You should note for this flag to have any effect at all the system must be configured to allow aliases. Allow Private Posts..... : Yes <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if the message conference allows posting of private messages. If this field is set to "No", TriBBS will only allow the posting of public messages. Networked Conference.... : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if the message conference is a networked conference. If this field is set to "Yes", TriBBS will allow the conference's messages to be echoed. Network................. : This is the name of the network if the message conference is a networked conference. Fido-Style NetMail Conf. : No <- This is a toggle field This indicates if the conference is a "Fido-style netmail" conference. If this message is set to "Yes", TriBBS will ask the caller to enter a Fido-style address for the recipient. This setting should only be used for conferences that require a Fido-style address to send the mail to the recipient. User Message Deletion... : Allowed <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if a caller can delete messages that are addressed either from or to him. Purge Msgs Older Than... : 30 This field is used to set how many days old TriPack should save messages for when packing the message base. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 32 File Area Sort Type.... : By Filename <- This is a toggle field This field allows you to specify how TriBBS will sort the file list. File lists can be sorted either by file name or be date. Private File Area...... : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates if the file area is a private file area. Once this field is set to "Yes", you must edit the user's record to specifically give him access to the private file areas. Alias File Area........ : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates what name is to be used in the "Uploaded By:" line in a file description. If this field is set to "Yes", TriBBS will use the caller's alias in the file description. Otherwise, TriBBS will use the caller's real name in the file description. Note that you must have the system configured for aliases for this field to have any effect. CD-ROM File Area....... : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates whether or not TriBBS should check the file area for duplicate files when the caller is uploading files. If this field is set for "Yes", TriBBS will not check the file area for duplicate files. Otherwise, TriBBS will check the file area to see if an uploaded file is a duplicate. File Area Path......... : C:\TRIBBS\TRIBBS This specifies the disk directory where the file area's files will be located. File Area Upload Path.. : C:\TRIBBS\UPLOADS This specifies the disk directory where uploaded files for the area will be placed. File Area File List.... : C:\TRIBBS\TRIBBS\FILES.LST This specifies the name of the file area's file list. File Area Upload List.. : C:\TRIBBS\UPLOADS\FILES.LST This specifies the name of the file area's upload directory's file list. File Area Index File... : C:\TRIBBS\FILE1.IDX This specifies the name of an optional index file for the file area. You must specify the file's complete path name. Once a file name is specified in this field, you can use MakeIdx to generate the appropriate index file and TriBBS will use the index file to locate files. This can greatly speed up TriBBS's operation in large file areas such as CD- ROM file areas. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 34 Event Slide.................. : No <- This is a toggle field This field indicates whether or not an event is to slide. If an event can slide, the caller's time will not be adjust for an upcoming event. Therefore, any pending events will take place after the caller logs off. If an event can't slide, the caller will be automatically logged off just before the event is scheduled to take place. Event Already Executed Today. : Yes <- This is a toggle field This field indicates whether or not the event has taken place for the day. Function Key Action ----------------------------------------------------------------- <SPACE> Toggle a toggle field. <TAB> Move to the next field. <SHIFT><TAB> Move to the previous field. <F2> Add an event. <INSERT> Insert an event before the current event. <DELETE> Delete the current event. <PGDN> Move to the next event. <PGUP> Move to the previous event. <ALT><N> Jump to a specified event. <F10> or <ESC> Exit the event editor. ----------------------------------------------------------------- To see TriMan's copyright dialog box, you need to press <A> at the Configure menu. The Pack Menu ------------- When pulled down, the Pack menu will present the following two options: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Users Messages ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To pack the user file, you need to press at the Pack menu. To pack the message base, you need to press <M> at the Pack menu. Note that the TriPack program must be located in your DOS PATH to pack the message base. TriMan Odds and Ends -------------------- TriMan can be called with the following command line switches: The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 36 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 38 Edit Conferences ---------------- The "Edit Conferences" menu option calls TriMan's message conference editor. Edit Users ---------- The "Edit Users" menu option calls TriMan's user editor. Edit Events ----------- The "Edit Events" menu option calls TriMan's event editor. Configure System ---------------- The "Configure System" menu option calls TriMan's system configuration editor. Edit File Areas --------------- The "Edit File Areas" menu option calls TriMan's file area editor. View Callers Log ---------------- The "View Callers Log" menu option allows you to view your board's callers log. TriBBS maintains a log of a user's activity while a caller is logged on. This file is named CALLERS.LOG and is kept in node 1's MWORK directory. By selecting the "View Callers Log" menu option, TriBBS will prompt you for a date to start viewing the log from. You can simply press <ENTER> to view the log starting at the beginning of the current day. While you are viewing the callers log, TriBBS takes the phone off the hook. The phone will be placed back on the hook as soon as you return to the Waiting for Caller screen. Pack User File -------------- The "Pack User File" menu option calls TriMan's user file packer. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 40 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 42 @LASTTIMEON@ Displays the caller's last time on. @MESSAGES@ Displays the number of messages the caller has posted. @MESSAGESTODAY@ Displays the number of messages posted today. @MORE@ Displays a "more" prompt. @MOREOFF@ Disables the "more" prompt. @MOREON@ Enables the "more" prompt. @NODE@ Displays the node number. @ORIGINAL@ Displays the date of the caller's original log on. @PAUSE@ Prompts the caller the press a key. @PHONE@ Displays the caller's phone number. @SECBYTERATIO@ Displays the security level's byte ratio. If the caller's security level doesn't have a byte ratio, TriBBS will display "No Ratio!". @SECFILERATIO@ Displays the security level's file ratio. If the caller's security level doesn't have a file ratio, TriBBS will display "No Ratio!". @SECURITY@ Displays the caller's security level. @SYSTEMCALLS@ Displays the board's number of calls. @SYSTEMCALLSTODAY@ Displays the board's number of calls for today. @SYSTEMDATE@ Displays the date. @SYSTEMTIME@ Displays the time. @SUBSCRIPTIONDATE@ Displays the date the caller's subscription expires. @TIMELEFT@ Displays the number of minutes the caller has left for this call. @TIMEON@ Displays the number of minutes the caller has been on for this call. @TIMETHISCALL@ Displays the total number of minutes the caller has for this call. @TOTALNODES@ Displays the board's number of nodes. @UPLOADS@ Displays the caller's number of uploads. @UPLOADSTODAY@ Displays the number of uploads for today. @USER@ Displays the caller's full name. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You should note that case is significant for the @-variables. TriBBS will simply ignore @hangup@ in a display screen, but will hangup the phone if it encounters @HANGUP@ in a display screen. Control Codes ------------- Versions of TriBBS prior to 3.3 allowed control codes to be placed in display screens to display information similar to the way @-variables work. Control codes are no longer supported by TriBBS. Display screens that use control codes can be converted to @-variables with the utility CCTOAT.EXE as follows: The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 44 User Specific Log On Screens ---------------------------- TriBBS supports user specific log on screens. The filename for a user specific log on screen is either n.ANS or n.BBS. Where "n" is the caller's user number. User specific log on screens are displayed after TriBBS displays any newsletter log on screen. Once a user specific log on screen has been displayed to the appropriate caller, TriBBS automatically deletes the screen. User specific screens are unique in the fact that they are always stored in node 1's DISPLAY directory. New User Screen --------------- After a new user enters his name and indicates that he is a new user, TriBBS will display a special new user screen named either NEWUSER.ANS or NEWUSER.BBS. Bulletin Menu and Bulletins --------------------------- Normally, TriBBS will generate a Bulletin Menu on the fly; however, you may use a custom Bulletin Menu by naming the display files BULLETIN.ANS and BULLETIN.BBS. You can have from 1 to 99 bulletins by naming them as BULLETn.ANS and BULLETn.BBS. Where "n" is a number from 1 to 99. Main Menu --------- Normally, TriBBS will generate a Main Menu for the caller's security level on the fly; however, you may use custom Main Menus by naming the display files MAINn.ANS and MAINn.BBS. Where "n" is the menu's security level. You may also have custom Main Menu display screens called MAINALL.ANS and MAINALL.BBS. These custom screens will be displayed if none of your MAINn.ANS or MAINn.BBS screens match the caller's security level. Message Menu ------------ Normally, TriBBS will generate a Message Menu for the caller's security level on the fly; however, you may use custom Message Menus by naming the display files MESSn.ANS and MESSn.BBS. Where "n" is the menu's security level. You may also have custom Message Menu display screens called MESSALL.ANS and MESSALL.BBS. These custom screens will The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 46 Door Bulletin Menu and Door Bulletins ------------------------------------- Normally, TriBBS will generate a Door Bulletin Menu on the fly; however, you may use a custom Door Bulletin Menu by naming the display files DOORBULL.ANS and DOORBULL.BBS. You can have from 1 to 99 door bulletins by naming them as DRBULLn.ANS and DRBULLn.BBS. Where "n" is a number from 1 to 99. Questionnaire Menu ----------------- Normally, TriBBS will generate a Questionnaire Menu for the caller's security level on the fly; however, you may use a custom Questionnaire Menu by naming the display files QUESTn.ANS and QUESTn.BBS. Where "n" is the menu's security level. You may also have custom Questionnaire Menu display screens called QUESTALL.ANS or QUESTALL.BBS. These custom screens will be displayed if none of your QUESTn.ANS or QUESTn.BBS screens match the caller's security level. Sysop Menu ---------- Normally, TriBBS will generate a Sysop Menu for the caller's security level on the fly; however, you may use custom Sysop Menus by naming the display files SYSOPn.ANS and SYSOPn.BBS. Where "n" is the menu's security level. You may also have custom Sysop Menu display screens called SYSOPALL.ANS and SYSOPALL.BBS. These custom screens will be displayed if none of your SYSOPn.ANS or SYSOPn.BBS screens match the caller's security level. List of Conferences ------------------- TriBBS supports an optional custom list of conferences that will be displayed whenever a caller wants to change the message conference he is in. The file names for the custom conference listings are MSGn.ANS and MSGn.BBS. Where "n" is the display screen's security level. You may also have a custom list of conference names called MSGALL.ANS and MSGALL.BBS. These custom screens will be displayed if none of your MSGn.ANS or MSGn.BBS display screens match the caller's security level. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 48 <F8> Logoff Screen ------------------ Whenever the sysop presses the <F8> key, TriBBS will display either NUKE.ANS or NUKE.BBS and log the caller off the system. Full-Screen Editor Help Screen ------------------------------ Whenever the caller selects the full-screen editor's help screen, TriBBS will display either FSCREEN.ANS or FSCREEN.BBS. You should note that a FSCREEN.BBS display screen is supplied in the TriBBS archive, but you can of course create your own full-screen editor help screens. TeleChat Help Screen -------------------- Whenever the caller selects the TeleChat menu's help function, TriBBS will display either TCHAT.ANS or TCHAT.BBS. You should note that a TCHAT.BBS display screen is supplied in the TriBBS archive, but you can of course create your own TeleChat help screens. File/Byte Ratio Screens ----------------------- Whenever the caller's security level has been lowered by TriBBS's optional file/byte ratio checking, TriBBS will display the optional screens LOWER.ANS and LOWER.BBS. If the LOWER.ANS/LOWER.BBS screens aren't available TriBBS will display an appropriate message. Whenever the caller's security level has been lowered by TriBBS's optional file/byte ratio checking, TriBBS will display the optional screens RAISE.ANS and RAISE.BBS. If the RAISE.ANS/RAISE.BBS screens aren't available TriBBS will display an appropriate message. Whenever the caller's file/byte ratio no longer permits him to download files, TriBBS will display the optional screens NODOWN.ANS and NODOWN.BBS. If the NODOWN.ANS/NODOWN.BBS screens aren't available TriBBS will display an appropriate message. Subscription Screens -------------------- Whenever the caller's subscription has expired, TriBBs will display the optional screens EXPIRED.ANS and EXPIRED.BBS. If the EXPIRED.ANS/EXPIRED.BBS screens aren't available, TriBBS will display an appropriate message. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 50 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 52 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- border background,border foreground,background,foreground description,security level . . . description,security level Where: border background is the border background color for an ANSI color menu. border foreground is the border foreground color for an ANSI color menu. background is the background color for an ANSI color menu. foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI color menu. description is one or more descriptions of the bulletins. These should be in the order of your bulletins. For example, the first description should be for BULLET1.ANS and BULLET1.BBS, the second description should be for BULLET2.ANS and BULLET2.BBS, etc. security level is the caller's minimum security level to be able to view the bulletin. In order to provide compatibility with previous versions of TriBBS, this is an optional value. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is a sample BULLETIN.MNU file: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 7,0,4,15 Rules of the BBS TriBBS 4.0 History,15 List of Registered Systems ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Note how the second bulletin, "TriBBS 4.0 History", specifies a minimum security level of 15 to be able to read the bulletin. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 54 character in the first column) must remain the same. The following is a sample Main Menu configuration file: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 6,0,1,15 B,Bulletin Menu,10 M,Message Menu,10 F,File Menu,10 D,Door Menu,999 T,TeleChat Menu,999 Q,Questionnaire Menu,999 S,Sysop Menu,100 C,Comment to Sysop,10 A,Toggle ANSI Graphics Mode,10 N,Newsletter,10 Y,Your Personal Information,10 I,System Information,10 U,List of Users,10 W,Who's On,999 X,Expert Mode,10 P,Page Sysop,10 G,Goodbye,0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The following are descriptions of the 16 Main Menu items: B,Bulletin Menu,security level By pressing at the Main Menu, TriBBS will branch to the Bulletin Menu. M,Message Menu,security level By pressing <M> at the Main Menu, TriBBS will branch to the Message Menu. F,File Menu,security level By pressing <F> at the Main Menu, TriBBS will branch to the File Menu. D,Door Menu,security level By pressing <D> at the Main Menu, TriBBS will branch to the Door Menu. If your board doesn't have any doors, you should set the security level for this option higher than anybody's security level. T,TeleChat Menu,security level By pressing <T> at the Main Menu, TriBBS will branch to the TeleChat Menu. If you are running a single line BBS, you will should disable this option by setting its security level higher than any of the board's users. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 56 As you can see from this sample display, the "Your Personal Information" menu features the following 8 options: <A>ddress Pressing <A> prompts the caller for his new city/state. A<l>ias Pressing <L> prompts the caller for his new alias. assword Pressing prompts the caller for his new password. Phone <N>umber Pressing <N> prompts the caller for his new phone number. <D>efault Protocol Pressing <D> prompts the caller to select a new default protocol. <E>ditor Pressing <E> prompts the caller to select a new default editor. A<v>ailable, Una<v>ailable Pressing <V> toggles the caller's multinode chat status. By default, all caller's multinode chat status is set to "available". However, the caller can optionally set his chat status to "unavailable" if he doesn't want to be interrupted by multinode chat pages. Check for <W>aiting Messages, Don't Check for <W>aiting Messages Pressing <W> toggles the caller's waiting message check status. By default, TriBBS checks for the caller's waiting messages at logon. However, the caller can optionally set is waiting message status so that TriBBS will not check for waiting messages at logon. <Q>uit Pressing <Q> returns the caller to the Main Menu. I,System Information,security level By pressing at the Main Menu, TriBBS will display a number of the board's statistics. U,List of Users,security level The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 58 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- border background,border foreground,background,foreground C,Change Conference,security level E,Enter a Message,security level R,Read Messages,security level N,New Messages,security level Y,Your Messages,security level S,Set Conference Queue,security level M,Main Menu,security level X,Expert Mode,security level P,Page Sysop,security level G,Goodbye,security level Where: border background is the border background color for an ANSI color menu. border foreground is the border foreground color for an ANSI color menu. background is the background color for an ANSI color menu. foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI color menu. security level is the minimum security level for this command. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You should note that the order of the Message Menu items and their descriptions can be changed. However, the color codes must be in the configuration file's first line and each of the menu item hotkeys (the characters in the first column) must remain the same. The following is a sample Message Menu configuration file: The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 60 <C>ontinue Pressing <C> will start the line editor again where the message left off. <L>ist Pressing <L> will list the message. <D>elete Line Pressing <D> will prompt the caller for the number of the line he wants deleted. nsert Line Pressing will prompt the caller for the number of the line he wants a blank line inserted before. <E>dit Line Pressing <E> will prompt the caller for the number of the line he would like to edit. <R>eplace Text: Pressing <R> will prompt the caller for the number of the line he would like to search and replace text in. After selecting the desired line, TriBBS will prompt the caller to enter the search and replace strings. These strings are entered on the same line with a semicolon separating the two strings. TriBBS will then search the line for occurrences of the search string. If the search string is found, it will be replaced by the replace string. <Q>uote Pressing <Q> will allow the caller to quote from a message he is replying to. TriBBS will display the original message and then prompt the call for the first and last lines to be quoted. (This menu option is only available if the caller is replying to another message.) pload Pressing will prompt the caller for the name of a file to be uploaded and added to the message's text. Note that during a local logon, you can specify any file name to be used for the "uploaded" file. If the caller is using the full screen editor, the editor's menu can be displayed by pressing <ESC>. The following are the options the full screen editor menu offers: <S>ave Pressing <S> will save the message. <A>bort The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 62 While reading messages, the caller will be presented with the following options: <R>eply Pressing <R> will allow the caller to enter a reply to the message. If the message is PUBLIC, TriBBS will give the caller the option of making the reply PRIVATE. Read Relies Pressing will allow the caller to read a message's replies. After reading all of the replies, TriBBS will return to the original message. (This option is only available if the message has replies.) <N>umber Pressing <N> prompts the caller to enter the number of the message to be read next. <D>elete Pressing <D> will allow the caller to delete the message. (This option is only available if the caller has at least a minimum sysop security level or the conference allows user deletion and the message is either from or to the caller.) ndelete Pressing will allow the caller to undelete a previously deleted message. (This option is only available if the caller has at least a minimum sysop security level.) Pulic Pressing will make a PRIVATE message PUBLIC. (This option is only available if the caller has at least a minimum sysop security level and the message is PRIVATE.) Pri<v>ate Pressing <V> will make a PUBLIC message PRIVATE. (This option is only available if the caller has at least a minimum sysop security level and the message is PUBLIC.) Ech<o>, Unech<o> Pressing <O> will toggle a message's status between echoed and not echoed. (This option is only available if the caller has at least a minimum sysop security level and the message conference is a networked conference.) Permanen<t>, <T>ransient The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 64 Pressing <N> allows the caller to read new messages. TriBBS maintains pointers in each message conference of the highest message number the caller has read. TriBBS will prompt the caller if he wants to read messages in just the current conference, all conferences, the caller's queued conferences, or quit to the Message Menu. For each message conference, TriBBS allows the caller to read the conference's new messages, skip the conference, or quit to the Message Menu. While reading messages, the caller will be presented with the same options as TriBBS uses with the "Read Messages" menu option. Y,Your Messages,security level Pressing <Y> allows the caller to read his messages. TriBBS will prompt the caller if he wants to read his messages in just the current conference, all conferences, the caller's queued conferences, or quit to the Message menu. For each message conference, TriBBS allows the caller to read the message to him in the conference or quit to the Message Menu. While reading messages, the caller will be presented with the same options as TriBBS uses with the "Read Messages" and "New Messages" menu options. S,Set Conference Queue,security level Pressing <S> allows the caller to set a conference queue. A conference queue allows the caller to select whether or not a conference will be read while reading messages in queued conferences. TriBBS will display a menu with the following three options: <L>ist Your Queue Entering <L> presents a list of the conferences that are available to the user and indicates whether or not they are queued conferences. <####> Conference to Toggle Entering a conference's number toggle's its queued status. <ENTER> to Quit Simply pressing <ENTER> returns the caller to the Message Menu. M,Main Menu,security level Pressing <M> returns the caller to the Main Menu. X,Expert Mode,security level The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 66 background is the background color for an ANSI color menu. foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI color menu. security level is the minimum security level for this command. --------------------------------------------------------------------- You should note that the order of the File Menu items and their descriptions can be changed. However, the color codes must be in the configuration file's first line and each of the menu item hotkeys (the character in the first column) must remain the same. The following is a sample File Menu configuration file: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 7,0,5,15 C,Change File Area,10 L,List Files,10 N,New Files,10 T,Text Search File Lists,10 U,Upload File,10 D,Download File,10 V,View Archive,10 R,Remove File,100 O,Move File,100 M,Main Menu,10 X,Expert Mode,10 P,Page Sysop,10 G,Goodbye,10 --------------------------------------------------------------------- The following are descriptions of the 13 File Menu items: C,Change File Area,security level Pressing <C> will let the caller change his current file area. After displaying a list of the file areas that are available to the caller, TriBBS will prompt him for the new file area. L,List Files,security level Pressing <L> will let the caller view the board's file lists. TriBBS will prompt the caller to enter a file mask. This file mask uses the same format as the DOS DIR command. After entering an appropriate file mask, TriBBS will ask the caller if he wants to view the file lists for his current file area or all file areas. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 68 of the archive, or returning to the Files Menu. In order for this option to work properly you must have the following compression utilities in you PATH: Archive Type Utility ------------------------------------------------------------ ZIP PKZIP.EXE and PKUNZIP.EXE ARJ ARJ.EXE LZH LHA.EXE PAK, SDN, or ARC PAK.EXE ----------------------------------------------------------- R,Remove File,security level Pressing <R> will let the caller remove a file from the board's file lists and file areas. TriBBS will prompt the caller for the file's name. If the file is found, TriBBS will double check to be sure if the caller really wants to delete the file. IMPORTANT: The security level for this option should be set for at least your minimum sysop security level. O,Move File,security level Pressing <O> will let the caller move a file from its present file area to another file area. TriBBS will prompt the caller for the file's name and its new file area. IMPORTANT: The security level for this option should be set for at least your minimum sysop security level. M,Main Menu,security level Pressing <M> returns the caller to the Main Menu. X,Expert Mode,security level Pressing <X> will toggle the caller's expert mode flag. If the caller's expert mode flag is set for "Expert", TriBBS will not display the menus for the caller. If the caller's expert mode flag is set for "Super Expert", TriBBS will not display the menus for the caller and will use abbreviated menu prompts. Otherwise, TriBBS will display the menus to the caller. P,Page Sysop,security level Pressing will page the sysop. As soon as the caller pages the sysop, TriBBS will display a blinking asterisk in the user status window's upper right corner. This blinking asterisk will continue to be displayed until either the sysop answers the page or the caller logs off. G,Goodbye,security level Pressing <G> will log the caller off the board. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 70 Note that a door type is required. There are a few doors that don't require a door data file to be run. If you wish to use such a door, you can simply specify any one of the above characters. A "U" door type creates the smallest files. Therefore, it is preferable to the others. description is a description for the door. batch file is the door's batch file. With TriBBS, all doors are run with a batch file and must be loaded in your node's main directory. This batch file is similar to an event batch file. An extension of BAT is not required for a door batch file. However, if an extension of BAT isn't specified in the DOORS.MNU file, TriBBS will first search for a file without an extension and if one isn't found it will search for a file with an extension of BAT. For example, if a file name of GLOBAL is specified in DOORS.MNU, TriBBS will search first for GLOBAL and then GLOBAL.BAT. When TriBBS runs a door, it will generate the proper door data files as is indicated by the door's door type character. It will then copy the door's batch file to a file called DOOR.BAT. TriBBS will then create a temporary caller information file. This temporary file holds the information TriBBS will need when the caller returns to TriBBS from the door. After generating all of the proper files, TriBBS will exit from memory. BOARD.BAT will then run DOOR.BAT. In order for TriBBS to restart after the caller is done with the door, the last line in the door batch file must call BOARD.BAT. The following is an example board batch file: cd \doors\global war /s c:\tribbs\sfdoors.dat cd \tribbs board security level is the minimum security level the caller needs to use the door. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 72 --------------------------------------------------------------------- border background,border foreground,background,foreground description,security level . . . description,security level Where: border background is the border background color for an ANSI color menu. border foreground is the border foreground color for an ANSI color menu. background is the background color for an ANSI color menu. foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI color menu. description is one of more descriptions of the bulletins. These should be in the order of your bulletins. For example, the first description should be for DRBULL1.ANS and DRBULL1.BBS, the second description should be for DRBULL2.ANS and DRBULL2.BBS, etc. security level is the caller's minimum security level to be able to view the bulletin. In order to provide compatibility with previous versions of TriBBS, this is an optional value. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 74 questionnaire file is the name of the questionnaire and response file. This file name must not have an extension. Your questionnaire file should be in node 1's MWORK directory and have an extension of QUE. TriBBS will save the answers to the questionnaire as a file with an extension of ANS. A TriBBS questionnaire file will display each line in the file as is unless the first nonspace character of the line is a special questionnaire character as follows: : - Will display the line and prompt the user for input. Note that the caller must enter something in response to this prompt. ; - Will display the line and prompt the user for input. Note that the caller can enter a blank line in response to this prompt. @ - Will display the line and prompt the user to enter a date using the format MM-DD-YY. After the caller has entered the date, TriBBS will prompt the caller to see if it was entered correctly. # - Will display the line and prompt the user to enter the date using the format ###-###- ####. After the caller has entered the phone number, TriBBS will prompt the caller to see if it was entered correctly. ^security level - Will set the caller's security level to the number specified after "^". ? - Will prompt the user for a Yes/No response. If the caller responds with a "Yes", TriBBS will ignore the remaining questionnaire until TriBBS finds a "+" character. TriBBS will continue with the questionnaire until another "+" character is encountered. If the caller responds with a "No", TriBBS will ignore the remaining questionnaire until TriBBS finds a "-" character. TriBBS will continue with the questionnaire until another "-" character is encountered. Yes/No questions can be nested to ten levels deep. NOTE: If the first three nonspace characters in a line are REM or rem, TriBBS will treat The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 76 The Sysop Menu Configuration File --------------------------------- The Sysop Menu configuration file has a name of SYSOP.MNU. As with all other TriBBS menu configuration files, SYSOP.MNU is a text file and can be edited with any text editor. The format for SYSOP.MNU is as follows: --------------------------------------------------------------------- border background,border foreground,background,foreground U,Edit Users,security level C,Edit Message Conferences,security level F,Edit File Areas,security level E,Edit Events,security level V,View Callers Log,security level S,Sort File Lists,security level M,Main Menu,security level X,Expert Mode,security level P,Page Sysop,security level G,Goodbye,security level Where: border background is the border background color for an ANSI color menu. border foreground is the border foreground color for an ANSI color menu. background is the background color for an ANSI color menu. foreground is the foreground color for an ANSI color menu. security level is the minimum security level for this command. --------------------------------------------------------------------- You should note that the order of the Sysop Menu items and their descriptions can be changed. However, the color codes must be in the configuration file's first line and each of the menu item hotkeys (the character in the first column) must remain the same. The following is a sample Sysop Menu configuration file: The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 78 Pressing will let you edit the user's number of uploads. <D> Downloads Pressing <D> will let you edit the user's number of downloads. <R> Record Number Pressing <R> will let you move to a specified user's record. <$> K Uploaded Pressing <$> will let you edit the user's number of K bytes uploaded. <%> K Downloaded Pressing <%> will let you edit the user's number of K bytes downloaded. <F> Find User Pressing <F> will let you search for a specified user's record. <L> Lock User Out Pressing <L> will let you lock the user out. <&> Delete User Pressing <&> will let you mark the user's record for deletion. <1> Priv Files Pressing <1> will let you edit the user's access to private file areas. <M> Messages Pressing <M> will let you edit the user's number of posted messages. <!> Time Left Pressing <!> will let you edit the user's number of remaining minutes for the day. <2> Priv Confs Pressing <2> will let you edit the user's access to private message conferences. <*> Net Status Pressing <*> will let you toggle the user's netstatus in QWK packets on and off. <E> Expiration Date The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 80 G,Goodbye,security level Pressing <G> will log the caller off the board. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 82 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- cd \doors\trimail trimail tmail1.cfg cd \tribbs board ---------------------------------------------------------------------- At this point, you may be wondering where TriMail will get the necessary door data files it needs to run. Before exiting from memory, TriBBS generates all of its possible door data files and then simply runs the proper batch file just like it would a door. However, you should note that it isn't strictly necessary to run a door as a custom menu command. You can make a command out of pretty much any program. The only limits are your imagination. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 84 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 86 area and pressing <ENTER>. You can exit from FileMan at the main menu by pressing <CTRL><X>. After you select a file area to be edited, FileMan will read in the file area's file list. You will then be able to sort the file list, scan the file area for any files that aren't included in the list, delete files, edit a file's description, check a file to see if it has a FILE_ID.DIZ or DESC.SDI description file, and more. To perform one of these operations you only need to move to the appropriate command button and press <ENTER>. You can move around the edit file list dialog box by pressing either the <TAB> or <SHIFT><TAB> keys. When you exit from the edit file list dialog box, TriBBS will save the edited file list. You should note that FileMan has an upper limit of 1000 files per file area. Also you should be aware that FileMan does not support file sharing. So you should not edit the file lists when somebody is online. MakeIdx ------- TriBBS allows you to optionally search for files by index files instead of using the DOS directory functions. This can greatly speed up searching large file areas such as CD-ROM file areas. Before MakeIdx can generate an index file for a file area, you must specify an appropriate index file name using TriMan's file area editor. MakeIdx can be run using one of the following three formats: MAKEIDX This will display a list box of all of the file areas that have been configured to use an index file. Simply move the highlight bar to the appropriate file area and press enter or double click it with a mouse. Press ESC to exit from MakeIdx. MAKEIDX /ALL The /ALL switch is used to run MakeIdx from either the DOS command line or from within a batch file. This switch will have MakeIdx generate index files for any file areas that are configured to use index files. MAKEIDX /F:n1[-n2] The /F: switch is used to run MakeIdx from either the DOS command line or from within a batch file. This switch will have MakeIdx generate an index file for a specified file area if it is specified using /F:n1, where n1 is the file area to be indexed. The /F: switch can also create index The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 88 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 90 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- hotkey,description,send file,receive file,batch,error correcting . . . hotkey,description,send file,receive file,batch,error correcting Where: hotkey is the key to be used to select the external protocol. You should note that you can override any of TriBBS's internal protocols by specifying the internal protocol's hotkey for the external protocol's hotkey. For example, you can use a hotkey of "Z" to replace TriBBS's internal Zmodem protocol with DSZ. Additionally, you can't use "N" for a protocol's hotkey. description is a description to be displayed for the external protocol. send file is the exact name of the batch file that sends files to the caller with the external protocol. This batch file must reside in your board's main directory. receive file is the exact name of the batch file that receives files from the caller with the external protocol. This batch file must reside in your board's main directory. batch is "Y" if the external protocol supports batch transfers. Otherwise, "N" to indicated that the external protocol doesn't support batch transfers. error correcting is "Y" if the external protocol is to be used only with an error correcting connection. Otherwise, "N" to indicate that the external protocol can be used with all types of connections. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is an example of an EXTPROT.MNU file: The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 92 The following is an example of a HS/Link send batch file called HSS.BAT: --------------------------------------------------------------------- hslink -p%1 @%3 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Receive Batch Files ------------------- When TriBBS calls a receive batch file, it passes the following three parameters to the batch file: --------------------------------------------------------------------- port number baud rate filename --------------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT: You should note that the "filename" parameter is not passed to external protocols that support batch file transfers. The following is an example of a DSZ receive batch file called RZ.BAT: --------------------------------------------------------------------- dsz port %1 rz -mrr --------------------------------------------------------------------- Note that the above batch file enables MobyTurbo transfers. The following is an example of a MPt receive batch file called RMPT.BAT: --------------------------------------------------------------------- mpt p%1 r --------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is an example of a HS/Link receive batch file called HSR.BAT: The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 94 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 96 every 7.5K bytes downloaded. If the caller can't maintain these ratios, TriBBS will downgrade the caller to a 20 security level. If the caller can't maintain a 20 security level, TriBBS will further downgrade the caller to a 15 security level. Finally, if the caller can't maintain a 15 security level, TriBBS will downgrade the caller to a new user's security level. If you don't want the caller's security level to be reduced back to a new user's security level, you could change the 15 security level to 15,0,0. You should note that a caller's ratios are checked at logon and after every upload and download. IMPORTANT: Do not include any security levels in RATIOS.DAT that you don't want TriBBS to check. File/Byte Ratios (Security Level Stays the Same) ------------------------------------------------ TriBBS also supports a file/byte ratio method that restricts the caller's ability to download if he has exceeded his file or byte ratio. To setup your system so that it will restrict a caller's ability to download to their ratios, you must first create a configuration file called RATIOS.DAT in node 1's MWORK directory. RATIOS.DAT uses the following format: --------------------------------------------------------------------- security level,file ratio,byte ratio . . . security level,file ratio,byte ratio Where: security level is the caller's security level. file ratio is the maximum file ratio (files downloaded:files uploaded) for the caller to be able to download files. If you do not want to impose a file ratio for this security level, a file ratio of 0 can be used. byte ratio is the maximum byte ratio (bytes downloaded:bytes uploaded) for the caller to be able to download files. If you do not want to impose a byte ratio for this security level, a byte ratio of 0 can be used. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 98 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 100 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 102 frontend event. If you are running TriBBS as a door, simply let your main board run the necessary events. Error Correcting Connections ---------------------------- If your frontend is able to supply an error correcting message (i.e. ARQ, etc.), it may be specified with a slightly modified version of TriBBS's "/F" command line switch: "/F baud rate/error correcting message". Please note the slash between the "baud rate" and "error correcting message" parameters. This slash is essential for TriBBS to be able to correctly parse the "/F" command line switch. Limiting Time ------------- A user's log on time can be limited with TriBBS's "/T" command line switch. The format for this command line switch is "/Tminutes". Where "minutes" is the maximum number of minutes the caller should be allowed for this call. Forced Hang Up -------------- Normally, TriBBS does not hang up on the caller when he says goodbye. It leaves the task of hanging up to the frontend program or the main board. If your frontend doesn't hang up before recycling, you can use TriBBS's "/H" command line switch to instruct it to hang up on the caller before returning to the frontend. IMPORTANT: Whenever a caller is in a door, TriBBS creates a file called DOORS.TMP in the node's NWORK directory. TriBBS uses this file to determine if a caller is returning from a door when BBS.EXE is restarted. Therefore, it is essential that your frontend's batch file delete DOORS.TMP before running BOARD.BAT. Otherwise, if carrier is lost in a door, BBS.EXE will assume that a caller is returning from a door when the frontend program calls it the next time. Consequently, the next caller will be logged on under the previous caller's account. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 104 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 106 --------------------------------------------------------------------- security level,time,calls,time per logon . . . security level,time,calls,time per logon Where: security level is a security level. time is the security level's daily time limit. calls is the security level's number of daily calls. time per logon is the maximum time per logon for this level. Note that in order to provide compatibility with versions of TriBBS before 3.3, this is an optional parameter. You do not need to specify anything for this parameter unless you want to --------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is an example DLIMITS.DAT file: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 15,45,99 20,60,99 60,60,99 100,180,99,180 200,180,99,180 --------------------------------------------------------------------- You should note that whenever you modify DLIMITS.DAT any changes will not take effect until a caller calls the first time for a day. If a caller has already called during the day, any changes to DLIMITS.DAT that effects his security level will not occur until he calls the next day. If a caller hasn't already called during the day, any changes to DLIMITS.DAT that effects his security level will take effect immediately. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 108 TriBBS allows you to enter both your name and password at the "Enter your name" prompt. Simply separate your name from the password with a semicolon <;>. For example, a caller with the name Mark Goodwin and a password of Install could enter his name and password at the name prompt as follows: Mark Goodwin;Install You should note that for security reasons TriBBS will display the password as a series of periods <.>. File Flagging ------------- While displaying a file listing, the "more" prompt will allow the caller to flag files for downloading by simply pressing <F>. TriBBS will prompt the caller to enter letters that are displayed with the appropriate files in the listing. Packing the Message Base ------------------------ You may have noticed that included with your TriBBS files is a file called TRIPACK.EXE. TriPack is the TriBBS message base packer. It will remove any <DELETED> messages and messages that are older than the number of days you have indicated in your message conferences setup. TriPack was developed as an external program in order to permit you to pack your message base as an event. TriPack is a fairly easy program to use and can be executed with the following command line: TRIPACK /P /R /C:range Where: /P is an optional switch. If specified, all messages marked <PRIVATE><RECEIVED> will be deleted. /R is an optional switch. If specified, the message base conference will be renumbered. TriBBS support message numbers as high as 999,999. You should only renumber a message base conference if you think the conference will rollover this amount. Although TriBBS will update its message threads internally, net mail message threads may be lost. For example, PCRelay maintains a list of message threads for each netmail conference. After The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 110 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 112 TriBBS has been successfully tested on a LANtastic's network. The only possible glitch in running TriBBS on a LAN is that all nodes use identical SYSDAT2.DAT files to locate node 1; therefore, you must configure your LAN in such a way that all workstations and servers refer to node 1 drive as the same drive. For example, if node 1 is located on the C: drive on the server, the rest of the network must refer to this as C: also. If another node's workstation already has a C: drive, you must redirect that drive to say D:, E:, or etc. and configure the node 1 drive as C: So as long as the whole LAN refers to node 1's drive as the same drive, TriBBS should work flawlessly on any LAN. Doors and Multinodes -------------------- The greatest challenge you will find about getting a multinode system fully functional is getting doors to run from all nodes. The problem comes from the fact that most doors do not support multinode operation. If they do, then fine, simply set up the proper configuration and batch files and away you go, but if they don't it takes a little more effort. The best method I've found so far for running a nonmultinode door on all nodes of a multinode system is to use two utilities: FOYER and PROECHO. FOYER is a nifty little utility that create a data file in your door's directory to determine what, if any, node is currently using the door. If the door is in use, FOYER returns an appropriate "errorlevel" that can be used in your batch file to prevent the door from being run. If the door isn't in use, FOYER will return without error and your batch file can continue to run the door as it normally would. After running the door, FOYER is run again so it can "unlock" the door for use by another node. PROECHO is a handy little utility that lets you send a short message out through the comm port. For example, if a door is in use, you could send a message like "That door is in use on another node. Please try again later." By sending such a message to the user, he will know that everything is ok and that he'll probably be able to use the door sometime later in his call. Some Helpful Hints ------------------ If you are multitasking a multinode TriBBS system, you will probably want to give each node the same number of clock ticks if they are running modems that have similar speed capabilities. If you are running a high speed modem on one line and a slower modem on another, you may want to give the node with the high speed modem a few more clock ticks than the node with the slower speed modem. A multinode system requires a phone line and a modem for each node. I know that may seem rather obvious, but I've seen people on a variety The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 114 callers in group chat at any one time is only limited by the BBS's number of nodes. Note that unlike node chat nobody is paged when a caller enters group chat. However, like node chat, appropriate messages are sent to all nodes in group chat whenever a caller either enters or exits group chat. Text entry is performed exactly as with node chat. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 116 Therefore, it is possible for an error correcting connection to be sending data much faster than the DCE to DCE baud rate. So that data will not be lost between the computer and the modem, the DTE to DCE baud rate must be higher than the DCE to DCE baud rate. Generally, high-speed modems are locked at either 19200 baud or 38400 baud. So, how is a serial port locked? The first step is to tell your modem to maintain the DTE to DCE link at a constant baud rate and to report DCE to DCE baud rates in the CONNECT string. Additionally, you should always use RTS/CTS hardware data flow control with an error correcting modem. To configure your modem to perform these actions, you need to either add a couple of AT commands to your initialization string or save the proper AT commands in your modem's NRAM settings. Unfortunately, there is no set standard for the AT commands that perform these actions. Consequently, you'll have to either consult the modem's manual or contact the modem's manufacturer to determine the appropriate AT commands you need to use. After you've correctly configured your modem, you need to configure the computer's communications program. Simply tell the communication program that the serial port is to be locked and that hardware data flow control is to be used. Believe it or not, that's all there is to locking a serial port. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 118 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 120 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 122 152 to 153 int Phone on hook during maintenance flag. 154 to 155 int No one word names flag. 156 to 157 int No bulletin menu at log on flag. 158 to 159 int Aliases allowed flag. 160 to 161 int Clear screen before displaying internally generated menu screens. 162 to 163 int Exact file name matching for upload dupe checking. 164 to 165 int Disable the new user birth date question flag. 166 to 167 int Disable detailed log entries flag. 168 to 256 char [89] Reserved for future use. All zeros. SYSDAT2.DAT ----------- Is TriBBS's means for accessing the system data and main work directory between nodes and is located in each node's main directory. It uses the following format: Byte Data Description Position Type 1 to 81 char [81] The path to node 1's main directory. 82 to 256 char [175] Reserved for future use. All zeros. NODE.DAT -------- Is the node configuration file and is located in each node's main directory. It uses the following format: Byte Data Description Position Type 1 to 81 char [81] The modem's initialization string. 82 to 86 char [5] The error correcting connection message. 87 to 95 char [9] The date of the last call. 96 to 97 int The node number. 98 to 99 unsigned The modem's maximum baud rate. 100 to 101 int The modem's serial port. 102 to 103 int No 300 baud callers flag. If TRUE, TriBBS will not allow 300 baud callers to log on. If FALSE, TriBBS will accept 300 baud calls. 104 to 105 int No 1200 baud callers flag. 106 to 107 int RTS/CTS handshaking flag. 108 to 109 int Locked serial port flag. 110 to 111 int Direct screen write flag. 112 to 113 int The tenths of a second delay before sending ATA. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 124 190 to 191 int The user's waiting message check flag. 192 to 200 char [9] The user's subscription expiration date. 201 to 231 char [31] The user's alias. 232 to 256 char [25] Reserved for future use. All zeros. USERS.IDX and ALIAS.IDX ----------------------- Is the user and alias index files and are located in node 1's MWORK directory. These files are sorted in ascending order according to the user's 32-bit CRC. Each record has the following format: Byte Data Description Position Type 1 to 4 unsigned long 32-bit CRC of the user's name or alias. 5 to 6 int The user's record number in USERS.DAT. USERS.SUP --------- Is the user's supplemental information file. For each user, TriBBS creates a set of message records and file records. The message records use the following format: Byte Data Description Position Type 1 to 2 int Conference queued flag. 3 to 4 int Access to private conference flag. 5 to 8 long Number of last message read. 9 to 10 int Waiting message counter. The file records used the following format: Byte Data Description Position Type 1 to 2 int Access to private file area flag. The size of each individual user's record is calculated as follows (sizeof(message record) * number of message conferences) + (sizeof(file record) * number of file areas). The following shows the record structure for a board with three message conferences and two file areas: Message conference # 1 record Message conference # 2 record Message conference # 3 record File area # 1 record File area # 2 record The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 126 123 to 124 int The message's private flag. 125 to 126 int The message's deleted flag. 127 to 128 int The message's received flag. 129 to 130 int The message's permanent flag. 131 to 132 int Netmail "from" zone. 133 to 134 int Netmail "from" net. 135 to 136 int Netmail "from" node. 137 to 138 int Netmail "from" point. 139 to 140 int Netmail "to" zone. 141 to 142 int Netmail "to" net. 143 to 144 int Netmail "to" node. 145 to 146 int Netmail "to" point. 147 to 150 long The message's position in Mnnnn.TXT. 151 to 154 long The message's number. 155 to 158 long If the message is a response to a previous message, this value will hold the original message's number. Otherwise, this will be 0. Mnnnn.IDX --------- Is a message conference's index file and is located in node 1's MWORK directory. Where the conference number is specified by nnnn and is a number form 0001 to 9999. Each message in the conference will have a record with the following format: Byte Data Description Position Type 1 to 4 unsigned long 32-bit CRC of the message sender's name. 5 to 8 unsigned long 32-bit CRC of the message addressee's name. 9 to 12 long The message's number. 13 to 16 long If the message is a response to a previous message, this value will hold the original message's number. Otherwise, this will be 0. Mnnnn.TXT --------- Is the message conference's text file and is located in node 1's MWORK directory. Where the conference number is specified by nnnn and is a number from 0001 to 9999. The start of each message is pointed to by an appropriate pointer in the conference's Mnnnn.PTR file. Each message is saved using the following format: Byte Data Description Position Type The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 128 7 to 12 char [6] The event's time. 13 to 21 char [9] The event's batch file. TRIBBS.SYS ---------- Is TriBBS's proprietary door data file. It is an ASCII text file and uses the following format: 1 <- The user's record number Mark Goodwin <- The user's name Something <- The user's password 200 <- The user's security level Y <- Y for Expert, N for Novice Y <- Y for ANSI, N for monochrome 60 <- Minutes left for this call 207-941-0805 <- The user's phone number Bangor, Me <- The user's city and state 10/19/56 <- The user's birth date 1 <- The node number 1 <- The serial port 2400 <- Baud rate or 0 for local 38400 <- Locked rate or 0 for not locked Y <- Y for RTS/CTS, N for no RTS/CTS N <- Y for error correcting or N Unnamed BBS <- The board's name Joe Sysop <- The sysop's name Programmer <- The user's alias. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 130 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 132 A. You need to create either a BULLETIN.MNU or DOORBULL.MNU file in the node's NWORK directory. Q. When I lock my port at either 38400 or 57600 baud, serial communications are very erratic but at 19200 baud everything is ok. What's wrong? A. Unfortunately, your computer has an old 8250 type UART that doesn't support high-speed serial communication. For reliable operation at higher speeds you should invest in a serial card with a 16550 UART. It may also be possible to just replace the 8250 UART on your current serial card with a 16550. Q. Under DOS TriBBS runs fine, but when I'm running it under a multitasker (DesqView, Windows, OS/2 2.0, etc.), the board seems to lose characters and there are a lot of errors during file transfers. What's wrong? A. Your computer has either an 8250 or 16450 UART. You should upgrade your serial card to one with a 16550 UART. A 16550 UART has what are caller FIFO buffers that will temporarily hold incoming and outgoing character while the BBS is either in the background or when the multitasker is switching tasks. It may also be possible to just replace the 8250 or 16450 UART on your current serial card with a 16550. Q. Can TriBBS be run on a computer that uses a disk compression program like Stacker? A. Yes. Although, you shouldn't expect to get anywhere near the 2:1 compression ratio on a BBS computer that the disk compressors routinely provide on other computers. The reason for this is because a BBS computer will have many already compressed files on its hard drive and compressed data doesn't usually recompress much smaller. So look for some benefit from a program like Stacker, but don't expect too much. Q. A caller has selected more than one file to be downloaded. How come TriBBS won't let him use either Xmodem or Xmodem-1K to download the files? A. You must remember that Xmodem and Xmodem-1K are not batch protocols. By that I mean that they can only transmit one file at a time. Therefore, TriBBS will ask the caller to pick from one of its available batch file transfer protocols (Ymodem, Zmodem, etc.). The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 134 A. This greatly depends on the method the network uses to pass mail from one system to another. TriBBS supports three major types of netmail networks: PCRelay or Postlink networks, QWK-based networks, and Fido-style networks. To join a PCRelay or Postlink network, you need to purchase a copy of either PCRelay or Postlink and use the TriBBS UTI. To join a QWK-based network, you'll need to use TriNet if you are going to be just a node or you'll need to use TriNet and TriMail if you are going to be a hub as well as a node. To join a Fido-style network, you'll need a frontend mailer (FrontDoor, BinkleyTerm, etc.), a tosser/scanner (CONFMAIL, TosScan, GEcho, Squish, etc.) and TriDog. You should note that the TriBBS UTI, TriNet, TriMail, and TriDog are written by myself and are freeware. You can obtain copies of any of my programs on The Lobster Buoy. I also maintain a pretty good selection of frontend mailers and tosser/scanners on my board. If you are interested in PCRelay or Postlink network, you will need to contact the person who runs the net your interested in about obtaining a copy of those programs. The reason for this is because both PCRelay and Postlink are commercial programs. Q. Sometimes my board will crash either during the night or when I'm not around. Is there a way to prevent this? A. All boards will crash from time to time. Doors, in particular, are notorious for locking up computers. If you experience frequent crashes, try to see if it's a certain door that's causing the problem or perhaps a TSR that's the guilty culprit. If you can locate the frequent offender, the simplest solution is to get rid of it. As an added precaution, you may want to try using a program like Watchdog or Watchkit on your system. Both of these programs can reboot your computer when they detect a loss of carrier in a door or after the phone has been ringing for a specified number of times. If you're running your board under DesqView, you may want to try out Autoboot. Autoboot provides essentially the same operations that Watchdog and Watchkit do, but for just a DesqView task. Q. I'm running my system under a multitasker and sometimes callers are incorrectly booted off the system for "No keyboard input timeout". A. Unfortunately, this seems to be a problem with "some" 386 and 486 machines. TriBBS will behave just fine under straight DOS on these machines, but will behave erratically when run under a multitasking environment on the same machine. About the only solution for this type of problem is to disable TriBBS's check to keyboard input timeouts by setting this value to 0 in the system configuration. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 136 Q. Some of my callers are complaining that there are parts missing from some of their display screens. What's wrong? A. If this is a consistent problem, it is probably a flow control problem. If you have an error correcting modem, be sure that RTS/CTS flow control is enabled for both TriBBS and the modem. If this is already set or you don't have an error correcting modem, suggest to your caller that he should enable RTS/CTS flow control if he has an error correcting modem and XON/XOFF flow control also. This should clear up any flow control problems like this. If it's an infrequent problem, it could just be line noise. Q. My modem detects a ring but doesn't answer the phone. What's wrong? A. Some modems can't accept the ATA command (the command that TriBBS uses to answer the phone) as fast as the computer can send it to it right after the modem sends a RING message. You need to adjust the delay before ATA in the node configuration to a higher value. The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 138 BinkleyTerm . . . . . . 101, 134 DELETED.ANS . . . . . . . . . 47 Birth Date . . . . . . . . . 26 DELETED.BBS . . . . . . . . . 47 Board Name . . . . . . . . . 16 DESC.SDI . . . . . . . . . . 67 BOARD.BAT . 5, 8, 70, 101, 102, DesqView . . . . . 18, 111, 132 111, 135 Direct Screen Writes . . . . 23 Bulletin Menu . . . . 44, 51, 54 DIRSALL.ANS . . . . . . . . . 47 Bulletin Menu at Logon . . . 19 DIRSALL.BBS . . . . . . . . . 47 BULLETIN.ANS . . . . . . . . 44 DIRSn.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 47 BULLETIN.BBS . . . . . . . . 44 DIRSn.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 47 BULLETIN.MNU . . . . . 51, 132 Disable Birthday Question . . 20 Bulletins . . . . . . . . . . 44 Disable Detailed Log . . . . 20 Bulletins in QWK . . . . . . 28 DISPLAY . . . . . . 7, 8, 23, 44 BULLETn.ANS . . . . . . . . . 44 DLIMITS.DAT . . . . . . 17, 105 BULLETn.BBS . . . . . . . . . 44 Door . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Busy Call Forwarding . . . 113 Door Bulletin Menu . . . 46, 71 Busy During Events . . . . . 24 Door Menu . . . . . . 45, 54, 69 CALLERS.LOG . . . . . . . . . 38 DOOR.SYS . . . . . . . . . . 69 CALLINFO.BBS . . . . . . . . 69 DOORALL.ANS . . . . . . . . . 45 Calls Today . . . . . . . . . 26 DOORALL.BBS . . . . . . . . . 45 CCTOAT.EXE . . . . . . . . . 42 DOORBULL.ANS . . . . . . . . 46 CD-ROM . . . . . . . . . 32, 87 DOORBULL.BBS . . . . . . . . 46 CD-ROM File Area . . . . . . 32 DOORBULL.MNU . . . . . 71, 132 Change Conference . . . . . . 59 DOORn.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 45 Change File Area . . . . . . 66 DOORn.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 45 Chat . . . . . . . . . 47, 107 Doors . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Chat status . . . . . . . . . 56 DOORS.MNU . . . . . . . . . . 69 Check for waiting messages . 56 DOORS.TMP . . . . . . . . . 102 Check for Waiting Msgs . . . 27 Doorway . . . . . . . . 131, 133 City, State . . . . . . . 26, 56 DORINFO#.DEF . . . . . . . . 69 Clear Screen Before Menu . . 20 DOWNALL.ANS . . . . . . . . . 45 Color codes . . . . . . . . 129 DOWNALL.BBS . . . . . . . . . 45 COM . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Download display screen . . . 45 Comment . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Download File . . . . . . . . 67 Comment Screen . . . . . . . 47 Downloads . . . . . . . . . . 78 COMMENT.ANS . . . . . . . . . 47 DOWNn.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 45 COMMENT.BBS . . . . . . . . . 47 DOWNn.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 45 Conference Description . . . 29 DRBULLn.ANS . . . . . . . . . 46 Configure Node . . . . . . . 37 DRBULLn.BBS . . . . . . . . . 46 Configure System . . . . . . 38 Drop to DOS . . . . 37, 107, 131 CONFMAIL . . . . . . . . . 134 DSZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 CONNECT . . . . . . . . . . 115 DTE . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Control codes . . . . . . . . 42 EBATCH.DAT . . . . . . . . . 91 Daily Limits . . . . . . . 105 Edit Conferences . . . . . . 38 Daily Logon Limit . . . . . . 17 Edit Events . . . . . . . 38, 79 Daily Time Limit . . . . . . 17 Edit File Areas . . . . . 38, 79 Date of First Call . . . . . 26 Edit Message Conferences . . 79 Date of Last File Check . . . 26 Edit Users . . . . . . . 38, 77 DCE . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Enter a Message . . . . . . . 59 Default Archive Ext . . . . . 18 Error correcting Default Editor . . . . . 27, 56 connections . . . 115 Default Protocol . . . . 27, 56 Error Correcting Message . 22, Delete During Next Pack . . . 26 102 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 140 MAINALL.BBS . . . . . . . . . 44 NEWUSER . . . . . . . . . . . 75 MAINh.BAT . . . . . . . . . . 81 NEWUSER.ANS . . . . . . . . . 44 MAINn.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 44 NEWUSER.BAT . . . . . . . . . 83 MAINn.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 44 NEWUSER.BBS . . . . . . . . . 44 MakeIdx . . . . . . . . . 32, 86 No keyboard input timeout . 134 Max Time Per Logon . . . . . 17 No. of Rings Before ATA . . . 23 MCONF.DAT . . . . . . . . . 125 Node chat . . . . . . . . . 113 MegaMail . . . . . . . . . . 69 Node Number . . . . . . . . . 23 Menu Configuration Files . . 8 Node Security Level . . . . . 23 Message Menu . . 44, 54, 57, 81 NODE.DAT . . . . . . . . 5, 122 MESSAGE.MNU . . . . . . . . . 57 NODOWN.ANS . . . . . . . . . 48 Messages . . . . . . . . . . 78 NODOWN.BBS . . . . . . . . . 48 Messages Posted . . . . . . . 27 NONEW.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 47 MESSALL.ANS . . . . . . . . . 44 NONEW.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 47 MESSALL.BBS . . . . . . . . . 44 NOTTHERE.ANS . . . . . . . . 47 MESSh.BAT . . . . . . . . . . 81 NOTTHERE.BBS . . . . . . . . 47 MESSn.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 44 NRAM . . . . . . . . . . . 116 MESSn.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 44 NSEC.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 43 Min Sysop Security Level . . 17 NSEC.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 43 Minutes Left Today . . . . . 26 NUKE.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 48 Mnnnn.IDX . . . . . . . . . 126 NUKE.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 48 Mnnnn.PTR . . . . . . . . . 125 NWORK . 7, 8, 89, 102, 111, 132 Mnnnn.TXT . . . . . . . . . 126 Obnoxious Callers . . . . . 105 MNU . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 OS/2 . . . . . . . 18, 111, 132 MODE BW80 . . . . . . . . . 135 Pack Message Base . . . . . . 39 MODE CO80 . . . . . . . . . 135 Pack User File . . . . . . . 38 Monochrome VGA . . . . . . 135 Page Bell . . . . . . . . . . 23 Move File . . . . . . . . . . 68 Page Sysop . . . 57, 65, 68, 79 MPt . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 PAK . . . . . . . . 18, 68, 103 Msg Pack Backup File . . . . 31 PAK.EXE . . . . . . 18, 68, 103 MSGALL.ANS . . . . . . . . . 46 Password . . . . . . 25, 56, 77 MSGALL.BBS . . . . . . . . . 46 PASSWORD.ANS . . . . . . . . 47 MSGn.ANS . . . . . . . . . . 46 PASSWORD.BBS . . . . . . . . 47 MSGn.BBS . . . . . . . . . . 46 PATH 19, 67, 68, 103, 109, 111 Multinode chat . . . . 56, 113 PCBoard . . . . . . . . . . . 69 MultiNode Chat Status . . . . 27 PCBOARD.DAT . . . . . . . . . 69 Multitasker . . . . . . 18, 134 PCBOARD.SYS . . . . . . . . . 69 MWORK . . . . 7, 38, 74, 95, 96 PCRelay . . . . . . . . . . 134 N.ANS . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 PENDING.ANS . . . . . . . . . 47 N.BBS . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 PENDING.BBS . . . . . . . . . 47 Name . . . . . . . . . . 25, 77 Phone Busy During Config . . 19 Network . . . . . . 28, 30, 133 Phone number . . . . . . . . 56 Networked Conference . . . . 30 PKUNZIP.EXE . . . . 18, 68, 103 New Files . . . . . . . . . . 67 PKZIP.EXE . . . . . . . . . . 68 New Files in QWK . . . . . . 28 Post Message Security . . . . 30 New Messages . . . . . . . . 63 Postlink . . . . . . . . . 134 New user screen . . . . . . . 44 Private Conference . . . . . 30 New User Security Level . . . 17 Private File Area . . . . . . 32 New User Time Limit . . . . . 17 PROECHO . . . . . . . . . . 112 Newsletter . . . . . . . 28, 55 Purge Msgs Older Than . . . . 30 Newsletter in QWK . . . . . . 28 QUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Newsletter log on screen . . 43 QUESTALL.ANS . . . . . . . . 46 The TriBBS Bulletin Board System 142 USERS.DAT . . . . . . . . . 123 USERS.IDX . . . . . . . . . 124 USERS.SUP . . . . . . . . . 124 UTI . . . . . . . . . . 69, 134 UTIDOOR.TXT . . . . . . . . . 69 V.32 . . . . . . . . . . . 115 V.32bis . . . . . . . . . . 115 View Archive . . . . . . . . 67 View Callers Log . . . . 38, 79 Waiting Messages Check . . . 19 Watchdog . . . . . . . . . 134 Watchkit . . . . . . . . . 134 Welcome Display in QWK . . . 27 Who's On . . . . . . . . . . 57 WildCat . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Windows . . . 18, 111, 131, 132 Xmodem . . . . . . . . . . 132 Xmodem-1K . . . . . . . . . 132 XON/XOFF flow control . 22, 136 Your Messages . . . . . . . . 64 ZIP . . . . . . . . 18, 68, 103