EnigmA Amiga Run 1996 February

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Text File | 1995-08-09 | 48KB | 993 lines

TeleFun_BBS User Manual ----------------------- TeleFun_BBS, TeleFun_Setup, TeleFun_UserEdit, and TeleFun_LibEdit are copyright 1993,1994,1995 by Lawrence McClafferty. These files may be freely distributed provided no charge is made beyond the normal charge for disk distribution (maximum $5). Any inclusion in disk clubs, etc. must be ok'ed with the author first (just so I can keep track of where it is going so updates can be provided). TeleFun_BBS is being released as shareware with a $50 (US or Canadian, whichever is easiest for you) registration fee. Any updates are free and may be obtained from The Black Box BBS at (613) 394-0651. TeleFun_BBS has been run on the following Amiga systems with no problems at all: Amiga 500 Amiga 2000 Amiga 3000 If you find that you can get it running on another Amiga system then please let me know so I will know for sure that it runs ok. Any typo errors that appear in this manual have been placed here on purpose. Some people like looking for stuff like that so I like to keep them happy.;) Getting Started --------------- TeleFun_BBS has been designed to be very simple to operate and maintain. If you follow all steps given then you should have no problems. If you do have problems then let me know. I will try to make it even easier to use if people throw suggestions at me. Step 1: You must first have used the TeleFun_Setup program to get all the files and areas created for use. All files must be in their proper directories as follows: TeleFun_BBS - put this anywhere you want. It is only required to get the BBS started. TeleFun_Data - in the s directory (will be created by TeleFun_Setup) TeleFun_Bull - in the directory specified as the BBS directory in the file TeleFun_Data (will be created in the proper directory by TeleFun_Setup) TeleFun_Mail - same as TeleFun_Bull (will be created in the proper directory by TeleFun_Setup) TeleFun_Libs - same as TeleFun_Bull (will be created in the proper directory by TeleFun_Setup) chatsound - in the BBS directory all .ansi and .text files - in the BBS directory XPRD or XPRD.030 - in the BBS directory **SEE NOTE LATER IN MANUAL sound - in the c directory all the xpr?????.library files - in the libs directory Step 2: Double-click on the TeleFun_BBS icon. You may also run TeleFun_BBS from the CLI by typing in the name TeleFun_BBS but you should first ensure your stack is set to 40000 or greater just to be on the safe side. If you get no screen coming up then please recheck all the data you entered in the TeleFun_Setup program. Step 3: When you are asked if you want the modem disabled you can hit either Y for yes or N for no. No would be used for folks who wish to give the BBS a checkout before they actually run it. No data whatsoever will be output to the serial port in this mode. NOTE: I have not tried this next bit out yet but it may work - you may have the BBS running and then load the BBS again but this time respond N to the modem prompt. This should allow you to get on the BBS and do stuff without the need for tying up the system. Like I say though, I don't know if this will work properly yet or not. This WILL be how TeleFun_BBS will operate in a multi- line system later on if I decide to add that feature. You may also allow the timeout to occur. After 10 seconds the BBS will automatically enable the serial port. This has been installed to allow a Sysop to start the BBS from their startup-sequence if their system crashes or a power failure occurs. Step 4: Start using the system. As you can see, it is very easy to get this beast up and running. The next section will give a brief outline of what the various features are. Using TeleFun_BBS- ----------------- Once you have TeleFun_BBS enabled, you will be presented with two windows. The top window is entitled "TeleFun BBS - Caller Status". This is where all information about the caller who is online will appear. The lower window is the BBS itself. Here you will see some of the last callers and info on what they did while online. The following format is used: NUM : the user's account number NAME : the user's board name DAY : the month/day they called TIME : the time they called USED : # of minutes they stayed online UPL : # of files they uploaded DNL : # of files they downloaded PRMSG: # of private messages they posted MAIL : # of public pieces of mail they posted CHT : flag showing whether they tried to chat with you or not BAUD : baud rate they connected at (add 2 zeros to the number) Below this caller info you will see some BBS statistical info. This data is: Recent Uploads : # of files uploaded since Sysop's last call Recent Downloads: # of files downloaded since Sysop's last call Recent Connects : # of connected calls since Sysop's last call Recent No Conect: # of unconnected calls (no carrier) since Sysop's last call Unvalidated User: # of users currently unvalidated on the system Recent Sysop Msg: # of pieces of mail addressed to Sysop and not read yet Chat Attempts : # of times people have tried to chat with Sysop Total Uploads : grand total of all files uploaded Total Downloads : grand total of all files downloaded Total Connects : total number of callers Total # Users : grand total of users on system Total Pub. Msg : grand total of public messages written on system Total Priv Msg : grand total of private messages written on system Last Midmaint : date last midnight maintenance was run Now the system is just sitting there waiting for a caller to show up. Call Coming In- -------------- If you have the voice enabled you will hear this when the modem detects that the line is ringing. The system will pick up the phone and start checking for a carrier. If a carrier is not detected within 45 seconds, the system will hang up and wait for another ring. If the carrier is detected then the system will complete its connection. We Have A Connection- -------------------- Once the connection is established you will hear this (if you have the voice enabled). The caller will then be asked to enter their information. At this point they may use their account number, real name, board name, or zero if they are a new user. If it is not a new user then they will be asked for their password. The password will be blanked out with "*" on all output devices so that no one can see it. If the password is incorrect then a second attempt will be made to get the password. A total of three attempts at the password is allowed and then the system will go back to asking the user what their name is again just in case the person had bad data transmitted the first time. A total of three attempts will be made to get the caller's name with three attempts at the password each time. If all attempts are bad then the system will hang up and wait for another caller. After this, the usual BBS data of date, time, last call date, etc. will be shown to the user. The caller will then be presented with the Welcome.Text message that you have on disk. If that message is not present then a warning message will come up stating it doesn't exist. Main Menu- --------- A - Account Stats B - Bulletins C - Chat With Sysop F - Fun'n Games G - Goodbye H - High Scores I - System Info K - Set Graphics L - Libraries M - Mailbag Q - Quick Menu S - System Stats T - Time Stats U - User List V - Caller Log ? - Reprint This Menu J - Join System X - Sysop Menu NOTE - Sysop_News is presnt NOTE - TeleFun_Uploads is present NOTE - xprd.log is present Above will be seen everything that could possibly come up in the main menu. You may design your own menus as well. For ANSI users you would have a menu saved to disk called mainmenu.ansi. A basic ASCII menu would have the name mainmenu.text. Each item will be covered below in alphabetical order. A - Account Stats- ----------------- This is where a user can view/change the info in their account. If certain items are changed then their account will revert to the NEW USER level so that the Sysop may verify the new information first. B - Bulletins- ------------- This is where the bulletins are listed. C - Chat With Sysop- ------------------- The caller will be prompted for a reason as to why they want to chat. Once the reason has been entered then a "** CHAT **" will appear in the Caller Status window and the title bar of that window will change to what the reason for the chat is. If the reason is less than three characters long the chat attempt will be aborted. Ensure that you have the file "sound" in your c directory and the file "chatsound" in your BBS directory. If not then you will not here the chat request call. The file "chatsound" can be any IFF sound that can be played with the "sound" program. While you are in the chat mode you can turn your printer on and off so you can capture stuff that your user sends. This is automatically turned off when you exit chat mode so you need not worry about turning it off yourself. F - Fun'n Games- --------------- This is where the online games go. There are 5 games coded into TeleFun_BBS as of this writing. This is to ensure that at least a few games are present. Other games are currently being worked on but they will be external games. If enough requests are received, I may even try my hand at getting some of the other BBS program games to work through an interface of some sort. The 5 games that are coded into TeleFun_BBS are played for points. This is where users can try to beat each other into the TOP 20 hall of fame. The games included are: Jujitsu - play against the computer bidding for cards Jackpot - 3 daily tries at guessing the number between 1 and 1000 Hi Roller - roll the dice and try to get over 36 in 5 rolls Slot Machine - average one-armed-bandit type game Black Jack - play 21 against the computer Other games will be developed as time goes on. These other games will NOT be hard coded into the BBS program itself. There will be an interface to handle them. More info to follow on these games at a later date. G - Goodbye- ----------- This speaks for itself. The computer logs the user off and sorts a few things out and then waits for the next caller. The serial port is actuall shut right down at this point and then reopened. This is to help ensure no obscure bits of data lock up the modem for some reason. H - High Scores- --------------- The top 20 users' scores are displayed from here. I - System Info- --------------- This will display the text file System_Info that the Sysop has created to the user. In this file it is a good idea to list the things that make your system tick. Things such as computer type, modem type, drive space, and so on. J - Join System- --------------- This option is only displayed for new users who do not have an account yet. When this option is picked, the new user will be requested for all of their info which will be saved into an account. That user will then go from a guest status to an invalidated user status. K - Set Graphics- ---------------- From here, the user can toggle their ANSI and/or color capabilities on & off. I was going to include this section in the Account Stats area but I figured since it was something that many people toggle on and off depending on what terminal program they are using, that I would have it in its own section. L - Libraries- ------------- This will allow the user into the Library Main Menu. This area will only show a list of the libraries available and from here the user will pick the one they want to go into. If their security status is not valid for the library they have chosen, they can not enter that library. The features available in the libraries are as follows: A - Abort To Library Menu - the user can go back to select a new library without the need of going all the way back to the BBS Main Menu. B - Abort To BBS Main Menu - takes the user right back to the BBS main menu. D - Download Marked Files - allows the user to download any files marked for batch download. E - Edit Batch List - allows the user to delete files from their batch list. L - Long List Of Files - shows all info about the file(s) selected. This is also the list that the user will select to mark or download files from. N - New Files - view only new files in the library. Q - Quick Menu - same as from Main Menu. S - Short List of Files - just like it says. Can not mark or dload from here. U - Upload A File - upload a file to that library. Y - Your Library Statistics - shows the user their file transfer ratio. ? - Reprint This Menu - same as for Main Menu. C - Check number of files in this library - just like the name says. F - Find Unvalidated Files - just like the name says. M - Mailbag- ----------- This works just like the Library option except it is for the message bases. The options are pretty self-explanatory so I won't bother going into them in the manual unless someone asks me to include them. Q - Quick Menu- -------------- For users who prefer the "expert menu" type of screen output (ie. no full menu but just a list of letters) then this is where they can toggle that option. The choice they make will be written to their account so it will always be remembered until the user toggles it again. S - System Stats- ---------------- This will show the caller a list of system statistics such as the number of callers, message written, and so on. T - Time Stats- -------------- The caller will be shown just about everything involving their account and the time. This includes the current time, logon time, last call time, time that their account will reset back to full time, and so on. U - User List- ------------- This displays a list of all user accounts. It shows the board name, the city, and the last call time for each user. V - Caller Log- -------------- A log of callers is maintained for the previous 7 days of running the BBS. A caller can select which log they which to view (current, 1 day ago, 2 days ago and so on). ? - Reprint This Menu- --------------------- If a user has toggled the quick menu on and they forget what one letter meant they can hit the ? to get a one-time view of the menu again. This will not toggle the quick menu flag in their account. X - Sysop Menu- -------------- The Sysop menu contains a few bits of usefull info for Sysop's eyes only. When selected, they Sysop gets a menu showing: A - User Account Editor C - Check Number Of Users D - AmigaDOS E - Text File Editor (not currently working) K - Kill Sysop_News File L - Read Sysop_News File R - Return To BBS S - Search For Unvalidated Users T - Kill TeleFun_Uploads File U - Read TeleFun_Uploads File V - Voice Options W - Kill xprd.log File X - Read xprd.log File Most of these are self-explanatory but here is what they do: A - User Account Editor - edit user's account while online. This is good for when the Sysop is at a remote location but it is faster and easier to use the TeleFun_UserEdit prg. C - Check Number Of Users - looks through user accounts to verify the number of users you have for the System Stats file. D - AmigaDOS - enables access to AmigaDOS while online. For security purposes the FORMAT command has been disabled. E - Text File Editor - if you wish to edit a text file while online. This feature is not currently working in TeleFun_BBS v1.0 but I hope to have it in by the time v2.0 gets out. K - Kill Sysop_News File | the Sysop_News file informs the Sysop of things L - Read Sysop_News File |-such as full msg bases, full libraries, improper | logoffs, and some other stuff. Options K and L allow the Sysop to read that file online or delete it from disk. R - Return To BBS - get out of Sysop Menu mode. S - Search For Unvalidated Users - so the Sysop doesn't need to keep track of a new user's account number, this option will go through and find them for you. It will also update the number of invalidated users for the System Stats file. T - Kill TeleFun_Uploads File | U - Read TeleFun_Uploads File |- the TeleFun_Uploads file keeps track of what | was uploaded where and by who. The Sysop can read the file online or delete it from disk. V - Voice Options - you can alter the spots where the computer speaks. The changes will not affect the TeleFun_Data file though. To make the changes permanent you must change the number in the TeleFun_Data file as well. W - Kill xprd.log File | the xprd.log file is the file created by XPRD when X - Read xprd.log File |-it is run. It will show how the file transfer was | progressing throughout its time. At the current time, the three files Sysop_News, TeleFun_Uploads, and xprd.log will be written out to disk. If enough requests come in then I will put these in as a Sysop's option as to whether they get written out or not. Well, that about covers the overview of all the main points. If there is any area that you wish to see more developed in this manual then please let me know and I will add it in. Other Notes: ----------- Libraries - files in the library can be saved as: a) free file - no affect on user's account b) regular - size of file and increment of one added to account c) free/password protect - same as "a" but password required d) regular/password protect - same as "b" but password required - user with security clearance can edit a few things about the file - uploader can password protect a file but Sysop can see password - the R option will show a list of the last uploads. This list will contain only the last 50 uploads (or up to the last 50). Special XPRD notes - you will see that there are two XPRD files included with TeleFun BBS. They are XPRD and XPRD.030. If you are running an Amiga with a 68000 then use the XPRD file. If you are using an accelerator such as the 68030 then you MUST use the XPRD.030 file. Rename it as XPRD and place it in the BBS directory. Either way, you MUST have a file called XPRD in the BBS directory. Messages - hitting "G" from the mailbag menu will do a global new read of all message bases user has access to. - hitting "C" from the mailbag menu will do a global search of all mail addressed to the user and tells if it is old or new mail. Text Files Required: ------------------- Here is a list of files that you can create yourself to go along with the BBS. Not all these files are a MUST HAVE. The .ansi and .text menu lists are for your choice. If you don't use them then the BBS will use default menus. The other files will report an error if they are not present but this error will NOT crash the BBS. Any of these files that you create must be located in the directory specified in the TeleFun_Data file as your BBS directory unless otherwise stated. **************************************************************************** Welcome.Text - welcoming screen when user first logs on **************************************************************************** mainmenu.ansi - ANSI screen of the BBS main menu **************************************************************************** mainmenu.text - plain ASCII screen of the BBS main menu **************************************************************************** libmenu1.ansi - ANSI screen of main library menu (list of libraries) **************************************************************************** libmenu1.text - ASCII screen of main library menu (list of libraries) **************************************************************************** libmenu2.ansi - ANSI screen of library menu for library entered **************************************************************************** libmenu2.text - ASCII screen of library menu for library entered **************************************************************************** mailmenu1.ansi - ANSI screen of mailbag menu (list of message bases) **************************************************************************** mailmenu1.text - ASCII screen of mailbag menu (list of message bases) **************************************************************************** mailmenu2.ansi - ANSI screen of message base menu for base entered **************************************************************************** mailmenu2.text - ASCII screen of message base menu for base entered **************************************************************************** Goodbye.Text - message shown to user when they log off **************************************************************************** NewUser.Text - message shown to user when they hit J for Join **************************************************************************** AfterJoin.Text - message shown to user after they have joined **************************************************************************** bullmenu.ansi - ANSI screen of bulletins menu (list of bulletins) **************************************************************************** bullmenu.text - ASCII screen of bulletin menu (list of bulletins) **************************************************************************** chatter.text - message shown to user when they select C for Chat **************************************************************************** System_Info - message shown to user when they select S for System Info **************************************************************************** pay.txt - message shown to user who is all paid up - this is only required if you are running a pay BBS **************************************************************************** nopay.txt - message shown to user who has not paid - this is only required if you are running a pay BBS **************************************************************************** midmaint - this file is used for running extra things at the midnight maintenance (ie. reset your clock, copy USER.DATA file to someplace to keep a backup of it, etc.). Example: setclock load copy dh1:tfbbs/USER.DATA dh0:BBS-Backups copy dh1:tfbbs/TeleFun_Stats dh0:BBS-Backups **************************************************************************** arch.end - list of file endings allowed for file uploads (MUST HAVE) - this MUST follow the format shown here (example of mine) 5 }the top number tells the BBS how many endings there are. If you .LHA }use 3 then only the first 3 endings have any effect so make sure .LZH }you put the proper number in here. DO NOT put anything after each .GIF }of the endings. See the arch.end file included if this is still .SDA }not very clear. .JPG } **************************************************************************** validate1 - info used when validating a user online. validate2 - there are two files so you can set two different types of user validation files. - if these files do not exist in your BBS directory then you will not be able to validate users while they are online. - these files MUST have the following format: line 1 - put a Y or a N here to indicate whether the user will have access to the online games. line 2 - value for message read access (covers msg bases 1-32) line 3 - value for message read access (covers msg bases 33-64) line 4 - value for message write access (covers msg bases 1-32) line 5 - value for message write access (covers msg bases 33-64) line 6 - value for library upload access (covers libs 1-32) line 7 - value for library upload access (covers libs 33-64) line 8 - value for library download access (covers libs 1-32) line 9 - value for library download access (covers libs 33-64) line 10 - value for bulletin read access (covers bulletins 1-32) line 11 - value for bulletin read access (covers bulletins 33-64) Here is an example of what my validate1 file looks like: Y 15 0 15 0 -1 33554431 -1 33554431 127 0 Your validate1 and validate2 files may look different depending on how many message bases, libraries, and bulletins you have. You may wonder how to come up with the various values. These are easy to get with the use of the offline user editor program. Set up your account for the way you want the validate1 file to work. Then copy down the values beside the various items you need to set. The value may look like this in the UserEdit program: I. Msg. Read Acces: 0/15 J. Msg Write Acces: 0/15 M. Upload Access : 33554431/-1 N. Dload Access : 33554431/-1 Q. Bulletin Access: 0/127 The numbers can be seen seperated by a "/". The first value represents any area from 33-64 and the second value represents areas 1-32. Use the values you wish in your validate1 and validate2 files. Please note that you do not need both validate1 and validate2. It is just that two have been included in case you need two standard ways to validate users (I use validate1 for users over age 18 and validate2 for users under age 18 so I can set the proper library areas they can and can't access). **************************************************************************** L?.text - library descriptor file. The ? means the library number that the text file coincides with (ie. L1.text, L2.text, etc.). You may want to write a small description of what each library is used for. This way people may get a better understanding of what that specific library will hold. The text file(s) are not mandatory. If the BBS can not find it then it will bypass it without any problems. If you do decide to make text files, then they MUST be located in the Libraries dir of the main BBS dir (where you will also find the L-1, L-2, 1.list, 2.list, and so on files). ****************************************************************************** Using The Doors Games: --------------------- To make use of any of the games or whatever that will be coming out for TeleFun BBS, you must have a directory named DOORS assigned to someplace. All games will operate out of this directory. Full details on how to set up each game will be included with the game. To be able to have the games appear in the menu, you will need to create a text file in the main BBS directory. This text file will be called Door.games and it will look something like this: 1 Land Quest Doors:LandQuest/LandQuest The first line is the game number for use in the BBS. Just number your games starting at one and going on from there. The second line is the name of the game as you would see it. The third line is the exact pathname used for running the game (the same as you would type in if running from the CLI). ****************************************************************************** Commands Required In C Directory: -------------------------------- The following commands are required by the BBS in your c directory. Please ensure they are there: copy delete execute filenote join list Future Plans for TeleFun_BBS: ---------------------------- 1. The whole BBS is currently being rewritten in C (SAS/C version 6.5 to be exact). This means some major changes will be coming. 2. Create an interface for more games to be added. Maybe even to allow the use of games already written for BBS programs like Tag, Paragon, Metro, and any others I can't think of right now. 3. Do you want control over what colors are used where? In other words, do you want the ability to be able to pick and choose the colors you use or would you rather me leave it hard coded in as it is now? 4. I'm still looking for more ideas from all you folks out there. Even if you are not running TeleFun_BBS but you have an idea of what you would like to see in a BBS program then drop me a line. ****************************************************************************** TeleFun_BBS Bug Report: ---------------------- Please use the following form when you are reporting problems with TeleFun_BBS since this will help me identify where I went wrong a little easier. YOUR ACCOUNT NUMBER ON BLACK BOX BBS IF APPLICABLE :______________ NAME :__________________________________ TODAY'S DATE ADDRESS :_______________________________ __________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ PHONE (if you want) :_______________________ BBS NAME :__________________________________ BBS PHONE :_________________________________ Computer Setup (try to be VERY detailed) :___________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ What sort of requestor appeared? _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ What error number/description was displayed? ________________________________ What was happening on the BBS at the time of the error? _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Did this happen more than once?_________________ How often?__________________ If you want to help out even further, you can do so by capturing what the screen looked like when the system bombed. Use any screen capture program and stick that IFF picture on a disk along with a copy of the version of TeleFun_BBS that you are currently using and any text file that you wish to explain what the error was. Then mail that disk to me. In return I will try to resolve that error and put the newest version of TeleFun_BBS on your disk and mail it back to you. Please enclose $1 or $2 to help cover the cost of mailing the disk to you. This applies to registered users only. ***************************************************************************** Registering Your Copy of TeleFun_BBS: ------------------------------------ If you wish to register your copy of TeleFun_BBS then please send the registration form and $50 (no personal cheques please) to: Lawrence McClafferty Upper Second Road, RR #5 Trenton, Ontario Canada K8V 5P8 If you include an extra $5 you will receive the latest version of TeleFun_BBS on disk. Please allow a few weeks for delivery. Once you are registered you can obtain any updates from The Black Box BBS at (613) 394-0651. The Black Box BBS - home of the TeleFun_BBS software. - currently running on an - Amiga 2000 Tower 68030 - 1.05 gigs hard drive storage - 5 megs memory - Supra FaxModem 288 v.FC. History: ------- Version 1.00 - January 19, 1993 - initial release of TeleFun_BBS Version 1.01 - January 23, 1993 - fixed "New Files" option in library - modified message base area to try eliminating seek errors Version 1.02 - January 27, 1993 - some minor cosmetic changes - modification to the way messages are saved. Message length is now a max of 99 lines instead of only 30. You MUST run TeleFun_Setup version 1.01 (or higher) to reconfigure the message base area BEFORE changing from TeleFun_BBS 1.01 to 1.02. - added new feature to message bases. Now you can "Photocopy" a message to any number of users. This means you can send a duplicate of the message without the need for typing the message in all over again. Version 1.03 - February 25, 1993 - small tweak to the message base area (was still getting seek errors). - added "review last 50 uploads" option to library. Version 1.04 - May 11, 1993 - added personal mail check at logon. - attempted to fix message editor. Version 1.05 - May 31, 1993 - needed another tweak in the message editor section. - midnight maintenance will wait until user has finished now instead of kicking them off at midnight. - executes a script file set by Sysop now so more stuff can be done during the mignight maintenance. - added ability to validate user while that user is online (see docs above). Version 1.06 - June 21, 1993 - added ability to print message out to the printer if the user has SYSOP access and it is a local logon and the printer log file is NOT turned on. Version 1.07 - June 28, 1993 - added ability for Sysop to turn on printer while in chat mode so a user could dump something straight out there. - removed printer log and disk log stuff (was really only in for the initial bug swatting process anyway). Version 1.08 - July 31, 1993 - some minor tweaks done in message base read functions. - spaced out menu options in Sysop menu for easier reading. - took out pause when reading Welcome.Text at logon. - fixed up delay at start of each line when writing messages. - fixed "missing library files" bug. Version 1.09 - August 1, 1993 - added ability for Sysop to import a disk text file as a msg. Version 1.10 - August 16, 1993 - did some work in the message base area to make things a little more effecient. - did some work in the library area to make things a little more efficient. - started adding abilitiy for boldface, underlined, and italic text. Version 1.11 - November 2, 1993 - some minor cosmetic work in the msg base area and libs. Version 1.13 - December 2, 1993 (Oops, guess I missed version 1.12) - fixed bug in online validator, now you can successfully validate new users while they are online. Version 1.14 - December 14, 1993 - added library description capability, can have a small text file on disk describing each library that the user goes into. See Text Files Required above for more info. - added ability to logoff directly from the libraries and the message bases without the need for returning to the main BBS menu first. - started adding door game interface stuff. - when looking for a specific file in the libraries, the BBS will also search the description of the file as well as the name of the file if you enter at least 3 characters of the filename or description. - a few more cosmetic tweaks to fine tune things. Version 1.15 - December 19, 1993 - added message auto-deletion. Msgs will now automatically be deleted to make room for new mail. A msg can be "locked" to prevent its being deleted though. - added ability to download a list of files from each library. Version 1.16 - December 29, 1993 - attempted to fix uploads/downloads for systems not using a high speed modem. Version 1.17 - January 1, 1994 - finally fixed the message bug. Version 1.18 - January 4, 1994 - user has choice of plain text list or archived (using LHA) text list when receiving a file list in the libs. - put pause back in when showing Welcome.Text at logon. - fixed two bugs; one in chat mode, second in msg writing area. If user entered line longer than 75 characters with no spaces in that line, system would go into endless loop. Now system will set that line to a length of 75 characters. Version 1.19 - January 10, 1994 - added the wall. To use the wall you MUST first make a subdir in the main BBS dir and call it Wall. Version 1.20 - February 8, 1994 - changed the way the modem answers the call. The BBS will send out the ATA command when it senses a ring now so you MUST remove any reference to S0=1 in your data file located in the s directory. - made the menu choices in the games "hot key" so user can make choices faster. - user's account for upload credit is not done until the file is validated now. Version 1.21 - March 4, 1994 - added ability to download ALL or NEW scribbles from the wall so the user can read them offline if they wish. - added ability to download all NEW messages from message bases that the user has access to. - paying members now get to download twice as many files per day as non-paying members do. Versions 1.22 - 1.23 - minor bugs squashed. Version 1.24 - July 18, 1994 - added ability for higher high-speed modems (28.8k). Version 1.25 - October 19, 1994 - added check for number of users feature and check number of unvalidated users feature to run at midnight maintenance. Version 1.26 - November 6, 1994 - added Caller ID capability. The BBS will keep a log file of all the calls that come if you are using a modem that supports the Caller ID feature. At the moment ths feature has only been run with a Supra modem that has caller id. To set the Caller ID to active with the Supra, you need to add CID#=1 to your init string. When the modem detects the first RING, the modem will pick up the phone and hang it back up right away. This is how the modem gets its info. That info is then passed to the BBS and is written out to a file called "Caller_ID" located in your BBS directory. The modem will then detect the second RING and pick up the phone normally. The person calling in will see the message "Your call is comin in from ....." where .... will be either the caller's phone number or the message "an unknown number". The "unknown number" message will appear if: a. Caller ID has not been activated on your modem or if your modem does not support Caller ID. b. The call is coming in long distance and your phone company does not handle the display of long distance numbers yet. c. A call came in while the BBS was still resetting itself and the modem so it wasn't ready to grab the info. At this time, the Caller_ID file is only accessible from the Shell and not from within the BBS itself. You can use any text editor to read it. The only way to delete the file is also from the Shell. This will all change in future versions of the BBS. Some people may want to add a script to their midnight maint file that will copy the Caller_ID file to some location so they can keep a copy for future references. Version 1.27 - November 14,1994 - reason for chat request gets written out to Sysop_News file so Sysop can keep track of why people wanted to chat in case they feel it may have been important and the user didn't leave mail. Version 1.28 - December 4, 1994 - fixed message auto-delete. It wasn't working right. - fixed ability to lock messages from auto-deletion. - fixed message edit function. - added ability to use TAB key when writing a message. Version 1.29 - December 23, 1994 - added ability to attach a file to a message so user can dload the file after reading the message. Version 1.30 - January 14, 1995 - added ability to view the contents of the .LHA and .LZH archives. - added message counter to show which message number out of how many messages you are reading. - did some minor cosmetic changes. Version 1.31 - January 15, 1995 - added quick message scan. Version 1.32 - February 1, 1995 - added 3 items to menu when waiting for caller. They are: 5 - M Off => you can turn the modem off without the need for shutting down the BBS. Comes in handy when you want to load up your terminal program to place a call so you don't have to shut down and reload the BBS. Handy when used with option 6 (see below). 6 - M On => you can turn the modem back on. Need I say more? 7 - Sleep => makes the BBS go to sleep until you hit the RETURN key. Since GFA-Basic is sort of a CPU hog, there are times you don't want the BBS to slow down something you need to do temporarily. Now you can put the BBS to sleep, go do your thing, and then come back to the BBS window, click once in the Options window to activate it, and then hit RETURN to wake the BBS back up. No need to shut down the BBS to gain a bit of speed for those times you really need it. - fixed the bug in the Caller ID that was showing the wrong number for incoming long distance calls. - fixed bug that would crash system if someone bet too big of a number in any of the games. Version 1.33 - March 1, 1995 - fixed a bug that was causing a crash some times in the libs. Version 1.34 - March 4, 1995 (happy birthday to me) - fixed the "Update User's Account" when validating files in the libraries now. Version 1.35 - August 8,1995 - disabled the "Update User's Account" when validating files since it is still not working properly. I will get it fixed when I rewrite the whole thing in C. - this is the last update that will be done until the C version comes out (hopefully later this fall of 1995). Known Bugs: ---------- The following is a list of the bugs that I already know about. They are currently being worked on and will be fixed as soon as I find out what is causing them. Let's hope this list stays small (grin). - some people have reported bugs in the file transfer area of the program. I have confirmed that there is a bit of trouble here and there. It almost appears as though file transfers will not work properly under Workbench 1.3 but they are working fine under 2.04 and up. Also, people have had a problem doing file transfers when operating with a normal 2400 baud modem. My beta tester is running TeleFun using a stock Amiga 2000 with a Supra 2400 baud external modem. He uses the default initialization string for the modem and he has his baud rate set for 2400 in preferences and a buffer size of 8192 and a handshaking of none and he has file transfers working with no problems so just play around with those settings. Also, for you high speed modem users, MAKE SURE you set the "lock DTE rate to on. - people report that the system dies during library stuff. This could be caused by having a complete pathname longer than 30 characters. This is NOT a fault in the BBS program. It is a limitation of GFA-Basic which I can do nothing about. Make sure your pathnames are shorter than 30 chars. At times, the BBS may die with an error 111 after a file transfer. I have not quite narrowed it down to why this happens but it does not happen very often (it happened on my system maybe 3 times in 6 months). - to update the number of files and the score of a user when they upload a file, you must do it manually for now. The BBS was crashing when it was done automatically for some reason. To do this, find out how many files and the number of kilobytes of the files and update the user's account through the offline user editor. Sorry for this problem but it will get fixed when I release the C version of the BBS. - the access to AmigaDOS from the Sysop menu is not fully bug free. There are many things you can do like copy files between directories and such but many things are not yet supported. If you try to CD to a new directory for instance then you just might crash. Use the AmigaDOS function very carefully to avoid crashes. - edditting a user's account from the Sysop menu will cause a crash as well. I think this problem is in the same area as when trying to update a user's account when validating files so do NOT use the user account editor from the Sysop menu for now. It will be fixed when the C version comes out. Modem Strings: ------------- I have run TeleFun BBS with a USRobotics Courier HST modem and a Supra FaxModem with no problems. Below I will keep a list of the initialization strings used with various modems just in case you have troubles. If other people send me their modem init. strings, I will include those as well. Supra 2400 : ATE0M0 USRobotics Courier HST : ATE0M0&B1 Supra FaxModem 14.4 v.32 bis : ATE0M0W2 (for caller id use ATE0M0W2#CID=1) Supra FaxModem 288 v.FC : ATE0M0W2 (for caller id use ATE0M0W2#CID=1) Things For The Future: --------------------- There are many plans in the works for the TeleFun BBS program. I am currently teaching myself C (using SAS/C 6.50). The BBS will be completely redone in C some time next year. When that happens you can expect more online games to be able to be used. Also, I am planning on adding netmail stuff to the BBS. This may not show up until near the fall of '95 though. If my C stuff really starts to come along then I will even see about maybe making the program handle multi-lines. I may even get around to buying myself one of the Planet Connect satellite systems and get that all worked into the BBS too (if I get enough people to register for the BBS to cover my cost for the system that is). Any other ideas will come from you so don't hesitate about making suggestions.