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VOICE B.J. GUILLOT MODEM (713) 893-9123 2611 RUSHWOOD CIRCLE (713) 893-9124 HOUSTON TEXAS 77067-1941 Copyright B.J. Guillot 1991-1992. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================= BGQWK 1.0 beta 19 29 DEC 91 ============================================================= Dedicated to Gene Roddenberry 1921-1991 ------------------------------------------------------------- ABSTRACT ------------------------------------------------------------- BGQWK has two modes of operation. When used as a door, users can prepare universal QWK mail packets online and upload REP reply packets. When used in prepack mode, BGQWK creates a specific user's QWK packet offline for later downloading through GT Power. BGQWK can presently be used with GT 15.50, 16.00 and 17.00 and works just great on LAN systems. ------------------------------------------------------------- INCLUDED FILES ------------------------------------------------------------- 1. BGQWK.DOC -- documentation 2. BGQWK.HLP -- help file shown to users when in bgqwk door 3. XT-EXE.ZIP ( you will have the XT-EXE or AT-EXE in your ZIP ) ------------ bgqwk.exe -- 8088 version utihigh.exe -- 8088 version utiexprt.exe -- 8088 version utiimprt.exe -- 8088 version 3. AT-EXE.ZIP ------------ bgqwk.exe -- 80286+ version utihigh.exe -- 80286+ version utiexprt.exe -- 80286+ version utiimprt.exe -- 80286+ version ------------ 4. EXAMPLES.ZIP ------------ gt.bat -- example for running prepack and qwk network schedule.bbs -- example for running prepack and qwk network gtddir.bbs -- how to set bgqwk as a door gtdoors.bbs -- door screen shown to users on board gtdoor1.bat -- batch file to run bgqwk on a ram disk gtdoor2.bat -- batch file to run bgqwk on a hard drive bgqwk.cnf -- example configuration file tnet.cfg -- example tnet configuration file c-tech.cfg -- example to qwk network off of computech bbs c-tech.scr -- script to call computech bbs for qwk network c-tech.bat -- performs the work for gt network hopper.cfg -- example to qwk network off of ed hopper's bbs hopper.scr -- script to call ed hopper's bbs for qwk network hopper.bat -- performs the work for texasnet 5. REGISTER.FRM -- registration form ------------------------------------------------------------- CONFIGURATION ------------------------------------------------------------- BGQWK requires a configuration file in order to run. This file may be placed in the GTPATH or BBS/CBS directories. In order to explain the configuration with ease, take a look at this example: id=TRANQUIL sn=B.J. Guillot bn=Tranquility Base bc=Houston, Texas bp=713-893-9124 up=C:\GT\UPLOADS we=C:\GT\BBSFILE\GTWELCOM.CBS ne=C:\GT\BBSFILE\GTBULLET.CBS by=C:\GT\BBSFILE\GTBYE.CBS ma=100 mp=1000 ns=John Doe/gt ns=Node Houston/tx ns=Jimmy Dean/rn gt ----+---+------------+[xx=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] 000 | z | Main Board | lo=D:\MAIL\GENERAL 045 | z | General | tx=D:\MAIL\TNET001,P 046 | z | Aggies | tx=D:\MAIL\TNET003,P 047 | z | Buy/Sell | tx=D:\MAIL\TNET004,P 048 | z | Politics | tx=D:\MAIL\TNET005,P 049 | z | Singles | tx=D:\MAIL\TNET006,PA 050 | 0 | Admin | tx=D:\MAIL\TNET002,P 005 | z | Common | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET004 038 | z | Faxmail | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET278 051 | z | Global | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET082 037 | z | Rime News | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET200,R 023 | z | Rime Users | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET104 052 | z | Uplink | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET024 001 | z | Ansi Art | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET109 002 | z | Assembler | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET135 003 | z | Astronomy | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET088 004 | z | C | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET100 006 | z | Comp Tech | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET006 012 | z | Cult TV | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET245 007 | z | Debate | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET003 008 | z | Doctor Who | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET116 009 | z | Engineer | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET108 010 | z | Entertain | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET016 011 | z | For Sale | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET002 013 | z | Fractals | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET148 016 | z | Hard Disk | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET014 017 | z | Ham Radio | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET015 018 | z | LAN | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET017 019 | z | Offline | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET264 020 | z | Pascal | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET097 021 | z | Program'ng | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET010 022 | z | QuickBasic | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET099 024 | z | Religion | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET076 025 | z | Sci/Tech | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET083 026 | z | Sci/Fi | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET030 027 | z | Shareware | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET056 035 | z | SLMR | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET260 028 | z | Star Trek | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET101 029 | z | Strange | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET179 030 | z | Tandy | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET129 031 | z | USR/HST | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET023 032 | z | Video Tech | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET192 033 | z | Windows | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET044 034 | z | Wire Wrap | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET199 014 | 0 | Admin | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET025 036 | 0 | Sysops | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET001 015 | z | Gfx Proj | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET261 040 | 0 | Netmail | lo=D:\MAIL\NETMAIL,N 041 | z | AnsiArt | gt=D:\MAIL\E10-037,P 039 | z | Bg Qwk | gt=D:\MAIL\E02-758,P 042 | z | GT Power | gt=D:\MAIL\E00-001,P 043 | 0 | GT Beta | gt=d:\MAIL\E01-009,P 044 | 0 | Hou Chat | gt=D:\MAIL\E20-002,P Let's go over the above file one step at a time. ID= This is what will be used as your board "id". It can be up to eight characters long. If omitted, the default "id" will be "NONAME". SN= This is what will be used as the sysop's name. This too is optional, and if not used, will default to "Sysop", which doesn't do much for you. When users enter messages to "Sysop" through their QWK reader, if this is used, the name will be translated to the name specified here. BN= This is where the name of your board goes. If omitted, the default is "NONAME". BC= This is where the city and state of your board goes. If omitted, the default is "Planet, Earth". BP= This is where the phone number of your board goes. If omitted, the default is "000-000-0000". UP= BGQWK will create, on request by the user, a list of new files available on the board since their last file scan. If you wish to specify a different directory to scan for files, this is where do you do it. If this is omitted, the directory to be checked for files will be taken out of the GT.CNF file (from directive UP=). WE= BGQWK will create, on request by the user, a WELCOME file to be displayed when reading their packet (depending upon the software they are using). If this is omitted, BGQWK will use the GTWELCOM.CBS file found in your GTPATH or BBS/CBS directory as the WELCOME file. If another file is specified, it will be used as the WELCOME file. NE= BGQWK will create, on request by the user, a NEWS file to be displayed when reading their packet (depending upon the software they are using). If this is omitted, BGQWK will use the GTBULLET.CBS file found in your GTPATH or BBS/CBS directory as the NEWS file. If another file is specified, it will be used as the NEWS file. BY= BGQWK will create, on request by the user, a GOODBYE file to be displayed when reading their packet (depending upon the software they are using). If this is omitted, BGQWK will use the GTBYE.CBS file found in your GTPATH or BBS/CBS directory as the GOODBYE file. If another file is specified, it will be used as the GOODBYE file. MA= As the sysop, you can specify the maximum messages per conference a user can download. The user can also select how many maximum messages per conference in the door, but will never be able to override the limit specified here. If this is omitted, the maximum will be set to 200. MP= As the sysop, you can specify the maximum messages per packet a user can download. The user can also select how many maximum messages per packet in the door, but will never be able to override the limit specified here. If omitted, the maximum will be set to 2000. NS= Please see the NET STATUS section in this documentation. ----+---+------------+[xx=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] The line that seperates the configuration information from the conference information is the above. This is completely optional and may be removed. Its only purpose to to provide a ruler for the conference information. ┌─────────────── conference name │ ┌─── net id ┌─── conference path 000 | z | Main Board | lo=D:\MAIL\GENERAL 045 | z | General | tx=D:\MAIL\TNET001,P 046 | z | Aggies | tx=D:\MAIL\TNET003,R 047 | z | Buy/Sell | tx=D:\MAIL\TNET004,P 048 | z | Politics | tx=D:\MAIL\TNET005,P 049 | z | Singles | tx=D:\MAIL\TNET006,PA 050 | 0 | Admin | tx=D:\MAIL\TNET002,P 005 | z | Common | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET004 │ 038 | z | Faxmail | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET278 └─── conference options │ └─── access level └──────── conference number The remaining part of the BGQWK.CNF file consists of the conference information. Every confernece on your board that you wish users to have QWK access to _must be_ configure. Please note that you do not have to configure every conference on your board. Just the ones you wish users to have access to in the door--with one exception--you _must_ have the main message base conference configured (the conference number will not be of consequence). Remember, the main conference is the one that GT pops up by default when users login (the conference specified by the MP= directive in GT.CNF). CONFERENCE NUMBER ----------------- The conference number is a very important part of this file. Please note that the numbers do not have to go in order, but if you choose to do it that way, be sure to check for duplicate numbers. If BGQWK finds a conference with a duplicate number, it will abort with an error message and return to the board. A maximum of 510 conferences can be used by BGQWK (conferences numbers 0 to 509). Once you have choosen a conference number for a particular conference, I _highly_ recommend you keep it that way. Do _not_ shift the conference numbers around. The conference numbers must be static, they must stay in place. When users upload replies through BGQWK, the MSG file header instead of the REP packet stores the conference number that was used when they originally replied to the message. If a user wrote that reply a week ago and is just now uploading the packet, if you changed the message base numbers, their messages will be sent into the wrong conference. You wouldn't want, say, someone's replies from a sexual oriented conference to be posted into a religion conference, would you? In fact, because of conference number, that is another reason why information cannot be read out of the GTMDIR.BBS file. GT's message base numbers are dynamic. They change depending on access level or whenever you insert a message base between another one. That is unacceptable in the QWK format. Let's have a little discussion concerning the dos and don'ts of conference numbers in this file. Say you have conferences 0 to 46. You wish to delete conference 12 because you don't carry it anymore. No problem. Just load up your editor and zap that line. Conference numbers so not have to be sequential. There can be big gaps between numbers. The QWK readers don't care about that. But say you are adding a conference that same day. Since you have a space open at 12, you think about using 12 as the conference number. Wrong! Make it conference 47. Why? Well, again, what if a user was using that conference and is going to upload some replies tomorrow, they will be posted into the wrong conference. And, as I said before, I don't think you want to mess with the hassle of that. If you make the new conference 47 and leave 12 blank for now, that would be fine. Now, say you pick up another conference a few weeks down the road. You don't know whether to assign it number 12 or 48. Since so much time has passed, I doubt users will have any replies waiting to go into the conference, so I would just toss a coin. It doesn't really matter after that. It's your decision then. Conference numbers must be padded, to the left, with zeros. They are only padded in the configuration file--no where else. This is done so that the sysop remembers that BGQWK.CNF has a definite format and can not be changed. Do not take out the pipe bars, |, between lines. If you do, BGQWK will inform you that the format has been tampered with and will abort back to the board. CONFERENCE NAME --------------- Please note that the conference name is limited to ten characters. That's all that the QWK format is able to support. You might be asking "Why don't you pull the information out of GTMDIR.BBS?" right about this time. There are several reasons for not doing this. The conference name limit of ten characters is one. If I pulled the information from the GTMDIR.BBS file, I would have to truncate the description to only ten characters long. I would much rather give the sysop the option of naming the conference because he or she can get the meaning across much more by abbreviating than by truncation. ACCESS LEVEL ------------ This part is pretty much self-explantory. The access levels work the same way they do in GT. BGQWK pulls the users access level from the USER.CTL file rather than the GTUSER.BBS file. If the user does not possess the minimum access level required to access a specific conference, that conference selection will not be shown to the user. NET ID ------ This will be discussed further in the NET STATUS section of this documentation, but it is also a useful tool for the users in BGQWK. The two letter net id plus the equal sign is optional and may be left out of the BGQWK.CNF file for specific conferences. If that is done, BGQWK assumes the conference has a net id of "LO", local conference. The net id's must be two letters and only two letters. On my board, I have the following net id's set up: LO for Local, RN for RelayNet, GT for GT Network, and TX for TexasNet. When the users select their conferences through BGQWK, they have the option of listing all conferences or listing only the conferences from a particular network. Say they are interested just in TexasNet, for instance. They can list only the six or seven TexasNet conferences and not be bothered with all the others. The net id's work similiar to the message base "boards" in GT 17.00. CONFERENCE PATH --------------- The path is represented in the same manner that it is represented in the GTMDIR.BBS file. You do not need to input a trailing backslash or the \GTMSGS directory. BGQWK handles that automatically. CONFERENCE OPTIONS ------------------ You specify conference options right after the conference path followed by a comma. These are completly optional and can be omitted. Here is a list of currently supported options: G,* Conference is a guest or application only conference. If specified, when a user tries to join this conference, they will not be able to download and mail until the sysop offically "joins" them into the base. BGQWK displays a "pending" indicator to the user. A,= Conference is access level exclusive. Even if a user has an access level high enough to view the conference, if they don't have the _same_ access level specified as the conference access level, they will _not_ be given access to that conference. N,~ Conference is a GT netmail conference. To send netmail messages, it requires netmail credits. Because QWK readers do not know about GT and the way it's netmail system operates, the user, if he or she wishes to send a true netmail message, must enter the node/net id as the first line of the message. Both the net and the node must be padded to the left with zeros. Example message text: 001/070 Hello, Russell. Just testing netmail! .DX Regards, B.J. Guillot BGQWK will intercept the "001/070" and change the message header to reflect a netmail message to that destination. Another thing to note is that netmail messages can be placed in _any_ conference. If BGQWK senses a xxx/yyy line as the first line of any message uploaded, it will route it to the netmail conference (identified with the N or ~ conference option). If a user tries to use a "dot" command in netmail, the "dot" will be turned into an asterick _unless_ that user is granted sysop authorities. In my sample message above, if I did not have sysop authorities (SY access in the GTUSER.BBS file), the .DX would change to *DX so the GT netmail software would not process it. P,^ Conference is a public message area _only_. Private messages are not permitted. You will most likely want this flag on any GT Network conferences. Because RelayNet can handle private messages, there is no need to use it on RIME conferences. R,< Conference is a read _only_ conference. No messages may be entered, period. X,$ Conference is private _only_. No public messages are permitted. S Conference is 7 bit only. Any 8 bit characters will be stripped of their 8 bit. This option is useful for FidoNet conferences or UseNet conferences where 8 bit characters are big bad and naughty. Otherwise, I would not recommend using this option. Please note that many of the above options have two different characters that do the job. For example, P and ^ both mean public message area only. I did this for the people who know and love GT's traditional message flag set. Since I always get confused with the characters, I just included the letter options for other people like me. Also, you can use more than one option per conference. However, be sure to to use any that "cancel the other out". For example, you might not want a conference to be public only and private only. BGQWK might through a fit! ------------------------------------------------------------- After you have spent forever and a day typing your configuration file <grin>, you're almost ready to begin! However, listen to this recommendation closely ... You may want to only enter conference data for ten conferences, make sure BGQWK runs, and then type the rest. You don't want to be stuck entering the wrong format for three echos, do you? ------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- COMMAND LINE OPTIONS AND PARAMETERS ------------------------------------------------------------- BGQWK requires at least two parameters in order to run. The two parameters are the command line options and the drive which BGQWK is expected to work on. Example: bgqwk mgk f: The first paramter batch contain specfic options for the way in which BGQWK operates. The "f:" means work on drive F: will be used for the work directory. THE WORK DRIVE -------------- You might be wondering why the door requires a work drive to be specified in order to run? Well, when preparing QWK packets, an enormous amount of space is sometimes required. BGQWK may need several megabytes to work with depending on how many messages you allow the user to download and how many messages the user chooses to download. Don't worry about running out of space, though. BGQWK will try its best not to eat all the space at once. You may want to place two doors for BGQWK on your system. This is the way mine is set up. I have one door for BGQWK on a RAM disk and one door for BGQWK on a HD. My RAMdisk only supports one megabyte, but many users don't download packets much larger than 100K most of the time, so they want to access the speed that a RAMdisk possess when BGQWK is working. The second door just uses BGQWK on whichever Hard Drive I tell it to use (usually either the faster one or the one that has the most space). Oh, and speaking of RAM disks ... I _highly_, _highly_, _highly_ recommend using both a large RAM disk, if you have it, and a large disk cache. Together, they can make BGQWK fly at supersonic speeds (well, _much_ faster than it would if you don't run a cache or RAM disk). Of course, using RAM disks and disk cache's are totally up to you. If you're not running them now, it's probably because you don't have any extra memory lying around. If you do, by all means, find a disk cache and install it. You will be amazed at how much faster BGQWK, GT, and all your other programs run. Anyway, ... when BGQWK runs, it will create it's own work directory on whatever drive you specify. The directory will be called \BG$WORK$\.pid, where "pid" is the current PID number of whatever node is currently using BGQWK. This allows multiple nodes to use BGQWK at the same time on the same drive. If you are not using a LAN, the PID number will most likely by "0". The work directory will always be deleted when the door is exited. DOOR OPTIONS ------------ 5 If specified, BGQWK will run in GT 15.50 mode and use individual xxxxx.MSG files rather than the newer ten message xxxxx.MES files. BGQWK runs much slower in 15.50 mode because it has to open and close ten times as many files, but it will still work. If you specify this option on a non-GT 15.50 system, the door will not work correctly. If you do not specify this option on a true 15.50 system, BGQWK will not work. M If specified, BGQWK will use DSZ in MobyTurbo mode. Remember, you must have a registered copy of DSZ in order for this to work. If you do not, DSZ may abort because of invalid parameters. G If specified, BGQWK will allow users to select the Ymodem-G protocol. Remember, you must have a registered copy of DSZ in order for this to work. If you do not, DSZ may abort because of invalid parameters. Also, do not use this option unless you have some type of error correction hardware built into your modem (such as MNP or LAP-M). S Normally, BGQWK uses DSZ in "handshake both" mode. If this option is specified, BGQWK will use DSZ in "handshake slow" mode. (If you are using HS/Link, this option will also use HS/Link is slow handshake mode using the -HS parameter). Only use this option if your users are having trouble sending or receiving files through the BGQWK door. Some older systems have trouble with communicating over serial lines and writing to the hard disk at the same time. A Normally, BGQWK gives users the option to read the NEWS file (GTBULLET.CBS or another file if you specified the NE= configuration option in the BGQWK.CNF file) whenever its updated or all the time. If the A option is specified, BGQWK will override the user's setting and send the NEWS option during all download of QWK packets. K Normally, any messages sent to your board through BGQWK have either no security or a private status. This option, when specified, makes messages with no security change to no kill status. Use of this option is entirely up to you. H Normally, the door will allow users to logoff from within the door. However, many sysops do not want this, because their systems may be rebooted (if not using DVDOOR) or just because they want their users to exit from the board. This option, when specified, will not allow users to logoff. R Normally, when messages are uploaded, if their messages are replies to other messages, the reference number may be added to the header. If you renumber your message bases, any reference numbers sent through the door will be meaningless. This option should be used only if you renumber your message bases or if you just hate reference numbers. D Normally, if a user uploads a message into an area with improper flags (say the enter a public message in a private only message area), the message will be moved to the sysop message base (or general message base if a sysop message base does not exist). If this option is specified, in essence, it tells BGQWK to "don't move" the messages, but leave them in their current base, but change the message flags to an something which is acceptable for the current conference. N Normally, the user has the option to have BGQWK do a scan for new files when they choose to download a QWK packet. For some reason or another, if you wish to have the file scan disabled, simply specify this option. L If you are running GT 17, normally, users may tag files, open the BGQWK door, and download their QWK packet and tagged files. Of course, BGQWK does checks for sufficient time, and updates USER.CTL with the number downloaded files and downloaded kilobytes, but some sysops may want to disable this feature. That may be done with the L option. B If you are running GT 17 and the current user in the door has a proper time bank entry in the GTUSER.BBS file (TB=), BGQWK will reward time bank credit for the number of messages downloaded (if you specify how many credits received for each message downloaded) and will deduct credit for any tagged files downloaded. If you wish for this feature to be disabled, simply specify the B option on the command line. Please note that when specifing options, no matter how many options you wish to use, they must be specified in a "squeezed" format, like so: ┌─── command line options bgqwk mgskhrlb d: └─── work drive You may not want to use any command line options at all. If not, simply use a "dot" as the options, like so: bgqwk . c: That would cause BGQWK to run with all defaults and use drive C: as the work drive. ------------------------------------------------------------- THE DOOR ITSELF ------------------------------------------------------------- BGQWK has internal commucations routines so external drivers such as GATEWAY or DOORWAY are not needed. BGQWK also has an internal ANSI driver, so the sysop need not run ANSI.SYS in order to see color on the bulletin board end. ANSI music will not be played. The users will not be able to beep you with the Control-G key. The COM port being used is taken out of the GT.CNF file under the CM= directive. The DTE and DCE BPS rates are taken from the GTUSER.BBS file. The COM port is opened at the DTE rate, and estimates are based off the DCE rate. BGQWK constantly checks the COM port for a CARRIER DETECT indicator. If carrier is lost, BGQWK will return to the board where GT will log the user off. If a user selects G)oodbye from within the door, DTR is dropped until CD is low, then DTR is raised and BGQWK will then return to the board where GT will log the user off. If there is no input within four minutes, the door will automatically return to GT. BGQWK offers Xmodem, Ymodem, Ymodem Batch and Zmodem at all times using the DSZ protocol driver. Be sure a DSZ protocol driver is located somewhere in your DOS PATH. First, GSZ.EXE will be searched for. If not found, DSZ.EXE will be searched for. If not found, DSZ.COM is searched for. If not found then, BGQWK will abort. To enable Ymodem-G, see the "G" command line option. Paul Meiners' external Zmodem driver, GTZ, is not supported. BGQWK will also search for Sam Smith's HSLINK.EXE program in your DOS PATH. If found, BGQWK will allow your users to optionally use the HS/Link high speed bi-directional protocol so they can download QWK packets and upload REP packets at the same time. When a user is in the door, a simple chat mode can be activated from the sysop end by the Control-P key. A shell to DOS can be performed using the Alt-1 key. (Please note that the shell is directly from BGQWK, not DOOR.EXE or TDOOR.EXE. You will have a very limited amount of memory to work with). ------------------------------------------------------------- MODES OF OPERATION ------------------------------------------------------------- Normally, BGQWK works as a logon door, but it can also prepack QWK packets so that users can call, and download the packets from inside GT rather than having to wait for the door to load and pack up new messages. @echo off rem -- this batch file runs as an event during some time bgqwk n f: /pp:John Doe copy c:\gt\specreq\tranquil.qwk c:\gt\uploads\forjohn.zip Prepack mode is specified by a third parameter, /PP. If you ever choose to do this, which I recommend only to experienced sysops, the user name following the /PP: must be used. The QWK packet made will be placed in the sysop's default download directory. It is up to the sysop to place (and rename) the QWK packet in a directory where the user can access it. In the above sample batch file, I have an event at time xx:yy where GT exits, runs BGQWK in prepack mode for John Doe and renames his TRANQUIL.QWK packet to FORJOHN.ZIP into the new uploads directory. In both local mode operation and prepack mode operation, any "downloads" are placed into the sysop's download directory. CARRIER DETECT is not monitored and no data is sent or received from the COM port. In local mode, the sysop can experiment with BGQWK. If he or she chooses to "upload" a REP packet, it must be placed in the sysop's outgoing uploads directory for BGQWK to find it. Just a reminder that the sysop's download directory is specified by TP= in the GT.CNF file and the sysop's upload directory is specified by the UP= in GT.CNF). ------------------------------------------------------------- NET STATUS ------------------------------------------------------------- If you aren't interested in QWK networking, you can skip over this section of the documentation. I bet this is the part a couple of people were waiting for. There is another universe out there in BBS message networking than that based off of the MDRIVER concept. Well, yes, there is that universe based off of Kip Compton's UTI concept, but now, on any GT Power board, we can now pick up any network that is based off of the QWK packet standard. The Networks available include SmartNet, ILink, TexasNet (for Texas residents), and a whole mess of other networks. In order to participate in these networks, you must first download another piece of software--TNET21.ZIP by Greg Hewgill--but we'll get into that later. Granting Net Status to Users ---------------------------- First of all, let's take another look at my BGQWK.CNF file posted a while ago. ns=John Doe/gt ns=Node Houston/tx ns=Jimmy Dean/rn gt There were three NS= entries in the configuration file. That is okay. NS= is the only directive that can be repeated. Let's talk about what each of those entries mean. If "John Doe" opens the BGQWK door, he will be granted "net status" in any conference that has a net id of "GT". ┌─── net id 015 | z | Gfx Proj | rn=D:\MAIL\RNET261 040 | 0 | Netmail | lo=D:\MAIL\NETMAIL,N 041 | z | AnsiArt | gt=D:\MAIL\E10-037,P 039 | z | Bg Qwk | gt=D:\MAIL\E02-758,P └─── net id Look at this short section from the configuration file. "John Doe" would be granted net status in conference 41 and conference 39. If "Node Houston" opens the BGQWK door, it will be granted "net status" in any conference that has a net id of "TX". If "Jimmy Dean" opens the BGQWK door, he will be granted "net status" in any conference that has a net id of "RN" _or_ "GT". What in the world does "granted 'net status'" mean? Well, remember QWK is a very universal format. We don't want some user like "Joe Blow" downloading mail from all my conferences and inserting it into his PC Board without the sysop's permission, do we? So, if "Joe Blow" tries to do this with his QWK networking software (such as TNet or QNet), he will get an error message, and out precious GT Network messages are safe. However, if you are the GT LNC of your city, you may want to give "Joe Blow" net status authorities in your GT Network conferences. In essence, "Joe Blow" will become net/node xxx/yyy in the GT Network with his PC Board system. At present, sending netmail back and forth along a QWK network is not supported, but experimental bagging techniques are being used between 001/040 and 001/070. If the tests are successful, the batch files will be released. Having "net status" also means having more significant control as to what kinds of messages can be downloaded and uploaded in a conference that a user has net status access to. Any private messages in a conference can be downloaded, and the "net status" user can upload messages addressed from other people. (Meaning "Node Houston" can upload messages from "Russell Kroll", for example). A regular user cannot download private mail unless it is addressed to them or left by them and can only upload mail in their own name. Remember, giving someone net status is a PRIVLEDGE. It should not be given to just anybody. You have to be responsible. Another Sysop Granting Net Status to YOU ---------------------------------------- Ok, calm down, I can hear you! You want to know how to pick up those other networks such as SmartNet, ILink, etc., don't you? This is what you have to do... First, you need to get in contact with the head hancho of the QWK network in your area. You'll probably have to apply in order to get accepted or rejected. It will be a lot of waiting until they get back to you. If you are accepted, you'll probably be assigned a hub to use. More than likely, your hub will be a PC Board system. You'll need to write a script for GT Power (or some other communications software) that will login, open the QMail Markmail (or whatever) door, upload a REP packet (if exists), download a QWK packet, and then logoff. The sysop of the other board _must_ have granted you net status in the conferences you wish to pick up or the QWK packet you download will not be able to be imported into your board. So how do you make REP packets to send to that board and what do you do with the QWK packet once you download it? Do you use BGQWK to do that function? No. That's why I included all those UTI files. TNet is what you need to use. Because TNet was written by Wildcat! (and not GT), it was pretty much useless to us a few months ago, but since then, Greg Hewgill has released a version of TNet that works with UTI drivers. If you plan to use TNet, there are a couple of miscellaneous things you need to know: In the TNET.CFG file, you'll need the following lines (and other things that the TNET.DOC file explains) ... SYSTEM = UTI2 APPEND = Y ... and when specifing conferences, you need to put a dollar sign in front of the path in the other .CFG files ... CONF = $D:\MAIL\TNET001 ... and finally ... In the mail door on the system you are connecting to download your mail, you may want to set "download packets with zero messages" to TRUE or YES. Why would you want to do that? Well, the way my batch files are set up, if I find a QWK file in my downloads directory after a mail run, the batch files will assume the mail run was successful. If not, it will assume the run was a failure and will not delete the .REP file when done, so that it can be uploaded again the next day (since it probably wasn't the firs time). I currently use TNet and my UTIs to pick up mail in the TexasNet network off of Ed Hopper's BBS and a few of the conferences from the GT Network off of Russell Kroll's Computech BBS. See the TNET.DOC file in the TNET21.ZIP file available on my board as well as many others for further information. Alternatively, you may still join other QWK based networks using Dave Wall's MERLIN prorgram (written specifically for GT Power). The concept is pretty much the same. And one last thing: I give the user of this software permission to use my UTI drivers with whatever software they choose to use that works with it. ------------------------------------------------------------- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ------------------------------------------------------------- I would like to thank the following people for their assistance during the beta test phase. John Albrecht Michael Arnett Ted Arsovsky Oliver Bell Ovid Bilderback Richard Blackburn Chris Carpenter Bill Coady James Davis Cam Deduck Marcos Della Eddie Dodwell Ed Ester John Ferra John Fisher Mike Foshee Mike Frisch John Glover James Gunnells Theresa Hadden Ted Harper Jack Hazel Greg Hewgill Reginald Hirsch Jerry Hook Ed Hopper Dennis Ivy Rathulvf Jamesson Don Jones Wayne Jones Mike King Ken Kirkland Mark Kofahl Jim Kreyling Russell Kroll Rudi Kusters Warren Leadbeatter David Logan Bruce Lloyd Ed Lucas Dan Mancuso Jeremy Mattern Michele Mauro Mark May Andy Mcclung Mike Meyer John Moody Gene Newcomb Mike Olah George Omoregie Ken Opdycke Patrick Perea Douglas Pippel Sam Prater Roy Salisbury Paul Schwarz Joe Separk Robert Smathers Laurence Stanley David Stellmack Bill Thomas Roger Thompson Charles Vancleef Frank Vlamings Bill Wahlstrom Richard Walker Dave Wall Stephen Weihman Scott Wills and Brian Wood I've tried not to forget anyone, but my memory is a little flakey sometimes. ------------------------------------------------------------- OTHER INFORMATION ------------------------------------------------------------- The XT version of this program was compiled under Borland's Turbo Pascal 5.5. The AT version was compiled under Turbo Pascal 6.0. All EXE files are compressed with DIET, the exciting file slimming exerciser. This program is SHAREWARE. If you use this program for more than four weeks, it is _highly_ recommended you register the program at it low cost of only US $25. I have put hundreds of hours of time into BGQWK and registrations encourage frequent updates. If you choose to register after the trial time period, please fill out the included REGISTER.FRM file and send it along with your check or money order. After allowing two weeks for processing, you can call my bulletin board at 713-893-9124 (now operating with V.32, V.42 and V.42bis) and open the QWKREG door. A BGQWK.KEY file will then be generated that will register your copy of BGQWK. The call takes less than three minutes. The UNREGISTERED version of this software is NOT CRIPPLED. If you have any suggestions, comments or questions, please address them to the "BG Reader, Etc." GT Network echomail conference, E02/758. Feel free to call my board or to call voice (decent hours and ask for B.J., please). <Plug> Have you seen my two successful FREEWARE programs? Why don't you pick up a copy of BGTOP and BGWHO? Pretty neat stuff! Regards, GT: E02/758 B.J. Guillot RIME: TRANQUIL