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Celerity v1.41
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Celerity v1.41 is primarily a "bug-fix" version, attempting to make the
system more stable and bug-free than ever.
Celerity 1.41 sees the continual evolution of the software into an even more
flexible and configurable system. The addition of new access restrictions,
the Ansi Art Gallery, new header types, unlimited numbers of ANSI/Avatar/
ASCII Welcome files, and best of all - the configurable login sequence -
continue to keep Celerity at the head of the pack.
Celerity 1.41 has been improved vastly in the "behind-the-scenes" operation
as well. Celerity now works even better under OS/2 2.0, Windows 3.1,
DesqView, Novell Netware, and even Lantastic. CD-ROM support has been
improved as well.
1. Celerity Support Update
2. ANSI Art Gallery
3. Wait For Call Options Menu
4. Welcome Files Handler
5. Configurable Login Sequence
6. Menu Changes
7. Upgrade Tips
8. Testing Notes
Celerity Support Update
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Support for Celerity BBS is now available in more places and ways than
ever. In the CelerityNet network, there are now six sub-boards (for
sysops ONLY, please) dedicated to helping and supporting sysops. The
sub ID's are as follows:
1: CelerityNet Support --- This is no longer the Celerity Sysops
18: Beta Testing --- For beta testing of Celerity
26: Sysops --- Celerity sysops ONLY - no other users.
30: Celerity Utilitis --- Celeirty sysops ONLY - no other users
80: Cel. Troubleshooting --- Celerity Sysops ONLY - no other users
254: CelerityNet management - For management of the CelerityNet network
Celerity now has two official support bulletin boards and registration
locations:
United States:
Lexicon Computers
13716 Penn Street Suite #1B
Whittier, Ca. 90602
Support BBS:
Terrapin Station
(310) 693-9405
Sysop: Brendon Woirhaye / The Byter
9600 - 16800bps HST, v.32, v.32bis
CelerityNet
Canada:
Bald Mountain Enterprises
Box 77030
Ottawa South Postal Outlet
Ottawa, Ontario
K1S 5N2
Support BBS:
Bald Mountain Enterprises
(613) 230-1439
Sysop: Adrian Kwong / Diminished 5th
CelerityNet
FidoNet 1:163/272
SBNet 1:613/101
2400 v.22, 9600 - 14400 v.32/v.32bis, 19200 PEP, 23000 TPEP
Please note the new support number for Terrapin Station has changed, and
we have added a new support BBS in Canada. We are looking for a support
BBS in Europe/Mediterranean and a new one for "down under" in Australia/
Oceania.
ANSI Art Gallery
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
First seen in Alacrity, Celerity's sister software, and more recently in
other Celerity clones, the ANSI Art Gallery provides users with a
database in which to store their works of ANSI art. The Art Gallery
allows users to upload their art to the BBS and provide a single-line
description of the work, or the sysop may add art manually on the local
console via a pop-up file selection box. Using the configurable login
sequence below, a random work of art can be shown to each user as they
log in.
Wait For Call Options
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The commands found at the WFC (Wait for Call) module have been changed
somewhat, which shall be detailed here.
The F4 (formerly "read email") command now provides an "instant-login"
function for the sysop. Press F4 from the WFC, and you are instantly
deposited at the main menu with the sysop account. No more waiting for
the system to slog through login options if you do not need them.
The F9 (formerly "view sysop log") command will now take the local user
to the WFC Menu. This menu provides a number of tools directly from the
wait for call screen without the necessity to log into the system. The
options from this menu include:
Electronic Mail : Read mail to the sysop, send mail to others.
System Log : View and/or delete the system log.
Error Log : View and/or delete the error log.
Recent Events : Display lists of recent callers, uploads, and downloads.
User Custodian : Enter the User Custodian management system.
New User Voting : Access the new user voting section to validate users.
The WFC menu should provide more flexibility for sysops who want to take
care of essential business without spending the time to log into the
system.
Welcome Files Handler
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With version 1.41, Celerity has a new file handler for the welcome files
(a text or ANSI file displayed to a user after he logs in, but before he
gets to the main prompt). With earlier versions of Celerity, you were
limited to 9 seperate ANSI welcome files, and one ASCII or text welcome
file. With 1.41, you may have as many as you like.
Welcome files belong in your TEXT directory, as specified in SETUP. You
determine which file uses which emulation by the three-digit extension,
as shown below:
ANSI/Avatar: filename.WEL
8bit ASCII : filename.WAS
Text Only : filename.WTX
A single file based on the user's terminal emulation will be selected at
random when the user enters the system.
Configurable Login Sequence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Always at the forefront of hobbyist BBS innovation, Celerity presents
the configurable login sequence. With a simple change in the setup
program, the sysop can change the sequence of events a user performs
when he enters the system - with nearly 40 million possible combinations
- flexibility that few non-custom programs can offer. But wait -
there's more. Not only can events be arranged in new and unique
sequences, but they can also have certain attributes set on them. The
sysop can now decide if an event should always be viewed, or if it
should be abortable via a quick-login. Should the screen be cleared
before the event? Should the system pause for user input afterwards?
Should the event be executed at all? All of the above is editable at
the click of a mouse button (or a few keystrokes).
Now how much would you pay? Wait - there's STILL more! Sysops are not
limited to canned Celerity text files and status displays. Up to three
additional events can be defined which display external text or ANSI
files containing any image or information the sysop wishes to include.
These events can also be inserted anywhere in the login sequence, and
have the three attributes (skip w/quick login, clear screen, pause)
adjusted. What's that? How many possible login sequences are there
now? Almost 109 BILLION potential login sequences - and that doesn't
include differences in attribute settings or text file content!
Plus, if you order (or run) Celerity right now, we'll throw in an added
bonus. You want the ultimate in configurability for your login
sequence? You've got it. Celerity's configurable login sequence also
allows a sysop to define two EXTERNAL PROGRAMS to be run as the user
logs in. Want to run a door which displays caller ID information? No
problem. Want to send all users into a telemarketting survey door? No
problem. Want users to visit an online game contest? No sweat. Want
to write your own BBS modules for special uses with your system? The
only problem is your programming skill. Any program which can be run as
a door (or DOS program w/Doorway) can be executed as a login sequence
door, and the user won't be able to tell that he's not in Celerity.
How's THAT for flexibility and ability to make your system "not just
another BBS"?
For full information on setting up a configurable login sequence, please
see the section in SETUP.DOC detailing the Login Sequence dialog in the
SETUP program.
Menu Changes
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following menus have been added or changed with 1.41. For a
complete list of menu commands and functions, please see Appendix Q in
Celerity.doc. If you update any old menu sets or design your own and
wish to share them, please upload them to Terrapin Station or Bald
Mountain Enterprises for inclusion in future versions of the software.
Note that some menus only include newly added or changed options, while
some menus include all current commands. Menu names should be followed
with an 'M' for regular menus or 'N' for beginner menus (ie: the Email
menus would be named EMAILM.ANS, EMAILM.ASC, EMAILN.ANS, and
EMAILN.ASC).
Message Base Sponsor / SPONSOR
Q)uit, A)ccess, E)dit sub, K)ill sub, M)ove post, S)ort subs, O)rder subs
Email menu / EMAIL
V)iew, S)end, F)eedback, R)ead, L)ist, Q)uit, Z)ap
Global Management / GLOBMAN
S)ort areas, P)oint reassignment, C)leanup, V)erify locations, O)ld file
removal, D)os command on files, Z) directory scan (don't use), T)ouch files,
Q)uit
Message Menu / MSG
add E)dit Message command 23
Main Menu / MAIN
A)rt Gallery / automessage command 1
Misc menu / MISC
A)rt Gallery / Automessage command 1
Art Gallery / ART
V)iew art, U)pload art, L)ist art, D)elete art, A)utomessage, Q)uit
Newscan / SUBSCAN
/) Multiline chat command 12
WFC Tools / WFC
E)lectronic mail, S)ystem log, V)iew error log, R)ecent events,
!) user custodian, N)ew user voting
File Sponsor / FSYSOP
T)est for multiple entries command 28
Upgrade Tips
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Running the INSTALL program (or unzipping the contents of CEL141A.ZIP
into your NODE directory(ies)) should install all new files you need for
the use of 1.41. Run the new SETUP.EXE afterwards, which will convert
your existing Setup.dat data to 1.41 format, inform you of changes, and
allow you to edit system options. Note that extensive changes have
occured in the System Options, Look and Feel, Access Levels, and the new
Login Sequence dialogs. Please read the SETUP.DOC file under these
headings for detailed information on what the new options do.
Modem configuration setup strings and data are now stored in an external
file called MODEMLST.DAT. This text file may be edited with any
standard text editor, and has details on format contained within the
file itself. If you design a new initialization string and accompanying
setup detail for a modem not currently listed, please upload it to
Terrapin Station or Bald Mountain Enterprises so other sysops can
benefit from your efforts.
The XFERNEWS.x and MSGNEWS.x files have been relocated, and are now found
in your TEXT directory rather than your main BBS directory.
Note that when operating under Novell Netware and creating a new file
section, Celerity does NOT correctly create a new subdirectory on the
network, and you will need to drop to dos and mkdir the directory
manually. We are working with Borland and Novell for a fix on this.
Celerity now supports the new Telebit Worldblazer modem at its native
DTE rate of 115,200bps. Call Bald Mountain Enterprises to see the modem
in action.
Please note that your welcome files will need to be renamed to be
recognized by Celerity v1.41. See the section above for details on that.
The default Configurable Login Sequence may not be what you want for
your BBS, so you should also take note of the options there.
Testing Notes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With 1.41, our primary mission was to squash some minor bugs in the
system. Hopefully the time bug has been fixed, along with a few new
user options (relating to hanging up after an application and not keep
incomplete applications around).
Also, I hope we fixed the QWK problem with private netmail, and I also
did something which will fix the Fido toss 10-base problem. The batch
move was cleaned up a bit.
New additions are a new logoff box, hub support for CelerityNet, and a
pretty network status display (which still needs some work).
For the hub support, I am looking for a couple folks who want to be hubs
or nodes on a hub for testing. If you want to do so, contact some other
folks to organize it, and I'll provide more information then.
Check out the revision history and the little bugs and changes I made
there. I expect that some of by fixed bugs really aren't all that fixed,
and some of the other changes will have glitches in them.
7/25: We added the configurable login sequence today, and made some changes
in the setup. Check the login sequence system out, let me know what the
rough edges are. Read the setup.doc for info on the new dialog. Note that
the Look & Feel and System Options dialogs have been changed too.
8/11: I am ready to release this. Get any reports of severe bugs back to me
immediately, as I plan a release by the end of the week.
Keep the bug reports coming!
Celerity Support is now at 310-693-9405.
1.41 revision history:
6/29/92 Merged cel20 code w/modularized procedures. Adapted "pretty"
network status display.
6/31/92 Worked on new user stuff, to fix hang up after application and
delete incomplete accounts. Fixed some bugs from bug reports.
Added new function to return the length of a string ignoring pipe
characters.
7/02/92 Fixed screenclear color init problem. Fixed 10-base problem w/
fido toss. Fixed QWK problem w/prvnetmail. Cleaned up batch
move a bit. Added new logoff box. Added hub support to CelNet.
7/07/92 Adjusted mail count to not include read mail. Added delay with
non-accepted upload. Set expired accounts to 1 level below that
needed to log into system.
7/09/92 Fixed a lot of bugs from the bug reports (including various display
glitches, splitscreen chat exiting, pw hacking protection, hacks
in user record, color in "please wait" and prompts, reply to
anonymous post, beep in multinode chat page, blacklist hanging up,
sysop available time, board not allowing calls within network
time even if net has been made, user custodian scan coming up w/
blank users, clearing screen after aborted logoff, logoff countdown
abort, exclusion flag from caller log, area lists for xfer and
sub sections redrawn, QWK progress bars w/colors, prompt after
zip comment, new users w/too much time, temp. sysop access now
gives level 100 xfer access too, wildcard downloading, restrcit
uploading bad filenames (which have spaces or are too long)).
Added email/prvnetmail reply to posts.
7/15/92 Fixed some bugs from new bug reports.
7/16/92 Fixed more bugs, primarily attempts at time bugs, xfer level w/
temp sysop status, display glitches, QWK access to subs, email
zap, and more.
7/19/92 Fixed some bugs from bug reports. Added # of recent downloads to
the WFC. Fixed the system history to include number of email sent
that day. Ripped out old user timing system and wrote a new one.
Changed setup.exe to use an external modem data file.
7/21/92 Added minute color change in credits screen. Fixed shell.4
display.
7/22/92 Fixed more bugs including door opening problem, ^X backspace
problem, splitscreen chat not clearing upon exit, sysop chat in
node activity not showing up when in splitscreen chat, spacing
in newscan for colored sub names, system parameter layout, auto-
message being active even though turned off in setup, conference
#1 is no longer given access by default. Added capability to
quote email.
7/23/92 Worked on QWK security. Globalized "Press [Enter] to continue"
messages to DoPause. Began preparation for login sequence
modification.
7/25/92 Fixed a few more bugs, improved net call progress screen. Added
configurable login sequence. Changed format for welcome files to
*.WEL, *.WAS, and *.WTX files in text directory (see Appendix J
in CELERITY.DOC and Login Sequence in SETUP.DOC). Changed the
Look & Feel in setup by: removing "remote doors", removing
"use automessage / art gallery", removing "plaque headers",
removing "# of welcome files", and adding "Alacrity structure"
button, adding "pause string" field, adding "default help level",
and adding "header format" selection. Changed the System Options
in setup by removing "remote doors" and adding "strict phone
checking" and adding "system log protection" check boxes.
7/27/92 Implemented some of the new configurable options. Began reworking
headers and status screens.
7/28/92 Worked on headers and stat screens. Added network.log support.
7/30/92 Worked on headers / stat screens a bit.
8/05/92 Fixed a bunch of bugs from reports.
8/11/92 Added WFC Options menu. Fixed more bugs.
See the Revision.Doc for complete, detailed, and organized breakdown of
changes.