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1992-02-16
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═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Running a multi-node SuperBBS
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
I will attempt to give you some simple steps in setting up a
multi-line SuperBBS system using Frontdoor to interface with Fidonet on
both nodes. Included with this document you should recieve some batch
files that will run both nodes, along with a autoexec.bat and
config.sys that I use. I currently use DESQview 2.42 with QEMM386 6.02.
I you are not using these products the config files may not be of use.
Programs that I use...
Dseqview 2.42 with QEMM 6.02
SuperBBS 1.15
X00 v1.24 fossil driver ( BNU works well also )
Frontdoor 2.02 ( Used on both nodes )
Imail 1.21 ( for echomail processing )
Tick 2.07 ( file distribution )
Mbutil 1.10 ( message base maintanace )
You must first create directories for each node to contain the
configuration files. Each node will also need temporary and work
directorys. I also use a RAM drive for the common path which also has
directories on it ( will explain later ).
My directory structure goes like this..
-- Frontdoor --
C:\FD <=- Main Frontdoor directory, just exe's
C:\FD\FD1 <=- Node 1 Frontdoor
C:\FD\FD2 <=- Node 2 Frontdoor
C:\FD\INBOUND <=- Common inbound directory
C:\FD\NETMAIL <=- Common Netmail directory
C:\FD\NODELIST <=- Nodelist directory
C:\FD\OUTBOUND <=- Outbound mail path
-- SuperBBS --
C:\SBBS <=- Main directory, place all program files here
C:\SBBS\ATTACH <=- File attaches for users
C:\SBBS\N1 <=- Node 1 directory, just config files here
C:\SBBS\N1\TMP <=- Temp directory for node 1
C:\SBBS\N1\WORK <=- Work directory for node 1 (QWK)
C:\SBBS\N1\XRS <=- Needed if you run XRS on your system.
C:\SBBS\N2 <=- Node 2 directory, just config files here
C:\SBBS\N2\TMP <=- Temp directory for node 2
C:\SBBS\N2\WORK <=- Work directory for node 2 (QWK)
C:\SBBS\N2\XRS <=- Needed if you run XRS on your system.
-- Other stuff --
C:\BAT <=- All batch files here
C:\EXT <=- Miscellaneous utils
C:\UTIL <=- Imail, Mbutil, Tick, and ??
C:\UTIL\<door_dir> <=- All door directories spawn off of UTIL
-- SuperBBS Setup --
First place all exe's and overlay files in the main (C:\SBBS)
directory. Then create all the node directories, just name each one
similar to the other except for node number. You could use NODE1 or N1
or whatever but make sure the node number is in the name ( explained
further in doc ). After you make all your directories change to your
main directory (CD \SBBS) and run CONFIG. In the main directory you
will edit everything, make a LIMITS.BBS, FLSEARCH.BBS and a DOORCFG.BBS
using the CONFIG program. What I mean is setup everything now, message
areas, file areas, and any doors you want to run. Find the Multi-node
configuration and put in the number of lines you have and the common
path to use ( small RAM drive works best ) Under the paths setup heres
what I have.
Text Path : C:\SBBS\TEXT\
Menu Path : C:\SBBS\MENU\
Net Path : C:\FD\NETMAIL\
MsgBase Path : C:\SBBS\
Temp Path : C:\SBBS\N1\TMP\
System Path : C:\SBBS\N1\
Work path : C:\SBBS\N1\WORK\
Ext. editor : C:\EXT\TOPED.EXE *N
Virus scanner:
Nodelist path: C:\FD\NODELIST\
LA path : C:\SBBS\ATTACH\
Once you have everything you want setup, copy CONFIG.BBS and
SCONFIG.BBS and SPROTO.BBS to each nodes directory. Then change to each
nodes directory and run config again, DO NOT edit the file areas.
limits or door information in the node directories. This information
will come from the main SuperBBS directory. All you should have to
change is what comm port to use and the paths to the files. Change all
the N1's to N<node> ( whichever node number directory your in ) If SBBS
answering the phone you will need to edit the init string for each
node. Other than that all the info should be the same. i use a batch
file to run config and in it I make sure that there are no left over
files from running config by deleting DOORCFG.BBS, LIMITS.BBS and
FLSEARCH.BBS in EACH nodes directory, DO NOT delete the files in the
main directory. Confused yet? Just take your time and it will all fall
together ( or apart ).
If you create some questionaires put these in the main directory.
Also put all language files in the main directory and don't forget to
run LCONFIG and set the paths to menus and text files there too. I
suggest putting the message base in your main directory, a lot of the
RA utilities expect to find LASTREAD.BBS and USERS.BBS with the message
base files. This will keep them all together.
-- Frontdoor Setup --
Basically its pretty much the same as Sbbs, put all exe's in main
directory, use the SET FD= statement to point to the node directory and
run FDSETUP. You will have to issue another SET FD= statement to edit
the other nodes. Frontdoor uses the FD variable to find it's config
files NOT the Exe's. As long as Frontdoor exe's are in the path then
all will work fine. I will not go to much further into Frontdoors
setup, you should allready have knowledge off this and besides I think
FD is pretty easy to setup. Other than directory changes the FDSETUP is
the SAME, different modems require different settings and you can use
your ROUTE.FD to tell FD which node is to do what.
-- Config.Sys --
Nothing to special, I have found that with DOS 5.0 it's a lot
easier to NOT load DOS high, I can still get 592k DOS memory with DV
window sizes being 576k. Plenty for most programs. Load you RAM drive
here and a Fossil driver (X00 or BNU). SHARE.EXE MUST be loaded when
you are running multi-line, otherwise forget having a user file or
message base when both nodes are up. I would suggest a minimum of 50
files. Your setup will differ but this should give you a start.
-- Autoexec.Bat --
If you haven't done so allready you need to look over my
autoexec.bat. You will notice that I have a TON of SET statements.
There is a reason? Most programs can use the environement variables to
find their CFG files without you doing a lot of changeing directories.
This makes things nice if you move file around or whatever. Also I name
directories to short names so that I can have most of them in the PATH=
statement. Also nice for running files. Mainly at least you will have
to have Frontdoor and SBBS directories in the PATH= statement. Create
some directories on your RAM drive, if you remember the ROOT directory
of a drive is limited to how many files it can hold, sub-directories
are not limited. A brief on what SET ??? 's are..
set FOS=XU CAPTURE <=- command to recapture INT 14h in DV
REM set FOS=BNU /C <=- Ditto, if I change fossil un-REM
set TZ=CST0CDT <=- TimeZone, for BC++
set DSZLOG=C:\EXT\DSZ.LOG <=- Set DSZ log, changes in N?.BAT's
set FD=C:\FD\FD1 <=- Frontdoor node 1 CFG's
set TIC=C:\UTIL\TIC.CFG <=- Tick CFG
set FDOPT=NOEMS,INTL <=- Options for FD, USE THESE
set IMAIL=C:\UTIL <=- Imail CFG's
set MBU=C:\UTIL\MBUTIL.CTL <=- Mbutil CFG's
set SBBS=C:\SBBS <=- Got to have this one
set GSZWINDOW=23 <=- GSZ window size
set LIB=C:\EXT <=- DoorPch door library path
set DOORPCH=PCB <=- PcBored door's
set COM1=38400 <=- COM1 locked at 38400
set COM2=9600 <=- COM2 locked at 9600
set TOPED=C:\EXT <=- Toped CFG's
set CHATMAN=C:\EXT <=- Chat manager CFG's
set COMMO=C:\COMMO <=- COMMO
set LIST=I:\ <=- Work path for LIST
set SHEZEX=E:\WRK <=- SHEZ extract path
set SHEZWORK=I:\XXX <=- Shez Work path
set XYZ=This_is_a_temporary_string_to_increase_the_environment_space
set XYZ=
The reason to set these before starting DV is to let QEMM enlarge
the environment space. Otherwise you will end up with a error message
from DOS "Not enough environment space"
The rest of the batch is to bring up DV, although I use Norton's BE
to wait for 2 seconds before doing so. This gives me some time to abort
and drop to DOS.
-- N1.Bat and N2.Bat --
All throughout the batch files you will see a lot of "if exist" and
"rem > file", I use regular DOS to create and check for semaphore files
and make decisions on what to do. Read thu the batch files, they are
heavily commented so you can read them better. Pay close attention to
how they work together. The programs that are called in the batches are
available from me or you could probably find them somewhere local.
Another note is that NODE 1 does all mail processing and events. It can
be handled many ways but this is how I do it, the next change I make
will be to have Imail come up in a window by itself, freeing up time
used to process mail. Imail can do it's thing while someone is online
so no problem there ( REMEMBER to load SHARE.EXE ).
-- Desqview Setup --
A clip of how I have the nodes setup..
Change a Program
Program Name............: SuperBBS Node 1
Keys to Use on Open Menu: N1 Memory Size (in K): 500
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Program...: n1
Parameters:
Directory.: \
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Options:
Writes text directly to screen.......: [N]
Displays graphics information........: [N]
Virtualize text/graphics (Y,N,T).....: [T]
Uses serial ports (Y,N,1,2)..........: [1]
Requires floppy diskette.............: [N]
Change a Program Advanced Options
System Memory (in K)...: 0 Maximum Program Memory Size (in K).: 750
Script Buffer Size..: 256 Maximum Expanded Memory Size (in K):
Text Pages: 2 Graphics Pages: 0 Initial Mode: Interrupts: 00 to FF
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Window Position:
Maximum Height: 25 Starting Height: 25 Starting Row...: 0
Maximum Width.: 80 Starting Width.: 80 Starting Column: 0
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Shared Program
Pathname..:
Data......:
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Close on exit (Y,N,blank).....:[ ] Uses its own colors.............:[Y]
Allow Close Window command....:[N] Runs in background (Y,N,blank)..:[Y]
Uses math coprocessor.........:[N] Keyboard conflict (0-F).........:[0]
Share CPU when foreground.....:[Y] Share EGA when foreground/zoomed:[Y]
Can be swapped out (Y,N,blank):[N] Protection level (0-3)..........:[0]
Both setups are the same for each node, You should have a minimum
of 4 megs of RAM with 2 megs free. Thats if you want to run like I do,
if you don't have that much you can put 0 for Maximum expanded memory
and save a little.
Create a script with DV's learn feature to start up the nodes, to
do this close all windows in Desqview, sitting at the DV menu hold down
a shift key and press the ALT, this will bring up LEARN. Select to
start a script. It will ask you for a key to use, hold down the ALT and
press 255 on the numeric pad, let up on the ALT, DV should respond with
{Key 255}. Now name the script, begin the name with a ! and it will be
a auto start script, like !startup or whatever. Now open all the nodes
you plan to run, when your done press SHIFT-ALT again and finish
script, and save it. To test close all windows and exit DV, then start
DV back up, you should see all your programs starting up. I use
DvCommand to remove the desqview borders and as such can display a full
50 lines on the screen ( 2 nodes ).. Check the Batches..
-- DOORS --
Door programs can be a major hassle, the batch file included runs
all of my doors, the %1-%8 parameters are explained a little and each
door is called the same way except for the %1 name tag. For those doors
that are not multi-line aware you will have to use the semaphore files
to keep users from playing the same door at the same time. The Program
dor.exe is something I wrote to manipulate the dorinfo1.def file. In
anycase, you can Freq DOORMENU to get my doors menu and text files and
also DOR.EXE and have about 25+ doors ready to run. No door programs
are included so the file but there are many text files, one menu. This
menu uses all of the abilities for door templates in Sbbs, look it over
carefully. Size is approx 70k..
-- Little Tricks --
Use X00 Fossil if it will work on your system, use the DV switch
with it and you will see some dramatic speed increases in other process
will people are downloading files. Until I got 2 external modems X00
would not work on my computer so it might not work on yours. I have
found no benefit from using large recieve or transmit buffers with the
fossil, Sbbs does not buffer the port, It will only send when modem is
ready so the buffers go unused most of the time and just use up
precious memory.
Load the fossil before DV, that way all processes can use it.
Try to use your RAM drive for most temp work, like file list for
external protocols and chat utils and whatever, Nifty James Ram drive
it by far the fastest and smallest memory hog.
Most doors are very sensitive to BAUD rates, some want the true
connect rate and others want the locked rate. See DOORS.BAT for some
info on this.
Set Sbbs to NOT do direct screen writes, if you are using DNANSI
you will not see any difference in speed.
Test your knowledge of DOS by using the semaphore files to
determine what processes are doing what, can save you big headaches
when to things are working on the same files and are not aware of it.
If you have the memory use a Disk Cache, I use Hyperdisk 4.31 with
staged writes. It seems to be the only one that truely know Desqview
and does not crash when using staged writes. Norton's NCACHE works well
without the staged writes.
Be wary of some doors that claim to be multi-line compatible. They
may be when used together but may not follow Sbbs's locking scheme.
Frontdoor uses semaphore files to control itself, I use FDEXIT.?? a
lot to control.
-- Thats it! --
I write programs, not documents.. But hey I'm trying. If you have
questions on this setup you can reach me in the SuperBBS echo or you
can send Net mail to 1:3812/10, oh BTW my name is Bob Henderson. And
last but not least, HAVE FUN!
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-- The End --