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Text File | 1991-09-29 | 29.3 KB | 671 lines

INTRODUCTION I have been running a Spitfire/BinkleyTerm setup for a while now (since 1989, before anyone told me "You can't do that!" [grin].) I have worked out most of the bugs in the setup, even though there are a few things that I haven't tried yet, such as the Floating Locked baud feature in the new Binkley. I use BinkleyTerm 2.50 as the mailer, Spitfire (of course!!) as the BBS software, Dogfight to handle messages in FIDONet for the BBS, and QMail to handle the mail for my Hub duties. I started on an XT Clone with a 2400 baud modem. I now run it on an AT '286 home-built clone with DOS version 5.0, 1 meg of memory, and a USR Dual Standard locked at 19200. In case you are wondering if this setup can work for someone who wants to be a hub, yes, I am the Southern Maryland Local Hub, FIDONet Node 1:109/600. It CAN be done, and it's easy! First, let's tackle BinkleyTerm 2.50. 1) Setting up BinkleyTerm 2.50 OK, you have decided to try out Bink and Spitfire together to see if you can make it work, because you want to join the largest Computer Network in the WORLD, FIDONet. Then you look at the Doc's for Binkley, and think to yourself "AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"... After the initial shock wears off, and you wade through the doc's, you begin to feel quite lost, wondering why you ever even thought of this outlandish idea in the first place. There's no way you can make this work, or even begin to take time off from your day job to start the process of trying to make some sense of all of that mess. Then you remember that it HAS been done, so it CAN'T be THAT difficult. Guess what... You're right!! The first thing you should do is set up the Binkley.Cfg file for your system. When you use your favorite text editor, you will see that the .CFG file for Binkley is well-commented with brief explanations for each part of the file. Use these for a guide. Let me show you some of my setup in this file. Binkley.Cfg The Binkley.Cfg file is divided into 2 parts. The first part is to set it up for your system. Here is mine: ; ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ; Port 1 ; This is for the com port assignment. Baud 19200 ; My Locked Baud rate. Also need to set the "&B2" and ; "S27=127" in the NRAM for a USR modem. Carrier 80 ; Standard carrier mask, this works for me. ; NOTE! Refer to BT_REF.DOC for dial translation characters Init |ATZ|| ; This is the modem Init string that I use, since I have ; input the modem init string to the USR NRAM, used to begin ; the Unattended Mailer portion of Binkley. TermInit |ATZ|| ; This is the init string to use Binkley as a Dumb Terminal. Prefix ATDT ; This is the dialing prefix, pretty self-explanatory. ; Suffix Busy |ATM0H1| ; This is for when you use F1 to exit Binkley, busies the ; modem. ; WARNING! Refer to BT_REF.DOC for details about 'Answer' statement! Answer ATA|| ; This is to make the modem answer the phone. ; PreDial ` ; PreInit |v``^`` ; ModemTrans 1 prefix/suffix ; HST ; ModemTrans 2 prefix/suffix ; PEP ; ModemTrans 3 prefix/suffix ; HST or PEP ; DTRHigh ; Protocol c:\opus\kermit.exe ; Serial StatusLog c:\LOG\binkley.log ; This tells Binkley where to write its log. Downloads c:\up\ ; This tells Binkley where to put any downloads you get ; from using Binkley in the Dumb Terminal mode. ;CaptureFile c:\binkley\session.log LogLevel 5 ; This tells Binkley how much info to put into the log file. ; Level 5 is the most info, comes in handy for debugging your ; setup or someone elses. Gong ; Used in Dumb Terminal mode to signal connects, end of file ; transfers, etc. ; Rev3 ; SlowModem ;LockBaud 19200 ; Refer to the Binkley doc's to see how to use this feature to ; give you a floating/locked baud connect. There's some things ; even I won't try (yet!). AutoBaud ; Used to dial at the locked baud rate. ; TaskView ; TopView ; MultiLink ; NOTE! In the next statement, Alt-F1 would send "Name" + carriage return ; Macro 1 Name| ; NOTE! In the next statement, Alt-F2 would send "Password" + carriage return ; Macro 2 Password| ; Include suplmnt.cfg ; Application Amax Direct ; AnswerBack My Name| PollTries 60 ; Used to tell Binkley how many times to call in a ; row if polling someone. ; SwapDir f:\ramdisk\ ; ; ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- See, that wasn't so hard, was it. (he he he!) OK, now on to the second half of the config file. This is where you put in your systems info. Binkley.Cfg continued... ; ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ; System John's Workshop Sysop John Clawson Address 1:109/600.0@fidonet.org ; Address (FIDONet Zone:Net/Node) Address 1:109/604.0@fidonet.org ; Also-known-as address ;Address 99:1234/5678.0@eggnet.ftn ; Address for eggnet Zone 99 ;NoZones ; PrivateNet 9999 ; Boss 9999/9999 ; BossPhone 555-1234 ; BossPwd Password NetMail c:\net\ ; Where my Netmail *.Msg (FIDO format) files are kept. NetFile c:\sf\file1\ ; My Inbound files area, for ALL inbound stuff, mail ; AND files. ; KnownInbound c:\binkley\fileknow\ ; ProtInbound c:\binkley\fileprot\ Hold c:\sf\outbound\ ; Outbound mail holding area ; Domain fidonet.org fidonet nodelist ; Tells Binkley what organization I'm in. ; Domain alternet.ftn alternet anetlist ; Domain eggnet.ftn eggnet egglist ; Nodelist c:\sf\nodelist\ ; Where I keep my copy of all of the nodelist files. Version6 ; What type of Nodelist I use. ; Version7 ; Dial 1-404- "GA_PCP.SCR"404/ ; Example of dial translation ; Dial 1-603-888 888/ ; Example of dial translation ScriptPath c:\sf\ ; Some modems are just a pain to connect with, so if ; you wind up using a script, this is how you let ; Binkley know where to find them. Reader c:\sf\reader.bat ; I use MsgEd, ver 2.07, as my offline reader, and ; this is how I let Binkley know how to run it. ; Overwrite Unattended ; This tells Binkley to run as a Mailer system. ; NoFullScreen BoxType 2 ; This tells Binkley how to look on the monitor. ;Colors 113 30 30 30 31 31 113 15 ; Requires VFOSSIL Mark_Kromm ; Requires VFOSSIL, and is just a color preference. ScreenBlank ; Requires VFOSSIL, blanks the screen after xx amount of time. ScreenBlank Call ; Requires VFOSSIL, keeps screen blank on mail-only calls. BlankWait 60 ; Time in seconds to wait before blanking screen. ; CursorCol 1 ; CursorRow 1 ; NoSlo ;SmallWindow StartBlkLen 1024 ; Used to specify the starting block lenth for ZModem ; transfers, most times smaller is better if noisy lines are ; a problem. Okfile c:\sf\1\okfile.lst ; Tells Binkley where to look for a list of ; files and areas that are OK for File Request. Avail c:\up\allfiles.txt ; Tells Binkley where to find the File List to ; send if someone requests "FILES". About c:\sf\1\about.doc ; If there is a problem with either of the 2 ; above. MaxReq 5 ; How many files to allow at one time for a ; file request. ;MaxBytes 400000 ;MaxTime 30 ; KnownReqList c:\binkley\okfile2.txt ; KnownAvail c:\binkley\myfiles2.arc ; KnownAbout c:\binkley\mysys2.txt ; KnownReqLim 5 ; KnownMaxBytes 600000 ; KnownMaxTime 45 ; ProtReqList c:\binkley\okfile3.txt ; ProtAvail c:\binkley\myfiles3.arc ; ProtAbout c:\binkley\mysys3.txt ; ProtReqLim 15 ; ProtMaxBytes 1000000 ; ProtMaxTime 60 ; NoRequests ReqOnUs ; Allows someone to do file requests on your ; system. ReqTemplate c:\sf\sample.tpl ; What to send if the file request fails. ; KnownReqTpl c:\binkley\known.tpl ; ProtReqTpl c:\binkley\prot.tpl ; NoPickup ; NoSharing ;RingTries 4 ;SameRing ; IF YOU HAVE BINKLEY SET TO ANSWER THE PHONE, AND NOT THE ; MODEM ( S0=0 in the Init String) LEAVE THIS COMMENTED OUT!! NoCollide ; Disallows Call Collision. ; Shell 1 Sysopus ; Alt-F1 would send "Sysopus" to COMMAND.COM ; Shell 2 Amax ; Alt-F2 would send "Amax" to COMMAND.COM Timeout 20 ; How long to wait before assuming a human caller is on and ; waiting to enter the BBS. Banner Welcome to John's Workshop, A SPITFIRE BBS! ; What to output when a ; human caller is on. BBSNote Thank you. Now loading BBS. Hang on a minute........ ; What to say ; when loading the BBS software. DoingMail Sorry, we're not available right now. Processing mail only. ; What ; to tell human callers when doing Mail-Only stuff. EnterBBS Either press your Escape key, or wait till the BBS decides to load... ; The above line tells a Human caller to press his/her Escape key to ; activate the BBS software, or wait for Binkley to Timeout to go to the BBS. ; ExtrnMail 140 Gimme UUCP ; ExtrnMail 150 Gimme WidgetLink ; MailNote Now loading UUCP...please wait... BBS Exit ; This is how to tell Binkley to Exit to the BBS software. ; BBS Spawn ;BBS Batch ; AfterMail Unpack.Bat ; CleanUp Scrub.Bat ; Packer Pack.Bat ; NoWaZOO ; Janusbaud 2400 ; This allows Binkley to use a 2 way protocol, similar to ; BiModem, for mail/file transfers. See the Binkley Doc's for ; more info on this feature. JanusOK /Arq/V32 JanusOK /V32 ; ; TaskNumber 1 ; Flags c:\binkley\flags ; ; ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ; Please refer to the documentation for more details on BinkleyTerm set-up... ; That's why there's documentation included in the package. ; ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's all there is to that one. Now take a break, go out and settle your nerves, and then we'll get into some more. Binkley.Evt OK, now that you're back, we'll get into the Binkley.Evt file. This is the most important file that Binkley uses, so you have to set it up correctly for it to work properly. You will notice that the Binkley.Evt file is also a well commented file, but don't use the one supplied, it may not let your system run the way you want. Binkley.Evt Event All 00:00 01:15 L=1 B A=60 T=5,99 E1=4 E2=90 ; Latenight Event All 01:15 03:00 L=1 B A=60 E1=1 E2=90 ; Latenight Event Mon|Tue|Wed|Thu|Fri|Sat 03:00 04:00 M L=1 B A=30 E1=50 E2=90 ;EventM Event Sun 03:00 04:00 M L=1 A=30 E1=40 E2=90 ; Event I Event All 04:00 06:00 M L=1 N A=30 T=5,99 X E1=1 E2=90 ; Callers before (NMH) Event All 06:00 24:00 L=0 B A=900 E1=1 E2=90 ; Normal BBS Use First thing you'll probably notice is that the first event starts at 00:00, which is midnight. Binkley is a VERY late riser, and starts the day at mid- night, so you'll have to accomodate him that way. Now, let's go over the line structure so that it'll make a little sense. Event All 00:00 01:15 L=1 B A=60 T=5,99 E1=4 E2=90 ; Latenight OK, first you have to tell Binkley that it's an event, so start the line that way (he he he!). Next, tell it which days to run it on. "All" means just exactly that, all seven days of the week. Next, what time(s) does the event cover? In mine, you see that the time goes from Midnight to 1:15 AM. This is the time I've set aside to specifically try to reach my local Star Hub to pick up and deliver the mail. The "L" stands for the cost factor, which is inserted into the Nodelist by whatever program you are using to parse the nodelist. I use and HIGHLY RECOMMEND a file called PLST_133.LZH, by Bill Andrus, 1:109/301, as your nodelist parser. It is great, and made to not run out of memory as the nodelist grows. It is available on the SDN network as PLST_133.LZH also, so try to pick it up if you can. If not, call my system and download it or File Request it from me. Now, back to the .Evt file. If you use the "=" sign in the cost area, Binkley will only make calls out to nodes with a cost factor of 'n', with 'n' as whatever you put in after the "=" sign. Since I used a 1, it will only call nodes with a cost factor of 1 or less. Local calls are a cost factor of 0 on my system, so that covers about all of the calls I normally make. You can also use either "<" or">" , but the "=" is what has worked best for me. Next you see the "B", which means that normal BBS calls are also accepted. This is so my users can also get online after midnight and take turns in whatever door trips thier trigger, since that is the first turn of the day, and they get the jump on everybody else (except me, of course. Sysops need fun, too!)! Next is the "A=60" which is telling Binkley how much time to wait between call tries. 60 means wait one minute so that means whatever number you put in will be the number of seconds (approximately) that Binkley will wait between tries. Note the T=5,99 which comes next. That tells Binkley that it can make 99 calls to any node, but if it has 5 bad connects; i.e. connect but no response, or any other problem with the connect, then it marks that node as Down and will not try to connect again. Now comes the fun part (evil grin!!), defining what errorlevel drop to make when. the E1=4 means to do whatever is defined as errorlevel 4 in the batch file, as the E2=90 means to do whatever is defined as errorlevel 90. Once you study my batch file, you'll see that it's not that hard to understand. Finally, you see the "; Latenight" at the end. Binkley ignores anything following the ";" so that means nothing to it. It's just there for me. Now let's look at the maintenance times I have set aside, and why I have them that way. Event Mon|Tue|Wed|Thu|Fri|Sat 03:00 04:00 M L=1 B A=30 E1=50 E2=90 ;EventM Event Sun 03:00 04:00 M L=1 A=30 E1=40 E2=90 ; Event I First, notice that I have used a different opening statement here, in that one line has started with all of the days of the week except Sunday, and the next line just has Sunday. The reason for that is simple, really. I have a statistical program that I want to run just once a week, so I have set that up to run in the batch file by using different errorlevel drops to the proper event. If you wanted to, you could configure Binkley to run an event just once in a year, but I don't think that I need to cover that here, since the idea here is to just cover the basics to get you up and running. Next, notice the "M" in the line, which tells Binkley that it's OK to try to reach the nodes that are not marked as Crash Mail capable in the nodelist. If your system does not accept mail on a continuous basis, then you are not crash mail capable, and can only be reached in the National and Local mail hours, which I'll cover shortly. Anyway, after the maintenance event has finished, if there is any time left, then Binkley will try to make any calls it can before National Mail and Local Mail Hours are in place, which is in the next event. Event All 04:00 06:00 M L=1 N A=30 T=5,99 X E1=1 E2=90 ; Callers before (NMH) OK, now to the heart of it all. FIDONet has set aside 2 hours per day to get mail to ALL nodes, and it is a time that the BBS is not allowed to run, since users could conceivably be on the whole 2 hours and keep the mail from getting through, and if the BBS is a very busy one during the day, your mail might not get in or out at all for days. That's why you see the letter "N" and no letter "B" in this event. The letter "N" stands for National mail hour. "But", you say, "You have 2 hours marked here!". A very astute observation on your part! The reason for that is simple. National Mail Hour changes with the time changes in Fall and Spring. On the East coast, it will flip-flop with Local Mail Hour, so to keep it as simple as possible, I have just blocked out 2 hours for mail. All I have to do now is just set the clock in the computer to the correct time for my local area, and my National and Local mail hours will be right no matter if I am in Daylight Savings or Standard time. This brings me to another point, and that is in the Autoexec.Bat file. You will need to set a time statement in it like this: SET TZ=EST+05 so that Binkley will know what time zone you're in. The above statement translates to "Set The TimeZone to Eastern Standard Time + 05 hours" which Binkley needs to be able to figure out Greenwich Mean Time. Just trust me on this one. The letters "M" and "X" tell Binkley that the event is a Mail Only event (M), and not to send any Outbound File Requests (X) since most systems will refuse a file request during Mail Hour anyway. The final line in the event file is the normal, rest-of-the-day BBS/Mail use of the system. Event All 06:00 24:00 L=0 B A=900 E1=1 E2=90 ; Normal BBS Use This tells Binkley that from 6:00 to Midnight, only make calls to the local calling area, L=0 (calls with a cost of -0- in the nodelist, usually just your local calling area.), allow BBS use, B, only make outgoing calls every 900 seconds, A=900. OK, take another break, then let's get into combining BinkleyTerm with Spitfire and see what you can do with Errorlevel drops in a batch file. SF.BAT Alright, now you need to configure the batch file for Spitfire to be able to run this mess <grin> you've decided to get yourself into. Take a look at the first part of my SF.Bat file: echo off bnu /R=3072 /T=1024 /L:0=19200,8N1 /F d:\dv\vfos_dv.com In order to work, BinkleyTerm needs a FOSSIL driver for the com port, and a video FOSSIL for the monitor. I have found that the easiest FOSSIL to use for the com port end of the business is one called BNU170.ZIP. It provides the user with the choice of either a .SYS or .COM driver, and the doc's are pretty good. The second line of my batch file is where I set up the FOSSIL for use. I'm telling it to set the Receive buffer to 3072 bytes, the Transmit buffer to 1024 bytes, and to lock the com port to 19200 baud, with Fast ANSI. I have a USR Dual Standard modem, and the fastest speed that my UART chip can handle reliably is 19200 baud. I have a 16450 UART, yours may differ. The second line is where I am telling the video FOSSIL to work. I use the video FOSSIL (public domain) VFOS_DV.COM, which is meant for the program DesqView. It's a great program, and requires very little memory. Now let's see what I've done with the rest of the SF.Bat file and Errorlevel drops. You will see a line that says "brk on", this is a Control Break driver that is used to keep not-nice users from breaking into my Dos level from, say, an external protocol batch file. Mike Woltz covers this in the doc's for Spitfire, and it makes for "GOOD READING" (hint, hint!). Next you see a Batch file Lable, ":LOOP". Somewhere in the batch file it will refer to this label as a place for the program to go when it is finished with whatever task it is doing. Next come the various errorlevels, which you will notice are in a decreasing level; i.e. 100, 96, 90, etc. Now you need to look at the Binkley.Evt file to see where the various errorlevels go. The only one that doesn't seem to fit is 1, which according to the batch file seems to just go to the end. However, Binkley just drops to the BBS with this setup because it is actually using either an Errorlevel of 100 for a Local logon or 96 for a BBS caller. The E1=1 is what Binkley is looking at for the start of the event, E2=90 for Mail, and anything after that is considered BBS use, unless you configure it differently. (By the way, you can use the function keys to do a local logon with this setup, hitting F10 to log on, F9 to handle mail, etc. Just thought I'd throw that in.) Event All 00:00 01:15 L=1 B A=60 T=5,99 E1=4 E2=90 ; Latenight Event All 01:15 03:00 L=1 B A=60 E1=1 E2=90 ; Latenight Event Mon|Tue|Wed|Thu|Fri|Sat 03:00 04:00 M L=1 B A=30 E1=50 E2=90 ;EventM Event Sun 03:00 04:00 M L=1 A=30 E1=40 E2=90 ; Event I Event All 04:00 06:00 M L=1 N A=30 T=5,99 X E1=1 E2=90 ; (NMH) Event All 06:00 24:00 L=0 B A=900 E1=1 E2=90 ; Normal BBS brk on :LOOP C: CD\SF bt IF ERRORLEVEL 100 GOTO SPITL IF ERRORLEVEL 96 GOTO SPIT96 IF ERRORLEVEL 90 GOTO MAIL IF ERRORLEVEL 80 GOTO EVENT_P IF ERRORLEVEL 50 GOTO EVENT_M IF ERRORLEVEL 40 GOTO EVENT_I IF ERRORLEVEL 24 GOTO SPIT96 IF ERRORLEVEL 12 GOTO SPIT96 IF ERRORLEVEL 11 GOTO END IF ERRORLEVEL 10 GOTO END IF ERRORLEVEL 4 GOTO IMPCYCLE IF ERRORLEVEL 3 GOTO SPIT96 IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO EXP IF ERRORLEVEL 0 GOTO END OK, now you see the BT after the CD\SF? That starts BinkleyTerm. The various errorlevels just tell it what type of Exit to make for each condition defined. Now the rest of the batch file is pretty standard SF.Bat stuff, but you will notice that I only have defined a baud rate and com port for the Spitfire portion of the file, and have not put in an Init command; i.e. /I19200. The reason for that is that the modem is already Init'ed from Binkley, so if I Init the modem again, I will dump the caller. Another thing that you'll notice is that I don't use an SFInit.Bat file, or anything else. ALL OPERATIONS, SUCH AS MAINTENANCE, DOORS, ETC., ARE CONTROLLED BY THE SF.BAT FILE! The reason for this is that I use a program called Bat2Exec.Exe to compile the batch file into a .Com file, and then I load this into High Memory through the Autoexec.Bat file at boot-up. In this manner, I save conventional memory AND speed up the operation of the BBS at the same time! It works for me... :SPIT96 SPITFIRE 19200 /C1 IF ERRORLEVEL 57 GOTO DOOR_Z IF ERRORLEVEL 56 GOTO DOOR_Y IF ERRORLEVEL 55 GOTO DOOR_X IF ERRORLEVEL 54 GOTO DOOR_W IF ERRORLEVEL 53 GOTO DOOR_V IF ERRORLEVEL 52 GOTO DOOR_U IF ERRORLEVEL 51 GOTO DOOR_T IF ERRORLEVEL 50 GOTO DOOR_S IF ERRORLEVEL 49 GOTO DOOR_R IF ERRORLEVEL 48 GOTO DOOR_P IF ERRORLEVEL 47 GOTO DOOR_O IF ERRORLEVEL 46 GOTO DOOR_N If ERRORLEVEL 45 GOTO DOOR_M If ERRORLEVEL 44 GOTO DOOR_L If ERRORLEVEL 43 GOTO DOOR_K If ERRORLEVEL 42 GOTO DOOR_J If ERRORLEVEL 41 GOTO DOOR_I If ERRORLEVEL 40 GOTO DOOR_H If ERRORLEVEL 39 GOTO DOOR_F If ERRORLEVEL 38 GOTO DOOR_E If ERRORLEVEL 37 GOTO DOOR_D If ERRORLEVEL 36 GOTO DOOR_C If ERRORLEVEL 35 GOTO DOOR_B If ERRORLEVEL 34 GOTO DOOR_A IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO EXP IF ERRORLEVEL 0 GOTO EXP IF ERRORLEVEL 0 GOTO END Now in the section below for the Local Logon stuff, you see the doors are labled as, say, Door_A4. This doesn't mean that you need to have 2 door directories for each door!! It just is a trick with the Errorlevels and batch programming to keep things flowing smoothly. :DOOR_D REM DM S QBBS C:\SF\ C:\SF\DOOR_D\ SFRBBSDR /P C:\SF\DOOR_D /B JOHN'S WORKSHOP /S JOHN CLAWSON CD\SF\DOOR_D DWARZ CD\SF GOTO SPIT96 :DOOR_D4 SFRBBSDR /P C:\SF\DOOR_D /B JOHN'S WORKSHOP /S JOHN CLAWSON REM DM S QBBS C:\SF\ C:\SF\DOOR_D\ CD\SF\DOOR_D DWARZ CD\SF GOTO SPITL See, you just use the label to send the batch file to the right spot. After that the commands for the door are the same (unless the door runs differently in Local Mode). :SPITL SPITFIRE 0 IF ERRORLEVEL 57 GOTO DOOR_Z4 IF ERRORLEVEL 56 GOTO DOOR_Y4 IF ERRORLEVEL 55 GOTO DOOR_X4 IF ERRORLEVEL 54 GOTO DOOR_W4 IF ERRORLEVEL 53 GOTO DOOR_V4 IF ERRORLEVEL 52 GOTO DOOR_U4 IF ERRORLEVEL 51 GOTO DOOR_T4 IF ERRORLEVEL 50 GOTO DOOR_S4 IF ERRORLEVEL 49 GOTO DOOR_R4 IF ERRORLEVEL 48 GOTO DOOR_P4 IF ERRORLEVEL 47 GOTO DOOR_O4 IF ERRORLEVEL 46 GOTO DOOR_N4 If ERRORLEVEL 45 GOTO DOOR_M4 If ERRORLEVEL 44 GOTO DOOR_L4 If ERRORLEVEL 43 GOTO DOOR_K4 If ERRORLEVEL 42 GOTO DOOR_J4 If ERRORLEVEL 41 GOTO DOOR_I4 If ERRORLEVEL 40 GOTO DOOR_H4 If ERRORLEVEL 39 GOTO DOOR_F4 If ERRORLEVEL 38 GOTO DOOR_E4 If ERRORLEVEL 37 GOTO DOOR_D4 If ERRORLEVEL 36 GOTO DOOR_C4 If ERRORLEVEL 35 GOTO DOOR_B4 If ERRORLEVEL 34 GOTO DOOR_A4 IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO EXP IF ERRORLEVEL 0 GOTO EXP Now, let's take care of some mail!! The first thing you see is that I CD to a Door directory. The reason for that is to run a program that looks for an incoming file for a game that I run called Dragon Wars, which allows for not only play on my BBS, but also play from another BBS as well! But enough of the advertisements. Remember I mentioned the nodelist? That's the list of every- body in FIDONet, and it is updated weekly. I have set up my system so that if a new Nodediff comes in, my system will automatically process it, without any intervention on my part. Since I'm in the Navy and have to travel sometimes, my system needs to be able to run itself, and do it stably and reliably, and this is why I have set up the automatic nodelist processing. As a Hub, I have to keep abreast of all changes in the list. That is what the first three lines do after I CD to the Mail directory. First I copy the New Nodediff (if it exists) to a holding directory and get it out of the inbound mail directory. Then it is unARChived, placed in the Nodelist directory, the old nodelist is unZIPped, placed in the nodelist directory, then I call a batch file to process the new nodelist. After it's all done, I then delete the nodediff file from the inbound directory. :MAIL CD\SF\DOOR_D IF EXIST \SF\FILE1\*.0 DWARZNET CD\SF\MAIL IF EXIST C:\SF\FILE1\NODEDIFF.A* COPY C:\SF\FILE1\NODEDIFF.* C:\SF\FILE IF EXIST C:\SF\FILE1\NODEDIFF.A* COPY C:\SF\FILE1\NODEDIFF.* C:\SF\NODELIST IF EXIST C:\SF\NODELIST\NODEDIFF.A* CALL C:\SF\NODELIST\PLIST.BAT DEL C:\SF\FILE1\NODEDIFF.* Next, I need to forward certain files that come in through the mail to the other nodes that feed off of me. I use a program called Mail Robot to do that. It's easy to set up, reliable, and I like it. MR \SF\FILE\NODEDIFF.* \SF\MAIL\NODEDIFF.DST -c -k \SF\MAIL\NODEDIFF.STP MR \SF\FILE1\FNEWS???.* \SF\MAIL\NODEDIFF.DST -c -k \SF\MAIL\FNEWS.STP MR \SF\FILE1\NLIST???.* \SF\MAIL\NODEDIFF.DST -c -k \SF\MAIL\NLIST.STP MR \SF\FILE1\KLORE???.* \SF\MAIL\NODEDIFF.DST -c -k \SF\MAIL\KLORE.STP MR \SF\FILE1\DCBB????.* \SF\MAIL\NODEDIFF.DST -c -k \SF\MAIL\DCBB.STP MR \SF\FILE1\SMBB????.* \SF\MAIL\NODEDIFF.DST -c -k \SF\MAIL\SMBBS.STP MR \SF\FILE1\SYSOP109.AR? \SF\MAIL\NODEDIFF.DST -c -k \SF\MAIL\SYS109.STP Next comes Dogfight, a God-send from Chris Tyson to Spitfire Sysops that want to be in FIDONet. It imports mail to and exports mail from Spitfire to a FIDONet compatible message style (*.MSG format). DFDECOMP C:\SF\FILE1\ XCOPY C:\SF\MAIL\*.PKT C:\SF\FILE1 DFIMPORT DFEXPORT L DFCFG.001 DFEXPORT L DFCFG.002 DFEXPORT L DFCFG.003 DFEXPORT L DFCFG.004 DFEXPORT L DFCFG.005 DFEXPORT L DFCFG.006 DFEXPORT L DFCFG.007 DFEXPORT L DFCFG.008 DFEXPORT L DFCFG.009 Next, I do the FIDONet areas that I don't keep on my board, but pass through to other nodes. I use a program called QMail for this. CD\SF\MAIL QM TOSS SCAN PACK -Q QM LINK -FC:\LOG\ECHOTOSS.LOG -Q DEL C:\LOG\ECHOTOSS.LOG GOTO LOOP In the maintenance events, you will see a section that goes like this: CD\SF\MAIL ECHO RENUMBERING MESSAGES... ECHO OFF MSGNUM -N 1 40 -Q -R C:\600SYSOP MSGNUM -N 1 20 -Q -R C:\AUTO109 MSGNUM -N 1 35 -Q -R C:\HUBCAP MSGNUM -N 1 100 -Q -R C:\SYSOP109 MSGNUM -N 1 50 -Q -R C:\SYSCHAT MSGNUM -N 1 150 -Q -R C:\RECOVERY MSGNUM -N 1 50 -Q -R C:\LOCSPORT MSGNUM -N 1 50 -Q -R C:\NETWIDE MSGNUM -N 1 100 -Q -R C:\TELIX MSGNUM -N 1 50 -Q -R C:\4SALE MSGNUM -N 1 25 -Q -R C:\LOCAL-C MSGNUM -N 1 50 -Q -R C:\USERCONF MSGNUM -N 1 50 -Q -R C:\LOCSYSOP MSGNUM -N 1 50 -Q -R C:\LOCDOOR MSGNUM -N 1 50 -Q -R C:\TECHNET MSGNUM -N 1 50 -Q -R C:\INTRUSR MSGNUM -N 1 50 -Q -R C:\BILLNODE MSGNUM -N 1 50 -Q -R C:\REVIEWS MSGNUM -N 1 50 -Q -R C:\FRUGAL What this is doing is to delete old messages in FIDONet-style format from the directories I keep them in. I use a program called MsgEd as an offline reader that is 100% FIDO compatible. This way, I don't have to log on locally to the BBS to read my mail. However, if I don't delete old messages, I would very soon run out of space for anything else on the drives. the program I use, MsgNum, takes care of this for me. The rest of the batch file is just stuff I run for the BBS, so I feel it needs no explanation. How are you doing so far?