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Text File | 1995-10-17 | 33.1 KB | 705 lines

╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ FULLPACK.W95 - A 10 step guide to setting up a DOS-Based BBS under Win95 ║ ╚══════════════════════════╤═══════════════╤════════════════════════════════╝ │ Revision 2.01 │ ╘═══════════════╛ Copyright (c) 1994-95 by Tony Harrison. All rights reserved. (Revised 10-17-95) First public release of this text file. Welcome to the world of Windows 95! ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Many have requested a set of instructions on how to get their BBS up and running under Windows 95. This text file, along with SETTINGS.W95 gives you the tools necessary to get your DOS-Based BBS running under Windows 95 with minimal down-time. Please note that this package centers around the Wildcat! BBS platform, as this is the current BBS package that I operate. However, I have attempted to make the following set of tips and instructions as "generic" as possible. Although substitution of certain commands and environment variables is in order if you run a different BBS package, the basic structure can be adapted to your specific needs without too much trouble. Well take a deep breath, grab a can of your favorite beverage, and let's get started! Only 10 steps from start to finish! ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- Step 1: The first thing you should do is prepare your BBS software to run under Win95's operating environment. Before you do this there are a couple of things you will need to be aware of regarding Win95's DOS support itself. First off, unlike MS-DOS, Win95's DOS emulation does not need an external program (SHARE.EXE) to enable file sharing support. This support is totally integrated into WINDOWS 95, thus SHARE.EXE is not needed. The main thing to remember is that there is no need to enable this support under Win95. File sharing support is ALWAYS there. You can't "turn it off". Any programs that require DOS Share to be loaded will work properly under Win95 in most situations. Simply tell the program that DOS Share is loaded, and you are set. So the first step would be to go into your BBS configuration setup program and tell your BBS software that SHARE is loaded. ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ EXAMPLE: ║ ║ ║ ║ For Wildcat systems, go into MAKEWILD.EXE and under "General Information" ║ ║ there is a field for "Network Type" as shown below. This needs to be set ║ ║ to DOS Share. ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ╔═══════════════════════════ General Information ═══════════════════════════╗ ║ Path for language files : C:\WC40\LANGUAGE\ ║ ║ Default file extension : ZIP ║ ║ Generate file keywords dynamically : Y ║ ║ Index long file descriptions : Y ║ ║ Copy files from CD-ROM on transfers : Y ║ ║ CD-ROM changer tables : (Press F2 to edit) ║ ║ Allow duplicate user names : No duplicate names ║ ║ Database file safety mode : None ║ ║ Network type : DOS share ║ ║ Node ID : 1 ║ ║ Auto determine node ID : N ║ ║───────────────────────── Display information ─────────────────────────────╢ ║ Screen blanker type : Blank out ║ ║ Video adaptor type : Auto Detect ║ ║ RIP mode for system : Standard RIP ║ ║ Clear screen before menus : Y ║ ╙───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╜ NOTE: If you are running a SINGLE-NODE BBS only, you will not need to make use of file sharing, so you have the option to set Wildcat's network mode to "No Net". ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- Step 2: Now it's time to make changes to your CONFIG.SYS file for Win95. A sample file has been included in this FULLW95 archive called CONFIG.FPK, which you can use as a reference. Here's what your CONFIG.SYS should look like, and an explanation of each entry: ┌──────────────┐ │ CONFIG.SYS - │ (CONFIG.FPK) └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── FILES=200 NOTES: Win95 uses a LOT of file handles. So does Wildcat. Set this number high. 200 is an excellent choice. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── LASTDRIVE=Z NOTES: Tells DOS the last drive letter available for use. Leave it at Z. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM C:\ /P /E:2048 NOTES: VERY IMPORTANT! This sets the command interpreter to use as well as the environment size. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\ANSI.SYS Loads the ANSI driver so you can view callers in doors. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── That's it! Just 4 lines! Save it, and you're ready to proceed. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- Step 3: Ok, now that you have your BBS configuration set, it's time to make use of a file distributed with this archive, BNU170.ZIP. This is the FOSSIL driver that is needed for your BBS to run properly under Windows 95. Create a directory on your hard drive called BNU and copy that ZIP file into that directory. Now unzip it's contents into that directory. The files you are concerned with now are BNU.COM and BNUPORT.EXE, which you have just PKUNZIPed into that directory. NOTE that BNUPORT.EXE is only needed if you are running NON-STANDARD COM ports (something other than plain vanilla COM1 and COM2). If you need to use BNUPORT, you'll need to unzip the file BNUPORT.ZIP, which is located in your new BNU directory. Once you do that, BNUPORT.EXE will be available. Now that you have those files ready to go, it's time to implement them. IF you are running STANDARD COM1 and/or COM2 ONLY. You're done, proceed to step 4. If not, read on. If you want to use the BNU FOSSIL driver, with anything other than the standard COM1 and COM2, you MUST use the BNUPORT utility provided with BNU170.ZIP in order to use non-standard port configurations. What follows is an explanation of what BNUPORT actually is, and what you need to do to get it to work for your system: BNUPORT allows changing port assignments used by the BNU communications driver. BNUPORT directly READS and PATCHES the existing driver file "BNU.COM" to the use specific interrupt and IO port base addresses that you want to use for up to 16 port configurations. Simply change to the directory that BNU.COM is located in on your system and type BNUPORT on the command-line to bring up the BNUPORT configuration screen. Now follow the next set of instructions VERY closely, as you will be patching your modifications into BNU.COM directly. If you make an error after you have patched BNU.COM, you will need to re-install BNU.COM. BNUPORT searches the current directory for BNU.COM and once BNU.COM is found, BNUPORT presents a screen which you will use to change communications parameters for your non-standard ports. BNU can use any combination of port and IRQ addresses. Internally, it has a table of 16 "slots", which represent logical port numbers, numbered 0 through 15, which normally correspond with COM1 through COM4 on the PC and 12 others (COM5-COM16 for example). These 16 slots are alternative configurations - it does not represent how many ports BNU can support concurrently. BNU 1.70 only supports 4 ports in use at the same time (this was changed in beta releases to allow support of up to 8). The port configuration is maintained by the BNUPORT utility, provided with BNU 1.70. The standard configuration that is pre-configured in BNU.COM contains a setup for the standard DOS serial ports, COM1 through COM4. The only "mysterious" part of BNU port is the meaning of "IRQ Vector" and "IRQ Mask". Both are linked to the IRQ number, as is shown in the following table: IRQ Mask Vector Usually used for... --- ---- ------ --------------------------------------------------- 00 01 08 System timer 01 02 09 Keyboard 02 04 0A AT=cascade, EGA/VGA, Network adaptors 03 08 0B COM2 & COM4 04 10 0C COM1 & COM3 05 20 0D unused (LPT2, SCSI 8-bit, tape) 06 40 0E Floppy drive controller 07 80 0F unused (LPT1, SCSI 9-bit, tape) 08 01 70 RTC Clock 09 02 71 Redirected IRQ2 10 04 72 unused 11 08 73 unused 12 10 74 unused 13 20 75 unused 14 40 76 Hard disk controller 15 80 77 unused Just substitute the Mask and Vector values for the IRQs that you want to use, in the 'slots' for the particular Port# in BNUPORT, enter in the proper base address you wish to use (03F8, 02F8, etc.) and BNUPORT will patch your BNU.COM automatically. Also, If you are using IRQ 0 through 7, use 0020 as the "8259 Port". If using IRQ 8 through 15, use 00A0. You'll notice the first four ports (00-03) are configured for you. You can leave the Address and Mask columns at the far right of the screen at their defaults of 0000 and 00 respectively. You're all set! You have just enabled COM support for your BBS! ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Step 4: It's time to create a folder for your BBS nodes on your Win95 desktop. The easiest way to do this is to simply right-click with your mouse anywhere on your desktop. You'll receive a small menu. Choose "New", and select "Folder". You'll see it instantly creates a new folder on your desktop. Type the name that you want the folder to be known by (for example, "Shadowgate BBS"), and then press enter. You've just created your BBS folder! ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Step 5: Now that you have your folder, click on it to open it. You should have an empty (icon-less) folder. Now it's time to add some DOS-session icons to this folder that will be used to represent each node of your BBS. Before you can begin to do this, you'll need to set up your DOS sessions to be as fast as possible under Windows 95. Win95's DOS sessions are extremely easy to set up. Since there are quite a few different DOS settings, setting up each DOS session you have can be a long task. But why make it long when you can make it short and sweet! Here's how you're going to do just that! First, open up your new folder that you just created. Now, right-click anywhere inside that folder to bring up the pop-up menu just like you did to create your new folder. Now, highlight "new". Instead of choosing "folder", this time choose "shortcut". The "Create Shortcut" wizard will appear, and in the "Command line" box type the following: C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM Now, click on the "Next" button. You'll notice that WIndows 95 will automatically assign this a name of "MS-DOS Prompt". You'll want to name this something else, preferably your BBS name, and a node number (for example, "Shadowgate Node 1"). Click Finish. You'll notice that on your new folder, you now have an MS-DOS icon that shows your BBS name and node number! You're halfway home! Now what you need to know is set the properties for that new shortcut. Here's what you need to do: What follows are the settings for your Win95 DOS Sessions. These are accessed by right-clicking on the icon that is set up to load your BBS nodes, and then selecting "properties". Go ahead and do this now. Right- click on your newly-created MS-DOS icon, and choose "Properties". You'll then see a properties sheet with several tabs at the top. Change the default settings to the following: ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Tab 1 - General: │ ─────────────────┘ Tab 1 Gives information about the program itself. No modification needs to be done to this page. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Tab 2 - Program: │ ─────────────────┘ To the Right of the icon, there is a space to enter in the name that you want displayed on the title bar when this session is running. An example for node 1 would be your BBS name and node number (Shadowgate Node 1). Cmd Line.....: C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM You'll always want to start your BBS using a batch file, so instead of placing the program .EXE in this line, place the path and filename of the command processor you wish to use for this session. It defaults to the Windows 95 DOS Mode command interpreter, which should be left alone unless you are using a third party program such as 4DOS. Working......: C:\BBS Provides a space for you to type the name of the folder that this program will load files from, and where it will save files. If necessary, include the drive letter. (substitute BBS for your BBS's home directory i.e. C:\WC40) Batch File...: C:\BBS\NODE1.BAT This is where you will place the path and filename of the batch file that you are using to start each of the BBS nodes with. Shortcut Key: None Provides a space for you to define a keyboard shortcut to start or switch to this program from Windows. Shortcut keys must include CTRL and/or ALT and another key (for example, CTRL+Y). You cannot use ESC, ENTER, TAB, SPACEBAR, PRINT SCREEN, or BACKSPACE. No other program can use this key combination. If the shortcut key conflicts with an access key in a Windows-based program, the access key will not work. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Tab 3 - Font: │ ──────────────┘ This is where you specify what font you would like to use when displaying this session in a window, either by starting it windowed, or by using ALT-ENTER. The 8x12 bitmap font is what I use, however the choice is up to you. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Tab 4 - Memory: │ ────────────────┘ Set Conventional, EMS, XMS, and MS-DOS protected mode all to "Auto". Set Initial Environment to 1024. Place a check in the box "Uses HMA" under "Extended" (XMS) Memory. Do NOT place a check in the "Protected" Box. Having "Protected" checked only seems to slow the session down, and does not seem to provide any greater level of protection than when it is turned on. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Tab 5 - Screen: │ ────────────────┘ Usage - This is the setting for how you want this program loaded. Choose full-screen or window. Initial size should be set at "Default". Window and Performance - Display toolbar, restore settings on startup, fast ROM emulation, and dynamic memory allocation should all be checked. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Tab 6 - Misc: │ ──────────────┘ Allow screen saver, QuickEdit, Exclusive Mode, Always Suspend, and warn if still active should NOT be checked. Idle Sensitivity - Set it to Low. Move the slider as far to the left as you can. Fast pasting - should be checked. All of the Windows Shortcut keys should be checked. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── That's it! All of the DOS settings are taken care of. Now that you have the settings set up for your DOS session, you can now click on "Ok" to save those settings. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Step 6: Now the time has arrived to create your individual DOS sessions for your BBS. Make sure you have your newly created folder OPEN (expand the folder so that you have more room to add icons) displaying your newly modified DOS full-screen session as well. Place your mouse over the newly modified DOS icon and right-click on it. HOLD THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON DOWN and drag a silhouette of your icon over to a blank area of your folder, and release the button. A Pop-up menu will appear, and one of the choices will be "Copy Here", choose that. You'll notice that a NEW icon has appeared, and it will be labeled "Copy of <BBS>". Place your mouse pointer over the text, and click once. A cursor will appear, and you will be able to rename that icon. Name it identical to what you named your first icon, except make this a different node number (for example Shadowgate Node 2). Repeat this step for every node icon you wish to create. For example, if you have 2 dial-in lines and one local node, you will want to create three new BBS icons, one for each of your nodes. The best part is that when you copy a DOS session like you just did, you copy ALL of the DOS settings with it! All of that work modifying those settings early just paid off! ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- Step 7: Now that you have that taken care of, it's time to set up some batch files to run a multiple-node BBS under Win95. I have included the files STARTBBS.BAT, NODE0.BAT, NODE1.BAT, NODE2.BAT, and AUTOEXEC.BAT with this archive, and you can use these by simply modifying the names and SET statements to match your needs and preferences. The way I have structured this is for simplicity, and to make it as easy as possible to add new nodes in the future. Basically here is how the structure flows from start to finish: ┌─────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ │ Node 0 (Local) │ │ Node 1 (Non Mailer) │ │ Node 2 (Mailer) │ └────────┬────────┘ └──────────┬───────────┘ └────────┬────────┘ ┌───────┴───────┐ ┌───────┴───────┐ ┌───────┴───────┐ │ Click on icon │ │ Click on icon │ │ Click on icon │ └───────┬───────┘ └───────┬───────┘ └───────┬───────┘ │ │ │ └──────────────────────┼────────────────────────┘ ┌─────────┴─────────┐ │ Load AUTOEXEC.BAT │ └─────────┬─────────┘ │ ┌──────────────────────┼────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ ┌───────┴────────┐ ┌───────┴────────┐ ┌───────┴────────┐ │ Load NODE0.BAT │ │ Load NODE1.BAT │ │ Load NODE2.BAT │ └───────┬────────┘ └───────┬────────┘ └───────┬────────┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ └──────────────────────┼────────────────────────┘ │ ┌───────────────┴──────────────────┐ │ Call STARTBBS.BAT from NODEx.BAT │ └───────────────┬──────────────────┘ │ ┌──────────────────────┼────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ ┌───────┴────────┐ ┌───────┴───────┐ ┌────────┴──────────┐ │ Local node │ │ Node 1 is now │ │ Mailer is now │ │ is now loaded! │ │ waiting for │ │ loaded and │ │ │ │ calls! │ │ ready for calls! │ └────────────────┘ └───────────────┘ └───────────────────┘ As you can see, no matter what icon you click, your AUTOEXEC.BAT is loaded first. Let's take a look at the AUTOEXEC.BAT which was included with this packet as AUTOEXEC.FPK: ┌────────────────┐ │ AUTOEXEC.BAT - │ (AUTOEXEC.FPK) └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── @ECHO OFF Turns off the echoing of commands to the screen as they load. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── LH C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\DOSKEY /INSERT NOTES: Loads DOSKEY command macro editor. This particular command tells doskey to turn on the Insert key so that when you recall commands at the DOS prompt using the Up/Dn arrow keys, it will automatically insert your new modifications instead of overwriting. If you would rather it default to overwriting, remove the /INSERT parameter. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PROMPT $P$G Sets what the prompt should look like. This will produce the C:\> prompt. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\DOS;C:\;C:\WC40 The Paths that Windows will search for programs. You can place any directory you want in your path. Make sure your main BBS directory (In this case C:\WC40) is in the path. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── SET DIRCMD=/O/P This will sort the directory listings and place them in alphabetical order, directories first. The /P pauses the list after each screenful of info. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── SET COMSPEC=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM Sets the path to the command interpreter for programs that need it. Windows 95 LIKES to REM this out during the upgrade process. Make SURE you remove the REM after upgrading. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── C:\BNU\BNU /P3 /L:0=57600 /L:1=57600 /L:2=57600 /F /Z0 /M- /T:3072 /R:3072 /O This is the recommended command-line that I use to load BNU 1.70 with. Refer to your BNU documentation for an explanation of all of the switches. NOTE: BNU 1.70 is limited to 4 ports running at one time, and 4 ports is the maximum # I recommend under Win95. The DOS subsystem will begin to choke (i.e. sloooowwww) when you run more than 4 DOS Communications programs at the same time. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── SET WCNODEID=10 NOTES: This is a very useful feature for Wildcat Sysop's, and can probably be modified for other BBS platforms as well. This basically acts as a "failsafe" so that no matter what DOS session you open, you will always have a BBS node ID set for programs/utilities that need one. (Such as PostMaster, wcPRO, etc.). You can set this for any node that your BBS software will allow, but it is a good idea to use a node ID that is NOT already being used. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── SET WCHOME=C:\WC40 NOTES: This variable is specific to Wildcat systems and tells programs that look for this variable where your Wildcat home directory is located. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── That covers the basic AUTOEXEC.BAT for Win95. Of course you can modify the above any way you like, but it's a good starting point. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────-── Step 8: Now that we have the AUTOEXEC.BAT taken care of, we can move on to the Individual NODEx.BAT files. These batch files can be placed anywhere you wish. Personally I place each of them in their respective work directories. For Wildcat users that would be your x:\WC40\WCWORK\NODEx directories. Others will vary but again they can be placed wherever you want. Now here are some examples of various batch files you may wish to use in your setup. NODE0.BAT shows what a local login batch file would look like, NODE1.BAT is what a normal dial-in line would look like, and NODE2.BAT is for those who run a mailer. ┌───────────┐ │ NODE0.BAT │ └───────────┘ @ECHO OFF SET WCNODEID=0 SET WCPORTID=0 SET NODEPATH=C:\WC40\WCWORK\NODE3 CD\WC40 STARTBBS.BAT This file is pretty self-explanatory. It sets the WCNODEID, WCPORTID, which is all that is necessary for local logins. Calling STARTBBS.BAT is OPTIONAL. Doing so will give you an Idle screen. If you would rather click on this icon and be logged in directly, remove the STARTBBS.BAT line and replace it with WILDCAT /LOCAL. The NODEPATH environment variable is for programs such as Romdoor that look for that environment to be set. ┌───────────┐ │ NODE1.BAT │ └───────────┘ @ECHO OFF C: SET WCNODEID=1 SET WCPORTID=1 SET WCIRQID=4 SET WCBASEID=$3F8 SET NODEPATH=C:\WC40\WCWORK\NODE1 SET WCMDM=SPORTSTR CD\WC40 STARTBBS.BAT This is similar to the NODE0.BAT except that we add a few important items. WCMDM is the .MDM file that Wildcat will use with this node. Change the name to reflect what you use for an .MDM file. Use wcMODEM to edit/create your .MDM file. WCIRQID and WCBASEID are important variables to set for certain 3rd party programs. These settings are identical to what is shown in your .MDM file, but they should still be used. ┌───────────┐ │ NODE2.BAT │ └───────────┘ @ECHO OFF C: CD\IM SET MAILERID=1 SET WCMDM=HAYES288.MDM SET WCHOME=C:\WC40 SET WCNODEID=2 SET WCPORTID=2 SET WCIRQID=3 SET WCBASEID=$2F8 SET NODEPATH=C:\WC40\WCWORK\NODE2\ MAILER As you can see this is very similar to node 2 except that at the end it loads MAILER.BAT (or whatever your bath file name is to load your mailer) instead of STARTBBS.BAT. I also add a handy environment variable for those like me who run a mailer on more than one node. That way you can specify which mailer configuration you would like to use depending on the node you are loading. For Intermail the command line would look like this: im -nounpack /#%MAILERID% Now it's time to show the core file that each of the NODEx.BAT files loads, the STARTBBS.BAT. The master batch file that calls up the BBS is the STARTBBS.BAT file, which for Wildcat! users will be their CAT.BAT file. Here is what that batch file looks like. (Remember this was included in your packet as STARTBBS.FPK). ┌───────────────┐ │ STARTBBS.BAT: │ └───────────────┘ @ECHO OFF echo Running STARTBBS.BAT for Node %WCNODEID% on COM:%WCPORTID% :RELOAD WILDCAT IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO RELOAD This batch file serves one purpose, to load up your BBS software. Well, you've got your NODEx.BAT files, and your STARTBBS.BAT files all set, and if you'll refer back to the above diagram, you're almost done! Now simply modify the files to suit your taste and number of nodes. After you have edited them the way you liked, you're ready to tell each of your node icons which batch file to run. You are almost there! Now is the time to edit those NODEx files, and copy them to where you would like them to be. For the sake of congruity I am assuming that you have copied your NODEx.BAT into the appropriate WCWORK\NODEx sub-directories. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Step 9: Now it's time to modify each of your DOS session icons to load the correct NODEx.BAT files. This is accomplished my placing your mouse pointer over one of the icons, and clicking the right mouse button on it. Choose "Properties" from the pop-up pick list. You'll now see the properties notebook for that session. Click on the "Program" tab at the top. There now is a field displayed that says "Batch file:". You'll need to enter in the path and file name to your batch file. ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ EXAMPLE: ║ ║ If you're editing the icon for Node 1, In the "Batch file" field, Enter: ║ ║ ║ ║ C:\WC40\WCWORK\NODE1\NODE1.BAT ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ For the "Working Directory:" field, put in the directory where your NODEx.BAT resides. ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ EXAMPLE: ║ ║ For Node 1, your working directory would be: ║ ║ ║ ║ C:\WC40\WCWORK\NODE1 ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ Repeat step 9 for each of the DOS sessions, and guess what... YOU'RE ALMOST DONE! ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Step 10: ╒═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ │ IMPORTANT: If you are running Wildcat! 4.x under Win95, you will need to │ │ make a change to your modem's MDM file that Wildcat! uses. You will need │ │ to set the transmit AND receive FIFO levels to 14 each. This will allow │ │ WC! to run as efficiently as possible. If you are running other DOS BBS │ │ software, and you also have the ability to modify a setting similar to │ │ this, please do so. The HIGHER the number, the better in most cases. │ │ ╘═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Specific to users of Wildcat/DOS 4.10 and higher, and users of the Wildcat 4.x MultiLine Platinum ONLY - You'll need to make some added changes to your modem's MDM file. You'll need to change the type of serial port to "FOSSIL". This will allow you to take full advantage of the BNU FOSSIL driver I mentioned earlier. This will result in a dramatic performance increase for your BBS sessions. You'll notice that changing the serial port to "FOSSIL" disables the COM port IRQ and base address. (BNU "knows" this already). ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── NOTICE IF YOU ARE USING THE FOSSIL SETTING - *VERY IMPORTANT* - You will need to make these two additional changes to all of your modem's MDM files: Determine Ringing Using ....... "Ring Result" Determine Baud Rate using ..... "Result Code 2" If you do NOT make these changes... Wildcat will not answer the modem. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Click on the icons and load the BBS up. You're now running full-speed under Win95! For those of you that were either used to a DesqView utility that would "spawn" new DOS sessions and run a specified program, or for others wishing to get the BBS back up and running as soon as possible, Windows 95 now supports the START command to spawn new DOS sessions to do specific tasks. Type START at an MS-DOS command prompt to see the options available to you. Please take the time to read SETTINGS.W95 which is your guide to improving Win95 performance. The file includes not only recommended DOS settings, but also recommended CONFIG.SYS all tuned for performance. In the future, the only file that you will need to keep up to date with is SETTINGS.W95, which is distributed separately as SETWIN95.ZIP. It is not necessary to download this FULLW95.ZIP file again. SETTINGS.W95 is constantly updated to improve performance, and the latest revision is always available on my BBS (and many others!). For contact information, please refer to SETTINGS.W95, which is included in this FULLW95 archive. It has all of the different ways to contact me, as well as the address to FREQ either FULLW95.ZIP or SETWIN95.ZIP from, and my BBS # to download it if you do not have a Front-End Mailer. Good Luck with all of your future endeavors! Tony Harrison, Sysop Shadowgate BBS