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1994-05-20
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============================================================
==== Bug fixes and new features in QuickBBS ST 1.12 ====
============================================================
Hay folks. Here is our newest version of QuickBBS ST.
I don't have much free time, so don't be disappointed if I
don't answer mail that fast. I also use Fidonet/NeST not
that much anymore, all the wars in the Fidonet type nets
have run me down over the last 7 years!
I can be contacted via internet/usenet. I will send keys
via internet too. My email address can however change in
the future. The current email addresses are:
theo@nextjk.wlink.nl
or:
theo@textlitho.nl
From 10-10-1995 almost all telephone numbers in the Netherlands
will change. So will our numbers. They will be:
Per 10-10-1995 +31-58-153849 will be +31-58-2153849
Per 10-10-1995 +31-58-153804 will be +31-58-2153804
Further I would like to thank all you guys (galls?) out there
for all the idea's you have given me. As you will see I did
implement almost all request (no, no Multiline yet :-)
I still had some troubles on certain Falcon machines. It runs
fine on my second line (+31-58-153804 HST/V32). But the USA
machines seem to give a lot of problems. So any hints are
welcomed.
Also I would to mention Ton Ketting and Danny Terweij,
they did a hell of a job testing things... (and all of
they other betatesters too of course :-)
Okido, here we go, no new docs for the time being though!
Fixed and New in 1.12
IMPORTANT! After reading this run BOTH QCONFIG and MCONFIG.
!!!!!!!!! MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR BOARDS.BBS FIRST !!!!!!!!!!
Set the Maximum number of areas in Mconfig (Ctrl-S)
Set the serial port number in Config (modem settings)
Do look trough all options in Qconfig please!
* Problems like crashing of qbbs on startup? Put -T on the commandline.
This won't flush the RS232 buffer anymore at startup, it crashes
on some machines (TT/Falcon/MSTE) if this is done.
* Serial port support. QuickBBS now supports all Atari serial ports.
Mind you on the Falcon you must use Modem 2. On the TT you can
use both Modem 2 and Serial 2. Modem 1 and Serial 1 are supported
but don't have CD/DTR support
Rerouting of serial data is done via BconMap, so most doorgames
should run too.
Set the serial port in Qconfig.
* Commandline option -M will disable the use of BconMap for other serial
ports. Use this if you mailer already reroutes the RS232 (AUX) output.
* First steps in CD-ROM support!.
If your CD-ROM has FILES.BBS files in each area then you only need
to add all areas to the flsearch.ctl. Just like normal. I did change
however the adding of the downloadcounters. Your CD-ROM should
show files to be READ-ONLY. Not all CD-ROM drivers do this.
With ExtenDos (the best CD driver) you must specify R/O in stead
of R/W in the ExtenDos config.
Any idea's about future CD-ROM support are welcome. First thing on
my mind is to reroute the files.bbs to HD.
TIP: set the acces level of your CD to a very HIGH number, otherwise
it will also be scanned when you do a newfiles scan, not very usefull
with a CD I would think. This has no further effect as the acces level
in the flsearch.ctl is only used for the newfiles scan.
* Export message (when reading) would print the message to a printer,
you can now choose between a printer or a file. The message is then
save as an ASCII file, all ^A rubbish etc. is removed.
* Mconfig, you can scroll up and down with the areas.bbs and
you can edit the groupnames! Use Control-G in the main menu.
The areas.bbs viewing is ALSO available when editting an area!
Very usefull if you want to get the areaname right!
* Reply with an external editor sometimes replyed again after you
had saved the message. Dunno why exactly but I think it is gone now.
* Minimum free diskspace need before upload or Online Archiver possible.
Set in qconfig (screen 2) the minimum nr. of Kb's that have to be
there to be able to upload or use the Online Archiver.
It seems that a lot of Z-Modems etc. don't look at the free space
themself. So you could end up with a messed up partition.
I suggest setting the limit at least at 500 Kb.
* Chat, Control D (download) sends a file, just like Control V views
a file. The file is send with /RF (really free) so you don't have
to bother with levels etc.
* New menu option number 88, newfile search with filemarker.
The marker looks a bit like the File Menu we alread have. However
the user is asked to mark files after each area (if any are found).
This is better then waiting until the screen is full, that would
mean some very complex programming with multiple paths and a change
of a LOT of bugs.
Options like Previous/Goto etc. are not possible. It just runs
down the flsearch.ctl.
* No deleting of echomail by users. New toggle in qconfig option
screen 6, gee we are _really_ running out of space here.
Until now users could delete messages from or to themself in
echomail areas. With this toggle you can deny them this
option. This works only for areas setup as ECHOMAIL areas in
mconfig.
Do take a GOOD look as we need so many variables there is a good
change that the delete option might be or not be available in
other situations. If/Then structures in the message read code of
QuickBBS are getting very complex now :-)
* Mail areas list can also carry /ns on the optional data, just
as the file area lister also can. The list will not be sorted
in this case.
* Internet areas also give out the errorlevel for entered
echomail messages. Msgid etc. also set.
* Removed 'One moment please.' before the running of a .DOR file.
This annoyed some of you :-)
* Reading VERY long messages (55 Kb or so) went wrong.
I set the limit back to 16 Kb, a string can be 32 Kb but I need
double the size to be able to wordwrap the entire message.
Anyway it's a bad idea to sent such large messages around, even
in Internet they split messages up.
* Upload description of max 5 lines
You can toggle in qconfig (option 6) if you want to use
the new 5 lines description by uploads.
The user will be presented with the editor that is also used for
writing messages. He can enter max 5 lines of description for each
file. The description will however be saved as 1 ! line. Extra
spaces at the end of a line are deleted.
* Mailscan option 22
Until now you could only put an area number on the optional
data line, or "ALL" for a mailscan to all. It could look like:
22 "ALL"
Scan area 22 for messages to all. This is still possible but
we extended the options, you can also scan certain mailgroups.
So you can disable the standard mailscan (toggles in qconfig)
and make your own mailscan in your welcome.dor where you only
scan you local (language) areas. Anyway I think you guys can
come up with some other nice idea's.
How it works, on the optional data you can place:
"searchstring" [groupnumber]
You can add between the [] groupnumbers, 1,2 would scan group 1
and group 2. 1-4 will scan 2 3 and 4. You can mix those too:
[1,4-8] "ALL"
Will scan groups 1 4 5 6 7 and 8 for messages to all.
The name between "" can be ANY string you like. So you are not
fixed to ALL. If you want to scan for the current user just don't
use the "". You can use the normal *xx etc. options in the dor file
to fill it with any string you like.
* FILE_ID.xxx support. There is a new toggle for this in Qconfig,
option 6 toggles.
If set the BBS will ask a user before downloading if he wants a
list of the files (with descriptions) of the files he downloads
to be sent. This will only be done with batch protocols
(Y-Modem batch, Z-Modem, Jekyll etc.)
The file is an ASCII file called FILE.ID.xxx where xxx is a number
which increases during the call if more then 1 file is send.
FILE_ID.xxx contains the filename and discription of the downloaded
files and the current date.
You can also add some advertising at the beginning of the file. Make
an ASCII file called FILE_ID.BBS in your CONF ! folder. If found
this file is placed at the beginning of the FILE_ID.xxx.
* Longer timeout on internal X-Modem 1K.
If you lock the modem port the 1K block is send very quickly.
But it still takes a while until the other side has it. That's
why downloads with X-Modem 1K on a locked machine and a user
at a low baudrate (<9600) went wrong.
I think it should be fine, I set the timeout at 32 seconds max.
as this is the time a 300 Bps user would take to recieve a
1 Kb block.
* QuickBBS now knows what machine it runs on:
ST : QuickBBS ST
STE : QuickBBS STE
TT : QuickBBS TT
Falcon : QuickBBS FC
* OARC (Online archiver) has been completely rewritten. So anything
can go wrong, I am sure it will :-)
You can define path and commands for several archivers in qconfig,
option 0 (running out of numbers there).
I suggest the following for extra and pack commands but if you
have better ones please say so and state the version of the archiver.
Type: Extract command: Pack command:
ARC xo m
LZH x -m m -m
ZIP -xo -am
ZOO e: a:m
ARJ is supported but my ARJ only unpacks WITH paths. And that is
something we can't use as we have to unpack to the OARC folder.
I suggest you set the OARC folder at a partition with a lot of space.
Users can unpack files troughout the session and pack it (in any
flavour) in 1 go.
Have a look at it, I think it will be clear enough. As you don't
have to define what archive you use (ARC or LZH) it should be
easier to understand it.
OARC is cleared after loggoff. Though I would recommend to clean it
up in your batch too. If Qbbs crashed for some reason the OARC might
not be cleared. Just put in pcommand after qbbs:
cd \qbbs\oarc
del *.*
cd \qbbs
* As I was doing the OARC I noticed a small glitch in the verbose of
ZOO. With long names the last character was missing. Fixed this now.
* NEW down/upload dor file commands!
FILELIST [path+name]
If this is given all names of files to be download will be
written in this file. Xyz and also Jekyll can read a filelist, you
will have to tell xyz the filename with it -i parameter.
Jekyll defaults to jekyll.flo in it's own folder.
Advantage: You can download MUCH more files as the commandline
can only take 127 characters, and if you mark and download from
different path's this can cause some problems.
NOERROR
Don't check the errorlevel of the external protocol. Some
protocols always give out an error level, so qbbs get confused.
example ZMODEM.DOR for xyz:
upload G:\QBBS\XYZ.TTP -c *PATH
download G:\QBBS\XYZ.TTP -U -ig:\qbbs\files.lst
filelist G:\QBBS\FILES.LST
example JEKYLL.DOR :
upload G:\QBBS\JEKYLL\JEKYLL.TTP -timl*T "-user*F *L" -recv*PATH
download G:\QBBS\JEKYLL\JEKYLL.TTP -timl*T "-user*F *L" -recv*PATH
filelist G:\QBBS\JEKYLL\JEKYLL.FLO
noerror
* Upload detection with Jekyll didn't work in all cases.
I think I have found the problem. I also solved the problem that
the upl-des.xxx file wasn't shown after an upload with an external
protocol.
IMPORTANT: Set in qconfig all protocols to FULL PATH if you have
problems downloading from different folders at one go.
* Colors in the 'show number of unread messages' and 'show number
of files' where a bit wrong. They should be better now
* Mark downloadmenu, sometimes the D and L of download and List
didn't work. Fixed.
You could also mark the same file more then once. If this
happens now it just doesn't mark it again. You _can_ however
add files with the same name from different paths. Only if
the filename and the path are the same the file is skipped.
* Free username format. This is a new toggle in qconfig, option 6
toggles.
If enabled the username format in QuickBBS is completely free.
So no capitalisation no points(dots) and the name can be one
word or several words.
This is done at the lowest possible level inside QuickBBS, this
means that also the question for a To: name and the input command
in a dor file will
* Sometimes the downloadmenu/marker missed some files.
This was due to the fact that we now have wordwrapped descriptions.
This makes it more diffecult to calculate the number of pages
offhand.
The problem should be fixed but do take a _very_ close look if
there are still filles missing or send double, at the end of a
page and then again at the beginning of the nexty page.
* You MUST set the maximum number of areas in mconfig now.
This is number is the highest areanumber QuickBBS ST will read.
If you set this to 999 (maximum) the startup of QuickBBS ST will
be slower and it requires more memory.
Most sysops don't need all 999 areas so set it to the maximum you
will require. You can always change it again.
Use Control-S in mconfig to set it up.
* Mailscan, option 22. If you put 1 area number on the optional
data then all areas where scanned. Fixed
* IMPORTANT: Run mconfig first! The format of boards.bbs has been
changed! QuickBBS ST 1.12 can only use this format. This also
means that other third party programs won't work! Specs
on the new format wil be given ou to programmers if they ask me
for it. It will also be explained in the new QSTRUCT.TXT
Oke now for the best news, in mconfig you can now give a path
and filename for every mail area. So you are not limited to:
K:\MSGS\0001
You can set it up like:
K:\MSGS\SYSOP
Mind you, no extension is allowed! as QuickBBS makes a .HDR and
.MSG file. If no path + filename is given then the old format
is used.
I believe this is something a LOT of sysops where waiting for.
* Message to each user. In mconfig you will have 4 options for the
type of messages allowed:
Public Only non private messages allowed (no private flag)
Private Only private messages (private flag is set)
Both The user can decide wheter a message is private
All Messages are addressed to each user that logs in.
Let me explain All, if you make an area only use All then their to:
field is set to You!. If a user logs in he will see all messages
in this area in the mailscan. If a message is read in this area then
the to: field is replaced by the name of the current user.
The best use for this it's a sysop write only area. The sysop can
send messages this way to each and every user, without the need
of several different messages.
Do take care, the lastread pointer is SET if messages are read after
a mailscan. For normal areas this is not the case. But it must be
done here. The user would see the message everytime otherwise :-)
* Internet support, in mconfig the message area type has 4 formats
now: Local, Netmail, Echomail, Internet Newsgroup.
If you use 'Internet Newsgroup' then it won't ask for a To: field
and sets it to 'all'. Also no origin is written.
If you want to write an Email you can use the netmail area, put
the following on the optional data field for a menutype 27:
/F=2:282/301.0 /@
/F= is the netnumber a message is send to, the user can't change
this! This nodenumber should be your internet gateway.
/@ forces the use of the @ delimiter, which is needed in internet.
* Now supporting 999 areas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BUT! There are NO lastreadpointers for areas above 200. We
need a new lastread.bbs format, but this means that other
packers need to be adapted too. So this will take a while.
Anyway, most sysops didn't mind really, the 'normal' areas should
be kept below 200. Use 200 and over for very large areas, like
internet newsgroups.
Make a backup of your BOADS.BBS first. The format has completely
changed so be carefull.
* The name field of an area is now max 50 characters in stead of 20.
As we have _so_ many areas now we needed a longer description.
* Read Marked messages, now 'forgets' the messages that are read.
So you will only get each message once if you use read marked
more then once during a session.
* Support of BBSBATCH.BAT file format.
Binkley and the new Semper both use the BBSBATCH.BAT file format
It's used to pass parameters to other programs.
IMPORTANT: In binkley you must use: BBS Batch
Not BBS Exit ! In that case the file BBSBATCH.BAT isn't written.
The advantage over the normail errorlevel is that the batch file
has both the baudrate and the time to the next non-bbs event.
If you setup the name and path of your BBSBATCH.BAT file in qconfig
(option 2) it will be used.
If a user calls and has more time then is allowed until the next
event his time will be lowered until the time for the next event.
This only applies to the current session.
The user will be informed by this, you can also send him a textfile
instead called EVENT.xxx (in the textfile folder)
This will cure a lot of problems that sysops had with event overruns.
It also makes QuickBBS ST more easier to use with Semper.
* New toggle in qconfig (option 6) called 'Use events'
With this you can dis/enable the checking for events in a bbsbatch.bat
file, if you have this option enabled of course.
* New mail scan, it count's down from max. to 1 now, a user
can see better how long it will take this way.
The areas are however searched from 1 to max. :-) so
you can keep your local areas (sysop area) at the beginning.
* Both the Browser and the filemenu are much faster now. Though
hotkey response might be a bit slower, not that you notice that
at 9600 or 14400..
In you were in ASCII mode then the clearscreen with the browser didn't
work, doesd now.
* Marked files in the marked filelister are now global.
That means that you can tag several files from different
areas and download them in 1 go. QuickBBS will also remember
the description when you use the List marked files option.
Mind you, it only works for protocols that can download
several files at on go, like Z/Y-Modem, Jekyll etc.
You will also notice a small change in the marked filelister,
just have a go.
* You can disallow the replying to a message for each message
area. In mconfig it's called 'Deny Reply'. If set the user
(also the sysop) cannot reply to a message.
This is of use for 'For Sale' areas where you should call
the one who send the message and not reply into an echomail
area. Mayby you can think up some other uses too.
* Menutype 85, Mail arealister. The second parameter (menuname)
should be optional. This didn't work, so you couldn't do an
areachange option from the readmail menu. Fixed.
* Verbose list of an .ARC file didn't list the filenames anymore,
fixed. Also the prompt of the verbose was a bit long, fixed
* Message uploading went wrong if the messagetext included non-ascii
characters. You can toggle 8bit in mconfig, everything over char.
127 is ignored if 8bit isn't allowed.
* Option 36, search for filename. If you entered only return it should
haved acted as *.* it didn't, fixed.