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Text File | 1993-05-24 | 26.2 KB | 599 lines

ST-Keep Bulletin Board System Update News ----------------------------------------- 24May93 If a user forgot a room, then the room was killed and later created as a new room, it still appeared on the users forgotten list. No more. They will be allowed access to it now if it is allowed for their account and it won't appear on the forgotten rooms list. Unfortunately, if you've already experienced this problem, there is only one way to remedy it. 1) kill the room(s) in question and re-create them, or 2) login with each user account in question, check the forgotten rooms status [.][z], if any appear that the user should have access to, make sure they have the proper access (group/invitation) and manually .goto the room in question. Sorry! Thanks to Jeff for pointing this out, he's always doing freaky things on his system! 18May93 I've made the system look like it's working (...) during global searches of file description strings on extended directories. 17May93 STK_TWIT.SYS will be searched during new user applications for usernames that you do not wish to allow accounts for on your system. If this file does not exist, this feature is effectively disabled. Each username you want to twit out must be on a separate line (case insenstive). 13May93 Top 10 now handles usernames with commas correctly. 12May93 BBS_UCMP.PRG has been changed to allow it to run from a batchfile without any user intervention. If you accidentally run it or otherwise do not wish it to compact your userlog, press any key within 30 seconds to abort the program, otherwise it will start compressing your userlog after waiting 30 seconds. "Copying file ..." has been changed to say "Moving file ..." and "Moving file description ..." when used to move files to other directories from the extended directory list bye aides, and it will say "Copying file ..." when used from the [.][f][c] command. BBS_PRVS.PRG has been updated so that the Group menu uses single keys for toggles and X to exit instead of requiring a number and then ENTER. Bug fix - if your system was secure and only allowed new user applications, it was still allowing the users to logon on their first call, but not on the subsequent calls until you validated their account. It works properly now. Note: You can not have an OPEN & APPLICATION ONLY system, and this is reflected when setting the toggls for these features under the [.][c][o] menu. Added hangup option when calling ST-Keep as a door or from BinkleyTerm. Put "-H" on your command line when executing ST-Keep and the BBS will hangup as soon as a user terminates. Be careful not to use this if you have an ST-Keep BBS called from another BBS, as the original BBS will show carrier loss. Only use it on the first occurrance of your BBS. You shouldn't need to execute HANGUP.PRG in your Binkley/ST-Keep batchfile anymore. 10May93 I forgot to mention the inclusion of BBS_UCMP.PRG which will compact a userlog so that you don't have a ton of empty userlog slots taking up space and load-time. This program only works with ST-Keep after you make the modifications below when running BBS_ME.PRG. Please do not use it on versions before this, or you'll lose your userlog. 10May93 Add 2 lines to STK_INFA.SYS... the first should be the location of your chat request program and the second should be any command line you want sent to this program. If you wish to use the old chat tune, just use drive:\path\CHAT1.TOS as your program line, and a blank line for the command line. Supplied with this version is Play.Prg... a digitized sound player for all Atari computers. Please read the docs to set-up. I have included one sound sample for use with it, here is the command line you should use with the whistle sample: "path:\whistle 8000 -z -q -dma" for an STe machine. You can execute any program you desire here, just make sure that it requires no user intervention, as it is simply run before ST-Keep pages the sysop. NOTE: BBS_CNFG.PRG will read and save this information from INFA.SYS, but won't allow you to modify it. You'll need to use a text editor for that until I update this program. 10May93 **** SPECIAL UPDATE **** Please backup all your system files and current BBS*.PRG files in case you run into any problems with this major update. YOU MUST RUN BBS_ME.PRG (the new one supplied with this version of BBS.PRG) and use option [D] to give all active accounts access to the system. Only use this option once, it will be removed in the next version once everyone has used it. This must be done before you run the new version of BBS.PRG and then you can edit users individually. YOU MUST EDIT ALL YOUR FORMER Aides and Co-SysOps with this new toggle because [D] in the ME.PRG makes everyone have the same access. Since Access Level has been stolen to be used for group assignments (see below), I created a new field (Privilege Toggle) with an unused byte in the userlog to establish the old 'command access levels' for Aide, Co-SysOp, and SysOp. You'll find it under all the 'edit user' functions in BBS.PRG (.ca, .cu). New privileges are as follows: Unvalidated New accounts in secured system can not logon until the sysop validates the account. Application only accepted. Secured New accounts in limited system, can only leave mail to sysop once per day. Messages Read & write message access File Transfers File upload & download access Doors Door access Aide Aide commands ( [.A] ) Co-SysOp Co-SysOp & File commands ( [.C] & [.F] ) SysOp SysOp commands ****** There is a major change with relation to access levels and group settings as of his release. Play close attention to the following: Access Level now is simply a pointer to a user's HOME GROUP. That is to say, when a new user applies, group 0 will be assigned if your system is CLOSED and group 1 will be assigned if OPEN. This group pointer may be changed by using .cu or .cu for a specific user or by using the mass userlog editor. The benefit is that you don't have to set a users maximum minutes, download ratio, and other information separately (taking a number of commands per user). You can simply edit a users group pointer, and ST-Keep will change various other user settings based on your selections below (with BBS_PRIVS.PRG). Also, if you set your new user group correctly, you may not have to edit any users at all, unless you wish to put them in special groups. My system is set up to give new users (STK_GRPA.001) specified time per day, 10 downloads to one upload, and access to on-line games. I'll only have to edit a user if they become a member of the Atari Computer Users Group, and then, I'll only have to edit one field in their record, instead of 4 or 5! Whenever this pointer is changed (new user, .cu/.ca, or the ME.PRG), this number will actually be used as a group number to load access information from a file in the format "STK_GRPA.###" which is located in your system folder. ### is the group number, currently valid only for 000-255. The file extention must be padded on the left with zero's (i.e. "stk_grpa.000", "stk_grpa.011", etc...) Each file may contain the following information, each option on it's own line: *** PLEASE USE BBS_PRIVS.PRG to create this file as you may be confused by the bit settings MINPERDAY=# This number can only be from 0-255, if not located, your system default will be used. MAXMINPERCALL=# This number can only be from 0-255, if not located, your system default will be used. XFERRATIO=# This number can only be from 0-255, if not located, your system default will be used. GROUPS=### This number MUST contain 16 digits, each of which can only be a 1 or a 0 representing ON and OFF bits for each group on your system. The leftmost bit is group #15, and the rightmost bit is group #0. PRIVS=### This number can only be from 0-255 and matches the bit settings stated in the mods on 21Apr93. To obtain the correct value, you must turn each bit on for each privilege in this bit. I will supply a program that will give you the proper value to place in this spot (BBS_PRIV.PRG). Thus, STK_GRPA.000 is for new users in a CLOSED system, and STK_GRPA.001 is for new users in an OPEN system. All the other group pointers are available to you for personalizing as your BBS requires. Once you create a STK_GRPA.### for each group, you should edit the access level for each user individually or with the mass userlog editor if you wish these group settings to take effect. If the appropriate file is not found, none of these settings will change for the current user. The GROUPS keywords is not required and you my desire to edit your GRPA.* files after creating them with PRIVS.PRG so that all your users won't have their GROUP access bits changed from their current values. This keyword is best used on NEW users and therefore you can use PRIVS.PRG to put it back in once you modify all your current users with BBS_ME.PRG. If you have any suggestions for additional access settings in these files, let me know and I will add them if appropriate. I realize these are some complicated changes and can be confusing, so please ask questions before you install this latest version of ST-Keep if you are not sure what you are doing. Jeff Fehlman has been running this version for a week and might also be of assistance as he has his system configured totally different than mine. 10Apr93 [~] from any room prompt may now be used by Co-SysOps to access Co-SysOp commands. 31Mar93 Fixed a bug in the new caller-log routines that didn't record a new user's logon properly! 27Mar93 Added a HOLD FILE SAVE function. If a user has files in their hold list and they terminate or otherwise lose carrier, this list will be saved in your MSG folder in your system directory (along with held messages, userboot messages, etc). It creates 3 files for each user, user#.FN contains the filenames, user#.FS contains the file sizes, and user#.FR contains the room names. Thanks to Jeff Fehlman for yet another great idea! I wish I had the time time to impliment all your good ideas, but priorities, you know... New caller-log record [R][C] style. 20Mar93 I think I finished changing all the menu prompts to allow ONLY the valid characters. Thus, pressing [W] from the room prompt does NOTHING, similarly with other menus, invalid keypresses do nothing. If you find any that I missed, or hotkeys that I left out (I found [E] in the download menu for aides was left out), let me know pronto! 14Mar93 BBS_ME.PRG has been updated to allow running it with a command line that will automatically delete unused accounts based on the number you send it. The required command line arguments are as follows: -B### ### > baud rate, usually 0, up to 19200 -L# # > 0 line feeds on, 1 line feeds off -D### ### > number of days which must have passed after which to delete unused accounts. Be sure your computer's system date and time are current or you'll end up with unwanted results. This number can be from 1-32000. A perfect use for this function is to create an event in either ST-Keep or BinkleyTerm that will execute this program to delete accounts that have been inactive for 90 days (or whatever your choice). You can run this event as often as you like, once a week should be enough although you may use it once a day. 11Mar93 New version of AUTODESK.PRG, doesn't steal all your RAM. 07Mar93 Removed status line when terminal mode entered. 06Mar93 Added "Auto-logoff after download" toggle for users. [X][N][N] turns this feature on or off. If on, after a download is completed, a 20 second countown starts, during which the user can press [S] to abort the logoff or if [S] isn't pressed their session will be terminated. 05Mar93 Users may only have up to the maximum minutes for all users per day times 3 minutes on deposit in their time bank account. Your maximum minutes per day is set with CNFG.PRG. 03Mar93 Added a new switch when running ST-Keep as a door. -R### passes the number of minutes allowed to the user UNDER ALL CONDITIONS (even SysOp access) when the BBS is run from a door. The value can be from 1-255. 01Mar93 Erasing a file in a directory room now only records the filename instead of the complete path. The room identification should be enough to know where the file was, and it was causing ugly reports in the system messages due to word-wrapping past one line. I have attempted to make all BBS prompts respond only to valid characters rather than [?] menu if an invalid character was typed. Let me know if I missed any commands (menu options inop) or missed a menu! 23Feb93 Fixed bugs where deleting a file number greater than available from the batch list was allowed along with making sure to delete the file size of a file deleted from this same list so it won't offset the rest of the data that may still be on the list. 19Feb93 Another fix for [.][c][a] and editing the access level. If used, can't raise access level higher than current value. 15Feb93 Added a Time Bank feature. Users can press $ at any room prompt and enter the bank. They can deposit up to their remaining time for the current day into the bank, to a maximum of 32000. They may withdraw once per day, an amount equal to your configured global maximum minutes per call. You must edit STK_INFA.SYS at line number 28, 2 lines below the SysOps last name. It must contain the single key character of the hot-key used to enter your automatic-door. [.][E][D] is still used to get the full door menu system. I would suggest shying away from the current [*] for activating this function, as it is one of the characters used to signal a Zmodem transfer start/finish and is causing some users to enter the door menu when their file transfer is complete. Make sure to edit your ROOMCMDS.* menus to reflect your new door menu hot-key. 14Feb93 Updated BBS_TERM.PRG so that it erases its status line properly upon exit. 13Feb93 If you have active votes and are missing an *.ANS (answer) file, the system will not bomb and ignore that vote instead. 05Feb93 Changed "filename erased by ... in room ..." to a system message instead of a singly message. 01Feb93 Edit line #18 in STK_INFA.SYS and enter a number from 50-9999 which will correspond to the number of lines saved in STK_CALL.SYS to record user calls to the BBS. The old count was 100, and you start seeing a delay by 150. Fixed a bug that didn't allow you to INCREASE a user's access level (introduced when I made the external user editor internal). You also can not edit your own access level if you are logged on remotely nor can you raise any user's access level (including yourself) higher than your own. Fixed a bug that wasn't stopping un-registered copies from pausing before allowing users to logon remotely. If you weren't aware, I retracted the crippleware idea and simply make un-registered copies pause 45 seconds before allowing a user to logon remotely. I didn't do this for local logons as a new SysOp testing the system out would get upset very quickly about having to wait all the time! I still don't believe ST-Keep will prosper as cripple-ware. 23Jan93 You can delete the BBS_T10.PRG file, it's been placed internally into BBS.PRG as was the BBS_UE.PRG a week ago. Your T10*.SYS files are still required, however. Leave them as they are. 19Jan93 Users may type [S] or [CTRL-C] while text has been paused with their [P] or [CTRL-S] keypress and the display will be stopped. 18Jan93 Deleted the old "Access User" routine and re-wrote the current "Userlog Editor" routine so that it could edit both a user on disk and the user in RAM simply by saving the RAM user to disk first, then re-loading the record when finished. Save approximately 5K of code and made ST-Keep one step closer to better structure! 17Jan93 Status line tested OK on monochrome. You no longer need BBS_UE.PRG, please DELETE all copies you may have. It has been re-installed internally. I was able to test the status line in monochrome, looks great! 16Jan93 Cleaned up the status line a bit. Someone test it in monochrome for me, I no longer have one! 13Jan93 New co-sysop option, [.][C][R] to search for a user by their REAL name field. You can enter a string to search for. Update your COSYSOP.MNU files. This edits the user on disk only, similar to [.][C][U]. 11Jan93 You can now change the description of a file if it already has one, no editing, just changing the complete description. Use [A] and answer the confirmation if a description already exists. You can now add floors while logged on instead of only with a text editor, use [0] from the [.][C][F]loor editor. Also, cosmetic changes. The waitcall screen now has information for the SysOp regarding how many new user applications, new uploads, and new mail messages have occurred since his last logon. These pointers will create a file called STK_NEWD.SYS in your system folder, and will be 0'd out after the sysop logs off. v5.05-10Jan93 This is the first "registration required" version of ST-Keep. You should have an "STKEEP.KEY" file with this version which you should backup for safekeeping. Your BBS will not run properly without it (you'll be limited to 25 rooms and 25 user accounts. You will need to add your serial number to the INFA.SYS file by adding a new line at the end of the file. Your serial number will be supplied in a textfile along with your key file. Added a new field to each user account, "Permanent Account." You can edit a user with either [.][c][a] or [.][c][u] and use the permanent account option so that when you use the mass userlog option to delete inactive users, it will NOT delete any permanent accounts. You can still delete permanent accounts with the [.][a][k]ill command or simply by changing their access level to 0. I expect my account on your BBS to be a permanent account! v5.03-09Jan93 You will need to add a new line to INFA.SYS. It should be the complete drive, path, and filename of your terminal program that is executed when you attempt [C]hat mode without a caller on-line. This could be Flash, STalker, or the BBS_TERM.PRG or BBS_TERM.TOS supplied with ST-Keep. Once you add this line, you can configure this setting with the new configuration editor supplied in the update. It's in the 3rd options menu. Users can now enter a search string during extended file directories. A second prompt will appear after they type in the filemask to search for. This obviously takes longer, but can be very handy. If floors are enabled, the search only works for rooms on the current floor for a global directory, and in the current room for a normal extended directory just like the old commands. 04Jan93 There is a new door flag, -DRG or -DHG will send the group level instead of the access level in the DORINFO1.DEF file. Leave out the G if your DORINFO1.DEF file requires the access level. 02Jan93 *** HAPPY NEW YEAR *** Make sure you change any spawning of ST-Keep to use just "-B0" for local mode rather than "-L" as it ist no longer needed. Well, it's a new year, ST-Keep is almost 4 years old and is beginning to show his age. Thank all of you for your suggestions, help, and friendship over the years and months that I've known you. Here is the first new version for 1993! Fixed bug in chat mode that didn't notify SysOp if a user attempted chat and their access level was below 100. Also, multiple un-answered chat requests per session will now be recorded at logoff instead of just the first attempt. If you have doors configured and use the "-D" option to save the DORINFO1.DEF file, you MUST change it to -DR if you wish to pass the user's REAL NAME or -DH if you wish to pass the users HANDLE/Username as ST-Keep knows them. Fixed a problem with the download ratio if the user had 0 uploads. They are given one u/l credit if it is actually 0. Thanks to JEFF for all this New Years work! :) Seriously though, I do appreciate it. BETTER AND BETTER! 29Dec92 You will need to add 6 lines to INFA.SYS below the last entry made on the 24Dec92 update. Each line should be the number 0. After you save the file, you can run BBS_CNFG.PRG with this new file and use the [F] option to change default new user settings. They should be self explanatory, just use Y or N or enter the required information for each field. Added "Room Moderator" option. You can assign ONE user as moderator of each room. They will have all room related aide commands (from the .ae menu). I have moved INVITE and UNINVITE user commands into this menu to facilitate this new access level. You MUST RUN BBS_MODR.PRG from your INFA.SYS directory before running this new version. It will create a new file called STK_MODR.SYS which will hold all the moderator names for each of your rooms. Line one is for room 1, line 2 for room 2, etc. Added "Allocate additional rooms" in the configuration editor. Run BBS_CNFG if you run out of rooms on your BBS. This will add space in the ROOM.SYS and USER.SYS files and create a USER.BAK file in case a problem arises. Please make your own backups of ALL your system files and pay close attention to the BBS until you are sure the addition has taken hold. 24Nov92 Bug fix... if the last available room on your system was created and a user was in that room as the last one on the current floor, the auto-goto-next- floor feature didn't work. Now it does! 08Nov92 Fixed BBS_TERM so that it looks for it's configuration file in the same folder as the program. Changed Goto next floor and show rooms with new messages to be the default settings for new users. 5.0 will allow the sysop to choose his own defaults for most user options depending on his perception of popularity. 07Nov92 Added Ymodem-G hooks for the new XYZ.TTP v2.02 BETA. I tested it with a 200K file and got 1595cps while only getting 1430cps with Zmodem - compression disabled). It worked fine. Added [D] Increase Message Base size to BBS_CNFG.PRG from the main menu. Be sure to enter your value in K and not bytes, or you'll end up with one large message base! 24Oct92 Fixed [E]rase file from the extended directory so that it doesn't allow any user to delete the file. Only Aides or higher can use this menu option. Added a line to INFA.SYS for the maximum number of minutes allowed per day for each user (maximum on-line time per call, below). This will be used to establish this field for new users, but can be modified independantly per user or via the mass userlog editor if you wish. Add a line to INFA.SYS below the minimum baud rate for file transfers. The new version of BBS_CNFG.PRG can be used to change this field once you add the line. 18Oct92 Added "Maximum on-line time per call" field for each user. User Configuration data, co-sysop access and co-sysop userlog editor reflect this new field. This, combined with "maximum on-line minutes per day" should allow better control of user activity. I don't feel a "maximum calls per day" field is required since both of these together will satisfy a daily call limit. 14Oct92 Added MINIMUM BAUD RATE for incoming calls and file transfers. If a caller isn't at this speed or higher for each of these items, they will be sent NOCALL.BLB or NOXFER.BLB, depending on which situation is valid. These settings must be set within the BBS_CNFG.PRG utility. You will need to create the 2 BLB files in addition to adding two lines to INFA.SYS at the bottom of the file. The first line should be the minimum baud rate required for incoming calls, the second should be the minimum baud rate for file transfers. Ex: 1200 2400 Once you add these items, you may use the nwe BBS_CNFG to change them. If a user has a list of downloads in the held file buffer and they press [D] from the extended directory prompt to download the current listed file, their original held file list will not be erased anymore and the current file will be transferred normally. 04Jul92 There is a new function to disallow new users access to the BBS totally. They can only apply for an account and then they will be logged off (as well as if they call back). The SysOp will need to upgrade their access level to allow them on. This will disallow new users from attributing to ANY system activity other than one new call and an application, which constitutes a new access level even tighter than level 1 was before. To toggle this "Limit New User" function, use the Co-SysOp Option menu "K" ([.][C][O][K]). This also required changes to the access level formats, so prepare for a bit of work. New Access Levels: 0 = killed or unused account (same) 1 = Limited New User (new, application only, no further logon) 2 = Unvalidated User (no write/file xfer/door privs, previously level 1) 3 = Validated user (write/file xfer/door privs, previously level 2) 4- 99 = Normal users for SysOp configuration 100-149 = Aide 150-199 = Co-SysOp 200-254 = SysOp 255 = Supervisor This means that you *MUST* change the access level of your current users by using the mass userlog editor (good practice!). On my system, level 5 is SST Members, 4 is special users, 3 is unused, 2 is validated users and 1 is unvalidated users. I basically need to insert a new level between 0 and 1, so I'll move level 2 to 3 (since 3 is unused), 1 to 2, and leave 1 open for the new level if it needs to be used. Since 4 and 5 aren't being bumped, they don't need to be changed. Of course, you will need to change level 2 to 3 first and then 1 to 2 so that I don't create a ton of level 2 users first and then move them all to level 3. Always start converting from the highest level first. It is critical that you change levels, otherwise certain users will not be able to use the system as validated users.