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1995-04-22
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120 lines
---------------------------
FNORDADEL 1.32 DISTRIBUTION
---------------------------
This, then, is Fnordadel. It's for running bulletin board systems. It is
of the Citadel flavour; in fact, it's linearly descended from the original
Citadel. It's for the Atari ST/TT series of computers; minimum setup is a
512K ST with one disk drive, but more of both RAM and disk space always helps.
It, like all Citadels, excels at running conversation BBSes, though there is
also substantial support for file transfers. It networks (using standard
Citadel networking). It's easy to run (self-maintaining). And, best of all,
it's FREE.
If the above paragraph makes you certain that Fnordadel isn't what you
want, then ciao! Otherwise, read on.
How the distributions work
--------------------------
Fnordadel comes in two archives. The one you got this README from is the
main binaries archive, which contains everything you need to run Fnordadel.
It is named `fnXXXbin.zoo', where XXX represents the version number such as
`132' for version 1.32. The other archive is `fnXXXman.zoo', which contains
the ASCII version of the Reference Manual. It is quite large, which is why
it is packaged separately, but in our humble opinion it is quite worth
getting. Each archive contains a MANIFEST listing all files in the archive.
What to do with this archive
----------------------------
The archive is divided into subdirectories to make things manageable. Have
a look at the files ending in `.doc' for all sorts of neat information. We
recommend, especially if you are new to Fnordadel, that you read the first
couple of chapters of the Manual and skim over the rest.
For a quick-start guide to bringing up your system, check out the Fifteen
Minute Guide to Fnordadel, in the Reference Manual. For notes on converting
to Fnordadel from STadel or moving up from older Fnordadel versions, see
the notes in the `conv' directory.
At the bare minimum, take citadel.tos, configur.tos and ctdlcnfg.doc.
Then edit ctdlcnfg.doc (saving it as ctdlcnfg.sys), run configur, and then
run citadel -- and you're off. You'll also want to take the help files from
the `help' directory, unless you like having no online help of any kind.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE
-----------------
Fnordadel seems to trigger the TOS 40-folder bug by doing a lot of memory
reallocation stuff; we've only seen this when using configur.tos for the
first time, but better to be safe than sorry: PLEASE use foldr100.prg in your
AUTO folder (or some other OS-pool increaser program) to avoid possibly
serious glitches. This applies even if you don't have a hard disk; if you
DO have a hard disk, you should be using foldrnnn.prg in any case. If you
don't have foldrnnn.prg, you can get it absolutely everywhere, including
secret or RT if you're stuck.
Support
-------
As you'll find out when you read the file 'COPYING', Fnordadel is
completely free and public domain. Since we don't sell this, we are under no
obligation to provide support; nevertheless, we DO provide ample amounts of
support to polite people. Questions, problems, bug reports, glowing praise
and great stacks of unsolicited cash may be sent to:
Adrian Ashley (elim @ secret) (BBS: (403) 425 1779)
Royce Howland (Mr. Neutron @ RT) (BBS: (403) 455 2709)
There is a networked room called FnordTech devoted to Fnordadel support.
See the Support section (Appendix A) of the Reference Manual for more info
on this and other neat things.
Fnordadel source code
---------------------
There is a third archive called `fnXXXsrc.zoo', which is a huge thing
containing the full source code to all Fnordadel programs and the associated
sources for the documentation, including the Reference Manual. If you're
going to hack on Fnordadel, we'd REALLY REALLY REALLY appreciate it if you'd
let us know so we can coordinate things. We would like to avoid having
umpteen slightly different Fnordadel derivatives floating around, so please
keep with the spirit of sharing...
Getting a formatted manual
--------------------------
The Reference Manual is produced using the GNU Texinfo system, which is a
set of macros for the TeX typesetter. We have hacked them up to allow us to
produce an ASCII version of the manual suitable for printing on a line printer
or viewing on the screen, AND a really nice typeset version with fancy fonts
and all that, suitable for printing on a laser printer or viewing on a
graphics workstation. We distribute only the ASCII version, but we make
available the sources to the manual (in the sources archive, see the previous
section), so if you have a working TeX installation you can generate your
own nicely printed copy. We make available the TeX .DVI file (check RT or
secret) so you can print it if you have only facitilies for printing DVI
files. Or we can arrange to ship you a printed copy --- leave us some mail.
Drop us a line
--------------
When you get your Fnordadel system up and running, drop us a line by
calling up one of our systems or by sending us mail via some other route.
We like to keep tabs on who's running this thing....
--Adrian Ashley
Royce Howland
September, 1991